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BIRMINGHAM, Ala., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Nuclear and Georgia Power this week unveiled the new Hatch FLEX Dome storage building at the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant near Baxley, Ga. The dome houses portable emergency equipment and adds yet another layer of protection to the robust safety systems for Hatch units 1 and 2. U.S. nuclear plants, including Plant Hatch, are equipped with numerous redundant safety systems to prevent or respond to emergencies, including backup power resources such as DC battery banks and diesel generators.

In response to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi event in Japan, in which that plant lost on-site and off-site power needed to operate its safety cooling systems, industry leaders in the U.S. have worked together to develop flexible, diverse strategies for protecting U.S. plants against such extreme events. These efforts are referred to as the FLEX strategy and include tactics such as FLEX domes.

David Vineyard, site vice president for Plant Hatch units 1 and 2, joined plant employees and Hatch FLEX Dome project leadership for a special event marking the completion of the new facility.

"Safety, and preparation at all levels, is always our top priority at Plant Hatch," said Vineyard. "The dome is the most visible part of the FLEX strategy, but we've also made modifications throughout the plant that further strengthen our ability to protect the health and safety of our workers and the public."

The Hatch FLEX Dome is 39-feet tall, nearly 50 yards wide and features steel-reinforced concrete walls that are 18 inches thick. The building is designed to withstand an earthquake, a direct hit by a tornado, airborne flying objects during a tornado or similar threats. The dome will store portable generators, pumps, communication equipment, refueling equipment, and other resources that might be needed if the power supply to the plant were interrupted for an extended period. The portable equipment would be put into service only in the event other redundant resources at the plant were depleted or damaged.

In addition to Plant Hatch, FLEX domes have been put into place at Southern Company nuclear facilities Plant Vogtle (Georgia) and Plant Farley (Alabama). Learn more about the construction of these facilities and Southern Company's commitment to safety in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Sga8NyZzc

About Southern Nuclear

Southern Nuclear, a subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), is one of the nation's leading nuclear energy facility operators. Producing safe, reliable and environmentally friendly nuclear energy, Southern Nuclear operates a total of six units for Alabama Power and Georgia Power at the Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant near Dothan, Ala.; the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant near Baxley, Ga., and the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant near Waynesboro, Ga. Southern Nuclear is the licensee of two new nuclear units currently under construction at Plant Vogtle, which will be the first nuclear units constructed in the United States in more than 30 years. Southern Nuclear employs more than 3,500 skilled and dedicated professionals who are committed each day to nuclear and personal safety and the health and safety of the public. The company's headquarters is based in Birmingham, Ala.

Twitter: @SouthernNuclear; Facebook: facebook.com/southernnuclear; www.southerncompany.com/southernnuclear

About Georgia Power

Georgia Power is the largest subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), one of the nation's largest generators of electricity. Value, Reliability, Customer Service and Stewardship are the cornerstones of the company's promise to 2.4 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. Committed to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy at rates below the national average, Georgia Power maintains a diverse, innovative generation mix that includes nuclear, 21st century coal and natural gas, as well as renewables such as solar, hydroelectric and wind. Consistently recognized as a leader in customer service, Georgia Power was recently ranked highest in overall business customer satisfaction among large utilities in the South by J.D. Power and Associates. For more information, visit www.GeorgiaPower.com and connect with the company on Facebook (Facebook.com/GeorgiaPower) and Twitter (Twitter.com/GeorgiaPower).

About Southern Company

With more than 4.5 million customers and approximately 46,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast through its subsidiaries. A leading U.S. producer of clean, safe, reliable and affordable electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for energy innovation, excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are below the national average. Southern Company and its subsidiaries are leading the nation's nuclear renaissance through the construction of the first new nuclear units to be built in a generation of Americans and are demonstrating their commitment to energy innovation through the development of a state-of-the-art coal gasification plant. Southern Company has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Defense and G.I. Jobs magazine as a top military employer, listed by DiversityInc as a top company for Blacks and designated a 2014 Top Employer for Hispanics by Hispanic Network. The company received the Edison Award from the Edison Electric Institute for its leadership in new nuclear development, was named Electric Light & Power magazine's Utility of the Year for 2012 and is continually ranked among the top utilities in Fortune's annual World's Most Admired Electric and Gas Utility rankings. Visit our website at www.southerncompany.com.

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SOURCE Southern Nuclear

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- QuickBase Inc., a leading low-code application development platform provider, today released the results of an independent Forrester Consulting study on the economic impact of the QuickBase platform. According to the commissioned study, The Total Economic Impact Of QuickBase, a composite organization based on interviewed customers achieved a 260 percent return on investment (ROI) by using the QuickBase platform and paid back their initial investment in only six months after deployment. The full report is available here: http://quickbase.intuit.com/TEIstudy.

Commissioned by QuickBase, Forrester's Total Economic Impact study provides an in-depth look at the ROI of QuickBase, a low-code development platform for citizen development. Results come from a composite organization based on interviews with four QuickBase customers, including: a global manufacturing firm; a pharmaceutical company specializing in veterinary medicines; a business services organization located in the U.S. and Canada; and a U.S human services organization. Each has leveraged the QuickBase platform to enable non-technical 'citizen developers' to rapidly create apps, while working in alignment with IT. Based on these outcomes, Forrester assesses the net present value of the QuickBase platform over three years as more than $3,600 per user and more than $7.2 million overall.

Key benefits achieved by the composite organization include:

Reduced time and cost to develop applications. The organization saved an average of 8 weeks in development time and $19,231 in resource costs per application by utilizing citizen developers instead of traditional IT resources.

The organization saved an average of 8 weeks in development time and in resource costs per application by utilizing citizen developers instead of traditional IT resources. Faster time to business value due to reduced time to delivery. The organization made processes faster and more effective, achieved increased employee productivity, and gained additional bottom-line value from the applications created. Forrester measured the business value of these benefits as more than $4.4 million over three years.

The organization made processes faster and more effective, achieved increased employee productivity, and gained additional bottom-line value from the applications created. Forrester measured the business value of these benefits as more than over three years. Faster time to update and maintain applications. By leveraging citizen developers to make changes and updates to apps in real time, the organization saved up to two months in development time and $4.5 million in cost savings over a risk-adjusted three-year period.

By leveraging citizen developers to make changes and updates to apps in real time, the organization saved up to two months in development time and in cost savings over a risk-adjusted three-year period. Cost savings from avoided headcount in IT. The organization avoided hiring an average of two IT developers by deploying QuickBase, saving a total of $612,000 over three years.

Business users are demanding applications across the organization to improve efficiency and drive productivity in an effort to achieve operational excellence. However, IT departments are typically spread too thin and struggle to deliver applications on time, within budget, and built exactly to users' specifications. This has led to a rise in unsanctioned "rogue" IT, leaving IT and the business at odds. As a result, organizations are seeking new solutions that balance business needs with IT governance.

"While competitors provide low-code platforms to help professional IT developers build apps faster, QuickBase is disrupting the landscape by uniquely focusing on providing the ease of use required to empower non-developer business users," said John Carione, Head of Product Marketing, QuickBase. "Whether they need a project or process management app for operations or a time and expense solution for HR, QuickBase enables citizen developers to build or maintain the apps they need with absolutely no code. Business users get the autonomy they need to be highly productive while collaborating with IT to ensure governance and eliminate 'rogue' solutions."

"Our interviewees found huge value in empowering line-of-business users to become citizen developers and self-develop," according to the Forrester study led by project director, Adrienne Capaldo. "As we heard from one organization 'IT gets to focus highly on their priorities, but we found the true priority of the business is just the day-to-day operations, which was sometimes getting neglected. So, the citizen developer's approach, where we've just taken it upon ourselves to create the apps, make us a much more efficient business.'"

In a recent Forrester report on the low-code platform market, Forrester positioned QuickBase in the platform segment with the greatest potential to empower non developers.[1]

For more insight on the Forrester Total Economic Impact of QuickBase study and the upcoming low-code Forrester Wave, join the upcoming webinar on April 26 at 1:00 pm ET. Register now at: http://quickbase.intuit.com/TEIwebinar.

QuickBase's second annual user conference, EMPOWER 2016, takes place May 10-13 in Nashville, Tenn. For more information visit: http://empower2016.com/.

About QuickBase

Launched in 1999 and headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., QuickBase Inc., formerly a division of Intuit, is a newly independent company focused on helping businesses of all sizes drive productivity and digitally transform their organizations. The platform's unique low-code interface enables users to create custom applications faster and easier without learning code. Today, QuickBase is used by more than 6,000 customers, including half of the Fortune 100, across a variety industries and use cases. The company was divested from Intuit in March 2016 and is backed by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. For more information, please visit: www.quickbase.com.

[1] Jan. 2016 Forrester Research, Inc., Vendor Landscape: The Fractured, Fertile Terrain Of Low-Code Application Platforms (pg 11)

Media Contacts: Angela Maglione

QuickBase

(617) 250-2241

[email protected]

SOURCE QuickBase Inc.

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LOS ANGELES, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Los Angeles-based digital publishing company Render Media Inc. has announced a series of strategic hires made in early 2016 to help further the company's expansion into content production. Sabba Rahbar joins Render Media as Managing Editor for their rapidly-growing food content brand Cooking Panda, whose videos received over 132 million views in January. Rahbar previously managed two SpinMedia entertainment properties.

Earlier this month, Render hired Cory McConnell as Digital Producer. In this position, he will be responsible for launching and growing the company's new original content studio. Previously, McConnell helped run the branded video team at CollegeHumor (Big Breakfast).

Both McConnell and Rahbar join a quickly-expanding content production team as the company pushes to grow its three digital brands, Opposing Views, America News and Cooking Panda. In addition to McConnell and Rahbar, Render Media hired intern Avery Archie as Jr. Video Editor and Matthew Wyeth as Content Writer.

At the start of 2016, Render Media promoted Alex Groberman from Editorial Director to Vice President of Content Strategy. Groberman's work has been instrumental in the company's 933 percent traffic growth in the last two years. Groberman joined the company as a freelance writer in 2011 and has been a driving strategic force ever since.

Christina Lee-Starkey also joins Render Media's sales team as an Account Executive. Lee-Starkey was previously with Meredith, where she was an account executive for top food and lifestyle clients.

"We are so proud to announce this series of new hires, which mark a turning point in the expansion of our company," says Rachel Bullock, COO. "By continuing our strategy of promoting from within while bringing in key new talent, we'll be able to accelerate growth, and support our vision and goals for 2016 and beyond."

About Render Media Inc.

Render Media is one of the fastest-growing publishers built for the digital age. Agile and data-driven, Render produces socially-engaging content for three emerging brands: Opposing Views, America News and Cooking Panda. Founded by Eytan Elbaz and Vic Belonogoff, Render Media reaches 30 million monthly unique visitors, has an audience of over 15 million people on social media, and gets 440 million monthly total content views.

SOURCE Render Media Inc.

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Chief of Miller Children's Pediatric Pulmonary Center, Dr. Nussbaum was instrumental in developing Miller Children's Pediatric Intensive Care Unitone of the first in the U.S.and serving as Medical Director from 1979 to 1994. He also developed the Pediatric Pulmonary and Cystic Fibrosis Center and its teaching programs at Miller Children's and University of California Irvine (UCI) and remains its Medical Director since 1979.

"I'm honored to be selected to lead this world-class medical staff and follow in the footsteps of Dr. Fombe Ndiforchu," says Dr. Nussbaum. "I look forward to our partnership with hospital leadership on behalf of the families we serve."

"Dr. Nussbaum has been a passionate advocate for children for nearly 40 years," adds John Bishop, CEO of Long Beach Memorial, Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach and Community Hospital Long Beach, part of MemorialCare Health System in Southern California. "He brings a wealth of experience and is an ideal choice to help us expand our services throughout the region."

Since developing the Pediatric Pulmonary Center at Miller Children's, Dr. Nussbaum has grown the program as a premiere treatment center for children with complex respiratory conditions, including facilitating the opening of a dedicated inpatient wing for patients with pulmonary conditions. Most recently, he was instrumental in Miller Children's becoming the first children's hospital in California to receive Disease Specific Certification in Pediatric Asthma from the Joint Commission, the independent not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies health care organizations and programs in the U.S.

Professor of Clinical Pediatrics (Step VIII) at UCI School of Medicine, Dr. Nussbaum has been honored 13 consecutive years in the prestigious Best Doctors in America, and since 2011 in U.S. News & World Report Top Doctors. Author of medical books, novels and more than 200 scientific pieces, he is a member of the Society for Pediatric Research, American College of Physician Executives, American College of Chest Physicians and American Thoracic Society.

Dr. Nussbaum participates in global, national and university activities and has editorial board responsibilities for major medical journals and national societies. Board certified in General Pediatrics and Pediatric Pulmonology, he is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Chest Physicians and American College of Critical Care Medicine.

He received his Medical Degree from Sackler Medical School Tel Aviv (Israel) University, completed his Pediatric Residency at Mount Sinai Hospital New York, was the Chief Pediatric Resident at Maimonides Medical Center Brooklyn and Pulmonary Fellow at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital Cleveland. He completed University of Southern California School of Business Administration Management Development Program and worked as an inventor with UCI Office of Technology Alliances.

Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beachamong the nation's 10 largest children's hospitalsis one of only a few children's hospitals nationally to appear on Leapfrog Group's Top U.S. Hospitals. One of only eight free-standing children's hospitals in California, Miller Children's treats 100,000 children annually through its hospital, outpatient specialty and satellite centers for conditions ranging from common to complexas well as maternity care for expectant mothers. Only five percent of all hospitals are children's hospitals, making them unique to children's health care across the region. Miller Children's is renowned for advances in treating fragile newborns with one of the nation's largest and most respected neonatal intensive care units; pediatric intensive care unit, Jonathan Jaques Children's Cancer Center; pediatric heart, orthopedics and emergency centers; and rated among the best for treating cystic fibrosis, red blood disorders and sickle cell anemia. With its sister teaching hospital Long Beach Memorial on the same campus, Miller Children's patients access a lifetime of uninterrupted care. Visit MillerChildrens.org, like us on Facebook.com/MillerChildrensHospital and follow us on Twitter @MillerChildrens and Instagram @MillerChidrens.

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SOURCE Miller Childrens Hospital Long Beach

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REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- RevStream, Inc., the leading cloud-based, category-defining contract-to-revenue-lifecycle management solution provider, today announced the debut of RevStream 5X, the latest release of its fully automated revenue recognition solution featuring an all-new dynamic and responsive user interface and a host of new features to streamline ERLM and meet new revenue accounting standards.

The new RevStream 5X enables enterprises to proactively achieve ASC 606 and IFRS 15 compliance while dramatically reducing the complexity of managing the entire contract-to-revenue lifecycle. RevStream 5X's single end-to-end revenue recognition automation platform eliminates reliance on complicated, error-prone spreadsheets allowing companies to accelerate RLM processes, save days' worth of work each month, avoid spending millions to upgrade home-grown solutions, and gain complete 360-degree visibility into contracts, arrangements and revenue with a comprehensive, point-and-click interface.

With RevStream 5X, enterprise users can:

Enjoy a rich, intuitive user experience with an all-new responsive UI designed for optimum performance on any size screen, including mobile devices. The new RevStream dashboard provides a consolidated graphical view of the entire revenue stream with a fly-in/fly-out navigation panel that makes accessing drill-down details simple and easier on the eyes.

with an all-new responsive UI designed for optimum performance on any size screen, including mobile devices. The new RevStream dashboard provides a consolidated graphical view of the entire revenue stream with a fly-in/fly-out navigation panel that makes accessing drill-down details simple and easier on the eyes. Create, manage and link revenue arrangements using the most advanced arrangement grouping available... An Arrangement Summary workbench provides an overview of performance obligations, deferred and revenue balances and accounting all in a single view by reporting method, cutting the workload in half while delivering more accurate revenue projections.

using the most advanced arrangement grouping available... An Arrangement Summary workbench provides an overview of performance obligations, deferred and revenue balances and accounting all in a single view by reporting method, Create and track performance obligations per 606 requirements to manage contractual commitments and accurately record revenue. Pre-configured templates and assignment rules automatically assigns products and services into performance obligations, freeing the users to focus on non-standard contract commitments.

per 606 requirements to manage contractual commitments and accurately record revenue. Pre-configured templates and assignment rules automatically assigns products and services into performance obligations, freeing the users to focus on non-standard contract commitments. Automatically generate disclosure reports to meet ASC 606 compliance with pre-configured reports for Revenue Disaggregation, Contract Asset and Liability Roll Forward Balance, Transaction Price POB Allocated to Remaining POBs and Asset Recognized from Cost. RevStream 5X will also enable companies to more easily restate earnings for fiscal years 2016 and 2017, as required by the new ASC 606 revenue guidance that goes into effect in 2018.

to meet ASC 606 compliance with pre-configured reports for Revenue Disaggregation, Contract Asset and Liability Roll Forward Balance, Transaction Price POB Allocated to Remaining POBs and Asset Recognized from Cost. RevStream 5X will also enable companies to more easily restate earnings for fiscal years 2016 and 2017, as required by the new ASC 606 revenue guidance that goes into effect in 2018. Data Integration with REST based API's makes its easier and less expensive to collect, manage and export data to and from RevStream to any other ERP, Billing, Commerce, CRM, Datawarehouse or in house custom systems.

In addition to streamlining the revenue recognition process for end-users, saving them time and frustration, the new RevStream 5X also provides CFOs with complete, real-time visibility into current revenue projections. This at-a-glance insight allows executive-level management to spot anomalies and investigate challenges before revenue projections are missed, providing an opportunity to proactively resolve issues and right the ship.

"5X provides our customers even greater support for the jointly issued ASC 606 and IFRS 15 revenue recognition standards, while delivering enhanced visibility and management of the entire revenue lifecycle," said RevStream VP and Chief Product Officer Mark Aubin. "Not only is it a more enjoyable user experience, it also provides the most robust revenue recognition accounting engine available to both enforce internal revenue policy and comply with the new revenue accounting standards."

"With the release of RevStream 5X, we have once again demonstrated industry-leading innovation, providing our customers with rich and powerful features to more simply manage a complex business process with a beautiful user experience, all within the only end-to-end revenue lifecycle management platform on the market," said Rajiv Chopra, CEO and founder of RevStream. "This all-new 5X not only accelerates ERLM immediately, but provides for a more accurate and future-ready solution to meet constantly evolving needs."

RevStream 5X will be available to all customers early summer 2016. For more details on the latest product enhancements, visit www.revstreamone.com

To see the new RevStream 5X in action and learn more about RevStream's ongoing impact on ERLM landscape, join RevStream at its RevConnect 2016, 2nd annual user conference on Thursday, May 12 at the Hilton San Francisco, Financial District. Learn more or register at www.rev-connect.com.

About RevStream

RevStream Inc., a 2016 CODiE Award finalist for Best Financial Management Solution, is the market leader and a pioneer in Enterprise Revenue Lifecycle Management solutions. Its cloud-based platform provides companies in a wide range of industries with a powerful, accurate and intuitive solution for managing and automating revenue recognition, reporting and delivering revenue insights that empower more effective forecasting, compliance planning and decision-making. RevStream is the enterprise standard for revenue management for hundreds of top-performing companies including Intuit, Activision, VMware and LegalZoom, as well as other Fortune 500 firms. The company is based in Redwood Shores, Calif. To learn more, visit www.revstreamone.com.

SOURCE RevStream, Inc.

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SAN ANTONIO, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Overuse can cause a number of issues such as Achilles tendinitis, shin splints, ankle pain and leg pain but if pain persists seek care from a podiatrist who can apply biomechanics to find the underlying causes states Ed Davis, DPM, a Board Certified Podiatrist in San Antonio, Texas.

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San Antonio, Texas Podiatrist Discusses Leg Pain in Athletes

Biomechanics is the study of mechanics of the body including the forces exerted by movement, gravity and the muscles of the body. It is is also the study of gait and locomotion. Repetitive motion can cause chronic injury especially if the motion and forces it creates are abnormal or due to faulty body mechanics.

Shin splints are a common cause of leg pain in runners. There are three muscle groups in the leg that are commonly affected by overuse or faulty mechanics. The anterior muscle group or muscles in the front of the leg are responsible for lifting the foot upwards and may become painful if the Achilles tendon is too tight, there is inadequate preparation for running on hills or due to poor running shoe design. Pain in the anterior muscle group is termed "anterior shin splints." The deep posterior muscle group are muscles that run on the inside of the leg and are responsible for lifting up on the arch and allowing the foot to gradually roll or pronate to absorb shock with each step. Excessive rolling in or excessive pronation of the foot can cause posterior shin splints. Overpronation may be congenital are exacerbated by inadequate shoegear especially overly soft running shoes. The lateral muscle group or peroneal tendons run along the outside of the leg and prevent ankle sprains, prevent the foot from rolling out too much (oversupination). Pain in the lateral muscle group or lateral shin splints can arise from weak ankles, congenital oversupination or improper shoegear. Dr. Davis discussed shin splints in his website: http://www.southtexaspodiatrist.com/A-Shin-Splints-529#content

A more serious consequence of untreated shin splints is known as chronic exertional compartment syndrome or exercise induced compartment syndrome. The muscle groups of the leg are contained within compartments made of fascia. The term "fascia" refers to bands or sheets of connective tissue binding muscles together. Fascia has minimal ability to stretch so if the muscles contained within the fascia swell, then pressure builds up in that fascial compartment. If the pressure increase is modest then pain and throbbing may occur but if the pressure build up is severe, then damage to arteries and nerves that run alongside or in the muscles may occur and that is considered an emergency. Treatment of acute compartment syndrome involves surgical release of the fascia to prevent nerve damage or death of muscle tissue. Treatment of chronic compartment syndrome involves treatment of the underlying biomechanical issues that are causing overuse of the specific muscle group affected. Here is a discussion of chronic exertional compartment syndrome: http://www.southtexaspodiatrist.com/A-Chronic-Exertional-Compartment-Syndrome-539#content

The first step is discovery of the biomechanical issues that cause chronic repetitive strain of the leg muscles beginning with a comprehensive exam. The second step is to address the problematic mechanics via biomechanical interventions which may include changes in running form, changes in running surface, changes or modifications of shoegear, foot orthotics, physical or manual therapy, ESWT.

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Ed Davis DPM PLLC

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WASHINGTON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced its support and collaboration in the White House's "Computer Science for All" initiative, committed to helping America's young people develop the technology and business skills they need to succeed in the digital economy.

The Computer Science for All initiative is aimed at students at levels K12. This year's participants, including SAP, were announced in a press release today from the White House, which hosted the sixth and final White House Science Fair of President Obama's administration.

As part of its commitment, SAP agreed to maintain, or enhance, its long-standing contribution to the scientific and technical education of K12 students across the United States. Primarily, this has come from the corporation's support for STEM education, which in 2016 will provide $2.4 million in grants to nongovernmental organizations that promote STEM and computer science education to more than 700,000 K12 students in America.

"SAP takes very seriously our responsibility to help develop the next generation of visionaries, innovators and entrepreneurs," said Jennifer Morgan, president, SAP North America. "Our entire industry must be focused on inspiring today's youth to dream big and develop the skills they will need to ensure the United States remains the epicenter of technological innovation in the world."

SAP has a long history of support for technology education that it hopes can assist the Computer Science for All initiative. In 2016, the company will:

Expand education initiatives realized by unique partnerships in major cities across North America between high schools, postsecondary institutions, local SAP offices and community-based organizations

between high schools, postsecondary institutions, local SAP offices and community-based organizations Leverage a strong academic network through the SAP University Alliances community  made up of nearly 500 universities in the United States  with University Competence Center locations and academic centers of excellence, SAP customers, partners, start-ups and other key stakeholders to promote STEM and computer science education in all schools

 with University Competence Center locations and academic centers of excellence, SAP customers, partners, start-ups and other key stakeholders to promote STEM and computer science education in all schools Provide students opportunities to participate in exciting events, including SAP CodeJam, SAP InnoJam, hackathons and design-thinking workshops

Bring college and career expertise to high school students by partnering with local communities and schools to open technology schools in disadvantaged communities, with companies in the SAP ecosystem and professional mentors providing curriculum mapping for in-demand jobs at SAP and other IT occupations

For more information, visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

About SAP

As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device  SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable approximately 300,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

 2016 SAP SE. All rights reserved.

SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx#trademark for additional trademark information and notices.

Note to editors:

To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit www.sap.com/photos. On this platform, you can find high resolution material for your media channels. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit www.sap-tv.com. From this site, you can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links, and subscribe to RSS feeds from SAP TV.

For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:

Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24

United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1SAP (1-800-872-1727)

For more information, press only:

Atle Erlingsson, SAP, +1 415 519 8053, [email protected], PDT

Kellie Drenner, SAP, +1 408 612 9348, [email protected], PDT

SAP News Center press room; [email protected]

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SOURCE SAP SE

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RACINE, Wis., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- SC Johnson today announced a partnership with AmeriCares to donate 50,000 units of OFF! personal repellent to be distributed in Florida and El Salvador to help families combat the mosquitoes that may carry disease. This donation is part of SC Johnson's commitment to provide at least $15 million over the next year to help protect families from the Zika virus.

Photo of the Aedes aegypti mosquito from the SC Johnson Entomology Research Center in Racine, WI.

"El Salvador, with one of the highest rates of Zika in Central America, has a pressing need for assistance. In the U.S., Florida has the highest number of travel-related cases of Zika and many residents who travel frequently to countries with Zika outbreaks. Personal repellent can help protect needy families against the spread of mosquito-borne disease in this state," said Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson. "Working with an organization like AmeriCares and its partner network allows us to get people the tools they need to protect themselves."

Today's donation to AmeriCares is the latest announcement in SC Johnson's ongoing effort to provide up to $15 million in resources to help defend against the mosquitoes that may carry the Zika virus. In coordination with the CDC Foundation, SCJ supported the Zika Action Plan Summit held by the White House and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on April 1, and also donated to the CDC's Zika Prevention Kits. Additional donations have been made to the Rio de Janeiro-based Children's Health Association and the County of Hawaii Civil Defense Agency.

AmeriCares is an emergency response and global health organization that saves lives and builds healthier futures for people in crisis in the U.S. and around the world. Since it was established in more than 30 years ago, AmeriCares has distributed more than $12 billion in humanitarian aid to 164 countries, including the United States.

"Prevention is key to management of the Zika virus," said AmeriCares Medical Officer Julie Varughese. "We're excited to be able to offer this repellent as a way for families in high-risk communities to reduce their risk of transmission."

SC Johnson is the world's largest manufacturer of insect repellents and household insecticides, including OFF!, Autan, Raid and Baygon. Amid growing concern about mosquito-borne diseases, SC Johnson has scaled up its production efforts to meet increased national and global demand for personal repellents and to ensure that families have steady access to these essential products. In addition, for 60 years, SC Johnson entomologists have studied insects at the Entomology Research Center in Racine, Wis., the biggest private, urban entomology research center in the world. For more information, please go to www.scjohnson.com/mosquitoes

About SC Johnson

SC Johnson is a family company dedicated to innovative, high-quality products, excellence in the workplace and a long-term commitment to the environment and the communities in which it operates. Based in the USA, the company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household cleaning products and products for home storage, air care, pest control and shoe care, as well as professional products. It markets such well-known brands as GLADE, KIWI, OFF!, PLEDGE, RAID, SCRUBBING BUBBLES, SHOUT, WINDEX and ZIPLOC in the U.S. and beyond, with brands marketed outside the U.S. including AUTAN, TANA, BAMA, BAYGON, BRISE, KABIKILLER, KLEAR, MR MUSCLE and RIDSECT. The 130-year-old company, which generates $10 billion in sales, employs approximately 13,000 people globally and sells products in virtually every country around the world. www.scjohnson.com

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SOURCE SC Johnson

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AUCKLAND, New Zealand and BOSTON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Actifio, the copy data virtualisation company and its partner Spectrum, today announced the continued growth of Spectrum's Actifio-based services business. A Platinum Partner of Actifio's since late 2014, Spectrum specialises in consulting, architecture and management of innovative IT solutions for enterprise organisations in New Zealand and Australia. In the last year, Spectrum has experienced rapid expansion, more than doubling sales, and specifically growing its business by over 40% from existing and new client adoption of Actifio-backed services for data protection, disaster recovery and application testing and development.

Spectrum forms strategic, consultative partnerships with clients, to deliver insights and opportunities that challenge conventional thinking and enable transformational change. Spectrum provides solutions that link technology with business strategy, and also conducts on-going performance reviews to ensure its clients gain the maximum return on their IT investments. Spectrum's Actifio-based services currently support a wide variety of New Zealand organisations, from startups to multinationals, in finance, government, insurance, pharmaceutical and other sectors.

One of the biggest problems that Spectrum has seen across all of its clients, regardless of industry is a growth of application data kept inside organisations and the sprawling costly infrastructure and processes needed to manage it. "It is not uncommon to have as many as 25 copies of the same application data for different use cases, stakeholders, or siloed infrastructure stack," said Anton Aalders, CTO at Spectrum. "This creates a lot of excess spending and is a waste of valuable time and resources just for data management and infrastructure administration. Backed by our consulting, our clients have been able to see the agility Actifio provides especially around accelerating test cycles, while also getting better, SLA-driven protection of their critical data assets."

With copy data virtualisation from Actifio, Spectrum has enabled customers to eliminate excess licensing and hardware costs, reduce operational barriers and complexity typically associated with data protection, disaster recovery and application testing processes.

"Businesses are going through an unprecedented shift to digitalisation, and with that, applications and their data have become the new levers for meeting customer needs, for growth, for innovation," said Ash Ashutosh, CEO and Founder of Actifio. "Strategically minded partners like Spectrum are truly at the forefront of helping enterprises address this shift, by letting them consume infrastructure on-demand in Spectrum's cloud, and delivering the data access, protection and mobility that will help them be more responsive and more agile in their business strategy and execution."

Patrick O'Donnell, VP & General Manager for Asia-Pacific at Actifio, said, "We're very excited to welcome Spectrum as our first platinum partner in the region. Spectrum is exactly the type of strategic partner we are looking for, because they are incredibly passionate about customer success, and challenge the status quo. Together, we are helping clients leverage copy data virtualisation to tackle their biggest data and application development challenges."

About Spectrum

Based in Auckland and Wellington, Spectrum is a consulting and managed IT services firm focused on forming strategic partnerships with clients. Our client partnerships deliver insights and uncover opportunities that challenge conventional thinking, helping clients to grow and transform their organisations. The team's business strategy consulting experience and approach bring clarity of direction, and helps assure solutions are focused on client business outcomes, often including improving business agility, time to market and cost savings. The Spectrum approach is built around delivering incremental and continuous value, aligned to business strategies, with innovative technology that helps speed adoption. To learn more please visit http://www.sc.nz.

About Actifio

Actifio virtualises the data that's the lifeblood of businesses in more than 30 countries around the world. Its Virtual Data Pipeline technology enables businesses to protect, access, and move their data faster, more efficiently, and more simply by decoupling data from physical storage, much the same way a hypervisor decouples compute from physical servers. For enterprise-class backup modernisation, self-serve instant data access, or service provider business transformation, Actifio is the first and only choice for radically simple copy data virtualisation. For more, visit Actifio.com or follow us on Twitter @Actifio.

For more information, please contact:

Dan Walsh

Mustard PR for Actifio

[email protected]

+ 44 (0) 1753 656 661

Grant McKenzie

Spectrum

[email protected]

+64 9 826 5588

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SOURCE Actifio

Related Links

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PHOENIX, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Take The Lead Arizona, founded by Gloria Feldt, national expert on women's leadership, announces an intensive leadership training program for women in Maricopa County working in the nonprofit sector. The program, 50 Women Can Change the World, includes five, in-person training sessions, a robust online learning program, and executive coaching. Participants will be guided and mentored while they develop and implement their own powerful strategic leadership action plans and gain practical and tactical skills to better equip them to lead nonprofit organizations in the 21st century.

Applications for 50 Women Can Change the World are available April 15 through June 3, 2016 at www.taketheleadwomen.com. The first class runs August through December, 2016.

"Two years ago, I launched Take The Lead because women are still not getting their fair share of leadership positions, despite having more women in the workplace who are better educated and more experienced than ever before," said Gloria Feldt. "The statistics are grim. Women continue to earn about 20 percent less than men. The disparity is especially prevalent in the nonprofit world which employs a preponderance of women."

According to the GuideStar Nonprofit Compensation Report, in 2012, nationally female CEOs made 11 percent less than their male counterparts at nonprofits with budgets of $250,000 or less. Female CEOs at nonprofits with budgets between $25 and $50 million made 23 percent less. And only 17 percent of nonprofits with budgets of more than $50 million were led by women.

"Women are the backbone of the nonprofit world, but they've not been able to crack the code and take their rightful place in leading these organizations," said Dana Campbell Saylor, former CEO of the Arizona YWCA Metropolitan Phoenix and co-chair, with Mara Babin, of Take The Lead Arizona Leadership Council. "I'm thrilled to be part of a new program which helps women unlock their leadership potential. The nonprofit sector is incredibly important to our state."

A new, comprehensive study, "Arizona Nonprofits: Economic Power, Positive Impact," reveals that the nonprofit sector generates more than $22.4 billion to the state's economy. It is 8 percent of the state's Gross State Product and ranks as the 5th largest non-governmental employer. Moreover, 72 percent of nonprofit revenue is earned in fees and services, not in philanthropic contributions.

Research for this study was conducted by ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Innovation, the William Seidman Research Institute of ASU W.P. Carey School of Business, Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits, and the Phoenix Philanthropy group, with funding by the Arizona Community Foundation, Maricopa County IDA and APS.

50 Women Can Change the World is supported by American Express Foundation, SRP, APS, Freeport McMoRan, Copperpoint Mutual Insurance Company, Frontdoors, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, and Dr. Mitchell and Kerry Giangobbe, Veincare of Arizona. Take The Lead is a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to prepare, develop, inspire and propel women to take their fair and equal share of leadership positions across all sectors by 2025.

For program information, contact Alison Rapping, Take The Lead Arizona Director 602.525.8682 or [email protected].

Contact: Pam Hait & Martha Hunter

Strategies 602.952.0040

SOURCE Take The Lead Arizona

Related Links

http://www.taketheleadwomen.com


LONDON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Focus on cost effectiveness of therapeutic drug monitoring and increase in R&D investments will boost the growth of therapeutic drug monitoring market



The therapeutic drug monitoring market is projected to reach USD 2.55 billion by 2020 from USD 1.78 billion in 2015, growing at a CAGR of 7.4% during the forecast period (20152020).

In this report, the therapeutic drug monitoring market is broadly segmented by product, technology, class of drug, end user, and region.



North America is expected to account for more than half the therapeutic drug monitoring market share in 2015. It is the prime market for therapeutic drug monitoring due to the high awareness and acceptance of the benefits of therapeutic drug monitoring and growing healthcare expenditure. Europe on the other hand is growing at a slower rate as the healthcare sector is recovering from the economic downturn and healthcare facilities are trying to minimize healthcare delivery costs. Growth in the APAC therapeutic drug monitoring market is comparatively slower due to the dearth of skilled healthcare personnel who can perform therapeutic drug monitoring tests with minimal errors.



From an insight perspective, this research report focuses on the qualitative data, future market size, share, and market potential of various segments and subsegments, competitive landscape, and company profiles. The qualitative data covers various levels of industry analysis such as market dynamics (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges) and technological trends in therapeutic drug monitoring. It mainly focuses on the emerging and high-growth segments of the therapeutic drug monitoring market and government initiatives across regions.



The competitive landscape covers the various strategies adopted by industry players to maintain their position in the therapeutic drug monitoring market. The company profiles comprise the basic views on the key players in the therapeutic drug monitoring market and the product portfolios, developments, and strategies adopted by market players to maintain and increase their market shares.



Reasons to buy this report:

This research report has focused on various levels of analysisindustry analysis (industry trends), market share analysis of top players and company profiles, which together comprise and discuss the basic views on the competitive landscape; emerging and high-growth market segments; high-growth regions; and market drivers, restraints, and opportunities.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

- Market Penetration: Comprehensive information on galley equipment offered by the top players in the global therapeutic drug monitoring market



- Product Development/Innovation: Detailed insights on upcoming technologies, research & development activities, and new product launches in the therapeutic drug monitoring market



- Market Development: Comprehensive information about lucrative emerging markets  the report analyzes the markets for therapeutic drug monitoring across regions



- Market Diversification: Exhaustive information about new products, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments in the global therapeutic drug monitoring market



- Competitive Assessment: In-depth assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players in the global therapeutic drug monitoring market





Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3722542/



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

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For more information:

Sarah Smith

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Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE ReportBuyer

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Available on iOS, Android, Web, and Mobile Web, the bilingual digital service was developed with UCI's key demographic in mind: the more than 57 million Hispanics in the U.S. who over-index in digital consumption. Hispanics spend 36% more time on smartphones per week than the general market and engage with apps 18% more than the general population.

"As Hispanics continue to be the fastest growing demographic in the U.S., it is critical for us at UCI to continue to create products and services that reflect their needs and lifestyle. Launching Univision Remesas provides Hispanic America with a transparent and nimble service at their fingertips from two reliable partners Univision, the brand they've come to trust for close to 60 years, and Bancomer Transfer Services, an established and trusted leader in the financial industry," said Richard Pacheco, senior vice president, Enterprise Development, UCI.

"The collaboration with Univision delivers a secure digital solution through the Univision Remesas brand, and continues to strengthen and financially empower the Hispanic community," said Aurora Garza Hagan, CEO, Bancomer Transfer Services.

Univision Remesas employs a simple, transparent business model that provides consumers with a fast and secure way to send money to family and friends within minutes and offers multiple funding options, including a prepaid card, bank account, debit card or credit card. Recipients have easy access to their money via cash pickup and bank deposit options available across a large network of bank and retail locations, at over 25,000 locations in Latin America. Transfer fees start at $4.99 USD. For more information, visit UnivisionRemesas.com.

Through its Univision Enterprise division, UCI has developed these products and services to further financially empower Hispanic America with products that aid with managing finances; purchases that enable credit building; and services that provide financial savings in the health and mobile space tailored to their needs and lifestyle. Univision Remesas is the latest initiative launched by Univision Enterprises working hand-in-hand with best-in-class partners.

About Univision Communications Inc.

Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) is the leading media company serving Hispanic America. The Company, a leading content creator in the U.S., includes Univision Network, one of the top five networks in the U.S. regardless of language and the most-watched Spanish-language broadcast television network in the country available in approximately 93% of U.S. Hispanic television households; UniMas, a leading Spanish-language broadcast television network available in approximately 87% of U.S. Hispanic television households; Univision Cable Networks, including Galavision, the most-watched U.S. Spanish-language cable network, as well as UDN (Univision Deportes Network), the most-watched U.S. Spanish-language sports network, Univision tlnovelas, a 24-hour cable network dedicated to telenovelas, ForoTV, a 24-hour Spanish-language cable network dedicated to international news, and an additional suite of cable offerings - De Pelicula, De Pelicula Clasico, Bandamax, Ritmoson and Telehit; Univision Television Group, which owns 59 television stations in major U.S. Hispanic markets and Puerto Rico; digital properties consisting of online and mobile websites and apps, including Univision.com, the most visited Spanish-language website among U.S. Hispanics, UVideos, a bilingual digital video network and Uforia, a music application featuring multimedia music content; and Univision Radio, the leading Spanish-language radio group in the U.S. which owns and operates 67 radio stations including stations in 16 of the top 25 U.S. Hispanic markets and Puerto Rico. UCI's assets also include a minority stake in El Rey Network, a 24-hour English-language general entertainment cable network and a joint venture with Disney/ABC Television Network for FUSION, a 24-hour English-language news and lifestyle TV and digital network. Headquartered in New York City, UCI has television network operations in Miami and television and radio stations and sales offices in major cities throughout the United States. For more information, please visit Univision.net.

About BBVA and Bancomer Transfer Services, Inc.

Based in Madrid, Spain, BBVA (NYSE: BBVA) (MAD: BBVA), is a customer-centric global financial services group that was founded in 1857 and operates in more than 30 countries. The Group has a solid leadership position in Spain, is the largest financial institution in Mexico, and has leading franchises in Latin America and the Sunbelt Region of the United States. The strength of the BBVA global brand, coupled with technology and regulatory compliance capabilities, makes Bancomer Transfer Services, Inc. an attractive proposition for financial institutions and customers around the world that require money transfer services. Based in Houston, Bancomer Transfer Services Inc. (BTS) is a subsidiary of BBVA. BTS has provided money transfer services to Mexico since 1995 and expanded its payment network to Latin America in 2002. Today, BTS offers consumer money transfer services from over 40 countries to over 25,000 payment locations in Latin America.

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SOURCE BBVA Compass
VANCOUVER, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - UrtheCast Corp. (TSX:UR) ("UrtheCast" or the "Company") today announces that will be awarded a technological Contribution Agreement ("CA") of $2.0 million from the Space Technologies Development Program ("STDP"), implemented by the Canadian Space Agency ("CSA").

This Contribution Agreement will aid UrtheCast in the development of its upcoming, unprecedented OptiSAR Constellation, currently slated for deployment in 2020-2021. The 16-satellite OptiSAR Constellation is expected to consist of eight X and L-band SAR satellites and eight high-resolution optical satellites, flying in a paired, tandem configuration. By capturing SAR and optical data in unison, each satellite pair is expected to help UrtheCast deliver Earth imagery regardless of weather conditions and with extremely high revisit rates  allowing for cloud-free imaging and improved identification of ground targets.

UrtheCast has been awarded this CA based on its experienced team of SAR and space-mission experts, its technology partner Nanowave, its successful technological track record, and the anticipated impact of OptiSAR technology upon the Earth Observation industry. Because this unprecedented technology continues to demonstrate increasing market interest, it is expected to greatly enhance Canada's industry competitiveness, internationally.

"The award will help us maximize the utility and commercial advantage of what will be an extraordinary Constellation and we're extremely proud that the CSA appreciates this revolutionary, industry-changing direction. We're right now on the verge of harnessing what we expect will become one of our industry's most powerful Earth-imaging systems," explains UrtheCast President and Chief Executive Officer, Wade Larson.

The EO market has shown strong interest in the development of applications using dual-band data, and as such, the $2.0 million allotment is expected to assist UrtheCast in fulfilling this need in the marketplace. The development of this Earth-sensing system is expected to greatly augment UrtheCast's competitive advantage, allowing it to serve a wider segment of the existing EO market, while creating new opportunities for our current and future data clients.

ABOUT URTHECAST CORP.

UrtheCast Corp. is a Vancouver-based technology company that serves the rapidly evolving geospatial and geoanalytics markets with a wide range of information-rich products and services. The Company currently operates four Earth Observation sensors in space, including two cameras aboard the International Space Station and two satellites, Deimos-1 and Deimos-2. Imagery and video data captured by these sensors is downlinked to ground stations across the planet and displayed on UrtheCast's cloud-based web platform, or distributed directly to partners and customers. UrtheCast is also developing and anticipates launching the world's first fully-integrated constellation of multispectral optical and SAR satellites, called OptiSAR, which the Company believes will revolutionize monitoring of our planet with high-quality, high-resolution, and high-revisit imagery in all weather conditions, any time of day. Common shares of UrtheCast trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ticker 'UR'.

For more information, visit UrtheCast's website at www.urthecast.com.

Forward Looking Information

This release contains certain information which, as presented, constitutes "forward-looking information" or "forward-oriented financial information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information involves statements that relate to future events and often addresses expected future business and financial performance, containing words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", and "expect", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could" or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions and includes, but is not limited to; its plans for and timing of expansion of its product offering and value-added services; its future growth and operations plans; and the acceptance by its customers and the marketplace of new satellite imaging content, technologies and solutions. Such statements reflect UrtheCast's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by UrtheCast, are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors could cause UrtheCast's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others: any delays or failures in the design, development, construction, launch and operational commissioning of the proposed OptiSAR constellation; the Company being unable to convert the Memoranda of Understanding in respect of funding of the OptiSAR constellation into binding, definitive agreements; interruptions to or failures of UrtheCast's infrastructure; legal and regulatory changes, as well as those factors and assumptions discussed in UrtheCast's annual information form dated March 29, 2016, (the "AIF"), which is available under UrtheCast's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information is developed based on assumptions about such risks, uncertainties and other factors set out herein, in the AIF, and as disclosed from time to time on UrtheCast's SEDAR profile. UrtheCast undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by Canadian securities laws. Readers are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

SOURCE UrtheCast Corp.

Related Links

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TAMPA, Fla., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Yogurtology was recently recognized as one of the Tampa Bay Times Top Workplaces in 2016. A total of 100 organizations made the list, and Yogurtology was ranked 2nd out of the top 50 organizations listed with less than 100 employees.

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The Top Workplaces Program identifies organizations that excel at organizational health and workplace engagement. This is accomplished by administering an employee feedback survey to the organization's employees. Each organization is evaluated and then recognized solely on the opinions of its employees. In total, 1,378 organizations were invited to participate, 178 of them were surveyed, and only 100 were selected.

Yogurtology employees had great things to say about the organization. One employee said, "The leadership of Yogurtology is fair, consistent, and honest. I appreciate that." Another employee commented on the "opportunities for growth and development" that Yogurtology provides.

Yogurtology Franchising, LLC is headquartered in Tampa, FL. Jordan Levy, President, and Ean Mendelsohn, Vice President, relocated the company's corporate headquarters to Tampa from Scottsdale, AZ nearly three years ago and have grown the organization to over 70 employees across 14 locations.

"It's an honor to be recognized by the Tampa Bay Times as one of the 100 best places to work in Tampa. The success of our employees is the key to our success," says Mr. Levy.

Mr. Mendelsohn had this to say about the achievement, "When our employees are happy and having fun, our customers are happy and having fun as well. Our company culture is what helps Yogurtology thrive. We are very proud that out of the top 50 best workplaces, Yogurtology came in 2nd."

About Yogurtology Franchising, LLC:

Yogurtology is a frozen yogurt franchise headquartered in Tampa, FL., where "the art + science of frozen yogurt" converge to provide a healthy and delicious dessert experience. Yogurtology offers over 100 exclusive Premiyum flavors, Bottomings (toppings for the bottom of your cup), Sloppings (syrups and sauces), fresh toppings, along with healthy probiotics in each serving. For franchising opportunities, visit us at http://yogurtology.com/franchising/ for more information.

Media Inquiries:

Jennifer Dufek

Director of Marketing

Yogurtology Franchising, LLC

813-867-8628

[email protected]

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Yogurtology

Related Links

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If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
Washington, April 9 : Former US president Bill Clinton suggested there were "different standards" regarding gender in the ongoing debate between his wife and Democrat front-runner Hillary Clinton, and opponent Bernie Sanders over who is more qualified to be president.

Earlier this week, Sanders caused a "firestorm" when he said Hillary Clinton was not "qualified" to be the president, citing her support from Wall Street donors and her 2002 vote as a New York senator for the Iraq war, CNN reported on Saturday.

Asked by a reporter in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Friday if "gender was a factor" in Sanders' comments, Bill Clinton began by praising his wife, saying she's the best candidate for president.

"I think it's obvious by a country mile and that's all that matters to me," Clinton said.

"Yes, I think there are some different standards. Some of them are subconscious."

Later on Friday, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said that Sanders' remarks "obviously was not a gender-related thing".

Asked if Sanders regretted the choice of words, Weaver said the campaign had meant "qualified in the sense of 'disqualified' as opposed to 'unqualified.'"

"I think those are different meanings," Weaver said, adding "Obviously, the secretary is resume-qualified. She has a distinguished resume, there's no doubt about that, no one can take that away from her."

As of now, Hillary Clinton is leading the Democrats race with 1,780 votes and Sanders is in the second position with 1,099.
Mumbai, April 9 : Actor Randeep Hooda has become the brand ambassador of Mumbai's fire department.

Honoured to be the brand's face, the "Main Aur Charles" actor shared that the firefighters are not only fighting fire, but are also involved in "rescue and relief operations which a lot of us are unaware of".

Randeep revealed that he is not afraid of fire, but knows just how dangerous it can be given the high temperature.

The actor even discussed the perils with the men-in-uniform during the shoot. As for getting into their uniform, Randeep admitted that it was a proud moment for him to wear it.

"It's hot," he said.

The campaign for the department will begin on April 14, and seeks to rope in volunteers from all walks of life.

On the film front, Randeep is currently filming for "Sultan" and "Do Lafzon Ki Kahani" with "Laal Rang" and "Sarbjit" slated to release on April 22 and May 20.
Mumbai, April 9 : Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi will travel to Maharashtra and address a rally in Nagpur on Monday as part of B.R. Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary celebrations, an official said here on Saturday.

The duo shall arrive in Nagpur and visit the historic Deekshabhoomi, where Ambedkar had embraced Buddhism along with 600,000 followers on October 14, 1956.

Later, Sonia Gandhi will address a public rally at Kasturchand Park in the city, to mark Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary, which will be attended by Rahul Gandhi and other top central and state Congress leaders.

Rahul Gandhi will travel to Mumbai on Tuesday (April 12) to meet jewellers who have been on strike since over a month to protest the one percent hike in excise duty.

The strike by a majority of the gold jewellers fraternity has crippled the retail markets and seriously hit gold demand and imports.

Rahul Gandhi, who has already expressed his support for the jewellers, will meet their representatives at Zaveri Bazar, the industry hub in Mumbai on Tuesday, said Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam.

He will pray at the 15th century Mumbadevi temple, after whom Mumbai derived its name, and visit the Deonar dumping ground which has been the source of massive pollution in recent weeks, said Nirupam.
Islamabad/Kabul/New Delhi, April 10 : A major earthquake jolted parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India on Sunday, reportedly killing two people and injuring 10 in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, officials said the earthquake measured 7.1 on the Richter scale and hit parts of the country's northern and eastern regions.

Pakistan's meteorological department said the epicentre was determined at the Hindu Kush mountain range, located along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, with a depth of 236 km.

The tremors were felt in capital Islamabad, parts of Punjab province and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province including the capital Peshawar as well as tribal areas.

The quake created panic among residents. Emergency was declared in hospitals in Peshawar for possible quake victims.

Media reports said two people were killed but provided no details.

In India, the authorities said the magnitude was measured at 6.8, and the depth at 190 km.

The tremors were also felt all across northern India, including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

People rushed out of their homes and offices in some parts of New Delhi and surrounding areas, residents said.

In Delhi, Metro services were briefly halted as a precaution. Normalcy quickly returned.

The tremors were felt in several Afghan provinces including Nangarhar, Kunar and Laghman in the east, Baghlan and Kunduz in the north and Takhar and Badakhshan in the northeast, Xinhua news agency reported.

However, no casualties have been reported so far in Afghanistan.

Sayed Abdullah Hamayon Dehqan, director of the National Disaster Management Authority in Badakhshan province, told Xinhua that the epicentre was in the mountainous Ashkashim district.

The tremors were also felt in Xinjiang in northwest China.

The China Earthquake Networks Center said the quake hit the Hindu Kush area at 6.28 p.m. (Beijing time) at 36.56 degrees north and 71.31 degrees east, at a depth of 200 km.

Residents of Kashgar, Hotan and Kizilsu Kirgiz prefectures of the autonomous region that borders Afghanistan felt strong tremors.

Deng Jiaping, a resident of Kashgar, told Xinhua that the building she lives in shook for less than a minute, toppling her desktop computer and sending neighbours running out for safety.

Some railway sections in the south of Xinjiang were closed for safety checks after the quake.
Washington, April 12 : A team of scientists has developed a new refined tool to search for exoplanets orbiting distant stars or other planetary detections.

One of the most successful techniques to find and confirm planets is called the radial velocity method.

A planet is obviously influenced by the gravity of the star it orbits; that's what keeps it in orbit.

This technique takes advantage of the fact that the planet's gravity also affects the star in return.

As a result, astronomers are able to detect the tiny wobbles the planet induces as its gravity tugs on the star. Using this method, astronomers have detected hundreds of exoplanets.

For certain kinds of low-mass stars, there are limitations to the standard radial velocity method that may find something that looks like a planet but is not.

To address this issue, the team from Carnegie Mellon University, California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Missouri State University decided to use the radial velocity technique but they examined a different, longer wavelength of light.

"Switching from the visible spectrum to the near-infrared, the wobble effect caused by an orbiting planet will remain the same regardless of wavelength," explained Jonathan Gagne from Carnegie.

But looking in the near-infrared will allow us to reject false positives caused by sunspots and other phenomena that will not look the same in near-infrared as they do in visible light, he added.

The research team was able to develop a better calibration tool to improve the overall technology for near-infrared radial velocity work which should make it a better option going forward.

They examined 32 low-mass stars using this technological upgrade att he NASA Infrared Telescope Facility atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

The findings confirmed several known planets and binary systems and also identified a few new planetary candidates.

"Our results indicate that this planet-hunting tool is precise and should be a part of the mix of approaches used by astronomers going forward," added Caltech's Peter Gao in a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Moscow, April 12 : Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is upbeat about the possibility of reaching a peaceful solution to the country's lingering crisis, a Russian lawmaker visiting Damascus said on Tuesday.

"Syrian President Bashar al-Assad positively assesses the possibility of a peaceful settlement of the situation in Syria within the framework of the Geneva dialogue," Xinhua quoted Sergey Gavrilov as saying.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem on Monday reiterated his government's readiness to attend the upcoming round of Geneva peace talks on Syria, saying the government was committed to attending the peace talks without preconditions.

He also stressed on the Syrians' right to determine their future without foreign interference.

The latest round of Syrian peace talks, which started on March 14, was wrapped up in Geneva with a 12-point paper delivered to both sides for further consideration.

The next round of negotiations is expected to start off in Geneva on Wednesday, four days behind the original schedule.

More than 270,000 people have been reportedly killed in Syria and millions displaced since the conflict broke out in the country in March 2011.
Hyderabad, April 12 : The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad on Tuesday quashed a non-bailable warrant issued by a city court against central minister Y.S. Chowdary in a loan default case.

The high court, however, asked the minister to personally appear before the court concerned on May 5 in the case, filed by a Mauritius-based bank for alleged default in loan repayment.

The minister of state for science and technology, in his petition, urged the high court to quash the criminal case registered against him and also the NBW.

Chowdary, a Telugu Desam Party leader, contended that since he is only a non-executive director of Sujana Universal Industries Limited, he can't be proceeded against.

The high court, in its interim order, quashed the warrant and adjourned hearing in the case to June 16.

On April 7, The XIIth additional chief metropolitan magistrate issued the warrant as the minister failed for the third time to personally appear in response to the court summons.

The counsel for Mauritius Commercial Bank had told the lower court that the minister was evading the process of court and sought NBW against him.

Chowdary and others were accused of defaulting in repayment of loan in excess of Rs.106 crore.

The loan was taken for Mauritius-based Hestia Holdings Ltd., a subsidiary of Sujana Universal Industries Ltd.
New Delhi, April 12 : Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday assured his "full support" to Delhi's second phase of the odd-even traffic scheme to be implemented from April 15 to 30.

He gave the assurance to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal when the latter called on the union minister and urged him to back the scheme aimed at battling pollution.

Gadkari assured "full support" to the Delhi government in the fight against pollution, a Delhi government official told IANS.

The minister also said the central government would invest Rs.30,000 crore to decongest the National Capital Region (NCR).

Gadkari said eight elevated roads would be built to directly connect Ring Road with NCR, the official said.

Kejriwal, accompanied by Delhi's Transport Minister Gopal Rai, also urged Gadkari to extend the last date for registration of e-rickshaws by six months. The last date was March 31.

"The chief minister discussed several issues with Gadkari including odd-even and extension of date for registration of e-rickshaws. He also sought Gadkari's support to improve the traffic situation," said the official.

Under the odd-even scheme, petrol and diesel driven vehicles with odd registration numbers will ply on odd dates and those with even registration numbers on even dates.

The scheme is not applicable to CNG vehicles, two-wheelers, women motorists, cars carrying school children in uniform and several kinds of VIPs.
Washington, April 13 : The Pentagon on Tuesday said 12 militants of al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida-affiliated group in Somalia, were killed in US airstrikes this week.

The US military conducted two airstrikes late Monday evening and early Tuesday morning on an al-Shabaab camp in southern Somalia due to an "imminent threat" against US troops in Somalia, Xinhua quoted Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis as saying.

Further details about the strikes were not available at the moment.

Despite its involvement in assisting the Somalian government and African Union forces in battling al-Shabaab, an extremist group responsible for dozens of terror attacks in east Africa, particularly Kenya, the US military so far was not launching regular airstrikes against the group in Somalia.

In March, the US military conducted an airstrike against a training camp of the group about 193 km north of Mogadishu, the largest city in Somalia, killing about 150 al-Shabaab fighters.
New Delhi, April 13 : India has asked its envoy in Pakistan to take up at the "highest possible level" with their foreign office the issue of early transportation of mortal remains of an Indian national who died in Pakistan on Monday.

"On Kirpal Singh, our acting high commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in the Pakistan foreign office this forenoon to seek early transportation of the mortal remains," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said on Wednesday.

"He will also ask for official information on cause of death, postmortem report etc," he added.

Kirpal Singh, 54, died at a hospital in Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat Jail. He was alleged to have been involved in a bombing at Faisalabad Railway Station in 1991 and sentenced to death for spying and terrorism in Pakistan.

He was transferred to a hospital on Monday after suddenly his health deteriorated, jail officials said.

Pakistani authorities said Kirpal Singh died due to heart failure.

In 2013, an Indian death row convict Sarabjit Singh was attacked by two other inmates at the Kot Lakhpat Jail. He later succumbed to his wounds at the hospital.

On Tuesday, a sister of Kirpal Singh protested at the Attari-Wagah integrated checkpost on the India-Pakistan border over his death.

"My brother Kirpal has been murdered just like Sarabjit was earlier. The Pakistani jail authorities are responsible for his death," Jagir Kaur said during the protest.

She was accompanied by many other protestors, among them Dalbir Kaur, the elder sister of Sarabjit Singh.

The family demanded that Kirpal Singh's body be handed over to them for cremation at his native village in Punjab's Gurdaspur district.
New Delhi : Title: "Dating & Marriage diaries in Urban India"; Author: Sahil Thaker; Publisher: Notion Press; Pages: 96; Price: Rs.149 Many Indians search for their life partners on matrimonial websites these days. Some have good experiences while some have sour memories by the end. A lot of parents in India look for NRI boys for their girls while a lot of NRIs look for their "typical Indian" girls via these websites.

Although the author has researched a lot on the topic, marrying his own experiences with facts and providing a basic guide to searching for a life partner, beware! The read is not soft or laced with sugar!

Completely from a man's point of view, Sahil Thaker's brutally honest penned-down experiences give an insight as to how and on what basis people do or should look for their better half.

One wouldn't say that every reader would agree to the points made by him, but the thoughts shared by the author, who was born and raised in Mumbai and has lived in US for almost six years, can be very offending for the female readers.

The author has taken to categorising girls, elucidating on the "types" of women who have their profiles on the matrimonial websites like "The ugly" -- a woman who is almost overweight or obese -- with "spelling mistakes and grammatical errors" in her profile, "the visa queen", "the princess", "the over-liberated" and the "hardworking types". Perhaps the categories speak a lot about the thought process of not just Thaker but many men.

All said and done, the composition of facts and experiences shared by the author give direction to a lot of individuals who are looking forward to settling down. With headers like "factors to consider in a potential spouse" and "miscellaneous considerations", the book has been broken down into a lot of sub-heads, which play a crucial role in finding that perfect someone.

The read also addresses the issue of many and although irksome in the beginning, highlights the ill-effects of tobacco.

"Dating & Marriage diaries in Urban India" also highlights the issue of dowry. The author, who has left key tip notes at the end of every sub-heading, states, "Do not pay any dowry in cash or kind, refuse to marry if asked for dowry".

Another important topic discussed is household responsibilities.

The author says that it is important to discuss factors like: Where will you be living, especially if you are living with your in-laws then they could have additional expectations; dividing household responsibilities, especially if the couple is living alone and how much an individual wants to contribute to running the household, among others.

Overall, "Dating & Marriage diaries in Urban India" is a brutally honest composition, which should be read by people be it the groom or the bride as it gives insight to a lot of factors we might not have actually considered in our search for that perfect someone.

(Kishori Sud can be contacted at kishori.s@ians.in)
New Delhi : Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, whose 125th birth anniversary falls on April 14, has emerged as one of India's most revered leader especially during the last two decades. No political party can afford to ignore him though the reasons for doing so are more electoral than emotional.

Independent India's first cabinet of prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had only 14 members with B.R. Ambedkar as law minister listed at No.11 in the order of precedence, below Jagjivan but above Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherji of the Hindu Mahasabha (later the Jan Sangh founder). Mahatma Gandhi had prevailed upon Nehru Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to include non-Congressmen as well because independence had come for the whole country - and not only for those who led the freedom movement.

It was only four years later, on September 27, 1951 after Ambedkar quit the Nehru cabinet that it became known that one of the causes for his doing so was that he was not given the portfolio of his choice: ministry of planning. However, the prime reason for his resigning was over the government's failure to pass the Hindu Code Bill, faulting Nehru with "lack of determination" to get the measure through.

Suffering from many ailments, including diabetes, rheumatism and high blood pressure contacted in a life full of relentless struggles, Ambedkar died in December 1956 after turning 65. Only two months earlier, he had formally embraced Buddhism and converted lakhs of his followers to his new faith. It was a culmination of a long process spanning nearly 50 years. But it was really after independence that Ambedkar made up his mind to adopt Buddhism, a religion he saw as a liberating force for the entire country.

Even though he had ceased being a minister, the government allowed him to retain his bungalow where he spent the final years of his life focussed on studying Buddhism. He also began to learn Pali and translated Buddhist texts into Gujarati and Marathi. In 1954, during a trip to Burma (now Myanmar), Ambedkar made a proposal for sponsoring a campaign for Buddhist conversion in India, arguing that Budhism was a religion for the whole world.

At a dhammadikha ceremony held in Nagpur, attended by nearly 500,000 people, Ambedkar and his followers converted to Buddhism. Besides dedicating them to social service and eradication of casteism, Ambedkar adminstered 21 vows to his followers, which included renunciation of all aspects of 'Brahmanic Hinduism'. The neo-Buddhists took a vow against worshipping Hindu gods and goddesses and not to perform shraddh ceremonies or worship the cow.

As Ambedkar will be remembered most by posterity for his monumental contribution to the making of India's constitution it is appropriate to quote from his last speech in the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949, the eve of the statute being adopted the following day:

"On January 26, 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be reorganizing the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this Assembly has so laboriously built up."

But Ambedkar was much more than the architect of India's constitution and a Dalit leader who today towers above others of his ilk. He was an educationist, economist, anthropologist, sociologist, journalist, jurist and, above all, a great parliamentarian and social reformer who devoted his whole life for the uplift of the weakest and most vulnerable sections of Indian society.

This much and, more, will be remembered, and said, about Ambedkar during the year of his 125th birth anniversary celebrations.

(Praveen Davar, an ex-army officer, is a member of the National Commission for Minorities. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at praveendavar@gmail.com)
Lucknow, April 13 : The Uttar Pradesh Police has announced a Rs.2 lakh reward on information about Muneer, the prime accused in the murder of NIA official Tanzeem Ahmad, an official said on Wednesday.

While two others involved in the killing -- Reyan and Jainul -- have been arrested, Muneer continues to be at large.

Director General of Police Javeed Ahmad had earlier announced a reward of Rs.50,000 on Muneer, a sharp shooter and named in many cases including a murderous attack on an AMU student and also in a bank robbery.

Hailing from Bijnor, Muneer has gone missing after the NIA official was killed more than a fortnight ago while returning with family from a wedding.

Police have since claimed to have cracked the case and inferred that the killing was a result of a simmering hostility between the killers and the deceased official and a property dispute over a shop in New Delhi.

Police,however, have failed to address missing links like conflicting reasons for the murder, non-recovery of the murder weapon and the vehicle used to flee the crime scene.

Inspector General (Bareilly) Vijay Kumar Meena, however, said many links which seemingly are missing so far will fall in place once Muneer is arrested.

He is feared to be hiding in either Mumbai or Goa. Since he does not use a mobile phone, tracking him down through cyber surveillance is impossible, an official conceded.
Pulled pork taquitos, jalapeno and cheese quessadila and tortilla chips with red and green salsa and sour cream Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, April 13 : "Mexican food is just not a plate of nachos with a heap of toppings; it is so much more than that," says Neeti Goel, owner of La Bodega, a colourful eatery that transports you to the streets of the "real" Mexico - sans the fusion.

Located in South Delhi's posh Khan Market, La Bodega plays with all the senses. The interiors are subtle, not over the top with red and orange being the dominating colours along with Aztec prints, wooden flooring and a mural depicting a Mexican market. Seating is sprawled across two floors along with the terrace.

Launched by sisters Neeti and Smriti, La Bodega opened its doors in June 2014.

"We do not offer Tex-Mex (fusion of American and Mexican cuisine) here, we serve what one could find at somebody's home in Mexico," Goel told IANS.

La Bodega imports spices like chillies from Mexico. Their head chef Mauro Mendez hails from Mexico City.

"When we opened two years ago, the concept was a little alien and they either loved it or did not really understand. But now when they come in, they know exactly what to expect," Goel added.

The menu is not very extensive. It is divided into antojeria (street food), botanas (snacks), large plates, salads, soups and desserts.

To start on this Mexican trail, we were served classic margarita cocktails, which were undoubtedly the perfect tequila-based lime infused drink to start our food journey.

The drinks were quickly followed by tortilla chips with green and red salsa dips and sour cream, a tostadas (flat roasted tortilla with toppings) platter, cochinita pibit taquito (rolled-up tortilla with filling) and the gringa des res quesadillas, all which were part of the antojeria section of the menu.

The platter had three types of toppings - potato and chorizo, shrimp and pulled chicken, out of which the first and second were the winners. The flavours were practically doing a salsa in my mouth. A perfect balance of spice and sourness from the addition of fresh lime juice made the dish unforgettable.

The taquito consisted of a pulled pork filling, which was moist and juicy and again an amalgamation of flavours. The quesadillas which were filled with jalapenos and cheese, were crisp and being a hardcore non-vegetarian, this dish managed to completely change my thoughts.

Next, from the botanas section, we were served the ceviche de atun and croquetas de papa. The ceviche was definitely the winner of this entire Mexican food trail. Fresh tuna, mixed with Mexican staples like tomato, cilantro and lemon juice served with crisp tortilla chips tasted like tropical summer. Once tasted, this dish could not be put down. Sweet, sour, spice - all at once.

The croquetas de papa were potato and cheese croquettes which can be described as the perfect snack to munch on along with a drink.

From the large plates section, we were served red snapper with a warm white bean salad and cordo adobado - roasted porkbelly with red adobo sauce with corn and mashed potato.

The first dish could be a little towards the acquired side. The fish itself was not very highly seasoned. The skin was very crisp and the the meat was melt in the mouth. The bean salad again had hints of lemon juice and pepper. When mixed, the taste was very pleasant. On the other hand, the pork belly was very well seasoned and the adobo sauce (mix of paprika, oregano, salt, garlic, and vinegar) enhanced its flavour.

To bring an end to this hearty delicious experience, we were served the churros with chocolate sauce and de tres leches - cake made of three kinds of milk (evaporated, condensed and heavy cream) served with chantilly cream and fruit. The long and thick churros or fried-dough pastry are a very popular Mexican snack. Dusted with sugar and cinnamon, when dipped in the chocolate sauce, everything else seem oblivious.

In the second dessert, the cake was served with cream which balanced the sweetness and the strawberries added the much needed tang.

La Bodega would be a desirable place to visit for anyone who wants to experience the "real" Mexico on a plate.

FAQs:

Where: 1st Floor, 29-B, Middle Lane, Khan Market, New Delhi

Meal for two: Rs.1,700 (with alcohol)

Timings: 12.00 p.m. to 12.30 a.m.

(The writer's visit was at the invitation of La Bodega. Karishma Saurabh Kalita can be contacted at karishma.k@ians.in)
Damascus, April 13 : A strife-torn Syria began voting in parliamentary elections on Wednesday, with around 3,500 candidates vying for 250 parliamentary seats amid a boycott by opposition groups.

A total of 7,300 polling stations opened at 7.00 a.m. (local time) in government-controlled areas across the country, Xinhua reported.

Election sub-committees in government-controlled provinces announced full readiness to facilitate the voting process.

In February, President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree to hold parliamentary elections on April 13.

The last parliamentary elections were held in 2012, just months after the adoption of a new constitution in the strife-torn country.

In the current and the last elections, the opposition announced a boycott.

Munther Khaddam, a member of the National Coordination Body (NCB) said his group will boycott the elections for the second time "because it comes in the abnormal context and runs against the political track of the Geneva talks".

However, the decision to hold the elections was interpreted by government loyalists as evidence that Damascus still has its independent decision, and that the elections and the Geneva talks, which are set to resume soon, are two separate tracks.

In Damascus, streets were festooned with posters of the candidates, as part of the government encouragement for the people to vote.

However, and unlike the pre-war times, when the candidates used to erect election tents to explain their programmes to the people, the residents in the capital and elsewhere only know the candidates by their posters this year, as the sessions for the candidates to present their programmes have been cancelled for security reasons.
New Delhi, April 13 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday greeted the people on the harvest festivals of their respective regions.

"On the auspicious occasion of Baisakhi, my greetings to people across India and the world. May this day bring joy and prosperity in society," Modi said in his tweet.

"On Maha Vishuba Sankranti I extend my good wishes to all Odia people. I pray for an exceptional year ahead, filled with happiness and success," he said in another tweet.

The prime minister also offered his condolences to the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh massacre and said, "their sacrifice and courage can never be forgotten."

Gandhi also extended her good wishes to the farming community on the harvesting festivals.

"May the auspicious occasion of Baisakhi, Rongali Bihu and Maha Vishubh Sankranti marking harvest, renewal and regeneration bring prosperity and well being of all the farmers," she said in her message.
Islamabad, April 13 : Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to Britain on Wednesday -- ostensibly to undergo a pending medical check-up -- has set political circles abuzz after he landed in controversy following the Panama Papers leak.

Sharif will head to London for a three-day visit for a medical check-up, the prime minister's office said on Tuesday.

Only close family members will join Sharif. His two sons -- Hassan and Hussain -- are already abroad, a senior official said.

At a time when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan is ready to launch a sit-in at Raiwind -- home to Sharif's palatial residence, leaders of the opposition in the senate had been casting doubt on the reason for the prime minister's sudden visit to London.

The movements of Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, who is also in London, is being closely monitored by the media.

PPP senator Aitzaz Ahsan on Tuesday said: "Sharif has no medical issues and is only visiting London to present himself in the court of Zardari."

Whenever Sharif came under pressure, he always looked towards the PPP leadership for help, Ahsan said.

A senior PTI leader said it was very likely for Sharif to ask the PPP to bail him out, considering the pressure mounting on him for the investigation of his family regarding the leaks.

A Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmaker admitted that there was a great deal of nervousness among the party's top leaders following the revelation of documents in the Panama Papers leak.
New York, April 13 : Not just youngsters, senior citizens are turning out to be Facebook's fastest growing community, say researchers including an Indian-origin team member, suggesting that the elderly are joining Facebook for the same reasons that prompted teenagers to join it over a decade ago.

According to S Shyam Sundar, professor at Pennsylvania State University, older adults who are motivated by social bonding and curiosity tend to use Facebook as a form of social surveillance.

"Surveillance is the idea that you're checking out what people are up to. This is something that many older adults do. They want to see how their kids are doing and, especially, what their grand children are doing," said Sundar.

Earlier studies suggest a positive relationship between bonding and bridging social capital and Facebook use among college students.

"Our study extends this finding to senior citizens," added Eun Hwa Jung, mass communication researcher at Penn State.

The researchers found that the desire to stay connected to family and keep in touch with old friends or social bonding was the best predictor of Facebook adoption and use, followed closely by the desire to find and communicate with like-minded people or social bridging.

Curiosity is another motivation for senior Facebook users, Jung added.

The study, published in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour, found that senior citizens were not motivated to actively participate on Facebook when family and friends prod them to use the website.

"When senior citizens respond to requests to join Facebook, that tends to be a negative predictor of use," Sundar said. "In other words, they are not intrinsically motivated to participate when someone else requests that they join."

Older adults also tend to use Facebook features that their younger counterparts favour.

According to the findings, seniors visited Facebook 2.46 times a day and stayed on it for a little over 35 minutes each day.

"This isn't just a fast-growing market, but also a lucrative one. Older adults have much more disposable income than teens and college students and would be more desirable for advertising," Sundar noted.

The team suggests that designers of social media sites should emphasise on simple and convenient interface tools to attract older adult users.
New Delhi, April 13 : A time-bound probe will be held into the firing by troops in Jammu and Kashmir that killed three civilians, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Wednesday.

The minister gave the assurance to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti when she discussed with him the Tuesday firing at Handwara in which two men and a woman were killed.

Mehbooba Mufti sought a time-bound enquiry into the incident so that those responsible for the deaths were handed exemplary punishment. This, she said, would act as a deterrent against such incidents.

The chief minister said such killings shake public confidence, adversely impacting the efforts of the state government to restore peace. She also sought adequate compensation to the families of the victims.

Parrikar assured the chief minister a detailed and time-bound probe to fix the responsibility in the firing incident.

The chief minister also discussed several other issues with Parrikar.

She called for speedily handing over to the state land not required by the army so that it can be used to promote tourism and to develop civic, educational and infrastructure facilities.

She sought early approval to the state government's proposal submitted in 2014 regarding revision in the rates of rent to different categories of land held by the army.

The chief minister also demanded higher compensation to people affected by artillery firing by the military.

Mehbooba Mufti later met Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and discussed several proposals to upgrade civic facilities in cities and towns in the state.

She pitched for inclusion of both Srinagar and Jammu as smart cities in the 'Smart Cities Mission' and bringing Kargil town under the ambit of AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation).

Presently, Leh town is covered under the centrally-sponsored scheme.
Mumbai, April 13 : Debutante filmmaker Kaustav Narayan Niyogi, who is debuting with "Cabaret" which features Richa Chadda in the lead role, says this film is a tribute to the courage of Indian women.

"'Cabaret' is a story of a girl who begins her journey from a small village in Jharkhand. Something very traumatic happens to her in the village and then she comes to Mumbai in search of work and she is on the run."

"'Cabaret' is a tribute to the courage of Indian women. I have lot of respect to women who are struggling and who come from various parts of the country for their livelihood. This is a journey of a bold and courageous woman," Niyogi told IANS.

Produced by Pooja Bhatt, the film features Richa Chadda, Gulshan Devaiah and S. Sreesanth.

Niyogi gives credit to Pooja for motivating him to try direction in films.

"The credit goes to Pooja Bhatt. I am from the ad world and she always used to tell me that there is a story teller in me and I should direct someday. She kept telling and finally I decided to take the plunge," he said.
Jaipur, April 13 : Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday met the family of a minor Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and found dead under mysterious circumstances in her institute's water tank in Rajasthan's Bikaner district.

Gandhi visited the 17-year-old girl's Trimohi village in Barmer, over 550 km from Jaipur. She was pursuing a course to become a school teacher from the institute in Bikaner but was found dead on March 29.

The girl's parents alleged their daughter was raped and murdered in the institute by a teacher and she was also subjected to caste abuse by a teacher.

Three of the teachers are presently under judicial custody till April 21 and investigations are underway into the incident.

Gandhi spent about half an hour with the family members of the girl.

He inquired about the incident and also the state government agencies' action in the case.

Talking to the media, Gandhi said: "We want that the family should get justice. It is the duty of state government to provide justice to the family."

"Proper inquiry should be conducted into the incident," he said, demanding "a CBI inquiry".

The Congress vice president is scheduled to address a Congress Dalit convention here later Wednesday.
Patna, April 13 : An RJD legislator in Bihar on Wednesday demanded death penalty for those accused of fatally injuring his sister by throwing her out of a running auto-rickshaw after she resisted their molestation bid.

Saroj Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal legislator from Barhara assembly in Bhojpur district, also demanded action against superintendent of police of Bhojpur for alleged police failure to act against the accused.

"The accused deserve death penalty. I demand that the state government ensure that they get death penalty. It will be true justice to me and my family. I have faith that the government will do everything," Saroj Yadav told the media here.

Senior RJD leader and former chief minister Rabri Devi also demanded justice for the victim.

"The state government should act tough to provide justice to the victim," she said.

Saroj Yadav's sister Shail Devi died at the Patna Medical College and Hospital here on Tuesday.

According to police, four to five people misbehaved with her and tried to sexually assault Shail Devi while she was on way to a doctor in Bhojpur last Saturday.

"When she resisted their attempt, she was assaulted and thrown out of the running auto-rickshaw," police said.
Panaji, April 13 : Instead of banning Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik, the Goa government should first ban Nigerian and Russian mafias operating in the state, Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said on Wednesday.

"Muthalik should not be banned in Goa. There are many others from outside, who can be from the Nigerian and Russian mafias, who need to be banned before Muthalik is... Even Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Kanhaiya Kumar is moving around the country," Raut told reporters here after taking stock of Sena's organisational affairs in Goa.

Last month, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government in Goa extended the ban on Muthalik, first imposed in 2014.

Sene courted controversy after its activist allegedly attacked young men and women in a pub in Mangalore in 2009 for, what they claimed, was insult to Indian culture.

In 2014, Muthalik said he would open Sene units in Goa and try to steer the former Portuguese colony away from "Western influences".
Kolkata, April 13 : Members of the transgender community will be deployed at a polling booth in Kolkata for the April 30 assembly polls, an official said on Wednesday.

"One booth in south Kolkata will be managed by a few members of the third gender," Smita Pandey, district electoral officer for Kolkata South, told IANS.

"We will reveal the rest of the details a day ahead of the polls," she said.

Kolkata South goes to the polls on April 30. West Bengal has 758 members of the third gender enlisted as voters and two transgender candidates.
Chennai, April 13 : BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday urged the people of Tamil Nadu to vote for his party, saying it could provide the alternative to existing political parties in the state.

Speaking to reporters after chairing a party meeting in Tiruchirapalli, around 340 km from here, Shah alleged that both the ruling AIADMK and the DMK were corrupt.

He said Tamil Nadu voters normally voted out a government but this time they should decide which party must come to power.

He added that the Bharatiya Janata Party could provide the "alternative" Tamil Nadu was seeking.

Tamil Nadu had not progressed because of corruption, Shah said.

He said that due to non-cooperation of the state government, central government schemes were not being implemented in Tamil Nadu.
Washington, April 13 : The family of three people who were shot dead in 2014 outside Jewish facilities in Overland Park have filed lawsuits over the sale of guns used in the shootings.

The family of William Corporon and his grandson, Reat Underwood, who were shot dead outside the Jewish Community Centre, filed suit on Tuesday in a Johnson county court, The Kansas City Star reported.

In two identical suits on behalf of each victim, they alleged that employees of a Walmart store in Republic, Mo., were negligent when they sold a shotgun later used to kill Corporon and Reat.

"Gun dealers, including Walmart, owe a duty to use the highest standard of care to prevent the supply of firearms to those prohibited from possessing them," they said in their suits.

On Monday, the family of Terri LaManno, who was killed outside Village Shalom care centre, filed a similar suit against Walmart, a gun store in Lebanon, Mo., and the operators of a gun show where guns were purchased.

F. Glenn Miller Jr., a 75-year-old southern Missouri neo-Nazi, carried out the attacks on April 13, 2014, in an effort to kill as many Jews as possible. None of the victims was Jewish.

A Johnson county jury convicted Miller, also known as Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., last year. He was sentenced to death.

Miller, who was a previously convicted felon, could not legally buy or possess firearms.

According to the lawsuits, he enlisted another southern Missouri man, John Mark Reidle, to purchase the weapons.

Federal prosecutors charged Reidle for falsely claiming on a federal form that he was purchasing guns for himself.

The suit alleges that Miller "initiated" the purchase, but then claimed he did not have any identification, and offered to have Reidle purchase the weapon, which he did.

"Given the circumstances of the purchase, Walmart should have taken affirmative steps to confirm that Miller was the actual purchaser and intended user of the Remington shotgun, and that the sale of the shotgun to Reidle, a straw buyer, was illegal," according to the suits.

Four days later, Miller used that shotgun to shoot Corporon, 69, and Reat, 14, outside the Jewish Community Centre where Reat was participating in a singing competition.

Miller, 75, also used a semi-automatic rifle and handgun to fire at others before he drove to the nearby Village Shalom retirement centre.

There, he encountered 53-year-old LaManno, who was visiting her mother, a resident of Village Shalom.

According to trial testimony, he attempted to shoot her with the shotgun but it misfired. He then got another shotgun from his car trunk and shot LaManno.

That weapon was purchased from employees of Friendly Firearms from Lebanon at a Springfield gun show in October 2013, according to the suit filed by LaManno's family.

A spokesman for Friendly Firearms said on Tuesday that he had not seen the suit and could not comment.

A spokesman for Walmart said the company expresses condolences to the families who lost loved ones, but that because company officials have not seen the suits they cannot comment on them.

Based on the remarks and behaviour of Reidle and Miller, employees of Friendly Firearms and Walmart "knew, had reason to know, or recklessly failed to know that Miller was not lawfully entitled to purchase or possess a firearm", according to the suit.

"The Corporon family's claims do not challenge law-abiding citizens' Second Amendment rights to purchase guns or law-abiding retailers rights to sell guns," said attorney David Morantz who represents the family.

"These lawsuits seek to hold retailers accountable for adhering to long-established laws designed to prevent guns from ending up in the hands of dangerous criminals and designed to prevent tragedies like the shootings of April 13, 2014."
Mumbai, April 13 : An anthology of eight short films, "Shor Se Shuruaat", is being helmed by proteges of eight noted filmmakers including Shyam Benegal and Mira Nair and may release by the end of this year.

The other filmmakers whose proteges will direct "Shor Se Shuruaat" are Imtiaz Ali, Rajkumar Hirani, Zoya Akhtar, Sriram Raghavan, Nagesh Kukunoor and Homi Adajania.

The anthology is backed by studio-incubator lab Humaramovie.

"We are very thrilled to launch new talent with Humaramovie's next feature, 'Shor Se Shuruaat', and we believe these filmmakers will define the face of Indian cinema in the coming future," Vinay Mishra, co-founder of Humaramovie, said in a statement.

Based on a common theme, 'shor' (noise), each film will be an interpretation of the word by the filmmakers and will be 12-15 minutes long.

The short films will be a launchpad for many assistant directors, editors, cinematographers, executive producers and technicians.

"Shor Se Shuruaat" is a part of the initiative 'Shuruaat'.
New Delhi, April 13 : A 21-year-old former DMRC employee has been arrested with his associate in connection with the Rs.12 lakh robbery at the Rajendra Place metro station on April 11.

Pawan, a former Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) employee, was arrested along with his associate Sonu, 22, from their hideouts in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday night, said a police officer.

Police have recovered Rs.10,55,000 of the stolen amount from the possession of the accused.

Police said Pawan and Sonu are the main culprits who entered Rajendra Place metro station at 5.14 a.m. on April 11, and looted Rs.12 lakh from the metro station control room after stabbing on duty metro employee Kunal Kishore.

Kishore is recuperating in a private hospital.

Police had filed a case under sections 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 397 (robbery), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in connection with the robbery.

Sharing more details about the attackers, Joint Commissioner of Police M.K. Meena said Pawan was the mastermind of the whole incident. "The culprits were held with the help of CCTV footages and the smart cards they had used at the time of committing crime."

"Pawan was a former DMRC employee and had been deployed at the Rajendra Place metro station. So he knew the topography well," Meena said, adding that the robbery was planned around 15 days ago.

The officer said both the culprits had hired an auto-rickshaw from Anand Vihar in east Delhi to reach Rajendra Place metro station.

He said the culprits wore surgical masks to cover their faces for hiding their identity just before entering the metro station.

"Pawan had brought a knife and managed to take it inside the metro premises by hiding it in his socks despite his frisking by the CISF men. After committing the crime, both the attackers exited from the metro station and again took another auto-rickshaw to go back to Anand Vihar. They later went to their place in Kaushambi in Ghaziabad and distributed the looted money," Meena said.

A Delhi police source, who is very close to the investigation, told IANS that the culprits had bought a mobile phone and some other things before leaving for their respective native places.

Pawan and Sonu are residents of Bulandshahr and Amroha in Uttar Pradesh, respectively.

Pawan told police that he wanted to earn quick money as his father had incurred a huge debt during his sister's marriage recently, while Sonu was in search of a job.

The officer further said that Sonu used to meet Pawan and asked him to arrange a job for him in Delhi metro as he was a former employee.

"Pawan misguided Sonu, saying that a metro job was not as good as he thought. He then discussed his robbery plan with Sonu. He also assured Sonu that the metro employees and security personnel would be sleepy in the early morning hours and it would help them in committing the robbery," the officer said.

Asked why Kunal Kishore, the attacked metro employee, did not raise an alarm till about 20 minutes after the incident, Joint CP said: "We are yet to question him properly to know the exact reason behind his action."

The officer, however, did not rule out the possibility of Kishore's involvement in the case.
Islamabad, April 13 : India is seeking the body of an alleged Indian spy who died in a Pakistani jail so that he can be cremated in his village in Gurdaspur in Punjab.

"We are waiting permission for post-mortem. After that we will hand over the body of Kirpal Singh," Deputy Superintendent of Police Iqbal Shah said in Lahore.

Lahore hospital sources said the Indian High Commission was reportedly demanding that the cause of death should be given to them in writing. Only after that will the mission agree for autopsy.

The body of Kirpal Singh, 54, who according to preliminary reports died of cardiac arrest on Monday, was in the morgue of the Jinnah Hospital.

Earlier, the Indian government said it had asked its envoy in Islamabad to take up at the "highest possible level" the issue of early transportation of the body.

"Our acting high commissioner has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in the Pakistan foreign office for early transportation of the (body)," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said.

"(Acting high commissioner) will also ask for official information on the cause of death," Swarup added.

Kirpal Singh died at the hospital after becoming seriously ill in Kot Lakhpat Jail.

He was alleged to have been involved in a bombing at the Faisalabad railway station in 1991 and sentenced to death for spying and terrorism in Pakistan.

Pakistani authorities said Kirpal Singh died due to heart failure.

On Tuesday, a sister of Kirpal Singh staged a protest at the Attari-Wagah checkpost on the India-Pakistan border.

"My brother was murdered just like Sarabjit earlier. The Pakistani jail authorities are responsible for his death," Jagir Kaur said.

Her reference was to Sarabjit Singh, an Indian death row convict who died in 2013 after being attacked by two Pakistani prisoners at the Kot Lakhpat Jail.

Jagir Kaur was accompanied by many others. One of them was Dalbir Kaur, the elder sister of Sarabjit Singh.

Kirpal Singh's family demanded that his body be handed over to them for cremation at his village in Punjab's Gurdaspur district.
New Delhi, April 13 : Union Minister for Development of North East Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh on Thursday called for private participation in expansion of railways across the country.

The government could get more useful inputs by engaging private business institutions in railways, said the minister for Development of North East Region (DoNER) at the PHD Global Rail Convention, 2016.

"The participation of private players would be beneficial for the overall objective of having an efficient rail networking system," Jitendra Singh said.

"Private participation can be in the form of PPP model in laying down tracks or running the trains. The more we engage private players, more useful inputs we are likely to get," he said.

Taking a dig at the previous Congress government, Jitendra Singh said it did not do enough to develop the rail network in northeastern India.

"There may have been variety of reasons for not having developed an efficient rail network in the northeast, such as topography or militancy. However, I believe the main reason was misplacement of priorities by the previous government."

"The northeast region deserves to have a rail network, but still we were not able to do it," he said.

Highlighting the achievements of the government for the promotion of railways in the northeast, Jitendra Singh said that within six months of coming to power, the NDA regime connected two states -- Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya -- with the rail network of the country.

The government also increased the budget allocation for the development of railways in the northeast, he added.

"The total budget allocation during the last five years of the previous government was Rs.2,126 crore. However, in just two years, our government has already allocated Rs.5,163 crore for the same," he said.
Washington, April 13 : US Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is close to ensuring that Donald Trump cannot win the GOP nomination on a second ballot at the party's July convention in Cleveland, scooping up scores of delegates who have pledged to vote for him instead of the front-runner if given the chance.

The push by Cruz means that it is more essential than ever for Trump to clinch the nomination by winning a majority of delegates to avoid a contested and drawn-out convention fight, which Trump seems almost certain to lose, The Washington Post reported.

The GOP race now rests on two cliffhangers: Can Trump lock up the nomination before Cleveland? And if not, can Cruz cobble together enough delegates to win a second convention vote if Trump fails in the first?

Trump's path to amassing the 1,237 delegates he needs to win outright has only gotten narrower after losing to Cruz in Wisconsin and other recent contests, and would require him to perform better in the remaining states than he has to this point.

In addition, based on the delegate selections made by states and territories, Cruz is poised to pick up at least 130 more votes on a second ballot, according to a Washington Post analysis.

That tally surpasses 170 delegates under less conservative assumptions -- a number that could make it impossible for Trump to emerge victorious.

That is why the race centres on the fevered hunt for delegates across the country. The intensity of the fight has sparked another round of caustic rhetoric -- including allegations from party leaders that Trump supporters are making death threats.

"It's unfortunate politics has reached a new low. These type of threats have no place in politics," said Kyle Babcock, a Republican delegate from Indiana's third Congressional district.

He received an email from a Trump supporter who warned, "Think before you take a step down the wrong path."

Cruz's chances rest on exploiting a wrinkle in the GOP rule book: that delegates assigned to vote for Trump at the convention do not actually have to be Trump supporters.

Cruz is particularly focused on getting loyalists elected to delegate positions even in states that the senator from Texas lost.

Cruz said this week that he thinks the odds of a contested convention are "very high".

"In Cleveland, I believe we will have an enormous advantage," he told radio talk-show host Glenn Beck.

Trump has a commanding lead in total delegates and the overall vote total, but has complained that Republican leaders are conspiring against him in a bid to silence his supporters.

"The RNC should be ashamed of itself for allowing this to happen," Trump said on Tuesday night while campaigning in Rome, N.Y.

Paul Manafort, a senior adviser to Trump, said he was confident that Cruz will never have a chance to convert Trump delegates.

"Just because [Cruz] has won some delegates in a state where we have the delegates voting for us is not relevant until and unless there's a second ballot," Manafort said. "There's not going to be a second ballot."

When the presidential nomination vote is held at the convention, 95 percent of the delegates will be bound to the results in their states for the first vote, giving Trump his best shot at securing a majority.

But if Trump falls short, the convention will cast a second ballot in which more than 1,800 delegates from 31 states -- nearly 60 percent of the total -- will be unbound and allowed to vote however they want.

By the third round, 80 percent of the delegates would be free, sparking a potential free-for-all that could continue for several more rounds.

That is the crux of the state-by-state battle that is playing out over the next two months as Republicans gather at the precinct, county, congressional district and statewide level to choose convention delegates.

"If we go into a contested convention, we're gonna have a ton of delegates, Donald is gonna have a ton of delegates, and it's gonna be a battle in Cleveland to see who can earn a majority of the delegates that were elected by the people," Cruz told a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on Saturday.

He predicted that the first ballot "will be the highest vote total Donald Trump receives. And on a subsequent ballot, we're gonna win the nomination".
Hyderabad, April 13 : A heat wave on Wednesday swept across Telangana and Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh with most places recording a maximum temperature of above 40 degrees Celsius , while a couple of places sizzled at 44 degrees, officials said.

The met office has issued heat wave warning for seven out of 10 districts of Telangana and all four districts of Rayalaseema region of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

The meteorological centre at Hyderabad said heat wave conditions will prevail in the districts of Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Rangareddy, Khammam, Medak and Nalgonda in Telangana.

Most places of Telangana state were very likely to record maximum temperature between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius. Rise in maximum temperatures by one or two degrees was very likely, said the met office.

Heave wave conditions were also likely to prevail in Anantapur, Kurnool, Kadapa and Chittoor districts of Rayalaseema.

The highest maximum temperature of 44 degrees Celsius was recorded at Ramagundam in Telangana and at Jangamaheswarapuram in Andhra Pradesh.

In Telangana, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad and Bhadrachalam experienced maximum temperature of 43 degrees Celsius. It was 42 degrees in Hyderabad, Adilabad, Khammam and Mahabubnagar.

Anantapur and Kurnool in Rayalaseema recorded 43 degrees Celsius.

Authorities in both states have cautioned the people to take all precautions to protect themselves from sun stroke. They have been advised to avoid venturing out, especially between noon and 5 p.m.

The streets in many parts of Telangana and Rayalaseema wore a deserted look after 10 a.m. as people preferred to remain indoors.

Heat wave conditions this season have so far claimed 111 lives in the two states. According to figures released by the disaster management department last week, 66 people have died in Telangana and 45 in Andhra Pradesh.
New Delhi, April 13 : India on Wednesday signed an agreement with German agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) for the rejuvenation of the Ganga river under the 'Namami Gange' project.

The agreement was signed here between the ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation and GIZ, which represents the German government in development cooperation across the world.

"The agreement's objective is to enable responsible stakeholders at the national and state levels to apply integrated river basin management approach for the Ganga river's rejuvenation," a water resources ministry statement said.

"It will be based on knowledge exchange and practical experience of both countries on strategic river basin management issues, effective data management system and public engagement," it added.

"The project will closely cooperate with other national and international initiatives, including bilateral projects like Support to National Urban Sanitation Policy and Sustainable Environment-friendly Industrial Production," the statement said.

The German contribution to the 2016-2018 project will be Rs.22.5 crore. Initial actions will focus on Uttarakhand, with a scope to expand it to other states upstream of the Ganga river.

The ultimate goal is to adopt the successful river basin management strategies used for Rhine and Danube rivers in Germany and replicate the same for the Ganga, the statement said.
Vatican City, April 13 : Pope Francis said on Wednesday that during his visit to the Greek island of Lesbos on April 16, he will express his "closeness and solidarity" with refugees fleeing from conflict in their countries, but also with the people of Greece "who are very generous in their welcoming".

During a ceremony at the Vatican city, the Pope said he will be accompanied by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, and Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, Ieronymos II, during his visit, Efe news reported.

In Lesbos, Pope Francis is expected to meet refugees, mostly Syrians, who have reached the island across the Aegean Sea after fleeing from the war.

The visit comes parallel to the Pope's effort to shed light on the status of migrants and refugees, whom he commemorated with prayers during his visit to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa.
New Delhi, April 13 : Britain's exit from the European Union would be a "very bad thing" for Europe and have disastrous consequences for the country itself, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday.

"In my personal opinion, Brexit (Britain's exit from the EU) will be a very bad thing for Europe because of the simple reason that Great Britain at the moment is the second biggest economy in Europe. To lose the second biggest economy will be a big loss," Sarkozy said at a conference here, jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Referring to Britain's referendum on EU membership slated this summer, the visiting former French president said that in case the move happens it will be a "catastrophe for Great Britain".

If Britain exits from Europe, American companies will arrive owing to the close relationship between the two nations, he said "So, there will be a very serious consequence," Sarkozy added.

Noting that India and France had a free-trade agreement that benefitted both nations, Sarkozy suggested that the 'Make in India' campaign could be rephrased as 'Make with India' as it would help strengthen the partnership between India and France while paving the way for future collaborations.
Chennai, April 13 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Wednesday pledged to ensure that the gas pipelines of GAIL (India) were not laid over farmlands.

Addressing an election rally at Dharmapuri, around 300 km from here, the AIADMK leader also said: "I am of the firm view that all schemes should be for the welfare of the people."

Jayalalithaa said she would tell the central government that GAIL should not erect the gas pipelines through farmlands in the state.

She said GAIL had undertaken a project to lay 310 km of pipeline in land belonging to farmers in seven districts in the state.

Jayalalithaa said her government ordered that the pipes should be laid along highways and GAIL must take out the pipes already laid and hand over the affected land to the farmers.

But the Supreme Court ruled that state governments had no powers to issue such an order.

Jayalalithaa also said that if her party was re-elected to power in the May assembly elections, she would implement prohibition in phases.
Damascus, April 13 : Syrian university students participated in Wednesday's parliamentary elections, hoping the candidates would secure job opportunities for them.

In the Damascus University dormitory, students from various cities, including those from rebel-held areas, waited in queues to cast their ballots, Xinhua news agency reported.

Norhan, a student from the southern province of Daraa, where the country's five-year-old conflict originated, said Syrian youth must participate in the elections to choose people capable of delivering their objectives.

"We should all participate and support the elections in order to express our opinions and choose the right person who will live up to our hopes, represent us and deliver solutions to our problems to provide a better future," she said.

Her friend, Siham, said the elections are important for those coming from hotspots as it gives them a sense of belonging to their country, despite the fact that their cities have for long been out of the government's control.

"We came from hotspots and are here today (Wednesday) to choose the candidate who can fulfil our demands, such as improving university education, regulating food prices, and most importantly secure us job opportunities," she said.

Muhammad, another student from the northern province of Aleppo -- also torn between the government and opposition militants, said the elections are a constitutional duty and a very important process towards efforts to rebuild the country.

"After five years of war, we must participate and vote to rebuild Syria, because Syria needs us, its youth. We must all join in, not just stand and watch from a distance."

Syria's parliamentary elections began on Wednesday, with some 3,500 candidates vying for 250 parliamentary seats.

Election subcommittees in government-controlled provinces announced their full readiness to facilitate the voting process.

In February, President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree to hold the parliamentary elections on April 13.

The Syrian government said elections are set at their usual time since the government holds these elections every four years.

The last parliamentarian polls were held in 2012, just months after the war-torn country adopted a new constitution.

The Syrian opposition boycotted this year's elections and the one in 2012 due to loss of confidence in the Syrian government.

Munther Khaddam, a member of the National Coordination Body (NCB), said his group will boycott the elections for the second time "as it comes through an abnormal context and runs counter to the Geneva talks political track".

However, the decision to hold the polls was interpreted by government loyalists as proof that Damascus is still an independent decision maker, and that the polls and the Geneva talks, set to resume soon, are separate from each other.

Ahead of the elections, Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said polls for the people's assembly are a "constitutional right", and added that they send a message within the country and abroad.

"Election day will be an exceptional one in Syrians' political life, especially those who want a true opportunity to express their stance following five years of war in Syria," he sad.

Al-Zoubi said the political process under discussion in Geneva is separate from the constitutional right and that the current constitution is valid until it is replaced by a new one.
Ahmedabad, April 13 : A sessions court in Gujarat's Amreli district on Wednesday sentenced Bharatiya Janata Party's Amreli MP Naran Kachhadiya to three years' imprisonment in an assault case.

The court also convicted four others, including a local woman BJP leader, and imposed fines of Rs.25,000 each on all five for roughing up an on-duty government doctor Bhimji Dabhi three years ago.

They were, however, given interim relief against arrest for a month and time till May 11 to move the high court against the verdict.

Meanwhile, Kachhadiya, 58, told reporters after the court verdict: "I am innocent and will move the high court."

Amreli civil hospital doctor Bhimji Dabhi was beaten up in January 2013 when he allegedly refused to treat Ravi Joshi, 23, a son of woman BJP leader Madhuben Joshi. Ravi was beaten up by some people in Chalala town following an argument.

After the doctor allegedly asked the Joshis to leave the hospital, she called up Kachhadiya who rushed there along with his supporters.

After an altercation, a supporter of Kachhadiya roughed up the doctor. The hospital staff went on a flash strike to protest against the assault.

Later, a police complaint was lodged against the parliamentarian and 15 others.
New Delhi, April 13 : A handful of Tibetan refugees followed their deposed ruler, the Dalai Lama, to India in 1959 with nothing in their hands. Decades later, this nation has emerged as the largest reservoir of the authentic Tibetan culture. A photo festival here presents their success story.

The largest ever photo-exhibition on the Dalai Lama and Tibetan civilisation - "Thank you Dalai Lama" by photographer Vijay Kranti is running at All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society (AIFACS) till April 15.

"This photo-festival is an artistic tribute to the success story of a peaceful and brave refugee community, its monk leader the Dalai Lama and their magnanimous hosts - the people and the government of India", said Vijay Kranti, a senior Indian journalist, an accomplished photographer and an acclaimed Tibetologist.

"On behalf of Indian citizens, I acknowledge HH Dalai Lama and Tibetan refugee community for making a creative use of Indian hospitality," he said.

"The benevolent presence of HH Dalai Lama in India as our honoured guests since 1959 has enriched India's spiritual, social and cultural life enormously in so many ways," he added.

Kranti started his professional interaction with the Tibetan community and the Dalai Lama in 1972.

He has frequently written and extensively photographed the cultural and social life of the Tibetan community.

His coffee table book "Dalai Lama - The Nobel Peace Laureate Speaks" which is based on his photography and interviews with Dalai Lama, stands out as the only one of its kind in the international market.

The ongoing exhibition is the concluding show of Vijay's five year long photo-festival titled "Buddha's home coming" which started in March 2011 at Barcelona in Spain.

About 300 photo exhibits, along with slideshows of over 500 images, present an intimate photo-study of Dalai Lama, Tibetan culture and Tibetan refugee community in India.

"The Dalai Lama is considered as the reincarnation of Lord Buddha. His coming and adopting India as his second home has proved a blessing in disguise for India," said Vijay Kranti.

When India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, ensured the rehabilitation and a favourable and free environment to the refugees, the Dalai Lama persuaded the exiled community to start a process of national reconstruction around whatever manpower and talent was available.

"Looking at the enormous contribution he has made to India's spiritual and cultural life, I look at his presence in India as the second homecoming of Buddha after a long gap of over 2,500 years," Vijay Kranti said.

The collection has been acknowledged as the largest photo documentation of Tibetan life and culture across the globe.
Hyderabad, April 13 : The Joint Action Committee for Social Justice at University of Hyderabad has reiterated the demand that union minister Bandaru Dattatreya and vice chancellor P. Appa Rao and three other accused be arrested for abetment of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide.

The JAC demanded that all accused booked under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act be arrested immediately.

It reiterated the demand in the wake of resolutions passed at the general body meeting of the university students' union on Tuesday.

The JAC, which comprises 14 students' organisations, said the students' union has given official mandate against what it calls the casteist and fascist order prevailing in the university.

The JAC urged President Pranab Mukherjee, who is also the Visitor of University of Hyderabad, to take cognizance of the continuing atrocities on students from marginalised sections in the university.

It demanded that the students' general body mandate be implemented immediately and justice be delivered to Vemula.

The resolutions passed at the general body meeting demanded removal of Appa Rao from the post of vice chancellor, putting an end to campus blockade immediately, demilitarizing the campus and constituting a committee against prejudices and discrimination in higher educational institutions.

The union also called for dropping all 'false' police cases slapped on students, professors and a media person.

The JAC said the university administration has been running a vicious propaganda that it is just 20-30 students who have been trying to destabilise "normalcy" whereas most students are unaffected by the struggle for justice for Vemula.

It pointed out that the general body meeting of the students' union, the highest decision-making body of students, was attended by 949 students and passed the resolutions unanimously with just one student raising objection to the resolution for Appa Rao's removal.
New Delhi, April 13 : Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to include Srinagar and Jammu -- the two capitals of Jammu and Kashmir -- in the central government's smart city project.

Mehbooba called on Modi in Delhi in a first meeting with the prime minister since taking over as the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on April 4.

The two discussed the developmental and political situation in the state, an official statement by the state government said, "During the meeting, both the leaders deliberated upon several wide-ranging issues concerning the state. (Mehbooba) urged Narendra Modi to favourably consider the inclusion of the two capital cities in the 'Smart Cities Mission'."

The mission is an urban renewal programme of the government under which 100 cities all over the country will be developed with a sharp focus on infrastructure, land use planning, transport, design and architecture. The state government had hoped that Srinagar and Jammu will feature in the list of 100 cities.

However, the central government didn't include them. This was one of the issues that had stalled the PDP-BJP government formation in the state after the death of then chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in January.

The state government statement appeared silent over Modi's response to Mehbooba's demand.

It said that the chief minister also "requested for an additional allocation of 4.30 lakh metric tonne foodgrains over and above the targeted public distribution system fixed under National Food Security Act".

Mehbooba also sought Modi's intervention in expediting the central government's "nod for continuation of special dispensation of 50 percent in promotion quota in All India Services (AIS) for state service officers for another five years, beyond December 31, 2013".

"The prime minister assured the chief minister of centre's full support in the holistic development of Jammu and Kashmir."
Ranchi, April 13 : A Class 10 girl student was attacked with acid when she was sleeping in her school hostel in Jharkhand's Giridih district, police said.

According to police, the attack took place at the Kasturba Gandhi Ballika Awasiya Vidyalay, in Dumri town of Giridih district. The student has been admitted to a local hospital.

The hostel warden has been quizzed by police.

The hostel authorities, according to police, have claimed the incident could have been the work of an insider of the hostel.

Police have begun investigations and are trying to get video footage of the CCTV installed in the hostel.

In another development, police seized a large quantity of explosives in Pakur district on Wednesday.

According to police, more than 900 gelatin sticks were seized and one person was arrested from Chendanga village under Malpahari police station's jurisdiction of the district.
Chandigarh, April 13 : Poet-lyricist Gulzar has accepted an offer to join the Tagore Chair at Panjab University as a professor.

The Chair is named after Rabindranath Tagore who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

A university spokesman on Wednesday said the Oscar-winning lyricist would be delivering lectures at the university and interacting with students and faculty.

"PU is pleased to announce that Gulzar, the famous poet, lyricist and film director has agreed to assume the Tagore Chair of the university," he said.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh had last week accepted an offer by PU to join the Jawaharlal Nehru Chair as professor. He will be rejoining his alma mater after a gap of over 50 years.

The 'Dr. Manmohan Singh Chair' in PU's department of economics will be occupied by leading economist and academician Yogendra K. Alagh.

The previous occupants of the Tagore Chair were distinguished writer and art critic Mulk Raj Anand and noted Hindi novelist, literary historian, essayist, critic and scholar Hazari Prasad Dwivedi.

"Gulzar's acceptance of the chair is a matter of great pride for the university because he will bring with him the immense regard he has for Tagore," the PU spokesman said.

"The university will be enriched by the series of lectures that Gulzar sahib will be delivering and also through the meaningful interaction with faculty, students, artists, writers and intellectuals across disciplines in this region which will be organised as part of the activities of the Chair.

"The Faculty of Languages hopes to gain much from his visit in the areas of creative writing, translation studies and film theory, and learn from his experience as a director as well a writer of dialogues and scripts," the spokesman said.

Gulzar, who originally hails from Punjab, has been a recipient of Padma Bhushan, Sahitya Akademi Award and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. He has won several National Film Awards, Filmfare Awards, an Oscar and a Grammy Award, the spokesman said.

PU has earlier honoured Gulzar with the first Sahitya Rattan Award.
Madris, April 13 : A man suspected of supplying weapons to the terrorist who killed four people in a Paris supermarket and a policeman in January 2015 was arrested in Spain on Wednesday.

Antoine Denive, 27, a suspected arms dealer and the subject of an European arrest warrant issued by French authorities, was detained in the town of Rincon de la Victoria on the south coast of Spain, reports Xinhua.

He was arrested with two other people who police described as being a Serb and a Montenegrin.

Denive is thought to have escaped from France and moved to the south of Spain where he continued his arms dealing activities.

A search of his accommodation uncovered several false documents along with computer material which are currently being analyzed.

Denive is suspected of giving weapons to Amedy Coulibaly, who killed five people in two separate attacks on January 8 and 9 last year in Paris.

He shot four of his victims in a Jewish supermarket in the east of Paris before he was killed by French security forces.

The incidents coincided with the killing of 11 people at the satirical magazine 'Charlie Hebdo' by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi who were known to Coulibaly.

Security forces later discovered that Coulibaly had been in Spain on January 2, a week before his death, as he accompanied his wife and three family members to the Madrid airport, from where they flew to Turkey and onto Syria.
Sujapur/Murarai (West Bengal), April 13 : Alleging a nexus between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said the Trinamool Congress chief was following the same anti-people policies which Modi was pursuing at the Centre.

"I would like to caution you, the person who calls herself 'didi' (elder sister, as Banerjee is affectionately called), and the one who orchestrates the 'NaMo, NaMo' (Narendra Modi) cries, the two of them are together.

"When Prime Minister Modi faces problems in parliament, the Trinamool stands up to save him. In return, Prime Minister Modi turns a blind eye to the Trinamool's anti-people activities," Gandhi said at an election rally in Sujapur in Malda district.

Banerjee asked the people whether Modi and Banerjee had taken any action against the chit fund companies which looted thousands of crores of rupees from the poor in Bengal.

"They didn't, because the BJP and the Trinamool eat from the same plate."

She said the way 'didi' duped the people of Bengal who had given her a mandate in Bengal, Modi had done likewise at the Centre.

"The way didi uses money, power and muscle to silence critics, Modi adopts the same tactics to bring down the Congress governments in various states. The Bengal chief minister does not send to jail those who looted poor people's money. Similarly, Prime Minister Modi lets those who loot banks to easily flee the country."

Gandhi alleged that the BJP-led NDA government did not believe in democracy and pointed out that Banerjee kept mum when the Congress government in Uttarakhand was dismissed.

Refering to the alliance between the Congress and the Trinamool in the 2001 assembly polls in the state, Gandhi said five years back, her party had backed Banerjee, as she had promised to protect the interests of the poor, women and marginal sections.

But once Banerjee came to power, she forgot all her promises, Gandhi regretted.

She said the injustice which is happening in Bengal, was unprecedented.

"Bengal is having to suffer the dictatorship and arbitrariness of not one, but two governments. On one side is Mamata's Trinamool government, on the other side is Modi's government."

Ridiculing the Trinamool slogan of "Ma (mother), mati (land) manush (people)", the Congress president said that while "sisters" of Bengal were now suffering, the land had dried up and the people lacked employment.

Gandhi also attacked Banerjee over "death of newborns and babies", plight of potato growers and "law and order failure".

She said that despite having a woman chief minister, Bengal topped in the number of atrocities against women.

Turning to Malda, famous for its mangoes, she said the state government did not give the right price to mango growers last year.

She said that even Malda's world famous silk industry has suffered, due to import of silk.

"It seems the Mamata government is not concerned with all these issues. In Bengal, everybody is unhappy. Only those who are with those running chit funds, and those who are making money by looting the poor are happy," she said.
New Delhi, April 13 : The Centre on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that it had done away with putting two nominees of the finance minister on the search-cum-selection panel for the SEBI chief.

As Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said the government had done away with the practice for the appointment of chief of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the court disposed of a public interest litigation challenging change in the panel composition.

An apex court bench comprising Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice R. Banumathi and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit was told that the decision on not having two ministerial nominees on the selection panel was taken in December 2015.

The petition in the case was filed by former Punjab director general of police Julio F. Ribeiro, former chief election commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh, former air force chief Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy and others in 2013.

Addressing the court, when Rohatgi wondered how former Bombay Police commissioner Ribeiro was concerned over the panel composition, Chief Justice Thakur observed: "One is policing the people, other is policing the market."
Ahmedabad, April 13 : At least 17 students of a private school were injured when their bus fell off a bridge near Lalpur town in Gujarat's Jamnagar district on Wednesday, police said.

The bus carrying the 17 students of Parishram School skidded off the bridge and fell eight feet below in the dried up bed of rain-fed seasonal river Dhandhar after the driver lost control of the speeding vehicle.

The injured students were admitted to the Lalpur referral hospital from where three with fractures were shifted to G.G. Hospital in Jamnagar.
New Delhi, April 13 : Mild tremors were felt in several parts of Delhi and NCR on Wednesday evening when a 6.8 magnitude earthquake jolted the Myanmar-India border region.

The epicentre of the earthquake was at 23 degrees North latitude and 94.9 degree East Longitude on the Myanmar-India border region, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

"I was sitting in my office when I felt the tremors at around 7.40 p.m. We immediately came out of the building. The tremors lasted for a few seconds," Alok Kumar Kaushik, who works at a bank in north Delhi, told IANS.

Mild tremors were also felt in Mayur Vihar in east Delhi and neighbouring Noida and people came out of their homes.
Chandigarh, April 13 : The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and opposition Congress on Wednesday lambasted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly taking contradictory stands on important issues concerning Punjab.

The attacks on Kejriwal, who is also Aam Aadmi Party convenor, came at the political conferences the two parties organised on harvest festival Baisakhi at the Takht Damdama Sahib in Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda district.

Kejriwal did not attend AAP's political conference at Talwandi Sabo.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal accused the AAP and Congress leaders of double-speak on the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal and inter-state water-sharing issue.

He said the ruling Akali Dal will do anything to stop sharing of more water with other states.

Terming the SYL canal construction as a "death warrant" for Punjab, Badal said: "Punjab has not a single drop of water to share with other states. The Congress has divested the state of its rights by giving water to Rajasthan, Haryana and other states by signing various water agreements. The AAP is now making desperate attempts to get the SYL canal constructed."

Union minister and Akali Dal's Bathinda parliamentarian Harsimrat Kaur Badal accused Kejriwal of running away from attending his party's political conference.

"He had no answer as to why he betrayed Punjab farmers by siding with Haryana on the SYL canal issue. It could be the only reason for him giving the Baisakhi political conference a miss. He earlier attended the Maghi mela and was till recently visiting Punjab on every given opportunity. He had even announced he would make an important announcement on Baisakhi," she said.

Accusing Kejriwal of double-speak, Harsimrat Kaur said he should tell whether he would file a pro-Punjab affidavit in the Supreme Court on the SYL issue or continue to play politics on the sensitive matter.

Addressing the party's political conference, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh appealed to the Supreme Court to "look into the ground realities and assess the water availability in Punjab's rivers before pronouncing their judgment on the SYL issue".

He said the "ground realities had changed since 1950s and the water levels gone down and hence Punjab could not spare any more water for other states".

"In 1955, the total availability of water in Punjab's rivers was 15.8 million acre feet; it has come down to 13 MAF now. Punjab itself is water-deficient; how can it afford water for others?" he asked.

Amarinder Singh said that in case of adverse judgment against Punjab on the SYL issue, he will resign from parliament and fight Punjab's battle for saving its water.
Patna, April 13 : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said the complete ban on liquor in his state has given a new direction to the entire country.

In a historic move, the Bihar government imposed a complete ban on sale of any kind of liquor in the state starting April 1.

"A total ban on liquor in Bihar has given a new direction to the entire country," Nitish Kumar said at a function in Araria district.

He said his government has laid the foundation for social change in Bihar with the liquor ban.

Nitish Kumar said after Bihar banned liquor, impressed by the measure, voices have been heard in other states as well for a similar ban.

He said people in neighbouring Jharkhand have demanded the liquor ban in their state and DMK chief Karunanidhi and AIADMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in the poll-bound state have promised to ban liquor if they are elected to power.

Banning liquor was one of the main poll promises of the Grand Alliance during the Bihar assembly elections. Experts say the ban would cost the state government a whopping Rs.4,000 crore in revenue annually.
New Delhi, April 13 : Former defence minister A.K. Antony on Wednesday said the government's decision to strike an agreement on providing military logistic support to the US will effect the independence of India's foreign policy and strategic autonomy, and urged the government to retract it.

Antony said the erstwhile UPA government resisted the agreement for 10 years, and added that it would be disastrous for India.

"This will lead to ending the independence of India's foreign policy and strategic autonomy. The UPA government resisted it for 10 years," he said.

"It is a disastrous decision. The government should retract it."

The Congress, however, has not given an official reaction on the "in principle" agreement between the US and India to conclude what has now been named a "Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Agreement".

Asked about the agreement, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said: "We will be making a detailed statement."

Sources from the party told IANS that the issue will be discussed with party president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi, both of whom were out of Delhi on Wednesday.

Sonia Gandhi was out campaigning in poll-bound West Bengal, and Rahul Gandhi was in Rajasthan.

"The issue will be discussed with the party leadership on Wednesday night, and an official statement will be given tomorrow (Thursday)," a party official told IANS.

In a joint press conference with visiting US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced the agreement for a Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Agreement, the new name for the Logistics Support Agreement.

The defence minister said the draft will take some time to be finalised, and it may take anything between a few weeks to a month or two.

Carter also clarified that it will not involve presence of US troops in India.

Antony, who was the defence minister of India from 2006 to 2014, said the step will eventually lead to India becoming a part of the US military bloc.

Antony said India, which has traditionally been close to Russia, has seen improvement in relations with the US but always resisted such agreement.

He also said that if needed, India can provide logistic support like refuelling etc. to US, but must keep their military equipment off Indian soil.
Jaipur, April 13 : Demanding a CBI inquiry into the rape of a now-dead minor Dalit girl in Rajasthan, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked the Modi government over what he said was its "indifferent attitude" towards the Dalits in the country.

To stress his point, he pointed to Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemula's case whose death, he said, was a murder and not a suicide.

Addressing a Dalit Sammelan organised here by the Congress, he said: "Rohith Vemula was a Dalit and was being targeted and discriminated against."

"You are a Dalit. Don't think you are like others. The complete force of the Indian government was targeting him. He succumbed to pressure and committed suicide," Gandhi said.

"It was not a suicide. It was a murder committed by the Indian government. He was pressurised and discriminated (against) so much that an intelligent boy broke down, succumbed to pressure and committed suicide," the Congress vice president said.

"What did the government say after his death; what did Sushma Swaraj ji say: this boy was not a Dalit; Rohith Vemula was not a Dali. And, I said question is not if he was a Dalit or not. The question is why a boy was killed."

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi visited the 17-year-old girl's village in Barmer, over 550 km from Jaipur and met with her family.

The family said she was raped before she was found dead under mysterious circumstances in her institute's water tank in Rajasthan's Bikaner district.

"In the morning, I went to Barmer and met the family of a Dalit girl. The Rajashtan government says it was a suicide not a murder. A delegation meets Chief Minister Vasundhara (Raje) ji. The first question she asked was for whom have you come -- the girl or the other side. When the delegation members said they had come to plead for the girl's case, who was murdered, the chief minister said why are you wasting my time? Why are you insulting my government?," the Congress leader said.

"The chief minister's job is to provide justice," he added.

The girl was pursuing a course to become a school teacher in Bikaner but was found dead on March 29.

The girl's parents alleged their daughter was raped and murdered in the institute by a teacher and she was also subjected to caste abuse by one of the teachers.

Three teachers are at present in judicial custody till April 21 and investigations are underway into the case.

Gandhi spent about half an hour with the family and enquired about the state government's action in the case.

Talking to the media, Gandhi said: "We want justice for the family. It is the state government's duty to provide justice to the family."

"Proper inquiry should be conducted," he said, demanding "a CBI probe" into the matter.
New Delhi, April 13 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is on a visit to India, on Wednesday called for concrete action by the global community against threat of terrorism.

Modi and Sarkozy condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Pathankot, Brussels and other parts of the world, and called for concrete action by the global community against the threat of terrorism, said an official statement issued after a meeting between the two leaders.

At least 130 people were killed in the terror attacks in the French capital on November 13 last year while 32 people were killed in the attacks in Brussels on March 22 this year.

At least seven Indian security personnel lost their lives in a cross-border terror attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab, on January 22 this year.

Wednesday's statement said Sarkozy also congratulated Prime Minister Modi for the positive role played by India for the success of the Conference of Parties (CoP)-21 climate summit in Paris last year.

"The prime minister congratulated Sarkozy on the publication and success of his recent book, 'La France pour la vie'," it stated.

Ahead of the meeting with Modi, Sarkozy called on External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here.

Earlier on Wednesday, addressing a conference jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sarkozy said that Britain's exit from the European Union would be a "very bad thing" for Europe and have disastrous consequences for the country itself.

"In my personal opinion, Brexit (Britain's exit from the EU) will be a very bad thing for Europe because of the simple reason that Great Britain at the moment is the second biggest economy in Europe. To lose the second biggest economy will be a big loss," he said.

Referring to Britain's referendum on EU membership slated this summer, the visiting former French president said that in case the move happens, it will be a "catastrophe for Great Britain".

If Britain exits from European Union, American companies would arrive, owing to the close relationship between the two nations, he said "So, there will be a very serious consequence," Sarkozy added.

Noting that India and France had a free-trade agreement that benefitted both nations, Sarkozy suggested that the 'Make in India' campaign could be rephrased as 'Make with India' as it would help strengthen the partnership between India and France while paving the way for future collaborations.
Imphal, April 13 : At least six people were injured when an earthquake in the Myanmar-India border region shook Manipur on Wednesday evening, officials said.

The injured people were rushed to hospitals, but are said to be out of danger. Hospital sources said their condition was stable.

According to experts of earth science at Manipur university, the epicentre of the earthquake in Myanmar -- that occurred at 7.25 p.m. -- was located about 225 km from Imphal.

Many people were seen rushing out of their homes fearing they will crumble.

Officials told IANS that reports were being collected from other districts on the extent of damage and casualties, if any.

The head offices of the State Bank of India and BSNL in Imphal suffered some damage.

The new secretariat as well as the police station in Lamphel area were also partially damaged.
New Delhi, April 13 : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to include Srinagar and Jammu in the central government's Smart Cities project.

Mehbooba called on Modi here for the first time since assuming office as the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on April 4. The two discussed developmental and political situation in the state, a state government statement said.

Mehbooba's Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party are the ruling alliance partners in Jammu and Kashmir.

The statement was silent on Modi's response to Mehbooba's demand.

Mehbooba also met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar and Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu.

"During the meeting with the prime minister, both the leaders deliberated upon several wide-ranging issues of the state. (Mehbooba) urged Modi to favourably consider the inclusion of the two state capitals in the 'Smart Cities Mission'," the statement said.

The mission is an urban renewal programme under which 100 cities across the country will be developed, with a sharp focus on infrastructure, land use planning, transport, design and architecture.

The state government had hoped that Srinagar and Jammu also will feature in the list of the 100 cities. Since the Centre didn't include them in the coveted list, it became one of the issues that stalled the installation of a PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir after the death of the then chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed on January 7.

The statement said the chief minister also "requested for an additional allocation of 4.30 lakh tonnes food grain over and above given under targeted public distribution system fixed under the National Food Security Act".

Mehbooba also sought Modi's intervention in expediting the central government's "nod for continuation of special dispensation of 50 percent in promotion quota in All India Services (AIS) for state service officers for another five years, beyond December 31, 2013".

"The prime minister assured her of Centre's full support in the holistic development of Jammu and Kashmir."

During her meeting with Sushma Swaraj, the chief minister discussed the measures required for broadening the scope of cross-Line of Control trade and travel in the state.

Mehbooba also proposed the opening of new routes across the LOC for better connectivity which, she said, will take people-to-people contact beyond the ritual of meetings between divided families.

The increase in Haj quota in respect of the state also figured in the meeting.

With Parrikar, Mehbooba discussed the firing in Handwara in which three civilians, including a women, were killed. Parrikar assured of a time-bound inquiry to fix responsibility in the case.

Mehbooba also called on President Pranab Mukherjee and discussed issues related to Jammu and Kashmir.
New Delhi, April 13 : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday expressed grief over the unfortunate death of a young man during a protest in Kupwara district and directed the administration to help his family.

"I express profound grief over the tragic death of the youth and extend my heart-felt condolences to the bereaved family members in their hour of grief," she said in a statement.

The chief minister said disproportionate use of force for crowd control results in loss of precious lives and grave injuries which should be avoided at all costs, a state government release said here.

The chief minister also directed the Kupwara deputy commissioner to provide all possible assistance to the grief-stricken family.

Police said a group of violent protestors hurled stones at security forces in Drugmulla village. A 1,000-strong group of people gathered near a police post in Drugmulla and tried to torch it, a police official said.

Police fired tear gas shells to disperse the angry mob, he said.

Witnesses alleged that a burning canister of tear gas hit Jahangir Ahmad Wani, 25, and burst on his head. The man was taken to a hospital where he died, they said.
New Delhi, April 13 : Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi on Wednesday launched an initiative to train and equip underprivileged women in urban areas with skills to find employment in the hospitality sector.

Speaking at the event here, she said: "Several niche ideas should come up to train and equip women to make them self-dependent."

"Last year, our ministry launched STEP and called for the ideas from non-governmental organisations to train 200 women across the country. Out of the 6,000 applications received, 5,999 applications mentioned about stitching and weaving work," the minister said.

The event was organised by the Le Meridian and Joining Hands, a non-profit organisation which works in the education, environment and health sectors.

"I welcome the initiative where women will be trained hospitality skills like front office work, kitchen, housekeeping, food and beverages and many more," Meneka Gandhi added.

Speaking at the event, Sushila Varma of Joining Hands said: "Our programme's objective is to reach out to a large number of unemployed individuals and increase livelihood opportunities by introducing sector-specific courses for the underprivileged youth who want to learn. And for this they have to pay Rs.300 per month only."

The six-month course will impart necessary training to 25 women in the age group of 18-35.
Dubai, April 13 : In a wake of prolonged slump in global prices, India has asked the United Arab Emirates for better terms on the import of crude oil and liquified petroleum gas from the Gulf country.

"Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan pitched for maximising the term volume for Indian companies which import crude and LPG from the UAE on favourable terms," a ministry statement said on Wednesday.

Pradhan earlier met UAE Energy Minister Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei before concluding his official visit to the country.

Pradhan also met UAE Minister of State Sultan Jaber, the chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, it said.

"He (Pradhan) also highlighted the interests of the Indian companies to participate in prospective exploration in the UAE and third countries," the statement added.

Pradhan also discussed investment opportunities in several major hydrocarbon sector projects in India, including Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Petro Additions Ltd., Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd., Petchem complex in Andhra Pradesh, West Coast refinery and the Ennore LNG terminal.

"Had detailed discussion with Oil Minister of UAE; it's 3rd meeting with him in a year; agreed on few concrete projects," Pradhan tweeted earlier.

"Discussed investment in Indian strategic oil reserve; mutual investment in oil, gas, refinery, petrochemical projects," the minister said in another tweet.

Gulf and Saudi oil majors, such as Aramco, the Kuwait Petroleum Corp and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, had earlier shown interest in storage facility in India as it reduces their transport costs into Southeast Asia.

In India's first phase of building strategic oil reserves, the storage bunk at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh has been completed while construction is in the final stages at Padur and Mangaluru, both in Karnataka.

Pradhan's visit to the UAE is a follow-up of the February visit of Abu Dhabi's crown prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Energy Minister Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei to Delhi.

The UAE contributes in a major way to India's energy security, being the sixth largest supplier of crude oil. India is the second largest destination for UAE's oil exports.
The number of new home loans being approved in Australia fell slightly in October, down 0.4% month on month and are now 2.4% below a year ago, the latest published data shows.

The number is likely to ease back towards the end of 2017 as fewer new homes are being built, according to the Housing Industry Association (HIA).

With a record pipeline of higher density dwellings reaching settlement, home purchase lending is likely to stay at an elevated level, said HIA senior economist Shane Garrett.

HIA expects that an orderly reduction in new dwelling commencements will become evident during 2017, particularly on the apartment side of the market. Accordingly, the volume of new home loans is only likely to start easing back towards the end of next year, he explained.

A breakdown of the data shows that loans for construction and purchase of new homes rose most strongly in Tasmania with growth of 18.2%, followed by the ACT up 12.7%, Queensland up 11.2% and South Australia up 2.1%.

The largest reduction in loans was in Western Australia with a fall of 24.4%, followed by the Northern Territory down 17.6%. There were also falls in New South Wales of 9.1% and in Victoria of 3.8%.

Meanwhile, the latest edition of the HIA stamp duty watch report has revealed that stamp duty is now costing the typical Australian family over $1,200 in additional mortgage repayments each year or $100 every month.

The burden of stamp duty has grown much heavier during 2016, with strong dwelling price growth translating into disproportionately larger hikes in the stamp duty bill for home buyers, said Garrett.

Stamp duty is now setting ordinary home buyers back by an average of $19,975. This eats up home purchase deposits and forces families to take on much larger mortgages, with total loan repayments typically rising by around $36,000 over a 30 year term, he pointed out.

The cost is even greater when the impact of the higher Lenders Mortgage Insurance premiums is added on top. Stamp duty hurts families and acts as a barrier to employment mobility and retirement downsizing, he explained.

A plan for its removal needs to be at the centre of a national housing affordability strategy. The large states coffers have benefitted heavily from the stamp duty windfall in recent years. Perhaps now is the time to offer some relief, he added.

Based on dwelling prices during November 2016, the typical stamp duty bill nationally is $19,975 which is an increase of 7.4% on a year earlier. The average stamp duty bill is currently highest in Victoria at $28,538, followed by New South Wales at $24,965 and the Northern Territory at $20,805.

The stamp duty bill on the purchase of a median priced home is $17,960 in the ACT, $15,830 in South Australia and $15,390 in Western Australia while Queensland remains the state with the lowest stamp for a typical purchase at $6,825 followed by Tasmania at $9,135.
A massive programme of development of railway stations and surrounding land will deliver thousands of new homes, the UK government has announced.

Up to 10,000 homes are to be built around rail stations and three local authorities have come forward with ambitious proposals for the first sites which aim to revitalise town centres.

A new agreement between Network Rail and the Homes and Communities Agency will see them working with local councils to trail blaze development opportunities across Englands railway stations for housing and businesses.

The Government wants to hear from at least 20 local authorities to take the scheme forward as York, Taunton and Swindon councils already have proposals to spearhead the new initiative and have identified railway sites that could be pooled to deliver housing and other locally led regeneration.

Drawing on the example set by the transformation of Birmingham New Street, Manchester Victoria and London Kings Cross, the Government said that it will bring together high calibre technical expertise and local knowledge to increase development opportunities that exist throughout the entire rail estate.

Were determined to fire up communities and back local business so they build much needed housing and create thousands of jobs. Rail stations are a hub of communities, connectivity and commerce and should be making the most of their unique potential to attract investment and opportunities, said Communities Secretary Greg Clark.

With record numbers of people travelling by train, it makes sense to bring people closer to stations and develop sites that have space for thousands of new homes and offices. This new initiative will bring about a step change in development and ensure we go further and faster in putting these rail sites to good use, he added.

According to Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin it will put stations at the heart of wider community regeneration. Im pleased to see that exciting visions for regeneration at Swindon, Taunton and York are being developed, with the potential for hundreds of additional homes and new businesses. I look forward to seeing how Network Rail and the Homes and Communities Agencys excellent work on these projects develop, he said.

Local areas are best placed to understand and identify the opportunities that exist within their communities. The Homes and Communities Agency and Network Rail will now work with councils on the opportunities they see and any plans already in place to explore how government can support them to deliver locally led regeneration and development schemes quickly, he added.

Proposals suggest that land at York Central station can support up to 2,500 homes. Housing would be key to creating a sustainable new community and would include Starter Homes and community facilities. Around 100,000 square meters of office and commercial space for private sector firms could also support more than 6,600 jobs in industries such as professional services. Housing and office regeneration around the station could add 1.16 billion to the local economy.

Regeneration at Taunton station could provide a significant increase in commercial spaces and homes in an underused site on the edge of the town centre. Remodelling of the station layout and car park, supported by the Local Growth Fund would complement this development. This would create a vibrant gateway to the town and strong links to the town centre. This would provide a significant boost to the local economy of one of the South Wests key urban centres, and provide significant residential and commercial growth.

The area around Swindon station could provide opportunities to boost housing in the town by creating homes and commercial opportunities taking advantage of the benefits brought by the Great Western Electrification Programme. Swindon has ambitious plans for the regeneration of its town centre and also the revitalisation of leisure opportunities to the north of the station. The redevelopment of land around the station would help to maximise and enhance these opportunities.

Stephen Barter, chair of real estate advisory at KPMG, pointed out that in the past stations were the thriving hubs of our communities and this announcement will enable them to become so again.

By using land around stations as the catalyst for regeneration, not only will we see much-needed new homes and businesses in the area, but well also see a wider regeneration of our town centres, he said.

With York, Swindon and Taunton leading the way, it must be hoped that other local areas will swiftly come forward. Ongoing Government support, in its various forms, alongside local commitment, will provide a much needed catalyst to create the thriving, mixed use communities that will deliver a boost to these towns and to the UK economy, he added.
Jessica and Laura have been valuable assets to the firm and their ongoing success is a symbol of eachs continued achievement and commitment to her work.

Raines International Inc., one of the countrys leading retained executive search firms, recently announced the promotion of two members of its team.

Jessica DeOliveira has been promoted to Consultant & Manager of ConsultantTrack. In this role, Ms. DeOliveira will manage and oversee ConsultantTrack.com, the firm's exclusive, content-driven website for current and former management consultants. She is additionally responsible for leading the firms public relations, social media, and marketing efforts. Ms. DeOliveira joined Raines International in 2014 as a Research Analyst and subsequently managed the firms Research Department. Ms. DeOliveira graduated summa cum laude from New York University, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies and Political Science. Ms. DeOliveira will receive a Master of Arts in Near Eastern Studies from New York University in May 2016.

Laura Barger has been promoted to Research Manager and has assumed responsibility for overseeing, as well as leading and reinventing, the Research Department. Ms. Barger began her career at Raines International as a Research Associate. Ms. Barger graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Biology.

We are very fortunate to have these two talented professionals on our team, said Dan Smith, Managing Director and COO, Raines International. Jessica and Laura have been valuable assets to the firm and their ongoing success is a symbol of eachs continued achievement and commitment to her work. I am confident that they will continue to make significant contributions to our firm and I am excited about their new roles within the company.

About Raines International Inc.

Founded in 1969, Raines International Inc. is one of the countrys leading retained executive search firms, conducting global searches for C-Suite executives and their direct reports. Raines International Inc. offers unparalleled access to exceptional talent across the globe, leveraging over 45 years of experience building exclusive relationships. With expertise in all major industry sectors and functional areas, our client base includes privately-held companies, publicly-held corporations, leading private equity and venture capital firms, and not-for-profits. The firms collaborative partnership with its clients, global reach, and industry and functional leadership allow Raines International Inc. to engage the worlds top talent to serve each clients unique leadership needs.The firm is a longstanding member of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) as well as the International Association for Corporate and Professional Recruitment (IACPR). For more information about the firm, please visit http://www.rainesinternational.com.

Press Contact Information:

Jessica DeOliveira, Consultant & Manager of ConsultantTrack

Phone: 212-997-1100 ext. 217

Email: press(at)rainesinternational(dot)com
Were thrilled that TD Bank has stepped up to share a common commitment with us in the education of finance professionals, and that theyre able to join us in celebrating their achievements

The Institute of Finance & Management (IOFM) is pleased to announce a special event honoring finance professionals who have earned their IOFM Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, or Controllers certification.

The IOFM Certification Celebration will be sponsored by TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, and will be held May 24 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Disneys Contemporary Resort. The invitation-only festivities will cap off Day 1 of the Institutes two signature events: the Accounts Payable & Procure-to-Pay Conference & Expo and the Accounts Receivable & Order-to-Cash Conference. Admission will be complimentary to attendees of either conference who have already earned their certification or will be doing so on site that week.

On an outdoor covered terrace overlooking Disneys Magic Kingdom, guests will enjoy a beer and wine toast, ice cream, and appearances by Disney characters. Newly-certified financial operations professionals from across North America will have a chance to connect with one another and raise a glass to each others achievements.

Certification classes will be held before and after the main conference program, with Accounts Payable certification classes May 23 and 27 and Accounts Receivable certification class May 24. All classes will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with the final 90 minutes set aside for a certification exam. Results are typically released within 24 hours, so many candidates who take the exam Monday will be celebrating a brand-new achievement Tuesday evening.

Were thrilled that TD Bank has stepped up to share a common commitment with us in the education of finance professionals, and that theyre able to join us in celebrating their achievements, said Brian Cuthbert, Executive Director of IOFM.

Nearly 20,000 financial operations professionals worldwide are already certified through IOFM. Surveys have shown that certification-holders not only benefit from a stronger resume and sharper skills; they also earn higher salaries and more respect in the workplace.

Candidates can register for the live Accounts Payable certification at http://www.iofm.com/conference-spring/register/ or for the live Accounts Receivable certification at http://www.iofm.com/ar-conference/register/ .

About IOFM

The Institute of Finance and Management (IOFM) is the leading organization providing training, education and certification programs specifically for professionals in Accounts Payable, Procure-to-Pay, Accounts Receivable and Order-to-Cash, as well as key tax and compliance resources for Global and Shared Services professionals, Controllers and their F&A teams.

IOFM has certified nearly 20,000 financial operations professionals worldwide through its four certification programs. These programs include Accredited Payables Specialist or Manager (U.S. and Canadian specific versions available), Accredited Receivables Specialist or Manager and Certified Professional Controller. The globally recognized AP & AR certifications are available in English, Simple Chinese and Spanish.

IOFMs membership networks, the AP & P2P Network (http://www.app2p.com) and AR & O2C Network (http://www.tarn.com), feature industry research and best practices, metrics and benchmarking data, policies, case studies, tools, templates, and critical compliance and corporate governance resources. The Institute also produces on-demand e-learning resources including video trainings and web-based seminars.

IOFM hosts industry-leading conferences designed to facilitate continuing education and peer networking. These events include the Accounts Payable and Procure-to-Pay Conference and Expo (Spring and Fall), and the Accounts Receivable & Order-to-Cash Conference.

With a universe of over 100,000 financial operations professionals, growing certification and membership programs, and a keen understanding of the issues and content needs critical to the profession, IOFM is the trusted source of information in the rapidly evolving field of financial operations.

About TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank

TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is one of the 10 largest banks in the U.S., providing more than 8 million customers with a full range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services at more than 1,200 convenient locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas and Florida. In addition, TD Bank and its subsidiaries offer customized private banking and wealth management services through TD Wealth, and vehicle financing and dealer commercial services through TD Auto Finance. TD Bank is headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J. To learn more, visit http://www.tdbank.com. Find TD Bank on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TDBank and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/TDBank_US.

TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is a member of TD Bank Group and a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada, a top 10 financial services company in North America. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the ticker symbol "TD". To learn more, visit http://www.td.com.
Iron Pony Motorsports Group is pleased to announce the acquisition of McCune Cycle World, Inc of Mansfield, Ohio. According to Iron Pony Motorsports Group President and CEO Chris Jones, McCune Cycle World has been a successful family owned multi-line powersport dealer in the state of Ohio for over 38 years. When asked what prompted the purchase of the business from Mick & Cindy McCune, Jones responded, We are always on the hunt to add solid multi-line powersports dealerships throughout the state of Ohio to our growing group of businesses. Especially dealerships that serve areas where we see great growth potential.

When asked about the timing of the acquisition, Chief Financial Officer Cory Atwood states, The McCunes have given a good part of their life to operating a successful Powersports business in the state of Ohio, and are in an enviable position to begin their retirement. We are fortunate that they believe in our business model and chose us to purchase their business at this time.

Tammy Jones, Vice President of Iron Pony Motorsports Group states, McCune Cycle World is a well known six line O.E.M. powersports dealership that sells Honda, Suzuki, Polaris, KTM, Victory & Kawasaki in the Northern Ohio market. Our Pony Powersports Group has had a smaller market dealership planned for many years and we feel the greater Mansfield market is a good launching ground for this concept. When asked for further information on the smaller dealership concept, Frank Lark, Vice President of Marketing & Growth Manager responded, We are excited to combine a mini-version of our Iron Pony Motorsports store with an established multi-line dealership. Our small market powersports parts, apparel and accessories store will be called Iron Pony Express, and the former McCunes Cycle World, Inc powersports dealership will now fly under our Pony Powersports Group flag. Adding further support to the small market hybrid dealership/retail store conversation, Alan Schatz, Operations Manager commented, "We have operated three distinct sized businesses (Small, Mid-Sized & Superstore) successfully over the history of our company, and are well versed in the unique opportunities we will face in Mansfield, Ohio.

McCune Cycle World, Inc operations will be fully handed over to Iron Pony Motorsports Group in April, 2016. All existing staff of the current dealership in Mansfield, Ohio have been offered positions with Pony Powersports Group, or Iron Pony Express.
Orit Tabachnik's new book, Now its Your Time, Mom! gives moms common sense tools for navigating their daily, and sometimes overwhelming lives. For most, parenting is an amazing gift, but for some it can bring with it a very real challenge of staying emotionally balanced. The constant caring for others needs  no matter how much we love them  can take its toll on even the most stable person.

When Orit found herself overwhelmed by responsibilities after the birth of her two daughters, she had no idea that what was missing was her ability to care for her own daily needs.

Now It's Your Time, Mom! offers the reader a gentle approach to healing by helping them to:



Recognize and connect to their needs through self-reflection with questions (of past/present) and written exercises at the end of each chapter

Improve communication of these needs with Nonviolent Communication skills

Gain important insights about practicing the art of Self-Care

The reader will be able to utilize these questions and answers to gain a greater clarity in identifying how to best support their own individual needs on a daily basis. In doing so, they will attain a more loving, balanced, organized and creative state of being on their parenting path  mind, body and spirit.

Kelli Miller, MSW and co-host of LA Talk Radio states, As mothers, we often cant, or wont allow ourselves to be nourished. Orits beautiful book gently and compassionately teaches us how to do that. Her style is soft and kind, and within each chapter one gets a sense of the love and affection we so desperately need. Thank you for writing a book for a generation of moms who absolutely need it. This Mothers Day, give someone you love, Now its Your Time, Mom!

About the Author:

Orit Tabachnik was born and raised in Israel before immigrating to the United States with her husband in 1989. Over the years, her desire to explore different aspects of wellness and body-mind healing, prompted her further education in the fields of yoga, qigong, various massage techniques, body-mind integration, Waldorf philosophy, as well as training in the field of Nonviolent Communications. Orit is available for private consultations in providing guidance to other mothers who have read her book and need assistance in formulating an individual plan specific to their own personal needs.

Orit lives in Northridge, California with her husband Ron and daughter Jane. Her older daughter Gal is currently continuing her education at college. For more information please visit her website.
As California endures a serious drought that the El Nino season has done little to alleviate, experts will gather to discuss the states most pressing water issues at the 25th annual California Water Policy Conference on April 20-21, 2016 at the UC Davis Conference Center in Davis, California.

The two-day event brings together leaders from the agricultural, urban and environmental communities to discuss policy issues impacting Californias water. This years theme is Silver Anniversary, No Silver Bullet reflecting the conferences ongoing work in building bridges between agriculture, environmental and urban water interests regarding the difficult issues of managing the states water resources.

The four plenary session speakers are:

Felicia Marcus: California Rx: Bigger Vision for a Steeper Hill

Wed. Apr. 20, 9:15  10:00 a.m.

As chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, Felicia Marcus has the eagles eye view of Californias water controversies and the states efforts to meet the challenges of a prolonged drought. Regardless of El Nino, meeting water supply needs will remain at the forefront as we near the end of the rainy season. In addition, the State Board will grapple with permitting for the Governors twin tunnel plan through the Delta, water rights adjustments on the San Joaquin River, and tackling statewide groundwater regulation for the first time in Californias history. With lively humor and deep insight, Felicia will bring her perspectives on one of the most demanding roles in balancing the multitude of needs and interests in the water world.

David and Janet Carle: Travelling the 38th Parallel: A Water Line Around the World

Wed. Apr. 20, 12:00 p.m.  2:00 p.m.

Along the 38th parallel lies Mono Lake where David and Janet Carle served as park rangers, working to protect the Eastern Sierra inland sea from the effects of stream diversion to Los Angeles. After serving as rangers for 18 years, David and Janet embarked on an around-the-world journey in search of water-related environmental and cultural intersections along the 38th parallel. Traveling largely outside of cities, away from well-beaten tourist tracks, the authors cross Japan, Korea, China, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Greece, Sicily, Spain, Portugal, the Azores Islands and the United States. From their travels they co-wrote the book, Traveling the 38th Parallel: A Water Line Around the World, from which theyll share stories. David will also bring us up to date on the re-release of his book Introduction to Water in California and the updated Water and the California Dream.

Glenda Humiston: A Million More Acre-Feet of Water

Thurs. Apr. 21, 8:30  9:15 a.m.

Thursdays opening speaker, Glenda Humiston, has spent her career bridging agriculture and environmental issues. Humiston is the vice president for agriculture and natural resources at the University of California Office of the President. Prior to accepting this position, Humiston was appointed by President Obama as the California State Director for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Humiston has over 25 years of experience working on agriculture, natural resources, sustainability and economic development in rural communities. Shell discuss how action teams from the California State Economic Summit are working with water agencies to encourage more comprehensive governance of the states fragmented water system. This includes local government connecting land use planning to water management and advancing the use of new local financing tools that allow more communities to pay for local water projects.

Dave Wegner: California Water Future: Converging Threats, Strategic Responses

Thurs. Apr. 21, 11:15  12:00 p.m.

Our closing speaker on Thurs. Apr. 21 brings decades of experience advising on water and climate issues within the U.S. House of Representatives and the federal government. Currently, Wegner works as a part-time senior scientist to ICF, continuing to provide input and strategic counsel to the National Academy of Sciences, several Members of Congress and international organizations focused on water and climate issues. His remarks will focus on how California is challenged to maintain a sustainable water supply for an increasing population and demands while climate change modifies the region's hydrology. Aging infrastructure, changing demand patterns, environmental needs, variable hydrology, and watershed dynamics are converging on multiple paths in California, and he is calling for a statewide strategy that focuses on strategically expanding the water portfolio coupled with and embracing aggressive water conservation, education, and improved efficiency.

The conference began as a vision by environmentalist Dorothy Green to bring different perspectives to the same table. Today, the annual event is an established forum drawing participants from around the state who share concern about the states water supply and want to find collaborative solutions.

Registration for both days of the conference includes continental breakfast each day, lunch on Wednesday and all conference materials. Special rates for students and non-profit organizations are available. Learn more at http://www.cawaterpolicy.org.

Conference attendees will also be able to sign up for a bus tour and overview of new salmon recovery efforts in the Sacramento Valley after the conference closing session, organized by the conference staff and the Sacramento River Watershed Program.
The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has launched the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR), the SGS-Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) and Global Voice Group (GVG) solution for mobile device theft and counterfeiting in the United Republic of Tanzania. CEIR is the latest component of the Telecommunication Traffic Monitoring System (TTMS) also implemented in the country by the SGS-GVG Consortium in 2014. Its main purpose is to stop counterfeited or stolen phones from accessing the telecommunications networks.

The Deputy Minister for Communication, Science and Technology, January Makamba, was asked in parliament what measures the government was planning to take to control of mobile phone theft and related criminal activities in the country like counterfeiting and cloning. These are rife in Tanzania and the TCRA has indicated that more than 2000 handsets are reported stolen every year. The increase in this kind of crime is due to an exponential rise in the use of mobile technology in Tanzania. Counterfeiting is also a widespread problem40% of the mobile phones used in the country are counterfeits. Dr Ally Simba, Director General of the TCRA, has cautioned Tanzanian citizens against the purchasing of counterfeited mobile phones, these often bear the designs and trademarks of genuine products and are difficult to identify.

CEIR is a nationwide database containing the IMEIs of all the phones in use in the country. Together with the Automatic Device Detection (ADD) solution, installed concurrently, CEIR organises the IMEIs into black, white or grey lists, depending on whether they have been found to belong to stolen, counterfeit or legitimate devices. The system is thus able to prevent the devices with blacklisted IMEIs from accessing the local telecom networks. Deputy Minister Makamba has explained that this will help control mobile device theft in the country as thieves will not be able to use the stolen handsets. Through its capacity to detect counterfeit or cloned handsets, CEIR will help reduce the sale and use of products like these.

Now that CEIR is active, Tanzanian mobile subscribers are required to verify the legitimacy of their cell phones and related devices. The process is simple and can be carried out by SMS. If a device is illegitimate, an SMS will be sent to the owner to alert him/her to the situation. He/she then has until 16 June 2016 to replace the offending device with a genuine model. By that date, all fake cell phones will be blacklisted and will not be able to access the local networks anymore.

Tanzanian mobile operators have welcomed the TCRAs plan to crack down on counterfeit devices, as it will greatly enhance the experience of their subscribers. Fake handsets cannot perform all the sophisticated functions their genuine counterparts offer so by deactivating the illegitimate devices in use in the country, the TCRA is actively promoting the purchase of genuine and fully functional devices, as well as ensuring the subscribers get good value for their money.

Before the acquisition of CEIR, the TCRA had already positioned itself as one of the most progressive regulatory authorities in Africa by implementing TTMS, also through the SGS-GVG consortium. Since its commissioning October 2014, TTMS has helped boost the revenue of both the government and the licensed operators and has allowed for the dismantling of a number of fraudulent networks. The recent launch of CEIR, now confirms the TCRAs position as a visionary authority in East Africa. It is reducing mobile device-related crime and thus boosting security in the country. The TCRAs Acting Corporate Communication Manager, Semu Mwakyanjala, says he believes the Authoritys example will eventually be followed by all the other East African states, including Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi.

ABOUT SGS

SGS is the worlds leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. The group is recognised as a global benchmark of quality and integrity. SGS employs more than 70 000 people and operates a network of more than 1350 offices and laboratories around the world.

ABOUT GVG

Global Voice Group (GVG) stands out as one of the worlds leading experts in ICT solutions for governments in emerging countries. Since 1998, the group has pioneered innovative and proven ICT solutions to assist governments to improve their governance and financial performance. GVG strongly commits to the technological and socio-economic empowerment of emerging countries, through technology transfer and innovative financing for development. The group has developed a unique approach to improve fiscal and regulatory compliance dramatically in key sectors of the economy, inter alia, telecommunications and retail markets. A member of the International Telecommunication Union, GVG has been awarded the Frost & Sullivan Best Practice Award for its outstanding innovation in telecoms management technologies.
Kaufman Hall, a leading provider of strategic, capital and financial advisory services and software tools to healthcare organizations, today announced that Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), a community health system based in Pennsylvania, has selected its suite of performance management solutions. Kaufman Halls integrated software solutions for Budgeting, Capital Planning, Long-Range Planning, and Reporting will provide LVHN with full visibility into its financial performance and enable more informed decision-making across its network.

LVHN includes five hospital campuses, the only childrens hospital in the region, and 14 health centers, offering comprehensive care in 95 clinical specialties. LVHN will leverage Kaufman Halls technology to adopt a more integrated approach to achieving its strategic, financial and operational goals, as well as to formulate quantifiable improvement strategies. LVHN selected Kaufman Halls tools based on their ability to consolidate accurate and actionable data, allowing key stakeholders to understand, and effectively respond to, pressing financial challenges.

Previously, we needed to compile financial data from several different sources, which created a fragmented process, said Leigh Ehrlich, CPA, CHFP, VP of LVHN Budget and Financial Planning. Kaufman Halls products give us a single platform for budgeting, financial planning, capital planning and ongoing reporting. This gives us the right solution for making sound business decisions and effectively calculating their financial impact.

Kaufman Halls Axiom Software Suite includes sophisticated, flexible performance management solutions that empower finance professionals to analyze results, model the future and optimize organizational decision-making. Today, more than 1,000 hospitals and health systems rely on this software to effectively address their evolving strategic and financial management needs in an integrated manner.

Taking a holistic view of financial performance has become business-critical, but its a much more difficult feat for those larger organizations spread across various locations, said James Bodan, Executive VP of Kaufman Halls Healthcare Software Division. Our integrated software suite brings that data together and also produces key analytical insights that can help drive action and desired outcomes.

About LVHN

LVHN includes five hospital campuses - three in Allentown including the region's only facility dedicated to orthopedic surgery, one in Bethlehem and one in Hazleton, Pa.; 14 health centers caring for communities in five counties; numerous primary and specialty care physician practices throughout the region; pharmacy, imaging, home health services and lab services; and preferred provider services through Valley Preferred. Specialty care includes: trauma care at the regions busiest, most-experienced trauma center treating adults and children, burn care at the regional Burn Center, kidney and pancreas transplants; perinatal/neonatal, cardiac, cancer care, and neurology and complex neurosurgery capabilities including national certification as a Comprehensive Stroke Center. Childrens Hospital at Lehigh Valley Hospital, the only childrens hospital in the region, provides care in 28 specialties and general pediatrics. LVHN has been recognized by US News & World Report for 20 consecutive years as one of Americas Best Hospitals and is a national Magnet hospital for excellence in nursing. Lehigh Valley Health Networks Cancer Center is the only cancer center in the region to have been selected as a National Cancer Center Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP, 2010-14). Additional information is available at lvhn.org and by following us on facebook.com/LVHealthNetwork and twitter.com/LVHN.

About Kaufman Hall

Leveraging 30 years of experience, Kaufman Hall helps hospitals and health systems implement best practice strategic financial management, empowering organizations to reach their full potential. Combining management consulting and advisory services with innovative enterprise performance management applications, Kaufman Hall enables data-driven decision making that quantifies the financial impact of plans, scenarios, and actions. Kaufman Hall provides sophisticated, integrated, and intuitive software solutions for budgeting & forecasting, long-range planning, capital planning & management, performance reporting, and decision support & analytics, delivered on Axiom EPMs unified platform via the cloud or on premise. To learn more, visit http://www.kaufmanhall.com.
A10 Capital Funded a Permanent Mortgage on this Multifamily Property I was impressed that the A10 team worked so cooperatively across all their departments and produced not just one, but two lending solutions that delivered as promised in every respect.

A10 Capital, a leading commercial real estate lender to the U.S. middle market, announced today it has funded loans totaling $79 million for the acquisition of a multifamily/retail portfolio of four properties, three Class B multifamily complexes and one Class B retail center.

Jared Frothinger, Executive Vice President of A10 Capital, who structured and closed the loans, said, The sponsor is a successful real estate owner. They needed a lender who could handle a complex portfolio and close within a very tight timeframe. Working with JP Real Estate Partners, we got comfortable with the assets quickly and crafted both bridge and permanent solutions which addressed specific property situations and closed simultaneously on the specified date.

The borrower had a specific closing date to meet tax year deadlines and the structure was executed concurrently with a complex ESOP corporate transaction, said Jay Schiesser, Managing Director at JP Real Estate Partners, Inc., who arranged the financing. I was impressed that the A10 team worked so cooperatively across all their departments and produced not just one, but two lending solutions that delivered as promised in every respect. We were very pleased with the overall execution of these transactions.

The total financing was made up of two loans, a $40 million bridge loan, and a $39 million permanent mortgage. The bridge loan was structured on a non-recourse basis and proceeds were used to refinance two multifamily properties in California and Indiana and one retail property in Indiana. The bridge loan also provided committed funds for the major redevelopment of the multifamily property in California. The permanent loan was structured on a non-recourse basis with a 10 year term and proceeds were used to fund the refinance of an institutional quality multifamily property in Southern California.

About A10 Capital

Commercial real estate investors rely on A10 Capital as their one-stop balance sheet lender for middle-market commercial mortgages. With loans ranging from $1 million to $20 million per property, our broad menu of bridge, perm, bridge-to-perm, and note purchase loans cover the entire life cycle of commercial properties across the United States. Our full service platform incorporates focused origination, speedy underwriting, in-house legal and servicing for the life of the loan. An innovator in the industry with a scalable funding model, A10 is backed by four significant institutions: $4.7 trillion asset management firm BlackRock, $98 billion global investment firm KKR, the $19 billion global private equity firm H.I.G. Capital, and THL Credit, the credit affiliate of Thomas H. Lee Partners. We are based in Boise, Idaho and Irving, Texas and have regional offices in key markets nationwide. For more information, please visit us at http://www.a10capital.com.
Elk Tenderloin, Geronimos signature dish,  Kate Russell Photography I am excited about this opportunity to lead Geronimos renowned kitchen, said Cruz. The flavors of Chef DiStefano have had a wonderful impact on my culinary career and I look forward to bringing a fresh perspective to the restaurants cuisine.

Award-winning, fine dining restaurant Geronimo is delighted to announce the appointment of Chef Sllin Cruz as its executive chef. After almost two years running the Geronimo kitchen as chef de cuisine and being awarded Open Tables Top 100 Restaurants in America through his culinary talent, Cruz will take over from acclaimed Chef Eric DiStefano, who sadly passed away in February 2016. Geronimo restaurant, located on historic Canyon Road, presents an exquisite Global Eclectic with a French base-inspired menu focusing on comfort delicacies from all over the world.

Chef Cruz has an impressive pedigree working with the top chefs and restaurants in Santa Fe including; The Compound, opening Bouche Bistro, and Las Campanas. Chef DiStefano found Sllin, said Chris Harvey, Geronimo partner and general manager. He knew immediately who he wanted when the previous chef de cuisine left a couple of years ago.

Geronimo, named after the historic "Borrego House" built by Geronimo Lopez in 1756, will continue to pay homage to Chef DiStefanos signature dishes, while evolving the menu with fresh chef-tastings, specials and exciting new menu creations from Chef Cruz, said Harvey. The focus on hospitality coupled with world-class cuisine creates the ultimate fine dining experience and is the motivation behind Geronimos reputation. I believe that while food trends are important and the culinary revolution is real, adds Harvey, ultimately, the key to success is the ability to deliver on hospitality.

I am excited about this opportunity to lead Geronimos renowned kitchen, said Cruz. The flavors of Chef DiStefano have had a wonderful impact on my culinary career and I look forward to bringing a fresh perspective to the restaurants cuisine.

Under Cruzs direction, Geronimos menu remains as enticing as when DiStefano first arrived, and several of its early menu staples are recurrent favorites: from the Telicherry Rubbed Elk Tenderloin with Applewood smoked bacon and creamy brandied-mushroom sauce to the mesquite-grilled Maine lobster tails with a rich garlic chile sauce.

Geronimos dining room seats 100 guests inside (including the bar) with an additional 24 seats on the patio, which will open April 29th. Expect an exciting wine list and refreshing, delicious cocktails curated and designed by mixologist Quinn Stephenson.

Geronimo is the best restaurant in New Mexico, says Chef Cruz and it allows me to take the next step in my culinary career.

###

ABOUT GERONIMO:

Opened in 1990, recognized for their dedication to maintaining the highest standards for culinary and hospitality excellence, Geronimo Restaurant features an elegant and intimate environment on the culturally enriched Canyon Road in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Established in the warm and inviting historic "Borrego House" built by Geronimo Lopez in 1756, Geronimo is the recipient of the AAA Four Diamond and Mobil/Forbes 4 Star Awards and was voted "Top 100 Opentable Restaurants" in the country in 2013 and 2015. Executive Chef Sllin Cruz creates the "Global Eclectic" menu that changes seasonally, while continuing to pay homage to Chef Eric DiStefanos signature dishes.
SharePoint Fest DC 2016 will have Sharegate, a gold sponsor, join other sponsors in bringing this conference to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center April 27-29th, 2016. Conference delegates will hear from keynote speakers and attend breakout sessions. Over 70 sessions will be offered across multiple tracks, as well as an optional day of workshops preceding the conference. There will also be a networking reception held at the end of the first day of the conference.

"We are thrilled to come back to SharePoint Fest DC! The quality of both the conference and the attendees makes it a great event for us. We are looking forward to meeting this year participants! Sebastien Leduc, Vice-President Partner Program

About Sharegate

Sharegate simplifies management tasks for SharePoint, Office 365, and OneDrive for Business for thousands of administrators and power users around the world. A privately-held company based in Montreal, Sharegate is trusted by more than 10,000 organizations. As a leader in its industry, Sharegate lives by the motto: "Innovate and keep things simple & fun". For more information, visit http://www.share-gate.com, or follow us on Twitter @Sharegatetools.

Web Site: http://www.share-gate.com

About SharePoint Fest

SharePoint Fest is in its sixth year. It offers a two-day conference (with an optional workshop day) that brings together SharePoint enthusiasts and practitioners, with many of the leading SharePoint experts and solution providers in the country.

Attend SharePoint Fest DC where attendees will be able to attend workshops and seminars  taught by Microsoft Certified Trainers, Microsoft engineers, and Microsoft MCM's and MVPs  covering Enterprise Content Management, Implementation/Administration, Business Value, Search, Business Intelligence, Office 365 and SharePoint Development. Attendees will be able to choose one complete learning track or mix and match based on what content best meets their current needs.

At SharePoint Fest DC, there will be sessions created for SharePoint administrators, software developers, business analysts, information architects, and knowledge workers, which will ensure that attendees walk away with as much knowledge as they desire to truly leverage SharePoint in their current environment.

Web Site: http://www.sharepointfest.com/DC
A-1 Coin Laundry: Hesham and Zana Abed I have had great experience with the Dexter coin-op laundry equipment: it is very attractive, durable and dependable. It is also extremely efficient, allowing customers to complete their wash quickly in order to get back to their busy lives.

Western State Designs Steve Erlinger previously assisted Abed and his wife, Zana, upgrade another laundromat in Moreno Valley, California in 2014. Their original A-1 coin-op laundry, featuring state-of-the-art Dexter laundry equipment, continues to provide the Abeds with a solid second source of income, significantly increasing business in less than two years.

Through a continued partnership with WSD, Abed hopes to duplicate the Moreno Valley success with the Corona A-1 Coin Laundry. As the top distributor of Dexter laundry equipment since 2009, WSD offers a wealth of experience and expertise in top-of-the line vended laundry equipment. Dexter Laundry equipment, made in the U.S.A., consists of a superior line of coin-operated washers and dryers that are energy efficient with minimal servicing needs.

The 2200 square foot Corona coin-op laundry is located in a busy, recently-upgraded shopping center, anchored by a brand-new Walmart. The high traffic location is what first caught my eye, explained Abed.

The coin-op laundry at that location was very run-down and needed an overhaul. Not only did the laundry equipment need to be replaced with modern, high efficiency machines, the space itself needed a complete facelift.

The first thing Abed did was to negotiate a long-term lease with the landlord. With the lease secure and a long-term business plan, Abed opened A-1 Coin Laundrys doors on December 1, 2015. Abed ran the business for most of December using the existing equipment while he carefully formulated his plan for renovation.

Abed decided to brand the A-1 Coin Laundry in a similar manner to his store in Moreno Valley, using the same high quality materials, colors and coin-op laundry equipment. The project, completed January 15, 2016, involved a complete renovation, from floor to ceiling and the purchase of a brand new line of Dexter laundry equipment. He worked very quickly, marveled Steve Erlinger of WSD.

With Erlingers continuing guidance, Abed purchased the state-of-the-art Dexter C series line in traditional Dexter Blue. The equipment installed consisted of 34 energy-efficient washing machines, including 7-20 lb. T-300 washers, 11-30 lb. T-400 washers, 8-40 lb. T-600 washers, 6 60 lb. T-900 washers, and 2 80 lb. T-1200 washers, as well as 23 stacked dryers, including 17 T-30x2 dryers and 6 T-50x2 dryers. Abed explained, I have had great experience with the Dexter Coin-Op laundry equipment: it is very attractive, durable and dependable. It is also extremely efficient, allowing customers to complete their wash quickly in order to get back to their busy lives. Other equipment includes two 400RL Rowe Changers with bill recyclers.

About A-1 Coin Laundry

Opened officially on Leap Day (February 29, 2016), at 1520 W. 6th Street, Suite 105 in Corona, California, A-1 is a coin-operated laundromat that has been attracting a growing base of enthusiastic customers. Customers appreciate the convenient location, the inviting, brand-new interior, and the high quality Dexter laundry equipment. The laundromat also offers T.V. with both English and Spanish-speaking channels, as well as free WIFI. It is open from 6am-10pm, 7 days a week.

About Western State Design

With 37 years experience as a premier, full-service distributor to the coin-op laundry industry, Western State Design has grown to become one of the largest coin laundry equipment distributors in the world. Western State Design is proud to be a Dexter Authorized Distributor, and has been recognized as the No. 1 Dexter Distributor Worldwide from 2009-present. Dexter Laundry, located in Fairfield, Iowa, is an employee-owned leading manufacturer of commercial laundry equipment. All equipment is manufactured in Iowa. Visit WSD online at http://www.westernstatedesign.com or call toll free at 1-800-633-7153.
John Gooden [John] is one of the driving forces behind the development of a capable workforce in our community."

John C. Gooden has been named president of M. Davis & Sons, Inc., a woman-owned, fifth generation industrial construction company based in Wilmington, Delaware. The position was formerly held by John Bonk, who will now coordinate field operations.

Gooden, who has been vice president at M. Davis since 2002, has more than 25 years of experience in the contracting and construction industry. As president, he will have oversight of safety, human resources and employee training. He will continue to be instrumental in the development of new markets and client relationships.

John is the trusted point person on contract negotiations for our company, said Peggy Del Fabbro, CEO. He is also one of the driving forces behind the development of a capable workforce in our community through his passionate commitment to regional vocational high schools and training facilities. Were excited to have his leadership, experience, integrity and dedication in his new role as president.

Gooden earned his bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Delaware via an ROTC scholarship. He continued to serve in our armed forces with the United States Army Reserves until 1996. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton Advanced Management program. He is past president of the University of Delaware Engineering Alumni and continues to be active with the engineering school through its scholarship program and the universitys Engineers Without Borders Chapter. A 20-year Rotarian, Gooden is a member of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Delaware chapter, where he served on the board for seven years and as board chairman in 2012. He works with ABCs careers committee and chairs the legislative committee.

Manufacturing is one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy, so its an exciting time to be president of an organization like M. Davis, whose inclusive culture is to foster and encourage the next generation of workers, Gooden said. I am excited to be working with Peggy Del Fabbro and the rest of our talented team to continue the companys rapid momentum and industry leadership.

About M. Davis & Sons, Inc.

M. Davis & Sons, Inc. is a fifth generation woman-owned merit shop mechanical/electrical contractor and fabricator located in Delaware, serving customers in the Oil & Gas, Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Food, Beverage and Industrial markets. For more information, visit http://www.mdavisinc.com.

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The show brings together credit professionals and thought leaders, providing insight into the latest in technology innovation across the credit and receivables landscape.

Emerging technologies are enabling finance executives and credit and accounts receivable leaders to achieve exponential improvement in performance, including the virtual elimination of bad debt and overall reduction in Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). Join Shankar Bellam, Senior Solution Architect at HighRadius at the Riemer 32nd Annual Conference, April 20  22 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as he demonstrates 5 Ways CFOs and Credit / AR professionals can employ technology to facilitate 90% automation in previously manual tasks across the credit and accounts receivable cycle.

Now in its 32nd year, the Riemer Annual Conference provides exceptional educational and networking opportunities to all members of the Riemer network. A variety of valuable information, new insights, and innovative approaches on domestic and international credit subjects are presented for credit professionals at every level of credit expertise. From customers to cash, processes and workflows in accounts receivables have been impeded by clerical tasks that are tediously manual in nature.

The Riemer Annual Conference is a great venue with its focus on education and accreditation. The show brings together credit professionals and thought leaders, providing insight into the latest in technology innovation across the credit and receivables landscape, said Jay Tchakarov, VP of Product Management at HighRadius. This aligns with HighRadius own commitment to creating powerful technology that transforms customer on-boarding, invoice and payment collection, payment processing and cash application, back-up documentation collection as well as dispute and deduction management which are all ripe for automation, saving companies substantial time, money and resources. We continuously work to educate organizations about business challenges and the benefits and value of adopting the latest in technological advances.

During the one-hour and fifteen minute session, Shankar will detail the technologies that will shape the future of accounts receivables systems, such as Artificial Intelligence, web aggregation, credit risk and trade promotion management and correspondence automation. He will demonstrate how these various business-specific automation technologies help to eliminate costly manual activities and shift the focus of attention from time-consuming administrative work to more value-added efforts, such as decision making and customer relationship building.

For more information or to register, click here.

About HighRadius

HighRadius provides Financial Supply Chain Management (FSCM) software solutions to optimize receivables and payments functions such as credit, collections, cash application, deductions and eBilling. HighRadius Receivables Cloud and Payments Cloud solution suites are delivered as software-as-a-service in the cloud to automate the entire credit-to-cash cycle. HighRadius certified Accelerators for SAP Receivables Management enables large enterprises to achieve advanced business transformation initiatives and leverage their SAP investments with lower TCO. HighRadius solutions have a proven track record of reducing days sales outstanding (DSO), bad debit and increasing operation efficiency enabling companies to achieve an ROI in few months. For more information please visit http://www.highradius.com.

For More Information Contact:

Sally Huynh

Marketing Manager

sally.huynh(at)highradius(dot)com

281.972.2101
Once you understand that what is happening is happening for a reason, then people will be less afraid than they are now.

For the majority of her life, Beverley Buckley struggled to recognize her purpose on earth. It was not until she discovered the 12 laws of the universe that she was able to come to a better understanding about how to live a more fulfilling life.

In her new book, Final Days of Judgement, Buckley discusses her experience living with these laws and how the tenets relate to modern life.

Buckleys experience as a spiritual healer and organic farmer has allowed her to study the laws through a different prism. She has helped people overcome personal challenges by assisting in the retrieval of lost memories. Along with her spiritual work, she recently returned from living at Damanhur, a secluded community in Italy, where she taught its residents to become self-sufficient in food production. Both of these jobs have given her a better understanding of the law of alignment and balance present in individuals and nature.

She believes that Earth is currently in a transition phase that will move from a world filled with distress and negative actions to one that will showcase the values of happiness and love.

The evil, unfairness, terror and uncertainty we are experiencing on earth at present is forcing everyone to face their deepest fears, Buckley said. Peoples lives are being turned upside down and in the process they are letting go of the crutches they have held onto in order to feel safe.

By sharing her story, Buckley wants to teach others how to apply the different universal laws to their everyday lives.

Once you understand that what is happening is happening for a reason, then people will be less afraid than they are now, Buckley said.

For more information, visit http://www.spirituallawsforliving.com.

Final Days of Judgement

By Beverley Buckley

ISBN: 978-1-5144-4292-0

Available in softcover, hardcover, e-book

Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Xlibris

About the author

Beverley Buckley is a spiritual healer and organic farmer, who has dedicated her life to understanding the 12 laws of the universe. She spent nearly a year in Damanhur, where she helped the community become self-sufficient in food production. She resides in Australia.

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For review copies or interview requests, contact:

Brandon Kors

317.602.7137

bkors(at)bohlsengroup(dot)com
Appsme Education Beta At Appsme we saw a real need for an easy-to-use online tool like this, which could help educators teach app building and build confidence in their students at the same time - Nick Barnett, CEO at Appsme.com

A brand new engaging and interactive online app-building platform has been launched for schools. The beta version of Appsme Education, developed in partnership with Animate 2 Educate, is available now on the Appsme.Education website.

Appsme Education is designed specifically for educators who would like to teach app building in class. The visually engaging tool enables teachers to work with their students to develop unique apps, which keep building and growing. Students can have fun while learning invaluable digital skills for the future.

Students who are eager to showcase their skills and talents are able to choose their own designs and even decide how their app works. They can play around with all the colourful frames and images, and add functions to their app, including a contact page, YouTube videos, photos and Twitter account. Students are also able to download their own apps to their smartphones and tablets at home, and share it with all their teachers, friends and family.

With Appsme Education you dont need to know how to code. The innovative platform enables young students from the age of 8 years to create simple mobile apps. The easy-to-use tool is tailored to fit the specific needs of schools, and fit into the curriculum.

Martin Bailey, (Director of Animate 2 Educate Ltd) had already been using Appsmes commercial platform (Appsme.com), with his students for a while. He contacted Appsme, telling them how his students were really excited about using the online tool. He explained how his students were really benefiting from it...so much so, that Animate 2 Educate wanted to collaborate with Appsme, to create a new online tool that was specifically aimed at students.

Martin Bailey said Im delighted to be working with Appsme to create 'Appsme Education'. I already love using the platform to create apps with pupils and 'Appsme Education' will enhance the experience even more by being purpose-built for use in schools.

Appsme Education will provide real benefits for students. Its important because it inspires, and its geared toward instilling technological aspirations. Simultaneously, it feeds the creative appetites of students through a blend of digital multimedia forms.

Appsme Education is more than just app building. It teaches logic, builds confidence, and it aims to equip students with the tools and skills to continue to exhibit and archive their achievements throughout their educational journey.

About Animate to Educate

Martin Bailey, (Director of Animate 2 Educate Ltd) has been a Primary School Teacher in the North East of England for the past 16 years, teaching and acting as ICT Coordinator in schools in South Tyneside, County Durham and Gateshead. Animate 2 Educate use the latest in ICT technologies to teach curriculum topics and staff training sessions in a fun and creative way.

About Appsme

Appsme is a specialist app provider that hopes to empower both businesses and schools to create their own mobile apps.

Appsme Education aims to be the first port of call for schools who want to provide their students with a platform to reflect, represent and express themselves in more diverse, interesting and unique ways. It allows educators to deliver stimulating, interactive, engaging and enjoyable lessons that make learning fulfilling and fun.
Squadeo was chosen due to its strong video player expertise on Android and iOS, providing a player product that is secure, robust and with differentiating features like fixing device issues remotely from the cloud.

Squadeo, a global provider of secure cross-platform OTT video solutions to the Broadcast- and TV-industry, has been chosen as supplier by Viasat Ukraine to power TV and video play-out on mobile devices for Ukraines largest telecommunication company Kyivstar.

Squadeo was chosen due to its strong video player expertise on Android and iOS, providing a player product that is secure, robust and with differentiating features like fixing device issues remotely from the cloud, commented Vyacheslav Gavrylov, CTO of Viasat Ukraine.

By providing best-in-class playback experience across a diverse range of smartphones and tablets, Squadeo helps Viasat Ukraine to address a broader base of Kyivstars subscribers, in keeping with the expanding OTT market trend in Ukraine, says Squadeos Sales and Marketing Director Benoit Brieussel.

About Squadeo

Squadeo is a global provider of secure cross platform video software solutions to the broadcast and TV-industry worldwide. Squadeos mission is to solve todays and tomorrows OTT challenges by providing premium video players on open platforms, with a constant focus on enhanced visual experience in compliance with Studio requirements, and pre-integrated with major DRMs.

Squadeo is made up of a team of professionals originating from Philips and NXP with extensive expertise in its domains, and a track record of creating valuable products and IP.

Squadeo is a privately held company with headquarters in Paris, France.

For more information about Squadeos solutions, please visit: http://www.squadeo.tv

Contact: sales.office(at)squadeo(dot)tv

About Viasat Ukraine

Vision TV LLC (trademark Viasat, http://www.viasat.ua) is a direct broadcast satellite television distributor and Internet TV provider, and was founded as Vision TV in 2006 and is based in Kyiv, Ukraine.

http://www.viasat.ua
Lawyer.com Anticipated Homepage Blackout The services we provide have always been intended to serve the greater good.

To increase awareness of the 46th Anniversary of Earth Day, Lawyer.com is planning a blackout of their recently updated homepage on April 22nd. A leading online lawyer directory, Lawyer.com hopes that its more than 50,000 daily visitors will be encouraged to participate in the demonstration.

The Earth Day movement formed in 1970 in support of environmental protection and, most recently, is committed to building upon the momentum of the 2015 Paris Climate Summit. To help raise awareness of the significance of the days initiative, Lawyer.com will dim the colors of their homepage, reduce the prominence of their contact form, force visitors to turn the lights on to view content, and, of course, wish all visitors a happy Earth Day.

Additionally, 100% of new customer revenue collected from Lawyer.coms Premium Member Services on April 22nd will be donated to the Earth Day Network. To become a Lawyer.com Premium Member (practicing lawyers only), or simply make a donation to the Earth Day Network, please visit lawyer.com/earth. Any donations or Memberships purchased from this page prior to April 22nd, 2016 will automatically be included in the Earth Day contribution.

Lawyer.coms blackout is also intended to commemorate their recent international expansion, fully embracing Earth Days global reach. The respective homepages for Lawyer.coms services in the United Kingdom, Canada, China, India, and many other countries will also be subject to the blackout.

The services we provide have always been intended to serve the greater good, commented Lawyer.com CEO Gerald Gorman. "Though we commit ourselves daily to providing the best experience for those in need of a lawyer, its nice to take a step back and have everyones best interest in mind for Earth Day. We hope to be one of countless contributors around the world to the effort on April 22nd."

About Lawyer.com

Lawyer.com provides comprehensive listings in 139 practice areas for 2 million lawyers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and other international markets. Each month, a million visitors come to Lawyer.com and thousands of consumers and top lawyers are matched each week.
VR-Forces 4.4 introduces many new features, including airspace management! These innovations demonstrate MAKs commitment to their customers long term success in the competitive modeling, simulation & training market.

VT MAK, (MAK), a company of Vision Technologies Systems, Inc. (VT Systems), today announced that it has released an update to the MAK suite of applications and development tools, including significant improvements to VR-Forces, VR-Vantage, SensorFX, VR-Link, the MAK RTI, and the MAK Data Logger. These innovations demonstrate MAKs commitment to their customers long term success in the competitive modeling, simulation & training market. Notably, with the MAK suite of simulation products, customers are provided top-notch stand-alone capabilities, which work even better together as components of an integrated system.

VR-Forces 4.4 brings new features and functionality to MAKs comprehensive simulation product. New simulation models and controls allow users to model a sensors gimbal so sensor missions have full control of where the sensors are pointing, along with a 3D view from the vantage point of the sensor; airspace management with volumetric flight corridors; suppressive fire where entities react to being fired upon; and weapon aiming to increase the fidelity of human character simulation. Even easier to use: Object Groups speed up placement of inter-relating entities; Quick Launch Toolbar allows users to configure trigger buttons; embarkation is made simpler as has the user interface, and the way VR-Forces connects to the simulation network. More ways to visualize simulations in progress: entities show the task they are executing and the route they have calculated; arrows are used to indicate when sensors make contact with other entities. More types of terrain databases: CDB can now be used as imagery and elevation inputs to MAKs streaming terrain; a module is available to support Bionatics Blueberry3D terrain; and airplanes can take off and land on procedurally generated airports anywhere in the world. This video presentation demonstrates the latest features.

VR-Vantage IG 2.1, the latest version of MAKs image generator, adds new capabilities while continuing to make significant improvements to visual quality, performance, and content. Supporting customers diverse terrain needs remains a top focus at MAK. This release adds support for the CDB and Blueberry3D terrain formats. VR-Vantage expands procedural terrain generation capabilities to add endless vegetation and complete airports on streaming (direct from source) terrains anywhere in the world. MAK has made numerous performance improvements to enable smooth 60 frame-per-second scenes, including caching options for streaming terrain. This version of VR-Vantage makes improvements to the general lighting, including Fresnel reflections and better SpeedTree lighting at night. High-quality models have been added, including Coast Guard boats, passenger ferries, UAVs, missile batteries, and human characters. Additional features include touchscreen support, camera vibrations for ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) simulations, and support for Microsoft Visual C++ 12. Click here for a video presentation of VR-Vantage.

SensorFX 2.1 brings several improvements to sensor simulation. Procedural imagery is now sensorized, allowing for physics-based rendering from land-use classification maps. The performance of the system is also improved, reducing the amount of time needed for switching camera modes.

VR-Link 5.2.1 is focused on accessibility and ease of use. VR-Link now supports Java and 64-bit Microsoft Visual C++ 12 in addition to C++ and C#. Customers developing federates in Java will now be able to access a substantial portion of the VR-Link libraries using efficient Java bindings. The VR-Link Code Generator creates complete extensions for any valid HLA Evolved FOM, making it easier to incorporate FOM extensions into simulators.

The MAK RTI 4.4.2 brings significant performance increases. The RTI has significantly improved Attribute Update performance; Spatial update (the most common update in the RPR FOM) bench-marking performance has improved by 300% since 2014. MAK RTI 4.4.2 has increased its object registration performance to over 60x its previous benchmark, making it an ideal tool for large and complex simulations. Time-managed exercises and Monte Carlo simulations benefit from MAK RTI 4.4.2, which sends messages 9x faster.

MAK Data Logger 5.4 pushes the limits of exercise scalability. The MAK Data Logger is built to be much more efficient, with a significant increase in packet reading speed. This allows it to process information much more quickly, keeping the Logger up to speed in larger exercises. The GUI has also been overhauled, with a data packet view and dual timelines that provide a detailed magnification of specific segments for analysis. MAK has also optimized the Logger to provide better initial recording response inside of more complex simulations.

*****

VT MAK develops software for live, virtual, and constructive simulation. Built upon a strong foundation of COTS products, MAK delivers simulation, gaming, and networking technology in a flexible platform to meet the requirements of training system integrators, experimentation labs, and end users. MAKs primary users are in the aerospace and defense industries, yet their products and services can help customers anywhere modeling and simulation is needed to train, plan, analyze, experiment, prototype, and demonstrate. MAK is dedicated to serving customers by building capable products, offering superior technical support, and innovating new ways to build, populate and view interoperable 3D simulated worlds. MAK continues to take advantage of new technologies that further the state of simulation. MAKs products help users link, simulate and visualize their world. VT MAK is a company of VT Systems. Please visit http://www.mak.com for more information.

VT Systems is an engineering company providing integrated solutions to the commercial and government markets in the aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine sectors. VT Systems innovative solutions, products and services include aircraft maintenance, repair and modification; software solutions in training and simulation; satellite-based IP communications technology; network solutions that integrate data, voice and video; rugged computers and computer peripheral equipment; specialized truck bodies and trailers; weapons and munitions systems; road construction equipment; and ship design and shipbuilding. Headquartered in Alexandria, Va., VT Systems operates globally and is a wholly owned subsidiary of ST Engineering. Please visit http://www.vt-systems.com.

Media Contacts:

Rob Hamilton

Marketing Communications Specialist

VT MAK

Phone: (1) 617-876-8085 x138

Fax: (1) 617-876-9208

Email: rhamilton(at)mak(dot)com

Hunter Rawley

Sr. Associate, Corporate Communications

VT Systems

Phone: (1) 703-739-2610

Fax: (1) 703-739-2611

Email: hrawley(at)vt(dot)systems(dot)com
Edge Hosting, a national provider of secure, scalable and dependable managed hosting services, announced with (C) Systems Global, global consulting and implementation firm for association management software and event management software, a complimentary webinar that will focus on best practices and simple steps for building an organizations strategy that provides a secure, scalable and dependable web presence for its members and protects Nonprofit from any threats. Click here to register.

The webinar, titled Security Matters: Protecting Your Nonprofit From Threats, is scheduled for April 27 at 12 P.M. EST. It will feature Mark Houpt, Chief Information Security Officer at Edge, and be moderated by Barbara Beauchamp of (C) Systems. Houpt brings more than 25 years of extensive Information Security and Information Technology experience in a wide range of industries and institutions. He is an active member of ISC2, ASIS International, COMPTIA, Infragard, IAPP, ISACA, among other leading national and international security organizations.

The webinar will cover topics including:



Were a nonprofit; why do hackers want my data?

How do I protect my organization?

Why is PCI compliance important?

DDos protection

In-house cost vs. outsource cost

The Edge and (C) Systems Partnership

As the frequency and high costs of data breaches increase, Nonprofits and associations need to assess their IT environments and security to locate vulnerabilities. Cyber threats are increasingly targeting data rich environments like Nonprofitsnot just banks and financial institutions. The currency of data as a whole has increased leading to financial gain for cyber attackers, said Vlad Friedman, Founder and CEO at Edge Hosting.

Lee Hornstein, CEO of (C) Systems Global, said, We are so pleased to offer this complimentary webinar to association and Nonprofit leaders through our partnership with Edge Hosting. This high level of information sharing and establishing of best practices for cybersecurity plays a critical role in how associations plan for and protect their members from very real threats. This is the best use of time for IT professionals and other association leaders thinking about the future.

Compared to huge associations or major hospitals, Nonprofits may not seem like the ideal target for hackers. And yet, small Nonprofits may be most vulnerable to attacks for several reasons, including a volunteer-based staff that doesnt have the resources to follow security best practices, the collection of personally identifiable information from donors and the use of shadow databases.

To learn how to protect your organization, click here to register for the webinar.

Edge Hostings philosophy is to provide the most secure, scalable and dependable managed hosting experience to customers. This approach is the main reason why so many businesses migrate to Edge Hosting for their cloud and dedicated managed hosting needs. For more information about making the switch to Edge Hosting, visit http://www.edgehosting.com.

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About (C) Systems Global

(C) Systems Global provides consulting and implementation of association management software iMIS from Advanced Solutions International and event management software from etouches. (C) Systems Global offers uniquely customer focused service and support and is known throughout the association management space as a top quality vendor and long-term partner. (C) Systems serves clients throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the UK.

About Edge Hosting, LLC

Edge Hosting is an international provider of secure, scalable, dependable and compliant managed hosting solutions for cloud, hybrid, dedicated and colocation. Edge works as an extension to IT departments for billion dollar corporations and SMBs providing custom built environments and infrastructure that support the growth and security of websites and data. Edges compliant hosting solutions include FedRAMP, PCI, SSAE 16, HIPAA and U.S. Safe Harbor. Edge is one of the very first approved Cloud Service Providers under FedRAMP with two Authorizations to Operate from the Department of Defense and the Defense Information Systems Agency. For more information about making the switch to Edge Hosting, please visit http://www.edgehosting.com or call (888) 428 - 2752.

(C) Systems Media Contact:

Barbara Beauchamp, Marketing Manager

bbeauchamp(at)csystemsglobal(dot)com

732-228-6420

Edge Hosting Media Contact:

Michelle Pease, Content/Public Relations Specialist

mpease(at)edgehosting(dot)com

410-246-8886
Nurses and midwives will play an integral role in leading change to improve the quality of life of people globally by capitalizing on their best assets and collective potentials.

The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) convened a regional meeting of the Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery (GAPFON) 23-24 March in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in collaboration with the Emirates Nursing Association (ENA). More than 30 key nursing and midwifery leaders from 13 countries in the Middle East region participated.

The Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery is an important conference to identify and develop recommendations to address the most important issues facing health at the global level, said Her Royal Highness Princess Muna Al-Hussein of Jordan, Patron of the GAPFON Middle East Regional Meeting. Nurses and midwives will play an integral role in leading change to improve the quality of life of people globally by capitalizing on their best assets and collective potentials.

Dr. Huda Abu-Saad, Professor of Nursing Science and Director of the Hariri School of Nursing at the American University of Beirut added, GAPFON is a visionary and commendable initiative with promising global impact that brings regional leaders together to discuss the future of nursing and midwifery and their impact at the global level.

GAPFON priority issues and health challenges in the Middle East

Regional leaders in nursing and midwifery participated in the meeting. They confirmed that priority issues and action strategies to achieve global health must focus on leadership, policy/regulation, education, and workforce. Participants felt strongly that these priorities are inter-related and each is integral to the achievement of regional goals. Additionally, they noted that recommendations for action in any of these areas must be evidence-based and linked to achievement of outcomes.

These stakeholders verbalized the importance of developing nursing and midwifery leaders and positioning them in roles where they can be most effective. They noted the importance of leveraging the return on investment that nurses and midwives contribute to the attainment of health. The stakeholders reiterated that promoting quality nursing/midwifery practice and education, including the development and promotion of community initiatives, social justice, and human rights, are areas where nurses and midwives have a pivotal leadership role. They agreed that health promotion focused on disease prevention is vital, along with the importance of adequate preparedness and response to natural and man-made disasters. They also agreed that education, awareness, and timely treatment of mental health issues is a priority in this region.

During their discussions, stakeholders identified specific strategies to enhance health, including utilizing data and evidence to inform health policy and to increase national commitment and funding. They also stressed the importance of employing an accountability framework, including state-of-the-art technology, to monitor and evaluate performance against targets. In addition, the participants recognized the need for coalition-building and interprofessional collaboration at all levels to improve health, along with the development of an adequate, competent nursing/midwifery workforce. These identified strategies are especially important to address the consequences of frequently overlooked or minimized mental health concerns, including those stemming from violence, poverty, and natural disasters. The strategies identified by the Middle East stakeholders are congruent with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

After observing the discussions, STTI President Dr. Cathy Catrambone said, The lively and interactive discussion that took place in Abu Dhabi is evidence that nurse leaders and midwifery leaders in the Middle East are committed to supporting the SDGs that promote health and social empowerment for all populations worldwide. I know their wise counsel will serve GAPFON leadership well as we near the implementation phase post-2016.

The outcomes of the GAPFON Middle East Regional meeting also reflected strong regional support for the World Health Organizations nursing priority areas including education, research, policies and strategies, communication, and interprofessional collaboration. The Emirates Nursing Association is pleased to join with GAPFON and all nurses and midwives in the Middle East region to promote global health, said Aysha Al-Mahri, President of the Emirates Nursing Association. The collaboration demonstrated by all who attended this meeting was truly exciting to see.

The GAPFON Middle East Regional Meeting represents one of seven global regions where STTI is holding meetings. In the coming months, STTI will convene the remaining two meetings, to be held in Europe and Africa. Data from these meetings will provide the basis for an overall action plan with regional policy implications. GAPFON will analyze and prioritize key recommendations that address each of the regions challenges in both global and regional summary reports and will post these reports at http://www.gapfon.org.

GAPFON is a catalyst for nurse and midwifery leaders to work together and develop a unified voice and vision for the future of nursing/midwifery and health care globally. GAPFON is globally sponsored by Pfizer, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, and the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, and regionally in the Middle East by The Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

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About GAPFON

The Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing (GAPFON) was convened by The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) to establish a voice and a vision for the future of nursing that will advance global health. GAPFON seeks to provide evidence on the value of nursing and to participate in and influence health policy, nursing leadership and practice, education, and the global health agenda. GAPFON is sponsored by Pfizer, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, and the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. For more information about GAPFON, visit http://www.gapfon.org.

About STTI

The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is advancing world health and celebrating nursing excellence in scholarship, leadership, and service. Founded in 1922, STTI has more than 135,000 active members in more than 85 countries. Members include practicing nurses, instructors, researchers, policymakers, entrepreneurs and others. STTIs roughly 500 chapters are located at approximately 695 institutions of higher education throughout Armenia, Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, England, Ghana, Hong Kong, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malawi, Mexico, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Swaziland, Sweden, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, the United States, and Wales. More information about STTI can be found online at http://www.nursingsociety.org
Manzer Communications (http://manzercommunications.com), a leading PR and marketing agency focused on technology sectors, has launched an Associate Agency channel that offers technology companies seamless service across the world through partner agencies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The firm has a total of nine agencies in its new channel and plans to add more to cover more markets.

We see our Associate Agency channel as a way to provide top-tier service with a lean agency model to technology companies seeking growth in new international markets, says Dave Manzer, President of Manzer Communications. We researched well over 50 agencies and selected these nine agencies given their track record of providing great results for a wide variety of tech companies including startups, mid-market and enterprise.

The nine agencies include:

BELGIUM: Morning Glory delivers creative and social science-backed strategies that serve its clients' positioning and revenue goals.

FRANCE , GERMANY AND THE UNITED KINGDOM: Ballou PR works with high-growth technology companies to help them build their brand, manage their reputation, win customers and grow their business.

ISRAEL: Meirovitch Public Relations helps international and Israeli companies manage their reputation by generating ongoing positive media exposure in Israel and overseas.

THE NETHERLANDS: DOK30 Communicatie helps organizations build a true and lasting relationship with their target groups by communicating in an authentic and transparent manner.

POLAND: FIRST Public Relations was the first professional communications agency to be established in Poland after the fall of communism. The agency provides both public affairs and public relations services.

SINGAPORE: Bowlah PR is Singapore's first FinTech focused Public Relations agency. Its mission is to help Financial Technology companies communicate their innovation and value.

SPAIN: Art Marketing has been a pioneer been in incorporating 2.0 communication tools, and it has built a team of multilingual, multidisciplinary and multicultural people to provide the best services to more than one hundred companies from all sectors, of all sizes and nationalities.

SWEDEN: Founded in 2011 for companies with Nordic ambitions, Northern Link PR consists of a team of consultants that will help you with any communications need.

THE UNITED KINGDOM: Founded in 2012 by Sam Howard, The Comms Crowd is the new breed of agency, cloud-based, agile, and bossless. Loosely-hqd in London, The Comms Crowd is a collective of independent, senior communication professionals.

About Manzer Communications

Manzer Communications is a communications agency that practices a lean service model addressing the integrated PR and digital marketing needs of its technology customers. Manzer Communications has a strong international focus given its team and Associate Agency channel representing markets across the globe. With expertise in B2B tech, B2C, apps, startups and enterprise, the agency delivers outstanding results for companies seeking rapid expansion. For more information about the agency, please visit: http://manzercommunications.com.
zumBrunnen, Inc., an independent building consulting firm, is exhibiting at the LeadingAge Georgia & South Carolina Conference on Aging and Solutions Center Expo being held April 19-21, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency in Greenville, SC. Representatives from zumBrunnen will be available in the expo area to answer questions.

Over the past 25 years, our firm has assisted hundreds of senior living providers helping them evaluate buildings, create accurate budgets and successfully manage their facilities, says Doug McMillan, PE, President of zumBrunnen, Inc. Our senior living clients trust our team to help them with facility assessments, capital replacement planning, construction monitoring and other specialized services. We enjoy helping our senior living clients maximize the value of their facilities, and we are proud to be an active member of LeadingAge.

About LeadingAge:

LeadingAge is an association of over 6,000 not-for-profit organizations dedicated to expanding the world of possibilities for aging. LeadingAge strives to advance policies, promote practices and conduct research that supports, enables and empowers people to live fully as they age. LeadingAges members offer a continuum of aging services including: adult day services, home health, community services, senior housing, assisted living residences, continuing care retirement communities and nursing homes. For more information, please visit http://www.LeadingAge.org.

About zumBrunnen, Inc.:

zumBrunnen, Inc. was founded in 1989. With offices in Atlanta, GA, Charlotte, NC and Ft. Lauderdale, FL, the firm specializes in construction consulting, property condition assessments, facility condition assessments, long-range capital replacement budgets, reserve studies and other building-related services for a diverse list of national and select international clients. The firm is also recognized for their proprietary FacilityForecast Software System, a unique facilities condition assessment and budgeting tool designed to forecast and manage life term capital replacement expenses and to provide custom reserve funding plans designed to their client's business model.

The firm has completed notable projects in a variety of market sectors including senior living, educational, multi-family, student housing, healthcare, institutional, mixed use, retail, office, warehouse, industrial, hospitality and public assembly. The firm is involved with numerous associations including LeadingAge (at a national level), LeadingAge North Carolina, LeadingAge Florida, LeadingAge Georgia, LeadingAge Illinois, Community Associations Institute Georgia (CAI-GA), Community Associations Institute North Carolina (CAI-NC), Community Associations Institute South Carolina (CAI-SC) and Community Associations Institute Southeast Florida (CAI-SEFL). For more information, please visit http://www.zumbrunnen.com.
Asigra Inc., a leading cloud backup, recovery and restore software provider since 1986, announced today that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has given Asigra a 5-Star rating in its 2016 Partner Program Guide. This annual guide is the definitive listing of technology vendors that serve solution providers or provide products through the IT channel. The 5-Star Partner Program Guide rating recognizes an elite subset of companies that offer solution providers the best partnering elements in their channel programs.

Tweet: .@TheChannelCo named @Asigra to @CRN 2016 Partner Program Guide #CRNPPG http://www.CRN.com/ppg2016

To determine the 2016 5-Star ratings, The Channel Companys research team assessed each vendors application based on investments in program offerings, partner profitability, partner training, education and support, marketing programs and resources, sales support and communication.

The Asigra Hybrid Partner Program offers the best of both worlds for Managed Service Providers and Value Added Resellers. The Program is focused on delivering business value to all Partners by offering value beyond the technology in the form of extensive business resources including a dedicated Partner Success Manager, Go to Market and Business Frameworks, technical product training and certification, turnkey marketing campaigns, content syndication, Advocacy Program, sales playbooks, monthly partner enablement webinars, and many other revenue enablement tools.

We are very pleased to be recognized for the fifth year in a row for our Hybrid Partner Program. Over the years we have focused on listening to our partners to evolve the program to best meet their business needs, said Eran Farajun, executive vice president, Asigra. Our teams goal is to help partners meet their corporate organizational objectives to drive cloud services revenue, increase their monthly recurring revenue, expand their total addressable market, capture more net new logos or gain more wallet share with existing customers.

Solution providers have more choices than ever before when it comes to selecting vendor partners. Identifying the right vendor with the right technologies and the right channel approach can mean the difference between successful adoption of a new technology or business model and an awkward, unnecessarily difficult integration, said Robert Faletra, CEO, The Channel Company. Our annual Partner Program Guide and 5-Star ratings recognize the best channel programs available in the market today and serve as a valuable resource for solution providers looking for the right fit.

Additional Resources:



Hear what Solution Providers have to say about working with Asigra: http://www.asigra.com/resource-center/partner-testimonials

Users Name Asigra as Top Enterprise Backup Solution - Storage Magazine: http://www.asigra.com/about-asigra/press-releases/asigra-outscores-rivals-win-techtarget-2015-quality-award

Read Asigra Product Reviews: http://www.asigra.com/product/product-reviews

Follow Asigra on Twitter at: @Asigra

The 2016 Partner Program Guide will be featured in the April issue of CRN and online at http://www.CRN.com/ppg2016.

Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook

About Asigra

Trusted since 1986, Asigra provides organizations around the world the ability to recover their data now from anywhere through a global network of partners who deliver cloud backup and recovery services as public, private and/or hybrid deployments. As the industrys first enterprise-class agentless cloud-based recovery software to provide data backup and recovery of servers, virtual machines, endpoint devices, databases and applications, SaaS and IaaS based applications, Asigra lowers the total cost of ownership, reduces recovery time objectives, eliminates silos of backup data by providing a single consolidated repository, and provides 100% recovery assurance. Asigras revolutionary patent-pending Recovery License Model provides organizations with a cost effective data recovery business model unlike any other offered in the storage market. Asigra has been recognized as a Gartner Cool Vendor and has been included in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup and Recovery Software since 2010. More information on Asigra can be found at http://www.asigra.com.

About the Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. http://www.thechannelco.com

CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. The Channel Company logo is a trademark of The Channel Company, LLC (registration pending). All rights reserved.

Contact:

McClenahan Bruer

(503) 546-1000

asigra(at)mcbru(dot)com

The Channel Company Contact:

Melanie Turpin

The Channel Company

(508) 416-1195

mturpin(at)thechannelco(dot)com

###
CheckAlt, a leading provider of innovative item and payment processing solutions to banks and credit unions in the United States, announced today that South Florida based Marquis Bank has successfully onboarded their first commercial client, a medical practice, to CheckAlt Remit. Marquis Bank, with over $390 million in assets, focuses primarily on serving business owners, professionals and investors and offers a full array of commercial and commercial real estate loan products, deposit accounts and state-of-the-art technology to create a convenient and exceptional customer experience.

We selected CheckAlt as our fintech partner because their lockbox product is a superior payment processing solution, said Philip Gassman, EVP/Managing Director of Professional & Executive Banking at Marquis Bank. It is clear to us the CheckAlt team shares the same level of commitment to delivering an exceptional client experience as we do, and we look forward to providing our customers with such a reliable and efficient product.

CheckAlt is thrilled to welcome Marquis Bank and we congratulate them for onboarding their first commercial client to CheckAlt Remit, said Shai Stern, CEO CheckAlt. This solution and our collaboration with Valley National Bank on its creation was recently recognized by Bank Director with a FinXTech Award. Serving as a valuable partner with financial institutions to help them win market share, lower expenses and expand their capabilities is our primary mission.

CheckAlt Remit is now the premier, online, white label remittance processing solution for financial institutions to automate the processing of incoming payments and related data for their commercial clients. It allows the client to improve their cash flow, consolidate daily import and long term research of receivables data for all payment streams and minimize exception related costs.

The Remit 4.1 and 4.2 releases introduce a completely redesigned, enhanced, browser-based solution for both the bank and their customers which drastically reduces exception items while allowing them to easily decision the remainder online, monitor real-time (in-process) payment activity and receive a truly consolidated accounts receivable file that can integrate into any accounting system they utilize, including all payment data for the day regardless of payment method or source.

About Marquis Bank

Founded 2007, Marquis Bank, with over $390 million in assets, is a full-service community bank dedicated to serving business owners, professionals and investors. Marquis has successfully blended convenient state-of-the-art technology with personal attention to create an exceptional banking experience for its clients. For more information, please call 305.443.2922 or visit http://www.MarquisBank.com.

About CheckAlt

CheckAlt delivers innovative solutions that help financial institutions expand their capabilities, deepen their business account relationships and remain agile in the face of rapidly changing client needs and behaviors. These solutions include consolidated, advanced item processing, lockbox processing and white label solutions, such as CheckAlt Remit, LoanPay and Mobile Business Capture. And through the CheckAlt Portfolio Companies Bankjoy, Fundomate, Street Invoice and Zipmark, CheckAlt delivers a branded, modern mobile banking app and API, quick access to competitively priced alternative business financing, an enterprise quality mobile invoicing and payment app and the ability to choose better payouts and better collections for your business. For more information, visit http://www.checkalt.com.
Donor Alliance, the federally designated non-profit organization that facilitates organ and tissue donation in Colorado and most of Wyoming, has been recognized as a 2016 Top Workplace by The Denver Post. The Top Workplaces lists are based solely on the results of an employee feedback survey administered by WorkplaceDynamics, LLC, a leading research firm that specializes in organizational health and workplace improvement. Several aspects of workplace culture were measured, including Alignment, Execution, and Connection, just to name a few.

Our employees are the heart of our organization and paramount in the achievement of our mission to save lives through organ and tissue donation and transplantation, said Sue Dunn, president and CEO of Donor Alliance. With the number of incredible organizations in Colorado, we very proud to be among the states best employers for the third consecutive year. It is a testament to the team we have built and the rewarding, mission-driven culture we strive to foster.

The Top Workplaces award is not a popularity contest. And oftentimes, people assume its all about fancy perks and benefits. said Doug Claffey, CEO of WorkplaceDynamics. But to be a Top Workplace, organizations must meet our strict standards for organizational health. And who better to ask about work life than the people who live the culture every daythe employees. Time and time again, our research has proven that whats most important to them is a strong belief in where the organization is headed, how its going to get there, and the feeling that everyone is in it together. Without this sense of connection, an organization doesnt have a shot at being named a Top Workplace.

Donor Alliance fosters a mission-drive culture through the organizations core values: Integrity, Leadership, Excellence, Accountability and People First. In addition to traditional employee benefits like wellness programs, tuition and health club reimbursement and a charitable contribution program, the organization offers employees something much more extraordinary: the opportunity to help save lives every day.

About Donor Alliance

Donor Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ and tissue donation and transplantation. As the organ and tissue procurement agency for Colorado and most of Wyoming, Donor Alliance serves more than 5.8 million residents and more than 100 hospitals.

Donor Alliance adheres to the highest medical and ethical standards: respectfully working with the families of organ and tissue donors, maintaining partnerships with hospitals and educating residents on the life-saving benefits of donation and inspiring them to sign up on the states donor registry. Colorado and Wyoming boast some of the highest rates of donor registration in the country, which directly translates to more lives saved and healed through organ and tissue transplantation. Donor Alliance is one of 58 federally designated organizations of its kind in the United States. For more information visit DonorAlliance.org or the Donate Life Colorado or Donate Life Wyoming Facebook pages.

About WorkplaceDynamics, LLC

Headquartered in Exton, PA, WorkplaceDynamics specializes in employee feedback surveys and workplace improvement. This year alone, more than two million employees in over 6,000 organizations will participate in the Top Workplaces campaigna program it conducts in partnership with more than 40 prestigious media partners across the United States. Workplace Dynamics also provides consulting services to improve employee engagement and organizational health. WorkplaceDynamics is a founding B Corporation member, a coalition of organizations that are leading a global movement to redefine success in business by offering a positive vision of a better way to do business.
Today, Cary, NC-based S&A Communications becomes the third member of The 100 Companies national PR publishing network with the launch of The North Carolina 100. The 100 Companies began with the October 2013 launch of The Atlanta 100 and added its second member in January 2016 with the launch of The Oklahoma 100.

This morning, nearly 65,000 North Carolina business executives and residents received The North Carolina 100s inaugural issue in their inboxes. The issue features 15 100-word stories on intriguing topics such as Business, Travel, History and Digital Age. Readers will also be introduced to a weekly column titled The NC Guy, written by S&A Communications Principal and Owner Chuck Norman, APR.

In addition to 100-word stories, the eNewsletter also includes a 100-second video of North Carolina Chamber President & CEO Lew Ebert reflecting on the state of North Carolinas business environment. Lew welcomes The North Carolina 100 as a way to keep residents updated on the states progress.

In partnership with Atlanta-based The 100 Companies, S&A Communications also launched a new website, http://www.thenorthcarolina100.com.

No one can deny the importance of content marketing and thought leadership in todays growing digital landscape, says Norman. North Carolinas business leaders and decision-makers can now cut through the digital noise and quickly get a glimpse of the businesses, people, places and events that make us all proud to call ourselves North Carolinians. Our goal is to educate and inspire around business topics of interest while encouraging our readers to explore new cities and towns and the rich culture and history that have made our state the ninth largest and one of the fastest growing in the country.

About The 100 Companies

The 100 Companies is a national publishing network created by journalists and PR professionals to meet the content marketing needs of public relations firms, their clients, businesses and readers in todays fast-paced digital world. The flagship The Atlanta 100, launched by SPR Atlanta in October 2013, features 100-word stories and 100-second videos real estate, business, travel, restaurants, events, arts, et.c, written by the SPR Atlanta team and its clients. The eNewsletter was a finalist in the Atlanta Press Club's 2013 Journalism Awards of Excellence, as judged by the National Press Club, alongside CNN and The Weather Channel. Based on Atlantas success, The 100 Companies is expanding to other U.S. markets in 2016. Learn more about The 100 Companies at http://www.the100companies.com, and subscribe to The Atlanta 100 at http://theatlanta100.com/subscribe.
Ergonomic Stance Move and TaskMate Journey from HealthPostures We sit at our desks typing, drawing and interacting with our computers. Our bodies were simply not designed to sit for that long.

Workplace safety pioneer, HealthPostures, announces that it will appear at the Minnesota Safety and Health Conference and Expo which will be held at the Minneapolis Convention Center. HealthPostures is an early exhibitor at the May 3-5, 2016 conference, smartly getting in front of the huge draw that the conference and the downtown Paul McCartney concert are set to bring.

At a time when sitting for extended periods is gaining the reputation of being the new smoking, HealthPostures is building healthy workplace solutions like ergonomic sit/stand chairs, TaskMate assisted lift products and TaskMate Executive electric sit/stand desks. Aim of building the workplace safety solutions is to reduce the numbers of hours that workers sit.

Inc. shares that "We sit at our desks typing, drawing and interacting with our computers. Our bodies were simply not designed to sit for that long." HealthPostures' designers get it. The products that they will bring to the Minnesota Safety and Health Conference and Expo improve workplace safety by increasing worker mobility, supporting the musculoskeletal system and improving worker engagement.

Representing HealthPostures' at the conference will be a leader who understands ergonomics and the role that ergonomics fills in improving workplace safety at office and industrial facilities. Conference attendees will be able to interact with the HealthPostures' representative at any time until 2pm on May 3 and May 5, as the exhibitor hall will remain open during the day.

Basic workplace safety certificates will be distributed at the conference. Tuesday's opening session is delivered by Connie Podesta who will speak on the topic, "Life Would Be Easy If It Weren't For Other People." Other conference sessions include "The Trust Edge" which will be presented by David Horsager and "Miracles Are Made" which is scheduled to be delivered by Deborah Hersman, President and CEO of the National Safety Council. Additional all day and half day sessions are to be held.

Onsite training spotlights areas such as driver training, first aid training, traffic safety and safety products. Attendees can also learn about consulting opportunities on workplace safety that are offered through the Minnesota Safety Council. HealthPostures will also be on site to answer questions and demonstrate the functionality and flexibility of its workplace safety solutions.

About HealthPostures

Founded in the 1990s, HealthPostures LLC (https://healthpostures.com) has been a leader in the workplace solutions space for more than two decades. The company specializes in the design and manufacturing of workplace solutions. Products that HealthPostures develops may help to relieve back and neck pain, headaches and other musculoskeletal disorders. A primary mission of HealthPostures' is to "strive to provide quality products that will help transform your sedentary life so you have a healthy way to work." Sought after ergonomics equipment, including sit stand products, that HealthPostures designs include surface Taskmates, the TaskMate Go Laptop, dual monitor sit stand work stations and Stance move seat extensions. The company's strong reputation and proven products and accessories continue to attract regional and national distributors and resellers.

Contact:

HealthPostures LLC

14310 Ewing Avenue South, Suite 100

Burnsville, MN 55306

800-277-1841

https://healthpostures.com

Resources:

https://www.minnesotasafetycouncil.org/conf/

http://www.inc.com/bill-carmody/sitting-is-the-new-smoking.html
Balefire Labs, Inc -- provider of online, PreK-12, learning app and game reviews for teachers and parents-- announced today the addition of two new advisory board members.

"We're thrilled that Ray Myers and Ken Royal have joined our Advisory Board," said Karen L. Mahon, Ed.D., President and Founder of Balefire Labs. "These two men not only have decades of experience serving education and edtech, but they also have a true passion for helping kids, their teachers and parents. I know that they will bring much value to our team and, ultimately, to the customers who we serve."

Ray Myers, Ed.D., is recently retired from the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education where he worked as international liaison and led the office's social media outreach efforts. Before joining the Office of EdTech in 1998, Ray was in the Department of Education's Office of Special Education, where he was one of the first federal compliance officers charged with monitoring the implementation of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in states throughout the country. He has taught at the university level and as a K12 classroom teacher and supervisor. Ray shares, "I am joining the Advisory Board to keep up-to-date with the growing number of technology tools that are now available to learners in the twenty-first century. Balefire Labs is a leader in this space, offering invaluable reviews of the vast number of apps and online resources now available to today's young learners, wherever they may be."

Ken Royal is a retired educator with 34 years of classroom, school, and district level experience, which included an instructional technology specialty. His post-teaching career stops have included Senior Technology Editor with Scholastic and District Administration Product/Technology Editor. Ken's teaching accomplishments include: 4-time district teacher of the year and Connecticut Middle School Teacher of the Year, as well as Bill and Melinda Gates award for Technology School of Excellence. Why is Ken joining Balefire Labs? "I trust Balefire Labs to help educators, parents, and grandparents vet which apps make the grade for our kids and I highly recommend it to everyone. When the opportunity came to offer further support I leapt at the opportunity. Its an honor to be part of this important process that helps hold all to the highest standards of digital instruction," said Ken.

In addition to these two new advisory members, Balefire Labs has also expanded several functions on its website. The site now offers "Top App Lists," which include the most highly rated learning apps and games organized by topic. Further, teacher and parents can now search specifically for apps whose developers provide empirical evidence of their instructional effectiveness.

Since its inception in 2013, Balefire Labs has expanded its offering to include products from the Apple, Google Play and Amazon app stores. It reviews mathematics, English language arts (ELA), science and social studies apps, as well as puzzler games and serious games. On the Balefire Labs website, app reviews are searchable by subject, age level and language supported (in the apps), including English, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. Recommended ELA and Math apps are searchable by Common Core State Standard alignment.
Voice for the Silent Fathers His NO SON OF MINE!! street gangster mentality evolves during his difficult life journey coming to realize that his responsibility as a loving father didnt change just because his son is gay.

Eddie K. Wright shares his story of becoming a father at 18 years old who realized his son was showing stereotypical signs of being gay while still in diapers. Spending most of his adult life engulfed in the street gangster and hip hop culture where this subject was not only hushed, but deeply frowned upon, he gives us the voice for whats been kept silent for far too long, confronting almost every aspect of this taboo topic.

It took years for him to silently accept his sons homosexuality, regardless of all the signs. When his son was five years old, his favorite color was pink and there was nothing Dad could do about it. By the age of fourteen he was an internet sensation, dancing on YouTube and building his fan base to guarantee his success when performing as a drag queen a few years later.

Eddie addresses the questions most are scared to ask: Was there anything he could do to stop his sons homosexuality? When did he know his son was gay? What made him that way? Parents will find comfort in reading that Eddie admits that his sons feminine behaviors embarrassed him and he seriously contemplated abandonment, a choice that too many fathers feel they have to choose.

He shares witnessing the desperation in the eyes of fathers, from all walks of life, who have pulled him aside, away from listening ears wanting to know the answers to these frequently asked questions, agonizing the possibilities that their son might be gay.

Wow, your voice is one that is rarely heard in this discussion and I for one am deeply appreciative for the insights you offered. My own father disowned me briefly as a teenager for being gay and like you was a man immersed in a macho world. Although he and I were never very close as he became ill and suffered the demise of cancer I was able to be there for him in a way that my other siblings couldnt and I was able to, in the end, have a closeness with him that made all the distance between us for all those years irrelevant. Thanks for doing this. ~T. Lynch

Eddie has been writing for over 10 years while serving his Federal sentence for a street lifestyle that played a key role in his thought process regarding his gay son. Using his writing and speaking skills as tools to inspire a positive way of living, this former gangster turned Guru brings his story of transformation to life in a way that makes it safe for parents and loved ones to discuss what they think and how they feel about their child living an alternative lifestyle.

The Wright Group provides a variety of services including self publishing assistance. Launched in 2015, The Wright Group is quickly becoming the go to resource for individuals and small companies for all of their project management needs.
On the heels of a busy 2015 that saw so many new intended parents and 96 babies born, Jessica Junyent, Director of International Relations, will travel through Europe this spring to meet with new prospective parents and educate them on third party reproduction. Jessica will be visiting Madrid, Barcelona, and Paris from April 25th through May 6th, 2016. Her tour will feature discussions on assisted reproduction options in the United States as well as parenting issues facing gay and lesbian families. Jessica will host celebrations for current clients as well as meet with prospective parents in various cities. She will be available for private meetings in Madrid (April 25th-27th), Barcelona (April 28th-May 3rd), and Paris (May 5th-6th).

Parties interested in meeting with Jessica during her European travel are encouraged to contact Erica Benda (ericas(at)growinggenerations(dot)com) to schedule a time for discussion.

About Growing Generations

Founded in 1996, Growing Generations is a Los Angeles based company dedicated to creating lives and supporting families through egg donation, gestational surrogacy and parental education. They aim to provide ethical, safe, successful and cost effective assisted reproductive services to individuals regardless of sexual orientation, marital status or HIV status. Since their inception they have helped bring more than 1,100 babies into the world.
Pablo Bonnin is the new Eastern Region Sales Manager for Tech Lighting Pablo brings a combination of architectural, construction and lighting sales experience to Tech Lighting, which will greatly help our customers choose the right lighting solutions for their projects, said Steve Hurley, VP of Sales for Tech and LBL.

Tech Lighting, a global leader in sophisticated, contemporary design combined with the latest advancements in lighting technology, has hired Pablo Bonnin as its new Eastern Region Sales Manager.

Pablo brings a combination of architectural, construction and lighting sales experience to Tech Lighting, which will greatly help our customers choose the right lighting solutions for their projects, said Steve Hurley, Vice President of Sales for Tech Lighting and LBL Lighting, to whom Pablo Bonnin will report.

Pablo Bonnins territory encompasses part of the North American East coast region including Quebec, Newfoundland, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.

Prior to joining Tech Lighting, Pablo Bonnin was a specification sales representative with Lutron Electronics focused on the architectural community in New York City. Before that, he worked as a project engineer with Bulley & Andrews in Chicago.

Pablo holds a bachelors degree in Architecture from Miami University and an MBA and a masters degree in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Pablo Bonnin lives in New York City with his wife Stephanie.

About Tech Lighting

Known for its sophisticated, modern designs combined with the latest advancements in lighting technology and expert craftsmanship, Tech Lighting offers a wide variety of product categories such as specification-grade downlights, low-voltage and line-voltage heads and pendants, wall sconces, ceiling fixtures, flush mounts, suspension pieces, bath bars, and LED undercabinet, display and cove lighting. Tech Lighting has been a premier choice of architects, specifiers, lighting designers, interior designers and homeowners since 1988. Tech Lightings products can be found in lighting retailers and through sales representatives across North America.

About Generation Brands

As parent company to Tech Lighting, Generation Brands is one of Americas leading companies serving lighting retailers and the electrical wholesale, home improvement and building industries. The company has an outstanding portfolio of residential and commercial lighting fixtures and ceiling fans which provide value to its customers and end-users with superior service, leading edge design and outstanding quality.
Because of these leaders, Goodwills voice is heard in policy discussions at the state and national level, ensuring that more people can benefit from the services and programs Goodwill provides

Goodwill Industries International (GII) honored five members of Congress and the director of mission strategies for Goodwill Industries of Central and Coastal Virginia (Richmond) with the nonprofits annual advocacy awards. The awards, which recognize commitment to advancing Goodwills mission of helping people build careers and gain employment, were presented on Tuesday, April 12 during a reception in Washington, DC, as part of Goodwills annual advocacy event.

Sharon Taylor, the recipient of the 2016 GII Advocacy Leader Award, has served as the director of mission strategies for the Goodwill of Central and Coastal Virginia since 2007 and celebrates 30 years of service for Goodwill this year. She has advocated for policy priorities including funding for the Workforce Investment Act reauthorization (now known as the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act) and employment opportunities for people with disabilities, as well as investments to continue to rebuild resources for job training programs. She also worked to develop a Public Policy Page on her Goodwills intranet to quickly disseminate policy information across her organization. Recognized as her organizations public policy, government regulations and legislative expert, she works to engage leaders within her 39-county territory, participates with the Virginia Goodwill Network in all advocacy activities and attends all legislative receptions. She worked with various leaders, constituents and legislators to develop a state public policy agenda that promotes Goodwills business and mission, while advocating for legislation that enhances employment for people with disabilities.

Members of Congress receiving GIIs National Policymaker Awards were:



Sen. Amy Klobuchar (MN) for her commitment to the nonprofit sector.

Sen. Tim Scott (SC) for his commitment to individuals with disabilities.

Rep. James E. Clyburn (SC-6th) for his commitment to social justice.

Rep. Todd Rokita (IN-4th) for his commitment to helping individuals achieve economic self-sufficiency.

Rep. David Schweikert (AZ-6th) for his commitment to driving economic growth and jobs.

All of the award winners were nominated by local Goodwill organizations, and winners were chosen by the Public Policy Committee of the GII Board of Directors.

Because of these leaders, Goodwills voice is heard in policy discussions at the state and national level, ensuring that more people can benefit from the services and programs Goodwill provides, said Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. We thank Sharon and these valued members of Congress for advocating and expanding opportunities for people with disabilities as well as for their support for Goodwills job training programs.

Since 1902, Goodwill has been helping people find jobs, build their financial stability, and strengthen their families and communities. This work has helped thousands of people build their careers and experience the pride and sense of community that work brings. Goodwills services include job training and community services, such as help in writing resumes, and providing job interview advice, financial education and mentoring. Last year, Goodwill placed 312,000 people in employment in the United States and Canada. In addition, more than 35 million people used computers and mobile devices to access Goodwill education, training, mentoring and online learning services to strengthen their skills.

About Goodwill Industries International

Goodwill Industries International is a network of 164 community-based organizations in the United States and Canada with a presence in 13 other countries. Goodwill is one of Americas top 20 most inspiring companies (Forbes, 2014). Goodwill organizations are innovative and sustainable social enterprises that fund job training programs, employment placement services and other community-based programs by selling donated clothing and household items in more than 3,100 stores and online at shopgoodwill.com. Local Goodwill organizations also build revenue and create jobs by contracting with businesses and government to provide a wide range of commercial services, including packaging and assembly, food services preparation, and document imaging and shredding. Last year, Goodwill placed 312,000 people in employment in the United States and Canada. In addition, more than 35 million people used computers and mobile devices to access Goodwill education, training, mentoring and online learning services to strengthen their skills. To learn more, visit goodwill.org.

For more information or to find a Goodwill location near you, use the online locator at Goodwill.org or call (800) GOODWILL. Follow us on Twitter: @GoodwillIntl and @GoodwillCapHill, and find us on Facebook: GoodwillIntl.
We are delighted to partner with sanaFactur to serve the German market for advanced wound care

Argentum Medical LLC, an industry-leading manufacturer of metallic silver-based, antimicrobial wound dressings, has reached an agreement with sanaFactur to be the exclusive distributor of Silverlon Flex wound dressings in Germany. The two companies will be exhibiting together at the European Wound Management Associations conference in Bremen, Germany, May 11-13, 2016 at booth 1 C 04.

"We are delighted to partner with sanaFactur to serve the German market for advanced wound care, said Raul Brizuela, president and chief executive officer of Argentum Medical. "sanaFactur is a new company that specializes in innovative wound care and has recognized the value and effectiveness of Silverlon dressings.

Olaf Ohm, CEO Commercial for sanaFactur, noted, "We are very pleased to partner with Argentum. We already have extensive experience with this technology, having previously worked for sorbion GmbH, which distributed Silverlon before BSN Medical acquired the company in 2016.

Silverlon burn and wound dressings have FDA 510 (k) marketing clearance in the U.S. and Class III medicated wound dressing CE Mark approval for European and other markets. Silverlon dressings can be used effectively in a wide variety of clinical settings, with dressings made specifically for surgical applications, negative pressure wound contact, catheters, burns, and advanced wound care. Silverlon dressings, which provide seven-day efficacy, are easy to apply, store and transport, and are not highly sensitive to temperature extremes.

Dr. Alexander Maassen, CEO Scientific for sanaFactur said, "The performance of Silverlon Flex technology protects our patients. We look forward to this long-term partnership. "

sanaFactur GmbH is a privately held company with headquarters in Enger, Germany, which specializes in the development, manufacture and distribution of products for wound care.

ABOUT SILVERLON

Silverlon wound dressings have a permanently plated metallic surface, which provides the antimicrobial benefits of silver in the dressing without staining the skin and without increasing bioburden. Silverlon was originally developed for the U.S. military, where it is still extensively used for management of burn and blast injuries. Silverlon dressings are used today by surgeons and other healthcare professionals around the world on surgical wounds, in negative pressure wound therapy, on chronic wounds, burns, skin grafts, and IV and catheter-related wounds.

ABOUT ARGENTUM MEDICAL

Argentum Medical pioneered the use of silver-plated nylon. Specializing in the development of innovative products made from silver-plated nylon, Argentum Medical will continue to explore new applications and markets for its Silverlon technology in keeping with its corporate mission to improve clinical outcomes.
21 CFR Part 11 Compliance for SaaS/Cloud Applications: 2-day In-person Seminar 21 CFR Part 11 Compliance for SaaS/Cloud Applications

ComplianceOnline, the leading governance, risk and compliance advisory network with over 500 experts in various regulatory subjects, today announced a seminar on 21 CFR Part 11 Compliance for SaaS/Cloud Applications. The two-day seminar led by FDA Compliance Specialist David Nettleton will be held on April 21st and 22nd, 2016, in Philadelphia, PA.

The seminar will focus on the latest computer system industry standards for data security, data transfer, audit trails, electronic records and signatures, software validation, and computer system validation.

For more information or to register for the seminar, please click here.

Speaker David Nettleton, an FDA Compliance Specialist and Computer System Validations Principal, is an industry leader, author, and teacher for 21 CFR Part 11, Annex 11, HIPAA, software validation, and computer system validation. He is involved with the development, purchase, installation, operation and maintenance of computerized systems used in FDA compliant applications. The author of Risk Based Software Validation - Ten Easy Steps, he has completed over 230 mission critical laboratory, clinical, and manufacturing software implementation projects.

The objective of this two-day seminar is to address the specific requirements associated with local and SaaS/cloud hosting solutions and illustrate the importance of validating the quality process and every computerized system used in laboratory, clinical, and manufacturing settings.

This seminar will bring those who use computer systems to perform their job functions and regulatory, clinical, and IT professionals working in the health care, clinical trial, biopharmaceutical, and medical device sectors up to speed on current industry practices.

Date: Thursday, April 21 (8.00 AM- 5.00 PM) and Friday, April 22, 2016 (8.00 AM- 4.00 PM)

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Registration Cost: $1,699.00 per registration

Early bird discounts: For discounts on early registrations, Register Here

Register by phone: Please call our customer service specialists at +1-888-717-2436 or email to customercare(at)complianceonline(dot)com

About ComplianceOnline

ComplianceOnline is a leading provider of regulatory compliance trainings for companies and professionals in regulated industries. ComplianceOnline has successfully trained over 35,000 professionals from 9,000 companies to comply with the requirements of regulatory agencies. ComplianceOnline is headquartered in Palo Alto, California and can be reached at (http://www.complianceonline.com). ComplianceOnline is a MetricStream portal. MetricStream (http://www.metricstream.com) is a market leader in Enterprise-wide Governance, Risk, Compliance (GRC) and Quality Management Solutions for global corporations.

For more information please contact:

A Reuben Bernard

Associate Director - ComplianceOnline

2600 E Bayshore Rd

Palo Alto CA USA 94303

Phone - 650-620-3937/650-620-3915

Fax - 650-963-2556

reuben(at)complianceonline(dot)com

http://www.complianceonline.com
Dr. Paul Vitenas and CoolSculpting

Paul Vitenas, M.D., the founder of Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique, is excited to announce the latest CoolSculptings CoolAdvantage applicator. This cutting-edge hand piece further enhances CoolSculptings already exceptional fat elimination treatment. With a 3-in-1 configuration, and redesigned applicator cup, the CoolAdvantage is ideal for providing patients with superior, noninvasive results.

In early March, the CoolAdvantage applicator was announced by Zeltiq Aesthetics, the maker of CoolSculpting, at the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting in Washington. Then, on April 2, Suzanne Kilmer, M.D., the principle investigator for the CoolAdvantage study group, presented her clinical findings at American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS) Annual Conference. CoolSculpting also received an expanded clearance from the FDA for the treatment of visible fat bulges of bra fat, back fat, and underneath the buttocks.

CoolSculptings proprietary design has revolutionized noninvasive fat elimination treatments using freezing temperatures. By changing the shape of the applicator cup, tissue contact is increased. For this reason, lower temperatures mean faster treatment. Results from CoolSculpting, which traditionally took an hour, can now be seen in only 35 minutes. CoolAdvantage reduces treatment time by nearly 50%.

Zeltiqs CoolAdvantage replaces three of its traditional tools. Utilizing the new technology, CoolAdvantage applicator meets a wide range of needs, including the CoolFit Advantage, for vertical areas of fat; the CoolCore Advantage, for contoured areas like the abdomen; and the CoolCurve+ Advantage, designed for the flanks.

In clinical trials, the CoolAdvantage went head-to-head with the CoolCore applicator. On average, patients rated the CoolAdvantage applicator as 45% more comfortable than the original. Research shows that the CoolAdvantage is equivalent in reducing the fat layer, yet beats the traditional hand piece in both speed and comfort.

Considering CoolSculptings excellent background, the positive reviews for CoolAdvantage are to be expected. Dr. Vitenas, founder of the Vitenas Cosmetic Surgery and Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique in Houston, TX states, CoolSculpting has had a tremendous impact on my ability to treat patients who are looking to remove excess body fat but are unable to handle the downtime of liposuction or are uninterested in the potential risks of anesthesia. With this new advancement and the recent expansion of Zeltiqs FDA approval for fat reduction to include several new areas of the body we are increasingly confident that CoolSculpting will continue to dominate the non-invasive fat reduction market. We will continue to invest in making sure that our patients have access to the very best available in the noninvasive space through our non-surgical brand Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique.

Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique brings patients the benefits of CoolAdvantage, coupled with DualSculpting capabilities  two CoolSculpting machines, for double the treatment area. The top provider of noninvasive procedures in Houston, the nurses and estheticians at Mirror Mirror are exceptionally trained, with three graduates of the CoolSculpting University on staff.

For more information on CoolSculpting, contact Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique at 281.810.9083. Conveniently located on the corner of Richmond Avenue and Drexel Street, Mirror Mirror is only steps away from the shops and restaurants of Houstons Highland Village. CoolSculpting consultations are complimentary.

Contact:

Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique

4208 Richmond Avenue, Suite 100

Houston, Texas 77027

http://www.mirrormirrorhouston.com
PogoTec We are very pleased with well- known brands and quality companies who will partner with us for our launch.

PogoTec Inc. http://www.PogoTec.com announced today that it has lined up channel partners with the opportunity to launch PogoTec licensed products into approximately 100,000 retail locations around the world. Non-licensed products will be sold on the PogoTec planned ecommerce website. PogoTec is targeting the initial launch of its proprietary products at Vision Expo East (VEE) 2017 in New York City and will continue to line up additional license partners for 2017 and 2018.

PogoTec operates at the nexus of 4 huge, global multi-billion dollar growing markets. These markets are; 1) electronic wearable devices (EWDs), 2) wireless power, 3) wearable cameras and 4) eyewear. The EWD market is experiencing explosive growth (43% CAGR) and is projected to grow from todays $8 Billion annual sales to $75 Billion annual sales in less than 10 years. The wireless power market is forecast to grow rapidly from $2 Billion to $8 Billion annual sales in less than 5 years. The wearable camera market is forecast to grow from 12 Million wearable cameras shipped today to 30 Million in less than 5 years. Todays eyewear market generates approximately 300 Million new pairs of eyewear sales each year globally, with approximately 2 Billion eyeglass wearers worldwide. This does not include non- prescription sunglasses.

Dr. Ron Blum, Founder and President of PogoTec stated, "We are very pleased with well- known brands and quality companies who will partner with us for our launch. We intend to introduce these partners and our innovative products at the Consumer Electronics Shows Press Event (Show Stoppers) held in Las Vegas in January, 2017. These channel partners provide broad coverage across optical shops, eye care professional offices, the mass market, department stores and sporting goods stores.

Several weeks ago, PogoTec unveiled its proprietary Pogo-Track; a standardized track that allows electronic wearable devices (EWDs) to be easily and conveniently attached to prescription and non-prescription eyewear while preserving the design integrity of the frame. Examples of EWDs that can be easily attached to eyewear include an ultraviolet meter, alertness monitor, pedometer, GPS, wearable camera, infra-red sensor, air quality sensor, radiation detector, audio device, heads up display and hearing aids. The proprietary Pogo-Track feature can appear as an accent color or be designed to blend with the color of the eyeglass frame that will be virtually imperceptible to the wearer. Pogo-Track does not add to the thickness or weight of the eyewear. This allows Pogo-Track eyewear to be sold as an attractive option for all consumers, even if an EWD is not attached to the frame.

PogoTec has also invented, developed, and plans to commercialize in 2017: Pogo-Power a proprietary mobile wireless power system designed specifically for EWDs and Pogo-Cam - the worlds smallest look and shoot camera attachable to eyewear. PogoTec has been very diligent in protecting its intellectual property. To date, PogoTec has filed over 100 provisional patent applications covering its product offerings that will be combined into numerous comprehensive patent applications.

PogoTec is poised to provide unprecedented advantages to the fast-growing electronic wearable device market said Read Ziegler, Managing Partner of Vantedge Group and a PogoTec board member. PogoTec has a broad and distinguished set of partners to help ensure these advantages reach consumers through their purchase channel of choice.

About PogoTec Inc

PogoTec Inc is a privately owned company incorporated in Delaware. Its core initiative is to enable electronic wearable devices with a special focus on eyewear. PogoTec product offerings consist of, Pogo-Track - a proprietary attachment means for attaching electronic wearable devices to eyewear while maintaining the fashion look of eyewear, Pogo-Cam - the worlds smallest look and shoot camera attachable to eyewear, and Pogo-Power - a unique wireless power transfer system for powering / charging electronic wearable devices of all types. The PogoTec management team and Board of Directors have extensive experience in creating and commercializing innovation. PogoTec has been extremely diligent in protecting its intellectual property and has numerous patent applications filed. For more information about PogoTec, please visit http://www.PogoTec.com
We are excited about this inaugural, one of a kind conference which will define current and future trends in the field of Regenerative Medicine

Regenera Global, Inc.in partnership with the Grand Bahama Port Authority announces that it will host the Regenerative Medicine 2.0: Redefining the Practice Conference June 23-25 at the Grand Lucayan in Freeport, Grand Bahama. Globally esteemed speakers will demonstrate new concepts and regenerative medicine approaches to harness the human bodys inherent healing mechanism for better patient outcomes. The conference will bring together scientists, clinicians, patients, medical device manufacturers and industry stakeholders within the regenerative medicine field to promote the clinical translation of evidence-based science. Industry participants will be present to demonstrate their products and services to those in attendance.

Luis Martinez, M.D., CEO of Regenera Global, Inc., states, We are excited about this inaugural, one of a kind conference which will define current and future trends in the field of Regenerative Medicine. Additionally, our collaboration with the Grand Bahama Port Authority has reaffirmed the interest and commitment to establish the Bahamas as a world leader in this innovative field of Medicine. Dr. Martinez will discuss Gene Therapy for Peripheral Artery Disease at the Conference and will speak throughout the event about why the industry needs to redefine the Practice of Regenerative Medicine.

Doris Taylor, Ph.D., FACC, FAHA, Research Director at the Texas Heart Institute, will discuss the development of better treatments for heart disease, including the building of bio-artificial organs for transplant that use a patients own stem cells, thus avoiding the complications of organ rejection.

Michael Fossel, M.D., Ph.D., Founder and former editor-in-chief of Rejuvenation Research, is a professor of clinical medicine who will teach a workshop on the Biology of Aging and present Telomerase therapeutics: Curing age-related disease and resetting cell aging on Friday, June 24s General Session.

Activities will include several workshops including the "Fundamentals of Telomere Biology: Principles and Applications" by Michael Fossel, MD, PhD, the Producing a Standardized and Therapeutic Product Workshop, a cardiovascular cell therapy demonstration, network receptions and a tour of a center of excellence, Okyanos Cell Therapy. Additional activities are planned for conference attendees, and the agenda may be viewed at RegeneraGlobal.com. All are welcome to register and attend with the information provided at http://regeneraglobal.com.

About Regenera Global, Inc.

Based in Puerto Rico, Regenera Global, Inc. is a bio-technology firm focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies, providing consulting services and educational events to physicians and healthcare practitioners to expand their knowledge of regenerative medicine clinical applications which may include, but is not limited to, stem cell and gene therapy, tissue engineering, and select medical devices. Regenera Global is working to bridge the gap of access to regenerative medicine between the progress made through research and what is available clinically to physicians and patients.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RegeneraGlobal

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/regenera-global?trk=biz-companies-cym

Google+: https://plus.google.com/117977749219422536232?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RegeneraGlobal/
Non-invasive blood samples can be taken repeatedly, overcoming the challenges associated with obtaining sufficient tumor tissue for genetic analyses.

Barcelona, Spain/Richmond, Calif., U.S.A.



The ability to detect disease progression in real time allows oncologists to predict treatment outcomes, switch therapies when necessary and potentially increase life expectancy.

This agreement gives Pangaea access to the experience of DiaCarta, a leader in development and commercialization of personalized diagnostic tools, while DiaCarta stands to benefit from that of an internationally recognized oncology team led by renowned expert Dr. Rafael Rosell (recognized in 2013 as the highest authority in lung cancer in Europe by The Lancet).

DiaCarta and Pangaea Biotech S.L have signed a long term agreement to launch in the U.S.A and China a non-invasive test to detect genetic material in blood of cancer patients, a technique known as liquid biopsy. The test, developed by Pangaea, allows oncologists to personalize treatment, monitor response in real time and switch therapies if necessary. DiaCarta is a recognized leader in translational genomics and personalized diagnostics with proven experience in development and commercialization of molecular diagnostic tools. The companys proprietary QClamp XNA-PCR technology has resulted in a suite of gene mutation detection kits with detection sensitivity superior to ddPCR. QuantiVirusTM HPV cervical cancer and DigiPlexTM genotyping tests are the products powered by SuperbDNATM and multiplex bar-coding technology platforms, respectively. DiaCarta OptiSeqTM provides an ultra high sensitivity next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform for cancer genome profiling from difficult samples including patient whole blood. Pangaea is a reference provider of molecular diagnostics services and in vitro/in vivo testing and a leader in development of non-invasive diagnostic assays. Both Pangaea and DiaCarta pursue active R+D Molecular Diagnostics programs and Liquid Biopsy Program is one of their main strategic assets on both qPCR and NGS platforms.

Under the terms of the agreement, DiaCarta will commercialize in the U.S.A and China Pangaeas assays to detect EGFR, KRAS and BRAF gene mutations in blood of cancer patients. The tests can be used in a number of tumor types such as lung, colon, pancreatic and breast cancer as well as melanoma. In addition to making the test directly available to cancer patients through healthcare providers, both companies have planned to provide genetic testing and NGS services powered by DiaCarta OptiSeqTM to pharmaceutical companies with novel targeted therapies in clinical trials in Europe, China and the U.S.A., taking advantages of DiaCartas CLIA and Independent Clinical Service labs in US and China, respectively.

For oncologists, having an accurate genetic diagnosis is essential to be able to select the right treatment for each cancer patient, since alterations in specific genes are highly predictive of response or resistance to targeted drugs. To identify these alterations, Pangaea analyzes blood from cancer patients to obtain a comprehensive genetic profile and provide doctors with valuable information they can use to tailor treatment to each patient.

Testing in tumor tissue remains the recommended method to detect oncogenic mutations. However, advances in biopsy techniques now allow for ever-smaller samples to be taken, meaning tissue is often exhausted after the initial diagnosis and serial analyses cannot be performed. In tumors such as advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), normally diagnosed at an advanced stage, some 25% of patients do not even have sufficient biopsied tissue to perform initial diagnostic analyses. Therefore there is a clear need to be able to analyze tumoral genetic material in alternative biosources such as blood.

According to Dr. Rafael Rosell, Chief Scientific Officer, Chairman and Co-Founder of Pangaea, "Great advances have been made in the treatment of lung cancer in recent years, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions. To start finding the answers, we need new clinical trials with novel diagnostic assays that can start to improve the outlook for cancer patients. Dr. Rosell believes it is becoming increasingly clear that we need to find alternatives to traditional tissue biopsies to perform vital genetic analyses. Its also of paramount importance to be able to detect resistance to therapy as soon as it occurs in our patients. A clear advantage of these non-invasive tests is that blood samples can be taken repeatedly, allowing us to monitor disease progression in real time, detect the appearance or disappearance of clinically relevant mutations and switch treatment when necessary.

According to Javier Rivela, CEO of Pangaea Biotech, This agreement with DiaCarta is strategic for us since it allows us to place all our capabilities in the fields of molecular diagnostics, clinical trials and precision oncology at the disposal of patients.

Teaming up with Pangaea in Spain, Europe, together with our CLIA certified lab in Bay Area and Independent Clinical Service Lab in Nanjing, China, we are well positioned to serve to pharmaceutical companies with novel targeted therapies in clinical trials globally. Further, our QClamp on NGS, the OptiSeqTM platform can implement mutant DNA target enrichment to detect very low copy mutant numbers that are not possible by conventional NGS protocols. said Aiguo Zhang, Ph.D., Founder, President and CEO of DiaCarta. With these platforms and our expertise in IVD development and commercialization, we are pleased and excited to work with one of the world leading experts in lung cancer Dr. Rafael Rosell and his team at Pangaea.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with approximately 14 million new cases and 8.2 million cancer related deaths recorded in 2012. The number of new cases is expected to rise by about 70% over the next two decades. Targeted drugs which are highly effective against the genetic alterations that drive tumor growth have been developed for certain tumor types. However, cancerous cells quickly develop mechanisms of resistance to these therapies and many patients relapse. Therefore, the concept of personalized medicine is a high priority for the design of new clinical trials with next generation therapies.

About DiaCarta

DiaCarta is a translational genomics and personalized diagnostics company headquartered in Richmond, California with business and clinical operations in Shanghai and Nanjing, China, respectively. We are dedicated to the science of rapid and highly sensitive detection technologies and diagnostic solutions for healthcare that positively impact treatment plans and improve the well-being of individuals around the world. QClamp, a revolutionary new way to screen for tumor oncogenic driver and resistance mutations in tumor DNA derived from cancer patients, utilizes a sequence-specific xeno-nucleic acid (XNA) clamp that suppresses PCR amplification on wild-type DNA template and allows selective amplification of only mutant template with detection sensitivity below 0.1% for a variety of samples including FFPE tissue, liquid biopsy and traditionally challenging cytology specimens. The QClamp XNA-PCR technology has also been applied for mutant DNA target enrichment on our OptiSeqTM next-generation sequencing platform. To learn more, visit http://www.diacarta.com.

About Pangaea Biotech

Pangaea Biotech S.L is a biotechnology company led by world-renowned oncologist Dr Rafael Rosell. Founded in 2007, Pangaea has grown rapidly to become a reference laboratory in its field and has established client relationships with some of the largest global pharmaceutical, diagnostics and biotech companies. Pangaea has three main areas of activity: development of diagnostic tools and services - with a special focus on Liquid Biopsy - development of new anti-cancer drugs, and patient care provided by the Dr Rosell Oncology Institute (IOR) located in Quiron Dexeus University Hospital, Barcelona, Sagrat Cor University Hospital, Barcelona, and Hospital General de Cataluyna, Sant Cugat dels Valles. Both Pangaea and IOR are highly experienced in the field of clinical trials and offer a dedicated Clinical Trials Unit and comprehensive molecular diagnostics and pathology testing services. For more information: http://www.pangaeabiotech.com.

About Dr Rafael Rosell

The Pangaea team is led by Dr Rafael Rosell, MD, PhD. Dr Rosell is the founder and former President of the Spanish Lung Cancer Group; President and Scientific Director of Pangaea Biotech S.L; Chief Medical Officer and President of the Dr Rosell Oncology Institute; Director of the Cancer Biology and Precision Medicine Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO). Dr Rosells contributions to translational medical oncology, with particular emphasis on the field of non-small-cell lung cancer with EGFR mutations, have earned him international recognition: in 2013 he was recognized by The Lancet as the highest authority in lung cancer in Europe. He has received numerous awards in recognition of his tireless investigations into the causes and treatment of cancer.

For further information or interviews:

DiaCarta: Anthony Tong, Ph.D., Director, information(at)diacarta(dot)com, 510.878.6662 x3004

Pangaea Biotech S.L.: Kate Williams, Communications, kwilliams(at)oncorosell(dot)com, 0034 635196910.
DataServ, a global Software as a Service (SaaS) provider of document and process automation solutions, today announced that Triad Isotopes, Inc., the nations second largest radiopharmaceutical company, is using DataServs Purchase to Pay (P2P) solution to automate and streamline its accounts payable (AP) process.

Triad Isotopes will utilize the Expense Reporting component of DataServs P2P automation solution to institute better financial controls through defined workflow, audit capability, and improved visibility into their AP process.

We chose DataServ for P2P automation because of their reputation as a leader in streamlining AP workflow for companies of all sizes, says Audrey Houck, Corporate Controller for Triad Isotopes. In addition to providing us with a paperless AP environment, DataServ will afford us significant savings by eliminating the expensive shipping charges we currently incur in sending receipts to our home office. Their solution will also aid us with sales/use tax compliance.

Adds DataServ Founder/CEO Jeff Haller: We are pleased to implement our P2P solution for Triad Isotopes, and we know that they will find our Expense Reporting component extremely valuable. Triad Isotopes is a thriving company that provides its customers with unparalleled service and the safest products, and DataServ is confident our AP automation solution will only add to Triads reputation for excellence and performance.

About DataServ

DataServ is a global SaaS provider of document and process workflow automation for the financial operations and human resources functions. A cloud computing pioneer of FinTech solutions for Purchase to Pay (P2P) and Quote to Cash (Q2C), DataServs Open E-Invoicing is utilized by companies in 48 different countries.

About Triad Isotopes, Inc.

Triad Isotopes, Inc. (http://www.TriadIsotopes.com) is a nationwide nuclear pharmacy company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The companys national network of 55 locations serves four million patients each year, making Triad Isotopes the second-largest radiopharmaceutical provider in the United States. These specialized facilities provide the products used by hospitals and nuclear medicine operators to help diagnose and treat patients, primarily those with cardiac and cancer concerns.
CampusLogic is now an Ellucian Alliance partner. "This partnership will enable CampusLogic to more closely integrate with Ellucians student information systems (SIS) providing a seamless financial aid experience for students

CampusLogic, creator of the first and only financial aid engagement platform, is now an Ellucian Alliance Partner. As a partner CampusLogic shares a common commitment with Ellucian to deliver quality solutions to higher education institutions.



CampusLogic works closely with many schools that use Banner by Ellucian or Colleague by Ellucian. This partnership will enable CampusLogic to more closely integrate with Ellucians student information systems (SIS) providing a seamless financial aid experience for students, said CampusLogic COO Chris Chumley. In addition, Ellucians customer institutions now have a simple way to enhance their SIS investment with easy, mobile, and personalized financial aid by CampusLogic.



CampusLogics cloud-based platform includes three modules that work together to provide the only financial aid engagement platform for higher education including:





StudentForms: simplify verification, professional judgments, SAP appeals, and any custom form

CampusMetrics: visualize and act on financial aid data instantly

AwardLetter: modernize and make award letters mobile



As an Ellucian Alliance Partner, CampusLogic will be participating in the Ellucian Live 2016 Conference being held in Denver, Colorado, April 17-20, 2016. Additional information about CampusLogic can be found at campuslogic.com.



About CampusLogic

CampusLogic transforms the way colleges and universities deliver financial aid with the first and only student engagement platform. Easy. Mobile. Personalized. Our cloud-based technology simplifies financial aid, so more students can get through the door into the classroom. With over 50 institutions and 300K+ active students, all of our customers have improved enrollment, efficiencies, and student satisfaction. For more information visit http://www.campuslogic.com.



Follow CampusLogic





Media Contact for CampusLogic

Heather Dunn

CampusLogic

E: heather.dunn(at)campuslogic.com
KO Distilling brought home a Bronze Medal on April 6th for their Virginia Moon White Whiskey at this years Craft Spirits Conference in San Diego, California, hosted by the American Distilling Institute (ADI). This is their fourth medal of 2016. To date, KOs Virginia Moon White Whiskey has won an award in each competition it has entered.

The American Distilling Institute has been a part of the craft distilling industry since 2003 and has since become the largest and most-respected organization devoted to craft Sprits. ADI is instrumental in the growth of the craft community through education, networking and creating the largest gathering of licensed distillers in the U.S.

Earlier this year, KO received two Bronze Medals at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition for their Virginia Moon White Whiskey and Battle Standard 142 Navy Strength Gin. The 2016 SFWSC featured more than 1,850 entries and is considered to be the most influential spirits competition in the world. Additionally, KO was awarded a Silver Medal for their Virginia Moon White Whiskey from the American Craft Spirits Association where winners were hand-selected among a pool of nearly 450 entrants across 39 states.

In November 2015, KO was awarded the Virginia Finest Products Certification from the Virginia Department of Agriculture for all of their products.

About KO Distilling:

KO Distilling was co-founded by college classmates and long-time friends Bill Karlson and John OMara in 2013. This new craft distillery in historic Manassas, VA is both a distilling plant and a tourist destination offering tours and tastings. KO makes, stores, bottles and ships both high-quality clear (unaged) and brown (aged) distilled spirits. Their products include gin (New Western Style and Barrel Finished), white whiskey, bourbon, rye whiskey, wheat whiskey, and other spirits. They are proud to be the 19th operating distillery in Virginia and one of roughly 1,000 (and growing) craft distilleries in the United States. They are also privileged to partner with many other small businesses, suppliers and farmers in the local area.

Battle Standard 142 Navy Strength Gin (Code 29314) is now available in 100 ABC stores across the Commonwealth, and their Virginia Moon White Whiskey (Code 27910) and Battle Standard 142 Standard Strength Gin (Code 29316) are available through special order at any ABC store. In addition, KO Distilling has recently partnered with Schneiders of Capitol Hill to sell their products in Washington D.C. and online to 38 states.
Eugenie Sellier, far left, of Feeding the Gulf Coast, accepts a check donation from Sir Maximus, Vicki Barnes, Sonya Lavett and Amanda Crinks of Columbia Southern University.

In its latest community outreach effort, Columbia Southern University (CSU) donated $3,740 to Feeding the Gulf Coast, formerly known as Bay Area Food Bank, in support of its backpack program.

The donation effort, led and presented by CSU Director of Community Outreach Vicki Barnes, will help feed about 30 students for an entire school year. CSU has donated a total of $9,740 to the backpack program since 2014. The funding will support children at Foley Intermediate, Gulf Shores Middle, and Bay Minette Elementary schools.

"The most recent generous donation from Columbia Southern University will allow the backpack program to feed additional children in Baldwin County. Thirty children will now be able to receive backpacks of food that will keep them from being hungry on the weekends," said Eugenie Sellier, child nutrition coordinator.

The backpack groceries include two snacks, two breakfast, lunch and dinner items.

This charity program has a special place in our hearts, said Barnes, CSU supports this valuable cause to help area families struggling to feed their children. A good meal can really help a child focus on homework, textbooks and grades. We encourage all to donate to this wonderful effort.

To learn more about Feeding the Gulf Coast, visit http://www.feedingthegulfcoast.org/

Established in 1993, CSU was created to help individuals with hectic work and family commitments pursue their educational dreams. CSU offers online associate, bachelors and masters degree programs in various fields including criminal justice, occupational safety and health and human resource management.
Airwoots AI technology provides us a powerful platform to power the social engagement centers of the future.

Freshdesk, the fastest growing cloud-based customer service software provider, announced today the acquisition of Airwoot, a startup that uses machine learning to help brands deliver high-speed customer service on social media. Airwoot is the companys fifth acquisition in the past 12 months and aims to deepen Freshdesks social support capabilities.

It's not uncommon for major brands to have 10,000 users interacting with them on Twitter on a typical day. This social chatter often includes promotional or affiliate marketing tweets as well as customers reaching out for help. As the tweets and comments pile up, sifting through the noise becomes a significant challenge for most brands.

As a pioneer of the social helpdesk, Freshdesk already offers one of the most powerful social engagement platforms available in the market - with a plethora of rules and options that customers can configure to monitor social activity and identify conversations that require a swift response. However, determining which keywords to track and keeping rules up-to-date can be challenging as the language of social evolves.

Airwoot uses machine learning to automate the process of identifying conversations on social media that require immediate attention, such as queries, grievances and incidents. Its sophisticated algorithms even predict when a conversation is likely to go viral and can alert companies to act.

Delivering customer support via social media continues to be a challenge for many companies given the high volume of noise in the medium, said Girish Mathrubootham, Founder and CEO of Freshdesk. "Airwoots AI technology provides us a powerful platform to power the social engagement centers of the future."

Snapdeal is an online shopping marketplace with a community of over four million users. With the help of Airwoot, the company is now one of the most responsive brands on social media.

"Airwoots constantly evolving technology continues to help us listen to our customers and provide a great experience, said Sushant Kumar, Associate Director, Marketing at Snapdeal. As a result of our work with Airwoot, weve become one of the most responsive brands in India with a response rate of over 98 percent and a response time of under 2 minutes. Their system enables us to scale easily, optimize our workflows and engage effectively with internal and external stakeholders."

About Freshdesk

Freshdesk is the leading provider of cloud-based customer service software. The company is headquartered in San Bruno, California, with offices in London, Sydney, and Chennai. Launched in 2010, Freshdesk has 70,000 customers around the world, including 3M, Honda, Hugo Boss, University of Pennsylvania, The Atlantic, and Petronas. The flagship product allows organizations to support customers through email, phone, websites, mobile apps, forums and social media. With powerful features, an easy to use interface and a freemium pricing model, Freshdesk is widely used by companies ranging from startups to enterprises. For more information, visit http://www.freshdesk.com, http://blog.freshdesk.com or find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/freshdesk or Twitter: @freshdesk.
Andrea Maack Icelandic perfumer and visual artist Engaging with fans online, particularly on Instagram and Snapchat, has given me an amazing opportunity to meet and really get to know the people who buy my fragrances in the US and around the world," says Founder and Creative Director, Andrea Maack.

Andrea Maack, the renowned Icelandic visual artist and eponymous fragrance brand, today announced that US customers can buy the brands new super premium fragrances directly from http://www.andreamaack.com. New scents Dual and Soft Tension are now available for shipping to the continental US in US Dollars.

Andrea Maack is the first super premium fragrance brand to pivot the companys brand strategy to cater directly to the modern fragrance lover, whose penchant for social media and e-commerce are only matched by their desire to engage on and offline with Maack's immersive scent universe, and particularly through Instagram (@andreamaack).

Engaging with fans online, particularly on Instagram and Snapchat, has given me an amazing opportunity to meet and really get to know the people who buy my fragrances. Its inspiring and informs my creative decisions when Im bringing a new scent to life. I didnt have that visibility before, says Founder and Creative Director Andrea Maack. Ive adapted my brands whole philosophy and product line to be e-Commerce focused, opening our own webstore and working with select retail partners who truly understand my audience and how important social media is to communicating with them.

Collaborating with perfumer Alienor Massenet while at IFF in Paris, France, Maack and Massenet took inspiration from Maacks upbringing and the barren Nordic landscape to deliver the new unisex fragrance line. The new scents embody elements of Maack's travels, artistic explorations and her profound relationship with Iceland.

With these releases, Maack is introducing a new uniform, highly photogenic brand identity for the fragrance vessels.The striking black bottle and box were designed in collaboration with Maddalena Casadei at Studio Irvine in Milan, Italy, with graphic design by Tommaso Garner, who interpreted Maacks original paintings to complete the new brand look.

The Andrea Maack webshop now ships to the continental US, UK, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Spain.

Customers in Europe and the UK can also purchase the new fragrances, Dual and Soft Tension, at Madison Ilmhus in downtown Reykjavik, Iceland, STORM in Copenhagen, Denmark, and KTZ in London.

Dual is a unisex sport fragrance inspired by the calming water of the natural hot springs in the Icelandic Highlands. Dual mimics the feeling of fresh water on the skin and the intense color spectrum surrounding the hot spring lagoons.

The powerful, uplifting aromas of ginger, lemon and pink pepper coexist with the grounded woody elements of dry amber and cedar wood, resulting in an enlivening scent experience.

Ginger-Lemon- Pink pepper-Dry amber-Cedar wood

Soft Tension is a sensual white musk inspired by a thick mysterious fog. Like a white desert, the fog is a place to get lost in and let go.

Soft Tension is a bold mix of musks combined with freesia that grounds itself in the skin. Black raw materials are mixed with white ones, such as mate absolute, cedar wood and moss, creating the soft tension.

Freesia-Musk-Mate Absolute-Cedar wood-Moss

About Andrea Maack

Andrea Maack is revered Icelandic conceptual artist and eponymous fragrance brand. The brands fragrances unite the worlds of scent and fine art. Approaching scent as a subject matter, for her first ever perfume creation, Maack posed the question: Can you create a fragrance inspired by a drawing?

Maack was commissioned to explore this question with a series of scented art exhibitions worldwide. Through these exhibitions, her installations slowly morphed into her eponymous brand. In 2011, The Art Series fragrances that originated in Maacks art installations were launched internationally. The fragrances are carried globally by respected retailers such as Harvey Nichols, Henri Bendel, Neiman Marcus, Printemps and have been featured in prestigious fashion and art media such as Vogue, Elle, AnOther, Frame, Glamour and Marie Claire.

As the Andrea Maack brand continues to grow, it is evolving its scent universe to be social media and e-commerce focused, adding new dimensions to the fragrance experience including immersive storytelling about Maacks #fragrancehunt journey. Everything from how Maack presents scents online to how the fragrances are packaged feature elements of Maacks own identity, with a timeless and sophisticated design that is attractive to both sexes.

Andrea Maack is proud to have received a marketing grant from the Icelandic Technology Development Fund.

For more information, visit andreamaack.com.
HIT companies must take a measured approach to handling AMCs and the powerful physicians that practice within them.

The new government payment paradigm for health systems holds enormous potential for Health Information Technology (HIT) companies. Providers future profitability will depend on their ability to achieve top-quartile performance relative to peers along two vectors: patient outcome and cost-effectiveness. To do this, medical systems will need to adopt effective Population Health Management (PHM) systems, especially for those poly-chronic patients that drive the largest costs. This dynamic provides opportunities for Health Information Technology (HIT) companies to provide those systems and partner with healthcare providers to power innovation.

The bad news facing HITs is that many health systems are reluctant to pay for any software system, due to the expensive capital outlay and pain of implementation. The challenge to sell PHM systems is even higher within top Academic Medical Center (AMC) hospitals, as they are both the least prepared to address this challenge and the least open to working with new PHM solutions, despite the increasingly critical mandate to drive costs out of the system. The unique politics, incentives and siloed nature of AMCs make resistance to PHM systems particularly strong.

As a result, HIT companies must take a measured approach to handling AMCs and the powerful physicians that practice within them. Gaining a foothold through the AMC is mission impossible; instead, HIT companies should build compelling pilots at more receptive points of care, and provide value-added services around pay-for-performance requirements that create organizational buy-in to a technology solution.

To read Treacy & Companys white paper Academic Medical Centers Need Population Health Management Systems  But They Wont Be Asking for Them, please visit the Treacy & Company website here.
Anchor Loans, LP (Anchor), a leading provider of quick bridge financing for non-owner occupied investment properties, announced today a sale of a $100 million bond offering. The transaction establishes a mortgage backed securitization financing structure backed by loans originated and serviced by Anchor Loans, LP and its affiliates.

The facility, which was spearheaded by and will be managed by Aalto Invest UK Ltd. and its US-based subsidiary, Aalto Invest US, Inc., provides Anchor with additional available capital to meet the needs of the private lending marketplace and facilitate Anchors ongoing expansion into new geographies nationwide. Anchor currently originates mortgage loans in about 20 U.S. states and is on track to fund more than $1 billion in loans this year.

This was truly a team effort by everyone involved. We believe that this is the first of its kind type of offering in the fix-and-flip finance sector and should pave the way for needed access to capital to help drive the American economy, said Stephen Pollack, President and co-founder of Anchor. Derrick Land, head of Aalto Invest in the US commented: "We are excited about the continued growth of the capital markets in this asset class and the Anchor Loans platform and we appreciate the opportunity to provide value-adding financing in this market segment.

About Anchor Loans

Anchor Loans has been profitable every year since its founding in 1998 and has shown exceptional performance for its entire history  especially through the real estate downturn and housing crisis of 2008-9. To date, Anchor has originated more than 12,000 short-term loans totaling over $3.17 billion; this includes $713 million in originations in 2015 and a 2016 pace of $1 billion. Anchor Loans experience, relationships and proprietary Fintech platform set it apart from other lenders in its ability to rapidly evaluate, underwrite and fund loans, typically in as few as 5-10 business days. For more information please see http://anchorloans.com/about

About Aalto Invest

Aalto Invest is a value-focused investment firm with a deep fundamental approach to investing. With offices in Charlotte, NC and London, England, Aalto Invest manages $1.6bn of assets on behalf of pension funds, insurance companies and family offices. Alongside US residential debt investments, Aalto Invest manage a portfolio of over 3,000 high quality US single family home rentals in 14 MSAs. For more information please see http://aaltoinvest.com/about-aalto/ or contact investorsolutions(at)aaltoinvest(dot)com
The Press transforms the building and site into a three-story, 300,000-square-foot creative office campus. LPA created a collaborative atmosphere where the ownership, the leasing team and design team members were allowed to bring forth ideas that resulted in a vision for The Press that is innovative and completely unique.

LPA Inc., one of the largest integrated design firms in California, was hired by Kearny Real Estate Company in the last quarter of 2015 to reimagine the 20-acre Los Angeles Times printing plant site and building in Costa Mesa, California. The Press transforms the building and site into a three-story, 300,000-square-foot creative office campus.

A series of design workshops were held with Kearny, Tribune Real Estate Holdings and Cushman Wakefield at LPA that focused on the adaptive reuse of the property into an exciting space for corporate users. Dan Heinfeld, President of LPA, said, As the development in the workshops progressed, the team soon realized that the existing building, while designed for a specific program of printing and distributing the newspapers Orange County edition, had a number of elements that made this project an opportunity for a creative office space like none other.

In practice of LPA's sustainable design standards, the existing steel frame and concrete clad structure with its 50-foot clear heights will be enhanced with the addition of mezzanines, large expanses of glass and strategically located skylights. Users will be provided with dynamic spaces that are flooded with natural daylight.

LPA created a collaborative atmosphere where the ownership, the leasing team and design team members were allowed to bring forth ideas that resulted in a vision for The Press that is innovative and completely unique, commented Hoonie S. Kang, Partner, Kearny Real Estate Company.

In addition, the buildings original rail line and loading platform will be transformed into a 3 acre amenity rich space that will provide opportunities for outdoor work, dining, social gathering and recreational activities. This expansive open space will provide a seamless indoor/outdoor connection that will take advantage of the Southern California climate.

Keith Hempel, Associate Principal at LPA, explained, The existing facility provided the design team with some tremendous opportunities. The volume of the interior spaces and the abandoned rail line will act as reminders of the buildings historical past, but at the same time provide a backdrop for new work environments that will be truly amazing.

With construction to begin as early as fall 2016, when completed, The Press will offer a creative work experience unlike any other in the corporate real estate marketplace.

About LPA Inc.

Founded in 1965, LPA has more than 330 employees with offices in San Antonio and Irvine, Sacramento, San Diego and San Jose, California. The firm provides services in architecture, sustainability, planning, interior design, landscape architecture, engineering and graphics. With a proven commitment to integrated sustainable design, LPA designs facilities that span from K-12 schools, colleges and universities to corporate and civic establishments. More than 700 major design awards attest to LPAs commitment to design excellence. For more information, visit http://www.lpainc.com.

+Renderings courtesy of LightBox.
We are delivering a paradigm shift in K-12 education technology by bringing together all of the key capabilities districts, schools, and teachers need in one powerful platform.

PowerSchool, the #1 leading provider of K-12 education technology solutions, today announced a 75% increase in year-over-year new customer bookings. Annual bookings doubled since the first quarter of last year, fueled by new and existing customer demand for a comprehensive platform for K-12 schools and districts. Since PowerSchool broke away from Pearson and became a stand-alone company in 2015, its growth has reflected the companys renewed focus on providing best-in-class technology solutions that streamline administrative processes and improve instructional outcomes for K-12 educators around the world.

The acquisitions of InfoSnap and Interactive Achievement expand PowerSchools reach to include key functional needs of enrollment and assessment in K-12 education. In addition to the most widely used student information system (SIS), the company now offers intuitive solutions that simplify district administration and data collection, improve compliance outcomes while fostering individualized classroom instruction, and increase student and parent engagement with instant access to student data. PowerSchools comprehensive platform drove increased customer demand as the company welcomed over 100 new clients and added over 500,000 new students to its portfolio since separating from Pearson.

Our customers and prospects are applauding the investments we are making in PowerSchool. We are delivering a paradigm shift in K-12 education technology by bringing together all of the key capabilities districts, schools, and teachers need in one powerful platform. District leaders realize the significant lower cost of ownership, budget benefits, state and federal compliance, lower requirements on IT, data integrity, security and seamless engaging experience for all of their key constituents  administrators, teachers, students, and parents, said Hardeep Gulati, CEO of PowerSchool. With strong financial and customer growth, proven execution, and increased customer satisfaction, PowerSchool is on track to continue its momentum and expand on its leadership in the K-12 education technology industry.

Recognizing the value that PowerSchool offers, existing customers are expanding their use of the education platform to drive greater efficiency in and out of the classroom. We love PowerSchool and have achieved great success with the student information system. Launching the online registration solution made sense, as the features and functionality only complement what were already used to experiencing as a PowerSchool user, said Priscilla Sumrall, Software Specialist at Jones County School District in Mississippi.

Key Q1 2016 highlights include:



Increased sales by more than double compared to the first quarter of last year, including 75% organic growth

Addition of nearly 300 new employees since leaving Pearson last year and becoming an independent company

Relocation to new headquarters in Folsom, California, providing an enhanced environment for innovation, collaboration, and expansion

Completion of two acquisitions within first six months of becoming a stand-alone company, providing a more comprehensive suite of applications to customers and creating a more unified user experience

Successful transition to best-in-class hosting with Rackspace

Launch of PowerTeacher Pro, an advanced gradebook for the digital classroom, designed in collaboration with teachers to empower them and drive student growth

Notable customer wins include:

Cicero District 99 Illinois

Perrysburg Schools - Ohio

Montgomery County School District - Georgia

Kettering City Schools - Ohio

Jones County School District - Mississippi

Lethbridge School District No. 51  Alberta, Canada

Casa Grande Elementary School District - Arizona

Diocese of San Jose - California

North Hills - Pennsylvania

Brownsville ISD - Texas

Sarasota County Schools - Florida

Athlos Academies - Idaho

New Jerseys Pennsville School Districts Data Information Systems Manager, Christie Goss, provides additional feedback about being a PowerSchool user: Our district has been with PowerSchool for over 16 years. We have access to all of the student information in PowerSchool and the flexibility to review and report that data in multiple ways, including the system and state reports. We recently added PowerSchool Registration, which replaced a very paper-intensive process. It's been a great way to collect accurate data and has eliminated the need for support staff to interpret and key in updated student information. PowerSchool is a cutting-edge solution that automates many processes to help us stay efficient, says Goss.

About PowerSchool Group LLC

PowerSchool is the #1 leading education technology platform for K-12, serving more than 40 million users, 17.5 million students, 31.5 million parents, and 70 countries around the world. We provide best-in-class, secure, and compliant online solutions, including student information systems, registration and school choice, assessment and analytics, and special education management. We empower teachers and drive student growth through innovative digital classroom capabilities, and we engage families through real-time communications across any device. Visit http://www.powerschool.com to learn more.
ODU-USA Cable Assembly Integrated Solutions

ODU, a worldwide leader in designing and manufacturing high performance connectors, is announcing its extended cable assembly integrated solutions to the US market.

ODU expands its portfolio of premium cable assembly integrated solutions by offering a comprehensive range of product assembly technologies and services such as: solder, crimp technology and PCB terminations, overmolding of TPE, TPU and PVC, customizable overmolding turn-key solutions, EMC compatible assembly, 100% final inspection and custom specific testing options, all in one stop shop solution.

With manufacturing and assembly facilities around the world, ODU offers local engineering and design services, thermoplastic injection molding design and fabrication, rapid prototyping, bonding and laser etching, private labeling, factory direct.

Furthermore, as a result of its continued commitment to premium quality assurance, ODU-USA is registered with the US Department of State as an ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations Statement) compliant manufacturer.

ODU cable assembled connectors are used for a wide range of applications that require customization from industries such as military, medical, industrial, measurement and testing, as well as eMobility, and energy.

For more product information visit: http://www.odu-usa.com/products-solutions/cable-assembly.html

ODU Group: global representation with perfect connections

The ODU Group is one of the worlds leading suppliers of connector systems, employing 1,650 people around the world. In addition to its company headquarters in Muhldorf am Inn (Germany), ODU also has an international production and distribution network throughout Europe, North America and Asia. ODU combines all relevant areas of expertise and key technologies including design and development, machine tool and special machine construction, injection, stamping, turning, surface technology, assembly and cable assembly. The ODU Group sells its products globally through its eight subsidiaries in Denmark, England, France, Italy, Sweden, the US, China and Japan, as well as through numerous international sales partners. ODU connectors ensure a reliable transmission of power, signals, data and media for a variety of demanding applications including medical technology, military and security, eMobility, energy, industrial electronics, and measurement and testing.

For press inquiries, please contact:

Dana Stoica - Head of Marketing, North America

Phone +1 (805) 484-0540 Fax: +1 (805) 484-7458

Email: dana.stoica(at)odu-usa.com
Lucas Group Lucas Group fosters a culture that promotes hard work as well as team collaboration which prepares our recruiters for long-term success within our organization.

Lucas Group, North Americas premier executive recruiting firm, has promoted five of its Associates for their contributions and achievements within the organization. The individuals are representative of four of the firms practice areas including Accounting & Finance, Human Resources, Manufacturing and Sales & Marketing.

Lucas Group fosters a culture that promotes hard work as well as team collaboration which prepares our recruiters for long-term success within our organization, said Carolina King, Vice President of Human Resources at Lucas Group. We are thrilled to have three Associates moving into the role of Managing Partner and continuing their upward career advancement with Lucas Group. While we have several reaching the management milestone, Lucas Group is driven by the hard work and achievements of all of our recruiters who are taking next steps in their career, and we also applaud our newly-promoted Senior Executive Search Consultants. Together, these five individuals have played critical roles in the success of their respective teams, and we are confident in their continued growth here at Lucas Group.

The following individuals have been promoted to the positions listed below:



Kyle LehmanBranch Practice Manager, Human Resources; Denver

Nick BuffiniManaging Partner, Accounting & Finance; Los Angeles

Nick TrowbridgeManaging Partner, Human Resources; Chicago

Scott CooperSenior Executive Search Consultant, Manufacturing; Dallas

Elizabeth DavisSenior Executive Search Consultant, Sales & Marketing; Irvine

Lucas Group boasts the industrys most sophisticated on-boarding process together with ongoing support and education, positioning its Associates to thrive. The 300+ employee firm also prides itself on developing talent and making it shine, which is indicative of its commitment to hiring and promoting from within the organization.

At Lucas Group, we equip our Associates with all of the tools and resources needed to succeed in executive recruiting, said King. These promotions are well-deserved for these Associates contributions to reaching our overall strategic goals and objectives.

With seven practice groups and offices located throughout the United States, Lucas Group offers broad, national reach combined with expert, localized search. In addition to the four practice groups mentioned above, Lucas Groups executive recruiters also specialize in Information Technology, Legal and Military Transition.

About Lucas Group

Lucas Group is North Americas premier executive search firm. Since 1970, our culture and methodologies have driven superior results. We assist clients ranging in size from small to medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 companies find transcendent, executive talent; candidates fully realize their ambitions; and associates find professional success. To learn more, please visit Lucas Group at http://www.lucasgroup.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
Join Companies Who Are Mapping Their Workplace Genome We serve hundreds of companies who care about workforce analyticsand the tool and process WorkXO have developed produces the most effective, actionable data weve seen. - Vivek Bhaskaran, CEO, QuestionPro

WorkXO, a workplace culture consultancy, has launched The Workplace Genome Project. The project revolves around a proprietary assessment tool and discovery process for understanding organizations at their very essencewho they really are, how they really work, and what it is their employees really experience.

According to WorkXO, organizations all too often chase after solutions to their workplace woes before doing the important and challenging work of first understanding what exists now and what they really need to fix. The Workplace Genome makes taking that first step much easier and the resulting nuanced data about a companys unique culture equips leaders with the intelligence they need to adapt and embrace the constant change of the 21st century workplace, particularly as the Millennial generation becomes a more prominent feature of the management landscape.

Founders, Charlie Judy, Maddie Grant, and Jamie Notter said, The future of work is not about better HR systems, technologies, programs, practices, the next shiny object, or best practices. We think it's all about culturehow you assess it, how you evolve it, how you share it, and how you use it to drive your success.

The culture assessment consists of 65 values, behaviors, actions, and beliefs that employees are asked to react to through WorkXOs online tool, powered in partnership with QuestionPro, the enterprise survey company. It takes no more than 15 minutes to complete. For companies who have already extensively surveyed their employees, WorkXO can also map that data directly into their analytical framework, minimizing survey fatigue.

Vivek Bhaskaran, CEO of QuestionPro, said, We serve hundreds of companies who care about workforce analyticsand the tool and process WorkXO have developed produces the most effective, actionable data weve seen. WorkXO and QuestionPro will also be integrating a version of the Workplace Genome tool into Workforce, QuestionPros enterprise solution. The integration should be complete in the second quarter of 2016.

The Workplace Genome Project has already collected data on more than 250,000 cultural markers from businesses across the US. The results revealamong other thingsa direct correlation between stronger cultures, lower employee turnover, and a higher likelihood that employees will be visible and vocal promoters of their company.

By combining how prominent the different cultural dynamics are in an organization with how much clarity the employees have around these dynamics, WorkXO also helps companies figure out which dynamics are in fact differentiators, which ones are core to the culture, and which ones have become distractions from their success.

Active members of the Workplace Genome Project are using their data to validate their vision and values and then craft a more authentic employer branding strategy. Others are using it to assess and understand two distinct cultures to be combined as part of a merger. There are members who use it as a launch pad for long-term cultural transformation projects, which result in real and permanent change in the organization. And some members have even indicated they intend to use the workplace assessment as a replacement for their more traditional employee engagement survey.

WorkXO is also developing an online community component of the Project, where members can find support as they implement the tool, share learning about what works and what doesnt, and even help WorkXO as they enhance the tool and develop related products over time.

For more information about the Workplace Genome Project, contact WorkXO at info(at)workxo(dot)com or visit http://www.workxo.com.

****************

About WorkXO, LLC

We know that powerful cultures are achievable, and we are called to work with leaders who are ready to take a stand and create the future of work. Our vision is to lead a workplace (r)evolution that is based in the power of human community, the intricacies of thriving workforces, and authentic connections with todays and tomorrows talentall driven by the Workplace Genome. Our mission is to upgrade work.
Petrellis take on traditional and from scratch recipes means new and exciting menu options bursting with surprising flavor combinations for patrons of Writers Bistro and those attending catering events.

In the rapidly crowding downtown Asheville hotel scene, the Renaissance Asheville Hotel has carved out its niche with its easily walk able location to many of Ashevilles most recognizable dining locations. The hotel is known for hosting large catering events and is also home to Writers Bistro, its locally inspired restaurant.

The addition of Chef Petrelli adds another layer of local and sustainable flavor to the both the banquet and restaurant menus.

Petrellis love of cooking harkens back to childhood and was set in stone with his first paying job at an Italian restaurant in Pittsburg. He completed his Culinary Arts Degree at the Le Cordon Bleu Pittsburg and after gaining experience in restaurants in both Florida and Hawaii, he returned to Pittsburg as the Sous Chef for the Omni William Penn Hotel.

A father of two young sons, he and his wife chose Asheville as the place to raise a family and he is currently making his mark at the Renaissance Asheville Hotel with his evolving cooking style. Petrellis take on traditional and from scratch recipes means new and exciting menu options bursting with surprising flavor combinations for patrons of Writers Bistro and those attending catering events.

Writers Bistro is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, 7 days a week.

About Renaissance Asheville:

Renaissance Asheville is a full service hotel located at 31 Woodfin Ave in downtown Asheville, NC. For more information, contact the Director of Sales, Pola Laughlin, at 828-252-2711, or go online to http://www.renaissanceasheville.com.
The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), in partnership with VINCI Education, has announced the 2016 winners of the Digital Leader of Early Learning Award, which honors principals who show leadership in educational technology and pre-K-grade 3 learning.

The five principals receiving the award are John Beeck of Loess Hills Specialty School in Sioux City, Iowa; Jessica Cabeen of Woodson Kindergarten Center in Austin, Minnesota; Wanny Hersey of Bullis Charter School in Los Altos, California; Kimberly Hill of Leila G. Davis Elementary School in Clearwater, Florida; and Carrie McWilliams of Paul Cuffee School in Providence, Rhode Island.

We are thrilled to honor these principals who have embraced innovative educational technology practices that support the early learner, said NAESP Executive Director Gail Connelly. When technology is used effectively, it can be a powerful tool that helps boost learning and development for our youngest students, and we hope other schools can learn from these examples.

This award is inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, a scholar, inventor, and innovator who embodied the type of renaissance thinking that educators hope to help their students attain. NAESPs sponsoring partner for the award, VINCI Education, is a global company providing educational services to families and schools in early childhood education programming. We are so impressed by the leadership of these winning principals and are very proud partner with NAESP to promote the proper use of technology, said Dan Yang, founder and CEO of VINCI Education.

NAESPs publication, Leading Pre-K-3 Learning Communities: Competencies for Effective Principal Practice, outlines how principals can provide welcoming, collaborative learning environments that support personalized learning, including the effective use of technology.

Each of the award recipients submitted a short YouTube video and essays highlighting their projects:



John Beeck: Loess Hills Specialty School teaches programming and coding as part of its curriculum. For instance, in a math class, students learn skills such as repeated reasoning, coding, number sense and other mathematical practices with regularity.

Jessica Cabeen: Woodson Kindergarten Center offers a blog and other digital resources on kindergarten readiness and literacy for families. Six classes also use Skype to participate in weekly music sessions with the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis.

Wanny Hersey: Bullis Charter School integrates technology into every aspect of the learning process, at every learning level. In one example, first graders study Biomimicry and use the Design-Thinking process to find solutions to a driving question. The school has won national awards for its innovations and integration of the Design-Thinking process with the Common Core State Standards in its MakerSpace and Fablab programs.

Kimberly Hill: At Davis Elementary, teachers use innovative apps and resources to integrate technology into daily learning. Kindergarteners publish their creative writing using Pic Collage, Book Creator and Tellagami, and the school uses digital learning journals allow students to document and share their learning with their teacher and family.

Carrie McWilliams: Paul Cuffee School serves as a model for early-elementary teachers in Rhode Island to observe and learn strategies such as Blended Learning and more substantial collaboration with colleagues. The school also uses digital portfolios to enhance students home-to-school connections.

NAESP and VINCI Education will feature these winners in publications and on social media, and they will be recognized at NAESPs Best Practices for Better Schools Annual Conference, to be held July 6-8 at National Harbor, Maryland, near Washington, D.C.

###

About NAESP:

Established in 1921, the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) serves elementary and middle school principals in the United States, Canada, and overseas. NAESP supports principals as the primary catalysts for creating lasting foundations for learning through policy development, advocacy, and resources for effective instructional leadership. NAESP seeks to advance the principalship and address issues in pre-K-3 alignment, principal preparation and evaluation, and building the capacity of new principals. For more information about NAESP, please visit http://www.naesp.org.

About VINCI:

VINCI Education, the company behind the VINCI School, VINCI Academy and Club VINCI, has pioneered the creation of a new category of fun learning tools with the goal to engage, empower and educate young children. By using a scaffolding teaching method designed by developmental psychologists and education experts, VINCIs products and solutions deliver play-based learning programs for the home and the classrooms. It currently offers early childhood education services through its owned and licensed schools and learning centers in US, Canada and other countries around the world. VINCI Curriculum won CODIE 2014 as the Best Game-based Curriculum, CES 2013 Innovation Award Honoree and a number of other educational awards. Its founder, Dr. Dan Yang, was honored with an American Business Award in 2014.
Tony Romas and Coca-Cola are iconic American brands, so it was only natural that we hooked up to create an innovative dish that fans of both brands will crave.

Romacorp, Inc., parent company of Tony Romas restaurants, announces a new limited time menu featuring fresh and refreshing ingredients with invigorating new flavors. The Taste the Flavor of Freshness menu features fresh and refreshing flavors across the menu, highlighted by Tony Romas world-famous Baby Back Ribs with an exciting new Coca-Cola BBQ sauce - a dish that will leave fans of both brands craving more. The menu is available at participating restaurants through June 21.

Tony Romas and Coca-Cola are iconic American brands, so it was only natural that we hooked up to create an innovative dish that fans of both brands will crave, said Jim Rogers, Chief Marketing Officer for Romacorp, Inc. Our legendary Baby Back Ribs are always the star of the menu, but its Tony Romas BBQ Sauce that gives them a distinctive flavor and makes our fans excited for every new innovation we bring to our restaurants.

Tony Romas Taste the Flavor of Freshness menu includes fresh, new options to satisfy everyones taste buds. Start with the new Shrimp Tango appetizer, featuring bacon wrapped shrimp served with Sriracha lime butter and a fresh strawberry & radish guacamole. Ribs fanatics will love the Baby Back Ribs with the Coca-Cola BBQ sauce, served with bleu cheese coleslaw and ancho chili potatoes. Steak enthusiasts will crave the new Fire-Roasted Sirloin Steak combo, which includes a quarter Chicken with white BBQ sauce and ancho chili potatoes. And the new Harvest Fruit & Chicken Salad is the perfect marriage of fresh and refreshing ingredients with its Asian salad mix, candied pecans, kiwi, pineapple salsa, strawberries, pears, and blackberries, topped with fresh grilled chicken, bleu cheese crumbles, and a three-berry vinaigrette.

End your meal with the new Crispy Brownie Bites, an indulgent dessert for chocolate lovers served with Espresso chocolate mousse and vanilla ice cream, and topped with vanilla cream, chocolate, and raspberry sauce. Wash it all down in style with the Cucumber & Strawberry Romatini or the Orange & Kiwi Romarita, two new drinks that are sure to make guests feel refreshed and revitalized.

Tony Romas guests can also win a special family trip to refresh the mind, body, and spirit by entering the Taste the Flavor of Freshness sweepstakes on MyCokeRewards.com. The winning family receives a trip for four, including airfare, to Orlando where they will enjoy a three night stay at a Loews Universal Resort, daily passes to Universal Orlando, $350 in spending money, and a VIP dinner experience at Tony Romas flagship restaurant on International Drive. Sweepstakes details can be found at TonyRomas.com and MyCokeRewards.com.

About Romacorp, Inc.

Romacorp, Inc., is the parent company of Tony Romas restaurants, the worlds largest casual dining concept specializing in ribs. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, Romacorp, Inc. has more than 150 restaurant locations in more than 30 countries and is one of the most globally recognizable names in the industry. The first Tony Romas restaurant opened more than 40 years ago in North Miami, Florida. For more information about Romacorp, Inc. and Tony Romas, visit http://www.tonyromas.com/.
Its crucial that we do our part in defending against terrorist threats and have made it a priority to develop training to address this challenging subject matter.

RedVector, the leader in eLearning and workforce training solutions for the architecture, engineering, construction, industrial and facility management industries, has launched the Protecting People against Terrorist Attacks Training Series to aid professionals in designing and building safer buildings, structures and shelters.

As terrorist threats evolve and target structures in new ways, the Department of Homeland Security has urged designers and builders to adapt and train to fortify, design and create safer, sturdier buildings.

Its crucial that we do our part in defending against terrorist threats and have made it a priority to develop training to address this challenging subject matter, said Bobby Person, RedVector Product Director. RedVectors new courses will aid in providing protection against manmade hazards via strategic design of shelters, safe rooms and more.

This RedVector training series offers engineers, architects, building officials, contractors and property owners guidance in designing shelters and safe rooms, minimizing blast effects (structural design), and protecting against chemical threats.

RedVectors New Protecting People against Terrorist Attacks Online Training Course Series Includes the Following Courses:



Protecting People against Terrorist Attacks: Design Considerations for Safe Rooms and Shelters

Protecting People against Terrorist Attacks: Structural Design Criteria

Protecting People against Terrorist Attacks: Chemical, Biological, and Radiological (CBR) Threat Protection

About RedVector

RedVector sets the standard for excellence in online continuing education and training for the architecture, engineering, construction (AEC), industrial and facility management industries and holds nearly 100 state and national accreditations. RedVector offers individual courses as well as large-scale corporate training solutions featuring customizable and easily accessible online universities with a full range of tracking and reporting features. With an online library exceeding 2,250 courses authored by more than 100 subject matter experts, RedVector serves professionals and organizations in all 50 states. The recipient of numerous community honors and industry awards, RedVector was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. For more information, call 1-866-546-1212 or visit http://www.RedVector.com.
The spring 2016 market is clearly a sellers market, with homes in high demand neighborhoods and lower price points selling quickly, sometimes with multiple offers.

Housing demand in the Twin Cities is at a 10-year high, particularly for homes under $250,000. Pending sales were up 7 percent last month, and the median sales price was up 4 percent to $207,395. But the big story is inventory. The total number of homes for sale fell by nearly 20 percent, lowering the months supply to only 2.3 months, according to the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS. That means that every home for sale would sell in just over two months if no new homes came on the market.

First-time homebuyers are eagerly waiting for existing homeowners to put their homes on the market. However, some owners dont have enough equity or are worried about selling their home and not finding the right home to move into. That leaves both first-time homebuyers and move-up homebuyers competing over what little inventory is on the market.

This tight inventory situation has given rise to a unique strategy for sellers who are also buyers. Called a reverse contingency, some sellers are inserting a clause into the purchase agreement that makes their home sale contingent on finding another home to buy. This is the opposite of a normal contingency clause that makes a home sale contingent on the buyers selling their home.

Ive run into this a lot in this fast-moving market, said Dave Delay, an agent with Edina Realtys Lakeville office. Sellers arent sure they want to sell if they cant find a home to buy.

Delay represented a couple who received a full-price offer within days of listing their home in Rogers, Minn., but they hadnt yet found another home to move into. So the sellers put in a reverse contingency clause, requesting that the buyers wait about two weeks to sign the final purchase agreement so they could find a home. Fortunately, they found a new construction model in Otsego, Minn., at which point they signed the contract and removed the reverse contingency clause.

Regardless of the inventory shortage, Greg Mason, president and CEO of Edina Realty Home Services, cautions sellers not to inflate the price of their home. He suggests sellers contact a Realtor who can conduct a competitive market analysis and advise sellers on setting the appropriate price for their homes location and condition. Buyers are savvy and well-educated and arent going to bid on a home thats overpriced or in poor condition, Mason said. The better a home is priced from the start, the more likely it will attract asking price or above.

In its quarterly consumer survey, 75 percent of people surveyed nationwide believe it's a good time to buy a home, according to the National Association of REALTORS. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says pending sales last month rose to the highest level since last July. Looking ahead, the key for sustained momentum and more sales than last spring is a continuous stream of new listings quickly replacing what's being scooped up by a growing pool of buyers, Yun said. Without adequate supply, sales will likely plateau.

Minnesota boasts the highest homeownership rate in the nation; according to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 70 percent of Minneapolis-St. Paul area residents are homeowners. Thats in part because the unemployment rate in the metropolitan area is at an extremely low 3.1 percent. Plus, mortgage rates are still below 4 percent.

Homes in the upper brackets are more plentiful; the number of homes priced over $1 million is up 5.6 percent over last year. While this segment of the market has experienced marked improvement over the past two years, these sellers can expect longer time on market and less buyer competition.

Edina Realty currently has 2,350 REALTORS operating out of more than 75 real estate offices. For more information on the spring market, visit http://www.edinarealty.com or call Edina Realty Customer Care at 952-928-5563.
Jennifer Rexford ACM-W Athena Lecturer BGP is the glue that binds the Internet together and Jennifers innovations have vastly improved the BGPs effectiveness,

ACM-W, the Association for Computing Machinerys Council on Women in Computing (women.acm.org), today named Jennifer Rexford of Princeton University as the 2016-2017 Athena Lecturer. Rexford was cited for innovations that improved the efficiency of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) in routing Internet traffic, for laying the groundwork for software-defined networks (SDNs) and for contributions in measuring and engineering IP networks. These contributions greatly enhanced the stability and flow of Internet transmissions, and make data networks easier to design, understand and manage.

The Athena Lecturer award celebrates women researchers who have made fundamental contributions to computer science. It includes a $25,000 honorarium provided by Google Inc. BGP is the glue that binds the Internet together and Jennifers innovations have vastly improved the BGPs effectiveness, said Judith Olson, who heads the ACM-W awards committee. Her work played an important role as the Internet became a worldwide phenomenon, and she continues pioneering work to address the growing challenges presented by issues such as scalability and security.

Networks facilitate communications between computing devices, but to be able to communicate, computers or applications need to use the same communication protocols. In the field of Internet interdomain routing, Rexfords work has had a substantial impact on the BGP, a framework that makes routing decisions based on paths, network policies or rule-sets configured by a network administrator. BGP supports flexible policies for how traffic flows through the Internet, but conflicting policies in different networks can easily lead to instability. Rexfords research showed that the local economic incentives that drive operational routing policies lead to a stable global routing system. More recently, Rexford has designed incrementally-deployable extensions to BGP to greatly improve both the security and the scalability of Internet routing.

Rexford also made major advances in laying the foundation for software-defined networking (SDN). A traditional problem in data networking has been the tight coupling of proprietary control software with the underlying network devices, stifling innovation. In her seminal work, Design and Implementation of a Routing Control Platform, Rexford proposed a way to separate a networks control software from its data functions. Her framework laid the groundwork for todays software-defined networking. More recently, Rexford's collaborations with programming languages researchers created powerful new abstractions for designing new network control applications. SDN enables new degrees of innovation within the network and has revolutionized networking research and industry.

Rexford is the author of more than 170 publications, including co-authoring the book Web Protocols and Practice: HTTP/1.1, Networking Protocols, Caching, and Traffic Measurement. Rexford holds 12 US patents.

Background

Jennifer Rexford is the Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor of Engineering and Chair of the Computer Science Department at Princeton University. Prior to joining the faculty of Princeton University, Rexford was employed at AT&T Labs, where she pioneered research on Internet measurements and traffic engineering.

Rexford served as Chair of the ACM Special Interest Group on Communications and Computer Networks (SIGCOMM) and co-founded the Internet Measurement Conference and the Symposium on SDN Research (HotSDN). A Fellow of ACM, she is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Rexford received the 2004 ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, given annually to an outstanding young computing professional.

Rexford earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University and received Masters and Ph.D. degrees in computer science and engineering from the University of Michigan.

The Athena Lecturer is invited to present a lecture at an ACM event. Rexfords Athena Lecture will be delivered at an event to be determined. Each year, the Athena Lecturer honors a preeminent woman computer scientist. Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom; with her knowledge and sense of purpose, she epitomizes the strength, determination, and intelligence of the "Athena Lecturers." The 2016-2017 Athena Lecturer will be formally recognized at the ACM Annual Awards Banquet, June 11, in San Francisco, California.

About ACM-W

ACM-W is the ACM Council on Women in Computing (http://women.acm.org). ACM-W supports, celebrates, and advocates internationally for the full engagement of women in all aspects of the computing field, providing a wide range of programs and services to ACM members and working in the larger community to advance the contributions of technical women.

About ACM

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery (http://www.acm.org), is the worlds largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the fields challenges. ACM strengthens the computing professions collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.
Sport Fishing Pro, Lou Gasperin

FireDisc grills are in a league of their own with innovative attributes spanning portability, counter height, surface temperature range, capacity and clean-up. However, can they be relied upon to perform in a range of remote outdoor weather conditions and rugged locales? Renowned pro fishing tour competitor, Lou Gasperin, has put the FireDisc to the ultimate test throughout his astonishing line-up of tournaments where he consistently finishes in the top-ten. In addition to the grill-testing on tour, Gasperin has tested and relied upon the FireDisc to excel in a multitude of challenging terrain ranging from fish-fry shoreline lunches, to remote campsite dinners, and to cook up restaurant-quality quail post-hunt, while standing in three feet of snow.

About Pro Sport Fisherman, Lou Gasperin:

Those closest to Lou Gasperin claim that this fishing legend was born, rod-in-hand. Licensed fishing guide, Captain and pro tour veteran, Gasperins fishing career has taken him on hundreds of trips from the far reaches of Canada fishing for walleye, to the northeast fishing for stripers, cod fish and haddock. Currently, Gasperins professional tours span the outer banks of North Carolina to the coast of Texas. Gasperin has competed in everything from the Ranger Boats and Cabelas-hosted tours, IFA Redfish Tour to FLW, the Lucas Oil Pro Tour and Oh Boy Oberto invitational. He has been sponsored by numerous pinnacle boat, sunscreen, bug spray and hot sauce brands. When not fishing  a rarity  Gasperin can be found bow hunting in Canada for Moose or Michigan for deer. He has hunted his way through just about every southern state since learning the ability to walk.

FireDisc bravely partnered with Lou to put their grills to the ultimate Gasperin-test. Results are in.

Gasperin FireDisc Product Test Overview:

Versatility: Let me start by saying that the FireDisc is the most versatile grill ever designed in my opinion, says Lou Gasperin. Whether hunting or fishing with the FireDisc, you can of course cook anything from steaks to burgers. The key difference is that this grill takes you way beyond beef. You can make soup, chili, pasta, eggs, bacon, or even a low country boil, grilled shrimp, fish with veggies  you name it, the possibilities are endless.

Portability: The FireDisc is ridiculously portable, yet bullet-proof durable. The intelligent design enables an ease of use I have never experienced and greatly appreciate. Set-up takes mere seconds, even in some of the most challenging and remote locations one can imagine. Then, clean-up is a breeze. When fishing and hunting, every pound carried and inch of space needed for gear is meticulously planned. FireDiscs pack tight.

Durability: FireDiscs dont die  ever. Scrap yards are full of old beater grills, but youll never find a FireDisc. Mine is still going strong after more trips than one can count and I look forward to hundreds more. FireDiscs are the Go Anywhere Grill able to withstand the rigors of intense outdoor pursuits, variable weather and terrain. It will be the last grill you ever buy.

May 2016 National Hardware Show Meet and Greet, Las Vegas, NV:

Lou Gasperin, and his boat (kitted out with a FireDisc Grill), will be on-site at the May 2016, National Hardware Show in Las Vegas to show off some of his best campsite cooking tips and share a few fishing and hunting tales.

About FireDisc:

Texas-based FireDisc specializes in the design and manufacturing of the worlds most the innovative, high-quality and versatile outdoor grills and accessories. The company was founded by two entrepreneurial brothers, Griffin and Hunter Jaggard, who, armed with a makeshift tractor plow disc set out on a mission to build a grill worthy of everyone from the worlds top chefs to hunters, backyard family grill masters, tailgaters and campers. FireDisc products are currently sold nationally via 500+ retail locations in over 31 states and online throughout the globe.

Heavy-duty carbon steel construction render the grills indestructible, while meticulous designs yield convenient portability and ease-of-use. A rigorous Chef-tested/Chef-Approved quality assurance program enables the grills to deliver unmatched grilling characteristics, as they have been vetted by some of the worlds leading chefs. Prior to their launch of FireDisc Grills, the founders formed a non-profit to raise money and find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. To date $1M has been raised via The Carney Men Bike MS team. Community involvement is the core of the FireDisc brand in addition to the National MS Society they are proud supporters of the American Cancer Society, Wounded Warrior Project and many more.

For more information visit http://www.firediscgrills.com

Community Involvement: http://www.firediscgrills.com/company-involvement/

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The fine jewelry collection features a wide array of bangles, bracelets, cuffs, earrings, rings, and necklaces, meticulously crafted from precious and semi-precious stones framed against ravishing and sophisticated settings of elegant 14 karat gold.

Each piece is marked by a dazzling yet delicate timeless beauty created to enhance and accent any wardrobe from trendy casuals and glamorous dresses to full-on red carpet ready. The collection is an expression of a womans strengths, her courage and confidence, says Dana. And I want these pieces to make those important moments of her life truly unforgettable.

The Dana Seng Jewelry Collection is available from $230 and up in a wide range of pieces which include one-of-a-kind pieces and The Eternity Collection offering an array of engagement, commitment or anniversary rings at http://www.danasengjewelry.com. Designer, Dana Seng, conceived the brand out of her life-long passion for jewelry, which was nurtured while growing up amidst her familys jewelry business in her native Cambodia. She relocated to the United States to expand her knowledge and experience by working tirelessly in the industry and taking courses in design and manufacturing to learn every aspect of the business.

It was inevitable that she would meet and marry a man who was also in jewelry. She eventually began managing her husbands jewelry company while expressing her artistry by designing custom engagement rings. This allowed her to truly understand her consumers on a personal level  to create the kind of pieces that were the realizations of their hopes and dreams. The experience served as her inspiration to launch the Dana Seng collection to provide women with jewelry that serve both as statement pieces while enhancing whatever they wear.
Our investigation reveals that most U.S. hospitals have failed to come close to reaching what we consider to be attainable benchmarks.

A number of factors can increase a womans chance of having a C-sectionsuch as being older, heavier or having diabetes. But the single biggest variable may be where a woman chooses for delivering her baby. Thats one of the key findings in a new investigation unveiled by Consumer Reports.

The report reveals pronounced variations in C-section rates among U.S. hospitals for low-risk deliveries, even hospitals in the same communities and among similar institutions. The investigation also shows that most hospitals have C-section rates that are above targets set by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Consumer Reports focused on the C-section rates of first-time moms anticipating a low-risk delivery. That means women delivering full-term, single babies (not twins, triplets or other multiples) that are properly positioned for delivery. The target C-section rate for those births, set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is under 23.9 percent. Thats ten percent less than the rate for such births in 2007, which the government uses as a baseline from which to improve.

CRs report is available free online at ConsumerReports.org. It includes Ratings of more than 1,200 hospitals based on their C-section rates.

Our investigation reveals that most U.S. hospitals have failed to come close to reaching what we consider to be attainable benchmarks, says Doris Peter, Ph.D., director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center.

Nearly six in 10 of the hospitals rated by Consumer Reports have C-section rates above the national target of 23.9 percent and about one in six have C-section rates above 33.3 percent, earning Consumer Reports lowest score. By contrast, only about one in eight hospitals have rates of 18.4 percent or lower, the cutoff for a top score in CRs ratings.

The irony is that for a woman who really wants to have a non-surgical birth, her biggest risk of having a C-section might be which hospital she goes to, added Peter. We hope our ratings will shine a light on hospitals with high C-section rates and help expectant moms make informed choices.

Because hospitals are not required to publicly report their C-section rates, Consumer Reports does not have C-section rates for more than half of the estimated 3,000 U.S. hospitals that deliver babies. With no reporting requirement, many hospitals simply choose not to release that information. Particularly notable in their absence are 24 hospitals with more than 5,000 births, including many in and around New York City such as Mount Sinai Hospital, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and NYU Langone Medical Center. (The Joint Commission, a hospital accrediting organization, has C-section rates for hospitals with more than 300 births each year, but does not make that information public.)

You have to give credit to the hospitals that report their data, even the hospitals that are lower performers, says Leah Binder, chief executive officer of The Leapfrog Group, the nonprofit organization that collects and reports the data in most of the country. Its the hospitals that dont report that you have to wonder about. Binder notes that hospitals do not have to pay The Leapfrog Group when they report data. Consumer Reports uses Leapfrogs data for its ratings in all states but California; data from California come from the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative.

Key findings:



Nearly sixty-percent of the hospitals rated (743 hospitals) have C-section rates above the national target for low-risk births in first-time moms. And 18 percent had C- section rates above 33.3 percent. There are 24 such hospitals with a high volume of deliveries. See page 3 for a list of those hospitals.

Conversely, only 13 percent of U.S. hospitals (165 hospitals) have rates at or below 18.4 percent, the cut-off for a top score in the ratings. Nineteen of them are hospitals with a high volume of deliveries. See page 4 for a list of those hospitals.

The variation among all U.S. hospitals is dramatic. For example, C-section rates for low-risk deliveries in first-time moms in large hospitals range from 11 percent at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, N.Y., to 53 percent at South Miami Hospital in Miami, Fla. Wide variations are also evident among hospitals in the same community. For example, in Chicago, 30 percent of low-risk deliveries at the University of Chicago Medical Center were by C-section, while 10 miles away at Northwestern Memorial Hospital the rate was just 17 percent. And in Southern California, Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center has a C-section rate of 22 percent compared to 35 percent at Riverside Community Hospital.

The likelihood of having a C-section varies widely depending on where in the country women live. In general, rates are higher in the northeast and south and lower in the west and midwest.

Three states, plus the District of Columbia, have average C-section rates that are above 30 percent: Mississippi (31 percent); Kentucky (32 percent), Florida (32 percent) and D.C. (35 percent).

Four states have average C- Section rates that fall below 18.5 percent: South Dakota (14 percent), Wyoming (17 percent), New Mexico (18 percent), and North Dakota (18 percent.

LARGE HOSPITALS WITH HIGH C-SECTION RATES

Overall, there are 221 hospitals in the U.S. with C-section rates above 33.3 percent for low risk deliveries, the cutoff for receiving Consumer Reports bottom score. Twenty-four of them are hospitals with a high volume of deliveries (PDF of chart attached):

HOSPITAL - CITY - STATE - C-SECTION RATE (First time mothers, low-risk deliveries)

South Miami Hospital - Miami - FL - 53

Hackensack University Medical Center - Hackensack - NJ - 42

Covenant Medical Center - Lubbock - TX - 42

Woman's Hospital of Texas - Houston - TX - 41

Palmetto General Hospital - Hialeah - FL - 38

Winthrop-University Hospital - Mineola - NY - 37

Las Palmas Medical Center* - El Paso - TX - 37

Methodist Healthcare Memphis Hospitals* - Memphis - TN - 37

Baptist Hospital of Miami - Miami - FL - 36

Medical City Dallas Hospital - Dallas - TX - 36

University of Texas Medical Branch - Galveston - TX - 36

Clear Lake Regional Medical Center* - Webster - TX - 35

Doctor's Hospital at Renaissance - Edinburg - TX - 35

Riverside Community Hospital - Riverside - CA - 35

Inova Alexandria Hospital - Alexandria - VA - 35

Methodist Hospital* - San Antonio - TX - 35

Henrico Doctors' Hospital - Richmond - VA - 34

St. David's North Austin Medical Center - Austin - TX - 34

Heritage Valley Health System - Beaver - PA - 34

Sharp Mary Birth Hospital for Women and Newborns - San Diego - CA - 34

Antelope Valley Hospital - Lancaster - CA - 34

Jackson Health System* - Miami - FL - 34

Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center - Reno - NV - 34

Virginia Hospital Center  Arlington - Arlington - VA - 33

LARGE HOSPITALS WITH LOW C-SECTION RATES

There are 165 hospitals in the U.S. with C-section rates for low-risk deliveries at 18.4 percent or lower, the cutoff for earning CRs top score. Nineteen of them are hospitals with a high volume of deliveries (PDF of chart attached):

HOSPITAL - CITY - STATE - C-SECTION RATE (First time mothers, low-risk deliveries)

Crouse Hospital - Syracuse - NY - 11

Yuma Regional Medical Center - Yuma - AZ - 12

Memorial Medical Center - Springfield - IL - 12

Utah Valley Regional Medical Center - Provo - UT - 13

Lovelace Women's Hospital - Albuquerque - NM - 13

Bakersfield Memorial Hospital - Bakersfield - CA - 15

University of Alabama Hospital - Birmingham - AL - 15

New Hanover Regional Medical Center - Wilmington - NC - 16

Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital - Saint Louis Park - MN - 16

Bon Secours St. Mary's Hospital - Richmond - VA - 17

Northwestern Memorial Hospital - Chicago - IL - 17

Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center - Roseville - CA - 17

TMC HealthCare - Tucson - AZ - 17

Meriter UnityPoint Health - Madison - WI - 17

San Joaquin Community Hospital - Bakersfield - CA - 17

JPS Health Network - Fort Worth - TX - 17

WakeMed Raleigh Campus - Raleigh - NC - 18

Piedmont Fayette Hospital - Fayetteville - GA - 18

McKay-Dee Hospital Center - Ogden - UT - 18

The data come from the Leapfrog Group as well as from the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, as provided by the California Healthcare Assessment and Reporting Task Force. We rate hospitals with at least 30 low-risk deliveries in either 2014 or the 12-month period ending June 2015.

__________

About Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports is the worlds largest and most trusted nonprofit, consumer organization working to improve the lives of consumers by driving marketplace change. Founded in 1936, Consumer Reports has achieved substantial gains for consumers on health reform, food and product safety, financial reform, and other issues. The organization has advanced important policies to cut hospital-acquired infections, prohibit predatory lending practices and combat dangerous toxins in food. Consumer Reports tests and rates thousands of products and services in its 50-plus labs, state-of-the-art auto test center and consumer research center. Consumers Union, a division of Consumer Reports, works for pro-consumer laws and regulations in Washington, D.C., the states, and in the marketplace. With more than eight million subscribers to its flagship magazine, website and other publications, Consumer Reports accepts no advertising, payment or other support from the companies whose products it evaluates.
"Colorado wine is in a great place for success because millennials are more willing to try new and different things." Garrett Portra, new Colorado winery owner

Colorados Wine Industry Development Board has reported a positive spike in Colorados wine production and sales timed to the start of the 2016 tourism season. The wine industry, which contributes nearly 1700 jobs to Colorados overall economy, according to a 2014 CSU study, has been on the rise over the last 22 years, sustaining an average annual growth rate of nearly 15 percent. Thanks to a mild winter and near perfect growing season, the 2015 grape harvest yielded a record high volume of more than 2000 tons. Prior to that, in fiscal year 2015 Colorado wineries reported 148,428 cases of wine production to the Colorado Department of Revenue, which equals an estimated $30 million in sales.

We are pleased to see our states winemakers reaping the benefits of last years bountiful harvest and we are looking forward to another fruitful year in 2016, said Doug Caskey, Executive Director of the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board. More and more people are realizing the high quality and remarkable wines available across the state as well as the pleasure that comes with visiting many of these locations. 

Colorado is home to over 140 licensed wineries and 120 grape growers who combined to produce a total of 1,335,850 liters of wine in Colorado during the 2014/2015 season, a 20% increase from the year before. Several wineries reported increases of anywhere between 9 and 20% last year.

2016 is expected to bring even better results for the Colorado Wine Industry due to an exceptional grape harvest in 2015. Poor harvests in previous years created an opportunity to plant grapes in new areas of the state using unique, cold-tolerant grape varieties. Thus far for 2016, many wineries report tasting room sales up as much as 31% and sales to liquor stores up 37% compared to the same portion of 2015. The wine industry in Colorado is thriving.

Our state has a great, young industry and needs to stay the course because it is a positive one, said Garrett Portra, a new winery owner who purchased Carlson Vineyards in Palisade during 2015. Colorado wine is in a great place for success because millennials are more willing to try new and different things, and the very fact that this wine is produced in Colorado makes it an obscure wine in a sense to a traditionalist.

The Colorado Wine Industry generated well over $100 million of economic impact from wine tourism, according to the 2014 CSU study. Thats more than twice the economic impact from wine sales alone.

About the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board

The Colorado Wine Industry Development Board is an agency of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, dedicated to promoting and furthering the development of Colorados grape growers and approximately 130 wineries. For additional information, visit http://www.coloradowine.com.
Jason Rudd As our firm grows, we continue to uphold and maintain the highest standards in our practice. Jasons addition will add tremendous value for our clients who need stellar bankruptcy experience.

Jason Rudd, a highly regarded bankruptcy lawyer, joins Wick Phillips with more than 16 years of experience in all stages of the commercial Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 process, including related litigation and corporate transactions. His practice is focused on commercial insolvency, restructuring, and bankruptcy. He is a member of the Texas Bar, as well as the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas. Jason comes from an established national litigation firm in Houston, and his proficiencies have awarded him recognition as one of Houstons Top Lawyers published by H Magazine in 2010 as well as on Texas Super Lawyers list of Rising Stars published by Thomson Reuters in 2006, 2008 through 2011, and again in 2015.

As our firm grows, we continue to uphold and maintain the highest standards in our practice, said Bryan Wick, founding partner of Wick Phillips, Jasons addition will add tremendous value for our clients who need stellar bankruptcy experience.

Wick Phillips is a full-service business law firm serving clients across Texas and the United States. Founded in 2004, the firm has grown to more than 50 attorneys with offices in Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin. The partners of the firm joined Wick Phillips after gaining valuable experience at large law firms, bringing a wealth of knowledge and insight with them to our clients. The attorneys of Wick Phillips provide practical and efficient legal services to business clients in commercial litigation and appeals, insurance coverage, real estate, corporate, corporate advisory, labor and employment, bankruptcy, creditor's rights and estate planning, intellectual property, and tax. For more information visit http://www.wickphillips.com.
In the latest release from Liberty University Press, Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Small Groups, Rod Dempsey and Dave Earley share their formula for creating strong, Christian small groups that fulfill the Great Commission.

The book is designed for those wondering how to start a small group Bible study or how to address common problems that arise in small groups. Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Small Groups is also a resource for group leaders  to help them establish a specific purpose and parameters for their meetings and goals that group members can work together to achieve.

Dempsey and Earley are pastors and professors with insight on small group ministry from both an academic and a practical perspective. Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Small Groups has 50-plus short chapters addressing specific topics, such as going through transitions with your group, incorporating children into your meetings, and cultivating future group leaders.

Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Small Groups is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

About the Authors:

Dave Earley is the lead pastor of Grace City Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is also the former chairman of the department of pastoral leadership and evangelism for the Liberty University School of Divinity. Earley has authored 18 books.

Rod Dempsey is a professor of educational ministries at Liberty Universitys School of Divinity as well as the discipleship pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church. Dempsey has also served as a church planter, Christian education pastor, membership pastor, small group pastor, and church elder.

About Liberty University Press:

Liberty University Press is the book publishing arm of the worlds largest Christian university. It was established in 2008 and is dedicated to supporting academic research and the creation of scholarly materials. Liberty University Press books are being read in college classrooms, studied by churches and Christian organizations, and enjoyed in homes around the country.

About Liberty University:

Liberty University, founded in 1971, is the largest private, nonprofit university in the nation, the largest university in Virginia, and the largest Christian university in the world. Located near the Blue Ridge Mountains on more than 7,000 acres in Lynchburg, Va., Liberty offers more than 500 unique programs of study from the certificate to the doctoral level. More than 200 programs are offered online. Libertys mission is to train Champions for Christ with the values, knowledge, and skills essential for impacting tomorrows world.
43435152_infomartlogo.jpg DiversityBusiness.com, the nation's leading multicultural social media site, has recently acknowledged InfoMart on multiple state and national "Top Businesses" lists for 2016.

DiversityBusiness.com, the nation's leading multicultural social media site, has recently acknowledged InfoMart on multiple state and national "Top Businesses" lists for 2016 including:



Top 500 Diversity-Owned Businesses in the U.S.

Top 500 Women-Owned Businesses in the U.S.

Top 100 Diversity-Owned Businesses in Georgia

Top 50 Women-Owned Businesses in Georgia

Top 100 Privately-held Businesses in Georgia

Top 50 Privately-held Businesses in Georgia

These exclusive rankings are a reflection of InfoMart's overall vision, leadership, and economic accomplishments in moving our economy forward. The award, known as the Div500, represents the most unique class of companies who have earned the distinction of fostering a culture of sustainable growth among the communities they serve.

2016 marks DiversityBusiness.com's 16th annual listing of state and national top businesses. Over 1.5 million businesses participated in this year's program. The "Top Businesses" are determined by a selection committee that evaluates the eligibility for all submissions in each award category. The selection committee bases their decision on a set of criteria which includes: reviewing each entrant's business profile, website and gross annual sales submitted. The businesses selected on these lists have become highly coveted among corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions who desire to increase opportunities with privately-held businesses.

"We are very proud to continue to support men and women who have become the core of our nation's innovation, productivity and growth", says Kenton Clarke, President & CEO of DiversityBusiness.com. He goes on to add, "I am very optimistic about our future especially as this distinct group of entrepreneurs continue to produce immeasurable results and serve as a prime example for current and generations to come."

The winning companies will be honored during a special ceremony at DiversityBusiness.com's "16th Annual National Entrepreneurship Summit" at the Time Warner Center in New York, New York on April 26, 2016.

"As a WBENC-Certified woman-owned business, we consider it our duty to promote business diversity and are honored that the renowned DiversityBusiness.com has included InfoMart on its Div500 listings for the third continuous year," said Founder and CEO of InfoMart, Tammy Cohen. "At InfoMart, we value the varied perspectives of our diverse team and operate an inclusive, respectful working environment."

The List

This List is a classification that represents the top privately-held businesses in the U.S., in sectors such as technology, manufacturing, food service and professional services. The List offers a comprehensive look at the strongest segment in the United States economy- America's privately-held businesses. Large organizational buyers who do business with multicultural, small and women-owned businesses all use the list. The List has garnered over 20 million annual views since inception.

"We believe in building relationships and support networks with other diversity-owned companies nationwide, and DiversityBusiness.com's annual lists open the doors of opportunity for diverse businesses like mine to do so. We all deserve the opportunity to succeed, and that value continues to escalate under Mr. Clarke's leadership" said Ms. Cohen. "We hope other companies will make inclusive organizational practices a top priority this year."

For the complete list of winning companies, please visit: http://www.diversitybusiness.com

About InfoMart

InfoMart is an industry leader in background screening services, providing businesses the information they need to make well-informed hiring decisions. With more than 26 years in business, InfoMart is a pioneer in developing innovative technology and screening services, from criminal history searches to verifications of employment. Accredited by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS), a designation earned by only 10% of the industry, InfoMart has also been recognized on Security Magazine's Security 500 and Workforce Magazine's Hot List. The company prides itself on its dedication to our customers, innovation, and accurate reporting. For more information about InfoMart, please visit http://www.backgroundscreening.com or call (770) 984-2727.

About DiversityBusiness.com

Launched in 1999, DiversityBusiness.com is the largest organization of privately owned businesses throughout the United States that provide goods and services to Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies, and colleges and universities. DiversityBusiness.com provides research and data collection services for diversity including the "Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities", "Top 500 Diversity Owned Companies in America", and others. Its research has been recognized and published by Forbes Magazine, Business Week and thousands of other print and internet publications. The site has gained national recognition and has won numerous awards for its content and design. Its e-magazine reaches over 3,000,000 readers, an e-newsletter that reaches 2.4 million, and website visitors of 1.2 million a month. It is a leading provider of diversity management tools. DiversityBusiness.com's produced by Computer Consulting Associates International Inc. (CCAii.com) of Southport, CT. Founded in 1980.

For additional information, please contact:

Courtney Gifford

InfoMart

(770) 984-2727 ext. 1283
Claudia Mirza (CEO of Akorbi) and Jodi Marsh (SVP of Ivie)

Akorbis fast and impressive growth was celebrated during the Women Presidents Organizations (WPO) 2016 Annual Conference, in partnership with American Express. On April 8th, hundreds of business owners and executives from around the world gathered at the dinner and awards ceremony held at The Baltimore Marriott Waterfront in Baltimore, Maryland, to celebrate the impressive growth and success of the worlds 50 fastest-growing, women-owned/led companies. The awards ceremony was part of the WPOs 3-day conference, which took place April 7  9.

This year, Akorbi was ranked #12. It was a significant leap from its #30 spot in 2015. Akorbi joined four other Dallas-area companies in the coveted list, including Pinnacle Group (#2), Ivie & Associates, Inc. (#11), Point 2 Point Global Security, Inc. (#19) and Anserteam Workforce Solutions (#46).

According to the WPO, applicants do not have to be WPO members. All eligible companies were ranked according to a sales growth formula that combines percentage and absolute growth. From this list, the 50 fastest-growing companies were selected. To be qualified for the ranking, businesses are required to be privately held, woman-owned/led companies and to have reached revenue of at least $500,000 by the first week of 2011 and $2 million in 2015.

More about the 2016 50 Fastest:



Average Age: 49

CEOs that founded the business: 92%

Listed companies that do business globally: 44%

Provide health insurance: 92%

Plan to continue to grow their company: 90%

State hiring the best talent as their biggest business challenge: 44%

We are very grateful for this incredible recognition from the Women Presidents Organization, an organization I greatly value for many reasons, including the support and wisdom I receive from other members, said Claudia Mirza, CEO of Akorbi. Im thrilled to share this recognition with an amazing group of dedicated and hardworking team members, as well as my wonderful partner in life and business, Azam Mirza.

This years 50 Fastest list represents our most diverse ranking ever, with an immense geographic reach covering 20 states and one international winner in Turkey, as well as industries ranging from energy efficiency services to cybersecurity and engineering, said Marsha Firestone, Ph. D., president and founder of the WPO.

Akorbi employs 670 full-time and part-time people around the world. The company serves an impressive client base, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and many Fortune 500 companies.

Akorbis success has been recognized worldwide. In June 2015, it became the fastest-growing provider of translation, localization and interpretation services in the U.S. and globally, according to independent market research firm Common Sense Advisorys 2014-2015 growth figures.

About Akorbi

Akorbi offers multilingual business solutions in more than 170 languages to some of the largest companies in the world. The company offers a full range of language, localization and global marketing solutions, including: professional staffing, translation, interpretation, multilingual call centers, business process outsourcing, sign language interpretation, alternate formats, transcription, eLearning and eDiscovery. The company holds several certifications including ISO 9001:2008, ISO 13485:2003, EN 15038:2006 and M/WBE Certification. For more information, visit http://www.akorbi.com or call 1.877.4.AKORBI.

About the Women Presidents Organization (WPO)

The WPO is the ultimate affiliation for successful women entrepreneurs worldwide. In monthly meetings across the world, women from diverse industries invest time and energy in themselves and their businesses to drive their corporations to the next level. Local WPO chapters are coordinated by a professional facilitator and meet monthly to share business expertise and experience in a confidential setting. For more information, call 212-688-4114 or visit http://www.womenpresidentsorg.com. Follow WPO on Twitter (@womenpresidents) and like us on Facebook.
We couldnt be more thrilled with the addition of Steven and Vera to Steelyard. They each have impressive brands of their own and bring an entirely unique set of talents, expertise and experience that are key to our strategic direction.

Steelyard  the leading online and mobile marketplace for connecting design professionals with leading brands  welcomes Steven Avitable as SVP of Business Development and Vera Djonovic as Business Development Director, East Coast.

Mr. Avitable further extends Steelyards seasoned leadership team, driving initiatives to expand Steelyard's strategic brand roster and strengthen ties with both current and future industry partners.

Steelyard has been serving a unique and vital role in our industry for 18 years, said Avitable. Ive long been inspired by their continuous innovation to simultaneously deliver on the needs of designers as well as the brands that supply them. Joining the Steelyard team is a great way to continue my career specialty of unifying the design community with the brands that respect them, want to work with them and provide the products they need.

During his extensive career, Avitable has served in executive and independent consulting positions in major retail, trade and design companies including Robert Allen, Christopher Guy, Ralph Lauren Home and Kate Spade. His experience in leading merchandising, marketing, store planning, visual merchandising, sales management, brand development and product development ties directly into his focus at Steelyard.

Ms. Djonovic will head Steelyards business development for design-related initiatives, connect with luxury brands and strengthen the design community in the New York region.

I have a deep passion for the worlds of interior design and fashion. My desire to connect with and help others personally and professionally is what drives me in my daily life. Working for Steelyard affords me the opportunity to combine both of these passions with my experience online and within the industry, says Djonovic. I knew when I walked into the Steelyard offices and met the staff that the company was a good fit. They demonstrated how they care for their clients and their design industry members. I couldnt be more excited, she said.

Throughout her career, Djonovic has worked in fashion and interiors online as well as through in-person engagement with key industry players. She led Business Development at V&M (Vintage and Modern) and was instrumental in the growth of the company before it was acquired in 2013. Since then, Djonovic has been working with luxury brands such as Dolce & Gabbana  as well as with a broad portfolio of private companies, celebrities, charities and international clients.

We couldnt be more thrilled with the addition of Steven and Vera to Steelyard. They each have impressive brands of their own and bring an entirely unique set of talents, expertise and experience that are key to our strategic direction, said Stacey Tiveron, Founder and President of Steelyard. Even more than their brilliance, is their genuine care and desire to help the industry as a whole, which is the backbone of who we are as a company.

About Steelyard

Steelyard is an 18-year-old company that is a pioneer in leveraging technology to power design industry commerce. Our online platform connects professional designers with compelling brands  blending inspiration and efficiency to create the commercial and residential design industrys premier online marketplace.

For our professional design members, Steelyard provides a secure and vetted community of leading manufacturers and vendors whose interest is to serve the diverse needs of designers, architects, builders, and facility managers. For our manufacturer brands, Steelyard provides an effective business development channel to reach tens of thousands of professional trade buyers in a diverse and lucrative B2B market that specifies over $68 billion of products in North America annually. For more information, please visit us at http://www.SteelyardAccess.com.

Contact:

Nate Warren

Fusion Marketing Partners

720.244.4734

nwarren(at)fusionmarketingpartners(dot)com

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Neither Donald Trump nor Ted Cruz can beat Hillary. Marco Rubio Can.

The Chairman of the Small Business in Transportation Coalition ("SBTC") issued a statement today that a group of over 3,000 Marco Rubio supporters has launched the new Nominate Marco movement and campaign, a quest to convince unbound delegates to select Rubio as the Republican nominee during a probable brokered Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio this Summer. The group's new website offers detailed strategy and FAQ pages. The website address is http://www.nominatemarco.com.

"One year ago, on the morning of April 13th, 2015, the Honorable Senator Marco Rubio rehearsed during a private breakfast in Miami his announcement speech that he would give later that day to America from Freedom Tower. I sat right in front of him. I was proud then, and I am just as proud now to announce that here we are one year later launching the NominateMarco.com grassroots effort and website. Exactly 45 days from today, on Saturday, May 28th (Memorial Day Weekend), which just so happens to be the Senator's 45th birthday, we will gather in Washington and via the Internet to celebrate our quest for Marco to be nominated by the Republican party to be the 45th president of the United States of America. Indeed, "45" is our magic number," SBTC Chairman and Nominate Marco Spokesman James Lamb said.

"I encourage all Americans who have yet to vote in their states' primaries to block Donald Trump from reaching the 1,237 delegate mark by strategically voting for Cruz or Kasich in the remaining winner-takes-all states, vote for Rubio in the remaining proportional states, and I ask all Americans to please consider signing our petition to draft Senator Rubio at the Convention," Lamb added.

Lamb's Change.org Petition states:

"Whereas, mathematically, it appears virtually impossible that any Republican candidate will receive the requisite 1,237 delegates needed to secure the 2016 Republican party presidential nomination; and

Whereas, we the members of the Republican party believe the Honorable Marco Rubio remains the best and most qualified candidate to defeat the Democratic nominee;

Now, be it hereby resolved that we the members of the Republican party hereby request that any and all unbound delegates elect Marco Rubio as our nominee; and

Be it further resolved the party remove any and all barriers and suspend or eliminate any and all rules that interfere with such ability of said unbound delegates to vote for Marco Rubio as the nominee."

Americans wishing to join the Nominate Marco campaign to draft Senator Rubio at the Convention can find the Petition here.

"We believe Marco Rubio is the one candidate who has the moral clarity, insight, vision and character who is dedicated to Conservative principles and worthy of being president. We believe neither Donald Trump nor Ted Cruz can beat Hillary. Marco Rubio Can. It's still not too late to put America back on track. America may very well get a second chance to reconsider the Honorable Sen. Marco Rubio at the convention, and I really hope we do for America's sake," Lamb said.

ABOUT NOMINATE MARCO

Nominate Marco is a grassroots effort to get Marco Rubio selected as the Republican Nominee. Disclaimer: "NominateMarco.com is not affiliated with --or endorsed by --Marco Rubio or the Rubio campaign.

ABOUT SBTC

The SBTC is an international network of transportation professionals, associations, and industry suppliers that is on the front lines when it comes to issues that affect transportation professionals in small business. We seek to promote and protect the interests of small businesses in the transportation industry. We support teamwork, cooperation, transparency, and partnerships among truckers, carriers, brokers, and shippers and seek to promote ethical business practices and do business with the utmost integrity.
As part of NACHAs pursuit of innovation and change, we challenged the marketplace to offer ideas to help us further improve the ACH end-user experience. We appreciate all of the participation from within the payments ecosystem and beyond...

NACHAThe Electronic Payments Association announced today the finalists for the NACHA Challenge, a team competition to foster new ways to improve the ACH end-user experience by filling market gaps or removing friction points. More than two dozen teams from corporates, solution providers, financial institutions and other innovators, thinkers and practitioners submitted proposals for consideration.

Finalist teams will compete for a $15,000 Judges Choice and $10,000 Audience Choice prize. The teams will present their proposals at the PAYMENTS 2016 conference taking place April 17-20 in Phoenix, Arizona, where the winners will be announced.

PAYMENTS 2016 is the premier educational event for the payments industry. Financial institutions of all types and sizes, solution providers who are changing the market, corporate decision makers and government end-user customer organizations gather annually at the conference to network, learn how to improve their bottom line and increase their competitiveness to move the payments industry forward. Online registration is available here.

As part of NACHAs pursuit of innovation and change, we challenged the marketplace to offer ideas to help us further improve the ACH end-user experience. We appreciate all of the participation from within the payments ecosystem and beyond in our inaugural NACHA Challenge, said Scott M. Lang, AAP, senior vice president, Association Services at NACHA.

All of the entries were very original and addressed a key industry need, which made for a very competitive and difficult selection process. But we are excited about the finalists and their ideas to help enable even more consumers, businesses and governments to use and benefit from ACH payments, Lang said.

Teams were asked to identify a gap or friction point related to the ACH end-user experience, describe the solution or approach to address it, and indicate who will benefit and how. Finalist teams and their proposals include:



Team ClearXign  a back-office operations solution to allow businesses to make payments using the ACH system without sharing, storing and managing account information. Proposal submitted by MineralTree in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Team Curmudgeon  create a new Standard Entry Class Code to identify securities transactions to allow for faster settlement. Proposal submitted by United Bank in Charleston, West Virginia.

Team Real Time Royals  a real-time application program interface (API) to allow financial institutions and merchants to validate transactions via the ACH Network in real time. Proposal submitted by Royal Credit Union in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Finalist selections were made by a panel of judges comprised of the PAYMENTS 2016 Conference Planning Committee and leadership of NACHAs Payments Innovation Alliance.

The finalist teams will present their proposals for the Judges Choice prize to a panel of judges on Monday, April 18, in the PAYMENTS 3D Innovation Hub on the Exhibit Hall Floor at PAYMENTS 2016. On Tuesday, April 19, audience members at the 2016 NACHA Payments System Awards Luncheon, sponsored by TD Bank, N.A. will have the opportunity to cast their votes for the Audience Choice prize.

Recipients of the Judges Choice and Audience Choice prizes will be announced following the keynote speaker of the Awards Luncheon, which recognizes outstanding innovative achievements in the payments industry.

About PAYMENTS 2016

PAYMENTS 2016, which is taking place April 17-20 at the Phoenix Convention Center in Arizona, is a proven, well-respected, and powerful event that provides attendees with the latest research, industry pilot results, insights, trends and forecasts to support and drive payments innovation. Information is delivered through interactive educational sessions and workshops with renowned speakers from financial institutions, corporations, government agencies, legal and regulatory bodies, consulting and research firms, service providers and more. Content is organized along six newly identified tracks ACH: Now & Next; Surety: Rules, Regs & Risk; Impact: Trends & Technology; Strategy: Plan & Position; Experiences: Corporate & Consumer; and Buzz: Disrupt & Debate  to address the topics of today that are impacting the payments space. In addition, a dynamic Exhibit Hall of industry leaders features top products and services shaping the future of payments. Registration is now open. To learn more about PAYMENTS 2016, visit payments.nacha.org.

NACHA  The Electronic Payments Association

Since 1974, NACHA  The Electronic Payments Association has served as trustee of the ACH Network, managing the development, administration and rules for the payment network that universally connects all 12,000 financial institutions in the U.S. The Network, which moves money and information directly from one bank account to another, supports more than 90 percent of the total value of all retail electronic payments in the U.S. Through its collaborative, self-governing model, education, and inclusive engagement of ACH Network participants, NACHA facilitates the expansion and diversification of electronic payments, supporting Direct Deposit and Direct Payment via ACH transactions, including ACH credit and debit payments, recurring and one-time payments; government, consumer and business transactions; international payments, and payments plus payment-related information. Through NACHAs expertise and leadership, the ACH Network is now one of the largest, safest, and most reliable systems in the world, creating value and enabling innovation for all participants. Visit nacha.org for more information.
GT Grandstand Employees Build A Stage for AMVET Post 26 This is exactly what we were looking for and what we need.

Employees of GT Grandstands, a leading manufacturer of aluminum seating accommodations, came together last Saturday to volunteer time to American Veterans at AMVET Post 26 Valrico in Dover, FL. The team of employees and their families worked and completed a new outdoor stage for the Post.

The new stage will be used for upcoming events and gatherings at Post 26. The new structure is 400 square feet in size and features mud sills, a 2 foot elevation, and helical earth anchors for stability. Post Commander Lanny Boothe said, I cant thank GT Grandstands enough for the time and effort into this. We will use this outdoor stage for many events throughout the year. The old stage was falling apart and had to be taken down. This is exactly what we were looking for and what we need. We are very grateful. AMVET Post 26 will hold a grand opening dedication ceremony for the outdoor stage on Saturday April 30 at 1pm.

In 2016, GT Grandstands celebrates its 15th year providing industry leading group seating accommodations for sporting complexes and crowd venues across the US. As part of the PlayCore family of brands, GT Grandstands strives to enhance the quality of life in the community where employees live, work, and play.

About GT Grandstands:

GT Grandstands designs and manufactures premium-quality grandstands, bleachers and a range of spectator seating options. Selection includes permanent grandstands, press boxes, existing structure renovations, standard portable bleachers and team benches. GT Grandstands offers a variety of standard bleacher styles with optional ADA accessibility features as well as custom design options. For more information, visit http://www.gtgrandstands.com or call 866-550-5511 for a consultation.

About PlayCore:

PlayCore helps build stronger communities around the world by advancing play through research, education, and partnerships. The company infuses this learning into its complete family of brands. PlayCore combines best-in-class planning and education programs with the most comprehensive array of recreation products available to create play solutions that match the unique needs of each community served. PlayCore's corporate headquarters is located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. More information is available about PlayCore, Inc. at http://www.PlayCore.com.
Social media can be a very powerful tool to communicate prevention messaging to communities. With #iPrevent we are moving beyond traditional prevention models and into a strategy focused around public health, stigma reduction and saving lives."

LEAD (Linking Efforts Against Drugs), an Illinois-based non-profit, will present #iPrevent, a social media conference for substance prevention, at the San Diego Marriott La Jolla on April 20 and 21, 2016. The conference is being held in partnership with Live4Lali.

The social media conference for substance use prevention fuses trends and tactics with technology and the truth about substance use from varying perspectives. This conference is designed to teach advocates, nonprofit leaders, elected officials and change agents how to engage audiences using digital platforms.

Leading authorities on substance abuse prevention and community leaders will share valuable strategies on using the power of social media to prevent substance use, addiction and overdose. Social media can be a very powerful tool to communicate prevention messaging to communities, said Andy Duran, executive director of LEAD. With #iPrevent we are moving beyond traditional prevention models and into a strategy focused around public health, stigma reduction and saving lives.

With social media, we have the opportunity to connect with a large audience quickly, said Sherrie L. Rubin, Founder and Director of Hope2gether Foundation. The #iPrevent conference provides innovative ideas and real-world solutions to help you tell your story and educate others, but more importantly, to really reach people to drive positive change.

Community stakeholders are encouraged to come together to learn how to use social media to directly impact prevention work. The conference will cover topics including: effective prevention messaging, content creation, social media trends and ways to optimize posts to maximize reach and visibility.

Speakers include:

Andy Duran, Executive Director LEAD

Chelsea Laliberte, Executive Director Live4Lali

Tommy Sablan, Executive Producer of Jeff and the Showgram, KyXy 96.5 FM San Diego

Space is extremely limited for this conference, so sign up soon to ensure a spot. To register, visit http://www.socialmediaforprevention.com/sd-reg/

For more information, visit http://www.socialmediaforprevention.com/sd or call (847) 295-9075.

About LEAD

LEAD is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to parents and other adults and their role in the promotion of healthy family relationships and the prevention of alcohol, drug use, and other risky behavior by youth. LEAD has conducted workshops on the power of social media in prevention work in communities all over the country and at national conferences such as CADCA.

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Three community association managers at FirstService Residential, North Americas leading residential property management company, will receive the Manager of Excellence Award  more than any other management company in Florida. Recipients will be honored at the 2016 Florida Communities of Excellence Award ceremony on May 13 at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The Manager of Excellence Award is extended to community association managers whose communities have outstanding records of participating in the Florida Communities of Excellence, having been either a past finalist or winner in multiple years and categories. The managers recognized are:



Margie Kilfeather, The WaterGarden Condominium, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Alicia Laine, Egret Landing, Jupiter, Fla.

Mary Peralta, Four Seasons at Delray Beach, Fla.

Our companys mission is to deliver exceptional service and solutions that enhance the value of every property and the lifestyles of every resident in the communities we manage, said FirstService Residential South Region President David Diestel. These managers efforts over past years demonstrate their commitment to this mission, and FirstService Residential is very proud of them for receiving this prestigious award.

About FirstService Residential

FirstService Residential is North Americas largest manager of residential communities and the preferred partner of HOAs, community associations and strata corporations in the U.S. and Canada. FirstService Residentials managed communities include low-, mid- and high-rise condominiums and cooperatives, single-family homes, master-planned, lifestyle and active adult communities, and rental and commercial properties.

With an unmatched combination of deep industry experience, local market expertise and personalized attention, FirstService Residential delivers proven solutions and exceptional service that add value, enhance lifestyles and make a difference, every day, for every resident and community it manages. FirstService Residential is a subsidiary of FirstService Corporation, a North American leader in the property services sector. For more information, visit http://www.fsresidential.com.
AAMA is honored to recognize the 50 years of dedicated service and countless contributions from the people of Milgard Windows & Doors, said AAMA President and CEO Rich Walker.

Milgard Windows & Doors is pleased to be recognized for 50 years of service and membership with American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA).

When Milgard first began working with AAMA, they were actively involved in the development of the field testing and forensic investigation standards. This would aid in creating a structured problem solving approach to determine root cause of fenestration, water and air infiltration issues.

AAMA is honored to recognize the 50 years of dedicated service and countless contributions from the people of Milgard Windows & Doors, said AAMA President and CEO Rich Walker. Their longevity speaks volumes about their commitment to the fenestration industry.

Product Certification is why we joined 50 years ago, said Kim Flanary, Engineering Director for Milgard Manufacturing, who has been involved with AAMA for over 10 years. Weve evolved with AAMA and have been very active with participating in standards development, which is their strength.

Education has always been a focus of AAMA and Milgard helped develop the InstallationMasters and FenestrationMasters Training and Certification Programs for installers of windows and doors all across the country. These courses help AAMA members elevate their expertise in the fenestration industry.

Milgard windows and patio doors are tested by a third party to meet the AAMA Gold Label Certification on performance standards in the industry. Highly recognized, the Gold Label is a go-to resource for code enforcement, architects, builders, many manufacturers and even consumers. This simple, permanent label verifies performance requirements for the product and even provides manufacturer identification should parts or service be needed.

About Milgard Windows & Doors Corporation

Milgard Windows & Doors, a Masco company based in Tacoma, Washington, offers a full line of vinyl, wood, fiberglass and aluminum windows and patio doors for builders, dealers and homeowners, all backed by a Full Lifetime Warranty, including parts and labor. The company has been recognized for manufacturing the nations highest quality vinyl windows eight times in a yearly survey sponsored by Hanley-Wood Inc., publishers of BUILDER Magazine. Milgard has approximately 3,800 dealer locations nationwide. For more information, visit milgard.com or call 1.800.MILGARD.

About Masco Corporation

Headquartered in Taylor, Michigan, Masco Corporation (NYSE: MAS) is one of the worlds largest manufacturers of brand-name consumer products for the home and family. For more information, visit masco.com or call 313.274.7400.

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Rose House residents Yulia Sazonov and Ashley Chick When I started this company in 2014, giving back to the community was something I definitely wanted to focus on. Im glad we were able do something for DakotAbilities  they do great work for our region.

When youre moving into a new place, its always nice to get started with a fresh coat of paint. Thats something DakotAbilities wanted to do for the two new residents at their smallest group home, Rose House, but the cost meant spending money on paint instead of programming.

When DakotAbilities Residential Manager Nick Winkler contacted Fresh Coat Painters of Sioux Falls owner Kory Jons for a painting quote, Jons saw an opportunity to give back to his community. Through Fresh Coat Painters national Paint it Forward initiative, Jons was able to give Rose House that fresh coat of paint without charging DakotAbilities a dime.

They were asking for a bid on having the house painted and I thought it would be a great Paint it Forward project. When I started this company in 2014, giving back to the community was something I definitely wanted to focus on. Im glad we were able do something for DakotAbilities  they do great work for our region, Jons said.

Paint it Forward is a national project Fresh Coat Painters is doing in communities around the country to brighten up the homes or offices of those who deserve a fresh space. Fresh Coat Painters of Sioux Falls offers residential and commercial painting services including interior and exterior painting, wood staining and finishing, and other services for nearly every protective coating application. They use quality, environmentally safe materials and offer a 24/7 customer service center, online scheduling, in-home color design consultations and detailed quotes. Jons opened Fresh Coat Painters in 2014 to serve the Sioux Falls area and the surrounding communities.

The Rose House painting took place at the end of March and the two women who are sharing the home moved in in early April. DakotAbilities provides a number of varied services for approximately 135 people with varying levels of abilities and disabilities. They currently serve people from 41 counties from across South Dakota and provide 21 residential settings as well as a variety of work and non-work daytime settings.

The bid on the work would have cost DakotAbilities approximately $1,400 if not for Paint it Forward. With Paint it Forward, Fresh Coat provides the expertise and man-hours and the paint is donated by the companys national paint partner, Sherwin-Williams.

We help people with developmental disabilities live a regular life in the community just like everyone else. We appreciate being part of the Paint it Forward project and are looking forward to putting the money were saving back into programming. We are a small non-profit and there are always budget constraints. Not having to pay for painting will help us stretch that budget a little further. Paint it Forward is making a meaningful difference for us, DakotAbilities Director of Residential Services Heidi Loof said.

In addition to being able to reallocate the money that would have been spent on painting, Loof said DakotAbilities is very pleased with the work Fresh Coat did at Rose House.

It looks like a new home inside! It is clean, fresh and a perfect new start for the ladies who just moved in. I want to express my gratitude and thanks that Fresh Coat Painters chose DakotAbilities to be a part of the Paint it Forward program. Kory was great to work with and Fresh Coat has shown so much heart and commitment to making a difference, Loof said.

To learn more about what Fresh Coat of Sioux Falls, call 605-231-4780, email KJons(at)FreshCoatPainters(dot)com or visit http://www.FreshCoatSiouxFalls.com.
Hanley Wood, the premier information, media, event, and strategic marketing services company serving the residential, commercial design and construction industries, has unveiled the findings of the 2016 BUILDER Brand Use Study to its building product manufacturer customers. This year's results continue to show movement in brand leaders compared to 2015, and an increase in willingness among builders to try out new brands.

"Home builders continue to rely on strong brands to help them differentiate and sell homes to a more discerning home buyer," said Paul Tourbaf, President, Hanley Wood Residential Construction Group. "It's clear that building product manufacturers must demonstrate new or advanced product features, performance and quality to drive adoption and usage among builders in today's market."

For more than 20 years, BUILDER-the leading media brand in the residential construction industry, has issued its annual Brand Use Study. The report has become one of the most anticipated industry resources for trends, brand and product information. The 2016 study was conducted in collaboration with The Farnsworth Group, a leading industry market research firm, and represents a sample of 1,308 builders, builder/developers and general contractors.

This year's findings show that builder respondents are continuing to deliver homes at higher price points in comparison to data from the 2015 study (57% of respondents are offering homes with an average sale price of $300,000 or more compared to 55% last year.) Another interesting finding from this year's study-a greater number of builders indicated an interest in trying building product brands that they haven't used in the past (64% indicated they are more willing to try new products.) The top three reasons for the willingness to try new products include advanced or new product features, quality and building new or different housing types.

The BUILDER Brand Use Study examined:



Brand familiarity, brands used most, brands used within the past two years and brand quality across 70 building product categories

Analysis of brand metrics by size of builder, sale price of homes built and geographic region

Respondents' willingness to try to brands they haven't used in the past

Decision-maker involvement in the final building product selection process

Importance of factors influencing brand selection

About BUILDER

Hanley Wood's BUILDER is the leading authority in the residential construction industry and serves as the magazine of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). For more than three decades, BUILDER has provided essential news, information and resources about products, technologies, trends, regulatory requirements and best practices to help home building professionals build smart.

About Hanley Wood

Hanley Wood is the premier company serving the information, media, and marketing needs of the residential, commercial design and construction industry. Utilizing the largest analytics and editorially driven Construction Industry Database, the company provides business intelligence and data-driven services. The company produces award-winning media, both digital and print, high-profile executive events, and strategic marketing solutions. To learn more, visit hanleywood.com.
2016 Commencement Speaker, Nathan Gonzales Nathan Gonzales is a fantastic example of where a Vanguard education can take you.

Editor and publisher of The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report, Nathan Gonzales `00, will give Vanguard Universitys Commencement address on Friday, May 6, 2016 at Mariners Church in Irvine, California. Approximately 513 undergraduate students and 80 graduate students will receive diplomas at this years ceremonies.

From working in the White House Press Office to covering U.S. House, Senate and gubernatorial campaigns and Presidential politics, Nathan Gonzales has become an important voice in Washington.

Nathan Gonzales is a fantastic example of where a Vanguard education can take you, said Dr. Michael Beals, president of Vanguard University. He has modeled our core values of truth, virtue and service, and has excelled in the political realm, making a significant impact in our nations capitol.

Gonzales is currently editor and publisher of The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Reportpreviously an editor, analyst, and writer for The Rothenberg Political Report for more than 13 years before taking over the newsletter in 2015. He is also a contributing writer for Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, and the founder and publisher of PoliticsinStereo.com. Gonzales has appeared on NBC's Meet the Press and NBC Nightly News, the Newshour on PBS, C-SPAN's Washington Journal, CNN, and Fox News Channel, and has been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Just two years after graduating from Vanguard University with a bachelor of arts in communication, Nathan worked for ABC NEWS on their Election Night Decision Desk.

Gonzales will give the commencement address at the undergraduate ceremony at 10 a.m. and the professional studies and graduate ceremony at 4 p.m. Both ceremonies will take place in the Worship Center at Mariners Church. Press passes are available.

To tune into the live stream of the Commencement 2016 ceremony, visit http://www.vanguard.edu/live.

About Vanguard University

Vanguard University (VU) is a regionally ranked, private, Christian university of liberal arts and professional studies. Located ten minutes from Newport Beach and an hour from Los Angeles, Vanguard equips students for a Spirit-empowered life of Christ-centered leadership and service. Vanguard is committed to academic excellence, boasting small class sizes that are designed to cultivate lasting professor-mentor relationships that enhance the learning process. The 2016 U.S. News & World Report ranked Vanguard #13 in the Regional Colleges (West) category, #10 for Best Colleges for Veterans, and #19 for economic diversity. The Princeton Review ranked Vanguard a 2016 "Best in the West" regional college. Accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission, Vanguard offers more than 30 degrees and certificates through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs. Please visit http://www.vanguard.edu

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#LetLoveFlo Campaign Focuses on Unique Ways Families Show Love Through Feeding Feeding a child is a universal act of love that looks uniquely different for every individual. We believe that nothing  lack of resources or education, inadequate support, shame or insecurity  should get in the way of that love flowing freely.

Today, Evenflo Feeding announced the official launch of their #LetLoveFlo campaign, centered on celebrating the unique ways parents and caregivers show their love for their children through feeding.

Feeding a child is a universal act of love that looks uniquely different for every individual, said Elise Meyer Ring, Senior Director of Marketing at Evenflo Feeding. We believe that nothing  lack of resources or education, inadequate support, shame or insecurity  should get in the way of that love flowing freely. Weve launched this campaign as our pledge to bring positivity and empowerment to all caregivers. From breast to tube to cup, adoption, milk banking and more, everyone has their own story to share, and there is a place within everyones story where we can connect.

Love Comes in Many Forms

Starting today on their social channels, Evenflo Feeding will feature video vignettes of stories shared by caregivers and parents from all walks of life, revealing how they #LetLoveFlo. A working mother speaks about the quiet respite of nursing her daughter at the break of dawn; another describes the rush of love she felt while bottle-feeding her son. Other vignettes feature fathers, uncles, and adoptive and foster families. Parents and caregivers will be encouraged to share their own stories and photos through social media, monthly themed contests, and events.

We wanted to show the world that love comes in many forms, said Ring. Our feeding relationships dont always look the same, but as long as love is flowing, its a beautiful thing.

Every Babys Advocate, Every Parents Ally

The #LetLoveFlo campaign is part of Evenflo Feedings commitment to being every babys advocate and every parents ally. By offering best-in-class breast pumps, transitional cups, and other feeding solutions at an accessible price point, as well as complimentary education and personalized customer support, the company is able to help every family #LetLoveFlo regardless of wealth, status or community.

About Evenflo Feeding

Located in the Greater Cincinnati area, Evenflo Feeding, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures and markets all ages and stages of infant and toddler feeding products. The Evenflo brand enjoys a 97% brand awareness among its target consumers and is, at its core, synonymous with baby feeding for over 90 years. Evenflo Feeding, Inc. was acquired in 2012 by Kimberly-Clark de Mexico, one of the worlds largest providers of consumer goods, including juvenile/baby & child care consumer packaged goods.

#LetLoveFlo is a trademark of Evenflo Feeding, Inc.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
James Anaya. As a legal scholar and practitioner, Jim Anaya for decades has not only contributed distinctive quality, character and importance to legal theory, but he also has advanced protections for indigenous peoples around the globe, said Provost Russell Moore.

University of Colorado Boulder Provost Russell L. Moore today announced the appointment of James (Jim) Anaya, a Regents Professor and James J. Lenoir Professor of Human Rights Law and Policy at the University of Arizona, as dean of the law school. Anaya will begin his duties on Aug. 8, 2016.

Anayas teaching and writing focus on international human rights and issues concerning indigenous peoples.

As a legal scholar and practitioner, Jim Anaya for decades has not only contributed distinctive quality, character and importance to legal theory, but he also has advanced protections for indigenous peoples around the globe, said Moore. His devotion to the development and application of the legal canon and his thoughtful approach as a leader epitomize the desired attributes of a dean, and we are delighted that hes joining CU-Boulder.

Among Anayas numerous publications are his acclaimed book, Indigenous Peoples in International Law, and his widely-used co-authored textbook, International Human Rights: Problems of Law, Policy and Practice.

In addition to his academic, field and literary work, Anaya has litigated major indigenous rights and human rights cases in domestic and international tribunals including the Supreme Court of the United States, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Im excited to join a law school that is at the leading edge of innovation in legal education and scholarship, said Anaya. I look forward to becoming part of Colorado Laws vibrant community of students, alumni, faculty and staff who are dedicated to excellence; and to working with the larger legal community in Colorado and beyond in ways that can build on what Colorado Law is already doing to serve our profession and the public.

For his work from 2008 to 2014 as the United Nations Human Rights Councils Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Anaya was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. In his role as the special rapporteur, Anaya examined and reported on conditions of indigenous peoples worldwide and responded to allegations of human rights violations against them. His work was conducted through in-country visits and direct contacts with governments.

Among his noteworthy activities, Anaya participated in the drafting of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and was the lead counsel for the indigenous parties in the case of Awas Tingni v. Nicaragua. The case represents the first time the Inter-American Court of Human Rights upheld indigenous land rights as a matter of international law.

Anaya joined the University of Arizona in 1999 after serving 11 years on the faculty at the University of Iowa. He also has been a visiting professor at Harvard University, the University of Toronto and the University of Tulsa, and an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico.

He received a bachelors degree from the University of New Mexico and a law degree from Harvard Law School.

In August 2015, Moore announced Colorado Law Dean Philip J. Weiser will step down and return to the faculty this July. Weiser will continue to serve as the executive director of the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship and the campus entrepreneurship initiative.

I am grateful to Phil Weiser for his dedication and leadership over the past five years, said Moore. The strides the law school has made under his direction have been impressive and we look forward to his continued presence at CU-Boulder.

-CU-
EasyAsk Technologies, Inc. is pleased to congratulate innovative and successful Rite Aid on its win in the Growth Award Category at Magento Imagine 2016. Also competing in the category were Brandfield and Gearys Beverly Hills. The 2016 Magento Imagine Excellence Awards, held at the Wynn Hotel, Las Vegas, April 11-13 2016, recognize the achievements over the past year of the most innovative and successful eCommerce players who are setting the standards for excellence.

About Rite Aid

Rite Aid Corporation is one of the nation's leading drugstore chains. With approximately 4,600 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia, they have a strong presence on both the East and West Coasts. Rite Aid is the largest drugstore chain on the East Coast and the third-largest in the United States, employing roughly 89,000 associates. To find out more about Rite Aid, visit http://www.riteaid.com/

About EasyAsk

EasyAsk is the industry-leading provider of Site Search, Navigation and Merchandising functionality for eCommerce. Some of the largest, most successful retailers have integrated EasyAsks site search technology into their eCommerce platform, resulting in much higher revenue per search, better conversion and AOV. Providing the best search and merchandising and generating the products your shoppers need, EasyAsk delivers an outstanding customer experience that earns customer loyalty. To find out more about EasyAsk, visit http://www.easyask.com
North-West College Invests in 4D Ultrasound Machines Our goal is to see our students graduate equipped to succeed in the real world.

North-West College (NWC) recently purchased two new 4D ultrasound machines for Diagnostic Medical Sonographer (DMS) Program students at its Long Beach and Santa Ana campuses. Designed to capture 3D images in movement, the machines open up a wealth of opportunities for individuals training to become ultrasound technicians through the College's program.

"We are excited about the addition of these machines and what they mean for our students," said Long Beach DMS Program Chair Cindy Rich. "We're seeing these machines used for diagnostic purposes, but also at 4D imaging centers, which are popping up all over."

These centers allow women to capture 3D videos of their child in utero and to determine the gender of their baby early in pregnancy. "The ease of access to this technology has meant an increased demand for technicians who know how to operate these 4D machineswhether in a fast-paced hospital environment or a more relaxed imaging center. North-West College students will graduate with this valuable skill."

Like all North-West College programs, the Diagnostic Medical Sonographer program pairs quality curriculum with hands-on learningallowing students to put their newfound knowledge into practice. NWC students also take part in a clinical externship, which enables them to cement their skills through real-world training.

"Although it has been around for many years, 4D ultrasound has recently become a powerful diagnostic tool for physicians when caring for unborn fetuses," Chief Operating Officer Beylor Meza explained. "The purchase of these machines underscores NWC's commitment to equipping our labs and our students with the latest in diagnostic technologies. Our goal is to see our students graduate equipped to succeed in the real world."

To learn more about the Diagnostic Medical Sonographer Program at North-West College or to enroll, please contact Michelle MacIntyre at michellema(at)success.edu.

About North-West College

Founded in 1966, North-West College has been committed to training individuals to enter and advance in the health care field for 50 years. A leader in allied health education, the College offers short-term programs at seven campuses throughout Southern California, including West Covina, Pomona Valley, Pasadena, Glendale, Riverside, Santa Ana, and Long Beach. Accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC) and approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE), North-West College offers a supportive educational environment for those ready to start a health care career. To date, the College has graduated more than 45,000 studentsindividuals who have gone on to raise the standard of excellence at health care organizations of all types.

For more information about North-West College and its programs, visit http://www.nw.edu.
Heritage Woods of Minooka Groundbreaking Ceremony What a great advantage for the people of Minooka to have a place right here at home where they can take their elders, know that it is a wonderful facility and that their loved ones will be taken care of. Past News Releases RSS New Affordable Assisted Lifestyle...

Heritage Woods of Moline to...

New Affordable Assisted Living...

Construction is underway for Heritage Woods of Minooka, a new affordable assisted living community that Gardant will manage.

The community, which will be located at 701 Heritage Woods Drive behind Jewel in Minooka, is expected to open next spring. It will serve older adults of all incomes, including those on Medicaid, who need some help to maintain their independence.

Property for the project was purchased more than a decade ago with hopes of bringing affordable assisted living to the area. The groundbreaking ceremony last month was a truly a testament to the will, effort and desire to bring this project to this area, said Chris Ward, one of the developers for the project.

Heritage Woods will operate through the Illinois Supportive Living Program, which provides a residential alternative to nursing homes.

The three-story building is 83,000 square feet and will house 101 studio and one-bedroom apartments. Each of the private apartments will feature a kitchenette, spacious bathroom with shower and grab bars, individually-controlled heating and air conditioning units, and an emergency alert system.

In addition, Heritage Woods of Minooka will have community areas, including a dining room, fitness area and library.

Certified nursing assistants, working under the direction of a licensed nurse, will be on-duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Minooka Board President Pat Brennan said he is glad this senior housing project has persevered and is coming to the village. Several years ago, when his mother turned 95 and realized she needed some assistance, he began searching for an assisted living community. He found a place in Joliet but says he wished there would have been one closer to his home.

What a great advantage for the people of Minooka to have a place right here at home where they can take their elders, know that it is a wonderful facility and that their loved ones will be taken care of, Brennan said.

Worn Jerabek Wiltse Architects, PC, which has offices in Chicago and Champaign, is the architectural firm. Horve Builders, of Forsyth, Illinois, is the general contractor for the $18 million project.

When fully occupied, the community will provide 50 to 55 full-time and part-time jobs. Annual payroll with benefits is projected to be nearly $1.5 million.

Rod Burkett, CEO of Gardant, said he is looking forward to serving the older adults who will move into the community, which is being built as a result of partnerships between local, state and federal entities.

Heritage Woods of Minooka will join more than 40 other communities operated by Gardant Management Solutions, including the Heritage Woods buildings in Bolingbrook, Dwight, Plainfield and Yorkville. Gardant is the largest assisted living provider in Illinois and the 14th largest provider in the nation.

Individuals interested in having their names added to the interest list to obtain further information about Heritage Woods of Minooka can call 1-877-882-1495 toll-free.
Top Social Media Marketing Agencies

10 Best SEO issued WebpageFX of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania its best social media marketing agency award for April 2016.

10 Best SEO is a respected website that consists of numerous SEO and online marketing experts. The website has put together a monthly award that honors all of the top SMM firm choices of the present day. The team members at 10 Best SEO routinely evaluate the successes of social media marketing firms everywhere.

WebpageFX is highly-respected among the list of best social media marketing agencies, which is why it captured the top honor from 10 Best SEO. The full-service digital company consists of some of the most motivated and capable online marketing specialists in the business. The agency's employees use a variety of marketing techniques to help their clients attain stronger conversion rates. The people who work for WebpageFX are very familiar with the biggest social media sites. These sites include Google+, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. They help their clients with email marketing, content marketing, SEO and PPC (pay per click) advertising, among many other relevant services.

SocialFix is a celebrated New York City firm that has a strong focus on the world of social media and social media management. Being a top SMM firm, SocialFix and its team members concentrate on digital outcomes that can be measured. They also focus on digital outcomes that are motivated by data. Because of that, they strive to enhance Internet setups for an enormous range of businesses. They represent clients from diverse industries such as food, real estate, retail and finance. They also regularly represent non-profit organizations. The team members at SocialFix specialize in application development, content creation, identity branding, SEO and website design.

Ignite Visibility is a renowned San Diego, California-based agency that focuses on Internet marketing. As a leading social media marketing agency, Ignite Visibility routinely helps clients with a broad array of vital marketing services. Examples of these important marketing services are web development, PPC and SEO. Ignite Visibility is also a great choice for businesses that require skilled Internet reputation management assistance. If a business is looking to overhaul its public image after receiving some bad press, Internet reputation management assistance can come in handy.

Other social media marketing firms on 10 Best SEO's list are Digital Current in Mesa, Arizona; SEO Image in New York City; Inflexion Interactive in Hoboken, New Jersey; Netmark in Idaho Falls, Idaho; and Drumbeat Marketing in Houston, Texas.

For more information, visit http://www.10bestseo.com.
Brahman Cattle The Magic City sales event in Miami is almost upon us, but there is still time to prepare to attend.

Moreno Ranches, a top Florida Brahman cattle breeder at http://www.morenoranches.com/, is pleased to announce their upcoming Magic City Brahman sale at 8:00 p.m. on April 15th in Miami. Moreno Ranches will showcase some of its finest Brahman cattle for sale, exhibiting bulls, heifers and calves, all backed by the M-check brand. Opportunities to bid on genetic products will be available as well.

The Magic City sales event in Miami is almost upon us, but there is still time to prepare to attend, explained Kelvin Moreno, head of Moreno Ranches. Book a flight, get a hotel room, and show up. Everyone is welcome, including procrastinators. The quality of the Brahman offerings make it well worth the trip. Hope to see you there this weekend!

Interested parties wishing to become well-informed bidders at the sale must do one thing in the few remaining days, and that is contact the Ranch for a catalog. The red Request a Catalog link at the page http://www.morenoranches.com/for-sale/ will let one contact the ranch to request a catalog. However, given the shortness of time, it would be prudent to download a PDF copy of the catalog right away via the View Catalog button.

At this sale, Moreno Ranches will be offering live cattle for sale, but will also be showcasing an exceptionally strong selection of cattle genetics. Customers come to Moreno Ranch for genetically superior Brahman bulls and Brahman semen (seed stock). At the sale in Miami, there will be a particularly good selection to choose from, sourced from the champion bulls of the ranch.

To learn more about Moreno Ranches and their top-rated Brahman cattle for sale, please visit the website. Interested parties are referred particularly to the page on Red Brahman cattle at http://www.morenoranches.com/red-brahman-cattle-for-sale/ as the Ranch is experiencing high demand for its Red Brahman bulls and heifers.

About Moreno Ranches

Moreno Ranches is a top producer of Brahman cattle for sale. Customers come to the company for genetically superior Brahman bulls for sale and Brahman semen (seed stock) as well as Brahman embryos. The company produces both Brahman heifers and calves for sale, including for use as show cattle or to produce Brahman F1 hybrids. Visit the company's website to browse stock. The company is a trusted source of Brahman cattle whether a buyer is in Florida, Texas, or Louisiana - Latin America, or anywhere in the world.

Web. http://www.morenoranches.com/

Tel. 863-444-8745
Our goal in hosting these events is to produce a rich collection of wisdom that attendees can use to make the world a better place to live, starting with their own communities.

This month, Oklahomas newest town will launch an exciting and enlightening new initiative  The Carlton Landing Community Foundation Speaker Series. Open to the public, the Series is designed to encourage a dialogue that considers the elements of healthy and sustainable communities. Twice each year, the Foundation will bring in a special guest speaker to address financial, social, cultural, and ecological issues that determine the shape and nature of successful communities. The first speaker event will be held on Saturday, April 23 with special guest Charles Marohn, a thought leader from Minnesota who serves as Executive Director of Strong Towns, a non-profit organization he founded.

Strong Towns was created to support a model of development that allows Americas cities, towns and neighborhoods to become financially strong and resilient. Marohn speaks nationally to a variety of audiences, is the author of Thoughts on Building Strong Towns (Volume 1) and A World Class Transportation System, as well as the host of the Strong Towns Podcast.

Our goal in hosting these events is to produce a rich collection of wisdom that attendees can use to make the world a better place to live, starting with their own communities, says Carlton Landing Town Founder Grant Humphreys.

Held on Saturday, April 23rd at 2:00 p.m., the Speaker Series will take place in Carlton Landings Pavilion Park. In the event of inclement weather, it will relocate to the school buildings at Carlton Landing Academy. The Speaker Series is open to the public and offered at no charge, thanks to generous underwriting by the Carlton Landing Community Foundation. To attend, please RSVP on EventBrite through Carlton Landings online Community Calendar.

For more information on Charles Marohn and Strong Towns, visit http://www.strongtowns.org.

ABOUT CARLTON LANDING

Carlton Landing is Oklahomas newest town. Grant and Jen Humphreys, the lakeside communitys first residents, founded the community in 2011. The town occupies one of Lake Eufaulas most picturesque areas, with sandy beaches, towering cliffs, beautiful woodlands and some of the lakes finest water quality. Famed planner and architect Andreas Duany, known for designing the Rosemary Beach and Seaside communities on the Florida panhandle, crafted the Carlton Landing master plan with Humphreys in 2008. Inspired by the New Urbanism movementwhich holds that life, work and play are all central to a communitys vitalityCarlton Landing is the first development of its kind to become a distinct municipality. The master plan includes schools, a waterfront chapel, Nature Center, community parks, trails, and a town center with restaurants and shops. Plans call for more than 3,000 homes, a private residence club and a generational development timeline. For more information, visit http://www.carltonlanding.com.
Children are our future, and its critical that our community is able to rise up and provide for children in the area who are lost or wounded, and to give them the help they need to overcome their circumstances.

Duterte Insurance Group, a Texas-based owned insurance provider that serves Webb County and other nearby communities, is teaming up with local non-profit Sacred Heart Childrens Home in a charity event that promises to provide support and funding for efforts to care for abused and neglected children in southern Texas.

Based in Laredo, Sacred Heart Childrens Home works diligently to provide a safe and happy home for children in the area who cannot remain with their families. Whether due to neglect, abuse, abandonment, or the loss of one or both parents, Sacred Heart welcomes children of all backgrounds and provides support, guidance, and educational assistance for the duration of their stay.

Children are our future, and its critical that our community is able to rise up and provide for children in the area who are lost or wounded, and to give them the help they need to overcome their circumstances, says Keefe Duterte, founder and director of Duterte Insurance Group.

With the help of his professional team, Duterte is working to gather support and donations from families in the area by raising awareness through social media and a targeted email bulletin. As well, Duterte Insurance will feature the Sacred Heart charity effort in the next issue of Our Hometown, an online community digest published monthly by the firm: http://www.bestinsurancelaredo.com/Our-Hometown-Magazine_41.

The Sacred Heart Childrens Home is only the latest of many charity events hosted by Duterte Insurance Group. As part of an ongoing community enrichment program, the Duterte team plans to continue working with even more Texas-based charities and non-profits at the rate of one every sixty days.

Those who want to take part in the Sacred Heart Childrens Home charity event are encouraged to visit the following page and make a direct donation to the cause: http://www.bestinsurancelaredo.com/A-Safe-Home-For-Local-Children-In-Need_24_community_cause. Those who want to review the other Texas charities Duterte Insurance Group has worked with in the past are invited to bookmark the firms Community Causes list: http://www.bestinsurancelaredo.com/community-cause?page=1.

About Duterte Insurance Group

As a Personal Financial Representative in Laredo, TX, agency owner Keefe Duterte knows many local families. His knowledge and understanding of the people in his community help provide customers with an outstanding level of service. Keefe and the Duterte Insurance Group look forward to helping families protect the things that are important  family, home, car and more. They can also help clients prepare a strategy to efficiently achieve their ultimate financial goals. To contact a Spanish-English bilingual expert at Duterte Insurance Group, call (956) 726-4649 or (956) 726-8944
Ibrahim RCI Jury of Fellows Ceremony

Samir K. Ibrahim, Carlisle Construction Materials Director of Design Services, has been named to the prestigious RCI Jury of Fellows. RCI, Incorporated is an international association of more than 3,200 professional consultants, architects, and engineers who specialize in the specification and design of roofing, waterproofing, and exterior wall systems.

The designation of Fellow of the Institute is an honorary title bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated meritorious service to RCI, Inc., and the roof consulting industry in general. The Fellows exist as a collective group of individuals recognized for their knowledge, experience, and service.

Samir is only the second individual from the manufacturing industry to be named to the Jury of Fellows. He was selected because of his understanding and support of the important partnership between roof consultants and manufacturers, as well as his coordination of Carlisles architectural and consultant training programs, his technical involvement across a broad scope of the industry, and his general support of roofing education and the use of consultants worldwide.

Joe Hale, an RCI Lifetime Achievement Award winner and Fellow of the Institute, said, Samir Ibrahim has been granted a Fellowship because of his tireless dedication to consultants and longtime support of RCI. Samir has continuously promoted the use of consultants through education and research as a resource to building owners.

Warren R. French, Chairman of the Jury of Fellows, added, We are pleased and honored to have Samir Ibrahim amongst our ranks, and look forward to his active participation in the Jury of Fellows in the future.

For a full list of the Jury of Fellows, visit http://www.rci-online.org/fellows.html.

About Carlisle Construction Materials: Carlisle Construction Materials is part of Carlisle Companies (NYSE:CSL), a diversified global manufacturing company serving the construction materials, commercial roofing, power transmission, heavy-duty brake and friction, foodservice, aerospace, and energy industries.
Larson Electronics Releases a New High Intensity 25 Watt LED Spotlight With its compact housing and sleek appearance, this spot light will look great on any boat or vehicle where low voltage operation is required.

The LED25WRE-CPR high intensity LED spotlight from Larson Electronics is constructed with a single twenty-five watt CREE LED that produces 2,750 lumens of intense light. It is combined with a high output reflector to produce a narrow 10 spread spot beam approximately 1,000 long. This spot light is built for durability and versatility, with a low profile design, low power requirements, and versatile mounting options within an impact resistant housing. The four and a half inch diameter lamp and reflector assembly is protected by a polycarbonate lens, sealed against water and dust to provide an IP68 rating and weatherproof protection. The LED25WRE-CPR is waterproof to three meters, sealed against intrusion by dust and dirt and very ruggedly constructed to withstand the most demanding environments, conditions and applications.

This spotlight operates on current ranging from 12 to 32 volts DC without any modifications necessary as a result. This unit is able to monitor and adjust input current to maintain the correct LED voltage level regardless of input levels across a specific range. This light is suspended within a form fitting trunnion mount. The trunnion mount has two knurled knobs that can be loosened, allowing the LED light to be adjusted and then retightened to lock the light into any desired position once mounted. A single stainless steel stud protrudes from the bottom of the mount, enabling the operator to install the light using a simple through-hole mount.

The beam on this ultra-compact LED spotlight is very effective to the far end of its reach at 1,000 feet and has low power requirements when compared to standard one hundred watt halogen lamps, said Rob Bresnahan, CEO of Larson Electronics. With its compact housing and sleek appearance, this spot light will look great on any boat or vehicle where low voltage operation is required.

Larson Electronics carries an extensive line of LED light towers, portable power distribution systems, explosion proof lights for hazardous locations, portable work lights and industrial grade LED area lights. You can view Larson Electronics entire line of lighting by visiting them on the web at L arsonelectronics.com. You can also call 1-800-369-6671 to learn more or call 1-903-498-3363 for international inquiries.
Our city has seen how effective the Special Olympics programs can be in bringing together families and special individuals, and we want to make sure these programs continue for another generation of our children.

The Portale Agency, an Ohio-based insurance firm that provides coverage to more than 5,000 families and businesses throughout the greater Columbus area, is initiating a charity effort aimed at raising support and donations earmarked for the Westerville chapter of the Special Olympics.

The Special Olympics is one of the most widely recognized charities in the world, and consistently works to change lives and improve outcomes by promoting understanding, acceptance, and inclusion for those with intellectual disabilities. The Westerville chapter of the Special Olympics provides the community with a year-round program for special athletes over 8 years old.

Our city has seen how effective the Special Olympics programs can be in bringing together families and special individuals, and we want to make sure these programs continue for another generation of our children, says Mark Portale, founder and director of the Portale Agency.

Mobilizing a large network of personal friends and professional contacts, Portale and his team are working to expand awareness and gather support via a social media presence and an email bulletin targeting nearby community and business leaders. In addition to that, the firm will feature the Special Olympics charity drive in the next issue of Our Hometown, a monthly online digest published by the Portale Agency: http://www.portaleagency.com/Our-Hometown-Magazine_39.

The Westerville Special Olympics charity drive is only the first of many planned by the Portale Agency. As part of an ongoing community involvement program called Agents of Change, the Portale team will be selecting and working with a new Ohio-based charity every sixty days.

Readers who want to join the Portale Agency in their support of the Westerville Special Olympics during this charity event are invited to visit the following page and make a personal contribution to the cause: http://www.portaleagency.com/Athletes-with-Development-Disabilities-Become-Champions-of-Life_12_community_cause. Readers who want to track the growing list of charities and non-profits supported by the Portale Agency are invited to bookmark the Portale Community Cause list here: http://www.portaleagency.com/community-cause.

About The Portale Agency

As a Personal Financial Representative living in Westerville for 25 years with his wife and two children, Mark Portale knows many local families. His knowledge and understanding of the people in his community helps provide more than 5000 Portale Agency customers with an outstanding level of service. The Portale team looks forward to helping families like yours protect the things that are important  your family, home, car and more. Mark and his team can also help you prepare a strategy to achieve your financial goals. To reach a knowledgeable expert from the Portale Agency, visit http://www.portaleagency.com or call (614) 442-7777.
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NORFOLK, Va.  Norfolk Southern Corp. has escaped the unwelcome advances of a rival rail company after Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. abandoned its nearly $30 billion hostile takeover bid Monday.

Locally, Norfolk Southern works with Iowa Interstate Railroad. Both companies are independently owned.

Canadian Pacific CEO E. Hunter Harrison said in a statement that with no clear path to a friendly merger at this time, we will turn all of our focus and energy to serving our customers and creating long-term value for CP shareholders.

The decision came a few days after the Justice Department said Canadian Pacifics plan to buy Norfolk Southern before regulators vetted the merger didnt make any sense.

The proposed merger would have linked the west and east coasts via rail lines controlled by a single company. Canadian Pacific pushed for the merger since last fall, with Norfolk Southerns board voting against it three times. Later, Canadian Pacific urged Norfolk Southern shareholders to vote at their May 12 annual meeting for the two companies to negotiate a deal. But the company wanted regulators to allow it to buy Norfolk Southern and assume control while the Surface Transportation Board weighed whether to approve the merger.

That makes no sense, wrote Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer, of the Justice Departments antitrust division, which submitted a letter to the board Friday taking issue with the plan. We urge the (Surface Transportation Board) to preserve its ability to review the impact of the proposal on competition and consumers before Canadian Pacific starts scrambling the eggs.

The Surface Transportation Board hadnt made a decision on the companys proposal before it abandoned the merger Monday.

Analyst Jason Seidl, Cowen & Company, wrote a note to investors that the Justice Departments letter was what broke the camels back.

Norfolk Southern, which employs nearly 30,000 people, had a 20 percent drop in profit last year. In January, it announced a cost-cutting plan to eliminate 2,000 jobs in the next four years through attrition and furloughs, including 1,200 this year.

Its been 17 years since the regulatory board approved a rail merger, when Canadian Pacific merged with Illinois Central to create a rail system stretching from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
$10.3 million.

Thats how much Reboot Illinois Madeleine Doubek says state lawmakers have collected in salary while Illinois has gone 10 months without a budget.

If youd like the breakdown, here it is, but it wont make you feel any better about what youre getting or, more accurately, not getting for your money:

-- $6.09 million in House salaries,

-- $3 million in Senate salaries;

-- $1.22 million in stipends to leaders of our rudderless state from July 2015 to March 31, 2016.

When you consider that the state budget deficit could be 100 times that total by June 30, that might seem like a pittance. But the fact that these elected officials continue to get their money while they have done nothing to ensure that their constituents get the services they need is unacceptable and untenable.

Rank and file members of the General Assembly say they arent just sitting on their hands. Groups are meeting and talking. The trouble is, they say, those hands are tied by the battle of wills between Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan.

The pair continue to jibe and point fingers at each another, as lawmakers take the heat from the folks back home. For example, Quad-Cities area representatives who addressed the budget crisis at the Mondays Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce legislative luncheon.

But their shared frustration probably wont do much to reassure the Illinois family struggling to find ways to pay for college, and if by some miracle they can, whether the state college their kid plans to attend will even exist. Or moms and dads desperate to pay for day care so they can keep their jobs. Or the parents who need day care for their adult child with disabilities or sons and daughters who need a little outside help to keep an elderly mom or dad in their own home.

The impasses real victims

The list of victims of leaderships inaction is endless, as schools and institutions are hard hit and our states private social safety net crumbles.

General Assembly members are correct that the final resolution must come from the top. But they are wrong to say they cant do anything to force the issue. It does require political courage to stand up to their leaders, of course. And that is especially hard to do in districts where incumbents face opposition in November.

But it is precisely in those contested districts that the most impact would be felt, Ms. Doubek argues. If certain members in a few hot districts considered to be competitive in the fall were to persistently tell their leaders something needed to get done, it would get done, she said. To make that happen, those constituents need to pressure their politicians.

We believe our local lawmakers when they say they too are eager to see the impasse resolved, but they are not powerless to make it happen. As Ms. Doubek writes, The lawmakers, generally, arent bad people. But they play the victim when it comes to this budget nonsense and we let them.

Lets stop letting them.

Tell lawmakers, do your job

At a bipartisan panel discussion on the budget called by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform Monday, Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, issued his own bipartisan call to arms, not just in contested districts, but to voters in every Senate and House district in the state. Were happy to echo that call.

Please contact the area lawmakers listed below and demand they put politics aside and order their leaders back to the table, and tell them to stay their until they deliver a spending plan that will put our broke and broken state back on the right track.

-- State Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Rock Island, 1825 Avenue of the Cities, Suite 1, Moline, IL 61265; phone 309-736-7084; visitsenatorneilanderson.com/Contact.aspx

-- State Sen. Chuck Weaver, 64 Prairie Street Suite 4, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-343-8176; chuck@senweaver.com

-- State Rep. Don Moffitt, R-Gilson, No. 5 Weinberg Arcade, Galesburg, IL 61401; phone 309-343-8000; fax 309-343-2683; visit moffitt@grics.net

-- State Rep. Pat Verschoore, D-Rock Island, 1504 3rd Ave., County Office Building, 2nd Floor, Rock Island, IL 61201; phone 309-558-3612; fax 309-793-4764; email repverschoore@72nddistrict.org

-- State Rep. Mike Smiddy, D-Hillsdale, PO Box 604, Port Byron, IL 61275; phone 309-848-9098; email repsmiddy@gmail.com
SPRINGFIELD -- A 70-year-old from Moline told Illinois House committees Tuesday how police used the state's controversial civil asset forfeiture laws to seize her car without charging her with a crime.

Judy Wiese was invited to speak before state lawmakers by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, which believes her story illustrates the need for reform of the states forfeiture laws.

"The average forfeiture victim looks a lot more like Judy Wiese than El Chapo," said Ben Ruddell, criminal justice policy attorney for the ACLU of Illinois.

Ms. Wiese's testimony was presented at a hearing on civil asset forfeiture, held jointly by the Judiciary Civil and Criminal Committees of the Illinois House of Representatives.

She told lawmakers that last August her grandson borrowed her 2009 Jeep Compass to drive to work but was pulled over for driving on a suspended license; the car was seized under state forfeiture laws.

"I really believed he was driving legally," Ms. Wiese said.

Ms. Wiese could not afford an attorney and attempted to represent herself in court but had difficulty navigating the legal system alone and was reprimanded by a judge when she incorrectly filed a court document.

The Moline womans story, first reported by The Dispatch and Rock Island Argus, drew the attention of Henry County-based attorney Larry Vandersnick, who agreed to represent Ms. Wiese free of charge.

"Judy was not at fault. The law needs to be changed. She's an innocent owner," Mr. Vandersnick said, testifying before state lawmakers Tuesday.

He said the state's forfeiture laws should protect those like her who were unaware their property was used in connection with a crime.

Ms. Wiese told lawmakers Tuesday the impact of having her car taken "was physically and emotionally exhausting." She recalled having neither the means nor money for alternative transportation while still being expected to make payments for a car she wasn't sure she'd get back.

"Please change this law for everyone," she said. "For those who have lost property, houses, cars, etcetera -- for those who didn't break the law -- I feel terrible for them."

Illinois recently received a D- rating by The Institute for Justice, a national public-interest law firm, in a report reviewing the fairness of forfeiture laws in all 50 states.

Current state forfeiture laws allow law enforcement agencies to seize property -- including cash, vehicles and homes -- suspected of being linked to a crime. A person does not need to be charged or convicted of a crime for the state to seize and permanently forfeit the property.

Once property is seized, the burden of proof is on the property owner to prove the seized asset is not connected to a crime. As a civil matter, no attorney is provided to a person looking to contest a forfeiture.

Proceeds of forfeitures are divvied up: 65 percent to the seizing police agency; 10 percent to the Illinois State Police; 12.5 percent to the state's attorney's office; and 12.5 percent to the state appellate prosecutor's office.

The current law, to state it mildly, is grossly unfair to property owners," said Mary E. Dixon, legislative director for the ACLU of Illinois.

The ACLU of Illinois wants forfeiture laws reformed to require that a property owner be convicted of a crime before the state proceeds with civil forfeiture action.

Other proposed changes include requiring prosecutors to prove by a standard of "clear and convincing evidence" that seized assets are directly connected to a crime.

Mr. Ruddell said forfeiture should not be understood as a "revenue source" for the government and that information detailing the government's seizing and forfeiting of people's assets -- and how proceeds from that process are used -- should be publicly available.

State Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrook, chairperson of Tuesday's hearing, thanked Ms. Wiese for sharing her story, saying "stories of ordinary citizens is what really matters here."

Law enforcement officials also testified during Tuesdays hearing.

Matt Jones, associate director at State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, said forfeiture was a legal means to keep the public safe while removing a criminal's ability to commit further crimes.

Kevin Winslow, a member of the Quad-City Metropolitan Enforcement Group and the Illinois Drug Officer's Association, said forfeiture laws were designed to take resources away from criminal gangs.

However, several states are moving to reform civil forfeiture laws.

From New Hampshire to Florida to California, states are taking on law enforcements thirst for profits by raising the standard of proof that links the property to the forfeiture, requiring a criminal conviction and preventing law enforcement from incentivizing the use of forfeiture, said Lee McGrath, legislative counsel for The Institute for Justice.

In Illinois, a bill introduced in February by state Rep. John Cavaletto, R-Salem, would require a criminal conviction before prosecutors pursue asset forfeiture. The proposed legislation would prevent police in Illinois from keeping the proceeds from forfeiture cases and would ban federal agencies from adopting cases that originated under state laws.

Before Tuesdays hearing Ms. Wiese said she was "nervous" about testifying, but said it made her "heart feel good" knowing her story would be included in the growing push for reform to forfeiture laws.

A year ago, "I didn't even know that was a law," Ms. Wiese said. "And who else knows? Just the people that it's happened to?"

She did get her car back after the Rock Island County State's Attorney's Office agreed to return it in exchange for costs of towing and storage of the vehicle -- paid for by an anonymous community member.
The Kane County state's attorney's office says 34-year-old Paul A. Zurn responded to a minor crash in August when other officers saw him walking unsteadily. They also spotted a bottle of alcohol in his squad car.

A Tuesday statement from prosecutors says Zurn refused to take a blood-alcohol test. As a result, his driver's license was suspended for a year.

Zurn agreed Monday to a sentence of one year of court supervision in exchange for his guilty plea to a DUI. That's a Class A misdemeanor.

Zurn must also pay more than $2,000 in costs and fines, as well as attend a victim-impact meeting.

A phone message for Zurn's attorney wasn't immediately returned.
URBANA, Ill. (AP)  A University of Illinois student faces murder charges after authorities accused her of suffocating her newborn baby last month after giving birth in a residence hall bathroom.

Officers found Lindsay L. Johnson, 20, of Monee near the campus' Music Building on March 13 wearing a backpack with the deceased newborn inside, authorities said. They were looking for her after responding to a call earlier in the day from a student at the dorm who reported sounds of a baby crying and that Johnson was in the bathroom for a long time.

Johnson, a sophomore studying agricultural communications, was charged Monday with first-degree murder, child endangerment and concealment of a homicidal death. She was arraigned Tuesday, when she waived her right to a probable cause hearing and her parents posted $75,000 bond, The (Champaign) News-Gazette reported.

Tony Bruno, one of Johnson's attorneys, said it was premature to comment on the case, but called it "serious and tragic." He said Johnson's parents "are dealing with this situation as well as anyone could be expected to."

Prosecutor Julia Rietz said Johnson gave birth sometime after 1:30 p.m. March 13, and told officers she had the stomach flu and didn't need help.

Police were called back to the residence hall about two hours later when they found blood in the bathroom. Johnson was not there. When they found her walking, she said she was going to a nearby hospital.

She initially told police she didn't know she was pregnant until she went into labor and the baby wasn't breathing when it was born, but later admitted the boy was alive and crying, the newspaper reported. An autopsy of the child offered no explanation for his death.

Johnson is due in court May 3.
GENESEO  Aldermen on Tuesday approved a cell tower permit for the location sought by Central States Tower at 504 E. Exchange Street, but the final lease will come back to the council for additional action.

The company is seeking the tower on behalf of Verizon Wireless to accommodate data capacity. The council has been discussing the matter off and on since last summer.

The motion to approve the permit was made by Ald. James Roodhouse, who noted the city had bought the East Exchange Street property with the plan to build a 100-foot monopole there anyhow.

My thought is, minimize the damage and have just one tower go there, said Mr. Roodhouse

The council, with two newly seated members, approved the permit in a 6-2 vote with new aldermen Brenda Johnson, 3rd Ward, and Kent Anderson, 4th Ward, voting no.

Before the vote, Ald. Johnson noted 246 people signed an online petition against a tower in central Geneseo. Id like to remind everybody, what do the citizens want too, she said.

The permit was approved with a maximum lease period of 30 years rather than the proposed 55 years. The maximum height will be 165 feet, which is what Central States sought to accommodate up to four cellphone carriers. The city will be permitted to have its meter-reading equipment at the lower 100-foot height and use Verizons frequency.

City staff will try to iron out issues with the company such as exact location on either rear corner of the property and whether the tower might be painted.

Someones going to come to us wanting to put it on their property, and were going to go through this again, said Ald. Sue Garlick, resigning herself to a vote.

During the second session of the meeting with the new council, Ald. Robert Wachtel made a motion to appoint Jason Robinson to the fourth-ward alderman vacancy created by the election of Kathy Carroll-Duda as mayor. Mr. Robinson had lost his seat to Kent Anderson in the March 15 election.

Mayor Duda began her remarks quoting a Positive Pledge. We we work through the challenges we face I ask each of you to remain positive, she added.

She indicated a departure from former Mayor Nadine Palmgrens style. Mayor Palmgren often invited members of the public to offer remarks as the council discussed issues, but Mayor Duda said the council now would strive to follow city ordinances and take public comment only twice during meetings toward the start and at the end. She said if not addressed, the city could provide answers later or a matter could be put on a future agenda.

So while the voice of the citizens is important, we need to make sure we are following our ordinances and Roberts Rules of Order, she said.

Following a closed session, the council approved a resolution seeking more research on the three 911 dispatch centers and to have the Henry County 911 board consider the citys request to maintain the Geneseo Dispatch Center. The state has passed a law to consolidate 911 centers. Henry County also has the countys center in Cambridge and a Kewanee center.

Aldermen also:

-honored Sgt. Shane Oleson on his retirement from the police department after 27 years and Dave Kepner from several positions including IT most recently after a total of 35 years

-appointed Michael Smith to the plan commission to fill the vacancy of Sue Garlick.
ROCK ISLAND -- Gov. Bruce Rauner has released numbers that show how individual school districts would fare under his education funding plan for the 2017 school year.

The plan would see the Rock Island, Moline and East Moline school districts gain funding while districts including Rockridge, Hampton, Silvis and United Township would be among those that would lose money.

However, the districts that would see cutbacks would lose even more money if the current funding system that reduces general aid continues, according to the governor's office.

Gov. Rauner is pushing Democrats to support the plan, which he has promoted on recent visits to schools in Riverdale and East Moline.

He's calling for an increase in education funding of $120 million for the 2017 fiscal year, even though the state still is mired in an ongoing budget battle.

The governor's education plan would fully fund general state aid to schools instead of prorating it -- a practice followed for seven years.

Increases or decreases in funding for districts under the plan would be tied either to school enrollment levels, the number of students in a district that live in poverty or changes in property values.

State Superintendent of Education Tony Smith said in a statement that all school districts would do better under the governor's plan.

Rock Island and Moline school districts would see their general aid funding increase by 2 percent and 2.6 percent respectively compared to the current fiscal year under the governor's plan.

East Moline, a district where the state says 74 percent of students are from low-income backgrounds, would see a more substantial increase of 4.8 percent.

One of the biggest losers locally under the governor's plan would be the Rockridge school district, which would see its general aid funding fall by 13.6 percent.

Riverdale superintendent Ron Jacobs said he supports fully funding general aid to schools, as proposed by Gov. Rauner, although he wants to see more details on the governor's plan.

"At fist glance it sounds really good, but I guess I remain pretty pessimistic about the chances of it going anywhere," Mr. Jacobs said. "As long as there are winning and losing districts I don't think it's going to get any traction."

Riverdale would gain about $138,000 in funding through the governor's plan, but nearby districts such as United Township, Silvis and Sherrard would lose money. Mr. Jacobs said he still was trying to figure out why neighboring districts of a similar makeup to his would lose money while others would gain funding.

In Henry County, winners under the governor's plan would include the Kewanee, Cambridge and Geneseo school districts. Schools in Alwood, Colona, Annawan and Wethersfield would lose funding.

The governor's plan also would cut $74 million in state funding for Chicago Public Schools.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Forest Claypool said the plan was a continuation of a "reverse Robin Hood" education policy where rich districts get more and poor districts get less. But the governor's office has countered that Chicago schools would lose more than $74 million if the current education funding arrangement continues.

State Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, has a rival education plan that would reform the state's general aid funding formula and send more money to less wealthy districts, but he has yet to release numbers for his proposal.

Moline School District chief financial officer Dave McDermott said he didn't want to be drawn into the political arguments about the different proposals for education funding reform but added "anything that provides a more equitable funding for education is good."

Rock Island County

FY16 Total Aid FY17 Projected Difference

-Rock Island $22,119,219 $22,569,354 $450,135

-Moline $15,271,655 $15,678,481 $406,825

-East Moline $8,212,631 $8,607,060 $394,429

-Rockridge $874,945 $755,648 -$119,296

-United Township $3,045,387 $2,996,880 -$48,507

-Silvis $1,960,880 $1,929,925 -$30,955

-Hampton $550,323 $537,198 -$13,125

-Rock Island ROE Safe School $95,899 $86,278 -$9,621

- Riverdale $1,645,959 $1,784,659 $138,700

-Carbon Cliff-Barstow $1,744,024 $1,909,604 $165,580

-Sherrard $4,861,359 $4,690,250 -$171,110

Henry County

FY16 Total Aid FY17 Projected Difference

-Alwood $358,980 $237,894 -$121,086

-Wethersfield $1,921,984 $1,851,395 -$70,589

-Colona $1,715,329 $1,657,835 -$57,494

-Annawan $728,390 $684,741 -$43,649

-Kewanee $9,648,102 $9,954,359 $306,257

- Bureau/Henry/Stark ROE Safe School $65,150 $44,975 -$20,175

-Galva $983,050 $977,492 -$5,558

-Orion $1,821,879 $1,830,623 $8,744

-Geneseo $4,339,507 $4,369,838 $30,332

-Cambridge $1,023,565 $1,219,886 $196,321

Mercer County

FY16 Total Aid FY17 Projected Difference

-Mercer County $3,055,045 $3,116,943 $61,899

-Alternative School Henderson/Knox/Mercer/Warren $158,928 $140,921 $18,008

Source: Governor's office
Fults was killed by lethal injection at 7:37 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center in Jackson.

There was no one in the execution chamber for Fults, so he had no final words for witnesses from the media and the state who had gathered. But he ended the prayer offered by the chaplain with, Amen.

A few minutes after the execution drugs had begun to flow, he twice looked at the IV inserted into his right arm. Moments later, his entire body shook for a few seconds. Then he was still. Fifteen minutes later he was pronounced dead.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Fults appeal for mercy nearly four hours before the scheduled execution hour of 7 p.m.

The rejection came even before Fults was given his last meal of steak, brown rice, baked potato and apple juice. Usually it is well past the scheduled execution hour when the Supreme Court decides last-minute appeals.

The State Board of Pardons and Paroles turned down his petition for clemency Monday night.

Fults was the fourth man put to death in Georgia this year.

In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Fults asked the justices to stop his execution at least until after they have heard arguments in a non-capital Colorado case in which there were similar issues  jurors who allegedly held racist attitudes that went against the defendant.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear in the fall an appeal by Miguel Angel Pena-Rodriguez, who was convicted of attempted sexual assault on a child younger than 15. It was later learned that some of the jurors who convicted Pena-Rodriguez made derogatory comments about Mexicans.

In Fults case, a juror who voted for death used a racial slur in an affidavit he gave eight years after Fults trial.

Fults, a black man, pleaded guilty to murdering his white neighbor, 19-year-old Cathy Bounds, on Jan. 30, 1996, at the end of a weeklong crime spree in Griffin. Fults admitted he broke into several houses to steal guns so he could kill his ex-girlfriends new boyfriend.

After Bounds live-in boyfriend left for work that morning, Fults went into her trailer, wrapped 6 feet of electrical tape around her eyes, led her into a bedroom and put her face-down on a bed. As she begged for her life, he shot her five times in the back of the head.

Investigators canvassing the trailer park after Bounds body was discovered found under Fults trailer items taken in previous burglaries, spent shells from the .22-caliber handgun used to kill Bounds and a letter written in gang code detailing her murder.

Faced with the evidence, Fults pleaded guilty with the hope the jury would show mercy if he admitted to the crime and showed remorse.

Each prospective juror was asked if the differences in Fults and Bounds race would matter, and all those seated, including Thomas Buffington, said it would not.

But when an investigator working on Fults appeal interviewed Buffington eight years later, he gave a different answer, and confirmed it by repeating the racial slur in a written sworn statement.

I dont know if he (Fults) ever killed anybody, but that (slur) got just what should have happened, Buffington, now dead, wrote. Once he pled guilty, I knew I would vote for the death penalty because thats what that (slur) deserved.

The courts declined to hear that issue in Fults appeals, writing that it was too late and procedurally barred.

Georgia has another execution set for April 27. Daniel Anthony Lucas is scheduled to die by lethal injection for killing a Jones County father and his two children, one by one, on April 23, 1998. Lucas co-defendant, Brandon Rhode was executed on Sept. 27, 2010.

One woman and 62 men have been executed in Georgia since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
The Works Bakery Cafe is offering the discount Tuesday to women in its New Hampshire shops in honor of Equal Pay Day. Men are charged full price.

Equal Pay Day is a national symbolic event dramatizing how much longer it takes a woman to earn as much as a man.

Chain CEO Richard French says the Stand with Women campaign asked them to take part in the event. French says his company employs a lot of women, and they are paid the same as men.

French says hundreds of women came to each of the shops for the discount.
WASHINGTON (AP)  House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday definitively ruled out a bid for president this year, insisting that the party's choice should emerge from the group of candidates who pursued the GOP nomination.

"Count me out," he told reporters.

In a statement at the Republican National Committee headquarters, the Wisconsin Republican sought to tamp down rampant speculation that he would emerge as the party standard-bearer from a potentially contested convention.

"We have too much work to do in the House to allow this speculation to swirl or have my motivations questioned," said Ryan, who was the 2012 vice presidential nominee. "Let me be clear: I do not want, nor will I accept the Republican nomination."

Ryan's comments come as a contested convention looks likelier by the day. Ryan and his aides have continually denied the speaker has presidential ambitions this year, but their statements have not put the issue to rest. That's partly because Ryan also denied he wanted to be speaker last fall after then-Speaker John Boehner announced his resignation, but ended up with the job anyway.

Tuesday's appearance was an attempt to shut down the speculation once and for all. Yet it may not be enough to quiet the talk about Ryan, given the unpredictable twists of the GOP presidential primary.

"So let me speak directly to the delegates on this: If no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, I believe you should only choose a person who actually participated in the primary. Count me out," Ryan said. "I simply believe that if you want to be the nominee - to be the president - you should actually run for it. I chose not to. Therefore, I should not be considered. Period."

Front-runner Donald Trump looks unlikely to accumulate the necessary delegates to clinch the nomination ahead of the July Republican convention in Cleveland. That would allow his lead challenger, Cruz, to make a play for the job.

But if neither candidate can get the delegate votes necessary as balloting progresses in the convention, chaos could result and along with it the potential for some other Republican who's not currently running to emerge. As a young and charismatic conservative, popular with donors and with some conservative activists, Ryan's name has been at the top of that list for months.

Ryan is seen as a possible candidate in 2020. Early in the campaign season he announced he would not be making a run in 2016.

Removing the presidential speculation puts Ryan's focus squarely on his day job as the leader of the House, and he faces several key tests soon.

In a long-brewing embarrassment, it's become plain that Ryan has all but given up hope of passing a budget for the upcoming budget year. Ryan orchestrated four budget efforts as chairman of the Budget Committee over 2011-2014 but now can't produce as speaker. Boehner, his predecessor, presided over five successful budgets.

Under the government's arcane budget law, the House is supposed to produce a budget by April 15. But a tea party revolt over Ryan's embrace of last year's bipartisan deal with President Barack Obama to increase spending by the Pentagon and domestic agencies has left him well short of the votes he needs.

In an interview earlier Tuesday on WISN radio in Milwaukee, Ryan laughed when asked if he was working behind the scenes to "steal the GOP nomination away from Donald Trump and Ted Cruz."

"No, I am not," Ryan said. "This is just amazing. It is just amazing how these things keep going."
Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain. Iowas state motto is powerful and succinct. This motto has seemingly been Iowas guiding star since our founding. Iowa eliminated a ban on interracial marriage in 1851. Iowa granted its Black citizens the right to vote years before the federal government. Iowa fought for liberty during the Civil War, sending more troops per capita than any other state to end the scourge of slavery, and played a role in the Underground Railroad. Iowa was among the earliest signers of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. Iowa became the first state to desegregate our schools, was one of the earliest states to recognize marriage equality and until recently was ranked among the most accessible states for voting access.
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...
The BBC has filed the following report on the February 2016 head-on collision of two commuter trains in Bavaria, Germany:

A German train [dispatcher] has been arrested over the February rail crash that killed 11 people in Bavaria, as prosecutors suspect he was distracted by a computer game at the time. According to prosecutors he was playing the computer game on his mobile phone and made a signaling error, then dialed the wrong emergency number. He has admitted that version of events, German media report.

Two commuter trains collided on a single-track stretch near Bad Aibling. Eighty-five passengers suffered injuries, some of them life-threatening. The man could be charged with involuntary manslaughter and could face five years in jail. The trains crashed head-on while both were travelling at about 60 mph east of Bad Aibling, a spa town about 37 mile) southeast of Munich.

Investigators quoted by German media said the timings of the computer game and the crash pointed to the accused having been distracted from his management of rail traffic at the junction. The stretch of line had an automatic signaling system designed to halt any train that passed a stop signal (cab signaling known as PZB, Punktfoermige Zugbeeinflussung, or intermittent train control. But reports in German media suggested that the system had been switched off to let the eastbound train, which was running late, go past. The investigation ruled out technical faults with the trains or signaling system as being behind the crash. All those killed in the crash were men between 24 and 59.

This is not the first fatal accident attributable to human error caused by use of a cellphone, but it seems to me that its a matter of some urgency that we take steps to at least try and make it the last such accident. Or for those of you familiar with the railroad environment:

How many f***ing people do we have to kill before we stop this bulls**t?

All railroads should immediately classify cellphones as a hazard, akin to the use or possession of intoxicants while on duty or on railroad property. Call it rule G-SM, or CDMA if you happen to be in Verizon territory:

The use or possession of cellphones, electronic tablets, PDAs or any portable device capable of two-way communication, or of transmitting messages other than a railroad-issued portable radio transmitting over the frequencies assigned for railroad use ,or capable of displaying pictures, photographs, or other graphics by means of a cellular wireless, wi-fi, bluetooth, or NFC (near field communication) connection, is prohibited while employees are on duty or on railroad property.

What does this mean? No cellphones issued to maintenance-of-way supervisors, trainmasters, road foremen, superintendents, chief mechanics, vice presidents, presidents, chairman. None. Nobody gets one. Pagers. Give them pagers.

As industry regulator, FRA will require its employees to comply with the operating rules of a railroad when on that railroads property: No use of cellphones by FRA personnel when on the railroad property. Ever.

FRA will immediately disable all applications it has designed, purchased and/or disseminated intended for use by those with cellphones, or other personal digital devices. All agencies reporting to the Secretary of Transportation will immediately cease participating in Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and any other social media outlet.

NTSB will make these changes part of its wish list and help make the wish come true by ending its participation in social media platforms. Likewise, NTSB investigators will be prohibited from the use and possession of a cellphone while on railroad property.

Bags and hammers, brothers and sisters. We need bags and hammers to put an end to this. Cellphone goes in bag. Hammer hits bag repeatedly. Bag returned to employee at the end of his/her service period.

Its the very least we can do, or for those of you familiar with the railroad environment:

Quit f***ing around. Fire the first moron you see with a cellphone. Never allow him or her back. Youll save a life.
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Millicom is experiencing a setback in Costa Rica, with the countrys Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo backing the market authoritys ruling against the buyout of Telecable.



Although the judgment is not yet final, the fact that the tribunal is supporting Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (SUTEL) decision means Millicom doesnt have much of a chance to carry out the acquisition of the pay-TV operator. However Millicom intends to continue the process until the tribunals decision is definite.Costa Ricas Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (SUTEL) stopped the merger process about a year ago, when Millicoms Tigo and Telecable had already agreed the terms of the deal.Immediately after, the Swedish telco decided to bring a lawsuit against SUTEL to annul its decision and get permission to continue with the merger.The judgment is not final yet, but the Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo backs SUTELs analysis and criteria, as it is the markets competition authority, said Maryleana Mendez, president, SUTEL The watchdog based its initial decision on the high market concentration that would result from a successful merger. Indeed, Millicoms Tigo owns nearly 40% of Costa Ricas pay-TV market, while Telecable has over a 10% share.
Sri Lankan direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV operator Dialog TV is planning to launch an over-the-top (OTT) video platform.





Zihar Zuhair, chief manager content acquisition of Dialog Axiata in Sri Lanka told nexTV India that the company is working actively on launching an OTT service, with apps expected in the coming months.The company claims to command half of Sri Lankas mobile telephony market, and as well as its 4G LTE mobile and DTH services, it also offers fixed line broadband connectivity.As we are a core player in Sri Lanka in the telecommunication industry, we already have the network infrastructure needed and also we have the ability to regroup them. This will definitely be an advantage for us when well be launching our OTT service, Zuhair told the publication Both content from Dialog TVs DTH platform and some exclusive shows will be carried on the OTT service, he added.
New Bolotnaya case defendant to undergo mental examination

MOSCOW, April 13 (RAPSI)  Maxim Panfilov, a new defendant in the Bolotnaya Square riot case, will undergo a sanity examination, his lawyer Sergei Panchenko told RAPSI on Wednesday.

On April 8, the Basmanny District Court in Moscow ordered the detention of Panfilov for two months. The day before, he was charged with participation in mass riots and use of violence against a law enforcement officer. According to investigators, the accused snatched a helmet off a riot policemans head on May 6, 2012.

The march on Yakimanka Street and the rally on Bolotnaya Square in May 2012, both authorized by the officials, resulted in mass riots and clashes with the police. Dozens of people were injured, over 400 protesters were detained.

The riot organizers, Sergei Udaltsov and Leonid Razvozzhayev, were sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. Other participants received prison terms from suspended sentences to four years. Several defendants were pardoned; one is undergoing compulsory mental treatment.

The convicts supporters believe that the riots were provoked by police.
New charges revealed in Yukos privatization case - report

MOSCOW, April 13, (RAPSI)  Violations committed in the course of Yukos privatization found out by the Investigative Committee of Russia may now include property loss and non-compliance with court decisions or other court rulings, whereas officials holding the Yukos loans-for-shares auction may be charged with abuse of office, Kommersant newspaper reports on Wednesday.

The fact that these accusations appeared in the Yukos case was reported by Olga Pispanen, Khodorkovskys spokesperson and a witness in the case, in her complaint concerning a series of searches in apartments of some members of Open Russia, a movement created and sponsored by Khodorkovsky, carried out last December. The searches in the Open Russia are being conducted within the framework of the Yukos criminal case instigated back in 2003, chief spokesman for the Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin told Interfax news agency at that time.

Investigators were not immediately available for comments; however, Sergey Badmashin, Pispanens lawyer, informed Kommersant that he was not aware of when and in what connection these articles of the Russian Criminal Code appeared in the case. We are trying to clarify this [fact] with investigators,  he said.

However, Interfax reports quoting an undisclosed informed source: The fact of Illegal privatization of Yukos oil company in 1995 is currently investigated, the nature of Khodorkovskys acts is yet to be determined. According to this source, charges of property loss and abuse of office have been entered in the Moscow City Court database because exactly those articles of the Criminal Code were the base of a 2003 criminal case regarding the theft of Apatit company shares, from which the so-called greater Yukos case had stemmed later. Exactly the fact that these articles were listed in the search warrant gave occasion to assume that the nature of acts committed by the Yukos ex-head had been newly determined.

In the 2003 case, investigators suspected Khodorkovsky and Lebedev of defrauding the state of about $280 million in the process of privatization of the Apatit fertilizer company in the first half of 1990s. The probe had resulted in the trial in which two defendants received their first prison sentences in 2005. The court also ordered the dissolution of the Yukos oil company with the aim to compensate the damages to the state.

At the end of March, investigators made a statement about some violations they found out as concerned Yukos case. According to investigators, in 1995 Mikhail Khodorkovsky used firms, de-facto belonging to him, Laguna and Reagent companies, to participate in the investment tender and auction over Yukos assets, presenting those firms as independent players. Laguna won the tender and auction, but payment for the shares was conducted on the funds of MENATEP bank. Funds were not returned to the bank and it was bankrupted several years later.

Therefore shares have been obtained by Khodorkovsky free of charge, on other people's money, stolen, in fact, Markin said.

The Investigative Committee announced at the end of last year that it started to examine the legality of YUKOS share acquisition by foreign companies, which are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Russia.

A tribunal for the Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration announced in July 2014 that it had issued awards in three cases filed against Russia. The tribunal ordered that Russia pay Yukos Universal Limited (Isle of Man) over $1.8 billion in damages. Hulley Enterprises Limited (Cyprus) was awarded about $40 billion, and Veteran Petroleum Limited (Cyprus) got over $8 billion. Russian authorities moved to set aside the ruling and turned to the District Court of the Hague.
Europe has a problem that may soon become ours. Countries like Germany, Spain, and England are finding that their recent green energy experiments are proving too costly to continue. Between 2005when the European Union adopted its emissions trading schemeand 2014, residential electricity rates in the EU increased by an average of 63 percent. In Germany, rates increased by 78 percent; in Spain, by 111 percent; and, in the U.K., by a whopping 133 percent. Over the same decade, residential rates in the United States rose only 32 percent.

Across Europe, the cost of electricity has been rising, thanks to a well-intentioned but mistaken plunge into renewable energy. And whats happening in the EU portends a troubling lesson for the United States. Simply put, green energy is proving to be an expensive failure. Yes, green energy works when heavily subsidized by the taxpayer. But Europes taxpayers can no longer afford the experiment.

What did our European friends get for their exercise in green energy exploration? Power shortages, job loss, and the bankruptcy of major green energy giants like Spains Abengoa, which received more than $2 billion in loan subsidies from the Obama Administration. In fact, Spain is now confronting $27 billion in debt from failed wind and solar projects, thanks to a program estimated to have eliminated at least two jobs for every green job it created.

This isnt the picture that renewable energy activists like to trumpet when praising wind and solar power. Germanys activists proudly talk of renewables powering a record 78% of the days energy needs on July 25, 2015. It sounds breathtaking, but the fine print is more relevant. Three days before, the same renewables powered only 25 percent of energy demand.

A more accurate picture emerges the closer one looks at Germanys actual experience. On the recent afternoon of April 4, 2016, for example, the data show production of only 2.23 Gigawatt (GW) of wind power, zero GW of solar, and 46.48 GW of Conventional energy. That conventional energy comes mostly from coal plants, which still generate roughly 40 percent of total German electricity.

There are several lessons here for the Obama Administration. First, wind and solar will always require back-up power from gas, coal, and nuclear plants. Thats because the wind doesnt always blow and the sun doesnt always shine. Second, renewables are expensive, because they require standby support from gas, coal, and nuclear. Third, any effort to rely on renewable energy as the primary source of power is simply not feasible.

Unfortunately, the Obama Administration continues to ignore the evidence. The presidents Clean Power Plan, which hopes to install 125,000 wind turbines nationwide while eliminating 40 percent of Americas coal fleet, means a blind leap into the same green chasm.

The Clean Power Plan is projected to raise consumer utility costs $214 billion by 2030, with another $64 billion needed for the installation of renewables infrastructure. The Administration ignores who will be hurt the most by such cost increases. U.S. manufacturers will suffer when competing with countries like China that enjoy cheaper energy. And Americas low-income communities will certainly be hurt by higher residential electricity costs, leaving them with less discretionary income for essential services.

Unfortunately, environmentalists continue to disregard the state-of-the-art technology now employed at U.S. power plants to trap and scrub coal emissions. But this clean coal approach works. And the same technical innovation can capture carbon dioxide, just as it has cleaned coal of conventional pollutants. Given our nations technological prowess and world-leading coal supply, clean coal should be a logical option if Americas goal is safe, reliable, affordable power.

Lets hope America learns quite soon to embrace clean coal. Otherwise, the alternative will be the heavily subsidized model of renewable energy now provoking a crisis in Europe.
In the 18th century after a passing breeze caused him to lose his place in a book, a Chinese scholar named Xu Jun wrote this short poem: "The clear breeze is illiterate, so why does it insist on rummaging through the pages of a book?" Though this couplet was seemingly harmless, the Manchu-ruled Qing Dynasty (1645-1911) executed Xu in 1730 for seditious thought. The Qing, invaders from the Manchurian steppe whose dynastic name meant "clear" or "pure," were acutely sensitive to the insinuation that they were illiterate barbarians despite adopting the trappings of Chinese civilization. Countless other poets shared Xu's fate during the dynasty's infamous literary inquisitions. While this paranoia appears excessive, it was a reflection of a very real problem for the Manchus.

The Qing, like all other Chinese central governments, struggled to contain dissent across a continent-sized empire. This proved doubly difficult because a small number of ethnic Manchus ruled over a far larger population of resentful Han Chinese. Han rebellion, which often coalesced around the purported superiority of Han culture, was a constant threat, shaking the foundations of the empire from the mid-19th century. Eventually, Han-led revolution swept away the Qing - and the entire imperial Chinese system - in 1911, leading to the formation of the Republic of China. This, in turn, quickly split along factional lines into warlord cliques. Truly effective central rule did not return until the Communists seized power in 1949.

Paranoia appears to be on the upswing in China once again as President Xi Jinping attempts to force painful structural reforms past resentful provincial and local governments, the bitter medicine for years of distortions imposed by China's wave of economic stimulus. Outwardly, he seems well poised to do this. Observers often call him the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. On the outside, it appears to be true. Xi is in the midst of an epochal housecleaning with his anti-corruption campaign, which has disrupted countless power networks and, in the process, created numerous enemies.

Since 2012, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the Communist Party's top anti-graft agency, has investigated and punished hundreds of thousands of officials. The campaign is set to continue, with all arms of the government completed before the 19th Party Congress in 2017. By doing this, Xi has eliminated political rivals, and seemingly, the system of consensus-based politics that had prevailed in China since 1978 - a system intended to be a hold on the emergence of individualistic dictatorship and the policy ills that flowed from it. It is a system now seen by Xi as unsuitable for handling China's entangled economic problems, such as overcapacity in heavy industry and ballooning corporate debt. But China's ruling authorities are behaving as if they are anything but secure - since February, Chinese censors have responded harshly to seemingly innocent slips in the press. Beijing's harsh response suggests that political struggle is more intense in China than it has been in decades.

Reading Between the Lines on China's Paranoia

Ahead of the annual plenary sessions of China's National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress (CPPCC), Xi embarked on a widely publicized tour of China's top three state media outlets. During the tour, the media was encouraged to swear unflinching loyalty to the party - effectively Xi himself, who had recently cast himself as the "core of the Party." The surname of the media, Xi demanded, must be "the Party." Within days, the CCDI launched an anti-corruption investigation targeting both the Central Propaganda Department and the government's top censorship agency. The message was clear - Xi was demanding even more obedience from the already heavily controlled state media.

Nonetheless, there were signs of resistance from within the media. A number of prominent editors resigned in protest. On the sidelines of the NPC and CPPCC, Caixin, a relatively independent financial news outlet, was censored when it published an interview in which a CPPCC delegate called for greater press freedom. Caixin followed with an article noting that its previous article had been censored.

Aside from the rare public shows of disobedience from the press, Beijing appears to be extraordinarily sensitive to many seemingly innocuous mistakes. In March, a paper owned by the Guangdong Communist Party published a front page with two headlines. One, covering Xi's media tour, read "Party and government-sponsored media are propaganda battlefronts and must be surnamed 'Party.'" Directly below it was a photo of the sea burial of a prominent politician with a headline reading "His soul returns to the sea." But, read vertically, the two headlines read "The soul of the media has died because it bears the Party's surname." In another instance, a Xinhua article caused a stir when a typo changed a reference to Xi Jinping being "China's Paramount Leader" (Zuigao Lingdao) to become "China's Last Leader" (Zuihou Lingdao).

The front page of the Southern Metropolis Daily. Together characters from the headline and photo caption appear to read "The soul of the media has died because it bears the Party's surname."
Andy Langenkamp is a global policy analyst for ECR Research.



Crises are nothing new. However, in Europe six crises reinforce each other. The list includes migration, populism, Brexit, a lingering economic crisis, the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and terrorism.



The deal on refugee exchange reached between the European Union and Turkey has at least one hopeful aspect: For the first time since the onset of the migrant crisis, the 28 EU members more or less acted in unison. The deal will cut numbers -- already, people smugglers say they have seen business dwindle. Yet history shows that when one route closes, another opens.



We are skeptical that the deal will put an end to the crisis. Its grounding in international law is in doubt, and Greece still faces significant shortages in the manpower needed to protect borders and carry out paperwork to return migrants to Turkey. I also doubt that the relocation of refugees already in Greece will go smoothly -- an old deal to resettle 160,000 asylum seekers across Europe has been a failure.



My view on the EU-Turkey deal is that seeing is believing. Speaking of optics, public opinion could sour on the deal when media show families being muscled onto boats and airplanes. And we must not forget that this deal can only be one part of the solution. So long as the violence in the Middle East continues, people will continue to flee. Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey already house between 10 and 100 times as many refugees as the European Union, relative to their respective populations. These societies can't cope with continuing inflows much longer.



Populism on the rise



The refugee crisis is a boon to populist parties. Parties like the Party for Freedom, or PVV, in the Netherlands, Front National in France, and Alternative for Germany, or AfD, show no signs of losing momentum. If Dutch elections were held now, Geert Wilders' PVV would win 40 seats in the 150-seat Lower House of Parliament and would be the largest party by far. In Hungary and Poland, populists have already taken over, and democracy is under threat as politicians ignore the verdicts of the highest courts and media outlets are placed under government control. We will witness the real potential for populist parties next year when Germany, France, and the Netherlands are scheduled to hold elections.



To Brexit or not to Brexit



The risk of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union will keep pundits guessing at the repercussions of a Leave vote until June 23, and possibly thereafter as the United Kingdom and European Union enter years of negotiations to establish a new relationship. I don't have a clear answer to what the repercussions of a Brexit would be. The calculations from think tanks, banks, and other experts are confusing.



For example, credit agency Moody's recently concluded that the impact of Brexit would be small and unlikely to lead to big job losses. MSCI is less sanguine -- the provider of stock market indexes concludes that in the most benign of two scenarios for Brexit, growth in the British economy would slow by 2.2 percentage points over the year that follows the vote. In the second scenario, Brexit would shatter the eurozone and drag down growth across the world.



I could go on with other examples of Brexit research, but I have made my point: Nobody really knows what the effects of a Brexit would be, except that it will have at least a minor negative impact. As the vote comes closer, markets will probably get more nervous.



Eurocrisis



Markets may also lose patience with the eurozone. The European Central Bank has signaled implicitly that it is running out of ways to address the economic malaise. Politicians aren't making enough progress on reforms to streamline labour markets, pension systems, and the like. Economic data are a mixed bag, and it doesn't look like the eurozone will be treated to a big boost in productivity or income growth. The Economic and Monetary Union will also continue to be slowed by its missing parts: fiscal and political union.



The Russia threat



One reason the pace of reforms is disappointing could be a new preoccupation with geopolitics -- namely, with Russia's behavior. Putin has booked success in Syria. In addition, Moscow was able to draw attention away from Ukraine, while regular Russian troops remain in the Donbas region, and Moscow plays on EU divisions over sanctions on Russia.



In the long run, Russia may be weak, with a shrinking population and a lopsided economy on the brink of collapse, but for now Putin has managed to play his cards right. Europe still lacks the grit, skills, unity, and will needed to formulate a powerful answer to Putin.



Terrorism as the new normal?



The Paris and Brussels attacks have proven that terrorism does pose a risk to Europe. The political capital, time, and money that leaders need to battle terrorism are resources that cannot be used to enact structural economic reforms. And money invested in more security - essentially an investment in unproductive activities - is no great economic multiplier. Moreover, implementing far-reaching antiterrorism laws could pose just as big a threat to open societies as terrorists do - they can undermine the basis of open markets and democracy.



Terror attacks usually don't have a large negative impact on the economy. However, if terror attacks go from sporadic to endemic, the whole calculus changes. ISIS would like to instil a climate of terror in Europe. If it succeeds, all bets are off as to how much economic damage terror will cause.



Troubled Europe



What is most worrying about these six risks is that they are mutually reinforcing. The Brussels attacks will aid those arguing that Europe should close its borders and that refugees are nothing but a threat. Just minutes after the news of the Brussels attacks came out, UKIP issued a press release blaming Schengen for the bombings. Populist parties and pundits all across Europe will seize the opportunity to connect terrorism, borders, Islam, and refugees.



Recent developments could also have a huge impact on the Brexit referendum. Half of the respondents to a recent poll by The Observer said they would cast their Brexit vote based on immigration. If the terror threat lingers on, and the likes of Nigel Farage succeed in making the trinity of refugees, terrorism, and Schengen stick, chances of an Out-vote will increase.



I could go citing more self-explanatory connections between the six European threats, but they should be clear by now and regrettably they all point to one conclusion: More European instability looks to be guaranteed, and it will be hard for the eurozone to pick up economic steam in the coming quarters.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/13/2016



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

runner-up La'Porsha Renae is opening up about her experience on the show.Idol host Ryan Seacrest declared Trent Harmon , a 25-year-old waiter from Amory, MS, the farewell season's winner last week after he received more home viewer votes following the final performance show than La'Porsha, a 22-year-old call representative from McComb, MS.During a recent conference call with reporters, La'Porsha talked about her time on Idol. Below is what she had to say.To read more from La'Porsha's interview, click here and here Okay, so when I was eight, I was watching Kelly Clarkson , and it definitely struck me as, "This is something I could possibly do when I'm old enough." So, I started working towards that, and when I finally turned the age that was appropriate to try out for the show, 16, I went to the cattle call in New Orleans. I got a standing ovation from the stadium, and I didn't make it through.The producers said, "No." They said I was young, that I could come back and try out again, which worked out in my favor because at that time, I didn't really have much to sing about. And so, life happened between those years, and when I came back this time, I sang with a lot of depth and emotion. I was able to emote that to my fans.I'm not really sure where I'm going to be. I'm not sure if I'm relocating to Los Angeles, but I definitely can say that I plan on relocating from Mississippi very, very soon. So, that's still in the air.No, I haven't heard about it. The only thing I've been aware of is that there was also controversy about the Confederate flag.No. My main focus in wanting to leave was because of my abusive situation and just wanting to start over with me and my daughter. But, you know, those are the type of issues I'm talking about in trying to -- okay, this is how I feel about the LGBT community.They are people just like us, you know, they're not animals, as someone stated before. They're people with feelings -- although all of us may not agree with that particular lifestyle for religious reasons or whatever the reason is. You should still treat each other with an amount of respect, you know?I mean, everybody is just a human being and we should be able to co-exist with one another. And that really shouldn't matter when doing so, so that's how I feel about that.And I am one of the people who don't really agree with that lifestyle. I wasn't brought up that way. It wasn't how I was raised, but I do have a lot of friends and a lot of people that I love dearly who are gay and homosexual, and they're such sweet, nice people. So, we should just respect each other and respect each other's differences and move on.Any time I was allowed to, I chose my own song. I tried to choose songs that I connected with and that I related to and that I felt like would inspire people and make them feel good inside. Even though you are, as an artist, supposed to get into character and be able to convey a message in a song, I think it's very important that you have some kind of relevance with that song choice.Thank you for allowing us to take your time and being interested in what we have to say. Thank you for your support, too, throughout this whole entire thing.To read more from La'Porsha's post-Idol interview, click here and here
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When home prices in China's Shenzhen city rose 58 percent in the last year, the city government introduced some measures to tighten the policy and cool the red hot housing market.

As previously discussed here on Realty Today, Shenzhen rolled out a stricter housing policy in March. It raised the deposit requirements for first-time homebuyers who secured mortgages in the past two years and for some second-home buyers from 30 percent to 40 percent down payment. Also, non-local buyers who are looking into purchasing properties in the city will only be qualified if they have paid income tax and social security premiums for the past three years.

But while the city saw a decline in new home transactions in five consecutive weeks ending April 3, the new policy seems to have little impact on luxury homes. As reported by South China Morning Post, sales of new high-end apartment climbed 35 percent in March to 725 units compared to the previous month. Data from property agency Centaline revealed this is 14 percent of the total new market which is the highest level so far since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, Centaline data also showed that in March, the average selling price of high-end apartments in the city slightly fell to 81,825 yuan per square meter.

According to the publication, The Peninsula phase three, that was just recently launched, sold 409 flats or more than 80 percent of the ones for sale last weekend. At an average price of 10 million yuan per unit, the project, developed by Nan Hai Corporation, was able to generate sales amounting to 5.2 billion yuan.

"The tightened policy would have some impact on the market in the short term, especially transactions for second-hand homes," said Du Jinsong, head of Asia property research at Credit Suisse.
Portugal's commercial real estate market saw its best year with a 154 percent increase in investment in 2015. Investment in the commercial property sector rose to almost 2 billion, reports say.

According to Iberian Lawyer, commercial real estate market in the country reach an all-time high last year, recording as much as 1.9 billion worth of deals. As per the report of consultancy firm B. Prime, majority of the investment in the sector came overseas, accounting for 92 percent, 43 percent of which came from the United States, The Portugal News reported.

In growth in the sector is largely attributed to the economic recovery of Portugal and the return of investor confidence. The devaluation of euro against dollar also contributed along with the already low levels of return in the U.S. domestic markets. Additionally, Portugal's golden visa program also helped increase activities in the market as it was able to approve 760 visas in 2015. High-end value homes also received a large proportion of investment.

Leading law firms, which are benefitting in the CRE growth as it brings a surge in instructions too, are expecting the trend to continue. "We started feeling the first signs of recovery in 2013, when investors regained confidence in the market and returned," said Tiago Mendonca de Castro, a partner at PLMJ and head of the firm's real estate practice in Lisbon.

Meanwhile, Cushman & Wakefield said that portfolio transactions nearly doubled the average transactions to about 32 million last year. With this strong demand, Cushman & Wakefield said the level of commercial real estate investment in the country shall continue throughout 2016 and it is possible that a new record-high investment volume will be attained.

On one hand, the high demand is already putting some stress to the supply and so renovations and construction restarted. Old buildings are being transformed into hotels to meet the demand brought on by a boom in the tourism sector, Iberian Lawyer reported.
Because of Donald Trump's presidential bid, political commentator Keith Olbermann decided to leave his condo at Trump Palace and list it for about $4 million. According to New York Curbed, Olbermann purchased the apartment in 2007, and because of the terrifying campaign of Trump, he wanted to get rid of the place.

In interviews, Olbermann said that anything with Trump's name on it has degraded the public disclosure and even the country itself. Talking with the Wall Street Journal, he said that he feels 20 pounds lighter now that he has left the place. He also said that if only they would have named the building differently, he would have definitely stayed. Trump responded and blustery said, "When people find out [Olbermann] is leaving Trump Palace, prices will probably go up."

For those who have no problem living in one of Trump's buildings in New York, listing details for the condo reveal that it is a sprawling three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment. It also features three outdoor spaces which offer spectacular views of the New York City skyline. It has wrapped windows with exposure facing north, south and east, welcoming a lot of natural light to come in in the apartment.

There is a massive living room and a formal dining room which is spacious enough to host dinners. The updated kitchen is equipped with high-end appliances, and it also has a convenient counter seating area and lots of cabinet space.

The master bedroom boasts two closets, one of which is an enormous walk-in closet. It also has a spa-like bathroom and a balcony which provides stunning views of the Empire State Building. The adjacent bedroom also has balcony access and an en-suite bathroom, walk-in closet and custom built-ins. There are two additional closet spaces and an elegant powder room.

Amenities of the building include 24 hour doorman, attended garage, laundry facilities, basement storage, children's area and health club.
GREENFIELD  If you think theres alchemy in turning waste french-fry oil and stir-fry oil into fuel for diesel vehicles and home heating, consider the magic of building a biodiesel factory in the Greenfield Industrial Park  and ensuring that it is a locally owned, co-operative venture.

Northeast Biodiesel LLC hopes to begin operating its 1.75 million gallon a year plant in the next month or so and double its output after a year to 3.5 million gallons of fuel annually, all of it produced from recycled vegetable oil from restaurants and catering facilities around the state.

The $4.2 million factory would be the first operating biodiesel plant in the state and first American biodiesel plant from a technology developed by Green Fuels Ltd., a British company with biofuel processors in 30 countries. It is ready to run but still awaiting Environmental Protection Agency registration  a process that could take months  as well as American Society of Testing and Materials certification.

But what makes Northeast Biodiesels story incredible is that its been powered entirely by grassroots energy rather than Wall Street, venture capitalists or even banks. And for anyone who was there at a September 2004 press conference at Cooperative Development Institutes Federal Street headquarters, the plan to build it was first announced by then-Congressman John W. Olver  who brought a $300,000 National Renewable Energy grant to get the project rolling.

To further study the feasibility of such a plant, CDI helped get a $340,000 U.S. Department of Energy business planning and development grant the previous year for the consumer-owned alternative energy cooperative Co-op Power, which today owns 74 percent of Northeast Biodiesel.

Most of the other plant investors are members of the co-op, which has about 500 families, farms, businesses and institutions like Greenfield Community College and Smith College.

The announcement that day was that a factory with an initial capacity of producing 500,000 gallons a year would be built the following year and employ a dozen people in an existing building a stones throw from Greenfield.

USDA was also to provide $250,000 for what was to be a roughly 8,000-square-foot factory, according to Thomas Leue, an Ashfield biodiesel pioneer who had already been distilling biodiesel in his Ashfield backyard for about six years but stopped after a batch caught fire.

Northeast Biodiesel LLC was formed and plans for a factory  making diesel from vegetable waste oil by adding methanol and removing the byproduct glycerol  began moving forward. But hardly at a rocket-fuel pace.

Thats just not the way any manufacturing enterprise takes off, says Co-op Power and Northeast Biodiesel President and CEO Lynn Benander.

And its certainly not the way a grassroots venture is launched, especially one being built around a renewable energy technology.

As she and the local investors await final Environmental Protection Agency permit to begin operating the new $4 million plant, Benander says, Were going to have a tremendous impact on community-based energy here in the region. We have patient investors who for the most part knew going in what the story was, who supported us going forward, as we had alternatives, and stayed true to it.

Of the $5 million spent on the plant, she says, 19 percent came from grants from DOEs National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the state Department of Energy Resources; 18 percent from local Co-op Power investors and 63 percent from Co-op Power member loans. More than 70 percent of the plant is owned by people who live within a 60-mile radius of Greenfield.

The only bank that expressed an interest in working with the organizers, in the projects second year, The Bank of Western Massachusetts, went out of business in 2008, so working with more than $1 million in equity from The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Energy, Northeast Biodiesel began looking for other investors. The U.S. Small Business Administration refused to grant a loan unless the co-operative reliquished all ownership.

And the original $250,000 USDA grant to build the factory was withdrawn because the project failed to meet a deadline in raising other money to launch the project.

Then along came news of other biodiesel manufacturing projects: one in northern Vermont, another in Pittsfield. Benander shrugged and said she was hardly impressed by what some saw as potential competitors.

Thats a long distant memory. No one even remembers that, says Benander of the 50-million-gallon-a-year Berkshire Biodiesel plant announced for Pittsfield and Dalton in 2007 but never finished. It came and went and spent more of other peoples money than we ever spent.

The Sawnton, Vt., biodiesel plant, which had been planned to make 8 million gallons a year from virgin soybean oil and used cooking oil, started operation in late 2009 and operated less than a year.

We dont have bank loans, says Benander. Were pretty much able to start on our own timeline and do what we need to do. There are not a lot of outside threats on the business because we raised that money ourselves.  Thats why were still here.

She explained, If we were looking for $15 million, some banks would have been interested in what we were doing. But because we were looking for $4 million, it was kind of in the middle of what small, local banks were looking for and what regional banks were looking for. A lot of people were involved, there was a lot money, a lot of risk. It didnt fit anybodys sweet spot.

Well, ultimately, the investment did appeal to Co-op Powers members, specifically its Franklin County, Hampshire County and southern Vermont coordinating councils. (The cooperative also has councils in metropolitan Boston, the Worcester-Providence, R.I., area, and Hampden County.)

I do know we tried everything, reflects Benander, who as an adjunct professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology has taught graduate courses on community-owned enterprise, civic participation and cooperatives. What worked was raising money directly from members and from friends. ... Five hundred friends put this all together!

At one point, in 2005, the projects developers even turned to a Boston-area venture capital firm.

With $1.5 million in hand from an offering to local investors, and a state grant secured by the Town of Greenfield, Benander says, the venture firm said they would put in the rest. After six months of negotiation, they tried a takeover of the project. We asked why they thought we would let them take over our project, and they said, Because you ran out of grant money. Weve been negotiating with you for six months, watching your grant money go. Now that its gone, we figure you have to give us your project.

Instead, co-op members, who hadnt been committed to the idea of owning the project before, decided they needed to claim ownership to keep it in the community. There was some backsliding, with private investors pulling about one-third of their money out because they didnt want to take that level of risk, in Benanders words.

The state grant also expired as a deadline passed in trying to secure a bank loan, she said.

That, said Benander was the only time that moneys come in then gone back out again, and the projects backers were left with just $830 and a renewed determination to make this a local project.

Now shes really glad the venture capitalists kept their hands off the project.

We could have had the plant built in 2005 and had it dead in 2008, she says. Instead of building a plant with the intention of selling it, she says, the same firm bought a biodiesel plant in Clayton, Del., that shut down in 2009, a few months after it opened.

We could have had an out-of-business biodiesel plant in this industrial park right this very minute if we had wanted to, so were really proud were doing it the slow-money way, said Benander, who has twice been a speaker at Brattleboros annual Slow Money Summit, encouraging community investment by people who are more interested in the success of a project that helps their neighbors and the environment than in turning a quick profit.

What members decided when the venture capital firm tried to take us over is that who owns it matters, and that we will own it even if it takes us a long time to make it work. And we want to do it the right way, Benander said. We want to own this plant for generations.

With $830,000 in loans from local people to Northeast Biodiesel, $1.7 million in loans from Co-op Power, $131,000 in private foundation money and $200,000 from The Society to Benefit Everyone/Common Good Finance, and a $$540,000 state Department of Energy Resources grant to make completion of its plant possible, Co-op Power is also looking ahead to add a second processor to the plant after the first year of operation to double production, and to even help replicate the community-owned biodiesel plant elsewhere around New England.

For now, though, Benander says, the plant is just at the starting gate.

Leue, the Ashfield engineer who began making biodiesel in his backyard in 1999 and served as a technical adviser and board member of Northeast Biodiesel  and remains an investor and supporter of the project, says, Part of our ability to persist is that we have not gone with some big venture capitalist operation, but weve gone with community support. There are many owners, and people are not necessarily in it for making a profit. Theyre in it because they believe we have to do something (to respond to climate change) and this is something thats in scale with the community  using local resources to meet a long-term local need, and a method that doesnt cause as much harm as the conventional way of doing it. Luckily, its a combination of patience and having so many supporters that were able to persist until we overcome all of the technical and regulatory hurdles.

Unlike Leue and other small-scale local investors who see a long arc of where our society and the world is going, and  an ability to change that arc a little bit, he said most banks are looking at how fast you can turn an investment into a positive cash flow, and theyre not really so concerned about future benefits for humanity. They saw the benefit as very theoretical and the risk as much more real. To a large extent, weve done it without them. It took longer, but it is happening.

You can reach Richie Davis at

rdavis@recorder.com

or 413-772-0261, ext. 269
Campaigning for anything  whether it be the United States presidential race or the University of Georgia Student Government Association elections  does not come without a price. The tickets in the SGA election collectively spent upwards of $3,600 on campaign expenditures, according to reports from the candidates themseleves.
Kanye West finally made the financially smart decision of putting The Life of Pablo on Spotify, and this leaves me conflicted. Im happy to finally be able to listen back through the albums few highlights again, but the ridiculous hype built up for a sub-par album, in my opinion  which can be read here  risks dominating this weeks new releases. And while Kanye does earn a spot on this playlist, he does not overshadow all of the other great music released this week and definitely shouldnt be the only thing you listen to this week.
The Republican National Convention rides on a razor sharp line between the professional elitism one would expect from a political convention and the fringe bedlam that has become a hallmark of the American political scene.
There is a new program on campus called Cinema Politique being introduced by Dr. Cas Mudde, an international affairs associate professor, and Mary Miller, a special collections librarian. The program will include a movie screening once a month that is introduced by UGA faculty then followed with a Q&A.
FILE - In this June 29, 2015 file photo, Janice Dickinson arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Lord of the Freaks." Dickinson has revealed that shes got breast cancer and vows to battle the disease. She told the Daily Mail of London that a pea-size lump was found on her right breast during a doctor visit on March 8. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

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By ANTHONY McCARTNEY, AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP)  Model and TV host Janice Dickinson has revealed that she's got breast cancer and vows to battle the disease.

"Janice is going to fight and she will not let this diagnosis define her. She wants to encourage all women to have regular checkups, as that is how her cancer was discovered," said Dickinson's attorney, Lisa Bloom, in a statement Monday.

Dickinson told DailyMail.com that a "pea-size" lump was found on her right breast during a doctor visit on March 8. Three days after the lump was discovered, Janice had a mammogram and a biopsy. She will undergo surgery and radiation therapy.

"Don't feel sorry for me, this is not a pity party, I'm Janice Dickinson and I'm gonna stick around for a long, long time, you ain't getting rid of me yet," she told the website.

"It's still quite shocking. You know, I've had plastic surgery and I've had breast implants and I've always been very vocal of what I've done, because I tell the truth about everything. As I am right now," the 61-year-old said.

Dickinson, author of "No Lifeguard on Duty: The Accidental Life of the World's First Supermodel" and "Everything About Me Is Fake ... and I'm Perfect," was a cast member of VH1's "The Surreal Life" and UPN's "America's Next Top Model."

Dickinson has sued Bill Cosby for defamation and the comedian's lawyers will argue for the case's dismissal during a hearing Tuesday in Los Angeles. Dickinson has attended recent hearings in the case, which focuses on denials by Cosby's camp of her claims the comedian drugged and raped her in Lake Tahoe, California, in 1982.

"Janice and I will be there tomorrow morning to fight for her right to have her day in court against Bill Cosby," Bloom said.

___

Online: http://dailym.ai/1UqSKLI
FILE - This July 24, 2015, file photo shows a sign at a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Oklahoma City. Though congressional Republicans' bid to defund Planned Parenthood was vetoed by President Barack Obama, anti-abortion activists and politicians are achieving a growing portion of their goal with an aggressive state-by-state strategy. Over the past year, more than a dozen states have sought to halt or reduce public funding for Planned Parenthood. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

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By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP)  Though congressional Republicans' bid to defund Planned Parenthood was vetoed by President Barack Obama, anti-abortion activists and politicians are achieving a growing portion of their goal with an aggressive state-by-state strategy.

Over the past year, more than a dozen states have sought to halt or reduce public funding for Planned Parenthood. The latest to join the offensive is Florida; GOP Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday that bars Planned Parenthood from accessing state funds.

Defunding has been blocked by court action in some states. But cutbacks in other states are forcing Planned Parenthood to drop contraceptive services, health screenings and other programs serving thousands of low-income women.

"It's been a non-stop assault  with devastating consequences for the patients we serve," said Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood's executive vice president. "At what point do you hit a tipping point where it has same impact as if a federal bill had passed?"

Planned Parenthood is a national target because of its role as the largest U.S. abortion provider. Federal law and the laws of most states already prevent public money from paying for abortions except in rare circumstances, but the recent defunding bills prohibit state money for any services by an organization that also provides abortions.

During debate in Florida, state Sen. Aaron Bean offered this rationale: "We pay their light bill, we pay their salaries, we pay all kinds of things when the state contracts with these clinics... Let's get Florida out of the abortion business."

Many of the measures surfaced after anti-abortion activists began releasing secretly recorded videos last July alleging that Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue to researchers for a profit in violation of federal law. Planned Parenthood denied any wrongdoing, and investigations by several congressional panels and states have produced no evidence that it acted illegally.

Despite that, some Republican governors and lawmakers have cited the videos as justification for defunding.

States where defunding has been blocked by litigation include Alabama, Louisiana and Utah. In some other states, the impact of defunding may be slight  Mississippi, for example, is pursuing that step even though Planned Parenthood received less than $1,000 in state money in each of the past five years.

However, Planned Parenthood says the cuts have had tangible impact in several states. It cites Indiana, saying funding cuts led to closure of a Planned Parenthood clinic that was the only HIV testing center in Scott County  the subsequent site of an HIV epidemic.

A look at some other states where defunding has had an impact:

___

TEXAS

Texas was one of the first states to target Planned Parenthood's funding, saying it would not send Medicaid funds to organizations that provided abortions. The Republican-led state government culminated a multiyear effort by ousting Planned Parenthood from the Texas Women's Health Program in 2013 and opting to fund the program entirely with state money so it would not run afoul of federal law.

Dr. Paul Fine, medical director of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said the move affected health screenings and contraceptive services for more than 13,000 low-income women, many of them in areas with limited health care alternatives.

Charitable donations covered some of the lost funding, Fine said, but overall Planned Parenthood has seen a shift to more patients paying in cash or relying on commercial health insurance.

John Seago, legislative director of Texas Right To Life, acknowledged there was a dip in the number of women served after Planned Parenthood was defunded. However, he said Texas has made progress in rebuilding a network of facilities that provide women's health care, with more providers now than in 2010.

Seago said he's encouraged that numerous other states have sought to defund Planned Parenthood, but noted that some have struggled with their tactics.

"Defunding Planned Parenthood is not an easy public policy goal," he said. "There are limits on what states can do. Some states have crossed that line and made mistakes."

In February, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine asserted that fewer women in Texas had obtained long-acting birth control after Planned Parenthood was ousted from the health program.

The study fueled a backlash. State Sen. Jane Nelson called it biased and misleading, and one of the co-authors left his job with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission after incurring criticism for his role.

___

WISCONSIN

In Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood has been the target of defunding efforts since Republican Gov. Scott Walker took office in 2011. Walker signed a bill that year eliminating all state funding for Planned Parenthood health centers, contributing to the closure of five rural clinics.

In February, Walker signed two bills that together are expected to cost Planned Parenthood $8 million per year in federal funds  including $3.5 million for family planning. The bills require state health officials to seek federal funding in the future on behalf of "less controversial providers."

Nicole Safar, government relations director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said her organization has not yet decided whether to challenge the bills in court.

If the cutbacks do take effect, Safar said, they would affect low-income women "who don't have anywhere else to go."

___

OHIO

Amid his presidential campaign, Ohio's GOP Gov. John Kasich signed a bill in February designed to strip about $1.3 million in government money from the state's Planned Parenthood affiliates. The funds, mostly federal, have supported HIV testing, promoted teen pregnancy prevention, and assisted nearly 2,800 new or expectant mothers last year.

Diego Espino, a vice president of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, said the cut would not force the organization to close any of its 28 health centers in the state.

"We're not going away," he said. "But this will deprive thousands of women of very essential services."

Stephanie Ranade Krider, who advocated for the funding cuts as executive director of Ohio Right to Life, said the political message was more important that the amount of the cutback.

"When we look at the whole picture, it's like a drop in the bucket," she said. "The public relations impact is much more significant  it makes a statement that Ohio will no longer be doing business with the abortion industry."
Why Redding is taking lead on state homeless program

The Housing and Homeless Incentive Program will help connect the unsheltered population with housing services and medical care.
U.S. Forest Service Capt. Ben Hendricks, center, oversees assistant engine operators Chris Gentry, right, and Nick Brewer, left, Tuesday during the North Zone Wildland Fire Engine Academy, an 80-hour course that exposes engine operators to all aspects of wildland fire engine operations.

SHARE Drivers make their way though a course during the North Zone Wildland Fire Engine Academy Tuesday in Anderson. Assistant engine operator Ryan Means watches as drivers negotiate a course during the North Zone Wildland Fire Engine Academy Tuesday in Anderson.

By Damon Arthur of the Redding Record Searchlight

Rains this winter and spring put a dent in the drought. Rainfall totals for the year are above normal and Lake Shasta is 91 percent full.

But the damage from four years of drought remains out in the forest, where hundreds of trees are dead and dying.

That could be a factor once fire season begins this summer, said Kerry Greene, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman at the Northern Operations Service Center in Redding.

Those dead trees could make fires burn hotter and faster, she said.

"I think the biggest challenges we are going to see this summer is the drought and tree mortality," Greene said.

The Forest Service has sent crews into the woods to remove some of those trees, she said.

Firefighters also are working this week to hone their skills ahead of the summer fires.

About 40 Forest Service firefighters from all over Northern California have been gathering daily at the former Shasta Paper Co. mill to sharpen their skills in operating fire engines and operating water pumps.

Operators of fire engines weighing as much as 31,000 pounds took turns running a timed defensive driving course lined with orange traffic cones. They had to get through the course in less than 25 seconds, but not faster than 20 seconds, said the Forest Service's Curt Stanley, who was the "incident commander" of the training.

They also worked on improving their skills in pumping water from a tank into their fire trucks and using two trucks to pump water farther up hills. All the skills are used during fire season, said Jake Bailey, an assistant fire engine operator on the Six Rivers National Forest.

For example, the driving course is good practice because fires can be chaotic with people on the move, he said.

"We have homeowners fleeing the scene, animals running out in the middle of the road getting in our way, always being on the lookout for children, animals  people just trying to get away" from fire, he said.

Stanley said the importance of the driver training is reflected in an incident last summer in Washington. A fire truck and crew on a fire went off the road into a ditch and flipped over on its side, he said.

One person got away but three others died when the fire burned over the truck, Stanley said.

"I think we're doing due diligence to get this training out there," Stanley said. "Those are the things we're trying to prevent," Stanley said.
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By Jenny Espino of the Redding Record Searchlight

Several dozen homes are set to be built in south Redding this year, and a new neighborhood may soon crop up on the east side.

The Redding Planning Commission on Tuesday approved maps for two new subdivisions, paving the way for construction of single-family homes on 52 lots.

Churn Creek Heights is a 3.5-acre parcel along Paulson Lane and north of Arizona Street that will be divided into 14 residential lots.

Waverly Manor is 14.5-acre parcel, just east of Eastside Road, where Jeb Allen of Palomar Builders plans to build 38 homes starting in mid-May.

"I plan on selling 15 houses this year," Allen said.

City planners presenting the maps told commissioners the two parcels have vegetation that developers plan to preserve.

Allen said on Monday he had taken a tour of the land that will be part of Waverly Manor and observed mature trees on about half of the lots as well as a row of trees that will be saved.

Lily Toy, a city planner, noted the elderberry shrubs that were found on site.

Also a detention basin in Churn Creek Heights, once a ranch owned by Ray Gordon, will be maintained by future homeowners through a landscape maintenance district.

The homes to be built at Waverly Manor will be between 1,800- and 2,200-square feet, Allen said. The model will be built first along with five other site-specific homes. All told, construction of the subdivision will be complete in 65 to 90 days, he anticipated.

The style of the single-story homes will be similar to those Allen has built at Shastina Ranch. Because each lot is about 80 feet wide, designs show homes having three-car garages.

Four residents raised concerns about increased traffic and the fate of mature trees.

Speed humps will be added on Star/Sacramento Drive to slow traffic down. When all the homes are built and sold, the development will add 136 trips per day on Star/Sacramento Drive and 226 trips on Waverly Avenue  figures that transportation engineers say are not expected to cause traffic congestion.

Commissioner Bert Meyer said he could see people opting to travel on Waverly after it opens instead of Star Drive to get to Eastside Road. "It's a lot quicker. It's making traffic better than worse as far as I'm concerned," Meyer said.

Development of the eastside neighborhood will require improvements to Paulson Lane, including a sidewalk on the east side of the street, while Gordon Lane will remain a private road. To that end, planner Zach Bonnin said the developer has agreed to build a fence and gate to limit access to Gordon Lane from the new subdivision.

A homeowner on Paulson Lane objected to the proposed fence, saying it would only invite vandalism and raise future maintenance questions. He said he and his neighbors had been waiting for Gordon Lane to be turned into a full city street.

But Chuck Aukland, assistant public works director, noted the city is not looking to turn a private road into a city street. Residents along Gordon Lane opposed public access on Gordon Lane when the previous map was done in 2004.

Allen noted Palomar Builders also is looking at a few other projects, including the 440-residential-unit Salt Creek Heights subdivision off Eureka Way.

Allen said the market needed to mature and his company is waiting for the Army Corps of Engineering permit to come through.

"Until all the big pieces get put together" we wait, he said, "maybe until late this year or next year."
<p>Aero and his handler, Anderson police officer Mike Hallagan, pose Wednesday at the Anderson Police Station.</p>

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A police dog that fell ill after a year-and-a-half on the job will return to duty, Anderson police say.

Aero, a police dog that was retired from duty in August after suffering masticatory muscle myosotis, will return to duty, Anderson police say.

The disease nearly killed the dog, but it has since made a recovery. Michael Johnson, Anderson's police chief, has previously said he was unsure whether the dog would be fit for all duties, such as apprehending suspects, just drug searches, or would have to stay in retirement.

It wasn't immediately clear what actions Aero will be expected to do.

A press conference is scheduled for Friday morning.

Check back as we update this story.
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By Nathan Solis of the Redding Record Searchlight

Shasta County supervisors voted to raise salaries for 138 employees at their meeting on Tuesday.

The raises will go into effect next week.

The resolution provides three pay increases over the next two years, which will cost the county about $865,000 in additional salary costs all together.

The new salaries are part of an agreement between the Shasta County Employee Association bargaining unit and the county, said Angela Davis, director of support services. A 3 percent pay increase will go into effect this month, with the next hikes coming Jan. 8, 2017 and Jan. 7, 2018.

Two percent of that first increase will go toward repaying the bargaining unit from a 2011 agreement in which workers agreed to pay all of their member contribution to the California Public Employees' Retirement System. They agreed to do that to avoid layoffs, according to county officials.

Other factors of the agreement approved on Tuesday include a 3 percent longevity pay stipend for employees who have worked for the county for at least 20 years, with at least three years in the bargaining unit.

Executive Officer Larry Lees said one component of the agreement will provide employees the option to enroll in a retiree medical benefit plan and it is an important step in covering the post-retirement medical liability for the county.

The county will contribute to this plan, which supervisor Leonard Moty said is a complete change to how the county will operate its post-employment benefits. Moty said this will make a long-term difference of millions of dollars.

"Tens of millions of dollars," said Lees, who added the plan will allow employees to put away money for their own medical needs in the future. The plan is expected to save the county money in the next 30 years as it closes the gap with its post-retirement pay. Lees said an actuarial study estimates the plan will save about $150 million for the county in the next 30 years.

"That's a huge benefit to the county. It's something that's extraordinary for the county's future," said Moty.

A previous 2 percent salary increase was approved by the board with the SCEA in 2013. The agreement provided all SCEA employees an increase effective June 28, 2015, and an increase to the county's contribution to employees' dependents' health plan effective Feb. 1, 2014.
Some of the people waiting to enter Washington, D.C.'s central library are homeless. A growing number of public libraries are trying to do more to help them. (Sophie Quinton/Pew Charitable Trusts)

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By Sophie Quinton, Stateline.org

WASHINGTON  Every weekday morning, people line up outside the central library in the nations capital and wait for it to open. On a recent Monday, about two dozen people, some carrying shopping bags or large backpacks, clustered around the entrance. At 9:30 sharp, the doors opened and they trooped in.

Public libraries have long been havens for people with nowhere else to go. Now, a growing number of library systems are adding services for patrons who are homeless, hungry, or suffering from drug addiction or mental illness. For the District of Columbia, that means hiring a social worker, partnering with nonprofits and organizing social hours.

The library can be part of the citys efforts to reduce homelessness, said Jean Badalamenti, the social worker for the system here. I see the library as playing a role in that, since this is where people are, she said.

Libraries in the Internet age offer more than books and computer access. On a typical day, Washingtons central library, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, less than a mile from the White House, hosts all types of events, from free tax preparation assistance for adults to poetry workshops for teens.

Increasingly, public libraries also are providing social services, such as serving children free lunches during the summer, said Sari Feldman, president of the American Library Association. Reaching out to patrons who dont have a safe place to sleep at night is part of that trend.

Libraries are safe, open for long hours, and offer everything from public bathrooms to a place for people to search for online job listings. I think libraries are fully equipped and ready to address community needs, and this is another community need, Feldman said.

Homelessness has fallen nationally since 2007. But in big cities such as Los Angeles, New York and Washington, the numbers keep rising, according to the latest federal statistics. One in a hundred Washington residents is homeless, according to the nonprofit Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments latest tally, and the homeless population has increased 11 percent since 2011.

Public libraries dont track patrons housing status, and librarians say theres no way to tell whether someone lacks housing just by looking at them. But many library regulars in low-income neighborhoods and central cities dont have a home or a job to go to.

Some patrons who lack housing also struggle with mental illness or addiction, and need more than a quiet place to study or read. They might have breakdowns in the reading room, start fights in the lobby or sneak into the bathroom to use drugs.

During the recession, behavioral incidents spiked in the main branch of the Salt Lake City Public Library, said Tommy Hamby, the librarys adult services coordinator. We saw a lot of what our manager called new homeless,  he said: panicked people who had just lost their homes and were in crisis mode.

Public libraries have expanded services in a number of ways. San Francisco was the first to hire a social worker, in 2009. Washington and Denver have followed suit. The Dallas Public Library has used grant money to station two AmeriCorps volunteers behind a help desk  as well as answering questions, they might help proofread resumes or help with food stamp applications  and to hire someone who refers patrons to social services.

In 2012, the Salt Lake City Public Library began stationing three outreach workers from Volunteers of America, Utah, a nonprofit, at its main branch. When that happened, it really, fundamentally changed the way we engaged with our patrons, Hamby said.

The outreach workers were trained to work with people experiencing mental illness, addiction and homelessness. They do everything from giving directions to nearby food banks to escorting victims of domestic violence to battered womens shelters and helping patrons get state ID cards. I helped a lady get a divorce decree once, said Ethan Sellers, who leads the Volunteers of America library team.

They also can step in to calm people in crisis and have trained library staff to do the same. Our police calls went down dramatically, our security calls dropped dramatically, Hamby said.

Effective programs also involve a philosophical shift. One of the first things the Dallas library did, for instance, was to require staff to take turns greeting all patrons at the door. Treating homeless people with respect was the first step, said Mary Jo Giudice, the library director.

Joe Borrego first walked into the Dallas library two Thanksgivings ago. Originally from South Dakota, he had lost his job in the oil fields, then fallen out with his brother and lost a place to stay.

A pamphlet distributed by the library help desk helped him figure out the basics, such as where to find food. But he says that encouragement from library staff did more to get his life back on track. Without that additional push, Id probably still be sitting there on the homeless side of things, Borrego, 37, said.

He started attending coffee hours the library arranges to help regular patrons and staff get to know each other. A lifelong guitar player, he started taking piano lessons  one of the arts classes the library introduced based on feedback from coffee hour attendees, most of whom are homeless.

Staff members encouraged him to show off his guitar skills at open mic nights around the city and to spend his nights at the Bridge, a homeless shelter and recovery program, rather than on the street.

Borrego said that the activities forced him to socialize and have faith in people again. Hes now working as a busker, playing guitar on street corners and earning enough money to pay rent on a shared apartment.

Washingtons library introduced coffee hours inspired by Dallas model in November. And San Franciscos library has found another way to welcome homeless patrons: by hiring them. Five people who are working their way out of homelessness now make rounds of the building, offering advice to their peers and helping enforce library rules.

Not every person who is homeless wants help. Some Dallas library patrons who are homeless mock the librarys efforts, Borrego said. And not every library can afford to hire a social worker, although most can bring in local community organizations for occasional workshops and events.

Libraries also have to contend with how the presence of down-and-out people can make some more affluent patrons uncomfortable. Take this online review of the Salt Lake City Public Librarys main branch, from a woman called Shauna: I dont feel comfortable walking outside by myself, especially at night, because of beggars and homeless people.

The Salt Lake library raised some eyebrows when, in 2014, it briefly considered staying open 24 hours a day to give residents a safe haven. Why not improve existing services for the homeless and return the downtown library to taxpayers, one Salt Lake Tribune reader commented. The idea was eventually rejected as too costly.

When Salt Lakes librarians hear those kinds of complaints they explain that libraries are open to everyone, including people who dont have a home, Hamby said.

Some patrons conflate homelessness with other issues, Dallas Giudice said. The people who live downtown are constantly accosted by people panhandling  which is illegal in Dallas. But thats not something that happens in the library, and street beggars arent necessarily homeless.

The Dallas library had a daylong forum for area residents, business owners and patrons experiencing homelessness last May and will have another, focused on mental illness, this year.

Libraries do have codes of conduct that allow them to temporarily eject or suspend patrons for minor offenses, such as falling asleep or smelling bad, and to ban them for longer periods for serious offenses, such as doing drugs.

But public libraries are public spaces, and library staff members like Washingtons Badalamenti want to preserve that. The public library is one of the last places where people from all different backgrounds can be together, she said.

At the end of this year, Washingtons central library will shut its doors for a major renovation. Its unclear where many patrons will go during the three-year overhaul  or where city vans that transport people downtown from far-flung homeless shelters will stop.

The librarys jutting upper floors create a covered, outdoor space thats a perfect drop-off point. From here, homeless people can easily fan out across the city in search of free meals, some money or their case workers.

Families can stay in Washingtons homeless shelters 24 hours a day, and the city maintains a drop-in day center for individuals in the Northeast of the city, near the National Arboretum. There isnt a plan to open more such day centers, said Dora Taylor, public information officer for the Department of Human Services.



2016 Stateline.org

Visit Stateline.org at www.stateline.org

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By Kate Ackley, CQ-Roll Call

WASHINGTON  An election cycle thats produced Donald Trumps hard-line immigration policies and anti-gay rights laws in Republican-led states such as North Carolina and Mississippi has put corporate America in a tight spot, questioning whether the GOP still speaks for its interests.

More than 100 companies  including Northrop Grumman, Intel and Coca-Cola  have called on North Carolina and Mississippi to repeal their new laws, putting the businesses more in line with the Democratic Party on gay rights.

At the same time, the nations biggest business lobby, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has spent all of its nearly $5.5 million in independent expenditures helping Republican candidates, according to Federal Election Commission data, indicating that Republican orthodoxy on taxes and regulations still takes precedence over social issues.

Its somewhere between a minefield and a giant slalom, said Doug Pinkham, president of the Public Affairs Council, which represents lobbying and public relations executives from some of the nations biggest corporations. Its not something you can navigate because that assumes there is a passageway.

Ex-Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-Pa., who runs the Business-Industry Political Action Committee, calls the political year messy, it is ugly, its one for the books. Theres a lot of nervousness from the business community.

Though the Business-Industry PAC has endorsed a slate of 13 House and Senate Republicans, Gerlach said he expects the nonpartisan group will back Democrats, too.

Im not sure parties are in control anymore, he said. Its all individual performance.

The divide between corporate America and socially conservative factions within the GOP has given Democrats an opening.

Steve Elmendorf, a co-founder of the lobbying and communications firm Subject Matter and a supporter of Democrat Hillary Clintons presidential campaign, said the problem many businesses have is they believe in diversity and international engagement, and the Republican Party is increasingly becoming a party against diversity and engagement with the world.

Companies are skittish of Trumps call to build a wall along the Mexican border, impose new tariffs on China and to temporarily ban Muslims from the United States. Activists have targeted corporations, such as Coca-Cola and Google, for their sponsorship of the Republican National Convention and are trying to scare them away from what they portray as this years Donald Trump Show planned for Cleveland in July.

Coca-Cola and Google didnt respond to requests for comment.

The U.S. chamber does not engage in social issues, a spokeswoman, Blair Latoff Holmes, said in an email. For that reason, the new law in North Carolina and the more sweeping Mississippi one, both regulating bathroom-use for transgender people, do not factor in the groups decisions.

Our goal this cycle is to protect pro-business gains we made in the House and Senate in 2014 and advance our policy agenda that will lead to more jobs and economic growth, Latoff Holmes said.

Republican senators in tough races this year, including Sens. Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mark S. Kirk of Illinois and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, have benefited from the chambers political cash, so far.

The organization isnt alone in targeting such tough contests.

Its no secret, we are deeply engaged in the political process, said Juanita Duggan, president of the National Federation of Independent Business. The group hasnt yet unleashed its outside ads but plans to support vulnerable Republican incumbents such as Toomey and Ayotte.

Our members tell us whats important, and its regulation, health care, taxes, labor issues, Duggan said.

Still, GOP insiders say the partys business wing has lost touch with grass-roots voters who are fueling the presidential candidacies of Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

The business community has been misaligned with the GOP for a long time, said John Feehery, a Republican lobbyist with QGA Government Affairs. Business leaders must win the Republican Party because the Democrats are always going to be more anti-business, though it doesnt seem like it now.  The business community has got to be more engaged at the grass-roots level in making the sell of their policies.

Some companies are reassessing their policy goals, and trying to figure out how to pursue them while also keeping their brands untarnished by political rhetoric, said Pinkham of the Public Affairs Council.

He said corporations were asking themselves: Are you going to be accused of somehow supporting a candidate when what youre trying to do is increase awareness of your cause, your industry, your company?

Gay rights have become a core issue for Fortune 500 companies eager to keep their customer bases and not alienate prominent voting blocs.

While the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group, has endorsed Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, for president, the organization said its issues transcend partisan politics.

We are seeing a very robust and swift response from the business community against these anti-LGBT bills and the simple reason is theyre not only wrong, theyre bad for business, said Deena Fidas, director of the groups workplace equality program.

That response, Fidas added, is the result of the organization working directly with major corporations over the last 15 years to put in place nondiscrimination policies. Their efforts may provide a template for other activist organizations to follow  lobby companies to make changes themselves and wait for policy makers to catch up.



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We hear many fallacies in election years. The fallacy that seems to be most popular this year is that, if Donald Trump comes close to getting the 1,237 delegates required to become the Republican nominee, and that nomination goes instead to someone else, then the convention will have ignored "the voice of the people."

Supposedly Republican voters would be outraged, many would stay home on election day, and some might even vote for the Democrats' nominee, whether Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.

Mr. Trump has more than once made the veiled threat that he would run as a third-party candidate if the Republicans failed to "respect" him. And of course Trump would himself decide what "respect" means.

Insofar as the voting public believes the fallacy that choosing someone other than Trump is ignoring "the voice of the people," when Trump has the most delegates, his threat carries weight.

In reality, Trump has never gotten a majority of the votes in any of the Republican states. In other words, "the voice of the people" has been consistently against nominating Trump.

In a poll of Republican voters in Wisconsin, 20 percent of them said that they would be "concerned" if Trump became President of the United States, and 35 percent said that they would be "scared."

If "the voice of the people" has spoken, whether in Wisconsin or nationally, what it has said repeatedly is "No" to Donald Trump. The illusion of Trump's overwhelming appeal to the Republican voters has been maintained by the fragmenting of Republican votes because so many candidates were running as conservatives that Trump won primaries without ever getting a majority of the votes.

This would not be the first time that the conservative majority votes in a Republican primary season have been split so many ways that someone who is not a conservative ends up with the nomination.

That is how the Republicans ended up with Mitt Romney in 2012 and lost the election. That is also how the Republicans can end up with Donald Trump and lose this year's election. Worse yet, from the standpoint of the country, that is how Donald Trump might end up in the White House.

The Republicans in Wisconsin who were scared of the possibility of Trump as President were on to something. We should all be scared.

Why? There is not room enough to list all the reasons. But Trump himself has demonstrated, over and over, how he lacks the depth of knowledge  and sometimes any knowledge at all  of complex life and death issues that are inescapable for any President of the United States.

Ignorance is dangerous enough in itself. But ignorance on the part of an egomaniac, who announces that he is his own best adviser, is incorrigible ignorance. He can surround himself with the best minds in the country and it will not do any good if they are just there for window dressing.

Barack Obama has already demonstrated what disasters a President can create when he ignores the warnings of the country's top military leaders, as he did when he pulled American troops out of Iraq, setting the stage for the emergence of ISIS.

Obama dealt with that problem, as he has dealt with other problems, by coming up with glib rhetoric  in this case, dismissing ISIS as the junior varsity. The horrors that have followed  especially for women and girls  wherever ISIS has taken over in the Middle East make Obama's slick words grotesque.

So too do the terrorist slaughters in Europe that are virtually guaranteed to be repeated in America.

The unprecedented public criticisms of President Obama by four of his former Secretaries of Defense, not to mention retired four-star generals, demonstrate that having knowledgeable and experienced advisers cannot make up for headstrong ignorance on the part of a President.

A headline on Bret Stephens' column in The Wall Street Journal -- "Trump Is Obama Squared" -- hit the nail on the head. After seven long years of disaster after disaster, at home and abroad, under the Obama administration, have we learned nothing about the dangers of choosing an untested candidate for President of the United States on the basis of his saying things we want to hear?

Elections are not held to make us feel good at the time, but to select someone with the depth of knowledge and character to be entrusted with our lives and the future of the nation.

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com.
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The focus of the presidential primary campaign has suddenly shifted. With weeks left, candidates sadly seem to be arguing less over the issues than the intricacies of each state's nomination process.

Republican front-runner Donald Trump and his supporters are upset that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is wooing delegates while he woos voters; a top Trump aide accused Cruz of " Gestapo tactics " in corralling delegates in Colorado. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and her supporters are upset that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is questioning whether she's " qualified " to be president so late in the campaign with the big haul of New York's delegates up next, potentially weakening her for a runoff against the GOP. Meanwhile, Sanders and his supporters are upset that Clinton is relying on superdelegates  unelected delegates whose votes are essentially subject to persuasion  to land the nomination.

The gall. They're all actually trying to become the party nominee  by actually playing party politics. It's a messy, arcane and even absurd process, but it is what it is. People who want to change it, starting with the candidates themselves, need to realize the system is the system.

That matters more than ever this year because California is not only in play but potentially decisive in both campaigns, and voters need to understand a nuanced process.

Let us explain.

Each state sets up the way in which it awards delegates in presidential politics. We won't try to explain Colorado's complex approach, but we will explain how California doles out its delegates.

On the Republican side, 172 delegates are awarded, more than any other state and about 14 percent of what's needed to secure the nomination, three each to the winner in each of California's 53 congressional districts and another 13 to whoever wins the state. That puts a premium on strategy and means heavily Democratic districts might actually be most important to candidates because fewer Republican residents means fewer votes are needed to secure a victory. Strategically, it incentivizes a ground game in a state made less for retail politicking than statewide television and radio campaigns.

On the Democratic side, the delegate math is less straightforward though the haul is similarly huge: The state awards 546 delegates to Democrats, the largest of any state and nearly a quarter of what's needed to win the nomination. Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton this week called the Democrats' delegate distribution " the politically smart thing " because "they reward party loyalty" by basing each district's delegate number on "its past support of Democratic presidential candidates."

Per Skelton, this means that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's district hands out nine delegates based on each candidate's vote totals while House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy  the state's top Republican  hands out only five. Further complicating the math, delegates are awarded like so: 317 by district, 105 at-large statewide, 53 to party leaders and 71 as unpledged superdelegates.

There's plenty of time to learn more about the system and the candidates before California votes on June 7  whether they criticize it or each other.

Just wait until everyone shifts focus to the November election and scratches their heads over the Electoral College before another four-year reprieve.

The San Diego Union-Tribune
Former head of McKinsey & Co,c, is not alone in writing a book on his life after serving a prison term.

Image: Rajat Gupta Gupta's memoir would detail his rise and fall in the United States and how he landed up in a New York prison. Photograph: Reuters

Here are a few other businessmen who were convicted or facing trial for various crimes but went on to write books after their prison terms:

RAJAT GUPTA

Rajat Gupta - a director in Goldman Sachs board - was convicted in 2012 for passing on confidential boardroom information to his one-time friend and business associate and stock trader, Raj Rajaratnam.



Gupta's memoir would detail his rise and fall as a top corporate honcho in the United States and how he landed up in a New York prison.

Image: Jordan Belfort's brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont defrauded investors through sales of stock. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters

JORDAN BELFORT

A former stock broker, Jordan Belfort is well-known for being portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in 2014 Hollywood grosser The Wolf of Wall Street.

Belfort's brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont defrauded investors through sales of stock.

The firm was busted in 1998, and Belfort was charged with money laundering and fraud.

After his release, Belfort wrote his memoir which went on to become one of the biggest Hollywood hits in 2014.

Image: Jack Abramoff was sentenced to six years in federal prison for mail fraud, conspiracy to bribe public officials, and tax evasion. Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

JACK ABRAMOFF

A former businessman, Jack Abramoff was sentenced to six years in federal prison for mail fraud, conspiracy to bribe public officials, and tax evasion.

He served 43 months before being released in December 2010.

After his release, Abramoff wrote the autobiographical book Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Corruption From America's Most Notorious Lobbyist - published in November 2011.

Image: The Life Mantras is the first book in the Thoughts from Tihar trilogy from Subrata Roy. Photograph: Reuters

SUBRATA ROY

In February this year, Sahara group announced that the group's founder Subrata Roy wrote a philosophical book on his experiences and observations on the day-to-day issues of people.

The Life Mantras is the first book in the Thoughts from Tihar trilogy from Roy.

Roy is lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail since 2014 after he failed to raise Rs 10,000 crore deposit for his release.
'We always like to believe that it's the politicians who impose such bans.'

'But it's the womenfolk of Bihar who made Nitish Kumar enact the ban, so he was forced to implement it,' says Ashis Nandy.

In Bihar, with the implementation of the Bihar Excise (Amendment) Bill 2016, one can now be jailed for up to seven years for consuming alcohol. And, those found making or selling alcohol could invite the death penalty.

As Bihar goes dry, social theorist Ashis Nandy sheds light on prohibition and its consequences in an interview to Nikita Puri.

How effective is a complete ban on alcohol?

The results of such a ban vary from place to place -- you'll see different effects of it abroad and different results in the India of 2016.

A complete ban is usually not effective, but it might have other benefits.

Three generations have passed with the ban in place in Gujarat and now people have become accustomed to living without alcohol. This has, in turn, done the state a lot of good. The rules have, in fact, become relaxed since the time I was a student there a long time ago.

We always like to believe that it's the politicians who impose such bans. People like Morarji Desai have insisted on this. But it's the womenfolk of Bihar who made Nitish Kumar enact the ban, so he was forced to implement it.

Wouldn't such a ban boost the illicit underground industry? Gujarat's example bears witness to this.

Of course liquor will be available everywhere. But to support an underground industry, you need moneyed people. And the problem is not with them, the problem is with the working class -- those who get a day's wages and blow it up before reaching home.

I completely agree that despite the ban in Gujarat, you can still get alcohol. I have availed of that service myself a long time ago.

That, however, doesn't blind me to the fact that this is a moral issue because the women in Bihar feel very strongly about banning alcohol, the effects of which have taken a large toll on their lives.

Once, I had to buy tobacco for something like $50 for 200 grams abroad. That's almost like banning it. Like it's done with cigarettes, the state government could have also increased the price of alcohol.

But in the case of alcohol, it's very difficult to control supply. If you price it too high, it does increase the attraction for hooch and illegally home-distilled stuff.

What is India's track record with prohibition?

We have a mixed record. And I don't believe that this law will make the state happier and healthier overnight.

Many states have not been able to sustain such a ban, but it has yielded benefits for some. Gujarat is an example. Tamil Nadu also had a bit of success for quite a while, but now it has faltered again.

While judging poorer states, we have to take into account people's demand for security against a certain kind of abuse of one's body.

It is true that a lot of people in Bihar have suffered for a long time, especially women. Their husbands go and drink every evening. These men work in such back-breaking industries that they feel they cannot do without some alcohol at the end of the day. But this costs the family; it costs the women and children.

Reportedly people are eating everything -- from chillies to soap -- to get a high. What are the short-and long-term effects of such a ban?

Such behaviour is expected. It happens even when you force people to give up drugs. But even if you relax the rules in, say 30, 40 years, things would have changed because by then many of the families would have seen prosperity without alcohol.

Children will also be exposed to a different kind of socialisation. I don't see drunkenness in Gujarat at all and now any non-Gujarati can go and get a permit after rules have been relaxed. The dependence on alcohol can shift to something else though.

I'm not sure how they'll handle the tribal population and those at the bottom of the society in Bihar though, because they have an affinity towards natural alcoholic products.

Bihar is a backward state and there are communities that are not just marginalised, but they also live on the margins of starvation.

I'm sure the authorities are also aware that there will be some leakage at the bottom of the society. Even so, they should do this experiment.

IMAGE: Women voters after casting their votes for the Bihar assembly election in Begusarai. Photograph: PTI. Photograph published only for representational purposes.
IMAGE: A Dassault Rafale combat aircraft seen during Aero India 2013 at the Yelahanka air force station on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Photograph: Reuters

'Let us remember that Make in India for defence must not be our goal.'

'The goal is to have a strong military to help the nation protect its identity and assert its will,' says Air Marshal P V Athawale (retd).

Years ago, a Swamiji was invited by the College of Defence Management as a part of a series of guest lectures. What stayed with me was his analogy for human behaviour. He spoke about the two distinctive human behavioural patterns -- the 'dog pattern' and the 'cat pattern.'

A dog and a cat lived in each other's neighbourhood. Both were happy in their respective lives. The dog said, 'I am happy; my master looks after me very well -- he is God.' The cat was different. He said, 'I am happy; my master looks after me very well because I am God.'

Ever since, I have looked at different situations of conflict with Swamji's wisdom. Everything falls into place once we appreciate the patterns of human behaviour where some people or organisations expect others to submit to them. I call it the 'I am God' syndrome.

When interacting elements begin to believe that 'I am God,' despite each one meaning well, the result is a lack of synergy and non-accomplishment. This is what happens between the players that aspire to build indigenous capability for the Indian armed forces.

People often cite the development of space capability and the accomplishments in atomic energy and exclaim, 'If they can do this, why not defence!' They overlook the unity of direction in those domains -- the designer, developer, user and maintainer being under the control of a single agency.

The military capability of a nation rests on a triangular base. The three pillars are:

The armed forces on the basis of assets and training/preparation;

Research and development capability;

Manufacturing/industrial capacity.

The military could also be classified into three distinct classes on the basis of its influence: Local, regional and global. However proficient a fighting force be, its reach will be localised if the nation's R&D and industrial capability are insignificant.

For a nation to aspire to enhance its military influence to the regional level, it has to progressively improve its industrial capability.

Finally, any military can have global influence only if the nation's R&D and industry are dominant players with a cutting edge over adversaries. This gives its military the first use of best weapon systems to develop operational concepts and tactics ahead of other nations.

Let us remember that Make in India for defence must not be our goal. The goal is to have a strong military to help the nation protect its identity and assert its will. Enhanced indigenous industrial capability is a prerequisite for the nation's military to be reliable and effective in times of crisis.

Therefore, indigenous design/development and manufacturing capability are necessary conditions to achieve the goal of maintaining a powerful military force. This simply means that Make in India cannot be forced upon the military without ensuring that it meets the requirements.

In a recent discussion on the subject at IIT-Roorkee, the defence minister pointed out the prerequisite by saying that 'the needs of the armed forces cannot be overlooked.'

Each of the three pillars or components of military capability (Armed forces, R&D, and industrial capacity) are often measured for performance in isolation. Consequently, each one strives to maximise its performance in seclusion. It is convenient to work independently towards a localised objective.

The industry (mainly defence PSUs) have made profits through licensed manufacturing, while progressively reducing the design & development effort -- the local measures of production and profits have been well satisfied.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation, satisfied in accomplishing programmes which permit autonomy in execution, have given little of significance to military aviation's requirements. Both DRDO and defence PSUs view the armed forces' penchant for foreign systems as a problem.

The armed forces, who carry the ultimate responsibility, justify foreign purchases because of the lack of availability of indigenously developed state-of-the-art weapon systems.

Strategic thinkers often wonder why we cannot produce indigenous designs today, when we (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) had produced an indigenously designed and developed multi-role fighter aircraft (HF-24 Marut) in the early 1960s.

Back then, DRDO hadn't quite grown and HAL's top management was deputed from the air force. These situations are not relevant to the size of these organisations and the expected performance from defence R&D and industry today. The fact is that the unified direction and control of those times was vital in creating the HF-24 Marut.

Both DRDO and HAL are now big empires; Gods in their own right, who desire submission by their clients and acceptance of their products as a mark of appreciation for their hard work. It is not uncommon to hear expressions like 'The air force would keep asking for more, but had to be directed to accept!'

On its part, the air force is not happy to compromise specs -- there is a limit to which the genius of our pilots can offset our aircraft deficiencies compared to adversaries.

When the old specs are nearly met a decade later, the world has moved on and those specs now fall short of the air force's current expectations. And the process goes on.

As a solution, the air force looks for more control and makes futile attempts to make the impossible happen -- have an air force pilot as the chairman of HAL.

Every player in the arena has noble intentions towards making the nation stronger. However, each one's perception of the requirements is different. These perceptions differ because they are based on inappropriate assumptions to satisfy local measures.

The result is that we have three Gods to be brought together (in addition to the much needed private industry).

The solution is not 'win-win' -- no one should be forced into compromises. Industry shouldn't be made to wait endlessly for products to be put to use. There is no short cut to development of hi-tech systems.

Our own armed forces have to use indigenous systems at intermediate stages of technological development for products to mature and be counted among the best in the world. At the same time, the armed forces need for state-of-the-art should be acknowledged before jeopardising acquisitions in view of unrealistic assurances of indigenous development timeframes.

The 'I am God' syndrome won't permit us to Make in India until all agencies come together to find this win-win solution.

The defence minister may consider the appointment of a coordination group consisting of those with techno-military acumen to facilitate synergy to advise him directly without the bureaucracy stepping in as another super God.

Air Marshal P V Athawale (retd) is the former Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Maintenance Command, Indian Air Force.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi in pressing for concrete action by the global community against the threat of terrorism against the backdrop of attacks in Paris, Brussels and Pathankot.

"Met the former President of France, Mr. @NicolasSarkozy," Modi tweeted along with a photograph of shaking hands with the former French President.

A statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office later said that Modi and Sarkozy condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Pathankot, Brussels and other parts of the world, and called for concrete action by the global community against the threat of terrorism.

Sarkozy congratulated Modi for the positive role played by India for the success of COP-21 Summit in Paris last year, it added.

The prime minister also congratulated Sarkozy on the publication and success of his recent book, 'La France pour la vie'.

Earlier, Sarkozy met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during which they discussed challenge of combating terrorism and reform of UN Security Council.

He conveyed to Swaraj that not making India a permanent member of the UN Security Council would be "an error".

"Always time for an old friend of India. EAM receives former French Prez @NicolasSarkozy at Hyderabad House," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Sarkozy was President of France from 2007 to 2012 during which ties between the two countries witnessed an upswing.

Image: PM Narendra Modi shakes hand with Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Photograph: PIB
India on Wednesday asked its acting high commissioner in Islamabad to seek a meeting with the Pakistan foreign office in connection with the death of an Indian under mysterious circumstances in a jail there.

The envoy has also been instructed to seek early transfer of the mortal remains of Kirpal Singh, who was found dead in his cell in a Lahore Jail where he was languishing for over 20 years in connection with a serial blasts case there.

"On Kirpal Singh, our acting high commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in Pakistan foreign office on Wednesday forenoon to seek early transportation of Singh's mortal remains.

"He will also seek official information on the cause of the death and postmortem report etc," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swaroop said.

Kirpal Singh, 50, was languishing in a Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges and was found dead in his cell on Monday under mysterious circumstances.

Kirpal Singh had allegedly crossed Wagah border into Pakistan in 1992 and was arrested. He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of bomb blast charges by the Lahore high court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons.

Jagir Kaur, Kirpal's sister, earlier said the family could not raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case.

Image: Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur comforting Kirpal's sister Jagir Kaur.
British royal couple Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton on Thursday visited the Kaziranga National Park in a jeep safari.

ENTER THE ANIMAL KINGDOM: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and his wife Catherine help out in feeding baby elephants at the Kaziranga National Park in Assam. Photograph: Heathcliff O'Malley/ Getty Images

Wearing the Assamese honour scarf bihuwan, they sat in an open jeep with security vehicles escorting them into the Bagori range of the world heritage site known for one-horned rhinos.

They also went to the Dunga and Rowmari Forest camps mostly inhabitated by rhinos and tigers in the park.

LOOK AT THE ANIMALS, HONEY: Prince William points his wife Catherine to a wild animal at the National Park. Photograph: Heathcliff O'Malley/ Getty Images

After they came out of the park, officials accompanying the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge briefed the waiting journalists at the gate of KNP saying the couple saw rhinos, buck deer, buffaloes and many other animals.

I'M A BIG EATER: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, feeds a baby elephant at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation at Panbari reserve forest in Kaziranga. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/ Reuters

They had breakfast at Bimoli camp and interacted with the KNP frontline staff asking about the habits of rhinos and elephants, the officials said.

RHINO RECREATION: Kate pats the back of baby rhino. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/ Reuters

They also enquired about the anti-poaching measures and if they were satisfied with the efforts.

Prince William enquired about the challenges they faced in their efforts to keep the animals safe from poachers and if they required superior weapons.

JUST LIKE JUNGLE BOOK: Kate feeds a baby rhino. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/ Reuters

The Duke and Dutchess also asked about the families of the forest personnel, they said.

The couple was informed about forest conservation efforts and anti-poaching measures adopted to reduce the killing of rhinos by poachers.

EVEN A PRINCE BOWS DOWN TO ME: Prince William bends down to feed milk to a baby elephant. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/ Reuters

Before setting out on the safari, the royal couple was welcomed in front of the Kaziranga Infomation Centre by Principal Chief Conservator of Forest O P Pandey and Additional PCCF N K Yadav with the traditional bihuwan.

They read in detail the map of the park and information about the animals with senior forest officials explaining to them where the animals could be spotted.

ALL SMILES: Kate and William share a light moment during the safari through Kaziranga National Park. Photograph: Heathcliff O'Malley/ Getty Images

The royal couple had on Wednesday arrived at Tezpur on a two-day visit.

After a 90-minute drive from Tezpur Airport, they came to the Diphlu River Lodge in Kaziranga where they were entertained with Assam's folk dance Bihu and Jhumur dance of the tea tribes.

CEREMONY ABOUND: The royal couple was honoured with the Assamese scarf bihuwan. Photograph: Heathcliff O'Malley/ Getty Images

Before the dance performances started, they observed the tradition of offering a 'horai' (bell metal plate with a stand) of 'paan-tambul' (betel nuts) with 'dokhina' (offerings) to the 'Gurujona' (God) for peace and prosperity of all.

The Duke and Duchess interacted with the dancers, drum players and pepa (local flute) players and Prince William even attempted to blow a pepa.

BETTER THAN A CONVERTIBLE: Prince William and his wife Kate enjoyed the safari whilst riding on an open jeep. Photograph: Heathcliff O'Malley/ Getty Images

He asked one pepa player Ankur Phukan from the bihu troupe at what age he started playing the instrument.

Before setting out on the safari, they soaked in the view from the sight seeing tower of the Diflu River Lodge while having their morning tea.

EYE TO EYE: 'We're all safe' Kate is said to have told her husband William as the adventurous safari ride came to its conclusion. Photograph: PTI

Both the Duke and Duchess are scheduled to visit the Kaziranga Discovery Centre, where the Mark Shand Asian Elephant Learning Centre is situated, to see and know the activities of the Captive Elephant Clinic which completed 4883 cases.

The royal couple will also be briefed about efforts to protect the Asian Elephants by the local people of Rong Terang village, considered friends of Mark Roland Shand, a renowned travel writer and conservationist.

BORN TO BE WILD: William, a keen conservationist and president of the United for Wildlife conservation group, has long wanted to visit Kaziranga . Photograph: Heathcliff O'Malley/ Getty Images

Shand was the brother of Duchess of Cornwall Camilla and the co-founder of the Foundation of Elephant Family in 2002.
Presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Wednesday accused the Republican establishment of stacking primary rules against him to stop him from clinching the party's nomination for the White House.

"I know the rules very well, but I know that it's stacked against me by the establishment," Trump, 69, told CNN during a town hall.

He alleged that in some states despite him getting most of the votes his main Republican rival Ted Cruz is getting more delegates. Similarly, he alleged that the Democrats have stacked rules against its presidential candidate Bernie Sanders so as to ensure that their favourite Hillary Clinton gets the nomination.

"It's stacked against him. It really is. It's stacked against him. In his case, it's super-delegates. In my case, it's the obvious. But it's stacked against him," he said.

Trump currently has 755 delegates, while Senator Ted Cruz has 545 delegates against the required 1,237 delegates to win the party's nomination.

Trump has now set his eyes on the presidential primary in New York where, as per the latest polls, he is leading by more than 40 points.

Trump said if elected he would make great deals on trade. He also exuded confidence that he would be able to get 1,237 delegates before the party's convention.

"I think we're going to do very well in New York. Some of the states around that we're going to be in next. I think we should do really well in California. I think we'll get to the 1,237," he said.

Image: Presidential front-runner Donald Trump with his wife Melania at a town hall meet in New York. Photograph: Screengrab
Two of the accused in the alleged sexual assault and death of an Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA's sister surrendered before the Bhojpur district court on Wednesday, while three others are still at large.

Mithilesh Singh and Santosh Singh surrendered before the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate who remanded them to judicial custody.

Besides the two, three unknown persons have been made accused in the case registered with the Chandi police station of Bhojpur district. They are yet to be arrested.

Deputy Inspector General of Police A Rahman has been camping at Ara to supervise the case.

"No accused will be spared," the DIG said.

RJD MLA Saroj Yadav's elder sister was allegedly sexually assaulted and badly beaten up by the accused on April 9. She died during treatment in Patna Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday.

Talking to mediapersons at Ara, the RJD MLA from Barhara demanded stern action against the outgoing Bhojpur Superintendent of Police Navin Chandra Jha for allegedly showing leniency in the case.

Describing the incident as "serious", senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said that the crime took place as the police was busy implementing the alcohol ban in the state. BJP MLA Nitin Navin echoed the views.

Former Chief Minister and RJD leader Rabri Devi said that law would take its own course and sought adequate compensation for kin of the victim.

Janata Dal-United spokesman Ajay Alok expressed sorrow over the episode and said that the law would not spare any wrongdoer.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh
Big companies are not infallible. And the prestigious auction house Christie's, the oldest and most important in the world, is no exception. This Thursday at 2 pm, local time, at its headquarters in Rockefeller Plaza, in New York, Christie's will auction a batch comprising 150 artworks. One of the artworks is a panel dated from the 16th century property of a private collection in Canada and it's attributed innacurely to the catalan painter Gabriel Guardia. The estimated cost is $100,000 (88,000 euros).

Not only is incorrect the attribution of the panel to Guardia. The description of the piece speaks about the similarities of this panel with another piece of Guardia's work, that it has been revealed not to be a Guardia's work, neither. The text refers to the altar of the Holy Trinity which is at the Church of Santa Maria de La Seu, located at Manresa, a city near Barcelona. The monk of the Montserrat Abbey Francesc Xavier Altea, who died in 2014, discovered in 2008 that the real author was Antoni Marques, also Catalan.

In the profile of the piece, Christie's includes an annex that goes a bit unnoticed and that points into the right direction. It says that Dr. Santiago Alcolea has informed the auction house that this painting is from Joan Gasco. Reached by phone by Regio7, the local daily paper, Alcolea, the director of the Institute Foundation of Hispanic Art Amatller, explains that the discovery was made in the nineties "looking to Gasco other works" and comparing them with the piece attributed to Guardia. He also provides information not included by Christie's about the stay on the piece in the gallery Fischer of Zurich, where it would be auctioned between 23rd and 26th August of 1939. In 1983 and 1997, the piece was auctioned again.

Despite considering the note of Alcolea, the famous auction house continues to attribute the artwork to Guardia and not to Joan Gasco. Consulted by this newspaper on this assignment, Rafael Cornudella, Professor of Art History at UAB, confirmed he agrees with the assessment of Alcolea. He explains that "the antique dealers often use the opinion of the art historian Chandler R. Post, the author of "A History of Spanish Painting" and regrets that his work is not contrasted with newer historiographers discoveries.

Cornudella adds that "another proof of the lack of specific knowledge of Catalan painting is the fact that Christie's editor sheet ignores the contribution that a few years ago did Francis Xavier Altes documenting the altarpiece of Manresa as an Antoni Marques' work". The expert explains that the first contract between the owners of the artwork and Guardia in 1501 didn't work and then they contacted to Antoni Marques in 1506, who signed the paint.
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.
Members of the premier concert choirs from Abilene and Cooper high schools will be up-close and familiar with the works of Foreigner on Sunday night at the Taylor County Expo Center.

Abilene High School's Pure Gold and Cooper High's Red, Rhythm & Blues are gearing up for the experience of a lifetime when they join forces to support the rock band on one of its best-known songs, "I Want To Know What Love Is." Other hits by the band in 1970s and '80s include "Cold as Ice" and "Waiting for a Girl Like You."

"I'm going to be so nervous," said AHS senior Cheyenne Vinita, a member of Pure Gold. "We sang with the Philharmonic and since that was a professional orchestra, we thought that was as big as it gets. But when we heard we were going to be singing with Foreigner, it doesn't get any bigger."

There's a bit of a generational gap between band members and students. Some students, including Vinita and her cousin, Nate Donnelly, a junior in Pure Gold, love Foreigner. Others, including Cooper junior Griffin Jones, aren't as up on the band's history.

Sunday night's opportunity sometimes means more to the parents of students, as Shelby Walker, a Cooper senior, discovered.

"It was the musical 'Rock of Ages' that introduced me to Foreigner," Walker said. "But my parents really freaked out when I told them we were performing. I heard my dad in the background (on the phone) yelling 'Ahhhh.'"

Foreigner has teamed up with the Grammy Foundation to form a Music in Schools project to promote music education. At the concert, the students will be selling Foreigner's greatest hits album, with all proceeds going to the project.

The band then will donate $250 to Abilene High and Cooper for music education and fine arts.

Foreigner has provided the opportunity to several schools.

"I have a friend in Minnesota, a teacher, whose students did the same thing when Foreigner played there," Stephanie Mouat, director of Pure Gold, said. "(The teacher) sent us a clip of the kids singing with them and it was awesome. It's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them."

It doesn't take a lot of preparation for students to go out and sing the chorus to one Foreigner song, especially one as well known as "I Want To Know What Love Is." So the students still are hard at work getting their spring choral routines figured out.

Finding inspiration for their selections wasn't hard, especially for Cara Naizer, director of Red, Rhythm & Blues. She said the opportunity with Foreigner helped her decide what songs would make the choir's performance pop this year.

"This experience inspired me to select a Journey medley for our spring show," Naizer said. "These kids, growing up as they have, know these songs because they can go on YouTube and look them up very easily. It's going to be a fun show."

Pure Gold will perform its spring show May 6. Red, Rhythm & Blues will perform its show May 13-14. More information on the performances will be available on the Abilene Independent School District's website, www.abileneisd.org.

Twitter: @TimothyChippARN
Dyess Air Force Base announced it elevated its Force Protection Condition as part of a planned exercise, according to a media release Tuesday.

The 7th Bomb Wing went from FPCON Bravo, which is when "an increased or more predictable threat of terrorist activity exists," to FPCON Charlie, which is when "an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating that some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely."

In the release, Dyess states the FPCON level elevation does not mean there is an increased or specific threat directed toward Dyess Air Force Base or the Abilene community.

The FPCON system, directed by the Department of Defense, has five conditions to describe the level of terrorist threat against military facilities and personnel. It also explains the force protection and antiterrorism measures taken by security agencies.
Mark and Meredith Powell presented a check for $40,977 to Kerry Fortune, president of Ben Richey Boys Ranch, on Tuesday night at The Back Porch of Texas.

The oversized check represented the money raised from the Outlaws & Legends Music Festival held April 1 -2. The 2015 festival raised $31,736 for the Boys Ranch.

Mark Powell said the festival numbers were up across the board.

More than 7,100 music fans attended the two-day festival, including attendees from as far away as France and Saudi Arabia. The average attendance over the past five years was roughly 5,500.

Festivalgoers also represented more ZIP codes than last year, he said.

The festival received recognition from a variety of sources, such as The Culture Trip, awebsite that highlights 'the best art, food, culture, travel.' It included Outlaws & Legends in its '12 Texas Music Festivals To Get Excited For In 2016,' putting the Abilene festival in the same company as Austin City Limits and South By Southwest.
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Yes, the big Wisconsin story was Ted Cruz's crushing 13-point victory. And yes, it greatly improved his chances of denying Donald Trump a first-ballot convention victory, which may turn out to be Trump's only path to the nomination.

Nonetheless, the most stunning result of Wisconsin was the solidity of Trump's core constituency. Fundamentalist Trumpism remains resistant to every cosmic disturbance. He managed to get a full 35 percent in a state in which:

He was opposed by a very popular GOP governor (80 percent approval among Republicans) with a powerful state organization honed by winning three campaigns within four years (two gubernatorial, one recall).

He was opposed by popular, local, well-informed radio talk show hosts whose tough interviews left him in shambles.

Tons of money was dumped into negative ads not just from the Cruz campaign and the pro-Cruz super PACs but from two anti-Trump super PACs as well.

And if that doesn't leave a candidate flattened, consider that Trump was coming off two weeks of grievous self-inflicted wounds  and still got more than a third of the vote. Which definitively vindicated Trump's boast that if he ever went out in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shot someone (most likely because his Twitter went down  he'd be apprehended in his pajamas), he wouldn't lose any voters.

The question for Trump always has been how far he could reach beyond his solid core. His problem is that those who reject him are equally immovable. In Wisconsin, 58 percent of Republican voters said that the prospect of a Trump presidency left them concerned or even scared.

Cruz scares a lot of people, too. But his fear number was 21 points lower. Moreover, 36 percent of Wisconsin Republicans, facing a general-election choice between Hillary Clinton and Trump, would either vote Clinton, go third party or stay home.

Trump did not exactly advance his needed outreach with his reaction to the Wisconsin result: a nuclear strike on "Lyin' Ted," as "a puppet" and "a Trojan horse" illegally coordinating with his super PACs (evidence?) "who totally control him." Not quite the kind of thing that gets you from 35 percent to 50 percent.

Not needed, say the Trumpites. If we come to Cleveland with a mere plurality of delegates, fairness demands that our man be nominated.

This is nonsense. If you cannot command or cobble together a majority, you haven't earned the party leadership.

John Kasich makes the opposite case. He's hanging on in case a deadlocked convention eventually turns to him, possessor of the best polling numbers against Clinton. After all, didn't Lincoln come to the 1860 convention trailing?

Yes, and so what? The post-1968 reforms abolished the system whereby governors, bosses and other party pooh-bahs decided things. In the modern era, to reach down to the No. 3 candidate  a distant third who loses 55 of 56 contests  or to parachute in a party unicorn who never entered the race in the first place would be a radical affront to the democratic spirit of the contemporary nominating process.

A parachute maneuver might be legal, but it would be perceived as illegitimate and, coming amid the most intense anti-establishment sentiment in memory, imprudent to the point of suicide.

Yet even without this eventuality, party suicide is a very real possibility. The nominee will be either Trump or Cruz. How do they reconcile in the end?

It's no longer business; it's personal. Cruz has essentially declared that he couldn't support someone who did what Trump did to Heidi Cruz. He might try to patch relations with some Trump supporters  is Chris Christie's soul still for sale? -- but how many could he peel away? Remember: Wisconsin demonstrated Trump's unbreakable core.

And if Trump loses out, a split is guaranteed. In Trump's mind, he is a winner. Always. If he loses, it can only be because he was cheated. He constantly contends that he's being treated unfairly. He is certain to declare any convention process that leaves him without the nomination irredeemably unfair. No need to go third party. A simple walkout with perhaps a thousand followers behind will doom the party in November.

In a country where only 25 percent feel we're on the right track and where the leading Democrat cannot shake the challenge of a once-obscure dairy-state socialist, you'd think the Republicans cannot lose.

You'd be underestimating how hard they are trying.

Email Charles Krauthammer at letters@charleskrauthammer.com. He writes for The Washington Post Writers Group.
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A group of petitioners gathered in Beijing hold a banner calling for the release of jailed lawyers, March 2, 2016.

Chinas already poor human rights record worsened with a sweeping crackdown on lawyers, activists and bloggers in 2015, a year that saw Beijing extend abusive and unlawful enforcement practices across borders to Hong Kong and Thailand, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday in an annual report.

The report which covers the 2015 calendar year, President Xi Jinpings third full year in office, saw particularly harsh policies and curbs on movement and communication in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and Tibetan areas  regions where Beijing rules with a heavy hand to stamp out anything it perceives as separatism.

In China, repression and coercion markedly increased during the year against organizations and individuals involved in civil and political rights advocacy, said the annual report on every other country in the world.

The crackdown on the legal community was particularly severe, as individual lawyers and law firms that handled cases the government deemed sensitive were targeted for harassment and detention, it said.

The push against the legal profession, whose growing prominence was not long ago seen as a rare bright spot in Chinas rights picture, saw hundreds of lawyers and law associates interrogated, investigated, and in many cases detained in secret locations for months without charges or access to attorneys or family members, the State Department noted.

The report noted the disappearances or detentions of lawyer Wang Yu, who represented noted feminist activists; Li Heping, who represented underground church members and members of the banned Falun Gong sect; and Zhang Kai, who defended churches facing demolition.

Authorities resorted to extralegal measures, such as enforced disappearance and strict house arrest, including house arrest of family members, to prevent public expression of critical opinions, said the report.

Extralegal disappearances

The State Department also noted the extralegal disappearance of five men working in Hong Kongs publishing industry, where they produced books critical of Chinas leaders, between October and December from Thailand, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen.

Family members and colleagues believed PRC security officials were responsible for their disappearances, and state-run Chinese media later covered a televised confession of one of the abducted individuals, the report said.

The annual State Department reports, which are summarily rejected by Beijing, normally also recognize positive developments, but good news appeared to be relatively scarce in 2015.

Xis signature policy of combating corruption has resulted in tens of thousands of officials removed from their posts and many prosecuted, the reported noted. But it said this process was not without extralegal measures and rights abuses.

Authorities prosecuted a number of abuses of power through the court system, particularly with regard to corruption, but in most cases the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) first investigated and punished officials using opaque and selectively applied internal party disciplinary procedures, it said.

Many officials accused of corruption or other discipline violations were interrogated and in some cases tortured in the shuanggui system, often to extract a confession of wrongdoing, and some are later turned over to the judicial system, added the report.

Meanwhile, it said, citizens who promoted independent efforts to combat abuses of power were sometimes targeted by authorities.

Despite Xis campaign, corruption remained rampant, and many cases of corruption involved areas heavily regulated by the government, such as land-usage rights, real estate, mining, and infrastructure development, which were susceptible to fraud, bribery, and kickbacks, the department said.

Internet censorship

The reported noted that the internet was widely available and widely used and cited Chinese statistics showing that China had 668 million internet users, adding 18.94 million new users in the first half of 2015.

At the same time, it said, the CCP continued to increase efforts to monitor internet use, control content, restrict information, block access to foreign and domestic websites, encourage self-censorship, and punish those who ran afoul of political sensitivities.

The State Department restated the U.S. policy that recognizes that the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and Tibetan autonomous prefectures (TAPs) and counties in other provinces are part of China.

But it said the governments respect for, and protection of, human rights in the TAR and other Tibetan areas remained poor.

Under the professed objectives of controlling border areas, maintaining social stability, and combating separatism, the government engaged in the severe repression of Tibets unique religious, cultural, and linguistic heritage, said the report.

The department noted that seven Tibetans were reported to have self-immolated during 2015, down from the 83 self-immolation protests reported in 2012. The decline, it quoted media reports as saying, was due to tightened security by authorities and the collective punishment of selfimmolators associates.

In Xinjiang, the reported said, A number of violent incidents in the XUAR resulted in multiple deaths.

Official accounts of these events generally blamed terrorists, separatists, and religious extremists for what was portrayed as violent terrorist attacks on community members and security personnel, it said.

In contrast, human rights organizations asserted that security forces often shot at groups of Uyghurs in their homes or during worship.

The governments control of information coming out of the XUAR, together with its increasingly tight security posture there, made it difficult to verify the conflicting reports, said the report.
Sun Wenlin (L) and his partner Hu Mingliang file a lawsuit against the Furong district civil affairs bureau for refusing their application to marry in Changsha, provincial capital of southern China's Hunan province, Dec. 16, 2015.

A court in the central Chinese province of Hunan has rejected a complaint filed by a gay man against the government for refusing his application to marry his male partner.

Sun Wenlin, 26, had filed the historic complaint against the Furong district civil affairs bureau in Hunan's provincial capital Changsha, after officials from the bureau refused to allow him and his partner Hu Mingliang to register their marriage there last year.

But the Furong District People's Court ruled against the couple, he told RFA on Wednesday.

"I am not satisfied with this decision, and I will continue to appeal as soon as I have the court's judgment document," Sun said.

"The court has just taken the government's side in this, and hasn't acted in an independent capacity," he said.

"I hope that we will see change in our country, and the recognition of gay marriage as legal in China," Sun said. "I want to be the person to achieve that goal."

Sun's partner Hu Mingliang said he was very disappointed with the decision.

"I feel very sad right now, because the government hasn't entered into a serious dialogue with us; they just expect us to accept it," Hu said.

"They should really take more time to reflect on our case, and to realize that what we are actually asking for is a government that serves the people," he said. "What have they really done for the people?"

Husband and wife

Sun, whose case has been hailed as a key test of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in the country, is arguing that current Chinese marriage law refers to the union of "husband and wife," but without specifying the gender of either party to the marriage.

He told RFA that his argument rests on the idea that a person can identify as a husband or a wife without reference to their gender.

Lawyer Shi Fulong, who represents the couple, said the judge hadn't seen it that way, however.

"Their argument was that China's Marriage Law only provides for marriage between a man and a woman," Shi said. "But personally, I wish that they'd given a bit more detail in their judgment, which was rather short when it was read out in court."

He said the detailed judgment document has yet to be sent out by the court.

"Once we receive it, we'll have 15 days to lodge an appeal," Shi said.

Shi said the courtroom was packed with hundreds of people who had gathered to hear the decision.

"There was only enough seating for 100 or 200, and a lot of people were left outside," he said.

"There were gay people there and some students and professors from universities, as observers, as well as staff members and relatives," he said.

No provisions in the law

Sun was initially prompted to make the complaint after he showed up at the marriage registration office of the Furong district civil affairs bureau in Changsha on June 23 with Hu, and applied for a marriage certificate.

An official in charge of marriage registrations told the couple, who had been together for two years, that "there is no provision in the law for people of the same sex to marry."

Undeterred, Sun lodged his complaint on Dec. 16, 2016 calling on the court to order the bureau to allow the marriage to be registered.

The acceptance of the case for deliberation was hailed by rights activists and the LGBT community as a milestone, and an opportunity to let the government know how much LGBT people in China want to be legally married.

Grassroots Chinese rights activists have repeatedly called for an end to discrimination and for changes to school textbooks they say might encourage it, as well as classes in gender diversity.

Transgender case

The decision in Sun's case comes as labor arbitration officials in the southwestern province of Guizhou consider a case brought by a transgender man who said he was fired by his employer for wearing men's clothes, The New York Times' Sinosphere blog reported on Monday.

The plaintiff, a 28-year-old man identified only as Mr. C in state media reports, said he has been living as a man since graduating from university.

But a recent crackdown on nongovernmental organizations, including the detention of five women's rights activists last year, has hampered their efforts.

More and more well-heeled urban Chinese have begun coming out in recent years, and while some find acceptance among their peers, social attitudes still strongly favor marriage and children.

Exactly how many Chinese would identify themselves as gay is still unknown, as social stigma associated with homosexuality remains widespread. Many choose to marry despite their orientation.

Official statistics released in 2004 suggest that China is home to some 10 million people who identify as one of the LGBT minorities.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party treated homosexuality as a psychological problem for decades, removing it from an official list of mental disorders only in 2001.

Reported by Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Harsh restrictions imposed on Myanmars ethnic Rohingya minority continued during the final year of that countrys rule by a nominally civilian but military-backed party, while government troops acted with impunity in abusing noncombatants in conflict zones, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday in an annual report on human rights practices around the world.



The 2015 Human Rights Report also noted that authorities in Vietnam used politically motivated arrests and convictions of bloggers and rights activists last year to suppress freedom of speech online and the rights of assembly, association, and movement.



In Cambodia, meanwhile, government-linked mobs physically assaulted members of political opposition parties, the report said, adding that Cambodias ruling party frequently used a politicized and ineffective judiciary to sentence activists and others critical of the government to lengthy prison terms.



Myanmars Muslim Rohingya minority group experienced severe legal, economic, and social discrimination during the 2015 reporting period, with the government limiting their access to higher education, health care, and other basic services, the State Department said in its report.



The government required them to receive prior approval for travel outside their village . . . and prohibited them from working as civil servants, including as doctors, nurses, or teachers, the report said.



Disenfranchised



Myanmars ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) disenfranchised many Rohingya who had voted in previous elections, and blocked almost all Rohingya and many [other] Muslim candidates from running for office in nationwide Nov. 8 polls, the State Department said.



That election resulted in a landslide win for democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD) party, raising hopes for a change in repressive government policies in Myanmar in coming years.



Meanwhile, more than 130,000 Rohingya still languish in displaced-persons camps in Myanmar following violent clashes with ethnic-majority Buddhists in the country's northwestern Rakhine state in recent years, the report said.



Government troops in Myanmar meanwhile reportedly abducted, tortured, and killed civilians in conflict areas during clashes with ethnic secessionist forces during 2015, the State Department said in its report.



Civilians also were killed through indiscriminate use of force, the report said.



Heavy-handed surveillance



In Vietnam, the government severely restricted citizens political rights, particularly their right to change their government through free and fair elections, the State Department said.



The government also suppressed dissent, tightly controlled the internet and press, and maintained often heavy-handed surveillance of activists, according to the report.



Political and religious activists and their families alleged numerous and sometimes severe instances of harassment by [Ministry of Public Security] officials and agents, ranging from intimidation and insults to more significant abuses, such as attacks on their homes with rocks by plainclothes police.



Police assaults on activists and their family members sometimes caused injury and trauma requiring hospitalization, the State Department added, also noting reports of the deaths in police custody of at least 14 persons during the year.



Unfair trials



In Cambodia, a court in the capital Phnom Penh tried 55 people in an unfair manner and for largely political reasons leading to convictions on a range of charges from staging an armed insurrection to blocking traffic, the State Department said, citing the reporting of an unnamed nongovernmental organization (NGO).



As of November 20, the NGO estimated authorities held at least 15 political prisoners or detainees, the State Department said.



Eleven land rights activists received a royal pardon in April and were freed from prison, though, the State Department added.



Violence against some political opposition figures, and the arrest of others on apparently contrived charges, continued throughout the year, with one senator, Hong Sok Hour, jailed for posting online a fake 1979 border treaty between Cambodia and neighboring Vietnam.



Many observers interpreted these actions as a means of pressuring the CNRP [Cambodia National Rescue Party] to refrain from criticizing the government for failing to demarcate the border with Vietnam properly, the report said.




Hundreds of Armenians have demonstrated in Yerevan against Russian weapon sales to Azerbaijan, claiming the sales led to the outbreak of fighting on April 2 in and around Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The protesters, mostly young activists, marched to the Russian Embassy in Yerevan chanting "Shame!" and "Free, independent Armenia!"

Some threw eggs at the embassy, sparking scuffles with riot police.

A petition read out by a protest organizer demanded an immediate end to all deliveries of Russian weapons to Azerbaijan.

The petition also called for Moscow to "fulfill the obligations" stemming from its military alliance with Armenia.

Russia has sold tanks, combat helicopters, artillery, and other offensive weapons valued at a total of $4 billion to Azerbaijan under contracts signed from 2009 to 2011.

Armenia's government publicly complained about those deliveries to Baku after fighting broke out along Nagorno-Karabakh's "line of contact" front line on April 2.

At least 65 Armenian soldiers were killed in the fighting, which continued until Russia mediated a cease-fire agreement on April 5.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev defended the deals with Azerbaijan after visiting Yerevan last week, saying they boost "the military balance" in the conflict zone.

Medvedev said both warring sides would buy even deadlier weapons from other countries if Moscow stopped its arms deals with them.

Earlier this week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin denounced Yerevan's criticism of Moscow's weapons sale to Azerbaijan as "demagogy."

Russia has also been the main source of weapons delivered to Armenia's armed forces.

In 2015, Moscow extended a $200 million loan to Yerevan for the purpose of buying more Russian arms at discounted prices.

But Yerevan-based political analyst Styopa Safarian says Armenian critics of the Russian-Azerbaijani weapons deals are angry because Armenia is a member of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization and Azerbaijan is not.

Speaking to RFE/RL at the Yerevan demonstration on April 13, Safarian said that "Russia is a nominal strategic partner" of Armenia, but Armenians see from the latest outbreak of fighting that "when we need military assistance [from Russia] then Russia is a peacekeeper" and " an arms supplier" to both sides in the conflict, or takes on the role of a mediator as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk group.

Armenian critics also argue that Russia's weapons deals with Azerbaijan emboldened Baku to launch military operations in and around Nagorno-Karabakh early in April.
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
Parliament in Kyrgyzstan has voted in favor of appointing Sooronbai Jeenbekov as the countrys next prime minister.

Jeenbekov told lawmakers ahead of the vote on April 13 that his government would focus on fighting terrorism, as well as resolving border demarcation disputes with neighboring states.

Jeenbekov replaces Temir Sariev who resigned on April 11 after several parliament members accused his cabinet of corruption.

Sariev's exit came just days before a parliamentary commission was to present the results of its probe into a road construction project that was marred by allegations of graft.

Sariev's critics claimed that he personally profited from the $100 million project awarded to a Chinese construction company.

Transport Minister Argynbek Malabaev claimed that his deputy had teamed up with the prime minister's entourage to lobby the interests of the Long Hai company that won the tender.

Sariev dismissed the accusations, saying that his detractors had failed to prove their claims.

Based on reporting by Interfax and AP
Protesters in Macedonia, angry about President Gjorge Ivanov's decision to halt prosecutions of officials linked to a wiretapping scandal, have broken into one of the president's offices.

The demonstrators on April 13 broke windows of the street-level office in central Skopje that is occasionally used by Ivanov, storming into the building and ransacking rooms inside.

Demonstrators also broke windows and clashed with police at the nearby Ministry of Justice, while another group of protesters clashed with police at blockades that were erected around the parliament building.

Thousands of demonstrators were on the streets for a second night on April 13. Some threw eggs and stones at government buildings while others set off flares before police used batons to disperse the crowd.

Ivanov has faced harsh criticism at home and abroad for his decision to halt all criminal proceedings against politicians and government officials suspected of involvement in a wiretapping scandal involving thousands of people.

The crowds of demonstrators on April 13 were larger than the night before, when hundreds of outraged Macedonians gathered at the presidential office and pelted the building with eggs after Ivanov announced the decision in a nationwide television address.

Later on April 12, scuffles broke out when a larger crowd tried to march on the headquarters of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party but were stopped by police.

Ivanov said he was ending all judicial proceedings against top politicians allegedly involved in a wiretapping scandal in the country last year "in order to put an end to this political crisis, which will end with democratic elections."

But Ivanov's move seems to have put the June 5 parliamentary elections in jeopardy.

WATCH: Protesters throw eggs at the office of President Ivanov on April 12, soon after he pardoned politicians and others implicated in a vast wiretapping operation:

The European Union's foreign-policy arm said the halting of criminal proceedings against politicians involved in the scandal raised "serious concerns."

"We call on all sides to avoid interventions that risk undermining years of efforts within the country and with the support of the international community to strengthen the rule of law," it said.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn told RFE/RL on April 12 that Ivanov's announcement "is something which, in my understanding, is not acceptable" and not in line with the rule of law.

He said he had "serious doubts" that "credible elections [on June 5] are still possible."

The U.S. Embassy in Macedonia said in a statement that Ivanov's move "raises serious concerns about Macedonia's commitment to the rule of law."

U.S. Ambassador Jess Baily said in a tweet on April 12 that the special prosecutor working on the case and the Macedonian courts should be allowed to "do their jobs."

Macedonian opposition leader Zoran Zaev called on Ivanov to resign, saying his decision to halt all criminal investigations into the wiretapping scandal amounted to a coup.

Zaev also said he would call for public protests against Ivanov's decision.

Even the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party seemed surprised by Ivanov's move. "We have no doubt in his honest and good intentions," it said in a statement. "But we want to express our huge disagreement with his move."

Last year, Zaev's Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) accused then-Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of being behind the wiretapping of around 20,000 people, including many politicians, journalists, and others in powerful positions.

Gruevski denied the charges and accused Zaev of "spying" on the government and attempting to "destabilize" the country.

Zaev was later charged with attempting to overthrow the government, but is also part of the "pardon" from prosecution issued by Ivanov.

Gruevski is a political ally of the president.

Former Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska and former intelligence chief Sasho Mijalkov are the other major politicians affected by Ivanov's action.

The scandal caused by the alleged wiretapping triggered protests on the streets of Skopje -- against Gruevski and counterdemonstrations in support of him -- that led to the EU stepping in and mediating the dispute.

Macedonia's four major political parties eventually agreed to resolve the crisis by holding early elections, which were first scheduled for April 24 but later postponed after Zaev complained that the vote would not be free or fair.

According to the constitution, parliament speaker Trajko Veljanovski has until April 15 to rule whether or not to hold the elections on June 5 or to again postpone them.

Zaev's Social Democrats want no elections to be held until a new media law -- which has been stalled in parliament for months -- is passed that establishes equal treatment of the media, which Zaev says is currently controlled by pro-government press outlets.

The opposition is also demanding that the country's electoral lists -- which are purported to be out of date and allow for vote rigging by the government -- be reviewed and cleaned up ahead of any new elections.
Russia's security agency says a Lithuanian national has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for spying on Moscow.

The Federal Security Service (FSB), the main KGB successor agency, said on April 13 that Yevgeny Mataitis, who also has Russian citizenship, was arrested in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad last year for allegedly sharing military intelligence with Lithuania.

"Carrying out tasks for the Lithuanian military intelligence, Mataitis collected and transmitted military information abroad, including state secrets, over the course of six years," the FSB said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

It said Mataitis had "completely admitted" his guilt.

Contacted by AFP, the FSB confirmed the statement but provided no further detail on Mataitis's sentence.

Russia's relations with the West have hit a post-Cold War nadir over the conflict in Ukraine, leading to a spike in spying claims.

Based on reporting by Interfax and AFP
A U.S. defense official says two Russian military jets flew "aggressive" overflights near a U.S. guided-missile destroyer in "simulated attack profiles" within international waters off the coast of Russia.

The U.S. official said the Russian Su-24 jets were not armed in the April 12 incident, but flew so close to the U.S. destroyer and at such a low altitude that they created a "wake in the water."

The official also said a Russian Ka-27 Helix helicopter flew seven circles around the U.S. destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, and took pictures.

WATCH: Video of the incident in the Baltic Sea:



According to the U.S. Navy's Sixth Fleet website, the USS Donald Cook is now in the Baltic Sea after leaving the port of Gdynia, Poland, on April 11.

USS Donald Cook encountered similar close passes by a Russian fighter jet in the Black Sea in April 2014 when it was deployed in international waters.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has asked the country's lead domestic spy agency to launch an investigation after state television accused him of serving as a secret operative for the West.

Navalny said on April 13 that he was formally asking the Federal Security Service (FSB) to confiscate and examine the validity of documents shown on air by Rossia-1 television that the network calls evidence that he is a paid agent of U.S. and British intelligence.

Navalny, his supporters, and opposition-minded media outlets have ridiculed the purported evidence previewed by state media boss and television host Dmitry Kiselyov on April 9 and set to be detailed in a full "expose" slated to be broadcast by Rossia-1 on the evening of April 13.

They note that the documents that Rossia-1 claims were leaked from Britain's MI6 spy agency and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are riddled with clumsy English syntax and grammatical mistakes, and that voices heard on Navalny's purportedly tapped phone sound nothing like the Kremlin foe.

"Let [the FSB] take all of these 'CIA documents' and the recording of 'Navalny's conversation' from Kiselyov," Navalny wrote on his website.

He posted a scan of his letter to the FSB, dated April 13, in which he appeals to agency chief Aleksandr Bortnikov to "take the necessary measures to confiscate secret materials and examine their veracity."

Navalny previously described the allegations as "pure fantasy" and said that he planned to file a defamation suit. He added that the report on his alleged links to Western intelligence took the state-media campaign against President Vladimir Putin's opponents to "new heights."

The 15-minute preview of the report, aired on Kiselyov's weekly current events show Vesti Nedeli, claimed that Navalny was recruited to work for British intelligence by William Browder, a onetime prominent investor in Russia who has since become a vocal Kremlin enemy.

Navalny is an anticorruption crusader who is currently serving two suspended sentences on financial-crimes charges that rights groups and Kremlin critics say were retribution for his activism.

Russian Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika in December accused the U.S.-born Browder and Western "secret services" of being behind a film produced by Navalny's anticorruption foundation film that accused the official and his family of corruption.
The first meeting of the NATO-Russia Council since 2014 is scheduled for April 20 at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said the agenda includes the war in eastern Ukraine and full implementation of the Minsk accords, which are aimed at bringing an end to fighting there between government forces and Russia-backed separatists.

Romero said the council will also discuss NATO and Russian military activities, with a focus on "transparency and risk reduction," as well as the security situation in Afghanistan and regional terrorism threats.

Russia is to be represented by its ambassador to the U.S.-led alliance.

The meeting will be the council's first since June 2014, when NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Moscow over it's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Based on reporting by AP, TASS, and AFP
ON MY MIND

What do nukes and drugs have in common? They both illustrate Russia's efforts to play the role of the international community's persistent spoiler.

When the nuclear security summit convened in Washington in March, bringing together 52 heads of state, Russia opted out. Not only is Moscow not interested in nuclear disarmament, it is actually upgrading its nuclear capacity.

And now, as the United Nations prepares to convene a special session on drug policy, Moscow is out of step with much of the world on the issue. One delegate told The Huffington Post that "While some countries had special interests, Russia opposed each idea that was put forward...Everybody was quite frustrated." Among the things Moscow opposed are: the use of painkillers for palliative care, needle exchanges, education programs about opioids, and the use of the overdose reversal drug, Naloxone. The Kremlin doesn't like the rules-based international order that emerged after the Cold War. They're not strong enough to overturn it. But they are strong enough to sabotage it, to throw sand in the gears whenever the opportunity presents itself. And that's exactly what they're doing.

IN THE NEWS

Oil prices rise after report of Russia-Saudi deal to freeze production.

The nationalist Russian March has been registered as a brand.

The Investigative Committee says there were irregularities in the privatization of the Yukos oil company.

Human Rights Watch says a journalist who was stabbed to death in St. Petersburg on March 31 was targeted because he was homosexual.

Lithuania has imposed a travel ban on 46 Russians in connection with the prosecutions of Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko and Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov.

Russia has allocated 13 million rubles for the preservation of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin's body in 2016.

Talks continue on Ukraine's new government.

EU Commission to push ahead with Ukraine visa liberalization.

WHAT I'M READING

The Power Vertical On The Kremlin's Black Cash

Or in this case, what I'm writing. Check out my latest blog post, Corruption Is The New Communism.

"In many ways, Russian corruption is the new Soviet Communism. The Kremlin's black cash is the new Red Menace. In the East, an alliance of satellite states with Soviet-style socialist command economies and authoritarian political systems has been replaced with a loose grouping of kleptocracies with Russian-style crony-capitalist economies and dysfunctional governance. And the Soviet Union's attempts to subvert the West with the power of an idea has given way to Vladimir Putin's Russia seeking to corrupt it with the lure of easy money."

Why Russians Shrug Off Corruption

Writing in The Guardian, Shaun Walker notes that the "Panama leaks have passed with little fanfare."

"In Russia," Walker writes, "corruption is considered in much the same way as the climate: something that makes life harder and causes constant grumbling, but is an unchangeable part of the fabric of life."

This Is The Kremlin On Drugs

With the United Nations preparing to hold a special session on drug policy, Russia is out of step with other world powers, The Huffington Post reports.

"The Russian Federation pushed back against the medical use of painkillers for palliative care, against needle exchange, against educating doctors or the public about opioids, against the use of Naloxone  an overdose reversal drug  in any setting outside a medical facility, against the entire concept of 'harm reduction,' against substitute opioid treatment and, in the end, against the idea of a global approach to drug policy," the authors write.

Still More On Russia's Non-Drawdown in Syria

Pullout? What pullout? The Russian military is as busy as ever in Syria according to this report in The Washington Post.

Belkovsky On The Panama Papers

Political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky raised eyebrows back in 2007 when he said that Vladimir Putin has a $40 billion fortune stashed away. The figure has been repeatedly cited ever since. Valentin Baryshnikov of RFE/RL's Russian Service interviewed Belkovsky about the Panama Papers, how they are resonating in the Russian elite, and what they tell us about Putin's money.

Europe's Little Putins

Nina Khrushcheva has a column in Project Syndicate about the "Lili-Puitins of the EU."

"One of the saddest ironies of this years commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union is that Hungary and Poland, always the most restless of the Soviet empires captured nations, are now led by men mimicking Russian President Vladimir Putins governing style," Khrushcheva writes.

Stealth Protests

Wondering about all those strange billboards appearing in Moscow with oblique messages targeting the Kremlin? The latest one, an advertising billboard at a bus stop read: Panama? What Panama? Novaya Gazeta takes a look at how subversive posters are replacing demonstrations as a form of protest.

Coincidence? A Cyberattack On Lithuania

Lithuanias parliamentary website came under cyberattack on April 11 just as a special session of the World Congress of Crimean Tartars was meeting to discuss mass violations of human Rights in Russian-occupied Crimea.

The congress, nonetheless, went ahead as planned. Here's the final resolution.

The Ukraine Crisis

In his column in Bloomberg, political commentator Leonid Bershidsky sums up the causes and consequences of Ukraine's government crisis -- New Leadership, Same Old Ukraine.

"As a result of the political crisis, Ukraine is not getting a better prime minister -- it's getting a more politically beholden one," Bershidsky writes. "A president who would be unable to repeat his 2014 landslide victory -- and who is yet to answer convincingly why he set up a tax-free offshore structure to prepare his business for sale -- is consolidating power."

In the Kyiv Post, meanwhile, Paul Niland tackles the false equivalencies making the rounds regarding the conflict in the Donbas.

Also in The Kyiv Post, Timothy Ash asks: "who is Oleksandr Danylyuk and what will he do as Ukraine finance minister?"

The Karabakh Conflict

Matthew Bryza, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council and former U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, argues in The Washington Post that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is too important to ignore.
Ukraine's two largest pro-Western political parties have reportedly reached agreement on a new pro-EU government that will be headed by parliament speaker Volodymyr Hroysman, an ally of President Petro Poroshenko.



Dmitry Solyarchuk, Hroysmans press secretary, announced the coalition deal on his Twitter account late on April 13.



Horysman and his government would replace the cabinet of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who resigned on April 10 amid a corruption scandal and troubles stemming from the government's battle against Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country.



Yatsenyuks party, the pro-Western Peoples Front, has been in tense coalition talks with the presidents party, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, since April 10 in order to come to agreement on the structure and personnel in the new cabinet.



Several members of Ukraines parliament also confirmed that a coalition agreement had been reached after days of debate and negotiations.



They said the deal included an agreement on who should head all of Ukraine's ministries except the Health Ministry.



Parliamentary deputy Maksim Bourbak said the new prime minister and his ministers would be formally announced on April 14.

Based on reporting by AFP and TASS
The chief prosecutor of the Russia-occupied Crimea has ordered the suspension of a council that represents the regions Tatar ethnic minority.



The April 13 order by prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya means that the Tatar council, called the Mejlis, is prohibited from holding public gatherings, using bank accounts, or disseminating information.



The suspension is to remain in place until a court in the illegally annexed peninsula rules in a case raised by Poklonskaya aimed at banning the Mejlis outright as an extremist organization.



Tatars make up about 15 percent of Crimeas nearly 2 million people and have broadly opposed Russias seizure and annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.



Since annexation and the installment of a Russian-imposed government, Tatars have complained of official intimidation, the closure of Tatar language classes, and a general atmosphere of mistrust aimed at Tatar residents.

Amnesty International said the decision to suspend the Mejlis signals a new wave of repression against Crimean Tatars.

"Anyone associated with the Mejlis could now face serious charges of extremism as a result of this ban, which is aimed at snuffing out the few remaining voices of dissent in Crimea," said Denis Krivosheyev, Amnesty International's deputy director for Europe and Central Asia.

"The decision to suspend the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and ban all its activities under Russia's antiextremism legislation is a repugnant, punitive step denying members of the Crimean Tatar community the right to freedom of association," Krivosheyev added in an April 13 statement.

Based on reporting by AP and TASS
Ukraine's military has said that eight of its soldiers were wounded in fighting against Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country during the previous 24 hours.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on April 13 that all eight were injured in fighting in the Donetsk region, where 53 "hostile attacks" were registered since April 12.

Lysenko said there had been 29 shelling incidents around Mariupol, the Ukrainian-government-held strategic city on the shores of the Azov Sea.

No injuries were reporting in those shellings.

The news comes amid rising concerns about cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,100 since April 2014.

On April 11, the French Foreign Ministry said it was "not acceptable" that observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were being targeted close to the contact line.

"The situation can only be stabilized by the full application of the Minsk agreement," it said, referring to the peace deal backed by Kyiv, its Western allies, and Moscow.

OSCE monitors have been tasked with monitoring the cease-fire, a key element of the Minsk agreement.

A spokesperson for EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini on April 10 condemned the recent incidents targeting OSCE observers as "unacceptable," calling on all sides to "refrain from such actions."

Based on reporting by Interfax
The U.S. State Department says in a new report that the world faces a "global governance crisis" as both governments and nonstate actors increasingly infringe on human rights.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in the State Department's human rights report, released on April 13, that Washington saw "an accelerating trend by both state and nonstate actors to close the space for civil society, to stifle media and Internet freedom, to marginalize opposition voices, and in the most extreme cases, to kill people or drive them from their homes."

Kerry also denounced governments for cracking down on freedom of expression by "jailing reporters for writing critical stories" or targeting nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) "for promoting supposedly 'foreign ideologies' such as universal human rights."

Kerry said nonstate actors like Islamic State militants and Boko Haram in 2015 committed "crimes against humanity," including genocide.

He said such groups "flourish in the absence of credible and effective state institutions."

In its annual human rights report, the U.S. State Department says that "authoritarian governments" are reacting against an increasingly strong "civil society" throughout the world "because they fear public scrutiny, and feel threatened by people coming together in ways they cannot control."

"In 2015, this global crackdown by authoritarian states on civil society deepened, silencing independent voices, impoverishing political discourse, and closing avenues for peaceful change," the report says.

The report accuses governments across the former Soviet Union of both overt repression of political freedoms and bureaucratic measures aimed at stifling opposing voices.

Russia's Repression

It criticizes the Kremlin for "a range of measures to suppress dissent," including "new repressive laws" and selective prosecution "to harass, discredit, prosecute, imprison, detain, fine, and suppress individuals and organizations engaged in activities critical of the government."

The report also accuses Russia of "especially" targeting individuals and organizations that have opposed the Kremlin's forceful and illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and Moscow's support for separatists who are fighting Kyiv's forces in eastern Ukraine.

Russian authorities controlling Crimea, the report adds, have subjected Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars on the peninsula to "systematic harassment and discrimination."

Moscow has repeatedly rejected such accusations by Western governments in the past and typically responds angrily to criticism it faces in the U.S. State Department's human rights report.

The latest report, meanwhile, denounces what it calls repressive actions taken by authoritarian governments across Central Asia.

It says Tajikistan's government "took steps to eliminate political opposition in 2015," including the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), which was recently banned and whose leaders have faced prosecution in secret trials.

The State Department report says Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan in 2015 all enacted new legislation against nongovernmental groups "that could restrict operating space for civil society organizations."

The report also accuses law enforcement authorities in Kyrgyzstan of using arbitrary arrests, torture, attacks, threats, and extortion.

It says Kyrgyzstan routinely violated "procedural protections" in the judicial process during 2015. And it says sexual and ethnic minorities faced "police-driven extortion."

The report says "members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community reported police regularly monitored LGBTI chat rooms and dating sites and arranged meetings with LGBTI users of the sites to extort money from them when they met."

Other human rights abuses in Kyrgyzstan during 2015 noted in the report included poor prison conditions, as well as the harassment of activists, journalists, and employees of domestic and international nongovernmental organizations.

It also says Turkmenistan "already had and enforced a restrictive NGO law."

Azerbaijan's Crackdown

The report from Washington also says that nongovernmental organizations in Azerbaijan face a "severely constrained" space.

"Multiple sources reported a continuing crackdown on civil society" in Azerbaijan, the report says, "including intimidation, arrest, and conviction on charges widely considered politically motivated."

The government of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has faced scathing criticism from international rights groups and Western officials over its crackdown on political opponents and independent journalists in recent years.

Azerbaijani authorities in March released 16 jailed opposition politicians, journalists, and rights activists listed by human rights groups as "political prisoners."

Twelve more rights campaigners and journalists on that list remain in prison.

They include opposition leader and rights activist Ilgar Mammadov, and investigative journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova.

The report says citizens of Belarus continued to face human rights violations in 2015, including an inability to "change their government through elections," restrictions targeting former "political prisoners," and a failure to account for long-standing cases of politically motivated disappearances."

Macedonian Scandal

The report also accuses Macedonia's government of failing to fully respect "the rule of law" -- citing "high-level" corruption, "cronyism," and selective prosecution.

The release of the State Department's report comes a day after President Gjorge Ivanov announced a decision to halt criminal proceedings against politicians and government officials suspected of involvement in wiretapping thousands of people.

Ivanov's April 12 announcement has triggered violent street protests in Macedonia and both domestic and international criticism.

The report says Macedonian authorities in 2015 continued "efforts to restrict media freedom, interfere in the judiciary, and selectively prosecute offenders."

"Political interference, inefficiency, cronyism and nepotism, prolonged processes, violations of the right to public trial, and corruption characterized the judicial system," the report said.

Hours before the release of the report on April 13, State Department spokesman John Kirby said Washington was "deeply concerned" by Ivanov's announcement "to pardon persons subject to investigation in connection with the wiretapping scandal."

"If implemented, this decision will protect corrupt officials and deny justice to the people of Macedonia," Kirby said.

In Iran, the report says authorities subjected independent rights groups and other nongovernmental organizations to "continued harassment because of their activism."

It says such groups also were threatened with closure by Iranian government officials following prolonged and often arbitrary delays in obtaining official registration."
A feature video produced by RFE/RLs Kyrgyz Service has been nominated for the prestigious Webby and Webby Peoples Voice Awards.

Watch This Disabled Boy's World Change In Two Minutes is among five finalists in the Online Video/General Film/Reality category. Produced by Ulanbek Egizbaev, it comprises two videos filmed three months apart telling the story of a disabled teenager who relies on his friends to push him in his wheelchair everyday along the rugged path to school. In the second video, Egizbaev filmed the boys elation when he was surprised with a mechanized four-wheeler provided by an NGO to ease his journey.

RFE/RLs digital team repackaged the video for social media and localized it in both English and Russian. The Russian version was shared hundreds of thousands of times on Facebook and the English version was picked up by numerous Western media.

As a nominee for the Webby official jury award, the video is also a contender for the Webby Peoples Voice Award, selected by the voting public. Votes may be cast here until April 21 at 11:59 p.m./PST.

Two other RFE/RL entries were selected as Official Honorees in the 2016 competition. Desperate Honeymoon, a multimedia package by Multimedia Producer Ray Furlong, follows Syrian newlyweds as they make the arduous trek across the Balkans in search of a better life in Europe. RFE/RLs Pangea Team, which manages the companys content management system, was honored in the Mobile/News category for its responsive design.

Nearly 13,000 entries from 65 countries were submitted to this years Webby Awards and were judged by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, an organization based in New York that presents the prize. Winners will be announced April 26.

The Webby Awards are the leading international awards honoring excellence on the Internet.
Yury Milner was born in Moscow in 1961, the same year the hero he was named after -- Yuri Gagarin -- became the first human to journey into outer space.

But the announcement that the Russian billionaire is teaming up with renowned British cosmologist Stephen Hawking on a $100 million space adventure has Milner's star on the rise.

The project, announced on the 55th anniversary of Gagarin's feat, aims to send tiny spaceships to another star system at near lightspeed within a generation. The project -- combining Milner's vision, money, and lifelong love of science with Hawking's otherworldly intelligence, scientific theories, and research -- promises to take the study of space into an entirely new world.

But who is Yury Milner, Russia's mysterious star voyager?

A Physicist Turned Businessman

Milner, 54, is known for being an early backer of very profitable social-media firms such as Facebook and Twitter, and for using the resulting profits to fund multimillion-dollar scientific projects and awards.

He studied theoretical physics at Moscow State University and started a PhD in particle physics, while at the same time launching his business career by selling personal computers in the Soviet Union's gray market.

In 1990, Milner traveled to the United States to earn an MBA and later spent some time at the World Bank in Washington as a specialist in Russian banking.

He also held high positions at financial-services companies created by Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky. He led Russia's biggest web portal, Mail.ru, before investing in Internet companies in Russia and Eastern Europe.

A Successful Venture Capitalist

Milner has since amassed a personal fortune estimated at $2.9 billion, according to Forbes, by funding some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley.

He made headlines in 2009 when his venture capital firm, DST Global, poured $200 million into a start-up called Facebook. He invested another $400 million in Twitter in 2011.

In a 2012 interview, Milner said his focus on social networking reflected the insight he gained from watching the Russian Internet market develop at the turn of the century as the market for print media was weakening.



"At the time, I was probably the best-informed person in the world about social-networking monetization," he told The New York Times.

Milner also bet big on Chinese technological companies, including online retailers Alibaba and JD.com, and the smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi.



DST Global has gained such a reputation that it attracted $1.7 billion last year for future investments.

Meanwhile, Milner earned his place among the worlds elite venture capitalists, with Fortune magazine's 2010 list of the world's most prominent businessmen placing him in 46th place. In 2012, Bloomberg Markets Magazine included him on its list of the 50 Most Influential.

A Backer Of Scientific Research

Milner has donated more than $200 million to philanthropic science projects over the past years, including the Fundamental Physics Prize -- later named the Breakthrough Prizes.

Every year, the prizes award members of the scientific community with $3 million each in the fields of fundamental physics, life sciences, and mathematics.

"I wanted this amount to be meaningful," Milner told the Reuters news agency in 2012. "I think top scientists need to be compensated at a different scale in society. Somebody with experience will tell you that true scientists are not motivated by money. They are motivated by the quest itself. That is true. But I think an additional recognition will not hurt."

Milner has teamed up with Hawking before, in 2015, when they announced the $100 million Breakthrough Listen, a decadelong search for intelligent life beyond the solar system.

"The universe is not teeming with life, but were probably not alone," Milner told Time magazine. "If we were alone, it would be such a waste of real estate. But I dont want to be the judge. I just want to help find an answer."

On April 12, Milner and Hawking again made headlines when they announced their latest $100 million venture.

The plan is to create a fleet of "Starchips" -- super-compact, light-propelled space vehicles (or "nanocraft") about the size of a postage stamp. A giant laser beam would send them to Alpha Centauri, a star-system 4.37 light years from Earth.

Milner said the plan is probably "half a lifetime away" and billions of dollars of investment is needed to fund the project.

"The human story is one of great leaps," said Milner in a statement. "Fifty-five years ago today, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. Today, we are preparing for the next great leap -- to the stars."
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"TURN," the period drama that was filmed around Richmond, is returning to AMC on Monday, April 25 at 10 p.m.

Catch a pre-screening of the new episode at the Virginia Historical Society's "History on Tap: Washington, Spies, and Cider" on Monday, April 25 at 6 p.m.

Samuel Roukin, who plays the villainous British Captain John Graves Simcoe, on the show will be on hand for a discussion.

The event will include a glass of Blue Bee Ciders Hewes Crab, which was a favorite of founding fathers, according to the press release.

Other speaks include Dr. Edward Lengel and Lynn Price from the Washington Papers at the University of Virginia; Paul Levengood, president of the VHS, will moderate the discussion.
A Madison Heights man accused of wearing a camouflage mask on a neighbors property with a firearm and suspicious bag of bacon pleaded guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor counts of carrying a gun while intoxicated and trespassing.

Evan Patrick Cater, 31, was given a two-year suspended sentence in Amherst County Circuit Court Wednesday and, as part of a plea deal, agrees to be searched at any time by law enforcement. He also waived his right to possess a firearm for a two-year period and handed his concealed carry permit to a bailiff before leaving the courtroom Wednesday.

Deputies arrested Cater after he was discovered hiding behind a dog kennel on a neighbors property on the 200 block of Sage Lane in Madison Heights around 10 p.m. Oct. 18 after Bobby Wood, the property owner, heard his dogs barking and went to investigate.

Assistant Commonwealths Attorney Andrew Childress said Wood saw a person in the backyard but couldnt make out who it was. Wood called 911.

Arriving to the scene, Amherst County Sheriffs Deputy Susan Jackson spotted Cater lying face down in the woods with a camouflage shirt and camouflage hunting mask and a semi-automatic handgun fully loaded, said Childress. A few feet away was a bag of raw bacon with a sticky, oily substance that later was found to have contained an engine lubricant oil, Childress said.

Jackson could smell alcohol on Cater, Childress said. When asked what he was doing, Childress said Cater answered: Just relaxing. Im not doing anything wrong.

Cater did not say why he had the bacon, Childress said. During questioning, Cater said, I only put the bacon in the bag. Nothing else, Childress said.

The defendant and Bobby and Kim Wood had some bad blood, Childress said, after the Woods sought an ordinance to make the Sage Lane area of Madison Heights a no-shoot zone, a measure the Amherst County Board of Supervisors passed in mid-September 2015.

Cater spoke out against the no-shoot zone last year at county board meetings.

Childress said the Woods are worried about Caters access to firearms after his unusual and frightening behavior. The commonwealth shares in the public safety concern, he said.

Cater is a military veteran with no prior criminal history, a factor in the commonwealth not prosecuting a felony charge of wearing a mask in public and two misdemeanor counts of drunk in public and attempting to poison a companion animal, Childress said. If he violates conditions of the plea agreement, he will have two years of jail time hanging over him that can be immediately activated, Childress said.

This is a sure thing for the community, Childress said of the plea deal.

Scott Livengood, Caters attorney, said the defense would have contested some evidence if the case had gone to trial.

We feel the incident that happened on this night probably would have been avoided if these people talked to each other, Livengood said.

Cater will have a year of supervised probation and two years of good behavior and cannot renew his concealed carry permit for five years, according to the plea agreement.

Judge Michael Garrett also ordered that he undergo a mental health evaluation and have no contact with the Woods or their animals. Garrett told Cater he expects him to behave, follow the conditions and not go near the Woods.
Petersburg and Richmond share much. The metropolitan area used to be known as Richmond-Petersburg but the reference is less frequently heard. Petersburg has waned. Its public schools rank among the states worst. The downtown shows signs of rejuvenation but struggles to regain its glory and charm. Recent news stories have suggested governmental dysfunction.

Budget deficits have created a mess. The city council fired the city manager; the city attorney resigned. The mayor endured calls for his resignation. Mayor W. Howard Myers says state Sen. Rosalyn Dance, a former Petersburg mayor, threatened to block state and federal financial aid to Petersburg if he did not support the sacking of the city manager and city attorney. Myers survived an attempt, led by Councilwoman Treska Will-Smith, to remove him. Procedural questions may have saved his mayoral position. And Richmonders think their citys government is a mess.

Dance earned a strong reputation during her years in Petersburgs city hall. Her commitment to conciliatory politics followed her to the General Assembly. She defeated an attempted purge by the unfortunate Joe Morrissey to oust her. Our inclination is to trust Dance. Petersburg must start anew.
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Do you want to make a difference in the lives of children with serious illnesses? Join

The Hidden Valley Cancer Awareness Team is holding in its Walk for A Wish event Saturday, April 23, at the Hidden Valley High School track from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Participants are asked to make a donation of at least $5 upon entering and then are free to walk around the track and enjoy the festivities for as long as they like. All proceeds from the event will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, to help grant wishes for children with a serious or terminal illnesses.

There will be a carnival in the middle of the track with various games, an obstacle course, face painting, water balloon toss and even a Zumba session. Pizza, drinks and popcorn will be available for purchase, as well as various desserts at the bake sale.

Each hour, there will be relay races held on the track with various prizes rewarded to the winning teams. Teams of four can register at the relay table and will be asked to make a donation in order to compete. This event is for the entire family, and the Cancer Awareness Team hopes to see many members of the community come and support this great cause.

To volunteer or to donate without attending, send an email to hvcancerawareness@gmail.com.

Submitted by Caroline Sublett
BLACKSBURG  The Virginia Tech professor who helped expose elevated lead levels in Flint, Michigan, water said he would continue fighting for safe water, though its becoming increasingly difficult because of financials.

Marc Edwards, dubbed a hero professor by national media, announced during a news conference Tuesday that March testing by a Virginia Tech study team revealed that lead and iron levels have dropped in the city, but residents need to take more action to make them safe again.

After the news conference, Edwards said work his team did to expose a water crisis in Flint has ended up costing his lab $250,000 plus the equivalence of five years worth of work hours. He also took a semester off from teaching classes and hasnt had time to apply for funding for his labs work, essential duties of a tenured professor.

Why I havent been fired by Virginia Tech Im not really sure, Edwards joked. They seem happy so far so Im glad I still have my job.

But I havent been able to write grants.

Those grants are the lifeblood of Edwards work, but in the year hes been working on the Flint study, he said hes been unable to apply for more and his labs funds are running dry. The team has raised just shy of $100,000 on a GoFundMe page and gotten a National Science Foundation Grant worth $33,000. The lab, with personnel and equipment upkeep, requires $850,000 annually to operate.

Edwards said he and others involved in the Flint study are gauging interest in doing a similar project in Philadelphia. There are some initial similarities between Philadelphia and Flint, Edwards said.

Kelsey Pieper, a postdoctoral researcher on Edwards team, is also looking at investigating lead levels in private wells in New York and North Carolina. Thats on top of work by Tech research scientist Jeff Parks analyzing lead-testing kits distributed by nonprofit Healthy Babies, Bright Futures.

We could not do what we did in Flint again today because Im just not as financially strong as I was, Edwards said. You have to be in a very strong place financially.

That doesnt mean the work in Flint hasnt paid off, he said.

Were not complaining, he said. This was priceless. Well go to our graves knowing we stood up for Flint kids when no one else could or would.

Work in Flint, though, still needs to be done.

The system is definitely on its path to recovery, Edwards said. But we need to get more water running through the system.

Edwards recommended Flint residents continue to use lead filters or drink bottled water. Testing completed last month determined lead and iron levels in the water are dropping, but residents need to use more water to flush amassing contaminants in pipes and water mains.

Pieper said its also important that Flint residents run their water to make sure that the infrastructure can heal. Lead particulate is built up in the pipes, and running water will help dislodge some of that excess lead and essentially rinse it from the system, she explained.

In March, researchers took 174 samples from homes sampled in 2015. Their results showed drops in lead amounts in many of the homes, Pieper said. However, in some homes there were still high levels of lead, Pieper said.

According to Edwards, the team will continue to monitor the situation. Right now, theyre planning for another round of testing in August.

Were the only ones with access to this data, Edwards said.

The group of 25 researchers from Blacksburg has traveled to Michigan five times to analyze the tap water and then worked to make their findings public after they were ignored by government agencies. The work has resulted in national attention on water infrastructure, a state of emergency, resignations and a switch back to an old water system.

Flints water had been contaminated with lead since 2014, when the city began getting its water from the Flint River as a cost-cutting measure. The water was then not properly treated to prevent lead in pipes from running through residents taps. It has also been revealed that the water issues also could have caused a high number of Legionnaires disease cases  including nine fatalities, Edwards said  in Flint.

Edwards, once again, blamed bad work from governmental agencies for the problems in Flint.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and federal Environmental Protection Agency did little to nothing to help people in Flint as taxpayers funded their salaries and work, he said.

Were all paying a horrible price for corruption and this culture where the agencies are not serving us, Edwards said. Thats what Flint has shown.

Making sure that science can help people is the most important takeaway from the Flint study, Edwards said. His hope is that he can help the public regain trust in science and stop federal agencies from betraying the public because of their own interest, he said.

Edwards said he needs to apply for grants and find ways to gather more money to continue his mission as a faculty member of Virginia Tech.

It always works out for me, Edwards said. If you have to sit there and ask yourself how itll work out youd never get anything. So what youve got do is follow your heart, do the right thing and figure it out later.

But at the same time, there are limitations that ultimately you cant ignore.
Representative Bob Goodlatte made the news again recently with a misguided and totally untrue statement about sanctuary cities. Goodlatte based his comments on a story about the killing of a 32-year-old woman in San Francisco, allegedly at the hands of an undocumented Mexican immigrant, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez. Goodlatte and others, like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, have used the incident to demand tougher immigration enforcement.

The tragic specifics of the case are tailor-made for Fox News and Bob Goodlatte. Police say San Francisco resident Kate Steinle was out for an evening stroll with her father in a touristy section of the citys waterfront when Lopez-Sanchez shot her. He was being held in a San Francisco jail on a 20 year-old drug charge, which a judge threw out. Although he was wanted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, city officials were prohibited by city law from notifying ICE before releasing him.

There is a reason sanctuary city laws are so popular with more than 200 state and local jurisdictions refusing to honor ICE detention requests. Evidence suggests that these laws dont just make cities safer for illegal immigrants, they make them safer for everyone.

If Goodlatte and others are to be believed, then we should see a rise in San Franciscos murder rate in the 26 years since it enacted its sanctuary law and an even more dramatic rise since 2013, when the city expanded the law to cover even repeat felons. Instead, the citys murder rate has fallen to its lowest level in decades.

We see a similar pattern throughout California. According to a Department of Justice report, the number of homicides in the state fell to 1.691 in 2014, the lowest since 1971. The California state legislature and all but a few counties have enacted sanctuary laws.

Its worth noting that crime has fallen nationwide in recent years. San Franciscos murder rate is also low compared to that of other cities that do not have sanctuary laws. San Franciscos rate is lower than Indianapolis, Dallas, Columbus, Jacksonville and Fort Worth.

Lower crime rates are not the only justification for sanctuary city laws. Other evidence suggests the effect on public safety is real. A 2013 study by the Department of Urban Planning and Policy and the University of Illinois-Chicago surveyed Latinos in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Phoenix. It found that increased involvement of local police in immigration enforcement in those cities had eroded trust in the legal system among both illegal and legal immigrants.

Of those surveyed, 38 percent said they felt like they were under more suspicion and 45 percent said they were less likely to report a crime as a result. Seventy percent of the undocumented immigrants said the same thing. Law enforcement takes these concerns seriously. Without this cooperation, law enforcement will have difficulty apprehending and successfully prosecuting criminals which reduces overall public safety for the larger community.

Sanctuary laws may also help cities prevent crime by attracting more immigrants. According to an analysis of census data published by the Immigration Policy Center, immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native born citizens. 1.6 percent of immigrant men between the ages of 18 and 39 are incarcerated compared to 3.3 percent of men who were born here.

The killing of Kate Steinle was unfortunate but it cannot be the dominant example of the failure of sanctuary city laws. Unfortunately these tragedies happen in all groups. All other data suggests that sanctuary city laws create a sense of belonging to a community that is characterized by feeling safe and an actual safer community. Goodlatte is wrong to make statements that are actually false.
The Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) has rejected a proposed Kahuna diamond exploration project, suggesting it be modified or abandoned, according to are report on cbc.ca.

The NIRB ruled that in its current format, the Dunnedin Venture Inc.s exploration and sampling project would cause significant public concern and likely to adversely affect the ecosystem, as well as cause socioeconomic concerns. A number of Indigenous organizations said they felt they had not been fully consulted about the proposals.

Three current mineral exploration projects are already taking place in the area, and two previous projects, one of which  Shear Diamonds' Churchill Diamond site was abandoned before clean-up was complete.

Mayor of Chesterfield Inlet and chairman of the local hunters and trappers organization Barnie Aggark said that the local Inuit were not against the mines, but wanted their opinions to be respected.

He added that if there were too many projects at any one time there would not be enough Inuit to work at them  and it would benefit the region if explorations were staggered so that they provided potential employment for longer.



Theodor Lisovoy, Rough&Polished, Moscow




The Antwerp diamond industry is hoping to bring diamond production from Brazilian diamond mines to Antwerp in the long term, according to a press release from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC). Two recent initiatives in this effort include a training course to enable Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy staff to apply the Kimberley Process requirements properly and efficiently and a seminar that the Antwerp diamond industry held in Brazil last year.

Brazil ranks 18th among diamond producing countries, with annual production of some 57,000 carats valued at US$2.7 million, explains the AWDC. Nearly half is exported to United Arab Emirates, while Europe only receives 9% of Brazilian diamond exports. AWDC intends to change this once the recently operational Lipari mine gets ups to speed, as its entire production  some 225,000 carats per year  will be traded in Antwerp, continues the press release.

Antwerp is making its knowledge and know-how available for developing Brazils potential in the field of mine exploitation as well as with regard to implementing the strict regulations that apply to the diamond industry. By sharing our knowledge, we hope to bring Brazilian diamonds to Antwerp once the mines are in production, says AWDC spokeswoman Margaux Donckier.




Ontario Liberal Party

Ontario is partnering with Thales in Canada to develop the next generation of railway signaling solutions, which is expected to improve transit safety, efficiency and create jobs.

Our number-one priority is growing the economy and creating jobs, explained Brad Duguid, Ontarios minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure.

Our support for Thales will help it ramp up its research and development work and leverage new and innovative technologies. These efforts will allow Thales to strengthen its product offerings in the transportation sector, and increase its global competitiveness.

The project will focus on research and advanced engineering to develop new communication-based train control solutions for mass transit, including subways, light rail and commuter rail systems. The partnership will help Thales in Canada create 126 jobs in the province while retaining another 963 at its Toronto office during the course of five years.

Ontario will invest up to CA$12 million (US$9.3 million) through the Jobs and Prosperity Fund to support the project, leveraging a private sector investment of about CA$80 million (US$62.2 million).

Thales in Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of France-based Thales Group, a global defense, aerospace and transportation services company which operates in 56 countries, with a global workforce of 62,000. The Thales Worldwide Competency Centre focused on urban rail signaling is based in Toronto.

We are pleased to partner with Ontario as we develop the next generation of rail signaling solutions. We look forward to continuing to tap into the provinces talented workforce as we expand our operations here, said Mark Halinaty, president and chief executive officer of Thales Canada.
Those who smoke may be less likely to move into better quality jobs, according to a new study from researchers at Stanford University's Prevention Research Center in California. For the study the researchers followed the progress of 251 unemployed job-seekers over the course of a year.



They found that over the course of that year 56 percent of the non-smokers found jobs while only 27 percent of the smokers found jobs. They also found that the smokers were paid significantly less than non-smokers, taking in an average of $15.10 an hour as compared with $20.27.

"When we studied a sample of 251 [unemployed] job seekers over a 12-month period, smokers relative to nonsmokers were at a serious disadvantage for finding re-employment," said study lead author Judith Prochaska.

"Smokers are not inherently more stressed. Rather they experience more stress due to the effects of nicotine withdrawal," Prochaska said. "The power of nicotine addiction should not be ignored. If you are craving that next cigarette and unable to focus on the questions on hand, that will most certainly place you at a disadvantage in the job interview process."

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Health News
McCormick (MKC) announced it has completed the due diligence review of Premier Foods, and the Group concluded that it would not be able to propose a price that would be recommended by the Board of Premier Foods. McCormick has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Premier Foods.

The Board of Premier Foods plc said it sees a strong future for an independent Premier Foods, and believes that the foundations have been laid for significant growth and shareholder value creation. The Board considers that the company's longer-term prospects will be enhanced by the Co-Operation Agreement it has signed with Nissin Foods Holdings Co., Ltd.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
36,000 Verizon workers from Massachusetts to Virginia hit the picket lines Wednesday, unable to hammer out a new labor agreement with America's largest telecommunications company.

After weeks of threatening to walk out, workers from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) officially went on strike.

According to CNN Money, most of the workers are involved with landline phone and FIOS broadband, services that have gone uninterrupted this morning.

"Let's make it clear, we are ready for a strike," said Bob Mudge, president of Verizon's wireline network operations.

Preparations include the training of thousands of non-union employees to fill-in for those on strike.

The company says it has proposed wage increases, continued retirement benefits (including a 401(k) match) and healthcare benefits.

However, the CWA union claims Verizon wants to "gut job security protections, contract out more work, offshore jobs to Mexico, the Philippines and other locations and require technicians to work away from home for as long as two months without seeing their families."

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
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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 ...
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Here are the Halloween and fall events happening in Salina

As people in Salina get ready for fall, there are several events happening on Halloween and the days before it.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a private lunch Tuesday at a former palace in New Delhi.

Before going indoors, Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, strolled on either side of Modi, chatting and smiling before posing for cameras. Kate wore a full-sleeved gauze green dress, while William donned a blue suit and Modi was clad neck-to-toe in white.

The four-course meal, including vegetarian dishes as well as meat, was served as Indian classical musician Rahul Sharma played the santoor, similar to a dulcimer. Sharma included in his performance a rendition of the Beatles' "Let It Be," according to Indian media. Other guests included several Cabinet ministers and business leaders.

Also on Tuesday, the British royal couple met with a group of Indian women to hear about what's being done in the country to help young women facing domestic abuse, discrimination or public assault.

One activist, Laxmi Agarwal, told William and Kate about her campaign called "Stop Acid Attacks," explaining that she had decided to stop covering her face to hide her own scars in order to encourage other victims not to hide, according to Kensington Palace. Agarwal was 15 when she was attacked by an older man after she rejected his marriage proposal.

Prince William thanked her for her bravery, the palace said.

The royal couple is in India for a weeklong tour. They've already visited Mumbai, and traveled later Tuesday to a wildlife park in the northeastern state of Assam that is home to various endangered animals.

They will also take a one-day trip to neighboring Bhutan at the invitation of the Himalayan kingdom's King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema.

William and Kate will then head back to India, where they'll wind up their tour with a visit to the Taj Mahal, retracing the steps of a 1992 visit to the monument of love by William's mother, the late Princess Diana.

The couple are traveling without their two children  2 1/2-year-old Prince George and 11-month-old Princess Charlotte. They had taken George to Australia with them in 2014 on their last royal tour.
Today is a gift; tomorrow is the unknown.

Im a strong believer in this short statement. Thats simply because despite all the money, the intelligence and the confidence in the world one might possess, no one knows what the next ten minutes of life might bring.

You see, we live in a world where we are here this minute and gone the next. Its instant. Thats how life can quickly change.

Which means we must never take a moment for granted. We must learn to count our blessings, appreciate the gift of life, love the people near us and even the challenges that make us better people.

We know this much. Bad things happen and life was never meant to be easy but we were created to be overcomers. We were created to be victorious, learn to pick ourselves up when we fall now and then.

Why are we talking about this on a Thursday in paradise?

Its simple really. Its been hard to shake off the story of Moemulinuu Toleafoa Siaki. He is the welder who died at Matautu when a fuel tank at the wharf he had been working on exploded and caught fire.

The 31-year old father of one from Nuu was an employee of Petroleum Products Supplies Ltd (P.P.S). The son of Toleafoa Mamea Savea Siaki and his wife Maria Monika, from what we have been told, on the morning that he died, he left home as if it was just another day.

On that morning, he just woke me up and asked me to drop him and his wife off to their work places, his father Toleafoa said.

I dropped my daughter-in-law first at Valentines and then him at the Petroleum Products Supplies where he works.

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.

He said goodbye to me with a smile and then he walked off.

The heartbroken father said he did not think that that would be the last time he would see his son alive. Sadly it was.

Today, that family is in mourning. And its easy enough to understand.

The thing about death is that if only we knew when it would happen.

Imagine if everyone knew that today would be their last day on earth?

Imagine the farewell services, final dinners, hugs, kisses, I love yous and so forth.

While from the scriptures we are told that death is a divine appointment, the fact we are not given a time should make us appreciate every day even more. For we never know. It could be tomorrow, next year or another 10 years from now, we just never know.

In Samoa today, there are many people who are devastated by the loss of loved ones. While Moes story is perhaps the most told in Samoa due to the circumstances of his passing, there are many families struggling with similar stories of sadness about the unexpected loss of loved ones.

In some cases, thousands more are still recovering from such losses from years ago. Its not easy. Its fair to say that everyone has lost a loved one at some stage. And it hurts. Quite deeply too.

Some people make the mistake of telling people who are grieving not to grieve. Its ridiculous, we think. Clearly there is a time to grieve and mourn. We are humans after all and to deny our emotions and feelings over a loss that is so close to home would be lying to ourselves.

Whats important to remember though is that tragedy and error is part of life. And death is an appointment we must all somehow take up, one way or another.

Which brings me back to the point of this piece. We must never take anything for granted. We must learn to appreciate everything in our lives  especially the people that matter the most. We dont know when they will be taken from us.

A friend sent me a message yesterday. I was deeply touched by it and I want to share if with you today. It reads:

You think its just another day in your life. Its not just another day, its the one day given to youToday. It is given to you. Its a gift. Its the only gift that you have right now. And the only appropriate response is gratefulness.

If you do nothing else but cultivate that response to the great gift that this unique day is; if you learn to respond as if it were the first day of your life, and the very last day, then, you will have spent this day very well.

Begin by opening your eyes and be surprised that you have eyes you can open. That incredible array of colors is constantly offered to us for pure enjoyment.

Look at the sky. We so rarely look at the sky, we so rarely note how different it is from moment to moment with clouds coming and going.

We just think of the weather. And even with the weather, we dont think of the many nuances of weather. We just think of good weather and bad weather. This day, right now, has unique weather. Maybe a kind that will never exactly in that form come again. The formation of clouds in the sky will never be the same the way it is right now. Open your eyeslook at that.

Look at the faces of people whom you meet. Each one has an incredible story behind their face, a story you could never fully fathom; not only their own story, but the story of their ancestors. They all go back so far, and at this present moment, on this day, all the people you meet. All that life from generations from so many places all over the world, flows together and meets you here, like a life giving water if you only open your heart and drink.

Open your heart to the incredible gifts that civilization gives to us. You flip a switch and there is electric light. You turn a faucet and there is warm water and cold waterand drinkable water. Its a gift that millions and millions of people in the world never experience.

These are just a few of an enormous number of gifts to which you can open your heart. And I so wish that you would open your heart to all these blessings and let them flow through you, that everyone you would meet on this day will be blessed by you. Just by your eyes, by your smile, by your touchjust by your presence.

Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you. Then it will really be a good day.

Have a wonderful day Samoa, God bless!
Dear Editor,

Thank you very much for your Editorial titled A stain on Samoas name. I live in Germany now, and with much sadness, I have to confirm that Samoa is now mentioned here almost every day as a negative example for a country heavily involved in offshore banking.

This is giving Samoa an extremely bad reputation. There are even voices calling to punish Samoa and other countries which are involved in this activity, e.g. by, tightening visa requirements for their citizens, cutting aid etc.

Unfortunately, Samoa has won this reputation not only by the involvement of an Embassy member in Australia as you mentioned. Apparently, the company MOSSACK FONSECA & CO. which is at the core of the whole scandal leaked through the Panama Papers even had a branch in Samoa (the address is given as Level 5, Development Bank of Samoa Building, Beach Road Apia, Samoa).

And according to the investigation data published, starting in the 1990s and leading up to today, there were 5307 offshore companies set up and 541 bearer shares registered in Samoa. Offshore companies, in contrary to local businesses, do not produce goods or services in Samoa, but may provide only an address in Samoa, a so called mailbox company.

By setting up such a company, the overseas owners put money at a place where it is out of view. This can be done for several reasons, e.g. to hide assets from a spouse when an expensive divorce is looming, or to avoid paying taxes on this money.

This type of company can also be used to move money from place to place, to hide that it was generated by criminal or corrupt activities, or to hide that it is spent for illegal activities like buying weapons. Mailbox companies therefore can finance wars, terrorism, corruption, drugs and crime. The representative from Samoas F.I.U. stated in your newspaper that: The Financial Intelligence Unit knows that most entities that will be examined under this operation are doing the right thing but it is that 1% that are operating outside the law that are on notice. If we calculate 1% of over 5000 companies and 500 shares in Samoa, this means that the possibility of offshore banking in Samoa probably have created more than 50 criminal companies/shares, of which each could move millions or even billions of tala, nurturing evil in the world.

It was several years ago when I was still in Samoa.

Samoas Parliament was discussing a law which made offshore banking legal in Samoa. Wasnt it then that Tupua, who was then the leader of the opposition, got into trouble saying about this practice that it stinks (e elo le puaa)? If yes, he has been proven right. The stench of this evil is now filling the whole world and staining the reputation of a country which once was known as the Pearl of the Pacific, founded on God.

Please, do inform the people of Samoa about what happened, also those who only speak Samoan. Put it in the headlines. Never mind stigmata or openings of workshops. This is much, much bigger.

This is a link to the investigation Panama Papers: https://panamapapers.icij.org/blog/20160406-FAQs.html

Kind regards,

Ulrike Hertel

In Germany








Three local television technicians are heading to China.

Anthony Shrikrishna Roebeck from TV1, Iakopo Savealii and Tony Toala, of Kingdom Television, will undertake a four-week training programme on HD Technical Management in Beijing.

The programme will cover different topics linked to HD technology in radio and television.

The trio will have the chance to visit China Radio International, China Central Television and other famous media enterprises in China.

This is a really good opportunity for us to experience more about China especially to learn more on technical management, says Mr. Toala.

We want to thank China for this great opportunity and were looking forward to it.

While in China, participants will be invited to take study tours to Shanxi Province so as to have a better understanding of HD tech application in China.

Senior experts of SARFT will also be invited to give lectures for the three participants.

SARFT is the largest education and training organization in radio, film, and TV industry of China in the field of radio, film, and TV industry.

The seminar is part of a long term training scheme provided to Samoa and other developing countries by the Chinese government.
Digicel Samoa hosted the Samoa Chamber of Commerces April members meeting.

Held at Hotel Tanoa Tusitala, Head of Corporate Affairs, Leaupepetele Talai Lene from Digicel Samoa briefly presented on Digicels business solutions and their approaches to focus on connecting customers.

Leaupepetele discussed Digicels solutions for successful partnerships:

 Help achieve operational efficiencies and reduce your costs

 Keep your businesses secure and ensure peace of mind

 Enable business growth through leading technology solutions

 Enable workplace mobility to achieve high productivity

Chaired by the Samoa Chamber of Commerce Vice President, Asiata Alex Brunt, members were updated on the Chamber initiative to develop Think Tanks for the private sector.

These sectors specific Think Tanks were to make dialogue with Government ministries and corporations more effective by focusing on common issues.

Five new members were introduced and they were Connect It Samoa, Waste Management Company, Pacific Global Solutions, Rimani Samoa and Top Tree Trimming and Electrical Services.

Digicel provided free wifi coverage at the meeting for Chamber members and gave away a free Samsung J5 Galaxy phone in a business card draw.

The free phone was won by Melissa Callaghan of ANZ Samoa.
The Supreme Court has rejected a strike out motion on two counter allegations filed against former Member of Parliament for Alataua West, Lafaitele Patrick Leiataualesa.

However, in Lafaiteles favour, the Court accepted a strike out motion on the third counter allegation against his witness who was also a candidate, Aiolupotea Visekota Peteru.

The three counter petition allegations were filed by newly elected M.P for Alataua West, Aliimalemanu Alofa Tuuau through her lawyer, Amelia Faasau.

It followed a petition from Lafaitele alleging bribery against Aliimalemanu during the General Election.

Lawyer Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu and Unasa Iuni Sapolu are representing Lafaitele.

The decision was made by a panel of Supreme Court Judges chaired by the Chief Justice, His Honour Patu Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu.

The others are Justice Mata Tuatagaloa, Justice Vui Clarence Nelson and Justice Lesatele Rapi Vaai.

In delivering the decision, His Honour Patu said the two counter allegations against the petitioner are allowed to proceed.

But the third counter allegation against the petitioners witness, Aiolupotea Visekota is struck out and costs are reserved, he said.

The Chief Justice told the Court that the reasons for the decision will be provided to the lawyers in writing.

The first counter petition alleges bribery and corrupt practices in Neiafu where Lafaitele made a general statement that he could not reciprocate the faaaloalo due to the law but he will reciprocate faaaloalo after the election.

The second counter petition is similar but on a different occasion during a church dance (tausala) where Lafaitele had allegedly made a statement he would not give anything due to the law but he will reciprocate after the election.

In his submission, lawyer Eliota Fuimaono Sapolu argued that the petitioners intention was to follow the law when he made the statement he could not reciprocate due to the law.

Sapolu made reference to an affidavit where a witness mentioned that Lafaitele had said win or lose, he would give back to the village.

He added that the former M.P was aware of the law and would give back to the village in accordance to the law.

But Mrs. Faasau disagreed.

She argued that if the petitioner had no intention of breaking the law, he would not make such a promise to reciprocate.

The statement was made to induce the villagers (to vote for him), she said.

The matter has been adjourned for hearing.
The cost of electricity in Samoa remains far too high.

As a challenge to the Electric Power Corporation (E.P.C), their new Minister, Papalii Niko Lee Hang, wants the Corporation to make electricity cheaper for all households in Samoa in the next five years.

My challenge for the next five years is to cut down the cost of electricity especially for the sake of low income earners, he said. With the big businesses, they can find ways to recover their costs but our target should be to help low income earners.

The Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure made the call yesterday during a ceremony held at the Development Bank of Samoa where E.P.C welcomed Papalii and his Associate Minister, Seiuli Ueligitone Seiuli.

The country is crying out for the high cost of living and electricity to drop, Papalii said, addressing E.P.Cs staff members.

I agree with the perception and questions from the people who are asking why electricity prices continue to be so high with all these solar projects?

They are asking what is the use of these solar companies and these solar projects when the price of electricity has yet to drop?

The Minister also raised the issue of tariffs. He said he wanted to understand it because he would have to answer to Parliament and members of the public about how it is calculated.

Last Sunday, Taua Fatu Tielu raised questions about how tariffs are calculated in a letter to the editor.

The published EPC tariff charges effective from 01 April 2016 are lower than those for the previous month of March.

However EPC as of yesterday (Thursday), 7 days since the 1st of April, is still selling its electricity at the higher rates for March, meaning everyone who bought and paid electricity during those days has been overcharged and should be entitled to refunds.

When I enquired with one of the cashiers at the TATTE building office he said the new rates for April should have been changed but they have apparently not. I feel sorry for the majority of our people that are being ripped off by many business organisations simply because they don't check their bills.

Can someone answer these questions:

 How EPC is supposed to change its tariff each month?

 What mechanism it has in ensuring that the change has actually been made on time, and whether and how EPC is going to refund the overcharges that customers have already paid for April?

 Has EPC corrected the tariff charges for April following my complaint?

Yesterday, Papalii acknowledged that there are questions that must be addressed about this issue.

Getting back to the goal of cheaper electricity, he emphasised that it is important to meet the target outlined in the Human Rights Protection Party manifesto to cut down cost of electricity.

I dont want to eavesdrop but E.P.C has a lot of money and it also has a lot of debt, said Papalii.

Try to balance that equation to drop the cost of electricity.

The Minister reminded each employee to value the work they do as it improves the standard of service offered by the Corporation and contributes to the development of the country.

Papalii used a scripture from the bible, Luke 16 verse 10 that reads; Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much to encourage the workers.

He recalled the days where he started off as a Bank Officer for the Bank of Western Samoa and from there he worked his ways all the way up.

We dont think that we will end up being at the top but these are the mysteries that we do not know and are only revealed at its own time, said Papalii.

Lets commit to our work. My advice is if you are used to being late to work you will not take the leadyou might be stealing from your work time but you cannot steal Gods time. God is faithful to those who are faithful to him.

The Minister added even he gets to work on time so he can be a role model to his staff.

Papalii was a former Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Parliamentary Finance Committee.
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Hanoi, Vietnam -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/13/2016 -- BlogTamTrang.vn, the most sought after blog and website that primarily caters to Vietnamese readers and aficionados, introduces the hottest men's fashion (thoi trang nam) trends to look forward to this Spring season 2016.



According to BlogTamTrang.vn, this season's men's fashion (thoi trang nam) trend is not boring, unlike the previous ones. Moreover, the men's clothing, as well as the accessories, is much more versatile than the others.



BlogTamTrang.vn highlights that the use of clothing items like bomber jackets, onesie (jumpsuit), bowling shirts, short shorts, oversized trousers, distressed denim, pink and green colored clothing, and striped suits that are suitable for almost every man will be the trend this spring season. For traditional men, the trends for this Spring 2016 is not that favorable. However, BlogTamTrang.vn believes that this season's trendy outfits are the new face of fashion. BlogTamTrang.vn also believes that the fashion industry would already to bid farewell to the fashion industry's boring past which includes black and white ensembles and plain tees or t-shirts.



According to BlogTamTrang.vn, the fashion industry is turning as the haven for creative individuals. It serves as their canvas to express their personality, attitude, and status in life. Aside from that, BlogTamTrang.vn reveals that the fashion industry is slowly taking the fashion trends to a whole new level by blurring out the line that separates the men's fashion (thoi trang nam) from the women's fashion. Thus, pink-colored apparels are turning into a huge hit since it is the most common color that symbolizes being feminine.



For men who are not fond of wearing pink-colored clothing, BlogTamTrang.vn reminds that real men wear pink. So, wearing or incorporating pink and other feminine aspects in men's fashion (thoi trang nam) won't hurt the masculinity of men. In addition to that, the collection that stands out this Spring 2016 are styled to match the masculine physique of men. Thus, the primary aim of the latest trends is to bring out masculinity by adding a few twists. As a result, the whole fashion industry will turn into an exciting playground for fashion enthusiasts.



However, if feminine-inspired clothing is not suitable for the taste of many, there are the bomber jackets and striped suits that are the most masculine pieces in the Spring 2016 collection. Both the bomber jacket and striped suits are versatile and suitable for casual to formal events most especially if mixed and matched with the basic apparels that will never go out of style.



About BlogTamTrang

BlogTamTrang.vn is the leading Vietnamese website that tackles and offers stories about different topics such as fashion, beauty, news and lifestyle. BlogTamTrang.vn mainly discusses news about Asian celebrities and trends. The website aims to deliver the latest and hottest news at its best.



Contact:

Dimitry Vital

PR and Marketing @ Blog Tam Trang

Email Address: blogtamtrangvn@gmail.com

Website: http://www.blogtamtrang.vn/
Singapore -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/12/2016 -- Companyregistrationsg.com, a corporate service provider in Singapore, recently announced that they will be providing complete assistance for registration to aspiring entrepreneurs in Singapore and also additional resources. The owners of the corporate service agency told the press that their aim is to facilitate the wannabe entrepreneurs through the process of company registration so that they can focus on the core competency areas of their businesses in the making.



One of the co-owners, who described their service as 'incubating businesses of tomorrow', told the press that people who are interested to start a business in Singapore can simply use the online form on their website to send the pertinent details to the registration support and facilitation team at Companyregistrationnsg.com and avail free consultation.



"In Singapore, nobody can sidestep government regulations pertaining to company registration and start their business. If somebody tries to start a business without going through the proper registration process, consequences can be very harsh", said a consultant working with the agency. "We can definitely save the time and money of the aspiring entrepreneurs who try to register their companies through us. Besides, if somebody completes all the registration formalities and complies with all the pertinent rules and regulations, he or she might be eligible for getting a lot of scheduled advantages from the Singapore government", the consultant added.



Apart from direct registration assistance services, Companyregistrationsg.com now also offers host of free resources for the aspiring entrepreneurs. The owners described their online portal as a knowledge base for tomorrow's entrepreneurs who are interested in knowing the business laws of the land.



"There are many different types of companies and the registration process and the stamp duties and other regulations widely vary from one type to another. Besides, it's also important to set up a bank account while setting up a company. There are certain rules that need to be complied with, while there are certain benefits that Singapore entrepreneurs can enjoy provided they comply with all the regulations of the government", said the CEO and managing director of the agency.



About Companyregistrationsg.com

Companyregistrationsg.com is a Singapore based corporate service provider.



To know more, visit http://www.companyregistrationsg.com/
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/13/2016 -- Tin, a part of the carbon family, shares chemical similarities with germanium and lead. It is highly malleable and ductile and is capable of being transformed into thin sheet. Tin is unaffected by oxygen and water at room temperatures. It does not corrode or rust easily; hence, tin can be used as a coating material to protect other metals. Expansion in the consumer electronics industry coupled with rising demand in the food packaging industry is expected to drive the tin market during the forecast period. Additionally, its potential application in the solar energy industry is anticipated to provide ample opportunities for market growth during the forecast period.



Read Complete Report @ http://www.mrrse.com/tin-market



The production of tin is concentrated in emerging economies of Latin America and Asia Pacific. Currently, China, Indonesia, and Peru are the largest producers of tin in the world. Indonesia, one of the largest producers of tin, is tightening its rules for tin exports in order to crack down on environmental degradation and smuggling. Myanmar is also anticipated to emerge as a major supplier of tin in the world in the near future.



This study analyzes, estimates, and forecasts the global tin market in terms of volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) from 2014 to 2023. Market numbers given in the report describe the global demand for tin, but not the production or supply. The tin report also analyzes several driving and restraining factors and their impact on the market during the forecast period.



Read Full Table of Content @ http://www.mrrse.com/tin-market/toc



The report provides detailed analysis of the tin market by key applications. It segments the market into the following key applications: soldering, tin plating, chemicals, brass & bronze, glass, and others (including lithium-ion batteries, ammunitions, and solar cells.) The report also segments the market based on major geographies into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. It further provides volume and revenue for each application segment for each region. This includes 12 unique country-specific analysis.



Based on application and country, the report analyzes the attractiveness of each segment and country with the help of an attractiveness tool. The study includes value chain analysis, which provides a better understanding of key players in the supply chain from raw material manufacturers to end-users. Furthermore, the study analyzes market competition through Porter's Five Forces Analysis.



Inquiry on this report @ http://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/14



Key market participants profiled in the study include Yunnan Tin Group Company Limited, Thailand Smelting and Refining Co., Ltd. (Thaisarco), Yunnan Chengfeng Non-ferrous Metals Co., Ltd., Guangxi China Tin Group, Malaysia Smelting Corporation, PT Timah (Persero) Tbk, Minsur S.A., Empresa Metalurgica Vinto S.A., Metallo-Chimique International N.V., and Gejiu Zili Mining And Smelting Co., Ltd. Profiles of key participants encompass vital parameters such as financial overview, company overview, business strategy, and recent developments.



Primary research represents the majority of our research efforts, supplemented by a widespread secondary research. We reviewed key players' product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents for competitive analysis and market understanding. Secondary research also includes a search of recent trade, technical writing, internet sources, and statistical data from trade associations, government websites, and agencies. This has proven to be the most dependable, effective, and dynamic approach for procuring precise market data, distinguishing business opportunities, and obtaining industry participants' insights.



Request a Free Sample Copy of the Report @ http://www.mrrse.com/sample/14



Secondary research sources that are referred to include external patented databases, textbooks, financial reports, company websites, broker reports, commentaries, annual reports, stockholder presentations, and suitable patent and regulatory databases, statistical databases, and market reports, press releases, news articles, and webcasts specific to the corporations operating in the market. Secondary sources referred for this study include Chemical Weekly Magazine, ICIS Chemical Business Magazine, Hoover's, Factiva and company presentations.



About MRRSE

MRRSE stands for Market Research Reports Search Engine, the largest online catalog of latest market research reports based on industries, companies, and countries. MRRSE sources thousands of industry reports, market statistics, and company profiles from trusted entities and makes them available at a click. Besides well-known private publishers, the reports featured on MRRSE typically come from national statistics agencies, investment agencies, leading media houses, trade unions, governments, and embassies.



More Research Reports Database @ http://www.mrrse.com/
Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have uncovered the remains of 1,600-year-old glass kilns (Late Roman period) in the Jezreel Valley, Israel.

According to Dr. Yael Gorin-Rosen, head curator of the IAAs Glass Department, these kilns indicate that Israel was one of the foremost centers for glass production in the ancient world.

The kilns consisted of two built compartments: a firebox where kindling was burnt to create a very high temperature, and a melting chamber  in which the raw materials for the glass (clean beach sand and salt) were inserted and melted together at a temperature of 1,200 degrees Celsius.

The glass was thus heated for a week or two until enormous chunks of raw glass were produced, some of which weighed in excess of 10 tons.

At the end of the process the kilns were cooled. The large glass chunks that were manufactured were broken into smaller pieces and were sold to workshops where they were melted again in order to produce glassware.

This is a very important discovery with implications regarding the history of the glass industry both in Israel and in the entire ancient world, Dr. Gorin-Rosen said.

We know from historical sources dating to the Roman period that the Valley of Akko was renowned for the excellent quality sand located there, which was highly suitable for the manufacture of glass.

Chemical analyses conducted on glass vessels from this period which were discovered until now at sites in Europe and in shipwrecks in the Mediterranean basin have shown that the source of the glass is from our region.

Now, for the first time, the kilns have been found where the raw material was manufactured that was used to produce this glassware.

This is a sensational discovery and it is of great significance for understanding the entire system of the glass trade in antiquity, added Prof. Ian Freestone, a researcher with the University College London, UK.

This is evidence that Israel constituted a production center on an international scale; hence its glassware was widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean and Europe.

During the Early Roman period the use of glass greatly expanded due to its characteristics: its transparency, beauty, the delicacy of the vessels and the speed with which they could be produced by blowing  an inexpensive technique adopted at the time that lowered production costs.

Glass was used in almost every household from the Roman period onward, and it was also utilized in the construction of public buildings in the form of windows, mosaics and lighting fixtures.

Consequently, large quantities of raw glass were required which were prepared on an industrial scale in specialized centers.

According to a price edict circulated by the Roman emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century CE, there were two kinds of glass: the first was known as Judean glass (from the Land of Israel) and the second  Alexandrian glass (from Alexandria, Egypt). Judean glass was a light green color and less expensive than Egyptian glass.
The Boko Haram violence between militants and Cameroon's armed forces in the region had made it difficult for some farmers to access their fields in Cameroon's Far North Region. The region had been hosting 82,000 internally displaced individuals affected by the spillover of the insurgency in Cameroon and 75,000 Nigerians who had fled their country's Boko Haram conflict. The event had caused a food shortage in the region of 132,000 tons.

Climate change had been rendering the agricultural schedule gradually unreliable, making a crop yield an arduous task. Farmers of the region had been losing their crops and witnessing record drops in output for the past 15 years. They have no longer mastered the planting season. The rice cultivation even became delicate in Africa that when they missed the planting period slightly, they learned that the traditions passed on by their parents were no longer useful.

The Boko Haram violence forced farmers to try growing a wider range of crops, including fast-growing and drought-resistant seeds. They also tried new methods of irrigation and relying more on weather forecasts. But the lack of meteorological stations and individuals trained to use them meant farmers were often frustrated by the lack of information they could use. The first forecast for the region produced was issued in January, and the second earlier this April.

That forecast predicted the sunny weather, mist episodes, and severe thunderstorms which would cause water stress and risks of meningitis, according to a feature from Voice of America.

Besides relying on the meteorological service, farmers also depended on international climate models, which had predicted below-average rainfall for the planting season. However, international experts warned that these models were not local and specific enough to help farmers make decisions.

The Boko Haram violence was not the only issue faced by farmers as the drying rivers greatly affected the availability of water for people and cattle in the area, according to a feature from Reuters Africa.
The source of Alaska's Mendenhall Glacier, the Juneau Icefield, might be gone by 2200 if the climate change continues to increase, according to research. The study was printed in the Journal of Glaciology.

Science Daily reports that the study was led by UAF glaciologist Andy Aschwanden, Hock, UAF postdoctoral fellow Florian Ziemen and five other scholars. They examined the past and present studies and mathematical models to foretell how North America's icefield would respond under various climate conditions.

The researchers corrected the data set that is gathered from Forecasting Model and the Weather Research. They combined them with the Parallel Ice Model, which is created by the UAF researchers.

The team of researchers predicted that over than 60 percent of the ice will be gone by 2009 if the warming of Earth continues. They also said that the whole icefield will vanish by 2200.

"By the end of this century, people will most likely not be able to see the Mendenhall Glacier anymore from the visitor's center," said Hock.

On the other hand, if the temperature is at rest and the same as of today, the icefield will be stabilized. The researchers also discovered that the icefield would regrow if the surface were ice-free at the moment. This is because the high-altitude cold temperature of the mountains would induce snowfall to start forming glacier again. This icefield is different from other glaciers in Alaska that have lesser altitudes.

Juneau Icefield is situated in the north of Juneau, Alaska. It is considered the fifth-largest ice field in the Western hemisphere. It is the source of several glaciers that include the Taku Glacier and the Mendenhall Glacier.

The Juneau Icefield is visited by many tourists. In fact, there were 450,000 people who visited the ice field in 2015. The travelers have a quick walk on the 240-to-1,400 meters massive crevasses and deep ice.
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- One out of every five South Carolina high school students has ridden in a car in the past 30 days with someone who had been hitting the booze beforehand.

Thats according to a 2013 statewide survey, and its something Liza Powers, 17, aims to change during this years prom season.

My family members have been affected by drunk driving, the Airport High School 12th-grader said. I know some neighbors who have lost children to drunk driving. Its something that needs to be talked about more than it is.

To that end, Powers and fellow Airport student Nakayla Smith, 15, plan to attend a town hall meeting Thursday at Brookland-Cayce High School Auditorium, aimed at reducing teen drunk driving during prom season.

The event is a joint effort between the Rise Above It Lexington Two Community Coalition and Richland 2s The Project CARE Coalition. Its slated for 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, at the school auditorium at 1300 State St. in Cayce.

Steven Burritt, program director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving in South Carolina, said the event is a chance for parents to learn how to start a conversation with their teens about substance abuse.

If youre overdue having this conversation, this is certainly a good time to do that, Burritt said of prom season.

When that conversation happens, Powers said teens might rebel if parents just lay down the law  so there needs to be a balance of being firm and being understanding.

I feel like parents should say, You shouldnt do this, but if you find yourself in a situation where there are drinks or drugs around and you need help, you can call me and I wont be mad, Powers said.

Students such as Powers and Smith are essential to getting teens on board with a message of sobriety, Burritt said.

We look at peer pressure as a negative thing, but positive peer pressure is so important, Burritt said.

These students can also help fight stereotypes about teen substance abuse, according to Allison Atkins of LRADAC, which offers alcohol and drug abuse treatment in Richland and Lexington counties.

There may be a perception that everybody parties or binge drinks, but the truth is, thats not the norm  its a smaller percentage of students who are drinking and driving or using heavily, Atkins said.

Even if students friends drink alcohol, its possible to stay sober without losing the friendship, Smith said.

The people I surround myself with, they might offer it to you, but they wont pressure you into it, she said. (If you decline), theyll be like, OK, it doesnt matter.

Another message organizers hope adults will take away from the event is that it is dangerous and illegal to buy alcohol for teens, according to Lakesha Fields with the Lexington Two Community Coalition.

Fields said that recent compliance checks by law enforcement have shown that stores are properly restricting alcohol, but that young folks are still getting a hold of it.

Theyre getting it from friends, parents, siblings, Fields said.

Meanwhile, law enforcement is stepping up its preventative efforts during prom season. In 2015, troopers with the South Carolina Highway Patrol gave 72 prom safety presentations to 50,000 high school students around the state, according to Lt. Kelley Hughes.

Getting teens safely through prom season is a team effort between students, parents, law enforcement and other organizations, according to Burritt.

Just like the old saying, it takes a village to raise our youth, he said.
COLUMBIA, S.C.  House Majority Leader Bruce Bannister of Greenville says he does not believe the House will have time this year to take up a controversial Senate bill addressing transgender use of public bathrooms.

His comments signal another challenge for the bill, which must pass the Senate by May 1 to be considered by the House without a special vote.

The bill would bar transgender people from using public bathrooms, changing rooms and locker rooms that do not correspond with their biological sex and prevent local governments from passing legislation allowing such use.

The legislation is similar to a recently enacted North Carolina law. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory issued an executive order Tuesday addressing some provisions in the law though leaving unchanged the most talked about part that requires people to use bathrooms of their sex at birth.

A South Carolina Senate subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday on the bill, which was authored by Sen. Lee Bright, a Spartanburg County Republican and co-sponsored by three other Upstate Republicans, Sen. Mike Fair of Greenville, Sen. Kevin Bryant of Anderson, and Sen. Larry Martin of Pickens.

The House was not in session last week when Bright introduced the bill.

"It is unlikely, with all the issues that we have before us that we are going to be addressing Sen. Bright's bill regarding public toilets," Bannister said Tuesday.

Unless the bill requires more testimony than is heard Wednesday morning, the bill will be placed on the next agenda of the full Senate General Committee, Bryant, its chairman, said Monday.

If it passes that committee it would be placed on the Senate calendar. But if it is contested by Democrats on the committee, who have already spoken out against the bill, it would face an uphill battle to be considered for debate because of Senate rules.

The bill also would mandate that state-run parks, museums and other facilities only allow people to use the restrooms and changing facilities that correspond with their biological sex at birth.

The Greenville Chamber of Commerce came out against the bill the day after it was filed, saying it does not promote economic inclusion, growth or competitiveness.
A nonprofit government watchdog group is suing Richland County over documents related to the countys transportation penny sales tax program, saying the county has violated the S.C. Freedom of Information Act.

In a complaint filed Monday on behalf of the Greenville-based S.C. Public Interest Foundation, attorney Jim Carpenter says the county has failed to respond in a timely manner and furnish records requested in February.

Were asking for copies of public records, and we have a statutory right to receive them, Carpenter told The State. We could request these out of idle curiosity, and wed have a right to see them.

The complaint names Richland County and County Council Chairman Torrey Rush as defendants and asks the court to enforce the states Freedom of Information Act.

In December, the state Department of Revenue alleged it had uncovered possible corruption, fraud and waste in an investigation of the countys penny tax program. Since then, the county has received floods of requests for public records related to the penny tax, county officials have said.

South Carolinas Freedom of Information Act requires public bodies, such as the county, to respond to requests for public records within 15 working days of receiving the request. The records do not necessarily have to be furnished within that 15-day window.

On Feb. 11, Carpenter submitted a FOIA request on behalf of the S.C. Public Interest Foundation listing 34 items related to penny tax program. The letter was addressed to Rush.

The bulk of the request concerns the county ordinance and process used to hire the program development team of M.B. Kahn Construction Co., ICA Engineering and Brownstone Construction Group, which manages the $1.2 billion program.

Other items requested include:

The referendum question ballot presented to voters in 2012, when the penny tax was narrowly approved.

All contracts entered into by Richland County paid in whole or in part by penny tax revenues.

All records of payments greater than $10,000 paid from penny tax revenues.

All reports of audits of expenditures related to the penny sales tax and audits of any outside agencies receiving penny tax funds.

Having received no response after 18 working days, Carpenter emailed another copy of his request on March 8 to Richland County attorney Larry Smith, he said.

On March 10, 20 working days after the original request was sent to Rush, the Richland County ombudsmans office responded to Carpenter, acknowledging receipt of the request and saying that all non-exempt documents would be forwarded after review by the countys legal department.

Just over two weeks later, on March 28, the ombudsmans office responded again, requesting specification and clarification for half the items listed in Carpenters request.

I requested 34 different kinds of public records. They had questions about 17, Carpenter said. But the 17 they dont have questions about, they didnt give us any answers on. They thumbed their nose at the FOIA law.

Recently, the S.C. Public Interest Foundation brought a lawsuit against Richland County and the city of Columbia over property tax breaks offered to private student housing developers.

The foundation was started in 2005 by state activist Ned Sloan. Carpenter has filed over 100 public interest lawsuits since 1997 on behalf of Sloan and his foundation, he said.
We are suffering from a demand  supply gap.however, because we are now in this kind of situation it is time to innovate for the future, Japans Parliamentary Vice Minister for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MITL) said at the opening ceremony.

The Vice Minster for MITL noted that the 12th edition of Sea Japan was the largest ever with representation from 28 coutries and regions, and that it was an important opportunity to show Japan's leading technology to the world. Sea Japan is organised by UBM and held bi-annually in Tokyo.

The message about innovating now for the future was a similar one from Dilek Ayhan, Vice Minister of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industries and Fisheries, who noted that these were indeed challenging times and too many ships had been built, and the industry was also impacted by lower economic growth and geo-political uncertainty.

But looking ahead she commented: There are a bundle of opportunities. Better times ahead call for preparation now.

The role technology has to achieve is stable growth for the maritime sector. Ayhan urged that future challenges must be addressed by innovation and cooperation.

Speaking about the role of innovation Japans Minister for Ocean Technology said the country should take a leadership role in promoting research & development and establishing environmental technologies to address global environmental problems.

She added that Japan would a leader in addressing environmental issues in the Arctic region through technology and innovation.

Japan is also promoting new ocean industries as such as power generation from methane hydrate and from sea floor vents which it is aiming to commercialise by the second half of 2016.

Nippon Foundation executive director Mitsuyuki Unno touched on how disruptive technologies could change the industry. Unno noted that much as Google is developing self-driving cars it could enter the shipbuilding industry and build unmanned vessels. Shipbuilding is no longer the preserve of just the shipbuilding industry, he said.

He added that things we thought were unthinkable are becoming a reality these days.
The meeting took place on Wednesday as part of the Annual Investment Meeting held in Dubai, UAE.

Bin Sulayem suggested diverse solutions for Georgias trade and logistics development plans, and the two leaders agreed that a DP World research team should visit Georgia to evaluate the potential for the construction of a marine terminal, inland terminal, logistics park or economic zone, similar to other projects being developed along the New Silk Way between China and Europe.

Georgia presents a promising business environment where trade can play an ever greater role in developing the countrys manufacturing base, while encouraging growth of the states extensive logistics, distribution and warehousing potential. Georgia is also well placed to facilitate trade between Aktau port in Kazakhstan along the New Silk Way, providing access to the Black Sea, Bin Sulayem said.

DP World also announced that it is developing seamless trade solutions to stimulate economic growth around the world, advising governments in over 40 countries.

In central Asia nation Kazakhstan, DP World advises the government on the development of the Khorgos Special Economic Zone and Inland Container Depot with a similar arrangement under a separate contract for the port of Aktau, Kazakhstans main cargo and bulk terminal on the Caspian Sea.

DP World operates a range of terminals in locations along the New Silk Way linking China to Europe enabling trade on a vital portion of the global supply chain. There are three joint venture operations on mainland China at Tianjin, Yantai and Qingdao and another in Hong Kong. There are six more locations in India, supporting over 32% of Indias container trade and 14 in Europe.
Venture capital in Michigan has come a long way over the last 15 years, and a new report from the Michigan Venture Capital Association puts some numbers to that growth.The Ann Arbor-based non-profit released its annual report this week showing growth with some impressive numbers for the venture capital in the Great Lakes State. Michigan enjoyed its best year for venture capital investment in 2015, clocking $328 million. That's up from $224 million the year before (it's third best year) and $246 in 2012, its second best year. Venture capital in Michigan is up 150 percent over the last decade, according to the report.Michigan-based venture capital firms have $2.2 billion under management, up 47 percent in the last five years and more capital under management than ever before. Michigan venture investors finance nearly every Michigan venture-funded startup. The report concludes that local venture capital has gone from practically non-existent in Michigan 15 years ago to having firmly taken root and growing steadily."There are a lot of factors at play at this point," says Maureen Miller Brosnan, executive director of Michigan Venture Capital Association . "Venture capital has firmly established its role in as an economic driver in Michigan."Ann Arbor is widely seen as the capital for venture capital activity in Michigan thanks to its proximity to the University of Michigan. There is also a large concentration of local VCs headquartered in Ann Arbor and a number of out-of-state VCs with offices in Tree Town.The report also shows a rise in angel investing in Michigan. There are currently 128 startups in Michigan that have received funding from a locally based angel group, a 42 percent increase in the last five years. Membership in Michigans nine angel groups hit 294 investors, a 59 percent increase in the last five years. Michigans Grand Angels was listed among the three most active angel groups in the country, and a new angel group in the Upper Pennisula, Innovation Shore Angel Network , launched last year, according to the report."Grand Angels has set the pace for growth of the nine angel groups in the state of Michigan," Miller Brosnan says. "There has been tremendous growth there."Source: Maureen Miller Brosnan, executive director of Michigan Venture Capital AssociationWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com
Thailand has a drunk driving problem. According to the World Health Organization, there were 24,237 reported road traffic deaths in 2013 and almost 26% of those fatalities were attributed to alcohol.

RELATED: How the Media Invented Designated Driving

As reported by The Guardian, some of the worst drunk driving takes place around the Songkran holiday, the celebration of the new year in Thai culture. As thousands of people revel and drink, many ride on motorbikes, causing an estimated two fatalities and 160 injuries -- every hour.

To combat this, the country is trying a new policy. "Traffic offenders who are found guilty by courts will be sent to do public service work at morgues in hospitals," said Kriangdej Jantarawong, deputy director of the special task planning division.

The Thai cabinet approved of the plan last week, just in time for Songkran, according to The Washington Post.

Officials are hoping this will be a more effective deterrent against drunk driving than past punishments, such as community service.

WATCH: Could Alaska Be The New Center For Global Trade?
Press Release

April 13, 2016 ANGARA SUPPORTS 'GREEN AMBASSADORS PROGRAM' Sen. Sonny Angara, vice chair of the Senate finance committee, has expressed his support to the Green Ambassadors Program that will be launched in the Youth Environmental Summit 2016 currently ongoing at the Teachers Camp in Baguio City. "The problems of the environment have become one of the greatest challenges to human development. If this is not addressed and solved, it would definitely have serious negative consequences for the country's sustainable development. That is why we need to train our young people who can respond to these challenges as early as now," Angara stressed. Angara lauded the Alliance for Green Philippines for organizing the 3-day event. "Environmental protection and conservation are lifetime responsibilities of every human being, hence the need to provide the young with the right mindset to make them aware of a clean and green earth," he said. The Alliance for Green Philippines aims to engage student leaders, faculty advisers and young officers and employees of local government units to a 3-day awareness enhancement and capability-building event to enable them to play active roles in greening the campuses and in building resilient communities. The Green Ambassadors Program is anchored on the belief that young people can create the future we all want. We must, therefore, invest to empower the next generation of leaders with a vision for a better world. Successful participants will be equipped with a Green Ambassadors Tool Kit to make them ready to collaborate with school and local authorities. Starting 2017, a nationwide search will be conducted to reward and give due recognition to the 10 Greenest campuses and 10 Greenest LGUs.
Press Release

April 13, 2016 LP BACOLOD MAYOR CONFIDENT BONGBONG MARCOS WILL DELIVER ON PROMISES IF ELECTED VP A member of the ruling Liberal Party has expressed confidence that vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr. will deliver on his election promises if he gets elected to the post given his track record. Meeting with Marcos at the city hall, Bacolod City Mayor Monico Puentevella said he is sure that the senator will fulfill his election promises and help Bacolod if he is elected to the vice presidency since he has always been helpful. "I know him, we were together in Congress for many years. I know how he works. Whenever I ask for his help for Bacolod, he is always there. I know him, he will help us," Puentevella told members of the media when Marcos paid him a courtesy call. Puentevella said if Marcos wins the vice presidency, he will ask for his help for the construction of an additional 500-meter runway in their airport in Bacolod so they can have international flights. "It is hard because we still have to go to Manila or Cebu when he go abroad because our runway is short," he said. Marcos said he will help Bacolod get the additional runway length if he wins in his bid to which Puentevella responded by saying he was sure the senator will make good his promise because he had always helped them. Bacolod was one of the areas visited by Marcos in his three-day Unity Caravan in Western Visayas. He expressed confidence that he can muster the support of majority of local officials and candidates for local posts as in the entire Negros Island Region, which is considered a bailiwick of the ruling Liberal Party. Speaking to local media in Balocod City, Marcos said he is lucky that most of the local candidates from different sides of the political fence in the island region are his friends and they have expressed their support for him. However, Marcos said he understands that since they belong to different political parties they have to work within the confines of their own party lines. Marcos "But I feel confident because I was fortunate that many of the leaders here, and in other places as well, have become my friends," Marcos said. As a result of his extensive experience as governor of Ilocos Norte and as lawmaker in the House of Representatives and the Senate, Marcos said he had worked with or done something together with many of the political leaders in the island region. Because of this, Marcos said many of these local leaders are not only well-aware of his capabilities but also of his plans and programs for the benefit of the entire country. "That is how we are approaching the campaign in different areas. And Negros is one of them, where I feel that we have the support from all quarters of the political spectrum," said Marcos. In addition to Bacolod City, Marcos also conducted campaign sorties in the cities of Bais and Bayawan in the province of Negros Oriental where he was warmly received by local officials. In his campaign sorties Marcos has been pushing too for national unity, saying this is essential for the country to face the problems besetting the country today. He expressed belief that his surge in the latest surveys that propelled him to the solo lead in the vice presidential indicates that an increasing number of Filipinos are receptive to his message of national unity.
Press Release

April 13, 2016 BONGBONG MARCOS: TRUE LEADERSHIP, DECISIVE ACTION NEEDED TO FIGHT TERRORISM Vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. today said the country needs true leaders to be able to fight terrorism. Marcos made the call following the fresh fierce firefight between government troops and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) that left 18 soldiers dead and many wounded in Barangay Baguindan, Tipo Tipo, Basilan. Five ASG fighters were also killed in the gun battle, including a Moroccan national identified as Mohammad Khattab. "It is incumbent upon our leaders to show they are sincere in protecting the people through decisive actions especially in the fight against terrorism," he stated. The senator added that a true leader should be able to show that he or she is on top of the situation not only to boost the morale of the members of the armed forces but also give the Filipino people a sense of security that something is being done to protect them. Marcos said the President, being the highest official of the land, has a moral and social obligation to assure the people that they have a leader in charge of the situation and is doing everything that needs to be done to defeat the enemy. "The president has to show he is on top of the situation and he is doing everything to quell terrorism or at least a message that the people should not worry because he is taking care of it. There is no need for silence at this point when our soldiers are being killed by terrorists," the senator said.
Press Release

April 13, 2016 MIRIAM-BONGBONG TANDEM BACK IN FIGHTING FORM After almost two months of absence in the campaign trail, the presidential and vice presidential tandem of Senators Miriam Defensor Santiago and Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. is back in fighting form with the lady senator firing at her rivals and telling the youth that "the past is different from the present". Santiago and Marcos appeared together today at the jampacked auditorium of the University of the Philippines Visayas in Iloilo City. It was the first public appearance of Santiago after her speaking engagement at the Our Lady of Fatima University in Valenzuela last March 4. She also missed the second round of presidential debates at the University of Philippines in Cebu last March as she had to undergo clinical trials for an anti-cancer pill. In an ambush interview, Santiago said her "medicine seems to be working." Wearing a yellow embroidered lady barong and black skirt, Santiago appeared stronger and seemed to be back in her fighting form. Speaking mostly in Ilonggo, she dished out her famous pick-up lines to the delight of the crowd. She then fired back at her fellow presidential candidates calling them "nitwits" who she said did not even study at the University of the Philippines. She also criticized the fact that even one of them had to bring notes to the second debate. She also called Marcos her "palangga" when the latter helped fix her microphone while she was speaking. Obviously alluding to Marcos' family history, Santiago said "lain ang nagligad na kaysa subong" or the past is different from the present to the roaring applause of the audience. She then presented her platform of government in the areas of poverty reduction and employment generation. Marcos, who was also met warmly by the student body, said he considers himself very lucky because he is married to an Ilongga in the person of lawyer Louise Araneta Marcos whose family hails from Bago City, Negros Occidental and his running mate is also a respectable and highly qualified Ilongga in the person of Santiago. "Napakaswerte ko dahil hindi ko akalain na ang aking idol, mentor at pinaka-hahangaan kong tao at ang pinaka-qualified na tao na maging pangulo ay napili akong running mate. Isang napakalaking karangalan," Marcos said. In an earlier interview, Marcos said their appearance in Iloilo was Santiago's way of returning the favor since he introduced her in his hometown of Ilocos Norte during their proclamation rally at the start of the campaign season. Marcos also refused to recognize that Santiago, who is lagging behind the surveys, could be considered out of contention in the presidential race. "Don't count her out. She might pull a surprise on election day," Marcos said.
Press Release

April 13, 2016 Recto: Palace OK to hasten return of dirty money Once it is sought, Malacanang should approve the request of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to return to the Bangladesh government its earnings from the cyberheist loot gambled away in state-regulated casinos. Senator Ralph Recto issued this call after it emerged in Tuesday's Senate hearings on the electronic theft of $81 million of Bangladesh funds that PAGCOR will return any income derived from stolen money played in casino tables, provided it is given clearance by the Office of the President. As regulator, PAGCOR gets a gross gaming revenue or GGR of 15 percent, PAGCOR Chief Operating Officer and President Eugene Manalastas said when asked by Recto how much PAGCOR's share is from "winnings and taxes. " Pressed by Recto if PAGCOR is "thinking about returning money which came from Bangladesh," Manalastas said "since we are under the Office of the President, we will seek a directive from them if we can return the amount." Recto welcomed PAGCOR's "good intention," adding "kung yung iba nga nagsauli na, dapat ang ahensyang ito, kahit walang kinalaman sa krimen, at kahit maliit lang na halaga, kahit symbolic lang, ay magbalik rin." After hackers wired the funds in tranches to the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), a huge chunk was funneled to casinos where it was later converted into chips for betting in gaming tables. At present, PAGCOR could not determine if how much it earned from the laundered chips as earnings from a particular casino "are intermingled," Manalastas said in reply to Recto's query. PAGCOR, however, has given casinos 10 days to submit the amount. A casino representative told senators that they will have to look into player records to determine the amount. "Specifically, you will have to look into the accounts of Gao Shuhua," Recto said, referring to the Chinese national who got the Bangladesh money and spent part of it in casinos. Representatives of PAGCOR-supervised casinos said they've been looking at records for weeks in order "to determine which portion of that gross gaming revenue actually pertains to the Gao playing account." Upon further questioning by Recto on what could be the "ballpark figure" of PAGCOR's share from one junket operator involved in the mess for the month of February when the heist happened, Manalastas said "approximately P48 million." "So, what is the disposition of PAGCOR here?" Recto said. "We are under the Office of the President, a directive from the President will allow us to return the amount," Manalastas said. Recto said PAGCOR's actual earnings could be way lower than the ballpark figure of P48 million. "But even at P48 million, it is still a drop in the bucket of what it earned last year." According to PAGCOR's financial statement posted on its website, the government's third largest revenue earner raked in P47.21 billion in 2015, up 18 percent from 2014's gross take of 39.99 billion. Its gaming income last year, which accounts for more than 90 percent of its annual revenues, grew 45 percent to P43.38 billion from P29.93 billion a year ago. PAGCOR's earnings from other related services include regulatory fees that it collects from licensed casinos and income share from other gaming activities such as e-games, commercial bingo and poker. PAGCOR's license fees range from five percent of gross gaming revenues from high roller tables as well as junket operations and 15 percent on gross gaming revenues from non-high roller tables, slot machines and electronic gaming machines.
Press Release

April 13, 2016 Recto to Palace, DOF: Allow donation of seized vehicle plates Motorists who have long paid for new vehicle plates but yet to receive their metal sheets from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) may soon find their woes over. According to Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, a total of 600,000 vehicle plates abandoned at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) may be donated to the LTO for distribution to motorists as soon as the Department of Finance (DOF) gives its go-signal. As the approval may need "a nudge from the Palace," Recto has also called on the Office of the President to greenlight the donation. "Why not? Many cars in the presidential motorpool have yet to get their plates and stickers." Recto sent a letter today to BOC Commissioner Alberto Lina "expressing full support" to Lina's plan to donate the plates to LTO after the consignee failed to pay the duties and taxes within the prescribed time. "The donation will ease the problem of backlog in the issuance of car plates. Turning over the car plates to the LTO will benefit many motorists who have long complained of the delay in the receipt of vehicle plates despite full payment of higher fees," Recto said in his letter. Recto also filed Senate Resolution No. 1741 in support of the BOC proposal to dispose the plates by way of donation, saying "public interest requires measures that will end the impasse." "Although, admittedly, there is no time for the Senate to act on it, I have filed it just the same to put on record that the proposed donation has mustered support in the legislature," Recto said. "The disposition of abandoned license plates through donation to the LTO will be in the best interest not only of the government agencies mandated to enforce traffic laws and ordinances, but also of the motoring public who have registered their motor vehicles and paid for the license plates," he explained. The release of vehicle plates to motorists hit a snag after the Commission on Audit (COA) issued a Notice of Disallowance on the P3.85 billion license plate supply contract on July 13, 2015, citing the failure of the contract to follow the provisions of Republic Act 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act. Subsequent appeals for COA to lift the Notice of Disallowance have been denied and dismissed, preventing the LTO from disbursing any funds to its license plate supplier. Last March, the BOC reported that 11 container vans containing 600,000 license plates were declared abandoned after its private importer JKG-PPI failed to pay the P40 million incurred duties and taxes within the prescribed period. The importer, JKG-PPI, appeared before the BOC and filed an appeal to lift the abandoned status of the shipped license plates but the appeal was later dismissed. To date, the license plates remain abandoned in the Port of Manila. Recto said he finds it "odd" that the plates remain untouched despite the fact that the license plate backlog as of January 2016 has reached 3,000,000 plates since the issuance of the Notice of Disallowance by COA. Recto explained that the BOC is empowered to dispose of properties abandoned or have valid, but unsatisfied lien for custom duties, taxes, and other collectible charges pursuant to the provisions of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines. "The BOC is also likewise empowered by the same law to dispose of the abandoned articles to the best advantage of government through sale, auction or donation," the senator pointed out. "The ball is now in the hands of Lina's superiors. The minute they say 'go', the 600,000 vehicle plates will be turned over to the LTO for distribution to angry motorists," he said. "By releasing the vehicle plates, we not only uphold government commitment to the motoring public, we also strengthen the capability of government to enforce transportation policies," he added.
Press Release

April 13, 2016 MIRIAM, BONGBONG RALLIES 'MIRIAM COUNTRY' Presidential candidate Miriam Defensor Santiago returned to the campaign trail on Wednesday with a homecoming rally at the University of the Philippines Visayas campus in Iloilo City with her running mate Bongbong Marcos. Santiago met some 2,000 supporters, many of whom were wearing red, the senator's campaign colors since she first ran for president in 1992. The crowd spilled over from the auditorium into the campus grounds, where seats were also set up. "Today I ask you: Convince, persuade your parents and those nearest you to use their wits this elections," the senator said, as she reiterated her demand for academic, professional, and moral excellence among people seeking public office. "If it were up to me, presidential candidates would be taking an IQ test," she quipped, switching in English, Filipino, and Ilonggo. This is Santiago's first appearance since she announced late March that she will join clinical trials for a new anti-cancer pill. She was diagnosed with lung cancer, stage four, but has continued to fulfill her Senate duties before declaring her Malacanang bid. The campus visit is also Santiago's third event with Marcos. They were first seen together in Ilocos Norte, where they launched their so-called north-south coalition campaign, and again in Metro Manila for the launch of Youth of Miriam. Santiago has been dubbed the "president of campuses," having topped the following university surveys conducted since the filing of certificates of candidacy in October: De La Salle University Manila, 75 percent;

Polytechnic University of the Philippines, 64 percent;

Universilty of the Philippines (U.P.) Los Banos, 86 percent;

University of Santo Tomas, 66 percent;

Ateneo De Manila University, 36.6 percent;

U.P. Manila, 59.5 percent;

University of Northern Philippines, 35.85 percent;

Malayan Colleges Laguna, 54.7 percent;

Colegio de San Juan de Letran, 58.5 percent;

U.P. Diliman, 41.6 percent;

Holy Angel University, 40 percent;

University of Asia and the Pacific, 43.2 percent;

Adamson University, 64 percent;

Ateneo de Naga University, 37.4 percent;

U.P. Baguio, 78.2 percent;

Philippine Normal University, 76 percent;

Arellano University, 36 percent; and

De La Salle University - Lipa, 32 percent. Santiago has also previously said that her campaign will bank heavily on her strong social media base. With some 3.4 million followers on Facebook and 2.4 million on Twitter, Santiago has the biggest social media clout among the presidential candidates.
San Francisco artist Ulrike Palmbach likes to go off the map. Thats the case whether shes backpacking in the Sierra or drawing at her longtime Mission District studio.

I pick a mountain and just go up there, she says. Sometimes its a little scary, like, Whoops, you cant go any further. Theres a cliff.

Little wonder, then, that the 53-year-old artist sees corollaries between her adventurous forays into the wild and her exploratory drawings venturing into the unplanned and unknown. The latter, she says, is like a fictional mental space, but its inspired by my wanderings outdoors. I go off the path and through the underbrush and whatnot. They are kind of tangled spaces that you have to find your way through.

In many ways, Palmbach is the perfect fit for Entanglements, an online exhibit produced by Wirtz Art. After about 25 years as the brick-and-mortar Steven Wirtz Gallery, the space turned to the Internet when its lease came up last year.

The expensive space seemed no longer to make sense as rents dramatically rose and the viewing seemed to be declining, says owner Connie Wirtz. For me, the Internet provided an effective means of exhibiting art to a broad audience without the challenge of overhead that would limit the choices of work I wished to exhibit.

Palmbach is known primarily for her large, labor-intensive sculptures, yet her drawings seem well suited for an online exhibition, says curator Harper Brokaw-Falbo, who describes Palmbachs works on paper as a liminal space between her physical and remembered experience of the world and what she makes sculpturally  mirroring the liminality of the digital world.

Palmbach, a native of Sindelfingen, Germany, who earned her bachelor of fine arts degree at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1989, is less sure about the online-only concept, though shes been with Wirtz for almost two decades.

I dont like the idea that much, frankly, she says with a laugh, because if you show online, you dont see the people, their reactions. You dont get to talk to them. When, say, at an opening ... theres a lot of people and people dont know who the artist is, I can spy on them and watch them as they bend down and get close.

Still, she can see the entanglements she creates on paper sending tendrils out into less concrete realms.

Were all so enmeshed in a technological world, she says. I kind of combine that with an actual world. Sometimes I draw these thickets that are sort of reinvented from nature, but then I combine it with a tangled world of cables and the Internet. Theyre all very tangled, physically but also mentally.

Kimberly Chun is an East Bay freelance writer.

Entanglements: Works on Paper by Ulrike Palmbach: Through May 15. Viewable online and by appointment. Wirtz Art, Oakland. (415) 433-6879. wirtzart.com.
When the National Parks Service historian suggested that the California Historical Society tell the story of Yosemite to honor its 150th anniversary, Director of Exhibitions Jessica Hough kept it to herself that she had never visited the place.

She surmised that would be "uncool" until she figured out that it was the coolest thing she could bring to the job, because the man who made the park happen, President Abraham Lincoln, never visited Yosemite either. He was sold on it by pictures, as was Hough, who went so far as to name her son Ansel, as in Adams. She thus became both the curator and the target audience for "Yosemite: A Storied Landscape," which opens Sunday.

"The big challenge," Hough says, "is to organize an exhibition that says something fresh and new to people who have been to Yosemite many times and also brings along the people who don't know anything about Yosemite and have never been there."

Though the exhibition depicts the last 150 years in Yosemite, it is not a chronology. It is broken into 23 stand-alone story stations that range from John Muir's 1871 handwritten theory that the valley was carved by glaciers to the fight between hippies and rangers in the 1960s. The 23 stories are brought to life by paintings and pictures and pelts; Miwok war bonnets and U.S. Cavalry uniforms; videos of basket weavers, rock climbers, the Rim Fire and the Firefall, a nightly event that ended in 1968; pictures of bears in action and one bear in inaction - the never-displayed skin of the last grizzly bear documented as shot in Yosemite in 1878 (see story on Page 16).

In all, 253 items are on display. For Yosemite experts, there are a dozen artifacts on loan from the Yosemite Museum, including things that have never been out of the park or even shown there. For Yosemite novices, there are seven famous photographs by Carleton Watkins, from the California Historical Society's collection.

Made in 1861, these photos portray the valley as pristine and untouched by humans, a time that had already passed. Watkins hid from view the fact that the valley was even then being commercialized and clear-cut. That is what motivated John Conness, an Irish immigrant who dug his way out of the gold mines to become a U.S. senator, to introduce the Yosemite Grant Act.

That was the first federal legislation to protect a scenic landscape, and it cleared Congress, needing just the signature of the president, who was busy prosecuting the Civil War. As the story goes, Lincoln would study the gruesome battlefield images of bloated bodies made by photographers such as Mathew Brady. Then he would ease his eyes by switching to the Yosemite pictures by Watkins, handed to him by Conness.

The president may have owed California something in return for all the gold that financed the war effort. Or he may have owed Conness something for his loyal support. Viewing those pictures, Lincoln went back and forth, Brady to Watkins. Then he dipped his pen and signed the bill that set aside Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove "for public use, resort and recreation ... inalienable for all time." It was June 30, 1864. Yosemite became a national park in 1890.

"We believe that it was the mammoth plate photographs by Carleton Watkins that were in part responsible for the grant even being signed by Lincoln," says Hough, 43, who was promoted from consulting curator to director of exhibitions while organizing this show.

When she finally saw Yosemite, in April, Hough arrived in style, accompanied by her 9-month-old son, Ansel Werner.

"Knowing the photography - through Ansel Adams, through Eadweard Muybridge, through Watkins - you think you know Yosemite," she says. "But then you get there and it is just 'Oh, my God.' It is not anything like seeing the images of Yosemite. It's as spectacular as people say, which you can't believe." {sbox}

Yosemite: A Storied Landscape: Through Jan. 25. $5. Noon-5 p.m. Tues.-Sun. California Historical Society, 678 Mission St., San Francisco. (415) 357-1848. www.californiahistoricalsociety.org.

To watch a short video, go to: www.sfgate.com/entertainment/item/Yosemite-at-150-`30319.php.
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A 99-year-old widow who had the good luck to make it to 99 got a little more good luck on Tuesday in San Francisco when the legal system put her hard-to-believe eviction on hold.

I feel happy, said Iris Canada, holding onto the handles of her walker as she stood at the front door of the courthouse on McAllister Street.

Canada has lived in her flat at 670 Page St. since the 1940s. Eleven years ago, after the apartments in the six-unit building were sold off individually, Canada was promised she could keep living in her flat for the rest of her life, for $700 a month.

She kept living and living and, despite a mild stroke some months ago, kept living. And while she continues to do that, the owners of her flat cannot sell it.

I love living in San Francisco, Canada said. San Francisco is my home, and my home is my home. I dont want to go anyplace.

On Tuesday, several lawyers in suits met inside a courtroom to argue before a Superior Court judge why Canada should or should not have to leave.

Lawyers for the units owners  Peter Owens, Stephen Owens and Carolyn Radisch  contend Canada, a retired nurse, has not lived continuously in the flat. The owners filed a complaint with the court stating that Canada had permitted waste to occur on the premises and that she had failed to permanently reside at the premises.

Lawyers for Canada replied that was because she was in the hospital, with her stroke, and also caring for a niece, who had cancer, according to attorney Michael Spalding, who represented Canada on behalf of the Homeless Advocacy Project of San Francisco.

Lawyers for the owner said Canada had not kept the place up.

Yes, I have, Canada said later.

Action postponed

Judge A. James Robertson postponed the eviction and ordered lawyers for both sides back next week to see if the eviction should be lifted permanently.

Meanwhile, Canada found herself something of a sudden celebrity in the world of tenants rights law. Standing beside her at the courthouse door were a half dozen tenants advocates, protesters with picket signs and San Francisco Supervisor London Breed, who called on the building owners to show some compassion.

Supervisors objection

This is something that shouldnt be happening, Breed said. Something is wrong. We have too many seniors living on our streets. We are asking the owner to let her stay, let her be.

Canadas friend, counselor Gus Brown from the Housing Rights Committee, said that the widow had paid $79,000 over the years to the owners under the terms of her deal, and that it was not her fault she was still alive.

They thought in 2005 that, in two or three years, shed be dead, Brown said. Thats what this is really about.

Tommi Mecca, counseling director of the committee, urged the units owners to drop their lawsuit.

Why all of a sudden do they want her evicted? They cant wait? The womans 99, Mecca said. I just cant fathom how they justify this.

Proving her point

After the court hearing, Canada went back to her flat and invited anyone who believed that she hadnt kept the place up to come inside and have a look around.

She put her walker aside, climbed the 13 steps to her apartment without assistance and plopped down on a red sofa to see whats on TV, which is how she passes the day when she is not called before the bar of justice. She said she likes watching news and movies because theyre both full of good stories.

Her living room was an amalgam of stuffed animals, pictures of relatives, five TV remote controls, two plastic bananas in a bowl, a Chinese lantern, a slot machine, a collection of 45 rpm records, a framed picture of da Vincis Last Supper and a cuckoo clock. All of it looked to be well cared for.

Canada said she is looking forward to returning to court to see what the lawyers have in store this time, assuming next week rolls around, never a sure thing.

Well see what happens, Canada said.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF
A month-old plan for Mission Street to speed Muni and protect pedestrians may be close to being altered after the new transit-only lanes and changes to driving routes that force cars onto other streets angered drivers and merchants, caused traffic backups, and filled the air with horn-honking and cursing  especially at parking control officers directing traffic.

Painting crews havent even finished installing new red transit-only lanes on Mission on the 2-mile stretch of Mission between 14th and Randall streets, but Municipal Transportation Agency officials met twice last week with Supervisor David Campos, who represents the Mission, and community leaders to talk about changing the plan.

We have to really look at how its working or if it isnt working, why, said Erick Arguello, lifelong Mission resident and president of Calle 24, a cultural preservation group. I think we need to revisit the plan.

Arguello, who attended community meetings while the 14-Mission Rapid project was being planned, had supported trying the changes. The plan sets aside what are called red-carpet lanes for buses and taxis only between Randall and Cesar Chavez streets northbound and 14th and Cesar Chavez streets southbound, leaving a single lane for cars and trucks in each direction.

The plan also requires car traffic to turn right off of Mission at Cesar Chavez, 16th, 20th, 24th and 26th streets, and bans left turns at every intersection between 14th and Cesar Chavez.

Residents, merchants and drivers especially are seeing red.

On a recent Friday night, traffic was backed up nearly a block at Cesar Chavez in the northbound direction as a parking control officer, using his three-wheeler and his arms, directed drivers not to use the bus-and-taxi lane to the left or sneak past the traffic cones to avoid turning right.

Some of the drivers seemed confused, while others appeared hell-bent on getting around the restrictions and continuing down Mission. As the parking control officer waved his arms, gestured and pointed, drivers queued up on Mission honked their horns and yelled at him, offering often profane thoughts about the MTA.

On the sidewalk, a woman yelled out to the drivers to call the MTA and complain. I did, she said.

Gripes to officials

So did many others. Campos wrote on his Facebook page that his office was flooded with complaints. They were from drivers frustrated by traffic, residents bothered by honking horns and merchants having to do without loading zones that were eliminated by the red-carpet lanes.

Most people working by, living on and driving down Mission Street will tell you that the new transit-only red carpet lanes are anything but glamorous, he wrote. While I understand the intention was to enhance the commute of transit riders, the changes look better on paper than in practice.

John Haley, the MTAs transit director, said the plan appears to be achieving its goal of speeding up trips for the 67,000 people a day who ride the 14-Mission and 49-Van Ness/Mission buses. Even with the changes being phased in and with the buses slowed by congestion and construction, bus travel times along the stretch of Mission have dropped by two minutes, he said.

Plan seemed good

The MTA held multiple community meetings in the Mission District before adopting the plan in December, and signs began to be posted in February. There were concerns, but MTA officials thought they had worked out a plan that would benefit the agency and the Mission.

Once the paint, the signs and the parking control officers arrived, though, the trouble started, Arguello said. Drivers werent the only ones frustrated. Merchants said business has been down since the transit-only lanes arrived. Some of that lost business, he said, is from displaced Mission residents who in the past have driven back to the neighborhood to shop, dine and hang out. Now, he said, the traffic restrictions are keeping a lot of them away.

The changes, Arguello said, seem to have sucked some of the life out of the usually lively main drag, especially at midday.

Theres a definite loss of activity on Mission, he said. Its visible. You go out there around noon and there is usually a lot of hustle and bustle. But now, its just silent except for buses rolling by. Its a dramatic change.

MTA officials said last week that they had already tweaked the project, adding some yellow and white zones for loading, adjusting traffic-signal timing, installing plastic posts to define transit-only lanes and turning areas, extending the red paint further into intersections, and installing more and better signs. Board member Gwyneth Borden called for a three-month review of the project.

On Friday, MTA officials, including Ed Reiskin, the transportation director, met with Campos, Arguello and some Mission leaders to discuss the problems and possible modifications, including enforcing turn restrictions during commute hours only. They agreed to continue the discussions, and hold another community meeting.

We need to look at it differently and make sure everyone is comfortable: business owners, transit riders, drivers, pedestrians, Arguello said. We need something that works for everybody.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
A tech startup in Canada is using the possibility of a Donald Trump presidency to lure back Canadian expatriates and immigrants working in Silicon Valleys tech industry.

Sortable, an advertising startup in Waterloo, Ontario  a city considered one of Canadas tech hubs  launched an ad campaign on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in March featuring a picture of the GOP front-runner and the message Thinking of moving to Canada? Sortable is hiring.

Another Sortable ad running on the social networks features Trumps picture and the text Feeling homesick? Sortable is hiring.

Sortable CEO Christopher Reid said the campaigns goal is to attract Canadian tech workers and other immigrants living in the Bay Area who fear the effects of a Trump presidency.

Part of the campaigns goals is to bring back all these expats who are leaving Waterloo and going to the valley, Reid said. Theres a lot of Canadians that are going down. The other group were targeting is definitely foreigners that are living in America who Trump is not being very friendly to.

The ad campaign is mainly designed for Bay Area tech industry workers, Reid said.

Reid said that, a month in, the campaign has seen a good response from its target audience. According to Sortable, 40,000 Web developers have seen the ad and about 1,000 of them have visited the companys jobs page.

The company began the campaign last month, after a survey showed that 31 percent of 1,000 Americans questioned said they would consider moving to Canada if Trump were elected.

Trump started off being sort of an amusing figure, and the more and more real it gets that he could get into office, the more scared people are, Reid said.

Waterloo is considered Canadas Silicon Valley. More than 500 tech companies, including BlackBerry, are located in Waterloo, according to the citys website.

Last week, the mayors of Canadian cities Toronto, Waterloo, Cambridge and Kitchener visited San Francisco in an attempt to lure back young Canadian tech workers living in the Bay Area. Some 350,000 Canadians reportedly live in the region.

Marcos Martinez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mmartinez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @marcosmchacon
Technology and Internet companies would have to provide government agencies with access to data when served with a court order under long-awaited draft legislation crafted by two top senators, including San Francisco Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

The proposal adds fuel to a fight being waged most visibly between Apple and the FBI over whether companies must give law enforcement agencies access to emails, texts, phone calls and other data thats increasingly being encrypted into scrambled code to protect against hackers.

I am hopeful that this draft will start a meaningful and inclusive debate on the role of encryption and its place within the rule of law, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said in a statement. Burr is writing the bill with Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the panel.

The bill we have drafted would simply provide that, if a court of law issues an order to render technical assistance or provide decrypted data, the company or individual would be required to do so, Feinstein said. Today, terrorists and criminals are increasingly using encryption to foil law enforcement efforts, even in the face of a court order.

Major technology industry associations, as well as a growing number of lawmakers, already have expressed opposition to the measure, arguing that it would force companies to create backdoors into their products and services that could make consumers and users less secure and expose data to hackers, spies and criminals.

Mandating the weakening of encryption will put the United States national security and global competitiveness at risk without corresponding benefits, Michael Beckerman, president and CEO of the Internet Association, said in a statement. Strong encryption is vital to protecting national security, personal privacy, communications, the electric grid, hospitals and our defense systems.

Apple had no immediate comment on the proposed legislation.

While President Obama has backed the FBI in its court fight with Apple, White House officials have been openly skeptical that lawmakers can produce a solution to the conflict.

The prospects of Congress actually developing a building bipartisan agreement around a good piece of legislation that appropriately balances the competing equities here, and then taking the additional step of actually getting it passed I think are somewhat low, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday. Still, he said, the administration will engage with members of Congress.

The senators didnt say when they plan to introduce a final version of the bill, and its unclear whether it will even be taken up by the Senate. Some lawmakers have suggested the best solution may be to create a commission to study an issue that pits politically influential technology companies and the privacy concerns of consumers against law enforcement agencies.

In February, the FBI served Apple with a court order compelling the company to help break into an encrypted iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife carried out the deadly December attack in San Bernardino.

Apple resisted, bringing national attention to an issue that has simmered for years under the surface. The FBI dropped its case last month after it bought a tool from a private organization it hasnt identified to break into the phone.

However, the FBI is pursuing at least one other case against Apple, and law enforcement officials, company executives and technology experts say the matter is far from resolved.

State and local law enforcement agencies say an increasing number of criminal investigations, such as into rape or child abductions, are being stymied because investigators cant get into phones and other communication devices that are encrypted. Its a trend that FBI Director James Comey has referred to as going dark.

Prosecutors are unable to get into more than 1,000 iPhones, Burr said.

Tim Cook, by refusing to do what theyve done for years  and thats accommodate law enforcement  has put the target on his back that invites hackers to seek ways to break into Apples phones, Burr said. He said the Apple CEO has done more to jeopardize the security at Apple than this legislation ever intended to do.

Chris Strohm is a Bloomberg writer. Email: cstrohm1@bloomberg.net
FORT WORTH, Texas  A judge on Wednesday ordered a Texas teenager who used an affluenza defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck to serve nearly two years in jail, a surprising sanction that far exceeds the several months in jail that prosecutors initially said they would pursue.

Ethan Couch, who was appearing in adult court for the first time after he turned 19 on Monday, received 180 days for each of the four deaths in the June 2013 crash.

Initially, state District Judge Wayne Salvant said he would not immediately rule on how much longer Couch, already in custody since he was arrested in Mexico last year, would spend in the Tarrant County Jail. But he reconsidered his ruling after hearing an argument from prosecutors that Couch should be sentenced not to 120 days in jail for the crash, but to 180 days for each of four counts of intoxication manslaughter under a separate part of Texas code.

Couch had always faced the prospect of adult jail time as part of his probation once his case had moved out of the juvenile system. Prosecutors didnt ask the judge to declare Couch had violated his juvenile probation by fleeing to Mexico with his mother, or to consider it in his ruling.

Each 180-day term will be served consecutively, Salvant ordered. It was not clear if that would include the time Couch has already spent in jail.

Prosecutors declined to comment afterward on their strategy, citing a gag order Salvant has issued in the case. For months, they had indicated they wouldnt be able to get more than a few months in jail for Couch, though they said he might face decades in prison if he violated his probation as an adult.

The initial sentence of 10 years of probation that Couch received in juvenile court outraged prosecutors and relatives of the victims.

Couch ended up in trouble again last year after a cell-phone video showed him at what appeared to be a party with alcohol. Drinking alcohol is a violation of Couchs probation. Shortly after the video surfaced, Couch and his mother, Tonya, fled to Mexico.
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Ryan Chamberlain, a former San Francisco political consultant who admitted possessing biological toxins and was initially accused of assembling a bomb, was sentenced to 2 years in federal prison Wednesday.

Chamberlain, 44, pleaded guilty in February to felony charges of illegally possessing biological toxins and a handgun, after prosecutors dropped a biological weapons charge that carried a possible life sentence. He has been in custody since his arrest in June 2014 and could be released in July, with time off for good behavior.

Chamberlain had worked as a consultant on local political campaigns for more than a decade and was a district organizer in Gavin Newsoms successful 2003 campaign for mayor. He also worked as an independent contractor for The Chronicle in 2012.

He became the target of a nationwide manhunt in 2014 after federal agents, investigating illicit online transactions on the secrecy-shrouded dark Web, said they found bomb-making materials, incendiary equipment and biotoxins in a search of his Polk Street apartment.

Police arrested him less than three days later about 3 miles from his home. He was held without bail as prosecutors described him as a dangerous man who was in the process of building a bomb.

But as the case was about to go to trial, prosecutors withdrew the bomb-related charges and agreed to let Chamberlain plead guilty to illegal possession of biological toxins and of a .22 derringer pistol with the serial number removed.

In his plea agreement, Chamberlain admitted using the Black Market Reloaded site on the dark Web to buy two vials of ground rosary peas, which contained a toxin called abrin, in December 2013. He also acknowledged that agents who searched his apartment found items that included a rocket motor, a remote control, matchstick powder, sodium cyanide and a device in a glass jar.

FBI agents said they believed the device was a remote-controlled bomb. But Chamberlains lawyers said their own expert concluded otherwise after reconstructing the device and found that, even if it had ignited, at most the top of the jar would have popped off. They also said the abrin and sodium cyanide were in small, nonlethal quantities.

At Wednesdays sentencing hearing, Chamberlain said his crimes were a result of depression and suicidal ideation.

Never was there a threat to the community, he said. This was all internal about me and not about anybody else.

The sentence also requires Chamberlain to remain under court supervision for 12 years after his release, with his Internet use limited and closely monitored, and to undergo mental health treatment. Prosecutors had initially agreed to require only three years of post-release supervision, but U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria rejected the plea agreement last week and said a longer period was necessary.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
Jacom Stephens / Getty Images

A man and woman were seriously injured and hospitalized Tuesday in Millbrae in what detectives suspect was an attempted murder-suicide.

San Mateo County sheriffs deputies got to the house on the 200 block of La Cruz Avenue about 8:45 a.m. and found the pair both suffering from gunshot wounds. Officials called it an isolated incident and said they were not looking for any outstanding subjects.
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A van that killed a pedestrian in an unsolved hit-and-run crash last month in San Franciscos Tenderloin was being chased at high speed by an Uber driver after the two vehicles exchanged honks and got into a fender-bender, according to an Uber customer who says he got taken along for the ride.

The customer, 52-year-old Jason West, spoke to The Chronicle about what he called a frightening, 15-minute ordeal  with the Dodge van and the Mercedes he was in running red lights along rainy streets  after contacting police and Uber.

He said the company and its insurer responded by offering him thousands of dollars to cover his medical bills and release Uber from liability, while keeping the deal confidential  an offer that Uber representatives and their insurance company called a routine legal practice.

West declined the offer, and his account  disputed by the Uber driver  offers insight into the March 12 death of Michael Gilmore, 56, a San Francisco native who emerged from hard times and homelessness and lived at the Jefferson Hotel on Eddy Street, just around the corner from where he died at Ellis and Leavenworth streets.

Why he came forward

West said he spoke out because news accounts of the crash  which also injured a second pedestrian  hadnt mentioned the chase he said he was part of.

San Francisco police officials have refused to discuss the crash in detail, citing the sensitivity of the case, but said Tuesday that the van driver remained at large and that the Uber driver had not been accused of any wrongdoing. An Uber representative said the company had not been contacted by police.

No one knows what I know, that this was a road-rage incident involving an Uber driver, said West, a longtime city resident who works in personal services. This didnt have to happen. Mr. Gilmore didnt have to be killed.

The Uber driver, Omar Dahmash, denied Wests account in an interview Tuesday. He said that while a collision did occur between his car and the van, it was West who prompted him to follow the van. The pursuit never went over the speed limit, Dahmash said, and lasted only one block. He said a third vehicle was also struck by the van, and followed it farther than he did.

I spoke to the police and there are no charges against me, Dahmash said. I didnt chase him, I was just following and it was only for a block. The passenger is not correct at all.

An Uber representative said the company had deactivated Dahmashs account on the popular app  which has faced past scrutiny over its ability to protect customers  after determining that the trip did not meet the companys safety standards. The representative would not elaborate and declined to be quoted by name.

West said the incident began when he called for an Uber car to pick him up at his South of Market apartment in the early evening. He planned, he said, to pick up some friends near Union Square before heading out for a Saturday night in the Castro.

West was picked up by Dahmash at 6:34 p.m., according to data from the ride-hailing app, and West sat in the backseat as the two headed north into the Tenderloin. He said they were sitting in stopped traffic while westbound on Geary Street, between Powell and Mason streets, when a honk came from a silver Dodge Caravan behind Dahmashs Mercedes C-Class sedan.

Get his license plate

Dahmash honked back, West said, before the van pulled to the left in an attempt to pass the Mercedes. He said Dahmash sped up and the two vehicles collided.

From that moment, that was the start of Mr. Gilmores demise, West said.

The van took off, he said, and Dahmash followed. West said that in the initial seconds after the fender-bender, he was sympathetic toward the Uber driver and sought to help him by trying to photograph the van. He said he told Dahmash, Get his license plate.

But Dahmash began speeding and running red lights, he said. The chase was fast enough that when the black sedan crested a steep hill, West said, his head hit the ceiling, causing an injury to his neck that is still bothering him.

At every red light, Im just bracing myself, he said. Im trying to figure out how I can protect myself if a bus or another car doesnt see us.

As the Mercedes approached the intersection of Ellis and Leavenworth streets, West said, he saw a commotion, with luggage flying and people jumping from the path of the van. He didnt know it at the time, he said, but Gilmore had just been struck and killed.

The van gets away

The chase continued, West said, with the Uber driver following the Dodge van the wrong way up Olive Street, a one-way alley, before the van got away, fading into traffic on busy Van Ness Avenue.

Im talking to him just to calm him down, but after it ended hes screaming at me, West said. He was very agitated that I didnt get a picture of the vans plate.

West said he asked to get out of the Mercedes, but that the driver told him, Its too dangerous, turned off the app and said the remainder of the trip to the Castro would be free.

A map of the route that night, saved by West in a screenshot from the Uber app, shows that the Mercedes traveled through the intersection where the hit-and-run occurred just before police received the first calls reporting the crash.

Drivers story differs

Dahmash denied much of Wests account, saying he gave up following the van after a block and did not see the fatal wreck. He said he filled out a police report the same night and gave a follow-up statement to investigators the next week.

West showed The Chronicle a text message he received from Dahmash the day after the crash in which the Uber driver said, this is 100 percent the guy, an apparent reference to the van driver, and included a link to a news article about the fatal hit-and-run. West said thats when he contacted police and Uber.

When I saw that it was a fatality, all bets were off, West said. I didnt sign up for that.

The day after that, West said, an insurance adjuster contacted him on behalf of Uber and offered $2,500 for his pain and suffering, but he turned it down.

The adjuster called back the next day, West said, this time with an offer of $6,000  $3,000 for verified medical expenses and an additional $3,000 to release the company from liability. The release, provided to The Chronicle, included a clause that would have prevented West from talking publicly about the deal or doing anything to disparage or defame Uber or Dahmash.

Aggressive agreements

John Clarke, a spokesman for Ubers insurer, James River Insurance Co., said it is standard practice to include confidentiality provisions in a release of liability for bodily-injury claims.

Such settlement agreements are common  and aggressive, said Mark Gergen, a professor at UC Berkeleys law school.

Uber was trying to get out in front of it before the customer was fully aware of his medical condition and his legal rights, he said. Noting that West could make a case for significant emotional disturbance and possibly false imprisonment as well as physical injuries, Gergen said, Uber has a significant liability risk here.

West, who has hired an attorney, said the release struck him as like a gag order, and it made me not want to be silenced.

I wanted to know who the victim was, he said. I felt sympathetic for his family. I wanted to reach out to them. I just feel so bad. It was just so unnecessary.

Gilmore, the man who died, spent his entire life in San Francisco. He graduated from Mission High in 1977 and worked in food services at UCSF Medical Center for more than a decade before he fell on hard times, said his brother, Raymond Moore of OFallon, Mo.

For a long time he lived with a woman he considered his godmother in a rent-free apartment, but when the woman died, he lost his place and became homeless for a few years, sometimes sleeping in tents or cardboard boxes.

We didnt come from money, said Moore, 62, who spoke to his brother frequently on the phone, including the day before his death. We were trying to scramble through life just like everyone else, and when his godmother died it really threw him for a loop.

He was well-loved

Nancy Sholkin, a 70-year-old former city employee, met Gilmore on the streets of Laurel Heights and took him under her wing. She helped him obtain an identification card so he could obtain Social Security benefits, and he moved into a room at the Jefferson Hotel in 2012.

He was well-loved, Sholkin said. And he was working on making a life for himself.

Gilmores family was shocked when told by The Chronicle that the van in the hit-and-run may have been fleeing an earlier collision. But the news buoyed their hopes that investigators would catch the driver.

What hurt us most of all is that someone could hit him and not even stop, said Moores wife, Brenda Moore. Im just so glad that someone came forward or we would never have known what happened.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Carolyn Said contributed to this story.

Kale Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfkale
The only reason The Chronicles Little Man is not jumping out of his chair here is that the Little Man has scored a seat at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala, and hes afraid if his bottom isnt in constant contact with his chair, some neer-do-well will slide into it. Also, in keeping with the stylishness of everybody in this film, his pants are probably too tight for jumping.

Andrew Rossis documentary The First Monday in May, about the making of the Mets costume show, China: Through the Looking Glass, and the planning of the annual gala in conjunction with that show, is a compelling study of pulling and pushing.

On the one hand, curator Andrew Bolton, whose trademark is socklessness, presides over the exhibition, which is a collaboration between the Anna Wintour Fashion Institute at the museum and its Department of Asian Art. Bolton is obsessed with pulling in the largest crowds ever for a Met fashion extravaganza.

On the other hand, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, after whom the Costume Institute has been renamed, presides over the party, pushing out the riffraff while she beckons hordes of waxed, Spanxed and/or near-naked movie stars. Weve got to keep the numbers down, she announces at an early meeting, and also the free seats! (As possessor of a press pass, watching this filmed moment made me feel like a mosquito watching epidemiologists discuss how they were going to cope with Zika.)

What has he done lately? says Wintour, while her staffers move a B-listers name tag toward a table with less desirable alphabetics. He cant be on his cell phone the entire time, she says of someone else, ordering an aide to call whoever he is before the party to share that dictum. Director Andrew Rossi is humanitarian enough to let the targets of Wintours scorn remain anonymous. But Can we put somebody better here? should give pause to anyone who attends any party.

Curators who watch over the Asian statuary and paintings fret over the possibility that their treasures will be used mainly to accessorize the dresses and robes. But on gala night when the exhibition opens, those art lovers who can drag themselves away from such cultural pursuits as ogling George Clooney and Kim Kardashian ooh and aah over the combination of objets and wearables.

And a few months later, as possible reward, Bolton gets appointed to take the place of retiring Costume Institute chief Harold Koda. Koda, incidentally, is shown in the film referring to Rihannas fur-embellished Guo Pei gown, which requires at least three macho schleppers in suits to help her get the train up the outside stairway, as transcendent.

In the end, there are 800,000 visitors to the exhibition, a record. And Wintour raised $12.5 million for the museum at the gala. Everybody is happy, at least everybody shown in the movie. Isnt it amazing, observes a museum official, how fashion can bring two cultures together?

Leah Garchik is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com

The First Monday

in May

Documentary. Directed by Andrew Rossi. (Not rated. 91 minutes.)

To view a trailer, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRFCVG85X_s
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Billionaire Silicon Valley entrepreneur Sean Parker has donated $250 million to launch an effort, based in San Francisco, that combines the forces of six top cancer research centers nationwide to develop treatments in the growing field of cancer immunotherapy, which uses the power of the bodys immune system to fight disease.

The donation, announced Wednesday and considered the largest single contribution made to immunotherapy research, creates a collaboration among more than 300 researchers from UCSF, Stanford University, UCLA, Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to form the new Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.

Our whole focus is on breaking down barriers, facilitating the best ideas and moving through the system in a way that will lead to rapid success in patients, said UCSF immunologist Jeffrey Bluestone, president and CEO of the Parker Institute. Bluestone will oversee the research and trials at all six centers.

Parker, 36, the former Facebook president who also helped launch Napster, last year established the Parker Foundation, a private philanthropy that funds life sciences, global health and civic engagement, with a $600 million gift.

Parker has already donated $4.5 million to fund malaria research, $10 million to create the Sean N. Parker Autoimmune Research Laboratory at UCSF and made other contributions, particularly to research that involves the immune system. In 2014, Parker pledged $24 million to create the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research at Stanford.

A lifelong sufferer of food allergies and asthma, Parker has been interested in the bodys immune reaction to disease, both in how the immune system overreacts to attack healthy tissue and how immune cells can be used to treat cancer and other conditions.

We are at an inflection point in cancer research and now is the time to maximize immunotherapys unique potential to transform all cancers into manageable diseases, saving millions of lives, Parker said in a statement. We believe that the creation of a new funding and research model can overcome many of the obstacles that currently prevent research breakthroughs.

Researchers for decades have been banking on the promise of immunotherapy, but it has finally become a reality in recent years with the approval of new drugs to treat melanoma and other cancers, with a host of other therapies in the pipeline.

The discovery of a molecule that plays a central role in how cancers shield themselves from the bodys immune system and advancements in gene therapies have played a key role in these breakthroughs.

These immune therapies dont work on the cancer; they work on the immune cells, said Dr. Lewis Lanier, chairman of UCSFs department of microbiology and immunology and director of UCSFs Parker Institute. Chemical poisons (chemotherapies) are trying to kill the tumor, but the tumor often finds ways to mutate and get around them. Here, were going after the immune system and trying to beef up (the immune cells) activity.

Each Parker Institute center has agreed to participate in the research effort for at least seven years and has already received $10 million to $15 million in initial funding, with additional funding expected to follow.

Lanier said hes already been able to boost research staff and fund projects with the new funds. Were not out to make Sean another billion dollars, he said. Were out to help cure people faster.

Dr. Crystal Mackall, the leader of Stanfords Parker Institute program, said the origins of immunotherapy date back more than a century, to a New York City bone surgeon and cancer specialist who tried to develop treatments by provoking the bodys immune response using bacteria.

We are really at a point where the science is presenting all kinds of opportunities for progress for patients, said Mackall, who heads Stanfords program in pediatric immunotherapy. People have been trying to do this for 100 years, to harness the immune system, but its just in the last five years weve started to see the signals.

Mackall said she expects the Parker funds to get treatments to patients more quickly. I hope this leads to improved cures for patients with cancer. She said. Nothing short of that Im going to be happy with.
Very early in Barbershop: The Next Cut, an odd mood settles in. The mood is comic, but anxious. The barbershop is a special place, a place where life happens, but its not protected. So even while were laughing, were glancing at the door and wondering who or what awful thing will come through it.

Its a special kind of movie that can find a tone broad enough to accommodate comedy and the possibility of tragedy. And the powerful suggestion here, the one that sinks in and will not leave, is that this tone captures something of the urban black experience. Its a movie about a communitys resiliency, but also about parents having to worry about their children, and about people dodging bullets on the way to work.

So Barbershop: The Next Cut is a funny movie, but also a serious movie, and  who knows?  maybe an important one. Its very much about a place, the South Side of Chicago, and about a time, as in right now. In the barbershop, they talk about Obama, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner  and other issues that were in the news as recently as six months ago.

This is a different barbershop from the one in the previous Barbershop movies. Once a male sanctuary, it is now a unisex place, or rather its two businesses in one. On one side, Calvin (Ice Cube) and his male employees, including Cedric the Entertainer as Eddie, take care of the male customers. And the other side, Angie (a brilliant Regina Hall) and her staff take care of the women.

As a business, its about as real as the nightclub in Flashdance, offering full-time employment to eight people, despite only a steady trickle of customers. But as a movie location, its ideal. The characters are vivid, all in one place, and they keep talking. The fact that this time women are present expands the range of conversation. This time theres even the possibility of sexual tension, as when Draya (a hard-to-resist Nicki Minaj) starts eyeing one of her married co-workers (Common).

The length of the scenes and the expansiveness of the conversations in The Next Cut can almost feel clumsy, especially if were used to the clipped brevity of scenes in most modern movies. But if this is clumsy, its the clumsiness of sincerity and authenticity. In one scene, they argue about whether 2016 is the best time (so far) to be black in America, and the various sides of the issue are interesting to hear  and funny, too. The conclusion: It probably is the best time, unless youre Bill Cosby.

Meanwhile, everything going on outside the barbershop isnt funny at all. There are gang killings every day, and in one case, schedules have to be arranged so that rival gang members dont show up for haircuts at the same time. In one scene, (almost) everyone drops to the floor because there are gunshots on the street. The one who stays upright is Eddie, who says it would take him too long to get back up.

Though Kenya Barris and Tracy Olivers screenplay skillfully juggles a number of characters and plotlines, the tension in Calvins life is at the center. He has a teenage son who is having trouble in school, and though he doesnt know for sure, he suspects (accurately) that he is about to join a gang. Fed up, Calvin wants to open a shop in a safer neighborhood and enroll his son in a new school. His mixed feelings form the question at the heart of the movie: whether its better to stay and fight or run to safety.

Theres no good or satisfying answer to that question, which means that there can be no easy resolution for Barbershop: The Next Cut. By the time its over, the characters may have decided on their best course, but the audience hasnt decided at all. The audience isnt sure. That hint of unease, that contrary feeling that pulls from the general mood, is a product of the movies truthfulness and an emblem of its quality. We see a mans dilemma and frustration, passionately played by Ice Cube, but we dont know what he should do. So we leave the theater thinking about him, and wondering about everybody else in the same position.

Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle

Barbershop:

The Next Cut

Starring Ice Cube, Regina Hall, Cedric the Entertainer and Nicki Minaj. Directed by Malcolm D. Lee. (PG-13. 112 minutes.)

To see a trailer for Barbershop, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2vPDGStL4k
Criminal follows the modern rule  All action movies must begin with action  but instead of giving us the usual convoluted mess, it draws us in. We meet Ryan Reynolds, as a CIA agent in London, struggling to return to his home base. Two distinct entities are tracking him, the CIA and a nefarious team of terrorists, and as the terrorists get closer, the drama escalates, as the spectacle of running and running and getting nowhere becomes like that awful, familiar nightmare.

How that opening scene turns out is best left to be discovered, though to say what the rest of the movie is about might give a slight hint: Criminal deals with an attempt to thwart a terrorist ring by implanting into the head of an experimental subject (Kevin Costner) the thoughts and memories of a dead CIA agent. Was that subtle enough? No? Well, were talking about the movies first five minutes.

The tactics are drastic because the stakes are enormous. Only the CIA agent knew where to locate a computer whiz, known as the Dutchman (Michael Pitt), who has hacked the American nuclear codes and is about to hand them over to a German terrorist group that thinks it would be a neat idea to blow up all the worlds capitals and start all over. You know, clean slate. Start fresh.

The criminal in Criminal refers to Jericho, a violent maniac living life in chains in an American prison. Apparently, a scientist (Tommy Lee Jones) has developed a way to implant the memories of a corpse into another persons mind, but only if the receiver has a rare condition called frontal lobe disease, which Jericho has. This is why Jericho lacks a moral nature. Into this pocket of nothingness in Jerichos mind, the scientist deposits the CIA agents memories.

Criminal depicts a compelling situation, made rich and entertaining through its extreme characters. Gary Oldman plays the head of the CIA, racing against time to save the world, but instead of the usual cool operator, hes a nervous wreck, in a state of panic every time we see him. (Imagine if JFK, during the Cuban missile crisis, sat behind his desk screaming, Were all gonna die!) Oldman has a great scene in which he badgers Jericho for information moments after he wakes up after surgery. Oldman paces the room, raves, all but climbs the walls. Its the portrait of a man who has cracked under pressure and doesnt even know it.

The casting of Costner as a stone-cold violent wacko might seem odd at first  the role would rather seem a natural for Michael Shannon, who starred in director Ariel Vromens previous feature, The Iceman. But Costner is big enough to be scary, and he can do dead-eyed menace. Moreover, he is the ideal actor for playing the awakening of a moral nature, the first stirrings of a conscience.

Most of Criminal involves a kind of three-way chase, with the CIA trying to find the terrorists and trying to find the Dutchman, and with both the terrorists and the CIA at the mercy of a ruthless criminal who suddenly has mental access to a CIA agents particular set of skills. Among the things he can do instinctively is drive around London without getting into a head-on collision  except when he wants to.

Tommy Lee Jones has a nice change-of-pace role as a sweet-natured scientist. Jones actually makes himself look physically smaller, somehow. And Gal Gadot makes the most of the largely reactive role of the CIA agents widow, simply by holding the screen with a movie stars magnetism.

As for the villain, we are just going to have to get over the loss of Alan Rickman and accept whats left. Once we do, well be able to better appreciate what Jordi Malla brings to the role of the lead terrorist  a frustrating surety, the impenetrable certitude of the absolutely wrong.

Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle

Criminal

Action drama. Starring Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman and Gal Gadot. Directed by Ariel Vromen. (R. 113 minutes.)

To see a trailer for Criminal, go to www.traileraddict.com/criminal-2015/trailer
Standing Tall presents a complex situation, but it does so without complexity. Its a movie that invites us to love it, or at least respect it, based on its humane viewpoint, but it doesnt present humanity in its richness and complexity. Rather its a preening piece of work, aiming to flatter and please, while masquerading as something hard-hitting and daring. And because of all that, its a bore.

Just dont feel guilty for your boredom should you decide to see it. No, its not that youre indifferent to the plight of a boy who was abandoned at age 6 by his mother and who lives in a series of institutions, in which he gets angrier and angrier. Youre not heartless. Youre just bored by the unrelenting sameness of the action and the precooked point of view.

As you might guess, the kid is horrible and yet very good looking. By the time Malony (Rod Paradot) is 16, he is so full of rage that he cant resist threatening or hitting people, even when he is standing in front of a judge. Catherine Deneuve plays the judge in charge of his case, in her characteristically no-fuss, maternal way thats always a pleasure to watch. But she plays the biggest pushover imaginable. Consistently, this awful kid goes back on his commitments, breaks the terms of their agreements and, when challenged about this, starts cursing at her. Again and again, the judge shows him leniency.

In one scene, the young man is horrified when he is sent to live on a big farm in the French countryside, with about a dozen other delinquents. Thats a punishment? Thats practically my retirement plan. The place is such a holiday resort that soon he is having sex with the daughter of one of the counselors. Actually, first he kisses her. Then he becomes enraged (probably that he is feeling some emotion) and throws her violently against the wall. And then they start kissing again and have sex.

He attacks a caseworker with a pair of scissors and deliberately tries to injure a very pregnant woman by kicking a desk into her stomach. Yet within minutes of doing the latter, he is shown getting a face massage, courtesy of the state. Nobody seems to mind.

Standing Tall might have been more interesting if its point were that some kids are irredeemable, that the damage done to a child before the age of 6 is sometimes so complete that theres no possibility for true human connection. The adults around such a child might see the person he could be  or could have been  but that person can no longer be located.

That angle would at least have the grandeur of tragedy. Instead the movie takes the opposite point of view, but without justification or any attempt to persuade. It just assumes that we see the wonderful inner worthiness of this young man, even as hes stealing cars and almost killing people.

Sara Forestier, the feisty young actress who won a Cesar for The Names of Love, plays the boys mother, and she attacks the role with great conviction and a set of fake rotting teeth. It would be too much to say that shes convincing in the role, but her fierceness and lack of vanity at least enliven things, and the movie would be even worse without her.

Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle

Standing Tall

Starring Catherine Deneuve, Rod Paradot and Sara Forestier. Directed by Emmanuelle Bercot. In French with English subtitles. (R. 120 minutes.)

To see a trailer for Standing Tall, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd_Wlnn7Qo0
COLUMBIA, S.C.  Louisianas governor issued an executive order Wednesday banning discrimination in state government based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and transgender people in South Carolina told state senators that a bill requiring them to use a public bathroom corresponding to their biological sex puts them in danger of harassment.

The overwhelming majority of people at the state Senate hearing opposed the measure, which mimics part of a North Carolina law signed last month that has brought a national backlash. No vote was taken.
WASHINGTON  After burning through millions of dollars in a mostly failed attempt to sway Republican primary voters, big-money outside groups opposing Donald Trump have turned to a far smaller target audience: the delegates who will actually choose the presidential nominee.

Our Principles, which is devoted to keeping Trump from winning, and super PACs backing Ted Cruz and John Kasich are spending their time and money researching the complex process of delegate selection and reaching out to those party insiders. None of the groups has put up ads for Tuesdays New York primary.
CAMP PENDLETON, San Diego County  Navy Secretary Ray Mabus had a simple message Tuesday for 1,500 Marines and sailors: The decision to let women compete for all military combat positions is as irreversible as earlier edicts to integrate blacks and allow gays and lesbians to openly serve.

It was Mabus third visit to a major Marine Corps base to explain the issue to rank-and-file audiences since Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in December that all combat positions would be open to women.

Mabus repeatedly emphasized that standards wont be lowered.

Marines, were past the decision now. The secretary of defense has made the decision. Now were into implementing, he said Tuesday at Camp Pendleton in California.

Marine Corps leaders had sought to keep certain infantry and combat jobs closed to women, citing studies showing combined-gender units are not as effective as male-only units. Carter, backed by Mabus, overruled them.

Since December, the military services have put together plans outlining how they will integrate women into male-only units.

Marines who sat cross-legged around Mabus on a large concrete surface used for ceremonies didnt object to the change when the secretary invited questions. Some who volunteered to speak with reporters said any resistance might come from older Marines.

This generation, so much has been changing, whether it be with gays and lesbians and all that, everythings just changing, said Lance Cpl. Guillermo Arenas, 20, who joined the Marines in July. We have a lot of older Marines that were in longer, so it might take them a little while to adapt to it.

Four of the seven questions that Mabus took were about women in combat. Others were more interested in his thoughts on Iraq and the future size of the Marine Corps.

Gunnery Sgt. Janet Marrufo, 31, said Mabus simple message was effective.

It was important for Marines to hear out in the open, and let them know officially that its a full change and that this is happening, said Marrufo, who has been a Marine for 12 years. I think some Marines were unclear about that at first, but he cleared the air.
WASHINGTON  Nearly 2 in 3 Americans back Democrats demands that the Republican-run Senate hold hearings and a vote on President Obamas pick for the Supreme Court. But an Associated Press-GfK poll also suggests that GOP defiance against considering the nominee may not hurt the party much because to many people, the election-year fight is simply not a big deal.

Just 1 in 5 in the survey released Wednesday said theyve been following the battle over Obamas nomination of federal Judge Merrick Garland extremely or very closely.

That included just 26 percent of Democrats and 22 percent of Republicans expressing intense interest, along with a scant 8 percent of independents. That aligns with the political reading of the issue by many Republicans that while it motivates each sides most committed partisans, people in the middle consider it a yawner  making the fight essentially a wash.

Another clue that voters not dedicated to either party find the court fight tiresome: While just over half of Democrats and Republicans said the issue is extremely or very important, only around a third of independents said so.

Among people overall, half said the nomination battle is of top-tier importance. But 8 in 10 said that about the economy, and 7 in 10 said so about health care and the threat posed by the Islamic State group. Immigration and the U.S. role in world affairs both attracted slightly more intensity of interest than the court battle.

It gets me irritated, the bickering and all that kind of stuff, Julie Christopher, 49, a Republican and flight attendant from Fort Worth, Texas, said in a follow-up interview, describing her modest attention to the issue.

Christopher said that while she agrees with the GOPs refusal to hold hearings on Garland, when it comes to backing candidates in November, Thats not going to be my only thing, like boom, Im not going to vote for them.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., was among several senators who met privately Wednesday with Garland as he continues courtesy calls on lawmakers.

Ayotte, who faces a competitive re-election this fall, said in a statement that she told him with a vigorous presidential campaign underway, the confirmation process should wait until the people have spoken in November and a new president is chosen.
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The FBI has joined the search for a missing 2-year-old girl, whose mother was found slain on Friday in San Franciscos John McLaren Park, officials said Wednesday.

Federal agents met with San Francisco police inspectors on Tuesday to offer their services in the search for Arianna Fitts, who has not been seen since April 1, FBI spokesman Prentice Danner said.

We are trying to help local law enforcement. SFPD is running the show, so we cant speak to whats happening, Danner said. Our specialty is investigation. We will try to follow the leads and help with interviews.

Ariannas mother, Nicole Fitts, went missing around the same time as her daughter but turned up dead among ivy and brush in McLaren Park on Friday morning near a playground at Woolsey and University streets.

Police have released few details in the investigation and have not said if a suspect has been identified in Fitts slaying.

Investigators interviewed close friends and family members of Fitts, and in recent days have cast a wider net, seeking anyone with information in the girls disappearance.

A team of detectives is working around the clock in hopes of finding the young girl safe, police said.

Meanwhile, Fitts close friends and co-workers have put up flyers around the Bay Area in hopes someone recognizes the vibrant toddler and calls 911.

Fitts worked for nearly two years at the Best Buy store on Harrison Street in San Franciscos Mission District. Co-workers, friends and family members planned a vigil for the woman Wednesday night at the Best Buy.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
1 Brazil politics: Embattled Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday lashed out at the two men in line to succeed her if she is impeached, calling her vice president and the lower house speaker heads of the conspiracy to remove her from office. Rousseff said Vice President Michel Temer and Chamber of Deputies Speaker Eduardo Cunha are plotting her downfall. The remarks came on the heels of an allegedly accidental release Monday of an address to the nation that Temer intended to deliver after a hypothetical congressional vote that would suspend Rousseff from office. In the 13-minute audio, which Temer said he unintentionally sent to lawmakers through an instant messenger app, the vice president speaks as if he had already assumed the top job.

2 Black Widow: An 80-year-old woman dubbed Canadas Black Widow has been arrested after breaching the conditions of her release by using the Internet at a library in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A police spokeswoman said Melissa Ann Shepard was arrested Monday. Shepard gained notoriety for killing and poisoning several men who were her intimate partners. The arrest comes less than a month after Shepard was released from prison. She served just under three years for spiking newlywed husband Fred Weeks coffee with tranquilizers in 2012. Weeks fell ill but survived. Shepard was convicted of manslaughter and served two years in prison in the early 1990s in the death of her second husband, Gordon Stewart, whom she drugged and ran over twice with a car.
1 Skiers rescued: Rescuers Tuesday picked up two skiers stranded on an Alaska glacier for four days, and the experienced outdoor enthusiasts were in good condition after braving fierce winds and snow by digging a snow cave for shelter. A break in the weather allowed an Alaska Air National Guard helicopter to land on Bear Glacier just after noon to reach Jennifer Neyman and Christopher Hanna. An airplane had dropped off the two on Friday but could not return that night because of bad weather.

2 Hospital head fired: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday fired the head of the psychiatric hospital an accused murderer escaped from last week. The escape was the latest in a litany of problems at the 800-bed Western State Hospital, where violent assaults on both staff and patients have occurred. At a news conference, Inslee said he had relieved Chief Executive Officer Ron Adler of his duties. Inslee said he would be replaced by Cheryl Strange, who previously managed the state public mental health system. Anthony Garver escaped last week from the facility in Lakewood, where he was being held after he was accused of torturing a woman to death. He was caught Friday night in Spokane.
Palo Alto police released a sketch Tuesday in an attempt to find a man after he allegedly exposed himself to a 7-year-old girl during recess at an elementary school.

The incident happened Monday around noon at Ohlone Elementary School on Amarillo Avenue, according to a report from the city of Palo Alto.

The girl saw a man standing on the other side of a fence, off school property, watching the children as they played. She spotted the man as she ran around the backside of a classroom on the west edge of campus, and he made eye contact with her, officials said.

Police believe the suspect was masturbating based on the victims statement. The girl told her parents after school about what happened, and they called police around 6:15 p.m.

The man might have been standing at Palo Alto Buddhist Temple at 2751 Louis Road, authorities said. A chain link fence separates the property from school grounds, and the area has a large parking lot accessible from the street.

Detectives are investigating if Mondays incident is connected to other cases in the area. On March 14, a man exposed himself to a 13-year-old girl while she was walking her dogs on Melville Avenue from Middlefield Road, about a mile and a half away from the elementary school.

In August, a man exposed himself to a woman walking her dog through Monroe Park on Miller Avenue, about four miles away from the March incident.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourn
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Starbucks withdrew its application to sell beer and wine at three of its San Francisco stores this week, yielding to pressure from the Police Department and Board of Supervisors, which strongly opposed the proposal.

In May, the coffee chain submitted an application to the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to sell beer and wine in three of its San Francisco stores: 685 Beach St. at Fishermans Wharf, 565 Clay St. in the Financial District, and 280 King St., a block from AT&T Park.

Asked why the company withdrew the applications, a Starbucks spokeswoman alluded to city officials opposition. We will continue to thoughtfully assess the opportunity to expand the menu in the future while working in partnership with the city, Holly Hart Shafer wrote in an email.

The Police Department said that the city already has enough places that sell alcohol  San Francisco has the highest density of liquor licenses in the state  and that allowing companies like Starbucks to sell beer and wine would open the floodgates for other restaurant chains to do the same.

Taco Bell has also applied for a license to sell alcohol at its restaurant at 710 Third St., a block from the Giants ballpark. The state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has final say over whether to approve those applications, and it has indicated support for that application, said Lt. Dave Falzon, the Police Departments liaison with ABC.

Starbucks decision to withdraw its applications was a relief, Falzon said.

The department hopes this sends a loud message to state regulators who supported these licenses that they need to recognize the concerns of our community and our local government, he said.

Registering its opposition, the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday urging ABC to deny licenses to businesses that have not historically sold alcohol as part of their business model.

Its unclear if Starbucks withdrawal has anything to do with our policy, but I like to think that it does, said Supervisor Eric Mar, who authored the resolution. Alcohol has a similar health harm as tobacco sales.

In other parts of the country, Starbucks is already selling alcohol. There are more than 300 Starbucks locations across the United States  including Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, Santa Rosa and San Mateo  that offer Starbucks Evenings, selling small plates, beer and wine after 4 p.m., according to the company spokeswoman.

Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @emilytgreen
Ten-month-old sisters born joined below the waist in Texas were successfully separated Tuesday after an hours-long operation.

The girls  Ximena and Scarlett Hernandez-Torres  shared a colon and bladders that were reconstructed. The girls slept in separate beds Tuesday night with staff at Corpus Christi's Driscoll Children's Hospital keeping close watch.
The recent kerfuffle about Bernie Sanders purportedly not knowing how to bust up the big banks says far more about the threat Sanders poses to the Democratic establishment and its Wall Street wing than it does about the candidate himself.

Of course Sanders knows how to bust up the big banks. Hes already introduced legislation to do just that. And even without new legislation, a president has the power under the Dodd-Frank Act to initiate such a breakup.

But Sanders threatens the Democratic establishment and Wall Street, not least because hes intent on doing exactly what he says hell do: breaking up the biggest banks.

The biggest are far larger today than they were in 2008 when they were deemed too big to fail. Then, the five largest held around 30 percent of all U.S. banking assets. Today, they have 44 percent.

According to a recent analysis by Thomas Hoenig, vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the assets of just four giant banks  JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo  amount to 97 percent of the nations entire 2012 gross domestic product. Which means theyre now way too big to fail. The danger to the economy isnt just their indebtedness. Its their growing dominance over the entire financial and economic system.

Bernie Sanders isnt the only one urging that the big banks be broken up. Neel Kashkari, the new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis  a Republican who used to work for Goldman Sachs and ran for governor of California  is also pushing to break them up, as has the former head of the Dallas Federal Reserve, among others.

Recall that just eight years ago, the biggest banks were up to their ears in fraudulent practices: lending money to mortgage originators to make risky home loans laced with false claims, buying back those loans and repackaging them for investors without revealing their risks, and then participating in a wave of fraudulent foreclosures. Dodd-Frank addressed these sorts of abuses in broad strokes but left the most important decisions to regulatory agencies.

Since then, platoons of Wall Street lobbyists, lawyers and litigators have been watering down and delaying those regulations. For example, Dodd-Frank instructed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to reduce certain risks, but the Street has sabotaged the process.

In its first major rule under Dodd-Frank, the commission considered 1,500 comments, largely generated by and from the Street. After several years, the commission issued a proposed rule, including some of the loopholes and exceptions the Street sought.

Wall Street still wasnt satisfied. So the commission agreed to delay enforcement of the rule, allowing the Street more time to voice its objections. Even this wasnt enough for the big banks, whose lawyers then filed a lawsuit in the federal courts, arguing that the commissions cost-benefit analysis wasnt adequate.

As of now, only 235 of the 390 required rule-makings have been finalized, according to the Davis Polk law firm. And those final versions are shot through with loopholes big enough for Wall Streets top brass to drive their Ferraris through.

The biggest banks still havent even come up with acceptable living wills, required under Dodd-Frank to show how theyd maintain important functions while going through bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, they continue to gamble with depositors money. Many of their operations are global, making it even harder for U.S. regulators to rein them in  as evidenced by JPMorgan Chases $6.2 billion loss in its London Whale operation in 2012.

Bottom line: Regulation wont end the Streets abuses. The Street has too much firepower. And because it continues to be a major source of campaign funding, no set of regulations will be tough enough.

So the biggest banks must be busted up.

When I debated former Rep. Barney Frank about this on television recently, he kept asking, rhetorically, what limit Id put on their size.

A good rule of thumb might be to cap the assets of any bank at about 2 percent of the nations gross domestic product  or roughly $330 billion. (To put this in perspective, by the end of 2015, Goldman Sachs assets exceeded $860 billion.)

That cap wouldnt harm Americas financial competitiveness, and it wouldnt cause bank employees to lose their jobs. (At worst, theyll just become employees of a smaller bank.)

But it would ensure the safety of the American economy. Extra bonus: It would also reduce the power of Wall Street over our democracy.

 2016 By Robert Reich

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich is Chancellors Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and senior fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at http://bit.ly/SFChronicleletters.
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The Grubstake will be demolished  and then it will be rebuilt.

Thats the latest plan being proposed by Nick Pigott and Jimmy Consos, new owners of the decades-old diner off Polk Street.

When Pigott and Consos bought Grubstake from longtime owners Fernando and Linda Santos last summer, fans of the railcar-turned-diner were left to wonder what would become of the 79-year-old San Francisco mainstay, which has long been a favorite late-night destination for locals. At the time, Pigott was quick to assuage fears, stating that they were going to run it as is  and that nobody is going to notice a difference.

Those assurances were soon called into question several months later, when word got out that the new owners were exploring the option of demolishing the restaurant in favor of a seven-story, mixed-use building. At the time, representatives for the restaurant described it as a backup plan.

Now it looks like that backup option is becoming a reality.

The Grubstake owners confirm that plans are moving forward to redevelop the restaurant space at 1525 Pine St.  which means demolishing the existing restaurant. The proposed building would house 15 new units, a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units; it would also include affordable housing,

However, Consos said the Grubstake would remain a key part of the new building.

Its totally on the same path as it was all these years. We love it too, Consos said.

While Grubstake would continue to exist, it would certainly take on a much different form. The new restaurant, which will be designed by D-Scheme, will be located on the ground floor of the new building.

Consos said the owners plan to use a mix of decor repurposed from the existing restaurant, in addition to adding new design elements to replicate the Grubstakes railcar theme.

One thing that isnt changing, he said, is the menu and its Portuguese food section. The caldo verde isnt going anywhere, Consos said of one of the diners most popular dishes.

The late hours of operation will also remain.

For the now, the Grubstake will continue to operate in its current form. The proposal still needs to go through planning and environmental review processes, which means ground probably will not be broken until mid-2017.

Consos said that during construction, the owners hope to open the Grubstake in a temporary form, somewhere in the neighborhood.

Sarah Fritsche is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sfritsche@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @foodcentric
LONDON  Have you heard the one about the British politician and the dominatrix? Probably not until now  and critics of the government and the press say that is a problem.

Opposition politicians called Wednesday for a Cabinet minister to give up authority over press regulation after he acknowledged that he had a relationship with a sex worker several years ago  and that several newspapers knew about it but kept quiet.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale says he had a relationship in 2013-14 with a woman he met online and later learned was a sex worker. He says he ended the liaison when he learned someone was trying to sell the story to a tabloid newspaper.

No laws were broken, and the government is standing by Whittingdale, saying he is entitled to a private life.

This is an old story which was a bit embarrassing at the time, Whittingdale said in a statement. The events occurred long before I took up my present position and it has never had any influence on the decisions I have made as culture secretary.

None of Britains scandal-hungry newspapers ran the story of Whittingdales sex life at the time, although several investigated it. The story resurfaced this week online and in the satirical newspaper Private Eye, which questioned why no newspaper had thought it newsworthy.

Critics of the government say newspapers may have used knowledge of the embarrassing relationship to exert influence over Whittingdale, who is under pressure to introduce tighter regulation of the press in the wake of the tabloid phone-hacking scandal.

Labour Party lawmaker Chris Bryant said it looked as if the press were quite deliberately holding a sword of Damocles over John Whittingdale. Labour culture spokeswoman Maria Eagle said Whittingdale must now recuse himself from any decision-making over press regulation, to allay any concerns about perceptions of any undue influence.

Whittingdale became culture secretary in 2015, after the relationship ended. But at the time of the affair he was chairman of Parliaments Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which investigated press ethics after revelations of tabloid wrongdoing, including eavesdropping on the mobile phone voice mail of celebrities and people in the public eye.

Some media-watchers have found it hard to believe Britains tabloids would pass up a story involving sex and politics, two of their favorite topics. But Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, said he did not believe newspaper editors had colluded to suppress the story.

Satchwell said that in the wake of the hacking scandal, which has seen newspapers sued for invasion of privacy, papers have become extremely careful about stories involving anyone in public life.
PARIS  The Islamic State fighters who carried out the attacks in Brussels honed their skills through combat in Syria, and the sibling suicide bombers were also crucial to planning the Paris attacks, according to the extremist groups magazine released Wednesday.

In the English-language magazine Dabiq, the group drew a direct line between the two attacks  and made no mention of the key suspects captured in Belgium. All preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels started with brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, the group said.

Brussels was home to many of the attackers who struck the French capital Nov. 13 with suicide bombings and volleys of assault weapons fire that left 130 people dead. According to Belgian and French investigators, the same cell was behind the suicide bombings that killed 32 people in Brussels on March 22.

The younger El Bakraoui blew himself up in a rush-hour Brussels subway train, killing 16 victims. That same morning, his older brother was one of two suicide bombers who detonated explosives-laden suitcases at Brussels Airport, killing another 16. The other airport bomber was Najim Laachraoui, the bomb maker for both the Brussels and the Paris attacks, who left for Syria in 2013 and was an early recruit for the Islamic State group.

It is firstly due to the El Bakraouis that the attacks in the French capital occurred, Dabiq said. Subsequently, it said, Khalid El Bakraoui had a dream to carry out another attack.

The magazine also prominently mentioned Mohamed Belkaid, the Islamic State fighter who was killed covering Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslams escape from a hideout during the final stages of preparation for the raid in Brussels. It said Belkaid, who had Swedish residency, took part in some of the extremist groups most important battles, including the capture of Ramadi, and decided to return to Europe with Laachraoui for an attack.

Although it was light on new details, the magazine article offered a glimpse of how the attack cell was constructed and how the plot formed among supporters in Belgium and Syria.

Abdeslam, who returned from France to Belgium after his brother blew himself up in the Paris attacks, is entirely absent from the narrative, as is Mohamed Abrini and Osama Krayem. All three were captured in the Brussels area  Abdeslam just a few blocks from the Molenbeek home where he grew up.

Belgian and French authorities have detained dozens of people in the investigation into the two attacks, but many have been freed quickly. Three people taken into custody during a police search in the Brussels district of Uccle on Tuesday were freed Wednesday, and Belgian authorities have not said what they were looking for, or what they may have found.
STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images

BRUSSELS  Two more people were detained and charged Monday as part of the investigation into the deadly attacks in the Belgian capital last month, bringing to more than 20 the number of people charged in Belgium in connection with the assaults in Brussels, Paris or both, the federal prosecutor said Tuesday.

The two men were identified as Smail F., born in 1984, and Ibrahim F., born in 1988, and there were indications that both were connected to the rental of an apartment in Etterbeek, a district of Brussels, used by at least two of the five people thought to have been directly involved in the March 22 attacks at Brussels Airport and a subway station, the prosecutors statement said.
MADRID  Spanish police have arrested a Frenchman suspected of supplying weapons to Paris attacker Amedy Coulibaly for use in the deadly January 2015 attacks in the French capital, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

A ministry statement said Antoine Denive, 27, from the northern French town of Ste. Catherine was arrested Tuesday with two other men in the southern Spanish beach town of Rincon de la Victoria on a European arrest warrant. A Serbian man and a Montenegrin man also allegedly tied to arms trafficking were also arrested.
There is no me without you. I don't think I ever told you that, but I should have. I mean, you were the guy whowhen I was a 20-something idiot writerI had to look up to. You probably knew that already (you were a genius), but I guess everyone does that futile thing when a friend dies, where they think about what they should've done or said. And even though I won't pretend I knew you as well as some, I knew you, and we saw eye-to-eye.

Even when I was scared to write what I actually thought about a band or when I felt so beaten down by a sea of people who weren't shy about telling me they hated me, I always kind of knew that at least I wasn't the only one who felt what it was like to deal with small-town culture criticism. You were there first, and you affected so much more than just music. See, we all knew you had something special going on even a million years ago, from the minute you walked through the door at Warehouse 21 and told teenaged me and my idiot teenaged friends, "Hey, I'm Rob! I'm the new music writer for Pasatiempo, and I think what you're doing here is really freaking cool, so can we talk about it?"

I'll never forget that.

We'd fought with your predecessor over never paying us attention, and the fact that you reached out before we even knew who the hell you were meant everything. Yeah, it was validation, but it also felt like we finally had an ally who understood that it was actually a big deal that kids were doing anything at all. It was a level of support that didn't go unnoticed. I talked to your brother Scott about this just this morning.

"He was a champion for musicians," he told me. "He found the bands he believed in and really pushed them to do better."

I don't think it was just bands. At least for me, you pushed me to be better without even tryingI wanted to be on your level so badly, so I tried harder. I still push myself to be like you, because how could a writer or music fan ever be as cool as Rob DeWalt? Your "Soundwaves" column taught me (and probably countless other locals) that we could make art, be art, dedicate our lives to art without worrying about the results, so long as we were fucking doing it.

Even years after you unknowingly set me down a path that allowed me to be involved with music on a professional level, you were still that friendly guy who seemed so interested in the art and people around him. After I somehow lucked my way into this job and would get overwhelmed, I knew I could ask you for help or bitch about the particulars. You had this incredible way of commiserating and upliftingwho does that? Most people to whom you complain brush it off, but you knew better than anyone what it was like, and you knew how to make me see it differently, like we were the luckiest people on earth to get paid to write. We really are.

We all knew you cared. Everyone knew. When Max Friedenberg from High Mayhem died, we put together a fundraiser show for his daughter, and you volunteered your services as a chef before we even put out a call for donations. Or there was the night you just happened to hear I was broke and hungry downtown and sent homemade spanakopita for me with your husband, Jason. Who's that good, Rob? Not a lot of people. You brother told me, "Rob was my rock."

And it's been tough. All week people have been asking what happened to you, and I don't know what to tell them. You weren't secretive about your struggles with depression, especially with the videos you made and things you wrote during the It Gets Better campaign a few years back. Even though I think a lot of us knew you were in a great deal of pain, both physical and emotional, I'm pretty sure none of us thought it would come to this.

And we can leave it at that, because I would rather not dwell on misery. I believe it's more important to think about the good you did for the community or the people who loved you so much they can barely begin to process that you're gone. Mikey Baker was just telling me that he'd burned you a copy of Van Halen Live after you had to cancel a trip to see them in Phoenix recently. He said, "I'm still looking at this CD sitting here, and it's just such an intense reminder.  What would I tell him besides, 'Thank you?'  Probably that I wish we'd gotten it together to have that lunch."

There are countless others I could've spoken to about you, and you probably wouldn't believe how many people are hurting right now. Even if you did, you'd probably just try to make sure we were all OK before you worried about yourelf. Regardless, I think I can ultimately sum up how many of us are feeling in the words of Spock (which I know you'd just love): "I have been, and always shall be, your friend."

We miss you terribly and love you very much.

Your idiot friend,

Alex De Vore





Santa Fe Reporter
The New Mexico Environment Department has opened the new draft of its plan for cleanup of legacy nuclear waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory to public review and comment. The document would replace the 2005 Consent Order between the US Department of Energy and the state that steered a decade of work, and expired in December. Public comment is open until May 16.

The structure outlined depends on "milestones" set each year, with targets set for the following years, plotting the course for cleanup of hundreds of pieces of infrastructure and tracts of contaminated soil. This "campaign approach," the state has argued, will allow work to be concentrated on geographic areas with pressing need. The town sites, upper Los Alamos Canyon and the chromium plume now found in the regional aquifer top the list.

"The process is really designed to be dynamic, to revise upward or downward based on funding," Kathryn Roberts, resource protection division director for the environment department, said during a presentation to the Northern New Mexico Citizens Advisory Board on the order. "During the course of a year, if DOE needs to shift from one campaign to the next because of new risk or higher urgency, this allows for that flexibility."

Ryan Flynn, environment cabinet secretary, argues that the new document will both accelerate progress and enable congressional delegates to secure more funding. This year, the cleanup was allotted $189 million from the federal budget. The goal, Flynn says, is to get "shovels in the dirt. That's what I think the public wants to see us actually do at the site, rather than just pushing papers back and forth."



Santa Fe Reporter
Driving the roads through oil and gas country at night, two kinds of illumination stand out on the desert horizon: the towers of halogen lights that shine on drill rigs while they run 24 hours a day, and the several-foot-tall flames of methane being burned off rather than captured.

In the name of millions in lost royalties and reduced environmental impacts, the federal government has taken several stabs at recouping this wasted natural gaslost through industry practices called flaring and venting, as well as through leaks. An analysis of the methane emissions in New Mexico indicates the state missed out on $50 million in royalties since 2010, according to a report released in March by the Western Values Project, which campaigns for balancing energy development and conservation.

"Fixing these leaks will stop the waste of the federal natural gas resource that's supposed to be produced to the benefit of the taxpayers. Keeping that in the pipeline and not in the air means more revenue for states like New Mexico that rely on that as a big source of budget revenue for state services," says Jon Goldstein, senior policy manager for the Environmental Defense Fund.

Every day, the oil and gas industry brings more than $6 million in taxes and royalties to the state of New Mexico and local governments, according to the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association.

Of about $330 million in natural gas lost through flaring and leaks in the entire US in 2013, roughly $100 million of it came from New Mexico, according to an analysis that ICF International conducted for the Environmental Defense Fund.

"The state is in a problematic budget environment right now," Goldstein says. "The state Legislature is looking at cuts to schools and services and things like that, and capturing more methane would mean more revenue back to the state."

New federal rules will take a crack at reducing emissions, which have contributed to a methane cloud the size of Delaware over northwestern New Mexico.

The US Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Land Management have each drafted a plan for reducing those emissions, the first coming at it from the perspective of air pollution, given methane's role as a potent greenhouse gas, and the second from the lost royalties angle, with the BLM estimating that nationwide, states, tribes and federal taxpayers lose as much as $23 million annually in royalty revenue through flaring and leaks.



"I think most people would agree that we should be using our nation's natural gas to power our economynot wasting it by venting and flaring it into the atmosphere," US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said in the press release announcing the proposed rules. They update 30-year-old regulations for the industry that predate the horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques now popular. The BLM estimates its proposed rule would save enough natural gas to supply 760,000 homes each year.

But in northwestern New Mexico, when the BLM hosted a public hearing on the proposed regulations, oil and gas employees and local elected officials spoke against the rules as hampering the local economy, arguing that the price of capturing methane will cause companies to abandon the San Juan Basin.

"Because many natural gas wells in northwest New Mexico are older, low-volume producers, these new costs would make them uneconomical," four mayors for San Juan County towns wrote in a letter to the editor of the Farmington Daily Times. They anticipate 3-5 percent of gas wells would close, costing the state and federal government $300 million in royalties.

"Colorado already implemented these rules at the state level, and in that same period of time from when those rules were implemented to now, Colorado saw increases in the number of wells and production, not decreases," says Camilla Feibelman, with the Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club. "So this argument that somehow these rules are going to kill the industry didn't play out in Colorado."

In the two years since those regulations were adopted, some 60,000 tons of methane emissions have been captured, according to Coloradans for Responsible Energy Development, founded by oil and gas industry leaders Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Noble Energy to educate the state's voters about fracking.

"You have to hire people or hire third parties to fulfill the requirements of the law," says Patrick Von Bargen, executive director of the Center for Methane Emissions Solutions, an organization that represents the businesses that work to capture the gas. "Is that a net job creator or not? I don't know."

But Von Bargen says he can point to a company in Oklahoma that retrains laid-off oil and gas workers to use infrared cameras to check for leaks, and there are additional jobs for inspections and repair at wells.

"There is a lot of gas that's going into the atmosphere, but we don't know where they are, we don't know how big they are, and that's why a regulatory system of inspecting for leaks pays off," Von Bargen explains.

Four of New Mexico's five congressional delegates have called for an end to wasting natural gas through venting, flaring and leaks and recapturing that lost revenue, and 40 elected officials throughout the state have echoed them.

Methane traps more radiation than carbon dioxide and pound-for-pound exacts a comparative impact on climate change at a rate more than 25 times greater in a 100-year period. Most methane comes from human activities, and natural gas and petroleum systems now contribute the greatest share.

In addition to the proposed rules from the BLM and EPA, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Barack Obama announced in March an agreement to reduce methane pollution from the oil and gas industry by 40 to 45 percent over the next 10 years, which will require new EPA rules for existing wells. Current EPA draft-stage rules would only affect new and modified wells.

Public comment for the BLM rules is open until April 22.

Santa Fe Reporter
Abby Knowlton drove to the offices of the Santa Fe Income Support Division on March 23, 2015, to apply for Medicaid and food stamps. She pulled a slip from a number dispenser and sat down to wait. Along with dozens of other applicants, she answered questions on a form: Did she have income? No. Kids? No. Had she ever traded food stamps for guns or ammunition? No.

After hoursenough time for Knowlton to drop by her mother's house for a snack and bathroom breaka Human Services Department worker called her to the front window. After reviewing her paperwork, she was approved.

Applying for assistance wasn't originally in her plan, though. Knowlton, 33, moved back home to New Mexico to pursue a doctorate in Spanish. She previously worked as an interpreter at a Colorado hospital.

Knowlton always had health problems, including migraines that started when she was a child. One day, during a routine checkup, her blood pressure reading was so high that a nurse thought the machine was broken. Confusion turned to alarm. After running tests, a doctor diagnosed Knowlton with malignant hypertension. Her heart, lungs, kidneys and brain were all losing function and getting worse. Knowlton's professional career was over.

Days after she was approved for food stamps, Knowlton received a form from Human Services identifying her as a "mandatory work participant." The printout instructed her to complete a jobs training program "within 15 days of receiving this notice." It went on to say, "This form must be returned by: (Date)," without indicating a date. If Knowlton had any questions, the form stated, she should call her caseworker. Knowlton had many questions. Among them: Who was her caseworker?

She called multiple toll-free numbers but couldn't get the answers she was looking for. On a friend's recommendation, Knowlton contacted the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. Attorneys investigated her case and said it was another in a long line of instances where the state's process for awarding benefits is failing low-income New Mexicans.

Knowlton's medical condition should have exempted her from New Mexico's job search requirements, as soon as she applied for benefits, says Sovereign Hager, an attorney at the center. "The law requires Human Services to explain all of this in the interview and screen her for exemptions," Hager says. "Had they asked, Abby could have explained she is disabled."

Knowlton's abundant free time and education helps her navigate the tangles of state bureaucracy. She also keeps meticulous records in a bulging red folder. The same cannot be said for all 230,907 New Mexicans who applied for food stamps or Medicaid in 2015. For many, a procedural misstep by the state can result in a loss of food assistance or health coverage.

"Families shouldn't need an attorney helping them, because it's the department's obligation under federal and state law to provide assistance to people in an accessible way," Hager says.

Human Services' own data shows that the department improperly closes cases 47 percent of the time.

In 1991, the department entered into a consent decree, agreeing to comply with laws regarding the processing of Medicaid and food stamps, officially called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). But advocates say the state has repeatedly violated its terms. In 2013, when the Human Services Department switched to a new computer system, thousands of New Mexicans were automatically dropped from their SNAP benefits; a judge ordered the end of this practice. And in January, the court struck down increased penalties for noncompliance with requirements for food stamps.

Most recently, lawyers recommended that the court appoint a third-party "expert" to oversee functions related to the consent decree. For more than two decades, state officials have failed to implement fixes to a process that illegally delays or drops benefits, a court filing claims. Calls to customer service representatives often go unanswered.

A spokesman for the department did not respond to a request for comment for this story before presstime. Later, Kyler Nerison issued this statement: "We disagree with [the Center on Law and Poverty]. The Department is in substantial compliance with the court's consent decree. [The center] has not been cooperative or constructive with this process and they continuously attempt to redefine the standards for compliance."

Eleven days after her first trip to the Income Support Division, Knowlton returned with her medical records and a note from her doctor exempting her from the work requirements. She was able to keep the food assistance.

That would not be the end of her frustrations, though. In January, she applied to renew her SNAP benefits. According to her lawyers, she is eligible for a 24-month recertification, but workers granted Knowlton just three additional months of benefits after failing to schedule an interview with her, which Hager says violates procedures. After Knowlton's attorneys followed up, the state acknowledged its oversight and granted her a yearlong recertification.

"It's just always a pending, unclear mess," Knowlton says.

Knowlton periodically logs onto a website set up for New Mexicans to check the status of their benefits. On Friday, the row for food stamps read: "This section is unavailable to view."



Santa Fe Reporter
Johnson in Double Digits

The latest Monmouth University poll shows former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, a Libetarian Party presidential candidate,

in a three-way matchup this fall.

SF Paramedic Arrested

Edumundo Carrillo reports, A Santa Fe city government paramedic is accused of

his emergency crew was called to help and then making dozens of purchases on the card, including once when he went to Walmart in an ambulance.

Doctor Shopping

Prosecutors want the federal government to require methadone clinics to report to prescription drug monitoring programs, which

, including narcotic painkillers.

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said prescribers in the state need to know if people enrolled in methadone maintenance programs are trying to get prescriptions of opioid drugs from other sources.

Patients should not be able to go to methadone clinics and then also doctor shop for other drugs, James Hallinan, a spokesman for Balderas, said in a written statement.

UNM Extends Negotiations

If you have UnitedHealthcare insurance and get health services at the University of New Mexico Hospital,

before you have to find a new provider. Contract negotiations have been extended.

Lawmaker Pushes for New Pot Rules

House Majority Leader Nate Gentry (R, Albuquerque), whos been collecting campaign donations from cannabis growers, is urging the Department of Health to

to keep up with patient demand.

Unclear Mess

SFRs Steven Hsieh reports, New Mexico is

with a decades-old court order to ensure benefits for indigent people.



New Jobs

Charles W Daniels has been sworn in for another

of the New Mexico Supreme Court. And John Franchini has been reappointed

.

Driver Strike Pending

It looks like a bus driver

in Las Cruces.

About 50 Las Cruces Public Schools bus drivers protested Tuesday morning in the rain outside STS of New Mexico, chanting and carrying picket signs. While negotiations continue between the bus company and the Las Cruces Transportation Federation Local 6341, the union representing the districts bus drivers, union officials say they are growing frustrated by a lack of progress, and are beginning to feel that a strike is inevitable.

Water Runoff Report

Despite a good start to El Nino in December and January, Rebecca Moss at the New Mexican says that a recent

shows New Mexico is barely better off than last year due to February and March being so dry.

Pearce Ends World Flight

We missed this yesterday, but KOB reports that US Rep. Steve Pearce, R-NM, has ended his

.

Santa Fe Reporter
New Zealand companies using Chinese e-commerce platforms say recent regulatory and tax changes won't impact their business, as investors buy back stocks sold out of nervousness earlier this week.

On April 8, China changed the tax rules for products imported via cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba's Tmall, with online purchases no longer eligible for a lower personal parcel tax rate of 10 percent on parcels worth less than 1000 yuan (NZ$223), or no tax on parcels worth less than 50 yuan (NZ$11.13).

Parcels from e-commerce sites now attract an 11.9 percent tax, the same tax as any other imported good. A single transaction exceeding 2,000 yuan or an individual spending more than 20,000 yuan a year will attract customs duty on top of tax. A day earlier, its Ministry of Finance issued a "positive list" of goods which are still allowed to enter China through the country's free trade zones.

Fonterra Cooperative Group, which has previously said it is looking to double its business in the country to $10 billion within the next five years with huge growth expected from e-commerce platforms, said the new regulations would not have a significant impact.

"Less than 1 percent of our products are sold through cross-border e-commerce channels so the impact on our business is very minimal," said Jillian Laing, Fonterra's vice president of greater China brands. "Our full range of brands is still available on all of China's major e-commerce platforms, distributed from within China, and in a wide range of retail outlets."

New Zealand Post, which operates a Tmall Global web store which stocks New Zealand brands such as NutraLife, Red Seal, Lindin Leaves and Earthwise, said the impact was minor.

Most of NZ Post's cross-border parcels are carried into China via direct mail, and they will continue to be charged personal postal articles tax with the 50 yuan (NZ$11.13) tax exemption remaining, a spokesperson said. Just 4 percent of Tmall Global's orders are carried through a commercial channel, which is subject to the tax changes.

Companies which sell their products heavily into China, namely dual-listed infant formula producers such as A2 Milk Co in New Zealand and Australia, and Bellamy's and Blackmores on the ASX, have been sold off heavily since the announcements were made, despite infant formula remaining clearly on the "positive list" of products permitted within the free trade zones.

A2 Milk led the local index down yesterday, and dropped 8.7 percent to $1.78 over Monday and Tuesday's trading sessions, but was up 1.1 percent to $1.80 at 4pm. ASX-listed stocks also recovered, with Bellamy's gaining 6.2 percent to A$9.43 and Blackmores up 1.1 percent to A$166.75.

A spokesperson for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise said the new e-commerce policy introduced could impact on companies operating in the food, wine, health products, skincare and cosmetics sectors.

"NZTE and MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) staff are working with the relevant authorities in China to clarify how the new policy introduced on April 8 will affect New Zealand companies," they said.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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Equity.co.nz

Infratil expects underlying earnings to rise in 2017, helped by its retirement village business and has as much as $1 billion to spend on investments.

Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation from continuing operations are forecast to be $475 million to $515 million in the year ending March 31, 2017, up from the $455 million-to-$465 million forecast for 2016, the Wellington-based company said in a statement. Infratil is due to report its 2016 results on May 18 and is today holding a briefing for investors on its outlook and strategy.

The 2016 earnings remove the contribution from iSite after Infratil sold the advertising subsidiary to Australian media group QMS Media for $49 million in December while next year's improved forecast reflects gains from its Metlifecare and RetireAustralia investments, it said.

Infratil is on the hunt for new investments, and today said it can deploy between $750 million and $1 billion while staying in its credit metrics. It plans to focus on retirement and renewable energy sectors and its Wellington International Airport holding.

Slides accompanying chief executive Marko Bogoievski's presentation said retirement and renewable energy could absorb its available equity over the next 12 to 18 months, but also showed an appetite for assets on listed markets.

"Public market valuations of some companies in Infratil's sectors do not appear reflective of their underlying value and especially in Australia, companies with attractive assets and weaker values are looking at asset divestment," Infratil said. "There is also the prospect that market volatility will create investment opportunities for well-capitalised businesses such as Infratil."

The investor is sitting on a large cash reserve after selling its 20 percent stake in Z Energy and has been looking for new investments, such as its unsuccessful bid for Pacific Hydro.

Infratil today said it's looking at Australian and New Zealand technology prospects to build on its existing portfolio, and has committed US$25 million to California-based Envision Ventures Fund to position itself in that space.

"Infratil's goal is to own businesses that address community needs while delivering efficiency, service and productivity gains to communities," it said. "The technology or 'Infratech' initiative will augment in-house expertise."

The company reaffirmed its goal to pay bigger dividends and said it will consider capital management options if investment opportunities take longer to pan out, or if it sells more assets.

The shares last traded at $3.375 and have increased 3.1 percent so far this year.

(BusinessDesk)

Maurice Greenough from Equity Investment Advisers Limited comments  Infratil has always performed reasonably well and the shares have a very good dividend yield of around 6% with good growth prospects, making this an attractive blue chip investment.

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Fonterra Cooperative Group is proposing cutting its board numbers by two to 11 and having a single process for electing farmer appointed and independent directors as part of the first governance overhaul since it was established 15 years ago.

A booklet on the first draft proposal from the long-awaited review of the farmer-owned dairy cooperative is being sent out to farmers today and a final recommendation is to go to shareholder vote in late May or early June after feedback.

A majority of Fonterras farmer shareholders supported a proposal to reduce the board to nine from 13 at the annual meeting last October but the vote fell short of the 75 percent needed, including a requirement for 50 percent support of the shareholders council. It backed the boards view that a better option was to make any changes through the governance review that first started in 2013 and was then stalled until shareholders started agitating for change last year.

Fonterra chair John Wilson said hes hoping farmers will support the draft proposal which stops short of cutting the board as much as some wanted but is aimed at ensuring it has people of the best capability and quality. There had been criticism some board and council members were simply passengers.

Wilson said farmer feedback was that the process for electing farmer representatives, which effectively meant candidates only required 25 percent support under the single transferable vote system, was too politicised and they struggled to get the information on candidates they needed to make good quality decisions on who to vote for.

Under the draft proposal farmers will still comprise the majority of the board with six representatives compared to the current nine, and the chair will continue to be a farmer representative.

Three independent directors are required by law and the remaining two director spots could be either farmer or independent representatives depending on the skills required. The new process for electing all directors would include a skills matrix on what skills the board needed in those being elected, given that could change over time, and a certain number of directors would have to have on-farm experience.

The selection process would involve a nominations committee putting forward candidates and the short list would go through a new independent expert panel comprised of Chris Moller and Therese Walsh from New Zealand, Michael Cook from the US and Adrie Zwanenberg from the Netherlands.

Theyll make an independent assessment of the candidates before the board makes a final decision on names which would then require the support of 50 percent of shareholders at the annual meeting. One of the major differences from the current system is that if there were three spots open, only three candidates will be put forward to vote on.

Wilson wouldnt be drawn on whats likely to happen to the incumbent board if the changes are approved and then implemented at the next annual meeting. Well consider that once we make a final recommendation, he said, including whether all 13 directors would need to stand for re-election.

Under the conservative governance changes, the role of the shareholders council and the board would be more clearly defined, and an interface document published to make it clear to farmers the level of regular interaction between the two.

The review feedback, which involved around 2,000 farmers, was that they wanted to maintain 100 per cent farmer control of the cooperative and a separate council and board.

Former Fonterra director Greg Gent said, prior to the draft being released, that the more urgent step was a massive change to the Fonterra council which was set up to provide a constructive challenge to the board but thats not what they do.

However a review of the shareholders council structure has been delayed until after the vote is taken on the board rejig and the cooperative wouldnt say how long that subsequent review might take.

Farmer feedback has been it could be time to reconsider the size of the council and whether to elect some people with a national role rather than the current one representative from each of the 35 wards. The constitution allows for between 25 and 45 council representatives.

There was a desire expressed to get more younger farmers involved in the future of the cooperative and the review includes developing better pathways for election to both the council and the board.

Its also been suggested to change the eligibility criteria for standing as a director to reflect new farming ownership structures as those in limited partnership or family trusts currently cant stand.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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Restaurant Brands New Zealand's annual profit grew 1 percent in 2016, the slowest pace in three years, as it was hit by higher costs, although the fast-food company said 2017 earnings could rise as much as 25 percent on growth in both KFC and Pizza Hut, and its expansion into New South Wales.

Profit edged up $24.1 million in the 52 weeks ended Feb. 29, from $23.8 million in the prior year, which covered 53 weeks, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. It already reported annual sales on March 10, which rose 7.8 percent to $387.6 million led by KFC, Carl's Jr. and Starbucks, while revenue from Pizza Hut fell.

The company carried out a major expansion in March, making its first foray across the Tasman by buying QSR Pty, the biggest KFC franchisee in NSW, with 42 stores, for A$82.4 million in cash and scrip. Its shares have soared on the prospects of Australian earnings growth from KFC, its most successful New Zealand brand. It announced a 10.5 percent gain in dividend to 21 cents a share and said barring any unexpected hiccoughs, profit in the current year is forecast to be $28 million to $30 million.

"Restaurant Brands continues to enjoy strong cash flows and dividend levels will continue to increase as the company continues to enhance its profit performance," it said. "The new Australian acquisition is expected to contribute to increased profitability from late in the first quarter, but there will be some further one-off transaction costs."

Profit in the latest year was restrained by $900,000 of costs from the company's long-term incentive scheme and costs related to the QSR acquisition of about $1 million. QSR is expected to contribute A$100 million in annual sales and A$15 million in store earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

Group revenue for the year rose 26 percent to $404.1 million, including of sales of ingredients and packaging materials to independent franchisees, Restaurant Brands said.

KFC sales rose 6.6 percent to a record $282.5 million, or an 8.8 percent gain on a same-store basis, while ebitda climbed 13 percent to $57.2 million, also a record, in what the company said was "another year of strong sales and margin growth." Total stores in the year remained at 91 and its store refurbishment programme is winding down as 86 have been completed, it said.

Pizza Hut sales fell 7.2 percent to $44.9 million and ebitda dropped 23 percent to $4.9 million, reflecting the sale of six more stores to independent franchisees and the closure of a Rotorua outlet. Same-store sales rose 2.6 percent. By year-end the company had 39 outlets with another 50 owned by franchisees.

Starbucks Coffee recorded a 2.9 percent increase in sales to $26.8 million and ebitda growth of 3.7 percent to $4.4 million, with total outlets reducing to 25 with the closure of a Wellington outlet. Same-store sales rose 5.1 percent.

Carl's Jr, the company's newest brand, enjoyed the fastest growth, with sales jumping 66 percent to $33.4 million and ebitda up 187 percent to $400,000. Same-store sales slipped 5.1 percent. The company said it had introduced a number of initiatives to improve margins and "a more robust profit result is forecast for FY17". Total outlets were unchanged at 18.

The shares reached a record $5.19 yesterday and closed at $5.10.the stock has gained about 15 percent this year.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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WASHINGTON: The US is committed to strengthen its ties with emerging markets including India on key priorities such as facilitating investment, combating money laundering and terrorist financing especially against Islamic State outfit, a top American official has said.



"We're committed to building on the progress that we've made in cooperating with emerging market partners including Brazil, Argentina, India and Mexico on key priorities such as facilitating investment, improving the implementation of tax policies, promoting financial inclusion and combating money laundering and terrorist financing," US Treasury Secretary, Jacob Lew said yesterday.



"We must continue to combat terrorist financing, corruption, money laundering and other financial crimes," he said.



Lew, 60, also said to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis, there is a need to continue to lead efforts to reform the international financial regulatory system.



"The Treasury is strengthening its anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing rules at home working through the financial action task force to improve enforcement globally and partnering with countries to combat terrorist financing specifically against ISIL," Lew said.



He also said that the US and China, as the two largest economies, have a unique responsibility to work together to advance shared prosperity.



"As the two largest economies, the United States and China also have a unique responsibility to work together to advance shared prosperity, maintain a constructive global economic order and make progress on critical challenges like climate change," Lew said in his remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).



Lew called for modernisation and reform of International Monetary Fund (IMF).



"We must work with our partners to further modernise the IMF, allowing it to intensify its scrutiny of critical issues like exchange rates, current account imbalances and shortfalls in global aggregate demand," he said.



"Because more information means better policy cooperation and more efficient financial markets, the IMF should continue to promote greater transparency among its members when it comes to economic data, especially as it relates to foreign reserves," he said.



Lew said the US must also with its partners make the World Bank and the regional development banks more efficient and effective.



He said to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis, there is a need to continue to lead efforts to reform the international financial regulatory system.



"With many of the critical standard-setting reforms in place, the focus must shift to comprehensive and consistent implementation and close attention to emerging threats," he said.

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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the national agriculture market (NAM) on April 14. It proposes to integrate 585 regulated wholesale market or agriculture produce market committees (APMCs) under one electronic platform within a couple of years. The NAM will allow farmers to sell their produce to highest bidders.

The NAM will initially aim at integrating 21 mandis in eight states  Gujarat (3), Telangana (5), Rajasthan (1), Madhya Pradesh (1), Uttar Pradesh (5), Haryana (2), Jharkhand (2) and Himachal Pradesh (2). Sources said chana, castor seed, paddy, wheat, maize, onion, mustard and tamarind will be traded in these mandis.

Fruits and vegetables, which often witness price fluctuations, are yet to be included in the NAM platform. Besides, the countrys two biggest mandis  Azadpur (Delhi) and Vasi (Mumbai)  have not yet agreed to come on board.

Sources told FE that 14 states which have amended their respective APMC Acts for making provision for e-trading are  Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Telangana and Uttarakhand.

However, many of these states are yet to make changes for allowing sales of fruits and vegetables through the e-trading platform.

Farmers face price volatility in selling their fruits and vegetables as they are perishable while in case of other commodities such as grains and pulses, there are several traders involved in procurement, an official said.

Seventeen states and Union Territories have included the provision of single point levy of market fee in their APMC Acts and 15 other states have made provision of single unified licence to validate trading across the entire state.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech announced setting up of the Unified Agriculture Marketing Scheme that envisages a common e-market platform that will be deployed in 585 regulated wholesale markets.

Amendments to the APMC Acts of states are pre-requisite to join this e-platform. Twelve states have already amended their APMC Acts and are ready to come on board. More states are expected to join this platform in the coming year, Jaitley had said.

As per the governments plan, following the formal launch of NAM, 200 mandis would be integrated by September. Besides, 200 more markets would be integrated to NAM by March 2017 and the remaining 185 by March 2018. The Centre has allocated Rs 200 crore for implementation of the NAM.

National kharif meet starts today Following two consecutive drought years ( 2014 and 2015), the agriculture ministry has called a two-day national conference stating Monday to chalk out strategy for sowing of kharif crops such as paddy, pulses and oilseeds.

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UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the world needs a new vision for urbanisation, a "New Urban Agenda," to help protect the environment and limit climate change.

While meeting Ecuador President Rafael Correa Delgado here on Tuesday, Ban thanked him for hosting the third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), which will take place in Quito, capital of Ecuador, from October 17-20, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Habitat III is a historic opportunity for change," Ban said.

"It is happening during the critical first year of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The success of this ambitious endeavour will be largely determined by how we live in, design and manage our cities," the UN chief said.

Underlining that the world's population is living "in the urban century", with more than half the global population in urban areas, Ban said: "That is why we need a new vision for urbanisation -- a New Urban Agenda."

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NEW DELHI: India and the United States have agreed, in principle, to conclude a 'Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Agreement' on mutual military logistic support.

It, however, does not mean that troops of one country will be stationed in the other country, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said at a joint press conference with US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Tuesday.

Parrikar said the growing interaction between armed forces of the two countries is a "significant aspect of bilateral relationship", pointing out that India has more joint exercises with the US than any other country in the world.

"In this context, Secretary Carter and I agreed, in principle, to conclude a Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Agreement in the coming months," Parrikar said.

Parrikar said the draft of the agreement will be ready in a month.

Asked if it will mean the presence of US troops in India, Carter said: "No one is talking about the US troops on Indian soil." He added that the details of the logistic support will be decided by the two governments.

Carter is on a three-day visit to India. He is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later on Tuesday.

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WASHINGTON: U.S. President Barack Obama is designating a historic house in Washington as a monument honouring the movement for women's equality in the country.

The White House said the move on Tuesday will help preserve an archive documenting the "history, strategies, tactics and other accomplishments" of the movement to achieve voting and equal rights for women in the United States and elsewhere in the world, the Voice of America reported.

The site will be called the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument.

The name honours activist and suffragist Alva Belmont, a former president of the National Woman's Party that fought for equality, as well as party founder Alice Paul.

It is located at what had been known as the Sewall-Belmont House, which the National Woman's Party began using as its headquarters in 1929.

The main house there dates back to 1800 and sits next to a Senate office building and is one block from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Inside are items such as the desk of women's suffrage icon Susan B. Anthony and a banner used during the first protests demanding that women be allowed to vote.

Women finally earned that right in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The monument's designation comes on the same day that women's rights activists observe Equal Pay Day to call attention to persistent wage gaps between men and women.

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cautela.jpeg

In addition to earning CUNYAC Pitcher of the Week honors, Jacqueline Cautela is a finalist for HERO of the Week honors.

(Courtesy of College of Staten Island Athletics)

College of Staten Island women's softball junior Jacqueline Cautela earned CUNYAC Pitcher of the Week honors for her superior effort on Sunday.

The hurler, a St. Joseph by-the-Sea HS product, was also cited by HeroSports.com as one of its finalists for HERO of the Week honors. An online poll will decide if she earns the award next week.



Cautela's appearance was short and sweet on Sunday against Brooklyn College.

She needed to go just five innings against Brooklyn but was lights-out, facing the minimum 15 batters en-route to a perfect game in the 21-0 CSI win.

Cautela retired 13 of the 15 batters via strikeout, a career high and the fourth-highest total in CSI single game history.

Although it didn't factor into the decision, Cautela did just as much damage at the plate, going a combined 7 for 9 (.778) at the dish with seven RBI, seven runs scored, four doubles, and a stolen base.

She moved her to 5-2 this season with a 1.37 ERA in a team-leading 41 innings pitched. She also leads the squad with six complete games and 35 strikeouts. She has not allowed an earned run in 17 innings, dating back to a March 1 contest against Texas Lutheran University.



Cautela is the second Dolphins player to be cited as a national HERO of the Week candidate from HeroSports.com, a national web source that statistically ranks teams in every NCAA Division in virtually every NCAA sport.

Sophomore Nicolette Trapani was one of five finalists two weeks ago and won the online poll a week ago, earning CSI's first ever HERO of the Week citation in any sport.
Shane DiMaio | sdimaio@siadvance.com

3 moving stories

3 touching tales from the Staten Island Crime Victims' Vigil

Don't Edit

Shane DiMaio | sdimaio@siadvance.com

Deanna Holness

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

"It wasn't until it happened to me that [domestic violence] made sense."

Deanna Holness spoke to the crowd about being in an abusive relationship with someone whom she trusted and cared for.



"Falling in love with an abuser is one of the hardest relationships in life," she said. "I really felt like he cared -- but he was a master manipulator."



Holness said she received daily doses of physical, mental and emotional abuse from the man until she decided to get help.

"If he loved me so much, how could he destroy my life?" she said to herself.

Don't Edit

Shane DiMaio | sdimaio@siadvance.com

Lynn Harkness

PARENTS' STABBING

"You never expect something like this to happen to you or your family."

Lynn Harkness described a harrowing day in which she received a phone call informing her that both of her parents had been stabbed inside their Huguenot home.

"A home is supposed to be your safe haven," she said. "This is not supposed to happen."

Harkness rushed to the crime scene from her New Jersey home to find police swarming the premises.

She soon found out that while her mother had survived, her father didn't make it.

"You have to stick together in times like these," Harkness said to the crowd. "My family and I chose to move forward and be strong.

"It's what my father would have wanted."

Don't Edit

Shane DiMaio | sdimaio@siadvance.com

Warren Dandridge

SON'S KILLING

"I believe that life must move forward."

Warren Dandridge lost his 26-year-old son after he was hit with bullets while trying to break up a fight in Manhattan 9 years ago.

"Like many of you here, my son was an innocent, good and honest person," Dandridge said. "Not a day goes by where I don't think about him in some way."

Since his son's death, Dandridge has made a point get live his life with purpose -- and to spread that message to others who have lost someone they love.

"After all tragedy is said and done, please look at your life-changing event, and use it to restore the hope inside of you," he said.

He then recited a biblical hymn: "Don't give up -- you're on the brink of a miracle."
p1 sheriff silive crime

(Staten Island Advance Photo)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Deputy Chief Andrew Capul is the latest NYPD boss to be targeted in the joint FBI-NYPD probe of alleged corruption in the force.

Capul, executive officer of Patrol Borough Manhattan North, is being reassigned to an administrative position. He was transferred on Wednesday in connection with the joint investigation, according to a statement from the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

Capul, who is in his 50s, gained media attention after he was punched in the head by a Bloods gang member at an Eric Garner demonstration in Harlem in December 2014.

So far, three top-ranking officers from Staten Island have been implicated in the probe. Deputy Chief Michael Harrington, the executive officer of the Housing Bureau, Deputy Inspector James Grant, who was the top cop of the 19th Precinct in Manhattan, and Deputy Chief Eric Rodriguez, the No. 2 in command of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, were stripped of their guns and badges and placed on desk duty.

Deputy Chief David Colon, commander of housing in Brooklyn, is another boss whose career has been sidetracked by administrative duty due to the probe.

The ever widening probe centers on gifts such as cash, sporting tickets and diamonds that top brass allegedly received from businessmen in return for protection and other favors.

Philip Banks, a former chief of department, was supposedly the point man for various NYPD bosses who were enriched by their relationships with people who have ties to the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, including businessman Jeremy Reichberg and real estate investor Jona Rechnitz. Officers at the center of the probe worked at various times in Brooklyn precincts with heavily Jewish populations, according to Newsday.

A $12 million Ponzi scheme has reportedly been link to the NYPD probe, according to the Post. The FBI arrested former Manhattan restaurant owner Hamlet Peralta for allegedly bilking investors by claiming he'd sink their money into a wholesale liquor business. Reichberg and Rechnitz invested a large sum of money in the fake business, sources told the Post.

Gothamist is reporting that the probe is looking in Mayor Bill de Blaio's campaign fundraising practices since Reichberg and Rechnitz were major donors.
Advance historic page from July 13, 1983.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Today's archive page is from July 13, 1982.

The city cancels the $517,919 contract with Lord Electric Co. for the computer-traffic signal system on Staten Island after learning that the firm was indicted in Federal grand jury.

The Manhattan-based firm was indicted in Seattle, Wash., on charges of rigging bids to build nuclear power plants, according to a spokesman for the Transportation Department.

The system was designed to reduce the frequency of red lights on Hylan Boulevard, Victory Boulevard and other major roadways. There is no telling how long this will delay the completion of the system.
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A New Jersey man was arrested on Staten Island after crashing his car on the Bayonne Bridge, according to a Port Authority spokesman. A female passenger was thrown through the windshield and suffered multiple injuries.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes on Staten Island have been on a downward trend since 2013, crash data from the New York Safety Statistical Repository shows.

The data only reflects crashes that were reported by the NYPD.

While fatalities from alcohol-related crashes declined between 2012 and 2014, deaths rose again in 2015.

Alcohol-related crashes reached a high of 122 reported in 2012, before dropping to 102 in 2013, 98 in 2014 and 75 in 2015.

There have been four alcohol-related crashes so far this year, resulting in 10 injuries.

Most recently, a New Jersey man was charged with driving while intoxicated and refusal to take a breath test, among other charges, after he crashed his vehicle carrying multiple passengers on the Bayonne Bridge and fled the scene.

One of the most high-profile alcohol-related crashes involves the ongoing case of former Linden Police Officer Pedro Abad.

Abad was behind the wheel of a four-door sedan when he drove the wrong way on the West Shore Expressway, crashing the sedan head-on into a tractor-trailer, killing his two passengers.

Total Richmond County alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes:

2009:

2010:

2011:

2012:

2013:

2014:

2015:

Total Richmond County alcohol-related motor vehicle crash fatalities:

2009:

2010:

2011:

2012:

2013:

2014:

2015:

SO FAR IN 2016

Three Staten Islanders were charged with driving while intoxicated on three separate instances this year, possibly preventing additional alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes.

Robert Smith, 32, was pulled over near the Korean War Veterans Memorial Parkway after he was seen traveling without his car lights on. Police say Smith had blood-shot and watery eyes, slurred speech and an odor of alcohol. He took a breathalyzer test on scene and was charged with driving while intoxicated.

NYPD sergeant Gary Caporale, 37, was found passed out drunk in his car near the intersection of Forest and South avenues. Caporale was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated.

A checkpoint at Christopher Lane and Victory Boulevard lead to the arrest of Marcos Guzman-Garcia, 36, who had a blood-alcohol content of .132. Guzman-Garcia was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated.
IMG_1967

Public Advocate Letitia James presideds over an Opiate Town Hall meeting Tuesday night in Christian Pentecostal Church, Concord. It was attended by about 100 people -- college students, healthcare professionals, educators and clergy among them. (Staten Island Advance/Kathryn Carse)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In the wake of headlines expressing distress over the borough's drug addiction crisis, Public Advocate Letitia James came to Staten Island to provide experts with the opportunity to say what is being done and to hear what more they and the community want done.

Armed with recent copies of the Staten Island Advance with front page stories, including the headline "It's out of control," James acknowledged the urgency for action based on the spike in overdoses and deaths just this year.

The Opiate Town Hall meeting Tuesday night in Christian Pentecostal Church, Concord, was attended by about 100 people -- college students, health care professionals, educators and clergy among them.

Since District Attorney Michael E. McMahon announced the historic Overdose Response Initiative on Feb. 24, his office has investigated a whopping 22 suspected overdose cases in the borough, that includes 18 deaths and four saves.

"We need to treat this like the public health crisis that it is," said Ms. James, recognizing the need to develop resources and spread information to prevent an increase in drug use and to treat those who are addicted.

"It's good to have as much information as possible. I'm here to listen and get a greater understanding of the resources available," said Jennifer Guinta, a licensed mental health counselor and adjunct professor at the College of Staten Island.

Members of SI Dream (Developing Recreation, Education, Achievement and Mentoring), a group of young men, all college students, were also in attendance to contribute the unique perspective they have.

"We know what's going on in the community. We can impact the community more than people who are older," said Shaquan Catlett

"If you want to make a change you need to know what is going on," agreed Devin Mitchell, president of the group.

WHAT IS NEEDED

James ticked off some of the pressing needs that she is aware of, such as increasing the number of beds for detox from only 23; addressing the disparity in health insurance coverage, establishing a crisis center for families with resources for parents and others affected, and providing education that includes vocational training that can provide those in recovery a purpose in life.

"There is no single approach which is why we have invited experts in prevention, enforcement and recovery," she said, opening the meeting to the panel to present their perspective and requests for the tools that are needed.

Tackling Youth Substance Abuse (TYSA) director Adrienne Abbate said that among the resources that are needed is "support for people who have undergone treatment. We are seeing the overdoses happening when people come out of treatment and back in the community."

Rose Kerr, Director of Education, Staten Island Borough President's office, called for an expansion of the "Too Good for Drugs" program to kindergarten through 12th grade. Offered to fifth graders, it emphasizes the effects of substance abuse on the brain and body, healthy decision making and resistance to peer pressure. A teacher and police officer present the course.

Rev. Terry Troia urged a campaign to get a bill in the state Senate passed that would expand single payer coverage, such as Medicaid, for drug addiction treatment.

Fern Zagor, executive director of Staten Island Mental Health, highlighted the need to include treatment that addresses the emotional and psychological issues that are often connected to substance abuse.

The observation from an audience member that the loss of Cromwell Center is a need that should be addressed brought applause and resolve from James to bring that to the attention of the mayor.

INDIVIDUAL EFFORT



In addition to bringing issues to the attention of the Public Advocate, panelists and audience members made points about how individuals can make a difference in lifting the borough out of this crisis.

Community involvement in enforcement

Deputy Chief Donna Jones, NYPD Staten Island Bureau, said those in the drug trade are known, but the information is not shared. There is a reluctance to get involved." She asks that those with information about drug dealers to contact a precinct where they can give the details anonymously.

District Attorney Drug Hotline

Assistant District Attorney Jen Cilia also reminded everyone that as part of its Overdose Response Initiative, the District Attorney's office provides a way to anonymously submit a report or to call the RCDA Drug Hotline at 718-876-5839.

NYPD DROP-off BOX

At the 120th, 121st, 122nd and 123rd Precinct stationhouses, unwanted medication can be dropped off to keep it out of the hands of would-be abusers.

"It's a no-questions-asked, 24-hour a day program," said Ryan Sakacs, Chief of the Prescription Drug Investigation Unit (PDIU).

Proactive patient

"As patients we should encourage health care providers to prescribe more judiciously," said Dr. Hillary Kunins with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. "Next time you go to a dentist and get a prescription for 30 days, say, 'I only need them for three days,' which is what we recommend."

Staten Island Resource Guide



Abbate said there is confusion and lack of information about adolescent services. TYSA has produced a brochure to provide local resources. Contact TYSA at 718-226-0258 or go to sipcw.org/TYSA

Community group



An audience member recommended SmartRecovery.org as a system that includes family and friends in a non-judgemental, skills-based program.

Audience members were there because they wanted to make a difference.

Ellen Pascucci, a coordinator in the dean's office at Curtis High School, was attending on her own time. "I like the kids. I have been there for 23 years and I love my job. I will help out in any way I can."

"Events like this give exposure to the positivity we are putting out for youth. We can relate what we are doing and be a stepping stone," said Brandon Little.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Northern gannets have provided a rare view of their dramatic high-speed dives as hundreds of them gather to feed in waters around Staten Island for the last couple of weeks.

One of the largest seabirds of the North Atlantic, the gannet plunges for its dinner, folded in on itself like an arrow, from as high as 130 feet and as deep as 72 feet, according to All About Birds.

"Quite a show going on down at Great Kills Harbor...sometimes it looks like a war zone out there," posted Lawrence Pugliares April 10 on the Staten Island Outdoors Facebook page along with gorgeous photos.

Pugliares captures the delicate beauty of the fleet sea birds and their aerialist skills, hovering and diving sheath-like into the sea. He catches them in just the right light to show off the gleaming white feathers with black tipped wings and the dusting of yellow around their head and neck, a display during mating season.

Enjoy them here and on his Flickr account which also includes his bald eagle portraits.

The action reached a crescendo over the last few days. "Gannets torpedo Great Kills Harbor," said Maya Shikhman on the video she posted.

Although veteran birders often spot them off-shore, good views of this many is very unusual. Known as oceanic or pelagic birds, they spend most of their time off shore or even out of sight of land.

In early spring, they migrate from their wintering grounds around Florida and the Gulf Coast to their nesting grounds in the North Atlantic. The birds would have taken a detour into Raritan Bay for the same thing that has recently attracted eagles, seals and whales -- fish to feed on.

"It's nice to see what is normally a pelagic bird so close to shore," remarked Ed Johnson who was spotting them from Wolfe's Pond shore. He said hundreds more could be seen when you scanned the horizon.

Fellow naturalist Ray Matarazzo was told by local fisherman that the bunker ran early this year, related Johnson. Bunker or menhaden are among the fish, including herring, cod and squid, that gannet feed on.

An NJ.com reporter also noticed thousands of gannet in the neighboring New Jersey waters, boundaries that mean nothing to the birds.
NWS HAMILTON.jpg

An audience of high school students, including teens from New Dorp High School, applaud after seeing a Wednesday matinee production of the Broadway musical sensation "Hamilton". (Photo courtesy Department of Education)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Students from New Dorp High School joined more than 1,200 teens from 12 city high schools who gathered Wednesday at the Richard Rodgers Theatre for a matinee performance of the sold-out musical sensation "Hamilton" and help kick-off a Department of Education partnership with the show's producers.

In addition to seeing the matinee students participated in a Q&A with members of the cast and presented original material -- songs, rap, poetry, scenes and monologues -- for the creators and cast.

The program gives students an introduction to one of the nation's Founding Fathers and the birth of our democracy. Combined with classroom studies, the program encourages further engagement with and appreciation of American history, explained City Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina, who announced the theater partnership.

Eventually the partnership will provide 20,000 city students with the opportunity to see "Hamilton" after they study it in their classrooms, using a curriculum designed by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The partnership is funded through a $1.4 million grant provided by The Rockefeller Foundation.

"Our students are living history at the theater through this transformative and powerful experience," Farina said.

"I thank the Miranda family for assuring that their passion for history and music is shared by New York City students."

"There is no feeling on earth like performing for a theater full of students who are learning about our founders in class and seeing how it still relates to their own lives on stage," said "Hamilton" creator and star, Lin-Manuel Miranda.

New Dorp was selected for the "Hamilton" theater partnership because of its long association with the Gilder Lehrman Institute. The high school's Law, History and Human Rights Institute, one of eight "small learning communities" students choose from when they enter as freshmen, is sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Rider beware: Cops are on the lookout for illegal off-road vehicles.

Police officers on Staten Island have confiscated a total of 12 dirt bikes and seven ATVs so far this year from riders caught operating the illegal off-road vehicles on the borough's streets, according to the NYPD.

The seizures come on the heels of a report that recreational vehicles are wreaking havoc nearly ever Saturday and Sunday morning at Jennifer's Playground, a city park located at Regis Drive, Jules Drive and Elson Court.

By law, it is illegal to register and operate off-road motorcycles (dirt bikes/ATVs) on any street in New York City, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

On Sunday, the Advance obtained video showing three riders on dirt bikes and an ATV whizzing around vehicles and popping wheelies on Richmond Road in Dongan.

The trio was recorded by a concerned community resident, who preferred to remain anonymous, claiming the off-road vehicles were performing stunts and driving on both sides of the street from Seaview Avenue to Targee Street.

Following the numerous reports by the Advance, dozens of readers reached out to detail incidents in their own neighborhoods that remain a constant problem.

And police are taking notice.

The 122nd Precinct in New Dorp posted via social media the seizure of a moped on the South Shore.

"Illegal moped confiscation in Great Kills," said the post that showed a blue, motorized bike.

Another comment on the precinct's official Twitter feed said, "

getting illegal bikes off the street!"
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A former New Jersey teacher who allegedly fatally shot her boyfriend -- a retired cop from Staten Island -- will be claiming self defense, according to a report by NJ.com.

The attorney for Virginia Vertetis, 53, said Patrick Gilhuley, 51, abused her, and she had reason to fear for her life, according to the report.

Vertetis' attorneys concede she shot Gilhuley in her Mount Olive home on March 3, 2014, with a gun he had left there, according to previously published reports.

Prosecutors allege Vertetis shot Gilhuley four times when he tried to break up with her, according to Advance records.



Gilhuley served 20 years in the New York City Housing Police and later the NYPD.



He had lived in Annadale and New Springville while on Staten Island.
NY-GOP.jpeg

Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and John Kasich want your vote next Tuesday. Who gets it, and why? (AP Photos)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The New York Primary is a week away, and everybody can't help but wonder: Which Republican candidate will take the Empire State?

When they go to the polls next Tuesday, GOP voters will choose from among frontrunner businessman Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Trump, the leading delegate holder and longtime prominent New Yorker, will be heading to Staten Island this Sunday for a GOP brunch.

Cruz has not fared well here: He recently drew the ire of New Yorkers due to his "New York values" comments, and the Texan has also been criticized for voting against the Zadroga Act.

Ohio's Kasich, seemingly trapped in third place, has a steep hill to climb to gain solid footing in the GOP race.

All three candidates have been active in New York campaigns. Kasich and Cruz met with local elected officials late last week, including Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, who recently worked on former candidate Marco Rubio's campaign.

Which of the three candidates leaves with New York's delegates? Tell us below, and why.

On SILive yesterday, readers were asked about who will win among the Democrats. Bernie Sanders nearly doubled Hillary Clinton's unofficial vote count.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A state appellate court Wednesday stayed until April 20 the prosecution of accused parent-killer Eric Bellucci, whose murder trial was scheduled to begin earlier in the day with jury selection.

The Appellate Division, Second Department, issued the order at the joint request of defense lawyer Mario F. Gallucci and District Attorney Michael E. McMahon's office.

Earlier in the day, the two sides petitioned the Brooklyn-based court to instruct state Supreme Court Justice William E. Garnett, who is presiding over Bellucci's case, to order another psychiatric exam before the trial proceeds to determine the defendant's mental competency.

Bellucci has been examined multiple times over the past five and a half years with varying findings of fitness and unfitness for trial.

Garnett has deemed Bellucci competent to stand trial based on exams performed last year, the defendant's testimony last fall at a pretrial hearing and his demeanor at multiple court proceedings.

Both sides will return to state Supreme Court, St. George, on Thursday when Garnett is expected to announce how he plans to proceed.

In their appellate application, prosecutors and Gallucci said Bellucci's trial competence is predicated on his being properly medicated with anti-psychotic drugs.

However, they said Bellucci contends he's hasn't been medicated since the middle of last summer after being transferred from a secure psychiatric facility to Rikers Island.

His behavior toward Gallucci since then has been "irrational and delusional," said the joint application.

In an unusual step, Garnett on Wednesday ordered Gallucci to present an insanity defense on Bellucci's behalf, when the trial starts. Bellucci, who is anxious to start the trial, has said he wants to present a justification, or "self-defense" defense, over Gallucci's recommendation to offer an insanity defense.

"I know I am defying precedent," said Garnett during a conference prior to the appellate court's ruling.

A person can be found fit for trial - meaning he understands the charges against him and can aid in his defense - and still offer an insanity defense, which refers to his state of mind when the alleged crime occurred.

Bellucci, who turns 36 on Thursday, is accused of brutally stabbing Arthur and Marian Bellucci to death in their Poillon Avenue home in Annadale on Oct. 13, 2010.

He then jetted to Israel where he was arrested and returned to the United States.

Bellucci contends his parents had threatened to kill him in a dispute over four guns he owned which they had previously removed from their house.

A forensic psychologist testified at a pretrial hearing last fall that Bellucci, in his opinion, suffers from either schizophrenic paranoia or paranoid mania, conditions which distort the defendant's view of reality.

Bellucci's desire for a self-defense defense "is the direct result of his delusional condition," wrote Gallucci and prosecutors in their petition to the appellate court. The defendant contended his guns were "used by the Mafia," and his parents "threatened to have the Mafia kill him" when he confronted them over the weapons.

In addition, prosecutors said they were troubled that Bellucci's due process rights would be violated if the trial proceeded "in the face of such clear incompetency" without an additional psychiatric exam.

Garnett said he would wait for the appellate ruling, but wants to move forward with the trial as soon as possible.

The judge said a jury would decide whether Bellucci is guilty of first-degree murder and other charges or not guilty by reason of insanity.

"He has a right to have this case resolved," said Garnett. "This can can't be kicked down the road interminably."

The judge said it was apparent, based on the evidence, that an insanity defense would be Bellucci's "strongest" defense.

"All parties agree that he is ill," said Garnett in ordering Gallucci to offer a psychiatric defense. "It doesn't make sense that he makes the crucial strategic (defense) choice."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Five and a half years after he allegedly killed his parents in their Annadale home, Eric Bellucci will face a jury.

Jury selection in Bellucci's murder trial is slated for Wednesday in state Supreme Court, St. George.

Bellucci, 35, is accused of stabbing Arthur and Marian Bellucci to death in their Poillon Avenue home on Oct. 13, 2010.

He then jetted to Israel where he was arrested and returned to the United States.

Bellucci has said he wants to present a "justification" defense. Justification is the legal term for self-defense.

Bellucci contends his parents had threatened to kill him in a dispute over four guns he owned which they had previously removed from their house.

Sources familiar with the case said Bellucci had threatened to kill his family and himself several times. His father had another relative surrender to police guns kept in the house for fear his son would use them.

A forensic psychologist testified at a hearing that Bellucci, in his opinion, suffers from either schizophrenic paranoia or paranoid mania, conditions which distort the defendant's view of reality.

Bellucci, who has been deemed mentally competent to stand trial, has rejected the advice of his lawyer, Mario F. Gallucci, who recommends presenting an insanity defense.

A person can be found fit for trial - meaning he understands the charges against him and can aid in his defense - and still offer an insanity defense, which refers to his state of mind when the alleged crime occurred.

Last week, Justice William E. Garnett denied two requests by Bellucci to appoint him another lawyer.

Bellucci faces life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder, the top charge against him.

Assistant District Attorneys Wanda DeOliveira and Ann Thompson are prosecuting the case on behalf of District Attorney Michael E. McMahon.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The start of accused parent-killer Eric Bellucci's murder trial hit a snag Wednesday when a justice delayed jury selection after prosecutors and the defense petitioned a state appellate court to delay the proceeding.

Earlier in the morning, defense lawyer Mario F. Gallucci and District Attorney Michael E. McMahon's office jointly requested the Appellate Division, Second Department, to instruct state Supreme Court Justice William E. Garnett to order another psychiatric exam before the trial proceeds to determine Bellucci's mental competency.

Garnett, who adjourned the case to Thursday, pending the appellate court's ruling, has denied recent requests by both sides for another mental examination to determine whether Bellucci understand the charges against him and can aid in his defense.

The defendant has been examined multiple times over the past five and a half years with varying findings of fitness and unfitness for trial.

Garnett has deemed Bellucci competent to stand trial based on exams performed last year, the defendant's testimony last fall at a pretrial hearing and his demeanor at multiple court proceedings.

In their appellate application, prosecutors and Gallucci said Bellucci's trial competence is predicated on his being properly medicated with anti-psychotic drugs. However, they said Bellucci contends he hasn't been medicated since the middle of last summer after being transferred from a secure psychiatric facility to Rikers Island.

His behavior toward Gallucci since then has been "irrational and delusional," said the joint application.

In an unusual step, Garnett on Wednesday ordered Gallucci to present an insanity defense on Bellucci's behalf, when the trial starts. Bellucci, who is anxious to start the trial, has said he wants to present a justification, or "self-defense" defense, over Gallucci's recommendation to offer an insanity defense.

"I know I am defying precedent," said Garnett.

A person can be found fit for trial and still offer an insanity defense, which refers to his state of mind when the alleged crime occurred.

Bellucci, who turns 36 on Thursday, is accused of brutally stabbing Arthur and Marian Bellucci to death in their Poillon Avenue home in Annadale on Oct. 13, 2010.

He then jetted to Israel where he was arrested and returned to the United States.

Bellucci contends his parents had threatened to kill him in a dispute over four guns he owned which they had previously removed from their house.

A forensic psychologist testified at a pretrial hearing last fall that Bellucci, in his opinion, suffers from either schizophrenic paranoia or paranoid mania, conditions which distort the defendant's view of reality.

Bellucci's desire for a self-defense defense "is the direct result of his delusional condition," wrote Gallucci and prosecutors. The defendant contended his guns were "used by the Mafia," and his parents "threatened to have the Mafia kill him" when he confronted them over the weapons.

In addition, prosecutors said they were troubled that Bellucci's due process rights would be violated if the trial proceeded "in the face of such clear incompetency" without an additional psychiatric exam.

Garnett said he would wait for the appellate ruling, but wants to move forward with the trial as soon as possible.

The judge said a jury would decide whether Bellucci is guilty of first-degree murder and other charges or not guilty by reason of insanity.

"He has a right to have this case resolved," said Garnett. "This can can't be kicked down the road interminably."

The judge said it was apparent, based on the evidence, that an insanity defense would be Bellucci's "strongest" defense.

"All parties agree that he is ill," said Garnett in ordering Gallucci to offer a psychiatric defense. "It doesn't make sense that he makes the crucial strategic (defense) choice."

Bellucci, who was garbed a black overcoat, plaid scarf, white shirt, tie and gray slacks, did not make a statement to the court, but conferred animatedly with Gallucci several times.
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Jeepers!

Mr. Dion approved six export permits on Friday covering more than 70 per cent of the transaction, newly released documents show - a decision that represents the most vital step in the Canadian government's arms-control process. The Liberals have long said they could not interfere with what they described as a "done deal" arranged by the Harper Conservatives.

[...]

The remarkable department of Global Affairs Canada memo, stamped "secret" and obtained by University of Montreal law professor Daniel Turp, who is challenging the Saudi deal in Federal Court, lays bare the Liberal government's rationale for the mammoth Canadian arms sale.

Canada's arms export control regime makes it clear that a transaction can only proceed after Ottawa has issued export permits, and the new Global Affairs memo reveals that the Conservatives had only approved minor permits related to the Saudi deal for the export of technical data.

It has fallen to Mr. Dion to approve the vast majority of the transaction and that is what he did last week.
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System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe3a918)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ee50ccb8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe3a918)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ee50ccb8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe3b2c0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ee50ccb8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ee50ccb8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ee50c718)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612e8860df8)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612e8860df8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f010b880)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f00f9d40)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f010b880)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f00f9d40)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0276f78)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f00f9d40)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f00f9d40)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ee50bb38)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f024ac00)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f024ac00)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe3b168)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f04edce8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe3b168)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f04edce8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe3bb10)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f04edce8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f04edce8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ee50bef8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f04c4e50)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f04c4e50)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0232130)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f01b2720)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0232130)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f01b2720)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f021bac0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f01b2720)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f01b2720)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ee50c060)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f0267d18)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f0267d18)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f01ec0b0)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ebd60698)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f01ec0b0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ebd60698)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f01fee48)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ebd60698)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ebd60698)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ee50cbb0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f01bac08)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f01bac08)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0142678)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0148510)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0142678)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0148510)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f023e598)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0148510)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0148510)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612ee50b8e0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f00f1790)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f00f1790)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
But the next morning police raided the safe house separating her again from her children, before taking her into custody. The 60 Minutes team in custody in Lebanon: Tara Brown, David "Tangles" Ballment, Stephen Rice and Ben Williamson. "She had one night with her babies, I don't know what time they came for her," the friend said. Ms Faulkner arrived in Lebanon last week to retrieve her children, allegedly armed with an Australian court order awarding her full custody. Sally Faulkner travelled to Lebanon to recover her two children, Lahala and Noah, from their father. Credit:Facebook

She has told friends she obtained the custody order after her husband, Ali Elamine, did not return them to Australia. Ms Faulkner has told friends his rights to appeal the decision have expired. Fairfax Media has been unable to independently verify this. Ms Faulkner is also said to have sent a Lebanese lawyer to deliver Australian family court documents to Mr Elamine, but he has not signed them. Sally Faulkner with her children, Lahala and Noah. Credit:Facebook Similarly, it's understood Mr Elamine has commenced divorce proceedings in Lebanon, in accordance with local family laws which are determined by religion. Friends say Ms Faulkner and her husband, Ali Elamine, were amicably separated for two years when he visited her and the children in Australia last May, as he had done periodically since their parting.

Sally Faulkner and her daughter. He and Ms Faulkner had apparently agreed that he would visit them for three weeks in Australia then return to Lebanon with them for a three week holiday. But on arriving back in Lebanon with the children, Mr Elamine allegedly called her to tell her that the children would not be returning. "Around this time she discovered that the children's immunisation records were also missing," the friend said. After about six weeks Mr Elamine allegedly cut all contact between her and the children, arguing it was too distressing for them, the friend said.

"But Sally had set aside 10 minutes every day for their children to call him on Skype when they were with her in Australia," she said. The children's birthdays, Lahela's in October and Noah's in November, were particularly hard for Ms Faulkner. "She kept trying to call but he wouldn't answer," the friend says. "She said I don't want this to be my life for the next 18 years. She was looking at never seeing her babies again." Ms Faulkner and her husband, Ali Elamine, were married in Australia and her children were born here, but the couple returned to live for a period in Lebanon.

That's when Ms Faulkner met her friend, through a mother's group. They spent time together and their children played with one another. "She was the sweetest nurturing mother. She had such a lovely rapport with them, they were just lovely, lovely adorable children," the friend said. After an explosion one block from their home in the southern Beirut suburb Hadath, Sally brought the children back to Australia. On Wednesday afternoon, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she was in "constant communication" with her counterpart in Lebanon and said while no formal charges have been laid, they had been recommended, with a judge investigating the allegations.
Oshin is a fun-loving boy, but is frightened of hospitals. Credit:Elle Borgward Others felt the associated burdens were such that palliative care was an ethical option, though this would likely include some conventional therapy and active symptom management. Oshin's mother Angela Kiszko at first asked the committee to delay treatment to allow her to trial nutrition-focused therapy for six to eight weeks to help Oshin recover from surgery, and the delay was granted. By the second meeting in March, she and Oshin's father Colin Strachan actively withheld consent. Oshin's 'birthday table' of his favourite things. Credit:Elle Borgward While the committee understood Ms Kiszko did not believe nutritional therapy would cure her son, it noted that a family friend appearing in support of her had absolute belief in 'curative' natural therapy and doubted this attitude would be helpful.

It reported that while consenting adults were free to choose such paths, it was "ethically indefensible to impose such irrational beliefs on the lives of others". After the second meeting, the committee noted Oshin's parents were actively withholding consent for treatment, which it said was "a chance the vast majority of parents faced with the same agonising choice would take". It recognised the doctors' duty to promote treatment and said when chances of survival were higher, and potentially less of a burden long-term, treatment would be the only ethical option. It maintained, however, if careful assessment showed the burdens of treatment would outweigh the benefits, and if Oshin's parents consented to some form of conventional therapy, a palliative approach could be ethical in Oshin's case. Oshin's parents and doctors were then left to negotiate the report after the March 8 meeting, but were told that the divided nature of the committee indicated any court action should be approached cautiously.

But a March 17 MRI confirmed the tumour was on the cusp of an "irretrievable progression", the judge noted. Doctors continued to believe full treatment was appropriate but that each passing day could make the difference whether active or palliative treatment was appropriate. Ms Kiszko's affidavit to the court said that in her final phone call with a member of hospital on Monday, March 21, she asked for the palliative option involving reduced chemotherapy but was told it was "off the table". The judge found doctors had provided consistent advice about the chances of survival under "full and immediate treatment", but because there was no sample dealing with children whose treatment was delayed, it was impossible for doctors to predict Oshin's chances. Child and Adolescent Health Service chief executive Professor Frank Daly released a statement saying that while parents generally decided on treatment, the hospital had a duty of care.

The oncology staff were internationally recognised experts who worked daily with parents to make decisions in children's "best interests". Given the disagreement, the court application was a last resort to get independent judgment on what these were. Professor Daly said the treatment recommended was based on internationally recognised protocols, and while doctors acknowledged "potentially significant" side-effects, the alternative was death within months. Staff involved in providing treatment "in these difficult circumstances" had full support. The judge noted in his ruling that the parents could use "compelling evidence of a workable alternative" to challenge his decision, or the coming radiotherapy action.
Trenton: A New Jersey judge has ruled Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz can appear on the New Jersey primary ballot, deciding against challengers who argued the Canadian-born Texas senator was not a "natural-born citizen".

Administrative law judge Jeff Masin said arguments that a person born in another country could not be a natural-born citizen were "not facetious" and the subject would "never be entirely free of doubt" without a US Supreme Court ruling.

But "the more persuasive legal analysis is that such a child, born of a citizen-father, citizen-mother, or both, is indeed a 'natural-born citizen' within the contemplation of the Constitution," he said in a 27-page decision.
6pm THE LITTLE MERMAID Free-Rain presents the Canberra premiere of the Disney musical based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale and the movie about a mermaid who falls in love with a prince who's sailing on a ship and wishes for legs so she can be with him. On until April 17. $45-$75 from canberratheatrecentre.com.au. 8pm TUKA The Blue Mountains-bred hip hop artist is back in town, on a final lap around the country touring his solo work before heading back into the studio with Thundamentals. ANU Bar. $29.46 from ticketek.com.au. 18+. 8pm JOHN FLANAGAN AND SAL KIMBER The two Melbourne alt-country/folk musicians are touring the country for a double album launch of their respective new albums. The Front Gallery. $20 from trybooking.com. 8pm THE LEVITATION HEX The metal/rock band release their long awaited second album with a show in their hometown at Transit Bar. Supported by Red Bee and Imperilment. $13.90 from moshtix.com.au. 8pm HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE Off the back of sell-out shows in Brisbane and Sydney and a run at the Melbourne International Comedy fest, How Deep Is Your Love is a unique comedic play by Mark Swivel about a man's trip to Bangladesh. Also Saturday at 3pm and 8pm. $15-$20 from thestreet.org.au.

8pm FESTIVAL 15 Fifteen bands perform 15 minute sets each. Line-up includes Capes, Revellers, Mog, Hallucinatorium, Wesley and The Crushers and Taliesin. $15 entry. The Basement. 18+. 10pm TOUCH SENSITIVE Multi-instrumentalist and self confessed "synth-freak" Michael Di Francesco aka Touch Sensitive is performing at Mr Wolf. Supported by Nay Nay, Skinny and Yoyo. 18+. All Day RECORD STORE DAY Record stores across the globe are again celebrating Record Store Day. In Canberra, events will be happening at Duratone HiFi in Phillip, Miranda Hifi and Landspeed Records in Civic and Songland Records in Weston Creek. For more information see recordstoreday.com.au.

From 10am ASIA-PACIFIC BAZAAR A market of fabrics, textiles, art and food from the countries that make up the Asia-Pacific region. All Saints Anglican Church, Ainslie, with all proceeds going to the church. 10am-3pm. Free entry. 11am PUPPETOODLE Renowned puppeteer Marianne Mettes will operate a cast of quirky puppets who create art with the audience. Also at 1pm. National Archives of Australia, Parkes. $6.22 from eventbrite.com.au. 1pm CIRQUE AFRICA The world-renowned circus is coming to town. A combination of acrobatics, theatre, song and dance, and a celebration of African culture, both new and old. Free parking. Exhibition Park. Also on 7pm. Running until May 29. $30-$60 from ticketek.com.au. 2pm MMA FIGHTING Brace, Australia's mixed martial arts event series is coming to Canberra. Some of the top mixed martial artists will fight it out at AIS Arena, with the winners going onto a semi-final in August and final in November. $15.59-$96.85 from ticketek.com.au. 2pm BLOOD LINKS Artist William Yang shares his personal journey through spoken word, film and photographs, telling the story about the Chinese diaspora. Also 8pm. $35-$55 from canberratheatrecentre.com.au.

6pm CELESTIAL EVENING Have a Chinese-inspired meal, a glass of champagne and a special curator-led tour of the National Library of Australia's show Celestial Empire which examines 300 years of Chinese culture and tradition. You'll also get a signed copy of the show's companion publication. $120. See nla.gov.au 6.30pm ZOMBIE FLICK Join the ANU Film Group for a screening of the film Me and My Mates vs The Zombie Apocalypse - a zombie flick shot entirely in Canberra. After the movie there'll be a Q&A with the film's writer and one of its stars. $15. facebook.com 7.30pm KITTY FLANAGAN In the comedian's new show, she looks at gravediggers, cops, Cubans, advice on how to speak to doctors, and a serious attempt to quantify one of life's biggest mysteries: "How much do old people love salt?" Canberra Theatre Centre. $44.90-$46.90 from canberratheatrecentre.com.au. 8pm THE GO SET Melbourne lads The Go Set spent most of 2015 touring the US and Europe  they're now back touring on home soil with their seventh album, Rolling Sound. Transit Bar. $18.40 from tickets.oztix.com.au. 18+. 8pm CALIGULA'S HORSE The Brisbane five-piece will bring their progressive alternative rock to The Basement. Supported by Chaos Divine and Tundrel. $19.90 from tickets.oztix.com.au.

From 9am THE QUEANBEYAN MARKET Over 70 stalls with farm-fresh produce and condiments, upcycled and repurposed furniture, succulents, home decor, jewellery, kids' activities and more. There will also be hot food, coffee and live music. 9am-1pm. Lowe Street, Queanbeyan. Free entry. 10am RETRO BUS DEPOT MARKETS Dust off your platforms as the Old Bus Depot Markets go retro. There will be fashion, homewares, furniture, jewellery and accessories to browse and buy. 10am-4pm. Free entry. 11am THE GREAT MOSCOW CIRCUS The 50th-anniversary tour of the Great Moscow Circus has come to Canberra with a new line-up of Russian and international performers at Majura Park. On until April 25. $34-$63 from thegreatmoscowcircus.com.au. 1.10pm GWS GIANTS MATCH The Giants host Port Adelaide at Manuka Oval. $9.18-$32.62 from ticketek.com.au.
David Eastman will soon learn whether he has lost a bid to prevent his retrial over the alleged murder of Assistant Australian Federal Police Commissioner Colin Stanley Winchester.

The ACT Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decision on Eastman's stay application about 9.15am on Thursday morning, following a hearing that stretched across a number of weeks earlier this year.

A ruling in David Eastman's stay application is due on Thursday morning.

The stay application is Eastman's last-ditch bid to prevent a second trial for the 1989 Winchester killing, although he or the Director of Public Prosecutions may appeal the decision, depending on the result.

Eastman was freed in 2014 following 19 years behind bars, after a court quashed his conviction due to fundamental errors in forensic analysis used to link him to the crime scene.
A quarter of the 1758 Canberrans without a bed each night and a third of those at risk of losing theirs are between 12 and 24 years old.

To those fortunate enough to have always had a home, Blaize and Brendan Windsor are reminders that there are faces behind these figures.

Blaize (no last given) and Brendan Windsor are a young couple who met at the Salvation Army's emergency accommodation after they could not break into the rental market. Credit:Jay Cronan

The couple, aged 19 and 20, met at the Salvation Army's emergency accommodation after they could not break into the rental market and had nowhere to live.

"I used to have a very biased opinion about homelessness because I had never been in that position," Blaize, who chose not to say her last name, said.
An ANZ customer representative replied that the bank "does not endorse or recommend the use of third-party software or websites to access ANZ internet banking".

"This is due to the risk of providing your CRN [customer registration number] and password to a third party who may not have the same security as ANZ, therefore, potentially exposing your personal details."

While the customer in the Facebook exchange did not name Acorns, Mr Lucas said "general statements like this from the banks are misleading as they give the impression that the terms and conditions of the internet banking would be breached, not taking account of the ePayments Code".

That code, which is administered by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and overrides banks' terms and conditions, says it does not amount to a breach of the obligation on customers not to share passwords if a bank "expressly or implicitly promotes, endorses or authorises the use of a service".

Mr Lucas said that "I am not sure how ANZ can say they do not endorse all third-party account aggregators when their products use a third-party account aggregator; the same as ours, Yodlee".
Mint Payments managing director Alex Teoh says a deal with Singapore's debit card network to roll out the company's mobile payment terminals is a "landmark deal" that should boost its chances of expanding into other Asian countries.

Mr Teoh said it was one of the biggest deals for the mobile payments company, equivalent to its contract with Bank of New Zealand signed in 2013.

Mint Payments managing director Alex Teoh says it is looking to crack the Malaysian and Hong Kong markets after Singapore.

"It is a great segue into how we want to expand in Asia because Asia is looking at what we have done in Australia with envy," he said.

Under the five-year deal, Singapore's Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS), which is owned by Singapore's biggest banks, DBS Bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and United Overseas Bank, gets a licence to distribute Mint's mobile payment terminals under the NETS brand and will be the "acquirer" or processor for Mint in Singapore.
A federal Labor candidate has blasted the Queensland government's approval of Australia's largest coal mine, calling on the rest of the state ALP to follow suit.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk touted job creation when her government approved mining leases to clear the last major state hurdle for Indian giant Adani's controversial Carmichael mega mine project on April 3.

But Candidate for Ryan Stephen Hegedus said he had written to Ms Palaszczuk to say "there will be not much point having a job once global warming kicks in for real".

"You seem to misunderstand the threat [of climate change] at the expense of short-term economic outcomes," he wrote in a post to his campaign Facebook page on Tuesday.
Clive Palmer has claimed the administrators of his Townsville nickel refinery are "embarking on a campaign to secure more funds for their exorbitant fees" in the wake of the recommendation to liquidate Queensland Nickel.

In a statement released through his spokesman on Wednesday, Mr Palmer said the administrators report, which found the refinery had been treated as a "piggy bank" with more than $200 million taken out of the company to finance other ventures, including the Titanic II, "contained a number of derogatory and untrue statements".

In a damning report released on Tuesday, Queensland Nickel's administrators at FTI Consulting referred the directors and "de facto" (or "shadow") directors, including Mr Palmer's nephew Clive Mensink and Mr Palmer, to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission for a slew of potential breaches of the Corporations Act, including that they may have made criminal breaches of the act.

"The report calls into question the professionalism and impartiality of FTI," Mr Palmer said in his statement. "Their findings are filled with innuendo."
Australia's wealthiest retailer, Solomon Lew, says retailers can learn more from walking the shop floor than by completing a management degree. "In my companies our senior management understands that, in retail, a degree in MBWA (Management by Walking Around) is much more valuable than an MBA," Mr Lew told the World Retail Congress in Dubai on Wednesday. Retailer Solomon Lew, who was inducted into the World Retail Congress hall of fame, said retailers could learn more from walking the shop floor than doing a management degree. Credit:Wilbur Smith As retailing became increasingly globalized, homogenised and technology and data-driven, the concept of being close to the business and understanding how things really worked as distinct from how they should work must never be lost, Mr Lew said. Mr Lew, 71, is the first Australian retailer to be inducted into the World Retail Congress Hall of Fame, which recognises the lifetime achievements of retail "legends". Past inductees include Zara founder Amancio Ortega, The Arcadia Group's Sir Philip Green and IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad.

Accepting his award, the billionaire chairman of Premier Investments and former chairman of Coles Myer said he was honoured to be recognised by his international peers, but said retail was a team effort. "The nature of an honour such as this is to recognise individual achievement when, in reality, success in retail is a collaborative outcome," he said. "When I look at the members of the Hall of Fame I can see creative geniuses and others who have reinvented business models," he said. "But our common success lies in the ability to execute and to realize the vision - and that relies on the many talented people, at all levels of our businesses, who we work with every day." Mr Lew said the award also recognised the fact that the Australian retail sector had come of age and was now "one of the most vibrant and competitive in the world." "A strong retail industry is the lifeblood of a strong economy and society. It has an immense economic and social multiplier effect both before and beyond the point of sale on so many levels," he said.
Target could cut up to 25 per cent of staff at its Geelong-based headquarters and set up a new Melbourne office as the discount department store's new boss Guy Russo devises a turnaround strategy for Wesfarmers' troubled discount department store brand.

Just days after the chain's outgoing managing director Stuart Machin resigned over the use of supplier rebates to bolster Target's half-year result by almost 40 per cent, sources close to the chain suggest big job losses are likely to be announced within weeks.

One source close to Target said the atmosphere was "very stressful" for the approximately 1000 staff as they awaited news on how job losses would be spread across the organisation.

Mr Russo is believed to be travelling around Australia at the moment talking to Target staff and building a picture of the business and a spokeswoman for the chain said no decision had been made on any job cuts.
Another global financial crisis would likely see Australia plunge into recession as the government would be unable to bail out the banks a second time, warns former Labor adviser and economist Ross Garnaut.

The local banks' reliance on offshore funding left them in trouble when the 2008 global financial crisis hit. Unable to refinance debt, they were bailed out by taxpayers under the former Labor Rudd government.

But this wouldn't be an option again: "The difference between our public indebtedness now and what it was [during the] global financial crisis would change our options for bailing out [the banks]," Professor Garnaut told the Melbourne Economic Forum on Wednesday.

"If there were another big disruption of global financial markets, our banks are in a weaker position now than they were then," he said.
The report points out that for all the complaints from body corporates that typically deal with physical property issues and other problems when people live close together, disruptive behaviour is relatively low. The Grattan Institute's Jim Minifie says fines need to be "big enough to make an impact". Credit:Louise Kennerley Airbnb, which began operating in Australia in 2009, is the biggest global accommodation platform with more than 66,000 listings, mostly in inner Sydney and Melbourne. Stayz has more than 40,000 property listings. The report says some taxi drivers should be able to get compensation from state governments. Credit:iStock

Aggregate data for apartment buildings with short-stay accommodation sites shows that out of a total of 1.2 million stays, just over 1000 complaints were made. These included problems of users of short-term accommodation damaging property, littering in common areas, loud noise and music, and offensive language. It also included behaviour such as drinking alcohol and/or smoking in common areas, vomiting, urinating or defecating in common areas, visible nudity, dropping items from balconies, and overcrowding. There were also a few occasions where building security, police or other emergency services been called to attend to complaints. Regulators will need to ensure platforms do not abuse the power they acquire as their user bases grow Grattan Institute report Grattan Institute productivity growth program director Jim Minifie, a co-author of the report, said body corporates could be given powers under existing laws to hit owners renting out homes with fines if there were such disruption. "You would want the fine to be big enough to make an impact," he said. "Per incident it could be a speeding-ticket-fine amount."

Uber v taxi owners In the case of ride-sharing service Uber, the report suggests having regulations with "minimum safety requirements", lower taxi and hire-car licence prices, deregulation of pre-booked fares, and maximum fares for rank-and-hail trips. It says compensation should be limited to people who bought taxi licences recently, and/or who suffer severe financial hardship. Dr Minifie said the value of taxi owner licencesnationwide was about $4 billion, because values had been falling since Uber moved in. He said the pre-Uber average value was $350,000 a licence. But even if liberalisation reduces licence values and rents to zero, many licence owners will still have earned positive returns, he said. "Licence owners are never going to get compensation for all that," Dr Minifie said, but added there were grounds for compensation in some cases.

The NSW government recently set up a compensation fund of $250 million ($108 million is to pay perpetual taxi licence holders $20,000 for each of up to two licences, and $142 million is for those in financial hardship). Don't leave workers worse off The report suggests less than half a per cent of adult Australians (80,000 people) work on peer-to-peer platforms more than once a month. About 20,000 people drove with Uber at least once in the four weeks to December 2015. About 70,000 tradespeople are registered on hipages, an Australian platform for home improvement.

And Airtasker, an Australian odd-jobs platform, says "many thousands" regularly work through the site, although the total value of jobs posted each month is just $3.5 million, enough to support fewer than 1500 workers full time at the minimum wage. The Grattan Institute report says that while peer-to-peer services can create flexibility by allowing people to undertake short-term or contracting work, these platforms may also "circumvent labour regulations" and "undercut firms whose employees, who benefit today from regulation or collective bargaining". It recommends the federal government tighten "sham contracting" provisions in the Fair Work Act, and require platforms to supply peer-to-peer workers with more information about the risks and responsibilities of being a contractor. The states, meanwhile, should ensure peer-to-peer workers in riskier occupations have workers' compensation coverage. Beef up competition and tax laws

The report says competition and consumer laws are mostly fit to deal with the peer-to-peer economy. But it recommends the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission adapt existing competition law principles for this new economy. "Regulators will need to ensure platforms do not abuse the power they acquire as their user bases grow," the report says. It suggests creating a voluntary industry code of conduct for peer-to-peer platforms that provides guidelines for dealing with disputes, privacy issues and handling data. Uber's Brad Kitschke and Airbnb's Sam McDonagh at the Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer It also urges the federal government to give proper resourcing to the ACCC to enable it to investigate and prosecute anti-competitive behaviour.
Australians are being snowed about tax  in particular company tax. One needs no further evidence of this than the completely conflicting statements from two schools of what appear to be reputable experts. One says cutting company taxes will cost the economy and the average worker, the other says tax breaks for business will mainly get passed onto the workforce.

It's become the hot topic in the lead up to the federal budget with proponents and opponents now engaging in a public brawl. The number one ticket holder for the cut-company-tax team is the Business Council of Australia's Jennifer Westacott who came out fighting on Wednesday against Janine Dixon from the Centre of Policy Studies at Victoria University who takes the opposite stance.

Dixon concludes that while a cut to company tax will boost domestic production, it will lead to a fall in real incomes in the range of $800 to $2000 per person in present value terms.

Westacott says Dixon's view that the long-term benefit of lower company tax flows to foreign investors and not national incomes reflects a highly theoretical view of the world rather than the reality of how Australia, in the context of a global economy, operates.
After being sacked for what he claims are "false and petty" reasons, he lodged a claim for unfair dismissal.

After five years as a chauffeur for the Indian consulate in Sydney, Hitender Kumar started rocking the boat. He alleges passports were issued by the consulate without proper police checks, that he was underpaid and that he was expected to use a consular vehicle e-TAG on an ordinary car.

Former Indian consulate chauffeur Hitender Kumar Credit:Christopher Pearce

The acting consul-general tried and failed to have public reporting of the case, which is being heard in the Fair Work Commission, suppressed to ensure the "government of India's reputation is not adversely affected".

Mr Kumar claims he was sacked after raising concerns about the consulate's failure to conduct required police clearance checks before issuing Indian passports in Sydney.

He says he was reprimanded for seeking the advice of the Roads and Maritime Service which told him an e-TAG, which waives any fee tolls, could only be used in the official consular car. Mr Kumar said his employer had asked him to use the e-TAG in a Toyota while the consular car was being serviced.

Indian media have reported that the Indian consulate in Sydney unwittingly issued a fake passport to underworld figure Chhota Rajan who was wanted in India. According to media reports, Rajan was deported from Bali to India late last year. His passport was reportedly issued under a different name in Sydney.
The Murray inquiry made a number of recommendations related to improving outcomes for consumers of financial products. One could argue that it would make sense to see whether the recommendations of the Murray Inquiry (once fully implemented), together with ongoing changes in global financial regulatory standards, improve the performance of the financial sector in this regard before undertaking another major review.

On the other hand it might be argued that the Murray Inquiry did not, reflecting the constraints of its terms of reference and short time frame, delve far enough into issues of ethics, culture, and governance. While these were front of mind in its deliberations, its approach was to design policy recommendations which would induce better outcomes.

These included addressing incentives created by conflicted remuneration arrangements, introducing manufacturer and distributor responsibilities for appropriate design and marketing of financial products and services, and improved resourcing and powers of financial regulators. That approach reflected a view that "good" ethics and culture cannot be created by regulation, that they are the responsibility of the leadership of financial institutions, but that policy settings can influence incentives to create and maintain good ethical standards and culture.

If it is believed that the problems are more deep seated, then perhaps further inquiry is warranted  but on topics which hardly warrant or need a royal commission. A number of issues come readily to mind. One is whether enforced structural separation of financial institutions would facilitate improved governance, risk-taking, staff-customer interrelationships, and remuneration and incentive structures.

Another is whether requiring directors of banks to put interests of depositors ahead of shareholders (much as occurs in insurance where policy holders interests are legally accorded priority). Yet another would be what increase in penalties for wrongdoing and increased resourcing for investigation by regulators would appropriately limit wrongdoing while not unduly harming efficient and innovative supply of financial services.
The new $5 note continues Australia's proud history of monetary innovation.

When the British founded the convict colony of NSW in 1788, Governor Arthur Phillip embarked on a unique social experiment. He would establish a society without money, as having it around would only give the convicts something else to steal. Rum became the currency of choice, with the pound making way for the pint and the shilling swapped for the shot.

In 1814, Governor Lachlan Macquarie decided he could not run a colony on a currency prone to spillage and evaporation. He bought 40,000 Spanish pieces of eight, the currency more pirates prefer, and cut the centre out of each piece, creating two coins, the holey dollar and the dump. In a moment of Scottish fiscal genius, Macquarie declared the two new coins would have a combined value of one-and-a-quarter pieces of eight, generating a tidy profit for his government.

Australia's first banknote was printed by the Bank of NSW in 1817. The bank, established by convicted criminals, was commonly known as the Convict's Bank and is now known as Westpac.
There is a lot to be said for a weak handshake. I've met Geelong mayor Darryn Lyons several times in my role as a Surf Coast Shire councillor and he never seemed to be able to give a handshake with conviction. He also doesn't look you in the eye upon the shake  surely another aspect missing in the finer nuances of positive human interactions and something that actually bothers me more.

An inquiry into Geelong Council, tabled in the Victorian Parliament on Tuesday, found it was "riven by conflict", with widespread "bullying, harassment and inappropriate interventions by councillors pursuing their own wants and ward interests". The Andrews government on Tuesday moved to sack Cr Lyons and Geelong's 12 councillors, and install commissioners until 2020.

Geelong mayor Darryn Lyon  "all hair and bright clothes and short-man swagger, seemingly without a chink in the armour." Credit:Michael Dodge

Despite handing me a wet fish upon arrival, Cr Lyons left me impressed during the meeting that followed. He was direct, intolerant of waffling and critical of those who presented poorly. I recall one agenda item about the pitch to secure the defence contract to build the Land 400, an armoured fighting vehicle. The presentation was poor and Lyons immediately said something to the tune of "if you go to the government with that presentation we are never going to win anything".

He was harsh but fair and I didn't leave with an entirely sour taste in my mouth.
Southern Cross search over

The Southern Cross was located by Captain Holden in the Canberra on the mud flats of Glenelg River about twenty miles south of the Port George Mission Station. All crew were safe. Kingsford Smith and his men had walked out into the open in response to signals from the Canberra. Congratulations at finding the crew have been received from many parts of Australia, Britain and the United States.

Charles Kingsford Smith, Mr McWilliams and Charles Ulm standing with the Southern Cross, Sydney, ca. 1929. Credit:Fairfax Archives

Pavlova at the Theatre Royal

"Madame Anna Pavlova will begin a season tonight at the Theatre Royal, under the J.C. Williamson management. The celebrated dancer will appear at the head of her reorganised company in the ballet 'Giselle,' and [in] many attractive divertissements, including the 'Gavotte Pavlova'Giselle, with music by Adolphe Adam and scenery by Urban will be repeated on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday."
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is due to arrive in China on Thursday morning for two days of quick-fire meetings with Chinese leaders on trade and business opportunities. He and a 1000-strong delegation of business people, three federal ministers and two premiers hope to seize on the potential for further linking Australia's  and the federal government's  economic future with the enormous growth of the Chinese consumer class and Beijing's zeal for foreign investment.

The visit fits well with the Turnbull government's narrative of agility, innovation and better infrastructure. We are perfectly positioned, through the China-Australia free trade deal and a history of supplying raw materials for China's rapid growth.

Malcolm Turnbull faces a divided crossbench over the ABCC bill. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

But Mr Turnbull's visit comes at an especially sensitive juncture. He would be well advised not to discuss the Panama Papers in which Chinese leaders have been named. With human rights he will probably keep using the term "rule of law" instead. Action against Chinese dumping of goods on the Australian market would be best left to trade dispute settlement mechanisms or Federal Parliament. The global steel glut is hurting Australia, but to complain to Beijing could jeopardise resources contracts. Foreign investment remains a sore point among Australians, but the Chinese don't take kindly to talk of further controls. And problems are growing around Australian access to China's online consumer markets.

For outsiders, frustration at diplomatic silence on pressing issues is understandable.
I could tell that behind the general secretary's inscrutable expression, his mind was boggling at the thought. Like many world leaders, he honourably desired a more open system of government than the opaque one over which he presided. Britain is far ahead of most countries in openness in government and dramatically less corrupt than the great majority of them.

It was an unlikely scene: a Conservative foreign secretary in Hanoi advising a top communist on corruption, with a vast statue of Ho Chi Minh looming over us.

Transparency is the answer," I said earnestly to the general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party a few years ago, when he asked me to how to tackle corruption inside his country.

There are many reasons for this: a long history of independent institutions; relatively few appointments subject to the whim of politicians; and decision-making that involves large numbers of people and different government departments. Outside a few backwaters of local government, no one would get very far in Britain trying to make official policy for private profit, in sharp contrast to much of the rest of the world.

Of course, the latest furore and demand for greater transparency ignited by the so-called Panama papers is not so much about the risk of corruption, as the issue of fairness  are political leaders paying their share of the taxes they levy on others? It is a legitimate question, and the answer, as with combating corruption, will inevitably lie in ever-greater transparency, as is already shown with the publishing of the tax return of Prime Minister David Cameron and then other leading figures.

There is little point in anyone fighting such a trend: the 21st century has brought both the digital technology to enable the publication and analysis of huge amounts of data, and the lack of trust in leadership which requires more openness.

Yet if we are to expect to know more and more about the tax affairs and many other aspects of the lives of our leaders or potential leaders, we will have to receive that information in an open-minded way.

Societies can either idealise their leaders but keep some mystique and privacy around them, or they can know everything about them but not expect them to be perfect or "normal".
The Shortlist's top 5 gigs: April 15

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He usually has an answer for everything, but right now it seems there are a lot of questions Clive Palmer would rather not face  which is probably why he has pulled out of a scheduled appearance on the ABC's current affairs panel show Q&A next Monday.

The ABC tweeted on Wednesday afternoon that the controversial businessman and politician "has cancelled his scheduled appearance on next Monday's #QandA".

That prompted one wag to wonder "has anyone asked for his passport", and another to observe that "Clive Palmer's Titanic is really sinking".
It was an audacious nighttime escape.

After busting through an enclosure, the nimble contortionist quietly crossed the floor, slithered through a narrow drain hole about 15 centimetres in diameter and jumped into the sea. Then he disappeared without a trace.

This was no Houdini, but rather a common New Zealand octopus called Inky, about the size of a soccer ball.

The breakout at the National Aquarium of New Zealand in Napier, which has captured the imagination of New Zealanders and made headlines around the world, apparently began when Inky slipped through a small gap at the top of his tank.
There is an arms race between bed bugs and humans, and the bugs are winning.

The blood-feeding insects are evolving to survive the chemical warfare we have launched in an attempt to keep our nights bite free.

David Lilly at the University of Sydney has found that the outer shells, or cuticles, of these bugs are getting thicker. And bed bugs with thicker shells are highly resistant to the insecticides used to control them.

"Bed bugs are well ahead of the curve when it comes to an arms race between us and them," Mr Lilly told the Herald. "Bed bugs have become very well adapted to many of the control efforts we throw at them."
It can be seen on the back windows of utes, flying above the town hall in Ballarat and tattooed to the necks, backs and biceps of thousands of Australians. But who has the right to use the Eureka flag?

The question has become part of the upcoming election campaign, with the Australian Workers' Union urging electoral authorities to prevent the far-right Australia First Party from using the Eureka image as its logo on the Senate ballot paper.

The AWU claims the Eureka flag is central to "working class values" and the union movement and should not be allowed to be "hijacked" to push the nationalism and anti-multiculturalism of Australia First.

On Wednesday, Australia First, led by Jim Saleam, issued a statement saying: "Bring it on! We are keen that the culture war over the flag be waged."
Journalists would give lifetimes to write these words, so allow us to do it in capital letters.

BARNABY JOYCE IS RUNNING THE COUNTRY.

Here is proof that Malcolm Turnbull is a prophet.

It's the most exciting time in history to be alive, he's been insisting. And today, when he steps on a plane for China, indisputably, he's right.
Men having multiple sexual partners had been the norm in hunter-gathering communities, so there was a greater chance they would create offspring. However, just like today, with unprotected sex comes the increased risk of infections that can lead to infertility if not treated, such as chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea.

A study has found evidence prehistoric humans may have been encouraged into the social norm of monogamy - over polygamy - because of the spread of STIs.

But a study by the University of Waterloo in Canada, published in Nature Communications, has found evidence that prehistoric humans may have been encouraged into the social norm of monogamy - over polygamy - because of the spread of STIs.

When you think of sexually transmitted infections, marriage is not the first thing that usually (hopefully!) springs to mind.

The study found that in small societies where there was a maximum of 30 sexually mature individuals, STI outbreaks were "short-lived" and did not have a huge impact on recreating.

As agriculture grew so did society sizes and there was more opportunity for sex with an increased number of people. Without modern day treatments there were higher rates of STIs. This led to a change in mating behaviour in larger groups, with societies adapting to what was more beneficial to creating a wide pool of offspring, aka finding 'The One'.

The study also claims men who did not comply with monogamy were punished by other males, but it did not specify what those punishments were.

"This research shows how events in natural systems, such as the spread of contagious diseases, can strongly influence the development of social norms and in particular our group-oriented judgments," said Chris Bauch, a professor of applied mathematics and a university research chair at Waterloo. "Our research illustrates how mathematical models are not only used to predict the future, but also to understand the past."

"Our social norms did not develop in complete isolation from what was happening in our natural environment. On the contrary, we can't understand social norms without understanding their origins in our natural environment," Professor Bauch said. "Our social norms were shaped by our natural environment. In turn, the environment is shaped by our social norms, as we are increasingly recognising."
Self-managed superannuation fund trustees need to be extra sceptical of the super-slick salespeople at funds management businesses who promise out-sized returns.

A new ruling makes it plain that when a DIY super fund suffers fraud or theft, the members are on their own. While industry and retail super fund members are eligible for the government compensation scheme, the only recourse for SMSF trustees is civil action in the courts.

The government recently put the kibosh on attempts by DIY super fund trustees to piggyback on the government's compensation scheme for those who lost money in the Trio Capital collapse.

Trio Capital collapsed in late 2009 with total losses of about $180 million  the largest superannuation fraud in Australian history. It ran public-offer superannuation funds and was responsible for more than 20 managed investments.

The main fund was called the Astarra Strategic Fund.
The prevalence of domestic or family violence among homeless youth is "significantly higher" than previously thought, according to a report that highlights this as the main reason why young people end up on the streets.

The peak body for youth homelessness in NSW, Yfoundations, argues that young people's experiences with violence in the home is a neglected area in Australia, leaving those affected caught in a gap between child protection and domestic violence services.

A NSW youth homelessness survey found more than half of those seeking assistance had experienced domestic and family violence. Credit:Tanya Lake

In a survey undertaken of NSW youth homelessness services over two days earlier this month, the organisation found that a majority of the 38 respondents reported that more than half of the 1800 young people seeking their assistance had experienced domestic and family violence.

Additionally, almost half of the services reported 80 per cent or more of their clients had experienced violence in the home.
"With a slut like you watch now I now [sic] everything about you slut your only breathing cause of the kids," said another.

Giuseppe Mangolini has been charged over a car of explosives and guns found at Strathfield South. Credit:Facebook

"Happy new year it will be your last," said the first message sent at 10.19pm.

On New Year's Eve, Giuseppe Mangolini sent his ex-wife a series of text messages.

Two days later, on January 2, 2016, he called her.

"Get one thing straight, you're going to be shot," Mangolini, 41, said to the mother of his three young children. "You're going to die," he added before hanging up.

Two months later, on a Saturday morning in February, neighbours in a small suburban street in Strathfield South reported a suspicious-looking dark blue Honda Civic parked close to a high school.

Flemington police searched the car and found two guns and homemade explosives packed in the boot. The improvised bomb contained gun powder, shotgun pellets and an ignition wick, according to police.

On Tuesday, moments after appearing in court to plead guilty to stalking and intimidating his ex-wife, Mangolini was arrested again and charged with possessing the unauthorised .22 calibre bolt action rifle, unauthorised 7.65 calibre bolt action rifle and homemade explosive found in the car on February 27.
A Strathfield man has been charged after residents of a suburban street found a car packed with firearms and explosives.

Giuseppe Mangolini, 41, was arrested on Tuesday following the discovery of the vehicle on Saturday, February 27.

Giuseppe Mangolini, charged over a car of explosives and guns found at Strathfield South. Taken from Facebook.

Moments before he was charged he had appeared in Burwood Local Court on an unrelated charge of domestic stalking and intimidation offence in relation to his ex-wife.

His barrister, Peter Kondich, flagged an application to have Mr Mangolini dealt with under Mental Health legislation.
A Brisbane couple have been committed to stand trial over allegations they sent their daughters to Africa for genital mutilation.

The man, 53, and his 42-year-old wife will appear in the Beenleigh District Court at a date to be decided.

A Brisbane couple will stand trial over the genital mutilation of two girls. Credit:Louie Douvis

Lawyers for the African-born parents, who cannot be named, today requested the matter be committed to the higher court in the registry rather than in open court.

The couple are charged with removing their two daughters - aged 12 and nine at the time - from the state last year for female genital mutilation.
"We should have a uniform voting system of compulsory preferential every time Queenslanders vote. "I have read that state opposition leader Lawrence Springborg also supports compulsory preferential." But Cr Cumming did not receive the support of his Labor colleagues on George Street. For now, at least, a change to optional preferential voting was not on the cards, according to a spokesman for state Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath. "It's not something that's under active consideration at the moment," he said.

Former Labor premier Peter Beattie, who was a vocal proponent of optional preferential voting during his time in government, agreed there should be uniformity across the three levels of government, but said it should go the other way. Rather than reintroduce compulsory preferential voting in state and local government elections, Mr Beattie told Fairfax Media directing preferences at federal elections should also be made optional. "I've always been a strong supporter of choice, but I understand the concerns people have about different voting systems," he said. "I can understand Peter's concerns about it and I respect that, but I think people are pretty smart  Queenslanders are pretty clever  and they know the difference between voting for different levels of government." Mr Beattie said the reasoning behind his stance was clear.

"If I don't want to vote for someone, then why should I?" he said. "If you've got a government people what to vote for, then they'll be elected. The system won't change that." Optional preferential voting in Queensland was introduced by the Goss Labor government in time for the 1992 state election, following a recommendation from Electoral and Administrative Review Commission  a body set up following recommendations coming out of the Fitzgerald Inquiry. It was long seen as an electoral disaster for the conservative side of politics in three-cornered contests involving the National and Liberal parties. The National Party platform in the late 1990s called for the reintroduction of compulsory preferential voting.

The Liberal Party, meanwhile, blamed optional preferential voting for the then-Coalition's electoral defeat in 1998 and the coinciding rise of One Nation. But the Liberal National Party has changed its tune since the Queensland parties merged in 2008. Since then, LNP has become the main beneficiary of optional preferential voting. The rise of the Greens as a stronger political force in Queensland in the past decade has meant three-cornered contests generally consisted of the conservative LNP and, from the progressive side of politics, the Greens and Labor. So it was the progressive, rather than the conservative, vote that was now being split.

State opposition leader Lawrence Springborg said while he did not initially support optional preferential voting, his views had changed. "I fully support optional preferential voting because it respects voters' choice," the LNP leader said. "This has been the case for many years now." A Fairfax Media analysis of last year's state election suggested Labor could have ended up with an outright majority if compulsory preferential voting had been in place. Based on preference flows in Mount Ommaney and Whitsunday at the 2015 state election, assuming exhausted votes would have followed those flows under compulsory preferencing, Labor would have claimed those two electorates and won 46 seats with a majority in its own right.

However, the subsequent departures of north Queensland MPs Billy Gordon and Rob Pyne would have returned Labor to a minority government. And the preference flows in the Coorparoo, Doboy and Northgate wards at last month's Brisbane City Council election show that had the exhausted votes in those wards followed suit, Labor would almost certainly have had another three seats in the council chamber. Kim Flesser, the former Labor councillor for Northgate, has cited the lack of preference flows from the Greens as a major contributor for his party's loss in the ward. The only other Australian state to have optional preferential voting was New South Wales.
Police are working to raise the missing trawler that capsized off Fraser Island more than a week ago to determine whether the bodies of two missing men are inside.

Bundaberg men David Chivers, 36, and Matt Roberts, 60, were on a prawn trawler called the Cassandra when it capsized about 6.45am on April 4.

Trawlers, a helicopter, volunteer marine rescue units and a plane were dispatched and tirelessly the area for the two men.

Sonar crews from Brisbane were called into the area on Thursday to locate the wreckage after an extensive search failed to find the two men.
The estate of the billionaire shipping magnate Daniel Ludwig donated $US540 million ($703 million) to six cancer centres in 2014 and Nike co-founder Phil Knight pledged $US500 million ($650 million) to cancer researchers at Oregon Health & Science University in 2013. "Is it your tumour, is it something in your immune system or is it something about you?" Parker says the institute hopes to determine. Former president Carter, who had late stage melanoma that had metastasised to the brain, was on Keytruda, one of the immunotherapy drugs, when his cancer became undetectable in December. Parker, 36, hopes to make Carter's success using immune therapy drugs far more common in cancer treatment with his donation to six of the country's top cancer centres. The 2011 death of his close friend Laura Ziskin, a Hollywood filmmaker and cancer charity founder, inspired Parker. She got into a clinical trial for immunotherapy too late for it to prevent her death, he said.

"It turned me from intellectually curious to a militant activist," Parker said. "It's been pretty much full time since then." Parker is no low-profile billionaire. His 2011 Tolkien-themed wedding in a Big Sur redwood forest was covered by Vanity Fair and, Wednesday night, actor Tom Hanks will host a launch party for the institute with Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and John Legend slated to perform. Some might scoff at what they see as Parker's excesses. But Jedd Wolchok, the soft-spoken oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering whose research is benefiting from Parker's capital infusion, says the philanthropist's high profile should attract more well-heeled donors. That, in turn, will rapidly accelerate Wolchok's two-decade work researching cancer immunotherapy. The research hasn't helped Parker's personal ailments. He was hospitalised regularly in high school for his allergies and asthma and, at one point, returned 40 pounds heavier due to the steroids. If the early March interview was the week before, he might have cancelled. He woke up that week -- the same one he was to meet for the first time with Carter -- with one eye nearly swollen shut due to allergies. And once the green pollen covers cars in this area, Parker says he basically can't go outside. Asked if he's met with Obama, Parker shoots the first quizzical look in an hour-long interview to suggest it's a silly question. He had met with the president on several occasions and, when asked if he had a picture of himself with Biden, he noted he should "run over to the White House to get one." (He didn't take a selfie, as he has "social media guilt" from his role at Facebook. Justin Timberlake played him in the movie The Social Network.)

In this town, where such statements could be seen as bloviation, Parker is decidedly blase about his connections. He off-handedly noted he first discussed making a major investment into immunotherapy with Ziskin at "Sting and Trudie's house in Tuscany." He clearly gets more pleasure from knowing what immunotherapy can do for people like Memorial Sloan Kettering patient Mary Elizabeth Williams, who had stage 4 melanoma that had spread throughout her body. Within three months after starting an immunotherapy clinical trial five years ago, there was no evidence of cancer in Williams' body -- and still isn't. She acknowledges immunotherapy is never going to be a "one size fits all cure, but there's a possibility to make a real dent in this ancient disease." "My kids are going to come home tonight and their mum is going to make them dinner," Williams says. "It has been completely surreal." The new Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in San Francisco will fund "high risk best ideas that may not get funded by the government," says Jeffrey Bluestone, a prominent immunologist and former University of California, San Francisco official who now heads the institute. The institute hopes to improve upon what it calls slow progress in improving cancer survival rates. In the last 20 years, federal data show the the five-year survival rate for lung cancer is up from just over 13 per cent to about 17 per cent.

Currently, immune therapy is only approved "as a treatment of last resort," Parker complains, which he says means it's only used after patients' immune systems are destroyed by chemotherapy and radiation "I want to make it a front-line treatment," Parker said in an interview here last month. "It would change the whole cost of care downstream." Just as the White House's moonshot hopes to foster collaboration between typically competing hospitals, Parker's new institute will coordinate research across the six academic cancer centres and other researchers who may be added after additional money is raised. Each of the cancer centres in the consortium agrees it will send top scientists to join the Parker Institute and relinquish considerable control over their research. Cleveland oncologist Stan Gerson says immunotherapy can lead to "dramatic responses in lethal cancers," but he notes that just 30 to 40 per cent of patients benefit, most relapse in one to three years, and little is known about how and why some patients respond and others don't. "Is it a replacement for everything else we're doing?" Gerson says of immunotherapy. "Right now we can't say so ... but this is the time to make investments and pronouncements."
Beleaguered Geelong mayor Darryn Lyons has admitted behaving badly, yelling at staff during an office outburst and making legal threats against the council's chief executive if bullying allegations against him became public.

Cr Lyons  and the entire Geelong Council  is set to be stood down by the state government following a report that identified a deeply dysfunctional local authority with an unchecked culture of bullying. An administrator will run the city for the next four years, until an election in 2020.

On Tuesday, Lyons was unrepentant, dismissing any allegations of bullying, laying the blame for the council's demise squarely with the "organisation" and insisting he was the victim of "party politics".
Police evidence said that Casey consistently ranked among the highest areas for police calls for alcohol-related offences. "Over the seven year period from 2006 to 2013 Casey has had the highest number of recorded family violence incidences, and the highest number of reported family violence offences with the presence of alcohol," their submission said. "In a locality which experiences high levels of alcohol-related behaviour (including family violence), the Chief Commissioner submits that it can be inferred that the negative effect of additional availability of alcohol will be more significant, and will detrimentally affect the amenity of the relevant area." Sergeant Ian Lane, a local officer with 37 years experience, said alcohol was likely to be a factor in one in four family violence reports for June 2015. Mr Lane said that where alcohol was involved in a family violence incident there were "very few instances" where that alcohol was consumed outside the home.

"Rather people are typically drinking alcohol at home and then an incident of family violence occurs," he said. A social impact statement from consultants Beverley Kliger and Associates said the proposed site on Linsell Boulevard, Cranbourne East, was an "alcohol-related family violence hot spot". Nearby neighbourhoods had "high incidences of family violence and some are within the top one per cent of small areas with family violence for metropolitan Melbourne". The Casey council argued that "big box" liquor outlets such as Dan Murphy's would affect the "amenity" of the area and fuel alcohol harm and misuse. But current laws only allow typical planning complaints such as excessive noise to be considered. In its ruling the commission said it considered "matters of family violence to be of critical importance to the community," and "there may be some benefit" to changing the legal definition of amenity.

Casey has been working with six other councils, police and welfare groups in Melbourne's south-east to take on the big box booze retailers. The alliance has called on the Andrews government to change licensing laws so that the social impact of alcohol can be considered in planning applications. Casey Senior Planning Policy Officer Gavin Wilson said the decision was very disappointing given the amount of time and effort council put into the objection. "The bar has been set very high for councils to pursue action, even in areas where evidence suggests it would be detrimental," he said. Minister for Gaming and Liquor Regulation Jane Garrett said the Andrews government would look at how to implement the recommendation around liquor licensing.

Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has slammed the government, saying it was "absolute rubbish" for the Andrews government to claim it did not have powers to intervene. Ms Garrett said the government did not have the power to overturn a decision of the liquor commission. She said the planning permit was granted under the previous government. "There is not going to be a magic bullet for this, we have lawful sale of alcohol in our community. That is not going to change," Ms Garrett said. Matthew Guy, who was planning minister in the previous Coalition government, said any government had the power to put a limit on the number of venues in a locality. "I did this with alcohol venues in Chapel St, why the hell didn't this government do that when asked by the police, why didn't they do that in Casey?" Mr Guy said.
Another festival in the City of Vincent has bit the dust after the organisers behind the Angove Street Festival in North Perth said they were calling it a day after six years.

The organisers, North Perth Local, put out a release on Wednesday saying it was postponing the festival to concentrate on smaller events.

Members of North Perth Local with Vincent mayor John Carey.

Last month, the Beaufort Street Festival said it was shutting down because the one-day event was becoming too big and expensive to run.

North Perth Local chairperson Ida Smithwick said it was time to try something new.
"That doesn't mean a cookie-cutter approach suits everybody - people will still want rural residences, big blocks or apartments. "But the important part of the next couple of decades is to say how we provide for that in a way that maintains the things we value against the sheer cost of public transport infrastructure, the drying climate, the pressures outer suburbs face in providing green space and parkland, coupled with reductions in the availability of water." She said state and local government had to work together on the problem and the "angst" around DAPs and council autonomy was not helping. She said councils were well positioned to determine where things "fit best" and so had a critical role in the "fine balancing act" of retaining character and amenity while enabling development, so their town planning schemes would remain as ground rules, based on communities' 'understandably' strong views. The government would help councils redevelop these where necessary.

But an overarching system, designed to "cascade down" and have decisions made as close to the ground as possible, was needed. "Each of our centres, Fremantle, Subiaco, for example, has its own character and the last thing we want is a one-size-fits-all approach," she said. "But ... a sound local policy framework surrounded by a good system of DAPs who can bring transparency and objectivity is the best way." An artist's impression of a development planned for Subiaco, which the council has said is out of step with surrounds. Ms McGowan said DAPs and councils were bound by the same planning schemes.

She dismissed Vincent and Bayswater councils' assertions DAPs were erroneously applying discretions, though conceded exercising of discretions was an "interesting element". She said planning decisions had never been universally welcomed, and never would be. Councils had to consider ratepayers' views, but "emotive" arguments had to be subject to due process. In fact, she said many councils viewed DAPs as good circuit-breakers on divisive proposals. "I am battling to think of more than a dozen [DAP decisions] that have attracted any significant controversy," she said.

Edge Living was obliged to revise its proposal for Lumiere in South Perth after residents appealed the DAP approval at the Supreme Court. Credit:Emma Young She acknowledged the balance of power was unequal, but said there was still "good opportunity for local input". "I would like to think if I am a single member on a board I can still be influential member," she said. She said while Perth did have problems with new buildings not suiting their surroundings, this was not an outcome of the DAP process and the government was doing "broad work on the importance of built design and built environment". This included the department, Government Architect and representatives of community and local government working together on a "toolkit" of considerations for developers, which would go before the WA Planning Commission mid-year.

She understood recently appointed Planning Minister Donna Fragher was keen to see this work continue. "The look and feel and fit, liveability and workability of the building itself is important," she said. "I am always looking for opportunities to fine-tune and improve." She said work on streamlining DAP complaints and feedback processes, analytics and systems, was continuing but Perth had to appreciate what it had. Loading
Baabda jail has "hot water and TV", a guard said. Ms Faulkner with daughter Lahala. Credit:Facebook The children, Noah, 4, and Lahala, 6, were returned to their father soon after they were snatched by a child recovery team as they were walking with their paternal grandmother on a street in the southern Beirut suburb of Hadath. The 60 Minutes team were allegedly in Lebanon to report on the recovery of the children. Earlier on Wednesday, Ms Faulkner's lawyer, Ghassan Moghabghab, said if the Brisbane mother and the children's father, Lebanese-American Ali Elamine, could reach an agreement, it would "help all the accused people", including the Australian journalists.

In his comments, Judge Abdullah also suggested that could be so. "If any agreement will happen between them ... it will help the case ... for all of them." Mr Moghabghab said Mr Elamine was hesitant about coming to an agreement, and Ms Faulkner was not in a position to set conditions. "She is depressed," Mr Moghabghab said, adding that any progress between the parents would "certainly have a positive reflection on the case of the TV crew". "The husband has to drop the charges," he said. "The judge is pushing [for him] to do that."

In a further positive development, Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said he had given instructions to form a joint Lebanese-Australian committee to resolve the custody case of the children. "Australians should respect Lebanese laws and the Lebanese should respect Australian laws," Mr Bassil said after meeting with Ambassador Glenn Miles. He expressed hope that the incident "would not have an impact on Lebanese-Australian relations". Brown and Ms Faulkner entered Judge Abdullah's office handcuffed together. Wearing black, Brown was accompanied by her lawyer Kamal Abo Daher.

She was the first of the 60 Minutes crew to be interrogated by the judge. Rice, Williamson and Ballment were next to be brought before the judge, all cuffed together, ABC's Middle East correspondent Matt Brown said. Britons Adam Whittington and Craig Michael - members of the child recovery team hired to retrieve the children - were brought in for interrogation at 2.50pm, Beirut time. Mr Michael was shivering and told Fairfax Media he was "very sick". A guard who did not wish to be named revealed that Mr Michael had been in Al Hayat hospital on Tuesday night and was suffering from "depression".

The crew will rigorously fight the charges, Channel Nine management said. A spokeswoman for Channel Nine said the network was co-operating fully with the Lebanese authorities. Journalists were forced to delete all photos and videos on their devices before being led into the court room. The attempted child recovery operation in downtown Beirut has become a diplomatic incident and a public relations disaster for Channel Nine.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull addressed the charges on Wednesday. "We respect the Lebanese legal system and their right to investigate and take proceedings if they feel offences have been committed," he said. "But we support Australians who find themselves in these difficulties and these circumstances right around the world and of course we're doing that with respect to the 60 Minutes crew in Beirut at the moment," he said. Ms Faulkner, 29, a former air hostess, had travelled to Lebanon to try to recover her two children from Mr Elamine, a Beirut surf shop owner. Mr Elamine was alleged to have failed to return their children to Australia as promised after a holiday in Lebanon.

Mr Elamine told the media on Tuesday that the children were "in good health and that is what matters", and that it was rough for the children but he had calmed them down. He stressed that "children should not have been dragged into this situation". On Wednesday last week, local time, a car containing employees of British-based firm Child Abduction Recovery International (CARI) and Ms Faulkner had allegedly driven near a bus stop in South Beirut where Mr Elamine's mother and a nanny were walking the children. Two CARI agents allegedly got out of the car and grabbed the children from the arms of the women, while a third passenger appeared to be video recording the incident, according to grainy security camera video captured by a CCTV camera at a nearby shop. When one of the women appeared to fight back, she was pushed away from the vehicle, which then sped off.
Twelve people are thought to be dead after a plane crash in Papua New Guinea. Vasil Wifo, a former employee of the two-aircraft company Sunbird Aviation, confirmed a plane had gone down. One of the Sunbird Aviation aircraft. "Twelve bodies are now in the morgue in Kiunga Hospital," he told Stuff.co.nz. The pilot, who also died, was thought have been an Australian citizen.

He said the plane went down about 3pm Papua New Guinea time on Wednesday, about one kilometre short of the runway on its way from Oksapmin, in the PNG Highlands. "It's terrible news, everyone feels really low and really sad," Mr Wifo said. "It's something we don't expect to happen every day." He said the civil aviation authority would undertake an investigation to confirm the cause of the crash. A spokesperson for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said: "We are aware of reports that a Sunbird Aviation aircraft travelling from Oksapmin to Kiunga in Western Province, Papua New Guinea, has crashed on approach to the airport at Kiunga.
Washington: If some European fiscal watchdogs have their way, a purple banknote adorned with images of modern architecture could become an endangered species.

For months, the European Central Bank has been casting a critical eye over the 500 bill. It's not because the alpha bill of the euro family  currently worth about $750  is unloved. Just the opposite. Regulators fear it's too popular as a mainstay of the underground economy: a convenient vehicle for, say, untraceable cash transactions by terrorist cells or criminal gangs.

Too valuable, too light: The 500 bill is the bane of law enforcement. Credit:Luis Martinez/Commons

Things have only gotten worse for the bill's outlaw image. The disclosures in the Panama Papers  tax havens, real estate deals in cash, offshore shell companies  have pushed calls for financial transparency to the top of the agenda in the West.
"The underlying rights of religious freedom and free speech are certainly too great to abandon ... This lawsuit is true to the original dream of those seeking freedom in Utah," their lawyer, Jonathan Turley, said in a statement: Kody Brown, centre, poses with his wives, from left, Janelle, Christine, Meri, and Robyn in a promotional photo for TLC's reality TV show, Sister Wives. Credit:AP He would either ask the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to review the case again, or take it directly to the Supreme Court, he said. The escalating manoeuvres are the latest in a string of bouts between the Sister Wives"and the state of Utah since the show made their family arrangement public. Brady Williams who has five wives, testifies during a hearing, in Salt Lake City" "We are only guilty of trying to love a different way than the norm". Credit:AP/File

When the show first began airing in 2010, The Washington Post's TV critic called the show about the polygamous Browns of Lehi, Utah, a "public relations gift from above" for plural marriage advocates. The program - starring Kody Brown, his legal wife, Meri, and his three "spiritual" wives, Janelle, Christine and Robyn - was "refreshingly frank" and not as salacious as you'd expect, given the subject matter. Thomas Jeffs, son of Lyle Jeffs, right, and Roy Jeffs, son of jailed polygamous leader Warren Jeffs, in Salt Lake City in February. Credit:AP The Browns have 18 children. The show's sixth season culminated in November. It was a premise ripe for the TLC treatment, as the channel already hosted John and Kate Plus 8, 19 Kids and Counting and Little People, Big World. Unconventional families were ratings gold, so a polygamous one was just the next frontier.

To the surprise of many, the Browns fared well under the scrutiny. They had articulate responses ready for the expected questions. While they identified as Fundamentalist Mormons and their polygamy was motivated by religion at its core, they also espoused the joys of living with a large family, alongside supportive "sisters" upon which they could rely. Or, as Robyn put it in one episode: "There's a lot more blessings [than in monogamous relationships], and there's a lot more love." Their goal in appearing on the show was to increase public awareness and combat stereotypes surrounding polygamy. It was a mission for which they were willing to risk a lot - even prosecution. The police in Lehi didn't wait. The day after the Sister Wives series premiere, authorities announced that the family was being investigated for bigamy, a third-degree felony. While Kody was only legally married to Meri, there was a possibility that he still violated the state's ban on polygamy because his continuous cohabitation with the other women could be considered common-law marriages.

The Browns had a comeback at the ready. Represented by Turley, a constitutional scholar at George Washington University who has spoken against anti-polygamy laws, they filed suit against Utah's governor and attorney general, as well as the Utah County attorney, for allegedly violating their constitutional rights. The civil rights complaint accused Utah of denying them due process and equal protection, as well as freedom of speech and freedom of association. Turley asserted that the case was about privacy, not polygamy, as the investigation represented "a clear example of unacceptable government intrusion". Later, the state officials were dropped as defendants, while Utah County Attorney General Jeffrey Buhman remained. "The family has not been accused of child abuse or other crime, in almost a year of being under criminal investigation," Turley wrote in a 2011 New York Times column. He noted that the Browns were being judged based on the behaviour of other polygamous families that have been linked to misogyny and abuse. The attorney wrote: "There is no spectrum of private consensual relations - there is just a right of privacy that protects all people so long as they do not harm others. It is no more fair to prosecute the Browns because of abuse in other polygamous families than it would be to hold a conventional family liable for the hundreds of thousands of domestic violence cases each year in monogamous families." Turley likened the Browns' situation to those of LGBT people who were denied the right to partake in their partnerships simply because others disdained their lifestyle.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Sun in 2012, Kody said Warren Jeffs' Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints had created negative stereotypes about plural marriages. (Jeffs is currently serving a life sentence for child rape, and his sect on the Utah-Arizona border has more recently been accused of child labour and fraud, and deemed discriminatory.) "Warren Jeffs is not our poster child," Kody told the Las Vegas Sun. "When I talked with my children about doing the show, I said we have an opportunity to not only change our world, but to change the world for everyone else." It seemed like the tides were indeed turning for polygamous families in 2012, when the criminal investigation against the Browns was closed and the Utah County Attorney's Office adopted a policy that protected consenting polygamous partners from prosecution as long as they were not involved in abuse, violence or fraud. By then, the Browns had already relocated to Las Vegas to avoid the bigamy probe, but they were not ready to give up the lawsuit. In 2013 and 2014, US District Court Judge Clarke Waddoups ruled in the Browns' favour, and in turn struck down the Utah law banning polygamy in terms of cohabitation. Waddoups believed that the county attorney's adoption of the new polygamy policy was a "tactical" attempt to evade review from the lawsuit.
China has deployed fighter jets to Woody Island in the South China Sea, building up military hardware on an island in the disputed region, according to a US media source.

Satellite imagery from April 7, published by Fox News and verified by US defence officials on Tuesday, showed two Chinese Shenyang J-11 fighter jets on Woody Island.

The discovery of the jets and fire control system on Woody Island come as Australia participates in annual US-Philippines military exercises in the region.
Washington: The question is can Paul Ryan be believed? Possibly, but we're dealing with a perennial reluctant starter when high office beckons  and if Republican bomb-throwers have the nerve to stage a coup at the party convention in Cleveland in July, the infrastructure is in place to draft Ryan as the party's presidential nominee.

On Tuesday, the House Speaker told Americans: "Let me be clear  I do not want, nor will I accept the [presidential] nomination of our partyif no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, I believe [the convention] should only turn to a person who has participated in the primary. Count me out."

Yeah, yeah, yeah - maybe. In 2015, Ryan held out against demands that he become House speaker. Insisting he was not interested in the gig, the man who was the GOP vice-presidential nominee in 2012, made Republican heavies crawl on their bellies before accepting their pleas to take the speaker's office.
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PHILIPSBURG:--- On April 6th and 7th the Common Court of Justice dealt with several cases. Hereby a summary of some of these cases that may interest you.

The case against N.B. suspected of strangling a toddler who was entrusted to him on August 27, 2014, was a so called pro forma case. This means that the case wasnt ready to be handled, but was brought in front of the judges in light of the pre-trial detention period. N.B.s defense lawyer also requested to hear new witnesses. The Solicitor General pleaded against this request. The Common Court of Justice will decide on April 26 about the request by the defense attorney and will set a date for the handling of the case. N.B. was sentenced on June 17, 2015 by the Court of First Instance to 12 years in jail.

The common court of Justice handled the appeal case against suspect B.H. He was sentenced by the court of first instance in absentia to 27 months imprisonment for his role in the shooting and killing of L. Cuevas during a violent robbery on December 26, 2011. The main suspect in this case, R.W. was sentenced to 11 years and six months in jail, suspected to be the one who had fired the lethal shots. He appealed his verdict and the Common Court of Justice on November 25, 2015 acquitted R.W. of all charges against him, because of the lack of convincing evidence. In light of the acquittal of the main suspect the Solicitor General asked, in the appeal case against B.H. , for the suspect to also be acquitted of all charges against him. The Common Court of Justice will give its verdict on April 26.

The handling of the appeal case against P. de W. was postponed till August 24. His lawyer wanted to hear witnesses. This request was allowed. De W. is suspected of stealing blogger J.R.s tablet during an altercation on Front Street on January 11, 2014. He was sentenced by the Court of First Instance to a fine of 750 guilders.

The so called pre-trial review in the appeal case against former police officer R.Y. tuned out not be a pre-trial review at all. His attorney did not present any new requests for further investigation. The Joint Court of Justice will handle the case on August 24. R.Y. was sentenced by the Court of First Instance on November 19, 2015 to 8 years in jail for manslaughter and illegal firearm possession. He shot and killed Hakeem Kwame Isidora in Happy Estate, belvedere on March 4, 2015.

The Solicitor General asked, in the appeal case against A.D. for a jail sentence of 3 years of which 1 year suspended and the withdrawal of his drivers license for 5 years. A.D. is suspected of causing a traffic accident on Bishop Hill Road which took the life of a 46 year old pedestrian on February 28, 2015. David Charles was walking down the road from his house to take garbage to the bin when he was hit by a Nissan X-Trail SUV. A.D. had a blood alcohol content of 2.33, almost more than five times what is permitted by law. He was sentenced by the Court of First Instance to 18 months imprisonment of which 9 suspended and 3 years probation period. Also his drivers license was revoked for 3 years.

AG Press Release.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Police Force of Sint Maarten is without any doubt doing its utmost, to protect you, your family and your property, in combating crime and criminals. The Public Relation Office of the Sint Maarten Police Force is therefore offering the community, the following safety tips, to help them prepare against crime.

Remember the 3 As of Crime Prevention:

1. Be Aware of your surroundings at all times.

2. Be Alert to suspicious people and vehicles.

3. Avoid dangerous situations.

If you are leaving home and out for the evening:

- Turn on lights, radio or television so that it looks like some-one is at home.

- Lock all doors and windows well, even if you are just leaving for a few minutes.

- Dont display items where they can be seen from the outside.

- Park your car in a well-lit area and make sure all windows and doors are

locked.

- Avoid carrying a large amount of cash. Dont flash cash around and carry it in a safe place on you.

- If you have to use the ATM-machine, pay close attention to suspicious persons hanging around the machine. If thats the case pass up that machine and find another.

- Carry all wallets in the front pockets and carry purses close to your body.

- Keep your children close to you while attending any activities and dont let them get separated from you.

- Pay attention to persons walking in front and behind you. (Especially in crowded places favorable for pickpockets)

- When returning to your vehicle or your home, have your keys in your hands ready to open the door.

- Before entering your vehicle, check front and rear and seats for any one that may be hiding there. Lock doors immediately after entering.

- Ask your neighbor to keep a watchful eye out for you.

- Drinking and driving is a danger to everyone. Remember that the risks of

drinking and driving are not worth it. If you choose to drink, dont drive.

Make use of a designated driver or public transportation. (Taxi or bus)

Make sure that you know where your kids are at all times and that they

are safe.

Safety tips in the event of an armed robbery

The police force of Sint Maarten is doing its utmost to protect you from all type of criminal activity. Unfortunately armed robberies do occur in our community. They are criminal acts that have serious impact on the victims as well as the entire community. Because its better to be safe than sorry, here has some precautions listed for you. If are followed correctly they may help you prevent a robbery.

Precautions (Mainly for the business community

1. Always bear in mind to observe your environment. You, off course, know best

whats normal in your own surroundings, so if you see any suspicious persons or

vehicles, dont hesitate to call the police (911). Give them a good description of

the people or vehicle that seems suspicious to you. Good observation only can

take place when your business and surrounding areas are well lit, so repair broken

lights or install new ones.

2. Make sure you have as little money as possible in your store. Take your money to

safer places regularly, for instance a bank. In case your store does get robbed, the

robbers dont have a big gain.

3. Make sure your shop closes at the hour thats on your permit. Dont let your last

late coming customer be the one who takes all the money youve earned that

entire day.

4. If you have the opportunity; buy some cameras that record whoever comes into

your store. The images recorded on the cameras can really help the police in their

investigation.

When, in spite of all the taken precautions, a robbery still does take place, the Sint Maarten Police Force has got the following dos and donts for you:

When the robbery is taking place

Dos

1. Stay calm, because you are a better observer when you are calm.

2. Watch out for your own safety.

3. Let the robber(s) know you intend to cooperate, this will keep the robber calm

as well. You

certainly dont want him to panic.

4. Try to follow their orders precisely and calmly.

5. If you must move or reach for something, inform the robber first so theyll

know what to expect.

6. Hit the alarm when it is safe to do so.

7. If you can, call security even if you have activated the alarm. Think of a right

time to alarm possible bystanders too. They can help you by, for example,

calling the police or taking a good look at the suspect. Two pairs of eyes see

more than one.

8. Dont focus on the weapon, but try to observe the surrounding area. Observe

every detail about the robber and note the means and direction of the escape

(if you can). This

information is very important for forensics and further investigation.



Donts

1. Try not to resist

2. Never outwardly panic.

3. When you scream, gesture or do anything to call attention to the situation, first

think of the right time to do so.

5. Never assume that a gun is not real, not loaded, or that a young and innocent

looking robber will not shoot you.

6. Do not offer or volunteer more than is demanded.

7. Make no sudden movements that may anger the robber or cause them to panic.

After the robbery has occurred:

1. Call the police as soon as you can and secure the scene to preserve any

evidence. Lock the doors, keep people away from the areas that the robbers were

in and secure any and all evidence that may have been left behind by the

suspects. Also dont touch anything the robber has touched. These measures are

extremely important for the forensic investigation.

2. Immediately write down information about the incident and robbers specifically.

3. Write down exactly what you saw, and have anyone who had seen the event do

the same. Ask witnesses to stay with you until the police has arrived.

4. Only record factual information. Do not guess at anything you are unsure of and

do not compare your own information with witnesses. The more factual

information we have got, the better it is for our investigation.

5. Get as much information about the escape without going after them:

a. What means did they use?

b. What direction did they go?

c. Were there any accomplices

d. If they used a car, what are the make, model, and color or tag number?

6. If people, who saw what happened cannot stay, get their name, address and

telephone number for the police. They might be important witnesses who can help

us catch whoever committed the robbery.

What to tell 911?

1. We have been robbed.

2. Identify yourself; make very clear where you are.

3. Stay on the line and answer the questions the police employee asks you.

Tips to prevent street robberies

- Avoid dark areas, dark areas form a risk because most robbers tend to rob people in dark areas

- Dont go to the ATM during dark hours, plan ahead and get your cash during safer times

- Avoid carrying a lot of cash and other valuables

- Trust your instincts, if you sense trouble, get away as soon as possible

- Take a cab instead of walking home. If you have to walk, take some company

- Be very alert and observant

- Keep your money close to you, preferably not in a purse that hangs free from your hand

- Dont advertise; dont wear expensive or fancy looking jewelry

When, in spite of the abovementioned tips, a robbery does take place, here are some things you can do to make it easier for the police to catch the robber:

- Stay calm

- Dont be a hero, your life is worth more than your money

- Take a good look at the robber. Make mental notes about the robber. Give the dispatcher all the details you can remember about the robber(s) so the police patrols on the street can start an investigation immediately

- Note the direction of the robber when he leaves

- Try to get a description of the vehicle, if the robber uses one

- Call 911 as soon as possible

- If there are any witnesses, ask them to remain with you until the police arrive. If they cant, get their name, address and phone number

- Go to the nearest police station to file a report.

Conditional Dismissal laid down by Prosecutor's Office and KPSM.

GENERAL POLICE ORDINANCE Not following commands by a police officer (art. 3) NAFLS 150,-/$85,- Disturbing the parade (art. 4) NAFLS 150,-/$85,- Fighting in public (No ill-treatment art. 24 sub b) NAFLS 150,-/$85,- Removing, replacing or taking down of a police barricade (art. 24 sub c) NAFLS 150,-/$85,- Throwing of bottles (art. 25) NAFLS 375,-/$212,-

WEAPON ORDINANCE

Possession of a weapon (not a fire-arm) or an object to be used as such. (art. 1) NAFLS 625,-/345,-

PENAL CODE

Resisting arrest (art. 2:133) NAFLS. 625,-/$354,- Not adhering to an order given by a police officer (art.2:137) NAFLS. 375,-/$212,- Insulting a police-officer on duty (art. 2:223 jo art. 2:224) NAFLS. 375,-/$212,- Verbal threat (not group/gang related) (art. 2:255) NAFLS. 625,-/$354,- Ill-treatment (art.2:334) NAFLS.750,-/$424,- Destruction of property (art.2:334) NAFLS. 300,-/$170,- Public intoxication (art.3:4) NAFL. 150,-/$85,- Distribution of alcohol to persons under the age of 18 (3:53) NAFL. 625,-/$354,-

DRUGS ORDINANCE
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Finance Richard Sr announced at the Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday that he met with the interim director of the Princess Juliana International Airport to discuss the concession fees the airport intend to impose on inbound cargo. The Minister of Finance said that he asked the interim director to refrain taking that course and to find another format. Minister Gibson said he made it clear to the interim director of PJIAE that the only person and Ministry that can impose taxes is his Ministry and him as Minister of Finance.

Gibson said what PJIAE is doing clashes with what the Ministry of Finance is trying to do since there is a leak in the system regarding what government should be collecting as taxes. The Minister said right now there is a substantial reduction in sales on St. Maarten since many people are now importing the goods they want from overseas. He said because of this the 6% TOT is not paid on the items imported to St. Maarten by residents. He said this is affecting the local businesses since sales is declining drastically. Minister said some businesses reported that their sales declined as much as 30% which he described as alarming.

The Minister said one of the things government has to do is try to impose the 6% TOT on goods that are brought in by private citizens since the law is there on the books for the TOT.

Minister seeking to obtain St. Maarten assets  NAF 58M

The Minister said he travelled to Curacao and met with the Minister of Finance of Curacao to further discuss the assets that is due to St. Maarten. Minister Gibson said that NAF.58M owed to St. Maarten. He confirmed that the monies when collected will go to APS based on the agreement government have with APS. Minister Gibson said that they also have to make contact with the Netherlands since the BES islands also have shares. The Minister said that Curacao expressed their desires to buy out the shares St. Maarten has in Cpost. He said St. Maarten has 7.8% in shares. He said St. Maarten have another Naf.4M in another company that is inactive. Minister Gibson anticipated the process will take about two months before it is completed.
Twilio Extends Communications Platform to Messaging Apps, Integrates With Facebook Messenger

SAN FRANCISCO, CA  (Marketwired)  04/12/16  Twilio, the cloud communications platform for developers, today announced API support for connecting into messaging applications, as a featured partner of Facebook Messenger. With todays launch, businesses using Twilio can easily reach customers over Facebook Messenger in addition to SMS and web or mobile chat. The integration with Messenger significantly reduces the development effort needed to build and maintain communications apps and experiences that can reach customers across multiple messaging channels. To learn more about Twilios support for Messenger, visit

Nearly every person on the planet already uses some form of messaging. Over the last five years, more and more companies have adopted messaging to accommodate the increasing customer preference for conversations that are as natural as those they have with their friends and family.

Facebook today announced bots on Messenger as part of its new Facebook Messenger Platform. Developers and businesses running on Twilio communications platform can now leverage bots to add Messenger as another way to communicate with customers in a personalized, natural, and conversational way. With todays announcement, more than 900,000 developers registered on Twilio can easily build apps to engage with the 900 million active users on Facebook Messenger.

Businesses today dont get to choose where their customers are. Businesses need to be wherever their customers want them, said Jeff Lawson, CEO and Founder of Twilio. Whether its Voice, SMS, Video, in-app chat, or messaging apps, were building a platform that enables businesses to communicate like humans.

Businesses like Uber, Nordstrom, and CocaCola Enterprises who have already built successful messaging experiences on Twilio-powered SMS can now utilize Messenger as a new customer channel. Through Twilio, Postmates and GoButler will be some of the first companies to use the new Messenger Platform to manage delivery requests, confirmations, and customer-to-courier communication.

Facebook Messenger is the first messaging application Twilio has chosen to add to its platform, and will expand to include others in the future.

Twilios mission is to fuel the future of communications. Developers and businesses use Twilio to make communications relevant and contextual by embedding messaging, voice, and video capabilities directly into their software applications. Founded in 2008, Twilio is privately held and has over 500 employees, with headquarters in San Francisco and other offices in Bogota, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Mountain View, Munich, New York City, Singapore, and Tallinn.

Media Inquiries:

Twilio
Transcontinental Inc. Announces the Renewal of its Normal Course Issuer Bid

MONTREAL, QUEBEC  (Marketwired)  04/12/16  Transcontinental Inc. (TSX: TCL.A)(TSX: TCL.B) has been authorized to purchase for cancellation on the open market, between April 15, 2016 and April 14, 2017, up to 1,000,000 of its Class A Subordinate Voting Shares and up to 226,344 of its Class B Shares, representing approximately 1.6% of the 63,513,472 issued and outstanding Class A Subordinate Voting Shares and of the 14,146,526 issued and outstanding Class B Shares as of April 4, 2016. The average daily trading volume on the Toronto Stock Exchange of Class A Subordinate Voting Shares for the past six months was 215,452 and the average daily trading volume on the Toronto Stock Exchange of Class B Shares for the past six months was 786. In accordance with the Toronto Stock Exchange requirements, a maximum daily purchase of the greater of 25% of these averages or 1,000 shares may be made, which represent a total of 53,863 Class A subordinate Voting Shares and a total of 1,000 Class B Shares. The purchases will be made in the normal course of business at market prices through the facilities of the Toronto Stock Exchange and/or alternative Canadian trading platforms in accordance with the requirements of the exchange and/or, subject to the approval of any securities authority by private agreements. If necessary, purchases through private agreements will be executed at a price that is less than the prevailing market price on the Toronto Stock Exchange at the time of the purchase.

The Corporation believes that the purchase of the Class A subordinate Voting Shares and Class B Shares would constitute an economically worthwhile use by the Corporation of its funds and is in the best interest of the Corporation and its shareholders. During the period from April 15, 2015 to April 14, 2016, Transcontinental Inc. purchased 585,800 Class A Subordinate Voting Shares at a weighted average price of $17.11 and did not purchase Class B Shares.

In connection with the program, the Corporation established an automatic securities purchase plan to provide standard instructions regarding how the Corporations shares are to be repurchased under the program. Accordingly, the Corporation may repurchase its shares under the automatic plan on any trading day during the program including during self-imposed trading blackout periods. The automatic plan will commence and should terminate together with the program. It constitutes an automatic plan for purposes of applicable Canadian securities legislation and has been reviewed by the Toronto Stock Exchange.

About TC Transcontinental

Canadas largest printer, with operations in print, flexible packaging, publishing and digital media, TC Transcontinentals mission is to create products and services that allow businesses to attract, reach and retain their target customers.

Respect, teamwork, performance and innovation are strong values held by the Corporation and its employees. The Corporations commitment to all stakeholders is to pursue its business and philanthropic activities in a responsible manner.

Transcontinental Inc. (TSX: TCL.A)(TSX: TCL.B), known as TC Transcontinental, has over 8,000 employees in Canada and the United States, and revenues of C$2.0 billion in 2015. Website

Contacts:

Media: Nathalie St-Jean

Senior Advisor, Communications

TC Transcontinental

514-954-3581

Financial Community: Jennifer F. McCaughey

Vice President, Communications

TC Transcontinental

514-954-2821
MassTLC and NEVCAs TechGen Join Forces Around NewCo Tech Festival to Celebrate, Connect Students With Bostons Innovation Community

BOSTON, MA  (Marketwired)  04/13/16  The (MassTLC) today announced it will partner with to better engage students in the upcoming . TechGen, an initiative of the (NEVCA) in partnership with (MTC), connects thousands of undergraduate and graduate students to local tech companies through internships, workshops and events.

Beginning their formal partnership around NewCo Boston makes sense. The festival, which bills itself as flipping the business conference model on its head, provides in-depth, behind-the-scenes access to Greater Bostons innovative tech companies, and is unique in the breadth and flexibility of that access. Students, in particular, can benefit from the opportunity to explore company operations and cultures, meet founders and leaders, and hear from current employees  all on a schedule that fits with their classes.

For MassTLC and TechGen, the synergy is evident. NewCo Boston showcases potential future employers for TechGens student community  and those students are key to the success of MassTLCs 2020 Challenge to create and fill 100K net new tech jobs this decade.

As part of the partnership, TechGen will leverage its rapidly expanding student network  already more than 2000 just 4 weeks after launching  to boost crucial student engagement in the NewCo festival, facilitating deeper and broader connections between the regions students and recent graduates and participating MassTLC member companies.

More than any other state, Massachusetts educates the worlds youth, said MassTLC CEO Tom Hopcroft. Some stay to start and work at innovative local companies, but too many leave the region to begin their careers. We believe that, by working with TechGen, we can do a better job exposing students to the amazing things happening just off campus and hook more of them on building their careers at companies right here in Massachusetts.

Tech companies of all sizes are seeking student interns, but often dont have the capacity to be on every single campus. On the flip side, students want to work at innovative tech companies, but dont know where to begin their searches, said TechGen Founder Sarah Sherburne. Were figuring out how we can expose these students to the tech community in Massachusetts and help them develop the skills and networks they need to be successful. We have an incredible ecosystem here and our partnership with MassTLC will help expand the network of tech companies successfully engaging with the states top talent.

We each play a role in supporting our local tech ecosystem, said Jody Rose, CEO of the New England Venture Capital Association. MassTLCs commitment to education dovetails well with our focus on college and graduate students and the Greater Boston tech community. By working together, we create synergies that will result in more talent in our local ecosystem helping power the regions tech boom.

According to MassTLCs 2015 State of the Tech Economy report, lack of talent is the number one constraint to the states economic growth. MassTLCs Education Foundation is working to develop a robust K-12 talent pipeline, while its Talent Cluster supports company hiring and employee engagement best practices. The TechGen partnership fosters deeper engagement with the states college students and recent graduates.

For TechGen and MassTLC, joining forces around NewCo is just the beginning of a fruitful partnership between two strong organizations committed to Massachusetts tech community. In addition to NewCo Boston, upcoming student engagement opportunities include:

Boston TechJam, June 16th  close to 6,000 people from the tech community will gather for our annual business festival with over 100 exhibiting companies, food trucks, and area bands. In 2016, we have received approval to change this 21+ event to 18+, enabling area students and recent graduates to join us in the celebration.

Career Fairs  MassTLC regularly hosts career fairs for tech employers to meet candidates at all levels, and for candidates to learn more about opportunities at the regions most innovative companies. Career fairs are scheduled for May 17, August 31, and October 6.

With 500+ member companies, the Mass Technology Leadership Council (MassTLC) is the regions leading technology association and the premier network for tech executives, entrepreneurs, investors and policy leaders. MassTLCs purpose is to accelerate innovation by connecting people from across the technology landscape, providing access to industry-leading content and ideas and offering a platform for visibility for member companies and their interests. More at .

The NEVCA works to make Massachusetts the best place in the world to start and grow companies. An important component of that mission is strengthening access to talent. In partnership with MassTech Collaborative, a public economic development agency, NEVCA launched TechGen in 2015. Combining community building programs and internships, TechGen works to retain talent and engage students with the states innovative tech companies. In 2016, TechGen launched a state-of-the-art matching platform that makes finding interns and internships simple and seamless, and continues programming to help students build the skills and networks to launch successful careers in Massachusetts. Find out more at .

April 27, 2016, 8:30am  8:30pm

The Greater Boston Area

Follow hashtag #NewCoBOS

The NewCo Boston Festival of Innovation is made possible by the generous participation of Platinum Sponsors: Comcast Business, Oxfam America, PTC and Twitter; Gold Sponsors: Amazon Robotics, Black Duck, Consulate General of Canada, Mondo Strategies, PerkinsCoie; Silver Sponsor: Kryuus; After Party Sponsor: CoreSite; Food sponsor: ezCater; Transportation Sponsor: Uber; and Media Sponsors: WGBH and METRO.

Contact:

Mike Spinney

781 672 3112
Food/drink/travel website Thrillist has published another one of its "best/worst things in all 50 states list," this time identifying the most underrated place in each state. The city of Covington gets the honor for Kentucky: "This one-time downtrodden river town has become a hipster enclave," Thrillist declares.The list's introduction says Thrillist asked the experts to help compile its list, "from our knowledgeable local writers and editors, to the state tourism boards and visitors bureaus, to our high school friends who never moved away."Covington is noted for its "stunning views of Americas 10th-best skyline (Cincinnati!);" for "two of Americas best bourbon bars," Wiseguy and the Old Kentucky Bourbon Bar; for numerous historic districts; for the Cathedral Basilica, "a one-third replica of the cathedral at Notre Dame;" and for the Roebling Suspension Bridge, "the inspiration for that, you know, lesser-known bridge in Brooklyn."Ohio's most underrated place is Cedar Point, and Indiana's is the Indianapolis Zoo.Read the full Thrillist list here
My last vent.... Prejudice

I just went to my local store here. It is owned by Indians (from India). They have always treated me the best. They even gave me a T shirt for x mas.



I remember the town that I moved from in Sussex co NJ. I used to always go to this gas station. The guy there was terrific. Another from India. I remember that he got beat up sometime in the early 90's, just because of what he looked like.



I remember we had a black female security guard where I worked, that was not allowed to get gas at most gas stations that she tried to go to. This was in the mid 90's.



I remember in HS, I had black friends, and I wasn't allowed to leave my house anymore.



I can see this all coming back right now, to this day.



I know this may come off as political, and that's OK, I didn't expect for it to not be removed.



I can not and will not ever judge another person, by anything, other then themselves. Even then, I am not a person to judge another.



I think the news recently is just getting me really sick. Need to stop watching that.



Just ((((((((hugs)))))))) and I am tired of this world the way it is

amy
Haribansa Thami gestures towards the ruined house where he used to live with his family on a mountainside in Nepal's Dolakha District.

Im angry, he said. The people are angry. We voted for them, and we expected them to do something for us. But it is like the Nepal government is still running from the earthquake."

Thami and his neighbours are not the only people who are angry. On 25 April, it will be one year since the first of two major earthquakes hit the country, killing nearly 9,000 people, damaging or destroying almost one million homes and disrupting 5.2 million lives.

Emergency relief eventually reached most people thanks to local and international NGOs and the government. But the next stage  rebuilding  has barely begun, despite $4.1 billion pledged at an international donor conference last June for that very purpose.

Now there are fears that the full amount of money may never materialise due to delays caused by the government, which instead focused on pushing through a new and controversial constitution in the months after the disaster. The constitution then sparked a 135-day unofficial blockade at the India border and an ensuing fuel crisis, slowing reconstruction further.

Because of the crisis, the country couldnt move from recovery to reconstruction, said Plan Internationals Nepal country director, Mattias Bryneson. The slower it is, the less money they will get. If there is no project where the $4 billion can be put in, the donors will not stay.

The Government of Canada has provided over $25 million in immediate humanitarian assistance funding in response to the crisis, which has been directed to experienced humanitarian partners, including UN humanitarian agencies, Canadian NGOs and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). There are a number of other organizations who accepted donations for Nepal including UNICEF Canada, Medecins Sans Frontieres  or Doctors Without Borders, World Vision, Save the Children, OXFAM, The World Food Programme, The Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, CARE Canada, Plan Canada, SOS Children's Villages and Samaritan's Purse.

Hundreds of thousands of people are now bracing themselves for their second monsoon season in temporary shelters. The government recently admitted it wont be able to finish  or even begin  the construction of permanent housing in many districts before the rains hit.

Renu Sharma, who runs the Womens Foundation Nepal, was blunt: This was a natural disaster, but the humanitarian disaster is far worse.

The National Reconstruction Authority finally emerged from months of political squabbling as a functional body in December. It began work on 16 January, although it has only about a quarter of the staff it needs and is itself housed in a temporary building.

The NRA has finally dipped into the $4.1 billion pool of pledges. Of that, only around $1 billion is committed. The rest of the money is, at least theoretically, sitting in the bank accounts of the donors that have not yet signed agreements to get it to Nepal. Of the committed funds, only around $615 million is actually available in Nepal, from donors like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, according to NRA Joint Secretary Ram Thapaliya.

Half will go directly to people via compensation housing grants, and half to government ministries for rebuilding. In March, the first tranche reached a handful of victims: 50 people in Dolakha got 50,000 of an eventual 200,000 rupees (roughly $470 of $1890).

Though the people are very needy, though they might not be satisfied with the

delays, we have had very difficult circumstances, explained Thapaliya, before running through an extensive list of guidelines that he said needed to be written before rebuilding could begin.

The NRAs laudable aim is to build back better, and it now has 17 earthquake-resistant home designs. But some of its guidelines have backfired, prompting the Nepali Times newspaper to dub it the Deconstruction Authority.

For example, people who took the initiative to rebuild quickly were shocked to find out they may not be eligible for compensation, because their houses do not fit the NRAs designs (which only emerged in December). In Ramecchap District, the International Federation of the Red Cross was prevented from building homes for 100 families until NRA frameworks were finalised.

Its frustrating, admitted Michael Higginson, IFRC Nepal programme coordinator. Like any humanitarian organisation, we want to get on But the reality is, these (rules and regulations) are needed.

Many donors say progress is too slow. The ADB is responsible for $200 million of the $615 million available to the NRA, and country director Kenichi Yokoyama told IRIN he wants action.

We need to see actual reconstruction start to happen, and fast, he said. Too much time has been spent on preparatory works. I think many donor agencies are getting very frustrated with the pace of progress.

Frustrated with waiting for the NRA to be formed and start work, some donors have gone ahead with reconstruction on their own. The UKs Department for International Development is already spending its $100 million on reconstruction projects, including roads.

Donors are sceptical about the feasibility of implementing their money, warned one high-level donor agency official who was not authorised to speak to media. He pointed out that India and China have pledged $2 billion between them, which has not yet been accessed.

Thapaliya said he hopes the money will remain available, but time is moving on. He promised housing reconstruction will take three years; local officials told IRIN they fear it could be more like 20.

For Thami, it is too long to wait. As has been the case since the earthquake, he will have to depend on help from NGOs, and ultimately trust the only person he can rely on: himself.

This is a temporary shelter for one to two years. We made it because we expected the money, but (the government) are late in everything, he said. But I am hopeful I can rebuild my life. Im young, I can do things for my future.
By Christophe Jaffrelot

Special to The Post

Bhagat Singh was in the headlines on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of his death on March 23. But does the publicity he was getting do justice to the man he was? After all, he believed neither in religion nor in violence.

His rejection of religion as it was practised by his fellow countrymen has been systematically articulated in the name of humanistic values. He once said: A branch of peepal tree is cut and religious feelings of the Hindus are injured. A corner of a paper idol, tazia, of the idol-breaker Mohammedans is broken, and Allah gets enraged, who cannot be satisfied with anything less than the blood of the infidel Hindus. Man ought to be attached more importance than the animals and, yet, here in India, they break each others heads in the name of sacred animals.

This humanism was key to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association that Bhagat Singh initiated in 1928. He drew most of his ideas from readings. The list of books in his library, however, shows works of various Western authors: One finds Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Leon Trotsky, Alfred Barton, Thomas Paine, Upton Sinclair, Morris Hillquit, Jack London, Theodor Hertzka, Patrick McGill, Scott Nearing, Victor Hugo, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Baruch Spinoza, Henry van Dyke, Bertrand Russell, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Jefferson, Karl Kautsky, Nikolai Bukharin, Edmund Burke, Vladimir Lenin, Thomas dAquin, John Locke, Austin, Georges Danton, Charles Edwards Russell, James Russell Lowell, William Wordsworth, Lord Tennyson, V.N. Figner, N.A. Morozov, Horace Greeley, Wendell Phillips, Frederic Harrison, J. Campbell, George D. Herron, Herbert Spencer, Henry Maine and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Bhagat Singh presented his view of religion in Why I am an Atheist, written in prison  just when he was condemned to death. He said he stopped believing in god after he studied Bakunin, the anarchist leader, something of Marx, the father of communism, and much of Lenin, Trotsky and others, the men who had successfully carried out a revolution in their country By the end of 1926, I had been convinced as to the baselessness of the theory of existence of an almighty supreme being who created, guided and controlled the universe.

His rejection of religion as the opium of the people went together with his socialist criticism of society. He wanted to get rid of two forms of oppression, not only capitalism but also the caste system. In Why I am an Atheist, he objected to the punishment of those people who were deliberately kept ignorant by the haughty and egotist Brahmans and who had to pay the penalty by bearing the stream of being led in their ears for having heard a few sentences of your sacred books of learning, the Vedas.

Bhagat Singh targeted individual imperialists. But how could some attacks against a few British people prepare the ground for revolution? For Bhagat Singh, striking the British this way was to show them that Indians did not lay down their arms and that their submission was forced. He wanted to face death to give courage to others. This stands out clearly from the letter in which Bhagat Singh, from his distant, condemned cell, strongly reproached his father who had been trying for his clemency. He refused mercy, refused life  till the very end. He wished that his trial remain in the annals of history as a moment when the British clearly appeared contemptuous of the law and he wished nothing else than to die like a martyr, a model to be emulated.

Bhagat Singh was clearly not an advocate of violence for the sake of violence, an anti-Gandhi, as some people would like to depict him today. Violence not only had to give Indians an opportunity to show their courage  and to give courage to those who could, now, imitate him  but it also had to aim at some social goal. On April 8, 1929, he threw two bombs, along with B.K. Dutt, in the Central Legislative Assembly, not to kill (they made sure not to hurt anybody) but to make the deaf hear, according to the tracts they distributed at the time.

They wanted to dissuade the assembly from voting for a law, namely, the Public Safety and Trade Disputes Bill, whose implementation would have penalised Indian workers. This motivation reflected not an anarchist but a socialist mindset.

The rejection of violence as a legitimate method was even clearer from the declaration of Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt before their judges. In it, they emphasised that the two bombs had been thrown at the unoccupied rows and that their composition  the details of which they provided, like great chemists  made them inoffensive. Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt even defended themselves against their recourse to violence  they merely spoke of force: Force, when aggressively applied is violence and is, therefore, morally unjustifiable, but when it is used in the furtherance of a legitimate cause, it has its moral justification.

The denial of violence comes up constantly in the discourse of Bhagat Singh. From his prison where he had only a month left before his execution, Bhagat Singh, in prophetic terms, redefined the revolutionary technique to be followed: We require  to use the term so dear to Lenin  the professional revolutionaries. The whole-time workers who have no other ambitions or life-work except the revolution. The greater the number of such workers organised into a party, the greater the chances of your success. To proceed systematically, what you need the most is a party with workers of the type discussed above with clear-cut ideas and keen perception and ability of initiative and quick decisions. The party shall have iron discipline and it need not necessarily be an underground party, rather the contrary. To build a party fighting electoral battles for a socialist agenda was to be the strategy of the CPI after 1951.

Christophe Jaffrelot is senior research fellow at CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS, Paris, professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at King's India Institute, London, and non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He offers valuable insights on South Asian politics, particularly the methods and motivations of the Hindu right in India.

This piece was originally appeared in The Indian Express (indianexpress.com). See http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/bhagat-singh-misremembering-an-icon/
Noie: End result all that matters for this one, for this Irish team

Notre Dame needed this one, even against a program like UNLV, to keep moving forward toward exactly who knows what
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The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Wide Angle Camera (WAC) collects stereo observations by imaging the same area from different angles during many orbits. The apparent difference in positions of features when viewed along different lines of sight is measured and converted into elevation data. This particular topographic map is centered on Orientale, the youngest of the large lunar impact basins. Warmer colors represent higher elevations while cooler colors show lower elevations.

Mark Robinson is a professor in ASUs School of Earth and Space Exploration, LROC principal investigator, and a science team member on a number of missions including NEAR, CONTOUR, MESSENGER and Mars 2020. Robinson contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was conceived and designed a decade ago to support a human return to the moon. That lofty goal required that the spacecraft produce a diverse set of measurements to provide high-resolution maps of potential landing sites, an assessment of potentially valuable lunar resources like water, and a deeper understanding of radiation hazards future astronauts will face.

At that time, NASA requested proposals for instruments that could fill in existing knowledge gaps. In late 2004 after a competitive process, NASA selected seven science instruments for the LRO, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, commonly known as LROC (pronounced EL-rock). (See a gallery of the images at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's LROC exhibition in Washington, D.C.)

The Taurus Littrow valley seen obliquely from west-to-east by the LROC NAC. The Apollo 17 crew briefly explored portions of this valley more than 40 years ago. When will we return? (Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

LROC is actually composed of three cameras: two identical Narrow Angle Cameras (NAC), and one Wide Angle Camera (WAC). The three cameras are controlled with a small electronics assembly known as the Sequence and Compressor System (SCS). The LROC hardware was all designed and built by Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS), located in San Diego.

The original goals of the WAC were to map lighting conditions at the poles over a year and provide an accurate, global, lunar cartographic baseline. It also was to map out color differences due to compositional variation across the lunar globe, at moderate resolution.

The original goals of the NAC were to investigate potential landing sites  both in terms of science return and engineering constraints  and to identify new impacts with before/after imaging (temporal imaging). Unraveling lunar science and resource questions and understanding where it is safe to land demand very high resolution  we chose 50 centimeter pixel scales. [Mapping the Moon ]

After lava flooded and filled the lunar mare basins, internal forces squeezed the volcanic basalt rock together and it broke and buckled into a complex pattern of wrinkle ridges that zigzag through the dark mare. The smaller ridges that appear to be growing from under the larger one have almost no superposed craters, indicating a very young age. Perhaps this fault system is still active today? (Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

A new lunar map  every month

The WAC acquires images in two ultraviolet colors (321 and 360 nanometers) and five visible colors (415 nm corresponding to violet-blue, 566 nm to green-yellow, 604 nm to orange, and 643 nm and 689 nm at the red end of the spectrum). The resolution is moderate, at 1,312 feet (400 meter) per pixel scale in the ultraviolet and 100 meter per pixel scale in the visible, from an altitude of 31 miles (50 kilometer). This softball-size camera maps the whole moon every month, in stereo.



These observations are the foundation for extremely accurate new global maps , a necessary tool for future explorers. These maps include monochrome versions at high sun and low sun, and 7-color renderings.

Each global map requires mosaicking together more than 10,000 individual WAC images, a complex task undertaken by the LROC team at the ASU Science Operations Center. Since the WAC field-of-view is 90 degrees, there is quite a bit of distortion, especially at the edges of the images  a meticulous inflight characterization of the camera distortion from thousands of images near the poles (looking at areas of overlap) allowed for a geometric correction precise to one-tenth of a pixel (or better). The geometric correction and very accurate spacecraft tracking results in maps that are accurate to better than a half pixel (164 feet, or 50 meters).

Just when you think you've seen everything, LROC reveals a natural bridge on the moon! Who would have thought? Natural bridges on the Earth are typically the result of wind and water erosion  not a likely scenario on the moon. So how did this natural bridge form? The most likely answer is dual collapse into an underground void. (Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

A global WAC mosaic every month may seem repetitive or excessive. However, the data are not redundant  each month the lighting is different, so the WAC is building up the most comprehensive record of how varying light affects surface brightness ever acquired for any body in the solar system (outside of the Earth). We all have experienced how light varying over the course of a day drastically changes the look and feel of any scene. Many artists have taken advantage of this effect: think of Monet's Rouen Cathedral and water lilies series of paintings. In the case of the WAC, the lighting series has a more practical application: scientists can understand aspects of surface roughness and composition by documenting how the reflectance changes from sunrise to sunset. This translates not only to a better understanding of the lunar surface, but also to airless rocky bodies anywhere.

Collapse pits provide valuable views of the shallow subsurface structure of the lavas that filled the lunar mare basins. The farside Mare Ingenii pit reveals layer upon layer of lava flows that flooded the Ingenii basin. The pit floor is inviting, what lies in the shadow  and beyond? (Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

Both lighting extremes are potentially valuable to future explorers. Permanent shadows are extremely cold (less than 40 kelvins; minus 388 degrees Fahrenheit) and likely harbor deposits of ice, which can provide water for future settlements. Areas in near-permanent illumination have stable temperatures and ready access to solar power.

The repeat observations are more frequent near the poles, since LRO is in a low polar orbit it passes over each pole every 2 hours. From those passes, the LROC team created a time-lapse sequence showing regions that are in permanent shadow and other regions that are illuminated for extreme periods of time (such as mountain peaks near the poles).

Finally, this small camera enabled a near global topographic map of the moon  with the exception of shadowed areas very near the poles  at a scale of 100 meters. The fine pixel scale is possible because the topography is measured many times at each pixel. Since the uncertainties in the measurements are mostly random we can take the average of many estimates (on average more than 80) at that one pixel and derive a precise estimate of the elevation.

Despite its diminutive size, the WAC can certainly be considered the little camera that could!

Oblique view of Tycho crater's central peak. A very popular target with amateur astronomers, Tycho is located at 43.37 degrees S, 348.68 degrees E, and is roughly 82 km (51 miles) in diameter. The summit of the central peak is 2 km (6562 ft) above the crater floor, and the crater floor is about 4700 m (15,420 ft) below the rim. (Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

Getting the big picture

This nearside view of the moon was created with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Wide Angle Camera (WAC) images acquired during a two week period in December 2010. During that time, the orbit track of LRO progressed across the surface from east to west (right to left) allowing for complete coverage. Each of the images was later map-projected onto a digital terrain model of the moon and digitally mosaicked together into this seamless map. (Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

The heart of each NAC is a single row, or line array, of 4,996 imaging pixels. That's it, just one row of pixels. The NACs build up a complete 2D image by taking advantage of the 1,600 meter-per-second (50 cm per 0.34 millisecond) orbital velocity of the spacecraft. That single row of pixels is read out every 0.34 milliseconds 52,224 times (taking a total of about 18 seconds) to form a 4,996 by 52,224 pixel image. Each "readout" results in one line of the image. That works out to an impressive 249-megapixel image. This type of imaging scheme is sometimes called "push-broom." Since the NACs almost always image simultaneously and their fields-of-view overlap about 100 pixels, we actually obtain a 9,900 by 52,224 pixel image mosaic (498-megapixel image). Having two cameras also provides redundancy; if one failed we could still meet our requirements.

The NAC images reveal startling detail; hardware and astronaut tracks are discernible at all six Apollo landing sites. Due to variations in spacecraft altitude (25 km to 220 km), the nadir- observing (looking straight down) NAC images have pixel scales ranging from 0.25 meters to 2.20 meters.

In addition to the small pixel footprint, the NACs have an extended gray-scale dynamic range. Most digital cameras typically record only 256 shades of gray. The NAC records more than 3,200 shades of gray for each pixel, so it can fully capture subtle changes in bright and dark areas within the same image; a critical consideration because the lunar surface has very high contrast in many areas.

The combination of small pixel scale and extended dynamic range of the NACs results in the beautiful images on display at the National Air and Space Museum and the LROC website (and more than a million other NAC images currently in the LROC archive).

The Apollo 12 landing site in Oceanus Procellarum, now known as Statio Cognitum. Here, you can see the remnants of not one, but two missions to the Moon. Astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean demonstrated that a precision lunar landing with the Apollo system was possible, enabling all of the targeted landings that followed. Bean and Conrad collected rock samples and made field observations, which resulted in key discoveries about lunar geology. They also collected and returned components from the nearby Surveyor 3 spacecraft, which landed at this site almost two and half years before Apollo 12. (Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

The view from above

The LROC experiment is an overwhelming success. Its three cameras accomplished much more than the original objectives, and are still enabling groundbreaking science as it continues mapping the moon.

A short list of technical accomplishments includes: global maps at varying illumination,

a map of permanently shadowed regions, global topography, the first detailed ultraviolet map of the moon, and high-resolution maps and topography with startling ground coordinate accuracy.

If you're a topical expert  researcher, business leader, author or innovator  and would like to contribute an op-ed piece, email us here (Image credit: SPACE.com)

Scientific discoveries from the LROC images include new insights into the physics of impact- crater formation, discovery of very young volcanic features, confirmation that the moon is shrinking, discovery of silicic volcanoes, a new understanding of how light interacts with the surface and much more.

However, the technical and scientific discoveries of LROC are not the subject of the National Air and Space Museum show. Rather, it is the revelation of the moon as a beautiful and engaging world in its own right that is the theme of this small collection of images. The lunar landscape can be dramatic, engaging, mysterious, wondrous, and at times, confusing. The whole character of a single landscape can appear foreboding, friendly or inspiring as the light changes through a lunar day. But in every case, the moon is seen as an alluring destination, somewhere I want to go and explore.

It is my hope that the LROC images will reveal a moon that you never knew existed. There is no doubt in my mind that humans will someday return to the moon, and then move outward to Mars and beyond. The big questions are  by whom and when?

Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates  and become part of the discussion  on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Space.com.
This wide-field view of the sky around the bright star Alpha Centauri was created from photographic images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The star appears so big just because of the scattering of light by the telescope's optics as well as in the photographic emulsion. Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to the Solar System. Image released Oct. 17, 2012.

Stephen Hawking, Yuri Milner and Mark Zuckerberg helm the board for a new initiative, Breakthrough Starshot, whose technology could be used to someday reach Earth's neighboring star Alpha Centauri after just a 20-year journey. Besides being an easy target  it's among the closest stars to the sun  astronomers have been eying our stellar neighbors for potential Earth-like planets.

"This is Alpha Centauri, our neighboring star," Milner said in a news conference yesterday (April 12). "But in space, neighboring does not mean very near. Alpha Centauri is over 4 light-years away [] that's 25 trillion miles. And the problem is, space travel as we know it is slow. If [humanity's fastest-moving spacecraft] Voyager had left our planet when humans first left Africa, travelling at 11 miles a second, it would be arriving at Alpha Centauri just about now." [Alpha Centauri: Earth's Neighboring Star System (Infographic)]

Milner said that his proposed Starshot technology could get a tiny spacecraft to the system, traveling at 20 percent the speed of light, in around 20 years. But barring that, it would be a long trip indeed.

The stars of Alpha Centauri lie 4.3 light-years from us, which is around 270,000 times the distance from the Earth to the sun. To travel that distance within a generation, Milner said, a chemical rocket like the ones we use today would need fuel equivalent to the weight of all the stars in the Milky Way. A fusion rocket could reach the system in 50 years, but the technology is still far from viable. His proposed Starshot technology would make it there in just over 20.

This chart shows most of the stars visible with the unaided eye on a clear night. The star Alpha Centauri is one of the brightest stars in the southern sky (marked with a red circle). It lies just 4.3 light-years from the Earth and one component in a triple star system. Image released Oct. 17. 2012. (Image credit: ESO, IAU and Sky & Telescope)

Astronomers have discovered an Earth-size planet orbiting one of the nearest stars in our galaxy. Learn more about Alpha Centauri in our full infographic. (Image credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com)

From Earth, Alpha Centauri appears as a single point of light: It's one of the brightest stars in the southern sky. Through a telescope, one can make out the system's two stars Alpha Centauri A and its smaller, dimmer companion Alpha Centauri B. Each has a mass that is about the same as the Earth's sun, and they orbit one another at about the same distance that Uranus orbits the sun.

A third star, Proxima Centauri, is slightly closer to Earth  it's actually the nearest star outside the Earth's solar system. That star is much smaller and dimmer: it's just 0.12 times the mass of the sun, or 1.5 times the size of Jupiter, and it shines faintly at a cautious distance from the other two. In fact, some astronomers question whether it's part of the system at all, or just passing through.

Astronomers first realized the bright star Alpha Centauri was a tightly orbiting pair in 1689, and Proxima Centauri was first spotted in 1915.

In 2012, researchers used an instrument called the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher to detect a planet around Alpha Centauri B. The instrument, which is part of the European Space Agency's La Silla Observatory in Chile, measured tiny wobbles in the star that suggested that a planet was orbiting it  likely just a bit bigger than Earth, orbiting its star every 3.24 days.

Since then, researchers have tried to verify the planet's existence using transits  a slight dimming in the star as the planet passes by  but haven't found additional, conclusive evidence. And a re-examination of the original study suggested that the planet might be an artifact of the data processing, according to a report by the deep-space exploration site Centauri Dreams.

Regardless, because of their nearness, the Alpha Centauri twins and Proxima Centauri offer a promising location to look for planets at a distance  especially using direct imaging  if researchers can filter out the complexities of the double star. And they also seem to be a good place to visit. The distance may be vast, but it could be relatively easy for Starshot's nanocraft or other interstellar travelers to blast through and beam back information to Earth about the system with a bit more than a four-year delay. While planets orbiting those stars would see a starscape that is quite different from Earth's, the stars' similarity to the sun would make their habitable zones an intriguing place to look for Earth analogues.

"Astronomers estimate that there is a reasonable chance of an Earth-like planet existing in the 'habitable zones' of Alpha Centauri's three-star system," Breakthrough Starshot representatives said in a statement. "A number of scientific instruments, ground-based and space-based, are being developed and enhanced, which will soon identify and characterize planets around nearby stars."

And then it could be time to go take a look.

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Our knowledge of exoplanet science has just advanced by many decades. Long before the first confirmed planetary finds in the 1990s, an observer in 1917 caught evidence of planetary debris around a new star, new research reveals.

Top 10 Astronomical Discoveries Of All Time

The evidence came from an astronomical glass plate from the Carnegie Observatories' Collection that observed a white dwarf, the core of a star like our sun that has since died and shed its gassy layers.

"The unexpected realization that this 1917 plate from our archive contains the earliest recorded evidence of a polluted white dwarf system is just incredible," said Carnegie Observatories' director John Mulchaey, who assisted the review's author with the research, in a statement. "And the fact that it was made by such a prominent astronomer in our history as Walter Adams enhances the excitement."

ANALYSIS: Caught in the Act: White Dwarf is Killing a Planet

The spectrum Adams recorded of the chemical fingerprint of the star, known as van Maanen's star, showed heavier elements that should not have been there. The presence of calcium, magnesium and iron should have vanished into the star due to their weight.

The 1917 photographic plate spectrum of van Maanen's star from the Carnegie Observatories archive. The pull-out box shows the strong lines of the element calcium, which are surprisingly easy to see in the century old spectrum. The spectrum is the thin, (mostly) dark line in the center of the image. The broad dark lanes above and below are from lamps used to calibrate wavelength, and are contrast-enhanced in the box to highlight the two missing absorption bands in the star. Available here as a standalone image. (Image credit: Carnegie Institution for Science)

ANALYSIS: White Dwarfs Are Eating 'Earth-like' Planets for Dinner

These elements are evidence that there is a lot of debris in this planetary system that is continuously falling into the star, creating what is known as a "polluted white dwarf." They have only been known for about the last 12 years. It was an initial surprise to astronomers because white dwarfs, being so old, were not expected to have any leftover planetary material (which is common in young star systems.)

Here's where the mystery deepens: Planets have not actually been found around van Maanen's star (or stars like it), but lead author Jay Farihi of University College London said in a statement that it will likely happen before long.

ANALYSIS: Do Comets Rain Down on White Dwarf Stars?

"The mechanism that creates the rings of planetary debris, and the deposition onto the stellar atmosphere, requires the gravitational influence of full-fledged planets," he said. "The process couldn't occur unless there were planets there."

"Carnegie has one of the world's largest collections of astronomical plates with an archive that includes about 250,000 plates from three different observatories  Mount Wilson, Palomar, and Las Campanas," added Mulchaey. "We have a ton of history sitting in our basement and who knows what other finds we might unearth in the future?"

The paper was recently published in New Astronomy Reviews.

Source: Carnegie Science

Originally published on Discovery News.
We all love Buzz Aldrin for his commitment to do anything to promote space exploration. The second man on the moon did the "moonwalk" for Dancing With the Stars back in 2010. He's authored multiple books, with the spry 86-year-old focusing on Mars in two recent missives (Mission to Mars and Welcome to Mars).

And now he's walked on Mars. Virtually, of course.

ANALYSIS: The First Humans on Mars will be Virtual Explorers

Aldrin is a part of a new exhibit at NASA's Kennedy Space Center called, appropriately enough, "Destination: Mars." As a holograph, NASA felt he would help bring the barren landscape alive as he described his red-tinged surroundings. And it's finally a chance for the public to get a glimpse of the new virtual reality software the agency is using to explore the Red Planet.

"Buzz Aldrin has made it a focus of his life in recent years to promote exploration in general and specifically to Mars," said Jeff Norris, mission operations innovation lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, in an interview with Discovery News.

"We, on the other hand, were addressing a challenge (with the exhibit), which is Mars is awfully empty and we wanted there to be a guide to this experience," he added. "People felt they should have a person who could explain to them and capture some of the facts of the environment, the emotions of this experience of exploring Mars."

Immerse Yourself: 10 Amazing Virtual Reality Games

Curiosity driver Erisa Hines stands next to the rover as a holograph in the "Destination: Mars" exhibit. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Microsoft)

The exhibit is a demonstration of OnSight, a platform NASA is starting to use to direct the Curiosity rover. A small group of test engineers wearing Microsoft HoloLens headsets have periodic "meetings" on Mars, standing in the same location where Curiosity is. The early feedback is that it is easier to see where Curiosity should go next, Norris said.

ANALYSIS: How Virtual Reality is Hitting the 'Space Workplace'

"We are learning what we need to learn so we can scale the number of scientists who are using OnSight and support the rover in the months ahead, and for the next mission, the Mars 2020 mission," Norris said. There is another, older rover on Mars called Opportunity, but there are no plans yet to include it in the program although it could technically be done, he added.

Virtual reality is also invading other areas of space. Astronauts on the International Space Station recently did a checkout of Operation Sidekick, which allows controllers on the ground to guide astronauts through certain procedures (by watching over their shoulders, or by providing holographic diagrams.)

The early tests included confirming the device can communicate with the ground (including Skype calls), tracking its position inside the space station, and drawing holographic annotations. There is no firm date yet for moving it to operational status, but the HoloLens are on station for when the time comes.

ANALYSIS: Virtual Reality Nature Walks for Astronauts?

HoloLens was also tested in the Aquarius underwater laboratory last year as a part of project NEEMO, where astronauts spend a couple of weeks underwater perfecting techniques for different kinds of space exploration (such as the ISS or even going on an asteroid.) It served as a great first test for the HoloLens because there are technicians in the habitat who are experts in operating Aquarius, Norris said. So the astronauts could be given procedures in maintaining the habitat, with the added "safety net" of an expert right there should the procedures not help the problem.

A less-publicized use of the HoloLens is for an application called ProtoSpace, which is used for visualization of spacecraft designs. Some of the missions it is being used for include the Mars 2020 rover mission and the future Europa orbiter that is expected to head out to Jupiter's moon in a couple of decades.

Originally published on Discovery News.
BOULDER, Colo.  A spacecraft that will test the unique attributes of a high-performance, nontoxic, "green" fuel on orbit is being prepped for launch in 2017.

NASA's Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) is set to blast off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station next year aboard SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. The launch is part of the Air Force's Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) mission.

GPIM is the nation's first mission to exhibit, in a relevant space environment, an alternative to the highly toxic and corrosive hydrazine fuel commonly used by spacecraft today. [NASA's Quest for Green Rocket Fuel (Video)]

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Edwards Air Force Base in California developed the new propellant, which is a hydroxyl ammonium nitrate fuel/oxidizer mix called AF-M315E. This fuel is 45 percent denser than hydrazine, meaning more of it can be stored in containers of the same volume. The propellant also offers nearly 50 percent higher performance for a given propellant tank volume compared to a conventional hydrazine system, the researchers said.

GPIM is a technology demonstration mission made possible by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, and it draws upon a government-industry team of specialists.

On-orbit maneuvers

"The spacecraft is finished and in storage," said Chris McLean, principal investigator for GPIM at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colorado, which is the prime contractor for GPIM and is leading the demonstration of the alternative fuel for future space vehicles.

"We're now writing the flight manuals and flight procedures  all the detailed documentation that is required to fly the spacecraft," he added.

McLean said that, as of right now, GPIM is headed for a March 2017 liftoff.

"During the 13-month test period in orbit, we'll be running basically four series of experiments with the propulsion," he told Space.com.

GPIM's on-orbit test of the "green" fuel  whose actual hue is closer to peach  will make use of a set of thrusters that fire in different scenarios to test engine performance and reliability. Planned on-orbit maneuvers also include attitude control demonstrations, spacecraft pointing and hold, inclination change and orbit lowering.

Ideally, the new technology will enable longer spacecraft mission durations, added maneuverability and more payload space, and will cut the time needed for the launch processing of future spacecraft, NASA officials have said. [Satellite Quiz: How Well Do You Know What's Orbiting Earth?]

A technician works on NASA's Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) at Ball Aerospace, the prime contractor for the spacecraft. (Image credit: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.)

Hotter than hydrazine

The green propellant propulsion subsystem was built by Aerojet Rocketdyne in Redmond, Washington. GPIM's propulsion hardware uses a catalyst technology pioneered by Aerojet Rocketdyne that breaks down the green fuel, generating gaseous products that come out the engine nozzle to provide thrust.

"That breakthrough in catalyst technology enabled these thrusters to be developed," McLean said.

The American-made green propellant burns hotter than hydrazine, so different metals than those traditionally used were incorporated into GPIM's thrusters to withstand the high temperatures.

McLean said the green propulsion system will fly aboard the tried-and-true Ball Configurable Platform 100 spacecraft bus  a cost-saving approach.

Dry runs

Before GPIM takes to space next year, a number of milestones are on the calendar.

McLean said work is underway to prepare for GPIM's arrival at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, which is next door to Cape Canaveral, and over to SpaceX's launch facilities. Dry runs of green-propellant loading are in order, he said.

"This is the first new fuel there since the 1970s," McLean said. So there are efforts underway to get everyone involved more familiar with the fuel, handling requirements and other procedures, he added.

In addition, McLean said that propellant-loading tests are on tap in about a month at the AFRL in California. "We're going to run a mock loading of the fuel with an actual propellant tank," to make sure no issues crop up in fueling GPIM in Florida, he said,

The processes that are developed with GPIM in Florida will work at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Wallops Island in Virginia and other launch sites, McLean added.

NASA's Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) will demonstrate an alternative to traditional hydrazine fuel, which is highly toxic and corrosive. (Image credit: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.)

Cross-country team

Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, said that developing and using green propellant technology not only increases protection for launch personnel and the environment but also offers the potential to reduce space mission price tags. If GPIM achieves its goals, the mission can spearhead widespread use of the fuel on future NASA and commercial missions, he said.

GPIM team co-investigators are based at multiple NASA research centers and the AFRL, with additional mission support from the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. The GPIM effort is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

McLean said that NASA, the Air Force and industry participants formed an impressive and very successfully integrated team. The GPIM mission, he added, will showcase the benefits of green propellant and help to improve spacecraft missions in Earth orbit and beyond.

Leonard David is author of "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet," to be published by National Geographic this October. The book is a companion to the National Geographic Channel six-part series coming in November. A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
This artist's concept shows the alien planet Alpha Centauri Bb, found in a three-star system just 4.3 light-years from Earth.

Earthlings may have left boot prints on the moon, but even nearby stars, such as the bright Alpha Centauri system, have long been out of reach.

That may not be the case for long.

Famed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, billionaire investor Yuri Milner and a panel of scientists announced today (April 12) that they plan to send hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny spaceships into space, toward Alpha Centauri. [Science Fact or Fantasy? 20 Imaginary Worlds]

The journey to the nearby star, located more than 4.3 light-years away, is expected to take just 20 years, the panelists said. These little spaceships would be wafer-size, and have lightweight sails that lasers on Earth would propel forward, Milner told reporters today.

It may be a generation before the project, called Breakthrough Starshot, takes off, but in the meantime, here are five weird facts about Alpha Centauri.

1. Alpha Centauri isn't a star

Alpha Centauri isn't a star, but a star system, according to NASA.

The system has three stars. Proxima Centauri is the dimmest star and the closest to Earth. Alpha Centauri A and B, the other two stars, are brighter and form a binary system. But they aren't exactly close together.

The Earth is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) away from the sun. Alpha Centauri A and B are about 23 times that distance apart from one another, NASA said. That is a bit more than the distance between the sun and Uranus.

2. It's far away

Proxima Centauri is about 24,800,000,000,000 miles (39,900,000,000,000 km) away from Earth. This works out to about 4.22 light-years, meaning it would take 4.22 years to reach if we could somehow travel at the speed of light.

Alpha Centauri A and B are slightly farther away from Earth  about 4.35 light-years.

Breakthrough Starshot scientists are proposing spacecraft that would travel at 20 percent the speed of light. At that rate, it would take the tiny spaceships about 20 years, or a generation, to reach Alpha Centauri.

3. Alpha Centauri has a planet

In 2012, researchers announced that Alpha Centauri has an Earth-size planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B.

The planet appears to be scorched and rocky, but has about the same mass as the Earth. It circles Alpha Centauri B from a distance of about 3.6 million miles (6 million km), which suggests that it has a surface covered in molten lava, Live Science previously reported.

The planet, named Alpha Centauri Bb, could be evidence that another planet may be lurking in the star system, perhaps one that is farther away from the stars and could support liquid water on its surface, Live Science reported.

4. It's bright and old

Alpha Centauri A is the fourth brightest star in the night sky, Space.com reported. It's also a yellow star like the sun, though it's about 25 percent larger.

Alpha Centauri B is an orange star that's a bit smaller than the sun. Meanwhile, Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf that's about seven times smaller than the sun, according to Space.com. [8 Shocking Things We Learned From Stephen Hawking's Book]

At 4.85 billion years old, the three stars are slightly older than the sun, which is about 4.6 billion years old.

5. The Southern Hemisphere offers a better view

Alpha Centauri isn't visible from most of the Northern Hemisphere.

In fact, it's not visible to people above the latitude of 29 degrees north, which is about the same latitude as the cities of Houston and Orlando, Florida, according to Space.com.

Viewers in the Southern Hemisphere can easily spot Alpha Centauri by looking for the Southern Cross constellation, and then following the horizontal part of the cross to the left, until they see the glowing star pattern.

Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
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Having survived some (really) wild adventures at Warehouse 13, Joanne Kelly will next brave (very) wild animals on CBS Zoo.TVLine has learned exclusively that the actress has landed the recurring Season 2 role of Allison, the Deputy Secretary of Defense who is actively seeking a solution to the animal crisis and who shares a surprising history with Mitch (played by Billy Burke).An adaptation of the James Patterson novel, Zoo was renewed back in October after emerging as last summers most watched scripted series (averaging 6.4 million weekly viewers). Season 2 will bow Tuesday, June 28 at 9 pm, with a two-hour premiere in which the danger escalates as the animal mutation moves to Phase 2, and they begin attacking infrastructure and creating deadly environmental phenomena in a bid to make the planet uninhabitable.
SAC Consulting England has managed this by forging a new working relationship with a leading veterinary practice in Hexham.

We identified the potential to use office space at Scott Mitchell Associates over 12 months ago, explained Neil Carter, SAC Consulting Englands Regional Manager. Their office at the thriving Tyne Green Mart in Hexham is ideally placed for us to meet clients. The potential it offers for a closer working relationship between them and our SAC Vet Services colleagues is quite exciting.

Scott Mitchell Associates is a large, successful veterinary practice providing care to domestic pets as well as farm animals and equine. Established in 2001, the practice has grown and now boasts a purpose built facility on the site with 11 vets plus 25 support staff, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

This latest development is in line with a programme broadening the geographic coverage of SAC Consulting and opening services to an area extending from their St Boswells office in the Scottish Borders, through now to Hexham and down to Kendal.

Neil Carter adds;

We see the Hexham mart site as a support hub for the local farming community, where farmers can get any and all support needed, and SAC Consulting working alongside Scott Mitchell Associates can supply a large proportion of that support.
Rebecca had just broken up with her college boyfriend. He didnt have a history of physical or emotional abuse against Rebecca. But the day she ended the relationship she was scared enough to phone the police after her ex called to say he was driving to see her one last time. Police interviewed him and concluded he was not dangerous. After seeing Rebecca he went to his car to retrieve his legally licensed .357 Magnum. He went back to her dorm room, shot her twice in the face then took his own life.

Women are five times more likely to be killed when her abuser has access to a gun.

Ebonys estranged boyfriend came to the bingo parlor where she was hanging out. He said, If I cant have her, you cant have her either then shot Ebony to death. Ebonys ex had a history of domestic violence. Ten days earlier he was arrested for severely beating Ebony. He had a prior conviction for misdemeanor domestic violence. But under South Carolina law he was legally allowed to own firearms.

Connecticut has its own illogical gun law that lets an abuser subject to a temporary restraining order (TRO) possess guns even though the standard for a TRO is the likelihood of immediate and present physical harm. During 2015 there were more than 40,000 reported incidents of domestic violence in Connecticut.

In 2014 the TRO gun safety loophole arguably cost Lori Jackson of Oxford her life. The day before the hearing to consider making the TRO permanent Loris estranged husband shot and killed her.

People opposing restrictions on gun ownership claim abusers will find other ways to kill their partners. Perhaps. But the outcome is much less likely to be lethal. Domestic assaults with firearms are 12 times more likely to result in death than when other weapons are used.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy understands the dangers of firearms in situations of domestic violence. Last year he made good on his campaign promise to introduce legislation to prohibit subjects of TROs from possessing guns. The bill was passed in the Senate with not a single vote to spare. But the bill never went to the House for a vote. It got caught in down-to-the-wire budget negotiations.

This year Gov. Malloys TRO bill, HB5054, was moved favorably out of the Judiciary Committee on an almost party-line vote.

Recently Gabby Giffords Americans for Responsible Solutions commissioned a survey of Connecticut voters. It found that 86 percent believe abusers under any restraining order should not have guns. But as the previous votes demonstrate, passage of HB5054 is not assured. Most Republicans and some Democratic lawmakers are not in synch with the electorate.

If youre one of the 86 percent who believe that abusers who put their partners in immediate and present physical danger should not be armed please contact your state Senator and Representative to urge them to vote to yes on HB5054. Go to openstates.org to find your legislators contact information.

How could any lawmaker be against this gun safety measure? Sadly, there are many critics of HB5054. Their argument is the bill violates due process because the abusers firearms have to be relinquished prior to having a hearing before a judge (which occurs within 14 days of the TRO being served).

State Rep. Doug Dubitsky (R-47th District) who is vehemently against the bill insists that such a measure would be an extreme violation of someones due process rights.

Dubitsky and his like-minded colleagues are choosing to disregard unambiguous case law. The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a respected authority on gun laws, completed a brief on ex parte orders. It found that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, in Blazel v. Bradley, provides the most complete constitutional analysis of whether or when an ex parte domestic violence restraining order violates due process.

The court found that due process requires either a pre-deprivation hearing or a minimum of four safeguards: 1) participation by a judicial officer, 2) a prompt post-deprivation hearing, 3) verified affidavits containing detailed allegations based on personal knowledge and 4) risk of immediate and irreparable harm. HB5054 includes all four procedural safeguards.

The Law Center found no case in which a court has ruled that an ex parte domestic violence order violates due process. The CT Coalition Against Domestic Violence documented 20 states with provisions for restricting gun ownership in connection with ex parte orders. Not a single one has been overturned.

Gun rights activists and their protectors in the legislature refuse to acknowledge that Supreme Court Justice Scalia wrote, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. With due respect to the Second Amendment, victims of domestic abuse have the right not to be shot by dangerous abusers.

Three days after Courtney accepted her boyfriends marriage proposal they went to a movie. The boyfriends behavior was excessively possessive that evening. So much so that when they were back at her house Courtney concluded she had to leave, immediately. But he blocked her exit, armed with a pistol.

Courtney told him she couldnt be with someone like him. Sensing his loss of control, a trigger for domestic assaults, he responded, Youre all I have.

He fired the first two bullets, tearing through her arm and leaving her jaw filled with pieces of bone, teeth and bullet fragments. Courtney managed to escape. But not from horrific injuries that left her in the hospital for most of her twenties. A musician, Courtney can no longer play the piano and has chronic pain. Like so many victims of gun violence, Courtney uses her courage and compassion to help others. Now I sing for myself and for the hundreds of thousands of domestic violence victims throughout the world.

Domestic abuse is often a manifestation of the need to exert control over an intimate partner. Thats why the time just after a victim breaks away from her abuser is the most dangerous.

Serving an abuser with a temporary restraining order is like throwing fuel on a fire. Thats why we need HB5054 to disarm abusers, consistent with the Blazel safeguards. Tell your legislators youre one of the #CT86percent who believe domestic abusers should not have firearms.

Greenwich resident Jonathan Perloe is director of Communications of CT Against Gun Violence and president of the Brady Campaigns Southwestern Connecticut chapter.
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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.
STAMFORD  A Virginia felon found in a drug-induced stupor while ordering a pie at an East Side pizzeria was charged last weekend with possession of a handgun, police said.

Capt. Richard Conklin said Timothy Brown, 40, was acting so odd when he arrived early Saturday morning at Speedy Pizza that employees called police.

When officers arrived, Brown was leaving the pizzeria with a pie and a bottle of beer. Brown remained out of it when officers talked to him and he emanated a heavy odor of PCP, a potent hallucinogenic, Conklin said.

When officers patted Brown down, they found a fully loaded 9mm clip from a semiautomatic pistol in one of his pockets, Conklin said.

A pizzeria employee gave officers a car key fob Brown had left on the counter. Officers found Browns Volkswagen that contained a 9 mm handgun, which was seen in plain view in one of the door pockets of the car, Conklin said.

When officers ran Browns name through the National Crime Information Center, they discovered he had an extensive criminal history of weapons-related felony convictions, Conklin said.

Brown was treated at Stamford Hospital and charged with criminal possession of a pistol, illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, carrying a pistol without a permit, carrying a firearm while under the influence and illegal possession of an assault weapon.

Brown was held in lieu of $250,000 court appearance bond.

jnickerson@scni.com;
C all me a Eurosceptic but who wouldnt be sceptical about the EU? This is an organisation which is regularly rapped by its auditors for a persistently high level of payment errors.

For the last three years, these have been put at 4.4% of its budget and, if you are spending 115 billion, as the EU plans to this year, that amounts to an expensive set of mistakes.

What sane individual wouldnt have qualms about a bureaucracy which seems set on intervening in all manner of things where it is not required? A quick glance at the EU Commissions website is guaranteed to yield numerous examples of unnecessary activity. The school scheme for milk, fruits and vegetables is set to gobble up 250 million (199 million) this year but overseeing childrens fruit consumption is surely not the rightful preserve of Brussels.

Neither can there be a need for The European Border Breakers Awards, a scheme to honour the musical stars of tomorrow. In an industry rife with awards, to have an EU Commissioner handing out gongs to Christine and the Queens, Oscar and the Wolf, and Soak seems an unnecessary diversion for the first vice-president of the Commission, but that is just what Tibor Navracsics was doing in January.

There is no doubting that the EU is flawed. What commercially minded person could be anything other than appalled by a club that sees its members all having to make swingeing cuts and then blithely submits a significantly increased budget for itself? This, however, is not the time to tear up our membership card and stalk out. Instead, it is the opportunity to lead the radical reform of the organisation that is long overdue.

We live in a world plagued with more uncertainties than Ive known in my lifetime. Whether it be economics, politics, climate change or terrorism, there are reasons to be fearful. The post-crash recovery is fizzling out and there are rumblings of another global slump. The issue of leadership of the worlds largest economy, the US, fluctuates between fantastical, farcical and just plain frightening. Weather events are increasingly drastic and the terrorist threat is all-pervasive.

Against that background, it does not make sense to plunge into the extra uncertainties that Brexit would inevitably bring.

In contrast, remaining in the EU does not have to be seen as hanging onto nurse for fear of something worse but a positive decision to build a stronger unit in which to confront the difficulties ahead. That the latter case is not being made more loudly is largely a matter of politics. Only once the UK has demonstrated that it is committed to the principle of the EU will it be in a position to lead the demands for much-needed reforms. There will be allies, not least Vitor Caldeira, the president of the European Court of Auditors, who, presenting his report last November, called for a wholly new approach to the way EU funds are managed.

That approach might begin by cutting out the ludicrous procession from Brussels to Strasbourg every month, at a cost which even the EU itself admitted to being close to 100 million each time.

Once the UK has voted in, it can campaign for a more cost-conscious EU with a more limited agenda. There will be other national governments prepared to join us in reining in the extravagant interventionists of the Commission.

In the meantime, the Remain camp must point out the real benefits that flow from being a member of such a large trading block, albeit the free market in goods and services is still not fully complete. The Out lobbys suggestion that the UK could quickly negotiate its own trade deals and not suffer any detriment from Brexit is just wishful thinking.

Elizabeth Corley, vice-chairman of Allianz Global Investors, showed a more realistic view of relationships when she said last week that, were the UK to walk out on the EU, it would result in an annoying divorce in which the renegotiation of trade deals would take between five and 10 years.

During that period, jobs would be at risk. Already there is anecdotal evidence of investment decisions by UK firms being delayed until the countrys future is clearer.

And while the UK has many attractions for overseas investors, ranging from its corporate-tax rates to its language and time zone, a No vote would give those looking for a route into the Single Market sound reason to look elsewhere.

The EU is a work in progress. Its sub-plot, the single currency, is unlikely to survive more than a few years in its current form. The difficulties of corralling 19 disparate countries into a single fiscal straitjacket are now clear. In the UK, the stresses being caused by migration cannot be ignored but the Government has now won the right to call a halt. This shows reform is possible. There are benefits to be had from being part of an evolving EU, and the UK now has the chance to maximise them.
S hares in Premier Foods plunged 29% as US suitor McCormick scrapped takeover talks with the jilted Mr Kipling cake-maker.

McCormick said it walked away from the Ambrosia custard-to-Bisto gravy producer after a due diligence concluded it would not be able to propose a price that would be recommended by the board of Premier Foods, or deliver appropriate returns for McCormick shareholders.

Premiers shares dropped more than 16p to 40.4p. The update came two weeks after McCormick, known for its Schwartz spices, made a third offer for the group of 65p a share, valuing Premier at 537 million.

Premier, which has teamed up with the Great British Bake Offs Paul Hollywood on a range of products, believed the latest offer undervalued the business. But it agreed to take a seat at the negotiation table.

Failed talks are expected to put pressure on Premiers boss Gavin Darby to deliver more growth for investors. Investors criticised Premier last month over a new alliance with noodle maker Nissin, which agreed to buy a 17.3% stake in the firm. Some wanted Premier Foods to opt for negotiations with McCormick instead.

Premier said its board sees a strong future as an independent company.


A slice of hipster haven Shoreditch is expanding further East, with a wave of trendy independent businesses set to land in the former athletes village this year, it was revealed today.

Among the companies that have this week finalised deals to set up shop at the East Village, is JaguarShoes Collective which hosts bar and exhibition space in and around Kingsland Road.

It will be joined by Hackney-founded Greek-inspired Hand Cafe, said Get Living London, which manages the East Village on behalf of developers Delancey and Qatari Diar.

The property agent CWM has also signed up a pizzeria called Santi and cafe MilkMade to open in E20.

Moving to the area, which played host to the likes of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt at the Olympics four years ago, is likely to boost customer numbers for the new tenants.

They will benefit from an influx of 5,500 workers when Transport for London and the Financial Conduct Authority open new headquarters in Stratford between 2017 and 2018.

Neil Young, chief executive of Get Living London told the Standard: We hope that East Villages independent retail offer will be of huge appeal to the lunchtime and after work crowds.
I f poor people knew how rich rich people are, the American comedian Chris Rock once said, there would be riots in the streets. Not literally true, perhaps: but the ever astute Rock was certainly on to something.

In this country, the richest 10 per cent own 45 per cent of all wealth, while the least affluent 50 per cent control a mere 10 per cent of the nations cash and assets. Most of the time this startling statistical reality slumbers unacknowledged as people get on with their lives. But occasionally the chronic imbalance in wealth distribution is laid bare, churning the politics of resentment and subjecting the better-off to a pitiless spotlight. This  no more, no less  is what has happened to David Cameron since the hacking of the Panama City-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca.

As has been pointed out in the past week, the Prime Ministers background was already reflected in his political share price. But a vague awareness that Cameron went to Eton, pranced around in Bullingdon garb at university and is financially comfortable is one thing; the detailed disclosure of his wealth quite another.

In 2011, for instance, his mother gave him 200,000. That sum alone is more than seven times the average annual salary in this country. Add to this the 300,000 he inherited from his father, Ian, not to mention the 30,000 he and his wife accrued in 2010 from their shares in Blairmore Holdings, the collective investment fund established by Cameron Snr and others in 1982. These are tidy amounts, the props and joists of a very comfortable life.

Cameron in Commons on Panama: wealth not a dirty word

To which Cameron was richly entitled to say: so what? There is absolutely no evidence of impropriety, let alone illegality, by any member of his family. But the true cause of this storm is not alleged misconduct or the devious use of offshore funds. This is all about scale: the sums of money that underpin the day-to-day lives of certain senior Conservative politicians.

The PM is scarcely a member of F Scott Fitzgeralds super-rich (They are different from you and me). Nor, however, is he a plausible citizen of Middle Britain: the moat that separates him from the majority of the electorate has never looked wider.

To be fair to Cameron, he has always been keenly aware of this vulnerability. Knowing full well the political perils of inherited privilege, he has long feared that class politics was dormant rather than dead. He also understands the collective inclination of the Tory tribe to resemble a single-issue campaign on behalf of the rich, the powerful, and the successful  an inclination that has been especially risky since the financial crash.

Camerons strategic response has been twofold. First, he conjured a national narrative of shared adversity  we are all this together  in which the rich would, quite rightly, bear a greater burden. Second, he declared that destination mattered more than starting-point  an easy position to adopt, it must be said, when your starting-point is a pleasantly-appointed old rectory in Berkshire, as opposed to a council estate in Peckham. What mattered, Cameron claimed as early as 2005, was not where you came from but where you were going: a weak slogan that reflected a strong belief in spreading privilege (as he put it in his 2012 conference speech).

Before you sneer, consider what his governments (Coalition and fully-Tory) have actually done, or are striving to do, for the less affluent: George Osbornes most recent Budget should lift 1.3 million people out of income tax altogether; the National Living Wage is now in force; a quiet revolution in education is under way; more than two million jobs have been created since 2010; the NHS, schools and international development budgets have been ring-fenced in spite of the fiscal squeeze; Ed Vaizeys recent Culture White Paper focuses with admirable clarity on questions of access and the removal of the barriers (imagined and real) to artistic experience.

In spite of the errors it has made  the near-disaster over disability benefits, for instance  the caricature of this Government as wholly indifferent to the underprivileged and disenfranchised is simply inaccurate. But the caricature is also highly adhesive. Six years of austerity have inevitably encouraged the accusation that Cameron and co are embracing what J K Galbraith called private affluence and public squalor. As the state tightens its belt  so the charge sheet reads  Dave and his pals peer down upon the resulting deprivation from a bubble of personal wealth.

'The moat that separates Cameron from the majority of the electorate has never looked wider'

Again, alleged illegality is not the heart of the matter. What does cause damage is the lingering impression that senior Tories swim in the limpid cove of sheltered plutocracy  of trusts, tax havens, dividends, and bearer shares  far from the open seas in which those that they govern simply try not to drown. Jeremy Corbyns performance against Cameron in the Commons on Monday was mediocre at best. But the Labour leader did nail the perception that, since the crash, we have been ripped off by the super-rich.

Do not underestimate this perception, or its strength. Along with the alarming rise of new nationalisms it is one of the most potent developments in contemporary politics. There is much intellectual heavy-lifting ahead for the main political parties as they address the question of inequality, its impact and what (in practice rather than rhetoric) can be done about it.

Above all else, ask yourself why Camerons enemies have chosen this moment to take an axe to the mains cable that links him to the great mass of voters. In spite of the hysterical calls for his resignation, he remains by far the dominant political figure of his age. Yet the essence of the charge is that, as a creature of wealth and privilege, he cannot possibly empathise with, understand or represent the best interests of those he governs. Two months and 10 days before the most important referendum in British history, it is not hard to see what is going on.
Alexa Chung today swapped the front row for the shop floor to unveil her debut collection with M&S.

The style icon, whose collaboration with the high-street chain goes on sale today, posed for photographers at its Marble Arch flagship store wearing a polka-dot print dress.

She was joined by shoppers eager to get first dibs on the 31-piece range, which has accrued a waiting list in excess of 25,000 people.

The collection went on sale in 66 stores across the UK, including 13 in London, at 9am. Among the most sought-after items are a ruffle-front piecrust shirt, which retails at 35, and a khaki gabardine trench coat available for 89.

Alexa launches her collection (Alex Lentati)

Fashion designer Emilie Arnoux was among the first in the queue and had her sights set on the trench coat, piecrust shirt and a paisley tea dress.

I love it because of the price point and Im a big fan of Alexas style, she said. The collection is about reinventing classics. They are all statement pieces which I think Ill wear for a really long time.

Chung - who was responsible for the sell-out success of an M&S suede skirt after she was pictured wearing it last year - has been busy drumming up anticipation for the collection since it was announced in February.

On Monday, she unveiled the collections campaign, starring London model Adwoa Aboha, to her 2.2 million Instagram followers. Scores of her London-based fans are expected at the Marble Arch store this evening where Chung, 32, is to return for a public appearance.

M&S bosses are banking on the range to be a hit, particularly among younger shoppers, to help revive womenswear sales and boost the chains fashion credibility.

The Archive by Alexa collection coincides with a new M&S kidswear line designed in collaboration with model Jourdan Dunn, which also went on sale today.

Chung created the collection by reworking pieces from the M&S archive. The model, who grew up in Hampshire, said she was obsessed with the old-school trench coats and included a shirt as it reminded her of her father. At school I wore one of my dads old shirts as a painting apron, she said.

Later this evening, Topshop is to give VIPs a first look at Beyonces new sportswear line. Ivy Park, which is on sale to the public from tomorrow, is backed by retail boss Sir Philip Green.
T he number of places available for tours of disused Tube stations, including Churchills secret station, has been trebled after soaring public demand.

About 17,000 tickets will go on sale next week, allowing rare public access to Down Street, the Piccadilly line station used by the Cabinet during the Second World War.

There will be new tours of 55 Broadway, the former headquarters of London Underground that was the capitals first skyscraper, and of the lost tunnels under Euston station.

There will also be the opportunity to visit the mile-long subterranean shelter at Clapham South station. One of eight wartime shelters, it provided safe refuge during the Blitz and was later used to house Caribbean migrants who arrived on SS Windrush in 1948, and thrifty visitors to the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Tour of abandoned Down Street tube station

Tours of Aldwych and Charing Cross, both unavailable this year due to planned refurbishment work, have previously sold out in 48 hours. London Transport Museum, which organises the Hidden London tours, has set up an online priority booking system to speed access to tickets when they go on sale next Wednesday (April 20).

Down Street is located between Green Park and Hyde Park Corner stations and was closed in 1932 due to low passenger numbers. During the war, it was converted into the Railway Executive Committees bomb-proof bunker.

Churchill was provided with 1928 Perrier-Jouet champagne, brandy and Cuban cigars when he used it prior to the opening of the Cabinet War Rooms. Tours costing 75 will include tea from the nearby 5-star Athenaeum hotel.

The labyrinth of dark and deserted passageways under Euston includes a gallery of poster fragments concealed for more than 50 years. The tour of 55 Broadway costs 27.50 and will show the Art Deco designs of the Grade 1-listed building, which is being converted into housing and offices.

Chris Nix, assistant director of collections at London Transport Museum, said: Our visitors will have a rare opportunity to see a secret side of London and discover the amazing stories of the people who are connected to these hidden spaces.

David Burns, assistant commercial director at London Transport Museum, said the tours showed : They are a great example of how a charity like London Transport Museum can use an entrepreneurial approach to raise funds to safeguard its transport heritage.

Last year Transport for London began inviting bids to bring Down Street back to life as an art gallery or restaurant. Six other ghost stations were also to be marketed as part TfLs plan to raise generate 3.4 billion in revenue from its vast property portfolio.

To register for advance booking, visit: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/enews

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T he founder of an arts charity that has raised millions to allow galleries and museums to buy new work has been named CEO at the Serpentine Galleries.

Yana Peel, who co-founded the Outset Contemporary Art Fund and is CEO at public debate forum Intelligence Squared, will replace Julia Peyton-Jones, who steps down this month after 25 years as director of the Hyde Park institution.

Peel, who was born in Russia, grew up in Canada and studied at LSE before working for Goldman Sachs, will work with artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist. She said: I am thrilled to be taking on the leadership of the Serpentine, an institution that I have admired and been involved with for so long. With Hans Ulrich as artistic director, I am fully committed to making the most exciting art and ideas of our time accessible to the broadest audiences.

Outset provides a small group of private patrons with access to major names on the arts scene. The patrons paid thousands for the privilege, with the money going to galleries to buy work by up-and-coming artists.

Michael Bloomberg, chairman of the Serpentine Galleries, said: I am confident that Yana and Hans Ulrichs bold new leadership will enable us to continue pushing new boundaries for contemporary artists and audiences.

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T he success of the Science Museums Cosmonauts exhibition has helped to send the venues attendance figures rocketing to a record 3.4 million.

The exhibition  about the pioneering Soviet programme which made Yuri Gagarin the first man in space and fuelled the Cold War space race with the USA  pulled in 140,000 visitors during 2015-16.

Figures released by the institution showed that 390,000 young people visited as part of school groups, setting a new record for UK museums. A further 84,000 attended shows and workshops run by its outreach team.

Its overall number of visitors, which came in at 3,419,000, is up two per cent on last year and is the highest in the museums 107-year-history.

There were also increases in audiences at other centres it runs around the country, including the National Railway Museum in York.

50 free things to do in London 1 /66 50 free things to do in London A Cockroach Tour at the Science Museum Get a bug's eye view of the human race with the Science Museum's Cockroach Tour. Step into their shells (literally) and explore how science and technology are influencing our climate. Every Saturday and Sunday at 2pm and 4pm.



sciencemuseum.org.uk Columbia Road Flower Market Come rain or shine, this East End institution peddles its colourful flora every Sunday from 8am-3ish. You'll get the best bargains as it starts to warm down. Check out the adjacent galleries, coffee shops and boutiques which open up at the weekend too. columbiaroad.info Getty Climb up Big Ben Did you know you can wear yourself out climbing up all 334 steps of Big Ben to hear the Great Bell chime the hour up-close? As well as taking in stunning views across London, you can also explore behind the clock faces. Guided tours only at 9am, 11am and 2pm every Monday-Friday. Book ahead.



parliament.uk Getty In-store gigs at Rough Trade East Brick Lane's independent record shop hosts regular free gigs from the likes of Kendrick Lamar (pictured), Gabrielle Aplin and Foals. Wristbands are given out one hour before kick-off.



roughtrade.com Getty Kerb Street Food Markets Making cities taste better one street food market at a time, Kerb are the ultimate foodie guerillas. Find them at King's Cross (Tuesday-Friday), the Gherkin (Thursday) & UCL (last Wednesday of every month). Feast with London's best traders including Mother Flipper burgers and the Meringue Girls (pictured).



kerbfood.com (Picture: David Loftus) Hackney City Farm Give your kids a dose of the countryside in the concrete jungle at one of London's city farms. Our favourite is Hackney City Farm, which is packed with donkeys, pigs and chickens. Open from 10am4.30pm every day except Monday.



hackneycityfarm.co.uk Play table tennis at PING Tables at Earl's Court hangout PING are free on a first come, first served basis. Don't miss tournament Tuesday. Games of Beer Pong are positively encouraged.



weloveping.com Alfie's Antiques Market A hidden gem full of gems, this Marylebone market is an indoor haven for antiques, vintage, collectables and 20th Century design. Open 10am-6pm Tuesday to Saturday.



alfiesantiques.com Gigs and club nights at the Social This central London bar has been going for 15 years. Theres a great range of weekly club nights with a mixture of resident and guest DJs spinning the tunes from house and disco to funk and hip-hop, plus showcases of some of the best new bands around.



thesocial.com Lunchtime concerts at St-Martin-in-the-Fields Every Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 1pm you can listen to tomorrow's classical music stars, from pianists to choirs, play and sing for free at this beautiful church on the edge of Trafalgar Square. No ticket required. stmartin-in-the-fields.org Nike Training Club You can register for these free womens exercise classes via Facebook around two weeks in advance. Theres yoga, running and general fitness training sessions held in a mixture of indoor and outdoor locations including Clapham Common, Victoria Park and the exercise space in the Nike Town shop.



facebook.com/NikeTrainingClubUK Walk the Tamsin Trail in Richmond Park Walk, run or cycle around the seven mile perimeter of London's largest royal park and try to spot a herd of Red Fallow deer (pictured). Don't worry - there are plenty of tea stops along the way.



royalparks.org.uk Popcorn at Heaven One of London's biggest weekday club nights, Popcorn is one for hedonists who like to dance to house, hip hop and even cheese for seven hours on a Monday night. Just grab a wristband from G-A-Y Bar in Soho for free entry.



popcorn-heaven.com The Queen's House at Greenwich Designed by Inigo Jones in 1616, this Italian Renaissance-style mansion marked a departure from Tudor architecture and houses a fine art collection of maritime paintings. Open Daily 10am-5pm.



rmg.co.uk Guided tours of Tate Modern Tate Modern is spectacular to look at just from the outside (approach from the Millennium Bridge for the best view) and you can also join a free tour lasting 45 minutes and led by in-house experts, at 11am, 12pm, 2pm & 3pm. No booking required unless for a group of more than 10.



tate.org.uk Karaoke at Paradise by Way of Kensal Green Think you've got the X-factor? Hire the private karaoke room (which takes up to 25 guests) for no fee every Monday and Tuesday. Boy George (pictured) has had a go. There's even a button to press to order booze. Call 020 8969 0098 to book.



theparadise.co.uk Friday Night Skate Can you hold your own on rollerskates? Join a marshalled street skate (bladers welcome) which meets at Wellington Arch in Hyde Park at 8pm every Friday. Weather dependent.



lfns.co.uk Evensong at Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey is always open to those who wish to worship. Come for the evensong service to hear the dulcet tones of the Abbey choir. Every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday at 5pm or Saturday & Sunday at 3pm.



westminster-abbey.org Meditate at Inner Space Those who need some respite from the grind of life can drop in to Inner Space for free lunchtime and evening meditation and positive thinking classes.



innerspace.org.uk Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace Everyone should watch the Queen's Guardsmen in action at least once in their life. The changing of the guard takes place at 11.30am on odd days (2, 4, 6 etc) throughout the month.



royal.gov.uk Ain't Nothing But The Blues Bar This Soho stalwart claims to serve up the best blues on this side of the pond seven nights a week. From Sunday to Thursday, entry is free all sweet night long and it's free before 8.30pm on Friday and Saturday.



aintnothingbut.co.uk Watch a trial at the Old Bailey Anyone can attend the public galleries of London's premier criminal court the Old Bailey to watch trials in session. Be warned, you can't take in bags, cameras or mobile phones and there's no cloakroom. Open Monday to Friday, 10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm.



cityoflondon.gov.uk Rex Features New Act Night at the Comedy Cafe Theatre Forget big arenas and ticket prices to match, this night in Shoreditch is where many a comedy star, including Jimmy Carr and Mickey Flanagan, cut their teeth. Every Wednesday at 7.45pm.



comedycafetheatre.co.uk Natural History Museum Volcanoes, dinosaurs and a full-sized blue whale skeleton are just some of the wonders of the Natural History Museum.



nhm.ac.uk NHM The Curve Gallery at the Barbican Centre The Curve is always hosting exciting installations that carry no charge but might come with queues, such as Random International's Rain Room (pictured).



barbican.org.uk Gigs at Birthdays This mini bar/club has staged many a free gig, including an impromptu one from Bloc Party (pictured) that prompted massive queues. Make sure you refuel upstairs first.



birthdaysdalston.com Ceremony of the Keys This 700-year-old ceremony is the nightly locking up of the Tower gates. Its a popular event and for dates in 2014 youll need to apply in writing, but online bookings are being taken for January 2015 onwards.



hrp.org.uk Piano recitals at Bar Nightjar Recently voted the world's second best bar for its stupendous cocktails, this Old Street speakeasy also does a fine line in live music. Most nights there's a charge, but entrance to Piano Tuesdays is on the house.



barnightjar.com Whitechapel Gallery Around since 1901, the Whitechapel Gallery can be counted on for pioneering new talent in contemporary art - think Rothko and Frieda Kahlo. The best part? Admission to exhibitions is free.



whitechapelgallery.org Turner Collection at Tate Britain The Clore Gallery at Tate Britain boasts the world's largest collection of Turner paintings. Over 300 oil paintings, sketches and watercolours chart his development from boyhood to mature master and elevator of landscape art.



tate.org.uk Turner, Joseph Mallord William 1775-1851, Norham Castle, Sunrise c.1845 (Tate) Portobello Road Antiques Market Yes you will have to wade through SLR-wielding tourists, but wandering up the two-mile Portobello Road is still a good day out: roam antiques stalls, stock up on bargain bowls of fruit and veg, and explore the fashion market. Open every Saturday from 9am-10am.



portobellomarket.org Rex Features Backpacks, trails & workshops at the V&A Borrow a backpack for your mini art fiends (suitable for 5-12 years) and embark on hands-on activities, jigsaws, stories, puzzles and games to be enjoyed in and around the V&A. No need to book, available every day from the Sackler Centre.



vam.ac.uk Victoria and Albert Museum, London Mediatheque at BFI Southbank Like old movies? The BFI has a ready-to-watch archive of nearly 3000 films and TV series. Simply log on at a viewing station and get reacquainted with old classics from London Town (pictured) to Ab Fab.



bfi.org.uk Courtesy of BFI Mediatheque The Alibi Dalston hotspot The Alibi is always free entry. Don't miss the dive bar's film (Monday) and karaoke (Tuesday) nights .



thealibilondon.co.uk Lunchtime recitals at The Royal Opera House The ROH holds regular lunchtime recitals where you can catch rising orchestral and choral stars. Seats can be reserved online nine days before the concert and always go fast. They also run free backstage tours for nosey parkers.



roh.org.uk Peter Mackertich courtesy of the Royal Opera House Good gym 'Do good, get fit' is the mantra at play here. Join this group of runners and and you'll be sent on community-helping missions such as visiting the elderly. Everyone wins.



goodgym.org Angel Comedy On most Saturday nights the likes of Tony Law (pictured) will tickle your ribs for free from 8pm.



angelcomedy.co.uk The Wellcome Collection One for curious cats, this free gallery is all about medicine, life and art through the ages. Make the most of the library, cafe and temporary collections such as Death: A Self-Portrait (pictured). Don't miss their uber-popular Thursday night events.



wellcomecollection.org Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Lunchtime music at the Royal Festival Hall Find a seat in the Clore Ballroom and simply listen. You'll be treated to jazz, folk and world music from rising stars and established ensembles. Every Friday



southbankcentre.co.uk Parliament Hill The view from here is one you need to see and will revive even the most world-weary Londoner, especially on a clear day. And there's a lido nearby for brave swimmers.



cityoflondon.gov.uk The Wallace Collection A treasure trove in a historic townhouse setting, the Wallace Collection allows you to gawp at old masters, vintage armour, porcelain and furniture. Open to art buffs seven days a week, 10am-5pm.



wallacecollection.org Be in the BBC audience Get your 15 minutes of fame and apply for tickets to be in the audience of a BBC TV show. These guys are entranced by Question Time...



bbc.co.uk Friday nights at Catch Every Friday is free at this Kingsland Road bar and club. Expect anything from live bands to Nineties dance, indie and hip hop.



thecatchbar.com Speakers' Corner Speeches and debates have been taking place at the north-east end of Hyde Park since the 1800s. Stop by to hear wide-ranging views on a huge variety of topics. Or why not rock up and give a speech yourself?



royalparks.org.uk



Pic: Alex Lentati British Museum Not only is it a rather stunning piece of architecture, the British Museum is also an archive of fantastic art and artefacts from all over the world, including the Rosetta Stone and Elgin Marbles. Find anything from African textiles to a virtual autopsy of an Egyptian mummy. Open daily 10am-5pm.



britishmuseum.org Trustees of the British Museum Borough Market Rain or shine, Borough Market is a great place to refuel after a walk down the river, with hog roasts, lamb burgers and many other culinary delights. A real London institution. Full market open Wednesday-Saturday.



boroughmarket.com Lectures at LSE LSE puts on regular public lectures and everyone is welcome. Expect star speakers - past guests include Kofi Annan (pictured), Bill Clinton and Mervyn King.



lse.ac.uk  LSE / Nigel Stead Broadway Market Sandwiched between London Fields and the Regent's Canal, this old Hackney market is now a hipster hunting ground. Get on your fixie and munch on the trendiest galettes, store up on fresh veg and have a mooch around the vintage clothes stalls. It's easy to while away a day at the cafes which spill on to Broadway. Open on Saturdays 9am-5pm.



broadwaymarlet.co.uk Eric Huang Flickr CC World music and exhibitions at Rich Mix East London's premier cultural centre, Rich Mix hosts open mic spoken word nights, exhibitions, acoustic music (with free cake!) in its bar.



richmix.org.uk Museum of London 450,000 years of London history are on display in the permanent galleries at the museums City and Docklands locations and you can even browse a number of collections online.



museumoflondon.org.uk

Science Museum Group Director Ian Blatchford said he was thrilled the institution was breaking records.

The Royal Societys president Sir Venki Ramakrishnan said: The increase in visitors to the Science Museum Groups museums shows that the popularity of science is increasing all the time. People are voting with their feet.

This shows that the public has a real appetite for knowledge and innovation, which bodes well for culture and the economy.

The Kensington museum is due to open a new gallery, dedicated to the study of mathematics, this year.

The David and Claudia Harding Gallery, named after the philanthropists whose 5 million gift has helped to build it, is designed by the firm of the late architect Zaha Hadid.

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S avini at the Criterion is a great clashing of titans: in Milan, Savini is the grande dame by the Duomo, host to the likes of Verdi, Puccini, Hemingway, Sinatra and Charlie Chaplin. It's arrived in the Criterion restaurant, 142-years-old, Grade II* listed, the setting for a first meeting between Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Following a huge spike in rent midway through 2015, the Criterion in its previous incarnation slumped into administration. Savini, then, come as something of a savoir.

Style and surrounds

The room is the reason to come and in fact, it might be most fun to simply sit here with a bowl of pasta and a decent glass of wine and marvel at the place. It is among the grandest of grand dining rooms, great canvases of marble covered in mirrors and gold, lit with a shimmering chandelier, ceilings the same iconic glittering mosaics. There is something of a lounge area by the bar, where the restaurants ingredients are sold, and though some of the furniture is a wash of muted greys and beige, the chairs mimic well the original Milanese venue.

On the menu

The most curious thing on this menu are the pictures of food: anywhere which assumes its punters need an illustrated guide tends to be a dump. Still, put your left hand over them and stick with it  a dodgy pizza joint this is not. Instead, they serve indulgent Italian fare as upscale dining: starters include a millefeuille of foie gras and candied lemon, given body with pan brioche and bite from balsamic vinegar, aged parma ham with pan brioche and homemade pear compote; or, fresh options from the sea, including grilled scallops with yellow pepper cream, anchovies, broccoli and salmon roe. There are five risottos, including the Milanese special, veal ossobuco. The rice comes sticky, a little sweet, moreish.

Keep it simple: the simpler dishes are Savini's strong suit

There are handfuls of pasta dishes, some fancy (fresh ravioli stuffed with lobster and chopped tomatoes, potatoes and olives, with fried cardoons and hollandaise sauce with tarragon), some simple (spaghetti with tomato and fresh basil). Stay simple: the flavours stronger, the prices fairer. Elsewhere are meat and fish dishes, all straightforwardly done, in the way that can lend Italian food its charm, but also in the way that might seem underwhelming when one's paying more than 25 a course.

Something sweet

Puddings stay true to the Italian heritage: Tiramisu, Orange flambeed crepes, a board of Italian cheeses, pear and chocolate tart. All offer sweet comfort. If youre looking for something lighter, try the gelato or fresh fruit on offer. Naturally, they do excellent coffee.

Liquid Libations

The wine selection is ideal for those who use these list as a way to brag about the size of their wallet: mark-ups are incredibly steep and dont ease up higher up the list  the 2012 Chateau Lafite was a (relatively) affordable year, but here a bottle runs at 1800, far higher than expected. The dirt cheap Curtefranca Mandola Fratelli Berlucchi is about the least expensive on this list at 35, representing something like a seven time mark up. Such a shame. This isnt to say they havent some lovely bottles on offer, just expect to overpay for them.

That said, the house prosecco is decent and classic cocktails can be mixed up too. Interestingly, theyre big on tea here, which infusions from all over the world.

More relaxed: the bar and lounge area

Savini at Criterion: the lowdown

Final flavour: Classic hearty Italian

At what cost? The opulence of the room is matched by the over-the-top bills: starters around 15  20, mains from around 20  35, sides 6.75, puddings 10  17. Value is not their strong suit, even by London standards.

Visit if you like: Locanda Locatelli, La Collina, Sartoria

Find it: 224 Piccadilly, W1J 9HP, saviniatcriterion.co.uk

Follow David Ellis on Twitter @dvh_ellis

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L ap up the beauty of Barcelona at this new tourist-free boutique hotel, which is in walking distance of some of the best food in the city as well as all the sights.

Where is it? On Gran Via de Les Corts Catalanes in the well-placed Dreta de lEixample neighbourhood. The hotel is set in a 19th century building, or house of friends as they call it. Guests are greeted by the buildings grand entrance to the collaborative space, with its marble staircase, vaulted lobby, and banana trees. Its the sort of place you rock up to and think, That cant be ours?.

Style: Refined Mediterranean flair. The 1869 building was the 19th century mansion of the Bonay family. Ines Miro-Sans, entrepreneur and Casa Bonays founder, worked closely with Brooklyn-based design team, Studio Tack, to modernise and reinterpret the buildings identity. Taking inspiration from Barcelona and the Mediterranean, embracing original elements such as the mosaic floors and naturally-illuminated corridors, and working with local designers and creatives results in a relaxed and homely, collaborative space that hums with the citys creative energy.

Paired-back, but cosy design aesthetic

Facilities: Two restaurants, lounge-come-bar, coffee shop, juice bar, curated library, baTabasTa shirt makers, and come May 16, a rooftop cocktail bar.

Extra-curricular: Make the most of your great location and hit the pavements. Head to the nearby El Born neighbourhood for trendy bars and eateries (the neighbourhood really comes alive at night, so maybe head this way after your siesta). Poble Nou is another vibrant neighbourhood on your doorstep; inimitable La Sagrada Familia is a short walk away; and in the opposite direction, the beaches arent far.

Satan's Coffee Corner

Food and drink: Cannot fault the food and drink. Any western hotel that has sushi on its breakfast menu and kimchi in its Bloody Marys gets a big gold star - thats just one of the four options - you can stick to glammed up salmon and eggs if youd prefer. There are four F&B options in the building. Theyre housemates of the hotel and at the disposal of its guests. Theres Satans Coffee Corner, where you start the day; Mother, where you go to get your green juice fix after your yoga on the terrace; Libertine, a dimly-lit lounge-come-bar space that serves up the aforementioned breakfast and attracts non-hotel guests for drinks and dinner; and Elephant Crocodile Monkey & Tet, Estanislao Carenzo's "free-cooking" restaurant that serves up an eclectic selection of small plates alongside a broad range of natural wines, rare sherries and natural ciders.

Libertine lounge and bar

Which room? The 67 rooms are split across seven categories, varying in size and situation in the building. Our Courtyard Medium room was perfect for the two of us for two nights. The original glass balcony flooded the room with natural light, and acted like a small sun room; complete with sofa, coffee table, and locally-stocked mini bar, it was the perfect place to kick back with a glass of cava early evening. Colourful original mosaics make the floor a feature in the otherwise relatively simple, stark room. Though minimalist, it feels homely, with contemporary furnishings from local designers, and blue and green accents on the Teixidors blankets. For the best of the best, opt for one of the five Courtyard Large Terrace rooms; these all have their own private terraces, outdoor showers, hammocks, high ceilings, and, naturally, yoga kits for your al fresco morning stretch.

A room at Casa Bonay

Best for: Couples and groups of friends. Its restaurant and bar feel rather sophisticated, and Im not sure how guests would feel about screaming children on the sun terrace

When should you go? The best thing about Barcelona is that its a good year-round city break, but to see it in its best light (quite literally), go in the warmer months, which in Barcelona means late March through to October.

Price: Rates start at 130 euros per night, including VAT.

Details: casabonay.com/

Alice Tate is a travel, food and fitness blogger. Follow her on Twitter @ALICETATE_ and Instagram @alice_tate
A n Italian mother suffocated her two-month-old daughter and dumped the body in a public bin after hearing voices telling her to end the child's suffering, the Old Bailey heard today.

Federica Boscolo-Gnolo, 32, killed her daughter Farah after flying into Gatwick airport and checking into a hotel in Fulham.

The baby had been born with a defect in one eye that could have led to partial blindness, the court heard, and Boscolo-Gnolos relationship with Farahs father had fallen apart.

The mother kept her babys body in a suitcase in her hotel for a day after killing her, then disposed of it in a bin near to Russell Square, she later admitted to doctors.

She sobbed in the dock as details of the killing were laid out in court for the first time.

Boscolo-Gnolo, a receptionist originally from Chioggia in Italy, has admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility, and faces being detained in a mental hospital indefinitely when she is sentenced later.

She heard voices during the course of the evening speaking with threats, they were in English, they were male and she began to feel a good deal more hopeless, said prosecutor Mark Heywood QC.

He said she admitted to a psychiatrist: I was feeling exhausted, hopeless, I realised there was no reason for Farah to suffer.

Mr Heywood said Boscolo-Gnolo believed she had no option but to save her and prevent her future suffering, it felt like a positive step.

She took a pillow and put it over her face for a few seconds, then she took it off and thought what the hell am I doing.

However, he said Boscolo-Gnolo was then overtaken by an overpowering feeling and couldnt bear the thought of Farah suffering, and put the pillow over her face again until she stopped moving.

The court heard Boscolo-Gnolo had moved to the UK in 2012 and had a short-lived affair with a man that led to Farah being born.

The baby, born in Italy, had an abnormal eyeball, and though her appearance could have been corrected with surgery, the eye make have stopped working in the future, the court heard.

Boscolo-Gnolos relationship had broken down with the father by January 24 2014, when she fled her family home in Italy to fly to England.

She checked into the Lily Hotel near Earls Court on Saturday January 24 with her daughter and a few possessions.

Mr Heywood said the baby was healthy when last seen in Italy, and her parents described Boscolo-Gnolo as attentive and caring as a mother.

A picture of Farah alive and well was taken in the hotel room the following day, but it is believed she was killed that same evening.

Mr Heywood said Boscolo-Gnolo then checked herself into a different hotel, before returning to the Lily Hotel with cleaning products, gloves, a new suitcase, and a roll of bin liners.

She was then captured on CCTV leaving with a suitcase, before heading to parts of London she was familiar with.

It appears she took the opportunity while in the Russell Square area to dispose of Farahs body in a bin at the rear of some premises, said the prosecutor.

Neither the bin nor Farahs body have ever been properly identified.

She was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order by the Recorder of London Nicholas Hilliard QC.
P olice are hunting a black Mercedes after it crashed into a motorcyclist in a hit-and-run in west London.

The collision between the car and motorbike occurred at the Great Western Road junction with Hormead Road, Maida Vale, at 5pm yesterday.

Emergency services found the 25-year-old biker suffering from serious injuries but the car had left the scene before they arrived.

He was rushed to a west London hospital where police said he was kept overnight in a serious but stable condition.

The busy road - where luxury flats can sell for 1 million - was closed for several hours as police investigated the crash and debris was removed.

Anyone who witnessed the collision or anyone with any information is asked to call the Roads and Transport Policing Command on 020 8543 5157 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A man has been jailed for two years for punching his ex-girlfriend to the floor in an unprovoked attack at a north London park.

Xavier Prevatt, 25, became aggressive and assaulted his ex-partner after luring her to a meeting at Primrose Hill under the pretence of apologising to her.

He racially abused her and punched her to the floor in front of her young son, before kicking her in the head, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.

Passersby heard her screams and rushed to help her during the attack on December 5, last year.

Prevatt, of Saxon Road, north London, fled from the park but was later arrested and charged by police.

He was sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Detective Inspector Adam Ghaboos of Camden Police Community Safety Unit said: "The victim in this case suffered an unprovoked attack at the hands of an ex-boyfriend and had the strength of character to support the investigation and conviction.

"Domestic abuse is not something that should ever be accepted and if anyone reading this article is suffering in silence then they should feel confident that if they approach the police in Camden they will be dealt with compassion and provided with support through any investigation and court process."
A retired teacher and scout leader has been jailed for eight years for sexually abusing two young boys.

Richard Biddick, 76, from Addiscombe, Croydon, groomed and indecently assaulted one of the boys after befriending him in Yorkshire in the late 1970s.

More than 30 years later, he attempted to groom a second boy in south London.

Biddick was jailed at York Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to offences including indecent assault, making indecent images of children and breaching a sex offences prevention order.

During sentencing, Recorder Ian Harris described Biddick as a manipulative paedophile who was a significant risk to young adolescent boys.

He was placed on the Sex Offender's Register for life and issued with an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
A n Italian social worker accused of murdering a police officer had met him through dating website Grindr, the Old Bailey heard.

Stefano Brizzi, 49, allegedly killed PC Gordon Semple last week after the officer went missing while on duty.

PC Semple, 59, an anti-social behaviour specialist for Westminster City Council, went missing on April 1 after a meeting at the Shangri-La hotel in The Shard.

The officer, originally from Inverness in Scotland, was last seen on CCTV cameras in nearby Great Guildford Street nearly three hours later.

Police officers at the scene in Southwark / Jeremy Selwyn

He was reported missing by his partner, Gary Meeks, when he failed to return home to Greenhithe in Kent that evening, and his remains were discovered at Brizzis flat on the Peabody Estate in Southwark Street six days later.

It is alleged Brizzi, who is Italian-born and moved to the UK in 2010, murdered the PC during that six-day period.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said this morning: The defendant is charged with the murder of a police officer who he met, it seems, through Grindr."

Brizzi, wearing a grey prison issue jumper and short hair and a beard, appeared in the dock wearing dark glasses for a preliminary hearing this morning.

Flanked by three prison guards, he spoke only to confirm his name and listened intently throughout the hearing.

Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, the Recorder of London, remanded Brizzi in custody until a plea and trial preparation hearing on June 29.

A provisional trial date has been set for October 18.

Brizzi did not make an application for bail, and has not yet entered a plea to the charge of murder.

He will return to court on April 20 for a hearing to establish which firm of solicitors will represent him.
Business / Economy

by Staff reporter

Former Finance minister Tendai Biti says government is illegally printing money in the form of Treasury Bills (TBs) to honour its debts.A TB is a short-term debt obligation backed by a government with a given maturity, in most countries the promissory notes are issued with a maturity of less than one year.Issued through a country's central bank, TBs commonly pay no explicit interest but are sold at a discount, their yield being the difference between the purchase price and the redemption value.Biti - who served as Finance minister in the Inclusive Government from 2009 to 2013 - said there was an anomaly with the rampant issuance of TBs which are outlawed to be used as legal tender by private players."The government has started the crime of printing money through the issuance of TBs that are now clogging the market. This government has been criminally issuing TBs with total domestic debt now standing at $6 billion," Biti said.The former Finance minister, who now leads the People's Democratic Party also said the "willy-nilly" issuance of the State Instruments was one of the reasons behind the prevailing tight liquidity conditions."The continuance reliance on toxic TBs is a major factor contributing to the current liquidity crisis," Biti said, adding that the situation was also plunging coming governments into debt as some of the instruments mature well into the future.Zimbabwe's own currency fell victim to hyperinflation forcing government to adopt a basket of nine foreign currencies, including the greenback, the South African Rand, Botswana Pula and Chinese RMB.Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya recently said the country issued two types of TBs, one group used to repay the central bank's debt through the Debt Assumption Act and those used to pay government debt in general.The central bank has a $1,35 billion debt, due mostly to gold miners, banks and exporters after raiding their foreign currency accounts to fund the cash-strapped government.In 2014, government issued TBs worth $103 million to repay part of the central bank's debt to banks and farmers which accumulated during the pre-dollarisation period.State-owned People's Own Savings Bank also announced last week that it had received a $12,8 million capital injection from government in the form of 10-year TBs with a $20 million maturing value.Finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa, also recently announced that government was looking at the avenue of issuing TBs to pay about 4 000 white commercial farmers who lost their land during the country's controversial land reform programme.
T he Foreign Office's newest employee has started work today... but the new Chief Mouser is no ordinary civil servant.

The black and white cat, who has come from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, has been brought in to tackle a vermin problem in the famous Whitehall building, in King Charles Street.

The two-year-old shorthair was brought to the home after he was found roaming the streets of the capital.

The cat has been named Palmerston, after two-time British prime minister Henry John Temple, who was the 3rd Viscount Palmerston and served as leader in the mid-19th century.

Dipolmats worked closely with staff from the rescue centre to select the right cat - and it will be FCO staff who will be footing the bill for his keep.

Chief Mouser: Palmerston started work today (Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire ) / Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman said: "Palmerston is HM Diplomatic Service's newest arrival and in the role of FCO chief mouser will assist our pest controllers in keeping down the number of mice in our King Charles Street building.

"Palmerston's domestic posting will have zero cost to the public purse, as a staff kitty will be used to pay for him and all aspects of his welfare.

"We have worked closely with Battersea Dogs and Cats Home on Palmerston's deployment and they have inspected his new home, as they do for all potential new owners of their rescue cats."

Battersea's Head of Catteries, Lindsey Quinlan told Newsbeat: "He's a very confident cat, loves being with people, and enjoys a good chin rub."

Palmerston is not the first ministerial cat - a moggy called Larry moved into the prime minster's home, Number 10 Downing Street, in 2011.

Like Palmerston, he was rescue cat from Battersea Cats and Dogs Home and was brought in to tackle a mouse problem.
L ondon road users received more than 4 million in compensation last year following accidents and damage caused by deteriorating roads, figures show.

It comes as the capitals local authorities say they now face an 86.7 million shortfall in their annual carriageway maintenance budget received from Government, double the 39.9 million shortfall reported the year before.

The Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance Survey 2016, which excludes the main Red Route roads run by Transport for London, estimates it would need 706 million to bring the capitals roads up to scratch in a one-time catch up cost, with an average bill of 22.1 million per borough.

It estimates clearing the maintenance backlog in London would take 16 years, at current rates of repair.

The ALARM survey, compiled by the Asphalt Industry Alliance, says underfunding, adverse weather and increased traffic are relentlessly undermining the resilience of the local road network in England and Wales.

The AIA said the Governments recent announcement of a 50 million Pothole Action Fund for England would do nothing to make up for decades of underfunding.

Local authorities in London filled in 131,151 potholes last year, costing an average 80 per pothole as part of a planned programme, compared with 47 in the rest of England, says the survey. Emergency potholes cost an average of 94 to repair in London.

Overall, London authorities (excluding TfL) spent 11.4 million filling in potholes last year.

Paying out the 4.1 million in compensation cost an additional 2.4 million in staff time, bringing total claim costs to 6.5 million.

Authorities in England paid out 8.9 million in compensation, and 486,000 in Wales. Nationally, local authorities had to fill in nearly 2.2 million potholes last year, at a cost of 118.4 million.
N asa scientists have revealed the North Pole is slowly moving towards London because of environmental changes driven by global warming.

Experts said the way the Earth wobbles on its axis between the North and South Pole has changed because melting ice sheets, especially in Greenland, have altered the distribution of weight on the planet.

The axis had been recorded drifting in the direction of Hudson Bay in Canada since 1899 but took an unexpected shift towards the Greenwich meridian at the turn of the century.

The change in course was highlighted in a study published in Science Advances.

Dr Surendra Adhikari, a Nasa theoretical glaciologist, said: It's no longer moving toward Hudson Bay, but instead toward the British Isles.

The logic is very simple. When you see a positive gravity anomaly you are getting more mass in that region, and the only explanation for that is the movement of water on a huge scale.

It's a significant sign of climate change, together with the global changes in sea level rise, and it's a good indicator of climate variability.

Since 2003, Greenland has lost on average more than 600 trillion pounds of ice a year which has contributed to a shift in the Earths gravity.

Furthermore, West Antarctica loses 275 trillion pounds of ice while East Antarctica gains about 165 trillion pounds yearly to help tilt the axis.

Experts said the wobble is too small to notice for most, but does make a difference to GPS results, satellites and observatories.
H omes in northern England will be powered by cheese in a ground-breaking 10 million project set to start operation next month.

A plant at a Cumbria creamery will be the first in Europe to convert waste from cheese-manufacturing into bio-methane and then feed it into the local gas grid.

Around 40 per cent of the gas will be used to heat local homes and businesses, with the rest powering First Milks Aspatria creamery itself.

Clearfleau, the British company behind the project, says the amount of gas pumped into the grid each year would be enough for the annual use of around 1,600 homes and businesses in the area.

The scheme, which will be operated by Lake District Biogas, is being financed through a mixture of government renewable energy subsidies and gas sales.

Clearfleau chief executive Craig Chapman said: This project, generating biogas solely from creamery residues, is based on British engineering and is transforming the way in which the dairy industry manages its residues.

This shows how sustainability can be an integral part of our food supply chain.
T ravel agents are expecting to see a surge in holiday bookings to India and Bhutan after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's visit.

Research released by Opodo showed that previous royal tours have boosted tourism in destinations around the world.

The company experienced a 45 per cent rise in bookings for Sydney during a three-day period in 2014 when William and Kate were visiting Australia, compared to the same dates in 2015.

Following reports that the couple recently visited Courchevel in the French Alps, bookings for the three nearest airports spiked in the week after photographs of the holiday were published, with 57 per cent more flights booked than over the same dates last year.

Opodo also found that it is not just the younger royals who are encouraging holidaymakers.

Bookings for Berlin rose by 31 per cent during the Queen and Prince Philip's state visit to the German capital last June, compared to the previous year.

Searches for the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan were already up by 44 per cent in the week leading up to the Cambridges' visit to the small landlocked country.

Opodo's destination expert, Lukas Balter, said: "When members of the Royal Family travel the world, be it on official visits or for some down time, we commonly see a spike in bookings as Brits feel royally inspired.

Duchess of Cambridge feeding a baby elephant on India tour

"This current trip undertaken by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is casting the spotlight on two beautiful countries which, you might say, are often overlooked as travel destinations - but not for long."
T he Duchess of Cambridge appeared to be enjoying herself as she was given the chance to feed a baby rhino and an elephant calf at an Indian national park.

The Duke and Duchess went on safari at the Kaziranga National Park's Centre today, before getting even closer to the animals during the feeding trip to the park's Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation.

The centre cares for thousands of animals, many of which are hand-raised after being orphaned or injured.

The royal couple - on the fourth day of their week-long tour of India and Bhutan - earlier saw elephants and monkeys as they toured world heritage site from their open-topped jeep.

The Duchess of Cambridge feeds a baby rhino at the anctuary / AFP/Getty Images

The highlight of the trek came when a huge rhino blocked the road ahead.

The couple gasped as they caught sight of the animal just 50 yards away from them. This is amazing! said Kate.

Its amazing to be this close, William added, before a ranger called out loudly to scare it off the road.

The royals on their ride through Kaziranga National Park

William was dressed for the early start in chinos, desert boots and a khaki shirt, while Kate wore a cream RM Williams blouse and brown Zara biker stretch pants.

William, president of conservation coalition United for Wildlife, has long wanted to visit Kaziranga, and they met rangers inside the park protecting its animal population from poachers.

Park guard Mahanda Barman, 34, told the couple about the time he had a fight with a poacher after hearing gunshots by the river in the north side of the park.

A rhino blocked the road during the wildlife tour / Heathcliff O'Malley/Daily Telegraph/PA

It can be dangerous, he told William via a translator. That evening there was crossfire between poachers and my team here The butcher ran off and was later found dead. We recovered rifles and ammo These things happen a lot. Its a big problem.

Youre all doing an incredibly important job, William told Barman. Im incredibly proud of everything youre doing.

The royal couple later travelled to the remote village of Pan Bari on the edge of the park. They were greeted by the most senior person, known as the head man, Dhurba Krishna Das, who placed traditional white woven scarfs with red embroidery, called gamchas around their necks, as is customary in this region of Assam.

He took them to the community centre in the village where they learned how the people and wildlife co-exist, before watching a performance of dancing and drumming.

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in India and Bhutan 1 /54 Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in India and Bhutan The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their hike to the Tiger's Nest Monastery, near Paro, Bhutan, during day six of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan Joe Giddens/PA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge overlook the Tiger's Nest Monastery, near Paro, Bhutan, during day six of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan Joe Giddens/PA Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge pose next to a prayer wheel on the trek up to Tiger's Nest during a visit to Bhutan Chris Jackson/Getty Images Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge pose next to a prayer wheel on the trek up to Tiger's Nest during a visit to Bhutan Chris Jackson/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during a trek to the Tiger's Nest Monastery, near Paro, Bhutan, during day six of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan Dominic Lipinski/PA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge leave the Taj Tashi hotel, in Thimphu, Bhutan, to attend a dinner with King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema on day five of the royal tour to India and Bhutan Dominic Lipinski/PA The Duchess of Cambridge reacts after firing an arrow at an archery event in Thimphu, Bhutan, during day five of the royal tour to India and Bhutan Joe Giddens/PA Prince William, Duke of Cambridge looks on as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge fires an arrow during an Bhutanese archery demonstration on the first day of a two day visit to Bhutan in Paro, Bhutan Splash News Prince William, Duke of Cambridge looks on as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge fires an arrow during an Bhutanese archery demonstration on the first day of a two day visit to Bhutan in Paro, Bhutan Chris Jackson/Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge and The Queen of Bhutan Jetsun Pema (right) at Tashichho Dzong in Thimphu, Bhutan, during day five of the royal tour to India and Bhutan Joe Giddens/PA The Duchess of Cambridge and The Queen of Bhutan Jetsun Pema (right) at Tashichho Dzong in Thimphu, Bhutan, during day five of the royal tour to India and Bhutan Joe Giddens/PA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge pose for a photo with the sister of the King of Bhutan Chhimi Yangzom and her husband at Paro International Airport, Bhutan, during day five of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan Dominic Lipinski/PA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive at Paro International Airport, Bhutan, during day five of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan Dominic Lipinski/PA The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive at Paro International Airport in Bhutan, during day five of the royal tour to India and Bhutan. Joe Giddens/PA The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Paro International Airport in Bhutan, during day five of the royal tour to India and Bhutan Joe Giddens/PA Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, feeds a baby rhino at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Panbari reserve forest in Kaziranga in the northeastern state of Assam AFP/Getty Images Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge ride a car during a Game drive at Kaziranga National Park at Kaziranga National Park Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, pets a rhino calf at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Panbari reserve forest in Kaziranga in the northeastern state of Assam AFP/Getty Images Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, feeds a baby rhino at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Panbari reserve forest in Kaziranga in the northeastern state of Assam AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meet Rangers in Kaziranga National park in Assam, India, on day four of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan Heathcliff O'Malley/Daily Telegraph/PA Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (C) and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (R) speak with an Indian forest official before leaving for a jeep safari through Kaziranga National Park on the fourth day of the royal visit to India and Bhutan AFP/Getty Images Kate during an art class run by Salaam Baalak, which provides emergency help to homeless children at New Delhi station The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arriving for a visit to a children's centre Dominic Lipinski/PA The couple met some of India's most vulnerable children at New Delhi station The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meet Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on the third day of their royal tour Dominic Lipinski/PA The Duchess of Cambridge next to the Indian Prime Minister at Hyderabad House Dominic Lipinski/PA The Duchess of Cambridge visited a charity that provides emergency support to homeless children Dominic Lipinski/PA Kate and her husband played games with children and helped them with their art Dominic Lipinski/PA Kate attended a garden party to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday on Monday in New Dehli, India Mark Large/Getty Images The couple laid a wreath at the Taj Hotel, scene of Mumbai terror attacks, on Sunday Mark Cuthbert/Getty Images They visited the Old Birla House museum on Monday Ian Vogler/Getty Images A wreath was laid to honour soldiers from Indian regiments who served in the First World War Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images Respects were also paid to Mahatma Gandhi at the spot where he was assassinated Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images The Duchess had a so-called "Marilyn moment" when her dress was caught in the wind Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images Kate showed off her big-hitting skills in a game of cricket with Indian children Rafiq Maqbool/AFP/Getty Images She met children from three non-governmental organisations and watched cricket at Mumbai's iconic recreation ground Chris Jackson/Getty Images) The game was played at the Oval Maidan during the royal tour Chris Jackson/Getty Images Indian cricket hero Sachin Tendulkar was the bowler as Kate dispatches him off one delivery Chris Jackson/Getty Images The royals arrived at a Bollywood inspired charity gala at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel on Sunday Chris Jackson/Getty Images Earlier Prince William met young entrepreneurs during a visit to Mumbai Heathcliff O'Malley/Getty Images He was joined by his wife as they discussed business with the country's emerging talents Heathcliff O'Malley/Getty Images

Elders gathered at the community centre asked through a translator why they had not bought Prince George or Princess Charlotte.

Kate - who was wearing a pink floral Topshop dress with black embroidery and her hair tied back in an elaborate bun - apparently replied: Because George is too naughty. He would be running all over the place. The next time we come we will definitely bring them.

The head man said: When she saw the little girl dancers and the boys drumming the Duchess said it reminded them both of their children and how much they missed them.

It is the first time the Duchess has been apart from her children for a prolonged period.

During their chat with the village elders, William asked about the childrens education and what their standard of living is like.

The couple also asked about the elephants here and what problems they have with them. They were told that the elephants often come into the village and trample the crops.

William asked if the villagers get government compensation for lost crops, which they do.

The royals stand close to an elephant (Dominic Lipinski/PA ) / Dominic Lipinski/PA

William also asked if tigers and rhino come to the village, and was told that they do. He asked if the villagers enjoyed their co-existence with the animals. The elders told them they are very happy because it is a peaceful co-existence.

When asked what it means to the villagers to have William and Kate visit Pan Bari, the head man said We are all very happy and it makes us proud that they have come here.

William and Kate told us they are feeling great to be in India. They also told us they like being in Assam because both enjoy drinking tea.

The Duke and Duchess were also due to visit the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation, which provides emergency care and rehabilitation to wild animals that have been injured, displaced, or orphaned.

After visiting CWRC, the Duke and Duchess were due to visit the Kaziranga Discovery Park built by Elephant Family, the charity founded by Mark Shand, late brother of the Duchess of Cornwall.

Here they will see a first-of-its-kind health clinic for working elephants and an elephant information centre, which is under construction.

Tomorrow they leave India and fly to Bhutan where they will hosted by the Dragon King Jigme and his glamorous Queen Jetsun.
A grandmother has been rescued after spending nine days lost in an Arizona wilderness where she survived on pond water and desert plants.

Rescuers revealed they had found Ann Rodgers after spotting a help sign she had made with sticks.

The 72-year-old went missing on March 31 as she travelled to Phoenix to visit her grandchildren.

She got lost and her hybrid vehicle ran out of fuel and electric power. Ms Rodgers, who was found in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona on Saturday, told Tucson TV station KOLD that she had food and water in the car but ran out and turned to survival mode.

Ms Rodgers said: I was eating desert plants. My dog was too, diving into clovers and finding all the places that were the easiest to go.

Arizona Department of Public Safety

She climbed several ridges in an attempt to get a mobile phone signal to call for help, but was unable to find her way back to her car. She spent the next nine days and nights in the wilderness running the risk of bear attacks.

Her car was found three days after a search began and authorities came across her dog at the weekend. A Department of Public Safety flight crew then spotted her help sign.

Ms Rodgers had left the area but she was found nearby on the Fort Apache reservation after starting a fire.

When the helicopter landed, she sat down and cried and was suffering exposure.

A search official said: The probabilities of finding her alive were really low.
P olice have raided the offices of the law firm at the centre of the leaking of the Panama papers.

Prosecutors said the operation had been carried out at the headquarters of Mossack Fonseca in Panama City to find evidence of money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The data leak of 11.5 million confidential documents has exposed wealthy individuals, including heads of state, among those using offshore firms to evade tax and avoid sanctions.

Panamas attorney general said police were searching for documentation that would establish the possible use of the firm for illicit activities.

Mossack Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing, saying it only set up offshore financial accounts and anonymous shell companies for clients and was not involved in how those accounts were used.

Police arrived at the firms building yesterday afternoon and were under the command of prosecutor Javier Caravallo, who specialises in investigating organised crime and money laundering.

The firm is accused of working with clients who were subject to international sanctions  including one with links to North Koreas nuclear weapons programme.

The leaked documents apparently show it worked with 33 individuals or companies who have been placed under sanctions by the US Treasury including companies based in Iran, Zimbabwe and North Korea.

The firm tweeted that it continues to co-operate with authorities in investigations made at our headquarters.

Many other countries are investigating possible financial crimes in the aftermath of the leak. Mossack Fonseca partner Ramon Fonseca said the firm had been hacked via servers based abroad and had filed a complaint with the Panamanian attorney generals office.

Panama: A police officer stands guard outside the Mossack Fonseca law firm office / Reuters/Carlos Jasso

President Juan Carlos Varela has defended Panamas financial sector but has promised to introduce reforms to make it more transparent. He asked France to reconsider its decision to place Panama on a list of unco-operative countries.

David Cameron was caught up in the scandal after the documents revealed his late father Ian set up an offshore company in Panama.

Icelands prime minister Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson was forced to resign amid mounting public anger that his family had sheltered money offshore.
A t least two people were injured when a police officer accidentally detonated a grenade as he gave evidence in a Pakistani anti-terror court.

The judge was also thrown from the bench in the blast after Constable Liaquat Ali removed the pin, causing the device to blow up - despite his assurances it was disarmed.

He was demonstrating to the judge how the detonator of the grenade worked as he presented it in evidence against a man accused of fighting police, the Guardian reported.

A court official told the paper the officer was responding to the defences claims the detonator would have been too complex to be operated by the defendant.

Trials in other courtrooms were suspended amid the chaos caused by the explosion.

One lawyer elsewhere in the building, in Karachi, told the Guardian: We thought the whole building was under attack from terrorists.

Everyone was just rushing towards the exits.

Constable Ali suffered injuries to his hand in the blast but has since been discharged from hospital.

A court assistant was also hurt and said to have received hospital treatment for minor injuries.
A my Schumer made a joke about her row with Glamour Magazine during her interview on The Tonight Show.

Proving that shes always willing to poke fun at herself, the comedian was introduced as the famous plus-size model during her chat with Jimmy Fallon.

Referencing her falling out with the fashion magazine after they included her in their plus-size' issue, Schumer said:

For those of you who don't know who I am, I'm a famous plus-size model, she joked.

Schumer criticised the publication after they listed her alongside Adele, plus-size model Ashley Graham and Melissa McCarthy as women who inspire us in their latest issue.

Taking to Instagram last week, she wrote: 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.

She added: Young girls seeing my body type thinking that is plus size? What are your thoughts? Mine are not cool glamour not glamourous.

Glamours Editor-in-Chief Cindi Leive later defended the magazine, saying that theyd never directly described the actress as plus-size.

She wrote on Twitter: We love Amy Schumer, & would never want to offend her. To be clear, @glamourmag special edition never called her plus-size...

Her 2015 cover story was included in the edition, aimed at sizes 12 and up, with the coverline Women who Inspire Us bc

her longtime message of body positivity& talking back to body hatersIS inspiring. (To me, too!).


News / Africa

by Staff reporter

Mombasa - A 38-year-old truck driver is nursing burn wounds on his shoulder after his former boss set him alight in Mombasa, Kenya.Isaac Njoroge was allegedly subjected to the torture after some aluminium coils worth millions of shillings got lost while in transit.His managers at the Mombasa-based transport company accused him of stealing the goods, Daily Nation reported.Njoroge said the managers beat him up before burning him at the company premises.In a video captured secretly by one of his colleagues, and uploaded by NTV, Njoroge was seen tied with ropes and a tyre around his waist as the managers interrogated him.One of the managers was heard talking to someone, supposedly his boss, after which he told the rest of the crew: "He has told us to burn him."Another manager was also heard asking: "Where will he get KES 2 million?"Njoroge, who denied stealing the goods, said he was rescued by his colleagues.Although he reported the case at Mariakani police station, police were yet to take action against his tormentors.
R obert De Niro is set to be honoured at this years GLAAD Awards.

The Oscar-winning actor has been announced as the latest recipient of the Excellence in Media award, for his contribution to promoting equality and acceptance in the LGBT community.

A vocal advocate of LGBT rights, De Niro will receive the accolade at the 27th annual ceremony in New York next month.

The Raging Bull star recently spoke out about his openly gay fathers struggle with accepting his sexuality in the 2014 HBO documentary Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr.

The film, directed by Perri Peltz, tells the story of the well-known painters career and private life through the eyes of De Niro himself.

GLAAD president and CEO Kate Ellis said: Through his work honoring the memory of his openly gay father, Robert De Niro has not only sent a message of acceptance to LGBT people, but also educated audiences of the harms of anti-LGBT prejudice and discrimination.

The actor has also been vocal on issues of marriage equality and makes sure to include LGBT films at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Previous recipients of the award include Tyra Banks, Julianne Moore, Glenn Close and Barbara Walters.

The GLAAD Awards will be held in New York City on May 14.


P hillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby hosted This Morning from Sunderland for a very special broadcast as they prepare to say farewell to agony aunt Denise Robertson.

Robertson died on March 31 following a short battle with pancreatic cancer.

The TV duo were broadcast live from Sunderland ahead of the funeral at 1pm which will see a service given at Sunderland Minster followed by an interment at Grangetown Cemetery.

Willoughby and Schofield were joined by Doctor Chris and Eamonn Holmes as they shared their memories of the TV favourite.

Schofield tweeted his arrival, posting: Hello Sunderland, what a shame to be here under such sad circumstances, but I'm sure we'll give our Denise a fitting send off.

He later posted a picture of his black tie alongside the caption: I hate this tie, every time I put it on I'm sad!

Fellow presenter Holmes wrote: "Heading with @RuthieeL to Sunderland. It's Denise Robertson's funeral today. A sad day but we will also celebrate her life."

Rylan Clark-Neal and Lorraine Kelly hosted from the London studios alongside Ferne McCann who tweeted: "Here at @itvthismorning all thinking of a special lady on the day of her funeral. Forever in our hearts Denise."

A handful of stars, past and present, paid tribute to the much loved TV personality when news of her death broke including former This Morning presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan.

Robertson is survived by her husband Bryan Thubron, son Mark, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

This Morning - Agony Aunt funeral 1 /8 This Morning - Agony Aunt funeral This Morning presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby speak to the media outside Sunderland Minster ahead of the funeral of TV agony aunt Denise Robertson Owen Humphreys/PA Holly Willoughby (left) hugs Eamonn Holmes (right) as Phillip Schofield hugs Ruth Langsford outside Sunderland Minster Owen Humphreys/PA Phillip Schofield wipes his eye as Holly Willoughby looks on following the funeral Owen Humphreys/PA The coffin of TV agony aunt Denise Robertson is carried into Sunderland Minster for her funeral Owen Humphreys/PA This Morning presenters Eamonn Holmes and wife Ruth Langsford arrive for the funeral Owen Humphreys/PA Flowers and messages are left at the funeral Owen Humphreys/PA

Follow @StandardShowbiz for more news.
I TVs crime drama Scott & Bailey returns with a brand new series.

The show, originally created by Happy Valley mastermind Sally Wainwright, will be bringing the Manchester detective duo back for three episodes as the Syndicate 9 team attempt to solve a dark and grisly murder plot.

Here are four things you need to know about the new series.

1) Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp are back as the detective duo

Scott & Bailey doesnt really work without, well, Scott or Bailey, but Suranne Jones profile has significantly increased over the last 12 months thanks to her stunning turn in Doctor Foster. Still, she's back as Rachel Bailey alongside co-star Lesley Sharp as Janet Sharp.

People identify with Rachel, Janet and Gill because theyre fallible, and its empowering to see women doing a good job in a position of authority, Jones said. Im so pleased that from our early ideas five years ago, it is still running and thats a long time in television these days!

2) Time has passed in the show

Its been nearly two years since the last series of Scott & Bailey aired, and a similar amount of time has passed in the show too.

In the meantime, Rachel Bailey has spent a year in London on a vice secondment, and returns to Syndicate 9 in Manchester as Active Detective Inspector. Janet Scott is still a Detective Inspector  but faces issues from her daughter Taisie whos now a teenager and is starting to cause trouble.

Janet and Rachel have always been close but Rachels secondment to Vice has put some distance between them, explains Sharp. Janet tried to stay in touch but it became clear Rachel was burning the candle at both ends. Rachel never went out of her way to pick up the phone and call, and Janet was lucky if she received a text back!

ITV

3) The series follows one big case

Consisting of three episodes, the new series of Scott & Bailey attempts a different structure to the previous runs  and this time follows one big, grisly murder case.

In fact, its not just one murder  and it quickly emerges that theres a dark and disturbing digital influence on the unfolding crime spree.

It is clear, very early on, Syndicate 9 are dealing with something more sinister than a single, indiscriminate murder, says Sharp. As the case unfolds there is a real sense of urgency to it. Their developments lead to very shocking and serious repercussions and its high stakes for them all.

Best TV dramas 2016 1 /38 Best TV dramas 2016 The Missing The addictive and twisty second series of the BBC's crime anthology series BBC/New Pictures/Robert Viglasky Dark Angel Joanne Froggatt stared as Victorian mass murderer Mary Ann Cotton in this ITV drama ITV Close to the Enemy Stephen Poliakoff's post-war drama thriller BBC/Little Island Pictures Ordinary Lies The BBC anthology drama returns with more twisted tales BBC/Red Productions/Adrian Rogers The Night Of Riz Ahmed stars in HBO's critically acclaimed crime mini-series HBO Cold Feet The classic ITV comedy-drama returns - and it's just as good as it ever was ITV Victoria ITV have given Poldark some stiff competition with this period drama about a young Queen Victoria ITV Poldark The BBC's hit drama returns with more brooding, and less naked scything BBC/Robert Viglasky One of Us The BBC kept everyone guessing with this claustrophobic four-part whodunit Ripper Street The fan-favourite Victorian police drama returned for Series 4 BBC/Tiger Aspect 2016/Bernard Walsh The Secret Agent Toby Jones led the cast in the BBC's Joseph Conrad adaptation BBC/World Productions/Mark Mainz/Matt Burlem The Living and the Dead The BBC's gothic romance debuted in full on iPlayer BBC Preacher AMC's adaptation of Garth Ennis' cult comic book is available week-by-week on Amazon Prime Amazon / AMC Versailles A raunchy royal romp around the court of King Louis XIV, spicing up Wednesdays on BBC Two Canal +/ BBC Locked Up The Spanish prison drama came to the UK thanks to Channel 4's Walter Presents series Channel 4 / Global Series Peaky Blinders The Birmingham-set gangster thriller was more popular than ever in its third series BBC/Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd/Tiger Aspect/Robert Viglasky The A Word The BBC gave us a nuanced and emotional take on autism BBC/Fifty Fathoms Marcella Anna Friel stars in ITV's British take on the Scandi-noir thriller ITV Grantchester James Norton is back as the crime-solving vicar ITV / Lovely Day Stag The comedy-thriller from the team behind The Wrong Mans is both hilarious and chilling BBC/Des Willie/Hal Shinnie/Matt Burlem Vinyl Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger present a glossy drama about the Seventies music industry HBO American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson Cuba Gooding Jr leads an all-star cast in a dramatic re-telling of the 'trial of century' BBC/Fox Happy Valley Sarah Lancashire returned as Sgt Catherine Cawood for a second series of the gritty crime thriller BBC/Red Productions/Ben Blackall The X Files Mulder and Scully return for a brand new set of mysteries War and Peace The BBC's epic adaptation of the Russian literary classic BBC/Mitch Jenkins Call the Midwife The BBC period drama moved into the Sixties for Series 5 BBC/Neal Street Productions/Sophie Mutevelian Dickensian Charles Dickens' most famous characters collide in this historical soap BBC Jericho ITV's British western set in the wilds of Yorkshire Silent Witness The hugely popular detective drama returns for a 19th series

4) Theres a new team member  and shes not popular with Bailey

With Bailey returning from a year in London, things have changed a bit in Syndicate 9  including the arrival of new team member DC Anna Ram, played by Jing Lusi. It soon becomes clear that Ram isnt at all popular with the returning officer.

Rachel instantly takes a dislike to [Anna], Suranne Jones says. Everything about Anna gets her back up and she doesnt take kindly to her inappropriate banter in front of their work colleagues.

ITV, 9pm
News / Africa

by Staff reporter

Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema says that he has received "unconfirmed reports" that president Jacob Zuma is planning to flee South Africa.The politician tweeted late on Sunday night that the party has received unconfirmed reports that "Zuma wants to leave the country and seek asylum in Dubai because he doesn't feel safe in his country."According to Businesstech , Malema previously claimed that Zuma had acted as bagman for the Guptas on a recent trip to Dubai, helping move R6 billion offshore using his diplomatic cover."Zuma was in UAE recently in Dubai. That was not an official visit, it was a personal one. Zuma took money to UAE. That is where they are dumping money. The Guptas have taken R6bn to Dubai," Malema told reporters at a press conference following the Constitutional Court judgment against Zuma."Zuma goes to Dubai on some unexplained trip. Why did Zuma go to Dubai? Because when Zuma travels, he doesn't get searched by customs. He left with bags of money to be dumped in Dubai. That is where they are dumping our money with the Guptas."The Presidency said Zuma had gone to the UAE for a working visit. It was said he was set to hold talks with UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and with the country's business community to consolidate political and economic ties and promote South Africa as a tourism destination.Zuma's visit to the UAE followed a two-day state visit to Saudi Arabia.
News / Local

by Staff Reporter

Former Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) P r e s i d e n t L o v emo r e Matombo faces the boot from the Communications and Allied Services Workers' Union (CASWUZ) after a vote of no confidence was passed against him by union structures.The Worker reported that the union's branches have ganged up against Matombo accussing him of overstaying in power beyond retirement age.Matombo 68, had been granted a three month extension at the helm of the union after pleading with congress to allow him to finalise his court case in which he challenged the legitimacy of the 2011 ZCTU congress which he lost with costs.In a letter to the Ministry of Labour and Social Services Registrar earlier this year a vote of no confidence was because the constitution prohibits members whoare approaching retirement age of 65 to run for office."After the lapse of the three months, members pushed for a special congress in which Matombo changed goal posts and indicated that a special congress was going to be held in December 2015.In breach of his promise, Matombo refused, failed and neglected to pronounce the date for the special congress despite numerous demands from themembers," reads part of the letter.Matombo also stands accused of abusing union funds in connivance with some executive members. He is accused of purchasing a vehicle, a Toyota Corona vehicle which, he registered in his name and later swopped it with another vehicle.Further accusations are that the executive converted to personal use union commission from TelOne (Pvt) Ltd amounting to US$31 000.An interim executive headed by Taurai Mereki has been put in place to run the affairs of the union.Biggie Antonio, the interim executive first vice president, said Matombo's conduct was anti-union and degrading to what he had spent his whole life fighting for."We are talking about a 68-year old chap who is seasoned in matters of democracy and succession.Matombo begged the union members at the previous congress on the pretext that he could not step down from his post because he had a pending court case against the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. We do not want to give him achance to destabilise CASWUZ the way he did when he lost the ZCTU elections. The courts have since cleared the issue and it is time for our long serving cadre to use the exit door," said Antonio.Matombo said: "Such matters are dealt with when we hold the elective congress. However, there are some members who declined to accept the congress position. I will not comment further on the issue."
News / National

by Happiness Zengeni and Golden Sibanda

PRESIDENT Mugabe has moved in to clarify the confusion over the interpretation of the indigenisation law, which he said undermined market confidence and increased the cost of doing business while weakening the country's competitiveness in the wake of a public spat between Cabinet ministers.The President's intervention puts to rest squabbles pitting Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa on one hand and his Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment counterpart Patrick Zhuwao on the other pertaining to the financial services sector.Said President Mugabe: "The banking sector shall continue to be under the auspices of the Banking Act, which is regulated by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, and the insurance sector under the auspices of the Provident and Insurance Act."This policy position is essential for the promotion of financial sector stability, confidence and financial inclusion. These institutions will, nonetheless, be expected to make their contributions by way of financing facilities for key economic sectors and projects, employee share ownership schemes, linkage programmes and such other financial empowerment facilities as may be introduced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe from time to time."Banks would use empowerment credits or quotas to contribute towards the indigenisation threshold with a greater emphasis on lending to key sectors of the economy. The President said conflicting positions on the interpretation of the law had caused confusion among Zimbabweans, the business community, and current and potential investors, thereby undermining market confidence.He made the clarification on the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Policy in a statement issued yesterday through Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Christopher Mushohwe.The President said businesses under the reserved sectors category were exclusively for Zimbabwean entrepreneurs except for existing ones and where a special dispensation was granted by the line minister.Reserved sectors include transportation (passenger buses, taxis, car hire services) retail and wholesale, barber shops, hair dressing and beauty salons, employment agencies, estate agencies, valet services, grain milling, bakeries, tobacco processing, advertising agencies and provision of local arts and crafts and marketing and distribution.However, he said the laws were not cast in stone and would be changed from time to time. "Government shall from time to time decide and publish in the gazette, any changes to the list of businesses falling under the sector," said President MugabeThe clarification limits the role of the Youth and Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Ministry by allowing line ministries to come up with models of compliance. The President said the ministry's role was to coordinate activities of line ministries in the implementation of the indigenisation policy through a Cabinet committee, chaired by the minister."Sector based empowerment credits or quotas will be granted to reflect the contribution of investors in such businesses to the national development efforts. "This will be agreed upon through negotiations involving relevant line ministries and investors."Zhuwao has recently been making pronouncements that conflicted with statements by Chinamasa and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya. While all of them agreed on Government's irreversible position regarding indigenisation and empowerment, Minister Zhuwao's seemingly combative approach seemed to unnerve investors while he seemed not to recognise superiority of the Banking Act in that regard."It is therefore fit and proper that I provide clarification on this very vital national policy, for the guidance of Government Ministers, the business community and would-be foreign investors," said President Mugabe."To the extent that the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act does not sufficiently conform to this policy position, I have directed that the law be amended or changed forthwith accordingly," the President said.The Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act compels foreign owned firms in Zimbabwe, valued from $500 000, to sell at least 51 percent of their shareholding to indigenous black Zimbabweans.The President reiterated Government's unequivocal position on empowerment, saying the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy was meant to grant Zimbabweans ownership and control of the means and factors of production, said the policy position was to bring indigenous people into the mainstream of the economy.He said Government had sub-divided the economy into three main sectors namely resources, non-resources and reserved sectors. He said Government attached great importance to the indigenisation of the resources sector due to the finite nature of minerals."Government has therefore, a sacrosanct duty to ensure that such resources are exploited in a manner that safeguards the best interests of the country's current and future generations," the President said."As such, in terms of the policy, Government and or its designated entities will hold a 51 percent stake in businesses in the natural resources sector, with the remaining 49 percent belonging to the partnering investor(s)."The need for investors in this sector to comply with prescribed indigenisation obligations is therefore non-negotiable," the President added. However for existing businesses in the Natural Resources Sector where Government does not have 51 percent ownership, compliance with the Indigenisation and Economic Policy should be through ensuring that local content retained in Zimbabwe by such businesses is not less than 75 percent of gross value of the exploited resources.Local content refers to the value retained in Zimbabwe in the form of wages, salaries, taxation, community ownership schemes, and other activities such as procurement and linkage programmes.In terms of the non-resources sector the President said in this sector should exhibit economically desirable strategic objectives that contribute towards turnaround and sustainable socio-economic transformation, among them beneficiation and value addition of minerals.He also said the desirable objectives include transfer of appropriate technology to Zimbabwe to enhance productivity, that created employment and impart skills, the granting of ownership and or employee share schemes for value to Zimbabweans and the developing and creating of linkage programmes, enterprise development, value chains and other desirable objectives, as may be defined by responsible minister, for the purpose of attracting foreign direct investment.
The Boy Scouts are gearing up once again to host their annual Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner on Thursday, April 28 at 6 p.m. at the Gering Civic Center. The annual event is a chance to recognize the contributions of an individual in the community and also serves as a fundraiser for the scouting program. This year the Tri Trials District of Longs Peak Council of Boy Scouts will honor retired dentist, Dr. George Schlothauer.

Schlothauer is a native of Gering and graduated as a Bulldog in 1962. He then attended the University of Nebraska and graduated from the UNMC College of Dentistry in 1969. After college, Schlothauer joined the United States Navy, where he served as a lieutenant stationed with the Marine Corps in Da Nang, Vietnam.

Schlothauer then married his wife, Barb, in 1971. The two returned to Gering in 1973. They have three sons, George Matthew, Mark and John, all of which live with their families in Gering. Schlothauer practiced dentistry in the area until his retirement in 2009.

Schlothauer has also been involved with many community groups, including the Gering School Board, where he served as president as well as a member of Scottsbluff-Gering Rotary, Leadership Scottsbluff, Scottsbluff-Gering United Chamber of Commerce and Teammates. Through his many activities, Schlothauer also received the Gering/Scottsbluff United Chamber of Commerce Trail Blazer of the Year Award in 2013.

Schlothauer has also served in statewide groups as well, including serving as president of the Nebraska Dental Association. While president he was able to help establish the UNMC College of Dentistry Hygiene program currently located at CAPWN in Gering. He is also a current board member of the Legacy of the Plains Museum and Northfield Retirement Communities. He also is the chair for the Gering Downtown Revitalization Project.

The district finance chairman for the scouts, Kevin Sandberg, said the event is a wonderful opportunity to honor a man who has been so involved in the community.

Ive known Dr. George for years and years and this is a great honor for him. If you look at the people who have received it in the past it is quite a distinguished list, said Sandberg. Especially with what he has done over the last couple of years, its a great way to just come out and honor a man who has done so much for the community.

Sandberg said that Schlothauer was selected through their selection committee, which goes through several nominees every year.

There is a list of names that people bring in who are prominent in the community. It is our job as a committee then to discuss each of these candidates and then pick who best fits the award, said Sandberg. There isnt exactly a set way to do it, its mostly through committee discussion to decide who we should recognize that year.

The fundraiser includes dinner, which will have beef and chicken options for the main course, as well as salad, sides and a dessert. Tickets start at $100 for an individual and $150 per couple. Tables for full groups can be reserved as well.

After dinner, there will be a master of ceremonies, an introduction of the award winners families, and the presentation of the award itself.

To purchase your tickets or reserve a table, you can contact the local Boy Scout Office at 632-4179 between 1 and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

The MDC-T is vigorously mobilising resources and funds in preparation for the mass demonstration against economic crisis and $15 billion missing from diamonds sale.Party official Chalton Hwende posted on Facebook calling for donations such as cash to help the protesters with drinking water and transport.The march is slatted for April 14 in Harare."Let's all join and support the people's march on the 14th it begins with You. If you are unable to attend you can contribute and buy water to drink for those attending or help with transport fee. $10 will get us 10 activists in town and another $10 can help buy 40 bottles of water for those participating. A lot of unemployed people want to participate help them with transport," Hwende said.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

A political analyst Robert Dadirai has said the mass protest against the disappearance of $15 billion organised by the MDC-T is illegal as that should only be investigated by the police.The MDC-T has planned to conduct a mass protest on April 14 against the $15 billion reportedly disappeared from diamonds and the abduction of citizens suspectedly by the state security agents."People should not take law into their own hands. The demonstration which will be launched by MDC-T and its supporters is illegal," he said. "Most of its reasons and points for demonstration are basing on the 15 billion and the abducted individuals and in both cases this should be investigated by the police not to conduct a national demonstration."He said if Morgan Tsvangirai has evidence of the disappearance of Itai Dzamara or the missing $15billon let him help the police to bring the perpetrators to book not a political demonstration."Tsvangirai is using the people of Zimbabwe," Dadirai said.
HASTINGS, Neb.  Although the announcement that Gov. Pete Ricketts will speak at Hastings College commencement has stirred dissent among some students, the colleges president says the governor will speak as scheduled.

A petition titled Let Our Voices Be Heard was started after the college announced Wednesday that Ricketts will be the commencement speaker May 14.

The petition calls on Hastings College President Don Jackson to express Hastings Colleges support of LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer, intersex, asexual) students and commit to promoting diversity on campus in his final address at the 2016 Commencement ceremonies. Furthermore, we demand that graduating seniors hereafter be included in the Commencement speaker selection process.

The petition was started under the organization change.org. As of Monday evening, 368 people had signed the online document.

The announcement that Gov. Ricketts has agreed to serve as our commencement speaker has definitely sparked some campus discussion, Jackson said Monday.

For the most part, Jackson said, I consider the discussion to be good. Its been very civil. I actually think this kind of discussion on a college campus is excellent, and encourage it.

People are sharing their concerns and thoughts about the commencement speaker, although not everyone Im hearing from is opposed, thats for sure, Jackson said. Many want it to remain a campus issue and a campus debate rather than engaging in outside or off-campus groups.

Taylor Gage, the governors spokesman, commented on the petition: College campuses have historically been a place where students take an interest in issues, and the beauty of democracy is that we are all free to exercise our opinions. Governor Ricketts looks forward to commencement, where he will celebrate the academic achievement of the graduates, encourage them to be active in their communities, and to give back as they move forward.

Jackson, who has been the colleges president for three years, said he has responded to every email and text hes received about the issue. He doesnt know how many people involved in the effort are current Hastings College students. But some of the people signing the document are alumni or members of the community, he said.

We think this is a great opportunity to talk about issues that are important to our community here, and one of the things thats important to Hastings College is that we be a very welcoming community. And Im very supportive of that, he said.

I would say, in general, bringing speakers to campus can spark important discussions on critical issues and help us better define who we are as a campus community, Jackson said.

Jackson said he looks forward to continuing the discussion.

We dont have to agree on everything, he said. But the one really important point is that Gov. Ricketts isnt coming to our campus because of his political views or anything else. Hes the highest-elected official in the state of Nebraska and hes coming here to celebrate our graduating senior class. Thats the sole purpose of his visit.

No one has asked that the college withdraw its invitation to Ricketts, Jackson said. And it certainly would not be something that I would consider, he said. Inviting a sitting governor, regardless of their political views or affiliation, is entirely appropriate for commencement.

Some people dont agree with Ricketts stands on certain issues, one in particular, Jackson said. That issue  involving the concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people  raised the attention of some of our campus community, he said.

Its an important concern on our campus, and our campus has been a very welcoming campus, said Jackon, who added that hes personally very supportive of those students.

The petition was started by the Social Justice League at Hastings College.

The organization does not want Ricketts to be replaced as speaker, said Becca Preisendorf, a senior from Grand Island. No, thats not what we want at all, she said.

Rescinding an invitation to the governor would reflect very badly upon the college, said Preisendorf, whos a member of the Social Justice League. The group hopes that Jackson, in his final address to the schools seniors at graduation, will speak in support of LGBTQIA students so they know the administration supports them, and that they are affirmed as members of the community.

The Social Justice League also hopes that measures are taken to prevent this from happening again in the future, she said. The organization would like students to have input in the choice of future commencement speakers, Preisendorf said.

One person who commented on the petition, Grace Rempp, wrote: This years commencement speaker does not represent the voices of our student body and faculty. While Hastings College administration claims that it is making progress towards inclusion, this choice represents a deep institutional hypocrisy on our campus. And its a real shame.

The private college has an enrollment of about 1,200.
Cats arent the only pets that get stuck in trees.

Just ask the firefighters who rescued a Great Dane from a high bough in rural Louisville, Nebraska, late Saturday night.

Youre not going to believe this, one Plattsmouth firefighter said to another after receiving the call for help about 10:10 p.m. They said theres a 125-pound Great Dane stuck 20 feet up in a tree.

They werent the first in disbelief.

Wes McGuirk, the dogs owner, couldnt believe his ears and eyes when, after searching his home, yard, barn and garage for his dog, Kora, he heard a soft whining from above. McGuirk said he pointed his flashlight up the tree, and there she was, like a little owl perched in a tree, with her eyes looking at me.

Yep, my Great Dane is in a tree, he thought. He and his friends had to get cellphone pictures.

Responding deputies and firefighters also had to take cellphone shots. A video of the rescue, posted on the Facebook sites for Elmwood Volunteer Fire and Rescue and the Plattsmouth Volunteer Fire Department, drew about 25,000 views and more than 300 shares.

We just couldnt believe it, McGuirk said. It just doesnt make physical sense that she could be that high in a tree.

The unusual rescue ended well for Kora, who was caught in a canvas tarp after being partially lowered with a harness and long leash.

While McGuirk was in Omaha on Saturday, the 16-month-old bluish-gray Great Dane/mastiff mix apparently leapt a 5-foot fence and scrambled up the tree  probably while chasing a raccoon or squirrel.

When McGuirk returned home and found Kora, he climbed a ladder into the tree and tried to coax her toward him. When that didnt work, he called the Cass County Sheriffs Office.

That night, the firefighters from Plattsmouth and paramedics from Elmwood were covering for the Louisville Volunteer Fire Department, which had been holding a recognition dinner for its crew.

Kora was scared, said Jacob Blunt, an Elmwood firefighter and paramedic. We could see her shaking from the ground, he said. She didnt want to come down.

Fortunately, a K-9 officer with the Cass County Sheriffs Office, Deputy Rob Rice, had a harness to use.

A firefighter slipped on the harness, attached to a 16- to 20-foot leash, and nudged Kora off the branch. The stitching on the harness gave way about 4 or 5 feet into the descent, said Lt. Jon Hardy of the Plattsmouth Fire Department. The dog fell into the tarp, not touching the ground except for one paw that tore through the tarp, he said.

Kora scampered away and resumed just being a dog, McGuirk said.
This week, Nebraska public transit providers are observing Public Transit Week.

Its the second year of the event, which was organized by members of the Nebraska Association of Transportation Providers, the Nebraska Department of Roads and the University of Nebraska.

Do you know how to access public transportation in Scottsbluff-Gering? Outside of the area? Is there even public transportation in your community?

To date in the Panhandle, public transportation has remained small. Scotts Bluff County offers a public transportation program  in fact, they recently changed the name to Scotts Bluff County Public Transit from the previous moniker of Handi Bus to highlight the program is available to all citizens. A good move, in my opinion.

Sidney, Chadron and Alliance offer programs that are well-publicized. I have found that Sidney offers the most information about its public transportation program. When researching for a friend, I found information on Sidneys public transportation program on a variety of different websites, with routes and other detailed information. Asking the question, do I know how to access public transportation  a 2014 Rural Transit study says that seven of the Panhandle counties offer public transit services.

Information on transportation providers could certainly use improvement. According to a 2014 survey on intercity bus services, a scheduled route exists to transport people from Chadron to Norfolk and one service covers the entire Interstate  well, until you get to Ogallala. Service is touted in the survey as being provided to Dawes, Deuel and Sheridan County. I may not be in the know  and there are others who are  but Id never heard of these providers until reading this survey. Do they still exist two years later? Does the general public know about them?

Many Nebraskans are not aware that they have access to public transportation in their communities, Bill Bivin, rural transit manager at the University of Nebraska at Kearney Safety Center, said in a press release on public transit week. Public transit week serves as a vehicle for us to spread that message.

It seems that the week could also be used to highlight the increased need for public transportation in rural areas. In 2005, it was highlighted as one of the most pressing needs by a Nebraska Department of Roads survey. And, while programs may be available, further assessment needs done. How many programs exist that can transport you from city to city? As a board member at Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska, an oft-expressed need is for Pine Ridge or other Panhandle residents to be able to get transportation to Scottsbluff or other communities for health care. How do you make it to your out-of-town appointment if you do not have a vehicle?

And  in a scenario that occurred to me as a young single mother  what happens if you have an emergency that takes you to the hospital in an ambulance in the middle of the night? How do you get home without a taxi cab or other service that operates after 4 p.m.? Or, how do you get home if you work the late shift at any job?

Public Transit Week did spur me to take a look at the programs that are within the Panhandle. However, I think we could do some service for the Panhandle in highlighting the need for transportation services and the populations that could be served by them.

For lower income individuals, public transportation can be a more than just a want ... It can be a necessity. For the rest of us, it could be a convenience that helps improve our communities.
This page is archived. Data published after 5 April 2022 can be found on the renewed website. Go to the new statistics page

Published: 13 April 2016

Turnover in manufacturing contracted by good 2 per cent in November to January

According to Statistics Finland, turnover in manufacturing in the November to January period was 2.4 per cent lower than in the corresponding period of the year before. Domestic sales grew by 1.2 per cent and export turnover contracted by 4.7 per cent from one year ago.

Three months' year-on-year change in turnover in manufacturing (C) sub-industries (TOL 2008)

Turnover went down from the corresponding period of the previous year in nearly all. Turnover decreased most in the chemical industry, by 9.8 per cent, and in the electrical and electronics industry, by 4.9 per cent. More turnover than in the previous year was generated only in the textile, clothing and leather industry, 8.9 per cent, and in the forest industry, 2.6 per cent.

Three months' year-on-year change in turnover in main industrial categories (TOL 2008)

The turnover of allalso declined. The turnover in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply contracted by 1.5 per cent, in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities by 2.2 per cent, and in mining and quarrying activities by 3.6 per cent year-on-year.

The index of turnover in industry describes enterprises whose main industry is manufacturing. The calculation of the indices is based on the Tax Administrations value added tax data which are supplemented with data obtained with Statistics Finlands sales inquiry. The monthly turnovers of manufacturing enterprises can vary considerably, especially in the metal industries. The variation is mainly due to invoicing practices. The final invoice for major machinery deliveries and projects may be recorded in the sales of one month, even if the delivery had required the work of several months or years.

Source: Index of turnover in industry 2016, January, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Atte Lintila 029 551 2914, Kirsi-Maaria Manninen 029 551 2681, myynti.teollisuus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Mari Yla-Jarkko

Publication in pdf-format (346.4 kB)

Updated 13.4.2016

Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Index of turnover in industry [e-publication].

ISSN=1798-596X. January 2016. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 23.10.2022].

Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tlv/2016/01/tlv_2016_01_2016-04-13_tie_001_en.html
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News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Heal Zimbabwe has expressed concerns over the lack of publicity on the currently lined up public hearings on the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) Bill as the public would not be aware of such events."The process is already flawed as it does not have adequate geographical and demographic coverage, wide enough to gather representative public views for a viable and inclusive national healing legislation. Only 15 public hearings are being held, commencing today the 11th to the 20th of April 2016," reads the statement."While the public hearings are a welcome opportunity for survivors of violence and communities seeking healing, justice and reconciliation, the Parliamentary process ignores the import of educating and dispersing knowledge to the public prior to consultations."Heal Zimbabwe said the public are barely going to input to the Bill which they do not know of its contents."It is of great importance to ensure that people are aware of the contents of the bill before launching public consultations. The dearth of information particularly in rural communities regarding the Commission which naturally should be a Commission that deals and works with survivors directly, reveal gross inconsistencies," said Heal Zimbabwe. "It is Heal Zimbabwe's firm belief that soon after swearing in of the NPRC Commissioners in December 2015, Parliament should have commenced public awareness on the bill in preparation for the public hearings."The organisation said the move to rush the public to attend public hearings on the bill without adequate information on the bill, is a violation of Section 62 the Constitution which provides for access to information where every Zimbabwean citizen has the right of access to any information held by the state or institution or agency of government."The move to give a ten day period for public hearings shows lack of sincerity on the part of Parliament. The possibility of carrying out hearings on the bill within ten days across the 10 provinces, defeat logic and common sense," reads the statement."Only 15 public meetings are being held in a country with 59 districts and 1 200 wards. Worse still, all the public hearings are being held in urban areas yet the most affected victims and survivors of violence reside in rural areas where cases of political violence were very high. Like other provinces, Manicaland Province has only 1 meeting in Mutare making it difficult for people in Checheche, Mapungwana or Nyamaropa to attend. Interested participants will have to travel hundreds of kilometres. 6 public hearings in Hwange, Plumtree, Lupane, Marondera, Chinhoyi and Bulawayo will be held late afternoon from 2pm which leaves members of the public with little time to contribute.""This also implies that in some instances, participants will have pay for accommodation. Given the economic hardships being experienced by many, the cost to attend the hearings remains beyond the reach of many."HZT said it is also greatly concerned about the silence of political parties regarding the NPRC Bill and public hearings yet their members are either perpetrators or victims of human rights violations."As involved parties, we urge them to encourage their members to meaningfully participate in the public hearings to ensure the NPRC does not become one of the many docile Commissions but fulfil its mandate of justice, reconciliation and healing," reads the statement."Heal Zimbabwe conducted public meetings on the NPRC Bill (between January and March 2016) where it discovered that majority of the participants expressed lack of knowledge on the NPRC functions and the gazetted Bill. We therefore, urge the Parliament to increase the number of public meetings to improve geographical coverage of its consultations."The organisation said Public awareness raising campaigns remain a crucial exercise. Most importantly, Heal Zimbabwe encourages members of the public to mobilize their peers to participate in the public hearings."Heal Zimbabwe under its NPRC campaign will closely monitor the public hearings and other follow on processes to gauge whether the voice of the affected is taken into consideration," reads the statement.
Experts had been cautious about making a definitive link despite a surge of babies born with a rare birth defect in Brazil during a Zika outbreak. The virus is mainly spread by mosquitoes, and no mosquito-borne virus had ever been known to cause birth defects.

But on Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there's enough evidence now to declare Zika the cause of a birth defect called microcephaly (my-kroh-SEF'-uh-lee) and other brain abnormalities.

CDC officials said their advice to pregnant women won't change. Pregnant women should avoid traveling to places where the Zika virus is spreading, mostly in Latin America and the Caribbean.
News / National

by Staff Reporter

Bulawayo Labour Court judge Justice Moya-Matshanga has reinstated an employee who was two years ago dismissed by his employer, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) for taking annotated statutes into an examination room, a practice that is prohibited by the employer in terms of its standing instruction.The Worker reported that Alphaeus Makhado who was employed as a revenue trainee appealed against the decision to expel him by his employer.He was suspended on the September 23 2013 and was then subsequently charged with carrying out an act, which is inconsistent with the express or implied conditions of the contract of employment. (D 25 charge).Makhado was subsequently arraigned before a disciplinary committee, and discharged after a hearing.On his grounds of appeal Makhado said the appeals committee grossly misdirected itself both at law and in fact in that it did not consider that the appellant is the one who alerted the invigilator by sighing indicating that he had noted that the reference books he was about to use in an examination had some markings."The respondent became overzealous and rushed to conclude that the appellant was intending to check without any basis at law. Critical to note is the fact that a person is supposed to be clearly aware of the act which is being carried out. In this case the appellant was not aware that he had been given marked books of reference," he said.Makhado added: "It is common cause that if the trainers (invigilators) had found the appellant doing anything covered by this provisions they were going to disqualify him. It must be noted that trainers are the custodians of the training centre standing instructions and thus it Exam cheating taxman reinstated follows that they do understand it thoroughly. Please take note that appellant was allowed to proceed with the examination and wrote other subsequent examination papers after the alleged misconduct."He raised a plethora of issues in which he argued the appeals committee erred and grossly misdirected themselves in basing their verdict and penalty on assumed cheating instead of possession of marked books.In her ruling Justice Moya Matshanga said there were no valid reasons for the termination of employment."I say so because the whole case hinges on whether he cheated or not. In my view there is no evidence of cheating," she said."It was not proved. The notes in the reference book can hardly be with any stretch of the imagination be given the status of course notes. They are not. Had the student been answering a question relating to that particular page, it would have been a different story; it however turned out to be irrelevant."In the circumstances I do not think the employer should have charged him at all. In the result I do hereby set aside the dismissal and order as follows: The appeal be and is hereby upheld."Justice Matshanga further ordered the respondent to release the examination result of the appellant as well as reinstating the appellant to his former position without loss of salary and benefits."Where reinstatement is no longer an option, the respondent is hereby ordered to pay the appellant damages in lieu of reinstatement, the quantum of which the parties are supposed to agree. In the event that the parties fail to agree on the said quantum of damages, they are to approach the court for quantification."The respondent was also ordered to pay the costs of the appeal.
Peruvian iron ore export prices decline 30.6 percent in February

Wednesday, 13 April 2016 23:44:13 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo



Peruvian iron ore export prices in February declined 30.6 percent, year-on-year, according to information released by the nations central bank, BCRP.



According to BCRP, export prices for the commodity in February declined to $22.5/mt from $32.4/mt in the same month of the year prior. On a month-on-month basis, iron ore export prices recovered from $19.8/mt in January.



Average export prices for the January-February period was $20.8/mt, down from $35.1/mt in the year prior.



Iron ore export volumes in February reached 700,000 mt, down from 1.2 million mt in January and from 1.1 million mt in February 2015. As for the accumulated period of January to February, the commoditys export volumes declined to 1.9 million mt from 2.2 million mt in the same period of 2015.





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By MARK EVANS mevans@stegenherald.com During last Thursdays county commission meeting, the topic of tourism came up. First District Commissioner Karen Stuppy reported on the Tourism Advisory Council and Tourism Tax Commissions joint meeting earlier that week, at which a task force was formed. She said that the tourism department has an $89,548 budget, with $45,000-50,000
News / National

by Bruce Ndlovu

Local fans of Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi will have to wait a little longer to have a taste of the superstar's latest gospel offering as the album is exclusively available to those in South Africa for now.Last week, Tuku publicised his 10-track gospel compilation, God Bless You: The Gospel Collection south of the Limpopo after its release there a fortnight ago.According to Tuku's drummer and publicist Sam Mataure, a local album release had not yet been pencilled in, as attention was still on marketing the album in South Africa were it was released.Mataure however promised a tentative local release date for the end of this month."The album has been out for a fortnight, but only in South Africa. At the end of the month after we've taken stock of how it's doing, we might then launch it in Zimbabwe," Mataure said.He refused to elaborate on why the album was targeted at South Africa saying although he was not aware of Tuku's artistic vision, the artiste might release another full length gospel album at the end of the year."Later on in the year when we've seen how this album was received, we might consider recording new songs for another album."A week after God Bless You was released Tuku gave an interview on SABC 2 where he said the album was inspired by the desire to give fans a gospel album."It's not moving from jazz to gospel. If you got through my catalogue there's always two or three gospel songs on every CD. There was a demand of having an album made up of gospel songs only," he said.Tuku also shed light on his creative process, saying he drew most of the content from the lives of people."As long there're people, there's something to talk about. And when there's anything to talk about, there's something to sing about.Everything comes back to the people," he said.Local fans may however download the new album on iTunes and Spotify among many other digital music downloading platforms. The album contains tracks Apo Jesu Anouya, Chinyarara, Pfugama Unamate, Mamutora, Nditungamire, Baba Ndinodisa and Hakuna Zita among others. Those in Bulawayo may however be lucky to sample some of the songs when the artiste performs in the city later this month.
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Delphi Automotive Plc has won an appeal with the Internal Revenue Service, allowing it to be treated as a British company for tax purposes after it reincorporated in the UK, the auto-parts supplier said on Wednesday.

The IRS concluded on Friday that Delphi would not have to adjust its 2009 and 2010 tax returns, the company said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The U.S. Treasury Department last week took new steps to close tax loopholes that allow companies to lower tax bills by redomiciling overseas. This prompted Pfizer Inc. to call off its proposed $160 billion merger with botox maker Allergan Plc.

President Barack Obama has repeatedly urged lawmakers to curb the tax-avoiding corporate "inversions."

"Delphi Automotive was established as a new limited liability partnership in 2009 by a group of investors to acquire some of the assets of the former Delphi Corporation," the company said in a statement. "As such, the company should not be treated as a U.S. company for U.S. federal income tax purposes, which is what the appeals process affirmed."

Delphi shares rose 4.5 percent to $75.62 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Delphi, once based in Troy, Mich., was a part of General Motors Co until 1999. It emerged from a four-year bankruptcy in October 2009 and formed a limited liability partnership registered in Gillingham, England.

The company, whose automotive technology is used to develop self-driving vehicles, went public in 2011.

That year Delphi said it had asked for an exception to the IRS's proposed anti-inversion rules. When the rules were issued in 2014, Delphi was not given an exception and the company made its appeal.

Delphi also said in its SEC filing that it would repurchase $1.5 billion of its shares, and affirmed that it would increase dividends by 16 percent in 2016.

The new repurchase program will start once the current one is completed. The company has a market cap of about $20 billion.

Delphi also said it expected sales growth of 8 percent to 10 percent in 2016, excluding acquisitions.
ST. LOUIS  Weeks after signaling that a heavy debt load and weak coal demand could push it into bankruptcy, Peabody Energy surprised few when it filed for Chapter 11 protection here on Wednesday.

The fall of the worlds largest coal company is the starkest example of the plunge in the coal industrys fortunes over the last few years. Yet with the grace period on a skipped interest payment ending this week and the failure of a big mine sale Peabody was counting on to raise cash, the news wasnt unexpected.

All signs were pointing to it coming, said Kris Inton, an analyst at Chicago-based Morningstar.

As a hub for big coal, the St. Louis region has been at the center of several large coal bankruptcies in recent years. Peabodys rival and the nations second-largest coal mining company, Creve Coeur-based Arch Coal, filed for bankruptcy protection in St. Louis in January. Peabody spinoff Patriot Coals first bankruptcy was heard here in 2012, and St. Louis-based Foresight Energy also warned of a bankruptcy risk last month.

But Peabody has been one of the more prominent corporate names in the region, especially when times were good. It is one of the largest companies headquartered in the city of St. Louis, its former CEO serves on the board of Washington University and it has sponsored numerous civic organizations.

In recent years, however, it has had to pare its giving and its downtown workforce from about 600 people to the roughly 375 who now work at its Market Street headquarters.

The decline coincided with both the rise of cheap natural gas from fracked shale fields and environmental regulations that have discouraged investment in U.S. coal plants. No new coal plants are being considered domestically, with utilities instead turning to gas plants and wind and solar energy.

The U.S. Energy Information Institute predicts natural gas will overtake coal as the top source of electricity generation this year. Already, U.S. coal production is down 32 percent from last years levels.

Abroad, a slowdown in China and other developing economies has sapped the worlds hunger for steelmaking coal from mines that Peabody paid hefty prices to acquire.

After the acquisitions of 2011 through 2012, international coal prices began a downward cycle dropping to their lowest levels in 2016, Peabody Chief Financial Officer Amy Schwetz said in a bankruptcy filing Wednesday. This, coupled with lower volumes, resulted in the Companys debt burden becoming unsustainable.

Peabody has $10.1 billion in liabilities and $11 billion in assets, according to a court filing.

A large chunk of Peabodys debt came from its 2011 deal to buy Australian miner Macarthur Coal Ltd. for $5.2 billion, a transaction it hoped would position it as a key supplier to Asian countries undergoing rapid urbanization.

The debt load is for sure an issue and I would imagine the bankruptcy process here will be one of cleaning up the balance sheet, said James Gellert, CEO of Rapid Ratings International, a New York firm that evaluates companies health and default risks. I dont by any stretch see this as the end of Peabody. I see this as a classic restructuring.

Thats what Peabody has argued  its problem is a debt-induced one, it has cut expenses enough to make its operations cash-flow positive and it believes coal demand should stabilize from levels depressed by incredibly cheap natural gas. Peabody has said it will remain in St. Louis, the global headquarters for a company that even last year, its worst, managed to generate $5.6 billion in revenue.

Peabody is open for business, company spokesman Vic Svec said Wednesday. There are no impacts and no effects from todays announcement on jobs, on offices or on operations.

The company has secured debtor-in-possession financing of $800 million and expects to continue operating normally through bankruptcy.

However, depending on what the St. Louis bankruptcy court lets Peabody do to tame its balance sheet, local entities, some retired miners and states with unrestored mining land could be picking up some of Peabodys tab.

In St. Louis, the Peabody Opera House was the most prominent marketing sponsorship paid for by the coal industry giant.

But a sponsorship payment of almost $1.35 million to Opera House JV LLC is listed as one of the coal companys largest unsecured claims. Christopher McKee, one of the developers behind the $78.7 million renovation of the old Kiel Opera House that opened as the Peabody in 2011, was listed as a contact for Opera House JV.

In a statement, Chris Zimmerman, president and CEO of business operations for the St. Louis Blues, Scottrade Center and the Peabody Opera House, said Peabody Energy continues to be a valued partner.

Peabody Energy played a critical role in supporting the reopening of one of our citys iconic landmarks, the Peabody Opera House, and in doing so helped immensely in the continuing revitalization of downtown St. Louis, Zimmerman said. Our relationship with Peabody Energy remains strong and unchanged as the company progresses through its filing process.

And as companies such as Peabody and Arch file for bankruptcy, worries have mounted that the firms could leave taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars in mine cleanup costs. The companies practice of using their own assets to pledge cleanup costs rather than paying for surety bonds has come under scrutiny in recent months.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has warned taxpayers face $3.6 billion in unfunded cleanup costs if coal companies fail and have their cleanup obligations removed from the balance sheet.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan last month called on Peabody to prove it had the financial wherewithal to cover $92 million in cleanup costs at the companys three Illinois mines. Environmental groups pledged to follow bankruptcy proceedings to ensure Peabody follows through on its cleanup obligations in Illinois and elsewhere.

In a statement Wednesday, Peabody reiterated that it intends to continue to work with the applicable state governments and federal agencies to meet its reclamation obligations.

Environmental groups pointed to the bankruptcy as a sign that the world is turning away from coal. But internationally, coal plants are still being built, and without more stringent regulations on carbon or other pollutants, U.S. utilities will continue using coal in power plants with remaining useful life for decades.

Coal wont ever be back at the 50 percent share of U.S. electricity generation it claimed at the beginning of the century, Inton said. But it still had one third of electricity generation last year, and the federal government predicts coal will supply over 25 percent of electricity 15 years from now even under its Clean Power Plan regulations to curb climate change-causing carbon dioxide emissions. By reducing its debt, Inton thinks Peabody can emerge from bankruptcy as a profitable company.

When you look at coals share, today is probably abnormally low, Inton said. Even if gas picks up to $3 (per million British thermal units), coals share will be lower than it had in the past. But theres still a share there, and someones going to have to supply that.
News / National

by Staff reporter

ZANU-PF's declaration of the late Victoria Chitepo a national heroine should not be seen as a sincere gesture as the party was responsible for the assassination of her husband, Herbert, says Tendai Biti.Victoria was found dead in her house last Friday morning, apparently dying as she was preparing to attend the ruling party's central committee meeting.Zanu-PF officials, including President Robert Mugabe, immediately issued condolence messages, lauding the widow of former Zanu-PF chairman who was killed in a car bomb in 1975.Victoria, who served as cabinet minister in independent Zimbabwe, will be buried on Wednesday at the National Heroes Acre.But Biti said all that amounted to shedding crocodile tears.The People's Democratic Party President said Zanu-PF leaders should not be seen shaken over the death of Victoria as they were responsible for the killing of her husband in Zambia during the liberation war."Zanu-PF was responsible for the death of the late great Herbert Chitepo. That is why after independence they failed to hold a new inquest into his death as they were responsible for his death," said Biti in an interview.He added, "Zanu-PF has been responsible for the death of many prominent heroes up to Rex Nhongo (Solomon Mujuru). They are not being sincere in mourning Victoria Chitepo as they should have carried out a post-independence inquest into the death of her husband but they did not as they were involved in the murder."Herbert died on 18 March 1975 in Lusaka when a car bomb, placed in his Volkswagen Beetle a night before, exploded. He and Silas Shamiso, one of his bodyguards, were killed instantly.At the time of his death, Herbert was the Zanu chairman. Then Zambian president, Kenneth Kaunda, locked up many Zanu leaders including the late Josiah Tongogara. Kaunda commissioned an inquiry into Chitepo's death and documents released in October 2001, placed the blame on Zanu-PF infighting at the time.In 2001, Victoria was quoted demanding that the killers of her husband, a prominent African lawyer, be brought to justice.
NEW YORK  The prospect of a near-term bankruptcy for solar giant SunEdison Inc. also threatens the separate companies it created to hold renewable energy assets  the so-called "yieldcos."

The companies  TerraForm Power Inc. and TerraForm Global Inc.  will likely avoid bankruptcy but may not escape unscathed, analysts and restructuring experts said.

A judge could rule that the yieldcos must be included in a SunEdison bankruptcy, analysts said. The companies could also be sold.

Either way, a potential bankruptcy filing by the Maryland Heights-based solar company would be unpredictable for the yieldcos because all three companies are so intertwined.

The filing could come as soon as this week as SunEdison reaches the end of a grace period set by lenders stemming from its delayed annual report.

TerraForm Global and Power said in a joint statement to Reuters that the companies "do not rely substantially on SunEdison for funding or liquidity" and can support their operations on their own.

A SunEdison spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

SunEdison controls TerraForm Power and Global by holding the majority of their voting shares. On their own, both companies have stronger financials than their parent.

TerraForm Power, the larger of the two companies, recorded profit of $2.4 million and debt of $2.5 billion at Sept. 30, 2015, according to its most recent quarterly report. TerraForm Global reported a loss of $82.9 million and $1.2 billion in debt the same date.

The companies are valued for the dividends they pay to investors. Their shares closed Tuesday at $9.52 and $2.58, respectively, compared to SunEdison's at 40 cents.

The companies' original relationship with SunEdison gave them call rights  essentially right of first refusal  on projects in the Edison pipeline. But the future of those projects is in jeopardy because of SunEdison's financial problems, which also threatens the yieldcos future revenues.

A SunEdison bankruptcy could further dampen the yieldcos' prospects.

SunEdison has not transferred projects in Uruguay and India to TerraForm Global on time, the yieldco said in public documents. TerraForm Power, focused on domestic markets, may also be at risk of not receiving projects as SunEdison tries to sell off assets in Colorado.

"If the yieldco never receives any additional assets in the future, they're stuck with limited income every month, as the sun shines and wind blows," said Jeffrey Osborne, an analyst at Cowen & Co. who covers SunEdison.

A SunEdison bankruptcy could also cause defaults in the credit agreements at the individual projects for TerraForm Global and Power, but the banks are unlikely to call in the debt as long as the projects are performing, said Swami Venkataraman, an analyst at Moody's Investors Service Inc.

The yieldcos also rely on SunEdison to make interest payments for them  longstanding arrangements worth tens of millions of dollars each year. Those agreements could be nixed in bankruptcy, according to a public filing, leaving both of them to fend for themselves.

Both companies, which have no employees of their own, also rely on SunEdison for back office functions. But hiring staff, Venkataraman said, would not push either yieldco into bankruptcy.
U.S. federal health regulators have proposed banning Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes from the blood-testing business for at least two years after determining that the company failed to fix deficiencies at its California laboratory, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) said in letter dated March 18 that it planned to revoke the lab's federal license and ban Holmes and Theranos's president, Sunny Balwani, from owning other labs for at least two years, the Journal said.

The proposed ban would include Theranos's only other lab, located in Arizona, which along with the California lab generates most of the company's revenue, the Journal said.

The Journal said CMS gave Theranos about 10 days to provide adequate evidence of why the sanctions should not be imposed. Theranos had responded and the CMS was reviewing the response, the WSJ said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

A Theranos spokeswoman told Reuters that the CMS had not imposed any sanctions on the company as yet.

Theranos had promised to shake up medical testing by conducting a wide range of tests with just one drop of blood in a user-friendly manner with quick results.

The company has been in the spotlight after reports in the Wall Street Journal suggested that the blood-testing devices were flawed and had problems with accuracy.

The CMS in January had said that deficient practices at the California lab posed an "immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety."

Around that time, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., the largest U.S. drugstore chain, said it would stop using the services of the lab until all issues raised by the CMS were addressed.
With an epidemic of obesity spreading insidiously across this country, most colleges have moved toward low-fat, low-calorie offerings in their dining halls.

But where these other schools zig, Lindenwood University zags. Next year, the St. Charles campus will offer fast-food options from Qdoba and Chick-fil-A, plus Caribou Coffee.

But perhaps there is a very good reason for the shift.

The food has sucked for a long time, said Eva, a student who, like the other students I talked to, did not want to give her last name.

College students have complained about their food for as long as there have been colleges. And students. And food.

So a complaint is to be expected. And then a student named Anna showed me her plate, which she had pushed to the side.

On it was a sickly gray disc with random spots of brown, a weird hunk of pressed reddish meat that resembled an early, rejected prototype of the insides of a McRib sandwich and a corn-on-the-cob that looked like it was frozen and reheated until it took on the approximate texture and taste of a memory-foam mattress.

The vegetable patty, for that is what the gray disc was meant to be, had two small bites taken out of it; the boneless rib and corn were apparently untouched. Anna had, however, eaten all of her rice.

And she said a friends chicken once was raw on the inside. He posted a picture of it to an online message board, but the university took it down, she said.

But it could be worse. In fact, according to the students I talked to, it has been worse. They noted a marked improvement in the quality of food over the last few years. Still, it is no wonder that the students are looking forward to a couple of nationally known fast-food chains on campus next year.

It is fast food, and it could be junk food, but if you have the culture and the knowledge of how to pick, you can make healthy choices, Eva said. And there is the rub.

A chicken sandwich, small order of waffle fries and a medium Coke from Chick-fil-A will sock you with 920 calories. Even so, that is less than a standard chicken burrito with brown rice and pinto beans from Qdoba, which tips the scales at more than 1,000 calories.

Then again, these are college students; they have the metabolism of chipmunks. They can probably eat pizza every day and not gain an ounce, and some of them try to do just that. A little junk food in moderation is not going to harm them, as long as they dont make a habit of it.

Changes will be made at both dining facilities on the well-manicured campus. The Spellmann Center, which the students I talked to agreed is currently home to the worst food, will be the site of the fast-food outlets plus a couple of in-house options. The more-respected Evans Commons will continue to offer several stations (Italian food, Mexican food, salad bar, etc.) but will offer all-you-can-eat portions and a rotation of selections that changes weekly at each station.

The food service program is run by Pedestal Foods, a Ballwin-based food provider originally founded by a Lindenwood alumnus. Pedestal is responsible for bringing in the fast-food outlets, and chief operating officer Jennifer Dodd said the change was determined after extensive surveying of the students.

Out of a list of a dozen or more options, the students said they wanted Chick-fil-A and Qdoba. There are many other fast food joints near campus, though reaching a few of them requires crossing the busy and dangerous street known variously as First Capitol Drive and North Kingshighway Street. Safety was one of the schools priorities in announcing the changes, Dodd said.

The other was money. The school, which is home to the John W. Hammond Institute for Free Enterprise, was tired of seeing students dollars being spent for food off campus. Every year, about $4 million to $6 million is spent by students to eat at other restaurants, and the school wanted to recapture some of that, she said.

As for the students, they are excited about the changes. The dining-hall food should improve, and Qdoba and Chick-fil-A arent any more unhealthful than other fast-food joints.
Update: The original version of this column contained the wrong date for a highway commission meeting. The headline was misleading because of that incorrect date and has been changed.

When a federal judge in Texas handed down a $663 million fraud verdict last summer against the Dallas-based maker of guardrails used on highways all over the country, a lot of people started seeing dollar signs, including a few in Missouri.

Since that June verdict, which stemmed from a whistle-blower complaint, Trinity Industries Inc. has faced a slew of lawsuits from states, cities and counties, as well as several wrongful death actions filed by individuals.

At issue is whether Trinity improperly changed the design of the end-terminals on guardrails that are supposed to absorb impact to protect accident victims from harm. The company is fighting allegations that the changes made to the design create a possibility that shards of metal will break off and cause physical harm or death to drivers or passengers.

In Missouri, one lawsuit in particular bears watching.

Filed in November by Jackson County, the lawsuit seeks class action status in alleging negligence by Trinity in designing the ET-Plus guardrail end terminals that are found throughout the state. The lawsuit alleges the terminals are defective, unsafe and unreasonably dangerous.

The proposed members of the class  which would have to be approved by the judge  include the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County and the Missouri Department of Transportation, or MoDOT.

Missouri has been at the forefront of the national debate over the Trinity guardrail end terminals.

In 2014, Missouri was one of the first states in the nation to stop using the Trinity ET-Plus end terminals. That decision came after a University of Alabama study paid for by the nonprofit Safety Institute and the Missouri transportation commission found the Trinity terminals were nearly four times more likely to be involved in a fatal wreck.

Now Jackson County  with the state potentially riding along  is suing Trinity for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars.

The lawsuit was filed by John Schirger of the Kansas City law firm Miller Schirger.

The Miller in Miller Schirger is Stephen R. Miller, who happens to be the vice chairman of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, which oversees the transportation department. Miller was the chairman of the commission at the time the lawsuit was filed.

It would seem quite a potential conflict of interest for Millers six-attorney firm to file a lawsuit with such a direct connection to the transportation commission. While MoDOT is not yet a member of the class, and the commission would have to approve such a move in a future vote, the potential for Miller to profit from his public service is obvious.

So how did Millers firm get the Jackson County business?

Jackson County counselor W. Stephen Nixon didnt return calls for comment. He has been criticized lately for the countys habit of issuing no-bid contracts, including a consulting contract recently to former county executive Mike Sanders.

Asked about the lawsuit and the potential for conflict of interest, Miller said, I cant comment on that.

The commissions ethics policy requires any attorney who believes their firm is handling a case that might be adverse to the commission or MoDOT to file a disclosure.

When asked for any disclosures Miller made to the commission regarding a lawsuit against Trinity Industries, the commission produced only minutes from a closed meeting in February 2015.

In that meeting, held Feb. 3-4, MoDOT director Dave Nichols addressed the commission regarding guard rail end treatments legal issues. After discussion began about the possible procurement of counsel, Miller recused himself.

Heres where it gets even more curious.

In its letter to me, signed by Pamela J. Harlan, the secretary to the commission, the state asserts that Millers recusal in a closed meeting is attorney client privilege and exempt from disclosure under the Missouri Sunshine Act.

In other words, even if Miller did disclose a potential conflict of interest, the commission believes it could keep that from the public.

It didnt  at least once I asked about it  but what happens the next time some member of the public seeks accountability from the states transportation commission? What good is disclosing a conflict of interest involving public money if the public isnt allowed to know about it?

Trust us, the commission seems to be saying. Thats not going to fly in the Show-Me State.
BENTON, Ill.  A high-speed chase involving a Kentucky man and officers from multiple agencies ended Tuesday when the man was fatally wounded by police after he fired several shots, according Illinois State Police Lt. Michael Alvey.

Joshua Moreno, 38, of Bowling Green, Ky., was the man fatally shot.

About 3:03 p.m., the Franklin County, Ill., Sheriffs Department received a report of a residential burglary, police say. Witnesses reported the suspect leaving with multiple firearms. Alvey said officers located the suspect and began pursuit at 3:06 p.m.

During the pursuit, the suspect hit a deputys vehicle after refusing to stop and fired at officers, Alvey said. The suspects vehicle then became disabled on Interstate 57, and he carjacked another motorist and continued to flee.

Alvey said the pursuit continued south of Benton, where the suspect left the vehicle and continued to fire at officers. He said multiple departments responded, and the suspect was eventually shot by officers and pronounced dead by Franklin County Coroner Marty Leffler.

Several police cars had Illinois Route 37 south of Benton blocked off for several hours. Benton is about 100 miles southeast of St. Louis.

The loss of life in the incident was tragic, Alvey said.

Our sympathies are with the family and Benton community, he said. This incident underscores the importance of good citizens willing to make a difference and report suspicious behavior.

Alvey said there were no known injuries to anybody in the community or to any officers.

The incident is under investigation by the Franklin County Sheriffs Office and the state police, he said.

Authorities did not take additional questions during a news conference outside of the Franklin County Sheriffs Office, citing the investigation.
ST. LOUIS  A convict serving time at Algoa Correctional Center in Jefferson City argues in a lawsuit he wrote that he should be freed soon because the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole ruled on his case without having a full board seated.

But the state is fighting back, saying the move would have an absurd result.

Harry L. Shaffer, 47, a construction worker who has been homeless at times, filed the lawsuit March 9 in Cole County, where he is serving 7-year sentences for domestic assault and theft.

Representing himself, Shaffer argued in the six-page filing that the parole board could have decided to release him as soon as this summer, but that the board agreed, July 2014, that his conditional release date would instead be in 2018, according to the suit.

Shaffer claimed that his parole was denied by a partial board of five members and that steps hed made in prison to make the necessary changes in his life were ignored.

He argued that there is no way to determine how his progress would have been viewed by the two missing parole board members or if their opinions would have swayed the others. As a result, he claimed he should be freed July 25, his minimum mandatory release date.

A September Post-Dispatch report about the parole board showed that while state statute requires the board to have seven members, two of the seats had been sitting vacant, one since June, the other since February 2014. In November, Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, announced appointments to fill the board.

Several inmates have considered filing similar lawsuits.

Michael Spillane, of the Missouri Attorney Generals office, filed arguments in court Tuesday saying Shaffers lawsuit should be dismissed. He said Shaffers challenge of the 2014 parole board decision is beyond the statute of limitations.

He added that the parole board denied his early release because of the seriousness and circumstances surrounding Shaffers offense, and because in light of his history of criminal involvement there does not appear to be a reasonable probability he would live and remain at liberty without again violating the law.

Spillane agreed with Shaffers interpretation of the law that says the parole board must have seven people.

Vacancies on the Parole Board may occur from time to time, Spillane wrote. But the statute does not say or mean that all parole hearings must be cancelled until vacancies are filled, or that all inmates due for a parole hearing must automatically be released if there is a vacancy on the Board.

That is what Shaffer really argues. And that would be an absurd result.

Also on Tuesday, Spillane filed a proposed decision, judgment, and order, saying as much. Date and signature lines were left blank for Circuit Judge Daniel R. Green to fill in.

A hearing in the case is scheduled May 23.
News / National

by Staff reporter

President Robert Mugabe last week revealed how he survived a first round election defeat to MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai in 2008 and the ridicule he suffered on the international stage because of his questionable legitimacy.Mugabe told war veterans in Harare that he decided to keep army, intelligence and police chiefs in their jobs despite that they had passed retirement age to help him recover from the embarrassing loss.The securocrats have been fingered in the political violence that forced Tsvangirai to pull out of the run-off poll after several MDC-T supporters were killed or displaced.Mugabe said even after he won the controversial run-off, the international community ostracised him, with Botswana leading the charge.The 92 year-old ruler said the late Botswana vice-president Mompati Sebogodi Merafhe told him openly at an African Union (AU) meeting that he stole the victory from Tsvangirai."Anyway we agreed [to the unity government] with the scolding from Tsvangirai and even at the AU, I was humiliated by the late Botswana Foreign Affairs minister Merhafe and other presidents that we had lost elections," he said."Merafhe, he is late now, even went to the point of telling me that the seat I was in was supposed to be occupied by Tsvangirai."I could not do anything but just keep quiet praying time will pass".Tsvangirai had argued he had won the poll by over 74% and then MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti was charged with treason after announcing the opposition party would form a government.The charge was only rescinded during talks to form the government of national unity.Mugabe also publicly admitted for the first time that he had used the military to win the 2013 elections."We then reorganised ourselves [after the 2008 loss] and the war veterans realised what had happened, we thank them for that," he said."That is why I kept these men [pointing at army generals] in their positions even though they had long reached retirement age."We said we must fight this war first then we will see what happens later."The 2013 election was a war that we fought and you came right," said Mugabe before asking Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander Constantine Chiwenga to "please stand up".Mugabe blamed his electoral setback on the late army general Solomon Mujuru, Simba Makoni and Dumiso Dabengwa.Makoni left Zanu-PF on the eve of the 2008 elections to form Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn, while Dabengwa revived Zapu.The two later joined hands in an attempt to push Mugabe out of power.
St. Louis County has been awarded a $2.25 million grant to reduce its jail population and improve online access to municipal courts.

The grants come from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a Chicago-based organization that has awarded more than $5 billion in grants since 1978 to support creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.

The county will work with the University of Missouri-St. Louis on the project. Although the effort to obtain a MacArthur grant started more than a year ago as an effort to reform the countys municipal courts, the focus changed as the foundation steered the proposal toward tackling incarceration, said Beth Huebner, professor of criminology and criminal justice at UMSL and lead researcher on the grant.

Most of the grant will be used to help reduce the population of the St. Louis County jail by 15 percent to 19 percent. The jail is almost always within single digits of its 1,200-inmate capacity, she said.

The grant will fund pretrial release programs that target the disproportionate incarceration of minorities and members of low-income communities, a large number of whom are jailed for nonviolent crimes such as probation violations or repeated failures to pay child support.

Keeping a few hundred defendants out of jail will have no impact on public safety, Huebner said, because those who qualify for pretrial release are subject to a rigorous screening process.

Some awaiting trial can spend 100 days in jail, Huebner said, a devastating separation from their families and jobs.

If they had any positive connections to the community, they are likely severed, she said. A robust pretrial release program would hopefully keep them with their job, working, with family and friends and keeping social relationships up.

A two-year pilot program has proven effective, Huebner said.

The program also focuses on people on probation, who are typically jailed for violations. The program will implement a speedy hearing process for those with technical violations, such as missing a curfew. The goal is to have a judge see a defendant within 10 days of incarceration and match the defendant with caseworkers, probation officers and community partners. Some probationers will be monitored electronically.

The grants are part of the foundations Safety and Justice Challenge, a national initiative to provide $75 million to reduce overincarceration by changing the way America thinks about and uses jails, the foundation said. St. Louis County is one of 11 jurisdictions to receive grants between $1.5 million and $3.5 million. Nine other jurisdictions will be given $150,000 grants to continue their reform work.

About one-quarter of the grant will be used to help municipal courts reach defendants online. The county will have a website that will serve as a centralized information portal for people facing municipal charges. A text-based reminder system will include basic court appointment reminders, information about payment options, court addresses and court policies.
JEFFERSON CITY  A Missouri House committee on Tuesday night took up a controversial measure dealing with same-sex marriage that has drawn national attention and a business backlash in the last month.

The resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 39, would ask voters to change the state constitution to shield clergy, some businesses and certain religious organizations from legal liability and government penalties if they oppose same-sex marriage. It already passed the Senate and only needs House approval to make the ballot.

No vote was taken in committee Tuesday night.

The House Emerging Issues Committee hearing coincided with the launch of Missouri-Competes.org, a nonpartisan website listing more than 100 businesses, chambers of commerce and other entities that oppose the measure.

Last week, about a dozen St. Louis-area business leaders  including executives from Ameren, Express Scripts, BJC HealthCare, Monsanto and Edward Jones  signed on to a letter asking that the House strip the bills most controversial provisions.

Businesses and others have panned provisions that grant protections to wedding vendors and other religious organizations, including hospitals, charities and other entities with religious ties. They also worry about more lawsuits, mainly from employees who could be disciplined by managers for not selling goods to gay people.

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 from St. Louis business leaders reads, in part.

Proponents, including state Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, have said that the measure is a shield and not a sword, meant to protect those with religious beliefs from participating in same-sex weddings.

Missourians are going to resent being bullied by corporate elites, Onder said at the hearing Tuesday night. I think that we are being told by corporate elites that you either do what we say  dont protect religious liberty; dont protect what you believe are peoples constitutional rights under the First Amendment  or were going to punish you.

State Rep. Anne Zerr, R-St. Charles, wondered why the House couldnt strip the provisions business leaders disagree with.

If we had more time on this bill, could we make it ... (is there) perhaps a better way that we could come to some agreement? Zerr asked Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican who testified in favor of the SJR.

If the House approved an amended resolution, the measure would have to go to a House-Senate conference committee, burning up time before lawmakers adjourn on May 13.

Time is fleeting, Kinder said. Four weeks remain after this in the session. I think you know that the  were trying to put something on the ballot this year so that people can hear a debate.

Rep. Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield and the committee chairman, said he was hesitant about amending the bill.

Democrats have charged that Republicans are trying to put the measure on the ballot to increase conservative voter turnout during a presidential election year. Republicans have denied that.

Onder said the bill comes down to whether people should be forced to violate their conscience. He compared the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to legalize same-sex marriage with its decision to legalize abortion in Roe v. Wade.

Missouri business group pans same-sex marriage measure The chamber of commerce joins Monsanto, MasterCard, Nixon and other Democrats in opposing constitutional change.

The question remained unanswered: What is the right of doctors and nurses who decline to participate in abortion because of conscience reasons? Over the ensuing years the consensus arose that people of faith had a right to decline participation, Onder said.

Toward the end of the five-hour hearing, it was clear most opponents and most proponents of the measure didnt agree on much.

I grasp the concept Im never going to be able to convince the proponents of this bill that denying the access to products in the stream of commerce is discrimination, said state Rep. Mike Colona, D-St. Louis, the only openly gay member of the Missouri Legislature.
JEFFERSON CITY  Fighting off repeated calls that they resign, the officials in charge of St. Louis County elections vowed Wednesday to remain on the job to rectify irregularities that disenfranchised untold numbers of would-be voters in the countys April 5 balloting.

My plan moving forward is to continue to put controls in place and get this right, moving forward, Democratic Elections Director Eric Fey told reporters at the conclusion of a sometimes contentious four-hour state House hearing. Legislators were investigating the circumstances that resulted in incorrect or insufficient ballots at more than 60 county precincts in elections to choose municipal officials and school board members.

Im absolutely heartsick over what happened, Fey said.

Fey and his Republican counterpart, Gary Fuhr, however, refused to be swayed by pointed suggestions from St. Louis area lawmakers that they step aside.

You should resign and those under you should resign. Period. Point blank, said Democratic Rep. Joshua Peters, whose St. Louis district abuts the county.

Rep. Courtney Allen Curtis, D-Ferguson and Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, the legislators who summoned Fuhr and Fey to appear before the House Task Force on Election Procedures and House Special Committee on Urban Affairs, frequently echoed the same sentiment.

There has to be grave consequences for what happened, Dogan said.

The questioning at times assumed a racial edge, as Dogan and Curtis wondered aloud why elections commissioners fired former state Sen. Rita Days as elections director after polling places fell short of ballots in the countys November 2014 general election.

Days is African-American. Fey, her successor, is white.

If the precedent was set (by Days dismissal) then we need to follow due process, Curtis said.

The task force and special committee will ultimately issue a report on the disclosures that surfaced during the fact-finding hearing. Dogan and Curtis say it will include recommendations on how St. Louis County can avoid the problems that have now plagued two elections in just under 18 months.

The election leaders face the potential of a more dire outcome next week when the Board of Election Commissioners  their bosses  convenes for the first time since April 5.

Fey declined to speculate on what awaits at the April 19 board meeting.

Director Fuhr and I will present the same information that was presented today and they will make their decision based on that information, he told reporters.

Election officials also have a May 10 hearing date to explain what occurred to the St. Louis County Council.

Republican West County Councilman Mark Harder, who pushed for an earlier hearing, attended the Wednesday morning session in a Capitol hearing room.

I had to come to Jefferson City to find out what is going on in St. Louis County, the councilman lamented.

Separate systems

Fey said a review by county election officials and an Election Integrity Unit inquiry ordered by Secretary of State Jason Kander traced the issues that materialized April 5 to a late February court order that necessitated ballot alterations in the tiny municipalities of Mackenzie and Uplands Park.

The state and county rely on separate systems to register voters and match the ballots with the proper polling places and precincts.

Those systems, ideally, are synchronized. In this instance, the integration didnt mesh.

We were proofing against a database that was incorrect and that we didnt know until Election Day, Fey acknowledged.

Fuhr and Fey said the situation was compounded by a federal mandate that electronic voting machines be used for the March 15 Missouri presidential primary.

The officials said the exclusive use of paper ballots on April 5 was driven by their determination that the three weeks between elections were insufficient to recalibrate the touch screen voting mechanisms.

Finally, sheer numbers conspired with the other circumstances as officials struggled and failed to meet the voting demands of 90 municipalities with 432 polling places and 323 ballot styles to accommodate a multitude of school and municipal elections and ballot measures.

We handle as many different ballot styles as the rest of the state combined, Fuhr told lawmakers. Which is why we have issues.

Political theater

Fuhr and Fey werent the only officials on the hot seat. By the time the gavel ended over four hours of testimony, there were equal demands that Kander be held accountable along with Nixon, who selects members of the county election board.

The governor appoints four commissioners  two representing each party  to the St. Louis County Election Board. The commissioners in turn select a Republican (Fuhr) and Democrat (Fey) to direct election administration. The director of the same party as the sitting governor serves as lead director.

There was also support Wednesday for legislation to strip election board appointments from the governor and hand them to St. Louis County voters, a proposal Kander also has advanced.

The idea received no traction from Wes Wagner, the Jefferson County Elections Administrator. Jefferson County, like St. Charles and most other Missouri jurisdictions, elects the officials administering its polls.

Wagner nonetheless testified Wednesday that it doesnt make sense for the person running for the office to be counting the ballots.

The demands for resignations, restructuring and election reform drew criticism from several legislators.

Rep. Lauren Arthur, D-Clay County, was one of several members decrying what she termed the political theater that played out over two hours Wednesday morning and a similar amount of time in the afternoon.

But Curtis, chairman of the urban affairs committee, made no apologies.

You have one job and that is to allow people to vote, he told the directors. And when that doesnt happen, there has to be consequences.
JEFFERSON CITY  For the second time in a week, Republicans in the Missouri Senate put Planned Parenthood under a microscope Wednesday.

After stripping funding for the abortion provider during a contentious debate last Thursday, lawmakers spent Wednesday debating a Republican plan to formally call a top Planned Parenthood official to appear before the chamber.

Republicans want to launch contempt proceedings against Mary Kogut, president of Planned Parenthood of St. Louis and Southwest Missouri. The Senate also wants Dr. James Miller of Pathology Services Inc. to appear in Jefferson City on April 25.

The move, which sparked outcry from Democrats and supporters of the states lone abortion provider, came in response to Planned Parenthoods failure to turn over documents pertaining to fetal tissue disposal and other information during hearings last year by a special Senate panel.

The legislation, which was not voted on Wednesday, calls for Kogut and Miller to appear before the full Senate to explain why they did not comply with a formal request to appear at a hearing last year.

Planned Parenthood contends the 2015 subpoena was overly broad, onerous and would violate patient privacy laws.

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Planned Parenthood expressed concern that the documents sought by the Senate would breach the privacy rights of patients.

"It is deeply concerning that health care providers could be jailed for protecting patients privacy Kogut said. We are disappointed that the Senate is pursuing the Senate Resolution which overrules Planned Parenthood's specific legal objections including those about patient privacy.

The organization said it is attempting to negotiate a settlement with the panel.

"We have been trying to achieve a reasonable resolution with the Senate Rules Committee and will continue to work towards one that protects patient privacy, the statement noted.

Republican Sen. Kurt Schaefer, who is running for attorney general, said the Senate is only interested in the processes used in the disposal of fetal remains.

The misinformation campaign has been unbelievable, Schaefer said. The Senate is not seeking any personally identifiable medical records.

Lawmakers launched an investigation of Planned Parenthood last year after videos surfaced alleging the abortion and health care provider illegally sold fetal tissue. Planned Parenthood has denied these allegations and Attorney General Chris Koster, a Democrat running for governor this year, found no evidence of wrongdoing in Missouri.

A grand jury in Texas investigating the videos later found the activists involved in the videos allegedly tampered with government documents. In addition to felony charges, the activists also face a misdemeanor charge related to purchasing human organs.

Under the Senates action, Kogut and Miller would appear before the Senate for questioning. The Senate would then decide whether they are in contempt based on their answers.

If found in contempt, they could face $300 in fines and up to 10 days in jail.

Schaefer said there is little case law to guide the Senate on how to proceed.

This is plowing new ground, Schaefer said.

But, he said, I dont think there is any argument that the body does not have the authority to issue these documents.

Republicans said the Senates rare action is needed because Planned Parenthoods reaction to the committees work could become a precedent in the future.

To just thumb your nose at it is completely unacceptable, said Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City.

Democrats suggested that the subpoena was flawed since it was not handed directly to Kogut. And, they disagreed with allegations that the organization didn't respond to the Senate's original request for information.

"The Senate got its response from Planned Parenthood," said Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, referring to a 2015 letter the organization sent back asking for clarification on what materials were being sought.

In addition to the contempt allegations, Schaefer and his GOP colleagues are trying to shut off Planned Parenthoods funding stream. In the budget plan being crafted by Republicans, an estimated $380,000 earmarked for the organization would be eliminated.

In leading the fight for contempt charges, Schaefer has become a target of supporters of Planned Parenthood. On Tuesday, about two dozen supporters of Planned Parenthood delivered a petition with more than 1,700 signatures to his Capitol office.

Schaefers resolutions are Senate Resolution 1793 and 1794.
JEFFERSON CITY  Legislation designed to protect student journalists from being censored by school officials advanced in the Missouri Senate Wednesday.

The measure, known as the Walter Cronkite New Voices Act, would require public schools and universities to ensure student reporters are given the same degree of First Amendment rights they would receive as professional journalists.

The proposal is similar to one approved last year in North Dakota, which would prevent school authorities from exercising prior restraint over student media except when they are about to publish libelous or slanderous material, invade privacy, violate state or federal law or incite students to create a clear and present danger to the institution.

It also would restrict authorities from disciplining student journalists or controlling their activities outside of school.

We want to be seen as being on the side of First Amendment rights for student journalists, said Rep. Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, the bills sponsor.

Journalism professor Bob Berglund of Missouri Western State University said the proposal could help the state avoid further court battles like the 1988 Supreme Court battle pitting student journalist Cathy Kuhlmeier against the Hazelwood School District.

Kuhlmeier was editor of her high school newspaper when the schools principal barred the paper from printing articles on teenage pregnancy and alcohol addiction.

The bill has already been approved in the House. It now awaits further debate in the Senate.

The legislation is House Bill 2058.
CLAYTON  The top officials overseeing polling in St. Louis County have a Wednesday morning date in Jefferson City to face lawmakers questions about how the agency botched balloting in two key elections in fewer than 18 months.

Meanwhile, the St. Louis County Council has set a hearing for May 10 on the same topic.

West County Councilman Mark Harder objected to the timing of the hearing.

I thought we could get it done a lot sooner, said Harder, adding that council leadership rebuffed a suggestion that all six election commissioners attend the hearing, known as a Committee of the Whole.

A lot of things that happened were policy issues, Harder said. And because the (whole) board sets policy, we need to hear from them.

Council Chairman Mike OMara cited scheduling conflicts for pushing the hearing into next month.

The delay will provide council members time to see what state legislators learn Wednesday morning in a Capitol hearing room.

We want to understand what happened to cause 61 precincts to receive an insufficient number of or incorrect ballots in the April 5 municipal election, said Rep. Courtney Allen Curtis, D-Ferguson. Especially since a similar incident with enough ballots happened in (November) 2014. And with two more elections in August and November, we want to make sure it wont happen again.

Curtis is chairman of the House Special Committee on Urban Affairs.

His committee, along with the House Task Force on Election Procedures and Accountability, has summoned St. Louis County election directors Eric Fey and Gary Fuhr to a hearing on a system that last week might have prevented hundreds of votes from being cast in scores of municipal and school board races.

Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, vice chairman of the elections committee, said the scope of questioning will not be limited to the roles that Fey and Fuhr played in what public officials from Gov. Jay Nixon on down have characterized as an election debacle.

Dogan and Curtis say committee members also will grill the directors on the qualifications of the 70 full-time patronage employees  35 from each party  drawing paychecks from the election bureau.

The legislators said the line of questioning was prompted by insinuations that political connections, rather than an interest or background in elections, are the basis for most election office hires.

You expect people to be hired for their accomplishments, not who they know, said Dogan.

An election junkie

Fey is one person at the divisions Maplewood headquarters who cannot be accused of having anything less than stalwart credentials in electioneering.

Upon receiving a graduate degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the south St. Louis County native spent three years as an election board employee.

The experience, he told a reporter in 2015, turned him into an election junkie.

It also led to a friendship with a county election official, Paul DeGregorio, who would later become the chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

For Fey, the relationship with DeGregorio led to postings as a volunteer election observer in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Macedonia.

Fey was chosen by the six-member election board to serve as lead director.

Missouris governor appoints the bipartisan election board. In turn, the board selects two of its members  one Republican, one Democrat  to serve as directors. The director affiliated with the party holding the governors office acts as the lead director.

The county funds the election division but has no jurisdiction over its operation.

Fey replaced former state Sen. Rita Days, let go by the board after the agency was forced to print and then commission air passage to fly emergency ballots from Kansas to St. Louis when polling places fell short of ballots on a countywide election day in 2014.

In an election administration it absolutely cannot be that way, Fey told the Post-Dispatch in 2015. Were here to run elections, were here to work together and it absolutely starts at the top.

Secretary of State Jason Kander ordered a review by his offices Election Integrity Unit of last weeks polling turmoil. Kander praised Fey and Fuhr last week for taking full responsibility for what occurred at polling places on April 5.

But Curtis and Dogan believe accepting blame is an incremental step in correcting a problem they say has become endemic.

Wednesdays hearing, the legislators promised, will not be the last word on St. Louis County elections.

To gauge the impact on the public, they invited county residents to visit a new website  movotesmatter.com  to share their experiences at county voting precincts this year and in the past.

A lawyer who represented former state Rep. Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood, in the recount of the contested November 2014 election will testify Wednesday.

Stream lost a close race to Steve Stenger, now the St. Louis County executive.

Who should chOose?

Curtis and Dogan at the same time expressed disappointment that Kander, whose office oversees elections across the state, did not accept a committee invitation to appear at the hearing Wednesday.

Jason Kander is the one who needs to answer for this, said Dogan. The Legislature doesnt conduct elections  its not in our job description. But it is in his job description.

Kander spokeswoman Stephanie Fleming said the secretary of state intends to respond to written questions submitted by the committees on Monday.

We have already provided the task force with our offices preliminary external review of the situation and will provide them with more information when we have it, Fleming said in an email response to a reporters query.

The legislative committees and secretary of state, she added, have pledged to keep an open dialogue on the fallout and possible remedies to the issues raised by the April 5 election.

Fleming said the Election Integrity Unit is continuing its inquiry and will issue a final report when the investigation is complete. She did not provide a time line.

Dogan indicated that the hearing Wednesday may signal the start of a movement to remove control of election boards from the governor.

Although the deadline for introducing new bills in the 2016 legislative session has passed, Dogan would not rule out future legislation to place the choices for election boards in the hands of voters in cities and counties across the state.

Stenger said Tuesday that the possibility of voters having a say on election board members is a conversation worth having.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Police in Harare have turned down a request by the opposition MDC-T to hold a protest march against the government's alleged misrule tomorrow, citing shortage of security details.MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai's spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka yesterday said that his party was now considering taking legal action against police.This came as Tsvangirai yesterday addressed students at the University of Zimbabwe and urged them to take to the streets to force the Zanu-PF government to honour its election promises and guarantee students' freedoms.
News / Press Release

by Jacob Mafume - PDP National Spokesperson

The presidential statement issued on Tuesday by Robert Mugabe to clarify the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy is an attempt to mislead the nation and other international stakeholders.However, it has not dawned on Zanu PF that it can fool some people some of the times but cannot fool all the people all the time.Mugabe's statement is being celebrated in some circles as a progressive development that offers and provides a Damascene moment to the Zimbabwean economy given the hard-line stance the nonagenarian leader has often toured.However, in our view, the statement is a mendacious and dishonest spin intended to arm Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa who is currently in Washington D.C, USA for the World Bank's spring meetings with a propaganda tool.The statement, like the Zimbabwe Staff Monitoring Programme, is therefore lipstick on a pig in order to seduce gullible members of the international community by creating a semblance of reform.As the People's Democratic Party (PDP), we have always argued that the indigenisation policy, which places 51% in local ownership and 49% in foreign investment, will not work and won't work.The indigenisation and economic empowerment policy has been a disaster for Zimbabwe and is responsible for preventing foreign direct investment (FDI).In 2015, Zimbabwe received a paltry $400 million in foreign direct investment.In his statement, Mugabe deals with four issues.Zimbabwe is endowed with serious natural resources in the form of gold, platinum and chrome. These minerals require huge investments to mine. For instance, to start mining for platinum, a minimum of $400 million is required.It is virtually impossible to get a serious foreign investor to put such a large sum of money and become a minority shareholder in the business.This arrangement is absurd as they are mining giants such as Zimplats, which are valued at over US$1 billion who dominate this sector. How will local Zimbabweans be expected to afford money to purchase 51% of Zimplats, Murowa Mines, Metallion Gold, Rio Tinto and Anglo American shares? Even if such money was to be raised it would be far more prudent to invest it on the upper levels of the minerals value chains such as beneficiation.With regards to the non-resource sector, Mugabe has directed that sector-based empowerment quotas will be granted and agreed upon through negotiations involving the relevant line ministers and the private investors.This negotiation as far as the PDP is concerned will lead to corruption. It does not work and will result in ministers owning mansions and offshore accounts as in the past.Leaving Zanu PF ministers alone to negotiate privately with investors will result in corruption.Regarding the reserved sectors, nowhere in the Indigenisation and Economic Act is there a provision of the reserve sector. Mugabe is ultra vires the Act. We are aware that the Zimbabwe Investment Authority Act has some sectors being reserved for certain sectors such as retail and wholesale.On the reserved sectors, it is absurd that only local companies will allowed and forcing out foreign owned companies such as Spar, Pick and Pay and Meikles Stores. This is pure madness as most Zimbabwean entrepreneurs lack adequate capital to run large departmental stores and will thus lead to shortages and fixing of prices much to the detriment of the consumers.We make the point once again that Zanu PF and Mugabe have failed and should resign immediately.Our prayer is that the international community, which is intended to be fooled by Mugabe and the Zanu PF government, will not be fooled.No one can put lipstick on a pig.Indigenisation cannot be softened or clarified; it simply needs to be repealed.
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.
News / Regional

by Sukulwenkosi Dube

A PLUMTREE magistrate has issued a warrant of arrest against a senior police officer who failed to turn up at the Plumtree Magistrates' Court yesterday to testify in a smuggling case.Assistant Inspector Costa Matigwene, who is stationed at Police General Headquarters Intelligence Directorate in Harare, was recently ordered by magistrate Gideon Ruvetsa to testify as a State witness.Prosecutors said Ass Insp Matigwene had not communicated to explain his no show and the magistrate ordered that he be arrested before remanding the smuggling case to April 27.Matigwene is a key witness in a matter involving a Botswana national, Clement Sindisa Willie, 27, and a Zimbabwean, Itai Chivhunga, 32, who are facing a charge of smuggling 2,750 litres of fuel from Botswana into Zimbabwe.The pair is being represented by Prince Butshe of Mcijo, Dube and Partners. Matigwene is one of the police officers who intercepted the two alleged smugglers at the Plumtree Border Post.Prosecuting, Stanley Chinyanganya said Willie and Chivhunga tried to smuggle the fuel into the country on February 11 but were arrested as they left the border complex."On February 11 around 11PM, police officers were on duty at the border when they observed a Botswana registered motor vehicle going through the entry gate without being stopped."The cops followed the vehicle along the Plumtree-Bulawayo Road and stopped it after it had travelled for about four kilometres."They found Willie alone in the car," he said.Chinyanganya said a search was conducted and police discovered 2,750 litres of petrol which was stored in several plastic containers.
25 May 2016

Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

At the World Humanitarian Summit in May 2016, states and other partners reaffirmed their commitment to humanitarian principles and promised to put people at the center of humanitarian action.

Our Pledge



In support of the Summit outcomes, and in line with the UN Secretary-General's Agenda for Humanity and Proposed Core Commitments, the Cluster Munition Coalition will continue to:

Mobilize and advocate for the universalization and implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Contribute expertise and research data to inform meetings on the implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Campaign to mobilize states and global leaders to enhance respect for the ban on cluster munitions, a component of international humanitarian law

Track, collect, and disseminate data on violations of and gaps in compliance with the ban on cluster munitions - through our research arm, the Cluster Munition Monitor

Support and promote the clearance of cluster munition remnants and other explosive remnants of war, as well as education aimed at reducing the risk of injury

SUMMIT PREPARATIONS

Pledges by States

During the High-Level Leaders' Roundtable on Upholding the Norms that Safeguard Humanity, states are invited to take actions that will enhance the protection of civilians by strengthening compliance with international humanitarian law and human rights law.



It is an ideal opportunity to announce adhesion to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Here is a sample pledge from the organizers of the High-Level Roundtable:

[State] commits to become a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions and to promote universal adherence to it.

States can also make communities safer by supporting the clearance of contaminated areas, and by speaking out to condemn the use of cluster munitions.



Other sample pledges are listed in the Roundtable's Proposed Core Commitments.

Cluster Munition Survivors

The Special Session to advance the Inclusion of persons with disabilities into humanitarian action is highly relevant for survivors of cluster munition explosions who are also persons with disabilities. Handicap International, a member of the Cluster Munition Coalition, has worked with other partners on a Chart and Action Plan to make humanitarian action more inclusive over the next three years.



Summit Preparation Highlights

Report of the UN Secretary-General for the Summit: "Urban areas have become death traps for thousands of civilians  Cluster munitions continue to maim, kill and devastate even years after hostilities are over, with children making up half of those killed and injured."



The UN Secretary-General urges all states that are not already party to core international humanitarian law instruments to accede to them with urgency, including the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It requests that governments and global leaders systematically condemn serious violations of the laws of war.



The UN Secretary-General calls on civil society to mobilize and advocate for accession to and implementation of international humanitarian law instruments.




Opinion / Blogs

QN

OVERVIEW



ONE ASK HIMSELF/HERSELF THE FOLLOWING FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS BEFORE ATTEMPTING THE QUESTION ON A GIVEN ANSWER SHIT



COMMENTS

ANSWERS

HOWEVER

NB.



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"Critically examine the view that Zimbabwean prophets are more of politicians rather than prophets? (25)pt 10- What is a prophet?- which role of a prophet that is being questioned here?- Are the Zimbabwean prophets involved in politics?- What is a politician ?- Can be Zimbabwean prophets regarded as politicians instead of prophets.One must understand that politics and prophecy cannot be separated, when a prophet is involved in politics, it is injust to label him as a politician. He is a prophet who is involved in politics. This has been supported by B.W.Anderson page 254,paragraph 2,line one and Scholar Skelton cited in the book of Masotcha titled "Prophecy and Politics in Zimbabwe "page 34 at the bottom of the pageZIMBABWEAN PROPHETS ARE INVOLVED IN POLITICS TO A LARGE EXTENT. FOR INSTANCE:The Zionist leader cited by Arthur Marara in his book relying on Zim Local newspapers, John Mandiriri claims that he had prophecies of the nationSamuel Mutendi of ZCC ,criticised the oppression of the blacks by the whites.Eubert Angel and Makandiwa ,once had a meeting with Father Nelson Mandela before his death.Makandiwa reprimanded for anti-violence during 2008 elections.Makandiwa was involved in anti -sanction campaign in 2009.Ezekiel Guti was against Smith Regime during Colonial rule as a result he was imprisoned.Blessing Chiza in one of his crusades prayed for the nation (Posters and Banners)Bishop Mnanango prayed for Zimbabwe soldiers who participated in the war of 1997-1998 in Congo ,as a result it is not recorded that one of Zimbabwean soldiers experienced injuries.Prophet Wimbo claims that in 1957,he prophesied that in 1980 Zimbabwe will be led by a president with name of an Angel "Gabriel".Madzibaba Godfrey Nzira prophesied that Mugabe is divinely elected (article undated).Madzibaba Elijah Zachariah claimed that he prayed for "Blackman "Matambanadzo to win provincial elections ,this is according to Nehanda Radio Newspaper in 2015Magaya in his Botwana Crusade in 2015 ,advised the church that his wish was to meet President Mugabe .Newsday in 2015 recorded that Makandiwa and Magaya are fighting holy war(I won't explain much in this article about holy wars).This case is similar to the Vapostori sect "Johane Masowe yeChishanu" this is supported by Newsday,citing neighbours of where Masowe sect is located in Budiriro. ( The members of the sect could be heard shouting ordering others to kill claiming they were fighting a "holy war".)Angel Eubert has once officiated in the inauguration ceremonies of Zimbabwean leaders ,thus according to ZBC.Makandiwa and Magaya in 2016,1 January they predicted that Zimbabwe as a nation will prosper.Makandiwa in 2015 cited by Southern eye newspaper he advised Zimbabwean leaders to build more big prisons which are bigger than boarding Schools, he went on to say that he is foreseeing "economic meltdown".Blessing Chiza in 2016,according to his Facebook page Account, he claimed that he had prophecies of the nation.Andrew Watuwanashe in 2015 May encouraged African leaders to empower the youth.As much as Zimbabwean prophets are involved in politics, one should note that there are also involved in other prophetic duties which are not in line with politics for instance- Fighting for social justice- perfoming miraclesThere are so many roles which can be added- One should justify the validity of the above statement.- Using writers angle you will notice that the statement is inaccurate.+263777896159 (Whatsapp)Witness Dingani (Facebook page)
Hyuro just came back from Sweden where she just finished working on this new piece for the Trollhatan Street Art Festival curated by Ekta Ekta.

This wall entitled Coexistence is located in Trollhattan town, Southwest of Sweden. In October 2015 a 21 years old Swedish man attacked some children with a sword in a school. One student and one adult died, and one more student and adult were seriously injured, the last one died at the hospital six weeks after the attack. Investigations confirmed that the reason behind the attack was racist motives and that it was a hate crime choosing the victims because of their ethnicity and the school for its location in a neighbourhood with many inmigrant population.

Trollhattan has been considered by researchers as the most highly segregated city in Sweden. Surveys frequently show Sweden to be the European country which is most tolerant of immigration, although its population is polarised on the issue.

This wall speaks about coexistence, not from a perspective of institutionalized solidarity, or an asymetrical cut, a movement from top to bottom, but from understanding it as a basic duty for every human, based on emphaty, on compassion, inherent to the fact of meeting people and generating a relationship of mutual giving and receiving.


PVH Corp. [NYSE: PVH] announced today it has completed its acquisition of the 55% interest in TH Asia Ltd., its joint venture for Tommy Hilfiger in China, that it did not already own. The acquisition is expected to add approximately $100 million of revenue and be slightly accretive to 2016 earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis.

Emanuel Chirico, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PVH Corp., commented: This transaction has been envisioned since PVH and the funds advised by Apax Partners established the Tommy Hilfiger China joint venture in connection with the Tommy Hilfiger acquisition in 2010. With the closing of this transaction, our Tommy Hilfiger business can now operate directly its fastest growing market, while leveraging our well-established infrastructure in Asia, our regional leadership expertise and strong brand momentum across both our Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein businesses in the region. We look forward to the continued growth of the Tommy Hilfiger business in China.

With a heritage going back over 130 years, PVH Corp. has excelled at growing brands and businesses with rich American heritages, becoming one of the largest apparel companies in the world. We have over 30,000 associates operating in over 40 countries with over $8 billion in 2015 revenues. We own the iconic Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Van Heusen, IZOD, ARROW, Speedo*, Warners and Olga brands and market a variety of goods under these and other nationally and internationally known owned and licensed brands.
Waterworks, the premier luxury bath and kitchen brand founded in 1978 by Barbara and Robert Sallick, and now led by Chief Executive Officer Peter Sallick since 1993, today announced it has chosen to join forces with RH (NYSE: RH) creating the first fully integrated luxury home platform in the world  offering a complete collection for every room of the home, in every channel, to both design professionals and consumers. Peter Sallick and Ralph Bennett, President, will continue to lead the Waterworks brand independently along with the rest of the leadership team from their headquarters in Danbury, Connecticut.

Waterworks has long been the definition of the well-appointed bath, and is the only complete bath and kitchen business offering fittings, fixtures, furniture, furnishings, accessories, lighting, hardware and surfaces under one brand in the market. Waterworks is comprised of the Waterworks, Waterworks Kitchen and Waterworks Studio brands, all built on a foundation of impeccable style, design integrity, quality and craftsmanship. Waterworks products are sold through its 15 showrooms in the U.S. and U.K., as well as its boutique retail partners, hospitality division and online. The Company prides itself on its deep relationships in the design community and the technical expertise and tenure of its people.

Peter Sallick, Waterworks Chief Executive Officer commented, We enter this new partnership with a great sense of excitement and pride. We have come to know RH, led by its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Gary Friedman, as a special company with both the scale to make a difference and the high touch and creative leadership to see the world at a personal level. We've admired RH for their unique partnerships with designers and artisans from around the globe, their ability to reimagine the retail experience through the adaptive reuse of historic and architecturally iconic buildings, and for the passion and innovation they bring to our market.

Mr. Sallick continued, "We believe the combined capabilities of our two organizations creates an opportunity to amplify the authentic and special brand we have built and accelerate the pursuit of our vision to build the most innovative and inspirational bath and kitchen brand in the world. Together, we will create a dramatic path toward long term growth and value for our brand, people, customers and suppliers.

Barbara Sallick, Waterworks co-founder and Senior Vice President of Design stated, We look forward to our partnership with RH founded upon our mutual respect for great design, artisanal craftsmanship and product innovation. Together with the RH team, whose creativity and market leadership are inspiring, we expect to grow the Waterworks brand in the luxury space while continuing to provide exemplary service to our clients. Robert and I founded Waterworks 38 years ago following in the footsteps of my entrepreneurial father who opened a plumbing supply business in Danbury, Connecticut in 1925. With RH at our side, we anticipate the rewarding adventure of building our company for many generations to come.

Ralph Bennett, Waterworks President added, We believe RH is the most significant brand being built in the home market today, creating extraordinary opportunities for us to collaborate and benefit from their unique and growing platform. As a combined organization, we look forward to extending and expanding our passion, product offer and commitment to outstanding service to our incredibly valuable clients.

Gary Friedman, RH Chairman and Chief Executive Officer commented, "There are certain brands that define their categories, like Hermes, Tiffany, Apple, Range Rover and Ralph Lauren, and we believe that Waterworks is one such brand. We have long held great admiration and respect for the esteemed brand and business the Sallicks have built, and feel honored and privileged to be partnering with the entire Waterworks team, as we combine forces to further redefine the industry.

Mr. Friedman concluded, We are thrilled to add this prestigious brand to our product platform, as it not only positions RH as an authority in two of the most important rooms of the home  the bath and kitchen  but also creates the first fully integrated luxury home platform in the world. There are very few opportunities to partner with a well-managed, growing, double-digit EBITDA margin brand such as Waterworks. This partnership represents a key opportunity to drive long-term growth and value creation for our shareholders.

The transaction is valued at approximately $117 million, which is subject to changes in working capital and other adjustments, and will be funded from RHs existing cash balances. Subject to customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of fiscal 2016 and until that time the two businesses will continue to operate as separate entities. Upon completion of the transaction, Waterworks is expected to be accretive to RHs fiscal 2016 earnings. RH will provide additional information to investors concerning the anticipated financial impact of the transaction when the Company reports first quarter fiscal 2016 financial results.

In connection with the transaction, Peter Sallick and Ralph Bennett have agreed to invest in continuing equity interests in the Waterworks business, which creates additional incentives for management to continue to drive growth and profitability of the business in future periods.
Despite Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) good faith efforts to get to new labor contracts, CWA and IBEW leaders, unwilling to make an agreement or even seek the assistance of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), have called a strike as of 6 a.m. today. Verizon has activated its business continuity plans as customer service remains the company's top priority.

For the past 10 months, Verizon has tried to reach agreements for the Company's 36,000 wireline associates in the East. While the company has on the table proposed wage increases, continued retirement benefits (including a generous 401(k) match) and excellent healthcare benefits, union leaders decided to call a strike rather than sit down and work on the issues that need to be resolved.

"It's regrettable that union leaders have called a strike, a move that hurts all of our employees," said Marc Reed, Verizon's chief administrative officer. "Since last June, we've worked diligently to try and reach agreements that would be good for our employees, good for our customers and make the wireline business more successful now and in the future. Unfortunately, union leaders have their own agenda rooted in the past and are ignoring today's digital realities. Calling a strike benefits no one, and brings us no closer to resolution."

Reed added: "The CWA president, Chris Shelton, claims that they have tried "everything" to get a path to a contract, but their failure to agree to FMCS mediation suggests otherwise."

Monday evening, FMCS asked if the company would be willing to participate in mediation if the unions extended their previously announced strike deadline. The company indicated that it was willing to mediate. In 2012, agreements between Verizon and these unions were ultimately achieved through mediation conducted under the auspices of FMCS. This time, however, union leaders refused to participate in FMCS mediation and instead called a strike.

As part of the company's business continuity plans, starting immediately, trained non-union employees will cover for striking workers and provide customers with the support and assistance they need and expect.

Over the past year, Verizon took extensive measures to ensure its customers would be minimally impacted by any potential work stoppage. Thousands of non-union Verizon employees and business partners have undergone extensive training in various network and customer service functions, including FiOS and copper repair and network maintenance and general customer service functions.

"Millions of Americans rely on Verizon for the ability to communicate, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," said Bob Mudge, president of Verizon's wireline network operations. "We remain fully prepared to handle any work stoppage so that our products and services will be available where and when our customers need them."

With new customer service technologies, many residential and business customers can troubleshoot and often resolve many basic phone, Internet and TV service issues using Verizon's online support tools at www.verizon.com. Employees are also available to handle inquiries at 1-800-VERIZON.

Mudge added: "Our customers are our first priority and we are ready to respond."

For additional information on the negotiations, go to www.verizon.com/laborfacts.
Fitch Ratings has downgraded Peabody Energy Corporation's (NYSE: BTU) (Peabody; NYSE: BTU) long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'D' from 'C'. The company and its U.S. subsidiaries have filed for bankruptcy protection under chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. Approximately $8.4 billion in face amount of obligations is affected by today's rating actions. A complete list of rating actions follows at the end of this release.

The downgrade of the senior secured first-lien term loan and revolving credit facility (RCF) reflects the super priority status of the anticipated debtor-in-possession (DIP) facilities as well as reduced assumptions for going-concern EBITDA.

The company intends to enter into super-priority DIP facilities aggregating $800 million. First-lien term loan and RCF lenders are expected to be paid interest as adequate protection payments under the DIP facility.

Distress resulted from increased demands on liquidity, continued competition in domestic markets from cheap natural gas and bankrupt coal producers, expectation of a delayed recovery in the seaborne metallurgical coal market from very low levels, and prospects for further weakness in the Asia Pacific steam coal markets.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

DIP Facilities: Peabody has obtained a $500 million term loan, a $200 million bonding accommodation facility and a cash-collateralized $100 million letter of credit facility (for new letters of credit). The facilities need to be approved by the court and are structured to have one-year terms which may be extended.

Intercompany loan: Peabody Investment Corp. through Global Center for Energy and Human Development, LLC, has made a $250 million secured RCF available to Peabody's Australian subsidiaries. The facility expires March 13, 2019. The Australian subsidiaries are not expected to seek relief from third-party creditors.

Termination of Asset Sale Agreement: The agreement to sell its New Mexico and Colorado assets to Bowie Resources for $358 million has been terminated.

KEY ASSUMPTIONS

Recovery Analysis: Fitch reduced its going concern EBITDA from $650 million to $500 million to reflect further pressures in the coal markets. Fitch notes that this figure is significantly higher than the company's projected 2017 EBITDAR (to be defined in the DIP loan documents) figure of $308 million. Fitch believes the company's figure reflects elevated costs that will be reduced post-bankruptcy. Peabody has disclosed certain projected sales and cash flow figures in its 8K filed today.

Fitch's enterprise value multiple assumption is 4.5x given how much of the industry is distressed and the need for asset valuations to incorporate asset retirement obligations. Fitch notes that its going-concern EBITDA together with its multiple assumption result in an enterprise value that is close to a liquidation value. Fitch has assumed a 5% concession allowance to be spread between the second lien and unsecured notes.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

N/A

FULL LIST OF RATING ACTIONS

Peabody Energy Corporation

--Long-term IDR downgraded to 'D' from 'C';

--Senior secured first-lien revolving credit and term loan downgraded to 'C/RR4' from 'CCC-/RR2';

--Senior second lien secured notes affirmed at 'C/RR6';

--Senior unsecured notes affirmed at 'C/RR6';

--Convertible junior subordinated debentures affirmed at 'C/RR6'.
The Bank of America logo is seen at their offices at Canary Wharf financial district in London, Britain, March 3, 2016. REUTERS/Reinhard Krause

By Lisa Lambert

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators gave a failing grade to five big banks on Wednesday, including JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC), on their plans for a bankruptcy that would not rely on taxpayer money, giving them until Oct. 1 to make amends or risk sanctions.

The move officially starts a long regulatory chain that could end with breaking up the banks. Nearly a decade after the financial crisis, it underscored how the debate about banks being "too big to fail" continues to rage in Washington and exasperate on Wall Street.

The banks failed for reasons ranging from the way liquidity would be housed and shuffled among domestic and foreign subsidiaries to the manner in which executives would communicate problems as they arose during a crisis.

Wednesday's announcement was the first time the two major banking regulators, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, issued joint determinations flunking banks' plans, commonly called "living wills."

If the five, which also included Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC), State Street Corp (NYSE: STT) and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK), do not correct serious "deficiencies" in their plans by October, they could face stricter regulations, like higher capital requirements or limits on business activities, regulators said.

Accomplishing that task may not be easy: criticized banks have five months to reassess and rewrite wide swaths of their resolution plans to regulators' satisfaction. At the same time, compliance departments will also be focused on regulatory stress tests, whose results will be released before October.

If the deficiencies persist for two years, then the banks will have to divest their assets. They have until July 2017 to address more minor "shortcomings."

The regulators' report coincided with the start of banks' earnings reporting period and bank shares rallied. Shares of JP Morgan, Citigroup and Bank of America all closed up more than 3 percent and Wells Fargo shares were up 2.87 percent.

The requirement for a living will was part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform legislation passed in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, when the U.S. government spent billions of dollars on bailouts to keep big banks from failing and wrecking the U.S. economy.

The plans are separate from the Fed's stress tests, where banks demonstrate stability by showing how they would withstand economic shocks in hypothetical scenarios.

"The FDIC and Federal Reserve are committed to carrying out the statutory mandate that systemically important financial institutions demonstrate a clear path to an orderly failure under bankruptcy at no cost to taxpayers," FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said in a statement. "Today's action is a significant step toward achieving that goal."

But the agency's vice chairman, Thomas Hoenig, who was a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee during the crisis, said the plans show that no firm is "capable of being resolved in an orderly fashion through bankruptcy."

"The goal to end 'too big to fail' and protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts remains just that: only a goal," he said.

The three remaining large, systemically important banks, which the U.S. government considers "too big to fail," did not fare much better in their evaluations, but sidestepped potential sanctions because they were not given joint determinations.

The regulators continue to assess plans for four foreign banks labeled "systemically important" - Barclays PLC , Credit Suisse Group , Deutsche Bank AG , and UBS Group AG .

The FDIC alone determined the plan submitted by Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) was not credible, while the Federal Reserve Board on its own found Morgan Stanley's plan not credible. Citigroup's (NYSE: C) living will did pass, but regulators noted it had "shortcomings."

Goldman Sachs said in a statement it has made "significant progress" and Morgan Stanley said resolution planning is one of its "highest priorities."

Citigroup will work to address the shortcomings, Chief Executive Michael Corbat said in a statement.

'KEY VULNERABILITIES'

The deficiencies across the five banks largely revolved around liquidity, governance and operations.

While JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) has "made notable progress in a range of areas," the regulators said it "has key vulnerabilities," including an inability to estimate the liquidity needed and available for funding bankruptcy resolution and insufficient resources for winding down derivatives.

On a conference call on JPMorgan's earnings, bank executives expressed disappointment with the determination and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said the bank has "tons of liquidity."

"It's more about reporting, legal entities and things like that," he said. "And if other firms can satisfy that Id be surprised if we cant.

The agencies said Wells Fargo's (NYSE: WFC) living will "exhibited a lack of governance and certain operational capabilities."

By October it must demonstrate a "robust process to ensure quality control and accuracy" in its plan and lay out legally how different lines of business can be restructured and its regional units can be separated.

Wells, State Street and Bank of New York all said in statements they will work to address the deficiencies by the October 1 deadline. Bank of America did not comment.

The determinations raised debate about how living wills can help banks survive a financial catastrophe.

Proponents of stronger financial regulation welcomed them, with Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the most powerful Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, saying they were "an important step in the effort to protect Americans from being on the hook for the failures of too big to fail banks in the future."

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said regulators need to break big banks apart if they don't fix their living will problems over time. Her rival, Bernie Sanders, pointed out on Twitter that many big banks have only gotten bigger since they were bailed out during the financial crisis.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, though, said the process "is broken."

"Contradictory outcomes through different tools such as stress tests and living wills harm the ability of regulators to achieve financial stability and for market participants to understand what regulators are doing," said David Hirschmann, head of the business group's capital markets center.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Additional reporting by David Henry, Olivia Oran, Dan Freed and Lauren LaCapra in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)
Dominion Diamond Corporation (NYSE: DDC) announces that Mr. Robert Gannicott has retired as Chairman of Dominion Diamond Corporation and the Board is pleased to announce that Mr. Jim Gowans has been appointed as non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors with immediate effect. Mr. Gannicott will remain as a director of the Company.

Mr. Gowans was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company on January 13, 2016. He has extensive operational experience in most aspects of the mining industry, including exploration, major projects, operations and human resources as well as extensive leadership experience both in Canada and internationally. Mr. Gowans is currently President and Chief Executive Officer for Arizona Mining Inc. Prior to joining Arizona, Mr. Gowans held several senior roles with Barrick Gold Corporation before retiring at the end of 2015. He has held leadership roles for a number of major mining companies including, Managing Director of the Debswana Diamond Company in Botswana and Chief Executive Officer of DeBeers Canada Inc. where he was instrumental in building the companys Canadian operations. He is a former Chair of the Mining Association of Canada (MAC), and is the Past-President of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM).

Brendan Bell, Chief Executive Officer, commented: On behalf of the executive team, I welcome Jim to his role as Chairman and I look forward to working with him. Jims extensive knowledge of the global diamond industry and mining, coupled with his operating experience of working in Canadas North will complement the management team as we continue to realize the full potential of Dominions world-class diamond assets.

Dan Jarvis, Lead Independent Director, commented: I would like to extend the Board's deep appreciation to Bob for his invaluable leadership and tireless contribution over the past twelve years as Chairman of Dominion. He has been instrumental in building this Company from a junior exploration company to the worlds third largest diamond producer and a true Canadian success story. We are pleased that with Bob remaining on the Board, he will continue to make a valuable contribution to the Company as it moves forward and the Company will continue to benefit from his extensive expertise.

The Company is also pleased to announce that effective today, Mr. David Smith has been appointed as Chairman of the Audit Committee. Mr. Smith was appointed to the Board of Directors on February 22, 2016. He is a senior financial executive with more than 30 years of leadership experience including Chief Financial Officer of Finning International Inc. and executive roles in such organizations as Ballard Power Systems and Placer Dome.
Cabot Works with Advanced Glazing Ltd. to Supply SOLERA Glass Units with LUMIRA Aerogel to Optimize Daylighting in Buildings Facade

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Demonstrating its commitment to supporting the local community and sustainable building design, Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) announced that it will donate approximately $400,000 worth of LUMIRA LA1000 aerogel to the non-profit organization, Artists for Humanity. Cabot aerogel will be utilized in the insulated glass daylighting systems used in the Artist for Humanity EpiCenter expansion project. The EpiCenter expansion in Bostons Innovation District will be the largest Energy Positive (E+) commercial building in New England, generating more energy than it will use.

The innovative building facade will optimize daylighting, maximize thermal performance, and contribute to the energy production that is required of an energy positive building. Advanced Glazings Ltd. will be developing a new line of SOLERA + LUMIRA aerogel daylighting glazing units to cover approximately 15,000 square feet of the buildings facade area for the translucent panels. The insulated glass systems deliver natural light distribution and diffusion as well as superior thermal performance. The use of LUMIRA aerogel in these glazing units contributes to the diffusion of sunlight, removing any interior hot spots, shadows or glare. Additionally, the superior full spectrum diffused light from the system provides benefits in light distribution, glare control and long lasting performance.

We are proud to support Artists for Humanity, as this pioneering and iconic facility will not only be a model that can be replicated for green building and renewable energy efforts across the globe, but will demonstrate the energy-saving capabilities of our aerogel technology and the feasibility of green development, said Sean Keohane, president and CEO, Cabot Corporation. We see no better atmosphere in which to promote our aerogel technology than a building that exposes youth to these next generation sustainable architectural solutions and their ability to achieve positive results.

The building facade will be a high-performance envelope composed of traditional transparent glazing and translucent aerogel highly insulating glass units. Utilizing high performance SOLERA + LUMIRA aerogel daylighting systems will considerably impact cost and energy efficiency in a variety of ways. The facade will bring in more daylight, but less heat as the aerogel panels will have a thermal resistance of R-25 (U.04) versus the current industry high performance standard of up to R-3.5 (U.25), thereby providing a six fold improvement. In addition, the natural light diffusion and glare elimination provided by LUMIRA aerogel can replace or supplement artificial lighting, resulting in significant energy savings. Heat loss and gain are controlled by the unique characteristics of LUMIRA particles that inhibit heat transfer, measurably impacting heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) loads, which will provide additional energy savings to Artists for Humanity.

The use of daylighting systems is growing rapidly as a result of the need to be more energy efficient, creating more productive and enjoyable interior environments, and the building industrys emphasis green building and carbon footprint reductions. The Artists for Humanity EpiCenter showcases how daylighting is a powerful design element that can result in important ergonomic benefits for those who occupy the building and substantial aesthetic and energy efficiency benefits, said James Satterwhite, chief executive officer, Advanced Glazings. We are grateful for the opportunity to support Artists for Humanity in their efforts and are eager to show the unique benefits of our SOLERA + LUMIRA daylighting systems and how they can be applied in virtually every building.

We have been a pioneer in Boston, achieving the first Platinum LEED certified building in Boston. We are dreaming big and pushing the envelope with our expansion design. With the help of Cabot aerogel, we will be able to achieve a level of environmental sustainability never realized before in New England, said Susan Rodgerson, executive director, Artists for Humanity. Our objective is to create an environment thats more conducive to learning while saving energy, resources and money. More importantly, by exposing youth to the issues of sustainability now, we can help foster a generation of environmentally-conscious adults. We are grateful to Cabot Corporation for their generous donation of advanced green building materials.

ABOUT CABOT AEROGELCabot aerogel is the lightest and best insulating solid in the world. Our aerogel is a hydrophobic, silica-based particle consisting of more than 90 percent air, contained in a structure that inhibits heat transfer, for unmatched insulation performance. Its porous structure enables it to be used in a variety of thermal insulation and specialty chemical applications. Our LUMIRA and ENOVA aerogel product lines enable a wide range of product forms and applications, including building and industrial insulation, plasters, daylighting systems, reinforcing composites, tensile roofing, and thermal insulation coatings. Cabot certifies it has completed the EU REACH pre-registrations required for all Cabot aerogel products.

ABOUT CABOT CORPORATIONCabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) is a global specialty chemicals and performance materials company, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The company is a leading provider of rubber and specialty carbons, activated carbon, inkjet colorants, cesium formate drilling fluids, fumed silica, and aerogel. For more information on Cabot, please visit the companys website at: http://www.cabotcorp.com.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in the press release regarding Cabots business that are not historical facts are forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward looking statements, see Risk Factors in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413005015/en/

Cabot Corporation

Vanessa Craigie, 617-342-6015

Corporate Communications

or

Erica McLaughlin, 617-342-6090

Investor Relations

Source: Cabot Corporation
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., April 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE: CLDT), a hotel real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on investing in upscale extended-stay hotels and premium-branded select-service hotels, today announced that it will report first quarter 2016 financial results on Thursday, May 5, 2016, before the opening of the market. That same day at 10:00 a.m. ET, Jeffrey H. Fisher, Chathams chief executive officer, Dennis M. Craven, executive vice president and chief operating officer, and Jeremy Wegner, senior vice president and chief financial officer, will host a conference call to review first quarter 2016 financial results.

Shareholders and other interested parties may listen to a simultaneous webcast of the conference call on the Internet by logging onto Chathams Web site, http://chathamlodgingtrust.com/, or www.streetevents.com, or may participate in the conference call by dialing 1-877-407-0789 and referencing Chatham Lodging Trust. A recording of the call will be available by telephone until 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 12, 2016, by dialing 1-877-870-5176, reference number 13635314. A replay of the conference call will be posted on Chathams website.

About Chatham Lodging TrustChatham Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly-traded real estate investment trust focused primarily on investing in upscale extended-stay hotels and premium-branded, select-service hotels. The company owns interests in 133 hotels totaling 18,177 rooms/suites, comprised of 38 properties it wholly owns with an aggregate of 5,679 rooms/suites in 15 states and the District of Columbia and a minority investment in two joint ventures that own 95 hotels with an aggregate of 12,498 rooms/suites. Additional information about Chatham may be found at chathamlodgingtrust.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 about Chatham Lodging Trust, including those statements regarding acquisitions, capital expenditures, future operating results and the timing and composition of revenues, among others, and statements containing words such as expects, believes or will, which indicate that those statements are forward-looking. Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results or performance to differ materially from those discussed in such statements. Additional risks are discussed in the companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact: Chris Daly Daly Gray Public Relations (Media) [email protected] (703) 435-6293 Dennis Craven Chief Operating Officer (Company) [email protected] (561) 227-1386

Source: Chatham Lodging Trust
Opinion / Columnist

There are particularly two stories that have caught my interest over the past week. The stories regard veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle, who, as we are all aware, held an indaba with their patron, President Mugabe, last Thursday.It is a trite point to make that the meeting was much anticipated following extraordinary events that had caught up with the war veterans' movement in relation to the power politics within the ruling party, Zanu-PF.Not least, there were elements in the movement that appeared hell-bent to escalate what appeared to be a rift and misunderstanding between partners in the Zanu-PF establishment.But Thursday was come  and it passed with the war veterans meeting their patron and presenting to him their grievances, which the latter promised to address.Interestingly, it appears this did not go down well with some sections of society  the political society.This is no better captured than in one story in the opposition-leaning private media."War vets waste Mugabe ouster chance", reads the story.We are told that, "After President Mugabe had seemingly staved off further dissent against his controversial rule from the opposition, much was expected from the country's once fearless liberators to confront and remind him of the ideals of independence."Instead, they took turns to ask for Government positions, material privileges and access to wealth-generating instructions, among issues that dominated their wish list."The meeting was also reduced into a Zanu-PF rally when the ruling party's slogans were chanted throughout, accompanied with the party's trademark fist-waving gesture of triumph."Then opposition parties took turns to decry how "war veterans could have done the nation a favour by asking Mugabe to resign"."This is a squandered opportunity to correctly and sincerely advise Mugabe to step down," said Kurauone Chihwayi of the smaller MDC.He added: "War veterans betrayed the nation by bootlicking Mugabe for their own welfare, forgetting to save the country that they liberated."MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu is quoted as saying: "Up until such a time that the war veterans are bold enough to openly call upon President Mugabe to step down on account of his advanced age and failure to stop the haemorrhaging of the national economy, the status quo shall prevail."MDC-T supporter Jacob Rukweza, being passed off as a "political analyst", is quoted as saying war vets "have the obligation as former freedom fighters to protect their own legacies and the legacy of the war of liberation".You would be hard-pressed to believe that the Western-sponsored opposition would surely have expected war veterans to do a hatchet job of regime change on their behalf.Since when have veterans of the liberation struggle become an appendage of the opposition?War vets may have had their grievances against the system and some individuals, but to ask them to pursue regime change on behalf of the opposition that fronts the Western enemy they fought against only yesterday is too much to ask, surely?This may yet tell us a lot of things about the opposition in this country.The opposition is desperate. It is.It is naive. It is.It is ahistorical  and again it is.It is also clueless and myopic.It is also silly.It is too childish to expect that war veterans are ready to throw out the baby with the bath water and renounce President Mugabe.This is something that they may as well hear from us today: Zimbabweans may suffer a lot, especially economically, but they know that the suffering they endure is because of the punitive sanctions that the opposition MDC called for and which Americans thought would "separate" President Mugabe "from the people".That economic warfare, which recently was buttressed by America imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe's two largest fertiliser companies, Chemplex and ZFC, has wrought all economic and social ills in the last 16 years.It is typical that under the cover of war, conventional or otherwise, various ill deals, corruption and behaviour are wrought.The MDC and its Western friends  which are Zimbabwe's enemies  had hoped that people would be broken down by suffering and a chap called Morgan Tsvangirai was even rubbing his hands in glee at the suffering of the people.People know better, and that is why they reject the opposition at the polls.War veterans are trusted to know better to safeguard the sovereignty of the country even under extreme conditions.In the liberation struggle they had a song about a hard place that does not kill; or bed bugs that sting but won't kill.And now to expect these veterans, or any normal person for that matter, to turn fleeting political grievances into a regime change machinery is to ask too much.The likes of Gutu, Chihwayi and Rukweza have every right to feel disappointed, but it is their myopic baby to nurse.Life is not that easy.Apparently, these guys have not quite understood these dynamics and another opposition figure, Luke Tamborinyoka, who happens to be Tsvangirai's spokesman, is out making a fool of himself regarding the same war veterans.He told us in an op-ed in an opposition paper on Sunday that his party was going to conduct a march on April 14.And, hold on, one of the things he said MDC-T would be marching against is, " the harassment of our war veterans. The MDC will be marching to urge this Government to respect our war veterans who were brutally assaulted by the police. We in the MDC believe veterans of our liberation struggle deserve to be treated with respect."Oh, surely, the gods must be crazy!The unsophisticated guys in the opposition have such a fertile imagination.It is interesting to envisage war veterans suddenly turning around to support a Western puppet called Morgan Tsvangirai because they have had a few issues, which are not entirely exclusive to them as a demographic, anyway.This is the same Tsvangirai camp that would readily reverse policies and programmes such as land reform and indigenisation, which war veterans fought for.It is simply unconscionable.If the opposition is serious about courting war veterans it must do better than these puerile stunts.War veterans, like many Zanu-PF members and supporters, are principled and ideologically grounded.They are not turncoats.
RICHMOND, Va., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion, an award-winning military employer, continues to earn recognition for its strong support of active military, veterans and retired military through its job hiring practices and supportive work environment for military service members.

"Dominion is built on a proud legacy of public service, community involvement and workplace safety," said Thomas F. Farrell, II, Chairman, President and CEO of Dominion Resources, Inc. "Military personnel bring with them the same values and work ethic. Their skills, talent, focus on safety and dedication to their craft are a perfect fit for our company."

The most recent recognition is the "Employer Support of the Guard and Reserves, or ESGR, Extraordinary Employer Support Award." This Department of Defense award recognizes sustained employer support of the National Guard and Reserve service by prior recipients of the Secretary of Defense Freedom Award, of which Dominion won in 2008.

The company will accept the honor at the Virginia ESGR Awards Banquet on April 23 in Richmond, Va.

Additionally, Military Times announced that Dominion, for the seventh year in a row, is listed second among energy companies in the "75 Best for Vets: Employers 2016" rankings. The organization comprising Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Corps Times evaluated company culture and policies that cater to military veterans when conducting and scoring their survey. The survey is a 90-question analysis of a company's efforts to connect with veterans and provide an environment for success.

Dominion was a founding partner in the national Troops to Energy Jobs program, which helps military members to successfully transition to rewarding careers in the energy industry. The company also established the Dominion Veterans Network  an internal employee resource group that supports the veteran community through volunteerism and their efforts to identify qualified service members for careers at Dominion.

Currently, one in five Dominion new hires is a veteran, and about 10 percent of the company's more than 15,000 employees are veterans.

Dominion has received numerous awards for military support over the years, including G.I. Jobs Magazine Top 100 Military Friendly Employer, Top 20 Military Spouse Friendly Employers, and U.S. and Veterans Magazine Best of the Best.

Watch a video of a veteran's successful transition to Dominion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25cE3NAu_LM

About DominionDominion is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 24,300 megawatts of generation, 12,200 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, and 6,500 miles of electric transmission lines. Dominion operates one of the nation's largest natural gas storage systems with 933 billion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves more than five million energy and retail customers in 14 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's website at www.dom.com/.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dominions-support-for-military-receives-more-accolades-300250891.html

SOURCE Dominion
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fitch Ratings has upgraded four and affirmed six classes of Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust commercial mortgage pass-through certificates series 2004-IQ8. A detailed list of rating actions follows at the end of this press release.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

The upgrades are the result of increasing credit enhancement from continued paydown, stable performance of the underlying collateral and high percentage of loans structured with full amortization (81.83%). While the credit enhancement of classes F and G are high, Fitch capped the ratings based on exposure to single tenant properties (37%), which carry binary risk that may grow as pool concentration increases.

As of the March 2015 distribution date, the pool's aggregate principal balance has been reduced by 96% to $30.3 million, from $759.2 million at issuance. Interest shortfalls are currently affecting classes J through O.

Of the original 100 loans, 26 loans remain, and four (9.2%) are designated as Fitch Loans of Concern. No loans are in special servicing, and 15 loans (46.6%) are expected to mature in 2019. None of the remaining loans are defeased.

The largest Fitch Loan of Concern, Meridian Office Building (3.8% of the pool), is secured by a 30,582 sf office building located in Tempe, AZ. The property has suffered from poor performance over the last several years due to tenant rollover and high market vacancies. As of year-end 2014, the property was operating with negative cash flows but has remained current since issuance. Per the December 2015 rent roll, occupancy increased to 84% from 40% at year-end 2014.

The second largest Fitch Loan of Concern, Blake Center (2.4%), is secured by a 18,351 sf retail center built in 1966 and renovated in 2002. The property is located in Hopkins, MN. As of December 2014, occupancy declined to 76% from 100% at year-end 2013. Per the December 2015 rent roll, occupancy increased to 100%. However, two the second and third largest tenants consisting of 35% NRA have leases that expired. Per the master servicer, the borrower is currently negotiating renewal terms with both tenants. The loan has never been delinquent.

The third largest Fitch Loan of Concern, Florence Medical Building (1.8%), is secured by a 33,997 sf office building, built in 1967 and located in Downey, CA. Performance declined due to two tenants (19% NRA) vacating in 2014. Occupancy and DSCR declined to 58% from 76% and 0.99x from 1.20x, respectively. As of December 2015, occupancy is 58% and DSCR is 0.76x.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

The Rating Outlooks remain Stable as no rating changes are anticipated. Further upgrades will be limited due to the concentrated nature of the pool. Downgrades are possible if pool performance declines significantly.

DUE DILIGENCE USAGE

No third-party due diligence was provided or reviewed in relation to this rating action.

Fitch has upgraded the following ratings and revised Recovery Estimates (RE) as indicated:

--$8.5 million class E to 'AAAsf' from 'BBBsf'; Outlook Stable;

--$4.7 million class F to 'Asf' from 'BBsf'; Outlook Stable;

--$6.6 million class G to 'BBBsf' from 'Bsf'; Outlook Stable;

--$5.7 million class H to 'CCsf' from 'Csf'; RE 100%.

Fitch has affirmed the following classes and revised RE's as indicated:

--$2.9 million class D at 'AAAsf'; Outlook Stable;

--$1.8 million class J at 'Dsf'; RE 85%;

--$0 class K at 'Dsf'; RE 0%;

--$0 class L at 'Dsf'; RE 0%;

--$0 class M at 'Dsf'; RE 0%;

--$0 class N at 'Dsf'; RE 0%.

The class A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4, A-5 B and C certificates have paid in full. Fitch does not rate the class O certificates. Fitch previously withdrew the ratings on the interest-only class X-1 and X-2 certificates.

Additional information is available at www.fitchratings.com.

Applicable Criteria

Counterparty Criteria for Structured Finance and Covered Bonds (pub. 14 May 2014)https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=744158

Criteria for Rating Caps and Limitations in Global Structured Finance Transactions (pub. 28 May 2014)https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=748781

Global Structured Finance Rating Criteria (pub. 06 Jul 2015)https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=867952

U.S. and Canadian Fixed-Rate Multiborrower CMBS Surveillance and U.S. Re-REMIC Criteria (pub. 13 Nov 2015)https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=873395

Additional Disclosures

Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Formhttps://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=1002441

Solicitation Statushttps://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1002441

Endorsement Policyhttps://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 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/20160413006542/en/

Fitch Ratings

Primary Analyst:

Catherine Barbieri, +1-212-908-0638

Associate Director

Fitch Ratings, Inc.

33 Whitehall Street

New York, NY 10004

or

Committee Chairperson:

Mary MacNeill, +1-212-908-0785

Managing Director

or

Media Relations:

Sandro Scenga, +1-212-908-0278

New York

[email protected]

Source: Fitch Ratings
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Prime Security Services Borrower, LLC (together with its subsidiaries, Protection 1), a portfolio company of certain funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO) (together with its consolidated subsidiaries and affiliates, Apollo), announced today that The ADT Corporation (NYSE: ADT) (ADT) has extended the Consent Time in connection with its consent solicitation from holders of its 6.250% Senior Notes due 2021 (the 2021 Notes) to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on April 13, 2016. As of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on April 12, 2016, ADT has been advised by D.F. King & Co., Inc. that consents with respect to 49.8% of the outstanding 2021 Notes were obtained.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160412006867/en/

As previously announced, ADT received the requisite consents to amend certain terms of each of its 5.250% Senior Notes due 2020 (the 2020 Notes), 3.500% Notes due 2022 (the 2022 Notes), 4.125% Senior Notes due 2023 (the 2023 Notes) and 4.875% Notes due 2042 (the 2042 Notes and, together with the 2020 Notes, the 2022 Notes and the 2023 Notes, the Successful Consent Notes and, collectively with the 2021 Notes, the Consent Notes). The consent solicitations in respect of the Successful Consent Notes (the Successful Consent Solicitations) and the 2021 Notes (the 2021 Notes Consent Solicitation and, collectively with the Successful Consent Solicitations, the Consent Solicitations) have been conducted in connection with the previously announced merger agreement, pursuant to which Protection 1 has agreed to acquire ADT (the Acquisition).

As previously announced, on April 1, 2016, ADT commenced the Consent Solicitations from holders of the Consent Notes with respect to (i) a waiver (with respect to each series of Consent Notes, the Waiver and, collectively, the Waivers) of any potential Change of Control Triggering Event, including any potential obligation of ADT to make a Change of Control Offer (each as defined in the indentures governing the Consent Notes), and (ii) certain amendments to the indentures governing each series of Consent Notes, which would (a) amend the definition of Change of Control and (b) limit any required grant of capital stock as collateral with respect to the Consent Notes to the extent necessary not to be subject to any requirement pursuant to Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) rules to file separate financial statements with the SEC or any other governmental agency (clauses (a) and (b) together, with respect to each series of Consent Notes, the Proposed Amendments), in each case in connection with the Acquisition. The Consent Solicitations are subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Consent Solicitation Statement, dated as of April 1, 2016, as amended by Amendment No. 1 to the Consent Solicitation Statement, dated as of April 5, 2016, as previously extended by the press release dated April 11, 2016 and as further extended hereby.

This announcement does not constitute a solicitation of any consent in respect of, or an offer to purchase, or a solicitation of an offer to sell, any securities. The Consent Solicitations are being made only pursuant to the applicable offering documents. The applicable offering documents for the Consent Solicitations will be distributed to all holders of the Consent Notes. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. is acting as solicitation agent for the Consent Solicitations. Barclays Capital Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and RBC Capital Markets, LLC are acting as co-solicitation agents for the Consent Solicitations. D.F. King & Co. Inc. is acting as the information and tabulation agent for the Consent Solicitations. Requests for the offering documents may be directed to D.F. King & Co. Inc. at (212) 269-5550 (for brokers and banks), (866) 416-0576 (for all others) or e-mail at [email protected].

About Protection 1

Protection 1 was acquired by certain funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO) on July 1,2015 as the flagship for Apollos entrance into the alarm monitoring services industry, with a simultaneous acquisition of ASG Security, which has been effectively integrated into Protection 1. Protection 1 is a premier full-service business and home security company in the U.S. that provides installation, maintenance, and monitoring of single-family home security systems, business security systems and multi-family security systems. Protection 1 serves over 2 million customers and employs over 4,000 people in more than 90 office locations and five UL Certified monitoring centers across the country. For more information about Protection 1, visit http://www.protection1.com/corporate/news/.

About ADT

The ADT Corporation (NYSE: ADT) is a leading provider of security and automation solutions for homes and businesses in the United States and Canada. ADTs broad and pioneering set of products and services, including ADT Pulse interactive home and business solutions, and health services, meet a range of customer needs for todays active and increasingly mobile lifestyles. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, ADT helps provide peace of mind to over 6.5 million customers and employs approximately 17,000 people at 200 locations. More information is available at www.adt.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable federal securities laws. The forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements concerning the Consent Solicitations. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to economic, competitive, and technological factors outside Protection 1s control that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Protection 1 expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in expectations or events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160412006867/en/

For Protection 1:

Coltrin & Associates

Jennifer Webb, 212-221-1616

[email protected]

or

For Apollo Global Management:

Apollo Global Management, LLC

Gary M. Stein, 212-822-0467

Head of Corporate Communications

[email protected]

or

Rubenstein Associates, Inc. for Apollo Global Management, LLC

Charles Zehren, 212-843-8590

[email protected]

Source: Protection 1
Why Should Rhode Islanders Have to Receive Wine in MA or CT?

NAPA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Two bills introduced in Rhode Island promise to remove an archaic provision requiring consumers to visit a winery before receiving a shipment of wine directly from that winery. Of the 43 states and the District of Columbia that allow winery-to-consumer shipments, only Rhode Island and Arkansas include the winery visit penalty. Arizonas Governor Ducey signed a bill March 31, 2016 which will eliminate this burden for Arizona consumers.

Rhode Islands current statute effectively bans winery-to-consumer shipments, and is a money-loser for the state, said Jeremy Benson, executive director, Free the Grapes! Why should Rhode Island wine lovers have to visit a winery in order to order wine, or drive to a neighboring, legal state to pick up their wine shipment? It makes no sense, and the state is losing tax revenues on these shipments.

Senate Bill 2072 and House Bill 7620 are currently in committee. These bills would replace the current statute with language that has proven successful in the majority of U.S. states. The proposed provisions include, among others, that an in-state or out-of-state winery first obtain a shipping license from the state, that it limits shipments to personal use only, that taxes are collected and remitted by wineries to the state, that all boxes are labeled and require an adult signature, and that the licensed winery consents to the jurisdiction of the state.

About Free the Grapes!

Founded in 1998, Free the Grapes! is a national movement of consumers, wineries and retailers seeking to expand consumer choice in wine with legal, regulated direct shipments. To receive email updates visit www.freethegrapes.org or www.facebook.com/FreetheGrapes.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160412006827/en/

Free the Grapes!

Jeremy Benson, 707-254-1107

executive director

[email protected]

Source: Free the Grapes!
OMAHA, Neb., April 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE: VMI), is a global leader, designing and manufacturing highly engineered products that support global infrastructure development and agricultural productivity. Valmont's Global Coatings Segment is an industry leader in providing services that protect against corrosion, improve appearance and lengthen the service lives of steel and other metal products.

Valmont's Coatings Segment won an unprecedented seven "Excellence in Hot-Dip Galvanizing" awards, of fifteen total categories, in the annual event sponsored by the American Galvanizing Association (AGA). Competition for the 15 awards included 129 impressive projects from galvanizers around the world, submitted to an independent panel of architects and engineers for consideration. The winning Valmont submissions include:

In the "Original Equipment Manufacturing" category, the SAFER Barrier project was recognized, submitted by Valmont's Birmingham and Columbia Galvanizing facilities. The new barrier is known as SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) and has been installed at all oval courses and several road courses utilized by NASCAR and INDYCAR tracks, continuing a focus on improved driver safety.

Valmont's Tampa Galvanizing facility was recognized in both the "Food and Agriculture" and "Civic Contribution" categories. In the "Food and Agriculture" category, its submission of a large greenhouse project is leading the way in protecting Florida's critical citrus crops. Under "Civic Contribution," galvanizing at the Myakka City Lemur Reserve is helping protect that increasingly endangered animal.

In the "Electrical, Utility & Communication" category, Valmont's Oklahoma Galvanizing facility was recognized with its submission for a newly designed transmission support structure.

In the "Transportation" category Valmont's Miami Galvanizing facility was the winner for its work on the Miami-Dade Expressway Toll Plaza, (Dolphin Expressway), in Florida.

Valmont Coatings' Calwest Galvanizing facility also merited two awards. They were top in the "Artistic" category with the submission of a large sculpture of a mammoth for the City of San Jose Public Art Collection in collaboration with the City Trails Program (see picture). In the "Duplex" category (paint over hot dip galvanizing) the 101 Freeway pedestrian overcrossing in Los Angeles, California was recognized.

Rick Cornish, Group President of Valmont's Global Coatings Segment, commented, "Valmont Coatings is honored to have received the seven 'Excellence Awards in Hot-Dip Galvanizing' awards this year. What is most exciting about this competition is the novel applications for our industry's services and how these submissions promote demand for hot dip galvanizing." Valmont Coatings operates 33 facilities, in 6 countries, with 2,000 employees around the world.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160412/354533

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/valmont-coatings-wins-7-excellence-in-hot-dip-galvanizing-awards-300250409.html

SOURCE Valmont Industries, Inc.
A Verizon logo is seen during the International CTIA WIRELESS Conference & Exposition in New Orleans, Louisiana May 9, 2012. REUTERS/Sean Gardner/Files

By Malathi Nayak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers walked off the job on Wednesday in one of the largest U.S. strikes in recent years after contract talks hit an impasse, and got a boost as U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders joined them at a Brooklyn rally ahead of the New York primary next week.

Front-runner Hillary Clinton, who will face Sanders in the

primary on April 19, also voiced support for the strikers and urged Verizon to go back to the bargaining table.

The strike was called by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers that jointly represent employees with such jobs as customer services representatives and network technicians in Verizon Communications Inc's (NYSE: VZ) traditional wireline phone operations.

The strike could affect service in Verizon's Fios Internet, telephone and TV services businesses across several U.S. East Coast states, including New York, Massachusetts and Virginia. The walkout does not extend to the wireless operation.

Verizon said it had trained thousands of non-union employees over the past year to ensure no disruption in services.

"There's no way that these 10,000 people ... can make up for 40,000 people who have decades of experience (in highly technical jobs)," CWA representative Bob Master said.

The wireline unit, which represents Verizon's legacy business, generated about 29 percent of company revenue in 2015, down about 60 percent since 2000, and less than 7 percent of operating income.

Verizon has been scaling back its Fios TV and Internet service and stopped expanding its landline phone network.

In recent years, Verizon, the No. 1 U.S. wireless company, has shifted focus to the bread-and-butter wireless business and new efforts in mobile video and advertising.

To that end, Verizon bought AOL for $4.4 billion last year betting that a push into mobile video and targeted advertising can help it find new growth avenues.

"DESTROYING LIVES"

Sanders spoke to a crowd of cheering Verizon workers at a mid-day rally in Brooklyn. "This is just another major American corporation trying to destroy the lives of working Americans," he said.

In urging a resumption of talks, Clinton said in a statement, "We rely on these men and women as part of the communications infrastructure that keeps businesses and our economy moving."

Verizon didn't appear to be swayed. "Big companies are an easy target for candidates looking for convenient villains for the economic distress felt by many of our citizens," Verizon Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam said in a blog post.

"Contrary to Sen. Sanders contention, our proposals do not call for mass layoffs or shipping jobs overseas," McAdam said.

Hundreds of Verizon workers protested outside Verizon stores along the East Coast on Wednesday. In New York, strikers chanted "We're disgusted, union busted" and held placards reading "Against Verizon's corporate greed."

"They even want us to move to different states and that's unfair. How do we take care of our families?" said Anita Long, a 59 year-old telecommunications technician assistant.

"How do you make a billion dollars in one month and tell me you can't give me a decent wage?" said Long, who has worked at Verizon for 37 years, picketing in Brooklyn.

Verizon and the unions have been talking since last June over the company's plans to cut healthcare and pension-related benefits over a three-year period.

The workers have been without a contract since its agreement expired in August. Issues include healthcare, offshoring call center jobs, temporary job relocations and pensions.

The last contract negotiations in 2011 also led to a strike. A new contract was reached after two weeks.

On Tuesday, Verizon said it was approached by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. In the last round, the FMCS mediated their contract dispute.

The question of federal mediation is "a diversionary tactic," CWA's Master said, adding it has not contacted the FMCS.

"We don't want to go to Washington ... what is needed is for the company to sit down and address our concerns."

Verizon's shares fell 1.3 percent to close at $51.29.

(Additional reporting by Gina Cherelus in New York and Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Jeffrey Benkoe)
ADEN (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least four people on Tuesday in an explosion in the southern Yemeni port of Aden targeting young army recruits, witnesses and a security source said, the second attack of its kind in two months.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes as a shaky U.N.-sponsored truce between the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and its foes, the Iran-allied Houthis, held for a second day despite accusations of violations by both sides.

The witnesses and security source said a suicide bomber wearing an explosives-laden belt had blown himself up amid young army recruits waiting for buses in the north of the city.

Islamic State's Yemen wing said in a statement on its Amaq news website that it had detonated an explosives device against government soldiers killing five and wounding seven others.

Islamist militants have exploited Yemen's year-old civil war to increase their presence and carry out a series of deadly attacks against troops loyal to Hadi and his backers from the Saudi-led alliance in southern Yemen.

In February, a suicide bomber killed at least 13 recruits at an army camp run by Hadi's government in Aden.

The truce now underway is meant to pave the way for peace talks next week in Kuwait. Islamist militant groups such as Islamic State and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula are not party to the truce.

(Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashef; Writing by Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by William Maclean and Gareth Jones)
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders greets Communications Workers of America (CWA) workers striking against Verizon in Brooklyn, New York April 13, 2016. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

By Gina Cherelus and Megan Cassella

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton joined striking Verizon workers' picket lines on Wednesday after Sanders was endorsed by New York City transit workers in his fight for union support that has largely gone to Clinton.

Sanders addressed hundreds of striking workers in Brooklyn as "brothers and sisters" and thanked them for their courage in standing up to what he characterized as corporate greed by the mammoth communications company.

Employees cheered as Sanders, who was born in Brooklyn, criticized Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) for wanting to take away health benefits, outsource jobs and avoid federal income taxes, calling it "just another major American corporation trying to destroy the lives of working Americans."

"Today I became a Bernie supporter. Basically just having his presence and knowing that he acknowledges the working class matters," said technician Kerryann Reid, 36, who said she has worked for Verizon for 15 years.

It was a scene tailor-made for the U.S. senator from Vermont, who has focused on income inequality in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sanders is trying to catch up with Clinton, the front-runner, in Tuesday's primary in New York, a state both candidates have called home.

On Wednesday afternoon, several dozen workers picketing a Verizon store in Manhattan cheered as Clinton arrived to show her support.

"This has been going on for months," she said of the deadlocked contract talks, adding that the employees needed all the support they could get.

Despite Sanders' daily championing of the rights of working-class Americans, Clinton has racked up the lion's share of support from organized labor, a crucial base for the Democratic Party.

Among Democrats and independents who belong to a labor union, 50 percent support Clinton and 36 percent back Sanders, according to a Reuters/Ipsos national poll in March.

In comparison, Clinton and Sanders have been about even in the poll among all Democrats and independents. The poll from March 1 to March 31 included 780 people who said they were Democrats or independents and belonged to a labor union. It had a credibility interval of 4 percentage points.

Nearly 40,000 Verizon employees went on strike on Wednesday in one of the largest U.S. walkouts in recent years after contract talks hit an impasse.

'STANDING UP FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICANS'

"You are standing up not just for justice for Verizon workers, you're standing up for millions of Americans ... and youre telling corporate America that they cannot have it all," Sanders told the striking workers.

Verizon Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam accused Sanders of getting the facts wrong and oversimplifying the situation, dismissing the candidate's views as "contemptible." The company has to adapt to competition and technology, but still provides good jobs and benefits to thousands, he said in a statement.

Sanders fired back on Twitter at McAdam and General Electric Co (NYSE: GE) Chief Executive Jeff Immelt, who criticized Sanders in an opinion article last week.

"I dont want the support of McAdam, Immelt and their friends in the billionaire class," Sanders wrote. "I welcome their contempt."

While Sanders whipped up the crowd in Brooklyn, Clinton's campaign issued a statement criticizing Verizon for wanting to outsource more jobs and urging the company to go back to the bargaining table.

"To preserve and grow America's middle class, we need to protect good wages and benefits, including retirement security," Clinton said. "And we should be doing all we can to keep good-paying jobs with real job security in New York."

Earlier in the day, Sanders announced the endorsement of Transport Workers Union Local 100, representing 42,000 workers in the New York City area.

Clinton, meanwhile, won the backing of a local unit, representing more than 27,000 area workers, of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, one of the unions involved in the Verizon strike. The other union involved in the strike, the Communications Workers of America, has endorsed Sanders for president.

Other influential unions that have backed Clinton include the AFSCME, a public employees union with 1.6 million members, and the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, which has about 2 million members in a variety of professions.

In what was widely viewed as a win for Sanders, the AFL-CIO, the country's largest labor union federation, in February declined to endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary.

Sanders also won his first endorsement from a fellow U.S. senator, Democrat Jeff Merkley of Oregon, on Wednesday, while Clinton was endorsed by New York's Daily News, which called her a "superprepared warrior realist."

(Additional reporting by Brian Snyder, Jonathan Allen and Chris Kahn in New York; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in an airplane hanger in Rome, New York April 12, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

By Mike Stone

(Reuters) - A Donald Trump presidency would be bad for corporate dealmaking, according to a global survey of people who advise companies on mergers and acquisitions, or M&A.

Nearly two-thirds of 1,500 respondents - including investment bankers, lawyers and people who work for private equity firms - said a Trump presidency would create uncertainty that would deter executives from launching bids.

The survey was conducted in April by Intralinks Holdings Inc (NYSE: IL), which provides confidential meeting rooms used by companies when they allow would-be bidders to look through their accounts.

"The real story is that dealmakers crave less disruption, and Trump has been a polarizing figure on a global scale," Matt Porzio, vice president of strategy at Intralinks, said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination for the Nov. 8 election. His unpredictable style and fiery rhetoric have some investors worried that as president he could trigger trade wars, hurt the economy and add a lot of volatility to financial markets.

The New York real estate developer prides himself on his ability to make good deals, and M&A professionals in the United States were less concerned about his impact on business than their peers elsewhere.

According to the survey, 46 percent of U.S. dealmakers said they believed Trump would have a negative impact on M&A activity, compared with 83 percent of dealmakers in Latin America. Trump has sparked controversy with his call for building a wall along the Mexican border and for deporting 11 million illegal immigrants from the United States.

Some 71 percent of dealmakers based in Europe and 75 percent in Asia thought Trump would be bad for business.

Globally, only 45 percent of respondents thought that U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a self-described socialist who is competing with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, would be bad for M&A activity.

But the same proportion - 45 percent - thought Clinton would have a positive impact on mergers and acquisitions, making her the candidate viewed to have the highest positive impact on corporate tie-ups.

(Reporting by Mike Stone; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Jonathan Oatis)
By Luis Jaime Acosta

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's Marxist FARC rebels are still involved in drug trafficking and are stoking resistance to eradication of illicit crops, the head of the anti-narcotics police said on Tuesday, despite the group's ongoing peace talks with the government.

The rebels have so far failed to give up the lucrative drugs business, which has helped fund the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's (FARC) five decades of war, even though it has reached partial accord at talks that would require them to abandon the trade.

The FARC and the government of President Juan Manuel Santos have been holding peace talks in Cuba since late 2012. Negotiators say a final accord could be reached soon.

The rebels agreed in 2014 to break ties with drug traffickers, help eradicate illegal crops like coca, the raw material used to make cocaine, and help fight the production of narcotics.

"What's been agreed is that the FARC will stop narco-trafficking, that's what we hope for, that once they sign the FARC will stop," anti-narcotics police head Jose Angel Mendoza told Reuters in an interview.

"But up to now what's clear is that areas where the FARC are coincide with areas of cultivation. And so in that order of ideas things continue much as they were," Mendoza said, adding that the rebel group is encouraging local farmers to protest the eradication of coca.

The fight against drug trafficking could become easier for law enforcement if the 7,000-strong FARC do comply with a peace deal and demobilize, Mendoza said.

A peace deal with second-largest rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN) would further allow police to focus their anti-drug efforts on crime gangs that grow, process and export narcotics.

"We would be talking about combating not on multiple fronts but on one, organized crime," Mendoza said at his office in Bogota.

Coca cultivations have increased since the government banned aerial spraying with the herbicide glyphosate because of cancer concerns.

The most recent United Nations figures showed an increase of 44 percent in coca cultivations in 2014, to 69,000 hectares. The United States government estimates there are 159,000 hectares.

(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Opinion / Columnist

The MDCT demonstration and March Against Poverty and Corruption set for tomorrow the 14th of April, in Harare is going ahead. We urge all people coming to the demonstration to wear their party regalia and if they do not have then they should wear red.The demonstration is legal as it is being done in terms of section 59 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe signed into law by Mugabe in 2013.Neither Mugabe nor any of the gendarmes can take away the people's right to demonstrate. We must come in our numbers to assert the people's right to demonstrate. We reiterate that this is a peaceful demonstration and we expect the highest standards of behavior from our members and friends. There will be no violence and looting. We know the enemy may try to plant criminals in our midst.Our marshals and security officers will deal with these so that the public is protected. Among the issues we are demonstrating against is the grinding poverty that Zimbabwe has been plunged into by this regime. We are demonstrating in outrage at the $15bn that was stolen by the state official and their criminal associates.The unemployment situation that has left most Zimbabwean graduates consigned to vending is also among the issues. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. We urge civil society and all progressive Zimbabweans to be part of this historical event. We advise that the police have not banned this demonstration although they tried to discourage it.It is not up to the ZRP to determine what rights to encourage or discourage. Together as responsible Zimbabweans we will win. Victory is certain.
People walk by the JP Morgan & Chase Co. building in New York in an October 24, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Eric Thayer/Files

By Saeed Azhar and Sumeet Chatterjee

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) has cut 30 jobs, or 5 percent of its headcount, at its Asia wealth management business, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said, as the U.S. bank sharpens its focus on tapping wealthier clients.

The job cuts would affect the bank's Singapore and Hong Kong offices, the source said, declining to be identified because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the subject.

JPMorgan said in a statement that Edwin Lim, market manager for North Asia high-networth clients, had left the firm. A spokeswoman declined to comment further on job cuts.

The cuts highlight a decision by the bank to refocus on upper-end Asian clients with $10 million in investable surplus, known as ultra-high networth individuals, up from a $5-million threshold earlier, the source said.

In March last year, JPMorgan said it had decided to position its Asia wealth management unit as one private bank serving both the rich and the super rich, aligning its business model with other regions.

With 4.7 million individuals with $1 million in liquid financial assets, Asia-Pacific is the largest and fastest growing wealth region, according to Cap Gemini and RBC.

But some Western banks have recently retreated from the wealth management business in Asia due to rising costs, regulatory risks and competition.

British lender Barclays earlier this month agreed to sell its wealth and investment management business in Hong Kong and Singapore to Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) .

"At J.P. Morgan, we constantly review our coverage to ensure that clients are aligned with the advisors who are best suited to meet their needs," the JPMorgan spokeswoman said in the statement.

"Our integrated team approach to service our clients will remain unchanged and fully covered," the statement said, adding the bank remained open to hiring more in the region to grow its wealth management business.

JPMorgan's shift in strategy for its wealth management unit began a few months ago and saw the departure of several private bankers who were targeting the high-networth segment, typically with about $5 million liquidity, private banking sources said.

Peter Flavel, the former JPMorgan chief executive of private wealth management at Asia Pacific, joined Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's (NYSE: RBS) Coutts & Co and Adam & Co. in February.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Stephen Coates)
By Duncan Miriri

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya on Tuesday defended its deportation of two groups of Taiwanese to China after they were acquitted in a cyber crime case, a move that has drawn an angry reaction from Taipei.

The Kenyan government said the people were in Kenya illegally and were being sent back to where they had come from.

Kenya does not have official relations with Taiwan and considers the island part of China, in line with Beijing's position.

Taiwan's foreign ministry said one of the Taiwanese sent to China was also a U.S. national. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of that report but was not able to discuss it at the moment "due to privacy considerations." Privacy issues limit what the department can disclose about U.S. citizens abroad.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a news briefing the United States was seeking more details about the Kenyan deportation decision and why it was handled the way it was.

The Taiwanese government was incensed that Kenyan authorities used force, including tear gas, to get deportees out of a police station and into a plane on Tuesday. It has accused China of kidnapping eight of its nationals.

"They came from China and we took them to China. Usually when you go to another country illegally, you are taken back to your last port of departure," Kenyan Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka said.

He could not say which city in China they were being returned to, but Kenya Airways and China Southern both fly to Guangzhou.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said Taipei had not contacted Nairobi about the matter. The protests came via a media briefing in Taiwan.

"We don't have official relations with Taiwan. We believe in the 'One China' policy. We have diplomatic relations with China. We haven't seen the official protest, we are actually hearing it from the media," Mohamed told Reuters.

A group of eight left on Friday and a second group of 37 Taiwanese nationals were in the process of leaving on Tuesday, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Beijing approved of Kenya's upholding the "one China" principle. He declined to elaborate.

In China's first public explanation of what has happened, the director of its Taiwan Affairs Office, Zhang Zhijun, spoke with his Taiwan counterpart, Andrew Hsia, head of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, about the case.

State news agency Xinhua said Zhang explained that the Kenya deportees included fraudsters from Taiwan who had caused losses for people in China and that they "must be bought to justice". He gave no details.

Taiwan's Hsia lodged a protest at China's behavior, the Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement about the call.

China views Taiwan as a wayward province. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island in 1949 after a civil war with the Communists who have remained in control in Beijing since then.

Only 22 countries recognize Taiwan as the Republic of China, with most, including Kenya, having diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

Kenya's attorney-general said in January it was considering a request from Beijing to extradite 76 Chinese charged with cyber crime. But Taiwan said some of these people were from Taiwan.

(Additional reporting by J.R Wu and Faith Hung in Taipei and Ben Blanchard in Beijing and David Alexander in Washington, Editing by Angus MacSwan and Jonathan Oatis)
BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan's parliament elected Sooronbai Zheenbekov, an ally of President Almazbek Atambayev, as prime minister in a unanimous vote on Wednesday, consolidating power in the hands of the Social Democratic party which backs both of them.

Having control over the parliament and the government should help the Social Democrats engineer a smooth succession when Atambayev's term in office ends at the end of 2017. He has ruled out running for another term.

Unlike its autocratic Central Asian neighbors, Kyrgyzstan has a relatively powerful parliament while limiting presidential powers. Two Kyrgyz presidents have been toppled by violent protests.

The Social Democrats nominated Zheenbekov, 57, the president's deputy chief of staff, on Tuesday, following the resignation of his predecessor Temir Sariyev whose cabinet parliament members have accused of corruption.

Sariyev's political party, Akshumkar, is not a member of the ruling coalition which is led by the Social Democrats and includes three other parties, Kyrgyzstan, Onuguu-Progress and Ata Meken. Together, the four parties have 80 parliament seats out of 120.

The Central Asian nation's economy has come under pressure from the recession in Russia and slowdowns in other neighboring countries such as China and Kazakhstan.

(Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Former Ukrainian army pilot Nadezhda Savchenko looks out from a glass-walled cage during a verdict hearing at a court in the southern border town of Donetsk in Rostov region, Russia, in this still image taken from video March 22, 2016. REUTERS/REUTERS TV

VILNIUS (Reuters) - Lithuania blacklisted several dozen Russians and Ukrainians for their role in the detention and sentencing of the Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko and two other Ukrainians, Lithuania's foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Ukraine expanded sanctions against Russia last month after a Russian court found Savchenko, 34, guilty of complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists and sentenced her to 22 years in prison.

Ukraine called on the European Union to follow suit, and Lithuania became the first EU state to do so. The 46 people it blacklisted are banned from entering Lithuania for 10 years.

Those blacklisted include Russian investigators, prosecutors and judges, as well as separatists from the Ukrainian rebel strongholds of Luhansk and Donetsk, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told Reuters.

"We blacklisted them to show our solidarity with Ukraine, and to focus attention on the unacceptable and cynical violations of international law and human rights in Russia. We are convinced that the court cases against those people were falsified", Linkevicius told Reuters by phone.

"It would be more effective if the blacklist became Europe-wide. We hope to start such a discussion", he said.

Regarded as a national hero by many in her homeland, Savchenko has been depicted by Russian state TV as a dangerous Ukrainian nationalist with the blood of civilians on her hands. Russia has ignored calls from the European Union and the United States to free her on humanitarian grounds.

Last year, a Russian court sentenced Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, 39, to 20 years in a high-security penal colony for "terrorist attacks" in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Moscow from Ukraine in April 2014.

The military court sentenced a second defendant, Crimea activist Alexander Kolchenko, 26, to 10 years in prison.

(Reporting By Andrius Sytas)
Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov shake hands with Croatian and Slovenian police officers deployed at Macedonian south border with Greece in Gevgelija, Macedonia, April 13, 2016. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski

By Kole Casule

SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia's president pardoned 56 government and opposition figures on Wednesday in a wiretapping scandal despite protests against the move at home and abroad, with the United States warning it could protect "corrupt politicians".

A day after causing uproar in Macedonia by announcing he planned a blanket amnesty over the affair, President Gjorge Ivanov published notices in Macedonia's official gazette exempting former prime minister Nikola Gruevski - a political ally - and other prominent politicians from prosecution.

Also pardoned were opposition leader Zoran Zaev, who revealed the existence of the recordings last year, and former security service official Zoran Verusevski, who Gruevski accused of giving the wiretaps to Zaev in an attempt to bring down his government.

Thousands of opposition supporters angry at Ivanov's action took to the streets of the capital Skopje on Wednesday evening.

Some broke windows at a city center office occasionally used by Ivanov, went inside and took out furniture which they tried to set on fire, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. They also broke windows at the nearby Ministry of Justice.

Demonstrators scuffled with riot police, threw stones and eggs at government buildings and set off flares before police used batons to disperse the crowd.

A police source said there had been some injuries and arrests but could not immediately say how many.

A rival demonstration by several thousand government supporters ended peacefully.

Macedonia, a poor Balkan country of two million people on the front line of Europe's refugee crisis, has been in turmoil since Zaev accused Gruevski and his counter-intelligence chief, Saso Mijalkov, in February last year of orchestrating the wiretapping of more than 20,000 people.

The opposition said the phone-taps exposed government control over journalists, judges, public sector recruitment and the manipulation of elections in Macedonia, which aspires to join both the European Union and NATO.

Zaev branded Ivanov's action a "coup d'etat" on Tuesday and demanded his resignation, while the EU said the move appeared contrary to the rule of law.

Thirty-seven opposition legislators signed a petition on Wednesday demanding a parliamentary inquiry into Ivanov's action but the assembly was dissolved last week pending elections and the speaker said there were no grounds to recall it.

Ivanov explained his move on Tuesday by saying the scandal had reduced Macedonian politics to a crippling competition of criminal investigations and charges, and that it had become "so tangled that nobody can untangle it".

U.S. Ambassador Jess Baily joined foreign criticism of Ivanov's action, saying on Twitter: "A blanket pardon without due process protects corrupt politicians and their associates. Let the special prosecutor and courts do their jobs."

In Washington, the U.S. State Department urged Ivanov on Wednesday to reconsider his decision so as to ensure "justice for the people of Macedonia".

The EU commissioner in charge of relations with would-be member states, Johannes Hahn, said on Tuesday he doubted whether credible elections were possible following Ivanov's decision. The opposition had already pledged to boycott the election.

Ali Ahmeti, head of the Democratic Union for Integration party which forms part of the ruling coalition, called on Ivanov to withdraw his decision, saying it violated an EU-brokered deal reached last year to try to end the crisis.

Under that accord, a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate the wiretap revelations and Gruevski agreed to an early election, expected in June.

(Additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Ivana Sekularac in Belgrade, Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Writing by Adrian Croft; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Gjorge Ivanov, President of Macedonia, addresses the 69th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York September 26, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

By Kole Casule

SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov ordered a halt on Tuesday to all criminal inquiries into allegations of a vast government wiretap operation, prompting the opposition to demand his resignation for a move it said amounted to a "coup d'etat".

Macedonia, a poor Balkan country of two million people on the front line of Europe's refugee crisis, has been in turmoil since the opposition accused then-Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his counter-intelligence chief in February last year of orchestrating the wiretapping of more than 20,000 people.

Ivanov's decision on Tuesday to shelve all investigations into the scandal, an action also sharply criticized by the European Union as contrary to the rule of law, looks set to compound rather than ease the crisis.

"I have decided to put an end to this agony for Macedonia," Ivanov told reporters, announcing he would sign a decree bringing a halt to all legal proceedings against politicians over the wiretap allegations.

Opposition Social Democratic leader Zoran Zaev, who made the original allegations, rejected Ivanov's decision as a "coup".

"We want Gjorge Ivanov to resign. If he doesn't do that, he will lead the state to the brink. This today is a coup d'etat. We will use all tools that we have to stop it," Zaev told a news conference, adding that he would call for a protest against the decision.

Several hundred protesters gathered soon afterwards, throwing eggs at Ivanov's office and ruling party headquarters and pushing and shoving with police.

The EU commissioner in charge of relations with would-be member states, such as Macedonia, condemned Ivanov's decision as contrary to the rule of law and questioned whether a general election planned soon could be credible.

The EU's Johannes Hahn said recent actions by the Macedonian leadership had jeopardized the former Yugoslav republic's prospects of closer relations with the EU and NATO.

EU DEAL

The opposition released a slew of phone-taps last year that they said had been made by allies of Gruevski and which it said exposed government control over journalists, judges, public sector recruitment and the manipulation of elections.

Ivanov is an ally of Gruevski, who backed the president's election, though the president's powers are limited under Macedonia's parliamentary system.

The EU brokered a deal with Macedonia under which a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate the revelations and Gruevski agreed to an early election, now expected in June. The opposition has already pledged to boycott the election.

The special prosecutor launched criminal proceedings in February against two former ministers on suspicion of intimidating voters.

Gruevski and his center-right VMRO-DPMNE party denied any wrongdoing.

Shortly before he aired the wiretapping allegations last year, Zaev was charged with conspiring with an unidentified foreign intelligence service to topple the government.

It was not immediately clear whether Ivanov's decision to halt all criminal proceedings applied to Zaev, but the opposition leader said that, in any case, he would reject such a step. "I neither ask for nor will accept amnesty," he said. "We are not all the same and we are not all criminals."

Ivanov said he was intervening because the long-running crisis had seriously damaged Macedonia, which closed its border in March to thousands of migrants hoping to reach northern Europe, leaving them bottled up in Greece.

"Politics (has) turned itself into who will open more criminal proceedings or submit criminal charges against one another," Ivanov said. "The thing is so tangled up that nobody can untangle it."

Arsim Zekolli, a former Macedonian ambassador to the main European security and rights watchdog OSCE, told the Balkan Insight news website that Ivanov's decision was to be expected "in a country where it is common knowledge that it is run by one political party and where crime and corruption flourish."

"We have no parliament, no judiciary and a police controlled by a political party...This is indescribable, Zekolli said.

(Additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade and Alastair Macdonald in Brussels; Writing by Adrian Croft; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) and King Salman of Saudi Arabia shake hands during the reception ceremony in the Egyptian Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt April 7, 2016 in this file handout courtesy of the Egyptian Presidency. REUTERS/The

By Lin Noueihed and Omar Fahmy

CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi King Salman's trip to Egypt was meant to display the strength of ties between the two allies. But Cairo's transfer of two Red Sea islands to Riyadh during the visit stung Egyptian pride and drew criticism of what some saw as excessive Saudi influence.

The visit was meant to bury claims that diverging priorities in Yemen and Syria had damaged relations and demonstrate that Egypt and Saudi Arabia were vital to each other's security.

But after five days of official obsequiousness towards the 80-year-old monarch and no sign of any direct Saudi aid money, Saturday's news on the islands overshadowed the visit's original purpose.

Outraged Egyptians accused their once-popular president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, of giving up land to curry favor with the Saudis.

Cartoons on social media showed the Sphinx in a traditional Gulf Arab headdress while the front page of Al Maqal newspaper asked: "Are we living the years of the Saudi Republic of Egypt?"

On Twitter, the hashtag "I feel like selling what to Saudi Arabia" trended on Tuesday, with commentators suggesting Egypt flog everything from self-serving lawmakers to Sisi himself.

Beyond the trip's public relations debacle, Sisi faces uncomfortable questions about the future of relations between the two countries as Saudi largesse is shrinking and Egypt appears to have little to offer in return.

Egypt has struggled to get its economy back on track since the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Saudi Arabia has showered Egypt with billions of dollars in aid since 2013, when Sisi ousted elected President Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood and banned the Islamist movement, which Riyadh opposes.

But falling oil prices have forced Saudi Arabia to overhaul its economic policies and rethink priorities. Early in the royal trip, a Saudi businessman told Reuters there would be no more free money for Egypt. [nL5N17B4P0]

After all, despite the billions Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have provided bail Egypt out, Sisi took only a limited role in the Saudi-led war in Yemen and disagrees on key aspects of the war in Syria.

With Middle East in turmoil, the two countries still need each other, analysts agree, but are running out of ways in which they can help each other.

Egypt needs Gulf Arab money to keep itself afloat and the controversial decision to hand back the islands should be seen in that context, said Amr Adly, nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center.

"We can expect things that are very desperate. And giving up the islands is already very desperate," he told Reuters.

REGIONAL SUCCESS, DOMESTIC DEBACLE

Saudi and Egyptian officials said the uninhabited islands of Tiran and Sanafir belong to the kingdom and were only under Egyptian control because Saudi Arabia's founder asked Egypt in 1950 to protect them.

But the agreement to hand them over, which still needs ratification by Egypt's parliament, caused consternation among many Egyptians, who were taught in school that the islands were theirs.

As the furor filled newspapers and airwaves, Sisi invited a group of parliamentarians, ministers and opinion-formers to the presidential palace to reassure them that he would "not sell our land to anyone and would not take land from anyone."

In a speech, Sisi said Egypt did not want to cause problems with Saudi Arabia by refusing to return its land and repeatedly beseeched his audience to stop questioning the move.

"I'm not taking this issue personally at all ... but please let's not talk about this issue again," he said.

But even Egyptians who were willing to accept the islands as Saudi property were upset that Israel was consulted in advance -- the islands are entangled in Egypt's 1979 peace deal with Israel -- but the Egyptian people and parliament were not.

The announcement was buried at the bottom of a cabinet statement issued late on Saturday, giving the impression that the government had hoped no one would notice.

"What hurts most is the phone call to Tel Aviv that came before everything, and these massive headlines in the most important newspaper in Egypt reassuring Israel before explaining anything to the Egyptian people," prominent journalist Yosri Fouda wrote on his Facebook page.

The next day, King Salman visited parliament, where lawmakers waved the Saudi flag and repeatedly interrupted proceedings with thunderous applause and impromptu poetry recitals. Above the parliament building, next to the Egyptian flag, fluttered the green banner of Saudi Arabia.

Al Masry Al Youm newspaper counted the times lawmakers clapped in the 15 minutes the king was in the house -- 23.

The spectacle added to a general sense among Egyptians that economic mismanagement and reliance on Saudi aid had left them too beholden to their neighbor.

For the Saudis, at least, the king's visit achieved its objectives.

The extraordinary length of his stay and engagements that included a meeting with the Coptic Pope and a visit to Cairo University, along with $4 billion in private sector investment pledges, reinforced the message that ties were close, though perhaps uncomfortably close for some Egyptians.

"He basically established to the region that Riyadh and Cairo stand shoulder to shoulder even if they don't agree on certain issues and that disagreement on certain issues may be annoying but not to the extent that it is upsetting the relationship in a disturbing fashion," said H.A. Hellyer, senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council.

"The visit was a failure in terms of Egyptian public opinion because of the islands issue ... But it's dubious to think that upset is going to snowball."

(Additional reporting by Eric Knecht, Amina Ismail and Ahmed Aboulenein; editing by Giles Elgood)
Officials stand near ballot boxes during a referendum, at a registration centre at Al Fashir in North Darfur April 13, 2016. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

By Khalid Abdelaziz

EL FASHER, Sudan (Reuters) - Darfuris concluded voting on Wednesday in a referendum on whether to reunite the states of their arid western region, amid a boycott by rebel groups that accuse the government of rigging the vote to keep Darfur divided.

The Sudanese government's decision to split Darfur into three states in 1994 helped fuel discontent that eventually erupted into fighting - rebels and many from the large Fur tribe said the break-up allowed Khartoum to weaken and rule them.

Officials said turnout was high in the vote, which Sudan has presented as a major concession. Results are expected next week.

"According to the reports we've been getting, there has been large turnout and widespread participation from voters," Darfur referendum commission head Omar Ali Gemaa told Reuters.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against the Arab-led government based in the capital Khartoum, accusing it of discrimination.

According to the United Nations, some 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur, 4.4 million people need aid and more than 2.5 million have been displaced.

Although violence has eased in recent years, the insurgency continues and Khartoum has escalated attacks on rebels over the past year. At least 130,000 people have fled fighting in the central Jebel Marra area since mid-January alone.

The two main rebel groups fighting in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army, have accused the government of rigging the vote in its favor, to keep Darfur split into several states.

They have called on their members to boycott the referendum and have said a political settlement must come first, warning that this week's vote will only lead to more violence.

Some who chose not to vote said the referendum would not address their immediate concerns.

"We're in need of food, water, and protection from militias...those going hungry aren't concerned with whether Darfur is a region or state," said 43-year-old Ahmed Adam, a resident of an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp.

The United States this week expressed "serious concern" over "inadequate registration" in the referendum. "If held under current rules and conditions...it will undermine the peace process now under way," a U.S. State Department statement said.

Others found reason to reunite Darfur into a single state.

"I support Darfur becoming a state and I voted for this, because the state system offers better services in terms of education and health," said 21-year-old university student Nadra al-Tahir.

Analysts and diplomats say the government opposes a unified Darfur, concerned that this would give the rebels a platform to push for independence - just as the south successfully did in 2011, taking with it most of the country's oil reserves.

(Additional reporting by Ola Noureldin; Writing by Eric Knecht; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Police escort a group of people wanted for suspected fraud in China, after they were deported from Kenya, as they get off a plane after arriving at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China, April 13, 2016. REUTERS/Yin Gang/Xinhua

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - A group of Taiwanese deported from Kenya to China after being acquitted of cyber crime are wanted for suspected fraud in China, the Chinese government said on Wednesday.

In a case that has enraged Taiwan, which has accused Beijing of kidnap, the Kenyan government said the people were in Kenya illegally and were being sent back to where they had come from.

Kenya does not have official relations with democratic Taiwan and considers the island part of "one China", in line with the position of Communist Party leaders in Beijing.

China's Ministry of Public Security, in a statement released via the official Xinhua news agency, said Kenya had decided to deport 32 Chinese and 45 Taiwanese to China, of whom 10 had already arrived and another 67 would leave on Wednesday.

Xinhua showed some of them arriving in Beijing with black hoods over their heads, escorted by police.

Taiwanese had been heavily involved in telecoms fraud in China and had caused huge losses, with some victims killing themselves, the ministry said.

Taiwanese criminals "have been falsely presenting themselves as law enforcement officers to extort money from people on the Chinese mainland through telephone calls", the ministry added.

The group detained in Kenya had operated out of Nairobi and were suspected of cheating people out of millions of yuan across nine provinces and cities in China, and as most the victims were in China, they would be prosecuted there, it said.

China had informed Taiwan of the situation and would invite Taiwan law enforcement officials to visit to discuss how best to tackle such fraud, the ministry said.

An Fengshan, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan needed to view the case rationally.

"The victims abhor this kind of fraud. I hope the Taiwan side can give more thought to the victims when it looks at this issue," he told a news conference carried live on Chinese television.

According to Taiwan's foreign ministry, one of the Taiwanese sent to China was also a U.S. national. The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it was aware of this report, but was not able to discuss it "due to privacy considerations."

On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the department, Anna Richey-Allen, said the United States was following the issue closely and added: "We encourage Beijing to engage with Taipei to resolve this issue on the basis of dignity and respect."

CHINA'S JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN QUESTION

China views Taiwan as a wayward province and has not ruled out the use of force to ensure unification. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island in 1949 after the civil war with the Communists who have remained in control in Beijing since then.

Only 22 countries recognize Taiwan as the Republic of China, with most, including Kenya, having diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, with its leaders in Beijing.

Taiwanese lawmakers grilled government officials during parliamentary committee sessions about the case.

"The Chinese judicial system is in question for many people in Taiwan," said Lo Chih-cheng, a lawmaker for the ruling pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party. "They are wondering if those people can get a fair trial in China."

Rachel Liu, the mother of 28-year-old Liu Tai-ting, who was deported to China on Tuesday even though a Kenyan court had acquitted him last week, also said she did not know about China's judicial system.

"We hope any trial can be conducted in our own country no matter if guilty or not guilty," she told Reuters.

Some comments on Taiwan social media questioned whether a precedent was being set of Taiwanese abroad being "taken away" by China, drawing a parallel with the case of five booksellers in Chinese-controlled Hong Kong who temporarily went missing in mysterious circumstances.

Hong Kong authorities are still waiting for detailed explanations from China regarding the booksellers, who produced and sold gossipy books critical of Chinese leaders, amid suspicion among some that they were abducted by Chinese agents. China has denied any wrongdoing.

China's influential state-run Global Times said Kenya was right to send the people to China and added: "The mainland's handling of the case is supported by international laws."

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by J.R. Wu and Carol Lee in TAIPEI and Davi Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON; Editing by Nick Macfie, Robert Birsel and Michael Perry)
UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

x ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015

or

o TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934





For the transition period from _______________ to _______________

Commission File No. 333-192107

PREMIER PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION, INC. (exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

NEVADA 90-0920687 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)

13103 GOLDEN WAY POWAY, CA 92064 (Address of principal executive offices) (zip code)





Registrants telephone number, including area code  (858) 748-7152

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes o No x

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes x No o





Note  Checking the box above will not relieve any registrant required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act from their obligations under those Sections.





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 preceding 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. Yes  x No o





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). Yes o No x





Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K ( 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrants knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. o





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 definitions of large accelerated filer, accelerated filer and smaller reporting company in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer o Accelerated filer o Non-accelerated filer o (Do not check if smaller reporting company) Smaller reporting company x





Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes  o No x

As of March 15, 2016 Premier Pacific Construction, Inc. had 5,169,000 shares of common stock outstanding.

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P AR T I





The Company

We were incorporated on March 14, 2012 in the State of Nevada. In March 2012, we completed a merger with Premier Pacific Construction, Inc., a California corporation (PPC-CA). PPC-CA was originally formed in 2000 by our President, Richard Francella to provide general contracting and construction services within San Diego County, California. Mr. Francella has been a licensed contractor in the State of California since July 24, 2008.

In 2009, this country experienced an economic downturn and resulting depression in the real estate market. The real estate market has started to recover, with existing home sales in June 2013 up 15.2% from the previous year. Source : National Association of Realtors.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) announced in January 2016 that it has seen a consistent increase in the growth of the construction remodeling market over the past year. According to the NAHB, the Remodeling Market Index (RMI) rose two points to 63 in the West (which would include California) in the final quarter of 2015. In a January 15, 2016 NAHB news release NAHBS Chief Economist David Crowe stated, The steady, performance of the RMI over the past six quarters is consistent with our projection for continued modest growth in remodeling spending. (Source: http://www.nahb.org/en/news-and-publications/press-releases/2016/01/consistent-confidence-marks-remodeling-market-index-in-final-quarter-of-2015.aspx.) An RMI above 50 indicates that more remodelers report that market activity is higher compared to the prior quarter. The overall RMI averages ratings of current remodeling activity with indicators of future remodeling activity. The NAHB partially attributes rise in existing home sales to the positive report. Source: www.nahb.org/remodel.

The Company plans to take advantage of the upswing in the remodeling market by providing renovation and upgrade services to homeowners who need to sell their homes and wish to get the highest price possible. We will focus primarily on building relationships with real estate brokers who can (1) refer us to selling homeowners, and (2) advise us on potential property market value of the home after renovation. We will contract directly with the selling homeowner to provide our renovation and upgrade services and materials with little or no up-front payment to us. Rather, our contracts will provide for payment through escrow at the time of sale. We intend to include a contract provision for payment should the selling homeowner decide not to sell the property. To secure payment, we intend to file construction liens with the appropriate county recorders office pursuant to State and local laws.

We will initially market our pre-sale renovation and upgrade services to real estate brokers and homeowners within San Diego County, California. If our marketing efforts in San Diego County are successful, we will consider expanding our marketing in the counties of Orange and Riverside in California.

Our President, Richard Francella, has initiated efforts to build strategic partnerships with real estate brokers within San Diego County who represent selling homeowners with properties that can be renovated to produce higher resale value. In this regard, Mr. Francella has contacted real estate brokers known by him within San Diego County and has received verbal commitments from these brokers that they will refer selling homeowners who might benefit from our pre-sale renovation and/or upgrade services.

Before we commit to providing any pre-sale renovation and/or upgrade services, we must first assess the property to determine whether the propertys value can be enhanced by our services. The most important factors to be considered are the valuation of comparisons in the respective geographic area with consideration to the length of time properties are on the market for sale. The amount of like properties in inventory in the same geographic area will dictate the pace of sales, which would dictate the turn (sale) of the renovated properties.

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If we determine whether the property value can be enhanced by our services, we must then work with the homeowner on a renovation and/or upgrade plan. Some of the factors we will consider in deciding what type of renovations and/or upgrades should be made include the age of the property, age and functionability of appliances, state of repair of flooring, tiles, walls, faucets, etc. All upgrades would be considered to GO GREEN (i.e. eco-friendly) where applicable, which might include new and more efficient appliances, low flush toilets, water and electric conservation water heaters and insulated windows.

Employees

We currently have only one employee. Richard Francella, our sole officer and Director, works 30 hours per work week as a general contractor on behalf of the Company. Mr. Francella plans to spend at least 10 hours per week marketing and promoting our pre-sale renovation and upgrade services.

Business Development

We seek to develop mutually beneficial business relationships with real estate brokers who have been engaged to represent sellers of residential property. Our ability to fully implement this marketing program is dependent upon available working capital. In light of the fact that the Company has nominal cash and that customers will not contribute to upfront costs of projects, we will not be able to implement our marketing program unless our existing operations grow or unless we obtain additional financing. We currently have no arrangements or commitments for additional financing.

Additionally, if we use our working capital faster than originally planned, we may be required to substantially curtail our business development efforts as well as face higher costs for renovating and/or upgrading sellers properties. The implementation of a scaled-back program would slow our revenue growth.

Marketing and Sales

Our initial marketing efforts are geared toward developing mutually beneficial business relationships with real estate brokers. Once we have built these relationships, our efforts may extend to marketing and promoting our services directly to homeowners in local publications.

Competition

We currently know of only one local competitor that offers renovation and real estate brokerage services as a package. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no other contractor that is willing to provide homeowners with renovations and upgrades to their properties without payment up front and without being tied to using a particular real estate broker. Our local competitor is an established company with the ability to widely promote their services via television commercials. There is no guarantee that we will compete successfully with our competition.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.





As a smaller reporting company, we are not required to provide the information required by this Item.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.





As a smaller reporting company, we are not required to provide the information required by this Item.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES.





Our principal executive office is located at 13103 Golden Way, Poway, CA 92064, and our telephone number is (858) 748-7152. This office space is being provided to the registrant free of charge by our president, Richard Francella. This space is currently sufficient for our purposes, and we expect it to be sufficient for the foreseeable future.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.





From time to time, we may become involved in various lawsuits and legal proceedings, which arise, in the ordinary course of business. However, litigation is subject to inherent uncertainties, and an adverse result in these or other matters may arise from time to time that may harm our business. We are currently not aware of any such legal proceedings or claims that we believe will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.





N/A

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

Market Information

Since January 2015, our shares of common stock have been listed for quotation on the Pink tier of OTC Markets, under the stock symbol "PPCQ. The following table shows the reported high and low closing bid prices per share for our common stock based on information provided by OTC Markets. The over-the-counter market quotations set forth for our common stock reflect inter-dealer prices, without retail mark-up, mark-down or commission and may not necessarily represent actual transactions.

BID PRICE PER SHARE Quarters Ended HIGH LOW December 31 2015 $ 2.00 $ 1.45 September 30, 2015 $ 2.00 $ 0.05 June 30, 2015 $ 0.05 $ 0.05 March 31, 2015 n/a n/a December 31 2014 n/a n/a September 30, 2014 n/a n/a June 30, 2014 n/a n/a March 31, 2014 n/a n/a





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Holders of Capital Stock

As of the date of this registration statement, we had a total of 25 holders of our common stock.

Dividends

To date, we have not paid any dividends on our common shares and we do not expect to declare or pay any dividends on our common shares in the foreseeable future. Payment of any dividends will depend upon future earnings, if any, our financial condition, and other factors as deemed relevant by our board of directors.

Stock Option Grants

We do not have any stock option plans.

Registration Rights

We have not granted registration rights to the selling shareholders or to any other persons.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Securities

We did not sell any equity securities which were not registered under the Securities Act during the year ended December 31, 2015.

Purchase of Equity Securities

We did not purchase any of our shares of common stock or other securities during our fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA.





As a smaller reporting company, we are not required to provide the information required by this Item.

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION OF AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATION





Plan of Operations

All statements contained in this Report, other than statements of historical facts, that address future activities, events or developments, are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements containing the word believe, anticipate, expect and word of similar import. These statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by us in light of our experience and our assessment of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments as well as other factors we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those projected. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements made by the Company are not guarantees of future performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: established competitors who have substantially greater financial resources and operating histories, regulatory delays or denials, ability to compete as a start-up company in a highly competitive market, and access to sources of capital.

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and notes thereto included elsewhere in this Report. Except for the historical information contained herein, the discussion in this Report contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. The cautionary statements made in this Report should be read as being applicable to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this Report. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those discussed here.

We were incorporated on March 14, 2012 in the State of Nevada. In March 2012, we completed a merger with Premier Pacific Construction, Inc., a California corporation (PPC-CA). PPC-CA was originally formed in 2000 by our President, Richard Francella to provide general contracting and construction services within San Diego County, California. Since our inception, we have operated as a construction company providing general contracting and construction services to both residential and commercial clients.

Our plan is to continue to provide general contracting and construction services as we have done for more than a decade. In addition, we are also pursuing opportunities to work with homeowners who wish to sell their homes in the currently weak real estate market and wish to make certain renovations and upgrades to increase their potential sales price. In order to assist the homeowners, we will complete the renovations and upgrades (hereinafter pre-sale renovation and upgrade services) with no up-front out of pocket costs to the homeowner. Rather, the homeowner will agree to pay for our services through escrow when they sell. We plan to market our services to real estate brokers.

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We have not yet begun marketing our pre-sale renovation and upgrade services to real estate brokers and have expended zero funds on marketing our pre-sale renovation and upgrade services to date. We have only established a few business relationships with real estate brokers in San Diego County. Our current lack of assets and no plan for obtaining additional funding may preclude our ability to execute on our business plan.

The Company will most likely require additional funding for development and this additional funding may be raised through debt or equity offerings. Management has yet to decide what type of offering the Company will use or how much capital the Company will attempt to obtain and there is no guarantee that the Company will be able to raise any capital through any type of offerings. For these reasons, our auditor has expressed substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

The Company has been operating since 2000, offering general construction services within San Diego County, California. Over the past two years, we have had little revenue from operations and limited assets. Our plan is to continue to offer general construction services while expanding our business into renovation of real estate properties to be sold.

During the next 12 months the Company will continue to network with local real estate brokers who could refer homeowners who are interested in selling their properties, but need renovations and/or upgrades to increase the market value. Our 12-month plan also includes building a website to attract real estate brokers and homeowners, completing our sub-contractor list, prospect for clients, and marketing our business on affiliate websites.

We have created a basic website for our services (see Premierpacific.net), and are working on creating additional website pages that address our remodeling and renovation services to prospective home sellers in furtherance of our additional business plan. Within the next 6 months, we plan to have our website completed. For our internet marketing efforts, the website content will be search engine optimized, as well as outreaches to relevant partner sites and blogs to build link exchanges, driving traffic to our site. A stylish direct mail piece will also be produced highlighting our services and targeted to real estate brokers.

We anticipate that the design and development of the website will take an additional six weeks and the customer outreach will take six months. We will immediately begin our advertising and marketing to source prospective realtor partners, investors and contractors through cold calls, referencing state lists of licensed and registered contractors, and direct mail strategies. We will focus our marketing on real estate brokers, agents and real estate investor professionals. The following table summarizes our planned marketing activities.

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Planned activities Budget a) Creating website $3,000 - $4,000 b) Advertising through Industry related publications $2,000-$3,000 c) Advertising through consumer special interest publications such as magazines, newsletters and newspapers. $4,000-$5,000 d) Attending industry related Trade Shows and Expos $2,000-$3,000 e) Public Relations activities, including: creating a PR package, contacting media outlets, writing expert articles and industry related news and updates for submission to various consumer periodicals $2,500-$3,500 f) Direct marketing $1,500-$2,500 TOTAL ANTICIPATED MARKETING EXPENSES $15,000-$21,000 (*)

(*) The amount of funds necessary to implement our marketing activities and plan of operation cannot be predicted with any certainty and may exceed any estimates set forth above.

In the event that we are unable earn enough revenue from operations, we will endeavor to proceed with our plan of operations by locating alternative sources of financing. While the officers and directors have generally indicated a willingness to provide services and financial contributions if necessary, there are presently no agreements, arrangements, commitments, or specific understandings, either verbally or in writing, between the officers and directors and the Company.

We do not anticipate hiring any staff during the first 12 months of operation, and will rely on the services of outside contractors for the design and development of our website and for labor on our real estate property renovations.





We have been exploring, and plan to continue exploring other business opportunities. Presently, our focus is in the area of solar energy.

Results of Operations

Results of Operations for the Years Ended December 31, 2015 and 2014

The following summary of our results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014.

Year Ended December 31, 2015 2014 Revenue $ 81,429 $ 73,972 Cost of goods sold $ 50,074 $ 6,771 Operating Expenses $ (63,585 ) $ (17,652 ) Net Income (Loss) $ (32,230 ) $ (12,389 )

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Our revenues for the year ended December 31, 2015 were $81,429, compared to our revenues for the year ended December 31, 201, which were $73,972, representing approximately a 10% increase. We attribute the increase in revenues during the year ended December 31, 2015 to an increase in remodeling and renovation contracts.

We incurred operating expenses in the amount of $63,585 and $17,652 for the years ending December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 respectively. These operating expenses included professional fees in addition to administrative expenses. We attribute the increase in operating costs to increase in construction contracts and implementation of business plan.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2015, we had cash of $4,244 and operating working capital deficit of $(20,837). Over the past two fiscal years, the Company has funded its operations primarily through sales of common stock and through loans from its President, Richard Francella. Net cash flows from operations represented the Companys principal source of cash for the period ending December 31, 2015.

Our current average monthly administrative expenses are about $580, of which $218 is for phone, $100 is for gasoline, and $262 is for miscellaneous. We have been able to pay our monthly expenses from income from operations, sales of our common stock, and stockholder loans. We do not foresee quantifiable long term liquidity needs that vary from our current since those needs are dependent on whether or not we enter into contracts to provide pre-sale renovation and upgrade services.

Richard Francella will be the only employee initially as the company seeks contracts. Additionally, there will be little if any capital expenditures due to the nature of the business and the ability to bring in subcontractors for the bigger work. We believe that we have enough cash to support our daily operations and produce revenues while we are attempting to commence the expansion of our business with our pre-sale renovation and upgrade services. However, if we are unable to satisfy our cash requirements we may be unable to proceed with our plan of operations. We do not anticipate the purchase or sale of any significant equipment. We also do not expect any significant additions to the number of employees. The foregoing represents our best estimate of our cash needs based on current planning and business conditions. In the event we are not successful in reaching our initial revenue targets, additional funds may be required, and we may not be able to proceed with our business plan for the development and marketing of our pre-sale renovation and upgrade services.

Increase in mortgage interest rates or unavailability of mortgage financing could adversely affect the ability of homebuyers to sell their current homes. As a result, once we commit to provide pre-sale renovation and upgrade services to a client, our margins, revenues, and cash flows may also be adversely affected.

Our liquidity may be negatively impacted by the significant costs associated with our public company reporting requirements, costs associated with newly applicable corporate governance requirements, including requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and other rules implemented by the Securities and Exchange Commission. We expect all of these applicable rules and regulations to significantly increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time consuming and costly.

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We anticipate that depending on market conditions and our plan of operations, we may incur operating losses in the foreseeable future. Therefore, our auditors have raised substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have no significant off-balance sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources that is material to stockholders.

Going Concern

We have an accumulated deficit through December 31, 2015 of $65,489. The Company will most likely require additional funding for development and this additional funding may be raised through debt or equity offerings. Management has yet to decide what type of offering the Company will use or how much capital the Company will attempt to obtain. There is no guarantee that the Company will be able to raise any capital through any type of offerings. For these reasons, our auditors stated in their report that they have substantial doubt we will be able to continue as a going concern.

Critical Accounting Policies

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles 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.

Revenue Recognition

The Company recognizes revenue from the sale of products or services in accordance with ASC 605-35-25-1 Revenue Recognition in Financial Statements. The Company has adopted the Completed Contract Method of Accounting.. Revenue will consist of services income and will be recognized only when the following criteria have been met: i) Persuasive evidence of an agreement has been met; ii) Service has occurred; iii) The fee is fixed or determinable; iv) The collection is reasonably assured.

ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOS UR ES ABOUT MARKET RISK.

As a smaller reporting company, we are not required to provide the information required by this Item.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA.

PREMIER PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION, INC.

Audited Financial Statements

For the Period Ending December 31, 2015









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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM









To the Board of Directors and Stockholders

Premier Pacific Construction, Inc.

Poway, California









We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of Premier Pacific Construction, Inc. as of December 31, 2015 and 2014 and the related statements of operations, stockholders equity (deficit) and cash flows for each of the years then ended. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.





We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform an audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. Our audits included consideration of internal control over financial reporting as a basis for designing audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.





In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Premier Pacific Construction, Inc. as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.





The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that Premier Pacific Construction, Inc. will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Companys income has come from five major clients and there can be no assurance that there will be a continuance in their business, which raises substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. Management's plans in regard to this matter are also described in Note 1. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.









/s/ MaloneBailey, LLP

www.malonebailey.com

Houston, Texas

April 12, 2016

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PREMIER PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION INC. Balance Sheets December 31, 2015 December 31, 2014 ASSETS Current Assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 4,244 $ 7,988 Total current assets 4,244 7,988 Property and equipment,net 1,489 957 TOTAL ASSETS $ 5,733 $ 8,945 LIABILITIES & STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY (DEFICIT) Current Liabilities Accounts payable 3,000 3,000 Loan payable 21,193 - Accrued interest 888 - Loan from Shareholder - 4,163 Total current liabilities 25,081 7,163 TOTAL LIABILITIES 25,081 7,163 STOCKHOLDER'S EQUITY (DEFICIT) Common Stock $0.001 par value, 75,000,000 authorized and 5,144,000 issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2015 and 2014 respectively 5,144 5,144 Additional paid-in capital 40,997 29,897 Accumulated deficit (65,489 ) (33,259 ) TOTAL STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY (DEFICIT) (19,348 ) 1,782 TOTAL LIABILITITES & STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY (DEFICIT) $ 5,733 $ 8,945





The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

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PREMIER PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION INC. Statements of Operations Year Ended Year Ended December 31, 2015 December 31, 2014 Revenue Construction income $ 81,429 $ 73,972 Total revenue 81,429 73,972 Cost of goods sold Job related costs 50,074 43,931 Gross profit 31,355 30,041 Operating costs General, administrative and professional fees 63,585 17,652 Total operating costs 63,585 17,652 Net Income (loss) $ (32,230 ) $ 12,389 Basic and dilutive earnings per share $ (0.01 ) $ 0.00 Weighted average number of common shares outstanding basic and diluted 5,144,000 5,144,000







The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

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PREMIER PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION INC. Statements of Stockholders' Equity (Deficit) Common Common Stock Additional Accumulated Stock Amount Paid-in Capital Deficit Total Balance December 31, 2013 5,144,000 $ 5,144 $ 29,897 $ (45,648 ) $ (10,607 ) Net income - - - 12,389 12,389 Balance December 31, 2014 5,144,000 $ 5,144 $ 29,897 $ (33,259 ) $ 1,782 Contribution from shareholder 11,100 11,100 Net loss (32,230 ) (32,230 ) Balance December 31, 2015 5,144,000 $ 5,144 $ 40,997 $ (65,489 ) $ (19,348 )









The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

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PREMIER PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION INC. Statements of Cash Flows Year Ended Year Ended December 31, 2015 December 31, 2014 CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES Net income(loss) $ (32,230 ) $ 12,389 Adjustments to reconcile net income(loss) to net cash provided by (used in) operations Contribution from shareholder 11,100 - Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Pre-paid expenses - 662 Accrued interest 888 - Progress billings - (12,669 ) Net cash provided by (used) in operating activities (20,242 ) 382 INVESTING ACTIVITIES Additional of property and equipment (532 ) - Net cash provided by (used) in investing activities (532 ) - CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES Proceeds from loans payable 21,193 Proceeds from shareholder loans 14,642 3,900 Repayment of shareholder loans (18,805 ) (13,800 ) Net cash provided by (used) in financing activities 17,030 (9,900 ) Net change in cash (3,744 ) (9,518 ) Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 7,988 17,506 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 4,244 $ 7,988 Cash paid for interest $ - $ - Cash paid for taxes $ - $ -





The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

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PREMIER PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION, INC. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS December 31, 2015 and 2014









1. ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION





Premier Pacific Construction, Inc. (The Company) was originally incorporated in the State of California on July 28, 2000 in the name of Francellas Kitchen and Bath Refinishing Inc. to engage in the business of small scale construction, repairs and alterations for residential clients. On August 8, 2008 the Company changed its name to Premier Pacific Construction, Inc., a California Corporation (PPC-CA). The Company merged with Premier Pacific Construction Inc., a Nevada Corporation (PPC-NV) in March of 2012.





Going Concern Consideration





These financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis which assumes the Company will be able to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business for the foreseeable future. The Company anticipates future losses in the development of its business raising substantial doubt about the Companys ability to continue as a going concern. The ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon the Company generating profitable operations in the future and/or to obtain the necessary financing to meet its obligations and repay its liabilities arising from normal business operations when they come due. Management intends to finance operating costs over the next twelve months with existing cash on hand, loans from directors and/or issuance of common shares.





The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might be necessary if the Company is unable to

continue as a going concern.





2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES





In August 2014, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2014-15 Preparation of Financial Statements  Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40), Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entitys Ability to Continue as a Going Concern. Under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), continuation of a reporting entity as a going concern is presumed as the basis for preparing financial statements unless and until the entitys liquidation becomes imminent. Preparation of financial statements under this presumption is commonly referred to as the going concern basis of accounting. If and when an entitys liquidation becomes imminent, financial statements should be prepared under the liquidation basis of accounting in accordance with Subtopic 205-30, Presentation of Financial StatementsLiquidation Basis of Accounting. Even when an entitys liquidation is not imminent, there may be conditions or events that raise substantial doubt about the entitys ability to continue as a going concern. In those situations, financial statements should continue to be prepared under the going concern basis of accounting, but the amendments in this Update should be followed to determine whether to disclose information about the relevant conditions and events. The amendments in this Update are effective for the annual period ending after December 15, 2016, and for annual periods and interim periods thereafter. Early application is permitted. The Company will evaluate the going concern considerations in this ASU. However, at the current period, management does not believe that it has met conditions which would subject these financial statements for additional disclosure.

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PREMIER PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION, INC. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS December 31, 2015 and 2014





We have reviewed the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) accounting pronouncements and interpretations thereof that have effectiveness dates during the periods reported and in future periods. The Company has carefully considered the new pronouncements that alter previous generally accepted accounting principles and does not believe that any new or modified principles will have a material impact on the corporations reported financial position or operations in the near term. The applicability of any standard is subject to the formal review of our financial management and certain standards are under consideration.

Basis of Presentation

The financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America. The Companys year -end is December 31.





Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all highly liquid investments with original maturity of three months or less to be cash equivalents. As of December 31, 2015, the Company did not have cash balances in excess of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation limit. As of December 31, 2015, the Company did not have any cash equivalents.





Use of Estimates and Assumptions

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles requires that management makes 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 period. Actual results could differ from those estimates





Revenue Recognition

The Company recognizes revenue from the sale of products or services in accordance with ASC 605-35-25-1 Revenue Recognition in Financial Statements. The Company has adopted the Completed Contract Method of Accounting. Revenue will consist of services income and will be recognized only when the following criteria have been met: i) Persuasive evidence of an agreement has been met; ii) Service has occurred; iii) The fee is fixed or determinable; iv) the collection is reasonably assured. All 2015 sales were to the same entity.

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PREMIER PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION, INC. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS December 31, 2015 and 2014

Progress Billings

We receive payments from customers as down payments and record them as progress billings. The revenue related to these progress billings is recognized as revenue in accordance with our revenue recognition policies as above.





Income Taxes

The Company follows the accrual method of accounting for income taxes. Under this method, deferred income tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying values and their respective income tax basis (temporary differences). The effect on the deferred income tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. At December 31, 2015 a full deferred tax asset valuation allowance has been provided and no deferred tax asset has been recorded.





(Loss) per Common Share

The Company computes net income (loss) per share in accordance with ASC 260, "Earnings per Share" which requires presentation of both basic and diluted earnings per share (EPS) on the face of the income statement. Basic EPS is computed by dividing net income (loss) available to common shareholders (numerator) by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding (denominator) during the period. Diluted EPS gives effect to all dilutive potential common shares outstanding during the period including stock options, using the treasury stock method, and convertible preferred stock, using the if-converted method. In computing diluted EPS, the average stock price for the period is used in determining the number of shares assumed to be purchased from the exercise of stock options or warrants. Diluted EPS excludes all dilutive potential common shares if their effect is anti-dilutive. As of December 31, 2015, there are no dilutive securities.

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PREMIER PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION, INC. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS December 31, 2015 and 2014





3. INCOME TAXES

December 31, 2015 December 31, 2014 Deferred tax assets: Net operating tax carry-forward $ 65,489 $ 33,259 Tax rate 34 % 34 % Gross deferred tax assets 22,266 11,308 Valuation allowance (22,226 ) (11,308 ) Net deferred tax assets $ -0- -0-

Realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon sufficient future taxable income during the period that deductible temporary differences and carry-forwards are expected to be available to reduce taxable income. As the achievement of required future taxable income is uncertain, the Company recorded a valuation allowance.

As of December 31, 2015, the Company has a net operating loss of $65,489. Net operating loss expires twenty years from the date the loss was incurred.

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PREMIER PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION, INC. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS December 31, 2015 and 2014









4. STOCKHOLDERS EQUITY





On November 6, 2014, the Companys Board of Directors approved a four-for-one (4-1) forward split (Forward split) of its issued and outstanding shares of common stock to shareholders of record as of October 31, 2014 (Record Date) which became effective on November 7, 2014 (Effective Date). A majority of the Companys shareholders approved the Forward Split by unanimous written consent without a meeting on November 6, 2014.

All shares and per share amounts in the financial statements have been adjusted to give retroactive effect to the four-for-one (4-1) Forward Stock Split.

As of December 31, 2015, there are 75,000,000 shares authorized and 5,144,000 issued and outstanding.

5. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS





In the year ending December 31, 2015, the majority shareholder loaned the Company an amount of $14,642, in order for the Company to remain in business. This was completely repaid in 2015 and at December 31, 2015 no loans are outstanding.

In the year ending December 31, 2015, the President of the Company provided management fees and office premises to the Company for a fee of $925 per month, the right to which the President agreed to assign to the Company until such time as the Company closes on an equity or debt financing of not less than $200,000. The $11,100 for donated management fees were charged to operating and general expenses and recorded as donated capital (Additional Paid in Capital).

6. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS





On January 8, 2016, the Company filed form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the negotiation and potential purchase of a 300 Megawatt solar installation contract pipeline (the pipeline), for homes, businesses and government organizations from a privately-held solar energy company. Both parties estimate the value of the pipeline at $3,000,000 which was proposed to be paid for with shares of common stock of the Company. Unfortunately, after further discussions the project was abandoned by both parties.

On March 1, 2016, the Company agreed to pay its outstanding Note Payable being the principal sum of $20, 868 plus the accrued interest of 5% ($887) totalling $21,755 in full payment of all outstanding loans made to the Company between March and June, 2015.

On March 16, 2016 the Company filed form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the sale of 25,000 shares of its common stock (the shares), par value $0.001, for $1.00 per share to an individual investor for net cash proceeds of $25,000.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AN D DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE.

None.

ITEM 9A(I). CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES





Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)). Based upon that evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that, as of the end of the period covered in this report, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective to ensure that information required to be disclosed in reports filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the required time periods and is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Limitations on Systems of Controls

Our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal controls will prevent all error or fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Due to the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been detected. To address the material weaknesses identified in our evaluation, we performed additional analysis and other post-closing procedures in an effort to ensure our consolidated financial statements included in this annual report have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Accordingly, management believes that the financial statements included in this report fairly present in all material respects our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented.

Managements Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) or 15d-15(f) promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the companys principal executive and principal financial officers and effected by the companys board of directors, management and other personnel, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America and includes those policies and procedures that:





 Pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company;





 Provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and

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 Provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the companys assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation. Because of the inherent limitations of internal control, there is a risk that material misstatements may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis by internal control over financial reporting. However, these inherent limitations are known features of the financial reporting process. Therefore, it is possible to design into the process safeguards to reduce, though not eliminate, this risk.

As of December 31, 2015, management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the criteria for effective internal control over financial reporting established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) and SEC guidance on conducting such assessments. Based on that evaluation, they concluded that, during the period covered by this report, such internal controls and procedures were not effective to detect the inappropriate application of US GAAP rules as more fully described below. This was due to deficiencies that existed in the design or operation of our internal controls over financial reporting that adversely affected our internal controls and that may be considered to be material weaknesses.

The matters involving internal controls and procedures that our management considered to be material weaknesses under the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board were: lack of a functioning audit committee; lack of a majority of independent members and a lack of a majority of outside directors on our board of directors; inadequate segregation of duties consistent with control objectives; and, management is dominated by a single individual. The aforementioned material weaknesses were identified by our Chief Executive Officer in connection with the review of our financial statements as of December 31, 2015.

Management believes that the material weaknesses set forth above did not have an effect on our financial results. However, management believes that the lack of a functioning audit committee and the lack of a majority of outside directors on our board of directors results in ineffective oversight in the establishment and monitoring of required internal controls and procedures, which could result in a material misstatement in our financial statements in future periods.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in the Companys internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2015 that have materially affected, or that are reasonably likely to materially affect, the Companys internal control over financial reporting.

ITEM 9B. OTHER INFO RM ATION

There were no disclosures of any information required to be filed on Form 8-K during the three months ended December 31, 2015 that were not filed.

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PA RT III





ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE.





Each of our directors is elected by the stockholders to a term of one year and serves until his or her successor is elected and qualified. Each of our officers is appointed by the board of directors (the Board) to a term of one year and serves until his or her successor is duly elected and qualified, or until he or she is removed from office. The Board has no nominating, audit or compensation committees. Our executive officers and directors and their respective ages as of March 15, 2016, are as follows:

Name Age Position(s) and Office(s) Held Richard Francella 45 President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Director

Set forth below is a brief description of the background and business experience of our sole officer and director. The registrant believes that the skills, experiences and qualifications of its officer and director provide the registrant with the expertise and experience necessary to advance the interests of its shareholders.

Richard Francella has been the President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Company since its inception. In 2013, Mr. Francella was also elected to serve as the Companys Secretary and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Francella has been a licensed contractor since 2008. He is currently licensed with the California Contractors State License Board in the following classifications: B  General Building Contractor; C33  Painting and Decorating; D12  Synthetic Products; and D52  Window Coverings. Mr. Francella has worked as a General Building Contractor since 2008. Prior to 2008, Mr. Francella did commercial and residential painting, millwork, custom countertops, and light framing. Since its inception, Mr. Francella has personally negotiated terms for construction projects, negotiated with, hired and supervised sub-contractors, managed completion of residential and commercial construction projects, secured all required permit approvals, estimated project costs and used actual costs, managed value-engineering process with client to ensure modifications to project specifications continued to meet project goals and client expectations, managed the Companys accounts receivable and accounts payable, and generally managed the Companys finances. Based on Mr. Francellas experience as a general contractor as well as his experience running the Companys day-to-day operations, the Company has concluded that Mr. Francella should serve as its Director.

Mr. Francella is not currently, nor has he ever been, a director of any other public company.

Directors

Our bylaws authorize no less than one (1) director. We currently have one Director.

Director Independence

Our Board of Directors has adopted the definition of independence as described in NASDAQ Rules 4200 and 4350. Independent directors would not include anyone who, within the past three years, be employed by our Company or any parent or subsidiary of our Company or any of their family members; or any director who is, or who has a family member who is, a controlling shareholder. Our Board of Directors has determined that its members do not meet the independence requirements.

Term of Office

Our directors are appointed for a one-year term to hold office until the next annual general meeting of our shareholders or until removed from office in accordance with our bylaws. Our officers are appointed by our board of directors and hold office until removed by the board.

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Significant Employees

We have no significant employees other than our President.

Director Compensation

We do not have any standard arrangements by which directors are compensated for any services provided as a director. No cash has been paid to the directors in their capacity as such.

Code of Ethics Policy

We have not yet adopted a code of ethics that applies to our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller or persons performing similar functions.

Corporate Governance

There have been no changes in any state law or other procedures by which security holders may recommend nominees to our board of directors. In addition to having no nominating committee for this purpose, we currently have no specific audit committee and no audit committee financial expert. Based on the fact that our current business affairs are simple, any such committees are excessive and beyond the scope of our business and needs.

Involvement in Certain Legal Proceedings

None of our directors, executive officers and control persons has been involved in any of the following events during the past ten years:

 Any bankruptcy petition filed by or against any business of which such person was a general partner or executive officer either at the time of the bankruptcy or within two years prior to that time,

 Any conviction in a criminal proceeding or being subject to any pending criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations and other minor offenses);

 Being subject to any order, judgment or decree, not subsequently reversed, suspended or vacated, of any court of competent jurisdiction, permanently or temporarily enjoining, barring, suspending or otherwise limiting his or her involvement in any type of business, securities or banking activities,; or

 Being found by a court of competent jurisdiction (in a civil action), the Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to have violated a federal or state securities or commodities law, and the judgment has not been reversed, suspended, or vacated.

Change-In-Control Arrangements

There are currently no employment agreements or other contracts or arrangements with our officers or directors. There are no compensation plans or arrangements, including payments to be made by us, with respect to our officers, directors or consultants that would result from the resignation, retirement or any other termination of any of our directors, officers or consultants. There are no arrangements for our directors, officers, employees or consultants that would result from a change-in-control.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION.





Summary Compensation Table





The following table sets forth compensation for the periods ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, awarded to, earned by, paid to or accrued for the benefit of our principal executive officer and our principal financial officer.

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) Change in Pension Value & Nonquali- Non-Equity fied Incentive Deferred All Plan Compen- Other Name and Stock Option Compen- sation Compen- Principal Salary Bonus Awards Awards sation Earnings sation Totals Position [1] Year ($) ($) ($) ($) ($) ($) ($) ($) Richard Francella President, CEO, CFO, Secretary (1) 2015 2014 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

(1) Richard Francella has served as the Companys President and CEO since inception. He was appointed as the Companys CFO and Secretary upon the resignation of Sara Francella in December 2013.





Narrative Disclosure to the Summary Compensation Table

Our named executive officers do not currently receive any compensation for their service as officers of the registrant.

Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-end Table

The table below summarizes all unexercised options, stock that has not vested, and equity incentive plan awards for each named executive officer outstanding as of the end of our last completed fiscal year.

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OUTSTANDING EQUITY AWARDS AT FISCAL YEAR-END OPTION AWARDS STOCK AWARDS Name Number of Securities Underlying Unexercised Options (#) Exercisable Number of Securities Underlying Unexercised Options (#) Unexercisable Equity Incentive Plan Awards: Number of Securities Underlying Unexercised Unearned Options (#) Option Exercise Price ($) Option Expiration Date Number of Shares or Shares of Stock That Have Not Vested (#) Market Value of Shares or Shares of Stock That Have Not Vested ($) Equity Incentive Plan Awards: Number of Unearned Shares, Shares or Other Rights That Have Not Vested (#) Equity Incentive Plan Awards: Market or Payout Value of Unearned Shares, Shares or Other Rights That Have Not Vested (#) Richard Francella 0 0 0 0 n/a 0 0 0 0

Directors Compensation





The persons who served as members of our board of directors, including executive officers did not receive any compensation for services as director for the periods ended December 31, 2015 and 2014.

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) Change in Pension Fees Value and Earned Non-Equity Nonqualified All or Incentive Deferred Other Paid in Stock Option Plan Compensation Compen- Cash Awards Awards Compensation Earnings sation Total Name ($) ($) ($) ($) ($) ($) ($) Richard 2015 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Francella (1) 2014 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

(1) Richard Francella served as the Companys Director since its inception.





Narrative Disclosure to the Director Compensation Table

Our directors do not currently receive any compensation from the registrant for their service as members of the board of directors of the registrant. All compensation received by our officers and directors has been disclosed. There are no stock option, retirement, pension, or profit sharing plans for the benefit of our officers and directors.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWERSHIIP OF CERTAIN BENEFI CI AL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS.





The following table sets forth the ownership, as of March 15, 2016, of our common stock by each of our directors, and by all executive officers and directors as a group, and by each person known to us who is the beneficial owner of more than 5% of any class of our securities. As of March 15, 2016, there were 5,169,000 common shares issued and outstanding. To the best of our knowledge, all persons named have sole voting and investment power with respect to the shares, except as otherwise noted.

Title of Class Name of Beneficial Owner (1) Amount of Beneficial Ownership Percent of Class* Common Richard Francella President, CEO, CFO, Secretary and Director 4,000,000 77.38 % Common Total all executive officers and directors 4,000,000 77.38 % Common Richard Francella 4,000,000 77.38 % Common Total 5% Shareholders 4,000,000 77.38 %

(1) As used in this table, "beneficial ownership" means the sole or shared power to vote, or to direct the voting of, a security, or the sole or shared investment power with respect to a security (i.e., the power to dispose of, or to direct the disposition of, a security). In addition, for purposes of this table, a person is deemed, as of any date, to have "beneficial ownership" of any security that such person has the right to acquire within 60 days after such date.

The persons named above have full voting and investment power with respect to the shares indicated. Under the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a person (or group of persons) is deemed to be a "beneficial owner" of a security if he or she, directly or indirectly, has or shares the power to vote or to direct the voting of such security, or the power to dispose of or to direct the disposition of such security. Accordingly, more than one person may be deemed to be a beneficial owner of the same security. A person is also deemed to be a beneficial owner of any security, which that person has the right to acquire within 60 days, such as options or warrants to purchase our common stock.

ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND REL AT ED TRANSACTIONS, DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE.

In the year ending December 31, 2015, the majority shareholder loaned the Company an amount of $24,004 and a total of $9,362 is now outstanding since inception, in order for the Company to remain in business. In the same year ending December 31, 2015 the Company repaid the majority shareholder the sum of $18,805. The loans carry no interest and have no maturity date.





In the year ending December 31, 2015, the President of the Company provided management fees and office premises to the Company for a fee of $925 per month, the right to which the President agreed to assign to the Company until such time as the Company closes on an equity or debt financing of not less than $200,000. The $11,100 for donated management fees were charged to operating and general expenses and recorded as donated capital (Additional Paid in Capital).

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES.

The aggregate fees billed for the most recently completed fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 and for fiscal year ended December 31, 2014 for professional services rendered by the principal accountant for the audit of our annual financial statements and review of the financial statements included in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and services that are normally provided by the accountant in connection with statutory and regulatory filings or engagements for these fiscal periods were as follows:

Year Ended December 31 Services Provided by MaloneBailey, LLP 2015 2014 Audit Fees $ 18,100 $ 16,300 Audit Related Fees - - Tax Fees - - All Other Fees - - Total $ 18,100 $ 16,300

Our board of directors pre-approves all services provided by our independent auditors. All of the above services and fees were reviewed and approved by the board of directors either before or after the respective services were rendered.

Our board of directors has considered the nature and amount of fees billed by our independent auditors and believes that the provision of services for activities unrelated to the audit is compatible with maintaining our independent auditors independence.

ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES.

The following Exhibits, as required by Item 601 of Regulation SK, are attached or incorporated by reference, as stated below.

SIGNA TURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, the registrant caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized on April 12, 2016 .





PREMIER PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION, INC. /s/ Richard Francella By: Richard Francella, President, CEO, CFO, Secretary and Sole Director (Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer)

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on April 12, 2016 .





PREMIER PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION, INC. /s/ Richard Francella By: Richard Francella, President, CEO, CFO, Secretary and Sole Director (Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer)

29

Exhibit 31.1

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, Richard Francella, President & Principal Executive Officer, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Premier Pacific Construction, Inc. (the Company);

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 Company 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 the Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the Company 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 Company, 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 financials statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles; c) evaluated the effectiveness of the Companys disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and d) disclosed in this report any change in the Companys internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the Companys most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Companys internal control over financial reporting; and

5. I have disclosed, based on the most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the Companys auditors and the audit committee of the Companys board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent function): a) all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal controls over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Companys 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 Companys internal controls over financial reporting.

Date: April 12, 2016



/s/ Richard Francella Richard Francella President & Principal Executive Officer







Exhibit 31.2

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002





I, Richard Francella, Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer, certify that:





1. I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Premier Pacific Construction, Inc. (the Company);





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 Company 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 the Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f) and 15d - 15(f)) for the Company 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 Company, 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 financials statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

c) evaluated the effectiveness of the Companys 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 Companys internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the Companys most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Companys internal control over financial reporting; and





5. I have disclosed, based on the most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the Companys auditors and the audit committee of the Companys board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent function):

a) all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal controls over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Companys 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 Companys internal controls over financial reporting.





Date: April 12, 2016









/s/ Richard Francella

Richard Francella

Principal Financial Officer & Principal Accounting 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









I, Richard Francella, President, Principal Executive Officer, Principal Financial Officer, Secretary, Principal Accounting Officer, Director of Premier Pacific Construction, Inc. (the "Company"), certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to  906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that:

(1) The Annual Report on Form 10 -K of the Company for the period ended December 31, 2015 (the Report) fully complies with the requirements of  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 as of and for the periods covered in the Report.





Date : April 12, 2016





/s/ Richard Francella

Richard Francella

President, Principal Executive Officer,

Principal Financial Officer, Secretary,

Principal Accounting Officer, Director









A signed original of this written statement required by  906 has been provided to the Company and will be retained by the Company and furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff upon request.

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1. Organization and Basis of Presentation

12 Months Ended Dec. 31, 2015 Notes 1. Organization and Basis of Presentation 1. ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION Premier Pacific Construction, Inc. (The Company) was originally incorporated in the State of California on July 28, 2000 in the name of Francellas Kitchen and Bath Refinishing Inc. to engage in the business of small scale construction, repairs and alterations for residential clients. On August 8, 2008 the Company changed its name to Premier Pacific Construction, Inc., a California Corporation (PPC-CA). The Company merged with Premier Pacific Construction Inc., a Nevada Corporation (PPC-NV) in March of 2012. Going Concern Consideration These financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis which assumes the Company will be able to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business for the foreseeable future. The Company anticipates future losses in the development of its business raising substantial doubt about the Companys ability to continue as a going concern. The ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon the Company generating profitable operations in the future and/or to obtain the necessary financing to meet its obligations and repay its liabilities arising from normal business operations when they come due. Management intends to finance operating costs over the next twelve months with existing cash on hand, loans from directors and/or issuance of common shares. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might be necessary if the Company is unable to continue as a going concern.

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2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

12 Months Ended Dec. 31, 2015 Notes 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies 2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES In August 2014, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2014-15 Preparation of Financial Statements  Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40), Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entitys Ability to Continue as a Going Concern. Under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), continuation of a reporting entity as a going concern is presumed as the basis for preparing financial statements unless and until the entitys liquidation becomes imminent. Preparation of financial statements under this presumption is commonly referred to as the going concern basis of accounting. If and when an entitys liquidation becomes imminent, financial statements should be prepared under the liquidation basis of accounting in accordance with Subtopic 205-30, Presentation of Financial StatementsLiquidation Basis of Accounting. Even when an entitys liquidation is not imminent, there may be conditions or events that raise substantial doubt about the entitys ability to continue as a going concern. In those situations, financial statements should continue to be prepared under the going concern basis of accounting, but the amendments in this Update should be followed to determine whether to disclose information about the relevant conditions and events. The amendments in this Update are effective for the annual period ending after December 15, 2016, and for annual periods and interim periods thereafter. Early application is permitted. The Company will evaluate the going concern considerations in this ASU. However, at the current period, management does not believe that it has met conditions which would subject these financial statements for additional disclosure. We have reviewed the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) accounting pronouncements and interpretations thereof that have effectiveness dates during the periods reported and in future periods. The Company has carefully considered the new pronouncements that alter previous generally accepted accounting principles and does not believe that any new or modified principles will have a material impact on the corporations reported financial position or operations in the near term. The applicability of any standard is subject to the formal review of our financial management and certain standards are under consideration. Basis of Presentation The financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America. The Companys year -end is December 31. Cash and Cash Equivalents The Company considers all highly liquid investments with original maturity of three months or less to be cash equivalents. As of December 31, 2015, the Company did not have cash balances in excess of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation limit. As of December 31, 2015, the Company did not have any cash equivalents. Use of Estimates and Assumptions The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles requires that management makes 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 period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Revenue Recognition The Company recognizes revenue from the sale of products or services in accordance with ASC 605-35-25-1 Revenue Recognition in Financial Statements. The Company has adopted the Completed Contract Method of Accounting. Revenue will consist of services income and will be recognized only when the following criteria have been met: i) Persuasive evidence of an agreement has been met; ii) Service has occurred; iii) The fee is fixed or determinable; iv) the collection is reasonably assured. All 2015 sales were to the same entity. Progress Billings We receive payments from customers as down payments and record them as progress billings. The revenue related to these progress billings is recognized as revenue in accordance with our revenue recognition policies as above. Income Taxes The Company follows the accrual method of accounting for income taxes. Under this method, deferred income tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying values and their respective income tax basis (temporary differences). The effect on the deferred income tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. At December 31, 2015 a full deferred tax asset valuation allowance has been provided and no deferred tax asset has been recorded. (Loss) per Common Share The Company computes net income (loss) per share in accordance with ASC 260, "Earnings per Share" which requires presentation of both basic and diluted earnings per share (EPS) on the face of the income statement. Basic EPS is computed by dividing net income (loss) available to common shareholders (numerator) by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding (denominator) during the period. Diluted EPS gives effect to all dilutive potential common shares outstanding during the period including stock options, using the treasury stock method, and convertible preferred stock, using the if-converted method. In computing diluted EPS, the average stock price for the period is used in determining the number of shares assumed to be purchased from the exercise of stock options or warrants. Diluted EPS excludes all dilutive potential common shares if their effect is anti-dilutive. As of December 31, 2015, there are no dilutive securities.

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3. Income Taxes

12 Months Ended Dec. 31, 2015 Notes 3. Income Taxes 3. INCOME TAXES December 31, 2015 December 31, 2014 Deferred tax assets: Net operating tax carry-forward $ 65,489 $ 33,259 Tax rate 34 % 34 % Gross deferred tax assets 22,266 11,308 Valuation allowance (22,226 ) (11,308 ) Net deferred tax assets $ -0- -0- Realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon sufficient future taxable income during the period that deductible temporary differences and carry-forwards are expected to be available to reduce taxable income. As the achievement of required future taxable income is uncertain, the Company recorded a valuation allowance. As of December 31, 2015, the Company has a net operating loss of $65,489. Net operating loss expires twenty years from the date the loss was incurred.

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4. Stockholders' Equity

12 Months Ended Dec. 31, 2015 Notes 4. Stockholders' Equity 4. STOCKHOLDERS EQUITY On November 6, 2014, the Companys Board of Directors approved a four-for-one (4-1) forward split (Forward split) of its issued and outstanding shares of common stock to shareholders of record as of October 31, 2014 (Record Date) which became effective on November 7, 2014 (Effective Date). A majority of the Companys shareholders approved the Forward Split by unanimous written consent without a meeting on November 6, 2014. All shares and per share amounts in the financial statements have been adjusted to give retroactive effect to the four-for-one (4-1) Forward Stock Split. As of December 31, 2015, there are 75,000,000 shares authorized and 5,144,000 issued and outstanding.

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5. Related Party Transactions

12 Months Ended Dec. 31, 2015 Notes 5. Related Party Transactions 5. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS In the year ending December 31, 2015, the majority shareholder loaned the Company an amount of $14,642, in order for the Company to remain in business. This was completely repaid in 2015 and at December 31, 2015 no loans are outstanding. In the year ending December 31, 2015, the President of the Company provided management fees and office premises to the Company for a fee of $925 per month, the right to which the President agreed to assign to the Company until such time as the Company closes on an equity or debt financing of not less than $200,000. The $11,100 for donated management fees were charged to operating and general expenses and recorded as donated capital (Additional Paid in Capital).

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6. Subsequent Events

12 Months Ended Dec. 31, 2015 Notes 6. Subsequent Events 6. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS On January 8, 2016, the Company filed form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the negotiation and potential purchase of a 300 Megawatt solar installation contract pipeline (the pipeline), for homes, businesses and government organizations from a privately-held solar energy company. Both parties estimate the value of the pipeline at $3,000,000 which was proposed to be paid for with shares of common stock of the Company. Unfortunately, after further discussions the project was abandoned by both parties. On March 1, 2016, the Company agreed to pay its outstanding Note Payable being the principal sum of $20, 868 plus the accrued interest of 5% ($887) totalling $21,755 in full payment of all outstanding loans made to the Company between March and June, 2015. On March 16, 2016 the Company filed form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the sale of 25,000 shares of its common stock (the shares), par value $0.001, for $1.00 per share to an individual investor for net cash proceeds of $25,000.

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1. Organization and Basis of Presentation: Going Concern Consideration (Policies)

12 Months Ended Dec. 31, 2015 Policies Going Concern Consideration Going Concern Consideration These financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis which assumes the Company will be able to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business for the foreseeable future. The Company anticipates future losses in the development of its business raising substantial doubt about the Companys ability to continue as a going concern. The ability to continue as a going conce
Opinion / Columnist

As Zimbabwe mourns the passing of a gallant hero in Amai Victoria Chitepi, several questions pertaining to her husband still persist.What really happened to Herbert Chitepo - one of the founding members of ZANU PF?Who assassinated him?Numerous people have expounded several theories, including that his death was a result of infighting within ZANU PF.We already know that Robert Mugabe - the current leader of the party - was once its Secretary General, but haboured ambitions to have a Zezuru-led party.Obviously led by himself.The leadership during that time was non-Zezuru.However, he hatched a plan with his fellow Zezurus - amongst them, Nathan Shamuyarira - to oust all non Zezurus.He even went as far as to conduct secret talks with the then Vice-President of ZAPU - James Chikerema, also a Zezuru - to also oust its President Joshua Nkomo.So could it be possible that Mugabe plotted the demise of Chitepo?In fact, just before Zimbabwe's independence, another gallant son of the soil was dubiously killed in an accident.This time it was the ZANLA commander - Josiah Tongogara, another non-Zezuru.Is it not time for these incidences to be investigated?Should not the veterans of the liberation struggle expose these things?Mugabe went in to order the massacre of tens of thousands of Ndebeles - accused of supporting ZAPU.In the 2000s, he massacred hundreds of people accused of being Movement of Democratic Change (MDC) supporters - which led to my fleeing the country.As a criminal that he is, should he not be brought to book for the numerous crimes that he committed?From killing 20,000 Ndebele in the 1980s to hundreds of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the 2000s - can this man be ever stopped!Can any criminal court ever bring him to justice!Or is he bound to walk away - scot free, as if he never committed any offenceHow many people have lost their lives at this man's hands?Just because he refused to be part of the International Criminal Court, should he then be exonerated?Should the would not have international justice systems that hold all to account?Noone should be allowed to wantonly murder people just because he can.At the moment there are meetings of the Peace and Justice commission.Can peace and justice be established if Mugabe himself does not confess and apologise?I do not think so.He needs to be held accountable.Today, many people are still going missing.What happened to Itai Dzamara?The United States of America and the European Union imposed sanctions on this rogue leadership.However, these should not be removed without accountability.Who will answer for the numerous lives that were lost?Will the removal of sanctions without accountability count?I do not think so!Mugabe is a criminal, that has killed our parents, brothers, sisters, cousinsMaybe a court can justify that, but for me, he should face justice.The sooner it is done, the better, as there are countless orphans out there who do not know what happened to their parents. Hillary Chitiyo is a UK based activist
FORM 6-K

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER

PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR 15d-16 OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

dated April 12, 2016

Commission File Number 1-15148

BRF S.A.

(Exact Name as Specified in its Charter)

N/A

(Translation of Registrants Name)

1400 R. Hungria, 5th Floor

Jd America-01455000-Sao Paulo  SP, Brazil

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.

Form 20-F x Form 40-F o

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):

Indicate by check mark whether by furnishing the information contained in this Form, the registrant is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Yes o No x
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 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 For the month of April 2016 Commission File Number: 001-36686 Forward Pharma A/S stergade 24A, 1 1100 Copenhagen K, Denmark Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F. Form 20-F x Form 40-F o 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): o 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): o

Notice to Convene Annual General Meeting On April 11, 2016, Forward Pharma A/S (the Company) mailed to its shareholders a notice to convene the 2016 annual general meeting of shareholders on May 6, 2016 and accompanying documentation. The notice and accompanying documentation have been posted on the Companys website, http://forward-pharma.com, and are being furnished as exhibits to this Report on Form 6-K. On or about April 13, 2016, Bank of New York Mellon, the depositary for the American Depositary Shares (ADSs) representing the Companys ordinary shares, distributed to ADS holders a voting instruction card for ADS holders. The voting instruction card is being furnished as an exhibit to this Report on Form 6-K. Exhibits 99.1 Notice to Convene Annual General Meeting 99.2 Proxy/Voting by Correspondence Form 99.3 Request for Admission Card 99.4 Share and Voting Rights 99.5 Voting Instruction Card 2

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. FORWARD PHARMA A/S Date: April 13, 2016 By: /s/ Joel Sendek Joel Sendek Chief Financial Officer 3

Exhibit 99.1 Annual General Meeting in Forward Pharma A/S NOTICE TO CONVENE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The annual general meeting in Forward Pharma A/S will be held on Friday 6 May 2016 at 2.00 pm (CET) at the companys premises, stergade 24A, 1st floor, 1100 Copenhagen K, Denmark. AGENDA (a) The board of directors report on the companys activities in the past financial year. (b) Presentation and adoption of the audited annual report. (c) Covering of loss according to the adopted annual report. (d) Discharge of the board of directors and the management board. (e) Election of members to the board of directors, including amendment of the articles of association: (e)(i) Increase of the maximum number of board members. (e)(ii) Election of members to the board of directors. (f) Appointment of auditor. (g) Proposals from the board of directors: (g)(i) Increase and amendment of the board of directors authorization to issue warrants that allow for subscription of shares at a subscription price that may be lower than the market price. (g)(ii) Alternatively, if the proposal under item (g)(i) is not adopted: New authorization to the board of directors to issue warrants that allow for subscription of shares at a subscription price that equals or exceeds the market price. (g)(iii) Reduction of the board of directors authorization to increase the companys share capital.

(h) Any other business. ELABORATION ON ITEMS ON THE AGENDA Item (b): The board of directors proposes that the audited annual report for 2015 is adopted by the general meeting. Item (c): The board of directors proposes that the loss of USD 51.065 million for the accounting year 2015 be carried forward by transfer to the accumulated deficit. Item (d): The board of directors proposes that the discharge of the board of directors and the management board is approved. Item (e): (e)(i): The board of directors proposes that the maximum number of board members, as specified in the articles of association, is increased from six to seven board members. The amended article 10.2 will be worded as follows: The board of directors consists of not less than three and not more than seven members elected by the general meeting. (e)(ii): Election of members to the board of directors will take place subsequent to the general meetings resolution on the proposed amendment of article 10.2 under item (e)(i).

Item (f): According to clause 13.1 of the articles of association, the companys auditor is elected for a term of one year. The board of directors proposes that Ernst & Young P/S, CVR-no. 30700228, is re-elected. Item (g): (g)(i): The board of directors proposes that the authorization given to the board of directors in article 3.2 of the articles of association to issue warrants and the corresponding underlying shares (at a share subscription price that may be lower than the market price) to employees, members of the management, members of the board of directors, and consultants is (i) increased by 1,500,000 warrants and underlying shares and (ii) expanded to allow the issuance of new warrants in replacement of existing warrants held by former employees, members of the management, members of the board of directors and consultants. The amended article 3.2 will be worded as follows: In the period until 1 June 2019, the board of directors is authorized, in one or more rounds, without pre-emption rights for the companys existing shareholders, to issue up to 5,340,000 warrants, which each entitles the holder to subscribe for one share of nominally DKK 0.10, to the companys employees, members of the management, members of the board of directors, and consultants and/or employees, members of the management, members of the board of directors and consultants of its subsidiaries. The board of directors may also use this authorization to issue new warrants in replacement of existing, unexercised warrants held by former employees, members of the management, members of the board of directors and consultants of the company and its subsidiaries. The board of directors is further authorized to implement the capital increases required for this purpose by up to nominally DKK 534,000 shares, i.e. up to 5,340,000 shares of nominally DKK 0.10 each. The subscription price for the new shares that may be subscribed for by exercise of the warrants in question shall be fixed by the board of directors and may be lower than the market price at the time of issue of the warrants. Other terms and conditions for the warrants, which can be issued by the board of directors according to the authorization, shall be fixed by the board of directors. The purpose of the proposal is to ensure that the board of directors has sufficient flexibility to incentivize employees, members of the management, members of the board of directors, and consultants and to replace existing, unexercised warrants held by former employees, members of the management, members of the board of directors, and consultants with new warrants, if deemed appropriate and in the best interest of the company by the board of directors.

(g)(ii): Alternatively, and only if the proposal under item (g)(i) is not adopted, the board of directors proposes that the board of directors is granted a new authorization to issue up to 1,500,000 warrants and the corresponding underlying shares (at a share subscription price that may not be lower than the market price) to employees, members of the management, members of the board of directors, and consultants. The new authorization, which will be inserted as a new article 3.2A, will be worded as follows: In the period until 1 May 2021, the board of directors is authorized, in one or more rounds, without pre-emption rights for the companys existing shareholders, to issue up to 1,500,000 warrants, which each entitles the holder to subscribe for one share of nominally DKK 0.10, to the companys employees, members of the management, members of the board of directors, and consultants and/or employees, members of the management, members of the board of directors and consultants of its subsidiaries. The board of directors is further authorized to implement the capital increases required for this purpose by up to nominally DKK 150,000 shares, i.e. up to 1,500,000 shares of nominally DKK 0.10 each. The subscription price for the new shares that may be subscribed for by exercise of the warrants in question shall be fixed by the board of directors but may not be lower than the market price at the time of issue of the warrants. Other terms and conditions for the warrants, which can be issued by the board of directors according to the authorization, shall be fixed by the board of directors. As a consequence, article 3.3, first sentence, will be amended and worded as follows:  For shares issued pursuant to the authorizations in article 3.2 and 3.2A the following shall apply  (g)(iii) The board of directors proposes that the authorization given to the board of directors in article 3.6 of the articles of association to increase the companys share capital is reduced by a nominal amount of DKK 2,500,000 to the effect that article 3.6 will be worded as follows: The board of directors is authorised in the period until 1 October 2019 to resolve to increase the Companys share capital in one or more issues by up to a total nominal amount of DKK 1,000,000 at a price determined by the board of directors, which may be lower than the market price. The purpose of the proposal is to align the scope of the authorization with the board of directors estimated maximum need for carrying out capital increases in the company pursuant to the authorization in the period until 1 October 2019.

Item (h): No decisions or proposals can be adopted under item (h). ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Majority requirements All proposals on the agenda may be adopted by a simple majority of votes, except for the proposal introduced under item (g)(i) of the agenda, which require a majority of at least nine-tens of the votes cast as well as at least nine-tens of the share capital represented at the general meeting, and the proposals introduced under items (e)(i), (g)(ii) and (g)(iii) of the agenda, which require a majority of at least two-thirds of the votes cast as well as at least two-thirds of the share capital represented at the general meeting cf. clause 8 of the articles of association. Share capital The current share capital of the Company is DKK 4,687,173.40, divided into 46,871,734 shares of DKK 0.10 each. Each share of DKK 0.10 carries one vote. Record date The record date is Friday 29 April 2016 end of day (CET). Participation and voting rights The right of a shareholder to attend and vote at a general meeting is determined by the shares held by the shareholder at the record date. The number of shares held by each shareholder at the record date shall be calculated based on (i) the number of shares registered in the companys register of shareholders and (ii) any notification of ownership received by the company but not yet registered in the companys register of shareholders. Participation is conditional on the shareholder having obtained an admission card in due time.

How to obtain an admission card Access to the annual general meeting is conditional on the shareholder having requested an admission card by Monday 2 May 2016 end of day (CET). Admission cards for the annual general meeting may be obtained by:  contacting Forward Pharma A/S by phone +45 33 44 42 42, or  returning the attached request for admission card form, duly completed and signed, by email to [email protected] or by ordinary letter to Forward Pharma A/S, stergade 24A, 1, 1100 Copenhagen K, Denmark. How to submit a proxy Proxies shall be submitted by Thursday 5 May 2016 end of day (CET). Voting instructions by proxy may be completed and submitted by:  returning the attached proxy form, duly completed and signed, by email to [email protected] or by ordinary letter to Forward Pharma A/S, stergade 24A, 1, 1100 Copenhagen K, Denmark. From shareholders unable to attend the annual general meeting, the board of directors would appreciate receiving a proxy to exercise the voting rights attached to the shares to know the shareholders view on the respective items on the agenda. According to Danish law, a proxy issued to the board of directors for the annual general meeting is only valid if it is in writing. How to vote by correspondence Shareholders may vote by correspondence no later than Thursday 5 May 2016 end of day (CET) by:  returning the attached voting by correspondence form, duly completed and signed, by email to [email protected] or by ordinary letter to Forward Pharma A/S, stergade 24A, 1, 1100 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Votes by correspondence cannot be withdrawn.

Information on the website Further information on the general meeting will be available on www.forward-pharma.com a Investors until and including the date of the annual general meeting, including:  The notice convening the general meeting;  The total number of shares and voting rights on the date of the notice;  The documents to be presented at the general meeting;  The agenda and the complete proposals as well as the audited annual report (only available from 15 April 2016);  The forms to be used for voting by proxy or voting by correspondence. 11 April 2016 The board of directors of Forward Pharma A/S

Exhibit 99.2 Annual General Meeting in Forward Pharma A/S PROXY/VOTING BY CORRESPONDENCE FORM for use at the annual general meeting in Forward Pharma A/S on Friday 6 May 2016 at 2:00 p.m. (CET). Name: Address: (Please use CAPITAL LETTERS) I/we hereby authorise by proxy/submit written votes (voting by correspondence) in accordance with the indications below: Please check off field A), B), C) or D): A) o Proxy is granted to a named third party (deadline Thursday 5 May 2016 end of day (CET)) : Name: Address: (Please use CAPITAL LETTERS) or B) o Proxy is granted to the board of directors (with a right of substitution) to vote in accordance with the board of directors proposals as set out in the table below (deadline Thursday 5 May 2016 end of day (CET)). or C)  Check-the-box Proxy is granted to the board of directors (with a right of substitution)to vote as stated below. Please check off the boxes FOR, AGAINST or ABSTAIN to indicate your vote (deadline Thursday 5 May 2016 end of day (CET)). or D)  Written votes (voting by correspondence) are submitted as stated below. Written votes cannot be withdrawn. Please check off the boxes FOR, AGAINST or ABSTAIN to indicate your vote (deadline Thursday 5 May 2016 end of day (CET)). Agenda The complete agenda is included in the notice to convene the annual general meeting. If the votes attaching to a shareholders shares are cast differently in relation to a specific agenda item, this shall be indicated in the table below.

AGENDA ITEMS FOR AGAINST ABSTAIN RECOMMENDATION

FROM THE BOARD (a) The board of directors report on the companys activities in the past financial year (b) Adoption of the audited annual report 2015 o o o FOR (Indicate votes if cast differently (no. of shares)): (c) Proposal for covering of loss according to the adopted annual report o o o FOR (Indicate votes if cast differently (no. of shares)): (d) Proposal for discharge of the board of directors and the management board o o o FOR (Indicate votes if cast differently (no. of shares)): (e) Election of members to the board of directors, including amendment of the articles of association: (i) Proposal to increase the maximum number of board members from six to seven board members o o o FOR (Indicate votes if cast differently (no. of shares)): (ii) Election of members to the board of directors (see below) (f) Re-election of Ernst & Young P/S as auditor o o o FOR (Indicate votes if cast differently (no. of shares)): (g) Proposals from the board of directors: (i) Increase and amendment of the board of directors authorization to issue warrants that allow for subscription of shares at a subscription price that may be lower than the market price. o o o FOR (Indicate votes if cast differently (no. of shares)): (ii) Alternatively, if the proposal under item (g)(i) is not adopted:    New authorization to the board of directors to issue warrants that allow for subscription of shares at a subscription price that equals or exceeds the market price. FOR (Indicate votes if cast differently (no. of shares)): (iii) Reduction of the board of directors authorization to increase the companys share capital.    FOR (Indicate votes if cast differently (no. of shares)): (h) Any other business 2

If used as a proxy (box A-C above): Yes No The proxy holder may in respect of agenda item (e)(ii), election of members to the board of directors, vote on my/our behalf according to his/her best belief: o o The proxy applies to all business being transacted at the annual general meeting. In the event that new proposals are submitted (except for proposals in respect of the election of members to the board of directors), including amendments or proposals for election of auditor not on the agenda, the proxy holder will vote on your behalf according to his/her best belief. Written votes (voting by correspondence) will be taken into account if a new or an amended proposal is substantially the same as the original. If the form is only dated and signed, it will be considered a proxy to the board of directors to vote in accordance with the recommendations (in respect of election of members to the board of directors: best belief) of the board of directors as stated above. If the form is only partially completed, votes will be cast in accordance with the recommendations (in respect of election of members to the board of directors: best belief) of the board of directors as stated above with respect to the non-ticked off boxes. The proxy/voting by correspondence is valid for the number of shares that the undersigned holds on the record date, Friday 29 April 2016 end of day (CET), as calculated based on (i) the number of shares registered in the companys register of shareholders and (ii) notifications of ownership received by the company but not yet registered in the companys register of shareholders. Date: 2016 Name: Name: Title: Title: The dated and signed form, if used as a proxy (box A-C above) or for written votes (voting by correspondence)(box D above), must reach Forward Pharma A/S no later than Thursday 5 May 2016 end of day (CET) either by email ([email protected]) or by ordinary mail. 3

Exhibit 99.3 Annual General Meeting in Forward Pharma A/S The annual general meeting in Forward Pharma A/S will be held on Friday 6 May 2016 at 2.00 pm (CET) at the companys premises, stergade 24A, 1 st floor, 1100 Copenhagen K, Denmark. REQUEST FOR ADMISSION CARD Access to the annual general meeting is conditional on the shareholder having requested an admission card by Monday 2 May 2016 end of day (CET). Admission cards for the annual general meeting may be obtained by:  contacting Forward Pharma A/S by phone +45 33 44 42 42, or  returning this request for admission card form, duly completed and signed, by email to [email protected] or by ordinary letter to Forward Pharma A/S, stergade 24A, 1, 1100 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Please tick the relevant box(es): o I/we will attend the annual general meeting and hereby order an admission card o I/we will attend with advisor: Name of advisor (please use CAPITAL LETTERS) Further information on the general meeting is available on www.forward-pharma.com a Investors, including notice convening the general meeting, agenda, the complete proposals and the audited annual report. Date: 2016 On behalf of: Name: Name: Title: Title: If you wish to give proxy or vote by correspondence, please complete the proxy/voting by correspondence form. Please remember to sign and date the form.

Exhibit 99.4 SHARES AND VOTING RIGHTS AS PER 11 APRIL 2016 SHARES NOMINAL VALUE (DKK) NO. OF SHARES

(OF NOMINALLY DKK 0.10) NO. OF VOTES Ordinary shares 4,687,173.40 46,871,734 46,871,734 Outstanding shares 4,687,173.40 46,871,734 46,871,734 Own holding of shares* 0 0 0 Outstanding shares excluding own holding of shares 4,687,173.40 46,871,734 46,871,734 * Voting rights cannot be exercised

Exhibit 99.5 Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders of Forward Pharma A/S to be held May 6, 2016 For Holders as of March 29, 2016 Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders of Forward Pharma A/S May 6, 2016 See Voting Instruction On Reverse Side. Date: Please make your marks like this:  Use pen only Board Recommended  For Against Abstain MAIL  Mark, sign and date your Voting Instruction Form.  Detach your Voting Instruction Form.  Return your Voting Instruction Form in the postage-paid envelope provided. AGENDA ITEMS (a) The board of directors report on the companys activities in the past financial year Adoption of the audited annual report 2015 Proposal for covering of loss according to the adopted annual report Proposal for discharge of the board of directors and the management board Election of members to the board of directors, including amendment of the articles of association: Proposal to increase the maximum number of board members from six to seven board members Election of members to the board of directors (see below) Re-election of Ernst & Young P/S as auditor Proposals from the board of directors: Increase and amendment of the board of directors authorization to issue warrants that allow for subscription of shares at a subscription price that may be lower than the market price. Alternatively, if the proposal under item (g)(i) is not adopted: New authorization to the board of directors to issue warrants that allow for subscription of shares at a subscription price that equals or exceeds the market price. Reduction of the board of directors authorization to increase the companys share capital. Any other business  (b) (c) For For (d) For All votes must be received by 5:00 p.m. EDT on April 28, 2016. (e) (i) For (ii) (f) (g) (i) PROXY TABULATOR FOR FORWARD PHARMA A/S P.O. BOX 8016 CARY, NC 27512-9903 For For (ii) For (iii) For (h) Yes No The Depositary may give a discretionary proxy to a person designated by Forward Pharma A/S with respect to agenda item (e)(ii), election of members to the board of directors, to vote on my/our behalf: EVENT # CLIENT # Authorized Signatures - This section must be completed for your instructions to be executed. Please Sign Here Please Date Above Copyright  2016 Mediant Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved Please Sign Here Please Date Above  Please separate carefully at the perforation and return just this portion in the envelope provided. 
SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION

Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Filed by the Registrant x

Filed by a Party other than the Registrant 

Check the appropriate box:

 Preliminary Proxy Statement

 Confidential, for Use of the Commission Only (as permitted by Rule 14a-6(e)(2))

x Definitive Proxy Statement

 Definitive Additional Materials

 Soliciting Material Pursuant to  240.14a-12

MW BANCORP, INC. (Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter)

(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement if other than the Registrant)

Payment of Filing Fee (Check the appropriate box):

x No fee required.

 Fee computed on table below per Exchange Act Rules 14a-6(i)(4) and O-11.

1) Title of each class of securities to which transaction applies: 2) Aggregate number of securities to which transaction applies: 3) Per unit price or other underlying value of transaction computed pursuant to Exchange Act Rule O-11 (Set forth the amount on which the filing fee is calculated and state how it was determined): 4) Proposed maximum aggregate value of transaction: 5) Total fee paid:

 Fee paid previously with preliminary materials.

 Check box if any part of the fee is offset as provided by Exchange Act Rule O-11(a)(2) and identify the filing for which the offsetting fee was paid previously. Identify the previous filing by registration statement number, or the Form or Schedule and the date of its filing.

1) Amount Previously Paid: 2) Form, Schedule or Registration Statement No.: 3) Filing Party: 4) Date Filed:

2110 Beechmont Avenue

Cincinnati, Ohio 45230

(513) 231-7871

March 4, 2016

Dear Stockholder:

We cordially invite you to attend a Special Meeting of Stockholders of MW Bancorp, Inc., the parent company of Watch Hill Bank. The Special Meeting will be held at the Anderson Center, 7850 Five Mile Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45230, on April 15, 2016, at 1:00 p.m., Eastern Time.

The only matter to be considered at the Special Meeting, as described in the enclosed Notice of Special Meeting and Proxy Statement, is a proposal to approve and adopt the MW Bancorp, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan.

Our Board of Directors has determined that implementing the 2016 Equity Incentive Plan is in the best interests of MW Bancorp, Inc. and its stockholders. For the reasons set forth in the Proxy Statement, the Board of Directors unanimously recommends a vote FOR the adoption of the 2016 Equity Incentive Plan.

We are asking our stockholders to approve and adopt the 2016 Equity Incentive Plan at the Special Meeting instead of waiting until our annual meeting of stockholders in the fall. We have chosen this timeline to allow us, if our stockholders approve the 2016 Equity Incentive Plan, to consider and potentially make equity compensation awards when our 2016 fiscal year begins on July 1, 2016.

Please take a moment now to complete, sign, date and return the proxy card in the postage-paid envelope provided or submit your proxy electronically by following the instructions for Internet voting on the enclosed proxy. Voting in advance of the Special Meeting will not prevent you from voting in person, but will assure that your vote is counted if you are unable to attend the Special Meeting.

Sincerely, Gregory P. Niesen President and Chief Executive Officer

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2110 Beechmont Avenue

Cincinnati, Ohio 45230

(513) 231-7871

NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

Notice is hereby given that a special meeting of stockholders of MW Bancorp, Inc. (MWBC) will be held at the Anderson Center, 7850 Five Mile Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45230, on April 15, 2016, at 1:00 p.m., Eastern Time (the Special Meeting), to consider and vote on a Board of Directors proposal to approve and adopt the MW Bancorp, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan. The 2016 Equity Incentive Plan is more completely described in the accompanying Proxy Statement.

Only MWBC stockholders of record at the close of business on February 26, 2016, will be entitled to receive notice of and to vote at the Special Meeting and at any adjournments. Your vote is very important. Whether or not you expect to attend the Special Meeting, we urge you to consider the accompanying Proxy Statement carefully and to SIGN, DATE AND PROMPTLY RETURN THE ENCLOSED PROXY SO THAT YOUR SHARES MAY BE VOTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR WISHES AND THE PRESENCE OF A QUORUM MAY BE ASSURED. Alternatively, you may submit your proxy electronically by following the instructions for internet voting accompanying the enclosed proxy. If you submit a proxy, you may still vote in person in the event you attend the Special Meeting.

Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials for the

Stockholders Meeting to be Held on April 15, 2016.

The Notice and Proxy Statement for the Special Meeting are available by going to MWBCs Internet website at www.watchhillbank.com/investor-relations.

To obtain directions to attend the Special Meeting and vote in person, please call Brian H. Veith at (513) 231-7871.

By Order of the Board of Directors March 4, 2016 Brian H. Veith Secretary

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2110 Beechmont Avenue

Cincinnati, Ohio 45230

(513) 231-7871

PROXY STATEMENT

SPECIAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

This enclosed proxy is being solicited by the Board of Directors (the Board) of MW Bancorp, Inc., a Maryland corporation (MWBC, we, us or our), to be used at the special meeting of stockholders of MWBC (the Special Meeting) and at any adjournments of the Special Meeting. The Special Meeting will be held at the Anderson Center, 7850 Five Mile Road, Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 15, 2016, at 1:00 p.m., Eastern Time. The accompanying Notice of Special Meeting of Stockholders, this Proxy Statement and the form of proxy are first being mailed to stockholders of MWBC on or about March 4, 2016.

Each properly executed proxy received prior to the Special Meeting and not revoked will be voted as specified on the proxy or, in the absence of specific instructions to the contrary, will be voted:

FOR the approval and adoption of the MW Bancorp, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (the 2016 Plan).

Without affecting any vote previously taken, you may revoke your proxy by a later dated proxy received by MWBC before the proxy is exercised or by giving written notice of revocation to our Secretary, Brian H. Veith, that is received before the Special Meeting or by revoking your proxy in person at the meeting. revoke your proxy.

Your attendance at the Special Meeting will not, by itself, Proxies may be solicited, for no additional compensation, by the directors, officers and other employees of MWBC or its wholly-owned subsidiary, Watch Hill Bank (the Bank), in person or by mail, telephone, facsimile or electronic mail only for use at the Special Meeting. Such Proxies will not be used for any other meeting. We will pay the costs of soliciting Proxies, including preparation, printing and mailing expenses.

You may submit a proxy by completing, signing, dating and promptly returning the enclosed proxy in the envelope provided. Alternatively, you may submit a proxy electronically by visiting www.investorvote.com/MWBC . Enter your Voter Control Number circled on the front of the enclosed proxy in the shaded bar and follow the prompts to vote your proxy. The deadline for submitting your proxy electronically is April 15, 2016, at 2:00 a.m., Eastern Time. Stockholders who submit proxies over the Internet will incur only their usual Internet access charges, if any.

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Only our stockholders of record as of the close of business on February 26, 2016 are eligible to vote at the Special Meeting and will be entitled to cast one vote for each share owned. Our records show that, as of February 26, 2016, there were 876,163 shares of common stock issued and outstanding and entitled to be voted at the Special Meeting.

VOTING AT THE SPECIAL MEETING

Quorum

The presence, in person or by proxy, of the holders of record of a majority of our shares entitled to be voted at the Special Meeting is necessary to constitute a quorum. Shares of common stock represented by properly executed proxies returned to us prior to the Special Meeting will be counted toward the establishment of a quorum at the Special Meeting.

Vote Required

You may vote FOR or AGAINST, or ABSTAIN from voting on, the approval and adoption of the 2016 Plan. The affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast at the Special Meeting is required for the approval and adoption of the 2016 Plan.

Effect of Broker Non-Votes and Abstentions

Brokers who hold shares of our common stock in street name may, under the applicable regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) and the rules of exchanges and other self-regulatory organizations of which the brokers are members, sign and submit proxies and may vote such shares on certain matters. However, brokers who hold shares in street name may not vote such shares on other matters without specific instruction from the customer who owns the shares. Under applicable stock exchange rules, member brokers are not permitted to vote without customer instruction on the approval and adoption of the 2016 Plan. Proxies signed and submitted by brokers that have not been voted on certain matters are referred to as broker non-votes.

Broker non-votes and abstentions count toward the establishment of a quorum for the Special Meeting. Broker non-votes and abstentions will not be counted as votes cast, and will not have any effect on the approval and adoption of the 2016 Plan.

OWNERSHIP OF OUR COMMON STOCK

Principal Holders

The following table sets forth certain information with respect to the only person known by us to own beneficially more than five percent of our outstanding shares of common stock as of February 26, 2016:

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Name and Address of Beneficial Owner Amount of Shares Owned and Nature of Beneficial Ownership Percent of Shares of Common Stock Outstanding Community Bank of Pleasant Hill, Trustee Watch Hill Banks Employee Stock Ownership Plan 1901 Frederick Ave., Suite 100 St. Joseph, Missouri 64501 70,093 (1) 8.0 %

(1) All of the shares are held by Community Bank of Pleasant Hill as Trustee for Watch Hill Banks Employee Stock Ownership Plan (the ESOP). None of the shares of MWBC common stock held in the ESOP trust on February 26, 2016, had been allocated to the accounts of ESOP participants. Under such circumstances, the ESOP provides that each participant may direct the Trustee how to vote one share of stock, and the Trustee must vote all other shares held in the ESOP Trust in the same proportion as the instructions that were received from participants. The Trustee may override the voting directions of participants or dispose of shares held in the ESOP Trust only under limited circumstances specified in the ESOP or by law.

The following table sets forth certain information with respect to the number of shares of our common stock beneficially owned by each of our directors and each of our executive officers, and by all of our directors and executive officers as a group, as of February 26, 2016.

Amount and Nature of Beneficial Ownership Name (1) Sole Voting and Investment Power Shared Voting and Investment Power (2) Percent of Common Shares Outstanding Bernard G. Buerger 10,000 10,000 2.28 % John W. Croxton 6,300 10,000 1.86 % Gerald E. Grove 10,000 10,000 2.28 % Gregory P. Niesen 14,000 8,500 2.57 % David M. Tedtman - - - % Bruce N. Thompson 10,000 10,000 2.28 % Julie M. Bertsch - - - % Karan A. Kiser 10,000 - 1.14 % All directors and executive

officers of MWBC as a group

(8 persons) (3) 60,300 48,500 12.42 %

(1) All of the individuals listed may be contacted at the Companys address. None of the named persons hold any outstanding options, and none of the named persons has pledged any shares of Company common stock as security.

(2) The shares held with shared voting and investment power are held by the named persons spouse.

(3) Does not include shares held by Michelle L. Alltop, the former Chief Operations Officer of the Bank who, at the time she left her employment with the Bank effective November 6, 2015, held 2,700 shares.

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APPROVAL OF THE MW BANCORP, INC.

2016 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN

The Board has approved the MW Bancorp, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan and is asking our stockholders to approve and adopt the 2016 Plan at the Special Meeting. The 2016 Plan will provide officers, employees and directors of MWBC and the Bank with additional incentives to promote our growth and performance. By approving the 2016 Plan, you will give us the flexibility we need to continue to attract and retain highly qualified officers and directors by offering a competitive compensation program that is linked to the performance of our common stock. In addition, the 2016 Plan is intended to further align the interests of our directors and management with the interests of our stockholders by potentially increasing the ownership interests of directors and officers in our common stock. If our stockholders do not approve and adopt the 2016 Plan it will not be implemented.

The following summary of the material features of the 2016 Plan is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the 2016 Plan, a copy of which is attached as Appendix A to this Proxy Statement.

General

The 2016 Plan authorizes the issuance or delivery to participants of up to 122,662 shares of MWBC common stock pursuant to grants of incentive and non-qualified stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, dividend equivalent rights, and whole share awards. Of this number, the maximum number of shares of MWBC common stock that may be issued under the 2016 Plan pursuant to the exercise of stock options is 87,616 shares, and the maximum number of shares of MWBC common stock that may be issued as restricted stock, restricted stock units or unrestricted share awards is 35,046 shares. These amounts represent 10% and 4%, respectively, of the shares of MWBC common stock that were issued by MWBC in connection with the Banks mutual-to-stock conversion.

The 2016 Plan will be administered by our Compensation Committee (the Committee). The Committee has full and exclusive power within the limitations set forth in the 2016 Plan to make all decisions and determinations regarding: (i) selecting participants and granting awards; (ii) establishing the terms and conditions relating to each award; (iii) adopting rules, regulations and guidelines for carrying out the 2016 Plans purposes; and (iv) interpreting the provisions of the 2016 Plan and any award agreement. The 2016 Plan also permits the Committee to delegate all or part of its responsibilities and powers to any person or persons selected by it, unless prohibited by applicable law.

Eligibility

Employees and directors of MWBC or its subsidiaries are eligible to receive awards under the 2016 Plan, except that non-employees may not be granted incentive stock options. Approximately 20 employees and five directors will be eligible to receive awards if the plan is approved by our stockholders.

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Types of Awards

The Committee may determine the type and terms and conditions of awards under the 2016 Plan. Awards will be evidenced by award agreements approved by the Committee, which set forth the terms and conditions of each award. Awards may be granted as incentive and non- qualified stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, dividend equivalent rights, unrestricted share awards or any combination thereof, as follows:

Stock Options. A stock option gives the recipient or optionee the right to purchase shares of common stock of MWBC at a specified price for a specified period of time. The exercise price may not be less than the per share fair market value of a share of MWBC common stock on the date the stock option is granted. The Committee will determine the fair market value, in good faith on the basis of objective criteria, in accordance with Section 422 of the Internal Revenue Code and applicable requirements of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code. The Committee may not grant a stock option with a term that is longer than 10 years.

Stock options are either incentive stock options or non-qualified stock options. Incentive stock options have certain tax advantages and must comply with the requirements of Section 422 of the Internal Revenue Code. Only employees are eligible to receive incentive stock options. Shares purchased upon the exercise of a stock option must be paid for in full at the time of exercise either: (i) by tendering, either actually or constructively by attestation, shares of stock valued at fair market value as of the day of exercise; (ii) by irrevocably authorizing a third party, acceptable to the Committee, to sell shares that would be acquired upon exercise of the stock option and to remit to MWBC a sufficient portion of the sale proceeds to pay the entire exercise price and any required tax withholding; (iii) by a net settlement of the stock option, using a portion of the shares that would have been issued upon exercise after payment of the exercise price of the stock option (and if applicable, any minimum required tax withholding); (iv) by personal, certified or cashiers check; (v) by the transfer of other property deemed acceptable by the Committee; or (vi) by any combination thereof.

Restricted Stock. A restricted stock award is a grant of shares of common stock of MWBC, subject to vesting requirements, to a participant for no consideration or minimum consideration as may be required by the Committee in its sole discretion. Restricted stock awards under the 2016 Plan will be granted only in whole shares of common stock and will be subject to vesting conditions and other restrictions established by the Committee as set forth in the 2016 Plan or the participants award agreement. Prior to their vesting, unless otherwise determined by the Committee, the recipient of a restricted stock award may exercise any voting rights with respect to common stock subject to an award. Unless otherwise determined by the Committee in its sole discretion and specified in the award agreement, any dividends or distributions declared with respect to the common stock will be deferred until the award vests and will be payable within two and one-half months following vesting.

Restricted Stock Units. Restricted stock units are similar to restricted stock awards except that no shares are actually issued to the award recipient at the time of grant. Restricted stock units are denominated in shares of MWBC common stock. Restricted stock units granted under the 2016 Plan will be settled in shares of our common stock, except to the extent provided

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otherwise in the award agreement, and are subject to vesting conditions and other restrictions set forth in the 2016 Plan or the recipients award agreement. Participants have no voting rights with respect to any restricted stock units granted under the 2016 Plan. No dividends will be paid on restricted stock units, unless the award agreement also includes an award of dividend equivalent rights.

Performance Awards. A performance award is an award of stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units or dividend equivalent rights, the vesting of which is subject to the achievement of one or more performance conditions specified by the Committee and set forth in the 2016 Plan. If a performance award is intended to comply with the requirements of Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code, it must be made during the period required by, and comply with the requirements of, Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Unrestricted Shares. An award of unrestricted shares is a grant of shares of MWBC common stock, for no consideration or minimum consideration as may be required by the Committee in its sole discretion, that are immediately fully vested. Unrestricted shares may be granted either alone or in addition to other awards under the 2016 Plan. Upon grant of the award, stock certificates representing the shares will be issued in the name of the recipient and delivered to such recipient as soon as reasonably practicable. The Committee will have sole and complete authority to award unrestricted shares to employees or directors at such time, in such amounts, and for such reasons as the Committee, in its sole discretion, may determine.

Dividend Equivalent Rights. A dividend equivalent right is a grant of the right to receive a dividend payment or distribution, subject to such terms and conditions as the Committee may establish, that is awarded in combination with a restricted stock unit or as a stand-alone right. The Committee will have sole and complete authority to grant dividend equivalent rights to employees and directors at such time, in such amounts, and for such reasons as the Committee in its sole discretion determines. A dividend or distribution paid on the shares covered by the dividend equivalent right may be (i) paid directly to the participant, (ii) automatically converted into additional dividend equivalent rights based on the per share fair market value at the time of payment, or (iii) paid to the recipient upon satisfaction of vesting criteria, unless otherwise specified in the award agreement. If a restricted stock unit is intended to be qualified performance-based compensation in accordance with Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code, payment of dividend equivalent rights to the award recipient will be conditioned on the satisfaction of the underlying performance criteria.

Prohibition Against Repricing of Options. The 2016 Plan provides that neither the Committee nor the Board is authorized to make any adjustment or amendment that reduces or would have the effect of reducing the exercise price of a stock option previously granted, except for adjustments pursuant to certain corporate transactions.

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Limitations on Awards under the 2016 Plan

The 2016 Plan includes the following limitations:

 Subject to the individual limitations set forth below, the total number of shares reserved and available for delivery to participants and their beneficiaries in connection with awards under the 2016 Plan shall be equal to 122,662 shares, of which up to 87,616 shares may be delivered pursuant to the exercise of stock options (all of which may be granted as ISOs) and 35,046 may be delivered pursuant to restricted stock awards, restricted stock units and unrestricted share awards. These aggregate numbers of available shares for grant under the 2016 Plan, and the number of shares subject to outstanding awards, are subject to adjustment pursuant to certain corporate transactions.

 The aggregate maximum number of shares subject to awards that may be granted to any one person during the total lifetime of the 2016 Plan is 30,666.

 The maximum number of shares that may be granted subject to stock options to any one employee during any calendar year is 12,266.

 The maximum number of shares, in the aggregate, that may be subject to stock options granted to any one individual non-employee director under the 2016 Plan is 4,380, all of which may be granted during any calendar year. In addition, all non- employee directors, in the aggregate, may not receive stock options for more than 26,285 shares, all of which may be granted during any calendar year. Such maximum amounts represent 5% and 30%, respectively, of the maximum number of shares that may be delivered pursuant to the exercise of stock options under the 2016 Plan.

 The maximum number of shares, in the aggregate, that may be subject to restricted stock awards, restricted stock units and unrestricted share awards granted during any calendar year to any one employee under the 2016 Plan is 12,266.

 The maximum number of shares, in the aggregate, that may be subject to restricted stock, restricted stock units and unrestricted share awards granted to any one individual non-employee director under the 2016 Plan is 1,752, all of which may be granted during any calendar year. In addition, all non-employee directors, in the aggregate, may not receive restricted stock, restricted stock unit or unrestricted share awards on more than 10,514 shares, all of which may be granted during any calendar year. Such maximum amounts represent 5% and 30%, respectively, of the maximum number of shares of common stock that may be issued as restricted stock awards, restricted stock units or unrestricted share awards.

If any shares covered by an award under the 2016 Plan are not delivered to a participant or beneficiary because the award is forfeited or cancelled or because a stock option is not exercised, then such shares will not be deemed to have been delivered for purposes of determining the maximum number of shares available for delivery under the 2016 Plan.

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However, to the extent: (i) a stock option is exercised by using an actual or constructive exchange of shares to pay the exercise price; (ii) shares are withheld to satisfy withholding taxes upon exercise or vesting of an award granted under the plan; or (iii) shares are withheld to satisfy the exercise price of stock options in a net settlement of stock options, then the number of shares available shall be reduced by the gross number of shares issued rather than the net number of shares issued. Any award that pursuant to its terms must be settled in cash will not count against the applicable share limits.

In the event of a corporate transaction involving the common stock of MWBC, including, without limitation, any recapitalization, forward or reverse stock split, reorganization, merger, consolidation, spin-off, combination, repurchase or exchange of shares, or other securities, stock dividend or other special and non-recurring dividend or distribution (whether in the form of cash, securities, or other property), liquidation, dissolution, or other similar corporate transaction or event, the foregoing share limitations and all outstanding awards will be adjusted by the Committee, in an equitable manner, proportionally and uniformly to reflect such event to the extent that the adjustment will not affect the awards status as qualified performance-based compensation under Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code, if applicable.

Performance Features

General. We generally are unable to deduct for federal income tax purposes annual compensation in excess of $1.0 million paid to each of our chief executive officer or any other executive officer named in the summary compensation table of our annual proxy statement (excluding any officer who is listed on the table due to serving as our principal financial officer). However, amounts that constitute qualified performance-based compensation (as that term is used in Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code) are not counted toward the $1.0 million limit. The 2016 Plan is designed so that stock options will be considered qualified performance- based compensation. The Committee may designate whether any restricted stock, restricted stock units, or dividend equivalent rights awards granted to any participant are intended to be qualified performance-based compensation. Any restricted stock, restricted stock units, or dividend equivalent rights designated as qualified performance-based compensation will be conditioned on the achievement of one or more performance measures, to the extent required by Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Performance Measures. The performance measures that may be used for awards will be based on any one or more of the following performance measures, as selected by the Committee: book value or tangible book value per share; basic earnings per share; basic cash earnings per share; diluted earnings per share; diluted cash earnings per share; return on equity; net income or net income before taxes; cash earnings; net interest income; non-interest income; non-interest expense to average assets ratio; cash general and administrative expense to average assets ratio; efficiency ratio; cash efficiency ratio; return on average assets; cash return on average assets; return on average stockholders equity; cash return on average stockholders equity; return on average tangible stockholders equity; cash return on average tangible stockholders equity; core earnings; operating income; operating efficiency ratio; net interest rate margin or net interest rate spread; growth in assets, loans, or deposits; loan production volume; non-performing loans; cash flow; strategic business objectives consisting of one or more objectives based upon meeting

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specified cost targets, business expansion goals, and goals relating to acquisitions or divestitures, or goals relating to capital raising and capital management; total shareholder return; or any combination of the foregoing performance measures. Performance measures may be based on the performance of MWBC on a consolidated basis, or on the performance of any one or more subsidiaries or business units of MWBC or a subsidiary, and may be measured relative to a peer group, an index or a business plan, and may be considered as absolute measures or changes in measures. The Committee may adjust performance measures after they have been set, but with respect to awards intended to qualify under Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code, only to the extent the adjustment has a negative impact on the participants achievement of one or more performance measures. In establishing the performance measures, the Committee may provide for the inclusion or exclusion of certain items. Additionally, the grant of an award intended to be qualified performance-based compensation and the establishment of any performance-based measures shall be made during the period required by Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Vesting of Awards

The Committee will specify the vesting schedule or conditions of each award. Unless the Committee specifies a different vesting schedule at the time of grant, awards under the 2016 Plan, other than performance awards and unrestricted shares, will be granted with a vesting rate not exceeding one-third per year, with the first installment vesting no earlier than one year after the date of grant of the award. If the vesting of an award under the 2016 Plan is conditioned on the completion of a specified period of service, without the achievement of performance measures or objectives, then the required period of service for full vesting will be determined by the Committee and evidenced in an award agreement. Vesting may be accelerated in the event of death, disability, or upon a change in control, or at the discretion of the Committee at any time.

Change in Control

Unless otherwise stated in an award agreement, at the time of a change in control of MWBC or the Bank, all stock options then held by the participant will become fully earned and exercisable (subject to the expiration provisions otherwise applicable to the stock option) and all awards of restricted stock, restricted stock units, and dividend equivalent rights will become fully earned and vested immediately. In addition, any performance measure attached to a performance award under the 2016 Plan will be deemed satisfied at the 100% of target attainment level as of the date of the change in control.

Amendment and Termination

The Board may, as permitted by law, at any time amend or terminate the 2016 Plan or any award granted under the 2016 Plan. However, except as provided in the 2016 Plan, no amendment or termination may adversely impair the rights of an outstanding award without the participants (or affected beneficiarys) written consent. The Board may not amend the provision of the 2016 Plan related to repricing, materially increase the aggregate number of securities that may be issued under the 2016 Plan (other than as provided in the 2016 Plan), materially increase

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the benefits accruing to a participant, or materially modify the requirements for participation in the 2016 Plan, without stockholder approval. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Board may, without stockholder approval, amend the 2016 Plan at any time, retroactively or otherwise, to ensure that the 2016 Plan complies with current or future law. In addition, the Board may unilaterally amend the 2016 Plan and any outstanding award, without participant consent, in order to maintain an exemption from, or to comply with, Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code and applicable regulations and guidance.

Duration of Plan

The 2016 Plan will become effective upon approval and adoption by the stockholders at the Special Meeting. The 2016 Plan will remain in effect as long as any awards under it are outstanding. No awards, however, may be granted under the 2016 Plan after the day immediately prior to the 10-year anniversary of the effective date of the 2016 Plan. At any time, the Board may terminate the 2016 Plan. However, any termination of the 2016 Plan will not affect outstanding awards.

Federal Income Tax Considerations

The following is a summary of the federal income tax consequences that may arise in conjunction with participation in the 2016 Plan.

Non-Qualified Stock Options. The grant of a non-qualified stock option will not result in taxable income to the participant. Except as described below, the participant will realize ordinary income at the time of exercise in an amount equal to the excess of the fair market value of the shares acquired over the exercise price for those shares, and we will be entitled to a corresponding deduction for tax purposes. Gains or losses realized by the participant upon disposition of such shares will be treated as capital gains and losses, with the basis in such shares equal to the fair market value of the shares at the time of exercise.

Incentive Stock Options. The grant of an incentive stock option will not result in taxable income to the participant. The exercise of an incentive stock option will not result in taxable income to the participant provided the participant was, without a break in service, an employee of MWBC or a subsidiary during the period beginning on the date of the grant of the option and ending on the date three months prior to the date of exercise (one year prior to the date of exercise if the participant is disabled, as that term is defined in the Internal Revenue Code). We will not be entitled to a tax deduction upon the exercise of an incentive stock option.

The excess of the fair market value of the shares at the time of the exercise of an incentive stock option over the exercise price is an adjustment that is included in the calculation of the participants alternative minimum taxable income for the tax year in which the incentive stock option is exercised. For purposes of determining the participants alternative minimum tax liability for the year of disposition of the shares acquired pursuant to the incentive stock option exercise, the participant will have a basis in those shares equal to the fair market value of the shares at the time of exercise.

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Provided a participant does not sell or otherwise dispose of the shares within two years from the date of the grant of an incentive stock option or within one year after the exercise of such stock option, then, upon disposition of such shares, any amount realized in excess of the exercise price will be taxed as a capital gain. A capital loss will be recognized to the extent that the amount realized is less than the exercise price.

If the foregoing holding period requirements are not met, a participant will generally recognize ordinary income at the time of the disposition of the shares in an amount, and we will be entitled to a corresponding deduction, equal to the lesser of: (i) the excess of the fair market value of the shares on the date of exercise over the exercise price; or (ii) the excess, if any, of the amount realized upon disposition of the shares over the exercise price. If the amount realized exceeds the value of the shares on the date of exercise, any additional amount will be a capital gain. If the amount realized at the time of disposition is less than the exercise price, the participant will recognize no income, and a capital loss will be recognized equal to the excess of the exercise price over the amount realized upon the disposition of the shares.

Restricted Stock. A participant who has been granted a restricted stock award will not realize taxable income at the time of grant, provided that the stock subject to the award is not delivered at the time of grant, or if the stock is delivered, it is subject to restrictions that constitute a substantial risk of forfeiture for federal income tax purposes. Upon the later of delivery or vesting of shares subject to an award, the holder will realize ordinary income in an amount equal to the then fair market value of those shares and we will be entitled to a corresponding deduction for tax purposes. Gains or losses realized by the participant upon disposition of such shares will be treated as capital gains and losses, with the basis in such shares equal to the fair market value of the shares at the time of delivery or vesting. Any dividends paid to the holder during the restriction period will also be compensation income to the participant, and we will be entitled to a corresponding deduction for tax purposes. A participant who makes an election under Section 83(b) of the Internal Revenue Code will include in taxable income in the year of grant at the grant date fair market value the full fair market value of the restricted stock award subject to such election.

Restricted Stock Units and/or Dividend Equivalent Rights. A participant who has been granted a restricted stock unit or a dividend equivalent right will not realize taxable income at the time of grant and will not be entitled to make an election under Section 83(b) of the Internal Revenue Code since no stock is actually transferred to the recipient on the date of grant. At the time a restricted stock unit or dividend equivalent right vests, assuming the award of common stock or cash is distributed at that time, the recipient will recognize ordinary income in an amount equal to the fair market value of the common stock or the amount of cash received. If the restricted stock unit or dividend equivalent right is not distributed at the time it vests, no income will be recognized at that time and taxation will be deferred until the common stock or cash associated with the restricted stock unit or dividend equivalent right is distributed. At the time the recipient recognizes taxable income on a restricted stock unit or dividend equivalent right, we will be entitled to a corresponding tax deduction in the same amount recognized by the award recipient.

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Unrestricted Shares. A participant who has been granted unrestricted shares will realize taxable income at the time of grant equal to the fair market value of those shares on the date of grant, and we will be entitled to a corresponding deduction for tax purposes. Gains or losses realized by the participant upon the disposition of such shares will be treated as capital gains and losses, with the basis of such shares equal to the fair market value of the shares on the date of grant.

Withholding of Taxes. We may withhold amounts from participants to satisfy tax withholding requirements. Except as otherwise provided by the Committee, participants may have shares withheld from awards to satisfy the minimum tax withholding requirements.

Change in Control. Any acceleration of the vesting or payment of awards under the 2016 Plan in the event of a change in control may cause part or all of the consideration involved to be treated as an excess parachute payment under the Internal Revenue Code, which may subject the participant to a 20% excise tax and preclude us from deducting such awards for tax purposes.

Deduction Limits. Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code generally limits our ability to deduct for tax purposes compensation in excess of $1.0 million per year for each of our chief executive officer and other executive officers named in the summary compensation table of our annual proxy statement (excluding any officer who is listed due to serving as principal financial officer of MWBC) (covered employees), unless the compensation is qualified performance-based consideration. Qualified performance-based compensation is not subject to this limit and is fully deductible by us. Qualified performance-based compensation is compensation that is subject to a number of requirements, such as stockholder approval of possible performance goals and objective quantification of those goals in advance. Restricted stock awards and other awards that are not subject to performance goals would be subject to this deduction limit if income recognized on the awards plus other compensation of the covered employee that is subject to the limit exceeds $1.0 million. Stock options available for award under the 2016 Plan will be considered qualified performance-based compensation, even if such awards vest solely due to the passage of time during the performance of services. Accordingly, if an award is not exempt from Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code, income recognized on such award by a covered employee will be subject to the $1.0 million deduction limit on compensation.

In the case of awards granted to a covered employee that are not qualified performance- based consideration and are distributed after the covered employees retirement or other termination of employment, the $1.0 million deduction limit will not apply and the award will be fully deductible. Performance awards may provide for accelerated vesting upon death, disability, or a change in control and still be considered exempt from the $1.0 million deduction limit. The 2016 Plan is designed so that stock options and performance-based restricted stock awards, restricted stock units, and dividend equivalent rights that are subject to performance goals may qualify as qualified performance-based compensation that is not subject to the $1.0 million deduction limit. The Committee may take these deduction limits into account in setting the size and the terms and conditions of awards, and may decide to grant awards that result in executive compensation that exceeds the deduction limit.

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Tax Advice. The preceding discussion is based on federal tax laws and regulations presently in effect, which are subject to change, and the discussion does not purport to be a complete description of the federal income tax aspects of the 2016 Plan. A participant may also be subject to state and local taxes in connection with the grant of awards under the 2016 Plan. Each participant should contact his or her personal tax advisor to discuss the tax implications of any award under the 2016 Plan.

Accounting Treatment

Under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, we are required to recognize compensation expense in our financial statements over the requisite service period or performance period based on the grant date fair value of stock options, dividend equivalent rights, and other equity-based compensation (such as restricted stock awards, restricted stock units, and unrestricted shares).

New Plan Benefits

The Board has authorized the 2016 Plan to be submitted to stockholders for their approval. The Committee intends to meet after stockholder approval to determine what awards may be made and the specific terms of the awards, including the allocation of awards to officers, employees and non-employee directors. At the present time, no specific determination has been made as to the grant or allocation of awards.

Required Vote and Recommendation of the Board

In order to approve the 2016 Plan, the proposal must receive the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast at the Special Meeting. The Board unanimously recommends a vote FOR the approval and adoption of the 2016 Equity Incentive Plan.

NON-EMPLOYEE DIRECTOR COMPENSATION

There is significant overlap in the membership of the boards of MWBC and the Bank. Each director of MWBC other than David M. Tedtman is also a director of the Bank. Prior to the consummation of the Banks mutual-to-stock conversion in January 2015, all compensation to directors was paid by the Bank. The Bank still pays the directors who serve on the Banks board directly for their service as Bank directors. Since the conversion, we also pay fees to the directors for the quarterly MWBC Board meetings and for our Board committee meetings. Also, for the first half of fiscal year 2014, the Bank paid Gregory P. Niesen, President and Chief Executive Officer of both MWBC and the Bank, $3,025 for his service as a director of the Bank. Beginning in January 2014, Mr. Niesen is no longer paid separately for service as a director of either MWBC or the Bank.

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The following table shows the total compensation paid by both us and the Bank to our non-employee directors for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015:

2015 DIRECTOR COMPENSATION TABLE

Fees Earned or Paid in Cash Name 2015 Bernard G. Buerger $ 30,805 John W. Croxton 28,725 Gerald E. Grove 29,005 David M. Tedtman (1) 58,144 Bruce N. Thompson 29,905 (1) Mr. Tedtmans fees include $56,394 in consulting fees for accounting and SEC reporting

work performed.

During fiscal year 2015, for meetings held through March 2015, the Bank paid each non- employee director a flat monthly fee for service as a director of the Bank. The amount of the monthly fee was different for each director, as follows:

Name Fee Bernard G. Buerger $ 2,250 John W. Croxton $ 2,400 Gerald E. Grove $ 2,320 Bruce N. Thompson $ 2,420

Mr. Tedtman began attending meetings in April 2015 and was never a director of the Bank, so he was never compensated with a flat monthly fee.

Starting with meetings held in April 2015, the fee structure was changed. Only non- employee directors are compensated for service as directors, and their fees are based on the meetings attended. The following table describes the fees paid to our non-employee directors since April 2015:

2015 Attendance fee per meeting: MWBC Board Meeting $ 750 Bank Board Meeting 1,875 Audit Committee Meeting 750 Compensation Committee Meeting 500 Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Meeting 500 Strategic Planning Meeting (Chairman only) 1,000

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Deferred Compensation Plan

The Bank previously maintained a deferred compensation plan for directors that generally provided for a benefit equal to the present value of 120 monthly payments of Board fees, assuming such monthly payments equaled 80% of a participants final Board fees. In fiscal year 2013, the Bank terminated the plan. Pursuant to the termination of the plan, the benefits, which had been accrued through the date of termination, were distributed in two equal payments on July 1, 2014 and February 1, 2015. The following payments were made to non-employee directors:

Name Payment Bernard G. Buerger $ 299,428 John W. Croxton 285,169 Gerald E. Grove 275,664 Bruce N. Thompson 287,546

EXECUTIVE OFFICER COMPENSATION

The following persons are our executive officers. Those who are executive officers only of the Bank participate in policy making for MWBC and are therefore considered executive officers of MWBC.

Name Age Positions Held During Last Five Years Gregory P. Niesen 50 President and Chief Executive Officer of MWBC and has served in those capacities with the Bank since June 2012. Mr. Niesen has served as a director of the Bank since June 2012. Mr. Niesen previously served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of RiverHills Bank from January 2005 through May 2012. As a result, he understands the needs of the communities the Bank serves. His experience at the Bank includes all facets of the Bank, including lending. Mr. Niesen is a Certified Public Accountant who previously worked for one of the top ten CPA firms in the United States and specialized in community banks. He also worked as a senior executive at two of the largest community banks in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Karan A. Kiser 57 Chief Operations Officer of the Bank, effective January 1, 2016, following the departure of Michelle L. Alltop. Prior to this promotion, Ms. Kiser had served as Executive Vice President of Lending since July 2012. Ms. Kiser previously served as the Senior Vice President of Lending for RiverHills Bank from February 2006 to June 2012. Ms. Kiser also served in senior management of two of the largest community banks in Cincinnati, Ohio. She managed a mortgage banking operation at a community bank which was the third largest mortgage loan originator in Cincinnati Ohio. Julie M. Bertsch 54 Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of MWBC and of the Bank as of October 1, 2015. Ms. Bertsch served from 2012 until the end of September 2015 as Vice President and Controller of United Community Bank. Prior to that time, she served as Vice President and Treasurer of RiverHills Bank for approximately six years following a ten-year career in the field of public accounting, primarily with financial institutions.

The following table presents the compensation paid to our Chief Executive Officer and President and our other most highly compensated executive officers during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015. All compensation is paid by the Bank; MWBC does not separately employ or compensate the Banks employees.

Summary Compensation Table Option Name and principal position (1) Year Salary ($) Bonus ($) Option Awards

($) Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation ($) All Other Compensation

($) (2) Total ($) Gregory P. Niesen 2015 184,450 12,500 - - 10,300 207,250 Chief Executive Officer and President of MWBC and the Bank 2014 143,557 (1) 4,808 - 16,567 164,932 Karan A. Kiser Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice President of Lending of the Bank(3) 2015 94,474 12,000 - - 2,984 109,458

(1) Michelle L. Alltop resigned from her position as Chief Operations Officer of the Bank and left the employment of the Bank effective November 6, 2015. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015, she received a salary of $89,950, a bonus of $12,000 and all other compensation of $2,848, for a total of $104,798.

(2) Includes Board fees in the amount of $18,150

(3) Ms. Kiser was promoted to the position of Chief Operations Officer of the Bank effective January 1, 2016.

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The following table presents the components of All Other Compensation for the individuals in the preceding Summary Compensation Table:

2015 ALL OTHER COMPENSATION TABLE

Name and Principal

Position Year 401(k)

Matching

Contributions Automobile Cash in

Lieu of

Vacation Long-

Term

Disability Total All

Other

Compensation Gregory P. Niesen 2015 $ 4,989 $ 2,834 $ - $ 2,477 $ 10,300 Chief Executive Officer and President of MWBC and the Bank 2014 4,696 1,281 8,173 2,417 16,567 Karan A. Kiser 2015 2,984 - - - 2,984 Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice President of Lending of the Bank

(1) Michelle L. Alltop, the former Chief Operations Officer of the Bank, received matching 401(k) contributions of $2,848 during the 2015 fiscal year.

Mr. Niesen received payments under the terminated Deferred Compensation Plan in fiscal year 2015 totaling $287,546.

Employment and Severance Agreements

Mr. Niesen has an employment agreement with the Bank. The agreement provides for a term currently ending on February 1, 2019, automatically extending each year for another three years unless either the Bank or Mr. Niesen provides a required notice of an intention not to extend the term. The material terms of the employment agreement include the following:

 Mr. Niesen is entitled to receive a base salary of $188,430 per year, subject to annual review and increase by the Board.

 Mr. Niesen is provided with an automobile for business and personal use, and the Bank will pay the cost of such automobile, including insurance, repairs and fuel.

 Mr. Niesen is provided with long-term disability insurance.

 Mr. Niesen is eligible for participation in life, dental, disability and other benefit plans of the Bank available to all other full-time employees.

Certain events resulting in Mr. Niesens termination or resignation entitle him to payments of severance benefits following termination of employment. In the event of his

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involuntary termination for reasons other than for cause, disability or retirement, or in the event Mr. Niesen resigns during the term of the agreement following (i) failure to appoint Mr. Niesen to the executive position set forth in the agreement, (ii) a material change in his function, duties or responsibilities resulting in a reduction of the responsibility, scope, or importance of his position, (iii) relocation of Mr. Niesens office by more than 10 miles, (iv) a material reduction in the benefits or perquisites paid to Mr. Niesen, unless such reduction is part of a reduction that is generally applicable to officers or employees of the Bank, or (v) a material breach of the employment agreement by the Bank, then Mr. Niesen would be entitled to a severance payment in the form of a cash lump sum equal to the base salary and bonus he would be entitled to receive for the remaining unexpired term of the employment agreement. For this purpose, the bonuses payable will be deemed to be equal to the highest bonus paid at any time during the prior three years. In addition, Mr. Niesen would be entitled to receive a lump sum payment equal to the present value of the contributions that would reasonably have been expected to be made on his behalf under the Banks defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k) Plan and the ESOP) had Mr. Niesen continued working for the remaining unexpired term of the employment agreement. Internal Revenue Code Section 409A may require that a portion of the above payments cannot be made until six months after termination of employment, if Mr. Niesen is a key employee under IRS rules. In addition, Mr. Niesen would be entitled, at no expense to him, to the continuation of life insurance and non-taxable medical and dental coverage for the remaining unexpired term of the employment agreement, or if such coverage is not permitted by applicable law or if providing such benefits would subject the Bank to penalties, Mr. Niesen will receive a cash lump sum payment equal to the value of such benefits.

In the event of a change in control of the Bank or MWBC followed by Mr. Niesens involuntary termination other than for cause, disability or retirement, or resignation for one of the reasons set forth above within 18 months thereafter, Mr. Niesen would be entitled to a severance payment in the form of a cash lump sum equal to (a) three times the sum of (i) the highest rate of base salary paid to him at any time, and (ii) the highest bonus paid to him with respect to the three completed fiscal years prior to the change of control, plus (b) a lump sum equal to the present value of the contributions that would reasonably have been expected to be made on Mr. Niesens behalf under the Banks defined contribution plans if Mr. Niesen had continued working for an additional 36 months after termination of employment, earning the salary that would have been achieved during such period. In addition, Mr. Niesen would be entitled, at no expense to him, to the continuation of life insurance and non-taxable medical and dental coverage for 36 months following the termination of employment, or if such coverage is not permitted by applicable law or if providing such benefits would subject the Bank to penalties, Mr. Niesen will receive a cash lump sum payment equal to the value of such benefits. In the event payments made to Mr. Niesen include an excess parachute payment as defined in Section 280G of the Internal Revenue Code, such payments will be cut back by the minimum dollar amount necessary to avoid this result.

Under the employment agreement, if Mr. Niesen becomes disabled within the meaning of such term under Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code, he will receive benefits under any short-term or long-term disability plans maintained by the Bank, plus, if the amounts paid under such disability programs are less than his base salary, the Bank will pay Mr. Niesen an additional amount equal to the difference between such disability plan benefits and the amount of his full

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base salary for the longer of one year or the remaining term of the employment agreement following the termination of employment due to disability. The Bank will also provide Mr. Niesen with continued life insurance and non-taxable medical and dental coverage until the earlier of (i) the date he returns to full-time employment with the Bank, (ii) Mr. Niesens full- time employment with another employer, (iii) the expiration of the remaining term of the employment agreement, or (iv) his death.

In the event of Mr. Niesens death, his estate or beneficiaries will be paid his base salary for one year from his death, and his family will be entitled to continued non-taxable medical, dental and other insurance for 12 months following his death.

Upon termination of Mr. Niesens employment, he will be subject to certain restrictions on his ability to compete for six months, or to solicit business or employees of the Bank and MWBC for a period of one year following termination. The non-competition provision does not apply if a termination of employment occurs following a change in control or if Mr. Niesen is terminated for a reason other than cause (as defined in the agreement).

The Bank has entered into a one-year change in control agreement with Ms. Kiser, which will renew for another year only upon a determination by the disinterested members of the Board to renew the agreement. The current expiration date of this agreement is February 1, 2017. In the event of a change in control followed by Ms. Kisers involuntary termination of employment (other than for cause) or resignation for good reason, this agreement will provide her with a cash lump sum severance payment equal to 12 months of the highest base salary paid to her during the term of the agreement, plus the highest bonus paid to her during the three completed fiscal years before the change in control, and the continuation of non-taxable medical and dental coverage, with Ms. Kiser paying her share of the employee premiums for 12 months. Good reason will be deemed to exist if she experiences a change in title; a reduction in authority, duties or responsibilities; a reduction in base salary and benefits; or a relocation her principal place of employment by more than 10 miles. The Bank was a party to a change-in-control agreement with Ms. Alltop with provisions identical to those of Ms. Kisers, but that agreement was terminated in connection with her leaving the employment of the Bank.

Retirement Compensation

Our executive officers are eligible to participate in the benefit plans available to all full- time employees. We have a 401(k) plan to which we make contributions matching a certain percentage of the contributions by each employee of MWBC or the Bank, including officers. Employees are immediately vested in the employer contribution. We also have the ESOP, which allocates shares of MWBC to accounts of all employees proportionately on the basis of their other compensation. Employees are fully vested in the shares allocated to their ESOP accounts after three years of service.

Other Benefits

The Bank provides health and short-term disability insurance benefits for all full-time employees.

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STOCKHOLDER PROPOSALS AND COMMUNICATIONS

Proxy Statement Proposals

Under SEC rules, stockholders wishing to submit proposals for inclusion in the proxy statement for the 2016 annual meeting of stockholders must submit such proposals to MWBC at 2110 Beechmont Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45230, Attention: Corporate Secretary, on or before May 28, 2016.

Other Proposals and Nominations

Our Bylaws govern the submission of director nominations or other business proposals that a stockholder wishes to have considered at a meeting of stockholders, but which are not included in MWBC's proxy statement for that meeting. Under our Bylaws, director nominations or other business proposals to be addressed at our next annual meeting may be made by a stockholder entitled to vote who has delivered a notice to the Corporate Secretary not later than the close of business on July 8, 2016 and not earlier than June 29, 2016. The notice must contain the information required by the Bylaws.

These advance notice provisions in the Bylaws are in addition to, and separate from, the requirements that a stockholder must meet in order to have a proposal included in the proxy statement under the rules of the SEC. Copies of our Bylaws may be obtained from the Corporate Secretary.

OTHER MATTERS

The Board is not aware of any business to come before the Special Meeting other than the matters described above in the Proxy Statement. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU RETURN YOUR PROXY PROMPTLY. WHETHER OR NOT YOU EXPECT TO ATTEND THE SPECIAL MEETING IN PERSON, WE URGE YOU TO COMPLETE, SIGN AND RETURN THE PROXY IN THE ENCLOSED SELF-ADDRESSED ENVELOPE.

By Order of the Board of Directors: March 4, 2016 Brian H. Veith Secretary

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APPENDIX A

MW BANCORP, INC.

2016 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN

ARTICLE 1  GENERAL

Section 1.1 Purpose, Effective Date and Term . The purpose of the MW Bancorp, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (the Plan) is to promote the long-term financial success of MW Bancorp, Inc. (the Company), and its Subsidiaries, including Watch Hill Bank (the Bank), by providing a means to attract, retain and reward individuals who contribute to such success and to further align their interests with those of the Companys stockholders through the ownership of additional common stock of the Company. The Effective Date of the Plan shall be the date the Plan satisfies the applicable stockholder approval requirements. The Plan shall remain in effect as long as any Awards are outstanding; provided, however, that no Awards may be granted under the Plan after the day immediately prior to the ten-year anniversary of the Effective Date.

Section 1.2 Administration . The Plan shall be administered by the Compensation Committee of the Companys Board of Directors (the Committee).

Section 1.3 Participation . Each Employee or Director of the Company or any Subsidiary of the Company who is granted an Award in accordance with the terms of the Plan shall be a Participant in the Plan. The grant of Awards shall be limited to Employees and Directors of the Company or any Subsidiary.

Section 1.4 Definitions . Capitalized terms used in this Plan are defined in Article 8 and elsewhere in this Plan.

ARTICLE 2 - AWARDS

Section 2.1 General . Any Award under the Plan may be granted singularly or in combination with another Award (or Awards). Each Award under the Plan shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the Plan and such additional terms, conditions, limitations and restrictions as the Committee shall provide with respect to such Award and as evidenced in the Award Agreement. Subject to the provisions of Section 2.10, an Award may be granted as an alternative to or replacement of an existing Award under the Plan or any other plan of the Company or any Subsidiary (including any entity acquired by the Company or any Subsidiary), or as the form of payment for grants or rights earned or due under any other compensation plan or arrangement of the Company or its Subsidiaries (including any entity acquired by the Company or any Subsidiary). The types of Awards that may be granted under the Plan include:

(a) Stock Options. A Stock Option means a grant under Section 2.2 that represents the right to purchase Shares at an Exercise Price established by the Committee. Any Stock Option may be either an Incentive Stock Option (an ISO) that is intended to satisfy the

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requirements applicable to an Incentive Stock Option described in Code Section 422(b), or a Non-Qualified Stock Option (a Non-Qualified Option) that is not intended to be an ISO; provided, however, that no ISOs may be granted: (i) after the day immediately prior to the ten- year anniversary of the Effective Date or the date the Plan is approved by the Board, whichever is earlier; or (ii) to a non-Employee. Any ISO granted under this Plan that does not qualify as an ISO for any reason (whether at the time of grant or as the result of a subsequent event) shall be deemed to be a Non-Qualified Option. In addition, any ISO granted under this Plan may be unilaterally modified by the Committee to disqualify such Stock Option from ISO treatment such that it shall become a Non-Qualified Option; provided, however, that any such modification shall be ineffective if the Award, as modified would trigger excise taxes under Code Section 409A.

(b) Restricted Stock Awards. A Restricted Stock Award means a grant of Shares of Restricted Stock under Section 2.3 for no consideration or for such consideration as may be required by the Committee in its sole discretion, either alone or in addition to other Awards granted under the Plan, subject to a vesting schedule or the satisfaction of market conditions or performance conditions.

(c) Restricted Stock Units. A Restricted Stock Unit means a grant under Section 2.4 denominated in Shares that is similar to a Restricted Stock Award except no Shares are actually issued on the date of grant of a Restricted Stock Unit. A Restricted Stock Unit is subject to a vesting schedule or the satisfaction of market conditions or performance conditions and shall be settled in Shares.

(d) Performance Awards. A Performance Award means an Award of Stock Options, Restricted Stock, or Restricted Stock Units that is granted under Section 2.5 and that will vest upon the achievement of one or more specified performance measures set forth in Section 2.5. A Performance Award may or may not be intended to satisfy the requirements of Code Section

162(m).

(e) Unrestricted Shares. An Unrestricted Share is a grant of Shares under Section 2.6 for no consideration or for such consideration as may be required by the Committee in its sole discretion, either alone or in addition to other Awards granted under the Plan, that are immediately fully vested.

(f) Dividend Equivalent Rights. A Dividend Equivalent Right means a grant under Section 2.7 that represents the right to receive a payment, on terms and conditions established by the Committee in the applicable Award Agreement, equal to the amount of dividends payable on a Share.

Section 2.2 Stock Options .

(a) Grant of Stock Options. Each Stock Option shall be evidenced by an Award Agreement that shall: (i) specify the number of Shares to be covered by the Stock Option Award; (ii) specify the date of grant of the Stock Option; (iii) specify the Exercise Price (as defined below) for the Stock Option; (iv) specify the vesting period or conditions to vesting; (v) specify whether the Stock Option is intended to qualify as an ISO; and (vi) contain such other terms and

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conditions not inconsistent with the Plan, including the effect of termination of a Participants Service as the Committee may, in its discretion, prescribe.

(b) Terms and Conditions. A Stock Option shall be exercisable in accordance with such terms and conditions and during such periods as may be established by the Committee. In no event, however, shall a Stock Option expire later than ten (10) years after the date of its grant (or five (5) years with respect to ISOs granted to an Employee who is a 10% Stockholder). The Exercise Price of each Stock Option shall not be less than 100% of the per Share Fair Market Value on the date of grant (or, if greater, the par value of a Share); provided, however, that the Exercise Price of an ISO shall not be less than 110% of Fair Market Value of a Share on the date of grant if granted to a 10% Stockholder; provided further, that the Exercise Price may be less than the per Share Fair Market Value on the date of grant for a Stock Options granted in substitution for an option award that had been granted by an acquired entity and that was outstanding on the date of acquisition; provided, however, that the Stock Option Exercise Price would satisfy the requirements of Treasury Regulation 1.409A-1(b)(5)(v)(D). The payment of the Exercise Price of a Stock Option (and any required tax withholding resulting from such exercise) shall be by cash or, subject to limitations imposed by applicable law, by such other means as the Committee may from time to time permit, including: (i) by tendering, either actually or constructively by attestation, Shares valued at Fair Market Value as of the day of exercise; (ii) by irrevocably authorizing a third party, acceptable to the Committee, to sell Shares that would be acquired upon exercise of the Stock Option and to remit to the Company a sufficient portion of the sale proceeds to pay the entire Exercise Price and any required tax withholding; (iii) by a net settlement of the Stock Option, using a portion of the Shares that would otherwise have been issued upon exercise after payment of the Exercise Price and any required tax withholding; (iv) by personal, certified or cashiers check; (v) by the transfer of other property deemed acceptable by the Committee; or (vi) by any combination thereof. The total number of Shares that may be issued upon the exercise of a Stock Option shall be rounded down to the nearest whole Share, with cash-in-lieu paid by the Company for the value of any fractional Share.

Section 2.3 Restricted Stock .

(a) Grant of Restricted Stock. Each Restricted Stock Award shall be evidenced by an Award Agreement that shall: (i) specify the number of Shares covered by the Restricted Stock Award; (ii) specify the date of grant of the Restricted Stock Award; (iii) specify the vesting period or conditions to vesting; and (iv) contain such other terms and conditions not inconsistent with the Plan, including the effect of termination of a Participants Service, as the Committee may in its discretion prescribe. All Restricted Stock Awards shall be in the form of issued and outstanding Shares that, at the discretion of the Committee, shall be either: (x) registered in the name of the Participant and held by or on behalf of the Company, together with a stock power executed by the Participant in favor of the Company, pending the vesting or forfeiture of the Restricted Stock; or (y) registered in the name of, and delivered to, the Participant. In any event, the certificates evidencing the Restricted Stock Award shall at all times prior to the applicable vesting date bear the following legend:

The share of common stock of MW Bancorp, Inc. evidenced hereby is subject to the terms of an Award Agreement with MW Bancorp, Inc. dated [Date], made pursuant to

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the terms of the MW Bancorp, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan, copies of which are on file at the executive offices of MW Bancorp, Inc., and may not be sold, encumbered, hypothecated or otherwise transferred except in accordance with the terms of such Plan and Award Agreement,

or such other restrictive legend as the Committee, in its discretion, may specify. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company may in its sole discretion issue Restricted Stock in any other approved format (e.g., electronically) in order to facilitate the paperless transfer of such Awards. In the event Restricted Stock is not issued in certificate form, the Company and the transfer agent shall maintain appropriate bookkeeping entries that evidence Participants ownership of such Awards. Restricted Stock that is not issued in certificate form shall be subject to the same terms and conditions of the Plan as certificated Shares, including the restrictions on transferability and the provision of a stock power executed by the Participant in favor of the Company, until the satisfaction of the conditions to which the Restricted Stock Award is subject.

(b) Terms and Conditions. Each Restricted Stock Award shall be subject to the following terms and conditions:

(i) Dividends. The Committee, in its sole discretion, may specify in the Award Agreement that cash dividends or other distributions that are paid on any Shares of Restricted Stock shall be (A) paid directly to the Participant, (B) reinvested in additional Shares of Restricted Stock based on the Fair Market Value of a Share on the date the dividend is paid, or (C) subject to the same restrictions on transferability and forfeitability as the Shares of Restricted Stock with respect to which the dividends were issued. Unless otherwise specified in the Award Agreement, dividends or other distributions shall be subject to Section 2.3(b)(i)(C). Any dividend payment that is deferred pursuant to Section 2.3(b)(i)(C) shall be paid to the Participant within two and one-half months following the date on which the Restricted Stock Award vests. Any stock dividends declared on Shares of Restricted Stock shall be subject to the same restrictions and shall vest at the same time as the Shares of Restricted Stock from which said dividends were derived.

(ii) Voting Rights. Unless the Committee determines otherwise with respect to any Restricted Stock Award and specifies such determination in the relevant Award Agreement, a Participant shall have voting rights related to the unvested, non-forfeited Restricted Stock and such voting rights shall be exercised by the Participant in his or her discretion.

(iii) Tender Offers and Merger Elections. Each Participant to whom a Restricted Stock Award is granted shall have the right to respond, or to direct the response, with respect to the related Shares of Restricted Stock, to any tender offer, exchange offer, cash/stock merger consideration election or other offer made to, or elections made by, the holders of Shares. Such a direction for any such Shares of Restricted Stock shall be given by proxy or ballot (if the Participant is the beneficial owner of the Shares of Restricted Stock for voting purposes) or by completing and filing, with the inspector of elections, the trustee or such other person who shall be independent of the Company as the Committee shall designate in the direction (if the Participant is not

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such a beneficial owner), a written direction in the form and manner prescribed by the Committee. If no such direction is given, then the Shares of Restricted Stock shall not be tendered.

Section 2.4 Restricted Stock Units .

(a) Grant of Restricted Stock Unit Awards. Each Restricted Stock Unit shall be evidenced by an Award Agreement which shall: (i) specify the number of Shares covered by the Restricted Stock Unit Award; (ii) specify the date of grant of the Restricted Stock Units; (iii) specify the vesting period or conditions of vesting; and (iv) contain such other terms and conditions not inconsistent with the Plan, including the effect of termination of a Participants Services. Except to the extent provided otherwise in the Award Agreement, Restricted Stock Unit Awards shall be settled in Shares.

(b) Terms and Conditions. Each Restricted Stock Unit Award shall be subject to the following terms and conditions:

(i) A Restricted Stock Unit shall be similar to a Restricted Stock Award except that no Shares are actually awarded to the recipient on the date of grant.

(ii) The Committee may, in connection with the grant of Restricted Stock Units, designate them as qualified performance based compensation within the meaning of Code Section 162(m), in which event it shall condition the vesting thereof upon the attainment of one or more performance measures set forth in Section 2.5(a) hereof. Regardless of whether Restricted Stock Units are subject to the attainment of one or more performance measures, the Committee may also condition the vesting thereof upon the continued Service of the Participant. The conditions for grant or vesting and the other provisions of Restricted Stock Units (including without limitation any applicable performance measures) need not be the same with respect to each recipient. An Award of Restricted Stock Units shall be settled as and when the Restricted Stock Units vest or, in the case of Restricted Stock Units subject to performance measures, after the Committee has certified that the performance goals have been satisfied.

(iii) Subject to the provisions of the Plan and the applicable Award Agreement, during the period, if any, set by the Committee, commencing with the date of such Restricted Stock Unit for which such Participants continued Service is required (the Restriction Period), and until the later of (A) the expiration of the Restriction Period and (B) the date the applicable performance measures (if any) are satisfied, the Participant shall not be permitted to sell, assign, transfer, pledge or otherwise encumber Restricted Stock Units.

(iv) A Participant shall have no voting rights with respect to any Restricted Stock Units granted hereunder. No dividends shall be paid on Restricted Stock Units unless the Award Agreement also includes an award of Dividend Equivalent Rights.

Section 2.5 Performance Awards . The vesting of any Restricted Stock Award or a Restricted Stock Unit that is intended to be performance-based compensation (also referred to as Performance Awards) shall be conditioned on the achievement of one or more objective

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performance measures set forth in sub-section (a) below, as may be determined by the Committee. The grant of any Performance Award and the establishment of performance measures that are intended to be qualified performance-based compensation within the meaning of Code Section 162(m) shall be made during the period required under Code Section 162(m) and shall comply with all applicable requirements of that Code Section. At the discretion of the Committee, the vesting of any Stock Option also may be subject to the achievement of one or more objective performance measures, although such performance-based vesting is not necessary to satisfy the requirement of Code Section 162(m) with respect to Stock Options. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, in the discretion of the Committee, Performance Awards that do not comply with the requirements of Code Section 162(m) may be granted to Covered Employees and/or to persons other than Covered Employees.

(a) Performance Measures. If intended to be qualified performance-based compensation pursuant to Code Section 162(m), such performance measures must be based on any one or more of the following:

(i) book value or tangible book value per Share; (ii) basic earnings per Share; (iii) basic cash earnings per Share; (iv) diluted earnings per Share; (v) diluted cash earnings per Share; (vi) return on equity; (vii) net income or net income before taxes; (viii) cash earnings; (ix) net interest income; (x) non-interest income; (xi) non-interest expense to average assets ratio; (xii) cash general and administrative expense to average assets ratio; (xiii) efficiency ratio; (xiv) cash efficiency ratio; (xv) return on average assets; (xvi) cash return on average assets; (xvii) return on average stockholders equity;

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(xviii) cash return on average stockholders equity; (xix) return on average tangible stockholders equity; (xx) cash return on average tangible stockholders equity; (xxi) core earnings; (xxii) operating income; (xxiii) operating efficiency ratio; (xxiv) net interest rate margin or net interest rate spread; (xxv) growth in assets, loans, or deposits; (xxvi) loan production volume; (xxvii) non-performing loans; (xxviii) cash flow;

(xxix) strategic business objectives, consisting of one or more objectives based upon meeting specified cost targets, business expansion goals, and goals relating to acquisitions or divestitures, or goals relating to capital raising and capital management;

(xxx) total shareholder return; or (xxxi) any combination of the foregoing.

Performance measures may be based on the performance of the Company on a consolidated basis, or on the performance of any one or more Subsidiaries or business units of the Company or a Subsidiary, and may be measured relative to a peer group, an index or a business plan, and may be considered as absolute measures or changes in measures. The terms of an Award may provide that partial achievement of performance measures may result in partial payment or vesting of the award or that the achievement of the performance measures may be measured over more than one period or fiscal year. In establishing any performance measures, the Committee may provide for the exclusion of the effects of the following items, to the extent the exclusion is set forth in the Participants Award Agreement and identified in the audited financial statements of the Company, including footnotes, or in the Managements Discussion and Analysis section of the Companys annual report or in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis section, if any, of the Companys annual proxy statement: (i) unusual, and/or nonrecurring items of gain or loss; (ii) gains or losses on the disposition of a business; (iii) changes in tax or accounting principles, regulations or laws; or (iv) expenses incurred in connection with a merger, branch acquisition or similar transaction. To the extent not specifically excluded, such effects shall be included in any applicable performance measure.

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(b) Adjustments. Pursuant to this Section 2.5, in certain circumstances the Committee may adjust performance measures; provided, however, no adjustment may be made with respect to an Award that is intended to be qualified performance-based compensation within the meaning of Code Section 162(m), except to the extent the Committee exercises such negative discretion as is permitted under applicable law for purposes of an exception under Code Section 162(m). Subject to the foregoing sentence, if the Committee determines that a change in the business, operations, corporate structure or capital structure of the Company or the manner in which the Company or its Subsidiaries conducts its business or other events or circumstances render current performance measures to be unsuitable, the Committee may modify such performance measures, in whole or in part, as the Committee deems appropriate, provided that no Award intended to be subject to Code Section 162(m) is enhanced as a result of a modified performance measure. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, performance measures relating to any Award hereunder will be modified, to the extent applicable, to reflect a change in the outstanding Shares by reason of any stock dividend or stock split, or a corporate transaction, such as a merger of the Company into another corporation, any separation of a corporation or any partial or complete liquidation by the Company or a Subsidiary. If a Participant is promoted, demoted or transferred to a different business unit during a performance period, the Committee may determine that the selected performance measures or applicable performance period are no longer appropriate, in which case, the Committee, in its sole discretion, may adjust, change or eliminate the performance measures or change the applicable performance period; or (ii) cause to be made a cash payment to the Participant in an amount determined by the Committee.

(c) Treatment on Retirement. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, no Performance Awards that are intended to be considered qualified performance-based compensation under Code Section 162(m) shall be granted under terms that will permit its accelerated vesting upon Retirement or other termination of Service (other than death or Disability) or a Change in Control. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, in the sole discretion of the Committee exercised at the time of grant of an Award under this Section 2.5, in the event of Retirement of a Participant during the performance period, the Award Agreement may provide for the vesting of all or a portion of such Award, so long as the vesting is not accelerated but shall occur at the end of the performance period, and will be prorated, based on the period of the Participants active employment and the level of achievement of the performance measures during the period of the Participants active employment.

Section 2.6 Unrestricted Shares. Subject to the provisions of this Plan and as set forth in the related Award Agreement, the Committee shall have sole and complete authority to grant Unrestricted Shares to Employees or Directors at such time or times, in such amounts and for such reasons as the Committee, in its sole discretion, shall determine. The Company shall issue, in the name of each Participant to whom Unrestricted Shares have been granted, stock certificates representing the total number of Unrestricted Shares granted to the Participant (net of any Shares withheld to satisfy any required tax withholding), and shall deliver such certificates to the Participant as soon as reasonably practicable after the date of grant.

Section 2.7 Dividend Equivalent Rights. Subject to the provisions of this Plan and as set forth in the related Award Agreement, the Committee shall have sole and complete authority to grant Dividend Equivalent Rights to Employees or Directors at such time or times, in such amounts and for such reasons as the Committee, in its sole discretion shall determine. Each

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Award including Dividend Equivalent Rights shall be evidenced by an Award Agreement that shall: (i) specify the number of Shares covered by the Dividend Equivalent Right; (ii) specify the date of grant of the Dividend Equivalent Right; (iii) specify the vesting period or conditions to vesting; (iv) specify the timing of payment of cash or issuance of Shares in satisfaction of the Dividend Equivalent Right; and (v) contain such other terms and conditions not inconsistent with the Plan, including the effect of termination of a Participants Service, as the Committee may in its discretion prescribe. The Committee, in its sole discretion, may specify in the Award Agreement that an amount equal to any cash dividends or other distributions that are paid on the Shares covered by the Dividend Equivalent Right shall be (A) paid directly to the Participant within 60 days after the dividend payment date, (B) automatically converted into additional Dividend Equivalent Rights based on the Fair Market Value of a Share on the date the dividend is paid, or (C) unless otherwise specified in the Award Agreement, paid to the Participant upon satisfying any applicable vesting criteria. To the extent that an Award including Dividend Equivalent Rights is intended to be qualified performance-based compensation in accordance with Code Section 162(m), payment of Dividend Equivalent Rights to the Participant will be conditioned on the satisfaction of applicable performance criteria and any amounts payable in connection with the Dividend Equivalent Right shall be paid at the same time as the Shares subject to such Restricted Stock Unit are distributed to the Participant.

Section 2.8 Vesting of Awards . The Committee shall specify the vesting schedule or conditions of each Award. Unless the Committee specifies a different vesting schedule at the time of grant, Awards under the Plan, other than performance awards and unrestricted shares, shall be granted with a vesting rate not exceeding thirty-three and thirty-four hundredths percent (33.34%) per year, with the first installment vesting no earlier than the one year anniversary of the date of grant and succeeding installments vesting on the annual anniversaries thereafter. If the right to become vested in an Award under the Plan (including the right to exercise a Stock Option) is conditioned on the completion of a specified period of Service, without achievement of performance measures or other performance objectives being required as a condition of vesting, and without it being granted in lieu of, or in exchange for, other compensation, then the required period of Service for full vesting shall be determined by the Committee and evidenced in the Award Agreement (subject to acceleration of vesting, to the extent permitted by the Committee or set forth in the Award Agreement, in the event of the Participants death or Disability or a Change in Control).

Section 2.9 Deferred Compensation . If any Award would be considered deferred compensation as defined under Code Section 409A (Deferred Compensation), the Committee reserves the absolute right (including the right to delegate such right) to unilaterally amend the Plan or the Award Agreement, without the consent of the Participant, to maintain exemption from, or to comply with, Code Section 409A. Any amendment by the Committee to the Plan or an Award Agreement pursuant to this Section shall maintain, to the extent practicable, the original intent of the applicable provision without violating Code Section 409A. A Participants acceptance of any Award under the Plan constitutes acknowledgement and consent to such rights of the Committee, without further consideration or action. Any discretionary authority retained by the Committee pursuant to the terms of this Plan or pursuant to an Award Agreement shall not be applicable to an Award which is determined to constitute Deferred Compensation, if such discretionary authority would contravene Code Section 409A.

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Section 2.10 Prohibition Against Option Repricing . Except for adjustments pursuant to Section 3.4, and reductions of the Exercise Price that is approved by the Companys stockholders, neither the Committee nor the Board shall have the right or authority to make any adjustment or amendment that reduces or would have the effect of reducing the Exercise Price of a Stock Option previously granted under the Plan, whether through amendment, cancellation (including cancellation in exchange for a cash payment in excess of the Stock Options in-the- money value or in exchange for Options or other Awards), replacement grants, or other means.

Section 2.11. Effect of Termination of Service on Awards . The Committee shall establish the effect of a Termination of Service on the continuation of rights and benefits available under an Award and, in so doing, may make distinctions based upon, among other things, the cause of Termination of Service (including Retirement) and type of Award. Unless otherwise specified by the Committee and set forth in an Award Agreement between the Company and the Participant or as set forth in an employment agreement or severance arrangement entered into by and between the Company and/or the Bank and an Employee, the following provisions shall apply to each Award granted under this Plan:

(a) Upon a Participants Termination of Service for any reason other than due to Disability, death, Retirement or termination for Cause, Stock Options shall be exercisable only as to those Shares that were immediately exercisable by such Participant at the date of termination, and Stock Options may be exercised only for a period of three (3) months following termination, or the remaining unexpired term of the Stock Option, if less, and any Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Unit or Dividend Equivalent Right Award that has not vested as of the date of Termination of Service shall expire and be forfeited.

(b) In the event of a Termination of Service for Cause, all Stock Options granted to a Participant that have not been exercised and all Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Unit and Dividend Equivalent Right Awards granted to a Participant that have not vested shall expire and be forfeited.

(c) Upon Termination of Service for reason of Disability or death, all Stock Options shall be exercisable as to all Shares subject to an outstanding Award, whether or not then exercisable, and all Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Unit and Dividend Equivalent Right Awards shall vest as to all Shares subject to an outstanding Award, whether or not otherwise vested, at the date of such Termination of Service. Stock Options may be exercised for a period of one year following Termination of Service due to death or Disability, or the remaining unexpired term of the Stock Option, if less; provided, however, in order to obtain ISO treatment for Stock Options exercised by heirs or devisees of an optionee, the optionees death must have occurred while employed or within three months after the date of the Employees Termination of Service.

(d) In the event of Termination of Service due to Retirement, a Participants vested Stock Options shall be exercisable for one year following Termination of Service, or the remaining unexpired term of the Stock Option, if less; provided that no Stock Option shall be eligible for treatment as an ISO in the event such Stock Option is exercised more than three months following Termination of Service due to Retirement. Any Stock Option, Restricted

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Stock, Restricted Stock Unit and Dividend Equivalent Right Award that has not vested as of the date of Termination of Service due to Retirement shall expire and be forfeited.

(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Section 2.11, the effect of a Change in Control on the vesting and exercisability of Stock Options, Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Units and Dividend Equivalent Right Awards is as set forth in Article 4.

ARTICLE 3 - SHARES SUBJECT TO PLAN

Section 3.1 Available Shares . The Shares with respect to which Awards may be made under the Plan shall be Shares currently authorized but unissued, currently held or, to the extent permitted by applicable law, subsequently acquired by the Company, including Shares purchased in the open market or in private transactions.

Section 3.2 Share Limitations .

(a) Share Reserve. Subject to the following provisions of this Section 3.2, the total number of Shares reserved and available for delivery to Participants and their beneficiaries in connection with Awards under the Plan shall be equal to 122,662 Shares, which represents 14% of the number of Shares sold in connection with the mutual-to-stock conversion and acquisition of the Bank (the Conversion). The maximum number of Shares that may be delivered pursuant to the exercise of Stock Options (all of which may be granted as ISOs) is 87,616 Shares, which represents 10% of the number of Shares sold in connection with the Conversion. The maximum number of Shares that may be delivered pursuant to Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Units and Unrestricted Share Awards is 35,046 Shares, which represents 4% of the number of Shares sold in connection with the Conversion. The aggregate number of Shares available for grant under this Plan and the number of Shares subject to outstanding awards shall be subject to adjustment

as provided in Section 3.4.

(b) Computation of Shares Available. For purposes of this Section 3.2, the number of Shares available for the grant of additional Stock Options, Restricted Stock Awards or Restricted Stock Units shall be reduced by the number of Shares previously granted, subject to the following: to the extent any Shares covered by an Award (including Restricted Stock Awards and Restricted Stock Units) under the Plan are not delivered to a Participant or beneficiary for any reason, including because the Award is forfeited or canceled or because a Stock Option is not exercised, then such Shares shall not be deemed to have been delivered for purposes of determining the maximum number of Shares available for delivery under the Plan. To the extent: (i) a Stock Option is exercised by using an actual or constructive exchange of Shares to pay the Exercise Price; (ii) Shares are withheld to satisfy withholding taxes upon exercise or vesting of an Award granted hereunder; or (iii) Shares are withheld to satisfy the exercise price of Stock Options in a net settlement of Stock Options, then the number of Shares available shall be reduced by the gross number of Shares exercised or vested rather than by the net number of Shares issued. An Award that pursuant to its terms must be settled in cash shall not count against the applicable share limits.

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Section 3.3 Individual Share Limitations .

(a) Awards to any one Participant. The maximum number of Shares, in the aggregate, that may be granted to any one Participant during the total lifetime of the Plan may not exceed 30,666, which is 25% of the number of Shares that may be granted under this Plan.

(b) Stock Option Awards to Employees. The maximum number of Shares, in the aggregate, that may be subject to Stock Options granted to any one Employee during any calendar year shall be 12,266, which is 10% of the number of Shares that may be granted under this Plan.

(b) Stock Option Awards to Directors. The maximum number of Shares, in the aggregate, that may be subject to Stock Options granted to any one Director under the Plan shall be 4,380, all of which may be granted during any calendar year and; in addition, all Directors, in the aggregate, may not receive Stock Options on more than 26,285 Shares, all of which may be granted during any calendar year. Such maximum amounts represent 5% and 30%, respectively, of the maximum number of Shares that may be delivered pursuant to Stock Options under Section 3.2.

(c) Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Unit and Unrestricted Share Awards to Employees. The maximum number of Shares, in the aggregate, that may be subject to Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Unit and Unrestricted Share Awards granted during any calendar year to any one Employee under the Plan shall be 12,266, which is 10% of the number of shares that may be granted under this Plan.

(d) Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Unit and Unrestricted Share Awards to Directors. The maximum number of Shares, in the aggregate, that may be subject to Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Unit and Unrestricted Share Awards granted to any one Director under the Plan shall be 1,752, all of which may be granted during any calendar year and, in addition, all Directors, in the aggregate, may not receive Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Unit and Unrestricted Share Awards on more than 10,514 Shares, all of which may be granted during any calendar year. Such maximum amounts represent 5% and 30%, respectively, of the maximum number of Shares that may be issued as Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Units and

Unrestricted Share Awards.

(e) The limits on the number of Shares available for grant under this Plan as described in this Section 3.3, shall be subject to adjustment as provided in Section 3.4.

Section 3.4 Corporate Transactions .

(a) General. In the event any recapitalization, forward or reverse stock split, reorganization, merger, consolidation, spin-off, combination, repurchase, or exchange of Shares or other securities, stock dividend or other special and nonrecurring dividend or distribution (whether in the form of cash, securities or other property), liquidation, dissolution, or other similar corporate transaction or event, affects the Shares such that an adjustment is appropriate in order to prevent dilution or enlargement of the rights of Participants under the Plan and/or under any Award granted under the Plan, then the Committee shall, in an equitable manner, adjust any or all of: (i) the number and kind of securities deemed to be available thereafter for grants of

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Stock Options, Restricted Stock Awards and Restricted Stock Units in the aggregate to all Participants and individually to any one Particip
Papatoetoe woman Toakase Gibbons, pictured with her niece Latu Nuku, wants to be able to move her family out of the small industrial unit they call home.

There's no kitchen, shower, washing machine or stove.

Toakase Gibbons and her five children aged 1-12 have lived since before Christmas last year in a tiny industrial unit in Papatoetoe that's desperately short on facilities.

She rents the space from a Christian church that's sandwiched between automotive workshops and surrounded by a variety of businesses.

The 37-year-old beneficiary previously lived with her children in a private rental in Papatoetoe but they had to move out when the weekly rent was increased to $480.

Gibbons says she didn't have enough money to buy food after covering the rent and household bills.

"I couldn't afford it. This is the church I belong to and I asked the pastor if we could stay here."

Gibbons' young family is suffering from the effects of living in such a cramped space.

She recently took two of her children to the doctor with skin conditions that may be linked to dust from nearby workplaces.

Gibbons contacted the Ministry of Social Development last month [March] to ask for help to find somewhere more suitable to live.

"My kids are not used to staying here," she says. "It's alright for me but it's very hard for them.

"I told them [the ministry] I really need their help and need someone to come and see where we live."

Gibbons says she sometimes has relatives stay, making the unit even more cramped.

All she has to prepare her family's meals on is a small cooker and she washes several of her children in an upstairs sink.

They're unable to play outside as it's too unsafe, she says.

"It's hard for them to do their homework as it's such a little space.

"I really hope they [the ministry] are going to help us."

Gibbons says her family wants to move into a home that's warm, comfortable and has more room.

"When we were living in the private rental I asked Housing New Zealand for help but they said I already had a house so they couldn't help me.

"The private rental was too expensive."

For help with emergency housing, or financial assistance to cover housing or accommodation costs, phone Work and Income on 0800 559 009.

TOUGH SITUATION

Ministry of Social Development deputy chief executive for social housing Carl Crafar says the agency understands Gibbons is in a "tough situation".

It's been "working to understand what she needs and how we can help".

A social housing assessment for her family is under way, he says.

"Once details of children in her care are confirmed we will progress this and will place her on the social housing register.

"Our staff have also been in touch to see how we can provide more immediate help for essential costs."
Criminals are occasionally taking money straight out of the bowls of Wellington's beggars, police say.

Criminals are "taxing" Wellington's beggars, and generous donors are inadvertently funding crime when they hand over money, police say.

"People are throwing a lot of spare cash at the beggars," Inspector Terry van Dillen told Wellington city councillors as they prepared to debate what to do about the capital's begging problem.

"But unfortunately, we do have people out there who tax the beggars, and we know who they are  they're criminals."

CAMERON BURNELL/FAIRFAX NZ Inspector Terry van Dillen says he has been accosted by beggars on the streets of Wellington himself.

Councillors went on to kick any talk of a begging ban to the kerb, when they voted to state explicitly that the council would not introduce such a policy.

READ MORE:

* Council could start employing beggars, says report

* Wellington considers making it illegal to give money to beggars

* Auckland ex-prisoners homeless in Wellington

* Begging bylaw for Christchurch city scrapped

* Vouchers tipped as solution to beggars

Simon Marsh and Nicola Young  the latter a vocal supporter of a ban on beggars  were the only ones to vote against the declaration.

How to tackle begging? Share your stories, photos and videos. Contribute

Instead, the council agreed to push ahead with a programme of "street management" and support for social agencies as a means of alleviating the problem.

Earlier in the day, van Dillen told councillors: "Wellingtonians are very, very generous with their money. I've seen it myself on Friday and Saturday nights on Courtenay [Place] and Blair [St]."

But it was unclear just how many of those people were aware that, when they put money into a beggar's bowl, someone else was often taking a cut, he said.

PHOTO: CAMERON BURNELL/ FAIRFAX NZ Wellington City Council is debating what to do about the city's begging problem.

They stood over "vulnerable" beggars and extorted their money.

"I would say it has been going on for a while now. The criminals are seeing an opportunity, and some of these guys are pretty big men people are intimidated, and they take their money."

His comments were confirmed by a beggar who gave his name as Adam. He said criminals preyed on beggars who appeared weak, and he guessed the predators were those who owed drug or gang debts.

STUFF Police have challenged Wellington City Council to think about what it will do with beggars who refuse help from social services and return to the streets.

"They stand over the women or someone who's young or drunk  they think they can get away with anything.

"You can back down, but if you back down they will do it every single time. The younger beggars are more naive, haven't seen much of the world. You might say they are not street-wise."

City councillors held their vote after the release of an independent report last week that identified a range of ideas for eliminating begging.

Some of the more extreme options were a ban giving money to beggars, or requiring beggars to have permits that regulate where they could be, but these options were not recommended.

With the exception of Young, there appeared to be little appetite for a ban among the councillors before Wednesday's meeting, and no-one spoke up to propose one on the day.

The only actions they chose to add to their action plan was more investigation into alternative giving, and to consider some ideas for measuring the extent of the begging problem.

Councillors were told by their staff that begging was on the rise, with the number of complaints increasing and a clear "drift" of homeless people from Auckland and Christchurch.

Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said the council would liaise with central government "as a matter of urgency" to address the underlying issues that caused begging.

The council was "not the only player" when it came to solving issues such as poverty and ineffective support for people with mental health issues, she said.

Paul Eagle said a begging ban would have been a complete failure, and would have also masked some of the accountability that central Government needed to take.

But Marsh said not everyone on Wellington's streets would want to be helped, and the council needed a way to deal with beggars who were aggressive or engaging in criminal behaviour.

The council also agreed to explore options for alternative giving on the suggestion of councillor Jo Coughlan.

She pointed to an idea used in the Canadian city of Fredericton, in which old parking meters were turned into "kindness meters" and the money inside was given to charities to help beggars.

Alternative giving has been tried in Wellington before. A $40,000 marketing campaign that encouraged giving to charities rather than beggars was ditched in 2014 after it raised just $3500 in eight months.

Deputy Mayor Justin Lester said there were only 10 to 12 beggars on Wellington's streets at any one time.

Those people deserved compassion rather than being turned into criminals, because being a drug addict or a victim of abuse was not a lifestyle choice.

"Having to beg is shameful experience, being poor is shameful experience. It breaks your spirit and vanquishes your pride."

HOW WELLINGTON PLANS TO END BEGGING

* The city's street outreach team will increase their efforts to connect beggars with social services.

* The council will develop a strategy for dealing with complaints about beggars.

* Beggars will be educated on acceptable uses of footpaths. Items will be removed if necessary.

* A "multi-agency forum" will be established to tackle the social and criminal issues that lead to begging.
Residents are frustrated by the problem of student drinking around Victoria University. Kelburn Park, where this picture was taken, is a popular drinking spot.

A boutique Wellington supermarket should not be able to sell alcohol because cheap, aggressively marketed booze makes anti-social student drinking worse, Victoria University's chief executive says.

Police and the region's medical officer of health also oppose Countdown's application for an off-licence at a new Cable Car Lane site, saying alcohol sales will fuel student drunkenness around Victoria University, The Terrace and Kelburn Park.

The Cable Car and surrounding access ways have been dubbed "Chunder Lane" by veteran anti-alcohol campaigner Bernard O'Shaughnessy, who told a licensing hearing on Wednesday that booze sales would encourage drinking, with students able to "chunder up and chunder down Chunder Lane".

MONIQUE FORD/FAIRFAX NZ Victoria University has come out in opposition to a liquor licence being granted to a new Countdown supermarket in Wellington's Cable Car Lane.

But some local workers have called the moniker ridiculous, saying opposition to the liquor licence was alarmist.

READ MORE:

* Police oppose Countdown liquor licence on students' 'Chunder Lane'

* Neighbours welcome booze ban at Victoria University of Wellington student hall

* Neighbours say students' out-of-control antics at VUW hall getting worse

* Mini supermarket for Wellington's Cable Car Lane

Victoria University chief executive Grant Guilford, who is also the vice-chancellor, gave his submission at the second day of a hearing of the Wellington District Licensing Committee. He said cheap, accessible and aggressively advertised alcohol so close to the 3000 students living in nearby halls of residence would fuel more noise, littering and occasional vandalism.

Does NZ need an alcohol overhaul? Share your stories, photos and videos. Contribute

"Alcohol is still at the heart of virtually all these complaints," Guilford said. "You can draw a straight line between alcohol harm and the two supermarket chains in this country."

Guilford said the university had to manage the societal problem of alcohol harm and that its opposition was on behalf of residents living in and around Kelburn Park.

The park, which has a cable car stop, has no alcohol ban, and Guilford feared students and other young people would use the cable car to buy alcohol and drink it in the park without having to haul it back up the steep hill.

"The ability to jump on the cable car and zip up [the hill] is a risk," Guilford said.

Originally the supermarket had sought an 11pm closing time, but changed that to 8pm due to concerns around problem drinking.

Guilford said the reduction in opening hours was a significant measure that was "greatly appreciated".

Kelburn resident Lynda Bowater, who lives near the Talavera cable car stop, said the alcohol-fuelled trouble and noise had worsened over the past five years and had made it difficult for her to sleep, especially on Wednesday nights and weekends.

"It's very distressing. At times it feels like I'm living in a student ghetto. Granting this licence will be like putting petrol on the fire," she said.

"For the few weeks in the year when the university isn't in session, it feels like paradise."

Fellow Vic Neighbours member Nicola Koptisch said residents were frustrated by what they saw as a lack of action from Wellington City Council, the university and police over the escalating issue.

The noise was often so bad she was forced to wear earplugs to sleep, she said. It was particularly bad when students left the halls after alcohol bans came in at what she called the "10 o'clock swill".

Vic Neighbours member John Blincoe was questioned by Countdown lawyer Duncan McGill over whether he would oppose a renewal of licence for the New World on Willis St.

Blincoe said he would be opposed, but not as strongly, as the Countdown site created "an alcohol conveyor belt" for students to buy liquor and transport it up the hill to Kelburn Park.

Countdown lower North Island operations manager Gordon Adams said outside the hearing: "The vast majority of our customers will be those working in and around Lambton Quay, who want to grab something for lunch, or pick up a few items on their way home from work.

"As a result of concerns raised by some stakeholders around issues specific to Cable Car Lane, we have revised our closing time to 8pm. We will continue to work with all Wellington stakeholders in relation to the liquor licence for our new Cable Car Lane store."

The hearing is expected to finish on Friday.
Paul James Bennett with his partner Simone Wright are among New Zealand's most wanted.

Fugitive Paul James Bennett could soon be deported from Australia if he's not jailed on several charges, including some relating to Hollywood actor Russell Crowe, in Sydney on Friday.

Police say they are ready to greet the conman, who's wanted for nearly $1 million worth of fraud and a sexual assault, as soon as he sets foot on New Zealand soil.

"There's nothing we can do until he lands in the country so we are just waiting," Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Anderson, from Christchurch, said on Thursday.

PABLO CUADRA/GETTY IMAGES Paul Bennett piloted actor Russell Crowe, pictured, in a helicopter several times.

Bennett, 53, and his long term partner, Simone Wright, 39, eluded authorities in New Zealand and Australia for many years before they were arrested aboard a 14-metre yacht in Sydney in February last year.

READ MORE:

* Conman Paul Bennett admits forging documents, lying about Russell Crowe helicopter pilot job

* Police build $1 million case against Kiwi fugitive

* Fugitives caught in Sydney, woman says she didn't know yacht was stolen

The couple had sailed from New Zealand on the cruising cutter, which was stolen from the Bay of Islands.

Bennett was taken into custody by Australian officials on several historic charges.

Wright, an Australian citizen, was freed by police because there were no outstanding warrants for her arrest. She's been living at her mother's home 150 kilometres north of Sydney.

In a Sydney court on Wednesday, Bennett pleaded guilty to four counts of obtaining money by deception and one count of intimidating a former girlfriend with the intention of causing mental harm.

The court heard that he forged pay slips stating he earned $120,000 a year as Crowe's helicopter pilot. Bennett, who piloted Crowe only a few times and was never the actor's full-time employee, was arrested and charged in 2001, but vanished while on bail later that year.

The court also heard that Bennett threatened to release a sex-tape of his former girlfriend, Diane Tyndall, unless she paid a bail bond.

He pleaded not guilty to two charges of making false statements that he was the holder of an appropriate pilot's licence issued by the Civil Aviation Authority. Those matters would be finalised on Friday when he returned to the court for sentencing.

Anderson said New Zealand police had been following Bennett's case in Sydney and had been in contact with their Australian liaison officer.

"It's a waiting game to see what happens. [If he's not jailed] we're not sure how long that deportation process will take."

Anderson said the process to have Wright extradited to New Zealand was ongoing.

"The stars may end up aligning ... we may get them back here at the same time."

Bennett and Wright face serious allegations in New Zealand and are among the country's most wanted.

Police in Christchurch investigating complaints about the couple previously said they had identified nearly $1 million worth of suspected fraud dating back to 1998.

Bennett and Wright are also wanted over an alleged indecent assault on Erin Leighton at an apartment on Auckland's Northshore in 2008.

Michael Jacomb alleges Bennett defrauded his Christchurch helicopter company Helipower of $250,000 in 2014.

"I think his luck has finally run out," Jacomb said on Thursday. "I very much want him back in New Zealand, but I wouldn't be unhappy with him doing jail time in Australia."

Bennett was born in Waikato and has a long history of eluding police, in New Zealand and abroad. He and Wright were known to use fake passports and different aliases while they were on the run, police said.

A Stuff investigation in 2014 found police came face-to- face with the pair several times in New Zealand while they were wanted over the alleged attack on Leighton. On one occasion, Bennett was pulled over for a roadside breath-test in Tauranga but slipped through undetected, a source said.
A Linwood College pupil was stood down after a 13-year-old girl was assaulted.

A Christchurch mother says she now fears for her daughter's life, after the 13-year-old was assaulted after school by a fellow student at Linwood College.

Rora Morice claims her daughter has been bullied at the school on numerous occasions this year.

On March 30, she was attacked while walking home from school. Her glasses were broken, and her mother says she was punched. An earring was ripped from her ear. She managed to escape to a nearby bakery, where she phoned her mother for help.

Speak out against bullying in NZ Share your stories, photos and videos. Contribute

"I told her to wait until the kids had gone away [from the bakery], and to get herself to the school so I could collect her," said Morice.

Principal Richard Edmondson said once he became aware of the incident he phoned the girl's family, and told them he knew about the assault.

He promised that the school would investigate.

The pupil who initiated the assault was stood down, said Edmondson, and a restorative process was started.

Police were also informed, and the two girls are no longer in the same class.

But Morice said she wasn't happy with the process, and wanted the school to go further.

"I think there needs to be some kind of punishment. Moving class and being stood down for one day  that doesn't seem like enough to me."

Morice said she didn't have the money for her daughter to switch schools, because it would mean buying another uniform and funding transportation costs, which she couldn't afford.

"I'm just worried the next time that the phone rings...is [my daughter] going to be dead in a gutter?

"She's a pretty strong headed girl but she just wants it to stop."

Boys at the school called her names, swore at her, and called her ugly, her mother said.

She said there had also been incidents where students had punched her, held her down and cut her hair while in class.

"She doesn't want to go to school, she wakes up every morning wondering...what is going to happen today?" Morice said.

But Edmondson said he had confidence in how the situation was handled.

He said he wished the event never happened, but he promised to continue keeping an eye on the situation.

"I'm aware that this needs continual watching."

He said the process followed "was a strong process that involved both clear formal discipline and police involvement".

He believed the incident was an isolated one.

"All schools have bullying, but this is obviously a spike."

The Ministry of Education confirmed it had been made aware of the incident, but had not received a formal complaint.

"The school is managing the incident and any adverse impact it may have on school routines", said Katrina Casey, head of sector enablement and support.

"Schools have clear processes for dealing with such incidents which would include an initial investigation and standing down a student if deemed necessary", she said.
South Canterbury suppliers of goods and services to Fonterra are experiencing "pain" from new payment terms, South Canterbuyr Chamber of Commerce says.

Local councillors have backed the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce's call for Fonterra to pay suppliers sooner.

Timaru District councillors Dave Jack, Peter Burt, Steve Earnshaw and Steve Wills endorsed the chamber's request for the dairy co-operative to be "a good corporate citizen" and return to standard payment terms.

Chamber and Fonterra representatives met on Monday to discuss controversial payment terms the chamber said could put some companies supplying goods and services to Fonterra out of business.

Wills said on Wednesday the impact of the payment terms could have effects beyond Fonterra's suppliers, and believed the chamber had done "the correct thing" by speaking out.

"How would they [Fonterra] go if companies overseas decided to defer their payments?"

He believed Fonterra recognised the problems the arrangements were creating.

READ MORE: End cashflow crisis, chamber asks Fonterra

Jack said he "totally" agreed with the chamber's stand on the new payment terms.

"Small business is the backbone of this country and does not have the cash flows to sustain such moves."

Earnshaw said the payment terms were "clearly an issue" for the businesses concerned.

"I seriously hope that Fonterra sort that issue out."

Burt said he was glad the chamber raised the issue, and said it was "common sense" for Fonterra to discuss its terms with suppliers further.

Fonterra's chief financial officer, Lukas Paravicini, said on Tuesday Fonterra never intended to "treat any small business unreasonably" and the company was discussing "any changes required" with individual vendors

MP for Waitaki, National's Jacqui Dean said it was "clear some believe Fonterra's new terms are too harsh" and said it was important that "Fonterra has acknowledged their communication on this issue could have been better".

Waimate District councillor Tom O'Connor said it would be "inappropriate to make any comment" while panel members considered Fonterra's consent applications for a proposed expansion of its Studholme dairy factory near Waimate.
Opinion / Columnist

In its desperation to get into power, the MDC-T has since its inception shown an unbridled penchant to use non-electoral avenues to push government out of power.This desire was clearly spelt out by the party's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, when during its infancy he expressed his craving to force his way into power without honouring the electoral route prescribed by the Constitution.While addressing a rally in Harare in October 2002, Tsvangirai told his supporters that if President Robert Mugabe does not step down before elections scheduled for that year, we will remove you violently."This was a precursor to a host of other violent and non-electoral attempts by the party to railroad itself into power.As times passes, the MDC-T unleashed its arsenal of boycotts, stay-aways and violent demonstrations that usually ended with the stoning and burning of ZUPCO buses and other Government installations.Reports also emerged indicating that the party sent youths to Botswana and South Africa to train as militias with the mandate to cause political havoc in the country.A former senior official of the MDC-T, David Coltart in his book, The Struggle Continues: 50 years of tyranny, attests to the violent culture in the opposition party by condemning the deployment of youths to neighbouring countries for military training.The orgy of opposition violence reached a crescendo when the MDC-T organised what it called the Final Push', which was supposed to end at State House with the unconstitutional dethronement of President Robert Mugabe and the dreamed ordainment of Morgan Tsvangirai as the President of the country.This was the height of the MDC-T's madness and rabid bid to grab State power through non-electoral means.With its ideology apparently steeped towards violent means to get into power, it is not surprising that the MDC-T is now talking about conducting what it dubs the Mother mother of all mass demonstrations."This is nothing new. It is just a play of words, with the Mother of all mass demonstrations' being interchangeable to the doomed Final Push'.As the mother of all mass demonstrations, this planned political misdemeanor is targeted at usurping power through non-electoral avenues.It is targeted at achieving what the so-called Final Push' failed to accomplish, which is to unconstitutionally install Tsvangirai as the President of Zimbabwe.Maybe it is out of full realization that it does not have the electoral stamina to ever win elections against ZANU PF that the MDC-T is focusing on grabbing power through the back door.From boycotts, mass demonstrations, stay aways and the so-called final push, the MDC-T has vainly deployed measures parallel to the electoral route in a bid to shorten the constitutional mandate of President Mugabe.Given an opportunity, the MDC-T would be ready to even stage coups in order to get Tsvangirai into power.It is sad that the party now wants to sanitise these disruptive measures using the veil of some constitutional provisions. The MDC-T Spokesperson, Obert Gutu said the mooted Mother of all mass demonstrations' was legal because the Constitution accords all citizens the right to demonstrate.But it must not be forgotten that the Constitution does not allow the abuse of the same constitutional rights to cause instability in the country or to foist opposition leaders into power.Although the MDC-T continues to use these non-electoral measures to challenge for power, the people of Zimbabwe had long-frowned at such shenanigans.Zimbabweans are peaceful and would never accede to the use of such disruptive political interventions in the country.The people know very well that Government is only changed through elections and any attempts to effect regime change through non-electoral means would fail.This is the reason why the opposition party had postponed its Mother of all mass demonstrations' from 7 April to the 14th day of the same month. This was after the realization that there were no takers for its ill-advised march.Anticipating that the Mother of all mass demonstrations' would be a flop, the MDC-T's media partners are already publishing excuses, saying Government is likely to crush the demonstration.The demonstration would indeed fail dismally as Zimbabweans are not interested in insurgent behaviour but are interested in bread and butter issues.Instead of enunciating alternative policies to deal with the sanctions-inspired economic challenges, the MDC-T is busy plotting demonstrations after demonstrations.It is puzzling how the party thinks that the demonstrations would resolve the closure of industries, high unemployment and the food shortages facing the rural populace.The country does not need disruptions and all these power games from the opposition parties. What it needs is the space to rebuild the economy.
Opinion / Columnist

The claim by Bulawayo South legislator, Eddie Cross that ZANU-PF is now carcass is a wild accusation which shows the level of idiocy possessed by this opposition Member of Parliament.Considering the confusion and divisions within the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai, one can simply conclude that it is the case of a pot calling the kettle black. MDC-T has never shown even a slight level of maturity since its formation in 1999, hence the endless fights and splits.There is absolutely nowhere on which ZANU-PF will lead this nation if the derogatory term used by Cross which means a body of a dead animal is applicable to the revolutionary party. Or else Cross is insulting the electorate who gave ZANU PF the mandate to lead the country until 2018.Cross claims to be the voice of the voiceless while in actual fact he is politicking. Politics should make sense. If Cross is trying to convince the electorate that his opposition party is the best, then he should find other better ways and platforms of uttering his nonsensical claims.As an MP, Cross should support existing Government programmes through proffering alternate solutions that assist in resuscitating the economy. People are tired of MDC-T claims, which in actual fact do not bring bread and butter on the tables of the electorate.It really surprises that each time Cross is given the platform to air his views, nothing good comes out of his mouth. It is now like a syndrome within the opposition parties that whenever they are asked to contribute on national programmes, they lack anything meaningful to say, rather than attacking the ruling government.It is a shame that in previous weeks before the War veterans' indaba, the opposition were predicting that the meeting would ignite fireworks. Unfortunately for these doomsayers, all went well. ZANU-PF actually came out stronger than before. Cross and his cronies should be reminded that ZANU-PF is a mature, seasoned party whose sole mandate is to serve the people of Zimbabwe. It has its own ways of solving its problems.It is true when they say Rhodies are unrepentant. Cross should be reminded that it was President Mugabe who extended the spirit of reconciliation soon after independence, to him and other Rhodesian Selous Scouts who were embroiled on massacres of innocent people who were taking refuge in Mozambique.The former Rhodesian soldier foolishly claims that President Mugabe should not continue leading the nation. Contrary to Cross sentiments, people are much interested in the unwavering leadership of President Mugabe. It is true that a good leader comes from God. This is witnessed through President Mugabe's leadership. Not so long ago, President Mugabe was the chairman of two blocs African Union (AU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC). President Mugabe perfectly chaired the two blocs whilst at the same executing his duties as Head of State. So, there is nothing that can stop President Mugabe from leading Zimbabwe.Who is Eddie Cross then, to tell the people of Zimbabwe that President Mugabe should not continue as Zimbabwe's President?The current problems bedeviling Zimbabwe are only a chapter which most people believe will pass. Most nations have been through such challenges but managed to sail through. The opposition should stop riding on the ticket of current economic situation in trying to prop up themselves. In fact, they should find other better campaigning strategies if they wish to win any future elections.There is a notion that some opposition parties do exist only to oppose the ruling government and not to provide any alternate policies necessary for the development of the nation.For Cross to say ZANU-PF is now a carcass is a laughable. The ruling Government is doing all it can to improve the living standards of the people nationwide. Currently, people are receiving grain as a way of countering the devastating El Nino induced drought.
Opinion / Columnist

This year, by this time farmers nationwide could have been feasting and enjoying their farm produce zhizha'. Despite the devastating drought, most farmers had planted a number of variety food crops. However this year's harvesting season has become barren for almost all farmers nationally and regionally, due to El Nino induced drought.In that vein, Government is trying by all means to feed all the people who are struck by hunger nationwide. Most people in rural areas are persistently receiving maize from Government to alleviate food shortages.On the other hand, local and international donors are also playing their party in lessening the level of hunger in the country. Such a move by Government and private donors should be commended. Eating is essential for survival; hence every single person who dwells in this country deserves access to food.Therefore, food distributors should ensure that all people have access to food. These food distributors should not eliminate other people from receiving food handouts. Hunger is contradictory to progress; hence, it's simply unacceptable.As rightly said by Public Service Commission Minister Priscilla Mupfumira, food aid should be shared equally regardless of one's political background. Minister Mupfumira was reportedly quoted warning against distribution of grain along political lines."Hunger does not discriminate along party lines, therefore such practices are unlawful. Perpetrators must stop forthwith of face the full force of the law" said Minister Mupfumira. Additionally, Minister Mupfumira noted that it is not a Government policy to distribute food along political lines.The rampant selective food distribution makes life difficult for other people who are also facing the same challenges of food shortages. It is indeed a crime to deny other people the right to access food. Every individual has a right to food; hence no one should be deprived the right to access either grain from social welfare or food from private donors.In other words, depriving people food that is meant for them is a form of corruption. Food handouts should reach the intended people and must not be diverted to non beneficiaries. Hence, those found engaging in such corrupt activities must be arrested.Children are among the many vulnerable groups that are in need of food supplements, and in the danger of being exposed to malnutrition. It is heartening that Government, through Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education will introduce one hot meal in all primary and secondary schools nationwide beginning second term. This is a positive move which will ensure that all school going children attend their classes without fail. Long back, some cases were reported that some children were missing lessons because of hunger.The Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and District Development Fund (DDF) should take Minister Mupfumira's advice. It really boggles the mind that these two organizations diverted the funds that they were allocated by Government which were meant for the distribution of food aid into repairing their vehicles, paying allowances and settling of their debts. Honestly, during this time of hunger, priority should be given to needy people rather than diverting funds to other businesses.It is a shame that the food insecurity situation in Zimbabwe is of our own making. Therefore, we should do away with such a situation as it portrays a negative picture about our country at the international community.
Employers will now have to make lower-skilled employment opportunities available to New Zealanders before supporting a work visa to fill the vacancy, says Social Development Minister Anne Tolley and Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse.

Changes came into force this week which mean that employers considering hiring a migrant for a lower-skilled role will now be required to engage with Work and Income at the beginning of the process to ensure there is no New Zealander available to do the job first.

The Government is committed to getting more New Zealanders into work by ensuring they are first in line for jobs, Mrs Tolley says.

We know employers want people with the right attitude, who are resilient and have good people skills, and we want to provide employers with the best candidates.

Work and Income will be working closely with employers of low and unskilled vacancies who are looking to hire migrant workers. If Work and Income cant fill the vacancy, a Skills Match Report will provide employers and Immigration New Zealand with consistent information about the skills required for the job.

Mr Woodhouse says engaging with Work and Income first ensures employers are connected directly to New Zealanders who are available to do the work and provides greater clarity for employers as to the likely outcome of a visa application before it is made.

This process is a far more efficient way to ensure employers are satisfactorily testing the New Zealand labour market rather than routinely seeking to employ migrants, Mr Woodhouse says.

For more information on the changes, visit www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/news/changes-essential-skills-work-visa-April2016.htm

SOURCE: Offices of Anne Tolley and Michael Woodhouse
New taxes for small businesses are being welcomed across the board today, with both New Zealand First and Act leaders complimenting the government.

Prime Minister John Key announced the changes in his Pre-Budget Speech to a Business New Zealand event in Wellington.
Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye today announced funding of $500,000 to enable over 40 more schools nationwide to receive wireless technology, as part of the Ministry of Educations Wireless School Network Upgrade Project (WSNUP).

Earlier this year, I announced the completion of the School Network Upgrade Project (SNUP), which has provided state and state-integrated schools with upgraded core on-site infrastructure such as cabling and switching, to enable them to access high-quality internet for learning, says Ms Kaye.

The advent of wireless technology saw this technology automatically included as part of SNUP, for over 1,200 schools which received their upgrade from June 2013 on.

The WSNUP project was set up in late 2014 to retrofit wireless technology to a number of schools that had already received a core digital infrastructure upgrade, prior to wireless technology being included in SNUP.

Under WSNUP, work is already well advanced towards retrofitting wireless technology to over 430 schools, and Im pleased that todays announcement will see over 40 more schools also receive wireless upgrades.

This means more students and teachers around the country will be able to enjoy the benefits of being more mobile with their devices while at school.

The Ministry of Education will contact schools to offer them access to the upgrade.

Evidence suggests that widespread and mobile access to the internet will lead to new and significant opportunities for students, parents and teachers.

The rollout of wireless connections is a vital step towards delivering these opportunities, enabling more young New Zealanders to learn anytime and anywhere.

Thanks to the SNUP and WSNUP projects, schools are being provided with state-of-the-art infrastructure so they can make full use of ultrafast broadband in the classroom, along with Crown-funded, uncapped data via the N4L Managed Network.

Over 95 per cent of schools are now connected to the Managed Network, which also offers services such as web filtering, network security and helpdesk support.

The Government has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in these programmes to ensure young New Zealanders have some of the best infrastructure and connectivity anywhere in the world.

Source: Office of Nikki Kaye.
For many years Maylene Jennings has had a goal to work alongside at-risk children and families in the community.

When she graduates with a Bachelor of Social Work at the Bethlehem Tertiary Institute graduation ceremony at Holy Trinity Church on Saturday, she will be celebrating achieving that goal.
A Tauranga judge has delayed the sentencing of Oropi Quarries Ltd and its director to allow for further information to be sought.

The Tauranga company and its director were due to be sentenced in relation to Health and Safety breaches following the death of employee Tane Hill-Ormsby.
Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye will unveil a plaque this morning to mark the official start of a major redevelopment at Takapuna Grammar School.

This $26 million project will see the restoration of the schools 90-year-old main block, which is regarded as a heritage icon by the school and local community, says Ms Kaye.

Id like to acknowledge local MP Maggie Barry, who has worked with the school on its property issues.

Its great for the school and for Auckland that the heritage value of the iconic main building has been recognised.

The redevelopment has been designed to strike a balance between restoration and modernisation. The main blocks striking brick facade and parapets will continue to be a landmark feature of the school site, whilst the buildings interior will be upgraded to provide improved functionality.

Once its restored and strengthened, the main block will contain 20 revamped learning spaces, as well as an upgraded administration area and adjoining hall.

The redevelopment, which will also see two new learning spaces added to the existing technology block, is expected to take around 30 months to complete.

This is a complex project which has required a fair amount of planning, so today is an important milestone.

With the main block out of operation, a lot of learning is taking place in relocatable classrooms, but most of these will be removed once the main block is back up and running.

When the project is completed, the school will have 65 learning spaces in total, with the vast majority designed to support an innovative learning environment.

This means the learning spaces will be flexible, to support different ways of teaching and learning, and they will have high standards of acoustics, lighting, heating and ventilation. They will also feature the latest IT infrastructure to support digital learning.

The redevelopment of Takapuna Grammar School is testament to the Governments commitment to invest in improved school facilities across New Zealand.

Over the last seven years, weve invested more than $4 billion in school property maintenance, growth and modernisation. This is more than a 30 per cent increase on the previous seven years.

Takapuna Grammar School is a co-educational secondary school (years 9 -13) with a roll of more than 1,400 students.

An innovative learning environment (ILE) is the complete physical, social and teaching context in which learning takes place.

An ILE is capable of evolving and adapting as educational practices evolve.

Today, teachers work more collaboratively with students, either in different sized groups or individually, which requires learning spaces to be more flexible.

Flexible learning spaces are more open than traditional, single-cell classrooms and can be configured to support different ways of teaching and learning, eg they may be made up of many different-sized spaces, or be open enough to accommodate more than one class and several teachers.

Acoustics, lighting, heating and ventilation are also of a higher quality, to help students concentrate on learning.

SOURCE: Office of Nikki Kaye
To fluoridate or not to fluoridate? That is the question which district health boards could soon be responsible for answering.

This week the Government announced a possible legislation change which would see DHBs, rather than local councils, deciding whether or not fluoride will be added to communities water supplies.

DHBs currently provide expert advice on fluoridation to local councils who are responsible for making the final decision.

Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne Peter says giving DHBs the final decision recognises that water fluoridation is a health-related issue.

Deciding which water supplies should be fluoridated aligns closely to DHBs current responsibilities and expertise, says Peter.

It makes sense for DHBs to make fluoridation decisions for their communities based on local health priorities and by assessing health-related evidence.

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says about 2.3 million New Zealanders currently have access to fluoridated water.

But under the proposed legislation change, a further 1.4m Kiwis living in places where networked community water supplies are not currently fluoridated stand to benefit, he says.

New Zealand has high rates of preventable tooth decay and increasing access to fluoridated water will improve oral health, and mean fewer costly trips to the dentist for more New Zealanders, says Jonathan.

Water fluoridation has been endorsed by the World Health Organization and other international health authorities as the most effective public health measure for the prevention of dental decay.

In January Whakatane District councillors voted six to five in favour of discontinuing to add fluoride to the Whakatane and Ohope water supplies, despite strong community support for the practice in the two communities.

Following the announcement, Bay of Plenty District Health Boards CEO Helen mason expressed her disappointment with the decision, saying improving oral health is an important priority for the board which strongly supports water fluoridation.



Bay of Plenty District Health Board CEO Helen Mason says they strongly support the practice of adding fluoride to communities water supplies. Photo: File

But then in February, the Whakatane District Council adopted a notice of motion to revoke the January decision, with councillors voting six to four in favour of once again adding fluoride to the two towns water supplies.

The retraction of the January decision earned the ire of national anti-fluoridation lobby group Fluoride Free NZ who labelled it a shameful flip-flop.

FFNZ national coordinator Mary Byrne has slammed this latest proposal saying the proposed legislation change is a misguided response to the growing public demand on councils to stop fluoridation.

The Government is now taking the decision away from local councils and communities and putting the power into the hands of DHBs who are under the direct control of Central Government, says Mary.

Councillors in many areas have had the opportunity to hear both sides of the issue, including the latest science. Like most New Zealanders, once they are aware of all the facts, they become much less likely to support fluoridation.

She also believes this legislation is an attempt to shut down future public debate and force fluoridation onto everyone, including people who are hypersensitive to fluoride.

Mary also dismisses claims that DHBs will still be open to public input, labelling it as pure spin, since the DHBs are contractually obligated to carry out MoH policy.

The legislation proposed for later this year would eventually be in place by 2018. Therefore, New Zealanders from all corners of the country need to voice their strong opposition.
Police have arrested Frenchman Antoine Denevi in connection with supplying arms to Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly, who murdered four people at a supermarket days after the Charlie Hebdo attacks

Antoine Denevi and Amedy Coulibaly. :: SUR

Following raids on a property in Rincon de la Victoria on Tuesday, police have detainded Frenchman Antoine Denevi, 27, in connection with supplying arms to Amedy Coulibaly, the man responsible for killing four people at a kosher supermarket in Paris in January 2015, two days after the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

He appeared in court in Madrid on Wednesday and denied all charges. He has been detained unconditionally, pending his extradition to France, which he has accepted.

The arrest was part of a joint Spanish and French operation. After his link to the arms trafficking network which supplied Coulibaly was established, Denevi was issued with a European Arrest Warrant.

It is understood that he fled France weeks after the attack and after moving to the town in Malaga province, continued his illicit activities, using falsified papers which were found at the property. Computer equipment was also seized and is currently being examined.

Two other men, both Serbian, were also arrested as part of the operation hailed as an "excellent example of collaboration between the French and Spanish police and judicial services" by the Ministry of the Interior.
Starshot: Stephen Hawking And Mark Zuckerberg Reveal Plans To Travel To Another Star System

Trending News: Insane New Plans Revealed To Travel To Alpha Centauri Star System

Why Is This Important?

Because for the first time in human history we might be going interstellar.

Long Story Short

As part of the Breakthrough Initiative, physicist Stephen Hawking has teamed up with billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Yuri Milner to announce the Breakthrough Starshot  a tiny "nanocraft" that will be propelled by lasers to Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our own. This is one of the biggest scientific projects ever conceived.

Long Story

On April 12th, 1961, the course of humanity was changed forever when Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin boarded the Vostok spacecraft blasted away from the Earth.

For the first time in our very short history, mankind left the safe confines of our home planet to reach the cold expanse of outer space. We'd finally flown the nest. It's appropriate then, that on the day of this milestone anniversary, one of the biggest scientific undertakings in history was announced.

At an event at the World Trade Center in New York, generational physicist Stephen Hawking, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg unveiled their plans to send tiny spacecraft to the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri. The ships, if you can even call them that, will be beyond small. Imagine all the best tech put on a ship no bigger than a computer chip. Why so small? The smaller you are, the faster you'll be able to travel.

New Horizons, the NASA probe that flew by Pluto last year, is the fastest craft that humans have ever built. At its current speed, New Horizons would take 78,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri. The Breakthrough Initiatives team want us to get their in 40 years. That means taking 20 years to develop the right technology, and then 20 more years to make the actual trip.

So, what technology needs to be developed? Well, everything. But more specifically: Nanocrafts.

The spaceships-on-a-chip would weigh mere grams but be able to carry cameras, navigation and communication equipment, photon thrusters and a power supply. That means all of our existing technologies would have to get a lot smaller.

Dr. Pete Worden, who is leading the project said, "I'd have said that even a few years ago travel to another star at that kind of speed would not be possible but the expert group figured out that because of developments in technology there appears to be a concept that appears to work."

The hope would be send a fleet of these small probes to explore the far reaches of outer space. Once the tech is developed (and the details on that is sketchy) the actual probes would (hopefully) only cost about the same amount to manufacture as a high-end iPhone.

The craft would travel at 20% the speed of light (i.e. insanely fast) using lasers or "light beamers" to push against lightsails.

The research and engineering project will initially cost $100 million to develop a proof of concept. After that, the project would cost as much as any of the major scientific experiments that are currently underway, like the Large Hadron Collider or the ITER fusion reactor.

Working on the project are some of the smartest people on the planet, including Pete Worden, Avi Loeb, Jim Benford, Bruce Draine, Freeman Dyson, Robert Fugate and Ann Druyan.

Regardless of outcome, the research project will help push existing technologies far beyond anything that we thought possible. Space exploration, the computer industry and hundreds of other fields will benefit from the knowledge learned from this massive undertaking.

Hawking told the audience in New York: "I believe what makes us unique is transcending our limits. Gravity pins us to the ground, but I just flew to America."

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: Will we see actual pictures of Alpha Centauri before we die?

Disrupt Your Feed: These are the types of scientific risks that we need to take more of.

Drop This Fact: The nanocraft will hopefully be traveling at 135,000,000 mph.
Verizon strike 2.JPG

More than a dozen Verizon workers on strike picket Wednesday morning outside the company's offices on Thompson Road in DeWitt.

(Samantha House | shouse@syracuse.com)

Syracuse, N.Y.  Verizon says its customers shouldn't notice any change in their service as a result of a strike by nearly 40,000 members of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The unions say otherwise.

Approximately 36,000 union workers at Verizon began a strike Wednesday morning after nearly 10 months of negotiations failed to produce a new contract with the communications company.

"Let's make it clear  we are ready for a strike," Bob Mudge, president of Verizon's wireline network operations, said in statement. "With any sort of job action or disruption to our business, our primary goal is to ensure our customers can count on the critical communications services that they pay for and we provide. I want them to know that will happen."

Chris Ryan, president of CWA Local 1123 in Syracuse, said customer service will be impacted because Verizon will have far fewer workers available to install and repair its phone and internet lines during the strike.

"To say it won't impact customer service is an outright lie," he said.

What parts of Verizon do the strikers work for?



According to Verizon, the employees who are striking work primarily in the company's Consumer and Small Business Wireline unit in eight states (including New York) in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and the District of Columbia.

They install and repair copper and fiber optic phone lines and the company's FIOS fiber optic internet and television service lines. When those lines go down  say, when a car takes out a telephone pole  they go out, day or night, no matter the weather, and fix them. They also answer the phone when customers call for help.

How is Verizon able to run its network without the union workers?

Verizon said it trained "thousands" of its managers and other non-union employees to fill in for those walking a picket line. Employees have been reassigned from all parts of the country and all parts of the business, including finance, marketing, real estate and engineering, it said.

Since last spring, many of the non-union workers underwent extensive network training at a high-tech, custom-designed "business continuity" training center in northern Virginia that was created especially for the event of a strike, the company said.

In addition, the company said advancements in technology mean that many issues can be solved remotely by customers using technologies available on the support pages of Verizon's website.

Could the strike affect Verizon cell phone service?

The unions do not represent Verizon Wireless workers, except for about 85 employees of the company's wireless unit in Brooklyn and Everett, Mass. So the strike should not have a direct impact on Verizon cell phone service.

Ryan said the strike could have an indirect impact on cell phone service, however. The company's cell phone towers are hooked up to its copper and fiber optic lines. If the lines leading to the towers go down, the towers will be unable to transmit a wireless signal, he said.

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148
Brooklyn, NY -- A Syracuse woman is accused of stealing more than $755,000 from a Brooklyn apartment management company to invest in six properties in Syracuse, according to an indictment.

Jennifer De Coteau Ulanov, 44, of Syracuse, was indicted by the Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney's Office on 34 counts relating to her alleged scheme: one count of grand larceny, 21 counts of forgery and 12 counts of scheme to defraud.

Ulanov was sent to a New York City jail in February with bail set at $250,000 cash or $750,000 bond. She remains locked up.

She owns these Syracuse properties under generic LLCs: 1818 Court St., 117 Gorland Ave., 610 Hickory St., 110 Kinne St., 1714 Court St. and 423 Seventh North St., according to Brooklyn prosecutors.

Ulanov was the only employee of a family-run management company, Guardian Property Management, which primarily conducts business in New York City.

But she's accused of stealing from the company -- and its clients -- in several ways:

 Taking rent and maintenance checks from tenants and depositing them into her own accounts.

 Forging an owner's signature on checks written from client accounts and depositing them into her account.

 Forging an owner's signature on checks written from the company's master account.

To do this, Ulanov is accused of illegally "intercepting" a Citibank key fob that gave her unrestricted access to all of the company's accounts. This allowed her to alter monthly statements to cover her tracks, prosecutors said.

Ulanov used the money to pay down mortgages on her Syracuse properties, prosecutors said. She has owned the properties since the mid-2000s

A judge has frozen all of Ulanov's properties in Syracuse until her trial in the embezzlement case.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Jennifer De Coteau Ulanov is accused of using stolen money to buy houses in Syracuse. In fact, she owned the houses already but used the money to pay down mortgages and make improvements, prosecutors said.
WESTMORELAND, NY - A 66-year-old Oneida County man has been charged with first-degree assault after police said he shot his son in the torso early today.

Jeffrey Everetts of 6840 Lowell Road in Westmoreland is accused of shooting his 30-year-old son, Robert R. Everetts. The call to Oneida County dispatch came in at about 4 a.m., according to an online log.

Oneida County sheriff's deputies said the victim fled the residence after being shot and then called for a ride to his own home in Whitestown. Once there, police said he was taken to St. Elizabeth's Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.



Jeffrey Everetts was arraigned on the felony charge and remanded to the Oneida County jail on $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond. Police said the investigation was continuing.

A photo of the suspect is not available at this time.
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A man is accused of brandishing a firearm during a dispute and then getting into a standoff with authorities.

Nicholas J. Monaco

Ithaca police said Nicholas J. Monaco, 38, of Ithaca, was charged with second-degree menacing, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

At 4:11 p.m. Tuesday officers responded to a report of a man with a gun in the 100 block of West State Street. Police said witnesses told officers that a man had threatened another man with a gun and then fled to a building with multiple apartments.

Officers closed traffic and taped off several blocks on West State Street and on Geneva Street.

After several hours officers handcuffed and arrested Monaco. Police did not say if he had a gun with him when he was arrested.

Monaco is being held pending arraignment in Ithaca City Court.

Contact Ken Sturtz: 315-766-7833 | Email | Twitter | Facebook | Google+
April 13, 2016

To the Texas A&M University community:

As you know, the 84th Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 11, which is effective August 1, 2016, and expands the areas on public university campuses where those with appropriate licenses are authorized to carry concealed handguns. As President of Texas A&M, I am deeply committed to creating the optimal environment for learning, discovery and work. At the same time, as a state institution, we are subject to the demands of the law and will necessarily comply.

After considerable efforts to engage the broad university community and gather feedback regarding the unique culture at Texas A&M, and with concern for safety and security guiding their decisions, members of the Campus Carry Policy Task Force comprising students, faculty and staff have made 14 recommendations, all of which I am pleased to fully endorse and almost all of which I have adopted intact and submitted to The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. However, after discussion with A&M System legal counsel, as well as advice from the Office of the Attorney General of Texas, I modified the recommended rule related to campus carry in private offices. That proposed rule, as well as the other proposed rules can be viewed at http://www.tamus.edu/proposed-campus-carry-rules/.

Absent further action by the A&M System Board of Regents, which will review these rules in April 2016, these rules will go into effect on August 1, 2016. The Task Force report is available at https://www.tamu.edu/statements/Campus_Carry_Final_Report_3-10-16.pdf (PDF).

The task force recommendations were formulated based on several key factors: results of the campus-wide survey of students, faculty and staff conducted last fall; feedback from individuals who might be directly affected by the legislation; careful review and analysis of the text of Senate Bill 11; legislative intent of the law; the 2015 Attorney General Opinions; January 26, 2016, discussions between members of the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs and University System Chancellors; as well as recommendations from other public institutions of higher education.

I am confident that the real concern expressed throughout the process is reflected in the task force's recommendations, which are tailored specifically to the needs of our campuses, and are the most appropriate way to fully implement the new law at Texas A&M. Key recommendations include adoption of governing factors and principles; establishment of a working group to address implementation and ongoing issues; identification of specific license holder responsibilities; guidelines for campus community outreach and education; and regulations specific to residence halls; prohibition of handguns in compliance with existing federal and state statutes; and prohibition of concealed handguns in particular locations, events and situations on campus. Such exclusions to the law include individual private offices, as approved by me in light of the standard articulated in the rules, child care facilities, youth camps, counseling centers, legal clinics, clinical care facilities, research laboratories, maritime vessels, sporting venues and events, and premises where administrative investigations are conducted.

I am immensely grateful to the 22-member Campus Carry Policy Task Force and its chair, Assistant Vice President for Safety and Security Chris Meyer, for their thorough review of all aspects of upholding and implementing the new law and their commitment to ensuring the safety and security of our students, faculty, staff and campus visitors. My position on these issues is a matter of public record from the time I served as President of the University of Utah, but, as President of Texas A&M, I am committed to ensuring Texas A&M University is in compliance with the law and intend to implement this law and related university rules as efficiently and smoothly as possible.

Michael K. Young,

President
Odalbert Louise, left, and Neirva Dumerci, James Willie Tellasmons uncle and cousin, sit outside the boys home in Gifford in 1998. Louise holds a photograph of James and his 4-year-old sister, Karen Renard.

SHARE James Willie Tellasmon After a massive search by the Coast Guard and the Indian River County firefighters, divers with Indian River County Fire Rescue found Tellasmons body about 70 yards offshore, just north of Jaycee Park. 

9-year-old James Willie Tellasmon lost his life off Indian River County shore

By Lamaur Stancil of TCPalm

James Willie Tellasmon would be taking his first steps into adulthood this year.

Instead, James was 9 years old when he stepped into the Atlantic Ocean and never returned. The boy, who teachers described as soft-spoken and studious, became a tragic anomaly in Treasure Coast history 10 years ago this week.

Authorities said James was attacked by a shark north of Jaycee Beach on Nov. 21, 1998. A 3 1/2-hour search that day proved fruitless. It wasn't until the next day searchers found part of the boy's body, severed by a shark bite.

James is the only person killed by a shark on the Treasure Coast. He is one of just 13 deaths in Florida attributed to sharks, according to records provided by University of Florida Museum of Natural History.

"It was one of the first incidents I had where I was dealing with a family facing that type of loss," said Vero Beach Police Lt. Matthew Monaco, 33, who was a rookie patrolman when he was called to Jaycee Beach the day James disappeared. "At the time, we didn't know we were dealing with a shark attack. We stayed at the beach until dark, and I went home that night thinking it was a drowning."

The following day, a dive team from Indian River County Fire Rescue discovered James' torso and legs in the water. The state medical examiner speculated a bull shark was the attacker, though other experts have said it may have been a tiger shark.

The boy had arrived at Jaycee Beach with family and friends early on the afternoon of Nov. 21, said Vero Beach lifeguard captain Nathan Rieck. He said he had some concerns about the family because they were walking north of the beach's guarded area.

"You need an extra pair of eyes looking out for you," Rieck said.

Thirty minutes after he lost sight of the beachgoers, Rieck noticed someone running frantically from the north side of the beach. Rieck and other lifeguards followed the man to the place where James disappeared and began searching for the boy.

"It was a long, horrible afternoon," Rieck said.

On the shore, Monaco talked with the family members.

"Part of my job was to be there with the family, but it bothered me that I couldn't dive in to help with the search," Monaco said.

Since the incident, reported shark attacks have been uncommon, but not far from the thoughts of local lifeguards.

"We keep an eye out for the bait fish, and we'll call people to come out of the water if we see them," Rieck said. "The important thing is for people to stay in the guarded areas of a beach. It's not a water theme park."

While the state Medical Examiner's Office was convinced the boy was killed by a shark, at least one expert who reviewed the evidence believed that wasn't the case. Instead, Erich Ritter, a researcher for the New Jersey-based Shark Research Institute, said James drowned first and his body was attacked after he died.

"No discolored water (blood) was seen" in the area James disappeared, Ritter wrote in his report. "It seems more likely that the boy, caught in the strong rip current, was drowned and his body was carried a distance offshore where it was scavenged by several species of sharks and marine animals."

Before his death, James attended Sebastian Elementary School. The 1999 yearbook was dedicated to him, said Principal Pat Donovan.

SHARK ATTACKS

Attacks are most commonly reported along the coast in Central Florida. Here's a look at the number of unprovoked attacks in the state from 1882 to 2007:

More than 50: Volusia, Brevard and Palm Beach counties

20 to 29: Martin, St. Lucie and St. Johns counties

10 to 19: Indian River, Duval, Pinellas, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, and the Florida Keys

1 to 9: Bay, Collier, Escambia, Flagler, Sarasota, Lee, Manatee, Santa Rosa, Franklin, Nassau, Walton, Okaloosa, Gulf and Charlotte counties

Most attacks: Volusia, with 210

TREASURE COAST SHARK ATTACKS

Indian River County: 17 (one fatal, 1998)

St. Lucie County: 28 (none fatal)

Martin County: 27 (none fatal)

REDUCING RISK OF SHARK ATTACKS

-- Always stay in groups; sharks are more likely to attack a lone person.

-- Do not wander too far from shore. This isolates an individual and additionally places one far away from assistance.

-- Avoid being in the water during darkness or twilight hours, when sharks are most active and have a competitive sensory advantage.

-- Do not enter the water if bleeding or if menstruating. A shark's olfactory ability is acute, and sharks are attracted to blood.

-- Do not wear shiny jewelry because the reflected light resembles the sheen of fish scales.

-- Sightings of porpoises do not indicate the absence of sharks. Both often eat the same food.

-- Use extra caution when waters are murky, and avoid uneven tanning and bright-colored clothing. Sharks see contrast particularly well.

-- Refrain from excess splashing, and do not allow pets in the water because of their erratic movements.

-- Exercise caution when in the area between sandbars or near steep dropoffs; these are favorite hangouts for sharks.

University of Florida Museum of Natural History
Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Center for Disease Control (right) speaks Monday about the Zika virus, accompanied by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH/NIAID, during the news briefing at the White House in Washington. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

By Bartholomew Sullivan, bartholomew.sullivan@tcpalm.com

WASHINGTON  St. Lucie and Indian River counties outpace much of the state in mosquito abatement while Martin County, which had local transmission of dengue fever in 2013, lags behind.

With the current national focus on the brain defects in newborns caused by outbreaks of Zika in the Caribbean and South America, Treasure Coast mosquito control officials said Tuesday they have been preparing aggressively.

"We have stepped up our domestic surveillance and inspection program," said Glenn Henderson, St. Lucie County's interim director of Mosquito Control and Coastal Management Services. It has budgeted $10.1 million, or about $35.39 per resident, on mosquito abatement this year.

Unlike other parts of the state, the Treasure Coast has not seen cases of the virus from travelers returning from Zika-affected areas, but officials said they expect to.

The concern is preventing domestic mosquitoes from biting returning foreign travelers and infecting Florida mosquitoes with a disease associated with brain defects in babies.

Lawmaker Actions

The White House on Monday hosted a Zika briefing for regional reporters with Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

Schuchat said travelers to affected areas are asked to continue using repellents with DEET for a few weeks after they return home to prevent the transmission of the virus they might be carrying to domestic mosquitoes.

The Obama administration has asked for $1.9 billion to fight the virus but Congress has yet to act. The Senate has passed a bill adding Zika to a list of tropical diseases for which drug companies can get a financial incentive to find a cure. The bill passed the House Tuesday night.

Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio support the budget request, with Nelson taking to the Senate floor Monday evening to call the situation "very serious," and Rubio conditioning his support on the money being spent on the virus and not on other things.

"If we're going to spend $1.9 billion addressing the issue of Zika, it should be spent on addressing the issue of Zika," he said.

U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, is on the record supporting the administration's request and was an early advocate of naming a Zika "czar" to coordinate the effort.

"The administration has the authority to use existing resources to begin fighting the Zika virus," said U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge. "Congress should examine the administration's plan and can make additional resources available through the appropriations process in the coming weeks and months."

Various Diseases

Saying "the more we learn, the more serious things get," the NIH's Fauci said there are no known Zika-infected mosquitoes in the continental U.S. but local communities need to prepare for the likely spread of the virus already widespread in places like Puerto Rico. NIH hopes to do Phase 1 trials of a Zika vaccine by September, Fauci said.

A likely vector of the disease, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is prevalent across Florida and the southern tier of states west to California, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Aedes albopictus mosquito, believed to be another likely vector of Zika, is more common on the Treasure Coast.

St. Lucie County had four of the 11 locally transmitted cases of mosquito-borne chikungunya virus in 2014, said Sherry Burroughs, who was director of its abatement program and now works with Indian River County Mosquito Control.

Indian River County has dealt with the threat of St. Louis encephalitis and West Nile fever in the past and is gearing up for a possible outbreak of the newer viruses, Douglas Carlson, director of the mosquito control program, and Dr. Don Shroyer, a medical entomologist with the independent taxing district, said Tuesday.

"We're as ready as could be," Carlson said. "Actually, whether it's dengue, chikungunya or Zika, educating the public is important.  We need the populace to help us keep these numbers down."

County Budgets

Indian River has budgeted $5.8 million for the current year, or $41.21 per resident.

Martin County's experience with dengue fever and the Aedes aegypti mosquito prompted it to be "pretty aggressive with the species," said Carlyn W. Porter, acting director of mosquito control. Already this year, Martin is trapping mosquitoes every day and has conducted twice as many inspections in the off season  January to now  as last year, she said.

"Everybody's really on the defensive," Porter said.

Martin County has budgeted $1.06 million for mosquito control this year, she said, or about $6.97 per resident.

"We're in a good position," Porter said. "There are counties with significantly smaller budgets and there are counties with no mosquito control."

Leon County (Tallahassee) is spending $23.47 per capita, Orange County (Orlando) is spending $8.78 per capita, Miami-Dade County is spending $4.40 per capita and Jacksonville is spending 6 cents per capita on mosquito control, according to an analysis last month by researchers from the New York-based nonprofit think tank Council on Foreign Relations.

Bartholomew Sullivan, a veteran Washington reporter, heads Treasure Coast Newspapers' D.C. news bureau.

PER-RESIDENT SPENDING

$41.21: Indian River

$35.39: St. Lucie

$23.47: Leon

$8.78: Orange

$6.97: Martin

$4.40: Miami-Dade

6 cents: Jacksonville
Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on the Indian River Lagoon. (FILE PHOTO)

By Conrad Defiebre, Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers

Come July 1, Florida boaters will get a break from repeated law enforcement safety inspections. Pass one check for the required life vests, fire extinguisher and distress signal on board, and you get an official decal meant to keep the authorities off your back for good.

Republican Rep. Ritch Workman, a Melbourne legislator running to represent Indian River County in the Senate, pushed for the change after he felt hassled by what he called unwarranted safety checks.

Some top lawmen, however, think it's a step backward.

"I'm alarmed," said Martin County Sheriff William Snyder. "It takes away a valuable tool to ensure public safety on the waterways."

Earlier this week, three Port St. Lucie residents died, including a 9-year-old, when their boat took on water in the ocean off Martin County. The child is reported to have been wearing a life vest; it's not known whether the three adults on board, one of whom survived, were wearing flotation devices.

Safety checks

Martin County's five-boat marine unit last year made 1,467 vessel inspections, which did not require deputies to first observe probable cause or reasonable suspicion of a violation. Operating from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. seven days a week, they issued 1,178 warnings and 162 citations, said Sgt. James Foster.

Indian River County sheriff's Lt. Eric Flowers listed 362 inspections in 2015, resulting in 167 warnings and just two citations. Because of budget cuts, deputies do not patrol the waters full-time, but concentrate on busy periods, he said. St. Lucie County follows the same practice, but Sheriff Ken Mascara couldn't provide numbers.

"We're very active on the water, and on big weekends, we partner with other agencies to do safety checks," he said. "We don't track the stops, but most of them are cleared with a warning to buy or replace equipment."

Water patrol officers from the Stuart and Port St. Lucie police departments said they do not make safety inspection stops. "We conduct an informal check on all stops, of which we have probable cause to make the stop," said Port St. Lucie's Master Sgt. Frank Sabol. Police officials in Fort Pierce and Vero Beach did not return calls for information about their safety inspection practices.

FWC stops

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers and other authorities also conduct such boardings, particularly during busy holidays.

The FWC reported 630 vessel inspections statewide last year, including 83 in Martin County and five in St. Lucie County, but none in Indian River County. FWC spokesman Rob Klepper couldn't explain the difference among the counties, but said some stops may not be logged officially. Another factor could be more boats in the water. In 2015, there were 16,836 vessels registered in Martin, 12,948 in St. Lucie and 10,587 in Indian River.

Klepper could not account for any tickets or warnings associated with FWC officers' stops, but a database of more than 9,000 citations FWC issued statewide last year shows nearly 300 on the Treasure Coast, including dozens for safety shortcomings. Many more were for moving violations, such as careless or drunken boating or excessive speed in manatee zones.

New decal

In addition, Stuart and Vero Beach Coast Guard auxiliaries conduct what they call "courtesy examinations" of pleasure boats on the Treasure Coast. They have no power to board private vessels or write citations, although they may recommend corrective measures.

If safety equipment checks out, auxiliary inspectors can issue a "Vessel Safety Check" decal. "This does not exempt you from law enforcement boarding, but you can be prepared to make this a positive encounter," according to the Vero Beach Auxiliary Flotilla 56 website.

Under Workman's new law, FWC will produce annual decals  but with no expiration date  for boats that pass safety checks. Any boat still could be stopped and boarded when officers have probable cause or reasonable suspicions of violations.

Wait and see

Workman said he introduced the legislation after FWC officers stopped him and his friends several times in the past year, once for a reckless boating warning when his children's legs were hanging over the bow of his idling vessel. His initiative also tightens the definition of reckless boating.

"I don't need anybody else nannying my children," he told Florida Today. "I'm trying to refocus FWC on their core mission, which is to protect fish and wildlife," he told Treasure Coast Newspapers.

Workman's bill passed unanimously in the state Senate and overwhelmingly in the House. Gov. Rick Scott signed it into law March 25.

Snyder, however, maintains the measure "probably diminishes public safety on the waterways. Our primary mission is public safety," he said. "We'll have to monitor this and see what the effects are."
By Will Greenlee and Elliott Jones of TCPalm

MARTIN COUNTY  State officials have recovered the boat at the center of an investigation into a fatal accident Sunday south of the St. Lucie Inlet, said Amy Moore, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Rough seas kept a commission contractor from moving the 24-foot boat that sank and capsized, tossing out four people about 1 1/2 miles east of Hobe Sound around 8:45 a.m. Sunday, according to an initial commission incident report. Port St. Lucie residents Fernandas Jones, 51, a Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office corrections deputy, his son, Jayden Jones, 9, and his stepfather, Willis Bell, 70, drowned, according to a preliminary autopsy report from the 18th Judicial Circuit Medical Examiners Office. Jones cousin Robert Stewart, 45, of Port St. Lucie, remains hospitalized in Martin Medical Center in serious condition.

The boat was pulled out of the surf 2:40 a.m. Wednesday and brought to Sandsprit Park. Then it was taken to a commission evidence compound in West Palm Beach, where it will be examined for clues as to what happened, Moore said.

For the last two days, the boat has been at the edge of the surf south of the inlet, where its been pounding against the sand and shells. Moore said investigators are good at distinguishing those marks from what may have happened to the boat when it sank and overturned more than a mile out in the ocean. It was buoyant enough that it did not sink but stayed just under the surface, according to reports.

After the boat overturned, the four held on until one by one three of the occupants dropped off and drowned, commission officials said. So far, the FWC has confirmed only Jayden was wearing a life vest. Jones and Bell didnt have life jackets on when their bodies washed ashore, but investigators couldnt rule out the possibility they had been on and somehow came off.

Investigators with the Martin County Sheriffs Office and FWC have been interviewing Stewart.

Erica Freeman has been Stewarts neighbor in Port St. Lucie since 2002. She said hes married and described him as proactive with his children. She said family is huge for him.

I remember when his two oldest were in high school, hed be outside playing basketball with them. Hes a very hands-on dad, she said. He has a younger son, whos 13 and he takes him to school and picks him up. Hes just very active with his children. Hes a great guy.

Freeman said she first heard about the boat accident Tuesday.

I actually did break down a little bit because I cant imagine the feeling he had with his losing three family members and then sitting out there just trying to survive, she said.

Benefit account

An account has been set up at BankUnited, donations to which will help pay funeral and other expenses for those who died in Sundays boating accident off Martin County.

The name on the account is Fish on Jones. The bank has several branches on the Treasure Coast.

The account was set up by Rozanne Roxy Brown. Brown is a friend of the Jones family.

Brown said the family is working on funeral arrangements.
With more than four months left until Indian River County elects a new state representative, the candidates have staked out their significant differences.

That's what I learned the other night from the only four candidates campaigning to replace term-limited state Rep. Debbie Mayfield. R-Vero Beach, in House District 54.

Perhaps the most-telling candidate comments on Monday at the Republican Club of Indian River County came in response to a question asking what bill they would introduce first.

Lange Sykes, 30, a businessman, said he'd prohibit "sanctuary cities." Sykes cited the death of Kate Steinle, 32, who was shot and killed in San Francisco in 2015. The shooting suspect, already deported five times, had been recently released by city authorities, despite a request from U.S. immigration officials to hold him for deportation.

San Francisco's "sanctuary" law  allowing officials to disregard immigration requests  is designed to get illegal immigrants to come forward as witnesses in criminal cases.

Sykes said there are several sanctuary cities in Florida, including Orlando. None I know of are around here. Yet Sykes wants us to believe this a critical issue for local residents?

Dale Glading, 56, a minister, and Erin Grall, 38, an attorney, were the most passionate and focused.

"We lose 85,000 children each year," Glading said, noting that his first bill would ban abortions after 18 days of pregnancy. "This state and this country are under God's judgment."

I respect Glading as the self-proclaimed faith, family and freedom candidate. But even if you agree with his position, what are the chances of such a bill a) passing the state Legislature and b) surviving constitutional muster? Is this really the No. 1 state or regional issue for Indian River County residents?

Grall's bill meshes with the Moonshot Moment, a communitywide initiative that seeks to have 90 percent of third-graders reading at grade level by 2018. Her bill would bring best practices to prekindergarten programs statewide and hold them accountable for student achievement in connection with public money they receive. She's noted that spending a dollar on a 4-year-old's quality education will save $300 in social services costs by age 65.

Greg MacKay, 56, a gastroenterologist, is relatively new to the race, and it showed.

"That brown algae is coming here and we need to do something about it," MacKay said, noting his first bill would fund and support cleanup of the Indian River Lagoon.

It's a noble goal, but MacKay will have to more narrowly define his solutions. Cleaning the lagoon likely will require different solutions in different locations.

On Monday, MacKay cited three potential steps: 1) getting Indian River County to take on partial septic tank conversions, similar to a program in Vero Beach; 2) dredging the lagoon to remove nutrients that fuel algae blooms; 3) keeping more fertilizer out of the lagoon.

Glading, though, was most focused and passionate.

"Yes, we're all concerned about the Indian River Lagoon; it is a $3.5 billion economic driver. It's a quality-of-life issue," Glading said, citing similar challenges. "(But) there is one issue that dwarfs every other issue. And it is the slaughter of a million babies every year in this country. 

"I will not die for my wallet. I will not die for a manatee. But I will lay down my life willingly to protect one unborn child."

Grall, though, cited an array of complicated issues, from Vero Beach electric to All Aboard Florida. Our next legislator will deal with hundreds of issues. She then gave the best explanation of why voting for her makes sense.

"It's going to take integrity, leadership and resolve to find solutions," said Grall, whose local volunteer resume is hard to compete with. "We need a representative who can advocate for the Treasure Coast when the agenda of the state is contrary to our way of life."

Agree with their positions or not, the preacher and the lawyer made the most articulate arguments. The doctor, if he bones up on the issues, could join them soon in the top tier of candidates.
photo furnished by the National Archives still picture branch The segregated battery of Gun Tub 10, Jerry Cummings is second from left.

SHARE Photo by Mary Ann Koenig Jerry & Jennifer Cummings at their Vero Beach home. Photo provided Jerry Cummings, eighth from right, top row, aboard the Intrepid in 1944. Photo courtesy of Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum The Intrepid today in Manhattan. Photo courtesy of Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum With the fires finally out, flight deck of the Intrepid Nov. 25, 1944.

By Mary Ann Koenig, The Newsweekly

The USS Intrepid was off Luzon Island in the Japanese-held territory of the Philippines in the fall of 1944. Fighter planes were launching air strikes from her deck.

Jerry Cummings remembers being in the mess hall when the alarm sounded for general quarters, and then running to his battle station. The ship was under attack by kamikaze pilots.

What happened next, according to the Intrepid Museum's website, is the "the stuff of legend."

The first kamikaze attack of World War II had occurred just four days earlier against the USS St. Lo, an escort carrier. A bomb-laden Mitsubishi A6M plane, otherwise known as a Japanese Zero, crashed into her flight deck and the St. Lo sunk within 30 minutes.

On Oct. 29, a kamikaze plane made a steep dive directly toward Intrepid's flight deck, and Cummings and his battery mates were ready in Gun Tub 10.

"I was assigned to No. 1 gun," he says.

This group of Intrepid gunners was unique. They were an African-American unit aboard ship as cooks and steward's mates, serving in the still-segregated Navy.

Their combat assignment was on the anti-aircraft guns with the shortest range of any anti-aircraft weapon on board.

As the plane kept diving, Cummings and the Tub 10 gunners opened up with their 20-mm cannons and hit the plane's wing. The kamikaze aircraft began to spiral away from Intrepid's flight deck.

But as the pilot lost control, the suicide plane rammed directly into Tub 10. Ten men were killed, numerous others wounded. But Intrepid was saved from a direct hit by the actions of Cummings and his unit.

After the attack, five of the six guns in Tub 10 were still pointed to the sky, indicating that even as the plane came barreling directly at them, the gunners continued to fire.

According to an action report, six guns were put out of commission, but five were repaired and ready to use again in about an hour. This was not the last kamikaze attack against the Intrepid.

Off to war

Cummings has lived in Indian River County for more than 65 years, settling here in the late 1940s. After a fire at his Wabasso home, he moved to Vero in the mid-'70s. He worked for Graves Brothers, the Indian River County citrus company, for eight years. Then he took on a variety of careers in plumbing, masonry and as a barber. The barber's license came compliments of the GI Bill.

Cummings grew up in Alabama, farming along with his family, and was 18 when he was drafted. He would see his 19th birthday aboard the Intrepid, just a month before the heavy fighting began.

He went to basic training at the Naval Training Center in Bainbridge, Md., and then shipped off to Camp Shoemaker, a training and distribution center in the San Francisco Bay area that handled naval personnel on their way to and from the Pacific.

Cummings served two and a half years on the Intrepid, and his Pacific Service Ribbon has four stars, one for each campaign he fought.

Back in battle

Those years were the most intense combat the Intrepid would see during WWII. In the aftermath of the kamikaze attack in October, Intrepid sailed to Ulithi in the Caroline Islands, a facility in the Western Pacific where the carrier underwent repairs.

Operations to liberate the Philippines continued and Intrepid returned to battle. Cummings was back in Tub 10 on Nov. 25 about midday when Japanese Zeros, diving directly at her, hit Intrepid again. Anti-aircraft guns brought down one, but others couldn't be stopped.

Two Japanese planes hit the ship that day.

In "Reminiscences of Vice Admiral Gerald F. Bogan," he writes that from Intrepid's flag bridge he watched one Zero as it, "did the wingover and dived right in the center of the flight deck."

Just five minutes later, a second kamikaze pilot hit the Intrepid. The bomb it carried exploded into the hangar deck below and the battleship was engulfed in flames.

Cummings and a friend tried to escape the fire by moving toward the port side. That's where Cummings saved his shipmate's life.

"I saw him in front of me about to walk into the fire," Cummings remembers, "and I snatched him back."

They became trapped in a room with smoke and flames, "and had to use a rope to guide us down the cat walk," he says.

Duty

Cummings suddenly realized he'd taken shrapnel during the attack. In all the chaos, he hadn't even noticed.

"Blood was streaming down my back. I had been hit," he says.

He was taken to the medical ward where they removed the metal, "packed the hole, kept me for one day and then sent me right back out," he recalls. The ship was heavily damaged and "we were ordered to go back into Pearl Harbor for repairs."

After the Japanese surrender, the Intrepid's Commander allowed the men to go ashore. Cummings brought home a souvenir; an Arisaka .31 caliber rifle, which unfortunately was lost in the fire at his Wabasso home.

Cummings was honorably discharged from the military on January 11, 1946. He was awarded the Purple Heart.
SHARE

By L.L. Angell, The Newsweekly

Everyone loves the comics. But today, they range far beyond "Family Circus" in the morning paper and perennial favorites like Marvel's Iron Man, the Hulk and The Avengers.

The new world of comics is intelligent, provocative and comes in many forms. From one-panel cartoons to serialized comic strips to long graphic novels that combine text with illustrations, the comics are alive and well  and full of surprises.

That's what adults and teens discovered in two separate workshops on Feb. 27, when The Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation presented a comics writing workshop led by Jarod Rosello, creative writing and comics professor at University of South Florida in Tampa.

There are several reasons for this rising tide of interest in comics.

"We live in an incredibly visual world where it's increasingly common to tell a story with both words and pictures," says Marie Stiefel, the LRJ Foundation's newly appointed chairman of the board.

There is no doubt that a picture is worth a thousand words. But, if you doubt that comics can help high school students become better writers, prepare yourself.

Combining writing and drawing to tell a story is a great way to develop literacy. In fact, it's a natural. Area high school teachers agree.

"This generation of students is the most visual ever. Tech and media infuses every aspect of their lives. Developing skills in visual literacy is critical. Students need to apply the same critical thinking skills they use in traditional literature to the visual world around them," says Louise Kennedy, who teaches AP language and composition at St. Edward's Upper School.

Required, but fun

Kennedy was among a handful of teachers who attended the workshop.

Students are taught to recognize themes, points of view and narration as part of their literature and writing curriculum. Kennedy believes they need to apply the same critical thinking skills to what they see around them.

"Without critical thinking skills developed in visual literacy, they may not detect visual propaganda, specious reasoning and other important things," said Kennedy.

In fact, visual literacy just became a required component of Florida's Common Core. It's part of standardized tests, such as the SAT.

"Graphic novels are a great way to do it," Kennedy says.

Equally important  they're fun to write.

"My students thought the workshop was 'awesome,' and didn't realize how graphic comics have become a college-level course. They were having fun  and writing!" said Susan Lovelace, the international baccalaureate coordinator at Sebastian River High School.

Welcome offerings

For several years, The Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation has offered a variety of writing workshops for local students. Topics have included poetry writing and how to write a "winning" college application essay.

The Foundation actually surveys students to find out what workshops they'd like in the future. More and more are responding, "comics."

So when board members Ann Belinkoff and Johanna Jones discovered a comic book and graphic writing workshop, led by University of South Florida professor Jarod Rosello, they immediately invited him here.

In the morning, Rosello taught adults. That afternoon, he taught teens.

Gathering at Vero Beach Magazine's offices at the Village Shops, 18 adults settled in to learn about the world of independent comics.

Ann Belinkoff, a Vero Beach acupuncturist, called the morning "fun."

"I went in with no expectations. Rosello gave us a good overview of the form. He's a great teacher and it was in a great space with terrific people," said Belinkoff.

In fact, she has already asked Marie Stiefel and former president of the board and LRJ founder Charlotte Terry to schedule Comics II. Steifel is even drawing a daily comic.

Bearing gifts

The workshop's success was due to Jarod Rosello. The professor is also a prolific author who works in a number of forms.

His first book was "The Well-Dressed Bear Will (Never) Be Found."

Rosello calls it, "a graphic novel about a bear-human hybrid that lives in a city of humans."

Next was "Those Bears," a web comic and alternate-reality sequel. Rosello calls this "an ongoing project that I'm writing as it goes."

His most recent work is "How We Endure," an illustrated novel about two children living in a dilapidated old Mediterranean-style house in Miami in the '90s.

"The rising interest in creative nonfiction has given way to the graphic memoir, which has cashed in on the power of the image to tell serious, thoughtful stories," Rosello says. "The desire for images and to read through images has reached a point where comics have become a really profound medium for storytelling and making meaning."

A breakthrough work in graphic fiction was Art Spiegelman's "Maus," which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992. The Holocaust narrative portrays Jews as mice and Nazis as cats.

So despite being "comics," the form is now used to address troubling or political themes.

Drawing delight

But, Rosello's workshop was pure fun. He started by asking students to draw themselves as an animal, a robot, an alien and a baby.

Then he asked them to remember a particular moment in their lives.

Their assignment was to draw panels portraying how things might have gone differently if they had made a different decision in that moment.

Rosello insisted that artistic ability isn't a requirement.

"If you can draw stick figures, you can do this," Rosello told them.

Sure enough, everyone began drawing and minutes later, were sharing their work. Though quickly done, the variety was impressive.

The afternoon's workshop with high school students took place at the Environmental Learning Center and followed the same format.

Afterwards, Kennedy got plenty of feedback from a handful of her St. Edward's students, all of whom are juniors.

Here's a sample of their comments:

"I'm not good at drawing but I like what I did at the workshop. Making comics was different for me and I would not have done anything like it on my own. You could really see what I was trying to say in my story."  Danny Walsh, 17

"I learned a lot about myself through designing my comic strip. I was surprised by how much the images really showed who I am." Isabella Campione, 17

"I doodle and draw a lot more now. I found through the workshop that drawing can capture my emotions better than words."  Anabelle Greene, 17

"It was a great learning experience because it opened up my mind to other kinds of writing."  John Ferro, 18

Many adults echoed those same sentiments. Such positive responses almost guarantee that there will be a second opportunity like this for locals to express themselves in words and pictures.

In the meantime, a Teen Workshop  Spoken Word takes place April 2, at 1:00 pm and LRJ celebrates their sixth annual Poetry and Barbeque on Sunday, April 10, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm at The Laura (Riding) Jackson House, 255 Live Oak Drive in Wabasso, next to the Environmental Learning Center.

To learn more visit www.lauraridingjackson.com or call 772-569-6718.
Shower and thunderstorm activity is expected to increase around sunset as the sea breezes merge in the vicinity of the Florida Turnpike. Showers will be likely with scattered thunderstorms moving back to the coast at 10 to 15 mph.

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By Staff Report

CURRENT CONDITIONS

The National Weather Service reports increasing shower and thunderstorm chances this evening.

A frontal boundary stalled over Central Florida will be the focus for scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms through early evening as the east and west coast sea breezes push inland. Storm motion will be east at 10 to 15 mph.

Considerable clouds will prevail over the interior, while skies along the coast will be partly to mostly sunny. Temperatures will hold in the mid- to upper 70s along the coast and low to mid-80s over the interior.

Shower and thunderstorm activity is expected to increase around sunset as the sea breezes merge in the vicinity of the Florida Turnpike. Showers will be likely with scattered thunderstorms moving back to the coast at 10 to 15 mph.

Due to cold temperatures aloft and the presence of the stalled front, some storms may become strong. Frequent cloud to ground lightning and wind gusts around 45 MPH will be the primary hazards. Local heavy downpours are also expected with small hail possible.

ADVISORIES

5 a.m.: A slow-moving frontal boundary will sag south toward east central Florida today. Skies will start off partly to mostly sunny early in the morning, with clouds building during the afternoon as temperatures rise into the lower 80s.

Expect scattered showers and a slight chance for thunderstorms this afternoon, with the highest rain chances in the interior. Today's showers and storms will move toward the east at 10 to 15 mph, with lightning and wind gusts to around 45 mph the main hazardous. Torrential downpours also are expected, with small hail possible in a few of the strongest cells.

4:11 a.m.: Boundary collisions this afternoon and evening, combined with increasing moisture and disturbances aloft, will allow for the development of isolated to scattered lightning storms. The threat will be highest over the interior late today as the east and west sea breezes collide. A few storms could become strong. Torrential downpours, lightning and gusty winds up to 45 mph and small hail are possible. Storm movement will be to the east at 10 to 15 mph.

There's a moderate rip current threat today. Rip currents will be at their strongest through 10 a.m. and again after 4 p.m. due to tidal effects.

Isolated lightning storms this afternoon and evening could produce wind gusts in excess of 35 knots on inland lakes.

Isolated thunderstorm chances continue Thursday and into Saturday as the weather pattern remains unsettled. Strong high pressure over the eastern seaboard will bring strong east to northeast winds this weekend, which will produce poor to hazardous boating conditions.

TODAY'S FORECAST

Keep an eye on conditions with our live weather radar.

Rain chances increase Wednesday after a cool start.

Temperatures are starting in the low 60s but will climb to a high near 80.

The Treasure Coast is expected to escape the worst of a weather front moving into Central Florida. That front could produce some torrential downpours and lightning from Orlando eastward. Some hail is possible.

The front should fall apart by the weekend, leading to slightly cooler weather, according to the National Weather Service, Melbourne.

Rain chances for the Treasure Coast range from 10 percent to 20 percent during the day Wednesday, increasing to 40 percent at night. There is a slight chance of thunderstorms.

After that, rain chances range from 40 percent Thursday, 60 percent Friday, 50 percent Saturday and 20 percent Sunday.

Sunday, temperatures should drop slightly, with a high around 77, compared to around 80 from Wednesday to Saturday, forecasters said.

Today will be partly sunny with light and variable winds in the morning and easterly at 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon as storms approach.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low around 64. East southeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light and variable in the evening.

Sunrise will be at 6:58 a.m. Sunset will be at 7:47 p.m.

EXTENDED FORECAST

Source: National Weather Service

Thursday: A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 2 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 81. South southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent.

Thursday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 67. East southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent.

Friday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 81. East southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60 percent.

Friday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 67. East southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday: A 50 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 79. East northeast wind 5 to 15 mph.

Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 67. East northeast wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 77. East northeast wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 66. East northeast wind 10 to 15 mph.

Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. East northeast wind 10 to 15 mph.

Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 66. East northeast wind around 10 mph.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Northeast wind around 10 mph.

TODAY'S TIDE FORECAST

Source: National Weather Service

Sebastian Inlet Bridge

High tides: 1:26 a.m. and 1:44 p.m.

Low tides: 7:44 a.m. and 8:11 p.m.

Fort Pierce Inlet, South Jetty

High tides: 1:43 a.m. and 2:01 p.m.

Low tides: 7:50 a.m. and 8:17 p.m.

MARINE FORECAST

Source: National Weather Service

Today: Light and variable winds 5 knots becoming east 5 to 10 knots in the late morning and afternoon. Seas 2 to 3 feet with a dominant period 9 seconds. A light chop on the intracoastal waters. Slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Tonight: Southeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 3 to 4 feet with a dominant period 9 seconds. Mostly smooth on the intracoastal waters. Chance of showers in the evening...then slight chance of rain after midnight.

Thursday: Southeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 3 to 4 feet with a dominant period 9 seconds. A light chop on the intracoastal waters. Chance of showers and slight chance of thunderstorms.

Thursday Night: Southeast winds 5 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet. Smooth on the intracoastal waters. Chance of showers in the evening...then slight chance of showers after midnight.

Friday: Southeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet. A light chop on the intracoastal waters. Showers likely and slight chance of thunderstorms.

Friday Night: Southeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 4 to 6 feet. Chance of showers.

Saturday: East winds 5 to 10 knots increasing to 15 to 20 knots in the afternoon. Seas 5 to 7 feet. Chance of showers.

Saturday Night: East winds 15 to 20 knots. Seas 6 to 8 feet. Chance of showers.

Sunday: Northeast winds 15 to 20 knots. Seas 7 to 9 feet. Slight chance of showers.
Josie Kirchner /SUBMITTED TO YOURNEWS Coalition Executive Board members are, from left, Amanda Lafary, Leslie Pfeifer, Debbie Butler, Eric Ludwig, Suzanne Kulscar, Dorothy Malik, Ross Partee and Ashleigh Holsinger. Not pictured are Blanca Reyes, Elaine Andersen and Terri Pettengill.

SHARE Josie Kirchner /SUBMITTED TO YOURNEWS Coalition president Eric Ludwig is pictured with Gus the Sanctuary Dragon. Gus is the mascot of the local grassroots movement to bring an assessment center for children awaiting placement into foster care to the local community.

By Christina Kaiser, YourNews contributor

PORT ST. LUCIE  The only way to end human sex trafficking is to make the community aware that it's happening. "It's here, it's real, and it's happening right in front of your eyes," said Suzanne Kulscar, vice president of the newly formed Human Trafficking Coalition of the Treasure Coast and Okeechobee. According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, the number trafficking calls in Florida increased from 883 in 2012 to 1,518 in 2015, while the number of cases nearly doubled from 237 to 407.

"Florida is No. 3 in the country for the amount of people who are trafficked, and many of those are minors," Kulscar said.

The coalition, composed largely of representatives from the dependency and delinquency systems, was formed last fall to reverse the upward trend in trafficking cases. Members meet regularly to discuss local problems available and resources and work to increase awareness through outreach activities, education and training. The coalition is looking for more members to help participate on various committees. A committee of particular interest to the local child-welfare community is Stop Trafficking and Rescue Survivors, or STARS, which focuses on the juvenile aspects of human trafficking. STARS works to identify gaps in services between the dependency and delinquency systems in an effort to better identify and serve young victims of human trafficking, particularly sex trafficking.

"There was a time, not too long ago, when underage prostitutes were arrested and charged as criminals rather than seen as the victims they are," Kulscar said. "In Florida, the age of consent is 18  anyone under that age is a child and cannot consent to having sex, let alone make a life choice to become a prostitute."

The shift in attitude toward the trafficking of child prostitutes was anchored in 2012 with the passage of Florida's Safe Harbor Law, which recognized that children found in prostitution should be treated as dependent and not delinquent.

Coalition meetings are held at 9:30 a.m. on the third Wednesday of each month. Those interested in joining the coalition should email Debbie Butler at dbutler@gfnf4kids.org.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and members of his leadership team, speaking to developers Wednesday at the Build 2016 conference, introduced their vision to infuse human speech and machine learning into the companys consumer and enterprise businesses, positioning Microsoft as a major player in the cloud services and artificial intelligence space.

Nadella and Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group, introduced a series of upgrades to Windows 10 and Cortana as well as technology called Conversations as a Platform, which will provide new levels of collaboration and productivity never seen before in a Microsoft suite of products, the company said.

Its about taking the power of human language and applying it more pervasively to all of our computing, Nadella said.

Among the innovations Microsoft announced is a new level of capabilities added to its Cortana Intelligence Suite, previously known as Cortana Analytics Suite. The first addition, called Microsoft Cognitive Services, is a collection of intelligence APIs that allow systems to hear, speak and interpret interaction with humans and communicate that using natural speech patterns.

Microsoft is in a race with Apples Siri, Amazons Alexa and Googles Google Now to provide virtual personal assistants, said Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

Embracing 3rd-Party Developers

Microsoft is opening up the development cycle to outside developers in order to help make its embrace of AI and bots more appealing to the enterprise customer, which is a core strength the company has over many of its competitors, he told TechNewsWorld.

The company showcased its three-dimensional HoloLens, which allowed a Case Western professor to transport his head and hand onto the stage and students to visually examine a three-dimensional scan of the human body, giving them a unique view of various organs.

In terms of artificial intelligence, this is what many of us think is the future of computing, and Microsofts focus on the category seemed light, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

With these announcements, Microsoft is showcasing they dont just want to play, but they want to lead with increasingly intelligent cloud services and tools, he told TechNewsWorld.

Applying the Science

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is using Microsofts technology to provide personalized healthcare monitoring to patients through a system called ImagineCare. Patients wearing Microsoft Band activity trackers and using smartphones are monitored from home, instead of having to run to a doctors office.

A patient with unusually high blood pressure, for example, would have that information uploaded into a cloud-based system that could alert a nurse, who could then remotely examine various symptoms and activities and contact the patient for further evaluation.

The companys Seeing AI app uses AI to help give the visually impaired more information about the world around them. For example, a blind person sitting in a diner with a paper menu could shoot a photo of the menu with a smartphone, and the app would read the menu out loud.

In another example, a blind person sitting in a meeting could use smart glasses to scan the other attendees. The app would describe their approximate age, gender and emotions, giving the visually impaired person a better read on how well the communication is going.

Microsoft also introduced a series of upgrades to the Windows 10 platform, which it said is the most successful upgrade of an operating system in its history. It has 270 million active users, which is 145 percent ahead of Windows 7, Executive VP Myerson told developers at the conference.

Among the upgrades available under the Windows 10 anniversary edition, Cortana will offer a more sophisticated array of capabilities, including the ability to talk with users when the computer is locked and logged out. Windows Ink will let users draw on their computers as if they were sheets of paper, marking up whiteboards and sticky notes. Windows Hello will expand the security protection of Windows to the Edge browser and to other devices.

Partners such as Bank of America, Facebook, Starbucks, Square Enix and Wargaming are developing apps for Windows 10.
Expanding on Facebooks embrace of video and communication as a transformative tool, CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday launched the companys new Messenger platform beta at its annual F8 conference for developers. The Messenger announcement was the first major initiative in the long-term vision he presented.

Zuckerberg outlined a major push to incorporate artificial intelligence and bots into the Messenger platform. The revamped service will allow companies and individuals to develop more sophisticated and personal experiences through Messenger than ever before, ultimately transforming the app into a major communications and marketing tool.

Messenger is going to be the next big platform for sharing privately, Zuckerberg told conference attendees.

More than 900 million people around the world and 50 million businesses use Messenger to communicate every month, he noted. Facebook already has started working with various businesses to help them build deeper relationships with their customers, and it now is opening up the platform to include bots and the send/receive API.

Video Takes the Wheel

We are entering the golden age of online video, Zuckerberg added, noting research findings that show Facebook users file 10 times more comments in response to video than to ordinary photos.

In some cases, public figures have been able to develop a bigger audience using video on Facebook than they attracted to their own television shows, he noted.

Facebook is making a global push with messaging to make it a global platform and destination for all types of businesses, said Brian Blau, a vice president at Gartner.

With bots, they want to enable businesses to have a more direct and personal connect with their own customers, he told TechNewsWorld, and with the use of automated response and interaction technology, backed by deep learning and artificial intelligence, those bots will become very personal and human-like.

Facebook can bring a number of new features to the table using the new Messenger bots, David Marcus, vice president of messaging products at Facebook, noted in a blog post.

The bots will be able to deliver a range of messages  from weather and traffic updates to customized receipts, shipping notifications, and live automated images specifically tailored to individual customers.

Messenger API and the ability to integrate video and instant messaging into the social interaction will transform Facebook into a global telecommunications player, Frost & Sullivan Research Manager Michael Jude told TechNewsWorld.

The Messenger send/receive API support will let developers and businesses build bots for Messenger. Facebook has developed Messenger codes, user names and links to help find people on Messenger, and to make it easier for people to find businesses.

Using bots to power customer interaction allows businesses to scale to handle many customer issues without relying on large call centers, Tirias Research Principal Analyst Kevin Krewell told TechNewsWorld.

Despite the ambitious plans, it may prove difficult for Facebook to get a large number of customers to switch from their existing messaging habits, suggested Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

This is where Facebooks lack of marketing skills will likely hurt their ability to make progress, he told TechNewsWorld, because they have to build demand for Messenger, and building demand currently isnt one of their strengths.

Facebook Spans the Globe

Zuckerberg also outlined a number of long-term initiatives to grow the company over the next decade, with one of the most ambitious being an effort to expand access to the Internet in the developing world. Nearly 4 billion people dont have access to the Internet because they either lack the infrastructure or the ability to pay. In some cases, they have access to both but dont see the urgency.

Facebook is developing lightweight, solar-powered aircraft that will be able to fly at 60,000 feet above the ground and provide high-speed Web access to population centers in Africa and other regions of the developing world. The aircraft, which has a wingspan wider than Boeing 737  but weighs less than a car  can stay up in the sky for months at a time and beam Internet signals to the ground.

The company also has built a tool called augmented traffic control, part of an effort to help telecommunications companies provide Internet at an affordable price so that they can offer basic services for free. The initiative is already under way in 37 counties and reaches more than 30 million people.

Facebooks Account Kit, another newly launched product, will help customers avoid a routine many hate  choosing usernames and passwords to sign up for websites. The tool will make it possible to use a single phone number or email, to be authenticated with a code.
The richest Americans are healthier than the poorest, and while the rich get richer, the poor live less longer - a gap that is growing ever wider.

In a study by the Journal of the American Medical Association, there is a close association between income and life expectancy. The results of the study that analyzed data from 2001 to 2014 yielded four results:

1. Richer Americans lived longer than the poorer ones throughout all income levels.

2. Life expectancy differed over time with men and women between the top 5 percent earners and their bottom 5 percent counterparts.

3. Low-income individuals lived shorter lives but life expectancy substantially differed across local areas.

4. Life expectancy rates in the low-income bracket were correlated with geographic factors and health behaviors.

"There are vast gaps in life expectancy between the richest and the poorest Americans. Men in the top 1 percent distribution level live about 15 years longer than men in the bottom 1 percent on the income distribution in the United States," says Raj Chetty, a co-author of the study.

However, In an interview with NPR, Chetty disclosed that life expectancy is relatively the same between the rich and the poor in some places. He pointed out that Americans in the bottom income bracket live the same lengths of life as their counterparts in Pakistan and Sudan.

In another research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it was concluded that the wealthiest Americans live longer than the wealthiest Costa Ricans, but the lowest fourth of the Costa Rican income spectrum live longer than their counterparts in the U.S.

Some Aspects That Remain Unclear

While longer life expectancy is correlated with higher incomes, several aspects of the longevity-income equation remain unclear. The study was able to establish that life expectancy differs from place to place and culture to culture in local areas, but some questions continue to persist.

Is there an income threshold that no longer supports increased life expectancy or harms health? How do socioeconomic gaps in life expectancy change over time? To what extent do differences in life expectancy vary at the local area level? Do inequality, economic and social stress, and health care discrepancies play a role in the longevity gap?

If these aspects are debatable, is it right to say then that money is not the only consideration whether an individual will live longer or not? Do share with us your insights.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
T-Mobile has released the Android 6.0 Marshmallow software updates for last year's flagship Samsung smartphones, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. The update has been in the testing phase for several weeks and is now being rolled out to customers owning the devices on the carrier, while AT&T customers who were promised a March upgrade are still waiting for the carrier to release it.

Recently we brought you the news that T-Mobile had been officially testing the Android 6.0 Marshmallow updates for the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. Previously, the update had been in the first phase of T-Mobile development as indicated on its official software upgrade web page. Towards the end of March, the carrier moved the update status into the second of the three phases indicated on the status page, known as the testing phase.

The status change, based on previous upgrade timetables on other devices on T-Mobile's network, indicated that the update was imminent for the Samsung former flagships, and we are happy to report that it has finally arrived. The Galaxy S6 and S6 edge are both receiving software version UVU3EPD1. Many T-Mobile customers have already received the update, and those who haven't received an official notification can check their settings for the 1.2 GB system update.

As far as the supersized version of the Galaxy S6 edge, the Galaxy S6 edge+, T-Mobile customers who own that device on the carrier appear to still be in for a significant wait. The S6 edge+ is still listed on the T-Mobile software upgrade page as in the "Manufacturer Development" phase. "Manufacturer Development" is only the first of the three stages T-Mobile uses to label its software upgrade progress, and once a device enters phase two of the process, it generally takes several weeks before the update is ready for release.

Both Sprint and Verizon customers have already received the Android 6.0 Marshmallow software update for the Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 edge and S6 edge+. That leaves AT&T as the only one of the big four wireless carriers who have yet to release the update on any of Samsung's trio of Galaxy S6 variants. The lack of an update has riled up AT&T customers who have watched all three of the carrier's rivals now release the upgrade. To add insult to injury, over a month ago, customer service reps from AT&T gave a release date of March 14 for the Android 6.0 Marshmallow release, but almost a full month later, the upgrade is MIA as is any indication of when it will finally hit the network's Galaxy S6 and its variants.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Officials from a Texas school district have fired a police officer who was caught on video seemingly body-slamming a 12-year-old girl.

Police officer Joshua Kehm was dismissed from his post following an investigation about the video that circulated online showing him restraining and throwing down sixth grader Janissa Valdez.

School officials from the San Antonio Independent School District said Kehm's actions were unreasonable, uncalled for and must not be tolerated.

District Superintendent Pedro Martinez understands that incidents may arise that would require a physical response from officers, but the action Kehm took was unwarranted. He believes Kehm failed to accurately report the incident immediately.

Martinez shared that Kehm's incident report claimed Valdez had fallen down, which seemed to be inconsistent with what was recorded on video.

The student from Rhodes Middle School shared in an interview that the incident occurred after school hours on March 29.

Valdez met with another student to settle some issues when other students started to convene in the hall to watch whether a fight would ensue.

"Other people came over and the officer thought we were going to fight," Valdez recounted.

The video, which was uploaded on YouTube, shows Kehm holding Valdez from behind as fellow students shouted to Valdez. Kehm is then seen throwing the student to the ground, face first, before handcuffing and escorting her out of the hall.

"The video is very disturbing," Leslie Price, district spokeswoman, said. She added that an investigation, both by the administration and police, was carried out as soon as officials got wind of the incident when the video went viral on social media.

Charley Wilkinson of the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas said Kehm expressed his intent to cooperate with the investigation. The union will help Kehm with whatever legal representation is necessary.

However, Wilkinson is particularly concerned about the process undertaken by the police department.

"The department acted before it has had time to fully evaluate all of the facts in the matter," he said.

Civil rights advocates were enraged by the incident and questioned the need for police officers stationed in schools.

"Once again, a video captured by a student offers a sobering reminder that we cannot entrust school police officers to intervene in school disciplinary matters that are best suited for trained educators and counselors," said Judith Browne Dianis, co-director for the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization.

Dianis also raised the issue of discrimination, pointing out that what happened was not an isolated incident. She cited similar incidents in Tampa and Baltimore where students were assaulted by police officers over minor offenses. She said that incidents like these follow a recognizable pattern and should raise concern among school officials.

"We cannot wait for another violent video of police brutality in our schools to surface before we take action," Dianis added.

Martinez realizes the sensitivity of the matter and assured the public that there would be no bias in the investigation.

"We all want to make sure this kind of incident does not occur again, and we will seek to identify areas where improvement may be needed," he said.

Watch the viral video below and tell us what you think.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Smartphone users probably already know by now that those little smiley faces that they send along with their messages come out differently when they send to someone who uses a different brand of smartphone, but did you know that the difference in design can totally change what you meant to say in the first place?

The University of Minnesota's Grouplens Research Team published a study on the various ways an emoji expression changes meaning depending on the platform and it is all because each platform has a slightly different design for its emojis.

The study (pdf) titled "Investigating the Potential for Miscommunication Using Emoji," which will be officially published at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Conference on Web and Social Media (CWSM) in May, investigates how positively or negatively emoji designs from each platform are interpreted.

In order to determine if there is truly a difference in interpretation with the emojis, the researchers chose 25 different emojis from five different platformsfor a total of 125 emojis and gave participants a random sampling of 15 emojis each. The participants were asked to say something about each emoji and to rate each depending on how they perceived it.

Surprisingly, Apple's smiley emoji was one of the most negatively interpreted because instead of looking happy, it looks more like a cringe. Take a look at the different smile emojis available in different smartphones below and their average rate for sentiment or emotional perception.

The difference in design and interpretation is also what accounts for some of the miscommunication when using emoji in messages. The photo below only shows one such miscommunication.

It is true that emojis get used more and more as a creative or even silly way to communicate and that, in spite of supposedly being an embellishment to text-based messages, it sometimes gets used by itself. This only opens up the possibility for miscommunicationintentional or otherwise like the one below.

This idiotic/brilliant billboard is why I'm all in on the DEADPOOL movie. I'm an easy lay. pic.twitter.com/jSRorPvaCp  Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) January 13, 2016

Just 29 days til, "Skull Poop L"! pic.twitter.com/Ktpo6eUPAp  Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) January 14, 2016

"[Fully] understanding emoji's role in human communication will be an important step in developing the next generation of language technologies," study co-author Hannah Miller writes.

Photo: Niels Heidenreich | Flickr

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The last unflown space shuttle fuel tank, ET-94, makes its way to Los Angeles from New Orleans on board an ocean barge. The 15-story, 32.5-ton external fuel tank will remain Earth-bound as it is set to be permanently displayed at the California Science Center beside Endeavour, the retired spaced shuttle.

ET-94's voyage started early last April 10 when a crew pushed the fuel tank from the NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility onto the ocean barge.

The rust-colored space shuttle external fuel tank will cross the Panama Canal and dock in Marina del Rey before the long drive towards Los Angeles. ET-94 is scheduled to arrive at the museum next month.

Jeffrey Rudolph, president of the California Science Center, witnessed as the crew pushed the fuel tank across the Michoud property and along the Saturn Boulevard. Using remote controlled-wheels, the crew maneuvered ET-94 towards the ocean barge.

"It's really cool. This is the piece we were least sure we were going to get. The last piece of our shuttle stack. What I'm feeling good about is that it looks good out here, but people are going to be so excited about it in L.A.," said Rudolph.

Last year, NASA donated ET-94 to the museum in California. Also called a "lightweight tank," these external tanks are attached to the space shuttle's belly. But they detach and burn in the atmosphere following the lift off.

ET-94 is the last of its kind and the "sister" tank of the one used in NASA's space shuttle Columbia. On Feb. 1, 2003, the space shuttle pulled apart during its re-entry into Earth following a 16-day mission. The accident took the lives of seven astronauts.

Researchers analyzed ET-94 to study what went wrong in the Columbia incident. ET-94 was developed in NASA's Michoud facility in 2001 but remained grounded on Earth.

"It's a bittersweet day. But we're moving it over to California. That's going to open it up for millions of folks to come and take a look at it, so we're very proud of that," said Bobby Watkins, NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility Director.

The last unflown fuel tank can hold a maximum of 1.6 million pounds of liquid hydrogen as well as liquid oxygen. Capable of thrusting a space shuttle into space, ET-94 has remained Earth-bound and started its last journey towards it final "resting" place.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Zika virus may be linked to acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), an autoimmune disorder that attacks the brain and spinal cord, a new study found.

ADEM is an autoimmune disorder similar to multiple sclerosis. Among ADEM patients, the immune system attacks the myelin, which coats the spinal cord and the brain's nerve fibers.

Previous reports already linked the Zika virus to two diseases  microcephaly, a birth defect characterized by an infant's small head, and Guillain-Barre syndrome, which causes temporary paralysis. Now, a new condition has been added to the list.

"Though our study is small, it may provide evidence that in this case the virus has different effects on the brain than those identified in current studies," said study author Dr. Maria Lucia Brito Ferreira from the Restoration Hospital in Brazil.

For the study, the researchers analyzed six people who developed neurologic symptoms following their arrival at a hospital in Recife, Brazil. All six patients were positive for Zika virus. None of them tested positive for chikungunya and dengue. They were admitted between December 2014 and June 2015.

Their documented symptoms  severe itching, joint and muscle pain, red eyes and fever  were similar to the ones linked to the family of viruses to which dengue, chikungunya and Zika belong.

Some patients experienced these symptoms almost immediately, while some started 15 days after they were admitted.

Two patients developed ADEM while four developed Guillain-Barre syndrome. After their hospital release, five patients still suffered problems with movement. One still had vision problems while another still had thinking and memory issues.

Ferreira noted that the study does not suggest all individuals who tested positive for Zika will develop these brain diseases. In the study, some who have issues in the nervous system do not have brain problems.

"However, our study may shed light on possible lingering effects the virus may be associated with in the brain," added Ferreira.

The study is considered "preliminary" until it is published in a peer-reviewed journal. However, the results released on April 10 will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting on April 15 in Canada.

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If you are running out of vacation ideas, you might want to save up for a holiday in space. Bigelow Aerospace (BA) is partnering with United Launch Alliance (ULA) to design and develop a habitable volume that can launch to the low Earth orbit (LEO).

After a successful launch and landing of an orbital spacecraft by SpaceX, it looks like similar launches are gaining more ground. The SpaceX Dragon capsule launched last weekend carried with it the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) that aims to prove that expandable technology is suitable for human use in space.

In a press release, ULA said the habitable volumes will be designed after BA's B330 expandable module, which would provide about one-third of usable volume as that of the International Space Station (ISS). They are targeting a 2020 initial launch on the company's Altlas V 552 configuration launch vehicle.

"When looking for a vehicle to launch our large, unique spacecraft, ULA provides a heritage of solid mission success, schedule certainty and a cost effective solution," said BA's founder and President Robert Bigelow.

The companies hope the module also known as XBASE or Expandable Bigelow Advanced Station Enhancement would complement the ISS space explorations and other missions. Their goal is to launch one of the two B330s by 2020. The initial launch, if approved by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), would attach the B330s to the ISS.

"We are exploring options for the location of the initial B330 including discussions with NASA on the possibility of attaching it to the International Space Station," said Bigelow. "In that configuration, the B330 will enlarge the station's volume by 30 percent and function as a multipurpose testbed in support of NASA's exploration goals as well as provide significant commercial opportunities."

In case they fail to get approval from NASA, Bigelow explained that the B330s can operate alone while free flying in space.

"They need no other habitats, modules or anything of sort," Bigelow said during the 32nd Space Symposium in Colorado.

The B330, which has 330 cubic meters (11,650 cubic feet) of internal volume, could accommodate space tourists or those who want to conduct scientific experiments in space. Bigelow acknowledges that customers may use the modules for a variety of purposes that would force the module to operate on a time-share basis.

"We're offering discrete quantities of time  a matter of one or two week to maybe 45 days  to various kinds of clientele," Bigelow said.

ULA CEO Tory Bruno is positive that their partnership with BA will bring forth revolutionary missions to space.

"This innovative and game-changing advance will dramatically increase opportunities for space research in fields like materials, medicine, and biology. And it enables destinations in space for countries, corporations and even individuals far beyond what is available today, effectively democratizing space," said Bruno. "We can't begin to imagine the future potential of affordable real estate in space."

B330 is currently undergoing development as well as its integration with Atlas V. The two firms are now looking at different commercial product offerings and marketing plans. Once they prove a viable habitat, BA and ULA are planning to include other locations such as Mars and the moon.

Bigelow has previously flown expandable modules in space: Genesis 1 in 2006, Genesis 2 prototypes in 2007, and the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module that was aboard the SpaceX's Dragon capsule launched last weekend.

With a target launch of 2020, you have more or less four years to save up for that holiday in space. Would you take advantage of this opportunity?

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Would you have ever imagined that the unwanted flabby "love handles" that we all so love to hate may actually hold the cure for diabetes?

Stem cells gleaned from human body fat, like from the deposition present in those "love handles" around your waist and belly, might help fight diabetes, reports a recent study conducted by Swiss scientists.

Diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which our immune system naturally starts attacking the insulin-creating beta cells that produce the essential insulin in the pancreas. Following the attack, it becomes incapable of flushing out the excess sugar from the body.

In the new study, stem cells harvested from the fatty flab of a 50-year-old man were genetically programmed and turned into these essential insulin-creating beta cells, enabling them to produce insulin like how the natural beta cells do. These newly developed cells subsequently removed the excess sugar from the blood, thereby making this discovery instrumental in combating diabetes.

The research was carried out by scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and led by Professor Martin Fussenegger, Biotechnology and Bioengineering.

"Most people have an overabundance of fat from which these stem cells can be harvested. We used liposuction to remove the fat which holds quite a lot of stem cells, so you don't actually need to take that much," said lead researcher Martin Fussenegger, Professor of Biotechnology and Bioengineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

Once the cells are coded and introduced to glucose or fructose, these new insulin-creating beta cells tend to produce insulin just like regular beta cells. What's even more amazing is that the process takes only four days to complete.

The new beta cells still have a long way to go, however, as they are yet to be transplanted back into a diabetic patient to see how well they remove sugar from the body in actuality. If this massive breakthrough succeeds in its purpose, the need for daily, costly insulin injections diminishes greatly for diabetic patients. That's revolutionary!

Previous researches on similar grounds have made it possible to transplant the beta cells in human body, but the patients still required immune-suppressing drugs to prevent rejection. However, if all goes well with the new Swiss research, the need for intake of such drugs becomes nullified, as the reprogrammed beta cells are developed from patient's own stem cells.

The researchers are looking forward to beginning the human trials over the next five years. With this groundbreaking achievement, there may be hope for millions of people fighting diabetes every day. About 1.25 million Americans apparently suffer from Type 1 diabetes, and this predominantly occurs in children and young adults, according to the American Diabetes Association.

The findings of the research have been published in the Nature Communications journal.

Photo: Tony Alter | Flickr

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It looks like sleep may beat the apple in keeping the doctors away as good sleep may lower the risk of getting sick, a new study suggests.

Sleep is one of life's pleasures that have been taken for granted far too often with possibly serious consequences including the increased risk of developing common types of infections such as flu and colds.

Researchers from the Center for Health and Community of University of California-San Francisco conducted a large study that points out the close association between insufficient sleep and its effect to the immune system, the body's natural defense against pathogens that can cause a variety of illnesses.

A total of 22,726 men and women with an average age of 42.6 were chosen from a survey by the National Center for Health Statistics between 2005 and 2012.

These participants answered a form that inquired about their sleeping habits including how long they sleep in a day and whether they had seen a doctor or had been diagnosed with a sleeping problem or disorder like insomnia. They also needed to tell if they had suffered from infections like flu, pneumonia, ear infection, and colds within the last 30 days.

While most of the participants were able to get at least six hours a night, at least 14 percent could be classified as short sleepers, whose sleep hours did not exceed beyond five. Within this group, 19 percent developed chest or head cold, about 4 percentage points higher than people who slept for at least seven hours.

Meanwhile, those who were diagnosed with a sleeping disorder or had reported sleeping issues to their doctors were more likely to suffer from an infection even if the data were adjusted to other contributing factors like age, race, and sex.

The information in this study seems to corroborate their 2015 research, which suggests that recruits who slept six hours or less were almost four times at risk of developing a cold.

This goes to show that "in many countries, particularly western countries, sleep takes a back seat to productivity, which may make some sense in the short term but certainly not the longer term," said co-author Aric A. Prather, especially since short sleepers are also less likely to exercise.

Nevertheless, the researchers convey that their study does not establish cause and effect but rather that the "two are somehow connected," he added.

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More than 80 percent of China's water from underground wells is not suitable for drinking or even bathing, a new study found.

According to a new statistical study, underground wells, mostly in Central and Northern China are overly exposed to contaminants from industrial factories and farming.

The study tested 2,103 underground wells and found that 32.9 percent of the tested wells had Grade 4 quality water that is only fit for industrial uses. Additionally, about 47.3 percent even have Grade 5 quality, which means that contaminants like fluoride, manganese and compounds used in fungicides are present in the water.

With the worsening air pollution plaguing the country, Chinese residents are extremely concerned about their health.

Agricultural resource expert from the national legislature Zheng Yuhong said that due to the pressure to solve environmental pollution, underground water pollution was left out of the equation. In the report, it was stated that about 400 out of 600 cities in China use groundwater as their source of drinking water.

The Chinese government knows that they have an underground water problem - they are over-used and highly contaminated. Along with rising economic standards and improving standard of living, China's water use significantly rose from 57 billion cubic meters (2 trillion cubic feet) in the 1970s to 110 billion cubic meters (3.9 trillion cubic feet) in 2009. This has led them to create a plan to limit the use of underground water.

In order to minimize risk of contamination, Zheng recommended that a groundwater monitoring system must be established along with strict control of urban groundwater pollution.

Greenpeace East Asia toxics campaign manager lauds the Chinese government for taking necessary steps to address the problem.

University of East Anglia's Professor Dabo Guan said that the recent study highlights the severity of the water pollution in China.

"People in the cities, they see air pollution every day, so it creates a huge pressure from the public. But in the cities, people don't see how bad the water pollution is," said Guan. "They don't have the same sense."

Is There Still A Clean Water Source For Chinese Residents?

The study only tested waters near the surface, while cities source out their water from hundreds to thousands of feet deeper, according to Ma Jun an environmentalist and director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.

"Fewer and fewer cities are using heavily polluted shallow-depth underground water," said Ma. "Most are digging deep wells for drinking. This is a very important distinction that must be made."

Department of Water Resources Director Chen Mingzhong echoes Ma's observations. Chen said in a news conference that household water is still safe for use because it is sourced out from deep reservoirs that are properly treated.

"The quality of drinking water is good overall," said Chen.

Guan, however, said that digging deeper for clean water is only creating more problems by stressing out the capacity of deep aquifers.

Contaminated water is not limited to China only. UNICEF said that it is becoming a global problem that needs to be addressed immediately. Based on their data, about 1.8 billion people consume E.coli contaminated water. The agency says that contamination is primarily due to poor sanitation practices coupled with the effects of climate change.

Photo: Yun Huang Yong | Flickr

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Some 40,000 employees of Verizon Communications are set to go on strike starting April 13 after stalled negotiations over a new contract.

The employees take care of Verizon's wireline business, which includes telephone, TV and FiOS Internet. They are being represented by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The Threat

Wireline employees have been working without a contract since August last year after talks on the company's plan to temporarily cut health care and pension benefits have collapsed. An agreement on health care benefits has been reached but pension-related and job outsourcing issues still remain.

CWA President Chris Shelton announced to the media that unless Verizon reconsiders its position on the issues, the wireline employees will be forced to stage the walkout as scheduled.

The Counterthreat

"We've tried to work with union leaders to reach a deal. Verizon has been moving the bargaining process forward, but now union leaders would rather make strike threats than constructively engage at the bargaining table," said Verizon Chief Administrative Officer Marc Reed.

If a strike takes place, the company is well prepared to continue serving its customers. Bob Mudge, president of Verizon's wireline operations, declared that for more than one year, Verizon had been training thousands of non-union employees to practically assume all the job functions needed to keep the wireline network up and running 24/7.

Who's Going To Budge First?

Verizon needs to strike a good balance between the interest of its business and the welfare of its employees.

Each wireline employee currently enjoys a wage and benefits package of more than $130,000 a year on the average. The bargaining highlights include a 6.5 percent wage increase over the life of the contract, additional health care benefits and a comprehensive retirement package to include a 401k with company participation. Verizon spent more than $3.2 billion on employee health care last year, with 45 percent going to the wireline group.

At the same time, Verizon is looking to modernize its legacy wireline network and keep pace with technology for flexibility, improved efficiencies and better customer service. Legacy systems are costly and don't work in today's high-speed connectivity and dynamic customer needs, said Reed.

Verizon has been hit hard by the invasion of smartphones and the shift from landline to mobile phones. The company said that while its wireline business generates 29 percent of total revenue, only about 7 percent is left as operating income. It is, thus, trying to make adjustments in staffing to meet the rising cost of doing business.

"We're standing up for working families and standing up to Verizon's corporate greed," challenged CWA District 1 Vice President Dennis Trainor.

"A strike in this case is not going to change the issues on the table that need to be addressed. Union leaders need to take an honest look at what Verizon is proposing," countered Reed.

Who do you think will budge first?

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In a large forest land in British Columbia is a growing miracle: clusters of large trees that have grown as an effect of climate change.

Between the 1990s and 2005, as the temperatures became warmer, mountain pine beetles swarmed and infested about 18 million acres of lush forests, turning the area into red as the insects moved toward the Rocky Mountains. Not only did they cause the death of thousands of trees, but they also destroyed a significant carbon sink.

Basic ecology teaches us that while humans take in oxygen, the plants consume carbon dioxide  a great example of symbiosis. Further, as global carbon dioxide emissions and heat in the atmosphere have increased rapidly over the last few decades, the plant absorption has somehow helped reduce the gas's presence.

When the beetles attacked, leaving rotten trees along their path, what was once a carbon sink became a carbon source as a huge amount of such gas went back to the atmosphere.

However, the increased presence of carbon dioxide may have been the saving grace of the BC forests, said a research by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions of University of Columbia.

"What we have found is the forests in B.C. are growing much faster than in the past due to climate change and increases in carbon dioxide," explained Vivek Arora, the study's lead researcher and an expert of climate modeling.

As the outbreak began to taper and the amount of carbon dioxide increased in the atmosphere, the forests had more to take in, which may have allowed them to grow more trees and branches by 3 percent in size in less than five years.

The researchers even believe that if this occurrence in the forests will continue over the next 40 years, "we will more than compensate for the losses associated with the pine beetle," stressed Arora.

Although the researchers want to make it clear that the forests would not be anywhere near Amazon levels, the forests are expected to hold tons of carbon dioxide between the outbreak and 2020, which is unusual for trees found in colder temperatures such as in Canada.

Of course, the presence of new trees can still be threatened by the mountain pine beetles, but right now, we can all relish this hope for the BC forests.

The study is now available in Geophysical Research Letters.

Photo: Simon Fraser University - University Communications | Flickr

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If you find yourself spending hours looking at penguin images online, you just might be the volunteer these scientists are looking for. A team from Oxford University is looking for volunteers who want to look at penguin pictures to help them in their research.

Called "Penguin Watch 2.0," their project aims to study the lives of penguins by enlisting volunteers to mark images of penguins taken from Antarctica.

At the website, participants are shown pictures of penguins and asked to mark adult penguins, chicks, and eggs. Be mindful, though, as images may not show the whole penguin. Sometimes only a tail or chest is visible.

Volunteers are also asked to take note of other animals that are often seen near the penguins, so observations can be part of the analysis as well.

Interactions with other animals are crucial for the research as it provides insight on penguins' behavior and existence.

In 2006, a group of scientists captured an image of a fur seal forcing itself on a king penguin. Although they are yet to understand the exact nature of the sexual encounter, studies such as Penguin Watch could shed light on the matter.

Results of the participants' online efforts will be shown online to efficiently monitor and conserve the penguin colonies in Antarctica. The website also now allows participants to discuss a particular penguin with other volunteers and the science team.

Lead researcher Dr. Tom Hart said it would greatly benefit the study and the penguins if school groups would volunteer and adopt a colony of their own to monitor and follow up on its progress while learning about Antarctica, as well.

The team has an ongoing study in partnership with Oceanites since 1994, but because of high volume of images they receive every hour, monitoring becomes difficult. At present, the research team has 75 cameras in place around Antarctica and Sub-Antarctic Islands.

"We can't do this work on our own, and every penguin that people click on and count on the website  that's all information that tells us what's happening at each nest, and what's happening over time," said Hart.

Would you like to take part in the largest Antarctic citizen study? Let us know in the comments below.

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Aaron Levie's struggling storage solution company, Box, is partnering up with IBM and Amazon to offer something its competitors don't  geographically boxed zones of cloud storage.

Box Zones are primarily targeted towards non-US businesses where barriers block Box's services from working effectively due to government regulations limiting where national corporations can store their files.

"For instance, hospitals in France or financial services firms in Germany face strict regulations around where their files are stored, leaving them with a limited set of options, and keeping many of these enterprises stuck on legacy infrastructure," Box explains in a blog post.

With Box Zones, customers will be able to choose a storage component from another vendor inside their own country with Box's software layered over it. The new product will continue as a beta in May. For now, Box Zones will work with Amazon's Web Services in Ireland, Germany, Japan, and Singapore.

Box Zones' ultimate expansion will eventually include a partnership with IBM where more zones will be added to the product using IBM's data centers around the world. That means Box can snatch up even more customers in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe since they'll be able to store their content inside their country by using third-party storage providers from businesses based in-country as well.

Box Zones joins Box's other offerings such as Box KeySafe and Box Governance. Altogether, overseas companies can use domestic storage solutions while still making use of Box's content and management services as if they were using their data in Box's datacenters based in the U.S.

For Aaron Levie, Box Zones continue his thrust into making his company more than just a storage solution company.

"Storage is just a piece of the content management puzzle, not the business model," Levie shared in a past interview.

As Box Zones continues to cast its services around the world, Aaron Levie may just be able to prove that the market is indeed more than just about storage, and that Box is the platform to make something of it.

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World-renowned scientist Stephen Hawking has opened his official Weibo account  Weibo being China's version of Twitter  and attracted a million of followers within hours of going live.

In Hawking's first post, written in both English and Chinese, he narrated his travel experiences to China before he was permanently confined to his wheelchair due to degenerative motor neuron disease.

"My first trip was in 1985 when I travelled across your remarkable country by train. In my physical travels, I have only been able to touch the surface of your fascinating history and culture. But now I can communicate with you through social media," Hawking wrote.

The famous scientist has disclosed that his Weibo account is jointly managed by himself and Stradella Road, an L.A.-based social marketing agency. Hawking's official Facebook page, which was set up in October 2014, is also managed by the same team.

Hawking's Weibo post has generated more than 200,000 comments, mostly praising the astrophysicist for his "positive contribution to humankind." Weibo comments are ranked based on upvotes, so it is not surprising that a lot of top commenters warn against trolls and spammers. Chinese netizens appeal to other commenters to "try not to embarrass China" and avoid bombarding Hawking's page with thoughtless queries.

In a country where Facebook and similar social networking sites are still blocked, Chinese netizens celebrate Hawking's attempt to reach out to the local audience through Weibo. They are hopeful that Hawking will draw more visitors outside of China and convince existing Weibo users to stay.

Sina Weibo has more than 500 million registered users, and 222 million of these accounts are active. China's censorship practices have prevented Facebook, Twitter, even Google to fully penetrate and saturate the Mainland market. A number of high-profile CEOs and politicians, including Apple's Tim Cook and British Prime Minister David Cameron, have recently registered to Weibo in an attempt to reach out to the ever-increasing number of Chinese users.

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Yuri Gagarin lifted off into space on April 12, 1961, becoming the first human ever to leave the relative safety of the Earth. Since that time, several stories have been told about the first person in space.

The Soviet cosmonaut is honored by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly which declared April 12 as the International Day of Human Space Flight in honor of the day Gagarin opened up space for future space travelers.

"[The day was marked] to celebrate each year at the international level the beginning of the space era for mankind, reaffirming the important contribution of space science and technology in achieving sustainable development goals and increasing the well-being of States and peoples, as well as ensuring the realization of their aspiration to maintain outer space for peaceful purposes," the United Nations stated on their website.

In the 55 years since Gagarin took his historic flight, several misconceptions about the mission have been popularized among amateur space enthusiasts.

After his flight, Gagarin spent much of his time traveling from one place to another, recalling his time as the first human to escape the bounds of Earth's atmosphere. For five years following his historic mission, Yuri (as he is popularly known) was brought around the world, meeting world leaders as well as ordinary people. The cosmonaut was only a social drinker, but his schedule frequently required him to lead toasts, a task which started to wear on the world's first space traveler.

Even the death of Gagarin is still shrouded in a degree of mystery, decades after his demise. On March 27, 1968, Yuri is said to have died in an ordinary plane crash. However, Soviet officials kept silent about the loss for two days, a delay which resulted in numerous conspiracy stories. Tales of the cause of the crash ranged from the actions of aliens who had been watching him for seven years to stories of a drunken Yuri shooting at a deer from the cockpit of his aircraft.

The most popular story of his death was that a Su-15, flying just 65 feet from Yuri's aircraft, broke the sound barrier, and the sonic boom sent the space pioneer into a tailspin from which he was unable to recover.

Gagarin did not have much to do during his flight, as nearly everything was automated. But, Yuri had the personality and demeanor to handle the public scrutiny which came with the flight. That quality, above all else, may have been the best reason for the Soviet space program to have chosen him for the flight.

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Walker County citizens gathered on March 1 to start the process of revitalization of the Rossville/North Walker County area. Since that meeting several code issues have been addressed and change has began.

A second town hall meeting will be held on Monday, April 25, at 6:30 p.m. at Simpson United Methodist Church on McFarland Avenue in Rossville.

The topic of this next town hall is "crime" and what citizens can do, along with support from elected officials, to reduce crime and better the community. Sheriff Steve Wilson will speak about crime in the area.
An astronomer has already caught evidence of a planetary system beyond the sun back in 1917  but without knowing it, according to new research.

The 100-year-old proof of exoplanets is an image on an astronomical glass plate belonging to the Carnegie Observatories collections, a specimen observing a white dwarf or the remaining core of a star that has died and shed its gases.

The unexpected realization that this 1917 plate from our archive contains the earliest recorded evidence of a polluted white dwarf system is just incredible, says John Mulchaey, the observatories director.

Mulchaey adds that the fact that renowned astronomer Walter Adams made the discovery enhances the excitement. A former director at Carnegie-owned Mount Wilson Observatory, Adams made the 1917 plate, with its sleeves indicating that the star looked quite warmer than the solar systems own sun.

But there was more to the plate as noticed by the new reviews author, Jay Fahiri of University College London in the United Kingdom. He previously contacted Mulchaey to look for a plate that contains a spectrum of van Maanens star, a white dwarf discovered by Dutch-American astronomer Adrian van Maanen in the same year the plate was created.

The spectrum Adams recorded of van Maanens stars chemical fingerprint revealed heavier elements supposedly not present then. Calcium, magnesium, and iron should have already vanished into the stars interior because of their weight.

These heavier elements serve as proof of a great deal of debris in the planetary system that continues to fall into the star, forming what are called polluted white dwarfs. These systems, which feature massive rings of rocky planetary matter polluting the stars atmosphere with debris, have only been known in the past 12 years.

They shocked astronomers, who have long believed that white dwarfs, since they are so old, should not have any remaining planetary material around them at the point  a phenomenon common among young stellar systems.

Planets, too, have not been seen orbiting van Maanens star or stars similar to it, which only deepens the mystery. For Fahiri, however, it is only a matter of time, as the process would not take place unless there are planets present.

"The mechanism that creates the rings of planetary debris, and the deposition onto the stellar atmosphere, requires the gravitational influence of full-fledged planets, he explains.

The findings were discussed in the journal New Astronomy Reviews.

The hunt for exoplanets or planetary bodies beyond the solar system continues. NASA recently announced it will build a $10 million instrument to detect and search for them. The highly sophisticated project has been dubbed the NASA-NSF Exoplanet Observational Research program (NN-EXPLORE).

This new planet detection project will leverage Doppler Spectroscopy and detect exoplanets through measuring a stars wobbling, which occurs if a planet orbits them thanks to the gravitational forces at work. The magnitude of the wobble, too, will determine the size of the planet.

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Harrison Ford definitely has something to smile about as the Han Solo leather jacket he put up for auction at IfOnly, complete with his signature and a Certificate of Authenticity from Lucasfilm, earned him a whopping $191,000 after more than 50 people bid for it.

IfOnly confirmed that the last minutes of the auction caused a bidding frenzy until the time ended and the winning bid was announced.

The auction ran for two weeks and bidding started at $15,000, with a minimum bid of $18,000, but every dollar is worth it for Star Wars props and memorabilia collectors since this is the jacket that Han Solo wore in his last appearance for the epic science fiction franchise.

"The jacket worn by Harrison Ford in the film has been generously donated by the actor to benefit NYU Langone Medical Center and FACES (Finding a Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures) [...] This jacket is even more significant as Harrison wore it in his final appearance in a "Star Wars" film," IfOnly wrote on the auction page.

Just as IfOnly wrote, all the proceeds for the sale of the jacket is going to two institutions close to Ford's heart. His daughter, Georgia, who suffers from seizures, is being treated at the NYU Langone Medical Center.

"I've been very impressed with the work NYU and the FACES team have done in the field of epilepsy research, and I hope this jacket will provide some means to further that exploration... This is a cause that's near and dear to me, and unlike the cynical Han Solo, I've got a good feeling about this," Ford said.

Ford's generosity is not new to Star Wars. The franchise launched a charity campaign on April 5 called "Force for Change" in which four charities will benefit from Star Wars fans' charitable efforts. The franchise will match the donations for up to $1 million and the top fundraiser each week will be gifted with cool Star Wars items and memorabilia.

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Verizon and Boston mayor Martin Walsh announce the expansion of FiOS to the city, promising "enormous bandwidth and speeds."

The carrier is investing more than $300 million for over six years to replace the copper in the infrastructure with fiber optics. Meanwhile, the city will provide expedited permitting to speed up the completion of the project and to encourage the development.

"Boston is moving faster than our current infrastructure can support, and a modern fiber-optic communications platform will make us a next-level city. Additionally, it is a priority to ensure that every resident has expanded access to broadband and increasing competition is critical to reaching that goal. I thank Verizon for their investment in Boston and for partnering with the city to provide the foundation for future technology growth," Mayor Walsh says.

According to the announcement, the project will initially kick off in Dorchester, West Roxbury and the Dudley Square of the Roxbury neighborhood this year. After that, it will continue in Hyde Park, Mattapan and other locations of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury.

As everyone can see, the implementation is carried out by neighborhood. That way, efforts can be focused on one place at a time to quicken the entire process.

On that note, Verizon has a website that residents and businesses in Boston can sign up at and show their interest in the project. The carrier set this up to determine which areas it should prioritize.

Before this agreement was finalized, chances of FiOS spreading throughout the majority of Boston seemed to be next to zero. At the time, city officials were asking the carrier to employ the service in the area with a hint of desperation.

"We never said we would go everywhere, and we don't have any intention of expanding FiOS here or anywhere else. We continue to be focused on building out where we have contractual agreements," Peter Bowman, Verizon VP, said back in October 2015.

Needless to say, the case is now different.

It's also worth mentioning that the FiOS Custom TV options have been improved, providing more choices for subscribers everywhere.

If you're in Boston, let us know in the comments section below whether you'd like FiOS to be available in your neighborhood soon.

Photo: Mike Mozart | Flickr

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Amsterdam Schiphol airport was immediately evacuated after officials received a bomb alert.

Late night Tuesday, April 12, throngs of people were asked to evacuate the airport to allow military personnel to secure the area. Heavily armed special military police were seen cordoning and roving the main plaza of the airport as anxious passengers awaited further announcement.

After a 4-hour lockdown, military police spokesperson Alfred Ellwanger announced that the airport is safe and free from any bombs. One man was arrested in relation to the incident but Ellwanger said that the bomb disposal squad did not find anything suspicious inside the man's belongings.

Ellwanger added that police was alerted when they received a report of a suspicious situation around 9:30 p.m. The cause of the alert is still unknown and Ellwanger said they are still investigating the incident.

Ministry of Justice and Security spokesperson Lodewijk Hekking said that another person was arrested at the Leiden Centraal railway station, about 20 minutes from Schiphol, but police cannot confirm or deny if it is related to the airport incident.

Although no flights were canceled or delayed, passengers are still concerned about the incident, which came weeks after the Brussels airport bombing that killed 32 individuals.

Schiphol airport officials released a statement in their Twitter account that operations will be back to normal.

All areas are accessible again. Tomorrow, flights will run as usual. Thank you all for your patience and understanding tonight.  Schiphol (@Schiphol) April 12, 2016

Dutch police are still on heightened alert following ISIS attacks and activities in the region. Just last month, a raid in a Rotterdam flat resulted in the arrest of suspected terrorist Anis Bahri and the recovery of 99 pounds of ammunition. The bombs were apparently connected to the thwarted France attack.

The incident fueled more European airports to beef up their security. In Belgium, nuclear facilities are also heavily guarded. Belgian officials have about 140 soldiers that are stationed to patrol the nuclear plants.

Schiphol, about 10 miles southwest of central Amsterdam, is among Europe's busiest airports that cater to more than 50 million passengers annually.

Photo: Andrew Nash | Flickr

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Cancer immunotherapy groups would receive a hefty $250 million funding from Napster founder Sean Parker, reports say.

Six cancer institutions, including Stanford and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), would benefit from Parker's financial infusion, which is considered to be the biggest contribution so far for cancer immunotherapy.

Parker, who co-founded Facebook, shared that he is keen on supporting cancer research because he believes that no cost can surpass the benefits of cancer immune therapy.

Although Parker's contribution to cancer immunotherapy is the largest so far, a few other billionaires also contributed huge amounts to cancer research, as well.

In 2013, Nike co-founder Phil Knight vowed to give $500 million for cancer researchers at Oregon Health & Science University. Shipping magnate Daniel Ludwig's estate donated $540 million to six cancer centers in 2014.

Parker's announcement came months after U.S. President Barack Obama announced that a $1 billion "moonshot" federal cancer research program.

Just last month, Jones Apparel Group founder Sidney Kimmel, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, and several philanthropists said that they are making a $125 million donation to Johns Hopkins University medical school for use in their cancer immunotherapy research.

Parker is extremely concerned that immunotherapy for cancer patients serves as their last option.

"I want to make it a front-line treatment," Parker said. When this happens, he said that the cost of treatment would be significantly reduced.

Parker hopes that his funding would bring the six institutions to work together instead of competing with one another. The Parker Institute will have more than 300 top researchers and 40 laboratories from the six academic centers to unify their research projects. The six cancer centers include the University of California - Los Angeles, University of California - San Francisco, Stanford, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Cancer researcher and oncologist Jedd Wolchok from MSKCC is extremely happy for the funding. Wolchok shared that instead of spending time to look for funding, he and his team can now focus on making progress on their research.

Former University of California - San Francisco immunologist Jeff Bluestone, who would lead the institute, is positive that the collaboration would be a game changer.

"Having lived in a world of individualized, solo research, I can see that the thinking is different," Bluestone said. "It's about how we can all do something bigger and better together."

Immunotherapy is presently thought as one of the most challenging yet exciting areas of cancer research due to the number of patients cured by so-called miracle cells incorporated in experimental drugs.

However, Cleveland oncologist Stan Gerson warned that people should not expect that cancer immunotherapy would be able to treat cancer completely. He explained that some patients who received cancer immune therapy had dramatic responses but pointed out that only about 30 percent to 40 percent patients really benefitted. Gerson even said that some patients experience a cancer relapse in one to three years.

Still, Gerson said that investments are indeed going to help researchers and oncologists like him to answer their questions about cancer immunotherapy.

"Is it a replacement for everything else we're doing?" Gerson asked.

Photo: Paige Powers | Flickr

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Ten Finalists Shortlisted For Qualcomm's 'Design In India Challenge' | TechTree.com

Qualcomm Incorporated today announced the 10 finalists of the first edition of the Qualcomm Design in India Challenge, that was launched in December 2015. In association with the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), the Qualcomm Design in India Challenge aims to catalyze the creation of a product and hardware design ecosystem in India in the domains of smartphones, tablets and Internet of Things (IoT) for agriculture, automotive, banking, education, healthcare, smart cities and wearables.

We are delighted to see an industry leader like Qualcomm, join forces and contribute to the governments Make in India vision, said J S Deepak, secretary, of the Department of Telecom (DoT), Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India. The Qualcomm Design in India Challenge will have a positive impact towards making India a global hub for hardware design.

At DeitY it is our endeavor to promote Electronics System Design & Manufacturing industry with a recent focus on mobile manufacturing, said Dr. Aruna Sharma, Secretary, Department of industry Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India. We appreciate the Qualcomm Design in India Challenge that has the potential to foster game-changing product innovation, design and development of mobile technologies and IoT, and support the Governments Make in India vision.

Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modis Make in India vision, Qualcomm is excited to support the possibility of making India a hub for design capabilities that would drive the value chain from a service focused to product capable industry , said Sunil Lalvani, vice president and president of Qualcomm India & South Asia. We are thrilled at the overwhelming response to the Qualcomm Design in India Challenge and look forward to incubating the top 10 finalists in the Qualcomm Innovation Lab to transform their ideas from concept to product stage.

We are happy to be associated with Qualcomm in this progressive effort, to actualize the Make in India vision, said R. Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM. This initiative, closely aligned with NASSCOMs own vision to 'Connect, Collaborate and Co-create', is a great platform to drive innovation.

This next stage of the challenge builds on the commitment made by Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, executive chairman of Qualcomm Incorporated, when he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Digital Economy event held in September, 2015 in San Jose, USA. Dr. Jacobs announced Qualcomms support for the Government of Indias Digital India and Make in India vision, to introduce a Design in India Initiative to encourage the creation of a local product design ecosystem. Following this, Qualcomm announced the Qualcomm Design in India Challenge in December 2015 and set up the Qualcomm Innovation Lab in Bangalore, to provide technical and engineering support to the 10 finalists in their endeavour to develop innovative ideas into products and hardware designs.

The ten shortlisted companies for the first edition of the Qualcomm Design in India Challenge are:

Aarav Unmanned Systems - Nayan, a high performance quadrotor for researchers and developers

Artificial Machines - HAZE Platform, an End-to-End IoT platform to make your products smarter

IoT Carnot Technologies - A smart bike platform that makes any conventional two wheeler smarter - get towing/security alerts, engine/battery health and performance insights on you phone

Green Robot Machinery - Developing smart and compact precision farm machinery for small farms

iFuture Robotics - Building Ark Robot, an Army of autonomous Robots for Smart Logistics

Lensbricks Technology - Bringing you Kiba , a camera to automatically capture and share joy through videos

Kiba Myelin - Hybrid Octo-copter with inter changeable modules for different sectoral applications

Octo-copter sectoral Treepie Computing - High Performance Computing ( HPC ) framework using Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC for IoT applications

HPC Qualcomm SoC IoT Uncanny Vision - Next generation surveillance solution to bring intelligent security to smart cities

Watchy Technology - Innovations that enable our customers to broadcast reliably

These 10 companies will now be incubated in the Qualcomm Innovation Lab and the top three winners will each receive a funding of $100,000 at the end of the incubation period expected around November 2016.

TAGS: Narendra Modi, Make in India, Material Design
Conspiracy theorists believe Mongolian mummy wearing Adidas is proof of time travel

Scientists have unearthed the 1,500-year-old remains of a womans hands and feet nearly 10,000 feet high up in the Altai Mountains in Mongolia. The grave is believed to be the first complete Turkik burial ever found in Mongolia, possibly even Central Asia.

Researchers at Khovd Museum who excavated the mummys grave unearthed several possessions such as a clay vase, a saddle, pillows, a trough, a bridle, an iron kettle, a wooden bowl, four dool (ancient Mongolian clothes) and the carcass of a whole horse. However, the item that created an online stir was that the ancient human was found buried wearing a pair of boots with a design that somehow resembles the Adidas logo. The pair of boots found was well-preserved along with aforementioned other items.

It is thought the woman is of Turkik origin. The remains appear to be the first complete Turkic burial in Central Asia to Siberia from around 600 BC.

B.Sukhbaatar, a researcher from Khovd Museum, told the Siberian Times: It is the first complete Turkik burial at least in Mongolia  and probably in all Central Asia. This is a very rare phenomenon. These finds show us the beliefs and rituals of Turkiks.

We can see clearly that the horse was deliberately sacrificed. It was a mare, between four and eight years old. Four coats we found were made of cotton.

Along with the other grave goods (which were placed there to be used by the deceased in the afterlife), excavators also found pillows, goat bones, a sheeps head and travel pack that contained a sheeps entire back and small leather bag designed to carry a cup.

Sukhbaatar continued: This is a very rare phenomenon. These finds show us the beliefs and rituals of Turkics. This person was not from elite, and we believe it was likely a woman, because there is no bow in the tomb An interesting thing we found is that not only sheep wool was used, but also camel wool. We can date the burial by the things we have found there, also the type of hat. It gives us a preliminary date of around the 6th century AD.

The horse found in the grave was deliberately sacrificed, added Sukhbaatar, who theorized the mare was between 4 and 8 years old.

Located 2,803 meters (9,196 feet) above sea level in cold weather conditions, the 3-meter deep burial site helped preserve the mummy and the possessions. The team now plans to study the grave and its contents to get a better understanding of ancient Turks in Mongolia.

The finds show us that these people were very skilled craftsmen. Given that this was the grave of a simple person, we understand that craft skills were rather well developed, Sukhbaatar said. Now we are carefully unwrapping the body and once this is complete the specialists will be able to say more precisely about the gender.

The Altai Mountains unite Siberia, in Russia, and Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan.
Facebooks 10 year roadmap includes Internet access infrastructure, AI, Chatbots and Virtual Reality

Facebook has revealed its roadmap for the next 10 years at its F8 developer conference held at Fort Mason in San Francisco, which is split into three main segments, or horizons  as CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls them. This includes strengthening its product offerings to investing in technologies like drones, satellites, telecom infrastructure, artificial intelligence and virtual reality in the mobile and social segment.

Facebooks 31-year-old CEO explained how Facebook aims to reach the planets 7 billion people  half of whom do not have Internet access. He also took direct aim at those who would limit free trade and immigration.

We are one global community, he said. Whether we are welcoming a refugee fleeing war or an immigrant seeking opportunity, coming together to fight a global disease like Ebola or to address climate change.

The theme of the keynote was, give everyone the power to share anything with anyone, positioning Facebook as a uniting force for good against the current political winds of discord.

Apparently, the first section of Facebooks 10 year roadmap is about improving and growing the social networking platform, especially with an increasingly international bent largely focused on Asia, such as India and Africa. In addition, raise its efforts on cloud infrastructure and the React Native framework for mobile app development.

The next section shows that Facebook intends to strengthen its ecosystems for the next three years, followed by its family of apps that includes WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Video, Search and Groups in the five years period.

Over the next five years, Facebook wants to provide developers the required tools to grow an entire ecosystem around each of these apps, which can offer better monetization opportunities. For instance, Facebooks Messenger Platform will revolve around connecting businesses to people. Between Messenger and WhatsApp, Facebook processes 60 billion messages a day, or three times as many messages as SMS ever did.

The next five years seems to be focused on its ambitious tech bets in the connectivity segment like drone and satellite-based Internet services, telecom infrastructure and the controversial Free Basics; in artificial intelligence-powered vision & reasoning and in virtual reality & augmented reality.

Facebook has also designed and built a 360-degree 3D video camera that produces spherical footage in 3D format.

The company also reinforced its efforts to connect the world, including releasing a simulator for its Free Basics program. Zuckerberg also showed off part of the companys drone airplane, which uses lasers to bring the Web to places with poor connectivity.

For artificial intelligence, Zuckerberg outlined how AI is being used today and how Facebook wants to learn the content. We will be able to read the video and know what they are about, said Zuckerberg. The aim will be to deliver more relevant content, but Facebooks ambitions will be much larger.

In a lot of ways advances in AI can save peoples lives, said Zuckerberg. We want to make it easier for you to take advantage of AI. Zuckerberg outlined Facebooks open source Torch system to train neural networks.

On the VR front, Zuckerberg advertised Gear VR as a start, but noted that drones will intersect with augmented reality.

One reason VR is important is were working on new social experiences. VR can be the most social platform, said Zuckerberg. When we get to this world. A lot of the things we think about a physical thing like a TV will be $1 apps. Its going to take a while.

Also, Facebook has plans to introduce a bot framework as part of the new Messenger Platform Beta. Developers can now build chatbots for Facebook Messenger that can learn your habits and choices to give you personalized news, or retrieve information that you request from a specific service, similar to Microsoft Cortana.

Developers will also be able to choose to integrate images, links, or call-to-action buttons, as the bots will not be limited to text. At the top of the Messenger app, you will be able to find bots via a new persistent search bar and you can just tapping a block button that appears at the top of every conversation to mute it.
Professional Grey-Hat Hackers Reportedly used zero-day to hack iPhone 5c belonging to San Bernardino shooter for FBI

According to a report this week, the FBI reportedly paid professional hackers for a piece of hardware that enabled investigators to access an iPhone 5c used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists.

The Washington Post today reports that it was able to, with the help of professional hackers exploit a security flaw in the iPhone that was previously unknown, and then used it to access the device linked to terror suspect Syed Rizwan Farook. It is reported that the unnamed group of hackers was given a one-off fee to break into the iPhone. Neither the nature of the exploit is unknown, nor the financials involved.

The hackers were able to access the data on the phone by using a new security weakness in the iPhone that could bypass the iOS passcode counter, in what is called a zero-day exploit. In this case, it appears that the exploit was specific to the iPhone 5c, and that the attack vector used to get the data from the phone wouldnt have worked on current-generation phones.

Farook died in a gun battle with police alongside his wife after the couple killed 14 people at a county office building last Dec. 2.

Despite earlier reports in the Israeli media, The Washington Post said investigators had not used the services of Israeli mobile forensics firm Cellebrite to crack the device. Earlier this month, CNN and Bloomberg claimed the Justice Department contacted the security subsidiary of Japanese firm Sun Corporation a day before federal prosecutors were to meet Apple in court over the issue. Neither the Department of Justice nor Cellebrite have commented on the matter.

Details of the hackers identities were not immediately available, but the Post said at least one of them was considered a so-called gray hat hacker. The term refers to a hacker or security researcher who sells information about software flaws to third parties, including government who are working on surveillance projects. By contrast, a white hat hacker informs the public or firms responsible for the software so the flaws can be fixed, while a black hat hacker exploits the flaws to hack networks and steal peoples information. The third gray hat group are perhaps in morally murky waters because the information they provide can be used to create surveillance and forensics tools.

Officials have not revealed whether any useful information has been recovered from Farooks phone. While the security vulnerability identified by the hackers likely only affects a small group of iPhone users, it still raises questions about the security of Apples products.

However, it seems that the FBI does not plan to share information regarding the exploit with Apple, as it expects the Silicon Valley giant to find the flaw and keep the law enforcement away from accessing iPhone 5c and older devices. On the other hand, Apple said it will not take action against the FBI to learn the vulnerability, mentioning that the FBIs method perhaps has a short shelf life.
Islamic Scholar rules that stealing Wi-Fi is not proper Islamic conduct

Hacking other peoples Wi-Fi password is not permissible under Islam. This was asserted by a well known Islamic cleric from Dubai, UAE. The religious scholar stated that using other peoples Wi-Fi without their knowledge is frowned on in Islam  and in some cases prohibited.

Such thefts even exist on an international level, said a scholar for the Fatwa hotline of the Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, or Awqaf.

Some people steal it from other countries, and that is considered a direct damage to public money and therefore 100 per cent forbidden.

Drawing a comparison between legality and morality, the scholar said that while using neighbours Wi-Fi without telling them is technically not illegal, it is not right.

Morally and ethically, one should not use the Wi-Fi of their neighbours without informing them because it could weaken their network and it is under their property rights, he said.

If we were to determine if it was religiously forbidden or not, we have to look at the privacy and usage laws, and if the extra usage would result in additional expenses for the neighbour.

Using other peoples Wi-Fi without their knowledge may be ethically wrong but hacking is all together a different ball game. hacking into a secured Wi-Fi account is not permissible at all. It is like crossing the property rights of others.

If a user was at a mall and their device connected to the Wi-Fi, there is no issue, because the mall is big and has special devices.

UAEs legal advisor said that UAEs cybercrime law makes only hacking into a secured Wi-Fi account illegal.

If the account was not secured with a password there is no legal accountability against the person who used it, Mr Al Rawashdeh said. Only if he hacks into the account is the act prosecuted by the cybercrime law.

If it were proven, the offender is usually sentenced to a Dh1,000 fine or so.

The Fatwa was given in a response to a query from Suhaila bin Eissa, 45, a housewife from Tunisia. Eissa said that she once caught the cleaners in her building using her apartments Wi-Fi account.

My apartment is next to the fire exit staircase, and I always saw the cleaners standing there cleaning over and over again, Ms bin Eissa said.

Our corridor was always cleaner than the others.

Then one day, she caught them using Skype from her familys network.

My husband spoke to them and told them that this is considered stealing and that they should have asked for permission, Ms bin Eissa said.

Another housewife from Syria too had a similar query for the religious scholar. Shahd Mardini had a hacking attack on her Wi-Fi.

Websites wouldnt open and it became very difficult to upload pictures, said Ms Mardini, 24, a Syrian housewife. When we called Etisalat they kept asking us to restart and refresh.

An Etisalat representative checked the problem and concluded that their account must have been hacked.

So we changed the router and he gave us a new password. Then it became normal again, Ms Mardini said.

Ruling on the above two case, the Dubai Islamic Affairs Department posted a fatwa on its website in response to a readers inquiry, condemning the act of stealing neighbours Wi-Fi as contradictory to Islamic conduct.

There is nothing wrong in using the line if your neighbours allow you to do so, but if they dont allow you, you may not use it, the fatwa said.
To assert the teachers in the maligned Hamilton County Department of Education are unhappy would be the biggest understatement since General Custer was told, There may be a few Indians around here.

Im told there are applications now floating all over North Georgia and that, if the school board doesnt take some strong, quick, and positive steps towards resurrecting some semblance of hope, what is politely called a train wreck, the end of this school year could be the biggest disaster that the board has allowed to occur in the last four years.

When the school board meets tomorrow night, the top item will be the effort currently in place to replace the embarrassing Rick Smith. A superintendent who was elected four years ago in a mockery (no one else was allowed to apply,) Smiths tenure has been shown to have been abysmal; Hamilton County now rated as the worst metro district in the state.

The school board has not been much better. With some even hailing Smiths attributes all the way to his spectacular fall from grace a month ago, all four board members running for re-election in August are being opposed and there is little public respect for the other five. Its no wonder the teachers at the 75 schools in the district are disheartened and even frightened by the marked lack of leadership that has been allowed to actually flourish in the HCDE central office.

Ironically, the grass is hardly greener over the state line. A report from the Georgia Department of Education at the end of 2015 revealed that a whopping 44 percent of its teachers leave within the first five years of employment and the overall feeling in The Peach State is a frantic Something must be done, education is in a real crisis.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been doing exit interviews with teachers who have recently quit and the No. 1 reason, this in just Atlanta, is the lack of discipline in the schools. That is cited as a huge problem in the HCDE as well and the foremost chore facing either an interim or permanent superintendent is to regain control of the learning environment.

Discipline issues were not addressed in the Georgia Department of Education Report because influential causes (raising children, student discipline) cannot be affected by policy changes. What the Georgia Department of Education cites as the eight biggest reasons teachers quit are (in order):

* -- Number and emphasis of mandated tests.

* -- Teacher evaluation method.

* -- Level of teacher participation in decisions related to the profession.

* -- Non-teaching school responsibilities / duties.

* -- Level of benefits and compensation.

* --Level/quality of support, resources and professional learning.

* -- School level/district level leadership.

* -- Level of preparation when entering the profession.

An elementary teacher in Henry County was quoted: There is a growing frustration among teachers that testing is now the focus rather than teaching. People become teachers knowing that the pay is low but they do not expect to spend so much time doing what often amounts to meaningless assessments.

Of the 53,000 teachers who answered the survey, just as many did not due to apathy. They doubted (1) that their answers would ever be read and (2) that no matter what they wrote, change would never come. It is so bad that a mere 2.7 percent wrote they would very likely recommend a student go into teaching while 33.2 percent responded they would very likely discourage a student to become a teacher.

The overwhelming undertone from the Georgia survey and a plethora of emails from HCDE teachers that I have received is identical  the whole workforce feels devalued and is constantly under pressure. As the Georgia report surmised, Without significant changes in the future, what is a significant problem right now will (soon) be a crisis in teaching.

Listen to this high school teacher who has 25 years of classroom experience. Teachers are only one-third of the equation (teacher, parent, and student) that results in performance. Because we are only a third that can be legislated and (poorly) quantified, we bear the burden of proof. It is too tenuous and burdensome. That is one reason why I have not encouraged my two college graduates to teach.

One elementary teacher wrote, Each year we are asked to do more with less and less support, funding, training, and adequate resources, while other with 20 years at the same school said flatly, My principal does not make me feel valued.

The Georgia survey included an optional question that asked for other reasons of attrition and 95 percent took part: Discipline was actually third in 18.6 percent of the responses but, as bad as it truly is, more teachers complained of lack of time (19.4) and lack of support by parents (19.3). Lack of support by school was mentioned in 17.6 percent of the remarks with disrespected (12.4) and stressed out (9.7). Over 2,000 replies mentioned no control in or out of the classroom.

The top priority for the new administration must be teacher morale and retention. Smiths top tier obviously cared very little (Where else can we go? one teacher cried) and there must be a concerted effort to address on the HCDE level what the Georgia survey affirms are the top concerns.

And if Georgia fails to address its teachers woes, and if Hamilton County can make great strides, it seems to me that might just be a happy little hunting ground.

But first, we must take care of our own.

royexum@aol.com
New payment system will allow tourists to use their fingerprints instead of currency in Japan

The Japanese government starting this summer will be testing a new payment system that will allow foreign tourists to authenticate their identities and avail shopping and hospitality services anywhere in Japan through their fingerprints.

The idea is to increase the number of foreign tourists by using the system to prevent crime and relieve users from the necessity of carrying cash or credit cards. It aims to realize the system before the occurrence of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The testing phase will involve using fingerprint scanners at around 300 popular souvenir shops, restaurants, hotels and other establishments in important tourist centers. They are located in areas that are popular among foreign tourists such as Hakone, Kamakura, Yugawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, and Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture. However, by next spring, the government plans to expand the experimenting jurisdiction to Tohoku and Nagoya districts. This system is likely to be introduced throughout the country, including Tokyo by 2020.

The experiment will have inbound tourists register their fingerprints and other data, such as credit card information, at airports and elsewhere.

It is important to note that under the Inns and Hotels Law would require the visitors to show their passports when they check into ryokan inns or hotels. However, they can make purchases through fingerprints while staying in Japan, according to Japan News.

Tourists would then be able to conduct tax exemption procedures and make purchases after verifying their identities by placing two fingers on special devices installed at stores.

Officials are hoping to launch the system throughout the country  including Tokyo  by 2020, with as many as 40 million overseas annual visitors expected by that year.

The new system will also enable the government to analyse the spending habits and patterns of foreign tourists, with anonymous data to be managed by a government-led consultative body.

The data obtained from the project will be used to help government officials create effective tourism management policies, according to Yomiuri.

However, critics are concerned about the reaction of tourists when they will be asked to share personal information like fingerprints with the authorities, hotels, and retailers, etc.

In October 2015, a similar system that was introduced by Huis ten Bosch theme park situated in Nagasaki on a trial basis was a success, where the visitors can make payments with just their fingerprints at about 30 stores and restaurants.

By the end of this month at the earliest, Tokyo-based Aeon Bank will become the first bank in Japan to test a system in which customers will be able to withdraw cash from automatic teller machines (ATM) using only fingerprints for identification and omitting the use of cash cards. This new system is aimed at reducing the occurrences of fake transactions using stolen cards.

The system is also superior in the area of security, such as preventing people from impersonating our customers, an official from the bank said.
If extradited, British hacker, Lauri Love could get 99 years jail time for hacking into US Army, NASA and FBI websites

A British activist faces up to 99 years in a US jail for allegedly hacking into agencies including the US Army, NASA and the FBI. Lauri Love, 31, was arrested at his home in Suffolk on three warrants from the USA relating to alleged offences committed in New Jersey, Virginia and New York during 2012 and 2013.

According to the prosecution, Love allegedly broke into the computers of various major US government agencies, including the Federal Reserve Bank and the Missile Defence Agency.

For his latest extradition hearing, Love appeared in Westminster Magistrates Court wearing a green hat with a bear on it while carrying a copy of the book Saving Gary McKinnon: A Mothers Story. Glasgow-born hacker, McKinnon had faced similar hacking charges in the US but he was saved from extradition after the home secretary, Theresa May, intervened.

Reports confirm Love who is an Aspergers sufferer did break into the computers of various major US government agencies, pilfering classified information. Love appeared in the Court as the UKs National Crime Agency began a fresh attempt to force him to reveal his encryption keys and passwords.

He was allegedly part of a criminal network specialising in computer intrusions, and is said to have taken part in a hacktivist protest against the US government by Anonymous.

So far, Love has refused to hand over his encryption keys and passwords following his arrest at his parents home in Stradishall, Suffolk, in 2013. His case has been compared to McKinnon, 50, who escaped extradition to the US in 2012 after being accused of the biggest military computer hack of all time.

The NCA prosecutor requested the District Judge Nina Tempia to order Love to disclose the information. The prosecutors failure to obtain the data even after citing the section 49 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act is seen as a big boost for Love/

Love is on bail and is taking legal steps against NCA as he tries to secure the return of his computer equipment.

Those supporting Love include, Courage Foundation, who clamor for his release as he could not cope with conditions in the U.S. prison system, they observed.
Lottery boss wins $16.5 million in six years by tampering random number generator

According to The Des Moines Register, in a case from last year, new details have been disclosed that tells how the boss of a US lottery used malicious DLLs to manipulate and foretell winning ticket numbers on special days of the year.

The case came into limelight the first time in April 2015, when authorities started the trial of Eddie Raymond Tipton, 53, a former information security director for Iowas Multi-State Lottery Association (MSLA).

In July 2015, Tipton was accused of two fraud charges by a judge for fixing a Hot Lotto lottery drawing that created a winning ticket worth $14.3 million (12.65 million).

While it was not proved by the prosecutors as to how Tipton manipulated the lottery drawing that produced the fraudulent ticket, but he recruited the help of Robert Clark Rhodes II, 46, of Sugarland, Texas, to cash out the winnings.

When Tiptons scheme was exposed, its exposure revealed that he had manipulated lottery drawings in other states also. As a result, he was later sentenced to ten years in prison in September.

In addition to that conviction, Eddies now facing additional felony criminal charges for allegedly manipulating drawing computers that he was responsible for building and programming.

In an attempt to find out how Tipton manipulated their system, the MSLA started security audits of their computers immediately after the incidents. However, nothing came out. On the other hand, police kept searching and finally found a fishy dynamic-link library (DLL) on one of the computers responsible for producing random numbers to be used for choosing the winning tickets.

Except for two blocks of code, this DLL was identical to the original one. These two sections were added by Tipton and used a different random generator algorithm to generate the winning numbers.

The fishy DLL took over the standard random number generator (RNG) on three days of the year, on two particular days of the week, and after a certain time of day.

Tipton would then be able to deduce the winning numbers, if a draw was scheduled and met with all three conditions. The fishy DLL made its way into the systems used by the organization in other states, as Tipton was accountable for programming these computers in all MSLA divisions across the country.

Investigators were able to recreate the draws and produce the very same winning numbers from the program that was supposed to produce random numbers.

Prosecutors say they have found proof of fixed lottery draws in Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Wisconsin. The fact that the tricky malicious DLL was scheduled to self-delete after a period of time made the initial detection of this file difficult.

A new criminal complaint has been filed by the prosecutors against Tipton (embedded below) based on this new evidence, which also includes filing charges against Tiptons brother, Tommie Tipton of Texas.

Police suspect Tommie Tipton, a former police officer himself, of being involved in securing partnerships for him and his brother in order to withdraw the winnings of lottery tickets in Wisconsin, Colorado, and Oklahoma.

All six prizes linked to Tipton were drawn on either November 23 or December 29 between 2005 and 2011 totaling over $16.5 million (14.6 million).
Cyber criminals hacked Swedish military computers and used them to attack major US Banks in 2013

Swedish military computers were hacked and used in an attack targeting major US banks in 2013, the armed forces said on Monday.

The attack knocked out the web pages of as many as 20 major US banks and financial institutions, sometimes for several days.

Speaking to AFP, military spokesman Mikael Abramsson said that a server in the Swedish defence system had a flaw which was exploited by hackers to carry out the attacks, confirming a report in the Swedish daily DN.

The hacking attack was a kind of wake-up call for us and forced us to take very specific security steps to prevent such a thing from happening again, he said.

We cannot be more specific about the new security measures we put in place, but such an attack could not happen again.

The servers were used in a so-called DDoS attack (distributed denial of service) which pounded the websites of US financial institutions  among them Citigroup, Capital One and HSBC  with overwhelming requests for information.

At the time, the attack, which began in 2012 and continued for months, was one of the biggest ever reported.

US officials blamed Iran, suggesting it was in retaliation for political sanctions and several earlier cyber attacks on its own systems.

Many other vulnerable servers in locations throughout the world were used in the attack, and together they created an Internet traffic jam so powerful that it knocked out the banks websites.

We normally have a good eye on our stuff. This mistake is about the human factor, Dan Eriksson, IT security expert with the Swedish armed forces, told DN.

DDoS attacks have long been a basic hacker weapon but they have typically involved the use of armies of personal computers tainted with viruses and coordinated to make simultaneous requests at targeted websites.

In 2013, attackers infected datacentres used to host services in the Internet cloud and commandeered massive computing power around the world to back the DDoS attacks, security experts said.

US-based Neustar, which protects companies from such attacks, said they can cost financial institutions as much as $100,000 (about 88,000 euros) an hour.
In addition to Xi, the new Standing Committee is composed of Wang Huning, director of the Political Research Office of the CCP Central Committee, and Zhao Leji, secretary for the... | Read More
The Craniofacial Foundation of America has named Dr. Thomas Roy Peterson, M.D., M.B.A. the 2016 Terri Farmer Service Award winner. The Terri Farmer Service Award was established in 2009, in honor of Mrs. Terri Farmers 18 years of dedicated service to the Tennessee Craniofacial Center. Each year the CFA pledges to present the award to someone who exemplifies the qualities of dedication and compassion, and who has the mission of creating better tomorrows for patients with facial birth defects, tumors and trauma-related injuries.



Dr. Peterson, a pediatric anesthesiologist with Erlanger Medical Center and TC Thompson Childrens Hospital and co-founder of Anesthesiology Consultants Exchance, Inc., began his work with the TCC at its inception in 1987. The TCC services children from all over the world, with a focus in the Southeast, and specializes in the evaluation and treatment of patients with craniofacial deformities. Its services cover a broad range of reconstructive operations for the treatment of deformities of the face and skull resulting from birth defects, tumors, and trauma.



In his own words Dr. Peterson notes, the single most salient aspect of my association with the TCC: The remarkable courage, in the face of such a complicated and unfamiliar chapter in their lives, demonstrated by the families of our patients, has always inspired in me a sense of admiration and respect. To have been entrusted with the care of their children in such a circumstance is a privilege and an honor I will forever treasure.



Dr. Peterson attended Emory University in Atlanta and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville for his undergraduate degree, graduating with high honors. He attended East Tennessee State University to earn his doctor of medicine and then the University of Texas Medical School at Houston for his post-doctoral studies and residency. He gained his fellow in Pediatric Anesthesiology at Boston Childrens Hospital, the teach hospital for Harvard Medical School in 1987. In 2010, he received his physicians executive MBA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.



Terry Smyth, executive director of the CFA said, The CFA is extremely honored to award Dr. Peterson the 2016 Terri Farmer Service Award. He is an integral part of the TCC team and we commend his dedication to his craft and to helping local children with facial differences lead a normal life.



Previous Terri Farmer Award winners include Ms.Belinda Foy (2015), Mrs. Lynda Gooden (2014), Dr. Timothy Strait (2013), Ms. Tricia Davies (2012), Ms. Heather Henderson (2011), and Dr. Sidney Cox (2010).
TDP MLA Meets YS Jagan

In a shocking development Telangana TDP MLA and BC Welfare Society leader, R. Krishnaiah has met YSR Congress Party chief and the leader of AP opposition YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday at Lotus Pond residence in Hyderabad. Krishnaiah met Jagan to seek YS Jagan's support for his demand of 50 per cent reservations for the BCs.



Krishnaiah has appealed to YS Jagan to write a letter to Prime Minister on behalf of the YSRCP seeking reservations for Backward Classes in the legislature. He said inclusion of Kapu community into the BC was not just and that will cause a big loss to the BCs. He reportedly expressed displeasure on Chandrababu Naidu's decision to include 'Kapus' in Backward Class category.









News Posted: 13 April, 2016








"We are extremely disappointed and troubled to learn of the allegations involving Hector Olivera," the Braves said in a statement.

"We will continue to gather information and will address this matter appropriately as we determine the facts."

Olivera was taken into custody at approximately 7:30 a.m. ET, but as of early Wednesday afternoon he had not been formally charged or arraigned.

According to Washington's ABC affiliate, the woman allegedly assaulted by Olivera had bruises and was transported to a hospital in Arlington, Va.

With Olivera on the restricted list, the Braves recalled shortstop Daniel Castro from Triple-A Gwinnett. Jeff Francoeur, Drew Stubbs and Kelly Johnson could share the left-field position in Olivera's absence.

Olivera has faced great scrutiny since the Braves acquired him on July 30 via a 13-player trade that sent Atlanta's former top prospect, Jose Peraza, and Alex Wood to the Dodgers, who essentially ate half of the six-year, $62.5 million deal that Olivera signed with them just four months earlier.

Because he was sidelined by a hamstring injury, Olivera did not make his Major League debut until the Braves added him to the big league roster on Sept. 1. Olivera compiled a .715 OPS over 24 games last year and struggled defensively at third base.

The Braves sent Olivera to the Puerto Rican Winter League to transition to left field and make some mechanical adjustments to his swing.

Olivera defected from Cuba in September 2014 and played for two different organizations while adjusting to life in the United States. The Braves were hoping that the outfielder would prove to be more comfortable and productive this year. But since showing some encouraging signs during Spring Training, he has four hits and five strikeouts in 19 regular-season at-bats.
It has been five years since that day when the Pacific Ocean roared forth to demolish the quiet coastal communities of Tohoku and the lives within them. But I am still haunted by the memory of Satoshi Watanabe.

It was about a month after the tsunami when I found him, a 42-year-old man in sweatpants walking silently through the wasteland of mud and shattered debris that had once been the town of Otsuchi in Iwate. He was turning over broken pieces of concrete and splintered beams as if searching for something. And indeed he was, the body of his 2-month-old daughter, Mikoto.

Watanabe was standing near the same spot where he had last seen her and the rest of his family  his wife, Shiho, 32, and two other daughters, aged 5 and 6  together in their living room on the afternoon of March 11, just moments before the wall of water crashed down upon their home. Only he survived. He found the rest of his family a week later, lying in a makeshift morgue. I dont know if he ever recovered Mikoto.

I wish we could tell Watanabe and the thousands of others like him, who bore such staggering losses with admirable fortitude and endurance, that we have learned the hard-earned lessons from the earthquake and tsunami, so that future families will not have to suffer the same pain.

But on the fifth anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that killed almost 19,000 people, and caused historys second-worst nuclear accident, we are letting that chance to improve slip away.

Japan, which tried so earnestly to learn from its failures during the 1995 Kobe earthquake, appears to be turning a blind eye to the lessons of this disaster. It is restoring its nuclear plants without fully understanding the failures at Fukushima Daiichi.

It is re-erecting homes at the same spots swept away by the towering waves unleashed by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake. And it is rebuilding its seawalls: a trillion yens worth of new concrete fortifications, in some places five stories tall, along some 400 kilometers of Japans northeastern coast.

If the tsunami taught us one thing, it was that even the grandest walls could not match the force of nature. Kamaishis was nearly 2 km long, and tall enough to win entry in the Guinness World Records. Yet, it could not protect that city. And now Japans taxpayers are spending 60 billion yen to build a new one.

Going back to the pre-disaster status quo is not a solution

It simply dooms us to repeat the past. But there are new lessons to be learned in the experiences of Tohoku, ones that point us away from concrete and toward smarter, softer solutions. One is the value of knowledge, like the school children who knew to evacuate to higher ground.

Another is communal bonds, which led the people of Tohoku to save each other when the waves struck, and support each other in the difficult months and years that followed.

This gave Tohoku a resilience that came not from walls or money, but how well people get along, says Daniel Aldrich, a public policy expert at Northeastern University who is studying the disaster.

In Otsuchi, the towns seawall created a fatal complacency. Watanabe said it allowed him to forget about the ocean, less than a kilometer from his home. Our seawall didnt work, Watanabe told me that cold day amid the ruins. And now without it, I can now see how close the sea is. Its frighteningly close.

(Martin Fackler served as Tokyo bureau chief of The New York Times from February 2009 to July 2015)

==Kyodo



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Ousted Politburo member Bo Xilai, right, is driven from the Intermediate People's Court after being sentenced to life in prison, in Jinan, China on Sunday, Sept. 22. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Ousted Politburo member Bo Xilai was sentenced to life in prison for corruption, bringing an end to a crisis that roiled China's Communist Party as the country's leaders prepare to lay out an economic reform agenda.

A court in eastern China found Bo, 64, guilty of taking 20.4 million yuan ($3.3 million) in bribes, embezzling 5 million yuan and abuse of power in a trial that exposed graft at the highest levels in the communist state. Bo's assets, most notably a French villa, will be seized by the state, the Jinan Intermediate People's Court said on its microblog today.

The party, led by President Xi Jinping, may have pushed for the life sentence to extinguish the threat Bo and his populist policies posed to its control, said Kerry Brown, executive director of the University of Sydney's China Studies Center. It was the harshest punishment of a former Politburo member since Chairman Mao Zedong's widow got the death sentence -- a punishment later commuted to life in prison -- in 1981.

"They will be glad that this is dead and buried, but I don't think anyone was fooled, and certainly it didn't seem like many in China were fooled by the fact that this was a political trial, not really a criminal trial," Brown said by phone. "His stain on Chinese politics will not be an easy one to erase."

The verdict precedes a party conclave in November where Xi and Premier Li Keqiang may push for economic reforms and seek to bolster their grip on power. The plenum is expected to discuss deepening reforms and achieving stable economic development, the official Xinhua News Agency reported last month. In that report, Xinhua said China's Politburo called on the party to "be brave enough to break down ideological barriers and vested interests."

Breaking precedent

Bo's trial, which ended Aug. 26, broke with precedent as the party let the court release edited transcripts of Bo's defense. Bo proclaimed his innocence during the trial, calling the bribery charges something "even the lousiest TV drama scriptwriter wouldn't create."

A photograph released by the Jinan court showed a smiling Bo being led away in handcuffs by two police guards clad in blue uniforms and clutching his forearms. Bo didn't say if he would appeal the verdict, court spokesman Liu Yanjie said at a briefing in Jinan today.

"The evidence is reliable and sufficient, and he is found guilty as charged," Liu said.

The party sought to control the narrative throughout, portraying the turmoil of Bo's ouster and charges as proof of its respect for the rule of law. The decision to release the transcripts was hailed as a sign of the party's transparency. Following the verdict today, the state-run China Central Television aired a special broadcast on the trial.

Trial footage

It featured footage from Bo and his wife Gu Kailai, whose role in the November, 2011 murder of British businessman Neil Heywood set off a chain of events culminating in the attempted defection of Bo's police chief in February 2012 and Bo's removal from his job as Chongqing Communist Party secretary the following month.

State media portrayed the case as evidence of leaders' seriousness about cracking down on graft that Xi has said threatens the Communists' six-decade hold on power. Party leaders have promised to target both "tigers and flies," or cadres up and down the power ladder, who are guilty of graft.

"The Bo Xilai sentencing is a warning: if there is graft, you need to clean it up, if there is corruption, it needs to be punished," the party's flagship People's Daily newspaper said in an online commentary after the verdict. "No matter how big the official is, how strong their power is, it is just as difficult to escape punishment by the law."

Touts success

Even as the party touts its success against corruption, authorities have arrested people such as legal scholar Xu Zhiyong, who sought asset disclosure by top officials, and reined in online commentators whose millions of followers on China's microblog service threaten to weaken the party's control over information.

Prosecutors' claims and Bo's testimony during his trial offered a rare glimpse into the inner conflicts of one of China's leading families. Bo's father, Bo Yibo, was one of the revolutionaries who brought the Communists into power in 1949.

Bo's sentence is more severe than those handed down to other former Politburo members. Ex-Beijing Mayor Chen Xitong, who died in June, was sentenced to 16 years in 1998 while former Shanghai Mayor Chen Liangyu got an 18-year sentence in 2008. If Bo appeals, he may get a lighter jail term, perhaps 20 years, said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a political science professor at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Appeal judgment

Bo has 10 days after he receives the judgment to appeal to the Shandong High People's Court. The Jinan court said the 5 million yuan Bo embezzled will be returned to the city of Dalian, where he was mayor.

The court found there was not sufficient evidence to prove allegations that Bo approved of 1.34 million yuan in flight tickets that businessman Xu Ming paid for Gu and her son with Bo, Bo Guagua, court spokesman Liu said.

In the month since Bo's trial, Xi's anti-corruption campaign has focused on people tied to Zhou Yongkang, until last year head of China's security services. Zhou praised Bo's achievements as the party boss of Chongqing municipality just days before Bo was ousted from the job.

Two days after the South China Morning Post reported Aug. 30 that Zhou was the target of a party corruption probe, Jiang Jiemin, then the head of the agency overseeing state-owned companies, was accused of "serious disciplinary violations," language that often precedes formal corruption charges. Jiang and Zhou were top oil executives who served together at an oilfield in eastern China from 1989-90, according to their official biographies.

Executives removed

In the days before the accusations against Jiang, four executives at China National Petroleum Corp. were removed from their posts as part of investigations by the party's graft watchdog. Jiang was chairman of CNPC until earlier this year and Zhou led the company in the 1990s as general manager.

Bo, a former commerce minister, governor and mayor, was removed from the Politburo after his police chief Wang Lijun fled to a U.S. consulate with evidence that Gu was involved in Heywood's murder.

Gu was given a suspended death sentence last year for murdering Heywood, while Wang was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for charges including attempted defection and taking bribes. The abuse of power charge against Bo was connected to the allegation that he tried to cover up his wife's involvement in Heywood's murder.

Made mistakes

Bo insisted during his trial that while he made mistakes in his career, he didn't commit any crimes, according to transcripts released by the court in Jinan.

He sought to discredit those who testified against him, calling his wife crazy, comparing a former businessman in Dalian to a wild biting dog and saying Wang had lied and was in love with Bo's wife.

In a letter to his family, Bo wrote that his name will be cleared one day, the South China Morning Post reported Sept. 19. Like his father, who was jailed and then rehabilitated, Bo said he would "wait quietly in prison," the SCMP quoted the letter as saying. "My father was jailed many times. I will follow in his footsteps."

Chongqing policies

Bo's policies in Chongqing, where he was party secretary from 2007 until March 2012, including a crackdown on organized crime, an emphasis on social spending and a revival of early Communist-era songs and slogans, drew praise from other leaders, including Xi.

It took Heywood's murder and Wang's attempted defection to bring down Bo, who may otherwise have had a major role in the new leadership, said Dali Yang, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago.
Officers and staff from the Dalton Police Department will run the Special Olympic Torch through Dalton on Friday morning as the agency participates in the statewide Law Enforcement Torch Run. The race route will take DPD personnel past three elementary schools on Friday where they will be greeted by students cheering them on along the way.

Runners will meet behind the Dalton Police Services Center at 9 a.m. on Friday before riding together to the intersection of Chattanooga Road and US Highway 41. Runners will travel east down Chattanooga Road towards Thornton Avenue and then turn south on Thornton. They will run down Thornton until they turn onto Trammel Street and run to Westwood School. From Westwood School, they will run up Jones Street past the Police Services Center and across Waugh Street to City Park Elementary School. From City Park, they will run south on Thornton Avenue until turning on Central Avenue to run to Brookwood School. The route will finish near Brookwood at Lakeshore Park.

The Law Enforcement Torch Run is a statewide effort by law enforcement agencies to raise money in support of Special Olympics Georgia. This year, the Dalton Police Department has raised more than $10,000 through different fundraising events and the fundraising efforts of the torch runners. In 2015, the statewide effort raised more than $866,000 in support of Special Olympics Georgia, making the Torch Run the organizations largest single fundraising effort.

Patrol vehicles will escort the runners and divert traffic around the runners to minimize the impact on traffic.
Air New Zealand has hosed down speculation of an imminent sale of its 25.9 per cent stake in Virgin Australia to Singapore Airlines or another party.

A report in The Australian on Wednesday suggested Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon and Virgin chief executive John Borghetti had "cleared their diaries this week" to finalise the sale of the stake by the weekend.

Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon says his airline will maintain its trans-Tasman alliance with Virgin. Credit:Simon Watts

Mr Luxon was said to have cancelled appointments to take a last-minute trip overseas.

However, an Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the report was incorrect.
The Seven Network has confirmed it has taken urgent legal action against a senior employee who has admitted to defrauding the company by falsifying invoices.

The broadcaster sought and won an injunction to freeze the assets of John Michael Fitzgerald in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday.

Mr Fitzgerald, 54, was the network's commercial manager of programming. The court heard his duties included accounting, financial reporting, the budgetary responsibility for television productions, sport, news and public affairs, overseas bureaux and programming. His role included raising and approving purchase orders relevant to those areas and he had approval authority for payments of up to $55,000.

Justice Francois Kunc agreed to Seven's request for freezing orders against Mr Fitzgerald's assets and those of his companies, FPC Pty Ltd and Kanfit Pty Ltd, of which he is sole director and shareholder.
I recently came across a curious and extremely helpful little red book  it contained the reflections of arguably Australia's greatest investor, Kerr Neilson. Neilson has built investment management firm Platinum Asset Management into one of Australia's most successful and respected international equities managers.

What separates Neilson from his peers is his personal insight into investor behaviour. While not explicit, reviewing the insights suggests these are not just actions Neilson has observed in others, but mistakes he has made and learnt from himself.

Kerr Neilson is arguably Australia's greatest investor. Credit:Angus Mordant

Some would argue that the best investors are those who can reflect on their own behavioural biases.

Here are some of my favourite insights from the book:
More than 650 patients of a Melbourne metropolitan health facility have been advised to undergo blood tests for hepatitis B after being treated by an infected worker.

The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed it sent letters this week to patients who came into direct contact with the unnamed worker in the past three years.

The worker told the department of his diagnosis in late August and discontinued practice days later, Fairfax Media understands. An investigation into how long the worker knew of his condition is underway.

Victoria's acting chief health officer Dr Roscoe Taylor said there was a less than one per cent chance anyone had caught the virus but the department had done a thorough investigation and was taking a cautious approach by recommending tests.
Criminal solicitor Alex Lewenberg has been banned from practising law for 15 months after telling a Jewish sexual abuse victim not to help police prosecute Yeshivah College paedophile David Cyprys.

The lawyer, who has represented a string of notorious clients including Billy "The Texan" Longley and Boris "The Black Diamond" Beljajev, must also take an ethics course before being reinstated.

Alex Lewenberg, 74, can't practise law for 15 months and must take a legal ethics course after telling Jewish victim not to help police prosecute paedophile David Cyprys. Credit:Justin McManus

The 74-year-old was found guilty of professional misconduct by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last month after the Legal Services Commissioner took action over two comments he admitted making in 2011.

On two occasions, once while in court for a bail hearing for Cyprys and later in a secretly recorded telephone conversation, Mr Lewenberg said that Jews shouldn't help prosecute fellow Jews.
Half a billion dollars will be spent to reduce family violence in Victoria over the next two years, as the Andrews government responds to damning findings  delivered just a fortnight ago  from the state's Royal Commission into Family Violence.

The funding of $570 million  $500 million of which is new money  will be spent to tackle 65 of the commission's most urgent recommendations, Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Wednesday.

Advocates have hailed it as an unprecedented commitment that will save and change lives.

But they also said the amount was "fitting" given family violence had been neglected by successive governments for decades.
Panama City: Panamanian prosecutors have visited the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm to look into its allegations that a computer hacker was behind the leak of financial documents about tax havens the firm set up to benefit influential people around the globe.

Public ministry spokeswoman Sandra Sotillo said the visit on Monday was made by investigators from the intellectual property prosecutor's office.

The firm filed a complaint charging the security breach shortly before media reports appeared last week using the documents to detail how politicians, celebrities and companies around the world were hiding assets in offshore bank accounts and anonymous shell companies.
The construction of a new mosque in southern Canberra is set to ramp up after a $1.4 million donation from the Kuwaiti government.

Canberra Islamic Centre president Azra Khan said the construction of the centre in Monash, which has been under way for the past two years, is now expected to be finished in March 2017, after their funding submission was granted via the Kuwait embassy in Canberra.

Construction of a new mosque in the Canberra Islamic Centre complex has been under way for two years. Credit:Melissa Adams

"We've been really quite hamstrung with funds so we could have to collect donations and once we had enough to do a piece of work, we'd do that work. What this means is we've got the full assurance that the funds are accessible to complete the entire job," Mrs Khan said.

"We've finalised the foundation works and we've also started the framework and the steel structure will be going up in the next week or so. What this means is we can get on with the cladding and the roofing and everything else in very quick succession."
The City May Have A Buyer To Redevelop The Vacant Loop Post Office

By Mae Rice in News on Apr 12, 2016 9:49PM



Chicago Boulevardier

The city just might have found a buyer for the Chicago Main Post Office, a historic, 2.5-million-square-foot Loop building that has stood empty since the mid-'90s.

In a statement Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Ald. Danny Solis (25th) and Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman announced a "tentative settlement" with a buyer, covering the purchase and redevelopment of the post office. The statement from the Mayor's Office did not reveal who that buyer was, specifically, but said it was "an entity affiliated with 601W Companies," the same New York-based firm that bought the Aon Center in 2015.

The settlement gives this "entity" until June 1 to acquire the building, currently owned by International Property Developers North America. They bought it back in 2009, and announced a $1.5 billion mixed development plan in 2013, but have made no moves on the ambitious plan since then, according to today's statement.

The buyer appears to be an experienced commercial property owner with the expertise and financial capacity to meet our goals for the building," Emanuel said in today's statement.

The settlement would establish a "strict timeline" (with specific deadlines otherwise unstated) for redevelopment, Emanuel said. The city would approve the company's redevelopment plan, from budget to timeline to financing. Presumably, the building will be rehabbed if this project reaches fruition; Emanuel, at least, talks about this project in terms of restoration"restoring an iconic gateway to the city"rather than demolition. Currently, the post office is just shy of 100 years old (it was built in phases between 1921 to 1932) and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Today's settlement resulted from a request for proposals from the city, sent out after City Hall took control of post office via eminent domain in February. That RFP will "quickly resume" if 601W doesn't meet the city's June 1 deadline, according to the statement.


Canberra employers and their insurance companies now have tougher powers than police to snoop into the private lives of more than 160,000 workers, the ACT's unions claim.

New "workplace privacy" laws, passed by the Legislative Assembly last month, will allow bosses and insurers to put employees under covert surveillance on the suspicion of "unlawful activity", UnionsACT says.

Education Minister Shane Rattenbury says the new withdrawal-space policies strike the right balance. Credit:Jay Cronan

By contrast, police must have a suspicion of "criminal activity" before they can launch surveillance.

Unions say the new laws will expose public and private sector workers to covert spying by employers and insurance companies, and are "a serious and unjustified erosion of privacy and rights of working people".
Liberal candidate Paul House has swapped allegiance to stand for the Liberals in this year's ACT election, as a former member of the ACT Labor Party.

Mr House never stood for election for Labor but belonged to the party for about five years, from 2005 to 2010, and even held the post of secretary of the south Woden sub-branch.

Paul House, a former Labor Party member, now standing for the Liberals. Credit:Jay Cronan

Also on Wednesday, it emerged that a second Liberal, Jacob Vadakkedathu, was also a member of the Labor Party, "for a short time in the late 2000s", according to a Liberal spokesman.

Mr House is a Ngambri man and active in the local Aboriginal community. He's the son of well-known indigenous leader Matilda House. He lives in Woden-Weston but works for the NSW department of environment and heritage in Queanbeyan.
It was the next series of decisions that has been put under the spotlight in the inquest. Wary of the looming Christmas shutdown of elective surgery lists and Mrs Fulton's pressing need for radiation therapy, the hospital decided to rush her into surgery again the next morning, about 9.30am on December 11. There appears to have been little communication to Mrs Fulton about the risks of breathing obstructions. She was given little time to think about it or talk it through with her family, even though the second operation was likely to pose an even greater risk. That is something that troubled Chief Coroner Lorraine Walker, who asked Mrs Fulton's senior surgeon on Wednesday:

"We have a lady who's having her teeth extracted ... and no one seems to have pointed out to her that she was a risk of dying during surgery," Ms Walker said. "Isn't that someone's responsibility?" One of Australia's most eminent surgeons, Professor Alastair Goss, told the inquest the second surgery was a "high-risk call with a high chance" of what would eventuate. Professor Goss said the operation should simply not have taken place and that it was an "error of judgment". "On the 11th, I wouldn't have done it, or recommended it, or anything else," he said.

The failed intubation the day before would have irritated the tumour, he said, probably causing swelling, leaving blood, and creating more chance of obstruction. Mrs Fulton was laid flat on her back because her medical team believed other positions were impractical for the surgery. Lying on one's back, Professor Goss said, was the worst possible position for maintaining an open airway in cases such as Mrs Fulton's. It was decided Mrs Fulton would be given a combination of local anaesthetic and sedation, in an attempt by doctors to relieve the pain, but also deal with her anxiety, which can make such a procedure dangerous. A leading anaesthetist, Dr Keith Greenland, told the inquest that combination was high risk, and Professor Goss said it "clearly was the procedure with the highest chance of a negative outcome".

Dr Greenland said he would not have used it in Mrs Fulton's case, where airway management was so crucial. "It doesn't take much to fall off and that's what happened," he said. Instead, Dr Greenland told the inquest that doctors should not have rushed her into it without proper explanation of the risks. He said he would have waited at least a week before trying again, this time keeping her awake and using a fibre-optic intubation. "The system is failing her with what she needs, which is a slower pace and more communication," he said.

Professor Goss said he would have allowed the radiation therapy to occur before the teeth extraction. A crucial point being explored in the inquest is the lack of communication between the anaesthetists, who have responsibility for airway management, and the surgeons. There have been suggestions that surgeons and anaesthetists operated in two separate tribes, rather than together as a team. The inquest is also considering why the ACT does not require patients to give separate consent for the surgery and anaesthesia, something that would effectively require the patient be informed of, and acquiesce to, the risks associated with each. Professor Goss said the ACT appeared to be behind other jurisdictions in that respect, saying separate consent has been obtained in his home state of South Australia for "as long as I can remember".
An "education graveyard" installed at the Australian National University this week protests against a government approach to education that favours corporatisation over investment, students say.

The ANU Students' Association says it staged the stunt to highlight key issues in higher education leading up to the federal election.

Protest: ANU Students' Association education officer, James Connolly. Credit:Jamila Toderas

"The graveyard was to present a bleak vision of the future, in the sense it would demonstrate to students the natural consequence of a corporate approach to universities," James Connolly, the association's education officer said.

"[Where] universities are so inaccessible, very few students can afford to attend."
Hawthorn skipper Luke Hodge is likely to return to the field in round five, putting and end to speculation that he was set for an earlier than expected comeback from a fractured arm this weekend.

The four-time premiership player has been wearing an arm guard since resuming training with the Hawks. Hodge added to Hawthorn's early-season injury woes by fracturing his arm in the Easter Monday loss to Geelong at the MCG.

Hodge is meeting with his surgeon this week to discuss his recovery and his possible selection for the clash against the Adelaide Crows at the MCG on Friday week.

Hawthorn have comfortably defeated West Coast and narrowly scraped past the Western Bulldogs during Hodge's absence.
In both the Japanese and Chinese cases, rising household wealth has been the catalyst for a shift in spending "to more sophisticated goods and services, with overseas tourism being one of the preferred ones," Natixis economists led by Alicia Garcia Herrero wrote in a note. "A strong currency has also supported'' this.

Except, unlike the Japanese boom that began to deflate with the economy in the 1990s, China's outbound push -- already 120 million strong a year -- shows no signs of abating. A vast rural population still to urbanise and a rapidly expanding middle class will underpin a dramatic expansion of overseas travel, according to analysis by French investment bank Natixis.

China's overseas tourism bonanza is starting to resemble the unleashing of Japanese visitors on the world following the yen's appreciation in the mid-1980s.

Australia received more than 1.3 million Chinese visitors in the past year. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer

Around half of China's 1.38 billion people are classed as poor, with an annual income between zero and $US3000 ($3897), and most live in rural areas. The government wants to move an additional 81 million residents into urban zones by 2020, a policy set to further bolster demand for outbound travel.

Similar to China, Japanese tourism took off as the middle class expanded and incomes rose; the yen's appreciated after the 1985 Plaza Accord accelerated the process. Trips to the US were top of the list for the Japanese, with France the most popular European destination. But the bursting of Japan's real estate and stock market bubbles that led to deflation and stagnation diminished the travel bug.

Natixis points out that China's bonanza is also no sure thing. A slowing economy, a turn away from travel abroad due to Europe's refugee crisis and the threat of terrorism are among the risks, while China's own ageing population could also cool the ardour to head abroad. But the push to expand Chinese cities suggests any slowdown is likely to be short lived, according to the economists.

Where the Japanese roamed far and wide in the 1980s, China's travellers have so far tended to remain closer to home, in Hong Kong and Macau. But that is changing. "We are already starting to see Chinese tourism becoming increasingly interested in travelling further away,'' the Natixis economists said. "The reality is that such growth starts from a large base given China's massive population. Already now, the number of Chinese visitors to France is twice as large as Japan's tourists."
Top executives at the world's largest oil-trading houses said the worst of the market's woes are probably over, with some predicting prices will climb to $US50 a barrel by next year.

"The down market is behind us," Torbjorn Tornqvist, chief executive officer of Gunvor Group, said on Tuesday at the FT Global Commodities Summit in Lausanne. "It is the beginning of the end of that for sure."

Oil has rebounded after falling to the lowest level in more than 12 years amid signs a global glut will ease as US output declines. The world's largest oil traders were meeting in Switzerland as members of OPEC and other major producers prepare to assemble in Doha on April 17 to discuss an output freeze. Oil traders benefited from a surge in volatility last year and that should continue, according to Tornqvist.

"We are going to have lots of volatility going forward," Tornqvist said. "From here on the trend is up."
New Architecture Exhibit Explores Playboy's Luxurious Bachelor Pad Aesthetic

By Sarah Gouda in News on Apr 13, 2016 4:49PM



Image from the exhibit via Elmhurst Art Museum

You'd be forgiven for not thinking "architectural innovator of the 20th century" when your brain processes the word Playboy.

But the magazine actually played a huge role in popularizing the luxurious aesthetic that dominated design and architecture from the 1950s through the 1970s. At the Elmhurt Art Museum, Chicagoans can see this vintage aesthetic firsthand at an upcoming exhibit titled "Playboy Architecture, 1953-1979."

The men's lifestyle brand recognized early that slick design could add appeal to the "Playboy fantasy," and they frequently ran features on architectural giants like Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe. As you can see from the renderings, Mad Men owes quite a bit to Hugh Hefner and his penchant for mid-century modern furnishings.

Playboy was founded in Chicago in 1953, making the Elmhurst Art Museum an especially fitting home for the exhibit. Jenny Gibbs, the Executive Director of Elmhurst Art Museum, emphasized how important Chicago was to Playboy's evolution and vice versa.

Chicago's modern architecture and design influenced cities around the world. Chicago-based Playboy magazine played no small part in that by championing Chicago architects like Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright," she told Chicagoist.

The exhibit, which runs from May 7 to Aug. 28, will feature detailed models of the Playboy Townhouse and "Big Bunny," Playboy's giant, opulent private aircraft. The party jet was designed for Hugh Hefner and his legion of playmates by Elmhurst resident Daniel Czubak, who outfitted the plane with an elliptical bed covered in silk and fur blankets. Swinging sixties indeed.



Image from the exhibit via Elmhurst Art Museum

The touring exhibition will feature photographs, films, architectural renderings, and design objects. Touches unique to the Chicago run include a staging of van der Rohes McCormick House as a Playboy bachelor pad. There will also be never-before-exhibited memorabilia from the personal collection of 1976 Playboy Bunny of the Year, Chicagoan Candace Jordan.

When we spoke with Gibbs, she also lauded the research of Professor Beatriz Colomina, the scholar behind the exhibit.

"Colomina's research presents a stylish introduction to how Playboy cultivated a taste for modern architecture and design as part of the Playboy fantasy and the Gesamkunstwerk [or form] which became known as the bachelor pad, she said.

[H/T Curbed]
New Zealand jewellery business Michael Hill is mapping out a major Australian and North American expansion for its second brand, Emma & Roe, as the 37-year old business seeks shareholder approval to list on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Chief executive Mike Parsell is confident an Australian sharemarket listing will attract new investors to the retail business, which he said was one of a select group of retailers to successfully expand into North America.

Michael Hill plans to build a 150-store network in Australia for its second brand, Emma & Roe.

About 60 per cent of the Michael Hill and its newer Emma & Roe brand stores are in Australia, and two years ago the New Zealand-listed business switched to reporting its financials in Australian dollars.

Mr Parsell said about 64 per cent of earnings before interest and tax were generated by its Australian stores in 2015 and this was expected to increase following the rollout of 15 Emma & Roe stores in Queensland.
Once they realised men were being favoured over women, leading symphony orchestras started auditioning musicians behind a screen.

A simple curtain doubled the talent pool and transformed what orchestras look like, says Iris Bohnet, a professor of public policy at Harvard University.

Blind auditions for orchestras helped address gender discrimination. Credit:Rob Homer

A behavioural economist at the Kennedy School of Government, Professor Bohnet says it was not so long ago that orchestra directors and selection committees were "quite comfortable with all-male, all-white orchestras and likely not aware of their biases".

"To change this, no great technical feat was required, just awareness, a curtain, and a decision," she says.
Victoria's economic pie may be getting bigger, but don't think that means you are getting a larger slice. There's a common denominator to the various political debates raging around the country over infrastructure, health, education, housing and the economy: population growth.

It underpins the infrastructure debate because cities like Melbourne - swelling by an average of about 200 people a day for the past decade - are becoming ever more clogged with people. Federal and state governments now face enormous pressure to expand road and rail access so that people can get to work and home to their families within a reasonable time frame.

Illustration: John Spooner

It underpins the health debate because our hospitals, particularly in growth areas to the west, are struggling to cope with booming demand and spiralling costs. Late last month, for example, The Age reported claims from nurses that women are giving birth in unsafe rooms and at least one infant has been resuscitated in a corridor at the Mercy Hospital in Werribee because of a lack of resources. Or in November last year, Victoria's Auditor-General warned that Victoria's 87 public hospitals face annual deficits of more than $700 million, with some unable to pay their bills.

It underpins the education debate, with state schools struggling to cope with run down facilities and expanding class sizes. As research prepared by the Grattan Institute for Fairfax Media found, up to 220 new schools need to be built in Victoria in the next decade to absorb and 190,000 extra students.
Clarridge made a secret trip to Baghdad in 1986 to try to get Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to surrender a wanted terrorist. While the leftist Sandinista regime ruled Nicaragua in the 1980s, Clarridge conceived a plan to damage the country's economy by mining its principal harbour - an act that drew an international outcry and the condemnation of many members of Congress. For his role in Iran-contra, he showed up for a court hearing with an outer coat made in camouflage pattern. "When you're at battle stations," he quipped, "you might as well be prepared." Clarridge, whose wardrobe consisted of white Italian suits, silk pocket handkerchiefs and other flashy attire, had a pungent way of expressing himself. "We will intervene whenever we decide it is in our national security interest to intervene," he said in an interview for a documentary film on CIA operations. "And if you don't like it, lump it. Get used to it, world. We are not going to put up with nonsense." His soldier-of-fortune charisma brought him to the attention of CIA director William Casey, who tapped him in 1981 to run the clandestine branch's Latin America division. At the time, President Ronald Reagan made it a top priority of the agency to counter "foreign-sponsored subversion and terrorism". Clarridge, a former Rome chief of station, came to the assignment with no knowledge of Spanish. But he seemed, to the director, the man for the job  "neither a fool nor a stickler for rules and regulations", as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tim Weiner described him in his history of the CIA, Legacy of Ashes.

"Casey said, 'Take off a month or two and basically figure out what to do about Central America,' " Clarridge told Weiner. "That was the sum total of his approach. And it didn't take rocket science to understand what needed to be done ... make war in Nicaragua and start killing Cubans. This was exactly what Casey wanted to hear and he said, 'OK, go ahead and do it.' " During his three years running the Latin America division, he was a top intelligence planner for the US invasion of Grenada in 1983 following a Marxist coup on that Caribbean nation. But much of his work overseeing Latin America  and, later, clandestine operations in Europe  enmeshed him with the sprawling Iran-contra operation. Iran-contra designated the conjunction of two controversial initiatives pursued during the Reagan administration. One was to sell arms to Iran to get help in the release of American hostages held in Lebanon. The other was the use of the funds obtained in that clandestine Middle East deal to support the right-wing "contra" rebels in Nicaragua. Revelations about Iran-contra resonated for years, and during a special prosecutor's investigation, Clarridge was indicted in 1991 for perjury and making false statements to congressional investigating committees and a presidential review board looking into secret arms shipments to Iran. By then retired for several years, he received a pardon in 1992 from President George W. Bush before he could go to trial. At the time of his indictment, a lawyer who represented him told the Los Angeles Times that he "served his country with honour and without reproach for over 30 years".

In 1986, Clarridge had been a driving force in the creation of what was then called the CIA Counterterrorist Centre. The aim of the new centre was to address what he recognised as a rapidly growing major threat to national security after a terrorist bombing in 1983 at the US military compound in Beirut left 241 US service members, most of them Marines, dead. The Counterterrorist Centre, with a mandate to "pre-empt, disrupt and defeat terrorists", was considered a radical idea at the time because of its interdisciplinary approach: combining spies with analysts, technical specialists and other national security personnel. But it was credited with several major successes under Clarridge's leadership. Among them, the centre penetrated the Abu Nidal terror organisation that had been responsible for a spree of bombings and hijackings throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and severely disrupted its operations. Another victory was the 1987 capture of Fawaz Younis, a Lebanese terrorist and hijacker, with the co-ordinated help of the FBI, Navy and Justice Department. A dentist's son, Duane Ramsdell Clarridge was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, on April 16, 1932. He graduated in 1953 from Brown University and was recruited to the CIA in 1955 after receiving a master's degree from Columbia University's Russian Institute. When reports about Iran-contra began to circulate publicly, Clarridge was reprimanded and left the CIA in 1988 along with many colleagues dismayed by the new leadership of William H. Webster, a former federal judge brought in to reform the agency.

Clarridge went to work for defence contractor General Dynamics and remained involved in Middle East intrigue. After being called in to help free a New York Times reporter kidnapped in 2008 by the Taliban in Afghanistan, he set up a private intelligence network a few years ago that reportedly gathered information from sources in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Clarridge made front-page news late last year when he was publicly identified as a top adviser on national security and terrorism to retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who was seeking the Republican Party presidential nomination. The former spy told the Times of the candidate's grasp of policy, "Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East." His blunt comment played a role in sinking Carson's bid. Clarridge wrote a memoir, A Spy for All Seasons (1997), co-authored with Digby Diehl, a literary collaborator. He was similarly outspoken in defence of the unorthodox, often unsavoury techniques used in the counter-terrorism profession. "You have a spy agency because the spy agency is going to break laws overseas," he told The Washington Post in 2005. "If you don't want it to do those dastardly things, don't have it. You can have the State Department." His first marriage, to Margaret Reynard, ended in divorce. His second wife, Helga Birkmann, died in 2014. Survivors include two children from his first marriage, Ian Clarridge and Cassie Trowbridge; a son from his second marriage, Tarik Clarridge; and five grandchildren.
Yesterday the administrators who've been poring over the books of Queensland Nickel released a damning report about the way that the company finances were run amid questions that the supposedly-resigned director Palmer had been still approving accounts using an email address under the name "Terry Smith". It transpires that Queensland Nickel were cool with stumping up $3.3 million in marketing expenses and $1.9 million in project management costs for the 2013 launch events for the Titanic II ahead of her maiden voyage scheduled in 2016, which has been pushed back to 2018. And that delay is probably a wise move, since construction of the ship doesn't appear to have begun. It's hard to be certain since the company behind the vessel - Blue Star Line, owned by one C. Palmer - hasn't updated their website since May 2014. But at the risk of looking naive about business, is investing employee entitlements in the owner's whimsical follies something that all businesses generally do? Has anyone checked if the collapse of the Australian car industry was preceded by a massive investment by Holden in building a full sized Millennium Falcon or something?

Because if so, that would be both irresponsible and undeniably awesome. No national shame here, part 1 As is generally the case, it's fair to say that the nation's treatment of our indigenous folk so far this week has been mixed-to-poor. Professor Pat Dodson - who takes his seat as a new Labor senator for WA in May - spoke at an event marking 25 years since the landmark royal commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, for which he was one of the investigators. And, like so many of Australia's indigenous landmarks, it seems that just about everyone has either ignored it completely or failed to recognise its significance. Back in 1991 the incidence of Aboriginal deaths in custody was a national shame that demanded action. A quarter century on the rates of death have actually gone up, and yet the official response has been either shuffling inaction or introducing laws that actively increase the risk of deaths in custody.

Sound like an exaggeration? You might recall that Northern Territory Coroner Greg Cavanagh unsuccessfully called for the scrapping of NT's "paperless arrest" system in August last year, describing the system as being "manifestly unfair" and implicating it in the death of a 59 year old man who died four hours after being incarcerated without charge - concluding that eliminating paperless arrests would help "to prevent the risk of an increase in deaths". NT Attorney-General John Elferink disagreed, and well, now here we are. "Accepting the status quo permits the criminal justice system to continue to suck us up like a vacuum cleaner and deposit us like waste in custodial institutions," Professor Dodson declared. "There is no choice here. This tragic outlook will only change, if we work together, all of us." And so we should assume that there will be decisive action to address this shameful cancer on our national psyche since our society has nothing but that greatest respect for First Australians, right? No national shame here, part 2

Speaking of which, we're not going to stop people climbing Uluru, obviously. Sure, there's some argument that the mighty rock is sacred to the Anangu people and that letting tourists traipse all over it is a hideous desecration of a sacred site (not least because the trail itself is apparently part of a manhood ritual), but that's just being oversensitive! Heck, just try abseiling down the front of a cathedral - there's no way that anyone would find that disrespectful, much less object to you hamming climbing pegs up the side of the steeple. Why, it's a public, taxpayer supported building, right? The reason this came up is that Big Uluru Trek have just gotten the license to run a five day tourist trek from Amata to Uluru and there was some suggestion that maybe it would leave out climbing the rock itself. But then "Environment" minister Greg Hunt confirmed that nah, it's cool that people walk all over it - which is at least consistent, because he was a steadfast and vocal opponent to the idea of banning tourist climbs when the then-Labor government first hinted that maybe respecting the site wasn't the worst idea in the world back in 2009.

And while the rock is a huge tourist draw, not that many climb it these days - not least because the traditional owners have put up multiple signs in a variety of languages asking people not to. So sorry, Pat: maybe don't bet too hard on the government springing into action any time soon. The cocktail hour: octopuswatch! As long-term V from the S readers would be aware, this column has been keeping a sharp eye on the creatures that will inevitably supersede us as rulers of this planet: those wily sea-masters, nature's octopi. Proof of their superior abilities is not hard to find, since they're basically shape-shifting brains with prehensile arms, but today reports arrived that Inky the Octopus escaped from his tank in the National Aquarium in Napier, New Zealand, by squeezing through a tiny gap left after a clearly-dodgy repair job, before making his way across the floor of the building and escaping down a drainpipe that led to the Pacific Ocean.
On Tuesday Readings was named the inaugural winner of the London Book Fair's Bookstore of the Year award as part of the trade fair's international excellence awards. Readings was shortlisted last month alongside bookshops from Estonia, Italy and China.

People are familiar with Australian writers receiving international awards  think Booker winners Richard Flanagan, Tom Keneally and Peter Carey. But an international gong for a bookshop? That's something completely different.

Yet down one of the aisles there's a television crew filming a news report and elsewhere managing director Mark Rubbo is maintaining his equilibrium perched on top of the much-loved "bargains" table having his picture taken.

It's a quiet Wednesday afternoon in the Readings flagship bookshop in Carlton. There are a few customers browsing the 56,000 books in stock and a few more looking at the music and DVDs on offer.

Perhaps it is an award that should come as no surprise. Visiting publishers and booksellers frequently enthuse about the strength of the local independent bookshop sector. And Readings customers are renowned for their loyalty, helping the five-shop chain  two more open in the next few months  fight off two significant challenges: the opening of the US chain Borders opposite the Carlton shop and the rise of the digital book.

The judges reported that Readings won for "its community outreach, support of Australian authors and its help for non-profit organisations working on literacy initiatives". It may also have helped that last year, Readings sold more than 1 million books.

Mr Rubbo, who this year marks the 40th anniversary of his first bookshop in Carlton, said he assumed that the judges liked Readings' promotion of Australian writers, its establishment of two awards  for new Australian writers and children's books  for establishing an online community and for setting up the Readings Foundation, which had given close to $1 million to aid literacy and support writers since 2009.

"And we are good booksellers. The staff enjoy what they do and I love what I do." That's a view endorsed by Brunswick resident Sabina Gerardi, who said she always went to Readings for books. "If you shop here you're much more likely to get something that interests you personally than in the popular high-selling chains. You can tell the staff are all interested in literature and books in general."

So with international recognition would Readings now be branding itself the best bookshop in the world? "Why not," said Mr Rubbo, only half joking. And what about branching out overseas? "We'll concentrate on Australia. I'd hate to become huge and corporate."
Deadpan doesn't even begin to cover Magic Steven's style of spoken-word performance. The man has less emotional range than Siri. That's odd and grating, especially given the eccentric colour of his travel stories, told from the notebooks he keeps daily.

I'm Proud of You roves through a trip he took to the Sicilian city of Messina (whimsically inspired by the Melbourne gelati chain of the same name); a walk on the wild side in a Berlin nightclub; and his stint as an aid worker on the Greek island of Lesbos, helping to process Syrian refugees.

As the humanitarian crisis unfolds, a photojournalist he meets explains "peak compassion", and a Dutch co-worker describes the intricacies of marketing psychology, and how to subvert basic human interaction for profit.

At their best, the tales are full of black Catch-22s, incongruous detail and absurd observational humour. Yet not all of the storytelling is fluid, insightful or precise enough to hold your attention.
A New Zealand conman, who was arrested last year on a yacht near Palm Beach after more than a decade on the run, has admitted in court that he forged payslips stating he earned $120,000 a year as actor Russell Crowe's helicopter pilot.

In the District Court on Wednesday, Paul James Bennett, 53, pleaded guilty to four counts of obtaining money by deception.

Paul James Bennett, with a former partner.

In April and May 2001, he created false payslips headed with the title "Crowe Family Trust" and used them to get finance to buy a Jeep Cherokee and to get Grace Bros. and American Express credit cards.

When, in April 2001, Bennett applied for an American Express Gold Card, he also falsely claimed that his previous address was care of the Crowe Farm in Nana Glen near Coffs Harbour and that he had been at that address for eight years.
Even as a young boy, Mr Foster, who is now an ambassador for Just Reinvest NSW, would run from the police if he was in trouble rather than running to them for help as most white Australian children are taught. Indigenous children are 24 times more likely to be locked up than non-Indigenous children. There are children as young as 10 and 11 in detention. It is 25 years on Friday since the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody warned of disastrous repercussions if nothing was done to stop the problem of "too many Aboriginal people ending up in custody too often." Aboriginal activists and researchers say the problems have only got worse: since the report, there have been 341 Indigenous deaths in custody, and the number of Aboriginal people in prison has doubled to 27 per cent. Indigenous children account for 6 per cent of Australia's total youth population, but amount for more than half of those children across Australia who are locked up. In the Northern Territory, they represent more than 90 per cent of those children in detention.

"Our kids are less likely to be cautioned, more likely to end up in detention, and more likely to get caught up in a cycle of reoffending," said Roxanne Moore, an Indigenous rights campaigner with Amnesty International. Very young children were being detained in police lock ups for no reason, often in breach of the international convention on the rights of the child. She cited the case of a 10 year-old boy arrested in the Northern Territory for sneaking into a movie whose case went to court. "He could barely see over the bar table (in the courtroom) and he was terrified. This sort of situation doesn't need to be resolved in the justice system," said Ms Moore. In WA in 2009, a 12 year-old boy who had been given a 70 cent Freddo Frog from his friends, which turned out to be stolen, was charged with receiving stolen goods and faced court. "The charges were ultimately dropped. But he ended up spending a few hours in custody," said Ms Moore. Early interaction with the law usually foreshadowed problems in adult life.

"If someone enters a juvenile detention centre, they are more likely to enter an adult prison than if they are diverted at an early stage," said Thalia Anthony, an associate professor of law with the University of Technology Sydney, told a public forum, UTSpeaks: Fatal Injustice, held to mark the anniversary. Young people sentenced to juvenile detention were 74 per cent more likely to end up in prisons than those who were diverted, said Dr Anthony. Often a long history of prejudice and misunderstanding - on both sides - sets the tone for interactions between police and the local indigenous community. Youth leader Keenan Mundine, 29, had a troubled youth but has turned his life around. "Police, I had seen them every day, all day, stopping my people, searching my brothers, my uncles, chasing people, kicking doors in," he said of his youth in Redfern. He spent most of his twenties in prison, including three years on remand while fighting a breaking and entry charge before his case was heard. "That's three years not knowing when this door will open, not knowing when this gate is going to open, not knowing when I am coming home, fighting a breaking and enter charge from behind bars."

A new father, he now studies and works on the Kool Kids Club, a program which helped Beau Foster. "I am proof that you can turn your life around, it is possible," said Mr Mundine. Ms Bryson said Weave's programs like Kool Kids had a proven track record, and saved taxpayers money. Of the children in the program, 40 per cent of children had an immediate family member in jail, and another 40 per cent had a parent or carer who had a drug or alcohol problem. Indigenous children account for 50% of juveniles in detention in NSW. Yet not one of the hundreds of children who had attended the Kool Kids Club - since it started in 2001 - had contributed to this statistic.
Deputy Premier Troy Grant has come under an extraordinary attack from the peak NSW barristers' association over "draconian" proposed powers it warns are "an unprecedented attack on individual freedoms and the rule of law".

The NSW Bar Association has taken aim at Mr Grant's bill to introduce "crime prevention orders" that could restrict a person's movements for up to five years, warning it "potentially endangers the liberties of tens of thousands of NSW citizens".

Troy Grant's bill "potentially endangers the liberties" of NSW citizens, the Bar Association warns. Credit:Cole Bennetts

"The potential for unwarranted interference in individuals' liberties and their day-to-day lives is extreme," NSW Bar Association president Noel Hutley, SC, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr Hutley said the association was "deeply concerned" at the way the bill was introduced to Parliament, without consultation with professional legal bodies or legal reform or civil liberties groups, which was normally the role of the Attorney-General.
City Council Approves Eddie Johnson As New Police Chief

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Apr 13, 2016 5:00AM





Updated April 13 at 2:30 p.m.: The City Council voted Wednesday to approve the recently-appointed Interim Police Chief Eddie Johnson as the city's permanent new top cop.

The City Council's Public Safety Committee voted Tuesday afternoon to make a special, one-time change to the city's law that would allow Johnson to become the police chief. Johnson, the mayor's personal pick for the job, would otherwise have needed the approval of the Police Review Board, which is responsible for reviewing candidates. Mayor Rahm Emanuel rejected all of the Board's finalists for police chief in a surprise move last month, and moved to appoint Johnson. Johnson replaced former interim police chief John Escalante on March 28, who himself had to replace the previous top cop, Garry McCarthy late last year when McCarthy was ousted during the unfolding of the Laquan McDonald police shooting scandal.

Johnson was grilled by the Public Safety Committee in a confirmation hearing that focused on reduction in police overtime, the rebuilding of a community policing program called CAPS and the entrenched problem of police misconduct, according to the local Fox affiliate. The Police Department is facing a federal civil rights investigation in the wake of the disturbing revelation that a police officer fatally shot McDonald, a black teenager, 16 times in a video that was kept out of the public eye for over a year.

Johnson, an African-American, has served with the police department for 27 years. His past leadership positions include serving as commander of a far South Side police district, deputy chief of patrol, and chief of patrol. Johnson apparently has no complaints filed against him by the public, according to a data portal compiled by the Citizens Police Data Project. As a longtime department veteran, Johnson stands in contrast to many of the department's previous police chiefs (particularly Jody Weis, the superintendent under Mayor Richard M. Daley, and McCarthy) who were criticized as outsiders.

Pressed by several aldermen to address the issue of police accountability and the heavy toll of police misconduct, Johnson said he would create a mechanism so we can flag narratives of inappropriate behavior in real-time, according to the Sun-Times.

One bad officer paints all of us in a negative light. That hill is tough to climb every time we have to face that, he said.

The committee also debated for over an hour about whether it was appropriate to bypass the Police Board and approve the mayor's pick for police chief, according to the Sun-Times,. Some aldermen even warned that it could set a dangerous precedent." Several aldermen expressed a sense of urgency over Johnson's appointment, thanks to concerns that Chicago gun violence is spiking and the police department needs a major overhaul.

Ald. Patrick Thompson represented the only vote against Johnson's appointment, saying that the police board provided an important check to the mayor's power.

"My question is, who is now vetting, if we're modifying the ordinance, who's doing that vetting? Whos doing the background check? he said.
The highway reopened just after 6pm but lengthy traffic delays were still occurring as the peak hour backlog cleared.

A man has suffered serious head injuries after a car rollover on the Bruce Highway. Credit:Luke Amundsen

Emergency services were called to the accident just before 4pm and the man was later airlifted to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital in a stable condition by the CareFlight Helicopter.

The Bruce Highway has reopened after an earlier crash.

A man has suffered serious head injuries after a car rollover on the Bruce Highway. Credit:Claytons Towing

A man has serious head injuries after a car rolled on the Bruce Highway, blocking both lanes for more than an hour.

The accident happened just before 4pm near Beerwah, at the Sunshine Coast.

The male occupant of the car was trapped in his vehicle and Queensland Fire and Emergency Services sent five crews to help get him out with the jaws of life.

Reports suggested the car was on fire, but the blaze was extinguished before firefighters arrived.
O'Dwyer chaired a round-table meeting with venture capital firms focusing on innovation and early stage investing and met small businesses based in New York at a Down Under New York event on Tuesday.

Kelly O'Dwyer is meeting Australian small businesses and startups in New York this week as the number of Australia's "Silicon Valley mafia" is estimated to be 20,000.

The Minister for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer says Australians shouldn't be worried about the number of entrepreneurs moving to the United States.

The Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Christopher Pyne and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull address the media after the announcement of the National Innovation and Science Agenda at the CSIRO Discovery Centre in Canberra. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"We had a really, really good round-table discussion with venture capital and a number of entrepreneurs involved in startup companies and good discussion on why some had come to New York and potential barriers to returning [to Australia]," she says.

"I don't think we should be concerned that people go over to the United States and New York and get experiences and learn new things as long as we create the right environment for them to return and they are not compelled to go as an only option."

O'Dwyer says the 'brain drain' to the United States is something the government is working on.

"We have to be very conscious in our policy framework that we want talented people coming to and staying in Australia and that includes home grown talent and also attracting the skills and talent we need from offshore through the entrepreneurs visa," she says.
Outraged Telstra customers have publicly trashed the telco on social media after reports it caved in to pressure from the Catholic Church to withdraw support for marriage equality, despite the telco saying its position on the issue had not changed.

On Wednesday The Australian revealed the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney had written to Telstra and other major Australian companies threatening to boycott them over their support for the Australian Marriage Equality campaign.

In order to regain the trust of employees, customers and the market, Telstra CEO Andy Penn needs to take full responsibility for the mishandling of the marriage equality issue. Credit:Louie Douvis

Dozens of prominent Australian companies including Telstra, Wesfarmers and the Big Four banks signed letters of support for the AME campaign in May last year.

Archdiocese of Sydney business manager Michael Digges is understood to have sent the letter to hundreds of companies including Telstra shortly afterwards, in June.
Malcolm Turnbull's infrastructure pitch to Victoria has run into serious strife just days after it was announced, with a state minister dismissing a key federal demand as "birdbrained".

Roads Minister Luke Donnellan has confirmed Victoria will not be yielding to one of Mr Turnbull's main conditions attached to $1.5 billion of Commonwealth infrastructure funding outlined late last week.

The Monash upgrade is seen as crucial by Liberal strategists

In addition to matching the $1.5 billion of federal cash dollar for dollar, Mr Turnbull has demanded the Andrews government separate an existing $400 million project to upgrade Monash from its $5.5 billion Western Distributor plan.

The Monash upgrade, along with the offer of $3 billion to the first Victorian government prepared to build the East West Link, is seen as crucial by Liberal strategists, with several key marginal seats in Melbourne's south-east.
A parole board employee who posed as two teenage girls on social networking sites to discuss having sex with a number of men has been placed on a good behaviour bond.

County Court judge Richard Smith on Wednesday described the offending by Andrew Clive Bartlett, 32, a former operations manager at the Adult Parole Board of Victoria, but not a board member, as "truly disgusting".

Andrew Bartlett, who pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting child pornography, has walked free from court. Credit:Joe Armao

Judge Smith said Bartlett had set up two fake profiles on different online chat sites between April and June last year and engaged in sexually explicit conversations with nine men.

The judge said Bartlett at one stage posed as a Year 7 schoolgirl and spoke to a man, who claimed to be the father of two young daughters, about having sex with him.
The door to the old laboratory near St Vincent's Hospital in Fitzroy was unmarked for good reason. Inside, about six live greyhounds were strapped to operating tables waiting to be cut open.

The tall, thin dogs were lying on their backs, barrel-shaped chests in the air, legs unnaturally tied down on their sides. They had been anaesthetised and had tubes in their mouths to keep them breathing, just like people would during major surgery.

Dr Jill Tomlinson is calling for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons to stop using live animals for surgical training. Credit:Wayne Taylor

For Jill Tomlinson, it was a shocking sight. Like many trainee surgeons before her, Dr Tomlinson was there for the "early management of severe trauma" course in 2004  an essential part of her training. She does not know where the dogs came from but suspects they had been used for racing.

In groups of four, the aspiring surgeons had to cut holes in a dog's throat, chest, abdomen and leg to insert tubes for air, fluid drainage or drug infusion. The potentially life-saving techniques are used on people with serious injuries needing emergency care.
When Sanaya Sahib's tiny body was dumped in a shallow creek just metres from Northland shopping centre, it marked the end of a short and incredibly sad life.

The tale of the 14-month-old child's abduction by a barefoot, drunken African man had gripped Melbourne, and turned many into DIY detectives who were quick to theorise about what had really happened.

But in their rush to identify the killer, some amateur sleuths seemed to have overlooked that a toddler had died in the most awful of circumstances.
A man with suspected links to the notorious Apex gang has been arrested and charged with a string of offences including armed robbery, kidnapping and blackmail.

Detectives with Taskforce Tense arrested the 31-year-old man in Noble Park about 1pm on Wednesday, with the help of the heavily armed Special Operations Group.

Police also seized guns, ammunition, drugs and allegedly stolen goods, before the 31-year-old was charged with armed robbery, aggravated burglary, kidnapping, imprisonment, theft and blackmail.

He was remanded to face Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday.
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The thirteenth annual French Film Panorama in China will open in Beijing this Friday.

A poster of the 2016 French Film Panorama in China. [Photo: mtime.com]

Beijing moviegoers will have a chance to watch ten recently released French films in full-length.

All films will be shown in original French language with Chinese subtitles.

The screening list includes 'Mustang,' which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards, and won four trophies at the 41st Cesar Awards.

Set in a remote Turkish village, the film depicts the life of five young orphaned sisters and challenges they face growing up as girls in the society.

'17 Again,' 'The Measure of a Man,' and '2 Days in New York' are also on the screening list.

Also, renowned French director Beno?t Jacquot will headline this year's event, by promoting his new film 'Diary of a Chambermaid' in Beijing.

This year's panorama is planning to tour six cities across China, including Shenzhen, Chengdu and Wuhan.

The event is held jointly by UniFrance and the French Embassy in China, aiming to promote cultural exchanges between the two countries.

The 2016 French Film Panorama in China will kick off in Beijing on April 15th, and lasts for two months.
The Department of Local Government's probe into Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi's travel saga is set to be handed down any day.

WAtoday understand Ms Scaffidi has already been given a copy of the Department of Local Government report as part of its investigations into her expenses. The report is expected to be made public on Monday.

It has been a nervous five months for the Lord Mayor waiting to see if she will face prosecution after the department launched the review.

The Corruption and Crime Commission last October found Ms Scaffidi was guilty of serious misconduct when she failed to disclose three gifts in 2008 and 2009: a Beijing Olympics hospitality package, Leeuwin Concert tickets and Broome Cup accommodation.
Fort Worth: Ethan Couch, the teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a drunken-driving crash that killed four people and then violated probation by fleeing to Mexico with his mother, was sentenced Wednesday to nearly two years in jail.

A district court judge, Wayne Salvant, ruled that Couch must spend 180 days in jail for each person killed, and then said the court would reconvene in two weeks to consider modifying the terms after each side submitted additional written arguments.

"Nothing I do is in stone, so I might reconsider," Salvant said.

Early in the hearing, Salvant indicated that he would not decide Wednesday how long Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, would stay in the county jail, but he later reconsidered and imposed the sentence.
"There's lot of difficult fighting ahead before the battlefield conditions are set for the liberation of Mosul," he said. Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve. He said the operation to take back Mosul would be extremely challenging because IS has had two years to fortify their city, as well as the Iraqi forces being co-ordinated out of Baghdad. "So with every step north on the march north to Mosul the fight becomes more difficult for those two reasons." Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces enter downtown Hit on April 7. Credit:AP

He said the town of Hit, northwest of Ramadi was all but under the control of Iraqi forces and foreshadowed the seizure of a town called Makhmur in the Tigris river valley. "So there are these intermediate objectives leading up to the eventual liberation of Mosul," he said. Colonel Warren refused to put a time-frame around when the Coalition was likely to liberate the city because doing so would flag the Iraqi's mission to the enemy and he added as another reason: "we're always wrong." Britain's Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond has previously said IS could be defeated by 2017 but Colonel Warren declined to give the same guarantee when asked. "We learnt our lessons on timelines the hard way," he said.

IS losses making recruitment harder Defence analyst firm HIS Jane estimates IS has lost a quarter of its territory in the last fifteen months. Kenneth Pollack from the Washington based think-tank the Brookings Institute says IS has not launched a successful campaign since it took Palymra in May 2015. Syrian forces, backed by Russia, re-took the city late last month. The Pentagon believes IS' losses are forcing the leadership into making bad decisions leading to further setbacks. It cites the case of "Omar the Chechen" who the US believes its forces killed in an airstrike in March. Omar the Chechen was a senior figure in IS and dubbed the organisation's Defence Minister. He was reportedly sent to command forces in the north-eastern town Shaddadi, which was under pressure from the Syrian Arab Coalition (SAC).

"We quickly killed him from the air, taking out a capability they're going to need, he will be very difficult to replace," Colonel Warren said. The global coalition, based in the UK, is upping its online counter-recruitment programs, distributing simple memes which set to counter the wild promises IS promises to would-be fighters. It distributes simple memes, videos and other online materials exposing the reality of life under IS versus the organisations' claims such as the following example using the catchphrase or hashtag "Daeshlies." Colonel Warren said efforts made by countries to stop would-be jihadis from leaving, as well as Turkey's better controls on its Syrian border, combined with the shrinking size of ISIS' self-declared caliphate, were beginning to "restrict" the flow of foreign fighters.

"ISIS, they're starting to lose, they really are and no-one likes to join a losing team," he said. In its latest publication of its propaganda magazine Dabiq, Islamic State said that Brussels attack was a "reminder." "Paris was a warning. Brussels was a reminder. What is yet to come will be more devastating and more bitter," the magazine says. Aussies great partners Colonel Warren praised Australia's contribution to the fight against IS but said the United States wanted all countries to do even more to stop further attacks on Western soil.

This is a position favoured by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott who expressed concern about the poor scale and slow pace of Australia's airstrikes when they began. In August 2014 the coalition had dropped just 269 bombs on IS targets. Twelve months later this increased to 2758. This was directly linked to the advances made by the Iraqi forces on the ground  as they forced militants to reposition from their hideouts. "If you're sitting in your foxhole, you have two choices, stay and get killed or reposition," Colonel Warren said. "The minute you get out of your foxhole, guess what there's an Australian F/A-18 ready to blow you to bits," he said. Last month the Australian Defence Force released footage of two of the Air Task Group's 110 strikes carried out since the start of the year. The ADF said four Australian F/A-18 Hornets dropped eight 2,000 pound bombs in January and successfully destroyed a "significant percentage" of IS' weaponry stored in underground tunnels in Central Syria.
Madrid: Spanish police have arrested a French man who allegedly supplied the arms used by Islamist militant Amedy Coulibaly to kill four people at a kosher supermarket in Paris in January 2015, Spain's interior ministry says.

Antoine Denive, a 27-year-old from Sainte Catherine in France, was arrested on Tuesday in Rincon de la Victoria, a town close to Malaga on Spain's southern coast, in a joint operation with French police, the ministry said in a statement.

Coulibaly stormed the supermarket two days after two other gunmen shot 12 people at and near the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris. He killed four Jewish people before being shot dead by police. He was also suspected of killing a French policewoman in a separate attack a day earlier.
Anne Jackson, whose unparalleled acting career included 28 appearances on Broadway, has died at the age of 90.

The youngest of three sisters, Jackson was born September 3, 1926, in Millvale, Pennsylvania, the daughter of a Croatian barber. When she was 7, the family moved to Brooklyn, and she would go on to attend Franklin K. Lane High School. After graduating in 1943, she studied at the New School for Social Research, and made her Broadway debut a year later in the musical The New Moon.

In 1946, she met her future husband and longtime acting partner, Eli Wallach, when they were cast in Tennessee Williams' This Property Is Condemned. They married in 1948 after joining Eva La Gallienne's American Repertory Theater on Broadway, appearing in several classical works including Androcles and the Lion and Henry VIII.

Wallach and Jackson appeared in 13 Broadway shows together from 1946-1994. Highlights also included a longtime collaboration with the playwright Murray Schisgal, which included the plays Luv, Twice Around the Park, and the off-Broadway double bill of The Typists and The Tiger, which won the pair Obie Awards in 1963. On her own, Jackson's stage career included Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends and Paddy Chayefsky's Middle of the Night, which earned her a Tony Award nomination.

Her many television credits include Gunsmoke, Rhoda, E.R., Law & Order, and narrating the story Stellaluna on the PBS series Reading Rainbow. Among her notable films are Sticks and Bones and The Shining.

Jackson is predeceased by Wallach, who died in 2014. She is survived by their children, Peter, Katherine, Roberta, as well as grandchildren.
Bess Wohl's Small Mouth Sounds, which played an extended run at Ars Nova in 2015, will return to New York this summer for a strictly limited engagement at the Pershing Square Signature Center. Performances are set to begin July 3 in advance of an official July 13 opening and will run through September 25.

Directed by Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812), the production reunites a number of the play's original cast members, including Marcia DeBonis (Homeland), Jojo Gonzalez (The Romance of Magno Rubio), Brad Heberlee (These Paper Bullets), Sakina Jaffrey (House of Cards), and Babak Tafti (The North Pool). Additional casting will be announced shortly.

Small Mouth Sounds is described as follows: "In the overwhelming quiet of the woods, six runaways from city life embark on a silent retreat. As these strangers confront internal demons both profound and absurd, their vows of silence collide with the achingly human need to connect."

The original design team, returning for the summer production, includes Laura Jellinek (scenic design), Tilly Grimes (costume design), Mike Inwood (lighting design), Stowe Nelson (sound design), Andrew Schneider (projection design), and Noah Mease (prop design).

For tickets and more information, click here.
In May 2013, the Chicago Board of Education voted to close 49 public schools, an unprecedented and sweeping cut that disproportionately hit poor and minority communities (according to the Chicago Tribune, 87 percent of Chicago Public School students come from low-income families, 91 percent from minority households). Rather than dwelling in statistics and policy specifics, Chicago-based playwright Ike Holter examines the human implications of one school closing in Exit Strategy, his fierce and (uncomfortably) funny new play, now making its New York debut with Primary Stages at the Cherry Lane Theatre.

The story takes place at Tumbldn, a Chicago public high school slated to permanently close at the end of the school year. Assistant principal Ricky Hubble (Ryan Spahn) is charged with breaking the news to the staff. This turn of events comes as no surprise to battle-hardened teachers like Pam (a very salty Deirdre Madigan) and Arnold (Michael Cullen, with crusty authenticity). Even though she's the youngest teacher on staff, Jania (Christina Nieves) has been in this position before at a former school; she advises fellow teacher Luce (Rey Lucas) to start looking for another job. The militant Sadie (Aime Donna Kelly) wants to organize a protest. Meanwhile, precocious student Donnie (Brandon J. Pierce) hacks the school website and reroutes it to an Indiegogo campaign for school supplies. He convinces Ricky that if he can get the attention of the wider (and whiter) Chicago community, he can save the school. Of course, going viral only gets you so far when Twitter ravenously consumes multiple trending hashtags a day.

With clear eyes, Exit Strategy tackles the well-worn trope of a white superhero flying in to save a disadvantaged minority community (a cliche Holter hilariously sends up with a well-placed reference to the 1995 Michelle Pfeiffer film Dangerous Minds). As the play progresses, we realize just how much the deck is stacked against the kids in this school.

Brandon J. Pierce plays Donnie and Ryan Spahn plays Ricky in Exit Strategy.

( James Leynse)

That becomes glaringly obvious during a furious monologue in which Donnie describes asking his teachers for toilet paper from first through eighth grade because the school was too underfunded to stock any in the bathrooms. The magnetic Pierce attacks this speech with the force of a tornado. Cathartically hurling razor sharp observations allowed with a blue streak of expletives, Pierce gives us a clear sense of a character that is hungry, smart, and mostly screwed. No amount of positive thinking is going to change this situation, especially coming from the nervous-in-the-service Ricky.

Spahn easily embodies the rail-thin nebbish of a vice principal whose default emotions are fear and anxiety. "I just want to lay. On the couch. In in in a fetal position eating a big sandwich until I get sick," he says, collapsing into a ball. It's a bit baffling how this hamster of a man turns into a general by the end of the scene. One gets the sense that this drastic character shift would smell awfully fishy with a less convincing performer.

Thankfully, director Kip Fagan has crafted a highly realistic production that never has us questioning if we're really watching an inner-city public school. Set designer Andrew Boyce decorates the teacher's lounge with grimy tiles and ancient appliances. Lighting designer Thom Weaver bathes the set in an unflattering fluorescent glow that obscures whether it is night or day. Costume designer Jessica Pabst presents an attractive array of budget looks (backward cap and hoodie for Donnie; H&M chic for Ricky). Sound designer Daniel Perelstein underscores scene transitions with a schizophrenic melange of hip-hop and drumline music. We know exactly where we are at all times.

Ricky (Ryan Spahn) and Jania (Christina Nieves) drink champagne in the teachers' lounge in Exit Strategy.

( James Leynse)

In imagining the complex ecosystem of Tumbldn, Holter occasionally bites off more than he can chew: A subplot about the clandestine relationship between Ricky and Luce feels very real, thanks to the palpable chemistry between Spahn and Lucas, but also undercooked, like a perfunctory gay afterthought. Details of Arnold's alcoholism also seem crammed in as an easy way to deepen his character and explain his bitterness. Holter somewhat undermines the truthfulness of his vision by relying on some tropes of his own.

Still, the overall experience is more illuminating than not and a must-see for anyone who cares about the state of public education in America. And considering that guaranteed access to secondary education is one of the few things every American shares, we should all care, especially when the quality of that education is so disparate.
New York audiences have a rare opportunity to experience the "Henriad" (that's Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V), now being presented in its entirety at BAM's Harvey Theater by the Royal Shakespeare Company under the title King and Country: Shakespeare's Great Cycle of Kings. Viewing the Henriad over one weekend is the Shakespearean equivalent of watching the original Star Wars trilogy in one sitting: It gives you a clear sense of the grandeur of the story and long-term development of the characters. In this excellent production (helmed by RSC artistic director Gregory Doran), national mythology takes center stage. This is not just the story of Prince Hal (the future King Henry V) coming of age, but the transformation of England from a feudal society into a modern nation-state.

Doran gives us an immediate sense of 1398 England in the opening moments of Richard II. The Duke of Gloucester lies in state. Cloistered in the stage-left box, three nuns sing a requiem mass in the straight, clear polyphony of the high Middle Ages, transforming the Harvey Theater into a cathedral (Paul Englishby's original music is spot-on throughout). Stage right, three trumpeters herald the approach of King Richard II (David Tennant), who has been called upon to settle a dispute between Gloucester's nephew, Henry Bolingbroke (Jasper Britton), and Thomas Mowbray (Christopher Middleton), who Bolingbroke blames for Gloucester's death.

Richard II (David Tennant) threatens the Duke of Aumerle (Sam Marks) as Sir Stephen Scroop (Keith Osborn) looks on in Richard II.

( Richard Termine)

Tennant plays a sniveling, foppish Richard, whose arbitrary judgment and cavalier disregard for the rights of his vassals seem directly related to his outsize sense of divine entitlement. As Bolingbroke deposes Richard and becomes Henry IV, Tennant's performance becomes increasingly unhinged (and perversely, more hilarious). His ornate robes give way to a simple white gown, while his untamed locks give him a Christ-like appearance: It's the ideal look for martyrdom. As he loses his kingdom, Tennant makes us feel a strange mixture of amusement and pity.

If Richard is a bad but legitimate ruler, Henry IV is a good but illegitimate one (the untangling of legitimacy and birthright becomes a primary concern of these slyly democratic dramas). As Henry IV, Britton portrays a haunted man, consumed with worry that his own son, Prince Hal (Alex Hassell), will prove as worthless a king as Richard. While Hotspur (the handsome and fiery Matthew Needham) plots rebellion, Hal spends much of Part I drinking and whoring with his best friend, Sir John Falstaff (Antony Sher).

Jasper Britton (center) plays Henry Bolingbroke (later King Henry IV) in Richard II.

( Richard Termine)

Sher does not disappoint in his portrayal of the most beloved scoundrel ever conceived by Shakespeare. Every line is perfectly timed. His audacious lies and tall tales are delivered with such relish that he regularly has the audience rolling in the aisles with just a passing glance. Yet there's sadness to Sher's Falstaff as well: He limps across the stage, betraying his character's gout and pox. His voice seems to curdle, as if he's slowly drowning from the inside. This is not a healthy man.

Henry IV, Part 2 is the most neglected play of the tetralogy, and there's a reason for that: Like a straight-to-video Disney sequel, much of the play's action feels like an excuse to give the audience more of their favorite character, the hilarious Falstaff. Still, out of all of the plays, this is the one that gives the most attention to the common men and women of England: people like the "entrepreneur" Mistress Quickly (the endearing but unintelligible Sarah Parks) and "contract entertainer" Doll Tearsheet (the effervescent Emma King). A scene in which Falstaff recruits army conscripts among peasants with names like Mouldy (an appropriately disgusting Simon Yadoo) and Feeble (Nicholas Gerard-Martin, claiming a big moment from his small part) proves to be far more than mere comic relief. The most fit soldier, Bullcalf (a hearty Obioma Ugoala), avoids service by paying a bribe. As much as we love Falstaff, we realize that Hal must dump him so that his reign (and England) may thrive.

Antony Sher plays Sir John Falstaff and Alex Hassell plays Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part 1.

( Richard Termine)

Hal's abandonment of Falstaff is perhaps the greatest tragedy of the cycle, especially in light of the palpable filial love that Hassell and Sher develop between their characters. By contrast, Britton and Hassell craft a father-son relationship that is devoid of any real warmth, but still absolutely believable. By the end of Part 2, the emaciated Henry IV councils his son: "Be it thy course to busy giddy minds / With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out, / May waste the memory of the former days."

Heeding dad's advice, a matured Henry V (now starring in his own play) leads a campaign to conquer France, culminating in the Battle of Agincourt and his rousing Saint Crispin's Day speech, in which he announces to his outnumbered soldiers, "For he to-day that sheds his blood with me / Shall be my brother." Hassell delivers this promise of shared glory for shared sacrifice with muted intensity and great sincerity. He's not a grand, untouchable king, but a man full of doubts and worries, nonetheless succeeding in an office in which more confident rulers have failed. It feels a world away from the prissy formality of Richard's court.

As Hassell assumes the role of the most triumphant king in the Shakespeare canon, he never allows us to lose sight of the charming rapscallion we first met in Part 1. Rather, he uses those skills he honed in the tavern in his new position, especially during a delightful scene in which he woos Princess Katherine of France (Jennifer Kirby avec bon accent) with his winning smile. We cheer their kiss as we would the end of any of Shakespeare's great comedies.

Alex Hassell plays King Henry V in Shakespeare's Henry V.

( Stephanie Berger)

This amazing journey would be impossible without the expert work of set designer Stephen Brimson Lewis, who has wrapped the Harvey proscenium in simple scaffolding. This allows Doran to stage in levels while maintaining the open space that is necessary for four plays of such an epic scale. Martin Slavin's sound design helps augment the battle scenes, but occasionally seems a little too tinny and canned for a production that so effectively employs live musicians. Terry King's fight choreography is breathtaking and realistic, especially a jarring punch in the face that comes near the end of Henry V.

The Henriad is an astounding and sweeping tale, brought to glorious life by the careful work of Doran and his Royal Shakespeare Company. Catch it while it lasts, because another mounting this good is unlikely to come around for a long time.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dec 4, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has described the enormous potential in China-Nigeria economic and trade cooperation as an opportunity his country can't afford to lose in development.

Buhari, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua prior to his state visit to China starting Monday, said Nigeria and China enjoy vast opportunities in cooperation in such fields as agriculture, mining, electric power generation, and railway and road construction.

The Nigerian leader expressed his country's genuine wishes to further strengthen the Nigeria-China ties. China has the technical and financial capacity and the experience of development while retaining the goodwill to help Nigeria, said Buhari.

"So, really, this is an opportunity Nigeria cannot afford to lose," the president told Xinhua at the Presidential Palace.

On trade and economic ties, Buhari said his government remains committed to contracts signed by its predecessor with Chinese firms on railway, roads and hydroelectric dam projects.

In spite of being the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria is still badly in need of these projects, which China, as the world's second-largest economy, has the capacity to undertake, said the president.

Nigeria has been an economy largely relying on oil export while spending its foreign currency reserve heavily on rice and grain imports. Buhari said his country stands ready to expand the development of industries, especially in manufacturing and textile industries and speed up infrastructure construction, which presents huge opportunities for both China and Nigeria.

"The opportunities that present themselves for us ... are virtually limitless," he said.

On the concern of employment, Buhari said 62 percent of the Nigerian population is under the age of 35 and the jobless rate among this group is very high.

The best way to tackle unemployment is to develop agriculture and the mining industry, which China has the capacity to help, said the president. Some Chinese enterprises have already been involved in the mining industry in Nigeria's northern provinces, he noted.

Buhari is scheduled to pay his first state visit to China from Monday to Friday. Born in Daura in northern Nigeria on Dec 17, 1942, he won the presidential elections in March 2015, and was sworn in two months later.
Ford To Transform 60-year-Old Dearborn Facilities

 Ford Motor Company today announces plans to transform its Dearborn facilities into a modern, green and high-tech campus to foster innovation and help drive the companys transition to an autoa mobility company.

The 10-year transformation of the companys more than 60-year-old Dearborn facilities will colocate 30,000 employees from 70 buildings today into primarily two locations  a product campus and a world headquarters campus. More than 7.5 million square feet of work space will be rebuilt and upgraded into even more technology-enabled and connected facilities.

A walkable community with paths, trails and covered walkways, the product campus will include a new design center, autonomous vehicles, on-demand shuttles, eBikes, new onsite employee services, wireless connectivity speeds up to 10 times faster than today and more green spaces.

A second campus location  around the current Ford World Headquarters building  will feature a new Ford Credit facility and provide onsite employee services, improved connectivity and enhanced accessibility to the expansive green space that surrounds the building.

As we transition to an auto and a mobility company, were investing in our people and the tools they use to deliver our vision, said Ford President and CEO Mark Fields. Bringing our teams together in an open, collaborative environment will make our employees lives better, speed decision-making and deliver results for both our core and emerging businesses.

The companys core auto business includes continuing to invest in designing, manufacturing, marketing, financing and servicing cars, SUVs, trucks and electrified vehicles. It also is pursuing emerging opportunities through Ford Smart Mobility, the companys plan to be a leader in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and data and analytics.

Construction of the new product campus begins this month at the Ford Research and Engineering Center. The majority of work is expected to be complete by 2023. Major work on the second campus around Ford World Headquarters begins in 2021 and is expected to be complete in 2026.

A conceptual video of the product campus transformation can be viewed here.

Product Campus

The current Ford Research and Engineering Center Campus  dedicated by U.S. President Eisenhower in May 1953  currently houses 12,000 employees. It is being transformed into a contemporary, innovative work environment to accommodate 24,000 employees in 4.5 million square feet of upgraded work space.

Key features will include:

New connected facilities that will feature the latest wired and wireless hardware designed to last many years;

Work spaces that foster collaboration and spark innovation;

A central green area that will link buildings with walking trails, bike paths and covered walkways;

Energy-saving sustainable technologies, including geothermal heating and cooling, and

Water-saving technologies, such as rainwater capture and automated metering.

The campus also will serve as a pilot location for Ford Smart Mobility solutions, including autonomous vehicles, on-demand shuttles and eBikes to transport employees.

The all-new, more-than-700,000-square-foot Design Center will be the focal point of the campus and include new studios and an outdoor design courtyard. The historic 14,000-square-foot Ford Design Showroom will remain and will be upgraded to be used as an event venue.

Ford World Headquarters Campus

The current Ford World Headquarters building was dedicated in 1956 and reflects thought-leading architecture of that time. When campus renovation begins in 2021, care will be taken to retain the iconic image of the building while providing both exterior and interior enhancements.

The new campus will include:

More than 1.3 million square feet of reworked space;

A new Ford Credit facility connected to World Headquarters, forming a more cohesive, employee-friendly campus;

Improved connectivity, walkways, covered parking decks and outdoor recreation facilities, including softball and soccer fields, and

Enhanced green spaces with planted areas, native species and tree canopy, including the renewal of the Arjay Miller Arboretum started in 1960.

All employees in the World Headquarters campus, including senior executives, will have better technologically connected facilities and open work spaces, creating a collaborative environment. In the near term, both Ford World Headquarters and Ford Credit facilities will receive updates to common areas, including a modern cafe at World Headquarters.

21st Century Sustainability

Fords commitment to sustainability and innovation will be integrated throughout the project. This includes a new Sustainability Showcase building on the product campus, which will produce more energy than it consumes.

The new Sustainability Showcase aims to meet Living Building Challenge standards, the highest level of sustainability possible today. The net zero-waste, net zero-energy, net zero-water facility will include geothermal heating and cooling and generate renewable energy from the sun.

Throughout the two campuses, increased building insulation, new glazing systems, state-of-the-art lighting and daylighting, and heat recovery will reduce overall energy use in new buildings by approximately 50 percent annually. Overall potable water use will be significantly reduced through advanced water fixture selection, metering and process enhancements.

Just as the Rouge manufacturing renovation completed in 2003 set a new standard for sustainability, we expect to do the same as we transform our campuses into a modern, efficient complex that enhances the environment, said Bill Ford, Ford executive chairman. This project incorporates thoughtful ways to improve the environmental footprint of our facilities, while creating a vibrant workplace that inspires our employees.

The company anticipates all renovated facilities on both campuses will achieve at a minimum silver certification through the U.S. Green Building Councils Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design process. All new construction is planned to meet LEED Gold certification standards, including sustainable material selection and material ingredient transparency.

The new buildings will have high-performance energy systems incorporating daylighting, solar orientation, natural airflow ventilation and heat recovery. An advanced storm water management system will capture, clean and reduce storm water run-off, while a greening of the site will include more planted areas and native species, a tree canopy and natural rain retention areas.

Campus Design

SmithGroupJJR designed the new campus layout, applying inspiration from tech companies and university campuses. Designs incorporate the seven concepts of the WELL Building Standard, which look at how air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mental and emotional health impact employees.

Collaborative work areas will be a key design feature throughout the complex. Employees can expect more natural light in individual work spaces and more daily choice about where to work on particular tasks.

From sit/stand desks and private spaces to indoor and outdoor cafes with Wi-Fi, employees will have plenty of choice, including at least one conference and meeting space for every seven employees. In addition, on-site fitness centers and more healthy dining options are planned.

We are taking a holistic approach when integrating employee wellness into work environments, said Donna Inch, chairman and CEO, Ford Motor Land Development Corporation. We realize people are our greatest asset, and we are putting them at the heart of our workplace design to create healthy, happy work environments.

When complete, Fords Dearborn campuses will complement the companys state-of-the-art facility that opened in Palo Alto, California, last year. The company plans to apply best practices and space standards from the Dearborn campus project as it upgrades its other global office environments.
Introducing DRE Enduro, The Ducati Off-Road Riding Academy







 A thrilling experience on the Multistrada 1200 Enduro to learn and improve safe off-road riding skills whatever the terrain

 Beppe Gualini and a highly qualified team of instructors to head courses for everyone, from novices to the most expert enduro enthusiasts

 Castello di Nipozzano in Tuscany, the historical estate of the Marquis of Frescobaldi, to provide the perfect venue for the DRE Enduro courses

BOLONGNA, Italy - April 12 2016: For those who dream of discovering the world by bike, eating up mile after challenging mile, whatever the terrain, Ducati has come up with DRE Enduro. This off-road Academy lets participants develop the skills needed to leave the asphalt behind and deal with low-grip conditions, building up a store of experience and sensitivity that will also make road riding safer.

From June to September 2016, DRE Enduro will hold eight technical, theoretical and practical sessions over a total of 36 hours. Participants will be divided up into small groups according to experience and riding skill; they'll then mount the new Multistrada 1200 Enduro and enjoy an extraordinary opportunity to learn and improve their riding skills thanks to the know-how and experience of their qualified instructors, headed by former Paris-Dakar rider Beppe Gualini.

Courses are designed for all riders, whatever their level of skill or experience. Everyone will be able to enjoy the outstanding versatility of the new Ducati maxi-enduro, improve their riding style on every type of terrain, and do so in complete safety.

DRE Enduro will be held in a first-class location: Castello di Nipozzano, an ancient fort 30 km from Florence, the stunning historical estate of the Marquis of Frescobaldi. The vast grounds surrounding the Castle, awesome views and wide open spaces make it the perfect venue for the Ducati Academy. And there's more than just enduro! This is also a great opportunity to relish, in the midst of the Tuscan countryside, the fantastic local cuisine, enjoy the pleasure of outdoor meals and taste some of the most exquisite wines.

Ducati has set up special instruction areas on the Nipozzano estate that let participants learn and improve the necessary riding techniques; participants will then mount the Multistrada 1200 Enduro and take on the dirt roads that wind through the hills surrounding the castle.

DRE Enduro participants could not hope for a better maestro than chief instructor Beppe Gualini. A true record-man of African rallies, having taken part in over 65 such races (and having competed in no less than ten Paris-Dakar events), he'll be offering participants all his experience in both the theoretical and practical sessions. Ducati Riding Experience Enduro is suitable for everyone, from novices to expert enduro enthusiasts. All participants need to provide is specific off-road clothing. Once divided up into small groups according to riding ability, they'll immediately start improving their off-road skills starting with the correct riding position. They'll then move on to exploit techniques for maximising traction on steep off-road uphill and downhill tracks before - for those seeking challenging adventures in the midst of sandy deserts - learning how to handle tricky washboard terrain.

The DRE Enduro motorcycle pool consists of a fleet of Multistrada 1200 Enduro bikes: the first Ducati designed to cope with any road or route, built to travel from one end of the world to the other while ensuring comfort, maximum safety and outstanding versatility.

The DRE Enduro package also includes the food and wine experience: during daytime and evening meals at the Castello, participants will be able to savour the traditional dishes of Tuscany with their distinctive flavours and first-class ingredients.

Of course, an experience like DRE Enduro deserves to be shared with friends and family. Participants are free to invite one or more companions who, if they wish, can simply spend the day visiting the castle with its historic wine cellars or stroll through one of the most beautiful outdoor areas in all of Tuscany.

DRE Enduro riding courses are open for enrolment: for further information on prices and how to register please see www.dreenduro.ducati.com or write to dreenduro@ducati.com.

DRE Enduro 2016 dates:

3-4 June 2016

4-5 June 2016

15-16 July 2016

16-17 July 2016

2-3 September 2016

3-4 September 2016

16-17 September 2016

17-18 September 2016
ATLANTA and SAO PAULO, April 13, 2016 -- Cox Automotive, a leading provider of digital marketing, software, financial, wholesale and e-commerce solutions across the automotive industry, is expanding its global footprint by acquiring a majority shareholding in Molicar, the market-leading Brazilian vehicle valuations business.

Based in Sao Paulo, Molicar is widely acknowledged as setting the industry standard for valuations in Brazil and represents a strategic fit for Cox Automotive, which already owns the iconic Kelley Blue Book brand in the United States along with JingZhenGu in China.

John Bailey, president, Cox Automotive International, said: "We expect the deal to complete in early May at which point the addition of Molicar will mean that we have valuation propositions in the world's top three used vehicle markets. This partnership represents a very exciting development that further enhances the range of products and services that Cox Automotive is able to offer to clients across the globe."

Molicar currently facilitates around 13 million vehicle valuations a year and has a vehicle catalog that contains 22,000 different models and prices that are updated weekly across 12 different regions.

Molicar Founder Flavio Molica said: "This partnership will ensure that Molicar is equipped with leading-edge technology solutions from Cox Automotive that support our clients in the finance, insurance and vehicle trading sectors by enabling us to streamline the complex process of buying, selling and trading in vehicles in Brazil."

Cox Automotive has aggressively expanded its international footprint in the last several years, including the recent purchase of Dealer Solutions, an automotive software solutions business in Australia. In addition to Dealer Solutions, Cox Automotive's international investments include Mahindra First Choice Wheels Ltd., India's largest multi-brand certified used car company, China's AutoSt., a used vehicle marketplace for dealers and consumers, as well as BitAuto, a leading online provider of car classifieds and car content. This venture, along with other investments, such as the creation of RMS Automotive and the purchase of Brazil's CarBizz, further strengthens Cox Automotive's commitment to the global automotive marketplace.

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive Inc. is transforming the way the world buys, sells and owns cars with industry-leading digital marketing, software, financial, wholesale and e-commerce solutions for consumers, dealers, manufacturers and the overall automotive ecosystem worldwide. Committed to open choice and dedicated to strong partnerships, the Cox Automotive family includes Autotrader, Dealer.com, Dealertrack, Kelley Blue Book, Manheim, NextGear Capital, vAuto, Xtime and a host of other brands. The global company has nearly 30,000 team members in more than 200 locations and is partner to more than 40,000 auto dealers, as well as most major automobile manufacturers, while engaging U.S. consumer car buyers with the most recognized media brands in the industry. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, Inc., an Atlanta-based company with revenues of $18 billion and approximately 55,000 employees. Cox Enterprises' other major operating subsidiaries include Cox Communications and Cox Media Group. For more information about Cox Automotive, visit www.coxautoinc.com.
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A truck carries containers at a cargo port in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, July 8, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's exports in yuan-denominated terms surged 18.7 percent year on year in March, while imports dipped 1.7 percent, customs data showed on Wednesday.

That led to a monthly trade surplus of 194.6 billion yuan (29.9 billion U.S. dollars), down from February's 209.5 billion yuan, according to figures from the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

Foreign trade in the first quarter was 5.9 percent lower than a year earlier at 5.2 trillion yuan, with exports down 4.2 percent and imports down 8.2 percent.

Trade surplus for the first quarter widened 8.5 percent from one year earlier to 810.2 billion yuan.

Exports to the European Union, China's biggest trade partner, dropped 1.4 percent year on year in the first three months of the year, the GAC data showed.

In the same period, exports to the United States, China's second-biggest trade partner, declined 3.4 percent and exports to the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, the third-largest trade partner, dipped 8.5 percent.
Entrepreneur behind business selling platform Bizdaq is looking to the US

ONE year on, the serial entrepreneur behind business selling online platform Bizdaq is showing no signs of slowing down.

Sean Mallons ambitious aims to build a new marketplace on which businesses can be bought and sold has already attracted 1,000 businesses who sell on the platform with more than 10,000 business buyers registered.

The entrepreneur, who launched his first business at the age of 21, also said he wanted to look seriously at the US market in the coming years, though an office elsewhere isnt on the cards.

Its easy to run this type of business from Leeds, but we are going global. Its a case of getting traction out there and it is a big task ahead, he said.

With 7 staff at Bizdaq and more than 60 in the complimentary business, Mr Mallon continues to grow his ventures.

Its been bigger and more exciting than anticipated, said Mr Mallon. The quality of the businesses being listed is one of the biggest changes we have seen over the past year.

Neat, profitable businesses are the most popular on the site, with pubs, hotels and coffee shops up there as top selling businesses. Digital businesses are also near the top of the list.

Anything owner operated works well, said Mr Mallon. They need to be manageable and are often aspirational.

This does not mean the place of the traditional business broker is obsolete. His other business is more of a conventional firm, but both complement one another.

Now Bizdaq has seen interest from the US and Australia, with owners listing their businesses for sale there, and also unusually, Nepal, though the business is lacking in the necessary exposure there to be able to market the business properly, said Mr Mallon.

Mr Mallon said aims for this year are to build on solicitors partnering networking.

The business recently won the European fintech award and was also received an Everline 50 Real Business Award, of which Secret Escapes and Funding Circle are also alumni,

for its market-disrupting concept,.

Though Mr Mallons preference is to self-fund, he has had some help, starting with a cash injection of 1m, predominantly from Yorkshire retail entrepreneur Tim Whitworth through his investment vehicle TIM Group Holdings.

Mr Mallon says that this works because we share the same sort of vision. We would consider venture capital funding in a couple of years, he said.

Raising money is fun, he said, but making money is more fun.

More people are familiar with the idea of self service. We still maintain that element of support. Were starting to change the industry.

Though, like most digital and technology businesses in the region, there is a shortage of skills in the region, particularly when competing with bigger players such as Sky.

It has been a successful first year for the business, but not always plain sailing. Mr Mallon said the top two things he learned this year, and over the course of his entrepreneurial career was to learn patience, and mistakes are part of the journey. Id never built a technology business before Bizdaq, so that was a steep learning curve. Accept and learn from them.
Printing company creates jobs with 345,000 funding

AN OSSETT digital printing company has created five jobs following 345,000 funding.

Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking provided the funding to allow Kuhnel Graphics to invest in its production line.

The second-generation printing company large format flat bed, roll fed digital and screen printing.

They wanted to expand the capabilities of the business and invested in a flat-bed digital printing machine and a digital cutting table using an asset finance facility provided by Lloyds Bank.

Yield is expected to increase 20% over the next 12 months, and two jobs have already been created with another three on the way.

Simon Kuhnel, co-owner of Kuhnel Graphics, said: In our industry, digital technology is constantly evolving so its important that we invest in machinery that allows us to meet customer needs and create the top-quality we are known for.

Lloyds Bank has worked closely with us to identify a funding solution that will enable us to achieve our ambitions. I look forward to working with the team in the future as we plan for further growth.

Alan Kerr, regional manager, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance, said: Kuhnel Graphics is operating in an ever-changing market so its important they have access to the finance that enables them to compete.

The asset-finance facility weve provided will allow the business to maintain a healthy cash flow while it invests in assets that will substantially bolster its production capacity, helping it capitalise on heightened customer demand.

Gary Whitaker, manufacturing relationship manager of Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: Through our knowledge of the business and of the sector, weve been able to provide a funding solution, tailored to the business needs.

Were committed to helping manufacturers across the UK succeed and realise that to do that, we need a firm understanding of the markets in which they operate.

All of our manufacturing relationship managers receive training at Warwick Manufacturing Group to help them understand and meet the needs of businesses in the sector.
China's health authorities on Tuesday stressed the important role of vaccination in disease control, urging the public to have their children vaccinated in a timely way.

Judging from queries received by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, some people are still confused or skeptical about vaccination in the wake of a scandal where a large quantity of improperly stored or expired vaccines have allegedly been sold across the country since 2011, said the commission's spokesman Mao Qun'an on Tuesday.

The immunization program is the most economic, effective and safest way of preventing, controlling and eradicating communicable diseases, Mao said, adding vaccination under the national immunization program has proved quite fruitful in the control of preventable diseases.

Since China introduced the immunization program in 1978, the rate of hepatitis B in children aged below five has been greatly reduced, and incidences of encephalitis B and epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis hit historical low.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the government to strike a balance between the conservation of cultural relics and economic development.

In a written instruction to a national meeting on the topic on Tuesday, Xi said that the balance is a difficult one to strike in a country that is urbanizing at such a fast pace.

The president called cultural relics "a valuable legacy from our ancestors," stressing that conservation will benefit future generations.

China is a great nation boasting an innumerable amount of cultural treasures, Xi said.

He ordered authorities at various levels to beef up protection of cultural relics and promote proper and moderate utilization of these relics so as to bring more benefits to the people.

He urged Party and government departments to keep in mind that this conservation is part of their official duties, and suggested that "private sectors should be mobilized and involved in the effort."

Premier Li Keqiang also wrote comments on the country's relics protection, saying the work should help amplify the role of outstanding traditional culture in inspiring and propelling the progress of modern society.

Local authorities should contribute more efforts to protecting cultural relics and enhancing supervision, Li said.

Scientific preservation of cultural relics means giving full play to the social, cultural, and educational function of relics, the premier said, adding that the whole society should be encouraged to actively participate in preserving them.

"Local governments often consider economic development and heritage conservation two issues that conflict with each other, while they can contribute to each other," said Huang Zhenchun, deputy curator of the National Museum of China.

China is home to huge numbers of historic relics. According to the third national archaeological survey which was completed in 2011, there are more than 760,000 registered unmovable cultural items.

Citing several state parks of archaeological sites as successful examples, Wang Wei, director of the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it is important to find a proper way of using historic sites to boost social and economic development without undermining the relics so that they can enjoy sustainable preservation.

Shan Jixiang, curator of the Palace Museum, called for encouraging the involvement of the general public.

The understanding and cooperation of residents is essential for conservation of historic buildings and archaeological excavation, Shan said.
Talk of ancient handwriting set the science world aflutter on Tuesday thanks to a new study that used mathematical analysis of clay-pot letters to determine that there was a high level of literacy in ancient Israel. The story, first reported in The New York Times, generated breathless headlines: Bible was written way earlier than we thought, announced sciencealert. Bible is really old, championed livescience.

Not so fast.

The study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used a cache of 100 letters written in ink on clay pottery and unearthed during the excavation of a fort in Arad, near the Dead Sea. The clay letters, known as ostraca, were dated to 600 BCE, before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II in 586 BCE. Many (though by no means all) scholars believe that it was during the Israeli exile following Nebuchadnezzars conquest that many parts of the Bible came to be written down.
HONG KONG  Cai Dongjia appeared before a judge in a courtroom in southeast China last month to hear the court condemn him to death. Two of his partners are due to be executed as well, although not for another two years.

Cai was no common thug. He was a Chinese Communist Party branch secretary in Guangdong Province. Those who join the party and receive the CCPs political indoctrination are told the position is a bit like a class prefect, a figure meant to set an example for new members of the party as he presides over its daily affairs. But Cai had a very dark side. Aside from his official title, he was also known as The Godfather of Meth.

The saga apparently began in 2011, when Cai decided that his salary as local party boss was not enough and, a la Breaking Bad, chemistry could yield a second income. He located a source for ephedrine and periodically purchased clusters of the stuff at around US$300,000 per barrel. His partners cooked meth from it. When they had a stockpile of a few dozen or even a couple of hundred kilos, quick sales turned their product into a few million yuan.

As the operation expanded, Cai transformed the rural community of Boshe village, population 14,000, into a meth production hub, much like factory towns that specialize in assembling a single type of product. Adults were mules, dealers, or cooks. Children split open cold medicine capsules and earned a monthly wage of up to US$1,600.

Homes in Boshe were traditional houses built generations ago, and wouldnt look out of place in Cantonese period films, but the cars parked in dirt lots were imported European vehicles, well beyond the means of countryside peasants. Eventually, old houses were knocked down and luxurious villas took their place. Outsiders were not welcome, and lookouts blanketed the territory. Locals called Boshe The Fortress.

At around 4 a.m. on Dec. 29, 2013, Chinese police mounted an incredible assault on what the authorities called Guangdongs Number One Drug Village.

Three thousand police officers were mobilized for the operation, supported by canine units, speedboats, and helicopters. The reported results were staggering. Eighteen separate drug gangs were arrested. Seventy-seven drug production sites were shut down. A bomb makers lab was raided. In total, 3,000 kilos (over three tons) of methamphetamine were seized, as well as 260 kilos of ketamine and 23 tons of chemicals used in the production processes. In some houses, all areas except the bedroom were converted into meth labs. The raid was a massive success for the police, with 182 men and women taken into custody, including 14 CCP officials.

In the center of it all was Cai Dongjia, whose ascent to kingpin status made him one of Chinas most wanted men. A senior narcotics officer claimed Cais network in Boshe produced one-third of all the meth sold in the country. Even though Cai was arrested and now faces the death penalty, his intimidating presence lingers in Boshe. Villagers claim they know nothing about the drug trade or their former party chiefs arrest. Is it omerta? Amnesia? Fear?

Cais meth empire could not have blossomed without police and other officials looking the other way. In his heyday, Cai wielded incredible influence over Boshe. When unwelcome police officers tried to enter the village, townsfolk blocked them under the direction of Cai. If drug lords were arrested, the party chief would use his influence to secure their release. Bribes and threats were part of everyday business, and even the former head of the regions Public Security Bureau was in Cais pocket.

All this was possible, not least, because China has a serious drug problem. Last year, the Xinhua news agency reported the country had 3 million registered drug addicts. Synthetic drugs, like methamphetamine, are more popular than other narcotics, likely because land use is strictly controlled by the government, which means drugs that require agricultural cultivation, like opium, simply cannot be grown.

Even though meth labs have been found in various parts of the country, a report published by the Brookings Institute suggests narcotics produced in Burma make up a much larger share of the drugs available in China. More meth is coming in from North Korea as well.

All this has triggered what might be called Chinas own war on drugs, but with some particular historical twists.

Imagery from the 19th century Opium Wars is still vividly present in the collective awareness in China. The British, who were selling opium grown in their Indian colonies to the Chinese, went to war to preserve their market and imposed demeaning treaties on the ruling dynasties. Nationalists see the wars as the starting point of what they call the century of humiliation, a period of severe political, economic, and social degradation, and drug trafficking is intimately tied to the concept of colonial invasion. Addicts are not only seen as individuals with personal flaws, but tumors that form a national weakness.

The use of meth is particularly widespread. Chinese celebrities have been arrested and tested positive for it. Factory workers use it to stay awake during extended or consecutive shifts. Meth is used in karaoke bars, where male patrons pay hostesses to get high with them. In some cases, businessmen share drugs to seal partnerships.

With plenty of users in China, it is not difficult to see why others have followed in Cais footsteps. Though Guangdong Province near Hong Kong is the epicenter of meth production in China, police have raided makeshift drug labs in other parts of the country as well. Last May, a 50-year-old chemistry professor from Shaanxi was arrested with six other people. That raid yielded 128 kilos of methcathinone, which is similar to methamphetamine, along with 2,000 kilos of ingredients. The professor also provided recipes and instructions to dealers on how to make methcathinone. In September, a former science teacher in Guangxi was found to have set up a drug lab in his apartment. He had resigned from his teaching position to make drugs, which he sold online.

The crackdown in Cais old stomping grounds, Boshe, continues to this day. Last year, police began to offer US$80,000 in reward money for tips that lead to the arrests of leaders in the Chinese drug trade. Remnants of Cais network still operate in Guangdong. Together with their North Korean and Southeast Asian counterparts, they supply the meth addicts of China and beyond. Australian authorities have seized two major meth shipments from China this year: a haul worth US$128 million in January; and a $1 billion worth of the stuff hidden in gel bra inserts.

Boshe is now lauded by the Chinese government as a showcase for the achievements in their war on drugs, and to their credit, the police have made great strides in eradicating makeshift meth labs, but the root of the problem persists. The chemicals used in meth production are not difficult to acquire in China. A report by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post indicates all of the materials are regulated but legitimate, suggesting deep-rooted corruption in Chinas chemical and pharmaceutical industries. With such easy access to the basic ingredients, there is little to stand in the way of the next Walter White who wants to set up shop in China.
DeRay Mckesson, perhaps Americas most prominent contemporary voice in social justice, is running for mayor of Baltimore, and hes losing badly.

But people using the citys mayoral election as a referendum on his efficacy as an advocate, let alone as a measure of the broader impact of the Black Lives Matter movement, are either confused or dishonest.

That a millennial and political neophyte has made himself a more integral part of the national conversation than sitting mayors of some of the largest U.S. cities speaks to the era in which we live.

Mckessons late entry into the hotly contested race to replace outgoing Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake caught many by surprise but despite a chorus of devoted volunteers, over 5,400 individual campaign donors, a legion of social media followers and the kind of coverage normally reserved for A-list celebrities, the civil rights activist has lagged in polling of the crowded field.

Ultimately, even if he succeeds in his plan to reach 30,000 voters in the coming dayswhich would be an unprecedented get-out-the-vote effortit may not be enough to shock the political class and deliver what would be a stunning upset.

His opponentsor at least their campaign operativeshave publically written him off as a carpetbagger in his own hometown. They openly complain that he has spent less of his adult years in the city than he has gallivanting around the country, courting celebrity CEOs in Silicon Valley, and that outsiders are managing his campaign. Little is said of his tenure as a Baltimore public school official, the after-school program he launched, or his campaigns expansive policy platform. They counted him out almost as soon as he signed his name on the qualifying documents.

Yet, in the final run-up to the April 26 primary, supporters have stuffed themselves into standing-room-only events and, last weekend, 100 phone bank volunteers lit up the lines. For them, Mckesson represents the kind of transformational leadership that is critical to Baltimores future.

In the end, his ideological foesand even some who share his politicswill find it all too easy to dismiss Mckesson, and the movement he helped to ignite, as opportunistic and self-serving. They will point to his frequent appearances on cable news and late-night talk shows, as well as multiple visits to the White House, as evidence of unchecked ambition. Others will grouse about his connections to tech companies and venture capitalists, and about the thousands of dollars in campaign donations that he has received from key executives.

But in a post-Trayvon Martin era, few emerging voices have been as potent and substantive as Mckesson, a native son of Baltimore who rose to national prominence after the police shooting death of Michael Brown in August 2014. Sporting his trademark blue puffer vest, he was one of the lead organizers in Ferguson, Missouri, where he always did more planning than shouting.

While Mckesson by no means acted alone, he quickly figured out how to coalesce what was happening on the ground into an issue-driven, interconnected agenda that would capture the attention of policymakers from St. Louis County to Washington, D.C. And as he moved across the country, appearing at rallies in the wake of other high-profile deaths, Mckessons public profileand his cast of naysayersgrew exponentially. Today, he has more Twitter followers330,000than there are voters in Baltimore.

If he was captivating, it was because he spoke to the salient issues of the day with a palpable sense of urgency. If he commanded a seat at the table, it was because he delivered data-driven policy solutions that were tied to a meaningful roadmap and benchmarks. If you listen closely, you can hear some of those proposed social justice reforms echoed by presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

The same young man who was once the target of mall security guards now regularly meets with editorial boards, community leaders, corporate executives, and even the president of the United States of America.

That work has proven an attractive lure for people looking for a central rallying figure, someone who could voice their gravest fears and who embodied their most deeply held hopes. But, if they were looking for another Martin or Malcolm, they did not find that in Mckessona 30-year-old former educator and son of two recovering addicts who was raised by his father and great-grandmother. As the demonstrations took root and began to spread from city to city, Mckesson was almost painfully deferential to his compatriots. His we over me approach evoked both an air of humility and an unshakeable confidence in the strength of their solidarity.

We will win, Mckesson often tweets.

He and others in the far-flung movement preferred a more amorphous, decentralized form of leadership focused on that wea flat hierarchy, where the voices of the many were valued with a greater intensity than those of the few. BLM has no president and no formal board of directors.

The approach has proven beneficial, on one hand, empowering and growing a new intersectional generation of activists. On the other hand, it has been costly, in terms of message discipline, resulting in an organizational schism that threatened both the credibility and the viability of the movement itself.

Soon, some of those public battles, fought on and off social media, made their way into the headlines. In once instance, whether out of genuine concern or virulent jealously, New York Daily News columnist Shaun King (that hes now appearing in a TV ad for a presidential candidate might help answer that question about his motives) chided Mckesson for his visits to the White House. Others were adamant that BLM, writ large, would not endorse a 2016 presidential candidate and believe that their real power rests in holding public officials accountablenot becoming one.

By running for mayor, Mckesson is defying that notion.

The idea that social advocacy can marry the more traditional means of public service while maintaining the integrity of the cause is a time-honored matter of debate. BLM itself was fueled by the idea that transactional politics have led to the decline of U.S. cities, like Baltimore, and that race, gender, and wealth are often informing factors. There is no greater example of this than the 1994 crime bill and related pieces of legislation that sailed through state houses around the country.

In 2015, there were 344 homicides in Baltimorethe bloodiest year per capita and most of the victims were young black men. Nearly 85 percent of its public school students are poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-price school lunch and the median income in the hyper-segregated Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood where Freddie Gray died is just $24,000 a year.

That Baltimore is failing, by nearly every meaningful standard, does not keep its residents from loving the harbor city. It does not keep them from the hope of a widespread economic revival, reforms to its criminal justice system, and revitalized schools. Nor does it keep them from demanding affording housing, quality basic public services, and safe spaces for their children.

But, as Mckesson has surely encountered, change and their agents are not easily embraced. Big-city mayors are more typically elected based on the dominance of political machines that have been entrenched for decades. Upending the system means convincing voters that it can be done. Mckesson calls that a belief gap.

Through his advocacy, Mckesson has played a critical role in filling that gap for the millions of Americans who believe that social justice is attainable.

The question remains: Will Baltimore believe it too?
Heres what its like to be in solitary confinement in a supermax prisonyou are locked into your 8- by-10-foot cell for 23 hours per day, where the lights are on all the time. There are no windows in your cell to let in sunlight. Your only view is the window in the cell door that looks out onto a sterile cellblock.

When you are allowed out for one hour of recreation per day, you must first be strip-searched. Then you are shackled hand and foot and taken by two guards to a small wire cage that is your exercise yard. You are not allowed to talk to the guards, or to the other prisoners who may be exercising in the cages next to you. You are then shackled again, and led back to your cell. All meals are served to you through a slot in your cell door. If youre very lucky, you will be allowed outside twice a week where, shackled to a table in the middle of the cellblock, you will perform menial labor, like wrapping packets of sporks and salt in napkins that will be placed in the prisoners meal trays.

Imagine living like this year after year after year.

I dont think solitary as it currently exists, the lack of any human contact of any sort, is necessary in any case, says Kristin Jacobson, whose film Solitary, shot at the Red Onion State Prison in Wise County, Va., debuts this week at New Yorks Tribeca Film Festival and will be broadcast later this year on HBO. This is the United States. We have a Constitution, we condemn the abuse of human rights elsewhere, and just because youve committed a crime you have not given up your rights as a human being.

Solitary confinement has, in fact, been part of American penology since at least 1829, when Philadelphias Eastern State Penitentiary housed prisoners in isolation, hoping that the silence would encourage them to think about their foul deeds and become truly penitent (thus the term penitentiary).

But the practice really took off in the 1980s, when harsh drug laws, gang activity and mandatory sentencing saw the prison population increase dramatically. Solitary grew rapidly just about everywhere; it tracks with the growth in the prison population, and prison overcrowding, says Jean Casella of Solitary Watch, a Web-based organization providing research and news about solitary confinement in the U.S.

You had all these people, says Casella, and this was one way to control them.

It is estimated there are now as many as 80,000 prisoners in some form of segregated confinement, nearly a third of them in supermax prisons.

Yet studies have shown that extended stays in solitary can create severe psychological damage, causing prisoners to have hallucinations, panic attacks, severe paranoia, and other symptoms.

Social interaction is a fundamental need, and when its withdrawn, our brains experience that in the same way physical pain is experienced, says Alexis Agathocleous of the Center for Constitutional Rights. A prolonged period of isolation is a form of social death.

Thats certainly the case with the prisoners in Solitary, who describe their experience as being buried alive, and feeling this rage that builds and builds, to the point where they express extreme frustration and anger over small things like not having any salt in their food tray.

Plus, solitary confinement can be extremely expensive. Single-cell confinement and enhanced security mean construction costs of supermax prisons can be two to three times that of a conventional facility. Add in the necessary extra staffing and it has been estimated that the cost of housing a prisoner in solitary is two to three times that of housing a prisoner in the general population.

And theres this: Despite the conventional wisdom that solitary is for the worst of the worst, or to isolate prisoners for their own protection, some prisoners are put in solitary for minor offenses like having too many postage stamps (considered contraband), refusing to eat all the food on their tray, cursing a guard or refusing an orderany kind of order.

Yet attitudes toward solitary, and its practice, are slowly beginning to change. In 2011 Juan Mendez, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, called for all countries to ban the practice except for very special circumstances, and added that solitary confinement beyond 15 days should be strictly prohibited.

Last year, following a 2013 hunger strike by 30,000 prisoners in the California penal system protesting the abuse of indeterminate solitary confinement, the state settled the case of Ashker vs. Brown, a 2012 lawsuit filed by a group of inmates who had spent more than a decade in isolation in Pelican Bay, a notorious supermax. The state agreed to end indeterminate length sentences in solitary, released almost all prisoners who had spent more than 10 years in isolation into the general population, and promised not to place any prisoners in solitary for gang membership without other reasons.

And this past January, President Barack Obama announced a series of changes designed to reduce the use of solitary in the federal prison system. These include banning solitary for juveniles, pregnant women and for low-level offenses, expanding mental health treatment and increasing the amount of time inmates can spend outside their cells. The changes also plan to reduce maximum solitary for first-level offenses from one year to 60 days.

Not that change on the federal level is going to do much for Lars, a lifer currently in the Red Onion supermax for an escape attempt, or Dennis, convicted of armed robbery and now segregated for 17 years for cutting a warden. Change on the state level varies wildly, often depending on the vagaries of prison administrators and corrections officer unions, who often see more liberal policies as a physical threat to their members. In the institutions promoting some sort of reform, there are positive incentives, says Casella, like visits, TV time, more time out of cell for recreation, time in the day room. One of the reasons for these programs is not just to prove these guys can go about their business without violent acts, some of these guys have been in solitary for 10 years. There are mental health components necessary to transition people back into the system.

The last four or five years we have seen this sea change in attitudes about solitary, adds Agathocleous. People who are incarcerated have advocated for themselves to highlight their plight. The will of prisoners to tell their stories has educated the media and the public. And we have prison administrators starting to speak out.

And yet, reformers in the field recognize that a significant percentage of the public is more likely to ask, Who cares about these lowlifes? A recent poll in the Jersey Journal, for example, found that over 50 percent of respondents disagreed with Obamas proposal that solitary for juveniles and low-level offenders be banned.

Still, as Johnson puts it, something like 90 percent of prisoners are released one day, and its a public safety crisis if youre making people worse in prison. Which means, notes Casella, these are public safety issues, not humanitarian ones. What would happen if you locked a dog in a cage for years on end, then let it out and expected it to be a nice family pet? These people need more treatment than anything else, not isolation and sensory deprivation.

Or, as Randall, one of the prisoners in Solitary, puts it: All [solitary] is doing is turning us into caged animals. Life aint worth it without hope.
Over the course of a long lobbying career in D.C., top Trump aide Paul Manafort and his firm made a fortune fronting for a group of clients once referred to as the torturers lobby.

So when Manafort accused opponent Ted Cruz of using gestapo tactics to court Republican delegates on Meet the Press this past Sundayits something he may have quite a bit of experience with firsthand.

Manafort was a principal at the lobbying firm Black, Manafort, Stone, and Kelly (along with another top Trump ally, Nixon alum Roger Stone), a K Street powerhouse with close ties to the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, as well as top Republicans on Capitol Hill.

But over the years, they made millions by representing a rogues gallery of clients far away from D.C.s genteel corridors of power: dictators, guerilla groups, and despots with no regard for human rightsincluding one man responsible for mass amputations, and another who oversaw state-sanctioned rape.

One such client was Jonas Savimbi, who led a guerilla army trying to wrest control of the Angolan government from Marxists during the countrys brutal civil war. Savimbi hired Manaforts lobbying firm to help him get financial support from the U.S. government for his guerilla army, UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola).

And Manafort and co. delivered.

What the firm achieved was quickly dubbed Savimbi chic, reported Time magazine in 1986 . Doors swung open all over town for the guerrilla leader, who was dapperly attired in a Nehru suit and ferried about in a stretch limousine.

Savimbi paid the firm $600,000 in 1985 for their trouble, The Washington Post reported. The lobbying paid off: then-Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole urged the State Department to send heavy arms to Savimbis guerilla army. Savimbi came back for more in 1989, putting the firm on retainer to orchestrate a media blitz. They got him booked on 60 Minutes and Nightline, as the Post noted, and they shelled out more than $200,000 to put him up at the Waldorf-Astoria and Grand Hotel.

It greatly helped repackage Savimbi as a valiant anti-communist freedom fighter, reported Nairobis The Daily Nation.

And that so-called freedom fight was quite lucrative for Manaforts firmso lucrative, in fact, that they didnt want it to stop. Spy Magazine reported that the firms hawkish congressional lobbying for more military aid may have kept a ceasefire in the countrys civil war from coming sooner.

Clearly, Savimbi wanted peace negotiations for a longer time than Black, Manafort wanted negotiations, said one conservative Hill aide sympathetic with Savimbi, according to the magazine.

In his memoir, former Sen. Bill Bradley credited Savimbis lobbying team with lengthening the war.

I thought we were making a colossal blunder in Angola, he wrote. I had no sense that Jonas Savimbi, our client guerilla warrior, was any more committed to democracy than was the countrys dictatorial leftist leadership. When Gorbachev pulled the plug on Soviet aid to the Angolan government, we had absolutely no reason to persist in aiding Savimbi. But by then he had hired an effective Washington lobbying firm, which successfully obtained further funding.

The slow peace process meant protracted violence. From 1986 to 1987, the Reagan administration sent a total of $42 million to UNITA. According to Joy Jamess book Resisting State Violence: Radicalism, Gender, and Race in U.S. Culture, Savimbis army maimed or killed tens of thousands, creating one of the largest amputee populations in the world through its laying of landmines in farm fields, roads, and school yards.

As is often the case, one mans freedom fighter is another mans terrorist. And Savimbis army was particularly violent.

Indiscriminate killings, mutilation of limbs or ears, and beatings were used by rebels to punish suspected government sympathizers or as a warning against betraying UNITA, reads a Human Rights Watch report. UNITA continued to forcibly recruit men and teenage boys to fight. Girls were held in sexual slavery and used as a source of forced labor.

Savimbi and UNITA were not the only Manafort clients comfortable with brutality.

A 1992 report from the Center for Public Integrity listed Black, Manafort, Stone, and Kelly as one of the lobbying firms to profit the most by doing business with foreign governments that violated their peoples human rights.

From 1991 to 1992, the firm made $3.3 million from what the Center for Public Integrity dubbed the torturers lobby.

From 1990 to 1993, the Kenyan government paid Manaforts firm more than $1.4 million to lobby the U.S. government to send them more aid. In that window of time, the U.S. was highly critical of the countrys human rights record, as the Center for Public Integrity detailed.

Severe police brutality, prisoner abuse, and crackdowns on hunger strikers all drew opprobrium. The country still raked in $38.3 million in aid from the U.S. governmentthanks in part to the hard work of Manafort and his partners.

Mobutu Sese Seko, dictator of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) also benefitted from Manaforts lobbying expertise. The Guardian described him as one of Africas most flamboyantly corrupt leaders.

He was also one of its worst. Human-rights activists hold the dictator responsible for government-sanctioned torture, detainment, and rape.

Quantitatively, I think Zaire has the worst human rights record in Africa, one UN official told the Chicago Tribune in 1997. In terms of social and economic rights and the number of state actors violating those rights, its massive. And the bulk of human rights violations in this country never will be known. Its a black hole.

And the black hole had a powerful ally. The dictator retained Manaforts firm in 1989 to help remedy some longstanding PR problemsfor a cool $1 million a year.

Manafort partner Charlie Black, who backs Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the presidential race, pushed back on the assertion that his firms foreign clients were anything but above board and said they never (1981-present) accepted a foreign client without informally clearing with the State Department that our scope of work is in U.S. interests.

In the case of Mobutu, he told US he would have democratic elections for a parliament. US State asked us to organize those elections, Black said. We did. He did not like the results and fired us.

But, of course, theres more. In 1985, Manafort himself announced that his firm would take on the Chamber of Philippine Manufacturers, Exporters, and Tourists Associations as a client. That group had close ties with dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose regime put the country under martial law and was responsible for hundreds of cases of torture. In 2004, Transparency International listed him as one of the worlds 10 most notorious leaders of the previous two decades (along with Mobutu Sese Seko, another Manafort client). They estimate Marcos embezzled between $5 billion and $10 billion from his people. Almost 50,000 Filipinos have filed claims for reparations for crimes against them during Marcoss era of martial law, according to the Philippine news site Rappler.com.

Marcos enlisted Manaforts team as part of an effort to appear more democratic. Time reported that he paid the firm $900,000, and that they said they were trying to make Americans have more faith in the countrys democratic process.

What weve tried to do is make it more of a Chicago-style election and not Mexicos, Manafort told the magazine.

When the Reagan administration finally soured on the dictatorthe whole Chicago-style election thing didnt exactly work outthey helped out their pals at the firm.

The firm was so entwined with the Reagan White House that administration officials gave it a heads-up so it could cancel its contract with a client, President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, two hours before Reagan withdrew his support, reported The New York Times in 2008.

Another dictator who both made Transparency Internationals list and Paul Manaforts was Sani Abacha of Nigeria. He hired a different Manafort firmDavis, Manafort & Freedmanin 1998 as part of an aggressive public relations and lobbying campaign to persuade Americans that he was the leader of a progressive emerging democracy, according to The New York Times. Richard Davis, one of the principals in that firm, took a leave of absence to run John McCains 2000 presidential campaign. When a reporter asked McCains campaign about his campaign managers association with Abacha, the campaign pointed to Manafort.

Howard Opinsky, a press secretary for the McCain campaign, said tonight that Mr. Davis did not actually work on the Nigeria account and that it was handled by a partner, Paul Manafort, The New York Times noted in a 2000 report.

Highlights of the Nigeria account include lots of torture. A 1997 State Department report detailed persistent torture and abuse under the Abacha regime.

[D]etainees frequently died while in custody, reads the report, and there were credible reports that security officers seeking to extract confessions regularly beat suspects, detainees, and convicted prisoners. Security officers tortured prisoners with whippings, suspension by the limbs from the ceiling, burning with candles, and extraction of teeth.

Then there was Manaforts work for Putinite Viktor Yanukovych, who became president in 2010. Manafort had been introduced to Yanukovych by Ukraines richest man, an industrialist named Rinat Akhmetov, The New York Times reported.

It was Manaforts most recent high-profile political consulting job, and while his candidate was victorious, Yanukovych was eventually drummed out of office in disgrace in 2014 after accusations that he undercut freedom of the press and tried to suppress opposition political parties.

At the time of the election, Manafort had spun that Yanukovych was merely misunderstood, and that the West has not been willing to move beyond the cold war mentality and to see this man and the outreach that he has extended.

As the seminal Euromaidan protests, which pressed the pro-Putin Yanukovych to develop closer ties with Europe, grew to a climax and reports of Yanukovychs lavish spending became public, he was removed from the presidencybut not before being accused of using a special police force to violently disband protesters. Even his own political party would eventually condemn him and cast him out.

Supporters of transparency and reform in Ukraine are appalled that a former Yanukovych adviser is now involved with the American presidential elections.

Now we hear that an adviser of Yanukovych, Paul Manafort, has been hired by the Donald Trump campaign. This is someone who took part in perversion of democracy in Ukraine and if [Manaforts] role in that fiasco turns out to be substantial, then he should not be allowed within 100 feet of government buildings of any self-respecting democracy, Pavel Yarmolenko, a spokesman for the Ukraine Freedom Support Group, told The Daily Beast. The UFSG is dedicated to urging Congress to approve aid to Ukraine.

The list of unsavory clients continues on: In the mid-1980s, during the Reagan era, Manafort peddled influence on behalf of Saudi Arabia, urging Congress not to pass legislation to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalema longstanding contention in the broader Arab-Israeli dispute. Manaforts lobbying then is counter to Trumps current position on the issue, and most political candidates seeking support from the pro-Israel community have advocated for moving the embassy to Jerusalem, which Israel has declared to be its capital.

To this day, Saudi Arabia continues to have one of the worlds worst human rights recordsbut that never seemed to bother Manafort: Ultimately for his efforts to lobby for and advise the Saudi government, he was paid what with inflation would today be more than $1.5 million.

Manaforts firm also made $450,000 a year from the now-deposed Somalian dictatorship of Siad Barre, according to the now-defunct Spy Magazine in 1992.

Barre, who took power as president through a coup, ruled for 22 years before he was overthrown during a civil war. The dictator sought ties with the Soviet Union and attempted to implement an official ideology called scientific socialism, but later attempted to switch course and seek U.S. aid. Barres exile left the country on the edge of mass starvation, The New York Times reported in the dictators obituary, and his time as its president was most notable for a war with Ethiopia and numerous human-rights abuses.

Trumps campaign has stirred controversy not only for his contentious comments and puzzling proposals, but also for the company he keeps. He has hired as senior staffers a lawyer who doesnt think spousal rape is a crime and a campaign manager who has been charged with assault, for example.

So a lobbyist to the worlds most reprehensible dictators might fit in just fine.
Unqualified workers knocking down a load-bearing wall caused the collapse of a three-story building in Songjiang District on Monday, the local housing authority said yesterday.

Rescue efforts were halted after 10 hours at midnight on Monday, after rescuers concluded that there was no one buried under the rubble, the district government said.

The collapse injured a two-and-half-year-old boy and his 22-year-old mother, who were rescued by police officers about 10 minutes after it happened.

The landlord of the building, the leaseholder, and the workers have been detained, and residents of the third floor have been settled in hotels nearby, according to the district government.

Renovation worker Guo Haide, who was being detained yesterday, told Shanghai Television he was the first to realize something was wrong and alerted residents.

"I found cracks on pillars when I came to work, and I knew something was wrong," he told the television station." So I asked other workers to inform the residents upstairs."

According to Guo, they started work in the building on April 2, and their first job was to knock down walls. On Monday morning, they were told to knock down walls facing the street to prepare for the addition of nine shops.

Guo told Shanghai Television Station that none of the workers knew which was the main load-bearing wall and were just told to "knock them down."

"The designer should know where to knock down walls and where not to. We just do the knocking," Guo said.

Lin Peipei, a resident on the third floor, told the TV station: "The workers downstairs told us to run away."

A local resident, surnamed Zhang, told Shanghai Daily: "The collapse has made us worry that it could happen to our home, too. Our complex, like the collapsed one, was also built in the 1980s, and they are similar structures."

Chen Hui, director of a local construction consulting company's housing inspection department, said the building's first floor had load-bearing brickwork supporting precast floor slabs.

"Once the load-bearing brickwork was damaged, the precast slabs fell and caused the collapse," Chen told the television station.

Labor contractor Guo Yaxin, who was responsible for the project, told the television station that he organized temporary teams for jobs and did not know whether his workers were qualified when he recruited them. "I can't afford a regular team. When there's a project, I call them," he said.

The leaseholder of the building, surnamed Shen, said he did not hire a formal construction company for the job because he thought it was "just a small project that should be rather simple."

Ding Hao, deputy director of the district housing authority, told the television station that the collapse occurred due to a lack of proper building management.

According to Ding, residential and business complexes usually have property management companies overseeing work and generally report violations.

"The company will report such violations to the authority so we can stop them in time. However, some old complexes don't have property management companies," said Ding.

The local authorities said those responsible would be held accountable.
New look celebrates Havana Clubs Cuban roots

Havana Club has unveiled a new design for its 7 Year Old rum expression, which will be available from May.

The new bottle celebrates Havana Clubs Cuban roots with a simple shape that mirrors the design of the countrys traditional sipping rums. While retaining its sensual curves, the detailed craft label presents new multi-coloured edges to represent the vibrancy of Havana.

A series of colourful neck tags have been introduced to encourage consumers to discover the craftsmen behind the super-premium expression  from coopers to rum masters  at www.Havana-People.com. Don Jose Navarro, the creator of Havana Club 7 Year Old, is pictured on the back label as if offering his rum to the upcoming generations of rum aficionados.

Nick Blacknell, marketing director at Havana Club International, comments: We are very excited to unveil a new look for Havana Club Anejo 7 Anos that speaks of our proud Cuban roots and the people behind this revered rum. Capitalising on the growing global demand for high quality rum, this new bottle will bring our Cuban spirit to international Havana Club fans and spirits enthusiasts alike and continue to support our leadership of the super-premium rum category (IWSR 2015).

The newly designed bottle will be rolled out globally from May at the same RRP.

The Havana Club International S.A. joint venture was established in November 1993 by the Cuban company Cuba Ron S.A., responsible for rum production, and the French Pernod Ricard Group, with the goal of developing the Havana Club brand internationally via Pernod Ricards strong international distribution network.

Since 1994, Havana Club has been a priority brand for Pernod Ricard, and today it is one of the Groups top 14 key brands.

Since 2003, Havana Club International S.A. has also been in charge of the domestic distribution of the Havana Club brand in Cuba, along with key international brands from the Pernod Ricard portfolio.

In 2007, Havana Club International S.A. inaugurated its new rum distillery in San Jose to meet the increasing demand for aged rums.

In 2014, Havana Club sold over 50 million bottles and ranked twenty-first in the Impact Top 100. Havana Club is the number three international rum brand in the world outside the US and the worldwide leader in super premium and above rums.

The company is based in Havana and exports to over 120 countries, excluding the US, where Cuban products are banned due to the trade embargo.

13 April 2016 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor
A 22-year-old man that was abducted when he was only 3 finally reunited with his biological parents on April 11, thanks to a DNA database that tries to link abducted people with their families, in Ankang city, Northwest China's Shaanxi province.

A 22-year-old man that was abducted when he was only 3 finally reunited with his biological parents on April 11, thanks to a DNA database that tries to link abducted people with their families, in Ankang city, Northwest China's Shaanxi province.

The abduction took place one evening in March 1997. His mom was working at a coal mine, and the two stayed in the company's women's dormitory. One night when they were about to go to bed, somebody knocked on their door. Thinking it was one of their acquaintances, the mother opened the door, and a well-built young man stormed in, beating the woman while suffocating her under a quilt. As she struggled to get out of the quilt, the man left and her boy was gone.

In 2015, the parents had their blood samples taken at a local police station, who uploaded their DNA information to a DNA database, that was built by China's Ministry of Public Security in April 2009. Their information was matched to a young man that was in Jiangsu province. The police in Jiangsu located the young man, conducted further physical examinations and interviews, and confirmed he is the biological son of the couple.

After being abducted when was a boy, Zhan Weiwei was sold to a man surnamed Li, who never got married but always wanted a kid, for 13,000 yuan ($2012). Li treated him very well through the years. Zhan said he would take care of both Li and his biological parents as they age.
The FBI cracked a San Bernardino terrorist's phone with the help of professional hackers who discovered and brought to the bureau at least one previously unknown software flaw, according to people familiar with the matter.

The new information was then used to create a piece of hardware that helped the FBI to crack the iPhone's four-digit personal identification number without triggering a security feature that would have erased all the data, the individuals said.

The researchers, who typically keep a low profile, specialize in hunting for vulnerabilities in software and then in some cases selling them to the U.S. government. They were paid a one-time flat fee for the solution.

Cracking the four-digit PIN, which the FBI had estimated would take 26 minutes, was not the hard part for the bureau. The challenge from the beginning was disabling a feature on the phone that wipes data stored on the device after 10 incorrect tries at guessing the code. A second feature also steadily increases the time allowed between attempts.

The bureau in this case did not need the services of the Israeli firm Cellebrite, as some earlier reports had suggested, people familiar with the matter said.

The U.S. government now has to weigh whether to disclose the flaws to Apple, a decision that probably will be made by a White House-led group.

The people who helped the U.S. government come from the sometimes shadowy world of hackers and security researchers who profit from finding flaws in companies' software or systems.

Some hackers, known as "white hats," disclose the vulnerabilities to the firms responsible for the software or to the public so they can be fixed and are generally regarded as ethical. Others, called "black hats," use the information to hack networks and steal people's personal information.

At least one of the people who helped the FBI in the San Bernardino, California, case falls into a third category, often considered ethically murky: researchers who sell flaws to governments, companies that make surveillance tools or groups on the black market.

This last group, dubbed "gray hats," can be controversial, because critics say they might be helping governments spy on their own citizens. Their tools, however, might also be used to track terrorists or hack an adversary spying on the United States. When selling exploits to governments or on the black market, these researchers do not disclose the flaws to the companies responsible for the software, as the exploits' value depends on the software remaining vulnerable.

In the case of the San Bernardino iPhone, the solution brought to the bureau has limited shelf life.

FBI Director James B. Comey has said that the solution works only on iPhone 5Cs running the iOS 9 operating system - what he calls a "narrow slice" of phones.

Apple said last week that it would not sue the government to gain access to the San Bernardino solution.

Still, many security and privacy experts have been calling on the government to disclose the vulnerability data to Apple so that the firm can patch it.

If the government shares data on the flaws with Apple, "they're going to fix it and then we're back where we started from," Comey said in a discussion at a privacy conference last week. Nonetheless, he said Monday in Miami, "we're considering whether to make that disclosure or not."

The White House has established a process in which federal officials weigh whether to disclose any security vulnerabilities they find. It could be weeks before the FBI's case is reviewed, officials said.

"When we discover these vulnerabilities, there's a very strong bias towards disclosure," White House cybersecurity coordinator Michael Daniel said in an interview in October 2014, speaking generally and not about the Apple case. "That's for a good reason. If you had to pick the economy and the government that is most dependent on a digital infrastructure, that would be the United States."

But, he added, "we do have an intelligence and national security mission that we have to carry out. That is a factor that we weigh in making our decisions."

The decision-makers, which include senior officials from the Justice Department, FBI, National Security Agency, CIA, State Department and Department of Homeland Security, consider how widely used the software in question is. They also look at the utility of the flaw that has been discovered. Can it be used to track members of a terrorist group, to prevent a cyberattack, to identify a nuclear weapons proliferator? Is there another way to obtain the information?

In the case of the phone used by the San Bernardino terrorist, "you could make the justification on both national security and on law enforcement grounds because of the potential use by terrorists and other national security concerns," said a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity.

A decision also can be made to disclose the flaw - just not right away. An agency might say it needs the vulnerability for only a few months or that its utility will quickly diminish.

"A decision to withhold a vulnerability is not a forever decision," Daniel said in the earlier interview. "We require periodic reviews. So if the conditions change, if what was originally a true [undiscovered flaw] suddenly becomes identified, we can make the decision to disclose it at that point."
A Chinese mainland spokesman on Wednesday confirmed that Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) had canceled a scheduled cross-Strait meeting for "reasons from the Taiwan side."

Chief officials of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and SEF had planned to meet last week in Xiamen, Fujian Province, said An Fengshan, the spokesman with the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, at a regular press conference.

"We would not like to see normal exchanges between ARATS and SEF obstructed," An said, in response to a question on whether the incident means the end of ARATS-SEF talks.

He reiterated that negotiations and regular meetings between the two organizations have contributed to peace and development of cross-Strait ties since 2008.

ARATS and SEF have been entrusted by authorities to engage in regular talks since the early 1990s. After a suspension of ten years, they resumed their talks in 2008 based on the 1992 Consensus that agrees the mainland and Taiwan belong to China and their relations are not nation to nation.

The two sides have signed 23 deals in 11 rounds of talks, such as lifting bans on direct shipping, air transport and postal services and an overall economic cooperation pact.

Commenting on a draft regulation on supervising cross-Strait agreements put forward by Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party Tuesday, An said the mainland opposes any move that undermines the foundation of talks on cross-Strait agreements, disturbs the proceeding of talks and intentionally obstructs peace and development of cross-Strait ties.
The proposed EU legislation on 'Trade Secrets Protection' creates excessive secrecy rights for businesses.

It is a direct threat to the work of journalists and their sources, whistle-blowers, employees' freedom of expression and EU citizens' rights to access public interest information - on medicines, pesticides, car emissions, etc.

We urge the members of the European Parliament to vote against the current draft on 14 April in Strasbourg and to ask the European Commission to come up with a text that protects trade secrets without endangering everyone else's political rights.

As journalists, lawyers, researchers, consumers and citizens we are very concerned about the considerable legal uncertainties created by the proposed EU Directive on Trade Secrets Protection.

This text is meant to repress industrial espionage but abuses its purpose by applying to the whole of society legal remedies that should only apply to economic entities (competitors). Indeed, many member states today criminalise trade secrets theft within an unfair competition legal framework.

Draconian Transatlantic suppression of citizens' rights

Aren't trade secrets usually defined as "a secret formula, method, or device that gives one an advantage over competitors"?

Unfortunately, the definition chosen by the European Commission, in line with the TRIPS agreement and the US regime, derives from an intellectual property legal framework and is blind to context and intentions. In that sense, the 'harmonisation' sought by the European Commission derives much more from the US regime than what currently dominates among EU member states.

Indeed a comparable text is currently going through the US Congress, which would lead to a de facto legal harmonisation of trade secrets protection legislation on both sides of the Atlantic and facilitate the negotiations of the TTIP chapter on intellectual property.

According to the draft directive, a 'trade secret' is an information which is secret, and whose secrecy has commercial value and has been reasonably well protected. It means: "information which meets all of the following requirements:

(a) is secret in the sense that it is not, as a body or in the precise configuration and assembly of its components, generally known among or readily accessible to persons within the circles that normally deal with the kind of information in question;

(b) has commercial value because it is secret;

(c) has been subject to reasonable steps under the circumstances, by the person lawfully in control of the information, to keep it secret;"
The Tapajos initiative could risk the diverse animal and plant life in region, whilst indigenous peoples, most prominently the Munduruku, will see some of their sacred lands flooded.

Following the Belo Monte corruption revelations Danicley Aguiar, Amazon campaigner for Greenpeace Brazil, said the report highlighted the need to halt the planned cascade of dams on the Tapajos river:

"Andrade Gutierrez has exposed one of the worst-kept secrets in Brazil, that our infrastructure projects are riddled with corruption, including the major dams in Amazonia. The first question which needs answering is why the Brazilian government insists on building mega-dams instead of investing in more efficient and less destructive options like solar and wind power, which are capable of answering the Brazilian demand for energy."

Here come the Europeans

Companies and groups are right now readying bids for contracts to be issued via an auction run by Brazil's power regulator. So far two major prospective bidders have emerged - both with ties to the Brazilian state-owned electricity company Electrobras.

The first is an eight-company consortia called Grupo de Estudos, which includes Engie and Electricite de France (EDF), two of the largest energy companies in Europe. The consortium, led by Eletrobras, also includes Eletronorte (a subsidiary of Eletrobras), Camargo Correa, Cemig, Copel, and Neoenergia.

Though it has yet to formally announce its intention to bid for contract, the group has already submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment - plus it's name is a dead giveaway.

It is perhaps surprising that, in spite of the stink of corruption around Brazil's energy sector and the risks the dam poses to native peoples and the environment, European energy companies are still looking to get involved. It didn't gel for Italian company Enel, who quit the consortia this year in the latest sign of its crisis of conscience.

Engie have been operating in Brazil for years already, with subsidiary Tractebel Energia the country's largest independent energy producer (it runs 6% of Brazil's installed generation capacity).

EDF, who in Hinkley Point nuclear plant is already embroiled in international controversy over a massive energy infrastructure project, has explicitly said it will not "tolerate any violation of human rights", is committed to "transparency and dialogue" and considers protecting biodiversity as a "group priority".

In a statement given to Energydesk, EDF said it has yet to take an investment decision on the Tapajos dam, and "is still checking that social and environmental requirements, a major concern for the Group, are carefully met".

This isn't to suggest the only western giants associated with the Tapajos initiative are part of this study group, far from it. There's also Voith Hydro, a joint venture between German firms Voith and Siemens.

This collaboration, which supplies turbines and generators, has been working on the troubled Belo Monte dam nearby, providing four turbines, four generators, electrical and mechanical auxiliaries, the automation system and the complete engineering services for the project.

US enterprise General Electric, via its recently acquired Alstom subsidiary, hasn't ruled out getting in on the Tapajos business either.

We have reached out to these firms for comment and will update the piece if and when it is provided.

China wants to get involved

Okay, so that's what's behind door number 1. Door number 2, which is rather less likely to be opened, finds the Chinese state and another Electrobras subsidiary with a joint bid. In 2014 the Brazilian company Furnas partnered with China Three Gorges (CTG) to carry out a feasibility study on the SLT megadam.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff were at the signing ceremony, which marked - along with the Hinkley nuclear project - a new strategy from Beijing: export its capital expenditure energy infrastructure.

CTG, infamous for the mass displacement caused by the dam it built on the Yangtze River in China, is now looking west to branch out its business, with a special eye on the Brazilian market.

It recently acquired a 30-year concession to operate two hydropower plants in Brazil, the Jupia and Ilha Solteira dams.

Brazil's corruption scandal

At the centre of both prospective bids is Electrobras, the second largest energy company in Brazil. Yes, Electrobras is state-owned and therefore tied to in some degree the corruption crisis that threatens to take down the Rousseff administration.

The company is facing two class action lawsuits in the US, one of which alleges that senior executives and subsidiaries profited from bribery and money associated with major projects, including the Belo Monte, Jiaru, Santo Antonio and Teles Pires dams.

This lawsuit, led by the municipal corporation of Providence, Rhode Island on behalf of anyone who acquired shares in Electrobras between 2010 and 2015, was born out of the wider corruption scandal which originated with Petrobras, the country's other major state-owned energy company.

Recently the Belo Monte dam has become a focus on the investigation, with just last month Senator Delcidio do Amaral admitting $9 million had been siphoned off from the project to fund election campaigns.

He added that the corruption around Belo Monte extended to exerting political pressure to ensure contracts were awarded to companies such as IMPSA, Siemens and Alstom.

Zachary Davies Boren is an environment journalist writing for Greenpeace Energydesk, the Press Association, The Telegraph, The Independent, Huffington Post, IBTimes, Yahoo, Chicago Tribune and other media.

This article was originally published on Greenpeace Energydesk.
Over the years, Ive always written about things that have happened to me, be it good, bad, funny, sad or indifferent. And after much thought, Ive decided therell be no change in the way Ive been doing things.

On April 1, I celebrated my 80th birthday. I never had any expectations of living that long because Ive always gone hammer down all my life. Through all of the April Fools stuff that was going on, out of the shadows came talk of a birthday bash at 3 p.m. Sunday at the farmers market. It took a while for me to realize that it was actually being planned.

But unknown to everyone except my son Mike from North Carolina, I got my little butt literally kicked the day after my birthday. I slept in for a couple hours until shortly before 7 when Mr. Victor decided it was time for us to get up.

Late wife Hazels four daughters were going to see their father, Hugh Peters, and wife who live in Rustburg. I was awaiting a call from Mike, telling me he was leaving his house and would arrive about 3-4 hours later. It was then I thought about it being race weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

I got the call about 9, which according to him, would put him at my house in Ferrum at about 12:30. I decided to grab a bowl of cereal and offer Mr. Vic his favorite, a scraped raw carrot.

Then came the daily stop at the bathroom to take care of business. But this time, there was an unpleasant feeling of pressure in my lower stomach. There was the feeling of an urgent need to go. The feeling grew to be so intense that I couldnt leave the room.

Vic knew something wasnt right. He sat in the doorway, staring in at me. The pain continued to increase. Thats when thoughts of going to the Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospitals ER came to mind.

I had already decided years ago I would never call the local rescue squad unless I was certain it would be my last trip. I also decided that I wasnt about to drive myself to the ER. The four step-daughters, whom I consider blood relatives, usually get a call for help. But they had already left their homes.

Mike was my next choice and he was probably sill more than 3 hours away. So I toughed it out.

Victor heard him pull into the driveway before I did. Since I was still wearing pajama bottoms and t-shirt, I decided to go ahead and tell Mike about the situation when he entered the house.

He brought in his bag with a change of clothes and other vital items for the visit. Then we sat down and I went over the entire situation, telling him I needed to go to the ER as soon as possible

Mike was all for that idea. We left Ferrum about 1:15 as I recall. I went straight into the one of the ER rooms as I signed all the forms. I had to put on one of those green, backless gowns. Next came a ton of questions from a soon-to-be physicians assistant. She didnt even get started before the registered PA entered the room with her questions.

Then came the news I really didnt want to hear. The PA was going to perform two of the most dreaded procedures associated with my problem. When I was ready, she would do the finger prostate test and would insert a catheter afterward.

I didnt pass the prostate test. She told me that the right side of the prostate was enlarged and I needed to be referred to an urologist. It was nice of her to explain that an enlarged prostrate in men of my age was common. But there was something causing the enlargement. It could or could not be something were her words. I understood.

The catheter insertion was a relief because it immediately eliminated that painful, unpleasant feeling of pressure I had been suffering for hours. A weird shaped collector on the floor was being filled with urine at a rapid rate, according to Mike. He had been with me in the ER from the beginning.

Mike and I caught up on all the news between trips in and out of the room by various members of the CFMH medical staff. My favorite ER doctor Charles Lane, who saved my life twice in 2005, was busy and I did not get an opportunity to even speak to him.

The report from the blood work was good. I had no infection in my urinary tract. I was told I could leave when the draining stopped. Mike had been keeping me informed of how I had passed the liter mark and it was still climbing. No wonder there was pressure!

Despite having to leave with the catheter still intact, leaving the hospital was great news! That meant the guest of honor would be able to attend the birthday bash Sunday afternoon.

We stopped to get a burger and fries before heading back home to Mr. Victor, whod been left behind. Then Saturday evening, Mike and I spent watching the semi-finals of the NCAA tourney and pulling for the Tarheels, of course.

Saturday night was long because I was ever aware of those new additions to my body. Twice I had to get up to empty the bag because I forgot before going to bed. Oh, well.

During Sunday afternoon, Mike would check with me to see it everything was okay. I would break my news as soon as the event was over to late wife Hazels four girls.

As instructed, I made an appointment for 3:15 p.m. Monday with Dr. Steve Lewis, my long-time physician and fellow Creek Freak at SML.

We talked for a while and he referred me to a doctor at Carilions Roanoke Community Hospital. My appointment was for 9 a.m. Monday, April 11.

I even had to call Dr. Steve before arriving home. I explained the catheter and bag were sending me over the edge. I never had one before and didnt like wearing it in public. To me, theres always a chance of the bag exploding or getting so full that the magic green cap could no longer hold the sample. So he called me in something weak to take off the edge.

It took forever for Sunday and Sunday night to pass. I almost never went to sleep but after saying a prayer, I quickly started counting sheep. Monday morning came. Debra, Hazels #1 daughter, met me in Rocky Mount and we arrived at Dr. Robert Whisnants office 30 minutes before it was time. I spend 20 minutes filling out all the forms.

Dr. Whisnant came in and started asking questions almost faster than I could answer. I really liked the guy. He served 21 years in the military. He removed the catheter that had been attached to me for eight days. After telling me a couple of things to do and writing a couple of prescriptions, he told me to come back next Monday and let him see me one more time. Thank you, Lord, for answering all of my prayers. I told everyone He was with me and its all in His hands.

My First Hummers Are Here - April 15 is just about here so Thursday I mixed up some food and put the first feeder out on the front porch. I filled another feeder Friday afternoon and put it on the back side.

Friday afternoon, a little male appeared at my front feeder. He reloaded with food and left. Saturday, despite gusts of wind up to 40 mph and temperatures in the upper 20s that a.m., he was back again in the afternoon. Sunday, he came back again about 6 p.m. He decided he liked the back feeders best and made it three trips in a row.

So let me know when you have your first sighting. Give me a time, date and location. You may be the first unofficial HB greeter for the county.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Russia-China ties are at an all-time high, and that their relationship is consistently deepened for the benefit of both countries and peoples.

Russia and China are interested in expanding cooperation and aligning the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) with China's Belt and Road Initiative, Lavrov said in a joint interview with Chinese, Japanese and Mongolian media on the eve of his visits to the three countries.

"Currently, an agreement on trade and economic cooperation between the EEU and China is being prepared, and a roadmap for priority integration projects is being worked out simultaneously," he said.

The top Russian diplomat also stressed the importance of regional cooperation between the two countries, especially involving Russia's Far East and China's northeastern provinces, and the Volga-Yangtze project.

While Russia and China are experiencing "some negative effects" due to a sluggish global economy, Lavrov said he believed that the decrease in Russia's trade turnover with China and other Far East neighbors was only temporary.

Moreover, Lavrov said Russia and China have showed a willingness to establish a free trade zone between the EEU and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an idea initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Commenting on the South China sea issue that has led to spat between China and some Southeastern Asian countries, Lavrov said the disputes should be resolved through dialogue and attempts to internationalize the issue must be stopped.

He urged external players to stop interfering in the negotiations among those involved, warning that such attempts would be "completely counterproductive."

Moreover, Lavrov also expressed concerns about the possible deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system by the United States on the Korean Peninsula.

"Together with our Chinese friends, we realize that following this course will create a real threat to the security of our countries, and destabilize the strategic stability in Northeast Asia," he said.

He stressed that Russia and China recognize the right of Democratic People's Republic of Korea to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but do not accept its nuclear ambitions.

Moscow and Beijing are devoted to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the resumption of the six-party talks, which is "the real way to resolve the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue," he added.

Lavrov also praised the framework of the BRICS, a thriving cooperation mechanism that groups the world's five leading emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

As one of the most promising mechanisms in global state that brings together countries of different regions, he said, the BRICS is capable of cooperating in solving global issues, based on the value of equality, mutual benefit and balance of interests.
Franklin County Public Schools spent more than $90,000 on legal services related to special education in seven months, a number that starkly contrasts with years past and other nearby school districts.

The payments were made from September through March to the Reed Smith law firm, which has offices in Richmond, the school districts monthly financial statements show. The payments fall under the category of purchased services related to special education.

Payments to the law firm began to climb in September, a month before the Virginia Department of Education came to Franklin County to investigate the school systems special education program, a result of a series of complaints made by parents to school officials, lawmakers and the education department. The state has yet to release a report on its investigation.

Parents of children with special needs filled a binder with complaints illustrating what they describe as systemic issues, ranging from a failure to provide these students with adequate or appropriate services to ignoring or bullying parents who advocate for changes.

Superintendent Mark Church has said the district must spend the money to defend itself against these claims, whether they are true or not. In an email to a school board member, Church cast doubt on the validity of some of the claims.

Before the fall, the district made far fewer and less expensive payments to Reed Smith.

In all of 2014, the school system paid the firm about $3,000 in the categories of purchased services related to special education, materials and supplies related to special education, staff development Title VI-B and materials and supplies Title VI-B. Title VI-B refers to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Fees skyrocketed in October, when the district paid more than $23,000 to Reed Smith in one month. Since then, the most expensive month was January, when the district spent more than $28,000.

Payments for legal services related to special education are much higher in Franklin County, which serves 1,105 students with special needs, than other nearby districts.

Roanoke City Public Schools and Botetourt County Public Schools, which serve 2,007 and 633 students with special needs, respectively, each spent about $14,000 on legal services related to special education from September through February. Montgomery County Public Schools, which serves 859 students with special needs, didnt have any legal costs during the same period. Roanoke County did not provide the information requested.

Invoices from Reed Smith from June through December, which were obtained through a request under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, indicate the district worked with attorneys Kathleen Mehfoud and Anne Witt, both of whom specialize in education law, specifically dealing with special education issues, according to Reed Smiths website.

In addition to the state investigation, the invoices make multiple references to due process hearings, which is a way to resolve disputes about the services children are provided. They also mention several individuals who work for the Virginia Department of Education and are involved in due process complaints.

In his response to a FOIA request for the invoices, Church explained that Reed Smith assisted the district in other matters in addition to the state investigation.

These legal matters included advising and representing the School Board in discrete student matters. None of these matters have resulted in adverse findings for the school division, he wrote.

Church also said that the documents requested, which ran from June to December, illustrated an anomaly.

It is unfortunate that the school division must expend valuable resources to defend our school division, he wrote. FCPS is committed to providing our students with outstanding educational opportunities and committed to complying with all federal and state laws and regulations.

Church also confirmed in an interview that lawyers were consulted on individual matters in addition to the Department of Education investigation.

In a Nov. 30 email obtained by The Roanoke Times, after a school board member inquired about the legal fees, Church explained them as follows:

Yes, we are over budget for SPED attorney fees. We have been hit with an exorbitant amount of cases that require legal representation, including the VDOE investigation. We have to defend ourselves even if most of the cases are unfounded and frivolous.

In fact, it has been reported that someone close to the group with complaints admitted to a staff member that some of the accusations were not true but necessary to get the VDOE to investigate. We have to defend against those false allegations as well. Funds will come from instruction.

In an interview, Church said the school district certainly did not anticipate these costs, and as a result has had to take money from instructional areas to pay the fees.

Were finding the money where we can, he said. We have to pay the bill.

Church said he could not comment further on the email.

He said the district is working with the Department of Education and cooperating fully with its investigation.

Reporter Sara Gregory contributed to this report.
Visitors to downtown Rocky Mount may soon get a real taste of Franklin Countys Finest if a local distillery moves forward with plans to purchase the building beside the Harvester Performance Center.

Rocky Mount Town Council voted 4 to 2 Monday night to approve a special use permit to allow Twin Creeks Distillery to operate a craft distillery in the basement level of the Jones Building, formerly the Haywood Building.

The distillery, which is now located on Byrd Lane in Rocky Mount, plans to relocate its operations to the Jones Building, where an expansion would include a retail store for moonshine products, a museum emphasizing Franklin Countys history in bootlegging, a tasting room and gift shop on the street level.

Matt Hartberger with Twin Creeks said the location better suits the distillerys business and a new Virginia law allows distilleries to make the product in the same location where the products are sold.

There is a huge amount of interest in the history of our product, he added.

Rocky Mount Planner Josh Gibson said the distillery fits within the towns goals and revitalization plan for downtown.

There is expected to be no noise, little by-product other than steam, no heavy machinery or equipment, no odors, low traffic, Gibson said.

Gibson told council that communities are clamoring to recruit distilleries and microbreweries for their downtowns, especially when combined with retail and event space components.

These types of businesses act as magnets for tourists and help to draw people into our town and keep them coming back for enjoyable experiences, Gibson said.

The distillerys location next to the Harvester helps capitalize on the cultural strengths of our region, he added. Harvester Performance Center patrons and staff agree that the proposed business will be a clear complement to the towns efforts to give concert-goers reason to not only spend time and money here before and after shows, but to return in the future, whether visiting the Harvester or not.

Council members Bobby Cundiff and Bobby Moyer voted against the motion.

I cannot, will not vote to approve the sale of any strong drink in Rocky Mount, Cundiff said.
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By Erin Schmitt of The Gleaner

The Henderson City Commission has relaxed its special events ordinance as it pertains to alcohol package sales.

Last fall, the City Commission passed an ordinance allowing alcoholic beverages in Audubon Mill Park during special events. Part of the ordinance stipulates that alcohol can only be served in enclosed areas with security posted at the entrances and exits.

When the city changed its ordinance, packaging wasn't considered, said City Attorney Dawn Kelsey during Tuesday night's City Commission meeting.

The Downtown Henderson Project and Henderson County Tourism are working to bring a Farmers market to Audubon Mill Park this summer. It's Kelsey's understanding that the two groups would like to have a local winery do package sales of alcohol.

Under the special events ordinance, the city would require the winery to rope off the area, only allow people 21 and over to enter, and post security.

"That's probably not necessary where you are only having package sales and not consumption," Kelsey said.

The commission agreed and approved amending the ordinance so these were no longer requirements if the vendor was only going to do package sales without consumption. The special events sponsor would enforce that no alcohol consumption takes place, Kelsey said. If there is a violation, the sponsor would lose their permit.

Another significant change was made to the ordinance after speaking with the city's insurance company. The change requires that special event sponsors ensure that anyone serving alcohol go through the state's STAR training  Server Training in Alcohol Regulations.

Ambulance Service: The board of commissioners approved a municipal order night with two major changes to the ambulance service contract between the city of Henderson, Henderson County Fiscal Court and Methodist Hospital.

The first change is that rates are to be approved annually. The second is that instead of a 50/50 division between the city and Fiscal Court, these two entities will each pay 37.5 percent, while Methodist Hospital is responsible for 25 percent of the cost.

The city is the first entity to approve the contract. Fiscal Court and Methodist Hospital will also need to approve the contract before it is implemented.

Zoning: The commissioners heard first reading to amend the zoning ordinance as it pertains to multiple use businesses. The Planning Commission recommended that no more than three businesses be allowed in the same structure with a conditional use permit.

This amendment affects the Residential/Office District, Neighborhood Business District, General Business District, Central Business District, Highway Commercial District, Gateway Zone District and Henderson Innovative Planning District.

Insurance: A municipal order renewing stop/loss insurance coverage and organ transplant coverage for the upcoming fiscal year in the city's health benefits plan was approved.

Fraternal Order of Police: The commission authorized a request for specs and bids on roof repairs for the city-owned former Fire Department No. 3, which has been under lease to the Fraternal Order of Police since 2007.

Grant application: The commission passed a resolution authorizing the Henderson Fire Department to submit a grant application to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Under the Port Authority Grant Program for $168,500 to be used for three years of training in Safe Vessel Operations.

Public improvements: The commission approved water, stormwater and sanitary sewer improvements for the Merrill Place Commercial Subdivision I and II. Sanitary sewer improvements will also be made for Colonial Senior Living.

Ordinance amendments: The commission heard and approved second readings for a pair of amended ordinances, including one that amended the job and classification plan and budgeted positions for the fiscal year 2016. The other ordinance amends the baseline number of employees at Dana Commercial Manufacturing LLC as it relates to the company's eligibility to receive incentives through the Kentucky Business Investment program.

Debate: SurfKY News Group is sponsoring a city commission candidate debate from 6 to 8 p.m. May 11 at the Henderson Fine Arts Center. A meet and greet for candidates will begin at 6 p.m. and the debate will follow at 6:30 p.m.
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It's a rare job that would pay someone to work extra days if they failed to meet a deadline that was agreed upon well in advance. But that's the deal for members of the Kentucky General Assembly if they don't reach an agreement soon on the state's 2016-18 budget. They would come back for a special session called by the governor to finish their work  and do it at the expense of taxpayers.

This is ludicrous. Lawmakers shouldn't ever be surprised by the challenges of reaching a budget agreement. It must be done, and politicians agree to do the work when they run for office. They  along with the governor  know going into a session in January of even-numbered years that they must pass a two-year spending plan. Sincere differences of opinion and political jockeying are all part of the process. But so is compromise.

Running a legislative session costs about $70,000 a day. That's not enough to break state coffers, but it's nothing to blink at either. What it costs to run a session for a single day is more money than most Kentuckians earn for an entire year.

Conveniently, each side of a budget debate can blame the other for refusing to make the concessions required to reach some agreement.

But it's not just budget work that the General Assembly fails to tackle in a timely manner. Lawmakers have squandered time on other issues as well. The alarm sounded over the pension crisis years ago without a timely response. The need for a tax code overhaul was evident long ago, but that also didn't stir much urgency.

If the General Assembly has any special skill, it might be in the area of kicking. We mean, of course, kicking problems into the next session, the next year and even the next decade.

The compromise needed to reach a budget agreement before the last day of this legislative session  which will probably be Tuesday  hinges on education funding and the pension crisis.

Gov. Matt Bevin and Senate Republicans say cuts to education are necessary to begin paying down the pension shortfall. House Democrats want to roll back Bevin's proposed cuts for K-12 schools and universities.

After a meeting Wednesday with Bevin, eight university presidents said they would accept a 2 percent cut in the current budget (if that survives a court challenge) and 4.5 percent next year and the year after. Bevin originally proposed reductions of 4.5 percent this year and 9 percent in both of the next two years.

In the House, Democrats want no cuts this year to universities and just 2 percent next year. They also want to eliminate cuts to secondary education.

Some progress has been made between legislative leaders over the last few days

Senate President Roberts and House Majority Leader Greg Stumbo need to deliver a compromise. Failing to do so will be an insult to hardworking Kentuckians who rarely have the option of extra pay for failing to get a job done on time.

This editorial was written by the Kentucky New Era.
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By James L. Hartley, Special to The Gleaner

I didn't want to say this, but maybe it's time to talk about Hillary.

She's not electable. It's time we faced it. Her one redeeming quality is that she's better  worlds better  than the travesties leading the GOP, Cruz and Trump. But that's hardly a ringing endorsement for her candidacy.

Bernie Sanders does better in head-to-head polls against all the Republican candidates. Every poll, every time.

The RCP average has him 17 points above Trump, compared to only 11 points for Hillary. She's won the deep South handily, but when was the last time any of those states went to the Democrats in the general election? Obama couldn't win them. What makes us think Hillary can?

Bernie does better in states that actually vote Democratic in the general election. He does much better among crucial independents. He's rates as more trustworthy, honest, and likable  by far. Trump is the only candidate less likable than Hillary. Bernie will win swing states. And don't listen to that baloney about Bernie only appealing to whites  Hawaii is the least white state in the U.S., and Bernie crushed it there.

Bernie is more consistent in his support of the cause. Sure, Hillary supports gay right  now that those on the ground have done all the hard work in changing public opinion. But back when the fight was hard, where was she? Where was she during DOMA, and Don't Ask, Don't Tell?

And yeah, she's against the Iraq War  now. But back when it could have mattered, it was Bernie who fought against it, and against the Patriot Act. He was on the right side when it was political suicide.

Hillary, on the other hand, didn't have either the political backbone or good sense to oppose interventionist wars and government surveillance based on Republican lies.

While middle class wages have stagnated for decades now, and while the median income hovers around 50k a year, Hillary took millions from Wall Street and big money interests giving private speeches. If she'd used those speeches to really sock it to the big banks, she would've release them, but she didn't. If she becomes president, it'll be business as usual for Goldman-Sachs.

All of these points leave aside the fact that Congressional Republicans are just foaming at the mouth to ramp up their Benghazi lynching if Hillary gets the nod.

It doesn't matter if the charges are fair. It doesn't matter that the hearings are completely political. It doesn't matter that the same people who want to hold Clinton accountable for the loss of four Americans on foreign soil still, to the day, refuse to hold Bush accountable for the loss of thousands of Americans on American soil.

It only matters that the one thing this divided GOP agrees on is that they hate Hillary.

She may lose.

Trump is the perfect Republican candidate  a spoiled, hypocritical, white male. He is the embodiment of corrupt capitalism, fascism, misogyny, racism, and xenophobia. All of the things the GOP has said in code and through legislative actions for generations Trump says without filter, so that they can no longer pretend that they aren't the party of hate.

The only thing more frightening than a Trump candidacy is the mob supporting him.

If this worries you  and it should  you cannot vote for Hillary. Bernie Sanders has the energy, the momentum, the integrity and the honesty to beat the GOP. He's unfailingly fought for workers, women, and minorities for decades. And he's never taken a penny from Wall Street. The future of the nation is with Bernie.

James L. Hartley is a resident of Clay, Ky.
McVey family expands by hosting Burlington Bees baseball players

McVey says hosting Burlington Bees players has been an enriching experience for his family
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DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syrian government troops pushed an offensive Tuesday against militants in the country's north on the eve of parliament elections -- a vote that is expected to rubber-stamp an assembly loyal to President Bashar Assad ahead of a new round of peace talks in Geneva resuming this week.

Damascus said the vote, which will only be held in areas controlled by the government, is constitutional and separate from the talks aimed at ending the war. But the opposition said it contributes to an increasingly unfavorable climate for negotiations amid fierce fighting that threatens an increasingly crumbling cease-fire engineered by the United States and Russia.

The new offensive, launched by Syrian troops and their allies Tuesday, seeks to retake an important hilltop village south of the city of Aleppo from militants, including al-Qaida's local affiliate.

Al-Manar TV, run by Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, which is fighting alongside Syrian government forces, reported the offensive to retake the village of Tel al-Ais. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist-run monitoring group, said clashes were ongoing around Tel al-Ais and the nearby village of Khan Touman.

The Observatory said dozens of troops and pro-government fighters were killed in Tuesday's clashes in Aleppo province, without providing precise figures.

Tel al-Ais overlooks a supply line connecting the capital, Damascus, to the northern city of Aleppo, parts of which have been held by groups opposed to the government since 2012. Militants captured Tel al-Ais earlier this month after heavy fighting despite the U.S.-Russian-brokered truce, which excludes the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front.

The Syrian National Coalition, an Istanbul-based opposition group, said the offensive in Aleppo is a violation of the cease-fire, warning that the agreement will lose all meaning if the attacks continue unheeded.

The fighting comes as U.N. brokered indirect peace talks are set to resume on Wednesday in Geneva where the U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will be meeting with an umbrella opposition coalition backed by Saudi Arabia, the United States and other Western powers.

The Syrian government said its delegation will arrive in Geneva on Friday, once the balloting in the parliament elections is completed.

De Mistura has said this upcoming round of talks will focus on a political transition in Syria, but government officials say any talk of Assad's departure is a red line.

In Damascus, streets were festooned with posters of campaigning candidates on the eve of the elections. Voting for parliament is held every four years in Syria.

The overriding theme was the grinding war, now in its sixth year.

"Hand in hand, we will rebuild," said a candidate's slogan, written in Arabic over his photograph.

"For the sake of our children who have died, we will continue," read another poster.

Around 3,500 government-approved candidates are competing for seats in Syria's 250-seat parliament, after more than 7,000 others dropped out.

The election, in which soldiers are being allowed to vote for the first time, will be conducted only in areas under government control. Western leaders and members of the opposition have denounced the process as a sham and a provocation that undermines the Geneva peace talks.

The government said the election is constitutional and has nothing to do with a roadmap for peace agreed on by international powers, which envisions free elections in Syria after a new constitution is drawn and a political transition begins.

In Damascus, many residents rejected voices from abroad calling the elections a farce.

"The Syrian people represent themselves, they don't need anyone from outside to tell them this is right or wrong," said Mahmoud Hilal, a resident who was visiting Damascus from the eastern, Islamic State-held Deir-el-Zour province.

Samer Dabboura, a Damascus resident, said elections are a national duty for every Syrian. "It's a duty for me to choose who should represent us in this parliament, because it is our voice. It is not fake or mandatory, or as they say being forced on us."

Sharif Shehadeh, a member of the current parliament running for re-election, acknowledged that the elections are not perfect or consensual but said those who criticize from abroad have an agenda.

"I'm not saying elections in Syria are like elections in Switzerland but it's a stage that we must assist in as Syrians to move forward toward the future," Shehadeh said.

Shehadeh said the Syrian leadership was prepared to offer a national unity government that would include members of the opposition, and added that any talk of a transitional government is unacceptable because it would lead to a Libya scenario.

"The opposition is still talking about a transitional government. This will not happen in Syria under any circumstances, even if it means prolonging the war for one hundred years," he said.

Also Tuesday, a Russian helicopter crashed near the central Syrian city of Homs, killing the two pilots.

Russia's Defense Ministry said the Mi-28N helicopter gunship crashed early in the day after completing its mission. It said there was no evidence that it came under fire. The bodies of the pilots were recovered and taken to the Hemeimeem air base on Syria's coast, the ministry said.

Russia has been carrying out airstrikes since Sept. 30 in support of Syrian government forces. The air campaign has allowed Russia to test some of its latest weapons, including the Mi-28N helicopter.

The crash brings to three the number of aircraft that Russia has now lost in Syria. The two others were a Su-24 bomber that was shot down by a Turkish jet in November and a helicopter sent on a rescue mission, which was hit by ground fire.

In northern Syria, Turkish artillery shelled Islamic State targets in the Syrian town of Azaz from across the border, after rockets fired from Syria struck a Turkish border town, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.

Two rockets landed in the Turkish town of Kilis on Tuesday, wounding at least eight people. At least four other people were wounded in a similar incident on Monday.

___

Issa reported from Beirut. Associated Press Writer Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for further cooperation with Israel in the field of innovation when meeting with Israeli Knesset (parliament) Speaker Yuli Edelstein on Tuesday in Beijing.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang(R) meets with Israeli Parliament Speaker Yuli Edelstein in Beijing, capital of China, April 12, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Li applauded the smooth and healthy development of China-Israel relations.

Bilateral trade has maintained strong growth against the backdrop of shrinking global trade last year, which showed the great potential of bilateral cooperation, he said.

Next year marks the 25th anniversary of the China-Israel diplomatic ties and China is willing to take the opportunity to further political exchanges and expand pragmatic cooperation with Israel, he said.

The premier called on the two sides to actively push forward the negotiation on a free trade agreement, and create mechanisms and platforms for innovation cooperation.

He hoped that the Israeli parliament will continue to support the development of bilateral relations and create a better environment for bilateral cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

Edelstein, on a China visit from Sunday to Thursday, said Israel is willing to enhance exchanges and communication with the Chinese government, law-making agency, business community, academic community and civil society.

He called on the two sides to forge a partnership in driving economic growth and encouraging innovation.
NORWALK -- For Geeta Sheth, the journey began in 1983 when she moved from Mumbai, India, to America at the age of 25 with a dream to own her own hair salon.

That dream eventually became reality and on Friday, Sheth's successful Norwalk business "Hair Today" will celebrate its 15th anniversary.

Sheth's hairdressing career actually began in her homeland shortly before her move to the USA.

"I was a hairdresser for just over one year," she said.

The youngest of seven siblings with six older brothers, Sheth stayed behind as first her brother Harkishan came here, then her parents. She and another brother followed in 1983 and four remaining brothers shortly after.

There would be several more stops between Queens, N.Y., where her family settled, and her salon at 49 Stevens St. in Norwalk.

"I had a lot of jobs," Sheth, who already spoke English and attended two years of college in India, said. "I started at a cleaners folding clothes. Then as a cashier at a drug store in the World Trade Center."

She married and moved to Stamford in 1988 and spent the next 15 years as a bank teller.

"While I worked fulltime at the bank, I went to hairdressing school in Norwalk for two years."

She graduated from the Renasci Academy in May 1997 and began cutting hair.

"I still worked at the bank, but I worked part-time at a salon in Stamford during weekends and nights."

She also had two little ones, Mona and Nick--now 29 and 27--which her husband, Deepak, and her mother and mother in-law took turns looking after while she worked two jobs.

Meanwhile, Sheth was building a solid customer base as they followed her from one salon to another. The number eventually grew large enough that she was ready to open her own business.

"I began looking around and this one was for sale. So I bought the business."

On April 15, 2001, Hair Today was officially open for business with Geeta Sheth as the proprietor.

"I was so excited," she said. "I wasn't nervous. I really knew I was going to make it."

While many of her steady customers from past years followed her there, Sheth devised marketing skills to attract new ones.

"I went house to house in the neighborhood and left flyers to let them know I was open and many of them came in. It was a little hard at first, but I made enough money for my rent. I didn't have to use pocket money and I never had to use my husband's money. I covered my rent and all my expenses starting that first month."

At first, Hair Today was open seven days, but Sheth has since cut down and now operates Tuesday through Sunday. But she still offers the same services as always, including haircutting, coloring, waxing, highlighting, and eyebrow threading, one of her specialties.

"I've been doing that since I was 12."

Her business continued to grow and she celebrated her fifth anniversary in 2006 by buying the building where her salon was. Ten years later, as she gets ready to celebrate her 15th anniversary, Sheth's clientele has grown to over 200.

"I've gotten new customers just by word of mouth and my website (www.HairTodayinNorwalk.com)," she said.

Not just women, either. Plenty of men and children sit in her chair as well.

"I told my husband about her and he started going," Frances Cuartas of Norwalk said. "My son was about two or three and Geeta was the first person he let cut his hair without screaming. I've gone to her for over 10 years and it was great when I found her. She's literally at the bottom of my street.

"The one service that drew me to her initially was her technique for eyebrow threading, which she brought from India. That's very common over there and she brought that technique here. I told my sister about her and now she comes down from New Milford. My niece is 16 and she goes, too. Geeta has become our 'go-to' eyebrow person."

Meanwhile, Julianne Sharer from Stamford is one of those customers who followed Sheth from salon to salon.

"I started going to her in 1997. I was just lucky because I was assigned to her where I went," Sharer said. "She did such a wonderful job I started requesting her every time. Then wherever she went, I went. Old Greenwich, the Stamford Mall, and finally when she opened her own place. My husband goes to her, too."

You can only imagine what many of her customers felt earlier this year when Sheth, who's 57, thought about retiring. She even had a buyer for her business.

"I was so upset," Cuartas said. "I said I wish you the best Geeta, but I really don't want you to go."

Cuartas and others like her were certainly relieved when Sheth changed her mind and decided to stay on.

"I still want to be here for a little while," she said. "But I do think about retiring someday."

That is, if her many customers let her.
STAMFORD -- One nonprofit organization is bringing its mission of free clothing to the less fortunate of Fairfield County.

Now collecting donations for a projected June opening, the Fairfield County branch of Clothes to Kids--which will be nestled into a former game room at Stamford's Yerwood Center--is the nation's sixth installment of the Florida-based nonprofit. Though located in Stamford, the branch will serve the whole county, including Norwalk.

Aptly named Clothes To Kids of Fairfield County, the organization's goal is made clear by its title: to provide new and quality used clothing to low-income or in-crisis school age children from Fairfield County, free of charge. Each branch functions like a store where children can try on clothes and pick what they'd like.

Elaine Rubinson, the director of the new program, believes that this program will offer disadvantaged children the necessity of clothing without the cost of their dignity.

"The children who come to shop here won't have to wait until their friends aren't around to show up and shop. What we're offering them is the chance to get the clothing that they need without making them feel ashamed about shopping here," said Rubinson, a former social worker and teacher of special education. "I think that kids do much, much better in school when they feel good about themselves, and clothing is such an integral part of how kids end up living and feeling about themselves."

Unlike with other similar charities, families will shop by appointment. Each eligible child may shop twice a year to select a week's worth of clothing. The store will stock only new socks, underwear and boxers, in addition to high quality used clothing of other kinds.

"I think the experience of shopping and trying on your clothes is such a normalizing experience, and something that people just take for granted--but some people cannot do that," Rubinson told The Hour. "It feels great to go and try clothes on and know that you will be able to go home with what you tried on."

Children and teens will be able to access the store only with the referral of an adult--a school teacher or social worker, someone from the fire or police department, or a pediatrician, for example, Rubinson said.

"They're not just going to be able to come to our organization and say, 'I need clothes, I'm in crisis,'" Rubinson said, adding that whether the student receives free or reduced-price school lunches will also be a factor. "They would really need to be referred. We're not really equipped, nor do we want to evaluate whether a child is in crisis or not."

To ensure quality, Rubinson personally picks up items from donors across the county who have made an appointment through the organization's website, ClothesToKidsFairfieldCounty.org. She is presently hoping to collect enough donations to have a fully-stocked store in time for back-to-school shopping season this summer.

"At this point, I don't want clothing just dropped off," Rubinson told The Hour. "I want to make sure I get good used-quality clothing. I'm looking for what your kids and my kids would wear."

Rubinson said that she was inspired to open up a Fairfield County branch of Clothes to Kids after attending one of the charity's fundraising events in Florida a year ago. She was struck by the way the national organization's stores--in Florida and Colorado, with a Rhode Island location opening soon--create an experience like shopping as they distribute free clothes.

"I thought, 'This is so unique, this is amazing,'" said Rubinson, a onetime Norwalker who now lives in Stamford. "It's a unique way of delivering the goods."

It wasn't just Rubinson who was galvanized by Clothes for Kids' cause; the charity's mission statement struck a chord with others as well.

When Jenny Roman first moved to Connecticut last summer, she was looking for a charity to get involved with. The veteran nonprofit volunteer said that once she had heard about Clothes to Kids, she knew that it was something that she wanted to do.

"A lot of times donated clothing ends up in landfills or it ends up being resold, instead of just being given away. So this organization provides a great opportunity for those clothes to really go to people that actually need them," said Roman.

While Rubinson is gearing up towards a grand opening, the store relies on the donations of others for their wares. Although Rubinson would like to eventually be open for six hours a day, ultimately the hours of the store will be dependent on the number of people who are volunteering their time and the amount of clothes that is ultimately donated.

"We'll start here where we're at and hope that we get bigger in time," said Rubinson.
NORWALK -- Students typically spend 7.5 hours per day in school, 180 days a year. Despite the many hours dedicated to school each year, children only spend 20 percent of their year in school, said Anthony Allison, executive director of Norwalk ACTS.

"If you think about that time in school, how much is actually engaged in classroom learning instruction?" asked Allison.

In an effort to increase instruction time and close the achievement gap, Norwalk ACTS has partnered with Horizons National to develop the Norwalk Summer Learning Alliance.

Research shows students experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational and enrichment activities during the summer. More than half of the achievement gap between lower and higher income youth can be attributed to unequal access to summer opportunities, according to Norwalk ACTS.

Through the use of collective impact, the goal is to build a Summer Learning Alliance that increases the city's capacity to reach more students.

"The underlying premise of collective impact is that one organization cannot create large-scale, lasting social change alone. When organizations unite and coordinate their efforts around a clearly defined goal, there is a greater likelihood of solving a complex social problem such as the achievement gap," said Allison.

Norwalk ACTS and Horizons National conducted a citywide scan to determine how many summer programs exist, number of children served, the type of programming provided, barriers to access or expansion and what immediate steps can be taken to align providers and improve access to programming for Norwalk's children.

"Providers and programs want to be the best they can be. The vast majority of the issue is a program providing academic support or intervention support, have nearly enough or appropriate relevant data to be able to support them," said Allison.

"The scan has helped us identify that's one of the great needs. The district wants to be able to have a better connection with summer learning providers to be able to provide them with the appropriate data that's going to support those students and the children of Norwalk during the summer time. That alignment is really important."

Increasing summer learning opportunities for students has been an organizational goal of both Norwalk ACTS and Horizons National.

Norwalk ACTS, a community collective of more than 100 civic leaders, educators and organizations, has an overall goal of improving outcomes for Norwalk youth from cradle to career.

Horizons National, based in Westport, is a national network of quality summer academic and enrichment programs. It has six affiliates in Fairfield County. Two affiliates at Norwalk Community College and New Canaan Country School serve Norwalk students.

"While Horizons National has a very successful model with proven results, they can't touch nearly enough kids with just their affiliates alone," said Kate Ritter, a consultant for Horizons National. "Creating an alliance was part of the strategy because there are other areas in this country where alliances for summer learning are very successful."

Among the areas with summer learning alliances are Rochester, N.Y., Boston, Mass. and Providence, R.I.

"Regionalizing summer learning and bringing together providers to increase impact has been done. While each of those models have different ingredients, we figure by researching them and meeting with them, we can figure out what might work and what might be the best tailored model for Norwalk."

A "Call to Action" symposium will be held Saturday, April 30 at Norwalk Community College to kickoff the Norwalk Summer Learning Alliance discussing the next steps. These include identifying tools to measure quality and outcomes, building a professional development and technical assistance system, and developing a multi-year investment strategy.

"We're bringing together providers, city leadership and investors to continue the conversation and explore how we can make this work," said Ritter. "We're hoping for 150 people, cross-sector. It's an opportunity to really present our thinking."

The discussion will include representatives from National Summer Learning Association as well as representatives from other regional summer learning models.

The symposium takes place on April 30, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Norwalk Community College's PepsiCo Theater on the East Campus.
NORWALK -- The alleged accomplice of a Norwalk man who was previously charged in vehicle and credit card thefts was arrested by Norwalk Police on a warrant Monday morning.

Kenneth Mims, 19, of 2 Couch St., was charged with three counts of third-degree burglary, four counts of third-degree identity theft, two counts of conspiracy, four counts of illegal use of a credit card, and sixth-degree larceny. for his alleged role in the November 2015 thefts.

The case against Mims and his alleged co-conspirator Devon Willoughby, 18, stems from a Nov. 2015 report from a complainant who stated that someone had made an entry through an unlocked door of their Norwalk home and that a cell phone and possibly a set of keys were missing.

On Nov. 10, the residents of the home noticed that their Chevy Sonic was not outside, and they filed a stolen motor vehicle report with police. According to police, the complainant reported that the car key was next to the cell phone when the residence had been burglarized earlier.

Police said that the victim had also been alerted by Bank of America that their debit card had been used at several locations in Stratford, Milford, and Bridgeport. According to police, the victim said that the card was in the pocket of a jacket that was in the back seat of the car.

The vehicle was located on Nov. 12 by Bridgeport police after being involved in an evading accident there. The car was being driven the wrong way on a one-way street, and after a crash, both parties fled, police said.

Police said that a worker at a business on State Street in Bridgeport found a bag of items that he initially believed to be garbage, but reportedly found a cell phone and cash inside along with other items. According to police, he called the cell phone number that indicated 'home,' and made contact with the cell phone owner.

Police said that items were identified by the owner as having been in the Chevy prior to it having been taken.

A confession was obtained from Mims' accomplice and Mims was positively identified in a line-up, police said.

A warrant for both suspects was applied for and WIlloughby was charged on Feb. 1, 2016 with two counts of credit card theft, two counts of illegal use of a credit card, two counts of second-degree larceny, sixth-degree larceny, third-degree identity theft, and third-degree burglary.

Mims, who police said is currently incarcerated pending disposition of larceny charges in prior cases, was brought to Norwalk Superior Court where he was arrested by Norwalk Police.

He was issued a $50,000 bond and given a court date of April 19.
 Flash

Head of Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, Shaher Saad, said Wednesday that Israel informed them that it will grant 10,000 working permits for Palestinian workers of the West Bank into Israel.

Saad told Xinhua that this step shall decrease unemployment rates and it is expected to raise the number of workers to 30,000.

He said that the 10,000 workers will work inside Israel but not in settlements, which employ nearly 35,000 Palestinians.

Settlements are deemed illegal under international law and by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the international community.

Currently, about 48,000 Palestinians are granted special permits to work inside Israel, while the estimates of those who are working without working permits approach 50,000.

The Israeli public radio reported that an Israeli-Palestinian agreement was reached between Israeli Finance Minster Moshe Kahlon and Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussain Al-Sheikh, to increase the number of Palestinian workers aiming to cover a shortage of workers in the construction sector in Israel.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate in Palestinian territories is 25.6 percent, 16.3 percent in West Bank and 41.6 percent in the Gaza Strip.
Robert J. Bob Olson, 93, of Grand Island died April 5, 2016.

A Celebration of Life Service was April 12 at United Congregational Church, with military honors provided by the United States Navy and Grand Island Veterans Honor Guard. The Rev. Lonnie Logan officiated. Burial will be at a later date in Woodlawn Cemetery at Sioux Falls, S.D.

All Faiths Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements.

Bob was born Dec. 12, 1922, in Sioux Falls, S.D., to Leo and Veronica (Miller) Olson. He grew up in Sioux Falls and graduated from Washington High School in 1940. In 1944, he received his BS Degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University (in absentia) while serving as an engineering officer with the U.S. Naval Forces in the Pacific. He also graduated from Engineering Officers Training School at Columbia University. After World War II, Bob received his Masters in Electrical Engineering from University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Bob married Mary Anne Boller on Jan. 24, 1946, in Chicago. Following the war, he joined the General Electric Company in Schenectady, N.Y. He spent the next 20 years with GE, 18 of those headquartered in Omaha. During this time, he supervised the installation of electrical equipment and in this capacity, served many of Nebraskas electric utilities. In 1966, he left GE to accept the position of Chief Engineer of the Grand Island Utility Department and in 1974, he became Director of Utilities Operation for the city, from which he retired in 1986.

Bob was a registered professional Engineer since 1950 and was a lifetime member of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers. He served as a member of the Legislative Committee of American Public Power Association, was active in the American Waterworks Association, and was Director of the Utility Section for the League of Nebraska Municipalities. He was president of the Engineers Club, Grand Island Chapter. He was a member of the Natural Resources Commission, State of Nebraska, and was official representative to the Nebraska Municipal Power Pool, also serving as president and was on the board of directors. He was a member of Grand Island Kiwanis Club for 27 years and served a term as president. He served on the advisory board of the Salvation Army. An active member of United Congregational Church, Bob served on the boards of Deacons and Trustees for many years. He also loved to sing in the church choir. Bob enjoyed woodworking, making many items for family and friends.

He is survived by his wife; son and daughter-in-law, Court Olson and Camille Rubinelli of Bellevue, Wash., and daughter and son-in-law, Susan and David Bosley of Omaha; and grandchildren, Jon Olson and Karey Olson.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Emery Olson; sisters, Neva Olson and Marguerite Ostlund; and brother-in-law, Herman Ostlund.

Memorials are suggested to United Congregational Church or the Salvation Army.

Online condolences may be left at www.giallfaiths.com.
Gelato, smoothies, pizza and more: Check out the newest in Bucks' eats

These new Bucks County dining spots are serving up everything from gelato, pastries and pizza to green smoothies, cold-pressed juices and acai bowls.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Business students were honored for their academic achievements at the 12th Annual School of Business Scholarships and Awards Program held Wednesday, March 23 in the Morris University Center.

Nearly $100,000 worth of scholarships were awarded to more than 75 of the Schools best and brightest students, pursuing degrees in accounting, business, computer management and information systems, economics and finance, and management and marketing.

School of Business Dean John Navin, PhD, expressed his deep appreciation to the Schools generous donors.

Scholarship gifts are remarkable investments in the future, Navin said. Without this support, some of the students in this room would have a difficult time continuing in higher education. Its crucial that we continue to secure additional scholarships, both annual and endowed, so that we can continue to attract and retain the highest quality students by offering them a superior business education.

Donors, SIUE administration, faculty and staff, parents and students were in attendance. The events guest speaker was Denise Cobb, PhD, interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. A first generation college graduate, Cobb emphasized the profound impact the generosity of others made on her pursuit of higher education.

Please do not doubt that my ability to stand before you today comes with deep gratitude for those donors who allowed me to receive an excellent education, to imagine new possibilities, and to transform my life and my daughters life, Cobb said. Higher education remains a powerful tool for change, and it is a critical public good.

Each and every one of our students will leave the University with a capacity for problem solving, critical thinking, strong communication, respect for diversity and inclusion, and a recognition of how they can help enhance our communities and make a difference in the world. We are preparing students for work, life and citizenship in the 21st century, and I have no doubt that they are eager to meet the challenges that rest ahead."
Southern Illinois University Edwardsvilles Cristina De Meo, professor in the Department of Chemistry in the SIUE College of Arts and Sciences, was presented the 2016 Paul Simon Outstanding Teacher-Scholar Award at the Paul Simon Luncheon held Tuesday, March 29, during the 20th Annual Graduate School Spring Research Symposium.

The award, named in honor of famed Illinois politician Paul Simon, recognizes significant achievements in research, and the integration of that research into teaching and mentoring. At the luncheon, De Meo expressed her great appreciation for the support of the University and her colleagues and students. She emphasized the importance of expanding students horizons.

An educator is an eye opener, showing students what they can do and who they can become in their learning journey, said De Meo. I would lose 99 percent of my students attention if I did not integrate the application of what they are learning in organic chemistry and biochemistry, with drug discovery and scientific research, including my own contributions to the field.

In my hands-on courses, research students can experience real research and apply their theoretical knowledge of organic chemistry to practical science, she added.

Students not only acquire essential skills in organic synthesis, but also realize that they can make a real contribution in the field. Seeing my students grow as scientists and achieve professional success makes my job truly rewarding.

The Graduate School Spring Research Symposium also featured a scholarly activity SLAM, at which graduate and professional students offered engaging presentations of their research. SIU School of Dental Medicine third year student Spencer Blackham earned first place in the competition, and the peoples choice award for his evaluation of the biocompatibility of a new dental material using a calvarial defect model.

The Symposium continued with a workshop on SIUE SPARK, the Universitys open access institutional repository, displays of the scholarly activities of graduate students and a speed networking session.

A keynote address titled The Contributions of Statistics to Brain Research, was presented by Hernando Ombao, PhD, professor of statistics at the University of California at Irvine.

The days events ended with a special reception hosted by SIUE Interim Chancellor Stephen Hansen honoring faculty and staff who submitted external grants and recognizing first time principal investigators.

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.).
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Linkedin Parulian Simanjuntak (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

In a bid to encourage investors to invest in Indonesias raw materials sector for medicine, the government recently announced that it would revise the Negative Investment List (DNI) to allow businesses to be 100 percent owned by foreign investors.

The move was part of the 10th economic stimulus package, another set of deregulations the government released to make Indonesias business climate more attractive. From a foreign investment policy perspective, the revision of the DNI is arguably the most significant stimulus package, demonstrating that the government is committed to comprehensive economic policy reforms.

Aside from opening up more employment opportunities and strengthening capital for the purposes of development, the change also encourages domestic businesses to compete and secure prominent positions in both the domestic and global markets.

However, is fully opening up the industry enough to attract investors? To answer this question we must go into the minds of investors and see what would attract them to invest in the domestic raw materials sector.

First, an investor would analyze the investment climate of the country they are looking to invest in. The governments decision to open the sector to foreign investors may not be in line with their investment goals. Academicians may categorize the governments decision as a top-down or bottom-up approach.

The top-down approach is when an investor decides to invest and is required to abide by the terms stipulated by the government, such as a requirement to have a manufacturing facility located in the country in order to register their products in the domestic market. In this case, the investors are, to some extent, forced to invest should they wish to enter or remain in the market.

Whereas the bottom-up approach is when the government supports investors to make the market conducive for business.

Providing incentives, capable manpower, eliminating regulatory barriers and issuing supporting policies are some examples of the efforts the government should make in the bottom-up approach to get investors to invest in or expand their businesses  thus, ultimately, this can create more growth for the industry as a whole.

The latter would be the best option to attract foreign investors. An example of a country that has successfully attracted foreign investment to its domestic life science industry is Ireland.

The nation has made it so attractive that there are even companies wanting to move their operational headquarters and manufacturing facilities there, to take advantage of the tax incentives.

Second, an investor would also like to know the direction the government plans to take in the pharmaceutical industry as a whole.

There are three paths the government may take, namely toward a generic pharmaceutical industry; establishing a life science industry that is research and development based; or exploring Indonesias biodiversity to identify naturally occurring substances that could be used as active pharmaceutical compounds.

Referring to the Industry Ministrys road map for the pharmaceutical industry as well as the governments goal to be less dependent on imports, it looks like we are heading toward a generic industry. However, the question of whether this is the right direction remains.

Investors are now seeing a generic industry as a low-margin, high-volume investment and, therefore, it may not be attractive to them. The international supply-chain market for raw materials is already dominated by India and China and, in fact, the import rate for raw pharmaceutical materials for the US is around 60 percent.

It would be a miracle if Indonesia was able to compete with the likes of India and China as well as make itself self-sufficient in the production of raw pharmaceutical materials. In recent years, there has been a steady increase in clinical trial activities in Southeast Asia. Compared with its Southeast Asian neighbors, Indonesia at present conducts significantly fewer studies.

According to the US National Institute of Health, despite having considerably smaller populations, countries like Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines conduct six to eight times more clinical trials than Indonesia. Even though we are lagging behind, developing a life science industry holds the most opportunity for Indonesia to be competitive under the new ASEAN Economic Community framework.

Global research and development investments amount to US$100 billion annually and 50 percent of the investments are spent on clinical trials! Indonesia should make its best effort to participate in global clinical trials. Using President Joko Jokowi Widodos terminology, these are the low-hanging fruits in the pharmaceutical sector.

Last, any investor would like a certain level of assurance that their return on investment is safe. An effective intellectual property system is indispensable for the development of the pharmaceutical industry and leads to economic growth and improved social welfare.

Of the four incentives provided by a patent system, namely to invent, to disclose, to invest and to invent around, the incentive to invest is the most important. With this, to attract experts to develop our pharmaceutical industry we need a strong intellectual property rights regulation that supports and protects investors interests.

All in all, the government has made great efforts to make Indonesia more attractive. However, the development of the pharmaceutical industry still requires a holistic effort  the amendment of the DNI is just one of the steps needed to attract foreign investors.

***

The writer is the executive director of the International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group, a non-profit organization comprising 24 international, research-based pharmaceutical companies operating in Indonesia. The views expressed are his own.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Putera Satria Sambijantoro (The Jakarta Post) Beijing  Wed, April 13, 2016

In infrastructure development, the enigma about China is that it has both the most efficient system in the world and the least understood one.

In Indonesia, months of debate and a media circus have stalled the construction of a 145-kilometer Jakarta-Bandung railway, with various policymakers, business stakeholders and representatives from NGOs trading jabs in newswires over the projects feasibility.

It was not an appetizing sight for a project that was initially devised as the paragon of Chinas infrastructure expansion in Asia. Earlier this year, I reflected on our domestic political brouhaha with irony inside a high-speed train from the capital Beijing to Harbin, a major city in northeast China.

The Beijing-Harbin railway spans 1,250 kilometers, a distance that is equivalent to going from Jakarta to Bali, and I felt somewhat chagrined that Indonesia found it so difficult to construct a railway that would only be a 10th of its distance.

My Chinese professor had an explanation why infrastructure development in his country could be so ruthlessly effective: In democratic countries you face more constraints, but here in China you face rule of man, not rule of law.

The multi-billion-dollar question now is whether the economic cooperation between Indonesia and China, which are two countries with strikingly different political systems, can prosper.

If the economic cost was the only concern, the Indonesian governments decision to grant China, not Japan, the responsibility of building the Jakarta-Bandung bullet train project is justifiable.

A study from the World Bank office in Beijing shows that the construction of Chinas high-speed railway  defined as those that can be traveled by trains with maximum speeds of 350 kilometers per hour  has a typical infrastructure unit cost of about US$17 million to $21 million per kilometer, excluding land, rolling stock and interest during construction.

In European countries such as France and Spain, similar infrastructure is estimated by the World Bank to cost $25 million to $39 million for every kilometer, while in California, the US, the price tag stands at $51 million.

The efficiency was driven by the fact that, over the past decade, China has built more high-speed railway infrastructure than any other country, with the mainland now boasting a network of more than 12,000 kilometers of high-speed railway routes  the longest in the world.

The notion prevalent among Indonesians that Made-in-China products come in cheap prices but questionable quality is purely a misconception.

In reality, China currently possesses the technical know-how for building railway networks in the fastest and cheapest way possible, thanks to their highly standardized railway infrastructure design and a successful localization of manufacturing of its goods and components.

The predicament faced by Chinese firms, however, is that building a railway network on their own turf and in Indonesia might be totally different ball games.

To start, Chinese and Indonesian state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have stark differences in perspectives and working culture, which means the cooperation between the two camps is unlikely to be smooth.

Unlike in China, where SOEs basically act as the governments developmental tools in a highly centralized economy, Indonesian SOEs are not backed by political support that is as strong as that of their Chinese counterparts. They instead possess a relatively high degree of independence.

In addition, Chinese firms were accustomed to the authoritarian-style infrastructure-building approach, the imposition of which sometimes comes at the cost of environmental degradation and violations of human rights, with reports showing that many Chinese citizens were forcefully evicted from their homes or lands without receiving sufficient compensation.

If China wants to be successful in its push to strengthen its regional influence and to eventually emerge as the next global superpower on par with the US, it needs to learn better about democracy, particularly how to do business in countries with strict environmental, governance and transparency standards.

So far, their track record on that is not good. Some commodity-rich countries have balked at dealing with Chinese firms, troubled by their weak record of social responsibility, which has forced Beijing to explore new ways of doing business, Elizabeth C. Economy, a noted author who specializes in Chinas foreign policy, once wrote.

Nevertheless, the burden does not lie in Beijing alone. For the central government in Jakarta, the political ruckus surrounding the China-backed railway project has sent the wrong signal to foreign investors, exposing the inefficiency of our bureaucracy and the messiness in the decision-making process for infrastructure development under President Joko Jokowi Widodo.

For Indonesia to attract more Chinese investors and capitalize on the mainlands outward investment push, the government could improve itself on three fronts.

First, the government needs to set the investment guidelines very clearly for Chinese investors who  unlike their Japanese or American counterparts  have little business history in Indonesia, while at the same time further cutting bureaucratic hurdles for them.

Second, local Indonesian leaders  from governors and regents to mayors  should be instructed to undertake more efforts to court the Chinese investors and improve governance on the local level. This is because in their home country, Chinese businesspersons are accustomed to having a strong bond with local leaders, who will always be ready to help them cut through bureaucratic red tape while acting as the political guardians of their investments.

Third, Indonesian government officials or other local business stakeholders should really avoid making public any disagreement on China-related projects, as that situation can make existing and future Chinese investors very uncomfortable.

That should be noted because in Indonesia some policymakers have the culture of having roundtable meetings in newspapers as they prefer to voice their disgruntlement to journalists to garner public support, instead of solving the issue directly with the persons in charge.

China, a country that has a very limited press freedom, values the culture of secrecy where dissenting opinions among officials or businesspersons in public are considered taboo.

Indonesia could reap the maximum benefits from the Jakarta-Bandung bullet train project. For Indonesian SOEs in particular, this is the moment to absorb Chinese technological expertise for our future infrastructure development  a strategy that was applied by Chinese SOEs in 2004, when China demanded technology transfers from German companies as a prerequisite for the right to develop the mainlands high-speed railway networks.

The inconvenient truth here is that an authoritarian China and a democratic Indonesia were not a match made in heaven and just like an in-love couple with strikingly different personalities, the two countries have so much to do to make their relationship work.

***

The writer is currently pursuing a Masters degree in public policy at Peking University, China.

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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.
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Linkedin Esben Lunde Larsen (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

We will face enormous changes over the course of the coming two decades. In the next 20 years, the planets population will grow from 7 billion to 9 billion. The middle class will increase with 3 billion people, lifted out of poverty thanks to development. In parallel, the global economy is set to double by 2040.

It is mind-blowing to imagine that the productivity and wealth that have taken thousands of years to achieve will double in a mere 20 years. Population growth, urbanization and economic growth create fantastic opportunities  but also significant challenges calling out for sustainable solutions. This is the case in Asia as well as in Europe.

Today, I arrive in Jakarta on a three-day working visit focused on discussing joint solutions to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century. On the surface, our two countries might be as different as can be. But the truth is that we can achieve much more by working closely together in partnerships aimed at developing the state-of-the-art solutions.

That is why a partnership between Southeast Asias largest country and a small country like Denmark makes sense. And lets not forget that Indonesia and Denmark are  despite our obvious differences  both agricultural and maritime nations. We also share a desire to find ways to square the circle on one of the key questions of our time: How do we effectively respond to global shifts and challenges by increasing productivity and growing our economies in a sustainable way that does not harm the environment?

In the environmental sector, Indonesia and Denmark have been working together over the past decade to identify solutions to environmental and energy challenges under our US$ 50 million development program. Take for example our activities in Cilacap in Central Java.

Together with Indonesian partners, we are developing innovative solutions to transform solid waste from landfills into fuel to be used by a private cement company.

In Semarang, Denmark is supporting the introduction of gasification systems in the local landfill. This will create affordable energy for households in the area. Every year, Indonesia produces 64 million tons of solid waste. Much of this ends up in open landfills, or in the nature or oceans. By introducing such new technology, a lot of waste can be turned into energy.

That is good for the economy and the environment alike. And in Jakarta, Danish technology and urban planning are already at work assisting the city administration with flood-control to help prevent the annual flooding, which I look forward to discussing with Governor Basuki during my visit.

We are also working together by sharing regulatory experiences. Denmarks green transition did not occur out of an initial desire to save the planet, or due to a booming economy. The change came in response to an energy crisis caused by the spike in oil prices in the 1970s.

It was an economic necessity, and it was to a large extent imposed through government regulations. Out of such changes, new business opportunities emerged. That is why Denmark is among the world leaders in green solutions. Green technologies increasingly contribute to our economy.

New technology can also assist Indonesia in enhancing the productivity of the agribusiness sector, which is among the Governments key priorities. Take livestock as an example: Utilizing new technology in relation to something as simple as temperature-control in chicken production can with very limited investment increase output with 5 to 10 percent. Or aqua-culture where fish farm technology can put healthy, affordable and sustainable fish on the table.

Another example is the palm oil industry and the vision of making the sector fully sustainable. With the introduction of enzymes into the palm oil production process, one can increase the productivity of the sector with up to 10 percent, thus reducing the need for expanding plantations.

Our envisaged cooperation in other words has both a government-to-government and a business-to-business dimension. Because innovative solutions are often best achieved by creating public-private partnerships.

During my visit, I am accompanied by officials from the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration the Danish Nature Agency, as well as the Confederation of Danish Industry, and the Danish Agriculture and Food Council representing thousands of Danish companies. Drawing on a wide range of actors is key in developing the tailor-made solutions that will assist Indonesia realizing its full potential.

As a concrete sign of our partnership, my counterpart Indonesias Minister for Agriculture Amran Sulaiman and I will sign a cooperation agreement paving the way for stronger collaboration between the public and private sectors in Indonesia and Denmark.

This will increase trade and investments, facilitate the sharing of knowledge and experience on food security and safety, and enable the transfer of innovative technologies that will improve productivity and efficiency in the agricultural sector. Without harming the environment.

By strengthening our partnership, Indonesia and Denmark can in other words demonstrate that there is no contradiction between growth and sustainability. In fact, sustainability is just good business.

---------------

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.
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Linkedin Aichiro Suryo Prabowo (The Jakarta Post) Chicago  Wed, April 13, 2016

It was the first day of 2016 when President Joko Jokowi Widodo visited West Papua. The message was strong: the government wanted to pay more attention to Indonesias eastern territory. To raise awareness, photos were posted on the Presidents official Facebook page. One of them depicted him sitting cross-legged, wearing a sarong and his favorite white shirt while enjoying sunrise at the Waiwo Beach dock.

For the haters, who had consistently and openly undermined his presidency, the visit created momentum for yet more criticism. Indeed, what Jokowi did at New Year could have triggered fruitful debate  whether actual government programs backed up his political preaching, or whether affirmative actions, if any, were sufficient to bring about justice and development in Papua.

However, instead of attacking with a well-researched argument, the haters decided to use a laughable pick-up line: Jokowis photo at the dock was photoshopped and fake. It went viral.

This is the epitome of how haters, in general, play out their role in our democracy. Jokowis political opponents, too, have haters. Haters all have the same strategy: throwing ludicrous accusations that are unequivocally easy to grasp but strong enough to stir up division. For them, it is a success when the image of the figure they hate is damaged.

What haters do does not have any use for society. But that is part of living in a democracy; we cant (and shouldnt) stop anyone, including those who we disagree with, from voicing their opinions. What I can do, however, is remind people how expressing such irrelevant critique can be detrimental not only to our democracy but also to the haters themselves.

Democracy works best when opposition exists. As Lord Acton put it, power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Opposition is needed, therefore, as a check and balance on whoever is in power. Essentially, this is the same concept as market equilibrium in Microeconomics 101, just a different application.

When there is one seller, it is likely that prices are high and product quality is low. As another seller enters the market, competition emerges and both sellers need to innovate on quality or cut prices to attract buyers. When perfect competition arises, buyers are benefited. In our case, politicians are the sellers and we are the buyers.

Now, suppose haters chime in and begin to circulate a rumor about the personal affairs of one of the sellers. The rumor has nothing to do with the business but is powerful enough to drive that seller out of the market, at least temporarily.

Society, which initially had two sellers to choose from, is now left with only one seller. Who benefits? Not society, not the haters, but the one remaining seller. He dominates the market without needing to lower prices or improve the quality of his products.

Back to our political context, the opposition, which could have come up with promises or proposals to attract voters in the presence of competition, would now offer nothing; his opponent is losing anyway.

Things can still get much uglier. That is, when reactions to haters messages turn out to be equally ignorant  resembling what happened in Jakarta just a couple of weeks ago. Some haters rejected Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, who plans to run for another term in the upcoming gubernatorial election, for his minority background.

Contra-haters responded to it by spreading a fairly irrelevant counterargument: I am a Muslim, and I vote for Ahok. Had they all been smarter, the debate could have been about the candidates accomplishments (or failures) in tackling traffic or flood problems in Jakarta  which is definitely worth the publics while.

Political debates should be about ideas. When they are downgraded to irrelevant critiques, baseless allegations, racist comments and logical fallacies, it is society  which haters are part of  that bears the costs.

We rarely see politicians in our democracy debate on things that truly matter, such as creating more jobs, building world-class research institutions, or establishing a better healthcare system. If this continues, no one will benefit, not even the haters.

Rational haters better start recalculating their game plan and consider upgrading their artillery. By being smarter, they will not only help our democracy prevail but also protect their own interests.

***

The writer is undertaking a Masters in public policy at the University of Chicago.

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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama's questioning by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators lasted for 12 hours on Tuesday.

Ahok was questioned in relation to land procured by the Jakarta city administration in 2014 that according to the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) had caused potential state losses of Rp 199 billion (US$15.21 million).

Ahok said he had to answer around 50 questions from KPK investigators. The questioning checked many things, he told journalists, who had been waiting hours outside the KPK office to interview the governor.

A report on the city's Rp 755.69 billion purchase of this plot of land was included in a Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) audit of the Jakarta administration's 2014 financial report.

The BPK said the price had been inflated and the land should have been purchased for the same taxable value of property (NJOP) as surrounding buildings. The land, the agency report said, could have been bought for Rp 564.35 billion, which would have saved the city Rp 191 billion.

The land's NJOP that became the center of an alleged mark-up scandal, was part of the KPK's questions, said Ahok.

In response , Ahok said the NGOP was decided by a technical team at the Jakarta city administration. My explanation [to the issue] is that the calculation was made by a technical team. We [I] only signed to make the decision, Ahok said.

Ahok, however said that the investigators did not ask about a report that the land procured by the city was disputed by the Sumber Wars Foundation and Candra Naya Foundation. What is being disputed is a different plot of land, he added.

Speaking before the questioning ended, KPK chairman Agus Rahardja said that the investigators were crosschecking between the information given by Ahok and the BPK report. We already have the BPK report. We need to crosscheck it, he added. (bbn)
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Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13 2016

The hostage situation in southern Philippines has raised serious concerns in Southeast Asia, prompting countries in the region to consider formal frameworks of cooperation to better prepare against such acts of terror.

Ten Indonesian sailors were kidnapped in the waters off the conflict-wracked southern Philippines by Abu Sayyaf militants, who have demanded a ransom for their release. The group has carried out a series of foreigner kidnappings.

Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia Dato Seri Zahrain Mohamed Hashim said it was likely that the hostage topic would be brought up at the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Laos in May.

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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti, Tassia Sipahutar and Rendi A. Witular (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

Consumers and companies will be on a spending binge soon as the central bank has plans for a policy that will see borrowing costs decrease to an all-time low, a move with a far reaching impact to all quarters of the economy.

Bank Indonesia (BI) is slated to abandon its benchmark interest rate, put in place in 2005 and set on monthly basis with an emphasis on a inflation expectations rather than on money market mechanisms.

BI will instead see its monetary policy rely on a seven-day reverse repurchase (repo) rate for the new benchmark to influence borrowing costs.

As the repo is tied well to the money market, it accurately reflects supply and demand when compared to those of the BI rate, which has very limited impact on the market.

The seven-day repo has a rate of 5.5 percent with immediate potential to decline to 4.8 percent, according to analysts.

That is lower than the current BI rate of 6.75 percent, which BI will need around five months to scale down to match the current repo rate.

The new benchmark is set to take affect in August or September.

Such a benchmark matters to the economy as it sets the floor for banks to decide interest rates for borrowing and depositing.

It will also play a role in the cost of doing business in Indonesia; the lower the rate, the more competitive the economy.

In comparison, benchmark interest rates in Thailand, China, India and the Philippines stand at 1.50 percent, 4.35 percent, 6.5 percent and between 4 and 6 percent, respectively.

While BI officials refuse to comment on the planned policy, set to be announced on Friday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla spokesman Husain Abdullah told The Jakarta Post that the government was aware of the plan.

Although we have no authority over BI and its monetary policy, which by law is independent from the government, the plan has been intensively discussed with us, often at the residence of the Vice President, said Husain on Tuesday.

Its about time BI takes aggressive measures to drastically lower interest rates. The government hopes for single-digit loan rates by year-end.

According to recent data compiled by major banks, the corporate segment is offered an annual interest rate of 11.1 percent, while retail, mortgage and non-mortgage consumer loans are offered at 12 percent, 11 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively.

Amid the global economic slowdown, Vice President Jusuf Kalla has been leading the campaign to encourage BI to lower its benchmark rate to spur the sluggish economy by encouraging the public to consume more.

The country hinges heavily on the consumption of its 250 million people to drive its economy. Lower interest rates will encourage people to borrow and consume more, and push companies or individuals to invest in productive assets.

BIs planned policy bodes well with the market as analysts cite the current BI rate as irrelevant to actual conditions in the financial market.

Macquarie Bank fixed income and currencies strategy head Nizam Idris said that because the BI rate was not relevant to the market, it encouraged big local banks to hoard liquidity at the expense of smaller ones that competed harder for the funds.

That has created imbalances in the market and thwarted effective monetary policy transmission.

A deeper money market and a market-based benchmark interest rate would likely encourage a better transmission of the policy rate to actual cost of funds in the economy, he said.

Under the repo benchmark, which is already part of BIs monetary instrument, the central bank sells government debt papers to the market with a deal to buy them back in seven days with a 5.5 percent rate.
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

The National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) has requested the support of the House of Representatives in establishing a headquarters in Jakarta to ease its task of monitoring suspected terrorists.

BNPT's current office in Sentul, West Java, is quite far from the capital, which results in inefficiency, BNPT chief Comr. Gen. Tito Karnavian said during a hearing with House Commission III on legal affairs on Wednesday. The Sentul office also serves as the agency's training ground and for deradicalization programs.

"Please help us get an office in Jakarta. It is difficult to coordinate with other government agencies, especially if there is an emergency in Jakarta," he said.

The new office could be a new building or space on the premises of another government agency, Tito added.

The BNPT also plans to build a terrorism crisis center in the new premises, in line with a 2010 presidential regulation.

The crisis center will ease monitoring the movements of suspected terrorists, particularly in a number of cities susceptible to terrorist attacks, such as Jakarta, Bandung in West Java, Bali and Surabaya in East Java, Tito said.

The center would be also systematically connected to all stakeholders in respective roles in counterterrorism in Indonesia, he added.

Commission III member Adies Kadir from the Golkar Party faction questioned the government's support of the BNPT, considering the lack of facilities but the expectation for the agency to counter terrorism.

"How can the BNPT maximize its efforts when it is not supported by facilities from the government?" Adies commented during the hearing.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Herman Hery voiced support for the BNPT and suggested it use the former building of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to meet its immediate needs.

The antigraft commission moved to a new building on Jl. Kuningan Persada in South Jakarta, which was inaugurated by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Dec. 29, 2015. The KPK previously said that its old building on Jl. Rasuna Said would be used as anti-corruption training center that could also be used by other government agencies. (rin)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has slammed the report by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) into alleged irregularities in the procurement of land for the Sumber Waras Hospital, currently being investigated by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), describing the report incorrect and deceitful.

Investigators from the KPK questioned Ahok for12 hours on Tuesday regarding the land procurement, which the BPK claimed had caused state losses of Rp 191 billion ($14.5 million).

"The BPK report is deceitful. Their finding of state losses does not make any sense," he told journalists on Wednesday at City Hall.

The antigraft commission grilled Ahok on Tuesday as a witness based on the irregularities found by the BPK in the city's procurement of 3.7 hectares adjacent to Sumber Waras Hospital in West Jakarta for a cardiac and cancer center.

The BPK said the price had been inflated and the land should have been purchased for the same taxable value of property (NJOP) as surrounding buildings. The city administration purchased the land in 2014 for Rp 775.69 billion, while according to the BPK report the city could have bought the land for Rp 564.35 billion.

Ahok insisted that the administration purchased the land at the actual price as determined by the tax office directorate general of the Finance Ministry.

He also slammed the BPK for irrationality as it had suggested the administration wait until the right-to-build (HGB) permit of Sumber Waras expired in 2015 so that the city administration could occupy the land freely.

"All companies, buildings use HGB and HGU [land use title]. So if we just needed to wait until their permits expired and we reclaimed the land, we would be rich. Who taught you that? Do you read the law?" Ahok said to the investigators questioning him.

The KPK opened an investigation into the Sumber Waras land procurement in October 2015 under then KPK chairman Taufiequrrahman Ruki after receiving a report in August from an individual identified as Amir Hamzah.

Ahok's questioning in the Sumber Waras graft case came amid the controversial Jakarta Bay reclamation bribery case, which has seen his aide Sunny Tanuwidjaja banned from traveling overseas by the KPK. (rin)
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Linkedin Elly Burhaini Faizal (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

It was the saddest day for the family of Siyono, 34, who on March 8 was arrested on suspicion of being a terrorist, who then returned to his hometown, in Pogung, in a coffin five days laterhis body showing clear signs of torture.

In a press conference on April 5, National Police spokesman Insp.Gen.Anton Charliyan admitted the National Polices Densus 88 counterterrorism unit committed several procedural mistakes and that this would be investigated.

The death of Siyono is the latest example of how counterterrorism measures in Indonesia have the potential for abuse. Security authorities can exploit whatever power they might have in the name of fighting terrorism. In Siyonos case, for instance, the existence of an arrest warrant that Densus 88 had used to arrest Siyono remains dubious. No state institution so far has admitted to having issued an arrest warrant for the terrorist suspect. Thus, it is questionable for us that under existing legal counterterrorism mechanisms, the government aims to revise Law No.15/2003 on Terrorism to expand the scope of its counterterrorism capabilities.

Despite ongoing terrorist incidents in areas across Indonesia, the governments plan to revise the 2003 Terrorism Law has drawn concern and criticism, primarily on its potential for rights abuses. In the laws draft revision, security institutions have wider authority to take measures against persons suspected of terrorist activities. On the other hand, the full scope of authority to address terrorist threats may lead to a significant change in the obligation of the state to respect human rights.

The 2003 Terrorism was a government response to terrorist attacks in Indonesia, which began to intensify in 2000 with a car bomb attack at the Jakarta Stock Exchange. A bombing and shootings near Sarinah, a shopping mall on Jl.MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta on Jan.14, 2016, has shown that terrorism remains a threat to Indonesias security despite ongoing counterterrorism measures. Eight people, including four civilians, were killed in the Thamrin incident, which also injured more than 20 people.

Unnecessary abuses during current counterterrorism operations have highlighted the need for clearer standard operating procedures. Alleged violations in the arrest and detention of Siyono have heightened concerns that human rights will be compromised from these counterterrorism measures is something real and must be prevented.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the 2003 Terrorism Law revision would give security personnel authority they should have in handling terrorist offences. He said the law revision would empower security elements so that they could take the necessary measures for suspected terrorists. The minister guaranteed the revised Terrorism Law would not be similar to the Internal Security Act (ISA) adopted by Malaysia and Singapore, two neighboring countries widely known for their tough measures in tackling terrorism.

Concerns about potential human rights violations during counterterrorism measures cannot be avoided if we look at additional or revised articles included in the Terrorism Laws draft revision, however.

Article 43A of the draft revision stipulates: To tackle terrorism, investigators or prosecutors can carry out preventive measures against any persons suspected to committing a terrorist crime and bring or place him or her in detention that is part of their working area, for 6 months at the longest.

Such a measure has the potential to create detention centers, which are unregulated and prone to all forms of misuses of power, especially the implementation of inhumane actions and torture during the interrogation of suspected terrorists, such as what have happened in the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention center, Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Haris Azhar told thejakartapost.com in a recent interview.

A greater military involvement in counterterrorism measures, which is allowed by the draft revision, has also drawn sharp criticism among human rights groups in Indonesia. It is stipulated in Article 43B of the revision that: The national policy and strategy in the handling of terrorism crimes is conducted by the National Police, the Indonesian Military and related government institutions along with their respected authorities, which will be coordinated by non-ministry government institutions that handle terrorism prevention.

This article highlights a greater military involvement in future counterterrorism measures, which will likely push terrorism prevention away from law enforcement approaches. This article will open a room for the Indonesian Militarys involvement in operations other than war, which actually has been regulated in Law No.34/2004 on the Indonesian Military. The law stipulates that any operations other than war involving the Indonesian Military must be based on a political decision jointly made by the President of the Republic of Indonesia and the House of Representatives. Involving the military in terrorism prevention cannot be conducted unless there is a state decision for such involvement.

Passport revocation for every Indonesian citizen proven to be an actor of a terrorism crime as stipulated in Article 12B of the revision not only violates citizenship rights but also has potential for misuse. Citizenship revocation should not happen as it is a persons constitutional right, rights group Imparsial activist Al Araf told thejakartapost.com.

We must learn the lessons from past incidents, including the death of Siyono, that there are real risks of serious human rights abuse through current counterterrorism measures. It is the ultimate responsibility of the state to protect the whole country from terrorist threats. But, we also must keep the risks of the measures, which might severely affect the human rights of the people, in mind.
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Linkedin PJ Leo (The Jakarta Post) South Tangerang, Banten  Wed, April 13 2016

Inspired by a deaf cafe in Nicaragua, a young woman established a deaf cafe in East Pamulang, South Tangerang, Banten, which embraces the deaf community as employees and bridges the hearing and the non-hearing world.

The beaming smiles of several young women and their hand gestures warmly welcome culinary lovers visiting Deaf Cafe Fingertalk, located on Jalan Pinang, East Pamulang, South Tangrang.



As its name suggests, Deaf Cafe Fingertalk employs people with impaired hearing and speech as workers. Unsurprisingly, the cafe is a bit quiet with some guests chatting occasionally, unlike the noisy environments of most eateries.



Two deaf waitresses, Futri Nurul Andryani, 21, and Lindya Septiani or Septi, 21, promptly approach incoming customers, inquire about the food and drinks to be ordered with sign language and by handing over the menu.



People unfamiliar with sign language may feel awkward in how to respond, but Deaf Cafe Fingertalk provides several instruction sheets of Indonesian Sign Language (Bisindo), with enough root words to help visitors order while learning a new speech method.



For those who find it hard to practice sign language, the deaf women at the cafe can read lip movements as their guests speak to them slowly. They can also write their orders down on paper that is made available.



This is my first visit to Deaf Cafe Fingertalk and I was a bit uncomfortable when communicating with a deaf waitress. But its a pleasurable experience to savor the cuisine and exercise sign language, said Hendriana Kridatani, a Pamulang resident, who brought along his family.



Deaf Cafe Fingertalk was initiated by the energetic, Dissa Syakina Ahdanisa, 26, who works as an equity analyst at Credit Suisse, Singapore.

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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

The Danish government has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Agriculture Ministry to invest at least Rp 2 trillion (US$152.7 million) into Indonesia's cattle, corn and sugar plantation industries.

Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said the MoU would be effective for five years and would be coordinated through the Danish embassy in Indonesia. Denmark would provide the agricultural technology to Indonesia, while Indonesia would provide two million hectares of land for the investment.

"I said to them that our trade is not balanced yet. They already have a Rp 2 trillion investment in Indonesia, but I asked them to double it," Amran said on Tuesday in Jakarta.

He added the government prepared two million hectares of farmland in Southeast Sulawesi, Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara. One million hectares would be allocated for live cattle, 500,000 hectares for corn plantations, and the remaining 500,000 hectares for sugarcane plantations.

The president had already approved the land, said Amran.

Denmark's Environment and Food Minister Esben Lunde Larsen stated his country would increase investment at the technological level, adding the significant prior investment from his country.

"That is why we have signed the MoU today. We have great interest in poultry, pig meat, and dairy. Also, we have the technology to improve the production of individual farmers," he told thejakartapost.com after the MoU signing. (ags)
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Linkedin Julia Suryakusuma (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13 2016

Does life imitate art, or art imitate life? In the case of Leonardo DiCaprio, it seems both are true, at least when it comes to his relationship with nature not women!

In The Revenant, a survivalist epic, he plays Hugh Glass, a frontiersman who struggles for his life in the wilderness of the American Midwest. Hes mauled almost to death by a ferocious grizzly bear, left for dead by his travel companions, eats raw bison liver to survive and sleeps naked inside a horse carcass to keep warm in the sub-zero temperatures. He says the scenes were the most difficult hes ever had to do in his entire career. No kidding. Watch the movie!

In the speech he made upon finally winning an Oscar, DiCaprio said, Making The Revenant was about mans relationship with the natural world. Instead of a plethora of thank yous, he made an impassioned plea to work collectively in the face of climate change.

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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

An Indonesian woman with physical disabilities demands international airliner Etihad Airways to publicly apologize to all Indonesian disabled community groups after she was kicked off a flight for not being accompanied by an aide.

Dwi Ariyani, 36, who is also an activist for the rights of the disabled, reported her traveling experience to the Indonesian Ombudsman on Tuesday. The Ombudsman is a state agency responsible for monitoring services provided by the government, state-owned or private companies.

Pratiwi Febry from Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), who represents Dwi said that the initial apology sent out by Etihad was not sufficient as the airline had discriminated Dwi as a person with a physical disability.

"Etihad must also apologize to community groups of disabled people in Indonesia as Dwi had planned to go to Geneva to attend training on the UN [United Nations] convention on the rights of people with disabilities," Pratiwi said in a hearing with the Ombudsman on Tuesday.

The incident, which took place on April 3 when she was on board a Geneva-bound flight from Jakarta, lead to the cancellation of Dwi's trip.

"She had planned to share the training module [from the UN convention] with disabled community groups in Indonesia, which could not happen because of the cancellation, Pratiwi said.

Dwi also demanded Etihad commit to improving its service for disabled passengers in its apology.

Etihad had previously apologized and admitted its failure to facilitate a passenger in a wheelchair through a private email and phone call to Dwi. The airline had also offered a consolation flight and emphasized that it regularly accommodated disabled passengers without problems.

After the events, Dwi set up an online petition at www.change.org titled "Etihad Airways, dont' discriminate people with disabilities", which has garnered more than 45,000 supports as of Tuesday.

She also noted the incident is ironic as the House of Representatives has just passed the 2016 People with Disabilities bill into law, protecting the basic rights of disabled people within society.

As previously reported, Dwi was asked to leave the aircraft by the flight crew because she did not have anyone to help her evacuate in case of an emergency. The crew had said they were acting in accordance with the airlines rules, which Dwi later found untrue in Etihads flight regulations.

Meanwhile, Ombudsman commissioner Alvin Lie said that he would summon the air transportation director general of the Transportation Ministry to discuss the matter.

In the hearing, Pratiwi expressed her client's disappointment over the ministry's slow response following the request.

Furthermore, the Ombudsman will also summon air transportation operator PT Angkasa Pura I and II, the Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA), ground service management of PT Gapura Angkasa and other companies to discuss the provision of better service for the disabled.

The Ombudsman also urged the government to deliberate the Government Regulation following the passing of the Law for Disabled People to implement a more binding regulation.

Discrimination from domestic airlines

Similarly, several community groups of disabled peoples also reported their complaints regarding the poor service from domestic airlines to the Ombudsman.

A representative of AksesNet, a business model set up by disabled people, Aulia Amin, said that people in wheel-chairs often received discrimination from domestic airlines, such as the forced signing of a letter of sickness to allow them on board.

Such a letter states the airline will take responsibility for the disabled in case of an emergency during the flight.

Flight crews are also found to be likely unqualified to treat disabled people, especially in wheelchairs when some domestic planes do not have air bridges.

The crew even asked me how do I carry you up the stairs? I then taught the crew how to carry me properly, Aulia said.

The Indonesian Blind Union (Pertuni) secretary, Rina Prasarani, said she also often felt badly treated on domestic airlines. This is a stark contrast from her traveling experience with international airlines, who follow standard operating procedures in handling disabled passengers, such as offering in-flight assistance.

Some domestic airlines do not have standards in treating the disabled. Some ground staff also cannot conceptualize how to service people with disabilities. We dont want to be favored but we want to be treated equally, Rina said (rin).
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Linkedin Erika Anindita Dewi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

The government and the House of Representatives will focus on an article on defamation in the amendment of the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, as both have agreed to pass the bill in June.

The government and House have completed the bill's problem inventory list, which will be deliberated before the House's recess on April 30. The government held a working meeting with House Commission I overseeing intelligence, defense and foreign affairs on Wednesday.

The key article covers criminal charges for defamation, Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara said at the House complex.

The current law stipulates a maximum sentence of six years imprisonment for people charged under the article. However, the government proposed a maximum four-year sentence to minimize multiple interpretations, Rudiantara said.

Moreover, charges would need to be based on formal complaints.

"There must be someone who reports it. Has any party been offended?" Rudiantara told journalists after the meeting.

The House aimed to complete the deliberation of the revised ITE bill by June, Commission I deputy chairman TB Hasanuddin said.

The commission will discuss the bill before late April. Deliberations will continue in May as a final draft would be expected by early June, so Commission I could present it at the House's plenary meeting, according to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker. (rin)
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Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani and Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13 2016

In view of the potential for human rights abuses by special operations police officers, some have called for the National Police to evaluate the work and operational procedures of its antiterror squad, Densus 88. The call was made by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and Muhammadiyah, an Islamic organization, on Tuesday.

The call follows the results of an independent autopsy on Siyono, an alleged terrorist who died under suspicious circumstances while in police custody.

The autopsy showed that Siyono died from a broken rib piercing his heart. The result contradicted earlier statements by the police that Siyono had died from internal bleeding in the head after being hit by a blunt object following a fight with a Densus 88 officer in a car.

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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

Indonesia is ready to ratify the World Trade Organization (WTO) multilateral Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), a top official has said.

Negotiations on the TFA, which aims to ease customs procedures and facilitate the movement, release and clearance of goods, were concluded at the WTO Bali Ministerial Conference in December 2013.

Trade Ministry director general for international trade negotiations Imam Pambagyo said the TFA was in the same spirit as Indonesia's National Single Window (INSW) scheme, that also aims to ease customs clearance and speed up the movement of goods.

"It is still in the process [of ratification]. Hopefully it can be immediately included in the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas). [...] The agreement is in line with our policy," he said on Wednesday in Jakarta.

Indonesia wants the agreement to be implemented by all WTO members to ease export requirements, Iman said. For example, exporting goods to South America or the Middle East obliges Indonesian exporters to report to their embassy first.

"So there is an extra fee to export to some countries because there are additional documents required, in particular to developing countries. Under the TFA, that will be removed. So, basically, the TFA is not about market access issues but trade facilitation," he explained.

WTO directorate general Roberto Carvalho de Azevedo has estimated that if the agreement was signed by all WTO members trade prices would be cut by around 30 percent. It would also lower barriers in trade overseas and give access to SMEs in the global value chain.

According to him, Indonesia has taken positive steps to improve the movement of goods by cutting dwell times from six days to about four days, although dwell times are still four times longer than those in Singapore.

TFA contains 40 technical measures that signatory nations are required to implement in order to reduce trade costs. Each member is also obliged to publish all information regarding procedures, regulations, fees and charges on the internet.

The agreement covers special provisions to developing countries as well as least-developed countries, which allows them to implement the agreement based on their own assessment, including technical assistance and support for capacity building.

However, to make the agreement obligatory, two-thirds, or 107 of the 161 WTO members of WTO members, must ratify it, said Roberto. (ags)
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

Indonesia plans to reaffirm its partnership with the United Kingdom to boost the creative economy industry, including music, film, fashion, art and digital development.

We want to merge culture and the economy in the country. So it could be monetized and increase people's welfare, Creative Economy Agency head Triawan Munaf said on Tuesday.

We want to learn a lot from the UK, sharing information about the market, both commercially and non-commercially, which is the downstream of creative economy industry. We also want to learn about various financing models in the industry.

The five-year partnership will be stipulated in the amended memorandum of understanding (MoU), initially signed by Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Pangestu in October 2012, under the Yudhoyono administration.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo and Triawan will be visiting England on April 19-20 to sign the amended MoU, which includes 16 sectors of creative economy industry in the country namely advertising; architecture; craft; culinary; digital development; fashion; film, animation and video; fine arts; interior design; literature and publishing; music; performing arts; photography; product design; television and radio; and visual communication design.

On the other hand, Adam Pushkin, the arts and creative industries director of the British Council in Indonesia, mentions the importance of digital development for the industry.

People are coming up with new ways to enable new opportunities, and there is an economic potential out of that. But it is also about creative potential, it is also about people finding new ways of telling stories, sharing creative ideas with each other, he said.

We see Indonesia as an incredibly young country. The majority of the 255 million people here is under 30, and that is an incredible resource of talent.

Triawan also said that digital development could offer solutions for the workers of the creative economy industry, such as in the music sector, in which musicians have experienced many problems with piracy.

Meanwhile, Amelia Hapsari, the program director of In-Docs, a documentary community in Jakarta, said that her side had established a partnership with Britdoc, a documentary organization based in London. With the partnership between Indonesia and the UK, Amelia hoped it could pave the way for both organizations to further promote documentary films across both countries.

Britdoc believes that documentary films are supposed to be distributed and bring a positive impact for society, not just end in the production phase, she said. (vps/bbn)
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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has stressed that the most serious fight is the war for humanity, calling on all parties to not overlook military operations other than war issues.

Humanitarian aid operations, particularly in regard to natural disasters in the sea require alertness, speed and reliable resources. Therefore, the President called on the Indonesian Navy to strengthen cooperation in the sea with other countries during his opening remarks at the International Fleet Review 2016 in Padang, West Sumatra, on Tuesday.



"As citizens of the world, we are united by the sea. Your job is to fight the war to ensure that humanity wins and health services are improved," Jokowi said in a statement.

IFR is among multilateral training exercise activities at Komodo Exercise 2016, held on April 12 to 16. Komodo Exercise 2016, participated by 47 ships, 20 from 16 nations stretched across the Pacific to Indian oceans, 11 Indonesian Navy ships and 11 vessels from other institutions.

The multitaleral training exercises with a non-war fighting concept offer a more robust maritime culture, Jokowi said. The exercises will not only strengthen naval cooperation but also make a significant contribution to health and improvements in public facilities.

The exercise could also foster mutual understanding on the protection of marine resources, regional cooperation as well as human resources development in the maritime sector, he added.

The Komodo Exercise was first held in Batam and Anambas, Riau Islands province, in 2014.

Jokowi also aims for the training to support his goal for Indonesia to become the world's maritime axis.

Believing that Indonesia's future is in the sea, the President called for all parties to be involved in rebuilding Indonesia's maritime culture, maintaining and managing marine resources, providing priority to the development of maritime infrastructures, strengthening maritime diplomacy and developing maritime defense.

"Let us all go to the sea. In the sea lies hope and success. Many waves, many lives," he said in his speech. (rin)
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

Investigators of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Wednesday questioned the chairman of the Agung Sedayu Group (ASG), Sugianto Kusuma alias Aguan, and Sunny Tanuwijaya, a special staff member of Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tahaja Purnama, as witnesses in a bribery case involving the deliberations over offshore land reclamation bills.

The smiling Aguan, who arrived at the KPK office in South Jakarta at 9:30 a.m, declined to make any comment about the questioning.

He was summoned to testify as a witness in a bribery case connected with deliberations over [reclamation] bills, said KPK spokesperson Yuyuk Andriati in Jakarta on Wednesday as reported by kompas.com.

City councilor Mohamad Sanusi was arrested during an operation early last month when he was allegedly caught red-handed receiving bribe money from PT Agung Podomoro Land (APL) in connection with the deliberations over two city bills that would become the legal basis for land reclamation: the northern Jakarta strategic area spatial plan and the zoning of coastal areas and small islands.

The KPK had named APL CEO Ariesman Widjaja and employee Trinanda Prihantoro suspects in the bribery case. Meanwhile, Aguan and Sunny have been prohibited from traveling abroad for six months as their testimonies are needed by the KPK to investigate the case.

Meanwhile, Sunny, who arrived earlier than Aguan, said that he would be questioned as a witness concerning Sanusi and Ariesman.

Sunny previously admitted that he frequently acted as a mediator between Ahok and the business community. Sunny said that through Ahok their messages could be relayed to President Joko Jokowi Widodo because he assumed that Ahok and Jokowi were close friends.

APL and ASG are companies that received permits from the Jakarta city administration to carry out reclamation in Jakarta Bay. The administration plans to develop 17 islets, but the City Council on Tuesday announced that it will postpone the deliberations over the two bylaws because of the arrest of its councilor. (bbn)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13 2016

The offer made by Bali Bombing convict Umar Patek to help the government negotiate with the Philippines militant group led by Abu Sayyaf to secure the release of 10 Indonesian sailors is being considered. National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Comr. Gen. Tito Karnavian said that the offer had not been accepted yet.

Thats only one of the options. Weve still got others. [We can also get information from other terrorist] suspects captured here or those whom may have, at some point, [joined the militants] in Philippines. They too have information and well offer this option to the special task force led by the Vice President, Tito said on Tuesday.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla formed a special task force  comprising BNPT, the Foreign Ministry and the military, among others  to bring back the 10 Indonesian captives.

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Linkedin Kristian Agung Prasetyo (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13 2016

We have recently been shocked by the Panama Papers, a collection of documents revealing various schemes to hide money offshore. Allegedly originating from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm, hence the name, the documents are unquestionably enormous.

First obtained by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung and later shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, documents date from 1977 until December last year, containing details of 214,000 entities, such as companies, trusts, and or foundations.

Most of these companies are from the British Virgin Islands, Panama, the Bahamas and the Seychelles, all of which are tax havens. The documents uncover a large number of banks that allegedly registered more than 15,000 letter-box companies through that firm.

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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

Human rights activists will treat the case of Siyono, an alleged terrorist, who died during interrogation by the National Polices counterterrorism squad Densus 88, as a criminal investigation, after an autopsy confirmed that torture was the cause of his death.

"We want to take Siyono's case further with criminal sanctions, not just an ethics hearing [for the police]," said Muhammadiyah youth wing chairman Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak during a hearing with House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs in Jakarta, on Tuesday.

Attending the hearing included representatives of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras). They conveyed to the Commission their findings about Siyonos death.

Counterterrorism is indeed a priority for Indonesia as any other country, however, the mechanisms used should be in accordance with law and the national ideology, Pancasila, Dahnil said.

He expressed his concern that counterterrorism efforts in Indonesia still neglected human rights principles and such violations still had not been addressed by those in government.

Siyono was one among 121 other victims of Densus 88's counterterrorism operations that either neglected human rights principles, were allegedly conducted without warrants or involved torture, in which the autopsy results had proven in Siyono's case, Dahnil said.

Commission III deputy chairman Desmond J. Mahesa of the Gerindra party said there should be criminal sanctions for police officers who have been proven guilty of violating procedures.

Komnas HAMs investigation revealed suspected attempts by the police to hide the facts behind Siyono's death, including suspending his death announcement, giving bribe money and preventing the autopsy from taking place, Komnas HAM chairman Imdadun Rahmat said.

The money given secretly by Densus 88 to Suratmi and Wagiyono, Siyono's wife and brother, which amounted to Rp 100 million (US$7,619), had reportedly come from the elite squad's own budget, in which Komnas HAM had also asked for the Commission III to probe.

Densus 88 and the local administration of Pogung Village in Klaten, Central Java, the residence of Siyono, had also allegedly urged Siyono's family to sign a statement letter that barred the family from filing a lawsuit or demanding an autopsy, Imdadun said.

There was also inconsistency in the police's statements that explained how Siyono was killed inside a car after three members of Densus 88 arrested him in Pogung, Imdadun said.

Based on the investigation, Imdadun said, the police had violated Siyono's rights as an Indonesian citizen, particularly freedom from torture and the right to life, which are protected under both national and international law.

"Siyono's death also resembled many other counterterrorism cases that involved death outside the court process, the use of torture, and procedural violations on detention and arrest," Imdadun said.

The results of Siyono's autopsy, made public on Monday, revealed a differing cause of death from what the police had claimed, showing that Siyono died from a breastbone fracture in which one of the bones pierced his heart, Komnas HAM commissioner Siane Indriani said.

This contradicts a previous police statement that announced Siyono had died from a brain hemorrhage after attempting to escape after fighting with the officer escorting him by car. (bbn)
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Linkedin Malcolm Ritter (Associated Press) New York  Wed, April 13, 2016

With famed physicist Stephen Hawking at his side, an Internet investor announced Tuesday that he's spending $100 million on a futuristic plan to explore far outside our solar system.

Yuri Milner said the eventual goal is sending hundreds or thousands of tiny spacecraft, each weighing far less than an ounce, to the Alpha Centauri star system. That's more than 2,000 times as far as any spacecraft has gone so far. The three stars that make up Alpha Centauri are the closest stars to our star, the sun.

Propelled by energy from a powerful array of Earth-based lasers, the spacecraft would fly at about one-fifth the speed of light. They could reach Alpha Centauri in 20 years, where they could make observations and send the results back to Earth.

They might discover a planet or planets there  experts think there may be some, but there's no proven sighting yet  and possibly even find signs of life there or elsewhere, said Milner and a panel of experts at the announcement.

"We commit to the next great leap into the cosmos," Hawking said, "because we are human and our nature is to fly."

The project was announced on the 55th anniversary of the flight of Russian Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. Milner was named after him.

Hawking has joined Milner and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on the board of the project, called Breakthrough Starshot, which includes a team of scientists. Milner said his $100 million will go to establish the feasibility of the project, and that a launch itself would require far more money.

Hawking is also part of a project Milner announced last year to use earthbound telescopes to seek intelligent life in outer space.

For the Starshot project, the tiny spacecraft would be boosted into space by a conventional rocket and then set free individually. They would capture the energy from the earthbound laser array with sails a few yards wide. Milner said recent advances in electronic miniaturization, laser technology and fabrication of extremely thin and light materials have made such a mission realistic to consider.

"We can do more than gaze at the stars," Milner said. "We can actually reach them."

Avi Loeb, chair of Harvard's astronomy department and member of the Starshot project's management and advisory committee, told reporters that scientists have scrutinized the technical obstacles and "we don't see any showstoppers. ... We think we can overcome all these challenges." (bbn)
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Linkedin Dominique Soguel (Associated Press) Istanbul  Wed, April 13, 2016

A Syrian journalist who was shot in the Turkish city of Gaziantep in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group died from his wounds Tuesday, a close friend said.

The death of Halab Today TV presenter Mohammed Zahir al-Sherqat marks the fourth assassination of a Syrian journalist in Turkey claimed by the extremist group.

Sherqat, who was shot in the neck from close range on Sunday while walking on a street, died in a hospital in Gaziantep near the Syrian border, according to his friend Barry Abdulattif, a Syrian activist.

Friends told the AP that the journalist had received death threats as recently as two months ago from IS extremists.

IS claimed the attack on Monday via the IS-affiliated Aamaq news agency, which said Sherqat "used to present anti-Islamic State programs."

The journalist came to Turkey in 2015 after surviving an assassination attempt in Syria and started to work with Halab Today. His programs took a stance against extremist groups.

Sherqat, a native of the Syrian town of Al-Bab, was an imam who studied Islamic Law at Damascus University, Abdulattif said. When the Syrian revolution started in 2011, he was a founding member of the local coordinating committee of Al-Bab and a field organizer of demonstrations against the Syrian regime. He later formed the Abu Bakr Al-Sadiq Brigade which fought under the banner of the opposition Free Syrian Army.

When extremist groups Al-Nusra and IS appeared in Al-Bab, Sherqat opposed them, according to Abdulattif, who is also a native of the town.

The killing of Sherqat follows the assassinations last year of two Syrian journalists who were found with their throats slit in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa and a third journalist who was shot dead in the street in Gaziantep. The attacks have prompted media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders to urge Turkish authorities to protect exiled Syrian journalists in the country.

"The situation is very bad, we don't feel safe," Abulattif said. "We know there are a lot of sleeper (IS) cells in Turkey and elsewhere but it is not easy to catch them."

Another friend and activist from Al-Bab living in Gaziantep, Marwan Shawy, shared that concern. He said Turkey's latest policies toward Syrians  including restrictions on their movements between cities and tightened border controls  are doing little to improve safety.

"Whatever they are doing so far is not working," Shawy said. "The last two (IS-related) incidents were shots in broad daylight and no one was caught."

Many Syrian activists based in Gaziantep or other cities near the border report receiving threats from IS, yet most do not have a financially viable or legal way out of Turkey. Complicating matters, a controversial deal between Europe and Turkey, home to 2.7 million Syrians, recently came into effect with the aim of curbing the flow of migrants to Europe.

Turkish authorities haven't commented on the murder of Sherqat. (bbn)
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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

An ongoing debate by lawmakers over a proposed tax amnesty should be part of the countrys efforts to reform its taxation system and not just an effort to create an instrument to reach tax revenue targets, experts and business people say.

"If the tax amnesty is established as a means of getting a new tax system, I think we have the opportunity for tax reform, but if its only goal is [to achieve a tax revenue target], we must reject it now," the executive director of the Center for Indonesia Taxation Analysis (CITA), Yustinus Prastowo, said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Therefore, the government and the House of Representatives must stress that the main purpose of the policy is to harmonize taxation regulations, strengthen the institutions and to make the tax authority more credible and accountable.

"With a heavier workload, it can also be an opportunity to strengthen supervision," he added.

Yustinus said sees that President' Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has a vision and willingness to reform taxation, but the institutions and ministries fail to translate it at a practical level. "We all are now stuck in a discourse to pursue a tax revenue target and nobody thinks about a thorough tax reform," he said.

Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Sukamdani Hariyadi said the association had been recommending a tax amnesty policy since the administration of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Moreover, Indonesia's liquidity is in severe condition as its loan-to-deposit ratio is 90 percent, making the real sector unable to expand because of tight liquidity.

"A tax amnesty will provide the right momentum, although potential additional tax revenues of Rp175 trillion (US$13.37 million) from a tax amnesty is too ambitious. We estimated Rp 70 trillion to Rp 80 trillion can be obtained from the tax amnesty," he said.

Arman Imran of the Tax Avoidance Division at the Finance Ministrys directorate general of taxation recommended three solutions in tax reform, including data integration between institutions and strengthening tax regulations.

"Currently, the mindset of our tax regulations is only on taxpayer services, whereas compliance is also necessary, especially related to tax evasion," he said.

The House has authorized House Commission XI overseeing banking and financial affairs to start the deliberations over a tax amnesty bill.

If the bill is passed into law, the government can offer tax discounts to individuals and companies who want to declare their untaxed wealth. The policy is expected to persuade Indonesians who parked their wealth overseas to bring it back home to Indonesia.

This year's tax revenue target is Rp 1.36 quadrillion, 28.2 percent higher than the Rp 1.06 quadrillion achieved in 2015. (bbn)
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 13, 2016

Two tax officers were stabbed to death while collecting taxes from a rubber trader who allegedly turned angry and furiously attacked them with a knife in Gunungsitoli, North Sumatra, on Tuesday.

The two officers, Toga Parada Fransriano Siahaan, 30, and Sozanolo Lase, 35, were in a quarrel with a taxpayer named Agusman Lahagu Als Ama Tety, 45, before the deadly incident happened.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo responded to the incident by calling on the police to investigate the case thoroughly. Toga served in the tax collecting division at the Sibolga tax office, while Sozonalo was a contract employee at the Gunungsitoli Tax Consultation and Counselling Office.

"Our deepest condolence to the two Sibolga tax officers who were slain while carrying out their duties for the country. Fully investigate and punish the perpetrator!" Jokowi said in his Twitter account, on Tuesday, in Jakarta.

Nias Police chief Ajun Sr. Comr. Bazawato Zebua confirmed the deaths of two tax officers, allegedly at the hand of Agusman, who was supposedly surprised and enraged over a Rp 1 billion tax bill.

"Seeing the enormous bill, the perpetrator [allegedly] got angry and stabbed the victims. He has been detained and our officers are currently investigating," he said at Nias Police office as quoted by Kompas.com, adding that the victims were taken to the hospital for autopsies.

Bazawato said Agusman surrendered himself to Nias Police right after the incident. "We also detained eight employees who were at the location during the incident," he added. (ags)
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Tucson, Arizona  Wed, April 13, 2016

A woman lost in an Arizona forest for nine days survived by drinking pond water, eating plants and spelling out "help" on the ground with sticks, authorities said Tuesday.

The sign helped lead rescuers to Ann Rodgers, 72, in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona earlier this month, the state Department of Public Safety said. Rodgers declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press.

She went missing March 31 as she headed to visit her grandkids in Phoenix. Rodgers got lost and her hybrid vehicle ran out of gas and electric power, authorities say. Her car was discovered three days after a search began, but rescue crews struggled to find her.

Authorities came across her dog April 9, and a department flight crew spotted a "help" signal made of sticks and rocks on the ground. Rodgers had left the area, but she was found nearby on the Fort Apache Reservation after starting a signal fire.

She was rescued in fair condition and released from a hospital.

Rodgers is from Tucson and was on a hike Tuesday afternoon, the Department of Public Safety said. It was not clear how she ended up in the eastern part of the state because the drive from Tucson to Phoenix is a straight shot on Interstate 10, which does not run through the area where she was found.

Rodgers' rescue came after three men who spelled out "help" with palm fronds were saved from a remote Pacific island last week. They swam to a tiny Micronesian island when their boat capsized, and searchers spotted them two days later. (bbn)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Wed, April 13 2016

According to media reports more than 58,000 children are facing death in drought-hit Somalia. Somalia is experiencing horrendous drought and food shortages due to lack of rain and insecurity. According to the UN own estimates, 4.7 million people are urgently in need of food, but the worlds response is very slow.

Neighboring Ethiopia is also struggling to combat its worst drought in history. At least 10 million Ethiopians urgently need food. Although, the weather phenomenon of El Nino is blamed for all misery, human factors, poor management, corruption and a worsening peace situation have exacerbated things. About 400,000 people have migrated from Somalia to Kenya and are living in camps without basic necessities. Due to a worsening peace situation and continues fighting between government forces and Al Shabab fighters, aid agencies are not able to reach and provide help to drought-affected people, especially in Somalia. Women and children are worst affected as every one child out of five is facing the risk of malnutrition and death.

Some people have walked 400 kilometers to search for food and water. According to the UNO World Food program, even being the worst drought in 60 years, the world is responding very slowly as things are going from bad to worse each day due to lack of funds and conflict situation problematizing aid agencies from reaching drought-affected areas. Modern countries can spend billions of dollar against unseen enemies in different parts of the world yet cant provide relief to those suffering. Modern countries, UN, G8 are still sitting silent and doing nothing to bring any relief to dying humanity.

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Linkedin (Associated Press) Brussels  Wed, April 13, 2016

European Union nations and lawmakers are to weigh whether to take retaliatory action over the failure of the US, Canada and Brunei to waive visa requirements for citizens of all 28 EU member states.

The European Commission invited them Tuesday "to urgently launch discussions and to take a position on the most appropriate way forward" within three months.

The talks could lead to visa requirements being imposed on people from the US, Canada and Brunei when traveling for short stays in the EU, be it for tourism, business or family visits.

Many countries have arrangements with the EU allowing their citizens to stay without a visa for up to 90 days in Europe's passport free travel zone, known as the Schengen area.

But in return, the EU expects those countries to waive visa requirements for EU nationals.

EU officials say the US requires visas for travelers from Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania. Canada demands them for Bulgarians and Romanians. Brunei has been doing so for Croatian nationals but the Commission expects this demand to be dropped within a few weeks.

The Commission is also concerned that new travel restrictions adopted by the US Congress in December could have an impact on all member states, for example the case of a French-Iranian dual national who would now be required to apply for a visa.

The three countries had been given two years to lift the requirements and that deadline expired on Tuesday.

Top EU interior affairs official Dimitris Avramopoulos pledged to "continue pursuing a balanced and fair outcome."

But the bloc is reluctant to enter into any expensive and inconvenient tit-for-tat travel battle with major trading partners.
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Linkedin (The Nation)  Wed, April 13, 2016

The Mercury in the northern province of Sukhothai, Thailand's former capital, has shot to 44 degrees Celsius, the highest the province has ever registered in April, and nearing the highest ever recorded in the country of 44.5 degrees in Uttaradit.

Weather forecasters have warned people against staying in the sun too long given the risk of potentially fatal heat stroke.

Because of a low-pressure zone covering the upper part of Thailand, many provinces have witnessed record-breaking temperatures this month. Lampang's Thoen district on April 7 saw the mercury rise to 43.2 degrees.

On Monday and yesterday, the highest temperatures in Thailand were recorded in Sukhothai's Sri Samrong district, Kanchanaburi at 43.5 and Nakhon Ratchasima at 43.2.

Some provinces saw temperatures this year at the same level as record highs 58 years ago, when Kanchanaburi saw temperatures rise to 43.5 degrees on April 29, 1958.

Temperatures in Sri Samrong broke the record from last year in line with weather-bureau predictions of 44 degrees for the latter half of the month.

Forecasters also predicted that temperatures would notch up 1 more degree Tuesday. Surapong Saratpa, of the Thai Meteorological Department, warned people to be careful during Songkran, from Wednesday until Friday. If the mercury exceeds 44.5 degrees, as recorded in Uttaradit in 1958, a new record will be set after 58 years.



Summer storms



Chatchai Promlert, Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department director-general, also warned people to brace for summer storms from now through Sunday, especially those in 47 provinces in the North, Northeastern and Central regions.

Meanwhile, a man who collapsed and died in Phitsanulok's Bangrakam district probably succumbed to the heat, police said.

The body of Denchai Thongpak, 47, a resident of Bang Rakam district, was found Tuesday lying face up in the middle of a rice field. He was not wearing a shirt, his eyes were wide open, and there was no evidence of foul play. Police said he had died within the previous 12 hours.

His wife, Somnuk Petam, 41, said her husband had left home, telling her that he would go fishing, and when she went looking for him after nightfall, she found him 3 kilometers from home. She added that Denchai did not have any known health issues.

Police believe Denchai suffered fatal convulsions due to heat stroke after walking in the sun, and that an autopsy would be conducted although his family did not suspect foul play.

Thada Satta, director of the Phitsanulok Weather Bureau, warned people against heat stroke and staying in the sun too, adding that temperatures in the province were expected to hit 42 degrees.

Weather forecasts show a hot low-pressure zone covering upper Thailand, bringing high temperatures and haze during the day in the North, Northeast and Central regions.

From Tuesday until Friday, southerly winds are expected to bring humidity from the South China Sea to cover the North, Northeast and Central regions with gusty winds and rainstorms in some areas.

From Saturday until Monday, a confluence of westerly and southeasterly winds will prevail over the North, Northeast, Central and East regions leading to thundershowers with gusty winds in some places.
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Linkedin Raul Dancel (The Straits Times/ANN)  Wed, April 13, 2016

ASEAN's solidarity, unity and centrality are "fundamental as they are vital" in resolving disputes over the South China Sea, the Philippines and Singapore said on Wednesday.

"The Philippines has complete respect for the ASEAN process and fully supports ASEAN centrality in pushing forward our agenda for community building, including enhanced relations with dialogue partners such as China," the Philippines' Foreign Minister Rene Almendras said in a statement issued in Manila.

Almendras was in Singapore on Tuesday and Wednesday, following a two-day visit to Vietnam.

He called on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday, and met with his Singapore counterpart, Vivian Balakrishnan, on Wednesday.

The statement issued by the Philippines' Foreign Ministry said Almendras and Lee "reiterated that, as a non-claimant state, Singapore's key interests lie in ensuring that the rule of law prevails over any dispute, preserving freedom of navigation and the unimpeded conduct of commerce in the [South China Sea]".

Almendras was also quoted as conveying "the appreciation of the Philippines for the leadership role Singapore is ably performing as present coordination for ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations".

Singapore took over as coordinator from Thailand last year.

In Hanoi, Almendras also underscored the "vital role that ASEAN centrality and solidarity play, including the non-claimant states, in coming up with a common position regarding the issue of the [South China Sea]".

The Philippines and Vietnam have agreed to draft a six-year "action plan" to deepen their security ties in the face of China's growing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.

The Philippines and Vietnam - former Cold War adversaries - both have competing claims with China over the South China Sea. Aside from the Philippines and Vietnam, other claimants to the sea include Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

A statement issued by Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Philippines and Singapore "reaffirmed the longstanding and warm relations between Singapore and the Philippines. They noted the strong people-to-people links and hope to see such links further strengthened".

Said Almendras: "The Philippines appreciates very much all the support Singapore has shown the Philippines with great confidence and faith in the resilience of the Philippine economy. We also thank Singapore for being a gracious host to a considerable Filipino expatriate community, who benefit from friendly programs and policies being implemented by your government."
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Linkedin Wahyuni Kamah (The Jakarta Post) Manado  Wed, April 13, 2016

Home to an array of culinary delights that have, over time, been heavily influenced by a blend of local, Dutch, and Chinese culture, North Sulawesi is known for its spicy food and delicious traditional snacks.



Manado, the provincial capital, is a particularly good location to begin a culinary journey. Despite the fact that the city is mainly populated by Christians, the city boasts a number of halal restaurants catering to Muslim visitors.



Weve found the top five places to visit in Manado for those seeking to savor the local halal cuisine.



Tinutuan

Jl Wakeke

Opening hours: 6 a.m. - 3 p.m.



Come here for breakfast!



Tinutuan is rice porridge mixed with pumpkin, sweet cassava, corn and vegetables such as morning glory, yard long beans and daun gedi (gedi leaves); the latter available only in Manado.



Tinutuan and mie cakalang.(Wahyuni Kamah/-)



You will find many houses converted into restaurants selling this particular dish along Jl Wakeke, but we recommend you visit the first house on the left side of the street. This venue also offers other specialties such as mie cakalang (mackarel noodles), perkedel jagung (corn fritters) and perkedel nike (fried nike fish cakes).



Nasi Kuning Saroja

Jl Diponegoro

Opening hours: 5 a.m. - 9 a.m.



While there are many street vendors or warung (small street-side restaurant) that sell nasi kuning (fragrant yellow rice) in the morning, Nasi Kuning Saroja is considered to be the best due to its vast choice of toppings, including sambal goreng kentang (fried potato chili), kering ubi (dry sweet potato), abon cakalang (skipjack tuna flakes), daging sapi suwir (shredded beef), serundeng (seasoned grated coconut), boiled egg and chili paste.



Traditionally, this dish is wrapped in woka leaves, grown in the cool mountainous climate of local sugar palm plantations. The leaves add fragrance to the rice.



Nasi kuning (fragrant yellow rice). (Wahyuni Kamah/-)



Kanaka/Lililoyor Market

Jl Sudirman IV

Opening hours: Morning



A traditional snack haven!



Visitors can expect to find all kinds of authentic North Sulawesi delicacies at this particular market, from apang coe (a soft rice flour sweet) and nasi jaha (glutinous rice cooked in young bamboo) to dodol kenari.

An old-favorite at Pasar Kanaka is Evie Cake and Bakery where youll find the largest selection of snacks, from fresh bread and cakes to cookies.



Es Tjie Mie

Jl Sudirman No. 104

Opening hours: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.



Es kacang merah (red beans, shaved ice and sweetened condensed milk) is a popular dessert in the region but the best one is offered by Es Tjie Mie, a venue that first opened in 1957.



A perfect place to seek refreshment during the midday heat, Es Tjie Mie also offers es kacang durian (kidney beans with ice, sweetened condensed milk and durian), es kacang avokad (kidney beans with ice, sweetened condensed milk and avocado) and es avokad durian (kidney beans with ice, sweetened condensed milk, avocado and durian). If you fancy a little more than Es, Manado favorites like tinutuan, mie cakalang and fried banana are also available for lunch or dinner.



Es Tjie Mie.(Wahyuni Kamah/-)



Seafood

Jl Raya Kalasey

Opening hours: Afternoon



Conveniently situated beside the sea, Jl Raya Kalasey is home to a variety of bustling seafood restaurants.



Here, the fresh seafood prices are based on weight. If you dont feel like seafood, many alternative dishes are also available, including the famous woku belanga (spicy stew).

***

Wahyuni Kamah is a columnist and a certified English-Indonesian translator and vice versa. She loves traveling, culture, and social issues. Fanpage: facebook.com/wkamah/



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Interested to write for thejakartapost.com? We are looking for information and opinions from experts in a variety of fields or others with appropriate writing skills. The content must be original on the following topics: lifestyle (beauty, fashion, food), entertainment, science & technology, health, parenting, social media, travel, and sports. 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.
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Linkedin Claire Lee (The Korea Herald/Asia News Network)  Wed, April 13, 2016

In 2012, when Kang Min-jin was 17 years old, she decided to go public about her sex life. Back then, in a rally focusing on youth rights in Seoul, she held a banner which she thought was both deeply personal and political. It said: Im not a virgin (and Im a teenager).

Yes, it was a political statement, she said in an interview with The Korea Herald. When you live in a country where you can be punished at school for dating a fellow student, where you need to be 19 or older to get information about birth control online, nothing can be more political than what I said that day.

Now 20, Kang is a college student and a member of an advocacy group that fights for teenagers rights, including their rights to birth control, privacy and quality sex education in South Korea. She and her colleagues also fight for teenagers rights not to be physically punished at school as well as to be able to dress freely, and actively -- and safely -- engage in sexual and romantic relationships as minors.



As of 2014, only 39 percent of sexually active South Korean teenagers used birth control, while 66.1 percent of all teenagers who became pregnant had abortions. The nations sex education, which often discourages students from dating but does not provide enough information on birth control, is highlighted as one of the main reasons behind such statistics.



Korean teenagers are often seen as property belonging to their parents, she said. We want teenagers to be acknowledged as independent beings who can make their own decisions about their lives, their bodies and their relationships.



No-dating rule for students



According to Kangs organization, the Group for Youth Sexuality Rights, almost half of all Korean high schools nationwide have a policy that bans dating in school. At the same time, a lot of schools -- many in provincial areas -- separate boys and girls by placing them in different buildings or classes. Some of them even have different mealtimes so they will not run into each other during lunch breaks. They also ban students from dying their hair, wearing earrings as well as altering the hemline of school uniform skirts, according to the organization.



One of the students who reported her case to us said she and her boyfriend, a fellow student, were kicked out of her dorm after she was caught holding hands with him on a surveillance camera, Kang said.



Despite these measures, South Korean schoolchildren still date. According to research by the state-run Aha Sexuality Education and Counseling Center for Youth, about 60 percent of all South Korean teenagers have dated at least once from 2004-2013. As of 2014, 5.3 percent of all South Korean schoolchildren have had sex. While it is legal for minors aged 19 or under to purchase birth control, one needs to be 19 or older in South Korea to have full access to information regarding contraception such as condoms on the search engine Naver.



Developing romantic feelings for someone as a teenager is just a natural part of growing up, said Park Hyun-ee from the ASECCY. Instead of banning dating, it is necessary to educate them on what to expect and how to protect themselves when they engage in sexual relationships. They should be also educated on the responsibilities they have for their romantic partners as well as consequences of unprotected sex.



South Koreas Gender Ministry last year made a controversial decision to ban teenagers from buying specialized condoms, such as those with studs. Naver banned those aged 19 or under from viewing the complete search results for the word condoms as the term inevitably collects information on such types of condoms as well.



While there is no medical proof that such condoms can damage the health of minors, Kim Sung-byuk, a Gender Ministry official who oversees youth policies, said the products may trigger abnormal and unhealthy views on sex among schoolchildren. As we have said many times before, all teenagers are allowed to purchase condoms as long as they are not the specialized kinds, he said. We have filed requests to Naver to allow teenagers to access more information on safe products.



Why I lied that I was raped



Kang was 15 when she had her first sexual experience. She had quit middle school in Ulsan as she had become weary of the physical punishment that was occurring daily in her class. I was a good student, as in I did well academically. So I was rarely punished. But I think witnessing your friends being punished was equally traumatizing, she said. We would be hit for reasons like being late, talking loudly in class, or dozing off while the teacher was talking. One of the teachers had a habit of choking children whenever she was angry.



She recalls the desire to be acknowledged as an independent human being -- like an adult -- when in school. I think thats why I became interested in sexual relationships, she said. That was the only kind of relationship in which I was treated like a grown-up, not a child or a property.



Yet during her first experience, she said she was not able to tell her partner, to use protection. I just didnt know when to say it, and how to say it.



At the time, as she was scared that she might become pregnant, Kang decided to purchase emergency contraceptive pills. While she had learned about the pills during sex education class in school, she had not been told where and how she could purchase them.



I didnt know all teenagers were allowed to get a doctors prescription for the pills as long as they visit clinics and pay for it, she said. So I lied to my doctor that I had been raped. And really, no teenager nowadays should be as confused as I was when trying to get information on birth control.



Forced abortions, adoptions



On top of lacking information on birth control, Kang said that pregnant teenagers are often forced to make decisions that they do not want to make, such as abortion or giving their babies up for adoption.



One of the teens who reported her case to Kangs organization was drugged by her mother when she was pregnant and was taken to a clinic where she underwent abortion illegally against her will. When she woke up, the procedure was already over.



Choi Hyung-sook, who used to be an unwed single mother, witnessed a similar case while working as a sex education teacher for teens. When a high school student became pregnant with her boyfriend, a fellow student, the two ran away to the countryside, as her parents had tried to force her to have an abortion. The young couple wanted to keep the baby and had plans to raise the child together. Yet when she arrived in a hospital to give birth, health care workers contacted her parents. They were following laws that aim to protect minors. When the baby was born, the teens mother sent the child for adoption overseas without her daughters consent.



Many school teachers I met have repeatedly said students are supposed to study, and students are not supposed to date, as if teenagers dont need to learn anything about birth control, Choi told The Korea Herald. Should teenage mothers  who were never fully educated on birth control options -- be forced by their own parents to give up their children just because they are minors? Its something that we should really think about.



Abortion is illegal in South Korea except in certain circumstances, such as when the woman was impregnated by rape.



Park Hye-young, the associate director of Sunflower Center, a state-run support institution for victims of sexual violence, said that the center receives many pregnant teenagers who claim to have been raped and ask the center to support the cost of their abortion procedures.



There have been cases where the young women were not raped, she said. They just became pregnant because they had unprotected sex and were not educated enough about birth control. They would visit our center after learning that only rape victims are eligible to receive government support for safe, legal abortion procedures.



Kang said teenagers who keep their pregnancies a secret from their parents, as well as those who ran away from homes, are especially vulnerable under the current legal system.



When you are a teenager and you dont have the money and the right information, the chances are you may end up receiving an unsafe abortion procedure by an uncertified doctor, she said. The (current) sex education fails to educate teenagers on birth control, and the current laws fail to protect them from unsafe abortion. Its like a vicious circle.

To protect or to be free



Conservative activists, on the other hand, support the governments method of restricting teenagers from being exposed to sex so as to minimize the risk that follows.



Lee Kyung-ja, who heads Student First, a group of Korean parents, said public sex education should discourage students from having sex, instead of educating them on birth control options.



Weve had students who were traumatized after attending such classes that taught about birth control options in detail. Theyd come home and say they were scared and shocked, she told The Korea Herald.



We think sex education should focus on responsibility and self-control. I believe all schoolchildren eventually learn about sex naturally. We dont have to (unnecessarily) provoke or shock them by informing them too much, by educating them on things like how to use condoms or homosexuality.



But advocates of liberal sex education contend that it is closely linked to protecting students basic rights.



The school system is very oppressive, Kang said. You are constantly competing against one another, while often separated from the other gender. You are not supposed to date or have sex. You are only supposed to study and your only goal should be achieving good grades. Its almost inhumane.



The activist said she hopes to see more Korean teens making independent and educated choices on birth control and romantic relationships. Even as adult women, we are told that its our right to say no (to unwanted sexual activities), she said. But we rarely get reminded that it is also our right to say yes -- and enjoy and exercise ones sexual self-determination to the widest possible sense.



Meanwhile, Kang continues to hand out stickers with a message taken from a song to show that teenagers are also free to love. They say: Its really the best age to fall in love.
Less than a week away from the special election in the 65th Assembly District, the Lower Manhattan campaign is attracting more citywide media attention. The latest publication trying to make sense of the unusual contest to replace Sheldon Silver is the Wall Street Journal.

In a story posted last night, the Journal positions the race as a test for Silvers longtime allies in the Truman Democratic Club:

The clubs influence will be put to the test next week, when voters decide who will succeed Mr. Silver in Albany. For decades, whoever claimed the Democratic Party line was a shoo-in for the job in this lower Manhattan district, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 50,000 to 7,500. This year, however, a liberal challenger, Yuh-Line Niou, is making the election competitive by framing it as a referendum on Mr. Silver and the party machinery that kept him in power for more than 30 years.

The Truman Club and Silvers former chief of staff, Judy Rapfogel, played key roles in Alice Cancels nomination Feb. 7 by the Democratic Partys local County Committee. In recent days, tensions have been rising between Cancel and Niou, who is running on the Working Families Party line.

The Wall Street Journal suggests that the clubs primary aim was to derail the candidacy of Paul Newell. He challenged Silver in 2008 and has been an unpopular figure among members of the former speakers inner circle ever since. The article hints at a vigorous debate that was playing out within the Grand Street organization about how to remain relevant, even as Mr. Silver prepares for a lengthy prison sentence:

At the meeting where Ms. Cancel won the vote, Judy Rapfogel said the Truman club remained strong and will continue to have victories in the community.

The Village Voice this week is also delving into the behind-the-scenes machinations on the Lower East Side. Reporter Nick Pinto writes:

Silvers loyalists flirted with backing Niou against Newell, but there were some problems. While Niou narrowly met the residency requirement of having lived in the district for at least a year, some questioned whether she met the requirement of residing in New York for the past five years. Besides, the math didnt add up. If team Silver wanted to stop Newell, theyd need to ally with the more powerful Lower East Side Democrats, which they did, throwing their weight behind Alice Cancel. On learning she wouldnt get the backing from Silvers people, Niou publicly quit the Democratic race, alleging a flawed and undemocratic process.

In general, the mainstream media, including the New York Times, have portrayed the special election as a battle between a Sheldon Silver ally (Cancel) and a reform-minded newcomer (Niou). Supporters of Cancel and other local political insiders, however, say what was actually happening at the County Committee-level shows that this characterization is at least partially inaccurate.

Our sources in the Truman Club confirm that all of the candidates, except Newell, sought the Truman Clubs backing. They suggest that the account in the Voice is basically correct  that Rapfogel wanted to support Niou, who was being championed by Virginia Kee of the United Democratic Organization (UDO). The Chinatown club cultivated close relations with Silver over a course of many years.

But Cancels club, Lower East Side Democrats, held well over 30% of the votes at the County Committee. After the Truman Club did the math and realized that only Cancel had enough support to win, Rapfogel and company changed course. Niou and Kee did not learn of their decision until the day of the County Committee vote. The Working Families Party had decided to endorse Niou, after initially telling Paul Newell hed won the organizations backing. The shift gave Niou a position on the special election ballot and a platform from which to challenge Cancel.

In the past several weeks, Niou has picked up key endorsements from the states Democratic establishment, as well as from the New York Times. She also enjoys a huge fundraising advantage, having collected more than $160,000 compared with $4,300 for Cancel. The Democratic nominee has not helped her case by repeatedly calling Sheldon Silver a hero.

Republican Lester Chang hopes the battle between the two Democrats offers him an opportunity to claim Silvers old Assembly seat. The theory is that Cancel, Niou and Green Party candidate Dennis Levy will split the progressive vote. Meanwhile, several candidates are preparing for the real campaign, as one of them put it to us recently. Newell, Jenifer Rajkumar, Gigi Li and Don Lee plan to compete in the Democratic Primary in September (Christopher Marte is running as an independent). While no ones saying so publicly, theyd much prefer to go up against Cancel, believing that Niou would be more difficult to unseat.

Later today, well be publishing our sit-down interview with Yuh-Line Niou, including her thoughts on the County Committee process and the allegations that have been flying back-and-forth.
Leading up to next weeks special election, were interviewing the candidates battling to replace Sheldon Silver in the New York State Assembly. After she was elected Democratic nominee, we talked with Alice Cancel (an updated version of the early February story will be featured later this week). Today, our attention turns to Working Families Party Candidate Yuh-Line Niou.

Niou is chief of staff to Queens Assemblyman Ron Kim. She came to New York in 2010 to take part in the National Urban Fellows Program. Previously, Niou worked as a legislative assistant in Washington State and as a lobbyist for the Statewide Poverty Action Network. About two years ago, Niou moved to the Financial District.

In our interview, which took place last month, we began by discussing what brought her downtown:

Its not a real awesome story. I actually was robbed where I was living in Harlem. My boyfriend at the time, my fiance (now), didnt think I was safe up there, so he told me to move in, and so thats how I moved to the Financial District with him. He was already living there. Actually, there were two incidents. We have a lot of safety issues. Some of the things that happen on the Lower East Side are very parallel. I watched a girl get raped on a pile of garbage, right across the street from the projects. Thats where I was living. I was living at 106th (Street) and 1st Avenue. I was calling police and yelling at him through my window Another time I watched this guy slam a girls head into  she was at an ATM  just slam it right into an ATM machine and grab her money and run. I was trying to get the police to go after him, and they just took their time. So these are all incidents that kind of led to me moving down to the Financial District and moving in with my partner.

The circumstances that led to this campaign in the 65th Assembly District are obviously unusual. Sheldon Silver was forced from office after being convicted on federal corruption charges in late November. Governor Cuomo officially called the special election on Jan. 30, setting off a mad scramble by candidates interested in vying for the high-profile Lower Manhattan seat. Niou talked about why she decided to pursue elected office:

For me, I just realized, as a resident in the community, as someone who loves it here and wants to see the best for our district, I want to serve. I want to use my skill-set to be able to serve our community. I know exactly how Albany works. I know that whoever comes in is going to have a freshman budget, and its going to be tough. I think the biggest need that we have here is constituent services The former speaker had over $1 million just to do constituent services Were going to be at an $85,000 budget, whoever comes in I run a freshman office, so I know exactly how its done Because you have such a limited amount of funds and because you have such a limited amount of time, you really need to hit the ground running on day one In Rons office I was able to help service 30-60 people a day. Thats like 10,000 constituent cases a year Im going to make sure that folks really feel taken care of. Thats my mission and the reason I want to serve. As I look around, I just see the need I strongly feel that having a voice is very important.

Niou was one of several candidates seeking the Democratic nomination at a local County Committee meeting in February. She dropped out of contention just before the vote, calling the process undemocratic. About 180 members of the County Committee, almost all with ties to the districts four political clubs, voted that day. Clubs that turned out strongly for Governor Cuomo in 2014 (as opposed to Zephyr Teachout) wielded more influence. Heres what Niou had to say about the process:

My biggest concern is that I wanted to see real representation from our district on that county committee. I just didnt feel that it was very representative of that As you know, it was a weighted vote People didnt have to live in the (election districts) that they were representing. The entire county committee was controlled by four clubs. On top of that, it was a weighted vote, which was about whoever was voting for the governor in the last election. In the (election districts)  especially in Battery Park City, the Financial District  some of them had voted for Zephyr Teachout, and so somehow theyre less Democrats. It was structured so that some people could have larger weighted votes. I think some of the politics that went into that were interesting, to say the least. I think I was one of the only candidates who did not have a vote herself.

In campaign literature, Niou has hit Alice Cancel hard, linking her to Sheldon Silver. Cancel was backed by the Truman Democratic Club, Silvers political organization. Niou says she would be an independent voice in Albany with a strong commitment to reform. Her critics, however, have argued that she was just as determined as the other candidates in the race to win the support of Silvers club. We asked Niou about that:

I never made any deals with anybody. I went in there and I knocked on doors. I made phone calls. I talked to as many County Committee members as were willing to give me time. I was able to peel off votes from all four clubs I have a great mentor in (NYC Comptroller) Scott Stringer One of the things I was doing was talking to each person and counting their vote That is, I think, what every candidate should be doing. I was actually reprimanded for doing that, which I thought was even more undemocratic. I really wanted to reach each person and talk to them and tell them why Im the best for this job.

Many people in the district have complex feelings about the former speaker. There was no shortage of dismay as revelations surfaced at his federal corruption trial. At the same time, a lot of local residents (including Alice Cancel) say they will always remember Silvers advocacy on behalf of the communities in Lower Manhattan. Niou weighed in on the takeaways for her from Sheldon Silvers rise and fall:

I think the takeaway is to represent your district well. I think you should never be morally compromised when representing your district. Youre put in a position of trust and higher standard for your district and to be their representative. Youre there to listen. Youre there to understand a lot of the complicated issues. We have one of the most beautiful parts of the state. We have a complex, diverse group of folks, with their individual neighborhoods, amazing cultures that surround each one, and you know, its a beautiful slice of New York Were held to protect As a public servant youre supposed to serve the people who elect you. Youre supposed to represent them as best you can. I think the community is mourning a bit. They feel sad and betrayed. I think the takeaway is never to put your community in that spot.

Nious opponents say she just hasnt spent enough time in Lower Manhattan to fully understand the issues and people of the 65th Assembly District. Her response:

You cant live in every single part of the district. I live in the Financial District and I know my folks there, but as a representative, I have to represent the whole district. I am out there talking to folks, listening to what they have to say and, you know, its amazing. Its amazing to learn from people. I am not entrenched in any of the particular politics, so I think it actually gives me an opportunity to be a better unifier. I think it makes it so I could be a convener of sorts, to help bring different communities together. I know how to push agendas through in Albany and I know how to write great policy. Yes, there are different learning curves of sorts for everyone who comes into this position, but I will do my best to listen and to fight for everyone in our district.

ON THE ISSUES

Cleaning Up Albany: Niou said she wants to see campaign finance reform, term limits for the legislature and she supports stripping the pensions of convicted lawmakers. This is what Niou had to say about legislation pushed through the assembly to limit outside income (good government groups have criticized the bill for setting the limits too high):

Right now 90% of the caucus has outside income. A lot of folks, theyre willing to pass something, so they want to take incremental steps This is our opportunity to really take a stand in this fight. Were able to make sure that the person who we elect April 19 will be able to take a stand, fight for those things and really push the agenda forward. If every single member comes in, that has that same opinion, will be able to help move the agenda forward a little bit.

Funding Charter Schools:

We have to fund our public schools. Thats the biggest thing. Its nice to have other ideas come in Im a product of the public school system. If anything takes away from the funding of public schools, i think theres something wrong Were literally owed $44.6 million just in our district alone. Think about how much that funding could do to make sure students are able to pursue their dreams.

Mayoral Control of the public schools:

I think right now the United Federation of Teachers (which has endorsed Niou) is very supportive of mayoral control, since its (Mayor) de Blasio (in power) and he is helpful, but I think its a very controversial issue because under Bloomberg a lot of people were not so happy with it. Theres a history there. I think right now people want to add another three years.

Small Business Survival:

We need to close corporate loopholes for giant conglomerates  We should give some tax breaks to small businesses and make sure (minority and women-owned businesses) are fully funded and promoted. We have amazing small businesses here, especially in our district  Chinatown, Little Italy, Lower East Side  There are amazing restaurants, all part of the culture here.

We asked what specific proposals for helping mom-and-pop businesses Niou would support:

There are a few that I have been looking at. Our community has amazing answers for that One of the things is making sure theres tax credits for  some kind of incentive  to help businesses stay. Were losing businesses left and right. Its upsetting, because its jobs, as well, and its part of the cultural flavor of each of our neighborhoods.

Intercity Buses: A state law aimed at regulating buses has been criticized as ineffective. Niou said she believes the problem is not so much the law but its enforcement:

If theyre not licensed to operate here, shut them down If youre not licensed to operate a business then youre not a business. You should get fined and you should be criminalized. Get out of here! But at the same time certain people want the buses. If theyre licensed, fine. But they have to follow the law As Im looking at the legislation, I dont think the legislation is bad The fines are an appropriate amount I thought it was written very well. I do think its an enforcement issue.

Niou concluded our interview by saying:

I just want people to know where I come from. I have been a longtime advocate on many different levels. I come from the advocacy world. I have over 15 years of public service under my belt Most of my expertise has been in making sure theres financial literacy Making sure we have good growth, bringing wealth into the state and for working families and protecting working families from predatory things. Thats my background. I have worked very closely with a lot of different agencies and organizations coalitions to move issues forward We need to make sure every voice gets heard and understand how to navigate difficult situations together We wouldnt be fighting over the same piece of pie. We should be asking for more pie. I think thats one of the things Im very good at. Im very well versed in how to ask for more pie.

The special election will be held April 19. Tomorrow well have an interview with Republican Lester Chang. The candidates weighed in on a wide range of issues during our recent candidate forums. You can read a recap here.
There are reports this morning that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is looking into the Rivington House mess. The de Blasio administration lifted a deed restriction this past November on the longtime community facility, clearing the way for luxury housing in the former nursing home.

There are already ongoing inquiries by the citys Department of Investigation, the city comptroller and the state attorney general. Politico New York reports:

Attorneys working for Bharara, who is also probing two of Mayor Bill de Blasios campaign donors in an unrelated case, attended a recent meeting about the deed restriction change with staff from other investigating agencies, according to a source with knowledge of the meeting and confirmed by two other sources. A spokesman for Bharara declined to comment.

A private nursing home operator, the Allure Group, purchased the building for $28 million, and then paid the city $16 million to change the deed. Allure flipped the property, selling it to luxury condo developers in February for $116 million. The mayor says he did not know about the suspicious transaction until this past month, after stories about the situation hit the mainstream media.

While Bhararas office isnt commenting about Rivington House, the U.S. Attorney did have this to say in a speech on Tuesday:

We will keep looking hard at corruption in our legislative branch, as we have been But not just there: in the executive branch, too, both in city and in state government. Executive offices in government are far from immune from the creeping show-me-the-money culture that has been pervading New York for some time now.

Bharara, of course, successfully prosecuted former Assemblyman Sheldon Silver on corruption charges. Silver will be sentenced in May.
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Catch Beach Club to close in push to clear Phukets Surin Beach

tourismeconomicsenvironment

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 13 April 2016, 02:58PM

After 10 years operating at Phuket's Surin Beach, Catch Beach Club will close after a 'One Last Time' farewell party on Saturday (Apr 16). Photo: Catch Beach Club / Facebook

The closure of Catch and Bimi comes as part of a government drive to honour the Thai Royal family by removing all businesses and returning the beach to its virgin state. With 800 metres of white sands lined with casuarina trees, Surin Beachs incredible natural beauty was first revealed to the world when Thailands Royal family visited the beach in the 1950s. It has become the go-to spot for everyone from artists to aristocrats in the years since, said a company statement issued yesterday (Apr 12).

Catch Beach Club by Twinpalms opened a decade ago, the statement noted, adding that the two venues will close with a One Last Time party on Saturday.

Were grateful for the chance to thank and bring together all our loyal members, guests, 170,000 Facebook friends, co-workers and artists who over the past 10 years have together made this beautiful beach utopia come to life on the shores of Surin Beach, the statement read.

Though this memorable chapter is set to come to an end, theres still plenty to celebrate as a new chapter begins, with HQ Beach Lounge opening soon on Kamala Beach, it added.

The closure of Catch and Bimi follows the closure of popular Italian restaurant Cefalu last month. (See story here.)

That closure was also attributed to the governments push to clear the Surin beachfront, which has been years in progress, culminating with Phuket Governor Chamroen publicly voicing his support for clearing the beach last year. (See story here.)

Business operators at Surin Beach were given until January 1 to vacate their premises, but that deadline was again deferred pending officials completing the legal requirements to clear the sands. (See story here.)

As recently as last week, business owners made a last-ditch effort to have the deadline extended, one more time. (See story here.)
Songkran Festival gets underway in Phuket

PHUKET: Phuket Vice Governor Khajornkiet Rakpanichmanee and Kathu District Chief Sayan Chanachaiyawong joined a traditional water blessing ceremony this morning to celebrate the Thai New Year Songkran Festival  and called on everyone to enjoy the festival safely.

cultureaccidentspolicetourism

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 13 April 2016, 11:25AM

Phuket officials and police called for everyone across the island to enjoy a happy and safe Songkran. Photo: Zion Gallery

Phuket officials and police called for everyone across the island to enjoy a happy and safe Songkran. Photo: Zion Gallery

Phuket officials and police called for everyone across the island to enjoy a happy and safe Songkran. Photo: Zion Gallery

Phuket officials and police called for everyone across the island to enjoy a happy and safe Songkran. Photo: Zion Gallery

Phuket officials and police called for everyone across the island to enjoy a happy and safe Songkran. Photo: Zion Gallery

Phuket officials and police called for everyone across the island to enjoy a happy and safe Songkran. Photo: Zion Gallery

Phuket officials and police called for everyone across the island to enjoy a happy and safe Songkran. Photo: Zion Gallery

Phuket officials and police called for everyone across the island to enjoy a happy and safe Songkran. Photo: Zion Gallery

Phuket officials and police called for everyone across the island to enjoy a happy and safe Songkran. Photo: Zion Gallery

Phuket officials and police called for everyone across the island to enjoy a happy and safe Songkran. Photo: Zion Gallery

Phuket officials and police called for everyone across the island to enjoy a happy and safe Songkran. Photo: Zion Gallery

Phuket officials and police called for everyone across the island to enjoy a happy and safe Songkran. Photo: Zion Gallery

Officials and police called for everyone to enjoy a happy and safe Songkran. Photo: Zion Gallery

We want to do as much as we can to reduce the number of accidents today, V/Gov Khajornkiet said. We have a lot of people in Phuket over the holidays, and especially a lot of tourists.

Police have set up 17 road checkpoints around the island, he said.

We urge everyone to enjoy the festival safely, and all people riding on motorcycles wear helmets

prevent accidents, V/Gov Khajornkiet said during his visits to checkpoints yesterday: in Thung Thong on Phra Barami Rd, from Kathu to Patong; at the Heroines Monument in Thalang; at Muang Mai in Thalang; and in Kamala.

He also called on officials to keep an eye on the seven official water play zones in the island, which are located as follows:

Phuket Town: Limelight Avenue mall and and Saphan Hin

Karon: beachfront road

Chalong: Soi Ta-iad

Patong: Bangla Rd and Loma Park

Thalang: Surin Beach

Police are on patrol in all these areas, where the drinking of alcohol is restricted, V/Gov Khajornkiet said. Please be happy, play with water and enjoy the Songkran Festival  and drive safely,

Col Peerayut Karajedee, Deputy Commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, told The Phuket News that police officers had been deployed across the island.

We are watching over all seven water-play zones, and elsewhere, to ensure everyones safety during the Songkran festival, he said.

We wish everyone a fun, happy  and safe  Songkran, he said.
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On April 10, 2016, Qinlandang Church was dedicated, located on the border between China with Myanmar as well as in the southernmost part of N'Mai River. About 500 believers including Lisu and Nu ethnic groups attended the ceremony.

A local pastor introduces that it reaches to a number of over seventy Christians in Qinlandang after the immigration of the residents from inconvenient villages under the plan of constructing a new socialist countryside. There were originally only more than 10 households here.

Around 1994 there was a local gathering place where believers most of whom were Derung people worshipped God.

Believers use the Bible in Lisu languagein the services. Preachers read the Bible in Lisu language during worship while Derung language is used in sermons.

According to the book The History of Christianity in Western Yunnan written by Zhu Fade, the American missionary Justin Russell Morse firstly preached the gospel into Gongshan.

History Scholar wirtes nowadays that, Yunnan, a relatively small geographical area in China, over half of the 480,000 people are committed to Jesus Christ. Yunnan is one of the southwest provinces, and the people are Lisu, one of the large non-Chinese minority people groups. Over the past 100 years, Christianity has in some cases spread even more quickly and thoroughly among these ethnic minorities than among the majority (Han) Chinese. Whole clans and villages have come to Christ. In nearly every case, these mass movements can be traced back to seeds planted by some very influential early missionaries.
How to watch and what to know about South Dakota State at North Dakota
home Tech Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 update on Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and Note 5 news: Download to launch imminently

The latest Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 update has recently been released by Samsung to its users, but the recent OS update is not yet available for all Samsung Galaxy devices. The only devices who can now access the latest Android update are the new generation flagship smartphones like Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, Note 5 and S6 Edge+. However, good news is coming to older Galaxy model users as the South Korean company is planning to implement the software update to the rest of their gadgets in the coming days or weeks.

International Business Times reported that Sprint had released Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow update for Galaxy S5, S5 Sport, Note 4 and Note 5 earlier this month. The size of the update is quite huge as Sprint's latest Galaxy Note update is approximately 1.4 GB. However, the security update for last month is already included in the 6.0.1 Marshmallow update.

Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow update is now also made accessible to international variants of Galaxy Note 4. According to a report from Sam Mobile, users of the SM-N910C Galaxy Note 4 have already received the latest Android OS update.

The said device is a unique variant of Galaxy Note 4 in the international market that uses Exynos 5433 chipset as processor. Samsung launched the gadget with Android 4.4 Kitkat OS in September 2014.

According to a report from Gottabemobile, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow update first rolled out for the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge and S6 Edge+ in South Korea. Users of Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, and other S6 variants in other parts of the world received the latest operating system tweak shortly.

Countries with the latest Marshmallow update rolling out are India, United Kingdom, Austria, Russia, Iraq and the Netherland. 6.0.1 updates were also reported in Afghanistan, Croatia, Germany, Czech Republic,Nigeria, Pakistan, Italy, Macedonia in Spain, and a few other areas not cited.

Google has started rolling out the latest Marshmallow OS update for more than five months and some smartphone manufacturers have been quick in releasing the software update to its devices. However, some electronic companies like Samsung were seen to have taken longer time to implement the update. It was not until February that Samsung made a move to release Marshmallow 6.0.1 to a limited set of devices.
Put the forks away, its time to play!

Once our bellies are full of the sticky Thai rice and pork hock stew, the water guns come out and the 100 plus diners divide into two teams in the basement-level restaurant Pai and soak anything that moves with water.

This week marks the beginning of Songkran, the Thai new year, which is traditionally celebrated with a nationwide water fight.

In Thailand, trucks armed with water canons roam the streets and soak passersby, neighbourhood kids wallop each other with water balloons and tourists armed with buckets are encouraged to participate in the local customs.

Since Torontos weather is no match for Thailands warm temperatures (Bangkok is experiencing highs of 30 C this week) the water fights were brought into the dining rooms of Pai in the Entertainment District as well as Nana on Queen St. W. (Electricians were consulted in advance, I was assured.)

You see people who dont know each other sit at different tables but when they finish the festival, they go out and talk to each other and cross the barrier of being strangers, says Nuit Regular, who is co-owner and chef of Pai. This table will play with that table, everyone gets together. I see that and I get very happy. Its worth all the prep and the cleanup, says Regular who named the restaurant after her hometown in northern Thailand. Her husband and co-owner Jeff says having concrete floors and tarps makes cleanup less of a nightmare so the restaurant is back to regular service the next day.

Starting April 13, Thai people around the world visit temples to offer food to monks, pay respect to elders by splashing their hands with water, wear new clothes and clean their houses and the cemetery plots of ancestors. Its a weeklong celebration as people return to hometowns, gather in town squares and open homes to well-wishers. The water represents washing off the bad energy from the previous year to make way for a clean slate. In Toronto, if it means soaking restaurant patrons to the bone so be it  its good luck.

Regular remembers getting up at three in the morning as a kid to help her family grind rice into a flour to make chips that would be served to visitors throughout the day. For Regular, making these dishes is a way to pass on her Thai roots to her Canadian-born daughter, Marlee, as well stay close to her family back in Thailand and pay tribute to her late mother.

A favourite dish she makes especially for the Songkran celebrations is a fiery, pork-based jackfruit curry thats been passed down in her family for generations.

Jackfruit curry is something that Id offer to other people when they come to my kitchen, says Regular. It will give them luck for the coming new year. Jackfruit curry has been the food that weve eaten for generations. Every time when I think about it, I just feel like my moms here with me.

Nuit Regulars Jackfruit Curry

This curry, known by the Thai name gaeng kanoon, is ripe with chilies and will knock you back with the potent, fermented smell of shrimp paste. Fresh young jackfruit is hard to come by in Toronto, but the frozen or canned variety is easy to find at Asian grocers. Dont confuse it with the ripe yellow kind, which is sweeter and used for desserts.

While at the Asian grocer, pick up pork bouillon cubes (Knorr makes them). Youll also find betel leaves, cha om and sawtooth coriander at stores that cater to Thai or Vietnamese neighbourhoods. If you cant find sawtooth coriander, use regular cilantro. The curry still tastes great without betel or cha om leaves, but they add a fresh grassy note to contrast all the spicy, tangy tastes. Like all soups, the flavours intensify the next day so this curry tastes even better as leftovers.

For curry paste

7 to 9 whole dried chilies

3 tbsp (45 mL) minced shallots

1/4 cup (60 mL) minced garlic

3 tbsp (45 mL) minced lemongrass

1 tbsp (15 mL) shrimp paste

4 to 5 extra whole dried chilies, seeds removed, for colour (optional)

For broth

4 cups (1 L) water

2 pork bouillon cubes

3 tbsp (45 mL) vegetable or canola oil

1 tsp (5 mL) minced garlic

5 oz (150 g) pork side ribs cut into 2-inch pieces

10 halved cherry tomatoes

1 cup (250 mL) young jackfruit chopped into 2-inch pieces

Fish sauce, to taste

7 chopped fresh betel leaves

1 tbsp (15 mL) chopped cha om leaves

2 sawtooth coriander leaves, chopped into 1-inch pieces or 1 tbsp cilantro

In a mortar and pestle, mash curry paste ingredients into a paste consistency. Set aside.

In a medium-sized pot bring water to a gentle boil over medium heat and add bouillon cubes. Stir until cubes have dissolved. Remove from heat, pour broth into measuring cup and set aside.

In a medium-sized pot over medium heat, heat oil and add garlic. Saute until fragrant and add curry paste. Stir for another minute until fragrant and add pork side ribs. Cook until pork ribs have browned on the outside. Add tomatoes, stir for one minute. Add pork stock and jackfruit. Bring to a boil and let cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until broth has reduced and slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Season with fish sauce to taste.

Add betel, cha om and sawtooth coriander leaves. Stir and turn off heat. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes to let curry thicken more.

Serve with steamed jasmine rice or sticky rice.

Makes 2 servings.

Know your ingredients

Whats cha om? It looks like a fern and kind of smells like burning plastic. Cha om are the young leaves from a type of acacia tree native to south and Southeast Asia. When cooked, they have a mellow, grassy and nutty flavour. Only the leaves are eaten as the stems have thorns, and are typically fried or mixed with eggs to make an omelette.

Whats a betel leaf? The heart-shaped leaf popular in Thai cuisine has a peppery taste akin to arugula. Backpackers in Southeast Asia will be familiar with the leaf, which is often wrapped around areca nuts and tobacco then chewed as a stimulant.

How to cut lemongrass: Peel off the tough outer layer to reveal the softer insides (think onions). Slice off the woody green tips and the root end and cut crosswise like you would with green onion.

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Given that Canada consistently ranks among the best education systems in the world, it seems reasonable to conclude that most teachers in our schools are doing an exemplary job of educating and nurturing our children. But what happens when this is not true? How much are parents allowed to know about the conduct of the people who they entrust with their children?

According to a recent nationwide investigation by CBC's Marketplace, that seems to depend largely on where you live. The show profiled several disturbing cases where teachers were found guilty of bullying, assaulting, and engaging in sexual conversations with students. While instances like these are rare, the problem is that most provinces provide no information whatsoever about cases of teacher misconduct. Rather, government officials cite privacy concerns as the reason teacher disciplinary records are not made public.

But in a publicly funded education system, it seems absurd that the privacy rights of members of the teaching profession should trump the public's right to know about teachers who have violated the standards of the very profession itself.

Ontario is only one of two provinces where teacher records are made public. Anyone can go online to the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) website and look up the records of any of its members. Mind you, the OCT only started providing full disclosure of teacher misconduct cases in response to reporting from the Star back in 2011. But parents in Ontario are much better off than their counterparts across the country.

Yet that does not mean all is well here either. When a complaint is filed against a teacher, it takes the OCT an average of four years for it to be investigated. This isnt good for anyone. If the complaint turns out to be valid, this means the teacher potentially continues teaching many other children. And in the cases of spurious complaints, that teacher is forced to spend years living under a cloud of suspicion before having their name cleared.

But what is perhaps most disturbing are the cases where teachers are found guilty of misconduct so bad that they are removed from the school  only to be placed in another school. This happened in the case of a Toronto teacher who was found guilty of assaulting three students, and was then transferred to another school where he assaulted yet another. Under this practice known as the dance of the lemons or passing the trash, the problem teacher is removed from the school in order to assuage the concerns of the parent community, but is then placed in a new school where the teacher has no history or notoriety.

In its most pernicious form, the teacher is transferred to a school where the parent community isnt particularly active, and so is unlikely to find out about the teachers history or raise a fuss about their behaviour. Often these are schools located in low socioeconomic status neighbourhoods where parents lack the time or social capital to advocate effectively for their children and hold schools to account. Immoral doesnt even begin to describe this practice. If a teacher's conduct is so egregious and unprofessional as to justify their removal from one school, they shouldnt be teaching at any school.

The broader issue is that once a teacher gets into the classroom, there is very little accountability or oversight. For most teachers, this autonomy is not a problem, and is what allows them to be innovative and adapt to the needs of their students. However it is also what allows ineffective teaching or abusive behaviour to continue indefinitely until someone files a complaint.

It would be far better if our education systems took a more proactive approach. Regular teacher evaluations which incorporate feedback from all students would go a long way in identifying problems early, while also helping to improve the practice of all teachers. This is currently being done in Massachusetts, where the Department of Education worked with teachers and their unions to develop student feedback surveys that are incorporated into all teacher evaluations. If we want a stronger teaching profession and greater public confidence in our education system, there is no reason we should not do the same.

Sachin Maharaj is a PhD student in educational policy at OISE and a teacher in the TDSB.

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The idea that changing the municipal electoral system will fix our broken local democracy shows that the real problem has not been properly understood.

The Ontario government recently proposed changes to the municipal act that would allow municipalities to replace the first past the post electoral system with a ranked-ballot method. In such a process, voters get to write their ballot in order of preference.

The ranked vote wont begin to fix Torontos democracy problem. If a dozen  or 20  individuals run for a city council seat, districts will have to wait for calculations to discover that somebody few voters felt strongly about finally won. This is a better democracy?

Heres the real problem: our local democracy suffers from a lack of attention. People dont turn out in municipal elections because they simply dont know what they are voting for. Surely, it is the greatest irony of our system: the level of government that touches our lives 24/7/365 is uninteresting to voters. Turnouts in Toronto since 1997 have averaged 44 per cent. That kind of turnout is a shame: it undermines the councils ability to reflect the will of the electorate, and it favours the incumbents unfairly.

So what can be done? How about allowing people to form parties at the municipal level? Not loose alliances among a few councillors, but real parties that can raise and pool money, that can hire expertise to craft policy and that can run on real programs. This is the practice in other large cities in Canada like Vancouver and Montreal. Political parties bring many ingredients to political life that will actually move our local democracy in the right direction:

1. Parties can educate: A party label tells voters what they are voting for. They can investigate issues, propose solutions and promise to implement them if they elected. Parties  their leaders and their members and candidates  must defend their programs and explain it.

2. Parties recruit individuals: They have to use a screening process. This is no guarantee of honesty, but parties can be judged by the quality of the people who lead them and the candidates they put forward. If we want more women and better representation from the many segments of our population  including people who have great ideas and energy but little money  parties are the institutions most likely to make that happen.

3. Parties can punish: City districts should not be personal fiefdoms. A councillors votes should be largely predictable, and when they are not the councillor should be held accountable. Voters cant be expected to watch ever single municipal vote and to hold councillors to account for their flip-flops and contradictions; parties can.

4. Parties can be held accountable: If things dont go the way they should, voters would know who to blame and throw the bums out. Right now, nobody knows who is accountable for what: who to punish, who to reward for clever ideas and practices. Its a mystery to the vast majority. No wonder people dont turn out.

Toronto has a budget of more than $10 billion  larger than most provinces  yet it is run like a village by unknowable independents. Theres a reason why city planning has, for generations, lagged behind other world-class cities. City council runs in all directions all the time as councillors make their own private deals with each other. Anyone who rides the transit system, tries to travel by bike, or is caught yet again on a congested street, knows exactly what Im talking about. Who is accountable for the fact that our beloved city has the transit system that would be better suited to a town a third its size?

With parties, voters would be in a better position to judge who is working for the city and who is not. Just like at the provincial or federal levels, voters would be more knowledgeable about platforms and perhaps would feel their votes have meaning. More than that, our city would have new blood circulating in its political veins, and the death grip of incumbents will be loosened.

Tinkering with how we select representatives might be attractive to some, but it wont solve the sickness of our local democracy. Instead of wasting time on manipulating a voting system few people favour, Queens Park should amend the Ontario Municipalities Elections Act to allow parties to organize and finance themselves. Enough with unaccountable incumbents and unknowable candidates  our democracy deserves a lot better.

Patrice Dutil is Professor of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University.

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During the course of July and August this year, newspapers have regularly reported the chaotic flood situation in India due to heavy monsoon rains that have plunged vast segments of the country into the classic situation of water, water everywhere.

On 25 July, the Press Trust of India reported that the army and air force were pressed into relief and rescue operations in several districts of Gujarat and Rajasthan following floods caused by heavy rains that left thousands marooned while two women were killed when their jeep was washed away in normally thirsty Rajasthan.

The next day, a reputed Kolkata newspaper carried the large title: Flood threat looms over south Bengal and proceeded to discuss how the situation has assumed grim proportions in the various districts of south Bengal as the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) had released a huge amount of water from its dams and barrages inspite of objections from the West Bengal government. On 25 July alone, state irrigation minister Rajib Banerjee declared that the DVC had released 48,000 cusecs of water and the government requested the DVC and Jharkhand state government not to release water thereby flooding West Bengal.

Floods are inundating the countryside and damaging crops in rural Bengal. And in urban Bengal, the newspaper claimed, at least three people died by drowning and 30 houses collapsed in Asansol due to continuous heavy rainfall. At 5 p.m. on 25 July, the Durgapur barrage discharged 92,734 cusecs of water while the water level in Maithon and Panchet dams nearly reached flood level. Connectivity with Birbhum district was seriously affected while houses collapsed in urban and rural Burdwan and Bankura.

According to a research study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Indian summer monsoons have strengthened during the past fifteen years, reversing a 50 year dry spell during which northern and central India received scanty rainfall. Research scholars noted a brief dry spell in 2015, which caused widespread drought throughout the subcontinent, probably due to a severe El Nino season where ocean temperatures temporarily rise, leading to a shift in atmospheric circulation, leading to decreased rain in India. However, the situation this year is quite the reverse.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted an aerial survey of the worst-hit flooded parts of Gujarat and, on 31 July, visited Assam trying to find a permanent solution to the flood crisis. Newspaper reports indicated that over 90 animals, including rhinos in Assams famous Kaziranga National Park, have died in the floods while 25 lakh people were adversely affected in 29 districts of the state.

On 1 August, Prime Minister Modi announced a total package of Rs. 2350 crores for all the north-eastern states hit by floods and Rs. 2 lakhs each as compensation for victims of the tragedy.

This takes Modis financial aid to the region above Rs. 500 crores for immediate relief and rehabilitation. InWest Bengal, Mamata Banerjee resented the lack of interest shown by the Centre and her government has taken up a World Bank sponsored project amounting to Rs. 1800 crores to reconstruct the lower Damodar river basin, de-silt the rivers in the state and enhance their water-bearing capacity.

A comprehensive report on flood damage in West Bengal is under preparation. Meanwhile, the same newspaper produced news on 3 August that 50 people had lost their lives in the floods in the various districts of West Bengal. Hooghly District saw 16 deaths, while Bankura, West Midnapore, Burdwan East and Burdwan West witnessed five deaths each, four died in Purulia and North 24 Parganas and two each in Birbhum, South 24 Parganas, Jhargram, Murshidabad and Howrah. To quote the 3 August issue of the newspaper, (h)undreds of people are stranded in their houses completely depending on the flood relief commodities for their survival; deadly bites from snakes and insects are on the rise, residents of the affected villages are facing (a) shortage of drinking water, food and medicines.

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. On 6 August and flood relief and rehabilitation work were being undertaken from the Rs.300 crores allotted by the Centre to the State Disaster Relief Fund. The following day brought fresh news of more problems to come when the Met Office predicted heavy rains and floods in north Bengal: Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar.

What of the state capital, Kolkata? On 11 August, Mayor Sovan Chatterjee is said to have pulled up municipal officials who had not done anything to tackle the serious waterlogging problems of the city streets. Many of the streets of North and South Kolkata continue to be waterlogged. Downpours occurring around 3 p.m. each afternoon meant this writer had to wade through mucky water in the erstwhile posh parts of former European Calcutta: Russel Street and Park Street in order to access banks, stores and offices. On 13 August, the newspaper reported that floods were wreaking havoc in north Bengal and disrupting train services.

The Himalayan rivers were heavily inundating vast tracts of land and most municipal wards in settlements in the area were seriously flooded. On 16 August, following Independence Day, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a compensation of Rs. 2 lakhs for the families of flood victims and the government will also rebuild housing. August 2017 has at last seen the DVC agree to the West Bengal governments request to them to conduct a survey of the existing capacity of its dams and barrages due to siltation since its inception. If the DVC had been constructed as its American technical concept, thought up by the avatars of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) so many years ago in the 1950s, conceptualised, things might have been very different.

So much for central and south Bengal: what of the northern part of the state, where heavy rains and floods are now burying people in landslides? Primary losses amount to Rs. 50 crores, National Highway 34 is inundated and the north Bengal tea plantations have incurred losses amounting to over Rs. 100 crores, according to news reports of 15 August.

What a way to ring in the 70th anniversary of Indian Independence. Rain, rain go away: come again another day but do not cause such chaos and devastation.

(The writer is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), London)
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Want to know what the worst job in America is for 2016? Just look to your local newspaper, if you can find one.

With a has a low median salary, terrible growth prospects and high stress, newspaper reporter came in dead last in CareerCast's annual Jobs Rated report, released on Wednesday. This was the third year in the row that the job earned this ranking.

Declining employment opportunities as the media industry refocuses resources to cater to a digital world is mainly to blame for the job's low ranking. The job even beat out nuclear decontamination technician and garbage truck driver in the running for the worst-job ranking, said CareerCast, an online career portal for job seekers. CareerCast is a unit of Adicio, a provider of white-label software for job boards, real estate, motors and general classifieds sites.

CareerCast's annual report ranks 200 professions based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To determine the best and worst jobs, CareerCast analyzed each job's environment (emotional, physical and hours worked), income (growth potential and salary), outlook (employment growth, income growth potential and unemployment), along with 11 stress factors to determine which professions are among the most and least desirable, the report said.

If newspaper reporter is the worst job, then what is the best job? A profession in mathematics. Data scientist and statistician ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, according to CareerCast. (Check out the 10 best jobs here.)

So what are some other least-desirable jobs you might want to avoid? Here are the top -- or, rather, the bottom -- 10.
There were good vibrations in Tuesday's equity markets with some of the best coming from a sector that's been beaten down for a year. The energy industry found new life as oil prices rose.

Even shares of bedraggled Chesapeake Energy (CHK) moved upward. It was the second consecutive day of gains for the Oklahoma City oil and gas exploration company. Only a few weeks ago, Chesapeake was headed for the trash heap. But is it too late for the company? Will Chesapeake remain a toxic stock?

The answer is a definitive yes. Despite the recent, brief improvement, Chesapeake has deep-rooted problems that will take time to resolve -- if ever. Its balance sheet remains in precarious shape, and at least one analyst is not optimistic about the company's future.

Crude oil ticked up to $42 per barrel today, a new high for 2016. U.S. crude futures bested their 200-day moving average for the first time since July 2014. The price surge may stem from a meeting scheduled for Sunday between OPEC and the world's other major oil and gas producers. Analysts are expecting these main players to agree to freeze oil output, which is still outpacing demand.

Energy stocks promptly climbed more than 2.5% to lead the S&P 500. Chesapeake itself has packed on nearly 35% in trading today. This followed yesterday's 20% bump.

Earlier in the spring, Chesapeake's story resembled a Greek tragedy: A day after a federal indictment, former CEO Aubrey McClendon perished in a fiery car crash. Creditors were hammering at the door. The stock was tanking. Chesapeake had gone from one of the world's most powerful companies, second only in gas production to Exxon Mobil, to one of the most reviled.

But on Monday, Chesapeake announced that it had again renegotiated a revolving credit agreement, and that the next lenders' evaluation would be postponed until June 2017. The company maintained its access to a $4 billion credit line. This surprised analysts, including Citigroup's Maria Moss, who had expected the line to be trimmed by as much as 20%.

The banks must be feeling generous lately: WPX Energy, another oil and gas producer buried under a ton of debt, recently received $1.2 billion in credit commitments. Other producers are expected to do the same in coming weeks.

But does this translate into Chesapeake becoming a solid business again? Despite its bailout, the company is still dangerous. Although bankruptcy is no longer imminent, Chesapeake still carries a lot of balance sheet risk. And the company still needs to sell more in assets to alleviate debt worries. Otherwise, the bankruptcy scenario is just being postponed.

Indeed, to maintain its credit line, the company had to use 90% of its properties as collateral. That's a lot on the line.

Although analysts are upgrading Chesapeake and recommending investors hold onto their shares rather than selling them (also sending the stock's price soaring), it's still a dangerous play. As Robbert Van Batenberg, an analyst with Flow Traders U.S. warns, "[Chesapeake] can continue as a growing concern and [doesn't] have to worry about an immediate credit event... But once you get to that point, it tends to be kind of the end game."

Without dramatic restructuring, a major selling-off of assets, and an overhaul in the way the company handles liquidity, Chesapeake is still doomed.

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. Here's a report on the world's most dangerous stocks. These equities are poised to collapse. To download your free copy, click here.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said he wasn't going to run for vice president, and then he did. He said he wasn't going to be speaker of the house, and now he is.

Just this week: "Let me be clear: I do not want, nor will I accept, the nomination," he said during a speech planned for the purpose of denying persistent rumors that he might, again, do what he has repeatedly said he wouldn't.

With Donald Trump, an outsider who has aggravated the GOP establishment, and Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator who is roundly hated by his party, the only two declared candidates with a reasonable path to the nomination remaining, Ryan has found himself caught in the rumor mill again, with countless Republicans wishing he would solve their political problems and run for president.

It is technically possible for Ryan, or another undeclared candidate, to emerge as the candidate from an open Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July. And billionaire Charles Koch reportedly supports a Ryan nomination behind-the-scenes.

So, you could be forgiven for not believing him when he says he's not going to do it. But here's why you should take him at his word: Those who know him best say that he means it this time.

"I understand why there might be some skepticism after the 'I'm not going to run for vice-president' and 'I'm not going to run for speaker of the House,' but 'no' means 'no' here, I think, pretty clearly," said Jeff Wagner, conservative radio host at WTMJ in Milwaukee.

"He truly does not want to run for president," said Vicki McKenna, a conservative radio host at WISN Milwaukee/WIBA Madison. "He's trying to tamp down what are just persistent, probably aggravating, rumors to the contrary."

"He's said a million times he's not running for president," said Mark Belling, a conservative radio host at WISN in Milwaukee.

Wagner, McKenna and Belling are among a group of Wisconsin talk radio hosts who shot to national fame earlier this month by asking Republican frontrunner Trump tough questions prior to the Wisconsin primaries and who know Ryan very well from years in Wisconsin politics.

Why He Won't Run: It's a 'Suicide Mission'

"He's smart enough to know that this whole notion of trying to emerge from a brokered convention is a suicide mission," said Belling.

With Trump and Cruz far ahead in the delegate lead, anyone who isn't them who accepts the nomination could be fairly accused of usurping it from the will of the people, most of whom voted in primaries or caucuses for Trump or Cruz.

"I've known Paul since he first ran for Congress. He's always had a great sense of timing," said Wagner, who considers himself part of the #NeverTrump crowd. "If you look at the political landscape this year, whoever comes out of the convention, it's going to be a mess. There's going to be a lot of bad feelings, and I think Paul makes the calculation it's probably best to stay above the fray."

McKenna, who is backing Cruz, says when she last spoke with Ryan just a couple of weeks ago, he showed no indication a presidential bid was on his mind.

"There's this constant push and pull from people who seem to think that there is some sort of third option of drafting someone from the floor [at the Republican convention]. Paul Ryan recognizes that is not impossible, but certainly extraordinarily unlikely. I do think he not interested at all in being the guy in the highly unlikely event that happens," she said.

Besides, Ryan knows it would look bad.

"He absolutely cannot look as if he's interfering with the presidential election," said Christian Schneider, a conservative columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It's got to be a free and fair election, and the delegates are going to have to decide."

Why He Won't Run: He Likes Being Speaker of the House

Ryan likes his job as speaker, according to Wagner.

"I've talked to him enough that I think he's got this desire to be a policy guy and try to guide policy through the House," said Belling.

"I think his immediate future is to try to alter the way the House has been doing business and instead of putting the House Republicans always in a reactionary position, what he is trying to do is he's trying to more action-orient the house towards promoting conservative principles through legislation. That's his immediate goal," said McKenna.

"Republican members of Congress look to Ryan and they look to their legislative agenda that is coming up, I think the speaker wants to make sure he can have as many votes for his package as possible. If he's really running for president, I think in his mind, that would be hard to do," said Brandon Scholz, a longtime Wisconsin lobbyist and Republican strategist who is a partner at the Capitol Group.

Why He Won't Run: He Needs to Defend His Congressional District

Paul Nehlen, a businessman from Delavan, Wisconsin with an anti-establishment flare, recently launched his own bid to represent Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, challenging the seat Ryan has held since 1999.

Nehlen's candidacy is certainly a long shot, but he appears to be both organized and well-funded. The pair will likely face off in the state's Republican primary in August.

"The more Paul makes it clear to the people in his district that he intends on being a member of the House, the easier it is to put that thing aside," said Belling. "He's going to have to campaign."

Why He Won't Run: He Doesn't Want to

While it's impossible to look inside the heart of Ryan, many who know him well believe they have seen his soul on the matter.

"He's frustrated with what's happened with Trump, but I've never had any sense that he wanted to run for president this year. If he wanted to run for president, he would have run for president," said Belling, who backed Senator Cruz in the Wisconsin primary.

"Paul Ryan is not going to run and does not want to run," said Scholz. "He doesn't need this outside effort to create a candidacy that doesn't exist."

"He truly does not want to run for president, or he would have done that," said McKenna.

While all those we spoke to agreed they don't think Ryan will make a last-minute White House bid, they don't expect speculation to stop, nor do they think Tuesday will be the last time the speaker addresses the issue in public.

"This is turning into a Barbara Streisand farewell tour, where it's the farewell tour until he has to do it again. He's got to make a pronouncement that he's not interested in being president until two weeks from now, until he has to do it again," said Schneider.

But even then he kept the door open just a sliver that maybe, just maybe, Ryan may respond to a desperate call at the convention.

"I have no doubt that he is not interested in being president. If he was, he would have run," he said. "But, the presidency may end up being very interested in him. And at what point, then, can he deny what he would think is his duty to his country and to his party for it to not completely fall apart?"
The Panama Papers scandal has raised important ethical questions about corruption, income inequality and criminal liability. But amid these ethical questions come less honorable ones: Can anyone set up a shell company? Can it be used to avoid taxes, or is this just a tool of the rich and powerful?

Well, yes, just about anyone can create a shell company. In fact, it's incredibly easy, and you don't even need to seek out some tropical offshore tax haven like Panama to do it. One of the reasons there has been little news about U.S. individuals in the Panama Papers leaks so far is that Americans can set up shell companies closer to home, in states like Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming.

This Vice article details how the author established a Delaware shell company for $292 just by making a phone call. Then he created a subsidiary in Nevada. The total cost of this "network" was less than $1,000. There are other recent reports documenting how journalists quickly and easily set up shell companies in the U.S.

It's also pretty easy to set up a shell company in Panama, although it will probably cost more. Setting up an "anonymous" Panama corporation with Panama Offshore Worldwide costs $1,200, with a $650 annual administration fee, according to this Deutsche Welle article.

The next question is whether such a shell company is a useful tool for avoiding taxes. For "regular" people, the answer appears to be no. Using a shell company to squirrel away taxable income isn't easy and can require expensive tax lawyers and accountants who know how to make gains look like losses so that there is no income to be taxed.

There's another important point to keep in mind. If you're an average person who generates most of your taxable revenue each year by working -- in other words, through a paycheck -- then having a shell company probably won't help you that much.

This Atlantic article notes that shell companies are most useful if you're generating a lot of money from assets instead of from your take-home pay. That's because it's very easy for the Internal Revenue Service to know how much money you receive from your employer. Can you say "W-2"?

The Atlantic also quotes a professor who estimates that an individual must have annual earnings of at least $3 million to $5 million from both employment and assets to be able to afford a Panamanian shell-company strategy. Last time we checked, $3 million to $5 million wasn't the earnings of an average Joe or Jane.

It should be noted that this doesn't mean that not-quite-so-wealthy Americans have absolutely no reason to establish a shell company. Shell companies are sometimes used to hide income or assets in the case of a divorce so that one side can keep more than half of the family's assets.

But by and large, shell companies are really the domain of the rich. Less scrupulous individuals may be reacting to the Panama Papers not with outrage but rather with a desire to hide assets from the Internal Revenue Service, but they should understand that a shell company probably won't help them.

So if you're not wealthy, go ahead and set up a shell company if you want to joke about owning one at cocktail parties. But if you want to lessen your tax burden, you should look elsewhere.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor.
Oil prices may be at 2016 highs again, but stocks in the airline sector are still proving to be attractive.

Lower oil prices and baggage fees have helped improve the profitability of the sector over the past several months, and the weaker dollar will only boost travel.

The time seems right to gain exposure to the sector, which is home to some of the most attractive growth investments in this volatile market.

Of the two largest and most profitable airlines in the world, Delta Air Lines (DAL) and American Airlines (AAL) , which one offers the greatest money-making potential?

Helped by low fuel prices and the expectation of positive passenger unit revenue this year, Delta is expected to deliver first-quarter earnings $1.29 a share, compared with 45 cents a year earlier, a staggering rise of 87%.

Passenger unit revenue, or the amount that an airline makes per passenger in relation to its available flight capacity, has been pressured by a strong dollar. However, with the greenback at eight-month lows, Delta may just be helped further.

Perhaps the only factor that can spoil the airline's market-beating growth momentum is the pilot union, which is demanding a 40% increase in wages over the span of three years.

Meanwhile, American Airlines is expecting a spike in unit costs by 3% to 5% on the back of contract deals with its staff. Unit costs would also be affected by the resumption of the the company's profit-sharing program.

The airline has also reduced full-year capacity guidance to 2.5% from 3%, and it expects passenger unit revenue to slip 7% to 8%, compared with an earlier forecast of 6% to 8%.

Analysts, too, have displayed more confidence in Delta than American Airlines.

Over the next five years, Delta is expected to increase earnings by 21.72% annually, compared with 16.40% for the industry. Projections for American Airlines, on the other hand, indicate negative growth of 13.27% annually for the next half decade.

In addition, Delta is planning to overhaul its fleet of aircraft by replacing 120 aging jets with planes of a seating capacity of at least 100, according to Reuters.

This is in addition to orders that are yet to be fulfilled by aircraft makers Airbus and Boeing. That is why, in this still dicey broader market, Delta rightfully belongs in a group of enticing growth-stock winners.

Not only will this addition to its fleet help Delta gain market share, it will also likely help the airline register growth in revenue passenger miles, which measures airline traffic, as it will now have increased seating capacity in regional flights.

While Delta focuses on capturing a bigger share of the pie, American Airlines will focus on bringing back positive growth in unit revenue and reducing its debt, because it can't rely on low crude prices for a long time to grow profitability the way it has in the past two years.

In terms of certain key numbers, however, American Airlines has trumped not just Delta but also the average industry figures, not all of which are positive signs.

On the upside, American Airlines' three-year average revenue growth at 18.1% almost doubles the industry average of 9.4% and dwarfs Delta's 3.5%. In terms of net margin, return on assets and return on equity for the past 12 months, American Airlines beats Delta and the industry comfortably.

On the downside, American Airlines leads the industry in terms of debt. The company's 3.65 times debt-to-equity ratio is an outlier for an industry averaging a ratio of 1, with Delta's debt-to-equity ratio standing at 0.6.

American Airlines has managed to increase its bottom line quite well, despite struggling at the top line, but its dependence on weak oil prices to do so makes it unreliable and a risk for investors. Also, the fact remains that superior profitability hasn't translated to stock gains for the investor.

Even though Delta is off its 52-week highs of $52.77, it is still up 8% over the past year. Meanwhile, American Airlines has taken a severe beating over the past year, recording a decline of 9%.

Although Delta has been helped by improved traffic and revenue, American Airlines, with its debt pile and weak revenue growth has caused a great deal of suffering for shareholders.

If past financial performance was the gauge, American Airlines would have scored higher than Delta. However, future plans and guidance indicate a bumpy road ahead for American Airlines.

Further, with a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 6.30 and a dividend yield of 1.04%, compared with Delta's 6.57 forward P/E ratio and dividend yield of 1.17%, American Airlines just doesn't seem worth the risk. The winner in this contest is Delta.

Don't buy Apple. Buy this technology stock instead.There is a battle raging in the fast-moving world of Silicon Valley. Just as VHS tapes snuffed out Betamax and CDs killed cassettes, the winner of a new "gold standard" for data is about to be crowned. Here is a small company that figured out a way to corner this new $10 billion market, no matter who comes out the winner. Click here to learn more.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Verizon Communications (VZ) are declining by 1.17% to $51.36 on Wednesday morning, as about 39,000 of the company's wireline employees walked off the job after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract, Bloomberg reports.

The employees have been working without a contract since the last agreement expired in August. Issues include healthcare, offshoring call center jobs, work rules and pensions, Reuters noted.

The company's largest labor unions, Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said they would go on strike if its demands weren't met by 6 a.m. EST today.

The strike could impact Verizon's Fios Internet, telephone and TV services in U.S. east coasts states such as New York, Massachusetts and Virginia, Reuters said.

Over the past year, Verizon has trained thousands of non-union workers to assume operations should a strike occur.

The last round of contract negotiations in 2011 also resulted in a strike. A new contract was reached two weeks later, Reuters added.

TheStreet's Jim Cramer, Portfolio Manager of the Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust commented on the strike: "Verizon plays tough with these unions. Why? Because it's involving in this strike the landline business. The landline business is very bad."

"If you can break the union or get the union to be able to agree to some real concessions, then Verizon, which is already one of the best dividend-yielding stocks, would be even better," Cramer added.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings Team has a "Buy" rating with a score of A+.

The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its compelling growth in net income, revenue growth, notable return on equity, expanding profit margins and solid stock price performance.

Recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: VZ
Citigroup (C) emerged as the clear winner among the largest U.S. banks that received results from regulators for their post crisis "living wills" designed to explain how they would unwind themselves in bankruptcy without wreaking havoc on the markets.

Specifically, the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., in a coordinated effort, determined that the plans submitted by Bank of America (BAC) , Bank of New York Mellon (BK) , J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) , State Street (STT) and Wells Fargo (WFC) explaining how they would dismantle themselves without causing an economic tsunami were not "credible."

In addition, the FDIC said Goldman Sachs (GS) living will wasn't credible but its counterpart, the central bank, only determined that its plan only exhibited weakness. Meanwhile, the Fed found that Morgan Stanley's (MS) living will wasn't credible while the FDIC only thought that institution's plan had weaknesses.

Wells Fargo and Bank of America are both holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells WFC or BAC? Learn more now.

However, Citigroup fared the best - neither agency found its living will to be non-credible. However, the regulators did find some "shortcomings" that need to be addressed.

"Citigroup is often thought of as one of the most complex banks but their living will is simple and that's likely what regulators liked about it," said Brian Kleinhanzl, analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. "It's a positive for the stock and they have less to worry about than the other banks."

Lawmakers and regulators initially sought the wills as part of an effort to force financial institutions to structure themselves in a way that would limit the kind of collateral damage that spread through the global markets after Lehman Bros. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008. However, the Fed was very critical of five of the plans at these banks, noting, for example, that Wells Fargo made "material errors" in its plan that "undermines the confidence in resolution planning preparedness."

The failures in themselves don't immediately force banks to make fundamental changes to their operations. However, they do start a clock for them to fix problems in the wills, known as resolution plans, or face consequences that could eventually lead to a requirement that they divest assets.

Citigroup, which failed a Federal Reserve stress test in 2014 on qualitative grounds, now may instead act as a role-model for other big banks. Kleinhanzl notes that Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs may have provided a blueprint for the other institutions that failed their tests. However, he believes that most of the five banks should have their living wills approved after they resubmit in October. "Seems very unlikely that we would get to breaking up the banks," he said. "Given the feedback and given how you are seeing some banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley come close to passing I believe they'll be able to harmonize results for all the banks by 2017."
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Vipshop Holdings (VIPS) are higher by 0.77% to $14.40 in early afternoon trading Wednesday, as the pop in China's markets helps some U.S. traded China-based stocks climb today.

Vipshop is a Guangzhou-based holding company that operates as an online discount retailer for brands in China.

China's overseas exports in March grew by 11.5% from a year earlier in dollar terms, Bloomberg reports. This compares to a decline of 25% in February. The data added to signs that China's economy is rebounding.

The Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 1.4% at the close of trading today.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng China Enterprises Index popped by 4%, its largest gain in two months. The Hang Seng Index was up by 3.2%, its sixth day of increases, the longest streak of the year.

"We are in the honeymoon period for economic recovery and in the short term, the economy will for sure rebound as we've seen some improving data, including today's trade numbers," Hengsheng Asset Management Co. fund manager Dai Ming told Bloomberg.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings has set a "hold" rating and a score of C+ on Vipshop stock. The primary factors that have impacted the rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks.

The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its impressive record of earnings per share growth, robust revenue growth and notable return on equity. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including generally higher debt management risk, poor profit margins and a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself.

TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: VIPS
One of the best ways to make money over the long haul is to find tech stocks that are tapped into unstoppable trends, and smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM) exemplifies this criterion. What's more, at current valuations, the stock is cheap. Below we explain why you should scoop up shares of the company now, ahead of its next earnings report.

Emarketer last year estimated that smartphone users in the U.S. would number 190.5 million in 2015 and that that number would grow to 236.8 million by 2019.

Qualcomm is one of the biggest beneficiaries of this growth. The company is scheduled to report fiscal second-quarter earnings on April 20 before the market opens. On average, analysts estimate that adjusted earnings per share will be 96 cents; adjusted EPS for the same quarter last year was $1.40.

The low earnings expectations stem from the slowing adoption of new smartphones and concerns about the health of the global economy, but some context is called for.

Smartphone use has exploded over the past decade; a moderation in this torrid pace was to be expected. What's more, as the global economy slows, there are still no real signs that a recession is in the cards.

Unwarranted investor fears make Qualcomm a great tech stock buy now, before it releases operating results. The stock's trailing 12-month price-to-earnings ratio stands at 17.3, relatively low compared to the industry (20.37) and the company's major competitors: Broadcom (23.85) and Texas Instruments (20.81).

Qualcomm possesses inherent technological strengths that temporary economic ups and downs can't take away. The company owns intellectual property tied to code division multiple access (CDMA), a vital technology that underpins all 4G standards. Qualcomm earns a royalty based on the price of every 4G handset sold, whether that handset is an Apple iPhone or a host of other hot-selling devices.

As even faster next-generation devices come to market, Qualcomm has patented several key technologies related to the standards. In particular, the pairing of Alphabet's (Google) Android Marshmallow and Qualcomm's ultra-fast SnapDragon 820 is poised to dominate the smartphone world in 2016.

Apple and Alphabet are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. See how Cramer rates the stock here. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells AAPL or GOOGL? Learn more now.

With a market cap of $77.46 billion and huge annual R&D expenditures, Qualcomm continues to innovate, as reflected by its announcement on April 13 of Quick Charge 3.0 technology, which can charge a typical phone considerably faster compared to conventional mobile devices without Quick Charge.

Qualcomm also manufactures wireless chips used in tablets and phones. Competition is ferocious in this space, but Qualcomm has maintained a sizable market share, and the sheer expansion of mobile phone users should allow multiple competitors room for growth.

Qualcomm has been returning capital to investors. In March, management approved a 10% increase in the quarterly cash dividend, raising the annualized dividend payout to $2.12 per share of common stock.

Qualcomm stock now trades at $51.98. The average 12-month price target of analysts covering the company is $56, which suggests the stock can gain another 7.7%. The highest price target from analysts is $75, which implies upside of 44%. Expectations for the current quarter are modest, but analysts still predict the company will rack up year-over-year EPS growth for the full fiscal year of 11.20%. The time to buy this tech star is now, before its earnings announcement and while it's still cheap.

The Best Tech Stock Under $8: There's a battle raging in the fast-moving world of Silicon Valley. Just as VHS tapes snuffed out Betamax and CDs killed cassettes, the winner of a new "gold standard" for data is about to be crowned. We've discovered a small company that figured out a way to corner this new $10 billion market, no matter who comes out the winner. Click here to learn more.

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.
Shares of Citigroup (C) are ramping over 5.5% today after opening the session with a powerful news-inspired breakout gap. The stock has now extended its rebound off last week's low to over 10%, putting it within pennies of the March peak. Just above this important level is a key resistance zone.

As Citigroup moves past $44.55, it will fill the extremely damaging breakdown gap left behind following a disappointing fourth-quarter report. For patient bulls, a pullback from this resistance area will provide a low-risk buying opportunity.

Click here to see the below chart in a new window.

For the entire month of March, Citigroup was holding in a tight consolidation pattern. The stock had recovered sharply off the February spike low, but the impressive move was in need of a rest. Earlier this month, it appeared as if the pattern was going to suffer a downside break, but key support near the January/March lows held in well. The stock has been in rally mode since, dipping slightly below $40 last week. With today's breakout move, Citigroup is about to leave behind a layers of support as a fresh bull leg begins.

In the very near term, Citigroup investors should keep a close eye on the $44.50 area. Just below this level is the March high, which marks the lower band of a key resistance area. The upper band of this zone is marked by the huge breakdown gap left behind back on Jan. 15 at $44.57. A pullback from this area would offer a very low-risk buying opportunity. A drift back down to the February high/initial April high near $42.85 would test a solid support zone.

Considering that Citigroup is well below overbought levels, a pullback would set the stage for a continued bull run. Ahead of Friday morning's earnings report, chasing the stock now, after a 6% ramp, may prove frustrating.

Disclosure: This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author was long C.
Bernie Sanders has made headlines in recent days for engaging in a high-profile battle against General Electric (GE) and CEO Jeff Immelt, accusing the all-American industrial giant of corporate greed. Now, the Democratic presidential candidate has a new corporate enemy in Verizon (VZ) and its CEO. This latest clash is coming to a head in New York.

Sanders has thrown his support behind thousands of Verizon workers who walked off their jobs in response to an ongoing contract fight with the telecom company. The Vermont senator popped up at a picket line in Brooklyn, New York on Wednesday, telling the crowd, "Brothers and sisters, thank you for your courage in standing up for justice against corporate greed."

Nearly 40,000 workers representing the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) went on strike, with protests like that joined by Sanders taking place in cities across the East Coast. The CWA

has endorsed

Sanders in the presidential race; the New York chapter of the IBEW

is backing

Hillary Clinton (

some other chapters have backed Sanders

).

"We just want a fair contract," said one man protesting outside of a Verizon store here on Wall Street who has worked at the company for over 20 years. He said he is supporting Bernie Sanders in the presidential race.

Another man who said he has been at Verizon for at least 15 years said he hopes the protests would "call attention" to the cause. He does not yet know which presidential candidate he is backing.

Sanders' hop onto the anti-Verizon bandwagon has not gone unnoticed by the company, and on Wednesday, CEO Lowell McAdam shot back at the senator. Taking a page out of Immelt's playbook, he responded to Sanders in a letter posted on LinkedIn titled "Feeling The Bern of Reality -- The Facts About Verizon and The 'Moral Economy.'"

"I read with interest Jeff Immelt's spirited response to Sen. Bernie Sanders putting GE on his hit-list of big corporations that are 'destroying the moral fabric' of America," he wrote. "In fact, I share his frustration. Verizon is in Sanders's bull's-eye, as well. The senator's uninformed views are, in a word, contemptible."

He went on to list his reasons for pushing back against Sanders, calling the senator's accusation that Verizon doesn't pay its fair share of taxes "just plain wrong." He pointed out that the company has paid over $15.6 billion in taxes over the last two years. "That's a 35% tax rate, for anyone who's counting," he quipped. McAdam also took issue with Sanders' claim that the company doesn't use its profits to benefit America, highlighting investments it has made in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and the senator's home state of Vermont. "I challenge Sen. Sanders to show me a company that's done more to invest in America than Verizon," he wrote.

McAdam honed in on Sanders' involvement with the striking union workers, citing the candidate's claims at a Philadelphia convention last week, where he accused Verizon of being more "concerned with compensation packages for CEOs than about the needs of hard working people who want nothing more than to be able to live in dignity and security and bring their kids up in a decent way."

"Again, Sen. Sanders is wrong on the facts," wrote McAdam. "More egregiously, he oversimplifies the complex forces operating in today's technologically advanced and hyper-competitive economy."

Sanders responded to McAdam on Twitter. "I don't want the support of McAdam, Immelt and their Friends in the billionaire class. I welcome their contempt," he wrote in one tweet. "What I care about is that they stop destroying the jobs of their employees and start investing in cities like Buffalo and Baltimore," he wrote in another.

Verizon is just the latest in a string of companies on the Vermont senator's growing list of corporate enemies, and McAdams one of several executives who have been compelled to respond.

GE's Immelt addressed Sanders' criticisms of his company in an editorial piece published in the Washington Post last week. "We create wealth and jobs, instead of just calling for them in speeches," he wrote. The senator invoked General Electric as an example of corporate greed that is "destroying the moral fabric" of America in an April 1 interview with the New York Daily News editorial board and doubled down on his comments in an interview with CNN aired April 11.

"GE has emerged smaller, simpler, and less intertwined with the U.S. financial system, removing any conceivable ties or threat to U.S. financial stability," said Jim Cramer, TheStreet's founder and manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio, which owns GE. Cramer was referring to the firm's recent asset reductions and its quest to remove itself from a U.S. government list of Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFI). Should GE fall off the list, it will have more flexibility in raising and spending capital.

Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of one of Sanders' favorite targets, Goldman Sachs, in February warned that the candidate's critiques might be "dangerous."

The current battle between Sanders and Verizon is likely far from over. The senator will host a rally in Washington Square Park in Manhattan Wednesday, and Verizon workers protesting on Wall Street said they have been invited to attend.
JPMorgan (JPM) kicked off earnings season for bank stocks on Wednesday morning, when the company surprised investors by beating on top and bottom line estimates.

However, TheStreet's Jim Cramer, co-manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio, doesn't believe the bank's results will be a precursor as to how some of the other banks will fare this quarter.

Specifically, he's referring to Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC) , which are both scheduled to report earnings before the open on Thursday.

Both stocks are Action Alerts PLUS holdings and are down on the year, with BofA slipping 18% and Wells Fargo down 10%.

Despite the decline and even with Bank of America trading at a discount to its book value, Cramer isn't ready to add to their positions yet. If Bank of America doesn't tell a good story about its oil and gas loans, then investors are going to regret owning it, he added.

Wells Fargo also has exposure to oil and gas debt.

As a result, Cramer said he and Research Director Jack Mohr are waiting for an even deeper pullback before buying more shares.

At the time of publication, Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS had a long position in WFC and BAC.
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Mainly cloudy. A few peeks of sunshine possible. High near 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low 48F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., greets a CWA worker at a Verizon workers picket line, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
A Syrian policeman stands guard outside a polling station during the parliamentary election in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Polling stations opened in government-held parts of Syria where a new 250-member parliament will be elected. Arabic reads: "Polling station." (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
[COMMUNICATED CONTENT]

Having your kids over can be a great experience, but how do you find 5 pack n plays, 3 highchairs, 2 car seats for the one coming in from Eretz Yisroel, and a monitor for the new baby? Enter Soralas Baby Gemach.

Established about 4 years ago, to create a living zikaron for a truly remarkable woman, Mrs. Sorala (Follman) Krigsman ah, SBG has revolutionized the concept of the gemach for baby related needs. No more running around town. SBG has anything and everything you might need, under one roof. Everything. From hospital-grade baby scales to double strollers to nursing pumps to Sleepaway Baby [Never saw one? Check it out!], video monitors, pack n plays, swings, boppy pillows, and more, just one stop and youre covered!

Great! So whats it going to cost me?

Absolutely nothing. Loans are absolutely free, although some branches may require a fully refundable deposit.

So I can borrow things from now through Sukkos?

Sorry, loans are short term only, for 6 weeks at a time. Need it for a little bit longer? Call us at the end of the 6 weeks, a small extension may be possible if others arent waiting for your items.

I just realized I have an old swing in my garage. Ill donate it!

While we appreciate everyones heartfelt care and chessed, we nonetheless cannot accept donations of any items unless they have just been purchased and have not yet been used. As a matter of policy, we purchase all our items brand new to maintain a really high level of quality.

Sounds great for Brooklyn. We live out-of-town.

Were here for all of Klal Yisrael. Really. Were at 14 locations and look forward to further expansion Weve listed the contact info below, plus you can always check us out at SoralasBabyGemach.com

OK, whats in the pipeline?

BIG news. After much, much effort, weve crossed the ocean. Immediately after Pesach we will Iyh be launching the newest SBG branch, in Yerushalayim. While finding a suitable location, as well as procurement of products Americans are familiar with, has posed quite a large and unique challenge, we are bichasdei Hashem nearly ready to go. Britax strollers, Ameda and Avent pumps, Graco and Evenflo carseats and more. Bringing supplies to Eretz Yisroel for the new baby? Weve got you covered in the interim. We will be located in the Ramat Hatzafon complex on Rechov Yirmiyahu. Details to follow!

Heres the contact info:

Baltimore 410-358-5220

Brooklyn 347-201-BABY

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Denver.. 303-893-0075

Detroit. 917-684-4347  In conjunction with DetroitBabyDrive

Lakewood 732-503-8376  2 locations (14t St., and Prospect)

Minneapolis.. 952-922-9324

Monsey 845-397-7724

Montreal. 514-270-8149

Thornhill.. 905-764-6303

Toronto.. 416-782-6790

Waterbury 203-518-9596

For more information about the gemach, or about Mrs. Sorala (Follman) Krigsman ah, you can always check us out at SoralasBabyGemach.com
[COMMUNICATED CONTENT]

Todays recession has put thousands of families in an untenable position. Not poor enough to qualify for real aid, but unable to make ends meet. Without intervention, their fall into poverty is inevitable. Where conventional charity cannot help, Carmei Hair steps in.

By virtue of its devoted volunteer crew, Carmei Hair is distinguished by a restaurant atmosphere rather than a traditional soup kitchen, making its constituents feel dignified instead of ashamed. This open restaurant feeds thousands of the poor and hungry of Jerusalem daily. and for Pesach they need so much more!

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Three generous philanthropists have pledged to quadruple your donation, for TODAY only! For every dollar that you give, Carmei Hair will get $4, and be able to provide Yom Tov food for thousands of more Jews! Heres the catch  its all or nothing! If we dont reach our goal, we will lose everything!

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After the media reports of terror attacks, we rarely remain informed as to what occurs to the terrorists in the Israeli judicial system. In February 2015, a 12-year-old female terrorist armed with a knife was taken into custody outside Karmei Tzur. Bchasdei Hashem, she was taken into custody by security personnel before she could perpetrate an attack.

She has since been placed on trial and convicted of attempted murder and possession of a deadly weapon. She was sentenced to an 18-month prison term due to her age.

Following sentencing, the 18-month sentence was reduced by 6 weeks. Amazingly, it does not end here. An NIS 8,000 was levied against her and if the payment is forthcoming, she is likely to be released in the coming two weeks.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Rabbi David Yosef Shlita, a member of Shas Moetzas Gedolei Yisrael, calls on parents to teach their children street/road safety, the need to be cautious when crossing streets, riding a bicycle and so-forth, mentioning a recent tragedy, the boy killed when struck by a bus on Shmuel HaNavi Street this week.

The rav made his comments during a shiur in Beis Medrash Yechavei Daas. He mentioned there must be additional care taken during bein hazmanim when so many children are out in the streets. He explained the Shas-affiliated Mayan Chinuch education network has included a safety program into its curriculum.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
With a gag order on the ongoing investigation into alleged corruption involving Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, we learn police have questioned a very close associate to the Interior Minister. The associate remains nameless at this time due to the gag order.

A short time ago, after probing the facts in the case, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit decided to move the probe to a formal criminal investigation as Deri is once again suspected of illegal activity. It is reported that Deri himself is expected to be summoned by police for questioning in the coming days. When news of the investigation against him broke, Deri promised to cooperate with any and all investigators, confident the evidence will prove his innocence.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
American Airlines Group Inc.s top executive lashed out at Delta Air Lines Inc. for splitting with other U.S. carriers that support a proposal to privatize the nations air-traffic-control system.

Delta doesnt see what everybody else in the industry sees about an issue thats central to the industrys future, American Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker said Tuesday. Parker, who used a recent speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to lobby for privatization, made his latest comments during a question and answer session at the CAPA Americas Aviation Summit in Las Vegas.

The division over air traffic control isnt the first time Delta has split with other U.S. airlines. Delta said in October that it would leave Airlines for America, in part because the industry trade group hadnt taken a strong stance regarding competition from Persian Gulf carriers.

Why is it that Delta believes something different that no other airline believes? Parker said. I dont think its because they have different facts. I think its because they have a different agenda. Whats best for Delta is for the rest of us to live in an environment that is relatively more harmful to us than to them.

Atlanta, Deltas largest hub, isnt as congested or delay-prone as other airports, so the airline may be satisfied with the current system, Parker said. Some of the most delay-plagued airports are in the Northeast, at Philadelphia International, Newark Liberty International in New Jersey and LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International in New York.

A proposal to put the Federal Aviation Administrations air-traffic duties under a nonprofit corporation independent of the government passed a House committee but has stalled amid opposition from Democrats and a handful of powerful Republicans. In the Senate, lawmakers didnt include privatization provisions in a bill debated this week to set FAA policy.

Delta declined to comment on Parkers statements regarding air traffic control since it is no longer being considered as part of the FAA reauthorization bill or otherwise, according to spokeswoman Kate Modolo. The airline previously has said privatization would have a negative effect on travelers and do nothing to actually improve the U.S. airspace.

Delta had been the largest source of funds for lobbying against what it says are unfair government subsidies for three Persian Gulf carriers, a stance backed by American and United Continental Holdings Inc. Airlines for America hasnt lobbied strongly on the issue as some members  such as JetBlue Airways Corp., which has code-sharing agreements with some Gulf airlines  support expansion by the Middle East carriers.

(c) 2016, Bloomberg  Mary Schlangenstein, Michael Sasso
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is close to ensuring that Donald Trump cannot win the GOP nomination on a second ballot at the partys July convention in Cleveland, scooping up scores of delegates who have pledged to vote for him instead of the front-runner if given the chance.

The push by Cruz means that it is more essential than ever for Trump to clinch the nomination by winning a majority of delegates to avoid a contested and drawn-out convention fight, which Trump seems almost certain to lose.

The GOP race now rests on two cliffhangers: Can Trump lock up the nomination before Cleveland? And if not, can Cruz cobble together enough delegates to win a second convention vote if Trump fails in the first?

Trumps path to amassing the 1,237 delegates he needs to win outright has only gotten narrower after losing to Cruz in Wisconsin and other recent contests, and would require him to perform better in the remaining states than he has to this point.

In addition, based on the delegate selections made by states and territories, Cruz is poised to pick up at least 130 more votes on a second ballot, according to a Washington Post analysis. That tally surpasses 170 delegates under less conservative assumptions  a number that could make it impossible for Trump to emerge victorious.

That is why the race centers on the fevered hunt for delegates across the country. The intensity of the fight has sparked another round of caustic rhetoric  including allegations from party leaders that Trump supporters are making death threats.

Its unfortunate politics has reached a new low. These type of threats have no place in politics, said Kyle Babcock, a Republican delegate from Indianas 3rd Congressional District. He received an email from a Trump supporter who warned, Think before you take a step down the wrong path.

Cruzs chances rest on exploiting a wrinkle in the GOP rule book: that delegates assigned to vote for Trump at the convention do not actually have to be Trump supporters. Cruz is particularly focused on getting loyalists elected to delegate positions even in states that the senator from Texas lost.

On Wednesday in Indiana, for example, Republican leaders are finalizing a delegate slate that will include party activists unlikely to vote for Trump in the states May primary. Cruz also is poised to sweep Wyomings 26 delegates this weekend in a state where Trumps campaign did not seriously compete. In Arkansas, Cruz supporters are exploring ways to topple Trump when delegates are chosen next month. And Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has refused to release 171 delegates he won when he was in the race, signaling that he may contribute to the anti-Trump push in Cleveland.

Cruz said this week that he thinks the odds of a contested convention are very high.

In Cleveland, I believe we will have an enormous advantage, he told radio talk-show host Glenn Beck.

Trump has a commanding lead in total delegates and the overall vote total, but has complained that Republican leaders are conspiring against him in a bid to silence his supporters.

The RNC should be ashamed of itself for allowing this to happen, Trump said Tuesday night while campaigning in Rome, N.Y.

Paul Manafort, a senior adviser to Trump, said in an interview that he is confident Cruz will never have a chance to convert Trump delegates.

Just because [Cruz] has won some delegates in a state where we have the delegates voting for us is not relevant until and unless theres a second ballot, Manafort said. Theres not going to be a second ballot.

As the battle for delegates has intensified, so too have emotions. Craig Dunn, who was elected Saturday as a Republican delegate from Indianas 4th Congressional District, said he has received several threatening phone calls and emails after criticizing Trump in recent news reports.

When they reference burials and your family in the same email, and telling you that youre being watched, thats concerning, he said.

In Colorado, Republicans are planning a rally Friday to call attention to threats made against GOP chairman Steve House. He said his office received 3,000 phone calls with many being the trashiest you can imagine after a state party convention last weekend awarded all 34 delegates to Cruz.

Shame on the people who think somehow that it is right to threaten me and my family over not liking the outcome of an election, he wrote on Facebook.

Cruz told Beck on Tuesday that threats made by Trump supporters, including those made by the businessmans longtime confidant Roger Stone, are the tactic of union thugs. That is violence. It is oppressive.

Stone recently told an interviewer that Trump supporters would track down delegates at their hotel rooms in Cleveland if they break away from Trump.

Manafort said that its certainly not part of our policy to threaten violence, but accused abusive Cruz supporters of confronting Trumps backers at party meetings nationwide.

When the presidential nomination vote is held at the convention, 95 percent of the delegates will be bound to the results in their states for the first vote, giving Trump his best shot at securing a majority.

But if Trump falls short, the convention will cast a second ballot in which more than 1,800 delegates from 31 states  nearly 60 percent of the total  will be unbound and allowed to vote however they want. By the third round, 80 percent of the delegates would be free, sparking a potential free-for-all that could continue for several more rounds.

That is the crux of the state-by-state battle that is playing out over the next two months as Republicans gather at the precinct, county, congressional district and statewide level to choose convention delegates.

If we go into a contested convention, were gonna have a ton of delegates, Donald is gonna have a ton of delegates, and its gonna be a battle in Cleveland to see who can earn a majority of the delegates that were elected by the people, Cruz told a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on Saturday.

He predicted that the first ballot will be the highest vote total Donald Trump receives. And on a subsequent ballot, were gonna win the nomination.

If Cruz prevails, it will be because of what supporters are doing for him nationwide with what they say is little direct input from his campaign headquarters.

In Arkansas, Republicans will not meet until next month to finalize their delegate slate, but state lawmakers who probably will win a position are talking about voting for Cruz on the second ballot.

For the vast majority of Cruz voters, Rubio was their second choice, and for the vast majority of Rubio supporters, Cruz was their second choice. So when youre going to pick delegates, it just makes sense that we would work together, said state Sen. Bart Hester, who backed Rubio.

In Iowa, Cruz won 11 of the 12 delegates assigned last weekend  meaning that he probably will have their support in later rounds of balloting. That same day in South Carolina, Cruz secured three of the six delegate slots assigned by two congressional districts that Trump had easily won.

Theres nothing underhanded going on, said Elliott Kelley, one of the Cruz supporters who won in South Carolinas 3rd Congressional District. Delegates are being appointed from the local level. The Trump team just doesnt have people involved at the local level and theyre not getting delegates.

Cruz supporters also won two of the three delegate slots from Virginias southernmost congressional district even though Trump won there handily. One of those Cruz supporters is Kyle Kilgore, 22, who said he would vote for Trump on the first ballot as required.

I would have a hard time voting for Trump on the second ballot, he said.

In Indiana, Dunn will be required to initially vote for whoever wins his congressional district in May. If Trump fails in the first round, Dunn said probably will vote for Ohio Gov. John Kasich on a second ballot.

Ill be looking for the candidate who I think has the best chance of beating Hillary Clinton in November, Dunn said. And if the person I want doesnt get it, I wont take my marbles and go home; I will support the nominee of the Republican Party.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Ed OKeefe
A Polish prosecutor has questioned a Polish-American scholar, Jan Tomasz Gross, to determine if he committed the crime of publicly insulting the nation with a statement on Polish violence against Jews during World War II.

Gross, a professor based at Princeton University, told The Associated Press he was questioned for five hours Tuesday in Katowice but does not yet know if he will be charged with the alleged offense, which can carry a prison term of up to three years.

Polands case against Gross, which also involves a presidential threat to strip him of a state honor, has raised questions about the conservative leaderships commitment to the freedom of scholarship. Law and Justice, a conservative and nationalistic party that controls both the presidency and parliament, is also centralizing power in a way that has raised concerns about its commitment to democracy more broadly.

Gross was questioned after multiple complaints were filed with prosecutors by Polish citizens over an article published last year in which Gross said Poles killed more Jews during the German occupation than they killed Germans  a claim that challenges a widespread conviction in Poland that the Polish response to the German terror was almost exclusively honorable.

Gross made the comparison in an article published by Project Syndicate in September critical of how Poland and other Eastern European countries have reacted to the migrant crisis. He decried the regions opposition to accepting refugees as heartless and argued that the attitude is rooted in the regions murderous past.

In the most controversial section, Gross wrote: Consider the Poles, who, deservedly proud of their societys anti-Nazi resistance, actually killed more Jews than Germans during the war.

The prosecutors office told the AP that it could not divulge what was said during the questioning, citing the secrecy of the investigation. However, Gross said he was asked to provide information backing up that historical assertion and was also asked if he had intended to incite Poles.

I told him straight that I was not trying to incite the Polish nation. I was trying to raise awareness about the problem of refugees in Europe, he said. I am just telling the truth and the truth sometimes has a shocking effect on people who are not aware of what the truth is.

Jacek Leociak, a historian with the Polish Center for Holocaust Research, said it is difficult to establish exactly how many Jews were killed by Poles during the war but that the number is significant.

The claim that Poles killed more Jews than Germans could be really right  and this is shocking news for the traditional thinking about Polish heroism during the war, he said. He said Grosss comparison has merit because it reveals this dimension of the Polish war experience which was always covered, hidden and suppressed.

President Andrzej Duda is considering stripping Gross of an Order of Merit he received in 1996. His spokesman, Marek Magierowski, said Wednesday that the president has not yet decided.

(AP)
The police investigation against Aryeh Deri continue to move forward as several persons who are described as close to Aryeh Deri have been questioned by police, some under warning which generally indicates there is sufficient evidence to signal a criminal indictment is likely.

Investigators of the 433 Unit, Israels FBI, spent hours questioning persons close to Deri. The gag order remains active, barring publication of details in the case. However it is reported that police searched homes and businesses of the persons close to Deri as well as an office of Deri.

The suspicions against Deri include bribery and white collar crime.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The National Security Council Counter-Terrorism Bureau released the following travel warnings are based on solid and reliable information and reflect tangible threats.

It should be noted that there are no new travel warnings except that for Turkey, which was revised recently.

Please note that a severe travel warning remains in effect for the Sinai Peninsula (see below).

Countries

It is unlawful for Israelis to travel to Syria, Iraq (including Iraqi Kurdistan), Iran, Lebanon, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

There are very high concrete threats regarding travel to the aforesaid countries as well as to Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan and Somalia. It is recommended that the public avoid all visits to these countries. Any Israelis present in these countries are advised to leave immediately.

There are high concrete threats regarding travel to Algeria, Djibouti, Mauritania, Tunisia, Burkina-Faso, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Malaysia, Mali, Pakistan, Niger, Turkey and Togo. It is recommended that the public avoid visits to these countries. Any Israelis present in these countries are advised to leave as soon as possible.

There are basic concrete threats regarding travel to Bahrain, Egypt (see below for Sinai), Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. It is recommended that the public avoid visiting these countries.

There are continuing potential threats regarding travel to Azerbaijan, Morocco, Oman, Kenya (see below) and Nigeria (see below). It is recommended that the public avoid non-essential visits to these countries.

Regions

There are very high concrete threats regarding travel to southern Thailand (from the Krabi-Thammarat line to the Malaysian border), the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, Chechnya (in Russia), the northern India state of Jammu and Kashmir (except for the Ladakh area), the Sinai peninsula and northern Nigeria (above 10 degrees north latitude). It is recommended that the public avoid visits to these regions. Any Israelis present in these regions are advised to leave as soon as possible.

There is a high concrete threat regarding travel to eastern Senegal, northern Cameroon and western Chad. It is recommended that the public avoid visiting this region. Any Israelis present in this region are advised to leave as soon as possible.

There is a basic concrete threat regarding travel to Kenya (Nairobi and the coastal strip). It is recommended that the public avoid visiting these areas.

Travelers and tourists are called upon to exercise due caution at all times; groups are urged to avoid calling attention to themselves (by manner of dress, language and other identifying signs).

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times

To get some context, July 4th, 1776, was on a Thursday. Imagine, lhavdil, if the founding fathers of the United States were to declare Independence Day as the first Thursday of every July rather than on the fourth. Everyone would ask the question as to why it was done this way  why on the day of the week rather than the day of the month? But, lhavdil, this is what we do on the forthcoming Shabbos.

WHY NO DATE?

A great miracle happened on Shabbos HaGadol. Yetzias Mitzrayim, the Gemorah tells us, happened on a Thursday (Shabbos 87b). Therefore, the miracle that occurred on Shabbos happened on the tenth of Nissan. Most of the commentaries (Tur 430) tell us that Shabbos HaGadol is celebrated and called with this name on account of that great miracle that transpired on that day. If so, why was it established on the Shabbos before Pesach rather than on the tenth of Nissan?

THE ACTUAL MIRACLE

To understand the answer to this question we must first go back and understand what the miracle was exactly, in the first place. The Tur explains that there was a great miracle in that sheeps were worshipped as a deity in Egypt. The very fact that all of Israel took thousands of sheeps and tied them to their beds in preparation for a shechita and the Mitzrim said nothing to them  is a remarkable miracle. This is Rashis understanding cited in Sefer HaPardes (page 343) and is also cited in Shibolei HaLeket (305).

Tosfos (Shabbos 87b vosos hayom), however, bring down a different miracle. The firstborn of Mitzrayim asked the Bnei Yisroel while they were taking the paschal lambs why they were doing so. They responded that it was an offering in appreciation for the fact that the firstborn of Mitzrayim were to be destroyed. Frightened, the firstborn of Mitzrayim returned to their fathers and to Paro to let the Jews go. When they did not, there was a civil war in Mitzrayim erupted, decimating Mitzrayim.

WHY SHABBOS?

Both the Levush and the Prisha (Siman 430) explain that the miracle happened on account of Shabbos observance. How so? The Mitzrim only asked the Jews about the paschal lambs because of their observance of Shabbos. The Prisha explains that the Mitzrim did not know that Jews are allowed to tie a temporary knot on Shabbos and thus posed their question.

The Maharal MiPrague explains that it was Shabbos itself which had caused the miracle. Shabbos is a testament to the Oneness of Hashem and that He had created the world. Shabbos is the great antidote to Avodah Zara and in her zchus the Mitzrim were unable to do anything to the Jewish people.

The Mogain Avrohom writes that the day that Miriam was to pass away was on the tenth of Nissan (See SA OC 580:2)  therefore that date was not chosen.



The author can be reached at [email protected]
By: Shimmy Blum

It is not every day that your business can share a floor with the likes of Wells Fargo, Amex and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, but that is precisely what makes the 2016 J-Biz Expo and Business Conference such an exciting opportunity.

With registration for the June 1st event in full swing, the growing list of participants is impressive and highly diverse. Wells Fargo Bank announced that it will be a silver sponsor of the event. Other leading corporate powerhouses that will feature prominently at the expo include Amex and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, who will be there as exhibitors.

Benjamin Seleski, a frum financial advisor and senior portfolio advisor at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, is looking forward to personally participate in the expo. We are looking to expand our reach within the major frum communities, says Mr. Seleski, who is based in Stamford, Connecticut. After hearing from friends who attended last years expo, I believe that J-Biz offers us a unique opportunity to personally meet many potential new clients.

Business of all sizes and stripes will be squarely at home at J-Biz, and they are indeed coming from far and wide.

Diversity and unity are a phenomenal and fruitful mix, explains Eli Obadia of Tesh Corp, an established software developer, who will be traveling in from Miami to exhibit at J-Biz. This great event presents a unique combination of a wide spectrum of industries along with people that share similar fundamental values .

These diverse businesses will complement the beautiful tapestry of businesses from throughout the New York/New Jersey region, and around the world, that will exhibit at the expo. Many of them are household names that we all recognize and rely on. Others are promising startups and innovators of unique products and services.

There are a wide variety of packages available for exhibitors in order to accommodate each ones needs and budget, including a special tabletop exhibition section for those that want to exhibit without undertaking the cost of a conventional booth. Our vision at J-Biz is to unite the business world and offer everyone in our community maximum opportunity to network and grow their business , says J-Biz founder and director Duvi Honig. Multinational corporations and small businesses alike can gain tremendously from networking, and they are flocking to J-Biz as an optimal resource.

For more information about J-Biz Expo or to reserve space, visit www.jbizexpo.com
Hagaon HaRav Yechezkel Roth Shlita was rushed to the hospital by Hatzolah on Wednesday morning, and is listed in critical condition.

Sources tell YWN that Rav Roth was complaining of severe chest pains, and was rushed by Hatzolah to the hospital. He has since been placed on a respirator and the cardiac team at Maimonides Hospital is in the middle of emergency procedures.

Please be Mispallel for Yechezkel ben Yehudis.

Rav Roth, who is in his 80s and is known as the Karlsburger Rov, leads a venerated beis horaah in Boro Park, and is one of leading Poskim in the world today.

After many years of living in Eretz Yisroel, the Karlsburger Rav took leave of the holy soil to settle in the US, where he eventually became recognized as one of the great Diaspora poskim. Years later, he began dividing his time between New York and Eretz Yisrael, where he secludes himself for weeks on end in Meron in the spiritual shadow of Rabi Shimon in Meron.

In 1972, the Satmar Rebbe ztzl sought a posek with uncompromising spiritual standards to serve on the Satmar beis din in Boro Park. The Rebbes spiritual requirements were daunting. The Karlsburger Rav, whose brilliance in Torah is surpassed only by his staunch principles and hashkafos that closely match those of Satmar, was immediately approved by Reb Yoelish. He dispatched messengers to the Karlsburger Ravs home in Eretz Yisrael requesting that Rav Roth relocate to Boro Park to disseminate Torah, and the Rav assented. Since then, he has lived in New York, and although he is not officially affiliated with any group, he has close ties with the Satmar community.

The Karlsburger Rav soon acquired a reputation as one of the most eminent poskim of the generation. He accepts the most complex sheilos from all sections of the Shulchan Aruch, responding in lucid, understandable terms. His piskei halachah are studied and analyzed in batei medrash lhoraah throughout the world, and some of his responsa to personal status and family issues have ended months and even years of halachic debate where other dayanim were unwilling to take responsibility for such sensitive rulings.

(Dov Gefen  YWN / Permission from Mishpacha Magazine)
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

On 3 Nissan a yeshiva celebrated a Siyum Hashas by 17-year-old Yehoshua Yaffe of Madison, Connecticut. Finishing Shas at such a young age is remarkable, but there is more: Yaffe is the yeshivas fourth bochur to make a Siyum Hashas over the last three years, and two additional students stand poised to finish in the near future. The yeshiva is neither large nor elite. It is a small, yet impactful Lubavitcher school in New Haven, ConnecticutYeshivas Beis Dovid Shlomo, named after Reb Dovid Shlomo Deitsch ah.

At the Siyum, menahel Rabbi Yosef Lustig reminded the bochurim of Rabbi Akivas inspiration to study Torah after noticing the hole that a steady drip of water bore through hard stone. Lustig noted that it was the consistency, not the power, of the water that pierced the rock. Similarly, he said, finishing shas is solely based on hasmada and commitment.

YBDS currently has 75 bochurim learning in the mesivta. Our yeshiva has bochurim from around the world with different levels of abilities and skills, notes menahel Rabbi Yosef Lustig. Our teachers help the talmidim cultivate both a love of learning and the perseverance to accomplish great things. Rabbi Zalman Roth of Shiur Beis inspired bochurim to learn through Shas and has helped them throughout the process.

At the start of mesivta, bochurim learn a shorter mesechta so that completion and accomplishment are attainable goals. This year many bochurim will finish the entire Bava Basra, learning several of the perakim baal peh. Other students are branching out and using their free time to study Likutei Sichos, Chassidus, Tanach, Midrash, and Mishnayos.

The first YBDS bochur to make a Siyum Hashas was Menachem Cadaner of Crown Heights. Rabbi Roth credits Cadaner for inspiring other boys to see this as an achievable goal. When a bochur views this as a real possibility, Roth says, h e feels not just a teachers encouragement but a powerful self-motivation. Subsequent Siyumei Hashas were celebrated by Mendel Adelman of Amherst, MA; Mendel Banon of Montreal, QC; andmost recentlyYehoshua Yaffe.

YBDS teachers display a genuine passion for learning that profoundly impacts their students. Each teacher, from the menahel downward, maintains his own shiur in learningand the bochurim see it every day. Teachers always are willing to create shiurim outside of seder for individuals or groups on topics of interest. Many YBDS students maintain connections with their teachers even after they leave yeshiva. Teachers continue to serve as mentors, helping these young men with issues both in learning and in life.

Even though he has spent the year learning in the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Manchester, Yehoshua Yaffe wanted to celebrate his milestone in the familiar environment of YBDS. When asked how he achieved such a goal, Yaffe shares some tips that worked for him: To learn a set amount every day following seder. To squeeze a bit extra in between sedarim. To learn what you enjoy, so it is pleasant and not a burden. To regard the learning as an end in itself, and not as something to finish. To push yourself to understand to the best of your ability and consistently review.

Rabbi Yossi Yaffe, Yehoshuas father and shliach on the Connecticut Shoreline, expresses joy at his sons achievement. What impresses me the most is Yehoshuas method of chazara, Yaffe says. Every day he reviewed the previous days material. When he reached a new Mishna, he would review everything from the previous Mishna. When he finished a perek, he reviewed the entire perek. We look forward to sharing in many more accomplishments of the students of Yeshiva Beis Dovid Shlomo.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
[By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times]

The Gemorah in Psachim (116b) informs us that, in each generation, we are obligated to view ourselves as if we actually left Mitzrayim. Indeed, in Michtav MeEliyahu, Rav Dessler writes that since time does not progress linearly, but rather travels in a carousel like circle, the 15th of Nissan of the year 2448 is actually the very same 15th of Nissan of our own year now. This is one of our obligations on the night of Pesach. This being the case, that halachically we must view ourselves as actually leaving Mitzrayim, in our minds eye we should envision and picture the escape.

Lets give it a try. Before us, standing at the waters edge about to enter it, stands Nachshon Ben Aminadav. Behind us, on a chariot, Pharoah is leading his hordes of well-trained soldiers. They are rapidly catching up. Yes, it is Pharoah  the short, obnoxious leader of the Egyptians that dared to present himself as a god.

But who exactly was he? What was his name? What do we know about him?

In the 77th chapter of a work called Sefer HaYashar, which was first printed in Venice in 1525, there are details as to what his name was, and more about who he may have been. [Alter Bergmann published a more recent edition of it in Tel Aviv]. The author of this Sefer HaYashar is anonymous, and there seems to be a debate as to whether it was written in the times of the Tannaim or is a much later compilation.

So, what do we know about Pharoah according to the Sefer HaYashar? Well, apparently he took the throne at the age of twenty. His father, Melol, was sick for the last ten years of his life, but had reigned for 94 years. His name was Adikam Ahuz. In Egyptian, according to the Sefer HaYashar, Ahuz means short, and short he was. He was an Ammah and one half, exceedingly ugly, and had a beard down to his feet. [One perhaps could best picture him as one of the seven dwarfs a la Snow White, but with a crown instead of a nightcap]. The Sefer HaYashar states that his reign started in the 206th year of Israels going down to Mitzrayim, so he reigned for four years.

It seems, by the way, from the Sefer HaYashar, that only his advisors and confidants appended the pejorative Ahuz apelation to his name [the modern equivalent of shorty]. His subjects called him Adikam.

Is the Sefer HaYashar reliable? Good question. Looking through the work, we do find some interesting tidbits of information that do not seem to have other parallels in our extant Midrashic ouevre. For example, Tzipporah, Moshe Rabbeinus wife is described as being on par with the Imahos, Sara, Rivkah, Rochel and Leah. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan zl does use the work in his Chumash, and there are many parallels in other Midrashim and Gemorahs. Lets assume that it is reliable.

Lets now ask another question. Secular historians have all the pharoahs named. What is the secular name of Pharoah? It is possible to accept the secular name and the surrounding history as accurate without necessarily having to accept the secular chronology as accurate. If we follow the standard dating, of when the old Pharoah (Basyas father) died and a new Pharoah arose (See Shmos 2:23) which occurred in 2444, this gives us the figure of 1316 BCE. The Pharoah at that time was called Horemheb, according to secular historians.

The name of one of the cities that Klal Yisroel built was Ramses (See Shmos 1:11). It might be tempting to accept Ramses II as the Pharoah. But his secular dating is much later 1134 BCE. Nonetheless, the thesis presented earlier might be acceptable that there was a mess up in their dating, somehow.

If we follow the 166 year discrepancy (or 163 years according to Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan) then the Pharoah is Thutmose III, who, according to the secular calculation, reigned from 1490-1436 BCE.

PEPI

There is another possibility, as well[1]. It seems that there was a Pharoah known as Phiops II or Pepi, who is mentioned by Manetho, an Egyptian priest from Heliopolis. Manetho compiled an Egyptian history under the patronage of Ptolemy I, entitled Aegyptika. It was written in Greek and finished c.271 BCE. It is now only extant in translation and is available to us in Josephus. According to Manetho, Pepi ruled from age six to age one hundred. Manethos datings have been questioned by historians who claim that there was political gain for the Egyptian priest in extending the lengths. However, the account has been verified through an Egyptian papyrus discovered in 1822 and called the Turin Royal Canon. (See Alan Gardiner, Royal Canon of Turin. Griffith Institute, 1959) [Parenthetically, The Turin papyrus dates to Ramses II and mentions the names of all Egyptian rulers preceded by the register of the gods who ruled over Egypt before the Pharaonic era. It was discovered in Thebes by an Italian traveler named Bernardino Drovetti. Eventually it was donated to the Museo Egizio by the king of Sardinia.]

IPUWER PAPYRUS ON MARK

There is another advantage to this approach, since the Ipuwer papyrus is now remarkably on mark. The Dialogue of Ipuwer is an ancient Egyptian poem preserved in a single papyrus, Leiden Papyrus I 344. It is now housed in the National Archeological Museum in Leiden, Netherlands. In general there is a debate as to whether Ipuwer was just being figurative or descriptive. For more information see Stephen Quirke, Egyptian Literature 1800BC: Questions and Readings (London 2004). But the parallels to Yetzias Mitzrayim, as seen below, are stunning.

2:5-6 Plague is throughout the land. Blood is everywhere. 2:10 The river is blood. 2:10 Men shrink from tasting  human beings, and thirst after water 3:10-13 That is our water! That is our happiness! What shall we do in respect thereof? All is ruin. 7:20 all the waters of the river were turned to blood. 7:21 there was blood thoughout all the land of Egypt and the river stank. 7:24 And all the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river. 2:10 Forsooth, gates, columns and walls are consumed by fire. 10:3-6 Lower Egypt weeps The entire palace is without its revenues. To it belong [by right] wheat and barley, geese and fish 6:3 Forsooth, grain has perished on every side. 5:12 Forsooth, that has perished which was yesterday seen. The land is left over to its weariness like the cutting of flax. 3:2 Gold and lapis lazuli, silver and malachite, carnelian and bronze are fastened on the neck of female slaves. 4:3 (5:6) Forsooth, the children of princes are dashed against the walls. 6:12 Forsooth, the children of princes are cast out in the streets. 2:13 He who places his brother in the ground is everywhere. 3:14 It is groaning throughout the land, mingled with lamentations.

THE SEFORNO

There is also one more tidbit. According to the Seforno, the term Tzefardaya means crocodilesnot frogs. The Ipuwer papyrus mentions crocodiles coming out of the Nile left and right on a path of destruction.

The halacha of envisioning us being there is not just theoretical. It involves physical action as well. The Rambam writes (Hilchos Chometz UhMatzah 7:6) based upon the verse in Dvarim 5, And you shall remember that you were a slave in Mitzrayim as follows: In other words, as if you yourself were a slave and you left to freedom and you were redeemed. The juxtaposition of this Rambam with the next halacha gives us remarkable insight. The Rambam writes, Therefore when a person eats and drinks on this night he must lean in the manner of free men. In other words, it seems that the obligation of leaning is a manifestation of this biblical obligation of imagining and visioning that it was actually us. So this Pesach let us go through the extra effort of picturing it with even more detail. A short, ugly Pharoah named Adikam Ahuz chasing us in a chariot.

The author can be reached at [email protected]
17.25: The FTSE 100 closed up 120.50 points at 6362.89 - its peak of the year, after markets got off to a dismal start in 2016. More to come.

London's top stock market notched up late gains as Chinese trade data and a resurgent oil price sparked a worldwide rally. But the Footsie remains a long way short of its all-time trading high of 7,122.74, hit last April.

The US Dow Jones was up 153.5 at 17,874.8, while Germany's DAX was ahead 264.6 points at 10,026.1 and France's CAC 40 rose 144.4 points to 4,490.3. Brent crude was at $44.23 a barrel and US WTI crude hit $41.81.

Market watch: London's top stock market notched up late gains as Chinese trade data and a resurgent oil price sparked a worldwide rally.

'Confidence is coursing through the veins of financial markets today, as the worries seen at the turn of the year disappear into the rear view mirror,' said Joshua Mahony of IG.

'If yesterday was all about oil, todays big mover was the US dollar which finally found a buyer after over two weeks of selling. European and US stock markets are clearly in a jubilant mood, with buyers remaining in control since the opening bell.

'The relative disregard from US markets at the release of the joint worst retail sales figure in over a year, spells out the buoyant mood of markets today.'

Laith Khalaf of Hargreaves Lansdown said: The last two months have seen a turnaround in fortunes for the UK stock market, after a miserable start to the year. Strong performance from oil and mining shares has been the key driver of the rebound in the Footsie, on the back of a recovery in commodity prices.

'Looking forward there are still risks out there. China is continuing its transformation from a manufacturing-led economy to one focused on the consumer, the UK will shortly be going to the polls to decide whether to remain part of the EU, and central banks in the US and UK will at some point have to start raising interest rates.

'However the valuation of the UK stock market remains near the middle of its range, which suggests todays investors are neither picking up a bargain or paying through the nose, instead they are getting close to a fair price.

Banks and commodities stocks led the charge in the UK, continuing gains from the previous session, with Anglo American up 11 per cent or 70.6p at 709.3p and Standard Chartered rising more than 10 per cent or 50.1p to 520.8p.

Supermarket Tesco was among a small selection of fallers after its caution over profit growth for the year ahead took the shine off its return to the black.

The retailer dropped 15.3p to 181p despite revealing 'significant progress' in its turnaround by guiding the business back to profit and unveiling its first UK quarterly sales rise for more than three years.

The group's share falls sparked a decline for rival Morrisons, down 4p to 197.2p, but Sainsbury's clawed back from early session losses to stand 0.2p higher at 286p.

Elsewhere, Mr Kipling cakes firm Premier Foods also plummeted as its takeover tussle with McCormick & Company came to an abrupt halt after the American spice giant pulled out of its pursuit. Shares in Premier Foods dropped more than 26 per cent or 15.3p to 41.8p.

WH Smith was also in the red in the FTSE 250 Index despite posting an 11 per cent hike in half-year pre-tax profits to 80million in the six months to February 29.

The stock fell more than 1 per cent, down 25p to 1780p, as investors looked to take profits after shares surged by almost 25 per cent in the past year.

Halfords announced a bounceback in embattled bike sales, up 1.9 per cent in the 11 weeks to April, and said its car maintenance arm would help shore up profits. Shares lifted more than 9 per cent or 37.3p to 423.3p.

The pound was down 0.4 per cent against the dollar at $1.42, as the US currency remained strong despite an economic update showing American retail sales fell last month. However, sterling was up 0.5 per cent against the euro at 1.25.

The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 Index were Anglo American up 70.6p to 709.3p, Standard Chartered up 50.1p to 520.8p, BHP Billiton up 74.2p to 882.8p, Rio Tinto up 158.5p to 2245p.

The biggest fallers were Tesco down 15.3p to 181p, Morrisons down 4p to 197.2p, Rangold Resources down 85p to 6775p, Imperial Brands down 43.5p to 3745.5p

17.01: The FTSE 100 closed up 120.50 points at 6362.89 - its peak of the year, after markets got off to a dismal start in 2016. More to come.

14.55: The Footsie jumped to a fresh 2016 high in late afternoon trading, as US stocks joined in a strong rally today by global markets after upbeat trade data from China, although retail giant Tesco remained a big casualty in London as a cautious outlook clouded its return to annual profits.

With around an hour and a half of trading to go in London, the FTSE 100 was 107.1 points, or 1.7 per cent higher at 6,349.5, just below the days peak of 6,352.50, which was the indexs highest level since early December.

European markets were also strong, with Germanys Dax 30 index gaining 2.3 per cent, and Frances CAC 40 index ahead 2.9 per cent.

In early trade on Wall Street, the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 128.2 points higher at 17,849.4, while the broader S&P 500 gained 13.9 points at 2,075.6, and the tech-laden Nasdaq composite added 56.5 points at 4,928.5.

Further advance: The Footsie jumped to a fresh 2016 high in late afternoon trading, as US stocks joined in a strong rally today by global markets after upbeat data from China boosted the world trade outlook

US blue chips matched the triple-digit gains they recorded in the previous session as the global trade outlook was boosted by news Chinese exports rose 11 per cent last month, shrugging aside some weak US data today.

US retail sales fell 0.3 per cent in March to end the first quarter on a weak note, with retail sales in February revised up slightly to show no change.

And US wholesale prices fell 0.1 per cent in March despite a rise in fuel costs, with the producer price index having been forecast to show a seasonally adjusted 0.3 per cent increase.

Dennis de Jong, managing director at UFX.com, said: Last year, economists heralded the resilience of US consumers as a rare bright spot against a backdrop of turbulent financial markets and weakening global demand, so they will be discouraged by this below expectations performance.

These lingering doubts over retails strength may force the Fed to give second thought to the rumoured interest rate hike, which some had speculated could come sooner rather than later.

Weaker oil prices were also ignored, with Brent crude down 1.2 per cent at $44.16 a barrel, hitting some profit-taking after jumping 4 per cent higher yesterday on reports Russia and Saudi Arabia may have reached agreement on an oil output cap ahead of a key producers meeting this weekend.

Opec today predicted global demand for crude oil will be less than previously thought in 2016 as consumption slows down, increasing the excess supply on the market this year.

The monthly report from the cartel lowered its forecast for world oil demand growth by 50,000 barrels per day and said further downward revisions could follow.

Among equities, US banks were stronger today following better-than-expected quarterly results from JP Morgan Chase, which gained 3 per cent.

But US spices giant McCormick & Company fell 1.7 per cent after it pulled out of its pursuit of the Mr Kipling cakes maker Premier Foods.

Premier shares in London slumped 25 per cent after McCormick said it was not able to propose a price that would be recommended by the board of Premier Foods after competing due diligence on the company. Shares in the Bisto gravy to Oxo cubes firm shed 14p at 43p.

Tesco remained the biggest FTSE 100 faller, dropping 5.8 per cent or 11.4p to 185.0p despite revealing significant progress in its turnaround by guiding the business back to profit, after warning that its investment in price cuts would slow its profit improvement, particularly in the first half.

The supermarket giant posted pretax profits of 162million for the year to February 27 against losses of 6.3billion the previous year - one of the biggest losses in UK corporate history.

It also reported a 0.9 per cent rise in UK like-for-like sales in its fourth quarter, which marked its first full quarter of growth since 2013, as the group's recovery under boss Dave Lewis gathers pace.

On currency markets, the pound stayed lower against the dollar, down 0.2 per cent at $1.4249, but recovered from earlier falls versus the euro, bouncing 0.4 per cent higher at 1.2583 after euro zone industrial production decreased by more than expected in February following a strong January.

12.30: The Footsie held near a new high for the year at lunchtime, driven by strong commodity stocks thanks to upbeat China trade data and after oil prices yesterday hit 2016 highs, although retail giant Tesco remained a big casualty as a cautious outlook clouded its return to annual profits.

By mid session, the FTSE 100 was up 88.6 points, or 1.4 per cent at 6,331.0, just easing off the days peak of 6,341.78, which was the indexs highest level since early December.

European markets were higher, with Germanys Dax 30 index and Frances CAC 40 index both up over 2 per cent.

And US stock futures pointed to big opening gains today in New York, with the Dow Jones seen matching the triple-digit gains it notched up overnight, with the global trade outlook boosted by news Chinese exports rose 11 per cent last month.

Markets strong: US stock futures pointed to bog opening gains today in New York, with the Dow Jones seen matching the triple-digit gains it notched up overnight, boosted by news Chinese exports rose 11% last month

Joshua Mahony, Market Analyst at IG, said: For the commodities rout to be over a resurgent China is required, and the impressive trade data released overnight provided exactly the assurance we were looking for.

While it may be too soon to conclude that the worst is over for China, this revival in exports helps restore confidence as investors pile into commodity stocks once more.

Oil prices ran into some profit-taking today but still held much of yesterdays 4 per cent leap made on reports Russia and Saudi Arabia may have reached agreement on an oil output cap. In lunchtime trading, Brent crude was down 1.4 per cent at $44.08 a barrel.

On currency markets, the pound stayed lower against the dollar, down 0.2 per cent at $1.4245, but recovered from earlier falls versus the euro, bouncing 0.6 per cent higher to 1.2602.

Among equities, Tesco remained the biggest FTSE 100 faller, dropping 5.7 per cent or 11.3p to 185.1p despite revealing significant progress in its turnaround by guiding the business back to profit, after warning that its investment in price cuts would slow its profit improvement, particularly in the first half.

The supermarket giant posted pretax profits of 162million for the year to February 27 against losses of 6.3billion the previous year - one of the biggest losses in UK corporate history.

It also reported a 0.9 per cent rise in UK like-for-like sales in its fourth quarter, which marked its first full quarter of growth since 2013, as the group's recovery under boss Dave Lewis gathers pace.

Elsewhere, supermarket supplier Premier Foods lost a quarter of its value as its takeover tussle with McCormick & Company came to an abrupt halt after the American spice giant pulled out of its pursuit of the Mr Kipling cakes maker.

McCormick said it was not able to propose a price that would be recommended by the board of Premier Foods after competing due diligence on the company. Shares in the Bisto gravy to Oxo cubes firm slumped 25 per cent, or 14.5p to 42.5p.

Back on the high street, WH Smith was also in the red in the FTSE 250 Index despite posting an 11 per cent hike in first half pretax profits to 80million, with sales boosted by the craze for colouring-in and activity books for grown-ups.

But WH Smith shares fell more than 2 per cent, down 42p to 1,763p, as investors looked to take profits after shares have surged by almost 25 per cent in the past year.

Halfords, however, was one of the biggest mid cap risers, jumping 8 per cent, or 29.2p to 415.2p as it posted a bounce back in bike sales, up 1.9 per cent in the 11 weeks to April, and said its car maintenance arm would help shore up profits.

10.30: The Footsie extended its gains as the morning session progressed, boosted by a jump in commodity stocks thanks to upbeat China trade data and after oil prices yesterday hit 2016 highs, although retail giant Tesco was a big faller as a cautious outlook clouded its return to annual profits.

Around mid morning, the FTSE 100 index was 90.4 points, or 1.4 per cent higher at 6,332.8, having closed 42.27 points firmer yesterday.

European markets were even stronger, with Germanys Dax 30 index up 2.4 per cent and Frances CAC 40 index ahead 2.5 per cent.

Cautious comment: Tesco dropped 4 per cent despite revealing significant progress in its turnaround by returning to annual profit, after warning that its investment in price cuts would slow its profit improvement

US stocks notched up triple-digit gains overnight as oil prices breached $45 a barrel, and Asian stocks came close to their highs for the year today after Chinese exports rose 11 per cent, brightening the outlook for global trade.

The figures come a day after the International Monetary Fund said China's slowdown may not be as severe as first thought, revising its economic growth forecasts for the country to 6.5 per cent this year and 6.2 per cent next year, both up two-tenths of a percentage point from the IMFs last global outlook.

Tony Cross, Market Analyst, Trustnet Direct, said: Commodities remain very much in focus  weve seen base metals soaring in the last few hours helped by upbeat Chinese import data and even if oil prices are coming off the boil a little, the bulls are still winning out at least for now.

Oil prices ran into some profit-taking today but still held much of yesterdays 4 per cent leap made on reports Russia and Saudi Arabia may have reached agreement on an oil output cap. In London trading, Brent crude was down 1.3 per cent at $44.12 a barrel.

On currency markets, the pound reversed yesterdays rally against the dollar, down 0.4 per cent at $1.4213, and slipped back versus the euro, off 0.1 per cent at 1.2530.

Sterling fell as an opinion poll showed the Out campaign was in front ahead of Junes referendum on whether Britain should remain in the European Union.

The IMF waded into the debate yesterday saying a British exit from the EU would risk causing severe global damage that would drag down UK growth for years to come.

There was little reaction, however, to a prediction that demand for buy-to-let borrowing is expected to fall 'significantly' in the coming months, according to a Bank of England report.

The BoE's Credit Conditions Survey of banks and building societies found that demand for mortgages from home buyers increased in the first quarter of 2016 and demand for buy-to-let also increased.

The report said demand overall was expected to increase slightly in the next three months, 'although demand for buy-to-let lending was expected to fall significantly'.

The Bank's findings were released as property website Rightmove overnight reported that interest in new purchases from buy-to-let investors decreased by 27 per cent in March compared with the same month last year.

The Credit Conditions Survey also found that mortgage availability to people with smaller deposits of less than 25 per cent increased slightly in the first quarter of 2016.

Among FTSE 100 stocks, Tesco dropped 4 per cent despite revealing significant progress in its turnaround by guiding the business back to profit, after warning that its investment in price cuts would slow its profit improvement, particularly in the first half.

The supermarket giant posted bottom-line pretax profits of 162million for the year to February 27 against losses of 6.3billion the previous year - one of the biggest losses in UK corporate history.

It also reported a 0.9 per cent rise in UK like-for-like sales in its fourth quarter, which marked its first full quarter of growth since 2013, as the group's recovery under boss Dave Lewis gathers pace.

Trustnet Directs Cross, said: The company may now be closing in on its return to being a solid core retailer but questions remain over surplus space and the read-across is dragging on peers, too.

Tesco shares dropped 6.1p to 192p, although other supermarket stocks were mixed  Morrisons eased 0.6p lower to 200.6p, but Sainsburys added 2.6p at 288.4p.

Away from the blue chips, supermarket supplier Premier Foods saw its shares slump 28 per cent as its takeover tussle with McCormick & Company came to an abrupt halt after the American spice giant pulled out of its pursuit of the Mr Kipling cakes maker.

McCormick said it was not able to propose a price that would be recommended by the board of Premier Foods after competing due diligence on the company. Shares in the Bisto gravy to Oxo cubes firm dropped 15.8p to 41.3p.

But elsewhere, Halfords jumped 7 per cent, or 28p higher to 414p as the car parts-to-bikes retailer said its full year revenues rose 1.7 per cent, driven by a strong final quarter where sales rose 3.2 per cent.

08.40: The Footsie jumped higher in early trading fuelled by strong gains from commodity stocks after upbeat trade data from China and oil prices hit 2016 highs yesterday, although Brent crude eased from that peak today and retail giant Tesco was a big faller on some outlook caution despite returning to annual profits.

In opening deals, the FTSE 100 index was up 69.0 points, or 1.1 per cent at 6,311.4, having closed 42.27 points higher yesterday as oil prices rose on hopes a deal to curb production at a key meeting this weekend is in the works.

US stocks notched up triple-digit gains overnight as oil prices breached $45 a barrel, and Asian stocks came close to their highs for the year today after surprisingly upbeat Chinese trade data offered hope the world's second biggest economy was finally stabilising.

Good start: The Footsie jumped higher fuelled by strong gains from commodity stocks after upbeat trade data from China and oil prices hit 2016 highs yesterday, although Brent crude eased from that peak today

Shanghai stocks leapt 2.2 per cent higher, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 2.8 per cent for its biggest daily gain in six weeks also helped by a weaker Yen.

Jasper Lawler. Market Analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: An improvement in Chinese trade data coupled with new 2016 highs for the price of oil are setting European markets up for a higher open on Wednesday.

He added: Chinese exports jumped 18.7 per cent y/y in March whilst imports stabilised, falling just -1.7 per cent. The surge in exports adds to the improving outlook for China indicated by moderating producer price inflation and a rebound in business confidence data.

The pickup in exports was likely supported by the devaluation of the yuan at the start of the year which made Chinese goods relatively cheaper than domestic options abroad.

Oil prices ran into profit-taking in Asia but still held much of yesterdays 4 per cent leap made on reports Russia and Saudi Arabia may have reached agreement on an oil output cap.

Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi, however, ruled out a crude output cut in comments made to Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper published on Wednesday.

In early London trading, Brent crude was down 1.9 per cent at $43.89 a barrel.

Tesco was the biggest FTSE 100 faller, dropping 2.7 per cent and leading supermarket shares lower as although Britain's biggest retailer bounced back to full year profits and reported its first quarter of underlying UK sales growth for over three years, it warned it was still battling in a price war which would pressure operating profits in the current year.

Rebecca O'Keeffe, Head of Investment at stockbroker Interactive Investor, said: Despite a return to profit for Tesco, early price moves are negative as investors seek to capitalise on the recent share price rally which had seen the share price rise 30 per cent year to date.

'Tesco is trying to revitalise its fortunes by concentrating on service and price, but with increased expectations already priced in and the competition still fierce from discount providers, the prospects for the stock remain fragile.

Mr Kipling cakes firm Premier Foods was the biggest market casualty, however, plunging 30 per cent after potential US bidder McCormick said it was walking away from a takeover bid for the UK firm, saying it would not be able to propose a price which would be acceptable to Premiers board.

UK company news scheduled today includes:

Finals: Tesco, Mi-Pay Group, Mediatech Pharma, Walker Greenbank

Interims: WH Smith

Trading update: Halfords, WS Atkins, Fresnillo, Jupiter Fund Management

Economic news scheduled today includes:

BoE consumer credit survey at 9.30am

eurozone industrial production at 10am

US PPI at 1.30pm

US retail sales at 1.30pm

NAHB housing market index at 3pm
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By Madina Toure

The New York Mart supermarket in downtown Flushing is expanding its inventory to meet the diverse needs of area residents.

After the Met Food Market in the neighborhood closed, residents of the Holly Civic Association contacted the office of City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) to find a convenient alternative to their traditional grocery store that would sell similar products.

Koo reached out to Deng Long, New York Marts CEO, requesting that the store expand its inventory to include a wider range of products, including assorted cheeses, deli meats, pastas and frozen foods, in addition to its standard Asian groceries.

At a news conference at the supermarket, Francis Zhou, assistant to the president of New York Mart, gave Koo and other attendees a tour of the supermarket. Members of the Holly Civic Association were also in attendance.

When I explained the situation, Deng immediately agreed to expand his inventory, Koo said.

New York Mart markets itself as a Chinese grocery store that seeks to bridge the Chinese and American markets. The supermarket has also added a customer service desk in addition to enlarging its inventory.

Zhou said the store has already stocked two shelves with traditional Western food.

We understood that this neighborhood area is mixed cultures, he said.

Long said the store is committed to providing quality groceries to residents and looks for opportunities to interact directly with its shoppers.

Our stores pride themselves on being a good neighbor, and we are happy to expand our shelves and to provide products that reflect the diversity of residents here in Flushing, he said.

Joyce Huang, store assistant, said she is available to address shoppers concerns.

Im always here, Huang said. I take all suggestions.

Denise Winters, president of the Holly Civic Association, said the updated inventory will help senior citizens in the area.

Our seniors need to walk and be able to buy different groceries, Winters said.

Flushing resident Mary Robinson, 68, who lives three blocks away from the supermarket, praised the announcement but suggested that fliers outside the supermarket be available in English. She also said the store should lower its prices.

Were willing to give it a shot, Robinson said.

Miguelina Roman-Acosta, another Flushing resident, said she was happy to learn of the changes to the inventory but that she would like to see more press covering issues that directly affect residents and more representation of minorities, particularly blacks and Hispanics.

We dont even know how many Hispanics are in the area, Roman-Acosta said.
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.
The past two years here at the newspaper have been interesting, to say the least.

It began April 1, 2015, when the Times Record News and several other newspapers under the E.W. Scripps brand around the country merged into Journal Media Group, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel the flagship, so to speak. Now, anyone who has been part of this type of change knows there's a lot of uncertainty that comes along with a merger. What will the new company look like? What changes will affect me? What about staffing?

Common, natural thoughts that pop up with the arrival of the unknown.

It seems like it was about six months after that merger that we learned Gannett Inc., the company that owns USA Today and more than 90 other newspapers in the country, was in talks with JMG to buy its newspapers and incorporate them into the Gannett family.

What the ... ? Talk about head spinning. Bought and sold in roughly a year.

Jokingly I've said, "Today, Gannett. Tomorrow? Who knows?"

But April 11 felt much different from April 1.

Sure there are questions about the future, but they seem to be more optimistic than pessimistic. Instead of worry, there seems to be more excitement.

It felt different knowing that the little ol' Times Record News in Wichita Falls, Texas, is now part of the newspaper conglomerate headlined by a newspaper that is waiting at the feet of thousands of hotel guests in the United States each morning. The company now has more than 100 newspapers in more than 30 states and another in Guam.

How cool is that?

Yesterday's change was met with excitement instead of concern. We were challenged to use Twitter to share the news of a new beginning with our followers and readers. What was really neat was seeing those in the building who had never used Twitter get on the social media app and share their day, in 140 character or less, of course. We were asked to use Gannett's Twitter handle, @Gannett, as well as the hashtags #OneGannett and #TRN.

It was fun. It was fun doing it and it was fun seeing others across the country share what each property was doing to celebrate the day.

Me and my road buddy, chief photographer Torin Halsey, made a trip to Montague County to visit a couple museums for our Museum Monday series. We tweeted all over the place. I even tweeted about my first expensed lunch on the new company's dime.

The corporate Twitter monitors liked and shared a few of my tweets yesterday, and even liked the one about my lunch. They didn't retweet it, though. Hmmm.

Anyway, Monday's change brought an excitement that I didn't necessarily feel this time last year when change was here. I can't really put my finger on why, but it's definitely different. It's fun.

As I've shared in the spot before, the only constant is change  it's gonna happen with or without you.

Keep it real, Wichita Falls.
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The Wichita County Sheriff's Office credits a burglary victim for helping capture of the suspect.

According to a WCSO news release:

Early Sunday, deputies went to the 300 block of Huntington Lane to investigate a burglary. They learned the suspect fled in a blue pickup.

When they got to the scene, they founds the pickup stuck in the ditch. It had been blocked in by the victim's neighbor.

The victim said he saw a man taking items from his property, so he fired one shot from a shotgun into the air and told the man to lie down. Instead, the man got into his pickup and drove away. The victim fired a second shot to disable the vehicle and it crashed into a fence.

The driver, Grant Lynn Franklin, 40, of Ringgold, Texas, was arrested and charged with burglaries of a building and vehicle. His bail was set at $16,500 and he was in the Wichita County Jail Tuesday.

Man charged with evading arrest

A Wichita Falls man is in jail after allegedly leading officers on a chase in a stolen truck back in October.

Walter Jacob Wisdom, 25, is charged with evading arrest or detention with a vehicle and he remained in Wichita County Jail Tuesday afternoon in lieu of a total bail of $30,000.

According to an arrest affidavit:

On Oct. 25, Wichita Falls police were sent to the area of Archer City Highway and Professional Drive for a possible stolen pickup truck.

Wisdom then led police on an approximately 21 mile chase until he crashed the pickup in Windthorst after attempting to drive down an embankment. During the pursuit, officers discovered the truck was stolen.

Man accused of robbing Walmart

A Wichita Falls man was arrested after being accused of punching an employee while trying to steal an FM transmitter.

According to a probable cause affidavit:

On April 1, officers were dispatched to Walmart, 2700 Central Fwy., for a disturbance in which a man was running from an employee toward a nearby restaurant.

When officers arrived, the employee said a suspect was hiding under a pickup in front of the restaurant.

As police approached, a man, later identified as Kyreese Dominic Williams, got out from under the truck side and ran. Williams was caught and detained on the access road on the opposite side of Central Freeway. Officers found a Scosche FM stereo transmitter in his pocket during a search.

The employee told officers when he confronted Williams near the exit doors, Williams tried to run. The employee grabbed Williams, who swung his arm back and punched the employee on the right side of his head next to his eye.

Employees found two of the yellow boxes that matched the transmitter open inside the store.

Williams, 18, is charged with robbery and evading arrest or detention, and remains in Wichita County Jail in lieu of $30,000 total bail.
FILE - This two picture combo of file photos shows Republican presidential candidates, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, left, and Donald Trump. The two men are in a so-far cordial competition for many of the same anti-establishment conservatives, and theyire about to share a stage. On Wednesday, at Cruzis invitation, Trump is to appear with him at a Capitol Hill rally protesting the proposed nuclear agreement with Iran. (AP Photo/File)

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By Chicago Tribune

Tear up the Iran nuclear deal? Then what?

Donald Trump says he'd tear up the "disastrous" nuclear deal with Iran and "renegotiate." Ted Cruz vowed he would "rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal" on his first day in office.

But we haven't heard a compelling answer to the crucial follow-up query: Then what?

Flashback to last April: The U.S. and its partners reached a nuclear deal with Iran. In January, the deal fully kicked in.

We backed that accord as the best of bad options. We also said that the deal won't be judged on whether Tehran drops its long-running Great Satan campaign against the U.S. and cooperates on the diplomatic front. The nuclear deal begins and ends with one goal: Stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon.

If it works, it's a grand bargain. If it doesn't, it's a grand boondoggle.

So far, Iran has completed several key steps in scaling back its nuclear program. It has shipped low-enriched uranium out of the country and dismantled thousands of centrifuges.

So, yes, Tehran has followed "the letter of the agreement," President Barack Obama said earlier this month. "But the spirit of the agreement involves Iran also sending signals to the world community and businesses that it is not going to be engaging in a range of provocative actions that are going to scare businesses off. When they launch ballistic missiles with slogans calling for the destruction of Israel, that makes businesses nervous."

Tehran shows no sign of ending its belligerence, of showing the world it values global acceptance. Instead, it continues to conduct ballistic missile tests that violate a United Nations ban. It continues to fund international terror groups.

Critics may argue that is sufficient grounds to tear up the nuclear deal and start over. But why would Iranians trust a president who abandons a deal negotiated by his or her predecessor without strong evidence that Tehran had cheated?

What's more, it's too late to seriously hurt Iran by nixing the deal. Tehran has already reaped billions in benefits  an argument for not agreeing to the deal in the first place but a moot argument now.

If Donald the Dealmaker wanted to negotiate one of those better deals he's always promising, what new incentives could he offer the Iranians? How would he convince the other nations that signed onto the pact  France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, the European Union and China  to follow his lead?

If the U.S. walks away, Iran would be free to toss out inspectors, ramp up its nuclear program, and dare the world to stop it. That could require military force.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has complained that the U.S. isn't fulfilling its end of the deal. He accuses the U.S. of indirectly thwarting some foreign trade deals. Tehran wants the Obama administration to help make Tehran's financial dealings with foreign companies and banks easier by allowing transactions involving dollars in certain circumstances.

Here's why that is key: U.S. dollars tend to be the currency of choice in financial transactions around the globe. Many businesses, particularly in the oil industry, rely on being able to freely convert local currencies to and from dollars. So the White House reportedly is considering easing financial rules to essentially allow Iran and its foreign trading partners to do business using dollars, provided those transactions don't occur inside the U.S. financial system.

That ease of money movement would be a huge financial boon to Iran and to its terrorist proxies around the world.

But that's controversial. Some congressional critics accuse the White House of reaching beyond the nuclear deal's terms to mollify the mullahs. Last week, Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida introduced a bill that would prevent Iran from gaining access to transactions in U.S. dollars outside the U.S. financial system. That would be a smart move, in part because Iran hasn't yet earned any favors from Washington.

The more ground Obama cedes to the mullahs, the weaker the argument for keeping the nuclear deal intact becomes. Why so?

The next president will have to decide what, if anything, to do about the Iran nuclear deal. A firm U.S. posture, rather than endless "sweeteners" to keep Tehran from walking away, has the best chance of keeping Iran's nuclear program in check.
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One by one, they leave the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank, offering a heartfelt thank you and a smile.

We'll be back soon, they say. These grateful people aren't hungry clients of ours. They are volunteers. Every day, they thank us for the opportunity to give back.

They are students, corporate executives, community service workers, scout troops, and senior citizens, people from everyday walks of life.

These volunteers give time from their busy workdays, family lives, and even weekend time to help people they will probably never meet. Without the commitment from these volunteers, the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank couldn't do what we do. During 2015, the Food Bank was blessed with 5,172 volunteers putting in 22,000 hours. The monetary value of that time in Texas is $24.66 an hour. For the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank, that value comes to over $542,520. That is truly a benefit for the Food Bank, the community and those we help.

April is National Volunteer Month, a time when we, as a country, offer our collective thanks to the more than 62 million Americans - a quarter of the adult population - who give nearly 8 billion hours a year to the causes close to their hearts. Overall, in the state of Texas, we found that 23 percent of residents volunteer, giving over 572 million hours of service  that is a lot of 'Texas heart'. And when it comes to their hearts, it turns out volunteering is good for... the volunteers.

According to National & Community Service.Gov, research has established a strong relationship between volunteering and health: those who volunteer have lower mortality rates, greater functional ability, and lower rates of depression later in life than those who do not volunteer. Volunteer activities can strengthen the social ties that protect individuals from isolation during difficult times, while the experience of helping others leads to a sense of greater self-worth and trust. Older individuals who volunteer demonstrate greater health benefits than do younger volunteers, due in part to the fact that volunteer activities by older individuals are more likely to provide them with a purposeful social role.

The power of volunteering holds true, even for Barry Strother, who has volunteered for the Food Bank for over 27 years. Yes, let me repeat that, 27 years. Every day, Barry goes by the post office, picks up the mail for us and brings it in. He then helps to make copies, stamp the back of checks and then happily heads over to the bank to make our daily deposit. While I suspect that he enjoys coming so that he can sit across from Donna's (our Development/Volunteer Coordinator) smiling face or even the attractive teller at the bank, I know that it is important to Barry to be here every day to assist in any way he is able. Or, you could look at the power of two, Katherine and Harold Garlington, newlyweds who are in their 80s and come in once a week to volunteer, usually by washing eggs and packing them for the Food Bank. Just the simple act of volunteering together and helping their community speaks volumes to the relationship that they have built.

Pat Jones, a CPA and a volunteer who has been providing her vast knowledge to staffers at the Food Bank says "I'm a big believer in non-profits and feel the need to give back. While in Indonesia, I saw how much volunteers meant to the organizations and individuals  not just a project or donated service, but they were also able to see that others cared. I think that feeling of knowing others cared actually meant more sometimes. Since I'm not working now, I wanted to feel useful and not like a slug. Hopefully, in some small way I'm making a difference. Also, at some point I might want to make a career in the non-profit sector and volunteering provides invaluable experienceAnd it's a great way to meet people."

The Food Bank has the power of groups  the "Dutchies"(spouses from Dutch Air Force at Sheppard AFB) who bring us baked goodies; Junior League of Wichita Falls (on their lunch hour with their insane energy while wearing heels); the numerous organizations from Midwestern State University and Vernon College, Preschoolers from Wichita Christian School (they are big helpers  actually little experts at taping ingredients on apple sauce containers); the numerous Church groups, the homeschooled groups, the businesses that come in on their lunch hour. I could go on and on about how I am amazed at the groups of people that come together to help make what we do every day a possibility. The power of service and volunteer work is one of those things.

National Volunteer Month is a chance for us to honor and thank those 62.6 million Americans who give of their time, energy, and talent.

You can't put a price on that.
Luxury living is now relatively affordable in New York City, but you'll have to share.

Co-working startup WeWork on Monday debuted its dorm-style shared living project WeLive. For $1,375 per month (plus fees), adults can live in a stylish, contemporary space that houses everything from an arcade to a yoga studio.

WeLive, the residential offshoot of WeWork  a company now valued at about $16 billion  is based at 110 Wall Street in New York City's Financial District. It's already been tried and tested by friends, family and employees of cofounders Miguel McKelvey and Adam Neumann. (Story continues below.)

RELATED: Tour Texas homes renting for about $10,000 per month

The idea behind the concept, they say, is that people in cities with a high cost of living want an amenity-packed urban home where they can choose to enjoy a hyper-social environment that also allows for some solitary time.

"What will make you energized and motivated, to be awesome today?" McKelvey said in an interview with Wired. "Is it an awesome shower in the morning, is it a great breakfast, is it a beautiful view? Or is it all of those things together. Do you prefer to watch a movie on an iPad by yourself, or in a room full of 50 people? You need to be able to enter these kind of social experiences with options."

The options for those interested in living at a WeLive home include leasing a bed or a private unit, but the kitchen and living areas, among other recreational spaces, are communal. A private, 450-square-foot unit rents for $2,000 per month, while a larger space, around 1,000 square feet, is pricier. Per-tenant lease options start at $1,375 per month.

All units come fully furnished, and all tenants are connected via a WeLive phone or iPad app, through which they can communicate and coordinate ordinary household tasks.

So far, the pilot program with friends and family has been a success, the cofounders say.

READ MORE: Texas-based organization builds unique homes for low-income families using trash

This is the next but not the last "We--" project that will launch. McKelvey tells Wired that when he and his partner, Neumann, started WeWork, they'd already envisioned a number of concepts that it would spawn.

"We had a bunch of 'we'sa fitness concept, a restaurant concept" McKelvey says. "The first business plan we had included all of them," the cofounder says.

While this living situation seems odd, is it really that different from Houston's new East End-area micro-condos Ivy Lofts?
Albany

Grabbing a page from presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' campaign book, union leaders blasted Verizon Wednesday as hundreds took to the picket line on State Street in downtown Albany amid an East Coast strike involving 39,000 unionized workers.

"If we stay strong, we can win this strike," Gil Casey, president of CWA Local 1118, told members through a megaphone as he stood near the bottom of the Capitol steps, just across the street from Verizon's regional headquarters. "I think the mood of the nation right now is definitely against someone like a Verizon. Corporate greed is out there. Everyone is aware of corporate greed. No one likes corporate greed."

Casey and others from Verizon's two largest unions, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, have been using Verizon's profits as a centerpiece of their public campaign during contract negotiations, noting Verizon had $39 billion in profits over the past three years. The previous contract expired last summer, but talks have not yet produced a new one.

The unions officially announced Monday they would go ahead with a strike, although union members were told in recent months to save up their money and avoid large purchases in preparation. Striking workers can claim unemployment for seven weeks. In the meantime, Verizon has non-union workers trained in call center and technician roles that will be empty during the strike.

Verizon has about 800 local union workers.

"We remain fully prepared to handle any work stoppage so that our products and services will be available where and when our customers need them," said Bob Mudge, president of Verizon's land-line network operations.

While Verizon has offered a two percent wage hike, union officials have said the company's other demands related to sharing health care costs and additional work schedule flexibility are too much.

The union wants a five percent wage increase and has been fighting Verizon's request that the company be allowed to send technicians out of town to jobs in other states. The union wants Verizon to also commit to expanding its fiber optic system known as FiOS, which delivers TV, Internet and phone service. After years of deploying FiOS, including to parts of the Capital Region, Verizon has said it will no longer spend money on expanding the system except in communities where it has cable TV franchise agreements.

During the last contract talks in 2011, Verizon's union also went on strike, a walkout that lasted a couple of weeks. This time around, the strike could last much longer.

"We're so far apart on the major issues," Casey told the Times Union after speaking with Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan about FiOS, which is not offered in the city. "We're struggling to try and convince Verizon to put high-speed Internet in upstate New York. That product could guarantee us job security. Guarantee us work. It would keep jobs here in the Capital Region."

Sheehan, who has spoken out against Verizon's decision not to bring FiOS to the city, said she supports the union's efforts, arguing that competition for high-speed Internet is critical. "We have so many cities in upstate New York," Sheehan said. "We cannot have a digital divide. These places are going to be left behind, and we can't have that."

Meanwhile, Sanders was in New York City on Wednesday marching in solidarity with striking Verizon workers there, drawing the attention of Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, who called Democratic presidential candidate's views on Verizon "uninformed" and "contemptible."

Starting Thursday, CWA Local 1118 members are also going to picket outside of Verizon Wireless stores throughout the Capital Region. Verizon's unions have said the company has favored the wireless division over FiOS and the so-called wireline division because its workers are not unionized.

Andrew Testa, a Verizon Wireless spokesman, said that the local wireless stores are prepared for the unions to show up later this week.

"We've seen the same thing in 2011, and we expected it again this year," Testa said. "We have no issues with our striking employees picketing in public places. Our request is that they do not disrupt our business operations or hassle our customers or employees. If that happens, we will have to take appropriate action."

lrulison@timesunion.com  518-454-5504  @larryrulison
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ROTTERDAM  The police officers who confronted an emotionally disturbed, knife-wielding man in a town home over the weekend initially tried to subdue the man with a stun gun but it failed to stop him and they fatally shot him, a State Police official said.

At a news conference Wednesday morning, Major William Keeler said the investigation is "99.9 percent complete" and troopers have found police were justified in shooting William J. Clark III.

The deadly encounter about 11:30 a.m. Sunday at 1061 Roberta Road occurred after Clark, 30, allegedly slashed a town police officer.

Rotterdam police and a deputy from the Schenectady County Sheriff's Office had been called to the home after Clark's mother reported her son was armed with knives and was smashing furniture.

When police arrived, Keeler said, Clark was hiding. Two town police officers found him behind a door in a bedroom.

"They pleaded with him, 'Please drop the weapons and let us help you,'" Keeler said.

But Clark came out from behind the door and attempted to stab a sergeant with a knife. The officer's safety vest blocked the blow but Clark slashed the other officer in the back of his head, Keeler said.

He said the officers fired a stun gun but only one of the prongs hit Clark, who was wearing a baggy sweater. Unable to deliver a debilitating shock, one of the officers fired his gun, hitting Clark in the torso and head. Four shots were fired.

The officer, who Rotterdam police have not identified, suffered a cut to the head that required stitches, police said.

State Police are investigating the shooting.

Rotterdam Police Chief James Hamilton said the two town officers are on paid administrative leave while the investigation continues.

"It's a very difficult situation," Hamilton said.

State Police said Clark's mother moved into the house a month earlier. Clark, who police confirmed had served in the military, had a history of mental health problems.

pnelson@timesunion.com  518-454-5347  @apaulnelson
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Art has been the biggest part of Tim Jackson's life. He's been drawing for as long as he can remember, and he studied at the Pratt Institute in New York City. In 2012, he suffered a near-fatal stroke that impaired his speech and knocked out his right side, including his dominant working hand.

After the stroke, there was a choice to make. He either had to give up art  since he could no longer draw with his right hand  or he could relearn how to draw with his left hand. For Jackson, the answer was simple. "I just did it," Jackson said. "After two weeks in the hospital, I had to."

His new art led to an exhibit on display through April 30 at the Big Eye Gallery in South Westerlo. It will showcase Jackson's work from after the stroke, including the pieces he created when he was learning to work with his left hand.

Art was and still is his life, even in his late 60s. Learning how to draw with his left hand happened right away, and he was able to pick it up with ease. However, his art now is different than what it was before the stroke.

More Information If you go Where: Big Eye Gallery, 270 Route 405, Westerlo When: Through April 30 Info: Free. 966-5833 or Big Eye on Facebook See More Collapse

His previous work was elegant and intricate, from detailed and satirical pen-and-ink drawings to bright abstracts and mystic and religious paintings. It was very mosaic-like, said Jackson's friend and the exhibit coordinator, Joel Glucksman. The two went to high school together and have been friends for more than 50 years.

Jackson said his new work is visually very different than what it was before. His art still tells stories, but now it's just more personal. He said it is more direct and it comes to him right away. There is no extra thinking. "It's much better this way," he said. "Everything is good right away. It's what I want, and it's right there."

His new work is in pastel, and Glucksman says it includes a lot of modern trends, abstract art and social observation. He said Jackson is trying to get to the essence of things in a different way.

"This is wider exposure for his work, which he never really had," Glucksman said. "His artwork has always been kind of in the background, but (now) it's the center of his being."

Jackson grew up with a sense of words and pictures working together and a belief that pictures illustrated and told a story. His mother was Kathryn Jackson, the author of many classic children's books, including "The Saggy Baggy Elephant," and his father, Byron, was an illustrator, who died when Jackson was a baby.

In high school, Jackson drew for the school's literary magazine, painted murals and created black-and-white drawings depicting imaginary scenes. In the 1970s, Jackson designed and ran his own line of spray-painted fashion, which included dresses, tops and coats. Before that, he worked for the well-known commercial photographer Bert Stern.

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Glucksman said that after Jackson's stroke, art gave him a way back by having something to focus his spirit on.

"I went to see him after the stroke," Glucksman said. "I made a video of him working on a piece and you can see the concentration, immense care and amazing focus he has while retraining himself."

After Jackson started accumulating new pieces of art, he wanted to share his work with others, so Glucksman suggested an exhibit.

Glucksman said the prospect of selling art is great. However, Glucksman continues, the key focus is that Jackson has some great art and he fought a tremendous battle, so he deserves the recognition.

Jackson has actually already sold some of his pictures in his hometown, Morristown, N.J. He got in touch with Arts Unbound, an organization that runs a gallery that shows the work of artists with disabilities and was able to spread his work through them.
Many comedians believe Donald Trump's presidential run is a humor vein packed wide and deep with comedy gold.

Not Lewis Black.

"Trump being where he is makes me think about retirement," says Black, chatting on the phone from his New York City home in advance of his show at the Palace Theatre in Albany on Friday. Known to audiences from years of explosive rants and political commentary on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," Black would seem to be in prime season.

However, "With Trump, I don't think I'm necessary anymore. If you don't know what the joke is, that's an audience I can't get to, and the audience I can get to already knows how crazy it is," says Black. "Trump is too hard of a math problem: There's almost no way as a comedian I can make something that's that funny already even funnier."

More Information If you go Lewis Black When: 8 p.m. Friday Where: Palace Theatre, 19 Clinton Ave., Albany Tickets: $29.50, $49.50, $65 Info: 465-4663 or www.palacealbany.com See More Collapse

While Trump occupies a special place in Black's dismay and disdain, as well as his comedy routines, Black says Trump, while extreme, is not unique.

"All of the things the candidates are discussing are things that have literally been on the table for the last 20 years, and they've got to be dealt with," says Black. "We can't keep having the same arguments. If you win, you get a little bit more of the bargaining chip, and that's it. Then you compromise with the other side. That's the deal.

"I don't want to hear a Ted Cruz mantra any more than I want hear a left-wing mantra of 'My way or the highway.' On a basic level, saying, 'We're only going to do this one way' is democratically elected communism. You have to compromise.

"This argument has been going on forever, and that's one of the reasons Trump has been cutting through it, because everybody has already heard it all; everybody knows what the sides are."

From Black's perspective, the media is largely to blame for Trump's prominence: "Too much press for someone who didn't deserve it," he says. "Just because someone running for the presidency says something psychotic, that doesn't mean it has to be covered every day. It doesn't need to be on page 1; it needs to be on page 8. It's not news." He says the media covered Trump extensively because he was good for ratings, clicks, eyeballs.

The Republican establishment is also at fault for not distancing itself from Trump quickly and forcefully.

"If there were any adults in the Republican party, as soon as the first statement he made about Mexicans came out, that should have been it. They should have said, 'With values like that, you cannot run as a Republican,' " Black says. "But they wouldn't do it. And now look where they are. They created this monster."

Black's preferred candidate is Bernie Sanders. "I've been a socialist since I was a kid," he says.

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But he sees similarities in the way Trump and Sanders each appeal to their core constituencies.

"Bernie is the reflection on the other side. It's a different kind of reflection, but you have two different groups of the disenfranchised," says Black. The political leadership of the two dominant parties, he believes, have ignored large segments of Americans for more than 25 years. He says, "They're different groups, but they're angry mobs on both sides."

Despite his allegiance to Sanders, Black doesn't believe the Vermont senator can ascend to the presidency.

"I'm very excited to have a socialist candidate for president. I never thought I'd see one in my lifetime," says Black, now 67. "But (a socialist president is) not going to happen in this country, so there's no need to panic."

Warming to the subject, Black says, "I've always thought of socialism as enforced Christianity. I understand what freaks people out about it  I get it  but we're not going to become a socialist country. We don't like each other that much."

sbarnes@timesunion.com  518-454-5489
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Rotterdam Junction

There's something about Riley.

The towering Palomino quarter horse at Peaceful Acres Horses in Pattersonville has such a sweet temperament that he gives hugs  with his head.

Like many of the 82 rescued horses, ponies and donkeys at the 156-acre facility, Riley was on his way to a slaughterhouse when Nanci Beyerl pulled him off a meat truck in Ohio.

More Information Help preserve acres of peace For information about how to volunteer at or make a donation to Peaceful Acres Horses, call 887-3178 or go to http://www.peacefulacreshorses.com. See More Collapse

Beyerl, who founded the nonprofit in 2003, recounted the story of Riley's rescue to students from Brown School's Community Outreach Crew over the weekend.

"I met him (Riley) at a slaughter pen and he put his head in my arms," said Beyerl, 50, the rescue's executive director. "Here's this gorgeous horse, only four or five years old, and I knew that we had to save his life and give him hope again."

Peaceful Acres also gives hope to people, using its horses to help breast cancer patients, veterans and other trauma victims heal.

True to its name, the nonprofit fosters a peaceful, therapeutic and nature-based environment where equines and people regain strength and trust through compassion, encouragement and care.

Programs include rejuvenation and R&R retreats as well as field trips for youth and corporate groups, veterans, seniors and students, like those from Brown School.

"I was a Brown School mom, and it's so important for young people to have experiences like this because they can make the world change," Beyerl said. "That's their power."

Community Outreach Crew members spent their Saturday mucking stalls and visiting old friends because for some, it was their third time volunteering.

It was the first trip for Liam Post-Good, 11, who got up close and personal with Riley. "He's eating me," Liam laughed as the horse gently nibbled his shoulder.

The crew was put together by Brown School office manager Emily Klotz and STEM/science teacher Betsy Messenger, who work with students on community service projects and fundraisers.

They recently raised money to create a "Little Free Library" at the school and volunteered at the Schenectady City Mission. Members will create craft kits for patients at Albany Medical Center, make fleece mats for cats at the Animal Protective Foundation and visit the Red Robin Song Animal Sanctuary later this month.

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"We try to make this club kid-driven and when we ask them what they want to do, it usually involves animals, " Klotz said.

"Coming to a place like Peaceful Acres, the kids love it," Messenger added. "They have a great bond with these animals and that's part of the mission  to build trust."

In order to offer rehabilitation, placement and retirement sanctuary to off-track thoroughbreds, quarter horses, drafts, ponies and donkeys, Peaceful Acres needs community support.

Beyerl said that seven horses have been adopted this month, but more can be placed. That's why she teamed up with the ASPCA for Help a Horse Days, April 23-26.

The program will include a match-making clinic for 12 people interested in adopting a horse, a reception and "friend-raiser," an open house with tours and "horse hugs" field trips.

"We go above and beyond for these horses, which comes with a price tag of about $28,000 a month," Beyerl said. "What we need are donations and boots on the ground to make that happen."

jpatterson@timesunion.com  @JenSPatterson  518-454-5340
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Albany

The New York Racing Association's board of directors, which came under state control in 2012 after years of controversy, on Tuesday recommended that the organization go back into private hands  but with a minority of members once again appointed by the governor and legislative leaders.

The recommendation, however, wouldn't prevent members of the current "reorganization" board from continuing to serve as directors of a privatized NYRA.

"I think we've done the job we were supposed to do," reorganization board Vice Chairman Michael Del Guidice said during a meeting in New York City. Later, the board voted unanimously to recommend that the organization, which oversees thoroughbred racing at Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga race tracks, should revert to private control by October.

The Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo must approve the board's plans. From the tone of Tuesday's discussion prior to the vote, there was no reason to think that wouldn't happen.

The state takeover of NYRA followed years of financial losses and alleged mismanagement by the entity's former leaders, including a scandal in which bettors failed to receive more than $7 million in winnings.

Since going under state control, NYRA is once again in the black, and has worked to improve attendance at its tracks. The initial deadline for an end to state control fell last fall, though the March 2015 state budget extended that period by a year.

The plan discussed Tuesday was required as part of NYRA's potential return to private hands.

The report offered three options: turning NYRA over to a totally private board; creating a board with both private and government appointees; or voting to extend the reorganization for another year.

Under the preferred private/public option, the 15-member board would have 10 private members chosen by its executive committee. Another two members would be appointed by the governor, and one each would be selected by the majority leaders of the Senate and Assembly. The 15th board member would be NYRA's CEO.

Many longtime racing boosters in the Saratoga area have been urging a return to private hands during the past year and expressed frustration at the one-year extension of state control despite the board's formulation of what they say was a workable plan that was largely ignored.

The issue has been sensitive since the Saratoga community believes they, rather than government appointees, are most familiar with the track and how to nurture its success going forward.

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John Hendrickson, a special advisor for the governor who represents Saratoga, stressed that this year shouldn't be a repeat of last.

"We have to be very clear that we are not advocating kicking the can down the road," he said.

NYRA's executive board includes several members who have worked in state government under former Gov. Mario Cuomo  including Del Guidice, Vincent Tese and Joseph Spinelli. Executive board members also include Stuart Subotnick, Leonard Riggio and Michael Dubb.

David Skorton, the former president of Cornell University, resigned as board chair in December 2014. Cuomo named Anthony Bonomo, a generous political donor to the governor and other politicians, as board chair last spring. Bonomo took a leave of absence following the arrest of Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos when it was revealed that the lawmaker's son had been provided with a no-show job at Bonomo's Long Island-based medical malpractice insurance company.

There is nothing that would prevent current reorganization board members from being appointed to a reconstituted board, said NYRA spokeswoman Jenny Kellner. But all of the plans would ultimately have to be approved by the Legislature and governor.

rkarlin@timesunion.com  518-454-5758  @RickKarlinTU
Adolf Hitler was the most notorious figure of the 20th century.

And yet people in Albany are casually dropping his name to make comparisons in their political and even legal arguments  including a recent one at the state's highest court.

That the fascist dictator was a genocidal maniac whose Nazi regime massacred more than 11 million people and started World War II seemed to be forgotten.

"We're kind of, I don't how to put it, like cheapening Hitler's brand," Jennifer Delton, a professor of history at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, told Law Beat. "Hitler really was much worse than any one of these characters running for office."

On Monday night, as Donald Trump followers massed outside the Times Union Center to see the brash tycoon and Republican front-runner speak inside, some women who oppose Trump's campaign yelled: "Trump is Hitler! Trump is Hitler! Trump is Hitler!"

The comparisons rankled Trump supporter Ron Richards Jr. of Saratoga Springs.

"For someone to say that Trump is Hitler is asinine because Trump hasn't even killed anybody. He's not even causing mass genocide ... it's insane," Richards said.

Richards sported a shirt that read, "Hitlary!" which depicted Hillary Clinton with a Hitler mustache.

Richards matter-of-factly said he believed the former secretary of state, as well as President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush, have all "killed lots of people." When pressed, he conceded he did not believe that Clinton, a Democrat and former secretary of state, New York senator and first lady, was as bad as Hitler.

But still he made the comparison. And so have others in the most unusual of places.

On March 24, Glens Falls attorney Dennis J. Phillips compared Phil Brown, editor of the Saranac Lake-based Adirondack Explorer magazine, to Hitler because Brown canoed and portaged through a 2-mile stretch of private property in Hamilton County in 2009.

Brown told the Court of Appeals it was similar to Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939,

"Hitler had no common-law standard for marching into Poland. He wanted it," Phillips said when asked by Law Beat about the comparison. "As far as the position of the plaintiffs is concerned, Phil Brown had no common-law standard for using the private land."

Said Brown's attorney, John Caffry : "I'm not going to dignify that with a response. I'm not going to go there."

Delton explained comparisons to Hitler are nothing new in American or European politics. She said there may be an increase because politics are now so polarizing.

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"Emotions are charged and people do feel that the democratic process isn't representing their points of view and the more polarized politics gets, the greater the threat and hence the need to really tell people this is very urgent and so, you use the comparisons to Hitler," the professor said. Hitler "is the ultimate evil in terms of political evil and if you see and feel that there's a political threat, you are going to identify it as the greatest political threat of all time, which was Adolf Hitler."

Delton added: "It is interesting that you can apply the term to anyone you dislike and it can still have a little bit of legitimacy."

Delton noted conservatives often label liberals as fascists. And because Hitler was the most infamous fascist in history, conservatives who oppose Clinton use that reasoning to compare her to the Nazi.

"It would be big-state liberals, liberals who want to use the power of the federal government to help with poverty or help various sections of the population," she said. "The conservatives will always point out Hitler represented national socialism, that there was something about fascism that was socialistic, fundamentally socialistic, in terms of using the power of the state to put forward a political agenda. I'm not saying there is an element of truth in their comparisons to Hillary but it does make sense ... there is a reason you could conceivably call liberals fascist. I don't think it's very persuasive but it's not completely illogical either."

Delton noted people who compare Trump to Hitler are doing so because they are alarmed at the way Trump whips crowds into a frenzy through hatred and his promises to get things done, such as Trump's proposed wall to keep out illegal immigrants from Mexico.

"It's mainly that mob mentality that he seems to incite  and seems to take so much pleasure in inciting  that are leading to the comparisons to Hitler," she said. "The early critics of democracy always said, 'This is the danger of democracy. You're going to get some yahoo in there that's going to whip up people on the basis of their emotions and they're going to take over the government.' The reason Hitler stands out so much is that the fear of democracy, that you would get someone like that (who) will make people act in terms of their hate and their emotion rather than their informed political consideration of certain issues."

rgavin@timesunion.com  518-434-2403  @RobertGavinTU
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Over the past few years, crowdfunding sites like youcaring, GoFundMe and Kickstarter have exploded in popularity and emerged as powerful tools to raise cash quickly.

The sites, which use easily spread Internet appeals for money for projects, ventures and people, remain largely unregulated and can raise murky tax questions.

The Colonie Police Benevolent Association raised money for Noah Roman, 15, who was away from home in February when his father, Colonie Police Officer Israel Roman, killed himself and other family members at their Schalren Drive home. After shooting his wife and 10-year-old son, the officer set the residence on fire and turned the gun on himself, investigators said.

The Noah Roman Colonie PBA fund has raised $35,162 as of Tuesday. Another fund one called Pray for Noah, started by a family friend, has collected $7,295.

Two friends of the family set up crowdfunding pages for Karen Kirsch after a raging fire last month gutted the Parkwood Boulevard home in Schenectady where she shared an upstairs apartment with her son Johnny. The pair lost everything.

Kirsch's other son Wayne Best Jr., 25, was gunned down in 2014 outside the house.

Three suspects were charged in the murder case, but no one has yet been arrested for the blaze.

But perhaps the reigning Capital Region poster child for crowdfunding is Sa'fyre Terry. As of Tuesday, contributions to her youcaring page were still trickling in, pushing the total to $433,184. Now 8, Sa'fyre suffered burns to over 75 percent of her body in a 2013 Schenectady house fire that killed her three siblings and father. Police and fire investigators consider it an arson.

Typically, money from donation-based crowdfunding  individuals and groups, rather than non-profit organizations  are considered gifts and are not taxable for the recipient. Cash can be raised for virtually any charitable cause.

Locally, crowdfunding has been used for a wide variety of causes including helping to pay for medical care and expenses and buying new equipment for a Schenectady Pop Warner league.

The Journal of Accountancy reported in its October issue that $16.2 billion was raised worldwide in 2014  the latest data available  through crowdfunding. That's more than double the $6.1 billion raised in 2013.

Despite all that money, crowdfunding is largely unregulated, certified public accountant Kevin P. O'Leary, director and partner with Marvin and Co. of Latham, said.

O'Leary suggested anyone contemplating using crowdfunding consult an accountant or tax expert to avoid running afoul of the Internal Revenue Service.

That's what Troy musician Joe Barna did after raising $3,500 via Kickstarter to cover the cost for seven songs he recorded in honor of his mentor, jazz pianist Lee Shaw, who died in October. "I am very pleased with the results," the jazz drummer and composer said. The account closed in late December. "It's an incredible opportunity and venue, especially for starting artists to get their work started and reproduced to share with the public."

Kickstarter gets a 5 percent commission plus fees related to credit card transactions.

Still, Barna urged anyone thinking about Kickstarter to "make sure you have something that is worthy of this kind of campaign ... that your project is something special." If you don't hit your goal, you lose all the donations, he said.

On its website, Kickstarter describes its funding as "all-or-nothing." If the project reaches its goal when time expires, backers' credit cards are charged. If the project falls short, no one is charged.

Kirsch was happy about the money she received through GoFundMe, but she complained about the fees. Generally, such sites charge a fee, such as a percentage of the donations.

"The IRS hasn't addressed crowdfunding specifically so there's very little definitive guidance out there," said Michael Zovistoski, a certified public accountant and financial planner who is a partner with UHY LLP in Albany. That doesn't mean the IRS won't audit a given site.

Patricia Svarnas, a New York spokeswoman for the IRS, declined comment, but referred a reporter to some of the agency's online information at irs.gov.

Zovistoski listed three types of crowdfunding: creative enterprise, in which people pool financial resources to start or expand a business and expect a return on that investment; personal fundraising, set up to benefit someone facing a crisis, including health problems; and donation-based fundraising, usually set up to raise money for a not-for-profit.

Personal fundraising is the most common, Zovistoski said.

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"It's social-media driven, it's personal driven, so people are willing to donate to somebody who has hardships," he said.

He said crowdfunding sites often use a third-party company such as PayPal to handle the money.

If the middle man, such as PayPal, receives more than 200 transactions or the contributions exceed $20,000 in a year, it will send the beneficiary or the person who set up the site an IRS form.

In general, donations to crowdfunding sites are only tax deductible if they are made to a nonprofit or charitable organization, Zovistoski said. "If it's made payable to a charity, or the charity doing it as the creator or the person you are donating to, then it would be deductible but if you're making a contribution to the Sa'fyre fund and it's an individual, typically that would be considered a gift and therefore not deductible," he said.

Zovistoski recommended discussing it with an accountant to avoid any problems with the IRS.

A contribution to a crowdfunding site to help raise capital to start or expand a business is taxable to the person or business receiving the money, Zovistoski said. He said that money could also be subject to sales or use taxes.

The gift tax kicks in for anyone who gives more than $13,000, the gift tax limit, Zovistoski said.

Michael Marconi, Wayne Best's friend, said setting up the account for Best's mother was simple and he was pleased with the groundswell of support. He was concerned about burdening Kirsch with taxes on the donations. The fund raised about $13,000. A different site organized by another family friend raked in a few thousand dollars. Marconi said he checked and found out the first site was legitimate, which motivated him to do more.

"They lost everything. Karen lost priceless things of her son's and Johnny things of his brother's, but those are things that can't be replaced but there still are financial hardships that they experienced and it did alleviate it," Marconi said. "It's great that there's something out there that people can utilize in times of need and crisis."

pnelson@timesunion.com  518-454-5347  @apaulnelson
Albany

Medical marijuana advocates are again striking up their calls to expand the state's program as some lawmakers say the program needs more gestation time after officially going live in January

The advocates and lawmakers pushing expansion have pointed to a lackluster first three months for the program, with 526 physicians registered through the state to participate and 2,675 patients certified to use the drug by their doctors. At the same time, dispensaries run by the five companies licensed to sell the drug have opened gradually rather than at once in January.

A call to action on Tuesday came as lawmakers prepared for a two-week recess. When they return May 3, they will have two months to take legislative action before the close of session.

Medical marijuana advocacy in the second half of the legislative session is a familiar sight at the Capitol, and it has led to results. In 2014, a press in the back-half of the legislative session led to the passage of the Compassionate Care Act, the legislation that created the medical marijuana program. In 2015, advocacy led to passage in June of a bill allowing for a parallel expedited access program to be set up. That bill was signed in November

While Gov. Andrew Cuomo has expressed caution when it comes to modifying a program that is still quite new, there are those who see a path toward breaking through his cautious shell by this June.

"At this point in 2014, the governor as still saying no way, no how," Assembly Health Committee Chair Dick Gottfried said. "This is a governor who can look and learn."

The supporters of expansion point to eight pieces of legislation (three of which have been introduced in the Assembly and Senate) that would authorize nurse practitioners and physician assistants to prescribe the drug, add eight more medical conditions to the list of those that can be treated and lift dosage limits, and establish an advisory committee to help the state Health commissioner implement the program, among other things. None of the bills introduced in both houses have come anywhere near an up-or-down vote on the floor this year.

The Cuomo administration will review the legislation, a spokesman said.

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An Assembly-only bill would open up the use of medical marijuana for severe or chronic pain, a condition more traditionally treated with opioid medications.

Prohibitions on medical marijuana use for such pain remain in place as state elected officials continue to push back with gusto against heroin and opioid addiction. Cuomo at an event in Manhattan Tuesday called combatting heroin addiction one of his priorities for the final months of the session. In their push for expansion, the advocates say medical marijuana may provide an alternative to the use of opioid pain killers, a gateway to addiction for some patients.

"God help us, we need to include the patients with severe chronic pain ... to try to diminish the epidemic of opiate and heroin abuse," Susan Rusinko, a multiple sclerosis patient from Cayuga County, said.

mhamilton@timesunion.com  518-454-5449  @matt_hamilton10
Cheers rang out across the Anner Hotel last Saturday night as Thurles native Fiona O'Sullivan was crowned the 2016 Tipperary Rose in front of a 300 strong crowd of supporters, well wishers, family and friends.

University College Cork student Fiona is already well known throughout Tipperary having fronted the Tipperary County Matters programme on Irish TV for the last number of years. The 21 year old Speech and Language Therapy student is a daughter of Liz and Declan O'Sullivan from Loughlahan, Thurles and will no doubt be drawing on her experience in front of the camera when she takes to the Dome in Tralee later this year.

Fiona was selected from 22 elegant ladies from all over county Tipperary and is now going forward to represent Tipperary in stage two of three processes in the newly expanded Rose festival in Tralee this August.

Tipperary centre coordinator Ciaran OConnell said: We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Fiona. She is a true modern young lady and emanates the qualities of what a Rose should be and we wish her the very best of luck. She is sure to have a great year ahead, he said.

A special thanks was also given to outgoing Rose Alison Boland who received a standing ovation on the night for the work, passion and dedication she gave during her time as the Tipperary rose. A raffle held on the night also managed to raise a staggering 1,165 for Alison's chosen charity Suir Haven Cancer Support Centre.

"She has been a great ambassador and representative for Tipperary and we are grateful for the time and dedication she gave to her role as the Tipp Rose, concluded Ciaran.
In September 2014 Darren Martin from Templederry made the decision to become a living organ donor.

Darren's father Liam had been on a waiting list for a life saving kidney transplant for almost three years and spent up to ten hours a night undergoing dialysis treatment at home on the family suckler farm.

Almost 20 years earlier Liam fell ill with a throat infection which would go on to spread to other organs in his body. In early 2014 Liam's health took another turn and the home dialysis treatment was no longer sufficiently treating him. Liam now faced multiple hospital trips a week to University Hospital Limerick for hospital haemodialysis treatment.

However that September Liam's eldest son Darren decided to offer one of his kidney's to his ailing father and so several months of blood and tissue matching tests followed. Only a few weeks earlier the UCC student had been offered a place in a Master's degree programme at the Alpen Adria University in Austria however with his father's health deteriorating Darren decided to take matters into his own hands and applied to be a living donor.The operation was then scheduled for April 2015.

The home dialysis wasn't working for him anymore. I had just finished my college degree and the time to donate was now, explains Darren, who had already been a long time carrier of an organ donor card.

Twelve months on Darren has returned to his role as a commercial accountant with Kerry Group and his father Liam is described as having a new lease of life.

It was my decision the whole way through and I would tell anyone who may be in the position to donate not to be afraid. The process is done so well and after a few weeks it will be as if nothing ever happened, says Darren.

From day one my father started getting his energy back. It's the best decision I could have made, he adds.

Anyone wishing to become an organ donor should fill in a donor card which is available by phoning the Irish Kidney Association on 1890 543639 or Freetext the word DONOR to 50050. Alternatively download the Smartphone App Donor ECard. Donors are also advised to permit the code 115 to be included on their drivers license.
A 112 year old letter from one of Ireland's 1916 leaders has finally found a place to call home in Tipperary.

The letter, which is written in Irish, was sent from the Irish teacher and political activist Padraig Pearse on October 19, 1904 to an unknown contributor to the newspaper An Claidheamh Solais which Pearse was editor of.

In the letter Pearse apologises to the contributor who lives in the Connaght Gaeltacht area for not including his writings in the publication as there had been an unprecedented volume of articles sent to him by Connaught writers and Pearse did not wish to upset writers from Munster lest they begin to clamhsan or whinge. Pearse then follows on by saying it would be sometime before the article would appear.

The letter was discovered by a Thurles woman whose father was a Professor of Irish and often translated documents.

My father did a lot of translating and found the letter hidden in a book he was working on.

It's a wonderful piece of history to have. It is now our duty to safeguard this letter for another 100 years, said the owner of the letter who wished to remain anonymous. The letter, which was written from the office of the newspaper An Claidheamh Solais on O'Connell Street, was written a year after Pearse was appointed editor at the age of 23. He continued in the role until 1909.

To date the letter has also spent time in Clare, Killaloe and Limerick; however it's owner says it will now be permanently located in the heart of the premier county near Thurles.
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Someone has been listening to your prayers, heavy music fans, because Welsh four-piece Bullet For My Valentine, fresh from annihilating crowds on the US Warped Tour, have announced a tour with special guests Atreyu and Cane Hill.

Having previously touched down on our shores for Soundwave Festival, the Kerrang! and Metal Hammer Golden Gods Award-winning Bullet For My Valentine are no strangers to their Aussie fans and will be riding high on the success of 2015s Venom.

Meanwhile, Orange Countys favourite sons, Atreyu, unveiled their first album in six years just last year, receiving widespread acclaim. The band wasted no time in hitting the road and theyre sounding better than ever.

Finally, direct from New Orleans, Cane Hill will be embarking on their first ever Australian tour before they take on the UK with Bullet For My Valentine and Killswitch Engage. They also just scored a Golden Gods Award nom for Best New Band.

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE ATREYU + CANE HILL Australian Tour Dates

Tickets on sale 9am local time Monday, 18th April

Thursday, 20th October 2016

Metro City, Perth (18+)

Tickets: Destroy All Lines

Friday, 21st October 2016

HQ, Adelaide (18+)

Tickets: Destroy All Lines

Tuesday, 25th October 2016

170 Russell, Melbourne (18+)

Tickets: Destroy All Lines

Thursday, 27th October 2016

Big Top, Sydney (Lic A/A)

Tickets: Destroy All Lines

Friday, 28th October 2016

Eatons Hill, Brisbane (Lic A/A)

Tickets: Destroy All Lines
Garage rockers Children of the Sun are kicking off their 2016 with the release of their rollicking new track Bang Bang  a frontier western infused garage rock track that will have you cranking the volume.

Diverging from the bands more familiar indie rock style (which informed their 2015 debut EP Ando) the band have decided to bring to the table a darker, yet more upbeat song that explores a more classic Western theme.

Recorded locally with Zac Barter (Canary, Life Is Better Blonde) Bang Bang will be celebrated with a mini tour which sees the band play shows in Melbourne and Geelong. Check out Bang Bang below and if you like what youre hearing pop by the bands Facebook for more info.

Upcoming Shows

24th April | Beavs Bar, Geelong Single Launch

7th May | The Penny Black, Melbourne Single Launch
READ THE DEETS OF NIGHTMARE SCENARIO ALLEGATIONS OF A RAMPAGE ON KANSAS CITY STREETS!!!

KCK MAN CHARGED WITH KIDNAPPING THREE VICTIMS, CARJACKING, FIREARMS VIOLATIONS

We posted this tragic Kansas City crime allegation yesterday but there's still a lot of talk about it . . .As usual,complimented by scary voice overs . . . But the a more subdued yet more detailed accounting of the allegations provides a clearer picture of the criminal case and possibly a more violent reality on local streets.You decide . . .KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Kansas City, Kan., man has been charged in federal court with kidnapping and robbing three women and forcing them to drive around with him and two accomplices.Jamerl M. Wortham, 30, of Kansas City, Kan., was charged in a four-count criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., on Monday, April 11, 2016. Wortham will have an initial court appearance later today.According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, Kansas City, Kan., police officers attempted to stop a 2004 silver Jaguar in the area of 3rd and Central on Saturday, April 9, 2016. The Jaguar had been reported as stolen. During the traffic stop the vehicle fled and struck a bridge median. The driver, Wortham, was taken into custody after a foot pursuit. Inside the Jaguar, officers found a loaded sawed-off Coast To Coast Master-Mag 20-gauge shotgun with the serial number filed off.Also in the vehicle was a woman identified as T.J., who was released from the scene. According to the affidavit, T.J. later arrived at the Central Patrol Division in Kansas City, Mo., to report that she and her roommate, identified as Y.C., were crime victims. She told police that they had been carjacked and that two unidentified men had kidnapped them and forced them to drive around in her roommates car, a red 2009 Toyota Camry. She also told police officers there was a third kidnapping victim, identified as M.M. She stated that Y.C. and M.M. were forced to ride with the other two men in Y.C.s Toyota while T.J. was forced to ride with Wortham in the stolen Jaguar.T.J. did not mention the kidnapping to police officers at the time of Worthams arrest, she said, because Wortham and the other two men had threatened to harm the other girls if anyone spoke to the police. She believed the other two men were watching as Wortham was apprehended and the other two victims lives were in danger. T.J. went home after she left the crash scene to check and see if Y.C. was home. When she arrived home and Y.C. was still missing, T.J. contacted the police department to report the carjacking, robbery and kidnapping.According to the affidavit, T.J. and Y.C. were approached by two unknown men while they were depositing their paychecks at an ATM at about 2 a.m. Saturday, April 9, 2016. One of the men walked up to the drivers side, grabbed Y.C. and demanded her money. The other man approached the passenger side door and pointed a shotgun at T.J. He forced T.J. into the backseat of the Camry and got into the vehicle. The first man forced Y.C. into the passenger seat as he got into the drivers seat.While the second man held the shotgun, the first man demanded the womens money, ATM cards and bags. He drove the Camry, with the two women still in the vehicle, to an apartment complex in Kansas City, Kan. They allegedly met Wortham, who was driving the Jaguar he had stolen earlier. Wortham and the third victim, M.M. (who had been in the Jaguar), got into the Camry. They drove to another ATM, the affidavit says, and T.J. and Y.C. were forced to withdraw money using their ATM cards. They drove to a gas station and purchased some drugs, the affidavit says, and made several other stops before eventually returning to the Jaguar.During the drive, the affidavit says, one of the men forced the victims to smoke PCP as he used methamphetamines. When they reached the apartment complex, T.J. was forced to get into the Jaguar with Wortham, who also took the shotgun. The other two victims remained in the Camry with the other two men. Both vehicles left together. Soon after that, police officers stopped Wortham and arrested him. The other men watched as Wortham was taken into the custody, the affidavit says, and fled in the opposite direction.According to the affidavit, the two men drove the victims to the Blue Springs, Mo., area, where they again stopped to buy drugs. One of the men was dropped off near a gas station in Kansas City, Kan., and Y.C. was told to get into the drivers seat and drive to the bus stop. At about 9 a.m. they arrived at 108 Askew Avenue in Kansas City, Mo., where M.M. jumped out of the car and ran away.After M.M. escaped, the affidavit says, the man told Y.C. to drive away and she did. As they drove away, they began to argue. Y.C. slammed on the brakes and caused the man to hit his face. She attempted to force him out of her car, while at the same time trying to get someones attention by hitting the horn with her knee. When that didnt work, she attempted to run from the car but the man grabbed her by the hair. Once she freed herself from his grip, she ran from the car as he chased her. Y.C. used the keys to set off the vehicle alarm in an attempt to get someones attention. She ran several blocks and flagged down a motorist who took her back to her car.The third victim, M.M., later told police that she was at Harpos Bar, 4109 Pennsylvania Ave., Kansas City, Mo., around 11 p.m. on Friday, April 8, 2016. She went outside to wait on the curb and got into a car she thought was her Uber car, but actually was the stolen Jaguar driven by Wortham.The criminal complaint charges Wortham with carjacking, using a firearm during the carjacking, kidnapping and using a firearm during the kidnapping.Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this complaint are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Q. McCarther. It was investigated by the FBI, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department.****************
As We Mark Equal Pay Day, Congressman Cleaver Calls for Passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act

The latest announcement from Kansas City's top ranking politico addresses disparity and the sordid topic of coin. Take a peek:WASHINGTON, D.C.  As we mark Equal Pay Day today, Congressman Cleaver is once again calling for the passage of the critical Paycheck Fairness Act, highlighting that more needs to be done to close the wage gap that still exists between women and men. Equal Pay Day symbolizes when, more than three months into the year, womens wages finally catch up to what men were paid in the previous year.According to the National Womens Law Center, the women in our state of Missouri still earn only 77.4 cents for every dollar earned by men, said Congressman Cleaver. And nationwide women earn only 79 cents for every dollar earned by men, putting Missouri behind the national average, despite the fact that the Equal Pay Act will mark its 53nd anniversary in June. Indeed, a new study finds that women wont see pay equity with men until 2059 based on the rate that the pay gap has been closing since 1960.Today, women make up about half of the workforce and its wrong that on average they are still being paid less than men, Congressman Cleaver pointed out. A woman deserves equal pay for equal work. While womens role in our economy has changed dramatically, Americas workplaces have simply not kept up.I am a proud cosponsor, along with every other House Democrat, of the critical Paycheck Fairness Act, which is designed to help women finally achieve equal pay for equal work, by strengthening and closing loopholes in the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Congressman Cleaver stated. The Paycheck Fairness Act is a central pillar of the House Democrats When Women Succeed, America Succeeds: An Economic Agenda for Women and Families. Among its many provisions, it prohibits employer retaliation for sharing salary information with coworkers; requires employers to show that pay disparity is truly job-related, not based on gender; strengthens remedies for women experiencing pay discrimination; and empowers women in the workplace through a grant program to strengthen salary negotiation and other workplace skills.This Equal Pay Day, I am calling on all Members of Congress to start working together to do something real about closing the wage gap  by taking up the Paycheck Fairness Act for full consideration, Congressman Cleaver concluded. Equal pay is not simply a womans issue  it is a family issue. When women bring home less money each day, it means they have less for the everyday needs of their families. We should not rest until we achieve true pay equity for women  ensuring that all American women in the workforce are receiving equal pay for equal work.###
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis will visit the Greek island of Lesvos (Mytilene), on Saturday April 16th

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis will visit the Greek island of Lesvos (Mytilene), on Saturday April 16th.

The two religious leaders, together with Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos, will visit the island, in an effort to raise the awareness of the international public opinion on the refugee issue.

Archbishop Ieronymos is expected to arrive on the island on Friday. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will arrive also on Friday, at 8 pm. Pope Francis will be received on Saturday, at about 10.15 am, by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop Ieronymos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

They will all together visit the hot spot at Moria where they will meet with refugees and migrants and sign an international declaration on the refugee crisis.

Catholics Community of Lesvos

According to the Catholic Diocese of Chios (Lesvos - Samos), the Pope will meet with the Catholics Community of Lesvos and other Catholics on the island. The Pope will hold ten-minute meetings with Orthodox bishops and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and approximately at 3 pm they will all depart from Lesvos.

Ieronymos will arrive on the eastern Aegean island a day earlier in order to conduct a memorial service for the late Orthodox priest Father Efstratios Dimou, or Papa Stratis as he was known, who set up a charity on the island to provide help to migrants.

After that, the archbishop will inaugurate a social grocery store created in Papa Stratiss memory. The priest died on Lesvos last September.

200 journalists to cover Popes visit to Lesvos

On Saturday, international television channels will broadcast live the visit of Pope Francis, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Hieronymus to millions of Christians all over the world. CNN, BBC and RAI are working together with Greeces state broadcaster ERT to arrange the last details so as to cover this important event.

Archbishop Hieronymus wanted to put a spotlight on refugee issue at international level. Hope this is not a show-off trip, he said. Let it be a plain trip. The act itself is a message, he added.

The visit of Pope Francis will last four hours, while two hundred journalists from all over the world have asked to cover the event and 53 foreign journalists will accompany Pope through his visit.

Catholic aid workers: Popes trip to Greece comes at a critical time

Pope Franciss trip to Lesvos comes at a frightening and critical time for tens of thousands of refugees, according to members of Catholic aid agencies in Greece.

Maristella Tsamatropoulou, spokesperson for Caritas Hellas, the Catholic charity in Greece, said when rumours started swirling that Pope Francis would join Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople on a visit to refugees, we believed it immediately because our Pope is spontaneous; hes a force of nature.

Last October, when several thousand refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries were passing through Greece on their way to other parts of Europe, Caritas Hellas had five paid employees.

Now the number of refugees and migrants has grown and the borders with other European countries have been closed to them. In response, the paid staff at the Caritas central office in Athens has grown to 15 people and there are 40 other employees around the country, including in Lesvos.

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
Greek authorities and the institutions on Tuesday finalized an agreement on ADMIE and energy auctions by Public Power Corporation aimed to liberalize the electricity market in the country.

Even though the main talks between the Greek government and institutions were put on hold late on Monday, in order for IMF representatives to travel to Washington for its spring meeting, the Greek Minister of Energy Panos Skourletis met with the institutions on Tuesday.

Speaking to ANA-MPA after a meeting, he announced that an agreement on Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO or ADMIE) envisaged the transfer of majority stake (51 pct) from Public Power Corporation to the state (PPC will be compensated), while the remaining 49 pct is to be offered to a strategic investor - who will be the manager of the grid and will be able to buy at least 20 pct of the shares- as well as to private investors. The state will control a majority of the board, appointing the chief executive while the process to sell at least 20 pct of ADMIE is expected to begin in June.

Greek authorities will draft a new regulation regarding the auction of lignite and hydro-electric power production by Public Power Corporation (PPC), based on data provided by the operator of the market (LAGIE) and a recommendation of the market regulator (RAE) which will determine the quantity of energy to be auctioned and the starting price of auctions. The first auctions are expected in the second half of 2016.

Earlier, on Tuesday morning, Skourletis gave an inteview to public broacaster ERT and refuted media reports suggesting that a VAT hike in electrical bills is being planned. The Energy Minister also ruled out the possibility of a hike in the diesel tax, since it would have a major impact on the market. Finally, Mr. Skourletis was confident that an agreement will be reached ahead of the 22 April Eurogroup.

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
Greek Vessel tax revenue grew to 17,617,781 euros in 2015, up from 13,154,712 euros in 2014

Greek Vessel tax revenue grew to 17,617,781 euros in 2015, up from 13,154,712 in 2014 and 14,013,519 in 2013, while tax revenue from Greek shipowners grew to 45,430,869 euros in 2015 from 40,546,161 euros in 2014, Alternate Finance Minister Tryfon Alexiadis said in a report, forwarded to Parliament.

Alexiadis was responding to questions made by Communist Party deputies Christos Katsotis, Nikos Karathanasopoulos, Diamanto Manolakou and Manolis Sintihakis, who requested information on taxes paid by Greek shiponwers during the last three years.

Merchant Shipping and Island Policy Minister Thodoris Dritsas, in a written response to the four deputies, noted that a total of 524 shipping companies (representing more than 90 pct of total fleet capacity) participated in the voluntary tax payment scheme of the shipping community.

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
Air France crew say they could even face death in conservative Islamic country

Gay and female airline cabin staff have revolted over plans to force them to fly to ultraconservative Muslim country Iran.

Air France caused uproar when it sent a memo to its female employees telling them to cover up on flights to the Islamic republic.

The company is set to resume flights to the Iranian capital, Tehran, in a few days after UN sanctions were recently lifted.

Some gay and female cabin crew are unhappy they will have to fly to ultraconservative Iran

The instruction to women employees to wear a head scarf and a wide and long garment to conceal their forms caused outrage.

The airline swiftly backtracked, offering its female cabin staff the chance to opt out of flying to the country.

But now gay staff are demanding the same opportunity, pointing to the fact that homosexuality is illegal and subject to harsh punishments under the countrys strict Islamic laws.

Source: thesun.co.uk

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,

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The Modul team along with Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Social Development

Modul University, one of Austrias leading international private universities, is ready to open its doors in Dubai and is currently accepting admissions for the September 2016 intake.

The university, the first one specialised in tourism and hospitality courses, is offering special promotional scholarships and packages for students during Getex, which continues till April 15, at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Dubai Investments Industries owns a 90 per cent stake in Modul University Dubai, which is set to open its campus, spread across 25,000 square feet, at One JLT, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai.

Modul University Dubai offers undergraduate, graduate and MBA programmes in the hospitality and tourism sectors, offered by Tourism College Modul.

Mohammed Al Raqbani, general manager of Dubai Investments Industries, commented: Modul University Dubai offers the perfect training ground to build the necessary expertise and skills required by the regional hospitality sector  which is on the threshold of a major growth curve. Only two per cent of institutions in the UAE offer courses in tourism and hospitality, and Modul University Dubai perfectly fits the bill with its world-class knowledge base in the sector.  TradeArabia News Service
Professionals from Iran and Japan will meet next month in Tehran, Iran to discuss technologies for setting up high-speed intercity rail transportation, a report said.



Iran has drawn up an $8 billion programme over the next six years to revamp and expand its railway network, added the Iran Daily report.



Iran plans to expand its railroad line to 25,000 km by 2025 from the current figure of below 15,000 km, according to the report. Rail network accounts for less than 11 per cent of Iran's overall transportation.






The Nautical Institute, an international representative body for maritime professionals, has established its new branch in Singapore.



The units inaugural meeting will be held next week (April 18), hosted at the Singapore Shipping Association and officially launched by The Nautical Institute president, Captain Robert McCabe FNI, said a statement from the company.



The new branch has recently been registered with the Singapore Registry of Societies, it added.



It aims to attract maritime professionals from every corner of the industry from Singapores widely based maritime sector, it said.



A preliminary meeting was held in February this year at which 44 members of The Nautical Institute met to review the constitution, as approved by the Registry of Societies, Singapore, said the statement.



The members also elected the office bearers and committee members, it added.



A full programme of events awaits Captain McCabes visit to Singapore. Which includes a visit to Singapore Vessel Traffic Information Service (VTIS), operated by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), which operates two Port Operations Control Centres to monitor shipping movements in different sectors of port waters and the Singapore Strait. The system is capable of monitoring up to 5,000 vessels in real time, it stated.



Captain McCabe will also visit various Singapore Maritime Week events, including the Offshore Vessel and Rig Connect Conference, the largest meeting place of the Asian Offshore vessel industry, it added.  TradeArabia News Service
Iran and Kazakhstan have signed an agreement aimed at establishing a joint shipping company, a senior official said in a report.



The agreement was signed during a recent ceremony attended by the presidents of the two countries in Tehran, added the Iran Daily News report, citing IRNA.



The planned freight shipping line would boost bilateral trade through the Iranian port of Bandar Anzali and Kazakh port of Aktau, both on the Caspian Sea, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) head Mohammad Saeidi, was quoted as saying in the report.



Iran and Kazakhstan have also decided to increase rail transportation via a railroad linking Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.



Iran's President Hassan Rouhani revealed that Iranian and Kazakh officials signed 66 documents on cooperation, worth $2 billion, in the public and private sectors, adding that the agreements mark a 'turning point' in mutual relations.



He noted that Tehran and Astana will strengthen cooperation in the fields of economy, agriculture, science, culture, technology and communications.



The Iranian president added that bilateral cooperation in the Caspian Sea including marine transportation, tourism and the determination of the landlocked lake's legal status were also discussed during talks with the Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, added the report.
Brazilian miner Vale is teaming up with US private equity firm Apollo to bid for Anglo American's niobium and phosphates business in Brazil, three sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.



A sale of the assets, used for making fertilisers, could fetch around $1 billion for Anglo American.



The London-listed miner has said it wants to raise as much as $4 billion from divestitures, in order to cut net debt to under $10 billion by the end of the year as it grapples with a commodity price slump.



A spokesman for Anglo said the sale process is progressing as planned. Vale declined to comment, while Apollo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.



Two separate sources said that The Mosaic Company, the world's largest phosphate and potash supplier, could also be interested in the sale process, with binding bids expected in a few weeks.



Mosaic declined to comment.



Vale is the biggest producer of phosphate in Brazil, which in turn is the planet's fifth-biggest user of fertiliser, according to its website. It owns potash mine Taquari-Vassouras, while Anglo's assets include Ouvidor, Brazil's second-largest producer of phosphate rock.



Mining industry sources said that Vale could extract synergies due to the proximity of Anglo's assets to its own, while Apollo could help provide capital at a time when many mining companies are struggling with their balance sheets.



Private equity firms have been seeking to capitalise on the commodity price slump, but have struggled to compete with mining companies which can offer higher prices based on potential synergies in deals.



Vale is itself seeking to slash its net debt by $10 billion and plans to sell assets to help insulate itself against further falls in iron ore and nickel prices, after it announced its biggest loss in decades in February.



Last week it denied reports that it was seeking to raise cash by selling a minority stake in its fertiliser unit.



"They are not selling because they are looking at buying in this area," one of the sources said. - Reuters
The press launch event for The Business Year: Oman 2016, a report containing interviews and analysis on Omans economy, recently took place at the Hormuz Grand Hotel in Muscat, Oman.

This years edition, produced in partnership with Ithraa, Omans inward investment and export development agency, features interviews with Omans most important policy makers and business leaders.

The edition opens with an inside perspective from His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said which is followed by an interview with Lilianne Ploumen, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, who discuss trade and business ties between the two countries.

The publication focuses on key issues surrounding the sultanates economic development. The diversification measures taken by Oman have resulted in the non-hydrocarbon sector accounting for over one-third of total GDP. From its innovative special economic zone at Duqm to continuing its Omanisation practices designed to spur inward growth and foster domestic stability, Oman is constantly looking to improve its competitive position in the GCC and international arena.  TradeArabia News Service
National carrier Oman Air has launched the first flight of its second daily, non-stop and direct service between Muscat and London Heathrow.



The first flight of the new service took off yesterday (April 12) with over 200 passengers on board. That evening Oman Airs chief executive officer, Paul Gregorowitsch, hosted a modest celebratory dinner at a Londons restaurant. Guests included Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Zahir Al Hinai, ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman, John Holland-Kaye, CEO of London Heathrow Airport, and senior figures from the UK travel trade.



Customers were also invited to join the celebrations, as Oman Air unveiled a very special offer for passengers travelling between Muscat and London. From April 12 until April 25, free wi-fi connectivity is available in First, Business and Economy Classes. Premium passengers  those in First and Business Classes, and Gold members of the airlines Sindbad frequent fliers programme  can enjoy two hours/100Mb of free connectivity. Meanwhile travellers in Economy Class benefit from 15 minutes/10Mb free connectivity. In addition to marking the launch of the new service, the offer recognises Oman Airs role as the first airline in the world to offer both wi-fi and mobile phone connectivity inflight.



The free connectivity was first offered on the new services inaugural flight, which landed at Heathrow at 06.30 am on April 12. The aircraft was met by officials from the airport, who offered an official airside welcome.



Gregorowitsch said:On behalf of Oman Air, I am delighted to be joined by so many frequent flyers already to celebrate the launch of our new service between Muscat and London. This is one of Oman Airs flagship routes and our second daily frequency is a clear indication of the strong demand for flights between these two great cities. As a result of this new service, many thousands more travellers will be able to visit Oman and discover its remarkable beauty and warm hospitality, or continue on to one of Oman Airs many other exciting destinations. In addition, customers will enjoy even more choice and convenience as they travel to London from any point within our rapidly-growing network. In addition with our double daily flights to London we offer now superb connectivity on the North Atlantic, with major cities in the USA and Canada in reach with short connection times at London Heathrow within three hours."



Furthermore, the depth of the relationship between the Sultanate of Oman and the UK is clearly illustrated by the presence at our celebration of Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Zahir Al Hinai, the Omani Ambassador. Oman Airs new service will further strengthen the long-held economic and political ties between the two countries.



It has been an honour to share our celebrations with His Excellency, with John Holland-Kaye of Heathrow Airport, and with so many of our vital partners within Britains travel trade.



It has also been a real pleasure to join so many of our loyal and valued customers aboard the inaugural flight and we hope that our free wi-fi offer makes an already superb passenger experience even better.



The new service flies through the night, departing Muscat at 01.25 and arriving in London Heathrow Terminal 4 at 06.30. Return flights depart Heathrow Terminal 4 at 08.25 and arrive in Muscat at 18.55. All timings quoted are local. The service therefore enables highly attractive short connection times to major USA Cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Toronto in Canada.



Return flights are available from OMR265 ($686) in Economy Class, OMR1,087 ($2,814.4) in Business Class, or OMR2,163 ($5,600.4) in First Class. The Economy Class fare quoted is a promotional fare and is available for a limited time only. All prices include taxes and charges. - TradeArabia News Service
Crystal Lagoons, the patented technology developer of giant crystalline lagoons, has joined forces with Egyptian real estate development company, TatweerMisr, to develop the first man-made lagoons in the Sokhna mountains.



The development will bring six stunning lagoons spanning a total area of four hectares plus 3 km of sandy beaches to the landscape, providing future IL Monte Galala-Sokhna residents and visitors with stunning views of both the mountains and the crystal clear waters, as well as access to a range of fantastic leisure activities such as watersports.



This will be the first man-made lagoon project in the mountain area to date. It is a phenomenal undertaking and one that we are eager to get off the ground as soon as possible and highlight Crystal Lagoons ability to bring a body of water to any landscape, be it desert, the centre of major cities, or mountainous regions, said Carlos Salas, regional director, Middle East, Crystal Lagoons. IL Monte Galala-Sokhna is an innovative residential-meets-tourism development of great natural beauty that aims to offer a high-end experience to those looking to enjoy precious leisure time.



Ahmad Shalaby, managing director and member of the board at TatweerMisr, said: IL Monte Galala is among the most prestigious projects in Sokhna and the new partnership underlines our commitment to building value by providing diverse facilities and amenities to our customers. As one of the largest projects in Sokhna, IL Monte Galala stands apart with its unbeatable views and large assortment of amenities.



The $250-million initial phase of IL Monte Galala-Sokhna will deliver more than 1,600 residential and hotel units during 2019. Expected to be complete within 10 years, it is positioned to become a local and international destination of choice offering an impressive selection of activities and lifestyle options that showcase the stunning natural beauty utilised within the projects urban design.



Crystal Lagoons is positioning itself as offering a unique product differentiator to high-profile tourism projects around the world. Making use of ecologically sustainable technology keeps maintenance costs and its patented technology makes it possible for people to enjoy an authentic beach experience with the potential to add economic value to new tourism destinations.



Designed to be self-cleaning, the lagoons use up to 100 times less chemicals than traditional systems, and only two per cent of the energy required by conventional filtering technologies, making them incredibly sustainable.



Crystal Lagoons already holds two Guinness World Records titles for the largest crystalline lagoon in the world at San Alfonso del Mar in Chile and a 12.2-hectare lagoon at Sharm El Sheik in Egypt. Its global portfolio of 300 projects located in 60 countries now includes a total of 40 projects in different stages of development in the Middle East and six new projects signed in Egypt in the latest 10 months. - TradeArabia News Service
Each with a distinctive character which epitomises European elegance and grandeur, The Crest Collection debuts with four properties in Paris and Bangkok, to offer travellers extraordinary experiences with a sense of home



(TRAVPR.COM) SINGAPORE - April 13th, 2016 - Singapore, 13 April 2016  CapitaLands wholly owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott), has today launched The Crest Collection, a prized selection of some of Ascotts most prestigious and unique luxury serviced residences. The collection offers the growing number of discerning travellers extraordinary experiences with a sense of home. Each property is a signature on its own with a distinctive character which epitomises European elegance and grandeur. The debut collection comprises the newly added Metropole, which will open in Bangkok in June 2016, and three of Ascotts Citadines Suites properties in Paris that have been renamed to La Clef Louvre Paris, La Clef Champs-Elysees Paris as well as La Clef Tour Eiffel Paris, where the launch ceremony of The Crest Collection was held.

Acquired in 2011, La Clef Tour Eiffel Paris was included in the global asset enhancement programme rolled out by Ascott in 2010. Through Ascotts extensive experience in product development and design, the property was boldly transformed  the serviced residence seamlessly marries Parisian elegance in a 19th century Haussmannian apartment building with the postmodernist style of celebrated architect Ricardo Bofill in an adjoining hotel.

Mr Lee Chee Koon, Ascotts Chief Executive Officer, said: Ascott has a strong track record of product development and design expertise, from preserving heritage buildings to converting offices to serviced residences. Since we started with an extensive refurbishment programme in 2010, we have invested S$230 million to renovate 45 properties globally, 23 of which are Citadines properties in Europe. The Crest Collection opens up more opportunities for us to work with property owners who want Ascott to manage their property while maintaining its unique features. With more than 30 years of experience and managing over 290 properties worldwide, Ascott has been focusing on creating the best experiences for customers staying in our properties of international standards; while at the same time ensuring we make the most efficient use of space to maximise returns for the owners.

At the ceremony, Mr Lee reiterated the importance of Europe as a key market for Ascott. France, as one of the strongest economies in the eurozone and the top tourist destination in the world with over 84 million international tourist arrivals in 2015, is Ascotts largest market with the biggest portfolio outside of Asia.

Mr Lee said: Ascott has achieved an asset size of over S$1.5 billion in Europe. We will continue to deepen Ascotts presence in the regions gateway cities where we have properties such as Paris, London, Hamburg and Munich, as well as explore new markets to achieve Ascotts target of 10,000 apartment units in Europe by 2020. We plan to expand through acquisitions of turnkey developments or existing buildings which Ascott can convert into serviced residences, management contracts and franchises. With more than half of Ascotts Europe portfolio in France, the country will remain a key part of our growth in Europe. We have been in France since 2002 and have invested more than S$1 billion in the country through acquisitions and product enhancements. Ascott has grown to be one of the largest Singapore companies to invest in the hospitality industry in France and we continue to see strong potential for serviced residences in the country.

Mr Zainal Arif Mantaha, Singapores Ambassador to France, who also attended the launch ceremony, said: Singapore and France have built strong diplomatic ties over the last 50 years. Ascott is a Singapore company that has firmly established itself in France since it acquired the Citadines Aparthotel chain in 2002. France has a lot of potential for hospitality companies such as Ascott as its economy is the sixth largest in the world and it is one of the worlds leading tourist destinations. Ascotts launch of The Crest Collection in France is a positive step towards building upon our countries relations and I look forward to more collaboration between our countries.

Mr Alfred Ong, Ascotts Managing Director for Europe, said: The Crest Collection is created to distinguish Ascotts exclusive collection of unique luxury serviced residences that are designed with elegant and classic European flair. It caters to corporate and leisure travellers looking for a quintessential lifestyle in a homely space. To greater differentiate our Citadines properties and The Crest Collection in France, we are renaming the Citadines Suites properties to La Clef, which represents The key to a memorable experience through the art of luxury living. Each property is inspired by a story, whether it is in the buildings heritage, design or location. These unique luxury properties are well positioned to tap on the rising demand for upscale accommodation in Paris. Guests will enjoy Ascotts signature hospitality as we constantly strive to exceed guests expectations and make them feel at home.

The launch of The Crest Collection follows Ascotts recent unveiling of its Tujia Somerset brand to cater to the booming segment of middle class travellers in China. Together with its three award-winning brands of serviced residences  Ascott The Residence, Citadines Aparthotel and Somerset Serviced Residence, Ascott is able to provide guests with wider choices to suit their different lifestyle needs. The premier Ascott The Residence brand provides refined luxurious living in elegant apartments. These serviced residences frequently welcome top executives, government dignitaries and industry leaders. Citadines Aparthotel offers independent travellers the flexibility to choose the services they require. For those travelling with children, Somerset Serviced Residence is ideal as the properties come with amenities such as playground, indoor playroom and childrens swimming pool.

With the addition of Metropole which Ascott will be managing, the company now has more than 3,000 apartment units across 17 properties in Bangkok, Pattaya and Sri Racha in Thailand. Ascott is the largest international serviced residence owner-operator in Thailand and one of the largest in Europe. It has over 5,200 units in 44 properties in France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Georgia and Spain.

Please refer to the Annex for more information on the four properties in Bangkok and Paris that are part of The Crest Collection.

About The Ascott Limited

The Ascott Limited is a Singapore company that has grown to be the world's largest international serviced residence owner-operator. It has over 27,000 operating serviced residence units in key cities of the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, as well as over 17,000 units which are under development, making a total of more than 45,000 units in over 290 properties.

The company operates three award-winning brands  Ascott, Citadines and Somerset. Its portfolio spans more than 100 cities across 27 countries.

Ascott, a wholly owned subsidiary of CapitaLand Limited, pioneered Asia Pacific's first international-class serviced residence with the opening of The Ascott Singapore in 1984. In 2006, it established the world's first Pan-Asian serviced residence real estate investment trust, Ascott Residence Trust. Today, the company boasts over 30 years of industry track record and award-winning serviced residence brands that enjoy recognition worldwide.

Ascotts achievements have been recognised internationally. Recent awards include World Travel Awards 2015 for Leading Serviced Apartment Brand and Leading Serviced Apartments in Belgium, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Thailand and Vietnam, Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Awards 2015 for Best Serviced Residence Brand, Business Traveller UK Awards 2015 for Best Serviced Apartment Company, Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2015 for 'Best Serviced Apartment Company', Business Traveller China Awards 2015 for Best Serviced Residence Brand and 'Best Serviced Residence', TTG China Travel Awards 2016 for Best Serviced Residence Operator in China and DestinAsian Readers Choice Awards 2016 for Best Serviced Residence Brand. For a full list of awards, please visit http://www.theascottlimited.com/en/aboutus/awards.

Visit www.the-ascott.com for more information and connect with us on social media at www.the-ascott.com/connect.

About CapitaLand Limited

CapitaLand is one of Asias largest real estate companies headquartered and listed in Singapore. The company leverages its significant asset base, design and development capabilities, active capital management strategies, extensive market network and operational capabilities to develop high-quality real estate products and services. Its diversified global real estate portfolio includes integrated developments, shopping malls, serviced residences, offices and homes. Its two core markets are Singapore and China, while Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam have been identified as new growth markets. The company also has one of the largest real estate fund management businesses with assets located in Asia.

CapitaLands listed real estate investment trusts are CapitaLand Mall Trust, CapitaLand Commercial Trust, Ascott Residence Trust, CapitaLand Retail China Trust and CapitaLand Malaysia Mall Trust.

Visit www.capitaland.com for more information.

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 12

Lauding the BJP-led Centres move to send trains with five lakh litres of water to the drought-hit Latur in Marathwada region, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said the government was ready to offer 10 lakh litres of water every day for two months.

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kejriwal said it would be an embarrassment for modern India if people die of thirst. But, the Delhi BJP had termed it a publicity stunt.

It will be a matter of shame if someone dies of thirst in the 21st century in India. It is the duty and responsibility for the entire nation to help Latur. The people of Delhi are ready to give 10 lakh litres of water every day for two months to Latur. If the Centre is ready to transport the water to Latur, the Delhi government will make water available immediately, his letter stated.

Admitting that the offer is being made at a time when the national Capital itself faces water shortage, Kejriwal said the grim situation in Latur makes it the nations responsibility to extend help to the people of Latur.

According to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), sending 10 lakh litres of water to parched Latur will not affect the water supply in the city as the DJB supplies around 900 million gallons of water to the city per day.

In this regard, the DJB held a meeting last evening when a decision to help Latur was taken.

Ten railway wagons carrying five lakh litres of water reached the parched Latur city this morning.
Tribune News Service

Srinagar/Kupwara, April 12

Two youths were killed when security forces opened fire on protesters in north Kashmirs Handwara town, 80 km from here, today. They were holding a protest against an alleged attempt by a soldier to molest a college girl.

Those killed were identified as Mohammad Iqbal (22) and Nayeem Qadir Bhat (24). The killing of civilians sparked a fresh wave of anger in the Valley. The Army has regretted the killings and ordered a probe. Anybody found guilty will be dealt with as per the law, it said.

Protests erupted in Handwara around 3 pm following allegations by locals that a college girl was molested at a public lavatory by soldiers posted at a picket. Locals alleged that as the girl entered a lavatory, the Armymen tried to molest her. The girl raised an alarm. It triggered protests and people tried to march towards the Army post, said Javeed Ahmed, a local resident.

When a crowd tried to storm the bunker and set it on fire, the forces retaliated. Two persons were injured and later succumbed to injuries, Kashmir IGP SJM Gillani said. We have registered a case and started investigations, he said.

The girl said, As I came out from the lavatory, a boy in uniform snatched my bag and started abusing me. A number of youths had also assembled there after which the trouble started. However, the Kashmir IGP said the police were yet to record the girls complete statement.

While the state government has ordered a magisterial probe into the incident, separatists have called for a shutdown on Wednesday.
New Delhi/ Srinagar, April 13

With four civilians dead in the Handwara firing and subsequent protests, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which followed a meeting with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to demand a time-bound inquiry into the firing incident, which has left a budding cricketer besides two others dead.

Mehbooba, who is on her maiden visit to the Capital after assuming the post of Chief Minister, met Parrikar and Union Minister for Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu separately.

Her meeting with the Prime MInister was described as a "courtesly call".

In her meeting with Parrikar, she sought a "time-bound" probe, saying it will act as a deterrent against such incidents in future.

Describing the firing incident as very unfortunate, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister said, I spoke to the Defence Minister. He assured me that a probe will be initiated and the culprits will be punished.

At the same time the family (of the victims) will be compensated. Such incidents should not happen in the future, she said after meeting Parrikar.

Two youth, including a budding cricketer, and a woman were killed in Handwara after security forces opened fire on Tuesday to disperse a stone-pelting mob targeting their bunker.

Another youth was killed on Wednesday after being hit by a teargas shell fired by security forces during protests in Kashmirs Kupwara district against the deaths in Handwara. Jehangir Ahmad Wani was hit by a tear smoke shell in the head during the protests at Drugmulla, a police official said. He said the youth was taken to a hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead. Two other persons were also injured in the clashes with security forces.

The Handwara incident took place after reports surfaced that some Army personnel had allegedly molested a girl returning from school. However, police investigations have so far indicated that no such incident had taken place and it was an attempt by some miscreants to create disturbance for removing an Army bunker located within Handwara town, sources said.

The Army also released a purported video statement of the girl given to the police to claim there is no case of molestation by its jawan.

If you focus on the video released by us, it is clear that there is no case of molestation. It is a mala fide intent by some elements to malign the good image of Army, Defence Spokesperson N.N. Joshi said.

The Army regrets the loss of life. The matter is being investigated. Anybody found guilty shall be dealt wth severely as per law, he said.

The Army also issued a press release in which it said the video footage implicated local youth of misdemeanour.

The truth from Handwara: the girl, purportedly molested by an Army soldier, exposes the malicious intent of perpetrators.

Implicates local youth of misdemeanor and false propaganda that resulted in massive protests, it said.

The Army has ordered an inquiry, while the police registered a criminal case and begun investigations into the incident which triggered more protests and had an echo in Srinagar and Pulwama districts of Kashmir as well.

Mehbooba said such incidents shake the confidence of the people and adversely impact the efforts of the State government in consolidating peace dividends.

Even as she sought from Parrikar adequate compensation for the families of the victims, Mehbooba said the loss of lives of the innocent civilians cannot be compensated by whatsoever means.

Mehbooba had yesterday said the security personnel involved in the killing of two youths will be handed exemplary punishment, saying such incidents cannot be tolerated.

Mehbooba also raised a number of other issues, including the handing over certain portions of land not required by the Army to the state so that they can be used for promoting tourism and developing civic, educational and infrastructure facilities in the larger public interest.

She also took up the issue of concrete action by the Defence Ministry on the decisions taken into the civil-military liaison conference besides revision in the rates of rent to different categories of land held by the Army and revision of compensation provided to people affected by Field Firing and Artillery Practices.

Later, she met the Union Minister for Urban Development at his residence where she discussed with him several proposals for upgradation of civic facilities in cities and towns in the state.

Mehbooba said both capital cities Srinagar and Jammu should be included in the Smart Cities Mission besides including the forward town of Kargil under the ambit of AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation).

Presently, Leh town is being covered under the Centrally-sponsored scheme.

She sought liberal financial assistance from the Ministry so that it benefits from various Central government schemes, which will help the state overcome challenges in solid waste management.

ASI suspended for mishandling situation

Meanwhile, a junior police officer was today suspended for mishandling of the law and order situation in Handwara town.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Rafiq Ahmad has been suspended pending inquiries into yesterdays incident, a senior police official said.

He said a magisterial probe and a departmental inquiry are being conducted into the incident.
Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 13

The Union Cabinet adopted the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Networks (SAWEN) statute on Wednesday, becoming a formal member of the network to fight wildlife crimes in South Asia, a central governments statement said.

The statement said: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will enable India to strengthen ties with member countries in controlling trans-boundary wildlife crimes through communication, coordination, collaboration, capacity building and cooperation in the region.

SAWEN is a regional network comprising eight countries in South Asia Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka that aims at working as a strong regional inter-governmental body for combating wildlife crime by attempting common goals and approaches for combating illegal trade in the region.

The South Asia region is very vulnerable to illegal traffic and wildlife crimes due to presence of precious biodiversity and large markets as well as traffic routes for wildlife products in the south East Asian region. Therefore, the collaboration in harmonising as well as enforcing the wildlife protection in the region is considered very important for effective conservation of such precious biodiversity.

Adoption of SAWEN statute envisions India being part of the regional inter-governmental body in combating wildlife crime in the region and beyond.

Objectives include taking initiatives for bringing harmonisation and standardisation in laws and policies of member countries concerning conservation of fauna and flora and documenting the trend of poaching and illegal trade, and related threats to the natural biodiversity within and across countries in the region.

It also aims to strengthen institutional responses to combat wildlife crime by promoting research and information sharing, training and capacity building, technical support, sharing experiences and outreach and encourage member countries to prepare and implement their National Action Plans in curbing wildlife crime and to collaborate towards effective implementation.
New Delhi, April 13

India today asked its acting High Commissioner in Islamabad to seek a meeting with the Pakistan Foreign Office in connection with the death of an Indian under mysterious circumstances in a jail there.

Also read: Gurdaspur man dies in Pak jail

Death in Pak jail: Prisoners kin meet Rajnath, seek probe

The envoy has also been instructed to seek early transfer of the mortal remains of Kirpal Singh, who was found dead in his cell in a Lahore jail where he was languishing for over 20 years in connection with a serial blasts case there.

"On Kirpal Singh, our acting high commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in Pakistan Foreign Office this forenoon to seek early transportation of Singh's mortal remains.

"He will also seek official information on the cause of the death and postmortem report etc," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swaroop said.

50-year-old Kirpal Singh was languishing in a Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges and was found dead in his cell on Monday under mysterious circumstances.

Kirpal Singh had allegedly crossed Wagah border into Pakistan in 1992 and was arrested. He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of bomb blast charges by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons.

Jagir Kaur, Kirpal's sister, earlier said the family could not raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case.

PTI
Shubhadeep Choudhury

Tribune News Service

Alipurduar, April 13

Amid the hubbub of electioneering in West Bengal, the Totos, a tribe said to be numerically the smallest ethnic group in West Bengal, long for the day when one of their own will become a legislator.

If the Anglo-Indians can have a nominated member in Parliament, why not the same right is extended to the Totos? We are smaller in number than the Anglo-Indians, says Dhaniram Toto, an elderly resident of Totopara located near the Indo-Bhutan border in Alipurduar district.

The total population of Totos according to 1951 census was 321 living in 69 houses at Totopara. In 1991 census, the Toto population had increased to 926 who lived in 180 houses. In the 2001 census, their number had increased to 1,184. Right now, their number is estimated to be 1,563.

While the claim that the Totos are numerically the smallest ethnic group in the world can be questioned, they are most certainly the tiniest ethnic group in Bengal. Two other small ethnic groups  Birhors and Lodhas  are found in Purulia, Bankura and Midnapore districts. But the Totos are numerically the smallest of the primitive tribes found in Bengal, said Pramod Nath, a researcher, said.

Only 600 of us are voters. We really do not matter as far as elections are concerned, Dhaniram Toto, who works in the state governments Backward Classes Welfare Department, says.

Six hundred votes are just about enough to attract candidates to visit Totopara for canvassing. Totopara falls in the Madarihat constituency, which is slated to go to polls on April 17. The seat is reserved for scheduled tribes. Parties prefer adivasi (tribals of Chota Nagpur plateau) or Nepalese-speaking tribal candidates for the seat since these two groups constitute a huge chunk of people in the constituency.

For the 2016 seats, the BJP has put up a Adivasi candidate, the candidate of the Congress-Left Front combine too is an adivasi while the TMC candidate is member of a Nepalese-speaking tribe.

Candidates of all major parties have visited us. But we really do not expect much from them, says Bhakta Toto, a Gramin Bank employee, who is also the proud father of Sanchita, the only woman honours graduate among the Totos.

Mamata, Modi two sides of same coin: Sonia

Sujapur/Muraroi (WB): Launching a frontal attack on TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday accused her of unleashing autocracy in West Bengal and said the CM and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were two sides of the same coin. The people in Bengal are facing tanashahi of the Centre and the Mamata government. Mamata has not kept her promises to the poor, the minorities and the backward. We had believed in her promises and supported the TMC in the 2011," she said at poll meetings. PTI

Phase II: Three candidates have zero assets

Kolkata: Three candidates trying their luck in the second phase of Bengal Assembly elections on April 17 have declared zero assets while seven others have less than a thousand rupees with them. Two Independents, Benoy Kumar Das and Sandip Roy fighting from Raiganj and Mayureswar seats, respectively, have declared in an affidavit before the Election Commission that they neither have any money in their pocket nor they own any other assets or properties. PTI

Transgenders to man polling booth

Kolkata: For the first time, a group of transgenders will be in charge of the polling process at a booth in Kolkata. This is part of an initiative to include all sections of society in polling process and the Election Commission has identified a booth in southern Kolkata, which goes to poll on April 30, where transgenders will be deployed as polling personnel. The name of the booth and constituency where the initiative will be implemented is, however, yet to be disclosed. PTI
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NEW YORK (AP)  About 39,000 Verizon landline and cable workers on the East Coast walked off the job Wednesday morning after little progress in negotiations since their contract expired nearly eight months ago.

The workers, members of two unions  the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers  represent installers, customer service employees, repairmen and other service workers in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., for Verizon's wireline business, which provides fixed-line phone services and FiOS Internet service.

"We're on strike to maintain good jobs and maintain our standard of living," said Keith Purce, president of CWA Local 1101 which represents about 3,500 workers in Manhattan and the Bronx.

Standing on a picket line in Manhattan with hundreds of union workers, Purce said they were prepared to stay out "as long as it takes."

He said talks broke off last week and no new talks were scheduled.

Verizon spokesman Rich Young said the company was very disappointed that union leadership has called a strike. He said it has trained thousands of non-union workers to fill in for striking workers and "we will be there for our customers."

The workers' latest contract expired in August.

Between 300 and 400 union members walked a picket line outside the company's office in downtown Albany, where workers set up an inflatable "greedy pig" and rat, said Mike Panzerino, treasurer of CWA Local 1118.

"We're tired of fighting with the company," Panzerino said. "All we're asking for is a fair contract and they don't want to give it to us."

Another inflatable rat was on display outside a Verizon office in Livingston, New Jersey, where striking workers rallied Wednesday.

In Philadelphia, about a hundred striking workers took to the streets near the company's headquarters and chanted, "Scabs, go home!" at non-union replacement workers.

The unions say Verizon wants to freeze pensions, make layoffs easier and rely more on contract workers. The telecom giant has said there are health care issues that need to be addressed for retirees and current workers because medical costs have grown and the company also wants "greater flexibility" to manage its workers.

"The company is being very stubborn about certain issues that are really important to us," said Liz Null, a computer technician picketing in midtown Manhattan. "One that's very important to me is the fact that they want to freeze our pension after 30 years of service. I just can't believe that a company would penalize an older worker like that."

Verizon also is pushing to eliminate a rule that would prevent employees from working away from home for extended periods of time. In a television ad, the unions said the company was trying to "force employees to accept a contract sending their jobs to other parts of the country and even oversees."

"The main issues are job security and that they want to move workers miles and miles away," said Isaac Collazo, a Verizon employee who has worked replacing underground cables in New York City for nearly 19 years.

"We have a clause currently that they can't just lay anyone off willy nilly and they want to get rid of that," said Collazo, a single father of three children. "I feel if the company had the opportunity, they would just lay people off."

But Young said the unions' talk about offshoring jobs and cutting jobs is "absolute nonsense."

"These contracts have provisions that were put in place decades ago. ... They need to take a look at where the business stands in 2016," he added.

Verizon said in a statement Wednesday that it "has activated its business continuity plans as customer service remains the company's top priority."

In August 2011, about 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike for about two weeks.

Verizon Communications Inc. has a total workforce of more than 177,000 employees. In its statement, the company said it had been willing to participate in mediation if the unions extended their strike deadline, but that the unions instead called a strike.

___

Associated Press writers Ula Ilnytzky and Karen Matthews in New York, Shawn Marsh in Trenton, New Jersey, and Chris Carola in Albany, New York, contributed to this report.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett Jr. and Tulsa Regional Chamber President Mike Neal are headed to New York City on Friday to try to persuade the Williams Cos. to stay in Tulsa, the governor said Tuesday evening.

They plan to visit with Frank MacInnis, chairman of the Williams Cos. board of directors.

Fallin announced the trip during a speech at a Tulsa Regional Chamber forum Tuesday night and said the same to the World in an interview afterward.

Her announcement comes after Williams continued presence in Tulsa was cast into doubt by a Securities and Exchange Commission filing from Energy Transfer Equity, a Dallas-based midstream company that is trying to merge with Williams and form one of the largest pipeline companies in the world.

The filing said that if the merger goes through, most of Williams Tulsa operations will be cut or moved to Dallas.

On Friday Im going to go up with a group of business leaders and the mayor to talk to the chairman of the board of the Williams Cos. and tell them how much we appreciate Williams being in Tulsa.  We want to keep our jobs. We want to keep their investment here. We want them to know that its important for them to stay in Tulsa, she said after her speech.

When asked by the World if any sort of incentives or economic development tools would be offered to keep Williams in Tulsa, Fallin said, I think going there personally with some of our top business leaders, mayor and governor coming to the chairman of the board of Williams Cos. and saying, Dont leave. We want you here. What can we do to help? 

MacInnis was among the eight Williams directors who voted in favor of the merger agreement that was announced Sept. 28.

Five board members, including Williams CEO Alan Armstrong, who is based in Tulsa, voted against the deal.

World Business Writer Casey Smith contributed to this story.
Wagoner Switch District would like to thank all of the volunteers who have dedicated their time to Easter in the Park and the WSD Downtown Cleanup. As a community based organization you make all the difference, we are grateful for each of you tremendously.

Easter in the Park sponsored by The Ministerial Alliance and WSD on March 26 was a huge success with a lot of smiling faces. Thousands of eggs were scooped up by eager children in the blink of an eye. A total of four bikes and five prize baskets were given away during the egg hunt. Basket were sponsored by First Bank & Trust, Collies Soggy Dog, RoweTec Computers, WSD and Fort Gibson Lake Association. The kids also had a blast on four bounce houses and an obstacle course and throughout the day happy children lined up to get their free picture with the Easter bunny.

Last Saturday, 28 volunteers participated in our second annual WSD Downtown Cleanup by planting flowers, painting poles and cleaning as a Great American Cleanup participant and Keep Oklahoma Beautiful affiliate. Wagoner Girl Scout troop 1329 worked very hard on the planter box outside Bonnies Flowers and Gifts. Several volunteers painted light poles on South Main. Mayor Albert Jones also put in several hours, as a member and volunteer, with WSD on this project. Painting the light poles will be a continued project through the next few weeks so please join us. On Thursday, several WSD volunteers will come together again at 5 p.m. to paint a light pole on the west side of South Main Street. The volunteerism of these individuals is what manifests the changes you are seeing in downtown Wagoner, we are so grateful for these community patriots.

WSD recently joined with the Wagoner County Juvenile Court System to provide community service in downtown Wagoner. The WSD Juvenile Community Service Program is conducted by mentors who volunteer their time to inspire and encourage these youth. March 2016 was the first month for WSD to offer this program and conducted 47 hours of juvenile community service, the kids worked very hard and did a great job.

Recently, the WSD Farmers Market started back up on April 7 at Semore Park. Please join us on Thursday evenings for local vendors and live music as our vendors grow throughout the season. If you are interested in setting up a booth please visit wagonerswitchdistrict.org for registration form. Vendor set up is free at this time.

Local artists will come together on Saturday, April 23, to participate in the second annual WSD Chalk Art on Main Street. This is a fun event for the entire family.

WSD Junior Main Street will begin in July. This is an exciting program offered to Wagoner children ages 8 through 12. Each week these children will meet at the WSD office where they will work on leadership skills and community service. Please visit our website at www.wagonerswitchdistrict.org for membership applications.

Switch to Success will be July 23 this year. Tickets will go on sale soon. Last year The Main Event gave the winning presentation to restore the historical facade of their building. This project is still in the works and will happen very soon. Oklahoma Main Street architect, Larry Lucas, is working on a plan for this renovation.

By STACY SHOWMAN

Wagoner Switch District
Correction

This story contained incorrect information regarding the number of charges filed against Harrington. The story has been corrected.

A former Tulsa oral surgeon, who gave up his dental license amid allegations his practice was a public menace, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to a money laundering charge related to Medicaid fraud.

Wayne Scott Harrington, 67, entered the guilty plea two days after federal prosecutors filed information about a money laundering charge in Tulsa federal court.

Harrington faces a prison term of up to 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000, plus three years of supervised release.

His sentencing is scheduled for July 14.

Harrington made national headlines in March 2013, after state officials announced unsanitary practices at his dental practice may have exposed thousands of his patients to HIV and hepatitis.

Officials at the time announced Harringtons office at 2111 S. Atlanta Place was found to be unsanitary with rusted instruments, improper sterilization procedures, lack of infection control measures and a disorganized drug cabinet with expired medicines.

Also, officials found Harrington allowed dental assistants to perform IV sedation, which they are not trained for and are not allowed to do.

Harrington voluntarily ceased practicing after the onset of the investigations and permanently surrendered his dental license in August 2014.

More than 4,200 people were tested at free clinics in the Tulsa area. A state Health Department spokeswoman on Wednesday said 96 tested positive for hepatitis C, six were positive for hepatitis B and four were positive for HIV. Officials said at the time that the results were typical of a population random sample because people may have one of the diseases without realizing it.

In September 2013, genetic testing confirmed that at least one patient contracted hepatitis C from a visit to Harringtons office. It was the first documented report of patient-to-patient transmission of hepatitis C in a dental setting in the United States.

In the criminal case, Harrington admitted to depositing in June 2012 nearly $15,300 in funds derived from fraudulent Medicaid billing into a business account he controlled. Harrington admitted to subsequently causing a $15,000 check to be issued from the bank account that received the $15,300 to another bank account he controlled to pay the mortgage and insurance for his business property.

Prosecutors said the criminal charge was triggered by the unsanitary practices investigation.

During the probe, investigators learned that anesthesia services were being administered to patients by unauthorized office personnel, said Mark Green, U.S. Attorney for U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The resulting criminal charge was tied to Harrington billing for anesthesia services that were not administered by him, Green said.

The plea agreement includes a provision that calls for a money judgment of at least $29,993, an amount that represents the amount Harrington would have received from the fraudulent billing, Green said.

Green declined to comment on whether Harrington would face prison time, saying it is a matter up to the judge.

After Harringtons guilty plea, his attorney released the following statement on behalf of his client:

Scott has been cooperating with federal and state authorities regarding his Medicaid billing for over two years and has accepted responsibility for his conduct. We look forward to telling the court more about Scott between now and the sentencing hearing.

Harrington has been sued at least 16 times for medical malpractice since word of the investigations emerged, court records reflect. Most of the cases have since been settled or dismissed by a judge, records show. Three civil cases are still pending.

After closing his business, Harrington sold his Tulsa dental office. In 2014, his attorney at the time said Harrington spent time at his homes in Tulsa and Arizona.

The federal criminal case was handled by the federal prosecutors based in Muskogee after prosecutors in Tulsa recused due to a conflict of interest, Green said.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down a section of the states 2013 Administrative Workers Compensation Act on Tuesday, saying it violated injured workers due-process rights.

In a 7-2 decision, the court overturned Workers Compensation Commission decisions in four similar cases that were combined for the appeals process.

In each case, workers were denied permanent partial disability payments through what is known as deferment.

Under deferment, permanent partial disability payments are reduced each week the injured party returns to work until the employers liability reaches zero  generally in a few weeks  or the employee is terminated for misconduct.

The court ruled that disability payments are compensation for permanent impairment and cannot be linked to the short-term ability to return to work at or near pre-injury performance or earnings levels.

Justice Noma Gurich, writing for the majority, said the 2013 workers compensation laws language suggests the Legislature intended for permanent partial disability to be based solely on loss of earning capacity with no consideration as to the physical insult to the employees body.

Gurich said the recent law, as implemented by the Workers Compensation Commission it created, has unconstitutionally abrogated the due process rights of injured employees  with regard to permanent partial disability determinations and compensation.

The majority also found the Workers Compensation Commission had incorrectly applied the law in order to defer more disability payments, and that deferral amounts to an unconstitutional special law singling out a subclass of injured workers for no valid reason.

Justice Thomas Colbert, writing a separate opinion in which Justice Joseph Watt joined, said the majority opinion did not go far enough in addressing the Legislatures unconstitutional scheme.

Justices James Winchester and Steven Taylor dissented.

State Chamber of Commerce spokesman Peter J. Rudy slammed Tuesdays decision, saying it was one reason Oklahomans are clamoring for changes on the Supreme Court.

We are disappointed with the courts decision to unilaterally overturn portions of Oklahomas workers compensation law, Rudy said. In light of the fact that the Legislature is working this session to address some of the issues being raised, the court should defer to the Legislatures role of writing the laws.

The state chamber was largely responsible for the 2013 law, and along with other interests has been pressuring the state Supreme Court to be less active in its review of legislative actions.

Bob Burke, a plaintiffs attorney in one of the cases overturned Tuesday, said the court has, in fact, been saving the Legislature and the Fallin administration from their own faulty lawmaking.

The court found that a controversial section that took away permanent partial disability awards from workers who returned to work violated the Oklahoma Constitution, Burke said. It is another example of the court having to correct a poorly written law that was thrown into the laps of legislators in the final few days of the 2013 legislative session.

Burke has pending cases challenging 20 other provisions of the law.
Tulsa-area public school leaders are calling on the Legislature to approve an education budget in the next two weeks so districts can avoid consequences of having to plan for layoffs and other cuts without an accurate idea of how much their state aid will be reduced for the next year.

A news release issued Wednesday by the Tulsa County Area School Administrators said members are frustrated that the Legislature failed to finalize an education budget by April 1 as required by the Fund Education First law passed in 2003. It's a deadline that's commonly missed, but this year the issue is complicated by the state's revenue failure, and TCASA is pushing the Legislature to act immediately.

We cant wait until the end of the legislative session for a budget because we need answers in order to know what to expect moving forward into the next school year, said Jenks Public Schools Superintendent Stacey Butterfield, who also serves as president of TCASA. As we try to make difficult decisions about personnel and programs, we need to have as much information as possible.

Schools have seen their state funding reduced by more than $50 million since January, and even deeper cuts are expected for the coming school year. Districts are required by law to institute reduction in force proceedings for teachers prior to the first Monday in June. Decisions regarding support employees must be made before June 1.

The TCASA release says superintendents and boards of education won't have enough time to make informed decisions if the state education budget isn't finalized by April 30.

Even if we wont be fully funded, we call on lawmakers to comply with Fund Education First and provide a budget for common education as soon as possible. Otherwise, districts will be forced to make cuts without clear direction in order to remain solvent and in legal compliance ourselves, which may result in cutting more positions than necessary, Broken Arrow Superintendent Jarod Mendenhall said.

Shawn Hime, executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, has said school districts want to budget conservatively, but many districts will be required to lay off administrators and teachers. Timely budget information will allow districts to hold layoffs and increased class sizes to a minimum, Hime said.

Layoffs could exacerbate increases in class size and reductions in student course and program offerings caused by the statewide teacher shortage.

In late August, an OSSBA survey found that 1,000 teacher vacancies remained even though 600 teaching jobs had been eliminated over the summer break. The Oklahoma State Department of Education reported that in 2014-15, 856 public school classes had to be canceled because of the teacher shortage.

Our state is already facing a severe teacher crisis, and this level of uncertainty will only drive more educators from Oklahoma as they seek employment in states where the public education systems offer better pay, more security and better opportunities, said Union Public Schools Superintendent Kirt Hartzler. This failure to act only further harms Oklahomas education system by not only depleting common education of financial resources, but also of quality teachers. We must know what we are dealing with by April 30 so we can make difficult decisions.
WASHINGTON  Both of Oklahomas U.S. senators have stated publicly that theyre willing to meet with Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, but neither has committed to a firm time, according to the White House.

Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford, both Republicans, dont want the Senate to hold hearings for Garland, a federal appeals court judge, or move forward in any way with the confirmation process. Both have said the next president should be able to pick the replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February.

However, unlike many Republican senators, Inhofe and Lankford have said they would meet with Garland  a traditional courtesy shown to nominees.

Garland is from Illinois and works as a judge in Washington, D.C., but he has a strong Oklahoma connection. He led the federal investigation into the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, winning the respect of state and local officials and the families of victims with his sensitive handling of the case.
A 50 percent chance of showers is forecast mainly before 2 p.m. in Tulsa today, according to the National Weather Service.

Chances fall to 20 percent tonight in Tulsa. New rainfall amounts of less than 0.1 of an inch are possible, according to the weather service.

As of Tuesday, Tulsa has recorded 0.94 of an inch of rain this month, according to the weather service. This is 0.35 of an inch below normal for this time of April.

The next chances for rain are forecast for Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in Tulsa.

Tulsa's temperatures are forecast to reach the upper 60s today, with overnight lows in the upper 40s, according to the weather service. However, highs in the 70s are forecast each day for the next week, with overnight lows rising to the 50s.

As of Tuesday, Tulsa's average temperature this month is 3.1 degrees above normal, according to the weather service. The highest was 87 degrees on April 5, while the lowest was 34 degrees on April 2.
WASHINGTON  Imagine emerging from a rocky political week only to announce, as Bernie Sanders did, that, oh, by the way, the Vatican called. Actually, it was the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, but close enough, I suppose.

Hillary Clinton thought bubble: Hes Jewish for crying out loud. What am I, chopped liver? No, Im Methodist! But if I can become a New Yorker, I can become a Catholic!

Some people have all the kismet. Or, maybe sometimes people just happen to agree that communism isnt really so bad. OK, Im exaggerating, but only a smidgeon.

It should surprise no one that the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences  or especially Pope Francis  might find common cause with Sanders worldview. Both the pope and the Bern speak of helping the disenfranchised and the poor.

But Sanders is a democratic socialist who wants to be president of the United States. And the pope is, well, the pope.

A pastoral leader who washes the feet of the homeless and eschews the elaborate trappings of the corner office, hes the real deal, as in living as Christ did, spiritually if not physically. Also like Christ, hes a radical. Just ask Sanders.

People think Bernie Sanders is radical, Sanders said Friday on MSNBCs Morning Joe. Uh-uh. Read what the pope is writing [these days].

Whats radical about this pope is that he, like both Sanders and Jesus, says fresh, untraditional things that sound an awful lot like liberal ideas. What he says (and writes) is aspirational both in scope and application. As popes often do, Francis asks us to love one another, which makes us uncomfortable because loving others ultimately means sacrificing our interests to others. This comes naturally with our children but not so much with strangers, whose behavior probably annoys us and, oftentimes, costs us money.

Sanders, who thinks more or less as Francis does, just makes us nervous. Some of us, anyway.

The core difference between the two men is that one wants to raise consciousness about our obligation to the less fortunate; the other wants to restructure Americas economic institutions to ensure that money trickles down  mandatorily rather than charitably.

Theoretically, this is a noble concept. Its how you do it that causes taxpaying citizens to seek shelter. Lets face it, most of us work hard not for the satisfaction of a well-made widget but for a paycheck. As the taxman chisels away at such monetary rewards, where goes the incentive to work hard? This is common sense, obviously, but less common than it once was, judging by the popularity of Sanders proposals.

His bid to break up the too-big-to-fail banks sounds awesome enough: Lets stick it to the fat cats and watch em squirm. But will it really help the poor, or might such draconian action ultimately hurt more than it helps?

To the larger point, the highest priest urging morality in all human endeavors, including economic policies that fail to adequately address the needs of the poor, plainly comes from the heart. Its important for Francis to speak out as a messenger for the greater good. Its important, too, that we be reminded of our moral obligation to each other.

Its his job. Its our job not to conflate a popes message of Christian charity with a political candidates promise to remake Americas economic system. The rampant individualism that Francis condemns is precisely what has driven American ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and a level of prosperity unmatched in human history.

That more people are doing less well  and the middle class has suffered  means theres work to do, but it doesnt necessarily require radical restructuring. The striving for greater equality is always a proper operating principle, but what Sanders is aiming for without saying so is equal outcomes. The imposition of equality by third parties never works very well and inevitably carries the unwelcome penalty of less freedom. Greater effort toward raising the bottom rather than tearing down the top would seem a better approach than extreme measures that likely would have a destabilizing effect.

A pope neednt worry about such things and is free to ponder the universe through the pulpits lens. He is also free to chat with politicians who share his worldview, though it isnt clear whether he and Sanders will convene.

Still, a visit to the Vatican a couple of days ahead of the New York primary surely cant hurt. If Sanders wins, one might even say it was divine intervention.
It's Divali time so at TV6 over the next few days, we bring you some of the interesting aspe
The 60 Minutes crew facing kidnapping charges in Lebanon have been remanded in custody to reappear before a judge on Monday.

Reporter Tara Brown appeared first before Judge Rami Abdullah, handcuffed and escorted by security officials. She was soon followed by Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner and later producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Ben Williamson and sound recordist David Ballment, three local men and two Britons: Adam Whittington and Craig Michael  members of the child recovery agency.

They face charges of kidnapping, harm and disrespect for authorities over the failed attempt to snatch Ms Faulkners children, who had been living with their father in Beirut. If found guilty they could face up to 20 years in jail.

Nine News boss Darren Wick also attended to support his team, but declined to comment.

Journalists were forced to delete all photos and videos on their devices before being led into the court room.

In an encouraging sign, the judge ordered Ms Faulkner to reach an agreement with her estranged husband and father of their two children Ali Elamine.

But he also stated There is no chance the charges will be dropped. It is a violation of the Lebanese law by all of these people.

From her Lebanese cell, Tara Brown said, Quite genuinely we are being treated well by the standards here, its fine, its not crowded.

It really is quite hard to gauge at the moment what is happening so we are going through a process, well see.

The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying it did now want the incident to affect the relationship between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Mr Bassil said he had given instructions to form a joint Lebanese-Australian committee to resolve the custody case of the two children.

Australians should respect Lebanese laws and the Lebanese should respect Australian laws, he said.

Source: News Corp, Fairfax, AAP
Nine has scheduled a UK documentary, President Trump: Can He Really Win?, looking at US presidential candidate Donald Trump for 9:15pm Sunday.

Donald trump has emerged as the clear front runner for the republican presidential nomination. Matt Frei investigates whether the Donald could make it all the way to the White House.

This aired in the UK at the end of March.

It screens at 9:15pm Sunday followed by the premiere of a new series Worlds Toughest Prisons at 10:20pm.

Normally you have to be a war criminal, gangland executioner, rapist or psychopath to secure a room in one of the worlds toughest prisons. Paul Connolly is none of the above but he heads to Honduras to spend a week living inside Danli Prison.

Hopefully this doesnt include Lebanese prisons.
Tonight SBS begins a six part documentary series, The Story of China.

Presenter Michael Wood takes the viewer on a historical adventure, exploring the stories, people and landscapes that have helped create Chinas distinctive character and genius over 4,000 years.

Episode One: Ancestors

Starting in Wuxi, he joins the Qin family reunion where 300 relatives gather to worship their ancestors on Tomb Sweeping Day. He journeys to the plain of the Yellow River, joins a million pilgrims at the shrine of ancient Goddess Nuwa who made the first people from the yellow mud of the Yellow River.



Travelling back in time to 2,000BCE for the origins of the Chinese state, he sees an exquisite turquoise dragon sceptre, Chinas first writing on oracle bones, and learns of the Age of Confucius, before returning to the temple fair in Henan for a ceremony to give thanks to the ancestors.



Wednesday, 13 April at 7.30pm on SBS.
Former At the Movies presenters Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton were honoured at Macquarie University with honorary doctorates for their contribution to the film industry.

This is an institution that changed my life, gave me belief in my abilities and truly contributed to the career that Ive subsequently enjoyed, Margaret Pomeranz said.

It is a glorious return to my alma mater for which I am very grateful.

She previously studied German and social psychology at the university.

Source: News Corp

Amended.
Sevens UK production arm 7 Wonder will produce E4s first ever factuality show 24 Billion Pound Party People.

The one hour title will follow nightclub entrepreneur Joe Fournier and his team of inspiring young entrepreneurs as they travel the globe putting on parties for the international jet set.

Jez Lee, Executive Producer at 7 Wonder says: The show is set in an incredibly exclusive world. At its heart, its a story about a refreshing new kind of entrepreneurialism. In an age when too many young people feel locked out of the labour market, here we have a group of inspiring twenty somethings who cant think of anything worse than taking a nine to five. Instead theyre making money on their own terms with their own ideas. The inter-personal relationships of the cast are key yet through watching the show you cant help but learn from and be inspired by the entrepreneurial energy created by this unique set of individuals.

From London to Miami, Paris to Mykonos; the show will follow Joe who is on a mission to become the worlds number one luxury lifestyle brand and mogul investing in restaurants, nightclubs and magazines along the way. At the heart of his empire is the flagship nightclub Bonbonniere, a place where the house cocktail costs 15,000 and the DJ spins tunes out of a giant Faberge egg. With competition for the high rollers hotter than ever, viewers will get exclusive access to Joe and his team as they hustle day and night to ensure the club remains at the very top of its game.
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Making a just world

A pessimist might say: theres always been injustice and always will be. At UD, were not pessimists. Where we see injustice, large and small, we ask, what can we do to change it? What can we do to make our society more equitable? The answers our students and faculty have come up with might surprise you.

Social Change
No-Cost Extension (NCE) Yes: Please return the ACR indicating 'Yes' if you are requesting a NCE or new increment of funding.

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Do not hold onto ACR until NCE has been approved.

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Involve Contract & Grant Specialist in the NCE process.

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Report data will only appear if you answer NO to the first question.

Review your Award terms and conditions to verify closeout window.

Final Technical Report: Attach proof of submission to sponsor (email, letter, or online submission), not actual report.

If no report is required as per the agreement, note that in comments section on ACR.

If all is complete on ACR except for the technical report, send ACR to RO so the financial analysis can be completed and the final invoice can be sent.

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The ACR will be returned to enable completion of the final technical report section.

Cost Share/Match: Expended Amount should be equal to or greater than committed amount.

Matching funds posted to 199700 are also posted in expended amount. If the matching funds = the expended funds, the balances listed will be zero.

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Attach spreadsheet(s) for any other required match that cannot be tagged with a Project ID, such as third party or another grant.

Indicate in the comments section any waived F&A being used, and the grand total required and met.

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restrictions or prior approvals have been followed.

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Review all charges posted to award to ensure that the proper PS account was used.

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There may be PS accounts on here that are allowable on your award. The ACR is programmed with a standard list of accounts and does not know what's been approved in your budget.

During the RO closeout review, we may also ask for justification on accounts that are not listed.

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There are very few exceptions where 153100 can remain on a purpose.

Check sponsors terms and conditions  if a property inventory is required, please attach it here.

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Monitor the subcontractor for invoices, and make sure the final invoice is requested well before the end date, if it hasnt already been submitted.

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There were two goalscoring UEFA Champions League quarter-final heroes on Tuesday night, and both match-winners deserve the plaudits that come their way.

Cristiano Ronaldo is a once-in-a-generation talent, but what Kevin De Bruyne does for Manchester City is often overlooked. De Bruyne is unlikely to be caught in a dressing-room snap on social media showing off his six-pack in his underwear, but like Ronaldo he has the ability to decide a game with a moment of magic. With 76 minutes gone against Paris Saint-Germain, the Belgian playmaker did just that; he gathered the ball outside the area with seemingly no shot on and curled in a goal that ensured City won 1-0, and 3-2 on aggregate, to reach a first UEFA Champions League semi-final.

Watch De Bruyne's winner

"It's a great feeling," De Bruyne said. "I needed to control the ball because I saw some players diving in. So I just took my shot and fortunately for us it went in."

Fortunately indeed, though he does it too often for City for it to be mere luck. Bacary Sagna told UEFA.com: "He showed class tonight, he has showed class since he joined the club," while Joe Hart added: "Quality settles competitions. They had quality, we had quality, luckily our main man from Belgium settled it tonight."

Watch: Hart hails De Bruyne

De Bruyne is not a player whose charismatic presence on a pitch can give his team a psychological edge, like say Ronaldo or the man Hart denied several times in Manchester, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. But the apparently unassuming De Bruyne possesses a flair which is subtle and efficient in a quite deadly way, popping up at just the right moment for a shot from nothing, or maybe no more than a little flick, his movement often with the poise of an accomplished classical dancer.

City's Premier League chances effectively evaporated during De Bruyne's two-month injury absence in February and March, Manuel Pellegrini's side clearly missing the man who so often finds a route out of difficulties. "Kevin has an important thing for a player  near the box he is a very dangerous player because he doesn't need too much space to have good shots," said the City manager, who paid a club-record 74m to buy De Bruyne from Wolfsburg last summer.

De Bruyne's Belgium brilliance

So now the 24-year-old, who rebuilt his club career in the Bundesliga after an unhappy spell at Chelsea, has a UEFA Champions League semi-final to look forward to, even if Ronaldo ensured that a dream match-up with former club Wolfsburg will not be on the cards for De Bruyne in Friday's draw.

"We're in the semi-final now so anything can happen," he said. "We know it's going to be a tough one but PSG wasn't an easy one either, so we're looking forward to it and we'll be ready to play."
Having faced new challenges, Ukraine is laying high hopes for the science, including in the field of military and defense technologies.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said this, welcoming the participants of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine session.

"Having faced new challenges, Ukraine is laying high hopes for the science, including in the field of military and defense technologies. That is why the implementation of the innovative potential of our state is given a significant role in the Ukraine-2020 sustainable development strategy," he stressed.

Poroshenko noted that his meetings with the leading domestic scientists had shown that the systemic interaction among the government agencies, the scientific community, the industrial and business structures was the key to effective addressing the most important issues of the economic and social development of Ukraine, strengthening its defense capacity and national security.

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Lithuania has allocated 50,000 euros in humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

A relevant report was posted on the Lithuanian Foreign Ministrys website.

The Foreign Ministry of Lithuania has allocated 50,000 euros of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, reads the report.

The funds will be transferred to the World Health Organizations account in order to provide the integrated and urgent health services and food to the Ukrainian citizens suffered as a result of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, as well as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to educate Ukrainian children how to avoid the danger of being blown up by a mine.

The ministry also noted that Lithuania in such a way is contributing to the international communitys efforts in providing urgent humanitarian aid to Ukraine and saving about 3.1 million residents of the conflict zone or those injured as a result of the conflict.

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Canada has the common border with Russia, so it faces the threats which Ukraine experiences now.

Such an opinion was expressed by Canadian MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Canada has special relations with Ukraine as over 1.2 million Canadians of Ukrainian descent live here. However, there is another aspect of our relationship, which is developing now, namely the fact that Ukraine and Canada are the allies since both countries have a long, unprotected border with Russia," Wrzesnewskyj said.

He noted that Russia had already violated the border of both Ukraine and Canada.

In his opinion, "Ukraine and Canada face the same challenges, but Ukraine is at the forefront now."

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Ukraine is interested in strengthening the role of United Nations Secretary-General in the Ukrainian issue, thats why it actively discusses this question.

Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, Volodymyr Yelchenko, told Ukrinform.

"For us it is crucially important that the next Secretary-General provide the implementation of UN resolutions that respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, Yelchenko said.

He also stressed that Ukraine, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2016-2017, "is standing for strengthening the role of the UN Secretary General in the Ukrainian issue.

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The continuation of the reform process in Ukraine is a key element in strengthening Europes common security based on democracy, the rule of law and a free market economy in both the member states as well as in Europes Eastern neighbours.

The Association Agreements (AA) which have been signed and ratified with Ukraine, as well as with Georgia and Moldova by all the 28 EU countries provide an essential framework for these reforms which work for the mutual benefit of the Ukrainian people and the Member States of the European Union. All stand to gain from the establishment of a free trade area and a sphere of democracy and rule of law with Ukraine and other countries that signed the Association Agreements. The result of the referendum saw a mere one fifth of the Dutch electorate voting to reject ratification of the AA with Ukraine and an overwhelming majority failed to vote at all. This shows that the issue is far from agreed in Dutch society. Accordingly, while the Dutch government and the States General must respect the result of the referendum, the Steering Committee calls on them to conduct a determined search for ways to salvage the main elements of the AA.

This includes the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) part which provisionally came into force with Ukraine on January 1 2016 and can only be suspended with the agreement of all of the other EU member states. Support for the Ukrainian people on their path of prowestern reforms, which underpin their independence and future prosperity must continue. The importance of the continuation of these reforms cannot be overstated. Their success will provide a key example to those states in Eastern Europe like Russia, which continue to cling to authoritarian models of government and are actively attempting to block reforms in the region. At a time of growing international tension the decision to reject ratification taken in the referendum by a minority of voters was ill advised in the least. Evidently, the pro-ratification arguments were not sufficiently deployed in the period before the referendum. This is a task, to which the Dutch authorities and politicians must return. We also appeal to Dutch civil society to help mobilise Dutch opinion in favour of pro-European reforms. The unfortunate result of the 6 April referendum also shows that the case for reform in Eastern Europe needs to be made more effectively to public opinion in other member states. This is a weakness which must be addressed. This is also a task for the Civil Society Forum which must reach out more to civil society organisations in the member states, which are currently underrepresented in the CSF. The referendum result show that much work must still be done if the EUs Eastern Neighbourhood Policy is to be protected from challenges by Eurosceptic minorities as has happened in the Netherlands.

Mark Rutte, Minister-President, the Netherlands Bert Koenders, Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands Ankie Broekers-Knol, President of the Senate, the Netherlands Khadija Arib, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Netherlands Donald Tusk, President, European Council Federica Mogherini, Vice-President of the European Commission, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Jean-Claude Juncker, President, European Commission Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Martin Schulz, President, European Parliament Ministers of Foreign Affairs, EU Member States
France will continue to support Ukraine and its association with the EU despite the results of the referendum in the Netherlands.

Spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry Romain Nadal said this in a commentary to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The President made the relevant statement during the joint press conference with Merkel," the diplomat said.

Romain Nadal, referring to the words of the President, recalled that the consultative referendum had been held in the Netherlands, which, in fact, carried consequences only for the Dutch government.

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A displaced Congolese woman sits outside a shelter in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, 2014 file photo.  UNHCR/F.Noy

GOMA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, April 13 (UNHCR) - Fighting between the Congolese army and rebel forces has forced tens of thousands of people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to move out of four sites for the internally displaced.

Between late March and late last week, some 36,000 people left the Mpati, Kivuye, Nyange and Bweru sites - three of them managed by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, through a local partner - in the Masisi district of DRC's North Kivu province.

"UNHCR is extremely worried about the welfare of these people, who are reported by our partners to be in a desperate situation after becoming displaced again," said UNHCR Regional Representative Stefano Severe. "We urge the authorities and the rival parties to ensure that the basic human rights of displaced people are respected and that they are found safe alternative shelter," he added.

While many have found refuge in other UNHCR-supported sites for internally displaced people (IDP), others are camping in schools and on the grounds of churches. Some three quarters of them are women and children and many are sleeping in banana fields near the vacated sites without adequate shelter.

UNHCR and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) left on Monday to assess the situation and needs. "Local partners have told us that the newly displaced lack food and access to health care. Many are extremely vulnerable and were living in extreme poverty," Severe said. Initial reports indicate that some people wished to return to the sites but were unable to do so.

The refugee agency is also worried that more sites in the same area may be affected as the army continues operations against the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and allied armed groups. UNHCR urges the authorities to protect civilians living in these sites, while ensuring their civilian nature.

Mpati, the biggest of the four sites with about 25,000 inhabitants, was emptied in late March and those forced to flee claimed that their belongings were taken, while a medical centre and equipment belonging to humanitarian organizations were looted. Locals also left but were able to return later. The military may have targeted suspected armed elements hiding among the civilian population.

The latest displacement in Masisi come at a tense time in volatile and lawless North Kivu, where violence is a way of life. Ethnic tensions have been reported from many areas, and the forced population movement could exacerbate the situation.

There are some 1.5 million internally displaced people in the DRC, including more than 610,000 in North Kivu. Most of the displaced in the province live among the host community. Before the latest developments there were also 55 IDP sites. These included 27 managed by UNHCR and hosting some 145,000 people.
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Tata Steel sold its UK long products business for 1 to Greybull capital in an agreement that will bring back British Steel brand while saving 4,400 jobs. The investment group bought the Indian company's Long Products Europe division located in Scunthorpe, northern England.

Since the latter part of 2015 Greybull and Tata had been negotiating on the sale of its long products business. The deal excludes the Port Talbot steelworks or the rest of Tata's UK business employing about 15,000 staff where it seeks buyer after announcing its sale last month.

The deal will keep open in Scunthorpe a steelworks; there will be two mills in Teesside and an engineering workshop in Workington. There will also be a mill in northern France and a design consultancy and associated distribution facilities in York, as reported by The Guardian.

The Scunthorpe plant deal that Tata tried to sell since 2014 before announcing talks with Greybull were already in process in December and expected to be completed in 2 months subject to certain conditions being met. The purchase will revive the brand 'British Steel', a historic name last used almost 20 years ago.

"We're expecting the company to be profitable in year one and that's very much the management plan," said Meyohas, who co-founded Greybull in 2008 after 12 years as CEO of technology services company Cityspace.

The sale to Greybull with a nominal pound or 1 will include a 400 million financing package and investment for the Scunthorpe business along with agreements with suppliers and unions on cutting costs, according to Daily News & Analysis.

Tata Steel almost has $4 billion or Rs 26,500 crore debts on its UK balance sheet out of the overall consolidated debt of nearly $11.3 billion or Rs 75,000 crore. No debt information related to individual steelmaking facilities in the UK had been disclosed, reports The Economic Times.

Steelworkers embraced the rescue plan after two years of doubt but asked the government's support for the industry's recovery.
Honda, the Japan-based automaker, widened its sales portfolio to a robust 4,500 touch points from nearly 800 outlets. Honda's market share increased to 26% from 15% at the end of March 2011, when the automaker terminated its partnership with the Indian-based motorcycle maker Hero. The increase in market share was helped by growth factors like advanced network systems, the wide range of products and the developing scooter industry. However, Hero still remains a dominant seller of motorcycles in the country.

Sales from Bajaj Auto propelled the automaker's largest gain. Bajaj's market share dropped to 11.5% from 20% in the Indian motorcycle industry. Meanwhile, Hero's share faced a downward slide to 39% from 44%, hurt by volatility in rural sales and consecutive unusual monsoons that adversely affected two-wheeler sales in the country, Business Standard reported.

Hero invested roughly Rs 850 crore in opening a new R&D plant near Jaipur in March. The two-wheeler maker aims to employ 600 engineers at the new facility by 2016 end. Markus Braunsperger, chief technology officer, will control operations at the Jaipur centre. In addition, Hero's growth strategy also includes the launch of Maestro Edge and Duet, exclusively for Indian markets. The launch mirrored hero's desire to gain from the growing scooter market.

Maestro Edge and Duet fuelled sales in Hero's scooter unit to 9% in 2015 and elevated its share near to 20% in most periods after September. According to Pawan Munjal, chief executive officer and chairman of Hero, raw materials prices combined with efficient growth plans boosted the company's balance sheet.

Honda also claimed that it has invested the money, which it had earned from Indian markets, in widening its business portfolio. Y. S Guleria, senior vice president of Honda's marketing unit, said, "While we have expanded to 4,500 points. Any new network needs to create its own connect with the local population before it starts performing at an optimum level."

Currently, Hero shares are trading up 58.15 points at Rs. 3034.70, an increase of 1.95% from its past closing price of Rs. 2976.55 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The stock reached a high end of Rs 3047.85 and a low end of Rs 2973.10 during the trading session, livemint reported.

Meanwhile, AutoGuide reported that Honda has recalled 2004 to 2007 Accord model for having the wrong airbag installed into its system. Honda noted that the recalled cars have a traveller front airbag version, which is designed for vehicles in South America. The versions were wrongly installed during the manufacturing process in the US and that it does not obey federal rules.

The global automotive industry is struggling to boost its sales performance amid the sluggish economy around the world. Honda and Hero implement various business strategies to gain customers' confidence.
General Motors Company (GM) has finally started winning lawsuits concerning safety measures due to faulty ignition switches. The Detroit based automaker has won the fourth bellwether lawsuit on Friday following two years of legal and financial consequences.

The largest automobile manufacturer in the US has prevailed in three injury lawsuits so far, including the Friday's dismissal. The third case involving a fatal accident, popularly known as Yingling case, has been settled last week prior to initiation of trial. GM has been facing litigation to resolve hundreds of remaining claims related to the recalling of 2.6 million small cars with faulty ignition switches, reports The New York Times.

The second trial for a 2014 car accident has ended in GM's favor following verdict for no compensation by the jurors during the end of March. However, the jurors observe that GM has failed to warn the public about the safety risks involved in the switches while pronouncing the verdict. The first trial has been dismissed abruptly in January following allegations of misleading testimony by the complainant, reports InAutoNews.

Following dismissal of the fourth out of six lawsuits, stock of GM has been witnessed to rise by 1.12% to $29.69 in a mid-afternoon trading on Monday. The six cases, selected as bellwethers from hundreds of lawsuits blaming the ignition switches for injuries or deaths. The switch may cause engines to stall while cutting power to brake, steering and air bag systems, according to a report published in TheStreet.
Microsoft announced that the company pledges to sign up for the new EU-U.S. data pact, the Privacy Shield. The company said it has reviewed the pact's documentation in detail and believes that it should be approved.

After the announcement on Monday, Microsoft became the first major U.S. tech company to officially stated it would endorse the privacy pact between EU and the U.S. It means the tech giant would transfer users' information to the United States using a new transatlantic commercial data pact. Also, the company agreed to resolve any disputes with European privacy watchdogs, as reported by Reuters.

The Privacy Shield is a data pact imposes stronger obligations on U.S. companies to protect Europeans' personal data. The pact was ruled by the European Court of Justice, demanding U.S. companies to cooperate with European Data Protection Authorities. However, the agreement seemed to not received enough support both from U.S. tech companies and even EU data protection authorities.

Amid the lack of support from U.S. tech companies, Microsoft has decided to lean towards the agreement. In a blog post, the company's vice president of European government affairs John Frank wrote, "I'm pleased to announce today that Microsoft pledges to sign up for the Privacy Shield, and we will put in place new commitments to advance privacy as this instrument is implemented."

Furthermore, Frank said that the company has reviewed the agreement's documentation in detail. As a result, they believe that it should be approved. The company also argued that the Privacy Shield represents an effective framework. Others have criticized the pact's framework for failing to address the wider concerns about U.S. surveillance.

Frank added that additional steps are still needed to improve the Privacy Shield, from aspects like "additional domestic legislation to modernisation of mutual legal assistance treaties and new bilateral and ultimately multilateral agreements".

As for now, Microsoft is opening itself to respond to any complaints about its participation in the data privacy agreement. The company will respond complaints within 45 days while working to resolve any disputes under the agreement, as reported by Computing. The company will also meet with EU data protection bodies to discuss further about the data-sharing framework.

Microsoft became the first major U.S. tech company to endorse the EU-U.S. agreement on data privacy, the Privacy Shield. The company is responding to any complaints within 45 days while discussing the matter further with EU data protection officials, as well as resolve disputes accordingly.
Ken Paxton, Attorney General for Texas has been sued by the US regulators on Monday for being allegedly involved in a stock scam. The scam involves defrauding investors in a Texas based company, naming Servergy Inc.

The software company and its former chief executive officer, William Mapp have been accused of selling private stock while misleading investors about energy efficiency of its single product. US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed the lawsuit. Paxton has allegedly been working for raising investor funds on behalf of the company without disclosing his commissions, reports Reuters.

In addition to the civil filing by the SEC, a related criminal lawsuit has also been filed against Paxton on the allegation of Securities fraud. Notably mentioning, Paxton has been indicted by a Texas state grand jury during last year in two fraud charges connected to stock sales and compensation from Servergy, according to a report published in CNBC.

Paxton, a Tea Party Republican, has also been facing charges on accusation of illegally acting as a securities agent on behalf of another firm run by a political ally. However, a spokesperson for Paxton has denied the allegation citing the suit as politically motivated.

The Texan software company has already cut ties with Mapp. It has also agreed counting penalty of $200,000 to settle the SEC's charges without acknowledging or denying the charges brought against it by the US regulators.
In its first transparency report, ride-hailing service Uber revealed that the company has received hundreds of information requests from various US law enforcement agencies and regulators. Most of the requests from law enforcement agencies were related to investigations of crime including fraud, theft, or assault.

According to the report, Uber received more than 415 data requests on its riders and drivers between July and December 2015. Furthermore, the report elaborated that the company was able to provide data in nearly 85 percent of the cases, revealing information on more than 12 million riders and drivers to different US regulators, as reported by Reuters. Uber had also provided information on 469 users to state and federal law agencies.

Of all the information requests issued by agencies or regulators, a large percentage of them were regarding investigations of fraud or stolen credit cards. In the report, the company said that each request was first reviewed to ensure legal requirements. After conducting reviews, a team will decide whether to comply, reject, or limit its scope.

Uber reported that it "fully complied" with almost 32 percent of the overall number of requests. They "partially complied" with over 52 percent of the requests, and the remaining 15 percent were either rejected or being withdrawn by the law enforcements, as noted by The Verge. "Among other things, requests must be narrowly tailored to a legitimate law enforcement need; we object to overly broad, vague or unreasonable requests," the report explained.

According to The Guardian, the company claimed that the amount of data request from US law enforcement agencies and regulators are too much. Also, the practice of handing data to regulators, enabling them to monitor rides and drivers could be raising privacy issues for the service's users, as well as competitive concerns for the company itself.

The company also complained that many of the data requests from agencies and regulators are sent without ample explanations on why the information is needed, or how it will be used. Regulators argued that they collect such data to ensure transportation companies properly serve the public. Law enforcements, on the other hand, claimed to use the information to assist criminal investigations.

Ride-hailing service Uber revealed in its first transparency report that the company has received more than 415 requests for data from US law enforcements and agencies and regulators in the last six months of 2015. The company said that it has provided data for the majority of the requests, whether fully or limited. The data were reportedly used to assist investigations or monitor public serving.
California administrative law judge recommended the approval of proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks by Charter Communications Inc on some conditions. The decision was announced late Tuesday.

Charter Comminication Inc made a $56 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable (TWC) last year in May. Prior to acquire TWC, in March 2015, Charter also acquired Bright House Networks in a $10.4 billion deal. Those acquisitions will make Charter as the second largest Internet and cable company in the US behind Comcast.

The acquisition is now waiting for regulatory approval from several states as well as from FCC. Last week Charter CEO met the head of FCC to discuss the deal. California is the last state that has not decided, and California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) is scheduled on May 12 to vote on the matter.

On Tuesday, judge Administrative Law Judge at CPUC Karl Bemesderfer proposed the state of California to approve the merger, as the deal was in the public interest. Reuters reported that judge Bemesderfer in his 70-page proposed decision also imposed significant conditions on Charter.

Some of the conditions are requiring Charter to convert all California's households in the company's service territory to a digital platform with minimum download speed of 60Mbps. This must be achieved within two and a half years of closing the transaction. Charter must also allow its customers in California to acquire their own modems and cable set-top boxes without any price increases.

Los Angeles Times reported that judge Bemesderfer said the cable merger would bring several advantages to customers in California. That include faster Internet speeds and more wireless hot-spots. Judge Bemesderfer also acknowledged the acquisition made a less than ideal situation, because Charter will become the only provider of broadband Internet service in some areas.

"The merger of smaller monopolists into a bigger monopoly does little to worsen the situation of customers who are already faced with take-it-or-leave-it offers from their local cable service provider," said judge Bemesderfer in his recommendation.

In a statement following the judge recommendation, Charter Communication said that the company was "pleased the regulatory process is moving forward and will continue our productive engagement at the California Public Utilities Commission as we work toward obtaining final approval in the weeks ahead and bringing the benefits of New Charter to more Californians."

Bloomberg reported that if Charter acquisition is approved, in California the new company will have the coverage to nearly 6.4 million households in California. While in the Los Angeles market Charter will acquire 87% cable video subscribers as its customers.

On Tuesday, California administrative law judge recommended to approve acquisition of Time Warner Cable by Charter Communications with certain conditions. Judge Karl Bemesderfer said the acquisition was in the public interest.
Goldman Sachs must pay $5 billion settlement for its mortgage-backed securites before 2008 financial crisis. The bank agreed on Monday to pay the settlement to Justice Department.

Washington Times reported that US Justice Department said Goldman Sachs was misleading its investors to buy securities backed by shaky mortgages in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis. The settlement required the bank to pay nearly $2.4 billion in civil penalties and $1.8 billion relief to homeowners who are underwater on their loans. The lender must also pay settlement to other states and federal claims at the amount of $875 million.

Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart F. Delery told the press regarding the settlement, "This resolution holds Goldman Sachs accountable for its serious misconduct in falsely assuring investors that securities it sold were backed by sound mortgages, when it knew that they were full of mortgages that were likely to fail."

In 2012, US president Obama established a Residential Mortgage Backed Securities working group to investigate mortgage-backed securities sold by banks. CNBC reported the agreement followed similar settlement with Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the wake of the financial crisis.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest welcomed the settlement saying, "I think obviously the president believes that people should be held accountable for their actions, and that's particularly true if there is a situation in which your actions may have been a contributor to the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression."

However expert disagreed the settlement effectively prevent another misconduct by banks. A professor of law and economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City William Black told CBS News the fine print in the deal effectively insulates Goldman from further civil litigation.

He noted the settlement vaguely mentioned the bank were aware of dodgy mortgages in its possession as a "certain loan pools" to sell to its investors. However it failed to specify which loan pools that contain defective mortgages.

"It is fundamentally more of the same -- no prosecution of the culpable elites, no one fired and no one has their fraudulent proceeds 'clawed back," Black said. "This makes it useless for a plaintiff lawyer bringing a complaint based on particular loan pools."

As a result, Black predicts the settlement will have "zero deterrent effect" on big banks. Professor William Black was a former top financial regulator who helped disclosing frauds and putting hundred of bankers locked up in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the agreed settlement, Goldman Sachs must pay $5 billion settlement over its troubled mortgage-backed securities. The settlement follow similar agreement reached with other firms, but expert said the settlement does not hinder banks to do another financial misconduct.
Oil futures in Asian trade has tumbled in early trade on Wednesday following profit taking amid growing concern over a larger-than-expected build in U.S. crude stocks. The US crude stock has apparently overweighed a report that Russia and Saudi Arabia have reached an agreement on an oil output cap.

Prices for Brent crude LCOc1 have dropped 37 cents to $44.32 a barrel as of 0037 GMT. The drop takes place after hitting a fourth-month high just in its previous session settling up $1.86 or 4.3%. Meanwhile, US crude CLc1 has dropped 46 cents to $41.71 a barrel after settling up $1.81 or 4.48% during the previous day, reports Reuters.

A firmer US Dollar has also caused pressuring oil prices. A stronger greenback has made dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Asian Time Zone has started taking a few profit due to rise in oil prices, reports Business Standard quoting Jonathan Barrat, chief investment officer at Sydney's Ayers Alliance. It is natural to expect that oil production will be increased due to rise in prices. But investors are in grave concern over higher curtailing moves by oil producers including Russia and Saudi Arabia. Concerns for oil have started to grow following a consensus reached in between Saudi Arabia and Russia on Tuesday regarding an oil output freeze. However, the consensus takes place ahead of an oil producers' meeting in Doha on April 17, according to a report published in Daily Mail. Barrat finds no reason for a freeze whenever oil is at $50 per barrel. He expects an output cap whenever the price moves back to $35 a barrel and rhetoric at $50. Meanwhile, industry group, the American Petroleum Institute revealed data suggests that US crude stock has increased to 536.3 million last week. The figure has been compared to analyst expectations for a 1.9-million barrel increase. However, official data from US Energy Information Administration (EIA) is scheduled to be released on Wednesday. EIA's short term energy outlook, published on Tuesday, has forecast that US crude production will fall by 560,000 barrels per day to 8.04 million barrels in 2017. Meanwhile, demand of oil inside the US will increase by 190,000 barrels per day. During the same period, global oil demand is expected to climb to 1.16 million barrels per day.

Oil producers including Russia and Saudi Arabia have decided to cut production amid such a situation whenever its prices hit a four-moth high. Such a decision by the oil producers seems to be unusual whenever oil prices are soaring. However, the US has secured its position amid volatile market situation through maintaining larger-than-expected crude oil stock.
European Union antitrust regulator resumed its review on Halliburton's acquisition of Baker Hughes. European Comision will decide on the matter by August 11, whether to approve or reject the deal.

Previously US authorities decided to veto the acquisition, deemed it as uncompetitive. Last week, US Justice Department had prepared lawsuit to block acquisition of Baker Hughes. Justice Department remarked the divestation plan Halliburton's assets did not fulfill antitrust law's requirement, so the government prepared to block the deal.

In order to smooth the deal and fulfill the antitrust regulation, Halliburton has offered to divest over $5 billion of its assets. However, the Houston-based company has not made formal offer.

In Europe, the European Commission also expressed similar concern. Reuters reported EU antitrust authority has previously expressed concerns that the deal may reduce competition and innovation. Last month, the European Commission stopped its review for the second time, waiting for more detail information from the companies.

"Once the requested missing information is provided the Commission restarts the clock," Ricardo Cardoso, the spokesman for European Commission spokesman said in an email. According to Upstream, European Commission will now decide by 11 August whether to clear or veto the takeover.

In November 2014, Halliburton acquire Baker Hughes on a $35 billion deal. Both Halliburton and Baker Hughes are the industry leader in the oil field service industry, as the second and third biggest companies. Merger between them will strengthen the company to become second largest oil field service provider, behind Schlumberger which is still the largest in the industry.

USA Today reported that with combined 2015 revenue of $39.3 billion, Halliburton and Baker Hughes control a nearly 16% market share in the oilfield services field, based on IBISWorld data. Both companies provided a wide range of oil services, ranging from oil-well completions, cementing and drilling.

US antitrust authorities and its European counterpart have concern that merger between those two companies will reduce the competition in the oil field service industry. Merger will create a duopoly in the oil field service as Schlumberger and the new Halliburton will be the sole dominant players in the 20 business lines of oil field service company in the world.

Head of US Antitrust Division, the assistant attorney general Bill Baer said that the deal was so anti-competitive that it should never have made it out of the boardroom. He said the merger posed a serious threat to competition and wasn't fixable.

"I have never seen one that poses so many antitrust problems in so many markets," Baer told USA Today. "Our lawsuit should surprise no one."

Meanwhile in Europe, the antitrust regulator continued its investigation on the Halliburton and Baker Hughes deal. The European Commission plan to reach decision by August 11 to whether approve or veto the deal.
The US government faced a steady increase in March budget scarcity, leading to a higher deficit in the first half year period compared to the previous year period. The budget deficit doubled to $108.0 billion in March 2016, marking the highest March deficit since four years, according to the US Treasury report.

The increase was mainly due to the calendar shifts that pushed a $36 billion payment benefit into February, making deficit in 2015 smaller than the present scarcity.

The budget deficit for the first half of 2016 amounted to $461.0 billion, up 4.9% from the corresponding period in 2015. Meanwhile, the Congress is expecting a bigger deficit for 2016. The Congress expects 2016 budget deficit to be $534 billion, up 21.9% from a deficit of $439 billion in the previous year. The budget deficit in 2015 marked the lowest in eight years, The Washington Post.

Currently, government receipts value $1.476 trillion, an increase of 4% from the previous year period. While the government expenditure during the first half increased 4.2% to $1.937 trillion from the previous year period. According to the CBO, the government must reform expenditure and tax policies in order to halt the increase in the deficit, which would reach $1 trillion annually from 2022. The CBO expects the deficit to reach $9.3 trillion annually in the following decade.

The retirement of baby boomers in the next few years will cause a rise in expenses associated with their Medicare and Social Security, leading to a deficit growth in the next decade. The congress agreed to a budget structure in December, which boosted government expenditure by $1.14 trillion in 2016 and also provided a tax reduction of $680 billion in the following decade.

The US has reduced its military budget by 25% in the past five years, according to reports. Meanwhile, Donald Trump, a Republican candidate for the US presidential election, condemned the US defence back up for several nations like South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Germany.

In 2014, the net US military expenditure amounted to nearly $3.8 trillion, including a 0.9% of US help to foreign nations and a 0.16% of training and military aid to the foreign military. The US provided a very minute monetary assistance to foreign military, offering just $10,000 to Saudi Arabia in 2014, while Saudi Arabia brought over $2 billion of military construction and tool services in 2016, as reported by FACTCHECK.

According to MarketWatch, March spending increased 17% to $336 billion from the corresponding period in 2015, with higher expenses in areas of Medicare, defence programs, and other related costs. Net receipts during March totalled $228 billion, down 3% from March 2015. Individual earnings and workforce taxes dropped by 1% in March 2016, while business tax receipts declined by 2%.

The country's fiscal year starts from October to September. The US is attempting to lower its budget scarcity amid serious global challenges.
A group of European data privacy authorities is in the process to review the EU-U.S. data pact, the Privacy Shield. Reports said that the European privacy watchdogs could ask for a review in two years.

The EU data protection authorities are now assessing whether to endorse the pact between the EU and the United States. Under the pact, U.S. tech companies are obliged to more strongly protect Europeans' personal data. The pact requires U.S. companies to monitor and enforce the protection of privacy, also cooperate more closely with European data protection authorities.

The group now assessing the Privacy Shield consists of 28 EU data protection authorities. According to Reuters, the regulators still have concerns regarding the effectiveness of the pact. One of them is concern over the independence of a new U.S. "ombudsperson" that will be responsible for handling EU complaints about U.S. surveillance practices.

Another issue to be examined further is the threshold on how much data U.S. government agents can collect as well as access. Also, the privacy watchdogs have doubts about the U.S. confidence that Europeans' data conveyed to the U.S. will not be subject to indiscriminate mass surveillance.

The watchdogs group is expected to announce its result of the assessment of the Privacy Shield later this week. According to The Hill, the regulators may ask for another review of the Privacy Shield two years from now. In 2018, a stricter EU data protection law will come into force, changing the broad context for the whole framework so that another review might need to be conducted at the time.

Many believe that an agreement to endorse the pact will not be reached by the regulators. In what seems to be a leaked document, it's revealed that the group was "not yet in a position to confirm that the current draft adequacy decision does, indeed, ensure a level of protection in the U.S. that is essentially equivalent to that in the EU". SC Magazine reports that the leak came from the German Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) last week.

If the European privacy watchdogs announce that they do approve the framework, it must still clear other processes to be finalized by both the EU and U.S. governments. Even if it's finalized between the governments, the European Court of Justice can still weigh in on its validity.

Reports revealed that the group of 28 EU privacy watchdogs working to assess the Privacy Shield may ask for another review of the EU-U.S. pact in 2018. The pact was designed to regulate Europeans' privacy protection by U.S. tech companies.
STOCK PHOTO Ventura County Board of Education conference building. 07/01/14 Camarillo, CA

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By Michele Willer-Allred, Special to The Star

The former Moorpark Community High School site will soon be known as the Career Education Center East County, a hub for career and technical educational programs for high school students, and potentially an adult education school.

The Moorpark Unified School District board on Tuesday approved a five-year agreement with the Ventura County Office of Education and the district to bring career education offerings to Moorpark through a program called VC Innovates, which is funded by the California Careers Pathways Trust grants.

The board also approved a five-year lease agreement with VCOE for the property at 5700 Condor Ave. Initially it will be used for instructional areas for career technical education and Regional Occupational Programs for students.

"We're really working hard to bring career education front and center here in the county, so when we heard that there may be an opportunity to expand our footprint and bring some of those great offerings here to the wonderful community of Moorpark, we became very excited about that opportunity," said Roger Rice, deputy superintendent for student services at VCOE.

Students from Community High were moved to Moorpark High School last year because of declining enrollment, limited curriculum, and the possibility that Community High would lose accreditation because of a lack of lab-ready rooms.

Tiffany Morse, executive director of career education at VCOE, said some of the offerings would include a mix of technology, medical, and specialized classes, such as hospitality and engineering, intended to supplement career pathways already done at the high school.

VCOE already has a Career Education Center next to the Camarillo Airport.

Morse said the center expanded its offerings from 30 classes to about 80 classes last year, and now students living in the east county won't have to travel to Camarillo.

Morse said the county is proposing a phased approach with its new center in Moorpark, opening first for two days a week and eventually to four days a week.

The facility will have computer labs, medical rooms and a tech lab.

Priority will be given to Moorpark students, but classes will be open to other students in the county.

The program will primarily serve students in grades 9-12, but when appropriate, middle school and adult education students will also be served.

VCOE will pay the district $1 a year for five years beginning July 1 for the lease of the property, with the option to renew on June 30, 2020.

Moorpark will receive about $200,000 in funding this next year for the career pathways program, but there will be no cost to students or the district for the classes. VCOE will assume responsibility for all day-to-day operational expenditures.

The opening of a Career Educational Center in Moorpark is good news for the district as school officials look for ways to bolster attendance.

Officials cited declining enrollment as one of the reasons the district received a "qualified" certification, which means the district may or may not be able to meet its financial obligations for the fiscal year.

During the public comment portion of Tuesday's meeting, Jeff Donabedian, a parent and Moorpark resident, said declining enrollment had been noted in every financial report since 2011. He said auditors had cautioned management about financial problems.

"How the heck was this missed? This financial crisis is no surprise. It means that people were asleep at the wheel or incompetent at their job," Donabedian said. "The most basic warning signs were missed or ignored. As a resident and parent, I'm appalled that this is happening."
SHARE Greg Totten

By Cheri Carlson and Kathleen Wilson

A Sacramento senator has proposed changing state law to strengthen a physician's role in determining results of autopsies, a move he said would ensure the public's confidence in the process.

Sen. Richard Pan introduced Senate Bill 1189, calling for California to require specially trained forensic pathologists to determine results of an autopsy. The legislation also is expected to define professional standards to address concerns raised by an investigation of the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office, he said.

Earlier this year, the District Attorney's Office found several cases in which a supervising investigator with no medical license conducted postmortem exams while then-Chief Medical Examiner Jon Smith was on vacation. Smith emailed directions to the investigator while thousands of miles away in May 2015, county records show.

"We are in conversations with the (state) medical board and forensic pathologists about what is appropriate supervision and what is the professional standard for being able to say that you've actually, truly done an autopsy where you can certify to the findings of that autopsy," Pan, a Democrat, said last week.

"We're still working on specifics," he said. "I think overall what we want to do is be sure that we have appropriate standards in the law that will ensure public confidence in autopsy findings."

This week, District Attorney Greg Totten said Pan's bill merits serious consideration by the Legislature but he favors adding additional protections.

"California law is woefully inadequate for the purposes of setting professional standards in this area," Totten said.

He wants the law to define what an autopsy is, state who is qualified to perform one, and specify the roles of pathologists and pathology assistants. Totten said the level of supervision of the assistants should be addressed.

"Most of us would think that if you are supervising somebody who is removing biological specimens and other tissue from a decedent, that means you are in the exam room as opposed to somewhere in the state or building," Totten said.

The Ventura County District Attorney's Office found the level of supervision that Smith exercised inappropriate but not illegal after conducting an eight-month investigation. The agency recommended that legislative hearings be held to clarify legal standards.

Smith, who was terminated at the end of August, remains fully licensed as a physician in California.

State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, who represents Ventura County, has signed on as a co-author of Pan's bill, which is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Health Committee next week.

One of the goals of the proposed legislation is to more clearly define what is considered an autopsy and that such an exam is the practice of medicine, said Jackson, D-Santa Barbara.

"We really need to make sure that these procedures are done by the appropriate personnel," she said.

Totten sent a letter to request a meeting with Pan last week but has not yet spoken with him. Last month he talked with key state legislators on potential reforms during meetings in Sacramento.

Besides contacting Jackson and other legislators representing the Ventura County area, Totten said he spoke with Mark Stone, chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, and the chief of staff to Jim Wood, head of the Assembly Health Committee.

Totten said Monday that he would like Pan's bill to make it "very, very clear" that conducting an autopsy is the practice of medicine. Although that is the view of many doctors, county prosecutors found no California statute that clearly defines it that way in the course of their investigation.

Coroners, who are often sheriffs without medical degrees, are allowed to do autopsies under a 1970 state attorney general's opinion. The opinion has never been updated.

Pan said SB 1189 would help clarify the role of the medical examiner in the autopsy process.

"We know there's a role for the coroner, but we need to make sure there's direct access to findings from the medical examiner," he said.

Pan, a pediatrician, said staff is getting input from the medical community, forensic pathologists, sheriff's officials and others. "We are working with stakeholders to ensure that as we're finalizing the language in the bill, we're addressing concerns that they may have," he said.
STAR FILE PHOTO

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By Staff Reports

Three adults and one minor were arrested early Wednesday at CSU Channel Islands in connection with a vehicle stolen out of Los Angeles, authorities said.

Campus police responded about 12:30 a.m. to a report of suspicious people in a vehicle on Ventura Street heading toward University Drive. The caller indicated the people said they were lost and were asking for directions, but did not appear affiliated with the university.

A police officer spotted the vehicle and stopped the driver near a parking lot after observing a traffic violation, authorities said. The officer then realized the car had been reported stolen, authorities said.

As the people from the vehicle were being detained, the officer noticed the driver had a stab wound on his abdomen. The man said he had been stabbed somewhere in Los Angeles, but didn't provide any details of the incident. He was taken to Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, was released and ultimately was arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft.

The other three suspects were accused of the same charge, authorities said.

The adult suspects were identified as Pedro Tovar, 19, Jesus Hernandez-Vasquez, 20, and Jessica Chavez, 19, all of Los Angeles. The juvenile was a 17-year-old male who was wanted on an arrest warrant out of Los Angeles, authorities said.
ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Dr. Kamyar Assil (right), a Thousand Oaks pain specialist, gives an injection aimed at pinpointing the source of chronic back pain. Assil said he works to lower people's dependency on opioids using other treatments like the injections.

SHARE ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Dr. Kamyar Assil conducts a pain-control procedure called radio frequency neurotomy that can provide relief for a year. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Dr. Kamyar Assil (right) and anesthetist Donna Funky perform a procedure at the Saxon Surgical Center in Thousand Oaks. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR A patient undergoes pain therapy that consists of two injection treatments aimed at pinpointing the sources of the pain and a third treatment in which nerve endings are stunted. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Dr. Kamyar Assil (left) tries to pinpoint the source of a patient's chronic back pain.

By Tom Kisken of the Ventura County Star

Public health leaders and regulators worry about opioid addiction, death and abuse. Michael Fiddes worries about pain.

"It feels like a cross between a steady pressure and occasionally someone sticking an ice pick in your back," said the 74-year-old Ventura man of the back pain related to his Parkinson's disease.

Fiddes uses a patch to take fentanyl, one of many addictive painkillers in the government's crosshairs.

Officials for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urge primary care doctors to prescribe the powerful painkillers known as opioids only when there are no other alternatives in new recommendations released in March.

That same month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration mandated new warning labels detailing the risk of abuse, overdose and death from fast-acting opioids, a long list that includes oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine.

California public health officials are issuing public alerts about at least 10 deaths in the Sacramento area attributed to fentanyl, a drug the CDC says is 80 times more powerful than morphine.

In Ventura County, 90 deaths in 2014 were linked to prescription drugs, an increase over the 50 deaths in 2008.

Fiddes understands the risks. But fentanyl is the one drug that usually controls his pain without making him nauseous.

That trumps all else.

"What I worry about is losing access to it," he said. "I think much more attention needs to be paid to patients' pain. Because it's real."

Pain ripples

The opioid crisis and the government crackdown creates ripples that affect not only patients like Fiddes but doctors whose practices revolve around pain.

Dr. Kamyar Assil, a Thousand Oaks pain management specialist who will soon join a countywide practice called Ventura Orthopedics, works to lower dependency on opioids.

He weans people off the medications, using other methods like spinal injections that by numbing a nerve can help pinpoint the source of pain. Precisely measured heat from radio waves can block a nerve's ability to express pain in a treatment called radio frequency neurotomy. It can provide relief for as long as a year.

Assil thinks the guidelines, labels and crackdown on opioids may make doctors who aren't pain management specialists more leery of writing prescriptions.

"There are doctors who may freak out and say I'm not writing for opiates any more," he said.

The wariness is real. Dr. Robert Lum, an Oxnard radiation oncologist, uses drugs like Vicodin for patients struggling with spreading bone or head and neck cancer. He'll continue, as long as the patients require low doses.

"If they have more problems, I'll probably send them to pain specialists," he said.

Some patients may have psychological, behavioral and addiction issues that call for resources that may not be funded by insurance. Their needs may extend beyond what some pain specialists can offer.

"I try to help as much as I can," said Assil. "If they're very aggressive for their medications, my office is not the place for that."

Opioid use

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued recommendations on prescribing opioids for chronic pain. They include: Not using opioids for pain other than active cancer, life-threatening illness or end-of-life care. Using the lowest possible dose if opioids are warranted. Closely monitoring patients on opioids.

Visit http://1.usa.gov/1UaBPgE for more.

Curbing access

Doctors emphasize alternatives to opioids. Jim Bowman wonders about the effectiveness.

He's a Vietnam veteran from Fillmore who uses painkillers, including tramadol and hydrocodone for pain from the bones that grate on each other in his right knee.

He thinks the solution will come from a knee replacement surgery he's been waiting on for more than three years. He's been told the surgery should happen within the next several weeks. If it doesn't and Bowman was asked to give up the painkillers, he would resist.

"The pain would be way too intense," he said.

To many, the crackdown on opioids is long overdue. Data from Ventura County Behavioral Health shows 249 overdose deaths in the county in 2013 and 2014.

"These agents definitely have their value, and no one disputes that," said Patrick Zarate, the county's alcohol and drug program division manager, citing national statistics. "We have 5 percent of the world's population and we consume over 80 percent of the world's prescription painkillers. There's a level of access here that needs to be curbed."

Others worry that regulating access can make it harder for doctors trying to make a hospice patient's last days comfortable.

Pharmacies are more reluctant to prescribe opioids, said Dr. Lanyard Dial, medical director for the hospice group, Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurses Association. Families worry about the dangers of drugs like morphine and hydrocodone.

But narcotics are the best way to control pain for terminally ill patients dying from a cancer spreading throughout their body. And addiction, he said, isn't a real fear.

"These patients are not going to be on these drugs long enough," Dial said, noting doctors have to fill out more paperwork and educate family members.

"I think we do a good job of that, and patients get what they need," he said. "But the hoops get harder and harder."
STAR FILE PHOTO

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By Kathleen Wilson of the Ventura County Star

Civilian technicians who work in Ventura County jails will receive a raise of up to 3 percent next year under a contract amendment OK'd by county supervisors Tuesday.

The raise is contained in an agreement struck between managers and a union representing 130 sheriff's service technicians working in the main jail in Ventura and Todd Road Jail near Santa Paula.

The union is scheduled to decide by November whether to accept the 3 percent raise or an alternative. The second option calls for a 2.5 percent raise with a $15 boost in the $297 allotment workers get every two weeks to pay for health coverage.

Either option would cost about $320,000. The raises would take effect in May 2017.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors adopted the amendment in a preliminary hearing after a labor survey showed the workers fell 11 percent behind market. A final hearing is scheduled at 11 a.m. April 19 in the board hearing room in Ventura.

Ventura is one of only a few counties that hire this type of jail worker. They are civilian employees who monitor prisoners from security stations and are less costly to employ than sworn sheriff's deputies.

In a comparison with Riverside and Los Angeles counties, pay and benefits for technicians at the top of the pay range totaled about $8,500 monthly in Ventura County. Los Angeles County provided about $9,100 and Riverside County about $9,900.

Base salaries for the jobs in Ventura County range from $37,740 to $60,864.

The agreement adds another year to a three-year contract that began in May 2014, putting the end date in May 2018.

The union, called the Ventura County Sheriff's Correctional Officers Association, proposed the extension early last year after the union representing deputy sheriffs received one.
STAR FILE PHOTO

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By Staff Reports

A Ventura County prosecutor was recognized Tuesday for her work assisting victims of crime as part of National Crime Victims' Rights Week, the District Attorney's Office announced.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Linda Groberg has been chosen by both the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Office of Victim and Survivor Rights Services for her "exemplary" work attending parole hearings on behalf of the district attorney, the D.A.'s office said. She was honored Tuesday at the victim services office's annual moment of silence ceremony in Sacramento, the D.A.'s office said.

Groberg has been a prosecutor for more than 30 years and currently travels throughout the state to attend parole hearings where she advocates on behalf of murder victims and their families to keep inmates in prison when they pose a risk to the public, the District Attorney's Office said.

She will be honored again Thursday when the Ventura County District Attorney's Office holds its own commemorative ceremony for victims of crime.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Anaite Arnold, of the Gypsy Folk Ensemble of Los Angeles, dances with David Kamins at the Ventura College Diversity in Culture Festival on Tuesday. The ensemble formed in 1978 to teach traditional folk and ethnic dances from around the world.

SHARE JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Anaite Arnold (right), of the Gypsy Folk Ensemble of Los Angeles, dances a German folk dance with Stepan Khorikyan at the Ventura College Diversity in Culture Festival. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Stepan Khorikyan (from left), Julie Nelson, David Kamins and Anaite Arnold, of the Gypsy Folk Ensemble of Los Angeles, perform a Greek folk dance during the Ventura College Diversity in Culture Festival on Tuesday. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Mariya Trone (left), a student at Ventura College, learns a German folk dance with Steve Theodore, of the Gypsy Folk Ensemble of Los Angeles, during the first day of the Ventura College Diversity in Culture Festival. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR David Kamins dances a German folk dance with Julie Nelson, of the Gypsy Folk Ensemble of Los Angeles, during the first day of the Ventura College Diversity in Culture Festival.

By Staff Reports

Ventura College students and visitors had the opportunity to learn Greek folk dances on Tuesday, the first of a three-day Diversity in Culture Festival on campus.

The Gypsy Folk Ensemble from Los Angeles performed and offered some teachable moments during the celebration of multiculturalism, the first of what college officials hope will be an annual event.

Performances, talks and discussion panels will continue from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. through Thursday. Scheduled entertainers include the Latin/Caribbean group Cascada de Flores; the high-energy Versa-Style Dance Company, young artists who represent the diversity and complexity of Los Angeles through hip-hop and Afro-Latin styles; and Lanny Kaufer, whose musical multimedia presentation "MLK & the Spirit of the '60s" discusses his experience working for the Rev. Martin Luther King's 1965 SCOPE Project.

Additional events include a poetry slam contest featuring Ventura County Poet Laureate Phil Taggart and the Ventura College International Film Festival's showing of "Sophie Scholl," a film about a 21-year-old member of the anti-Nazi nonviolent student resistance group White Rose.

The event is free; parking is $2. Visit http://www.venturacollege.edu or call 289-6388 for more information.
ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR (From left) Archeologist Steve Schwartz, professor Sara Schwebel of the University of South Carolina, and ranger Dave Begun of the National Park Service talk about the book "Island of the Blue Dolphin" during a live video stream.

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By Cheri Carlson of the Ventura County Star

More than 100 years ago, people throughout the world wanted to know more about the lone woman on San Nicolas Island.

The last of the native Nicoleno living on the remote island off the Ventura County coast, the lone woman was left there when others were taken to the mainland in 1835.

She survived alone for 18 years  a story made famous in the children's book "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell, which continues to be a staple in U.S. schools.

"There were lots and lots of people who were fascinated by her story," said Sara Schwebel, a professor at the University of South Carolina. "We know that people all over the United States read about the lone woman, and we know that people in parts of Europe read stories about the lone woman. We're looking to see where else that story traveled more than 100 years ago."

In March, Channel Islands National Park hosted Schwebel and archeologist Steve Schwartz for a live broadcast from Anacapa, another of the Channel Islands, about the story behind O'Dell's historical fiction.

A 44-minute archived recording of the Channel Islands Live episode is now available on the park's website. Go to https://www.nps.gov/chis/planyourvisit/archived-programs.htm and scroll down to "Live Hike: Island of the Blue Dolphins with Special Guests."

Later this year, the National Park Service will launch a website with research, interviews and historical documents related to the book. Channel Islands park staff, Schwebel, Schwartz and others contributed to the site.

Star file photo: San Nicolas Island

"The research doesn't detract from the book, and the book doesn't detract from the research," said Schwartz, who worked on the Navy-owned San Nicolas Island for 25 years. "They are very complementary because the book puts in all the details that make it real."

"We put out little bits and pieces of information that maybe, eventually paints a whole story," said Schwartz, now retired. "But it's just bits and pieces here to start with, and the book has the whole story, the whole drama built into it."

Anthony Plascencia/The Star: Archeologist Steve Schwartz and historian Sara Schwebel talk about the book during a live broadcast from Anacapa Island.
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The good news this tax year is you have an extra weekend to prepare and file your returns. The bad news, as always, is that the annual task hasn't gotten any easier.

We're assuming that if you haven't filed your income taxes yet, you're not going to try to find a tax preparer at this late date. It could make for a long weekend, and by Morning morning, you may be agreeing with us that simplification  of the tax code and the filing process  is long overdue.

Because when it comes to taxes, nothing is simple. Even the reason for this year's three-day reprieve is convoluted. It seems Emancipation Day, a legal holiday in the District of Columbia that celebrates the day in 1862 that Lincoln freed more than 3,000 slaves in D.C., falls on April 16. But because that's Saturday this year, the holiday gets moved to Friday, April 15. The IRS considers any D.C. holiday to be a legal holiday nationwide, meaning Tax Day gets pushed to Monday. And if you live in Maine or Massachusetts, you get yet another day to file, because on Monday those states celebrate Patriots' Day, which honors the opening battles (Lexington and Concord) of the Revolutionary War.

If all those teacher holidays don't make your head spin, consider this: Our federal tax code now has five times the number of words than the Bible and twice as many words as the entire "Game of Thrones" book series, according to WalletHub.com. Americans spend 6.1 billion hours a year on their taxes  16 hours per person  and 35 percent would rather sit down with their kids and discuss sex than do their taxes, WalletHub says.

Our weekly online poll at VCStar.com poses the question this week, "Should we greatly change our income tax code?" We've received more than 300 responses so far, and an overwhelming 87 percent say yes.

A survey last year by the Pew Research Center found 59 percent of Americans agreeing "there is so much wrong with the federal tax system that Congress should completely change it." Respondents' top complaint was not how much they were paying in taxes, but rather that some corporations and wealthy people were not paying their fair share. The next top complaint: 44 percent were "bothered a lot" by the system's complexity.

Another thing that bothers us is the growth of an entire industry that profits off this complexity. The tax preparation industry has spent millions of dollars lobbying to prevent "return-free filing," according to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, who on Wednesday introduced the Tax Filing Simplification Act of 2016.

Warren and others want the IRS to provide eligible taxpayers with pre-filled returns, using information it gets from employers, banks and others. If we agree with the numbers, we simply sign the forms, send them back and spend our weekend Netflix-binging instead of trying to figure out which education credit to claim.

Republicans and Democrats no doubt will remain divided over the direction of tax reform. Each of the four candidates has a plan to raise or lower taxes for this group or that. But nearly everyone agrees we need a simpler tax code.

Much of our income is not taxed because of deductions, credits and exclusions, while other income is taxed twice, and saving and investment often is not rewarded. The Tax Policy Center think tank says simpler taxes would save taxpayers time, money and mental anguish. It also notes that simpler tax provisions are more likely to be understood and thus used  for example, those designed to encourage saving for college.

This October will mark the 30th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's Tax Reform Act of 1986, our last major tax overhaul. We hope trimming the tax code down to at least the size of "Lord of the Rings" won't take another 30 years.


Its party time at Tacos & Tequila (T&T) inside Luxor Hotel and Casino. Social media personality and international model Jessa Hinton will host T&Ts Sexy de Mayo Tres fiesta in honor of Cinco de Mayo from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, May 5.

Hinton is best known for roles in Comedy Centrals Tosh.0 as well as the popular drama series Baywatch. While at T&T, Hinton will walk the red carpet before mingling with fans throughout the evening.

The sultry red head will bring the heat to T&Ts Cinco de Mayo celebration with a variety of food and drink specials, interactive games and more throughout the evening. The restaurant with offer a Mexican pizza carefully crafted with pinto beans, cheese mix, brisket beef tips, diced tomatoes and jalapenos on a fried pizza crust, priced at $10. Those looking to really get the party started can partake in the Cincorita made with El Jimador tequila or bottles of Dos Equis, both priced at $5.
According to the companys press release, the transaction is expected to help brands and distributors around the world that already do business on Alibabas platform, as well as local merchants, to access the Southeast Asian consumer market.

Founded in 2012, Lazada currently operates ecommerce platforms in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. These six countries combined have a population of approximately 560 million and an estimated Internet user base of 200 million, according to Internet Live Stats. In the past four years, Lazadas revenue from the six markets was $1.3 billion.

According to president of Alibaba, Michael Evans, Southeast Asia is one of the most promising regions for ecommerce globally.

This investment supports our ecosystem expansion in Southeast Asia to better serve our customers, he said.

Meanwhile, Max Bittner, CEO of Lazada Group, added that Southeast Asia is an attractive mobile-driven consumer market that is highly fragmented and diverse with significant barriers to entry and a nascent modern retail sector that has large headroom for growth.

The transaction will help us to accelerate our goal to provide the 560 million consumers in the region access to the broadest and most unique assortment of products. Furthermore, leveraging Alibabas unique knowhow and technology will allow us to rapidly improve our services and provide an even more effortless shopping and selling experience, he said.

In Vietnam, ecommerce is forecasted to grow at over 30 per cent per year from 2016 to 2020, according to the Vietnam E-Commerce Association (VECOM).

Together with Alibaba, we will bring value to Vietnamese consumers by providing better choice, service, convenience and value, said Lazada Vietnams CEO Alexandre Dardy.

In 2015, Lazada reported a four-fold increase in revenue in Vietnam. Dardy, in a recent interview with VIR, said Vietnam was one of the most promising markets among the six countries in Lazadas network, with a high level of internet penetration and smartphone ownership. However, the challenges in doing ecommerce in Vietnam, compared to in other countries, are the underdeveloped payment methods, the smaller basket size due to the low trust between customers and sellers, and merchants lacking in professionalism.

Lazada Vietnam recently rolled out initiatives to enhance its shopping and selling experience including the option of faster delivery. Earlier this year, it opened a fulfilment centre in Hanoi to service northern Vietnam, complementing its recently-expanded facility in Ho Chi Minh City.
In recent years, Ha Tien authorities have invested in Hai Tac archipelago to make it an even more attractive.

Hai Tac archipelago comprises 16 islands. Tre Lon islet sits at the center of the archipelago. The locals subsist on fishing and aquaculture. 70 households are engaged in cage fishing. The sea here between Ha Tien-Rach Gia Bay and Thailand Bay is calm and unpolluted making it favorable for both aquaculture and tourism. Hong Xuan Than says local people are friendly and hospitable: We always welcome visitors and show them our work. Tourism has generated income for us.

The place intrigues tourists with its Pirate name, its white sand beaches, and its turquoise water. Nguyen Thanh Sang is a tourist from An Giang: "My friends told me about this unspoiled archipelago. Its name inspires me to go and explore it. Its a raw gem. I slept in a rudimentary hut by the sea and was delighted.

The island attracted 30,000 visitors in 2015 earning nearly US$400,000. Tang Hong Phuoc, Chairman of the Tien Hai Communal Peoples Committee, said that while the island has tourist potential, its facilities are inadequate. Kien Giang provincial authorities have invested in upgrading the infrastructure on a number of islands in the archipelago to boost their tourism potential. Mr. Phuoc says: Tien Hai Commune has great tourism potential. With enough investments like Vinpearls, local tourism will grow dramatically.

This year, a number of big projects to upgrade local infrastructure will be undertaken: a communal administrative center, markets, a concentrated residential area, wharves, an ecological tourism site, and a waste treatment plant. The commune is expected to be on the national power grid by 2017. Efforts like those could make Hai Tac archipelago a new hot spot.
The global economy has experienced various headwinds in recent times, prompting investors to flee emerging markets. How do you think this will affect Vietnams appeal?

As you know, the global economic downturn was so severe that a slew of large central banks such as the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, and the European Central Bank have recently launched stimulus programmes to ramp up growth. Fast-growing emerging markets such as China are also slowing down. Worried investors around the world are thus withdrawing from riskier emerging markets, and unfortunately, I predict that this trend will not end this year.

As part of the group of emerging and frontier markets, Vietnam is of course affected by this large-scale capital flight. I think that there wont be any drastic increase in foreign capital into the Vietnamese market  at least not in 2016.

However, it should be noted that in the ASEAN region, Vietnam remains a bright spot for global investors. In 2015, neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia were hit hard by low oil prices and massive currency devaluation. Vietnam, on the other hand, held its currency relatively stable and showed signs of economic growth, as displayed through last years GDP expansion of 6.68 per cent.

As a result  and as the least-affected economy in the ASEAN region  I believe Vietnam still has a certain level of attractiveness to foreign investors in 2016.

What sectors in Vietnam do overseas investors show the strongest interest in?

Undoubtedly, consumer and consumer-related sectors such as logistics are magnets to foreign investors. They see that Vietnam has a young population of 90 million, a rising middle class, and greater disposable income, all of which will spur the growth of consumer goods. The classic example is the diary giant Vinamilk, which has great corporate governance and a dominant market share in Vietnam.

Real estate stocks, on the other hand, have lost their appeal since the industry tends to have cyclical downturns every three or four years and risks of a housing bubble are quite high. Meanwhile, bank stocks have become too expensive, with high price-over-earnings and price-over-book-value ratios. Thus, foreign investors shy away from bank stocks, even though they praise the performance of leading Vietnamese banks such as Vietcombank or Vietinbank.

Vietnam has recently introduced new laws to lure foreign capital into the domestic stock market. Positive results, however, have yet to be seen. What do you think is the reason for this, apart from the global capital flight?

Vietnam has indeed announced lots of progressive laws, such as Decree 60/2015/ND-CP, which eased the foreign ownership limit at Vietnamese listed firms. However, the problem is that the implementation process of these laws is too slow. For example, so far there are only a handful of Vietnamese firms that have lifted their foreign cap.

Another issue is the low level of openness that many Vietnamese listed firms show to foreign investors. Investor relations (IR) remain inadequate, corporate governance lacks transparency, and most importantly, company information and financial reports arent released in English. Investors wont pour capital into Vietnam if they are kept in the dark like that.

The third problem is the lack of available products in the Vietnamese stock market. Like I said above, hopefully, if Decree 60 is implemented in full force, this problem will be partly solved. I suggest that new products such as non-voting shares or non-voting depository receipts be introduced in Vietnam, as they will attract a fair share of financial investors from overseas.

Currency issues, meanwhile, are not really significant as most investors already foresee devaluation risks when investing in emerging markets. In my opinion, investors wont mind if the VND depreciates by only 1 or 2 per cent this year. Currency will only matter if the VND goes down by 10 per cent or more.
An oil rig. (AFP Photo)

NEW YORK: Oil prices surged on Tuesday (Apr 12) to 2016 highs on reports of an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia on freezing output.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in May gained US$1.81 at US$42.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the highest close since November.

In London, Brent crude for June delivery, the European benchmark, finished at US$44.69 a barrel, up US$1.86 from Monday's close.

Oil extended a week of gains amid speculation that a meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC producers on Sunday in the Qatari capital of Doha could produce some measure of relief to the global oil glut that has depressed prices.

Moscow and Riyadh have reached a "consensus" over freezing oil production, the Russian news agency Interfax reported on Tuesday, citing an "informed diplomatic source in Doha".

Mike Lynch at Strategic Energy & Economic Research said that Tuesday's rally was fueled both by the Doha speculation and the general feeling that the market had hit bottom.

"I think people are looking ahead to this Doha meeting but I honestly think they're overreacting and getting ahead of things," he said. "Partly what we're seeing now is some momentum trading: People see other people buying and they're afraid."

CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler also sounded a note of caution on a Saudi-Russia deal. "The agreement has theoretically been in place since Feb 16. It's the details of quotas and the involvement of other countries - notably Iran - that is yet to be resolved," he said.

Key OPEC member Iran has been raising output since nuclear-linked sanctions were lifted in January and has signaled it will not join the freeze calls.

Oil prices crashed from around US$115 a barrel in June 2014 to under US$30 a barrel in February, before recovering to trade above US$40 a barrel this week.


Raising their foreign ownership cap will expose local firms to the Economic Needs Test

The annual general meeting season of 2016 has drawn the attention of a large number of overseas investors, many of whom have been anticipating a rise in local listed firms foreign ownership limits (FOL). However, much to the chagrin of foreign firms, some domestic companies have rejected this plan or put it on the long finger during recent meetings. This is especially true for listed firms operating in the retail industry such as Phu Nhuan Jewellery (PNJ), FPT Corporation, and Mobile World.

According to Cao Thi Ngoc Dung, chairwoman and general director of PNJ, easing the foreign cap will create obstacles for the jewellery firms expansion of its retail network. Dung elaborated that if PNJ becomes a foreign-owned company, there will be greater restrictions on opening new stores due to the Economic Needs Test (ENT), thus hampering the firms growth.

The ENT, as part of Vietnams commitments in the World Trade Organization, states that foreign retail firms are freely allowed to establish a first outlet in Vietnam. All additional stores, however, are subject to the ENT, in which relevant Vietnamese authorities examine factors such as population density, area size and number of existing stores.

A lot of overseas investors have indeed offered to buy dominant stakes in PNJ. In fact, our foreign ownership limit, which currently stands at 49 per cent, has already been filled up thanks to foreigners confidence in our business. Unfortunately, despite their keen interest, we cant lift our cap yet as this will hinder the growth of our retail network, Dung told shareholders at the firms annual meeting.

Likewise, chairman of Mobile World (MWG) Nguyen Duc Tai noted that becoming a foreign-owned retailer will limit MWGs ability to open new stores. Compared to their domestic counterparts, foreign retailers often face the ENT, which means more paperwork, longer waiting periods, and other hassles when launching a store. As a result, Tai informed shareholders that until MWG develops a proper risk management plan, easing foreign limits will remain out of the question.

When opening any new store, foreign-owned retailers must submit the ENT proposals to local authorities and wait for their assessment on whether the area needs another retail outlet, while domestic retailers dont have to. Thus, unless MWG is treated as a domestic retailer after easing our foreign limit, we will keep our current cap, said Tai. Similar to PNJ, MWG has already reached its 49-per cent foreign ownership limit, which reflects the electronics retailers appeal to overseas investors. In 2016, the firm aims to reach a 40 per cent market share in mobile phone sales, and then venture into the food and beverage sector.

MWGs main competitor, FPT Corporation, has also delayed its plan to ease the foreign cap. Leaders of the corporation expressed a similar concern  that as a foreign retailer, opening new stores would subject it to more bureaucracy. However, FPT Corporation has recently decided to divest from FPT Trading and FPT Shop, its lucrative retail and distribution subsidiaries. This prompted speculations that FPT is seeking a merger and acquisition deal with foreign buyers for its retail business, rather than lifting the foreign limit of the entire corporation.


illustration photo

According to Thien Tans chairman Huynh Kim Lap, the local firm is working with the US JK&D International on a feasibility study for the project at an estimated cost of $1 billion after receiving the green-light from the Ministry of Transport (MoT) in early 2016.

JK&D International has gained a solid reputation over the past 30 years for providing quality expert and technical solutions on infrastructure projects, and its participation would help the airport project run smoothly.

Chu Lai international airport is strategically located between the central provinces of Quang Nam and Quang Ngai, two growing industrial foci in central Vietnam. Initially, the airport was used as a military base. After many years of disuse, the airport re-opened in 2005 with its first commercial flight from Ho Chi Minh City.

In 2015, the airport received 154,550 passengers, up 284.5 per cent compared to 2014. Major airlines Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, and Jetstar Pacific all use the airport.

Under the governments approved plan, the airport would serve not only an increased number of passengers, but will also become a regional cargo hub supporting the recent industrial development of the central region. Chu Lai expansion aims to reach four million passengers and five million tonnes of cargo by 2025.

Last month, Sun Group, Vietnams real estate giant, sought the governments permission to build a domestic airport in the northern highlands province of Lao Cai at an estimated cost of VND1.3 trillion ($57.46 million). The company has reportedly already secured approval for another airport near Halong Bay.

At present, Vietnam has 21 airports operating nationwide. Five more airports are planned to become operational by 2020, raising the total number to 26. All of Vietnams airports are currently running both civil and military flights under the management of the state.

With the countrys recent rapid economic growth, Vietnams existing airports are facing an overcrowding problem. In the past few years, the government has upgraded a handful of airports to expand their throughput capacity, including Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat and Danang. In addition, the government is also calling for foreign investment in airport projects, such as Long Thanh in the southern province of Dong Nai, and Van Don in the northern province of Quang Ninh.

US-based ADC-HAS Airports in 2011 proposed to invest in seven airports in Vietnams central region under a public-private partnership. Singapores Changi Airports International and the US Airis Holdings also expressed their desire to invest in airport projects in Vietnam.
Iron and steel used for tyre bead wire produciton will enjoy a zero per cent import duty from May 2. - Illustrative photo banxehoi.com

Tyre bead wire is used to reinforce virtually all types of pneumatic tyres for motorcycles, passenger cars and trucks, as well as off-road and farming vehicles.

Circular No 51/2016/TT-BTC specifies that the zero-per-cent rate will be applied for non-alloy iron and steel in stick, bar or roll shapes, laminated with a diameter of less than 14mm. The rate will also be applied for iron and steel wires.

The ministry gave out the preferential import duty after suggestions by steel-maker Posco Viet Nam Processing Centre Co Ltd, which is based in Nhon Trach 5 Industrial Zone in Dong Nai Province.

Hai quan, an online Viet Nam Customs newspaper, reported that Posco and tyre makers in Viet Nam currently have to import non-alloy hot-laminated steel sticks with a tax rate of 3 per cent. This is because the country isn't yet able to make this product domestically.

Around 30 tyre manufacturers in Viet Nam, including Sao Vang Rubber JSC, Da Nang Rubber JSC and Kumho, are seeing stiff competition from about 460 firms that import tyres from Thailand, Japan, China and Taiwan for domestic sale.

Posco proposed the import tax rate be lowered to zero per cent for the steel sticks until this material can be made in Viet Nam. This will encourage development of domestic supporting industries, the firm said.
Photo by ASSOCIATED PRESS

A smuggled turtle is seen next to a ruler. A Canadian man who repeatedly entered Michigan to buy and ship thousands of turtles to his native China was sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison Tuesday for smuggling.
Photo by ASSOCIATED PRESS

Zahrau Babangida, a 13 year-old girl, was recently arrested with explosives strapped to her body in Kano, Nigeria.
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Renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking, right, seated in a speech adaptive wheelchair, discuss the new Breakthrough Initiative focusing on space exploration and the search for life in the universe, during a press conference on Tuesday at One World Observatory in New York.
On a recent Friday afternoon Choup Leakhena, 18, was wondering around Phnom Penhs National Museum, taking selfies with some of the institutions impressiveand growingcollection of ancient Khmer sculpture.

A freshman at Pannasastra University who hails from Takmao city in Kandal province, Leakhena told VOA Khmer that the beauty of the works gave her a sense of national pride.

I love and appreciate these masterpieces, such as the apsaraa celestial nymph from Hindu mythologythe statues of [12th century Khmer monarch] Jayavarman VII, Vishnu and Buddha, she said. I am able to see into life in the past.

Artifacts looted from Cambodias ancient temples during decades of conflict have started to flow back into the country, giving young Cambodians like Leakhena an opportunity to embrace the countrys cultural heritage and history.

I came here because I want to learn about it, she said. Finally, I can see [the sculptures] and I can admire our Khmer ancestors, who created such precious pieces for us. Its really unique. Other countries dont have such amazing artworks.

In a remarkably successful campaign in recent years, the Cambodian government has identified looted artifacts abroad and initiated legal efforts to reclaim them. And the tide appears to have turned, with many of the treasures spirited away and sold on the black market now finding their way back to the nation that made them.

In June 2014 three statues were repatriated from the United States, reuniting the impressive renderings of the mythical figures Bhima, Duryodhana and Balarama, all taken from the Koh Ker temple in 1972, as Cambodias civil war raged.

The landmark repatriation came at the end of years of legal wrangling after the New York auction house Sothebys tried to list the Duryodhana statue for sale. It also appears to have helped to precipitate the returns that followed.

Last October, Norwegian businessman and collector Morten Bosterud handed over two Angkorian statues, 11 undated artworks, a 9th-century Preah Ko-style head of the Hindu god Shiva, and a late 12th-century Bayon-style male divinity.

Last month, a head of Hindu god Harihara was reattached its bodyafter over 130 years of separationthanks to Pariss Guimet Museum. And most recently, the Denver Art Museum in the U.S. returned the 10th century Torso of Rama.

Heng Sophady, a professor of Archeology at the Royal University of Fine Arts, applauded the goodwill of individuals and museums who have contributed to what he called a unification of a culture that had been fractured by years of war.

I think it is a very important thing that those foreign collectors are starting to understand and value Khmer culture and Khmer arts in this way, he said.

Its the right thing to do, and it provides a good example for other collectors who might now be more willing to return artifacts to their home.

But there may be many more still in the hands of private collectors who have not come forward, he said.

"We have so many statues that were stolen during the war. Now we got some backits great for us as Khmer people, Sophady said, calling for the international community to keep up the pressure to return more of Cambodias stolen heritage.

During a stop in Cambodia in January, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry paid a visit to the National Museum. He described it at the time as an extraordinary asset, a goldmine of treasure from the past that tells the story of human development in this part of the world.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Jay Raman added by email that the U.S. is committed to helping to return more works, and also provides support to a number of programs focused on Cambodias cultural heritage.

With the publicity surrounding the return of statues, the National Museum has seen a 30 percent year-on-year increase in visitor numbers.

I see so many different artifacts, so many different histories behind everything, and it's breathtaking, said Taylor Bonilla, a Californian who was visiting the museum earlier this month on a break from his English teaching job in Phuket, Thailand.

There are a lot of things from centuries ago that really have so much meaning and historical content to them, which is really awesome.

National Museum Director Kong Vireak stressed that while the returned artifacts would help to promote cultural tourism and further study of Cambodian antiquity, it was also important for local people to learn more about their history.

It allows us to raise more awareness about the culture among the local Cambodians, he said.

The National Museum and the government were working with other governments around the world to bring home more looted artifacts, he added.

Although now we got some sent back to us, we are looking for more statues and artifacts that we will be identifying from those that have been lost or smuggled, Vireak said.

How many more looted artifacts might be out there was unknown, he said.

Minister of Culture and Fine Arts Phoeung Sackona recently said the country has some 4,000 sites of archaeological interest. The country was in a state of war throughout the 1970s and 1980s, providing ample opportunity for looters.

How can we know how many artworks were stolen? said Vireak. They are mysterious.
Human rights group Amnesty International is calling for trials following revelations that Nigerias Kaduna state government secretly buried the bodies of nearly 350 slain Shi'ite Muslims in a mass grave.

Kaduna state officials told a panel of inquiry Monday that the bodies were buried in the bush after clashes between army troops and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) in the town of Zaria in December.

The horrific revelation by the Kaduna state government that hundreds of Shi'ites were gunned down and dumped in mass graves is an important first step to bringing all those suspected of criminal responsibility for this atrocity to trial, M.K. Ibrahim, the director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said in a statement Tuesday.

It is now imperative that the mass grave sites are protected in order that a full independent forensic investigation can begin, Ibrahim said.

Kaduna officials said army raids on the Shi'ite group were ordered after the IMN allegedly attempted to kill Nigerias army chief. The IMN has denied the accusation.

Muhammad Namadi Musa, director-general of the Kaduna State Religious Affairs office, said Monday that he was ordered to travel to Zaria with the Kaduna state police commissioner to find out the number of corpses and how they would be buried.

Most corpses were covered with black materials and they included women and children, Musa said at the hearing.

Musa said 156 bodies were counted at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, while 191 were collected from the army base in Zaria.

The Nigerian army, which has been accused of human rights abuses against civilians in the insurgency by Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, denies wrongdoing.

Chief of Army Staff General Tukur Yusuf Buratai said in January that soldiers acted in accordance to the rule of engagement and their orders.

Human Rights Watch said at least 300 people were killed in the Zaria clashes, although no official death toll has been released.

One medic at the Ahmadu Hospital told the French news agency that he counted at least 400 bodies in the morgue on December 12. Local residents said just as many bodies were scattered on the streets.
Animal rights activists have stepped up efforts to stop an annual dog meat festival in China, started six years ago in the southwestern city of Yulin to draw tourists to the poor and rural Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Thousands of dogs and cats are brutally killed during the festival, and then served at local restaurants according to Layla Wen, a special projects coordinator for PETA Asia.

I think the thought of killing, cooking and eating dogs is abhorrent to most of us in China or all around the world, because we know them, we know the dogs. They are our family members, and our best friends. We can imagine their fear when they are caged with other dogs, when they are unable to move even one inch, and the agony that follows, she said.

Activists say the animals are often stolen before being transported hundred of miles in cramped cages without food or water.

In Yulin, slaughterhouses sometimes kill the cats and dogs with clubs, in front of other animals, to increase the level of fear-induced adrenaline in the meat, which traders say makes it taste better.

But as pet ownership has become popular among Chinas new middle class, the festival has increasingly sparked outrage on Chinese social media.

Some Chinese animal rights groups have staged public protests, and attempted to halt trucks transporting dogs and cats to slaughterhouses. Some groups, like the Animals Asia Foundation, have waged a quieter campaign, working directly with government officials to try to shut down the festival.

A lot of the time its just working quietly with the local government, rather than going out in the streets as other groups do, said Jill Robinson, founder of the Animals Asia Foundation. We all have different tactics. Animals Asia works inside the country, and we want to do that to the degree that the government understands what we do and why we do it.

Activists efforts seem to be paying off. When the Yulin festival began, 10,000 dogs were killed during the event. That number has fallen to 1,000.

However throughout China, 10 to 20 million dogs are killed every year for consumption, and some animal rights groups say that 300 are killed each day just in the city of Yulin.

Dog meat has been linked to the spread of rabies and cholera, and Yulins local government, at the urging of animal rights groups, has begun to take action. The government has shut down some markets and slaughterhouses, and forbidden officials from eating dog or cat meat at local restaurants.

In mid-May of 2014 the Yulin authorities issued an internal directive to all the government officials and employees to stay away from dog meat restaurants. That was the first time the Yulin authortities started to do something which was positive, said Dr. Peter Li, China Policy Specialist for Humane Society International.

But the Yulin Dog Meat Festival is still scheduled to take place in June. Its held during the summer solstice every year, and eating dog meat remains a summer tradition in much of China.
Argentina's former president Cristina Fernandez accused the government of political persecution on Wednesday after testifying in court about alleged irregularities at the central bank that occurred under her watch.

In a defiant speech outside the federal court in Buenos Aires, Fernandez addressed tens of thousands of supporters who showed up in the rain to cheer her on, beating drums and singing: "If they touch Cristina, we're gonna create chaos."

"They can call me to testify 20 more times. They can imprison me. But they will not be able to silence me," she said.

Fernandez, who was constitutionally barred last year from running for a third consecutive presidential term, is a divisive figure, revered by many for generous welfare programs and reviled by others for economic policies such as nationalizing businesses and currency controls.

She was called to testify on Wednesday about charges against the central bank for selling U.S. dollar futures at below-market rates during her presidency, costing the government billions of dollars.

The 63-year-old former president said the bank's actions were legitimate and the case against her was an "abuse of judicial power."

Fernandez attacked President Mauricio Macri, who has implemented a string of unpopular austerity policies since taking power last December, such as a steep currency devaluation and cuts in gas, power and transportation subsidies.

"I never saw so many calamities in 120 days," she said in an impassioned speech broadcast live on Argentine television.

Macri says these measures are necessary to reduce the ballooning fiscal deficit and attract the investment needed to reboot Latin America's third-largest economy.

One Fernandez supporter at the rally, Gustavo Sanchez, a teacher from the northern Buenos Aires suburb of Tigre, said her presidency marked some of Argentina's best years and he lamented the change in government.

"Students come to school poorly fed because their parents can't afford good food with the cost of water and gas rising," he said.

Some Fernandez backers at the rally came together on buses from hours away, tangling downtown Buenos Aires traffic.

In a separate case, last weekend a prosecutor accused Fernandez of money laundering. Under Argentine law, a judge still needs to decide whether to accept the charge and open an investigation.

Opposition politicians including Fernandez accuse the government of pursuing charges against her to distract Argentines from the difficult economic situation and from Macri's links with offshore companies revealed by the "Panama Papers" leak.

Macri campaigned partly on a promise to root out endemic corruption in Argentina and has vowed to provide investigators into his finances whatever information necessary.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is in Manila amid tensions between the Philippines and China over Chinese militarization of features in the South China Sea.

Carters arrival Wednesday follows approval by the Philippines Supreme Court of a new agreement between Washington and Manila to allow U.S. rotational military forces on Filipino bases spread across the archipelago.

I wanted to come here as soon as possible after that to signify the importance of that to us and the alliance, Carter told reporters en route to Manila Wednesday.

Carter will visit Antonio Batista Air Base during his visit, one of at least five bases where U.S. troops will be stationed.

The base is located just 160 kilometers from the disputed Spratly Islands, a group of islands, reefs and cays claimed by China, the Philippines, Malaysia and others.

In the last two years, China has created some 1,200 hectares of artificial islands atop reefs in the Spratlys.

A Chinese civilian airplane made a test landing on a runway on the Spratly Islands Fiery Cross Reef in January.

Satellite imagery by ImageSat International (ISI) has showed Chinese Shenyang J-11 fighter jets on Woody Island in the Paracel island group, causing concern that China might send military jets to the Spratly islands next.

Enhance military's ability

A senior U.S. defense official said the new U.S.-Philippines agreement will enhance the militarys ability to operate in the region over the South China Sea and will strengthen our deterrent message as well.

We think that a peaceful and lawful approach to competing maritime claims is the way to go," Carter said.

PHOTO GALLERY: Carter's tour of Asia

One approach welcomed by Washington has been a Philippine case filed with an international court questioning the legality of what it calls Chinas excessive claims in the sea. China rejects arbitration and is not participating in the case. A decision is expected in the next few months.

The U.S. opposes any change to the status quo in the South China Sea, and Carter said China was by far the country that has most aggressively reclaimed land and militarized features there.

James Clad, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia and a senior advisor for the Center for Naval Analysis, told VOA the U.S. needs to accept that Chinas actions are a frontal challenge to the U.S. position in the western Pacific.

We want to engage with the Chinese, but on the other hand we have to prepare for bad behavior, Clad said. The bad behavior has arrived, right?

Maritime Security Initiative

Carter will also speak with Filipino leaders about the first installment of U.S. funding that was approved under a Maritime Security Initiative announced last year.

The five-year, $425 million program is aimed at assisting Southeast Asian nations in improving their naval and coast guard capabilities.

Most of that money in the first initial year of it is going to the Philippines, and it will help them to do their part in our joint activities in the area of maritime security, Carter said.

About 80 percent of the $50 million allotted for 2016 is going to the Philippines, according to a senior defense official.

This will be an important boost for Philippine maritime domain awareness and their ability to see whats happening out there past their coasts, the defense official said.

Carters visit to the Philippines comes as about 8,500 U.S. and Filipino troops, along with a small contingent of Australians, are staging military drills called Balikatan, or shoulder to shoulder. However, officials have said the annual exercises are not aimed at any one country.

The defense secretary is expected to attend the closing ceremonies this week.
Pentagon officials are crediting the Iraqi crew of an Abrams M1A1 tank with playing a major role in helping push Islamic State fighters out of the city of Hit, where the tank and its crew have achieved an almost "folk hero status among the locals.

During a Tuesday press briefing, Pentagon spokesman Steve Warren told the tale of the tank crew, which he said "has been handing it to the enemy regularly now for several days."

The tank crew operates in the small town about 65 kilometers west of Ramadi along the Euphrates River, on the front lines of an Iraq counterterrorism service  which Warren called a great example of the Iraqi army working hand-in-hand with the counterterrorism service.

"This M1 tank has been driving all around Hit, crazy blasting IEDS, punching holes in enemy defenses, and maneuvering between multiple engagements and allowing the CTS, and other Iraqi ground forces, to clear and help evacuate civilians," Warren said.

Warren said American advisers who watch the tank in action have given it the "hero of the day award" for the past seven days.

Warren called the tank "a bit of a folk hero," and social media users nicknamed it "The Beast," which is now trending on Twitter in Iraq.

During the briefing, Warren tweeted out this video of the tank in action:

On Monday, Iraqi forces were able to push IS fighters out of Hit and raised the Iraqi flag over the local government building for the first time since the ancient city fell to the militant group in October 2014. Iraqi forces went on the offensive in the city in February.

During the briefing, Warren said 75 percent of city is clear, and he believes IS will be completely removed within a few days.
A lieutenant colonel in Burkina Faso's presidential guard has declared himself the new head of state.

Yacouba Issac Zida said Saturday in a statement broadcast on the radio and posted on the Internet that he is assuming the "responsibilities of head of this transition and head of state to guarantee the continuity of the state."

Zida said: ``While waiting to define in a consensual manner, with all the political parties and civil society organizations, the content and the contours of this peaceful democratic transition, I assume from today the responsibilities of head of this transition and head of state to guarantee the continuity of the state. I call on the international community, in particularly countries that are friends and allies of Burkina Faso, notably in the African Union and ECOWAS, to demonstrate their understanding and support our people in this difficult time.''

The president of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore stepped down after protesters stormed parliament and set the building ablaze, ending his 27-year reign and sparking a struggle in the military for control of the West African country.

Confusion reigns in Ouagadougou

On Friday Zida, representing a group of junior army officers, said the group had "taken the destiny of the nation in hand" while the constitution was suspended and a transitional government was in formation.

But earlier Friday, General Honore Traore, head of Burkina Faso's military, said he was assuming "responsibilities as head of state."

It was not immediately clear if Traore accepted Zida's announcement Saturday or whether other army officers had approved Zida's move to become the new head of state.

In resigning Friday Mr. Compaore had called for a 90-day transition period leading to elections. He ruled the country for 27 years after seizing power in a 1987 coup.

Unrest had broken out Thursday as lawmakers prepared to vote on a constitutional amendment that would have allowed Mr. Compaore to run for another term.

The government withdrew the amendment after protests became violent.
A top Taiwanese official on Wednesday said Taipei may send a delegation to Beijing to learn more about a fraud trial involving some 45 Taiwanese nationals who were deported from Kenya and sent to mainland China against their wishes.

Taipei has accused China of abducting the group, which faced accusations in Kenya of committing telecommunications fraud. Analysts say Beijing may be trying to force the soon-to-be ruling party in Taiwan to start a friendly dialogue with mainland China, rather than veering toward stronger self-rule, which goes against Beijing's wishes.

"For this kind of case, I must say that we will try to get our citizens back [to Taipei] for trial," Andrew Hsia, who heads the island's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), told VOA's Mandarin Service. "But China will contend, too, since the victims are already over there. So both sides will coordinate on the basis of judiciary assistance."

Hsia also said there used to be cross-strait cooperation and a tacit understanding between the two sides in dealing with similar cases. If mainland China thinks a sentence for fraud in Taiwan is not heavy enough, he said, there would be room for discussion.

The deportations that Taiwans government describes as an abduction of its citizens that was coordinated by China and Kenya follows other moves that analysts call pressure tactics against Taiwan since the islands January 16 presidential election.

China has considered Taiwan as part of its territory since the Communists won the Chinese civil war of the 1940s and insists that the two sides eventually unify. Taiwans Nationalist government of the past eight years has set aside differences to negotiate a series of deals with China, which in turn has dropped its overt hostility of the past.

Pressure on DPP

But Beijing has no such relationship with the Democratic Progressive Party of President-elect Tsai Ing-wen. Her party advocates stronger autonomy for Taiwan, meaning more distance from China.

Since Tsais election, Beijing has scaled back permits for Chinese tourists to Taiwan, according to a government report in March. Also last month it established diplomatic ties with The Gambia, a former Taiwan ally in Africa. This month, Chinese buyers suspended a five-year deal to import milkfish from Taiwan.

I can't help but suspect that there are political motivations. These signals are adding up, said Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. I think the Chinese are laying down markers for Tsai and the Democratic Progressive Party of what is likely to follow if she doesn't say the magic words one China.

On Friday Kenyan authorities ordered eight Taiwanese people to fly to China despite their pleas to return to Taiwan. Kenya deported another 37 to China on Tuesday. A Kenyan court had ordered them out of the country on suspicion of telecommunications fraud, though a court had cleared 22 of unlicensed telecom equipment use.

Lawsuits threatened

The islands top China policymaker Andrew Hsia called his counterpart in Beijing on a hotline Tuesday, and the government in Taipei says it plans to sue three government agencies in Kenya.

Minister Hsia said on the hotline call that the mainland Chinese side had violated the rights of our citizens, generating criticism from outside of Taiwan-mainland China relations, says Yang Chia-chun, spokesman for Hsias ministry, the Mainland Affairs Council. For the mainland side in Kenya to force 37 citizens on Tuesday to mainland China, our side asserts that the mainland has severely harmed eight years of mutual trust.

Kenyas home affairs ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka told VOA the Taiwanese were sent to China because they entered from China. They came through China, so let them go back there, he said. Let them deal with China. That is their problem.

I think China is trying to force the new government to negotiate with the Chinese authorities, says Alex Chiang, international relations professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei, speaking of the Kenya case. This is going to be a long process.

One China

Tsai has said she wants dialogue, but disputes Beijings precondition that each side see itself as part of a single China. She will take office May 20.

My first thought was this may be a diabolically clever method discovered by Beijing to simultaneously reinforce its claim to sovereignty over the people of Taiwan and also make it harder for [Taiwans] citizens to do business overseas, putting more pressure on Taipei to make a deal with Beijing, says Denny Roy, senior fellow at the East-West Center think tank in Honolulu.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang commended Kenya for following Beijings one-China policy, meaning its actions showed Taiwan and China belong to one country. 

The one-China policy is an important precondition for bilateral relations with China and other countries, he told a scheduled media briefing this week. We commend Kenya for its upholding of this policy.

Right to trial

Beijing may just be asserting the right to try Taiwanese in its courts, said George Tsai, a retired university political science professor in Taipei.

Its a very controversial issue, he said. But for the Taiwanese, he added, from a human rights point of view, theyre entitled to a fair trial.

Chinas state-backed Global Times newspaper said in a commentary Tuesday that because the Taiwanese still face charges of fraud, adding it was legal under international law to extradite them.

It is not news that some Taiwanese involve themselves in telecommunications fraud, with mostly mainland people as victims, the commentary says. It is indisputablethat the Chinese mainland can extradite the eight Taiwanese involved in the fraud charges.

But the mother of one of the men deported to China was quoted by Taiwans Apple Daily newspaper as saying her son was a music professional who had visited Kenya for pleasure with a friend.
Chinese exporters saw surprisingly good performance in March as the improved flow of goods out of the country gave a boost to local authorities and a lift to world stock markets.

Exports rose to 11.5 percent in March after coming in at minus 20.4 percent in February. This is the first time in nine months that Chinese exports have risen.

Stock markets in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Europe rose following the announcement of Chinese trade data in Beijing.

But economists were hesitant to declare the one-month bump a sign of a turnaround in the countrys exports. Most of them expect Chinas foreign trade performance to remain sluggish throughout 2016.

Overall, exports in the first quarter of 2016 were still 4.2 percent below 2015 figures. In addition, imports declined by 1.9 percent in March, and 8.2 percent in the January-March period, suggesting the Chinese economy is still unable to buy more from world markets.

The weakness of exports in February and their strength in March is almost entirely the result of firms closing for the Chinese New Year holiday, Mark Williams, chief Asia Economist at Capital Economics, said, adding, The underlying picture is that China's exports continue to fall in dollar terms.



Commenting on the figures Huang Songping, spokesman for Chinas General Administration of Customs, was restrained, citing a better policy environment and the low base of exports in March last year as reasons behind the dramatic rise.



Exports this March have shown significant growth compared to the low base last year. On the other hand, a favorable policy environment is also the reason for the export improvement, he said.

Chinese exporters did poorly compared to the past in their top two markets, the European Union and the United States, in the first quarter.



One important reason why export values are so low is that commodity prices have fallen dramatically. China is a net commodity importer, but it still exports substantial amounts so the value of exports has been affected, Williams said.

Weak export growth predicted



Yan Se, professor of economics at Peking Universitys Guanghua School of Management said export growth would continue to remain weak this year because there was little sign of economic recovery in Chinas main markets, the European Union, the United States and Japan.

[The] world economy is still sluggish, and external demand is weak. This means Chinese exports will continue to remain sluggish, he said.

The decline in Chinese imports, which is affecting the world economy, is caused by low internal demand in China, which is going through an economic slowdown, Yan Se said.

Chinese industries have built up huge inventories. This has also resulted in low demand for exports, he said.

North Korean trade rises

Despite the recent introduction of U.N. sanctions, China saw an increase in its exports to North Korea, with two-way trade growing by 12.7 percent in the first three months of the year, compared with the previous year.



The total value of trade between the two countries was $1.2 billion. Just last week, Chinas Commerce Ministry announced it was banning the import of North Korean gold and rare earths as well as the export of jet fuel and other oil products used to make rocket fuel.



China is North Koreas most important trading partner and ally.



Chinas Foreign Ministry defended the rise in trade even as sanctions were put into place.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China would continue to uphold sanctions, but also maintain what he called normal relations with North Korea outside the framework of the sanctions.



China as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council will strictly, without taking shortcuts, implement all of the resolutions passed by the U.N. Security Council. This goes without question. Lu Kang said. Of course for things outside of the U.N. Security Council sanctions framework, China, along with other countries, will maintain normal relations with North Korea, this is also not for dispute.
Beijing has summoned diplomatic representatives from the Group of 7 industrialized nations to further express anger at a statement about the disputed South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said Wednesday China summoned the diplomatic envoys of relevant countries and "solemnly clarified" to them its position on the maritime dispute.

The G-7 statement this week expressed "strong opposition to any intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions." It urged all states to refrain from land reclamation, building outposts, and their use for military purposes.

The statement did not explicitly name China.

'Strongly dissatisfied'

But China responded to the G-7 statement Tuesday, accusing it of "hyping up maritime issues and fueling tensions in the region," and expressing China was "strongly dissatisfied with relevant moves taken by the G-7."

The G-7 statement contained a message critical of China's massive efforts to assert its claims over a string of islands in the South China Sea through new construction.

China has defended its land reclamation as being within its territorial rights, and has accused the G7 of straying from its mission to protect the global economy.

China, which is not a G-7 member, and Japan, which is a member, have claims in the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in trade is shipped yearly.

Brunei, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam also have claims to territory in the South China Sea.
Egypt's beleaguered president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi defended a controversial transfer of two islands to Saudi Arabia Wednesday and also denied that agents were behind the murder of an Italian student.

Sissi went on television to assure angry Egyptians that he did not give up a single "grain of sand."

"We did not surrender our rights but restored the rights of others," the president said. "Please let us not talk about this subject again. There is a parliament that you elected that will debate the accord. It will either ratify or reject it."

Cairo announced this week that it plans to hand over control of the Red Sea islands of Sanafir and Tiran to the Saudis. Sissi said the islands belong to Saudi Arabia and that the Saudis gave Egypt protective custody of the islands in 1950, fearing an Israeli invasion. Israel captured the islands in the 1967 Middle East war, but handed them back to Egypt.

The decision on the islands transfer was announced during a five-day visit to Egypt by King Salman, the Saudi monarch.

Some Egyptians accuse Sissi of selling Egyptian land in exchange for Saudi aid. When a member of parliament tried to ask the president about the matter during Wednesday's news conference, Sissi stopped him by saying "I did not give permission for anyone to speak."

The on air broadcast of the news conference was abruptly cut off.

Regeni case

Earlier, Sissi said Egyptian security forces had nothing to do with the disappearance, torture, and murder of Italian student Giulio Regini earlier this year.

Regeni disappeared on January 25, the five-year anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, when police were out in force to prevent demonstrations.

Sissi blamed the killing on what he called "evil folks in our midst."

Italy has recalled its ambassador to Egypt over what it says is Cairo's slow investigation of the murder.

Sissi criticized the media coverage of the case, calling its reporting "disturbing" and overly reliant on social media.
The European Union is ready to take further action if necessary to counter steel dumping by China, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Wednesday, as 10,000 jobs hung in the balance in Britain.

"The steel industry has problems," Juncker told a meeting of the European Parliament here, pledging support for an industry whose plight some Britons have blamed on EU policies as they campaign for Britain to quit the bloc in a June referendum.

Juncker, a long-time premier of major steel producer Luxembourg, described the sector as a high-technology industry that needed investment and protection. It employs some 360,000 workers across the European Union.

The European Commission opened three anti-dumping investigations in February into imports of Chinese steel products  seamless pipes, heavy plates and hot-rolled flat steel  and has imposed duties on two other products: cold-rolled flat steel and rebar.

"We are now investigating steel production in China to determine whether it is dumped in the market and we will take other measures if necessary," Juncker told EU lawmakers. He didnt detail what such measures could be.

Britain battles to save industry

Britain is battling to save its steel industry after India-based Tata Steel Ltd. announced it was putting its British steel operations up for sale, saying this was unavoidable because of a surge in cheap Chinese imports, as well as soaring costs and weak demand.

Juncker, whose father was a steelworker, for 19 years served as prime minister of Luxembourg, home to ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker.
Exit polls in South Korea indicate opponents to President Park Geun-hyes conservative Saenuri Party are doing better than expected in Wednesdays legislative election, and may deny the ruling party a clear majority in the National Assembly.

Recent polls had shown strong public support for Park, particularly for her tough stance on national security taken against the growing North Korean nuclear threat.

In this election the legislative body will expand to 300 seats.

While recent polls indicated Saenuri would win a clear majority, exit polls taken Wednesday show the ruling party falling short, and winning between 121 and 143 seats.

Main opposition

The exit polls taken by KBS television show the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, now taking between 101 and 123 seats, significantly more than originally projected.

Part of the main opposition Minjoo Party split off to form the separate People's Party for this election. Critics said the division among liberal groups would give conservative candidates a higher percentage of the fragmented field.

Instead the People Party is likely to do better than expected and win close to 41 seats.

Voter turnout was also was higher than in the two previous South Korean elections.

Misleading reports of low voter turnout did not include the more than 5 million votes, or 12 percent of the total, cast in early voting last week. These early voting ballots have not been incorporated into the exit polls.

Issues

Both opposition parties focused on the under performing economy, that grew 2.6 percent last year and youth unemployment that reached 12.5 percent in February, the highest since the government started keeping records in 1999.

I judged that the majority party cannot resolve issues of inter-Korean relations and economy, so I voted for the opposition party, said Kim Min-soo, a technician who voted for the Minjoo Party.

Many who cast their ballots for the conservative party were older voters and said national security was a key issue.

They expressed support for imposing increased sanctions on North Korea following Pyongyangs fourth nuclear test in January, as well as cutting the last cooperative inter-Korean ties by closing the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Project, and increasing military readiness to respond to any provocations.

I don't think Saenuri Party will lose over Kim Jong Un, said Choi Jung-ja, who said she also liked the Saenuri Party candidate running in the district.

South Korea must be stabilized. National security must be strong and stabilized. That's the most important thing, said Park Hyun-ja, who voted for the Saenuri Party candidate.

Disillusioned voters

Heading into the election, there was a growing perception that none of the major parties were generating any public enthusiasm.

Some voters complained that the campaign was more personality driven and there were no significant new policies alternatives developed to challenge the status quo.

There were many policies in the previous elections but there was no policy which differentiates this election, said Kang Joon-yong, a young father who said support for children and working parents were issues important to him.

But the exit polls show widespread voter frustration over both the sluggish economy and the tense national security situation.

Rather than showing a strong endorsement for President Park this surprising election result will likely increase the power of her political opponents in parliament.
The Jews of the world's first ghetto, which marked its 500th anniversary last month, have two words of advice for Europe as it struggles to deal with mass migration: patience and integration.

More than a million people, mostly Muslims, streamed into Europe last year from the Middle East and Africa. Neither they nor their new hosts might immediately think the centuries-old experiences of another religious minority could help them now.

But the Jews of Venice think the history of their people in general and in Italy in particular is relevant today.

"We Jews, unfortunately, know a lot about exoduses," said Edoardo Gesua Sive Salvadori, 64, researching his ancestors in the library of the city's famous ghetto.

University professor Shaul Bassi said Venice's rulers originally established the ghetto because they believed his people could not be integrated and had to be kept apart.

"Today, Italian Jews are proof that a minority can keep its identity and still integrate in a process of reciprocal influence," said Bassi, who is Jewish.

Today's Italian Jewish community of about 25,000 is among the world's most integrated. But the memory of what can happen - such as the Nazi occupation, when Venice saw some 250 of its Jews deported to death camps and only eight returned - is ever present.

It was on March 29, 1516 that the leader of the Venetian Republic, Doge Leonardo Loredan, and his senate decreed that if Jews wanted to stay in Venice, they had to live on a small island surrounded by canals.

The area was called "geto," from the verb "gettare" [to cast] because it was the site of an old foundry. Globally, this became "ghetto," with its infamous connotations through the centuries.

In its heyday in the middle of the 17th century, nearly 5,000 Jews lived there. To accommodate births and new arrivals, they could only build upwards, resulting in some of the world's first "skyscrapers," which at seven or eight stories high are still some of the tallest buildings in old Venice.

Today, only about 20 Jews live full-time in the ghetto. The rest of the 500-strong Venetian Jewish community live elsewhere in the lagoon or on the nearby mainland, following other Venetians away from the city's pricey and crowded center.

Shadows of the Past

For nearly three centuries until Napoleon's defeat of the Venetian Republic in 1797, Jews were locked in the ghetto at night. Christian guards on boats patrolled the narrow canals and short bridges to enforce the rules. The Jews were even forced to pay the salaries of their Christian wardens.

Holes that once held the iron hinges of the massive ghetto gates are still visible on stone posts, as are shadowy outlines on doorways where mezuzahs - small cases containing Hebrew verses from the Torah - were once affixed.

Rabbi Scialom Bahbout, 72, the community's spiritual leader, discussed Europe's migrant crisis with a visitor in the small "campo," or square, that is at the center of a maze of alleyways, some narrower than outstretched arms.

"For better or worse, Jews have already gone down this [migrant] road," the white-bearded rabbi said, adding that it was important for Muslim migrants to understand that state law trumps religious law.

"If someone comes to a place, they have to accept the rules of the place, and the Jews showed this can be done by learning the language and integrating," he said.

The ghetto has five small 16th-century synagogues, but only two are used regularly by the community. All five can be visited. Sumptuous inside, their outside markings are discreet.

The Catholic Church forbade usury, so Jews thrived as moneylenders - the trade of Shylock in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" - and ran pawn shops, both activities for a mostly Christian clientele.

Anniversary events included a production of Shakespeare's play in the ghetto and a major exhibition called "Venice, the Jews, and Europe," at the doge's palace - the same place where the decree that started the ghetto was signed 500 years ago.
Jordanian police shuttered the main office of the Muslim Brotherhood group in the capital, Amman, Wednesday, saying its leadership, affiliated with the now-banned Egyptian branch, had not applied for a license. The group split into two competing factions several months ago.

Jordanian police and security forces officially shut down the main headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood group, sealing its doors with red wax. Officials and employees of the pro-Egyptian faction were asked to leave the facility before it was closed.

Mo'ath Khawaldeh, spokesman of the Brotherhood faction which controls party headquarters, told journalists outside the building that the action came as a complete shock.

He said the move was taken without warning and that it was an aggressive step by the government which he terms illegal and undemocratic.

The Jordan Times newspaper reported that two competing factions of the Muslim Brotherhood were vying for control of the group and that leaders occupying its headquarters had never officially applied for a license to operate. A new rival faction, which has broken with the now-banned Egyptian branch, has applied for a license.

Member of parliament Jamil al-Nemrawi told Arab media that the Muslim Brotherhood flouted the law for years and refused to apply for a license to correct its legal status.

Nemrawi said the group refused to comply with a 2012 law demanding that it stipulate if it were social, educational or non-profit and that it never received permission to hold elections. He added that a new rival faction went ahead and complied with the law, giving it precedence over the old leadership.

Qatari-owned al-Jazeera TV, which is seen by some as a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, said Jordan was trying to close down the historic leadership of the group, in a move similar to what was done in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1946, 18 years after establishment of the group in Egypt by founder Hassan al-Banna. It was granted permission to operate by King Abdullah in 1953.
Australia has sent its largest ever trade delegation to China. The mission is focusing on agriculture as Australia's economy adapts to the end of a long mining boom.

This week 1,000 business people from Australia will visit 150 locations across China to seek out new opportunities offered by the free trade agreement between the two countries.

Agriculture is a key focus of the largest trade delegation Australia has ever sent to China.

The challenge for Australia is to make the transition from an economy dependent on a long mining boom that is now fading to one that is more diversified.

Australia's Reserve Bank has said that food exports to China have increased by more than 15 percent over the past decade, and, at this rate, will overtake iron ore exports by 2030.

Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Steven Ciobo said China offers a wealth of opportunities.

What we want to do is grow Australian exports, grow Australian opportunities for investment and if we do that successfully, we know that we'll drive jobs and growth in the Australian economy, said Ciobo.

Chinas demand for high-quality agricultural and food products is growing rapidly. Australian government researchers are predicting that China will account for 43 percent of global growth in agricultural demand by 2050.

Australian producers of beef, dairy products and wool hope to cash in on burgeoning demand among Chinas growing middles classes.

China is Australia's biggest trading partner and a bilateral free trade agreement was signed late last year.
A battle is shaping up in the West African nation of Liberia over a proposed overhaul of the education system that the nation's teachers union has rejected.

Liberian school teachers are now threatening a nationwide strike if their government goes ahead with a proposed public-private education partnership. Samuel Johnson, senior secretary general of the National Teachers Association of Liberia says the teachers approved the strike resolution on Tuesday.

The government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bridge International Academies, a low-cost nursery and primary private schools system that uses a technology-based approach to provide standardized education to students in developing countries.

Poor student performance

Liberias education minister, George Werner, told VOA the government is not privatizing the nations public education system. Rather he said it is entering into a public-private partnership for education because the current poor performance level of Liberian schools requires drastic action.

But Johnson said the proposed partnership is not feasible, sustainable, and it violates Liberias constitution and education laws.

Lack of high tech infrastructure

Based on our research, we told him [Mr. Werner] that it was not feasible to have this Bridge International Academies come teach children using digital tablets. Less than three percent of our population in Liberia has access to electricity. Also, we dont have Internet facilities in most of our schools. Kenya has a more advanced technology than us. They have 24-hour electricity and yet Bridge International Academies is under performing there, Johnson said.

Werner disagrees and says Liberia has the institutional set up for this technology-based type of learning.

There are many parts of the country, from Maryland to Montserrado, to Grand Gedeh, Nimba, and Lofa, and Cape Mount where we have Internet connectivity. We havent covered the country in full, but we are well on our way to doing so, Werner said.

Low graduation rate

About 1.5 million children are enrolled in primary school in Liberia, but the government said only 20 percent of the children complete 12th grade. Liberias protracted civil war in the 1990s has also taken its toll on the nations education system. In 2013, nearly 25,000 students failed the University of Liberia entrance exams.

Education Minister Werner said the government cannot continue to have students trapped in schools that are not working for them.

The statistics are grim for us; we do not have sufficient trained and qualified teachers; our teacher attendance is poor, and the learning outcome for every student is dismal. So what we are trying to do is to leverage the best of the private sector in terms of management systems and accountability and governance to improve all of these elements and accelerate learning outcomes for our children wherever they are, Werner said.

Teachers want more support

But Johnson said Liberia cannot continue to run its school system on a trial and error basis. He said theres no plan for sustainability of the partnership after the five-years being proposed for the pilot project. In addition, Johnson said the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf government is slated to leave office in two years.

Johnson rejected criticism that teachers are resisting change and that they are partly to blame for the underperforming of Liberia school children. He said the problem is the lack of training and equipment and general overall funding for the current education system.

Right now there are no textbooks in most of the schools. The very University of Liberia that is supposed to be training teachers to go and teach at the high school level, the labs are not equipped; the majority of our high schools do not have access to laboratory for students to be able to do research; biology, chemistry, and physics teachers find it very difficult. This is why most of the students are failing. But they are trying to deviate and find scapegoats, us, Johnson said.

Pilot program

The pilot project will start with about 50 schools. Teacher's lesson guide subject areas include: English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Moral Education, according to the Memorandum of Understanding. Each teacher will be supplied with an e-reader tablet running Bridges suite of operating systems and applications to which all lessons and the teacher resource library will be published.

But Johnson said the teachers have asked the national legislature to stop the education minister from implementing this project.

We have taken the issue to the national legislature because its a violation of our constitution, Article 6, and the education laws. We are waiting for reaction from the national legislature."

Johnson said the National Teachers Association of Liberia will call for a nationwide strike if the education minister continues to push for implementation of the public-private partnership in education.

If he does not listen, thats the next option. There will be a nationwide strike if they continue to impose something that we know is the feasible, not sustainable, and it is a violation of our constitution and education laws, Johnson said.
Malawi is trying to stop the rampant theft of malaria medicines from its public hospitals. A recent study found the robberies are costing the country millions of dollars each year, and the United States has threatened to stop providing the drugs if authorities do not get the situation under control.

Malaria is the cause of 40 percent of hospital deaths in Malawi, according to the Ministry of Health. It is the cause of over a quarter of outpatient visits.

The U.S. government and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria provide Malawis public hospitals with nearly all of their stock of life-saving malaria treatment drugs. By law, those medicines should be distributed free of charge.

But a recent study by the Ministry of Health revealed that 30 percent of those malaria drugs are stolen from the Central Medical Stores warehouse in the capital, Lilongwe. Seventy percent of what remains is disappearing from medical facilities around the country, the study found.

Edward Monster, the public affairs officer at the U.S. embassy in Malawi, says the stolen drugs end up being sold on the street.

Instead of the government pharmacy providing that medication free of charge to Malawian citizens that need it, they are told at [the] governments pharmacy that there is no medication available. But they can go down the road to a market place and buy the medication for a fee. That is, unfortunately, criminal, Monster said.

The U.S. and the Global Fund have partnered with Malawi on two campaigns to allow Malawians to report suspected theft using a toll-free number or by email.

And I would like to point out that under the Make a Difference campaign which is funded by the United States government, there are actually cash rewards that can be paid to people who provide credible, usable information that will lead to conviction of the thieves who are stealing these malaria medications, Monster said.

Penalties seen as too lenient

But health authorities say the penalties laid out in the Pharmacy, Medicines and Poison Act are too lenient.

Adrian Chikumbe, spokesperson for the Malawis Ministry of Health, says several culprits have been arrested but then released after paying small fines.

If one steals drugs worth millions (of Malawian kwacha), [he] is fined MK 5,000 (US$7). That is almost nothing. So we are actually working with the parliamentary committee on health so that we could have this law reviewed so that we have stiffer punishment, said Chikumbe.

The chairperson of the parliamentary committee on health told VOA that stiffer penalties are needed. She said the committee is in the advanced stages of reviewing the law.

Medical staff are believed to be involved in the theft of the medicine and some local rights groups also point to high-level corruption.

The president of the National Organization of Nurses, Joyce Ngoma, said the health system needs an overhaul from the top down.

You find that the thieves and all the culprits, we know them. They have been named and shamed before. And [they] are the ones who have been promoted and given the jobs now to be in charge. What do you expect? Ngoma asked.

Authorities say they will act on all tips received from citizens and this time, no perpetrators will be spared.
Ernest Hemingway penned 47 possible endings to "A Farewell to Arms," eight of which are on display at a new exhibition on the famed American writer at the John F. Kennedy presidential library - along with the one that actually concluded the classic World War I novel.



"If a person wants to make their mark as a writer they have to work very hard, and this exhibit really shows how hard he worked,'' said Patrick Hemingway, the author's only surviving child who on Tuesday toured the exhibition that opened Monday in Boston and runs through Dec. 31.



"He always felt responsible for being where the action was,'' said the 87-year-old Hemingway. "A lot of writers just retire to their rooms and describe their childhood. He didn't do that.''

The Kennedy library, which opened in 1979, is a repository for the world's largest collection of documents, photographs and personal mementos belonging to the literary icon. The collection is one of the library's "greatest treasures,'' said curator Stacey Bredhoff.



"Ernest Hemingway: Between Two Wars,'' includes material rarely displayed in public. It enjoyed an earlier run at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City last fall.



Hemingway and Kennedy never met, but the late president was clearly an admirer. Kennedy wrote Hemingway for permission to use his oft-quoted phrase "grace under pressure'' in the opening to Kennedy's own "Profiles in Courage." Hemingway was too ill to accept an invitation to JFK's January 1961 inauguration, and would commit suicide later that year.



Along with the multiple proposed endings to "A Farewell to Arms," highlights of the exhibit include Hemingway's first short story, published in 1917 in a high school literary magazine; a draft of his first Nick Adams story, written on Red Cross stationary at an Italian hospital where Hemingway was recovering from wounds suffered while serving as an ambulance driver during World War I; correspondence with other literary figures from his time as a member of the so-called "lost generation'' in Paris; and ticket stubs from some of the many bullfights he attended.

"I am very pleased that they were able to put together in my lifetime a very comprehensive picture of a person who really represented very well the first half of the 20th century,'' said Patrick Hemingway.



The story of how Hemingway's papers ended up at the Kennedy library carries overtones of modern-day developments in the long and complex relationship between the U.S. and Cuba.



Hemingway abandoned Finca Vigia, his Cuban home, at the time of Fidel Castro's revolution, leaving behind much of his personal estate.



After his death, Kennedy, despite the extreme tensions that followed the Bay of Pigs episode, gained permission for Hemingway's fourth wife and widow, Mary, to go to Cuba to collect her husband's belongings, which were then shipped from Havana to Florida on a shrimp boat.



In the years following Kennedy's assassination, Mary Hemingway established a relationship with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, leading to a decision to archive the collection at the presidential library.



Patrick Hemingway, who now lives in Bozeman, Montana, is seen in one photograph as a young child with his father and two siblings aboard a deep sea fishing boat, another of Ernest Hemingway's passions.



"He worked very hard in the morning but he never worked in the afternoon. He had a great life,'' Hemingway said of his father.
Doctors have given a paralyzed man some use of his right hand using a computer and electronic sensors.

As a result, Ian Burkhart, 24, can perform simple tasks like holding a bottle, pouring the contents out, picking up a stick and stirring. He can also swipe a credit card, move individual fingers and even hold a toothbrush, according to the Associated Press.

He can even play the popular video game, Guitar Hero.

But so far those activities have been confined to a laboratory setting, and Burkhart is only able to perform the tasks for a few hours over the course of aweek because he must stay hooked up to a device that interprets his brain signals and stimulates his muscles with electrodes on his forearm, the AP reported.

"This is taking one's thoughts and, within milliseconds, linking it to concrete movements," said Dr. Ali Rezai, who is a neurosurgeon at Ohio State University, and the author of a study on Burkhart.

The system works through a cable that is attached to a small projection from his skull. This carries signals to a computer focused on trying to interpret the task Burkhart is trying to accomplish.

From the computer, commands are sent to as many as 160 electrodes on his forearm. Those electrodes stimulate his hand and finger muscles.

Burkhart was injured at the age of 19 when he dove head-first into water he thought was deep, hitting his hand on a sandbar and breaking his neck. After the injury, he was unable to move below the shoulders.

Doctors told him hed never walk or be able to use his hands again.

But Burkhart was more optimistic.

"I had a feeling after my accident that there would be some improvements in science, technology, and medicine that would improve my quality of life," Burkhart told the website Gizmodo. "I've always been a big fan of technology, and because I was getting therapy at Ohio State, I knew about the kind of work being done there. I just made my interest known, and once the researchers got to a point where they were looking for a test subject, they contacted me. Luckily, I was able to check off all the boxes listing the requirements they were looking for."

Turns out his optimism paid off.

"The first time moving my hand  that was really just like that flicker of hope," Burkhart told reporters during a media briefing Tuesday.

According to the AP, Burkhart feels a tingle in his arm, but added that his muscles get tired quickly. Additionally, he said practicing using the device was mentally taxing, but that is has "gotten much easier."

When learning a new task, Burkhart says"I kind of have to think about it a little bit beforehand, and really think through what I'm trying to accomplish."

Burkharts story could give hope to others with spinal cord injuries, and researchers say that future iterations of the device might be untethered, allowing more freedom.
Police along the Greek-Macedonia border fired tear gas Wednesday at a crowd of migrants stranded in Greece as they tried to pull down part of the fence separating the two countries.

Witnesses said Macedonian police fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters who tried to climb the barricade using blankets provide by humanitarian groups. No arrests were made, and no injuries were reported.

The clashes took place at the Idomeni border crossing, the site of similar clashes earlier in the week between police and thousands of frustrated migrants living at the makeshift camp in the nearby town of Idomeni.

Hundreds were injured on Sunday when Macedonian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at a group that stormed the border after hearing a rumor that it was open.

Greek authorities accused Macedonian officials of overreacting and are investigating where the false reports came from.

About 11,000 people had been living at the camp since Macedonia closed its border to transient migrants hoping to make their way to northern Europe.

In recent days, buses have been transporting the migrants out of the Idomeni camp to reception centers elsewhere in Greece and hundreds of others will likely follow.

Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children trying to escape war, poverty and terrorism in Syria and Iraq have poured into the European Union with the EU struggling to cope.

A deal signed with Turkey would send new migrants arriving in Greece to Turkey in exchange for aid and other benefits for Turks.

Human rights groups criticized the agreement, saying the EU is using human beings as political bargaining chips.
The Panama Papers are likely to spark new prosecutions of people accused of providing funds to terror groups and boost political pressure to tighten financial rules in the United States. Experts say efforts to block terrorist financing are growing more effective, but some charities that work in war-torn areas say new rules are also hurting relief efforts.

Blocking funds to terror groups is vital because major attacks require money for explosives, weapons, travel and other expenses.

Terror groups use companies, including some in Panama, with hidden ownership to keep authorities from finding out that some funds are headed for organizations intent on violence, according to sanctions expert Eric Lorber of the Financial Integrity Network. We know from the Panama Papers that there were terrorist organizations that were setting up these shell companies - Hezbollah for example.

Former Senator Carl Levin has been pressing Washington for years to end secrecy in shell corporations in a bid to hamper terror financing, drug smuggling, tax evasion and corruption. He urged policymakers to seize the political power growing out of public anger over this episode. He warned former colleagues not to let the scandal go to waste.

But tighter financial rules have some side effects, according to Michael Rubin, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute. He says scrutiny is prompting terror and criminal groups to use older, slower methods of moving money. He says that is a major concern because these traditional methods are much harder for law enforcement to track. The money changer in Mogadishu or the money changer in Tehran, how are they getting their money? Is it coming in suitcases rather than are they hiding it offshore in Panama?

Another side-effect comes as many banks are abruptly closing accounts for charities collecting money to help people in war-torn areas. Such nations in conflict are often the target of economic sanctions, and some banks have paid large fines after violating sanctions rules. And in the past, some charities were used to camouflage the destination of funds headed for terror groups.

Problems for charities

That is causing serious problems for legitimate charities that raise money for people in some of the most difficult places on earth, charities that find themselves without access to banks and unable to pay staff and meet other expenses.

Sam Worthington, CEO of InterAction, a group of charities that work in troubled places, calls such de-risking and de-banking a growing problem. It's now to a point where a lot of the major Muslim-based charities in the U.S. that work internationally are one bank away from going out of business, which would drive all the money underground.

High risk and low reward makes banks reluctant to have anything to do with organizations working in areas that might prompt extra official scrutiny.

While many experts say the international community has a lot of work to do to keep up with the fast-evolving methods used by terror and criminal groups, Lorber says over the past 15 years there has been a real beefing up of the ability to combat terrorism financing, both by tracing it and then also by seizing terrorist assets. He says 20 or 30 years ago terrorists could easily pass funds through the financial system, but it is now much much more difficult to do though it remains a game of cat and mouse.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, says stopping terror groups will require U.N. member states to do a better job of exchanging information and financial intelligence and strengthen coordination with private companies.

He says some terror groups tax residents of territory they control, loot archeological sites, kidnap people for ransom and raise donations through social media and other means.

In Washington, Senate Banking Committee member Elizabeth Warren urges the Treasury Department to step up investigations.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew says a stepped-up strategy to confront terror financing has been put in place over the past year, while Justice Department officials say they are reviewing information from the Panama Papers.
Federal agents in Panama have raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm, which is linked to a number of offshore accounts associated with world leaders.

Panama's attorney general said in a statement that prosecutors and police were searching for any evidence that would establish the possible use of the firm for "illicit activities." Mossack Fonseca has been accused of aiding tax evasion and fraud.

The officers converged on company headquarters late Tuesday to search the offices for evidence supporting the charges. Meanwhile the law firm posted on its Twitter feed that it "continues to cooperate with authorities" in the investigations.

The so-called "Panama Papers," leaked online more than a week ago, featured records from Mossack Fonseca that indicated it had set up offshore tax havens for a number of wealthy international clients.

Company founder Ramon Fonseca has said that the company has broken no laws and destroyed no documents.

The clients include Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin; and relatives of British Prime Minister David Cameron, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif; and China's President Xi Jinping.
A man suspected of selling a gun to the perpetrator of a deadly January 2015 attack on a Paris kosher market has been arrested, the Spanish Interior Ministry announced Wednesday.

The ministry statement said 27-year-old Antoine Denive, originally from the northern French town of Sainte Catherine, was arrested on a European warrant Tuesday in the small Spanish coastal town of Rincon de la Victoria.

Denive is suspected of selling a firearm to Amedy Coulibaly, who opened fire on a kosher supermarket in Paris just days after the attacks on the offices of the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine. He killed a policewoman and four other people before police shot him dead.

Devine fled France several weeks later for Malaga, Spain, where he allegedly continued illegal arms dealing under a false identity, according to the Spanish ministry.

Spain's high court said Wednesday that Devine denied selling arms to Coulibaly, but agreed to be extradited to France.
Seven decades after their service and death, what may be the remains of two American pilots have been turned over to the United States.

A repatriation ceremony on Wednesday attended by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter paid final respects to what U.S. military members believe are the remains of crew members from a B-24 bomber and military transport plane that crashed over the Himalayan mountains while on a supply run to China in 1944.

The remains were placed in ceremonial boxes, and then in coffins draped with the American flag.

"This is a sad duty, but it means a great deal," Carter said. "Those guys whose remains are in those coffins would have wanted that, and would be proud and happy to be home, and their families, too."

Two bone fragments and a few other artifacts from the B-24 flight were found by an excavation team in the rugged mountains of Arunachal Pradesh, along India's northeast border.

A second set of remains found by a third party in the same region was also turned over. The Pentagon believes that they are "possibly" related to a C-109 that crashed in July 1945, also en route to China.

The excavation team climbed to an elevation of more than 9,000 feet  hiking for three days just to set up base camp, Marine Captain Greg Lynch said.

Lynch also said the team included 12 mainly military members and another dozen or so contractors.

The Pentagon has restated its commitment to the families of missing soldiers from World War Two and the Vietnam and Korean wars, who have complained over the years of delays and neglect in finding and identifying remains of their loved ones overseas.

Repatriation of these remains may provide hope to the families of over 350 U.S. service members still classified as missing in India; however, no more excavations have been planned in India for the fiscal year that ends September 30.

The remains will be taken to Honolulu, for DNA testing.
Several Russian military aircraft flew a series of simulated attack passes near a U.S. destroyer in the Baltic Sea over the course of two days this week, a U.S. defense official said.

The first of the two incidents, which the U.S. official called more aggressive than anything weve seen in a long time, took place April 11. Two Russian attack aircraft flew around 20 passes near the USS Donald Cook, coming within 1,000 meters at 30 meters in altitude  close enough to create a wake in the water.

The following day, the warplanes did 11 more simulated attack passes just nine meters above the Donald Cook. This time, the jets were joined by a military helicopter that took pictures of the U.S. destroyer.



Watch video provided by U.S. Navy:

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Both incidents took place while the Donald Cook was located in international waters.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described the aircraft as wings clean, which means they didnt have any visible weapons.According to the official, sailors aboard the ship attempted to reach the Russian planes by radio, but there was no response.

At the time of the incident, the Donald Cook was positioned off the coast Kaliningrad  a Russian territory on the Baltic coast between Lithuania and Poland.

The commanding officer [of the Donald Cook]  his assessment was that this was unsafe and unprofessional, the U.S. official said. He said a formal U.S. military review of the incident is underway.

At a briefing Wednesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest echoed those sentiments, calling the incident entirely inconsistent with professional norms of militaries.

Earnest said the White House continues to be concerned about repeated incidents over the past year of Russian jets flying too close to U.S. ships in international waters.



"We have seen a pattern on the part of the Russians in undertaking these kinds of actions that they at least intend to be provocative," he said. "They are a source of some irritation. That is something that we have expressed both privately and publicly to the Russians."

The Donald Cook had just come from a port visit in Gdynia, Poland, when the flyovers occurred. It was headed out to sea with a Polish helicopter on board.

NATO has been asked to provide a permanent presence of battalion-sized deployments of allied troops in the Baltic states. A NATO battalion typically consists of 300 to 800 troops.

Moscow denies any intention to attack the Baltic states.

VOA national security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday that its frequently criticized religious police force no longer has the authority to arrest citizens, and must now strive to "kindly and gently" enforce Islamic rules.

The new guidelines for the Haia force, also known as the Mutawaa, were approved by the Cabinet and published Tuesday, mandating that only police and drug squad officers have the jurisdiction to make arrests.

"Neither the heads nor members of the Haia are to stop or arrest or chase people or ask for their IDs or follow them - that is considered the jurisdiction of the police or the drug unit," the regulations say.

Formally known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Haia members enforce the country's strict interpretation of Islam, by, for example, ensuring that women are covered from head to toe in public, that they are not mingling with unrelated men, and that all shops are closed during the five daily prayers.

Mutawa tactics have been under scrutiny particularly after members were arrested for allegedly assaulting a young woman outside a Riyadh shopping mall in February, said local media at the time.

Another high profile case in 2013 resulted in two religious policemen being arrested after their patrol car crashed into another vehicle during a chase that left two men dead.

The controversial Mutawas were barred from interrogating and pressing charges in 2013, but abuses were said to have continued. Still, Saudis such as well-known cultural and societal blogger Eman al-Nafjan told the French news agency, AFP, that this time will be different. "I'm very confident because there are so many people that are for these changes," she said.

"I believe it's a very good change," said the former head of Mecca's religious police, Sheikh Ahmed al-Ghamdi, but added the change could have come even sooner.

There was no immediate comment from the Mutawaa, and its website could not be accessed Wednesday.
South Korean voters went to the polls Wednesday to elect to representatives to the National Assembly. President Park Geun-hyes ruling conservative Saenuri Party is expected to maintain a majority in the unicameral parliament.

Recent polls have shown strong public support for Parks tough policies to respond to the growing North Korean nuclear threat, including cutting the last cooperative inter-Korean tie by closing the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Project following the Pyongyangs fourth nuclear test in January, imposing increased sanctions, and increasing military readiness to respond to any provocations.

Saenuri support

At a polling station in Seoul, many voters who cast their ballots for the conservative party said national security was a key issue.

I don't think Saenuri Party will lose over Kim Jong Un, said Choi Jung-ja, who said she also liked the Saenuri Party candidate running in the district.

Saenuri holds half of the 292 seats in the National Assembly. In this election, the legislative body will expand to 300 seats.

South Korea must be stabilized. National security must be strong and stabilized. That's the most important thing, said Park Hyun-ja, who voted for the Saenuri Party candidate.

Opposition focus

Part of the main opposition party, the Minjoo Party of Korea, split off to form the separate People's Party for this election. This division among liberal groups could give the conservative candidates a higher percentage of the fragmented field.

Both opposition parties have focused on the underperforming economy that grew just 2.6 percent last year, and youth unemployment that reached 12.5 percent in February, the highest since the government started keeping records in 1999.

I judged that the majority party cannot resolve issues of inter-Korean relations and economy, so I voted for the opposition party, said Kim Min-soo, a technician who voted for the Minjoo Party.

The Minjoo Party promised to create 720,000 new jobs, increase the minimum wage, increase pension funds for retirees, and build massive public housing projects for the younger generation. But it is not clear how they propose to pay for these programs.

But public ambivalence over economic issues could help Saenuri keep or increase its majority in parliament.

We are always having difficulties with the economy. We cannot be satisfied. There is no stabilized economy, said Song Kyung-hee, a woman who voted for the Saenuri Party because of its strong position on national defense.

Disillusioned voters

Voter turnout early in the day was lower than four years ago, reinforcing the view that this election has generated little public enthusiasm.

Some voters complained that the campaign was more personality driven and there were no significant new policy alternatives developed to challenge the status quo.

There were many policies in the previous elections, but there was no policy which differentiates this election, said Kang Joon-yong, a young father who said support for children and working parents were issues important to him.

Saenuri has backed a corporate friendly economic agenda, expanding free trade agreements, tax breaks for businesses and concessions from labor.

Last year tens of thousands of labor supporters participated in mass protests to oppose a labor reform bill backed by Park to make it easier for employers to fire workers. At one rally in November, protesters fought police with steel pipes and police used water cannons and barricades against the crowd. Some of the leaders were arrested for organizing illegal demonstrations and human rights groups criticized Park for suppressing freedom of speech.

A strong showing by Saenuri would be seen as a big endorsement for President Park, who is halfway through her single five-year term. Attaining a super majority of 180 members would also help her enact her full legislative agenda by limiting minority filibusters and parliamentary delays by the opposition.

The country has a strong presidential system with a national leader who is limited to a single term by constitution but has control over domestic and foreign policy issues.
South Sudan's rebels fled Juba under gunfire more than two years ago at the start of this country's civil war. Eight months after signing a peace deal, they are returning.

It's a key step in the implementation of the peace deal signed last August. But ongoing fighting has many wondering if the rebels' arrival will lead to peace or more violence.

More than 1,300 Sudan People's Liberation Army-In Opposition soldiers have returned to the capital so far.

On Tuesday, the rebels' second-in-command, Alfred Lado Gore, arrived, too.

Machar to arrive Monday

Rebel leader Riek Machar is scheduled to land in Juba Monday to assume the vice presidency under President Salva Kiir.

Tens of thousands of people have died in South Sudan's civil war between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar, but Gore said there's no way to stop the coming peace.

"Peace will not be reversed. We must move forward with our country," Gore said.

But as he preached peace in Juba, fighting continued elsewhere.

The United States condemned attacks by the government in the country's Western Bahr el Ghazal state.

U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said they received reports the rebels attacked soldiers and civilians there, too.

'Sliding back into conflict'

"We're at a juncture here where it looks like we're sliding back into conflict, and that both sides bear responsibility to put things back on track," Toner said.

There are worries fighting could restart in Juba.

The peace deal said South Sudan's army should pull most of its troops 25 kilometers outside the city so government and rebel soldiers are balanced inside.

But the government hasn't allowed cease-fire monitors to verify removal of their troops.

The rebels also have accused the government of secretly bringing in extra soldiers.

On Tuesday, government agents arrested and beat 16 opposition members ahead of Gore's arrival, the rebels said.

'Unfortunate ... incident'

Gore said South Sudanese should be able to freely gather and speak their minds.

"It's very unfortunate, that incident, I deplore it, I condemn it, and I hope we will be told why they have been arrested," he said.

A government representative, Akol Paul, did not confirm the arrests, but insisted the situation is improving.

"The war has been two years, there have been a lot of problems. Peace is a process. I want to assure you, today is better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today," Paul said.

PHOTO GALLERY: South Sudan rebels return to Juba
Aww, theyre so cute, says a traveler who passes some therapy dogs that strut like runway models along a United Airlines concourse with their pet parents at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.

The five pups, big and small, settle into a spot in a hallway. Passengers, rushing to make their flights, stop for a moment to pet these friendly, well-behaved canines whose purpose is to relieve their anxiety and lift their spirits.

Meredith Kelso and her son are actually en route to see our dog." She adds as an afterthought, "And my husband. She laughs. "We had a rough morning. We were in an airport for five or six hours this morning with a delay, so this is great.

The pups and their owners are volunteers with a Washington dog therapy group, People Animals Love (PAL). They usually go to places like nursing homes. PAL partnered with a United Airlines program, started about a year ago, called United Paws, in which comfort dogs are brought to seven airports in the United States to help calm passengers during busy holidays.

'Warm and cuddly'

Sarah Weibel, who is traveling with her own tiny dog, thinks it is a good idea. If you have someone who is nervous about flying, youre going to calm them right down, she explains.

Tired from his Switzerland flight, Jeffrey Ober is tickled to see the animals. Its really nice to see something warm and cuddly as youre walking through the airport, he says with a weary smile.

Juliette Gougeon, who arrived from England, immediately takes to a black Labrador. Airports can be a very stressful environment when youre running from a gate, from one place to another, she says. I think its quite nice to be able to stop on the way to pat a dog. Its quite homey, actually.

United flight attendant Matthew Smith, who crisscrosses the U.S. from Los Angeles, bonds with Aslan, a jumbo, golden-haired breed called a Leonberger. The patient dog, decked out with a pair of sunglasses, draws a lot of attention and a lot of photos. United Airlines is donating $1 for every photo of the dogs that is shared on social media (#UnitedPaws) to PAL and other dog therapy groups that participate in the program.

Aslan always gets so many smiles, especially from parents, says his owner, Jen OKeefe. It distracts the kids a little bit, especially when theyre waiting.

Little Arya is trying to figure out the difference between petting and pulling dogs' fur. Her mom, Laila Bueckers, enjoys the distraction as they wait to board a flight to Germany. When youre traveling, its a very stressful environment, and if youre a dog person, this is great.

Good for pilots, too

Some pilots get a surprise visit at their office. I was really stressed out until these dogs showed up, says Doug Hidlay, who is thrilled to see them come in.

Theres nothing better than having a friendly face and four legs flopping around the office, adds Jim Frank.

PAL volunteer Joan Braden says she and her pup also helped provide much needed emotional support for a traveling dog lover. She had the same kind of dog, a goldendoodle, that she lost last month, and she started to cry. We sat and chatted awhile about her dog and how much she loved her dog, and I think it was a nice moment. Braden says, her eyes misty.

After three hours of meet and greet, Katy Anadales dog, Lilly, is exhausted and sleeping in her arms. She loved saying hi to everybody, says Anadale. Im glad we could make a difference.
In a move widely interpreted as a signal that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has no intention of stepping down, his regime went ahead Wednesday with parliamentary elections dubbed a "farce" by political activists, rebel commanders and Western governments.

As voting got underway in government-controlled areas of the war-shattered country, there was no suspense about the likely results. Those will be announced later this week.

Government loyalists  either members of Assads ruling Arab Socialist Baath Party and its affiliates or handpicked candidates elected as "farmers and laborers"  were expected to pack the parliament, as they did the previous one, elected as the uprising against Assad began nearly five years ago.

A smiling Assad and his British-born wife, Asma, were pictured on the Syrian leaders Facebook page voting early in the controversial polls.

As he left the polling station at al-Assad Library, a statement was released to the media. It quoted the Syrian leader quoted as saying: "The Syrian people are engaged in a war that has been going on for five years, through which terrorism managed to shed innocent blood and destroy much infrastructure, but it failed in achieving the primary goal it was assigned, which is destroying the principle structure in Syria, meaning the social structure of the national identity."

In February, just before a truce was declared, Assad announced his intention to hold parliamentary elections April 13. He issued a decree for polling to choose the countrys 250-member legislature, known as the Peoples Council, which is elected for a four-year term.

Wednesdays voting came amid signs that the shaky cease-fire, which has reduced rather than ended hostilities, is close to collapse.

Aleppo offensive

Earlier this week, the government, with Russian-backing, started an offensive on the rebels around Aleppo. Opposition fighters and al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra mounted concerted efforts to reclaim villages south of Syrias one-time commercial capital and territory in the coastal province of Latakia, the heartland of Assads minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam.

The Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed umbrella opposition group, warned Wednesday that the Assad regime is preparing for a large-scale offensive on Aleppo in "blatant violation" of the "cessation of hostilities" agreement.

"The Assad regime has clearly decided to escalate attacks on the Syrian people, taking advantage of the Russian and Iranian support and using the fight on terror as a pretext to justify these attacks," the coalition said in a statement.

In the runup to elections, regime-held parts of the country saw signs of campaigning by the almost 3,500 candidates vying for seats. Their posters plastered streets. Regime officials pointed to electioneering as evidence of the polls' authenticity.

State media on Wednesday broadcast footage of enthusiastic crowds pouring into the polling station at the Hejaz train station in downtown Damascus and people in a government-held district of Aleppo chanting, "Allah, Syria, Bashar  and thats all we need."

Polling issues

But about 7,000 candidates withdrew just before the elections, and more than half of the country had no polling stations. The 4 million Syrians who have fled for neighboring countries cannot vote. In northeast Syria, Kurds boycotted the election.

French foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said: "France denounces this sham of an election organized by the regime. They are being held without campaigning, under the auspices of an oppressive regime and without international observation."

That wasnt the view of Moscow, which, like the Assad regime, claimed Wednesday that the elections highlight Assads legitimacy.

Russias foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the voting was intended to avoid a "legal vacuum" while negotiators in the United Nations-brokered peace talks  which resumed Wednesday in Geneva  try to come up with a political transition.

"There is an understanding already that a new constitution should emerge as a result of this political process, on the basis of which new, early elections are to be held," Lavrov said. " These elections held today are designed to play this role of not allowing a legal vacuum."

Watch video report from VOA's Zlatica Hoke:

Skepticism over peace talks

But there is little confidence among opposition and Western negotiators that peace talks will be successful anytime soon.

Rebel and regime negotiators have not even met face-to-face so far in the Geneva talks. The U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has said he wants the second round of peace talks starting this week to focus on concrete steps toward a political transition. Damascus and foreign allies Russia and Iran insist that Assad should remain in power; the rebels insist he goes.

The Syrian government says its representatives will join the talks on Friday, after elections are over.

Despite the cease-fire, violence has ticked upward in Syria in recent days. France, Iran, Russia and the United States have all voiced concern over fighting near Aleppo this week.

Samantha Power, the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, warned Tuesday that escalating violence in Aleppo province threatened to derail the Geneva talks. Power said that Washington is "very alarmed" at the regimes announcement of a major offensive south of the city of Aleppo and that Russia needed to "get the regime back with the program."

Polling progress

In a statement to the government-owned SANA news agency, the head of Higher Judicial Committee for Elections, Judge Hisham al-Shaar, said the elections were proceeding well, with no complaints. And SANA reported that voter turnout was strong at 2,000 polling stations in Damascus, 17 in Deir ez-Zor, 1,047 in Latakia, 661 in Homs, 347 in Sweida, 741 in Hama, 368 in Hasaka and 816 in Tartous.

But independent journalists and political activists said voter turnout was more of a trickle away from showcased polling stations in the capital.
With just one week to go before the New York presidential primaries, Texas Senator Ted Cruz is learning firsthand the meaning of its city and state "values."

In January, Cruz uttered his now infamous line of attack during a GOP debate, intended to strip businessman Donald Trump of conservative credentials.

"I think most people know what New York values are," said Cruz, calling it a "socially liberal" city focused on "money and the media."

His remarks were seen as an attempt to gain traction with South Carolina's conservative, largely evangelical base of voters  Cruz's stronghold along the southern "Bible Belt." Instead, it misfired and insulted an entire city.

Now, with 95 delegates at stake in a hotly contested election year, the Texas senator has had no choice but to attempt to make amends.

It has not gone as planned.

Jeers, protests

Cruz got a lukewarm welcome last week during a campaign rally in the Bronx, a New York borough that has a large Latino and African-American population.

Amid jeers and protests  one Bronx resident called Cruz a "right-wing bigot"  Cruz endured a poorly attended gathering and was forced to cancel an afternoon high school visit after its students threatened to walk out.

Elsewhere in New York City, residents have given Cruz a taste of their "values."

"Cruz has to go back home. Look at his face," said Bella, an elderly Russian American resident of Brooklyn.

Apology, with qualifications

When New York City and state leaders asked the Texas senator to apologize for his comments, he agreed, but with qualifications.

"I apologize to all the pro-life and pro-marriage and pro-Second Amendment New Yorkers who were told by [New York] Governor [Andrew] Cuomo that they have no place in New York because that's not who New Yorkers are," Cruz said.

But any last-ditch effort to reach out to New York's conservative base may be for naught.

Although Cruz remains in second place among Republicans nationwide, he is running 35 percentage points behind Trump in the state's latest polls.

"He does not like New York. And he does not like the people of New York, and that came out loud and clear," Trump said during a rally in Albany. "His words were 'New York values.' Take a look at the scorn on his face when he said it, am I right?"

In addition, Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is running second and leads Cruz, launched a new TV ad called "Values," in which a narrator accuses Cruz of divisive tactics, while painting Kasich as a uniting force.

Pockets of support

Generally speaking, New York's Republicans are less socially conservative than Southern evangelicals.

But that doesn't mean Cruz hasn't found pockets of support, including members of the Orthodox Jewish Community in Brighton Beach, where many share his definition of family values.

"He stands for moral values. [It is] important to have a strong family unit," said Daniel, a Brooklyn resident. "I'm also grateful to him for his support of the Jewish people."

Others support his tough stance on immigration.

"If someone breaks into your house, you don't let them stay in your house. If someone breaks into the country, we got to send them back," said another.

But Cruz, who rolled his first matzo balls with the Jewish community last week, appears to be running out of time to persuade New Yorkers to choose him over Trump and Kasich.
The defense attorney for Ugandas main opposition leader, Dr. Kizza Besigye, says new criminal charges against his client appear to be part of a plan to discredit him following the disputed outcome of the February 18 presidential poll.

Besigye, who is with the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), was charged Wednesday with disobeying lawful police orders before the Kasangati Magistates Court in Wakiso district.

Police spokesman Fred Enanga told local media that Besigye was detained last week while on his way to the FDC party headquarters in Najjanankumbi to attend weekly protest prayers.

We have footage showing that Dr. Besigye stood atop his vehicle and spoke to the crowd at Kalerwe without any police notice. That amounts to illegal assembly, which is contrary to public order management Act, Enanga said.

Besigyes defense attorney, Peter Mukidi Walubiri, disagreed saying the police are to blame for constantly violating his clients rights as guaranteed in the constitution. He says the administration came up with trumped-up charges against the opposition leader with the aim of preventing him from meeting his supporters in any part of the country.

It obviously will be one of the very many charges pending against him in court which is part really of the abuse of the process of court because after they charge him they never proceed to [provide] any evidence and to really prove to court that he committed any offense. Its just harassment, Walubiri said.

30 cases, no conviction

That is why I think the over 30 cases they have referred against him in the last two or so years, they have never secured a single conviction. They will come to court saying investigations continue. At the very best, they can bring one witness until the charges are dismissed by court, he added.

When you are charged you have to get bail then you have to continue reporting to the police and to court, and you dont really have time to concentrate on your ordinary work. Meantime, they portray you in the media as somebody who is running against the law.

The police also accused Besigye of refusing to sign a criminal summons he was served on April 8.

Walubiri rejected the accusation as yet another trumped-up charge.

The accusation that they took criminal charges against him and he refused to sign it is not correct. It is just something concocted because every day they arrest him. They take him to police" he said. "The court records are there to show that it is now part of his routine to report to police; it is part of the routine to go and answer all kinds of charges. Why wouldnt he sign a mere criminal summons?

Walubiri says the governments continual charges against Besigye amount to harassment and a demonstration that the administration is toying with the countrys judicial system. He insists that the opposition leader has not broken any lawful order from the police.

Police surrounded Besigyes home and erected road blocks along the route leading to his house shortly after the February 18 general election. Leading FDC party leaders were initially prevented from visiting the presidential candidate at his home, which they said thwarted their efforts to legally challenge the disputed presidential election.

The electoral commission declared incumbent President Yoweri Museveni winner of the presidential vote.
In 2010, just before Heritage Oil and Gas Ltd. sold its licenses for exploration in Uganda, the company changed its domicile from the Bahamas to Mauritius.

Mauritius, the Eastern African island nation, has a no-double-tax agreement with Uganda, meaning Heritage Oil could avoid paying a $400 million capital gains tax on the $1.4 billion deal. It's a move that the Ugandan Revenue Authority challenged in court and won.

Emails recently released through the Panama Papers leaks illustrate how Heritage attempted to dodge taxes and back up what the Ugandan government already knew. And with renewed public interest in the case, tax and justice activists are calling on government to renegotiate double tax treaties. They contend that weak regulations are still an issue.

"The biggest benefit of these leaks is for us to be able to put our house in order, said Jane Nalunga, Uganda director for the Southern and Eastern African Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI).

" [I]f a country is known to be a tax haven, then we shouldn't have a double taxation treaty with it," she added. "So these leaks are going to help us to strengthen our arguments. So the biggest advantage is the policy framework that we are going to put in place will be more strong and tight."

Tax dollars needed

Many have pointed out that $400 million could make a substantial difference in Uganda's health care sector. This is especially true for rural clinics, where shortages of medicine and basic supplies and a lack of health care professionals are common.

While taxation is important, allocation is the crux of the issue for rural communities, contends Onesmus Mugyenyi, deputy executive editor of the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE). The Kampala-based coalition analyzes public policy, specializing in agricultural, environmental and trade issues.

Mugyenyi said that even when the government does receive large tax payouts, the money doesnt make its way back to local government and communities.

"So you realize that while we say we are now getting these resources, while we post that we've already gotten some good billions from this oil, [tax money] is not going back to the community," he said. "It is not improving actually the livelihoods of communities.  Where have we invested that money?"

Grants diminished

Grants to local governments have fallen in the national budget from 25 percent in 2004 to 15 percent in 2015, and many worry that this trend is likely to continue.

For those who live in rural regions, it will mean that whether or not taxes are paid accordingly, accessing basic government resources is likely to remain a challenge.
The United Nations is calling for the "immediate and unconditional" release of one of its staff members kidnapped in eastern Ukraine.

A United Nations office in Ukraine statement says it is deeply concerned one of its staff members is being held captive in Donetsk.

The statement says the United Nations has information the staff member is being "well treated". It did not supply any information on the circumstances surrounding the abduction including when or where it took place.

The United Nations is carrying out humanitarian operations in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

An estimated 9,000 people have been killed since April 2014, when pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's east launched the rebellion against the Kyiv government.
The U.S. accused authoritarian regimes around the world Wednesday of suppressing their people with "increasing vigor and viciousness" to control any activities that might threaten their power.

"Governments that deny political liberty forfeit public trust, thereby opening the door to civic unrest of all kinds, including I might add, violent extremism," said Secretary of State John Kerry during a news conference unveiling the 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

Tom Malinowski, an assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor affairs, told VOA that information published in the report can be used as a basis to make decisions on security assistance to foreign militaries.

"You can be certain that whenever we have credible evidence that a unit or an individual member of a foreign security force has committed gross violations of human rights, we do not and we will not provide assistance to those units and individuals," Malinowski said in a separate interview.

In its 40th annual human rights report, the U.S. State Department said, "In 2015, this global crackdown by authoritarian states on civil society deepened, silencing independent voices, impoverishing political discourse, and closing avenues for peaceful change."

At a time when technology is increasingly connecting people and making it easier to communicate and organize, the report said, authoritarian governments are making new efforts to stifle civil society "because they fear public scrutiny, and feel threatened by people coming together in ways they cannot control."

The State Department singled out numerous governments for criticism, including what it described as "historically authoritarian regimes" in North Korea, Cuba, China, Iran, Sudan and Uzbekistan.

The report also denounced Islamic State terrorists for their brutal attacks on civilians.

"The most widespread and dramatic violations in 2015 were those in the Middle East, where the confluence of terrorism and the Syrian conflict caused enormous suffering," Kerry said.

Cuba, Russia, China under scrutiny

Even as the U.S. has normalized diplomatic relations with Cuba and President Barack Obama recently visited the island nation off the U.S. southern coast, the State Department said Havana "continued its practice of arbitrary, short-term detentions to impede the exercise of freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly. The government also re-arrested several political prisoners it had released in January 2015 who had continued their activism during the year."

In China, the report said, "repression and coercion markedly increased during the year against organizations and individuals involved in civil and political rights advocacy. The crackdown on the legal community was particularly severe."

The State Department said Russia "instituted a range of measures to suppress dissent. The government passed new repressive laws and selectively employed existing ones systematically to harass, discredit, prosecute, imprison, detain, fine, and suppress individuals and organizations engaged in activities critical of the government."

The report said in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow seized in 2014, Russia has engaged in "systematic harassment and discrimination" against Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars by curbing their ability to speak out against the occupation.

The State Department said Malaysia, Tajikistan and Turkey, a NATO ally of the U.S., stifled civil society activity through "overly broad counterterrorism or national security laws," or stiff interpretation of the laws.

The report said governments in Iran, Egypt, Kenya, Cambodia, Uganda, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Ecuador all "deployed burdensome administrative and bureaucratic procedures as a means to restrict freedom of association."

Report enforcement?

The annual State Department report provides a benchmark for rights groups and organizations around the world tracking government abuses.

Malinowski said it also helps inform Washington's police on foreign assistance.

"We enforce the Leahy Law in every country in the world," Malinowski said, referring to the law authored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), which stipulates a process through which the U.S. government vets U.S. assistance to foreign security forces to ensure that recipients have not committed gross human rights abuses.

But some critics say the State Department could do more to follow up on what it details in the report.

Sarah Margon, Washington Director of Human Rights Watch, said, "even though this document is so accurate and so clear-eyed about what's going on in many of these countries, it isn't often used in the way that it should be."

Margon added that this year's report highlighted not only non-state actor abuses, but also violations by governments that are "friends or allies" of the U.S.

Criticisms for U.S. politicians

Kerry also took time Wednesday to push back on one particular U.S. foreign policy topic that became an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign.

"I want to remove even a scintilla of doubt or confusion that has been caused by statements that others have made in recent weeks and months, Kerry said. The United States is opposed to the use of torture, in any form, at any time by any government or non-state actor."

Republican front-runner Donald Trump had suggested that the United States would be more effective at interrogating terrorists and preventing future attacks by torturing terrorist suspects or killing their families. He later appeared to walk back the statement when it was pointed out that ordering such actions would violate U.S. treaties and military codes of conduct.
A U.S. newspaper is reporting that federal investigators paid professional hackers to help them crack into the Apple iPhone used by one of the terrorists who killed 14 people last December in San Bernardino, California.

The Washington Post said Wednesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation paid a one-time flat fee to the hackers who provided the U.S. law enforcement agency with information about a previously unknown software flaw in the cellphone.

The newspaper said that information allowed the FBI to crack the phone's four-digit personal identification number without setting off a security feature that would have erased all the phone's data. The challenge for investigators had been to disable that security because it would have wiped data stored on the device after 10 incorrect guesses on the code.

Results not revealed

It is not known what the FBI found on the phone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, an American-born Muslim, who carried out the assault on a local government center with his Pakistani-born wife, Tashfeen Malik, before being gunned down hours later in a massive shootout with police.

It is also not known whether the FBI will now disclose the security flaw to Apple so the U.S. technology can patch it.

FBI investigators have concluded that Farook and Malik were "homegrown violent extremists," radicalized over a several-year period and inspired by overseas terrorist groups, but not part of a terrorist cell. They met in the Middle East and Malik gained legal entry into the United States on a "fiancee visa," a promise to marry Farook shortly after she arrived in the United States, which she did.

Legal dispute



Before the FBI hired the hackers, its pursuit of information on the phone became a contentious legal fight with Apple. The government filed suit against Apple to help it crack into Farook's iPhone, but the company, supported by other technology firms, refused to help, on the grounds that it would violate the security and privacy of millions of iPhone users.

The legal dispute ended late last month when the government announced it had managed to break into the phone with the help of an undisclosed third party, which turned out to be the hackers.

FBI Director James Comey told a law school audience in Washington on Tuesday that he was glad the court fight was averted. He said the clash of concerns over privacy and national security "was creating an emotion around the issue that was not productive."

He added, "We can't resolve these really important issues that affect our values  technology, innovation, safety and all kinds of other things  in litigation."
In what could be a preview of the kind of foreign policy debates that will feature in the U.S. presidential race later this year, a senior Republican member of the Senates Foreign Relations Committee has strongly criticized the Obama administrations policy toward Russia.

In an interview with VOAs Georgian service, Senator James Risch from the western U.S. state of Idaho said the economic sanctions the United States imposed on Russia for its annexation of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine have been insufficient.

"Well, I think to some degree theyre working, but 'some degree' really doesnt cut it," Risch said. "You need to get to a much stronger position then where we are. So, my view would be that we ought to ratchet that up.

"I think the U.S. and other countries have a lot of experience with sanctions and how they work and it seems that we could be doing more than what were doing. And I think that would be very helpful  to try to get the attention of the Russians, and get them to understand that we are very serious about their adventurism and the things theyve been doing in recent years," he said.

Western sanctions

Since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in early 2014, the U.S. and European Union have imposed several rounds of sanctions targeting Russian officials and entities, along with Russia-backed Ukrainian separatists. The sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans.

WATCH: Senator James Risch criticizes US policy toward Russia

Risch said the lack of a tough Western response to Russias invasion of Georgia in 2008 emboldened President Vladimir Putin and led to Moscow's subsequent military moves in Ukraine and Syria.

"Unless someone does something, you can expect the same thing to happen over and over again. That's what history teaches us," he said.

"And thats exactly what happened here  there were essentially no sanctions for what Russia did, and as a result of that, why would they hesitate when they look at Crimea, when they look at Ukraine, or anywhere else," Risch said.

"Theyre absolutely convinced, particularly with the administration we have, which of course is going to change in not too long, they can get away with these things, and get away with them with impunity," he added.

In a recent interview with The Atlantic magazine, President Barack Obama noted that Russia intervened militarily in Georgia in August 2008, when George W. Bush was still U.S. president and the United States still had 100,000 troops in Iraq.

Obama also questioned whether Russias subsequent military interventions were a sign of strength.

Ukraine, Syria

"Putin acted in Ukraine in response to a client state that was about to slip out of his grasp. And he improvised in a way to hang on to his control there," Obama said.

"Hes done the exact same thing in Syria, at enormous cost to the well-being of his own country. And the notion that somehow Russia is in a stronger position now, in Syria or in Ukraine, than they were before they invaded Ukraine or before he had to deploy military forces to Syria is to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of power in foreign affairs or in the world generally," the president said.

Real power means you can get what you want without having to exert violence," he said.

Ukraine, Obama added, is a "non-NATO country" that will be "vulnerable to military domination by Russia" no matter what the U.S. does.
When Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, visit migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos this weekend, they'll be doing more than sending a political message about the need to welcome refugees.

Christianity's two most important leaders, still officially divided by a thousand-year schism, will be speaking with an increasingly unified voice that has gone beyond the realm of religion to confronting pressing issues such as climate change and humanitarian crises around the globe.

The visit, which comes on the heels of Francis' historic meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, is evidence of an increasingly important Catholic-Orthodox partnership that has been strengthened by shared concern for Christians being exterminated by Islamic extremists in the lands of Jesus' birth.

Francis has called these indiscriminate attacks on Christians - Catholic, Orthodox and others - an ecumenism of blood, and it wouldn't be surprising if he uses the term again on Lesbos when he meets with refugees fleeing Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.

The ecumenical patriarch and popes for the last generation have increasingly begun to speak together on issues of common concern, said George Demacopoulos, chair of Orthodox Christian studies at the Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York. What you have here is a more specific case: You have the uniqueness of Pope Francis and the ecumenical patriarch at a tipping point in historical and European events.

According to the Greek organizers, Francis and Bartholomew will visit with new arrivals at Lesbos' Moria refugee registration center, which has essentially been turned into a detention center for refugees slated for deportation under the controversial EU-Turkey plan, which calls for new arrivals in Greece to be returned to Turkey. From Moria, Francis, Bartholomew and the head of the Church of Greece, Athens Archbishop Ieronymos, will visit the port in Mytilene, the island's capital, to meet residents and hold a prayer service.

It's an extraordinary occasion, said Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Vatican's justice and peace office. It's a historic event because something like this has never happened before.

Francis told his weekly general audience Wednesday that he and his Orthodox brothers were going to express the closeness and solidarity to both the refugees and the citizens of Lesbos and the entire Greek people, who have been so generous in their welcome.

The Catholic and Orthodox Churches split in 1054 in a dispute over papal power, among other things. The Second Vatican Council's call for greater Catholic outreach to other Christians resulted in Pope Paul VI's historic meeting with the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox, Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, in Jerusalem in 1964.

In 2014, Francis and Bartholomew marked the 50th anniversary of that event with a meeting in Jerusalem, which was followed by Francis' visit to Istanbul later that year. The two men clearly get along well: Francis cited Bartholomew's environmental writings in his own 2015 ecological encyclical - a first for a pope.

Bartholomew is the Istanbul-based first among equals in global Orthodoxy. The Greek church is independent of the patriarchate, one of the self-governing, auto-cephalous Orthodox churches that also include the Russian, Bulgarian and Serbian churches. While the Greek church and Ecumenical Patriarchate get along, the Greek church has been far less cozy with the Vatican.

Not so long ago, the Greek church adamantly opposed a papal visit.

When St. John Paul II toured Greece in 2001, the first pope to do so since the Great Schism, he was met with howls of protest by Greeks who considered it a Roman Catholic attempt to establish authority over the Orthodox Church. Orthodox monks and nuns prayed through the night to stop the visit, ordinary Orthodox took to the streets to protest and monastery bells tolled in mourning.

There was even a diplomatic standoff over whether John Paul would kiss the ground upon his arrival, as was his custom upon landing in a foreign country. In the end, he did kiss a pot of soil.

More importantly, John Paul issued a sweeping apology upon arrival in Athens for the sins of action and omission by Roman Catholics against Orthodox, including the Crusades-era sacking of Constantinople, the center of Greek Byzantium.

Fifteen years later, there has been no hint of protest at Francis' visit.

And Catholic-Orthodox relations are clearly getting stronger: Bartholomew became the first ecumenical patriarch since the Great Schism to attend the installation of a pope when he was a guest of honor at Francis' 2013 installation Mass. Francis recently met with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, the first-ever meeting between a pope and a Russian patriarch.

A delegation from the Vatican and the Moscow Patriarchate recently returned from Syria on a humanitarian aid mission that drew up a list of Christian sites that need to be repaired, evidence that even with the most estranged Orthodox church, Francis is finding common cause.

That said, Francis isn't visiting Greece on an official state visit but rather on a humanitarian mission to a Greek island, and just for a few hours.

In an indication of the delicate protocol issues at play, both diplomatic and ecclesial, there's no shared version of how the visit came off.

Bartholomew's office said he had invited Francis to join him in Lesbos via letter on March 30.

The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, the decision-making body of the Greek church, said Francis had asked to come to Greece to highlight the plight of refugees, that the synod had proposed he visit Lesbos and invited Bartholomew to come along.

The Vatican said Francis had accepted an invitation from Bartholomew and the Greek president - no mention of the Greek Orthodox Church - though Bartholomew has no jurisdiction to invite the pope to Lesbos, Demacopoulos noted.

Lesbos belongs to the archbishop of Athens, he said. The reality was that this was the patriarch's idea. The pro-forma is that he had to go through the archbishop of Athens and the state of Greece to make it happen.
The World Bank plans to set aside $2.5 billion during the next five years for projects promoting female education in low-income countries, first lady Michelle Obama announced Wednesday in Washington.

She said the investment is a powerful statement of belief in the power of education to transform the lives and prospects of millions of girls worldwide, as well as the prospects of their families, their communities, and their countries. It is also "an affirmation of these girls' extraordinary promise," she added.

Development experts say education is one of the most effective ways to foster economic development. A World Bank study found that a woman's lifelong income increased by 18 percent for every year she attended school.

"While today's announcement is tremendously exciting and has the potential to be truly transformational, it is also, in many ways, obvious, right, ladies? the first lady said. Research on the value of girls' education is overwhelming and irrefutable. ... They raise healthier families, with lower infant mortality rates, higher vaccination rates. And by contributing more to the labor market, they can even boost their entire countries' economies."

Previous programs

This education project is not the World Bank's first for females.

A program it operated between 1994 and 2008 led to girls overtaking boys as the majority in Bangladeshi schools. A $500 million project in India has put 4.3 million more girls in secondary schools since 2012. Similar projects have been launched in Nigeria and Yemen, also yielding positive results.

Michelle Obama is promoting the "Let Girls Learn" initiative, which she started with President Barack Obama last year. The initiative strives to provide adolescent girls, particularly in developing countries, with access to education.
Mental health and the costs and benefits of treatment are taking center stage at a Washington, D.C. meeting co-hosted by the World Bank and World Health Organization starting Wednesday.

Academic experts, practitioners, development agencies, and ministers of finance are participating in the meeting designed to encourage governments, aid agencies, and civil society to invest in mental health. Organizers say good mental health care can result in real economic benefits.

Nations that have improved their mental health care, such as Brazil, Ethiopia, and South Africa, will present their stories, discussing their particular challenges and solutions.

Authorities from Brazil are expected to describe their psychosocial care network, while Ethiopian representatives are to showcase their country's program of nationwide mental health care training and practice. South Africans will talk about how they made mental health care an integral part of the nation's re-engineered primary health care system.

The series of events is part of the annual spring meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and coincides with the release of a WHO-led study that shows every $1 invested in improving mental health treatment results in a return of $4 in better health and ability to work.

The study says an estimated 10 percent of the world's population is affected by mental health disorders, and in emergency situations, as many as 1 in 5 people can be affected by depression and anxiety.

Calculating the cost of treatment and health outcomes in 36 countries of all income levels over the next 15 years, the study predicted that the cost of scaling up treatment through counseling and anti-depressant medication amounted to about $147 billion. The study says the benefits of better mental health far outweigh the cost, noting that a 5 percent improvement in labor force participation and productivity is valued at $399 billion. Improved health is estimated to add another $310 billion in returns.

The WHO says nations need to drastically upgrade their spending on mental health care. A 2014 survey shows governments spend an average of just 3 percent on mental health, ranging from 5 percent in high-income countries to less than 1 percent in developing nations.
"It is now clear that Zika does cause microcephaly," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in opening a news conference Wednesday at CDC headquarters in Atlanta.

Frieden went on to say that the CDC is launching further studies to determine whether children who have microcephaly caused by the Zika virus might have other brain and developmental problems.

Microcephaly might just be "the tip of the iceberg" when it comes to Zika, even in infants who appear to be normal at birth, according to Dr. Sonja A. Rasmussen, the principal author of the new study.

Microcephaly, a condition in which a baby is born with an unusually small head and small brain, has been linked to Zika since February when World Health Organization director Margaret Chan declared the virus "guilty until proven innocent" in relation to the rare birth defect.

This is the first time the virus has been scientifically proven to be the cause, as well as the first time a mosquito-borne virus has been shown to cause birth defects.

Scientists involved in the study say it will drive additional prevention efforts, focus research on a vaccine, and reinforce the need to educate people about the risks of Zika.

The CDC study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study pointed out that the Zika virus has spread rapidly in the Americas since first being identified in Brazil in early 2015, where it was linked to adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes.

Rasmussen said the study looked at several criteria and reviewed existing evidence, including whether there were specific defects or patterns of defects that point to a causal relationship to Zika, whether pre-natal exposure to the virus can result in birth defects, and whether the link makes sense biologically.

Rasmussen said the criteria showed all links to be true, and showed that the babies included in the study had severe microcephaly with unusually small heads.

Questions remain

However, there are still a lot of unknowns.

"We don't know the full range of health problems the Zika virus will cause, Rasmussen said. Will it cause learning problems later in life? Are other factors involved, such as another infection?"

Other unknowns: why the virus causes microcephaly in some infants but not in others; whether infants born to pregnant women who had the virus but did not have the symptoms will have the same risk of microcephaly as those whose mothers had symptoms of the virus; and how long these children can expect to live.

While a lot is known about babies with microcephaly, "we don't know a lot about babies with Zika-caused microcephaly," Rasmussen said.
Zimbabwes President Robert Mugabe says the country needs to rethink its indigenization policy. His comment comes less than two weeks after the March 31 deadline for foreign companies to transfer majority shares to black Zimbabweans.



President Robert Mugabe said in a statement Tuesday that the indigenization policy is creating confusion and discouraging foreign investment.



The law was passed in 2008, and Mugabe says parts of it may now need to be amended.



But Harare-based independent economist John Robertson says the damage has been done. He says investors are not confused.



They know that the policies are very, very hostile to their investment plans. So no confusion," he said. "The confusion is that the government believes that they can legalize the theft of other peoples shares or other peoples property. The only way they can clarify the problem is to repeal the legislation that is hostile to investors.

Mugabe said Tuesday the law will not be repealed outright.



The president says indigenization is meant to correct colonial imbalances which marginalized black Zimbabweans.



But analysts say that policy and others have sunk Zimbabwes economy to unprecedented lows. Unemployment is above 80 percent, and the government relies on foreign aid to fund social sectors like education and health.



Mugabe blamed the current confusion on conflicting public statements by his government ministers.

The Indigenization Minister Patrick Zhuwawo said earlier this year that foreign companies would have their licenses revoked if they did not submit plans for how they would comply with the law by March 31.

The finance minister disagreed publicly and said he was happy with what had already been done.



The indigenization minister told VOA his declaration stands.



Unfortunately, I do not have an update for you  my team are still working on the application  except to say that they received about 649 applications for compliance. So that is a lot of work, he said.

Earlier this year, Zimbabwe nationalized all diamond mining. Nine foreign companies are currently fighting that move in court.




Police have arrested more than 400 protesters who were demonstrating by the U.S. Capitol in Washington against the role of money in politics, saying the protesters engaged in "unlawful demonstration activity."

Video of the protest Monday showed a police officer saying "If you don't want to be arrested, move on back to 1st street."

U.S. Capitol Police said the demonstrators are being processed using mass arrest procedures. Some of the protestors were led away from the east front of the Capitol in plastic handcuffs.

The protest was organized by a coalition of groups calling itself "Democracy Spring" which said on its website that the demonstration was held "to demand Congress take immediate action to end the corruption of big money in our politics and ensure free and fair elections in which every American has an equal voice."

The demonstrators chanted slogans like "money out of politics." Some of them had marched from Philadelphia to Washington over the past week.

WATCH: Related video of protesters at U.S. Capitol
Two heroines, Victoria Chitepo and Vivian Mwashita Muchicho, were laid to rest at the Zimbabwe National Heroes Acre on Wednesday.

Thousands of Zimbabweans gathered at the National Heroes Acre to bid farewell to two heroines, Victoria Chitepo and Vivian Mwashita Muchicho. This became the first time in Zimbabwes history that two nationalists were buried at the national shrine in a single day.

Officiating at the burial of the two heroines, President Robert Mugabe told mourners that Zimbabweans should emulate the bravery and courage that was shown by the two during and after the countrys war

A representative of the Chitepo family, who is a son of the deceased national icon, Zvenyika Chitepo, said his mother worked hard in uplifting the lives of Zimbabweans and others in the Southern African region.

A representative of the Mwashita family, Nyasha Mwashita who is Vivian Mwashitas daughter, said her mother was advocating for Zimbabweans to be self-reliant.

War veterans leader Chris Mutsvangwa encouraged Zimbabweans to work hard to ensure that Chitepo and Mwashitas vision of a vibrant Zimbabwean economy is realized.

First Lady Grace Mugabe, former vice president Joice Mujuru and MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai were among politicians who did not attend the burial of Chitepo and Mwashita.

Tsvangirais spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka, said Tsvangirai and the top leadership of his party did not attend the funeral because Zanu PF was monopolizing state functions.

Studio 7 failed to reach Mujurus People First and other opposition parties. Victoria Chitepo, who was the widow of veteran nationalist Herbert Chitepo, held some cabinet positions and was once a member of parliament.

Mwashita, who also fought in Zimbabwes liberation struggle of the 1970ss, worked at Zanu PF headquarters before she was attested into the Central Intelligence Organization where she served until 1995. In the same year, she was elected legislator for Harare South constituency before becoming a senator for Mvurachena in 2005. She is survived by her husband Peter Muchicho, three children and six grandchildren.
President Robert Mugabe says banks dont fall under Zimbabwes controversial program as per the countrys banking regulations.

Zimbabwean police have advised the MDC-T to shelve public protests tomorrow over missing diamond proceeds worth $15 billion saying they wont have manpower to monitor the event.

Central Bank governor John Mangudya attends the annual IMF-World Bank meeting with Zimbabwe seeking new lines of credit from the international finance institutions.

Youth say they need a big stake in Zimbabwes political processes in order to benefit from the countrys black majority rule.

In the diaspora forum we will be featuring Zimbabwean clergy, Pastor Letina Jeranyama, who is also a lecturer at a Boston university in U.S.A

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 Blessing Zulu and Gibbs Dube will be talking about Zimbabwes indigenization program. President Mugabe says the program does not include finance institutions. 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 are also running a daily competition for lucky winners. You only need to answer a simple question about Zimbabwes independence. The question today is: Who was Zimbabwes first vice president? The draw will be conducted April 18th. Dont be left out!!
Central bank governor John Mangudya and some senior state officials are attending the annual International Monetary Fund-World Bank meeting in Washington D-C with Zimbabwe already seeking new lines of credit from the international finance institutions.

Lenders have asked the country to address several issues, including the compensation of whites who lost their land under Zimbabwes controversial land reforms, before the southern Africa nation gets fresh loans.

Zimbabwe owes the World Bank, IMF and several institutions millions of dollars.

Mangudya said the meeting is not expected to deliberate on Zimbabwes attempts to get loans from the two institutions.

Each spring, thousands of government officials, journalists, civil society organizations, and participants from the academia and private sectors, gather in Washington DC for the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group.

At the heart of the gathering are meetings of the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee and the joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee, which discuss progress on the work of the IMF and the World Bank Group.

Also featured are seminars, regional briefings, press conferences, and many other events focused on the global economy, international development, and the world's financial markets.

This years Spring Meetings events will started Tuesday and are expected to end Sunday. The plenary session of the IMF and World Bank Group's Boards of Governors is scheduled only during the Annual Meetings in autumn.
Some youth in Mashonaland West province say there is need for young people to occupy influential positions of authority in government if Zimbabwe is to realize missed ideals of the countrys liberation struggle of the 1970s.

Some of the youth claim that the current leadership is insensitive to the needs of Zimbabwes young people, a situation that has led to the nations failure to implement the ideals of liberation struggle, which include one-person-one vote and equitable redistribution of the land.

Twenty-five year-old Chinhoyi-based Delight Benge, who holds a university degree, claims that the current government and Zanu PF leadership has continued with oppressive systems that were political pillars of Rhodesia, once led by Ian Douglas Smith.

This includes what Benge calls oppressive laws like the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, Public Order and Security Act or POSA and several others that are almost a flip side of the repealed Law and Order Maintenance Act of 1960, which infringed on people's freedom of association, assembly, movement and expression.

This particular law was replaced by the feared POSA that curtails the same fundamental rights.

Benge says the only way out of this is to vote enmasse for a new government.

Another local youth, Takunda Madzana, says most young people in Zimbabwe have over the years been used as political tools by some parties.

As a result, he believes that they can only play a critical role in bringing social, economic and political transformation in the country if they turn down undemocratic ideologies of most parties.

Persuade Chirinda, concurs, noting that most Zimbabweans feel that they are being oppressed by the ruling elite to exercise their rights just exactly like what happened under Rhodesian rulers.

Chirinda says all rights are only on paper as the government does not want to implement certain provisions of Zimbabwes constitution, widely seen as one of the well-drafted supreme laws in Africa.

He is convinced that the youth can bring positive change in the country if they get into state institutions.

Most critical Zimbabwean government posts are occupied by Zanu PF activists, some of them drawn from the national army, the feared Central Intelligence Organization spy network, and other state security organs.

Banket-based youth, Patrick Nyamweda, also believes that youth should be involved in policy formulation in order to cater for their needs.

According to Benge, this is not enough as youth should always refuse to be abused by political parties.

Zimbabwean youth constitute more than 60 percent of the total population. Most of them are currently unemployed due to the countrys current serious social, economic and political problems.
High Court Judge Justice Happius Zhou on Wednesday ruled that police should not interfere with a march planned for Thursday by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) formation led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

The court action followed indications by the police that they wont provide manpower for the MDC-T protests over poverty, corruption and missing diamond proceeds of up to $15 billion.

MDC-T spokesman Obert Gutu told VOA Studio 7 his party welcomes the court ruling as it shows that the judiciary in Zimbabwe is still alive.

We are very happy that the High Court has simply endorsed what was a very clear position at law and we are actually surprised that the police had sought to say we should not proceed with our demonstration because they do not have the legal basis, said Gutu, adding that they are very happy and are raring to go.

Zimbabwe supreme-decision making security organ, the Joint Operations Command, asked the MDC-T to postpone the march last week saying it clashed with a crucial indaba that was held by war veterans and President Robert Mugabe.

Gutu said the party is currently not working with political parties or civic organizations but have been receiving solidarity messages from some political parties who have wished them a successful demonstration on Thursday.

Im not even surprised if some disgruntled and unhappy members of Zanu PF who are disgruntled by the way the economy is being mismanaged join us tomorrow (Thursday), Gutu said.

He said the demonstration is not only for MDC-T activists or supporters, but a protest for all patriotic Zimbabweans.
Economic analysts have hailed Zimbabwes clarification regarding the operation of foreign banks and the controversial indigenization policy.

President Robert Mugabe explained on Tuesday that banks were governed by the Banking Act, and not the indigenization policy as argued by Indigenization Minister Patrick Zhuwao in his spat with Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa.

Zhuwao had threatened to shut down foreign financial institutions operating in Zimbabwe that he said had failed to subject to black empowerment regulations mandating foreign firms to cede a 51 percent stake to locals.

The banking sector shall continue to be under the auspices of the Banking Act, which is regulated by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, and the insurance sector under the auspices of the Provident and Insurance Act, Mugabe said.

This policy position is essential for the promotion of financial sector stability, confidence and financial inclusion.

He however, said these institutions will, nonetheless, be expected to make their contributions by way of financing facilities for key economic sectors and projects, employee share ownership schemes, linkage programs and such other financial empowerment facilities as may be introduced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, from time to time.

Commenting, economic analyst Masimba Kuchera said President Mugabes intervention will bring stability and certainty in the financial sector.

We have said it before that banks are governed by the Banking Act, and by bringing clarity on this issue, the president has helped minimize the risk of people rushing to banks wanting to take their money, said Kuchera.

But Bulawayo businessman and former Affirmative Action Group official, Sam Ncube, said despite the clarity, the Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Act remains a disastrous law thats scaring investors.
In the document, two issues, among others, required attention; the reestablishment of the postulates of the 1940 Constitution, displaced at a stroke by the illegal statutes laid down by Fulgencio Batista, in March 1952, and article 12, part of the Second Chapter, On Nationality.

Sub Para C, dedicated to defining persons who are Cubans by birth, specified:

Foreigners that have served in the armed struggle against the tyranny toppled on 31 December 1958, in the ranks of the Rebel Army for two years or more, and that have held the rank of Commander for at least a year, provided they fulfil these conditions under the law.

The intention was clear. The aforementioned defining sub para was drafted with a refined sensitivity and a deep sense of historical justice since it targeted the only combatant with the unique requirements indicated: the Argentine doctor Ernesto Guevara de la Serna.

In a Council of Ministers meeting, initiated the same day (7 February), the pertinent agreement was adopted. According to Luis Buch, then the secretary of the Governments highest organ, when he informed Che of the decision in the early morning of 8 February, Che was unfazed and considered that agreement was not merited. According to Che, he had only battled in Cuba to liberate a people, and he would have done the same thing in any other part of the world.

Che, as he would be nicknamed first by his comrades and later recognized in all corners of the planet, had accumulated those merits after barely 25 months of insurrectionary war.

The simple people had placed him right from the very beginning, with a fine popular instinct, in the place destined to genuine heroes, when it was yet to discover his exceptional humane qualities.

In a short time, the master of guerrilla warfare undertook diverse state and political responsibilities with dedication and efficiency. He extended his ethical and moral education, and by his personal example he led the way to detachment from the ego and altruism demonstrated by setting out to accomplish missions of liberation in the Congo and Bolivia.

With his outstanding qualities, he depleted Cubans and millions in the world of their capacity to be gobsmacked. His modesty, his capacity for work, clarity and the breadth of his political ideas are the virtues that defined him as a genuine creator in the social world.

Among the numerous examples linked to Cubans, it merits highlighting that his rigorous knowledge of Cubas history, achieved in a short and frenetic period, was only possible because of his lucid intelligence, his iron will to acquire knowledge and his interest in being identified with the country to whom he surrendered his sweat and blood.

His proverbial modesty almost prevented him hiding the intimate meaning bestowed on the distinction received, the highest that a nation may confer and only shared with General Maximo Gomez.

He never viewed it with the least formality and this he demonstrated when, at the dramatic moment of the farewell, he expressed in his letter to Fidel:

wherever I end up, I will feel the responsibility of being a Cuban revolutionary and as such, I will act () and if my final hour comes upon me under another sky, my final thought will be with this people and especially you.
The Economic Strategy of the United States

At the beginning of his mandate, President Obama appointed the historian Christina Romer to chair his Committee of Economic Advisers. This Professor at Berkeley University is an expert on the 1929 crisis. According to her, it was neither Roosevelts New Deal nor the Second World War that permitted the US to come out of this recession; rather, an influx of European capital from 1936, escaping the rise of dangers .

This is the basis on which Barack Obama drove his economic policy. First, he took action to close all tax havens that were not under the control of Washington and London. Then, he organized the destabilization of Greece and Cyprus, so that European capital takes refuge in Anglo-Saxon tax havens.

It all began in Greece, in December 2008, with demonstrations after a policeman murdered a teenager. The CIA transported busloads of trouble-makers from Kosovo in order to disrupt a demonstration and to set up the beginning of chaos [1]. The Treasury Department could then confirm that Greek capital was leaving the country. The experience being conclusive, the White House decided to immerse this fragile State into a financial and economic crisis that challenged the very existence of the Euro Zone. As predicted, every time we wonder if Greece will be ultimately kicked out of the Eurozone or if the EuroZone will be wound up, some European Capital makes a [mad] dash for an available tax haven, invariably British, American and Dutch. In 2012, another operation was mounted against a Cypriot tax haven. All bank accounts above 100,000 euros were confiscated. It was the first and only occasion, in a capitalist economy, that one witnessed this type of nationalization [2].

During the last eight years, we have been present at a number of G8 and G20 meetings which have established all sorts of international rules, supposedly to avert tax evasion [3]. However, once everyone had adopted these rules, the United States - and to a lesser extent Israel, the Netherlands and the United Kingdomdispensed with them.

Tax Havens

Each tax haven has its own legal regime - in general, absurd.

Currently, the major tax havens are the Independent State of the City of London (member of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), the State of Delaware (member of the United States) and Israel. However for sure, other tax havens exist, notably British ones. For a start, there are the islands of Jersey and Guernsey (member of the Duchy of Normandy and as such placed under the authority of the Queen of England without being either a member of the United Kingdom or the European Union), Gibraltar (a Spanish territory whose landed property is English and which the United Kingdom occupies illegally); even Anguilla, the Bermudas, the Cayman Islands, Turks, the Virgin Islands or Montserrat. Some of them are also tied to Holland: Aruba, Curacao or Sint Maarten.

A tax haven is a free zone rolled out to cover the entire country. However, in the collective imagination, a free zone is indispensable to the economy, whereas a tax haven is a calamity. However, the two are co-terminous. Of course, some businesses abuse free zones to avoid paying taxes and others abuse tax havens. However this is no reason to challenge the existence of these provisions that are vital to international trade.

In their war against non Anglo-Saxon tax havens, the United States has notably struck blows against Switzerland [4]. This country had developed tight banking secrecy allowing the small fry to conduct transactions unbeknown to the big players. By forcing Switzerland to abandon its banking secrecy, the United States has expanded its mass surveillance of economic transactions. In this way, they can easily deceive the competition and sabotage the action of the small fry.

The Panama Papers

It is in this context that Washington has provided Suddeutsche Zeitung 11 500 000 computer files hacked from the fourth law firm in the world instructed to establish offshore companies. As this intelligence gathering is a crime, the alleged whistle-blowers who carried it out, have remained anonymous. Although Washington has first carefully sifted out the files and excluded first, all those relating to US nationals or businesses and then probably those related to its close allies. The fact that some of its alleged allies that are in a tricky position with the Obama Administration feature in these documents,  a case being President Petro Porochenko - confirms to us that they have just been dropped by their powerful protector.

While Panama is a Spanish-speaking State and Suddeutsche Zeitung a German publication, the Spies have named the stolen files in English: The Panama Papers .

Incidentally, the architects of this carabistouille try to persuade us that all men that rebel against Washington would be robbers. For example, we remember the campaigns mounted against Fidel Castro, accusing him of being a drug trafficker and Forbes listing him among the worlds most wealthy [5]. After observing the difficult living conditions of the Castro Family in Cuba, I ask myself how can anyone mount such a lie. It would follow that the new secret magnates would be Vladimir Putin, Bachar el-Assad and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad however their frugality is legendary.

This propaganda against political adversaries, is simply the tip of the iceberg. The important point is the future of the international financial system.

Violation of Journalists Ethics

Suddeutsche Zeitung is part of an International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), an association that specializes not in investigative journalism as its name would lead us to think, but in denouncing financial crimes.

In republican societies, Justice must be the same for all. But the ICIJ, that has already published more than 15 million computer files since its establishment, has never harmed the interests of the United States. Therefore it certainly cannot claim that its actions are prompted out of concern for justice.

Furthermore, from the republican principles of our society flow obligations for journalists. These have been formalised in the Munich Charter in 1971 by all the professional trade unions in the Common Market, later extended to the rest of the world by the International Federation of Journalists.

I perfectly understand that this text imposes limits that on occasion are difficult to abide by. Indeed, some years ago I was among those that considered it useful to be able to occasionally violate it. But experience proves that by violating it, we open the door to other violations that boomerang against the citizens.

The journalists of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists have not posed the ethical question. They have accepted working on documents that have been stolen and sorted out, without the slightest opportunity to verify their authenticity.

The Munich Charter stipulates that journalists will only publish information whose origin is known; that they will not suppress essential information nor will they alter texts and documents; finally that they will not use dishonest methods to obtain information, photographs and documents. Fully aware of these three requirements, they have violated them and this should bar them from professional bodies and bring about the removal of the directors of the BBC, France-Televisions, NRK, and why not Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (the radio of the CIA which is also itself a member of the Consortium of Journalists).

This is not the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists first case. It was this body which in 2013 had published 2.5 million computer files stolen from 120 000 offshore companies. Then, it is it that had revealed, in 2014, contracts signed between multinationals and Luxembourg in order to profit from a preferential tax regime. And it was the one that revealed, in 2015, the accounts of the British Bank HSBC in Switzerland.

We suspect that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is financed by a number of organizations linked to the CIA, such as the Ford Foundation and the George Soros Foundations. This latter example is the most interesting: members of the ICIJ do not take the view that Mr Soross money comes from the CIA, but from his financial speculations to the detriment of the people. This would render it more acceptable.

No More Resistance without non Anglo-Saxon tax havens

That the Hezbollah holds companies and secret accounts in Panama and elsewhere comes as no surprise. In a recent article, I raised the issue of the Lebanese Resistance auto-financing without having to depend on Iranian subsidies. The complex financial montage to which it has surrendered will have to be completely reconstructed, to avoid Lebanon becoming once again the victim of its Israeli neighbours.

That President Ahmadinejad has established offshore companies to bypass the embargo of which his country was the victim and to sell oil is not only no crime but is completely to his credit.

That the Makhlouf family, cousins of President el-Assad, has used a financial montage to by-pass the illegal embargo by Western powers and to permit Syrians to eat during five years of aggressive war is also completely legitimate.

What will be the outcome of this vast outpouring? First the reputation of Panama is destroyed and it will take many years to resurrect. Then, petty criminals that have systematically abused the system will be prosecuted, while a number of honest traders will have to justify themselves at length before the courts. But contrary to appearances, those who breathe life into this campaign will ensure that nothing has changed. The system will thus remain in place, but from now on will have to function to the sole benefit of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States and Israel. While believing that they are defending their liberties, those who will have participated in this campaign will have in reality reduced.
How can we justify war if there is no enemy that threatens us? Simple: its enough to invent one or fabricate one. This is what General Phillip Breedlove, head of the US European Commandment teaches us. He is going to pass to another USA General the baton of the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

In his last hearing at the Pentagon, General Breedlove warns that Eastern Europe is faced with a Russia that is aggressive and rising. This can pose a long-term existential threat . By saying this, he stands reality on its head: a new Cold War in Europe, against the interests of Russia, was provoked by the putsch in Maidan Square. This was the US/Nato strategy and it continues to feed tensions, justifying the growing expansion of forces in Eastern Europe.

In Ukraine, a joint multinational Commandment for training has been established until 2020 of armed forces and Neonazi battalions of the National Guard, which are the responsibility of a hundred trainers of the US Division 173A transferred from Vicenza, with British and Canadian forces at their flanks. Breedlove emphasizes that the US European Commandment is working with allies to block Russia and to prepare itself for war if necessary .

In the South, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe warns, Europe has before it the challenge of mass migration triggered by the collapse and instability of entire states, and Isis that is spreading like a cancer, threatening European nations. Therefore he argues that the Russian intervention in Syria has complicated the problem, since it has done little to block Isis and a great deal to prop up the Assad regime..

Stand reality on its head once again: the USA and NATO are the ones that have provoked by war the Libyan state to collapse and the Syrian state to be destabilized and consequential mass migration, supporting the formation of Isis, that is functional to their strategy. The US and NATO have feigned fighting ISIS, while the Russian intervention in Syria, by supporting the governments forces, has brutally struck Isis making it withdraw.

Now that Russia has achieved its primary objective and is re-evaluating its commitment in Syria, Nato under US command is extending its military presence in the Middle East.

On 29 February, the NATO Secretary General, Jan Stoltenberg, signed with Kuwait an agreement that permits it to create the NATOs first airport stop in the Gulf, both for war in Afghanistan and for Nato cooperating with Kuwait and other partners, notably Saudi Arabia, supported by the Pentagon in the war that massacres civilians in Yemen.

On 2 March, in Abu Dhabi, Stolternberg has strengthened cooperation with the United Arab Emirates in order to address common security challenges.

On 17 March he received King Abdullah II in Brussels, in order to strengthen the partnership between Nato and Jordan.

On 18 March, he received Al Zayani, the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar), to strengthen cooperation between the two organizations.

In Africa  while preparations are made for the operation that, under the cover of freeing them from Isis, is looking to occupy areas in Libya that are the most important economically and strategically  is in progress from Senegal to the Gulf of Guinea, the exercise Obangame/Saharan Express, in which participate in an antiterrorism and antipiracy capacity, the naval forces of the Usa, Europa, Africa and even Brazil. Led from the general quartier of Naples by the US Naval Forces Europe-Africa, whose mission is to promote the national interests of the US, security and stability in Europa and Africa.
Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

Massachusetts federal judge David H. Hennessy has ruled that the second scheduled deposition for Camille Cosby, wife of the embattled Bill Cosby, will continue as planned on April 19. The testimony pertains to the defamation suit that seven women filed against Bill Cosby, after they made public allegations that he had sexually assaulted them. However, the judge also told Joseph Cammarata, the lawyer representing the women, that he would be limited in the types of questions he would be able to ask. Previously, the court ruled that Cosby does not have to discuss private conversations she has had with her husband.

Both sides claim this ruling as a victory: Cosbys lawyers said they were very gratified by the judges ruling that the questions would be limited. Cosby sought to cancel the second deposition, because she claimed the first was outrageous and improper. According to the Wrap, Cosby refused to answer almost 100 questions during the first deposition. The judge also chastised Cammarata for asking a question about whether she had had sex with her husband while she was sleeping. Cammarata told the New York Times, Were glad that, despite Mrs. Cosbys efforts to terminate the deposition, we have an opportunity to continue to take her deposition.
Le Bataclan. Photo: Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images

Le Bataclan, the venue where 89 people were killed in the Paris terror attacks last November 13, is set to reopen just after the one-year anniversary of the attack. The theaters owners have announced that Pete Doherty will play the first show on November 16, followed by Youssou NDour on November 18, Nada Surf on December 2, and Mz on December 3. The work of renovation of the Bataclan have started. They consist of the rehabilitation of all the infrastructure and facilities of the room without, however, changing the layout of this one. Were going to try to preserve its warmth and friendliness. We want to maintain the spirit, popular and festive, who has always been hers, Le Bataclan owners said in a statement. The venue currently has no set date to reopen prior to the first show. Le Bataclan owners had previously promised the venues fans, as well as all of France, that they would not surrender to terrorists and fear.
New Girl has a problem on its hands. By doing so well in Jesss absence  and by so effectively reinvigorating its characters moods  the show demonstrated just how little it really needs her. Now that shes back, I certainly dont wish her harm or anything. Jess should be happy. She should feel secure and warm and wrapped up somewhere in a cocoon of organic wool and humanely collected goose feathers.

But I dont particularly care whether or not shes in a happy romantic relationship, even if its supposed to be more meaningful because shes reuniting with an ex. I especially dont care if its done with the oddly cavalier and unmotivated underpinnings of this reunion with Sam. The whole thing seems to take for granted that if someone takes out a restraining order against you, their feelings would be pretty strong. Certainly strong enough that, when you actually come into physical contact with one another, it wouldnt be like Elizabeth and Darcy at the end of the 2005 Pride and Prejudice. (British ending, not the American version, which was terrible.)

Suffice it to say, although its nice that Jess and Sam had a great time making out in Sams pickup, I dont understand how they got there.

Lets see if we can figure it out. Last weeks episode ended with Sam, standing at his door, furiously crumbling up a pan of apology brownies Jess had brought for breaking him up with his girlfriend. 300 Feet opens with Jess and the gang sitting at the bar, bemoaning the existence of the neighborhoods new hip bar and trying to dissuade Jess from further alienating Sam. As it turns out, the gang gets plenty of support for this stance when Jess is served with Sams restraining order. As Winston notes, the only way to get it lifted would be to talk to Sam, but the magic of the restraining order is that you cant talk to him. And that  that is human drama.

I really wish it were. Instead of stewing in her own discomfort and considering the Catch-22 in which shes found herself (or, God forbid, just letting it go and going back to Peter Gallaghers eyebrows), Jess tries to track down Sams car at the hospital to give him a letter. As spring follows winter, or as day follows night, this naturally leads to Jess accidentally marooning herself in the bed of Sams pickup truck, patently violating her restraining order and listening in as he jams out to Selina Gomez.

When Sam decides to go through the car wash, Jess gets buffeted around like a lone sock in a washing machine and lands on his windshield screaming, IM NOT CRAZY! And somehow, some way, this situation results in Sam and Jess deciding that they cant stop thinking about each other, and they end up making out in the middle of the road, holding up traffic.

Yeah, I still dont get it.

Lets turn to more important things: Nick and Schmidts bar finally has a name! On the one hand, this development feels like a chance to rub our noses in the fact that Schmidts first name continues to dangle over this show like the Sword of Damocles. On the other hand, the bar is called the Griffin, which is a pretty good name.

The Griffin is not doing so hot these days, thanks to Presh, the new competition which moved in down the street. Presh features such amenities as valet parking, bartenders who look like Civil War surgeons, and carefully curated artisanal flatware. Connie, the owner (played by Busy Phillips), couldnt care less that shes luring away Nicks customers or that her valets are taking all the parking spots in front of his building. She mistakes Nick for her nutmeg wholesaler  which seems silly until Nick ends up staring into the eerie mirror of his nutmeg-wholesaler doppelganger  but thats as much time as Connie is willing to devote to the gang.

Nick and Schmidt (lets be honest, mostly Nick) believe that Connies trying to sabotage the Griffin, citing the bars cut soda line as evidence. Although Schmidt just wants to do more to improve the joint  like fixing the up toilet  Nick persuades him to help strike back by chucking a whole branzino over Preshs wall. Of course, Schmidt is thrilled by the hipster-y rep of the branzino. I dont really know what to say about that, except that Im happy for you, buddy.

Unsurprisingly, Cece the Not Particularly Talented Bartender is the one who mistakenly cut the soda line. Her attempt to help the Griffin by creating some fancy new cocktails does not go over well, either. (The Whisky Business apparently tastes like a loose chili.)

Nick, hoping to establish better terms, ends up inviting Connie to a mobster-style meeting of the families. The families, in this case, include Connie, Nick, and a guy named Peter, who owns Produce/Cold Beer/Ice. (Annalisa from Annalisas Nails couldnt find someone to cover her register.) The meeting doesnt accomplish much of anything, except to reaffirm Schmidt and Nicks undying love for one another, which is demonstrated by Schmidt saying that he invested in Nick, not just in the bar, and by Nick offering to get valet service for the Griffin.

And really, thats quite nice  even if the bar plot is not a knockout. It resembles the Banyon Canyon bit: an opportunity to make fun of silly trends and cultures without actually engaging beyond a surface level. And as much as I love Busy Phillips, this role just does not give her enough room to play. When she began listing all the terrible things that happened to her in the past year, I hoped Connie might become a more elaborate character, but it never really builds to anything. Shes certainly had a lot of run-ins with dead animals, though.

For all its flaws, the bar plot is far more emotionally effective than the Adventures of Feckless Jess. Her character works best when stories assume the Amelia Bedelia model: Everything falls apart and is a disaster until the last possible minute, when she pulls a rabbit out of the hat through sheer pluckiness and unrelenting cheer. This Sam plot also follows that formula, chasing Jess down the sadness hole until she blindly walks full-force into a metal pole, but the rabbit pulled out of the hat bit doesnt do much to redeem her ineptitude. Saving weddings, helping Cece move apartments, managing her friends emotional breakdowns  these are things Jess is built for. Seeing Jess kiss Sam was not on my list of goals for her.

Oh also, one more thing. Is there a character named Winston on this show?
Photo: BBC3

Catastrophe, the Amazon show about what happens to two near-strangers who get pregnant and have a baby together, quickly solidified its rep as the most charming show on either side of the pond. Created by and starring Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan, the series jolts along so quickly you can almost hear the whooshing sound, but its frenetic pace does have one major drawback. At only six episodes a season, it ends just as you were getting started. Fortunately, if you like Catastrophe, theres more where that came from. Before teaming up with Delaney, Horgan had her own show, Pulling (available on iTunes), a spiritual sibling to Catastrophe, if also a harder, more mournful beast. The women-fronted BBC comedy, which aired two seasons (also six episodes apiece) and a special between 2006 and 2009, is well worth revisiting, both as a Catastrophe companion piece and on its own terms. Heres why.

Pulling is Catastrophes spiritual prequel. Both Catastrophe and Pulling kick off with bold life decisions: Catastrophes Sharon decides to have a child with a man she hardly knows, while Pullings Donna (Horgan) calls off her wedding and the five-year relationship that came with it. Where Catastrophe celebrates the expediency of embracing happiness, however chaotic, Pulling is murkier territory. Initially, Donnas breakup with her dullard fiance, Karl (Cavan Clerkin), reads as her bravely rejecting complacency, but the series upends that assumption as Donna attempts to create a quote-unquote better life. Whether faking her way through a more sophisticated relationship or holding on to career aspirations that are bigger than her qualifications (all the while trying to keep Karl on a worshipful hook), Donnas discontent unveils itself as the potential product of absurdly mismanaged expectations. Like Catastrophe, part of what makes Pulling so compelling is the integrity that comes with its protagonists refusal to change herself, instead demanding that the people in her life meet her where she lives.

Pulling beat the current comedy boon to the revelation that women can be unlikable. Theres been a lot of recent praise for characters like Crazy Ex-Girlfriends Rebecca, Youre the Worsts Gretchen, and, further back, the girls of Girls, women who can act in ways that are mean, selfish, or withdrawn without necessarily being branded as mean, selfish, or withdrawn people. Donnas friends, the spiky Karen (Tanya Frank) and the guileless Louise (Rebekah Staton), round out Pullings cast  whether displaying Donnas emotional manipulation of Karl, Karens toxic self-destruction, Louises simmering contempt, or the friends constant mutual judgment, Pulling never pulls back from or excuses its characters behavior, but it always places them within a sympathetic context. On Pulling, the fact that everyone sucks is a given.

Its depiction of single life is decidedly unromantic. Pulling is primarily about three single women, but it never becomes a dating show. Thats an impressive feat, because as indicated by the shows title (British slang for hooking up), the women on Pulling date  a lot. With its simultaneous defense of singledom and discomfort with being alone, Pullings dating scene often recalls Sex and the City, but it functions absent that shows rom-com structure. Between anonymous sex, awkward dates, and co-dependent relationships, theres not an episode that fails to touch on romantic entanglements. Yet relationships are just one of the many messes of the womens non-delineated lives. And on Pulling, dating is never just the thing a character is doing  its always an expression of something trickier.

Karl belongs in the pantheon of TV sad sacks. Jilted by Donna, Karl is initially such a dopey goon that he actually vomits while pleading with her not to leave. But as Pulling develops, Karl is revealed to be of the saddest species of sad sack, the kind keenly aware of how pathetic he is. From there, he unfurls into one of the shows most compelling characters. He is both depressed by Donnas leaving him and helpless to claim she should have done otherwise. And yet, in Donnas subsequent attempts to cling to their comfortable connection, Karl is defiantly protective of his self-respect, reflecting a dignity claimed by no one else in the show.

Sharon Horgan is really great. Its not surprising that Horgans own words come so naturally to her, but that doesnt fully explain the laserlike precision with which she directs them. Donna says some really delusional junk. In one episode, her kabob is stolen practically from between her teeth, and she compares the violation to the murder of an old woman. But the miracle of Horgan is that she speaks even this absurdity with great conviction, so much so that you often find yourself doubting why you doubt her.
A stroke of genius. Photo: Todd Williamson/Getty Images

Good morning! Are you ready to learn about more terrible things Jared Leto did to the Suicide Squad cast? No? Too bad! You clicked this post, which was your choice, and now you have to hear about it. I know, Im not proud of my part in this either, but I do want to stress that most of the blame lies with you. Anyway. As Leto told E! News, as part of his efforts to to create an element of surprise, a spontaneity and to really break down any kind of walls that may be there, he took to sending his co-stars random disgusting little gifts, as if he was the worst grandmother in the world. Yes, yes, youve already heard about Margot Robbies rat, and the pig carcass, but as Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje told E!, the method actor also sent him sticky Playboy magazines. That wasnt the only semen-themed gift: Leto also revealed that he sent the cast anal beads and a used condom. Whats the protocol there? Is it better to send your co-stars a condom full of your own semen, or someone elses? Either way, its probably an OSHA violation, to be honest.
The father of a Lorena girl testified Tuesday that he felt compelled to do something to help catch Sean Jeffrey Foster after the mans daughter revealed that the close family friend had been touching her improperly for four years.

Saying he had never seen the network show To Catch a Predator, the girls father concocted an equally successful plan that he captured on a four-minute audio recording on which he can be heard confronting Foster after Foster enters the girls bathroom while thinking she is taking a shower and pulls back the curtain.

Foster is on trial in Wacos 54th State District Court on charges of burglary of a habitation with intent to commit indecency with a child, three counts of indecency with a child by contact and two counts of indecency with a child by exposure.

Seething with rage on the recording, the girls father, a former Marine, screams for Foster to get on the ground as he pummels him with his fists.

Come on, fight back, the man pleads with Foster. I want you to. Ill kill you with my bare hands. You have a sickness.

Fosters attorney, Cody Cleveland, told jurors in opening statements that Foster, the owner of a swimming pool company, became known to the couple and their three children as Uncle Sean shortly after they moved across the street from him on Maple Avenue in 2009. He watched the children after school and when the parents were out of town, gave the older girl a job at his company, bought the children gifts and even paid for a $600 pool liner for the family, Cleveland said.

The family also gave Foster open consent to come and go in their house and gave him a spare key, Cleveland said. That open consent was never retracted, so Foster cannot be guilty of burglary for entering the familys home in June 2014 after they moved to Lorena, Cleveland said.

The girls father and mother testified Tuesday that after they moved to their new home, their relationship with Foster was not as close. Both said they certainly did not give him permission to enter their home, walk to their daughters bedroom and open the shower curtain while thinking she was taking a shower.

Both parents told jurors that Foster was a close family friend and they never once suspected him or saw any signs that he could be grooming their older daughter for abuse.

The only warning sign, they said, was when their daughter balked at going to work with Foster when she was 14. They wrote it off as a teenager thing, they said, and encouraged her to stick with the job she had committed to.

But after the girl told her mother Foster had been touching her improperly since she was 10 and saw her on a previous occasion in the shower, the family called Lorena Police Chief Tom Dickson, whose department started investigating the allegations.

Lorena police told the parents not to give Foster any indication of the girls accusations, but the father told jurors that he felt compelled to do something while ensuring his daughter was never alone with Foster again.

So the father said he borrowed his daughters cellphone and texted Foster, posing as the girl. The father said he told Foster she would be coming to work with him that day and he could pick her up in 15 minutes. He said he told Foster she was going to take a shower and asked Foster to wait outside the house for her.

The mother testified that she drove the three children to their pastors home and came back and waited in the backyard of a home two houses down, while the father waited inside the house.

I believed my daughter, but I wanted to see if he would do anything, the father said. I wanted to see if he would be so bold to show up and do anything.

Foster tried to open the front door, which was locked, the father said. The mother testified she saw him walk around the side of the house, go through a gate and enter the back door, which Foster knew they always keep unlocked. She then called police, she said.

The father told jurors he waited in his sons room and saw Foster enter the house and walk straight to the girls bedroom. The father had left the water running in the shower and the bathroom fan on so Foster would think his daughter was taking a shower.

Thats when he turned his phone audio recorder on, he said. Prosecutors Evan ODonnell and Hilary LaBorde played the tape for the jury Tuesday afternoon.

Foster could be heard saying, Didnt you take a shower last night? He then pulled the shower curtain open, according to the father, and the father could be heard screaming, What have you done?

I was absolutely flabbergasted that he opened the shower curtain thinking my daughter was taking a shower, the man said. I have never been that upset in my life.

Prosecution testimony resumes Wednesday morning.
A McLennan County grand jury indicted a 35-year-old Waco woman Wednesday in connection with a February shooting that seriously wounded a 19-year-old man in East Waco.

Tyjuana Chante Curry was indicted on a felony charge of aggravated assault, stemming from the Feb. 7 shooting of Demarcus Tremayne Simon.

The indictment comes after police alleged that Simon was shot in the face near the intersection of Lenox and Dallas streets after an altercation between Simon and at least one other person. Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton previously told the Tribune-Herald that a silver or gray car pulled beside Simons car and someone inside the vehicle fired several shots.

Simon was hit in the face before he crashed into a telephone pole. He then fled to an apartment complex in the 1700 block of Dallas Street, where police found him.

Swanton said Simon was taken by ambulance to Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center before he was flown to Temple for surgery. He survived the incident.

Swanton said officers did not think the shooting was random. As the investigation continued, Curry was identified as a suspect and was arrested on aggravated assault charges Feb. 11. She was released after posting a $10,000 surety bond Feb. 12.

The indictment states that Curry shot Simon with a firearm on or about Feb. 11. If convicted, Curry faces two to 20 years in prison.
Because of a computer glitch and human error, some voters in McLennan County were not able to cast their votes as they should have. Estimates vary from several hundred to maybe as many as 900. And one vote lost is one vote too many.

English landowners had limited voting rights starting in the mid-1400s. Other nations have been voting in free elections since they became republics. In Germany, voter turnout is midlevel to high, up to 80 percent. In the Czech Republic and other recently formed republics, voter turnout is also high. And in Singapore, Election Day is a national holiday. Banks, schools and businesses close. Everyone votes. If you do not vote, you pay a fine. In the United States, laws and customs vary. In Oregon, everyone votes by mail. In Alaska, you can even fax in your ballot.

Yet in our most recent state primary election, voter turnout was 28 percent. Thats not a misprint  28 percent of eligible voters in Texas voted. We face the most important election in modern memory, yet we might not make the 50 percent mark in committed voters. Maine, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota trounce our voting levels. So does Singapore, of all places.

Why dont we vote in Texas? In the mid- to late 1600s in the colonies, voting was for wealthy, white, land-owning males. We now include virtually everyone who is a citizen in good standing. Yet we have somehow forgotten the importance of elections and why we should take time to vote.

Our government takes direction from our vote. Leaders listen to those who vote to gauge public attitudes. Yes, the system has been corrupted with corporate campaign donations, and many believe the vote has been bought and paid for by dark money or Super PACs. But the votes that pile up on each issue still guide our leadership.

Our system in McLennan County has gone through drastic changes in recent years. Weve gone from a paper ballot to a computer-generated vote. We changed our system to use vote centers  strategically placed polling places where any voter can vote. These replace precinct voting locations used for so many years. We added ballot by mail and early voting to further accommodate busy lifestyles. Consequently, we should have more voter participation, yet it seems voter turnout has decreased.

The voter is likely overwhelmed with change. Without a concentrated effort to inform voters about changes, we may continue to see fewer voters. The voice of the people becomes fainter with the loss of each voter.

Solutions? Civic organizations can help inform their constituencies. Community service organizations can add voting information in their newsletters. You can help by volunteering a couple of days to train and serve as an election clerk or election judge. Polls dont run without humans. Political parties need people to serve as poll watchers. These folks stand by to help answer questions, observe poll-station conduct and make sure all rules are observed.

Citizens should encourage friends and co-workers to vote as well. Businesses could give time off to vote. Our county and state will be better for it. Volunteer with a local political party. Be involved in the policy-making of your party by going to local and state conventions.

Texas could consider some of the innovative strategies that other states use such as postal voting. For example, Oregons postal voting system was passed in 1998 and was supported by the League of Women Voters and Oregon League of Conservative Voters.

In a recent poll by the University of Oregon, 85 percent of Democratic voters and 76 percent of Republican voters rated the program highly favorable. It is fiscally responsible as well. In 2010, the Oregon secretary of state reported that of more than 15 million ballots cast, only nine cases of voter fraud were proved.

Our Founding Fathers wrote about the importance of representation. They laid out complaints to the King of England in a document called the Olive Branch Petition. They begged for representation. They didnt get it. They went to war and won independence. Throughout our history, votes have determined times of peace and times of war. Votes have shaped the voice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Votes have brought full citizenship to Native Americans, former slaves and women. The vote is the most critical tool we have as a people. Lets treat it like it is that important.

Local Democratic Party chairwoman Mary Duty, an educator and restaurateur, is a member of the McLennan County Elections Commission.
Two headlines that appeared simultaneously last week present a vital question for the 2016 campaign: What is the political legacy of the Obama economy? CNBC.com reported on April 8 that the U.S. economy  already weak  took a turn for the worse in the first quarter of 2016. The headline declared, First-quarter economy looks bleaker by the day.

The Wall Street Journal, in turn, featured a story with a headline reading, Obama readies flurry of regulations, with the article explaining that the president is planning to release significant new regulations affecting broad swaths of the economy as he unilaterally tries to carry out an anti-business crusade the Republican-led Congress would never participate in.

The facts? The average GDP growth under President Obama from 2009 through the end of 2015 was just 2.2 percent, compared with 3.9 percent during the average recovery following post-1960 economic slowdowns, according to Larry Elder. President Obama will be the first president to reign over a recovery in which not a single years economy grew at least 3 percent.

The Obama administration is trying to convince voters that the economy is good, including perpetuating the false narrative that having an official employment rate of 5 percent means that the economy has recovered. Well, the U-6 unemployment rate, which includes those who are underemployed and discouraged, is 9.8 percent. And the labor force participation rate is still only 63 percent, down 2.7 points from when Obama took office.

So which candidate or party will gain, and which candidate or party will suffer, as a result of Obamanomics? Its not as easy to determine as one might guess. You might think the Democrats would be punished for this weak economy in November, but in the surreal world of 2016, even though the economy will be an anchor around Hillary Clintons neck, it could also produce an opponent she can beat.

To save her candidacy from a surging Bernie Sanders, Clinton has had to embrace all things Obama, including an awkward defense of his administrations economy. It will be hard for Clinton to say she represents anything other than more of the same on the economy. And given that she already has a reputation for being untrustworthy, it will be hard for her to pivot away from the Obama economy in the general election, after she secures the nomination. If she suddenly tries to disassociate herself from the low-growth, anti-business, anti-job policies of the Obama administration, she will look like she is posturing and insincere.

Oddly, the hopelessness that the Obama presidency has caused may produce a Republican nominee who is colossally unpopular and who has little chance of beating Clinton or Sanders in a general election. Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner, is the beneficiary of the despondency caused by the economic decay Obama has presided over, yet he is the least likely to get elected and be in a position to change Obamas policies. It is ironic that the backlash from the Obama economy has produced the political circumstances that will virtually ensure a continuation of the corrosive Obama economy.

As the liberals low-growth policies strangle the private economy, their social policies exile the church, immigration is left unchecked and regulations keep costs to consumers high. All this combines to smother the middle class and create more government dependents. Hope is fading as more and more people struggle with surviving in the Obama economy, but the Democrats are not doing anything to combat the root of the economic malaise. And why would they? Poverty creates Democrats.

Ed Rogers is a political consultant and a veteran of the White House and several national campaigns.
After reading documents this past winter encouraging greater diversity at Baylor University as well as sobering assessments urging caution in any such initiative, we can only cheer the Presidents Advisory Council on Diversity as it continues to craft a plan to make some of this happen in a more concerted way after plenty of constructive input. Not everyone will be happy, but such an initiative could lay out a clear and confident course for Baylors long-term future.

Yes, certain anxieties must be adequately addressed  including a seeming concern by some that diversifying faculty and staff could get out of hand and marginalize qualified, white, Christian prospects or even threaten such members among current faculty. On the other hand, as Baylor President Ken Starr has correctly noted, half-measures wont work in attaining greater diversity.

Complicating all this is the fact diversity means different things to different people. Some possibilities might seem  at least initially  to conflict with the Christian principles that have long guided so much of Baylors mission. We obviously would not want to see anything that threatens those principles, given that these are what make Baylor so unique.

At the same time, if an aspiring research and academic institution is to prepare students for the world, if it is to draw students from around that world to Baylor, it must walk the talk on diversity. That means tweaking at least some rigid paradigms.

For instance, at a time when so much misunderstanding confounds our national debate on the Muslim faith and our increasingly inflamed role in the Middle East, does it not make sense to have on Baylors stellar faculty representatives of those who, say, have a keener understanding of Islam  and, good heavens, perhaps even practice Islam privately? Would the bold Christian principles of Baylor be imperiled by such prospects? Fair question.

While a Christian university seeks to stress its principles for life and conduct, Baylor has not only made room for students who worship differently but has defended them in a gutsy way that weve seen at few other campuses, religious or secular. The Dec. 11 student-organized Christian prayer rally defending increasingly beleaguered campus Muslims was one of Baylors finest moments, worthy of emulation nationwide.

This likely is but one simple example of the sort of discussion that Starr seeks to invigorate, no doubt with the encouragement of a forward-minded and judicious board of regents trying to steer Baylor along a path of increasing relevance in a more and more diverse country. And, yes, this means defining what sort of diversity is up for discussion. And that could get awkward.

But if a civil and intelligent discussion about all this cant be held among the learned, where can it be held?

While the president has urged a robust conversation here at Baylor with respect to deepening our unapologetic Christian commitment to racial, ethnic and gender diversity, that dialogue has already hit rough patches. However, other moves show the diversity bandwagon rolling forward, such as this weeks appointment of Elizabeth Palacios, dean for student development in the Division of Student Life, as special assistant to the president on diversity. And a Regents Task Force on Diversity, consisting of former regents, has been similarly charged.

So is any of this ultimately relevant to our community? Given efforts Baylor has made to welcome Wacoans into a broader array of campus activities, anything that bolsters our understanding of the changing nation and world around us is welcome. And if Baylor can continue to champion its Christian values while daring to diversify in ways benefiting life and learning, thats a win.
ASHLAND  When the ice cream van comes to town, fun and frosty treats usually are to be found. But last week, an ice cream vans visit to Ashland resulted in arrests.

On April 6, a call came in to the Ashland Police Department about 4:50 p.m. reporting that a man and woman were seen dancing around an ice cream van and a car parked off the side of the road at the intersection of Highways 6 and 66 on the edge of Ashland.

Ashland Police Officer Travis Herbolsheimer responded to the call, but when he got to the highway, the vehicles were gone. As the officer headed back into town, he noticed the vehicles parked at the U-Stop convenience store/gas station on Highway 6.

I ran the plates and standard procedure and one came back as a stolen vehicle, Herbolsheimer said.

Herbolsheimer learned that the ice cream van had been stolen from Frosty Treats in Omaha. He called for backup and waited for the pair to come out of the convenience store.

As they entered the vehicles, the duo may have noticed the police officer, because Herbolsheimer said they tried to park the ice cream van at the gas pumps and both got into the car. They quickly pulled out onto the highway.

Herbolsheimer pursued and pulled the car over on the highway. He directed the pair to exit the vehicle one by one. Backup from the Nebraska State Patrol came quickly and the vehicle was searched.

We found several items of contraband, said Herbolsheimer.

The contraband included illegal narcotics, drug paraphernalia and a BB gun that looked like a hand gun.

It could have been easily confused as a real gun, said Herbolsheimer.

The two suspects were arrested and taken to the Law Enforcement and Judicial Center in Wahoo. Michael Bully, 41, was arrested for theft by receiving (over $5,000), two counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and having an open container of alcohol in the vehicle.

His partner in crime, Angelic M. Bully, 39, was arrested on the same charges, plus additional ones. She was driving the vehicle and when Herbolsheimer pulled them over he detected an odor of alcohol from her breath. She was charged with driving while intoxicated and refusal to take a preliminary breath test and a chemical test.

The pair said they were originally from Wisconsin, but had been living in Lincoln. As of Monday, address remained at the Saunders County jail in Wahoo.
WAHOO  Staff and directors at the Lower Platte North Natural Resource District will continue to be on high alert for acts of identify theft.

The extra watchful eye comes after 15 of 18 NRD employees had been told by the IRS that an attempt to file their taxes had been made from a suspicious source. At least two board directors had similar experiences.

NRD Office Manager Jill Breunig said employees either received a notice from the IRS or were informed of this when filing federal income taxes.

Two got letters, and the others got notice whet they tried to file, she said.

NRD General Manager John Miyoshi said they believe the identity thefts were tied to the W-2s for employees wages and directors per diems.

The NRD had contracted with Greenshades, a company in Florida and connected to the districts financial software, to produce W-2s for IRS reporting purposes.

Miyoshi said they have now learned that Greenshades had a data breach last year that might account for the security issues.

The NRD has done an internal review of its data servers, he added, and found no security breaches.

Employees were notified by letter of the security problem and offered instructions, should they also receive notice, to work with the IRS, contact the police and put an alert on their credit report.

HBE, the districts financial auditors, also recommended for additional protection that employees and directors purchase identity theft insurance.

At Mondays board meeting, there was discussion about not only the identity theft insurance but also how to proceed with future W-2s.

Whats the plan, Director Don Kavan asked.

Breunig said staff was still investigating options. She said the NRD has been using its current software package and Greenshades for about five years.

The district has not yet paid the invoice of about $500 for Greenshades services. Legal Counsel Jovan Lausterer was directed to write the company a letter regarding the recent data breach issues and the districts dissatisfaction. No payment at this time will be remitted.

Based upon the recommendation of HBE, a motion was also made to approve a reimbursement of up to $75 to any staff member or director with a receipt of payment for purchase of one year of identity theft insurance.

Kavan questioned if that would be an allowable reimbursement for the district.

Lausterer did not see a problem with it.

It would be no different than liability insurance, he said.

It could also be considered a cost of operations, Lausterer added, such as providing a staff member or director with a computer.

Director Jim McDermott agreed, given that it was a NRD contract that is linked to security issues. Offering reimbursement for the theft identity insurance helps restore some security.

Its peace of mind, he said.

There was also discussion Monday evening about the notification process for the identity theft.

Notices from the IRS began being sent in February.

Director Bob Meduna pointed out that while employees had received letters about the security breach, the directors had not.

Since their security had also been compromised, he said the board members should have been notified right away too.

One you knew there was a breach, you should have notified everyone, Meduna told Miyoshi.

In other business Monday, the board agreed not to approve a request to contribute another $20,000 to a trail project in Yutan.

In previous years, the NRD had committed $30,000 for the project that would put a trail through town. That project, however, has been delayed while necessary permits were secured.

Currently, the district budgets $10,000 a year for trail projects. The money is handed out on a first come, first serve basis.

While the updated $50,000 request from Yutan could have been doled out over the next five years, board members pointed out that depleted the fund for other requests.

If we approve it, we are setting a precedent moving forward, Director Joe Birkel said.

In another trail project, the board gave the nod to a change order that would put tiling instead of rock next to the north entrance of the tunnel under the Wahoo Expressway.

Large Project Manager Mike Murren said contractors working on the Wanahoo trail project have run into issues with springs causing excessive wetness.

He said the original plan to put rock in that area would create a maintenance nightmare in the future. Through the use of a tiling system and concrete, they hope to address the problem.

The NRD is cost sharing on the City of Wahoos trail project. The NRDs cost for this change of plans is $475.

Murren said since the construction bid came in under estimates, the districts share of the project is still less than budgeted.
WAHOO  Bringing a college-level learning center to Wahoo took another step forward last week.

The first advisory meeting for Southeast Community Colleges Wahoo Learning Center was held April 5.

Amy Chesley, Dean of Continuing Education at Southeast Community College (SCC), said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss and prioritize a focus for the site.

Her SCC group received feedback from more than 20 regional leaders regarding the demand in the area and what the learning center should focus on first.

SCC covers a 15-county region and will be supporting six new learning centers in the near future. Wahoo has been selected for one of these centers.

Programming was the point of last weeks advisory meeting.

We heard all kinds of ideas, but three top categories emerged, said Chesley.

Though not finalized yet, the top three categories include trades and industry, workplace skills and education.

Each category will have a task force that will meet over the next few months to explore the demand for each category in the area.

Trades and industry came to the top at the meeting, said Chesley.

That task force will find which trades and industry skills are needed to serve the area.

Workplace skills was the second category. It includes concepts for those already at work like job readiness and professional development. For those looking for work it would include resume skills and interviewing skills, said Chesley.

Education, such as secondary education or the ability to take classes to transfer to a four-year school, were listed as the third option.

Maybe you would want some gen-ed classes out of the way before transferring, she said.

This could possibly include working with high schools on a career academy program or helping students explore and expand different disciplines by the time they graduate, she added.

That possibility sounded good to one of last weeks meeting participants.

Right now, the two basic ways we see of incorporating are through dual credit courses and the SENCAP program, said Fr. Jeremy Hazuka, principal at Bishop Neumann High School.

We might co-op with Wahoo Public on some courses, but were still working on it, he added. With SENCAP, its more vocational right now, but some students might go to the hospital in town to participate in some health-field related classes.

Leisure learning was also a category that ranked high,

though not in the top three, said Chesley.

This would include fun classes like dance, crafts, painting or personal development and enrichment.

I could feel the excitement and support of bringing this opportunity close to home, she said.

A site in Wahoo has not yet been chosen. Chesley said it is important to know the type of programming that will be offering before deciding on a site.

Its likely to be one location, but it could also be a partnership. Maybe partnering with the high school to do things like welding, she said.

Some of these decisions will fall under the direction of a full-time coordinator, said Chesley.

This person has not yet been hired, but thats the next step once programming is developed.

Hoping to make that hire sometime this summer or fall could have classes starting next January.
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Stronger commodity prices and better-than-expected exports from Fortescue Metals Group put the Australian market in a bullish mood on Wednesday, with the resources sector lifting the ASX 200 1.6 per cent.

Mining and energy stocks were always going to perform strongly after oil prices rose 4.3 per cent and iron ore prices rose 4.6 per cent, but the optimism continued when Fortescue revealed it was running well ahead of the pace required to meet its annual export guidance.

Fortescue Metals Group's first quarter of 2016 was interrupted by weather. Credit:Bloomberg

Australia's third-biggest iron ore exporter was supposed to export 165 million tonnes in the year to June 30, but appears on track to ship 168 million to 170 million tonnes after escaping the March quarter without major disruption.

The March quarter is traditionally the most turbulent for iron exporters because bad weather often affects the big commodity ports of the Pilbara, yet the 42 million tonnes shipped by Fortescue during the period suggest the company was operating near full pace.
Australia's legal system has become a "feared and despised processing plant" for most Aboriginal people, propelling the most vulnerable and disadvantaged towards a "broken, bleak future", according to Patrick Dodson.

Lamenting that the situation has deteriorated since the landmark royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody in 1991, Professor Dodson has called for a formal engagement between Indigenous Australia and the Parliament on a new approach.

"Accepting the status quo permits the criminal justice system to continue to suck us up like a vacuum cleaner and deposit us like waste in custodial institutions," Professor Dodson declared in an impassioned speech to mark the 25th anniversary of the report.

"We need a smarter form of justice that takes us beyond a narrow-eyed focus on punishment and penalties, to look more broadly at a vision of justice as a coherent, integrated whole."
Five years ago Gai Thompson warned Australia's peak health bodies of a looming disaster involving women receiving mesh device implants to treat common problems after pregnancy, birth and hysterectomies.

This week Mrs Thompson and others are speaking publicly for the first time as they plan a rally in Canberra and call for a formal inquiry into the health regulators and medical bodies they say have failed them.

Gai Thompson: "They just kept saying sorry." Credit:Fiona Morris

They are the women who, in many cases, can no longer have sex, have lost their jobs, have had to mortgage or sell their homes, have travelled overseas for surgery to remove the mesh, have suffered excruciating chronic pain, are resistant to some antibiotics because of chronic infections, and have suffered in isolation and silence  often for years.

"We've lost so much that I can't believe in this day and age this can happen to women, that our lives are being destroyed and no one cares," Mrs Thompson said.
Hardly a day passes without a politician  federal or state  talking about "record" spending on something or other. But don't be taken in  it may be the most hollow claim in politics.

The combination of inflation and population growth means public spending will always be hitting records. If it doesn't, essential services are likely to deteriorate and congestion worsen. But that fact doesn't stop our MPs.

A quick search of Hansard  the official transcript of Parliament  shows how frequently our elected representatives resort to claims of record spending. The very first Question Time skirmish of the year in federal Parliament provided an excellent example. In response to a query from Bill Shorten about school funding, Malcolm Turnbull replied "as the honourable member knows very well, the government is investing more money in schools than ever before". Not only had "record" levels of funding been allocated over the forward estimates it included a "record" $5 billion for students with a disability.

At times the record spending claims come thick and fast during parliamentary debate. There were seven such claims made in less than an hour by three Coalition members early last month, Hansard shows. Labor governments are no different, of course. During a recent question time in Victoria's Parliament Labor's acting Police Minister, Robin Scott, referred to his government's "record" budget for policing.
Two men have been arrested by police at Perth Domestic Airport after attempting to smuggle $3 million worth of methamphetamine and 17 kilograms of cannabis into Perth in two separate incidents during April.

WA Police Detective Senior Sergeant Jason Blaine said the men were apprehended on April 4 and 8 during a week-long joint operation with the state's Meth Transport Team and the Australian Border Force at the airport.

"(The operation) involved checking luggage and checking passengers that were travelling from east to west as part of our strategy to stem the flow of meth and other illicit drugs coming into WA," he said.

"The way we did that was with dogs, x-ray machines and some other things in place to detect the people coming through.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has rejected the West Australian treasurer's proposal to let the state trial his income tax plan, which was shot down by every other jurisdiction.

At the recent Council of Australian Governments meeting, all state and territory leaders excluding WA Premier Colin Barnett said they did not accept the idea of letting them levy a percentage of income tax, allowing the Commonwealth to axe grants.

WA Treasurer Mike Nahan proposed a state trial on Turnbull's income tax plan - to no avail. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Mike Nahan then urged Mr Turnbull to allow WA to go it alone as a trial, but the prime minister told a business function in Perth on Wednesday that was not feasible.

"It's something that can't be done," Mr Turnbull said.
The World Customs Organization (WCO), in cooperation with the Regional Office for Capacity Building for Asia/Pacific (ROCB A/P), organized a WCO Sub-Regional Workshop on Transit for the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). The Workshop was held from 6 to 8 April 2016 at the Regional Training Centre (Shanghai Customs College) in Shanghai, China. Sixteen Customs experts from the GMS member countries, namely Cambodia, China, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, participated in the Workshop. Experts from Turkish Customs, Ugandan Customs and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) were also invited to take part.

Professor Jianguo Xiao, President of Shanghai Customs College, warmly welcomed participants and opened the Workshop. The aim of the Workshop was to facilitate the exchange of practical views on improving regional transit regimes in the GMS. The experts present discussed various topics, including information sharing systems, regional/international guarantees for transit and One Stop Border Posts (OSBPs), and learnt about the WCO's instruments and tools for effective and efficient transit regimes, such as the WCO Transit Handbook. They exchanged their national and regional experiences of transit and discussed various challenges in the GMS. They also visited the offices of Yanshang Customs in the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone and observed operations and facilities for import, export and transit of goods.

The last day of the Workshop involved a discussion on regional initiatives, including the Cross Border Transport Facilitation Agreement (CBTA) for the GMS, supported by the ADB, and Chinas Initiatives on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. In addition, the experts discussed possible next steps to improve transit operations in the GMS. The participants focused in particular on legal frameworks, information technology and human resources, listing challenges and possible solutions to establish more efficient transit regimes in the subregion.
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.
A pair of bodies discovered in Kentucky Lake this week
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Apr. 13, 2016 | BENTON, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 13, 2016 | 11:46 AM | BENTON, KY

Penny Baird was arrested in Marshall County on several charges Wednesday, after police say she tried to run from an officer who was attempting to apprehend her on an active warrant.



A Marshall County Court Security Officer attempted to apprehend Baird after discovering she had an active arrest warrant on a shoplifting charge. After the officer told her several times to stop, Baird reportedly got into her vehicle and attempted to flee. The officer then went into her vehicle and put his foot on the brake. Baird then began to fight with him trying to get her keys. Police said that Baird continued to resist after being placed under arrest.



Baird was charged with 1st degree fleeing or evading police, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, along with the previous shoplifting charge. She was booked into the Marshall County Detention Center.
By The Associated Press

By The Associated Press Apr. 12, 2016 | 04:58 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

Three Democratic state representatives have asked to join a lawsuit against Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.

Bevin ordered state appropriations for colleges and universities reduced by 4.5 percent for the final three months of the fiscal year. That leaves institutions a total of about $41 million less than state lawmakers voted to give them.

Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear sued Bevin to stop the order. Tuesday, state Reps. Jim Wayne, Mary Lou Marzian and Daryl Owens, all of Louisville, filed a motion in Franklin County Circuit Court asking to join the lawsuit.

The three lawmakers say Bevin is violating the separation of powers and other principles of state and federal law.

A hearing on the case is scheduled for April 21.
When I was first approached by Suba Das, an associate producer at Leicester's Curve Theatre, about writing a play looking at Indian soldiers that fought in the Great War, I had this vague knowledge of the contribution of Indian soldiers and I was more aware of WWII, than WWI. I knew that soldiers had fought, that heavy losses had been suffered in Italy, (it turned out that that was World War II) and that there were untold war graves in Belgium. But again this was the vaguest of knowledge and certainly not enough to start writing a play.

When I set about researching Indian soldiers and WWI, one of the first people that I came across was Khuddadad Khan, a 26 year-old from Chakwal in North-West Punjab, who was the recipient of the first ever Victoria Cross (Britain's highest award for valour) given to an Indian soldier. An amazing story of bravery and selflessness with far reaching consequences.

Khuddadad was part of the First Indian Expeditionary Force, over 70,000 men, which had arrived in France only months earlier. In total, over a million men from the Indian sub-continent fought in the Great War and there were numerous stories of incredible bravery and sacrifice, nine were awarded a Victoria Cross.

But Khuddadad's story seemed to resonate: he was from a part of India, now Pakistan that wasn't far from where my parents were from, he was a Muslim and I felt he could be an antidote to the current rhetoric doing the rounds both sides of the Atlantic.

Khuddadad was a machine gunner who fought for 10 hours as one by one his comrades around him were killed, but he kept on fighting, even when injured in both the arm and the leg. In fact, he managed to fight and hold the Germans at bay long enough for French reinforcements to arrive thus preventing the German forces from sweeping down onto the ports of Boulogne and Nieuwpoort and cutting off a vital supply route to British soldiers. It could be argued that this changed the course of the war. When his post was overrun he was so badly injured that the Germans thought him dead and left him, he later managed to crawl back behind Allied lines and was shipped out to a hospital in Brighton.

This was a story worth telling.

But things are never quite that simple, within a couple of months I travelled to Pakistan to attend a wedding, I thought it would also give me an opportunity to go to Khuddadad's village, perhaps talk to people that knew him, experience the environment that he came from. The family of my protagonist were extremely welcoming and generous both with their time and their memories, but the more I learnt, the more I realised that it would be difficult to put Khuddadad at the centre of my story. Here was a man who's statue adorned the front lawn of the Military Museum in Rawalpindi, a man whose funeral in 1972 was attended by the top brass of the Pakistani Army, and yet for many others that attended the funeral, he was a humble farmer that they hadn't even known was in the army let alone such a highly decorated soldier. It turned out that he rarely talked about the war and never mentioned his own exploits.

Playwright Ishy Din



How could I put this man at centre stage and then start to twist and turn him for my own dramatic purposes, knowing on the one hand how revered he was but also having real sense of the humble and humane nature of him.

It was after my visit to Pakistan that I started to think again of the shape my story would take and the characters that would inhabit it and although Khuddadad isn't on stage at any time during Wipers, his presence is strongly felt and seeded throughout the piece.

I hope I have done him justice but I also hope that I have done a small bit towards a greater understanding of the contribution made by forces from all over the Empire and rather than look at our differences we should look at our shared humanity.

By Ishy Din

Wipers runs at the Leicester Curve from 14 to 23 April, after which it transfers to Watford Palace Theatre and Belgrade Theatre, Coventry.
Playwright Arnold Wesker, who wrote plays such as Roots and Chicken Soup with Barley has died aged 83.

The prolific writer's career spanned over five decades beginning in the late '50s and includes plays that came to be known as Kitchen Sink drama.

His early plays were staged at the Royal Court, under artistic directors George Devine and William Gaskill.

His 1957 play The Kitchen, which was revived in 2011 at the National Theatre, is set in a busy working restaurant kitchen. Roots was revived at the Donmar Warehouse in 2013 starring Jessica Raine.

Born in the East End of London in 1932, the son of Jewish communists, he said on Desert Island Discs in 2006: "You're not a good writer because you come from a working class background and you're not a good writer because you've been through university. You're a good writer because you're a good writer and it's the work that matters, not the labels that surround you."

Wesker received a knighthood in 2003.

Major theatre figures have paid tribute to the writer.

Stephen Daldry said: "Arnold Wesker was one of the most committed and impassioned writers of his generation. He was also a fantastic collaborator and one of the sweetest men I have ever worked with. He was an adventurer and delight in the rehearsal room, who challenged and stretched every director he worked with.

"With his passing, and that of Bill Gaskill recently, we are beginning to lose the voices of a generation that shaped theatre as we understand it today. The working class Jewish idiom that Arnold gave expression to was unique, heartfelt and radical."

Sad to hear of the death of Arnold Wesker. Was an honour & privilege to meet him whilst working on The [email protected] a true talent  Ruth Gibson (@Ruthgibson2000) April 13, 2016

Sad to hear abt Arnold Wesker.Played Jessica in his #TheMerchant as student.'You are an now actor you Must do this professionally'.#Mentor.  Tracy Ann Oberman (@TracyAnnO) April 13, 2016
A young boy in a grey tracksuit walks through the city. He's just out of school; not in education, employment or training - a NEET, in the jargon - with nowhere to go and no-one to turn to. His name's Liam; a wiry, white kid who speaks in shards of street slang - the sort you pass without looking twice. That's what happens in Boy: society passes him by.

Leo Butler's play follows Liam for some 36 hours - through parks and public transport, council estates and shopping centres, past bus stops and nightclubs. As he goes, he crosses paths with all and sundry: schoolgirls chatting shit over fried chicken, mothers pushing prams, commuters with their heads in their phones, cleaners, construction workers, doctors, hipsters, tourists, homeless people bedding down for the night. Miriam Buether's eloquent design, a conveyor belt that snakes round in front of us, serves up a diverse cross-section of society - and all of them pass Liam by.

Some stop, some talk, some push him away - but no-one really does anything to help. No-one thinks to - not even those employed to catch these things. At the doctor's, his inarticulate attempt to explain his situation - he's not homeless, but he is sleeping rough on occasion - gets taken for a sexual health enquiry. He's fined by a policeman for fare evasion and sent packing at the job centre. It's not just that Liam falls through the cracks, but that he's shut out by a system he doesn't understand, that makes no effort to understand him. He's got no credit and no cash; no bootstraps to pull himself up by. The only person that stops to see how he's doing is a drug dealer.

Boy never sensationalises poverty, never seeks to wring it for drama. Instead, it shows us the endless grind of its every day; a world that taunts you at every turn; shops full of stuff; people with places to go, places to be. Poverty is boring. Disenfranchisement is dull. Frankie Fox is perfectly unshowy as Liam: hands in his pockets, kicking his heels, occasionally lashing out at the city. He's lost and he hasn't the language to ask for directions.

There are two characters in Boy: Liam and London. In Sacha Wares' staging, the city just seems to happen: one giant machine. We talk of broken Britain, but here, Britain itself is working just fine. It's people that break. Urban furniture - traffic cones and toilets, ticket gates and self-service checkouts - glides into view. This is stage management as art. Casting, too: actors double up as rich and poor, doctors and patients. On the back of a bus stop, the National Lottery logo crosses its fingers. It could, indeed, be you.

Of course, there are hundreds more: all of these lives that we don't get to know, either on stage or in life. Butler reveals how much we overlook day to day, the way other people become a backdrop. You glance across at other audience members. Who's here? Who's not? What does it mean to watch this? To pay to watch this? The conveyor belt delivers these people up like sushi or baggage - hyper aware of the way theatre commodifies lives. Butler's play never presumes to know them, only to overhear them. You leave the theatre and see the city through fresh eyes.

This is a sobering night at the theatre; in many ways, an indictment. Not an enjoyable watch, but an important one - not least in charging us to change. Exemplary in so many ways.

Boy runs at the Almeida Theatre until 28 May.
If you had to pinpoint a year specifically designed to give Gregory Doran 365 sleepless nights, it would have to be 2016. As you're probably now aware, 2016 marks 400 years since Britain's greatest playwright died: an anniversary that is being celebrated up and down the country in myriad forms. And, as artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Doran is responsible for a dauntingly large chunk of the celebrations.

As well as directing his husband Antony Sher in King Lear, overseeing the celebrations in Stratford-upon-Avon over the weekend of 23 April - which happens to be both the Bard's birth and death day - directing The Tempest - which stars Simon Russell Beale and features cutting edge digital technology - he's also putting together the centrepiece of the year's celebrations: Shakespeare Live! From the RSC. It's a live TV broadcast on BBC Two, hosted by David Tennant and Catherine Tate, which brings together a lot - a lot - of people and performances associated with the man himself.

When I talk to him early in the year, Doran has just ensured that the English National Opera Chorus will be part of the programme. And he's giddy. "I was tearing my hair out about how to get an orchestra and chorus big enough to represent Shakespeare's legacy in opera," he explains.

"It's such a huge event and at the moment, when I wake up in the middle of the night, it's that. I think: My God, I've forgotten to phone Rufus Wainwright," he says. (He didn't forget, by the way, Rufus will be performing.)

The upcoming events, as well as those already begun this year, have been the result of years of careful planning. Doran met with BBC director Tony Hall four years ago to talk about the possibility of partnering more with the RSC. But Doran was keen to make sure Shakespeare Live! was not just a 'variety bill.' "I don't want just a lot of Shakespeare speeches, I want it to be something more vital than that," he says. And by all accounts it should be; you can expect ballet, musicals, jazz, opera and comedy. The list of national treasures making an appearance includes Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, Meera Syal, Joseph Fiennes, Simon Russell Beale and David Suchet. On paper, it's a luvvie's wet dream.

'Shakespeare is a passport to different realms of understanding'

Shakespeare, Doran says, likely died as a result of a birthday night out with the lads. The director, with a glint in his eye, explains how a vicar at Holy Trinity church wrote in his diary that Shakespeare, Ben Johnson and Michael Drayton had a 'merry meeting' and 'drank too hard' and the poor Bard died of a 'fever there contracted'. "He died of a birthday binge," says Doran, "that's what we're celebrating."

So it's 400 years since the great poet popped off and we're still raving about his plays. The reason for this, thinks Doran is partly to do with his ability to empathise with those on the margins of society. "He gets into other people's skin. I think Shakespeare, and I would say this wouldn't I, was gay," he says "Shakespeare had the perspective of an outsider and I think that includes women, moors like Othello and Jews like Shylock."

Regardless of how much we know about who Shakespeare was and who he loved, the plays are beyond doubt. It's the stories within them, says Doran, that are the main attraction. That and the language, on which Doran borrows a quote from Pope: "He articulates what was oft thought, but ne'er so well express'd".

There have been many highlights since Doran took over running of the company in 2012, but one he picks out is a version of A Midsummer Night's Dream with Google . It was performed in real time over one midsummer weekend in 2013 and broadcast out via the internet, social channels and Google : "We had 32 million hits and I didn't even know what that meant when I started that job!". He's continuing the foray into digital innovation this year with The Tempest, which sounds monumental. Created with the help of Intel, and Andy Serkis' company The Imaginarium Studios, Doran's Tempest will have the magical island's spirits literally fly through the audience. "You will see Ariel fly, the ship sink, and in the masque Juno will descend on her chariot drawn by peacocks," Doran says. "It's new, it's risky, it's exciting, it seems so precisely right for the play."

'I think Shakespeare, and I would say this wouldn't I, was gay'

Ultimately, the RSC's main intention this year is to reach new audiences. "I was very lucky I had a fantastic teacher and the bug bit very early," Doran explains, "But we want to turn more people on to Shakespeare who were put off at school for whatever reason."

Doran grew up in Preston, Lancashire and as a boy was a regular visitor to the Guildhall and Charter Theatre in Preston, as well as The Dukes Theatre in Lancaster where he saw Harriet Walter as Goody Proctor in The Crucible. Having the likes of the Bolton Octagon and Nottingham Playhouse within easy reach was vital for the young Doran: "I became aware that [theatre] was a profession," he explains. "The importance of regional theatre is both that you can have somewhere that is close to you, but also that there is a community focused around that building."

For Doran, Shakespeare has always been there: "Shakespeare has been a passport through my life. He's a passport to whole different realms of international understanding and communication," he says "and that's what I think we should celebrate in 2016."

King Lear runs at the RST from 10 November to 23 December. The Tempest runs from 8 November to 21 January. Shakespeare Live! will be broadcast live on BBC Two on 23 April.

For all our dedicated Shakespeare content and our coverage of Shakespeare's birthday weekend head to our Shakespeare page
BLUE RIDGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE TO HOST DISNEY INSTITUTE MAY 4

Blue Ridge Community College's Professional Development Institute announced today that there is a limited amount of tickets remaining for Disney Institute on Wednesday, May 4 from8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Blue Ridge Community College's Hendersonville campus. Tickets are $395 per person to attend this one-day professional development seminar entitled Disneys Approach to Business Excellence, and include all course materials, lunch and parking. Additionally, companies can register for a table of six and receive the sixth ticket free. Register online at blueridge.edu/disney or contact M.C. Gaylord at(828) 694-1779 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Throughout this one-day course, participants will discover insights that drive the Disney organization. They will practice adapting these insights to strengthen their organization to obtain long-term results. Attendees can expect to:

Adapt time-tested Disney business insights to assess and improve their organization.

Develop a leadership vision that inspires dedication and commitment among employees.

Apply key elements of the Disney employee engagement strategy to strengthen their culture.

Develop an organization that supports consistent delivery of exceptional quality service.

Foster a collaborative environment that draws on the creative resources of their entire organization.

Incorporate time-tested principles for building and fortifying brand loyalty.

The cost to attend a Business Excellence seminar at Disney Institute in Florida would cost $1,320, plus travel and lodging. Blue Ridge Community College's Professional Development Institute is able to offer Disney Institute here in Western North Carolina for $395 per person, including lunch and parking, a savings of $925 plus travel and lodging costs.

We are pleased to offer business leaders in our community the opportunity to learn Disneys extremely successful business model right here in Hendersonville, without the need to travel to Florida, said Molly A. Parkhill, Ed.D., president of Blue Ridge Community College. This seminar will teach you how to effectively lead your organization, motivate your employees and build long-term customer loyalty. We hope to see you there.

Blue Ridge Community College hosted Disney Institute five years ago, with that course focusing on customer service. The course offered on May 4 is focused on Business Excellence.

Register online at blueridge.edu/disney or contact M.C. Gaylord at (828) 694-1779 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

About Disney Institute:

For three decades, Disney Institute has provided timely and relevant learning opportunities that bring the Disney approach to life and inspire practical adaptations back in an organizations own environment. As one of the most recognized names in business solutions and professional development, Disney Institute is the only training company that empowers organizations to create lasting change through their time-tested model for cultural transformation.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 12/04/2016 (2385 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  The misery and neglect at the root of a suicide crisis on a remote northern First Nation has shocked the world, an NDP MP said Tuesday as the cascading tragedy in Attiwapiskat reverberated on the floor of the House of Commons.

No one can understand how a country as rich as Canada can leave so many young children and young people behind, said Charlie Angus, whose sprawling northern Ontario riding includes the deeply troubled and isolated aboriginal community.

Will this minister commit to a total overhaul to ensure that every child in this country has the mental health supports that they need to have hope and a positive future?

NDP MP Charlie Angus takes part in an emergency debate on the suicide crisis on Aboriginal reserves, particularly in Attawapiskat in Ontario, in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Health Minister Jane Philpott said the government must  and will  respond.

It is completely unacceptable in a country as rich in resources as Canada that young people should get to the point that their life seems worthless and they would want to end it, she said.

She pledged to ensure that mental health resources be applied to those who need them, describing the mental health of young people in particular in the troubled communities as devastating.

Earlier Tuesday, Commons Speaker Geoff Regan cleared the way for a rare emergency debate on the crisis, which has so overwhelmed local leaders that extra police officers have been called in from nearby communities.

On Monday, officials thwarted what they called a suicide pact by 13 young aboriginal people, including a nine-year-old, after they were overheard making plans to kill themselves.

Attawapiskats chief and eight councillors declared a state of emergency on Saturday, citing 11 suicide attempts so far in the month of April and 28 recorded attempts in March.

These nightmares and tragedies should serve as wake-up calls that there isnt time to wait, Angus said in a letter requesting the debate.

An emergency debate is required in order to allow parliamentarians to address this crisis and show that as parliamentarians we are willing to work together because the days of shrugging off the tragedies or tinkering with Band-Aid solutions are over.

Angus himself opened the emergency debate Tuesday evening by saying it wasnt just about Attawapiskat, this is about who we are as Canadians and our whole nation.

He said whats happening in the community isnt new, and its time to do more than just apply Band-Aids and send in emergency flights.

CP A tattered Canadian flag flies over a building in Attawapiskat, Ont., on November 29, 2011. A remote northern Ontario First Nation has declared a state of emergency after numerous suicide attempts this week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

I think tonight might be the beginning of a change in our country and thats what Im asking us all to come together to do, he said in the emergency debate.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said aboriginal communities need hope, and that should be the message from the debate.

These children need to know they are valued and they have value, she said.

Former prime minister Jean Chretien, who was minister of what was then called Indian affairs and northern development from 1968 to 1974, happened to be on the Hill for unrelated business Tuesday.

The solution for some may be to leave their isolated communities, he suggested.

Its an extremely difficult problem, said Chretien. I was with this problem in 1968, a long time ago, it takes time and patience and theres always tragedies of that nature that occurs.

He said he spent a lot of time visiting reserves Manitoba and Saskatchewan in the 1980s, after he left politics temporarily.

It was extremely difficult at that time, he said. There is no economic base for having jobs and so on and sometimes they have to move like anybody else.

Newly appointed Sen. Murray Sinclair, the former judge who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said dealing with the problems of indigenous peoples will take a long time.

CP THE CANADIAN PRESS / NATIONAL FILM BOARD The community of Attawapiskat is seen from the air in a photo from the documentary film 'The People of Kattawapiskat River.'

I said for seven generations aboriginal people have had their rights denied by legislation in this country and children have been taken away in institutions called residential schools and we need to realistically think that its going to be a multigenerational approach before we can get proper answers in place, he said.

There must also be mental support in the communities.

First of all, the children who have spoken out and the ones who have indicated what their thinking is, they need to be supported, he said. They need proper mental health supports in their communities.

That kind of help has been lacking for years, he said.

As result, people are suffering, so this is just a manifestation of that suffering, so putting proper mental health supports in for people, children who are in that kind of need is very important.

He said children shouldnt be taken from their communities and the support they find with their extended families. The residential solution didnt work in the past and wont work now.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/04/2016 (2384 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  The government plans to release documents that it says show the comprehensive basis behind its decision to proceed with a controversial multibillion-dollar sale of military vehicles to Saudi Arabia.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion said Wednesday he wants Canadians to have the details behind his decision to sign export permits covering $11 billion of the $15 billion deal between the Saudis and an Ontario company for the fleet of armoured vehicles.

Dion said the previous Conservative government signed the contract on Feb. 14, 2014, and said that commitment must be respected, adding that he cant block exports unless the armoured vehicles are being used against innocent civilians.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on January 26, 2016. Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion has released documents showing the minister approved the export of $11 billion worth of the $15 billion in light armoured vehicles destined for Saudi Arabia as part of a controversial defence contract. The documents shed new light on the controversial Saudi deal, as well as the Canadian government's view of the murky world of Canadian arms exports to a volatile region. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

So far, he said, there is no evidence of that.

Should I become aware of credible information of violations related to this equipment, I will suspend or revoke the permits, he said.

We are watching this closely and will continue to do so.

Dions office said in email that the export permits are an administrative process and a necessary part of deal to facilitate exportation of goods.

In a news conference Wednesday, the minister reiterated the contents of government documents released Tuesday by his office: that government officials advised him  the poor human rights record of Saudi Arabia notwithstanding  that there was no evidence the Saudis would use the vehicles against their own people.

They also show the government is satisfied the Saudis would use the equipment to defend Canadas common security interests, which includes fighting the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The previous Conservative government approved the Saudi contract and the Liberals decided to honour it because they said cancelling it without cause would trigger costly financial penalties.

Dion went on the offensive against the Conservatives and the NDP, who continued to make political hay out of the controversial deal.

Credibility matters. The Liberal party committed during the 2015 election campaign to respect the previously agreed contract. The Conservatives and the NDP did the same during the campaign, Dion said.

Conservative foreign affairs critic Tony Clement said if a preponderance of evidence shows the armoured vehicles are being used in the fight against terror, then Im fine with the deal. Otherwise, he said, it should be cancelled.

The government has a responsibility to put the facts on the table for Canadians to make their own decisions as to whether this deal does in fact help the fight against terror rather than in the suppression of civil rights of innocent citizens.

In the House of Commons, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said the fact that Dion signed the export permits just last week shows the Liberals have misled Canadians about the Saudi arms deal.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Mulcair knows that contracts cant be cancelled retroactively.

We will honour the contracts signed by Canada in February of 2014, Trudeau replied. The fact is there are jobs in London relying on this.

The documents say Canada is concerned about Saudi Arabias human rights record. They cite reports of the high number of executions, the suppression of political opposition and freedom of expression, arbitrary arrests, the poor treatment of detainees, limitations on freedom of religion, discrimination against women and mistreatment of migrant workers.

The documents say Canada has to weigh whether there is a reasonable risk that the goods might be used against the civilian population. The department is not aware of any reports linking violations of civil and political rights to the use of the proposed military-purposed exports.

They say the military vehicles help Saudi Arabia defend threats to its security, including interests it shares with Canada.

Given that ISIS is a potential threat to KSA (the kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and the general potential threat of Iran, Canada can consider that the KSA is facing legitimate threats, the documents say.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 12/04/2016 (2385 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion has released documents showing the minister approved the export of $11 billion worth of the $15 billion in light armoured vehicles destined for Saudi Arabia as part of a controversial defence contract.

The documents shed new light on the controversial Saudi deal, as well as the Canadian governments view of the murky world of Canadian arms exports to a volatile region.

They indicate that Dion approved the export of the LAV3s after government officials advised him that they were satisfied the Saudis would not use the combat vehicles against their own people, but instead would use them to defend Canadas common security interests with the desert kingdom.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on January 26, 2016. Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion has released documents showing the minister approved the export of $11 billion worth of the $15 billion in light armoured vehicles destined for Saudi Arabia as part of a controversial defence contract. The documents shed new light on the controversial Saudi deal, as well as the Canadian government's view of the murky world of Canadian arms exports to a volatile region. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

The documents, which Dions office gave to The Canadian Press on Tuesday night, cite the ongoing fight against Islamic State militants, in which Saudi Arabia is an ally with Canada, the United States and a coalition of several dozen countries.

The documents also show for the first time how the Canadian government views Saudi Arabias past involvement in helping quell the Arab Spring unrest in neighbouring Bahrain in 2011, and its ongoing involvement in trying to suppress the ongoing revolt in Yemen.

In both of those crises, questions have been raised about whether Canadian military exports to Saudi Arabia have been used in human rights abuses.

Since then, groups such as Amnesty International and Project Ploughshares have called on the government to cancel the $15-billion deal that would see a southwestern Ontario company build and supply LAV3s to Saudi Arabia.

The previous Conservative government approved the Saudi LAV contract and the Liberals have decided to honour it because they say cancelling it would lead to costly financial penalties that would hurt the countrys long-term business interests.

Dion has said the government would closely examine all future Saudi export permits with an eye towards ensuring they are consistent with international law, human rights and national interests.

The documents acknowledge the controversy surrounding the deal, but conclude there are no violations that would justify cancelling it.

The analysis in the documents  stamped Secret  also acknowledges the poor Saudi human rights record, but it concludes theres no tangible link between it and the Ontario-made LAV3s.

Canada, like others in the international community, remains concerned about human rights issues in Saudi Arabia, the document says.

It cites reports of the high number of executions, the suppression of political opposition and freedom of expression, arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment of detainees, limitations on freedom of religion, discrimination against women and mistreatment of migrant workers.

The government is undertaking a review of Canadas current export control measures  to find ways to make the process more open, transparent, and accountable, Dions spokesman Joe Pickerill said Tuesday night.

Working with the Saudis allows us to hold them to account and creates opportunities to make progress on a range of issues, including human rights.

The documents note how a United Nations panel of experts has concluded that all parties to the ongoing conflict in Yemen, the Saudis included, have violated international humanitarian law by contributing to the high death toll of civilians.

But the Canadian assessment concludes that there is no indication that equipment of Canadian origin, including LAVs were in use there.

The document addresses reports that Canadian-made sniper rifles have surfaced in Yemen showing them in the possession of Houthi rebels. It says 1,300 of the weapons were exported to Saudi Arabia under valid permits, but says the Canadian embassy in Riyadh has concluded they were captured from Saudi forces by Houthi fighters in fighting along the border.

This type of battlefield loss of equipment is to be expected as a result of military operations, the document states.

The document also addresses concerns that the Canadian LAVs were used by the Saudis to suppress Arab Spring revolts in Bahrain in 2011.

To the best of the (Foreign Affairs) Departments knowledge, Saudi troops were stationed to protect key buildings and infrastructure, and did not engage in suppression of peaceful protests.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 12/04/2016 (2385 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ATTAWAPISKAT, Ont.  A suicide pact by 13 young aboriginal people, including a nine-year-old, has been thwarted on a remote First Nation in northern Ontario where local leaders say theyre so overwhelmed by the suicide crisis that extra police officers have been called in from nearby communities.

Anna Betty Achneepineskum of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation said the youths were overheard making a pact to kill themselves on Monday and police brought them to the local hospital in Attawapiskat for an evaluation.

But the hospital was already treating other patients who had attempted suicide in recent days and couldnt see all of the new arrivals, Achneepineskum said, so about half of them temporarily waited in jail for treatment, the only other place where officials felt their safety could be secured.

CP A tattered Canadian flag flies over a building in Attawapiskat, Ont., on November 29, 2011. A remote northern Ontario First Nation has declared a state of emergency after numerous suicide attempts this week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

There are so many things that are needed here, she said in an interview. So many things.

Achneepineskum said the entire community of about 2,000 in the James Bay region is so overburdened by the rash of suicide attempts that three of the reserves four health-care workers were sent to Thunder Bay for counselling and rest as reinforcements came in to help.

Health Canada said Tuesday that roughly 18 additional people  including a crisis co-ordinator, two youth support workers and a psychologist  had been deployed as temporary crisis relief since a state of emergency was declared in Attawapiskat.

But Keith Conn, an assistant deputy minister for the departments First Nations and Inuit health branch, stressed more aggressive efforts must be made to meet the communitys mental health needs in the long term.

The emotional distress of the teens and the dearth of resources in place to help them is a direct result of more than a centurys worth of fraught relations between First Nations communities and the federal government, one leader said.

Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day said the pervasive ills plaguing aboriginal Canadians can be traced back to the Indian Act of 1876, which is marking its 140th anniversary.

Day said the act, which effectively transferred all decisions affecting First Nations to officials in Ottawa, set the stage for decades of turmoil, including residential schools, where young aboriginals endured horrific abuse.

Those experiences are at the heart of issues that include addiction, poor health and unemployment, all of which tend to converge on Canadian reserves that include Attawapiskat, Day said. Officials responsible for collecting demographic data on Attawapiskat did not respond to requests for the information.

Governments are still controlling the flow of money going to troubled First Nations, Day said, adding that until that stops, nothing can significantly change.

Theres a lot to be said about the link between control of resources . . . and the actual ability with those resources to have types of programs and services that are needed, he said.

Financial resources are not as scarce for Attawapiskat as they are for other communities.

In 2008, global diamond giant De Beers began production from its Victor Mine, 90 kilometres west of Attawapiskat. It provides employment and royalties to the community, including contributing to a trust fund which is now reportedly at $13 million.

However, Day said First Nations are still at the mercy of governments and other partnerships that allocate amounts well short of whats actually needed to address long-standing issues.

Day pointed to a community plan for Attawapiskat in 2011 that earmarked $2.7 million for repairs of delapidated housing, but said the same plan also identified the cost of a complete overhaul as closer to $60 million.

Mental health resources are in a similar state of crisis on the reserve.

The Attawapiskat chief declared a state of emergency Saturday evening, citing the communitys 11 suicide attempts so far in the month of April and 28 recorded attempts in March.

Achneepineskum, a deputy grand chief with Nishnawbe Aski Nation, a political organization that represents 49 First Nations communities including Attawapiskat, had already made plans a month ago to come into the community to talk about the crisis when the latest wave of suicide attempts was reported.

CP THE CANADIAN PRESS / NATIONAL FILM BOARD The community of Attawapiskat is seen from the air in a photo from the documentary film 'The People of Kattawapiskat River.'

There is no youth mental health worker, there is no recreation co-ordinator. Theres a few people that are taking it upon themselves to organize little activities for the young people, but we need more help, she said.

Day said he senses a new spirit of co-operation among government officials along with heightened awareness in the Canadian public at large. Such sentiments will be key to making long-lasting changes, he added.

Its going to be based on how fast the action will occur, how much the government will veer away from its old top-down approach and actually include us in discussions that will affect our lives.

A former prime minister who dealt with similar issues during his tenure said Tuesday there are no quick fixes.

Its an extremely difficult problem, Jean Chretien said. I was with this problem in 1968, a long time ago. It takes time and patience and theres always tragedies of that nature that occur and the government has to do its best to cure it. But its not easy.

In Attawapiskat itself, though, officials are focused on more short-term concerns.

Achneepineskum said some of the young people who made the suicide pact have been released back to their parents, while others are being treated for a variety of mental health issues. Officials said there will be a review of how youth are assessed, diagnosed and discharged in light of those concerns.

A boy who was airlifted out on the weekend after trying to kill himself is set to return to Attawapiskat on Tuesday, Achneepineskum said.

What happens to him? she asked. Weve heard of some where they come home and that night theyre back at the hospital again because they attempted suicide.



By Liam Casey and Michelle McQuigge in Toronto, with files from Paola Loriggio

Follow @liamdevlincasey and @mich_mcq on Twitter

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version wrongly attributed some information to Ontarios Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle. He did not say Attawapiskat receives $2 million in revenue share from the Victor Mine.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 12/04/2016 (2385 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Manitobas two newest senators took their seats in the upper chamber Tuesday and say their independent status is a big step forward for the much-maligned institution.

Sen. Murray Sinclair, a former Manitoba justice and most recently chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and Sen. Raymonde Gagne, former president of the Universite de Saint-Boniface, were among seven new senators sworn into office. They are the first of the senators appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. All will sit as independents.

Gagne, 60, said since the Senate is an appointed chamber, it wasnt something she had ever specifically aspired to do but she is honoured by the appointment.

Its exciting, she said. I didnt expect it.

Trudeau intends to reform the Senate into a non-partisan chamber by no longer appointing people to represent party caucuses. The appointments bring the standings in the Senate to 21 Independents, with 42 Conservatives and 25 Liberals. Liberal senators sit as a separate caucus from Liberal MPs since Trudeau gave them the boot in 2014. The Conservative senators are part of the same caucus as Conservative MPs.

There are 17 Senate vacancies, including two from Manitoba, which Trudeau intends to fill by the end of the year. The number of Independents will outnumber the Liberals by the end of this year and the Conservatives by the end of 2017.

Senator Raymonde Gagne (centre) poses for a photo with Senator Claudette Tardiff and Senator Peter Harder before taking her place in the Senate on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Tuesday.

In interviews with the Free Press Tuesday, both Sinclair and Gagne said they had staked their previous careers on being able to work with governments of all political stripes and would not have accepted a partisan appointment. However, the opportunity to sit as Independents and work to improve the work and reputation of a chamber that has taken a number of hits in recent years was appealing.

I think its more conducive to productive work, said Gagne. I want to be my own person rather than follow someone else.

Sinclair, 65, said he thinks there is a place for a chamber that can discuss issues among people who dont have a political axe to grind.

I certainly think not being affiliated with a party caucus is an advantage for me, he said. Its about serious reflection to look at things with a new and different lens.

Trudeau chose Sinclair and Gagne from a list of 10 Manitobans developed by an independent advisory committee appointed by the prime minister earlier this year. Sinclair said he was nominated by the Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg.

Council president Damon Johnston said when he got word the government was looking for nominees, Sinclairs name came immediately to mind.

He brings a wealth of knowledge, said Johnston. Hes very thoughtful and hes willing to listen to others. Hes just got so many valuable qualities.

Sinclair said he intends to focus his energies largely on pushing government to implement the recommendations of the TRC, which concluded last year with 94 calls to action. He said he has many other interests, such as the upcoming assisted suicide legislation and the environment, but he said he only has 10 years before he has to retire from the Senate and he is going to make those years count.

I have to pick my ambitions very carefully, he said.

Gagne, a francophone, said official languages will surely be a large part of her focus. But she said beyond that, she is going to wait and get more acclimated to the Senate before she decides what other issues she might work on.

As of Tuesday, Gagne had not moved into her new office.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/04/2016 (2384 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The second-last Saturday before election day, Manitoba Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari is knocking on doors in a Wellington Crescent apartment building, hoping to shore up support in her own riding, Fort Rouge.

Its a quiet morning, and few tenants are home. Her entourage, which includes federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr, makes quick work of the upper floors.

Bokhari finally hits pay dirt at the door of Marge Hudson, the first indigenous woman in Canada to become an RCMP officer, who receives an embrace from a Liberal leader who hugs voters, volunteers and pretty much anyone else within an arms reach as casually as other politicians shake hands.

photos by DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari works at her campaign headquarters on Osborne Street before heading out to go door-knocking on the first day of advance voting Saturday.

Being brown and being female is not easy, Bokhari tells Hudson during a short, warm conversation. I know what it feels like to be the first female anything.

Then the 4-11 ball of energy is off to canvass other doors, offering low-fives behind her back to Carr after voters indicate theyll favour Bokhari in her Fort Rouge race against Progressive Conservative Audrey Gordon and the NDPs Wab Kinew.

This effervescent, amiable Liberal leader is the Rana Bokhari the party probably wishes Manitobans envision as they decide how to vote April 19. Compared with incumbent Premier Greg Selinger and PC Leader Brian Pallister  a pair of white, male baby boomers who are fond of sweater vests and tailored suits, respectively  the 38-year-old former farm kid appears completely genuine and is always upbeat.

But this is not the Rana Bokhari most voters have seen over the course of what even she describes as a rough rookie campaign. For starters, the Liberals failed to field a full slate of candidates, falling victim to faulty paperwork, poor vetting and a rare disqualification. A scattershot Liberal policy platform has prompted accusations of shameless populism and little attention to financial detail.

Worst of all, Bokhari has often appeared unable to articulate her ideas or defend her positions. She was chastising reporters in scrums even before her communications director, Mike Brown, launched an email broadside against CBC Manitoba and attempted to freeze out Free Press reporter Nick Martin.

She insists she does not believe the media are out to get her, though she does suggest political journalists dont understand her.

Theres nothing malicious about media or about me. This isnt a malicious issue happening here, Bokhari said Saturday during an interview at the back of her constituency campaign office, a vacant retail storefront in Osborne Village.

You are very used to two guys who have been there for a long time. They have their styles. They have their way of doing things. They do have their 30 years of experience. This is my second year in. I cant change that. So of course theres differences, and I think those differences sometimes get perceived as a weakness, and they shouldnt be perceived as a weakness.

Bokhari contends Selinger and Pallister also had a rough time during their second years as politicians. But she dismisses the notion she suffers from a lack of polish, claiming voters are mistaking folksiness for an inability to be articulate.

Listen, Im a farm kid from Anola, Man. Im not a born politician. Im not Sharon Carstairs. My dad wasnt a pol (politician). Thats not my world. Thats not who I am. Im sorry. Like, I dont know what people want me to do, she says. Im not saying that as a negative thing. Thats just who I am. I dont want to be polished.

In any event, Bokhari says people under the age of 40 dont care about the way she speaks. Whats really positive, and this is what makes me feel good about it, is that when I go to talk to my world, my generation, they dont even know what people are talking about. They just say, Dont we all say that? Yeah, we do. OK, so whats the issue here? Are we all wrong? It definitely is a generational thing, she says.

What is not to be questioned is my integrity. What is not to be questioned is my competency. What is not to be questioned is my ability to not only build this party, but lead with 51 fantastic candidates, above-average candidates, and get into this game and still be fighting and still be motivated and having everyone come around and believe in the vision.

Not every member of the party feels the same way. Liberal supporters, including one candidate, have expressed embarrassment with Bokharis performance, as well as concern their leader has undermined the partys provincewide campaign.

Rana Bokhari and federal Liberal MP Jim Carr greet Kathy Kennedy in an apartment building on Wellington Crescent.

Bokhari takes personal responsibility for her partys failure to field a full slate of candidates.

I keep kind of going back in my head and reflecting, she says. I just wanted great candidates, and maybe I should have just gotten everyone in place early on, (and) not keep looking for better, not keep looking for better, not keep looking for better. I was too picky. My bad.

She also defends a Liberal platform she describes as taking shape as a result of a team effort involving herself, fellow lawyer Cory Shefman, communications director Brown and others with the Liberal campaign. Policies that have been criticized as unsubstantial  such as a pledge to exempt salon services from provincial sales tax  matter to Manitobans who would benefit from having another $50 in their pocket, she says.

But Bokhari declined to consider a question about whether she will remain as leader if she loses in Fort Rouge. I have no intention of losing my seat. Ive put blood, sweat and tears into this for the past two years. Theres never been an easy day, she says.

Those days have become more difficult, as Liberal support has slid in popular-opinion polls. Fewer media are attending her announcements, and there are indications voters may be looking past Bokhari.

Last Friday at the RBC Convention Centre, where the Manitoba Trucking Association was holding a meeting, she fielded only one question from the audience. To be fair, she had to rush out to a Fort Rouge all-candidates forum at Kelvin High School, where not one student directed a question her way. If that bothered her, she was unfazed. Minutes later, at her campaign headquarters on Osborne Street, she was hugging volunteers and candidates with her usual, irrepressible zeal.

I feel I havent seen your face in, like, hours! she beams as she embraces Johanna Wood, a former staffer in Mayor Brian Bowmans office whos now running for the Liberals in Fort Garry-Riverview.

To be anywhere in Bokharis vicinity is to be hugged. She even wraps her arms around a crusty reporter who insists he does not want to be embraced by the leader of a political party.

Im a hugger, she says. Im just a genuine person. When I see a smile on someones face or Im happy to see them, I want to hug them. Im just not so boxed into this role that I dont want to be me. Thats who I am as a person. Im an affectionate person and an outgoing person. Im doing me.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 12/04/2016 (2385 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The only televised debate of the Manitoba provincial election saw a laser focus on the man leading the polls.

Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister found himself in the hot seat at Tuesdays debate as he faced a war on three fronts when his opponents questioned him on poverty, privatization and what he will do if he becomes the next premier of Manitoba.

Pallister faced tough questions from NDP Leader Greg Selinger, Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari and Green Party Leader James Beddome, who virtually ignored each other in favour of ganging up on Pallister.

Heres how the leaders fared:

Brian Pallister (Progressive Conservative)

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba party leaders (from left) Greg Selinger (NDP), Rana Bokhari take part in a CBC/CTV/Global debate at CBC in Winnipeg Tuesday.

What he needed to do:

The front-running Pallister needed to use the debate as an opportunity to talk to Manitobans about the PC plan for lower taxes, a stronger economy and improved services, and demonstrate that its time for change, a Tory official said earlier in the day. Hes also got to deal with the increasing desperation of Greg Selinger, the official said, referring to false and nasty accusations this week that Pallister is homophobic.

What he accomplished:

Pallister, smiling and seemingly relaxed at the outset, had a target on his back all evening. The other party leaders used their one opportunity to grill another leader by directing their questions at him. He mainly deflected rather than responded to these queries, reverting to talking points. He did not suffer a major blow.

Best sound bite:

Mr. Selinger knows what it is like to have caucus members leave who feel they are not being listened to. Frontline workers feel the same way, he said when asked how the electorate can be inspired by his health care plan.

Post-debate spin:

The difference between Mr. Selinger and I is obvious on this  every time hes faced with a difficult challenge, choosing between value and taxes he chooses taxes Manitobans should be rightfully concerned. If Mr. Selinger gets the opportunity again, hell raise taxes. Theres no doubt about that.

When asked by reporters, Pallister repeated promised not to privatize Manitoba Hydro. It is not happening. But he didnt rule out having the private sector supplying Manitobans with more health care services than it does now.

Greg Selinger (NDP)

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba PC leader Brian Pallister.

What he needed to do:

According to the NDP brain trust, Selinger needed to rise above the anticipated barrage of attacks from Pallister and Bokhari and speak about why his party has the best plan for Manitoba families. His aides say he needed to differentiate himself from Pallister, strike a statesmanlike demeanour and show that he remains he a steady hand at the wheel.

What he accomplished:

Selinger, looking solemn throughout, continually painted Pallister as a cost-cutter and a privatizer. Near the end of the debate he equated the PC leader with Canadas outgoing prime minister. Mr. Pallister has an agenda that would turn the clock back on Manitoba back to a closed Stephen Harper style of government that Canadians and Manitobans have just rejected.

Best sound bite:

Just give us a straight yes or no  will you or will you not privatize any part of our health care system? he asked Pallister.

Post-debate spin:

Selinger was asked afterwards whether he would raise the PST to nine per cent. He infamously promised not to boost the tax after a televised debate in the last election campaign. I want to be absolutely clear. The conditions have changed, he said, adding the province no longer faces massive bills for flood fighting. We do not have to raise the PST again.

Rana Bokhari (Liberal)

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba NDP leader Greg Selinger.

What she needed to do:

Bokhari needed a stellar performance to undo some of the damage done by campaign missteps and the Liberals failure to field a full slate of candidates. Her team was looking for her to demonstrate that she is the voice of reason and a rational alternative to Selinger and Pallister. They were concerned that she not be shut out of the debate  as occurred to some extent at a Brandon forum, where the NDP and PC leaders slugged it out.

What she accomplished:

Bokhari didnt get a lot of opportunities to speak as the leaders focused their attention on Pallister and Selinger. She was effective when she challenged Pallister on his failure to participate in a telephone town hall debate sponsored by Manitoba Teachers Society. You couldnt pick up the phone? she admonished him.

Best sound bite:

As we move forward, Manitobans want a fresh voice, they want a party that recognizes the politics of possibility rather than the politics of power and that is what the Manitoba Liberal team represents.

Post-debate spin:

On why she chose to question Pallister rather than Selinger: I think the real question right now is Brian Pallister, because there seems to be a lot of unanswered questions. He seems to pivot away from questions. You see today any direct question posed to him you didnt really get a direct answer. I just wanted Manitobans to see if we can get some answers out of him.

James Beddome (Green)

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Liberal leader Rana Bokhari.

What he needed to do:

With no budget to run election ads and having received little media coverage to date, the Green party leader needed to stand out as he did in the TV debate in 2011, when he was acknowledged as the best performer of the evening.

What he accomplished:

Although he appeared nervous at first, Beddome was again effective, aiming most his questions and comments at Pallister. He also argued effectively that a vote for the Greens is not a wasted vote, and that for years the party has been effective in lobbying for policies that were later adopted by government including the banning herbicides for cosmetic use.

Best sound bite:

I can give you example after example where Greens have shown that we are the party of the future, today, he said.

Post-debate spin:

Brian Pallister, quite frankly, he is the one who is most likely going to be premier, if the polls are any kind of indication, and I wanted to get some promises from him, Beddome said of his decision to target Pallister

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Green Party leader James Beddome.
The Columbus School Board wants to have a conversation with district residents and stakeholders to help develop a strategic plan for the future.

A 13-hour, multi-day event is being planned for Oct. 6, 7 and 8, for those conversations.

Its really a way to get the school district and the community together as one, so anyone in the community at any point in time after this will say they know exactly where education is going in Columbus, board president Kevin White said.

The location of the event has yet to be determined, but will probably not be on school property. Superintendent Annette Deuman said the venue would have to be able to hold 100 to 120 people and allow for them to move around, have conversations and collaborate.

Among the goals of the gathering are:

To identify issues and trends that impact the district

To expand and strengthen community partnerships

To identify attributes and skills every graduate should have to meet their full potential

To identify key indicators to measure the success of the district

To identify ways to foster communication with the larger community and what the community wants from the school district

I think this is a bottom-up process so its really important that the community be involved, board member Liz ODonnell said. Instead of top-down, this is bottom-up, so for anyone who wants to talk about public education and what theyre seeing or not seeing in our students, please be aware and attend and be involved.
Strike continues at Racine Case tractor factory with no clear end in sight

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L-3 MAPPS awarded contract for Korean Candu simulator

13 April 2016

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Canada's L-3 MAPPS is to supply a full-scope training simulator for the Wolsong 1 Candu pressurized heavy water reactor in South Korea under a contract signed with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP). It will mark L-3's first implementation of severe accident simulation for Candu plants.

The four Candu units at the Wolsong plant (Image: KHNP)

The simulator will use L-3's graphical simulation tools for the plant models and instructor station. All of the Wolsong 1 plant systems will be simulated, including the reactor, nuclear steam supply systems, balance of plant systems, electrical systems, and instrumentation and control systems. The simulator's models will be developed, validated and maintained in L-3's Orchid simulation environment. Wolsong 1's computer systems - the digital control computers (DCCs) - will be represented by a fully emulated dual DCC that will be integrated in the full-scope simulator. The simulator will be equipped with full replica control room panels driven by L-3's Orchid Input Output software and a new compact input/output system.

L-3 MAPPS said the new plant models used in the Wolsong 1 simulator will also be complemented with severe accident simulation capabilities. The company said it marks the first time L-3 MAPPS has implemented severe accident simulation for Candu plants. It said the simulator will also be equipped with new two-dimensional and three-dimensional animated, interactive visualizations of the reactor vessel and containment building to provide trainees further insight into the behaviour of the plant during severe accidents.

L-3 MAPPS said the project will start immediately and the simulator is scheduled to be completed in early 2018. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

Michael Chatlani, vice president of marketing and sales for L-3 MAPPS's power systems and simulation business, said: "In addition to our recent simulator projects at Embalse and Cernavoda, the work on Wolsong 1 further aligns L-3 to offer best-in-class simulator solutions for new Candu build programs, especially in Argentina, China and Romania."

The Wolsong site in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, houses four 700 MWe Candu reactors. L-3 MAPPS supplied the full-scope operator training simulator for Wolsong units 2, 3 and 4. Simulators are a vital piece of equipment for training plant operators, both at the start of their careers and for their continuing training.

Wolsong 1 - the country's second-oldest power reactor - began generating power in 1983 but was taken out of operation in April 2009 for an extended maintenance outage that included replacement of all its pressure tubes and calandria tubes. Candu reactors are designed to undergo refurbishment after about 25 years of operation, requiring a major outage but allowing reactor life to be extended by up to 30 years. For all Candu reactors, this involves complete retubing. The reactor came back into operation in July 2011 with its performance raised from 629 MWe to 657 MWe.

However, the 30-year operating licence of Wolsong 1 expired in November 2012, so the reactor was taken offline again. In February 2015, Korea's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission approved a ten-year licence extension until November 2022 for the refurbished and uprated Wolsong 1 reactor. The unit returned to service in June 2015.

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, L-3 MAPPS supplies control and simulation solutions to the marine, power generation and space sectors. As well as supplying full-scale simulators for most manufacturer's nuclear power plants, the company has also supplied digital computer control systems for Candu plants since 1970.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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A young man wanted to make a point about racism in the United States, but his plan backfired when he was exposed for a liar by police. 20-year-old Khalil Cavil of Texas was working at the Saltgrass Steak House in Odessa when he claimed he was discriminated against because of his Muslim name. Cavil took
According to documents obtained through a lawsuit by the British Guardian newspaper, Chicago police used various forms of physical violence against detainees held at the secret interrogation center in Homan Square, which has been described as the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site. At least 14 men were victims of violence by Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers.

Last year, the department strenuously denied all allegations in a series of Guardian reports exposing the secret site and the conditions of inmates detained there. The CPD stated in March 2015, The allegation that physical violence is a part of interviews with suspects is unequivocally false, it is offensive, and it is not supported by any facts whatsoever. The CPD would only admit that it used the facility for interviews as part of a low-level narcotics outpost.

However, the lawsuit filed by the newspaper and the documents obtained from it about the Homan Square facility contradict these official statements denying any misconduct against prisoners held at the facility. The documents reveal that police officers used punches, Tasers, knee strikes, strangulation, elbow strikes, and baton blows, among other forms of abuse against detainees.

One person also died under police custody in circumstances that have not been explained. The family and friends had an independent autopsy conducted that contradicted the official autopsy performed by Cook County. The family believes that police killed the man and covered it up.

According to the documents, even though none of the men fled custody, they were assaulted after they had been brought to the detention center. The documents include forms marking the use of force by the police and hospitalization records. The forms are evaluated for review by higher-ranking officers. In all cases obtained, the superior officers found no misconduct and stated that use of force was justified.

Police officers beat some detainees at the site so badly they required hospitalization for severe physical injuries. Detainees stated they experienced severe pain, impairment and post-traumatic stress that lasted years.

Dwand Ivery, 22 years old, was arrested on drug distribution charges and was held in Homan Square and severely beaten. He told the Guardian that the beating left him with a deformed face, lack of vision in his left eye, and severe mental health issues that required medication for anxiety and depression.

Mark Rideaux, another detainee, stated he was choked and strangled with a flex cuff tied around his neck. When Rideaux was taken to Mount Sinai hospital, he was told by the police that he had better keep his mouth shut or suffer the consequences. Rideaux was then taken to the Cook County Jail where he is currently serving a narcotics sentence. A civil lawsuit brought against the jail last year noted that detainees are in extreme risk of harm and that a culture of brutality is encouraged by the jail leadership. At least a quarter of inmates suffer from severe mental illnesses.

More than 7,000 people were disappeared at Homan Square since the last decade, according to a report from the Guardian last year. Their detentions went unreported to family, friends and defense attorneys. Documents prior to 2004, however, have not been disclosed, as the CPD claimed that they were burdensome to produce. The police have been using the facility since 1995, when they officially purchased the warehouse.

At least 65 percent of the arrests and detentions by the police in the last decade took place after Democrat Rahm Emanuel became mayor of Chicago in 2011. Previous reports and testimonies from detainees alleged that they were also tortured and sexually assaulted. Emanuel has defended the departments work in Homan Square, stating that the police follow all the rules at the interrogation center.

However, the majority of people who are detained at the former Sears warehouse in Homan Square are rarely provided access to an attorney or a phone call to their family and friends. The internal records of the police showed that hundreds were detained and arrested illegally without any charges. Fewer than 1 percent of those arrested are provided access to a lawyer, in keeping with more widespread undemocratic police department procedures.

The CPD responded to the recent Guardian revelations about the Homan Square facility and stated: The Chicago Police Department takes allegations of excessive force very seriously. In Chicago, all use-of-force cases require extensive documentation using the tactical response report. These cases are then vigorously investigated by an external, civilian-led agency known as the Chicago Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA). We stand behind our initial statement and our unwavering commitment to the highest levels of accountability and professional standards for our officers.

In fact, the IPRA has been shown to be entirely complicit in police brutality. In more than eight years, the so-called independent police review has rarely sustained a complaint against a police officer. Over the last five years, of the 400 police shootings in Chicago, the IPRA has found only one to be not justified.

The local media and the political establishment have largely remained silent about the revelations of police brutality in Homan Square. Chicago has a long history of police violence and torture, with the full complicity of the entire political establishment. The most notorious cases of torture occurred under former police commander Jon Burge from 1972 to 1991. Victims of Burge were often brutally coerced into giving wrongful confessions of murder.

While current mayor Rahm Emanuel has stated that he is seeking to reform the police, in the wake of protests against police murders in the city, the ongoing revelations of police violence in Homan Square expose such pretenses. Emanuels current choice to head the police department also previously played a large role in the crackdown of protesters at the NATO Summit in Chicago in 2012.

Far from reforming the police force, the operation of an illegal torture center in a major metropolitan city wracked by social inequality highlights the breakdown of democratic forms of rule under capitalism today. The attacks on democratic rights, rampant police brutality and torture are increasingly the response of the ruling elite to suppress all forms of social and political opposition.
Amid continuing protests against the Socialist Party (PS) government and the labor law reform of Labor Minister Myriam El Khomri, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls met with student organisations on Monday. He announced half a billion euros in aid for students in an attempt to defuse opposition to the PS austerity agenda among students and youth.

After meeting with unions including UNEF (National Union of French Students), UNL (National Union of High School Students) and FIDL (Independent and Democratic Federation of High School Students), the government announced 11 measures, worth 500 million per year.

They include imposing more taxes on short-term contracts, supposedly to encourage employers to hire workers on permanent contracts; increasing the number of available scholarships; and increasing funding for industrial studies at two-year technical institutes (IUT). After graduation, students would continue to receive financial assistance for four months, as would apprentices.

Valls declared, Never has so much been done for the youth in our country. Never has a government struggled so much to ensure that the coming generation will be ready to succeed. He added that these measures were not intended to smother opposition, but to respond to deep concerns which require a long-term response.

Valls remarks are a pack of lies. The proposed measures, even if they were implemented, would not change the deeply reactionary character of the El Khomri Law, which lengthens the work week and allows the trade unions to negotiate firm-level contracts which violate the French Labour Code. If the law is passed, youth entering the work force will find themselves eve rmore exploited, as big business seeks to dismantle the social gains won by the working class in France in the 20th century.

This is why the announcement of the law led to broad popular opposition, with 71 percent of the French people opposing the law in one poll, despite the modification of the initial bill following the outbreak of protests in early March.

When the government announced the El Khomri Law, it hoped that the law will be passed through a negotiation with the unions, as the PS has done with other social cuts under Hollande, relying on the spectacle of talks with the unions to suppress social opposition. However, it met immediately with a broad rejection among youth and workers and sparked explosive anger.

As a result, well aware of the deep discrediting of the pro-austerity PS government among the masses, the trade and student unions rushed to call protests in order keep opposition in the working class and the youth under their suffocating control. There have been five weeks of protests in France, with over 1 million youth and workers protesting on March 31.

The purpose of Valls measures is to provide the student unions with an excuse to call off the protests, or to liquidate them into the dead end of a symbolic occupation of a few public squares by the petty-bourgeois #NightOnOurFeet movement.

After the meeting with Valls, student unions have signaled their support to his proposal.

UNEF President William Martinet expressed his satisfaction and indicated that he considered Valls proposals as a sign that the movement had won a victory: Because the youth mobilized and raised their heads high, they succeeded in obtaining powerful measures. He added that after Valls proposal, The forms of mobilization will change. This is a signal that UNEF will wind down the support it temporarily gave to protests against the bill.

For its party, the UNL also signaled its approval of Valls measures, declaring, This goes in the right direction.

From the outset, the FAGE, the second-largest university student union, did not oppose the bill, praising the proposal as really structural measures for the youth.

The PS-affiliated Young Socialist Movement cynically declared, These measures, that we salute with great enthusiasm, cannot make us forget our differences with the labor law.

Their support for Valls reactionary proposal shows that the student unions are preparing to sell out protests against the bill. With their backing to gradually wind down further opposition, the PS is plans to pass the bill, by relying on the dip in student protests during the school holidays and exam period. This would allow the student unions to promote the paltry measures they negotiated with the PS government as a victory.

The strategy of the government was clearly laid out in a Le Monde article analyzing President Francois Hollandes re-election bid in the 2017 presidential elections. Announcing Hollandes sudden announcement of a prime-time televised address on Thursday night, the paper stated that the French president is betting on the exhaustion of the mobilization against the labor law.

It explained, The executive relies on different factors to stabilise the head of state. First, the weakening of protests Saturday, against the labor law. Together with conflicts with the security forces, this leads the government to believe that the union opposition is winding down and that it could eventually become, because of the violence, unpopular with public opinion.

The strategy of the PS and its union and political allies is not so difficult to understand. They are well aware of deep and explosive social opposition to Hollande, Frances most unpopular president since World War II. By avoiding calling out the workers, allowing police to beat and arrest protesting youth, and relying on media slanders of protesters, they aim to demoralize public opinion, demobilise workers and youth, and leave the PS in power.

The union organizations, their political satellites, and groups like #NightOnOurFeet that insist that social opposition does not require a political perspective or a political party, are bankrupt. The critical political issue facing workers and youth is the absence of a clear political perspective and a political party to lead the explosive opposition that exists to the PS in the working class.

The struggle must be taken out of the hands of the trade unions and their student union allies, and develop into a broader struggle of the working class against austerity, war, and the state of emergency, politically and organizationally independent of the union bureaucracies and the PS.
Norwegian director Joachim Triers English-language debut Louder than Bombs is an intergenerational, upper-middle-class family drama that takes place in New York state.

Three years after the tragic death of renowned French war photographer, Isabelle Reed (Isabelle Huppert), her ex-husband, a retired actor and college teacher, Gene Reed (Gabriel Byrne), has difficulty dealing with his feelings. His grief is revived in advance of an exhibition set to open in his wifes memory, organized by Isabelles former coworker and lover, Richard (David Strathairn).

Unable to sort the negatives and files she left behind, Gene invites his older son, Jonah (Jesse Eisenberg), to help him. He also hopes that Jonah, now a college professor and a father himself, can help him deal with his difficult, 15-year-old son, Conrad (Devin Druid), who remains unaware that his mothers death was a suicide.

In one of Louder than Bombs first scenes, set in a maternity ward, Jonah kisses his wife and then wanders off into the arms of an ex-girlfriend he accidently meets in the hospital. The viewer is already subjected to the films dull tempo and its distasteful portrayal of bourgeois marriage, a system of wives in common (Marx).

But things get worse. As the cameras focus shifts from the cowardly, hunched over Jonah, past the hopelessly posturing Gene, to the mentally disturbed Conrad, the experience of watching the banal and neurotic problems of the privileged becomes almost unbearable.

There is almost nothing positive to report about the movie. Every important element, including the camera work, is uncreative and random, often ugly. Even Huppert, elsewhere a sensitive and superb actress, cannot save Louder than Bombs. Inserted as a ghostly presence in flashback, she is lost and surprisingly flat.

The characters are all more or less appalling individuals. The head of the family, Gene, is a spineless stalker of his own son and, to add to the movies heap of cliches, is involved in a secret affair with a much younger woman, Hannah (Amy Ryan), Conrads English teacher. Jesse is a financially successful, opportunistic petty adulterer who has no courage to speak his mind or tell the truth. His nerdy brother, Conrad, spends all day in virtual reality, killing people. The classmate he is infatuated with is a sleazy cheerleader who thinks Conrad is cool for spitting in their teachers face.

The scenes involving Conrad are quite disturbing in view of the fact that the deranged boy seems to become the directors favorite. The teenagers diary, treated as a very promising work of art, reveals a blog-like stream of nonsense, corny revelations and misanthropic vulgarities. Portraying a character who could potentially evolve into a killer like Anders Breivik is one thingliking him is another.

Trier, born in Copenhagen in 1974, has at least something in common with his distant relative, Danish director Lars von Trier. The desire to glorify whats extreme, violent and perverse as things in themselves, with its Nietzschean overtones, seems to unite these two self-indulgent, superficial and smug pseudo-artists. Out of a lack of genuine creativity, they resort to sensational, sado-masochistic tricks to shock and impress.

Louder than Bombs is nothing but a milder version of von Triers dreadful Nymphomaniac (2013). An unpalatable mishmash of de Sade and Freud is forced down our throats here through a series of semi-pornographic scenes containing rape fantasies, physical abuse, suggested incest and more.

An idealized specter of a deceased mother and wife, Isabelle, hovers over the other lifeless characters in the movie. A renowned war photographer, inspired by a real-life French journalist, Alexandra Boulat, she evidently specializes in those apoliticised, stereotypical images of women in veils in the Middle East and of nameless people getting blown up (Peter Bradshaw for the Guardian).

That is to say, Isabelle profits financially from the misery of others while contributing to the general project of covering up what lies behind the endless, predatory imperialist interventions in the Middle East. The content of the lives of those being photographed is of little or no importancethe spotlight is on the artistic beauty of the perfectly framed photograph of the dead and suffering.

Photo agencies and glossy magazines handsomely rewarded Isabelle for her services. Together with her family, she led a lavish lifestyle. Her continual complaints about how exhausting her job is and how hard it is to change airplanes while traveling back from various expeditions are unconvincing and simply insulting. Who cares?

Trier is unable to treat journalism or war seriously, or much of anything else. He is also clueless about the society he aspires to portray. While we were writing the film, my cowriter, Eskil Vogt, said, Damn, Joachim, most of the stuff we know about Americans, we learned from The Simpsons, Trier admitted in an interview with the Paris Review. Then why should anyone take him seriously?

But the Paris Review adores the clueless auteur anyway: Readers of the Review know that the Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier [Reprise; Oslo, August 31st] is one of our favorite young directors, they write. Triers kitsch film generally received high marks, critics terming Louder than Bombs great, subtle, a serious melodrama.

Louder than Bombs is not a serious portrait of American society. It is a product of Triers own unimportant, self-absorbed musings, which mirror the concerns of a privileged, socially indifferent layer.

All in all, watching Triers film is very unpleasant and painful.
As protests take place at a number of campuses across Australia today, students and young people confront a world in the midst of a major crisis of global capitalism, which poses critical political questions.

Governments internationally are responding to the greatest economic breakdown since the 1930s with a program of militarism and war that has created flashpoints for a new global conflict. At the same time, they are carrying out, on behalf of the corporate and financial elites, a social counter-revolution aimed at destroying publicly-funded healthcare, education and social services and the decimation of the jobs, wages and social conditions of the working class. Amid mounting opposition to this agenda, authoritarian methods of rule are being developed. The police-state measures introduced over the past 15 years, in the name of the fraudulent war on terror are increasingly being directed against social opposition at home.

None of these issues will be discussed at todays rally. Nor have they been so much as mentioned by its organisers in the National Union of Students (NUS). After years of single-issue protests and days of action held by the NUS and other student groups, students need to draw some serious lessons. What have these demonstrations accomplished? How have they prepared young people to fight against war or the drive to completely corporatise universities, or any of the other burning issues we face?

The answer is clear from the declared purpose of todays rallies. Once again, the NUS is promoting the utter fraud that the election of a Labor government, supported by the Greens, will halt the assault on higher education. The NUS is completely silent on the fact that it was the Labor governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard that carried out some of the deepest cuts to universities in history, and prepared the ground for the Coalition governments drive to deregulate university fees.

It was the Gillard Labor government that in 2012 deregulated course enrollments and uncapped the number of places universities could offer to students, resulting in ever-greater competition for student enrollments and the abolition of unprofitable degrees. In its 2013 budget, the Labor government introduced the largest ever single cut to university funding$2.3 billion. Between 2011 and 2013, Labor cut a total $6.6 billion from higher education and research. These measures were a continuation of a decades-long, bipartisan drive to transform universities into for-profit entitiesinitiated through the reintroduction of university fees by the Hawke-Keating Labor governments from 1983 to 1996.

At the last series of major demonstrations, the NUS did everything it could to suppress any discussion of Labors record. While inviting prominent Labor and Greens politicians to posture as opponents of the Abbott governments cuts to higher education, the NUS blocked representatives of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) from speaking, in order to prevent students from hearing a genuine socialist perspective to fight the university cuts.

Since then, the corporatisation of higher education has proceeded apace, with the University of Sydney, Monash University and university administrations across the country outlining sweeping pro-business restructurings. The ever-greater dependence of university budgets on endowments from wealthy patrons, and on corporate sponsorship, has been accompanied by the evisceration of fundamental democratic rights on campuses. And the student unions are playing the key role in enforcing this agenda.

At the University of Melbourne, the Clubs and Societies Committee of the student union has refused to affiliate our IYSSE club four times in the last two years. Last month, the committee effectively banned the IYSSE. Why? Because we defended the principle that all students should be able to form clubs of their choice, without interference from any union or university body. And the NUS itself has done absolutely nothing to oppose this attack on the University of Melbourne IYSSE, or similar measures against our clubs at other universities across Australia. In other words, they are complicit in the establishment of a dangerous precedent, which poses before all student clubs the prospect of arbitrary and politically-motivated proscriptions and bans.

The attacks on the IYSSE take place in the context of a state-campaign to indoctrinate young people with pro-war sentiment, through the glorification of militarism and the rewriting of history. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent by the government on a celebration of the centenary of World War I, extending into every area of life, including the universities and even primary schools. Last year, the University of Sydney banned the Socialist Equality Party and the IYSSE from holding a meeting on campus over the Anzac Day weekend, entitled Anzac Day, the glorification of militarism and the drive to World War III. The meeting opposed the orgy of militarist propaganda and put forward a socialist perspective against the danger of war.

The University of Sydney ban was aimed at preventing mass anti-war sentiment among students, workers and young people from finding any organised expression. This year, less than two weeks away from Anzac Day, the government, the universities and every official institution is once again preparing to bombard the population with the lie that Australian participation in World War Ian imperialist bloodbath, fought by the various powers for resources, profits and geo-strategic advantagewas a heroic and nation-building development.

Underlying this campaign is Australias complete integration into the US preparations for war against China. While the Labor Party, the Greens, the unions and the pseudo-left organisations such as Socialist Alternative and Solidarity maintain a conspiracy of silence, extensive basing arrangements have already been established and hundreds of billions of dollars dedicated to military spending, to place the country on a war footing. In Canberra and in Washington, government-connected think tanks openly discuss plans for Australia to impose a naval blockade of shipping routes that pass through Indonesia, in the event of a US attack on China. More and more, they are discussing thinking the unthinkablei.e., waging nuclear war.

The only means of preventing such a catastrophe, and halting all of the horrors of the moribund capitalist system, including the abolition of the right to education, is through the development of a revolutionary, socialist movement of the working classthe only social force that has no interest in the capitalist nation-state system, which inevitably leads to war, or in the private ownership of societys resources by a tiny parasitic corporate and financial elite.

Such a struggle can only go forward on the basis of an international perspective. Young people, whether they live in the United States, Europe, China, Australia or any other part of the world, confront a future of war, poverty, and joblessness under the present social order.

The IYSSE, the student and youth section of the world Trotskyist movement, fights to unify the struggles of the working class and of students and young people across national borders, against the capitalist profit system itself, on the program of world socialismthe establishment of a global, planned economy to end the scourge of war and place societys resources under the democratic control of the working classthe vast majorityto provide free, high quality education, healthcare, childcare and other essential social services for all.

We call on all students who want to fight against war and austerity cuts, and defend democratic rights, to join the IYSSE and build an IYSSE club on every campus around the country.
The study published this week by the Journal of the American Medical Association on the widening of the life expectancy gap in the United States sheds new light on the pervasive impact of social inequality.

The report, based on an examination of some 1.4 billion tax records, documents the fact that higher income is strongly associated with greater longevity. The study shows that the gap between the richest one percent and the poorest one percent is 14.6 years for men and 10.1 years for women. It further establishes that life expectancy for individuals in the top five percent of income earners increased by nearly three years between 2001 and 2014, while for those in the bottom five percent, the increase was negligible.

American men at the bottom one percent of the income distribution at the age of 40 have a life expectancy similar to the average life expectancy of 40-year-old men in Sudan and Pakistan, the researchers noted. Responding to the findings, Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton said, It is as if the top income percentiles belong to one world of elite, wealthy US adults, whereas the bottom income percentiles each belong to separate worlds of poverty, each unhappy and unhealthy in its own way.

Deaton and fellow Princeton University economist Anne Case published a report last year that showed a significant rise in the mortality rate of white, middle-aged working-class Americans over the last fifteen years, tied to a dramatic rise in deaths related to suicide, drug abuse and alcoholismtypical ills of economic and social deprivation.

Drastically worsening conditions in the US are the result not of impersonal economic forces, let alone individual failings. They are the outcome of deliberate policies dictated by the American ruling class and implemented by both of its major political parties over the past four decades to make the working class pay for the crisis and decline of US capitalism.

The working class has suffered a historic reversal in its social position. The postwar boom, when there seemed to be some truth in the reformist claim that a rising tide lifts all boats, has long since given way to decades of deindustrialization, increasing financial parasitism and relentless attacks on the jobs and living standards of workers. Income and wealth, under Democratic as well as Republican administrations, have become ever more concentrated in the hands of a financial aristocracy, with devastating consequences for working people and youth.

The trade union organizations that were built by the working class in the mass struggles of the 1930s and 1940s have played the most critical role in carrying through this social counterrevolutionan offensive that has been intensified since the breakdown of the world capitalist system that began in 2008.

Based on their pro-capitalist and nationalist program, the unions responded to the mounting crisis of American capitalism by becoming direct partners with the corporations and the government in imposing the full weight of the crisis on the backs of the workers. They have collaborated in the destruction of millions of jobs, the decimation of wages and benefits, and the imposition of sweatshop conditions, all in the name of increasing the competitiveness of American corporations against their international rivals. For this purpose, they took on the role of an industrial police force for the ruling class, suppressing working-class resistance. Strikes, which were a fact of daily life in America, have all but disappeared.

The bailout of the financial criminals responsible for the 2008 Wall Street crash and Great Recession was paid for through relentless austerity in the United States and around the world. Under the Obama administration, 95 percent of all income gains have gone to the richest one percent. Today, the share of the US gross domestic product that goes to workers is at the lowest level since World War II, while the percentage that goes to corporate profit is at the highest.

In an earlier period, the rash of studies exposing the desperate conditions in which millions of Americans live would have been treated by sections of the political establishment and the media as a political scandal. Today, these issues are at best given perfunctory attention by the media and quickly dropped, and generally ignored by the political establishment.

Virtually no mention is made by any of the presidential candidates of either party of reports of rising death rates and mortality for working-class people, shocking infant mortality rates among the poor, and increasing life expectancy gaps between the rich and the poor.

Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, the self-declared socialist, seeks to tap into seething anger over economic deprivation and insecurity by denouncing income inequality in his stump speeches, but his remarks remain notably abstract. He says little or nothing about the actual conditions working people and youth face in their daily lives, and manages to avoid any mention of the brutal austerity measures carried out by the Obama administration.

Sanders has said nothing about Obamas imposition of across-the-board 50 percent wage cuts for newly hired autoworkers as part of his bailout of GM and Chrysler, is silent on the administrations support for the gutting of workers health care and pensions in the Detroit bankruptcy, and avoids any reference to the repeated cuts in food stamps approved by the White House.

The Democratic Party, behind which Sanders is seeking to channel growing working-class opposition, is fully complicit in the social counterrevolution. From the Clintons abolition of welfare in the 1990s to Obamas assault on health benefits for millions of workers under Obamacare, the Democrats have functioned as an instrument of Wall Street and the corporate elite.

A prerequisite for any serious struggle against inequality, war and the drive toward dictatorship is a complete and irrevocable break with the Democratic Party and all of the political representatives of the ruling class. Only on this basis can American workers advance a socialist program that corresponds to their interests and unite with their class brothers and sisters internationally against the transnational corporations and banks.

This perspective must be brought into the 2016 elections in opposition to all attempts to block the development of an independent and genuinely socialist political movement of the working class.
Mondays day of action held under the motto Steel is the future was a reactionary and shameful display. While many steel workers are alarmed about the future of their jobs, the German metalworkers union IG Metall organised the rallies as a backdrop against which management and government representatives could demand protective tariffs and trade war measures against China.

Around 45,000 steelworkers took part in rallies held in Duisburg, Berlin, Saarbrucken and several other cities. Among the speakers were high-ranking trade union officials and employee representatives as well as government officials and steel bosses.

The aim of these events was not to defend jobs, though this was mentioned repeatedly. Rather, they were aimed at promoting German economic interests and safeguarding company profits. To a man, the speakers demanded sanctions against China and the withdrawal of planned environmental protection regulations.

At the same time, workers were told to expect further job cuts, in keeping with a necessary consolidation of the steel industry. IG Metall officials were noticeably eager to link the growing conflict within domestic steel companies, which are preparing massive job cuts, to a combined struggle of workers and businesses against China.

Duisburg

The largest rally took place in Duisburg. The unions claimed a total of 16,000 workers gathered in front of Gate 1 of the ThyssenKrupp steelworks in the north of the city.

A video shown on the rally stage set the nationalist tone for the day of action. According to the union video, if the amount of Chinese steel imported to Germany had instead been manufactured in Germany, it would have resulted not in 14 million tons of CO2 emissions, but only 9.8 million tons (35 billion tons of CO2 are emitted annually).

Keynote speakers were IG Metall chairman Jorg Hofmann and German finance minister Sigmar Gabriel (Social Democratic Party, SPD).

Hofmann declared: If China claims to be a market economy, then it must abide by market laws.

State subsidised steel dumping, he added, cannot be a part of it. We dont want protectionism, he maintained, only fair competition.

We have seen a lot of restructuring in the steel industry, and that will continue, he announced. But that is only possible together with the workforce, he shouted.

Hofmann is talking about the trade unions. They are offering their services to push through the coming attacks against the workforcein Duisburg, IG Metall, the steel companies and politicians constantly spoke of necessary consolidation. According to Hofmann, they want to sit down at a table in Berlin and Brussels with the steel companies.

As Gunter Back, chairman of the employee representative council at ThyssenKrupp, declared: In the consolidation of the steel industry, lets not sit at the childrens table.

Hofmann shouted, 2016 is the fateful year for steel. Several other speakers before and after him employed this formulation.

Hofmann called on the government to involve itself in the sustainability of the steel industry. It is therefore good that our IG Metall colleague and Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel is here today, he declared.

Finance Minister Gabriel began by relating his personal experience. He came from Salzgitter and had represented IG Metall for a long time on the supervisory board of the Salzgitter AG steel company. At that time [1998] we worked to prevent the sale of Salzgitter AG and temporarily place it under state control in order to secure jobs, said Gabriel.

The state of Lower Saxony holds 26.5 percent of the shares of Germanys second largest steel company. However, that does not mean jobs are better protected. Salzgitter AG also cut positions.

Gabriel also spoke out against Chinese steel imports: The EU must finally take measures against steel that enters the market below the cost of production. The SPD chairman reported that members of the government are warning of a trade war with China. He was confident this could be avoided. One could achieve nothing if one draws in ones horns. He added, The Chinese understand plain language.

He pledged to dear Jorg (IG Metall boss Hofmann) that he would not agree to any regulation that did not take the protection of jobs exactly as seriously as it did the protection of the climate, neither in Europe nor in the German government. If a consolidation was necessary, then it must not be allowed to take place only in Germany.

Heiko Reese, leader of the IG Metall steel office in Dusseldorf, had previously stressed that the union would fight for the steel industry together with the employers. Im delighted to welcome Mr. Hans Jurgen Kerkhoff, the president of the German Steel Federation, said Reese.

The industrialist declared the steel industry was systemically important for Germany. Great Britain had shown where a concentration on banking and service providers leads. Unlike in Britain, said Kerkhoff, one must fight against the de-industrialisation of Germany. Were fighting for the competitive strength of Germany. For that we need the federal and state governments.

When Hannelore Kraft, the minister president of North Rhine-Westphalia, offered support, a steel worker from ThyssenKrupp declared angrily, She said the same thing to the Opel workers in Bochum. And what happened? The factory was torn down and of the more than 5,000 workers, 500 at the most have jobs.

Most of the workers reacted with similar scepticism and suspicion to the IG Metall functionaries, as well as the squad of local, state and federal politicians in attendance. Theyre sitting there together with the employers negotiating the next job cuts, said two ThyssenKrupp steel workers from Dortmund before the rally began. This is all just a show put on by IG Metall.

Berlin

At the rally in front of the Chancellery in Berlin, representatives of IG Metall and the invited steel bosses and government officials also spread anti-Chinese nationalism. Among other things, they spoke of getting the Chinese rulers to ecological sanity and putting the great power China in its place and repeatedly urged the German trade unions, businesses and politicians not to let themselves be divided against China.

As soon as World Socialist Web Site reporters spoke with steel workers, it became clear that many rejected the nationalism of the trade unions. Two young workers from the town of Eisenhuttenstadt remarked: Workers in China are ultimately doing the same job as us and confront the same problems. They agreed that their allies were the workers throughout Europe and the world and not the trade union bureaucrats, steel bosses and politicians on the stage in front of them.

An older worker, also from Eisenhuttenstadt, stressed that the job cuts of the last year were carried out through the close collaboration of the unions and the companies. Of the more than 10,000 steel workers once employed, today there are only about 2,500 remaining. This developed into a longer discussion on the necessity of a socialist perspective and a united international struggle of the workers independently of the trade unions.

Members of the Partei fur Soziale Gleichheit (Socialist Equality Party, PSG) distributed thousands of copies of the joint statement by the PSG and its sister party, the Socialist Equality Party (Britain). It states the following: The nationalistic closing of ranks of the unions with the steel corporations is reactionary in every respect:

It will not save a single job, but serves to produce further job cuts, wage reductions and benefit cuts.





It pits European workers against Chinese workers and workers within Europe against one another, and prevents any effective opposition to international corporations.





It sharpens international tensions and conflicts. Protectionism and trade war are a preliminary stage to military conflict.

Yesterdays day of action by IG Metall completely confirms this assessment and serves as a serious warning to workers.
On Monday, Tata Steel announced the sale of its Long Products Europe business, employing around 4,800 workers.

The Long Products division includes a plant in Scunthorpe, England and another in Teesside. Scunthorpe, employing 4,400 workers, was sold to Greybull Capital for just 1, with Greybull, known as a vulture fund, taking on its debts and liabilities. Greybull is currently finalising a 400 million financing package for the new operation.

The same day Tata announced the formal process of selling off all its loss-making UK plants employing a total of 15,000 workers. Among 12 factories, these include Port Talbot (4,100 workers), Llanwern and Newport (1,314) and Shotton (727), all in Wales; Rotherham (1,235) and Stocksbridge (831), in South Yorkshire; and Hartlepool (500).

As with Scunthorpe, the plants will be taken over by firms only on condition that wages, conditions and pension rights are decimated.

On Tuesday, parliament held an emergency debate called by Labours Shadow Business Secretary Angela Eagle on Tata Steels decision to sell its UK steel operations; and action the Government is taking to secure the future of the UK steel industry.

Prior to the debate Eagle issued a statement confirming the nationalist and protectionist agenda advanced by Labour and the trade unions to defend British capitalism. We must see an integrated sale to ensure Britain retains the ability to both make and process steel, to level the playing field by addressing the illegal dumping of Chinese steel, and the development of a modern industrial strategy to support steel and manufacturing, she wrote.

After the handwringing over the past two weeks from all parties about the fate of the steel industry and thousands of jobs, barely 60 MPs of 650 turned up for the debate. Eagle and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn both left well before the three-hour session ended.

Eagle asked Conservative Business Secretary Sajid Javid to clarify what he meant when he said the government would consider co-investing with a buyer on commercial terms in Tatas strip operations. Javid refused to give any further details, but confirmed that the government could subsidise a private buyer, stating, The key point is that any co-investment would have to be on commercial terms. Investment can take a variety of forms. For example it could be debt.

The office of Prime Minister David Cameron said that there would be no nationalisation of Tatas plants in any form, as it was not the right answer.

Labour put forward a militarist agenda in defence of a steel industry that Eagle stated now made up just one percent of manufacturing output. She said, We now have the deeply regrettable situation of an aircraft carrier, British surface ships and armoured vehicles all being manufactured in the UK with mainly imported steel, when, with more planning, our domestic industry could have supplied these needs.

The logic of this position was voiced by right-wing Tory MP Peter Bone, who declared, If there is some war in the future you have to have your own steel industry or you cannot defend yourself.

The sale of Tatas plants confirms the warning made by the World Socialist Web Site of the rotten role of the nationalist and pro-capitalist policies of the Labour Party and the trade unions in paving the way for further attacks on the working class in Britain and internationally.

Greybull has been in negotiations with Tata and the steel trade unions for months over the conditions for its takeover. In January, a spokesman said, The long products business has been significantly loss-making. To ensure a viable future, there will by default need to be some changes implemented. The trade unions involved are aware of the difficult situation and have to date been most constructive. Their strong support is paramount for the transaction to succeed.

The Telegraph noted at the time Greybull is understood to want to scrap the final-salary pension scheme, as well as introduce comprehensive changes to overtime pay and bonuses 

At the centre of the takeover is what Greybull described on Monday as an agreement with trade unions and key suppliers to reset the cost base of the business. This includes workers taking a one-year pay cut of three percent and a three percent cut in their pension contributions. In a statement Monday, the Unite union said it is recommending members vote to accept the changes in a ballot due to close on 19 April ahead of the formal sale of the Scunthorpe steelworks.

Unites statement was a call to sacrifice workers conditions in the name of international competitiveness. It cited Unite convenor for Tata Steel Scunthorpe Martin Foster, who said, It should not be forgotten though that many workers have already lost their jobs at Scunthorpe and those that remain are making huge sacrifices with their pay and pensions to secure their jobs.

The government, said Foster, now must take decisive action to allow them to compete on an even playing field with their global competitors.

Infrastructure should be built with British steel and the government had to deal with the dumping of cheap imports and high energy costs, which is leaving steelworkers fighting with one hand tied behind their backs, he continued.

Dave Hulse, the National Officer of the GMB, boasted of how the joint trade unions have been in negotiations over a long period of time, looking at temporary agreements to make sure that the first 12 months of the sale are successful.

Foster gave more details of the attempt to fleece the workforce in an interview last week with the Morning Star, the newspaper of the Stalinist Communist Party of Britain. They are trying to get back into profit in the next financial year, and this is about showing the new owners that we will really back them in this new venture. It will give the company a saving of 8.7 million to 8.8 million, he said.

The unions are putting a gun to the heads of the Scunthorpe workforce, warning that if the cuts are not accepted their jobs are at risk. Foster gave a picture of the resentment of the workforce at constant attacks on the wages and conditions negotiated by the unions, stating, Year on year our members have been giving, with cuts to shift pay, less pension, job losses. They have just about had enough and if we get this pay cut through that will be it.

This will be their last give and the last chance for the company. The guys have been very clear with us. They are saying if it does not work, dont come asking again.

With asset strippers such as Greybull and Liberty House (who have taken over two of Tatas Scottish plants), it will not be long before the unions come asking again for yet further sacrifices.

Steel workers should be aware of Greybulls record at Monarch Airlines. After taking over the airline in 2014, it began a slash and burn operation. Seven hundred redundancies were rammed through and crew and pilots forced into 30 percent pay cuts, with pilot pensions also slashed. Only the most profitable routes were maintained. Following the cuts, the airline returned to profit, making 40 million in 2015. According to the Guardian, Greybulls owners are reportedly considering a sale of the airline, having appointed Deutsche Bank to explore options, which would land a large profit.
After more than eight months of working without a contract, 39,000 Verizon workers walked off their jobs Tuesday morning at hundreds of locations on the East Coast of the United States. The workers are opposing stagnating wages, attacks on pensions, increased health care costs, outsourcing and the telecom giants demand for license to transfer workers across wide geographic areas for extended time periods with little or no advance notice.

Thousands of workers set up picket lines in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, DC and other cities from Massachusetts to Virginia. The opposition of workers to the demands of the company, which makes $1.8 billion in profits each month, is part of a growing mood of resistance among workers in the US and internationally.

Working people have to fight for a better living today, Joseph, a tech worker with nearly five years in the Washington, DC area, told the World Socialist Web Site. Its very difficult to live in this area when the monthly rent at the average studio apartment is $2,000. Joseph said he had seen a number of workers laid off in recent times, and that company higher ups would frequently suspend workers as a way of demonstrating their loyalty to the company.

I love to help customers, to see the look on someones face when I tell them their cable is back on. It warms my heart, Joseph said. He added, If youd have told me when I was younger that Id one day be out here on a strike against a company as big as Verizon, Id have laughed, but here I am.

While workers are determined to fight, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) are opposed to any struggle that would disrupt their long-standing corporatist relations with the company. Both unions have spent decades collaborating in imposing cost-cutting measures and have already offered major contract concessions.

Most importantly, the unions are closely allied with the Obama administration, which has overseen the development of a low-wage economy in the US and encouraged corporations to shift health care and pension costs onto the backs of workers. The AFL-CIO and other unions are determined to wrap up the Verizon strike as soon as possible to prevent it from becoming a catalyst for a far broader mobilization of the working class against stagnating wages on the one hand and record corporate profits and stock prices on the other.

The actions of the union bureaucracy have been closely coordinated with the campaign of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination. The CWA has endorsed Sanders, who faces a close contest in the April 19 New York primary against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

A strike schedule emailed by CWA Local 1101 in New York City, the largest Verizon union local, told its 3,500 members to mobilize in big numbers in Manhattan for the strike kickoff. It then instructed strikers to arrive early for the massive Rally with Bernie Sanders at Washington Square Park.

On Monday, Sanders visited a CWA office in upstate New York and later told a rally at the University of Buffalo, The workers at Verizon are going on strike because Verizon, reflecting what corporate America is doing all over this country, is asking them to pay more for their health care and cutting other benefits. Verizon, a highly profitable corporation, is outsourcing call service jobs to the Philippines and not investing in inner cities in places like Buffalo, New York.

Union President Chris Shelton has endorsed Sanders, who has gained widespread support for his denunciations of Wall Street and the billionaire class, to give the CWA a left cover as it works out another sellout deal behind the backs of Verizon workers. The Democratic candidate, for his part, sees the strike as an opportunity to boost his credentials among workers.

Sanders has sought to conceal the class chasm between rank-and-file workers and the union bureaucracy, which has betrayed struggle after struggle. At the same time, he has promoted economic nationalism, which has long been used by the unions to divide American workers from their class brothers and sisters internationally and impose job cuts and wage reductions in the name of making the corporations more competitive.

The CWA and Sanders are railing against Verizons efforts to impose greater out-of-pocket health care costs on workers while concealing the fact that Obamas Cadillac Tax on supposedly overly generous health benefits is designed to force workers into sub-standard medical plans while paying increased out-of-pocket costs. Verizon is only the latest US corporationfollowing the auto and steel industriesto shift onto the backs of workers the 40 percent excise tax on high-cost benefits that goes into effect on January 1, 2018 as part of Obamas misnamed Affordable Care Act.

Strikers include installers, customer service employees, repairmen and other workers who service Verizons copper-based landline system and its Fios fiber optic cable system. The corporation has increasingly phased out jobs at its less profitable copper-based landline division while expanding its lucrative wireless division with largely non-union workers.

The unions, which have repeatedly offered deep concessions to extend their franchise, i.e., to collect union dues in the wireless sector, have at the same time boosted illusion that the Democrats will pressure Verizon to expand its fiber optic system into lower-income areas and hire more workers.

In reality, the Democrats have been in the forefront of deregulating the industry and strengthening the monopoly of a handful of telecom giants, including Verizon. Then-Democratic President Bill Clinton sold the bi-partisan Telecommunications Act of 1996 as measure that would produce more competition, more diversity of viewpoints, lower prices for consumers and more jobs. Instead, the industry has been consolidated, eliminating more than a half-million jobs, and prices have soared.

Verizon workers have a long record of struggle, which has repeatedly put them into a direct conflict with the CWA and other unions. In 1989, workers waged a four-month strike to defend their health care benefits against what was then NYNEX. During the bitter fight, one striker, Gerry Horgan, was run down by a strikebreaker and killed on the picket line.

In 2011, Verizon workers struck again, but the CWA shut down the fight in the second week, sending workers back to work with no contract. The union later imposed a concessions-laden deal that included major givebacks on health care. As part of the back-to-work agreement, the CWA allowed the company to attack workers rights, granting the companys demands that workers be subject to discharge for hate speech and impeding company vehicles during a strike.

Earlier this week, Verizon sent an ominous email to all employees, saying, It is important that everyone understand what conduct the Company and the unions agreed would constitute just cause for discharge.

Workers can place no confidence in the CWA, IBEW or other unions, which have no intention of waging the required struggle against the telecom corporations, Wall Street, and the big business parties that stand behind them. Instead, workers at every workplace should elect rank-and-file committees, democratically controlled by the workers themselves, to take the conduct of the struggle out of the hands of the pro-company unions.

Rather than appealing to the Democrats, Verizon workers should appeal to the tens of millions of workersin the public sector, manufacturing, retail, airline, trucking and other industriesas well as students, young people and the unemployed to carry out a powerful counteroffensive against the attack on jobs, wages and pensions.

Workers should reject the economic nationalism that aids the efforts of the global corporations to weaken and divide the working class, and fight to unite telecom workers in Mexico, the Philippines and around the world.

This must be connected to a political struggle to mobilize the independent strength of the working class against both big business parties and the capitalist system, which is the source of poverty, inequality and war.
Tallahassee, Fla. (WTXL) - A falling out at Tallahassee Community College, after a proposal by new provost, Fellecia Moore-Davis, that would require professors to teach more classes.

An emergency Faculty Senate meeting was held earlier to discuss anew proposal Tuesday afternoon that would require professors teach 5 classes.

Frank Baglione, TCC Faculty Senate President, compares the proposed new workload to that of an over worked trucker. Saying as a truck driver, you know you're more alert and drive better on a full eight hours of sleep.

A Florida statute already requires professors to serve a full time teaching load, which is 15 course hours. However, there is an exemption at TCC that allows faculty members relief from teaching a fifth class as long as they make it up in other areas like advising or office hours.

So here's why some teachers are upset, the new proposal would essentially change that exemption and possibly require teachers to teach that extra class--pulling them away from office hours and advising--those things they say really help students in the long run.

"Most of our students go on to four year schools for four year degrees. Most of them to Florida State University. We are their first two years of education. So we think the current environment by the workload system is best for the student. Gives them a real taste of what college life is like", Frank Baglione.

Some faculty members are also upset with Provost Davis saying she didn't even ask for input from the Faculty Senate before coming up with the plan.

Tuesday's meeting was all about voting on a recommendation to push back the implementation of the policy so that a special task force can be brought in to determine if the change is really necessary.

Members voted unanimously in favor to do so.

We reached out to Provost Moore-Davis for her input and she agreed to talk with us at a later date.
LINCOLN  Lawmakers have approved a $450 million infrastructure bank intended to speed work on Nebraska's expressway system and other major highway projects.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, passed Tuesday on a 48-0 vote.

"It's great to see this state supporting infrastructure, because that's vital to businesses," said Dirk Petersen, general manager of Nucor Steel in Norfolk.

The Nebraska Department of Roads hasn't said which projects will be funded through the infrastructure bank, but the agency has been lobbied heavily by groups pushing to widen U.S. 275 into a four-lane highway east of Norfolk.

The bill (LB960) allows the state to tap as much as $50 million for the infrastructure bank from its rainy day fund. It also earmarks $400 million over the next 17 years from the gas tax increase lawmakers approved last year.

Some of that money would go toward funding local bridge repair and other non-highway transportation projects. The bill also allows the Roads Department to use different bidding processes with the goal of completing projects faster.

Smith, who also championed the gas tax bill, called the vote "a great finale" to two years of work on roads funding.

"I think this is going to be a great shot in the arm for Nebraska," he said.

Other measures given final approval by lawmakers Tuesday, the 58th day of a 60-day session, include these.

School spending

The first piece of a tax plan backed by Gov. Pete Ricketts aims to limit school districts' use of property taxes. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Kate Sullivan of Cedar Rapids on behalf of the governor, will trigger an $8.6 million increase in state aid to schools by eliminating a pair of calculations in the state aid formula. Supporters of the bill said school districts used those calculations as an excuse to increase their levies. LB959 passed on a 47-0 vote.

Breast cancer awareness plates

License plates promoting breast cancer awareness will be available for an additional $40 fee beginning in January. The plates were included in a measure sponsored by Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks that was later amended into a Smith bill (LB977) that passed on a 49-0 vote.

Next-generation 911

State regulators will begin planning in earnest to upgrade and consolidate 911 service statewide under a bill sponsored by Smith. The measure puts the Nebraska Public Service Commission in charge of the project, and creates a position within the PSC to oversee the state's 911 system. LB938 passed on a 48-0 vote.

Problem-solving courts

Sen. Matt Williams introduced this bill to expand the use of courts including specialty courts for veterans, people with mental illness and people arrested for drunk driving. The programs would use so-called evidence-based interventions, including assisting treatment with medication. Williams said the bill provides a chance to create a system that is more efficient, less expensive and improves the outcomes of people who use them. The bill could also help solve overcrowding in Nebraska prisons, he said. LB919 passed 47-0.

Foster child normalcy

Nebraska lawmakers recognized the importance of making the effort to normalize the lives of children in out-of-home foster care and to empower a caregiver to approve or disapprove a childs participation in activities based on the caregivers own assessment using a reasonable and prudent parent standard. With the bill, foster family homes and child-care institutions would promote and protect the ability of children to participate in age or developmentally appropriate extracurricular, enrichment, cultural and social activities. LB746 passed on a 48-0 vote.
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There is no need to panic. The S-300 missiles deal between Russia and Iran is today more of a symbolic rather than an actual threat. While Israel was waging a campaign against the Iranian nuclear program, this deal not only symbolized the breaking of the embargo on Iran, but also, primarily, that Iran will be able to build fortifications to defend against a potential Israeli air strike on its nuclear weapons facilities.

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Today we are in a different position. The global embargo against Iran no longer exists, and it's safe to assume that Israel, for all intents and purposes, has conceded attacking Iran in the near future.

From Israel's perspective, as long as these missiles remain on Iranian soil and don't reach Syria or Lebanon, the weapons deal only has political implications. Russia is attempting to defy NATO and the West, while Iran has garnered another international achievement after signing the nuclear deal.

S-300 Missiles, Photo: AP

As of yet, the Russian Foreign Ministry has not approved the deal, which was originally signed in 2007 and again in 2015. The Iranian reports claiming that the deal has been implemented do not mean that it actually has been. Six months ago, it was reported that the agreement had been implemented, but the Russians stopped the delivery of the missiles at the last second because the Iranians did not transfer the required payment.

It would not be surprising if Monday's one-sided Iranian report (which included a photo of a truck carrying something covered) is a part of the bargaining process between the two states.

The original deal included four batteries of S-300 missiles. But after Iran decided to pursue Russia in justice to receive financial compensation for delaying the implementation of the deal, the Russians agreed to increase the number of batteries that will be transferred to Iran. The exact number is still unknown.

If Israel nevertheless acts against Iran in the future, it will do so in the framework of an international coalition. There are other technological solutions to stand against S-300 missiles coming from all over the world. Greece, which acquired S-300 in the distant past, is used as a training grounds for NATO to combating these missiles, while Israel is due to receive stealth F-35 jets by the end of this year.

The existence of S-300 missiles on the border of Israel, on Syrian or Lebanese soil, will put every aircraft in Israel's skies at risk. This is a serious military threat.

Incidentally, Russia already challenged Israel with anti-aircraft missiles such as SA-5 missiles, which it sent to Syria in the early 1980s. It was not the end of the world, and Israel learned to live in the missiles' shadow and continued to operate in Lebanon and Syria whenever it deemed it necessary.

It seems that the Russians will indeed honor their deal with the Iranians and supply them with the missiles Moscow no longer produces S-300 missiles; its army now possesses the more advanced S-400 missiles.

The S-300 missile agreement is the first sign of the world opening its doors to selling advanced weapons to Iran, which will reportedly invest $20 billion in rehabilitating its army. The Russians alone already sell the Iranians cargo planes, fighter planes, training planes, command and control planes and P-800 Oniks anti-ship missiles.

The Sunni coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, is also concerned about this development. It is in an ongoing confrontation with Iran and is trying to undo Shiite influence in the region. To that end, it is undertaking $60 billion of arms deals with countries that are not necessarily friendly with Israel.

Israel cannot ignore this regional arms race and therefore needs to signand the sooner the betterthe military aid deal with the United States.
A surprise awaits beyond a black door adorned with a silver lotus flower at the end of a tangle of alleyways in Gaza's chaotic Old City. Through it and behind imposing stone walls sits a small, Levantine-style palace, some 430-years-old and recently painstakingly restored.

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It is among the rare vestiges of Gaza City's architectural heritage, battered by war, time, population pressure and simple indifference. The palace that had been missing part of its roof and located in what had been the Old City's Christian quarter was rescued by a 46-year-old university professor.

Less than a year ago, the professor, Atef Salama, decided to take action. His wife Kawtar said the idea was "kind of crazy." But the house has now been given a second life, unlike others around it.

Salama spent lots of his savings to make it happen -- an amount he preferred not to discuss. "People didn't say it to our face, but we could tell they were thinking 'either they're crazy or they were scammed'," said Kawtar while receiving guests in her living room with ochre stone walls.

Other historic buildings have disappeared under new construction in the small coastal enclave of some 1.8 million people, run by Islamist movement Hamas and cut off by an Israeli blockade and a closed border with Egypt.

"In Gaza, we like to have large families," said Fadel al-Otol, a Gazan heritage specialist.

"When children become parents, they build another floor on top of the family house. Either that or they leave the traditional house to move into a new building."

It is especially worrisome in Gaza, where the Egyptians, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans have all ruled at various times, among others. Its port on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean has served as a crossroads.

"Gaza is one of the oldest cities in the world," said Otol. "Remnants dating back to 3,500 BC along with traces of all eras since then can be found there." Otol wants to see what remains of those civilisations preserved to give Gazans a sense of their history.

"Without the past, we have no future, so we want to show young people what Gaza has been," he said.

"They are delighted to discover that once upon a time Gaza was rich."

One site he encourages visits to is the ruins of the ancient Saint Hilarion monastery, one of the oldest in the region and located south of Gaza City. School children regularly visit the wooden passageways at the site installed by UNESCO, but a long-term commitment is needed to maintain it.

That's a tall order in the Gaza Strip, with the coastal enclave battered by wars with Israel, two Palestinian intifadas and a conflict between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. When it is not bombs obliterating the past, it is intra-Palestinian fighting or neglect.

Most building funds are being used for reconstruction of modern buildings in Gaza.

In one example, the whereabouts of a bronze statue of Apollo discovered in 2013 are unclear.

Earlier this month, what is thought to be the remains of a Byzantine-era church were uncovered during a construction project to build a shopping centre in central Gaza City. The ministry of antiquities sought to stop the work that had moved marble columns discovered in the sand, with at least one broken in the process.

A dispute broke out between the ministry of Islamic affairs, which owns the land and wanted the work to move ahead, and Palestinian Christian leaders who argued that the site would be treated differently if it housed an ancient mosque.

Otol said that with humanitarian needs so great in Gaza, preservation concerns have been set aside. "All efforts are focused on the reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure and houses," he said. As a result, Gazans must depend on international institutions such as UNESCO or private initiatives, like that of the Salama family.

Salama said his project aimed to "mix modernity and tradition, while preserving our heritage." Such Levantine houses once stood from Syria and Lebanon to ancient Palestine, said Salama.

It includes an "liwan," a traditional space with three walls opening onto a courtyard housing a fountain, a well and a reservoir.Salama says it has survived the test of time - unlike the new buildings surrounding them.

"A house like this has lived for 1,000 years, unlike new apartments - just cardboard boxes," he said.
A delegation of six members of the Swedish parliament's opposition visited to Israel this week as part of an initiative spearheaded by the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm.

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The legislators are members of the four Swedish opposition parties that make up the Alliance coalition. They were all part of the center-right coalition up until the 2014 elections and the rise of the Swedish left, when they switched to being a part of the opposition.

Their visit in Israel lasted a week, during which they were updated on the impasse with the Palestinians, met with representatives of the LGBT community, and visited the southern city of Sderot, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, and the Knesset. Half of them had been to Israel before on their own initiatives, but this was the first time they came on a political visit.

Swedish Parliamentarian Mathias Sundin

The group's leader, Mathias Sundin of the Liberal Party, describes himself as a friend of Israel. He admits that the Swedish government is hostile towards the Jewish State and that the Swedish people have a negative view of the country.

Nevertheless, he felt it was important to clarify,"Israel has a lot of friends in Sweden, and I'm one of them. We aren't only in parliament, but also amongst the Swedish public."

Sundin believes that the negative perception comes from what Swedes hear coming from the UN. "Swedes hold what the UN says in high regard," he said. "They don't understand that the condemnations of Israel they hear coming from the UN are based on the accusations of dictatorships who criticize Israel automatically."

"Sweden has had a pro-Palestine policy ever since Olof Palme was prime minister (beginning in 1969)," Sundin continued. "I would also ascribe a part of it to anti-Semitism. I wouldn't say that anti-Semitism is a huge problem (in Sweden), but it does exist."

He estimates that another reason for the negative perception is due to Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom's tendency to bash Israel at every possible opportunity, like when she called for Israel to be investigated for the "extrajudicial killing" of Palestinian terrorists who attacked Israeli civilians and gunned down. Sundin recommended, "Ignore Wallstrom. She's a lost cause. Concentrate on the fact that you have a lot of friends in Sweden. We have a rosy future regarding cooperation in startups and hi-tech."

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Photo: Reuters)

Another Swedish parliamentarian said that Wallstrom "only believes in a pro-Palestinian foreign policy. Any time we begin arguing about the issue, she gets upset and starts on with her attacks against Israel. One of the most important things which we brought with us from Sweden is the fact that not everyone in Sweden agrees with the foreign minister. It's actually quite the opposite; we don't like her very much."

"We heard that many people in Israel were hurt by what she said," the parliamentarian continued, "and after our visit in Israel and everything we saw, I completely understand the anger in Israel. It's completely justified."

Israeli Foreign Ministry officials said, "Very few Swedes are ready to publicly defend Israel due to the worry that they will be ostracized by their neighbors, co-workers, etc., and this is our biggest problem."
Two soldiers from the Kfir Brigade were court-martialed on Wednesday after setting fire to a Palestinian flag they confiscated near an Arab village in the northern West Bank.

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An initial investigation by the IDF found that while soldiers were inspecting a car, they confiscated a Palestinian flag from it and set it aligt. They then threw it into nearby bushes.

The checkpoint itself is manned by four soldiers, but only two were court-martialed and disciplined. The squad commander was removed from his commanding role and sentenced to 20 days in military prison. Another soldier was confined to the base for 28 days.

Kfir Brigade Soldier in the West Bank. (Archive Photo: Yoav Zitun)

A military official confirmed that an initial investigation was undertaken in the field because it the soldiers apparently acted against protocol.

The IDF Spokesperson's Office also stated, "The first investigation made clear that it was an unusual incident and that the soldiers acted in contradiction with what is expected of it and against commanders' instructions."
CAIRO - Egypt's president on Wednesday sought to defuse a storm of opposition kicked off by his government's declared intention to hand over control of two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, arguing that he did not surrender Egyptian territory.

President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi also reiterated Cairo's position that Egyptian security forces had nothing to do with the torture and killing of an Italian student abducted in Cairo, an incident that poisoned ties with Italy, which recalled its ambassador to protest what it called a lack of cooperation by Egyptian authorities in the investigation.

Egypt's government maintains that the islands of Tiran and Sanafir at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba belong to Saudi Arabia, which asked Egypt in 1950 to protect them from Israel. Israel captured the islands in the 1967 Six-Day War, but handed them back to Egypt under their 1979 peace treaty.

"We did not surrender our rights, but we restored the rights of others," al-Sisi said in comments broadcast live. "Egypt did not relinquish even a grain of sand."

"All the data and documents say nothing except that this particular right is theirs. Please let us not talk about this subject again. There is a parliament that you elected which will debate the accord. It will either ratify or reject it."
STOCKHOLM - Swedish officials say they have arrested a man wanted by German police on suspicion of terror-linked crimes in 2014.

Senior Public Prosecutor Ronnie Jacobsson told the AP that German police had issued an international arrest warrant for the suspect, who detained by Swedish police at Arlanda Airport Wednesday morning. Jacobsson said the man was in transit and heading for another destination.

Jacobsson said the suspect not a Swedish citizen, but declined to comment further on his identity or give further details.

Swedish police also declined to comment, and the Swedish Security Service did not immediately return calls.
WASHINGTONU.S. officials say a pair of Russian Su-24 attack planes buzzed a US Navy destroyer in the Baltic Sea multiple times on Monday and Tuesday.

The Russian planes appeared to be unarmed but did not respond to attempts by the crew of the USS Donald Cook to contact them by radio. That's according to a US defense official who was not authorized to discuss details and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official said the commander of the USS Donald Cook deemed the Russian actions unsafe and unprofessional, and that the US believed this constituted a violation of a 1970s agreement meant to prevent unsafe incidents at sea.

The officials said the Cook was operating in international waters 70 miles off the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
TRIPOLI -- The head of Libya's internationally-recognized parliament based in the country's far east has criticized the UN envoy to the North African country, saying the diplomat is acting like a "ruler."

Parliament speaker Agila Saleh also accused the international community of trying to impose a unity government that goes against a UN brokered agreement reached by Libya's rival parties last December.

The remarks reflect the rocky path that Libya faces toward unity. The country slid into chaos after the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moammar Gadhafi, with an array of militias, including extremist groups, carving out fiefdoms and backing rival authorities.
GENEVA - UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura began a new round of Syria talks on Wednesday by meeting members of the main opposition High Negotiations Committee in Geneva.

De Mistura and the HNC delegates appeared grim-faced and tense as they began the session, remaining silent while a Reuters camerawoman filmed the opening moments of the session.

A Syrian government delegation is expected to arrive on Friday.

The previous round ended on March 24 with de Mistura promising to hone in on the divisive question of Syria's political transition when the warring parties returned to Geneva.

Since then he has met officials in Moscow, Damascus and Tehran to gather opinions about the way forward, while Syria's partial ceasefire has been tested by a flare up in fighting and Syria's government has held a parliamentary election which it called a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad.
One of the two minors convicted for the kidnapping and murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir in July 2014 appealed his sentence to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, claiming he only played a minor role in the attack.

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The defendant was sentenced to "only" 21 years in prison after judges determined that he played a minor role in the murder, while his accomplice received a life sentence.

According to the appellant's attorney, Avi Hymie, his client was unaware of the intentions of his two accomplices to carry out a murder.

Mohammed Abu Khdeir

Moreover, he repeated a previous line of defense that the accused was 16 years old at the time of the murder and that despite the minor role he played, his intentions were limited to merely kidnapping and beating an Arab in revenge for the kidnapping and murder of the three Jewish teens Gil-Ad Shaer, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach a month prior to Khdeir's murder. He further noted that his client sat with his back to his two companions during the journey after they burned Khdeir to death.

Due to the fact that the murder was not premeditated and that he neither wanted nor intended to kill Khdeir, the attorney contended, a sentence based on murder and kidnapping with intent to murder, as determined by the courts, was legally untenable.

During the sentencing, Judges Yaakov Saban and Rivka Freidman Feldman justified the more lenient sentence in comparison to his accomplice, claiming that "he is young and could potentially be rehabilitated. Despite his nefarious actions - in which he kidnapped the deceased, prevented him from resisting and helped strangle him - he did not physically participate in the latter parts (of the attack) in which gasoline or oil was poured on the victims body.

The second individual who was indicted for the murder, represented by attorney Zion Amir, requested an extension to present an appeal.

The Jerusalem District Court will determine next week whether to sentence the third and central suspect in the incident, Yosef Haim Ben David, or to accept a personal medical assessment which raises questions about his mental stability and which could absolve him of responsibility for his actions.
Despite the significant drop in terror attacks over the past month, the IDF is worried that the upcoming holidays - Passover, Independence Day and Ramadan - will serve to reignite the violence in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and particularly on the Temple Mount.

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"We're preparing for a significant escalation during the holidays, and we're increasing the amount of troops on the ground to about two more battalions, in addition to the four existing reinforcement battalions," said a senior officer in the military's Judea and Samaria Division.

"The holiday period will be the real test for the current situation, with Israelis going out on trips during their time off. We're identifying more and more alerts of possible threats ahead of the holidays," he added.

Troops at a roadbloack in Hebron (Photo: EPA)

The senior official attributed the relative quiet to extensive operations on the ground to thwart lone wolf terrorism, among other things by mapping the six main areas in the West Bank in which most attacks took place and allocating 40 percent of the forces to these areas.

He noted that since October, Israeli security forces have thwarted 10 attempted kidnappings. In addition, IDF troops demolished or sealed off 13 homes of terrorists.

In a briefing with reporters on Tuesday, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said the fact most attacks end with the terrorist being killed serves as a deterring factor to other would-be assailants. In addition, he said the defense establishment has gotten better at identifying would-be attackers on social media and stopping them before they could commit an attack.

Unlike the prime minster, Yaalon gives the Palestinian security forces some credit for the reduction of the number of attacks. Families of young people who suspected that they were planning attacks alerted the (Palestinian security) services, he said. There were more than a few cases in which families turned in youths who were about to commit an attack, and even after one (had been committed). He added that the Palestinian security services are also working against lone-wolf attackers on the ground, searching for knives in Palestinian students' bags.

Moshe Ya'alon (Photo: Shaul Golan)

Palestinian security services have claimed that the IDF's entering Area A damaged their street-level position and made them appear to be collaborators with Israel. Ya'alon said that the more Palestinian security services do to fight terrorism on the ground, the less the IDF will have to operate in Area A for this purpose.

However, he emphasized, "There is no way that we will completely forswear entering Area A, which we are permitted to do under the Oslo Accords, because of our bitter experience."

On the southern border, the defense minister warned that, despite IDF success in reducing the number of rocket barrages from Gaza over the past year and a half and Egypt's intercepting contraband entering the Strip, Hamas has still been gaining strength.

Yaalon explained that Hamas was searching for ways to increase its operationality on land, air and sea. The IDF managed to strike Hamass drone base during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge, but the defense minister noted that the Gaza-based terror group is still developing unmanned aircraft, funded and aided by Iran.

Hamas is also focusing on improving its naval capabilities, with which they could threaten Israel. Yaalon said he was still opposed to the establishment of a naval port in Gazaan initiative promoted by his fellow Likud member, Minister of Transportation, Intelligence, and Atomic Energy Yisrael Katz.

Ya'alon also asserted that there is no blockade of Gaza, but rather a security-based closure, which consists of Israel preventing the import of materials that could be used to manufacture rockets.

Another strategic issue on the agenda was the US military aid agreement, the outcome of which is uncertain. The negotiations with the Americans are stalled at this stage, while the gaps between Israeli demands and American willingness are still vast. "We haven't reached an agreement with the Americans," Ya'alon admitted.
The Israel Police promoted Jamal Hakrush, an Arab police officer, to the rank of deputy commissioner on Wednesday, making him the highest-ranking Muslim ever to serve in the force.

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In his new position, the 59-year-old Hakrsh faces an uphill battle overseeing policing in Arab communities, where residents are deeply suspicious of Israeli police. Many Israeli Arabs, who make up a fifth of the country's population of 8 million, feel their community is discriminated against and stigmatized, and often view Israeli police with hostility and fear. The Israeli Arabs are generally poorer and less educated than Jews and suffer from discrimination and sub-standard public services.

In turn, a lack of effective policing in Arab communities - where crime is rampant and often left unchecked by police - has fueled tensions further. Arabs often accuse the police of being indifferent to Arab crime so long as the Jewish population is not affected.

Erdan and Police Commissioner Alsheikh giving Hakroosh his new rank (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

With Hakrush's promotion, and the approval this week by the cabinet of a plan to step up law enforcement in Arab areas , Israel is hoping to change that perception.

"To this day, we did not grant the Arab sector equal law enforcement services. In everything related to the police, we did not act with equality," Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said at the Tel Aviv ceremony for Hakrush on Wednesday.

The government plans to add police stations and hundreds of officers to serve Arab communities over the next five years. It has also recently announced a landmark billion-dollar budget intended to improve the living conditions of the Arab community.

Hakrush hails from Kafr Kanna, an Arab town in northern Israel that experienced violent demonstrations in late 2014 after a local man was shot and killed by police . He joined the police force in 1978, serving as station chief in a number of cities.

As deputy commissioner, one rank below the national police chief, he is now the highest-ranking Arab in the force. At least one Druze officer has held the same rank, but Arab Muslims generally are less integrated into Israel's security forces and those who do serve are often viewed as traitors.

Hakrush beamed as he received his rank in a packed auditorium at Tel Aviv's police headquarters. In the crowd, Arab village leaders, some wearing traditional Arab headdresses, dotted a sea of light blue police uniforms. Flanked by his family, he embraced Erdan and police chief Roni Alsheikh as the audience burst into applause.

Hakroosh with Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

"The police's job is to serve the people and among the people is the Arab citizen, the Arab Israeli citizen, and he deserves service," Hakrush told The Associated Press. "He deserves that the police stand beside him."

Hakrush's promotion is likely to spark opposition, not least because he will have jurisdiction over East Jerusalem, an area that has been a focal point for unrest during the seven month-long wave of violence.

In a possible sign of the challenges Hakrush faces, Arab members of the Israeli Knesset were absent from the ceremony.

"This won't change anything," said Salah al-Yassini, an Arab resident of East Jerusalem.

While most of the attackers during the current round of violence have been Palestinians from East Jerusalem or the West Bank, some Arab Israelis have also participated in the violence.

Most notable was a New Year's Day attack by 31-year-old Nashat Melhem , who opened fire on a Tel Aviv bar , killing two people and later an Arab taxi driver. Melhem fled, sparking a week-long manhunt that ended when he was killed in a shootout with Israeli forces in his hometown.

Tensions were then compounded by remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who demanded a crackdown to impose law and order on Arab towns.

Also, most Arab citizens remember Netanyahu's election day comments last year, when he galvanized his hawkish supporters by warning that "Arab voters are going in droves to the polls." The comments drew accusations of racism and international condemnation. Netanyahu later apologized.

Amnon Be'eri-Sulitzeanu, the co-director of The Abraham Fund, a group that promotes co-existence, called Hakrush's promotion a "historic" achievement, but one that must be met by a broader change of approach by police.

"The most important thing is to build more trust with the Arab population," he said. "Every police force in the world ... needs trust to provide security."
The United States is, with the exception of 5.4 million Native Americans, a nation of immigrants.

The narrative of immigration in this country is one of discrimination by earlier arrivals against those new to the country. With the arrival of a large number of German and Irish Catholics in this country between 1830 and 1850 anti-immigration political activity popularly known as the Know Nothing Movement emerged. The movement was formalized as the American Party in 1855. One of the charges against the new arrivals was that they were controlled by the Pope in Rome and thus would endanger the American Republic.

As those German and Irish immigrants became established they joined in the discrimination of those arriving from southern and eastern Europe. The Immigration Act of 1924 limited immigration to 2 percent of the population of a nationality already in the United States as of the 1890 Census. That quota system obviously favored groups already integrated into the culture.

For example, in the fiscal year 1924-1925, 51,227 Germans were allowed to enter the country. The quota for Great Britain and Northern Ireland was 34,007 and for the Irish Free State 28,567. On the other hand, Italy was allowed only 3,845 and Poland just 5,982.

Republican Congressman Robert H. Clancy, of Detroit, spoke against that bill saying; To-day it is the Italians, Spanish, Poles, Jews, Greeks, Russians, Balkanians, and so forth, who are the racial lepers. And it is eminently fitting and proper that so many Members of this House with names as Irish as Paddys pig, are taking the floor these days to attack once more as their kind [was] attacked 

The continuation of that historical trend was on display last week in Dodge County, Nebraska. The Nickerson Village Board meet to consider zoning changes that would allow the building of a poultry processing plant in the village. The Villages Planning Commission had recommended the change, but an overflow crowd at the Fire Hall railed against the proposed plant.

As reported by the Omaha World-Herald among their concerns was an influx of immigrant workers and their children. Talking about a tour he had made of a chicken plant in California where he saw no Caucasians Robert Mulliken of Nickerson was quoted as saying; Im not prejudiced at all, but that was the one time in my life I really got scared. John Wiegert, a well-known anti-immigrant activist from Fremont, said; Being a Christian, I dont want Somalis in here. Theyre of Muslim descent.

Id have to guess that being a rural economic development officer, or a Village Board member making policy decisions about development, has been made more difficult by the rhetoric which passes as presidential campaigning this year. Not surprisingly the Nickerson Village Board voted 5-0 against the Planning Boards recommendation.

I suspect that immigration and religion played a large part in the opposition to the processing plant. However, as a Village Board member who has been involved in the public policy making involved in the arrival of three grain handling plants in Fairmont, I must say the situation is more involved than simple prejudice.

The first red flag in Dodge County was a lack of transparency about the ownership of the proposed processing plant. State and county development officials wouldnt name the company seeking the zoning change.

Another concern would be providing educational services needed for the children of the estimated 1,100 workers the plant would employee. The plant was to be built with Tax Increment Financing (TIF) which diverts new taxes to pay off bonds issued to build the plant. Some tax from tangible personal property would accrue to the local school district, however that is subject to depreciation and might not provide a consistent source of revenue over time.

Finally, the town of Nickerson, population 358 and falling, may not be interested in changing its easy going lifestyle.

As it has always been, economic development in rural areas will be driven in large part by labor provided by immigrants. One hundred years ago my grandfather was providing spiritual guidance to German speaking immigrants on the South Dakota prairie. With the coming of World War l they faced discrimination. The decedents of those Lutheran faithful could soon easily be faced with the decision to reverse the decline of the population of their county by welcoming a processing plant that employees people with names similar to those of the enemies we face today.
Services blend as one team at training event

You see a lot of different battle dress uniform camouflage patterns at an Innovative Readiness Training event. Theres Air Force and Army green mixed with a healthy dose of Navy blue. And although you cant tell it from anyones uniform, there are active-duty, reserve and National Guard members from all three services working seamlessly together to get the mission accomplished.



Currently, more than 100 service members are teaming up for Arctic Care 2016 in Kodiak, Alaska. Working with the Kodiak Area Native Association, the Airmen, Soldiers and Sailors are providing dental, optometry, medical and veterinary services in the villages of Ouzinkie, Port Lions, Larsen Bay, Old Harbor, Akniok and Karluk.



Theyre providing some much-needed medical care to people who have limited access to it, but they are also getting some valuable training working with people from their sister services.



You do see a lot of different uniforms here, but every uniform has U.S. on it, so were really all on the same team, said Senior Airman Jesse Craig, an ophthalmic technician assigned to the 910th Medical Squadron at Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio. Were here for the same cause, and everyone has come together as a team really well.



Craig said he was a little nervous before he got here, and he tried to learn all of the different services rank structures so he wouldnt miss any customs or courtesies. But he said he was pleasantly surprised at how well everyone has pulled together.



The communication between everyone has been great. Ive really enjoyed getting to know more about the other services, he said



Capt. Lisa Alimenti, a health care administrator assigned to the 940th Aerospace Medical Squadron at Beale Air Force Base in California, agreed.



You really dont see different uniforms or different colors here, she said. What you see is people coming together to make things happen. It really is the total force at its best.
Expert Advice with Philippe Brach 14/03/2016

Lets be honest. If youre a property investor in Australia and you dont own property in Sydney, youd probably give anything to go back in time a few years and pick up a property (or 5) in our beautiful harbor-side capital.

Certain suburbs throughout the city have enjoyed growth of 30 per cent, 40 per cent, even up to 50 per cent since 2013. They were exciting times and I know that when talking to my investor clients, theres a feeling amongst those who dont own property in Sydney that they have somehow missed the boat.

I can understand why you might feel disappointed that you didnt benefit from Sydneys boom, as there were some very big profits made in a short space of time.

But its important to look at the bigger picture when youre investing in property  and the bigger picture involves a much longer investment life cycle than a few years in a booming market.

Looking back to look forward

We often talk about timing the market in property circles and theres no denying that, when you get the timing right, its possible to truly fast-track your profit results. On the flip side of the coin, if you get the timing wrong you can delay your financial rewards.

Anyone buying real estate in Sydney in the current market, for instance, will be waiting far longer for their property to experience double-digit growth than the buyers of 2014 and early 2015. Those lucky landlords and homeowners only had to wait 12 months for their properties to grow in value by 20% or more; if youre buying in 2016, you may be waiting upwards of three to five years for the same results.

But if you invest with a long-term goal in mind, the performance of your property over the next few years should pale in comparison to the eventual gains you will make.

To put it in perspective, lets look at historical price growth. According to Australian Property Monitors and the Economics Department of Macquarie University, median house prices in Sydney have evolved as follows:

Year Median value % increase 1970 $18,700 -- 1980 $68,850 368% 1990 $194,000 282% 2000 $287,000 48% 2010 $637,000 222%

When you look back as Sydneys price growth over the last 40 or 50 years, its clear that some decades performed better than others.

But what would you prefer: to be able to time the market to enjoy one of the more profitable decades above? Or to be able to buy in 1970 and have time in the market, to enjoy property price growth of an incredible 3400 per cent between then and 2010? Of course Sydney is not the only solid market and I could have used other locations as an example.

The real timing you need to focus on

Ive made my point that time in the market is the most successful strategy for profiting from property. But there is one other component to timing your purchase that is essential to your success as a property investor, and its the timing that relates to your own personal situation.

I meet with investors every week who are keen to enter the market and jump into their next opportunity to become a landlord. But sometimes, for myriad reasons, its just not the right time for that person to acquire another asset.

Perhaps they have some personal debts dragging them down, which they need to work on paying off so they can shore up their loan application and increase their borrowing power.

Perhaps their savings or equity position isnt substantial enough to cover a property deposit. Or perhaps theyve entered a new phase of their property journey and theyd be better off consolidating their assets rather than purchasing new ones.

For these reasons and more, I advise those who are serious about building a profitable property portfolio not a develop a fixation about timing the market and instead, focus on your end goal. When you know where you are now and where you want to be, you become less concerned with whats happening in the market right now and more interested in how you can leverage your money, knowledge and assets to move forward. That is the fundamental secret to creating genuine, lasting wealth, as opposed to speculating as an investor in chase of a quick buck.

Philippe Brach is CEO of Multifocus Properties & Finance. He has over 15 years experience in property investment and has helped many first time and experienced investors achieve their goals. He is also the well-recognised author of the book Creating Property Wealth in any Market which lays out in detail what it means to invest in property.

Disclaimer: while due care is taken, the viewpoints expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Your Investment Property
As a homeowner, you probably already know that you should be working to maintain your home. But, chances are, you Read More
My sole motivation behind letting myself into that abominable prison house called school was the little white stick that my mother allowed me to grab and lick after the classes were over. I used to look with wishful eyes the attractive white box of ice cream walla who also had other varieties-the red tangy one that came in twenty five paisa, the slightly yellow one that came in fifty paisa and the expensive white creamy one that came in full one rupee. My mother had warned me against eating the orange one as she said it contained worms that came out if you sprinkled salt on it! So my childhood remained deprived of that one single taste that so often contented the appetite of my not-so-affluent friends. <BR><BR> When I went to college I read about globalisation, about the invasion of markets by foreign goods and of absolute wiping out of the local economy by organized production houses. But I could not understand these things till one day while crossing from near my school my eyes failed to spot that old ice cream walla whose presence had become such an inseparable part of the entire set up. It came as a rude shock to me that his place was now taken by three four colourful wheeled vans endorsing attractive logos and pictures of branded ice cream. <BR><BR> That changes are always for better or worse is like putting an emotion into plain black and white. I may have in my own personal way some attachment with the white stick ice cream or with the more expensive soapy, frothy softie of my school days but the accessibility, taste and variety that the present day ice cream industry is offering is no doubt incomparable. <BR><BR> Who would have thought barely a decade ago of eating ice creams made of real fresh fruits- a la Gelato Vittorio or a cool creamy liquid fried in hot boiling oil or what is called today the fried ice cream. <BR><BR> In India the ice cream industry took sometimes to catch the global cue because the country has an indigenous rich and well developed dessert market. What ice cream would stand in competition against Indian sweets? But no you cant say so just because you are born in the land of Kulfi. You will have the authority only when you taste Baked Alaska (an ice-cream sponge cake dish topped with meringue), Arctic roll (British dessert made of vanilla and flour), Adzuki (Japanese red bean ice cream) and Dondruma( a Turkish ice made of salep and mastic resin). <BR><BR> We Indians who generally go gaga over a handful of varieties that Baskin Robbins offers are unaware of the fact that the company actually makes 1000 flavours! What we get in India generally as branded ice cream is nothing but milk and corn flour seasoned with a few chemicals and packed in attractive cones, cups and cornettos. Our knowledge of Ice cream is so poor that we do not even know what cornetto is! Most of us think it is the name of an ice cream that Kwality offers. Update your dictionary- it is actually the registered name of an improved variety of waffle cone that does not become soggy and that was invented and patented by an Italian firm called Spica in 1960! <BR><BR> The world offers so much in shape of that delicate, cool, tender delight called ice cream that I being a lover of it feel choked with emotion at my own minisculeness and misfortune of not having tasted even a fraction of that tremendous, rich and inexhaustible treasure. What is thy life O mortal, my heart cries out, if thou hast not known the glories of the Australian Giant Sandwich Monster, the Manoco Bar, the Irish Scottish Sliders, the Argentine Helado, the Greek Kimaki and the Japanese Macha! <BR><BR> Sometimes I wonder whether there is an intricate connection between the survival of a race and its appetite for ice cream! Otherwise why would the Greeks, the Romans, the Chinese and the Persians survive the ravages of time and the Glorious Harappan civilization fade into oblivion? And let us be pragmatic and not blame some harmless ecology or innocent river for their decline. The reason I am sure was hidden in their food habits-they having failed to secure the divine blessings of the Gods. Yes, thats precisely what the ancient Greeks called ice cream! Imagine what foodies they must have been that nearly 4000 years ago they got for themselves ice houses constructed at the banks of Euphrates and as early as 5th century BC they began its marketing by selling ice cones mixed with fruit and honey. A honey flavoured cornetto.! <BR><BR> Roman emperor Nero (62 AD) was fond of fruit ice cream and hence sent his servants to fetch ice from mountains! The Falooda that we eat today is actually a Persian dish Faloodeh made from starch and has its origin around 400BC. The Chinese who claim to be the pioneers in almost everything -be it the first currency notes, the first stint with silk or the first to flood the markets of neighbours with cheap plastic goods-were not far behind in making ice cream too. They are credited to have invented a device that made quick ice using salt peter (no, it was not imported from Bihar, China had enough of it). <BR><BR> The unfortunate Charles I whom the world knows as an autocrat, a despot, a tyrant, an enemy of democracy and parliament was also a lover of ice cream! It is said that he made his chef keep the formula a secret so that it remained a royal prerogative. <BR><BR> Our great Mughals, we should not forget were the die hard lovers of food and all that is rich and luxurious in the modern Indian cuisine has a Mughal origin. So they too loved ice cream and they too enjoyed it in royal feasts and ceremonies. When they could get choicest fruits from Farghana and Samarquand and the best wines from Persia, why couldnt they send relays of horsemen to bring ice from Hindukush for their aromatic fruit sherbets? <BR><BR> But were sending horsemen to run and fetch ice or storing ice in underground icehouses near rivers, the only way of making ice creams in those days? Sadly, yes. And thats why the common man remained deprived of and unknown to its delectable taste. But lets thank Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia who first got the patent for a small hand run ice cream freezer. Gradually with the coming of electricity there also came a revolution in ice cream making. Thereafter Giant corporates like Howard Johnson, Dairy Queen, Baskin Robbins, Gelato Vittorio, Ben and Jerrys, Haagen Dazs and Carvel changed the concept of ice cream in the world. Soft serves, Sundaes and super premiums began to be offered by shops next door. <BR><BR> Thanks to globalisation, the world has really become a small place to live in. Today I can access any ice cream from the world over in my local confectionary shop. but among the confused tastes of multitudinous flavours I some how always try to find that one singular taste of the white stick ice-cream which trickled through my fingers and ran into my nursery uniformspoiling it but leaving an imprint on my memory which has failed to faint in all these years.
Patna: The lone sister of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA from Bhojpur district Saroj Yadav, succumbed to her injuries which she sustained while resisting sexual assault on Monday night.

Shaili Devi was being treated in Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna.

40-year-old Shaili took a shared auto-rickshaw from Keshavpur when some youths boarded the vehicle on the way and started misbehaving with her.

When she resisted, one of the men attacked her with an iron rod and later threw her out of the vehicle after badly assaulting her. She was hit on her head.

Some local residents spotted her and rushed her to hospital in a critical condition.

Shaili died yesterday during treatment.

The FIR lodged with the Chandi police station lists five people as accused, of which the identity of three is not known.

The MLA blamed the police for the rising crime and criticised the state government, saying when the sister of an MLA is not safe, how will the common man feel themselves safe.

After the incident, a large number of supporters of the MLA from Barhara blocked the Patna-Ara road and disrupted traffic for about four hours.
Hyderabad: Responding positively to Nitish Kumar's call for the "largest possible unity" among parties to defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said his party is ready to work with the newly-elected JD(U) chief at the national level.

"Of course, yes," Singh said here when asked if Congress is open to working at the national level with Nitish, who on Monday had called for "the largest possible unity among parties, including Congress and Left, to keep the BJP out of power after 2019 polls".

"We want this country to be secular, to be sort of accountable and responsible to the whole population and not to certain categories only. Therefore, I think, we are prepared to work with all those who want to keep the country together, who believe in the Indian Constitution, and whose politics is inclusive, and not exclusive," the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister told PTI in an interview.

Singh said the Congress has been fighting the BJP "from the very beginning".

"We are very happy that Mr. Nitish Kumar who has sort of worked with the BJP (referring to JDU-BJP sharing power in Bihar in the past) very closely has realised it now. We are very happy that finally all political parties have come around and accepted the Congress party's stand that we can't have anything to do with communal forces like BJP," he said.

Asked if Nitish, who was elected JDU president on Sunday, would emerge as an alternative to the BJP and Congress, Singh said, "Every person has a right to be sort of be accepted as national leader and it's for the people to decide."

Singh did not agree with the suggestions the Congress has not been able to revive itself even 22 months after badly losing the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

"We have been able to sort of contain the BJP in a number of states, and also it takes a little time for the people to understand the false promises made by Mr (Narendra) Modi and BJP. So, it takes time for people to realise they have been taken for a ride by Mr (Narendra) Modi. It takes some time," he added.

Singh justified the Congress' decision to enter into an electoral pact with the Left in West Bengal whereas fighting against them in Kerala, saying this is a question of regional leadership deciding to tie-up with like-minded parties.

"So, therefore, there is no contradiction as such. In West Bengal, the way (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee has conducted herself..Therefore...There is a reason for Congress party to look for viable option and Left is the viable option in West Bengal," he added.

On whether the "delay" in Rahul Gandhi taking over as Congress president is taking a toll on the party's rank and file, Singh said, "No one is opposing Rahul Gandhi as such. It depends on when the decision (on his taking over) is taken. The decision will be taken by Congress president".
Raipur: Rejecting Congress's allegations against his son and BJP MP Abhishek Singh that he held offshore assets, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Wednesday dubbed such charges as "politically motivated".

"Four months ago the same allegation was levelled (against Abhishek Singh) and that time also he had refuted it," he told reporters here to a query over allegations of his son holding offshore assets.

The Chief Minister was interacting with media persons at Swami Vivekanand Airport here after returning from his week-long China tour.

"Abhishek has rejected the allegation and clarified that neither he has offshore accounts nor any (foreign) investment. These charges are nothing but politically motivated," Singh said.

Last week, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had alleged at a press conference in Delhi that as per an investigation by International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) a year ago, Abhishek Singh was holding offshore assets, a charge denied by the Lok Sabha MP from Rajnandgaon.

Meanwhile, terming his China visit as successful, the Chief Minister said his delegation visited different parts of the neighbouring country from April 6-12, during which several MoUs were signed in different sectors which would attract an investment of around Rs 26,000 crore in the state.

Singh also said that on the occasion of Dr B R Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary tomorrow, he will inaugurate Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Gram Uday se Bharat Uday Campaign' from Rajnandgaon and subsequently, a mega 'Gram Suraaj Abhiyan' will also be carried out in the state.

During the 'Gram Suraaj Abhiyan' and the PM's village self governance campaign, focus will be on development while dealing with water scarcity will be another major issue, he said.

"We will take steps for water conservation wherever there is shortage of water and also make necessary arrangements. A working plan will also be drafted in coordination with different departments to avoid scarcity of water in those areas in future," he added.
New York: An Indian-American student at the Yale University is among 30 recipients of a prestigious fellowship aimed at supporting graduate students who have demonstrated "creativity" and "originality" in their lives.

Durga Thakral is among the winners of the 2016 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans and will use her award to support work towards an MD/PhD in genetics at Yale School of Medicine, the university said in a statement.

Thakral says her work with communities with minimal healthcare resources has shown her the "dire need for better access to medical care and affordable biomedical devices."

An MD/PhD student in the laboratory of Yale geneticist Richard Lifton, Thakral said she hoped to take advantage of the vast and growing power of molecular medicine in her work to improve the human condition and empower others to pursue their dreams.

The fellows, selected from a pool of over 1,400 applicants, will receive tuition and stipend assistance of up to USD 90,000 in support of graduate education in any field and in any advanced degree-granting programme in the US.

Hungarian immigrants Paul and Daisy Soros established the programme in 1997 to support the graduate educations of students who were born abroad but have become permanent residents or naturalised citizens of the US.

Each award recipient must have "demonstrated creativity, originality, and initiative in one or more aspects of her or his life," as well as "a commitment to and capacity for accomplishment that has required drive and sustained effort," the statementr said.

In addition, they must have shown a commitment to the values expressed in the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Born in Illinois, Thakral is the daughter of Indian immigrants. She earned a combined bachelor's and master's degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale.
Kaziranga: British royal couple Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton Wednesday visited the Kaziranga National Park in a jeep safari.

Wearing the Assamese honour scarf 'Bihuwan', they sat in an open jeep with security vehicles escorting them into the Bagori range of the world heritage site known for one-horned rhinos.

After they came out of the park, officials accompanying the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge briefed the waiting journalists at the gate of KNP saying the couple saw rhinos, buck deer, buffaloes and many other animals.

They also went to the Dunga and Rowmari Forest camps mostly inhabitated by rhinos and tigers in the park.

They had breakfast at Bimoli camp and interacted with the KNP frontline staff asking about the habits of rhinos and elephants, the officials said.

They also enquired about the anti-poaching measures and if they were satisfied with the efforts. Prince William enquired about the challenges they faced in their efforts to keep the animals safe from poachers and if they required superior weapons.

The Duke and Dutchess also asked about the families of the forest personnel, they said.

The couple was informed about forest conservation efforts and anti-poaching measures adopted to reduce the killing of rhinos by poachers.

Before setting out on the safari, the royal couple was welcomed in front of the Kaziranga Infomation Centre by Principal Chief Conservator of Forest O P Pandey and Additional PCCF N K Yadav with the traditional 'Bihuwan'.

They read in detail the map of the park and information about the animals with senior forest officials explaining to them where the animals could be spotted.
Hyderabad: Accusing the ruling dispensation of going soft on non-Muslim accused, AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi on Wednesday said that this u-turn by the NIA on the 2006 Malegaon bombings is a 'travesty of justice' and called on the Government of India to immediately discharge the nine-Muslims who were arrested on terror charges.

"The u-turn by NIA is a joke, it is a travesty of justice and they are playing politics on the diktat of their political masters...In terrorist cases, if there is a non-Muslim (accused), the present political dispensation is going soft on them. I am charging because this is what is happening. Because the u-turn itself, it is completely wrong, it has never happened that wherein one offence you have two groups of accused. My demand is that the Government of India should immediately discharge the nine-Muslims," Owaisi told ANI here.

"The government will come and go, parties will come and go, but the government will be in continuous form. In the interest of justice, to ensure that miscarriage of justice doesn't take place and to ensure that the real perpetrators are convicted and sentenced these thing should not have happened," he added.

He further demanded that the Government of India should accept the discharge petition in the interest of justice and a trial should proceed.

Two years after it told a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in Mumbai that it did not have any evidence to link nine Muslim men to the September 2006 Malegaon bombings, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) went back on its stand yesterday and opposed discharging the men of terror charges.

The nine men - Noorul Huda, Shabbir Ahmed, Raees Ahmed, Salman Farsi, Farogh Magdumi, Shaikh Mohammed Ali, Asif Khan, Mohammed Zahid and Abrar Ahmed - were arrested in 2006 for the Malegaon blasts that killed 37 and injured over 100. In November 2011, they were granted bail.

In 2014, in response to a discharge application filed by the nine accused, the NIA had cited reasons for not having found evidence backing the probes by the ATS and CBI.

The NIA, which took over investigation of the blasts from the CBI in 2011, had earlier remained non-committal on the issue, leaving it to the court to decide on the application. After taking over the investigation, the NIA filed a chargesheet naming four accused but none of the nine men chargesheeted by the ATS and CBI.
I hope many of you will attend the Starmus Festival in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, June 27July 2, 2016. I have written extensively about the festival in the April issue of Astronomy. In addition to the previous Starmus plans, Garik Israelian has announced a series of high-level talks on global issues  cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, global warming, threat from asteroids, and status of the global economy. For more on Starmus, see starmus.com.



Press release follows . . .



The brightest scientists and creators will get together from June 27 to July 2 in Tenerife and La Palma, in Canary Islands (Spain), to share with the public their latest insights.



CYBERSECURITY, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, GLOBAL WARMING, THREAT FROM ASTEROIDS, STATUS OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: STARMUS III ANSWERS



Madrid, March 31, 2016. Answers beyond the horizon that the mind cannot apprehend, keys to manage an unknown and fast changing future, understandinguncontrollable threats to the world To provide information and knowledge on important global issues for managing an uncertain future is ultimately the challenge of Starmus III.



From June 27 to July 2, under the unique stellar sky of the islands of Tenerife and La Palma, in the Canary Islands, "the third edition of Starmus will bring together scientific authorities and the brightest minds in the world to help experts, lovers and those curious about science, to venture into the great enigmas, threats, discoveries and curiosities to which we are exposed today, we realize it or not," said Garik Israelian, astrophysicist and founder-director of Starmus.



Under this approach, Starmus III has brought together the six best experts in research on major global issues: cybersecurity (by Eugene Kaspersky); global warming (by Chris Rapley); artificial intelligence (by Peter Schwartz); man-machine relationship (by Danny Hillis); the threat from asteroids (by Rusty Schweickart) and the evolution of the global economy (by Joseph Stiglitz).



Throughout the week-long Festival, with the presence of twelve Nobel laureates and scientific researchers, along with recognized musical artists, these six experts will present their insights and conclusions on matters of high global interest, inciting reflection and debates.



One of these issues is cybersecurity. We all have a seemingly safe online life, apparently under control. But is it really so? Eugene Kaspersky, chairman and CEO of IT security giant Kaspersky Lab, said: The world today relies heavily on various digital and networked equipment. Virtually our entire critical infrastructure  power grids, water supplies, transportation  is run by digital machines. In our daily life we increasingly depend on smart devices  from phones to cars and homes. But in this dependency lies a problem: most of the software that runs this digital ecosystem is vulnerable to cyberattacks. Much of it was developed without security in mind. And unfortunately we're seeing how various groups of hackers  some of them plain criminals, others likely to be government-backed  are developing sophisticated techniques to attack various digital systems to steal data, money and even cause physical damage. We have built a digital world that offers unprecedented speed and ease of communication and doing business. At the same time tough it is based on the very shaky foundations of insecure computer code. Dark Ages of Cyber Security is the title of Mr. Kasperskys talk in the Festival in which, largely, he will develop this reflection.



Interest in the economy and its evolution has transcended the circles of experts and has showed up in our everyday conversations, especially since 2008, when the world was shaken by the changing economic cycle. "Surprised?," Professor Joseph Stiglitz will ask the audience during his talk Growing inequality: Laws of Nature or Laws of Men? "We shouldn't be. Such cataclysmic events have been part of capitalism from the start. Markets on their own are neither efficient nor stable. And the way markets have been restructured in recent decades has led to lower growth and more instability, with all the benefits of the limited growth that does occur going to a very few at the top, said Mr. Stiglitz.



The Climate Summit held in Paris in late 2015, revealed the high risk for our planet to the effects of climate change and the consequences of inaction were discussed by 195 countries present there. But to what extent? Chris Rapley, doctor in Astronomy, now a professor of Climate Science at The University College of London and from 2014 chairman of the European Space Agency Director Generals High Level Science Policy Advisory Committee (ESA), he is one of the leading researchers in Europe in climate change. In Starmus III, during his talk Climate Change: What Future will Create?, he will present the current situation on this issue.



Although for a number of years we have been hearing about developments in artificial intelligence, 2016 will mark its definitive take-off. Peter Schwartz, a renowned futurist and business strategist, will approach during his exposure Scenarios for the future of Artificial Intelligence: Will the dream become a nightmare?, at which point we are. Also, on this matter, Danny Hillis, mathematician, engineer and above all, lover of the relationship between technology and man, will address in his talk The Age of Entaglement, the always intriguing subject of whether the machine will exceed humans.



Closing the circle, Rusty Schweickart, former lunar module pilot on the Apollo 9 mission and former chairman of B612 Foundation, dedicated to the challenge of preventing asteroid impacts with Earth, will present in his talk entitled Reflections on Fifteen Years of Planetary Defense, his thoughts after spend the last 15 years in developing a global planetary defense capability. It have led him to the conclusion that while great progress has been made, the long term ultimate challenge in preventing a future devastating asteroid impact will not be technological, but geopolitical," Mr. Schweickart said.



About Starmus



Starmus Festival was born with the aim of making the most universal science and art accessible to the public. The Festival brings together the brightest minds from astronomy, prominent space travelers, astrophysicists and stargazers with tech business leaders and creative industries thinkers to debate the future of humanity.



After two ground-breaking editions in 2011 and 2014, gathering together the most important representatives of these fields, such as astronaut Neil Armstrong and Professor Stephen Hawking. In this new edition, the Starmus III program will include the participation of twelve Nobel laureates in disciplines such as physics, chemistry, medicine, astronomy, along with other guests of great prestige.



In addition to the lectures, another of the highlights will be the Ask Hawking segment, which, as in the previous edition, will enable members of the public to pose questions to the great scientific.



For Further Information:



Marisa Toro Managing Partner

MARLOW -Starmus media partner

marisa.toro@marlowinsight.com



Eugene Kaspersky



Eugene Kaspersky is chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab, one of the most recognized and fastest-growing cyber security companies in the world. With more than 3,000 highly-qualified specialists and annual revenues in excess of $700 million, the company has its holding in the United Kingdom and operates in 200 countries and territories.



Kasperskys love for mathematics determined his technical future. During his last few years in high school, he attended extracurricular classes in physics and mathematics at a specialized program for gifted students organized by Moscow State University. In 1987, he graduated from the Institute of Cryptography, Telecommunications and Computer Science, majoring in mathematical engineering.



In 1989, while he was working at a multi-disciplinary research institute, Kaspersky began studying computer viruses after detecting the Cascade virus on his PC. He developed a disinfection utility for it and he started collecting malicious programs and disinfection modules. This exotic collection later formed the foundation of his famous database in Kaspersky Anti-Virus. Today, it is one of the most complete antivirus databases in the world with more than 1.3 million records.



In 1991, Kaspersky joined the KAMI Information Technologies Center, where he and a group of colleagues developed the AVP antivirus project. International recognition arrived in 1994, when his initiative won a contest conducted by Hamburg Universitys test lab, demonstrating a higher virus detection rate than the most popular antivirus programs at the time.



In 1997, Kaspersky and his colleagues decided to establish Kaspersky Lab. He first was in charge of the antivirus research department and in 2007 he was named CEO of the company.



Professor Chris Rapley



Chris Rapley CBE is Professor of Climate Science at University College London. He is a Fellow of St Edmund's College Cambridge, a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a member of the Academia Europaea, a Board member of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, Chairman of the European Space Agency Director Generals High Level Science Policy Advisory Committee, and Chairman of the London Climate Change Partnership.



His previous posts include Director of the Science Museum London, Director of the British Antarctic Survey, Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm and Head of the Earth Observation satellite group at University College Londons Mullard Space Science Laboratory.



His current interests are in the communication of climate science. With the playwright Duncan Macmillan he wrote and performed at The Royal Court Theatre in London the acclaimed play 2071  The World Well Leave Our Grandchildren, available as a book published by John Murray. Prof Rapley was awarded the 2008 Edinburgh Science Medal for having made a significant contribution to the understanding and wellbeing of humanity.



Danny Hillis



Daniel Hillis is the cofounder of Applied Invention, an interdisciplinary group of engineers, scientists and artists that develop technology solutions in partnership with leading companies and entrepreneurs.



He is also the cofounder of Applied Minds, Visiting Professor at the MIT Media Lab, the Widney Professor of Engineering and Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC), professor of research medicine at the Keck School of Medicine, and research professor of engineering at the Viterbi School of Engineering.



Previously, he was Vice President, Research and Development at Walt Disney Imagineering, and Disney Fellow, where he developed new technologies and business strategies for Disney's theme parks, television, motion pictures, Internet and consumer products businesses. He is the winner of many awards, including the Dan David Prize.



An inventor, scientist, engineer, author, and visionary, Hillis pioneered the concept of parallel computers that is now the basis for most supercomputers, as well as the RAID disk array technology used to store large databases. He holds hundreds of U.S. patents, covering touch interfaces, forgery prevention methods, and various electronic and mechanical devices.



As a student at MIT, Hillis began to study the physical limitations of computation and the possibility of building highly parallel computers. This work led to the design of a massively parallel computer with 64,000 processors in 1985, called the Connection Machine. During this period at MIT, Hillis cofounded Thinking Machines Corp. to produce and market parallel computers. In addition to designing the company's major products, Hillis worked closely with his customers in applying parallel computers to problems in astrophysics, aircraft design, financial analysis, genetics, computer graphics, medical imaging, image understanding, neurobiology, materials science, cryptography and subatomic physics. At Thinking Machines, he built a legendary team of scientists, designers and engineers who later became leaders and innovators in multiple industries.



In 2005, Hillis and others from Applied Minds initiated Metaweb Technologies to develop a semantic data storage infrastructure for the Internet, and Freebase, an "open, shared database of the world's knowledge". That company was acquired by Google and became the basis of the Google Knowledge Graph.



Hillis has published scientific papers in journals such as Science, Nature, Modern Biology, Communications of the ACM, and International Journal of Theoretical Physics and has been an editor of several scientific journals, including Artificial Life, Complexity, Complex Systems, and Applied Mathematics. He has also written extensively on technology for publications such as Newsweek, Wired, and Scientific American. He is the author of two books, Connection Machine and The Pattern on the Stone. He is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery, a Fellow of the International Leadership Forum, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is co-chair of The Long Now Foundation and the designer of a 10,000 year mechanical clock.



Peter Schwartz



Peter Schwartz is Senior Vice President for Strategic Planning for Salesforce.com. In this role he directs policy and politics throughout the world and manages the organizations ongoing strategic conversation.



Prior to joining Salesforce he was cofounder and chairman of Global Business Network, a Monitor Group company, and a partner of the Monitor Group, a family of professional services firms devoted to enhancing client competitiveness. An internationally renowned futurist and business strategist, Schwartz specializes in scenario planning, working with corporations, governments, and institutions to create alternative perspectives of the future and develop robust strategies for a changing and uncertain world.



Schwartz is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the World Affairs Council and, in Singapore, the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council. He also sits on the boards of The Long Now Foundation, The Center for New American Security and the Center for Strategic Futures in Singapore.



From 1982 to 1986, Schwartz headed scenario planning for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies in London. His team conducted comprehensive analyses of the global business and political environment and worked with senior management to create successful strategies. Before joining Royal Dutch/Shell, Schwartz directed the Strategic Environment Center at SRI International. The Center researched the business milieu, lifestyles, and consumer values, and conducted scenario planning for corporate and government clients.



Schwartz is the author of Inevitable Surprises, a provocative look at the dynamic forces at play in the world today and their implications for business and society. His first book, The Art of the Long View, is considered a seminal publication on scenario planning and has been translated into multiple languages. He is also the co-author of The Long Boom, a vision for the world characterized by global openness, prosperity, and discovery; When Good Companies Do Bad Things, an examination of, and argument for, corporate social responsibility; and China's Futures, which describes very different scenarios for China and their international implications.



He publishes and lectures widely and served as a script consultant on the films The Minority Report, Deep Impact, Sneakers, and War Games.



Schwartz received a B.S. in aeronautical engineering and astronautics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). In 2009 he received an honorary PhD and was the commencement speaker at RPI.





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Pakistan`s powerful military chief accused India Tuesday of being "blatantly" involved in attempts to destabilise the country, saying Delhi was hostile to an ambitious economic plan by Beijing and Islamabad for the region.

General Raheel Sharif spoke in the southwestern port of Gwadar, described by officials as the "heart" of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The $46-billion initiative would give Beijing greater access to the Middle East, Africa and Europe through Pakistan, via a new highway to Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea.

It is part of China`s ambition to expand its trade and transport footprint in the region, while countering US and Indian influence.

India "has openly challenged this development initiative", Sharif told a one-day seminar in Gwadar, in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

"I would like to make a special reference to Indian intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) that is blatantly involved in destabilising Pakistan," he added.

India has expressed wariness about CPEC in the past, though analysts have said that concerns would only emerge if there are "defence related matters".

Last month, Pakistan protested to Delhi after arresting a man suspected of being an Indian spy in Balochistan, sparking a fresh diplomatic tiff between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

The army has repeatedly claimed that a years-long separatist insurgency in Balochistan is "terrorism" promoted by states hostile to Pakistan such as India.

Pakistani officials hope CPEC will transform Balochistan, Pakistan`s largest but least developed province.

Earlier Tuesday, Chinese officials told the seminar that they hope the port will be ready by the end of the year.

st/jv


New York: A 21-year-old Indian-origin student at Rutgers University was killed and his roommate seriously injured in a shooting incident at their apartment near the New Jersey university's Newark campus.

Shani Patel, a junior economics major at the university, was shot and killed on Sunday at an off-campus apartment building in Newark, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office as saying.

Patel's roommate, whose identity was not released, was seriously injured in the shooting, authorities said.

The Rutgers Police Department said the shooting was not random and that the downtown campus, which serves about 12,000 students, was not under threat, The New York Times reported.

Authorities are investigating the incident.

Essex County Prosecutor s office and Newark Public Safety Director said in a statement that no suspects have been identified so far and no arrests have been made.

The investigation "is active and ongoing", they said.

Two assailants, both believed to be in their early to mid-20s, fled the scene.

An award of up to USD 10,000 was being offered for information that leads to arrest and conviction.

In a letter to the Rutgers University s Newark community, Chancellor Nancy Cantor expressed shock and sadness at Patel's death.

"While law enforcement is still investigating and we understand that it was not a random act that led to Shani's death, it is a shock to lose a member of our community under any circumstances," Cantor said.

"Our deepest condolences go out to Shani's family and to all who knew him as a student, colleague, or friend," she added.

The Rutgers police said in a statement issued to the Newark campus that the shooting occurred inside a private residence.

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: Attacking the Modi government over its decision to sign the Logistics Support Agreement with the US, Congress Wednesday said it is "disastrous" and will hit the independence of India's foreign policy while Left parties termed it as "dangerous and anti-national".

"NDA Government's decision to sign Logistics Support Agreement with the U S is the beginning of the end of the independence of India's foreign policy and strategic autonomy."

"It is a disastrous decision. Government should retract the decision and should not sign this agreement and other foundation agreements," senior party leader A K Antony, who was Defence Minister in the UPA regime, told PTI.

Left parties also lashed out at the government for its "in principle" agreement for a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the US, terming it as "dangerous and anti-national" move and demanded that it "immediately retract" from inking the agreement.

Accusing Government of "crossing line" with the move, which the parties said "no other government" had taken since independence, they charged the Narendra Modi dispensation of converting India into a "full-fledged" military ally of Washington and "compromising" country's strategic autonomy.

The communist parties also claimed that there is "no transparency" in what the Union Government does with regard to "such critical policy matters" as Parliament is not taken into confidence and sought to know why the dispensation is "desperate" to "please" US by taking the step "voluntarily".

"Modi Government has taken the dangerous step?In doing so, the BJP Government has crossed a line which no other government has done since independence - converting India into a full-fledged military ally of the United States," the CPI(M) noted in a statement.

India and the US had on Tuesday agreed "in principle" to the logistics exchange agreement to enable both militaries to use each other's assets and bases for repair and replenishment of supplies.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and visiting US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter had, however, made it clear that the agreement, which will be signed in "weeks" or "coming months", does not entail deployment of American troops on Indian soil.

Antony insisted that by signing this agreement, India would be gradually becoming part of the American military bloc.

"When UPA was in power, India had all along resisted such proposals. India had traditional relationship with Soviet Union, now Russia from the very beginning. Of late, we are steadily improving our relations with the US also. We always resisted pressure from everybody to be part of a military bloc", he said.
Amritsar: Dalbi Kaur, the sister of alleged Indian spy Sarabjit Singh, who died at Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat jail three years back, on Monday met Jagir Kaur, sister of another Indian convict Kirpal Singh, who died under similar circumstances at Pakistan jail on Sunday.

Dalbir met Kirpal Singh's kin to offer condolence over his death. Later, they left for Delhi to meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh to seek his intervention in bringing back Singh's body from Pakistan. The sisters, along with few other relatives, staged a demonstration against Pakistan near the Integrated Check Post at Attari.

"Both Sarabjit and Kirpal were lodged in adjoining cells at Kot Lakhpat jail. Kirpal knew the truth behind Sarabjit's death. If Pakistan authorities had set him free, he would have revealed what actually happened with Sarabjit three years back in Pakistan", TOI quoted Dalbir as saying.

Kirpal Singh, 55, died under mysterious circumstances at Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat jail. Pakistan authorities, however, have ruled out any foul play and have claimed that Kirpal complained of chest pain after which he was admitted to a hospital where he was declared dead.

Kirpal had been serving in Pakistan jail since 1992 and was arrested by Pakistan authorities on the charges of spying and terror. He was first sentenced to death, however, his punishment was later reduced to 20 years in prison. His family had all these years been asking Indian as well as Pakistan government to set him free.
New Delhi: The Indian envoy in Islamabad on Wednesday met Director General (DG) South Asia in the Pakistan Foreign Ministry to seek detailed information and early transportation of mortal remains of Indian national Kirpal Singh, who died at Lahore's jail on Monday.

"The acting High Commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at highest possible level in the Pakistan's Foreign Office today to seek early transportation of his mortal remains. He will also seek information on the cause of Kirpal Singh's death and post-mortem report," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup had tweeted today morning.

"He will also ask for official information on the cause of death, postmortem report etc," he added.

According to reports, Indian is in touch with Pakistan's Foreign Ministry and is waiting for the final response from the Foreign Minister office.

Kirpal Singh, an Indian convict on death row, arrested by Pakistan authorities on spying and terror charges in 1992, died under mysterious circumstances in Pakistan jail on Monday. Singh's family has alleged foul play in his death and has requested Indian government to approach the Pakistan High Commission for an impartial probe into the matter.

According to Kirpal Singh's family, he has been murdered under a conspiracy identical to that under which another Indian prisoner Sarabit Singh was killed in the same jail three years back in 2013. "What happened with Sarabjit Singh in 2013, the same has happened with Kirpal Singh under a conspiracy," Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur claimed.

Singh's family have pleaded with the Pakistan and Indian authorities to send his body home so that they could perform his last rites.
New Delhi: Nearly 10 days after Tanzil Ahmed was shot dead, his wife Farzana died on Wednesday in Delhi's AIIMS.

Tanzil Ahmed, probing terror cases related to Indian Mujahideen, was shot dead on April 3 by motorcycle-borne assailants who also wounded his wife when they were returning home from a wedding near UP's Bijnor town.

Earlier, on Wednesday, Reyan and Junaid, two of the three killers of NIA officer Tanzil Ahmad, had said that the motive behind the murder was not known to them, but at the same time alleged that Ahmad's behavior towards them was not nice.

Junaid and Reyaan have been placed in UP police custody for the murder of NIA Deputy Superintendent of Police Mohammad Tanzil Ahmed.

The state police had earlier announced a reward of Rs.50,000 to anyone providing information on the whereabouts of the main accused Munir.

Inspector General (Bareilly Zone) Vijay Singh had earlier hinted at revenge and frustration being the motive for the murder of NIA officer Mohammad Tanzil Ahmed.

Singh said that all aspects, including professional and personal rivalry, have been looked into during the probe in connection with the case.
Hyderabad: The University of Hyderabad Students' Union has passed a resolution demanding resignation or removal of Vice-Chancellor Prof Appa Rao Podile from the post.

The University General Body Meeting (UGBM), held yesterday and attended by 949 students, passed six resolutions. It included a condolence resolution for Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula, which was passed unanimously.

Vemula had allegedly committed suicide in a hostel room of the varsity in January.

UGBM is the highest decision-making body of the students of the university, claimed a release from varsity students.

The university's students union president, Zuhail K P, addressed the students explaining the recent developments on the campus after the death of Vemula. Opinions were sought from all the students present in the UGBM, it said.

A resolution demanding the resignation/removal of Prof Appa Rao Podile from the post of VC was passed by voting, in which 948 students voted in favour of the resolution demanding his resignation/removal and one student objected to it, the release said.

The University of Hyderabad, popularly known as HCU, has witnessed sporadic protests over the suicide of the Dalit research scholar, with students demanding removal of Appa Rao from the VC's post.

Appa Rao was earlier booked under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and for abetment of Vemula's suicide.

The students' union had on March 30 sought President Pranab Mukherjee's intervention to resolve issues related to the varsity and to ensure sacking of Appa Rao.

Meanwhile, the other resolutions passed unanimously by the UGBM yesterday include revoking blockade of the university , against militarisation of the campus, and for setting up a 'committee against prejudice and discrimination' in higher educational institutions.

Another resolution demanded dropping of all police cases against the students and teachers of HCU and it was also passed unanimously.

The Hyderabad High Court had yesterday directed the registrar of the HCU and the Cyberabad police commissioner not to allow any political party or association to hold a meeting on the varsity campus.

HCU has been at the centre of controversy since the suicide of Vemula on January 17, and recently after the resumption of duty by Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile.
Mumbai: Probing the infamous Sheena Bora murder case, Central Bureau of Investigation will send Letters Rogatory to Singapore, Hong Kong and the US.

The CBI will be making a request through a foreign court to obtain information or evidence which may throw some light on the case.

Sources said CBI today approached a special court in Mumbai with an application to issue Letters Rogatory in connection with the murder case.

They said once the court issues LRs, these will be sent to judicial authorities, through diplomatic channels, of Singapore, Hong Kong and the USA with a request to provide desired information.

CBI is investigating money as possible motive behind killing of 24-year-old Bora, Indrani's daughter from her first marriage.

The agency had told a special court that Peter and Indrani allegedly siphoned off funds to the tune of Rs 900 crore from their company 9X Media through a layer of nine companies.

The CBI had made the submission while telling the court that it has sought Interpol's help for access to overseas bank accounts of the Mukerjeas.

It had claimed that investments of crores of rupees were allegedly made by the Mukerjea couple and that "Indrani and Peter had formed various companies during 2006-07 and invested Rs 900 crore in them".

The agency had alleged that the "money siphoned off from INX (in which Peter and Indrani were partners) dealings was routed to Sheena Bora's HSBC account in Singapore".

CBI also told the court that a woman working in DBS Bank Singapore allegedly helped Indrani open an account in HSBC Singapore in the name of Sheena.

During investigations, Peter had allegedly told CBI that accounts might have been opened in the name of Sheena (by Indrani) in HSBC and other banks in Hongkong and Singapore.

According to CBI, the couple's company 9X Media Pvt Ltd allegedly carried out its internal audit in which nine companies having shareholding as on March 2009 were found to have instances of alleged misallocation and siphoning off substantial amounts of funds by Peter and Indrani.

Sheena (24) was allegedly killed by Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her former driver Shyamvar Rai in April 2012. Peter was also arrested in the case.

(With PTI inputs)
Kolhapur: Bhoomata Ranragini Brigade leader Trupti Desai will on Wednesday visit the Mahalaxmi temple in Kolhapur for a darshan of the deity.

However, a fresh controversy erupted on Tuesday when police allegedly told Desai to wear a saree while visiting the temple.

Desai told reporters that she received a "telephonic advice" from an officer at Rajwada police station in Kolhapur who asked her to visit the temple clad in a saree, and not in salwar kameez, to honour the existing tradition while entering the inner sanctum.

"I have told them I was not going to wear short skirt or jeans. Salwar kameez is a comfortable Indian attire. I will not wear saree," she said.

Today, Desai said that there is no such dress code and the Punjabi dress shouldn't be a problem. We haven't sought permission from police. It doesn't matter if we're given permission or not, she added.

Desai, who spearheaded a successful campaign seeking entry for women in Shani Shingnapur shrine, also played a taped conversation she purportedly had with the officer.

The officer, identified as Anil Deshmukh, senior police inspector, purportedly urges Desai to honour the tradition, saying even men who enter the sanctum sanctorum of the temple are required to wear 'sovle' (a special dhoti worn for performing religious rituals).

The officer said if Desai turns up wearing a saree, it would not hurt sentiments of people and help police maintain law and order.

Desai, along with her co-activists, will visit the temple this evening.

Breaking an age-old tradition, the trustees recently took a decision allowing women an unrestricted entry into the inner sanctum of the historical temple.

When contacted, Deshmukh admitted to calling up Desai.

Deshmukh said he requested her to wear saree as the priests at the temple did not allow some women who went there on Monday not clad in a saree.

(With PTI inputs)
Haridwar: Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati on Tuesday blamed couples on honeymoon and picnic-goers for the flash floods that claimed lives of more than 5,000 pilgrims at Kedarnath in 2013.

People coming from different parts of the country to holy places of Devbhoomi (Uttarakhand) for enjoyment, picnic and honeymoon led to the Kedarnath disaster. Similar incidents could happen if unholy activities are not stopped, the 94-year-old said.

On Sunday, the Shankaracharya of Dwaraka-Sharda Peeth waded into a controversy by saying that entry of women in the Shani Shingnapur temple will lead to rise in crimes against them like rape.

"Women should not feel triumphant about visiting the sanctum sanctorum of Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra. They should stop all the drum beating about what they have done. Worshipping Shani will bring ill luck to them and give rise to crimes against them like rape," he had told reporters in Haridwar.

He had also said that worshipping the 'unworthy' Sai Baba is the reason for the present drought-like situation in Maharashtra. In 2014, Shankaracharya had disapproved Sai Baba's worship and asked the Hindus to remove his photographs and idols from temples.
New Delhi: External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday assured the kin of Kirpal Singh, who died under mysterious circumstances in a Lahore jail, that India would get his body back home.

During a meeting with Kirpal Singh`s family members here, Swaraj said the Ministry of External Affairs had sought information from the Pakistan Government on the cause of death and details of the post-mortem report.

Pakistan, however, claimed that Kirpal Singh died of a heart attack.Dalbir Kaur, the sister of Sarabjit Singh, who died in 2013 after he was attacked by two Pakistani prisoners in the Kot Lakhpat Jail, also met Swaraj along with kin of Kirpal Singh.

She said Swaraj assured them that the MEA would look into the matter seriously and added that they trust her.

Meanwhile, Dalbir Kour, along with relatives of Kirpal Singh, will meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at 11a.m. at his residence here on Thursday.

"According to Govt of Pakistan, Shri Kirpal Singh died on April 11 at 1455hrs due to heart attack.

We await further details. Our Acting High Commissioner met DG South Asia in the Min of Foreign Affairs & asked for earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains," MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a series of tweets.Kirpal Singh`s kin had on Tuesday staged a protest at the Attari border and raised anti-Pakistan slogans near the Integrated Check Post (ICP).
Guwahati: In the third leg of their India tour, the royal couple Prince William and Kate Middleton will visit the Kaziranga National Park on Wednesday.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived at Tezpur yesterday evening and are staying at Difflo River Lodge adjacent to the national park, famed for its one-horned rhinoceros.

After a safari tour, the royal couple will interact with the park's frontline anti-poaching staff at a place called Dimoli.

The royal couple will then go to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) under the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and visit a centre for treatment of captive elephants named after British conservationist Mark Shand. He was the brand ambassador of the park till time of his death in April 2014.

There they will interact with veterinary doctors of the centre.

During their stay in the park, the royal couple will be presented with a cultural programme, including Bihu and Jhumur dances, by the residents of two local villages.

As the visit comes on the eve of the state's biggest festival, Bohag Bihu, Prince William and Kate will also be treated to Assamese delicacies like pithas (rice cakes) and laroos (sweet balls) among other dishes.

The royal couple will leave for Bhutan on Thursday.
New Delhi: The excavated remains of soldiers and artefacts of a US Air Force B-24 bomber that had crashed in present-day Arunachal Pradesh during the World War II will be sent to the US on Wednesday, in what would be an emotional closure for the families of the fallen men.

Visiting US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will oversee a repatriation ceremony of US World War II remains from India to the United States.

Carter expressed his gratitude to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Indian government for their support in facilitating the recovery effort.

"The Indian government agreed to support America's commitment to bringing its fallen personnel home and providing their families the fullest possible accounting, and looks forward to further humanitarian missions of this kind over the next few years to return the remains of these US heroes to their families," a joint statement issued here said on Tuesday.

The repatriation issue had figured in the joint statement issued last year after the visit US President Barack Obama to India.

While the previous UPA government had stopped the recovery of remains following objections by China, which claims Arunachal Pradesh to be its territory, the Narendra Modi government gave Americans fresh permission.

The US is seeking to recover the bodies of American aircrew who died in crashes while flying resupply missions between Assam and Kunming in China during the war.

The US Department of Defense states that over 500 aircraft are still listed missing in the China-India-Burma theatre of the Second World War.

Multiple wreckage of aircraft was discovered north of Itanagar, south of Walong, upper Siang and at other sites in 2006 by a US-based private explorer, Clayton Kuhles.

After pressure from the families of the missing personnel, joint operations to recover the remains were started in late 2008. However, the operations were cancelled by both governments in 2010 and 2011.
Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday suspended an Assistant Sub Inspector for allegedly opening fire on a mob in Handwara which was protesting against an alleged case of molestation.

The death toll due to yesterday's firing by the security forces rose to three on Wednesday as another critically injured civilian died this morning, according to officials.

Doctors at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar said Raja Begum, 54, who had been admitted to the super specialty hospital on Tuesday, succumbed to a critical bullet injury.

Twenty-two year old Muhammad Iqbal and 21-year old Nayeem Bhat had died on Tuesday after clashes erupted in Handwara town between the security forces and a stone pelting mob.

Trouble erupted after locals alleged that a girl had been molested by an Army jawan in the town.

The girl, however, completely ruled out molesttation by the army jawan.

Authorities have, meanwhile, imposed curfew in Handwara town where tension has increased further after reports of death of another civilian reached the town.

Following appeals for a valley-wide shutdown by separatist leaders to protest Handwara firing, authorities today imposed restrictions in six police station areas of Rainawari, Nowhatta, Khanyar, MR Gunj, Safa Kadal and Maisuma in Srinagar city.

District magistrate Srinagar, Farooq Ahmad Lone has said the imposed restrictions will not apply to the members of the Sikh community who are free to move about in areas placed under restrictions because of the Sikh festival of Baisakhi.

J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also spoke to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who assured her of a probe. Mehbooba, who is on her maiden visit to the national capital after assuming the post of CM, said the incident was "very unfortunate".

"I spoke to Defence Minister. He assured me that a probe will be initiated and the culprits will be punished. At the same time the family will be compensated. Such incidents should not happen in the future," she said after meeting Parrikar.

Mehbooba said the security personnel involved in the fire which resulted in the death of three people will be given exemplary punishment as such incidents cannot be tolerated since these have a "negative impact" on the state government's efforts to consolidate peace efforts.

The burial of the two youth killed yesterday is expected to take place today.

The security forces must exercise maximum restraint and adhere to the Standing Operating Procedure (SOP) while dealing with the public protests as incidents of innocent killings cannot be tolerated, she said, while expressing solidarity with the families of the two youth.
Manila: Philippine militants that want to ally with Islamic State jihadists have beheaded two local hostages, police said on Wednesday.

Police on the southern island of Mindanao recovered the decapitated corpses of the two men yesterday, nine days after they were taken, said the police chief of Lanao del Sur province.

"Salvador Hanobas and Jemark Hanobas were beheaded by their abductors," Senior Superintendent Rustom Duran told reporters by telephone. "Locals brought the heads and the torsos to the mayor's office."

It was unclear if the two victims were related.

Duran said the kidnappers belonged to an Islamic militant group that battled government forces for a week in February, leaving three soldiers dead and forcing 20,000 people to flee their homes.

Police found black flags identical to those flown by Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria in the fighters' hideout in the remote Mindanao town of Butig.

Duran said the group had also abducted six workers at a local sawmill on April 4, accusing them of being military informers. Four were freed unharmed on Monday.

A Muslim separatist insurgency has raged for more than four decades in the southern Philippines, leaving more than 120,000 people dead.

Efforts to secure a peace deal with the largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), collapsed after parliament failed to pass a law to create an autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.

MILF leaders have warned the collapse of the peace deal could embolden hardline militants who want to resume a violent separatist uprising.

News of the beheadings came after the Abu Sayyaf, another Islamic militant group, released a retired Italian priest held hostage for six months last week.

A major firefight broke out afterwards on the remote southern island of Basilan on Friday, leaving 18 soldiers and more than two dozen Abu Sayyaf gunmen dead.

The military said skirmishes were still continuing with Abu Sayyaf fighters on Wednesday, and the toll of dead rebels had risen to 28.

Among those killed were a Moroccan bomb expert called Mohammad Khattab, who the military said had been sent to build ties between local Muslim rebel groups and an international jihadist network.

"Khattab planned to speak to all of them to unite and link them to the entire international terrorist network," military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla told reporters.
Dhaka: The anti-talk faction of separatist outfit ULFA has threatened to blow up Bangladesh's largest gas transmission pipeline, prompting authorities to order an intensified security vigil, a media report said on Wednesday citing an Indian intelligence tip-off.

The Paresh Barua-led faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) recently issued the threat to blow up the transmission line of the Bibiyana gas field, which supplies 45 per cent of the gas, the mass circulation Samakal newspaper in a lead story, basing it on information given by Indian intelligence agencies.

The article said Indian intelligence agencies recently unearthed the plot tapping a telephone conversation of Barua with an ULFA commander when he asked him to blow up the pipeline in Bangladesh.

The 119 kilometre-long Bibiyana pipeline is Bangladesh's largest transmission line that supplies gas to the national grid from the Bibiyana gas field in northeastern Habiganj, bordering Assam to central Dhunat sub-district, operated by US oil giant Chevron.

Officials of state-run Petrobangla, which contracts out the gas plants to foreign and local oil companies, said they received the information last week and took up the issue with concerned government authorities and cautioned Chevron.

"We have sought necessary government steps for the security of the gas line and cautioned Chevron to enforce an extra vigil on the Bibiyana's production and transmission systems," Petrobangla director M Kamaruzzaman told PTI.

He said Petrobangla and Chevron already held a meeting with the officials of the home ministry and security agencies concerned to ensure adequate security for the plant and the transmission line.

A home ministry official said the law enforcement and security agencies were asked to take necessary steps in view of the reported threat, enhancing their vigil as the outfit has record of carrying out sabotages on Indian gas pipelines.

However, officials said they were assessing its authenticity and capacity of the outfit's "remnants".

Home minister Asaduzzaman Kamal expressed his doubt about the authenticity of the threat and capacity of the ULFA faction as most of their top leaders gave up their separatist campaign in view of their negotiations with the Indian government.

"I cannot tell you anything about the threat before we could fully verify it, but I am in doubt about the capacity of ULFA remnants in carrying out any sabotage in our country," Kamal said.

He added that Bangladesh long ago drove out ULFA from its borders with India, evicting their makeshift hideouts.

"Paresh Barua, however, is still on the run but we understand India has kept a watch on his activities and so have we, as he once secretly took refuge in Bangladesh," Kamal said.
Kaduna: Claims by a Kaduna state official that Nigeria's military secretly buried 347 people after clashes with members of a minority Shia Muslim sect should be investigated and anyone suspected of wrongdoing put on trial, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

The official on Monday told an inquiry into the December clashes in the northern state of Kaduna that the corpses were taken from an army depot and buried in mass graves.

The army has previously said the Islamic Movement in Nigeria had tried to assassinate its chief of staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, when members of the sect blocked his convoy in the northern city of Zaria in December. The following day the army said it had raided several buildings connected to the sect.

A Nigerian army spokesman contacted by Reuters declined to comment on the mass burial allegations. In January, the army chief of staff told the inquiry that his soldiers had acted appropriately in the raid.

Balarabe Lawal, secretary to the state government in Kaduna, told the inquiry that the bodies in the secret mass burials were those of sect members.

Amnesty International Nigeria said the "revelation by the Kaduna state government that hundreds of Shias were gunned down and dumped in mass graves is an important first step to bringing all those suspected of criminal responsibility for this atrocity to trial".

"It is now imperative that the mass grave sites are protected in order that a full independent forensic investigation can begin," it said in a statement.

The Shia sect has previously said up to 1,000 of its members had been killed. The inquiry has the power to impose fines and payment of compensation.

Most of the tens of millions of Muslims in Nigeria are Sunni, including Boko Haram militants who have killed thousands in bombings and shootings, mainly in the northeast, since 2009.

Africa's most populous nation has around 180 million people, including several thousand Shia Muslims whose movement was inspired by the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Shia Iran.
Amsterdam: Dozens of heavily-armed military police swooped on Amsterdam`s Schiphol airport late Tuesday, evacuating part of the busy travel hub and arresting one man, triggering a four-hour security alert.

The incident came as the Netherlands has been on high guard following the March 22 attack on the Brussels airport and metro in which 32 people were killed.

"Police have evacuated part of the airport plaza and the adjacent Sheraton Hotel and arrested one person amid a suspicious situation," airport spokeswoman Danielle Timmer told AFP.

AFP reporters saw heavily armed Dutch special military police, wearing balaclavas, patrolling the airport while passengers anxiously watched from behind security tape.

Part of the airport was cordoned off for about four hours while a helicopter hovered overhead, until the alert was lifted at around 1:30 am (2330 GMT).

It remained unclear exactly what had triggered concerns, or who had been arrested, but the Dutch news agency said nothing dangerous had been found in a search of the arrested man`s luggage.

Military police spokesman Alfred Ellwanger told AFP that "around 9:45 pm a man was arrested on the square in front of the main entrance to the airport`s plaza".

No flights were disrupted and trains continuing arriving as normal at the underground station, which links the huge travel hub to the rest of the Netherlands.

"Nobody is telling us anything about what`s going on. My car is in the parking garage and I can`t get it out. I`m a diabetic and I need my insulin," said a 72-year-old Dutchman.

Schiphol, which lies about 16 kilometres (10 miles) southwest of central Amsterdam, is one of Europe`s busiest travel hubs with about 50 million visitors passing through each year.

"Part of Schiphol is not accessible due to an incident. Police is investigating the matter. For now, air traffic has not been affected," the airport said on its official Twitter account.

A spokesperson for the 407-room Sheraton hotel, which is linked to the airport via a covered walkway, reached by AFP declined to comment.Schiphol`s busy modern plaza and entrance is usually crowded with passengers and visitors, many of them enjoying a meal at one of the eateries or perusing the shops.

Tensions have been high since last month`s attacks in neighbouring Belgium, which like the November attacks in Paris, were claimed by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

One person was also arrested at the nearby Leiden railway station for raising a "false alarm", a spokeswoman for The Hague police told AFP.

Another person was arrested at Schiphol, but unrelated to the incident, police said.

There has been concern in the Netherlands about whether it could potentially be targeted in a terror attack, due to its proximity to both Belgium and France.

As a precaution, the government stepped up security at national airports and train stations and tightened controls on its southern border with Belgium.

Dutch police carried out raids in Rotterdam last month, uncovering about 45 kilos (99 pounds) of ammunition in one apartment linked to a foiled attack on France.

French suspect Anis Bahri was arrested at the flat in the southern port on March 27 at Paris` request, amid suspicions he was planning an attack in France for the Islamic State group.

He is fighting his extradition to Paris, where he is wanted on suspicion of plotting the foiled attack with another man, Reda Kriket.

Two Algerians arrested with Bahri have been remanded in custody in the Netherlands.
The Hague: Dutch military police were Wednesday investigating a major security alert triggered overnight at Amsterdam`s busy international airport, with one man still in custody.

Dozens of heavily-armed military police had swooped on Schiphol airport, evacuating hundreds of people late Tuesday from public areas after receiving a tip-off about a "suspicious situation."

The scare at one of Europe`s busiest travel hubs with flight links around the world came exactly three weeks after the March 22 attacks on the Brussels airport and metro which left 32 people dead.

But it remained unclear exactly what was behind the late-night security sweep, after the Dutch bomb squad found nothing suspicious in the luggage of the arrested man.

"The man arrested in the suspicious situation in #Schiphol still in custody," the military police, said on their Twitter account.

They added they were "investigating" and would provide an update later in the day.

The man`s identity has not been revealed.

No flights were disrupted during the operation, and the airport authorities confirmed no disruptions were expected on Wednesday.

Tensions have been high since last month`s attacks in neighbouring Belgium, which like the November attacks in Paris, were claimed by the so-called Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

There have been concerns that the Netherlands could be targeted in a terror attack, due to its proximity to both Belgium and France.

Dutch F-16 fighter jets have also broadened the country`s mission in the US-led air campaign against IS, bombing jihadist targets in Syria since February.

As a precaution, the government stepped up security at national airports and train stations and tightened controls on its southern border with Belgium.

More than 200 Dutch nationals, including about 50 women, are also believed to have joined the ranks of IS in Iraq and Syria, according to Dutch intelligence services.

Last month, at the request of French authorities, Dutch police carried out raids on an apartment in Rotterdam, uncovering about 45 kilos (99 pounds) of ammunition.

French suspect Anis Bahri was arrested at the flat suspected of trying to take part in a foiled plot in France. He is now fighting his extradition to Paris.
District of Columbia: In an apparent jab at presidential challengers Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday the United States must never again resort to torture.

Trump, the frontrunner to secure the Republican nomination for this year`s White House race, has repeatedly said he supports the use of waterboarding, or simulated drowning, and "a hell of a lot worse" on terror suspects.

Texas senator Cruz, Trump`s closest rival, argues that waterboarding does not amount to torture and that he would consider authorizing it as president if America faced imminent attack.

President Barack Obama banned "enhanced interrogation techniques" after taking office in 2009 after CIA interrogators working under predecessor George W. Bush resorted to the torture of detainees.

Kerry, introducing the annual State Department global human rights report, insisted that the ban must stay in place and warned that America would be weaker if it lost its claim to moral leadership.

"I want to say a word about the issue of torture. I want to remove even a scintilla of doubt or confusion that has been caused by statements that others have made in recent weeks and months," he said, without giving names.

"The United States is opposed to the use of torture in any form, at any time, by any government or non-state actor.

"This is a standard that we insist that others meet and therefore we must meet this standard ourselves."

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, said that he understands "the fierce anger that arises in war when fellow countrymen are attacked.

"But there is a sharp dividing line between societies that abandon all standards when times are tough and those that do their absolute best to maintain those standards. Because ultimately, upholding core values is what makes a nation strong."

This week, CIA director John Brennan said his agency would not carry out waterboarding or enhanced interrogation again, even if ordered to by a future president. Trump dismissed this warning as "ridiculous."
The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank Tuesday was announced as the winning bidder in a new charitable food system program from the state.

The Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System (PASS) was established in 2010 following a successful pilot program in 2008, but was never funded. Gov. Tom Wolf proposed funding for the program in his 2015-16 budget proposal, and the final budget will make $1 million available to implement the program statewide.

The pilot program in 2008 involved the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, which was able to acquire 128,740 pounds of Pennsylvania-grown surplus apples with a retail value of $188,604 for an actual cost of only $41,180. The apples were packed and then distributed among the food bank's 27-county region.

In February, the state Department of Agriculture issued a competitive request for proposals for the statewide PASS, and the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank was the winning bidder.

The food bank and the state's charitable feeding organizations will secure a variety of surplus agricultural products produced in the state.

PASS will provide an opportunity to create new markets for many of the states farmers and food producers who currently have no outlets or limited opportunity for surplus product, Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said. The program will also provide a safe, efficient system for farmers wishing to donate products to the charitable food system. Producers, packers and processors participating in PASS may be reimbursed for costs involved in harvesting, processing and/or packaging, and transporting donated product. In this way, Pennsylvania-produced products will stay in the state to help meet peoples basic food needs.

As part of the implementation process, the department is developing a database of producers who want to be considered as sources of product for the program. This database will include farmers who offer products such as fruits and vegetables, eggs, dairy, beef, pork and poultry.

Pennsylvania producers interested in participating can contact the department's Bureau of Food Distribution at 800-468-2433.
London: ISIS terror group has issued a list of names of Muslim clerics, calling them "imams of kafir" and asking its followers to kill anyone who disagrees with them ? including Islamic leaders.

In the latest issue of its propaganda magazine Dabiq, the ISIS, also known as Daesh, has singled out those clerics who criticise them and said the "imams of kafir" (leaders of infidels) should be slaughtered.

Muslim clerics across the world, including India, have condemned the attacks by ISIS in Europe, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, saying being a Muslim was about peace, not violence.

In September last year, nearly 1,000 Muslim clerics in India signed a fatwa against ISIS and other terror groups, saying they were "not Islamic organisations".

In a chapter called 'Kill the Imams of kafir in the west', the magazine said: "How can Muslims living in the West who claim to have surrendered themselves to Allah, completely accepting His rule alone, stand idly as these imams of kafir continue to spread their poison from atop their pulpits?

"One must either take the journey to dar-al-Islam, joining the ranks of the mujahid or wage jihad by himself with the resources available to him (knives, guns, explosives, etc.) to kill the crusaders and other disbelievers and apostates, including the imams of kafir, to make an example of them, as all of them are valid ? rather, obligatory ? targets," the Express newspaper reported, citing the magazine.

The group has published a list of names of Imams it has singled out as being "kafir". However, the paper did not disclose their names.

The magazine also identified those behind the Brussels terror attacks and praised them along with their photographs.
London: ISIS terror group has issued a list of names of Muslim clerics, calling them "imams of kafir" and asking its followers to kill anyone who disagrees with them including Islamic leaders.

In the latest issue of its propaganda magazine Dabiq, the ISIS, also known as Daesh, has singled out those clerics who criticise them and said the "imams of kafir" (leaders of infidels) should be slaughtered.

Muslim clerics across the world, including in Britain and India, have condemned the attacks by ISIS in Europe, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, saying being a Muslim was about peace, not violence.

A number of British Muslim imams have openly condemned the ISIS-inspired attacks in Paris, Brussels, Tunisia, Turkey and the Ivory Coast over the last few months.

In September last year, nearly 1,000 Muslim clerics in India signed a fatwa against ISIS and other terror groups, saying they were "not Islamic organisations".

In a chapter called 'Kill the Imams of kafir in the west', the magazine said: "How can Muslims living in the West who claim to have surrendered themselves to Allah, completely accepting His rule alone, stand idly as these imams of kafir continue to spread their poison from atop their pulpits?

"One must either take the journey to dar-al-Islam, joining the ranks of the mujahid or wage jihad by himself with the resources available to him (knives, guns, explosives, etc.) to kill the crusaders and other disbelievers and apostates, including the imams of kafir, to make an example of them, as all of them are valid ? rather, obligatory ? targets," the Express newspaper reported, citing the magazine.

The group has published a list of names of Imams it has singled out as being "kafir". However, the paper did not disclose their names.

The magazine also identified those behind the Brussels terror attacks and praised them along with their photographs.
United Nations: A renewed Palestinian drive to persuade the UN Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements is aimed at removing the biggest obstacle to peace and boosting French efforts to broker an agreement, the Palestinian UN envoy said on Tuesday.:

Riyad Mansour, permanent Palestinian observer to the United Nations, told a small group of reporters that Arab delegations have received the draft resolution.

He said the point of putting the draft about Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank forward was "to keep the hope alive, to remove this obstacle from the path of peace, to open doors for peace, (and) to try to help the French initiative to stand on its feet."

With US efforts to broker a two-state solution in tatters since 2014 and Washington focused on this year`s election, France has been lobbying countries to commit to a conference that would get Israelis and Palestinians back to negotiations about ending their conflict.

Mansour said Washington vetoed a similar resolution about Israel`s settlements five years ago because of fears it would undermine peace talks. But now, he noted, there are no peace talks.

In February 2011, the United States voted against a draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory, though it said at the time its opposition should not be misunderstood as support for settlement activity.

The United States considers Israeli settlements on land the Palestinians want for a future state to be illegitimate.

Washington has not offered substantive comment on the new Palestinian draft, which has fuelled speculation in Israeli media the United States is undecided about whether to use its veto this time.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be in New York next week to sign the Paris climate agreement. He is expected to meet with French President Francois Hollande on the sidelines, diplomats say, and will likely discuss the Palestinian draft resolution.

So far Egypt, the sole Arab council member, has not formally introduced the text.

Israel`s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon last week reacted sharply to Israeli media reports about a possible Palestinian draft resolution on settlements.

"The Palestinians must understand that there are no shortcuts," he said in a statement. "The only way to promote negotiations starts by them condemning terrorism and stopping the incitement, and ends with direct negotiations between the two sides."
Manila: Defence officials from the Philippines and Vietnam will meet this week to explore possible joint exercises and navy patrols, military sources said, shoring up a new alliance between states locked in maritime rows with China.

Ties have strengthened between the two Southeast Asian countries as China`s assertiveness intensifies with a rapid buildup of man-made islands in the Spratly archipelago, to which Vietnam and the Philippines lay claim.

Both states are also on the receiving end of a renewed charm offensive by the United States, which is holding joint military exercises in the Philippines to be attended this week by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

Vietnam and the Philippines would discuss patrols and exercises, but a deal this week was unlikely, a senior military official told Reuters.

"These are initial discussions," he said. "These may take time but we would like to move to the next level."

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. The information was confirmed by another defence ministry source in Manila.

Naval patrols between the Philippines and United States were proposed by Manila in January. They could happen within a year, a foreign ministry official said.

"The two sides are still talking about this," the official told Reuters.

Vietnam and the Philippines agreed on a strategic partnership in November to boost security relations as China expands its presence in the strategic waterway and deploys military equipment in the Spratly and Paracel islands.

Their closer ties mark a bold step in a region where China`s economic influence has made some countries reluctant to take a joint stand against its maritime manoeuvring.

The meeting between Vietnam`s vice defence minister, Nguyen Chi Vinh, and Honorio Azcueta, the Philippine undersecretary of defense, is scheduled for Thursday and comes as a court in The Hague nears a decision in an arbitration case lodged by Manila.

The ruling in the case, which seeks to clarify parts of a United Nations maritime law, could dent China`s claim to 90 percent of the South China Sea, parts of which Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei also claim.

The South China Sea will figure in the talks between the two countries, as will bilateral exchanges, information-sharing, military logistics and defence technology, the sources said.

Vinh would tour Philippine bases, including a major naval facility. Vietnam`s state media has not reported the visit.

Two Vietnamese frigates made port calls to Manila in 2014 and a Philippine warship may do the same in Vietnam this June. Troops from both sides have played sports together twice since 2014 on disputed islands they occupy.

On Monday, Philippine Foreign Minister Jose Rene Almendras was the first foreign dignitary to meet Vietnam`s new prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
Seoul: South Korea`s main opposition party won a surprise victory in Wednesday`s general election, ending the the conservative ruling party`s 16-year parliamentary majority.

The vote, clouded by North Korean nuclear threats and a slowing economy, dealt a blow to President Park Geun-Hye and raised hopes for an opposition victory in the 2017 presidential election.

With almost all ballots counted, Park`s Saenuri Party won 122 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, while the main opposition Minjoo Party won 123, the most of any party.

The splinter opposition People`s Party bagged 38 spots, and another six seats went to a small opposition party, the Justice Party.

"The Saenuri Party humbly accepts the election results and voters` choice," party spokesman Ahn Hyung-Hwan told journalists.

"The people are deeply disappointed with us, but we`ve failed to read their mind," he added.

It marked the first time since 1999 the conservative party has lost control of parliament, with the three opposition parties garnering a combined 167 seats, well over the majority.

Voter turnout was 58 percent, up 3.8 percentage points from the 2012 election, and final official results were expected Thursday morning.



"This is a voters` judgement against President Park. Many voters are fed up with her authoritarian style of administration", Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies told AFP.

Park has also fallen short on most of her key economic promises, a failure she puts down to legislative inaction.

But critics accuse her of skewed priorities, poor decision-making and a dogmatic style of leadership.

"People punished Park for her poor performance in economy," Minjoo Party President Kim Chong-In said.

Political power in South Korea is firmly concentrated in the presidency, with incumbents limited to a single five-year term.

Dissatisfaction is especially high among young people, with the jobless rate among those aged 15-29 at record levels.

The left-wing opposition sought to frame Wednesday`s vote as a referendum on Park`s economic policies. But it has suffered from factional infighting and breakaways that threaten to split the liberal vote.

Kate Kim, an unemployed 25-year-old college graduate, said crippling levels of joblessness had persuaded her and many of her previously apathetic friends to vote.

"This is the first time I have voted... our country desperately needs change, especially for young and jobless people like me," Kim said.Analysts had earlier predicted a majority for Saenuri, saying its prospects would be boosted by surging military tensions on the divided peninsula.

The North conducted its fourth nuclear test in January, followed a month later by a long-range rocket launch that was widely seen as a disguised ballistic missile test.

Tensions are also high over an ongoing major US-South Korean military exercise, which the North sees as a rehearsal for invasion.

Seoul businessman Chung Hae-Young said he voted for Saenuri because of its hardline stance towards Pyongyang.

"I like how the party handled the North, although it honestly hasn`t done a good job with the economy," said the 60-year-old.

But the conservatives have also suffered from internal bickering, particularly over the process for nominating candidates, which led to a number of defections by MPs now running as independents.

The outcome of Wednesday`s vote could have a significant impact on Park, who has less than two years left of her term.

Under her presidency, annual economic growth in Asia`s fourth largest economy has averaged around 2.9 percent compared to 3.2 percent under her predecessor Lee Myung-Bak.

Exports, which account for more than half of GDP, have fallen for the past 14 months consecutively, while household debt has soared to a record $1.0 trillion.
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia has stripped its frequently criticised religious police of their powers to arrest, urging them to act "kindly and gently" in enforcing Islamic rules.

Under changes approved by the Saudi cabinet, religious officers will no longer be allowed to detain people and instead must report violators to police or drug squad officers, the official Saudi Press Agency said, reporting the changes late Tuesday.

Officers of the Haia force, also known as the Mutawaa, must "carry out the duties of encouraging virtue and forbidding vice by advising kindly and gently" under the new rules, it reported.

"Neither the heads nor members of the Haia are to stop or arrest or chase people or ask for their IDs or follow them -- that is considered the jurisdiction of the police or the drug unit," the regulations say.

Saudi Arabia`s religious police enforce the country`s strict interpretation of Islamic law including segregation of the sexes, ensuring that women cover themselves from head-to-toe when in public.

Formally known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, its members also patrol shops to make sure they are shuttered during prayers five times daily.

Prior to the new regulations, officers were allowed to arrest people using alcohol or drugs and committing certain other offences including witchcraft.

Their tactics have regularly been the subject of controversy, most recently in February when members were arrested for allegedly assaulting a young woman outside a Riyadh shopping mall, local media said at the time.

In 2013, religious policemen were arrested after their patrol car crashed into another vehicle during a chase that left two men dead.
Seoul; South Korea's conservative ruling party may have lost its parliamentary majority in Wednesday's general election, exit polls by three TV channels showed.

The polls said the Saenuri Party was forecast to win between 118 and 147 seats in the 300-member National Assembly.

The main opposition Minjoo Party was expected to secure between 97 and 128 and the splinter opposition People's Party to win between 31 and 43 seats.

"Obviously, we're worried about the exit poll results but we will calmly wait until the final ballot counting results are returned", Saenuri's parliamentary floor leader Won Yoo-Chul said on national KBS TV.

The elections were clouded by North Korean nuclear threats and the multiple challenges facing Asia's fourth-largest economy, as President Park Geun-Hye enters the final stretch of her term in office.

Political power in South Korea is firmly concentrated in the presidency and elections to the single-chamber national assembly are traditionally dominated by local issues.

It is expected to become clear at about 1500GMT if Saenuri has lost its majority.

Observers, however, cautioned that exit polls have been wrong in the past five parliamentary elections.

If the ruling party, which won 152 parliamentary seats four years ago, fails to hold a majority it would be forced to rely on independent lawmakers to retain power in parliament.

Rising unemployment, plunging exports and worryingly high levels of household debt have led to criticisms of Park's handling of the economy and, by extension, of her ruling conservative Saenuri Party.

Dissatisfaction is especially high among young people, with the jobless rate among those aged 15-29 at record levels.

The left-wing opposition has sought to frame the vote as a referendum on Park's economic policies, but has suffered from factional infighting and breakaways that threaten to split the liberal vote to Saenuri's advantage.

Kate Kim, an unemployed 25-year-old college graduate, said that crippling levels of joblessness had persuaded her and many of her previously apathetic friends to vote.

"This is the first time I have voted... Our country desperately needs change, especially for young and jobless people like me," Kim said.

All 300 seats in the legislature are up for grabs, with 253 chosen in first-past-the-post constituency elections, and the remaining 47 elected on a separate ballot via proportional representation.

Analysts had predicted Saenuri's chances would receive a boost from surging military tensions on the divided peninsula.

But the exit polls indicated that threats from North Korea may have failed to aid of the ruling party, traditionally regarded as hawkish on security issues.


Banda Aceh: An elderly Christian woman has been caned in a conservative Indonesian province for selling alcohol, the first time someone from outside the Islamic faith has been punished there under strict religious laws.

The 60-year was whipped nearly 30 times with a rattan cane before a crowd of hundreds in Aceh province Tuesday, an official said, along with a couple who were subjected to 100 lashes for committing adultery.

Aceh is the only province in the predominantly Muslim country that applies sharia law, and public canings for breaches of Islamic code happen on a regular basis and often attract huge crowds.

Those caught engaging in adultery, same-sex relationships, drinking and even associating with unmarried members of the opposite sex can end up facing the cane.

Though the law once only applied to Muslims, a bylaw that took effect late last year allowed sharia regulations to be applied to non-Muslims in certain situations, Lili Suparli, a senior official at the Central Aceh prosecutor`s office told AFP.

"This is the first case of a non-Muslim being punished under Islamic criminal bylaw," he said, referring to the punishment of the Christian woman.

Aceh began implementing sharia law after being granted special autonomy in 2001, an effort by the central government in Jakarta to quell a long-running separatist insurgency.

Islamic laws have been strengthened since the province struck a peace deal with the central government in 2005.

More than 90 percent of Indonesians describe themselves as Muslim, but the vast majority practise a moderate form of the faith.
Geneva: A second round of peace talks to end Syria`s five-year civil war are due to resume in Geneva on Wednesday, as a surge in violence in northern Aleppo province threatened a fragile truce.

The United Nations-brokered talks are aimed at forming a transitional government followed by general elections to end a conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced half of the country`s population.

The fate of President Bashar al-Assad remains a stumbling block, and UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has held meetings with Assad`s key allies Tehran and Moscow ahead of a sit-down with the main opposition High Negotiations Committee Wednesday and regime representatives later in the week.

A surge in violence in the last few days has threatened a landmark ceasefire agreed in February -- which had largely held -- and piled more pressure on these talks, which follow two previous fruitless attempts to negotiate an end to the bloodshed.

"Right now, there are signs that this (the ceasefire) is slipping and it is a much more delicate environment for de Mistura to convene political talks," US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power told reporters in New York after a briefing by de Mistura on Tuesday.

Power said Russia must put pressure on its Syrian ally to "get the regime back with the programme", adding she was "very alarmed" by Syria`s plans to launch a Russian-backed counter-offensive in Aleppo, the epicentre of the renewed fighting.

Iran`s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian also voiced concerns about the increase in fighting following de Mistura`s trip to Tehran, saying it was "disturbing and may interfere with the political process".

Another point of tension as the indirect talks resume, are parliamentary elections being held Wednesday in government-controlled areas of Syria.

The UN does not recognise the vote, which has also been dismissed by Assad`s Syrian and foreign opponents as illegitimate.The partial truce brokered by Moscow and Washington, which came into effect on February 27, had raised hopes for a resolution to the conflict, until the recent escalation in fighting in northern Aleppo province, in parts of Hama province and Damascus.

Pro-government forces were on Tuesday pressing an advance against the town of Al-Eis, held by Al-Qaeda`s local affiliate, Al-Nusra Front, and allied rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Al-Nusra and the rebels fought back, killing at least 23 regime loyalists, including Iranian and Afghan militia fighters, the Observatory said.

Jihadists like those from Al-Nusra and the Islamic State group are excluded from the ceasefire. But in some areas, Al-Nusra is allied with rebel forces meant to be covered by the truce.

Intra-jihadist fighting also raged in southern Damascus, where IS on Tuesday took control of most of a Palestinian refugee camp, seizing territory held by Al-Nusra, a Palestinian official told AFP.

Regime warplanes have carried out "unprecedented" air strikes on the rebel-held eastern parts of Aleppo city, according to the Observatory."I didn`t send my child to school today because I was afraid of more air strikes like in the past two days," said Ismail, a 30-year-old Aleppo resident.

Abu Mohammad fled his home in Aleppo during the peak of the Syrian air force`s bombing campaign but came back when the situation improved. He now fears his return may be short-lived.

"I am preparing myself to leave the city should the bombing continue," the 38-year-old father of four told AFP.

Washington on Monday expressed worries that an assault against Al-Nusra in Aleppo may spread to moderate rebel factions, which could cause the truce to collapse and derail the peace efforts.

"We are concerned about plans to attack and seize... Aleppo when there are clearly opposition groups there that are part of the cessation of hostilities," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

The truce has allowed increased humanitarian aid deliveries and a significant drop in civilian deaths.

"The ceasefire has been so important over the last weeks because it has given people a lot more than simply access to markets, access to assistance. It has given them hope," the World Food Programme`s deputy regional head Matthew Hollingworth told AFP in Damascus.
Damascus: Syrians voted in a parliamentary election in government-held areas of the country on Wednesday in what voters called a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad, who is holding the poll in defiance of opponents seeking to oust him.

The election is going ahead independently of a U.N.-led peace process aimed at finding a political solution to the five-year-long war. The government says it is being held on time in line with the constitution. The opposition says the vote is illegitimate and will obstruct already struggling diplomacy.

"We are voting for the sake of the Syrian people and for the sake of Assad. Assad is already strong but these elections show that the people support him and bolster him," said Hadi Jumaa, a 19-year-old student, as he cast his ballot at his university halls of residence in Damascus.

Dozens queued to vote at one polling station where a portrait of Assad hung on the wall. Outside, some danced.

With his wife Asma at his side as he went to vote in Damascus, a smiling Assad told state TV that terrorism had been able to destroy much of Syria`s infrastructure but not Syria`s "social structure, the national identity".

The conflict has killed more than 250,000 and created millions of refugees, splintering Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by the government, an array of rebels, a powerful Kurdish militia, and the Islamic State group. The government views all the groups fighting it as terrorists.

The government controls around one third of Syria, including the main cities of western Syria, home to most of the people who have not fled the country. The United Nations puts the number of refugees at 4.8 million.

It is the second election held by the government in wartime: Assad was reelected president in 2014. Voters are to elect 250 MPs to parliament, which has no real power in Syria`s presidential system. The state is rallying them around the slogan "Your vote strengthens your steadfastness".

OPPOSITION SEES VOTE AS "THEATRE"

The election coincides with the start of a second round of U.N.-led peace talks in Geneva. The opposition delegation is due to meet U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura on Wednesday. The government has said it will be ready to participate from Friday.

The diplomacy is struggling to make progress with no sign of compromise over the main issue dividing the sides: Assad`s future. The government had ruled out any discussion of the presidency ahead of the first round of talks last month.

"These elections do not mean anything," said Asaad al-Zoubi, chief negotiator for the main opposition body, the High Negotiations Council. "They are illegitimate - theatre for the sake of procrastination, theatre through which the regime is trying to give itself a little legitimacy."

Foreign states opposed to Assad have said the vote is out of line with a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for elections at the end of an 18-month transition. His allies, notably Russia, say it is in line with the constitution.

"The decision of the regime to hold elections is a measure of how divorced it is from reality. They cannot buy back legitimacy by putting up a flimsy facade of democracy," said a spokesperson for the British government.

France said the elections were a "sham" organised by "an oppressive regime".

Russia, one of Assad`s main foreign allies, said however that the election was necessary to avoid a power vacuum.

"There is understanding already, that a new constitution should emerge as a result of this political process, on the basis of which new, early elections are to be held," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news briefing.

"But before this happens, one should avoid any legal vacuum or any vacuum in the sphere of executive power."

Syrians living in opposition-held areas dismissed the vote.

"We used to be forced to cast our vote in sham elections. Now, we are no longer obliged to. After all this killing they want to make a play called elections," said Yousef Doumani, speaking from the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus.

But Shereen Sirmani, who fled to Damascus from the Islamic State-besieged city of Deir al-Zor four months ago, said the election was good for Syria.

"We hope they bring people together," she said. "We support Assad and these elections are a boost for him."
Ex-army chief JJ Singh gets highest French civilian honour

Published: April 12, 2016

Former Indian Army Chief General (retd) JJ Singh was conferred with the prestigious Officer of the Legion of Honour, the highest French civilian distinction.

He was conferred the honour by French Ambassador to India, Francois Richier in New Delhi.

Mr. Singh was chosen for the honour in recognition of his stellar role in modernising the Indian Army. It also recognised his pivotal role for initiating robust exchanges between the Indian and French armies leading to unprecedented levels of inter-operability and cooperation.

About JJ Singh

He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) and was commissioned into the 9th Maratha Light Infantry on 2 August 1964.

In January, 2003, he was appointed as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Army Training Command (ARTRAC). Later in January 2004, he took over as Army Commander  Western Command.

In January 2005, he was appointed as the Chief of Army Staff. In 2007, he had served as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CSC) of the three forces.

After his retirement in September 2007 from Indian Army, Mr. Singh had served as the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh from 2008 to 2013.

During his stint in the Indian Army he had played important role for the enhancement of military cooperation between the Indian and French armies.

During his tenure, he had mooted the idea of holding joint army exercises at the level already existing between the two countries air forces (Garuda) and navies (Varuna).

In 2009, he was invited as the Guest of Honour for the French National Day military parade in Paris in which an Indian Army contingent took part for the first time.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2016

Topics: Awards  France  Indian Army  Persons in News

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Rome: Texas Sen Ted Cruz blasted rival Donald Trump in a radio interview, accusing the Republican front-runner of being a bully, inciting violence and using dirty tricks to intimidate voters and delegates, as Trump continued to rail against a nominating system he says is crooked and rigged.

Using some of the harshest rhetoric of the campaign to date, Cruz said his billionaire rival is a bad businessman who has been surrounded by sycophants his entire career.

"Donald's whole pitch is he's a great businessman," Cruz said in a wide-ranging interview on the Glenn Beck radio show, adding that given how Trump runs his campaign, "it appears he can't run a lemonade stand."

The comments came as both campaigns work tirelessly behind the scenes to secure delegates who will back them at the Republican Party convention this summer in Cleveland.

So far, Trump has appeared badly outmaneuvered by a better-organized Cruz operation, prompting the real estate mogul to rail against the Republican electoral system, claiming that the will of the voters is being denied.

"Our Republican system is absolutely rigged. It's a phony deal," said Trump at a rally in a packed airport hangar in Rome, New York, on Tuesday evening, where his speech was dominated by foot-stomping over the primary process.

He pointed to Colorado, where he said the delegate-selection system was set up by "crooked politicians" to make sure an outsider like him could never win.

"These are dirty tricksters," he said, placing the blame on the Republican National Committee. "They should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this kind of crap to happen," he added, saying that both Republicans and Democrats have set up "phony rules and regulations" that makes it "impossible for a guy that wins to win."

He went further a few hours later during a CNN town hall in New York City, suggesting the RNC was actively working to defeat him.

"The RNC doesn't like this happening. They don't like that I'm putting up my own money because it means they don't have any control over me," Trump said, arguing that the deck is "stacked against me by the establishment."
Kiev: Ukraine`s parliament on Wednesday approved a new pro-EU government headed by parliament speaker Volodymyr Groysman to replace the cabinet of prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk who resigned at the weekend, officials said.

The pro-western coalition in power "has backed the candidature of Groysman for the post of prime minister," a spokesman for another candidate, Dmytro Stolarchuk, said on Twitter, with several parliamentarians confirming the decision which was thrashed out over days of fraught debate.

The new prime minister and his team are expected to be formally named on Thursday, said parliamentary deputy Maksim Bourbak.

Parliament had agreed on who should head up all the ministries, with the exception of the health ministry, the deputies added.

Ukraine has been gripped by a months-long political crisis that forced Yatsenyuk to resign on Sunday over his seeming failure to fight graft and implement economic restructuring measures prescribed by the IMF under a $17.5-billion (15.4-billion-euro) rescue deal.

The release of new tranches of that money and billions of dollars of other aid have been suspended until the former Soviet republic can unite behind a new government and fulfil the pledges made during its historic February 2014 pro-EU revolt.

The leaders who succeeded ousted Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych have seen their approval ratings plunge due to public disillusionment about their ability to break a handful of tycoons` grip on politics and eliminate corruption.

The pro-EU coalition that formed after the so-called Maidan Revolution has since cracked and forced the parties led by current President Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk -- parliament`s two largest -- to enlist a handful of other lawmakers to make sure that a new government is approved.The political mayhem comes against the backdrop of a two-year-old pro-Russian rebellion in the separatist east that has claimed nearly 9,200 lives.

Russia denies charges by Kiev and its Western allies of orchestrating and supporting the insurgency in reprisal for Ukraine`s pivot away from Moscow towards the West.

The negotiations between the two main parties on the composition of the new government had carried on for days.

Lists of potential cabinet member published by Ukrainian media and cited by lawmakers excluded the three foreigners Poroshenko called up in December 2014 to help the country recover from its dramatic economic slide.

These included widely-respected Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, a US-born former State Department worker and private banker who won plaudits for being able to pull off a crucial debt restructuring deal in August 2015.

"Yatsenyuk`s resignation will create more risks for Poroshenko`s rule," analyst Mikhail Minakov of Carnegie Europe wrote in a report.

"With Yatsenyuk gone, Poroshenko will be the major politician responsible for the success of Ukraine`s reforms."

Groysman, who at 38 years is set to become Ukraine`s youngest prime minister, is considered loyal to the president. He also served for several months as Yatsenyuk`s vice-premier.

He built a solid reputation during eight years as mayor of the centre-west town of Vinnytsia, considered a Poroshenko stronghold.

He is a "workaholic " with a "great capacity for resolving disputes", but lacks a "comprehensive vision", according to past and present employees interviewed by AFP.
By Jessica Dye

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for plaintiffs suing General Motors Co over injuries and deaths blamed on faulty ignitions switches said they are prepared to forge ahead with further trials this year despite promising recent developments for the automaker.

Last week, GM <GM.N> avoided an upcoming trial by settling what was considered by plaintiffs' lawyers to be one of their strongest cases, involving a father of five who was killed in a 2013 crash. The next day, the parties agreed to dismiss the next case slated for trial, brought by an Alabama man suing over crash injuries from 2013.

Still, a lead lawyer for plaintiffs, Robert Hilliard, said this week they are prepared to press forward and will discuss all options with the court for the next trials.

A case initially set for trial in September  brought by a Virginia woman who said she suffered traumatic crash injuries in 2011 - could be ready as soon as late June, Hilliard said.

The company has already paid out $2 billion in criminal and civil penalties and settlements over the switch, which can slip out of place, causing engine stalls and cutting power to various systems. GM acknowledged some employees knew about it for years before a recall was ordered.

Since January, GM has avoided major defeats in the switch litigation. A first trial was dismissed midway after the plaintiff was accused of giving misleading testimony. In a second trial, the jury found the switch was defective but did not cause plaintiffs crash.

The dismissals have created an unexpected gap in the planned series of six test, or bellwether, trials set for federal litigation. Next week, both sides will appear before U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan to discuss the next steps.

While the early verdicts are not binding on other cases, they are important in helping both sides assess the claims' value. Although GM has resolved nearly 2,000 claims through settlements and its own out-of-court compensation fund, more than 230 injury and death lawsuits are pending in federal court.

Story continues

Hilliard noted that 18 trials are scheduled in state courts through 2017. State courts are generally viewed as more plaintiff-friendly than federal courts, and GM could still be hit with a sizable verdict.

GM spokesman Jim Cain declined to comment on trial scheduling but said the company continued to believe the trials would help establish settlement values.

(Reporting by Jessica Dye; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Alan Crosby)
Desperation in Attawapiskat, where First Nation leaders fear for the young

NDP MP Charlie Angus opened the emergency debate on the Attawapiskat suicide crisis by calling for a groundswell of political will that will put an end to Band-Aid solutions for the problems facing Canada's First Nations.

"This isn't just particularly about Attawapiskat, it's about who we are as Canadians and our whole nation," Angus told the Commons. "The greatest tragedy is the image of these helpless communities, and these lost children," he said.

"Tonight might be the beginning of a change in our country, and that is what I am asking us to come together to do," Angus added.

- TIMELINE: States of emergency Attawapiskat has declared in recent years

Minister of Health Dr. Jane Philpott began by thanking Angus for asking for the House of Commons to hold the debate and for taking such a central role to bring "help and hope to these communities."

"When I think that there are communities in our country where  young people in groups are deciding that there is no hope for their future, we must do better, we have to find a way to go forward," said Philpott.

"Tonight has to be a turning point for us as a country in order for us to decide together that we will do better," she said.

A community in crisis

The request for an emergency debate comes as Attawapiskat Chief Bruce Shisheesh fears more young people will try to harm themselves while the community tries to grapple with the crisis after declaring a state of emergency Saturday, following reports of 11 suicide attempts in one day. There are also reports of over 100 suicide attempts and at least one death since September.

Officials from Health Canada said on Tuesday afternoon that 18 health workers, mental-health workers and police were being dispatched to support the Attawapiskat community.

That includes a medical emergency assistance team and the five additional mental health workers deployed a day earlier. Four mental health workers already in the community were to be sent out for rest and a debriefing, the departmental spokesperson said.

Story continues

"We'll have to look at what the intermediate or longer term needs are," said the Health Canada official in a phone briefing with journalists on Tuesday.

The emergency debate was approved by House Speaker Geoff Regan Tuesday morning on a request from Angus, whose riding includes Attawapiskat.

"The crisis in Attawapiskat has gathered world attention and people are looking to this Parliament to explain the lack of hope, that's not just in Attawapiskat but in so many indigenous communities. And they're looking to us, in this new Parliament, to offer change," Angus said in the House of Commons on Tuesday morning.

The session wrapped up just before midnight.

Angus said the emergency debate would allow MPs to address "the lack of mental health services, police services, community supports" facing so many First Nations communities across the country.

"In closing," Angus said, "the prime minister called the situation in Attawapiskat 'heartbreaking' but it is up to us as parliamentarians to turn this into a moment of hope-making."

"That's why I'm asking my colleagues to work with me tonight, to work together, to discuss this issue tonight and start to lay a path forward to give the hope to the children of our northern and all other indigenous communities," Angus said in the Commons earlier Tuesday.

Regan acknowledged "the gravity of this situation" before granting Angus's request.

'Unacceptable' conditions: Philpott

The health minister said the conditions facing indigenous communities are "absolutely unacceptable."

"We are currently investing over $300 million per year into mental wellness programs in these communities," Philpott said during question period on Tuesday.

Perry Bellegarde, the national chief for the Assembly of First Nations, will be traveling to Attawapiskat on Wednesday where he is expected to meet with Chief Shisheesh.

Ontario's Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Eric Hoskins is also expected to visit the northern community saying in a post on Twitter he looked forward to meeting Bellegarde and the Attawapiskat chief.

Other Ontario First Nations communities declared public health emergencies earlier this year.

At least four aboriginal leaders have been scheduled to appear before the Commons indigenous affairs committee on Thursday to discuss the health crises facing their communities.
By Nailia Bagirova and Hasmik Mkrtchyan BAKU/YEREVAN (Reuters) - Azerbaijan and its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh said they had halted hostilities on Tuesday after four days of intense fighting that had prompted fears of all-out war. Officials in Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian region that rejects Azerbaijan's rule, said there was still some sporadic shooting but that the intensity of the fighting had dropped off significantly. Several European countries had urged an end to the fighting, worried in part that it could cause instability in a region that serves as a corridor for pipelines taking oil and gas to world markets. The ex-Soviet states of Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a war over the mountainous territory in the early 1990s in which thousands were killed on both sides and hundreds of thousands displaced. The war 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. On Tuesday afternoon, military officials in Azerbaijan, and in the breakaway region, announced they had agreed to a ceasefire with immediate effect. Colonel Vitaly Arastamyan, a deputy chief of military headquarters for the breakway administration, said that after the ceasefire came into force his forces were fired at periodically, but not as intensively as in previous days. "This situation had been brewing since 2014, but what had happened during the last three days was a peak. It was the most serious aggravation of the situation since the 1994 ceasefire, Arastamyan told Reuters in Nagorno-Karabakh's capital, Stepanakert. Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry said it was observing the ceasefire. Reuters was not able independently to verify if either side had violated the truce. Washington welcomed the truce. "It's a very nascent ceasefire but we are encouraged that it does seem to have taken hold," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. "We're actively engaging with both sides to urge them to strictly adhere to the ceasefire." Before the hostilities were halted, Azerbaijan said 16 of its servicemen had been killed in the previous 48 hours. Officials in the breakaway region said 29 of their soldiers had been killed since the fighting started, and another 101 wounded. RISK OF ESCALATION An all-out war over Nagorno-Karabakh could drag in the big regional powers, Russia and Turkey. Moscow has a defense alliance with Armenia, while Ankara backs its ethnic Turkic kin in Azerbaijan. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday condemned what he said were Armenian attacks, and said Turkey would stand by Azerbaijan. Earlier, Russia's foreign minister had said Ankara's support for Baku was one-sided. Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave with a large ethnic Armenian population that lies inside the territory of Azerbaijan. The violence was a re-awakening of a long-festering ethnic conflict between the mainly Muslim Azeris and their Christian Armenian neighbors. Envoys from Russia, France and the United States - who make up a body called the Minsk Group that mediates in the conflict - are planning to head to the region, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in Paris. "We can see that military conflict cannot be the solution," Ayrault told reporters after talks with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken by phone to the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan and urged them to end the fighting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Even if the ceasefire holds in the short-term, there is still potential for the fighting to flare again. Anger and frustration are building in Azerbaijan that years of talks have failed to bring Nagorno-Karabakh under its control. The country has used revenues from exports of crude oil to build up its military, leading some Azeris to believe that if there was another war, they could win it. Azerbaijan said its troops had seized small pockets of territory in the latest fighting, and were fortifying those locations to make sure that it held on to its gains. (Writing by Christian Lowe; Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze in Stepanakert, John Irish in Paris, Dmitry Solovyov in Moscow, Ercan Gurses in Ankara, and Lesley Wroughton and David Alexander in Washington; Editing by Alison Williams)
By Luciana Lopez and Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former President Bill Clinton on Thursday faced down protesters angry at the impact his 1994 crime reforms have had on black Americans and defended the record of his wife, Hillary Clinton, who is relying on the support of black voters in her quest for the presidency. The former president spent more than 10 minutes confronting the protesters at a campaign rally in Philadelphia for his wife over criticisms that the crime bill he approved while president led to a surge in the imprisonment of black people. The Democratic race for the Nov. 8 election has become increasingly heated as Hillary Clinton, stung by a string of losses in state contests, has traded barbs with her rival for the party's nomination, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, over who is better prepared for the White House. In Philadelphia, several protesters heckled the former president mid-speech and held up signs, including one that read: "CLINTON Crime Bill Destroyed Our Communities." Video footage of Hillary Clinton defending the reforms in 1994 has been widely circulated during the campaign by activists in the Black Lives Matter protest movement. In the footage, she calls young people in gangs "super-predators" who need to "be brought to heel." Hillary Clinton, 68, who also has faced protesters upset by her remarks, said in February she regretted her language. Bill Clinton, 69, who was president from 1993 to 2001, defended her 1994 remarks, which protesters say were racially insensitive, and suggested the protesters' anger was misplaced. "I don't know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped on crack and sent them out on the street to murder other African-American children," he said, shaking his finger at a heckler as Clinton supporters cheered, according to video of the event. "Maybe you thought they were good citizens. She (Hillary Clinton) didn't." "You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter," he told a protester. "Tell the truth." Hillary Clinton promised to end "mass incarceration" in the first major speech of her campaign last year. She has won the support of the majority of black voters in every state nominating contest so far, often by a landslide. Spokesmen for the campaign and Bill Clinton did not immediately respond on Thursday to a request for comment. A SURGE IN PRISONERS The United States has more people in prison than any other country. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1.05 million prisoners were held in federal or state facilities in 1994. By 2014, it was 1.56 million. That year, 6 percent of all black men in their 30s were in prison, a rate six times higher than that of white men of the same age. Bill Clinton said last year that he regretted signing the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act into law because it contributed to the high incarceration rate of black people for nonviolent crimes. On Thursday, he did not explicitly recant those regrets, but appeared to be angry at any suggestion the bill was wholly bad. The legislation imposed tougher sentences, put thousands more police on the streets and helped fund the building of extra prisons. It was known for its federal "three strikes" provision that sent violent offenders to prison for life. The bill was backed by congressional Republicans and hailed at the time as a success for Clinton. Although Clinton is popular among Democrats who view him as a gifted orator and crowd pleaser, he has in the past veered from the carefully calibrated message put out by his wife's campaign, causing problems for her representatives. During Hillary Clintons failed 2008 presidential bid, civil rights leaders and high-ranking Democrats in Congress criticized the former president for statements he made during a heated campaign against then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama. Bill Clinton said Obama's campaign had played the race card. Obama became the first U.S. black president in November that year. Bill Clinton's remarks on Thursday drew criticism online. Some saw him as dismissive of the Black Lives Matter movement, a national outgrowth of anger over a string of encounters in which police officers killed unarmed black people. Johnetta Elzie, a civil rights activist, wrote online that Clinton "can't handle being confronted by his own record." "This is like watching a robot malfunction," she wrote. Earlier in Philadelphia, Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, assailed Clinton as unqualified to be president as the two campaigns became increasingly testy less than two weeks before New York's nominating contest. "Are you qualified to be president of the United States when you're raising millions of dollars from Wall Street, an entity whose greed, recklessness and illegal behavior helped destroy our economy?" Sanders said at a news conference. Clinton this week sharply questioned Sanders' credentials and ability to carry out a campaign pledge to break up the big banks. Spokesmen for Clinton noted she never said the word "unqualified" when she questioned his preparedness for the presidency, but they declined to say whether she believed in that characterization. Clinton aimed for a more magnanimous tone than her aides when speaking to reporters during a subway ride in New York City. "I don't know why he's saying that," she said of Sanders calling her unqualified. "But I will take Bernie Sanders over Ted Cruz or Donald Trump any time," she said of the two leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Sanders returned the sentiment in an interview with the "CBS Evening News" later on Thursday. "I think the idea of a Donald Trump or a Ted Cruz presidency would be an unmitigated disaster for this country. I will do everything in my power and work as hard as I can to make sure that that does not happen, and if Secretary Clinton is the nominee, I will certainly support her," he said. (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Megan Cassella, Alana Wise and Amanda Becker in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller and Peter Cooney)
A congressional committee in Brazil has recommended the ousting of the country's embattled president Dilma Rousseff.

The committee's vote - 38 to 27 in favour of impeachment - is not binding but sets the stage for a crucial vote in the country's lower house.

Ms Rousseff is accused of breaking fiscal laws to mask the dire state of the budget during her re-election in 2014.

Brazil's Chamber of Deputies will vote on Sunday or Monday next week on whether to send the matter to the Senate for a possible trial.

:: Analysis - Political Scandal Brings Instability To Brazil

A two-thirds majority is needed to achieve this and it could see Ms Rousseff ultimately removed from office.

The latest survey of the 513 deputies, however, shows 298 in favour - short of the 342 needed to carry the motion.

There are 119 deputies opposed and 96 undecided.

If the impeachment measure was to move to the Senate, they would then decide whether to open a trial, something that would see Ms Rousseff suspended from office for up to 180 days during proceedings.

If Ms Rousseff was eventually impeached, the reins would pass to her vice president Michel Temer.

On Monday, a recording was released via a newspaper of Mr Temer rehearsing the speech he is preparing for when he takes over.

His team said the leak was accidental but which Ms Rousseff's supporters say it is evidence of a "coup".

The road does not appear smooth for him either, however: while a poll shows that 61% of Brazilians favour impeaching Ms Rousseff, 58% think Mr Temer should suffer the same fate.

:: Brazil's Rousseff Isolated As Crisis Deepens

Ms Rousseff, meanwhile, is fighting back.

The 68-year-old who was tortured under Brazil's military dictatorship is being helped by her ally and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is frantically trying to build an anti-impeachment coalition.

But Lula himself is also immersed in scandal - facing money laundering charges over a corruption probe into state oil company Petrobras.

The scandal has seen a number of executives and politicians charged, including house Speaker Eduardo Cunha, who would be next in line for the presidency if Mr Temer were also impeached.
India, US agree to sign logistics support pact

Published: April 13, 2016

India and United States have agreed to sign Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) to ramp up bilateral defence ties.

In this regard, an announcement was made by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter after delegation-level talks between two sides. Ashton Carter was on three day official visit to India.

By signing LEMOA, both countries will be able to have access to each others logistics support along with refuelling and berthing facilities.

LEMOA is one of the three foundational agreements that guide US high technology cooperation with other countries. Other two are Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation (BECA).

Both countries will also sign two other agreements that will allow the two militaries to work in closer coordination with each other.

Besides, India and US also announced the launch of two dialogues (i) Between the two navies on submarine safety and anti-submarine warfare, (ii) Maritime security dialogue between officials of the defence and foreign ministries of the two countries.

They also concluded an agreement to improve maritime domain awareness with an arrangement to improve sharing of data on commercial shipping traffic.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2016

Topics: Defence  India-US  National

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By Luciana Lopez and Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former President Bill Clinton faced down protesters angry at the impact his crime reforms of 20 years ago have had on black Americans and defended the record of Hillary Clinton, his wife, who is relying on the support of black voters in her quest for the presidency. The former president spent more than 10 minutes confronting the protesters at a campaign rally in Philadelphia for his wife on Thursday over criticisms that a 1994 crime bill he approved while president led to a surge in the imprisonment of black people. The Democratic race for the Nov. 8 election has become increasingly heated as Hillary Clinton, stung by a string of losses in state contests, has traded barbs with her rival for the party's nomination, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, over who is better prepared for the White House. In Philadelphia, several protesters heckled the former president mid-speech and held up signs, including one that read "CLINTON Crime Bill Destroyed Our Communities." Video footage of Hillary Clinton defending the reforms in 1994 has been widely circulated during the campaign by activists in the Black Lives Matter protest movement. In the footage she calls young people in gangs "super-predators" who need to "be brought to heel." Hillary Clinton, 68, who also has faced protesters upset by her remarks, in February said she regretted her language. Bill Clinton, 69, who was president from 1993-2001, on Thursday defended her 1994 remarks, which protesters say were racially insensitive, and suggested the protesters' anger was misplaced. "I don't know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped on crack and sent them out on the street to murder other African-American children," he said, shaking his finger at a heckler as Clinton supporters cheered, according to video of the event. "Maybe you thought they were good citizens. She (Hillary Clinton) didn't." "You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter," he told a protester. "Tell the truth." Hillary Clinton promised to end "mass incarceration" in her first major speech of her campaign last year. She has won the support of the majority of black voters in every state nominating contest so far, often by a landslide. Spokesmen for the campaign and Bill Clinton did not immediately respond on Thursday to a request for comment. A SURGE IN PRISONERS The United States has more people in prison than any other country. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1.05 million prisoners were held in federal or state facilities in 1994. By 2014, it was 1.56 million. That year, 6 percent of all black men in their 30s were in prison, a rate six times higher than that of white men of the same age. Bill Clinton said last year that he regrets signing the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act into law because it contributed to the country's high incarceration rate of black people for nonviolent crimes. On Thursday, he did not explicitly recant those regrets, but appeared to be angry at any suggestion the bill was wholly bad. The legislation imposed tougher sentences, put thousands more police on the streets and helped fund the building of extra prisons. It was know for its federal "three strikes" provision that sent violent offenders to prison for life. The bill was backed by congressional Republicans and hailed at the time as a success for Clinton. Although Bill Clinton is popular among Democrats who view him as a gifted speech maker and crowd pleaser, he has in the past veered from the carefully calibrated message put out by her campaign, causing problems for her spokespeople. During Hillary Clintons failed 2008 presidential bid, civil rights leaders and high-ranking Democrats in Congress criticized the former president for statements he made during a heated campaign against then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama. Bill Clinton said that Obama's campaign had played the race card. Obama became the first U.S. black president in November that year. Bill Clinton's remarks on Thursday drew criticism online. Some saw him as dismissive of the Black Lives Matter movement, a national outgrowth of anger over a string of encounters in which police officers killed unarmed black people. Johnetta Elzie, a prominent civil-rights activist, wrote online that Clinton "can't handle being confronted by his own record." "This is like watching a robot malfunction," she wrote. Earlier in Philadelphia, Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, assailed Clinton as unqualified to be president as the two campaigns became increasingly testy less than two weeks before New York's nominating contest. "Are you qualified to be president of the United States when you're raising millions of dollars from Wall Street, an entity whose greed, recklessness and illegal behavior helped destroy our economy?" Sanders said at a news conference. Clinton this week sharply questioned Sanders' credentials and ability to carry out a campaign pledge to break up the big banks. Spokesmen for Clinton noted that she never said the word "unqualified" when she questioned his preparedness for the presidency, but they declined to say whether she believes in that characterization. Clinton aimed for a more magnanimous tone than her aides when speaking to reporters during a subway ride in New York City. "I don't know why he's saying that," she said of Sanders' calling her unqualified. "But I will take Bernie Sanders over Ted Cruz or Donald Trump any time," she said of the two leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Megan Cassella, Alana Wise and Amanda Becker in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Howard Goller)
CARACAS/BOGOTA (Reuters) - The Colombian government will begin formal peace talks with leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels, moving the country a step closer to ending its five-decade-old conflict, the two sides said in joint statement on Wednesday. The Ecuador-based negotiations, which were announced by the leaders of the peace delegations in Caracas, Venezuela, will begin within two months. Colombia and the ELN, the Andean nation's second-largest guerrilla group, have been in preliminary talks for over two years. The group recently freed two hostages, which President Juan Manuel Santos had demanded as a condition for the start of formal talks. "Peace is a supreme asset for every democracy," the statement said, adding that the goal of the talks was to move quickly "toward national reconciliation." The two sides will work on a six-point agenda that includes the rights of victims, social justice and an end to the conflict, among other issues. Cuba, Norway, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil and Ecuador will act as guarantor nations. "It will be the end of guerrilla groups and we can all concentrate - democratically - on making our country the free, normal, modern, just and inclusive place it can and should be," Santos said during a televised address. Negotiations with the ELN are separate from those underway in Havana with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's larger rebel group. Both organizations are considered terrorist groups by the United States and European Union. MISSED DEADLINE Official talks would come as approval ratings hit new lows for Santos, who replaced hard-line President Alvaro Uribe in 2010. Now an opposition senator, Uribe and his backers have harshly criticized the FARC talks, saying they will foster impunity for human rights violations. Colombia has been negotiating with the FARC for over three years. Last week, the two sides failed to reach a self-imposed deadline for a final accord. The 2,000-strong ELN has increased oil pipeline bombings in recent months and continued kidnappings, in what many saw as an attempt to pressure the government into talks. Inspired by Cuba's 1959 revolution, the ELN has battled a dozen Colombian governments since it was founded by radical Catholic priests in 1964. While many Colombians are suspicious of peace talks, they are tired of the violence that has killed more than 220,000 and displaced millions over more than half a century. (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta, Julia Symmes Cobb and Helen Murphy in Bogota and Eyanir Chinea and Girish Gupta in Caracas; Editing by Paul Simao, Tom Brown and Bernard Orr)
A Manitoba man who was shot two years ago during a break-in at his apartment complex in the Dominican Republic says such incidents can happen anywhere.

Les Lehmann, 66, spoke about the attack on him after a 75-year-old man from Lac du Bonnet, Man., was robbed and found dead in the Caribbean country last week.

"It was something that happened that's not going to happen again. That was always my attitude. It doesn't matter where you go," said Lehmann, 66, a Canadian with permanent residency in the Dominican Republic who carries permanent injuries from the 2014 attack.

"I don't live in fear. If it had happened in Winnipeg, what would I do? Leave Winnipeg? Move where? You can always have a home invasion or a break-in any place in the world."

Lehmann manages an apartment complex in Puerto Plata. In 2014, he tried to fight off thieves who broke in a day after a group of Manitoba students had arrived for a humanitarian project.

The students and their chaperones, who were unhurt, returned to Manitoba the next day.

Several Canadians have been attacked in the Dominican Republic in recent years.

Leo Frank Boulanger was found dead on April 5 in an apartment he had rented for three months with his Dominican girlfriend in the beach town of Sosua, about 25 kilometres east of Puerto Plata along the Dominican Republic's northern coast.

Police said two local men who were arrested on April 6 had Boulanger's cellphone and other belongings and confessed to killing him in the course of robbing him and trying to get his bank code.

"It's usually older men who are sort of at risk," said Lehmann.

"They're living the fun life here and they don't realize that all these Dominicans who are very nice to them and treat them so great, they still look at you as a very wealthy person," he said. "At times they make plans to extract [money] from you and sometimes those plans go wrong and somebody gets hurt."

Story continues

Lehmann said after the attack at his apartment complex, he had 10 bullet holes in his body. His arm was broken, a nerve in his arm was cut and his knee was shattered.

He still has a limp, his knee doesn't bend all the way and his left pinky finger doesn't move well.

"Even 30 seconds after it happened, as I was laying there, I thought, 'You are one lucky person, because you're going to walk away from this,'" he said.

Since the incident, he has turned a chain-link fence on one side of his property to a 10-foot concrete wall.

"Over the seven or eight years that I had that chain-link fence, it had been breached four or five different times, where I'd get up in the morning and something was missing," he said.

But the incident and others in the area aren't enough to stop Lehmann from going to the Dominican Republic.

"Like I say to people, I never was a great guitar player and now I even care less that I'm not a great guitar player, because I can still play the guitar," he said with a laugh.
PARIS (Reuters) - France will seek tougher EU sanctions on people who help to facilitate tax evasion and a G20 blacklist of uncooperative tax havens, the Finance Ministry said on Monday following the Panama Papers leaks. Countries on the blacklist should be subject to "counter-measures coordinated by different states", the ministry said in a statement outlining the issues that Finance Minister Michel Sapin will push at meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the Group of 20 leading economies this week in Washington. Some 96 jurisdictions have committed to automatically exchange tax information with other governments in the next two years, with some traditional offshore centers such as the British Virgin Islands due to start as early adopters next year. Since signing up in principle last year, Panama has rowed back, saying it could not meet all the reporting standards required for automatic sharing. Panama is now the only major financial center among the countries that have not committed to the automatic sharing of tax information with other governments, according to an OECD report last month to G20 finance ministers. Bahrain, Nauru and Vanuatu have also not made such a commitment. France's Finance Ministry said the European Union should play its part in clamping down on tax evasion by looking into imposing sanctions against people who help and encourage it. Frustrated at Panama's lack of cooperation in sharing information on French taxpayers' activities in the country, the ministry also said it would seek to renegotiate a 2011 tax convention with Panama. After last week's revelations about the clients of a Panamanian law firm specialized in setting up shell companies, France put Panama back on its own blacklist of uncooperative tax havens. Panama had been removed from the list after the signing of the 2011 bilateral tax convention. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Michel Rose and Gareth Jones)
An Australian mother has appeared in court in Lebanon, along with several others including a TV crew and two Britons, over an alleged attempt to abduct her two children from their father.

Judge Rami Abdullah in Beirut has reportedly said there is "no way the charges will be dropped", adding: "There was a violation of the Lebanese authority by all these people, it's a crime."

The nine suspects who have all been charged could get up to 15 years in prison if convicted in a trial.

Mother Sally Faulkner is accused of arranging to take the youngsters from her former Lebanese husband Ali al Amin in the capital.

She claims he moved them from their home in Brisbane to Lebanon without her permission on a holiday in 2015 and says he has refused to return them.

The nine have been in police custody since the failed attempt to snatch the children, six-year-old Lahela and four-year-old Noah, while they were on their way to school last week.

Among those detained were Australian TV presenter Tara Brown and crew members Benjamin Williamson, David Ballment and Stephen Rice.

Two Britons working for a UK child recovery agency and two Lebanese citizens were also being held.

The judge adjourned the case at the Baabda Palace of Justice in Beirut until Monday, and all the defendants will remain in custody.

CCTV footage allegedly of the incident showed several people getting out of a car before the youngsters' grandmother is apparently pushed away and the children are taken away in the vehicle.

Faulkner had reportedly been working with a child recovery agency to bring back the children, and a crew from Channel Nine programme 60 Minutes was recording the operation.

A joint Australian-Lebanese commission has been set up to examine the controversial child abduction case, said Lebanon's top diplomat.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said his country respects Lebanon's right to prosecute the detained crew, headed by Brown.

Story continues

She and Faulkner have been taken to a nearby women's jail after appearing in court, while the other suspects are also still being held in a pre-trial detention facility.

Australian TV producer Rice smiled without speaking as he was taken away in handcuffs.

Another man, Briton Greg Michael, was shaking. Asked by journalists if he is okay, he answered: "I'm sick."

A police official said Michael was taken to a Beirut hospital the night before after feeling unwell and brought back to the court following unspecified treatment.
Prosecutors have raided the headquarters of the law firm at the centre of a huge data leak that sparked a worldwide outcry over the tax affairs of organisations and high-profile individuals.

Officials in Panama City visited the office of Mossack Fonseca to search for any evidence of illegal activities, authorities said in a statement.

Organised crime police surrounded the building as the search took place.

The firm is at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal that has embarrassed several world leaders, including Prime Minister David Cameron, and shone a light on the world of offshore companies.

Police said they were searching for documentation that "would establish the possible use of the firm for illicit activities".

Mossack Fonseca, which specialises in setting up offshore companies, said on Twitter (Xetra: A1W6XZ - news) that it "continues to cooperate with authorities in investigations being made at our headquarters".

Its founding partner, Ramon Fonseca, previously said the company had broken no laws and destroyed no documents, and that all its operations were legal.

Governments around the world have begun investigating possible financial wrongdoing after the leak of more than 11 million documents from the law firm, spanning four decades.

The papers have revealed the financial arrangements of prominent individuals, some of them linked to world leaders including those in Russia, Pakistan, China and the UK.

Earlier this week, Mr Cameron defended his family's financial affairs after publishing his own tax details in the wake of the leak.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) emerged that he had profited to the tune of more than 9,000 from selling shares in his fathers offshore investment fund Blairmore Holdings.

The Prime Minister maintained Blairmore Holdings was not set up for tax avoidance purposes, and he hit out at "deeply hurtful and profoundly untrue allegations" about his late father.
Two Russian warplanes flew "simulated attack profiles" this week near an American guided missile destroyer in international waters off Russia, US officials say.

The apparently unarmed Russian Su-24 jets came so close to the USS Donald Cook they created "a wake in the water", the unnamed officials said.

The overflights are said to have occurred on Monday and Tuesday and were described by US officials as "more aggressive than anything we've seen in some time".

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the incident "raises serious safety concerns" and the US is "concerned about this behaviour".

On 11 April, two Russian Su-24s made 20 passes of the US Navy ship, according to the officials, passing within 1,000 yards at an altitude of just 100ft.

The American ship had just left the Polish port of Gdynia and was in the Baltic Sea about 70 nautical miles off Kaliningrad, said US officials.

On 12 April, two Russian jets again buzzed the ship in what officials described as "simulated attack profile".

The aircraft were said to have swooped in the same flight mode that would have been used for an actual attack.

In one of the incidents, a Russian jet is said to have flown just 30ft (9 metres) above the destroyer.

Earlier that same day, two Russian Ka-27 Helix anti-submarine helicopters are said to have circled the USS Donald Cook seven times, taking photos.

A US official told CNN the Russian manoeuvres amounted to mock "strafing runs".

The Russian planes did not respond to attempts by the USS Donald Cook's crew to contact them by radio, said the US officials.

The American ship's commander is said to have deemed the Russian actions "unsafe and unprofessional".

The US believes the overflights breached a 1970s agreement designed to prevent unsafe incidents at sea.

The incidents come as diplomatic tensions continue between Moscow and Washington over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

Nato is currently planning its biggest Eastern European build-up since the Cold War to counter what the alliance says is a more aggressive Russia.
Spanish police have arrested a Frenchman suspected of supplying weapons to Amedy Coulibaly, the Islamist militant who attacked a Paris supermarket last year.

Spain's Interior Ministry said Antoine Denevi was arrested on Tuesday in a joint operation with French police in a seaside resort near Malaga.

During the raid two other people were detained, one from Serbia and the other from Montenegro.

Authorities believe the 27-year-old supplied the arms used by Coulibaly in January 2015 when he killed four Jews at a kosher grocery store before he was shot dead by police.

The day before the supermarket raid Coulibaly killed a policewoman in Montrouge.

In a statement, Spanish police said Denevi "left the neighbouring country (France) weeks after the Paris attacks to escape police action, and settled in the province of Malaga from where he continued his illegal activities using fake papers.

"It's also been determined that his activities were linked with people of Serbian origin, who may have facilitated his access to arms and munitions."

Denevi, who hails from the small town of Sainte-Catherine in the northern French region of Pas-de-Calais, was immediately taken to Madrid, where he was brought before a judge in the National Court.

The National Court, which hears cases related to extremism, charged Denevi with arms trafficking but so far no terrorism charges have been brought against him.

He apparently denied selling weapons to Coulibaly, but reports suggest he is willing to be extradited to France.

The attack on the supermarket happened a few days after two other gunmen killed 12 people at and near the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

Said and Cherif Kouachi forced their way into the building of the satirical publication with assault rifles before shooting dead 11 people and injuring 11 more.

They also murdered a police officer as they made off.

The brothers were killed by special forces at a printing factory just outside Paris where they had holed up.
Union Cabinet gives nod to MoU between India and Bangladesh on cooperation in the field of Fisheries

Published: April 13, 2016

The Union Cabinet has given its approval for extension of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and Bangladesh on cooperation in the field of Fisheries.

The MoU was signed in September 2011 to enhance bilateral cooperation in the field of Fisheries and aquaculture and allied activities between two neighbouring countries.

With this extension, the MoU will remain in force for a period of next five years i.e. 2021 unless either of the parties terminate it. This MoU can be extended for further period as may be mutually agreed upon.

Since it came in to force, the MoU has strengthened the friendly relations between India and Bangladesh. It had played important role in promotion of development of cooperation in fisheries and aquaculture and allied sectors through mutually agreed activities and procedures.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2016

Topics: Business  Cabinet Decisions  Economy  Fisheries  India-Bangladesh

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This is the bizarre moment a flight attendant deployed and slid down a planes emergency slide for no apparent reason.

Footage of the incident, taken shortly after the plane arrived at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston earlier this week, quickly went viral - and cost the attendant her job.

She can be seen sliding down to the ground before walking away from the Boeing 737 she had just been working on.

No emergency was reported and United Airlines have suspended the unidentified woman while they investigate further.

Fired: The attendant lost her job for deploying the planes emergency slide (Grab)

A spokesman told Mashable: We hold all of our employees to the highest standard.

The unsafe behaviour is unacceptable and does not represent the more than 20,000 flight attendants who ensure the safety of our customers.

The attendant deployed the slide five minutes after the aircraft, that was carrying 159 passengers and six crew members, landed from its flight from California.

Click 2 Houston reported that a man having breathing difficulties was escorted off the plane in a wheelchair, causing a short delay.

It is unclear whether this prompted the attendant to deploy the slide to get off the plane.
By Michelle Martin and Madeline Chambers BERLIN (Reuters) - Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan has filed a legal complaint against a German comedian who recited a sexually crude satirical poem about him on television, embarrassing Angela Merkel who has only just enlisted the president's help in tackling the migrant crisis. The poem, seemingly a deliberate provocation by comedian Jan Boehmermann, has exploded into a diplomatic incident that pits freedoms championed by Western Europe against recent moves in Turkey by Erdogan that critics say crack down on dissent. Merkel, asked about the case, tried to separate the two issues and stressed her commitment to artistic freedom. Prosecutors in Mainz said Erdogan had filed a complaint against Boehmermann for insulting him. Under the criminal code, he could, if found guilty, be imprisoned for up to a year. In the March 31 programme, Boehmermann host of late-night "Neo Magazin Royale" on public broadcaster ZDF, recited a poem about Erdogan with references to bestiality and accusations that he repressed minorities and mistreated Kurds and Christians. Erdogan's German lawyer, Michael-Hubertus von Sprenger, said he was prepared to go to the highest court and added that the Turkish president wanted Boehmermann to be punished. "He definitely won't get a heavy punishment, but rather it will be a punishment that is necessary to get him back on the right path - to produce satire, and not gross insults," Sprenger told German broadcaster ZDF. German media reported that Boehmermann was under police protection and had cancelled the next emission of "Neo Magazin Royale". Prosecutors are conducting a parallel investigation into the comedian on suspicion of the more serious crime of "offending foreign states' organs and representatives" after Turkey made a formal request. If found guilty of that, Boehmermann could face up to three years in prison. In the second potentially more serious case, the German government has to authorise prosecutors to go ahead. Berlin will decide on the request from Turkey in the coming days, Merkel said, adding that she cherished artistic freedom in Germany. "Turkey is bearing a very big burden in relation to the Syrian civil war but all of that is completely separate from Germany's fundamental values ... freedom of the press, opinion and science apply and are completely separate from that," she told reporters. This clause in question, which seems to require political intervention in the justice system, is rarely used, say experts. Some politicians have called for it to be abolished because it is antiquated. In the last decade or so only a handful of cases have been initiated. Media reports say that in the 1960s, the Shah of Iran used the clause against the Koelner Stadt Anzeiger newspaper over a caricatured montage. CONUNDRUM The law, which does not appear to exist in most other European countries, leaves Merkel with a conundrum. If her government gives the nod to prosecutors, it could enrage Germans already dubious about what they view as her Faustian pact with Erdogan to help stem the flow of migrants. "If the government supported the move, there would be a huge backlash domestically," Wolfgang Kubicki, a lawyer and senior member of the business-friendly FDP party, told NDR radio. A YouGov poll showed 54 percent of Germans opposed an investigation into Boehmermann by prosecutors with only 6 percent in favour. Yet if it rejects Ankara's request, Merkel could hurt relations with Turkey, a crucial partner in the migrant crisis and a candidate to join the European Union. "We cannot tolerate this. We want this shameless man to be prosecuted under German law for insulting the president," Turkish government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus said in response to a question after a cabinet meeting on Monday. Erdogan is known for his intolerance of criticism and his readiness to take legal action over perceived slurs. Turkish prosecutors have opened nearly 2,000 cases against people for insulting him since he became president in 2014, the justice minister said last month. Critics say he is using the law to stifle dissent. Those who have faced such trials include journalists, cartoonists, academics and even school children. Erdogan has said he is open to criticism, but draws the line at insults. "I would (thank) each and every one of those who criticise me, but if they were to insult me, my lawyers will go and file a lawsuit," he said on the sidelines of a Nuclear Security Summit in Washington last month. Boehmermann, no stranger to controversy, made clear he was being deliberately provocative. He introduced the poem by saying that a previous song, which had triggered initial protests from Turkey, were just comedy. He said serious insults, however, would not be legal. "To be clear, we don't do this and would never do this. Never. But this is how it would look if we did..." Among those who have stood up for him are Matthias Doepfner, the head of the Axel Springer media group, publisher of the bestselling tabloid Bild. He wrote in Die Welt that the incident has made society think about how it deals with satire and intolerant attitudes towards satire from non-democrats. But, just over a year after the murder by Islamist militants of cartoonists at France's Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine unleashed a wave of support for Europe's cherished freedom of expression, German opinion is divided on Boehmermann. "In a constitutional democracy we all have to stick to the rules, and one of these rules is that offending foreign heads of state is punishable by law," Peter Tauber, general secretary of Merkel's CDU told NTV television. (Additional reporting by Michael Nienaber, Noah Barkin, Paul Carrel and Josefine Kaukemueller in Berlin, and by David Dolan in Ankara; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Giles Elgood and Hugh Lawson)
 



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ALLENTOWN, Pa., April 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Creditsafe, the worlds most used supplier of online business credit reports, today announced it has extended its global database to include critical information on more than 190 million private and public companies in the furthest corners of the world. Effective April 2016, Creditsafe now has comprehensive business intelligence on public and private companies in nearly 200 countries including: Australia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Taiwan.



Sophisticated business intelligence is becoming increasingly important in todays global arena, said Matthew Debbage, president of Creditsafes American and Asia-Pacific Operations. Our global database provides information and ratings on companies in virtually every industry in almost every country on earth. Daily, almost 200,000 users around the world leverage our database to make 450,000 business decisions. And, our customersregardless of sizeenjoy open access to this information.

With the addition of these countries, Creditsafe now contains the worlds largest wholly owned global database of business intelligence. In addition, Creditsafe provides customers with unparalleled access to insight on complex economies such as Russia and India.

With this expansion, our database empowers users to gather intelligence on companies in countries that were almost impossible to evaluate until now. As these newer economies are unchartered waters for most of our customers, any intelligence about them is vital, Debbage said.

Creditsafes database is updated more than a million times a day with information gathered from over 200 sources. In 99.9 percent of the cases, reports requested by customers are delivered instantly online. And, over 40 percent of Creditsafes customers leverage the companys international reporting capabilities. Currently, Creditsafe has 14 offices around the world and maintains the only truly global international database of online credit information. Globally, the company reports a 28 percent growth in revenue over the past 12 months.

About The Creditsafe Group

The Creditsafe Group is the worlds most used supplier of company business intelligence, with 10 Creditsafe Group reports downloaded every second. Privately owned and independently minded, Creditsafe is looking to change the way business information is used by providing high-quality data in an easy to use format that everyone in an organization can benefit from.

Founded in Norway in 1997, Creditsafe has offices in countries all over the world including: the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States. Globally, Creditsafe employs over 1,200 people and has more than 90,000 subscription customers. Three years ago, the Creditsafe Group opened offices in the U.S. under the name Creditsafe, Inc. Its U.S. operations are headquartered in Allentown, Pa. with another facility in Phoenix, AZ. For more information, please visit www.creditsafe.com.
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Paolo Zangrillo nasce a Genova il 3 dicembre 1961. Si laurea in Giurisprudenza presso l'Universita degli Studi di Milano nel 1987. Dal 1992 al 2005 e responsabile del personale in Europa e nel mondo e in seguito come responsabile delle relazioni industriali e delle risorse umane presso la Magneti Marelli. Successivamente e vice presidente per le risorse umane presso la Fiat Powertrain Technologies fino al 2010 e presso la Iveco fino al 2011. Inizia lattivita politica nel 2018 venendo eletto alla Camera dei deputati nelle file di Forza Italia. Quattro anni dopo, sempre con Forza Italia, viene eletto al Senato. Il 22 ottobre 2022 diventa ministro della pubblica amministrazione nel governo Meloni. E fratello minore di Alberto Zangrillo, presidente del Genoa e medico personale di Silvio Berlusconi
Thanks to everyone for joining us! While Dr. Mather works on the substantive questions, I'll take this one.

I must confess it's been a few years since I spent time in Adams Morgan bars. But based purely on their names, I nominate the following as suitable haunts for a renegade octopus:

1. Rebellion

2. Libertine (but they serve seafood, so maybe not)

3. Shenanigan's
Roofing Contractor Exposed Workers to Dangerous Falls Five Times in One Year: OSHA

OSHA has proposed $280,000 in fines against the Kennesaw, Ga.-based company.

In 2015, Jasper Contractors Inc., a roofing company based in Kennesaw, Ga., was found guilty of fall protection and eye protection standards in five different inspections at Florida job sites, according to OSHA, which reported its inspectors found the company did not ensure employees were properly wearing fall protection equipment and exposed workers to the risk of falls from as high as 8 feet, as well as failing to ensure workers operated powered nail guns while wearing eye protection.

"Despite its claim that its employees 'are adults who know the risks,' Jasper Contractors has a legal responsibility to protect its employees," said Brian Sturtecky, OSHA's area director in Jacksonville, Fla. "This companys dismissive approach toward workplace safety is illegal and irresponsible. OSHA will continue to use all its available resources to ensure workers are protected."
Peabody Energy Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy for U.S. Operations

"A company like Peabody with safe, efficient operations will be well positioned to serve coal demand that will continue in the United States and around the world," said Peabody President and CEO Glenn Kellow.

St. Louis-based Peabody Energy, which describes itself as the world's largest private-sector coal company, voluntarily filed bankruptcy petitions under Chapter 11 for most of its U.S. entities in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on April 13; its Australian operations are not involved. The company serves metallurgical and thermal coal customers in 25 countries and said the filings will allow it to reduce its overall debt, lower fixed charges, and improve operating cash flow.

"This was a difficult decision, but it is the right path forward for Peabody. We begin today to build a highly successful global leader for tomorrow," said Peabody President and CEO Glenn Kellow. "Through today's action, we will seek an in-court solution to Peabody's substantial debt burden amid a historically challenged industry backdrop. This process enables us to strengthen liquidity and reduce debt, build upon the significant operational achievements weve made in recent years and lay the foundation for long-term stability and success in the future."

Those challenges "include a dramatic drop in the price of metallurgical coal, weakness in the Chinese economy, overproduction of domestic shale gas and ongoing regulatory challenges," according to the company.

Peabody's news release said the company has obtained $800 million in debtor-in-possession financing, including a $500 million term loan, a $200 million bonding accommodation facility, and a cash-collateralized $100 million letter of credit facility, which are subject to court approval as well as limitations as set out in the company's filings. It also said that the planned sale of the company's New Mexico and Colorado assets was terminated after the buyer was unable to complete the transaction.

"A company like Peabody with safe, efficient operations will be well positioned to serve coal demand that will continue in the United States and around the world," said Kellow. "We are a leading producer and reserve holder in our core regions of the Powder River Basin, Illinois Basin, and Australia. Peabody has a new management team, outstanding workforce, unmatched asset base, and strong underlying operational performance that represent a key driver in the companys future success."

The company also reported that all of its U.S. operations were cash-flow positive last year, the Australian platform earned more than the prior year despite lower prices for coal, and the company's administrative expenses and capital investments were at the lowest levels in nearly a decade. According to information on the company's website, it set a new record for safety in 2015 with a 13 percent reduction in its global incidence rate, to 1.25 per 200,000 hours worked for employees and contractors, and also delivered $5.61 billion in revenues for the year, leading to adjusted EBITDA of $434.6 million while improving Australian costs per ton by 24 percent and U.S. costs per ton by 5 percent.
Costa Rican authorities said Wednesday they have discovered 33 clandestine airfields hidden along the country's Pacific coast, where drug smugglers have been ramping up operations recently.

The hidden landing strips were counted since last November in an aerial operation by the security ministry, the official in charge, Juan Luis Vargas, said.

The ministry's aerial surveillance unit noted in a report that the landing strips were located next to the beach or rivers, "some in zones completely deserted of any population," and others in isolated farms.

Many were suspected to be used for smuggling drugs. In the last week, Costa Rica's police have seized more than a ton of cocaine in various points along the Pacific coast.

Some of the drugs appeared connected to three small planes which recently had accidents.

On Tuesday, 360 kilograms (800 pounds) of drugs were found in an abandoned car on the coast close to where one of the planes crashed into the sea, killing two people on board.

Just five days earlier, another two people died when their small plane crashed on a north Pacific beach. It was found to be carrying 150 kilograms of cocaine.

That same day, officials found another plane that had been buried elsewhere on the coast. It was thought to have been used to also run drugs.
Protesters ransacked the offices of Macedonia's presidency late Wednesday and set fire to the furniture, as thousands took to the capital's streets in a deepening political crisis. Sporadic clashes broke out in Skopje as demonstrators pelted buildings with eggs and stones, with one group smashing all the windows at President Gjorge Ivanov's public offices before setting the furniture alight. Twelve people were arrested and a journalist was injured in the clashes, police spokesman Toni Angelovski told AFP. The demonstrators are demanding that Ivanov resign after his shock decision Tuesday to block legal proceedings against top politicians embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal. The United States and European Union have both voiced serious concern over Ivanov's move, which is threatening Macedonia's aspirations to join the EU. The Balkan country is also on the frontline of Europe's migrant crisis, and has been under the spotlight over its use of force to prevent desperate migrants from crossing the shuttered border with Greece. - Anger on the streets - Ivanov's move has deepened a crisis that began last year when the opposition SDSM party accused then premier Nikola Gruevski of wiretapping some 20,000 people, including politicians and journalists, and said the recordings revealed high-level corruption. The government denied the accusations and in return filed charges against SDSM leader Zoran Zaev, accusing him of "spying" and attempting to "destabilise" the country of two million people. Wednesday's clashes came as people poured onto the streets of Skopje for a second night running, with smashed glass from the windows of Ivanov's offices littering the ground and riot police turning out in force. In front of the parliament, SDSM supporters tried to break through a police cordon towards rival supporters of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party, an AFP journalist said. EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn urged calm, tweeting that he was calling "upon all political parties and responsible citizens to refrain from acts of violence". - 'Coup d'etat' - In a televised address to the nation Tuesday, Ivanov said he was halting proceedings against politicians embroiled in the scandal "in order to put an end to this political crisis" ahead of elections planned for June. Gruevski -- a political ally of the president -- was among those targeted in the probes, along with Zaev, former interior minister Gordana Jankulovska and ex-intelligence chief Sasho Mijalkov. Gruevski stepped down as premier in January, paving the way for parliamentary elections -- but the opposition has announced plans to boycott the polls, saying it fears electoral fraud. Although he may himself benefit from the dropping of the probe, Zaev denounced what he called a "coup d'etat" by the president. Macedonia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2005 but accession talks have yet to open and the prolonged crisis will do nothing to improve its chances. The EU voiced alarm over the dropping of the wiretap inquiry, saying it raised "serious concerns". "We call on all sides to avoid interventions that risk undermining years of efforts within the country and with the support of the international community to strengthen the rule of law," a spokesperson for the bloc's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said. The US ambassador to Skopje, Jess Baily, warned in a tweet that "a blanket pardon without due process protects corrupt politicians and their associates". Ivanov's move appeared to take even his own VMRO-DPMNE by surprise, with the party expressing "huge disagreement" at the decision. James Ker-Lindsay, a Balkans expert at the London School of Economics, said the EU needed "to very seriously consider whether Macedonia still merits the designation as a candidate for membership of the EU". "Whether it was Gruevski's decision or Ivanov's decision that doesn't matter. It's all part and parcel of the ruling class which has become completely discredited and completely rotten," Ker-Lindsay told AFP. The original wire-tapping scandal triggered protests in Skopje, eventually prompting the EU to step in and mediate. Macedonia's political parties eventually agreed to solve the crisis by holding elections scheduled initially for April 24 but later postponed to June 5 over opposition and international concerns that they would not be free or fair. Hahn tweeted on Tuesday: "I have serious doubts if credible elections are still possible."
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
Military tanks can now be seen inside bunkers carved into the ancient mound called Tell Qarqur in Syria. The mound was once the site of an archaeological expedition. (Google Earth)

"Antiques" with a declared value of $26 million have been imported to the United States from Syria since 2011, when the civil war there began, according to documents that the U.S. Census Bureau provided to Live Science.

It's not clear what, exactly, the antiques actually are, nor whether the items were illegally brought here or where the money from any sales is going. Their age is also unclear. In most cases the documents say only that they are "antiques" that are more than "100 years old," although occasionally a shipment of coins is identified.

The documents say that the bulk of them are brought to New York City where numerous antiquities dealers, art galleries and auction houses are based. Whether or not the antiques are resold after arriving in New York is unclear. [Photos: See How War Is Damaging Syria's Castles and Landmarks]

The imports are drawing concerns because Syria's archaeological sites have been heavily looted during the war, and some of them now lie in territory controlled by terrorist groups such as the Islamic State group (also called ISIS) and the al-Nusra Front (which is allied with al-Qaida).

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials told Live Science that privacy laws prevent them from releasing documents with more details on the imported goods. They declined to reveal how often shipments of antiques imported from Syria and Iraq are inspected, only saying in a statement that audits are sometimes done.

The documents reveal that "antiques," not oil, are now the largest Syrian export to the United States. The documents also reveal that, since 2011, "antiques" with a declared value of over $12 million have been imported to the United States from Iraq, a country that has been enveloped in the Syrian civil war. [5 Surprising Cultural Facts About Syria]

The bulk of the imports, according to the documents, were sent to New York City, although there were some interesting exceptions. For example, in August 2013, a shipment of Iraqi "antiques," with a declared value of $3.5 million, passed through customs in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The contents of the shipment, the importer and the reason it was sent to Puerto Rico are all unknown. More details about this shipment may be available but privacy laws prevent it from being released.

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A bill that would curtail the importation of Syrian antiquities to the United States is before Congress, but it is uncertain whether it will pass and be signed by President Barack Obama before the 2016 election.

Syria's civil war has been raging for over five years. During that time, the country's economy has collapsed and is now a haven for several terrorist groups. Looting of the country's archaeological sites is widespread, and the funds from the sale of looted artifacts are used to help finance the purchase of weapons and munitions, according to numerous archaeologists, government officials and media reports.

Mysterious shipments

In a series of blog posts in January and December, Rick St. Hilaire, a lawyer with Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law & Policy Research, raised concerns that some of the "antique"imports could be looted artifacts.

"The data show that there is enough reasonable suspicion to ask questions about what is inside those shipping crates passing into the U.S.," St. Hilaire told Live Science. "While the data does not reveal enough information to tell us key facts we need to know, it certainly tells us that we need to invest the necessary resources to discover exactly what cultural property is coming into the U.S., who is importing it, how many objects are coming in, where exactly is it from and how much is it really worth."

Congressional law and Russian claims

Last year, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., introduced a bill that would curtail imports of antiquities from Syria. The bill has passed through several committees and has been amended heavily. It's uncertain whether Congress will pass the amended bill before the November 2016 election. Shortly after the election a new Congress will take over and the process of putting forward the bill may have to start over. The website govtrack.us gave the bill only a 17 percent chance of passing.

Meanwhile, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations has sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council claiming that the Islamic State group is making between $150 million and $200 million a year from the sale of looted antiquities. The ambassador says that towns in Turkey are being used to smuggle artifacts out of Syria, where they eventually reach buyers on the global market (not just the United States).

The Russian ambassador's claims have not been independently verified. However, the U.S. Department of State agrees that the Islamic State group is making a substantial amount of money through the sale of looted antiquities.

Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

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HONG KONG, April 13 (Reuters) - A 60-year-old British man who went missing for several weeks in late March, was confirmed to have been killed in China, the Hong Kong police said in a statement after being notified by Chinese authorities. Hilary St John Bower, who had worked as an English language instructor at the Polytechnic University in Hong Kong, had been dead for more than a week by the time he was reported missing on March 30, according to a police statement. "The victim was killed on the evening of March 22 in mainland China," the Hong Kong police said, after receiving notice from their Chinese counterparts. The police statement included no specifics, however, on how he was killed, a possible motive, or why it had taken so long to confirm Bower's death. Hong Kong media reported that Bower had a longtime girlfriend and a son in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, and had often travelled between the two places. The Chinese Public Security Bureau in Shenzhen said they had no information on the case when contacted by Reuters. The Polytechnic University also gave no immediate response to inquiries about Bower. A U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said: "We are providing assistance to the family of a British national reported missing in southern China and are urgently seeking further information from local authorities." The Hong Kong police are now seeking further details from Chinese authorities and investigations are continuing. Bower had taught at the Polytechnic University since 1996, according to his profile on the university website. He had previously taught in China, South Korea, Thailand, Spain and Kuwait. Murders of foreigners are extremely rare in China, though the murder in 2011 of another British man, Neil Heywood triggered one of the country's biggest political scandals in decades. The wife of former top Chinese leader Bo Xilai was later convicted as Heywood's killer, leading to Bo's downfall and sentencing to life in prison in 2013 for corruption. (Reporting by Tris Pan and Kevin Dai; writing by James Pomfret; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
Comedian Bill Cosby and his wife Camille (L) arrive at the Kennedy Center For the Performing Arts for the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor ceremony in Washington in this October 26, 2009 file photo. REUTERS/Mike Theiler/Files (Reuters)

By Scott Malone

WORCESTER, Mass. (Reuters) - Bill Cosby's wife of 52 years will have to submit to another day of questioning by lawyers for seven women who claim the comedian sexually assaulted them, but need not reveal intimate details of their marriage, a U.S. judge ruled on Tuesday.

In rejecting Camille Cosby's request not have to have to participate in another deposition, U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy told a lawyer for the seven women to limit his questioning to relevant topics, castigating him for crossing that line in a February deposition.

Hennessy ruled that the new deposition will be limited to five hours and 45 minutes, with the two sides agreeing to hold it at a Boston hotel on Feb. 19.

"We're not going to have a repeat of some things that happened, I can assure you. That applies to both sides," Hennessy said during a hearing at U.S. District Court in Worcester, Massachusetts. "We're not going to have questions like, 'Were you asleep when you had sex with Mr. Cosby?'"

More than 50 women have accused Cosby, best known for his role as the father character in the 1980s television hit "The Cosby Show," of sexually assault, often after plying them with drugs and alcohol. The allegations, many of which date back decades, have toppled Cosby from his position as one of the United States' best-loved entertainers.

Most of the alleged crimes are too old to be criminally prosecuted. But authorities in Pennsylvania charged the 78-year-old actor with sexually assaulting a woman in 2005.

Cosby, who is out on bail, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

The seven women involved in the Massachusetts suit charge that Cosby lied when he denied sexually assaulting them.

Attorneys for Camille Cosby, 72, who also serves as her husband's business manager, had argued that a second deposition would only serve to embarrass their client.

"The plaintiff cannot, under rule, abuse or harass a witness with questions that are obviously embarrassing and obviously not relevant," said Daniel Small.

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An attorney for the women, Joseph Cammarata argued personal matters are relevant given the nature of the allegations.

"The intent and the effect was not to be harassing or abusive," Cammarata said. "The intent was to gather information."

Tamara Green filed the Massachusetts lawsuit in December 2014. She was later joined by six other women who say Cosby sexually assaulted them and defamed them by calling them liars.

Cosby has countersued, accusing the women of defaming him.

Neither Cosby nor his wife were present in court.

(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Alistair Bell and Alan Crosby)
By John Ruwitch and Joseph Campbell NINGBO, China (Reuters) - Two days before they sought asylum in South Korea, the North Korean waitresses in the Chinese coastal city of Ningbo shopped for backpacks at a nearby store and paid relatively expensive full prices. "I asked them 'Are you going on a trip?', and they said yes," said one of the workers at the shop, who declined to give his name. "They seemed happy." Another shop worker, surnamed Gong, confirmed the story. Four waitresses from the Ryugyong Korean Restaurant visited the nearby store on April 5 and bought three backpacks, each for the listed 199 yuan (about $31), even though they were often known to bargain, the workers said. Two days later, 12 of the restaurant's waitresses and one manager arrived in Seoul, the South Korean capital, in the biggest mass defection case involving North Koreans in several years. How they planned and executed their trip remains a mystery. South Korea has only said it has admitted 13 defectors, North Korean restaurant workers who arrived on April 7, on humanitarian grounds. The North has called it a "hideous" abduction of its workers by the South. China has said a group of 13 North Koreans used valid passports to leave the country normally on April 6, but did not say where they went. In Ningbo, shopkeepers nearby considered the North Korean restaurant and its pretty but secretive waitresses a curiosity. The restaurant, now closed, sits on a newly developed pedestrian street for tourists that opened for business in late September last year. Across the lane at a cosmetics shop, Jiang Jiang recalled the noisy, patriotic North Korean music sung by the waitresses, a routine deployed at many of the around 130 North Korean restaurants around the world. Most remit revenues back to Pyongyang. "Not my style," she said. Moving her computer cursor between April 5 and 6 on a calendar, she added: "This is about when I stopped hearing the music. It was really loud music." Some shopkeepers nearby said the restaurant appeared to have been closed for renovations several months ago, but stories varied. Business did not appear to be great. An employee of the company that manages the vintage-looking grey brick and wood buildings that line the pedestrian street, including the Ryugyong, said the workers were very secretive, and generally only seen outside when they were coming to and from work. "They were under military-like management, and not free to go anywhere," she said. Shopkeepers said sometimes they would shop for small items like hair bands. Typically, North Koreans working overseas are chosen for their loyalty but are subject to many restrictions. They usually live together and are guarded by security officials. Xue Bin, one of the Chinese businessmen behind the restaurant, said he pulled out of the venture after a disagreement with a partner about six months ago. Corporate records indicate that Xue is the legal representative of the venture, which is wholly owned by a man named Wang Qianqian. Wang declined to comment when reached by phone. Xue confirmed that all the workers were imported from North Korea via Korean businessmen. Their salaries were paid directly to the workers in half-yearly increments. The North Koreans lived in a dormitory and were provided food, he said. "We provided good conditions," he said by telephone from Beijing. "They had enough food. They had enough free time." Xue declined to say what the business disagreement had been about. He also said he had no idea how the staff had defected. "Maybe they paid someone. I don't know," he said. (Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Egypt's assistant state prosecutor said on Saturday Italy had demanded thousands of phone records to investigate the murder of student Giulio Regeni in Cairo, charging that the request was unconstitutional. Mostafa Suleiman told a press conference that Italian investigators had made the demand during an inconclusive meeting in Rome last week that prompted Italy on Friday to recall its ambassador from Cairo. Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri, meanwhile, told his Italian counterpart that recalling the ambassador "raised question marks" in light of what he said was Egypt's cooperation in the probe. Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge University PhD student, was in Egypt researching labour unions when he disappeared on January 25. His badly mutilated body was found more than a week later by the side of a road. Suleiman said Italian investigators asked for records of "all subscribers in areas in where (Regeni) lived, where he disappeared and where his body was found", Suleiman said, adding the number could even reach a million. "This demand conflicts with and violates the Egyptian constitution, and would constitute a crime," he said. Suleiman added that the Italian investigators "conditioned further judicial cooperation on this demand" but the Egyptian delegation in Rome flatly refused. Rome announced it was recalling its ambassador over lack of progress in the probe into Regeni's brutal murder. Suleiman said that the Italian investigators also demanded CCTV footage that had been automatically deleted by then, but Egypt made inquiries and found that a program could be purchased that might have retrieved it. He said they asked Italy for help but the matter was "still under study". - 'Get the truth' - A foreign ministry statement said Shoukri had called his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni on Saturday and described to him the extent of Egypt's cooperation. "The foreign minister told his Italian counterpart that this approach raised question marks about the goals of these decisions," the statement said of the ambassador's recall. Italian officials suspect the student was killed by elements in the Egyptian security services. Their Egyptian counterparts have maintained that there is no basis for such claims. Egypt's presentation of a theory that a criminal gang murdered him was greeted with outraged scepticism in Italy and has helped fuel public anger over the case, putting intense pressure on Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to be seen to be getting tough with Cairo. "Italy has undertaken a commitment with the Regeni family... that we would stop only once we get the truth," Renzi said. The withdrawal of Rome's ambassador is unlikely to satisfy those who are demanding that Renzi send a strong signal of Italy's anger over the case to Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Renzi has a close relationship with Sisi which has helped to generate hugely valuable business contracts for Italian companies, particularly in the energy sector. Italy is also counting on Egyptian cooperation if and when it leads an international peacekeeping force into Libya to try to stabilise its former north African colony. Media coverage of the Regeni case has served as a focus for other disappearances and rights abuses in Egypt. In terms of action, Italy's options are limited. Moves under consideration include a warning to its citizens against travel to Egypt, but the Regeni case has already caused a slump in visitor numbers from Italy. Rome is also considering asking for support from its European Union partners to try to put pressure on the Egyptian government over the case.
Duterte hits back, challenges VP to debate

As he surged to the top of the latest surveys, presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte is now in the crosshairs of his rivals, who called the Davao City mayor the nations executioner, a threat to democracy and a liar as they tried to persuade the people not to vote for him.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, who earlier tagged Duterte as the pambansang berdugo or national executioner, reminded voters that it is their moral obligation not to pick a president who advocates violence and killing people, including children, on mere suspicion.

Dutertes closest rival, Sen. Grace Poe, also twitted the mayor, saying the country needs justice and not violence in order to attain peace and order.

The camp of Liberal Party standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II warned the electorate that a Duterte presidency would pave the way for the return of martial law.

Law experts called for government action and resolution of cases of extrajudicial killings as they criticized the kind of leadership that Duterte is propagating in his bid for the presidency.

As a human rights lawyer and a Catholic, it is my moral responsibility to oppose the policy of summary executions being espoused by Duterte, Binay said during a roundtable discussion with The STAR editors and reporters on Monday night.

The tough-talking Duterte is currently leading various surveys on presidential preference.

Binay, standard-bearer of the United Nationalist Alliance and former frontrunner, slid to third place followed by Roxas, who ranked fourth. Poe is in second place.

Roxas said Duterte represents the biggest danger to the country since the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Duterte wants to be the judge, jury and executioner. If you dont agree with him or follow him, you will be insulted, pelted with bad words or bullets, Roxas told journalists during a briefing in Misamis Occidental yesterday.

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He urged voters not to believe Dutertes claims that he can solve crime within six months in office. He said one does not need to resort to extrajudicial killings to punish criminals.

The LP standard-bearer called Duterte a liar for claiming Davao is crime-free.

Duterte hits back

Speaking to a crowd of about 50,000 at the Food Terminal Inc. complex in Taguig City on Monday, Duterte turned the tables on Binay, calling him berdugo ng pera ng bayan or executioner of the countrys treasury.

While he admitted that criminals did get killed in Davao City for opting to shoot it out with police officers, Duterte said Binays act was worse.

Dutertes runningmate, Sen. Alan Cayetano, said Binay and Roxas are threatened with the good showing of his partner in the recent surveys.

We dont need to defend the mayor against Binay and Roxas because they were the ones who feel threatened, not the democracy, Cayetano said.

He said Duterte was good to Binay and Roxas when they were courting him for an endorsement, before the mayor decided to run for president.

Binay urged everyone who values life, democracy and Christian values to oppose Dutertes idea of justice.

I have advocated the right to life, while Duterte advocates killing people. Such a policy victimizes the poor, Binay said.

Binay said Dutertes vow to clear the country of criminals in his first six months in office is disturbing.

He said Dutertes victims were poor, particularly children and old people.

The Davao mayor countered that he has never ordered the killing of women or children, saying they were sent to rehabilitation facilities after they were caught in anti-drug operations.

Duterte challenged Binay to a one-on-one debate on morality and graft and corruption.

Former University of the East law dean Amado Valdez and lawyer Raymond Fortun condemned what they described as illegal and bloody means to solve widespread criminality in the country.

Valdez said extrajudicial killings are criminal acts that cannot be justified, as states allowing them could be held liable under international law.

He said the US courts have jurisdiction to hold heads of states liable under the US Alien Torture Act, citing a case where the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos was ordered to pay billions in damages to human rights victims during the martial law years.

Valdez, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Association of Law Schools, said the investigation to be launched on extrajudicial killings should be non-political.

With the political environment, an independent commission is in order, he suggested, adding that members of academe would be best suited to handle the probe because they are the least politicized.  With Mike Frialde, Edu Punay, Robertzon Ramirez, Christina Mendez
President Aquino has signed the Election Service Reform Act or Republic Act 10756, making election duty non-compulsory for public school teachers.

Signed on April 8, the law allows the Comelec to appoint private school teachers, national government employees except military personnel, non-teaching personnel of the Department of Education and members of citizens arms and non-government and civil society organizations as election officers.

The citizens arms and NGOs should be accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The law also authorizes the Comelec to appoint as board of election inspectors (BEI) any registered voter of known integrity and competence who is not connected with any candidate or political party.

Uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police may be deputized as a last resort in areas where the peace and order situation so requires and where there are no qualified voters willing to render election service.

The law grants P6,000 allowance to the BEI chairman; P5,000 to members; P4,000 to DepEd supervisor and P2,000 per support staff.

Aside from the allowance, other benefits like medical and death assistance amounting P500,000 and legal assistance should also be granted to the election workers if the need arises.

Comelec, DepEd welcome law

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista welcomed the signing of the law, but noted the poll body could no longer implement it on May 9.

So did the Department of Education (DepEd), which expressed confidence that the public school teachers would always be ready to help serve the country.

Bautista said the poll body sees no problem with the new law as it can tap other qualified people to serve as election officers.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said DepEd welcomes legislation that promote and uphold the rights and safety of teachers.

Luistro expressed confidence that the teachers are always ready to help and serve the people.

Benjo Basas of the Teachers Dignity Coalition welcomed the signing of the measure, but noted it might be difficult to implement it in next months polls.

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PPCRV volunteers ready to serve

Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) national chairperson Henrietta de Villa said their volunteers are ready to serve as BEIs even in areas considered as hotspots.

De Villa gave assurance that they would serve nationwide and would not be choosy in their assignments.

She said they could be assigned as BEIs in far-flung areas such as Batanes, Mountain Province, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

No canvassing at Manila Hotel

Meanwhile, the Comelec has scrapped its plan to use the Manila Hotel as venue for the national canvassing for the May 9 elections.

Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said the poll body had voted to stay at the government-run Philippine International Convention Center.

The Comelec had considered transferring the national canvassing for senators and party-list groups to the Manila Hotel from the PICC based on Bautistas recommendation.  With Sheila Crisostomo, Janvic Mateo, Evelyn Macairan
Macedonia was mired in fresh turmoil Wednesday after the president blocked judicial proceedings against top politicians embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal, sending protesters back onto the streets in a crisis that threatens the country's EU aspirations. The United States and European Union both voiced "serious concerns" about the move by President Gjorge Ivanov, which drew hundreds of demonstrators onto the streets of Skopje for two consecutive nights. The Balkan country is also on the frontline of the migrant crisis, with its use of force to prevent desperate migrants from crossing onto its territory leading to a row with neighbouring Greece. In a televised address to the nation on Tuesday, Ivanov said he was bringing the legal proceedings to a halt "in order to put an end to this political crisis" ahead of elections planned for June. Last year, the opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) accused then prime minister Nikola Gruevski of wiretapping some 20,000 people, including politicians and journalists, and said the recordings revealed high-level corruption. The government denied the accusations and in return filed charges against SDSM leader Zoran Zaev, accusing him of "spying" and attempting to "destabilise" the country of two million people, which is hoping to join the EU. - 'Coup d'etat' - Gruevski was among those targeted in the probes, along with Zaev, former interior minister Gordana Jankulovska and ex-intelligence chief Sasho Mijalkov. An ally of the president, Gruevski stepped down as premier in January, paving the way for parliamentary elections -- but the opposition has announced plans to boycott the polls, saying it fears electoral fraud. Although he may himself benefit from the dropping of the probe, Zaev denounced what he called a "coup d'etat" by the president. Hundreds of people gathered on Wednesday night in central Skopje, chanting "Prison for criminals!" and "No justice, no peace!" The protests followed others on Tuesday when a group of protesters pelted Ivanov party's headquarters with eggs. - Concerns about rule of law - Macedonia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2005 but accession talks have yet to open and the prolonged crisis will do nothing to improve its chances. The EU voiced alarm over the dropping of the wiretap inquiry, saying it raised "serious concerns". "We call on all sides to avoid interventions that risk undermining years of efforts within the country and with the support of the international community to strengthen the rule of law," a spokesperson for the bloc's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said. The United States ambassador to Skopje, Jess Baily, warned in a tweet that "a blanket pardon without due process protects corrupt politicians and their associates". Ivanov's move appeared to take even his own VMRO-DPMNE party by surprise, with the party expressing "huge disagreement" at the decision. James Ker-Lindsay, a Balkans expert at the London School of Economics, said the EU needed "to very seriously consider whether Macedonia still merits the designation as a candidate for the membership of EU". "Whether it was Gruevski's decision or Ivanov's decision that doesn't matter. It's all part and parcel of the ruling class which has become completely discredited and completely rotten," Ker-Lindsay told AFP. The original wire-tapping scandal triggered protests in Skopje, eventually prompting the EU to step in and mediate. Macedonia's political parties eventually agreed to solve the crisis by holding elections scheduled initially for April 24 but later postponed to June 5 to address concerns among the opposition and international community they would not be free or fair. Reacting to the latest developments, EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn tweeted: "I have serious doubts if credible elections are still possible." Macedonia has also been in the spotlight over its harsh handling of migrants who tried to storm the razor-wire fence sealing the border with Greece. Greece has accused its non-EU neighbour of shaming Europe by using tear gas and, according to Athens also rubber bullets, to prevent those fleeing war, persecution and poverty continuing their journey to northern Europe. Ivanov visited the frontier with Greece on Wednesday.
More than 1,000 migrants, most of them Cubans, thronged and then stormed across Panama's border into Costa Rica in a desperate bid to reach the United States, officials said. Although all but 120 voluntarily returned to Panama hours later, the incident risked reviving a recent crisis in which thousands of Cubans determined to make it to the United States became stranded in Costa Rica because their passage north through Central America was blocked. Television images showed migrants clashing with officials trying to stop them in Costa Rica's border town of Paso Canoas. Several car windows were broken in the scuffles. Costa Rican officials said some Africans and Asians were among those entering and vowed to deport back to Panama any undocumented migrants, blaming Washington for "promoting" the flow of Cubans. People leaving Communist-run Cuba are the only migrants who -- if they simply make it to US soil -- after just a medical clearance are granted temporary US residence and the right to work legally, and some health care. Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez told a media conference that migrants were wrong to think they could push their way over the border. "If they are trying to swamp Costa Rica by sending in avalanches of people, they are mistaken," he said. "With force, not even their little toes will enter." Later in the day, most of the migrants had returned to Panama, Carlos Hidalgo, a spokesman for the public security ministry, told AFP. Amid many Cubans' concerns that they may soon lose the generous US migrant benefits, the US Coast Guard has seen a spike in Cubans arriving in the United States by land and sea since Washington and Havana announced they would begin normalizing relations in December 2014. More than 43,000 Cubans entered the United States by sea and land during fiscal year 2015 -- which ended in September -- a figure not seen for decades. - Reinforcements to frontier - Costa Rica said it was reinforcing security on its southern border with Panama to prevent more crossings, and deployed around 150 police officers at the flashpoint, Hidalgo said, calling the situation "under control and peaceful." "Today, more than a thousand undocumented migrants violently and with force entered Costa Rica, which represents an affront to the Costa Rican people," the presidency said in a statement. It stressed that the country was unable to cope with such an influx and that it had just cleared out 8,000 Cubans who had been blocked in the country when its northern neighbor Nicaragua closed its border to them five months ago. Those stranded Cubans had been put on special flights skipping over Nicaragua, to either El Salvador or Mexico, with most of them paying their own way. The incident deepened animosity between Nicaragua -- an ally to the Cuban government -- and Costa Rica, whose ties have been strained by border disputes. - US policy denounced - The statement from Costa Rica's presidency denounced US policy dating back to the Cold War many describe as "wet foot, dry foot." The US authorities repatriate Cubans picked up at sea in the shark-infested Florida Straits, but any who arrive on American shores get to stay. It said the policy promotes such irregular migratory flows by providing "a perverse incitement" for Cubans to try to get to the United States no matter the obstacles. The US approach, it said, "fosters conditions for human trafficking." In the joint governmental media conference with other ministers, the head of Costa Rica's migration agency, Kattia Rodriguez, said up to 1,200 migrants may have crossed on Wednesday. "They are mainly Cuban people," she said, with a small number of migrants from Africa and Asia. The incident presented a new challenge to Costa Rica, which on Tuesday had hosted a meeting of Latin American and US migration officials and urged them to come up with a coordinated response on handling Cuban and African migrants. Costa Rica stressed in the meeting that it was not permitting the entry of US-bound Cubans, 2,000 of whom had arrived in Panama in recent weeks.
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye's ruling conservative party was reeling Thursday from a shock electoral defeat that broke its 16-year parliamentary majority and threatened its chances of retaining the presidential Blue House in 2017. Voters punished the party for its economic record, analysts said, with high levels of youth unemployment accounting for particularly high dissatisfaction among younger people. The crushing defeat leaves Park, who has less than two years left of her single, five-year term, as a lame duck leader and will weaken her ability to push through her conservative agenda, including labour reforms. Pollsters had forecast an increased majority for the Saenuri, saying its hawkish stance towards North Korea would provide an electoral boost at a time of surging military tensions with North Korea. But provocations by Pyongyang, including a nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch a month later, appear to have had little effect at the ballot box. "This is the voters' judgement against President Park. All the pent-up anger they had about the worsening economy and widening inequality exploded in this election," said Choi Chang-Ryul, a politics professor at Yongin University. Political power in South Korea is firmly concentrated in the presidency and Park has fallen short on most of her key economic promises, a failure she puts down to legislative inaction. But critics accuse her of skewed priorities, poor decision-making and a dogmatic style of leadership. Wednesday's defeat saw Park's Saenuri Party win just 122 seats in the 300-member chamber, sharply down from the 152 it held in the last parliament. It marked the first time since 1999 the conservative party has lost control of parliament, with the three liberal opposition parties garnering a combined 167 seats. The main liberal opposition Minjoo Party was the largest grouping, with 123 seats. Losing the majority would mean projects such as labour reforms that critics have said would make it easier for businesses to fire workers would likely lose steam, said Jeong Han-Wool, senior fellow at the East Asia Institute. "This miserable poll result will also greatly hurt the party's prospect for the 2017 presidential election," he added. Several Saenuri party heavyweights seen as potential successors to Park suffered shock defeats, some by large margins. Party chief Kim Moo-Sung offered his resignation as leader to take responsibility for the rout. The left-wing opposition had sought to frame Wednesday's vote as a referendum on Park's economic policies, with the jobless rate among those aged 15-29 at record levels. Factional infighting and breakaways split the liberal vote, but the result represents a clear shift leftwards for the national assembly. Under Park's presidency, annual economic growth in Asia's fourth largest economy has averaged around 2.9 percent compared to 3.2 percent under her predecessor Lee Myung-Bak. Exports, which account for more than half of GDP, have fallen for the past 14 months consecutively, while household debt has soared to a record $1.0 trillion.
Professional Development

Competition Looks for Best Ideas To Implement ESSA

A competition has been launched to retrieve the best ideas educators have to make use of funds provided for professional learning by the federal government's Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

ESSA is a law passed in December 2015 that replaces the No Child Left Behind Act and dictates the federal government's impact on K-12 education. The hope is that teachers who understand their learning needs, those of their students and effective professional learning can create systems that improve teaching.

Teams, consisting of three to five teachers each, can submit applications for the Agents for Learning Competition until June 10. A Q&A session on the application procedure will be held May 25 and there will be two webinars before June 10 to help teachers understand ESSA.

The first webinar, set for April 27, will be titled "ESSA 101 for Educators" and the second, May 11, will be called "A Deep Dive Into Professional Learning for ESSA."

Reviewers will read the applications and select finalists who will travel to Chicago July 21-22 to present their plans to a panel of judges. Competition sponsors, Learning Forward and the National Commission on Teaching & America's Future (NCTAF), will webcast the presentation and distribute the finalists' plans to serve as models for educators around the country.

Finalists will be eligible for prizes, awards and recognition.

"This competition provides a national platform for teachers' voices to be included in the broader ESSA conversation," said NCTAF President Melinda George. "As we think about developing effective professional learning systems that meet teachers' needs to ensure that the conditions are in place for great teaching for every student, it is imperative that teachers have agency in this process."
Student Competitions

Samsung Names Solve for Tomorrow Contest Winners

Samsung has chosen the five winners of its annual Solve for Tomorrow Contest to boost enthusiasm in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) topics among K-12 students.

Among the winning projects is one to make comfortable cardboard classroom furniture for special needs students and another to make prosthetic enhancements for veterans. Judges in the contest, founded in 2010, chose the five schools from an original group of 4,100 that submitted ideas last October.

Grand prize winners are:

Each of the grand prize-winning teams will take home $120,000 in technology for their schools and will be invited to Washington, D.C., for an awards luncheon. The students will meet with members of Congress and visit the White House.

The teams from California and Colorado will present their projects April 13 at the White House Science Fair.

"We are so proud of these students at these five schools for their ingenuity and creativity in applying STEM to solving problems in their communities and creating positive change," said Ann Woo, senior director of corporate citizenship at Samsung Electronics America.
By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - When Benjamin Netanyahu first became Israel's leader two decades ago, few would have predicted a future in which he would be poised to pass founding father David Ben-Gurion as its longest-serving prime minister. In a country where no single political party has ever won an outright majority in parliament, voters have often had to trudge back to the polling stations after coalition governments have imploded before the end of their four-year terms. But weeks after "Bibi" Netanyahu marked a cumulative 10 years in power, a political reality is dawning: the right-wing 66-year-old may not be popular with most Israeli voters, but there's no one else strong enough to unseat him. On paper, Netanyahu's hold on power barely adds up: his right-wing coalition rules with only a one-seat majority in the 120-member Knesset. Nearly every vote is a nail-biter. And the majority of Israelis, according to an opinion poll last week, have grown weary of the blue-suited Likud party leader, with 51 percent saying they wouldn't want him to run in the next election, which isn't due until 2019. But there's a catch: the survey, in the liberal Haaretz daily, also showed that voters haven't got much faith in any of the current line-up of opponents either. So much so, that commentary accompanying the Haaretz poll said there would need to be a "Big Bang" - the creation of a new centrist alignment that might replace the so-far ineffective centre-left opposition to Netanyahu. Political pundits say that line-up could be led by former Netanyahu allies - Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who split from Likud to form his own party, and Gideon Saar, a former Likud minister who announced a break from politics in 2014 after feuding with the prime minister. A retired military chief, Gabi Ashkenazi, is still in the political closet but has been touted as a potential partner. Kahlon's price-slashing reform of the cellular phone market as communications minister five years ago was widely popular, Saar could attract Likud voters dissatisfied with Netanyahu, and Ashkenazi has the kind of security credentials the Israeli electorate has traditionally embraced. UNBEATABLE IMAGE? Ofer Kenig, a researcher on political reform at the Israel Democracy Institute, a think-tank, said that while Netanyahu is not very popular, "he largely enjoys the lack of leadership in both his camp and the opposite camp". Kenig is not convinced the perception of an "unbeatable Netanyahu", fuelled by what he called the "big shock" dealt to the Israeli left and centre by Likud's last-minute victory in the 2015 election, is true. "Nevertheless, I think that in the last decade there is almost an automatic majority for the right-religious bloc and that it would require something special, a joining of forces in the centre and left, in order to try to change that." An earlier survey in the Jerusalem Post and Maariv newspapers hammered home the point: Netanyahu outpolled his main opposition rival, Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog, by a 56 to 25 percent margin. Within Netanyahu's coalition, Naftali Bennett, the youthful head of the ultranationalist Jewish Home party, trailed him in popularity by a 40 to 29 percent margin. Only Ben-Gurion, who declared Israel's independence in 1948 and served as prime minister on and off until 1963, has led the country longer than "Bibi". Netanyahu, will break Ben-Gurion's 12-1/2-year record if he remains in office until Sept. 23, 2018, according to the Israel Democracy Institute. To do so, the veteran politician must keep his government together. That has always been a struggle in Israel, but perhaps less so now: In the past, peace talks with the Palestinians have been a cause of coalition splits, but there haven't been any talks since 2014, and there are no signs of them resuming. SETTLEMENT EXPANSION With world attention focused on hotter spots in the Middle East and Islamist militant bombings in Europe, Netanyahu has been moving ahead with settlement plans in the occupied West Bank. That is likely to appease ultranationalist political allies, helping to shore up his coalition. And he is also burnishing his image as "Mr Security", playing on the fact that even if voters may not like him, they appear to trust him when it comes to tackling threats. On Monday, a visibly relaxed Netanyahu visited Israeli military reservists in the occupied Golan Heights, choosing the occasion to let a secret out of the bag. He confirmed numerous reports over several years that Israel has conducted dozens of air strikes across the nearby frontier with Syria against arms shipments to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed guerrilla group that controls much of south Lebanon. The disclosure, after Israel's refusal to acknowledge such attacks, perhaps out of desire not to provoke Hezbollah, came a day after he publicly put another security notch in his belt. A half-year-long surge in Palestinian street attacks against Israelis is waning, he told his cabinet on Sunday, attributing the decline to "very firm action" by Israeli security forces. It's that tough talk that appears to keep the grey-haired Netanyahu one step ahead, fending off his rivals even as they look for new ways to unseat him. (Editing by Luke Baker and Giles Elgood)
By Anthony Boadle and Maria Carolina Marcello BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff pledged on Wednesday to form a government of national unity if she survives an impeachment vote in Congress this weekend, but the odds of that lengthened as allies continued to desert her. A stream of defections from Rousseff's coalition makes it increasingly likely she will lose Sundays ballot in the lower house of Congress on whether she should face trial in the Senate over accusations she broke budget laws. Politicians have begun to flock this week to the residence of the man who would replace Rousseff if she is convicted, Vice President Michel Temer, to declare their support for him, his aides said. Business leaders have also come out in support of Temer who promises market-friendly policies and less government intervention to boost the world's seventh largest economy hit, by its worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In a major blow for Rousseff, the largest centrist party remaining in the government's coalition, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), instructed its members to vote for the president's impeachment. The party's leader in the lower house, Rogerio Rosso, told reporters on Wednesday evening the vast majority of the PSD's 38 deputies support Rousseff's ouster. The move comes on the heels of the defection on Tuesday of another crucial ally, the centrist Progressive Party, or PP. The party, with 49 members in the lower house, left her government and pulled its one minister from her cabinet. Meanwhile, the Republican Party and the smaller National Labour Party (PTN) were due to meet on Wednesday, but members said most of their fellow lawmakers would vote against Rousseff even as their leaders negotiated jobs offered by her government. "They are running away from all parties except her own Workers' Party and the Communist Party of Brazil. It's a herd mentality," a leader of Temer's Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) who is close to the vice president told Reuters. He said the PMDB, which quit Rousseff's coalition two weeks ago, projects impeachment will clear the lower house with 380 votes on Sunday. Temer said on Tuesday he was ready to form a transitional government with other parties to lead Brazil out of the political crisis, raising speculation he was already forming a shadow government. "Obviously, he will start thinking about a cabinet on Monday if the vote is for impeachment on Sunday," Temer's press spokesman Marcio de Freitas said.Battling for her political survival, Rousseff handed negotiations to win support against impeachment to her mentor and predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's most influential politician despite a corruption investigation that has hampered his efforts to save her government. "My first act after the vote in the lower house will be to propose a new pact among all the political forces, without winners of losers," Rousseff told Estado de S.Paulo newspaper in a briefing for local media. She voiced confidence that her supporters would deny the opposition the 342 votes, equivalent to two-thirds of the lower house, needed to send her impeachment to the Senate. ODDS OF IMPEACHMENT RISING Political risk consultancy Eurasia said Rousseff could still try to cobble together support from centrist parties, but it will be hard for her to stop the momentum for impeachment, with defections raising the odds of her removal to 70 percent from a previous estimate of 60 percent. Rousseff's opponents are 18 votes short of victory in the lower house, with 324 lawmakers backing impeachment and 124 opposed, and 65 undecided or declining to respond, according to a survey by the Estado de S.Paulo newspaper. The rift between Rousseff and her vice president reached breaking point on Monday over an audio message Temer sent his supporters calling for a government of national unity. Rousseff accused him of leading a conspiracy to overthrow her. In an interview with Globo News on Tuesday, Temer denied he was plotting to become president, calmly stating: "If destiny takes me to that position ... I will be ready." Temer's top economic adviser told Reuters that policies to gradually rebalance depleted public accounts, create jobs and raise income would be priorities for the vice president should he become the country's next leader. Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index rose for a second consecutive day, closing up 2 percent on investor hopes a Rousseff impeachment will improve the prospects of an economic recovery. The CNT transport sector lobby on Wednesday declared its support for impeachment saying Rousseff's government was incapable of drawing the investment needed to restore growth and lacked the political support to pass needed reforms. In a letter to lawmakers, Brazil's most powerful industry lobby, the CNI, described the country's situation as "catastrophic" and blamed Rousseff's mistaken policies. "It's time for change," the letter seen by Reuters said. (Additional reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu and Alonso Soto; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Andrew Hay)
Members of the 'Omushkegowuk Walkers' stand on the front steps of Parliament Hill in Ottawa February 24, 2014. The group walked from the Attawapiskat First Nation in Northern Ontario, to Ottawa to raise awareness about First Nations treaty rights. (Photo: Chris Wattie/Reuters)

By Ethan Lou

TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian aboriginal community of 2,000 people declared a state of emergency on Saturday after 11 of its members tried taking their own lives this month and 28 tried to do so in March, according to a document provided by a local politician.

The declaration was signed by Chief Bruce Shisheesh of the remote northern community of the Attawapiskat First Nation in Ontario. It was provided to Reuters Sunday night by the member of parliament for the area, Charlie Angus, who said in an interview, This is a systemic crisis affecting the communities.

Theres just not been a serious response from any level of government until now, he said.

Canadas 1.4 million aboriginals, who make up about 4 percent of the countrys population, have higher levels of poverty and a lower life expectancy than other Canadians and are more often victims of violent crime, addiction and incarceration.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lays a wreath at a memorial during a visit to the town of La Loche, Saskatchewan January 29, 2016. Four people were killed and others injured in a school shooting at the town on January 22 and a male suspect is in custody, Canadian police said. (Photo: Matthew Smith/Reuters)

The Canadian Press reported the regional First Nations government was sending a crisis response unit to the community following the declaration on Saturday. The Health Canada federal agency said in a statement it sent two mental health counselors as part of that unit.

Shisheesh and the First Nations band office could not be immediately reached for comment.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter: The news from Attawapiskat is heartbreaking. Well continue to work to improve living conditions for all indigenous peoples.

Another Canadian aboriginal community in the western province of Manitoba appealed for federal aid last month, citing six suicides in two months and 140 suicide attempts in two weeks.

The problems plaguing remote indigenous communities gained prominence in January when a gunman killed four people in La Loche, Saskatchewan.

(Reporting by Ethan Lou in Toronto; Editing by Peter Cooney)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Turkish army hit Islamic State targets in northern Syria, in response to cross-border rocket fire that struck a border town in southeastern Turkey for the second day in a row, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. The military was responding to attacks on Kilis, near the Syrian border, Davutoglu said. The town is home to an estimated 110,000 Syrian refugees and is frequently targeted by artillery from across the border, a region controlled by Islamic State militants. "Yesterday and today, rockets belonging to Daesh terrorist organisation landed inside Kilis, wounding 21 citizens," Davutoglu said in the speech to his ruling AK Party in parliament. "Our armed forces, within rules of engagement, responded immediately and hit Daesh targets," he said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. One person died of wounds following the attacks on Kilis, hospital sources told Reuters later on Tuesday. In March, two people, including a young child, were killed by rocket fire in Kilis. Mayor Hasan Kaya told Reuters that one rocket on Tuesday struck road works and the other landed inside an empty lot. Some of the wounded were municipal workers, he said. The Turkish armed forces often respond to such attacks by firing at targets in Syria. Turkey is an outspoken critic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has supported opposition fighters in the five-year-old war. (Reporting by Akin Aytekin and Ayla Jean Yackley; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk, Editing by David Dolan and Larry King)
The top of the Flint Water Plant tower is seen in Flint, Michigan in this February 7, 2016 file photo. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook (Reuters)

DETROIT (Reuters) - Flint, Michigan's lead-contaminated drinking water may still be unsafe, but residents need to increase their use of the system to help speed its recovery, a water expert said on Tuesday.

To properly flush out lead particles and spread the needed chemical phosphates and chlorine that will better protect the system, wary residents need to run the water in their homes more heavily than they have, Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards, a water engineer who first raised the issue of Flint's lead contamination, told reporters.

The lead contamination levels have decreased since last August, but residents should continue using bottled water and filters, he said.

A top U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official made similar statements last week.

A research team led by Edwards presented its findings, comparing lead levels in the drinking water in Flint houses from March this year to August last year.

Michigan officials have been criticized for their poor handling of the issue, which has sparked national outrage. Under the direction of a state-appointed emergency manager, Flint switched water supplies to the Flint River from Detroit's system in 2014 to save money.

The corrosive river water leached lead, a toxic substance that can damage the nervous system, from the city's water pipes. Flint switched back to the Detroit system last October.

Edwards said if residents, some of whom have drastically reduced their water usage during the crisis, fail to flush out the system with heavy use, the recovery could take longer. In other words, reduced use caused by fear is actually slowing the recovery.

Edwards said the Flint system's recovery time could run months to years, comparing it to that of Washington, D.C., and Providence, Rhode Island, where recovery from lead-contaminated water took 18 months and eight months, respectively. Heavier water use in Flint could reduce the recovery time instead to weeks or months.

Story continues

"From every single scientific perspective, the more water a resident uses, the better the water is going to be," he said.

Edwards said it is safe to bathe or shower in the water, but to encourage heavier use there is talk among state officials of a two-week period where water would be free. The state previously approved $30 million to help residents pay their water bills dating back to the switch to the Flint River.

Edwards said federal and state officials ultimately need to upgrade the water mains in the system.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
By Noah Barkin BERLIN (Reuters) - As Germany scrambles to contain a diplomatic row with Turkey over a comedian's mocking of President Tayyip Erdogan, officials are growing worried about another byproduct of their Faustian migrant pact with Ankara: an upsurge in violence between nationalist Turks and militant Kurds on German soil. Germany is home to about 3 million people of Turkish origin. Roughly one in four are ethnic Kurds who came to Germany to work in the 1960s and 70s, or as refugees fleeing violence in the 1980s and 90s. Intelligence officials estimate that about 14,000 of these Kurds are active supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the militant group whose armed struggle against the Turkish state has escalated following the collapse of a 2-1/2 year ceasefire last July. Clashes between Turks and Kurds in Germany are not new. At the height of the conflict between Ankara and the PKK in the early 1990s, Kurdish militants overran the Turkish consulate in Munich and launched arson attacks against Turkish facilities across Germany. This led Germany to outlaw the PKK in 1993. But the combination of rising violence in Turkey and Chancellor Angela Merkel's controversial refugee deal with Ankara has raised the risk of a new wave of clashes, government and intelligence officials worry. "When you have a full blown civil war there, then there is the risk of direct transmission to German cities," said a senior German diplomat on condition of anonymity. "This is the other side of Merkel's refugee deal. It makes it all the more difficult to manage." CLASHES IN BAVARIA On Easter Sunday in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg, roughly three dozen Kurds threw rocks and shot fireworks at a group of 600 Turks demonstrating against the "terror" of both Islamic State and the PKK. The Kurds barricaded themselves in a cultural center, attacking police from the roof, before reinforcements arrived and the offenders were arrested. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the incident showed the dangers of offering Turks visa-free travel, a key plank of the European Union's migrant deal with Ankara that Merkel has championed in the face of deep scepticism at home and elsewhere in the bloc. Last Sunday, more Turkish demonstrations were held in cities across Germany, although this time only minor scuffles were reported thanks to the deployment of thousands of police. "There was a time in the 1990s when you had serious clashes in Germany," said Kristian Brakel, a Turkey expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. "It is not unlikely that this sort of thing could happen again." An internal report from the Berlin branch of Germany's domestic intelligence agency echoes that sentiment, warning of an "emotionally charged" mood among PKK supporters in Germany, in part because they view the EU's migrant deal with Turkey as a form of "collaboration" with their arch-enemy Erdogan. "Against this backdrop we cannot exclude militant acts in Berlin over the course of 2016, especially by younger PKK activists, against Turkish facilities," says the report, which was seen by Reuters. Kurdish organizations in Germany have denounced the Turkish demonstrations as a show of power by Erdogan and called on supporters to rally against them. "These are not demonstrations against the PKK and IS as advertised in German, but rather serve pan-Turkish ideologies and promote hatred of Kurds and non-Turks," a group of organizations representing Kurds, Armenians, Yazidis and others said in a statement last week. BALANCING ACT The conflict is another conundrum for Merkel, whose political future may ride on Erdogan delivering on his end of the migrant deal, under which Ankara has agreed to take back refugees from Greece in exchange for billions of euros, visa-free travel for Turks and accelerated talks on EU membership. Merkel faced strong criticism in Germany this week for condemning a sexually-explicit satirical poem about Erdogan by comedian Jan Boehmermann as "deliberately insulting" instead of defending the principle of free speech. As Berlin works to keep Turkey on side, it is also providing arms to Iraqi Kurdish security forces in the fight against Islamic State militants in their country. And many German politicians, especially in the far-left Linke and Greens parties, are active supporters of the very Kurds that Erdogan is vowing to crush. This has forced the German political establishment into an awkward balancing act. This week, Bundestag President Norbert Lammert, a member of Merkel's conservative party, and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier hosted Selahattin Demirtas, a leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party. (HDP) While Demirtas was in Berlin for the talks, the Turkish government was submitting a draft proposal to parliament that could strip HDP lawmakers of immunity from prosecution. Erdogan has accused the HDP of being an extension of the PKK. "Berlin has a lot riding on this Turkey deal," the German diplomat said. "But there is plenty that can go wrong." (Reporting by Noah Barkin; editing by Peter Graff)
By Tom Perry, John Irish and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin BEIRUT/PARIS/DUBAI (Reuters) - France and Iran voiced concern over escalating violence in Syria on Tuesday, echoing warnings from the United States and Russia as fighting near the city of Aleppo put more pressure on a fragile truce agreement. The already widely violated "cessation of hostilities" agreement brokered by Russia and the United States has been strained to breaking point by an upsurge in fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels near Aleppo. The escalation underlines the already bleak outlook for peace talks set to reconvene this week in Geneva. The United Nations says the talks will resume on Wednesday. The government delegation has said it is ready to join the talks from Friday. With President Bashar al-Assad buoyed by Russian and Iranian military support, the Damascus government is due to hold parliamentary elections on Wednesday, a vote seen by Assad's opponents as illegitimate and provocative. Iran said an increase in ceasefire violations could harm the political process a day after Russia said it had asked the United States to stop a mobilisation of militants near Aleppo, Syria's biggest city until the conflict erupted in 2011. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, speaking after a meeting with U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura in Tehran, blamed the "increasing activities of armed groups" for the violations. France, which backs the opposition, also expressed concern, but blamed the other side. "It warns that the impact of the regime and its allies' offensives around Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta are a threat to the cessation of hostilities," government spokesman Romain Nadal said. The Eastern Ghouta is an opposition-held area near Damascus. Syria's civil war has killed more than 250,000 people, created the world's worst refugee crisis, allowed for the rise of Islamic State and drawn in regional and international powers. The intervention of Russia swung the war in Assad's favour. WASHINGTON "VERY, VERY CONCERNED" The United States, which also backs rebels fighting Assad, on Monday said it was "very, very concerned" about increased violence and blamed the Syrian government for the vast majority of truce violations. Both the government and a large number of rebel groups had pledged to respect the cessation of hostilities agreed in February with the aim of allowing a resumption of diplomacy towards ending the five-year-long war. Jihadist groups including the Nusra Front and Islamic State were not part of the deal. A senior official close to the Syrian government said the truce had effectively collapsed. "On the ground the truce does not exist," said the official, who is not Syrian and declined to be named because he was giving a personal assessment. "The level of tension in Syria will increase in the coming months." The eruption of fighting on the front lines south of Aleppo marks the most serious challenge yet to the truce. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organisation that tracks the war, said dozens of government fighters had been killed in a big offensive to take the town of Telat al-Eis near the Aleppo-Damascus highway on Tuesday. A rebel fighting in the area said the assault launched at dawn was backed by Russian air strikes and Iranian militias, adding that the attackers had suffered heavy losses. The Syrian military could not be reached for comment. Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Lebanon's Hezbollah have both deployed in the southern Aleppo area in support of the government, while the Nusra Front is also fighting in close proximity to other rebels. The Syrian prime minister was quoted on Sunday as saying government forces were preparing a major operation in the region with Russian support. Further south in Homs province, Russia said one of its attack helicopters had crashed in the early hours of Tuesday, killing both pilots. It said the helicopter had not been shot down and the cause of the crash was being investigated. "PROVOCATIVE" ELECTION De Mistura, speaking in Tehran, said he and Amir-Abdollahian had agreed on the importance of the cessation continuing, that aid should reach every Syrian and that "a political process leading to a political transition is now crucially urgent". De Mistura, whose two predecessors quit, has said he wants the next round of Geneva talks to be "quite concrete" in leading towards a political transition. Ahead of the first round of talks, Damascus had ruled out any discussion of the presidency, calling it a red line. A senior Iranian official on Saturday rejected what he described as a U.S. request for Tehran's help to make Assad leave power, saying he should serve out his term and be allowed to run in a presidential election "as any Syrian". Some members of the main Syrian opposition alliance, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), arrived in Geneva on Tuesday, and U.N. spokesman in Geneva Ahmad Fawzi said the talks were expected to begin on Wednesday. De Mistura is working according to a U.N. Security Council resolution approved in December that sets out a political process including elections after the establishment of "credible" governance and the approval of a new constitution. The Syrian government says it is holding Wednesday's elections in line with the existing timetable that requires a vote every four years. Russia has said the vote does not go against the peace talks and is in line with the constitution. French President Francois Hollande last month, however, said the idea was provocative and "totally unrealistic". (Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva, and Samia Nakhoul and Laila Bassam; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Peter Millership and Giles Elgood)
By Douglas Busvine NEW DELHI (Reuters) - That Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is in large part thanks to a retired Oxford schoolteacher. Honorary Consul Michael Rutland calls himself a mere facilitator, but a British diplomat said he had played a crucial role in arranging the royal visit to the country sandwiched between the world's two most populous nations: China and India. Bhutan has never had diplomatic relations with the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, including China and Britain. That made the assignment a delicate one for the 78-year-old Rutland. "How can a retired physics teacher be a threat to anyone?" he asked Reuters in a telephone interview from the capital Thimphu, before Prince William and wife Kate start their two-day trip on Thursday. The British royals, who have been touring India, will for the first time meet the fifth king and the queen of Bhutan. They will also trek to the Tiger's Nest, an ancient Buddhist monastery perched 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) up a mountain. William's father, Prince Charles, failed to complete the steep ascent to the Tiger's Nest during a visit in 1998, opting instead to paint a watercolour of the scene. It's a crowning moment for Rutland, who was once asked at a dinner party in Oxford whether he wanted to teach in Bhutan. After initial hesitation - he didn't know where the country was - he accepted the job in 1971, only to discover he had been appointed tutor to the crown prince of Bhutan. The prince became the fourth king, going on to end his own absolute rule before abdicating. The current king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, ascended to the throne in 2008. "It was a new constitutional democracy, a new monarchy and a new face," recalls Rutland, who now lives full time in Bhutan, has adopted a son there and has five grandchildren. (Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea accused South Korea on Tuesday of abducting its citizens in China, four days after South Korea said 13 workers at restaurant run by the North had defected. North Korea said the abduction of its citizens was an unacceptable provocation and it demanded their return. "We sternly denounce the group abduction of the citizens of the DPRK as a hideous crime against its dignity and social system and the life and security of its citizens," the North's KCNA news agency quoted a spokesman of its Red Cross Society as saying. DPRK stand for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name. South Korea said on Friday that 13 workers at a restaurant run by the North in an unidentified country had defected, a case it described as unprecedented, adding that the 13 had arrived in the South a day earlier. South Korea did not say where the 13 had worked. China said on Monday that 13 North Koreans had been there and had left lawfully. It did not say if they were the same group. The North's Red Cross Society said the group was employed at a restaurant in the Chinese city of Ningbo, and they were taken to a Southeast Asian country before being flown to South Korea. It did not say how many people were in the group. News of the defections came during a period of tension on the Korean peninsula following the North's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the next month. The two Koreas have been fierce rivals since the 1950-53 Korean War and about 29,000 people had fled from North Korea and arrived in the South, since then, including 1,276 last year. (Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Robert Birsel)
By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia and China want the U.N. Security Council to demand states report when militants are developing chemical weapons in Syria, but some diplomats dismissed the move on Wednesday as a bid to distract from accusations the Syrian government uses such arms. Russia and China circulated a draft resolution to the 15-member body which Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said could serve as a deterrent to "terrorist" groups such as Islamic State from using chemical weapons. "We do not do any work on the possibility of terrorists actually preparing to build a chemical weapon," Churkin told reporters. "The draft resolution ... is a fairly simple one, it is filling this gap which we have detected." "Recently we have had numerous reports of terrorist groups in Syria and neighbouring Iraq using chemical weapons," he said. Islamic State militants are believed to be responsible for sulphur mustard gas attacks in Syria and Iraq last year, the United States has said. Russia has also said it sees a high probability that Islamic State is using chemical weapons. A confidential report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) concluded that at least two people were exposed to sulphur mustard in Marea, north of Aleppo, in August. The draft resolution, seen by Reuters, would demand that states, particularly those neighbouring Syria, "shall immediately report any actions by non-State actors to develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer, or use chemical weapons and their means of delivery to the Security Council." Some council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the draft resolution was a ploy by Russia to divert attention from allegations that the Syrian government continued to use chemical weapons. Churkin denied it was a distraction. Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013 under a deal broker by Moscow and Washington but the OPCW has since found chlorine has been "systematically and repeatedly" used as a weapon. Government and opposition forces have denied using chlorine. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by James Dalgleish)
By Amanda Becker WASHINGTON - Bernie Sanders won the U.S. presidential Democratic nominating contest in Wyoming on Saturday, besting rival Hillary Clinton and adding to a string of recent victories as the two candidates gear up for a crucial matchup in New York. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, has won seven out of the last eight state-level Democratic nominating contests, trying to chip away at Clinton's big lead in the number of delegates needed to secure the party's nomination. Wyoming's 14 Democratic delegates - fewer than any other state - are awarded proportionally based on support from individuals participating in the nominating contest. Early estimates showed that while Sanders won the contest, both he and Clinton would likely receive seven delegates each in the close race, maintaining Clinton's lead overall. Going into Wyoming, Clinton had more than half of the 2,383 delegates needed to win the nomination. Sanders trailed her by 250 pledged delegates, those awarded based on the results of the state nominating contests. Clinton's lead widens when superdelegates, Democratic leaders who can decide whom to support at the party's July convention, are included in the tallies. Clinton and Sanders both spent Saturday campaigning in New York, which holds its contest on April 19 and where a total of 291 delegates are up for grabs, more than 10 percent of the tally needed to win the party's nomination. Sanders' wife, Jane Sanders, went onstage where he was speaking at a community college in Queens, a borough of New York City, to alert him to Saturday's victory. "News bulletin - we just won Wyoming!" Sanders said to cheers. Speaking to reporters after the event, Sanders said he believed he had enough momentum to secure the nomination. "We are closing very fast," Sanders said. Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, campaigned in the nearby borough of Brooklyn, where her campaign is based. Clinton represented New York as a U.S. senator and considers the state her home turf. Recent polls have shown Clinton more than 10 points ahead in the state. Tension between the two candidates flared earlier this week in a party race that has typically focused on policies and not personal attacks. The candidates dialed back their criticism of one another on Friday. In Wyoming's Republican contest last month, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas beat New York billionaire Donald Trump, the party's front-runner. Cruz is trying to block Trump from receiving enough delegates to win the nomination outright, which would lead to a contested convention in July. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that a third of Trump's Republican supporters could consider abandoning the party's candidate if Trump is denied the nomination at a contested convention. (Reporting by Amanda Becker; Editing by Leslie Adler, Matthew Lewis and Bill Rigby)
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's industry minister, Jose Manuel Soria, on Monday denied his involvement in an offshore company revealed by the Panama Papers, after two Spanish news outlets said they had documents proving he headed the offshore firm with his brother. "I totally deny that I have anything to do with any company based in Panama, or any other tax haven," Soria said after TV channel La Sexta said the minister had briefly administrated in 1992 the offshore company UK Lines Limited based in the Bahamas. La Sexta and online newspaper El Confidencial said Soria's name was replaced in the papers by that of his brother Luis Alberto Soria after a letter was sent to law firm Mossack Fonseca claiming an error had been made. Soria is among scores of public figures worldwide who have been linked to 11.5 million leaked documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specializes in setting up offshore companies. The minister said he had told his lawyer to contact Panamanian authorities to determine if his name had actually appeared on the papers. Politicians from all parties, currently struggling to form a coalition to head the next government after inconclusive elections in December, have called for Soria's resignation. "The example to follow is Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson," Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez tweeted, referring to the premier's decision to step down last week after documents linked him to an offshore company. Soria's ruling People's Party (PP) has been plagued by a string of corruption scandals, pushing graft to the top of the political agenda and sending millions of voters looking for alternatives to the traditional two-party system. Other public figures linked to the Panama papers by the Spanish press include FC Barcelona player Lionel Messi, Oscar-winning film director Pedro Almodovar and Literature Nobel Prize-winner Mario Vargas Llosa. They have all denied wrongdoing. (Reporting by Blanca Rodriguez, writing by Paul Day; Editing by Julien Toyer and Richard Balmforth)
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Private equity investors BC Partners and Nordic Capital are said to have made the shortlist for the acquisition of Germ
KKR has agreed to buy into seeds provider Advanta Enterprises in a deal which values the business at about $2.25bn.
Asked Jim Nussle, CEO of CUNA to the credit unions in attendance at the Minnesota Credit Union Networks annual meeting held last week in Minneapolis.

To move from disruptee to disruptor is no easy feat. Current disruptors in the credit union space are predominantly quick and nimble Fin Tech start-ups rapidly grabbing market share. The reason they are able to achieve this is simple. They solve a problem faster and better than current market standards.

For credit unions to create better and faster solutions, they need to evaluate how they perform their business in a different way.

The target market

First, credit unions need to understand their target market and its problems.Target market identification is a way of tightening the scope of the business that is affordable, efficient and effective. A target market is a specific market and does not mean that you are excluding members who do not fit your criteria, rather it allows you to focus on a market that is more likely to buy from you than other markets.
When Tony Stark (billionaire, genius inventor, Iron Man*) needs to know something, he speaks his commands to J.A.R.V.I.S. who provides him with immediate access to the information he needs. If he suspected that HYDRA had tampered with his investment portfolio, you can bet he wouldnt be found calling the customer service 800 number to put a freeze on his account. Wouldnt it be nice if your credit union members had the ability to turn off their debit and credit cards and shut down access to their accounts by speaking commands to a J.A.R.V.I.S. of their own? What about having this ability when the reality of fraud presents itself, not in a super villain environment, but in the form of an everyday hacker or thief? Or worse a teenager!

While many debit and credit card companies and processors employ sophisticated back-end fraud detection systems, what about a technology that would put fraud prevention into the hands of your credit union members?

Today, services like Uber and Lyft allow people to request a car and driver through their smartphone with the tap of a finger, so why should anyone have to sit on the phone to turn off a stolen debit or credit card? Not quite J.A.R.V.I.S., but Siri is getting close.

Mobile remote control apps have been around a few years. However, remote controls for debit and credit cards do not need to require the use of an app that is separate from your credit unions mobile banking app. In fact, integrated mobile card management services for credit unions are already available from core providers.

Embedding Remote Control Debit and Credit Cards into credit union core technology is precisely what Joe Foster, CEO of Hallco Community Credit Union in Gainesville, GA, has done. Today, with FLEX as our credit union technology partner, our members have mobile remote control for their debit and credit cards. This provides my members with the ability to stop fraud and enjoy peace of mind when using their Hallco Community CU debit and credit cards. said Foster. (Download the full case study here).

Members of Hallco Community Credit Union have the ability to turn their card off with the tap of a finger. This is a great option if members fear fraudulent activity, or if they are leaving the country for an extended period of time and will not need to use their card. Or if their college student teen has been using their emergency card for too many trips to Starbucks. If the card is turned off, members would then have the option to turn the card back on or to request a card reissue.

This mobile remote control system interacts directly with Hallco Community Credit Unions core processing system in real-time, allowing not only members but also member service reps the ability to view status reports and card management on the back-end. Foster continues: With the combination of enhanced eAlerts and mobile apps, our members are able to use mobile remote controls to stop fraud.

Allow your credit union members to be the superhero they always knew they could be. With the right credit union core technology, you can put the power of J.A.R.V.I.S. to work for your debit and credit card programs.

Want advanced card management from within the core? Download our eGuide for more information.

*Iron Man is a licensed character of Marvel Worldwide, Inc.
Talking Points:

- EUR/USD breakdown with German DAX rallying reminiscent of the portfolio rebalancing channel effect.

- USD/CAD in focus as Crude Oil (CFD: USOIL) churns higher; BOC today.

- As market volatility rises, it's a good time to review risk management principles.

"Risk redux." That's about the only way to describe price action overnight, as the fall in the Euro and the Japanese Yen has paved the way for higher equity markets in Europe and Asia. Likewise, peripheral yields in Europe have moved lower. At the same time, the US Dollar has broadly moved higher while US equity futures have gained ground. We've seen this movie before. This is the portfolio channel rebalancing at work. Markets are acting like they're front-running more monetary easing from the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan.

As weve previously written on the portfolio channel rebalancing effect with respect to ECB easing, In a truly bullish world driven by QE portfolio rebalancing channel effects, the Euro would depreciate amid lower yields and stronger equity markets (something that played out from December [2014] through early-March [2015]) (or vice-versa: the Euro appreciating amid higher yields and weaker equity markets, something that played out from March [2015] through June [2015]).

Markets today are sitting on the 'good side' of the fence, with weakening low yielding currencies paving the way for higher equity markets. The feedback for the Euro and the Yen, of course, is through foreign capital flows: as foreign investors take on EUR- or JPY-denominated assets onto their balance sheets, they need to hedge off the currency exposure through the spot or forward markets. Otherwise, for example, a portfolio manager could gain +10% on the German DAX, but if EUR/USD fell by -9.1% or more over that same period, the unhedged gain would be wiped out on the currency conversion once repatriation occurred.

If the Euro and the Japanese Yen are about to become utilized again as indirect monetary policy tools, the behavior exhibited thus far yesterday and today - however short-term in nature - in context of commodity prices moving steadily higher over the past few weeks (of note: Crude Oil, Lumber, Iron Ore, and Soybeans - agricultural, energy, and metals alike) suggests that risk appetite is building.

See the above video for trade implications and technical considerations in SPX500, USD/CAD, GBP/USD, Crude Oil, EUR/USD, USD/JPY, and the USDOLLAR Index.

Read more: Crude Oil at Major Inflection Point as USDOLLAR Breaks Down

If you haven't yet, read the Q2'16 Euro Forecast, "EUR/USD Stuck in No-Mans Land Headed into Q216; Dont Discount Brexit," as well as the rest of all of DailyFX's Q2'16 quarterly forecasts.

--- Written by Christopher Vecchio, Currency Strategist

To contact Christopher Vecchio, e-mail cvecchio@dailyfx.com

Follow him on Twitter at @CVecchioFX

To be added to Christopher's e-mail distribution list, please fill out this form
Popular herbicide glyphosate is likely to have its licence extended, following a crucial vote in the European parliament today (Wednesday).

Doubts about its future have been raised in recent weeks, following conflicting advice on its possible carcinogenicity.

With the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) saying it was safe, but the World Health Organization linking it to cancer, political pressure to ban the substance has been mounting.

See also: EU scientists say glyphosate unlikely to cause cancer

EU member state experts meeting earlier this year were split on the issue. And last month the European parliaments environment committee passed a so-called non-binding resolution calling for the commission to halt the authorisation process.

But a meeting of the full European parliament in Strasbourg has taken a different tack. It has suggested that the EU commission should now renew the licence (which expires at the end of June), for another seven years, not the 15 years that was originally proposed.

It has also demanded an independent review of the overall toxicity of glyphosate, focused not just on its carcinogenicity, but also on possible endocrine-disruptive properties.

Delighted @Europarl_EN has seen sense and voted to extend the use of Glyphosate on farms @NFUtweets @NFUStweets pic.twitter.com/JhKZJUgARH  Ian Duncan MEP (@IanDuncanMEP) April 13, 2016

And the non-binding resolution  which was passed by 374 votes to 225, with 102 abstentions  says glyphosate should be for professional uses only, and not used in parks and public playgrounds.

Finally, the MEPs have condemned the use of glyphosate for desiccating crops (like oilseed rape) prior to harvest.

Reaction

The European parliament vote has been welcomed by the NFU. Its fundamental that the agricultural sector is able to use glyphosate responsibly in order to produce healthy products across the sector entering the food chain, reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and continue to farm sustainably, said NFU president Meurig Raymond.

Conservative MEP Julie Girling also welcomed the move, but expressed concern that questioning the scientific opinion of EFSA in this matter set a worrying precedent.

The next stage will be a meeting of member state experts scheduled for 18 May. The EU commission is likely to table a new proposal and the experts will vote on it.

If they are still split, then the commission will decide under its own jurisdiction.

Value of glyphosate

A recent report by ADAS, the UKs largest agricultural consultancy, estimated a total ban on glyphosate would reduce UK production of winter wheat and winter barley by 12% and oilseed rape by 10%, costing the industry 633m a year.

The RSPB cites glyphosate as key to controlling bracken and rushes, while the chemical is widely used to control weeds on airport runways and railway lines.
At 5:00AM this morning, US Postal Police and Inspectors, with support from the Berkeley Police Dept., arrived at the Main Berkeley Post Office, 2000 Alston Way, and literally dragged protesters out of their tents, seized all their belongings, and tore down the information tent, the shelter for our 17-month occupation. While trespassing was given by Postal Police as reason for the raid, no protesters were cited for any infraction.

Two groups of activists  First They Came for the Homeless and Berkeley Post Office Defenders  have occupied the grounds of the Main Berkeley Post Office continuously since late November, 2014.

For most of that time  from Feb, 2015 to Feb, 2016  we have been told by the Postal Police, repeatedly, that they had no intention of enforcing trespassing rules against us; yet, this morning they put their hands on sleeping protesters, dragged them from their tents, and confiscated all their belongings.

-----

The downtown Berkeley Post Office had been ground zero in the fight against the privatization of the United States Postal Service and the sale of its Post Offices (see a timeline of the multi-year fight here).

One year ago a Federal judge put the kibosh on Postal Service plans to sell the property, and the Occupation become symbolic of the plight of the homeless in Berkeley. To a determined, small band of previously homeless it was "Home for a year-and-a-half" until this morning.

This is yet another example of Berkeley's total paralysis in the face of homelessness, unless it is eviction by force. Unable to provide shelter to those who call Berkeley home without a house, called upon to "do something" by its residents with a house, Berkeley's ruling class' only response is to pass laws making it illegal for the homeless to exist in more than two square feet of space, and to squash those who attempt to demonstrate other possibilities ("Liberty City" on the grounds of Old City Hall, a tent city of homeless people protesting the City's new anti-homeless legislation, was eradicted in December, 2015).

In creating circumstances in which Postal Police felt it necessary to remove a 17 month occupation that was harming no one and helping some, and cooperating with the Postal Police in its removal, Berkeley's rulers have demonstrated their unspoken, heartfelt wish:

"Go. Go away. Go anywhere but here."
What a joy it is to have Albert out of prison, after all these years of struggle, it is a rare and special treat to hear his voice on the phone each morning as we review the days schedule and events. In Albert's first month of freedom he stayed busy every day, obtaining identification papers, scheduling doctor and dentist appointments, visiting with family and supporters - every moment was occupied. Since the end of March Albert has been in Texas, visiting with his brother Michael and his family and getting some much needed rest.This weekend, Albert and King head to Pittsburgh to participate in the International Conference on Solitary Confinement, where they're sure to run into many of the activists and supporters that have been involved in the effort to end solitary confinement. After Pittsburgh, Albert will be headed back to New Orleans to attend his first family reunion! Early May finds him headed to Los Angeles for the Death Penalty Focus Conference and then on to a long- anticipated trip to Yosemite with Sacramento supporters, Gail Shaw and Billy X Jennings. Every day is an adventure; shopping, banking, post office- all the things we have grown accustomed to are new to Albert.Below you'll find the latest statement from the legal team. As Albert stated in one of his early interviews after his release, "There's a movement in the country about solitary confinement...we think that we were the spark...for that." We couldn't agree more! Although both the civil and criminal cases have been settled, significant changes to the Department of Corrections policies in Louisiana regarding solitary are in the works and we hope to be able to share more detail in the coming months. Meanwhile, around the country and around the world, there has been greatly heightened awareness around the issues of solitary confinement and like Albert and King, we feel that the case of the Angola 3 has been instrumental in this raised consciousness and are thrilled to see articles such as the one from Ottawa that use the Angola 3 case to leverage the abolition of solitary.Albert looks forward to joining the fray in carrying on the movement to abolish solitary and to expose the inequalities of the criminal justice system. We are proud to stand behind Albert and King and assist them in any way that we can as they carry on with their advocacy work."On April 5, 2016, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana dismissed the long-pending civil rights action brought by Robert King, Albert Woodfox, and Herman Wallace against Louisiana Department of Corrections officials upon the joint motion of the parties. The case has been settled, and the agreement is confidential. Plaintiffs King and Woodfox are confident the Louisiana Department of Corrections will significantly overhaul its policies concerning solitary confinement in the coming months so that no one in the future will experience what they had to endure."Amnesty International UK is delighted to announce a special UK preview screening of 'Cruel and Unusual', the documentary feature film that tells the story of the Angola 3's struggle for justice and the cruel and unusual punishment of long term solitary confinement in Louisiana prisons. The film includes a recent interview with Albert and will be followed by a discussion with Angola 3 supporter and activist Sam Roddick, Director Vadim Jean, campaigner Tessa Murphy and Robert King who will join via a live link.CNN's Christine Amanpour conducted an excellent interview with both Albert Woodfox and Robert King. The television interview can be watched here . Featured below are excerpts from some of the other new reports published since our previous newsletter.In their article entitled, Solitary Confinement and Justice: Why Albert Woodfox's Release is Not Enough , Yvette Tiya of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee and Defending Dissent Foundation writes:The article entitled Albert Woodfox speaks to the people after 44 years in solitary , by Jarett Aucoin of Liberation News, concludes:The National Public Radio story, After Decades In Solitary, Last Of The 'Angola 3' Carry On Their Struggle , features an interview with Albert alongside Robert King (Albert was also interviewed by a Swedish radio station ):In her article entitled Toward an Intellectual History of the Angola 3 , Holly Genovese of the Society for U.S. Intellectual History, reflects:In a recent Ottawa Citizen article, entitled Canada cannot continue using solitary confinement , author Kristina Seefeldt writes:

 New A3 Flyer, following Albert's release by International Coalition to Free the Angola 3

A# Fact Sheet Text (Flyer attached, uploaded)



43 years ago, deep in rural Louisiana, three young black men were silenced for trying to expose continued segregation, systematic corruption, and horrific abuse in the biggest prison in the US, an 18,000 acre former slave plantation called Angola.



Peaceful, non-violent protest in the form of hunger and work strikes organized by inmates caught the attention of Louisianas elected leaders and local media in the early 1970s. They soon called for investigations into a host of unconstitutional and extraordinarily inhumane practices commonplace in what was then the bloodiest prison in the South. Eager to put an end to outside scrutiny, prison officials began punishing inmates they saw as troublemakers.



At the height of this unprecedented institutional chaos, Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox, and Robert King were charged with murders they did not commit and thrown into 6x9 foot solitary cells.



Robert was released in 2001, and Herman in October 2013, but Albert remains in solitary, continuing to fight for his freedom.



Despite a number of reforms achieved in the mid-70s, many officials repeatedly ignore both evidence of misconduct, and of innocence.



The States case is riddled with inconsistencies, obfuscations, and missteps. A bloody print at the murder scene does not match Herman, Albert or anyone charged with the crime and was never compared with the limited number of other prisoners who had access to the dormitory on the day of the murder. In 2008, NPR asked Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell why the state refuses to test the print. "A fingerprint can come from anywhere," Caldwell explained. "We're not going to be fooled by that."



Potentially exculpatory DNA evidence has been lost by prison officialsincluding fingernail scrapings from the victim and barely visible specks of blood on clothing alleged to have been worn by Albert.



Both Herman and Albert had multiple alibi witnesses with nothing to gain who testified they were far away from the scene when the murder occurred.



In contrast, several State witnesses lied under oath about rewards for their testimony. The prosecutions star witness Hezekiah Brown told the jury: Nobody promised me nothing. But new evidence shows Hezekiah, a convicted serial rapist serving life, agreed to testify only in exchange for a pardon, a weekly carton of cigarettes, TV, birthday cakes, and other luxuries.



Hezekiah was one you could put words in his mouth, the Warden reminisced chillingly in an interview about the case years later.



Notably, Teenie Rogers, the widow of the victim, prison guard Brent Miller, after reviewing the evidence believes Herman and Alberts trials were unfair, has grave doubts about their guilt, and is calling upon officials to find the real killer. "Each time I look at the evidence in this case, I remember there is no proof that the men charged with Brents death are the ones who actually killed him. Its easy to get caught up in vengeance and anger, but when I look at the facts, they just do not add up, said Rogers in 2013.



Hermans conviction was finally overturned in October 2013 by a Federal Judge. Although his trial was riddled with evidence of prosecutorial misconduct and other constitutional violations, it was the systematic exclusion of women from his jury in violation of the 14th Amendment that freed him. Unfortunately he was released in the late stages of advanced liver cancer and only experienced 3 days of freedom. Sadly for Herman, justice delayed was justice denied.



Alberts conviction has now been overturned three times, most recently in February of 2013 due to a finding of racial discrimination in the selection of his grand jury foreperson. The first two times judges cited racial discrimination, prosecutorial misconduct, inadequate defense, and suppression of exculpatory evidence. He now awaits a ruling from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that will hopefully uphold the Judges order, and set him free.



In the meantime, although no longer convicted of a crime, Louisiana prison officials refuse to release Albert from solitary because theres been no rehabilitation from practicing Black Pantherism. If they have their way, Albert will die in prison, behind solitary bars. Let us hope the courts disagree.



Louisiana today has the highest incarceration rate in the USthus the highest in the world.



Three-fourths of the 5,000+ prisoners at Angola are African American. And due to some of the harshest sentencing practices in the nation, 97% will die there.



Reminiscent of a bygone era, inmates still harvest cotton, corn and wheat for 4 to 20 cents an hour under the watchful eye of armed guards on horseback.



We believe that only by openly examining the failures and inequities of the criminal justice system in America can we restore integrity to that system.



We must not wait.



We can make a difference.



As the A3 did years before, now is the time to challenge injustice and demand that the innocent and wrongfully incarcerated be freed.



Cruel and Unusual Punishment



Over a decade ago Herman, Albert and Robert filed a civil lawsuit challenging the inhumane and increasingly pervasive practice of long-term solitary confinement. Magistrate Judge Dalby describes their almost four decades of solitary as durations so far beyond the pale she could not find anything even remotely comparable in the annals of American jurisprudence. The case, scheduled for a two-week trial beginning on June 2nd, 2014, will detail unconstitutionally cruel and unusual treatment and systematic due process violations at the hands of Louisiana officials
Philippines: Police shoot hungry protesters by Tony Iltis

On April 1, police opened fire on indigenous and rural poor protesters who were blocking the highway into Kidapawan in the landlocked province of Cotabato on the island of Mindanao, killing three protesters and injuring at least 116.





While no investigation of the police action has yet taken place, 71 protesters remain detained. On April 4 a police spokesperson announced that Cotabato police chief Alexander Tagum would be suspended pending an investigation.



The next day contingents from the Sanlakas multisectoral alliance, the BMP trade union federation and the Party of the Labouring Masses (PLM) held a picket in front of the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Manila to condemn the shootings.



PLM chairperson Sonny Melencio told Green Left Weekly: The farmers, together with their families, numbering around 6,000, barricaded the highways to press for the release of 15,000 sacks of rice to alleviate the hunger caused by drought in the region since last year.



The provincial governor of Cotabato and the Kidapawan City mayor ordered the dispersal of the protestors at all cost. Three farmers died (two instantly during the dispersal), scores are missing and hundreds are wounded. Independent videos of the event, showing killing by the PNP when the farmers are running away from the site, are all over the social media.



The national and local governments under the ruling Liberal Party promised the food relief since January but no relief came. Government agencies supposedly released billions of pesos for the El Nino relief, but the farmers believed that these are being used for the Liberal Party's election machinery.



The drought is the result of the exacerbation of the El Nino phenomenon by climate change  caused by carbon emissions predominantly from rich countries like Australia and the US.



The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said that the El Nino phenomenon will cause drought to 85% of the Philippines by April this year, affecting 68 provinces. Mindanao will suffer the most with most of the island to experience drought up to June or July.



The protests in Kidapawan will soon spread to other places in Mindanao. Our members in Mindanao are talking about hunger and worsening water crisis in Bukidnon, the Lanao and Davao provinces, Roldan Gonzales, chair of Sanlakas Mindanao, told the April 2 Palawan News.



Gonzales, a climate justice and anti-mining activist, told the Palawan News that mining activity, as well as climate change, were worsening the water situation in Mindanao and called on the government to cushion impacts by ordering a price freeze on basic commodities, expedite the release of financial aid, provide immediate employment, and ensure proper management of water resources among others.



In an April 1 statement, left-wing senate candidate and well known global justice movement leader, Waldon Bello said: The protesters are farmers and Lumads [indigenous people] who have been suffering for months now the devastating impacts of El-Nino induced drought. They came and put up the barricade to demand urgent action from government both at the local and national levels. Theirs is a legitimate course of action, as they hope for a response in the form of rice and food to alleviate their hunger, but were met instead with deadly force and violence.



Based on news reports, the number of people affected by drought in North Cotabato alone has reached over 30,000 people, mostly corn, rice, rubber and coconut farmers. In Maguindanao, another 20,000 more suffer the same fate. There are reports of people driven to eating feeds meant for their livestock and toxic root crops just to survive. This is clearly unacceptable.



In an April 4 press release he said: I simply cannot understand why hungry farmers and their families demanding rice are dispersed with live bullets. This is a manifestation both of a culture of impunity and lack of professionalism among the police.



This violent dispersal in North Cotabato follows that in Santa Cruz, Zambales, where the community protesting the mudslides caused by mining were also dispersed by police. It seems like the war between the rich and the dispossessed is heightening as the electoral competition comes to a climax.



General Dado Valeroso, PLM senate candidate and former leader of the Young Officers Union  an underground left-wing movement inside the armed forces  who was jailed in the 1990s, said in a statement read at the April 2 protest: This is General Diosdado Valeroso. I am troubled by the inhumanity of those involved in the dispersal operation against our farmers. I ask my colleagues in PNP not to allow themselves to be used as killers by the capitalist-hacendero politicians and to unite with our farmers in their fight for food, land and justice.



I condemn in the strongest term possible the senseless use of force against our Kidapawan farmers. I know that no words can comfort the families of victims who were twice victimized by the inaction of government to provide food subsidies at this time of drought and hunger and were doubly brutalised by the injustice committed against them. I demand relief to our hungry kababayans. Bigas, hindi bala! Pagkain, hindi karahasan! [Rice, not bullets! Food, not violence!]



We are facing the brunt of El Nino phenomenon that wrought drought and devastation to certain agricultural areas in Mindanao. The problem of drought and hunger was solved by a hail of bullets against our own farmers who were asking for food subsidies. Have we degenerated into a country of calloused-hearted morons? Social revolution is the answer to this injustice and oppression!



Melencio told GLW that the PLM would be joining ongoing nationwide protests and would also be repeating a form of people-to-people solidarity that the PLM used in response to 2013's Typhoon Yolanda  another catastrophe caused by rich nations' carbon emissions:



We are also planning to launch a food caravan from Manila to Mindanao, bringing sacks of rice and other food aid to the starving farmers in Kidapawan and other areas, he said.



We are soliciting kilos of rice in our base, and seeking the support of religious groups and civic organisations which had helped us in the past during the People's Caravan that we organised during the Typhoon Yolanda's devastation in Leyte. We are organising people's solidarity as it is clear to many now that the government does not care about our farmers and is just using the calamity fund for electoral purposes.
Another man killed by Sacramento Police by S.T. Ruiz

Despite any offense the deceased man may have committed, this case fits the pattern of increasingly militarized cops escalating the use of violence when other means are available. This incident is another reflection of a racist system that alienates people of color by using violence to deal with them instead of trying to deescalate the situation.

At around 9 a.m. on April 8, the police responded to a 911 call in which it was reported that a man was looking in the windows of homes off Center Parkway in South Sacramento. The cops who went to the scene said they found the man in the backyard of a home presumably hiding from them.



The police say they then detained, but did not arrest the man, and put him in the back of a squad car. While he was detained, the cops went to investigate if a crime had been committed. We should note that the police didnt actually have evidence of a crime before he was detained in the car. When the man started kicking around in the car, the officers opened the door and he ran. The cops chased the man who reportedly ran into the nearby houses.



The man got into a house and allegedly grabbed two knives. According to the policeand this can actually mean many things the man jumped into a backyard where he allegedly threatened a woman who went back into her house. Police then allege that he then broke into the home and the woman left through the front door. The man left the house and supposedly threatened another person before the cops found him behind a car in the front of a house.



According to the police, he ignored the demands to drop the knives and lunged at the officers. At this point three cops shot the man dead and are now on administrative leave.



Bryce Heinlein, sergeant with the Sacramento police department, spoke at a press conference near the scene. Liberation asked him if the cops were equipped with body cameras and if that footage would be released. He said that he didnt know. His response was cagey considering that it is routine internal information as to which units have cameras and this should have been a primary point of the investigation which he claimed had already started. Heinlein defended his lack of information saying that there was still a lot of investigation to conduct.



A reporter asked him if there were other options like shooting him in the leg, tasers or some other non-lethal action. Heinlein responded: There are options. In this case the officers felt that this wasnt the case  the officers felt that this warranted deadly force. It is no surprise that he defended the cops saying that they feared for their lives.



They arent releasing the name of the victim yet, but they mentioned to the media that they know he had criminal violations in the past. People from the neighborhood said they recognized the victim as a regular person from the area.



Predominantly people of color live in South Sacramento and in the Parkway-Mack road neighborhoods. This area has a high level of police presence; police intimidation is common. People passing by asked what had happened and most were alarmed when they heard the cops had killed a man. Some people were upset, others pointed out that they werent surprised because cops often kill people. People who lived in the area were concerned about the police use of violence, saying that the cops are too quick to use guns. They were thankful that there werent any kids in the area when the cops started shooting.



Despite any offense the deceased man may have committed, this case fits the pattern of increasingly militarized cops escalating the use of violence when other means are available. This incident is another reflection of a racist system that alienates people of color by using violence to deal with them instead of trying to deescalate the situation.
On Sunday, April 3, Michael Garcia and fellow Watsonville Brown Berets traveled a short distance to Salinas to attend the annual Cesar Chavez March and Rally presented by United Farm Workers (UFW). The Watsonville Brown Berets (WBB) were joined by members of Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ) , an independent farmworker union in Burlington, Washington fighting for a union contract, and initiators of the boycott against Driscoll's.WBB and FUJ activists spoke with people assembled at Cesar Chavez Community Park and handed out flyers about the growing movement to boycott Driscoll's , the world's largest berry distributor. FUJ, along with tens of thousands of farmworkers in San Quintin, Mexico, are fighting to end wage theft and poverty wages, inhumane production standards, and retaliation from protected union activity.Although advocating for farmworkers' rights seems like it would be warmly welcomed by UFW, that was not the experience for WBB and FUJ members. Despite UFWs wishes, the event's stage manager granted advocates of the Driscolls boycott a few minutes to address the crowd. In an act highlighting UFW's partnership with Driscoll's , UFW Regional Director Lauro Barajas removed a UFW flag from the front of the stage moments before FUJ member Lazaro Matamoros, a Mixtec migrant from Oaxaca, Mexico, described 5am-4:30pm days with no breaks or lunch while harvesting berries for Driscoll's at Sakuma Brothers Farms in Washington state.
The San Francisco Labor Council called for the rehiring of fired OSHA Federal investigator and lawyer Darrell Whitman who was fighting to protect health and safety whistleblowers on the job.

San Francisco Labor Council Resolution on Workers Memorial Day 2016  April 28, 2016Whereas, April 28 is commemorated worldwide as Workers Memorial Day; and Whereas, health and safety on the job is a basic labor and human right; andWhereas, injured workers deserve good medical care and compensation for their injuries on the job; andWhereas, California has less than 200 Cal OSHA inspectors for 18.5 million workers; andWhereas, the deregulation of Workers Compensation in California through SB 899 and SB 863 has led to the injured workers being denied healthcare benefits due to anonymous doctors and an obstacle course call independent review decisions by an outsourced company called Maximus; andWhereas, the insurance industry has controls the Workers Compensation system; andWhereas, there is more and more use of opiates and growing addiction due to injured workers not getting medical treatment; andWhereas, there has been a major increase in workplace bullying on the job leading to health and safety problems and forcing workers on disability and workers compensation; andWhereas, Federal OSHA only has 2,000 OSHA inspectors for 130 million workers and only 500 investigators of those workers who have been retaliated for making OSHA complaints; andWhereas, Federal OSHA management have not enforced the protection of OSHA whistleblowers and have bullied AFGE OSHA Whistleblower Protection Program WPP AFGE Local 2371members in Region 9; andWhereas, Federal OSHA management and the Department of Labor management have only allowed a small percentage of whistleblowers to be protected with a merit determination; andWhereas, Federal OSHA inspectors including SFLC delegate and fired Federal OSHA investigator Darrell Whitman who is also a member and steward of AFGE Local 2371 have been bullied, harassed and fired from the agency for doing their jobs; andWhereas, if workers both union and unorganized are not protected from making health and safety complaints and there is not proper enforcement of Federal OSHA protection laws this is a threat to all workers and the public; andWhereas, the protection of worker health and safety in transportation, energy, healthcare, construction, education, agriculture, biotech and many other industries is critical for these workers and the public; andWhereas, the Workers Memorial Day on April 28, 2016 commemorates the workers who have died on the job and those workers who have been injured; andTherefore be it Resolved the San Francisco Labor Council calls for proper staffing of OSHA in the Cal- OSHA program and Federal Osha program, the rehiring of fired Federal OSHA lawyer Darrell Whitman and an end to the harassment and bullying of AFGE OSHA Whistleblower Protection Program worker, support for a independent investigator to investigate the retaliation against Federal OSHA staff who have been bullied, retaliated and fired for doing their job; andBe it Further Resolved the San Francisco Labor Council calls for the elimination of the Independent Medical Review system with anonymous doctors not even licensed in California that is being used to prevent injured workers from getting treatment and for the elimination of the insurance industry control of our workers compensation system and for full rehabilitation training for injured workers and laws preventing workplace bullying; andBe it Further Resolved the San Francisco Labor Council will support and publicize the April 28, 2016 Workers Memorial Day at ILWU Local 34 at 7:00 PM in San Francisco sponsored by the Injured Workers National Network; andBe it Finally Resolved the San Francisco Labor Council calls for concurrence by all affiliated bodies including the California Federation of Labor.Submitted by Brenda Barros, SEIU 1021, and James Charos, SMART 1741, and unanimously adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council on April 11, 2016.Respectfully,Tim Paulson Executive DirectorOPEIU 3 AFL-CIO 111188 Franklin Street, Suite 203San Francisco, CA 94109Fax: 415.440.9297Phone: 415.440.4809Federal Agency OSHA That Protects Whistleblowers Accused of Retaliating Against One of its OwnBy Stuart Silverstein on April 11, 2016Darrell Whitman, former whistleblower investigator for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health AdministrationFor nearly five years, Darrell Whitman was a federal investigator who probed whistleblowers complaints about being fired or otherwise punished for exposing alleged corporate misconduct.He wanted to help whistleblowers, viewing them as a crucial line of defense against employers who violated health and safety standards or wasted taxpayer dollars.But now Whitman, 70, is blowing the whistle himself. And he is accusing the agency where he used to work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the branch of the Labor Department whose duties include protecting whistleblowers.Whitman, in a whistleblower claim filed last week with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, charges that the San Francisco regional office of OSHAs Whistleblower Protection Program routinely dumped legitimate complaints. Whats more, Whitmans complaint says his disclosures to senior OSHA and Labor Department officials - all the way up to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez  did not spark good faith corrective action. Rather, they led to investigations of Mr. Whitman that eventually formed the basis for his termination last May. He claims that three other investigators who protested the offices practices also were fired or pushed out.The result, Whitman claims, is that safety hazards and wasteful spending persist while whistleblowers often are silenced by employers that get away with illegal retaliation.Whitmans complaint largely tracks the concerns he raised in letters to federal officials (examples here and here) and in interviews with FairWarning and previously with KNTV (NBC in the Bay Area). He zeroes in on his former boss, Joshua Paul, and other officials in OSHAs San Francisco regional office, which oversees California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii.Sometimes, Whitman said, Paul ordered investigators to water down their findings or reversed the findings without explanation. In other instances, Whitman said, cases would be closed out after quickie investigations that barely examined the retaliation claims. Other times, he said, Paul dragged his feet in completing investigations for three years or more, apparently to put pressure on whistleblowers to settle.The companies would scream bloody murderWhitman told FairWarning that those problems in San Francisco reflect a broader breakdown across the 10 regional OSHA offices that administer the whistleblower program. He maintains that the program often is too cozy with business to take on rogue employers. Theres open hostility within OSHA to this program, Whitman said.If the program did its job, the companies would scream bloody murder, added Whitman, an attorney with a PhD in politics who has taught college, served as a campaign consultant and worked as a lawyer in government and private practice.Whitmans complaint calls for his reinstatement, back pay and damages, while also seeking an investigation of Paul and any other relevant DOL [Department of Labor] officials.OSHA disputed Whitmans allegations. In a written response, Jordan Barab, a Labor Department deputy assistant secretary, said: To suggest that OSHA is not committed to protecting workers or that it is arbitrarily dismissing cases is not only absurd, its a huge disservice to the investigators who work hard to protect the rights of whistleblowers across the country. The Whistleblower Protection Program is a small staff with an enormous task, and that staff is committed, at every level of the organization, to protecting the rights of workers and to upholding the law.As for Paul, in November he moved from his job as senior investigator overseeing whistleblower investigations in San Francisco to a new role as coordinator of the regions alternative dispute resolution program, which works on whistleblower cases. OSHA said the job change was unrelated to Whitmans allegations. OSHA turned down a request for an interview with Paul, saying it would not be appropriate for him to respond to Whitmans allegations.OSHA is responsible for enforcing whistleblower provisions under 22 federal laws that cover everything from nuclear power plants and public transit to the trucking, railroad and airline industries.But as Congress has assigned OSHA one category of workers after another, some critics say its staff has been swamped by the added workload, creating incentives to dismiss cases to keep up.Jordan Barab, deputy assistant secretary of Labor.Whitmans complaint cites six cases that he says were mishandled. One involved a nuclear plant official who said he lost his job after discussing security problems with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.Another case involved Michael Madry. He was a Phoenix-based quality assurance specialist for EMLab P&K, which describes itself as North Americas leading commercial indoor air quality testing laboratory.According to court records, Madry, 51, was promoted to quality assurance manager at EMLab in May 2008. Over the next year, Madry received reports from outside auditors questioning the accuracy of the firms asbestos testing as well as complaints from lab analysts about being pressured to rush through asbestos tests.Madry investigated, focusing on the companys San Bruno, Calif., lab, which tested for asbestos at schools and for the U.S. Navy and other customers. He became increasingly concerned about the accuracy of tests, and repeatedly raised the issue with company officials.Soon he began getting poor performance reviews and, according to court records, the company president complained in an internal memo of his emotional outbursts and obvious instability.On Sept. 30, 2010, soon after being put on medical leave by a psychiatrist, Madry filed his whistleblower complaint.Whitman investigated and in July 2011 found that the complaint had merit. But then the case languished.As Whitman recounts in his own complaint, Paul delayed action for almost a year by requiring four rewrites of his merit findings, and also pushed for Madry to accept a nuisance settlement. According to Whitman, after he complained to OSHA chief David Michaels, Paul removed Whitman from the case. Whitman told FairWarning that he eventually saved the case by going over his boss head and getting the whistleblower programs national director to step in.The system, it doesnt workThree years of legal skirmishes followed for Madry. As a Nov. 16 trial before an administrative law judge was about to begin, Madry reached a settlement totaling $122,500 with EMLab. The company declined to comment after the settlement but, in an earlier interview, an EMLab spokesperson gave a blanket denial of Madrys claims, without discussing specifics.The struggle, in Madrys view, wasnt worth it. I wouldnt recommend anybody do what I did, just because the system, it doesnt work, he said.Here I am, more than five years later, he added, and Im no better off than when I filed my complaint.Michael Madry, a whistleblower who raised questions about the accuracy of his companys asbestos testing.Nilgun Tolek, who headed OSHAs whistleblower program until 2011, said she wasnt familiar with the evidence behind Whitmans allegations. However, she cautioned against assuming that when an administrator overturns an investigators finding there is ill intent.Its always the case that what the investigator recommends in a report is subject to further review and may not end up holding water in the end. Its not an individual persons report. Its the agencys report, and it has to go through all kinds of review, Tolek said.Although Whitmans case is novel for OSHA, its not the only time whistleblower defenders have been accused of mistreating their own employees. Two lawyers formerly with the National Whistleblowers Center, a nonprofit legal group in Washington, in late 2014 received an undisclosed sum to settle their complaints (here and here) that the organization fired them and also retaliated against other employees who tried to unionize. The settlement came shortly before a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge was set to hear the case. The National Whistleblowers Center did not admit any wrongdoing.Flawed investigations by OSHAs Whistleblower Protection Program and growing case backlogs were cited last fall in a report by the Labor Departments inspector general.In an audit tracking October 2012 through March 2014, the inspector general found problems in 24 of 132 randomly selected complaints. Among other deficiencies, investigators failed to contact complainants witnesses and to give complainants the time needed to provide evidence.OSHA also failed to meet deadlines on 3,206 of the 4,475 complaints it received that warranted investigations. The investigations took an average of 238 days to complete, up from 150 days in 2010, when previous federal audits lambasted the agency for poor performance.OSHA management, in response, acknowledged that improvements were needed. But the agency also noted that the number of new complaints climbed to 3,060 in the 2014 fiscal year, up 58 percent from 2005.Consequently, OSHA still lacks the resources that it needs to process and investigate whistleblower complaints with the expedience that we would like, while also maintaining the quality and thoroughness that is appropriate, the agency said.- See more at: http://www.fairwarning.org/2016/04/ex-whistleblower-investigator-blows-the-whistle-on-osha/#sthash.ioS3uPF3.dpuf On Sun, Nov 1, 2015 at 9:22 AM, Steve Zeltzer wrote:OSHA, A Captured Agency: The Airlines, Trucking And OSHA With Fired OSHA Investigator Darrell WhitmanHas OSHA become a captured agency by the companies it is supposed to regulate? Former Federal OSHA investigator and lawyer Darrell Whitman looks at how the agency has stood up to the biggest companies in the airline and trucking industry. He also talks about how the industry controls the agency so it will not hold them accountable to OSHA and health and safety regulations and the affects of privatization and outsourcing of Federal jobs by privateers.He looks at FedEx, Lockheed and other companies that are flagrantly violating the health and safety rights of workers and also threatening the health and safety of the public.This interview was done in February 2015. On May 5, 2015 Whitman was fired by the Agency management and he and the whistleblowers he was trying to defend after receiving merit recommendations are still fighting for justice.For more information: http://thedailyshow.cc.com/episodes/xiptmz/february-26 2015olivia-wildeProduction of Labor Video Project
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Washington, DC Banks and credit unions fighting back against Banks and credit unions fighting back against excessive overdraft fees lawsuits just lost another important round as the US Supreme Court refused to hear Wells Fargos appeal of an overdraft fees award. Lawsuits filed against banks and credit unions allege the financial institutions misled customers about their overdraft policies, maximizing the profits the financial firms made off of overdraft fees.

The bank went to considerable effort to hide these manipulations while constructing a facade of phony disclosure.

According to the(4/4/16), on April 4 the US Supreme Court declined to hear Wells Fargos appeal of a $203 million award handed to Wells Fargo customers. That award was given in a lawsuit filed by Wells Fargo customers who alleged Wells Fargo reordered debit transactions to maximize profits from overdraft fees. Rather than posting transactions as they occurred, Wells Fargo reportedly reordered the transactions from highest to lowest, pushing customers into overdraft more quickly and increasing the number of times they were charged overdraft fees. Plaintiffs in the Wells Fargo lawsuit were charged anywhere up to $35 per overdraft transaction, according to court documents.In 2010, US District Court Judge William Alsup agreed with plaintiffs that they had been misled by Wells Fargos practices. The judge awarded customers $203 million finding that Wells Fargo violated California law, earning up to $1.4 billion in overdraft penalties in California between 2005 and 2007.These neat tricks generated colossal sums per year in additional overdraft fees, just as the internal bank memos had predicted, Judge Alsup noted at the time.Judge Alsup noted in his ruling that even customers who kept precise records of their bank accounts could not reasonably be expected to know that their bank would change the order of their transactions to trigger up to 10 overdraft penalties. He further found that not only did Wells Fargo fail to warn customers about its posting practices, it misled customers into thinking that purchases would be processed in chronological order.Wells Fargo then appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and later filed a motion to the Supreme Court to hear its case. When it appealed to the Supreme Court, Wells Fargo argued that plaintiffs had not proven they relied upon written policies provided by the bank. But the Supreme Court said it would not hear Wells Fargos appeals, effectively upholding the $203 million award.The lawsuit iscase number 14-1230, in the Supreme Court of the United States.
April 13th, 2016. By LucyC

Whats that expressiondont shoot the messenger? What about exceptional circumstances? Okmaybe hire a lawyer insteadbut you know where were going with this. Just for a moment, imagine getting a phone call from a funeral home you have hired for transportation purposes only, that goes something like So sorry, your mothers remains were accidentally cremated, and actually, we cant find them now.

Yup. It really happened. A funeral home in Manhattan mistakenly cremated the remains of Consuelo Rivera, a New Jersey resident, and then lost the ashes, according to her family, who yes, filed a lawsuit. Surprised? But it gets worseyou must have known that it would.

The bungling is on par with a Marx Brothers film, but this script aint funny.

The short version, according to Michael Lamonsoff, the familys lawyer, goes like this: Mrs. Rivera passed away on March 22 and her body was taken to Biondi Funeral Home in Nutley, NJ. In preparation for burial. So far so good. However, the two sons were not impressed with the service they were receiving and requested that their mothers body (key point here) be taken to a funeral home in Brooklyn, the RG Ortiz Funeral Home, for preparation. A relatively straight forward request, one would think.

Not so much. The Rivera brothers hired another funeral service company (so were now at three), First Avenue Funeral Services of Manhattan, to transport their deceased mother from Biondi (the first funeral home) to RG Ortiz (the second funeral home).

Apparently, there was a delay in transportationwho knows what that meansand the third companyFirst Avenueended up keeping Mrs. Rivera. Still with me?

Then came the phone call, March 27, from a staff person at First Avenue, telling Mrs. Riveras relatives that they had accidentally cremated Mrs. Rivera. And, according to the lawsuit, her family was also told that First Avenue could not find the urn containing her ashes. Nice one boys.

Not sure how one would react to that news. But now the hunt was on.

Riveras sons, absolutely desperate to find their mother, began searching. However, when they thought they had found her at the Rosemont Crematorium in Elizabeth, NJ, the director of the crematorium, in fact, gave them an urn containing someone else. The wrong urn. OMG. How the heck are you going to know whos in the urn? Not to be dark here but one set of ashes have to look pretty much like the next.

To continue, following that rather major set-back, the boys began the search anew. But the pattern of mistakes continued. Once again, the Riveras thought they had found their mothers remains at First Manhattan (the third funeral home) but that information also proved incorrect.

According to their attorney, Lamonsoff, the sons were given the wrong urn. Again. Seriously. More than a week later, Riveras remains were still missing, the attorney told the New York Post recently.

To date the remains of Consuelo Rivera continue to be missing and a heartbroken and bewildered family is unable to say their final goodbyes, Lamonsoff said in a statement.

Riveras sons, Emilio and Juan Irizarry, who by this point must be quite traumatized by these events, are quite understandably suing all three funeral firms for damages, citing extreme negligence. I would think, however, that bungling on this level puts a whole new spin on extreme negligence, not to mention, rest in peace.

 3drenderings | Dreamstime.com  Marble urn for ashes

This was posted on Wednesday, April 13th, 2016 at 11:56 am and is filed under Crazy Sh*t Lawyers See . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.
- President Muhammadu Buhari further strengthens ties between Nigeria and China in fresh order

- China offers $15million to help grow Nigeria's agricultural sector

- Signs MoU with Nigeria's president

President Buhari and President Xi Jinpeng of China.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has given out new orders from far away Beijing, China, Legit.ng has gathered.

According to a statement issued by Shehu Garba, the president's senior special assistant on media and publicity, President Buhari directed that technical committees be immediately established to finalize discussions on new joint Nigeria/China rail, power, manufacturing, agricultural and solid mineral projects.

READ ALSO: President Buhari-led administration borrows N600bn monthly

Buhari made this known after talks between his delegation and high-ranking Chinese government officials led by President Xi Jinping, and has ordered that the technical committees are to conclude their assignments before the end of next month.

President Xi Jinpeng in company of President Buhari exchange compliments with Nigerian delegation which includes L-R: Minister of Power, Works & Housing Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), Minister of Transport ,Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Science and Tecnology ,Ogbonnaya Onu, Governor of Benue State ,Dr. Samuel Ortom, Governor of Yobe State ,Alhaji Ibrahim Geidam, Governor of Oyo State Abiola Ajimobi, Governor of Jigawa Badaru Abubakar and Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun.

President Jinping agreed that Nigeria's chosen path of development through economic diversification was the best way to go and to help Nigeria to achieve this, China promised to fully support the country through infrastructural development and capacity building.

China also expressed an interest in setting up major projects in Nigeria such as refineries, power plants, mining companies, textile manufacturing and food processing industries as soon as the enabling environment is provided by the Federal Government.

READ ALSO: Nigerians approve President Buhari's trips abroad

In response to President Buhari's desire to make Nigeria self-sufficient in food production, President Jinping offered $15 million agricultural assistance to Nigeria for the establishment of 50 agricultural demonstration farms across the country.

President Buhari and President Xi Jinpeng witnessing the Signing of Framework Agreement between the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment of Nigeria represented by Hon. Minister of Industry, Trade & Investment ,Mr Okechukwu Enelamah and The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China represented by Chairman of NDRC ,Mr Xu Shaoshi.

China and Nigeria also agreed to strengthen military and civil service exchanges as part of a larger capacity-building engagement.

In line with this, China offered to raise its scholarship awards to Nigerian students from about 100 to 700 annually and as well, give 1,000 other Nigerians vocational and technical training annually.

President Jinping applauded the war against corruption being waged by President Buhari, assuring him that Nigeria will always have a special place in the affairs of the Peoples Republic of China.

After the talks, President Buhari and President Jinping witnessed the signing of several agreements and memorandums of understanding by Nigeria and China.

The agreements include a "Framework Agreement Between the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the National Development and Reform Commission of the Peoples Republic of China."

Others were a "Memorandum of Understanding on Aviation Cooperation between the Ministry of Transportation (Aviation) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Ministry of Commerce of the Peoples Republic of China" and a "Memorandum of Understanding Between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Government of the Peoples Republic of China on Scientific and Technological Cooperation."

A "Mandate Letter Between the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Central Bank of Nigeria on Renminbi (RMB) Transactions" was also signed.

The president is expected back to the country over the weekend, and will be expected to give his final say on the 2016 budget which has raised so much dust in the past few weeks.

Source: Legit.ng
- The Nigerian Senate is reportedly making move to retain the seat of the embattled current Senate president, Bukola Saraki

- The hallowed chamber has began move to amend the code of conduct act CAP C15 LFN 2004 bill, which was sponsored by a representative of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Delta North, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi

A cross section of members of the Nigerian National Assembly.

The Nigerian Senate has commenced moves to shelve the Code of Conduct Act, with the aim of eradicating the code of conduct tribunal (CCT) from the office of secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) and the presidency.

READ ALSO: Why Senate Rejected The Second 2016 Budget

Vanguard on April 12, reports that the Senate in a new inventiveness is out to reduce the powers of the code of conduct bureau (CCB) and CCT.

It was gathered that the code of conduct act CAP C15 LFN 2004 bill, which was sponsored by a representative of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Delta North, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi passed through first reading.

Senator Nwaoboshi, who is also the chairman, Senate committee on Niger Delta affairs in the bill tagged: Code of Conduct Act Cap C15 LFN 2004 (Amendment) Bill 2016, the Senate is seeking to transfer the control of CCT and CCB from the Office of Secretary to Government of the Federation, SGF, to National Assembly or the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF.

However, before the reading of the Bill for the first time, there was a mild drama when the first Order Paper for April 12, which was disseminated to newsmen, was later withdrawn.

It was gathered that the retrieved order paper, the code of conduct bill was absent, but comprised in the copy distributed to lawmakers.

The second order paper was circulated to reporters few minutes after the lawmakers concluded a closed-door session, where the Bill ought to have been read for the first time without publicity.

It was also gathered that some lawmakers protested against the move, after which Saraki, ruled that it should be made open.

Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, who spoke with journalists after yesterdays plenary pointed out that the bill was to save the citizens and Nigeria from obsessive politicians, who will always use CCT to go after perceived enemies and settle some differences.

Saraki is currently standing trial for a 13-count criminal charge filed against him by the federal government.

Sahara Reporters informed that Saraki in another desperate attempt to evade justice summoned an emergency meeting with the likemind Senators yesterday night at his home.

Senator Dino Melaye reportedly sent the invitation of the meeting to his associates using the cell phone of the Senate presidents deputy chief of staff, Peter Makanjuola, in a bid to avoid being detected.

READ ALSO: Saraki's resignation, 2016 budget, others as NASS returns from recess

It was also reported that when the like-minded senators arrived at the meeting, Saraki and others unanimously agreed to go after two major laws entrapping him at the CCT.

It was further gathered that the Senators went into a private plenary session on April 12 when they resumed and they listed two bills on the Senate Order Paper for a first Reading, the bills are seeking amendments to two crucial laws in the Nigerian constitution.

Source: Legit.ng
- The South East zone spokesman of the APC said President Muhammadu Buhari cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time

- The zonal spokesman, Osita Okechukwu took a swipe at the National Assembly over the Lagos-Calabar railway project

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has finally explained why President Muhammadu Buhari cannot intervene in the ongoing trial of the Senate president, Bukola Saraki at the code of conduct tribunal (CCT).

READ ALSO: Calabar-Lagos rail project was in 2016 budget - FG

Senate president, Dr Bukola Saraki

Vanguard reports that the South East chapter of the party on Tuesday, April 12, said the party is helplessness in the face of the ongoing trial of the Senate president.

The spokesman of the zone, Osita Okechukwu, said the federal government under President Buhari cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time.

Okechukwu, who gave the hint at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja during a press briefing, further stated that the budgetary controversy surrounding the Lagos-Calabar railway was based on personal interest.

He asserted that those standing against the Lagos-Calabar railway project were doing so because of their political ambition for 2019.

For the avoidance of doubt, we of the South East zone of APC do not subscribe to the insinuation, that those opposed to the project are afraid of the political gains Mr. President will make in the South East and South South.

They allege that if the project sails, coupled with his success on the war against corruption and containment of insurgency, he will be unstoppable. Hence the fear that the two zones may support him in 2019, given the political value of the project, he said.

The zonal spokesman while urging the National Assembly not to throw the baby away with the bath water, said: The welfare and prosperity of Nigerians far outweighs political gains. To erase this ungodly insinuation, we once more appeal to the National Assembly not to be caught in the political cross-fire.

The zonal chapter of the party therefore pleaded with the members of the National Assembly to allow the Lagos-Calabar railway project fly.

As we have listened carefully to all the cacophony of voices, none has condemned the project as irrelevant or building bridge to nowhere. Let the blame game stop and let the project be. The controversy over the project is uncalled for and an ill-wind which blows no one good.

Our appeal is anchored on the truism of millions of employment opportunities and economic prosperity which the project will engender. We need projects like the Lagos-Calabar rail to create massive employment and revamp the economy. More so, when the reality is that both the executive and legislative arms are on the same page on the project, then it is of urgent national importance. We also understand that the Lagos-Calabar Project is in the China-Shopping List of President Muhammadu Buhari, for Nigerias infrastructure renewal. This being the case, what kind of message are those opposed to the project in the National Assembly sending to the Chinese government if they continue to bicker over mundane procedure? Is it sabotage? he said.

The 2016 appropriation bill which is yet to be passed into law has suffered several setbacks. The initial delay emanated from padding of the proposed budget before it was later submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for approval, only to be discovered that the National Assembly only gave the president highlights of the budget and not the details.

Recently, the controversial exclusion of some capital projects from the 2016 budget has been a topic of discussion for some time now. Nigerians were still busy complaining about running a government for almost one year without a budget when a new revelation emerged that major national projects and programmes were either outrightly removed or funds for such were slashed.

READ ALSO: Amaechi mentioned Lagos-Calabar railway in budget defence

One of such project was the Lagos-Calabar rail line project which has been trailed by controversy as the National Assembly has maintained that the Lagos-Calabar rail line project was not included in the budget President Buhari submitted to them.

This particular controversy has even led to calls to remove Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transport as contained in a statement issued on Monday, April 11, by the National Assembly. The hallowed chamber insisted that the minister must apologise or resign with immediate effect.

Source: Legit.ng
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- The food consumed by Nigerians are eaten at different times of the day

- There are different types of food which should not be eaten at particular period of the day

- Some people visit the toilet more than normal after eating foods which are urine-inducing in nature especially at night

People basically believe food should be taken in the morning, afternoon and evening. However, there is no scientific finding, which states clearly it is compulsory to eat only three times in a day. What a good number of nutritionists agree upon is that, if someone is not fasting, someone should take his breakfast, early in the morning and latest between 9-10am. While lunch should be taken between 12-2pm.

READ ALSO: Too much sugary foods could give you these diseases

Dinner or supper is eaten at different time by people. It is also not advisable to eat supper late at night. Dinner is best eaten around 7pm and latest 8pm. The reason for this, is that there are some foods, when eaten late at night in high quantity, may make a person not to enjoy his night rest, as these foods could lead to constipation the following morning or frequent urinating at night.

Some of these foods are given below:

1. Pounded yam

Pounded yam is a food common in states like Ekiti, Ondo, Osun and even among the Igbos. Some Hausas also love it. It is one of the foods most people ask for, when they go to Bukateria, especially if such people love traditional delicacies. The health challenge of eating pounded yam late at night is that, it could lead to constipation. It could also make someone to become very heavy, and also not willing to do any work. It induces sleep. It is better to eat it in the afternoon.

Pounded yam in a mortar being pounded using a pestle

2. Amala

They Yorubas eat Amala a lot. It is a product of grinded dry yam. Basically, yam powder is the raw form of Amala. Amala is gotten when the yam powder is added to hot boiling water and stirred for some minutes inside a pot. This food is one of the most urine-inducing foods, when eaten late at night. Although, it digests easily, however it makes someone urinate more often.

Amala

3. Bread

Bread is one of the most eaten foods in Nigeria. It is eaten mostly by students and artisans. It comes next after rice, as one of the staple foods Nigerians eat a lot. Eating much bread late at night, could lead to a situation that makes defaecating a bit more difficult, when someone wakes up the morning after the bread was taken.

Bread

4. Beans

Also known as cowpea. Beans are of different types. It is commonly eaten with bread, which makes someone that eats both combination drink a lot of water. If someone eats so much beans at night, the end result is going to be constipation, as beans is a very heavy protein food.

Beans

5. Custard/pap

Pap is made from maize. It is better to drink pap in the morning. Although Muslims drink pap a lot during Ramadan fast, which acts as a sort of fluid-additive food. However, it is often taken in the morning by a good number of people. The Yorubas called it 'Ogi.' It is called 'Koko' by Hausas, while Igbos call it 'Akamu.'

Pap

Source: Legit.ng
- Pastor William Kumuyi, the general superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry urged sinners to repent

- He said hell be hotter for Deeper Life sinners because they have heard enough of God's word but refused to repent

- All your work in the church will be useless if you dont repent of your sins, he said while preaching in Lagos

Pastor William Kumuyi, the general superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry said on judgment day, hell will be hotter for members of the church who are sinners.

Pastor Williams Kumuyi

This is because the Deeper Life sinners have heard enough of the word of God but still refused to repent from their bad ways.

Preaching on the topic, Heavens Response to Earths Request, in Lagos, Kumuyi said several people who attended Deeper Life Bible Churchs services have refused to repent of their sins.

Hell will be hotter for Deeper Life sinners because they know the truth and do not do them. Turn away from your secret sins; I dont know how you can be in a church like this and there is fornication, adultery, lying and others in your hand.

READ ALSO: N500m ransom demanded for abducted Deeper Life pastor

All your work in the church will be useless if you dont repent of your sins. You need to run away from your sins and run unto Jesus. If you say you have repented, you will not continue to spend stolen money. You need to restore all the stolen money if the repentance is genuine, he said.

Kumuyi added that members of the church who steal the churchs money and also steal from the government had not truly repented, warning that unless they truly repent and returned such money, they would go to hell.

The man of God also admitted that Nigeria is a religious country and Lagos, a religious state, but lamented that the nation is a place filled with sins and idolatry.

According to him, only true repentance and turning away from sin could lead the nation and her people to the Promised Land and blessings.

Source: Legit.ng
Barry Brecheisen/WireImageHappy birthday to the Reverend Al Green, who turns 70 years old today. The Memphis soul legend is best known for the run of memorable singles he released during the early-to-mid 1970s, including the 1971 chart-topper "Let's Stay Together," as well as the 1972 top-five hits "I'm Still in Love with You" and "Look What You Done for Me."

Green was born in Forrest City, Arkansas, and began singing in a gospel quartet while he was still a child. After moving with his family to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the late 1950s, Green began singing in local soul groups. He scored an R&B hit in 1968 with his band The Soul Mates, and then was signed as a solo artist the following year to Memphis' famous Hi Records by the label's vice president, producer Willie Mitchell.

Mitchell produced all of Green's albums from 1969 to 1976, and also co-wrote many of Al's biggest hits. Other classic tunes recorded by Green during this period include "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)," "Call Me (Come Back Home)" and "Take Me to the River," which The Talking Heads had a top-40 hit with in 1978.

In late 1974, Green was assaulted by a girlfriend, who then committed suicide. This incident led to his decision to become an ordained minister, and for many years he gave up performing pop music, instead recording a series of gospel albums. Al eventually returned to singing pop music, and in 1988 his duet with Eurythmics' Annie Lennox on the Jackie DeShannon song "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" became a top-10 hit.

Green has received many major accolades for his influential career. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, was welcomed into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004 and was saluted at the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
According to CBRE Investment Breakfast Intentions Survey the vast majority of investors expect more than 1 billion of investments in the Hungarian commercial real estate markets in 2016. Participants at CBRE Investment Breakfast hold on 5th Aprils 2016 were much more confident that in 2016 the Hungarian investment volume will

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A fund established by real estate investment manager Meyer Bergman has sold Forum Usti nad Labem shopping centre in the Czech Republic to the listed property company New Europe Property Investments PLC (NEPI) for 82.6 million. Meyer Bergman European Retail Partners (MBERP) acquired the 27,800 sq.m. shopping centre in a

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BS4 motorcycles discontinued in India ahead of BS6 implementation were being offered at compelling deals prior to the lockdown

The Indian automotive industry is going through tough times with the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown. This came at the same time when dealerships were trying hard to sell BS4 vehicles ahead of 1 April 2020. The deadline has been extended by the apex court but on a conditional basis.

If not for the lockdown, various BS4 two-wheelers were being offered at compelling discounts depending on the dealership. This includes regular commuters to premium and litre-class motorcycles. Here are some BS4 motorcycles discontinued in India for the BS6 era:

Honda CBR250R

The much-loved Honda sports motorcycle was launched in March 2011 as a BS3 product. It was upgraded to BS4 in 2018 but will not be upgraded to BS6 norms. Towards the end, Honda CBR250R became extremely outdated compared to its competitors. With its discontinuation, Honda Motorcycle India will no longer have a 250cc product in its line-up.

Yamaha Saluto RX

Launched in India in 2016, the 110cc commuter bike was priced at Rs.52,350. It failed to meet enough customer demands and was dominated by other 110cc commuter bikes from Bajaj Auto, Hero Motocorp and Honda Motorcycle. With the Yamaha Saluto RX being discontinued, Yamaha India now exits the entry-level commuter segment altogether.

Yamaha Saluto

Production of this 125cc commuter motorcycle, which was priced at Rs.60,850, has also been stopped post the BS6 era. Compared to the lesser Saluto RX, it had some premium features such as clear-lens side turn signals, wider rear grab rail and distinctive graphics. However, it failed to garner much attention in the 125cc motorcycle segment.

Yamaha Fazer 25

Priced at Rs 1.45 lakh, Yamaha Fazer 25 was a fully-faired version of Yamaha FZ25. It was launched in 2017 with the same 249cc engine but failed to impress. One reason was that it looked a bit weird especially when compared to popular choices in the 250cc sports or sports-commuter category.

Hero Xtreme 200

Even though Xtreme 200 will not receive BS6 update, Hero MotoCorp has introduced the new Xtreme 160R as a lesser alternative. The motorcycle was showcased in February and seems to be a promising choice in the 160-200cc category.

Royal Enfield 500 model (Bullet, Classic, Thunderbird)

Owing to poor demand and falling desirability, Royal Enfield finally discontinued its 500 air-cooled single-cylinder range. This includes Bullet 500, Classic 500, Thunderbird 500 and ThunderbirdX 500. While Royal Enfield is actively working on the new-gen Bullet and Classic, the upcoming Meteor 350 will replace BS4 Thunderbird model-line. Royal Enfield had also given its 500 models a worthy tribute with the introduction of Classic 500 Tribute Black.

Royal Enfield Bullet Trials 350 & 500

The motorcycles were introduced to celebrate the legacy of Royal Enfield Bullet at Trials Championships and as a tribute to Trials rider Johnny Brittain. However, the off-road-focused models failed to click on the market and a major reason for this was the already-existing Royal Enfield Himalayan.

Suzuki Hayabusa

Priced at Rs 13.80 lakh, the 1340cc super sports motorcycle received a final update for the 2020 model year. This was limited to cosmetic enhancements and a brake upgrade. It is arguably one of the most iconic motorcycles of the 21st century with fans all around the world.
Kawasaki India has plans to update their entire line-up to meet the BS6 norms ahead of deadline, which is set to for 31st March 2020.

Kawasaki India has launched the BS6 version of its popular Z900 middle-weight naked sports motorcycle, at an ex-showroom price between Rs 8.50  9.00 lakh, depending on the dealership location. The outgoing BS4 version came at an ex-showroom price of Rs 7.69 lakh. Even though price hikes are expected with BS6-updation due to the amount of re-engineering required to the existing power plant, the 2020 Kawasaki Z900 comes with significant improvements in terms of features and styling to justify the bump.

Starting from the equipment side, the new Kawasaki Z900 finally gets riding modes (Sport, Road, Rain and Manual), alongside three-level TCS (Traction Control System) and two additional power modes. Compared to the outgoing model, the design has been updated to the latest Kawasaki theme; especially with the LED headlamp. The motorcycle comes with a 4.3-inch TFT instrument console that integrates a host of functionalities including smartphone connectivity via the Kawasaki Rideology app.

The 2020 Kawasaki Z900 also rides on a new set of Dunlop Sportmax Roadsport 2 tyres that promise better performance on wet roads. Almost all the other components such as the frame, suspension and the braking system remain unchanged. In most instances, updating to stringent emission norms often come at the price of reduced engine performance since making a power plant cleaner is, in a way, similar to choking it. This is particularly evident in low-capacity engines such as the affordable motorcycles currently available on the Indian market.

However, Kawasaki India has impressed its fans by bringing no drop to the Z900s output despite undergoing effective measures to cut down emissions. The 948cc inline-four engine makes around 123bhp at 9500rpm and 98.6Nm of torque at 7700rpm. A 6-speed gearbox does the shifts via a slip-and-assist clutch.

Kawasaki motorcycles have always offered superior value for money on the premium side of the two-wheeler market even though there are cheaper and arguably better offerings to their entry-level products such as the Ninja 300, Ninja 400 and Versys X-300. However, the Kawasaki Z900 (and its predecessor, Z800) has always managed to strike the right balance by being a compelling choice rather than an outright performer for its displacement and number of cylinders.

The new Z900 is available in two shades: Metallic Graphite Gray/Metallic Spark Black and Metallic Spark Black/Metallic Flat Spark Black. It mainly rivals the likes of the Suzuki GSX-S750, Triumph Street Triple and even the KTM 790 Duke (which is a twin-cylinder motorcycle).
Volkswagen India inaugurated a new Technology Center in Pune today. Built at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore, this new tech center will help in the development of future Skoda and Volkswagen cars for India. Products developed under the INDIA 2.0 project will achieve up to 95% localisation. A total of 250 engineers will be working at this center.

Gurpratap Boparai, Head  Volkswagen Group India, emphasizes: The Technology Center will lay the foundation for the development of products that are specially designed for Indian market. We expect to roll out the first products, for both the Skoda as well Volkswagen brands, by 2020-21; starting with a mid-sized SUV based on MQB A0 IN platform. A model campaign, led by Skoda, will follow. I am convinced that we can use all the strengths of Skoda to the great benefit of the entire Volkswagen Group.

This confirms that the first SUV from the VW Group for India will be a mid sized Skoda SUV. It will be based on the Vision X concept, which was showcased at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show. The India-spec Skoda SUV will debut as a concept at the 2020 Auto Expo. A similar sized SUV is also being readied for European market, which was teased earlier this week.

Skoda Vision X based SUV, which will be the smallest SUV in the Skoda lineup, is yet to be named. It will probably get a name starting with K just as is seen on the two other SUVs Kodiaq and Karoq. For India, the SUV will be based on MQB A0 IN platform, while for Europe, the SUV will be based on the MQB platform. A different platform for India is being readied so as to keep costs in check.

Speaking about design, it is believed that the exteriors will see new design elements with raised headlamps, slim DRLs  a setup which we have now seen on board the Hyundai Kona and the Tata Harrier. At the rear the SUV will get L shaped tail lamps and bumper reflector. Set to compete with the likes of Hyundai Creta, the Skoda SUV interiors could feature virtual cockpit, freestanding touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, leather seats, soft touch material on door panels and dashboard, rear AC vents and a multi function steering wheel.

Skodas new SUV for India will be powered by a petrol as well as a diesel engine option in India. These will be newly developed range of engines, which will meet BS6 emission norms. Not much details are revealed about the engines, but they are believed to be about 1.5 liter in capacity, with output ranging in the 125 hp region. Launch is expected in 2021. Starting price could be in the Rs 10 lakhs range, thanks to heavy localization levels of up to 95%.
Having confirmed the first cases of infection in Suriname then in French Guiana, the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana has sequenced the complete genome of the Zika virus, which is responsible for an unprecedented epidemic currently sweeping through the tropical regions of the Americas. Published in The Lancet medical journal, the analysis of this sequence shows almost complete homology with the strains responsible for the epidemic that occurred in the Pacific in 2013 and 2014.

Last November, following a request by colleagues in Suriname, the team from the Virology Laboratory at the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana -- a National Reference Center for Arboviruses for the Antilles-French Guiana region -- confirmed the first five indigenous cases of infection by the Zika virus in Suriname. Researchers from the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana have just mapped the complete genome sequence of this viral strain using one of these five samples. The analysis of this genome, which features in The Lancet today, shows that it belongs to the Asian lineage and presents over 99% homology with the strain responsible for the epidemic in French Polynesia in 2013. "Until now few complete sequences of this virus and none of the strains currently circulating in South and Central America were available. This complete sequence of the virus is a major starting point for shedding light on how its behavior develops," points out Dominique Rousset, Head of the Virology Laboratory and National Reference Center for Arboviruses at the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana.

The first cases were confirmed in Brazil in May 2015 and the country is currently experiencing the largest epidemic ever recorded with 440,000 to 1,300,000 suspected cases reported by the Brazilian health authorities. The Zika virus has spread quickly, affecting 10 countries in the tropical regions of the Americas as well as the Caribbean so far. While until recently the infection was considered harmless, the Zika virus epidemic which raged in French Polynesia and the Pacific in 2013-2014 was accompanied by an increase in serious neurological complications, such as Guillain-Barre syndrome and congenital neurological defects. In Brazil, the very significant increase in the number of microcephaly cases in fetuses whose mothers were infected during pregnancy forced the government to declare a state of emergency in December 2015. "Are these defects caused by the Zika virus alone, the co-circulation of other infectious agents or other factors? Multidisciplinary research projects will need to be set up to answer these questions. We are already trying to improve our knowledge of this virus and understand its development, primarily by building on diagnostic tools" explains Dominique Rousset.

In addition, a team of four researchers from the Institut Pasteur in Dakar arrived in Sao Paulo on January 5th, to help Brazilian scientists deal with the Zika epidemic.

To date, 17 cases have been confirmed in French Guiana and three in Martinique. Given the very rapid spread of the Zika virus, the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana remains actively involved in epidemiological monitoring, alongside the health authorities and the Institut Pasteur International Network. "We are committed to supporting vector control by monitoring resistance to insecticides, as part of an agreement with the Regional Health Agency. Research into the impact of this resistance on the vectorial competence of Aedes aegypti populations for various arboviruses, including the Zika virus, is also being conducted at the Vectopole," adds Isabelle Dusfour, entomologist at the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana.

Described for the first time in Uganda in 1947, Zika is an arbovirus belonging to the same family as the dengue virus and is spread by the same vector, the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

It can also be spread by the tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, which is present in some regions in mainland France. Under the supervision of entomologist Anna-Bella Failloux, responsible for the Arboviruses and Insect Vectors Unit, the Institut Pasteur is currently conducting research in Paris to assess the vectorial competence of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, and ascertain the role of these two species in the dynamics of the Zika epidemic. This work will help to better assess the risk of the virus being introduced to France.
An ancient species of pint-sized humans discovered in the tropics of Indonesia may have met their demise earlier than once believed, according to an international team of scientists who reinvestigated the original finding.

Published in the journal Nature this week, the group challenges reports that these inhabitants of remote Flores island co-existed with modern humans for tens of thousands of years.

They found that the youngest age for Homo floresiensis, dubbed the 'Hobbit', is around 50,000 years ago not between 13,000 and 11,000 years as initially claimed.

Led by Indonesian scientists and involving researchers from Griffith University's Research Centre of Human Evolution (RCHE) the team found problems with prior dating efforts at the cave site, Liang Bua.

"In fact, Homo floresiensis seems to have disappeared soon after our species reached Flores, suggesting it was us who drove them to extinction," says Associate Professor Maxime Aubert, a geochronologist and archaeologist at RCHE, who with RCHE's Director Professor Rainer measured the amount of uranium and thorium inside Homo floresiensis fossils to test their age.

"The science is unequivocal,'' Aubert said.

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"The youngest Hobbit skeletal remains occur at 60,000 years ago but evidence for their simple stone tools continues until 50,000 years ago. After this there are no more traces of these humans."

While excavating at the limestone cave of Liang Bua in 2003, archaeologists found bones from diminutive humans unlike any people alive today. The researchers concluded the tiny cave dwellers evolved from an older branch of the human family that had been marooned on Flores for at least a million years. It was thought that this previously unknown population lived on Flores until about 12,000 years ago.

But the site is large and complex and the original excavators dug only a tiny portion of it. Years of further excavation has led to a much clearer understanding of the order of archaeological layers. It is now evident that when the original team collected samples for dating the main layer containing Hobbit bones they mistakenly took them from an overlying layer that is similar in composition, but far younger.

"This problem has now been resolved and the newly published dates provide a more reliable estimate of the antiquity of this species,'' Aubert said.

But the mystery of what happened to these creatures remains.

RCHE archaeologist Dr Adam Brumm, who also participated in the study, said Hobbits are likely to have inhabited other Flores caves which may yield more recent signs of their existence. He believes Homo floresiensis probably suffered the same fate that befell Europe's Neanderthals -- our species simply out-competed and replaced them within a few thousand years.

"They might have retreated to more remote parts of Flores, but it's a small place and they couldn't have avoided our species for long. I think their days were numbered the moment we set foot on the island."
A mobile-phone-based system for rabies surveillance in Tanzania is demonstrating huge potential for mobile technologies to improve public health service delivery, especially in resource-poor settings, according to a new article in PLOS Medicine by Katie Hampson from the University of Glasgow, UK, and colleagues.

The article describes the implementation and evaluation of a large-scale surveillance system for rabies in southern Tanzania. Rabies is a fatal disease that kills thousands of people every year in low and middle income countries, where it is primarily spread by domestic dogs. Following a bite, human rabies deaths can be prevented through prompt administration of a course of vaccinations administered over several weeks, together with antibody administration for high-risk exposures. More proactively, the risk of exposure can be reduced and the disease ultimately eliminated through well-implemented mass vaccination programmes for dogs. However, coordinating these activities requires disease surveillance that can be a challenge in resource-limited settings.

Since 2011, the researchers have been monitoring a cross-sector mobile phone-based (mHealth) system that they developed and implemented for rabies surveillance across southern Tanzania. The system was used to report real-time instances of rabid animal bites on humans, as well as human and animal rabies vaccination use. It is currently used by more than 300 frontline health and veterinary workers in a 150k square km area with more than 10 million inhabitants.

The authors note, "[t]he system has facilitated ongoing data collection across large programmatic scales, greatly improving data quality, timeliness, completeness, and cost-effectiveness. The resulting surveillance is being used to evaluate the impacts of ongoing rabies control activities and improve their management, directly informed by the experiences of frontline users. As a result, the system has become an integrated, popular, and valuable tool within the health and veterinary sectors in southern Tanzania."

The overarching research project won the 2016 Guardian University Award in the International Projects category.
Global carbon dioxide emissions are triggering permanent changes to ocean chemistry along the North American West Coast that require immediate, decisive action to combat.

That action includes development of a coordinated regional management strategy, concluded a panel of scientific experts including Andrew Dickson, a professor of marine chemistry at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

A failure to adequately respond to this fundamental change in seawater chemistry, known as ocean acidification, is anticipated to have devastating ecological consequences for the West Coast in the decades to come, the 20-member West Coast Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Science Panel warned in a comprehensive report unveiled April 4.

"Increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are not just responsible for global climate change; these emissions also are being absorbed by the world's oceans," said Alexandria Boehm, co-chair of the Panel and a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. "Our work is a catalyst for management actions that can address the impacts of ocean acidification we're seeing today and to get ahead of what's predicted as ocean chemistry continues to change."

Because of the way the Pacific Ocean circulates, the North American West Coast is exposed to disproportionately high volumes of seawater at elevated acidity levels. Already, West Coast marine shelled organisms are having difficulty forming their protective outer shells, and the West Coast shellfish industry is seeing high mortality rates during early life stages when shell formation is critical. The acidity of the world's oceans is anticipated to continue to accelerate in lockstep with rising atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions.

Dickson said the regional focus of the report sets it apart from other analyses of the risks of ocean acidification that have traditionally considered the problem at either a local scale or global scale. The report is also significant in accounting for the complexity of the issue. In particular, it recognizes the likely interactions between multiple simultaneous stresses acting on marine ecosystems, he said.

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"This can be viewed at once a problem and a benefit," said Dickson. "The problem is there is no single fix for marine ecosystems; the benefit, that although reducing atmospheric CO2 levels may seem a distant goal, reducing stresses of any type, and especially local contamination that increases CO2 or reduces O2 levels, can benefit marine ecosystems and may help them to be more resilient to those stresses that remain, including the longer-term threat of anthropogenic ocean acidification."

The panel was convened in 2013 to explore how West Coast government agencies could work together with scientists to combat the effects of ocean acidification and a related phenomenon known as hypoxia, or low dissolved oxygen levels.

The panel's final report, titled "Major Findings, Recommendations and Actions," summarizes the state of the science around this pressing environmental issue and outlines a series of potential management actions that the governments of the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, and the province of British Columbia, can immediately begin implementing to offset and mitigate the economic and ecological impacts of ocean acidification.

The panel is urging ocean management and natural resource agencies to develop highly coordinated, comprehensive multi-agency solutions, including:

Exploring approaches that involve the use of seagrass to remove carbon dioxide from seawater. Supporting wholesale revisions to water-quality criteria that are used as benchmarks for improving water quality, as existing water-quality criteria were not written to protect marine organisms from the damaging effects of ocean acidification. Identifying strategies for reducing the amounts of land-based pollution entering coastal waters, as this pollution can exacerbate the intensity of acidification in some locations. Enhancing a West Coast-wide monitoring network that provides information toward development of coastal ecosystem management plans. Supporting approaches that enhance the adaptive capacity of marine organisms to cope with ocean acidification. Although ocean acidification is a global problem that will require global solutions, the panel deliberately focused its recommendations around what West Coast ocean management and natural resource agencies can do collectively to combat the challenge at the regional level.

"One of the most exciting aspects of the panel's work is that it scales a challenging, global problem down to a local and regional level, providing a roadmap to guide measurable and meaningful progress immediately," said Deborah Halberstadt, executive director of the California Ocean Protection Council, a government agency that served as the impetus for the panel's formation.

West Coast policymakers will use the panel's recommendations to continue to advance management actions aimed at combatting ocean acidification and hypoxia. This work will be coordinated through the Pacific Coast Collaborative, a coalition of policy leads from the offices of the governors of California, Oregon, Washington, and the premier of British Columbia, which have been working together on West Coast ocean acidification since 2013. The Pacific Coast Collaborative has been engaging state and federal agencies across multiple jurisdictions to elevate the need for action along the West Coast.

The panel, which was convened for a three-year period that ended in February 2016, also has recommended the formation of a West Coast Science Task Force to continue to advance the scientific foundation for comprehensive, managerially relevant solutions to West Coast ocean acidification.

"Communities around the country are increasingly vulnerable to ocean acidification and long-term environmental changes," said NOAA Chief Scientist Richard Spinrad. "It is crucial that we comprehend how ocean chemistry is changing in different places, so we applaud the steps the West Coast Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Science Panel has put forward in understanding and addressing this issue. We continue to look to the West Coast as a leader on understanding ocean acidification."
A new study examines the decline of the Sumatran rhino in Borneo. It concludes that the remnant populations of Sumatran rhinos can only be rescued by combining efforts of total protection with stimulation of breeding activity. The researchers suggest to resettle small isolated populations and to undertake measures to improve fertility. The case of the recently captured female rhino in Kalimantan, Borneo shows the importance of immediate action. The article has been published in the scientific journal Global Ecology and Conservation.

A consortium of international scientists examined the historical development of the Sumatran rhinos in Borneo. Their study identified the low reproduction of females in combination with hunting as the main cause for the current decline of rhinos. "Females do not find a mating partner within the small isolated populations any more," explains Petra Kretzschmar, scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), "the long non-reproductive periods lead to the development of reproductive tract tumours." Only a combination of intensive protection with improvements of the reproductive performance can save the species from extiction. The researchers recommend resettling populations of less than 15 individuals to highly protected areas. Here, reproductive health should be monitored on a regular basis and individual female fertility (conception) should be optimised by using assisted reproduction techniques.

For their study, the scientists compared historical data with recent developments about the Borneo rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni), one of two extant subspecies of the Sumatran rhino. The researchers used mathematical models to reconstruct the decline of the rhino population in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve (TWR) in the Malayan state Sabah of Borneo. A study on habitat use completed the picture. Here, the scientists analysed data collected over a span of 13 years and identified the characteristics describing the preferred habitat of the rhinos.

Today, only two subspecies of the Sumatran rhino exist, D. s. sumatrensis in Sumatra, Indonesia, and D. s. harrissoni, in Borneo in the states of Sabah, Malaysia, and Kalimantan, Indonesia. Currently, there are still around 100 individuals in Sumatra but the Sumatran rhino on Borneo is nearly extinct. The decline of the rhino population in Sabah has been documented in detail for the first time in this new study. Many animals were still spotted in 2000. By 2013, the scientists did not register a single rhino individual left. One of the last Borneo rhinos has been recently captured in the state of Kalimantan, the southern part of Borneo belonging to Indonesia. "The captured animal was one of the last females of its species" says Kretzschmar of the IZW, "it died right after capture due to an infection of a snare wound."

The reasons for the catastrophic decline of the Sumatran rhinos have not been previously clear. Data necessary to improve decisions for conservation management of the rhinos was missing or fragmentary. The new study closes this gap. It demonstrates that a combination of techniques can do much to illuminate causes of population declines, improve decision making for conservation management and possibly prevent similar developments in populations of other species of similar ecological standing.
Microplastics -- tiny particles of plastic less than five millimeters in size -- are polluting rivers and ponds along with chemical contaminants. The particles come from cosmetics such as exfoliating body scrubs or are washed out of synthetic fabrics. Until now, scientists have primarily investigated the concentrations and effects of microplastics in seawater. Professor Christiane Zarfl of the Center for Applied Geosciences (ZAG) of the University of Tubingen has cooperated with Saskia Rehse and Werner Kloas from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) in Berlin in testing how high concentrations of standardized plastic particles affect water fleas. Their experiments showed that the ubiquitous residents of bodies of freshwater ingest tiny particles of a micrometer, or one thousandth of a millimeter in size. This clearly limited the water fleas' mobility, and as a result, their intake of nutrients. Larger particles had no measurable effect. The results of the study have been published in the scientific journal, Chemosphere. The scientists see this as the first of further, necessary research into the effects of microplastic pollution of freshwater. One of their further research directions will focus on the interactions of plastics with various chemicals that also end up in the environment. They say the experiments must also be extended to include entire ecosystems.

Research into the presence of microplastics in seawater has shown that they are found almost everywhere -- on ocean surfaces, near the mouths of rivers, on coasts and even in deep sea sediments. Only recently have scientists turned their attention to lakes and rivers. Says Christiane Zarfl, "Measurements taken in Europe, South and North America, Africa and Asia show that up to several hundred-thousand particles of microplastic can be found per square kilometer of water." In addition, concentrations were higher in areas that are densely populated, intensively farmed and where industry is nearby. Sewage treatment plants are not yet filtering out microplastics. Zarfl explains, "Depending on the type of plastic, the particles remain in the water or they are deposited in lake or riverbed sediment."

She adds that until now there have been few suitable methods of analysis to record the full range of microplastics in freshwater. "We want our systematic investigation to provide a foundation for better understanding of the effects of microplastics on freshwater organisms." During their experiments with the Daphnia magna the scientists used standardized materials, sizes and shapes in order to obtain robust results of the physical effects of microplastics on the organism. "We also tested using high concentrations of plastic particles in order to determine the critical levels damaging to water fleas. This is, to start with, independent of how high the actual level of microplastic contamination of freshwater is," says Zarfl.

The professor adds that plastic products made of polyethylene or polystyrene are as a rule made to be long-lasting and often contain dyes and solvents. She says, furthermore, that microplastic particles also come into contact with other chemicals. If and to what degree there are interactions is for the most part unknown. She says, "What also remains to be tested is if and how microplastic particles augment the food chain of rivers and lakes. Until now, research of this type has been done in particular on sea fauna, for example, plastic particles have been found in seals and whales."
Coral reefs are early casualties of climate change, but not every coral reacts the same way to the stress of ocean warming. Now a Northwestern University research team is the first to provide a quantitative "global index" detailing which of the world's coral species are most susceptible to coral bleaching and most likely to die.

The world currently is experiencing the longest global coral bleaching event ever recorded, with the Great Barrier Reef and U.S. reefs among those suffering. Bleaching happens when stressed corals expel their life-providing algae, turning coral reefs stark white as their skeletons show through. Some corals rebound, but many do not.

The coral bleaching response index was published today (April 13, 2016) as an Early View article by the journal Global Change Biology. Based on a massive amount of historical data, the index can be used to compare the bleaching responses of corals throughout the world and to predict which corals may be most affected by future bleaching events.

"Coral bleaching is an inescapable example of the effects of climate change," said Timothy D. Swain, the study's first author and a postdoctoral fellow at the McCormick School of Engineering. "We can see it with our eyes, and we also clearly see the progression of climate change in our data. Our goal is to use data to understand what is driving bleaching and learn how we can protect the world's coral reefs, so we don't lose them so quickly."

Swain is a member of the interdisciplinary research team that analyzed publicly available data on nearly half the world's corals -- including actual measurements of bleaching -- to produce the global index. The team was led by molecular biologist Luisa A. Marcelino and included Vadim Backman, both professors at McCormick.

The global index is a standardized measure of vulnerability, by species of coral, to thermal stress. It identifies the species most susceptible to bleaching and those most likely to perish as a result of the damage; hardier species also are identified. The index ranks the corals' susceptibility to thermal stress from 1 to 100, with the most susceptible first in the list.

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The index provides a valuable new tool to conservationists and park managers committed to preserving coral reefs and scientists interested in learning more about the hundreds of reef-building corals.

"Coral reefs are referred to as rain forests of the sea," said Marcelino, a research assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. "They are not rock. Reefs are made of healthy, living animals -- individual corals. We want to know why corals are bleaching and why they are bleaching differently."

Highly productive and diverse ecosystems, coral reefs help support approximately 25 percent of all marine fish species, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. As a result, the livelihoods of 500 million people and income worth more than $30 billion are at risk from coral bleaching.

"In our study, we observed a widely variable bleaching and mortality response among corals," Marcelino said. "Now, with the index, we have a platform we can use to better understand bleaching mechanisms, both intrinsic and environmental. There is value in knowing which species are more resistant and why. With good tools, we can make more informed decisions and better manage coral reefs."

Marcelino and Swain also are scientific affiliates with Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. There they genetically characterize corals and their symbiont algae and, in collaboration with Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, expose different corals to thermal stress to better understand mechanisms of differential bleaching.

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The global index, representing close to half the world's corals from 316 sites, is an impressive feat of data science: It emerged from a meta-analysis of all available historical records on coral bleaching from 1982 through 2006 -- the "sum of human knowledge on species-specific bleaching during this period," according to Swain.

"Using very large data sets, we have teased out valuable information that will help researchers identify global trends and learn about individual corals," said co-author Backman, the Walter Dill Scott Professor of Biomedical Engineering. "We want this index to be used to predict how corals might react to future bleaching events.

"This work is a good example of interdisciplinary research," Backman added. "To make our analysis possible, we applied financial theory conventionally used to predict changes in stock prices in response to stock market variations to model how individual corals react to a change in the environment."

The research team plans to make the index available online, so that data on corals can be added as it becomes available and make the tool even more robust.

The paper is titled "Coral Bleaching Response Index: A New Tool to Standardize and Compare Susceptibility to Thermal Bleaching."

In addition to Marcelino, Backman and Swain, other authors of the paper are Jesse B. Vega-Perkins, William K. Oestreich, Conrad Triebold, Emily DuBois and Margaret Siple, of Northwestern; Jillian Henss, of the Field Museum; and Andrew Baird, of the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Australia.
After several tours in Afghanistan, Marine veteran Chris Galliher transitioned back to civilian life all thanks to his dog, Raider.

Raider is Galliher's best friend - and so, naturally, Galliher panicked when the dog disappeared one night. Galliher and Raider had stopped at a motel in Utah for the night, according to KTLA 5. They were on their way home to Washington state after attending promotion and retirement ceremonies at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California. While playing with Raider in the room, Galliher opened the front door for a moment. That's when the dog bolted.

Dodo Shows Odd Couples Kitten Isn't Sure About His Pittie Brother  At First

Galliher suspects it was a squirrel that caused Raider to suddenly race across the parking lot before disappearing into the night. And so began one of the longest nights of Galliher's life. He spent much of it walking and driving and searching for his beloved companion - a dog he credits with bringing him back from the brink of a very dark place in his life. After his several tours of duty in Afghanistan, Galliher had a difficult transition back to civilian life. Until he met Raider. "I got Raider when I felt like I felt like I was in a dark cave and there was no chance of seeing the light again and getting him was like having a little glint of hope," he told Fox 13 News.

But while Galliher spent the night circling and re-circling the area, desperate for a trace of his best friend, he didn't think to stop in at the veterinary clinic next to the motel. It wasn't until the next morning that Galliher learned his dog was there. And then this happened.

This browser does not support the video tag. YouTube/facereport

Raider emerged frantic from behind a door at the clinic, trying to squeeze as much of his body as possible into Galliher's arms. "Where have you been?" Galliher says in a video of the reunion posted to YouTube. "Where did you go? You scared me."
Since bursting onto the international stage in 2014 with single Bridges New Zealands brother-sister duo BROODS have been flat out. Touring with their first EP and later debut album in the US and Europe with the likes of Haim and Ellie Goulding, even making appearances on American TV and late night talk shows.

After a massive 2015 the band seeming disappeared off the face of the earth before re-emerging with a fresh new single Free as well as a sophomore album in the works. We caught up with Caleb, one half of BROODS, to chat about the bands downtime and the new music theyre bringing to eager fans.

Weve been off the grid explains Caleb of the bands absence. doing a bit of writing and finishing off the album I guess. Getting everything sorted to come back with a bang.

Just before the bands departure from the public eye, Georgia and Caleb were honoured by their fans in New Zealand at the 2015 New Zealand Music Awards, taking home awards for Album of the Year, Best Group, Best Pop Album and Radio Airplay Record of the Year.

Caleb was understandably humbled by the experience. It was pretty surreal to be recognised for all the hard work youve put into your project.

Youve put everything youve got into it so to have that recognition from New Zealand is awesome, it means a lot to us. With the benefit of time off the radar the band returns with the promised bang in the form of single Free.

The new sound and visual style of the video have rich meaning for the siblings, Caleb explains that its kind of an anthem for the underdog. Not being pushed around by anyone to do anything you dont want to do.

Known for their visually metaphoric videos, the group have managed to set the bar even higher with Free. A distinctly different visual style Caleb muses that I think this is by far the best video weve ever done. Its very industrial, very full on hectic kind of song.

In the interest of continually raising the bar the group have recently made the move out to LA. Caleb feels that this is the best way for BROODS to take their music to the next level.

We want to be more involved in writing with other people he said explaining the recent move.

We want to learn more and we wanna grow as musicians and artists, and to learn you need to be surrounded by the best and the best of them are there.

Free is out now via Universal. For more info on the duo pop by BROODS Facebook page for more info.
A new draft of legislation to rescue Puerto Rico from the jaws of a debt crisis was released by the House Committee on Natural Resources on Tuesday evening, as the territorys governor warned that his government did not have enough money to pay for fuel for school buses or police patrol cars, or for therapists for schoolchildren with special needs.

The revised bill includes a provision for a vote by two-thirds of creditors on any particular debt restructuring proposal  a major change that was designed as a concession to conservative Republicans and would give Puerto Ricos creditors leverage to insist on voluntary settlements.

The threshold is low enough to give a newly created oversight board the power to impose restructuring deals on reluctant creditors, but it it is high enough to potentially bog down restructuring talks.

If the oversight board fails to get the support of two-thirds of creditors, it can turn to a judicial procedure to enforce a settlement.

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), the committees chairman, said in a news release that the bill offers tools to redirect Puerto Rico from a path of destitution towards a path of prosperity.

This is the constitutionally-sound solution that will provide real, long-lasting reform to the Commonwealth while respecting the rights of all parties and creditors, he said. It is the islands best shot to mitigate its financial collapse and future calls for a bailout, which would be untenable.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) endorsed the bill shortly after its release Tuesday, saying it protects American taxpayers from bailing out Puerto Rico. But it was not clear in the hours after the bills release whether it would ultimately win the endorsement of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), the influential group of House conservatives that includes most GOP members.

The groups chairman, Rep. Bill Flores (R-Tex.), said in an interview Tuesday that he had not reviewed the final text of the latest draft but said there appeared to be improvements. In a perfect world, Id like to see there cant be an involuntary cram-down, he said. But if we can find a way where theres a good likelihood of having a consensual restructuring, maybe I can find happiness on this.

The RSC balked at the previous version of the legislation, casting doubt on whether any Puerto Rico bill could garner the support of a majority of House Republicans  a key threshold for Ryan, who has vowed to abide by the wishes of his party conference. Outside activist groups, notably Heritage Action for America, also have pressured Republicans to reject strong restructuring provisions and require more sweeping economic reforms.

But the bill probably will need Democratic support to pass, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and other key Democrats have been engaged with the bills Republican drafters to address concerns about the powers of the control board created under the legislation.

Those changes included increasing the size of the control board, and changing its political composition and limiting its non-fiscal powers  modifications made, in the words of a Republican committee summary, to address concerns that it was too colonialist.

Gov. Alejandro Javier Garcia Padilla, in Washington with a broad delegation of legislators and business people from Puerto Rico, stressed the need for haste. He said that we are in a humanitarian crisis and that about 10,000 children have not been able to attend school because of a lack of fuel for buses.

Garcia Padilla said that Puerto Ricos government owes close to $2 billion to private suppliers of goods and services and that the arrears will climb to $2.2 billion by June 30, when the territory expects to default on its general obligation bonds, considered the safest type of bonds for investors.

The governor called the new version a step in the right direction. Earlier, he sharply criticized the first draft of legislation to help Puerto Rico restructure its crushing debt of about $72 billion; that draft created a five-person appointed board to root out waste and corruption, set the islands budget on a sustainable track and restructure the territorys debts.

Garcia Padilla said that the boards structure would be turning Puerto Rico back to 1900 . . . after the invasion and Spanish American war. He said it will make no sense because it would create a financial control board with the power to impose taxes, fire people from jobs and curtail services without regard to democratically elected officials in Puerto Rico.

But he said the new version of the legislation incorporates some of our comments with respect to a more balanced calibration of the Boards powers.

Some of the investors in Puerto Rican bonds oppose the creation of any bankruptcy-like procedure that could impose a final settlement on a minority of holdout creditors.

A group called the Center for Individual Freedom has spent about $200,000 on television ads in the Washington market, according to the Sunlight Foundation. The ads urge people to tell Congress to stop the Washington bailout of Puerto Rico  even though the House draft of legislation does not provide any money for Puerto Rico. The Alexandria, Va.-based 501(c)(4) group says on its website that its mission [is] to protect and defend individual freedoms and individual rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

On Monday, Puerto Ricos government sweetened a January offer to pay creditors, offering to boost its debt-service payments to $1.85 billion a year, up from $1.7 billion a year in the earlier offer. Those payments would equal about 15 percent of projected government revenue in 2021, a level higher than in virtually all mainland U.S. states.

The government also said that an earlier proposal for a growth bond that would depend on a certain level of economic growth in Puerto Rico would be replaced with a capital appreciation bond that would require payments regardless of economic growth.

But investors would still end up taking deep reductions in the overall payments they are owed.

Last week, Puerto Rico declared a debt moratorium, allowing the governor to temporarily halt debt payments by government and public corporations or impose a stay on bondholder litigation. The moratorium would block a $422 million debt-service payment by the Government Development Bank on May 1, forcing a default.

The credit rating agency Moodys said in a statement Tuesday that the moratorium signals the culmination of the US territorys liquidity crisis and the complexity of negotiating restructuring agreements with holders of the Commonwealths debt.
Knopf has long been a golden name in publishing, the home to many distinguished authors and highly regarded for the careful scholarship and esthetic elegance of its books. Its borzoi emblem  a sleek Russian wolfhound, in full stride  automatically seems to guarantee quality.

Still, the firm founded by Alfred A. Knopf and his 20-year-old wife Blanche in 1915 was by no means a success from the get-go. There were financially strapped years at the beginning and again during the Depression. In the 1920s, Liveright and Scribners were arguably more important to American literature.

Even in the post-World War II era, Knopf might be sometimes dismissed as the publisher to the carriage trade, while all the more vital, grittier literary excitement could be found at New Directions and Grove Press. Overall, though, for much of the past century, young writers have regularly dreamed of being published by Alfred A. Knopf.

And what of Blanche? According to Laura Claridge, she deserves equal credit for the success of the book company. In effect, The Lady with the Borzoi is a polemical biography, arguing that Blanche Knopf was ill-treated by her husband as both a wife and business partner. Claridge lays out her revisionist program early on, declaring that  in an age when white men controlled the narrative, Blanche stood at what Stacy Schiff in Cleopatra, calls one of the most dangerous intersections in history: that of women and power. 

[Review: The Whole Harmonium: The Life of Wallace Stevens]

It should elicit no surprise, then, that this biography comes across as markedly tendentious. In these pages, Alfred is never shown as an astute businessman; he is portrayed as undersexed, meekly submissive to his rich father, given to violent temper tantrums and unsympathetic to his wifes fervent socializing. Perhaps so. Nonetheless, by comparison with Blanche, he seems almost likable.

Few would doubt that Blanche Knopf was denied full credit for all she brought to the success of the company she co-founded. Nonetheless, Claridge depicts her less as a businesswoman or literary tastemaker extraordinaire, than as a cosseted, albeit troubled and unhappy socialite who regularly slept around.

There is, in fact, a thread of salaciousness that runs through these pages, as we learn of Blanches groupie-like eagerness to bed world-class musicians, including Jascha Heifetz, Leopold Stokowski, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Arthur Rubinstein and Serge Koussevitzky. These affairs, by the way, were often simultaneous rather than serial, and didnt exclude lesser mortals and even a gigolo. To her favored partners Blanche would present gold Dunham cigarette lighters.

Believing, like the former Duchess of Windsor, that one cant be too thin, Blanche stuffed herself with pills to kill her appetite (and by so doing ruined her health). According to one of her doctors, she would have liked to have weighed 75 pounds. Apparently, she felt that only the most anorectic frame would permit her to wear the chic, made-to-order French outfits she favored. Claridge notes that even in the midst of the Depression, Blanche would make an annual trip to Paris to acquire the latest fashions.

What of Blanches literary judgment? It varied greatly.

During the 1920s her two favorite novelists were Joseph Hergesheimer and Carl Van Vechten. Claridge rather cruelly dismisses Hergesheimer as just a popular society novelist, though he was more than that, as readers of his novella Wild Oranges  know. Van Vechten is now mainly remembered as the white champion of the Harlem Renaissance and a superb portrait photographer. (An excellent introduction to this fascinating figure and his bold, if neglected, fiction is Edward Whites The Tastemaker.) Both Knopfs managed to share a deep admiration for gadfly H.L. Mencken, who eventually served on their companys board.

Claridge strongly suggests that Blanche discovered Dashiell Hammett. This seems at least slightly exaggerated, since the Continental Op stories in Black Mask magazine had already garnered lots of attention. But Blanche did commission Hammetts early novels and later brought out the work of Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain. The backroom boys, as Edmund Wilson called them, greatly helped keep the publishing house afloat during the tough times of the 1930s. Later, Blanche also championed Albert Camus and energetically campaigned for his Nobel Prize.

Although the Knopfs lived glamorous, rich-people lives, their only son, Pat, was cared for by nannies, packed off to various boarding schools and pretty much ignored, except when Blanche worried that she was a bad mother. Not that Pats father could be viewed as a much better parent: In one of the creepiest parts of this sex-obsessed book, Claridge says that father and son would share the same prostitutes.

According to former employees, Blanche worked at her desk for long hours. Nonetheless, what she actually did remains fuzzy, although it apparently centered on reading submitted manuscripts. At editorial meetings, she and Alfred argued vociferously, though we seldom learn about what or why or to what purpose. Indeed, only in later pages does Claridge talk a bit about the nitty-gritty of publishing. Even then, it would seem that Blanche mainly threw cocktail parties and fancy dinners.

A lot of publishing does turn on sociable interaction, but Blanche combined business with pleasure  including vacation travel  seemingly all the time. Who, then, was minding the store? Might it be that Alfred, for all his faults, gets short shrift in this biography? He certainly kept loving his wife, in his fashion, up till her death from cancer in 1966 at age 71. Given a better world, Blanche Knopf might doubtless have accomplished even more in publishing than she did, but its hard to feel too much feminist angst over her already egregiously privileged life.

Michael Dirda reviews each Thursday in Style and is the author, most recently, of Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living With Books.
The Post's Ron Charles takes a look at Curtis Sittenfeld's "Eligible," a modern adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." (Ron Charles)

If youre concerned about zombies  and lets face it, who isnt?  take heart in Jane Austen. Over the past two centuries, her novels have endured an inexorable horde of adaptations that would have ripped the covers off any lesser works. The battle reached its fiercest pitch in 2009, when Seth Grahame-Smith unleashed the undead on the Bennets in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. But even that bloodbath of parody couldnt close the gates. New Austen-inspired comedies, romances, mysteries and horror novels keep lumbering off the shelves.

The most formidable of these reanimated books have emerged from the Austen Project, which is enlisting best-selling authors to modernize her six beloved novels: Joanna Trollope took on Sense & Sensibility , Alexander McCall Smith rewrote Emma , and Val McDermid added vampiremania to Northanger Abbey. So far, the updates havent produced any new classics, but theyve given reviewers a chance to moan in unison about a truth universally acknowledged.

Now, the first American author has contributed to the Austen Project: Curtis Sittenfeld brings us Eligible, a modern-day retelling of Pride and Prejudice. As the author of Prep, Sittenfeld demonstrated a clever eye for the behavior of young women, and in American Wife, inspired by Laura Bush, she explored the tension between class and crass  all of which would seem to be excellent prerequisites for whisking the Bennets to the 21st century. Expectations have been running high for months.



(Alla Dreyvitser/The Washington Post)

Eligible opens in Cincinnati  Sittenfelds home town  with a scene that will feel charmingly familiar to anyone who knows Pride and Prejudice. Theres Mrs. Bennet calculating the availability of Mr. Bingley, who has recently arrived in town looking for a wife. Theres Mr. Bennet barely suppressing his irritation. And Lizzy is still the bright second daughter  although now almost twice as old as her Austen original  wittily observing all these personalities while navigating the cross-currents of her own heart.

[How to take Pride & Prejudice to Cincinnati]

But in this reiteration, Chip Bingley isnt just a handsome gentleman; hes a handsome doctor and a former contestant on the reality TV dating show Eligible. His proud friend Mr. Darcy is a brain surgeon. Such updates continue down the cast of characters, from Lizzy, now a magazine writer, to Jasper Wick, just as dangerous as Mr. Wickham, but with a new and more odious secret past.



Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House)

The basic elements of Austens plot have been neatly rehabbed, too. Mr. Bennet, youll recall, had no sons to inherit his estate, which threatens his family with the eventual loss of their home. Sittenfelds Mr. Bennet faces crushing medical bills, which will just as surely leave his family homeless. Other translations to our modern times are equally as creative: Artificial insemination and sex reassignment surgery add complications inconceivable to a society once determined by primogeniture laws.

As a long game of literary Mad Libs, Eligible is undeniably delightful. Airplanes for horses! Texts for letters! Tedious Cousin William is now a tedious Web programmer. And Darcys notorious marriage proposal sounds hilariously rude in the sterile language of his medical mind: Its probably an illusion caused by the release of oxytocin during sex, he tells Lizzy, but I feel as if Im in love with you. Who could resist that?

Sittenfelds cleverest move may be working a reality-TV dating show into her story. What might seem like a bit of pandering to pop taste is really a feat of metafictional satire. After all, just as the Austen Project recasts Regency romance in the 21st century so The Bachelor recasts modern dating in terms of Regency courtship. In either direction, the mashup is just as awkward and hypnotically bizarre.

[Sean Lowe, Americas favorite bachelor, tells all]

Unfortunately, though, Sittenfeld pulls back far too soon, and her novel grows sentimental when it should develop real bite. No matter how up-to-date Eligible might be, anachronisms lie around the story like lace doilies at McDonalds. The Bennet sisters are thoroughly liberated women weirdly corseted by old-fashioned attitudes about marriage. And Sittenfelds dialogue, usually so contemporary, can suddenly grow arthritic with costume-drama formality, as when Mr. Bingley says to Mrs. Bennet, I wouldnt want to offend your sense of propriety. That, madam, offends my sense of reality.

It helps tremendously that Eligible moves along so breezily, but changing the scenery and the props isnt sufficient to modernize Pride and Prejudice, even if such a thing could (or should) be done. We crave a witty vision of our culture commensurate with Austens of hers. Too often Eligible delivers humor thats merely glib or crude. In the middle of the novel, Liz interviews a Gloria Steinem-esque character, and their encounter promises a sharper feminist perspective, but once again the scene never delivers the social insight that could push this story beyond merely a diverting lark. And watching Liz straddle Darcy in bed for a rousing session of what they call hate sex wont get us there either.

Modern-day Mrs. Bennet is a snob, a homophobe, a racist and an anti-Semite, but shes got the right idea when she says, Ive always far preferred a good book.

We already have that book. Weve had it for 200 years. And its worth rereading.

Ron Charles is the editor of Book World. You can follow him on Twitter @RonCharles.

On April 28 at 7 p.m., Curtis Sittenfeld will be at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW.
My furniture, I like to think, is elegance with tranquility, Mr. Kagan said . (Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

Vladimir Kagan, who brought a sensual aesthetic to modern furniture design with kidney-shaped couches among other innovative seating concepts that were credited with rounding off the hard edges of contemporary style, died April 7 at his home in Palm Beach, Fla. He was 88.

The cause was a heart attack, said his daughter Vanessa Kagan Diserio.

A cabinetmakers son, Mr. Kagan came to the United States at 11 after fleeing Nazi Germany with his family. He trained at his fathers New York workshop and by the 1940s was producing his own designs. One of his first orders was a set of tables and chairs for a delegate lounge at the fledgling United Nations.

In the decades that followed, he became one of the most sought-after designers of his era, his works housed in the homes of Hollywood celebrities and enshrined in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Cooper Hewitt design museum in New York and other institutions.

Im very accessible, he once quipped to the New York Times, but Im amongst museum pieces.

Mr. Kagan advocated elegance with tranquility and did not forsake comfort for stylishness. Many of his designs featured soft curves and overstuffed upholstery.

Unlike Bauhaus furniture, Kagans is so comfortable his clients sit in the living room even when theres no company, journalist Sarah Booth Conroy, who often wrote about home design, once noted in The Washington Post.

His work, Conroy observed, would not have been out of place in a setting for Greta Garbo, an Afghan hound curled at her feet.

Among Mr. Kagans most noted designs, dating to the 1970s, was the Omnibus sofa, a multilevel sectional seating arrangement that he described as an interior landscape.

It expresses what I believe happens in the home, which is that you have more than one focus, he once told the Toronto Star. You have a window here, you have a fireplace over here, have a television over there  you want to be able to be mobile in the sitting arrangements, so with this kind of free-flowing center seat you can take advantage of all directions.

A hallmark of his work was the curved line. One of his most recognizable chairs was a chaise that looked remarkably like a tongue. Another piece, with its back and arms formed by two sculpted strands of leather, was named the Fettuccine chair. Another item, designed in Palm Beach, was called the Hurricane chair.

I was watching the palm trees in the wind, Mr. Kagan told the Boston Globe. The palm trees all bent over in one direction with the wind, but they didnt break. If you look at the shape of that chair, everything is swept in one direction in the wind. Its funny how your surroundings can inspire design.

Mr. Kagan operated a factory on Long Island and showrooms across the United States and in Europe. His clients over the years included movie stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Gary Cooper and, in more recent times, Tom Cruise and Angelina Jolie.

He retired in the late 1980s but was enticed back to work when his designs enjoyed a resurgence of popularity. In 2005, a Serpentine sofa he created in 1952 fetched $192,000 at a Christies auction, according to the research of Antiques Roadshow.

Vladimir Illi Kagan was born in Worms on the Rhine, Germany, on Aug. 29, 1927. His father, from modern-day Belarus, had served in the Russian army in World War I and was taken prisoner in Germany, where he taught woodworking while in captivity and established a home after the armistice.

In 1938, the family came to the United States, more I think because we were Russian than because we were Jews, Mr. Kagan told The Post. He attended the High School of Art and Design in New York and studied architecture at Columbia University, and then partnered with Hugo Dreyfuss, a textile designer and printer, to form an interior-design business in New York in the 1950s. Mr. Kagan later continued the operation on his own.

In 1957, he married Erica Wilson, a British-born needlework artist whose books and public-television programs made her known as Americas first lady of stitchery. The couples home in New York was filled with his designs and her needlework, as well as, for many years, dozens of birds that they housed in an aviary.

Mr. Kagans wife died in 2011. Survivors include their three children, Jessica Kagan Cushman, a jewelry designer, of Redding, Conn., Vanessa Kagan Diserio, who operates her mothers business, of New York City, and Illya Kagan, an artist, of Nantucket, Mass.; a sister; and six granddaughters.

Among Mr. Kagans admirers was Zaha Hadid, the Iraqi-born architect who became the first woman to receive the prestigious Pritzker Prize, and who died one week before Mr. Kagan at age 65.

Within each piece you can perceive a profound lightness and continuity, Hadid once observed. While the works of his contemporaries are definitive, finite and frozen, you experience a wonderful sense of liberation in the nonlinear, organic forms of Vladimirs collections.
Anita Hill. Anita, still. The woman who became a crusader against sexual harassment, a term that was a firebomb in 1991, the year she  and it  became famous.

She dressed herself immaculately, took her seat politely, and made sure to speak clearly, as she delivered her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee: Clarence Thomas, the man they were about to appoint to the United States Supreme Court was the same man, she said, who had once called her into his office to explain that he enjoyed watching pornographic films featuring an actor named Long Dong Silver. The same man who talked repeatedly about the size of womens chests, and his own prowess, and who asked her on dates even though she was his underling and had said she wasnt interested. He was also the chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the highest federal office in charge of overseeing issues related to workplace discrimination.

He denied all of her allegations in his own testimony. The nation watched the drama unfold on television screens. The nation grappled with the shifting dynamics of gender and power in offices  with how to talk about it and how to ignore it. Now, theres an HBO film coming out, Confirmation, premiering Saturday, dragging us back to the flash point in time at which our culture became either too politically correct, or incrementally more equal, depending on where one stood.

Its not true that the Hill hearings were the first time the country publicly addressed the issue of womens treatment in the workforce. The issue had been addressed in the 19th century, when an 1887 report on women wage-workers declared that household service has become synonymous with the worst degradation that comes to a woman, because male employers so commonly assaulted their maids. It had more recently been addressed in the mid-1970s, when a Cornell lecturer first coined the term sexual harassment.

Lin Farley, the lecturer, had been hired to teach a field study course for aspiring female social workers. She encouraged students to share their previous work experiences, and without prompt, nearly every student talked about male colleagues: My boss kept hitting on me, and he wouldnt take no for an answer, they said. Many of them had ended up quitting these jobs.

Farley left the session knowing she wanted to do more research, but I felt that in order to do that, it had to have a name, she says. She eventually came up with sexual harassment, a phrase she felt clarified that the attention wasnt flirtation, it was unwelcome and insidious. She was thrilled when the New York Times ran an article about her efforts, even if it did run it in the lifestyle section of the paper next to the articles, Children play homemade musical instruments and Grouse now being imported from Scandinavia.

What was true about Anita Hill was that the Thomas confirmation hearings brought the issue onto the front page. The hearings expanded common understanding of harassment. Harassment wasnt just a man physically forcing himself on a woman, as it had been in the early part of the 20th century. It wasnt just a man pinching a womans behind or demanding sex in exchange for keeping employment, as Farleys students had described. Sexual harassment had to be only about an office culture in which a subordinate party was treated differently, sexually, because of his or her gender. It was something that could happen casually. It was something women could be blamed for, or shamed for  Cant she lighten up?  and it could happen entirely in secret.

What incidents occurred specifically in his office? asked Sen. Joe Biden as an all-white, all-male panel questioned African American Hill.

The incident with the Coke can, replied Hill, who had worked for Thomas a decade prior and was presently a law professor at the University of Oklahoma.

Describe it once again for me, please?

The incident involved going to his desk, looking at this can, and saying Who put a pubic hair on my Coke? 

Was anyone else in his office at the time? Biden asked.

No, she said.

But if it was so bad, another senator demanded, then why hadnt Hill stopped it? How could you allow this reprehensible behavior to go on?

Women who were watching knew that predators reserved their most discomfiting behavior for times when there were no witnesses. It would have surprised them if Thomas had gathered several other office workers to talk about his Coke can. And why was Hill supposed to be responsible for stopping the alleged behavior of the man who outranked her and was responsible for her livelihood? How? With a gag? A stun gun? By quitting her job and leaving without a reference? By publicly accusing the man who was himself supposed to be the buck-stopper for sexual harassment suits?

Without Anita Hill, theorists might not now be talking about microagressions or victim blaming, currently terms in conversations about gender that acknowledge the subtleties and complexities within the treatment of women. The hearings formed a generation of feminists and caused good men to awaken to the possibilities of what bad men could be doing behind closed doors.

Those hearings were a center point, says Rebecca Traister, a feminist writer and scholar whose most recent book includes an interview with Hill, now a professor at Brandeis. A switch was flipped for the country, even if it wasnt immediately discernible.

Traister watched the hearings as a high school student spending the week at her grandparents farm in Maine. Her grandparents were conservative Republicans and assumed Hill was lying; Traister wondered if there was something wrong with her for finding the story credible. The hearings, she says, formed the foundation of my beliefs.

Terry ONeill watched them as a young professor in Louisiana, and saw her male colleagues laugh that no men at their university had ever done what Thomas was accused of doing  while her small cadre of female colleagues knew that men had, and still did. In 2009, ONeill became the president of the National Organization for Women.

Historians have pointed out that the most visible outgrowths of the Hill hearings were legislative. Immediately following them, Congress passed a law that strengthened harassment victims rights to sue for damages, and President George H.W. Bush, who had rejected a similar bill the year prior to Hills testimony, signed it into law. The next year, 1992, was declared The Year of the Woman because the number of congresswomen had increased by 24 and the count of female senators had risen from two to six. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) decided to run for office specifically because shed been galvanized by senators treatment of Hill during the hearings.

And the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the same agency Hill and Thomas had worked for and which tracked federal reports of sexual harassment, received 6,126 claims the year before Hill testified, and 10,578 the year after. Mandatory workforce training was instituted. Consciousness was raised.

Of course, the other half of the Anita Hill hearings was that she lost. Or she didnt lose, rather, since she was never on trial  but Clarence Thomas was approved to the Supreme Court.

It wouldnt happen like that today. Today, there would be a Twitter campaign and a hashtag  #IBelieveAnita and a parade of PhDs to talk about why victims dont always come forward. And there would be women on the panel, including Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who was elected in the Year of the Woman.

There would still be debates, though. There would still be competing hashtags  #ShesLying  and we would still be talking about it, scrambling toward notions of equality that are forever developing, forever out of reach. Anita, still, until the end of time.


In November 1977, a young woman named Irene Cruz was murdered in a Denver hotel room. Her body was discovered by a maid. Police said she had been strangled. To this day, no one has been charged with the crime.

A few days later, a Denver-area motel owner named Gerald Foos recorded a remarkably similar event in one of his journals. While spying on his guests from a secret attic in his motel, Foos said he witnessed the murder of a young woman by her boyfriend. She was strangled, Foos wrote. The next day, Foos said a maid discovered her body, and Foos reported the crime to police without mentioning what he had seen. To this day, no one has been charged.

The murder Foos claims he saw is a key element of The Voyeurs Motel, a forthcoming book by acclaimed journalist Gay Talese about Fooss lifelong voyeurism obsession. Taleses account of this crime is also the centerpiece of a 13,000-word excerpt from the book published by the New Yorker magazine last week.

The excerpt never mentions Cruzs death or the similarities between it and what Foos said he saw at his motel, the Manor House in suburban Aurora, Colo., located about 10 miles from where Irene Cruz died. But the nearly identical circumstances, the timing of the two events and their location raise questions about Fooss claims.

The most important questions: Did the murder Foos described actually occur? And if it didnt, what other journal contents that he provided to Talese might be judged dubious?

Talese investigated Fooss assertion about the murder and found nothing to corroborate it. Police officials in Aurora said they have nothing in their files about such a crime. He also couldnt find a coroners report, a death certificate or any news accounts. Nor could he ascertain the alleged victims name.

But in the New Yorker excerpt, Talese attributes the absence of documentation to bureaucratic error. In subsequent phone calls, he writes, two former officers said that it would not be impossible for there to be no remaining police records in a Jane Doe case such as the one I described: the identity of the victim was unknown, after all, and the crime took place before police departments kept electronic records.

Yet the Cruz murder is listed on the Colorado Bureau of Investigations cold-case website, which spells out the time, place and circumstances of her death. It occurred on Nov. 3, 1977  eight days before Foos says he witnessed the Manor House murder.

Talese also raises the possibility that Foos made an error in his recordkeeping, or transcribed the date of the [Manor House] murder inaccurately, as he copied the original journal entry into a different format.

The author doesnt raise another possibility in the New Yorker article: That Foos made the story up.

That notion has occurred to Morgan Entrekin, the publisher of Grove Atlantic, which will publish Taleses book in July.

My personal belief is that [the book] is substantially true, the majority of it, and part of it is fantasy, he said. This is a man of very strange beliefs and inclinations and behavior. I do feel he exaggerates and fantasizes. I dont know whether that murder [at Fooss motel] occurred. But the facts that Gay is reporting, I believe, are facts.

He said Talese verified as much of Fooss story as he could, including at one point sitting with Foos in the secret attic as they watched a couple engaged in a sex act.

The details of Cruzs death, however, were uncovered not by Talese but by Jamison Stoltz, Grove Atlantics senior editor. In reading Taleses manuscript, Stoltz said he became curious about the alleged Manor House crime; he scoured the Internet and found the reference to Cruz on the Colorado Bureau of Investigations website. It will be mentioned in the book, he said.

The two murders could have been a coincidence, Stoltz said in an interview on Tuesday. Or Foos could have conflated it with his own story. You cant be too sure.

Fooss journals purport to document hundreds of sex acts that Foos witnessed among the guests at his motel over several decades. His journal comprises about a third of Taleses book.

But Stoltz acknowledges that its unknowable whether the journals contents are credible because Foos is the sole source. (Foos received an undisclosed fee from Grove Atlantic for the use of his journals.)

Despite these reservations, neither Entrekin nor Stoltz is concerned about marketing The Voyeurs Motel as nonfiction.

They said Talese was careful to suggest to the reader that Foos is not an entirely trustworthy source.

Early in the New Yorker excerpt, for example, Talese speculates that Foos may be a simple fabulist. . . . I cannot vouch for every detail that he recounts in his journals. He also writes, Over the years, as I burrowed deeper in Foos story, I found various inconsistencies  mostly about dates  that called his reliability into question.

New Yorker Editor David Remnick saidTuesday that the magazine was aware of the Cruz murder but did not include it in its excerpt because it was at an entirely different location from the motel referenced in our piece.

Nevertheless, he said, we make abundantly clear to the reader that Fooss journals are his work alone, and that he may be unreliable. . . . To the extent Fooss journal is less than a factual record of events, readers are fully appraised of that possibility.

Talese, 84, declined to answer questions about The Voyeurs Motel, but in an exchange of emails earlier this week, he wrote, This voyeur story is over with me. I did my best as a reporter; I wrote as well as I could in telling the story.

Reached by phone, Foos at first declined to speak to a reporter. He said he was under contract with his book publisher and therefore was unable to talk about his journals or Taleses account of them.

But when pressed about the similarities between the Cruz murder and the one he said he saw at the Manor House, he offered this: We know about that murder [Cruzs]. We checked with the police on that. It has nothing to do with what he said he saw.

Foos implied that it was merely a coincidence that strangulation deaths of two young women had occurred within eight days of each other and 10 miles apart.

Those things happen, he said of the similarities. He then said that he could no longer talk and ended the conversation.
Alexandria

These were among incidents reported by the Alexandria Police Department. For information, call 703-838-4636 or visit alexandriava.gov.

ASSAULTS

Baggett Pl., 100 block, 10:59 p.m. April 4. An assault was reported.

Diagonal St., 1900 block, 11:48 p.m. April 1. An assault was reported.

Fayette St. N., 700 block, 7:38 p.m. April 5. An assault was reported.

Henry St. N.,900 block, 10:13 a.m. April 4. An assault was reported.

Henry St. N., 1000 block, 12:11 p.m. April 5. An assault was reported.

Washington St. S., 1200 block, 3:08 a.m. April 3. An assault was reported.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Alfred St. S., 200 block, 10:10 p.m. April 1. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Callahan Dr., 100 block, 6:14 p.m. April 2. A theft was reported.

Cameron Mills Rd., 2600 block, 12:41 p.m. April 5. A theft was reported.

Cloverway Dr. and Dartmouth Rd., 3:54 p.m. April 6. A theft was reported.

Commerce St., 100 block, 10:21 p.m. April 1. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

E. Oxford Ave., 100 block, 7:43 p.m. April 5. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Eisenhower Ave., 2000 block, 1:58 p.m. April 6. A shoplifting incident was reported.

Eisenhower Ave., 2400 block, 2:26 p.m. April 5. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Eisenhower Ave., 2900 block, 6:30 a.m. April 4. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

King St., 1100 block, 12:29 p.m. April 2. A shoplifting incident was reported.

King St., 3300 block, 9:41 a.m. April 1. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Mill Rd., 2200 block, 7:36 a.m. March 31. A theft was reported.

Patrick St. S., 600 block, 12:52 p.m. March 31. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Ross Aly, 100 block, 10:24 a.m. April 6. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Taylor Run Pkwy. W., 100 block, 3:34 p.m. April 6. A theft was reported.

Wolfe St., 900 block, 1:39 p.m. April 6. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

First St., 900 block, 8:02 p.m. April 1. A theft was reported.

MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS

Fordham Rd., 2700 block, 4:19 a.m. March 31. A vehicle was stolen.

Pitt St. S., 100 block, 6:45 a.m. April 6. A vehicle was stolen.

Wythe St., 1100 block, 12:49 p.m. April 5. A vehicle was stolen.

VANDALISM

Cameron Mills Rd., 2700 block, 10:59 a.m. April 4. Property was damaged.

Commerce St., 100 block, 10:01 p.m. April 1. Property was damaged.

Jefferson Davis Hwy. and Slaters Lane, 7:39 a.m. April 2. Property was damaged.

Saint Asaph St. S., 600 block, 2:05 p.m. March 31. Property was damaged.

Arlington

These were among incidents reported from April 1 to April 6 by the Arlington County Police Department. For information, call 703-558-2222 or visit newsroom.arlingtonva.us.

HOMICIDE

Third St. S., 3600 block, 8:08 p.m. April 1. Responding police officers found a male juvenile suffering from minor injuries. A second male was found in the intersection of S. Glebe Road and S. Third St., suffering from numerous stab wounds. He was transported to a hospital where he died. Police determined that the stabbing was a result from a domestic incident. A 17-year-old male was charged with murder and stabbing while committing a felony.

ASSAULTS

Army Navy Dr. S., 1100 block. Two assaults were reported.

Cleveland St. S., 1800 block. A harassment incident was reported.

Columbia Pike S., 3000 block. An assault was reported.

Columbia Pike S., 4800 block. An assault was reported.

Crystal Dr. S., 2400 block. An assault was reported.

Eads St. S., 1600 block. A police officer was assaulted.

Eads St. S., 2200 block. A police officer was assaulted.

Edison St. N., 200 block. An assault was reported.

Four Mile Dr. S., 2600 block, 10:45 p.m. April 2. Two intoxicated people fought during an altercation. Police found one of them on a bike path, suffering from a stab wound. The person was taken a hospital for treatment. The other person was found in need of medical treatment and was taken to a hospital. Charges are pending.

Jefferson Davis Hwy. N., 1900 block. An assault was reported.

Lang St. S., 2700 block. An assault was reported.

Lexington St. N., 2400 block. A harassment incident was reported.

Smith Blvd., 2400 block. An assault was reported.

Wayne St. N., 1200 block. An assault was reported.

Wilson Blvd. N., 4200 block. An assault was reported.

Yorktown Blvd. N., 5200 block. Threats were reported.

Eighth Rd. S., 5200 block. An assault was reported.

15th St. N., 2000 block. An assault was reported.

BOMB THREAT

Joyce St. S., 1100 block, 7:47 a.m. April 1. An employee found a note with threats of a bomb. K-9 units swept the area with negative results.

INDECENT EXPOSURE

Culpepper St. N., 1900 block, 2:45 p.m. March 29. Two females observed a man urinating in public with his buttocks exposed.

ROBBERIES

23rd St. S., 500 block, 2:55 p.m. A man demanded a juveniles hover board and fled in a vehicle.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Cameron St. N., 1900 block. Two thefts were reported.

Chesterfield Rd. S., 4700 block. Property was entered.

Clark St. S., 2400 block, 4:38 p.m. A man was observed tampering with vehicles. A D.C. man, 27, was charged.

Columbia Pike S., 2100 block. Property was entered.

Columbia Pike S., 5000 block. Property was entered.

Columbia Pike S., 5500 block. An attempt was made to steal property.

Columbia Pike S., 5500 block. Property was entered.

Columbus St. S., 1800 block. Identity theft was reported.

Columbus St. S., 4900 block. A theft was reported.

Four Mile Run Dr. S., 2700 block. Property was entered.

Glebe Rd. N., 600 block. A theft was reported.

Glebe Rd. N., 700 block. Three thefts were reported.

Glebe Rd. S., 2900 block. Property was entered.

Hayes St. S., 1100 block. Seven thefts were reported.

Hayes St. S., 1200 block. A theft was reported.

Hayes St. S., 1200 block. An employee theft was reported.

Hayes St. S., 1400 block. An employee theft was reported.

Hudson St. N., 1100 block. A theft was reported.

Jefferson Davis Hwy. S., 1300 block. A theft was reported.

Kenmore St. N., 800 block. A theft was reported.

Kenmore St. S., 2400 block. A theft was reported.

Key Blvd. N., 1400 block. A theft was reported.

Moore St. N., 1900 block. A theft was reported.

Quincy St. N., 1100 block. A theft was reported.

Washington Blvd. N., 2700 block. A theft was reported.

Wilson Blvd. N., 4200 block. A theft was reported.

Yorktown Blvd. N., 5200 block. A theft was reported.

12th St. N., 6200 block, 9:45 to 11:45 a.m. March 31. Two men entered a residence by force and took cash and other items. Property was also stolen from the 1000 block of N. Quintana St. and 900 block of N. Quesada St. Both homes were entered by force.

23rd St. S., 300 block. A theft was reported.

MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS

Columbia Pike S., 5500 block, April 5. A black 2013 Suzuki motorcycle was stolen.

25th St. S., 5000 block, April 2. A 2006 Ford E250 was stolen.

VANDALISM

Columbia Pike S., 2000 block. Property was damaged.

Ninth Rd. N., 5400 block. Property was damaged.

28th St. S., 1200 block. Graffiti was reported.
Sisters Kimberly, 9, right, and Rebecca Yeung, 11, of Seattle, look on as President Obama examines their spacecraft project during the final annual White House Science Fair of Obamas presidency, on April 13, 2016. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

With all the thoroughness of a science-fair judge, President Obama made his way through a maze of poster board and robotic contraptions, pausing to quiz the young scientists and inventors. He learned about a process to turn foam cups into glue, a special vacuum cleaner for a subway and a balloon spacecraft that two little girls used to launch a photo of their late cat, Loki, to the edge of space.

Thats unbelievable! Obama told Rebecca and Kimberly Yeung, who are 11 and 9 years old, respectively. You guys are amazing!

Obama hosted his final White House Science Fair on Wednesday, hobnobbing with young brainiacs and speaking of how their fearlessness and courage in attacking problems as diverse as subway trash and Ebola buoyed his optimism for the future. He said the science fair, which his administration started six years ago, provided him with some of the best moments I have had as president.

Theres nothing that makes me more hopeful about the future than seeing young people like the ones who are here, Obama said. All of you are showing us grown-ups that its never too early in life to make a difference.

The White House Science Fair aims to showcase the nations brightest young scientists and inventors, and more than 130 students exhibited their creations and projects this year.

A family with two young daughters documents their launch of a helium balloon attached to a Go-Pro camera, a Lego and a picture of their cat, Loki. (Winston Yeung)

The science fair is one of the more visible parts of the administrations broader effort to elevate science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in the nations schools. The U.S. Department of Education released guidance Wednesday to local school districts on how they should direct federal money toward increasing STEM education.

The administration in 2012 set a goal of producing 1 million more college graduates in STEM fields by 2022, and it also has pushed computer coding in the classroom.

[Policymakers hail STEM education as a strong foundation, pushing innovation]

In his final State of the Union address, Obama said that he hopes the nations students have the opportunity to take the hands-on computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on Day One.

Jo Handelsman, associate director for science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the administration has worked to increase the recruitment of women and minorities into STEM fields, where they have been historically underrepresented.

The push is not just because the Obama administration thinks diversity drives creativity; Handelsman said that if the nation fails to develop experts from traditionally underrepresented groups, there will be a critical shortage of STEM-trained workers.

Diversity is important, Handelsman said. We need more STEM workers, and we need to recruit the best talent of the world, and some of the talent will come from people who have not been traditionally involved in STEM.

Addressing the science-fair participants, Obama underscored that point, saying it is critical to encourage women to enter STEM fields: Were not going to succeed when weve got half the team on the bench. Especially when its the smarter half.

He highlighted the work of several students, including Jacob Leggette, a 9-year-old from Baltimore who wrote to companies that make 3-D printers and offered to write reviews for them if they allowed him to sample their devices. The young engineer, wearing a bow tie, showed off a model of the White House he made with a 3-D printer and then said: I have a question, Mr. President. Do you have a child science adviser?

The young scientists who participated in this years fair included girls as young as 9, first-generation college students and young immigrants. Many of the projects they created started as attempts to address problems in their communities.

Members of a team from Baruch College Campus High, a public school in New York City, drew inspiration from their daily subway commutes, when piled-up trash on the tracks caused train delays. Students from the high school have worked on a special vacuum cleaner for the tracks, engineering a way for it to be controlled with a smartphone app; they built their own set of subway tracks to test a prototype. Obama was intrigued by their device, and they told him he could give it a try.

You sure? I dont want to break it, he told a trio of New York City teens before he switched on the roaring vacuum cleaner, which sat beneath the Lincoln portrait in the State Dining Room.

Whoa! the president said.

A team from Horizon Community Middle School in Aurora, Colo., near Buckley Air Force Base, created a prosthetic limb to enable an amputee to continue an active lifestyle. They designed the limb and built it with the help of disabled veterans.

Others reached far beyond their own worlds. Olivia Hallisey, a high school junior from Connecticut, invented a quick test for Ebola that requires no refrigeration and takes 30 minutes to produce a result. She said seeing the Ebola crisis in the headlines  and the fear it generated  drove home how interconnected the world is and how important it is to address global health crises beyond the nations borders.

The Yeung sisters built a lightweight balloon craft that floated 70,000 feet above the Earth. The Seattle girls captured the crafts journey on a GoPro camera as it went aloft with two passengers: a picture of their late cat, Loki, and a Lego figure of the Star Wars character R2-D2.

[Adorable queens of science send balloon (plus 1 cat picture) to the edge of space]

Kimberly, an aspiring engineer, said she hopes their experience will inspire other girls to dig into science and engineering.

Space and science and technology and things like that arent just things that boys are good at. Its also girls, too, Kimberly said. Girls can be even better than boys.
THE DISTRICT

Police identify man killed by car in NW

A man who was fatally struck by a vehicle near Northwest Washingtons Thomas Circle on Friday has been identified as a 30-year-old from Maryland, according to D.C. police.

Gregory Allen Hale of Hyattsville was pronounced dead at the scene of the 1:30 a.m. crash in the 1300 block of Massachusetts Avenue NW.

Police on Friday charged Roshonda Michelle Josephs, 24, of Northeast Washington, with driving under the influence of alcohol. Authorities said they are investigating the circumstances of the crash.

 Peter Hermann

MARYLAND

Early voting begins for April 26 primary

Early voting begins Thursday for the April 26 primary that features Democratic and Republican nominating contests for president, U.S. Senate, Congress and mayor of Baltimore.

There are highly competitive races for the open seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D), and the congressional seats currently held by Reps. Donna F. Edwards and Chris Van Hollen, who are vying for the Senate spot.

Early voting runs through April 21. Each county and the city of Baltimore have early-voting sites, open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. A list of locations is available at www.elections.state.md.us/voting/early_voting.html.

 Rachel Weiner

Democrats ads cite police-custody deaths

Both Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are airing campaign ads in Maryland that invoke the deaths of African Americans in police custody.

Recent polling suggests Clinton has a strong advantage in Maryland over Sanders going into the April 26 Democratic primary. An NBC-Marist poll released Tuesday gave her a 22-point lead over Sanders, 58 percent to 36 percent. A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll from last week gave Clinton a 15-point lead, 55 percent to 40 percent.

But Clintons lead has shrunk in recent months as Sanders has gained ground.

 Rachel Weiner
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a GOP candidate for president, held a town hall meeting April 13 in the Great Room at the historic Savage Mill complex. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

Republican presidential candidate John Kasich campaigned Wednesday in heavily Democratic Maryland, making a push for support among Republican primary voters after recent polls showed him doing better in the state than in many other places.

The Ohio governor, who has won only his home state during the GOP nominating contest so far, held a town hall meeting in Republican-friendly Howard County, telling the crowd of at least 400 that he is the only level-headed candidate left in a contest that also includes boisterous billionaire Donald Trump and ultra-conservative Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.).

I was like the guy in the minor leagues throwing a fastball 95 miles per hour, but I never got to pitch because I wouldnt throw at the batters head, he said.

[Where things stand with the presidential race in Maryland]

Recent polls have shown Kasich with relatively strong support in Maryland, where Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is garnering the highest approval ratings of any governor since at least 1998. The states primary is April 26.

GOP hopeful John Kasich poses with Taylor Smith and his daughter Avery, 3, at the town hall meeting in Savage, Md. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

Kasich was in second place in a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll this month, with 31 percent of likely GOP voters in the state supporting him compared with 41 percent for Trump and 22 percent for Cruz.

But a NBC4-Marist poll showed Kasich trailing both of his GOP counterparts. He is pitching himself as an experienced and effective chief executive who can cut through partisan gridlock.

I think Maryland voters look at their current governor, a practical conservative who is focused on the economy and fiscal issues and getting things done, and thats what Governor Kasich is about, said Kasich spokesman Chris Schrimpf.

Hes not about getting people fired up. Hes about getting things fixed.

Hogan, a supporter of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former presidential candidate, has no plans to endorse or meet with Republican presidential candidates before the primary, aides said

[In Kasichs call for governing experience, some hear gasp of old GOP]

Kasichs message on Wednesday mixed populism with fiscal conservatism, as he talked about growing up in a working-class Democratic family  his father was a postal carrier and his grandfather was a coal miner who died of black lung disease  and said he would shrink the government and give more power to the states if elected president.

When the debt goes up, your chances of getting a job go down, he said. With economic growth and a restrained budget, we can get to a balanced budget.

Among those who attended the town hall was Laurel resident Kathy Mayer, 58, a political independent who has voted for both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton but is now leaning toward Bernie Sanders.

I need to see that theyre honest and not beholden to anybody and that theyre looking out for what middle-class people need, she said.

Annapolis resident Gloria Wilkinson, 65, said she has made up her mind to back Kasich.

He has an upbeat, positive message, she said.

Right now, we have a situation where its all or nothing, Democrat or Republican. We need to work together.

At least eight Republican elected officials from Maryland attended the town hall event, including Howard County Executive Allan H. Kittleman, Sen. Johnny Ray Salling (Baltimore County) and Del. Ric Metzgar (Baltimore County).

Earlier in the day, Kasich held a fundraiser with former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) at Baltimores Inner Harbor.

At Leisure World in Silver Spring, former president Bill Clinton campaigned for his wife, Hillary Clinton. Both Hillary Clinton and Sanders have launched television ads in Maryland in advance of the Democratic primary.

Rachel Weiner contributed to this report.
A super PAC supporting Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D-Md.) for Senate released an ad that features President Obama and that accuses Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) of helping the National Rifle Association. (Working for Us PAC)

A super PAC supporting Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D-Md.) for Senate released an ad that features President Obama and that accuses Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) of helping the National Rifle Association. (Working for Us PAC)

An effort to paint Democratic Senate hopeful Chris Van Hollen as soft on gun control has drawn the attention of the White House, which criticized as misleading a super-PAC ad attacking the Maryland congressman.

The unusual intervention, which caused the PAC to remove President Obamas image from the ad, illustrates a central tension between Van Hollen and rival Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D-Md.) in the hotly contested primary for a rare open Senate seat.

While Van Hollen has touted his experience drafting major legislation, Edwards has poked holes in that record as insufficiently progressive.

This particular dispute is over whether, in an effort to win support from Republicans and conservative Democrats, Van Hollen was right to exempt the National Rifle Association from 2010 legislation aimed at making shadowy political groups disclose their donors. Senior Democrats, including President Obama, were in favor of exempting the NRA  and the liberal Sierra Club  in hopes of generating enough support in Congress for the legislation to pass.

Edwards opposed that deal and has used it as a key element of her depiction of Van Hollen as prone to engage in backroom shenanigans. Van Hollen has called her attacks dishonest and her stance an example of an uncompromising, ineffective approach to politics.

Van Hollen speaks at a forum with Edwards on March 18 in Greenbelt, Md. (Mark Gail/For The Washington Post)

With less than two weeks until the April 26 primary, polls show the race is very close. An NBC4-Marist poll released Tuesday gave Van Hollen a six-point edge; Edwards led by four points in a Washington Post-University of Maryland survey released last week. Each result is within its surveys margin of error.

[Deep racial split in Maryland Senate contest]

The battle is being stoked on both sides by the same obscure groups Van Hollen hoped to target with the donor-disclosure legislation.

The Working for Us PAC, a group that has been backed by labor unions in the past but has yet to disclose its donors this cycle, aired the ad that raised the White Houses ire. It featured a clip of an emotional Obama discussing gun control and the 2012 massacre of schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn. Afterward, a narrator says: Chris Van Hollen met with NRA lobbyists to craft a loophole that would let the NRA skirt a new campaignfinance law and block gun control.

A top adviser to the president reached out to Working for Us to say that the use of the presidents image and statement in this context were misleading, a White House spokesman said. The intervention was first reported by Politico.

Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) also called the ad dishonest, adding that Van Hollens bill had nothing to do with gun violence.

Working for Us said it would remove Obama from the ad but stood by its message. The ad speaks to how Donna Edwards isnt a typical D.C. insider who compromises her values just to make a deal, spokesman Joshua Henne said.

Edwards has levied similar attacks on Van Hollen in debates, and released her own ad on the subject Wednesday.

That ad, playing in Baltimore, focuses on a 3-year-old girl killed by a stray bullet in the city two years ago and features Edwards touting the defeat of the donor-disclosure legislation.

The bill passed the House despite defections from about three dozen House Democrats, many of whom  including Edwards  opposed the decision to leave out the NRA. But it failed in the Senate, where despite the NRA exemption, it did not win any Republican support.

[Why Emilys List is spending big to defeat a progressive Democrat]

Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the good-governance group Public Citizen, which pushed for Van Hollens legislation, said he wasnt comfortable with the NRA exemption, but I didnt really think it would do much damage either.

He noted that groups such as the NRA were not the main target of the legislation, because their goals are well known. Instead, the bill was an effort to get more information from super PACs and other groups whose agendas are less clear.

Van Hollen says that the

campaign-finance disagreement has nothing to do with his record on gun control.

Both he and Edwards have F ratings from the NRA. Van Hollen has been a strong voice for gun restrictions on Capitol Hill and as a state lawmaker helped push through legislation requiring trigger locks on guns. I have led the fight against the NRA, he said angrily at a forum in Silver Spring on Monday evening. People should not be misled on the issue.

The congressman said Edwardss decision to oppose the donor-disclosure legislation was emblematic of an uncompromising attitude that, he said, leads her to be ineffective.

A pro-Van Hollen super PAC backed by the Service Employees International Union is echoing that criticism. We need a senator who does more than talk, says the narrator in an attack ad the group aired this week. It was Chris Van Hollen who took on the NRA to pass tougher gun laws.

Like Working for Us, the pro-Van Hollen group has not disclosed its donors. Created just for this race, it operates under the name Committee for Marylands Progress.
Fannie Fitzgerald at the 2008 opening ceremony for the Fannie W. Fitzgerald Elementary School in Woodbridge. That year, the Prince William County School Board voted to name the academy after her. (Dayna Smith/For The Washington Post)

Fannie Fitzgerald, who with three other teachers were at the forefront of racial desegregation of the Prince William County public schools as the first African Americans to teach in previously all-white schools, died April 7 at an assisted-living center in Fairfax County. She was 85.

The cause was Alzheimers disease, said her daughter, Brenda Fitzgerald Mosley.

In summer 1964  10 years after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in the nations public schools and following the collapse of Virginias state-sponsored massive resistance to that order  Prince William County was ready to proceed with desegregation.

Education officers believed the change would happen more smoothly if they tried a token desegregation of faculties first, so that summer they asked four African American teachers to transfer to white schools.

Mrs. Fitzgerald, then a teacher at the black Antioch-McCrae School, was assigned to teach the fourth grade at the Fred Lynn Elementary and Intermediate School. When asked how she felt about being one of the first African Americans to teach in a white school, her family quoted her as saying, Children are children. It doesnt matter what color they are.

For the next school year, which began in September 1965, Prince William integrated students in its public schools. Mrs. Fitzgerald later taught at Manassas Park Elementary School and serve as an elementary school supervisor for the entire integrated school system.

From 1971 to 1988, she taught fourth grade at Dale City Elementary School, where she was also a learning disabilities specialist. In 2008, the school board voted to name an elementary school after her. The Fannie W. Fitzgerald Elementary School is in Woodbridge on Benita Fitzgerald Drive, named for her daughter, a track-and-field athlete and an Olympic Gold Medalist in 1984.

Fannie Wilkinson was born in Amelia County, Va., on July 27, 1930, and was the youngest of 11 children. Her father was a farmer and Baptist preacher.

She graduated in 1952 from Virginia Union University, a historically black university in Richmond, and became head teacher in an Amelia County two-room school that had no cafeteria, indoor plumbing or central heating. In 1956, she joined the Prince William County public schools.

She applied for postgraduate study, but the Virginia colleges would not yet admit African Americans. So the state of Virginia gave her a scholarship to Columbia University, where in 1960 she received a masters degree in special education.

Her husband of 54 years, Rodger Fitzgerald, died in 2013. Survivors include two daughters, Benita Fitzgerald Mosley of Colorado Springs and Kim Fitzgerald Lennon of Woodbridge; and four grandchildren.
Obituaries of residents from the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia.

Ora Wilson,office manager

Ora Wilson, 80, who worked for 28 years in environmental services at what is now MedStar Washington Hospital Center before retiring in 2000 as an office manager, died Feb. 24 at a hospital in Washington. The cause was multiple organ failure, said a son, Vernon Wilson.

Mrs. Wilson, a Washington resident, was born Ora Brown in Tuskegee, Ala. She was a member of Evangel Missionary Baptist Church in Washington.

Sidney L. Werkman, psychiatrist

Sidney L. Werkman, 88, a psychiatrist who had served at Childrens Hospital in Washington and at Georgetown University Medical Center, died Feb. 28 at a retirement facility in Spokane, Wash. The cause was lymphoma, said his son, Russell Werkman.

Dr. Werkmen was born in Washington. He was an associate professor of psychiatry at Childrens Hospital from 1956 to 1967, then from 1967 to 1989 was a professor of psychiatry at Colorado School of Medicine.

He returned to the Washington area in 1990 and served at Georgetown Medical Center until 2013 in several capacities with the psychiatry department and on the medical school admissions committee. In 2015, he moved to Spokane.

Anthony J. Ody, World Bank economist

Anthony J. Ody, 65, a World Bank economist whose specialties included Nigeria, China and Latin America, died Feb. 28 at a hospital in Washington. The cause was cancer, said his daughter, Elizabeth Leary.

Mr. Ody, a resident of Bethesda, Md., was born in Winchester, England. He relocated to the Washington area in 1975 and worked 30 years for the World Bank, retiring in 2005. He also was an affiliated professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute and a consultant to the joint IMF-World Bank Development Committee.

Carroll O. Alley, U-Md. physics professor

Carroll O. Alley, 88, a physics professor at the University of Maryland who retired in 2008 after 45 years on the College Park faculty, died Feb. 24 at an assisted-living facility in Silver Spring, Md. The cause was heart ailments, said his daughter, Frances Kruger.

Dr. Alley, who lived in Silver Spring, was born in Richmond and came to the Washington area in 1963 after having taught physics at Princeton University, the University of Richmond and the University of Rochester. He was principal investigator for the lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflector experiment that was placed on the moon in 1969 by NASAs Apollo 11 crew. He was active in the study of gravitation until his death.

Marguerite Meyer, nurse

Marguerite Meyer, 85, a onetime nurse who in the 1960s was diagnosed with schizophrenia and had since lived in homeless shelters, died Feb. 29 at a rehabilitation and health center in Arlington, Va. The cause was breast cancer, said a daughter, Helen Fausett.

Mrs. Meyer, a resident of Leesburg, Va., was born Marguerite McCallum on the Pacific island of Guam, where her father was serving in the Marine Corps. She grew up in the Washington area and received a degree in nursing. She was a mother of five children, but since her diagnosis of schizophrenia she had been unable to work at a job, support herself, or maintain healthy relationships with her children or extended family, her daughter said in an e-mail notice.

Robert S. Levine, NIST scientist

Robert S. Levine, 95, a senior scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology who retired in 1998 as chief of the office of fire research resources, died Jan. 29 at his home in Montgomery Village, Md. The cause was congestive heart failure, said a daughter, Michelle Levine.

Dr. Levine, a native of Des Moines, worked at North American Aviation before joining NASA in 1966 as chief of the liquid propulsion technology branch. In 1975, he joined what then was the National Bureau of Standards.

 From staff reports
A man who was fatally struck by a vehicle near Northwest Washingtons Thomas Circle on Friday has been identified as a 30-year-old from Maryland, according to D.C. police.

Gregory Allen Hale of Hyattsville was pronounced dead at the scene of the 1:30 a.m. crash in the 1300 block of Massachusetts Avenue NW.

[Pedestrian killed in vehicular crash at Thomas Circle]

Police on Friday charged Roshonda Michelle Josephs, 24, of Northeast Washington, with driving under the influence of alcohol. Authorities said they are investigating the circumstances of the crash.

Police said the vehicle driven by Josephs was headed east in a service lane when it struck Hale moments after he had stepped off a curb. Police said Hale was not in a crosswalk and had walked into the service lane from between parked cars. Police said his body was trapped under the womans vehicle.

Public records also show addresses for Hale in Capitol Heights and Northwest Washington.
A Maryland judge sentenced a Potomac doctor to nine years in prison for his role in a $3.1 million health-care fraud.

Paramjit Singh Ajrawat, 60, was charged with counts including health-care fraud, wire fraud and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced earlier this week in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt by Judge Deborah K. Chasanow.

He was also ordered to pay $3.1 million in restitution.

According to prosecutors, Ajrawat specialized in interventional pain management and with his wife, who is also a doctor, owned and operated a clinic, called Washington Pain Management Center, in Greenbelt.

In September 2015, a federal jury convicted Ajrawat and his wife, Sukhveen Kaur Ajrawat, 57. His wife died on Feb. 1, and the charges against her were dismissed.

In trial, evidence was presented that showed how the couple defrauded federal health benefit programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. The defrauding efforts happened from January 2011 to May 2014.

The couple filed claims, officials said, for procedures that were not performed. They had several schemes, including filing claims for procedures that gave higher reimbursement amounts than what they had actually done to a patient. And in some cases, they filed claims for procedures they had never done.

In one instance, the couple turned in claims that Ajrawat had given nerve block injections to a patient using imaging guidance machines, prosecutors said. But he did not own or use such a machine.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney for Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein said, This lengthy sentence sends a powerful message that doctors who defraud health insurance programs will be held accountable.
People shop at the El Egido food market in Havana. Cuban state-run media reported Wednesday that Cuba will open its state-controlled wholesale market to a limited number of private business owners in response to rising food prices that have angered many locals. (Desmond Boylan/AP)

CUBA

State wholesale market to open to private firms

Cuba said Wednesday that it is opening its state-controlled wholesale market to a limited number of private business owners in response to rising prices.

State-run media said Wednesday that food and personal-service businesses that are either cooperatively run or rent space from the government will be able to buy goods at prices 20 percent below retail rates. They will also be able to do business with state-run importers, a potentially important new benefit that could provide access to U.S.-made goods.

The new measures also establish price caps on some goods bought wholesale and sold privately. State media said the measures would go into effect on May 2.

State media emphasized the limited scope of the measures, however, saying they would apply only to about 4,000 cooperatives and private businesses renting space in state buildings.

Under economic changes that began under President Raul Castro, Cuba has been slowly allowing private enterprise to compete with state-run businesses.

 Associated Press

PHILIPPINES

Militants behead two kidnapped workers

Suspected Muslim militants beheaded two kidnapped sawmill workers in the southern Philippines, apparently influenced by the Islamic State groups style of killings, military and police officials said Thursday.

Army Col. Roseller Murillo said police retrieved the bodies of the two workers, who were made to wear orange gowns, in a village in Butig town in Lanao del Sur province on Tuesday. Four other captives were released over the weekend after their employer negotiated with the captors, police said.

The workers were kidnapped on April 5 in Butig town.

The kidnappings and beheadings have been blamed on the largely unknown Maute group, which authorities say has ties to Islamist militants from Indonesia and has used black clothing that bears the symbol of the Islamic State, the extremist group that holds sway over some parts of Syria and Iraq.

 Associated Press

CHINA

Gay couples bid to get married is denied

A judge ruled against a gay couple in Chinas first same-sex marriage case, which attracted several hundred supporters to the courthouse on Wednesday.

The court in the central city of Changsha dismissed the suit brought against the local civil affairs bureau for refusing to issue the couple a marriage registration certificate.

Plaintiff Sun Wenlin said he would appeal until he exhausts all legal options.

The lawsuit comes amid growing awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in China, where society and the government have frowned on non-traditional expressions of gender and sexuality.

China does not legally recognize same-sex marriage.

 Associated Press

Cyprus says Egyptian hijacking suspect wants asylum: A man who has admitted hijacking a domestic EgyptAir flight and diverting it to Cyprus is requesting political asylum on the island, saying he is afraid of how he could be treated by Egyptian authorities, officials said. Seif Eddin Mustafa  described by authorities as psychologically unstable  forced the plane to land in Cyprus by threatening to blow it up with a fake suicide belt on March 29. The hijacking ended peacefully.

Powers of Saudi religious police curtailed: Saudi Arabia has issued guidelines curbing the powers of its religious police, whose aggressive enforcement of the kingdoms strict morality rules has drawn criticism from more-liberal Saudis. The force patrols public spaces to enforce bans on alcohol, music, prayer-time store activity and the mixing of unrelated men and women. But now it will not be allowed to pursue, question, request identification from or arrest suspects, according to an official statement carried by state Saudi Press Agency.

 From news services
Regarding Timothy P. Shrivers April 10 Sunday Opinion commentary, Put Lily back on the transplant list:

Loma Linda University Childrens Hospital provides high-quality, compassionate care to our patients and their families. We care deeply for every child who looks to us for healing, and we are humbled by the responsibility God has given us.

We often face complex ethical challenges regarding a childs care. In such times, we lean on our guiding policies and principles, grounded in national standards. We rejoice when we heal these children and mourn with children and families who live with the pain and suffering of their conditions.

Loma Linda University Childrens Hospital has never declined a child for transplant based solely on the childs cognitive status or developmental delay. Transplants have been successfully conducted on patients with cognitive impairment or other complicating factors such as cerebral palsy. Loma Linda University Childrens Hospital fully supports the Americans With Disabilities Act.

When questions concerning a patients suitability for organ transplantation exist, we consult with experts in other transplant centers in California concerning whether a patient with a given set of conditions would be a suitable candidate in their institutions. We also seek input from national experts regarding the appropriate allocation of organs for transplantation.

Patients or surrogate decision-makers for a patient may choose to engage in public or media discussion of issues surrounding patient care. Loma Linda University Childrens Hospital believes medical decision-making is a deeply personal matter. Accordingly, we respectfully decline to engage in public discussion of clinical facts and circumstances surrounding specific patients.

Garrett Caldwell, Loma Linda, Calif.

The writer is executive director for public affairs

at Loma Linda University Childrens Hospital.

Timothy P. Shrivers advocacy for 4-month-old Lily Parra gave an argument for one needy baby but no context. How many babies are on the list, and how many hearts are available? A list implies that there are fewer hearts than babies who need them. What criteria are used in making the choice? Because a healthy heart, available because of someone elses tragedy, is a precious thing, the chances of survival and thriving should play a role; otherwise, the rate of failed transplants would rise, with the necessary corollary that babies with fewer risk factors would die.

I hope a good deal of thought goes into the design of this delicate and, for some, heartbreaking process.

Greg McBride, Silver Spring
Regarding the April 10 Local Opinions essay Modernize all D.C. schools now:

I agree with Jonetta Rose Barrass conclusion that D.C. Public Schools should modernize all schools now, but she unfairly pointed to the difference in funding between modernization of West Education Campus (Ward 4) and Houston Elementary (Ward 7) as evidence of inequity. With a mere hat tip to the fact that every building is different, and therefore has different needs, she claimed there is a problem based on the total dollars assigned to the different wards for a similar number of buildings.

Instead of trying to divide school communities based on a poor comparison, Id like to invite Ms. Barras to tour West. As one of the few remaining 1970s open concept school buildings in DCPS, West has been consistently rated as one of the most outdated facilities in the system. Many students learn in classrooms lacking both windows and full walls. It is unsafe and inefficient, and yet the mayors budget defers completion of West modernization until 2022.

The true inequity is that schools in conditions like Wests have had and continue to have modernization deferred indefinitely.

Joshua Hertzberg, Washington

The writer is president of the

Parent, Staff and Community Organization

at West Education Campus.
LG regional manager for AP and TS Gireesan Gopi, branch manager Sasikiran and other LG staff during the launch of Sapience washing machine in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad: In an attempt to address the problem of water shortage in the state, LG Electronics India on Wednesday launched the Sapience washing machine, which promises to save over two lakh litres of water over ten years.

Speaking to this newspaper, Gireesan Gopi, LG regional manager for AP and TS, said, In view of water shortage in Hyderabad, we have decided to launch our new washing machine Sapience. Unlike other washing machines that uses 150 litres of water for each wash, Sapience needs only 70 litres. This initiative will help in creating awareness among people and make them to adopt more energy efficient products for their homes.

The company, he said, will launching this product across the two Telugu states in cities like Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Kakinda, Tirupati, Kham-mam, Warangal, etc.

LG, he said, is the number one brand in the washing machines space. Sapience has the best technology from our Korean parent but customised to Indian requirements, he said.

With a long and hot summer ahead, we thought that it would be wise to launch an appliance that helps in saving water while doing the work efficiently in order to conserve our natural resources, Mr Gopi told this newspaper.

To spread the cause of Water Saving, he said LG will be initiating a campaign by giving customised wrist bands to customers who walk into the LG store and also engage with consumers through flash mobs at traffic signals across city.
Politicians like to bet that reporters and their pesky questions will go away. Too often, theyre right. Thus, the drumbeat of demands for Donald Trumps tax returns faded after he waved it all away with claims that a pending audit prevented the transparency he would otherwise be delighted to provide.

With Trumps demurral, so, too, subsided requests for a fuller accounting from the other remaining presidential candidates. Aside from Hillary Clinton, they have been unprecedentedly parsimonious with tax information.

A confluence of events presents an opportunity to refocus attention on the missing returns. First, Tax Day is upon us, the traditional time for the incumbent president and vice president to release their tax returns  a voluntary act but one that has been practiced by every president since Harry Truman, with the exception of Gerald Ford.

Second, the leak of the Panama Papers, the deluge of documents detailing the offshore accounts of various foreign leaders and their relatives, underscored the value of disclosing financial information, and the wisdom of a norm in which elected officials release their tax filings as a prudent matter of course  not in the midst of a political firestorm.

In Britain, where there is no routine practice of politicians making tax returns public, Prime Minister David Cameron scrambled to release six years worth after the papers showed that his late father had been the director of an offshore trust that paid no British taxes. Other British politicians  including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and London Mayor Boris Johnson  followed suit.

Third, The Post reported that, notwithstanding Trumps claims to have given more than $102 million to charity over the past five years, the list of gifts from his foundation suggests far less in the way of personal philanthropy  none, actually. Trumps tax returns would fill in the blanks about his actual charitable giving.

Trump is, by far, the greatest offender here and, in this area at least, Clinton the avatar of full disclosure. Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Bernie Sanders have claimed transparency but released only the initial, summary pages of their tax returns.

This dodge, as my Post colleague Catherine Rampell has noted, obscures all sorts of potentially significant information, from amounts and details about charitable giving to precise sources of income to their use of various tax shelters. Voters should not be misled by this phony forthcomingness. Would they accept a president who provided a similarly flimsy summary?

But Trumps obscurantism remains the most blatant and most troubling. He released a letter last month from his tax lawyers, who described Trumps returns, since he operates his real estate and other businesses through sole proprietorships, as inordinately large and complex for an individual.

Trumps returns, his lawyers report, have been under continuous examination by the Internal Revenue Service since 2002, consistent with the IRSs practice for large and complex businesses. The audits from 2002 through 2008 have been closed administratively by agreement with the IRS without assessment or payment, on a net basis, of any deficiency, while examinations for returns for the 2009 year and forward are ongoing.

To Trump, this argues against disclosure. I cant do it until the audit is finished, obviously, he said at a debate in February.

Not obvious, actually. Nothing in IRS rules would prevent Trump from releasing returns during an audit. Nothing would prevent him from releasing earlier returns, despite his lawyers argument that the pending examinations are continuations of prior, closed examinations. Nothing would prevent him from at least providing a summary of tax information that would indicate his total income, effective tax rate and charitable contributions.

You dont learn very much from tax returns, Trump told CBS Newss John Dickerson, when pressed on summaries. But this is untrue, its inconsistent with historical practice and it conflicts with Trumps assertion that hed be happy to provide the information once the audit is completed.

Indeed, although an audit for a taxpayer of Trumps magnitude and complexity is not evidence of tax mischief, if anything, it argues for more transparency, not less. Trump says there was no net deficiency. Were there dodges that the IRS disallowed? Arent voters entitled to know about those? Richard Nixon, of all people, released his tax returns  in the midst of an IRS audit, while he was president. (He owed nearly a half-million dollars in taxes and interest.)

Next Tax Day will see a new president in the White House. Will it be the first in decades in which the president wont be straight with fellow taxpayers?

Read more from Ruth Marcuss archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook.
Jeffrey R. Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, took issue in his April 6 online op-ed, GE CEO: Bernie Sanders says were destroying the moral fabric of America. Hes wrong, with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for citing his company as an example of the corporate greed that is destroying the moral fabric of this country. As officers of a national union that has represented GE workers for 80 years, we can affirm, from our unions experience and knowledge of GE, that Mr. Sanders is right.

Since 1999, GE has reduced its U.S. workforce by 37 percent, and since 2008 the company has closed more than 50 factories and facilities in the United States. In 1995, 68 percent of GEs total employment was in the United States; by 2015 it was 38 percent. For a decade, GE has pursued a policy it calls the competitive wage, aimed at cutting the wage rates of its manufacturing workers in half, even as the pay of Mr. Immelt and other executives soars higher into the stratosphere.

GE is now the defendant in two lawsuits because it betrayed its promises to its now-retired employees, both professional and blue collar, by slashing their health-care benefits, enabling the company to pocket an additional $3.3 billion. Thanks to GE, the Hudson River has become a 200-mile long monument to corporate greed. From 1947 to 1977, GE dumped an estimated 1.3 million pounds of PCBs, a toxic legacy that is still with us, and has made the Hudson River, from Fort Edward to Lower Manhattan, the Environmental Protection Agencys largest Superfund cleanup site.

In 2013, GE announced it would close the Fort Edward capacitor plant, dumping 200 employees and their communities, to relocate the work to a non-union plant in Clearwater, Fla., to cut wage rates in half. No doubt the meager wages of the Florida workers will be subsidized by taxpayer-funded food stamps and other poverty programs, which will amount to welfare for GE.

Since January at its Erie, Pa., locomotive plant, GE has laid off 1,384 workers, as it transfers production to a non-union location in right-to-work Texas, where it pays half the wage rates of Erie. The Department of Labor has told our local union in Erie that the ripple effect of the GE layoffs will affect as many as 18,000 jobs in the region.

Mr. Sanders is also correct about GEs infamous success at evading taxes. In 2010, with $14.2 billion in profit, the company paid no federal income tax but instead received a $3.2 billion tax credit. According to Citizens for Tax Justice, GE from 2010 to 2014 paid a federal income tax rate of minus 4.3 percent on total profits of $33.5 billion. GE recently induced Massachusetts and Boston to offer the company at least $145 million in tax breaks and other giveaways to relocate its headquarters there.

Mr. Immelt claims that GE is in the business of building real things and generating real growth for our country. We fail to see how destroying communities, turning good jobs into poverty jobs and depriving your retired employees of health-care benefits generates real growth in anything but the companys profits and executives pay. We agree with Mr. Sanders that corporate greed is destroying the moral fabric of America.

Peter Knowlton, Andrew Dinkelaker and Eugene Elk, Pittsburgh

The writers are, respectively, general president, general secretary-treasurer and director of organization for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America.
In his April 10 op-ed, The Senate is waiving its right to give advice and consent,  Gregory L. Diskant explained how he thought President Obama could appoint Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court if the Senate did nothing.

Mr. Diskant alternately characterized the Senates approval power as a duty and a right. Calling it a right makes no sense. Rights are claims that citizens have against their governments. Governments do not have rights; they have powers.

Citizens can waive their constitutional rights; governments cannot waive their powers by failing to exercise them. Indeed, one of the fundamental aspects of a power is that it confers discretion. For example, Congress has the power to regulate commerce but need not do so. Moreover, if this power is also somehow a duty, then the Supreme Court would likely punt on the question. The court has wisely decided not to tell the president how to best take care and would similarly be wise to not tell the Senate how to best give advice and consent. The best way to restore a sensible system of government is not by using verbal equivocation to get what we want. The best way is to vote.

Alexander Zajac, Washington

The Constitutions framers clearly considered what would happen if one branch of government failed to act. Article I, Section 7 says: If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it. The omission of a similar provision for the Senates failure to consider a nomination must have been intentional.

That the Senates stance is constitutional, however, does not make it right. Many constitutional powers would wreak havoc if used without limit. For example, the president could pardon all federal prisoners; the pardon power must have been granted on the implied condition that he would not. The Senates power to block all nominees must have come with a similar understanding.

Ilya Shlyakhter, Cambridge, Mass.

Whatever the framers of our Constitution intended by their use of the language with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, one interpretation should be universally accepted: They intended action, not inaction, to be taken by the Senate.

The president should consent to the advice of Mr. Diskant and appoint Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, lest he be viewed as having waived his constitutional right to nominate and appoint.

Mario E. Lombardo, Potomac
IN A different election year, Ohio Gov. John Kasich would not be the moderate in the Republican presidential race. An instinctual tax-cutter who wears his religion on his sleeve and signed a bill defunding Planned Parenthood, Mr. Kasich is more Jack Kemp than Bob Dole. Yet it is a sign of how cracked the GOP has become that Mr. Kasich is the only Republican left in the race who acknowledges many of the principles essential to this countrys democracy.

In a Tuesday speech, Mr. Kasich counseled Republicans to say no to those who would prey on our human weakness. He condemned politicians who paint a distorted picture of America in economic and moral decline and blame people with more money  or less money, people with different-sounding last names, or different religious beliefs, or different-colored skin or lifestyles. He criticized those who seem to promise that unpopular laws shall be repealed simply through the will of a strongman in the White House, and he specifically attacked proposals from rivals Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) to patrol and surveil Muslim neighborhoods. We are not an ethnic group or religion or language, Mr. Kasich concluded, but a union of many different backgrounds and ideas and beliefs under a political system that requires cooperation, not demonization.

On policy, Mr. Kasich proved that he is devoted to ideological conservatism  and that he can overpromise. He outlined a 100-day agenda that included the mutually exclusive promises of sizable tax cuts and a balanced budget, and he pledged to devolve power over highways, education and welfare to the states.

We disagree strongly with much of Mr. Kasichs agenda. But Mr. Kasich does not inspire fear that he would attack crucial national institutions such as the free press, Congress, federal agencies and political parties, or that he would abuse the nations implicit trust that the president will execute laws with judgment and restraint.

Republicans often argue that President Obamas executive actions have been a unique threat to the constitutional order. But a president truly untethered from a sense of responsibility could go much further. Imagine, for example, what Mr. Trump might do with the wide-ranging powers of the Justice Department if and when he felt personally aggrieved or stymied by the political systems checks and balances. Mr. Cruz, meanwhile, proved how much he cares about judgment and restraint when he near-single-handedly shut down the government over a political dispute he could not win  and, on both principle and procedure, should not have won.

Mr. Kasichs campaign has not taken off, and it appears unlikely that GOP delegates will swing into his camp at this summers Republican National Convention. He is prone to spiraling into tangents, and, like former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R), he is an imperfect exponent of reasonableness. But his message of patience, political pragmatism and inclusion is the only one that comes anywhere close to addressing the realities of American society. At some point, perhaps not in this election cycle, Republican voters will have to come to terms with it.
WE USUALLY do not complain when a commonly used consumer item gets cheaper, but first-class postage presents a bit of a special case. The sudden 2-cent drop in price, from 49 cents to 47 cents, on Sunday, makes a mockery of the Forever label on the stamps many people bought at the higher price, thinking their indefinite validity would hedge against future price hikes. Little did they know!

More important for the stability of the already distressed U.S. Postal Service, the price cut represents a financial blow, estimated at $2 billion per year. Stamps went up to 49 cents in January 2014, pursuant to a Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) ruling intended to help the Postal Service recover from the Great Recession. However, the increase was considered exigent and thus temporary  large-scale postal customers had lobbied heavily against it  and it could be made permanent only by an act of Congress. A bill to do that, as well as relieve some of USPSs structural health care cost burden and change its pricing system, is pending in a Senate committee.

On a deeper level, this setback to the Postal Service is a vivid reminder of the institutional dysfunction that led to its predicament. USPS, we are often told, is supposed to run like a business. How many businesses have to go through a federal commission, or Congress, for permission to set prices on their bread-and-butter product, which is what first-class mail is for the Postal Service? Tied down like Gulliver by regulators and congressional barons, relentlessly lobbied by everyone from the greeting card industry to rural newspapers, contractually hamstrung by powerful labor unions, the Postal Services management lacks the autonomy necessary to run the system efficiently. It is a classic case of responsibility without authority.

Unable to do much of anything else, USPS has asked the regulatory commission to clarify how broad its upcoming mandatory review of the pricing system will be. The obvious implication is that USPS needs a complete overhaul if it is to survive. As Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan said in February, the current system is unworkable and should be replaced with a system that provides greater pricing flexibility and better reflects the economic challenges facing the Postal Service. We wish we could be more optimistic about the chances that this eminently sensible appeal will bear fruit.
House Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) told former secretary of state Hillary Clinton during a hearing Oct. 22 that the Accountability Review Board's investigation of the attack on Benghazi "was an inadequate job." (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

House Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) told former secretary of state Hillary Clinton during a hearing Oct. 22 that the Accountability Review Board's investigation of the attack on Benghazi "was an inadequate job." (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Is Trey Gowdy planning a July surprise?

The chairman of the Select Committee on Benghazi went to ground after he and his colleagues grilled Hillary Clinton in October. They havent had a single hearing since then (and had only three public hearings before that one), though they occasionally send news releases reminding the world that their 700-day-old investigation continues.

But that is about to change. Gowdy, after blowing through several previous deadlines he set, has said to expect a final report before summer, and Republicans say they are drafting it now. In another indication that the rollout is approaching, Gowdy last month stopped giving Democrats transcripts of witness interviews. This move, ostensibly to prevent leaks, diminishes the minoritys ability respond to allegations contained in the majority report.

Depending on how long the declassification review takes, the Benghazi report is on track to drop by mid-July, just before Congress recesses for the conventions and at a time when Republicans will be in need of a distraction from the Trump-Cruz standoff. If the review takes longer (they typically last from a few weeks to a several months), it could come out in September, in the campaigns homestretch.

Either scenario would confirm what critics of the panel have said all along (and what Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy incautiously confirmed)  that the panel is a political exercise designed to damage Clinton. Fox News host Greta van Susteren, writing in the Huffington Post a year ago, argued that dragging the investigation into 2016 looks political and that releasing the report right before the election looks awful and sends a bad message about fairness.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the House Benghazi committee. (Cliff Owen/AP)

If the report comes out in 2016, she wrote, it is fair to draw an adverse inference against the Committee  an adverse inference of playing politics. . . . Whatever the findings are in this investigation  it will forever be plagued by allegations of unfairness, and politics if this investigation is dragged into 2016.

Back then, Gowdy told van Susteren that I want it done before 2016 and that its not going to come out in the middle of 2016. The panel had originally contemplated finishing work in October 2015. Gowdy later shifted that to the end of 2015, then this spring.

He will argue that Obama administration foot-dragging slowed the investigation; one batch of documents, delivered Friday, had been requested 17 months earlier. But its hard to pin the delay on the White House when the committee has continued in recent weeks to add new witnesses. The panel waited to request interviews with former CIA director David Petraeus and former defense secretary Leon Panetta until after Clinton testified. Those two, along with national security adviser Susan Rice and deputy Ben Rhodes, are among at least 35 interviewed since October. Though most of the committees work has been a retread of previous investigations, it claims it has received more than 72,000 pages of records not seen by other congressional committees  not exactly a picture of stonewalling.

Gowdy and his staff, apparently aware of the perception problem, have been releasing defensive statements to the public. When the report is released, Im confident the value and fairness of our investigation will then be abundantly clear to everyone, Gowdy said on April 8. The majority on April 6 issued a statement taking issue with the idea that the committees October hearing [with Clinton] was a flop that produced no new information.  Gowdy previously promised the report findings would be eye-opening.

One eye-opening thing has already happened: Gregory Hicks, the U.S. diplomat in Libya who criticized the administration response, is now on detail from the State Department working as a legislative assistant to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who previously said Hickss shocking testimony confirmed a Benghazi whitewash by the administration.

Another eye-opening thing: The panel never agreed on rules or a budget (some $6.5 million has been spent). And the probe, after a respectable start, quickly devolved into the mix of unfounded allegations, selective leaks and partisan sniping that characterized the preceding Benghazi investigation by Rep. Darrel Issas oversight panel.

Democrats dont expect to see the majoritys report before it is made public. Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), the top Democrat on the panel, said in a statement Wednesday that he expects an excessively long rehash of old Republican allegations that were disproved long ago.

Expect a lot of findings questioning Clintons honesty (she told her family the Benghazi attack was the work of terrorists but misled the American public), judgment (her policy led to the Libya attack) and humanity (she was indifferent to diplomats security). These themes dovetail nicely with the general-election campaign Republicans plan to run against Clinton. This, like the timing of the Benghazi report, is a curious coincidence.

Twitter: @Milbank

Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
TURKISH PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan has all but crushed domestic criticism of his regime by taking over newspapers, jailing journalists, and bringing slander cases against more than 1,800 people, including children who make fun of him. Now he is attempting to export his repression by demanding that Germany prosecute a comedian who read an insulting poem about him on television. Its a case that ought to produce nothing more than guffaws about Mr. Erdogans megalomaniacal delusions. Instead, alarmingly, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is at least pretending to take it seriously.

At issue is a March 31 stunt by the popular comedian Jan Bohmermann on his regular show for the state broadcaster ZDF. Mr. Bohmermann said he wanted to find the line between satire, which is protected by German law, and abusive criticism of a foreign leader, which, regrettably, is not. He then read a poem that, among other things, called the Turkish leader a name that suggests he has sex with goats. Sounds like satire to us, particularly as Mr. Erdogan had already been demanding action against considerably milder attacks in German media.

Ms. Merkel has been a defender of free expression, but she has two problems. One is the anachronistic law that allows foreign leaders to launch slander cases against German critics, both directly and through the government; Mr. Erdogan is employing both routes. Last invoked, as far as anyone can remember, by the shah of Iran in the 1960s, the law has no place in a Western democracy and ought to be repealed.

The other difficulty is that Ms. Merkel just struck a deal with Mr. Erdogan  itself morally dubious  to return Syrian refugees arriving in Europe to Turkey, in exchange for some $6 billion in European Union aid and other potential concessions. A big reason that Mr. Erdogan has become a target of the German media is that in their desperate pursuit of this bargain, the German chancellor and other E.U. leaders have muffled their objections to Mr. Erdogans mounting autocratic excesses.

Now Ms. Merkel is escalating her pandering by appearing to countenance Mr. Erdogans bullying inside Germany. Last week she issued a statement calling Mr. Bohmermanns poem deliberately offending. When that didnt satisfy the Turkish strongman, her spokesman announced that her government was carefully reviewing his request for prosecution. Perhaps Ms. Merkel believes this show of consideration will head off a diplomatic crisis that could endanger the refugee deal. If so, she is probably mistaken: Mr. Erdogan wont be satisfied unless Mr. Bohmermann suffers punishment  and freedom of speech in Germany is compromised.

Wed like to believe Ms. Merkels rejection of any prosecution of Mr. Bohmermann is a foregone conclusion. Even so, her waffling is likely to encourage Mr. Erdogans and other regimes  Chinas comes quickly to mind  that are trying to suppress critical speech outside their borders as well as within. The cornerstone of the constitution, freedom of expression, is non-negotiable, Ms. Merkel had her spokesman say Monday. That should have been her only response.
Joe Berardi, 33, a construction worker from Staten Island and a supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, takes the Staten Island Ferry during his commute from work in Manhattan. (Mark Abramson/For The Washington Post)

Its the evening rush on the Staten Island Ferry, and Donald Trumps New Yorkers, spent after a days work in Manhattan, are heading home.

Theres the construction worker who is convinced Trump will stop pussyfooting around when it comes to terrorism. Theres the Hungarian immigrant tow-truck driver who says Trump speaks his language. Theres the moving-company worker who believes Trump would be the first honest and courageous president in his lifetime, the diamond dealer who respects his toughness and the fashion model in awe of his glamour.

Hes just the man, right? says Jimmy Dawson, 20, just back from modeling Givenchys new line on a runway in Paris. On the ferry, Dawson looks incognito, save for his red Make America Great Again cap.

Its his wealth, his attitude, he adds. Look at what hes done. Its inspiring. Who wouldnt want to have that life? Who doesnt want to be rich? This is New York.

This is Trumps city, and these are his people. The billionaire real estate mogul is poised to wallop his opponents in Tuesdays New York primary and record one of the biggest victory margins of the GOP presidential race so far. Recent polls show Trump topping 50 percent in the state, far outpacing Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

Debbie Padovano, 59, of Manhattan works at a food pantry for the homeless on Staten Island. Shes also a Trump supporter. (Mark Abramson/For The Washington Post)

[Video: Why can't Donald Trump's kids vote in the New York primary?]

To understand why, listen to passengers on the ferry as it cruises across New York Harbor. They see Trump as the human embodiment of their citys spirit and ambition. Hes big and brash and unafraid.

They say they know Trump and believe in him, even though theyve never met him. For decades, theyve been reading about his exploits in the tabloids, staring up at his buildings, spotting his name practically everywhere.

[The art of the steal: Dealmaker Trump struggles with the delegate race]

Hes a New Yorker, you know? says Frank Manzo, 51, who works for a commercial moving company. Hes bold in some ways and hes honest.

Manzo says he worries about terrorism. Its everywhere, he says: Everybody rolls all over us because were not tough. They take our hostages and torture us. If somebodys going to come in here and bomb this ferry, there should be consequences. Trump will stop it.

Thats what Margaret Power believes, too. Trump is very tough, real hard, and thats what we need, she says. Its time to stop pussy-footing around.

1 of 45 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Trump captures the nations attention on the campaign trail View Photos The Republican candidate continues to dominate the presidential contest. 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.

Power is 52 and works in construction. Shes currently building the set for a fashion exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She says she trusts Trump because hes not like the other politicians, beholden to their donors. Hes steering himself, she says.

Hes done a lot for New York City, Power adds. Hes involved in great projects. Hes a stand-up guy. Great quality. Hes done more than most mayors, and it shows.

Joe Berardi envisions Trump as a jobs president. Hell be good for guys like me, the 33-year-old construction worker says as he finishes off a slice of pizza.

Berardi wakes up at 3 a.m., arrives at his work site by 7 and rides the 5 p.m. ferry home to Staten Island, day in and day out, six days a week. He usually works on skyscrapers, but these days hes helping build a Niketown on Broadway.

Donald Trump is a real estate genius, you know? he says. Its not that a billionaire is going to care about me, but as a group, he knows he needs us guys. If he gets rid of all that cheap illegalimmigrant labor, whos left to do the jobs? Guys like me.

[Cruz likely to block Trump on a second ballot at GOP convention]

Josh Shimoni, 65, has the same hope.

Trump! Trump! Trump! Hes talking my language, says Shimoni, a tow-truck driver who immigrated to the United States from Hungary at age 22. He understands our frustration in business, and I think he can help. Business is very, very bad. Theres no work. And hell make the system work again.

There are plenty of Trump haters in New York, no doubt millions of them. Scores are on this ferry  women, blacks, Latinos, millennials. Some laugh when asked whether they plan to vote for Trump.

I dont like him, says Chris Topherbollinger, a middle-aged white man decked out in Yankees garb. Actually, I despise him.

But others think Trump is just what America needs, what Staten Island needs. Of New York Citys five boroughs, this is the forgotten one. Its cut off from the subway system and accessible only by boat or bridge. Its the least populous borough  home to just fewer than 500,000 people  but also the whitest and most Republican. Trump is scheduled to campaign there Sunday.

As in so many other places across the country, an influx of immigrants on Staten Island has stoked tensions. Debbie Padovano, 59, voted for President Obama but is on the Trump train now. She lives in Manhattan but commutes to Staten Island to work at a food pantry for the homeless. She says she encounters the immigration problem every day at her work.

They dont have the right credentials, she says. We take them in  and some of them, Im glad. But there are just so many of them. Theyre taking peoples jobs. . . . I think Donald Trump will fix it.

Padovano says she recoils from Trumps inflammatory rhetoric and hopes he will curb his discrimination. Nevertheless, she has been persuaded that hes up to the task.

Once he has it in his hands, hell know exactly what to do, Padovano says. I know he can handle the job. I really do. Theres only one I listen to. . . . Donald  excuse me, Mr. Trump  would diminish Congress and take control.

Taking control is what Michael OBrian, 52, wants the next president to do, and he thinks Trump is the one to do it.

When [Islamic State terrorists] bombed France, his first reaction was, Im going to bomb the sh-- out of them. I like the way he thinks. Hes got courage, OBrian says.

[These are the towns that love Donald Trump]

OBrian lives a hard life. He says he used to build scenery at the Metropolitan Opera but fell off a ladder a few years back, knocked out his teeth and broke his back in three places. He says he cant work anymore. He walks with a cane and, on this evening, stands in the windy doorway of the ferry looking out at the Statue of Liberty as it passes by.

OBrian is not one of those Trump backers who applauds everything that comes out of the candidates mouth. When Trump recently said women who have abortions should be punished, I wanted to punch him in the face, OBrian says.

But, he adds, hes a New Yorker. He speaks his mind.

[Video: Moments from the Trump family town hall]

This is the kind of attitude that drew Chris Szymanski to support Trump. A Polish immigrant, Szymanski, 62, lives on Staten Island and sells diamonds in midtown Manhattan. He says he wants a strong, almost authoritarian leader. Riding home on the ferry in a suit and tie, flipping through a newspaper, Szymanski compares Trump to Russias president.

There are two men I respect in this world: Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, he says. They are strong leaders with big follow-up. They solve problems. They have a strong mind, resolution, character.

Szymanski explains what he considers New York values: Strong, dynamic, confident and patriotic. He says Trump embodies them all and is the solution to what ails the country.

He will fix it all, he says. Look at what he did in his life. Look at his kids, his empire. Dont you see a pattern? Quality. Honesty. Resolution. Success.
The Supreme Court, seemingly split in a case involving contraception coverage, issued an unusual order asking both sides to review a possible compromise. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

The Obama administration said a compromise floated by the Supreme Court to resolve objections from religious organizations to providing their employees with contraceptives would work only if it was clear that the women would receive the coverage through other means, and if it ended the controversy.

Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. told the court that requiring a modification to the accommodation already offered to the religiously affiliated colleges, charities and hospitals was unnecessary.

[Split Supreme Court floats compromise in contraceptive case]

He said a modification would be acceptable only if the court ruled that it would satisfy the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and if it halted lawsuits from groups that say providing contraceptive coverage would make them complicit in sin.

Anything less, he wrote, would lead to years of additional litigation, during which tens of thousands of women would likely continue to be denied the coverage to which they are legally entitled.





In their brief to the court, lawyers for the groups said they were amenable to a compromise if it truly left the groups out of the process  even having to sign documents that said they objected.

There are many ways in which the employees . . . could receive cost-free contraceptive coverage through the same insurance company that would not require further involvement by the petitioner, including the way described in the courts order, lawyers Paul D. Clement and Noel Francisco wrote.

And each one of those ways is a less restrictive alternative that dooms the governments ongoing effort to use the threat of massive penalties to compel petitioners to forsake their sincerely held religious beliefs.

Clement and Francisco represent, respectively, the Little Sisters of the Poor, a charity run by Catholic nuns, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, two of the challengers.

[Supreme Court seems divided over challenge to contraceptive mandate]

At oral arguments in the case on March 23, the courts four liberal justices seemed to agree that the Obama administration had offered an acceptable compromise for religiously affiliated organizations that want to be freed from the obligation to supply their female employees with no-cost contraceptive coverage.

The accommodation requires the groups to tell the government they object, then allows the government to work with the groups insurers to provide the coverage without the organizations involvement or financial support.

But Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who could provide the fifth vote to uphold such a plan, seemed to agree with the conservative justices that the government would be hijacking the groups insurance plans to provide the coverage, even if the groups were not paying for it.

Less than a week later, the justices issued an unusual order asking both the government and the groups to provide their reactions to a proposed compromise: Employees could receive contraceptive coverage through their employers plans, but in a way that does not require any involvement from the employers beyond their decision to provide health insurance.

The difference between that and what the government had already offered, Verrilli said in his new brief, seemed to be only that the groups did not have to certify in writing that they objected to providing the coverage.

But a requirement that an employer state in writing its religious objection and eligibility for an exemption is a minimally intrusive process, and petitioners have never suggested an alternative arrangement like the one posited in the courts order, Verrilli wrote.

The court faces some urgency in trying to find a solution. Eight of the nations regional appeals courts have upheld the mandate and the Obama administrations accommodation, while one has struck them down. Simply reaffirming those decisions would mean that the national health-care law would be enforced differently depending on the location of an organization and its employees.

The court went into unusual specificity in asking the parties to address how that could happen, and it outlined a scenario.

It said an organization could contract to provide health insurance for its employees but inform the insurance company that it did not want the plan to include contraceptive coverage that it found objectionable.

Then the insurer could separately notify employees that the insurance company will provide cost-free contraceptive coverage, and that such coverage is not paid for by petitioners and is not provided through petitioners health plan.

Under such a plan, the courts order said, an organization would have no involvement beyond contracting with an insurance provider.

Petitioners would have no legal obligation to provide such contraceptive coverage, would not pay for such coverage and would not be required to submit any separate notice to their insurer, to the federal government or to their employees, the order said.

At the same time, petitioners insurance company  aware that petitioners are not providing certain contraceptive coverage on religious grounds  would separately notify petitioners employees that the insurance company will provide cost-free contraceptive coverage, and that such coverage is not paid for by petitioners and is not provided through petitioners health plan.

The groups in their response said that to be truly independent, they would essentially not be complying with that mandate at all. They would be exempt from that mandate, and the commercial insurer would be complying with a separate mandate imposed by the federal government.

Both sides said an additional compromise would be needed for those organizations that self-insure or contract with a church plan that does not provide contraceptives.

Each side is required to file a brief reacting to the other by April 20. The court will rule before its term ends in June.
Sen. Ted Cruz speaks with his wife, Heidi, by his side during a primary night campaign event in Indianapolis. Cruz ended his presidential campaign, eliminating the biggest impediment to Donald Trumps march to the Republican nomination.

May 3, 2016 Sen. Ted Cruz speaks with his wife, Heidi, by his side during a primary night campaign event in Indianapolis. Cruz ended his presidential campaign, eliminating the biggest impediment to Donald Trumps march to the Republican nomination. Darron Cummings/AP

The Texas Republican was the first major presidential candidate to formally declare a bid.

The Texas Republican was the first major presidential candidate to formally declare a bid.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is close to ensuring that Donald Trump cannot win the GOP nomination on a second ballot at the partys July convention in Cleveland, scooping up scores of delegates who have pledged to vote for him instead of the front-runner if given the chance.

The push by Cruz means that it is more essential than ever for Trump to clinch the nomination by winning a majority of delegates to avoid a contested and drawn-out convention fight, which Trump seems almost certain to lose.

The GOP race now rests on two cliffhangers: Can Trump lock up the nomination before Cleveland? If not, can Cruz cobble together enough delegates to win a second convention vote if Trump fails in the first?

Trumps path to amassing the 1,237 delegates he needs to win outright has only gotten narrower after losing to Cruz in Wisconsin and other recent contests, and it would require him to perform better in the remaining states than he has to this point.

In addition, based on the delegate selections made by states and territories, Cruz is poised to pick up at least 130 more votes on a second ballot, according to a Washington Post analysis. That tally surpasses 170 delegates under less conservative assumptions  a number that could make it impossible for Trump to emerge victorious.

This summer's political conventions could get heated  but it certainly wouldn't be the first time. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

That is why the race centers on the fevered hunt for delegates across the country. The intensity of the fight has sparked another round of caustic rhetoric  including allegations from party leaders that Trump supporters are making death threats.

Its unfortunate politics has reached a new low. These type of threats have no place in politics, said Kyle Babcock, a Republican delegate from Indianas 3rd Congressional District. He received an email from a Trump supporter who warned, Think before you take a step down the wrong path.

[The art of the steal: Dealmaker Trump struggles with the GOP delegate race]

Cruzs chances rest on exploiting a wrinkle in the GOP rule book: that delegates assigned to vote for Trump at the convention do not actually have to be Trump supporters. Cruz is particularly focused on getting loyalists elected to delegate positions even in states that the senator from Texas lost.

On Wednesday in Indiana, for example, Republican leaders were finalizing a delegate slate that will include party activists unlikely to vote for Trump in the states primary next month. Cruz also is poised to sweep Wyomings 26 delegates this weekend in a state where Trumps campaign did not seriously compete. In Arkansas, Cruz supporters are exploring ways to topple Trump when delegates are chosen next month. And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has refused to release 171 delegates he won when he was in the race, signaling that he may contribute to the anti-Trump push in Cleveland.

Cruz said this week that he thinks the odds of a contested convention are very high.

In Cleveland, I believe we will have an enormous advantage, he told radio talk-show host Glenn Beck.

1 of 45 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Trump captures the nations attention on the campaign trail View Photos The Republican candidate continues to dominate the presidential contest. 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.

Trump has a commanding lead in total delegates and the overall vote total, but he has complained that Republican leaders are conspiring against him in a bid to silence his supporters.

The RNC should be ashamed of itself for allowing this to happen, Trump said Tuesday night while campaigning in Rome, N.Y.

Paul Manafort, a senior adviser to Trump, said in an interview that he is confident Cruz will never have a chance to convert Trump delegates.

Just because [Cruz] has won some delegates in a state where we have the delegates voting for us is not relevant until and unless theres a second ballot, Manafort said. Theres not going to be a second ballot.

[Trump team vows to win delegate majority as rivals prepare for open convention]

As the battle for delegates has intensified, so too have emotions. Craig Dunn, who was elected Saturday as a Republican delegate from Indianas 4th Congressional District, said he has received several threatening phone calls and emails after criticizing Trump in recent news reports.

When they reference burials and your family in the same email, and telling you that youre being watched, thats concerning, he said.

In Colorado, Republicans are planning a rally Friday to call attention to threats made against GOP chairman Steve House. He said his office received 3,000 phone calls with many being the trashiest you can imagine after a state party convention last weekend awarded all 34 delegates to Cruz.

Shame on the people who think somehow that it is right to threaten me and my family over not liking the outcome of an election, he wrote on Facebook.

Cruz told Beck on Tuesday that threats made by Trump supporters, including those made by the businessmans longtime confidant Roger Stone, are the tactic of union thugs. That is violence. It is oppressive.

Stone recently told an interviewer that Trump supporters would track down delegates at their hotel rooms in Cleveland if they break away from Trump.

Manafort said that its certainly not part of our policy to threaten violence but accused abusive Cruz supporters of confronting Trumps backers at party meetings nationwide.

When the presidential nomination vote is held at the convention, 95 percent of the delegates will be bound to the results in their states for the first vote, giving Trump his best shot at securing a majority.

But if Trump falls short, the convention will cast a second ballot in which more than 1,800 delegates from 31 states  nearly 60 percent of the total  will be unbound and allowed to vote however they want. By the third round, 80 percent of the delegates would be free, sparking a potential free-for-all that could continue for several more rounds.

That is the crux of the state-by-state battle that is playing out over the next two months as Republicans gather at the precinct, county, congressional district and statewide levels to choose convention delegates.

If we go into a contested convention, were going to have a ton of delegates, Donald is going to have a ton of delegates, and its going to be a battle in Cleveland to see who can earn a majority of the delegates that were elected by the people, Cruz told a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on Saturday.

He predicted that the first ballot will be the highest vote total Donald Trump receives. And on a subsequent ballot, were going to win the nomination.

[With an Orthodox focus, Ted Cruz reaches out to Jewish donors and voters]

If Cruz prevails, it will be because of what supporters are doing for him nationwide with what they say is little direct input from his campaign headquarters.

In Arkansas, Republicans will not meet until next month to finalize their delegate slate, but state lawmakers who probably will win a position are talking about voting for Cruz on the second ballot.

For the vast majority of Cruz voters, Rubio was their second choice, and for the vast majority of Rubio supporters, Cruz was their second choice. So when youre going to pick delegates, it just makes sense that we would work together, said state Sen. Bart Hester, who backed Rubio.

In Iowa, Cruz won 11 of the 12 delegates assigned last weekend  meaning that he probably will have their support in later rounds of balloting. That same day in South Carolina, Cruz secured three of the six delegate slots assigned by two congressional districts that Trump had easily won.

Theres nothing underhanded going on, said Elliott Kelley, one of the Cruz supporters who won in South Carolinas 3rd Congressional District. Delegates are being appointed from the local level. The Trump team just doesnt have people involved at the local level and theyre not getting delegates.

Cruz supporters also won two of the three delegate slots from Virginias southernmost congressional district even though Trump won there handily. One of those Cruz supporters is Kyle Kilgore, 22, who said he would vote for Trump on the first ballot as required.

I would have a hard time voting for Trump on the second ballot, he said.

In Indiana, Dunn will be required to initially vote for whoever wins his congressional district in May. If Trump fails in the first round, Dunn said he probably will vote for Ohio Gov. John Kasich on a second ballot.

Ill be looking for the candidate who I think has the best chance of beating Hillary Clinton in November, Dunn said. And if the person I want doesnt get it, I wont take my marbles and go home; I will support the nominee of the Republican Party.

Alice Crites, Jose A. DelReal, Sean Sullivan and Katie Zezima contributed to this report.
New Delhi: Acting on the Panama Papers leak, the Income Tax department has sent a detailed questionnaire to about 50 individuals and entities figuring in the list of those allegedly holding offshore assets in tax havens. Officials said investigation wings of the department in different cities have dispatched the communication to these people whose names have appeared in the Indian Express newspaper seeking answers on two broad questions from them.

The first question seeks to know if they are indeed the person named in the list made public recently and the second asks them about the vitals of their transactions made with the law firm Mossack Fonseca. It includes the year of incorporation, their source of income, details of business transactions done and whether they declared these investments and transactions to the Income Tax department and other regulatory bodies like RBI any time till now.

They said as and when the department obtains more names, fresh communication of this kind will be sent. There are about 500 Indians named in the list which includes prominent businessmen, film celebrities and those belonging to lucrative professions. The government has created a Multi-Agency Group (MAG) of probe agencies to go into these cases, comprising the IT department (CBDT), its foreign tax wing, the RBI, Financial Intelligence Unit and the Enforcement Directorate.

A preliminary report has been sought from the MAG by this week by the Finance Ministry, which is expected to forward it to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The names were released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with 'Indian Express' newspaper in India. The ICIJ added a disclaimer that there are also "legitimate uses for offshore companies".

The 'Panama Papers' leaks contain an unprecedented amount of information, including more than 11 million documents covering 2,10,000 companies in 21 offshore jurisdictions. Each transaction spans different jurisdictions and may involve multiple entities and individuals.
After his party took full control of Congress 16 months ago, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) set a seemingly strange goal for the newly empowered Republicans: Dont be scary.

The prevailing belief among McConnell and other Republican leaders was that the party was well positioned in 2016 to reclaim the White House and possibly control all the levers of power in Washington  unless conservative back-bench lawmakers on Capitol Hill indulged their worst instincts and scared voters away from the partys presidential nominee.

[New Senate majority leaders main goal for GOP: Dont be scary]

Now, Republicans say, the exact opposite might be occurring. Despite some modest success at governance, Republican majorities on Capitol Hill are imperiled because the tone and proposals coming from GOP presidential contenders have terrified independent voters in key battlegrounds.

Its a great concern, I think, in a year where all the signs had pointed to Republicans electing a Republican president. Now, all of a sudden, were looking at a very, very difficult challenge, said Sen. Daniel Coats (R-Ind.), who is retiring after two stints in the Senate for 16 combined years.

In a video posted to Facebook and YouTube, Ryan called for "a battle of ideas" in the political realm. (House Speaker Paul Ryan)

Coats thinks that, despite an often ugly process to reach deals with President Obama, congressional Republicans have had their share of success over the past year, which should give incumbents running for reelection something to talk about with voters back home.

Congress approved a new long-term highway funding plan, a permanent fix to a Medicare payment structure for physicians, a two-year budget deal that largely eliminates a chance of a government shutdown, and fast-track authority for trade deals.

Its exactly the sort of dont be scary agenda that McConnell dreamed of when he finally took control after eight long years as minority leader. Yet, at this point, no one at the Capitol is sure whether the voters can hear them over the din of the presidential campaign, and on both sides of the aisle, anti-establishment figures have railed against Congress.

The presidential race has hijacked everything that the Congress does or tries to do. Its clear that Congress has been the target of the candidates, Coats said.

The louder noise and the greater potential peril are on the Republican side at the moment. Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), who built his anti-establishment credentials by calling McConnell a liar, are the last two Republicans with any real chance of claiming the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Cruz and Trump have taken a blunt-force approach to their campaigns that is not helpful to the seven Senate Republicans seeking reelection in states that Obama won twice. At least three other Republican-held seats also could be very competitive.

To maintain the majority, McConnell can afford to lose only four seats if the Republican nominee wins the White House, or three if the Democrats hold on to the White House.

Each day the Senate is in session, theres visible angst among Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) as they walk to votes and face questions about what Trumps latest controversial proposal or insult means for their reelection chances.

One doesnt need a stopwatch to know that these senators walk faster than they used to in order to get through the media scrums.

[Trump adviser: Convention chaos would have destructive impact on GOP]

A year ago, their biggest fear was that the hard-right flank in the House would force John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), then the speaker, into another calamitous government shutdown that would doom their reelection chances.

Now, collectively, they would all rather talk about whats happening on Capitol Hill, even as Democrats try to ratchet up the pressure on McConnell for his refusal to consider Obamas Supreme Court nomination of Judge Merrick Garland.

The anxiety reached fever pitch in recent weeks as many establishment Republicans eyed the new speaker, Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), as someone who should step in at the convention if the delegates deadlocked, believing he could be the white knight who could unify the party and mount a serious challenge to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Paul Ryan would be great for the party and he could certainly win, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) told reporters Tuesday. Flake said he was one of many GOP insiders who has been pushing Ryan to run for president. But three hours later, Ryan made official what had been painfully clear for many months: He has no interest in trying to navigate the mess.

Instead, Ryan said delegates should choose among those candidates who actually ran for president, which pretty much leaves them with Trump or Cruz. And that doesnt make many Republicans happy.

[Paul Ryan delivers Shermanesque rejection of running for president]

Take Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), a fresh-faced optimist whose 2014 campaign was regarded as the best run of that year. The mainstream conservative spent Monday night mocking Trump on Twitter, questioning how a candidate who cant understand the Colorado delegate selection process could handle the Islamic State.

In a scrum with reporters last week, Gardner said the other remaining candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, had no path to the nomination. He said it was nonsense to think Ryan or anyone who had not actually campaigned would be given the nomination.

By process of elimination, this must mean Gardner supports Cruz  but he simply wont go there, yet. One of the three will be the nominee, he said.

Coats, 72, will not be around next year to see firsthand the impact of this election season, but he has enough experience to sense that it will not be easy. He says there are at least five big factions in politics today: three on the Republican side, embodied by Trump, Cruz and Kasich, and two among Democrats, Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.).

Governance will be painful.

In my opinion, theyre not going to simply say, Okay, the elections over, now lets all get together,  Coats said.

Those wounds wont be healed easily, particularly if youre on the losing side. On the winning side you can probably come together, on the losing side . . .

His voice trailed off, unwilling to finish the thought.

Read more from Paul Kanes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Ray Thornton, a former Arkansas congressman who helped draft articles of impeachment against then-President Richard M. Nixon, led two state universities and served on the Arkansas Supreme Court, died April 13 in Little Rock. He was 87.

The cause was lung cancer, Pulaski County Coroner Gerone Hobbs told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Mr. Thornton, a lawyer, was elected Arkansas attorney general in 1970, and after one term, he won election to Congress from southern Arkansas. The Democrat served on the House Judiciary Committee while it looked at the Watergate break-ins.

Mr. Thornton hand-drafted original articles of impeachment against Nixon, who resigned in 1974 after losing support among members of Congress.

Mr. Thornton ran for the U.S. Senate in 1978 but lost to then-Gov. David Pryor in the Democratic primary. Pryor won the Senate seat. Mr. Thornton went on to serve as president of Arkansas State University from 1980 to 1984 and for the next six years of the University of Arkansas.

Ray Thornton, associate justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court, in 2003. (Mike Wintroath/Associated Press)

In 1991, Mr. Thornton returned to Congress, representing central Arkansas. He ran for state Supreme Court in 1996 because of increasing partisanship in Congress following the 1994 midterms. He served for eight years.

Mr. Thornton was appointed as interim chairman of the states Lottery Commission in 2009.

Raymond Hoyt Thornton Jr. was born in Conway, Ark., on July 16, 1928. He graduated from Yale University in 1950, then attended the University of Texas law school before serving in the Navy in the Korean War. He completed his law degree at the University of Arkansas in 1956.

Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Betty Jo Mann; three daughters; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
This city is plastered with the faces of alleged

high-level Boko Haram fighters, collages of photos on banners slung across walls and fences and storefronts. Some of the militants are carrying rifles. Others are wearing military fatigues.

Wanted Boko Haram Suspects by Nigerian Army, the banners read.

The pictures of the alleged militants are small. You have to get close to register one of the banners most jarring features:

A number of those top-tier suspects are actually boys. Some look no older than 14. They smile at the camera or wave scrawny arms at the photographer. They wear ski caps too big for their heads.

How did a bunch of teenagers become the most wanted people in Africas most populous country?

Beginning in 2011, Boko Haram, an Islamist extremist group, swept through an enormous stretch of Nigeria and into neighboring Cameroon and Chad, growing larger and more destructive. This was a group that delivered nothing to its new subjects other than rape and murder. Yet each year its campaign expanded wider and wider, mystifying foreign officials and aid workers, who asked: Who are these men?

The kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, Nigeria is the most infamous of Boko Haram's atrocities. But the militant Islamists's reign of terror has had a devastating affect on more than a million of the the regions children. (Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

It was that question that the Nigerian army sought to answer when it designed the wanted posters. In the center it put Abubakar Shekau, the erratic, bearded leader who screeched threats in Arabic on the groups videos. But beyond Shekau, officers believed, some of Boko Harams most dangerous members were barely adolescents. The army didnt hesitate to add the boys photos to the banner  they were wanted, too.

In banditry, age is not an issue, said Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor, the top military official in northeastern Nigeria, defending the use of the boys photos.

[Boko Haram is forcing more children to carry out suicide bombings]

Thursday is the second anniversary of one of Boko Harams most notorious crimes, the abduction of 276 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok. The kidnapping generated international outrage, with millions of people  including first lady Michelle Obama  tweeting the phrase #bringbackourgirls. But the schoolgirls, most of whom are still missing, are hardly the only casualties of Boko Haram.

Since 2014, a fifth of all Boko Haram suicide bombers have been children, according to a report from UNICEF released this week. And Nigerian officials say thats not the only threat children pose.

They can lead. They can fight. They can cause all kinds of damage, said a senior Nigerian military officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. Boko Haram has suffered major defeats over the past year and has lost much of the territory it controlled. But the group is still a threat, carrying out frequent terror attacks.

Still, putting a boys face on a wanted poster seems to some an inappropriate move, particularly as the military has made clear that top Boko Haram suspects are wanted dead or alive. And according to experts, many of the boys have been brainwashed or otherwise coerced into fighting.

When the photos of

these boys are displayed, it perpetuates the fear around these children. Because they are under 18, we consider them victims, said Rachel Harvey, UNICEFs head of child protection in Nigeria.

[They were freed from Boko Harams rape camps. But their nightmare wasnt over]

In its report, UNICEF claimed that many of the boys who are considered Boko Haram fighters are actually acting under enormous pressure.

Boys are forced to attack their own families to demonstrate their loyalty to Boko Haram, the report said. For the children, the alternative is often death.

Other researchers have found that some boys initially joined Boko Haram because the group claimed to espouse Islamic values in a mixed Christian-Muslim country where Muslims have often complained of discrimination. In some cases, Boko Haram militants offered boys cash loans for joining.

But as the movements ultra-violent modus operandi became clearer, the reasons for enlistment changed. For many boys, not joining meant that their homes and family businesses would be destroyed  and that they would quickly become targets.

Because I needed an identity to remain safe, I decided to pledge my allegiance to them, one young former member told a researcher for the international aid group Mercy Corps. At that time I needed protection and immunity from persecution by them so I could continue with my business.

Sub-Saharan Africa offers plenty of examples of the boy-commander. During Liberias civil wars in the 1990s and 2000s, prepubescent boys were put in charge of units of even younger children and often were sent directly to the front lines.

As a commander, I was in charge of nine others, four girls and five boys. We were used mostly for guarding checkpoints but also fighting. I shot my gun many times, a Liberian boy named Patrick told Human Rights Watch in 2004. He was 12 when he fought in the war.

In Mozambique, during the conflict that raged there from 1977 to 1992, more than 25 percent of fighters were believed to be younger than 18. And in South Sudan today, hundreds of children fight on behalf of the government and the rebels.

With their wanted posters, Nigerian officials seem to have made it clear that many of the boys arent just foot soldiers. They are more serious threats. And authorities do not appear swayed by the idea that the young men may be victims themselves.

These are ruthless individuals, Irabor said. Terrorists.

Read more

Ive seen the Talibans brutality. Boko Haram might be worse.

The brutal toll of Boko Harams attacks on civilians

Children rescued from Boko Haram are so traumatized they forgot their names.

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Jewellers are also against the mandatory quoting of PAN by customers for transactions of Rs 2 lakh and above.

New Delhi: Jewellers in the national capital on April 13 temporarily called off their 42-day strike, demanding rollback of proposed excise duty on non-silver jewellery, for 12 days after the government's assurance that there will be no harassment by excise officials.

"We have decided to temporarily call off the strike till April 24 after the government's assurance," Surinder Kumar Jain, Vice-President of All India Sarafa Association told PTI. Jewellers in Maharashtra have also called off their strike temporarily from April 14 to April 24, Maharashtra Rajya Saraf Suvarnakar Federation President Fatechand Ranka said.

Jewellery houses remained closed since March 2 after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Budget proposed levying 1 per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery. Jewellers, bullion traders and artisans reopened their establishments yesterday in Rajasthan, said Subhash Mittal, President, Rajasthan Sarafa Sangh in Jaipur.

"If the government does not consider our demand of rolling back its decision of imposing 1 per cent excise duty, we will resume our strike from April 25," said Ram Avtar Verma President of Bullion and Jewellery Association. Meanwhile, jewellers in Meerut also reopened their shops today.

The gems and jewellery industry is estimated to have incurred over Rs 1 lakh crore loss due to the 42-day strike. Over three lakh jewellers from more than 300 associations kept their establishments closed across the country since March 2. Jewellers are also against the mandatory quoting of PAN by customers for transactions of Rs 2 lakh and above.

The Centre has already constituted a panel under former Chief Economic Advisor Ashok Lahri to look into the demands of the jewellers. The panel, which has been asked to submit its report in 60 days, will look into issues related to compliance procedure for the excise duty, including records to be maintained, forms to be filled, operating procedures and other relevant issues.
Members of South Koreas main opposition Minjoo Party watch a news report on the results of exit polls in Seoul on April 13, 2016. (Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

South Koreas ruling party suffered a shocking defeat in a general election held Wednesday, losing its majority in the National Assembly and delivering a heavy blow to its hopes in next years presidential poll.

The stunning upset caused the Saenuri Partys leader to resign the post Thursday morning and will make it almost impossible for President Park Geun-hye to advance her legislative agenda.

People rendered their judgment on the party with a harsh stick and we were crushingly defeated, Kim Moo-sung, the Saenuri Party leader and a presidential hopeful, said Thursday morning, adding that he would take responsibility for the resounding defeat.

Ahead of the election, many analysts predicted that the conservative Saenuri Party would increase its majority, with some even saying that it could win a super-majority of 180 seats in the 300-seat legislature. They thought that divisions within the center-left would split the opposition vote.

Instead, the Saenuri won just 122 seats while the main opposition Minjoo Party, which was previously called the New Politics Alliance for Democracy but changed its name before the election to try to create a new image, secured 123 seats, according to the National Election Commission.

Officials from the South Korean Central Election Management Committee count votes cast at the Yuido High School in Seoul, South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

In perhaps the biggest surprise, the Peoples Party, which broke off from the Minjoo Party, won 38 seats and achieved its goal of shaking up the two-party system. Analysts said ahead of the election that if the Peoples Party could win 30 seats, it would become a significant negotiating bloc in the assembly.

The Peoples Party is led by Ahn Cheol-soo, a maverick software developer with presidential ambitions, who also won his bid for a seat in the Nowon district of Seoul. Ahn garnered a strong following among young voters when he ran for the presidency in 2012, and he appeared to be gathering support from young conservatives this time around.

Voter turnout was 58 percent, the election commission said, up almost four points from 2012.

The results mark the first time in 16 years that a governing party has failed to keep a majority and will hasten the arrival of the lame duck period for Park.

Limited to a single five-year term, South Korean presidents traditionally have trouble getting anything done in their final year. Parks term expires in early 2018, and South Koreans will go to the polls to elect a new president at the end of next year.

Although North Korea has been threatening to attack the South and has been firing missiles on a regular basis, the North was not the major issue of this election. The weak economy has been voters top concern.

Economic growth was 2.6 percent last year  lackluster by South Korean standards  and the International Monetary Fund recently downgraded its estimate of the countrys growth for this year to 2.7 percent.

Kim Chong-in, center, interim leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, marks a winning candidate for the parliamentary election in Seoul, South Korea Wednesday. (Stringer/Reuters)

Unemployment has been rising, with the jobless rate among young people hitting 12.5 percent in February, the worst since the tracking of the data began almost 20 years ago. The economic downturn in China, a major importer of South Korean goods, has played a large role.

Park had vowed to revive the economy and to create more jobs, but her efforts to reform the labor market have been controversial, especially her plan to make it easier to lay off workers, and South Koreans complain that the economy is still in bad shape.

Read more:

Japan and South Korea bewildered by Trumps suggestion they build nukes

Theyre the biggest band in Asia, but Big Bangs days may be numbered

Young South Koreans call their country hell and look for ways out

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world


Mohamad Subheia, 33, a refugee from Syria now living in Berlin. (Lene Muench/For The Washington Post)

In his tiny room inside a refugee center, moldy strawberries lie rotting on a table. Because some days, Mohamad Subheia, a young father of two, cannot bring himself to eat. Some days, he cannot get out of bed.

He reached across his wrinkled sheets, grabbing the plush toys  two stuffed rabbits  that keep him company. These are my girls, he said. Afifa and Farah.

Those are also the names of his two daughters, ages 5 and 3.

He last saw them eight months ago, he said, when he kissed his wife and girls goodbye in devastated Syria. He would make a break for Europe and, he promised, they would soon join him. But as a migrant-weary continent stages a new crackdown on record waves of asylum seekers, the Subheias are one of the countless families facing indefinite separation as an added price of pursuing refuge in Europe.

And they blame me  my family blames me, said Subheia, 33, rocking back and forth on the edge of his bed as he clung to the two little rabbits.

I know they blame me because they told me they did, he continued. My wife blamed me. And my 5-year-old girl. She stole the phone from her mother and called me one night. It was just after her birthday. She said, Daddy, Daddy, why did you leave us? 



Rafa Subheia, 25, and her two daughters cross the road in Izmir, Turkey. (Flavio Forner/For The Washington Post)

[Europe begins sending people back across the sea, defying human rights outcry]

Even no limit has limits

In Europe and the Middle East, this is a season of broken families.

Last year, a historic wave of migrants came ashore in Europe, the majority escaping war-torn nations including Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Germany, in particular, opened its door, with Chancellor Angela Merkel famously declaring no limit to the number of asylum seekers her country could take in.

The move led thousands more to risk their lives for a shot at safety and prosperity. But more than a million migrants have already come. And Europe has decided enough is enough.

A new European Union deal brokered by the Germans with Turkey has already started to take effect. Migrants are being blocked at their primary gateway into Europe: the Aegean Sea. Those who made it as far as Greece are being held there, and new arrivals are starting to be sent back. Many thousands more  including Subheias wife and children  are stuck in Turkey, stranded on their way into Europe just as the new crackdown began.

Hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers who arrived last year, including many fathers and husbands, had hoped to bring their families in legally  and safely  once they applied for and won refugee status. Technically, refugees in Europe have the right to do just that.

But bringing in family members legally is becoming harder and harder. Fearful that the number of newcomers could grow exponentially as new waves of spouses and children arrive, Germany, for instance, passed a bill in February forcing some asylum seekers to wait at least two years before starting the cumbersome process. Denmark is saying three years. Sweden is debating a measure that could bar some asylum seekers from bringing in family members altogether.

In Germany, Syrian refugees theoretically get preferential treatment, enjoying faster access to family reunification. But authorities, aid groups say, have begun to be much more selective. Whats more, they are so overwhelmed with requests that even for Syrians, waiting periods once measured in weeks are stretching to beyond a year.

Possibly much longer.

Potentially forever.

These people have already faced so many dangers and made these dangerous trips, said Karin Alwasiti, a refugee reunification expert for the aid group Pro Asyl. Now they are facing the problem of how to be together. For them, its devastating.

[As the route to Europe closes, migrants journey through grief]



Mohamad Subheia looks at pictures of his family. (Lene Muench/For The Washington Post)

Difficult asylum process

Mohamad Subheia chose well when he bought a pair of toy rabbits as proxies for his daughters.

On a recent evening, they were as cute as bunnies and just as active. Their mother, Rafa, 25 years old and round-faced, sat at an outdoor cafe in the Turkish port city of Izmir. The restless girls wiggled in her arms and kept hopping off her lap.

They have been stranded here for weeks.

In January, Mohamad called home  the destroyed city of Homs, Syria  and told them to pack their bags and join him. Six months after arriving in Germany, he had not even won asylum yet, without which he could not start the long process to legally bring them in. When and if he did, other waiting refugees warned them, it could take years before she and the girls could legally come to Europe.

They would first need an appointment at a German embassy in a country neighboring Syria. And the best Mohamad could manage after countless phone calls was a slot eight months later in Beirut. Even that would be useless if he did not win asylum by then.

I could not wait, Rafa said. The children will not know their father in two years. He will be a stranger. In 2017 or 2018? I cannot imagine that far into the future.



Afifa, 5; mother Rafa Subheia, 25 and Farah, 3, in Izmir, Turkey, on March 23. (Flavio Forner/For The Washington Post)

By the time they arrived at the Turkish shore in March, however, Europe was already starting to close the door. The Turks were becoming more aggressive at stopping migrants. They also had their share of bad luck.

On their first stab at the Aegean, they were hustled onto a 10-meter rubber raft, so new and so cheap you could smell the glue holding the seams together, Rafa said. There were 60 people aboard.

The engine died. We drifted in the currents away from the coast, she said. The children, she said, were crying. Eventually, someone on board called the Turkish coast guard using WhatsApp. The Turks saved them but dropped their bags into the sea. They were detained, she said, for 36 hours.

We came back with the clothes on our backs and what we hid in our pockets, she said.

Over the next two weeks, Rafa and the girls tried six more times to cross the Aegean. Each time, they were caught and hauled back.

She and her girls are not the only ones stuck. In Izmir, the refugee camps and bus stations, the cheap hotels and smugglers crash pads, are filled with mothers and children trying to follow the route taken by husbands and fathers last year. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reported that 62 percent of the irregular migrants who arrived on the Greek islands in March  right before the crackdown began  were women and children.

As she waits in Turkey  who knows for how long  Rafa is struggling to make ends meet and quickly running out of cash and ideas. She was paying 40 euros a night for a flophouse for her and the girls, but it became too pricey, so she downsized recently to a less expensive and more precarious space.

We had a good dream, she said. But the plan is falling apart.

[7 things to know about the incredibly complicated migrant crisis]



Mohamad Subheia listens to the Koran at Tempelhofer Feld. (Lene Muench/For The Washington Post)

Relationships adrift

Around noon in a Berlin park, Mohamad was feverishly texting Rafa. Where are you, my dear? he typed on WhatsApp in Arabic. I have not heard from you for hours. Please, my love, answer me.

He talks to her  or tries  at least 10 times a day. But there is a problem. She does not always answer now. Because it is not just their dream that is falling apart.

It is also their marriage.

Her fear, he said, is ebbing into anger  a rage directed at him. She says, Why didnt you take us with you at first? If you did, we wouldnt be stuck here. She thinks my life is great in Germany. She thinks I have it easy.

He paused, looking down at his hands. He grows quiet. Then, he says: She threatened to leave me when she gets here. She is starting to forget how much I love her, how much I love my girls. She doesnt know how much I am suffering, too.

He has slipped into what looks like a profound depression. He and Rafa had both taken German classes back in Syria to prepare for their new lives. But now that he has actually made it to Berlin, he has stopped studying. It is partly because he has run out of money to pay for classes. But that is not the only reason.

He is holing himself up in his room, he said, sometimes unable to leave for a week at a time. As he sat on a bench in the open air  his first venture outside in days  he said he is giving this two more months. If his family has not arrived by then  something that seems a possibility  he says he will abandon Europe and join them.

He sold his small pizzeria in Homs to finance the trip. They borrowed money. Pawned their furniture and valuables. They spent, he said, nearly $20,000 in total. If he leaves Germany to join her in Turkey, he knows there is no coming back. And that he will never make that money back.

Sometimes I think maybe its better if I killed myself, he said. But I cant, because of them. So then Ill just give up and go back the way I came. If I cant be with my family, what was the point of all this?

Suddenly, his phone rings.

My dear, he answers hopefully. It is Rafa. She says hello.

In the background, one of his little bunnies is yelling for Daddy.

His face lights up.

Please tell her Daddy loves her, he said.

Booth reported from Izmir. Zakaria Zakaria in Izmir contributed to this report.

Read more

Europes harsh new message for migrants: Do not come

Germany learns how to send back migrants: Pay them

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The mass migration of refugees from Turkey to Greece has stalled
Iraq's parliament on Wednesday devolved into chaos with lawmakers pushing, shoving and throwing blows. The dispute arose after Kurdish members of parliament said they arrived in parliament to find that other lawmakers had broken their name plates. (Iraq Parliament)

Iraq's parliament on Wednesday devolved into chaos with lawmakers pushing, shoving and throwing blows. The dispute arose after Kurdish members of parliament said they arrived in parliament to find that other lawmakers had broken their name plates. (Iraq Parliament)

Schoolyard-style chaos descended on Iraqs parliament Wednesday as lawmakers scuffled and threw water bottles at one another amid a political crisis that is destabilizing the country.

In a day of bickering and brawls in Baghdad, more than 100 members of parliament signed a petition calling for the resignations of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, President Fouad Massoum and the speaker of parliament, Salim al-Jubouri, lawmakers said. About the same number are staging a sit-in in the parliament building.

In reaction, Jubouri said he was looking to dissolve the assembly, raising the prospect of early elections. The move would give a new generation of lawmakers the ability to bring about reform, his spokesman said.

The fighting marked the escalation of a crisis that has been building since summer, when Iraqis took to the streets to protest graft and government waste, piling pressure on Abadi, whose attempts at reform have been stymied by political rivals. Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has further stirred the street in recent months, calling for a new cabinet of technocrats and drawing out hundreds of thousands to protest.

Abadi is facing a multitude of challenges as the government attempts to win back territory from the Islamic State. The country is also seeking financial bailouts as it grapples with plunging oil prices.

Demonstrators protested in Baghdad, Basra and other towns in southern Iraq on Wednesday. The unrest in the capital has led to some units in the battle against the Islamic State being called back from the front lines to keep the peace.

Abadis attempts at an overhaul have so far run into opposition. A session called to vote on his reshuffled cabinet was delayed Tuesday amid similar scenes of chaos.

The dispute in parliament on Wednesday began after Kurdish members said they had arrived at the days emergency session, which was called to vote on the new cabinet, and discovered that other lawmakers had broken their nameplates.

We dont accept any insult like this, Alaa Talibani told parliament. Coming on the eve of the day of remembrance for Kurds killed by Saddam Hussein in the Anfal campaign, you are insulting their blood, she said.

The dispute boiled over into a brawl involving Shiite and Kurdish members.

Parliament can be abolished upon the request of a third of its members, with the support of the majority. Elections should then be called within 60 days, according to the constitution. It remains unclear how Iraq could carry out fair elections when large parts of the country are under Islamic State control.

Read more:

Iraq is broke. Add that to its list of worries.

Moqtada al-Sadr is back, proving that hes still a force in Iraqi politics

Iraqis think the U.S. is in cahoots with the Islamic State, and it is hurting the war

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
The FBI has found a way into San Bernardino Syed Farook's iPhone, and is now dropping bids to force Apple to help them crack into the phone. See all the latest developments in the case, and why the case isn't over yet. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)

The FBI has found a way into San Bernardino Syed Farook's iPhone, and is now dropping bids to force Apple to help them crack into the phone. See all the latest developments in the case, and why the case isn't over yet. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)

The FBI cracked a San Bernardino terrorists phone with the help of professional hackers who discovered and brought to the bureau at least one previously unknown software flaw, according to people familiar with the matter.

The new information was then used to create a piece of hardware that helped the FBI to crack the iPhones four-digit personal identification number without triggering a security feature that would have erased all the data, the individuals said.

The researchers, who typically keep a low profile, specialize in hunting for vulnerabilities in software and then in some cases selling them to the U.S. government. They were paid a one-time flat fee for the solution.

[FBI has accessed San Bernardino shooters phone without Apples help]

Cracking the four-digit PIN, which the FBI had estimated would take 26 minutes, was not the hard part for the bureau. The challenge from the beginning was disabling a feature on the phone that wipes data stored on the device after 10 incorrect tries at guessing the code. A second feature also steadily increases the time allowed between attempts.

The bureau in this case did not need the services of the Israeli firm Cellebrite, as some earlier reports had suggested, people familiar with the matter said.

The U.S. government now has to weigh whether to disclose the flaws to Apple, a decision that probably will be made by a White House-led group.

The people who helped the U.S. government come from the sometimes shadowy world of hackers and security researchers who profit from finding flaws in companies software or systems.

Some hackers, known as white hats, disclose the vulnerabilities to the firms responsible for the software or to the public so they can be fixed and are generally regarded as ethical. Others, called black hats, use the information to hack networks and steal peoples personal information.

At least one of the people who helped the FBI in the San Bernardino case falls into a third category, often considered ethically murky: researchers who sell flaws  for instance, to governments or to companies that make surveillance tools.

This last group, dubbed gray hats, can be controversial. Critics say they might be helping governments spy on their own citizens. Their tools, however, might also be used to track terrorists or hack an adversary spying on the United States. These researchers do not disclose the flaws to the companies responsible for the software, as the exploits value depends on the software remaining vulnerable.

In the case of the San Bernardino iPhone, the solution brought to the bureau has limited shelf life.

Tashfeen Malik, left, and Syed Farook died on Dec. 2, 2015, in a gun battle with authorities several hours after their assault on a gathering of Farook's colleagues in San Bernardino, Calif., that left 14 people dead. (AP/AP)

FBI Director James B. Comey has said that the solution works only on iPhone 5Cs running the iOS 9 operating system  what he calls a narrow slice of phones.

Apple said last week that it would not sue the government to gain access to the solution.

Still, many security and privacy experts have been calling on the government to disclose the vulnerability data to Apple so that the firm can patch it.

[As encryption spreads, U.S. grapples with clash between privacy, security]

If the government shares data on the flaws with Apple, theyre going to fix it and then were back where we started from, Comey said last week in a discussion at Ohios Kenyon College. Nonetheless, he said Monday in Miami, were considering whether to make that disclosure or not.

The White House has established a process in which federal officials weigh whether to disclose any security vulnerabilities they find. It could be weeks before the FBIs case is reviewed, officials said. The policy calls for a flaw to be submitted to the process for consideration if it is newly discovered and not publicly known.

When we discover these vulnerabilities, theres a very strong bias towards disclosure, White House cybersecurity coordinator Michael Daniel said in an October 2014 interview, speaking generally and not about the Apple case. Thats for a good reason. If you had to pick the economy and the government that is most dependent on a digital infrastructure, that would be the United States.

But, he added, we do have an intelligence and national security mission that we have to carry out. That is a factor that we weigh in making our decisions.

The decision-makers, which include senior officials from the Justice Department, FBI, National Security Agency, CIA, State Department and Department of Homeland Security, consider how widely used the software in question is. They also look at the utility of the flaw that has been discovered. Can it be used to track members of a terrorist group, to prevent a cyberattack, to identify a nuclear weapons proliferator? Is there another way to obtain the information?

In the case of the phone used by the San Bernardino terrorist, you could make the justification on both national security and on law enforcement grounds because of the potential use by terrorists and other national security concerns, said a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the matters sensitivity.

A decision also can be made to disclose the flaw  just not right away. An agency might say it needs the vulnerability for only a few months.

A decision to withhold a vulnerability is not a forever decision, Daniel said in the earlier interview. We require periodic reviews. So if the conditions change, if what was originally a true [undiscovered flaw] suddenly becomes identified, we can make the decision to disclose it at that point.

Adam Goldman contributed to this report.

Read more:

FBI: Its simply too early to say whether anything valuable is on the San Bernardino iPhone

FBI weighs if it can share hacking tool with local law enforcement

Tim Cook: Protecting America from itself  and protecting Apple from America
Even as Syrian peace efforts resumed Wednesday in Geneva, President Bashar al-Assad took a major jab at the process from Damascus: voting in parliamentary elections denounced as a farce by the opposition.

Syrias state-run media published photographs of the embattled leader and his wife, Asma al-Assad, smiling as they cast ballots in the capital for a new 250-member parliament.

[Reports from war overshadow bids for peace]

The decision to hold the elections during peace talks in Geneva backed by the United Nations was another signal that the Syrian leader has no plans to step aside  a key demand of the opposition delegation at the negotiations.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad underscored Assads stance in an interview with the Associated Press, saying the opposition  including factions backed by the West and its allies  must abandon the dream of a transitional government.

Such a plan will never be acceptable, Mekdad said.

Voting took place only in government-held areas of the country. Regime opponents boycotted the elections, which almost certainly will produce a rubber-stamp legislature for Assad.

The Assad regime will do whatever it can to undermine and derail the political process, said Salem al-Meslet, a spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee, an umbrella group that represents the opposition in Geneva.

Despite the elections, which Meslet called a farce, the group pledged to participate in the talks.

Free elections must be held in Syria after the political transition, he said.

The vote may also be viewed as a snub to Russia, an important ally of Assad that has intervened militarily in the Syrian conflict and given a crucial boost to government forces.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that a political transition, which includes drafting a new constitution and holding another round of elections, remains key to ending the conflict.

But Lavrov also offered praise, albeit guarded, for Wednesdays elections. These elections held today are designed to play this role of not allowing a legal vacuum during the ongoing political process, he said, according to the Reuters news agency.

[Turkish-backed rebels make major gains]

Russian air power  combined with thousands of Shiite militiamen from countries such as Iran and Lebanon  has helped Assads forces make key gains against rebel fighters in recent months. The Syrian leader now looks less vulnerable.

If Russian President Vladimir Putin expected greater flexibility in the Geneva negotiations from Assad, though, it would appear unlikely.

In recent weeks, the Syrian leader has firmly dismissed key parameters of a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted in December  and backed by Russia  that calls for a transitional government and elections within 18 months.

Despite statements by both Assad and the opposition that indicated little room for negotiation over a political transition, U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura said Wednesday that all parties have agreed to discuss it. During visits over the past week to Damascus, Tehran and Moscow, he said, he was very clear about the agenda, which includes full implementation of the resolution.

The word governance is crucial, de Mistura said, and no one had any objection to that point. He said it was normal that each delegation normally states its own strong position. But, he added, when we come here, we come here to negotiate. Although the resolution calls for the transitional body to assume all government functions, it does not mention whether Assad can be part of it.

De Mistura said he also would hold a meeting on Thursday of a task force led by the United States and Russia that was set up to monitor the fraying cease-fire, which began in February. He cited serious incidents that, if they are too often repeated, could at least deteriorate the spirit and confidence in what is officially known as a cessation of hostilities.

[Syria Kurds set own path amid chaos]

Pro-government forces appear to be intensifying attacks in the northwestern Latakia province, along the border with Turkey, where they have seized villages from rebel forces.

South of the city of Aleppo, battles raged Tuesday between Shiite militiamen from Lebanon and Iran and militants from al-Qaedas Syria affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra. More than a dozen pro-government militiamen were killed in that assault, which occurred near the Tel Eis area, according to statements published on Twitter by opposition figures.

Video images, which could not be independently verified, purportedly showed bodies of Shiite militiamen scattered in the Tel Eis area and a Jabhat al-Nusra fighter beheading at least one Shiite militiaman.

It is unclear whether Russian airstrikes have come to the aid of pro-government fighters near Tel Eis.

Although Putin announced last month that he would draw down his military forces in Syria, Russian aircraft and soldiers still appear to be participating intensively in battles against the Islamic State militant group, which controls significant territory in Syria.

Last month, pro-government forces captured the ancient city of Palmyra from the Islamic State, which is not a party to the cease-fire.

Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more:

Weeks after pullout from Syria, Russian military is as busy as ever

How Russian special forces are shaping the fight in Syria

In the Syria chess game, did Putin outwit Obama?

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Sunday nights broadcast of the CBS News program 60 Minutes drew public attention to the longstanding US government cover-up of a major aspect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks: the role of Saudi government officials and Saudi money in supporting the network of Al Qaeda operatives while they were in the United States preparing the suicide hijackings of four jetliners.

For nearly 15 years, successive administrations have blocked publication of the final chapter of the report prepared by a joint congressional committee on the 9/11 attacks, because the 28 pages of this chapter summarize evidence of an official Saudi connection to the hijackers. Fifteen of the 19 were Saudi citizens.

The co-chairmen of the bipartisan panel, Democratic Senator Robert Graham and Republican Representative Porter Goss, have long urged the release of the chapter on the Saudis, and disputed US government claims that there was a valid national security reason for the continuing censorship. Nothing more was involved, they said, than an effort to avoid embarrassing the Saudi monarchy, next to Israel the most important US ally in the Middle East.

The 60 Minutes segment did not make public any new details of the Saudi-9/11 connection, or reveal any of the specific pieces of evidence reviewed in the 28-page chapter that continues to be held in a vault in a Capitol Hill basement. Congressmen and senators may read the chapter, but may not bring their staff, take any notes, or speak about the contents of what they have read.

CBS correspondent Steve Kroft interviewed five high-level former officials who have read the 28 pages, all calling for their declassification. In addition to Graham and Goss, these include three members of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission appointed by President Bush: former Senator Robert Kerrey and former Representative Timothy Roemer, both Democrats, and former Pentagon official John Lehman, a Republican.

All five of these men maintain close connections with US diplomatic, military and spy operations. Goss left Congress to become CIA Director, Roemer was US ambassador to India, and all have carried out high-level foreign policy missions for the US government. So their decision to participate in the 60 Minutes program has the character of a public demonstration by a section of the military-intelligence apparatus, directed at putting pressure on the Obama administration and the Saudi monarchy.

The timing of the broadcast is suggestive, coming only 10 days before President Obama travels to Saudi Arabia to visit King Salman and hold talks on the Iraq-Syria war, the nuclear deal with Iran, and other contentious issues. There is also mounting tension between Saudi Arabia and the United States over economic policy, since the Saudi decision to maintain high levels of oil production despite the dramatic slide in oil prices has bankrupted much of the US-based fracking industry.

Even without making public any new details from the 28-page chapter, Senator Graham made an effective argument to substantiate his claim that the official claim of no Saudi role in the 9/11 attacks has no credibility. He told 60 Minutes, I think it is implausible to believe that 19 people, most of whom didnt speak English, most of whom had never been in the United States before, many of whom didnt have a high school education, couldve carried out such a complicated task without some support from within the United States.

Grahams language is significant, since it could suggest not only official Saudi support to the hijackers during their months in the USthe focus of the 60 Minutes reportbut support to the hijackers by other individuals or other agencies, including the US government itself. It was reported after 9/11 that the lead hijacker, Mohammed Atta, was well known to the US government, and had been under surveillance during his residence in Germany before he came to the United States to get flight training.

Two other hijackers, the San Diego-based Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, were also known to the US government. The CIA had observed them participating in an al Qaeda planning meeting in 2000 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and placed them on a watch list for FBI monitoring if they came to the United States. Nonetheless, under circumstances that have never been clarified, the two men were allowed to enter the United States on January 15, 2000, landing at Los Angeles International Airport, eventually going to San Diego where they attended flight training school, preparing for their role as pilots of hijacked planes on September 11, 2001.

The 60 Minutes report makes no reference to how al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar entered the US, or the claims and counter-claims between the CIA, the National Security Agency, which monitored their phone calls, and the FBI, which conducts domestic counterterrorism, over which agency was responsible for permitting them to operate so freely. Instead, it focused entirely on what the two men did once they arrived in Los Angeles.

They needed money, a place to live, and a mosque, and found all three through the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles. As correspondent Steve Kroft summarized it: The two Saudi nationals, arrived with extremely limited language skills and no experience with Western culture. Yet, through an incredible series of circumstances, they managed to get everything they needed, from housing to flight lessons.

During the interview, Kroft asked Graham whether Saudi government, charities, or wealthy benefactors were involved in aiding the hijackers. All of the above, Graham replied.

Two Saudis played the main role: Fahad al-Thumairy, a diplomat at the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, and Omar al-Bayoumi, who held what Kroft described as a no-show job at a Saudi aviation contractor outside Los Angeles while drawing a paycheck from the Saudi government. According to Senator Graham, Bayoumi was listed as a Saudi agent in FBI files.

The 60 Minutes narration continues: Bayoumi found them a place to live in his own apartment complex, advanced them the security deposit and cosigned the lease. He even threw them a party and introduced them to other Muslims who would help the hijackers obtain government IDs and enroll in English classes and flight schools.

Bayoumi was in regular contact with the imam of a San Diego mosque, Anwar al-Awlaki, the same individual who a decade later was assassinated by a CIA drone-fired missile in Yemen. At that time, however, although 60 Minutes did not discuss this, Awlaki was considered a moderate by US security agencies. He later moved to Falls Church, Virginia, and after 9/11 was in regular contact with Pentagon officials, before breaking with the US government and moving to Yemen.

Anticipating Saudi government claims that the 9/11 Commission report exonerates the Kingdom of any responsibility for the terrorist attacks, 60 Minutes interviewed an attorney who is suing Saudi Arabia on behalf of the families of 9/11 victims, as well as Senator Kerrey, a member of the 9/11 Commission. Both agreed that the sentence in the report long cited by the Saudi government and its apologists, that the Commission found no evidence that senior Saudi officials individually funded al Qaeda, was deliberately crafted to leave open the possibility that lower-level officials did in fact fund al Qaeda and aid the hijackers. Kerrey added, You can't provide the money for terrorists and then say, I don't have anything to do with what they're doing.

Kerrey said that the Commission had neither the resources nor the authority to conduct a thorough investigation of the Saudi connection. In truth, the entire 9/11 Commission was a whitewash, not only of Saudi Arabia but of the vast US military-intelligence apparatus, which was certainly tracking the activity of some, if not all, of the future hijackers. The $15 million budget for the commission to investigate an attack in which nearly 3,000 people were killed was only one quarter of the $60 million spent by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr to investigate Bill Clintons relations with Monica Lewinsky.

Perhaps the most significant comment in the 60 Minutes report was the statement by former representative Goss, later CIA director, that it was the FBI Director Robert Mueller who played the main role in maintaining censorship of the 28-page chapter on the Saudi connection to 9/11. Why would the FBI be in charge of deciding whether US relations to Saudi Arabia would be affected by release of the document? That would normally be a concern of the State Department, CIA or Pentagon.

There is every reason to believe that the 60 Minutes report was triggered by ongoing bitter conflicts within the US security apparatus relating, not to the investigation into 9/11, nearly 15 years old, but to the deepening crisis in US imperialisms current interventions in the Middle East, which includes bitter conflicts with the Saudi monarchy, long Washingtons most reliable stooge in the region.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will make a two-day state visit to China on Thursday and Friday, joining his trade minister and as many as 1,000 Australian business figures who are in the country for Australia Week in China. Some 140 corporate events are taking place in 12 major Chinese cities, focussed on business opportunities in areas as diverse as agricultural products, health services, aged care, financial services and tourism. The events are designed to cash in on last Decembers signing of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

China is Australias largest export market, largest trading partner and a growing source of foreign investment. As the size of the business delegation this week indicates, numbers of Australian companies are seeking to expand the relations, including in a range of new areas. At present, the overwhelming proportion of Australian income from China comes from the export of raw materialsparticularly iron oreand Chinese students studying in Australia and over one million Chinese tourists travelling to Australia each year. The free trade agreement has opened up new avenues for agricultural exporters and service providers.

The Fairfax media in Australia noted last weekend that the Chinese regime was giving a red carpet welcome to Turnbull. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will host a state banquet for him on Thursday night, following a speech Turnbull is due to give to some 1,800 Australian and Chinese guests. On Friday, he will hold talks and another banquet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

However, the fanfare surrounding the trip cannot conceal that the conditions in which Turnbull will arrive in China are fraught. Among the issues that could emerge are allegations that China is dumping steel on world markets; changes to Chinese import taxes that have caused sharp share price falls for major Australian exporters this week; and, most obviously, the increasing conflict with China provoked by the US and its allies, including Australia, over Beijings territorial claims in the South China Sea. The prospect of greater economic opportunities could be shipwrecked by clashes over trade or an open diplomatic rift over foreign policy.

The question of foreign policy looms as the most contentious during Turnbulls visit. Even as economic ties with China have been burgeoning, Australia, as a key US military ally in Asia, is functioning as one of the active partners in the Obama administrations aggressive pivot and military build-up in the region against China.

Over the years, US officials and military commanders have not hesitated to interfere in domestic Australian politics to pressure the political establishment not to permit economic ambitions to disrupt its alignment with Washingtons war preparations against China.

In June 2010, US protected sources in the then Labor government ousted Kevin Rudd as prime minister, who was viewed in Washington as out-of-step with its confrontational approach to China, and replaced him with the US embassy-vetted Julia Gillard. President Obama, flanked by Gillard, announced the pivot on the floor of the Australian parliament in November 2011, along with greater US military operations from Australia. Australia hosts regular visits by American warships and aircraft and a rotation of US Marines, while its own armed forces are closely integrated with their American counterparts.

In June 2014, Hillary Clinton, who had only just recently stepped down as secretary of state, publicly admonished the Coalition government headed by Tony Abbott for the manner in which it was pursuing a free trade agreement with China. She declared it was a mistake for Australia to send a 630-strong trade delegation to China. Its a mistake whether youre a country, or a company or an individual to put, as we say in the vernacular, all your eggs in one basket. This prompted the terse rejoinder from Malcolm Turnbull, then a government minister: Im sure that wed love to export vast quantities of iron ore to the United States but theyve never shown any enthusiasm in buying them.

Later in 2014, the Obama administration intervened even more aggressively to overturn the initial decision of the Abbott government to join the Chinese-initiated Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Australia complied with US demands, only to change its position after Britain and other powers defied Washington and sided with Beijing to establish the bank.

New differences have emerged since Turnbull, who has been critical of US policy, became prime minister through a factional coup against Abbott in the Liberal Party last September. The Obama administration has made clear its displeasure that Washington was not informed that a Chinese company was to be awarded the contract to the civilian port in the strategic northern Australian city of Darwin. A series of US military commanders have given press conferences applying pressure on Turnbull to join the US in conducting provocative freedom of navigation operations inside the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit around Chinese-held islets in the South China Sea.

The US military has, to date, conducted two freedom of navigation operationsin October and again in January. The Turnbull government has responded with a diplomatic balancing act. On the one hand, it has declared its complete support for the actions of its US ally and its fraudulent pretext of freedom of navigation. On the other, it has not carried out a similar Australian operation despite pressure from Washington and the opposition Labor Party to do so.

On the very eve of Turnbulls visit, the Obama administration is ratcheting up tensions with Beijing, with media leaks that a third freedom of navigation deployment is imminent and a visit by Defence Secretary Ashton Carter to the Philippinesone of the main contenders with China over territory in the South China Sea. The US is standing behind a legal action by the Philippines government in the Court of Arbitration in The Hague, seeking a ruling that Chinese claims are illegal under international law. Australia has also endorsed the case.

The editorial of Murdochs Australian yesterday noted that a confluence of events could significantly escalate tensions, potentially causing a major confrontation with the US and its allies. It warned Turnbull that he must use his talks with the Chinese leadership to make clear Australias support for the US and leave Beijing in no doubt about Australias deep concern over crucial strategic issues like Chinas increasingly provocative actions in the South China Sea.

A comment in yesterdays Chinas hawkish state-run Global Times issued diametrically opposed advice. It noted: While collecting economic gains from Beijing, Australia is seeking security benefits from Washington, and even following in the White Houses footsteps to contain the rise of China. Implying that Australian economic ambitions could be at risk, it concluded: Getting rid of its inconsistent attitude toward Beijing, gradually reducing its political distrust against China, and striving for more cooperation with it will best serve Canberras interests.

Every word and action of Turnbull over the next several days will be subject to intense scrutiny within the Australian political establishment, as well as in both Washington and Beijing.
Fighting continued in Yemens southern city of Taiz amid the official start of a UN-brokered truce Monday. Saudi forces carried out airstrikes, and there were artillery exchanges between the Saudi coalition and Houthi militias.

The stillborn ceasefire comes amid what a consortium of aid groups, in a joint plea for expanded international aid to the war-ravaged country, described as a catastrophic humanitarian situation.

More than 80 percent of the population now depends on external aid for basic necessities, including food and water, and nearly 3 million Yemenis have been displaced from their homes since the war began in March 2015. The Saudi-led air and ground war has killed some 6,000 Yemenis, including at least 2,000 youths, among them a growing number of child soldiers. Essential social infrastructure and services face total collapse, according the UN Childrens Fund.

In developments that speak volumes about the hypocrisy and mendacity of the US War on Terror in the name of which US forces have waged covert warfare across Yemen for more than a decadeAl Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has taken advantage of the US-backed Saudi war to massively expand its political and economic network across a broad stretch of southern Yemen.

Since the beginning of the year-old war, AQAP acquired very large quantities of sophisticated and advanced weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles and armed vehicles, a Yemeni official told Reuters Monday.

In the security vacuum [following the launch of the war in spring 2015], army bases were looted and Yemens south became awash with advanced weaponry. C4 explosive and even anti-aircraft missiles were available to the highest bidder, Yemeni tribal leaders told Reuters.

AQAP now administers a thriving fuel smuggling network, based out of Mukalla and Ash Shihr, southern port cities that were seized by the group amid the chaos produced by the launch of the Saudi-led war.

AQAP leaders are enjoying obscene, unprecedented wealth and luxury, with the group reaping between $2-$5 million per day through customs taxes and fuel sales, including sales to government-owned distributors.

The campaign, backed by the United States, has helped Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to become stronger than at any time since it first emerged almost 20 years ago, Reuters wrote Monday.

Al Qaeda in Yemen now openly rules a mini-state with a war chest swollen by an estimated $100 million in looted bank deposits and revenue from running the countrys third largest port, Reuters said.

So strong has AQAPs position in the south become that the group is now reportedly demanding tens of millions worth of bribes from Yemens major telecommunications companies and national oil corporation.

Already brutally oppressed by imperialism and among the poorest countries in the world, since the start of the Saudi-led war in 2015 Yemen has joined a growing list of Middle Eastern and African countries that have been utterly destroyed and transformed into non-functional societies by US-led wars and proxy wars.

The US military is implicated in horrific war crimes carried out by Saudi forces, including the use of illegal cluster bombs against Yemeni villages, and multiple attacks against crowded civilian marketplaces.

Like Libya and Iraq, Yemen has been targeted by US imperialism and its regional allies due to its strategic value. The US and Saudi Arabia have made clear that they are prepared to employ limitless violence against the tiny nation in an effort to maintain their grip over the crucial waterways of the the Bab el-Mandeb straight.

With close support from Washington, Saudi Arabia called upon a coalition of more than 10 regional states, including United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan and Morocco, to assist in its blood-soaked operations aimed at propping up the Hadi government, which had been imposed by the US and Saudi-controlled GCC during a democratic transition process in early 2012.

Yemen is of major strategic importance to the stability of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula, Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted in a report, The Arab-US Strategic Partnership and the Changing Security Balance in the Gulf.

The seizure of power by Shia militiamen with alleged links to Iran, Cordesman wrote, posed the risk that Iran might be able to outflank the Gulf, and deploy air and naval forces into Yemen.

Yemens territory and islands do play a critical role in the security of a global chokepoint at the southeastern end of the Red Sea called the Bab el Mandab or Gate of Tears, Cordesman noted. Any hostile air or sea presence in Yemen could threaten the entire traffic through the Suez Canal, as well as a daily flow of oil and petroleum products that the EIA estimates increased from 2.9 MMBD in 2009 to 3.8 MMBD in 2013.

Crucially, at least one-fifth of Chinas oil imports flow through Bab el-Mandeb, a fact that prompted Global Risk Analysis to proclaim, at the outset of the war, that the war in Yemen compromises Chinas naval strategy.

The readiness of US imperialism to back the Saudi assault on Yemen to the hilt ultimately flows in large measure from Washingtons determination to maintain a military stranglehold over a key node in Chinas world commercial network, in preparation for confrontation and blockade against Beijing.
Shah Rukh Khan said, "There is only limited knowledge that we have of everything. Like I cannot be an expert on how a car drives but yes you check the company, its experience and you go by that...

New Delhi: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan says while he believes stars should "check and cross check" from their end before endorsing a product, they should not be held entirely responsible for its quality. There has been a debate for sometime now whether the celebrities endorsing a brand should be taken into account if it fails quality checks.

Last year, an FIR was registered against megastar Amitabh Bachchan and actresses Preity Zinta and Madhuri Dixit Nene for featuring in Maggi advertisements besides two top officials of its company Nestle India after a lawyer complained that he was taken ill after eating the 'two-minute' noodle.

Later, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that celebrities associated with misleading ads on the nutrition value of Maggi noodles should also be held responsible.

When asked about his opinion on the issue, Shah Rukh said, "There is only limited knowledge that we have of everything. Like I cannot be an expert on how a car drives but yes you check the company, its experience and you go by that... There is a responsibility (of the stars) to check and cross check and there is a limited responsibility because there are institutions, checking points to check things much before the actor comes in the picture. So if I see a product with ISI mark, I will assume it has been checked..."

The 50-year-old actor, who is among India's topmost celebrity endorsers, was speaking at the press conference for his upcoming thriller 'Fan', held at PVR Superplex Logix City Centre, Noida. The film hits theatres this Friday, April 15.
Wait, really? (Photo: Drybar)

The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, is in a hairy situation due to a drought and resulting energy and food crisis. His solution? Women should stop blow drying their hair  or at least limit it to special occasions. I always think a woman looks better when she just runs her fingers through her hair and lets it dry naturally, says Maduro. Its just an idea I have.

Citizens arent exactly welcoming his idea, though. If the president thinks that not blow drying our hair is going to help, then the problem is far worse than we thought, one Caracas resident told Al Jazeera. But its true, the problem is very bad. 70 percent of Venezuelas electricity is in serious jeopardy as a major hydroelectric plant has dangerously low water levels and may soon need to be shut off.

Maduro has given public sector workers Fridays off for the next 60 days in an effort to conserve energy. He also recommends hanging clothes to dry instead of using tumble dryers and raising the temperature on air conditioners. But when were talking about such a huge scale issue, will blow dryers really make a difference?



We looked into the average number of watts consumed by the appliances we use every day to see if its worth sacrificing blowouts. As it turns out, hairdryers are the small appliance equivalent to Hummers, consuming more energy than a dishwasher and about eight times more energy than a computer.

Appliance watt usage, according to Wholesale Solar:

Standard blow dryer: 1,538

Central air conditioner: 5,000

Tumble dryer: 3,400

Oven: 3,000

Coffee machine: 1,500

Dishwasher: 1,200-1,500

Microwave: 500-1,500

Iron: 1,100

Sink waste disposal: 450

Espresso machine: 360

Blender: 300

Standard TV: 188

Landline: 40-150

Computer: 20-120

Fan: 100

Cell phone: 2-4

Still, Venezuelans have dealt with regular blackouts for years and dont want Maduro telling them what to do with their hair. The entire city of Caracas occasionally shuts down due to citywide power outages, and some rural Venezuelan areas live mostly in the dark, so the people must be pretty knowledgeable about budgeting energy. Other South American nations facing the same drought issues are not experiencing rations, having taken preventative measures that Maduro opted out of. The people are angry with reason. The blow dryer issue adds fuel to the fire, especially since nobody cares that Maduro prefers natural hair.



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The Obama administration made it clear since Day One that higher education -- and its associated debt -- was one of its priorities. We've seen a lot of positive changes, including expansion of income-driven repayment plans. Here are a few more ways the federal government is trying to ease the burden of student debt.

1. Applying for financial aid is easier. One of the most stressful times in the college planning process can be applying for financial aid. If you haven't done your taxes yet, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid process can be difficult, and often, the acceptance deadline for colleges is close to when financial aid award letters start coming in. This can make the college choice and financing process challenging.

Last fall, the government announced a new initiative intended to allow families to apply for federal financial aid earlier, and receive information about awards in enough time to help decide which school might be the best financial fit.

Under the current process, the new FAFSA becomes available on Jan. 1 of the award year. Families use the prior year's tax information to file the FAFSA. If you've already filed your taxes when you fill out this application, use the data retrieval tool to have your tax information automatically downloaded. Not only is this much faster than filling it in by hand, but the chances of error have essentially been eliminated.

[Discover five myths about parent information on the FAFSA.]

The problem is that many families choose to defer filing their taxes. Deferred filing also results in families being forced to estimate their income for FAFSA purposes -- something that can result in changes to the amount of aid the student ultimately received.

Under the new process, known as "prior prior year," the FAFSA will become available in October, prior to the award year. Families will be asked to use their tax information from the year prior to that one -- hence the name. For example, if you are applying for aid for the 2017-2018 academic year, you'll be able to access the FAFSA in October 2016, and use your 2015 tax information to complete it.

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Not only does this mean families will receive their student aid reports that much earlier, but most if not all will also have their tax info filed with the IRS by then, meaning more can use the data retrieval tool. More good news: The common application used by many colleges for other financial aid, the CSS/Financial Aid Profile, will also be switching to this timeline.

[Explore more college financial aid resources.]

2. There are new protections from fraudulent schools. Despite the longstanding existence of audits, program reviews and oversight of colleges and universities by accreditors, the Department of Education and states that has existed for decades, some schools have still been caught misrepresenting their statistics and value or otherwise defrauding vulnerable students. The misdeeds of Corinthian Colleges affected thousands of students, for example.

This past February, the Department of Education announced the creation of the Student Aid Enforcement Unit to investigate and act on allegations of fraud quickly, and to ensure that affected students are given appropriate relief as quickly as possible. The move allows the Department of Education to recognize more quickly if the warning signs of a troubled school are there.

In addition to the creation of this new enforcement unit, the department also implemented a negotiated rulemaking session this winter to create a process for defrauded borrowers to apply for discharge of their federal student loans. The session also suggested new rules to help create an early warning system to try and prevent scenarios like Corinthian. The Student Loan Ranger will be sharing those new rules once they are completed this fall.

[Learn three tips for securing student loan forgiveness.]

3. The customer experience will improve. One of the most frequent questions received by the Student Loan Ranger is, "How do I know who holds all my loans?" Having multiple loan holders is a very real issue for many students with debt, and it can be confusing at best; at worst, it can destroy your credit if you do not realize that you have another loan at a different servicer.

The Department of Education has tried over the years to improve this by combining loans under a single loan holder as much as possible, but the struggle remains. Last week, it announced that it would work toward a single portal for all direct loan borrowers to use regardless of loan holder.

Not knowing where one's federal student loans are -- which you can find at www.nslds.ed.gov -- is just one of many complaints from student loan borrowers.

In addition to the single portal, the department will also standardize communications so all borrowers, regardless of loan holder, receive the same messages. It will improve oversight of servicers, reduce the frequency of loan transfers and implement better customer service practices to ensure consistent treatment and standards regardless of the loan holder.

Betsy Mayotte, director of regulatory compliance for American Student Assistance, regularly advises consumers on planning and paying for college. Mayotte, who received a B.S. in business communications from Bentley College, is a frequent contributor to ASA's SALT Blog; responds to public inquiries via the advice resource "Just Ask;" and is frequently quoted in traditional and social media on the topics of student loans and financial aid.
By Malathi Nayak NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers walked off the job on Wednesday in one of the largest U.S. strikes in recent years after contract talks hit an impasse, and got a boost as U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders joined them at a Brooklyn rally ahead of the New York primary next week. Front-runner Hillary Clinton, who will face Sanders in the primary on April 19, also voiced support for the strikers and urged Verizon to go back to the bargaining table. The strike was called by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers that jointly represent employees with such jobs as customer services representatives and network technicians in Verizon Communications Inc's traditional wireline phone operations. The strike could affect service in Verizon's Fios Internet, telephone and TV services businesses across several U.S. East Coast states, including New York, Massachusetts and Virginia. The walkout does not extend to the wireless operation. Verizon said it had trained thousands of non-union employees over the past year to ensure no disruption in services. "There's no way that these 10,000 people ... can make up for 40,000 people who have decades of experience (in highly technical jobs)," CWA representative Bob Master said. The wireline unit, which represents Verizon's legacy business, generated about 29 percent of company revenue in 2015, down about 60 percent since 2000, and less than 7 percent of operating income. Verizon has been scaling back its Fios TV and Internet service and stopped expanding its landline phone network. In recent years, Verizon, the No. 1 U.S. wireless company, has shifted focus to the bread-and-butter wireless business and new efforts in mobile video and advertising. To that end, Verizon bought AOL for $4.4 billion last year betting that a push into mobile video and targeted advertising can help it find new growth avenues. "DESTROYING LIVES" Sanders spoke to a crowd of cheering Verizon workers at a mid-day rally in Brooklyn. "This is just another major American corporation trying to destroy the lives of working Americans," he said. In urging a resumption of talks, Clinton said in a statement, "We rely on these men and women as part of the communications infrastructure that keeps businesses and our economy moving." Verizon didn't appear to be swayed. "Big companies are an easy target for candidates looking for convenient villains for the economic distress felt by many of our citizens," Verizon Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam said in a blog post. "Contrary to Sen. Sanders contention, our proposals do not call for mass layoffs or shipping jobs overseas," McAdam said. Hundreds of Verizon workers protested outside Verizon stores along the East Coast on Wednesday. In New York, strikers chanted "We're disgusted, union busted" and held placards reading "Against Verizon's corporate greed." "They even want us to move to different states and that's unfair. How do we take care of our families?" said Anita Long, a 59 year-old telecommunications technician assistant. "How do you make a billion dollars in one month and tell me you can't give me a decent wage?" said Long, who has worked at Verizon for 37 years, picketing in Brooklyn. Verizon and the unions have been talking since last June over the company's plans to cut healthcare and pension-related benefits over a three-year period. The workers have been without a contract since its agreement expired in August. Issues include healthcare, offshoring call center jobs, temporary job relocations and pensions. The last contract negotiations in 2011 also led to a strike. A new contract was reached after two weeks. On Tuesday, Verizon said it was approached by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. In the last round, the FMCS mediated their contract dispute. The question of federal mediation is "a diversionary tactic," CWA's Master said, adding it has not contacted the FMCS. "We don't want to go to Washington ... what is needed is for the company to sit down and address our concerns." Verizon's shares fell 1.3 percent to close at $51.29. (Additional reporting by Gina Cherelus in New York and Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Jeffrey Benkoe)
Well, we've officially come full circle. The future of technology is being driven by next-generation AOL chat rooms powered by Slack, and next-generation chat bots championed by Facebook. They say "everything old is new again," and it appears as though that's indeed the case.

All (half-)joking aside, Facebook on Tuesday made a series of big announcements at its F8 developer conference, and one of the biggest was the hotly anticipated launch of a new bot platform for Facebook Messenger. These machine-powered chat accounts allow companies to interact with Facebook Messenger users without, you know, actually having to interact with Facebook Messenger users. There's definitely a great deal of potential there, and the first wave of chat bots has already begun to roll out.

MUST SEE: Our first look at the Amazon Kindles most radical redesign ever

Yesterday we told you a bit about Facebook's new bot platform in our roundup of the company's biggest announcements from F8. But now that the bots have begun to roll out, it's time to stop reading and start chatting. A site appropriately called BotList has begun to keep track of all the Facebook Messenger bots out there, and the first 40 have now been posted.

Here they are:

Assist

M

Operator

Uber on Messenger

Awesome PA

Sonar

Text-a-Pro

GIF Keyboard

Business on Messenger

Imoji on Messenger

Doodle for Messenger

GIF Quotes for Messenger

GIFjam for Messenger

Dubsmash

Giphy for Messenger

Legend for Messenger

Kanvas for Messenger

Boostr

Cleo Video Texting

ClipDis

Ditty

Effectify

Qualcomm EmotionAR

Emu

FlipLip Voice Changer

Fotor

Noah Camera

Pyro

to.be Camera

UltraText

Wordeo

Dropbox on Messenger

Messenger Platform

CNN

Wall Street Journal

Poncho

Spring

KLM

1-800-Flowers

HealthTap

Expect plenty more bots in the future, but that's more than enough to start with.

How do you chat with them? It's simple: just open Facebook Messenger and search for any of the names you see above. Tap the bot when it pops up in your results, and you can begin chatting. As you can see in the screenshot below, bots that are active will jump right into the conversation.

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bottt

Welcome to the future!

Related stories

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More from BGR: The MacBook Air might be dying, but thats a good thing

This article was originally published on BGR.com
More than $130,000 in student debt, Leah Burke, a 33-year-old employed at a not-for-profit medical college in New York City, overheard a public service announcement about Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

"I wasn't sure about the specifications and heard an ad on the radio," says Burke, who graduated three years ago with a Master of P ublic A dministration from CUNY--Baruch College. "Among nonprofit professionals there is an understanding that loan forgiveness exists, but some people see it as an urban legend."

Public Service Loan Forgiveness is a government program that forgives the federal loans of a borrower who works in the nonprofit or public sector after 120 qualified monthly payments.

Discover more methods of [student loan forgiveness.]

A qualified payment is a regular monthly payment for at least 10 years by an employee working full-time at a nonprofit or public institution. One caveat: a Perkins loan or a Federal Family Education loan need to be consolidated into a direct consolidation loan to be eligible.

After learning more about the PSLF program, Burke consolidated her student loans and submitted her employment information to FedLoan Servicing, the federal loan servicer for the PSLF program. FedLoan Servicing determines if a borrower's employer qualifies and tracks the applicant's progress in meeting the requirements for loan forgiveness.

"I'll be out of student loan debt by the time I'm 45," say Burke, who borrowed federal as well as private student loans, which aren't eligible for forgiveness. "I thought that I'd be paying for school for the rest of my life."

The first borrower with federal student loan forgiveness will be in October 2017 -- 10 years after the program's introduction.

Here are some career paths that may lead to student loan forgiveness at the federal or state level.

-- Nonprofit employee: A borrower working at a tax-exempt nonprofit or a nonprofit organization that provides a qualifying public service, such as a not-for-profit hospital, is eligible for the federal program.

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Burke's work as an alumni coordinator is eligible for the program since it's not the job that qualifies, but the type of employer.

Check out [three tips for securing student loan forgiveness.]

-- Civil servant: "The PSLF program provides forgiveness of federal loans if you're working for a government job or a qualified nonprofit organization," says Stephen Dash, founder and CEO of Credible, a student loan information site.

The government job can be at any level -- federal, state, local or tribal .

The forgiveness amount is non-taxable income. This program is separate from the loan forgiveness offered to borrowers through the Income-Based Repayment Plan -- a federal repayment scheme that offers forgiveness after 20 or 25 years of repayment, depending on the type of loan.

-- Teachers: In addition to PSLF, there are additional programs at the federal level for teachers -- the Teacher Loan Forgiveness and the Teacher Cancellation for Federal Perkins Loans.

Under the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program, a teacher can have up to $17,500 of federal loans forgiven after teaching five years at a low-income elementary or secondary school.

And if the teacher has Perkins loans, 15 percent of those loans will be forgiven after one year of service, teaching at a low-income public or nonprofit school.

Learn how to avoid turning into a scary [student loan statistic.]

"Around half of the states also offer benefits to teachers," says Dash, and m any states have special loan forgiveness programs for teachers serving high-need areas.

States with loan assistance programs for teachers working at schools in high-need areas, such as math and special education, are available in Montana, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee, among others. The Teach for Texas Loan Repayment Assistance Program offers up to $2,500 annually in loan forgiveness to teachers working at schools in a high-need area, for example.

-- Lawyers: While PSLF is available for attorneys working in public service, there are other programs at the local and state level for borrowers with debt from law school.

The District of Columbia, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Vermont have bar associations that offer loan repayment programs for attorneys who provide services to low-income residents.

"Both programs combined make it financially feasible for me to stay in the profession," says Maggie Donahue, 34, an attorney at Legal Aid, who graduated with $61,500 in law school debt from American University's Washington College of Law.

Donahue is banking on PSLF to forgive her federal student loans while receiving assistance from the District of Columbia Bar Association, which offers loan assistance to attorneys working in legal aid.

The D.C. Bar Association provides enough loan assistance to Donahue for her to cover her monthly income-based repayment of $416 a month, but that doesn't cover all the interest on the loans, she says.

"I've been making financial decisions based on that promise that the loans are going to be forgiven after 10 years," Donahue says.

-- Physicians: Depending on the type of medical center where a physician or health care professional works, he or she may be eligible for the federal loan forgiveness program, student loan experts say.

Forty percent of borrowers graduating from medical school say they plan to seek loan forgiveness, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

There are programs in more than 30 states that offer physicians some form of student loan repayment assistance, many of which are designed to serve rural or under-served urban area, Dash says.

"The portion of lawyers that go into public defense is small compared with physicians or health care," Dash says. "These programs are to fill skill shortages."

Trying to fund your education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for College center.



Farran Powell is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering paying for college and graduate school. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at fpowell@usnews.com.
'Balika Vadhu' actress Pratyusha Banerjee committed suicide by hanging herself in her flat in suburban Goregaon on April 1.

New Delhi: Rahul Raj Singh, who is presently in dock for abetting the suicide of his girlfriend Pratyusha Banerjee, today looked quite disturbed as he attempted to downplay the allegations levelled against him by the late actress' friends and family members.

Rahul, who arrived at the Bangur Nagar Police station in an ambulance, was all in tears when posed questions by the media about the latest allegations against him.

"Bring Pratyusha back. Can you? Can you bring Pratyusha back?" he said.

Read: Pratyusha Banerjee suicide: Rahul Singh granted interim protection from arrest

Rahul, who was booked by the Bangur Nagar Police for abetting Pratyusha's suicide, got some relief from Bombay High Court yesterday.

The High Court, which heard Rahul's pre-arrest bail plea, retrained the police from arresting him on a surety of Rs. 30,000 and directed him to attend the police station everyday till April 18.

After the 24-year-old 'Balika Vadhu' actress allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself in her flat in suburban Goregaon on April 1, a case under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 504, 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC was registered against Rahul on April 3 following a complaint lodged by the actress' parents.

According to reports, Pratyusha took this drastic step due to mounting financial pressures over the last year. According to Rahuls father, Hashvardhan Singh, Pratyusha was under severe mental pressure because she did not have enough money left to sustain her expenses, and that her parents had used her name to take a loan of Rs 50 lakh, due to which she was being hassled by creditors.

On the other hand, Pratyushas friends claim that Rahul was cheating on her with his ex-girlfriend. According to reports, Rahuls ex-girlfriend had assaulted Pratyusha on several occasions in Rahuls absence. But when Pratyusha complained to him, he took no action. He has even physically assaulted her in public.

Pratyusha was best known for her debut role in Balika Vadhu. Thereafter, she shifted to reality shows and participated in Bigg Boss 7. Pratyushas last outing on TV was in Sasural Simar Ka where she played a role that had negative shades.
By Marice Richter

FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense after killing four people in a 2013 drunken-driving crash was sentenced in an adult court on Wednesday to four consecutive 180-day terms in jail following a suspected parole violation.

Ethan Couch, 19, has been incarcerated in Tarrant County since January after being deported from Mexico, where he had fled with his mother.

In his first appearance in adult court, he was sentenced by county Judge Wayne Salvant. Prosecutors said it was the maximum Couch could receive under terms set when his case was transferred to an adult court from the juvenile system.

"You are not getting out of jail today," Salvant told Couch, who was wearing a red jumpsuit from the county jail. Salvant said he would hold another hearing in about two weeks to consider the sentence he imposed.

The judge issued a gag order in the case and accepted a defense motion to keep his juvenile records sealed.

Couch's father and brother were in court and declined requests to speak with reporters after the hearing. Relatives of the victims were also present.

At his trial in juvenile court in 2013 when he was 16, a psychologist testifying on his behalf said Couch was so spoiled by his wealthy parents that he could not tell right from wrong. The psychologist described the affliction as "affluenza," a term that quickly became a media buzzword.

He was sentenced to 10 years of probation, a penalty that sparked outrage from critics who ridiculed the affluenza defense and said his family's wealth had helped keep him out of jail.

Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said Couch's demeanor had changed since being in jail from quite cocky to rather compliant.

The change was due to the "stark reality he is dealing with today," Anderson told reporters at court, adding that Couch would remain in solitary confinement for his own protection.

Couch and his mother Tonya Couch were taken into custody by Mexican authorities in the Pacific Coast resort of Puerto Vallarta. They fled the United States after a video on social media appeared to show him at a party where alcohol was being consumed, which would have violated the drink- and drug-free terms of his probation.

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Tonya Couch was charged with helping her son flee to Mexico. She was released on bail and is under home confinement awaiting trial. Judge Salvant is also presiding over that case.

If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison.

(Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Alan Crosby, Toni Reinhold)
Here are some of the stocks the Yahoo Finance team will be tracking for you today



Alcoa (AA) shares were down sharply ahead of the open. Even though the aluminum producer reported earnings per share that topped analysts' estimates for the first quarter, profit fell 92% and revenue missed estimates, with sales down 15% from a year ago. The company also lowered its 2016 outlook for the aerospace market and said it could cut as many as 2,000 jobs as it prepares to split the company.

Starbucks (SBUX) got hit with a downgrade this morning. Deutsche Bank cut its rating on the stock to hold from buy and reduced the price target on the stock to $64 dollars a share. Analyst Brett Levy cited concerns about valuation and a potential sales disruption from changes in its rewards program. In a note to clients Levy wrote that "lofty, near-term investors' expectations" lead to a less favorable risk-vs.-reward investment outlook on the stock. "[Starbucks] results are likely to remain among best in class, but its shares could see limited upside in the coming quarters given challenging sales comparisons and given changes in the domestic loyalty program, which could slow traffic trendsas competitors view for new customersin the coming quarters."

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Juniper Networks (JNPR) was down sharply in early trading after the network gear maker slashed its earnings and revenue guidance for the first quarter. The company is blaming weak demand from its enterprise division, as well as from U.S. and European telecom customers. Juniper is set to report quarterly results on April 28. Shares of rival Cisco Systems (CSCO) also fell on the news.



Alibaba (BABA) is buying a controlling stake in Southeast Asian online retailer Lazada. The $1 billion deal will help the Chinese e-commerce giant tap into six countries in the region. Our parent company Yahoo (YHOO) has about a 15% stake in Alibaba.

Verizon (VZ) could face a major strike Wednesday morning. Unions representing some 40,000 of the company's landline phone and cable workers are threatening walk off the job if the two sides don't agree to a new contract. Verizon workers have been without a contract since August.
By Mark Weinraub

CHICAGO (Reuters) - An alleged victim of sexual abuse by former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and the sister of another accuser will testify at the sentencing hearing of the former Illinois congressman, the U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuting the case said on Wednesday.

The alleged victim, known as individual D, and Jolene Burdge, whose brother died in 1995, were the only two witnesses scheduled to speak for the prosecution, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

The two will likely read from prepared statements. No special arrangements were requested to ensure privacy in the courtroom, the spokesman said.

Also on Wednesday, a judge ordered that the defense's response to the government's pre-sentence report, which detailed the allegations against Hastert, be unsealed.

The defense's response said that Hastert had no recollection of the allegations made by individual D, who told prosecutors that Hastert performed a sexual act on him during a massage when he was 17.

Hastert was convicted last year of a financial crime in a hush-money case. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The sentencing of Hastert, who once stood among the most powerful men in the country, is scheduled for April 27.

(Reporting by Mark Weinraub)
By Clarece Polke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government announced plans on Tuesday to forgive $7.7 billion in student loans for about 387,000 permanently disabled borrowers. While permanently disabled Americans are already permitted student loan forgiveness under the Higher Education Act, many who are eligible have not taken advantage of the debt relief, the U.S. Department of Education said in a statement. Of the 387,000 borrowers identified by the department as eligible but have not taken part in the program, about 179,000 of them are in default, potentially causing them to lose their federal tax refunds and Social Security benefits, the government said. "Too many eligible borrowers were falling through the cracks, unaware they were eligible for relief," U.S. Education Under Secretary Ted Mitchell said in a statement. "We need to make it easier, not harder, for them to receive the benefits they are due." The Education Department has partnered with the Social Security Administration to identify these borrowers. Beginning on Friday, borrowers who were identified in the first round will receive a letter explaining their eligibility for loan forgiveness and what steps they need to take to receive a discharge. The letters will be distributed over a four-month period. A follow-up letter will then be sent 120 days after the first letter if the department does not receive a signed application. (Reporting by Clarece Polke; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Recently, Kangana's lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee claimed that Hrithik has been circulating objectionable photographs of her to the media and within the film industry.

Mumbai: Theres no end in sight to the legal battle between Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut. The fact of the matter, and a rather bizarre one, is that a huge part of the alleged relationship seems to have transpired on emails. While Hrithik maintains that the pretender has been using the fake email ID to be in contact with his fans and friends, Kangana claims that it is a clumsy attempt to cover up their relationship.

Read: Kangana seeks Hrithik's arrest for circulating personal photographs

In an interesting turn of events, cops have traced the IP address of the fake email id to the USA. A senior police officer from cyber police station told Mid-day, We are investigating the matter. Hrithik had given information about impostor conversing through the e- mail ID hroshan@ email. com. We traced the IP address of the ID, and got location of a place in America. We suspect the e- mail is entirely operating from America.

Read: Not ashamed of my body, my desire: Kangana Ranaut

The Mumbai polices cyber crime cell has issued summons to the actress to record her statement. Since her sister Rangoli was also aware of the incident, she too has been ordered to appear too. However, Kangana has simply refused to co-operate.

Read: Kangana's affair with Hrithik only happened in her head, claims a friend

Recently, Kangana's lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee claimed that Hrithik has been circulating objectionable photographs of her to the media and within the film industry. Kangana has now written to the Mumbai Police Commissioner and has demanded action on this.

Read: Hrithik never proposed to Kangana, passport reveals he didn't visit Paris

Kangana said that Hrithik had committed "cognizable offences" under sections 149 and 150 of CrPC and it was the duty of the police to arrest him under Section 151 of CrPC (arrest to prevent the commission of cognizable offences).
Washington (AFP) - Amazon announced a new high-end Kindle e-reader on Wednesday, aiming to win over readers with a thin, light device despite a trend toward multi-use tablets.

The Kindle Oasis, the eighth generation e-reader from Amazon, will be available April 27 starting at $290 for US customers.

The Oasis weighs in at just 130 grams (4.6 ounces) and is 3.4 millimeters (0.13 inches) at its thinnest point, or 30 percent thinner on average and over 20 percent lighter than any other Kindle.

"To lean back and read for hours, you need a sanctuary from distraction," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and chief executive.

"We want Kindle to disappear, and Kindle Oasis is the next big step in that mission. It's the most advanced Kindle we've ever built -- thin and ultra-lightweight, it gets out of the way so you can lose yourself in the author's world."

Amazon's launch comes even as many e-book readers use tablets for electronic books instead of the more limited devices.

Amazon has been promoting the e-reader as a more book-like experience with its ergonomic design, long battery life and "Paperwhite" resolution which can be read easily in various lighting conditions.

With the new device, Amazon will be selling four e-readers starting at $80, which make it easy to order and read e-books directly from the online retailer.
Reuters

Moscow provided no details on the conversation with Austin, which came after the two men spoke on Friday for the first time since May. Its readouts on the other calls said Shoigu had said the situation in Ukraine was worsening. "They discussed the situation in Ukraine which is rapidly deteriorating," the Russian defence ministry said of Shoigu's call with French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu.
By Garba Muhammad KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Claims by a Kaduna state official that Nigeria's military secretly buried 347 people after clashes with members of a minority Shi'ite Muslim sect should be investigated and anyone suspected of wrongdoing put on trial, Amnesty International said on Tuesday. The official on Monday told an inquiry into the December clashes in the northern state of Kaduna that the corpses were taken from an army depot and buried in mass graves. The army has previously said the Islamic Movement in Nigeria had tried to assassinate its chief of staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, when members of the sect blocked his convoy in the northern city of Zaria in December. The following day the army said it had raided several buildings connected to the sect. A Nigerian army spokesman contacted by Reuters declined to comment on the mass burial allegations. In January, the army chief of staff told the inquiry that his soldiers had acted appropriately in the raid. Balarabe Lawal, secretary to the state government in Kaduna, told the inquiry that the bodies in the secret mass burials were those of sect members. Amnesty International Nigeria said the "revelation by the Kaduna State government that hundreds of Shi'ites were gunned down and dumped in mass graves is an important first step to bringing all those suspected of criminal responsibility for this atrocity to trial". "It is now imperative that the mass grave sites are protected in order that a full independent forensic investigation can begin," it said in a statement. The Shi'ite sect has previously said up to 1,000 of its members had been killed. The inquiry has the power to impose fines and payment of compensation. Most of the tens of millions of Muslims in Nigeria are Sunni, including Boko Haram militants who have killed thousands in bombings and shootings, mainly in the northeast, since 2009. Africa's most populous nation has around 180 million people, including several thousand Shi'ite Muslims whose movement was inspired by the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Shi'ite Iran. (Additional reporting and writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; editing by Grant McCool)
British playwright Arnold Wesker, a member of the "Angry Young Men" movement of the 1950s which pushed for more social theatre about working-class lives, has died aged 83, his family said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister David Cameron and leader of the main opposition Labour party Jeremy Corbyn paid tribute at a weekly debate in parliament, with Corbyn saying that Wesker and his peers "changed the face of our country".

The London-born writer was best known for his trilogy of plays "Chicken Soup With Barley", "Roots" and "I'm Talking About Jerusalem" penned in the 1950s. He released his last work "The Rocking Horse" in 2007.

Wesker's plays have been translated into 20 languages.

Wesker, who was knighted in 2006, died on Tuesday evening after a long illness, his widow told the BBC.

He was born to Jewish communists and grew up in the East End of London. He drew on his working-class background for several works in a prolific career in which he wrote 50 plays.

At various times in his life he worked as a bookseller's assistant, a carpenter and a plumber's assistant, the Guardian newspaper said in its obituary.

He was also active in the anti-nuclear movement.

The "Angry Young Men" were a group of British playwrights and novelists including Kingsley Amis and Harold Pinter who rose to prominence in the 1950s for rebelling against a more genteel style of writing.
Apple (AAPL) is arguably one of the most successful companies of all time. With a market cap above $620 billion and annual revenues of more than $230 billion, the tech giant seems unstoppable.

But a short note by UBS analyst Steven Milunovich warns Apple should be on the lookout for three big threats.

Threat #1: An attack from below

The most obvious [serious threat] is that Apple is attacked by good enough phones, and customers no longer are willing to pay the Apple premium, said Milunovich, though he added the bull argument that consumers are Apples main customers and they are willing to pay a premium for the brand.

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Threat #2: Messaging and bots

Products like the newly-announced Facebook (FB) Messenger Bot Store could take away from the Apple App Stores estimated $50 billion in sales, according to Milunovich.

Messaging could take on many of the roles apps provide, Milunovich said. In China, WeChat provides high functionality, such as paying bills, hailing a cab, and checking into flights through apps within apps.

Threat #3: China could protect its smartphone market

Speaking of China, Milunovich notes the country is responsible for two-thirds of Apples growth. However, he points out the country has a history protecting its homegrown tech companies.

A more serious issue would be if the government were to favor domestic suppliers as we have seen in enterprise computing, he said. IBM (IBM), HP (HPQ, HPE), and Cisco (CSCO) have suffered declining sales in China as domestic champions like Lenovo and Huawei mature.

Nonetheless, Milunovich maintains a buy rating on Apple and has a $120 price target on the stock.

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Is dancer, choreographer, actor and film director Prabhudeva coming back to Sandalwood? The man known as the Michael Jackson of India, who has been busy directing Bollywood movies is making a comeback into Sandalwood to act alongside his father, the legendary choreographer master Mugur Sundaram.

Gandhinagar is abuzz with the latest gossip that the dancing sensation is returning to Kannada films after 14 years. He was last seen acting in Real Star Upendra directorial H20 and in 123 alongside his two brothers, and Kollywood star Jyothika.

A future project by Satish, a close relative of Prabhudeva, has the dancing legends, both father and son acting alongside for the first time in a Kannada film. Lets wait and watch Prabhudevas next move!
Buenos Aires (AFP) - Argentina's ex-president Cristina Kirchner rejected Wednesday fraud accusations against her as a political plot by the new conservative government, which is separately implicated in the "Panama Papers" scandal.

Called to testify over speculative dollar sales by Argentina's central bank, the leftist former leader turned the event into a media spectacle as crowds of her supporters rallied outside the courthouse.

The case has raised political tensions after Kirchner's conservative successor, President Mauricio Macri, denied wrongdoing after the Panama Papers revealed he had links to an offshore company.

Returning to the public eye four months after leaving office, Kirchner, 63, reminded Argentina of her capacity to rally crowds.

"They can summon me 20 times to court, they can put me in prison, but what they cannot do is silence me," Kirchner said in an hour-long speech after she emerged from court.

She denied the accusations that her government mishandled public funds in speculative dollar transactions in September.

"I will face up to this case and any other one that they want to fabricate against me," she wrote in a declaration filed with the court and published on her Facebook page.

The judge investigating the case, Claudio Bonadio, is an open critic of Kirchner, who in the past tried to have him dismissed from his post.

Kirchner was being questioned so that Bonadio can decide whether to charge her.

Kirchner's allegations of a vendetta against her fueled tensions in Argentina, where Macri is pushing through sensitive economic reforms and trying to mend foreign relations.

Macri took over from Kirchner in December after he narrowly beat her side in an election. That ended 12 years of leftist rule by her and her late husband Nestor, who came to power after a financial crisis.

Macri launched measures to liberalize the Argentine economy, Latin America's third biggest. Kirchner's supporters say his public job cuts and price rises are hurting poorer families.

Story continues

"We experienced Nestor and Cristina's achievements after a crisis in which we fell deep into poverty," said one Kirchner supporter, 56-year-old teacher Adriana Gonzalez.

She said the current case against Kirchner was "political persecution of those who think differently."

She was among thousands who rallied outside the courthouse in Buenos Aires.

"Cristina, the people are with you," they yelled.

"If you go to jail, I'm going with you," read one of the signs in the crowd.

- Macri in Panama Papers -

Macri has sought to restore frayed relations with foreign powers such as the United States and revive the economy by reversing more than a decade of protectionist economic policy.

He gained a boost on Wednesday when a US court ruling cleared the way for Argentina to settle a long battle over its foreign debt and return to world capital markets.

Macri was riding high after hosting US President Barack Obama last month. But last week, Macri became one of several world leaders embarrassed by the Panama Papers.

A federal prosecutor opened an investigation into his ties to the offshore company detailed in documents from a Panama law firm, published by international media.

Macri insisted he had "nothing to hide."

The Panama Papers also named a top former aide of the Kirchners as owner of an offshore fund.

The former economy minister and former central bank chairman under Cristina Kirchner's administration are also named in the case.

News reports over the weekend said Kirchner could also be investigated for alleged money laundering in a separate suit fanned by revelations from the leaks.
By John Davison and Laila Bassam DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrians voted in a parliamentary election in government-held areas of the country on Wednesday in what they called a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad, while his opponents and Western powers denounced the poll as illegitimate. The election went ahead independently of a U.N.-led peace process aimed at ending the five-year-long war. A second round of talks began in Geneva on Wednesday but an upsurge in fighting has darkened the already bleak outlook for diplomacy. The government said the vote was held to comply with the constitution, a view echoed by its Russian allies. The opposition, which wants the new peace talks to focus on a political transition, said the election was meaningless, while Britain and France called it a "flimsy facade" and a "sham". Voters were electing 250 MPs to parliament, which has no real power in Syria's presidential system. The state rallied them with the slogan "Your vote strengthens your steadfastness". "Assad is already strong but these elections show that the people support him and bolster him," said Hadi Jumaa, a 19-year-old student, as he cast his ballot at his university halls of residence in Damascus. Dozens queued to vote at one polling station where a portrait of Assad hung on the wall. Outside, some danced. With his wife Asma at his side as he went to vote in Damascus, a smiling Assad told state TV that terrorism had been able to destroy much of Syria's infrastructure but not Syria's "social structure, the national identity". Asaad al-Zoubi, chief negotiator for the main opposition body, the High Negotiations Council. dismissed the polls: "They are illegitimate - theater for the sake of procrastination." The conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and created millions of refugees, splintering Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by the government, an array of rebels, a powerful Kurdish militia, and the Islamic State group. The government views all the groups fighting it as terrorists. CEASEFIRE PLEAS The Damascus government controls around one third of Syria, including the main cities in the west, home to the bulk of Syrians who have not fled the country. The United Nations puts the number of Syrian refugees abroad at 5.8 million. With parliament elected every four years, it is the second parliamentary election held by the government in wartime. Assad was re-elected head of state in a presidential election in 2014. The government said it would not take part in peace talks until after the election. It is expected to participate from Friday while the opposition delegation met U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura on Wednesday. De Mistura said senior officials in Moscow, Damascus, Tehran and Amman backed the idea of discussing a political transition but that he wanted to see a renewed pledge to uphold a truce he said had seen serious incidents, but "not a bushfire". U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged all sides to adhere to what the U.N. describes as a "cessation of hostilities". Agreed in February, the partial truce, which does not include Islamic State or al-Qaeda-linked groups, had helped bring the sides to Geneva. But fighting south of Aleppo has strained it to breaking point and Damascus had ruled out discussing the presidency ahead of the first round of talks last month. Each side has blamed the other for ceasefire violations. The head of the opposition delegation said the government had dropped 420 barrel bombs - oil drums packed with explosives - last month alone. The government has denied using such weapons. Foreign states opposed to Assad said the election was out of line with a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for elections at the end of an 18-month transition. His allies, notably Russia, said it is in line with the constitution. "The decision of the regime to hold elections is a measure of how divorced it is from reality. They cannot buy back legitimacy by putting up a flimsy facade of democracy," said a spokesperson for the British government. France said the elections were a "sham" organized by "an oppressive regime". Russia, one of Assad's main foreign allies, said however that the election was necessary to avoid a power vacuum. "There is understanding already that a new constitution should emerge as a result of this political process, on the basis of which new, early elections are to be held," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news briefing. "But before this happens, one should avoid any legal vacuum or any vacuum in the sphere of executive power." Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said the election showed that "the Syrian people is the one that decides its fate". Syrians living in opposition-held areas dismissed the vote. "We used to be forced to cast our vote in sham elections," said Yousef Doumani, speaking from the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus. "Now, we are no longer obliged to." Shereen Sirmani, who fled to Damascus from the Islamic State-besieged city of Deir al-Zor four months ago, said the election was good for Syria. "We hope they bring people together," she said. "We support Assad and these elections are a boost for him." (Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Tom Perry and Angus McDowall in Beirut, Tom Miles in Geneva and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Writing by Tom Perry and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Giles Elgood and Mark Heinrich)
BEIRUT/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Wednesday his government was providing support to an Australian mother and TV crew charged in Beirut with kidnapping-related offenses, but said he respected the Lebanese judicial system. The mother and a four-member Australian "60 Minutes" television crew were charged on Tuesday with involvement in kidnapping after the woman's two children were snatched off the street following a custody dispute with their Lebanese father. The group have been detained in Beirut for a week, judicial sources said, after authorities scuppered their attempt to take the woman's two children back to Australia. Australia's Channel Nine television network said its crew was not connected to the people who grabbed the children, Australian media reported. Turnbull said that Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been speaking with her Lebanese counterpart about the issue. "They're receiving all the full consular support from our diplomats and consular officials in Beirut," Turnbull told reporters in Perth. "But of course we respect the Lebanese legal system and their right to investigate and take proceedings if they feel offences have been committed." CCTV footage broadcast on Lebanese television appeared to show several people grabbing the children, who the father said were aged five and three, from their grandmother and bundling them into a car. The mother was subsequently arrested and the children were returned to their father. The files on the case have been transferred to a judge for further investigation. Lebanon, unlike Australia, is not a signatory of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which allows for children normally resident in one location to be returned if taken by a relative. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Saturday she could not "understate the seriousness with which the Lebanese authorities are viewing the case" and added that Canberra was handling it "very carefully". (Reporting By Angus McDowall in BEIRUT and Jane Wardell in SYDNEY; Editing by Michael Perry)
Dhaka (AFP) - Bangladeshi police said Wednesday they have arrested two members of a banned domestic Islamist militant group, days after blaming it for the murder of an online secular activist.

Police said they detained two members of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) on Tuesday night after storming a flat in Dhaka's Mohammadpur neighbourhood, which was used by the group as militant training centre and bomb-making factory.

They did not say whether the arrests were in relation to the murder of Nazimuddin Samad, a law student who was killed on the streets of Dhaka last week after criticising Islamism in Facebook posts.

"Gunfire was exchanged between detective police and members of ABT during the operation. One police personnel was seriously injured," Dhaka Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Police later raided another hideout of the group and "seized a large quantity of bombs and bomb-making materials", it said.

The ABT, which was outlawed last year, has been blamed for a number of murders of secular bloggers since 2013, with police on Tuesday saying they suspected the group of being behind Samad's death.

Eight ABT members, including a top cleric who is said to have founded the group, were convicted late last year for the murder of atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in February 2013.

The recent string of murders has sparked outrage at home and abroad, with international groups demanding that the secular government must protect freedom of speech in the Muslim-majority country.

Ansar al-Islam, a Bangladesh branch of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, last week claimed responsibility for 26-year-old Samad's murder, according to US monitoring group SITE.
Stocks (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC, ^RUT) are up in midday trading, with financials (XLF) leading the way after JPMorgan's (JPM) preliminary earnings report. Keith Bliss of Cuttone & Co. joins us live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to discuss the markets. Read why he thinks stocks will continue to drift higherat least in the short term.

Joining Yahoo Finance's Alexis Christoforous to discuss some of the other big stories of the day are Yahoo Finance editor-in-chief Andy Serwer and Yahoo Finance's Dan Roberts.

JPM earnings and big banks fail living will test

Earnings season might have officially started Monday with Alcoa (AA), but it's heating up today as JPMorgan reported before the bell. Although earnings fell year-over-year, the bank beat both top and bottom line expectations, giving the stock price a nice pop. Meanwhile, the so-called living wills of five of the eight big U.S. banks were rejected by regulators today.

Facebook launches video anti-piracy tool

Fresh off the first day of its F8 developer conference, Facebook (FB) is rolling out new video tools. As video becomes a big product for Facebook, the social media site is rolling out rights management software, similar to what YouTube has, to protect content-makers from piracy.

Yahoo suitors line up

Plus, suitors are lining up to bid on pieces of Yahoo, our parent company. The deadline to submit bids has been extended to April 18th. Who exactly are the potential suitorsand are there really 40 of them?
Procedures in the cath lab  named for the catheters threaded into the heart - are done for all forms of cardiac disease. (Credit: YouTube)

Healthcare workers in labs where patients undergo heart procedures guided by X-rays may be at higher risk for cataracts, skin lesions, bone disorders or cancer than other healthcare workers, according to a new study.

Procedures in the cath lab  named for the catheters threaded into the heart - are done for all forms of cardiac disease, like congenital heart defects, ischemic heart disease or heart arrhythmias, said lead author Maria Grazia Andreassi of the CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology in Pisa, Italy.

These procedures, highly effective and often life-saving, require substantial radiation exposure to patients, Andreassi told Reuters Health by email. But staff members, too, are exposed to radiation. In particular, for the cardiologists and electrophysiologists who work near the patient and the radiation source, the cumulative dose in a professional lifetime is not negligible, Andreassi said.

The researchers used questionnaires to gather work-related and lifestyle information, current medications and health status for 466 exposed hospital staff, including interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists, nurses and technicians, half of whom had been working for at least 10 years. They also surveyed 280 staffers who had not been exposed to radiation in the cath lab.

Almost 3 percent of interventional cardiology staff had a history of cancer, compared to less than 1 percent of the unexposed comparison group. Eight percent of lab workers had experienced skin lesions, 30 percent had an orthopedic illness and five percent had cataracts, compared to two percent, five percent and less than one percent of the unexposed group, respectively.

Doctors had higher risks than nurses or technicians, and risk was higher for those who had been working more than 16 years, as reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions. Stroke and heart attack risk were similar in the radiation and non-radiation exposure groups.

Compared to healthcare professionals not exposed to radiation, workers with more than 16 years of occupational work are approximately 10 times more likely to experience cataracts and eight times more likely to have cancer after adjusting for other confounders, like age and smoking status, Andreassi said.

Protective measures like leaded aprons, thyroid collars, leaded glasses, and overhead radiation shields can reduce the radiation dose to the operators, but are still not used regularly in every laboratory, Andreassi said.

Healthcare workers in the cath lab sort of know there is a risk but its typically presented to young people as something to know about and not to worry about, said Dr. Lloyd Klein of Advocate Illinois Medical Center in Chicago, who coauthored an editorial accompanying the new study.

Everyone wears lead aprons, and increasingly, lead caps, Klein told Reuters Health by email. We are careful about unnecessary exposure. But wearing lead creates orthopedic problems and doesnt completely protect against the effects of radiation, he said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and federal and state agencies probably need to get more involved than they already are, he said. Unfortunately, interventional cardiologists are often inadequately trained in radiation safety and radiobiology, and hospitals have few training programs regarding radiation risk and exposure, Andreassi said.
Washington (AFP) - An American-made Iraqi army tank that locals have fondly nicknamed "The Beast" is playing a major role driving the Islamic State group from a town on the frontlines, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.

Baghdad-based spokesman Colonel Steve Warren recounted the exploits of the M-1 Abrams tank in Heet in response to a question about whether the Iraqi military is taking too long to expel IS jihadists and lacks the will to fight.

On Monday, Iraqi security forces (ISF) raised the Iraqi flag over government buildings in Heet, in Anbar province.

"This M-1 tank has been driving all around Heet, crazy, and blasting IEDs (roadside bombs), punching holes in enemy defenses and maneuvering between multiple engagements," Warren said.

"This tank has become a little bit of a folk hero here in Iraq. They've nicknamed this tank 'The Beast.' So now all of a sudden, The Beast has become a thing here."

Warren later retweeted a video of the tank -- provided by the US -- blowing up a car purportedly carrying explosives. Three tanks had initially been deployed to Heet but two were out of the fight for mechanical reasons.

The US military is keen to highlight examples of Iraqi security forces making progress against the IS group, which seized vast swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, including the key Iraqi cities Ramadi and Mosul.

Despite some major setbacks, including the recapture of Ramadi, the IS group still controls large areas of the two countries and critics have accused the US-backed Iraqi military of lacking the skills and temperament to fight back.

Warren said The Beast illustrates a fresh resolve for Iraqis to fight the IS group and he praised the actions of some units, especially the Peshmerga of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

"We are seeing these examples over and over of small units whose confidence, whose competence, whose morale is growing and strengthening and expanding," he said.

"That tends to have... a ripple effect across units."

"We estimate that 75 percent of the city (Heet) is now clear and that ISF will push (the IS group) completely out of the city in the coming days," he added.
Beijing (AFP) - Beijing has summoned top diplomatic representatives from the Group of Seven nations to express anger at their statement on the South China Sea, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.

"China summoned the diplomatic envoys of relevant countries," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular press briefing, without elaborating.

A two-day meeting of G7 foreign ministers -- a grouping that excludes China -- in the Japanese city of Hiroshima issued a joint statement this week saying: "We are concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas, and emphasise the fundamental importance of peaceful management and settlement of disputes."

The G7 statement did not name China but Beijing lays claim to almost all of the South China Sea despite conflicting partial claims from Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.

"A senior official of one of the G7 countries mentioned that China needs to heed the voice of G7", Lu said in a comment that seemed to be aimed at Japan.

Tokyo has its own dispute with Beijing in the East China Sea over uninhabited islands that it administers but that are also claimed by China.

The G7 also urged "all states to refrain from such actions as land reclamations" and "building of outposts... for military purposes".

Beijing has built up artificial islands in the South China Sea, some of them equipped with runways 3,000 metres long.

"We believe that they shouldn't make relevant remarks," Lu said. The ministers, he added, "are just trying to amuse themselves by issuing such statements."

France and Britain were among the countries contacted, AFP has learned.

There has been a phone contact at the level of Minister Counsellor, according to Fabyene Mansencal, spokeswoman for the French embassy.

A source said other countries had also been contacted by the foreign ministry.
Brussels (AFP) - Three people arrested in Brussels in connection with the November Paris attacks have been released without charge, Belgian prosecutors said on Wednesday.

"Within the case opened in the wake of the Paris attacks of November 13th 2015, the three persons that were arrested for questioning yesterday... have been released by the investigating judge," said Eric Van der Sypt, a spokesman for Belgium's federal prosecutors.

"They have not been charged," he added.

On Tuesday, Belgian police arrested the three people in the Brussels district of Uccle during a raid linked to the investigation into the Paris attacks, which left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded.

A separate wave of attacks in Brussels on March 22 left 32 people dead and hundreds wounded.

Investigators have uncovered extensive links between the Paris and Brussels attacks, with many of the same people involved and linked to Islamic State in Syria which claimed both.
Los Angeles (AFP) - Oscar-winner Ben Affleck is to direct and star in a standalone Batman movie, Warner Bros. told AFP Wednesday, reprising his caped crusader role after critics savaged the character's latest cinematic outing.

The film was among a raft of DC superhero features announced in a presentation by studio chief Kevin Tsujihara at the annual CinemaCon convention and confirmed in an email to AFP.

It marks the first official confirmation of the widely rumored project and comes after Affleck told a press event for the widely panned "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" that he was interested in directing a superhero blockbuster.

"Dawn of Justice" received almost universally poor reviews, although it enjoyed one of the biggest-ever domestic opening weekends and Affleck's performance was widely acknowledged as one of the film's few redeeming features.

The 43-year-old, who has already directed critical and commercial hits "The Town" and "Argo," revealed ahead of the March release of "Dawn of Justice" that he had felt "emboldened" watching director Zack Snyder at work and would consider making his own superhero movie.

"I've wondered about directing movies like this before and it was a really valuable learning experience for me to watch Zack do it and see how he did it," said Affleck, whose "Argo" won best picture at the Oscars in 2013.

"For me as a director it's about the material and the characters, so if I found the right material I would definitely throw my hat in the ring to direct something on that scale."

Tsujihara announced from the CinemaCon stage in Las Vegas on Tuesday that the studio was "excited to know that we will be working with Ben Affleck on a standalone Batman movie" but gave no further details.

Affleck and "Dawn of Justice" co-star Amy Adams introduced several films from the DC universe in the pipeline over the next five years, including "Wonder Woman," "The Flash," "Cyborg" and a "Justice League" film also starring Affleck as Gotham's Dark Knight.

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The preview featured a glimpse of David Ayer's DC anti-hero movie "Suicide Squad," which stars Will Smith, Jared Leto and Margot Robbie, and has generated significant buzz ahead of its summer release.

Meanwhile Warner's animation division is planning three new "LEGO" films -- "The LEGO Batman Movie," "The LEGO Movie 2" and "Ninjago."

The studio is also behind one of the year's most hotly anticipated movies, "Harry Potter" spin-off "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," which comes out in November.

"CinemaCon is always one of the high points of our year, when we get to introduce our upcoming slate to our partners in the exhibition community who are responsible for bringing our films to audiences worldwide," said Sue Kroll, the studio's head of global marketing.
By Allegresse Sasse COTONOU (Reuters) - Benin wrapped up voting on Sunday in a run-off election that pitted outgoing President Thomas Boni Yayi's hand-picked successor against his former ally turned political rival in a highly competitive race. By relinquishing power after serving two terms in office, Boni Yayi stands in contrast to leaders in other African nations, including Burundi, Rwanda and Congo Republic, who have altered their constitutions in order to extend their rule. Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou, a former economist and investment banker backed by both Boni Yayi and the main opposition Democratic Renewal Party, won a March 6 first round of voting. However, he has had to overcome the perception that having spent the bulk of his career abroad he is an outsider in his own country. "Elections are really something that bring us all together. It's a day of peace and hope," he said after casting his ballot. Zinsou faces Patrice Talon, a businessman and once a powerful figure in the West African nation's cornerstone cotton sector, who finished just over 3 percentage points behind the prime minister in the first round. Talon was a staunch supporter of Boni Yayi before falling out of favor with the president, who later accused him of involvement in a plot to poison him. Mediation efforts led to a presidential pardon however, and Talon returned from exile in France in October. "I have the impression that our country's renaissance is already under way. The renaissance will come, and I am going to win," Talon said after voting on Sunday. Early turnout for the polls was light as many voters were in church for Palm Sunday services. And while more cast their ballots later in the day, observers said they believed overall participation levels were lower than in the first round when turnout was around 64 percent. Poll worker immediately began counting ballots after voting ended in the late afternoon. Provisional results were expected to be announced by the elections commission as early as Monday. "I am happy that everything is calm in Benin. I'm confident everything will be fine. Democracy is working," said Paul Abjibi, shortly after voting in Abomey-Calavi, a town just outside the commercial capital Cotonou. There was no clear front-runner in the poll, and campaigning centered largely on how to best revive the economy, which is flagging in part due to falling oil prices that have hit its neighbor and largest trading partner Nigeria. Civil society groups denounced both candidates' campaigns on Friday for allegedly distributing cash in an attempt to buy votes. On Sunday, the principal donor-funded civil society observation platform claimed that ballot box stuffing had been reported in the Collines administrative district in the center of Benin as well as in Atacora in the north. The election is nonetheless expected to reinforce the democratic credentials of tiny Benin, which became the first nation in West Africa to move from dictatorship and single-party rule to multi-party democracy when it held elections in 1991. (Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Raissa Kasolowsky)
These are the best jobs for superstar salespeople and marketing masterminds.

People who thrive in sales and marketing must enjoy working with people -- and making compelling sales pitches. These are the best sales and marketing jobs among the U.S. News 2016 Best Jobs rankings.

7. Telemarketer

Median Salary: $22,740

Unemployment Rate: 21.8 percent

Expected Job Openings: -7,200

These salespeople use a headset and friendly demeanor to sell their employers' products over the telephone.

Learn more about telemarketers.

6. Retail Salesperson

Median Salary: $21,390

Unemployment Rate: 7.5 percent

Expected Job Openings: 314,200

These front-line salespeople work in stores and shops, sometimes rounding out their salaries with commissions after scoring a big sale.

Learn more about retail salespeople.

5. Sales Representative

Median Salary: $55,020

Unemployment Rate: 4.2 percent

Expected Job Openings: 93,400

These sales professionals sell goods and services to businesses and other organizations.

4. Real Estate Agent

Median Salary: $40,990

Unemployment Rate: 2.5 percent

Expected Job Openings: 9,400

Real estate agents buy, sell or rent out properties for their clients. While selling houses has the potential to be very lucrative, it's typically sensitive to fluctuations in the economy.

3. Insurance Sales Agent

Median Salary: $47,860

Unemployment Rate: 2.8 percent

Expected Job Openings: 43,500

These professionals are insurance know-it-alls, selling a range of policies, including auto, health, home and life insurance, and various commercial products.

2. Sales Manager

Median Salary: $110,660

Unemployment Rate: 3.5 percent

Expected Job Openings: 19,000

These business professionals oversee and direct strategies for distributing their employers' goods to customers.

1. Marketing Manager

Median Salary: $127,130

Unemployment Rate: 3.5 percent

Expected Job Openings: 18,200

These business professionals help sell a company's products to the public, from developing pricing strategies to creating advertisements.

Susannah Snider is the Careers editor at U.S. News. She previously covered paying for college and graduate school. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at ssnider@usnews.com.
Patients with high-risk localized prostate cancer may get up to three years of hormone therapy, apparently putting them at substantial risk for depression. (Photo: Pixabay)

Men who take hormone therapy for prostate cancer may have a higher risk of depression than patients who receive different treatment for these malignancies, a U.S. study suggests.

Prostate cancer cells need testosterone to grow and spread. Researchers focused on a common treatment known as androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), which works by depriving tumor cells of testosterone. Side effects can include sexual dysfunction, weight gain and fatigue.

Patients with prostate cancer who received hormone therapy were 23 percent more likely to develop depression and 29 percent more likely to have inpatient psychiatric treatment than men who received alternative treatments, the study found. The take-home message is that the list of potential side effects of hormone therapy is continuing to grow, said senior study author Dr. Paul Nguyen of Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Any man with prostate cancer considering hormone therapy should find out from their doctor exactly how big the benefit is expected to be in their specific situation so they can weigh it against the list of possible side effects, Nguyen added by email. To explore the link between hormone therapy and depression, Nguyen and colleagues examined data on more than 78,000 men age 66 and older who were treated for prostate cancer from 1992 to 2006.

They followed men for three years, and excluded patients with psychiatric diagnoses in the year before they were diagnosed with tumors. Almost 45,000 men in the study received hormone therapy, and they tended to have more advanced disease. They were about 76 years old on average, about two years older than the typical age of the men who received different treatments.

From six months to three years after diagnosis, 7.1 percent of the men on hormone therapy had new cases of depression, compared with 5.2 percent of the others in the study. During this period, 2.8 percent of men on hormone therapy had inpatient psychiatric treatment, compared with 1.9 percent of their peers. In addition, 3.4 percent received outpatient psychiatric services, versus 2.5 percent of the other men.

One limitation of the study is that researchers didnt have data on drug treatments for depression, the authors note in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Its also possible that the older age or more advanced tumors of the men receiving hormone therapy might have influenced their odds of depression.

Side effects of hormone therapy such as fatigue, lower libido and sexual performance, and decreased muscle mass may also play a role, said Dr. Sumanta Pal of the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California.

Although its within reason to construe that hormone therapy may have a direct impact on the centers in the brain that control mood, its important to acknowledge that the side effects of hormone therapy may also contribute to the development of depression, Pal, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email.

Because the risk of depression rose with longer treatment, men who consider hormone therapy may want consider the duration of therapy when deciding whether the benefits are worth the potential side effects, Pal added.

Prostate cancers that carry a higher risk can either be managed with surgery alone or a combination of radiation with hormone therapy, Pal said. In the latter scenario, patients with high-risk localized prostate cancer may get up to three years of hormone therapy, apparently putting them at substantial risk for depression.
Nonfiction writer Gay Talese recently caused controversy by struggling to name which female writers have most inspired him. On Friday, New Yorks Ann Friedman responded by listing one good piece of nonfiction by a different woman writer published in every year since 1960, the year Esquire first published Talese. Her list includes three Atlantic pieces:

Martha Gellhorns The Arabs of Palestine from our October 1961 issue. (Several more of her Atlantic stories are compiled here.)

Elizabeth Vorenbergs The Biggest Pimp of All from our January 1977 issue. (The byline was shared with her husband, James.)

Penny Wolfsons Moonrise from our December 2001 issue.

Friedmans list also includes essays by Susan Orlean (Figures in a Mall), Samantha Power (Dying in Darfur), and Hanna Rosin (The Madness of Speaker Newt), all of whom have contributed to The Atlantic as well. For our May 2003 issue, Orlean wrote Carbonaro and Primavera, a travel piece about Cuba. For our September 2001 issue, Power wrote Bystanders to Genocide, based on a series of interviews about the Rwandan massacres, which begin 22 years ago last week. Rosin, our long-time national correspondent, has written dozens of articles for The Atlantic, most recently our December 2015 cover story, The Silicon Valley Suicides.

Recommended: The Problem With the True Canon

Friedmans list started in 1960, so we thought wed take a look at our deep archive for some notable nonfiction works by women:

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Most of our writings before 1960 have yet to be digitized, but thanks to Sage Stosselour cartoonist, contributing editor, and general keeper of Atlantic archival knowledgewe know about many other early contributors of nonfiction, including food writer M.F.K Fisher, playwright and screenwriter Lillian Hellman, aviator and Gift from the Sea author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, second-wave feminist pioneer Germaine Greer, and the choreographer and dancer Agnes de Mille (whom we recently noted for International Womens Day).

As Friedman says for her list, ours is just a start. So in the coming weeks, were planning to dig into our post-1960 archive to surface and digitize some of our best nonfiction writing by female writers and take a closer look at its diversity or lack thereof. If youre a long-time Atlantic reader and have any favorite pieces that left a big impression on you, please let us know: hello@theatlantic.com.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
The ever-increasing cost of health care is not only hurting workers financial security in the present, its also making it harder to reach financial goals in the future.

Nearly 70 percent of workers surveyed have seen their health care costs increase over the past two years, according to the 2016 Workplace Benefits Report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The report finds that among those who have experienced rising health care costs, more than three quarters are saving less for retirement, and 23 percent are saving significantly less.

Related: Could You Live on $7,000 a Year? Some Retired Baby Boomers May Have To

It appears that many workers are redirecting their money toward health savings accounts, with 46 percent of respondents saying theyve started contributing to or increased their contributions to such accounts. The percentage of employees participating in HSAs grew by almost 50 percent over the past two years.

While HSAs can be used as a retirement savings vehicle, more than half of workers who use one consider it a short-term fund to cover health care expenses now. Although HSAs can be rolled over year after year, 55 percent of workers usually spend their entire balance each year.

As they save less for retirement, workers financial anxiety is growing. Among those surveyed, 60 percent said they feel stressed about their financial futures, up from 50 percent in 2013.

They might be even more anxious if they know how much money theyll really need in retirement. Four in 10 workers think that theyll need less than $500,000 in assets at retirement.

Even a million dollar portfolio, however, would only generate $40,000 worth of annual income for a healthy couple retiring at 65. That may not cover expenses, since health care costs alone could cost that couple $400,000 over the course of their retirement.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Doha (AFP) - Bill Gates said Wednesday that "with any luck" polio will be eradicated by 2017 in the last two countries where it remains active, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Microsoft founder, who has donated billions to fight global diseases, was speaking in Doha at the official announcement of a $50 million donation from Qatar to "The Lives and Livelihood Fund".

This is a partnership fund between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), who together have been working to try to eradicate diseases, including polio, since 2012.

"There's very few cases left, just two countries at this point, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and with any luck either this year or next year we will have the last cases of those," Gates said.

Pakistan has already made it an official target to rid the country of polio -- an infectious viral disease resulting in muscle damage -- in 2016 though there have already been eight recorded cases so far this year.

Although these are the two countries where the disease remains endemic, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative calculates eight countries are "vulnerable" to the virus, including Cameroon, South Sudan and Syria.

The billionaire, who is the world's richest-man according to Forbes, is also well-known for his work in trying to combat malaria.

Earlier this year he announced the launch of a $4 billion fund to help eradicate malaria, which he called the "world's biggest killer".

The donation he received in Doha will go towards a fund seeking to provide affordable financing for the 30 least-wealthy countries among IDB members.

It aims to ease the burden for some of the world's poorest people through grants and Sharia-compliant loans.

Gates said the injection of cash from Qatar will enable the fund to begin its work.

"This is a great milestone for helping the poorest," he said. "Qatar has always been very generous as a donor."

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In total, the fund is trying to raise $2.5 billion.

The money has been donated by Doha through the Qatar Development Fund (QDF), a public body which distributes foreign aid.

The head of the QDF, Khalifa bin Jassim Al-Kuwari, said Qatar was "very interested in poverty reduction".

"We aim at launching several projects in the health sector, which will improve the quality of life for millions of people across the Muslim world," he said.

IDB president Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al Madani said help would go to those in war-torn regions, where possible.

"We try as much as we can to help the countries that suffers from conflicts depending on conditions," he said.

"If the conditions allow us to work, the Bank works."
By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Brazilian scientists studying possible links between birth defects and the mosquito-borne Zika virus have found that babies born with microcephaly have severe brain damage with a range of abnormalities. In a study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the researchers said their findings could not prove Zika causes microcephaly, but did confirm a link and pointed to potentially severe consequences for babies of mothers who become infected with the virus while pregnant. Microcephaly is a rare birth defect where a child is born with an abnormally small head. Since 2015, Brazil has reported thousands of suspected cases of the condition and linked them to a large and spreading outbreak of Zika virus infection. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared in February that the Zika outbreak and its links to microcephaly constitute an international public health emergency. Last month, WHO said there was now strong scientific consensus that the Zika virus can cause microcephaly. The WHO has also said Zika can cause Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis. For the research reported in the BMJ, a team of doctors from Recife, a city at the center of the Zika outbreak, and led by Professor Maria de Fatima Vasco Aragao, analyzed the types of abnormalities and lesions in brain scans of the first cases of microcephaly associated with the Zika virus in Brazil. The study involved 23 babies diagnosed with a congenital infection associated with the Zika virus. Of these, 15 had a computed tomography (CT) scan, seven had both CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and one had only a MRI scan. The scans showed the majority of babies had brain damage that was "extremely severe", the researchers said, "indicating a poor prognosis for neurological function". All babies who had a CT scan showed signs of brain calcification, a condition in which calcium builds up in the brain. The researchers said the hypothesis is that the Zika virus destroys brain cells, and forms lesions similar to "scars" on which calcium is deposited. Other findings included malformations of cortical development, decreased brain volume, and ventriculomegaly - a condition where the brain cavities are abnormally enlarged. The team also found underdevelopment of the cerebellum, which plays an important role in motor control, and the brainstem which connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord and communicates messages from the brain to the rest of the body. The babies studied were all born in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco between July and December 2015. (Editing by Grant McCool)
By Anthony Boadle and Alonso Soto BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said on Tuesday her vice president was orchestrating a conspiracy to topple her, as efforts to impeach the leftist leader gained momentum in Congress. Aided by her mentor and predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Rousseff scrambled to secure enough support from a dwindling array of allies to block impeachment in a lower house vote due on Sunday that analysts project she will lose. A congressional committee voted on Monday by a larger-than-expected margin to recommend that Rousseff be impeached for breaking budget laws to support her re-election in 2014, a charge Rousseff says was trumped up to remove her from office. Political risk consultancies estimate at 60 to 65 percent the odds of impeachment clearing the lower house, since the committee vote was expected to sway undecided lawmakers to join the opposition. While Rousseff fights for her political survival, her government is largely paralyzed as Brazil, the world's seventh-largest economy, struggles with a deep recession and its biggest-ever corruption scandal. "They now are conspiring openly, in the light of day, to destabilize a legitimately elected president," Rousseff said in a speech on Tuesday, referring to an audio message sent by Vice President Michel Temer to his supporters on Monday in which he called for a government of national unity to overcome Brazil's political crisis. The congressional committee's 38-27 decision was backed by Temer's PMDB party, formerly her main coalition ally. The party's defection last month greatly increased the likelihood the lower house will send her impeachment to the Senate. Temer would take over if the Senate agrees to suspend Rousseff and proceed with a trial against her. The rift between Rousseff and Temer reached breaking point on Monday after the audio message was released, which Temer said was unintentional. "The conspirators have been unmasked," Rousseff said in her speech. She did not mention Temer by name but cited the message as evidence of what she called an attempted "coup." In an interview broadcast on Globo News late on Tuesday, Temer responded to Rousseff's remarks saying he was ready to take the presidency. "If destiny takes me to that position... I will be ready." Looking relaxed and smiling, the vice president denied he'd been plotting against Rousseff and said he did not plan to resign if the lower house votes against impeachment. Aides say he has been preparing in case he has to replace her, so that he can restore confidence with a business-friendly agenda aimed at pulling the economy out of a tailspin. Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa canceled a trip to the International Monetary Fund's spring meetings in Washington to remain in Brasilia for Sunday's impeachment vote. In its World Economic Outlook on Tuesday, the IMF said Brazil's prolonged recession would be a drag on growth in Latin America for the next two years. COUNTING VOTE BY VOTE Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index soared almost 4 percent on Tuesday as investors warmed to the greater likelihood of a Rousseff impeachment, which they believe will improve the prospects of an economic recovery. Presidential aides said the government was on a razor's edge over Sunday's lower house vote, which will be organized by Rousseff's political arch-enemy, Speaker Eduardo Cunha. "We believe we have enough support, but it's very fluid and we are counting the votes day by day," an official in Rousseff's office said, on condition of anonymity. The aide said Lula, Brazil's most influential politician despite being the target of a graft probe, was leading talks with small parties that are wavering in their support for Rousseff and had offered them government jobs to secure crucial votes. Negotiations were not easy because they were also talking to Temer's camp, the aide said. Rousseff suffered a further blow later on Tuesday, as the centrist Progressive Party, or PP, left her government, saying it would abandon its ministerial roles. The party had been an important Rousseff ally and with 49 deputies in the lower house could decide which way Sunday's vote goes. The party's leader in the lower house, Aguinaldo Ribeiro, told reporters in Brasilia the majority of his party supported impeachment. At this point, Temer has more to offer than Rousseff, said Claudio Couto, a political scientist at the Fundacao Getulio Vargas think tank. "The undecided congressmen must be calculating whether to stay with a very weak government that can barely govern the country or bet on a future Temer government that will have more support," Couto said. Rousseff, whose popularity has crumbled during Brazil's recession and the corruption scandal surrounding state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, said her opponents were undermining Brazil's young democracy by seeking to cut her second term short without legal justification. "They intend to overthrow a president elected by more than 54 million voters," she said, adding that impeachment was aimed at rolling back social and economic advances for many Brazilians during the 13 years of government by her Workers' Party. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Alonso Soto; Editing by Tom Brown and Peter Cooney)
"I am treating serious and chronic diseases which have no cure in regular medicine, I have achieved excellent results," said an Egyptian-educated specialist in entomology and bees in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza: Rateb Samour sees 250 patients a day whose complaints range from hair loss to cerebral palsy and cancer. But he is not a doctor and has never worked in a hospital.

Samour inherited the skill of bee-sting therapy from his father, who used to raise bees. Then in 2003, the agricultural engineer started to dedicate all his time to studying and developing the alternative medicine treatment of apitherapy, which uses all bee-related products, including honey, propolis - or bee glue used to build hives - and venom.

"I am treating serious and chronic diseases which have no cure in regular medicine, I have achieved excellent results," said Samour, an Egyptian-educated specialist in entomology and bees in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave.

We speak about chondritis in the neck and spine, migraine, loss of hair, alopecia areata, skin diseases, cerebral palsy, autism and cancer," he said inside an apartment packed with patients on the edge of a beach refugee camp in Gaza City.

The 58-year-old Palestinian said he makes bees sting patients at certain points in their bodies that he has carefully studied. A bee dies after being made to sting.

"I have been subjected to doubts, but bee-sting therapy has proven itself as an excellent alternative medicine," he told Reuters. "Some doctors, who value the apitherapy for certain illnesses, are among my patients."

The Islamist-ruled Gaza is under blockade by neighboring Egypt and Israel, which restricts the movement of goods and people in and out of the territory. So Gaza lacks sophisticated medical equipment and has patchy access to medicines.

Seriously ill patients must travel to Israel, Egypt or beyond for specialist medical treatment.

Inside Samour's home, men and women wait their turn in separate rooms.

Alya Al-Ghafari, 10, has been suffering from facial palsy for over two years. Mainstream medicine was both expensive and less efficient than apitherapy, according to her father.

"Treatment by bee stings has been more effective than treatment by regular medicine but you need to be patient," said Saeed Al-Ghafari, a government employee. His daughter has been receiving treatment from Samour for nearly nine months.

"At the beginning my daughter felt pain but as time passed Alya felt she became better," said Ghafari. "Her face has become better and now she is the one who reminds us of the therapy sessions."

Muneera Al-Baba said her son Anas, who suffers from cerebral palsy, has made much more progress in a year and a half than he ever did using mainstream medicine, which also cost twice as much.

"Communication between me and him was disconnected," the 44-year-old mother told Reuters. "He lived in a world of his own, now he responds to me."
By Anthony Boadle and Maria Carolina Marcello BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff pledged on Wednesday to form a government of national unity if she survives an impeachment vote in Congress this weekend, but the odds of that lengthened as allies continued to desert her. A stream of defections from Rousseff's coalition makes it increasingly likely she will lose Sundays ballot in the lower house of Congress on whether she should face trial in the Senate over accusations she broke budget laws. Politicians have begun to flock this week to the residence of the man who would replace Rousseff if she is convicted, Vice President Michel Temer, to declare their support for him, his aides said. Business leaders have also come out in support of Temer who promises market-friendly policies and less government intervention to boost the world's seventh largest economy, hit by its worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In a major blow for Rousseff, the largest centrist party remaining in the government's coalition, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), instructed its members to vote for the president's impeachment. The party's leader in the lower house, Rogerio Rosso, told reporters on Wednesday evening the vast majority of the PSD's 38 deputies support Rousseff's ouster. The move comes on the heels of the defection on Tuesday of another crucial ally, the centrist Progressive Party, or PP. The party, with 49 members in the lower house, left her government and pulled its one minister from her cabinet. Meanwhile, the Republican Party and the smaller National Labor Party (PTN) were due to meet on Wednesday, but members said most of their fellow lawmakers would vote against Rousseff even as their leaders negotiated jobs offered by her government. "They are running away from all parties except her own Workers' Party and the Communist Party of Brazil. It's a herd mentality," a leader of Temer's Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) who is close to the vice president told Reuters. He said the PMDB, which quit Rousseff's coalition two weeks ago, projects impeachment will clear the lower house with 380 votes on Sunday. Temer said on Tuesday he was ready to form a transitional government with other parties to lead Brazil out of the political crisis, raising speculation he was already forming a shadow government. "Obviously, he will start thinking about a cabinet on Monday if the vote is for impeachment on Sunday," Temer's press spokesman Marcio de Freitas said.Battling for her political survival, Rousseff handed negotiations to win support against impeachment to her mentor and predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's most influential politician despite a corruption investigation that has hampered his efforts to save her government. "My first act after the vote in the lower house will be to propose a new pact among all the political forces, without winners of losers," Rousseff told Estado de S.Paulo newspaper in a briefing for local media. She voiced confidence that her supporters would deny the opposition the 342 votes, equivalent to two-thirds of the lower house, needed to send her impeachment to the Senate. ODDS OF IMPEACHMENT RISING Political risk consultancy Eurasia said Rousseff could still try to cobble together support from centrist parties, but it will be hard for her to stop the momentum for impeachment, with defections raising the odds of her removal to 70 percent from a previous estimate of 60 percent. Rousseff's opponents are 18 votes short of victory in the lower house, with 324 lawmakers backing impeachment and 124 opposed, and 65 undecided or declining to respond, according to a survey by the Estado de S.Paulo newspaper. The rift between Rousseff and her vice president reached breaking point on Monday over an audio message Temer sent his supporters calling for a government of national unity. Rousseff accused him of leading a conspiracy to overthrow her. In an interview with Globo News on Tuesday, Temer denied he was plotting to become president, calmly stating: "If destiny takes me to that position ... I will be ready." [L2N17F1AO] Temer's top economic adviser told Reuters that policies to gradually rebalance depleted public accounts, create jobs and raise income would be priorities for the vice president should he become the country's next leader. Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index <.BVSP> rose for a second consecutive day, closing up 2 percent on investor hopes a Rousseff impeachment will improve the prospects of an economic recovery. The CNT transport sector lobby on Wednesday declared its support for impeachment saying Rousseff's government was incapable of drawing the investment needed to restore growth and lacked the political support to pass needed reforms. In a letter to lawmakers, Brazil's most powerful industry lobby, the CNI, described the country's situation as "catastrophic" and blamed Rousseff's mistaken policies. "It's time for change," the letter seen by Reuters said. (Additional reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu and Alonso Soto; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Andrew Hay)
London (AFP) - From rigid corsets to barely-there nylon briefs, a new exhibition at London's Victoria and Albert Museum explores three centuries of underwear in Europe, focusing on Britain's relationship with its most intimate garments.

"Fashion and underwear are inextricably linked," Susanna Cordner, research assistant on the "Underwear" exhibition, told AFP.

"It's like the chicken and the egg, one influences the other and it's cyclical," she added.

The show, which opens Saturday, comprises more than 200 pieces and will run until March 2017.

The story begins in the 18th century with a look at the heavy undergarments of the time, made form natural fibres that allowed high-temperature washing and helped hygiene.

These were clamped in place by corsets that supported the bust and sculpted the silhouette, forming a solid base for dresses to be worn over.

One of the exhibition's centre-pieces -- a hand-made corset fashioned by an Englishwoman of modest means -- shows that such complex items were not confined to high-society, but had to be worn by all women for fear of upsetting moral sensibilities.

The show also reveals how men also used corsets and other garments to provide support while playing sport and to flatter the shape, but not nearly to the extent of the women of the age.

A copy of a silk corset from 1890 boasts a 48 centimetre (19 inch) waist, compared to today's average of 71 centimetres (28 inches), and led to warnings from doctors and calls to ditch the restrictive garment.

Other shape-defining garments on display include crinolines, the stiffened 19th-century petticoats that accentuated the hips and buttocks, but which had an unfortunate tendency to catch fire.

For men, a "jockstrap", originally introduced for cyclists in the United States in 1887, shows how underwear was used to enhance the male figure.

Modern-day smalls on show reveal the importance of new, lighter fabrics in helping to produce less restrictive garments that hug the figure in a more natural fashion and are easier to maintain.

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"Every period had different preoccupations and different technologies that they used to express those different times and styles," explained Cordner.

However, the second part of the exhibition shows how corsets have remained popular with designers such as Agent Provocateur, playing on the garment's erotic undertones.

Other highlights include long cotton drawers worn by Queen Victoria's mother, and flesh-coloured leggings decorated with a mirrored-glass fig leaf, designed by Vivienne Westwood.
By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's electoral watchdog has picked the "Vote Leave" group, backed by London Mayor Boris Johnson, to be the official "Out" campaign ahead of a referendum on June 23 on whether Britain should remain in the European Union. Wednesday's decision, which hands the group several advantages over rival "Out" campaigns including a higher spending limit, will pit Johnson against his party leader Prime Minister David Cameron, effective head of the "In" official campaign. The two main groups campaigning to leave the EU, one backed by the UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage and the other by several senior members of Cameron's Conservatives including his close friend and justice minister Michael Gove, had been involved in a bitter contest to win the designation. "After careful consideration, the commission decided that 'Vote Leave Ltd' better demonstrated that it has the structures in place to ensure the views of other campaigners are represented in the delivery of its campaign," the Electoral Commission said in a statement explaining why it had been chosen over rivals "Grassroots Out." Being lead campaigner brings with it a higher spending limit of 7 million pounds, free distribution of campaign materials to voters, campaign broadcasts and a grant of up to 600,000 pounds to be used for administrative costs. The battle for control and money at the top of the rival "Out" campaigns and their different visions of the fate of Britain outside the EU have threatened to hinder their effectiveness in what is set to be a tight contest. An ICM poll on Tuesday showed support for Britain leaving the bloc was running at 45 percent, three points ahead of the 'In' camp. UKIP's Farage and Grassroots Out both congratulated Vote Leave on the designation and said they would continue to campaign for "Out". But Leave.EU, which had been backing Grassroots Out for the designation, threatened to prolong the feud by saying it was considering contesting the decision. "There are a number of judgments according to the Electoral Commission's own criteria that do not make sense," said Arron Banks, co-founder of Leave.EU, a millionaire insurance tycoon who has helped bankroll the campaign for "Out". "If we are to avoid the most important vote of our lives being rigged then I feel duty bound to take this course of action." Non-lead campaigns are allowed to spend up to 700,000 pounds each on the referendum campaign, while UKIP can spend up to 4 million pounds. Earlier on Wednesday, Citi become the latest Wall Street bank to weigh in to the campaign to keep Britain inside the EU, by making a six-figure donation to the 'In' campaign, a source told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon and William James; editing by Stephen Addison)
HONG KONG (Reuters) - A 60-year-old British man who went missing for several weeks in late March, was confirmed to have been killed in China, the Hong Kong police said in a statement after being notified by Chinese authorities. Hilary St John Bower, who had worked as an English language instructor at the Polytechnic University in Hong Kong, had been dead for more than a week by the time he was reported missing on March 30, according to a police statement. "The victim was killed on the evening of March 22 in mainland China," the Hong Kong police said, after receiving notice from their Chinese counterparts. The police statement included no specifics, however, on how he was killed, a possible motive, or why it had taken so long to confirm Bower's death. Hong Kong media reported that Bower had a longtime girlfriend and a son in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, and had often travelled between the two places. The Chinese Public Security Bureau in Shenzhen said it had no information on the case, when contacted by Reuters. The Polytechnic University also gave no immediate response to inquiries about Bower. A British embassy representative said, "We are providing support to the family at this difficult time, and will remain in close contact with local authorities." The Hong Kong police are seeking further details from Chinese authorities and investigations are continuing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he had only just heard about the situation and did not know any other details. Bower had taught at the Polytechnic University since 1996, according to his profile on the university website. He had previously taught in China, South Korea, Thailand, Spain and Kuwait. Murders of foreigners are extremely rare in China, though the murder in 2011 of another British man, Neil Heywood triggered one of the country's biggest political scandals in decades. The wife of former top Chinese leader Bo Xilai was later convicted as Heywood's killer, leading to Bo's downfall and sentencing to life in prison in 2013 for corruption. (Reporting by Tris Pan and Kevin Dai; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; writing by James Pomfret; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK, India (Reuters) - Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took a jeep safari on Wednesday through an Indian national park that is home to two-thirds of the world's dwindling population of one-horned rhinos. Prince William and wife Kate, on a week-long tour of India and Bhutan, rode in an open-topped jeep through the Kaziranga National Park in the northeastern state of Assam, spotting a pair of rhinos in a lagoon, as well as water buffalo and swamp deer. The royal couple was keen to learn about efforts to combat poachers and how the wildlife affects villagers living near the park, spread across an area of 430 square km (165 sq miles). "We felt good when the prince came to the park. We are lucky to interact with the prince," said forest ranger Salim Ahmad, adding that William had asked about the problems faced in the park and anti-poaching efforts. The thick-skinned, one-horned Indian rhinoceros is one of five species in the world. Global conservation group WWF estimates that fewer than 3,000 of the animals survive today. They are found mostly in northeastern India, with a few hundred in neighboring Nepal. The rhinos in Kaziranga live in swamps, forests and tall thickets of elephant grass, where poachers hide before trapping them with poison, or just shooting them dead. William and Kate have already visited the Indian capital, New Delhi and the financial hub, Mumbai. They travel to the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan on Thursday, before returning on Saturday to India's Taj Mahal - famously visited alone by his late mother, Princess Diana, in 1992. (Reporting by Reuters Television; Editing by Douglas Busvine)
Hong Kong (AFP) - A British lecturer who taught in Hong Kong has been found dead in mainland China and was "possibly" murdered, police said, with fears his disappearance three weeks ago was linked to a million-dollar property deal.

Local media reported Hilary Bower, 60, had been murdered, but Hong Kong police would confirm only that he had been killed.

Bower worked at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and lived across the border in the southern mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen, commuting between the two places.

He lived with his girlfriend and six-year-old son, according to reports.

Hong Kong police said on Wednesday they had received notification from mainland authorities that Bower had been killed in China.

There were no further details given about where he was found or how he died.

"Police have received notification from mainland relevant authorities that he was killed on the night of March 22," a Hong Kong police statement said.

A police source told AFP it was "possibly a murder" but there had been no confirmation from mainland counterparts.

Bower was last seen on March 21, Hong Kong police said, adding that he had crossed from Hong Kong into the mainland.

Local reports said Bower was last spotted at a land border checkpoint.

His girlfriend reported him missing at a police station in Hong Kong on March 30, the police statement said.

A UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said: "We are providing assistance to the family of a British national reported missing in southern China and are urgently seeking further information from local authorities."

A friend of Bower criticised police on both sides of the border for their handling of the case.

Richard Charles described them as "shoddy and shambolic", the South China Morning Post reported.

"I find it unbelievable that Hilary's friends and colleagues have had to find out from the media about this. We are in shock and are extremely upset," said Charles.

Charles also said he believed there may be a link between Bower's disappearance and a recent property sale for which Bower was due to receive HK$9 million ($1.2 million), the SCMP reported.

Bower was an English language instructor at the university and had also taught in China, South Korea, Thailand, Spain and Kuwait, according to his personal homepage on the university website.
Paris (AFP) - Brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, the suicide bombers who hit Brussels last month, obtained the weapons and explosives for those attacks and for November's carnage in Paris, the Islamic State (IS) group said Wednesday.

The English-language edition of the jihadist group's magazine Dabiq says of Khalid El Bakraoui: "All preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels started with him and his older brother Ibrahim.

"These two brothers gathered the weapons and the explosives."

If the group's claim is proven, it would mean the brothers played a more prominent role in the Paris attacks than previously thought.

The magazine also says Najim Laachraoui, who blew himself up with Ibrahim El Bakraoui in Brussels' Zaventem airport, had prepared the explosives for the attacks in Brussels and Paris.

Khalid El Bakraoui detonated his explosive suicide vest on a crowded metro train in the attacks which killed a total of 32 people in the Belgian capital.

IS gunmen and bombers killed 130 people in Paris on November 13 in attacks on bars and restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium.

The latest edition of IS's magazine also paid tribute to Mohamed Belkaid, an Algerian who was shot dead in a police raid in Brussels during which other suspects escaped six days before the attacks on the city.

Dabiq said that although Belkaid could have escaped, "he decided to make this his final stand and to ensure his brothers a safe exit".
Due to potential problems with fuel gauges, battery connections and jacking points hypercar maker Bugatti is taking no chances.

The company has stressed that the three separate issues - each of which is triggering an individual recall - have not caused any accidents or inconvenience to any of the 450 individuals lucky enough to own the multi-million-dollar vehicle.

But when a car is as exclusive and expensive as a Veyron, one expects perfection.

The biggest single recall - affecting 87 Veyrons built between 2006-2010 - is due to potential corrosion to the aluminium jacking plates under the car.

The second is potentially more embarrassing considering how quickly the car drinks fuel when driven at top speed. As many as 72 cars could have a faulty fuel gauge that says there's gas in the tank when there isn't.

The third, affecting just 13 2006-2008 models is for a replacement battery cable.
By Patrick Nduwimana KIGALI (Reuters) - Burundi's tax revenues fell 10.3 percent in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the same period last year, reflecting in part continued political unrest, the central African country's revenue authority said on Wednesday. A poor nation that relies heavily on coffee and tea exports, Burundi has been gripped by intermittent violence since April last year, when President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to seek a third term in office. He won a disputed poll in July last year. According to the countrys revenue authority OBR, collections in the January-March period were down to 149.6 billion francs ($97.78 million), from 166.7 billion francs it received in the same period in 2015. In a report, OBR also said the 2016 first quarter revenues fell below its target for the period, which stood at 151 billion francs. This underperformance is partly due to the political and security crisis that started in April 2015 until today," OBR said in a report issued at a press conference. Nkurunziza's opponents say his third term bid broke the countrys constitution and a peace pact, both limiting presidential terms to two. However, the president and his supporters cite a constitutional court ruling that said he could run. More than 400 people have already died in the violence that has also forced over 250,000 to seek refuge in neighboring countries. (This version of the story corrects tax collections period in paragraph 4 to January-March instead of January) (Reporting by Patrick Nduwimana; editing by Elias Biryabarema and Ralph Boulton)
By Patrick Nduwimana KIGALI (Reuters) - Burundi's tax revenues fell 10.3 percent in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the same period last year, reflecting in part continued political unrest, the central African country's revenue authority said on Wednesday. A poor nation that relies heavily on coffee and tea exports, Burundi has been gripped by intermittent violence since April last year, when President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to seek a third term in office. He won a disputed poll in July last year. According to the countrys revenue authority OBR, collections in the January-March period were down to 149.6 billion francs ($97.78 million), from 166.7 billion francs it received in the same period in 2015. In a report, OBR also said the 2016 first quarter revenues fell below its target for the period, which stood at 151 billion francs. This underperformance is partly due to the political and security crisis that started in April 2015 until today," OBR said in a report issued at a press conference. Nkurunziza's opponents say his third term bid broke the countrys constitution and a peace pact, both limiting presidential terms to two. However, the president and his supporters cite a constitutional court ruling that said he could run. More than 400 people have already died in the violence that has also forced over 250,000 to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. ($1 = 1,530.0000 Burundi francs) (Reporting by Patrick Nduwimana; editing by Elias Biryabarema and Ralph Boulton)
The rising incidence of Caesarean sections is a cause for concern as the World Health Organisation has recommended that it must not be more than 10 per cent in the country. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: Telangana state tops in C-sections in the country with 74.9 per cent of such cases reported in private hospitals and 40.6 per cent of cases in the public sector according to the recently concluded National Family Health Survey-4.

Karminagar and Nalgonda districts have reported 63 and 68 per cent C-Sections in the private sector while Hyderabad had 40 per cent.

The rising incidence of Caesarean sections is a cause for concern as the World Health Organisation has recommended that it must not be more than 10 per cent in the country.

Dr Dinesh Baswal, Deputy Commissioner of Maternal Health, Union health ministry, said, C-section is for women who need it due to medical indications. But we have seen a lot of social causes leading to a rise in C-sections where astrologers time and date are being considered for the birth of the child. This is a disturbing trend.

Dr Buddha Prakash, commissioner of health and family welfare, Telangana state, explained, We have to take an audit of the records of private hospitals and understand why these C-sections were done.
At least 19 people including two children were killed in a collision between a passenger bus and a truck in Pakistan early on Wednesday, officials said.

The accident took place near the town of Theekriwala in Punjab province due to "speeding and reckless driving", senior police official Afzaal Ahmed Khosa told AFP.

"Nineteen passengers including two women and two children were killed," Khosa said.

Dr Naeem Hashmi, who works at the Allied Hospital in nearby Faisalabad city, said 15 injured people were being treated in the emergency department. Two of them were in a serious condition.

Pakistan has an appalling road safety record due to poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

More than 4,600 people were killed in road traffic accidents in 2013, the last year the government released official data.
With farmers market season upon us, anyone looking for extra incentive to get up early on Saturday to check out the organic offerings from local growers might want to take a gander at the Environmental Working Groups Dirty Dozen, the organizations annual roundup of conventionally grown produce most likely to be contaminated with pesticides.

And that pluralpesticidesis no joke: Despite growing consumer demand for healthier, more sustainably grown food, many samples of the most contaminated produce tested positive for residues from not one but two or more chemical pesticides. A single sample of strawberries contained residues from a whopping 17 different pesticides.

The EWGs new list, released Tuesday, is based on tests conducted in 2014 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on close to 7,000 samples. While nearly three-quarters of those samples contained residue from at least one pesticide, the advocacy group crunched the numbers to once again come up with its list of the dozen different fruits and veggies that chemical-conscious consumers should be most wary of. So, without further ado

1. Strawberries

2. Apples

3. Nectarines

4. Peaches

5. Celery

6. Grapes

7. Cherries

8. Spinach

9. Tomatoes

10. Sweet bell peppers

11. Cherry tomatoes

12. Cucumbers

This year, the group awarded what might be called two dishonorable mentions as well, or what the EWG categorizes as Dirty Dozen Plus. Neither hot peppers nor leafy greens (including kale and collard greens) technically meets the groups criteria for the Dirty Dozen, but both types of produce were shown to be frequently contaminated with pesticides that are considered to be particularly toxic.

No doubt responding to past criticism that such lists are liable to scare shoppers to steer clear of the produce aisle altogether, the EWG takes pains to point out that the health benefits of consuming at least three recommended servings of vegetables per day and two of fruit far outweigh the risk of eating pesticide-laced produce. Nevertheless, federal regulations governing pesticide use remain far less stringent than what many independent experts believe would adequately protect public health, with tolerance levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency based on exposures that could cause injury in a worker-related incidentand do not protect against the potential health risks attributed to low-level pesticide exposures, such as cancer, hormone disruption, and neurological development problems in children. As the EWG put it: Some liken pesticide tolerances to a 500 mph speed limit. If the rules of the road are so loose that its impossible to violate them, then nobody can feel safe.

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In the absence of stronger federal safeguards against pesticide abuse, the EWGs Dirty Dozen list and its companion Clean Fifteen list of relatively pesticide-free fruits and vegetables continues to provide shoppers with the kind of transparency and information with which to make the educated choices consumers increasingly want.

No, not even me, who writes about this sort of thing for a living, buys all organic all the time. But Ive long carried the EWGs list around in my head, opting to spend a bit more, say, for strawberries that are organically grown (and thus pesticide free) while settling for conventionally grown onionsnumber six on the EWGs Clean Fifteenso as not to break the bank. Although I do love those sweet yellow onions at my local farmers market...

Sign the Petition: EPA Must Get Serious About Protecting Bees From Toxic Pesticides

Related stories on TakePart:





 The Dirty Dozen: 12 Foods You Should Always Buy Organic

 About Those Food Additives: The Dirty Dozen Goes Beyond Produce

 Lawsuit Demands EPA Call a Pesticide a Pesticide

Original article from TakePart
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two northern California teens have been arrested and accused of a hate crime after sending a threatening video that showed a noose and gun to a black high school classmate by social media, authorities said on Tuesday.

The two 16-year-old suspects, who were not identified, were booked into Stanislaus County Juvenile Hall on Monday on suspicion of making terrorist threats, committing a hate crime and criminal conspiracy, the Modesto Police Department said in a statement.

"[The video] had overtones of being racially related that resulted in the hate crime charge," Modesto police captain Brian Findlen said.

One of the suspects, who is white, can be seen in the video with a noose around his neck as he references the victim and a gun is fired, according to police.

The suspects and the victim are all students at Central Catholic High School, a private school some 85 miles east of San Francisco.

School spokeswoman Missy Lucas said the two suspects had been suspended until the school's discipline review board makes a determination on their cases.

Lucas said the school, which is 5 percent African American and 40 percent white, had not seen any similar events or threats at the school in recent years.

A supervisor at the juvenile facility said on Tuesday that she could not release any details on the suspects.

Police said they began investigating the video after it was reported to the department last Tuesday. Findlen declined to provide additional details on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Ill have a caramelized honey latte, and my friend wants something cold with soy. What do you do in soy? the woman three people in front of me says. The last guy ordered three cappuccinos, and the kid in front of me has a list. Im here at 8 a.m. for filter coffee, but Im already wide awake  and thinking get the fuck outta my way.

My love affair with coffee began in Paris, where a friend insisted I try a noisette. This clove cigarette of coffees, called hazelnut  for the color, not the taste  is a delicious shot of espresso mixed with hot milk, and just as Djarums draw teens to smoking, le cafe noisette lured me to endless cafe pitstops. My needs have simplified to quick hits of filtered brew or, occasionally, an Americano, and yet Im finding it takes longer to queue and get a cuppa at most chains than it does to sit, order and people watch in Paris. So heres my plea to cafes: Give me a plain old coffee express line please! Itll reform coffee chain culture, enabling everyone to get their morning jolts faster  without contemplating violence.

Folks come in, put money in a jar, fill their cup and get on their way.

The fact that were tired of waiting isnt news to chains, which is why were starting to see solutions to ease our pain. Starbucks, for example, now offers Mobile Order & Pay, enabling the caffeine-starved to place orders before heading out and pick them up at their preferred location without waiting. Apps like Order, by Square, also offer this kind of new-age access from certain chains. Mobile ordering, a Starbucks spokesperson says, aims to design an experience that is reflective of customers moving throughout their day.

But what is the spontaneous coffee drinker to do? Some chains offer express formats, where small, sleek stores cater to morning commuters with a limited menu. Starbucks, for example, opened its first one in the Big Apple last April and has added a few more locations, plus one in Canada. Caffe Nero, in the U.K., similarly offers smaller kiosks at transport hubs. Theyre set up to whip through the line quicker, according to a London spokeswoman. Tim Hortons experiments with them in some locations during peak hours  a service determined by the independent restaurant owner based on specific peak periods, their spokesperson says. Some independents have gone this route too. La Stazione, located near a transport link in San Francisco, goes a step further for quick-drip brew drinkers: Folks come in, put money in a jar, fill their cup and get on their way, says owner Alex Goretsky. (Quick, but maybe not feasible for big corporations.)

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My local chain baristas tell me its roughly 60/40 in favor of the fancier stuff versus filter coffee. But they also point out that only one barista can run a machine at a time, that a filter-brew self-service machine would be expensive and that their aim is to serve customers quickly anyway. Neros spokesperson agrees, noting that an express line goes against our values, because it would undermine the companys mission to make every line quick.

I still say express beverage lines are better. What the best cafes have in common is the acknowledgment that folks want their morning brew, quick and easy, and without waiting for 20 minutes behind a lady whos now asking about caramel, ice and soy. I take one last glance at the kids list in front of me, turn and leave.

Related Articles
Yaounde (AFP) - Authorities in Cameroon on Monday poured doubt on a would-be suicide bomber's claim that she is one of the 276 Nigerian school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram jihadists in 2014.

"We don't think that she was one of the girls (kidnapped) from Chibok," an administration official who requested anonymity told AFP, citing inconsistencies over her apparent age.

The girl in question is one of two would-be suicide bombers arrested in northern Cameroon on Friday wearing 12-kilogramme (26-pound) explosives belts.

Less than a month before the second anniversary of the brazen kidnapping which shook the world, 219 students from the northern Nigerian town of Chibok remain missing and there are few signs that the government is making progress on finding and securing their release.

Nigeria is planning to send a delegation, including Chibok parents, to Cameroon to meet the girl, and the presidency said late Monday that people from the town were being shown her photograph to see if they recognised her.

"The girl was found to be heavily drugged and bore several injuries on her body. The girl's health condition had delayed her movement to the far north regional capital of Cameroon, Maroua, as earlier planned," the presidency said.

"Pictures of the arrested suspected bomber obtained by Nigerian officials indicated that the girl was likely a minor, between ages nine to 12 years," the statement added.

The "Bring Back Our Girls" advocacy group said that the youngest of those kidnapped in 2014 was 16 years old at the time.

The Nigerian presidency continued: "Considering the well-known guidelines regarding the publication of photography of minors, we have decided to forward the pictures of the suspected bomber to the Murtala Muhammed Foundation (a non-profit) for verification by interested Chibok community stakeholders."

- Bombers 'often drugged' -

Boko Haram has carried out suicide bombings often using girls as part of its armed campaign to establish an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

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Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of Cameroon's North Region had already on Saturday voiced doubts about the claim by one of the two girls arrested that she had been part of the mass kidnapping.

"We are treating this statement with caution," he said, adding that such would-be attackers "are often drugged and can say anything".

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's spokesman Garba Shehu on Sunday echoed those doubts, noting that the girl appeared too young to be one of the kidnapped girls.

The Nigerian presidency said Monday that the girl's accomplice appeared to be in her thirties, after earlier reports that the other bomber was also aged around ten. Both spoke the local Kanuri language.

Boko Haram has suffered substantial setbacks in recent months in the face of a counteroffensive by national armies from the region.

At least 17,000 people have been killed since Boko Haram launched an insurgency in 2009 to carve out an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.

More than 2.6 million people have fled their homes since the start of the violence but some of the internally displaced have returned home after troops began the fight-back last year and recaptured territory.

A regional force involving troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin is to deploy to fight the Islamists.
Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium poppy.

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysians eating cakes containing poppy seeds may end up in jail as the tiny kidney- shaped ingredient is illegal in the country, a senior official today said.

City Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department chief Wan Abdullah Ishak warned consumers that if found positive for drugs after eating cakes containing Khus Khus, they could be charged in court.

"If they are subjected to a urine test and found positive for drugs, they will be detained. They can be charged under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which carries a maximum of two years' jail or (USD 1285) fine for taking drugs," he said. Poppy seeds, used as food ingredients in India, Europe and the Middle East, is illegal in Malaysia.

According to Mr Ishak, police had detected cases where poppy seeds, illegal to consume in Malaysia, were added to cakes, allegedly to boost sale.

"Even with possession of less than five grams of ganja from the poppy plant, is an offence which carries a maximum five years' jail and fine on conviction," he warned.

Mr Ishak said police conducted drug screening on the poppy seeds found in the suspected cakes and found them to be positive for morphine.

"We found that Lemon poppy seed cakes were sold openly. The buyer after consuming a large portion would feel a sense of high or euphoria," he said.

Mr Ishak said police would also carry out further tests at the Malaysian Chemistry Department to confirm that drugs were really present in such cakes.

Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium poppy. The tiny kidney-shaped seeds are used as an ingredient in many foods. They also produce poppyseed oil.
Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's Liberal government refused to back down Wednesday in the face of growing criticism for having greenlit arms sales to Saudi Arabia that could help it wage war in Yemen.

A previous Conservative administration announced the $12 billion sale of light armored vehicles in February 2014.

However, the Conservatives are now raising alarms over the arms sale -- believed to be the largest in Canadian history -- while the New Democratic Party (NDP) accused the Liberals of misleading Canadians.

The Liberals have refused to cancel the sale since coming to power in November, saying it was a "done deal" that could not be broken off without possibly incurring significant penalties and job losses.

But documents released this week by the justice department in response to a lawsuit seeking to block the deal showed Foreign Minister Stephane Dion signed crucial export permits only last Friday.

Canadian media published excerpts saying Dion was advised that the sale of the vehicles equipped with machine guns and anti-tank weapons would help Riyadh in its efforts at "countering instability in Yemen" and fighting the Islamic State group.

In a retort to critics, Dion said Wednesday that similar weapons systems sold to Saudi Arabia since 1993 had been used responsibly.

"The best and updated information indicates that Saudi Arabia has not misused the equipment to violate human rights," he told reporters. "Nor has the equipment been used in a manner contrary to the strategic interests of Canada and its allies."

But Conservative MP Tony Clement said Canada's export controls do not require firm evidence of breaches, only an assessment of a risk of abuse.

"If the preponderance of the evidence is that it could be used against civilian populations... then the deal has to be off," he said.

NDP leader Thomas Mulcair joined the fray saying, "the government lied to Canadians about who signed what when in the Saudi arms deal, and that is a very serious matter."

Fighting in Yemen has killed almost 6,300 people, half of them civilians, since Saudi Arabia launched its controversial intervention against Iranian-backed Huthi rebels in March last year, the World Health Organization says.
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's Social Democratic Party (PSD), the largest centrist party remaining in President Dilma Rousseff's coalition, instructed its members in the lower house of Congress to vote for her impeachment on Sunday, a party leader said on Wednesday. In another blow to the chances of Rousseff blocking impeachment on charges of breaking budget laws, the PSD's leader in the chamber, Rogerio Rosso, told reporters that a vast majority of the party's 38 lower house members back impeachment. It was up to the party's sole minister in Rousseff's cabinet, Minister of Cities Gilberto Kassab, to decide whether to resign his post or not, Rosso said. (Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello; Editing by Fiona Ortiz)
By Sebastien Malo

NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A Southern California couple accused of forcing an Indonesian woman to work as an unpaid live-in maid are victims of "cultural confusion," their attorney said on Wednesday.

The case against Firas Majeed and Shatha Abbas, who are originally from Iraq, stems from misunderstandings due to money and language differences among the immigrants, defense attorney Douglas Brown told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Majeed, 44, and Abbas, 38, were arrested this month on charges they forced their housekeeper to work up to 18 hours a day without pay in their San Diego-area apartment.

"All the people involved are poor, there are least three languages involved - Bahasa Indonesian, Arabic and English - and there are cultural differences among the parties," Brown said.

"So it's a confusing scenario for all of them," he said.

The housekeeper was removed from the couple's home by agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after she slipped a hand-written note to a visiting nurse in March, according to court documents.

The note said she was being abused, and it asked for help, according to the documents.

Majeed and Abbas, who face federal charges of forced labor, trafficking and document servitude, entered pleas of not guilty last week in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

The housekeeper told authorities that since arriving in the United States in November, she had been forbidden to leave the apartment on her own except to take out the trash.

Although doors were not locked, she said she did not run away because she did not speak English and did not know where to go. Her alleged captors took away her passport, she said.

The woman said she came to the United States from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, where she also was a victim of forced labor, according to documents.

In the Middle East, she said she worked 20-hour days, seven days a week, as an unpaid housekeeper, under lock and key for five years.

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Her alleged captors in Dubai and the United States were members of the same family, she told authorities.

She had been recruited by an employment agency in Indonesia in 2010, she said.

Majeed and Abbas, who live with their two children and extended family, could be indicted this week or next, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Tenorio said.

If convicted, they each face the possibility of up to 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines, the prosecutor said.

U.S. authorities "will not tolerate any form of human exploitation," said Dave Shaw, special agent with Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego.

"Forced labor, which often involves individuals who are held in isolation, degraded, and most alarming, stripped of their basic human freedom, has no place in a modern society," he said in a statement.

(Reporting by Sebastien Malo, Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst. 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)
There are times when you lose faith in humanity, while at times some people never fail to surprise you and prove that there is still good in this world. A similar incident took place in Manchester, UK, where a pilot cancelled the take off so that an elderly couple could meet their dying grandson.

The couple were flying to Australia via Abu Dhabi when they received a text message about their grandson being admitted to the ICU. The couple were already on the flight and were about to switch off their phone when they saw a missed call from their son-in-law.

They were taxiing on the runway when they got the text message saying their grandson was in intensive care and they needed to get there. They passed the message to the crew, who spoke to the captain and he turned the plane back, told Becky Stephenson, a travel agent from Bradford, to Independent.UK. The passengers travelling on the flight were her client.

The pilot turned the plane back to the boarding gate and the crew helped the couple with her language and assisted them back to the airport. Their grandchild died on 31st March, the day the couple was supposed to arrive in Australia.

The couple however thanked and were grateful that they got the chance to meet their grandson one last time.

They never in a million years expected to the crew to go so far for them. You shudder to think what would have happened if they hadnt been able to get off the plane, Stephenson said.

The travel agent posted a post on a Facebook group thanking the pilot and the airlines and the pilot was praised by everyone.

(Photo: TravelMole)

Eithad airlines is however giving the couple an option to reuse their ticket to fly to Australia for a future trip.
After leaving fans with half a dozen story threads to ponder over at the end of last season, HBO has done a pretty good job of supplying Game of Thrones fans with trailers and clips to keep them occupied in the weeks leading up to season six.

That trend continued on Wednesday when the official Game of Thrones Facebook page shared an incredible 360-degree recreation of the famous opening credits sequence, filled with easter eggs for fans of the show.

SEE ALSO: Watch Jimmy Fallon and Amy Schumer explain embarrassing photos on their phones

According to Entertainment Weekly, HBO partnered with Facebook, Oculus and the original designers of the credits sequence, Elastic, in order to bring this video to life. Sadly, the first episode of season six doesn't begin immediately after the video ends, but it should give fans a new perspective on the world of the show.

As for what we know about the first episode of season six, we collected all of that into a single post last week. If you can't be bothered to read it, all you really need to know is that it's called "The Red Woman," Cersei and Daenerys will be featured heavily and Jon Snow's body will make an appearance.

We even got to see a few clips from the season this week, which you can find at this link. But before you do that, be sure to check out the 360-degree video below:

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More from BGR: The stupidest thing Sprint has done in a long, long time

This article was originally published on BGR.com
By Justin Madden

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel got his way on Wednesday when the city council approved his choice to lead a police department that faces a federal investigation and racism accusations.

The council unanimously approved Emanuel's candidate, Eddie Johnson, two weeks after he was named interim chief in a bid to rebuild the city's trust in police.

"Well, we can strike the word interim," Emanuel, looking at Johnson, said immediately following the council vote.

The tarnished image of Chicago's police has been a political liability for Emanuel, who defied calls to resign last year after days of protests over a white officer's fatal shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald, after video of the 2014 shooting was released.

That case was one of numerous fatal police shootings of unarmed African-Americans across the United States that have stirred outrage and raised questions of racial bias in policing.

In picking Johnson, Emanuel rejected recommendations by a civilian board. The council moved to change the official selection process so Emanuel would not have to wait to select Johnson, a 55-year-old former head of the department's patrol division.

Johnson, who is black, takes over as police superintendent immediately and will deal with ongoing public unrest over the police. After the Monday shooting by police of a 16-year-old black male, police arrested two people at a Tuesday protest rally.

Also on Wednesday, the council approved payments totaling $6.45 million to settle cases involving two black men who died while in police custody.

A task force set up by Emanuel has urged the Chicago police to acknowledge its racist past and change how they handle allegation of excessive force, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Emanuel said Johnson can help change things, however.

"You have the command, you have the character and also the capacity to lead the department of the city of Chicago at this time," Emanuel said after he and the council gave Johnson a standing ovation.

The previous superintendent, Garry McCarthy, was fired amid public outrage that the city delayed for more than a year the release of the McDonald video, which led to first-degree murder charges against the officer. In the aftermath of protests, the U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation into Chicago police shootings.

(Reporting by Justin Madden, Editing by Ben Klayman and Steve Orlofsky)
By Justin Madden

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Chicago Police Department is not doing enough to combat racial bias among officers or to protect the human and civil rights of city residents, a task force set up by the mayor said in a report on Wednesday.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel created the panel after days of street protests triggered by video of the fatal shooting in 2014 of black teenager Laquan McDonald by a white police officer.

Describing McDonald's death as a "tipping point," the task force said community outrage had given voice to long-simmering anger over police department actions that included physical and verbal abuse.

"The deaths of numerous men and women of color whose lives came to an end solely because of an encounter with CPD (Chicago Police Department) became a rallying cry," the task force wrote in the report, which was seen by Reuters.

"Far too many of our residents are at daily risk of being caught up in a cycle of policing that deprives them of their basic human rights."

Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the department has not received recommendations from the task force, but that the superintendent was awaiting its findings.

The task force said the department's own data supported the view among residents that it had "no regard to the sanctity of life" when it came to people of color.

The task force noted that of 404 police shootings between 2008 and 2015, 74 percent involved African Americans being shot or killed, 14 percent involved Hispanics, 8 percent involved whites, and 0.25 percent involved Asians.

The task force said police used Taser stun guns on suspects in about the same proportions and that African Americans were disproportionately subjected to traffic stops.

"The community's lack of trust in CPD is justified," the report said.

The report recommended creating a community safety oversight board and for the police superintendent to acknowledge publicly the CPD's history of discrimination and make a commitment to cultural change.It also called for the Independent Police Review Authority, which reviews misconduct cases, to be replaced with a civilian police board.

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"The candor reflected in the Task Force report is refreshing," Chicago Urban League President Shari Runner said in a statement. "The fact remains that the complete implementation of its recommendations requires faith in a system that has not proven worthy."

"It also requires a mayor and a police department that feel compelled to make hard choices," Runner said.

"It remains to be seen if the collective will of the people will move Mayor Emanuel to enact the Task Forces recommendations with the sense of urgency that the issues before us require.

(Reporting by Justin Madden; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Toni Reinhold)
China said Wednesday that it has detained 202 people for their role in an out-of-date immunisations scandal that has fuelled public outrage.

It is the latest health and safety scandal to emerge in China, where 300,000 children fell ill, six of them dying, in a notorious 2008 case involving milk powder contaminated with melamine.

The immunisations case involves the illegal and improper storage, transport and sale of tens of millions of dollars' worth of vaccines -- many of them expired -- reports say.

The State Council, China's cabinet, said 357 government officials have also been fired or demoted in connection with the scandal, according to a statement on its website.

Premier Li Keqiang heard a report on the progress of investigations into the matter during a regular meeting of the group, it said.

Public fury erupted over authorities' delay in publicising the case, which only came to light last month despite the two key suspects, a mother and daughter from Shandong province in eastern China, being arrested in April 2015.

From 2010, the two main suspects illegally sold 25 different kinds of expired or improperly stored vaccines worth more than 570 million yuan ($88 million), the official Xinhua news agency reported previously.

They included shots for polio, rabies, hepatitis B and flu for both children and adults, Caijing magazine said, citing drug safety officials.
China's growth slowed further in the first three months of this year, economists polled by AFP forecast, even as authorities step up policy support for the world's second-largest economy.

Gross domestic product (GDP) rose 6.7 percent year-on-year in January-March, according to the median projection in a survey of 19 economists, down marginally from 6.8 percent in the previous three months.

The government is scheduled to announce its first-quarter growth figures on Friday.

China is a key driver of global growth and its shipments of finished goods, along with its demand for the resources to manufacture them, affect nations across the world.

Expansion in the Asian powerhouse slowed to 6.9 percent for all of last year -- its weakest in a quarter of a century -- as it grapples with a difficult transition from dependence on heavy state investment and cheap exports to consumer-driven growth.

Growth will further weaken this year, the survey projected, with a median prediction of 6.6 percent for 2016 -- towards the bottom of the government's target range of 6.5-7.0 percent.

Concerns over the Chinese economy have roiled global markets while ratings agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's last month lowered their outlooks on the country's sovereign bonds.

China was experiencing a "continued downward grind in industry and construction", Brian Jackson, Beijing-based China economist at IHS Global Insight, told AFP.

The stock market boom in the first half of 2015 -- before the bubble burst in spectacular fashion -- would also drag on the figures, he added.

"Last year, China got a big boost from finance," he said. "This year, the year-on-year comparisons are going to be quite unfavourable."

But in recent weeks there have been signs of recovery following government fiscal and monetary loosening measures, analysts said.

China's central bank last month cut the proportion of funds lenders must set aside as reserves, in an attempt to tackle slowing growth.

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And in early February it lowered the minimum mortgage down-payment in some cities to 20 percent from 25 percent, days before the finance ministry cut taxes on property purchases. The move came as the government sought to reduce a supply glut in the key real estate sector -- which is crucial to industries such as steel and cement.

Real estate sales have been recovering, with new home prices in 100 major Chinese cities rising 7.41 percent year-on-year in March on average, accelerating from an increase of 5.25 percent in February and 4.37 percent in January, figures from the China Index Academy showed.

Chinese manufacturing activity also expanded in March for the first time since mid-2015, while on Wednesday data showed exports soared 11.5 percent in March, beating expectations.

"It seems like the economy showed signs of stabilisation in March because the government loosened fiscal policy more than we expected," said Wendy Chen, a Shanghai-based economist with Nomura International, told AFP.

- Fear of layoffs -

Reflecting improving sentiment, China's foreign exchange reserves rose $10.3 billion to $3.21 trillion at the end of March, reversing four months of decline as the flood of money leaving the country eased.

Wang Tao, a Hong Kong-based economist at UBS, said in a research note that Beijing's recent moves "underscored policymakers' determination to use as much policy support as needed to prevent a sharper slowdown and achieve its above 6.5-percent GDP growth target".

Increasing prosperity is a key part of the Communist Party's claim to legitimacy in China, and authorities are keen to avoid the social unrest that could accompany large-scale unemployment.

Worries over joblessness have been mounting this year after the government said it would lay off around 1.8 million workers in the steel and coal sectors as it seeks to restructure lumbering state-owned enterprises.

Thousands of workers at a northeastern coal mine went on strike last month over months of unpaid wages.

Shen Jianguang, an economist with Mizuho Securities Asia in Hong Kong, said authorities were loosening policy to try to avert mass unemployment.

"Overcapacity, without stimulus, could turn into (factory) shutdowns and layoffs," he told AFP.

Analysts cautioned recent positive signs were mainly driven by government interventions and uncertainties remain, such as prospects for exports and economic reforms.

"Factors that restrain China's economy haven't been eradicated," said Lu Zhengwei, an economist at Industrial Bank.

"If the loosening policies are withdrawn, then the economy will be no good."
Kenyan police will deport 45 Taiwanese to mainland China where they face investigation for fraud, Chinese state media said on Wednesday after Taipei blasted Beijing for "abducting" its citizens.

Taipei said this week that Beijing had "illegally" pressured authorities in Nairobi to deport eight citizens to the mainland after they were cleared of fraud charges in Kenya, in a case that inflamed anger in Taiwan.

A total of 67 people from Taiwan and mainland China were being deported from Kenya on Wednesday, the official Xinhua news agency cited mainland police as saying, after 10 were sent back at the weekend. In total, 45 are Taiwanese.

"Mainland police will investigate the Taiwanese suspects" Xinhua cited China's public security ministry as saying.

China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, even though the island has ruled itself since 1949 following a civil war split.

Relations have often been tense, and the landslide election victory of independence-leaning Tsai Ing-wen in January's presidential poll has raised fears that Beijing will take a more assertive stance.

Political and trade ties between Taipei and Beijing grew in the last decade under the leadership of the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT).

China's President Xi Jinping met with Tsai's KMT predecessor Ma Ying-jeou last year for the first summit between the two sides since their 1949 split.

But the meeting produced little of substance beyond the announcement of a telephone hotline between Beijing and Taipei. Xinhua said the hotline had been used to discuss the detainees.

China warned against anyone promoting "Taiwan Independence" after Tsai's election and resumed ties with Taiwan's former ally Gambia last month, ending an unofficial diplomatic truce.

"Judicial organs on the Chinese mainland have legal rights of jurisdiction over the repatriated suspects," the public security ministry said.

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Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters: "They are acquitted, but they are not without guilt".

- 'Disgraceful acts' -

A spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said some of the deportees were accused of using internet phone accounts to defraud Chinese people of more than 600 million yuan ($93 million).

"Many mainland people suffered. Many elderly people, teachers, students, migrant workers, laid-off workers and were deceived. Some retired people who toiled all their lives were had their life savings taken from them, and are now penniless," An Fengshan said, according to state media.

Telephone scams are common in China, but past convictions have generally involved mainland citizens.

Taiwan said Wednesday that it had filed suit against several top officials in Kenya for ignoring a court decision which cleared some of the suspects.

The officials "allowed Kenyan police to disrespect a court ruling, forcefully detaining our citizens for over 24 hours and illegally cooperating with mainland personnel to deport them to China", Taiwan's foreign ministry said.

Taiwanese authorities hoped to send senior officials to China within days to discuss the matter, said Andrew Hsia, head of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.

Taipei's foreign ministry said following deportations at the weekend that "officials from the Chinese mainland abducted the eight Taiwan nationals".

China's nationalist Global Times tabloid defended the deportations in an editorial Wednesday, while acknowledging they had met with "strong protests and criticism" in Taiwan.

"Taiwan is making a fuss about the mainland extraditing Taiwan suspects from abroad. Don't expect the mainland to yield to these disgraceful acts," said the paper, which has close ties to the ruling Communist party.

It added: "The mainland's handling of the case is supported by international laws... It is important that the Taiwan side does not politicise the matter."
rime Minister Narendra Modi with former President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy at a meeting in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Backing India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC), former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday said it is "absurd" to imagine that the world's largest democracy is yet to become a permanent member of the powerful wing of the world body.

India will soon be the world's most populous country in the world and "it is really absurd to imagine that it is not a permanent member of UNSC", he said while addressing a conference organised by an industry body here.

"We must ensure India has a permanent membership of the Security Council. How can you ignore a billion Indians?" Sarkozy wondered.

The former French President also met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. (Photo: PTI)

Proclaiming himself as a "friend of India", the current Leader of Opposition of France, said there is something "very special" about India and he shares a "deep fascination" for it and said there must be strategic partnership between India and France.

He advocated reforms in the architecture and functioning of global institutions like the G20 and the WTO.

The former French President said he was opposed to the double status of some countries having veto power in the UNSC while others don't.

France's partnership with India, he said, can grow stronger if India becomes a permanent member of the UNSC. He said there was a "need to increase the permanent members" and every continent has to decide who it would like to designate as a permanent member. He also said the architecture of other global institutions like the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the G20 and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) needs to be relooked at and reformed.

Referring to the yet to be concluded nearly Rs 60,000 crore Rafale jets deal and the nuclear pact, Sarkozy gave a "commitment" that his party or whoever comes to power in the French presidential election scheduled to be held next year will honour India's agreements with the French Republic.

"There is a possibility that in a year there will be a new government in France, possibility (is there) that our party will come to power in France. Commitment that agreement with the French Republic will be respected.

"If you sign agreements for nuclear reactors or Rafale we will commit to these when we come to power. France is 100 per cent behind you whichever government is in power," said the former French President.

Noting that India has an "immense responsibility towards its citizens and the environment", Sarkozy lauded the country's stance at the Paris climate summit, terming the position taken by it as "very courageous".

The universal agreement, which were reached at Conference of Parties (CoP21), aims to keep the global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius this century and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

India had hailed as "historic" the adoption of a legally-binding pact in Paris but said the deal could have been more ambitious, if developed nations had shouldered more historical responsibilities.
By Yashaswini Swamynathan and Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) - Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc <CMG.N> shareholder CtW Investment Group on Wednesday urged investors not to re-elect two long-time board members, saying the chain's recent food safety crisis shows the company needs a board that is more independent and also more diverse in race and gender.

The move comes as the formerly fast-growing burrito chain works to win back consumers and mollify shareholders after a string of food-borne illness outbreaks last year hammered sales and erased roughly $6 billion in market value. The problem surfaced in late October.

Chipotle shares were down 1 percent at $440.51 on Wednesday afternoon after CtW Executive Director Dieter Waizenegger encouraged investors in a letter to withhold votes for directors Patrick Flynn and Darlene Friedman at Chipotle's annual shareholder meeting on May 11.

"The last three quarters were a crucial time for Chipotle to demonstrate competent leadership in crisis. In contrast, the response has been publicly labeled as a mere PR blitz - one that was slow, superficial and unconvincing," Waizenegger wrote.

Chipotle did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The median tenure for members of Chipotle's all-white board is 17 years, the union pension fund adviser said. Flynn has been on the company's board for 18 years and Friedman for 21 years.

The nine-member board has seven independent directors and Friedman is the only female member, according to Thomson Reuters data.

"With the company facing slowing momentum and potential growth challenges going forward, Chipotle is in need of genuinely independent oversight now more than ever," Cwt's Waizenegger wrote. (http://bit.ly/1S6LLC9)

This is not the first time shareholders have pressed Chipotle to diversify its board. Last year, under pressure from activist investor Trillium Asset Management, Chipotle agreed to amend its governance guidelines to ensure the presence of women in its pool of board nominees. (http://bit.ly/1S6Hxdu)

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CtW also criticized Chipotle on Wednesday for its reluctance to lower its threshold for shareholder ownership to nominate candidates to the board to 3 percent from 5 percent.

CtW has previously tangled with Chipotle. The pension fund adviser in 2014 successfully urged shareholders to vote against the company's executive pay proposal.

CtW has also agitated for board changes at companies including Chipotle's former parent, McDonald's Corp <MCD.N>, and retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc <WMT.N>.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Kirti Pandey and Matthew Lewis)
Two cinematic legends took the stage in Las Vegas Wednesday when Warren Beatty presented veteran producer Arnon Milchan with the "Legend of Cinema Award" at CinemaCon.

"I think I deserve another small round of applause because I wore a neck tie," joked Beatty as he stepped to the podium in front of the roomful of exhibitors..

Beatty is currently working on his passion project, a yet-untitled film about Howard Hughes, with the veteran producer who has made more than 130 films including The Revenant along with The Big Short, 12 Years a Slave, Birdman, Once Upon a Time in America and L.A. Confidential.

Beatty is directing and starring as Hughes in the film, which is produced by New Regency and will be released by Fox. New Regency confirmed to THR that the film will be released in the fall, in time for awards season.

"I've been thinking about making a movie that most people thought I'd never get around to making," said Beatty, mentioning his Hughes project in public for the first time.

Beatty told the story of how he first met Milchan in the 1970s. He came over to Beatty's home and told him, "I'm thinking about buying Twentieth Century Fox and I wonder if you would be interested in running it?" Beatty said. Beatty admitted that he thought Milchan would never make a movie.

"Maybe it's time for me to admit, as Nixon would have said, I may have been wrong," said Beatty, getting a good laugh from the crowd.

"He's consistently respectful of the filmmaker and he actually brings the art of risk-taking to a whole 'nother stratosphere," added Beatty, calling Milchan the "Medici of the movies."

Milchan took the stage to look back at his career, speaking about he put all the money he had into Once Upon a Time in America, his first film. "133 film later I'm supposed to know everything. I know nothing," he said.

Milchan also spoke on the challenges of making The Revenant. "You don't think like a businessman when you do these things. You just go with your heart," he said.

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The Revenant was the main subject of the luncheon event at CinemaCon Wednesday afternoon, which revisited Alejandro Inarritu's ambitious, award-winning film with a lively panel.

Moderated by Todd McCarthy, chief film critic of The Hollywood Reporter, the panel featured New Regency president of production Pam Abdy, producer Mary Parent, New Regency CEO and president Brad Weston and actors Will Poulter and Arthur Redcloud.

"The story touched a nerve for me when I read the script," said Parent about first signing on to the ambitious project. "I was on one hand thrilled and on the edge of my seat, and on the other hand moved because it touched on what it is to be alive."

"We felt we just had the ingredients to be something incredibly special," added Weston of the intense frontier revenge tale.

The Revenant's grueling shoot and weather challenges is a well-known tale after etensive coverage during awards season (Inarritu's drama won three Oscars: best directing, best cinematography and best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio), but the producers revisited some of the challenges during the panel.

"Alejandro set out to create a cinematic experience and in order to do that, it meant not cheating a lot of things," said Parent of the film, which was shot almost completely outdoors in natural light.

"All the challenges we faced were worth enduring because we believe wholeheartedly in the vision," said Poulter. "The fact that it was so difficult unified us all."

Weston pointed out that there were extensive rehearsals on the shoot in order to pull off the often-complicated shoot. "It's almost as if we made the picture twice because we rehearsed the film, rehearsed it on location, and then went back to shoot it," he said.

Poulter said that Inarritu's careful planning and allowing the actors to immerse themselves in the often-remote landscapes allowed for very real reactions from the actors. "Alejandro was very keen to capture raw, real reactions to this very immersive world he set us in," said Poulter. "There was very little invention as far as the acting department."

Inarritu has won back-to-back best director Oscars for The Revenant and Birdman. Abdi, who previously worked with the director on Babel, credits his ability to tell a personal story as part of the reason for his success. "There's an intimacy to him as a person that he brings to all of his movies. At the center of The Revenant there's an intimate story," she said, adding that The Revenant as Inarritu's own version of doing a big film like a Marvel movie. "He world-created and he transported us to a different time and place," she said.
A protester was killed in Indian Kashmir Wednesday as angry residents clashed with police, a day after three people died when the army fired into a crowd of civilians incensed by the alleged molestation of a girl.

Local police superintendent Aijaz Ahmed said the young man died of injuries sustained when a tear gas canister hit his head during the unrest in the frontier town of Kupwara.

Authorities in the restive region had imposed a partial curfew after separatist leaders called for a general strike over Tuesday's deaths of two civilian protesters and a woman working in a nearby field who was hit by a stray bullet.

The soldiers opened fire Tuesday when protesters stormed an army bunker and set it on fire in the northern town of Handwara.

"We imposed restrictions in the old town of Srinagar and in Handwara to prevent violence," director general of police, K. Rajendra, told AFP.

But groups of residents took to the streets of Handwara after the woman was buried, throwing stones at police who responded with tear gas, an AFP photographer on the scene said.

The army has expressed regret over the shootings and ordered an inquiry, saying anyone found guilty would be "dealt with".

But the incident has heightened tensions in the region, where many resent the large Indian troop presence and accuse some soldiers of rights abuses.

Handwara residents stormed the bunker on Tuesday after a soldier from the post was accused of assaulting a local girl as she tried to use a nearby public toilet, police and witnesses said.

Kashmir's new Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti warned the shootings would have a "negative impact" on her government's efforts to promote peace in the region.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but each claim the region in full. They have fought two of their three wars over it.

Since 1989 a rebellion against Indian rule by about a dozen rebel groups -- seeking independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan -- has left tens of thousands dead, mostly civilians.

Hundreds of thousands of Indian troops are deployed in the region, making it one of the world's most militarised zones.

They enjoy immunity from prosecution in civilian courts unless specifically permitted by New Delhi.
By Reuters Staff AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Surgeons in Texas have successfully separated 10-month-old conjoined twins fused at the waist who shared a colon and bladders, a hospital said on Wednesday. The surgery at Driscoll Childrens Hospital in Corpus Christi took about 12 hours to complete, resulting in the separation of Ximena and Scarlett Hernandez-Torres, the hospital said. The pair have an identical triplet sister named Catalina, who was born without serious health issues. The incidence of a triplet birth involving conjoined twins is believed to be about one in 50 million, the hospital said. A team of physicians including specialists in pediatric surgery, plastic surgery and urology had been preparing for months to carry out the complex and intricate procedure, which took place on Tuesday, it said. The girls will remain in the hospital until they recover. "They haven't lost a lot of blood, everything is going smoothly," the twin's father Raul Torres, 26, was quoted as saying by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
Hyderabad: The University of Hyderabad Students' Union has passed a resolution demanding resignation or removal of Vice-Chancellor Prof Appa Rao Podile from the post.

The University General Body Meeting (UGBM), held on Tuesday and attended by 949 students, passed six resolutions. It included a condolence resolution for Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula, which was passed unanimously.

Vemula had allegedly committed suicide in a hostel room of the varsity in January.

Read: Students vandalise official residence after HCU VC Appa Rao resumes work

UGBM is the highest decision-making body of the students of the university, claimed a release from varsity students. The university's students union president, Zuhail K P, addressed the students explaining the recent developments on the campus after the death of Vemula. Opinions were sought from all the students present in the UGBM, it said.

A resolution demanding the resignation/removal of Prof Appa Rao Podile from the post of VC was passed by voting, in which 948 students voted in favour of the resolution demanding his resignation/removal and one student objected to it, the release said.

The University of Hyderabad, popularly known as HCU, has witnessed sporadic protests over the suicide of the Dalit research scholar, with students demanding removal of Appa Rao from the VC's post.

Appa Rao was earlier booked under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and for abetment of Vemula's suicide.

The students' union had on March 30 sought President Pranab Mukherjee's intervention to resolve issues related to the varsity and to ensure sacking of Appa Rao.

Meanwhile, the other resolutions passed unanimously by the UGBM yesterday include revoking blockade of the university, against militarisation of the campus, and for setting up a 'committee against prejudice and discrimination' in higher educational institutions.

Another resolution demanded dropping of all police cases against the students and teachers of HCU and it was also passed unanimously.

The Hyderabad High Court had yesterday directed the registrar of the HCU and the Cyberabad police commissioner not to allow any political party or association to hold a meeting on the varsity campus.

HCU has been at the centre of controversy since the suicide of Vemula on January 17, and recently after the resumption of duty by Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile.
This is the time of year when employers are looking to scoop up fresh new hires from colleges. It may seem early, but employers are eager to lock in top potential talent.

The job market for the class of 2016 is looking good. In fact, 42 percent of companies surveyed by the National Association of Colleges and Employers characterized the job market for 2016 graduates as very good or excellent, far more than in prior years.

[Read: 5 Things College Career Counselors Wish Students Knew.]

Unsure of what you want to do? You aren't alone. Many college graduates are unsure about what to do after graduation. Larger employers offer rotational programs designed for just this reason. New employees joining rotational programs work in different departments or parts of the company, which helps employees learn and evaluate jobs in different areas. This also sheds light on how the business operates, increasing an employee's business acumen. "Rotational programs give you the opportunity to be in a somewhat structured environment where you get to try out different roles to see what you like," says Liz Wessel, CEO and co-founder of WayUp, a website to help college graduates find jobs.

Start early. Many employers start recruiting on college campuses in March and April so keep an eye out for on-campus career fairs, recruiting events and presentations. It seems early, but some large employers have already selected their new batch of hires. "Big companies have the capacity to do all of their recruiting nine months in advance," Wessel says. And she adds that some employers are going after summer interns or entry-level hires as many as 12 months in advance.

You haven't missed the boat ... yet. The good news is that not all companies can plan six months or more in advance. Smaller companies are more likely to recruit on college campuses and elsewhere for immediate openings or to backfill entry-level positions, even after graduation. Some brand name companies may find that they've miscalculated how many new hires they needed and reach out to recruit more.

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[See: 10 Things They Don't Tell You About Your First Job.]

How to find a job. Your job search should be a combination of activities, some through your college career center and some initiated by you. These tactics include using job boards and networking. Tap into resources provided by your college, including job postings, alumni networking events or on-campus recruiting.

But don't stop there. Expand your search to include job boards that specialize in entry-level jobs such as CollegeGrad.com, CollegeRecruiter.com and WayUp.com. Don't forget niche job boards that cater to a specific occupation or industry. For example, finance or marketing jobs have their own specialty job boards. Search the Internet and ask people who work in the profession you are interested in for job board recommendations.

Most importantly, identify companies you would like to work for or are more likely to hire new graduates. Armed with this information, thoroughly research the company through the company's career page and by talking with employees. LinkedIn is one of the best resources for finding people inside companies, including alumni.

Scoring a job could take a while. There is little you can do to speed up a company's hiring process. "For those students scooped up during on-campus recruiting, offers can be made on the spot," Wessel says. "In other industries, it can take an average of 30 days to make one hire. For some, it can take up to 90 days." The best advice is to ask the recruiter what the timeframe for filling the job is and then persistently and appropriately follow up. This doesn't mean calling the recruiter every day. Understand that timelines can slip. If you haven't heard back from a job you have applied to or interviewed for, ask someone you know inside the company to gather inside information about what's happening within the company or department that may be slowing down the process. Wading through the sheer number of applicants can slow things down, so don't show your impatience or frustration during the follow-up.

[See: 10 Things New Grads Can Do Right Now to Get a Job.]

Always have a diverse search. Don't put all your focus on one company or one job. Just as you applied to several different colleges to hedge your chances of getting into one, so should you be researching and applying to other companies or jobs you feel confident would hire you. Your first job after college can help your career in many ways, even if it isn't the right fit. You'll learn about a new industry, meet new people and perhaps learn what you don't want to do. You can apply what you've learned in your first job to help make smarter career choices moving forward.
For years, the Cole sisters kept their distance. Like many siblings separated by a significant age difference, Kim and Caroline drifted apart around Caroline's middle school years. They had different tastes in music, friends and hobbies, and varying perspectives about the world around them. Until, that is, their mother Barbara's diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease taught them a new, shared life lesson: Family is everything.

More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association's 2016 Facts & Figures Report, and as many as 16 million will likely have the disease by 2050. Barbara and her husband, Rich, of Stafford, Virginia, went to specialists for years before she was finally diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease in 2010 at age 53. Alzheimer's -- like any other disease -- impacts the entire family, says Beth Kallmyer, a social worker and vice president of constituent services at the Alzheimer's Association. "But with Alzheimer's disease, it goes on a lot longer," she says. In the Cole sisters' case, that meant healing old wounds to tackle their mom's care as a united front. Here, Kallymer suggests ways family members who haven't always seen eye to eye can resolve their own issues and come together to care for a loved one:

[See: How Music Helps People With Alzheimer's Disease.]

Lean on each other. Everyone has a different reaction to news that a parent has been diagnosed with a chronic disease. "That's part of what makes the disease so difficult," Kallmyer says. Consider checking in with family members and asking how things are going, Kallmyer says. You might find that a previously lackluster relationship blossoms once you begin sharing your feelings and coping together. While Caroline's first instinct was to pull away from her sister and other family members, the Cole sisters did reconnect -- but it took five years. Now, "We can bolster each other's confidence and ability to handle this, cheer each other up and root for each other and the whole family," Kim says. Kallmyer says it's good to say to your sibling or family member, "Hey, we're in this together, so we're going to do the best we can do." People often rise to the occasion when news that a loved one has been diagnosed with a disease emerges. And you might be surprised by what your sibling has to say when you listen, she says. "Sometimes building strong relationships through communication can get better, even when the disease is getting worse," Kallmyer says.

[See: 5 Ways to Cope With Mild Cognitive Impairment.]

Divvy up responsibilities. Kallmyer suggests setting up regular family meetings to form a plan of action. In more urgent medical situations, like if a family member was undergoing unexpected surgery, his or her loved ones might only have one opportunity to make an appearance. Alzheimer's means long-term care, which typically requires sharing responsibilities. But often, the majority of the disease burden falls on the shoulders of one caregiver. Talk about who will assume which responsibilities for the next three months -- from driving a person to and from doctors' appointments, completing daily check-ins or making financial decisions. If an eager-to-help family member lives across the country and can't physically be present, he or she can perhaps research nursing homes or help manage the person's finances. "That way, everyone finds a piece they're going to handle," Kallmyer says. "But recognize that someone is going to drop the ball sometimes, and you have to forgive them."

[See: Easy Ways to Protect Your Aging Brain.]

Seek outside help. You don't have to do it all by yourself. "Some families just can't come together. They weren't really cohesive beforehand, and maybe they're just too dysfunctional," Kallmyer says. Depending on the situation -- whether it's communication with other family members or caregivers or having a clear plan of action to make sure your loved one gets the care he or she needs -- a little extra help can't hurt. The Alzheimer's Association, for example, provides care consultants to families who need help bridging gaps between family members and health care workers to ensure everybody is on the same page. Care consultants can help each family member learn how dementia or Alzheimer's affects the person living with it -- and what family members should expect, too. The consultant is available to visit the family home to meet with the family and the person diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He or she will work through difficult transitions, such as taking away driving privileges or managing medications and doctor's appointments. Sometimes, an outsider's perspective can bring families together in ways they didn't previously think possible.

Samantha Costa is a Health + Wellness reporter at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter, connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at scosta@usnews.com.
One of the longest-standing traditions in the Faroe Islands  massive, lush green mounts that jut out of the North Atlantic, between Norway and Iceland  is whale hunting. Many outsiders find the hunt appalling, the way the blood of the hunt reddens the sea, but Katie Currid feels differently. The American-born, Europe-residing photographer captured these images of the whale hunt in the summer of 2011, and describes it as one of the most amazing things Ive ever been a part of.

What Currid saw in the hunt  and what we think these photos convey, in all their gory glory  was the coming together of a community in the aftermath of a hunt, to sort and share the meat and to help feed one another. To Currid, much of the outrage over the hunt is unwarranted. The pilot whales are not endangered, they spent their lives free in the ocean and theyre killed swiftly. We dont generally put up the same fuss over large-scale beef factories, she points out. Ultimately, the whale hunt disturbs us, she argues, because people dont realize that the life of an animal is a byproduct of their dinner.

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US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, second left, shakes hand with U.S. military members after they loaded the casket what they believe may be the remains of one to two crew members from a B-24 bomber that crashed during World War II in C-17 aircraft. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: The tiny bone fragments formally turned over to the US Wednesday carry a world of significance and perhaps closure for possibly a few American families who lost a loved one over the mountains of India in World War II.

During a solemn ceremony Wednesday, US military members paid final respects to what they believe may be the remains of crew members from a B-24 bomber and a military transport plane that crashed on supply runs from India to China over the Himalayan Mountains.

US military members paying their final respects at a ceremony at the Palam airport, in New Delhi. (Photo: AP)

Eight people were killed in the B-24 crash, and a four-man Army Air Force crew was killed in a C-109 crash. It marks the first time the Defense Department's POW/MIA Accounting Agency is bringing home remains of missing military members from India.

"This is a sad duty, but it means a great deal," said Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who watched the ceremony. "Those guys whose remains are in those coffins would have wanted that, and would be proud and happy to be home, and their families too."

Speaking to reporters flying with him to the Philippines, Carter said it also sends a message to those currently serving in warzone because it shows them "what we would go through for somebody who perished serving their country today."

Two bone fragments - small enough to fit inside a sandwich bag - along with some other artifacts from the B-24 flight were found during a US excavation in the rugged mountain.

Their discovery and return gives hope to families that the remains of the estimated 350 US service members still classified as missing in India may someday find their way home.

According to Gary Stark, the India desk officer for the POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the B-24 - known as Hot As Hell - went missing with its crew of eight in January 1944. The aircraft was one of many that ran supplies from China to India, flying people and parts back and forth over what they called the Hump.

The second set of remains was turned over to the POW/MIA agency by a third party and was from the same region. The Pentagon said the remains are "possibly" related to a C-109 that crashed on July 17, 1945, traveling from India to China.

After Wednesday's ceremony at the airport in New Delhi, the remains, which were put in ceremonial boxes and then into flag-draped caskets, will be sent to a lab in Hawaii for DNA testing. Only then will officials know if the fragments belong to one or two crew members.

The B-24 crash site is one of many in the mountains where US aircraft went down as they tried to negotiate the harsh and jagged terrain. Teams have tried to excavate sites before, but in 2008-2009 they found no remains. This time, experts aided by mountaineering adventurers identified four areas to search. Two were in terrain that was too dangerous for crews to work in because of possible landslides.

High on the steep mountains of Arunachal Predesh, along India's northeast border, the recovery team climbed more than 9,000 feet.

According to Marine Capt. Greg Lynch, the team hiked for three days to set up a base camp, then climbed to the crash site every day, carefully sifting through dirt to find remains.

"It was very physically grueling to go to this particular area and to conduct this recovery," said Lynch, a team leader who was not on this project. He said the team included 12 mainly military members, along with another dozen or so contractors.

Along with the bone fragments, the team found other items associated with the crash but no personal effects, such as dog tags or watches, that could identify the crew.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who has been traveling in India, watched as taps was played and the remains were placed in the caskets and loaded onto a C-17 aircraft for the flight home.

The Pentagon has restated its commitment to families of the thousands of servicemen still unaccounted for from World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. Many of those families have, over the years, complained bitterly of delay and even neglect from the Pentagon agencies charged with finding, recovering and identifying remains from overseas wars.

Carter's predecessor at the Pentagon, Chuck Hagel, ordered the MIA accounting bureaucracy to reorganize and consolidate as part of an effort to improve its performance, which also has come under criticism in Congress.

Under increased scrutiny, the POW/MIA office has increased the number of remains that were identified last year, to nearly 100, and expects to exceed that number this year.

No more excavations in India are planned for the fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30, and officials said they didn't know the schedule for next year.
Microsoft's virtual personal assistant has just become a better holiday companion for European travelers.

As long as the device packed in a bag is running Windows 10, Cortana, Microsoft's answer to Apple's Siri and Google Now, can now perform its instant translation skills to and from more languages.

If set to English or Chinese, she' could already serve as a handy virtual phrase book but as of Wednesday French, Italian, German and Spanish speakers can now avoid getting tongue tied when visiting new shores or when in conversation with a friend or potential client from foreign climes.

Users can either ask Cortana for a quick translation or to search for a word, or they can type in words and phrases and hit enter.
A huge crane which collapsed in high winds killed 18 people at a construction site in southern China early Wednesday, state media said.

Another 18 are in hospital after the accident in Mayong township, part of the city of Dongguan in Guangdong province.

The crane's gantry plunged onto a two-storey temporary building made of shipping containers during a thunderstorm which brought winds of up to 100 km/hour, said Luo Bin, deputy secretary-general of the Dongguan city government.

Luo, quoted by Xinhua news agency, said a total of 139 workers were in the building when the accident occurred.

Four of the injured were described as in serious but stable condition.

The fallen gantry is estimated to weigh 80 tonnes, according to a firefighter quoted by Xinhua. The city government has set up a team to investigate the accident.
By Colleen Jenkins

(Reuters) - A South Carolina bill to require transgender people to use public restrooms matching their sex at birth was slammed by critics on Wednesday, and former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr said he would cancel a performance in North Carolina where a similar law has been passed.

"We need to take a stand against this hatred," Starr said in a statement. "Spread peace and love." He said he was canceling a June performance in Cary, North Carolina, to protest that state's law. Rocker Bruce Springsteen has also scrapped a concert in the state.

So-called "bathroom bills" have fueled debate about privacy, religious freedom and equal rights and drawn stern reactions from major corporations and entertainers who call them discriminatory.

Most of the speakers at a subcommittee hearing in Columbia, South Carolina, on Wednesday said the bathroom measure proposed there defied logic.

"This bill is an undisguised attack on some of our most talented and most vulnerable citizens," Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin said, adding it would cause irreparable economic damage.

Supporters said opening restrooms and locker rooms to the opposite gender in schools would violate students' right to privacy.

Republican Senator Lee Bright, who sponsored the measure, said he feared adult men would use more lenient bathroom policies as an excuse to prey on women and children.

"I dont believe that transgender people are pedophiles," he added.

U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles told lawmakers he was unaware of any assaults by transgender people or people pretending to be the opposite sex in South Carolina bathrooms.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, has said the proposed law was unnecessary and unlikely to win legislative approval this year.

North Carolina Republican Governor Pat McCrory on Tuesday tweaked his state's law with an executive order, adding protections against discrimination for state employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

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But McCrory and top Republican lawmakers said they would not repeal the measure, despite companies such as PayPal Holdings and Deutsche Bank halting plans to add jobs in the state.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, on Wednesday signed an anti-discrimination order protecting the rights of gay and transgender state employees and employees of state contractors. Edwards said the order was good for business.

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C., additional reporting by Letitia Stein; Editing by Tom Brown)
To visit Sharda near Muzaffarabad to pay obeisance at one of their most revered religious places and important, ancient seats of learning has been a cherished dream of many Kashmiri Pandits. (Photo: DC)

Srinagar: A representative body of displaced Kashmiri Pandits has asked Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, to push for reopening of Sharda Peeth, a revered place of Kashmiri Hindus in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), for pilgrims from Jammu and Kashmir and beyond.

While she has been bating for enhancing tourism between India and Pakistan through Jammu-Sialkot route she should not forget that Kashmiri Pandits have been denied the right to travel to PoK for pilgrimage to ancient and historic Sharda Peeth temple located in the village of Sharda in PoK even as other local Kashmiris are being issued travel documents to visit their relatives and pilgrimage centers there, the All Parties Migrants Coordination Committee (APMCC) said in a statement in Jammu on Tuesday.

To visit Sharda near Muzaffarabad to pay obeisance at one of their most

revered religious places and important, ancient seats of learning has been a cherished dream of many Kashmiri Pandits.

A senior government functionary in Muzaffarbad, Sardar Sayyab Khalid, had told this correspondent way back in November 2004 that it would not only throw Sharda open to Kashmiri Pandits but also facilitate their visit. Another, the then PoK's minister for tourism and archaeology, Mufti Mansoor, who represented Sharda in the area Assembly had said, "If they (Kashmiri Pandits) can

wait for some time they might even use the bus route once the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road is reopened." Nothing tangible followed.

Sharda is about 150-kms from Muzaffarabad and is a breath-taking green spot at an altitude of 1981 meters. Shardi and Nardi are actually the two mountain peaks overlooking the valley, named after legendary princesses Sharda and Narda. It has a captivating landscape with numerous springs and hillsides covered with thick forest. Over the right-bank, opposite to Sharda, the river Neelam (known as Kishan Ganga on the Indian side of the LoC) is joined by the Surgan mountain stream along which a track leads to the Noori Nar Pass and through it to Kaghan valley. In Sharda, the ruins of an old Buddhist monastery and a fort are located. It was also an important learning seat of Kashmiri Hindu and the old script of Kashmiri language Sharda has derived its name from the place having the historical background.

Reacting to the recent statement of Ms. Mufti that she wanted to create a historic monument at Jammu-Sialkot border, the APMCC said that she must also create history like her father by pushing for reopening of Sharda Peeth in PoK for Kashmiri Pandits. It added She must emulate her father in providing healing touch to all the sections of the society particularly Kashmiri Pandits.

Taking up the matter of reopening of the Sahrdha Peeth yatra through Uri-Mzafarabad with the concerned authorities would serve a major Confidence Building Measure (CBM) for Kashmir Panits paving way for their dignified return and rehabilitation in Valley, it asserted.
By Gina Cherelus and Megan Cassella NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton joined striking Verizon workers' picket lines on Wednesday after Sanders was endorsed by New York City transit workers in his fight for union support that has largely gone to Clinton. Sanders addressed hundreds of striking workers in Brooklyn as "brothers and sisters" and thanked them for their courage in standing up to what he characterized as corporate greed by the mammoth communications company. Employees cheered as Sanders, who was born in Brooklyn, criticized Verizon Communications Inc for wanting to take away health benefits, outsource jobs and avoid federal income taxes, calling it "just another major American corporation trying to destroy the lives of working Americans." "Today I became a Bernie supporter. Basically just having his presence and knowing that he acknowledges the working class matters," said technician Kerryann Reid, 36, who said she has worked for Verizon for 15 years. It was a scene tailor-made for the U.S. senator from Vermont, who has focused on income inequality in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sanders is trying to catch up with Clinton, the front-runner, in Tuesday's primary in New York, a state both candidates have called home. On Wednesday afternoon, several dozen workers picketing a Verizon store in Manhattan cheered as Clinton arrived to show her support. "This has been going on for months," she said of the deadlocked contract talks, adding that the employees needed all the support they could get. Despite Sanders' daily championing of the rights of working-class Americans, Clinton has racked up the lion's share of support from organized labor, a crucial base for the Democratic Party. Among Democrats and independents who belong to a labor union, 50 percent support Clinton and 36 percent back Sanders, according to a Reuters/Ipsos national poll in March. In comparison, Clinton and Sanders have been about even in the poll among all Democrats and independents. The poll from March 1 to March 31 included 780 people who said they were Democrats or independents and belonged to a labor union. It had a credibility interval of 4 percentage points. Nearly 40,000 Verizon employees went on strike on Wednesday in one of the largest U.S. walkouts in recent years after contract talks hit an impasse. 'STANDING UP FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICANS' "You are standing up not just for justice for Verizon workers, you're standing up for millions of Americans ... and youre telling corporate America that they cannot have it all," Sanders told the striking workers. Verizon Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam accused Sanders of getting the facts wrong and oversimplifying the situation, dismissing the candidate's views as "contemptible." The company has to adapt to competition and technology, but still provides good jobs and benefits to thousands, he said in a statement. Sanders fired back on Twitter at McAdam and General Electric Co Chief Executive Jeff Immelt, who criticized Sanders in an opinion article last week. "I dont want the support of McAdam, Immelt and their friends in the billionaire class," Sanders wrote. "I welcome their contempt." While Sanders whipped up the crowd in Brooklyn, Clinton's campaign issued a statement criticizing Verizon for wanting to outsource more jobs and urging the company to go back to the bargaining table. "To preserve and grow America's middle class, we need to protect good wages and benefits, including retirement security," Clinton said. "And we should be doing all we can to keep good-paying jobs with real job security in New York." Earlier in the day, Sanders announced the endorsement of Transport Workers Union Local 100, representing 42,000 workers in the New York City area. Clinton, meanwhile, won the backing of a local unit, representing more than 27,000 area workers, of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, one of the unions involved in the Verizon strike. The other union involved in the strike, the Communications Workers of America, has endorsed Sanders for president. Other influential unions that have backed Clinton include the AFSCME, a public employees union with 1.6 million members, and the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, which has about 2 million members in a variety of professions. In what was widely viewed as a win for Sanders, the AFL-CIO, the country's largest labor union federation, in February declined to endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary. Sanders also won his first endorsement from a fellow U.S. senator, Democrat Jeff Merkley of Oregon, on Wednesday, while Clinton was endorsed by New York's Daily News, which called her a "superprepared warrior realist." (Additional reporting by Brian Snyder, Jonathan Allen and Chris Kahn in New York; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
(Reuters) - City leaders in Juneau, Alaska, have misspent millions in fees from cruise ship passengers to build an artificial island with a life-sized statue of a humpback whale, a passenger vessel association said in a lawsuit.

The Cruise Lines International Association on Tuesday sued Alaska's capital city in federal court over the fees.

"The entry fees are only allowed for very narrow uses and they really have to be tied to the ship that the passenger arrives on, not a whale statue a mile away from the dock," John Binkley, president of the Alaska chapter of the association, said in a phone interview.

Officials from Juneau did not return calls seeking comment.

The city collects $8 in fees from each passenger and Juneau also receives funds from a state charge of $5 per passenger, Binkley said.

It all adds up to millions of dollars a year, money the city is using to build a nearly 3-acre (1.2 hectare) artificial island connected to the rest of town by an elevated walkway.

The lawsuit contends those expenditures are unwarranted, and it seeks a ruling from the judge that would prohibit the city from "imposing or collecting the entry fees, in any amount."

The whale statue, which depicts a humpback rising out of a pool and arching backward, will be prominently displayed at the island park, but according to a website for the project it was funded with private donations and not from passenger fees.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Alistair Bell)
By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba announced on Tuesday that some cooperatives offering food and other services will be able to buy supplies directly from government producers and wholesale outlets for the first time, part of a wider but so far cautiously implemented market reform program. The new rules mean some former state-run companies turned into cooperatives on the Communist-led island will no longer have to buy from more expensive retail outlets. Odalys Escandell, first vice minister of domestic trade, said on the government's evening news broadcast the move was transcendental, but Tuesday's measures do not fulfill an earlier promise to let private restaurants do the same, leaving in place a key constraint on their business viability. The steps, which go into effect on May 2, come just four days before a Communist Party Congress which is expected review market-oriented reforms begun five years ago. The news report said wholesale outlets will be gradually established for the cooperatives. Over time, a series of products will be made available to them at lower prices, along with a tax cut, in exchange for setting price controls on the retail offer. "Why are we establishing maximum prices? Because it is a system to protect the consumer," Escandell said. Cuba recently reversed an experiment to end state control of distribution of farm produce, after food prices rocketed above their previously subsidized levels. Cuba has turned over to employees thousands of small state-run establishments, from coffee, snack and barber shops to locksmiths and shoeshine kiosks. The workers rent the premises and compete with private businesses on the open market. The government has also ordered some 500 larger state-run establishments, from beauty salons to restaurants, to become cooperatives as a pilot project before thousands more follow suit. Economy minister Marino Murillo made clear upon announcing plans to turn state-run businesses into cooperatives two years ago, that they would be favored over private businesses. They are a more social form of production, he said at the time. (Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Edwina Gibbs)
Brussels (AFP) - Czech Petr Vakoc started the build-up to the Ardennes Classics season by winning the De Brabantse Pijl title in Belgium on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old Etixx rider beat Italian Enrico Gasparotto into second with Tony Gallopin of France third at the end of the 205km race from Leuven to Overijse.

De Brabantse Pijl is officially part of the Flanders Classics but acts as a lead-up to the Ardennes Classics, which start with the Amstel Gold race on Sunday before continuing with La Fleche Wallonne a week from now and culminating with Liege-Bastogne-Liege ending the series on April 24.
Many online daters list a handful of details on their profile that might deter some potential partners, like a cat allergy or a refusal to consume tofu. But while some disclaimers help match up partners based on mutual interests, others reveal bigoted attitudes.

When someone says something like, I dont date black peopletalking about all black peoplethat would be referred to as sexual racism, journalist Zach Stafford explained Tuesday night on the Daily Show. We do think about race when were thinking about desire and it can be detrimental.

During the episode, correspondents Jessica Williams and Ronny Chieng explored whether minorities face actual discrimination in the dating world or whether they are just, as Williams put it, blaming their lack of game on sexual racism.

There is kind of a systemic, racial bias in pretty much every dating site Ive ever looked at, Christian Rudder, cofounder of popular dating site OkCupid, told Williams and Chieng.

More than 80 percent of nonblack men have some sort of bias against black women, according to Rudders analysis of OkCupid matches, responses, and hookups. Rudder also found that Asian men had the worst ratings and lowest response rate.

While some singles maintain that desiring one race over another is about attraction, research suggests these preferences indicate discriminatory views. A 2015 survey of more than 2,000 men found that expressions of sexual racism directly corresponded with their opinions regarding diversity and discrimination. Sexual racismis closely associated with generic racist attitudes, which challenges the idea of racial attraction as solely a matter of personal preference, researchers concluded.

Williams and Chieng convened a group of what they called "disadvantaged singles." Their personal experiences matched up with the data.

"I went to this one white girl's profile. And on her profile it said, 'No Chinese guys, because Chinese guys have small dicks,' " one Asian man explained. Minority daters who made matches found they were confronted with stereotypes, with one black woman lamenting that a man attempted to correspond with her through rap lyrics.

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While Williams and Chieng are pessimistic about their ability to eliminate racism in dating entirely, they offered a few suggestions to help daters keep their bias in check, such as treating people like individuals and avoiding stereotypes.

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Original article from TakePart
By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The USS Fort Worth, a U.S. warship that suffered damage to its combining gears in Singapore in January, will travel to San Diego under its own power for extensive repairs at a General Dynamics Corp shipyard, the U.S. Navy said Wednesday.

The new coastal warship, built by Lockheed Martin Corp, will use its gas turbine engines to travel to its homeport of San Diego this summer from Singapore, where it has been deployed since December 2014, the Navy's Pacific Fleet said in a statement.

The trip is expected to take about six weeks. The cost of the expected repairs to be carried out by General Dynamics at its NASCCO shipyard was not yet clear, a Navy spokesman said.

General Dynamics last year won a contract to perform maintenance of the Navy's two different types of Littoral Combat Ships, including the steel monohull version built by Lockheed.

The Navy last month removed Commander Michael Atwell as commander of the Fort Worth after an investigation into the Jan. 12 incident, which has been linked to crew error.

The issue occurred during an operational test of the ship's port and starboard main propulsion diesel engines, when a lack of lube oil triggered high-temperature alarms on both sets of gears, a Navy official has said.

Combining gears allow the Fort Worth to configure different types and combinations of engines for propulsion at sea. The ship left San Diego in November 2014 and was on a 16-month deployment to the U.S. 7th Fleet.

The Navy said it decided to complete full repair of the combining gears in San Diego due to maintenance timelines, the efficiency of repairs and available docking space at the shipyard. Doing the repairs during a previously scheduled maintenance period would reduce the overall cost, it said.

The Navy's newest class of warships, which were designed to carry out a range of missions, including hunting for mines, submarines and surface warfare, have suffered a series of technical issues in recent years.

The accident occurred just weeks after Defense Secretary Ash Carter told Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to end orders of the LCS class ships at 40, instead of ordering 52 ships as previously planned.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Diane Craft and Jonathan Oatis)
Srinagar: The controversial firing in Jammu and Kashmirs north-western town of Handwara in which three persons including a woman were killed on Tuesday is getting murkier as residents have alleged that it was the local police which targeted civilians with direct fire. They also said that the Army personnel, on the other hand, fired their weapons mainly in the air.

Reports of an alleged attempt by army personnel to molest a local girl student has sparked violent protests on Tuesday.

Read: J&K girl denies molestation by Army jawan, says false tale to spark unrest

The local elders and other respectable citizens on Wednesday held a meeting with senior police and administration authorities during which they on the basis of eyewitness accounts told them that while Army personnel also swung into action to disperse protesters, it were the J&K policemen who opened direct fire on them, killing a youth on the spot and critically injuring two others. One of them died on way to hospital whereas a third person is struggling for life after he was operated upon in a Srinagar hospital.

They also told the officials that the firing was so reckless and indiscriminate in nature that an elderly woman Raja Begum was also hit in the head even though she was standing at a distance from the scene of the clash and was not part of the protest.

After hearing them, the police authorities placed an ASI Muhammad Rafiq under suspension for negligence of duty. The action was taken on the basis of a formal letter written to the police by Kupwaras district magistrate. The family members of the two slain youth had told the DC that it were ASI Rafiq who killed them in cold blood.

Police fired tear-gas to bring protests under control. (Photo: DC/H U Naqash)

However, the police authorities said that the alleged molestation of the girl and subsequent firing incident are being probed and that it would be too early to draw conclusions.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Army released a video showing the girl who was reported to have been molested by an Army soldier leading to violent protests saying that it were actually two local youth who harassed her.

She also says that she didnt see any Army personnel inside the public lavatory where she was, as per the tale spread by the youth, molested.

The Army said it has not filmed the video. It, however, also said that the Army has verified the authenticity of the video and identity of the girl. The video is being released after obscuring the face to protect the identity of the girl keeping in view the sensitivities involved, defence spokesman Lt. Col. N. N. Joshi said here.

According to reports from Handwara, the district authorities have accepted six demands put forth by the locals following which they agreed to bury their dead. These include removal of Army bunker from the main town square within one month, none of the civilians would be named in FIRs being lodged in connection with Tuesdays incidents, a magisterial probe would be held and its finding made public also within a period of one month.

The police officer involved in the firing incident would be placed under suspension pending inquiry into his conduct, the government will provide maximum possible ex-gratia and other benefits to the bereaved families and all persons detained since Tuesday will be released unconditionally.
Swiss luxury marque Davidoff of Geneva has selected a downtown New York address as its global flagship store and cigar lounge.

The 2000 square-foot-space on Liberty Street boasts a bespoke art installation by Pascal Mecariello and specially commissioned lounge furnishings and, to mark its opening, it will even stock bespoke cigars.

Called the "Downtown NYC Exclusive" the cigar was created just for this particular store - they are not on sale anywhere else - and will cost $25 each or $250 for a box of 10.

"The new Davidoff Flagship Store in downtown New York marks the culmination of an ambitious new direction for Davidoff which brings our philosophy of 'Time Beautifully Filled' to life," said Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, CEO and board member of Oettinger Davidoff AG.
This week marks the 155th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Sumter, which was the spark that formally started the Civil War. While none of 80 Union soldiers on Fort Sumter died during the 34-hour bombardment of the island fortification off the coast of South Carolina, the episode was the first formal act of aggression between the Union and Confederacy. Its anniversary warrants attention not only because it was the first battle in a war that took 620,000 American lives, but also because the conditions and controversy surrounding Fort Sumter embodies some of the larger conflicts between the North and South at the time.

fort sumter-535

On November 7th, 1820, Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States, much to the chagrin of many of the southern states. Soon after, the South Carolina state legislature met in Charleston, a city that did not cast a single vote for Lincoln, and voted to secede from the United States of America. Just over a month after Lincoln was elected, the legislature voted 169-0 approving the secession declaration that decried the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States by the Federal Government. The document notes that secession was principally motivated by increasing hostility on the part of non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, and the fear that Lincoln would continue that trend.

Advocates of secession felt justified in their position because the Constitution did not expressly prohibit secession, and reasoned that it is a right reserved to the states by the 10th amendment. They also were inspired by the Declaration of Independence, and borrowed some of the language from that document in their declaration of secession.

Despite the inflammatory language and clear challenge to the federal government, South Carolinians did not anticipate a violent reaction to the secession. Senator James Chesnut Jr., for example, proclaimed that a thimble would be able to hold all of the blood that will be shed in reaction to the emerging formation of the Confederacy. As an expression of its sovereignty, South Carolina began to seize all federal buildings, including federal forts, that fell within its borders. United States Major Robert Anderson and 80 other soldiers were assigned to a fort in Charleston Harbor when South Carolina seceded, but he moved his men to Fort Sumter as he thought it was a safer, less penetrable base. Major Anderson refused to give up control of Fort Sumter and a precarious situation began taking hold in Charleston Harbor.

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On March 4th, 1861, Lincoln was inaugurated and declared that no state, upon its own mere notion, can lawfully get out of the Union. While he did not want to provoke a bloody war between the Northern and Southern states, Lincoln said that he could use force to hold, occupy, and possess the property of the federal government, like Fort Sumter.

Both Lincoln and South Carolina wanted control over Fort Sumter, and Lincoln ordered that a federal ship be sent with supplies to assist Anderson and his troops. Before the boat arrived, however, the Confederate government sent a group of representatives to Fort Sumter and offered Anderson an ultimatum  either surrender the fort or face their fire.

At 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, Confederate Brigadier General PGT Beauregard ordered 800 of his soldiers to open fire on the Fort. The barrage was deafening, and the citizens of Charleston observed the explosions, smoke, and flames from their rooftops over the next 34 hours. Anderson surrendered the Fort as fires were starting to engulf the entire complex, and he and his men were permitted by Beauregard to conduct a 100-gun salute and leave peacefully. As the Union soldiers were leaving, however, one died in an accidental explosion and was the only casualty from the affair.

In reaction to this provocation, on April 15th Lincoln signed a document that proclaimed that an insurrection was occurring and called 75,000 men to arms. He also called for a special session of Congress for July, where he would address both houses requesting the formal raising of an army. Lincolns calling forth of the militia of the States of the Union marked the official beginning of the Civil War, which went on to rage for over four years.

It wasnt until 1869 that, in Texas v. White, the Supreme Court officially declared South Carolinas secession unconstitutional. Given that the Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union, Chief Justice Salmon Chase put to rest the constitutional questions over secession after it had been initially dealt with militarily.

Intense debates between the relative scope of federal and state power, and even federal versus state ownership of land, have continued to rage since Fort Sumter and the end of the Civil War. This anniversary puts these disputes in context, and shows us how far we have come as a nation since the bombardment of Fort Sumter.

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Paris (AFP) - Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday there had been a "deep and disturbing decline in respect for media freedom" since 2013, as it prepares to publish its annual ranking of countries next week.

The press freedom advocates group blamed repressive governments in countries including Turkey and Egypt and places where law and order has broken down, such as Libya and Burundi.

Independent news coverage is also increasingly under threat, the Paris-based group warned in a statement.

"The survival of independent news coverage is becoming increasingly precarious in both the state and privately-owned media because of the threat from ideologies, especially religious ideologies, that are hostile to media freedom, and from large-scale propaganda machines," it said.

"Throughout the world, 'oligarchs' are buying up media outlets and are exercising pressure that compounds the pressure already coming from governments."

The situation has worsened on all continents, but especially in the Americas "above all as a result of the impact of physical attacks and murders targeting journalists in Mexico and Central America".

But it said press freedom had also been eroded in Europe and the Balkans "because of the growing influence of extremist movements and ultra-conservative governments".

Reporters Without Borders will publish its World Press Freedom Index of 180 countries on April 20.
By Magdalena Mis LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Development aid given by rich countries rose to a new high in 2015, mainly because of an increase in funds spent on hosting and processing refugees, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said on Wednesday. Official development assistance (ODA) reached a record $131.6 billion in 2015, an increase of 6.9 percent in real terms from 2014, the Paris-based international think-tank said. Funds spent on hosting and processing refugees in donor countries more than doubled in 2015, reaching $12 billion and making up 9.1 percent of ODA, an increase from 4.8 percent in 2014, the OECD said. But OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said most donors had avoided diverting money from development programs to cover the costs of the European refugee crisis. The rise in spending on refugees in donor countries did not have a significant impact on development programs as half the donors used money from outside their aid budgets to cover these costs, the OECD said. "These efforts must continue," Gurria said in a statement. "They also need to develop long-term options for meeting future refugee costs and the integration of refugees in our societies." At the same time, they should ensure that ODA reaches those countries and people that need it the most, he added, welcoming an increase in aid for the poorest countries in 2015. European networks of major aid agencies Eurodad and CONCORD Europe raised concerns that the ODA increase was due largely to the increase in spending on refugees in donor countries. But the OECD said that even if these costs were excluded, net ODA in 2015 still grew by 1.7 percent in real terms. After several years of decline, bilateral aid to the least developed countries increased by 4 percent in real terms last year from 2014 to a total of $25 billion. "It's promising to see aid to the poorest finally starting to increase," Adrian Lovett, interim deputy chief executive for advocacy group ONE Campaign, said in a statement. "But extreme poverty must be tackled with the same sense of urgency that Europeans have shown in supporting refugees. We can and must do both." The OECD said a survey of donor spending plans through 2019 suggested that aid to the world's poorest countries would continue to rise. Of the 28 members of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee, the United States remained the largest donor by volume in 2015 with $31.1 billion, followed by Britain with $18.7 billion, Germany, Japan and France. Only six donors - Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Britain - exceeded the United Nations' target of spending 0.7 percent of national income on development aid. (Reporting by Magdalena Mis, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, womens rights, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Ohio man paralyzed in an accident while diving in waves can now pick up a bottle or play the video game Guitar Hero thanks to a small computer chip in his brain that lets his mind guide his hands and fingers, bypassing his damaged spinal cord.

Scientists on Wednesday described accomplishments achieved by 24-year-old quadriplegic Ian Burkhart using an implanted chip that relays signals from his brain through 130 electrodes on his forearm to produce muscle movement in his hands and fingers.

Burkhart first demonstrated the "neural bypass" technology in 2014 when he was able simply to open and close his hand. But the scientists, in research published in the journal Nature, said he can now perform multiple useful tasks with more sophisticated hand and finger movements.

The technology, which for now can only be used in the laboratory, is being perfected with an eye toward a wireless system without the need for a cable running from the head to relay brain signals.

"This study marks the first time that a person living with paralysis has regained movement by using signals recorded from within the brain," said bioelectronic medicine researcher Chad Bouton of the New York-based Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, who worked on the study at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Ohio.

Burkhart said the technology lets him function like "a normal member of society."

The technology potentially could help people not only after spinal cord injuries but after strokes or traumatic brain injuries, Bouton added.

Burkhart, a former lacrosse goalie, suffered a broken neck and spinal cord damage at age 19 diving into a wave at North Carolina's Outer Banks in 2010, causing paralysis of his arms and legs. Such injuries disrupt nervous system signal pathways between the brain and muscles.

Surgeons implanted the pea-sized chip into his motor cortex, which controls voluntary muscular activity. The chip, connected to a cable running from his head to a sleeve containing the electrodes wrapped around his forearm, sends brain signals that stimulate muscles controlling the hands and fingers.

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Burkhart, with six wrist and hand motions, could rotate his hand, make a fist, pinch his fingers together, grasp objects like a bottle, spoon and telephone, swipe a credit card and play the video game simulating guitar strumming.

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center neurosurgeon Ali Rezai called the results a "milestone in the evolution of brain-computer interface technology."

"Things are kind of moving along better than I imagined," Burkhart said.

(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Rome (AFP) - Rome has given birth to an ambitious "vanishing" artwork with William Kentridge's completion of a giant frieze of the city's "heroic and shameful" history that he has stencilled out of the dirt caking an embankment of the Tiber.

The South African artist's idiosyncratic take on the Eternal City's defining moments is a 10-metre-tall (33-feet) mural that, following completion this week, now lines a 550-metre (1,800-feet) stretch of the famous river.

The artist told AFP he does not expect his "Triumphs and Laments" to last more than five years before the blackening impact of pollution results in its epic images vanishing from view.

"It is an ephemeral project because that is the nature of it," Kentridge, 60, said in an interview ahead of the work's official inauguration on April 21.

"It is making a drawing by erasing the dirt on the wall, not by adding anything to it.

"The wall starts off black and then you wash around the drawings and what is left is the image in the rock.

"After four or five years the rock will get dirty again from pollution and from growth. So the rock will come out and meet and swallow the image with its own darkness."

- Remembered and forgotten -

While providing a living example of the impact of environmental degradation, the work is also a commentary on the flawed nature of memory, both individual and collective, Kentridge said.

"There are things we should hold on to but forget. And historical memories, things that society should remember, that get forgotten.

"Every history has a mixture of the heroic and the shameful, of glory and shame, and that is what the piece is about."

An example of how this overarching theme is addressed is Kentridge's juxtaposition of the glories of the renaissance, most spectacularly represented in Rome by the construction of St Peter's basilica, with the contemporaneous confinement of Jews to the city's ghetto.

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The papal bull creating the ghetto was issued in 1555, half a century after work started on St Peter's.

"So this heroic history and this shameful history are right together," Kentridge said. "I always though the ghetto was a medieval project, I had not realised the great moments of Roman art from the 16th Century were at the same time as that."

The mural contains sections inspired by prehistoric times and by mythology alongside figures from recent history, including the film director Pier Paolo Passolini and film stars Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg, symbols of the "Dolce Vita" of 1960s Rome.

It does not follow a chronological structure.

A reference to the current migrant crisis and mass drownings of asylum-seekers off Italy's southern shores is made in the form of a depiction of a Roman slave galley.

A depiction of Cicero, the famous orator of ancient Rome, is followed by one of Benito Mussolini that Kentridge revealed had been inspired by a fresco of the fascist dictator that still exists in Naples.

- Neglected waterfront -

Cicero appears again after Mussolini, only this time the staunch defender of the constitutional principles of the Roman republic is depicted as a shattered figure.

In similar vein, heroic military figures from the Emperor Marcus Aurelius onwards are all shown with cracks as a representation of the hubris that has marked the high points of the city's history, preceding inevitable collapse.

Kenridge said he had worked with a team of researchers to identify historic images he could use as the basis for his drawings, whittling down a list of 500 possibles to 50.

"In the end it was an idiosyncratic, personal choice," he said.

The project, the brainchild of a non-profit organisation dedicated to the renovation of Rome's neglected waterfront, has been a long time in the making.

Kenridge first saw the site 15 years ago and completed his first sketches in 2011 before the project fell foul of Italy's notorious bureacracy.

"The drawings were one job but the really hard part was getting the permissions," he said. "That was four years hard slog."

The mural is located on the right bank of the Tiber in the Trastevere district of Rome, close to St Peter's and across the water from the Ghetto area.
If the accused minor is a first-time offender, then he may not be tried as an adult, says a legal expert. (Photo: Screengrab)

New Delhi: Juvenile Justice Board would be competent to decide on the controversy over whether the teenager accused in the Mercedes hit-and-run case should be tried as a major since he was just four days shy of his 18th birthday on the day of the accident, legal experts say.

"Since the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2015 has come into force on January 1, 2016, whether the accused teenager cab driver be tried as an adult should be decided by the JJB," senior advocate K T S Tulsi said.

Explaining the procedure, he said the Board will carry out a "preliminary assessment" as to whether the crime was of a heinous nature and also "whether the accused has the level of understanding and maturity to be tried as an adult".

Tulsi, also a Rajya Sabha member, said the fact that the boy was just four days short of his 18th birthday would have a bearing on deciding his level of understanding, which develops through a "gradual process" and not suddenly when he attains adulthood.

On whether the previous conduct of the accused would have a bearing on how he should be tried, Tulsi said the accused should be found guilty and, that too of having committed a heinous offence, for it to be considered as a factor while determining how he should be tried.

Senior advocate Geeta Luthra, who was also of a similar view, said that once the matter is before the Board, it is an appropriate body to decide on the category of crime and accordingly put the accused on trial. However, juvenile law expert advocate Anant Asthana attacked the media for "unnecessarily hyping" the issue as the accused was driving a Mercedes.

"Law is in place and it will take the issue to its logical end. If someone has done wrong, they will be punished as per law," Asthana said.

He further said that this was not the first case of a motor accident and there are many more which go unnoticed.

"Media should not force the authority to change the law and it should stop itself from sensationalising the issue," he added.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Rebecca John, said it was too "premature to say anything at this stage as the JJ Board was dealing with the issue and not enough facts regarding the case as well as his past conduct are available. She, however, said that generally if the accused minor is a first-time offender, then he may not be tried as an adult. "There has to be previous instances of serious or heinous crimes having been committed," she added.

The incident took place on April 4 when 32-year-old marketing executive Siddharth Sharma was trying to cross a road near Ludlow Castle School in North Delhi and the speeding Mercedes, allegedly driven by the accused, hit and killed him.

A case under IPC sections 304 A (causing death by rash or negligent act), 279 (driving on a public way so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life) and 337 (causing hurt by an act which endangers human life) was lodged. The boy was apprehended and sent to police custody by the JJ Board.
Nearly a year after she was forced to resign from the NAACP after being accused of lying about her race, Rachel Dolezal says she is writing a book about racial identity  and remains unapologetic about misleading those who believed she was born black.

I dont have any regrets about how I identify, Dolezal said on NBCs Today show Tuesday. Im still me, and nothing about that has changed.

If anything, Dolezal says, she wishes she wouldve clarified her racial identity sooner.

I do wish that I couldve really owned, you know, given myself permission to really name and own the me of me earlier in life, she said. It took me almost 30 years to get there. But its a complex issue.

Race is such a contentious issue because of the painful history of racism, she added. Race didnt create racism, but racism created race.

The former head of the NAACPs Spokane, Wash., chapter set off a firestorm of criticism after her parents revealed she was born white despite the fact that she had represented herself as black for years.

In interviews that followed, Dolezal insisted she identified as black.

I definitely am not white, she said on Today last June. Nothing about being white describes who I am. Thats the accurate answer from my truth.

Dolezal admitted that she had engaged in creative nonfiction to explain or justify her appearance, but insisted she never misled anyone.

I didnt deceive anybody, Dolezal told Vanity Fair last fall. If people feel misled or deceived, then sorry that they feel that way, but I believe thats more due to their definition and construct of race in their own minds than it is to my integrity or honesty, because I wouldnt say Im African-American, but I would say Im black, and theres a difference in those terms.

Aside from working on the book, Dolezal also said she is also looking forward to getting back into racial and social justice work.






Domhnall Gleeson is in early talks to play Winnie the Pooh creator A.A. Milne in Goodbye Christopher Robin.

The movie will center on the strained relationship between Milne and his son, who served as the inspiration for Christopher Robin. Milne based the honey-loving Pooh Bear on his son's beloved stuffed teddy bear.

Damian Jones and Steve Christian are producing the film, which is being developed by Pathe.

Gleeson is coming off a big 2015. He starred in the critically acclaimed indie Ex Machina, opposite Oscar Isaac, had a leading role in Oscar-fodder The Revenant and also portrayed General Hux in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Recently, the Harry Potter actor was cast in the National Lampoon origin story A Futile and Stupid Gesture.

Gleeson is repped by Paradigm and Ireland's The Agency.

Read More: Ray Romano, Holly Hunter Join Indie Rom-Com 'The Big Sick'
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Preibus took a thinly-veiled swipe at Donald Trump after the GOP presidential candidate claimed the Republican nomination process is stacked against [him].

Nomination process known for a year + beyond, Preibus tweeted. Its the responsibility of the campaigns to understand it. Complaints now? Give us all a break

The tweet came in response to comments by Trump following the Colorado primary, which saw Ted Cruz take all of the states 34 delegates after the Colorado GOP voted last year that the partys closed caucus would decide who gets the delegates rather than a statewide vote.

Also Read: Ivanka and Eric Trump Explain How They Missed Voting Registration Deadline in New York

I know the rules very well, but I know its stacked against me by the establishment, Trump told CNN. They changed the rules a number of months ago. You know why they changed the rules? Because they saw how I was doing and they didnt like it.

Despite losing in Colorado and Wisconsin in recent weeks, Trump still leads Cruz in the delegate count 743 to 545. Ohio Gov. John Kasich currently has 143 delegates. Candidates need to accumulate 1,237 delegates in order to win the partys nomination outright, avoiding a contested convention in July.

Trump will next face off against Cruz and Kasich in the New York primary on Apr. 19. Trump has longstanding ties to New York City, having built his real estate empire largely in Manhattan.

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By Andrew Cawthorne GURI, Venezuela (Reuters) - Drought has turned parts of the area behind Venezuela's Guri dam, one of the world's biggest, into a desert, but the government is optimistic of rain within weeks to drive the vast installation that provides the bulk of the OPEC nation's power. On a tour of the hydroelectric complex on the Caroni river, Electricity Minister Luis Motta told Reuters that forecasts showed a 70 to 80 percent chance of rain toward the end of April or in May to stop the waters behind the dam falling to a critical depth of 240 meters (790 feet). Driving, hiking and rafting round the 4,600 square km (1,780 square miles) area, Motta, 57, pointed to unprecedented scenes revealed by the receding waters: long-sunken boats now visible; sand-dunes in previously submerged areas; cattle wandering across parched earth. The reservoir in southern Bolivar state, which provides about 60 percent of the nation's 16,000 megawatt power demand, hit a historic low of 243 meters (797 feet) this week. "We have to hang on," said the general, whom President Nicolas Maduro tasked with managing the electricity sector from late 2015 just as the drought-inducing El Nino phenomenon struck. "We will do everything humanly possible, and also with God's help some good rains will come so Guri can recover and we can avoid extreme measures other nations are taking." "LIKE THE SAHARA" Many Venezuelans say power and water cuts are already affecting them daily, adding to suffering from a recession, though Maduro has said he wants to avoid "painful" rationing. Motta, who also heads state power utility Corpoelec, has spent three weeks at Guri, supervising its 15,000 workers. Among crisis measures, canals are being dredged to join pools now cut off by emerging land. "It's still going down, but we're slowing the descent in hope rain comes," he said. Motta, often mocked by opposition supporters on social media, was scathing about criticism that insufficient investment, preparation and diversification of power sources were to blame. "They've tried to ridicule the situation, saying it's a lie, El Nino doesn't exist, not enough has been invested. But here it is: let him who has eyes see ... There are parts here that look like the Sahara Desert." With about two-thirds of power consumed in homes, Venezuelans must play their part by cutting consumption, he added. "If it doesn't rain, and if we don't make an effort, many of my brothers and sisters are going to suffer a lot - my family, all of us." For Wider Image photo essay, click here: (http://reut.rs/23ELeP6) (Additional reporting by Carlos Garcia Rawlins; Editing by Brian Ellsworth, Corina Pons and James Dalgleish)
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Most Dutch opposition parties called on the government on Wednesday to respect the outcome of a non-binding referendum rejecting a treaty between the European Union and Ukraine. In an April 6 referendum, nearly two-thirds of Dutch voters said "no" to the EU's association treaty on closer political, military and trade relations with Ukraine. Although the vote was not binding, it reflected widespread discontent with EU policy in a founding member state ahead of Britain's June 23 vote on whether it should remain in the bloc. The treaty has been ratified by all 27 other EU countries and Ukraine itself. Both Dutch houses of parliament have already voted in favour of a law supporting the accord, and it has been signed by Prime Minister Mark Rutte's government. But Rutte has said the Netherlands will not formally ratify the treaty - all 28 EU states must do so for all of its clauses to have full legal force - in its current form, saying he would need months to formulate an appropriate response. Rutte told parliament on Wednesday night that he intends to reach an agreement with EU partners by the summer that addresses the concerns of the Dutch voters. "If we fail to do that we will propose not ratifying the treaty," he said. Elements of the treaty have already gone into effect. Despite the Dutch "no", the European Commission will propose this month going ahead with plans to grant visa-free travel to Ukrainians. [L5N17D0OK] Many Dutch are disillusioned with a number of EU policies including those on open borders. A majority of the 13 opposition parties rejected the idea of modifying the document and passing it in another form, saying that would violate the spirit of the poll in which 4 million Dutch voters took part. "It is impossible to have millions of people vote and then to ignore it," said Sybrand van Haersma Buma of the Christian Democratic Appeal. "The CDA sees no other way forward but to repeal the law." Buma warned the government that ignoring the outcome would further erode the confidence of voters. He said the government is stalling because it doesn't know "what to do...A big problem has been created - no one knows what is going to happen." (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
By Lin Noueihed and Omar Fahmy CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's speech on Wednesday was meant to staunch uproar over the transfer of two islands to Saudi Arabia, but his reprimand to an audience member ignited a furor over free speech. Parliamentarians, ministers and senior editors were invited to the presidential palace, where Sisi tried to reassure them that he had not sold the Red Sea islands of Sanafir and Tiran. But the impromptu, televised two-hour address lasted so long one MP had to excuse himself to use the bathroom. At the end, he tried to ask a question and was silenced by Sisi, who retorted: "I did not give permission for anyone to speak." State television severed live transmission immediately after the outburst, which stunned viewers and set off a social media frenzy over the encroachment on free expression in Sisi's Egypt. The hashtag "speech does not need permission" trended on Twitter, with Egyptians mocking the fact that Sisi had invited people to a debate in which only he aired his views. "This is a country, not a school and those are two islands not two cheese sandwiches," tweeted one commentator, reflecting what some Egyptians see as the government's casual handling of a sovereignty issue. Egyptian media has been in uproar since the government announced on Saturday the signing of a maritime demarcation accord that puts the uninhabited islands in Saudi waters. Tiran and Sanafir lie between Saudi Arabia and Egypt's Sinai peninsula, at the narrow entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba leading to Jordan and Israel. Saudi and Egyptian officials say they belong to the kingdom and were only under Egyptian control because Saudi Arabia asked Egypt in 1950 to protect them. "THE MAN WHO SOLD THE LAND" The furor has put Sisi, who once enjoyed widespread support, under renewed pressure. Once-fawning newspaper editors no longer hide their disappointment as a crackdown on dissent has spread from the Muslim Brotherhood to liberal and secular activists. Critics say the government has mishandled a series of crises from police abuses to an investigation into the killing of an Italian student in Cairo. About 30 people protested outside the press syndicate as Sisi spoke, some of them chanting "the man who sold the land should go". The demarcation accord requires parliamentary ratification and many Egyptians are furious that parliament was not consulted in advance of the accord. Even the chairman of state-owned mass-circulation Al Ahram newspaper condemned the government's handling of the issue. "Tiran and Sanafir... Egyptian forever," wrote Ahmed al-Naggar on his Facebook page on Tuesday night, adding that he would publish a column on the topic the next day. The column did not appear in Wednesday's newspaper. Though he appeared calm and adopted an avuncular tone, Sisi's choice of words suggested criticism had stung a leader once so popular bakeries sold cakes emblazoned with his face. "I brought you here to reassure you about the man you entrusted with your land and honor. I did not take the issue personally ... Please let's not talk about this issue again," he said. Mohamed Koloub, the silenced MP, said he was not offended and Sisi had listened to his question off air. "I asked how MPs can communicate more directly and cooperate with the presidency," he told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Ali Abdelatti and Amr Abdallah, writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is promoting a new plan she says will save Americans time and money on doing their taxes.

A bill she introduced Wednesday would require the Internal Revenue Service to set up its own free, online tax preparation and filing service that allows taxpayers to file directly with the federal government.

The bill, called the Tax Filing Simplification Act, was co-sponsored by presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) along with six Democratic senators.

"Congress should be making it easier for Americans to file their taxes each year, not bowing to the interests of the tax prep industry," said Sen. Warren in a statement. "[This] is a commonsense bill that would help taxpayers all across this country file their taxes with less stress and fewer costs, and it would push the IRS to use the authority it already has to simplify Tax Day for all Americans."

Related: The States With the Worst Tax Rates

The fact sheet accompanying the bill noted that Americans on average spend 13 hours preparing their returns and pay $200, or about 10 percent the average federal tax refund, for preparation services. Only 3 percent of eligible taxpayers currently use the Free File program the IRS has in partnership with private tax software companies, even though the program claims to provide free services to 70 percent of taxpayers.

These private companies make it difficult for taxpayers to determine their eligibility for the free services and, in some cases, confuse them into signing up for extra products they dont need, according to the fact sheet. For more than a decade, the IRS has refrained from offering direct preparation and filing services and allowed private companies to fill that role.

"Tax Day has become an opportunity for corporations to profit off of confusion over our complicated tax code. That is wrong, Sen. Sanders said in a statement. We must make tax filing as easy as possible, not direct profits to private companies at the expense of working families.

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The legislation aims to undo all that by prohibiting the IRS from entering into agreements with private companies that restrict the agencys right to offer free services. It also directs the agency to establish its own service.

Related: When and How to Refile Your Old Taxes

Other benefits of the legislation, according to the fact sheet, are that taxpayers will have access to information such as W-2s and Form 1099s that were filed to the IRS by third parties, such as employers and banks. Americans with simple tax returns would be able to choose a return-free option, which provides a pre-prepared tax return from the IRS.

TurboTax, H&R Block and the IRS did not immediately return requests for comment on the legislation.

Federal Taxation Over Time | InsideGov

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In the fall of 1969, somewhere in the southwestern United States, a seven-year-old boy was riding his bicycle down a quiet city street when a male stranger dragged him into a car and drove off. About an hour and a half later, however, the boy escaped. Police struggled to find the kidnapper because they couldnt identify the make of his vehicleall they had were the boys rather disjointed descriptions: bigger than a Volkswagen yet smaller than a Mercedes, black upholstery patterned with small xs, a sort of rectangle with a round thing on it under the vent window. After weeks of searching, the boys mother tried a longshot: She mailed a letter, along with sketches of the car drawn by the boy, to the monthly magazine Consumer Reports. An answer soon came back: Toyota Corona, likely sold between April 1968 and April 1969. Four days later, authorities arrested the culprit.

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This story, reported by the United Press International newswire in February 1970, and others like it, have helped establish the expertise and authority behind Consumer Reports, which reviews products ranging from automobiles to showerheads to credit cards. At the organizations research center in Yonkers, New York, technicians evaluate the efficiency of washing machines by loading them with a mixture of clean clothing and strips of fabric sullied by coffee and pigs blood. Scientists strike door locks with sledgehammers and force vacuum cleaners to suck up heaps of Maine Coon hair. More than 120 employees, with an annual testing budget of approximately $25 million, evaluate some 3,000 products a year. The results of these impartial studies are then gathered, examined, and published, ad-free, in Consumer Reports. Its mission: Equip consumers with the knowledge they need to make better and more informed choices.

Perhaps the most miraculous part of Consumer Reports is that its work is technically a public service: Its parent organization, which publishes the magazine (and is also called Consumer Reports), is a nonprofit. The operation launched in 1936, when consumer-protection laws were practically nonexistent, and for much of its history the magazine has shaped both consumer sentiment and government policy. In 1958, for example, Minnesota Congressman John Blatnik credited the organization for its role in exposing the tobacco industrys deceptive practice of claiming that filter-tip cigarettes diminished the intake of tar and nicotine.

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In recent decades, however, Consumer Reportss influence has declined. To an extent this is expected, given how the organization hasnt quite adapted to the new media landscape. But its still more than a little surprising that the rigorous, systematic method of reviewing products practiced by Consumer Reports has lost ground to mostly anonymous online product writeupsnot just in terms of popularity, but also, one survey has found, public trust. Why are online shoppers settling for taking the word of unidentified, and potentially biased, reviewers? Put another way, why isnt Consumer Reports reaching new heights in an era when its evenhanded information should in theory be most in-demand?

Consumer Reports reached its peak number of subscribers in 2008, when it had nearly 8 million (print and digital combined), according to Kelli Halyard, a spokesperson. At present, it has roughly 7 million3.8 million of them print subscribers and 3.2 million of them digital. This is, by magazine standards, a huge subscription base, but the worrisome news for Consumer Reports is that their demographics skew older: The average print subscriber is 65 years old, and the average digital subscriber is 56. Tax records show that for the fiscal year ending in May 2011, the magazines parent organization lost $3.5 million dollars, then $2 million the following year. An internal memo sent to top managers in early 2012, and subsequently leaked by the media blogger Jim Romenesko, put the organizations plight in no uncertain terms: CR is not growing revenues or subscribers, and we are losing money. We must right the ship. The missive blamed this downward slope on new competitors who are doing interesting things.

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These competitors are, in many cases, average consumers, who write their own reviews as soon as products come out and post them on the very websites where shopping decisions are madea practice that has not only become ubiquitous but, in doing so, made Consumer Reportss manner of appraisal feel removed from the modern retail experience. In Nielsens 2015 Global Trust In Advertising report, for instance, around two-thirds of respondents indicated that they trust consumer opinions posted online, and that they were either always or sometimes willing to take action based on those opinions. As for young people, a 2014 poll found that Millennials consider online peer reviews to be slightly more trustworthy and memorable than professional ones.

This shift in attitude has taken place despite frequent discoveries of fraud in crowdsourced reviews. In 2013, for example, after concluding a year-long investigation called Operation Clean Turf, the New York Attorney Generals office ordered 19 companies to pay more than $350,000 in fines for flooding various review sites with phony endorsements. Last October, Amazon sued more than 1,100 people for offering to create fake product reviews for $5 apiece. The incentive for sellers to cheat is strong. In a 2011 working paper, Michael Luca, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, found that a one-star increase in a restaurants average Yelp rating can boost revenue by between 5 and 9 percent. Peoples intent on gaming the system gets stronger by the year, Luca told me.

Aware that fraudulent reviews can undermine trust in their platform, companies such as Amazon and Yelp channel resources toward rooting them out. But detection can be difficult, and, at times, Consumer Reports has appeared eager to highlight this weakness. In 2013, for instance, it published a review of review sites active in San Francisco, and found that companies such as Angies List and Yelp often operate in ways that leave them vulnerable to conflicts of interest and bias. More recently, Consumerist, an irreverent blog that Consumers Union (the advocacy division of Consumer Reports) purchased from Gawker Media in late 2008, posted an article condemning an apparent loophole in Amazon's review policy that allows companies to offer free or discounted products in exchange for reviews. While Amazon requires reviewers to disclose this arrangement, and companies to accept both positive and negative feedback, the vast majority of these agreements, Consumerist found, result in five-star reviews.

Last fall, a study published by the Journal of Consumer Research showed that Consumer Reportss reviews and online user-written reviews differed in important ways. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder compared around 350,000 individual Amazon reviews of nearly 1,300 productseverything from baby monitors to bike helmets to carbon-monoxide detectorswith Consumer Reportss scores for the same goods. Online reviewers, they found, were more likely to give premium brands higher ratings, and rarely compared a variety of similar devices in the same setting, as Consumer Reports does by default.

Ultimately, the researchers found that consumers tend to accept as true the collective wisdom that Amazon conveys about a particular items durability, safety, and performance. We dont want to say that online reviews are completely untrustworthy and have no value whatsoever, Bart de Langhe, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Colorado Boulder and the co-author of the study, told me. But we do want to point out there are strong issues with them, and that in many situations you might be better off relying on expert tests.

So why, given that Consumer Reports still offers a valuable and rare service, has its subscriber base contracted in recent years? In some respects, the story is typical of print magazines in general. Bolstered by a large, if aging, circulation base, the publication was slow to focus on its online offerings. Unwilling to accept money from advertisers, Consumer Reports placed its reviews behind a paywalla strategy that may have worked for a while, but also isolated the publication from young readers unfamiliar with the brand. The thing that has changed dramatically since we were founded 80 years ago has been that we have to be where consumers are, Marta Tellado, the CEO of Consumer Reports since 2014, told me. Its not enough for them to come to us and wait patiently for our reports.

This delay in adapting also allowed for the emergence of digital-first competitors that draw on some aspects of Consumer Reportss technique. The sister websites The Wirecutter and The Sweethome, for example, publish reviews that mix expert opinion, a fluency in online culture, and creative, if sometimes unorthodox, experimentslike when The Sweethome had bike thieves help evaluate bike locks.

Tellados proposed solutions are standards of print-first magazines seeking to attract new audiences online: rebuilding the Consumer Reports website, rethinking its paywall strategy, producing more videos, distributing more mobile-friendly content, and investing in its social-media presence. As we dig in a little harder on the digital and start to look at the data, I think youre going to see a heck of a lot of experimenting, said Tellado.

She will have some resources to work with: Thanks in part to the economic recovery, in the past few years Consumer Reportss parent organization has returned to bringing in a net gain. Consumer Reports also has another bright spot: Consumerist receives between 2.5 to 3.5 million unique visitors per month, according to Halyard, which is up since the acquisition from Gawker. Its average reader is 38.

Luca, the Harvard professor, told me he thinks Consumer Reports should further revise its business model by forming long-term partnerships with the online platforms where consumers already are. In 2015, Consumer Reports took some steps in this direction by partnering with Amazon to provide the site with buying guides for smartwatches and wireless routers. (The Consumer Reports name and link to its website are easy to miss, but its a start.) The danger of associations like these, however, is that Consumer Reports risks tarnishing its longstanding reputation as a consumer advocate and independent reviewer of household wares.

All this, however, is hardly the first obstacle Consumer Reports has faced. In 1940, the House Un-American Activities Committee listed the organization as a subversive operation for its suspected ties to communism. Consumer Reports replied in the form an editorial, stating, If the condemnation of worthless, adulterated, and misrepresented products is a communistic activity, then the Federal Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, and the American Medical Association must be paid direct from Moscow. In 1954, Consumer Reports was dropped from committees list, and has continued to educate the public ever since.

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Hyderabad: The TS government has sought Rs 24,000 crore for Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya, its flagship programmes, from the Centre. Of this, Rs19,000 crore assistance is for Mission Bhagiratha which aims to provide tap water to every home in the state and Rs 5,000 crore is for Mission Kakatiya, the project to revive water tanks.

Principal Secretary, Planning B.P. Acharya, along with Principal Secretary, Irrigation, S.K. Joshi and other senior officials made a PowerPoint presentation to representatives of NITI Aayog who were deputed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a request by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

NITI Aayog advisor A.K. Jain, deputy advisor P.K. Jha and his team who saw the PowerPoint presentation were all praise for the state governments initiatives.

They told the TS officials that CMs of all states have been informed about the schemes.

We made a detailed presentation of both the schemes. The NITI Aayog representatives appreciated it. We sought Central assistance to which they said they would apprise the Centre, Mr Acharya said.

Phase-I of Mission Kakatiya has been completed and Phase-II, which will provide water for drinking, irrigation, fisheries and other purposes, was recently taken up.

In Phase-I of Mission Bhagiratha, from April to June this year, 2,022 habitations in nine Assembly constituencies will be provided tap water.

Mr Joshi later said that the TS government would spend Rs 11,500 crore, Rs 2,000 crore would be Nabards contribution, Rs 1,500 crore from Centre RRR. We sought Rs 5,000 crore aid from Centre, he said.

Irrigation minister T. Harish Rao, who participated in the meeting convened by Union Water Resources ministry in New Delhi, requested release of first instalment by May 15. We want to complete 10 irrigation projects by 2017, he said.
By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European privacy regulators said on Wednesday a new commercial data transfer pact between the European Union and the United States needed to provide more reassurance over U.S. surveillance practices and the independence of a new U.S. privacy ombudsman. The lukewarm reception of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, agreed in February after two years of talks, did little to clear up the legal limbo in which companies have conducted cross-border data transfers since October when the EU's top court struck down the previous data transfer framework, Safe Harbour, on concerns about U.S. mass surveillance practices. The Privacy Shield is designed to help firms on both sides of the Atlantic to move Europeans' data to the United States without falling foul of strict EU data transfer rules. European data protection authorities on Wednesday urged the European Commission - which negotiated the framework - to address their concerns in order for them to be able to establish that data transferred to the United States is afforded the same standard of protection as in Europe. Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, chair of the group of 28 data protection authorities, said an area of concern was "the possibility that is left in the Shield ... for bulk collection which if massive and indiscriminate is not acceptable." Washington has provided an explanation of the limits and safeguards applying to its surveillance programs to try to appease European concerns. But U.S. agencies can still collect data in bulk and use it for six purposes, including counterterrorism or cybersecurity. "We think they are still very broadly defined and can't count as targeted data collection, so for us it's still indiscriminate and mass data collection," said Paul Breitbarth, representing the regulators. Falque-Pierrotin also said there were doubts about the effective powers and independence of the U.S. ombudsman who will deal with EU complaints about U.S. surveillance practices. "We don't have enough security guarantees in the status of the ombudsperson and in the effective powers of this ombudsperson in order to be sure that this is really an independent authority," Falque-Pierrotin said. While non-binding, the opinion from the regulators is important because they enforce data protection law across the EU and can suspend specific data transfers. Falque-Pierrotin left open whether the regulators could in the future challenge other legal channels for data transfers, such as standard contractual clauses - contracts establishing privacy protections between groups - and binding corporate rules. "The Working Partys position doesnt really help with removing the legal uncertainty around data transfers," said Wim Nauwelaerts, managing partner at law firm Hunton & Williams. "As a result of this, many businesses will find themselves between a rock and hard place." The Commission said it would work swiftly to include the regulators' recommendations in the final decision, which it hopes to adopt in June. Cross-border data transfers are used in many industries for sharing employee information, and consumer data is shared to complete credit card, travel or e-commerce transactions, or to target advertising based on customer preferences. Falque-Pierrotin said the Privacy Shield brought a number of improvements compared with Safe Harbour, such as a clearer explanation of EU citizens' rights and means for redress and stricter rules on how companies can use data in the United States. The data protection authorities urged the Commission to review the Shield in two years when a stricter European data protection law comes into force. Member state representatives still have to approve the framework before it is formally adopted by the Commission. (Reporting by Julia Fioretti; Editing by Mark Potter)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union privacy regulators expressed concerns about a new EU-U.S. data transfer pact agreed in February to help companies shuffle data across the Atlantic and requested improvements in order for it to meet European privacy standards, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. While noting the "major" improvements the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield offers compared to its predecessor - which was struck down by a top EU court on concerns about U.S. government snooping last year - the regulators asked for clarifications and for it to be strengthened, the people said. The role and independence of a new U.S. privacy ombudsperson came under particular scrutiny. (Reporting by Julia Fioretti; editing by Robert-Jan Bartunek)
By Foo Yun Chee STRASBOURG (Reuters) - "Alarming" numbers of migrants are reaching Libya to cross the Mediterranean, a senior EU official said on Wednesday, adding a warning that Italy must be ready for them to avoid new border chaos inside Europe. "The numbers of would-be migrants in Libya are alarming," European Council President Donald Tusk told the European Parliament a day after Austria said it planned tighter controls on its Italian border in anticipation of a summer migrant surge. Noting that anarchy in Libya ruled out for now the kind of deal made with Turkey to block what was last year's main route into Europe via Greece, Tusk said EU allies must be ready to help manage new arrivals within Italy, as well as on Malta. But in referring to last year's chaotic movement of nearly a million people from Greece that saw EU states closing borders with each other, threatening the bloc's cherished Schengen zone of passport-free travel, Tusk warned of a similar threat if Italy and its EU partners did not cooperate to contain flows. "As regards the Balkan route, we undertook action much too late, which resulted among others in the temporary closure of the borders inside Schengen," he said of the many months it took to enforce EU rules obliging asylum seekers to remain in Greece. "This is why our full cooperation with Italy and Malta today is a condition to avoid this scenario in the future." Austria, which with France and Germany has long complained that Italy simply "waves through" migrants heading north, has said it expects double last year's 150,000 to reach Italy and will tighten controls on the Brenner Pass frontier. Rome has rejected criticism but some EU diplomats are concerned that Italy, which saw arrivals fall last year, may not be able or willing to accommodate a new surge and to hold people while asylum claims are assessed, as Greece is now doing. Nearly 10,000 people reached Italy last month, compared to fewer than 2,300 in March 2015, U.N. data shows. Arrivals in Greece from Turkey have fallen significantly since Ankara agreed to take back all migrants, including Syrian refugees. Reaching Italy is much riskier than Greek islands off the Turkish coast. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told the same parliamentary session that implementing the EU-Turkey deal remained a "Herculean task", for practical reasons as well as disputes with Ankara over human rights. In rare public rebuke to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, whom Brussels has assiduously courted in seeking his help to curb migrant flows, Juncker criticized Ankara's summoning of the German envoy to complain that Erdogan was mocked on German TV. "I simply cannot comprehend that a German ambassador should be summoned over an admittedly outrageous satirical song," Juncker said. "This does not bring Turkey any closer to us but rather drives us further apart." Among incentives for Turkey to take back migrants from Greece is a pledge to revive talks on Turkish EU membership. (Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Alison Williams)
By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European politicians advised on Wednesday that the herbicide glyphosate should only be approved for another seven years, rather than the 15 proposed by the EU executive, and should not be used by the general public. Environmental campaigners have demanded a ban on glyphosate, which is used in products such as Monsanto's Roundup, on the grounds it can cause cancer, though EU and U.N. scientists disagree on whether there is a link. The European Commission has proposed glyphosate be approved for 15 years when an existing license expires at the end of June. Wednesday's European Parliament motion supported renewal for seven years and urged a ban on non-professional use, as well as in and around public parks and playgrounds. Angelique Delahaye, a French member of the European People's Party, the main center-right group in the parliament, said many people were concerned but farmers needed glyphosate. "The agricultural sector depends highly on it and it is absolutely necessary to find solutions to replace it before totally forbidding it," she said. Wednesday's motion is not binding, but can influence member states so far undecided on whether to approve glyphosate's use. Member states were initially expected to extend approval in March, but EU sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was not enough support to reach a majority decision so the vote was deferred. The European Food Safety Authority, which advises EU policymakers, issued an opinion in November that glyphosate was unlikely to cause cancer. But the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans". A closed-door EU committee on pesticides is due to meet next on May 18-19, though a different committee could debate the issue earlier. Among big EU member states, France has voiced opposition to glyphosate, while Britain and Germany are said to back its use. [L5N17F35R] The Green Party, which wants a ban, said European governments and the European Commission could not ignore the concerns raised by the European parliament. "This is a shot across the bow of the Commission and it must now work with EU governments to address these concerns," Green food safety and public health spokesman Bart Staes said. The Glyphosate Task Force, set up to represent the industry, said in an emailed statement that glyphosate was "a key tool for the control of weeds and the protection of crop yields". "An informed debate cannot be achieved through scare-mongering or the promotion of misinformation and unsubstantiated claims," it said. (Editing by Philip Blenkinsop and David Clarke)
The Saudi government is giving instructions to companies to recruit locals in middle level posts such as computer operators and accountants with a pay of nearly 3,500 riyal (1 riyal = Rs 17). (Representational image)

Hyderabad: If the economic slowdown in the Gulf has come as a big setback, the implementation of Saudisation (giving preference to locals for jobs over foreigners) is giving sleepless nights to migrant Indian workers in Saudi Arabia.

According to Telangana Migrants Rights Council president K. Narasimham Naidu, Indians working in semi-skilled sectors will have to leave if the Saudi government enforces the rule.

The Saudi government is giving instructions to companies to recruit locals in middle level posts such as computer operators and accountants with a pay of nearly 3,500 riyal (1 riyal = Rs 17). Indians do the same work, with more dedication at a lower pay of 1,500 riyal.

Many companies do not want to forego the services of Indians. Nearly 5 lakh Telugu people work in this category, he said. The situation might not be the same in the coming months if the Saudi government warns companies of serious repercussions for not following its orders, Mr Narasimham Naidu said.

The Telangana Overseas Manpower Company Limited, the government agency that oversees job placements of unemployed youth in Gulf countries, stated that they have not entered into tie-ups with any company from Saudi Arabia.

When asked if the agency was counselling the youth about Saudisation in Saudi Arabia which might render them jobless in the near future, an official stated that they would consult the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi for issues relating to Saudi Arabia.

Protector of Emigrants officials stated that there were no special instructions from the MEA regarding Saudi Arabia. The number of people going to Saudi from Telangana districts, like Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Medak is less compared to those going from other states at present, they said. Former minister and Congress MLC Shabbir Ali stated that daily at least 500 individuals were heading to Gulf countries from Telangana this year.

Youth from north Telangana districts are heading to the Gulf due to prolonged drought conditions for the last two to three years. However, unlike during the Congress regime, they are not being given proper training now. We had set up training centres under National Academy of Construction to train youth on construction skills and activity, for which there are plenty of jobs in Gulf. The present government is not doing this, he complained.
By Nathan Layne

(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc <WMT.N> is expanding free curbside pickup of groceries into eight new cities this month including Kansas City and Austin as the retailer gains confidence it can make the strategy work on a larger scale, a senior executive told Reuters.

The expansion, which includes adding stores in markets where it already has a presence, will increase the number of stores with the service by a third to about 200 and widen its footprint to 30 cities, Michael Bender, chief operating officer of Wal-Mart's e-commerce operations, said in an interview on Monday.

Bender said that Wal-Mart was preparing to expand further beyond this move, which could suggest the retailer may look to roll out the service to a more sizeable portion of its nearly 4,600 stores across the United States.

"The data weve collected gives us confidence that with existing customers we are getting a larger share of their wallet and that's complemented by new customers we are bringing into the fold," he said. "There will be more so stay tuned."

By focusing on in-store pickup, Wal-Mart is aiming to capitalize on its network of stores, drawing a sharp contrast with Amazon.com <AMZN.O>, an online-only retailer which has struggled to find the right pricing model and is delivering groceries in a handful of cities for a fee.

Other traditional supermarkets are also trying to figure out a profitable way to sell groceries online.

Kroger <KR.N> offers pickup at 47 locations and more than a 100 stores in its Harris Teeter chain, a company spokesman said. Kroger charges $4.95 per order after the first three orders. Wal-Mart does not have pickup fees.

Bender said customer satisfaction scores in its own surveys from the 150 stores and 22 cities it had expanded to in October were in the mid to high 90's. He said the service was very popular among mothers with children who like having groceries delivered to their trunk without having to leave the car.

Story continues

In addition to Kansas City, Missouri and Austin, Texas, Wal-Mart will roll out the service later this month to select stores in Boise, Idaho; Richmond and Virginia Beach, Virginia; Provo, Utah; Daphne, Alabama and Charleston, South Carolina.

Shoppers can choose from about 30,000 to 40,000 mainly grocery items, roughly the same assortment as in stores. After ordering and paying online, customers drive to the store at a designated time and a "personal shopper" - a new position that has been added to handle the job - brings the groceries to your car.

The push in online grocery dovetails with a $2.7 billion investment that Wal-Mart has made over two years into boosting worker wages and in training, steps that it hopes will improve its customer service and translate into higher sales.

Bender said the "personal shoppers" are getting to know their customers, such as how ripe they like their bananas, and sees grocery pickup as one way to "help change the perception of the service at Wal-Mart."

(reporting by Nathan Layne in San Bruno, California; Editing by Bernard Orr)
San Francisco (AFP) - Facebook users will soon be able to buy tickets directly as the social networking giant expands further into e-commerce, company officials said.

Facebook will in the coming weeks connect to ticketing leaders Ticketmaster and Eventbrite, which will offer an option to buy tickets for selected US events listed on the networking site.

Eventbrite said on Tuesday it would provide a QR code -- a two-dimensional barcode -- that would be integrated within the Facebook mobile app, letting buyers enter events without the hassle of going to other sites, let alone printing tickets.

"We are committed to innovation that helps organizers sell more tickets. Enabling a seamless purchase experience for consumers in places like Facebook where they are spending significant time is an important step in this mission," Laurent Sellier, Eventbrite's vice president of product, said in a statement.

Further details of the plan were expected to be unveiled at this week's annual conference of Facebook's developers in San Francisco.

With more than one billion users every day, Facebook last year posted record profits even though the company was initially cautious in its forays into e-commerce.

Facebook has recently stepped up sales opportunities and on Tuesday announced that it was building artificial-intelligence powered "bots" through which businesses can have lifelike exchanges with customers over Messenger.

Facebook has emerged as a major medium for artists to promote their work and their shows, but users have customarily been obliged to head to other sites to buy tickets.
Facebook users will soon be able to buy tickets directly as the social networking giant expands further into e-commerce, company officials said Tuesday.

Facebook will in the coming weeks connect to ticketing leaders Ticketmaster and Eventbrite, which will offer an option to buy tickets for selected US events listed on the networking site.

Eventbrite said it would provide a QR code -- a two-dimensional barcode -- that would be integrated within the Facebook mobile app, letting buyers enter events without the hassle of going to other sites, let alone printing tickets.

"We are committed to innovation that helps organizers sell more tickets. Enabling a seamless purchase experience for consumers in places like Facebook where they are spending significant time is an important step in this mission," Laurent Sellier, Eventbrite's vice president of product, said in a statement.

Further details of the plan were expected to be unveiled at this week's annual conference of Facebook's developers in San Francisco.

With more than one billion users every day, Facebook last year posted record profits even though the company was initially cautious in its forays into e-commerce.

Facebook has recently stepped up sales opportunities and on Tuesday announced that it was building artificial-intelligence powered "bots" through which businesses can have lifelike exchanges with customers over Messenger.

Facebook has emerged as a major medium for artists to promote their work and their shows, but users have customarily been obliged to head to other sites to buy tickets.
(Reuters) - Canada's parliament called an emergency session over a series of group suicide attempts by aboriginal teenagers in the remote, poverty-stricken Attawapiskat First Nation in Ontario. The following are five facts about the community: - Attawapiskat has declared a state of emergency five times since 2006 over poor drinking water, sewage contamination, housing shortage and flooding that led to sewage back up. - In 2011, the United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous criticized the federal government in Ottawa over a housing crisis in Attawapiskat that forced people to live in tents in temperatures of minus 40 Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit). The then-Conservative government said the criticism "lacks credibility". - The Attawapiskat First Nation has about 2,000 people and is more than 1,000 km (650 miles) north of Toronto, the provincial capital of Ontario. It is accessible only by plane or winter ice road. Attawapiskat, which means "people of the parting of the rocks," sits at the mouth of a river of the same name which has carved out several clusters of limestone islands. - Attawapiskat is the hometown of Theresa Spence, a former chief of the group, who rose to prominence in 2012 as part of the Idle No More movement that protested against aboriginals' socio-economic conditions. Spence went on a hunger strike, saying she was prepared to die unless the then-Conservative government agreed to meet with her, which they later did. - A third-party audit leaked in 2012 revealed millions of dollars in federal funding unaccounted for in Attawapiskat. Critics said the purpose of the leak was to discredit the Idle No More movement. (Reporting by Ethan Lou in Toronto; editing by Grant McCool)
Ambedkar was a Buddhist and being his follower, Rohith too took a liking for Buddhism.

Hyderabad: The family of University of Hyderabad research scholar Rohith Vemula will be converting to Buddhism in the presence of Dr B.R. Ambedkars grandsons, Prakash and Anandraj Ambedkar, at an event to be held in Mumbai, on Thursday. Rohiths mother Radhika and brother Raja Vemula have already arrived in Mumbai.

The university had suspended Rohith and four other students from hostels after they allegedly assaulted an ABVP leader over a heated argument over the hanging of Yakub Memon in August 2015.

The suspension is believed to be one of the leading reasons behind the scholars suicide on January 17 this year. Rohith was a follower of Buddhism according to close friend D. Prashanth. The latter is one of the research scholars, who along with Rohith, was faced with varsity-initiated disciplinary action.

Ambedkar was a Buddhist and being his follower, Rohith too took a liking for Buddhism. Also, his last rites were also done according to Buddhist traditions, said Prashanth.

The family too released a statement ahead of the event. Even though we belong to the Hindu religion, we are subjected to humiliation by upper caste Hindus. I am fed up with Hinduism in which there is widespread discrimination among the upper castes and the backward castes. Also, it was very inhuman of the government to not hold the vice-chancellor of the Hyderabad University responsible for Rohiths death, Ms Radhika told Anandraj Ambedkar, a grandson of Dr Ambedkar.

The ceremony will be conducted at Ambedkar Bhavan in Dadar on Thursday morning in the presence of Rohiths mother and other family members. Buddhist monks, who have been invited for the event, will carry out the rituals necessary to be practiced before one converts to Buddhism.
By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health)  People who eat a lot of fast food may be exposed to higher amounts of certain chemicals in plastics that are believed to disrupt human hormones and possibly cause cancer, according to a U.S. study. Researchers found that people who eat the most fast food have up to 39 percent more of two industrial chemicals called phthalates in their blood than those who eat less, or no fast food at all. We found a significant association suggesting that the more fast food someone eats, the higher the levels of two particular phthalates known to be used in food packaging and food contact material, said lead author Ami R. Zota of the department of environmental and occupational health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Phthalates make plastics like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) more flexible and are used in vinyl flooring, adhesives, detergents, lubricating oils and automotive plastics. People can be exposed by eating and drinking foods and beverages that have been in contact with plastic containers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The human health effects of phthalate exposure are not known, according to the CDC, but they have been shown to affect the reproductive systems of lab animals. Phthalates are of concern because animal and epidemiology studies have linked exposure to a range of adverse health outcomes, from toxicity to developing male reproductive systems, neurodevelopmental issues, miscarriage, and preterm birth, said Justin Colacino of the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, who was not part of the new study. Phthalates can mimic hormones in the body, and those in this study are also suspected to be carcinogens, Colacino told Reuters Health by email. The study team used data from more than 8,000 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys between 2003 and 2010, including their self-reported fast food intake, the type of fast food they ate and the fat content of their food over the previous 24 hours. The surveys also included objective measurements of chemicals in urine samples. As peoples fast food intake increased, so did evidence of phthalate exposure in their urine, according to the results in Environmental Health Perspectives. There was no link between fast food consumption and urinary levels of bisphenol A (BPA), one of three plasticizing chemicals the researchers measured. But people who got more than a third of their total calories from fast food over the previous day had 24 percent more of one chemical, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and 39 percent more of a second one, diisononyl phthalate (DINP), than those who did not eat any fast food. These chemical exposures seemed to be tied specifically to how much grain-based or grain- and meat-based fast food people ate. The researchers accounted for age, sex, race, body weight, household income, and in some models adjusted for other potential sources of phthalate-containing foods, like those obtained from vending machines and restaurants, but the association with fast food remained, Zota said. These studies cannot alone establish causality, she noted. But, the results are both statistically significant and meaningful, she said. Some likely sources include the tubing used upstream in the processing of dairy and meat, as well as the packaging at various stages of production, she said. Another potential source is the gloves employees wear while handling it, which are often vinyl gloves, Zota said. The results suggest that if you as an individual want to limit your chemical exposures, one potential way to do that is limiting fast food and processed food, she said. But individuals can only do so much to limit their exposure to these ubiquitous chemicals, she said. Its going to require a number of stakeholders to address the problems including people who regulate what can be added to food contact materials and food packaging, the Food and Drug Administration, fast food companies themselves, and manufacturers of tubing, Zota said. Phthalate levels are regulated in food in the European Union, but not in the U.S., she said. SOURCE: http://1.usa.gov/1YtM51A Environmental Health Perspectives, online April 13, 2016.
An image of plane plowing through the sound barrier is awesome enough, but NASA just released a shot that captured the shockwave backlit by the sun.

It's pretty incredible.

The image captures the moment the aircraft ripped through the sound barrier and created a loud sonic boom as it accelerated faster than the speed of sound (about 768 miles per hour).

What you're seeing are the shockwaves generated by the sonic boom.

NASA is using a modern adaptation of a 150-year-old photography technique to catalog images of shock waves.

One day you might be able to book a supersonic flight.

Right now, the Federal Aviation Administration restricts supersonic air travel over land because of the loud noise it creates. That's one of the biggest things standing in the way of supersonic commercial travel.

NASA is trying to change that. It's studying shockwave images so it can design an aircraft that can move faster than the speed of sound without producing a jarring sonic boom.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation are investigating how the Wall Street Journal came to report that the two agencies were giving failing grades to some U.S. banks' "living wills" the day before the regulators officially announced their determinations. A Fed spokesman, Eric Kollig, confirmed on Wednesday that the U.S. central bank has asked its inspector general, its internal watchdog, to check how the news outlet was able to report on Tuesday that at least half of the eight biggest U.S. banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase , would receive "harsh verdicts" on their plans for handling a potential bankruptcy without a federal bailout. The FDICs chairman on Tuesday night asked the agencys acting inspector general, Fred Gibson, to investigate the leak to the Journal of the results of the living will determinations, spokeswoman Barbara Hagenbaugh said. On Wednesday, the two regulators said they gave failing grades to the plans of five big banks, including J.P. Morgan, starting a long regulatory chain that could end with breaking up the banks. The Journal's story hit Twitter and its home page hours before the regulators officially posted their determinations early on Wednesday morning and as financial markets prepared for banks to release their quarterly earnings. "In an environment in which sources have become increasingly nervous about speaking with the press, this kind of investigation will only further intimidate them and impede the ability of journalists to help bring to light issues that affect the lives and livelihoods of American citizens," the Journal's editor in chief, Gerard Baker, said in a statement. Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, banks must submit plans annually showing how they would resolve a bankruptcy without relying on taxpayer money. If the regulators do not find the plans "credible," they can impose higher capital requirements and stricter regulation. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis)
By Nate Raymond and Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A fifth high-ranking New York City police officer has been reassigned in an unfolding federal investigation into whether officers accepted trips and gifts from businessmen with ties to Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner William Bratton said on Wednesday.

The New York City Police Department said that Deputy Chief Andrew Capul, head of Patrol Borough Manhattan North, had been transferred to an administrative post in connection with the ongoing investigation.

Roy Richter, president of the union that represents high-ranking officers, said he was confident that Capul was not a target in the probe, and said the deputy chief had cooperated.

Four other commanders were transferred last Thursday, based on what Bratton said was information developed in the investigation.

The probe is examining whether police officers received gifts and travel from businessmen in exchange for unspecified favors, and has centered on two businessmen, Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, said a source familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Rechnitz contributed to de Blasio's mayoral campaign, while Reichberg helped raise money for a nonprofit controlled by de Blasio advisers to support the mayor's agenda. Both men served on de Blasio's inaugural committee in 2013.

The investigation has included former Chief of Department Phillip Banks, once the police department's highest-ranking uniformed officer, and Norman Seabrook, head of the correction officers union, the source said.

Banks earned $250,000 to $500,000 from unspecified investments from JSR Capital Inc, Rechnitz's real estate firm, according to a financial disclosure report Banks filed in 2014.

Rechnitz's lawyer has declined to comment. Reichberg could not be reached for comment. Banks' lawyer has denied any wrongdoing, while Seabrook has declined to comment.

At a news conference on Monday, de Blasio said he was unaware of any investigation into his campaign fundraising and denied any potential improprieties.

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"We comport ourselves with the highest standard of integrity," he said. "Everything we've done in my administration has been open and transparent."

Dan Levitan, a spokesman for de Blasio's 2017 re-election campaign, has said the "campaign has conducted itself legally and appropriately at all times." The campaign is returning 2013 contributions made by Rechnitz.

The investigation led on Friday to the arrest of a former restaurant owner, Hamlet Peralta, for running a $12 million Ponzi scheme. The source said the case was linked to the probe, though court documents do not specify how.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)
Catch the teaser trailer "For the Love of Spock" ahead of its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival

Directed by Leonard's son, Adam, the documentary features a host of familiar faces who find themselves being very open, partly because Nimoy was such a well respected person and partly because of the connection they clearly have with his son.

As well as honouring the life of the actor and director, "For the Love of Spock" is also a celebration of Star Trek's 50th anniversary. Therefore it's fitting that Zachary Quinto, the actor who has taken on the role of the Vulcan science officer aboard the USS Enterprise, narrates the documentary.
KOCHI: The corporate headquarters of Air India Express (AIE) in Kochi is set to be revamped with stateof-the-art infrastructure. Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Air India, Mr. Ashwani Lohani on his visit to Kochi gave administrative sanction to transform the present facility into a more spacious and modern corporate office with the ticketing/reservation centre on the ground floor.

The proposed AIE building would also house the Boardroom of AIE. This facility upgrade will help AIE to meet the need for additional space requirement of a growing workforce in the airline which is on an expansion mode said Mr. K Shyam Sundar, CEO, Air India Express.

The CMD directed Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL), the ground-handling arm of Air India, to procure modern equipment and improve the infrastructure to meet the demands of Air India, AIE and customer airlines. Captain A.K. Sharma, CEO, AIATSL was also present during the inspection at the airport.

The CMD also said that 14 brand new Airbus A-320 aircraft would join the Air India fleet for domestic operations. This is in addition to the six new Boeing 737-800 aircraft joining the AIE fleet, which are planned to be deployed mainly on the India - Gulf routes. He also informed the travel agents that Alliance Air will increase its feeder operations by adding new 72-seater ATRs.

Presently, in the southern region, ATR-42 aircraft are being deployed by Air India on the Kochi  Agatti and KochiBangalore sectors. Mr Lohani also gave directions to explore the feasibility of deploying bigger aircraft in the Kochi- Bangalore sector. The travel agents requested him for a third Kochi- Delhi service and change of timings for the Kochi - Chennai service, which he agreed to examine. AIE will make efforts to increase its cargo business from Kochi.
By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors charged two executives at Florida-based Elm Tree Investment Advisors LLC with bilking investors out of millions of dollars through a fraudulent technology investment scheme, and accused one of spending some of the money on luxuries for himself.

Elm Tree founder Fred Elm, 46, was arrested on Wednesday at his home in Hollywood, Florida, over the alleged $17 million fraud, while Chief Operating Officer Ahmad Naqvi, 47, is at large, said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan.

Prosecutors said the defendants never turned a profit during their 1-1/2-year scheme, and that Elm diverted at least $2 million to fund purchases of a Bentley, a Maserati, a Range Rover, jewelry and a $1.75 million Florida home.

Elm's lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Naqvi could not immediately be identified.

Prosecutors said Elm and Naqvi falsely told investors they would draw on their close ties to elite venture capital firms, and invest at opportune times in such companies as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, GoDaddy Inc, Twitter Inc and Uber Technologies Inc.

But prosecutors said the defendants invested only $7.1 million, lost $3.9 million in less than a year of trading despite having projected triple-digit returns, and used $5.2 million to pay earlier investors in a "Ponzi-like" fashion.

The scheme ran from June 2013 to December 2014, and took place in New York and elsewhere, prosecutors said.

Both defendants were charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Elm appeared on Wednesday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is to appear in Manhattan federal court on Friday or Monday, court records show. Bond was posted at $2.5 million, co-signed by his wife, the records show.

The case is U.S. v Elm et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-mag-02259.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney)
By Martyn Herman LONDON (Reuters) - Tyson Fury has labeled new IBF world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua a 'pumped-up weightlifter' and said he would be an easy pay day once he had defended his own titles against Wladimir Klitschko in July. Briton Fury will face Klitschko in a re-match in Manchester on July 9 after stunning the long-reigning Ukrainian in Germany in November to win the WBA and WBO belts. Olympic champion Joshua won the IBF belt Fury was forced to vacate when he crushed American Charles Martin in only his 16th professional fight last week -- fuelling talk of a unification fight between himself and Fury. Joshua said after dispatching Martin that he would "walk through" Fury, but the self-styled Gypsy King launched a counter-attack on his British rival at a news conference for his cousin Hughie Fury's forthcoming WBO intercontinental heavyweight title fight with American Fred Kassi. "The British public is fooled by bums," Tyson Fury, 27, told reporters. "I thought (Joshua) looked like a pumped-up weightlifter out of his mind on drugs. "He fought an American who came to lay down and had about as much fight in him as this glass of water there, zero. "If it hadn't been for me, Joshua wouldn't be anywhere near a title. He only got the chance because the IBF stole their belt from me because I had a contract for the rematch with Wladimir. "The only fight I have to worry about is Wladimir. It takes a real man to relieve a great champion of his belts. So let's not talk about the others until I beat the man that was the man. "Providing I get past him then I'll fight the other ones. The British ones are the easiest pay days." Fury clearly holds Klitschko in higher esteem than Joshua, saying he was '10-times better', but he had a warning for the German-based former champion who barely laid a glove on Fury in their first fight. "He's still the second-best heavyweight. A proper fighter. But if he doesn't do something different he is in for another hiding. "He has to come and try and fight. He couldn't fight me the first time with his A-game so he won't on his second." (Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Clare Fallon)
New Delhi: Delhi Metro commuters will henceforth not be allowed to cover their faces using surgical masks or mufflers even as the security-hold area at close to two dozen stations has been expanded in view of the new security drills being deployed to more effectively guard the rapid rail network.

In the wake of a daring heist at the Rajinder Place station on Monday where two unidentified men stormed the control room and looted around Rs 12 lakh cash, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has issued a set of fresh instructions dis-allowing covering of the face by travellers using any kind of cloth or cover like surgical masks, mufflers, 'dupatta' or anti-pollution caps.

The two men, also captured on the CCTV, were wearing masks during their entry and exit at the station.

"Only terminally ill or serious patients will be allowed to cover their faces using a mask or cover. Everyone else who uses a cover for a variety of reasons like to beat heat, pollution or for fear of contracting infection will have to remove the face cover while getting frisked.

"The measure was there in place and suspicious people were asked to remove it during frisking but it will now be strictly implemented in all cases. This to ensure that all faces are seen by security personnel and are also captured on CCTV cameras. In case there is an incident, everyone should be identifiable," officials said.

At close to two dozen stations on the Yellow line (HUDA City Centre-Jahangirpuri) and Blue line (Dwarka Sector 21-Noida City Centre/Vaishali), the CISF has expanded its security apparatus and brought under control large areas under its armed cover.

The force has moved its door-frame metal detectors and baggage X-ray machines closer towards the entry gate which entails passengers being frisked and their luggage being scanned much ahead as compared to the existing protocol.

A senior CISF official said only the security-hold area has been expanded and brought under the view of the security personnel and this measure will not add to any additional hassles or time taken during frisking.

"The measure has been taken keeping in mind the overall security of Metro stations. While close to 24 stations are being brought under the new security mechanism in the first go, the CISF will initiate these at more and more stations as and when the space is obtained," they said.

The new area domination at the stations, they said, has been executed keeping in mind a last year's incident when a man sneaked in his luggage through the low height glass partition and then used a gun kept therein to shoot himself at the busy Rajiv Chowk Metro station.

Officials said that after a coordinated analysis carried out by CISF, Ministry of Home Affairs, Delhi Police and Intelligence Bureau, it was decided to cover the station area right from where the tokens are sold to commuters and from where the "paid and un-paid" area get separated by a glass wall, at most of the about 150 stations of Delhi Metro in National Capital Region (NCR).

At a number of stations, the height of the glass partition is also gradually being increased to about 6 feet so that no exchange of goods take place even as the force is deploying its personnel in 'mufti' as spotters to keep an eye on miscreants active in these areas.

Close to 5,000 CISF men and women are deployed to secure the stations operational in the national capital and its neighbouring cities of Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad and Gurgaon.

About 26 lakh people use the rapid rail network everyday to travel to their destinations in these areas and security drills are constantly changed keeping in the mind the dynamics of the network.
(Reuters) - Apparel retailer Gap Inc said it appointed Sonia Syngal as the president of Gap's Old Navy division, a post which was vacant since the departure of Stefan Larsson. Larsson, who is credited with reviving sales at Old Navy, left the retailer in October to replace American designer Ralph Lauren as CEO of Ralph Lauren Corp . Syngal, a 12-year veteran at Gap, most recently served as executive vice president of global supply chain and product operations, the company said on Wednesday. Jill Stanton, who served as interim leader of Old Navy, will serve as a strategic adviser to ensure a seamless transition, the retailer said. (Reporting by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)
Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian and international officials warned Wednesday of a potential slowdown in the reconstruction of Gaza, with only 40 percent of the money pledged after a 2014 war with Israel delivered.

Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah said they were able to repair more than 100,000 partially damaged homes, while giving compensation to businesses damaged in the war between Israel and Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

But he warned that funding was drying up.

"We call upon you to honour your obligations and effectively contribute to saving Gaza," he told a conference of donors, United Nations officials and others in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

In October 2014, following the 50-day war, international donors pledged $3.5 billion to rebuild the Gaza Strip.

But funding has been slow, with only around 40 percent of the money delivered, according to Palestinian officials, who cited World Bank figures.

Gaza remains under an Israeli blockade, which limits the import and export of goods and restricts many basic materials, such as wood and concrete.

Israel fears such material will be used for militant purposes.

The frayed relationship between the Palestinian Authority, which rules the West Bank, and the Islamist movement Hamas, which runs Gaza, has also impeded reconstruction.

The UN's special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, said "reconstruction is progressing and it is progressing because of the excellent efforts of both the government of Palestine and international community".

"But the difficulties in Gaza remain."

Bashir Rayyes, the Palestinian Authority's coordinator for Gaza reconstruction, said reconstruction was suffering from shortages.

"The big part of the third (of funds delivered) went to humanitarian assistance and feeding people and what have you. So, what we really have for the Gaza reconstruction is less than $400 million, way less than $400 million, and that in itself is a very big problem."

"(The $400 million) only brings Gaza back to its previous misery in 2014, but that's not enough."

He said at the current rate, the reconstruction efforts could continue until as late as 2020.
ATLANTA (Reuters) - A Georgia man whose next-door neighbor pleaded for her life before he killed her during a 1996 burglary was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday in the U.S. state, the state's attorney general said.

Kenneth Earl Fults, 47, died by injection at 7:37 p.m. local time (11:37 PM GMT) at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Attorney General Sam Olens said.

(Reporting by David Beasley in Atlanta; Writing by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Berlin (AFP) - A German male nurse jailed for life last year for murdering two patients with a potent heart drug is a suspect in at least 24 more deaths, police said Wednesday.

The man, identified only as Niels H., 39, has claimed killing perhaps 30 patients with such lethal overdoses, which would make him one of Germany's worst post-war serial killers.

The tall and heavyset man, who was jailed for life in February 2015, has been found guilty of two murders and three attempted murders of intensive-care patients.

He has admitted to injecting some 90 patients with the drug so he could then try to revive them and, when successful, shine as a saviour before his medical peers.

He said he felt euphoric when he managed to bring a patient back to life, and devastated when he failed. Each time he would then vow to himself to end his deadly game, he said, only to strike again soon after.

After the shocking revelations of the nurse's murderous obsession, police and prosecutors launched a special forensic commission dubbed "Kardio" (Cardio) to look into other patient deaths.

They said Wednesday they had now exhumed and tested 77 sets of mortal remains of former patients who had been in the care of Niels H. at the Delmenhorst hospital near the northern city of Bremen.

Aside from the 24 suspicious cases where traces of the unprescribed drug were found, they said, they were still awaiting test results from seven other bodies.

The sweeping investigation is looking into some 200 fatalities at the hospital and at the nurse's previous places of employment and is expected to take many more months.

The nurse had previously worked at another clinic, an elderly home and an emergency medical service.

The grisly case dates back to 2005, when a colleague witnessed Niels H. injecting a patient in Delmenhorst.

The patient survived and Niels H. was arrested and, in 2008, sentenced to seven and a half years in jail for attempted murder.

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Amid the media publicity, a woman then contacted police, voicing suspicion that her deceased mother had also fallen victim to the killer-nurse.

The authorities exhumed several patients' bodies and detected traces of the drug in five of them, declaring it either the definitive or possible contributing cause.

These results sparked the trial that sent the nurse to jail for life, but authorities fear the two confirmed murders may just be the tip of the iceberg.
(Reuters) - Families of those killed on a Germanwings flight last year have sued a training unit of the airline's parent, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, in U.S. district court in Arizona for wrongful death, their law firm said on Wednesday.

Kreindler & Kreindler LLP said it had filed a lawsuit on behalf of 80 families against Airline Training Center Arizona Inc, which instructed the Germanwings pilot who barricaded himself in the cockpit and flew his jet into the French Alps on March 24, 2015, killing 150 passengers and crew.

The families charged that the training unit was negligent in failing to discover pilot Andreas Lubitz's medical history before admitting him to the program in 2010.

"The company missed several readily apparent red flags, including that Lubitz's German medical certificate had a restricting legend on its face specifically because of that mental illness history, which included severe depression and suicidal ideations," Brian Alexander, a partner at Kreindler, which specializes in aviation accidents, said in a press statement.

The 144 passengers on the plane came from 18 countries, Germanwings has said. The majority were from Germany and Spain, while three were from the United States.

None of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are related to the U.S. victims, Kreindler partner Marc Moller said in an interview. However, he said they had standing because the training unit was the gateway that taught Lubitz how to fly planes.

A Lufthansa spokeswoman said, "Based on our information, we see no prospects of success for this course of action."

Some lawyers had previously queried whether a U.S. lawsuit would work in this case, given it involved a European airline flying from one European destination to another.

Suing in the United States offers a chance of higher payouts than in Europe, where damages for emotional suffering are limited.

The German flag carrier has said it offered at least 100,000 euros in compensation to victims' families, and that in some cases the amount would be in the millions depending on a person's salary and dependents.

French investigators recommended tougher medical checks for pilots last month after uncovering new evidence of unreported concerns over Lubitz's mental state. France's air accident investigation agency BEA said Lubitz had been told by a doctor two weeks before the crash that he should be treated in a psychiatric hospital.

(Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in New York, Victoria Bryan in Berlin and Hans Seidenstuecker in Frankfurt; Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Fiona Ortiz)
By Madeline Chambers BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany said on Wednesday it needs more time to decide on a request from Turkey to prosecute a comedian who has caused a diplomatic row by reciting a sexually crude poem about Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on German television. The request by Turkey has created a political dilemma for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has just pushed through a European Union agreement with Ankara to help curb the influx of migrants. Critics had already accused her of getting too cozy with Turkey and relying on Erdogan's help to ease the pressure over her handling of the crisis, which saw over a million migrants arrive in Germany last year. In a deliberately provocative poem about Erdogan, Jan Boehmermann referred to bestiality and the suppression of Kurdish and Christian minorities in Turkey. The program was aired on ZDF public television on March 31. Erdogan himself has filed a legal complaint against Boehmermann for insulting him. But in an even more politically charged move, the Turkish embassy has sent the German foreign ministry a cable requesting Boehmermann's prosecution on suspicion of offending a foreign head of state. Erdogan is known for his intolerance of criticism and readiness to take legal action. Turkish prosecutors have opened nearly 2,000 cases against people for insulting him since he became president in 2014, the justice minister said last month. "The assessment of the Turkish cable and of further action resulting from it is still going on," Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters, reiterating comments from Monday when he said it would take a few days. "We ask for patience." Seibert also reiterated Merkel's commitment to freedom of speech, but tried to separate that from the immediate political reality. "It is important that the migrant deal with Turkey is implemented," he said. "We, Germany, and Turkey have a mutual interest in this succeeding ... but totally separate from that, we clearly acknowledge Article 5 of our constitution, which guarantees freedom of opinion, of science and of art." Critics argue that Merkel partly brought the problem on herself, by telling Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on a phone call that the poem was deliberately offensive. It would be legally possible under German law to prosecute Boehmermann. But as practical matter, such prosecutions are very rare. Only a handful of investigations have been conducted under the relevant laws over the past 15 years, say officials. Under the relevant section of Germany's criminal codes, the government has to authorize prosecutors to pursue a case against Boehmermann. Requiring such political intervention in a judicial matter is antiquated and should be abolished, critics say. A spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry said there were no immediate plans to abolish it but that the ministry was aware of a discussion taking place within some political parties. (Additional reporting by Michael Nienaber, editing by Larry King)
Thrissur: City police commissioner K. J. Simon and his team on Tuesday inspected the preparations of Thrissur Pooram fireworks on Thekkinkkad Maidan. They also inspected the a magazines of both the Paramekkavu and Thiruvambadi devaswoms where they will store firecrackers made using 2,000 kg of gunpowder.

Amidst requests to call off fireworks of Thrissur Pooram from different quarters in view of the Kollam firework tragedy, the district collector on Monday had given the nod for fireworks putting in place stringing rules.

On Tuesday, the commissioner handed over a letter to both devaswoms to strictly follow all the guidelines of the Explosives Act 2008 while conducting fireworks.

On the basis of the letter and the High Court order to ban all high decibel fireworks during the night, the functionaries of both the devaswom held an urgent meeting at the Paramekkavu Agrasala Tuesday evening.

District collector V. Ratheesan had told media persons after the emergency meeting with devaswom officials on Monday afternoon that there might be a practice of using gunpowder above the permitted limits, but it would be strictly monitored this time.

The collector had also said that spectators would be kept at a distance of 100 meters away from the place where the fireworks burst. Accordingly, the firework buffs will be allowed to watch the event only from the outer footpath of the Swaraj Round and would not be allowed to enter the Round.

The Vadakkumnathan temple, which was given the recognition as a UNESCO heritage site a few months ago will be protected without being damaged during the fireworks held on Thekkinkkad Maidan.
Paris (AFP) - Why did humans become monogamous, apparently rejecting the promiscuity that is natural to most animals?

Was it morality? Religion? Maybe love?

The answer is germs, researchers said Tuesday, arguing that the havoc caused by sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) convinced our ancestors it would be better to mate for life.

A research duo from Canada and Germany observed that STIs flourished among large groups of people living in the villages, towns and cities that arose after prehistoric hunter-gatherers settled down to farm.

Left unchecked, spreading diseases can affect individual fertility and a group's overall reproduction rate.

Falling population numbers would force a rethink of sexual behaviour -- which in turn gives rise to social mores.

The researchers developed a mathematical model of hunter-gatherer demographics and likely STI spread among them.

They used it "to show how growing STI disease burden in larger residential group sizes can foster the emergence of socially imposed monogamy in human mating."

In small groups of no more than 30 individuals, with no chance for epidemic spread, STI outbreaks are generally short-lived, the team said.

The reduced risk may explain why small groups, both among early humans and today, are often polygynous (when men have more than one partner).

- 'Evolutionary puzzle' -

Socially-imposed human monogamy has long been considered an "evolutionary puzzle", according to the research duo.

It requires societies to put in place checks and structures -- a police and court system, for example -- to uphold societal mores.

"Yet, many larger human societies transitioned from polygyny to socially imposed monogamy beginning with the advent of agriculture and larger residential groups," said the paper.

That riddle may now be solved.

The research showed that our natural environment, with factors such as disease spread, "can strongly influence the development of social norms, and in particular our group-oriented judgements," study author Chris Bauch of the University of Waterloo in Canada told AFP.

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But this did not necessarily mean that humans would become wildly promiscuous if drugs were to make STIs a thing of the past, he added.

"Modern societies are more complicated... and there is probably more than one reason that explains socially imposed monogamy," Bauch said by email.

"I think it is premature to speculate that marriage will disappear, or that polygyny will return, if we solve the problem of STIs."

The research was published in the journal Nature Communications.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation will present Robert De Niro with an award for his continuing commitment to raising awareness of the LGBT community.

The Excellence in Media award will be the highest accolade presented at the 27th annual GLAAD media Awards, which this year takes place on May 14 in New York.

But as well as recognizing De Niro's work in bringing attention to the LGBT community, the ceremony will also honor all branches of the media -- from cinema and television to print and broadcast journalism -- for "fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives."
Using the theme of "Full Throttle - The Endless Pursuit of Power" as a guide, the event's organizers promise that this year's show is going to be one of the most epic in history.

"This year's Festival will see the wildest, fastest, craziest, baddest cars and bikes ever to ascend the Goodwood Hill. Not to mention of course the heroes that tamed those mighty machines. There will be lots of noise, speed, color and, of course, power. That's what the Festival of Speed's all about. I'm really excited about it and hope it will be an absolutely spectacular and memorable weekend," said festival founder Lord March on Tuesday.

The 2016 event will honor BMW's centenary, celebrate the Can-Am racing series and allow visitors to get up close and personal with some of the best rally cars ever built.

As for those that tamed them, drivers and riders confirmed for the June 23-26 show include Jenson Button, Sir Stirling Moss, Ken Block, Mark Weber and Bobby Labonte.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Faced with severe criticism from the High Court over the criminal lapse of law enforcing agencies in the horrendous fire tragedy at Puttingal temple, the government has decided to convene an all party meeting on Wednesday to evolve a consensus on the issue of banning fireworks.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters after a high-level meeting here that the all party meet would examine whether such fireworks should be allowed to continue. "Many views have come up. The Kerala High Court has also taken up the matter. Under these circumstances we have decided to convene the all-party meeting," he added.

The meeting will be held at 2 pm at the Chief Ministers conference hall on April 14. It will discuss whether a total ban on fireworks is practical and what type of restrictions are required to avoid such horrendous incidents in future ?

Ahead of the all-party meeting, the Opposition stepped up its attack on the government holding it squarely responsible for the incident. Opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan said the temple organising committee could not have defied the Collector without the intervention of Chief Minister or the home minister. This was the latest instance of the UDF government violating all norms to appease community organisations.

However, Mr Achuthanandan called for a consensus on stopping practises like fireworks and use of elephants during festivals. CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan demanded the resignation of home minister Ramesh Chennithala in view of the grave lapse on the part of the police.

Meanwhile, BJP state president Kummanam Rajashekharan opposed the move to enforce blanket ban on fireworks. "There is no need to ban fireworks. Such measures will not solve the problem. The government should instead study the reasons behind the incident and ensure that such lapses don't take place," he said. He alleged that certain sections were trying to take political advantage of the incident which is dangerous.
PHOENIX (Reuters) - A 72-year-old woman who got lost in an Arizona forest after running out of gas en route to a visit with her grandchildren was rescued after nine days surviving on pond water and plants, state troopers said on Tuesday.

Ann Charon Rodgers, who used sticks and rocks to fashion a "HELP" plea in a clearing, suffered from exposure but was reported in fair condition when she and her dog were found by authorities on Saturday on a back country road on the Fort Apache Reservation.

The Tucson resident was released from the hospital later that evening and reunited with her family, authorities said.

Authorities said Rodgers had been missing since March 31 when she left home to travel to Phoenix to see her grandchildren.

Rodgers, who was traveling with her dog, said she got lost, ran out of gas and depleted the charge on her hybrid vehicle. She became disoriented and climbed several ridges in an attempt to get better cellphone service, to no avail.

A massive search was launched on April 3 after her vehicle was spotted, authorities said in a statement.

Six days later, a tribal wildlife officer found her dog walking in an area known as Canyon Creek and a state helicopter crew spotted her makeshift distress signal on the canyon floor, according to the statement.

A handwritten message tucked under a rock described her plight and her plans to proceed down the canyon, and searchers said they encountered what appeared to be an abandoned shelter in the area.

She was spotted by a helicopter as it rounded a bend in the canyon.

"Rodgers was located standing next to a signal fire and waving to the helicopter," troopers said in the statement, adding that she was able to walk to the aircraft and board it with little assistance.

A state police spokesman said late on Tuesday afternoon that Rodgers could not immediately be reached for interviews.

(Reporting by David Schwartz; editing by Sara Catania, G Crosse)
By Magdalena Mis LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Millions of people in developing countries are at risk of going without even the most basic health services as a result of low domestic health spending and slow growth in international aid for health, experts said on Wednesday. Nearly half of 80 developing nations are unlikely to meet by 2040 the international target for healthcare to be deemed universally available - spending of $86 per person per year - two studies published in The Lancet medical journal said. "Despite tremendous need, our results show that tepid growth in health spending is likely in many of the poorest countries with the largest disease burdens over the next 25 years," Joseph Dieleman of the Seattle-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) said in a statement. "These changes in the growth and focus of international aid could have a serious impact on over 15 million people taking antiretroviral therapy in developing countries and on health services in some low-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria remain among the top threats to health." Global health spending is expected to reach $18.28 trillion in 2040, but low-income countries are predicted to spend just $0.03 for every dollar spent in high-income countries, the researchers said. High-income nations are expected to spend an average of $9,019 per person on health in 2040, they added. Health spending will remain lowest in countries which need the largest health advances, including Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic, which in 2013 spent just $24 and $26 per person respectively, researchers said. "For low- and middle-income countries to reach international spending targets and close the gap, domestic and international health funding will need to increase beyond historical growth rates," Dieleman said. Annual growth in development assistance for health (DAH) fell to just 1.2 percent per year between 2010 and 2015, from around 11 percent annually between 2000 and 2009, the researchers said. DAH is expected to grow to $64.1 billion in 2040 from $36.4 billion in 2015, but great uncertainty remains about how much domestic funding will rise, with predicted annual growth rates ranging from minus 0.72 percent to plus 5.96 percent, it said. Of the low-income countries, only Rwanda is expected to meet the target of government health spending of 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2040, along with one-third of 98 middle-income countries, the researchers said. The research, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, analyzed health spending for 184 countries from 2013 to 2040 based on World Health Organization (WHO) and IHME data and trends in development assistance between 1900 and 2015. (Reporting by Magdalena Mis, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, womens rights, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
Already compared to literary heavyweights Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Haruki Murakami, great expectations weigh on Eka Kurniawan, the first Indonesian ever nominated for a Man Booker International Prize.

The 40-year-old is up against revered writers like Orhan Pamuk and Kenzaburo Oe, both past recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature, but there is a growing buzz about the works of this little known author.

At home, titles of Kurniawan's novels splashed across the back of trucks, while newspapers and magazines hail him Indonesia's most exciting writer for a generation.

"My friends sent me pictures of the back of trucks bearing the titles of my books - these (trucks and the lives of the drivers) were an inspiration for one of my novels -- and the fact my books are emblazoned there brought me to a state of euphoria, I got goosebumps," he tells AFP.

Internationally, demand is such that he's already attended the acclaimed Frankfurt and Melbourne Book Fairs.

Despite this, Kurniawan says his inclusion on the longlist for the prestigious award, for "Man Tiger" -- the story of a young man who gnaws his elderly neighbour to death -- came as a "surprise".

He will find out Thursday if he has made the final six. The winning author and translator will also share 50,000 pounds (USD$71,000) in prizemoney, while all the finalists receive 1,000 pounds.

A shortlist nomination -- or better still, a victory -- will likely provide a much-needed international profile boost not just for Kurniawan, but for the nation's literary scene.

"I hope this is the case that Indonesian literature is really on the rise, because in the past 10 years I can feel the excitement," he adds.

- 'Free from taboos' -

Indonesian writers have long struggled for appreciation at home, let alone on the world stage. Many do not have the means to translate their books into other languages and attract publishers and readers abroad.

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Yet their is a passionate desire to share their stories and the profession has flourished since Indonesia embraced democracy.

Kurniawan, who is now married with a young daughter, participated in the student protests that toppled the authoritarian regime in 1998. He says the wave of openness that followed the end of Suharto's three-decade rule had an "enormous" influence on Indonesia's literary evolution.

"I feel Indonesia is more open," Kurniawan explains. "We can speak practically about many things, including politics, religion and other taboos like sex."

Kurniawan's own work is no exception: "Man Tiger" is a grisly, murderous tale, while "Beauty is a Wound" revolves around the communist massacres across Indonesia in the 1960s, a politically-sensitive topic to this day.

The vein of magic realism throughout his work has earned Kurniawan comparisons to legendary Colombian novelist Marquez, while others tout him as successor to Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

Pramoedya, who died a decade ago this month, is considered Indonesia's greatest-ever writer. His legendary "Buru Quartet" -- which he wrote behind bars during the Suharto years -- earned him several nominations for a Nobel Prize for Literature, and acclaim overseas.

- Fuel global interest -

For all the high praise directed at Kurniawan, who is from West Java but now lives in Jakarta, it has been slow crawl from aspiring writer to Booker nominee.

He worked as a graphic designer and jobbing writer, but when "Man Tiger" was first published in Indonesian in 2004 -- he concedes the readership really only extended to his circle of close friends.

It took a decade before it was translated into English and on bookshelves overseas.

The respected Southeast Asian scholar, Benedict Anderson stumbled on Kurniawan's work and, impressed, urged him to translate his works and meet with a UK publisher later describing him as "Indonesia's most original living writer of novels and short stories".

For many writers - language is a challenge. Indonesian is often second choice after local dialects. This limits exposure in a country where only 1 in 1,000 spends time reading, according to research by UNESCO.

Publishing in English is the only avenue for global recognition and readership but for many the cost of quality translation remains too high, ensuring they remain off the radar of major international publishers.

But interest is growing -- last year Indonesia was guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, an opportunity to showcase the literary culture and traditions at the largest publishing event in the world.

There's a sense Kurniawan could encourage further interest. Barbara Epler, the head of his US publisher New Directions, predicted that if Kurniawan took off overseas he would be a "prime force" in getting more publishers interested in Indonesia, a sentiment echoed in his homeland.

"I hope he wins so that authors will rush to translate their books into other languages, promoting them to the world," respected Indonesian poet Sapardi Djoko Damono told AFP.

The shortlist for the Man Booker International Prize will be announced Thursday and the winner on May 16.
At a candid discussion on the state of equal pay for women in America, Hillary Clinton gave kudos to Silicon Valley CEOs for carrying their share of the load.



If CEOs and board members will actually ask themselves How sure are we we that we are paying people the same? the data shows even in the best-intentioned companies that is often not happening, she said. Clinton spoke at a round table discussion hosted by salary data site Glassdoor.com. She gave a nod to Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff, who spent $3 million last year to close the gender wage gap at his company, and Gap (GPS), the first Fortune 500 company to announce that it pays female and male employees equally in 2014.

Im very focused on making sure we dont lose the impetus behind this conversation and that we get more companies ... to be public [about their gender wage gap], Clinton said.

Silicon Valley is rising to the challenge. On Tuesday, Facebook (FB) and Microsoft (MS) became the latest tech giants to announce they had achieved pay parity among their male and female workers. They follow in the footsteps of Intel, which announced in February it had achieved 100% pay parity between men and women workers with the same job, and Apple and Amazon, which were quick to follow. At Apple, women earn 99.6% of what male employees earn and at Amazon, women earn 99.9% of men in equivalent jobs. If this trend is anything like last summers scramble to publish racial pay data in the Valley, more tech giants are sure to follow.

Whether they get a head start or not, business leaders wont have long to resist publishing salary data publicly. Under a new federal regulation set to take effect next year, companies with 100 employees or more will have to begin reporting wage data to the federal government.

The panel also included Megan Rapinoe, Women's Soccer World Cup Champion, Robert Hohman, co-founder and CEO, Glassdoor, Inc, Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, executive director of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, Dan Henkle, president, Gap Foundation & SVP of global sustainability of Gap Inc., and Tracy Sturdivant, co-founder & co-executive director of Make It Work.



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There was only the slightest hint of exasperation in her tone when the Democratic presidential candidate joked about how often shes asked to weigh in on pay disparities (almost every day). The wage gap has barely budged in the last 30 years and its been 20 years since Clinton gave her now-famous speech on the state of women around the world at the United Nations. Women still earn 80 cents for every $1 a man earns for the same work, and black and Hispanic women earn even less (64 cents and 56 cents, respectively). Some predict it will take at least another 100 years to level the playing field.

Clinton has called for a multi-pronged effort to close the gap, starting by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would add some teeth to the 50-year-old Equal Pay Act by preventing employers from retaliating against workers who share wage information. Shes also called for a higher federal minimum wage and new laws requiring employers to provide paid family and medical leave (she and her opponent Bernie Sanders agree on that front).

I feel like [equal pay] is something thats long overdue but I know weve got to keep moving forward, Clinton said.

Equal Pay day this year falls on the one-year anniversary of the launch of Clintons presidential campaign. At the kickoff event held in New York City that day, Clinton promised to keep pay parity front and center in her bid for the Democratic nomination.

It is way past time to end the outrage of so many women still earning less than men on the job  and women of color often making even less, she said. This isnt a womens issue. Its a family issue.

Mandi Woodruff is a reporter for Yahoo Finance and host of Brown Ambition, a weekly podcast about life, love and money.

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Bill Clinton is a major headache for his wife  on the campaign trail. Not because he can be wooly-headed or off message on occasion, or because he reminds us of the endless Clinton vulgarities  the money-grubbing, the sexual misbehavior, the lies, and the stealing of mementoes from the White House. But because he and his politics are outdated.

Battling against progressive Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton has had to repudiate most of husband Bills signature legislation  on trade, welfare reform and criminal justice, even as she had once championed these accomplishments. Her detachment from Bills legacy is perhaps more conscious uncoupling than divorce. Still, it is not what she (or he) expected starting out on this journey.

Related: Trump Warns That Bill Clinton Would Be Fair Game in General Election

Bill remains one of our most popular past presidents, and he is a much, much better campaigner than his wife is. He helps win black voters and could help attract white men, a category not in Hillary Clintons camp. In addition, his favorability ratings are much higher than hers are  some 60 percent expressing approval compared to only 40 percent. Yet, she may have to leave Bill and his 1990s policy manual behind.

Bill Clintons recent contretemps with Black Lives Matter is a case in point. Young blacks today decry what they see as a biased justice system and hold President Clintons crime bill partly responsible for the mass incarceration of minorities. The former president, recently confronted a rowdy demonstration and stood up for the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, pointing out that it was the African American community that pleaded to get drug gangs off the streets and that begged for tougher policing.

The confrontation was depicted as Bill defending Hillary -- in fact, Bill Clinton was defending his own legacy. Hillary, pushed by Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama, and trying to lure Super PAC money from George Soros, who has targeted this issue, has been calling for criminal justice reform for months, and especially for reducing the mandatory sentences imposed by her husbands law. This is a change for Hillary Clinton, who as recently as 2007 opposed lightening sentences for crack cocaine offenders. That approach was meant to portray the former first lady as tough on crime, a stance to the right of other Democratic candidates.

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Related: Bill Clinton Defends Wife's 'Super Predator' Comment to Protesters

It is certainly a change from her position in 1994, when she celebrated the passage of her husbands crime bill, saying to female police officers, We will finally be able to say, loudly and clearly, that for repeat, violent, criminal offenders: three strikes and youre out. We are tired of putting you back in through the revolving door.

Having to throw her husbands legacy under the bus is an unanticipated speedbump in Hillarys glide path to the Oval Office. She entered the race confidant that Democrats across the country would be happy to revisit the Clinton years. After several years of sluggish recovery and rising income inequality under Obama, she expected voters to fondly remember the higher growth years of 1993-2000, when the U.S. added 242,000 jobs per month.

But along came Bernie Sanders and Donald Trumps crusade against free trade and attacks on the NAFTA agreement that Bill Clinton signed into law. Claims that the deal caused millions of jobs to migrate to Mexico stirred protests that trade has harmed the middle class, and in turn derailed swift passage of President Obamas 12-nation TPP trade deal. Hillary was caught in the crossfire.

Hillary Clinton has skittered back and forth on trade for years. In 1996, First Lady Clinton championed NAFTA, which was opposed by unions, by claiming it was "proving its worth." In 1998, in a speech to the World Economic Forum, she praised businesses for lobbying for the agreement. Later, when Senate candidate Clinton ventured to hard-pressed areas of New York State, where jobs had been lost to outsourcing, she became more critical and began to describe NAFTA as flawed. In 2008, Clinton said, "You know, I have been a critic of NAFTA from the very beginning. I didn't have a public position on it, because I was part of the administration, but when I started running for the Senate, I have been a critic.

Related: Clinton Foundation Subpoenaed by State Department Watchdog

Hillary also liked President Obamas TPP trade agreement, which she dubbed the gold standard before she caved and opposed it. In her memoire Hard Choices, she calls the deal a strategic initiative that would strengthen the position of the United States in Asia." As Secretary of State, Hillary called the agreement "exciting" and "innovative." Presidential candidate Clinton says it has not met her high standards.

Welfare reform is perhaps the most challenging issue for Hillary. Faced with soaring welfare rolls, Bill Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, a bipartisan effort to put people back to work. On the campaign trail, Sanders has criticized Clinton for having supported the controversial bill that many think hurt poor blacks. Not only did she support it, she helped round up votes to secure its passage.

Recently, Bill Clinton defended the law, saying, Theres no question that [welfare reform] did far more good than harm. He admitted that subsequent events showed it needs some improvement. As one black educator wrote, We know, and so does Bill Clinton, that welfare reform actually expanded the misery of the poorest of the poor. People living in extreme poverty increased more than twofold as a result of that legislation.

Its hard to run against a 21st century progressive carrying the policy baggage of a 1990s president. In a campaign season full of surprises, this may be the biggest surprise of all: people do not want to return to the Clinton years.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Thiruvananthapuram: The CPM state leadership on Tuesday alleged that the UDF was trying to revive the Vadkara-Beypore Congress-BJP-League alliance formula to defeat LDF in the forthcoming Assembly polls. CPM politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that BJP-RSS and outfits affiliated to NDA were supporting the UDF candidates in many constituencies. The Congress was also reciprocating by offering support to the BJP and its allies.

The CPM leader alleged that the BJP was desperate to open an account in the state and to achieve its target, it was prepared to join hands with anyone. Meanwhile, the security deposit for the elections for Pinarayi Vijayan was contributed by inmates of Gandhi Bhavan Pathanapuram here on Monday.

The amount was handed over to the CPM politburo member by Patiamma, a relative of Sir C P Ramaswamy Iyer. Pinarayi said he felt proud that the inmates of Gandhi Bhavan had a place for him in their hearts. He also handed over the security deposit raised by All India Lawyers Union for the LDF candidates in the district. The CPM politburo member launched the poll website of T N Seema who is contesting from Vattiyoorkavu constituency.
By Kiyoshi Takenaka HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - Progress on ridding the world of nuclear weapons, not an apology, is what Hiroshima would want from a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to the Japanese city hit by an American nuclear attack 71 years ago, survivors and other residents said. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said during a visit to the city on Monday that Obama wanted to travel there, though he did not know if the president's schedule would allow him to when he visits Japan for a Group of Seven summit in May. No incumbent U.S. president has ever visited Hiroshima. A presidential apology would be controversial in the United States, where a majority view the bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and of the city of Nagasaki three days later, as justified to end the war and save U.S lives. The vast majority of Japanese think the bombings were unjustified. "If the president is coming to see what really happened here and if that constitutes a step toward the abolition of nuclear arms in future, I don't think we should demand an apology," said Takeshi Masuda, a 91-year-old former school teacher. "It has been really tough for those who lost family members. But if we demand an apology, that would make it impossible for him to come," he told Reuters. Masuda's mother died a few weeks after being caught in the nuclear attack. At schools where he taught after World War Two, some students had been orphaned, others severely burned. A U.S. warplane dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing thousands of people instantly and about 140,000 by the end of that year. Nagasaki was bombed on Aug. 9, 1945, and Japan surrendered six days later. 'THE SUN IS FALLING' Miki Tsukishita, 75, remembers watching something shiny falling from the sky over Hiroshima that morning. He ran back into his house shouting: "The sun is falling down". That shielded him from direct exposure to the blast, heat and radiation. Tsukishita was among those who placed an advertisement in the Washington Post in 1983 urging then-President Ronald Reagan to visit Hiroshima. Tsukishita wants Obama, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in part for his push for nuclear disarmament, to use his influence to persuade leaders of other nuclear-armed countries to visit Hiroshima too, so they understand the inhumanity of atomic weapons. "What really matters is not repeating the tragedy. I want him to say to other nuclear states 'I've come to Hiroshima, so should you'," he said. Hiroshi Harada, a former head of the atomic bomb museum Kerry visited this week, was six when the bomb was dropped. "At that moment, we saw people burned black, having their skin melted or limbs blown apart. It is unlikely that survivors would be in a cheery, welcoming mood," Harada said. "But President Obama would be making a very delicate political decision to come to Hiroshima. I would want to accept his visit with hopes that it will lead to the next action (for the abolition of nuclear arms)." (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Linda Sieg, Robert Birsel)
Chinese genetic scientists must not be put off sensitive research by ethical concerns, the team behind a controversial study on modified human embryos said Wednesday as debate erupted over the paper.

Researchers from Guangzhou Medical University said they used a gene-editing technique known as CRISPR to artificially induce a mutation in human cells and make them resistant to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Their paper, which appeared last week in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, is only the world's second published account of gene editing in human embryos.

Critics said the study -- intended as a proof-of-principle exercise -- was unnecessary and lacked medical justification, and strongly cautioned against the broader ethical implications of the slippery slope of human genome modification.

"This paper doesnt look like it offers much more than anecdotal evidence that (CRISPR) works in human embryos, which we already knew," George Daley, a stem-cell biologist at Children's Hospital Boston, told the prominent science journal Nature.

It demonstrated that "the science is going forward before theres been the general consensus after deliberation that such an approach is medically warranted", he added.

Tetsuya Ishii, a bioethicist at Japan's Hokkaido University, denounced the research as "just playing with human embryos", Nature said.

In a statement issued by the hospital where they carried out their research, the Guangzhou team brushed aside such concerns, focusing instead on the "incalculable" size of the future market for disease treatments.

"The assessments of those outside the field are not authoritative, and the research environment will continue to evolve," they said.

"For us what is most important is that we diligently complete our research and stick to the path we believe in, acquiring independent intellectual property rights... so that we do not have to defer to others."

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Such perseverance, they said will ensure "our own position in the international community", adding: "The future market for the treatment of diseases through gene editing is incalculable."

Speaking to China's state-run Global Times newspaper, the paper's lead author Fan Yong said: "It is the pioneers that will make the rules in this field."

Han Bin, the director of China's National Center for Gene Research, told the paper -- which often takes a nationalistic tone -- that the technology's potential therapeutic benefits for all diseases caused by inherited variation, including cancer, should outweigh any qualms.

Instead of following other countries' ethical stances, China should formulate its own standards and regulations, the Global Times cited him as saying.

- Ethics committee -

China is quickly cementing a reputation as a leader in the fields of genetic research and cloning, showing a willingness to forge ahead even as others hesitate over ethical issues.

The worlds biggest cloning factory is under construction in the northern port of Tianjin, with plans to churn out everything from pets to premium beef cattle.

The chief executive of Boyalife Group, the Chinese firm behind it, told AFP his company had technology advanced enough to replicate humans. The head of its South Korean partner has been quoted as saying it preferred mainland locations to avoid bioethics laws elsewhere that would ban the use of human eggs.

The Guangzhou Medical University study used flawed embryos not viable for fertility treatment, and had been approved by the university's ethics committee.

Four out of the 26 embryos were successfully modified, while a number exhibited unexpected mutations. All of them were destroyed three days later.

"The purpose of this study was to evaluate the technology and establish principles for the introduction of precise genetic modifications in early human embryos," the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics paper read.

The legality of human embryo research varies by country, and there is no international consensus on what ought to be allowed.

In the US, the influential National Institutes of Health are banned from funding such studies, while Britain's independent fertility regulator only issued its first licence for human embryo modification research in February, for a study on infertility and miscarriages.
Here's a life tip you probably don't need to be told: You should really avoid having your name put on the government's drone strike "kill list." A kill list target named Malik Jalal believes that he's been wrongfully placed in the government's crosshairs and he's written a piece for The Independent describing what it's like to have predator drones hunting you and potentially firing missiles at you when you least expect it.

Spoiler alert: It's not a lot of fun.

MUST READ: 40 of the first Facebook chat bots in the world

"My friends began to decline my invitations, afraid that dinner might be interrupted by a missile," Jalal writes, explaining what happened after he survived four separate drone strikes that killed dozens of civilians who were standing near him. "I took to the habit of sleeping under the trees, well above my home, to avoid acting as a magnet of death for my whole family."

Jalal, who hails from the Waziristan area near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, has traveled to the U.K. to plead his case that he doesn't deserve to be on any kill list. He believes he is being targeted for his work with the North Waziristan Peace committee (NWPC), which western intelligence agencies believe to be offering safe haven to the Taliban in Pakistan. Jalal, however, claims he only plays a "peaceful" role with the group and isn't part of any terrorist plot.

At any rate, living in constant fear for both your life and the life of your family doesn't seem like a good thing. Check out Jalal's full account at this link.

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PANAMA CITY  Guatemalan director Julio Hernandez Cordon won the IFF Panamas Primera Mirada pix-in-post competition in 2015 with I Promise You Anarchy, which went on to world premiere at Locarno, followed by screenings in Toronto and San Sebastian. It is now playing in the Stories from Central America and the Caribbean sidebar at IFF Panama.

Anarchy was produced by Mexican production house Interior 13, which has also produced the films by Nicolas Pereda (El Palacio). World sales are being handled by Spains Latido Films. Already sold to Spain, Portugal, the Caribbean and Central America, Anarchy was Hernandez Cordons first picture produced and filmed in Mexico. He moved there because of the difficulties he faced in funding his films in his native Guatemala.

His debut documentary feature, Hasta el sol tiene manchas, filmed 10 years ago, was produced on a shoestring $3,000 budget. His next docu, Las Marimbas del Infierno, was shot for $20,000. His first fiction feature, Gasolina, which had support from the Cinergia Central American Film Fund and won San Sebastians Cinema in Motion sidebar in 2007, was produced for $80,000; his second, Polvo, was shot for $100,000, including support from Ibermedia. The limited budgets forced Cordon to shoot his pics in two weeks.

By moving to Mexico, Cordon was able to put together a $600,000 budget and a six-week shoot for Anarchy, organized as a Mexican-Guatemalan-German co-production between Interior 13 and Rohfilm, with the involvement of British film producer Donald Ranvaud, funding from Mexicos Foprocine film fund and support from Berlins World Cinema Fund.

All of Cordons fiction productions mix documentary and fiction styles and are primarily lensed in exterior locations and use first time non-professional actors.

Cordon underlines the importance of rough-cut competitions such as IFF Panamas Primera Mirada and San Sebastians Films in Progress. He says that they played a key role in creating international visibility for his work, and enabled him to secure vital post-production funding.

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Anarchy has been well received at IFF Panama and will bow in theaters in Mexico in June.

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MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - India will sign an agreement soon with the United Arab Emirates on improving cooperation to stop human trafficking, following a similar recent deal with Bahrain, as part of a drive to tackle the growth in trafficking between the two regions. More than 150,000 people are known to be trafficked within South Asia every year, but the trade is underground and the real number is likely to be much higher. South Asia is the world's fastest-growing region for human trafficking and the second-largest after Southeast Asia, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Under the accord with the UAE, aimed at helping women and children in particular, anti-trafficking units and task forces will be set up and bilateral cooperation improved, India's government press bureau said on Wednesday. The two nations will ensure rapid investigations and prosecutions of traffickers, while safeguarding the rights of victims, who will be sent home quickly for "safe and effective reintegration..." the press bureau statement said. The accord is expected to be signed "very soon", it added. India also has an anti-trafficking agreement with neighboring Bangladesh. India is both a source and transit country for trafficking to the UAE. Men, women and children are taken there from South Asia, Southeast and Central Asia and eastern Europe and tricked into forced labor and sex work. Men also go to the UAE voluntarily to work on construction sites, in hotels and as drivers, while women go to work as domestic helpers, nurses, beauticians and cleaners. Some workers are also subjected to forced labor by unlawful withholding of their passports, restrictions on their movement, non-payment of wages, threats and physical or sexual abuse, according to the statement. "The reinforcement of anti-trafficking efforts at all levels between the UAE and India is essential" to prevent trafficking and protect victims, it said. (Reporting by Rina Chandran, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)
Chennai: Actor Khusbhu Sundar, who ruled the Tamil film industry for more than a decade, is ready to take on Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in North Chennais Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency for the forthcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls on May 16.

The actor said on Wednesday that she is ready to contest elections from any constituency which her party decided. The DMK, which was in a dilemma about the candidate for the high-profile constituency, is said to have accepted Congress partys request to allot the R K Nagar Assembly segment to them.

I am ready to contest from anywhere the TNCC chief (E V K S Elangovan), Congress President (Sonia Gandhi) and Vice President (Rahul Gandhi) asks me to contest. I will tell the truth to the people and seek votes if I am given a chance to contest, Khusbhu said.

Khusbhus likely candidature from R K Nagar has raised many eye brows in the political circle since it would be the first time that a DMK candidate would not take on Ms Jayalalithaa directly.

Rumors were abuzz in Congress circles for the past few weeks that Khusbhu would be the DMK-Congress alliances candidate in Mylapore; however, owing to plausible threats from former Finance Minister P Chidambarams supporters that they might tarnish the actresss chances of winning the polls, she was removed from the concerned constituency.

We have requested R K Nagar to be given to us. If Khusbhu is not accommodated, it would be a major loss of face for TNCC chief E V K S Elangovan. If she contests from R K Nagar, the party can send a signal that it can take on a political veteran like J Jayalalithaa at the hustings, a senior Congress leader said.

Since the DMK does not want to field any political heavyweight against the AIADMK chief, the Congress request to allot the constituency have come as a major relief for the Dravidian party. For long, the DMK and AIADMK have fielded local leaders against top leaders of rival parties.
As the conversion of big data and analytics continues to grow, business are ramping up their involvement in the Internet of Things to hyper-personalize and customize every aspect of their companies. At the same time, the growth of this nebulous network that connects anything digital is attracting investors who are increasingly aware of growing opportunities.

Companies are either using the Internet of Things to become more efficient and productive or using the data to create new value. Cisco Systems (ticker: CSCO) estimates over the next decade $14.4 trillion in potential bottom-line value will be created and "up for grabs" for private-sector businesses, globally via the Internet of Everything. At the same time, a McKinsey Global Institute report says IoT technology could generate up to $11.1 trillion a year in economic value by 2025.

No matter the industry, most experts say nearly every business is now essentially a tech company -- from Goldman Sachs Group (GS) announcing it was a technology firm with financial services to automakers applying for autonomous-driving patents.

[Read: Those So-Called Boring Stocks Are Pretty Exciting.]

"The strategies and the choices companies are making right now will absolutely decide winners and losers in marketplaces," says Nick Kramer, senior director, data and analytics who specializes in IoT at SSA & Company, a consulting firm in New York. "It's important to care about the Internet of Things and care about the company's strategy when you are considering an investment."

Here are a few IoT investing trends to keep on your radar.

IoT affects all verticals of the global economy. There are certain segments that are moving more rapidly into this space. Manufacturing, health care, logistics and consumer electronics are all big players. Several experts point to manufacturing as the biggest. "It's less glamorous, but they are probably taking greater advantage of it than anybody else," says Kramer, who was in Hanover, Germany, helping a manufacturing client implement Internet of Things technology and strategy into its supply chain, logistics and product development.

Story continues

A lot of Internet of Things technology sets are also coming from the business-to-consumer market, says Fred Guelen, CFO and president of North American operations of Planon Software in Boston. "Look at what companies are paying attention to the technologies used by consumers in their ordinary lives that are communicating with each other," he says.

Implement the black swan strategy. Make a lot of small bets and spread them out to make sure you have representation in multiple industries, big and small companies, Kramer says. "It's the black swan strategy," Kramer says. "So the losers aren't going to damage your investment portfolio and the winners could win big."

Consider what makes up the Internet of Everything. There are plenty of players in the IoT (or IoE) industry, including companies who are manufacturing the devices and sensors, businesses that are collecting the data or analyzing it, the systems that protect the security of the data, wireless networks, the companies that are using or storing the data and so much more.

All Internet of Thing devices need chipsets, so look at different players like ARM Holdings (ARMH), Atmel or Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN), says Luke Burns, general partner for Ascent Venture Partners. Although Burns invests in private, not public, equities, he suggests investors look at smaller companies that are making big bets on the Internet of Things. One example is PTC (PTC), which won IoT Innovation Vendor of the Year award at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and has purchased companies such as ColdLight ($105 million), ThingWorx ($112 million) and Axeda ($170 million).

[See: The 10 Best ETFs for Value Investors.]

Invest on a progressive platform. Paul Asel, managing partner at Nokia Growth Partners, which announced a $350 million fund for investments in Internet of Things companies in February, suggests looking at device-led hardware strategies, like Fitbit (FIT), as an early-stage investment. Over time once there's a critical mass of devices and the hardware becomes a commodity, he says to look for companies that can move into the software space and eventually pivot into the broader services and data once the industry gets established.

Forget what you've learned about blue-chip stocks. Big companies are having trouble replicating IoT success stories with new products. One example Kramer points to is Nest, which produces smart-home devices and was purchased by Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL). "Even if a company has early success, has a lot of financial backing by a really successful company like Google, that still gives you no assurance they are going to be the right bet to make," Kramer says. "We've never been in a time like this where you can rely less on somebody's blue-chip history to make a forward-looking prognostication."

It's not like the old days when an investor could readily buy a blue-chip stalwart and rely on it. "There's no good tips like that anymore because we've seen these big companies go down fast and hard," he says. "We've seen the volatility of their stocks."

Be aware of valuations. "IoT is no longer a secret and the prices of some of these companies have ramped up," says Peter Krull, president of Krull & Company, a socially and environmentally responsible investment firm in Asheville, North Carolina. "Just because they do something great doesn't mean that their stock is a great buy."

For smaller investors, Krull says it might make more sense to buy into a diversified technology mutual fund since most will have some IoT investments. The most important aspect is for investors to make sure their investments are diversified not only by size, but industry and location.

Keep in mind, because the industry is changing rapidly life cycles of a new trend or technology are being measured in months rather than years, says David Karpook, a strategic business consultant for Planon Software, a global integrated workplace management system.

[Read: What Investors Really Want From the Fiduciary Rule.]

Do your research in the quarterly and annual reports. Peruse the quarterly 10-Q which must be filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission 35 days after each of the first three fiscal quarters, followed by the yearly 10-K, which must be filed within 60 days after the end of the fiscal year. "You really have to see what's happening on a quarter-by-quarter basis with these companies," Kramer says.

First, look at the company's strategy and see if it seems to makes sense, says Andrew Miller, executive vice president and CFO at PTC. When the market is taking off, the most important thing to review is the product-market fit, he says. "That means someone should be able to explain the value and the average person should get it," Miller says.

Secondly, check to see if the company is giving specific milestones to monitor over time and then delivering on those promises. "The greater the specificity in the investor documents it means they have a real solution," Miller says. "The less they disclose the more they are just waving their arms in the air. They should be able to tell real customer use cases on how they brought value."

Look at who initially funded the company. Look at which venture capitalist firms are behind the original investors, the track record of the companies they have invested in and the track record of the CEOs, Kramer says. "Venture capitalists are some of the experts we can rely on," he says. Kramer recommends looking at Kleiner Perkins and Andreessen Horowitz, who have "a very good track record for making wise bets." "It's not that CEOs get it right every time," Kramer says. "But the track record of the money behind them are much better indicators of future success than a lot of typical measures we've relied on in the past."

Dawn Reiss is an award-winning journalist in Chicago who has written for TIME, Reuters, Chicago Tribune, The Atlantic and Travel + Leisure and many other publications. Follow her on Twitter, Google+ and Instagram @dawnreiss.
Looking for a good reason to update to the latest version of iOS? Over at Krebs on Security this week, Brian Krebs has reported that two security researchers have found a new way to automatically brick a stranger's iPhone by forcing them to connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot that can change the date without their knowledge.

DON'T MISS: The stupidest thing Sprint has done in a long, long time

Before we go any further, it's important that you understand the 1970 date change bug that swept through the internet earlier this year. Basically, if you manually set the date on an iPhone or iPad to January 1st, 1970, you'd brick it.

Apple issued a fix for the bug in iOS 9.3.1, but not everyone has updated their devices yet. Fortunately, millions of users are at least aware of the bug at this point, but what if a hacker could change the date without the user's permission?

That's what security researchers Patrick Kelley and Matt Harrigan wanted to find out, so they built a hostile Wi-Fi network that would take advantage of the fact that iOS devices are constantly checking network time protocol (NTP) servers to sync up the time and forced the phone or tablet to to download data from its own malicious NTP server instead.

"By spoofing time.apple.com, we were able to roll back the time and have it hand out to all Apple clients on the network," the researchers told Krebs. "All test devices took the update without question and rolled back to 1970."

It's a terrifying development, but one that you can avoid altogether by simply keeping your iOS device update. Here's a video explaining the exploit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zivWTwOjEME

Related stories

The 10 best paid iPhone apps on sale for free today

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More from BGR: The stupidest thing Sprint has done in a long, long time

This article was originally published on BGR.com
By Babak Dehghanpisheh BEIRUT (Reuters) - The case presented by the Iranian judiciary was simple: In the southern province of Fars, Fatemeh Salbehi suffocated her husband after drugging him, a capital crime in the Islamic Republic. What made the case controversial is that Salbehi was only 17, a minor by international legal standards, when she allegedly committed the crime. Her alleged confession also came during a series of interrogations where there was no lawyer present. The case was retried but Salbehi was hanged in the Adel Abad prison in Shiraz last October. The issue has come under scrutiny because of a scathing U.N. report on human rights in Iran last month which highlighted what it called the "alarmingly high" rate of executions in the country, including juveniles. That report, along with an Amnesty International report in January, spurred commentary from ordinary Iranians on social media at least some of which criticized President Hassan Rouhani for not doing more to stop the juvenile executions. Iran has the highest rate of juvenile executions in the world, despite being a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international human rights treaty that forbids capital punishment for anyone under 18. Only a week before Salbehis execution, another juvenile offender was executed. "The fact that there were two executions in less than two weeks just shows how indifferent and contemptuous the Iranian authorities are of their obligations," said Raha Bahreini, the Iran researcher for Amnesty International. In the past decade, Iran has executed at least 73 juvenile offenders, according to the January Amnesty report. The juvenile executions have continued despite campaign promises made by Rouhani in 2013 to reform human rights. Since coming to office, Rouhani has been focused on foreign policy, such as the nuclear deal sealed with world powers last summer, and domestic issues like juvenile execution have been largely ignored, observers say. "The administration can't just keep hiding behind the nuclear issue," said Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. "Rouhani doesn't seem at all interested to push for it, fight the battle and improve the human rights situation. And that's a problem because we're now into the third year of his term." DOMESTIC LAW Juveniles have been executed regularly since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Under Iranian law, the age for legally defining adulthood is determined by puberty, 15 for boys and nine for girls. When there is a discrepancy between domestic law and international legal obligations, Iranian authorities have turned to domestic law. A request for comment sent to the Iranian judiciary was not answered. The head of the Iranian judiciary, Sadeq Larijani, has previously said that allegations that Iran executes juveniles under 18 is a "complete lie". No comment was immediately available from the presidency. In recent years, the judiciary has generally held off on executing minors until after they turn 18. Salbehi was 23 when she was executed last fall. And there are at least 160 minors currently on death row, according to the United Nations. "The trick they have come up with for the past ten years or so is to wait until the children turn 18 in prison and then execute them," said Ghaemi. "Then they tell the international community that they were over 18." The juvenile executions have prompted an outcry. "The execution of juveniles has led to both domestic and international criticism," said Saleh Nikbakht, a prominent lawyer in Tehran. One prominent human rights activist who started a campaign to end the death penalty in Iran, Narges Mohammadi, was arrested last year on unspecified charges. But there have been some cases where juvenile offenders have been spared the noose. A non-governmental organization called Imam Ali's Popular Students Relief Society has had some measure of success in bringing together families of the victim and the accused. If the family of the victim agrees to forgive the accused, the execution is not carried out. Judicial reforms were also put into place in 2013, prior to Rouhani's taking office, which led to the retrial of a number of cases involving juvenile offenders. The sentences of the offenders were commuted in a handful of cases but in at least half a dozen cases the death sentence was upheld, according to Amnesty. Inability to bring about any change on this controversial issue may cost Rouhani support for the presidential elections next year. "It is a battle that he can win. There are so many aspects that are not defensible," said Ghaemi. He added, "He may not get elected to a second term because he's undercutting his own popular support." And without pressure from the other branches of government, it is unlikely that the judiciary will make significant changes to halt the execution of juvenile offenders. "When it comes to executions the responsibility lies first and foremost with the judiciary but that doesn't mean that the other branches of the state aren't responsible," said Bahreini. (Reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh; editing by Giles Elgood)
By Babak Dehghanpisheh BEIRUT (Reuters) - The case presented by the Iranian judiciary was simple: In the southern province of Fars, Fatemeh Salbehi suffocated her husband after drugging him, a capital crime in the Islamic Republic. What made the case controversial is that Salbehi was only 17, a minor by international legal standards, when she allegedly committed the crime. Her alleged confession also came during a series of interrogations where there was no lawyer present. The case was retried but Salbehi was hanged in the Adel Abad prison in Shiraz last October. The issue has come under scrutiny because of a scathing U.N. report on human rights in Iran last month which highlighted what it called the "alarmingly high" rate of executions in the country, including juveniles. That report, along with an Amnesty International report in January, spurred commentary from ordinary Iranians on social media at least some of which criticised President Hassan Rouhani for not doing more to stop the juvenile executions. Iran has the highest rate of juvenile executions in the world, despite being a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international human rights treaty that forbids capital punishment for anyone under 18. Only a week before Salbehis execution, another juvenile offender was executed. "The fact that there were two executions in less than two weeks just shows how indifferent and contemptuous the Iranian authorities are of their obligations," said Raha Bahreini, the Iran researcher for Amnesty International. In the past decade, Iran has executed at least 73 juvenile offenders, according to the January Amnesty report. The juvenile executions have continued despite campaign promises made by Rouhani in 2013 to reform human rights. Since coming to office, Rouhani has been focused on foreign policy, such as the nuclear deal sealed with world powers last summer, and domestic issues like juvenile execution have been largely ignored, observers say. "The administration can't just keep hiding behind the nuclear issue," said Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. "Rouhani doesn't seem at all interested to push for it, fight the battle and improve the human rights situation. And that's a problem because we're now into the third year of his term." DOMESTIC LAW Juveniles have been executed regularly since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Under Iranian law, the age for legally defining adulthood is determined by puberty, 15 for boys and nine for girls. When there is a discrepancy between domestic law and international legal obligations, Iranian authorities have turned to domestic law. A request for comment sent to the Iranian judiciary was not answered. The head of the Iranian judiciary, Sadeq Larijani, has previously said that allegations that Iran executes juveniles under 18 is a "complete lie". No comment was immediately available from the presidency. In recent years, the judiciary has generally held off on executing minors until after they turn 18. Salbehi was 23 when she was executed last fall. And there are at least 160 minors currently on death row, according to the United Nations. "The trick they have come up with for the past ten years or so is to wait until the children turn 18 in prison and then execute them," said Ghaemi. "Then they tell the international community that they were over 18." The juvenile executions have prompted an outcry. "The execution of juveniles has led to both domestic and international criticism," said Saleh Nikbakht, a prominent lawyer in Tehran. One prominent human rights activist who started a campaign to end the death penalty in Iran, Narges Mohammadi, was arrested last year on unspecified charges. But there have been some cases where juvenile offenders have been spared the noose. A non-governmental organization called Imam Ali's Popular Students Relief Society has had some measure of success in bringing together families of the victim and the accused. If the family of the victim agrees to forgive the accused, the execution is not carried out. Judicial reforms were also put into place in 2013, prior to Rouhani's taking office, which led to the retrial of a number of cases involving juvenile offenders. The sentences of the offenders were commuted in a handful of cases but in at least half a dozen cases the death sentence was upheld, according to Amnesty. Inability to bring about any change on this controversial issue may cost Rouhani support for the presidential elections next year. "It is a battle that he can win. There are so many aspects that are not defensible," said Ghaemi. He added, "He may not get elected to a second term because he's undercutting his own popular support." And without pressure from the other branches of government, it is unlikely that the judiciary will make significant changes to halt the execution of juvenile offenders. "When it comes to executions the responsibility lies first and foremost with the judiciary but that doesn't mean that the other branches of the state aren't responsible," said Bahreini. (Reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh; editing by Giles Elgood)
New York: Scientists, led by an Indian-origin researcher, have developed a novel flexible sheet camera that can be wrapped around everyday objects to capture images that cannot be taken with conventional cameras.

Led by Professor Shree K Nayar from Columbia University, researchers designed and fabricated a flexible lens array that adapts its optical properties when the sheet camera is bent. This optical adaptation enables the sheet camera to produce high quality images over a wide range of sheet deformations.

"Cameras today capture the world from essentially a single point in space," said Nayar. "While the camera industry has made remarkable progress in shrinking the camera to a tiny device with ever increasing imaging quality, we are exploring a radically different approach to imaging," he said.

"We believe there are numerous applications for cameras that are large in format but very thin and highly flexible," he added. If such an imaging system could be manufactured cheaply, like a roll of plastic or fabric, it could be wrapped around all kinds of things, from street poles to furniture, cars, and even people's clothing, to capture wide, seamless images with unusual fields of view.

The design could also lead to cameras the size of a credit card that a photographer could simply flex to control its field of view. The new "flex-cam" requires two technologies - a flexible detector array and a thin optical system that can project a high quality image on the array. One approach would be to attach a rigid lens with fixed focal length to each detector on the flexible array.

In this case, however, bending the camera would result in "gaps" between the fields of views of adjacent lenses. This would cause the captured image to have missing information, or appear "aliased."

To solve this problem, the researchers developed an adaptive lens array made of elastic material that enables the focal length of each lens in the sheet camera to vary with the local curvature of the sheet in a way that mitigates aliasing in the captured images.

This inherent optical adaptation of the lens is passive, avoiding the use of complex mechanical or electrical mechanisms to independently control each lens of the array. The researchers arrived at their passively adaptive lens array by optimising its geometry and material properties.

They fabricated their prototype lens array using silicone and demonstrated its ability to produce high image quality over a wide range of deformations of the sheet camera. "The adaptive lens array we have developed is an important step towards making the concept of flexible sheet cameras viable," Nayar said.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
By Saif Hameed and Maher Chmaytelli BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliamentary speaker Salim al-Jabouri may request the dissolution of the assembly after ministers scuffled during a chaotic parliamentary session on Wednesday over a plan to overhaul the government that aims to tackle graft. The possibility of holding new elections in Iraq was raised after state TV reported that al-Jabouri was considering the future of the current assembly. According to Iraqi constitution, dissolving the parliament requires the approval of the majority of the MPs at the request of one third of the assembly, or the approval of the president at the request of the prime minister. Parliament convened at the request of several dozen MPs who began on Tuesday evening a sit-in inside the parliament building to demand that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi sticks to his plan to introduce a cabinet of independent technocrats. The cabinet reshuffle is part of long-promised anti-corruption drive that Abadi needs to deliver. Or he risks weakening his government as Iraqi forces mount a campaign to recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State militants. Quarrels broke out between the protesting MPs, prompting Jabouri to adjourn the session to Thursday, state TV said. A dispute between Kurdish and Shi'ite lawmakers developed into a tussle, where they shoved and hit each other, according to witnesses. The Kurds opposed a demand by the some Shi'ite MPs to seek the resignation of President Muhammad Fuad Masum, a Kurd, together with Jabouri, a Sunni, and Abadi, a Shi'ite, the witnesses said. In central Basra, the largest city in southern Iraq, several hundred supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr blocked the main street, demanding that a non-partisan government be formed. "We're staying here until our demands are met," said one demonstrator, setting up a tent in front of the provincial council building. Street protests were also held in other southern Iraqi cities while a rally took place in Baghdad. Sadr, whose opinion holds sway over tens of thousands of followers, agreed to end street protests his supporters had been holding since late February after Abadi presented his line-up for an independent cabinet of technocrats last month. The 14 names, many of them academics, he put forward were part of reforms aimed at freeing ministries from the grip of a political class he has accused of using a system of ethnic and sectarian quotas instituted after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to amass wealth and influence. But he was forced to present a modified list on Tuesday after parliament's dominant political blocs rejected the initial one and insisted on putting forward their own nominations. The vote on the modified cabinet list had been scheduled to take place on Thursday. Jabouri has yet to confirm whether the voting session will be held as planned. "We, the MPs holding the sit-in parliament building ... demand that a government of technocrats and professionals be formed, away from the quota system that allows the political blocs to split the rights of the people among themselves," said Sunni lawmaker Ahmed al-Jobouri in a statement. The dominant blocs in the 328-member parliament back Abadis modified line-up, which includes some of their own candidates. Pressure on Abadi to reform government has come from the clergy of the Shi'ite majority and popular discontent at the lack of basic public services in a nation facing an economic crisis caused by falling oil prices. Many of the protesters inside parliament are Sadr's supporters along with some MPs representing the Sunni minority. Iraq, a major OPEC exporter which sits on one of the world's largest oil reserves, ranks 161 out of 168 on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. (Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Pritha Sarkar)
By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Islamic State published obituaries on Wednesday of the suicide bombers who killed 32 people in Brussels, confirming investigators' suspicions that one of them had also made explosives for November's Paris attacks. The article in the latest issue of the group's online magazine Dabiq also credited the other two, the Belgian El Bakraoui brothers, with a lead role in organising the Paris attacks. Warning of more operations to come, it said: "Brussels, the heart of Europe, has been struck." Najim Laachraoui, a 25-year-old Belgian who blew himself up at Brussels airport on March 22, had "travelled the long road to France" after fighting in Syria since 2013. "It was Abu Idris who prepared the explosives for the two raids in Paris and Brussels," it added, using Laachraoui's nom de guerre and calling him "very intelligent". Investigators have suspected former engineering student was the cell's bombmaker. His fingerprints were found on suicide vests used in Paris on Nov. 13 and at a Brussels apartment where militants had made a homemade explosive known as TATP. It was from there that he and two other men took a taxi to the airport. One of them was the other airport suicide bomber, Brahim El Bakraoui, 29, an armed robber on parole. Dabiq said had become a believer while in prison and on his release, with his brother Khalid, had bought weapons and made plans for an attack. Khalid El Bakraoui, 27, who blew himself up on a metro train at Maelbeek station in Brussels' EU district, also took up the cause in prison, the article said, describing him as a "natural leader" who had a "vivid, life-changing dream" while jailed for a carjacking. "All preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels started with him and his older brother," Dabiq said. "These two brothers gathered the weapons and the explosives. After the blessed raid in Paris, he saw another dream, which motivated him to carry out an istishhadi (martyrdom) operation." RAID Along with notes on the three suicide bombers, Dabiq published an account of Mohamed Belkaid, a 35-year-old Algerian, who was shot dead by police on March 15 in a raid on an apartment in the Brussels suburb of Forest. That raid was the first in a chain of events that included the Brussels attacks and more arrests. Belkaid had reached Europe from Syria with Laachraoui, the article said, confirming investigators' conclusions that the two men travelled together posing as Syrian refugees last summer and were driven to Belgium by Salah Abdeslam, a prime suspect in the Paris attacks who was arrested three days after the Forest raid. Without naming those who escaped from the apartment when police moved in, Dabiq said Belkaid stayed to hold off Belgian and French officers, wounding several. Investigators think Abdeslam may have been among those who got away that day. Mohamed Abrini, an associate of Abdeslam, and someone who accompanied the suicide bombers to the airport, has said since his capture on April 8 that Abdeslam's arrest had prompted the group to bring forward an attack and to strike in the Belgian capital rather than, as planned, again in France, prosecutors said. (Editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Robin Pomeroy)
By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Islamic State published obituaries on Wednesday of the suicide bombers who killed 32 people in Brussels, confirming investigators' suspicions that one of them had also made explosives for November's Paris attacks. The article in the latest issue of the group's online magazine Dabiq also credited the other two, the Belgian El Bakraoui brothers, with a lead role in organizing the Paris attacks. Warning of more operations to come, it said: "Brussels, the heart of Europe, has been struck." Najim Laachraoui, a 25-year-old Belgian who blew himself up at Brussels airport on March 22, had "traveled the long road to France" after fighting in Syria since 2013. "It was Abu Idris who prepared the explosives for the two raids in Paris and Brussels," it added, using Laachraoui's nom de guerre and calling him "very intelligent". Investigators have suspected former engineering student was the cell's bombmaker. His fingerprints were found on suicide vests used in Paris on Nov. 13 and at a Brussels apartment where militants had made a homemade explosive known as TATP. It was from there that he and two other men took a taxi to the airport. One of them was the other airport suicide bomber, Brahim El Bakraoui, 29, an armed robber on parole. Dabiq said had become a believer while in prison and on his release, with his brother Khalid, had bought weapons and made plans for an attack. Khalid El Bakraoui, 27, who blew himself up on a metro train at Maelbeek station in Brussels' EU district, also took up the cause in prison, the article said, describing him as a "natural leader" who had a "vivid, life-changing dream" while jailed for a carjacking. "All preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels started with him and his older brother," Dabiq said. "These two brothers gathered the weapons and the explosives. After the blessed raid in Paris, he saw another dream, which motivated him to carry out an istishhadi (martyrdom) operation." RAID Along with notes on the three suicide bombers, Dabiq published an account of Mohamed Belkaid, a 35-year-old Algerian, who was shot dead by police on March 15 in a raid on an apartment in the Brussels suburb of Forest. That raid was the first in a chain of events that included the Brussels attacks and more arrests. Belkaid had reached Europe from Syria with Laachraoui, the article said, confirming investigators' conclusions that the two men traveled together posing as Syrian refugees last summer and were driven to Belgium by Salah Abdeslam, a prime suspect in the Paris attacks who was arrested three days after the Forest raid. Without naming those who escaped from the apartment when police moved in, Dabiq said Belkaid stayed to hold off Belgian and French officers, wounding several. Investigators think Abdeslam may have been among those who got away that day. Mohamed Abrini, an associate of Abdeslam, and someone who accompanied the suicide bombers to the airport, has said since his capture on April 8 that Abdeslam's arrest had prompted the group to bring forward an attack and to strike in the Belgian capital rather than, as planned, again in France, prosecutors said. (Editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Robin Pomeroy)
Archaeologists say they've have unearthed the oldest known glass factory in Israel, dating back to the fourth century A.D.

The discovery of turquoise chunks of raw glass and collapsed, ash-covered kilns provide the first archaeological evidence of glass production in Israel during the Late Roman period.

"We know from historical sources dating to the Roman period that the Valley of Akko was renowned for the excellent-quality sand located there, which was highly suitable for the manufacture of glass," said Yael Gorin-Rosen, head curator of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) glass department. [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds]

The chemical makeup of ancient glass vessels found throughout the Mediterranean region and Europe suggested the objects were produced in this region of Israel, Gorin-Rosen added. Archaeologists also previously discovered fragments of an edict with maximum prices of goods set by the fourth-century Roman emperor Diocletian. This edict listed prices for two kinds of glass: light green, less expensive, Judean glass from Israel; and Alexandrian glass from Egypt. It was not clear, however, where the Judean glass was produced.

"Now, for the first time, the kilns have been found where the raw material was manufactured that was used to produce this glassware," Gorin-Rosen said in a statement.

The kilns were excavated last summer, ahead of the construction of a new railway line southeast of Haifa, near Mount Carmel.

"We exposed fragments of floors, pieces of vitrified bricks from the walls and ceiling of the kilns, and clean, raw glass chips," Abdel Al-Salam Sa'id, an inspector with the Israel Antiquities Authority, who directed the excavations, said in the statement. "We were absolutely overwhelmed with excitement when we understood the great significance of the finds."

To make glass at the time, people would have heated sand in a melting chamber to temperatures of 2,192 degrees Fahrenheit (1,200 Celsius degrees) for at least a week, according to the IAA. Sometimes the raw chunks of glass that were produced weighed more than 10 tons. But inevitably these chunks would have been broken into smaller pieces to be sold to workshops, where they would be melted down again to be blown into glass bowls, cups and other vessels.

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The newly discovered kilns predate the sixth-seventh century A.D. kilns that were found at Apollonia, which were previously thought to be the oldest glass kilns in Israel.

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ROME (Reuters) - An Italian junior health minister has been put under investigation in a widening influence-peddling scandal that has prompted the resignation of the industry minister and is embarrassing Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Prosecutors in the southern city of Potenza are investigating health undersecretary Vito De Filippo on suspicion that he used his influence to try to get people jobs at state oil company Eni, according to legal documents seen by Reuters. De Filippo, a member of Renzi's Democratic Party and a former governor of the Basilicata region around Potenza, could not be immediately reached for comment. His press office declined to comment. This month Industry Minister Federica Guidi stepped down after tapped telephone conversations appeared to show her assuring her partner the government would pass legislation that helped his energy business. The investigation, which has dominated Italian news headlines in recent weeks, centers on possible wrongdoing surrounding the development of an oil field in Basilicata. It has already led to the arrest of five Eni employees for alleged illegal waste trafficking and to an erosion of support for Renzi and his government, according to opinion polls. Italy's largest opposition party, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), and the right-wing Northern League both called for De Filippo's resignation. "Who will be the next member of the government to be investigated? They must all go now!" M5S founder Beppe Grillo said on his blog. All the main opposition parties have presented motions of no-confidence in Renzi's government over the Basilicata scandal. The motions are expected to be debated in parliament next week. (Reporting by Vincenzo Damiani; Writing by Gavin Jones; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
69-year-old Trump is looking to bounce back from a decisive loss in last week's Wisconsin primary. (Photo: AP)

New York: In some good news to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton ahead of the crucial primaries here, the two US Presidential front-runners who suffered a string of losses recently were on Wednesday declared the winners of the close Missouri primaries, nearly a month after the polls were held.

Announcing the results of the Republican and Democratic primaries held on March 15, Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander tweeted: "I certified the presidential preference primary. @HillaryClinton and @realDonaldTrump have officially won Missouri."

The votes in both parties were too close to call. In the Republican primary polls, Trump and rival Texas Senator Ted Cruz were neck-and-neck, as were Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic contest.

In the final tally, Trump pipped Cruz by just 0.2 percentage points 40.9 per cent to Cruz's 40.7. Trump will receive 37 delegates to Cruz's 15. Ohio Governor John Kasich will receive no delegates.

On the Democratic side, the 68-year-old former secretary of state also led Sanders also by 0.2 percentage points, 49.6 per cent to his 49.4. She won the election by about 1,500 votes of the 630,000 cast in the Democratic primary.

Each candidate will receive 34 delegates, but with superdelegates included, Clinton will have 46, CNN reported. 69-year-old Trump is looking to bounce back from a decisive loss in last week's Wisconsin primary, while Clinton has lost eight of the last nine Democratic contests.

Reacting to the news of his victory, the real estate tycoon said, "Thank you to the great people of Missouri who voted for me and the state officials who worked to ensure the votes of the people mattered."

"It is great to have yet another victory as we look forward to the upcoming primary in New York," Trump said in a statement ahead of the crucial primaries here on April 19.

New York will award 95 Republican delegates while the two Democratic candidates are fighting over 247 delegates in the city.
By Giulia Segreti and Astrid Wendlandt

MILAN/PARIS (Reuters) - Italy on Wednesday became the first European country to take steps to help its fashion industry build a stronger presence in Iran following the lifting of Western sanctions.

The two countries signed an agreement during a two-day visit by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi with a delegation of business leaders to increase trade between Italy and Iran and reinforce industrial cooperation.

The deal was signed by the National Textiles and Fashion Association Sistema Moda Italia (SMI), which represents a sector worth more than 52 billion euros ($59 billion) in revenues, and its Iranian counterpart the Tehran Garment Union (TGU).

It aims to cut red tape and make it easier for Italian companies to obtain the TGU licence required to operate in Iran.

Some analysts estimate the oil-rich Islamic Republic of nearly 80 million people has more than 3 million high net worth individuals who are major and regular buyers of luxury goods.

"Iran could be an interesting expansion market, probably worth about 2 per cent of the global luxury market, once developed," Exane BNP Paribas analyst Luca Solca said.

Renzi was accompanied by some 60 business leaders from sectors including energy, railways and defense. They pledged billions of euros in credit lines and guarantees, in a broader effort to establish a strong foothold in Iran.

"Iran represents a market with great opportunities and I am certain that Italian companies will be able to grasp them," SMI Chairman Claudio Marenzi said.

The sanctions on Iran over the past decade did not apply to cosmetics and many other consumer goods, but they made it difficult for European companies to own stores in Iran.

IRAN CHALLENGES

Setting up businesses in Iran is also no easy task, executives and consultants say, due to a lack of appropriate retail infrastructure, high tariffs and banking restrictions.

A lack of enforcement of international trademark protection agreements also means Iran is flooded with counterfeits.

Story continues

Italian firms appear to have adopted a more proactive attitude than their French luxury and fashion rivals.

In February, Florence-based fashion house Roberto Cavalli opened its first shop in Iran, in the footsteps of leather goods maker Piquadro and men's shirt company Camicissima.

Versace is due to open a flagship boutique in Tehran soon, in franchise with a local commercial partner.

Several French groups, however, including Chanel, Gucci owner Kering <PRTP.PA> and LVMH's <LVMH.PA>, have been adopting a "wait and see" attitude until the evolution of Iran's international relations became clearer.

Some French brands such as the family-controlled handbag maker Longchamp and crystal maker Lalique, are looking for distribution partners but have no plans to open boutiques.

"For us Iran is a new region to conquer," said Lalique Chief Executive and controlling shareholder Silvio Denz, who has been opening new markets for the brand's crystal jewellery and home wear items over the past decade. One of the first big French companies to invest directly in Iran is LVMH's cosmetics retailer Sephora. It is in talks to open two to three shops in Teheran by the autumn, in partnership with an Iranian partner and the Middle Eastern luxury goods distributor Chalhoub, a source close to LVMH told Reuters.

LVMH and Chalhoub have declined to comment.

($1 = 0.8864 euros)

(Editing by David Clarke)
ROME (Reuters) - Italy and Iran signed deals potentially worth billions on Tuesday when Prime Minister Matteo Renzi visited Tehran seeking a strong Italian foothold in a nation hungry for infrastructure investment as it emerges from financial isolation. Renzi was accompanied by a delegation of some 60 business leaders in sectors including energy, railways and defence, and by Italy's export agency and state lender which pledged billions of euros in credit lines and guarantees. Three months ago President Hassan Rouhani made Italy his first stop in Europe as he sought to drum up investment in the Iranian economy, which rejoined the global trading system in January following a deal to lift crippling sanctions in exchange for limiting its nuclear activities. "The end of sanctions is a historic step not only for Iran but for the whole region," Renzi told reporters in Tehran with Rouhani standing by his side. "We are committed to making sure the efforts of the international community are accompanied by mutual trust and by the immediate relaunch of economic links." Business delegations from other European countries are expected in Tehran in coming weeks, but Italy is well positioned to win contracts that could deliver a much needed export boost for its chronically sluggish economy, especially in the energy sector. Enel said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Iranian Gas Export Company on possible future cooperation in natural gas, liquefied natural gas and related infrastructure, that could lead to long-term gas supplies for its power stations. The Enel deal was one of seven signed by Renzi and Rouhani, Iranian state television said. Renzi was due to return to Rome on Wednesday. Oil contractor Saipem said it inked an MOU with the Razavi Oil & Gas Development Company for the Toos Gas Field project, which holds more than 60 billion cubic metres of gas in place. The project involves drilling five firm and two optional wells, a statement said. Oil major Eni has an agreement that allows it to take oil from Iran in payment for previous investments. Italy's state railways company, Ferrovie dello Stato, said it signed a "framework of cooperation" agreement to build two high-speed lines in Iran. The contract could be worth some 3 billion euros, a source close to the matter said. Italy's state-run lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti will offer credit lines of 4 billion euros to companies building oil-and-gas and transport infrastructure, while export agency SACE will guarantee those loans, a SACE statement said. A further 800 million euros in credit lines for small- and medium-sized will also be offered, the statement said. When Rouhani visited Italy in January, Saipem already signed preliminary deals that could be worth $4-5 billion, a source said at the time. Steel firm Danieli, infrastructure firm Condotte d'Acqua, rail and road company Gavio, and airplane manufacturer Finmeccanica also reached preliminary agreements with Iranian companies in January. ($1 = 0.8758 euros) (Reporting by Steve Scherer and Stephen Jewkes, additional reporting by Sam Wilkin in Dubai, Isla Binnie in Rome and Francesca Landini in Milan, editing by Isla Binnie and Robin Pomeroy and Richard Balmforth)
Washington (AFP) - In an apparent jab at presidential challengers Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday the United States must never again resort to torture.

Trump, the frontrunner to secure the Republican nomination for this year's White House race, has repeatedly said he supports the use of waterboarding, or simulated drowning, and "a hell of a lot worse" on terror suspects.

Texas senator Cruz, Trump's closest rival, argues that waterboarding does not amount to torture and that he would consider authorizing it as president if America faced imminent attack.

President Barack Obama banned "enhanced interrogation techniques" after taking office in 2009 after CIA interrogators working under predecessor George W. Bush resorted to the torture of detainees.

Kerry, introducing the annual State Department global human rights report, insisted that the ban must stay in place and warned that America would be weaker if it lost its claim to moral leadership.

"I want to say a word about the issue of torture. I want to remove even a scintilla of doubt or confusion that has been caused by statements that others have made in recent weeks and months," he said, without giving names.

"The United States is opposed to the use of torture in any form, at any time, by any government or non-state actor.

"This is a standard that we insist that others meet and therefore we must meet this standard ourselves."

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, said that he understands "the fierce anger that arises in war when fellow countrymen are attacked.

"But there is a sharp dividing line between societies that abandon all standards when times are tough and those that do their absolute best to maintain those standards. Because ultimately, upholding core values is what makes a nation strong."

This week, CIA director John Brennan said his agency would not carry out waterboarding or enhanced interrogation again, even if ordered to by a future president. Trump dismissed this warning as "ridiculous."
Jeremy Scott is set to celebrate his 20-year anniversary as a fashion designer with an exhibition at the Dallas Contemporary museum.

The show will open in 2017 and will serve as a retrospective of his designs over the course of his career, spanning his position at the head of Moschino as well as his own eponymous label, WWD reports.

"It's going to be my 20th anniversary next year, so to have the Contemporary do an exhibition of my work is a very exciting and thrilling moment," he told the publication, adding that although he has been given the option of using the museum's surface area of 26,000 square feet, he is still thinking about how exactly to utilize the space.

The US fashion designer, who hails from Kansas City, says he feels an increasing affinity with Dallas. "There is a lot of glamour and fun, and that is nice because sometimes things can be too staid and boring," he explained.

Scott's rags-to-riches tale has become something of a legacy in the fashion industry, and last fall his real-life Cinderella trajectory from small town hopeful to creative director of Moschino inspired the documentary, "Jeremy Scott: the People's Designer." His larger-than-life collections and high-profile campaigns featuring stars such as Katy Perry have kept him at the front of the fashion game for the past few years.

He first became known for collaborations with Adidas, a partnership that started in 2002 and saw him eventually designing a footwear and clothing collection for the sportswear giant in 2008. He was named creative director of the Italian label Moschino in 2013.
John Kasich is making a simple pitch: Hes different. Without naming Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, he delivered an extensive attack against their policies in a speech in Manhattan on Tuesday, arguing that voters are faced with two paths in the presidential elections. One is with Kasich; the other could drive America down into a ditch and not make us great again.

At this point in the race, the Ohio governor stands little chance of securing the Republican nomination for president. But Kasich, always the optimist, appeared confident. He seems to be hoping for renewed relevance in the upcoming Northeastern primaries. Ahead of the New York primary on April 19, where polls show him slightly ahead of Cruz, Kasich is campaigning in the state in hopes of coming in second.

On Tuesday, the governors remarks threaded together arguments hes previously made in town-hall-style eventsa kind of super stump speech specifically tailored to his opponents. We have heard proposals to create a religious test for immigration, to target neighborhoods for surveillance, impose draconian tariffs which would crush trade and destroy American jobs, Kasich said. We have heard proposals to drop out of NATO, abandon Europe to Russia, possibly use nuclear weapons in Europe, end our defense partnerships in Asia, and tell our Middle East allies that they have to go it alone. We have been offered hollow promises to impose a value-added tax, balance budgets through simple and whimsical cuts in waste, fraud, and abuse.

So far in the presidential primary, Kasich has only won his home state. But as my colleague Molly Ball noted in March, despite Kasichs exuberant victory speech that night, the delegate math was already stacked against him. Kasich stands at 143 delegates, trailing behind Donald Trump at 743 and Ted Cruz at 545, according to the AP. To secure the nomination, a candidate needs to acquire at least 1,237 delegatesa nearly insurmountable challenge for the Kasich campaign.

Recommended: The Future of Bernie Sanders's Grassroots Army

Still, Kasich is insisting on sticking it out through the Republican primary, perhaps in the hopes that hell have some influence at the GOP Convention this summer. It will become a very serious, heavy matter when we get into that convention, and its all about the delegates, Kasich said at a CNN town hall on Monday. He believes delegates faced with a choice between Trump and Cruz will turn to him. His opponents campaigns are reportedly working on keeping Kasichs name from appearing on the convention ballot.

Theres an irony in Kasichs tactic. In an election cycle largely driven by anti-establishment fury, he is the centrist, establishment candidate. He wants voters to disregard Robert Frosts advice and ignore the path less traveledand the comparatively radical proposals of his opponents. This path solves nothing, demeans our history, weakens our country and cheapens each of us. It has but one beneficiary and that is to the politician who speaks of it, Kasich said. The other path is the one America has been down before. It is well trod, it is at times steep, but it is solid.

Meanwhile, Kasich continues to split the vote in state contests, preventing candidates from securing a majority of delegates, which may subsequently lead to a brokered convention. Kasichs path forward may have little to do with his ideological offerings, but whether he can hang on until July and create a contested nomination.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
By Dan Levine

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge sentenced journalist Matthew Keys to two years in prison for helping members of the Anonymous hacking collective gain access to a former employer's computers, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday.

Keys was indicted in 2013 for conspiracy to cause damage to a protected computer and two other counts, after being accused of giving hackers access to Tribune computer systems in December 2010. He was found guilty by a California jury last October.

The Justice Department had requested a five-year sentence, while Keys sought probation.

Jay Leiderman, an attorney for Keys, said they will ask that Keys remain free while they challenge U.S. computer fraud laws in the appeals courts.

"Ultimately we just hope Matthew is OK," Leiderman said.

In 2010, shortly after Keys left a job at a Tribune-owned television station in Sacramento, Calif., following a dispute with a supervisor, a story on Tribune's Los Angeles Times website was altered by Anonymous hackers, the indictment said.

Prosecutors contended that Keys urged on the hackers after supplying a password. Keys's lawyer argued he was operating as a professional reporter trying to gather information about members of Anonymous, an amorphous group that often conducts multiple hacking campaigns at once.

Tribune Media Co said in a statement on Wednesday: "We're pleased that the government considered this an important case, and we respect the court's sentence."

The alleged events in the indictment occurred before Keys joined Thomson Reuters as an editor for Reuters.com in 2012. A month after Keys was charged, he said Reuters dismissed him. A Thomson Reuters representative had declined to comment on the case.

(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Tiffany Wu)
By Saeed Azhar and Sumeet Chatterjee SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co has cut 30 jobs, or 5 percent of its headcount, at its Asia wealth management business, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said, as the U.S. bank sharpens its focus on tapping wealthier clients. The job cuts would affect the bank's Singapore and Hong Kong offices, the source said, declining to be identified because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the subject. JPMorgan said in a statement that Edwin Lim, market manager for North Asia high-networth clients, had left the firm. A spokeswoman declined to comment further on job cuts. The cuts highlight a decision by the bank to refocus on upper-end Asian clients with $10 million in investable surplus, known as ultra-high networth individuals, up from a $5-million threshold earlier, the source said. In March last year, JPMorgan said it had decided to position its Asia wealth management unit as one private bank serving both the rich and the super rich, aligning its business model with other regions. With 4.7 million individuals with $1 million in liquid financial assets, Asia-Pacific is the largest and fastest growing wealth region, according to Cap Gemini and RBC. But some Western banks have recently retreated from the wealth management business in Asia due to rising costs, regulatory risks and competition. British lender Barclays earlier this month agreed to sell its wealth and investment management business in Hong Kong and Singapore to Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) . "At J.P. Morgan, we constantly review our coverage to ensure that clients are aligned with the advisors who are best suited to meet their needs," the JPMorgan spokeswoman said in the statement. "Our integrated team approach to service our clients will remain unchanged and fully covered," the statement said, adding the bank remained open to hiring more in the region to grow its wealth management business. JPMorgan's shift in strategy for its wealth management unit began a few months ago and saw the departure of several private bankers who were targeting the high-networth segment, typically with about $5 million liquidity, private banking sources said. Peter Flavel, the former JPMorgan chief executive of private wealth management at Asia Pacific, joined Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's Coutts & Co and Adam & Co. in February. (Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Here are some of the stocks the Yahoo Finance team will be watching for you today.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) shares rose in early trading. Even though the nation's largest bank saw profit and revenue slide from a year ago, it still managed to beat on both its top and bottom lines for the first quarter. Profit fell 6.7% from a year ago due in part to weak investment banking and trading activity.

Related Link: JPMorgan's first quarter could've been a whole lot worse

Peabody Energy (BTU) shares sank after the world's largest, privately-owned coal producer filed for bankruptcy protection. The company cited "unprecedented" industry pressures and a sharp drop in coal prices. Peabody said it plans to continue to operate while in bankruptcy and will work to reduce its debt and improve cash flow. This follows a string of bankruptcies in the coal industry this year.

Get the Latest Market Data and New with the Yahoo Finance App

Verizon (VZ) shares remain in focus. Some 40,000 Verizon union workers went on strike this morning after they failed to reach a labor agreement with the telecom giant. The workers, who primarily service the company's traditional land line business, have been without a contract since August. Verizon said service will not be disrupted because it has trained thousands of non-union employees to fill the positions of those who have walked off the job.



Sprint (S) shares were lower in early trading. Pacific Crest downgraded the stock to underweight from sector weight. The firm believes investors should short Sprint's shares right now ahead of earnings despite its big promotions and that the wireless carrier ha a long turnaround ahead of it.






Rome: Texas Sen Ted Cruz blasted rival Donald Trump in a radio interview, accusing the Republican front-runner of being a bully, inciting violence and using dirty tricks to intimidate voters and delegates, as Trump continued to rail against a nominating system he says is crooked and rigged.

Using some of the harshest rhetoric of the campaign to date, Cruz said his billionaire rival is a bad businessman who has been surrounded by sycophants his entire career.

Donalds whole pitch is hes a great businessman, Cruz said in a wide-ranging interview on the Glenn Beck radio show, adding that given how Trump runs his campaign, it appears he cant run a lemonade stand. The comments came as both campaigns work tirelessly behind the scenes to secure delegates who will back them at the Republican Party convention this summer in Cleveland.
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - Bill Cosby's wife has been ordered to continue her deposition in a civil defamation lawsuit in Massachusetts filed by seven women who allege the comedian sexually assaulted them decades ago.

A federal judge in Worcester ruled Tuesday that Camille Cosby must sit for another day of questioning from the women's lawyers. Cosby had sought to terminate the proceedings, or at least limit it.

She sat for the first part of the deposition in February; the second session is now scheduled for April 19.

Joe Cammarata, a lawyer for the women, called it a "good day" in court.

Bill Cosby's camp also claimed victory. Spokesman Andrew Wyatt said the judge granted Camille Cosby's request to limit the types of questions asked going forward, prohibiting plaintiffs from asking "improper questions."
Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday criticised Turkey for its reaction to a German satirist and vowed not to yield on European values in order to preserve a crucial deal with Ankara to stem migrant flows.

Juncker told the European Parliament that dialogue is the only way to tackle issues with Turkey, including the row over a German TV satirist who crudely insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Berlin is weighing a Turkish request the satirist be prosecuted for slander in Germany but Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday the issue is separate from the migrant deal.

"I cannot understand at all that a German ambassador is summoned for an admittedly difficult satirical song," Juncker told the lawmakers in the French city of Strasbourg.

"That does not bring Turkey closer to us, but will put us farther away from each other," said Juncker, the head of the European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation EU.

German prosecutors last week opened a preliminary probe against comedian Jan Boehmermann, 35, who accused Erdogan of having sex with goats and sheep while gleefully admitting he was flouting Germany's legal limits on free speech.

The comedian was reacting to Ankara's decision to summon Germany's ambassador in protest last month over a previous satirical song broadcast on German TV which lampooned Erdogan in far tamer language.

Turkey's request to punish the satirist gave the affair a far broader diplomatic dimension and exposed Merkel to criticism she was kowtowing to Erdogan.

Juncker said Europe would stick to its guns.

"One thing is clear to me: no matter how important the work for refugees may be, our values on press freedom and fundamental values do not change," Juncker said.

But he added: "Dialogue will help us tackle these issues with Turkey."

The EU and Turkey sealed a deal in Brussels on March 18 to ease Europe's biggest refugee crisis since the end of World War II, under which all migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey will be turned back.

For its cooperation, Turkey won an acceleration of its long-stalled bid for EU membership, the doubling of refugee aid to six billion euros ($6.8 billion) and visa-free travel for its nationals to Europe's Schengen passport-free zone by June.

But EU officials said they would hold Turkey to EU press freedom and other standards in the accession talks.
By Steve Bittenbender

LOUISVILLE (Reuters) - Kentucky's governor on Wednesday signed into law a bill that removes county clerks' names from the state marriage license forms at the center of a controversy involving an official jailed last year for refusing to issue licenses to gay couples.

Senate Bill 216, signed by Republican Governor Matt Bevin, also creates a single form that either heterosexual or same-sex couples can use. Applicants can choose between being called bride, groom or spouse.

"We now have a single form that accommodates all concerns. Everyone benefits from this common sense legislation," Bevin said in an emailed statement. "There is no additional cost or work required by our county clerks. They are now able to fully follow the law without being forced to compromise their religious liberty."

Last summer, Kentucky drew international attention and demonstrations after Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis refused to issue licenses to gay couples following the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to legalize same-sex marriage.

In the days after the ruling, Davis cited her Apostolic Christian beliefs defining marriage as a union exclusively reserved for heterosexual couples for her stand. Even though county clerks do not perform marriage ceremonies in Kentucky, she argued that her name on the document equaled her approval.

Four couples sued Davis in federal court for her refusal to do her job, and a judge ruled her in contempt of court and jailed her for five days. After being released, Davis would not let her name appear on such licenses, requiring her deputies to use the title notary public on the form.

While the plaintiffs raised concerns about such changes, state officials said the licenses would be deemed valid.

Bevin, who won election last year thanks to many of Davis supporters, campaigned on making changes to the form and issued an executive order just weeks after being inaugurated last December. The bill, whose final version was passed unanimously in both chambers, codified Bevins order.

After the senate vote on April 1, Michael Aldridge, executive director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, welcomed a move that created a uniform license for everyone. The ACLU chapter represents the couples suing Davis in court.

(Reporting by Steve Bittenbender, Editing by Ben Klayman and Alan Crosby)
Nairobi (AFP) - Eight Kenyans sexually assaulted during sweeping post election violence in 2007-08 appealed in court Wednesday for the government to take action to ensure justice.

The group of six women and two men filed a petition at Kenya's High Court demanding the government address cases of sexual violence during unrest after disputed elections in which some 1,200 people died.

It was Kenya's worst wave of violence since independence from Britain in 1963.

The hearing comes a week after charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Deputy President William Ruto were dropped, as also happened to crimes against humanity charges against President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Both cases were littered with allegations of witness intimidation, bribery and false testimony.

The Kenyans, who are seeking "truth, justice and reparations from the state", have asked the court to find that the violence carried out were crimes against humanity - and that the government must therefore ensure all efforts are made to prosecute those responsible.

Some 50 supporters who said they also suffered sexual or other violence held banners outside the court in support of the case.

"The survivors want the truth about what happened to them known; and they want the state to acknowledge that they suffered," the group said in a statement.

"We stand in solidarity with eight survivors who were brutally gang-raped and forcibly circumcised," the statement said, adding that they were an "emblematic representation of thousands of other women, girls, men and boys who suffered similar violations."

Only a handful of people have been prosecuted for the 2007-08 violence. After charges were dropped against Ruto, the government repeated promises to ensure victims of the violence are compensated.

"We now ask all Kenyans of goodwill and citizens of the world elsewhere to join our voices in our demands for justice," the victims' statement read.

Story continues

"Victims and survivors cannot live on the repetition of hollow political promises and empty rhetoric  our lives are at a standstill. We deserve justice, and the need for us, too, to reach closure over what happened to us has never been more urgent."

The case, which first opened on March 2014, continues.

Kenyatta and Ruto are due on Saturday to address a rally in the central Kenyan town of Nakuru, at a reconciliation and thanksgiving prayer service following the ICC ruling.

Kenya's next elections are due on August 8, 2017, and many see Saturday's rally as the first step of their campaign for reelection.

Kenyatta won the March 2013 polls by more than 800,000 votes ahead of his nearest rival, outgoing Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Islamic State has published a list of names of Imams it has singled out as being kafirs. (Photo: AFP)

London: ISIS terror group has issued a list of names of Muslim clerics, calling them "imams of kafir" and asking its followers to kill anyone who disagrees with them including Islamic leaders.

In the latest issue of its propaganda magazine Dabiq, the ISIS, also known as Daesh, has singled out those clerics who criticise them and said the "imams of kafir" (leaders of infidels) should be slaughtered.

Muslim clerics across the world, including India, have condemned the attacks by ISIS in Europe, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, saying being a Muslim was about peace, not violence.

In September last year, nearly 1,000 Muslim clerics in India signed a fatwa against ISIS and other terror groups, saying they were "not Islamic organisations".

In a chapter called 'Kill the Imams of kafir in the west', the magazine said: "How can Muslims living in the West who claim to have surrendered themselves to Allah, completely accepting His rule alone, stand idly as these imams of kafir continue to spread their poison from atop their pulpits.

"One must either take the journey to dar-al-Islam, joining the ranks of the mujahid or wage jihad by himself with the resources available to him (knives, guns, explosives, etc.) to kill the crusaders and other disbelievers and apostates, including the imams of kafir, to make an example of them, as all of them are valid rather, obligatory targets," the Express newspaper reported, citing the magazine.

The group has published a list of names of Imams it has singled out as being "kafir". However, the paper did not disclose their names. The magazine also identified those behind the Brussels terror attacks and praised them along with their photographs.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - All sides in Syria's five-year-old civil war should stick to a cessation of hostilities and give United Nations-led peace talks that resumed on Wednesday a chance, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said. "We urge all of the participants on one side or the other, all of the combatants, the regime, others, to adhere to the cessation of hostilities," Kerry told reporters in the face of a flare-up in fighting. U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura opened a new round of peace talks in Geneva on Wednesday, saying that senior officials in Moscow, Damascus, Tehran and Amman, had signaled support for a discussion aiming at a political transition in Syria. "We strongly urge all of the combatants to give Staffan de Mistura and his team an opportunity to do their work in the next hours and days in Geneva," Kerry said in Washington while presenting the annual U.S. State Department report on human rights around the world. Kerry also repeated the Obama administration's opposition to torture. "I want to remove even a scintilla of doubt or confusion that has been caused by statements that others have made in recent weeks and months," Kerry said, without specifying whose statements he was referring to. "The United States is opposed to the use of torture in any form, at any time by any government or non-state actor." Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has said he would seek to end President Barack Obama's ban on water boarding - an interrogation technique that simulates drowning denounced by human rights groups contend as illegal under the Geneva Conventions - and to "bring back a hell of a lot worse" if he is elected. (Reporting By Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Chris Reese and Fiona Ortiz)
Kuwait City (AFP) - Kuwait's parliament on Wednesday passed a bill allowing the government to raise power and water charges on foreign residents and on businesses but exempted the Gulf state's citizens.

Thirty-one MPs voted in favour while 17 members opposed it. The second and final round of voting will take place after two weeks.

MPs initially rejected the bill but later approved it after Kuwaiti citizens were exempted.

If given the final clearance, it will be the first time in 50 years that oil-rich Kuwait raise power charges.

Like other crude exporters, Kuwait's oil-dependent revenues dwindled since oil prices crashed by over 70 percent from its mid-2014 peak.

The bill stipulates to raise power charges in apartment buildings, overwhelmingly used by foreigners, from the current flat rate of two fils (0.7 cents) per kilowatt gradually to up to 15 fils (five cents) per kilowatt.

For commercial uses, it will be raised from two fils per kilowatt to 25 fils per kilowatt.

Water prices will also be more than doubled.

Electricity and Water Minister Ahmad al-Jassar told a heated debate in parliament that the government was paying around $8.8 billion annually to subsidise power and water production.

If no action was taken, consumption would triple by 2035 and subsidies would rise to $25 billion, the minister said.

The aim of the bill was to cut consumption by over 30 percent, he said.

But most lawmakers strongly rejected the government plan to raise power charges on citizens and blamed it for what they called economic mismanagement.

"This would be the biggest crime against citizens and expatriates," Shiite MP Saleh Ashour said.

Independent MP Jamal al-Omar blamed government failure for the economic crisis.

"The cause of the crisis is not the drop in oil prices alone, but also the government's failure ... Our government is incapable of managing the country," Omar said.

The government also plans to hike heavily-subsidised petrol prices, one of the cheapest in the world.

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Kuwait has posted a budget deficit of $20 billion in the past fiscal year, according to provisional figures, following 16 years of windfall due to high oil prices.

The emirate is home to 1.3 million native citizens and around 3.0 million foreigners.

Kuwait has remained the only country in the Gulf not to raise power and petrol tariffs since the sharp drop in oil prices.
By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Katy Perry will get her chance to live in a former Roman Catholic convent after a judge on Wednesday invalidated the property's sale to a restaurateur. The months-long real estate dispute in Los Angeles has involved a group of nuns, the Archdiocese and a former convent in the style of a Roman Villa. Attorneys for Perry said in a statement that they were pleased with the ruling, and that it cleared the way Perry to buy the property. The case had pitted Perry, daughter of Protestant pastors and one of the top-selling pop stars in the world, and the archdiocese against the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The nuns once lived in the convent and wanted to sell it to Los Angeles restaurateur Dana Hollister. Representatives for the nuns and Hollister did not reply to requests for comment. Michael Hennigan, the attorney for the archdiocese, said that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick had approved the archdiocese's motion to block the sale to Hollister in its entirety. The formal ruling will not be available until later in on Wednesday. Perry, who rose to fame with the hit song "I Kissed a Girl," offered to buy the 8-acre (3-hectare) property for $14.5 million to use as a private residence for herself. The nuns had rebuffed the 31-year-old performer, accepting a competing $15.5 million bid from Hollister, who wanted to convert the former convent into a hotel. The archdiocese filed a lawsuit last June asserting that it had the final say over disposition of the property for the nuns' benefit. (Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Chris Reese and Sara Catania)
Washington (AFP) - Peabody Energy, the largest US coal miner, filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, battered like the rest of the industry by competition from cheap natural gas and the global push for cleaner energy.

The long-expected move made Peabody just the latest and largest of dozens of US miners to go under as the fracking revolution made cleaner natural gas cheaper to use for steel plants and power generators at the same time that demand from China's huge coal-dependent industrial sector began to fall.

St. Louis, Missouri-based Peabody lost $2.04 billion last year on $5.6 billion in revenues, as both coal prices and volumes shipped to customers in 26 countries sank.

Unable to keep servicing a $6.3 billion debt load, Peabody said it took the step for court-protected restructuring under US Chapter 11 bankruptcy laws "to strengthen liquidity and reduce debt amid an unprecedented industry downturn."

"All of the company's mines and offices are continuing to operate in the ordinary course of business and are expected to continue doing so for the duration of the process."

It announced the move after arranging $800 million in new financing supported by some of its existing creditors to help tide it over through restructuring.

It also came after the company failed to sell assets in New Mexico and Colorado.

The bankruptcy involves the company's US operations, but not its Australian mines, where it said operations "are continuing as usual."

"This was a difficult decision, but it is the right path forward for Peabody. We begin today to build a highly successful global leader for tomorrow," Peabody president and chief executive Glenn Kellow said in a statement.

Trade in Peabody shares was halted after they ended at $2.07 Tuesday, down 75 percent since the beginning of the year. The shares were trading above $75 a year ago.

- 'Unable to change' -

Peabody has been hurt by both the plunge in oil and natural gas prices -- a direct consequence of the fracking revolution in the United States that unleashed huge new supplies -- and the economic slowdown in China, the world's leading coal consumer, where half the steel industry has been idled.

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US coal production has fallen more than 20 percent since 2010 and is expected to sink further this year, according to the US Energy Information Agency. Meanwhile natural gas output has jumped more than 20 percent while gas prices have plunged by half.

Facing the same challenges, about two dozen US coal companies have sought bankruptcy protection or closed in the past three years.

The number-two company, Arch Coal, also based in St. Louis, filed for bankruptcy in January, unable to service its $4.5 billion in debt.

"Be in no doubt; this is very big news," said Richard Black, director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit.

"Phasing out coal in favor of cleaner forms of energy, like natural gas or renewables, is a process which is accelerating around the world."

"The company was unable to change with the time... as the world was shifting towards renewable energy," added Lindsay Meinan of the climate-change group 350.org.

The goal of reviving Peabody's operations after bankruptcy reorganization is meanwhile setting up a battle with environmental groups aiming to push the energy industry and the banks that finance it toward clean energy.

Ben Collins, a campaigner with the Rainforest Action Network, said the bankrupt coal companies and their creditors are in a number of cases trying to reduce their pension and health-care obligations for current and retired workers.

In addition, he said, they are trying to cut their obligations to fund mine cleanup and reclamation.

"We have seen in recent bankruptcies... the companies walking away from promises to pensions and to clean up mines," he said.

He criticized Citigroup for arranging new financing for Peabody despite having pledged last year to begin cutting its support for the coal sector.
Hit by the sharp drop in crude prices, Kuwait is introducing a new payroll scheme for all public employees and wants to include the country's 20,000 oil workers, which would mean an automatic cut in wages and incentives. (Photo: AFP)

Kuwait City: Kuwait was to deploy national guard units Wednesday to run and protect some oil facilities after workers announced a major strike for this weekend, a newspaper said.

The units would start working at facilities in the Gulf state's oil-rich southern region, Al-Rai said, citing unnamed sources. The report could not be confirmed. Kuwait's oil workers' union decided to begin an open-ended strike from Sunday after a dispute with the government over proposed pay cuts.

Hit by the sharp drop in crude prices, Kuwait is introducing a new payroll scheme for all public employees and wants to include the country's 20,000 oil workers, which would mean an automatic cut in wages and incentives.

The union decision for the strike at all production units and other facilities was taken on Monday, a day after talks with acting oil minister Anas al-Saleh broke down.

Saleh told parliament Wednesday that negotiations with unions were still ongoing.

National oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said it had accepted a request by the ministry of social affairs and labour for negotiations with the workers.

KPC spokesman Sheikh Talal Khaled al-Sabah said the ministry had scheduled negotiations with the oil workers for Thursday, and that the KPC would attend.

He urged oil employees to reject the strike.

A spokesman for the workers said that the union was meeting to study the ministry request and whether to attend new negotiations. Independent MP Mohammad Tana defended the employees' demands and rejected any plan to cut their pay, saying that "benefits and incentives of the oil workers should not be touched."

"We are faced with a strike that could paralyse the country and may result in huge losses," Tana told parliament.
By Liana B. Baker and Diane Bartz (Reuters) - China's Tsinghua Unigroup unveiled a stake of roughly 6 percent in Lattice Semiconductor Corp on Wednesday, sending shares of the U.S. chip manufacturer soaring 18 percent on speculation of a possible acquisition. The move is the latest sign of Tsinghua's desire to be a part of the U.S. semiconductor industry after it scrapped plans to acquire Micron Technology Inc and invest in Western Digital Corp . Tsinghua said in a regulatory filing its stake in Lattice was for "investment purposes," but that it may also enter into discussions with management about a "possible commercial agreement." It added that it could buy more shares or sell its stake. Reuters reported exclusively in February that Lattice had attracted interest from an unidentified Chinese buyer and had decided to explore a sale. Based in Portland, Oregon, Lattice makes programmable logic chips and related software used in a variety of items from smartphones to cars. Its shares rose 99 cents to $6.36, giving it a market capitalization of roughly $740 million. One of Tsinghua's divisions, Unisplendour, scrapped a $3.78 billion minority investment in U.S. hard-disk maker Western Digital Corp earlier this year after the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment, which scrutinizes deals for potential national security concerns, decided to review the transaction. It also looked at acquiring Micron Technology last year. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, made up of the Treasury Department, Defense Department and other agencies, must approve any deal that could harm national security. Paul Marquardt, an attorney at Cleary Gottlieb, said an investment like Tsinghua's in Lattice, which is below a 10 percent threshold and does not involve special governance rights, should not cause CFIUS concerns. But CFIUS could scrutinize the deal if the two companies strike a more elaborate deal, such as a merger or joint venture, he added. "If this is some kind of anchor for a broader business or joint venture relationship, (CFIUS) could be interested in that and ask questions, but you wouldnt think the 6 percent shareholding would be key to the deal," Marquardt said. In 2012, Chinese nationals were arrested for attempting to smuggle out dual-use programmable logic devices made by Lattice. Chinese companies and funds have been increasingly bidding on overseas semiconductor companies to build up China's domestic chip industry. Earlier in April, a Shanghai-based fund, National Silicon Industry Group, made a takeover bid for Finland's Okmetic , a maker of silicon wafers. (Reporting by Liana B. Baker in New York and Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Matthew Lewis)
By Rich McKay

MARIETTA, Ga. (Reuters) - Lawyers began picking jurors in the murder trial of a Georgia man charged with leaving his toddler son in a hot car for seven hours while he exchanged nude photos with women online.

The jury must decide if Justin Ross Harris, 35, forgot that his 22-month-old son Cooper was in the SUV that day in June 2014 or if he left the boy to die so he could live a child-free lifestyle.

Out of about 500 potential jurors summoned, only three had been interviewed individually by noon (1600 GMT) on Wednesday. Potential jurors were given a 17-page questionnaire to fill out posing such questions as how much they know about the case and those involved in it, and whether they themselves have ever left a child in a car.

Prosecutors estimate it could take two weeks or more to select the 12-member jury and a number of alternates, and that the high profile trial could last four or more weeks.

All three of the potential jurors quizzed by the lawyers on Wednesday morning said they had seen media coverage of Harris' case, and all three said they have a bias toward thinking that the computer developer is guilty.

"I'm leaning one way, and it's guilty," said one potential juror, a substitute teacher and grandfather of five, whose identity was not made public. He said he had read about Harris' extramarital affairs and thought that maybe he "wants to get rid of his wife, and the child was excess baggage."

Ross sat solemnly in the courtroom, dressed in a white button down shirt and tie instead of the orange prison jumpsuit he has been seen wearing in most media images.

Prosecutors contend that he deliberately left his child in the hot car to die. Temperatures in the Atlanta area reached 92 degrees F (33 C) that day. Harris faces life in prison if convicted on felony murder and other charges.

Hours before the toddler died, prosecutors say, Harris sat in his suburban Atlanta office sending lewd messages to women online.

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Defense attorneys say that Harris is a loving father who would never harm his son, and that he forgot to drive him to daycare and drove to work instead. The defense said prosecutors are trying to bias the jury against their client because of his moral failings in his marriage.

Leanna Taylor, Harris's former wife, recently divorced him but she has told several media outlets that she believes he is innocent.

(Reporting by Rich McKay; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Alan Crosby)
This story first appeared in the April 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

LAX is internationally known - mostly for its long lines, puzzling layout and clogged roadways. This year, industry researcher Skytrax ranked LAX 91st on its annual list of the world's top 100 airports, behind such luminary facilities as Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International and Halifax Stanfield in Nova Scotia. But things are looking up. LAX's owner/operator is joining United, Delta and American to invest $8 billion to upgrade facilities.

This spring, American will begin renovations of its Terminal 4 Flagship Lounge, reserved for passengers booked in first class on LAX-JFK and international flights. (American's JFK Flagship Lounge will receive similar upgrades.) The lounge will have a Scandinavian vibe and contain a private dining room where passengers can order a chef-prepared meal.

To help court profitable Hollywood clientele, American recently installed a private door for VIP check-in at Terminal 4 (all first-class passengers get Flagship check-in at JFK and LAX through a private entrance with expedited security). The airline now offers complimentary transfers between terminals at LAX and JFK via chauffeured Cadillacs for all first-class passengers with tight connections, 16 hours daily each day. (United and Delta offer similar services in partnerships with Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.)

Read More: Miniature Horses, a "Therapy Turkey" and the Rise of Support Animals in Flight

***

OTHER AIRLINES UP THEIR GAME, TOO

DELTA - A $229 million renovation of Terminal 5 at LAX, completed in June, includes a revamped Sky Club lounge and dedicated check-in facilities for Delta One passengers, who can take a private elevator from curbside.

JETBLUE - Mint service, with lie-flat seats and semiprivate suites, has been a game-changer for the LAX-NYC premium market, with fares starting at $599 one way and inventive service - Saxon + Parole tapas, anyone?

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UNITED - Newark's Terminal C just completed a $120 million renovation. At LAX, Terminals 7 and 8 are undergoing a $573 million renovation that will revamp the baggage claim and add a new United Club with an outdoor terrace.

VIRGIN AMERICA - The airline recently announced plans to revamp its A320 fleet (but won't be adding lie-flat seating on the LAX-JFK route). Since no free elite upgrades are offered, Virgin's first class is theoretically the most exclusive.
Photo of Indian national Kirpal Singh, who had allegedly crossed Wagah border into Pakistan in 1992. (Photo: ANI Twitter)

New Delhi: Pakistan on Wednesday informed India that Indian inmate Kirpal Singh died of heart attack at a jail in Lahore two days back after the issue of his mysterious death was taken up with the Pakistani authorities even as the government said it was awaiting further details in the case.

India's Acting High Commissioner J P Singh met Director General (South Asia) in Pakistan Foreign Ministry in Islamabad following a directive from the Indian government in connection with death of Kirpal Singh, who was languishing for nearly 25 years in jail in connection with a serial blasts case there.

"According to government of Pakistan, Shri Kirpal Singh died on April 11 at 1455 hours due to heart attack. We await further details," Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Vikas Swarup said.

He said India's Acting High Commissioner has also requested the Pakistan Foreign Ministry official for earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains of Kirpal Singh.

Read: Indian spy languishing in Pak jail for 20 years found dead in his cell

50-year-old Kirpal was languishing in a Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges. He had allegedly crossed over to Pakistan through Wagah border in 1992 and was arrested.

He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of charges related to bomb blasts by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons.

Jagir Kaur, Kirpal's sister, earlier said the family could not raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case.

The government asked India's acting envoy to seek a meeting with the Pakistan Foreign Office in connection with Kirpal's death under mysterious circumstances and seek early transfer of the mortal remains.

"On Kirpal Singh, our acting high commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in Pakistan Foreign Office this forenoon to seek early transportation of Singh's mortal remains," Swarup said earlier.

Earlier, in last week of April, 2013, Indian prisoner on death row Sarabjit Singh was brutally attacked and murdered by his fellow prisoners at Kot Lakhpat Jail. Both accused - Muhammad Muddasar and Amir Tamba also condemned prisoners - are facing trial of his murder at the jail.

Sarabjit was arrested on charges of conducting four bomb blasts in Faisalabad, Multan and Lahore that killed 14 bystanders in 1990. He was sentenced to death.
By Aidan Lewis and Ahmed Elumami WADI BEY, Libya (Reuters) - Packed into a battered car, a family of nine joined the steady flow of residents fleeing Islamic State's Libyan stronghold of Sirte. They were heading to a nearby town to pick up essentials: cash, medicine and food. A few kilometers beyond the militant group's zone of control, the family gave an account of life in the city: young men murdered for refusing to pledge allegiance to Islamic State, public beatings for dress violations, property seizures and growing food shortages. "They're there to occupy the city," said the wife from behind her black veil, as her children glanced nervously from the rear of the vehicle one afternoon in late February. "They're killing, kidnapping and torturing." Sirte is a city upended. Once given favored treatment by former leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was born there, it now serves as a Mediterranean base for the most important Islamic State branch outside Syria and Iraq. That has left Western intelligence agencies struggling to figure out how far Islamic State can extend its influence across Libya  and how to stop the group. Some Libyan and Western officials see Sirte as a foothold for further Islamic State expansion. From there the ultra-hardline Sunni group has ventured east along the coast, edging closer to major oil fields. It now controls a thin strip along about 250 km (155 miles) of Libya's central coastline. Though Islamic State's manpower in Libya is uncertain, membership has been growing. Western intelligence agencies and the U.N. estimate its fighting force, which includes a growing number of foreigners, at between 3,000 and 6,000. "Their dream is to control the oil fields in the east and expand to the west to Tripoli and Misrata," said Mahmoud Zagal, head of the Misrata military operations room for local forces opposed to Islamic State. But much still hangs in the balance, and ISIS may struggle to control large swathes of the country. General David M. Rodriguez, head of U.S. Africa Command, told a news briefing in Washington on April 8 that it will be difficult for Islamic State to seize huge swathes of Libya "because they don't have the home-grown people that know as much about Libya like they did in Iraq and Syria." Libyans, he said, "don't like ... external influences." "PEOPLE ARE AFRAID" Islamic State entrenched itself in Sirte by early 2015. The city had been neglected by Libya's main factions since Gaddafi was dragged from a drainpipe and shot there in 2011. Sirte mayor Mukhtar Khalifa al-Maadani, who left the city in August last year as Islamic State escalated its crackdowns, said the group cleverly exploited the city's existing rifts. "Sirte is a mix of many tribes, and they took advantage of this ... They have individuals from every tribe in Sirte supporting them and they used this to tear apart its social structure." The group has built the trappings of a rudimentary state in the city. It collects taxes, directs religious education, broadcasts its messages on radio, and enforces its rule with increasing brutality, Libyan officials say. It also makes money by kidnapping, selling stolen property, smuggling drugs and possibly trafficking migrants. One woman who left the city in January, five months after her husband was abducted by Islamic State fighters, described how men accused of espionage have been crucified, with their bodies strung to poles for days; how suspected thieves have their hands chopped off in public; and how women are whipped when caught flouting dress regulations by female members of Islamic State police. "People do not fight back because they are afraid," said the woman, who fled when her teenage son was asked to report on people smoking or drinking alcohol. While teenage girls are made to wear full-face veils and black robes, boys have been conscripted as Islamic State "cubs." A recent U.N. report cited the cases of two recruits, aged 10 and 14, who said they had been seized from their families by Islamic State then subjected to weeks of religious and military training, forced to watch videos of beheadings and sexually abused. In Sirte and beyond, recruits, including some migrants, have been offered salaries many times greater than the average wage, as well as enticements such as cars and brides, Libyan officials and residents say. In Iraq the group drew heavily on former members of Saddam Hussein's regime. In Libya it has used former Gaddafi-era operatives, but to a lesser extent. "The organization has its own presence," said Abdulraouf Kara, the head of Tripoli's Special Deterrence Force, a brigade of more than 600 men whose focus has shifted from anti-vice operations to rooting out Islamic State militants. "Some individuals who support Gaddafi joined to take revenge. But we can't say it's an organization based on Gaddafi's followers." FOREIGN FIGHTERS? Islamic State's advance in Libya has been far from smooth. The group has to compete with a complex web of established armed factions, in a country without the Sunni-Shi'ite divide that Islamic State has exploited in Iraq and Syria. It has suffered military setbacks. In the eastern city of Benghazi, it recently lost territory to the army, and in western Sabratha, it was chased out by local brigades in the wake of a U.S. air strike in February. Sirte residents and Libyan officials say Islamic State is increasingly dominated by foreign fighters, a possible sign of a lack of traction amongst locals. In a rare admission of weakness, Abdul Qadr al-Najdi, the Islamic State leader in Libya, said last month that the group had found it hard to replicate its conquest of Sirte. "The number of factions and their disputes are one of the reasons of failure and the rest of the cities in Libya are a living example of this," he said in an interview with Islamic State newspaper al-Naba. Below the surface in Sirte, opposition festers. Last August, residents took up arms after an imam was killed for refusing to pledge allegiance to Islamic State. Dozens were killed and the revolt was crushed. "Everyone left in Sirte is opposed to Islamic State but they can't do anything to resist them," said one resident who had traveled to Misrata to get medical treatment for his father. Libya's ability to fight Islamic State has depended largely on the country's two main loose military alliances, which are aligned with rival power bases, one in the west and one in the east. The groups occasionally announce plans to tackle Islamic State, but action is haphazard. In Libya's "oil crescent" east of Sirte, the Petroleum Facilities Guard has fended off attacks while complaining that the eastern army, to which it was allied in the past, was providing no support. Kara, the Deterrence Force leader in Tripoli, complained that armed groups that back the government in Tripoli try to protect Islamic State suspects. "When we try to arrest them we are told that they are 'thuwwar'," he said, using the term for anti-Gaddafi revolutionaries. "We are asked to release them every day." Western powers hope the new U.N.-backed unity government, whose leaders arrived in Tripoli last month, will help by drawing Libyan brigades together and winning longer-term international help. "If we do manage to create this national unity government, there won't a Libyan army as we'd like it," said a French defense ministry official. "But there are a number of forces, which, if they worked together, would have enough strength to hit (Islamic State)." (Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Edited by Simon Robinson and Richard Woods)
By Aidan Lewis and Ahmed Elumami WADI BEY, Libya (Reuters) - Packed into a battered car, a family of nine joined the steady flow of residents fleeing Islamic State's Libyan stronghold of Sirte. They were heading to a nearby town to pick up essentials: cash, medicine and food. A few kilometres beyond the militant group's zone of control, the family gave an account of life in the city: young men murdered for refusing to pledge allegiance to Islamic State, public beatings for dress violations, property seizures and growing food shortages. "They're there to occupy the city," said the wife from behind her black veil, as her children glanced nervously from the rear of the vehicle one afternoon in late February. "They're killing, kidnapping and torturing." Sirte is a city upended. Once given favoured treatment by former leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was born there, it now serves as a Mediterranean base for the most important Islamic State branch outside Syria and Iraq. That has left Western intelligence agencies struggling to figure out how far Islamic State can extend its influence across Libya  and how to stop the group. Some Libyan and Western officials see Sirte as a foothold for further Islamic State expansion. From there the ultra-hardline Sunni group has ventured east along the coast, edging closer to major oil fields. It now controls a thin strip along about 250 km (155 miles) of Libya's central coastline. Though Islamic State's manpower in Libya is uncertain, membership has been growing. Western intelligence agencies and the U.N. estimate its fighting force, which includes a growing number of foreigners, at between 3,000 and 6,000. "Their dream is to control the oil fields in the east and expand to the west to Tripoli and Misrata," said Mahmoud Zagal, head of the Misrata military operations room for local forces opposed to Islamic State. But much still hangs in the balance, and ISIS may struggle to control large swathes of the country. General David M. Rodriguez, head of U.S. Africa Command, told a news briefing in Washington on April 8 that it will be difficult for Islamic State to seize huge swathes of Libya "because they don't have the home-grown people that know as much about Libya like they did in Iraq and Syria." Libyans, he said, "don't like ... external influences." "PEOPLE ARE AFRAID" Islamic State entrenched itself in Sirte by early 2015. The city had been neglected by Libya's main factions since Gaddafi was dragged from a drainpipe and shot there in 2011. Sirte mayor Mukhtar Khalifa al-Maadani, who left the city in August last year as Islamic State escalated its crackdowns, said the group cleverly exploited the city's existing rifts. "Sirte is a mix of many tribes, and they took advantage of this ... They have individuals from every tribe in Sirte supporting them and they used this to tear apart its social structure." The group has built the trappings of a rudimentary state in the city. It collects taxes, directs religious education, broadcasts its messages on radio, and enforces its rule with increasing brutality, Libyan officials say. It also makes money by kidnapping, selling stolen property, smuggling drugs and possibly trafficking migrants. One woman who left the city in January, five months after her husband was abducted by Islamic State fighters, described how men accused of espionage have been crucified, with their bodies strung to poles for days; how suspected thieves have their hands chopped off in public; and how women are whipped when caught flouting dress regulations by female members of Islamic State police. "People do not fight back because they are afraid," said the woman, who fled when her teenage son was asked to report on people smoking or drinking alcohol. While teenage girls are made to wear full-face veils and black robes, boys have been conscripted as Islamic State "cubs." A recent U.N. report cited the cases of two recruits, aged 10 and 14, who said they had been seized from their families by Islamic State then subjected to weeks of religious and military training, forced to watch videos of beheadings and sexually abused. In Sirte and beyond, recruits, including some migrants, have been offered salaries many times greater than the average wage, as well as enticements such as cars and brides, Libyan officials and residents say. In Iraq the group drew heavily on former members of Saddam Hussein's regime. In Libya it has used former Gaddafi-era operatives, but to a lesser extent. "The organisation has its own presence," said Abdulraouf Kara, the head of Tripoli's Special Deterrence Force, a brigade of more than 600 men whose focus has shifted from anti-vice operations to rooting out Islamic State militants. "Some individuals who support Gaddafi joined to take revenge. But we can't say it's an organisation based on Gaddafi's followers." FOREIGN FIGHTERS? Islamic State's advance in Libya has been far from smooth. The group has to compete with a complex web of established armed factions, in a country without the Sunni-Shi'ite divide that Islamic State has exploited in Iraq and Syria. It has suffered military setbacks. In the eastern city of Benghazi, it recently lost territory to the army, and in western Sabratha, it was chased out by local brigades in the wake of a U.S. air strike in February. Sirte residents and Libyan officials say Islamic State is increasingly dominated by foreign fighters, a possible sign of a lack of traction amongst locals. In a rare admission of weakness, Abdul Qadr al-Najdi, the Islamic State leader in Libya, said last month that the group had found it hard to replicate its conquest of Sirte. "The number of factions and their disputes are one of the reasons of failure and the rest of the cities in Libya are a living example of this," he said in an interview with Islamic State newspaper al-Naba. Below the surface in Sirte, opposition festers. Last August, residents took up arms after an imam was killed for refusing to pledge allegiance to Islamic State. Dozens were killed and the revolt was crushed. "Everyone left in Sirte is opposed to Islamic State but they can't do anything to resist them," said one resident who had travelled to Misrata to get medical treatment for his father. Libya's ability to fight Islamic State has depended largely on the country's two main loose military alliances, which are aligned with rival power bases, one in the west and one in the east. The groups occasionally announce plans to tackle Islamic State, but action is haphazard. In Libya's "oil crescent" east of Sirte, the Petroleum Facilities Guard has fended off attacks while complaining that the eastern army, to which it was allied in the past, was providing no support. Kara, the Deterrence Force leader in Tripoli, complained that armed groups that back the government in Tripoli try to protect Islamic State suspects. "When we try to arrest them we are told that they are 'thuwwar'," he said, using the term for anti-Gaddafi revolutionaries. "We are asked to release them every day." Western powers hope the new U.N.-backed unity government, whose leaders arrived in Tripoli last month, will help by drawing Libyan brigades together and winning longer-term international help. "If we do manage to create this national unity government, there won't a Libyan army as we'd like it," said a French defence ministry official. "But there are a number of forces, which, if they worked together, would have enough strength to hit (Islamic State)." (Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Edited by Simon Robinson and Richard Woods)
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.

If Lin-Manuel Miranda didn't have two hit Broadway musicals to his credit, a scan of his senior yearbook at Hunter College High School in Manhattan would leave little doubt that he was destined for the arts. Miranda's personal page in the 1998 Annals shows an appreciation for musicals, hip-hop, and high and low culture. He quotes lyrics from Rent and the Fugees ("I got tired of the fat lady so I sang my own opera"), an elegiac verse from Kahlil Gibran's book of prose poetry The Prophet ("Farewell to you and the youth I have spent with you ") and a now-classic line from Jessie Spano's classic caffeine pill-induced meltdown in Saved by the Bell: "I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so  scared!" But it's in his extracurriculars that Miranda's love of theater shines.

He directed West Side Story for Hunter's Musical Repertory and, years later, would perform with that group's president (and his friend since grade school) Arthur Lewis in the hip-hop improv group Freestyle Love Supreme. Miranda has said FLS gave him the "superpower" to rhyme spontaneously, which eventually led to Hamilton's dazzling wordplay and his freestyle performance for President Obama in March. Additionally, in high school, Miranda served as president of Brick Prison Playhouse, which produced work written and directed by Hunter students and a yearbook page devoted to "Hunter Performers" features a photo of him wearing a Superman-like costume emblazoned with the letter "E." His reason for dressing that way is not explained, nor is his involvement in the Zionist Political Action Group, which was, according to a Hunter insider, a "joke club" started by a group of mostly Jewish kids with whom Miranda was friends.

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Apparently so: The yearbook lists his ZPAG title as one of the "Secretaries in charge of Not Being Jewish." (Miranda did not respond to a request for comment.) Finally, his advocacy of Latino culture and causes is nothing new. He was secretary of the Hunter Hispanic Society, and on his personal page, he wrote, in Spanish, of his roots: "My soul is Puerto Rico/My heart is Puerto Rico ..."

Read More: 'Hamilton's' Success Is Making His Descendants Into Demi-Celebrities

Miranda (second from left) was president of the Brick Prison Playhouse.

Miranda (second row, fifth from right) was secretary of the Hunter Hispanic Society.

Miranda (third from right) directed 'West Side Story' for the school's Musical Repertory.

Miranda donned a cape for an unidentified performance.
By Lisa Lambert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators gave a failing grade to five big banks on Wednesday, including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co , on their plans for a bankruptcy that would not rely on taxpayer money, giving them until Oct. 1 to make amends or risk sanctions. The move officially starts a long regulatory chain that could end with breaking up the banks. Nearly a decade after the financial crisis, it underscored how the debate about banks being "too big to fail" continues to rage in Washington and exasperate on Wall Street. The banks failed for reasons ranging from the way liquidity would be housed and shuffled among domestic and foreign subsidiaries to the manner in which executives would communicate problems as they arose during a crisis. Wednesday's announcement was the first time the two major banking regulators, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, issued joint determinations flunking banks' plans, commonly called "living wills." If the five, which also included Bank of America Corp , State Street Corp and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. , do not correct serious "deficiencies" in their plans by October, they could face stricter regulations, like higher capital requirements or limits on business activities, regulators said. Accomplishing that task may not be easy: criticized banks have five months to reassess and rewrite wide swaths of their resolution plans to regulators' satisfaction. At the same time, compliance departments will also be focused on regulatory stress tests, whose results will be released before October. If the deficiencies persist for two years, then the banks will have to divest their assets. They have until July 2017 to address more minor "shortcomings." The regulators' report coincided with the start of banks' earnings reporting period and bank shares rallied. Shares of JP Morgan, Citigroup and Bank of America all closed up more than 3 percent and Wells Fargo shares were up 2.87 percent. The requirement for a living will was part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform legislation passed in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, when the U.S. government spent billions of dollars on bailouts to keep big banks from failing and wrecking the U.S. economy. The plans are separate from the Fed's stress tests, where banks demonstrate stability by showing how they would withstand economic shocks in hypothetical scenarios. "The FDIC and Federal Reserve are committed to carrying out the statutory mandate that systemically important financial institutions demonstrate a clear path to an orderly failure under bankruptcy at no cost to taxpayers," FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said in a statement. "Today's action is a significant step toward achieving that goal." But the agency's vice chairman, Thomas Hoenig, who was a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee during the crisis, said the plans show that no firm is "capable of being resolved in an orderly fashion through bankruptcy." "The goal to end 'too big to fail' and protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts remains just that: only a goal," he said. The three remaining large, systemically important banks, which the U.S. government considers "too big to fail," did not fare much better in their evaluations, but sidestepped potential sanctions because they were not given joint determinations. The regulators continue to assess plans for four foreign banks labeled "systemically important" - Barclays PLC , Credit Suisse Group , Deutsche Bank AG , and UBS Group AG . The FDIC alone determined the plan submitted by Goldman Sachs was not credible, while the Federal Reserve Board on its own found Morgan Stanley's plan not credible. Citigroup's living will did pass, but regulators noted it had "shortcomings." Goldman Sachs said in a statement it has made "significant progress" and Morgan Stanley said resolution planning is one of its "highest priorities." Citigroup will work to address the shortcomings, Chief Executive Michael Corbat said in a statement. 'KEY VULNERABILITIES' The deficiencies across the five banks largely revolved around liquidity, governance and operations. While JPMorgan has "made notable progress in a range of areas," the regulators said it "has key vulnerabilities," including an inability to estimate the liquidity needed and available for funding bankruptcy resolution and insufficient resources for winding down derivatives. On a conference call on JPMorgan's earnings, bank executives expressed disappointment with the determination and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said the bank has "tons of liquidity." "It's more about reporting, legal entities and things like that," he said. "And if other firms can satisfy that Id be surprised if we cant. The agencies said Wells Fargo's living will "exhibited a lack of governance and certain operational capabilities." By October it must demonstrate a "robust process to ensure quality control and accuracy" in its plan and lay out legally how different lines of business can be restructured and its regional units can be separated. Wells, State Street and Bank of New York all said in statements they will work to address the deficiencies by the October 1 deadline. Bank of America did not comment. The determinations raised debate about how living wills can help banks survive a financial catastrophe. Proponents of stronger financial regulation welcomed them, with Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the most powerful Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, saying they were "an important step in the effort to protect Americans from being on the hook for the failures of too big to fail banks in the future." Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said regulators need to break big banks apart if they don't fix their living will problems over time. Her rival, Bernie Sanders, pointed out on Twitter that many big banks have only gotten bigger since they were bailed out during the financial crisis. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, though, said the process "is broken." "Contradictory outcomes through different tools such as stress tests and living wills harm the ability of regulators to achieve financial stability and for market participants to understand what regulators are doing," said David Hirschmann, head of the business group's capital markets center. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Additional reporting by David Henry, Olivia Oran, Dan Freed and Lauren LaCapra in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)
London (AFP) - A marine robot deployed in the waters of Scotland's Loch Ness has found the remains of a monster but it turned out to be a prop from a movie shot in 1970.

The robot, belonging to Norwegian offshore oil company Kongsberg Maritime, is drawing up the first high-resolution map of the 230-metre (755-feet) deep lake in a project named "Operation Groundtruth".

"Although it is the shape of Nessie, it is not the remains of the monster that has mystified the world for 80 years," Scottish tourism agency VisitScotland, which is backing the project, said on Wednesday.

The agency's statement said "Nessie found" with an asterisk at the bottom reading "replica model".

The blurry object with a long neck was a 30-foot (9.15-metre) long model of the monster made for the film "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes", directed by Billy Wilder.

"It is thought the model sank after its humps were removed (the buoyancy was in the humps) never to be seen again," VisitScotland said in a statement.

The monster was actually a submarine in the film.

The mapping is being carried out by a robot called "Munin", which resembles a missile-shaped drone.

It also found a 27-foot long shipwreck, which is still being investigated, and worked out that there is no "Nessie trench" in the loch bed in which a creature could be hiding, as previously believed.

"The vehicle is providing insight to the loch's depths as never before imagined. Finding Nessie was, of course, an unexpected bonus," Craig Wallace, a Kongsberg Maritime engineer, said in a statement.

Previous discoveries made in Loch Ness include a crashed World War II bomber plane, a 100-year-old fishing boat and the remains of a speedboat used in a 1952 speed record attempt which killed its pilot.

The lake has been notoriously difficult to survey due to its depth and steeply sloping side walls.

VisitScotland estimates the revenue generated by tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of "Nessie" at 60 million (76 million euros, $85 million) a year.
There will be no horrifying bathroom laws for the Pelican State.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards moved Wednesday to protect the rights of LGBT individuals who work for the state. With his executive order, government agencies will be prohibited from discriminating "on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, political affiliation, disability or age" when it comes to employment and to state-provided services, according to a press release.

"We are fortunate enough to live in a state that is rich with diversity, and we are built on a foundation of unity and fairness for all of our citizens," Edwards said. "We respect our fellow citizens for their beliefs, but we do not discriminate based on our disagreements."

Current Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards

Churches and religious organizations will be exempt from the order, but still, with the passage of anti-LGBT laws in Mississippi and North Carolina, it's nice to see a governor take a stand for his constituents  all of his constituents.

Last year, Edwards' predecessor Bobby Jindal responded to the failure of the Louisiana Marriage and Conscience Act, or HB 707, with his own executive order. It aimed to "prevent the state from discriminating against persons or entities with deeply held religious beliefs" by discriminating against LGBT individuals.

Former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal

Bills like HB 707 are increasingly becoming law throughout the south, despite pushback from within and without. Since North Carolina passed HB 2, businesses have pulled out, artists have rerouted tours and the ACLU has filed a lawsuit.

Louisiana will not suffer the same fate, says Edwards.

He said, in the release, "While this executive order respects the religious beliefs of our people, it also signals to the rest of the country that discrimination is not a Louisiana value, but rather, that Louisiana is a state that is respectful and inclusive of everyone around us."
Lahore: In an attempt to obliterate the stigma attached to periods, few students of Lahores Beaconhouse National University (BNU) put up sanitary napkins on walls of the campus with messages written on them.

According to a report, the messages on the sanitary napkins read this blood is not dirty and periods make us hornier. The initiative being a brainchild of the university students was undertaken to condemn the stereotypical definition of periods.

Termed as period protest, it triggered a series of reactions in the university. Some people showed overwhelming support to the cause, however, there were some who chastised the same.

The protest was initiated by students - Mavera Rahim, Eman Suleman, Mehsum Basharat, Noor Fatima, Sherbaz Lehri and Asad Sheikh.

"We are made to carry sanitary napkins in a brown paper bag, as if it is something which should be kept behind the veil. Further, owing to inadequacy of knowledge women often fail to take proper measures while having periods which inevitably affect their well being," said Mavera Rahim.

Rahim took to Facebook to put forth her views. The protest was against the stigma attached to menstruation and the sharmindagi (shame) with which we discuss it, she posted.

A year ago, students of Jamia Milia Islamia undertook a similar campaign to protest gender stereotypes and violence against women. The move sparked off a furore on the campus. Earlier, a string of protests on similar lines have been witnessed in other Indian varsities like Jadavpur University.
Tokyo businessman Randal Furudera isn't about to swap his German-made BMW M5 for a "boring" Japanese car, although he'll give them some grudging respect for their ho-hum dependability.

Deep-pocketed buyers like Furudera are driving sales in Japan of high-end foreign brands, which dominate the niche sector in a car market long seen as all but shuttered to overseas automakers.

"Most Japanese cars these days are sort of becoming moving appliances," the 54-year-old told AFP.

"They're very reliable, they're good quality, they never break and all that, but they're not very interesting to drive."

Mid-range foreign vehicles are a rare sight on Japanese streets, but it isn't hard to spot a Porsche zipping around the capital or a nouveau riche billionaire behind the wheel of a half-a-million dollar Lamborghini.

Sales of the Italian sportscar in Japan doubled to about 300 vehicles in 2015 from a year earlier.

The jump comes as US car giant Ford announced in January it was quitting the country, blaming the "closed" market, after it sold fewer than 5,000 cars in 2015.

Less than six percent of the more than five million vehicles sold last year in Japan -- the world's number three car market -- were made by foreign automakers.

US auto unions have blasted what they say are non-tariff barriers that shut the door on a sector already dominated by eight domestic carmakers, including Toyota, Nissan and Honda.

In 2013, former Ford boss Alan Mulally accused Tokyo of manipulating the yen's sharp decline to gain a trade advantage for domestic firms, which sell millions of vehicles overseas, including top markets China and the United States.

- 'No Chevrolets in Tokyo' -

The imbalance hasn't gone unnoticed by bombastic US Republican party frontrunner Donald Trump.

"When did we beat Japan at anything?" Trump said in a speech last summer to announce his run for the presidency.

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"They send their cars over by the millions, and what do we do? When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet in Tokyo? It doesn't exist, folks."

Trump is not far off -- Chevrolet and Cadillac maker General Motors sold a puny 1,600 vehicles in Japan last year.

But it's a different story for prestige foreign brands, whose success didn't come without a fight.

They had to "overcome stereotypes like Western cars break down easily or they're expensive to repair", said Miki Kurosu, communications director for BMW Japan, which sold about 46,000 vehicles last year, along with 21,000 Minis.

Japan's luxury car market has remained frothy despite a years-long downturn in the economy, while a stock market rally in recent years has also helped buoy sales.

Nissan considered selling its high-end Infiniti brand at home, as Honda did with Acura. But those plans were scrapped owing to foreign automakers' dominance in the market.

Meanwhile, rival Toyota has struggled to score big with its Lexus in Japan, although sales have been on an upswing lately.

"Lexus is a bit behind. They had great ambitions when they launched the brand (at home) in 2005, but have not achieved their goals," said Yoshiaki Kawano, an auto analyst at IHS Automotive.

German brands have slick marketing campaigns and a top-notch image in Japan, and rich drivers rarely switch brands so domestic automakers were late to the party.

"There is quite a bit of prestige attached to certainly the three main German brands," said Furudera.

Foreign brands tend to focus on the driving experience, rather than just passenger comfort, added the car enthusiast.

In Japanese cars, "(passengers) are probably enjoying it more than the drivers -- watching DVDs, getting a massage from their chairs -- but the driver is not enjoying it that much", Furudera said.

"In a German car, the driver gains the most -- that's kind of the big difference."

While he may consider buying a Lexus down the road, it's not likely to happen any time soon.

"I wouldn't say never, but for now I think BMW still has the edge in terms of driving experience."
Skopje (AFP) - Protesters ransacked the offices of Macedonia's presidency late Wednesday and set fire to the furniture, as thousands took to the capital's streets in a deepening political crisis.

Sporadic clashes broke out in Skopje as demonstrators pelted buildings with eggs and stones, with one group smashing all the windows at President Gjorge Ivanov's public offices before setting the furniture alight.

Twelve people were arrested and a journalist was injured in the clashes, police spokesman Toni Angelovski told AFP.

The demonstrators are demanding that Ivanov resign after his shock decision Tuesday to block legal proceedings against top politicians embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal.

The United States and European Union have both voiced serious concern over Ivanov's move, which is threatening Macedonia's aspirations to join the EU.

The Balkan country is also on the frontline of Europe's migrant crisis, and has been under the spotlight over its use of force to prevent desperate migrants from crossing the shuttered border with Greece.

- Anger on the streets -

Ivanov's move has deepened a crisis that began last year when the opposition SDSM party accused then premier Nikola Gruevski of wiretapping some 20,000 people, including politicians and journalists, and said the recordings revealed high-level corruption.

The government denied the accusations and in return filed charges against SDSM leader Zoran Zaev, accusing him of "spying" and attempting to "destabilise" the country of two million people.

Wednesday's clashes came as people poured onto the streets of Skopje for a second night running, with smashed glass from the windows of Ivanov's offices littering the ground and riot police turning out in force.

In front of the parliament, SDSM supporters tried to break through a police cordon towards rival supporters of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party, an AFP journalist said.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn urged calm, tweeting that he was calling "upon all political parties and responsible citizens to refrain from acts of violence".

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- 'Coup d'etat' -

In a televised address to the nation Tuesday, Ivanov said he was halting proceedings against politicians embroiled in the scandal "in order to put an end to this political crisis" ahead of elections planned for June.

Gruevski -- a political ally of the president -- was among those targeted in the probes, along with Zaev, former interior minister Gordana Jankulovska and ex-intelligence chief Sasho Mijalkov.

Gruevski stepped down as premier in January, paving the way for parliamentary elections -- but the opposition has announced plans to boycott the polls, saying it fears electoral fraud.

Although he may himself benefit from the dropping of the probe, Zaev denounced what he called a "coup d'etat" by the president.

Macedonia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2005 but accession talks have yet to open and the prolonged crisis will do nothing to improve its chances.

The EU voiced alarm over the dropping of the wiretap inquiry, saying it raised "serious concerns".

"We call on all sides to avoid interventions that risk undermining years of efforts within the country and with the support of the international community to strengthen the rule of law," a spokesperson for the bloc's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said.

The US ambassador to Skopje, Jess Baily, warned in a tweet that "a blanket pardon without due process protects corrupt politicians and their associates".

Ivanov's move appeared to take even his own VMRO-DPMNE by surprise, with the party expressing "huge disagreement" at the decision.

James Ker-Lindsay, a Balkans expert at the London School of Economics, said the EU needed "to very seriously consider whether Macedonia still merits the designation as a candidate for membership of the EU".

"Whether it was Gruevski's decision or Ivanov's decision that doesn't matter. It's all part and parcel of the ruling class which has become completely discredited and completely rotten," Ker-Lindsay told AFP.

The original wire-tapping scandal triggered protests in Skopje, eventually prompting the EU to step in and mediate.

Macedonia's political parties eventually agreed to solve the crisis by holding elections scheduled initially for April 24 but later postponed to June 5 over opposition and international concerns that they would not be free or fair.

Hahn tweeted on Tuesday: "I have serious doubts if credible elections are still possible."
By Greg Roumeliotis (Reuters) - Australia's Macquarie Group Ltd shed close to 15 percent of its U.S. investment banking workforce this month to replenish its ranks with star performers in North America, according to people familiar with the matter. The action comes as other international banks reconsider their U.S. investment banking strategy. Earlier this week, Japan's Nomura Holdings Inc <8604.T>, for example, laid off more than two-thirds of the bankers working at its leveraged buyouts group. Like Nomura, Macquarie has focused in the last few years on advising on and financing private equity deals, as a way to gain investment banking market share with corporate America. But most of the layoffs at Macquarie, which were announced internally earlier this month, targeted industry coverage rather than leveraged buyout bankers. The job cuts came as Macquarie merged several industry groups in its investment banking division, the people said on Wednesday. The industrials group was disbanded and some chemicals bankers joined the infrastructure team, the people said. The consumer group was merged with the gaming and leisure group, while the healthcare services information technology group was absorbed by the technology, media and telecommunications group, the people said. In total, Macquarie's U.S. investment banking division will continue to employ more than 200 staff, the people said, asking not to be identified because the layoffs have not been announced publicly. A Macquarie spokesman declined to comment. Macquarie is also looking to hire investment bankers with strong sector expertise who have carved out niches for themselves, the people said. An example would be David Berman, who joined Macquarie in 2011 covering gaming, lodging and leisure, the people added. Jorge Mora, who heads Macquarie's financial sponsor coverage, has also taken on origination, working with the industry groups to attract top bankers and deals, the people said. Macquarie made its debut as the top bookrunner of loans backing U.S. private equity buyouts in the league tables for the first quarter of 2016, as intense market volatility and regulation designed to curb risky lending weighed on traditional lenders. Many of Macquarie's competitors suffered from "hung" debt deals last year, which they struggled to syndicate. But the Australian bank made money on most of the deals it chose to underwrite, according to the sources. Because of its foreign funding base, Macquarie is also exempt from U.S. regulations introduced in 2013 to curb the issuance of junk-related loans Macquarie continues to turn down many deals and focuses primarily on the so-called U.S. middle-market, where transactions are smaller than $5 billion, the people said. For example, Macquarie last year refused to finance Dell Inc's $67 billion acquisition of EMC Corp because its participation in the debt package would have been relatively small, the people added. (Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Additional reporting by Liana B. Baker in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
By Lovasoa Rabary ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Madagascar's new prime minister pledged he would focus on fighting poverty and corruption as he took over on Wednesday from Jean Ravelonarivo, who left office amid confusion over his resignation. On Sunday, the president's office announced former interior minister, Solonandrasana Olivier Mahafaly, as the new premier - two days after it announced that Ravelonarivo had resigned only for him to deny he had done so. "Our priorities will be the fight against poverty," Mahafaly said at the handover ceremony at the prime minister's office in the capital Antananarivo. He said he would also concentrate his efforts on "the fight against corruption..., the fight against the looting of our natural resources". Madagascar has struggled to rebuild since a 2009 coup that scared off donors and foreign investors. Mahafaly did not say when the next government will be formed, saying that would be determined by the president, Hery Rajaonarimampianina. Donors resumed lending to Madagascar after successful elections in 2013 ended the political crisis and Rajaonarimampianina took office in January 2014. (Editing by Elias Biryabarema and Alison Williams)
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Myanmar on Wednesday, causing tremors around the region, including in neighbouring Bangladesh where scores were reported injured in stampedes and buildings were damaged.

The quake, which took place at a depth of 134 kilometres (83 miles), hit some 400 kilometres northwest of Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), and was also felt in parts of India and China.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, although the region where the earthquake hit has poor communications infrastructure like many of Myanmar's outlying provinces.

A lawmaker from the Sagaing region, some 100 kilometres from the epicentre, told AFP she felt rough tremors that lasted for several minutes.

"There may be some destruction and damage. But it's difficult to know the (extent) of destruction at nighttime," Cho Cho Win said, adding that the town does not have many high-rise buildings.

Tin Nyo, 67, from another township in Sagaing, said the earthquake was the strongest she had ever felt.

"Although it happened over a short period, it was really rough," she said.

Some in Yangon -- Myanmar's former capital and biggest city -- who also reported feeling tremors fled their multi-story apartment buildings in fear.

The quake was also strongly felt across Bangladesh, which shares a border with Myanmar.

More than 80 people in the country were injured, mostly in stampedes as panicked residents fled their homes and offices, Channel 24 reported.

In the port city of Chittagong, some 200 kilometres from the Myanmar border, at least four buildings stood on a slant following the quake.

"Around 50 people were injured in the Chittagong city, including 24 who were admitted to hospital with minor injuries. They were mostly injured in stampedes," the city's police constable Imran Hossain told AFP.

Traffic ground to a halt in parts of the capital Dhaka as tens of thousands of alarmed residents rushed into the streets.

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- 'Let's get out!' -

In neighbouring India, tremors were felt in the northeastern cities of Kolkata, Shillong, Guwahati and Patnam.

In Kolkata, one of India's largest cities, startled residents ran from their houses after the trembling.

"I was inside, working and then suddenly I felt the ground shaking," local resident Chiranjeet Ghosh told television news channels.

"People started yelling 'Something is happening, let's get out!' and we immediately rushed out."

"I came out and saw that everyone else around here had already evacuated their homes and poured onto the streets."

Residents in Kolkata reported seeing cracks appearing in buildings following the quake, and the city's metro was suspended for a few minutes.

Strong tremors were also felt in Tibet, with some residents of Lhasa out on the streets, Chinese official news agency Xinhua said.

Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, where six strong quakes of 7.0 magnitude or more struck between 1930 and 1956 near the Sagaing Fault, which runs north to south through the centre of the country, according to the USGS.

Myanmar has not seen a major quake since November 2012, when a powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck the centre of the country, killing 26 people and injuring hundreds.

The impoverished Southeast Asian nation, which is emerging from decades of military rule, has a strained medical system, especially in its rural states.

The breakneck pace of development in Myanmar's cities, combined with crumbling infrastructure and poor urban planning, has also made the country's most populous areas vulnerable to earthquakes and other disasters, experts say.

In 2015, severe flooding swept across swaths of Myanmar, including the region where Wednesday's earthquake hit, leaving more than 100 people dead and affecting thousands as rescuers struggled to reach isolated regions.
Islamabad: Pakistan's army chief on Tuesday accused long time regional rival India of seeking to undermine his country's $46 billion project to build an economic corridor to transport goods from China's western regions through the Pakistani deepwater port of Gwadar.

Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, speaking at a development conference on the impact of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said the significance of a Pakistan-China economic alliance had "raised eyebrows" in the region.

"In this context, I must highlight that India, our immediate neighbour, has openly challenged this development initiative," Sharif told the conference in Gwadar.

"I would like to make a special reference to Indian intelligence agency RAW that is blatantly involved in destabilising Pakistan. Let me make it clear that we will not allow anyone to create impediments and turbulence in any part of Pakistan. Therefore, it is important for all to leave behind confrontation and focus on cooperation."

Indian officials could not be reached for comment late on Tuesday night.

RAW is India's Research and Analysis Wing, its main external intelligence agency.

Last month, Pakistan said it had detained a suspected Indian spy for RAW in Baluchistan, the southwestern Pakistani province where most of the CPEC is taking shape.

India has confirmed that the man is a former Indian navy official but denied that he is a spy.

Majority Hindu India and mostly Muslim Pakistan, once part of a vast British colonial holding, have fought three wars since they were partitioned upon independence in 1947, leading to a violent separation that has fed decades of mutual suspicion.

Pakistan believes India is supporting a separatist insurgency in resource-rich Baluchistan. It also accuses India of fuelling strife in the city of Karachi. India denies any such meddling.

India has long accused Pakistan of backing militants fighting Indian security forces in its part of the divided Kashmir region, of helping militants launch attacks elsewhere in India and backing the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Pakistan says it only offers diplomatic support to the Muslim people of Kashmir living under what Pakistan says is heavy-handed Indian rule. It denies backing militant attacks in India.
This is a story about going from Exeter to selling gray-market diesel made from plastic garbage and waste oil on border towns in West Africa.

You see, growing up in a seriously dysfunctional family, I had a good nose for failure and collapse. I first smelled it in the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan. I remember the postelection was like a requiem. I was at Exeter at the time, and Exeter was a strangely brutal but highly functional place. But by the time I got to Stanford, there was no denying collapse. No ideas, no guts, no passion  just smiley faces looking for careers and all that monument building. So upon graduation, I joined the Navy SEALS training program but washed out. I was not tough enough and, given I spoke Spanish, they would likely send me to Central America. I had already spent eight years in Central America, including four during the height of the Nicaraguan civil war (to this day, I hate the sound of firecrackers). Even if I was tough enough, I didnt need to kill Indios for Uncle Sam.

To redeem myself, I got into the Yale Ph.D. program in cultural anthropology. I decided to do my field work in Nigeria. I had lived there as a child and I was fascinated by the Yoruba religion  especially the god of war, Ogun. I landed there and went to a hotel I had gone to as a child to learn swimming. There were 10 hustlers for every guest. Prostitutes tried to chase me into my room so they could stage fake-rape shakedowns. Luckily, I run fast. I was literally sprinting with my key in my hand.

My field work went well. I was initiated into a secret society and taught cult secrets. I loved the diviners. One basically wrote an entire chapter of my dissertation. Their stories were sometimes staggeringly beautiful. But the wear and tear was ferocious. I lost 20 pounds in two or three months every time I went. No lights, no running water. I lived on powdered milk and bananas for days a time. I had malaria frequently, amoebic dysentery constantly and nearly died from one case of bacillary dysentery (it killed far more of Napoleons soldiers than winter, bullets or cannon fire).

While armed robbers were always a threat, my biggest fear was the police. They considered executing and robbing me at least three times that I know of. Five hundred dollars was more than enough to get you killed. So Nigeria burns neurosis out of you and you have zero stomach for bullshit. If it is not a rusty Kalashnikov pointed at your head, you kind of dont give a shit. Even with a gun to your head, you check to see if the holder has the balls to use it.

2010 01 05 04.16.00

Purified water

Source: Courtesy Jessica Teal

But I had received no grant money and had to sell museum-grade African textiles around the world to make ends meet. I kept the best pieces for myself. I reveled in their beauty; they represented something that only I could do. No other art dealer had the guts to go where I went. They relied on runners. They never built the relationships that got you the truly great stuff. Through it all, somehow, I graduated from Yale and as a consequence decided to go back to Africa. But I wanted to go back a man, not a student. I wanted to help my crew. I promised them almost 20 years ago I would change their lives if they changed mine. They helped me through malaria, death threats, police shakedowns.

I went back with a purified-water business. It was not clever, but I wanted to sell good reverse-osmosis water to poor people. Bottled water is, like, $2 a liter in Africa. I wanted to sell it through vending machines for 10 cents a liter. No PET bottle pollution, just clean water. The machines broke all the time and my once lively crew were now old men. The superhuman effort that was their hallmark in the 90s was gone.

I needed an idea easy enough for my fading crew to handle. I also wanted to do something that mattered. My dying mother wants me to be a success. She only loves me when I achieve, so I decided we could collect plastic and waste-engine oil and make it into diesel. I got the idea from an overpriced Japanese machine that did very much the same thing.

We paid people to pick up plastic garbage, and we paid fishermen to catch it. We could clean up all those disgusting beaches and help school kids pay their fees and finally I could help old people eat. I put all my money into making portable pyrolysis machines. Even now, I virtually live at the factory. I dont trust anyone to give a shit enough (they dont). We are failing but also improving more than we are failing. The machine is coming together, and people seem to like the idea. This week, we had two major breakthroughs and, on top of that, Im heading off to Abu Dhabi in the hunt for cash, for the factory and for trucks. Weve got one already, to haul the fuel from the factory.

So pyrolysis will make the trucking super profitable and, barring getting beaten half to death or, God forbid, all to death by people I suspect of being oil-company fronts, Ill be making fuel for these trucks and avoiding nettlesome government regs while keeping the beaches clean and my people employed. You know, if you have balls and brains, your life should matter at some point.

Its good to be alive.

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Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - Malawi and Mozambique sounded alarm bells on Wednesday over worsening food shortages caused by severe drought as concerns grow over a hunger crisis spreading across much of southern Africa.

Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Zambia are also suffering food supply problems, while South Africa has said the recent drought was its worst in more than 100 years.

"I declare Malawi (in) a state of national disaster following prolonged dry spells during the 2015/16 agriculture season," President Peter Mutharika said in a statement.

"The projected drop in maize harvest is estimated at 12 percent from last year's output.

"More people will be food insecure and will require humanitarian relief assistance for the whole of the 2016/17 consumption year."

Neighbouring Mozambique issued a "red alert" because of drought conditions in the country's central and south regions affecting 1.5 million people.

The government released $9.5 million of emergency aid after 90 percent of crops were destroyed in some areas and thousands of cattle died from lack of water.

The World Food Programme said it was currently assisting nearly three million people in Malawi, with about 23 of 28 districts badly affected.

"The current drought situation in Malawi came on the back of a bad crop last year, due to flooding which affected parts of the country," WFP's southern Africa spokesman David Orr told AFP.

"The situation is quite dire and we believe the worst is still to come. It will take a long time before the situations improves. Any improvement in the next months would be negligible."

- Limited response -

In February, the WFP warned that Malawi was facing its worst food insecurity for a decade. The country has recently suffered flash floods in the north as well as drought.

The United Nations and aid groups in Mozambique have released a total of $15 million since the beginning of the crisis, Michel Le Pechoux of the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) which coordinates relief efforts, told AFP.

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"But the response is still very limited compared to the actual needs, which amount to about $200 million," he said, adding that central Mozambique was the worst-hit area.

Renewed conflict between government troops and the armed wing of main opposition party Renamo since January has also made delivery of aid difficult due to attacks on roads.

"Some drought-stricken districts are located in areas of military tensions and are almost inaccessible," Le Pechoux said.

In Zimbabwe, 2.8 million people -- more than a quarter of the rural population -- do not have enough to eat.

The WFP, which is providing assistance for about 730,000 Zimbabweans, has reported that casual agricultural labourers have no work and many children are missing school because of hunger.

Southern Africa endured a poor harvest last year combined with a strong El Nino weather phenomenon, which resulted in reduced rains across the region.

South Africa, which in the past has exported food to its regional neighbours, is to import maize after last year was the driest year in the country since records began in 1904.
(Reuters) - A Liberian national, living near Philadelphia since the late 1990s, has been charged with gaining U.S. asylum by lying about his role as the rebel commander "Jungle Jabbah" who allegedly committed civil war atrocities including murder and conscripting child soldiers, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

Mohammed Jabbateh, 49, who lives in East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, was indicted on two counts of fraud in immigration documents and two counts of perjury.

U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said in a press statement that Jabbateh had concealed his identity as an officer of the United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia,

"This defendant allegedly committed unspeakable crimes in his home country, brutalizing numerous innocent victims," Memeger said.

He said Jabbateh had failed to disclose his Liberian crimes when he applied for U.S. asylum in December 1998 and when he was interviewed by an immigration asylum officer in January 1999.

An attorney for Jabbateh, Greg Pagano of Philadelphia, did not respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors did not say how they learned of Jabbateh's alleged true identity.

Jabbateh has been accused of committing or ordering troops to commit murder and torture, public rape, enslave civilian noncombatants, and other crimes motivated by race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin or political opinion, Memeger said.

Jabbateh appeared in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on Wednesday, said Memeger spokeswoman Patricia Hartman.

"The United States has always welcomed refugees and those fleeing oppression, but we will not be a safe haven for alleged human rights violators and war criminals," Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Jack Staton, Homeland Security Investigations, said in the statement.

If convicted, Jabbateh faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, a fine, a $400 special assessment, and a period of supervised release. He does not face the possibility of being deported as a result of this criminal prosecution, Memeger said.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Scott Malone)
By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - Even though primary care doctors know its good for older patients to consider life expectancy in making treatment decisions, many physicians still avoid this discussion, a small study suggests. When researchers talked about life expectancy with 28 primary care providers, the clinicians described several barriers that keep them from talking about long-term prognosis with their patients including time constraints as well as a lack of confidence in tools commonly used to predict how many years patients have left. Discussing life expectancy can be difficult or uncomfortable, said lead study author Dr. Nancy Schoenborn, a geriatric health researcher at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Older adults of similar age can have very different life expectancies that influence whether they might live long enough to benefit from treating illnesses or taking medicine to prevent disease, Schoenborn and colleagues note in JAMA Internal Medicine. Almost half of elderly people dont have an accurate sense of how much longer theyre likely to live previous research has found. This may lead some of them to make poorly informed medical decisions (see Reuters Health article of October 20. 2015, here: http://reut.rs/23EKnhk). An accurate sense of life expectancy might, however, lead a cancer patient to skip toxic chemotherapy if theyre not likely to live long enough to benefit from it, or it might encourage someone with diabetes to make lifestyle changes that could improve the last few decades of life. Many decisions in primary care require a complex balancing of the potential benefits and potential harms of the decision, Schoenborn added by email. Since life expectancy may change that balance, it is one piece of information that can be considered to help tailor medical decisions to each individual patient. To get a sense of how primary care providers think about incorporating life expectancy into medical decisions, Schoenborn and colleagues interviewed 26 physicians and two nurse practitioners in a large group practice with multiple sites in rural, suburban and urban settings. Twenty of these practitioners said at least 25 percent of their patients were older adults. These primary care practitioners reported considering life expectancy, often in the range of five to 10 years, in several clinical scenarios in their care of older patients, but said that they balanced prognosis against various other factors in decision making. In particular, they were more reluctant to stop preventive care in younger patients with a limited life expectancy, even when these interventions could take many more years to prove beneficial than patients would likely be alive. They did, however, tend to think more about long-term prognosis in planning preventive care for things like cancer screening or diabetes management. By the time patients reached their 80s and 90s, however, the clinicians said they tended to focus more consistently on addressing advanced directives and goals of care with patients who had a poor long-term prognosis. The study is small, and its possible that the views of clinicians in the practice studied might not mirror what happens in other primary care settings. To the extent clinicians fail to discuss life expectancy due to a lack of confidence in being able to predict long-term prognosis, there are many calculators available online that can help, noted Dr. Alexander Smith of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), co-author of an editorial accompanying the study. One such calculator is ePrognosis (http://bit.ly/1S6OfAf) from UCSF. There are two problems with not accounting for prognosis, Smith said by email. Some older adults with a long prognosis are likely to benefit from tests and treatments that take years to take effect, and if the clinician relies solely on age-based cutoffs these older adults might miss out on beneficial treatments, Smith said. On the other hand, those with a short prognosis who receive tests and treatments (for conditions) that take a long time to develop experience the risks and harms of these treatments up front, with very little chance of benefit down the road, Smith added. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1Q6XAGc JAMA Internal Medicine, online April 11, 2016.
Sharif left for the UK for purported medical check-up amid chaotic political scenes by the opposition demanding his resignation after his daughter and two sons were mentioned in the Panama Papers. (Photo: AFP)

Islamabad: The Pakistan government on Wednesday denied that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's sudden departure for London was an effort to seek support from former president Asif Ali Zardari against a possible backlash over the names of the premier's children figuring in the leaked 'Panama Papers'.

Sharif left for the UK for purported medical check-up amid chaotic political scenes by the opposition demanding his resignation after his daughter and two sons were mentioned in the Panama Papers as having secret offshore companies.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf leader Imran Khan is consulting other parties for a joint possible protest outside Sharif's residence in suburbs of Lahore and Zardari's PPP joining the agitation that may make things difficult for the government.

Senior Pakistan People's Party leader Aitizaz Ahsan said on Tuesday that Sharif was going to seek support of Zardari who has been living in London for past several months.

Interior minister Nisar Ali Khan rejected the impression that Sharif was in tight corner and needed Zardari's support.

"For the last three weeks, his (Sharif) health has deteriorated for which the prime minister had to travel," he said at a press conference in Islamabad.

"In this country some people cannot even get ill as rumour-mongers keep on politicising the issue," he said.

Earlier, Sharif departed for London for what the government said was a "routine medical checkup, which was repeatedly postponed due to his official engagements over the past few months".

Sharif has been under pressure ever since a massive leak of over 11 million tax documents on April 3 exposed the secret offshore dealings of world leaders and celebrities, include Sharif's three children.

He had later addressed the nation and also promised to set up a commission to probe any wrongdoing. However, the formation of the commission was delayed as the opposition rejected it.
Eliza dress, $64.

Alexa Chungs new fashion collection for Marks & Spencer has finally been unveiled.

Launching Wednesday, Archive by Alexa is a 31-piece womenswear collection that breathes new life into archive pieces from the British retail chains history, modernized for 2016.

The range covers fashion items with a nod to the 1940s through to modern-day styles, comprising classics such as a Frances trench coat taken from an original 1950s gabardine trench, and a vivid paisley print Eliza dress, which is in fact a remastered apron from the 50s. New fabrications and updated color palettes ensure that the line blends the contemporary with a heritage sensibility.

Yes and No trainers, $70.



I have always had an affection for Marks & Spencer, said Chung, a style icon in her native U.K. There was something very touching about looking back through the British fashion and social history for which M&S is synonymous.

Additional key pieces from Archive by Alexa include a floral Misty Dress, ruffled tops, silky slips and an on-point pleated Effie midi skirt. There are also four footwear options, including a flat ballet pump, a chunky ankle boot, a strappy sandal and a crisp white sneaker. Prices range from 19.50 ($27.72) to 89 ($126.52).

The collection is accompanied by a campaign styled and modeled by Chung herself and shot by photographer Tom Craig, sees Alexa herself taking creative ownership of the mood and direction.

Misty dress, $64.

The project is the first in the new M&S & series, described by the brand as a sequence of unique, exclusive collections in collaboration with some of todays most exciting designers, brands & fashion icons.

Archive By Alexa collection is available in 66 selected stores, internationally and online at www.marksandspencer.com.
An American study has linked marriage to higher survival rates in cancer patients. Contrary to popular belief, a couple's socio-economic status and financial resources were found to have little impact on recovery. However, care, understanding, and physical and emotional support are thought to play a key role in boosting survival rates.

Having someone at their side while battling the disease can improve the chances of survival for cancer patients, a study from the Cancer Prevention Institute of California has found. In fact, having someone there to provide care and support can help cancer patients combat the disease.

While this may seem like a foregone conclusion to some, the findings, published in the journal Cancer, could be worrying for single cancer patients living alone. Death rates were found to be 27% higher among unmarried men and 19% higher among unmarried women.

Dr Scarlett Lin Gomez and her team studied 800,000 people diagnosed with cancer between 2000 and 2009. They found that financial resources had little impact on patients' survival. However, having someone to take them to medical appointments, to cook healthy meals, to remind them to take medication, and to offer long-term love and support improved patients' health and helped take some of the stress out of the situation.

As a result of their findings, the scientists underline just how important it is for patients living alone to call on friends or family to help them through their cancer treatment. No one is suggesting they find a husband or wife for the occasion, but bolstering social connections and supportive relationships -- with family, for example -- can be beneficial both for practical assistance and emotional care and support.

The researchers also point out that long-term married life has been found to improve health and quality of life in general. Life expectancy for seniors growing old in a couple is higher than for those living alone.
Marseille (AFP) - The owner of struggling French giants Marseille, Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, has put the Ligue 1 club up for sale, she announced in a letter addressed to fans on Wednesday.

"I understand the frustration of not seeing OM being able to be competitive at this level and I'm informing you that I took the decision to give up the club to the best investor possible for the long term," Louis-Dreyfus said in the letter seen by BFM TV.

"The moment a buyer is chosen, I will inform the mayor and the supporters about it," she said, having owned the club along with her late husband Robert since 1996.

"The price isn't my primary concern. However, the ability of the new shareholder to build a team that wins at the highest level is essential. I've asked my team of advisers to take care of it."

Russian-born businesswoman Louis-Dreyfus, who inherited the club after the death of her husband Robert in 2009, said her decision was mainly due to the "atmosphere that surrounds OM" after a disastrous season.

The 10-time French champions have struggled desperately this term and are in 14th place, just six points above the relegation zone, with five games remaining.

Marseille supporters have been calling for the departure of both Louis-Dreyfus and club president Vincent Labrune in recent days, with OM winless in nine matches and on a club record run of 14 home league games without a win since they beat Bastia 4-1 in September.

The crisis at Marseille has grown deeper and deeper amidst their interminable plight, leading to mockery from their own fans, who have turned on the team as well as the club's owner.

Marseille's 0-0 draw at home to Bordeaux on Sunday was played out to fan protests at the team's struggles that featured banners depicting goats and the Benny Hill theme tune being played from the stands.

Supporters also continued their theme of fury at the perceived apathy of Louis-Dreyfus, with one banner at the Stade Velodrome reading: "Margarita rich incompetent heiress get lost!"
Just over a year ago, the first season of Daredevil was released on Netflix to widespread acclaim from fans and critics alike. It was the first show in a partnership between Marvel and Netflix that would see four lesser-known heroes star in their own series, culminating in an event miniseries called The Defenders.

We're still awaiting the first seasons of two of those shows, but on Monday, Daredevil's own Charlie Cox confirmed that The Defenders would shoot in 2016.

DON'T MISS: Reactions to early screenings of Captain America: Civil War are overwhelmingly positive

This might come as a bit of a surprise to anyone who has been keeping up with Marvel's Netflix series. After all, Only two seasons of Daredevil and one season of Jessica Jones have been released so far, with Luke Cage coming on September 30th and Iron Fist likely slated for sometime next year.

According to The Independent, when asked about a third season of Daredevil at a Netflix event in Paris, star Charlie Cox admitted that he didn't know if there was going to be any more standalone Daredevil.

But he was prepared to make an exciting announcement about The Defenders:

"What we do know is at the end of this year were going to be making The Defenders and, of course, Daredevil is very much a part of that foursome. I have no idea what the storyline is going to be for that show. Im very excited to see how those worlds combine and interested to see tonally how those shows become one.

Cox also mentioned that the story threads that hadn't been wrapped up in Daredevil season 2 might be part of The Defenders if a third season doesn't pan out.

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Oscar-nominee Benedict Cumberbatch goes from surgeon to sorcerer in the first teaser trailer for "Doctor Strange", a new sci-fi adventure from Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel Studios. Cumberbatch plays neurosurgeon Stephen Strange, who "suffers career-ending injuries in a devastating car crash, he seeks help in the furthest reaches of the world. Hoping to find cures for his injuries, Strange instead uncovers the hidden world of magic and alternate dimensions", according to the film's official synopsis. The trailer also shows characters played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton, Mads Mikkelsen and Rachel McAdams. "Doctor Strange" opens in cinemas in November 2016.
By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A prominent media advocacy group on Wednesday called on Turkish authorities to protect journalists after a Syrian reporter was gunned down in broad daylight by Islamic State militants in southeastern Turkey - the fourth such in six months. Zaher al-Shurqat, an online broadcaster for Aleppo Today who regularly traveled to Syria to report from the front-line in the fight against Islamic State, was shot in the neck on Sunday by a masked attacker in Gaziantep near the Syria border. He died in hospital two days later, Turkey's Dogan News agency reported. Islamic State's Amaq news agency, in a statement from the group claiming responsibility for Shurqat's killing, said his journalistic work had been "antagonistic" to Islamic State. "Turkish authorities must urgently demonstrate that killing journalists on the streets of Turkey is unacceptable and will not go unpunished," Nina Ognianova, a senior representative of the U.S.-based Committee To Protect Journalists, said in a statement. NATO member Turkey has increasingly become a target for Islamic State which is blamed to have carried out two of the four suicide bombings this year, targeting capital Ankara and biggest Turkish city Istanbul. Gaziantep, where Shurqat was based, is a hub for Syrian activists and journalists documenting the war. It is also home to one of the largest Syrian refugee populations in Turkey, and lies just across the frontier from the IS-controlled Syrian town of Jarablus. Police frequently target Islamic State networks in the city. Shurqat's killing comes three months after Naji Jerf, a Syrian activist and documentary maker who made a film about Islamic State, was gunned down on the street in Gaziantep. Previous to that, two Syrian activists who worked for Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, a campaign group against Islamic State, were shot in the head and beheaded in the nearby city of Sanliurfa. Jerf and the two activists had appealed to the Turkish police after they received death threats, their friends and fellow activists in Istanbul and Gaziantep told Reuters earlier this year. The Islamic State statement said: "A group of militants belonging to Islamic State shot down yesterday the media personality Zaher al-Shurqat, who had been presenting a show antagonistic to IS." "We call on security officials to hunt down Zaher al-Shurqat's killers, bring them to justice, and ensure journalists can work safely throughout the country," CPJ's Ognianova said. A member of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, Turkey has been accused by its Western partners of lax border controls that have let foreign fighters cross into Syria to join the Sunni hardline group. Ankara denies any negligence. (Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy in Cairo; Editing by David Dolan and Richard Balmforth)
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Fox News personality Megyn Kelly met with Donald Trump in his New York office on Wednesday.

"The meeting was at my request and Mr. Trump was gracious enough to agree to it," Kelly said on her show, The Kelly File, Wednesday night about her face-to-face with the GOP candidate at his Trump Tower building.

But the details stopped there. "Mr. Trump and I discussed the possibility of an interview and I hope we will have news to announce on that soon," she said. Kelly then added: "Yes, the doormen appeared a bit stunned when I walked in, and they, too, were incredibly gracious."

Earlier today, Fox news released the following statement: "Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes has spoken to Donald Trump a few times over the past three months about appearing on a Fox Broadcasting special with Megyn Kelly airing on May 23. Kelly requested a meeting with Mr. Trump, which took place at Trump Tower this morning. The results of that meeting will be revealed on tonight's Kelly File at 9 p.m. Eastern. Kelly has acknowledged in recent interviews that Trump is a fascinating person to cover and has electrified the Republican base."

Previously, there had been a lot of tension between the two.

Trump, the GOP presidential frontrunner, has publicly bombarded Kelly with disparaging remarks since the first Fox News debate of the primary season when Kelly, with her first question to the billionaire businessman, called him out on previous sexist statements.

Since that time, Trump has repeatedly said Kelly is biased against him and even attempted to get her kicked off the second network GOP debate. That tactic did not work, so Trump skipped the event to host his own fundraiser for wounded veterans.

Kelly has never directly fired back at Trump, but has talked about the toll the situation has taken on her in other personal interviews.

There have been some nicer moments between the two, such as when Trump was cordial during the third Fox News debate, but those instances have been few and far between.

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As of late, Trump has called Kelly "crazy" on numerous occasions and questioned her professionalism because, in his opinion, she uses her show, The Kelly File, to do "hit pieces" on him.

A request for comment from the Trump campaign was not immediately returned.

Read More: Megyn Kelly Responds to Donald Trump's Tweet Comparing His Wife to Heidi Cruz

6:22 p.m. PT: Updated with quotes from Kelly File
By Alex Whiting LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Mental illnesses are the world's leading cause of disability affecting millions and, even during a humanitarian crisis, treating them is not an optional luxury, experts said before a World Bank/World Health Organization meeting on the issue in Washington this week. The number of people affected by humanitarian crises has nearly doubled in the past decade, and the number of people forced to flee their homes - more than 60 million - is at its highest since World War Two. The WHO estimates the prevalence of common mental disorders, including anxiety and depression, can double during a humanitarian crisis to up to 20 percent of the population from 10 percent in normal times. "The number of people affected by humanitarian crises is increasing globally, which also increases mental health needs," Inka Weissbecker, global mental health and psychosocial adviser at aid agency International Medical Corps, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview. She is on one of the panels organized by the World Bank and WHO around the high-level meeting. Some countries affected by war - like Sierra Leone and South Sudan - have only one or two psychiatrists to treat the entire population, she said. Until recently, donors for South Sudan considered mental health care a luxury in a country with one of the world's highest maternal death rates, Weissbecker said. "The problem with mental health is it's often invisible because it's not measured, so people such as donors or local governments may not think about it, or think it's important," she added. Stigma and lack of knowledge are big barriers in all countries, with many people unaware that mental illnesses are treatable, Weissbecker said. Mark van Ommeren, public mental health adviser at WHO, said: "We have a lot of data showing that mental health is a much bigger problem, a much bigger part of life, than people previously realized  it's one of the elephants in the room." Wars and natural disasters can open a window for a fresh focus on mental health care, which in turn can be vital to improving a country's economy and overall development, he said. A WHO-led study published on Tuesday said that every $1 invested in scaling up treatment for depression and anxiety led to a return of $4 in better health and ability to work. The study estimates for the first time both the health and the economic benefits of investing in treatment, and is based on studies of 36 low, middle and high-income countries. Many countries, including Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, have transformed their mental health care as a result of an emergency. Before the 2004 South Asian tsunami hit Sri Lanka, most of the island nation's mental health care was offered by hospitals in big cities, and the majority of people needing treatment did not receive it, according to a paper van Ommeren co-authored. After the tsunami, the government realized more widespread care was needed to help the acute distress of survivors. It introduced community-based and comprehensive care, and set up a one-year diploma course to train more carers in mental health. Afghanistan too has prioritized mental health since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, and it aims to roll out access to some form of care in all primary health clinics across the country. Other countries that have improved their mental health care include Burundi, Indonesia's Aceh province, Iraq, Jordan, Kosovo, East Timor, Lebanon and now Syria. "The interest in mental health in and after an emergency is enormous. "It's not surprising to see that the countries who have made the greatest progress in mental health system development are those that have been through emergencies," van Ommeren said. Although aid agencies are offering much more mental health care in emergencies than just a few years ago, the gap between what is in place and what is needed remains huge, he said. "We are able to do very good things for people that are helped - but most people are not helped," he said. (Reporting by Alex Whiting, editing by Tim Pearce.; 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)
Mexico City (AFP) - It featured drama and tension fit for a telenovela: A bouffant-haired, billionaire-turned-politician clashing with a famous TV journalist intent on getting answers.

The jaw-dropping scene played out on live television in August, when White House hopeful Donald Trump threw famous Mexican-American reporter Jorge Ramos out of a news conference.

The anchor for Univision, a US Spanish-language channel, was trying insistently to ask a question about immigration when Trump shot back that the journalist had not been called on.

"Go back to Univision," Trump barked and a security guard escorted Ramos out.

The fracas erupted just two months after the real estate tycoon entered the race for the Republican nomination with harsh words about Mexican immigrants, calling them rapists and vowing to make Mexico pay for a massive border wall.

"We were tremendously wrong to not have confronted him from the beginning," Ramos, 58, told AFP in an interview in Mexico City on Monday.

"Many governments and many media simply did not react to the danger of someone who was attacking migrants, Muslims and women," he said, referring to other controversial comments made by the Republican frontrunner.

Ramos lamented that the "danger" came from Trump's ability to capitalize on anti-establishment anger in the United States while "allowing racist and discriminatory sentiments, which many thought no longer existed, to surface."

"There's a real demographic revolution in the United States, a revolution in which whites will become minorities in 30 years," Ramos said, referring to the ever-growing Hispanic community, standing now at 17 percent of the US population.

"So I think that there's resistance among many Americans against seeing their country, accents and colors change."

- An immigrant himself -

Ramos, who lives in Miami, considers himself an immigrant even though he has acquired US citizenship.

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He crossed the border more than 30 years ago after, according to him, Mexico's powerful Televisa network censured his first report.

Ramos, silver-haired and blue-eyed, became a renowned journalist at Univision, which caters to the estimated 55 million Latinos who live in the United States.

He has anchored the channel's nightly news program since 1986, attracting 2.5 million viewers.

He also hosts a Sunday talk show, writes a weekly column and, since 2013, leads "America with Jorge Ramos" on Fusion, an English-language channel.

Last year, Time magazine named him on its list of the world's 100 most influential people. Ramos used his acceptance speech to call for the resignation of President Enrique Pena Nieto, but his battles with Trump have garnered more headlines.

Horrified at the prospect of Trump becoming president, Ramos believes in journalism that "takes sides."

- Ready to quiz Trump -

Trump said earlier this year that he was willing to accept an interview with the "anchor (not) baby" -- a play on words with the phrase "anchor baby," which backers of tougher immigration laws use to refer to children born on US soil to illegal migrants.

But Ramos said Trump has not replied to his interview requests.

"I am ready whenever he's ready to speak, but I think that he knows that it will be a tough, confrontational interview, and he doesn't want that right now," Ramos said, smiling.

Ramos warned that "nobody, absolutely nobody can get to the White House without Latinos (who vote)."

But the star journalist, who is promoting his 12th book, "Sin Miedo" (Without Fear), downplayed his influence among Hispanics.

"I don't have the power to change a president, I don't have the power to give anybody a visa. Our power, as journalists, is to ask questions and question those who have power," said Ramos, whose new book features interviews with powerful politicians and "rebellious" people.

"A journalist's place is as a counterweight," he said.

While Ramos said that journalists cannot have any political affiliation, he appears somewhat uneasy when asked about his daughter's work for the campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton.

When he interviewed Clinton or moderated a Democratic debate, Ramos reminded viewers about his daughter's job in order to show there was "no conflict of interest."
Mexico City (AFP) - The approval rating of President Enrique Pena Nieto has sunk to 30 percent, a "historic low" for a Mexican head of state, according to a poll published on Wednesday.

The survey published by Reforma newspaper showed that Pena Nieto's popularity fell by nine percentage points since the last poll conducted in December.

"This level represents a historic low, not only for his administration, but also in comparison to the three leaders who preceded him," Reforma said.

The approval rating for then president Ernesto Zedillo, who led the country from 1994 to 2000, had dropped to 31 percent during the 1995 economic crisis.

A majority of Mexicans have negative opinions on Pena Nieto's handling of the economy, the fight against corruption and the battle against drug trafficking, according to the poll.

The survey was conducted in person among 1,200 people between April 7-10. It has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.

Pena Nieto's approval ratings began to plummet following the disappearance and presumed massacre of 43 students in September 2014, a case that sparked protests and outrage over his government's handling of the investigation.

The escape of Sinaloa drug cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in July 2015 also hurt his image, and the poll indicates that the most wanted criminal's recapture in January did not improve Pena Nieto's popularity.

The president took office in December 2012 and his single, six-year term ends in December 2018.
Mexico City (AFP) - Mexico's government on Wednesday announced plans to provide $4.2 billion in liquidity to struggling state-run energy firm Pemex, which has posted huge losses amid crumbling production and oil prices.

The finance ministry said Pemex will receive a capital injection of $1.5 billion this week as well as a credit facility of $2.7 billion to cover pension costs for this year.

The ministry said the aid, which seeks to "strengthen" the company's finances, was conditioned on Pemex reducing its debts and liabilities by the same amount, $4.2 billion.

"This is a sort of rescue for Pemex at a very difficult time due to the drop in oil prices," David Shields, director of the industry magazine Energia a Debate, told AFP.

"It's good that the government has acted to remedy a sever liquidity problem."

But he added that it was "unfair that public resources are being used to subsidize a group of workers with labor privileges."

The announcement follows the company's decision in February to cut $5.5 billion from its budget, in large part by delaying costly projects.

The ministry noted that Pemex, which provides one-fifth of the government's revenue, has been "historically" fundamental to Mexico's economy and public finances.

"However, the unfavorable economic conditions that the hydrocarbon sector is going through at the international level and the depletion of various (oil) fields have weakened Pemex's financial situation," it said in a statement.

- 'Generous' pensions -

The company has been hurt by a big drop in global crude prices and dwindling production, which has fallen steadily from a peak of 3.4 million barrels per day in 2004 to 2.27 million in 2015.

Pemex's losses doubled in 2015 to $30.3 billion, though the company blamed much of it on higher taxes.

Pemex has also discovered in recent years thousands of illegal taps made by criminal organizations to steal fuel from its pipelines, costing the company $2 billion per year.

Story continues

To cope with falling crude prices, the firm cut its budget last year by 11.5 percent and slashed 11,000 jobs by not filling posts vacated by retirees despite the powerful union's resistance to workforce reductions.

No job cuts have been announced this year.

Shields said Pemex is paying "generous" pensions for people who retired in the past 20 years, with some getting as much as $10,300 per month.

The firm's deepening troubles coincide with the end of its seven-decade monopoly over the energy sector.

President Enrique Pena Nieto enacted a reform in 2014 that opened the industry to foreign investors for the first time since 1938.

But the government believes that the reform can help Pemex by allowing the company to partner up with other firms in projects that would otherwise be too expensive.

Pena Nieto named a new Pemex director earlier this year with the mission of turning things around: Jose Antonio Gonzalez Anaya, a former deputy finance minister and head of the social security system.
When Gov. Bruce Rauner stood in front of the General Assembly on Jan. 27 to deliver his State of the State address, it marked nearly seven months since Illinois had a budget.



The fiscal year began July 1, but the Republican governor and the states Democratic lawmakers have remained deadlocked. Mr. Rauner, elected in 2014 as a reformer by voters fed up with seeing their state underwater, wants to balance the budget and reform the disastrous public-pension system. No way, say Democrats, who have a stranglehold on the state legislature, and who insist on tax increases.
The Milan Triennale international exhibition is making a comeback this year after 20 years of absence with a 21st edition for 2016. From April to September, the festival will celebrate design, architecture, fashion and cinema with events including around 20 exhibitions in the Italian city. This year's major themes include design, arts and crafts, plus urban planning and ecology.

Opening shortly after the Milan International Furniture Fair, the Triennale is a celebration of design and all related fields. Until February 19, 2017, the "W.Women in Italian Design" exhibition analyzes the history of Italian design in the feminine. The exhibition looks back over the discipline, framed by 20th-century theories of gender in design, and examines how these are evolving in the 21st century. "Neo Preistoria - 100 Verbs" is another historical exhibition, based on a series of objects from prehistorical artefacts to the latest in 21st-century nanotechnology.

In a different style, "Design Behind Design" (which runs until September 12) looks at design in religious art at the Museo Diocesano.

Fans of interior architecture should head to "Rooms. Novel Living Concepts" (until September 12) which pays homage to the discipline in an exhibition of work by the biggest names in the field, such as Antonello Boschi, Calvi Merlini Moya, Guido Canali, Gabriella and Massimo Carmassi. Then, why not head to HangarBicocca to explore the links between "Architecture and Art" (until September 12)? Another must-see is "Sempering - Process and Pattern in Architecture and Design." This focuses on "Sempering" -- a neologism coined from the surname of the 19th-century German architect Gottfried Semper -- which in architecture or design means "a constructive action on a material or component that leaves a significant trace in the end product."

The Milan Triennale is also billed as a showcase of Italian skills and expertise, with exhibitions like "La Bellezza Quotidiana. Un percorso nella Collezione Permanente del Design Italiano," held in the "Belvedere" of the Villa Reale di Monza, which pays tribute to iconic pieces of Italian design. On a similar theme, "Brilliant! The Futures of Italian Jewelry" and "New Craft" both run until September 12.

Other highlights include "The Logic of Approximation, in Art and Life" (until September 12), "The Multicultural Metropolis" (until September 12), "Confluence" (until September 12), "The Ages of the Skyscraper" (from May to July, 2016), and more.

For more information visit: www.triennale.org/en
San Jose (AFP) - More than 1,000 migrants, most of them Cubans, thronged and then stormed across Panama's border into Costa Rica in a desperate bid to reach the United States, officials said.

Although all but 120 voluntarily returned to Panama hours later, the incident risked reviving a recent crisis in which thousands of Cubans determined to make it to the United States became stranded in Costa Rica because their passage north through Central America was blocked.

Television images showed migrants clashing with officials trying to stop them in Costa Rica's border town of Paso Canoas. Several car windows were broken in the scuffles.

Costa Rican officials said some Africans and Asians were among those entering and vowed to deport back to Panama any undocumented migrants, blaming Washington for "promoting" the flow of Cubans.

People leaving Communist-run Cuba are the only migrants who -- if they simply make it to US soil -- after just a medical clearance are granted temporary US residence and the right to work legally, and some health care.

Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez told a media conference that migrants were wrong to think they could push their way over the border.

"If they are trying to swamp Costa Rica by sending in avalanches of people, they are mistaken," he said. "With force, not even their little toes will enter."

Later in the day, most of the migrants had returned to Panama, Carlos Hidalgo, a spokesman for the public security ministry, told AFP.

Amid many Cubans' concerns that they may soon lose the generous US migrant benefits, the US Coast Guard has seen a spike in Cubans arriving in the United States by land and sea since Washington and Havana announced they would begin normalizing relations in December 2014.

More than 43,000 Cubans entered the United States by sea and land during fiscal year 2015 -- which ended in September -- a figure not seen for decades.

- Reinforcements to frontier -

Story continues

Costa Rica said it was reinforcing security on its southern border with Panama to prevent more crossings, and deployed around 150 police officers at the flashpoint, Hidalgo said, calling the situation "under control and peaceful."

"Today, more than a thousand undocumented migrants violently and with force entered Costa Rica, which represents an affront to the Costa Rican people," the presidency said in a statement.

It stressed that the country was unable to cope with such an influx and that it had just cleared out 8,000 Cubans who had been blocked in the country when its northern neighbor Nicaragua closed its border to them five months ago.

Those stranded Cubans had been put on special flights skipping over Nicaragua, to either El Salvador or Mexico, with most of them paying their own way.

The incident deepened animosity between Nicaragua -- an ally to the Cuban government -- and Costa Rica, whose ties have been strained by border disputes.

- US policy denounced -

The statement from Costa Rica's presidency denounced US policy dating back to the Cold War many describe as "wet foot, dry foot." The US authorities repatriate Cubans picked up at sea in the shark-infested Florida Straits, but any who arrive on American shores get to stay.

It said the policy promotes such irregular migratory flows by providing "a perverse incitement" for Cubans to try to get to the United States no matter the obstacles.

The US approach, it said, "fosters conditions for human trafficking."

In the joint governmental media conference with other ministers, the head of Costa Rica's migration agency, Kattia Rodriguez, said up to 1,200 migrants may have crossed on Wednesday.

"They are mainly Cuban people," she said, with a small number of migrants from Africa and Asia.

The incident presented a new challenge to Costa Rica, which on Tuesday had hosted a meeting of Latin American and US migration officials and urged them to come up with a coordinated response on handling Cuban and African migrants.

Costa Rica stressed in the meeting that it was not permitting the entry of US-bound Cubans, 2,000 of whom had arrived in Panama in recent weeks.
Do right, use your head.

Everybody must be fed.

Get together, break your bread.

Yes, together, that's what I said.

Do what you like.



Don't fight, use your head.

It's all right every night.

Do what you like, that's what I said.

Everybody must be fed.

Do what you like.



Open your eyes.

Realize you're not dead.

Take a look at an open book.

Do what you like, that's what I said.

Do what you like.



~ Blind Faith



(more of a prog-lib quote but still, it's how you should live)
A movie adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic novel "Fahrenheit 451" is in the works at HBO films reports The Wrap.

Ramin Bahrani, who previously wrote and directed the Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon movie "99 Homes" is set to write, direct, and executive produce the project.

The film will be a new adaptation of the book following on from the 1966 big screen production directed by Francois Truffaut and starring Oskar Werner and Julie Christie.

The dystopian story follows fireman Guy Montag whose job is to burn all books. However he begins to question his duty after meeting a free-thinking young woman named Clarisse.
Scientists are working on a type of propellant-free propulsion system that could help us reach the outer edges of the solar system "faster than ever before," according to NASA.

It's called the Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System, or HERTS, and it will act as an electric sail (called an E-Sail) that will ride the solar winds coming from our sun.

The sun is constantly emitting solar wind  streams of high-energy charged particles and plasma. NASA engineers' proposed sail is made of a web of super-long, super-thin aluminum wires that would electrostatically repel the protons in the solar wind. That repulsion will give the spacecraft its push.

The sun emitting a stream of plasma and particles.

"The sun releases protons and electrons into the solar wind at very high speeds  400 to 750 kilometers per second," Bruce Wiegmann, a NASA engineer, said in a statement. "The E-Sail would use these protons to propel the spacecraft."

Each of the proposed wires is only about 1 millimeter wide but spans over 12 miles. The sail will also have an electron gun to funnel away excess electrons, so the sail maintains its positive charge and can continue repelling protons.

Wiegmann demonstrates the long, thin wires that will make up the E-Sail.

The big advantage of an electric sail: Since the sun is constantly emitting a stream of solar wind, the potential for acceleration is pretty much unlimited. That means a HERTS-powered spacecraft could travel farther and faster than any of our current spacecraft.

We could start exploring more of the solar system and make discoveries at a much faster rate.

For example, it took the Voyager 1 spacecraft almost 35 years to get beyond our solar system and reach interstellar space. An E-Sail could dramatically reduce that time.

"Our investigation has shown that an interstellar probe mission propelled by an E-Sail could travel to the [edge of the solar system] in just under 10 years," Wiegmann said. "This could revolutionize the scientific returns of these types of missions."

Perhaps we'll know more soon: NASA is already testing a small-scale version of HERTS.
By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Sushila Karki became the first female acting Chief Justice of Nepal's Supreme Court on Wednesday, ending the male domination of top posts in the judiciary. The Himalayan nation, though still a deeply patriarchal society, is becoming increasingly inclusive, following the end of 10 years of civil war in 2006 and the abolition of the 239-year-old feudal monarchy two years later. In September last year, a specially elected Constituent Assembly approved the first post-monarchical constitution, which gave women the right to "proportional inclusion" in all government organs. It also guaranteed equal property rights to daughters and required that the president and vice-president be from different genders and communities. The Constitutional Council headed by Prime Minister K.P. Oli recommended the appointment of Karki, 63, to replace Kalyan Shrestha, who retired on Tuesday. Her nomination is expected to be confirmed by a parliamentary committee, though this has not yet been formed because of bickering among political parties. An Oli aide, Pramod Dahal, said Karki would work as acting Chief Justice until the parliamentary hearing, which is a formality. The president, who holds a ceremonial position, and the parliament speaker are also women, further signs of change in a society with a tradition of male domination. The appointment of Karki, who was the most senior judge in the Supreme Court, has been hailed by activists as a milestone in women's empowerment in Nepal, putting it ahead of its giant neighbor India, which has not had a woman as head of its Supreme Court in 65 years as a democracy. Karki has the reputation of being a fearless judge with zero tolerance for corruption. She is also known for judgments allowing women to pass their citizenship to their children, previously something only men could do in Nepal. "She strongly believes that competent women should be in leadership positions for the emancipation of women," Hari Phuyal, a senior lawyer and former student of Karki, who began her career as a teacher, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Former colleagues say Karki is known for delivering judgments free of the influence of politics or personal ties. "Even as a child she treated everyone as equals and encouraged us to go to school," her younger sibling, Junu Dahal, told the Foundation. Modest and courteous, Karki is the eldest of seven children in a prosperous farming family in Shankarpur village, a jute-growing area in the eastern plains. (Editing by Tim Pearce. 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 to see more stories)
Last week, Rita Dove took delivery of a new book  a collection containing 30 years worth of her poems, from 1974 to 2004.

The books publication is a big deal, recognizing as it does the first three decades of work from one of the nations most-acclaimed poets. Dove, who will read from her work this week in two Oregon dates as the winner of Oregon State Universitys Stone Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement, recognizes all that.

But the day after the books arrival, in a conversation with a reporter, Dove offered a little confession: She still hadnt cracked its cover.

Its sitting on the table, Dove said in a phone interview with The E. I walked by it, you know, kind of said hi, even though I had gone through the whole copy-editing of it. Its hard.  Looking back over 30 years feels almost like putting a lid on it.

But theres another reason for the reluctance: The collection doesnt add all that much to her current work: Its self-reflection that actually doesnt do the ongoing work any good, she said.

Besides, even though Dove is best-known as a poet (shes served as the nations poet laureate and has won a Pulitzer Prize for poetry), that doesnt capture the breadth of her artistic interests. Shes a playwright (her verse play, The Darker Face of the Earth, was produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival two decades ago). She plays the cello. Shes a ballroom dancer. Shes written song lyrics. Her day job is teaching at the University of Virginia, where she helps to shape the next generation of the nations poets.

It was with an eye to that next generation that she insisted that the collection on her table include all of the poems from those three decades, and not just a selection.

Its really a good thing for them to see the whole thing, the whole kit and caboodle, she said. Theres some poems from the first few books that, yes, I could have cut out. They might not be best poems that Ive ever written, but theyre part of who I am as a poet and I think its important for a young poet to realize the life of a poet, how that figures in.

And shes not envious of young poets, who sometimes struggle to find the time for reflection, writing and revising in the midst of the clamor of todays social media.

When I began writing, of course, you would get mail once a day and you could really pretty much count on quiet before that, at least the sense that the world was not crashing in on you, Dove said. Whereas now, I wake up every morning, and there are hundreds of emails, and they just keep coming in, and theres also the expectation that you respond right away. That means youre constantly being kept on a leash, in a way. How can you find quiet, contemplative quiet, in which to work?

Dove also has this additional bit of advice for younger writers: That sense of terror when a writer faces a blank page for the first time? It doesnt ever really go away. But it does get tempered with experience.

As a younger poet, she said, even though I was frightened of what I was going to discover about myself or my character, whatever I was doing in the poem, there was the fearlessness of youth, which of course doesnt know that its mortal and all of that.

But nowadays, she said, I know from experience that all the revisions are going to play in there, that theres going be a lot of bad writing as I try to prune it and as I try to tweak it and that very often, Ill think that Ive completely missed the boat and then, thats the moment when things will start to click together.  I realize from experienced that (the initial) terrifying moment, that utterly terrifying moment, will be worked through.

Dove said the Stone award, which comes with a $20,000 honorarium, came as a surprise: Essentially, she got a phone call saying that she was this years honoree. Thats the kind of surprise that one always wishes the world would give you, she said.

She hadnt heard of the award beforehand, but she certainly knew about the previous winners, Tobias Wolff and Joyce Carol Oates: I thought, whoa, this is some very high company.

People who attend either of her two readings in Oregon may have some of their expectations about poets (and poetry) shattered.

I find through the years that people expect poets to be tortured, overly sensitive, pale creatures who eschew the sunlight and are just very preoccupied, she said. I think theyre often surprised that a poet can actually carry on a conversation  that I can make jokes, that I know something about popular culture. In other words, that Im in the world. But to me, the only reason anybody writes, the only reason anybody should write, is that they love life. This is just one way of expressing it.

I think people who dont know much about poetry will be surprised that poetry can be funny, that it is about life, that it in fact relates to them, that it is not an exalted place, although it may lift you into an exalted place.
By Camillus Eboh ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian lawmakers said on Wednesday they planned to hold talks with the presidency over the 2016 budget bill, which has yet to be signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari after being passed by parliament last month. The announcement suggests further delays before the legislation takes effect in Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer, which is going through its worst crisis in years brought on by the slump in global crude prices. Buhari withdrew his original budget bill in January because of an unrealistic oil price assumption and flaws in the draft. Lawmakers approved an amended proposal last month but only submitted headline figures rather than the whole document to the president's office. That prompted Buhari, who is currently in China, to say he would only sign the bill after checking it thoroughly. Following closed-session talks by lawmakers in the lower house of parliament, a spokesman for politicians in that chamber said media reports about the contents of the budget submitted to the president last week had caused concern. "We agreed as a chamber, as a House delegated the Speaker to please go ahead and engage the executive to identify the areas of concern," said House of Representatives spokesman Abdulrazak Namdas. He said there was particular concern about media reports that a proposed rail project linking the southwestern commercial capital, Lagos, with the eastern city of Calabar had been removed by parliament as part of their amendments. Namdas said it "was not among the projects submitted by the President to the National Assembly". "Our own area of concern is that people say this thing was in the budget and we removed it. That is why we asked our speaker to liaise with the executive," he said. Last month Lai Mohammed, the information minister, said there was no rift between the executive and legislature over details of the budget. (Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Linn County is one of 17 O&C (Oregon & California) counties planning to file a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Bureau of Land Managements Resource Management Plan for 2.5 million acres of timber lands in western Oregon.

The BLM proposal, released Tuesday and still months from being formally adopted, calls for three-quarters of the land to be locked up in reserves for fish, water and wildlife. The agency estimates the plan will provide 278 million board feet of timber per year, an increase of 75 million from whats currently offered.

Linn County is one of the 17 counties thats part of the Association of O&C Counties. Benton County, however, is not a member of the association and will not participate in the lawsuit. (See related story, page A2.)

We have no choice but to litigate, and we are on firm legal ground in doing so, said Columbia County Commissioner Tony Hyde, president of the Association of O&C Counties.

The BLM refused to even consider revenues for counties as an objective in developing its plan, Hyde said in a written statement. There are many ways the BLM could have balanced jobs and revenues for vital county services while creating habitat for endangered species, providing clean water, recreational opportunities, and improving fire resiliency. Once again, the federal government has failed the communities where these lands are located.

Linn County Commissioner John Lindsey said the counties are challenging the federal government because they can no longer continue to lose millions in potential annual income. Lindsey said Linn County has seen a steady decline in annual payments over the last seven years, about $2 million per year in recent years.

Linn County is contributing $24,000 toward potential litigation costs. Lindsey said the counties are contributing funds based on the amount of money they are supposed to receive annually.

Look, we dont want safety-net payments in lieu of cutting timber. We want to create a sustainable forest economy, he said. We want to see that the timber lands are managed properly and that includes harvesting timber that creates jobs in the woods, mills, and at our ports. People will be working and making money. We will have a local economy instead of importing timber from Canada.

Bureau of Land Management project manager Mark Brown said the agency is aware of the economic situation faced by counties and the plan strives to produce the maximum amount of timber in a sustained manner.

BLM believes in order to provide a sustained yield of timber we must take care of our other legal responsibilities, such as the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act, he said. If we fail to do so, we will find ourselves embroiled in litigation across the landscape.

Added Jamie Connell, the BLMs acting state director: We have achieved an extraordinary balance between protecting threatened and endangered species and creating timber harvesting opportunities to support local communities, said Jamie Connell, acting state director.

Linn County contains about 86,000 acres of the O&C lands; Benton County has about 53,000 acres.

The lands originally were granted to the Oregon and California Railroad in 1866 to build a line from Portland to San Francisco. The company received 12,800 acres per mile of track laid but was required to sell 160 acre parcels to qualified settlers for no more than $2.50 per acre.

But in 1916, the federal government took back title to more than 2 million acres because the railroad company had failed to sell the land to the settlers.

The O&C association wasnt the only group criticizing the plan on Tuesday.

John Kober, executive director of the conservation group Pacific Rivers, said the federal agency made improvements to protect clean water and native fish but still places too much value in subsidizing county governments.

Unfortunately, due to rapacious logging of private and state lands, all of the burden for conservation is placed on federal lands, he said.

Two members of Oregons congressional delegation also criticized the BLMs plan on Tuesday.

In a press release, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, who represents Oregons Fourth Congressional District, said the plan moves us further from a balanced sustainable plan based in modern forest science. With this plan, the Bureau of Land Management makes minimal use of Norm Johnson and Jerry Franklins ecologically-based forest management strategy on a tiny fraction of the O&C land base. I believe it is likely to reduce the already minimal supply of sustainable harvest, jeopardizing more jobs, rural communities and small, efficient mills.

The House has twice passed legislation seeking the delicate balance that would save remaining old growth while utilizing ecological forestry for a dispersed sustainable harvest on the O&C land base, DeFazio added. It is time for the Senate to break the legislative logjam and put forward a compromise that can be enacted into law.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon issued a statement calling for congressional action: It seems to me legislation is the only way to take this discussion out of the courtroom and actually create jobs, protect Oregons treasures and improve the health of our forests.

But an officer in the Association of O&C Counties noted that Congress has thus far been unable to resolve the issue.

Simon Hare of Josephine County said the alternative to litigation is for Congress to take action, but our congressional delegation has not been able to agree on a solution. Now, it will be up to the courts to decide.

AOCC vice-president Simon Hare of Josephine County said the alternative to litigation is for Congress to take action, but our congressional delegation has not been able to agree on a solution. Now, it will be up to the courts to decide.

The counties have been involved with the BLM from the beginning as formal cooperating agencies, said Douglas County Commissioner Tim Freeman, treasurer of the O&C Association of Counties. As elected officials, we did a lot of cooperating with the BLM, but unfortunately, the BLM did almost no cooperating with us.

Freeman said the counties provided extensive comments about the proposal management plan.

There is no indication the BLM took seriously any of our suggestions, Freeman said.

The potential litigation comes on the heels of a $1.4 billion class action lawsuit filed in March by the Linn County Board of Commissioners charging the Oregon Department of Forestry with failing to meet timber harvesting contracts.
Two months ago, the Obama administration asked for roughly $1.9 billion in emergency funding to combat the Zika virus. Public-health officials were eager to get money for vaccine research and more. We are hopeful that Congress will recognize the urgency of this request and act quickly on it, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said at a February briefing, accompanied by health-agency officials. This sort of falls in the category of things that shouldnt break down along party lines.

But break down it did. House Republicans, whod need to sign off on the spending, told the White House to repurpose money appropriated to fight Ebola. The administration maintained Ebola funds wouldnt cut it, but nevertheless announced it would divert $600 million while it waited on more from Congress.

Now, even top public-health officials seem willing to join the political fight. At a press briefing on Monday, they reminded reporters how much work on Zika still needs to be doneand just how much money theyll need to do it. I dont have what I need right now, said Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, referring to funding for his agency. He added: When the president asked for $1.9 billion, we needed $1.9 billion. When Fauci last spoke to White House reporters in February, along with the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Anne Schuchat, the two officials didnt wade into the funding battle much at all. On Monday, Fauci was particularly vocal about the urgency of the funding request, insistingas other agency directors did earlier this monththat the full $1.9 billion is needed.

The Republican-controlled Congress, though, isnt convinced the administration needs all the funding its requested, at least not right away. House Speaker Paul Ryan said late last month that the government already has enough money to fight Zika. According to a report in The Washington Post last week, Senate Republicans said theyd get to the funding question in ongoing budget talks. Were going to continue to talk about what were going to do to get us to a better place in the future, said Senator Roy Blunt, the chairman of the subcommittee that handles health-agency funding. The House, often the source of budget stalling, could present even more difficulties, although Tom Cole, Blunts counterpart in the lower chamber, said Monday he believes more money will come. I think the administration has made the appropriate first move responding to Congresss request on shifting Ebola funds, Cole said. But now I think the ball is clearly in Congresss court to sit down and put together a package. Whether it needs to be $1.9 billion right now I think is the question. He said hell be meeting with leadership this week to discuss the funding.

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In recent weeks, officials concerns about Zika have been amplified by a steady stream of unsettling discoveries about the viruss reach and effects. The World Health Organization formally declared for the first time last week that Zika causes the birth defect microcephaly and the autoimmune condition Guillain-Barre syndrome, and researchers are investigating possible links between Zika and brain and spinal-cord infections. Though there havent been any locally acquired cases in the continental United Statesand just 346 travel-related casesthe coming summer months are a concern. The virus is particularly worrisome for cities like Miami and Houston, which have high population densities and high temperatures and are home to Zikas host mosquito, as Adrienne LaFrance reported earlier this week.

Now I think the ball is clearly in Congresss court to sit down and put together a package.

What scientists are learning about Zika is not reassuring, Schuchat said Monday. Researchers have been most concerned in recent months about Zikas effect on pregnant women, because of the connection to microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with abnormally small heads. Schuchat noted the pregnancy complications could be even broader than what officials once thought: Zika has been linked to premature births and eye conditions in infants. Women at every stage of pregnancy may be vulnerable to the viruss effects; previously, health officials thought only first-trimester pregnancies could be affected.

The viruss range is also difficult to predict. Two of its relatives, dengue and chikungunya, havent led to many locally transmitted cases in the continental United States, which hypothetically should be reassuring. But Schuchat said officials cant make any assumptions. Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought, she said.

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As officials learn more about the virus, Fauci said, he cant imagine Congress not coming through with more funds. The alternative would be too damaging. If we reach the point where the stopgap money runs out  we'd have to start raiding other accounts and very important research on other diseases is going to suffer, and suffer badly, Fauci said. Not only that, but Schuchat said the necessary long-term work on Zikasuch as multiyear studies on childrencant be done if additional resources arent coming.

Even $1.9 billion may not be enough. Although he didnt mention it at Mondays briefing, Fauci suggested months ago that the amount was only an estimate. We put in a proposal for what we thought was necessary to do what we need to do, he said in February. And if it turns out that we get further into it and theres a lot more, then I think there will be another request.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to sign a bill to provide financial incentives to companies developing treatments for the Zika virus, a White House spokeswoman said, but the bill passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday is insufficient to meet the challenge. "We hope that this legislation encourages private sector partners to address the challenge of Zika, but it contains no funding and is ultimately insufficient on its own, since it doesn't provide the $1.9 billion in funding that our public health experts have said is needed right now to prepare Americans for the imminent local transmission of Zika in this country," spokeswoman Katie Hill said. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Eric Beech)
(Reuters) - The Obama administration will announce Thursday safety regulations for offshore oil and natural gas drilling to prevent the kind of explosion that happened six years ago on a BP rig in the Gulf of Mexico, an official told Reuters. The Department of Interior will unveil the final version of its well control regulations, which will require more stringent design and operating procedures for well control equipment used in offshore oil and gas operations, said the official, who is close to the rulemaking process. The agency first released the proposal last April to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the deadly Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The Macondo well blowout and the fire on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010 killed 11 workers. BP agreed in October to pay more than $20 billion in fines to resolve nearly all claims from the oil spill, marking the largest corporate settlement of its kind in U.S. history Last year, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the rule would build on industry standards for blowout preventers and reform well design, well control, casing, cementing and real-time well monitoring. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington, additional reporting by Manish Parashar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Chizu Nomiyama)
By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chief executive of MasterCard Inc, the former head of the National Security Agency and officials from Microsoft and Uber will join a commission to strengthen U.S. cyber defenses, the White House said on Wednesday. After high-profile hacks in the private sector and an embarrassing theft of information from government personnel files, President Barack Obama this year set up a Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity. The commission, due to make long-term recommendations by early December on tightening cyber security in the private sector and government, is part of Obama's $19-billion proposal to boost defenses against hackers. The panel will hold its first public meeting on Thursday at the Commerce Department, joined by Obama's counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, the White House said in a blog post. As previously announced, the panel will be co-chaired by Tom Donilon, Obama's former national security adviser, and Sam Palmisano, former CEO of IBM. The panel, selected by Obama and congressional leaders from both parties, also includes: - Retired General Keith Alexander, former director of the National Security Agency, now CEO of IronNet Cybersecurity - Ajay Banga, CEO of MasterCard - Peter Lee, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Research - Joe Sullivan, Chief Security Officer of Uber, former Chief Security Officer of Facebook - Maggie Wilderotter, Executive Chairman of Frontier Communications - Steven Chabinsky, General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer of CrowdStrike - Annie Anton, chair of the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech - Patrick Gallagher, Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh, former Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology - Herbert Lin, Senior Research Scholar for Cyber Policy and Security at the Stanford Center for International Security and fellow at the Hoover Institution - Heather Murren, former member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and co-founder of the Nevada Cancer Institute (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Howard Goller)
By Jeff Mason LANGLEY, Va. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq had put the militant group on the defensive, shrinking its territory and striking key leaders. "We have momentum and we intend to keep that momentum," Obama told reporters after meeting with his national security advisers at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency. The campaign has cut supply lines and financing for the group and shrunk its territory. But Obama said more work needed to be done to help communities recover. "We will continue to assist Iraq and so must the entire world as it works to stabilize liberated areas and promote governance and development that is inclusive of all Iraqi communities," he said. He noted an "uptick" in Islamic State fighters heading to Libya and pledged to help the country's "new and nascent" government. There have been more than 11,500 air strikes so far against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and the coalition has killed or captured several key leaders in the group. "In the days and weeks ahead, we intend to take out more," Obama said. Obama said the United States would do what it could to help advance U.N.-led peace talks in Geneva on Syria's political future, noting an accord between President Bashar al-Assad's government and his opponents had held for about six weeks, but remained tenuous and under strain. He said the future of Syria would be on the agenda for the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council meeting next week in Riyadh, which he plans to attend. (Writing by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Chris Reese and Peter Cooney)
Marib (Yemen) (AFP) - Yemeni rebels killed a senior loyalist officer on Wednesday and deadly clashes erupted elsewhere in the country despite a UN-brokered ceasefire, sources said.

The fragile truce has been in place since midnight Sunday and is meant to lay the groundwork for peace talks next week in Kuwait.

The Shiite Huthi rebels, pro-government forces and the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in the country last year have all promised to abide by the ceasefire, but sporadic fighting has continued.

Loyalist military sources and medics told AFP that a rebel sniper shot dead the commander of a pro-government army brigade, Major General Zaid al-Huri, early Wednesday in the northeast of the central Sanaa province.

The rebels fired a mortar round in the same area, wounding six loyalist soldiers, the sources said.

In Marib province to the east, two pro-government fighters were killed and seven wounded in several hours of overnight clashes with rebels, loyalist officer Major Abdullah Hasan said.

At least one rebel was killed and several wounded and captured during the fighting, Hasan said.

The country's warring sides have traded accusations of jeopardising the ceasefire ahead of the talks due in Kuwait from Monday.

In a statement, a Huthi military official accused loyalist forces, including the Saudi-led coalition, of "violating the ceasefire" on Tuesday in Marib, Jawf in the north, and Taez in the southwest.

Yemeni authorities said at least 117 ceasefire violations by the rebels were recorded in seven provinces on Monday, according to a statement on the sabanew.net website.

The coalition, which launched a military campaign against the Iran-backed rebels last year, had described violations on Monday as "minor".

Sabanew.net meanwhile quoted Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi as confirming that the government will attend the peace talks in Kuwait, while criticising "Iranian interference in Yemen and its attempt to extend the conflict by sending arms" to rebels.

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The US Navy has said its forces in the Gulf seized a shipment of weapons on March 28 believed to be from Iran that was destined for the Huthis.

Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-dominated Arab allies are backing the Yemeni government in the conflict while Shiite Iran supports the rebels, who have seized the capital Sanaa and other parts of the country.

The war has left more than 6,300 people dead since March 2015 and worsened living conditions, with more than 80 percent of the population now on the brink of famine.
By Kim Palmer

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - An Ohio man was sentenced on Wednesday to four years in prison for taking his 5-year-old son from his mother's house in Alabama in 2002 and living with him under false identities for 13 years.

Bobby Hernandez, 53, was also given five years' probation by Cuyahoga County Judge Cassandra Collier-Williams. He had faced up to 54 years in prison.

Hernandez made a few brief statements in court, including apologies to his son and former girlfriend, before becoming overwhelmed by emotion. Julian was always the most important thing to me, he said.

In March, he pleaded guilty to 15 charges: two counts of felony kidnapping, 10 of tampering with records, two of interference with custody and one of forgery. Seventeen other charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement.

Hernandez was arrested in November 2015 after the FBI received a tip that he and his son were living in Cleveland, with the son using the name Jonathan Mangina. Prosecutors said Hernandez had told his girlfriend, the boy's mother, that if she ever broke up with him she would never see the boy again.

Julian Hernandez, now 19, was found in a national database for missing children after he told a high school guidance counsellor he knew something was "amiss with his Social Security number," Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy McGinty said.

Julian read a statement asking the judge not to sentence his father to prison, sobbing as he said he thought his father had done a lot of good.

He loved me and protected me more than anyone else in my life, the son said. Being away from my mother was painful, but to take him away from me now would just increase that pain.

Attorney Gloria Allred read a statement from the boys mother, who has asked for anonymity, calling her sons abduction the worst day of her life and that she considered suicide after his disappearance.

The sentence for Hernandez is one year above the minimum for felony kidnapping. His attorney Ralph DeFranco told reporters the son continues to live with his fathers fiancee and his 3-year-old step-sister in Cleveland.

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The judge also removed the no-contact order in the case, allowing Julian to visit his father.

This case is a mothers nightmare, Collier-Williams said. She added that she took Julian's request into account in the sentencing.

Hernandez still faces felony custody interference charges in Alabama, McGinty said.

(Reporting by Kim Palmer; Writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by James Dalgleish)
By Mark Weinraub

(Reuters) - An Ohio woman was charged with live-streaming the rape of a minor over the Internet, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

According to the indictment, Marina Alexeevna Lonina used the social networking app Periscope to stream the assault of a 17-year-old girl, which took place in Columbus, Ohio, in February. Raymond Boyd Gates, who was accused of assaulting the teenager, also was charged.

If convicted, the defendants face more than 40 years in prison, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron OBrien said in a statement.

Authorities were contacted by a friend of Lonina's in another state who viewed the rape online, the prosecutor's office said.

Representatives at the prosecutor's office said they did not know if the defendants had been assigned lawyers yet. They were scheduled to be arraigned on Friday.

(Reporting by Mark Weinraub in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
(Reuters) - One person died and at least 11 were injured in an incident involving hazardous hydrogen sulfide gas at an apartment complex near the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday, fire officials said. Austin firefighters responded to a hazardous materials call from an apartment at the complex and found a man believed to be in his 20s dead at the scene, said Austin Fire Department Lieutenant Kevin Haas. Haas said the initial investigation determined that the release of the chemical was deemed "an intentional act," and was being investigated as a suicide. It was unclear where the gas came from, although Haas said the victim likely released the gas from a container brought into the apartment. A woman who manages the property, which houses college students, was in stable condition at a hospital after being exposed to what appeared to be hydrogen sulfide, Austin's KXAN-TV reported. Several other patients were treated at the scene, KXAN said. Haas said as many as 11 people were injured. The Austin Fire Department responded around 2:30 p.m. Fire department personnel found a sign on a closet door inside the apartment unit door where the deceased victim was found that warned of danger, and to "get out," and of the presence of hydrogen sulfide, Haas said. The emergency responders moved to decontaminate the building and evacuate residents. (Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Peter Cooney)
Shine bright like a diamond:

A photo posted by NASA (@nasa) on Apr 10, 2016 at 8:00am PDT

Or a bar of gold. This miraculous sunset makes these unidentified water formations look like a liquid metal. NASA re-shared the image from astronaut Tim Peake. Their introspective caption:

'Beautiful to watch the sun reflected from Earth as we approach night,' wrote astronaut Tim Peake of the European Space Agency. Peake (@astro_timpeake) shared the image on April 9. The station is a unique placea convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. It is a microgravity laboratory in which an international crew of six people live and work while traveling at a speed of 17,500 mph, orbiting Earth every 90 minutes.

Have a clue what were looking at? Drop us a line.

(See all Orbital Views here)

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The first new supercar from Ford in over a decade will be limited to just 250 examples a year and each one is expected to cost a minimum of $450,000.

Yet despite the huge price tag that puts the car on a par with the biggest and best efforts in the current Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini and McLaren lineups, Ford is expecting demand to more than outstrip supply.

Therefore, to bring a bit of democracy to proceedings, the company has set up a dedicated web portal where anyone can essentially register their interest and even start specifying a virtual GT.

Like Ferrari, Ford wants to ensure that each of the initial 500 examples set for production (250 this year and a further 250 in 2017) goes to the most deserving of homes rather than to a speculator that's looking to sell on the car for a profit to someone who really will love every moment of owning it.

That's why whenever Ferrari unveils a new halo car, it is off limits to anyone who isn't a current or past owner of three existing Ferrari flagship models.

While Ford will be similarly choosy with initial applications, it is also promising that this process will be worth it. "The purchase process for the Ford GT is as unique as our all-new supercar," said Henry Ford III, global marketing manager, Ford Performance. "We understand GT customers are strong ambassadors for Ford Motor Company, and we look forward to providing them a service as distinct as the car itself."

Each owner will be assigned a personal concierge who will take them through every step of the process from specifications to delivery and after-sales service.
Beirut (AFP) - Over 100 troops, pro-regime militia, jihadists and rebels have been killed in four days of fierce fighting on a strategic front of Syria's Aleppo province, a monitoring group said Wednesday.

Since Sunday, fighting around Al-Eis and Khan Tuman in Aleppo's southern belt has killed 61 rebels and members of Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front and 50 troops and pro-regime militia, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"In the past 24 hours alone, 42 rebels and Al-Nusra members died, as well as 34 regime loyalists," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Regime troops are trying to recapture Al-Eis, held by Al-Nusra and rebel allies, which in turn have launched an offensive to take over nearby Khan Touman from the regime.

The fighting came as UN-brokered indirect talks resumed in Geneva, threatening to break a fragile six-week truce that was brokered by the United States and Russia.

Neither Al-Nusra nor the jihadist Islamic State group are included in the truce, but the fact that rebels are fighting alongside Al-Nusra while regime forces push back has sparked concerns over its durability.

Washington voiced concern Monday that a regime assault on Al-Nusra in Aleppo could spread to more moderate factions, and cause the truce to collapse and derail the peace efforts.

The area where the fighting is focused is important because it is located near the highway linking Damascus to war-ravaged Aleppo city, the Observatory said.

It is also key because it is near the Shiite towns of Fuaa and Kefraya in neighbouring Idlib province, which are under siege by opposition forces.

"Most of the regime loyalists killed were militia fighters from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan," Abdel Rahman said.

"For them, this is an ideologically-driven battle to break the siege on Fua and Kefraya," he told AFP.

Abdel Rahman said the fighting shows that neither President Bashar al-Assad's regime nor the opposition represented at the Geneva talks calls the shots in fighting on the ground.

"The real decisions are made by (regime backers) Iran and Russia on one side, and jihadist factions and opposition backers on the other," he said.

Syria's war began as a popular anti-regime revolt but later morphed into a brutal civil war after Damascus unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba will acquire a controlling stake in leading Southeast Asian online shopping platform Lazada for $1.0 billion, it said Tuesday as Jack Ma's company seeks to expand outside its home market.

Alibaba's Taobao platform is estimated to have more than 90 percent of the consumer-to-consumer market in China, while its Tmall platform is believed to command more than half of business-to-consumer transactions.

But its international commerce business only accounted for six percent of its revenue for the quarter ended in December, its latest earnings report showed.

Alibaba is investing $500 million in newly issued Lazada shares and acquiring stock from some existing holders to take a majority stake in the firm for a total of around $1 billion, according to the statement, which did not specify Alibaba's total holding.

Pang Yu, a 25-year-old railway ticket inspector in Beijing, checks Ant Check, an Alibaba-linked platform on her phone at a cafe in Beijing, China, April 11, 2016. A young, middle-class and tech-savvy cohort in China dubbed the "moonlight generation" - because their banks accounts are light at the end of the month - are turning their backs on the cautious ways of their hard-saving parents and embracing credit. REUTERS/Shirley Feng

The deal values Lazada at $1.5 billion, a shareholder -- Germany's Rocket Internet -- said in a separate statement.

"With the investment in Lazada, Alibaba gains access to a platform with a large and growing consumer base outside China, a proven management team and a solid foundation for future growth in one of the most promising regions for e-commerce globally," Alibaba president Michael Evans said.

Lazada claims to be Southeast Asia's "number one" online shopping and selling platform with a presence in six countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore -- where it is headquartered.

Lazada's chief executive Max Bittner said the deal will help the company leverage the Chinese firm's knowhow and technology to improve its own services, according to the Alibaba statement.

Analysts said the deal would give Alibaba greater access to other Asian markets.

"Overseas expansion requires a lot of investment in logistics, it would take Alibaba much longer to build the business from the ground up," Li Yujie, a Hong Kong-based analyst at RHB Research Institute, told Bloomberg News.

"What Alibaba could do is integrate the businesses and introduce more existing merchants to Lazada to export their products overseas."
By Kay Johnson GWADAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's army chief on Tuesday accused longtime regional rival India of seeking to undermine his country's $46 billion project to build an economic corridor to transport goods from China's western regions through the Pakistani deepwater port of Gwadar. Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, speaking at a development conference on the impact of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said the significance of a Pakistan-China economic alliance had "raised eyebrows" in the region. "In this context, I must highlight that India, our immediate neighbour, has openly challenged this development initiative," Sharif told the conference in Gwadar. "I would like to make a special reference to Indian intelligence agency RAW that is blatantly involved in destabilising Pakistan. Let me make it clear that we will not allow anyone to create impediments and turbulence in any part of Pakistan. Therefore, it is important for all to leave behind confrontation and focus on cooperation." Indian officials could not be reached for comment late on Tuesday night. RAW is India's Research and Analysis Wing, its main external intelligence agency. Last month, Pakistan said it had detained a suspected Indian spy for RAW in Baluchistan, the southwestern Pakistani province where most of the CPEC is taking shape. India has confirmed that the man is a former Indian navy official but denied that he is a spy. Majority Hindu India and mostly Muslim Pakistan, once part of a vast British colonial holding, have fought three wars since they were partitioned upon independence in 1947, leading to a violent separation that has fed decades of mutual suspicion. Pakistan believes India is supporting a separatist insurgency in resource-rich Baluchistan. It also accuses India of fuelling strife in the city of Karachi. India denies any such meddling. India has long accused Pakistan of backing militants fighting Indian security forces in its part of the divided Kashmir region, of helping militants launch attacks elsewhere in India and backing the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan says it only offers diplomatic support to the Muslim people of Kashmir living under what Pakistan says is heavy-handed Indian rule. It denies backing militant attacks in India. (Reporting by Kay Johnson; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Pakistan on Wednesday hanged four more prisoners convicted of murder despite international criticism over its surging use of the death penalty.

Amnesty International last week described Pakistan as the world's third most prolific executioner after China and Iran, with 326 hangings last year.

Wednesday's executions took place in the cities of Multan, Jhang and Sialkot in Punjab province and in Larkana in Sindh province.

Anwarul Haq was executed in Multan for murdering his brother over a land dispute in 2000, senior prisons official Chaudhry Arshad Saeed Arain told AFP.

Ghulam Farooq was hanged in Sialkot prison for murdering two women and a man due to a family feud in 1999.

Muhammad Irfan was hanged in Jhang for killing a woman while robbing her home in 2006, Arain said, adding that eight more prisoners were likely to be hanged in Punjab on Thursday.

In Larkana Waris Mir Bahr was hanged for the 1995 murder of a Pakistan International Airlines employee during an attack on an airlines van carrying cash, prison officials said.

Paksitan ended a six-year moratorium on the death penalty after Taliban attackers gunned down more than 150 people, most of them children, at a school in Peshawar in December 2014.

Hangings were initially reinstated only for those convicted of terrorism, but later extended to all capital offences.
Panamas national police raided the Panama City headquarters of law firm Mossack Fonseca late Tuesday, looking for evidence that would establish the possible use of the firm for illicit activities, as they said in a statement.

The police, under the direction of prosecutor Javier Caravallo, who specializes in organized crime and money laundering, surrounded the headquarters building and raided other branches as well. According to the Financial Times, the operation was still underway eight hours after it began.

The action was part of the continuing fallout from publication of the Panama Papers, an investigation into 11.5 million documents spanning 40 years of operations by the firm, one of the worlds largest wholesalers of shell companies. Usually set up in a manner that makes it hard to know who controls them and existing almost only on paper, shell companies may be used for lawful purposes but have also figured frequently in money laundering, tax evasion, bribery, drug dealing and other crimes.

Were the ones against whom a crime has been committed, the law firm said in a statement published on its website. It added that the company is ready, willing and eager to cooperate with authorities.

The raids came at a time when Panamas President Juan Carlos Varela has taken several actions in response to the revelations about the firm, whose co-founder Ramon Mossack was one of his top advisers until his recent resignation.

Earlier in April, Varela announced the creation of an international panel to improve transparency in Panamas economically important offshore financial industry. He also published an op-ed piece in the New York Times, decrying the emphasis on Panama which he said does not deserve to be singled out on an issue that plagues many countries, adding that Panama is willing to accept the responsibility for fixing it, in part because greater transparency is ultimately a continuation of reforms we have recently undertaken.

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On Tuesday before the raids, Panama warned France that it would take unspecified diplomatic measures if Panama is not removed from a blacklist of tax havens.

Read more at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

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PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama's attorney general late on Tuesday raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm to search for any evidence of illegal activities, authorities said in a statement. The Panama-based law firm is at the center of the "Panama Papers" leaks scandal that has embarrassed several world leaders and shone a spotlight on the shadowy world of offshore companies. The national police, in an earlier statement, said they were searching for documentation that "would establish the possible use of the firm for illicit activities." The firm has been accused of tax evasion and fraud. Police offers and patrol cars began gathering around the company's building in the afternoon under the command of prosecutor Javier Caravallo, who specializes in organized crime and money laundering. Mossack Fonseca, which specializes in setting up offshore companies, did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. Earlier, founding partner Ramon Fonseca said the company had broken no laws, destroyed no documents, and all its operations were legal. 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 of China's President Xi Jinping, and the president of Ukraine. (Reporting by Elida Moreno; Writing by Anna Yukhananov; Editing by G Crosse and Ryan Woo)
Emerging risks and destabilizers like income inequality, slower growth, and climate change are reshaping Asias economic landscape at such a rapid pace that governments must build far greater resilience into their national plans, says Independent Evaluation at Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The urgency for countries to adapt to the new environment is growing, concludes Independent Evaluations 2016 Annual Evaluation Review of ADBs operations and challenges for the region.

Countries in Asia are already grappling with slower growth and falling international trade, and need to find new drivers for growth while extracting extra mileage from existing industries. Asia today is more exposed to external shocks through the closer integration of global markets. The regions economic prospects are also increasingly linked to the ability of the Peoples Republic of China and India to address their economic, environmental, and climate challenges.

External shocks, irrespective of their origin, quickly push the vulnerable below the poverty line and the poor deeper into poverty, says Vinod Thomas, director general of Independent Evaluation.

Latest data for extreme poverty in Asia and the Pacific, based on a person living on less than $1.90 a day in 2011 purchasing power parity terms, is just over 450 million people. More than 1.3 billion people living on less than $3.10 a day are at high risk of falling back into poverty again because of their vulnerability to shocks and the proximity of their incomes to the poverty line. Meanwhile, inequality is rising in a number of the regions more populous countries, and the provision of basic services is under severe pressure in some countries.

Building resilience calls for quality investments in infrastructure and institutions. But it must go beyond buffering shocks and preventing contagion, says Thomas. Countries must vigorously promote social inclusion and environmental sustainability, both involving private sector solutions, to ensure that Asias economic growth does not peter out.

The report warns that development gains can be worn away by the rising frequency and ferocity of natural disasters, and the degradation of the environment. As the benefits and costs of Asias growth are increasingly manifested in cities, while 13 of the worlds 23 megacities are located in the region, addressing urban issues such as water supply, sanitation and waste management will be key.

The private sector can be instrumental in providing innovative approaches to service delivery, as, for example, witnessed in the distribution of fluorescent lights in the Philippines. The review found that for 60 percent of ADBs private sector investment projects, both development results and ADB profitability were high, highlighting that development impact and profitability are not at odds with each other.

A major theme of the report is the immediate need to sustain strong and inclusive growth. Strengthening how new infrastructure can reduce the opportunity gaps between income groups is particularly important in Asia, where most of the worlds poor live, says Jiro Tominaga, the reports lead author. Take the quality of piped water: the better-off can always buy bottled water, but this is beyond the means of the poor.

Lenders for development such as ADB need to work with countries to weigh the benefits and costs to the affected communities of the infrastructure projects that they help to fund, says Tominaga.

The increased demand for better public services and social welfare programs from the many countries across the region that have transitioned to middle-income status over the past decades will continue to shape ADBs agenda. In 2015, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Tajikistan moved from low-income to lower middle-income status, based on World Bank income measures. By 2020, ADB expects that Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka to reach upper middle-income status.

The review found a significant improvement in operations outside ADBs main focus on infrastructure, particularly in education and public sector management. It recommends that ADB continue its focus on infrastructure given its potential impact on economic growth and for promoting inclusive growth, but complement that effort forcefully in non-infrastructure areas.

It also points to the benefits of due diligence in operationsprojects with high environmental risks which require additional safeguards perform better than others. Similarly, projects involving development partners, co-financing and regional cooperation do better because of the greater care that goes into these efforts.

ADB lending for climate change projects is set to double to $6 billion in 2020 from 2.8 billion in 2014, bringing support for climate change to about 30% of total lending. This laudable direction needs to be underpinned by strong institutional arrangements to achieve them. Climate change and environmental sustainability need to be at the center of ADBs operational strategy for the institution to align itself with the global actions to respond to climate change and achieve sustainable development.

As the environment in which the Asia and Pacific countries operate changes, ADB also needs to change, says the report, noting that the Sustainable Development Goals, the global climate change agreement, and the entry of two new lenders for development will affect the strategic direction taken by ADB, which is readying its long-term development strategy to 2030.
By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani ABUJA, Nigeria (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Three mothers of schoolgirls abducted from Chibok in northeast Nigeria two years ago said they had identified their daughters in a video released by Islamist group Boko Haram, the first possible sighting of the girls since a video in May 2014. About 15 girls featured in the video released to local officials on Tuesday, saying they were from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok and pleading with the Nigerian government to cooperate with Boko Haram on their release. The girls were filmed saying they were being treated well but wanted to go home and be with their families. Boko Haram militants abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok on April 14, 2014, with 57 students managing to escape but 219 still missing despite a global campaign #bringbackourgirls involving celebrities and U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. Various false leads have raised hopes of finding the girls but their whereabouts remains unknown. Mothers Rifkatu Ayuba and Mary Ishaya said they recognized their daughters, Saratu and Hauwa, in the video, while a third mother, Yana Galang, identified five of the missing girls. Local officials said more identifications were needed. "The girls were looking very, very well," Galang said in a telephone interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation after viewing the video at a screening organized by local officials in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state in northeast Nigeria. The three mothers were invited to the viewing by the chairman of Chibok local government area, Bana Lawan, who confirmed that he had paid their travel costs to Maiduguri, the state capital. The kidnapping of the girls has become a political issue in Nigeria with the government and military criticized for their handling of the incident and failing to track down the girls. "They were definitely our daughters ... all we want is for the government to bring back our girls," said Galang, adding all the girls were wearing hijabs in the video. No member of Boko Haram was visible in the video and local officials were not immediately available to give details on how they received the video. "We only heard a man's voice and saw his finger pointing at the girls one after the other," Galang said. She said the girls in the video spoke in Hausa, a language widely spoken in Nigeria, and Kibaku, the local Chibok language. Galang said one mother, Ayuba, was relieved to see her daughter as she had heard a rumor shortly after the kidnapping that her daughter had been killed by Boko Haram. "She was very happy to see her in the video ... her daughter is alive," Galang said. About 2,000 girls and boys have been abducted by the Boko Haram since 2014, with many used as sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers, according to Amnesty International. This week a report from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Boko Haram child suicide bombings have surged 11-fold in West Africa over the last year, with children as young as 8, mostly girls, used to bomb schools and markets. UNICEF said there were 44 child suicide bombings in West Africa in 2015, up from four in 2014, mostly in Cameroon and Nigeria. Boko Haram's six-year campaign to set up an Islamic emirate in northeastern Nigeria has killed some 15,000 people, according to the U.S. military. (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)
Damascus (AFP) - President Bashar al-Assad's regime held parliamentary polls in areas of Syria under its control on Wednesday, with some voting enthusiastically but others dismissing the elections as a sham.

Assad pressed ahead with the vote despite another round of UN-brokered peace talks that started the same day in Geneva aimed at ending the devastating five-year conflict, with a political transition and the Syrian leader's future key sticking points.

Voters could cast ballots at some 7,200 polling stations opened in government-held areas -- around a third of the country's territory where about 60 percent of the population lives.

Voting was extended by five hours by the electoral commission until midnight (2100 GMT), state television said, citing a "high turnout".

Assad's Baath party, which has controlled the country for more than half a century, is expected to extend its dominance of parliament, although several parties are participating in the polls.

"I voted because this election will decide the country's future. I hope that the winners will be true to the nation even before being true to the voters," Yamin al-Homsi, a 37-year old who voted in Damascus, told AFP.

Samer Issa, a taxi driver, told AFP he had "fulfilled his national duty" by casting his vote.

"Now, it's up to the winners to fulfil their promises," the 58-year-old added.

The presidency published photos of a smiling Assad and his wife Asma casting their ballots in Damascus.

- Polls in Palmyra -

"We have been at war for five years but terrorism has failed to reach its main goal, which is to destroy Syria's social structure and identity as safeguarded in the constitution," Assad said.

In the ancient city of Palmyra, where Russian-backed Syrian forces drove out the Islamic State jihadist group less than three weeks ago, four polling stations opened.

"I wasn't afraid to come vote today," one newly returned resident said.

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Last month, the domestic opposition tolerated by the regime called for a widespread boycott, accusing the government of using the vote to gain leverage in the peace talks.

The High Negotiations Committee, the main opposition body involved in peace negotiations, branded the election a "farce".

"These elections aren't real. In real elections, the voice of the people can be heard. The Syrian people have been shouting for five years: What they want is a free, democratic Syria," said HNC spokesman Salem al-Meslet.

In Syria's divided second city Aleppo, polling stations only opened in western government-held districts.

"These elections are a farce and I don't believe in them," said Mohammad Zobaidiyyeh, who works as a mechanic in the eastern rebel-controlled neighbourhoods.

The vote is the second parliamentary ballot since the beginning of the war in 2011.

More than 270,000 people have died since, and millions more have been forced to flee their homes. The country's economy has all but collapsed and swathes of territory remain out of government control.

A record 11,341 candidates initially sought to run for the 250 seats in parliament. About 3,500 candidates remain in the race, after the rest withdrew "saying they had no chance of winning", Hisham al-Shaar, the head of the Supreme Judicial Elections Committee, told reporters.

- 'Elections of resistance' -

Walls across Damascus were covered with campaign posters.

From the top of one of the city's tallest buildings a banner of the Baath party proclaimed: "The elections of resistance."

Outside a polling station at the Damascus governor's headquarters in the eastern neighbourhood of Yusef al-Azmeh, representatives of various candidates distributed leaflets to potential voters.

But Mayssoun, 45, said she will not vote.

"Most of these candidates are rich men who live abroad and are just feeding us nonsense," she said.

"I used to have an apartment in Yarmuk that I left because of the clashes, and now I move around from place to place," the waitress said.

The Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk in southern Damascus was home to 160,000 people -- including Syrians -- but has been ravaged by fighting.

The controversial polls come amid a surge in violence in recent days threatening a fragile six-week ceasefire.

Over 100 troops, pro-regime militia, jihadists and rebels have been killed in four days of fierce fighting on a strategic front of Aleppo province in the north, a monitoring group said Wednesday.

The Geneva negotiations are aimed at agreeing a roadmap to peace, including forming a transitional government followed by general elections supervised by the United Nations in which all Syrians would be eligible to vote.
Professor Richard Cronin from The Stimson Center spoke to VnExpress about the prolonged drought in the Mekong Delta and what the countries that rely on the river need to do to protect this precious resource.

Q- How serious do you think the situation is in Vietnam's Mekong Delta?

A-The situation in the Delta is extremely serious regarding drought, the loss of land and intrusion of saline water. The reason is multifaceted, including upstream dams in China and important tributaries including the 3S rivers that trap sediment needed to sustain the Delta against the rising South China Sea and the abuse of the Delta itself from environmentally damaging development activities. These include environmentally destructive irrigation projects, the digging of numerous canals, the removal of sand for sale to Singapore and local development projects, unconstrained investment in aquaculture and the unustainable pumping of fresh water from the aquifer. The susidence of Can Tho, other Delta cities and even HCMC is a bigger factor than the rising South China Sea. Even if no new dams were built on the mainstream and major tributaries the Delta is likely to lose as much of as half of its former land by 2040 or 2050 according to a number of well-regarded experts.

Q - Why are we experiencing these droughts, and what are your predictions for the development of El Nino?

A- El Nino years have long correlated with drought in the Mekong Basin and elsewhere, and this seems true at present, but the Lower Mekong has suffered multi-year periods of extreme drought for more than a decade. Some periods of low water in northern Laos and Thailand have also been linked to the filling of new dams in China's massive six dam Lancang Cascade, starting with the Manwan Dam in 1992-1993. Filling Laos' Nam Theun 2 dam may have also caused reduced dry season flows in the lower reaches of the river in past years.

Q - How about the situation in neighbouring countries like Thailand, Cambodia and Laos?

A- I'm not sure about Laos, but the situation also seems serious in Thailand and Cambodia. Unfortunately, Thailand has begun to divert water in the north. There is not enough information available to know how important this is or may become.

Q- Why has the water flowing to the Mekong Delta decreased by 50 percent this year? Is it related to the construction of dams?

A- Upstream dams may be a factor, especially in China, as the flow from Yunnan has been said to be the single most important flow during the dry season - perhaps as much as 40 percent in "normal" years. Vietnam and other Lower Mekong neighbors are right to be concerned about the Chinese dams, as the Lancang Cascade can hold more than one-year's average flow into Yunnan from the north.

When China started building the Lancang Cascade, and especially when construction started on the massive Xiaowan Dam, among the world's biggest, it sought to deflect anxieties in the Lower Mekong by saying that because the dams would be generating power throughout the dry season, they would significantly increase the dry season flow all the way to the Delta. Changing the traditional wet-dry seasonal change in the river actually is very damaging to an ecology that has evolved over hundreds of thousands if not millions of years, but downstream countries have generally been much more concerned about flows, not the impact of changing flows on the ecology and environment.

However, China's past assurances did not take into account at least two important possibilities. The first is climate change. China has also suffered serious droughts (as well as almost unprecedented floods in recent years). In most dry seasons China did not increase the dry season flow. Rather, either because of weather conditions or the filling and operation of its dams in Yunnan, the dry season flows at Chiang Saen, near the "Golden Triangle," often have been too low in January and other dry months to reliably support river transport. China has often been accused of releasing water so that its boats could move upstream to Jinghong without also telling the Thai and Lao shippers and boatmen.

A second factor that may be affecting current flows from China definitely was never foreseen: the dramatic slow-down of the Chinese economy. Electricity consumption in China had no growth in 2015 and may even be declining.

To my knowledge, no one else has mentioned this, but low flows from Yunnan could also be related to low or decreasing demand for electricity. When any dam reduces its power output, it normally does so by taking some turbines off line and closing the relevant gates. China, as any country, would not likely spill water from its reservoir during the dry season, as this would lower the water level and power "head".

Thus it is possible that flows from China are unusually low because the dams are generating less power because of low demand. Unfortunately, China treats water flows and dam operations as national security secrets. But when China says, as it has recently, that it will release some additional water, that suggests that it has been holding water back so as not to waste it. China will not share any real time information about the operation of its dams, including water releases, and only provides information about floods in the wet season. It is not unreasonable to speculate that China's recent announcement that it would release water to alleviate the current drought is timed to coincide with the LMC leaders meeting.

Q - What are your thoughts on Vietnam's efforts to cope with extreme weather in the Mekong Delta in order to support agriculture?

A- There is an expression in English, "We shall have weather, whether or not." All of the plans that I have seen for building dykes against the rising South China Sea and increasingly violent storms seem dubious to many experts and they also are hugely expensive. In the United States' Mississippi Delta, the ongoing loss of barrier islands and protective wetlands was a major reason why the impact of Hurricane Katrina has prompted the reconstruction and heightening of dykes and sea walls that protect the city and its neighborhoods, but numerous governmental, academic and private sector experts have rejected the idea of building a massive seawall to protect agricultural areas.

Q- What are your recommendations for Vietnam?

A- Of course the Mekong Delta is much more densely populated than the Mississippi Delta and is very critical to the production of rice and aquaculture, but Vietnam should consult extensively with international experts, including the Netherlands, the United States and elsewhere before making a large and dubiously practical commitment to protect the Delta with a seawall and dykes. Urban areas are a different matter, but even here the danger could be reduced by stopping destructive practices such as dredging sand (except to support navigation) and depleting the aquifers. Vietnam should also think carefully about new dams on the Sesan and Srepok rivers, in particular, as these are big sediment trappers. The sediment is needed by the Delta to keep the sea at bay and by Delta farmers.

Q- How should countries in the Mekong Delta co-operate to maintain sustainable water resources?

A- This is a highly politically sensitive issue, but thus far none of the Lower Mekong countries or China have been willing to give up any of their sovereign rights to promote a truly shared river. In addition, none of the four countries belonging to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) have been willing to give it the authority or political support to carry out it's mission of managing the cooperative, sustainable and equitable development of the Lower Mekong.

Q - As China is not a member of the Mekong River Commission, how should members including Vietnam approach the subject?

A- China is unlikely ever to become a member of the MRC and that probably is a good thing because it's far more powerful than its neighbors and controls the river's headwaters, and has not thus far been inclined to cooperate. As the upstream country, it treats the upper half of the river as a national river, to be done with as it pleases without regard for its neighbors interests.

In 2014 China's five downstream neighbors agreed to a new regional program called the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism. Many believe that this was a direct response to the US Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) comprised of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States, a 2009 initiative of the then new Obama administration to symbolize a US recommitment to supporting cooperation, stability and sustainable development in Southeast Asia. The only real complaint about the LMI thus far seems to be that the initiative is insufficiently funded to the aspirations of at least some Lower Mekong countries.

On March 23, China is hosting the first leaders meeting of the LMC mechanism in Sanya, Hainan province. In the words of Xinhua, China's official press organ, "China is expected to provide political guidance and a roadmap for subregional cooperation between China and the five Southeast Asian nations of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam." Sanya is also the headquarters of one of China's most important maritime militias, charged with protecting China's maritime territorial claims to disputed parts of the South China Sea.

In my personal judgment, the most important thing that Vietnam can do at Sanya and after is promote solidarity among the five Lower Mekong countries on insisting to China that the mechanism must primarily be about cooperation on the Mekong. We are all aware that the major limitation of the ADB-backed Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) cooperative development initiative, which includes the same membership as the LMC mechanism, is that it is almost entirely about the development of roads and other land-based infrastructure, and does not involve water cooperation or development. There are obvious reasons for this omission, including the insistence of China, Thailand and probably other countries on sovereign control over their stretch of the shared river.

The first leaders' meeting of the LMC mechanism have in fact been given the theme "Shared River, Shared Future". This is encouraging if China really intends to provide its downstream neighbors with real time data on the operations of its dams, unusual water releases and the results of its past environmental impact studies. I personally believe that Vietnam and the other Lower Mekong countries should also insist that the LMC mechanism will truly be about the river, not Beijing's aspirations to bring the LMB into it's "One Belt, One Road" initiative or its plans for the Chinese-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Otherwise, Chinese initiative will lack the necessary substance to be of any value to the concerns of LMB countries about what is happening to the Mekong mainstream.
By David DeKok HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - Pennsylvania was poised to become the 24th U.S. state to legalize marijuana use for medical purposes after state legislators on Wednesday approved a bill that Democratic Governor Tom Wolf has promised to sign. The bill will allow use of marijuana oil and extracts, while still prohibiting the smoking of the drug, to treat or alleviate the symptoms of a long list of ailments including autism, epileptic seizures and nausea brought on by chemotherapy. The bill, which passed by a 149-46 vote in the state House of Representatives, sets up an infrastructure for growing, distributing, regulating and taxing medical marijuana. Statewide opinion polls consistently show that 88 percent or more of Pennsylvanians support medical marijuana. That reflects a 50-year national trend toward general acceptance of marijuana, especially among younger and more liberal Americans. "Marijuana is medicine and it's coming to Pennsylvania," state Senator Daylin Leach, a Democrat from the Philadelphia suburbs who was one of two prime sponsors of the bill, said following the vote. "Children with intractable epilepsy, veterans with PTSD, grandparents with cancer, and thousands of other sick Pennsylvanians will finally get the help they need." The other prime sponsor, state Senator Mike Folmer, a Republican from Lebanon, has said on his website that his own experience as a cancer patient led him to believe patients "should have every opportunity to combat their illness," including use of medical marijuana. The Pennsylvania Senate passed the Folmer-Leach bill last year, but it stalled in the House because of vehement opposition from Republican House Speaker Mike Turzai. A spokesman for Leach credited House Majority Leader Dave Reed, also a Republican, with easing the bill around the speaker's opposition. The state's first medical marijuana bill was introduced by former Representative Allen Kukovich, a Democrat from the Pittsburgh suburbs, in 1979. He said Wednesday that he was inspired by early research showing the drug benefited patients with extreme seizure disorder, as many as 100 seizures per day. "It never moved," Kukovich said in an interview. "It got no support from the leadership in either party. Marijuana was being demonized then." Four U.S. states, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, as well as the District of Columbia, in the past few years have legalized recreational marijuana use through ballot initiatives. Voters in five more states are to vote on legalization in November. The drug remains illegal under federal law. (Editing by Scott Malone and Fiona Ortiz)
Washington (AFP) - The Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria is on the defensive and "their cause is lost," US President Barack Obama said Wednesday after meeting with CIA chiefs and other security officials.

Obama paid a rare visit to CIA headquarters in Virginia to discuss progress of Operation Inherent Resolve, the 20-month-old US-led campaign against IS jihadists in Iraq and Syria.

"ISIL is on the defensive, and we are on the offensive," Obama said, using an IS acronym. "We have momentum, and we intend to keep that momentum."

Obama pointed to recent US air strikes that killed three senior IS leaders and a report this week showing the group's ranks are at their lowest level since 2014.

"In the days and weeks ahead we intend to take out more (leaders.) Every day, ISIL leaders wake up and understand it could be their last," Obama said.

"Their ranks of fighters are estimated to be at the lowest levels in two years and more and more are realizing that their cause is lost," he added.

Obama stressed the importance of ending the five-year civil war in Syria as key to facilitating a lasting defeat of the IS group.

"So we continue to work for a diplomatic end to this awful conflict," he said.

Earlier Wednesday, Baghdad-based spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said the US-led coalition campaign had successfully entered the second "phase" of operations.

The coalition is working through three main steps as it wages its 20-month-old fight against the IS group, Warren said.

"Our enemy has been weakened and we now are working to fracture him. Phase one of the military campaign is complete," Warren told Pentagon reporters, noting that this initial step was to "degrade" the IS group by stopping it from making additional territorial gains.

"We are now in phase two, which is to dismantle this enemy," he added.

Warren said the final phase of the campaign is to ensure the IS group is dealt a lasting defeat, primarily by enabling local forces to prevent a resurgence of jihadist influence.

Though the IS group maintains a firm grip on vast areas of the two countries, the jihadists have suffered some serious setbacks including the loss of Ramadi in Iraq.

"While ISIL can still put together some complex attacks, they have not been able to take hold of any key terrain for almost a year now," Warren said.
The old well near the beach where Hoang Van Doi believes that the gold was buried. Photo by Tu Huynh

Rumors about a secret looted treasure of Yamashi Tomoyuki, an Imperial Japanese Army General buried deep into a mountain in the southern Binh Thuan province, has intrigued many for decades, but the search for the hidden treasue have so far proved fruitless.

The intriguing myth

Legend has it that during World War II, the Japanese government plundered masses of treasure such as ancient artifacts, art work, gold, diamonds and platinum from Southeast Asian countries to fund its war efforts.

On their way back to Japan, the ships were confronted by American patrol vessels, making it too difficult to ship the treasures to Japan.

General Yamashi Tomoyuki, nicknamed the Tiger of Malaya, decided to hide the treasure in caves, tunnels and mountains along the coast, so when the war ended, Japanese forces would be able to retrieve the treasure.

The general was later executed for war crimes and did not disclose any details about the looted treasure.

Common belief says that treasure was mostly buried in the Philippines, but here in Vietnam, we have a story to tell.

The story goes that the Japanese General was chased by American forces and stopped at Ca Na Bay in Thuan Hai province.

Around 4,000 tons of gold was rumored to have been buried in Tau Mountain near the beach. Soldiers and other servicemen who knew the secret were all buried alive with the treasure.

People in the province believed that after World War II, the Japanese would return to search for the buried treasure.

The legend was fuelled again when in 1976, a Japanese warship was found the sea-bed three nautical miles away from Tau Mountain.

The empty warship reinforced the belief that the treasure from the ship was buried somewhere near the beach.

The hunting for treasure

The treasure has lured many to go on the hunt.

101-year-old Tran Van Tiep, who claimed to own the only secret map of the burial site left by the Japanese forces, has chased the legendary treasure for 20 years, but to no avail.

He believes that the 4,000 tons of gold along with masses of other valuable jewelry are worth $100 billion.

He began the hunt in 2012 when his exploration was licensed by local authorities, and spent millions of dong to hire mining, geological engineers and even psychics to search for the gold.

Tau Mountain, where the treasure is rumored to be buried. Photo by Tu Huynh

Many times, Tiep found tunnel doors, but his hopes were soon dashed when his searches ended empty-handed.

However, his belief in the existence of the treasure was strengthened when he found an old Japanese sword, a 10,000-yen coin and a broken metal hookah during an excavation on the east side of the mountain.

Tiep insisted on continuing his search even though local authorities tried to stop him for causing damage to the environment.

In 2014, it was estimated that nearly 2,000 kilograms of explosives were used.

Like Tiep, Hoang Van Doi, a local, also strongly believes in the existence of the treasure. Doi has spent five years researching the burial site.

In March this year, Doi filed a document to the authorities to prove that the treasure was not buried on the mountain but in an old well near the beach.

Time called on treasure hunt

Nguyen Ngoc Hai, chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee signed a paper on April 12 ordering an end to all excavation activities, and said any requests related to the treasure would not receive an answer from authorities.

Nguyen Van Hanh, a state officer who was in charge of supervising excavation activities for decades, said the evidence provided by treasure hunters had no scientific basis.

I think it is time we end the myth of the treasure as well as public fuss in order to ensure social safety and order in the province, Hanh said.
Warsaw (AFP) - Poland's Solidarity freedom hero Lech Walesa on Wednesday viewed the secret police files that allegedly prove he was a paid communist spy, prosecutors said, adding that the former president again denied their authenticity.

"Documents related to the collaboration of a secret agent codenamed 'Bolek' were shown to Lech Walesa," said the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), which prosecutes Nazi and communist-era crime.

The 72-year-old "denied the authenticity of the documents," the IPN said in a statement, adding that it would now go ahead with handwriting analysis to see if the Nobel Peace laureate's signature matches that of the files.

Walesa has been battling the allegations since February, when the IPN seized the previously unknown regime documents from 1970-76 from the widow of a communist-era general.

Walesa, who is renowned for negotiating a bloodless end to communism in Poland in 1989, denounced the files as "complete fakes" at the time and said he "didn't cooperate" with the secret police.

He enigmatically admitted however to having "made a mistake" and in the past had said he signed "a paper" for the secret police during one of his many interrogations.

Experts have consistently raised doubts about the credibility of communist secret police files, arguing they could easily have been manufactured to frame opposition activists like Walesa.

A special vetting court ruled in 2000 that there was no basis to suspicions that he had been a paid regime agent.

But the rumours persist that he covertly fed the communist regime information while leading the freedom-fighting Solidarity, the Soviet bloc's only independent trade union.

A book published by the IPN in 2008 alleged that while the regime registered Walesa as a secret agent in December 1970, he was cut loose in June 1976 due to his "unwillingness to cooperate".

Poles have mixed feelings about Walesa. His boldness in standing up to the communist regime is still widely respected, but the combative and divisive tone of his later presidency earned him scorn in many quarters.
Panama City (AFP) - Police raided the headquarters of the Panama law firm whose leaked documents have unleashed a global scandal over how the world's elite use offshore companies to hide their wealth.

Organized crime police surrounded Mossack Fonseca's headquarters in Panama City as the offices were being searched, along with several other branches.

Prosecutors said the raids had taken place "with no incident or interference," but gave no details on the results of the searches.

The fallout from the so-called Panama Papers, which law firm Mossack Fonseca claims were stolen when hackers from abroad breached its system, has spread around the world.

A year-long probe by a consortium of investigative journalists examined the papers, which come from around 214,000 offshore entities and cover almost 40 years.

The world's business, political and even sports elite have been thrown onto the defensive.

Iceland's prime minister was forced to resign after it emerged he owned shares in the country's banks through an offshore company during the financial crisis.

Leaders in Britain and Ukraine have faced questions over their taxes, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to divert attention from his entourage by claiming it is all a US plot against him.

China has been censoring online forums and media to stifle discussion of the papers, which showed relatives of eight of its political top brass also owned offshore companies.

And wealthy citizens in Australia, France, India, Mexico, Peru, Spain and elsewhere face probes over suspected tax avoidance after their names figured in some of the 11.5 leaked million documents.

- The bigger picture' -

Panama has hit back at the apparent blemish on its image as an important financial crossroads.

It warned France earlier Tuesday, before the raid on the law firm, of unspecified diplomatic measures if France does not remove it from a blacklist of tax havens.

Paris put Panama back on its national list of uncooperative jurisdictions, after removing it in 2012, in the wake of the leaks.

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France is also urging the European Union and all member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to follow suit.

Such an international designation would deal a heavy blow to Panama's vital financial services sector, which the government has been trying to make more transparent.

Australia's tax commissioner has also said he intends to propose a plan to pool international data to hunt tax dodgers at an upcoming meeting of global tax officials in Paris.

Chris Jordan told a local financial newspaper the probe would be based on a six-country collaboration he set up in 2012 to investigate the world's largest e-commerce companies.

"We're basically trying to get the bigger picture," he told the Australian Financial Review. "It's never been tried on this scale before."

The European Union unveiled plans Tuesday to force the world's biggest multinationals to faithfully report earnings and pay their fair share of taxes, saying the Panama Papers scandal added to the need for change.

Its executive arm said that under the new rules, big companies operating in Europe would have to make public what they earn in each member state of the 28-nation bloc.

Country-by-country reporting has been a major demand of tax activists who accuse big corporations of secretly shifting profits to low tax jurisdictions, often using shell companies such as those exposed in the Panama Papers leaks.
I love movies, says Robert Mrazek, and Ive always loved movies. A five-term Democratic Congressman from New York during the Reagan-Bush years, Mrazek retired from politics in 1993 to write military-themed novels and nonfictionhe now has eight books to his namebut he never lost his love of cinema. And now, at age 70, he is the screenwriter and co-director of his first film, entitled, appropriately enough, The Congressman.

The film, which stars Treat Williams and closed the Sarasota Film Festival last weekend, concerns a burned-out representative from Maine named Charlie Winship, who finds himself at the center of controversy after footage is televised in which he fails to rise for the Pledge of Allegiance on the floor of the House. He retreats to a remote lobster fishing village on the island of Monheganwhere Mrazek himself lives and writes for half of each yearand there reassesses his life with the help of the down-to-earth town librarian (Elizabeth Marvel).

Making films was always Mrazeks ambition. It just took him a little longer to get around to it than most. After leaving the Navy in 1968, he attended the London Film School, where he studied under the director Charles Frend. But after the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, Mrazek says his fledgling film career felt kind of trivial. So he came back to the states, where he went to work for the anti-war Indiana Senator Vance Hartke before launching his own political career, first in the Suffolk County legislature and later in the House.

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But the film bug never left him altogether. In 1987, he spearheaded a U.S. Congressional Lifetime Achievement Award for his favorite director, Fred Zinnemann, of High Noon, From Here to Eternity, and A Man for All Seasons fame. I felt he had done great service to our country culturally, says Mrazek. He came to Washington and he stayed with me for a week, and we became really good friends. A year later, in 1988, Mrazek led the fight for the National Film Preservation Act, at a time when studios were colorizing black and white classics, often to the filmmakers great dismay.

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After Congress, Mrazek says he wrote a few screenplays before one of them, a Vietnam-era love story, came to the attention of producer Fred Roos, whod worked with Francis Ford Coppola on such films as Apocalypse Now and The Godfather Part 2. (As Mrazek says of the former, Roos held things together when Francis was having some emotional issues.) But the script that had attracted Roos was a much bigger budgeted picture, says Mrazek, and its been in development, so to speak. And I thought, Bob, youre 68 years old, if youre going to make a picture youd better get started.

Of his past lifetime in elective politics, Mrazek says merely, I feel that I took a detour for 30 years.

So he wrote The Congressman as an intentionally smaller film and arranged to co-direct with a friend of his who also lived on Monhegan, Jared Martin, an actor perhaps best known for playing champion rodeo cowboy Dusty Farlow on Dallas, when they decided that Larry Hagmans wife ought to have a lover. For inspiration, Mrazek looked to such classics as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Candidate, The Seduction of Joe Tynan, and Local Hero.

Getting Treat Williams to star as Charlie Winship was crucial, Mrazek says: He felt he was on the same journey as the principal character. And when he arrived to shoot the film, he was Charlie Winship. He said, Ive been grinding my career the same way Charlie did in the House. He was perfect for the role. We got so lucky.

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As Williams sees it, his fit was apparent from the start. He describes the role as one of those things that we all strive for later in life. Ive been knocking my head against the wall for 64 years: What am I going to do for the next 20 or so? (The answer, evidently, is that hell play members of Congress: He also stars as Ted Kennedy in HBOs Clarence Thomas drama, Confirmation, which premieres this Saturday.)

The Congressman, which opens in New York and Washington, D.C. on April 29, is a self-conscious throwback of a filmas Williams describes it, a little movie with a big heart. Mrazek says that he deliberately chose to forgo most of the festival circuit because it is not bleak, it is not dark, it is not violent  Im kind of cringing at what our Rotten Tomatoes percentage is going to be. Regardless, Mrazek is clearly enjoying his new career as a filmmaker, however long he may have postponed it. Of his past lifetime in elective politics, he says merely, I feel that I took a detour for 30 years.

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Ross Barkan standing in front of New Yorks City Hall. (Photo: Najib Aminy/Courtesy of Ross Barkan)

The sole national political reporter at the New York Observer announced he would leave the paper after three years in the wake of the papers endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, whose son-in-law, Jared Kushner, owns the Observer.



The Trump endorsement, published online Tuesday evening, drew substantial criticism and became the second major controversy involving the papers relationship with the candidate in recent months.

Ross Barkan, who does not have another job lined up, broke the news in a pair of tweets.

Personal news: Im announcing today that my last day at the New York Observer will be April 27th, Barkan wrote. Im grateful for the three years Ive spent at NYO, and all the experiences Ive had along the way. Most grateful to our readers.

In a conversation with Yahoo News shortly after he announced his departure from the paper, Barkan said it had become increasingly difficult to navigate the Observers Trump connection. Though Barkan was never explicitly told how to cover the election, he said he felt some pressure when he reported on Trump, the GOP presidential primary frontrunner.

Nothing that I wrote or reported was ever not what I wanted to do. There was never, like, Go write this, you have to write this.  Every piece of reporting I did, I stand by it 100 percent, Barkan said. Were there things we couldnt necessarily cover  or were there unspoken rules? The policies and directions werent always clear. I didnt always feel I could report to the fullest extent that I could.

Barkan said he stayed away from certain stories as a result of the Observers family ties.

Perhaps I was self-censoring myself or I felt they wouldnt be welcomed by people above me, Barkan said of potentially difficult Trump stories. But there was never a point where I was directed to do anything.

Kushner, who purchased the Observer in 2006, is married to Trumps daughter Ivanka. In early 2013, Kushner tapped Ken Kurson to be the papers editor in chief. A family friend of Kushners, Kurson had a background in both journalism and politics. Kurson, who was a contributor to Esquire magazine, had been working at a Republican political consulting firm in New Jersey. He also served in the administration of former Republican New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Kurson worked as a consultant and speechwriter for Giuliani, including on the mayors unsuccessful 2008 presidential bid.

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Barkan, 26, started working at the Observer as an intern in late 2012. He became a full-time employee the following year. The Observer has long covered New York politics, but Barkan was named national political reporter earlier this year and hit the campaign trail for the paper.

(Full disclosure: This reporter worked at the Observer from 2011 to 2013, and as senior politics editor supervised Barkan and worked under Kurson.)

Kurson initially said there would be no good way for the Observer to cover Trumps presidential bid given Kushners relationship to the candidate. However, as Trump surged to the front of the Republican primary pack, the paper began covering his campaign, which had become unavoidable and one of the top stories in America. Kurson said the Observer would play it straight when covering Trump, and the stories all included a disclosure statement. As the Observers sole national political reporter, Barkan wrote much of this Trump coverage.

Last month, it was revealed that Kurson helped Trump craft a speech he delivered before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in late March. Kushner also helped write the address. Barkan, who wrote an article about the speech, was unaware that his boss had been involved in writing it until after he filed. He described this as troubling and the first of a series of unforeseen incidents that contributed to his decision to leave the paper.

It had become increasingly difficult, Barkan said, adding, I made my concerns clear.

Barkan said he spoke to Kurson after the incident and asked to be briefed on any other issues that might come up involving Trump. That did not happen, and Barkan said he was surprised when the papers Trump endorsement was published on Tuesday. As is typical for endorsements, it was written as an editorial. While the Observers editorial pages are written independently of the papers news operation, Barkan said he felt that he should have been given a heads-up based on the conversation he had with Kurson following the AIPAC speech. Barkan said this would have allowed him to steel himself for the onslaught of negative online attention that came in the wake of the endorsement.

The Observer has a right to endorse. They can do that. I have no issue with the newspaper endorsing Trump per se. Hes a presidential candidate. If thats who you want to back, go do it, Barkan said. I personally did not know this was happening when it did. I was blindsided by it.

This was the straw that broke the camels back for Barkan, though he said the Observers connection to Trump wasnt the sole factor in his decision to leave the paper.

That was a factor. I dont want to say that was the only factor, because that wasnt it, said Barkan, adding, Id be lying if I said that this last month or so has been easy. It has not been easy given everything thats happened.

In an email to Yahoo News, Kurson simply said the paper was grateful to Barkan for his three years. Barkan also expressed fondness for the Observer.

I dont want to say the Observer cant do national politics  thats not fair. They may hire someone else. There may be adjustments, and it may work swimmingly, Barkan said. I hope it does, because the fate of the Observer is important.  Its a place I still cherish despite everything. And they may be able to do national politics very well. I think for me it was no longer a place that made sense.
El Fasher (Sudan) (AFP) - Polls closed across Sudan's Darfur late Wednesday after a referendum on the restive region's status, with officials hailing the vote as a success despite international criticism and a rebel boycott.

Polling centres closed at 6.00 pm (1500 GMT) at the end of the three-day referendum to decide whether to unite Darfur's five states into a single, autonomous region, with a handful of voters coming to cast their votes late.

"The centres are closed now and the operation went well," said Omar Ali Jomaa, head of the referendum commission.

The commission did yet not have turnout figures as many centres were in remote areas where communication is difficult, he told AFP.

Insurgents who since 2003 have battled the government of President Omar al-Bashir -- wanted on war crimes charges related to Darfur's conflict -- boycotted the referendum.

A single, autonomous region has long been a demand of the rebels but they said ongoing unrest in Darfur meant the vote would be unfair.

Bashir, whose ruling National Congress Party supported the five-state system, insisted the ballot take place as it was stipulated in a 2011 peace agreement signed with some rebel groups.

Washington and Paris had criticised the election, saying conditions in the region meant the result might not be credible.

Heavy clashes between troops and the Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdulwahid Nur in the Marra mountain range at the heart of Darfur have forced at least 100,000 people to flee their homes since mid-January, the United Nations says.

Ethnic minority rebels mounted an insurgency against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum 13 years ago, complaining the region was being marginalised.

There are more than 2.5 million people displaced by the conflict living in the region and 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict, according to the United Nations.
Newly elected Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has appointed Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang, Commander of Military Region 1, to vice minister of national defense, a government statement said on Wednesday.

Giang was born in the northern province of Thai Nguyen. Prior to the appointment, he was deputy chief of general staff and commander of Army Corps 1.

Phuc was appointed prime minister on April 7. He chaired the first working meeting with his cabinet members on Tuesday where he gave directions on immediate issues the country is facing.
Kaziranga (India) (AFP) - Britain's Prince William and Princess Kate jumped into a jeep on Wednesday for a wildlife safari that included feeding rhino and elephant calves, during the latest leg of their India tour.

The royal couple, wearing handwoven gamochas or scarves that are traditional in India's remote northeastern Assam state, also met wildlife officials who are battling to protect vulnerable rhinos from poachers.

In their open-top jeep convoy, the Duke and Duchess, sporting sunglasses, looked relaxed as they navigated the World-Heritage listed Kaziranga National Park, home to two-thirds of the planet's remaining one-horned rhinos.

Kate, wearing a long pink and black printed dress and with giant milk bottle in hand, later fed the calves, smiling and patting them as they slurped the liquid down.

"They had a lot of questions about the wildlife situation in the country," said conservationist Rita Banerji, who met them at the park.

"This visit by the royal couple will definitely help in grabbing attention of a global audience to the threats that endangered species face," Banerji told AFP.

Kaziranga has fought a sustained battle against poachers who kill the rhinos for their horns, which fetch huge prices in some Asian countries where they are used for medicines and jewellery.

A recent census estimated there were 2,400 one-horned rhinos, currently listed as "vulnerable" by conservation groups, in Kaziranga out of a global population of 3,300.

The couple also spoke to locals living on the edge of the forest and watched traditional weaving in one of their houses, an AFP photographer said.

William and Kate are on their first official visit to India, whose 1.25 billion population has long been fascinated with the monarchy of its former colonial master.

They landed in Assam late Tuesday and watched a traditional cultural dance around a bonfire, in the latest stretch of the tour that began on Sunday and has already taken them to New Delhi and Mumbai.

They leave Thursday for neighbouring Bhutan, where they will meet the Himalayan nation's king and queen and embark on a six-hour hike.

The royal couple return to India to finish the tour on Saturday, visiting the famous Taj Mahal where William's mother Princess Diana was famously photographed in 1992.
After 30 years from first meeting, Westley and Inigo Montoya were reunited once again.

Princess Bride fans got an awesome treat on Wednesday when, out of the blue, Cary Elwes posted a picture of himself and Mandy Patinkin. The two men had an epic sword fight as Westley and Inigo Montoya in the 1987 fantasy-adventure classic.

"Wesley & Inigo reunited after 30 years!" Elwes tweeted along with the photo.

Wesley & Inigo reunited after 30 years! #elpescador #madrid #thequeenofspain #lareinadeespana #fernandotrueba pic.twitter.com/cHqte8T30b

- Cary Elwes (@Cary_Elwes) April 13, 2016

Both men have kept busy since rescuing Princess Buttercup from the clutches of Count Tyrone Rugen in the Rob Reiner film.

Patinkin - whose famous line in the film was: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." - has appeared in major roles in TV series including Chicago Hope, Dead Like Me and Criminal Minds. He currently stars as Saul Berenson in Showtime's Homeland.

Elwes has appeared in numerous films including Saw, Glory, Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Hot Shots! and Twister.

He currently stars in the Crackle series The Art of More.

Princess Buttercup, or rather Robin Wright, currently stars in the hit Netflix series House of Cards.
By Patrick Rucker and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leading Republicans on Tuesday outlined a plan to help Puerto Rico shed crippling debt and accused investor-allied groups of misleading lawmakers about the proposal. The rescue would steer creditors and holders of Puerto Rico bonds toward a new, independent board that would seek a fair way to write down an estimated $70 billion in debt. Banks, mutual funds, hedge funds and Puerto Rico citizens all hold paper issued by 18 entities on the U.S. commonwealth and many of those investors, if not all, would face a loss. Lawmakers in Congress are being lobbied - and attacked - by investor groups that are trying to protect their bottom lines. "They are deceitful," said Rep. Rob Bishop, a Utah Republican who leads the House Natural Resources Committee. Bishop said accusations likening the Puerto Rico rescue plan to a government bailout were "crap," and the plan had the virtue of "protecting taxpayers and not spending government money." The rescue plan does, however, adopt some principles of bankruptcy law and that makes it controversial. Investors could be forced into a settlement over the objections of holdout bondholders under certain circumstances, according to a draft of the bill. Some lawmakers said allowing Puerto Rico to modify its bonds could mean chaos for municipal markets. "If they can do it for Puerto Rico, they can do it for every other state," Rep. Tom McClintock said of the damage that the rescue bill would do. McClintock, a California Republican, said he was "very concerned" about the plan after a half-hour meeting Tuesday afternoon of Republicans on the Natural Resources panel. House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement that he supported Bishop's effort because it "holds the right people accountable for the crisis (and) shrinks the size of government." Ryan also said he liked the idea of an independent board settling investor disputes, adding that legislation passed last week to halt payments on Puerto Rico's debt was "troubling." The Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative lawmakers, said in a statement it was still reviewing the bill, but "we are encouraged that there appear to be some improvements." Ryan will need the votes of many fiscally-conservative Republicans - and as is seen likely, some Democrats - if he is to get the rescue package through the House of Representatives. The plan will face a test on Wednesday when the Natural Resources panel begins to amend the plan during a law-writing session known as a "mark up." An aide to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said her office was still reviewing the legislation. (Additional reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Bernard Orr, G Crosse)
Quiet catastrophe, what Ken Kolosh, who studies accidents, thinks of driving.

Holy **#$@#!, we know virtually nothing right now about the biology of most of the tree of life, Jonathan Eisen, a microbiologist.

Look, food culture is emotionally very fraught. People have very strong feelings and they dont want to be told by anybody how to eat, Michael Pollan, who studies food.

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San Rafael del Sur (Nicaragua) (AFP) - A trio of rare Bengal tiger cubs have become the stars of a Mexican circus in Nicaragua, one of the few Central American countries that still allow circuses to own live animals.

The tigers -- one white, one orange and one golden -- were born three months ago to Paulina, a 200-kilogram (440-pound) female in the De Renato Circus, its owner, Renato Fuentes Townsend, told AFP.

Bengal tigers are classed as an endangered species, and Fuentes said "it is the first case I've seen" of such varied coloring in one litter.

His outfit, part of a traditional Mexican circus group called Hermanos Gasca, is unable to return to its homeland because of a law passed there 15 months ago prohibiting circuses from owning live animals, in line with legislation across much of Central America.

The circus has been touring for the past five years with a menagerie that also includes female elephants, two camels, a buffalo, a pony, two miniature donkeys and four horses.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Raytheon Co is being awarded a $1.01 billion cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for 15 Next Generation Jammer engineering development model pods, the Defense Department said on Wednesday.

The Next Generation Jammer system is a pod-based tactical jammer that replaces the 40-plus-year ALQ-99 jammer system on the EA-18G aircraft, the department said.

(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
LONDON (Reuters) - A record number of British energy users have switched from large to independent electricity and gas suppliers, Britain's energy lobby group said on Wednesday, showing that smaller providers are continuing grow retail market share. The country's big six energy suppliers, EDF Energy, Centrica's British Gas, SSE, Scottish Power, RWE npower and E.ON, have seen customer numbers decline in recent years as smaller companies such as First Utility, Good Energy and Ovo Energy are able to offer cheaper tariffs and better customer service. Last month, a record 206,419 customers switched from larger to smaller suppliers, making up 43 percent of all supplier changes, data published by EnergyUK showed. Britons have grown increasingly dissatisfied with poor customer service and high bills, with the Competition and Markets Authority saying in July that it had found customers had been overcharged by some 1.7 billion pounds a year. The "big six" have seen their market share drop to 84.6 percent in the dual-fuel market, compared with 99 percent four years ago, according to data from consultancy Cornwall Energy. Independent supplier Good Energy, for example, reported a 44 percent rise in 2015 customer numbers last month. The total number of users switching suppliers in March, 476,528 customers, was the highest since November 2013, EnergyUK said. "The substantial number of people shopping around and switching to new suppliers is proof of an active market," said EnergyUK chief executive Lawrence Slade. (Reporting by Karolin Schaps, editing by David Evans)
First of all, the Notes section is absolutely amazing. Its hard to find a place on the internet which hosts thoughtful and civil conversations about sensitive subjects.

As an Orthodox Jew, I want to add the following point to give context to the discussion about conversion: Judaism discourages potential converts because it does not view being Jewish [as] the only path to a relationship with God and a life well lived. According to Jewish beliefs, all that is asked of gentiles is to recognize that there is only one God and to commit to observe basic moral obligations (a set of seven commandments commonly referred to as Noahide laws).

Being Jewish is to be part of the covenantal relationship that God established with Abraham and his descendants, a relationship that comes with added responsibilities that are not demanded of the rest of humanity. Because this level of observance is not for everyone, we typically dissuade potential converts and recommend the universal means of serving God, unless they are truly committed to Judaism on principle and not for ulterior motives.

That being said, the Bible does repeatedly remind us to love converts and not hurt them in any way, including emotionally. I echo Alexs suggestion that many Jews questions to converts are a result of curiosity more than anything else. Observant Jews struggle with the tension of leading religious lives in modern society on a daily basis and often wonder how a convert would choose to accept that tension when it would seem much easier to avoid it entirely.
John Kasich is a bit of an optical illusion. He looks like a dudtoo nice to win! but maybe secretly not nice!just so long as you squint and ignore the misty future beyond the Republican National Convention. To the nearsighted, Donald Trump owns this primary, and Ted Cruz is aiming to own the delegates; meanwhile, Kasich got Ohio, and not even all of it. Loser!

But come November, the optics reverse. Nearly every poll suggests Trump will lose catastrophically against Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in the general election. Ted Cruz appears to fare better, but not better enough.

Meanwhile, Kasich somehow excels. Head-to-head polls show him soundly trouncing Clinton and holding his own against Sanders, which is no small feat. This kind of weakling-to-winner turnaround is the stuff of Charles Atlas, with Kasich cast as the shrimp who gets sand kicked in his face but ultimately transforms into the Hero of the Beach, or in this case, the hero of the GOP.

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But its also tough to explain. Most of these head-to-head polls that favor Kasich are conducted nationally, leaving little nuance to explore beyond the top-line results. You cant pick out the battleground states. You cant predict electoral totals.

New data could clear some of that up. A study released today by polling and media firm Morning Consult used more than 44,000 responses to model Kasichs performance against Clinton in every state, showing where the Ohio governor performed best or fell short. Combined with similar analyses pitting Clinton against Cruz and Trumpthough Sanders was left outthe report paints a compelling picture. Kasich appears to be the only Republican left on the field who could win the general election, and hed prevail by courting Midwest states no other Republican can touch.

From the report:

We find that Hillary Clinton would win the presidency with 328 electoral votes to Donald Trumps 210 if the election were held today. In a prospective match up with Ted Cruz, Clinton would receive 332 electoral votes and the Texas Senator would receive 206 electoral votes. On the other hand, if the election were held today, John Kasich would receive 304 electoral votes to Hillary Clintons 234, largely due to strong performances in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Many caveats in this analysis are in store due to the length of time between now and November, the high proportion of adults who are undecided and close margins in key states such as Florida, but the results suggest the 2016 presidential election map will look similar to the 2012 map if Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are their parties respective nominees.

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That last line should haunt the GOP, which reworked its own primary rules to avoid a repeat of Mitt Romneys defeat to Barack Obama in 2012. If Trump wins, the report says hed lose every state Romney lost, save for a victory in Maine. (Cruz actually does worsehe doesnt even win Maine.)

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This is welcome news for Kasich, who stands to win considerably more states than Romney did, according to the report. Though several traditional battlegrounds like Florida, Nevada, and Pennsylvania were too close to call, the fact that these contests are within Kasichs striking distance is telling, especially when Trump and Cruz fall short. Critically, Kasich cleans the floor with Clinton in Ohio, where the report projects hed win by 15 percentage points.

Hes viewed much more favorably than Clinton, than Trump, than Cruz, said Kyle Dropp, Morning Consults cofounder and one of the authors of the report. And his unfavorable numbers are lower than those three by a significant margin  Hes the only candidate of those four that has a positive ratio.

Head-to-head polls conducted this far from Election Day have a bad habit of being wrong. Morning Consult acknowledges this, though the studys authors note that some polling, particularly regarding Trump, has been far more stable than usual. But theyre less interested in their simulated election results than the trend they indicate: The GOPs best candidate may be the man currently in last place.

The Kasich pitch, then, is this: While Trump can deliver the base and Cruz can count on evangelicals, only the governor from Ohio can kick the conservative movement out of its tail-eating and bring new states to the table, re-centering the party with a moderate message that will play as well in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as it will in Mobile, Alabama. And if the Republican nomination race does end in a contested convention, the governors respectable favorability numbers and the time he has spent campaigning could make him a more attractive pick than Trump, Cruz, or a white-knight candidate like House Speaker Paul Ryan (who reallyfor realisnt interested anyway).

The only problem? The impenetrable and perplexing surface tension of this primary race. To Kasich, the view of the future is as clear as watera convention that crowns Trump, an embarrassment of a general election, and Hillary Clinton taking the oath of office on Inauguration Daybut he keeps bouncing against this campaign without breaking through. This report, like many other polls, says Kasich could make a difference for the Republican Party. But he may never have the chance to prove it.

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Newly elected Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has the first working meeting with his cabinet members in which he gives his direction on immediate issues the country is facing, a government statement said late Tuesday.

Chairing his first meeting with the new cabinet, Phuc said the agenda would center around dealing with drought and salinity intrusion, the business environment challenges,budget collection difficulties, stimulating economic growth in the context of natural disasters and falling oil prices, strengthening administrative reform and addressing issues of critical public concern such as food hygiene and safety.

The prime minister directed the cabinet members to implement the following tasks: hold a business development conference in Ho Chi Minh City to restore the confidence of businesses and society with the aim to supporting business development; organize a conference on food safety to be chaired by the prime minister along with heads of relevant ministries and sectors to clarify the state management responsibilities over this issue through concrete and fundamental measures; mobilize forces to work on natural calamities prevention and control; discuss and decide on various key issues in the government monthly meeting in April.

Phucs directions on the Government Office, the State Bank of Vietnam and some ministries are as follows:

The Government Office: watch the social economic situation carefully, not to allow any contingencies of passive and unprepared nature; support the localities in their socio-economic development and quickly settle any unexpected troubles.

The State Bank of Vietnam: update bad loan situation in a practical manner, including the safety of the monetary system, and keep a close watch on monetary policies.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment: maintain the role as the Leader of Macroeconomic Consultant Team; conduct research on protocols, regulations in Official Development Assistance (ODA) capital and public investment with the aim of relieving budget burdens, and come up with more drastic policies to improve the business and investment environment.

The Ministry of Finance: pay more attention to the current fiscal and budget policies; conduct inspection and submit reports on whether there exists waste and losses in use of state assets.

The Ministry of Information and Communications: take charge of giving detailed direction on setting up the e-government in the time to come.
Rihanna has launched her latest kicks for Puma: fur slides (similar to the pair she recently wore on the cover of Fader and has been seen wearing while out and about).

Debuting on April 22, the Fur Slide by Fenty gives Pumas classic Leadcat silhouette a stylish makeover with its faux fur strap and smooth satin foam backing. The slides are offered in white, black and shell (a light pink shade), with Puma stating that the kicks are great to rock with socks or without. Its hardly a shocking suggestion considering RiRi has been seen wearing it both ways (and pulling off the look, of course).

The fur slides are RiRis latest footwear designs for Puma; shes released her highly coveted Creepers, which sold out in a few hours, and Trainers, which dropped in February. More colors of the latter pair are expected to launch this season. Until then, you can find the furry sandals, priced at $80, at Puma stores, puma.com and global retailers April 22 at 10 a.m. Set those alarms, stat.
(photo: Reuters)

Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr announced Wednesday he canceled a summer tour date in North Carolina in protest over the states recently passed anti-gay legislation.

Im sorry to disappoint my fans in the area, but we need to take a stand against this hatred, Starr said in a statement. Spread peace and love.

Starr was slated to play Cary, N.C. on June 18.

The 75-year-old iconic musician joins a growing number of those in the music and movie industry who are boycotting the state over House Bill 2, which was signed into law last month by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.

The controversial legislation prevents in-state municipalities from passing their own anti-discrimination regulations. It also prevents transgender individuals from using the bathroom for the sex with which they identify.

The situation bothers Starr, he said.

How sad that they feel that this group of people cannot be defended, Starr said in his statement.

Bruce Springsteen, mentioned by Starr in his cancelation announcement, also took a stand against the new state law, canceling his show that was to take place last weekend.

To my mind, its an attempt by people who cannot stand the progress our country has made in recognizing the human rights of all of our citizens to overturn that progress, Springsteen said when he canceled his show.

Read More: Bruce Springsteen Cancels North Carolina Concert Over Anti-Gay Bill
Robert De Niro in 2014 (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Robert De Niro may have decided to pull the anti-vaccine documentary Vaxxed for the lineup for the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, which kicks off today, but the actor isnt done talking about the possible connection between autism and vaccines and insists the film should be seen.

Appearing on Wednesdays Today show to talk about the festival, alongside co-founder Jane Rosenthal, De Niro got fired up talking about the backlash to Vaxxed.

I think the movie is something that people should see. There was a backlash that I havent fully explored and I will. But I didnt want it to start affecting the festival in ways I couldnt see, De Niro said. But definitely theres something to that movie and theres another movie called Trace Amounts. Theres a lot of information about things that are happening with the CDC, the pharmaceutical companies. Theres a lot of things that are not said.

De Niro indicated he wanted further investigation and exploration into the causes of autism. I, as a parent of a child who has autism, am concerned, and I want to know the truth, De Niro said. Im not anti-vaccine. I want safe vaccines. Some people cant get a certain type of shot and they can die from it - even penicillinIf youre scientists, lets see, lets hear. Everybody doesnt seem to want to hear much about it. Its shut down and you guys are the ones that should be investigating it.

Read More: Anti-Vaccine Doc Vaxxed: A Doctors Film Review

Recalling how people, including his wife, have said they saw their children change overnight or I saw what happened and I should have done something and I didnt, De Niro said, Theres more to this than meets the eye, believe me.

There is something there. Something there that people arent addressing. And for me to get so upset here, today, on the Today show with you guys means theres something there, the actor continued. All I wanted was the movie to be seen. People can make their own judgment but you must see it.

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Rosenthal also explained that filmmakers were threatening to pull out of the festival over the decision to screen Vaxxed, something De Niro also seemed upset about.

It was like a knee-jerk reaction, especially from the filmmakers frankly that  I didnt even want to ask, he said. But now I will ask.

Rosenthal, who claimed the festival has equally controversial movies still in its lineup, also seemed to feel that Vaxxed had been given more than enough attention.

Read More: Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe: Film Review

Clearly the festival has about a hundred other movies that are in the festival, she said. This was only going to be screened once. Theyve certainly had their voice and their time.
Tehran (AFP) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani will head to Istanbul Wednesday for a summit of Islamic countries which Saudi Arabia's King Salman, Turkey's burgeoning ally, is also attending.

Rouhani and Salman, whose countries' ties plummeted in January when Riyadh cut diplomatic relations, are to take part in an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit on Thursday and Friday.

The 80-year-old Sunni king arrived Monday in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeting him at the airport in a rare break of protocol.

Saudi Arabia cut its diplomatic relations with Iran after a rampaging mob set fire to its missions in Tehran and Mashhad, Iran's second city, in protest at the execution by Riyadh of a prominent Shiite cleric.

The regional rivals have since accused each other of funding terrorism and destabilising the Middle East.

Rouhani will make a speech at the Istanbul summit and hold bilateral meetings with some of the dozens of leaders attending, according to Parviz Esmaeili, a spokesman in the presidency's office.

He will also focus on bilateral economic issues with Turkey, Telecom Minister Mahmoud Vaezi said, according to state television service IRIB.

Iran has moved to improve its relations with Turkey in recent months.

Tehran and Ankara announced earlier this year plans to increase annual trade to $30 billion, IRIB said. Trade for 2014 stood at $13.71 billion but dropped to $9.76 billion in 2015.

However the red carpet treatment for Salman symbolised an emerging Riyadh-Ankara alliance against Shiite Iran's rising influence following Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers that lifted sanctions.

Iran is also the main regional ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose stepping down is necessary, according to Salman and Erdogan, to end the five-year Syrian war.

Iran and Saudi Arabia also remain at odds over a deadly stampede at the annual hajj pilgrimage in the kingdom last year which killed more than 2,000 worshippers including 464 Iranians.

An Iranian delegation on Tuesday went to Saudi Arabia to discuss this year's hajj ceremonies in Mecca and nearby cities.

It will be the first meeting between officials of the two rival powers since protesters ransacked the Saudi missions in January after the execution of Shiite cleric and activist Nimr al-Nimr.
Brasilia (AFP) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff took off the gloves, branding her vice president a traitor and coup-plotter ahead of an impeachment vote in Congress, with a party once in the ruling coalition set to cast a ballot against her.

In a blistering speech, Rousseff, 68, charged: "If there were any doubts about my reporting that a coup is under way, there can't be now."

Referring to Monday's leak of an audio recording in which Vice President Michel Temer practices the speech he would make if Rousseff is impeached, the president said: "The conspirators' mask has slipped.

"We are living in strange and worrying times, times of a coup, and of pretending, and betrayal of trust," she said in the capital Brasilia.

"Yesterday, they used the pretence of a leak to give the order for the conspiracy."

Rousseff is in the final stretch of a bruising attempt to save her presidency from impeachment on charges that she illegally manipulated government accounts to mask the effects of recession during her 2014 re-election.

Temer, who will take over if Rousseff is impeached, countered that a war was being waged against him on both a personal and professional level.

"I'm not waging war, I'm defending myself," he told Globo News.

But making it clear he was ready to step in Rousseff's shoes, Temer, 75, added: "Without being pretentious, but with much modesty, I must say that I have a lot of experience in public life."

After a congressional committee voted to recommend Rousseff's ouster in chaotic and bad-tempered scenes late Monday, the stage was set for a weekend showdown in the full lower house.

- Scramble for votes -

Deputies were due to start debating Friday, with a decisive vote on Sunday, officials said.

"Voting will begin on Sunday at 2:00 pm (1700 GMT) and we calculate that the result will be late that evening," a spokesman for the speaker's office told AFP.

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If the house reaches a two-thirds majority, or 342 deputies, Rousseff's case is sent to the Senate. Anything less, and Rousseff will walk away with her job.

The latest survey of the 513 deputies in the lower house by Estadao daily showed 300 favoring impeachment and 125 opposed. That left the result in the hands of the 88 deputies still undecided or not stating a position.

Then, after hours of meetings, the Progressive Party announced it has decided to pull out of the ruling coalition, and that most of its 47 lawmakers will vote for her to be impeached.

The PP is one of the larger parties previously largely favorable to her.

- Corruption scandals -

Rousseff is hugely unpopular as Brazil sinks into its worst recession in decades. The political system has also been paralyzed by a huge corruption scandal at state oil company Petrobras.

In the latest arrest in the probe, dubbed Operation Car Wash, a former senator who helped lead an anti-corruption committee was charged Tuesday with taking more than $1.5 million in bribes to help corrupt companies avoid scrutiny.

Rousseff and allies, led by ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have fought back hard in the last few days, describing the impeachment drive as a thinly veiled coup plot.

"I would never have thought that my generation would see putschists trying to overthrow a democratically elected president," Lula, who ruled from 2003 to 2011, told thousands of supporters Monday in Rio de Janeiro.

He singled out Temer and Cunha, who has been charged with stashing millions of dollars in bribes in Swiss accounts.

However, Lula himself is charged with money laundering in a Car Wash-related case, and supporters of impeachment say that Rousseff's allegedly illegal manipulation of government accounts fits a pattern of incompetence and corruption.

- Impeachment procedure -

If the lower house does approve Rousseff's impeachment, the case goes to the Senate.

The Senate must then confirm it will take the case, at which point Rousseff would step down for up to 180 days while a trial was held. Temer, who recently left the ruling coalition to enter the opposition, would take over.

To depose Rousseff, the Senate would need to vote by a two-thirds majority, with Temer remaining president to serve out her term.

After winning Monday's skirmish in the committee, opponents of Rousseff declared they were on a roll.

"It was a victory for the Brazilian people," said opposition deputy Jovair Arantes, predicting that the result would carry with "strong" pro-impeachment momentum into the full chamber's vote.

But pro-government deputy Silvio Costa said he was also confident.

"The opposition is very arrogant" after Monday's committee victory, he said.

There were worries that passions will spill over as the lower house vote approaches. Large crowds of both Rousseff supporters and opponents were expected in the capital Brasilia and will be separated by a metal barrier.

More than 4,000 police and firefighters will be on duty, G1 news site reported, and security has been stepped up at Congress, with heavy restrictions on access to the building.
Britain's Prince William and Princess Kate jumped into a jeep on Wednesday for a wildlife safari that included feeding rhino and elephant calves, during the latest leg of their India tour.

The royal couple, wearing handwoven gamochas or scarves that are traditional in India's remote northeastern Assam state, also met wildlife officials who are battling to protect vulnerable rhinos from poachers.

In their open-top jeep convoy, the Duke and Duchess, sporting sunglasses, looked relaxed as they navigated the World-Heritage listed Kaziranga National Park, home to two-thirds of the planet's remaining one-horned rhinos.

Kate, wearing a long pink and black printed dress and with giant milk bottle in hand, later fed the calves, smiling and patting them as they slurped the liquid down.

"They had a lot of questions about the wildlife situation in the country," said conservationist Rita Banerji, who met them at the park.

"This visit by the royal couple will definitely help in grabbing attention of a global audience to the threats that endangered species face," Banerji told AFP.

Kaziranga has fought a sustained battle against poachers who kill the rhinos for their horns, which fetch huge prices in some Asian countries where they are used for medicines and jewellery.

A recent census estimated there were 2,400 one-horned rhinos, currently listed as "vulnerable" by conservation groups, in Kaziranga out of a global population of 3,300.

The couple also spoke to locals living on the edge of the forest and watched traditional weaving in one of their houses, an AFP photographer said.

William and Kate are on their first official visit to India, whose 1.25 billion population has long been fascinated with the monarchy of its former colonial master.

They landed in Assam late Tuesday and watched a traditional cultural dance around a bonfire, in the latest stretch of the tour that began on Sunday and has already taken them to New Delhi and Mumbai.

They leave Thursday for neighbouring Bhutan, where they will meet the Himalayan nation's king and queen and embark on a six-hour hike.

The royal couple return to India to finish the tour on Saturday, visiting the famous Taj Mahal where William's mother Princess Diana was famously photographed in 1992.
An employee adjusts a valve at a geothermal well operated by Indonesia's state-owned energy company Pertamina, in Minahasa, North Sulawesi, Indonesia March 30, 2016 : REUTERS/Adwit B Pramono/Antara Foto

Energy company Pertamina plans to explore for oil and gas in areas close to Indonesia's maritime border in the East Sea to assert the country's territorial rights, the upstream director of the state-owned company said.

"The government needs to have activities around the borders and one of Pertamina's strategies is to support this," Syamsu Alam told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

He said Indonesia had lost sovereignty over two disputed islands in the past because it was not developing those areas.

"So, like the East Sea and the borders in North Kalimantan, we need to have some activities there," he said.

China claims 90 percent of the East Sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas, with overlapping claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Its reclamation of rocky outcrops and development of infrastructure there has caused alarm around the region.

Indonesia is not a claimant and has projected itself as an honest broker in the dispute.

However, there is concern in Jakarta that Beijing believes its maritime territory - demarcated by a u-shaped nine-dash line - includes areas around the Indonesian-ruled Natuna islands.

After an incident last month involving an Indonesian patrol boat and a Chinese coastguard vessel and fishing boat in what Indonesia said were its waters, Jakarta said it "felt sabotaged" in its efforts to maintain peace in the East Sea.

China has said that it recognises Indonesia's sovereignty over the Natuna Islands.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he was not aware of Pertamina's plans.

"China and Indonesia do not have a territorial dispute," he told a daily news briefing.

Alam did not spell out Pertamina's plans for development in the East Sea, but asked about security, he said: "Of course, we have to have support from the military." He did not elaborate on what role the military might play.

He said Pertamina has a three-year timeline for a technical and commercial evaluation of the East Natuna gas field, working with Exxon Mobil, Thailand's PTT and Total .

The company also has interests in other blocks close to Indonesia's other border areas, he added, referring to the Masela and Babar Selaru blocks next to its border with Australia and the Nunukan, Simenggaris and Ambalat blocks in areas next to Malaysia.

Indonesia and Malaysia have been embroiled in a long-running dispute over the oil-rich Ambalat area, off Borneo, while the area between Indonesia and East Timor and Australia contains huge gas reserves.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 2002 that the Sipadan and Ligitan islands off northeastern Borneo belonged to Malaysia, based on evidence that Kuala Lumpur was doing more on the islands to indicate its authority.

Alam said Pertamina has a budget of up to $2 billion for mergers and acquisitions in oil and gas assets this year, and is looking to buy into projects in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Russia among other countries.

Pertamina plans to increase output through mergers and acquisitions by 14,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) this year, and by 117,000 boepd in 2017, he said.

Indonesia's crude production, which peaked in 1981, dipped below 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2011 and is set to fall towards 600,000 bpd by 2020. The country currently has less than 13 years of reserves.

Among the assets Pertamina is eyeing domestically are the East Kalimantan and Rokan oil and gas blocks operated by Chevron , whose contracts are due to expire in coming years.

A spokesman for Indonesia's foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told CNN he is voting for Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential primary, but he is not endorsing the billionaire businessman.

"When I endorse somebody, I join their campaign. I join their campaign staff; their campaign staff sends me out to do speeches and to do things like that," Giuliani said on New Day. "Donald's a very, very good friend. I believe he'd be the best candidate. I think he'd be the person I would like to see win."

Giuliani, who ran for president in 2008 but ultimately dropped out of the race and endorsed Arizona Sen. John McCain, said he was hesitant to endorse Trump because not only does he not know the campaign staff as well as he'd like, there are issues on which he disagrees with Trump.

"I mean, I agree with Donald probably on eight out of 10 positions, which is good enough for me," Giuliani said. "That's what I agreed with Ronald Reagan on - he was my hero. But I have a couple concerns on immigration. There are things I'd have to talk out first before I would go as far as an endorsement."

Still, even without an endorsement, Giullani said he is "urging other people to vote for Donald Trump."

Two people who will not be voting for Trump in the New York primary are his children, Ivanka and Eric, who failed to register in time for the contest.

On Tuesday night, they criticized New York voter registration rules during a town hall with Anderson Cooper.

"We're not a family of politicians; we haven't been in politics very long," Ivanka told Cooper. "New York has one of the most onerous rules in terms of registration, and it required us to register a long time ago, almost close to a year ago, and we didn't do that. We found out about it sort of after the fact."

The siblings said they had known for a while they would not be able to take part in their GOP primary, which in turn led their effort to inform voters about the importance of registration rules for various states.

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"It was a great educational process for us and one that probably helped the campaign out a lot," Eric said.

The New York primary is April 19.

Read More: Donald Trump's Children Fail to Register in Time for NY Primary: "They Feel Very, Very Guilty"
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Russia on Wednesday pushed for measures at the United Nations to monitor extremist groups fighting in Syria, warning of a "clear and present threat" that they could stage chemical attacks, possibly in Europe.

Russia and China presented a draft Security Council resolution that calls on all countries, in particular those neighboring Syria such as Turkey and Iraq, to report any move by armed groups to acquire or produce chemical weapons.

Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the measure would address the threat of chemical terrorism.

"I have not heard anybody claim that they are concerned that the Syrian government may use chemical weapons in a subway in a European city -- all those things are happening with the terrorists," Churkin told reporters.

"We know that they there is a strong concern, with reports that thousands of them have moved to Europe."

"Could some of them have brought with them components of chemical weapons? Could some of them have brought to a European city or European country their knowledge of how to build chemical weapons?"

"Obviously, this is a clear and present threat."

The draft resolution was presented during a closed-door council meeting to discuss progress in a UN-mandated investigation to determine who is behind chemical attacks in Syria.

The joint investigative mechanism (JIM) was set up last year after evidence surfaced of chlorine gas attacks on three Syrian villages in 2014 that left 13 dead.

A strong Syrian ally, Russia reluctantly backed a resolution setting up the JIM after rejecting western claims that the Damascus regime was behind the chlorine gas attacks.

President Bashar al-Assad's regime and rebel groups have accused each other of using chemical weapons in the five-year war that has killed more than 270,000 people.

Churkin said the draft resolution would address a "loophole" in efforts to prevent chemical weapons use by asking for reports from member-states and also requesting that the JIM monitor the armed groups.

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"We do not do any work on the possibility of terrorists actually preparing to build chemical weapons," he said.

Western diplomats dismissed the measure as an attempt to dilute the mandate of the JIM, which is working to draw up a list of perpetrators of chemical attacks.

The draft resolution was also seen as targeting Turkey, which Russia has repeatedly accused of helping jihadists fighting Assad's forces.

A first report by the JIM in February zeroed in on five possible cases of serious chemical weapons use including an attack in Marea on August 21, 2015, that pointed to the likely use of mustard gas by Islamic State militants.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Syria's parliamentary elections on Wednesday aim to avoid a legal vacuum before early elections are held under a new constitution, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday. "The Syrian sides will have to agree on a new constitution, on how they see the structures needed to ensure a steady transition to a new system," Lavrov told a news briefing. "There is an understanding already that a new constitution should emerge as a result of this political process, on the basis of which new, early elections are to be held." "But before this happens, one should avoid any legal vacuum ... These elections held today are designed to play this role of not allowing a legal vacuum." (Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Christian Lowe)
Washington (AFP) - A Russian military jet came within a few feet of a US destroyer in international waters in the Baltic Sea during a series of "aggressive" overflights, US officials said Wednesday.

Russian aircraft repeatedly buzzed the USS Donald Cook this week, including an incident Tuesday in which a Russian Su-24 flew just 30 feet (nine meters) above the ship in a "simulated attack profile," the US military's European Command said.

"We have deep concerns about the unsafe and unprofessional Russian flight maneuvers," EUCOM said in a statement.

"These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries and could result in a miscalculation."

The incidents come at a time of friction between Moscow and Washington over Russian involvement in conflicts in eastern Ukraine and in Syria, and in an area of eastern Europe that the Kremlin considers its "backyard."

EUCOM released video showing warplanes zooming so close past the Cook that one sailor can be heard saying: "He is below the bridge wing," meaning the plane was flying lower than the highest point of the ship.

A senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "This is more aggressive than anything we've seen in some time."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the overflights "entirely inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries operating in proximity to each other in international waters and international airspace."

- Altitude of 100 feet -

The maneuvers began Monday while the destroyer was located about 70 nautical miles from Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave, in international waters.

Two Russian Su-24s flew 20 times past the USS Cook at a distance of less than 1,000 yards (meters) and at an altitude of about 100 feet, the official said.

Then on Tuesday, a Russian Ka-27 Helix anti-submarine helicopter flew seven times around the destroyer, taking photographs as it passed.

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Shortly after, two Su-24s roared toward the ship, making 11 close-range and low-altitude passes, including one that was "so low it created wake in the water," the official said.

The plane was "wings clean," meaning it was not visibly armed, he added.

US sailors tried multiple times to hail the Russian craft on international frequencies but got no response.

"The Russian aircraft flew in a simulated attack profile and failed to respond to repeated safety advisories in both English and Russian," EUCOM said.

"USS Donald Cook's commanding officer deemed several of these maneuvers as unsafe and unprofessional."

A Polish helicopter had been conducting drills on the destroyer and was refueling during one of the overflights.

"As a safety precaution, flight operations were suspended until the Su-24s departed the area," EUCOM said.

The Pentagon periodically decries the risky tactics displayed by Russian pilots.

"There have been repeated incidents over the last year where the Russian military, including Russian military aircraft, have come close enough to each other or have come close enough to other air and sea traffic to raise serious safety concerns," Earnest said.

Exactly two years ago -- on April 12, 2014 -- a Russian Su-24 made numerous close-range, low-altitude passes near the USS Donald Cook while it was in the Black Sea, in an incident the Pentagon at the time called a "provocative act."
Verona (Italy) (AFP) - As he swirls a glass of yellowy green wine made from the trendy pecorino grape, Fabio Centini purrs with enthusiasm.

"I hadn't even heard of this grape 15 years ago," the Italian-born chef-restaurateur from Calgary, Canada tells AFP between slurps at a tasting of top pecorinos from the Offida area of the Marche region.

"But it is exactly what my customers want. People are looking for new varietals, new experiences."

Centini is one of 55,000 industry professionals from 141 countries gathered in Verona this week for VinItaly, a giant showcase for the best the country has to offer the world's wine lovers.

The 50th edition is the biggest yet and crammed aisles speak volumes about the buoyant state of a sector that employs 1.25 million people and produces more wine than any other country.

Led by a boom in sales of prosecco, which has surpassed champagne to become the world's favourite bubbly, exports of all forms of Italian wine hit a record 5.4 billion euros ($6.2 billion) last year, up more than five percent on 2014.

The trend looks like continuing. A Mediobanca survey found 92 percent of producers anticipating higher sales in 2016, underpinned by investment which grew 18 percent overall last year and by 37 percent in the surging sparkling sector.

- Strength in diversity -

It is all a far cry from the days when Italian wine was synonymous internationally with straw-wrapped bottles of chianti of variable quality and sometimes questionable provenance.

"They have taken out a bit of the monkey business," says Centini, a VinItaly regular since 1990. "There was a time when you didn't always know what was in the bottle."

Although recent growth has been led by sparkling wine and strong sales of easy-drinking pinot grigio and other competitively priced varietals, there has also been an awakening of interest in Italy's indigenous red grapes.

These include aglianico, negroamaro, nero d'avola and primitivo (which shares its DNA with zinfandel) from the south and Sicily, and montepulciano from the central region of Abruzzo, where producers have been quietly picking up international awards in recent years.

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The sheer variety can be baffling for consumers and a shortage of strong producer brands is seen as a weakness on global markets.

But Italian wine expert Andrea Grignaffini says diversity is becoming a strength.

"Often the same grape gets made in a different style in different parts of the country, even in the same zone. It is complicated even for us Italians to understand.

"But that's Italy. And the industry is moving so fast now, fashions change. When the moment of one wine passes, it is good to have others to take their place."

Change is also afoot at the top end of Italian wines with producers in Tuscany and Piedmont battling to catch up with the Asia-driven gains of France's Bordeaux and Burgundy.

International critics have recognised a major leap forward in terms of the quality and consistency of the best brunellos, chianti classicos, barolos and barbarescos since the 1980s.

- Italy 'better than France' -

But Stephanie Cuadra, of leading Tuscan estate Querciabella, said Italy's fine wine champions also had to be able to transmit "a sense of origin, a sense of place," in the way that Burgundy, where tiny parcels of land are classified on the basis of minute variations of soil and micro-climates, has done very successfully.

"In terms of fine wine, we are an obvious alternative to France and as palates mature in emerging markets they become more curious, it is a natural evolution," Cuadra said.

Moves towards officially recognising sub-zones in Italy's leading wine areas have got bogged down by local battles over re-classifying areas in a way that will inevitably produce winners and losers.

While insisting that Italy's wines are better than their French rivals, even Prime Minister Matteo Renzi acknowledges that the French have done a better job of selling their wines on global markets.

French wine retails at prices that are 120 percent higher on average than Italy's output and total Gallic export earnings are some 60 percent higher.

"In the last 20 years, Italy has let too many opportunities slip by in this sector," Renzi said during a visit to VinItaly on Monday.

The flipside is that there is still plenty of room for growth, particularly in Asia, which accounted for only 3.4 percent of Italian exports last year. Italian producers are noticeably underperforming in China, which increased imports by 60 percent overall in 2015 but by only 15 percent from Italy.

That was one reason why Renzi's guest at VinItaly was Jack Ma. The Alibaba boss told his audience that the Internet could provide a digital bridge linking Italy's 300,000 producers with what is potentially the biggest wine market in the world.

"China will be home to half a billion upper-to-middle-class consumers in the next 10 years," Ma said. "You must reach out to them where they are."
Energy company Pertamina plans to explore for oil and gas in areas close to Indonesia's maritime border in the South China Sea (Vietnam's East Sea) to assert the country's territorial rights, the upstream director of the state-owned company said.

"The government needs to have activities around the borders and one of Pertamina's strategies is to support this," Syamsu Alam told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

He said Indonesia had lost sovereignty over two disputed islands in the past because it was not developing those areas.

"So, like the South China Sea and the borders in North Kalimantan, we need to have some activities there," he said.

China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas, with overlapping claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Its reclamation of rocky outcrops and development of infrastructure there has caused alarm around the region.

Indonesia is not a claimant and has projected itself as an honest broker in the dispute.

However, there is concern in Jakarta that Beijing believes its maritime territory - demarcated by a u-shaped nine-dash line - includes areas around the Indonesian-ruled Natuna islands.

After an incident last month involving an Indonesian patrol boat and a Chinese coastguard vessel and fishing boat in what Indonesia said were its waters, Jakarta said it "felt sabotaged" in its efforts to maintain peace in the South China Sea.

China has said that it recognises Indonesia's sovereignty over the Natuna Islands.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he was not aware of Pertamina's plans.

"China and Indonesia do not have a territorial dispute," he told a daily news briefing.

Alam did not spell out Pertamina's plans for development in the South China Sea, but asked about security, he said: "Of course, we have to have support from the military." He did not elaborate on what role the military might play.

He said Pertamina has a three-year timeline for a technical and commercial evaluation of the East Natuna gas field, working with Exxon Mobil, Thailand's PTT and Total .

The company also has interests in other blocks close to Indonesia's other border areas, he added, referring to the Masela and Babar Selaru blocks next to its border with Australia and the Nunukan, Simenggaris and Ambalat blocks in areas next to Malaysia.

Indonesia and Malaysia have been embroiled in a long-running dispute over the oil-rich Ambalat area, off Borneo, while the area between Indonesia and East Timor and Australia contains huge gas reserves.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 2002 that the Sipadan and Ligitan islands off northeastern Borneo belonged to Malaysia, based on evidence that Kuala Lumpur was doing more on the islands to indicate its authority.

Alam said Pertamina has a budget of up to $2 billion for mergers and acquisitions in oil and gas assets this year, and is looking to buy into projects in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Russia among other countries.

Pertamina plans to increase output through mergers and acquisitions by 14,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) this year, and by 117,000 boepd in 2017, he said.

Indonesia's crude production, which peaked in 1981, dipped below 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2011 and is set to fall towards 600,000 bpd by 2020. The country currently has less than 13 years of reserves.

Among the assets Pertamina is eyeing domestically are the East Kalimantan and Rokan oil and gas blocks operated by Chevron , whose contracts are due to expire in coming years.

A spokesman for Indonesia's foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment.
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has barred its religious police from pursuing suspects or making arrests, curbing the powers of an institution whose aggressive enforcement of the Islamic kingdom's strict morality rules has drawn criticism from more liberal Saudis. The force, which hardline clerics say is central to imposing Saudi Arabia's austere form of Sunni Islam, patrol public spaces to enforce bans on alcohol, music, prayer time store closures and the mixing of unrelated men and women. It also imposes strict modesty requirements on women's dress. But from now on, members of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) will not be allowed to pursue, question, request identification from or arrest suspects, according to a cabinet statement carried by state news agency SPA. Members must instead report suspected crimes to the police or drug authorities, who will carry out law enforcement actions. Members are now also required to show identity cards while carrying out official duties, the statement said. The move signals a possible shift to rein the religious police. Speculation had swirled they could be given greater leeway under King Salman after he sacked a reform-minded religious police chief, a sworn foe of Saudi conservatives, in one of his first decisions after assuming the throne last year. The new decree also established the role of the president of the CPVPV as a ministerial level position, appointed directly by royal decree. The squad has come under fire online and in local media over several high-profile cases of car chases resulting in fatal accidents, prompting the commission's president to ban such pursuits in 2012. However, a chase the following year killed a member of the Saudi police and put the commission in the spotlight after video from one of the passenger's phones was posted on social media. The commission again stirred controversy online last month after video posted on social media showed members beating a young woman outside a Riyadh mall. The patrol had tried to force the woman to cover her face, local media reported. (Reporting by Katie Paul; Editing by Alison Williams)
By Lin Noueihed and Omar Fahmy CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi King Salman's trip to Egypt was meant to display the strength of ties between the two allies. But Cairo's transfer of two Red Sea islands to Riyadh during the visit stung Egyptian pride and drew criticism of what some saw as excessive Saudi influence. The visit was meant to bury claims that diverging priorities in Yemen and Syria had damaged relations and demonstrate that Egypt and Saudi Arabia were vital to each other's security. But after five days of official obsequiousness towards the 80-year-old monarch and no sign of any direct Saudi aid money, Saturday's news on the islands overshadowed the visit's original purpose. Outraged Egyptians accused their once-popular president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, of giving up land to curry favor with the Saudis. Cartoons on social media showed the Sphinx in a traditional Gulf Arab headdress while the front page of Al Maqal newspaper asked: "Are we living the years of the Saudi Republic of Egypt?" On Twitter, the hashtag "I feel like selling what to Saudi Arabia" trended on Tuesday, with commentators suggesting Egypt flog everything from self-serving lawmakers to Sisi himself. Beyond the trip's public relations debacle, Sisi faces uncomfortable questions about the future of relations between the two countries as Saudi largesse is shrinking and Egypt appears to have little to offer in return. Egypt has struggled to get its economy back on track since the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. Saudi Arabia has showered Egypt with billions of dollars in aid since 2013, when Sisi ousted elected President Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood and banned the Islamist movement, which Riyadh opposes. But falling oil prices have forced Saudi Arabia to overhaul its economic policies and rethink priorities. Early in the royal trip, a Saudi businessman told Reuters there would be no more free money for Egypt. [nL5N17B4P0] After all, despite the billions Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have provided bail Egypt out, Sisi took only a limited role in the Saudi-led war in Yemen and disagrees on key aspects of the war in Syria. With Middle East in turmoil, the two countries still need each other, analysts agree, but are running out of ways in which they can help each other. Egypt needs Gulf Arab money to keep itself afloat and the controversial decision to hand back the islands should be seen in that context, said Amr Adly, nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center. "We can expect things that are very desperate. And giving up the islands is already very desperate," he told Reuters. REGIONAL SUCCESS, DOMESTIC DEBACLE Saudi and Egyptian officials said the uninhabited islands of Tiran and Sanafir belong to the kingdom and were only under Egyptian control because Saudi Arabia's founder asked Egypt in 1950 to protect them. But the agreement to hand them over, which still needs ratification by Egypt's parliament, caused consternation among many Egyptians, who were taught in school that the islands were theirs. As the furor filled newspapers and airwaves, Sisi invited a group of parliamentarians, ministers and opinion-formers to the presidential palace to reassure them that he would "not sell our land to anyone and would not take land from anyone." In a speech, Sisi said Egypt did not want to cause problems with Saudi Arabia by refusing to return its land and repeatedly beseeched his audience to stop questioning the move. "I'm not taking this issue personally at all ... but please let's not talk about this issue again," he said. But even Egyptians who were willing to accept the islands as Saudi property were upset that Israel was consulted in advance -- the islands are entangled in Egypt's 1979 peace deal with Israel -- but the Egyptian people and parliament were not. The announcement was buried at the bottom of a cabinet statement issued late on Saturday, giving the impression that the government had hoped no one would notice. "What hurts most is the phone call to Tel Aviv that came before everything, and these massive headlines in the most important newspaper in Egypt reassuring Israel before explaining anything to the Egyptian people," prominent journalist Yosri Fouda wrote on his Facebook page. The next day, King Salman visited parliament, where lawmakers waved the Saudi flag and repeatedly interrupted proceedings with thunderous applause and impromptu poetry recitals. Above the parliament building, next to the Egyptian flag, fluttered the green banner of Saudi Arabia. Al Masry Al Youm newspaper counted the times lawmakers clapped in the 15 minutes the king was in the house -- 23. The spectacle added to a general sense among Egyptians that economic mismanagement and reliance on Saudi aid had left them too beholden to their neighbor. For the Saudis, at least, the king's visit achieved its objectives. The extraordinary length of his stay and engagements that included a meeting with the Coptic Pope and a visit to Cairo University, along with $4 billion in private sector investment pledges, reinforced the message that ties were close, though perhaps uncomfortably close for some Egyptians. "He basically established to the region that Riyadh and Cairo stand shoulder to shoulder even if they don't agree on certain issues and that disagreement on certain issues may be annoying but not to the extent that it is upsetting the relationship in a disturbing fashion," said H.A. Hellyer, senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council. "The visit was a failure in terms of Egyptian public opinion because of the islands issue ... But it's dubious to think that upset is going to snowball." (Additional reporting by Eric Knecht, Amina Ismail and Ahmed Aboulenein; editing by Giles Elgood)
By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - Kids who are constantly sick early in childhood may have a much harder time in school than their peers who dont have a history of chronic illness, a recent study suggests. Researchers assessed school readiness in almost 23,000 children in Western Australia by looking at motor skills and physical independence, social skills, emotional maturity and behavior, language and cognitive abilities and communication skills. Compared with generally healthy children, chronically ill kids were 19 percent to 36 percent more likely to be developmentally delayed in these areas by the time they reached school age. Previous research has indicated that factors such as school absence and academic disengagement may play a role in older children with chronic illness having lower academic outcomes, said lead study author Megan Bell of the University of Western Australia. Our study shows that chronic illness experienced in early childhood can increase the chances of a child starting school not ready to learn, Bell added by email. To explore the impact of illness on school readiness, Bell and colleagues examined government health data on children born in 2003 and 2004 who had developmental evaluations completed by teachers in 2009. A total of 2,879 kids, or about 13 percent, had a diagnosed chronic illness. Nearly all of them had just one persistent medical problem, but 7.4 percent of this group had two or more chronic diagnoses, researchers report in the journal Pediatrics. By far, the most common problem was ear infections, which accounted for 71 percent of the diagnoses, followed by respiratory diseases such as asthma at 27 percent. About 3 percent of the children had epilepsy or anemia. One percent or less of the kids had other medical problems including cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, malnutrition or obesity. Illness appeared to take the biggest toll on physical and social development. After adjusting for factors like the age, health and marital status of parents, as well as the childrens ethnicity, English abilities and socioeconomic status, researchers found chronic illness associated with 36 percent higher odds of delays in social skills. Chronically ill kids were also 34 percent more likely to be delayed in physical abilities such as independent dressing, running and climbing, and drawing. These children also had 33 percent higher odds of delays in emotional maturity and 30 percent greater likelihood of lags in communication skills like storytelling and imaginative play. Language and cognitive skills also suffered, with chronically ill children 19 percent more likely to have delays in these areas than their healthy peers. One limitation of the study is that data on chronic illness came from hospital admissions, which might represent sicker children or kids without good access to primary care, the authors note. This might also mean some children classified as healthy in the study actually had chronic health problems that never resulted in hospitalization, and that some kids designated as sick might be more severely ill than other children with the same diagnosis. Even so, the study adds to a growing body of evidence linking common childhood health problems like ear infections and asthma to developmental delays, said Michael Willoughby, a fellow in early childhood education at RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, who wasnt involved in the study. It is entirely conceivable that these two conditions are simply proxies for kids with pre-existing language and attention issues that are manifested at school entry, Willoughby added by email, noting that these problems might be also be easier for teachers to spot. At the same time, the study offers more evidence that academic success depends very much on health even at an early age, said Dr. Irwin Redlener, president and co-founder of the Childrens Health Fund and a researcher at Columbia University in New York. We need to really understand how health and education are inexorably linked, Redlener, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email. This is the case for all children, but is especially important for children who face additional chronic adversities like poverty, toxic stress or chronic illness. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1RTWfbp Pediatrics, online April 13, 2016. (Corrects publication date in Source line to April 13)
By Deena Beasley (Reuters) - A $250 million grant from Silicon Valley billionaire Sean Parker, announced on Wednesday, aims to speed development of more effective cancer treatments by fostering collaboration among leading researchers in the field. The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy will include over 40 laboratories and more than 300 researchers from six key cancer centers: New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering, Stanford Medicine, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, San Francisco, Houston's University of Texas MD Anderson and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "Any breakthrough made at one center is immediately available to another center without any kind of IP (intellectual property) entanglements or bureaucracy," Parker, the co-founder of music-sharing website Napster and the first president of Facebook, told Reuters in an interview. The institute will focus on the emerging field of cancer immunotherapy, which harnesses the body's immune system to fight cancer cells. Recently approved drugs such as Yervoy and Opdivo from Bristol Myers Squibb Co and Merck & Co Inc's Keytruda have helped some patients sustain remission. But those first-generation therapies do not work for everyone, and scientists are trying to understand how to make them more effective. "Very little progress has been made over the last several decades," Parker said, referring to cancer drug research. "Average life expectancy has only increased three to six months with some of these drugs that cost billions to develop." THREE KEY RESEARCH AREAS The institute has identified three key areas of research - modifying a patient's own immune system T-cells to target a tumor; studying ways to boost patient response to current immunotherapy drugs; and research to identify other novel targets to attack a tumor. Parker said the current system of cancer drug development discouraged the kinds of risk-taking that could lead to a major breakthrough. The new institute "is paradigm shifting," said Dr. Jedd Wolchok, chief of the melanoma and immunotherapeutics unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He said it would alleviate the need for scientists to secure grants, which he said took up at least 30 percent of his time, foster collaboration among accomplished scientists and provide access to the newest information processing and data technology. "I have no doubt this will allow us to make progress, and to make it much more quickly," Wolchok said. The Parker Institute aims to ensure members can easily share research discoveries and tools, as well as jointly conduct clinical trials with standardized data collection and operations. Parker said the aim was to maximize the return on investment by holding off on licensing deals until later in the research process, or even after a drug has been approved by regulators. Any profits would be funneled back into the institute. Patented discoveries made by the cancer center researchers will be shared 50-50 with the institute. A committee with members from each cancer center as well as representatives of the Parker Institute will review potential licensing deals. Jeff Bluestone, a professor at UCSF and an early researcher of immunotherapy, was appointed president of the Parker Institute. Parker credited his late friend Laura Ziskin, a Hollywood producer known for such films as Pretty Woman and founder of Stand Up To Cancer, with raising his awareness of the need to overhaul cancer research. She died of the disease in 2011. "Losing Laura transformed me," he said. (Reporting by Deena Beasley in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney)
The European Commission and the International Energy Agency will address the impact of the energy crisis on SMEs in an online event on 21 October.
By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's U.S. Supreme Court selection, failed to persuade Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley during a private meeting on Tuesday to hold confirmation hearings on his nomination. "As he indicated last week, Grassley explained why the Senate won't be moving forward during this hyper-partisan election year," Grassley's office said in a statement that described the meeting as "cordial and pleasant." The two men met for 70 minutes in the Senate dining room. The Iowa Republican two decades ago also sought to block Garland's nomination to the federal appeals court on which he currently serves as chief judge. Garland later met privately with Lisa Murkowski, one of the dwindling number of moderate Senate Republicans. Her office issued a statement that also seemed to close the door on confirming Garland. Garland was nominated by Obama, a Democrat, on March 16 to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the Feb. 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Republicans who control the Senate are refusing to advance the nomination, prompting Democrats to accuse them of obstructionism and of ignoring their constitutional obligations. Republicans insist that the next president, to be elected on Nov. 8 and take office Jan. 20, fill the vacancy, hoping a Republican will win the White House and choose a conservative rather than the centrist Garland. Democrats applauded those Republicans willing to meet with Garland but said public hearings are essential. "Dark-money groups (conservative contributors) are trying to do the Republicans' dirty work and sully Judge Garland's name while Republican senators prevent Judge Garland from explaining his views to the public," New York Senator Chuck Schumer told reporters. "That is cowardly, it's backward and it is wrong." The White House released a letter written by 15 former presidents of the American Bar Association to Senate leaders urging a timely hearing and a vote on Garland's confirmation. "The stated refusal to fill the ninth seat of the Supreme Court injects a degree of politics into the judicial branch that materially hampers the effective operation of our nation's highest court and the lower courts over which it presides," the former ABA leaders stated. The conservative Tea Party Patriots and Judicial Crisis Network praised Grassley for holding firm against hearings. In a Reuters-Ipsos poll that included 900 registered Democrats and 788 registered Republicans conducted April 5-12, 55 percent said the Senate should hold confirmation hearings. The respondents were split along party lines, with 61 percent of Democrats supporting Garland's confirmation compared to 22 percent of Republicans. (Reporting by Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Will Dunham)
(Reuters) - U.S. Senator Al Franken asked federal regulators and Medtronic Inc for detailed information about injuries associated with the company's bone graft Infuse following a newspaper report that Medtronic hid thousands of adverse events linked to the product. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on Sunday that Medtronic studied the outcomes of 3,600 patients who received Infuse between 2002, when the product was approved, and 2006. Doctors reported more than 1,000 adverse events. But, instead of reporting the events to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, within 30 days of discovering them, as required by law, Medtronic hid them, the Star Tribune said. Medtronic officials told the Star Tribune that the database of adverse events was misfiled internally and was reported to the FDA after it was rediscovered more than five years later. It said no patients were hurt by the delay. Medtronic's operational headquarters is in Minneapolis. Franken, a senator from Minnesota, asked Medtronic to clarify what information it gave the FDA and when. He also asked for information about how staff are trained to report adverse events and more details on the nature of the previously unsubmitted data. Medtronic said in an email it had received Franken's letter and looked forward to discussing the issues with him. It said the newpspaper's claims were "false." In an extensive response to the article published by the Star Tribune on Monday, Medtronic said that once it discovered the study in 2013, it concluded that the adverse event data "were consistent with those already known across a wide body of literature and clinical study." Franken asked FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf to provide more detail on the range of injuries captured in the previously unsubmitted adverse event data. He also asked what proportion of the injuries were related to approved versus unapproved uses of the product. Franken also asked whether the apparently high rate of injury was consistent with other data the agency had on the product before it received the unsubmitted adverse event data. "Your agency's mission is to protect patients, first and foremost," Franken wrote. The article, he wrote, "suggests that we need a strong commitment from the FDA, companies, and Congress to revamp medical device surveillance in this country with a focus on improving patient safety." A spokeswoman for the FDA, Angela Stark, said the agency had received the letter and would respond directly to Franken. (Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
It was love at first write. I saw the pen sitting in its perfect packaging, on display like something straight out of an Etsy shop. So I grabbed one from the shelf, forked over $8.95 and slipped out the hefty white pen with a silver tip and a micro version of the Golden Gate Bridge printed in signature red on its clip. Then I twisted the top and heard the crisp click and I knew it was all over. It was time to part ways with all of the other, lesser writing devices scattered in drawers, resting at the bottom of handbags and stored in strange crevices in my car. Gone were the days of lingering in the school supplies aisle at Target, debating the virtues of the countless pen packs on display. And I couldnt be happier.

Seven Year Pens get their name from their life span. Designed to hold an ultra-large ink cartridge, theyre meant to last  yes, you guessed it  seven years. That is, if you keep your doodling to less than 1.7 meters a day. Ive had mine for only two years, so I cant personally vouch for the makers claim, but Gay W. Lam, the founder of Seltzer Goods, which sells the pens online and in artsy gift shops and boutiques across the U.S., says there are pens in the Seltzer offices that are far older than seven years. Plus, she says, the manufacturers conduct all sorts of rigorous testing.

Pens 1

The Swiss-made pens come in more than 35 brightly colored designs. Two of our personal favorites: the sun-yellow pen with a green pineapple and the white pen with a piece of sizzling bacon and a fried egg. Then theres the orange pen with a navy-blue dachshund and the seafoam-green one with a purple mermaid. Really, theres a pen for every personality. Avery Steele first saw the pens in grad school in Los Angeles when she was studying creative writing; her teacher was using one with glasses on it. Shes been obsessed ever since, and she now owns about 12. Her favorite? A pink one with a black cat. I have three black cats, she explains. Its me all wrapped up in a pen. Some people, like Steele, treat the pens as collectors items, and new designs, including seasonal ones, are released regularly. The pens are special, Lam says, because theyre embellished with witty motifs that make writing more fun and add color to your office. Her favorite is the Little Dipper.

Aside from the cute factor and the bragging rights (my pen lasts longer than yours!), there are more practical reasons for turning to the write side. Each year, according to some old (and, oddly, the most recent) EPA data, Americans throw away close to 1.6 billion pens. Instead of buying and tossing pens into ever-accumulating piles of garbage, you can invest in one (or three) of these puppies and say sayonara to the others.

While it might not break the bank to lose a pricier pen, it does hurt a little more, as Christina Lam (no relation to Gay W. Lam) found out. The owner of digital marketing consultancy Cup of Joe Social bought a black-and-white pen with a cartoon panda on it (a fitting choice given her bamboo tattoo). Her 20-month-old toddler managed to hide it from her: I now have lost a $9 pen, and I didnt even get to take it for a test drive, she says.

It reminds me of the time when my pen disappeared, only to reappear a couple of months later, on a co-workers desk. The separation was tough, but at long last we are back together. The bigger problem is that I work with pen thieves.

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By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - Women who think their man expects perfection in bed may have so much performance anxiety that they don't have any fun during sex, a recent study suggests. "It is possible that believing that one's sexual partner expects sex to be perfect leads to sexual performance anxiety which may then have a negative effect on a women's sexual function, causing difficulties becoming aroused and lubricated during sexual encounters," said study co-author Laura Harvey, a psychology researcher at the University of Kent in the U.K. "Another explanation is that women who believe that their partner expects and puts pressure on them to be the perfect sexual partner may experience negative feelings towards their partner, which may in turn negatively affect their sexual function," Harvey added by email. To understand how different types of sexual perfectionism may influence women's experiences in bed, Harvey and co-author Joachim Stoeber of the University of Kent surveyed 366 women aged 17-69 years. The survey included 230 students who were about 20 years old on average as well 136 internet users who were typically around 30 years old. They looked at what's known as sexual perfectionism that is self-oriented, meaning the standards people impose on themselves; partner-oriented, or the expectations people have for their partners; partner-prescribed, or what people think their mate wants; and socially-prescribed, or the standards people think they're supposed to meet based on cultural norms. Setting high standards wasn't necessarily bad when it was women establishing these goals for themselves. This was linked to increased desire, arousal and lubrication as well as higher self-esteem, the study found. By contrast, women who focused on sexual ideals imposed by society tended to have lower self-esteem - just as low as the women who thought their lovers demanded perfection. Sexual anxiety ran higher for women who set high standards for their partners, and even higher still when women thought their lovers expected perfection from them. After the initial survey, researchers followed up with a subset of 164 women three to six months later, asking the same questions about sex. Over time, partner-prescribed sexual perfectionism predicted increases in sexual anxiety and decreases in sexual esteem, arousal and lubrication, researchers report in the Archives of Sexual Behavior. One limitation of the study is that many women failed to complete the second round of surveys, making it harder to draw firm conclusions about how sexual dynamics might change over time, the authors note. In addition, one third of the women surveyed didn't have an ongoing sexual relationship at the time of the first survey, and they responded to questions based on their recollections of past encounters. The attitudes about sex reflected by the relatively young survey population may also not represent how women experience sex and sexuality as they age. Still, the findings highlight struggles that many people may experience with sex, said Michael Aaron, a sex therapist in private practice in New York who wasn't involved in the study. "Our society is filled with sexual myths and misconceptions, mostly stemming from a combination of our culture's puritanical roots, as well as rampant consumerism, which feeds off individual insecurities to sell unnecessary products," Aaron said by email. Younger women are more susceptible to this kind of pressure than older women, Aaron added. By their 30s and 40s, women tend to know what they want in bed and have no problem telling their partner about it, said Christian Joyal, a psychology researcher at the University of Quebec Trois-Rivieres who wasn't involved in the study. Earlier in life, women may be less certain of their own desires or less confident articulating what they want, Joyal said by email. If they did speak to their partners, these women might find their lovers actually didn't expect perfection. Men, not just women, should understand this because it may hold the secret to better sex. "The key is communication," Joyal said. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1SAqArd Archives of Sexual Behavior, online March 28, 2016.
Music is important to director John Carney. The Irish filmmaker is behind the music-centric movies Once and Begin Again, and his latest film Sing Street continues in his auditory-oriented filmmaking.

"Really what the film is about is that no matter what is happening to you, when you are a kid - the bullies after you, you hadn't done your homework, you didn't get the girl - you had your music and your headphones and you were okay," says the Carney in a featurette for his latest film.

Sing Street, a semi-autobiographical endeavor for Carney, is set in 1985 and follows the story of a Dublin teenager who forms a rock 'n' roll band to win the heart of an aspiring model.

"We wanted to write songs that felt like they had been written in the '80s. In a sense, I think the '80s are the last true decade that didn't sound like anything before," said the director. The film features original music performed by the movie's stars, including Ferdia Walsh-Peelo and Mark McKenna.

The film is a celebration of music and the intersection of the two, all taking place against the backdrop of the mid-1980s.

The featurette for the coming-of-age tale concludes with Jack Reynor, in character as the protagonists' older brother, dispensing wisdom, saying, "No woman can truly love a man who listens to Phil Collins."

Sing Street hits theaters on April 15.

Read More: 'Sing Street': Sundance Review

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A Singapore woman who lives as a man has been acquitted of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl because the judge said the law on which the charges were based relates only to men with a penis.

Zunika Ahmad, 40, who is biologically a female but has passed herself as a man since her youth, pleaded guilty last year to six counts of sexually assaulting the minor using a sex toy and her fingers.

But in a landmark ruling on Tuesday, high court judge Kan Ting Chiu threw out the guilty plea and acquitted Zunika, saying the Penal Code provision under which she was charged applies only to males.

The ruling sparked strong reaction among women's and gay rights activists.

"No matter the gender (of the assailant) or whether they have a particular body part does not make it any less traumatising for the victim," said Jolene Tan, a senior manager at the Association of Women for Action and Research, which also runs a care centre for victims of sexual assault.

Such discrimination is common for transgender people in Singapore who have not undergone a sex change, said Leow Yangfa, executive director of Oogachaga, an organisation that gives support and counselling to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) community.

The Singapore government classifies gender based on anatomy.

The judge said the provision, enacted in 2007, specifically covers a person with a penis even if he did not use the organ in the assault.

"The reference to a person who has a penis cannot be construed to include a woman without doing violence to common sense and anatomy," the judge ruled, adding that parliament must amend the law if it is to include females.

Zunika, who was living with two "wives", was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment on the lesser charge of having a sexual relationship with a person aged under 16.

She could have faced up to 20 years' in jail for each of the sexual assault charges.
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed a member of the security forces in Libya at a checkpoint south of Misrata on Wednesday, while five people were killed - including three who were beheaded - at a nearby military camp, officials and a hospital spokesman said. Aziz Issa, head of the media office at Misrata's central hospital, said the suicide car bomb had detonated near the Essdada checkpoint, about 80km (50 miles) south of the western port city. Four members of the security forces were injured, he said. Islamic State militants have staged several attacks on checkpoints on the coastal road south of Misrata, which leads towards the group's Libyan stronghold of Sirte. A security source said militants also attacked a military camp early on Wednesday between the coastal road and the town of Bani Walid, south-east of Misrata, and seized weapons and ammunition. An official from Bani Walid's town council said two members of the security forces had been killed in the clashes along with three camp workers who had been beheaded. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Writing by Aidan Lewis; editing by John Stonestreet and Hugh Lawson)
(www.samsung.com)Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge

After Samsung released the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge devices this year in February, the company subsequently started to ship these phones to customers. However, since then, a number of customers have noted that they have had problems with these devices and now it appears that Samsung has taken note of them and is sending out an update.

Reporting on the upcoming update for these devices, SamMobile states that it has the build number XXU1APD1. This particular update is going to bring a number of new features to the Galaxy S7 lineup and this includes the ability to rectify the positioning of skewed photos, but the major benefit is going to come in the form of better palm rejection for the Galaxy S7 Edge. The Galaxy S7 Edge has dual curved edges on the display that flow over the right and left side of the device, and many people were complaining that they had issues with them.

Importantly, the issues resulted when people could not get the device to recognize input from their fingers as their palms were simultaneously touching the curved screen of the device. However, Samsung already released an update to address the issue, but many users have stated that the issue was not completely fixed. Therefore, many are looking forward to the XXU1APD1 update to fix the issue, and Samsung has hinted that it has indeed been addressed.

As for the other new features that are arriving in the update, it includes the ability to rectify skewed photos. This particular feature can be accessed from the camera settings option in the Galaxy S7 and the S7 Edge, but there are no indications how this works as the update number XXU1APD1 has not been downloaded and installed.

Coming to the release of the XXU1APD1 update, it has already been stated to arrive on user's devices in Europe where it is rolling out OTA. As of now, there are no indications when this update is due to arrive in the United States, but it appears likely to land this week.
Bratislava (AFP) - Leftist Premier Robert Fico sealed a coalition deal with three rightwing and centrist parties Wednesday, handing his party a third term in office and averting the risk of an early election ahead of Slovakia's EU presidency.

His populist Smer-Social Democracy (Smer-SD) clinched an 81-seat majority in the 150-member parliament along with the right-wing, eurosceptic Slovak National Party (SNS), Siet liberals and the Most-Hid party Hungarian minority party.

"We have reached an agreement of four political parties on the will to form a government coalition," Fico told reporters Wednesday in Bratislava.

"I want to submit this agreement to the president as soon as possible," he added.

A settlement had been given added urgency with Slovakia due to take the the helm of the rotating six-monthly EU presidency from July 1.

As the senior coalition partner with 49 seats, Smer-SD controls the prime minister's office as well as the culture, economy, foreign affairs, finance, health, interior, labour and social affairs portfolios.

The 15-seat SNS took farming, defence, and education, while the 11-seat Most-Hid scored justice and environment. Transportation went to the 10-seat Siet.

Three Siet MPs and one from Most-Hid refused to enter the government.

It has vowed to create 100,000 new jobs by 2020 in the successful eurozone economy of 5.4 million people and to slash corporate tax from 22 to 21 percent.

A record eight parties entered parliament in the March 5 election, a fragmented result that had threatened to trigger fresh elections.

- 'Tackling corruption' -

Pavol Babos, a political analyst with the Slovak Academy of Science, told AFP the new government is a marriage of convenience forged to avoid an early ballot, but the partnership is likely to last "at least until the end of the Slovak EU presidency" in December.

Zsolt Gal, a political scientist at the Bratislava-based Comenius University, said that tackling corruption would be among its most urgent tasks.

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"Public procurement and the drawing of EU funds is riddled with corruption, it is a system-wide phenomenon in Slovakia," Gal told AFP.

Wednesday's coalition deal is in part a return to the 2006-10 partnership Fico forged with what was then a more stridently nationalist and xenophobic SNS.

Both parties campaigned on a staunchly anti-Muslim and anti-refugee platform, something analysts say paved the way for the extreme right Our Slovakia to enter parliament for the first time with 14 seats.

Its leader Marian Kotleba is known for harsh anti-Roma and anti-migrant views and for leading street marches with party members dressed in black neo-Nazi black uniforms. All parties have ruled out cooperating with him.

An ex-communist renowned for his strong populist streak, Fico previously cut food taxes, boosted childcare allowances, hiked the minimum wage and gave pensioners and student free train tickets to engineer a quick recovery after philanthropist Andrej Kiska beat him to the presidency in 2014.

But his generous spending has not bloated public debt. Slovakia's debt-to-GDP ratio hovers around 53 percent, among the lowest in the 19-member eurozone.

It boasts the world's per capita biggest auto-making sector and economic growth there hit a robust 3.5 percent in 2015.

Official projections show it is set to hover around 3.2-3.3 percent this year and next. Joblessness sank to a 10-year low of 10.4 percent in January.
The world's most popular ephemeral messaging app is adding another layer of fun with moving stickers.

The key to keeping an app popular is to make it sticky' but with the latest update, Snapchat seems to be taking this advice literally.

Now when you want to decorate a video clip with emoji or other stickers before briefly sharing it, you can set the visual embellishments to move in concert with the video itself.

The new animated sticker feature is available for Android starting Wednesday and will be rolling out to iOS shortly
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Treasury said on Wednesday it was still considering an application by state-owned arms manufacturer Denel to do business with a company owned by the Gupta family, which has been under scrutiny over its alleged close ties to President Jacob Zuma. South Africa's top banks and some audit firms recently cut ties with the holding company for the Gupta family's businesses, Oakbay Investments, following speculation that the family has undue influence with Zuma. Some of those companies cited reputational risk as a reason for ending the ties. According to South African media reports, Denel said last week that it had set up a joint venture with a Gupta-associated company, VR Laser Services, and that all legal processes had been followed. The Treasury, however, said on Wednesday that Denel submitted an application on Dec. 10 to set up the joint venture but the department requested further information before approving the deal. "The Minister of Finance is still considering this application, and further information has been requested from Denel," the Treasury said in a statement. State-owned companies are required to obtain approval from relevant government departments, including the finance ministry, before making major financial transactions, it said. The joint venture, to be called Denel Asia and based in Hong Kong, would manufacture a variety of steel products for defence, mining, rail and transport industries and would be 51 percent owned by Denel and 49 percent owned by VR Laser Services, media reports said. Oakbay Investments lists VR Laser among the firms that are part of the group on its website. Oakbay officials were not available to comment. The relationship between Zuma and the wealthy Gupta family has been under scrutiny for years but it burst into the open last month when senior figures went public to say the family had exerted undue influence, including offering cabinet positions. Zuma has denied suggestions the Guptas wield undue political power. The Guptas have also dismissed such reports, saying they are pawns in a plot to get Zuma out of office. (Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by James Macharia and Susan Fenton)
Donald Trump campaigns in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in February. (Photo: Matt Rourke/AP)

Donald Trump continued this week to lose ground to Sen. Ted Cruz in the race for second-ballot delegates, whose votes will matter in a contested convention. In the latest setback, a caucus in one of the seven congressional districts in South Carolina picked delegates who are likely to support Cruz if the national convention goes to multiple ballots.

The process illustrates the complex system by which delegates are actually chosen in many states, which Trump, a political novice without a strong national organization, has been denouncing as rigged against him.

The three Republican delegates from the states fourth district are, like all 50 South Carolina delegates, bound by state party rules to vote for Trump on the first ballot, based on his win in the states primary in February.

However, if the national convention isnt settled on the first ballot, it looks likely that many of the 50 delegates from the Palmetto State would desert Trump, who came in first in the primary, but with only 33 percent of the vote. The national convention will go to multiple ballots if Trump does not win at least 1,237 delegates out of the 2,472 available from 50 states, six U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. Currently, Trump has 743 delegates to Cruzs 545 and 143 for Kasich.

However, South Carolina is not the only place Trump has failed to organize at the state level. He is facing delegate setbacks in Virginia, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Tennessee, Louisiana, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Wyoming, Washington State, Missouri, and California.

In South Carolina, only 12 of the states 50 delegates have been chosen so far, counting the state party chairman, Matt Moore, and the states two members of the Republican National Committee, Glenn McCall and Cindy Costa, who serve automatically. Over the next few weeks, the remaining four congressional districts will caucus to choose three delegates each. Then on May 7, 870 delegates to the state convention will chose an additional 26 national convention delegates.

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Of the 12 picked so far, only one  Jerry Rovner of Georgetown County  is considered likely to keep voting for Trump beyond the first ballot. State insiders believe the other 11 will desert the New Yorker once they are no longer bound. And they say thats likely to be true for many or most of the delegates yet to be named.

The 870 state delegates were chosen a year ago at county conventions, which were preceded by county precinct meetings. A little over 3,000 people participated in the process of picking the 870 state delegates.

The majority of the people at the state convention are not Trump people, said Tony Denny, who is a delegate to the state convention and has been a national delegate to the last three conventions.

Denny, who served as rules chairman of the state party for four years, said that Trump supporters are trying to get organized but added: I dont get the sense theres any big Trump movement underway.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz greets supporters in Seneca, S.C., in February. (Photo: Paul Sancya/AP)

On Saturday, Trump lost five of six delegate slots to Cruz in two other congressional districts  the third and the seventh  in the Palmetto State. Four other congressional districts  the first, second, fifth and sixth  have yet to hold their nominating conventions.

Trump won the South Carolina primary vote on Feb. 20, with 33 percent of the vote, to 22 percent for Sen. Marco Rubio, 22 percent for Cruz, 8 percent for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, 8 percent for Ohio Gov. John Kasich and 7 percent for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Combining Trumps share with the votes for Carson  who has dropped out and endorsed Trump  only gets to 40 percent; the remaining three-fifths of the Republican electorate either supported a candidate who is still running, or whose base doesnt seem to overlap much with the New Yorker.

And so far, Rovner is the only delegate openly committed to staying with Trump past the first ballot, though he added that if it gets down to the point where we have to unify, I will unify. Im not going to be an idiot.

Rovner expressed outrage that other delegates would switch their support away from Trump on multiple ballots.

These people, theyre hypocrites, he said, noting that many delegates who are for Cruz or Kasich on a second ballot often complain to him that their representatives in Congress dont listen to their constituents.

Rovner rejected the idea that there was a conspiracy against Trump, or that delegates were being siphoned away by corruption. The United States, he said passionately, is a republic, not a democracy. But he added that if Trump doesnt get all of South Carolinas 50 delegates to stick with him, then voters who supported Trump will be sent a message that their vote doesnt matter.

The system is not rigged, he said. But Rovner said that Democrats who crossed over to vote for Trump in the Republican primary dont get represented at all by either party.

The only people who can be delegates are those who work within the system. I feel a higher calling to represent those people who dont participate because theyre too busy or choose not to, Rovner said.
Musician and singer-songwriter St. Vincent is to make her directorial debut with the upcoming horror anthology film "XX" reports Rolling Stone.

St. Vincent -- real name Annie Clark -- will direct one of four shorts as part of the anthology, all of which will be directed by and star only women.

Joining Clark on the project will be Jennifer Lynch, who has previously worked on episodes of "The Walking Dead," Jovanka Vuckovic, who directed the 2013 short film "The Guest", and Karyn Kusama, from "Jennifer's Body", "on Flux," and "Girlfight".

Although Clark will be filming her short this spring, no release date for the anthology has yet been announced.
Welcome to a very special downgrade edition of trending tickers. These are the stocks you're watching based on your Yahoo Finance ticker searches.

Starbucks spills on downgrade

First up, we have Starbucks (SBUX). The stock struggled to wake up this morning after Deutsche Bank downgraded it from "buy" to "hold." Deutsche Bank expects the shares will have limited upside, in part due to the changes in its domestic loyalty program. Shares fell 3% since yesterday, but despite the slight dip, the stock is up a strong 21% over the past year.

Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App

Avon powdered on downgrade

Avon (AVP) was downgraded by Piper Jeffrays to "neutral" from "overweight." Piper Jeffrays says the shares are fairly valued following the rally that occurred in 2016. Avon is down 46% over the past year, hitting a low of $2.38 in January.

L Brands slips on lower growth estimates

L Brands (LB) is the final downgrade casualty. The Victoria Secret parent was brought down a notch from "buy" to "neutral" by Goldman Sachs. The stock has slid nearly 20% since the start of the year, hitting a 2016 low today of $76.05 per share. Goldman expects that restructuring at Victoria's Secret could weaken near-term sales growth.

Domino's fails to deliver

Dominos Pizza (DPZ) was downgraded from "buy" to "hold" by Maxim Group, citing valuation. Maxim analyst Stephen Anderson is maintaining the price target of $138. Domino's shares are up about 23% in 2016.

QEP Resources rated as "overweight"

QEP Resources (QEP), the oil and gas production and marketing company, was rated as "overweight" by JPMorgan, with a $17 price target. Shares are trading around $15, and are up 13% this year.

More from Yahoo Finance:

Earnings season will be awful  Here are 2 reasons why you shouldn't panic

Heres another tax dodge for billionaires

Wall Street bull emerges, makes bold call on stocks

This Wall Street CEO thinks consumers are doing just fine
Nineteen months ago, the violent extremist group DAESH, also known as ISIL, controlled about one third of the territory of Iraq, and much the same in Syria. Supremely confident after their rapid conquest of these territories, ISIL trumpeted to the world its conviction that its fighters were unstoppable.

Today, it is clear that DAESHs days are numbered, said Secretary of State John Kerry during a recent press conference in Baghdad.

In Iraq, DAESH fighters have not been on the offensive in months. They are losing ground, including more than 40 percent of the territory that they once controlled in Iraq, he said.

Over the past year, Iraqi forces liberated Tikrit and most of the citys population has returned. Kurdish and Yezidi forces liberated Sinjar, Iraqi Security Forces retook Ramadi and Syrian Democratic Forces have retaken thousands of square kilometers from Daesh in northeast Syria.

The coalition bombing campaign has also seen great success, having cost DAESH tens of thousands of fighters and more than a hundred senior and mid-level leaders, including their so-called ministers of war and finance.

There is still much to do, but DAESH is clearly on the defensive. Today, we are gearing up for recovery. Before displaced Iraqi civilians can return home, significant work needs to be done to stabilize areas that encountered significant levels of destruction due to Deashs occupation and the fight required to liberate these areas.

For that reason, the United States has joined other members of the Coalition to contribute a total of over $100 million to the United Nations Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilization. The program, led jointly by the UN Development Programme and the Government of Iraq, helped over 100,000 Iraqis return to their homes in Tikrit. Now it is working to do the same in Ramadi through restoring basic services, so people can return to their homes there.



Since the beginning of the crisis, the United States has provided more than $623 million in humanitarian aid to Iraqi refugees, and in Baghdad Secretary Kerry announced an additional $155 million for Iraqis affected by the ongoing violence.

Our support for the Iraqi people, said Secretary of State Kerry, is part of our larger commitment to a future Iraq as defined in its constitution, an Iraq that is unified, pluralistic, federal, and democratic.
Stocks rocket higher fueled by oil's big ride. Catch the Final Round at 4 p.m. ET as Jen Rogers and Rick Newman break down the big rally.

Facebook F8 underway

We take a look at all the new messenger technology and chatbots Facebook revealed today at its F8 developer conference.

Jim Rickards on gold

Gold just wrapped up one of its strongest quarters in over 30 years, with a gain of 16% in Q1. But will gold continue to shine? We spoke with James Rickards, author of the book The New Case for Gold.

Winners and losers

Stocks selling off today include L Brands on a Goldman downgrade; Starbucks also with a downgraded, this time by Deutsche Bank; and Och-Ziff Capital Management with shares tanking on reports the DOJ is pushing the fund manager to plead guilty in a criminal case regarding alleged bribery overseas and pay $400 million civil fine. Och-Ziff has around $45 billion in assets under management.



And its upgrade Tuesday for these winners, starting with Chesapeake Energy getting bumped to hold from sell at Tudor Pickering, Corning upgraded to a buy with a new price target of $26 by Goldman Sachs; and Yandex, the Russian search engine, also getting an upgrade from Goldman, with analysts giving it a buy rating as Wall Street starts showing Russia some love again.

Looking ahead
An elderly Christian woman has been caned in a conservative Indonesian province for selling alcohol, the first time someone from outside the Islamic faith has been punished there under strict religious laws.

The 60-year was whipped nearly 30 times with a rattan cane before a crowd of hundreds in Aceh province Tuesday, an official said, along with a couple who were subjected to 100 lashes for committing adultery.

Aceh is the only province in the predominantly Muslim country that applies sharia law, and public canings for breaches of Islamic code happen on a regular basis and often attract huge crowds.

Those caught engaging in adultery, same-sex relationships, drinking and even associating with unmarried members of the opposite sex can end up facing the cane.

Though the law once only applied to Muslims, a bylaw that took effect late last year allowed sharia regulations to be applied to non-Muslims in certain situations, Lili Suparli, a senior official at the Central Aceh prosecutor's office told AFP.

"This is the first case of a non-Muslim being punished under Islamic criminal bylaw," he said, referring to the punishment of the Christian woman.

Aceh began implementing sharia law after being granted special autonomy in 2001, an effort by the central government in Jakarta to quell a long-running separatist insurgency.

Islamic laws have been strengthened since the province struck a peace deal with the central government in 2005.

More than 90 percent of Indonesians describe themselves as Muslim, but the vast majority practise a moderate form of the faith.
NIAMEY (Reuters) - Fuel deliveries from Niger's only oil refinery were disrupted on Wednesday by the start of a three-day strike over working conditions and pay, a local union official said. The Soraz refinery, a joint venture between China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) [CNPET.UL] and the Nigerian government, processes about 12,000-16,000 barrels of oil per day, offering Niger's only large-scale means of transforming crude oil into petroleum products such as gasoline. "The strike is well observed", the oil workers union's spokesman Cisse Amadou told Reuters. "The loading of the tankers is almost paralysed. Usually we load around one hundred fuel trucks per day, at this moment only a dozen have been loaded." CNPC was not immediately available for comment. An official in the oil ministry, who asked not to be named, acknowledged the strike but said that supplies will not be disrupted because deliveries can be drawn from stockpiles. The refinery, in which CNPC holds a 60 percent stake and the Nigerian government the rest, is located 800 km (500 miles) east of the capital Niamey, and processes crude from CNPC's fields in the Agadem zone in the east for supply to the domestic market and to importers in Mali and Burkina Faso. Workers at the plant, which employs over 400 Nigerians, launched a series of protests last year because of discrepancies in pay between local and Chinese employees. "This has to stop", Amadou said, saying that the union was ready to strengthen protests. (Reporting by Abdoulaye Massalaki; Writing by Marine Pennetier,; Editing by Edward McAllister and David Evans)
By Anthony Langat MARSABIT, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - At 7am, the Kubi-Qallo borehole near Goro Rukesa village in northern Kenya is already a hive of activity, as dozens of herders line up for their animals' turn to drink at the watering trough. Five years ago, it didnt rain for a whole year in this part of Marsabit County. Scarcity of forage and water wiped out Ali Kulas stock of 50 cattle and around 100 goats. It was painful to see my cattle and goats die in the field for lack of grass, he said. The government bought his few remaining cattle for 2,000 shillings ($20) each. By the time he received a payout for his two insured cows, it was too late. He couldn't save his cattle, and his family ended up depending on food aid. But the next time the rains fail, things will be different for Kula, now queuing at noon with his 10 cattle and 30 goats for water from the solar-powered borehole. Unlike in the past, when he didn't know what he would do if drought hit, the 38-year-old is confident at least some of his livestock would survive. That is because he has spent around $30 to insure one of his cattle and 10 goats through a new livestock insurance product. It uses satellite imagery to determine forage availability, with payouts triggered when a lack of rain shrinks grazing to less than 20 percent of ideal conditions. The index-based insurance programme is run by the Kenya-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and funded by the British, U.S. and Australian governments and the European Union. The donors subsidise the cover to make it affordable for pastoralists. A range of insurance companies sell policies to herders across northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. PROTECTION AGAINST LOSS ILRI first piloted index-based insurance in Marsabit in 2010. Then, clients received payouts after a drought, at the end of a failed rainy season, to help them replace their assets. By the time payouts were made, some or all of the clients cattle, sheep, goats and camels had died, causing households like Kulas to lose their entire source of income. According to the Kenya Post-Disaster Needs Assessment for the 2008-2011 drought, there were substantial livestock deaths in that period, mostly in the north, worth an estimated KSH 56.1 billion ($561 million). That situation pushed ILRI to adjust the insurance product to pay out faster. "We are now providing asset protection, said Andrew Mude, the principal economist in charge of the ILRI project. The idea is to intervene before loss. With the new product, livestock owners are compensated when satellite imagery reveals poor rains have caused forage to become scarce, meaning they receive the money before their animals starve to death. That has persuaded more herders to purchase the insurance, Mude said. Marsabit County again served as the test ground for the improved product. Edin Ibrahim, an insurance coordinator with APA Insurance there, said he had seen a significant increase in sales after the launch. Prior to the first payout under the new product in 2015, his agents made sales to 644 clients. This year, they have already sold 1,000 contracts. Our clients now understand the concept better. When rain fails, they get payouts to sustain their livestock until the rain comes, Ibrahim said. FREE COVER Even so, some households cannot afford the premiums to insure their livestock. Others like Kula can only cover a proportion of their animals. To help them, Kenyas Ministry of Agriculture has enlisted financial support from donors to assist poor households in insuring at least five tropical livestock units (TLUs) for free. One unit represents either one cow, 10 goats, 10 sheep or 0.7 camels, with the payout per unit set at KSH 14,000 ($140). The amount is based on how much it would cost to keep animals alive rather than replace them. So far, the government has launched this assistance in Turkana and Wajir counties, where around 5,000 households have benefited from free insurance. These households represent 420,000 people whose livelihoods have been safeguarded, said Julius Kiptarus, Kenyas director of livestock. He expects that by March 2017, poor households will have access to free coverage in northern Kenya's other counties, including Marsabit. Unlike in 2010, when Kulas family had to depend on food aid, the herder can rest easy in the knowledge that his main source of income will remain intact at the end of the dry season. If drought comes, he already has his course of action figured out for when he gets his insurance payment. I will buy enough feed for all my cattle and goats. I will also buy medicine for them, and use the rest of the money to buy household items for my family, said Kula. (Reporting by Anthony Langat; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
By Anthony Langat MARSABIT, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - At 7am, the Kubi-Qallo borehole near Goro Rukesa village in northern Kenya is already a hive of activity, as dozens of herders line up for their animals' turn to drink at the watering trough. Five years ago, it didnt rain for a whole year in this part of Marsabit County. Scarcity of forage and water wiped out Ali Kulas stock of 50 cattle and around 100 goats. It was painful to see my cattle and goats die in the field for lack of grass, he said. The government bought his few remaining cattle for 2,000 shillings ($20) each. By the time he received a payout for his two insured cows, it was too late. He couldn't save his cattle, and his family ended up depending on food aid. But the next time the rains fail, things will be different for Kula, now queuing at noon with his 10 cattle and 30 goats for water from the solar-powered borehole. Unlike in the past, when he didn't know what he would do if drought hit, the 38-year-old is confident at least some of his livestock would survive. That is because he has spent around $30 to insure one of his cattle and 10 goats through a new livestock insurance product. It uses satellite imagery to determine forage availability, with payouts triggered when a lack of rain shrinks grazing to less than 20 percent of ideal conditions. The index-based insurance program is run by the Kenya-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and funded by the British, U.S. and Australian governments and the European Union. The donors subsidize the cover to make it affordable for pastoralists. A range of insurance companies sell policies to herders across northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. PROTECTION AGAINST LOSS ILRI first piloted index-based insurance in Marsabit in 2010. Then, clients received payouts after a drought, at the end of a failed rainy season, to help them replace their assets. By the time payouts were made, some or all of the clients cattle, sheep, goats and camels had died, causing households like Kulas to lose their entire source of income. According to the Kenya Post-Disaster Needs Assessment for the 2008-2011 drought, there were substantial livestock deaths in that period, mostly in the north, worth an estimated KSH 56.1 billion ($561 million). That situation pushed ILRI to adjust the insurance product to pay out faster. "We are now providing asset protection, said Andrew Mude, the principal economist in charge of the ILRI project. The idea is to intervene before loss. With the new product, livestock owners are compensated when satellite imagery reveals poor rains have caused forage to become scarce, meaning they receive the money before their animals starve to death. That has persuaded more herders to purchase the insurance, Mude said. Marsabit County again served as the test ground for the improved product. Edin Ibrahim, an insurance coordinator with APA Insurance there, said he had seen a significant increase in sales after the launch. Prior to the first payout under the new product in 2015, his agents made sales to 644 clients. This year, they have already sold 1,000 contracts. Our clients now understand the concept better. When rain fails, they get payouts to sustain their livestock until the rain comes, Ibrahim said. FREE COVER Even so, some households cannot afford the premiums to insure their livestock. Others like Kula can only cover a proportion of their animals. To help them, Kenyas Ministry of Agriculture has enlisted financial support from donors to assist poor households in insuring at least five tropical livestock units (TLUs) for free. One unit represents either one cow, 10 goats, 10 sheep or 0.7 camels, with the payout per unit set at KSH 14,000 ($140). The amount is based on how much it would cost to keep animals alive rather than replace them. So far, the government has launched this assistance in Turkana and Wajir counties, where around 5,000 households have benefited from free insurance. These households represent 420,000 people whose livelihoods have been safeguarded, said Julius Kiptarus, Kenyas director of livestock. He expects that by March 2017, poor households will have access to free coverage in northern Kenya's other counties, including Marsabit. Unlike in 2010, when Kulas family had to depend on food aid, the herder can rest easy in the knowledge that his main source of income will remain intact at the end of the dry season. If drought comes, he already has his course of action figured out for when he gets his insurance payment. I will buy enough feed for all my cattle and goats. I will also buy medicine for them, and use the rest of the money to buy household items for my family, said Kula. (Reporting by Anthony Langat; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
By Khalid Abdelaziz EL FASHER, Sudan (Reuters) - Darfuris concluded voting on Wednesday in a referendum on whether to reunite the states of their arid western region, amid a boycott by rebel groups that accuse the government of rigging the vote to keep Darfur divided. The Sudanese government's decision to split Darfur into three states in 1994 helped fuel discontent that eventually erupted into fighting - rebels and many from the large Fur tribe said the break-up allowed Khartoum to weaken and rule them. Officials said turnout was high in the vote, which Sudan has presented as a major concession. Results are expected next week. "According to the reports we've been getting, there has been large turnout and widespread participation from voters," Darfur referendum commission head Omar Ali Gemaa told Reuters. The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against the Arab-led government based in the capital Khartoum, accusing it of discrimination. According to the United Nations, some 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur, 4.4 million people need aid and more than 2.5 million have been displaced. Although violence has eased in recent years, the insurgency continues and Khartoum has escalated attacks on rebels over the past year. At least 130,000 people have fled fighting in the central Jebel Marra area since mid-January alone. The two main rebel groups fighting in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army, have accused the government of rigging the vote in its favor, to keep Darfur split into several states. They have called on their members to boycott the referendum and have said a political settlement must come first, warning that this week's vote will only lead to more violence. Some who chose not to vote said the referendum would not address their immediate concerns. "We're in need of food, water, and protection from militias...those going hungry aren't concerned with whether Darfur is a region or state," said 43-year-old Ahmed Adam, a resident of an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp. The United States this week expressed "serious concern" over "inadequate registration" in the referendum. "If held under current rules and conditions...it will undermine the peace process now under way," a U.S. State Department statement said. Others found reason to reunite Darfur into a single state. "I support Darfur becoming a state and I voted for this, because the state system offers better services in terms of education and health," said 21-year-old university student Nadra al-Tahir. Analysts and diplomats say the government opposes a unified Darfur, concerned that this would give the rebels a platform to push for independence - just as the south successfully did in 2011, taking with it most of the country's oil reserves. (Additional reporting by Ola Noureldin; Writing by Eric Knecht; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Settlement talks over the control of media mogul Sumner Redstone's health care have run into complications, but one of the attorneys involved in the case says the issues do not involve financial matters.

Pierce O'Donnell, who represents Redstone's former companion Manuela Herzer, who is seeking to regain control of medical decision-making for Redstone, tells The Hollywood Reporter that negotiations are continuing.

"We have hit a snag in the documentation," he says. "It is not over [a] monetary issue. We remain hopeful that we can resolve our differences. A settlement is in everyone's best interests. But if we have to go trial, we look forward to it."

There were reports late Monday that talks had broken down and the case appeared to be heading back to trial. Herzer has described the Viacom founder as a "living ghost" and claimed he is not mentally competent to make decisions regarding himself and his companies. She sued to regain control of his care, which had been transferred to newly minted Viacom CEO Phillipe Dauman.

Redstone's attorneys had argued Herzer was trying to invade Redstone's privacy for financial reasons. Dauman had been scheduled to be deposed, but that was put off in light of settlement talks.

The exact specifics of the proposed settlement haven't been disclosed, but sources close to the situation tell THR the deal includes a payout to Herzer, keeps Viacom in Dauman's hands and will eventually put Redstone's daughter Shari in control of his medical care.

Another source with knowledge of the situation expressed the same sentiment: Activity on the deal is ongoing, but an agreement has not yet been signed.

"There are a lot of moving parts and a lot of nonmonetary deal points, procedures and protocols that need to be fleshed out," the source says. "Sometimes issues arise that need to be addressed in a complex settlement that has multiple layers."

Story continues

A representative for Redstone's attorney declined to comment.

If the deal doesn't happen, a trial is scheduled to begin May 6.

The development in Herzer's case comes a day after a Wall Street Journal report that puts Dauman at odds with one of his key executives, Paramount chief Brad Grey, over whether the ailing mogul approves of a plan to sell off part of the film studio. Dauman visited Redstone at his home in Beverly Park in mid-February and asked about selling a stake in the studio. Dauman "thought he heard a yes," according to a person familiar with the conversation. Dauman relayed that to the Viacom board, saying a nurse would back his account.

But Grey, summoned to Redstone's home soon after Viacom's Feb. 23 revelation of the planned sale, later said to several people that Redstone had declared, "I don't want to sell Paramount." A source tells THR that Shari Redstone heard her father's exchange with Grey. Through a representative, Shari Redstone declined to comment. Grey did not respond to a request for comment.

Redstone is known to be unable to speak clearly. A speech therapist had to attend a recent evaluation by a geriatric psychiatrist done in connection with litigation brought by Herzer. She has been claiming Redstone is incapacitated and therefore wasn't capable of removing her as his health agent. Despite his declining health and speech, sources say Redstone apparently has been able to convey his vehement opposition to the sale of all or even part of Paramount.

Redstone is Viacom's founder and technically still controls the company through his majority position in the company's voting shares, so he could conceivably prevent Dauman from following through on his plans for Paramount, though he has presumably chosen not to do so. Also, insiders say that Redstone might not be as opposed to the deal as some are suggesting, given that he took part in some board meetings where the plan was discussed and he never indicated he was against it. In fact, no board member voiced opposition to the plan in those board meetings, including Shari Redstone, an insider said.

Insiders also say there are more than three dozen parties interested in bidding on a piece of the iconic film studio that is often considered the crown jewel of Viacom, the conglomerate that owns MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and other TV channels. Dauman has been under pressure to do something dramatic to fix Viacom's ailing stock, and one of his responses was to announce at an investor conference that he was pursuing a strategic partner to take an ownership position in Paramount. Viacom's shares rose 5 percent on the news that day.

Viacom paid $9.8 billion for Paramount in 1994, but Wall Street analysts figure it is worth just $5.5 billion today, unless foreign bidders anxious for a foothold in the American film industry bid up the price.

Kim Masters and Paul Bond contributed to this article.
With settlement talks hitting a late stumbling block, Manuela Herzer's attorneys are upping the pressure by bringing forward an application for a deposition of Viacom and CBS controlling stakeholder Sumner Redstone.

A week ago, the healthcare case brought by Herzer over Redstone's mental competency looked all but finished, but now comes word that Redstone himself will be testifying at the still-scheduled May trial.

"Throughout this litigation, Counsel have used Redstone's health as both a sword and a shield," states the application filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. "As a shield, Counsel have argued that, due to Redstone's health and privacy concerns, Petitioner should not be permitted to depose him or take other pre-trial discovery. Yet, simultaneously, as a sword, Redstone has participated in multiple psychiatric and neurological examinations that Counsel intend to submit at trial, and, most recently, Petitioner has been informed that Redstone will be testifying at trial. Counsel cannot have it both ways. Their position that Redstone can elect to testify at trial, but not give a deposition, is an abuse of the litigation process."

What's more, the dispute is now heading into nuclear territory with word from Herzer's camp of "recently discovered evidence establishing that Counsel, themselves, had concerns about Redstone's capacity as far back as April 2015."

What is referenced is a April 2015 letter sent by noted estate planning attorney Adam Streisand to Herzer as well as Sydney Holland, one of Redstone's other former girlfriends. The letter appears to be in preparation for a story ("Who Controls Sumner Redstone?") that would be published in Vanity Fair the following month and references the tensions between Redstone and his daughter Shari.

"The main concern by Viacom/Leah et al. is that if Sumner shames Shari publicly that Shari will seek to establish a conservatorship over Sumner," writes Streisand. "If she does that, then his current condition will become public and Viacom will have to remove Sumner as an officer/director and stop paying him compensation. There are possible other consequences but leave that aside for the moment. They don't want to poke the bear right now."

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"Leah" is probably Leah Bishop at Loeb & Loeb, which has been representing Redstone against Herzer in this healthcare fight.

Streisand then adds in his letter, "Leah said she will not participate in the meeting Saturday if either of you [Herzer and Holland] is present because she does not want to be accused of allowing anyone to unduly influence Sumner even by your presence."

The discussion of what Sumner Redstone would tell Vanity Fair seems to have been the primary concern. Streisand wrote that Leah wouldn't be "putting her law license on the line to lie for anyone," later discussing how she drafted the estate plan and would want it to be upheld.

In pushing for a new deposition of Redstone, Herzer's attorneys, led by Pierce O'Donnell, are telling the judge, "If Counsel have been publicly representing that Redstone is mentally fit while privately harboring doubts, Petitioner cannot reasonably rely on statements by Counsel in lieu of deposing Redstone."

As for the possibility that Redstone himself would be taking the witness stand at trial, that one comes from a March 28 e-mail sent by attorney Robert Klieger - recently added to the Redstone legal team - where he wrote, "In reliance upon the Court's decision that Mr. Redstone will not be required to sit for deposition, we do intend to present Mr. Redstone as a witness at trial."

In January, the judge in the case allowed Redstone to be examined by Herzer's medical experts, but denied an attempt to depose him. Herzer's camp is making a new run here. The development obviously forebodes a lack of settlement in this case.
By Jessica DiNapoli and Arathy S Nair NEW YORK (Reuters) - The prospect of a near-term bankruptcy for solar giant SunEdison Inc also threatens the separate companies it created to hold renewable energy assets - the so-called "yieldcos." The companies - TerraForm Power Inc and TerraForm Global Inc - will likely avoid bankruptcy but may not escape unscathed, analysts and restructuring experts said. A judge could rule that the yieldcos must be included in a SunEdison bankruptcy, analysts said. The companies could also be sold. Either way, a potential SunEdison bankruptcy filing would be unpredictable for the yieldcos because all three companies are so intertwined. The filing could come as soon as this week as SunEdison reaches the end of a grace period set by lenders stemming from its delayed annual report. TerraForm Global and Power said in a joint statement to Reuters that the companies "do not rely substantially on SunEdison for funding or liquidity" and can support their operations on their own. A SunEdison spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment. SunEdison controls TerraForm Power and Global by holding the majority of their voting shares. On their own, both companies have stronger financials than their parent. TerraForm Power, the larger of the two companies, recorded profit of $2.4 million and debt of $2.5 billion at Sept. 30, 2015, according to its most recent quarterly report. TerraForm Global reported a loss of $82.9 million and $1.2 billion in debt the same date. The companies are valued for the dividends they pay to investors. Their shares closed Tuesday at $9.52 and $2.58, respectively, compared to SunEdison's at 40 cents. The companies' original relationship with SunEdison gave them call rights - essentially right of first refusal - on projects in the Edison pipeline. But the future of those projects is in jeopardy because of SunEdison's financial problems, which also threatens the yieldcos future revenues. A SunEdison bankruptcy could further dampen the yieldcos' prospects. SunEdison has not transferred projects in Uruguay and India to TerraForm Global on time, the yieldco said in public documents. TerraForm Power, focused on domestic markets, may also be at risk of not receiving projects as SunEdison tries to sell off assets in Colorado. "If the yieldco never receives any additional assets in the future, they're stuck with limited income every month, as the sun shines and wind blows," said Jeffrey Osborne, an analyst at Cowen & Co who covers SunEdison. A SunEdison bankruptcy could also cause defaults in the credit agreements at the individual projects for TerraForm Global and Power, but the banks are unlikely to call in the debt as long as the projects are performing, said Swami Venkataraman, an analyst at Moody's Investors Service Inc. The yieldcos also rely on SunEdison to make interest payments for them - longstanding arrangements worth tens of millions of dollars each year. Those agreements could be nixed in bankruptcy, according to a public filing, leaving both of them to fend for themselves. Both companies, which have no employees of their own, also rely on SunEdison for back office functions. But hiring staff, Venkataraman said, would not push either yieldco into bankruptcy. (Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli; Editing by Brian Thevenot)
Lyle Denniston, the National Constitution Centers constitutional literacy adviser, breaks down the initial responses requested by the Supreme Court in its current Obamacare case, which were submitted Tuesday night.

The facade of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.

The facade of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court is not normally involved in making deals, even deals that are aimed at helping the Justices decide a difficult legal dispute. But it may have just shown that it at least has the capacity to suggest a workable way to resolve a deep conflict between the warring sides in a major court battle. That may be what it is in the process of doing with the Affordable Care Act and that laws contraceptives mandate.

At the courts explicit invitation, the two sides in the seven cases the court is reviewing under the title Zubik v. Burwell  two sides that have been staring unpleasantly at each other across a deep gulf of disagreement  offered their reactions to a compromise of the Supreme Courts own making.

Their initial responses were filed at the court on Tuesday evening, and the gulf between them was still much in evidence. The federal government made it clear it wants the court to move on to find a way to uphold the mandate as legal under the federal Religious Freedom Restoract Act, and the religious non-profits made it equally clear they want the existing plan found invalid under RFRA.

Even so, there was some give on the governments side, even on points that it would prefer not to forfeit, and there was, in fact, an almost enthusiastic acceptance of the courts idea on the other side, by religious non-profit hospitals, charities and colleges that object to contraceptives, at least in some forms.

If there is now a majority on the court that is willing to implement its own idea, by declaring that its proposal is just what is needed to salvage the mandate under RFRA, the Zubik cases could come out in a way that both protects the religious preferences of the non-profits and assures their women employees of cost-free access to birth-control devices and methods.

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The government started out its new brief by arguing that its ACA birth-control rules already go far enough to accommodate the non-profit institutions religious scruples, but then relented a bit and conceded that the court might want to make an even further accommodation a condition for upholding the mandate.

As outlined in the courts highly unusual March 29 order proposing the idea, the non-profits would have nothing whatsoever to do with their employees access to contraceptives, since that would come independently from the health insurers that the non-profits were using to run their existing employee health plans.

The Justice Department document, in effect, challenged the non-profits that are directly involved in the cases to give assurances that all such institutions, including scores not now involved in these specific cases, would go along with the courts suggested approach. And it foresaw the possibility of long-running court battles if the courts approach turned out to fail to satisfy all of the potential objectors

Moreover, it anticipated some costs in the courts suggested alternative, making the mandate less efficient and less workable in getting contraceptives to women across the country.

The courts plan would not make the birth-control coverage available seamlessly, as the government had wanted in order to make it easier for women to gain access.

But the very things about the court suggestion that troubled the Justice Department were the very things about it that turned out to be just what the religious non-profits had wanted. They said they would not object to having their existing health insurance companies actually provide contraceptive coverage  provided, of course, that doing so was separated by several degrees from the non-profits themselves.

The non-profits brief argued that the federal government could easily adapt to a regime in which the non-profit institutions with religious objections would simply be granted the equivalent of a total exemption from the ACA contraceptives mandate. And, they said, there were other available alternatives that would also keep them completely out of the process  such as the government setting itself up as the direct provider of birth-control devices and birth-control health coverage, or making contraceptives available through the new ACA health insurance exchanges, or marketplaces..

It was clear from the non-profits filing that they thought the court, in seeking reaction to its own suggestion, had sent a signal that it was ready to give them what they were seeking through the multitudes of lawsuits challenging the ACA mandate for contraceptives.

After Tuesdays filings, there is one more step before the cases are returned to the courts deliberations on them. That will be one round of replies, by both sides, that are due on April 20.

No one outside the court can know, at this point, what the court now will expect, or hope, to do with the two sides reactions. And one of the really deep puzzles about what happens from here on is whether, in fact, the proposal that the court laid out in its March 29 order actually had the support of all of the members of the court. There were no dissents from that order, but that does not necessarily mean that all eight of the Justices were going along with it contentedly.

It is not far from the possible, perhaps not far from the probable, that some dissent will begin to develop among the Justices as they move further along on the Zubik cases. There have been dissents before, when the court issued preliminary orders at earlier stages of the ACA contraceptives fight, and there could be again.

What both sides did say, though, and they did say it clearly, was that they very much want the court to decide, definitively, whether this ACA mandate does or does not satisfy the commands of RFRA. That will only become known as the court works on the cases in coming weeks and months. And, without outsiders knowing what kind of discussions went into the courts fashioning of its proposed deal, it does seem still at least a possibility that the court could wind up in the end split 4-to-4, and thus decides nothing.

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STOCKHOLM/BERLIN (Reuters) - Swedish police on Wednesday arrested a Turkish man who is wanted by Germany on suspicion of being a senior member of the PKK Kurdish militant group, officials said. The man was arrested around 0630 GMT at Arlanda airport, the country's largest, near Stockholm. "The person in question is accused of being a member of a foreign terrorist group, namely the PKK," a spokeswoman for Germany's Chief Federal Prosecutor told Reuters. She added the suspect was a Turkish citizen, suspected of being one of the PKK's so-called regional heads in Germany between July 2012 and July 2014. Swedish prosecutors are handling an extradition request. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. Thousands of militants and hundreds of civilians and soldiers have been killed since the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) resumed its fight for greater autonomy last summer, wrecking a 2-1/2-year ceasefire and peace process. Germany is home to about 3 million people of Turkish origin. Roughly one in four are ethnic Kurds who came to Germany to work in the 1960s and 70s, or as refugees fleeing violence in the 1980s and 90s. As Germany scrambles to contain a diplomatic row with Turkey over a comedian's mocking of President Tayyip Erdogan, officials are growing worried about another byproduct of their migrant pact with Ankara: an upsurge in violence between nationalist Turks and militant Kurds on German soil. (Reporting by Daniel Dickson in Stockholm and Michael Nienaber in Berlin; Editing by Alison Williams)
Geneva (AFP) - Talks to end Syria's five-year conflict resumed in Geneva Wednesday, with the UN mediator vowing to tackle the thorny issue of a political transition, as surging violence threatened a fragile truce.

Adding to the tensions, Syrians in government-controlled areas voted Wednesday in parliamentary elections not recognised by the United Nations or by President Bashar al-Assad's main opponents.

In Geneva, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said he planned to engage the parties in concrete discussions about how to move the war-ravaged country towards a change of government.

"We are going to go deeper and deeper into the issue of political transition," de Mistura told reporters after a first meeting with the main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC).

The UN-brokered talks in Geneva are aimed at forming a transitional government and a new constitution followed by general elections to end a conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced half of the country's population.

Moving beyond the broad principles discussed during previous rounds of indirect talks to concrete proposals towards political change will likely be challenging.

Assad's fate remains a major stumbling block, with Damascus until now maintaining that even discussing the issue of his departure is off limits.

- Agenda agreed -

It remains to be seen if the regime delegation, which has been delayed due to the parliamentary vote and is only set to meet with de Mistura on Friday, will agree to broach the subject.

But HNC delegation chief Assad al-Zoabi struck an upbeat note on the chances of progress, telling reporters after Wednesday's meeting that "we hope that during this round we can reach an agreement on political transition."

In a bid to shore up support for his agenda, de Mistura has in recent days travelled to Damascus, where he met Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, and also met key Assad allies in Moscow and Tehran.

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"They all indicated interest and support actually in the progress of a political discussion aiming at a political transition," he said, adding that "even Damascus agreed on the fact that this was the agenda."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow the new round of talks was important, and would allow the parties to discuss the new constitution "and how they see the structure that will ensure a peaceful transition towards a new system."

But the start of the talks were clouded by a surge in violence in recent days has threatened a landmark ceasefire that took effect on February 27.

The partial truce brokered by Moscow and Washington had raised hopes for a resolution to the conflict, by bringing about a significant drop in civilian deaths and allowing increased aid deliveries.

But humanitarian access has recently slowed again to a crawl, and escalating fighting in northern Aleppo province, parts of Hama province and Damascus has sparked alarm.

More than 100 troops, pro-regime militia, jihadists and rebels have been killed in four days of fierce fighting along a strategic front in Syria's Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Jihadists like those from Al-Nusra and the Islamic State group are excluded from the ceasefire. But in some areas, Al-Nusra is allied with rebel forces meant to be covered by the truce.

Observers have warned that an assault on Al-Nusra in Aleppo could draw in more moderate factions, derailing the peace efforts.

Zoabi on Wednesday condemned the "repeated and deliberate (ceasefire) violations by the regime" and warned of "the negative effects that such regression can have on the whole process."

On Tuesday, US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power also warned of "signs that this (the ceasefire) is slipping" and urged Assad ally Moscow to put pressure on Damascus to "get the regime back with the programme".

- Ceasefire 'still holding' -

De Mistura also voiced "concern about the deterioration of the security situation," but stressed that the violations were "still incidents and not a bushfire, and therefore we consider  that in spite of the several and serious incidents, the cessation of hostilities is still holding."

Wednesday's parliamentary elections added to the tension surrounding the negotiations.

The vote was held in areas under government control -- around a third of Syrian territory where some 60 percent of the population lives -- and is expected to see Assad's Baath party maintain control over parliament.

"This is a farce," Zoabi said, echoing a sentiment widely heard on the ground.

But others hailed the vote, with 37-year-old Yamin al-Homsi, a voter in Damascus, saying it would "decide the country's future".

Russia's foreign minister also defended the elections, saying their "role is to not leave a (power) vacuum."
From young girls peeling garlic for less than $1 a day to teen boys spending their days working in auto repair shops, child labor is becoming the norm among the refugee population in Lebanon.

Up to 70 percent of Syrian refugee children living in Lebanon work, according to a report released Tuesday by Freedom Fund, an international organization focused on fighting modern slavery.

More than 1 million Syrian refugees live in Lebanon, 417,000 of whom are children between the ages of 3 and 14, according to the U.N. The vast majority of refugees in Lebanon live in poverty, as most refugees are not authorized to work. Thats left children and adults alike vulnerable to low-paying, exploitative jobs.

FULL COVERAGE: The Global Refugee Crisis

Researchers from Freedom Fund found that Lebanese employers often prefer to hire children, because theyre cheaper and more likely to be obedient. Children are employed across a variety of sectors, working in factories and restaurants and on construction sites and farms.

While some children work to earn money for their families, Freedom Fund also found that many are victims of forced labor. Refugees living in tented communities in rural areas are often at the mercy of the shawish, the head of the makeshift camp, who selects children to work within the community or sends them to nearby employers. The shawish often garnishes the childs wages to compensate for living expenses. Experts say its nearly impossible for parents to refuse this request.

Without significant and determined intervention, the situation will only worsen for many hundreds of thousands of refugees at risk of extreme exploitation, Nick Grono, CEO of Freedom Fund, said in a release. The group advised Lebanese officials to amend policies that prohibit adult refugees from entering the workforce.

Lebanons economy has suffered from the influx of refugees. Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, poverty and unemployment have climbed in the neighboring nation. In 2015, Lebanon ended its open door policy that allowed Syrians to enter without visas, established annual residency fees, and required those registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to agree not to work. Adult refugees who defy the ban face arrest or deportation.

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Original article from TakePart
By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - A group of Taiwanese deported from Kenya to China after being acquitted in a cyber crime case are wanted for suspected fraud in China, the Chinese government said on Wednesday, in a case that has enraged Taiwan which has accused Beijing of kidnap. The Kenyan government said the people were in Kenya illegally and were being sent back to where they had come from. Kenya does not have official relations with democratic Taiwan and considers the island part of "one China", in line with the position of Communist Party leaders in Beijing. China's Ministry of Public Security, in a statement released via the official Xinhua news agency, said Kenya had decided to deport 32 Chinese and 45 Taiwanese to China, of whom 10 had already arrived and another 67 would leave on Wednesday. Xinhua showed some of them arriving in Beijing with black hoods over their heads, escorted by police. Taiwanese had been heavily involved in telecoms fraud in China and had caused huge losses, with some victims killing themselves, the ministry said. Taiwanese criminals "have been falsely presenting themselves as law enforcement officers to extort money from people on the Chinese mainland through telephone calls", the ministry added. The group detained in Kenya had operated out of Nairobi and were suspected of cheating people out of millions of yuan across nine provinces and cities in China, and as most the victims were in China, they would be prosecuted there, it said. China had informed Taiwan of the situation and would invite Taiwan law enforcement officials to visit to discuss how best to tackle such fraud, the ministry said. An Fengshan, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan needed to view the case rationally. "The victims abhor this kind of fraud. I hope the Taiwan side can give more thought to the victims when it looks at this issue," he told a news conference carried live on Chinese television. CHINA'S JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN QUESTION China views Taiwan as a wayward province and has not ruled out the use of force to ensure unification. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island in 1949 after the civil war with the Communists who have remained in control in Beijing since then. Only 22 countries recognize Taiwan as the Republic of China, with most, including Kenya, having diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, with its leaders in Beijing. Taiwanese lawmakers grilled government officials during parliamentary committee sessions about the case. "The Chinese judicial system is in question for many people in Taiwan," said Lo Chih-cheng, a lawmaker for the ruling pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party. "They are wondering if those people can get a fair trial in China." Rachel Liu, the mother of 28-year-old Liu Tai-ting, who was deported to China on Tuesday even though a Kenyan court had acquitted him last week, also said she did not know about China's judicial system. "We hope any trial can be conducted in our own country no matter if guilty or not guilty," she told Reuters. Some comments on Taiwan social media questioned whether a precedent was being set of Taiwanese abroad being "taken away" by China, drawing a parallel with the case of five booksellers in Chinese-controlled Hong Kong who temporarily went missing in mysterious circumstances. Hong Kong authorities are still waiting for detailed explanations from China regarding the booksellers, who produced and sold gossipy books critical of Chinese leaders, amid suspicion among some that they were abducted by Chinese agents. China has denied any wrongdoing. China's influential state-run tabloid the Global Times said Kenya was right to send the people to China and that Beijing was in the right. "The mainland's handling of the case is supported by international laws," it said in an editorial. (This version of the story was refiled to use mother's married name, paragraph 16) (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by J.R. Wu and Carol Lee in TAIPEI; Editing by Nick Macfie, Robert Birsel)
Its easy to see the appeal of target-date funds, those mutual funds found in a growing number of 401(k) and IRA plans that promise investors can set it and forget it: pick a plan that matches their retirement schedule and then not worry about it for years.

Investors love them because theyre cheaper and easier than hiring a financial adviser to create a customized plan, and they require minimal maintenance once theyve been purchased. Companies love having them in their 401(k) plans, because they provide a decent default option for workers who get automatically enrolled into the plans.

Related: Ready for Retirement? Americans Saving More, but Still Not Enough

Target-date funds have grown significantly since the Pension Protection Act of 2006 allowed companies to make them the default investment options for 401(k)s. Assets in those funds have jumped from $116 billion to $763 billion over the past 10 years, according to Morningstar. They are definitely taking over as the dominant investment vehicle within defined contribution plans, says David OMeara, a senior investment consultant with Willis Towers Watson.

Nearly 60 percent of target-date fund investors surveyed by Voya Financial in 2014 said that the felt confident that they would meet their retirement goals, compared to just 41 percent of those who did not have their money in a target-date fund.

Mutual Fund assets

Target-date funds are a good option for some people, especially those with small balances who are just beginning to invest for retirement. Theyre certainly better than not investing for retirement at all or leaving money to languish in a money market fund that pays next to nothing.

Related: Could You Live on $7,000 a Year? Some Retirees May Have To

However, target-date funds may not be as one size fits all as savers might like to believe. For your passive investor, the target-date fund may be giving off a false sense of security, says Chris Hardy, director of planning and investments with Paramount Investment Advisors.

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Here are five times that your target-date fund may miss the mark:

1. You dont want to go all in. Target-date funds are designed to do all your diversifying for you, so that you dont need to invest in any other funds. Yet the majority of target-date investors have significant investments outside of those funds. Just one in four investors with a target-date fund has more than 90 percent of their portfolio in that fund, according to a recent report from Financial Engines titled Not So Simple: Why Target-Date Funds Are Widely Misused By Retirement Investors.

When you take some money out of a target-date fund and move it to another fund, youre overexposing yourself to certain categories, says Matthew Parenti, a certified financial planner with The Advisors Group of Chicago.

Related: The Retirement Revolution That Failed  Why the 401(k) Isnt Working

Investors with only a partial investment in target-date funds saw median annual returns that were more than 2 percent lower than those who stayed fully invested in target-date funds, the Financial Engines report found. That may seem like a small amount, but it could have a significant impact on your nest egg over decades of compounding.

2. The fees are too high. Given that many target-date funds include both active and passively managed funds, they often have higher fees than youd find building your own portfolio of index or exchange-traded funds. That said, target-date fund fees are moving in the right direction, and theyre less than you would typically pay a financial adviser to build and manage a portfolio for you. The average fees for the lowest-cost share class in target-date funds in 2014 was 0.65 percent, down from 0.72 percent in 2011, according to Bright Scope. If youre paying much more than that, start shopping around for another fund. Paying high fees can really start to eat into your returns, says Katie Giampietro Burke, a financial planner with Wealth By Empowerment in Jacksonville, Fla.

3. It doesnt match your risk profile. There is no standard asset allocation for target-date funds, and two funds with the same target date could have extremely different underlying portfolios. A 2015 analysis by business professors at New York and Fordham universities found that, among target-date funds with a 25-year timeframe, 16 percent had 85 percent or more of their holdings in stocks while 10 percent had less than 70 percent. So while, in general, target-date funds will be more heavily invested in stocks the further away their time horizon is, the details can matter.

Related: The Worst States for Retirement 2016

At the same time, if youre a young investor and the stock market tanks while all your money is in a target-date fund, youve got to be able to stomach losses that could amount to 40 percent or more in the short term without panicking and selling. The conventional wisdom is that millennials are  by definition  risk takers, says Jonathan Kelley, a certified financial advisor with Hinds Financial Group in Lakewood, Colo. But thats not necessarily consistent with todays investors, and you dont want to put yourself in the position to make a poor decision when the market is going through a major correction.

On the other hand, some target-date funds have a glide path, or asset reallocation process, that scales too far back on risk over time.

4. Youre not investing through retirement. Some target-date funds invest to retirement, meaning that theyre built on the assumption that once you hit your target date, youll withdraw all the money and invest it elsewhere for your retirement needs. They tend to become ultraconservative once theyve matured. Others are invested through retirement, which means that they hold more equities and assume that even if youre not investing new money, youre going to draw down the money slowly throughout retirement and need to take some continued risk to assure that your money lasts. If your fund invests to retirement, but you dont move those funds, they may not last through retirement.

5. Youve got the wrong target date. Everyone wants to retire at 65, but thats not a reality for many workers in todays world. Either they need to retire early due to a layoff or medical issues or they end up working longer for a variety of reasons. Either way, if your actual retirement date differs significantly from the one youve chosen in your fund, you could end up missing your savings target.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
(Reuters) - Chicago's police department must acknowledge its racist past and change its handling of excessive force allegations to pave the way for wider reform, a task force set up by mayor Rahm Emanuel has urged, the Chicago Tribune reported on Tuesday.

High-profile killings of black men at the hands of mainly white law enforcement officers in U.S. cities have fueled demonstrations and stoked a national debate on race relations and police tactics.

The relationship between Chicago's police department and its oversight body is "broken," and mired in racial bias and indifference, the panel says in a draft of the executive summary of its report, the paper said.

The report recommended abolishing the oversight agency, the Independent Police Review Authority, and starting the process of citywide reconciliation through the acknowledgment of "hard truths" by the department's top leaders, it added.

"The Task Force spent more than four months developing recommendations, and those recommendations deserve more than a cursory review of a draft summary," Emanuel's spokeswoman, Kelley Quinn, said in a statement.

The mayor's office has not yet seen the draft, but expects the full report to be presented this week, she added.

The panel was set up last year, after days of unrest over the fatal shooting of a black teenager by a white policeman, and tasked to look into the police department's system of accountability, oversight and training.

The protests followed officer Jason Van Dyke's shooting of Laquan McDonald 16 times in 2014 and the delayed release of the video of the incident. Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder late in November.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in New York; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
By Marice Richter

FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) - Texas taxpayers picked up most of the $200,000 bill for the so-called affluenza teen's court-ordered rehabilitation in a probation deal that kept him out of prison for killing four while driving drunk, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Ethan Couch, who turned 19 this week and was 16 at the time of the incident, will be in a Tarrant County adult court on Wednesday for a likely determination of how much time behind bars he must spend for violating the probation deal.

Taxpayers paid more than $150,000 of the bill for his year-long rehabilitation because his parents were unable to pay for all of the treatment, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram said, citing court documents.

Attorneys for Couch were not immediately available for comment.

At Couch's trial in juvenile court in 2013, a psychologist testified for the defense that Couch was so spoiled by his wealthy parents he could not tell right from wrong. The psychologist described the affliction as "affluenza," a term that quickly became a media buzzword.

Couch was sentenced to 10 years' probation, during which he was to remain alcohol- and drug-free. The sentence sparked outrage from critics who ridiculed the affluenza defense and said his family's wealth helped the teen stay out of jail.

Couch and his mother, Tonya Couch, fled Texas in December, apparently to avoid arrest for violating the drink- and drug-free probation deal after video on social media appeared to show him at a party where alcohol was being consumed.

Ethan Couch has been in custody since he was brought back from Mexico in January.

Couch will appear before Judge Wayne Salvant, the same judge presiding over Tonya Couchs case.

She is charged with helping her son flee to Mexico. She was released on bail but is under home confinement awaiting trial.

Tonya Couch faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of helping her son flee.

(Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Peter Cooney)
By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California lawmakers on Tuesday took a major step toward outlawing the use of so-called "ransomware" to hijack computers for money, passing a bill through its first committee with the support of law enforcement. The legislation, which would call for hackers using ransomware to be prosecuted under a statute similar to extortion but geared specifically to cyber crime, easily cleared the state senate's public safety committee. Senate Bill 1137 moves next to that body's appropriations committee. It must be approved by both houses of the California legislature and be signed by Governor Jerry Brown to become law. A spokesman for the measure's author, state Senator Bob Hertzberg, said the measure, which was co-sponsored by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, had been met with little opposition so far. "We don't anticipate any problems with the bill, it seems to be getting very strong support," said Andrew LaMar, communications director for Hertzberg, a Democrat. Authorities say ransomware attacks, in which hackers use malicious software to lock up data in computers and leave messages demanding payment have surged this year. More than $209 million in ransomware payments were made in the United States alone during the first three months of 2016, according to FBI statistics cited by Hertzberg's office. In March, Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles paid a ransom of $17,000 to regain access to its systems. Los Angeles prosecutors, in a letter to the state senate's public safety committee, said that the bill was needed because current extortion laws are not well tailored toward prosecuting ransomware attacks. While such attacks have been around longer than a decade, security experts say they have become far more threatening and prevalent in recent years because of state-of-the-art encryption, modules that infect backup systems, and the ability to infect large numbers of computers over a single network. Run-of-the-mill ransomware attacks typically seek 1 bitcoin, now worth about $420, which is about the same as the hourly rate that some security consultants charge to respond to such incidents, according to security firms who investigate ransomware cases. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb,; additional reporting Jim Finkle in Boston; edting by Andrew Hay)
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz cut loose in an appearance on Glen Becks radio show Tuesday, belittling Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump as a child of privilege who grew up to be a wannabe mobster, and claiming there is now a consistent pattern ... of Donald and his henchmen pushing for violence.

The attack on Trump came just days after the billionaires newly hired convention manager, Paul Manafort, accused Cruz of using Gestapo tactics to sway delegates to the Republican nominating convention in Cleveland this summer.

Related: Trump Names Some Surprising Picks for VP

In his retaliatory remarks, Cruz cited a fictional purveyor of violence rather than historical ones.

Donald needs to understand that hes not Michael Corleone, Cruz said. I understand that Donald has had some very shady business deals with people that are currently in prison. Mobsters. But the presidency should not be La Cosa Nostra ... Donald Trump keeps hiring people with records of dirty tricks, lies and threats of violence.

Cruz blasted Trump for appearing to support violence at his own rallies, predicting riots if he is denied the nomination.

Donald needs to stop threatening the voters. He needs to stop threatening the delegates. He is not a mobster.

Related: How Cruz and Trump Voters Will Tear the GOP Apart

Criticizing Trumps past comments that appeared to advocate violence against protesters at his rallies, Cruz added, No politician has the right to threaten violence against American citizens. Even lefty numbskulls are American citizens and you dont threaten violence against them.

The Texas senator, who still trails Trump in both pledged delegates and in national opinion polls of GOP voters, suggested that Trumps history of wealth and privilege has left him detached from reality as other people experience it.

Donald has been surrounded by sycophants his entire business career, he said. He was born into great wealth and privilege ... at every stage, when he told a joke, everyone in the room laughed. Whether it was funny or not, you had to laugh.

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He also added a dig at one of his former competitors, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has since endorsed Trump.

Related: Why Paul Ryan Will Dodge the GOP Presidential Snake Pit

Look at the humiliation he inflicts on people like Chris Christie, Cruz said, adding that the New Jersey governor is a good man whom he personally likes. Yet, Cruz plainly enjoyed commenting on the servility of Christie in Trumps presence and his new tendency to address the frontrunner as Mr. Trump instead of Donald.

Chris Christie right now is trapped in his own private hell, he said, discussing a widely remarked-on press conference in which Christie was forced to stand behind Trump as the billionaire delivered a rambling speech. When Chris was standing behind Trump holding his jacket, the look in his eyes, you could see the screaming.

As he has done in the past, Cruz continued to claim that he is confident that the GOP nomination will not be decided until the convention and that his superior organization will give him the advantage he needs to win there in July.

He even suggested that Trump, who has run a very lean campaign, may never have really expected to be president.

I think theres a real chance that this was a lark, this was Lets get some publicity, lets have some fun Cruz said, adding that when he began to have some success, I think he was a surprised as anybody.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
It was probably turning out to be one of the best few weeks of Tesla CEO Elon Musks life and career. First, his company executed a slick, well-controlled launch of what could be its most important product, the Model 3. For an encore, Musks space exploration company, SpaceX, successfully landed a rocket on a scow in the Atlantic Ocean, like it was no big deal. And this week, to keep up the buzz, Tesla unveiled a mid-cycle refresh to the Model S sedan, giving the growing model lineup an added shot in the arm.



CARS: The Far-Out Near Future of Cars

Even for Tesla, the good-news cycle can't last. Yesterday, it announced a voluntary recall of the initial batch of Model X crossover SUVs that were produced before March 26, 2016. (Own one? Click here to see if your Model X is affected.) The third-row seat, which Tesla sourced from an outside supplier, could become unhinged and slide forward in the event of a crash. According to Tesla, Despite these prior successful tests and no reports of a third row seat slipping in any customer vehicles, we have decided to conduct a voluntary recall as a precautionary measure and will be replacing all affected third row seat backs.

The supplier at fault is Australia-based Futuris, according to a Tesla spokesperson, although it's unclear which supplier (in-house or otherwise) will produce the new seats. Tesla is an American auto manufacturer with its management based in Silicon Valley, its products produced in a former GM/Toyota partnership plant in Fremont, California, and its Gigafactory battery facility in Nevada  while its network of suppliers reaches beyond the U.S. borders.



Although the recall is voluntary, Model X owners should definitely take advantage of the opportunity. Until the seat back is replaced, the automaker advises not letting passengers sit in the third row, lest a texting motorist on Beverly Blvd. forgets to slam on the brakes and ruins a Model Xs rear in the morning commute.
Tesla Motors revealed an update of the Model S on its website Tuesday, the first significant redesign to the iconic electric sedan since it was introduced in 2012.

The changes include a revamped fascia, similar in appearance to Tesla's Model X SUV, which went on sale in September, and an upgrade to the air filtration system that allows the car to operate in what Tesla impishly calls Bioweapon Defense Mode, filtering 99.97 percent of particular exhaust pollution and other containments from the passenger cabin.

The Model S's interior, spartan when compared with other cars in its class, including the flagship Mercedes S and BMW 7 Series, gets two new figured wood grain options.

The car's standard charger is upgraded to 48 amps, enabling faster charging times.

The updated Model S begins production Tuesday at Tesla's Fremont, Calif., factory.
You might be using emoji on your iPhone or Android device a lot these days, but it turns out you probably don't really understand what you're sending to someone else. A new study shows that certain emoji images will be misunderstood by both senders receivers, as theres no unified set of images across operating systems. Because images look different depending on what mobile device youre using, they may trigger a positive or negative response, which can lead to unintended interpretations, conclusions, and results.

DONT MISS: Insiders reveal the worst things about working for Google

The GroupLens Research team at the University of Minnesota looked at the variations between anthropomorphic emoji across devices and how users perceive them. Researchers asked participants to rate 22 emoji from five platforms by sentiment, using a scale from strongly negative (-5) to strongly positive (5).

grinning-face-smiling-eyes-emoji-study-0

The study surprisingly reveals that the most misinterpreted emoji is the grinning face with smiling eyes." On iPhone, the emoji scored a -1, which is lower than what the same emoji got on devices from Microsoft, Samsung, LG, and Google: it averaged from 3 to 4 on the same scale (see following images).

grinning-face-smiling-eyes-emoji-study-1

grinning-face-smiling-eyes-emoji-study-2

The researchers labeled the range between sentiment rankings as misconstrual. The following graph shows what emoji are more likely to be misunderstood in a text conversation, and which of them to avoid in chats.

grinning-face-smiling-eyes-emoji-study-5

Youd think that as long as the person youre texting with uses the same pack of emoji you should be fine, and no emoji messages should be lost in translation. However, researchers found that emoji can just as easily be misinterpreted even if both people use the same kind of device, and therefore the same set of emoji.

grinning-face-smiling-eyes-emoji-study-3

The full study is available at the source link.

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Presidential campaigns have always been something of a family affair when a candidate has adult children. George H.W. Bushs children, including future president George W. Bush, were closely involved in their fathers run for office. John McCains daughter Meghan, and Sarah Palins several kids -- both adults and youths -- were paraded before the cameras to support their parents candidacy.

Its been no different for Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who is frequently flanked on the podium by three of his four adult children and their spouses. Trumps sons Eric and Donald Jr. are frequent campaign surrogates on cable news, as is his daughter Ivanka, though to a lesser extent now because she recently gave birth to her third child.

Related: Ted Cruz Slams Trump as a Wannabe Mobster

The Trump familys commitment to its patriarchs presidential bid has looked a bit less than fervid in recent days, though. Two of his children wont be voting for him in New Yorks primary next week because they forgot to register, and the newspaper owned by his son-in-law published a weirdly backhanded endorsement of the billionaire real estate developer on Tuesday.

On Monday, the news broke that Eric and Ivanka Trump had both missed the deadline to change their registration from Independent to Republican in order to be able to vote in New York States closed GOP primary on April 19.

The failure was made even more ironic by the fact that Ivanka has for months been the public face of the Trump campaigns get-out-the-vote effort, making multiple videos targeted at her fathers supporters explaining how to make sure they are qualified to cast a ballot.

Just as strange, though, was the endorsement of Trump published by the New York Observer on Tuesday. The paper is owned by Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trumps husband and, like Donald Trump himself, the son of a wealthy real estate magnate who went into the family business himself.

Related: How Cruz and Trump Voters Will Tear the GOP Apart

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Donald Trump is the father-in-law of the Observers publisher. That is not a reason to endorse him, was the endorsements odd beginning. Giving millions of disillusioned Americans a renewed sense of purpose and opportunity is.

Okay so far -- kind of a jarring opening, but the renewed sense of purpose and opportunity bit sounds nice.

However -- and heres the strange thing -- the editorial trudges forward through more than 1,300 words without a single reference to a specific policy position that Trump has laid out. The border wall? No? Banning Muslims from entering the country? Uh-uh. Torturing suspected terrorists? Demanding that allies pay more for U.S. military protection? Tearing up global trade deals? Nope. Nope. Nope.

Instead, rather like a Trump speech, the endorsement trades in generalities vague enough to let readers project whatever they want onto the candidate:

Related: Angry Trump Voters Plan Protest Over Colorado Vote Hijacking

Do Americans want to continue on the path of the last seven years or forge a new direction? Do we want to continue policies that erode Americas influence and safety in the world? Do we want to continue the politics of gridlock? Do we want to continue to undercut our prosperity and limit individual opportunity? Or do we want to move in a different, more promising direction?

The latter choice, the right choice, will only be accomplished by someone who has constructed great skyscrapers and gem-like skating rinks; started businesses, written best sellers and built brands. Tried and succeeded and sometimes failed. But who has gotten up and tried again.

The endorsement at one point goes off on an extended riff about Trumps restoration of a skating rink in Central Park 30 years ago as the primary fact-based argument for his nomination as the Republican Partys presidential candidate.

This is the newspaper owned by Trumps own son-in-law -- a man Trump said he consulted closely with as he prepared a major foreign policy address to be delivered to the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee last month. But the greatest accomplishment the editorial board of the Observer could point to was the construction of a 30-year-old skating rink? Even a gem-like one, as the endorsement described it?

Without question, Trump has inspired many voters in this election cycle. But he doesnt seem to be inspiring even his own family.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
In a blow to President Obamas joke writers and C-SPANs ratings, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump says he will not attend the White House Correspondents Association Dinner later this month.

Trump told the Hill newspaper that despite receiving invitations from every single group of media available to mankind, hes decided not to go.

Why not? The media cant be trusted to describe his mood.

I would have a good time, and the press would say I look like I wasnt having a good time, Trump, who attended last years dinner before launching his presidential bid, explained. The press is dishonest. If the press would be honest, Id go because Id have a good time.  But no matter how good a time I had, the press would say, Donald Trump was miserable. What would I need that for?

The annual black-tie gala, dubbed the nerd prom by the Washington, D.C., press corps, is closer to a Friars Club roast than a high school dance. This years event, hosted by comedian Larry Wilmore, is scheduled for April 30.

In 2011, Trump made an infamous appearance at the dinner, where he was mercilessly mocked by Obama, whose long-form birth certificate had just been released in response to the so-called birther movement championed by the reality show star.

Donald Trump arrives for the White House Correspondents Association Dinner in Washington, D.C., on April 30, 2011. (Photo: Alex Brandon/AP/File)



Donald Trump is here tonight, Obama said. Now I know hes taken some flack lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald. And thats because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like, Did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? and, Where are Biggie and Tupac?

All kidding aside, obviously, we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience, Obama told Trump. In an episode of Celebrity Apprentice, at the steakhouse, the mens cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didnt blame Lil Jon or Meatloaf. You fired Gary Busey. And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir. Well handled.

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Some have pointed to Trumps humiliation at the 2011 correspondents dinner as a catalyst for his 2016 presidential bid.

Trump, though, insists he wasnt offended by Obamas relentless zingers.

I had a great time. I was very honored by all of the attention, he told the Hill. The president told joke after joke, and it was good. They were all very nice and delivered nicely, and I had a great time and told the press. For four years, Ive read what a miserable time I had.
By Steve Holland and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican front-runner Donald Trump took fresh steps to reset his campaign on Wednesday, hiring a top Republican operative and scheduling a meeting between aides and U.S. lawmakers as he girds for a new phase in his White House bid. Trump is under pressure to professionalize his campaign beyond a close-knit group of advisers and expand the appeal of his anti-establishment candidacy in the face of fierce opposition from rival U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Wisconsin and a well-funded anti-Trump operation run by establishment Republicans. Trump announced he had hired Rick Wiley as his national political director. Wiley, a long-time Republican strategist, had been campaign manager for presidential candidate Scott Walker, who dropped out of the race last autumn. "He brings decades of experience, and his deep ties to political leaders and activists across the country will be a tremendous asset as we enter the final phase of securing the nomination," Trump said in a statement. In addition, Trump's campaign arranged a meeting in Washington of about a dozen U.S. legislators as the fierce anti-establishment candidate tries to build more relationships inside Washington and broaden his appeal. The meeting with the lawmakers and senior Trump adviser Ed Brookover is planned for Thursday morning on Capitol Hill, congressional aides said. About a dozen lawmakers are expected to attend, including those who have endorsed Trump and some who have not but who are interested in his message. Trump will not be there. A series of policy speeches Trump plans to begin delivering soon could be among the topics discussed, one source said. "They're definitely planning several policy speeches ... and they are looking for input on those," a Republican source familiar with the situation said. In another development, Trump met privately at Trump Tower in New York with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly after months of attacking her for the tough questions she asked him at a Republican debate last August about his treatment of women. Tensions between Trump and Kelly, and controversial remarks he has made about abortion, have contributed to Trump's negative image with women. Opinion polls show the New York billionaire is viewed unfavorably by women by a wide margin. In recent days Trump has attempted to soften his image with important constituencies such as female voters. A group interview on CNN on Tuesday night featured Trump, his wife Melania, daughter Ivanka and sons Eric and Donald Jr., and showed a more personal side to the often-brusque Republican front-runner. Melania Trump said she had fussed at Trump to stop tweeting at night. "If he would only listen," she said, chuckling. Republican strategist Ron Bonjean said the hiring of Wiley and, two weeks ago, of delegate specialist Paul Manafort suggest Trump is preparing for a contested convention in July should he not win outright the 1,237 delegates needed for the Republican presidential nomination. "Without having good people on your team who understand how to navigate those waters, you're in big trouble," he said. The steps point to a new phase of Trump's campaign after vulnerabilities were exposed when he was beaten in Wisconsin by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and outmaneuvered by Cruz in the competition for delegates in Colorado. As the Trump campaign attempts to get a better handle on the complicated delegate selection process, Trump is expected to send a contingent to a Republican National Committee (RNC) meeting in Florida next week. Trump has been in a war of words with the RNC, accusing the party apparatus of having rules that, for example, allowed party regulars in Colorado to select delegates without giving Republicans there a chance to vote. Trump on Tuesday said that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus "should be ashamed of himself." Priebus, who met Trump two weeks ago at RNC headquarters in Washington, said the delegate-selection rules have been in place for a year and it is the responsibility of each campaign to understand them. "Complaints now? Give us all a break," Priebus tweeted. (Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday to a near four-week high, led by financial and industrial stocks as surprisingly upbeat trade data from China supported sentiment. The most influential movers on the index included Royal Bank of Canada , which rose 0.7 percent to C$76.28, and Bank of Nova Scotia , which advanced 1.1 percent to C$63.21. The financials group gained 0.7 percent, while industrials rose 1.1 percent and consumer discretionary stocks were up 0.8 percent. China's exports in March returned to growth for the first time in nine months, adding to further signs of stabilization in the world's second-largest economy that cheered global investors. At 9:52 a.m. EDT (1352 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.GSPTSE> rose 36.85 points, or 0.27 percent, to 13,618.27. Seven of the index's 10 main groups were higher. The energy group retreated 0.3 percent as oil prices pared some recent gains. U.S. crude prices were down 1.8 percent to $41.42 a barrel, while Brent crude lost 1.3 percent to $44.13.[O/R] The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 0.2 percent. Barrick Gold Corp fell 2.1 percent to C$20.44 as spot gold fell 0.8 percent. (Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Two Russian agents have been arrested in Turkey over the killing of a Chechen militant commander in Istanbul last year, the Haberturk newspaper said on Wednesday, one of several killings of Chechens in the country. The pair were detained in Istanbul on April 8 in an operation by Turkish police and intelligence agents as they made preparations for another unspecified operation. Istanbul police declined to comment. The reported arrests come against a background of poor relations between Turkey and Russia following the shooting down of a Russian warplane near the Syrian border by Turkish military jets last November. The newspaper said the two Russian agents, who are in their 50s, have refused to talk during interrogation. They are accused of shooting and stabbing the militant, named as Vahid Edelgiriev, in a car on Nov. 1. Haberturk said they were found to be carrying fake ID papers and memory sticks containing photos of security cameras, parking areas and license plates. Many Chechen dissidents have settled in Turkey since the two wars in the 1990s between Russia and militants in its Chechnya region and there have been several murders of Chechens there that remain unsolved. In May 2013 a prominent figure in the Chechen diaspora was shot dead in his Ankara office. In 2011, three Chechens were shot dead in broad daylight on a suburban street in Istanbul. (Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
VIENNA (Reuters) - Turkey has begun taking back Syrians from Greece under an agreement with the European Union aimed at stemming the flow of migrants into the continent, and it expects the number of Syrians returning to rise soon, it said on Wednesday. Two Syrians were brought back to Turkey in the two first rounds of returns by ferry carried out under the deal, which took effect last week, Turkey's European Union Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir told Reuters. The reason Turkey had not taken back more Syrians was that it granted Syrians a protected status but not as refugees; they lost that status if they left the country and came back, Bozkir said, adding that those rules had just been changed. "We issued a government decree which gives this status back again even if they come back," he said on the sidelines of a talk at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. "So now in the second wave and third wave you (will) have more Syrians than Pakistanis and Afghanis," he said, referring to nationalities that were among the most common in the two rounds of returns last week, of about 340 people. Turkey's cabinet approved the change last week, and it took effect on Thursday. "We now have new lists from Greece where they are checking everybody and fingerprints are being sent to us, and then well get Syrians now as well," he told Reuters. The number of people making the perilous crossing of the Aegean Sea to Greek islands from Turkey had fallen dramatically in recent months, he said during a question-and-answer session with academics and students. "(In) October every day 5,000, 6,000 irregular migrants were reaching Greece," he said. "The latest figure is 75, 11th of April, zero, 10th of April, 59, 9th of April, so we went back to two digits and even those will be back and we'll reach zero." (Reporting by Francois Murphy; editing by Ralph Boulton)
Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week welcomes dozens of leaders to Istanbul for a summit aimed at overcoming splits in the Islamic world despite doubts over Ankara's ability to narrow divisions between Muslims.

Turkey's hosting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on Thursday and Friday is a new symbol of its desire to be seen as a major power in the Islamic world, especially in lands once controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

But the policies of Turkey's Islamic-rooted government have at times been divisive, in particular over five-year civil war in Syria where it has been accused of aiding fundamentalist rebels in the hope they will oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Hit by a crisis in relations with Egypt's secular rulers and at times tricky ties with Shiite Iran, Turkey has sought to build alliances with fellow overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim powers Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Turkey's ambitious foreign policy aim of "zero problems with neighbours" unravelled as crises erupted on almost all of its borders and the summit is a chance for Erdogan to show its ability to solve rather than create crises.

"Hosting the OIC summit is prestigious and an opportunity for Turkey. It comes at a very good moment when Turkey needs to restore its image in the Muslim world," Jean Marcou, political scientist and research director at Sciences Po Grenoble in France told AFP.

- 'Heal the wounds' -

There is a security lockdown around the summit venue in Istanbul, the former capital of the Ottoman Empire from where the Sultans once ruled Muslims from the Balkans to Arabia.

The opulent arrangements of the most significant guest -- Saudi King Salman -- have also raised eyebrows in the Turkish press with reports saying some 500 luxury cars were hired for his delegation.

Muslim countries have failed to find a common position over the conflict in Syria, where Turkey and Saudi back rebels fighting Assad and Iran is a strong supporter of the regime.

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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the summit was being held at a time when "the Islamic world is experiencing many disputes within itself."

"Fratricidal conflict cause great pain. Sectarianism divides the ummah," he told OIC foreign ministers on Tuesday, using the Arabic world for the Muslim community.

"Hopefully, this summit will pave the way for healing some wounds."

The summit takes place in the wake of a bilateral meeting in Ankara on Tuesday between Erdogan and King Salman which underlined the importance ties with Riyadh now have in Turkey's foreign policy.

Erdogan went to Ankara's Esenboga airport to personally welcome the Saudi monarch on the tarmac and then gave him Turkey's highest honour for a foreign leader.

- 'Turkey's delicate balance' -

Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute, said Turkey's close alignment with Saudi Arabia was now a "fact of life" but warned Ankara should take care as to how this is perceived in the Muslim world.

"There is a risk that this close alignment with the Saudis could cast Turkey in the eyes of people in the Middle East as a more sectarian nation than it ought to be," he told AFP.

"I think it's a delicate balance for Turkey."

The summit is taking place amid an apparent recalibration in Turkish foreign policy owing to the crisis in ties with Russia after the shooting down of a Russian warplane by Ankara and increasingly tense relations with the US and EU.

Turkey is working to normalise ties with Israel after a crisis lasting over half a decade while there have been suggestions Saudi Arabia is working hard behind the scenes to bring about a similar reconciliation with Egypt.

Erdogan was enraged by the 2013 ousting of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, a close Ankara ally, and has denounced President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as an "illegitimate tyrant".

Sisi is expected to be one of several notable absentees from the summit, as well as Jordan's King Abdullah amid tensions over Syria.

"If the Saudi King can deliver Turkish-Egyptian normalisation then that's huge," said Cagaptay.

But he added: "Turkish-Egyptian normalisation is less likely today than Turkey-Israeli normalisation as it is driven by deep animosity between the leaders."
By Ercan Gurses and Akin Aytekin ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's military struck Islamic State targets in northern Syria in response to rockets that hit the southeastern Turkish border town of Kilis for the third straight day on Wednesday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. More than 20 people have been wounded this week alone as multiple rockets struck Kilis, home to an estimated 110,000 Syrian refugees, which has been frequently hit by shells from across the border, a region controlled by Islamic State. Four rockets struck Kilis on Wednesday but they landed in an empty field and there were no casualties, mayor Hasan Kara told Reuters. Davutoglu said measures would be taken to ensure the safety of citizens. "Daesh targets have been struck within the rules of engagement," he said, using an Arabic acronym for the Sunni hardline group. "We are conducting a decisive battle to protect our citizens from this circle of fire," he said. Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz, Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar and the head of the national intelligence agency Hakan Fidan were visiting Kilis to inspect the area and discuss border security, Davutoglu said. "We go to sleep to the sounds of rockets and we wake up to the sound of rockets," Kara told Reuters by telephone, adding that the death tally from Tuesday's rocket attack had risen to two after another person died in hospital overnight. The military has now hit 146 Islamic State targets across the border from Kilis since January 9, Yilmaz said at a news conference in Kilis. "Based on our information, we think they have suffered 362 casualties and 123 injuries," he said. Turkey is facing several security threats. As part of a U.S.-led coalition, it is fighting Islamic State in neighboring Syria and Iraq. It is also battling Kurdish militants in its southeast, where a 2-1/2-year ceasefire collapsed last July, triggering the worst violence since the 1990s. The Turkish armed forces often respond to such attacks by firing at targets in Syria. In March, two people, including a young child, were killed by rocket fire into Kilis. (Additional reporting by Seda Sezer; Writing by David Dolan and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
When your circumstances change, such as starting a new job, having a baby or providing caregiving for an older relative, your current home may no longer fit your needs. Some homeowners may choose to sell or renovate their homes to cater to those needs, but others may opt to move and keep the property as a rental, especially if the real estate market isn't where they would like it to be when they're looking to sell.

Before going this route, here's a checklist of top questions to ask yourself.

[See: The 20 Best Places to Live in the U.S.]

Do I need the equity? For many Americans, their home equity is a huge part of their net worth. If you're planning to buy another home or you have another need for that equity, then renting the house may not be an option, says Larry Rosenthal, a certified financial planner and president of Rosenthal Wealth Management Group in northern Virginia. "In order to use the equity, you've got to sell the property, rent it or mortgage it," he says.

What's my long-term plan? "Investing in real estate is a great option. Just understand what your goal is with it," Rosenthal says. "What do you want the property to do for you?" he asks. Often, a property where the mortgage is already paid off can bring in the most free cash flow since rent only has to cover smaller expenses such as property taxes and maintenance, rather than a mortgage. This typically creates the most ideal circumstance for the landlord.

However, if you're a retiree who wants to turn a paid-off property into a pension-type income, Rosenthal says many retirees tire of dealing with the complexities of rental properties as they age and want more simplicity. And if your goal is to generate cash flow beyond your carry costs, including the mortgage, property taxes and maintenance, don't forget that vacancies or non-paying tenants can cut into that free cash flow.

Or, if you're planning to rent out the property for a few years and build up more equity, remember those gains in equity could be wiped out by future fluctuations in the market. Planning to cash in on the popularity of short-term rental sites like Airbnb or VRBO? Frequent short-term rentals can be more lucrative than long-term leases, but be prepared for more work and check your local ordinances. "The city of Santa Monica is cracking down on Airbnb and the short-term rental industry," says Jose Tijam, a realtor with Grand Avenue Realty & Lending Inc. in the Greater Los Angeles area. Even if your municipality currently allows short-term rentals, that may change in the future.

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[See: 3 Under-the-Radar Cities That Make Great Hometowns.]

Can I afford the carry costs? As a homeowner, you already know that you're on the hook for more than just the mortgage. But don't base your calculations on current carry costs, because some of these costs may actually increase once you turn the property into a rental. Do you have the cash to cover the mortgage and other costs such as utility charges and property taxes during vacancies? Have you priced out a landlord's insurance policy rather than a homeowner's policy?

If you're moving across town or across the country, you may need to hire someone to do the maintenance work you previously handled yourself, such as cleaning the gutters and mowing the lawn. "Those are just some hidden costs, and things like that that will creep up from time to time," Rosenthal says. You'll also owe income taxes on rental income, but you can use expenses such as local property taxes and mortgage interest to reduce your tax liability on rental income.

Do I want to be a landlord? If you're managing the property yourself and find someone who's self-sufficient, it might be smooth sailing. Or you might have to deal with late-night plumbing emergencies and tenants who bounce checks or damage your home. Since damages can sometimes exceed the size of the security deposit and it's stressful to evict someone, "it's better to have your property vacant than have a nightmare tenant," Tijam says.

Josh Rosenthal has turned several Washington, District of Columbia-area residences into rentals and says screening tenants is tricky. "Good credit scores are often a good indicator but don't tell the entire story," he says. "Verifying income is good, but unexpected unemployment happens," he adds. He takes cues from how prospective tenants interact with him and whether they're on time, and assesses how tidy their car is at a glance.

Josh Rosenthal's experiences as a landlord inspired him to create MoveIn.Space, an online tool expected to launch later this year that is designed to help landlords and tenants document each property's condition. While renting units to young professionals, he's found that "you definitely get people who are very delicate with the property, but sometimes they can be a little more boisterous," he says. "'It was like that when I moved in' seems to be the biggest line," he adds.

[See: The 20 Most Desirable Places to Live in the U.S.]

Being a landlord isn't for everyone, so some residence owners choose to hire a property manager, especially if they're moving far away. That means you won't have to deal with day-to-day maintenance or other issues, "but in some cases, [the cost of hiring a] property manager throws off the math," Larry Rosenthal says. "You may be getting rent that's very close to what the liability payments are," he adds.

Susan Johnston Taylor contributes to the money section of USNews.com. Her articles on business and personal finance have also appeared in or on The Boston Globe, Learnvest.com, Entrepreneur.com and FastCompany.com. You can find her on Twitter @UrbanMuseWriter.
Aided by the fact that most of the broadcast networks aired at least a few repeats on Tuesday night, NBC swept the three hours of primetime with The Voice and a preview of new drama Game of Silence.

Airing two hours on Tuesday, The Voice managed a steady 2.2 rating among adults 18-49. That led into Game of Silence, which saw a premiere sampling of a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 6.5 million viewers. In the key demo, that stat matched last week's regularly scheduled Chicago Fire, though that series did not have the benefit of a Voice lead-in.

Game of Silence transitions to its regular time slot, Thursdays at 10 p.m., later this week.

Read More: 'Game of Silence': TV Review

CBS pulled second-place status despite the fact that it aired all repeats, while only ABC's comedies weren't new. Agents of SHIELD (1.0 adults) and Beyond the Tank (0.6 adults) were steady and original.

Fox originals included a boost for New Girl. The recently renewed series was up two-tenths of a point to a 1.1 rating in the key demo, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.9 adults) and The Grinder (0.6 adults) were both even.

On The CW, a two-hour iZombie finale fetched a 0.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 1.3 million viewers.
PARIS (Reuters) - Two French soldiers have died in Mali after their heavy armored vehicle hit a land mine, taking the number of people killed in the incident to three, French President Francois Hollande's office said on Wednesday. One soldier was announced dead on Tuesday after the vehicle struck an explosive device during a patrol in the restive north of the country. The latest deaths take the French army casualty toll to 17 since Paris intervened in its former colony in January 2013 to oust Islamist militants. It underlines persistent insecurity in the region a month after al Qaeda's African arm claimed responsibility for an attack on a luxury beach hotel in Ivory Coast in retaliation for French military operations in West Africa. (Reporting By John Irish; Editing by Brian Love)
By Justin Madden

(Reuters) - Two Kansas 6-year-old boys took a pickup truck on a joyride, hitting cars, a mailbox and plowing through yards before police could catch up with them, officials said on Wednesday.

One of the boys was operating the gas and brake pedals while the other one steered during the ride in the town of Newton, about 25 miles north of Wichita.

The two struck five cars along their three-block journey and crashed into a mailbox and drove through yards, police said. They jumped into the truck, grabbed the keys from the center console and drove away on Tuesday evening, police Lieutenant Scott Powell.

"I don't think they were trying to run away or anything," he said. "I think they were just making a 6-year-old's decision."

Police did not identify the boys because they are minors.

Powell said the boys did not tell police where they were going but were cooperative.

One boy was taken to Wichita Hospital for non-life threatening injuries. Both boys were eventually reunited with their parents, police said.

(Reporting by Justin Madden, Editing by Ben Klayman and Alistair Bell)
Last year, the software company Salesforce made headlines when its CEO, Marc Benioff, announced at a conference that the company had done an internal audit of its 17,000 employees to see if it was paying its male and female employees equally. After finding gender-pay disparities, the company then spent $3 million righting that wrong. This idea has taken hold in the tech industry: This week, Facebook and Microsoft both announced that they had achieved gender pay parity, joining a handful of other large companies such as Apple and Intel.

These announcements receive lots of coverage, but what hasnt is how Salesforces internal review got started: It all goes back to the conversations and actions of two of its employees, Leyla Seka and Cindy Robbins. Both have been at the company for 10 years: Seka is a senior vice president of Salesforces customer-support unit Desk.com, and Robbins is an executive vice president in charge of HR for all of Salesforce. The two women were part of a program called Womens Surge, an initiative of Benioffs that, among other things, required that 30 percent of the attendees of every company meeting had to be women. We did what the program was supposed to do: We got elevated and got more access, Seka says. And through that, we started talking. Equal pay was something that was always on my mind; I've been thinking about it for the last 10 years. As Cindy and I got these new jobs, we felt an obligation to do more for the women inside of our company.

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Seka and Robbins decided that the company should be subjected to an internal audit. They worked on their proposal over meals, brainstorming what theyd plan to say to their boss. Robbins set up a meeting with Benioff and brought Seka along, and they told him they suspected that women at Salesforce were being paid less than men at the company. Benioff was skeptical. He was kind of shocked, which I was kind of shocked by. He said, I'm not sure about this, recalls Seka.

But Benioff agreed to initiate an internal review and as a result, 6 percent of Salesforce employeesincluding both men and womengot raises to ensure they were getting equal pay. Following this, Benioff was recruited to support Obamas new equal-pay rules, which starting in 2017 will require companies with 100 employees or more to report to the government how much their employees are paid, broken down by race, gender, and ethnicity.

Looking back, Seka and Robbins both say that conditions at Salesforce enabled them to speak up. Its important to understand your company's appetite for transparency. Im really lucky to work at a company, and for a CEO, that is open to having these conversations and doing what is right. However, not every company has a culture of transparency, says Robbins. On top of that, Robbins recognizes that not everyone has access to his or her CEO quite like she and Seka did.

Seka says that despite working at a company where they felt comfortable bringing pay disparities up with an executive, it still took courage to say something. At the time, I didn't think it was courageousI just thought, "Let's do this. It's the right thing to do. Let's make something happen," says Seka. But this takes courage  I can't speak to every industryI'm very tech-focused. But I know a lot of tech CEOs, and they're open people. They might not say yes, but what's the harm in asking? That's the way I look at it now.

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Both Seka and Robbins are hoping that their accomplishment at Salesforce will help other women and other companies start the conversation, and Robbins says that their approach was important. Speak with the managers and executives you have access to and let them know what motivated you to start this conversation, she advises. It is also important to highlight why this issue is important, not only for equality purposes, but also for your company's own competitive recruitment and retention strategies.

And if the result of that conversation is an internal audit, the rest is easier. As our CEO has stated publicly, Robbins says, every company has an HR system and has access to the data.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
By Julie Steenhuysen and Bill Berkrot CHICAGO (Reuters) - After several weeks of study and debate, U.S. health officials concluded that infection with the Zika virus during pregnancy causes the birth defect microcephaly, a finding that experts hope will refocus attention on efforts to stop infections and prompt U.S. lawmakers to fund emergency prevention efforts. "There isn't any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told reporters in a conference on Wednesday. U.S. and world health officials have been saying for weeks that mounting scientific evidence points to the mosquito-borne virus as the likely cause of the alarming rise in microcephaly in Zika-hit areas of Brazil. It had not been declared as the definitive cause until now. The announcement comes at a critical time for the Obama Administration, which has been urging the Republican-controlled Congress to grant nearly $1.9 billion in emergency funds to fight the virus, which is already affecting Puerto Rico and is expected to hit parts of the United States with the coming of mosquito-friendly warmer weather.. In a temporary fix, the White House said last week that it would redirect $589 million in allocated funds to prepare for Zika's arrival in the continental United States. The declaration of Zika as a cause of microcephaly may make it harder for lawmakers to deny the request for emergency funding. "I think it's a game-changer," said Dr. Lawrence Gostin, a global health law expert at Georgetown University who testified before Congress last month on the need for Zika funding. "It's acceptable if we don't know for sure if a risk is going to emerge and we're unprepared, but it's shameful if we absolutely know that an epidemic is coming and we fail to prepare." Certainty over whether Zika causes microcephaly should end the debate in the public health community about the potential impact of the virus and focus attention on how to prevent infections, experts said. "There has been so much debate. It lays that to rest now,"said Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota. In February, the World Health Organization declared Zika a global health emergency based on its suspected link to thousands of cases in Brazil of microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size and underdeveloped brains. The declaration kicked off a flurry of studies to prove a link. The CDC said its latest conclusions came after all necessary scientific criteria had been met to make the official call. "The data are there. The evidence is there. The pieces of information we have now makes us confident," said Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, director of the CDC division of public health information and lead author of a New England Journal of Medicine article outlining evidence. CDC now believes microcephaly is just one of a range of serious birth defects caused by Zika. In Brazil, officials have confirmed more than 1,100 cases of microcephaly, and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. It is investigating more than 3,800 additional suspected cases. CDC travel and sexual transmission guidelines remain unchanged. Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant are advised to avoid travel to the at least 42 countries and territories where Zika has spread, and men who have been to those areas are advised to abstain from sex or use condoms with partners who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant. There were already signs on Wednesday that Republican lawmakers' resolve against funding the White House Zika request is weakening. Senior U.S. House of Representatives Republican Tom Cole said on Wednesday more funds will be needed to fight the Zika virus in the United States, signaling a shift from insistence by many Republicans that the Obama administration should use existing funds for the effort to combat the growing threat. "There's going to need to be additional money, I don't think there's any doubt about that," Cole told reporters after a House Republican meeting. "We're having discussions about that now." Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who is from Florida, broke with other congressional Republicans on Zika last week, announcing his support for President Barack Obama's nearly $1.9 billion request to fight the virus. On Wednesday, Rubio wrote to the CDC to urge it to clear a backlog of Zika diagnostic tests and prioritize testing for pregnant women, saying he had seen media reports that some pregnant women have waited up to a month for CDC to complete their tests. House Speaker Paul Ryan stood fast, however, saying that if more money is needed to fight Zika, lawmakers will respond through the regular appropriations process. Now that the causal relationship has been established, Frieden said several important questions must be answered, such as what percentage of Zika-infected mothers have babies with birth defects. Researchers also want to discover the full range of brain and developmental issues that may crop up later in life for infected babies, Rasmussen said. (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago, Bill Berkrot in New York, Susan Cornwell and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Bernard Orr)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop on Wednesday said Obama administration proposals to change a Puerto Rico debt relief bill are under negotiation, requiring the panel to cancel a Thursday work session on a Republican bill. "The administration is still negotiating on provisions of the legislation, creating uncertainty in both parties," Bishop said in a prepared statement. He added that "it is unfair to all members to force a vote" in the committee as negotiations continue. Bishop, a Republican, had hoped to work on the legislation Thursday and hold a committee vote that would have sent it to the full House of Representatives for consideration. One congressional source told Reuters that the Thursday session was being canceled because the legislation lacked adequate support in the committee. (Reporting By Richard Cowan; Editing by Chris Reese)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday criticized efforts of the U.S. Congress to combat Zika as insufficient in the fight against the virus, but said President Barack Obama would still sign the measure into law. "It is a positive step. It is a far cry from what our public health experts tell us is necessary to prepare," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters, adding that the bill passed on Tuesday did not include any funding to address the virus. (Reporting by Susan Heavey and Tim Gardner; Editing by Bernard Orr)
By Andrea Shalal COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - U.S. military and intelligence agencies must innovate more and better coordinate their actions to defend critical satellites in the wake of growing potential threats from Russia, China and others, U.S. military leaders said Tuesday. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said the Pentagon and Air Force were taking steps to improve the resilience of U.S. military satellites given their fundamental importance to what he called "the American way of war." "If an adversary were able to take space away from us, our ability to project decisive military power across transoceanic distances - the very essence of our conventional deterrence - would be critically weakened," Work told a space conference hosted by the Space Foundation. U.S. military officials are starting to provide details about how they will spend more than $5 billion over the next few years to shore up satellite security, galvanized by gains in technology that could be used by Russia, China and other countries to disrupt or destroy U.S. satellites, or disable their communications links through jamming or other means. Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co, Raytheon Co and other weapons makers are anxious see what new business opportunities that could develop as a result of the changes, Work said the Defense Department would make a series of structural changes by dispersing equipment, hardening satellites and taking other steps to make U.S. satellites "hard to find, hard to catch, hard to hit and hard to kill." Changes could include using different orbits and deception, as well as use of different operating practices, Work said, noting that Washington would keep some of its changes secret to keep potential adversaries guessing. The Pentagon is also using older satellites on orbit to experiment and test ways to improve the way it manages and controls satellites, Work told reporters before his speech. He said three rounds of experiments had already been carried out through the Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center, but the results had not yet been briefed to Defense Secretary Ash Carter. U.S. Air Force General John Hyten, head of Air Force Space Command, said the government would also use prototypes and other innovative approaches already used in commercial industry. Colonel John Wagner, commander of the 406th Space Wing, which operates U.S. missile warning satellites, said the Air Force would also set up an innovation cell in Boulder, Colorado, that would look at potential civilian uses for the powerful sensors on new Space-Based Infrared System satellites built by Lockheed, such as early warning for firefighters. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Leslie Adler)
By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Wednesday accused United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of ineptitude for failing to halt sexual exploitation and abuse by blue-helmeted peacekeepers. The criticism from Senator Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, comes as candidates to replace Ban when he leaves the post after two 10-year terms have been holding town hall meetings with diplomats from U.N. member states this week. Ending U.N. peacekeeper abuse has been a major topic of discussion during the meetings at U.N. headquarters in light of a slew of rape allegations leveled against international peacekeepers in Central African Republic. Corker asked a committee hearing on ending sexual abuse by U.N. peacekeepers why some recommendations included in a 2005 report on the problem to the U.N. General Assembly were only now being implemented. "What is wrong with the secretary-general of the U.N.?" Corker told the hearing, which was broadcast live. "This report ... the one that you refer to, is 10 years old." "How do we put up with such inept leadership at the United Nations?" he added. Ambassador Isobel Coleman, who oversees U.N. management and reform issues at the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said countries that contribute troops to the United Nations were often unwilling to hold troops who commit abuses accountable. "I don't think it's ineptitude," Coleman said. "I think it is a reluctance to take on the opposition of troop contributing countries that don't want to deal with this issue in the transparent way that it must be dealt with." She added that the United States was monitoring follow-up actions in troop-contributing countries to ensure people accused of sexual abuse are prosecuted. Republicans are traditionally more critical of the United Nations than Democrats. The United States contributes 27 percent of the United Nations' $8.3 billion peacekeeping budget. The United Nations did not have an immediate response to Corker's criticism, but it has pledged to crack down on allegations of abuse to avoid a repeat of past mistakes. The United Nations has started to "name and shame" countries whose troops are accused of sexual abuse. The previous head of the U.N. mission in Central African Republic, Babacar Gaye, resigned last August and some 800 Congolese peacekeepers were repatriated earlier this year over alleged sex crimes. In December, an independent review panel accused the United Nations and its agencies of grossly mishandling allegations of child sexual abuse by international peacekeepers in Central African Republic in 2013 and 2014. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Alistair Bell)
By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura opened a new round of peace talks on Wednesday seeking renewed pledges to uphold a truce he said had been shaken by serious incidents but "not a bushfire". "In spite of the several and serious incidents, the cessation of hostilities is still holding, particularly when we compare to what used to be," de Mistura told reporters in Geneva. But he said repeated "incidents" would damage confidence in the partial ceasefire, which began on February 27 and does not include Islamic State or al-Qaeda linked groups. "And that is why perhaps it would be good timing for a reaffirmation by those who have been supporting and promoting the cessation of hostilities in their faith and determination in protecting it. At the beginning of the second round of talks that would be a significant help." Since the last round of talks ended on March 24, de Mistura has traveled to Moscow, Damascus, Tehran and Amman. Officials in all four capitals had indicated support and interest in a discussion aiming at a political transition in Syria, he said. "None of them actually expressed any doubt that that is the priority and the agenda," he said. De Mistura was speaking after meeting negotiators from the opposition High Negotiations Committee for the first session of the new round of talks. The head of the opposition negotiating team, Asaad al-Zoubi, said establishing a transitional governing body was the top priority this time around. The government's negotiators are expected in Geneva on Friday after vote-counting from elections held in government-controlled areas on Wednesday in a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad. [L5N17G5AY] Zoubi described Assad as a "disease" that Syria needed to be rid of. He said the Syrian government had committed more than 2,000 breaches of the truce and dropped 420 barrel bombs in March. "This is a clear sign that the regime is a terrorist regime and is not serious about seeking a political solution," he said. The government has denied dropping barrel bombs. It has said its opponents are responsible for violations of the truce, which a senior official close to the Syrian government said on Tuesday had effectively collapsed. Since February, 133,819 people have been uprooted by fighting, mainly in Aleppo and Hasaka governorates in northern Syria and in Deraa in the south, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Wednesday. However, "significant returnee movements have been reported elsewhere in southern Syria, due to the relative calm and the sharp decrease in ariel bombardment," it said in a report. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
By Mark Hosenball and Dustin Volz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators on Wednesday issued a formal draft of a controversial bill that would give courts the power to order technology companies like Apple to help authorities break into encrypted devices or communications for law enforcement or intelligence purposes.

The proposal arrives just days after an earlier draft leaked online and drew fire from security researchers and civil liberties advocates who warned it would undermine Internet security and expose personal data to hackers.

Those same groups on Wednesday said the new draft is little different from the leaked version.

The bill comes as the U.S. Justice Department has redoubled its efforts to use the courts to force Apple to unlock encrypted iPhones.

Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, the Senate intelligence committee's Republican chair and top Democrat, said in a statement they intended now to "solicit input from the public and key stakeholders before formally introducing the bill."

"I am hopeful that this draft will start a meaningful and inclusive debate on the role of encryption and its place within the rule of law," Burr said. "Based on initial feedback, I am confident that the discussion has begun."

The new discussion draft does not require manufacturers or communications companies to process, transmit or store data in any particular format.

Rather, it requires companies, upon receipt of a court order, to turn over to the government "data in an intelligible format" even if encryption has rendered that data inaccessible to anyone other than the owner.

Companies must ensure their products "be capable of complying," the bill states. Critics say that amounts to a ban on strong encryption.

The latest version of the bill narrows the scope of cases where a court can issue an order. Those include crimes that caused or could cause death or serious injury or that involve drug offenses or child victims, in addition to foreign intelligence operations, according to the text.

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Andrew Crocker, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, said changes in the new discussion draft were minimal and the bill still threatened Internet security because companies would only be able to comply by weakening encryption in all their products.

The proposed legislation, which is expected to continue facing strong opposition from the technology sector and privacy advocates, faces an uphill battle in a gridlocked Congress.

"This flawed bill would leave Americans more vulnerable to stalkers, identity thieves, foreign hackers and criminals," said Democratic Senator Ron Wyden in a statement.

(Reporting By Mark Hosenball and Dustin Volz in Washington; Editing by Andrew Hay)
By Kole Casule SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia's president pardoned 56 government and opposition figures on Wednesday in a wiretapping scandal despite protests against the move at home and abroad, with the United States warning it could protect "corrupt politicians". A day after causing uproar in Macedonia by announcing he planned a blanket amnesty over the affair, President Gjorge Ivanov published notices in Macedonia's official gazette exempting former prime minister Nikola Gruevski - a political ally - and other prominent politicians from prosecution. Also pardoned were opposition leader Zoran Zaev, who revealed the existence of the recordings last year, and former security service official Zoran Verusevski, who Gruevski accused of giving the wiretaps to Zaev in an attempt to bring down his government. Thousands of opposition supporters angry at Ivanov's action took to the streets of the capital Skopje on Wednesday evening. Some broke windows at a city center office occasionally used by Ivanov, went inside and took out furniture which they tried to set on fire, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. They also broke windows at the nearby Ministry of Justice. Demonstrators scuffled with riot police, threw stones and eggs at government buildings and set off flares before police used batons to disperse the crowd. A police source said there had been some injuries and arrests but could not immediately say how many. A rival demonstration by several thousand government supporters ended peacefully. Macedonia, a poor Balkan country of two million people on the front line of Europe's refugee crisis, has been in turmoil since Zaev accused Gruevski and his counter-intelligence chief, Saso Mijalkov, in February last year of orchestrating the wiretapping of more than 20,000 people. The opposition said the phone-taps exposed government control over journalists, judges, public sector recruitment and the manipulation of elections in Macedonia, which aspires to join both the European Union and NATO. Zaev branded Ivanov's action a "coup d'etat" on Tuesday and demanded his resignation, while the EU said the move appeared contrary to the rule of law. Thirty-seven opposition legislators signed a petition on Wednesday demanding a parliamentary inquiry into Ivanov's action but the assembly was dissolved last week pending elections and the speaker said there were no grounds to recall it. Ivanov explained his move on Tuesday by saying the scandal had reduced Macedonian politics to a crippling competition of criminal investigations and charges, and that it had become "so tangled that nobody can untangle it". U.S. Ambassador Jess Baily joined foreign criticism of Ivanov's action, saying on Twitter: "A blanket pardon without due process protects corrupt politicians and their associates. Let the special prosecutor and courts do their jobs." In Washington, the U.S. State Department urged Ivanov on Wednesday to reconsider his decision so as to ensure "justice for the people of Macedonia". The EU commissioner in charge of relations with would-be member states, Johannes Hahn, said on Tuesday he doubted whether credible elections were possible following Ivanov's decision. The opposition had already pledged to boycott the election. Ali Ahmeti, head of the Democratic Union for Integration party which forms part of the ruling coalition, called on Ivanov to withdraw his decision, saying it violated an EU-brokered deal reached last year to try to end the crisis. Under that accord, a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate the wiretap revelations and Gruevski agreed to an early election, expected in June. (Additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Ivana Sekularac in Belgrade, Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Writing by Adrian Croft; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
By Jan Schwartz and Andreas Cremer

HAMBURG/BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen's top management board has agreed to cut executives' bonus payments by at least 30 percent, one person familiar with VW's bonus negotiations said, as the carmaker struggles to resolve a dispute over compensation.

Bonuses for senior managers have become a flashpoint in an escalating dispute with the powerful labour leaders of Europe's biggest carmaker, which is under pressure to cut costs since an emissions scandal broke in September when U.S. regulators said they were investigating VW for violating clean air rules.

Volkswagen's (VW) second-largest shareholder, the German state of Lower Saxony, wants management bonuses to be scrapped while VW's powerful labour leaders have been pushing for no or lower bonuses, sources familiar with the matter said.

"These are tough times and VW must send a signal also to workers that it's serious about cost cuts," M.M. Warburg analyst Marc-Rene Tonn, who recommends holding the stock, said, adding VW needs to make "structural changes" to executive compensation rules.

VW shares closed 4.4 percent higher, outperforming the 2.7 percent gain in Germany's blue-chip index DAX <.GDAXI>.

Lower Saxony Prime Minister Stephan Weil said "intense" discussions on the board were still needed to find a solution on bonuses. Lower Saxony holds a 20 percent stake in VW and has two seats on its supervisory board which signs off on executive pay.

Earlier on Wednesday, VW confirmed a Reuters report that its management and supervisory boards had agreed to bring about a significant reduction in executive bonuses.

Volkswagen, however, dismissed as wrong a report by a group of German media outlets that the company's executive board members had offered to have their bonuses slashed by 50 percent.

German broadcasters WDR and NDR as well as newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which worked together on the story, cited unnamed top executives as saying that under the proposal some part of the relinquished bonus payments would be set aside for future payouts that depended on business development.

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Executive bonuses in 2014 accounted for 54 million euros ($61 million) of the 70 million euros in total compensation for VW top managers, according to company data. That's almost double the 37 million euros rival Daimler paid its top managers in fixed and flexible salaries last year.

"From our perspective, it's undisputed that no bonuses should be dispensed to executives and senior managers" for as long as the emissions scandal has not been fully cleared up, the SdK capital investors' lobby, which represents shareholders' voting rights in listed German companies, said.

U.S. law firm Jones Day, hired by VW to investigate the scandal, is due to brief the supervisory board on its findings on April 22.

Though top managers are resisting scrapping bonuses, they are discussing further measures for an additional reduction in variable pay, the person familiar with VW's bonus negotiations told Reuters on Wednesday, without being more specific.

VW declined to comment. VW's works council did not return calls seeking comment.

The person also said one option may be VW executives investing in the carmaker, without being more specific. VW's supervisory board is scheduled to sign off on 2015 results and executive compensation on April 22.

(Reporting by Jan Schwartz and Andreas Cremer; Additional reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, Susan Thomas and Mark Potter)
By Bernie Woodall

(Reuters) - The U.S. National Labor Relations Board voted 2-1 to uphold a December election in which a small group of workers at Volkswagen AG's Chattanooga, Tennessee plant voted to join the United Auto Workers union, the NLRB said on Wednesday.

VW had asked for a review of the election, which involved about 160 skilled trades workers at the plant, in which 71 percent voted to join the UAW. The plant has a total hourly workforce of about 1,400 workers.

The UAW will now see if it has additional leverage to press VW to agree to come to the negotiating table for the 160 workers, members of UAW Local 42 in Chattanooga, to bargain on wages and benefits.

The members of UAW Local 42 would be the first workers at a foreign-owned auto assembly plant to gain collective bargaining rights in the southern United States.

While the unit of skilled trades workers, who maintain the assembly machinery, are a fraction of the hourly work force, bargaining by VW with them could serve as a launching pad for the unions efforts to organize other foreign-owned plants in the South.

Officially, the NLRB voted to keep in place a regional director's ruling that affirmed the December election.

VW said in a statement, "We are reviewing the decision and evaluating our options."

In the past, VW has said it does not want workers to be separated into fragmented representation groups.

Gary Casteel, UAW secretary-treasurer and head of its organizing efforts in the South, said he hopes VW will "immediately" work with Local 42 "in the German spirit of co-determination."

Casteel referred to VW's policy of allowing worker input in management decisions, which it has done at nearly all of its factories outside the United States through "work councils" that include both plant and office employees.

The UAW in February filed charges with the NLRB claiming that VW had unlawfully continued to refuse to bargain.

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The NLRB board member who dissented said the skilled trades workers do not work separately from the rest of the VW plant's workers. The two NLRB members in the majority said the company had failed to prove an "overwhelming community of interest" between the skilled trades employees and the rest of the plant's hourly workers.

The union narrowly lost a February 2014 election to represent all of VW's Chattanooga hourly paid workers.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Diane Craft and Steve Orlofsky)
London (AFP) - Britain's elections watchdog named Wednesday the two lead campaigns for the EU referendum, a status that brings higher spending limits and public funds, leaving one disappointed organisation seeking legal advice.

The Electoral Commission decided against the campaign group backed by UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage and in favour of Vote Leave, the group supported by Conservative mayor of London Boris Johnson.

The Stronger in Europe group was granted lead status on the "Remain" side, which is supported by Prime Minister David Cameron, as the only organisation that had applied.

Farage, whose anti-immigration, anti-EU party had helped pressure Cameron into calling the referendum on June 23, was gracious in defeat, urging all campaigners for a so-called Brexit to join forces.

"We must work together to get our country out of the European Union," he said.

However, his Leave.EU group, which is backed by UKIP donor Arron Banks, said it was consulting lawyers about a legal challenge -- and warned that any action could delay the referendum.

aI am thoroughly unsatisfied with the Electoral Commissionas decision for a variety of reasons that I will be making clear in my application for judicial review," Banks said in a statement.

"It is to be regretted that this process may put the referendum back until October but if we are to avoid the most important vote of our lives being rigged then I feel duty bound to take this course of action."

Lead campaign status brings with it a spending limit of A7 million ($10 million, 8.7 million euros) for each side, significantly more than the A700,000 that other registered campaign groups can spend.

Each designated group will also be able to make referendum campaign broadcasts and is eligible for public funds of up to A600,000 for administrative costs and campaign material.

Political parties are also allowed to spend significant funds on the campaign, within limits calculated according to their share of the vote at the 2015 election.

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Farage noted that UKIP had a spending limit of A4 million.

"Regardless of whichever campaign got the designation, UKIP would always have played a big role in this campaign as the only national party committed to leaving the EU," he said in a statement.

The Conservative party would be eligible to spend even more than UKIP but it is deeply divided, with 128 lawmakers -- or around a third of the party in parliament -- backing the Vote Leave campaign.

The spending limit will apply from Friday, when the official campaign period begins.
Refugees and migrants wait in line for tea in a camp in Idomeni, on the border between Greece and Macedonia. STOYAN NENOV (Reuters)

Spain has only taken in 18 refugees since September 2015, when European countries pledged to help people fleeing conflict in Syria.

In March, the Spanish government promised to speed up that rate by accepting 467 new refugees within that same month.

But a European Commission report shows that nearly two weeks after the deadline expired, not a single one of those 467 people has arrived on Spanish soil.

Spain has all the necessary conditions to increase its figures, but must accept greater responsibility and commitment

Acnur representative in Spain

Several European institutions are rebuking Spain for these disappointing numbers, and talking about "a lack of willingness" on the part of the Popular Party (PP) acting administration. Acnur, the United Nations refugee agency, joined that chorus of critical voices in Congress on Tuesday.

Asked by this newspaper, government sources said that all relevant applications have been filed, but that no answers have been received so far.

The acting government of Mariano Rajoy, of the Popular Party (PP), is planning to take in 32 refugees currently in Italy, but authorities there have failed to take any steps to facilitate that move, said sources at the foreign affairs ministry.

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Likewise, it is willing to accept 150 refugees now in Greece, and a further 285 in Turkey, but says that multiple requests filed with Acnur, the United Nations refugee agency, have been useless.

By comparison, Portugal, whose population is four times smaller than Spains, has taken in 181 individuals. And countries that do not belong to the EU, such as Switzerland, Liechtenstein or Iceland, have taken in many more from Turkey.

Acnur has asked the Spanish government to be more flexible with its criteria, explained the agency's representative in Spain, Francesca Friz-Prguda.

"Spain has all the necessary conditions to increase its figures, but must accept greater responsibility and commitment," she told the congressional mixed committee on EU affairs.

English version by Susana Urra.
By William Schomberg LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will need to make choices on trade, labour laws and the environment that could be unpopular with voters if it wants to offset the hit to its economy from any decision to leave the European Union, a think tank said on Wednesday. Britain's economic output would probably be between 0.5 and 1.5 percent smaller than it would otherwise be by 2030 if it decides to quit the bloc in a referendum in June, according to Open Europe, a pro-market research unit. That kind of impact would not be huge and new trade deals would help to make up for some of the difference. But agreements with big emerging economies could face grassroots opposition similar to recent protests over cheap Chinese steel imports which have decimated Britain's steel industry, Open Europe said. A post-EU Britain might also be tempted to drop the bloc's rules on pay for temporary workers and on the number of hours employees can work, and scrap its environmental rules. Such changes would help boost growth but could upset voters too, Raoul Ruparel, a co-director of Open Europe, said. "The basic trade-off is: yes there are potential gains post-Brexit, but they are not easy," he said. "Are people and politicians willing to do what is necessary to reap these gains? I don't think the hard choices have been discussed enough." Campaigners who back a so-called Brexit say Britain's economy would flourish if it left the EU because it could strike its own free trade deals and drop the bloc's red tape. Prime Minister David Cameron is urging voters to stay in the bloc, saying a decision to leave would lead to years of uncertainty. A former director of Open Europe is an adviser to Cameron on EU issues. Another tough issue after a Brexit vote would be immigration. "Out" campaigners say leaving the EU is the only way to control record flows of migration into Britain. Open Europe said countries such as Canada, Norway and Switzerland, which have been cited as models by the "Out" campaign, have higher levels of immigration than Britain and that it would still need low-paid workers from abroad. "You can regulate it but the impact on the ground might not feel so different," Stephen Booth, the think tank's other co-director, said. Open Europe said Britain's big challenges to improve its economic competitiveness had nothing to do with the EU. They included below-average standards in primary education, low levels of business investment and infrastructure delays. (Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
KIEV (Reuters) - A coalition of Ukraine's two largest parties has agreed to back Volodymyr Groysman for prime minister and reshuffle the cabinet, lawmakers said on Wednesday, paving the way for the biggest shake-up since a 2014 uprising brought in a pro-Western leadership. Months of coalition infighting came to a head this week, after the resignation of Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk forced a government reboot that will likely see the departure of Western-backed reformists and tighten President Petro Poroshenko's grip on key policy areas. "The coalition has put forward Groysman as a candidate for prime minister and is making the corresponding proposal to the president," the deputy head of Poroshenko's BPP faction, Oleksiy Honcharenko, said in a post on Twitter. The nomination could spell the end of political deadlock that has stalled efforts to root out corruption, delaying the disbursement of $5.4 billion in foreign loans from the International Monetary Fund and others. Poroshenko is expected to propose the nomination of Groysman, a close ally, to parliament on Thursday. The coalition is believed to have just enough votes to install him as prime minister and usher in a new government. "The coalition has showed that it is capable of reaching constructive agreements and taking decisions. I hope that tomorrow we can prove this also with the vote," Viktoria Syumar, a lawmaker in the People's Front party told journalists. The new cabinet is not expected to include any of the foreign technocrats brought in late in 2014, including Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko, who is set to be replaced by Poroshenko ally Oleksandr Danylyuk. Poroshenko and Groysman have publicly supported the IMF economic reform program and vowed to fight graft. But the slow pace of reform of the president-appointed prosecutor's office have prompted some to question Poroshenko's will to change the status quo. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; editing by Ralph Boulton)
Kinshasa (AFP) - The United Nations on Wednesday said it was "deeply concerned" for around 35,000 people forced to flee camps in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo following clashes between the army and rebels.

Five camps for internally displaced persons in North Kivu province have been emptied since March 27, forcing thousands to take refuge in surrounding villages in the Mpati area, around 100 kilometres south-west of the provincial capital Goma, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said in a statement.

The past days have been difficult for those internally displaced people forced to leave the sites, prevented by the clashing forces from returning to those sites, and unable to get the humanitarian assistance that they need. I am deeply concerned by the situation, the humanitarian coordinator in DR Congo, Dr Mamadou Diallo, said.

Since late March, the Congolese army has been battling a coalition of Hutu rebels from the eastern Congo-based Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and two local militia in the Mpati area.

In January, the OCHA chief in the country, Rein Paulsen, condemned as "unacceptable" the sudden dismantling of a camp in North Kivu after a firearm was discovered.

Paulsen described the dismantling of the camp as "collective punishment imposed on these vulnerable displaced people".

In December 2014, authorities forcibly closed a camp in Kiwanja, north of Goma, that was holding some 2,300 people, after discovering six firearms and announced plans to close all other camps for the displaced in the province, citing security concerns.

The UN in turn urged the government to respect "international humanitarian law" in the war-ravaged country which last September counted some 1.6 million displaced persons, including some 780,000 in North Kivu province.
Kiev (AFP) - The United Nations said Wednesday that one of its staff members had been captured by pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine's separatist east.

The UN is carrying out a humanitarian mission in the war-torn republics of Lugansk and Donetsk.

The world body's office in Kiev said it had mobilised all channels to ensure its unnamed staff member's immediate and unconditional release.

"The United Nations is deeply concerned about the fact that one of its staff members is being held captive in Donetsk," the UN said in a statement.

It added that is was aware that staff member was being "well treated" but provided no details about the captive's nationality or when and under what circumstances the capture occurred.

The authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) confirmed the detention but identified the captive as a member of Ukraine's SBU security service who was suspected of involvement in fighting against the insurgents.

"During his detention, he said that he was a member of the UN mission in Donetsk," the rebels said a statement.

"At the same time, (the man) was not officially registered as a member of the UN mission with the DNR authorities."

Nearly 9,200 people have died and more than 1.5 million been driven from their homes since a pro-Moscow revolt broke out in the former Soviet republic's industrial heartland in April 2014.

A series of periodic truce deals in 2015 have lessened the violence, which Kiev and its Western allies accuse Moscow of stirring and backing, a charge that Russia denies.

However on Sunday, the European Union criticised the "unprecedented level of violence" in eastern Ukraine after international peace monitors came under fire.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said Saturday that several monitors carrying out an observation mission had come under fire 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of the insurgents' de facto capital Donetsk.

In another incident, on Thursday, an OSCE monitor was threatened at gunpoint by a rebel, forcing the patrol to leave a checkpoint they had intended to pass, the group said.
Washington (AFP) - A US judge on Wednesday sentenced a teenager who used "affluenza" as a defense in a deadly Texas drunk-driving accident -- and then fled to Mexico to evade his probation officer -- to two years in prison.

Ethan Couch, 19, was ordered to serve four consecutive sentences of 180 days in prison, or a total of 720 days -- one for each person killed in the 2013 accident in Texas.

Judge Wayne Salvant, whose verdict was televised, said he could revise the sentence in two weeks after prosecutors and defense attorneys submit written arguments.

In 2013, Couch -- who was 16 at the time -- crashed his pickup into a group of pedestrians and another vehicle. Beyond the dead, several others were seriously injured.

He had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit for an adult.

The son of millionaire parents made headlines during his trial when a psychologist testifying on his behalf claimed he suffered from "affluenza."

The term, coined from affluence and influenza, implied that financial privilege made him unable to understand the consequences of his actions.

Couch pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter. Prosecutors at the time had sought a 20-year prison term, but the court handed him a surprise sentence of mental health treatment and a decade of probation.

The leniency caused outrage among many Americans.

After he missed a mandatory meeting with his probation officer last year, Couch and his mother fled to Mexico, where they were arrested in the resort of Puerto Vallarta in December. Couch was sent home in January and has been detained since.

It was not clear if the 720-day sentence would include time served.
US-based cruise liner Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCL) is on track to venture into China next year with a ship tailor-made for the Chinese market, a company official said Tuesday.

Demand for cruises is rising in China, driven by the country's growing middle class, said Steve Odell, NCL senior vice president and managing director for the Asia Pacific.

About 2.2 million, or 10 percent, of the 23 million passengers who made cruise trips worldwide in 2014 came from Asia, with this figure only set to rise, industry data showed.

China accounted for about 50 percent of the cruise trips within Asia that same year, according to the data from the Cruise Lines International Association.

Odell spoke to AFP Tuesday as the firm opened an office in Singapore for the Southeast Asian market, with an eye also on the bigger Chinese pie.

Cruise operators are eager to grab a slice of the Chinese market, which could grow to nearly $10 billion in cruise package sales by 2018 from around $6.8 billion in 2013, according to data from Euromonitor.

In spite of the economic slowdown, NCL is going ahead with plans to launch the Norwegian Joy, a ship tailor-made for the Chinese market which will come into service in next March.

Based at ports in Shanghai and Tianjin, offers on the ship will be geared to Chinese tastes, including more Chinese food options, casinos, mahjong rooms and duty-free shopping.

The 20-deck liner will have a capacity of 3,900 passengers and joins 12 other liners that have homeports in China, nine of them foreign owned.

"If you think of things on the macro scale, there's a lot of confidence that (ships) going to China (are) going to get filled up. What will happen probably is that there'll be a lot more pressure on price than before, but that is normal supply and demand economics," Odell said.

With only about 1.5 million passengers making cruise trips in China last year, the potential is huge, considering the country's population of 1.3 billion, he said.

"We're still in the... infancy of developing a cruise market in China," Odell added.
New York (AFP) - A US federal appeals court on Wednesday cleared Argentina to make payments on its debt, paving the way for the country to settle its long battle over bonds defaulted in 2001.

A three-judge panel rejected an appeal from some holdout creditors of a March ruling that removed injunctions blocking the payments.

Argentina will thus be able to follow through on settlement deals with holdouts over some $9 billion in claims.

The appeal had held up the country's plans to raise some $12.5-15 billion on global capital markets needed to pay off the creditors, who have battled for full compensation for their bonds for years.

The injunction had prevented Argentina from servicing its existing debt, and if it remained in place, the new bonds could not have been sold.

The ruling took a decade-old battle nearer to final resolution, and analysts said it could help begin the revitalization of Argentina's economy.

Until President Mauricio Macri took office in December, Buenos Aires had rejected the claims of the holdouts, most of them hedge fund investors, labelling them "vultures" for having refused to support the restructuring of the country's debt.

But the dispute had prevented Argentina from being able to raise any more funds in world capital markets and hobbled its economy.

Reformist Macri opened new talks over more than $9 billion in claims for principal and interest on the bonds in February, and has struck compromise deals over most of them.

But some of the creditors moved to keep the court's hold on debt payments in place, worried that if it was lifted, Argentina might not fully follow through with what it promised to the holdouts.

However, the New York court said none of the compromise deals would move ahead if the country remained blocked by the injunction.

- Deadline challenge remains -

Argentina defaulted on close to $100 billion in bonds in 2001 and over the subsequent nine years reached international agreements to restructure the debt with about 93 percent of creditors, who agreed to sharp writedowns of their bonds' value.

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Many of the holdouts though bought the bonds at steep discounts after the default and sued for full payment rather than back the restructuring. In a controversial decision in 2012, a New York court backed their claim.

There is still a hiccup in the process, however. The fight over the injunction delayed Buenos Aires' new bond issues, making it virtually impossible for the country to meet the April 14 deadline for payments set in the February agreements with holdouts.

But analysts said they expect creditors to agree to a little more time to allow the bond issue, already in the hands of underwriters, to get underway this week.

"We do not intend to terminate tomorrow," said Matthew McGill, a lawyer for NML Capital, one of the two hedge funds that have led the decade-long battle for payment.

"The immediate implication of the ruling is that a large $15 billion bond issuance will now take place imminently," said Edward Glossop at Capital Economics.

Of that, he said, $11 billion will go to resolve holdout and other claims left over from the 2000s.

The rest will support the country's reserves as Macri implements a difficult reform program.
Mario Conde in a file photo. EFE

The lawyer of disgraced former Banesto bank chairman Mario Conde said on Tuesday that he did not know that the funds that he helped bring into Spain from accounts in other countries could have been illicit. Javier de la Vega told Civil Guard investigators that he had been told by Condes family that the funds came from the father of Lourdes Arroyo, the ex-bankers wife, who died in 2007. According to sources from the investigation, the lawyer claims to have been told that Condes father-in-law had amassed a large fortune thanks to his business activities, and that he had taken some of these assets out of the country.

Sources from the investigation say that all of the evidence points to the fact that the money came from Conde himself

Conde was arrested on Monday, along with seven other people  including his son and daughter  on suspicion of laundering ill-gotten funds from his time at the helm of Banesto back into Spain. The former banker was at the center of a scandal in the 1990s, after the Bank of Spain found a 3.8 billion hole in the accounts of the lender. He served time in prison for his role in the affair, but always maintained his innocence.

Sources report that lawyer Javier de la Vega, an expert in national and international commerce, was hired by Condes wife Lourdes Arroyo, and it was she who gave him instructions until her death. After that time it was her daughter, Alejandra Conde, with whom he had a professional relationship. Alejandra Conde is one of the people who was arrested on Monday by the Civil Guard, as part of what has been called Operation Phoenix.

According to sources from the investigation, Conde took years to bring the money back to Spain, starting with small sums of around 3,000

Sources from the investigation claim, however, that all of the evidence points to the fact that the money did not come from Condes father-in-law, but rather from Conde himself, who is thought to have constructed a web of companies in Spain and abroad, which served for him to be able to bring back nearly 14 million via fictitious capital increases from the foreign companies in favor of those in Spain. The money is also thought to have arrived in Spain via fake loans, as well as in the form of payment for services that were never provided.

De la Vega is reported to have told the authorities that his work was limited to assessing the former bankers daughter about the investments she made in Spain, and argued that he did not have any part in the creation of said companies nor did he imagine, nor should he have been aware, that the millions of euros had illicit origins. He did admit to advising the family on the capital increases of the companies in Spain, which were fronted by Condes children and employees.

According to sources from the investigation, Conde took years to bring the money back to Spain, starting with small sums  around 3,000  and later increasing the amounts each year. Between 2010 and 2011 he repatriated 2 million, the same sources say.

English version by Simon Hunter.
US forces will gain access to more military bases in the Philippines than the five already announced, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said Wednesday as he began a visit to the longstanding Asian ally.

Manila announced this year it would allow US forces to use five of its installations, including an air base close to the South China Sea.

The agreement that went in force in January aims to strengthen the Philippines' defensive capabilities amid a tense maritime dispute with China, while helping the Pentagon pivot more of its forces toward Asia.

"They will be more, these are just the five initial sites for rotational presence" of US troops, Carter told reporters on his flight to the Philippine capital from India.

"The agreement provides for more sites in the future," he said.

Short-term rotations of US forces and equipment through these five facilities is "our favourite way of having a presence, for US forces to operate in and out of the Philippines, in support of our allies, of our broader networks of friends and allies in the region."

Carter is in Manila to attend Friday's ceremony marking the end of an annual large-scale joint military exercise between the two allies.

He is scheduled to call on President Benigno Aquino on Thursday.

Carter said he did not know at this time how many more Philippine military bases would be opened to US use.

"This is an evolving thing. We agreed to do these five with an understanding that they could be more and would be more, as we see what else and where else is significant," he added.

The five already approved by Manila include the Antonio Bautista air base on the western Philippine island of Palawan.

The base is just 300 kilometres (186 miles) east of Mischief Reef, an outcrop occupied by China in the 1990s despite angry protests by the Philippines.

China claims virtually all the strategic and resources-rich South China Sea despite conflicting partial claims by Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.

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Beijing has in recent months been asserting its claim by occupying more reefs and outcrops in these waters, and building artificial islands including airstrips on some of them.

The Philippines has warned the Chinese activity could be a prelude to Beijing declaring an air defence zone in the area.

Washington does not take sides in the territorial disputes, but has warned against attempts to disrupt freedom of navigation in international waters.

Under the accord, US forces will also gain access to Basa air base, about 330 kilometres from Scarborough Shoal which was occupied by Chinese vessels after a tense confrontation with Philippine ships in 2012.

The other bases to be used by the US military are a major army training camp with its own airstrip in the north, and two air bases in the central and southern islands of the archipelago.
Washington (AFP) - Governments around the world are cracking down on basic freedoms, the United States warned Wednesday, in a report that did not spare key US allies like Turkey and Egypt.

Secretary of State John Kerry, writing the preface to his department's annual human rights report, said attacks on democratic values point to a "global governance crisis."

The report complained that Washington's main global rivals Russia and China are cracking down on civil society and pro-democracy groups.

But it also pointed the finger at some US partners, with language that can be expected to rile several authoritarian leaders.

"The norms referred to in these reports are universal norms," Kerry said. "They are not some arbitrary standard of the United States which we seek to impose on people.

"These are universal standards of human rights that have been adopted and accepted and are agreed to by most nations in the world," he said, at the launch of the report.

Kerry argued that respecting human rights does not weaken a government and that repressing citizens opens the door to the growth of violent extremism.

"The government that fails to respect human rights, no matter how lofty its pretensions, has very little to boast about, to teach," he argued.

The report, compiled on a country-by-country basis by US diplomats, has no legal implications for US policy.

A critical writeup does not compel Washington to cut ties or military aid to rights abusers or to impose sanctions upon them.

But Kerry argued that the detailed report -- the 40th his agency has produced -- would strengthen US determination to promote what he called fundamental freedoms.

"Some look at these events and fear democracy is in retreat," he said, writing in the preface to the report.

"In fact, they are a reaction to the advance of democratic ideals, to rising demands of people from every culture and region for governments that answer to them."

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As might be expected, the report is critical of US rivals like Russia and China -- where it says civil rights groups face increasing repression -- and of foes like Iran and North Korea, where citizens face extrajudicial killings and torture.

Tom Malinowski, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, said Moscow and Beijing's crackdowns on dissent sent a bad message to other powers.

- Journalism and terrorism -

Referring to Moscow's attempts to close or control civil society groups, Malinowski said "we see determined efforts to legislate and end to freedom of association."

He complained that Moscow treats Russians campaigning against torture or for free elections as if they are traitors and that Chinese law conflates peaceful activism and journalism with terrorism, through legislation.

"That is of particular concern because those practices are much more likely to be copied in other countries," he said.

But the report also paints a grim picture of the situation in some allied countries, including NATO member Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has cracked down on opposition media and arrested several leading journalists.

"The government has used anti-terror laws as well as a law against insulting the president to stifle legitimate political discourse and investigative journalism," the report says.

It accuses Turkey of "prosecuting journalists and ordinary citizens and driving opposition media outlets out of business or bringing them under state control."

And, while denouncing the violence of the "PKK terrorist group," the report accuses Turkish security forces of excesses of its own, citing "credible allegations that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings."

The report will anger Erdogan, who visited Washington last month and denied that there had been any crackdown on free expression in his country, even as his security detail tried to expel opposition journalists from the think tank hosting his speech.

Egypt, which receives $1.5 billion in US military aid despite President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi authoritarian style of rule, also faced stern criticism.

"There were instances of persons tortured to death and other allegations of killings in prisons and detention centers," the report says, citing reports from rights groups and the United Nations that hundreds of Egyptians have gone missing since the 2011 revolution.
Acting industry minister Jose Manuel Soria addressing the press. Uly Martin

Acting Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria has backtracked on his earlier refusal to provide Congress with explanations about his alleged involvement in the Panama Papers scandal.

On Tuesday, Soria told reporters that he will appear in the lower house next week to discuss why his name shows up on a list of officials of an offshore company.

The acting minister said it was a mistake that briefly saw his name appear on the list of directors of UK Lines Ltd., which was incorporated in the Bahamas in the 1990s. This piece of information was part of a trove of 11.5 million files held by a Panama-based law firm and leaked to the media.

It is completely false that I had a relationship with any company, business or function based in Panama, in the Bahamas or in any other tax haven

Acting Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria

According to Soria, another mistake led to him being listed as secretary of said company in the British business register, the Companies House.

Allegations of Sorias involvement in both companies were made by the online news outlet Elconfidencial and television station La Sexta.

I want to know why my name is there, said Soria on Tuesday. I dont know why that mistake was made.

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Soria explained that he will appear before the house industry committee, which could meet on Tuesday of next week.

It is completely false that I had a relationship with any company, business or function based in Panama, in the Bahamas or in any other tax haven, he insisted.

A day earlier, Soria had suggested that he would not be appearing before any congressional committees, based on the acting governments attitude that it is not beholden to the control of the current lower house.

Before meeting with the press on Tuesday, Soria had a long conversation in the halls of Congress with Dolores de Cospedal, the number two official at the Popular Party, and with chief of staff Jorge Moragas. Their gesturing suggested an argument among all three.

English version by Susana Urra.
By Fang Yan and Siva Govindasamy SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Makers of private jets for China's elite are shifting their focus from luxury to convenience, as a cooling economy and long-running crackdown on corruption prompt customers to demand smaller planes and even consider second-hand deals. Utility is the watchword, say industry insiders, as buyers who once enlisted feng shui masters to help them design cabin interiors that might feature mahjong tables or karoake areas now look for functional desks to work at and rest areas to sleep. China's richest businessmen remain Asia's top owners of luxury aircraft: the greater China region had 466 private jets in 2015, according to consultancy Asia Sky Group, compared with 65 in 2007. Mainland China accounted for 300 of those. But for manufacturers such as Bombardier , Dassault , Embraer and General Dynamics' subsidiary Gulfstream the market is cooling, especially for new aircraft, forcing them to prioritise efficiency, keeping production costs low and speeding up aircraft delivery times. "The economy is weak and there are different political forces, as you know," said Bill Schultz, senior vice president of business development in China at Textron , which manufactures Cessna and Beechcraft-branded aircraft. "It's impacted jet sales, there is no question about that." Against that backdrop the mood was subdued as plane makers, charter firms and buyers gathered this week for one of the industry's biggest annual air shows in Shanghai. Interest in specialized firms who manage, charter or refurbish planes was high. KEEPING UNDER THE RADAR President Xi Jinping's three-year-old campaign against official corruption has discouraged conspicuous consumption in China, hitting discretionary spending on everything from fine wine and jewelry to luxury cars, yachts and casino trips. "Ten years ago, if you bought a business jet, you would show your shiny new plane off to reporters," said one China-based business jet broker, who has been helping wealthy individuals buy and sell aircraft for more than 15 years. "These guys have seen their peers being hauled up, and they don't want any scrutiny of their wealth and business interests. So they would rather keep a low profile," said the broker, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. Asia Sky Group put China's fleet growth in 2015 at 6.6 percent - from highs of more than 49 percent when the market hit its peak in 2012. With orders slowing, growth is set to dip further. Schultz said that Textron, which has built its Caravan turboprop plane and the Citation XLS+ in China as part of a joint venture with state-owned aerospace firm AVIC, was focusing on the market for smaller jets and utilitarian turboprop craft. Until recently mainland Chinese buyers have favored larger cabin jets, even including retrofitted versions of the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 that can cost up to $90 million at list prices and another $10-15 million for fitting. Now there is more interest in smaller aircraft. "Instead of using too big a plane, people are flying in a smaller plane," said Fernando Grau, director of airline market analysis at Brazilian manufacturer Embraer, which uses actor Jackie Chan to sell its planes in China. Of course, countering China's domestic slowdown is its push to do deals abroad, spending more than $100 billion in 2015 - a boom that has more top executives forced to consider fast, convenient and efficient options as they travel more frequently beyond the country's borders. "We position the business jets also as a productivity tool," said Khader Mattar, who oversees sales for Bombardier in the Middle East, Asia Pacific and China. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE But visible in Shanghai's exhibition halls this year has been the rising interest in second-hand deals, long frowned upon in China, and in companies that manage and charter flights. A 14-seater Gulfstream jet, for example, can be chartered for roughly 50,000 yuan (around $7,700) an hour, making it reasonably affordable for China's rich entrepreneurs. While many charter trips in the past were for leisure or "unnecessary tours" said Fang Xinyu, vice-president at Beijing-based Deer Jet which manages more than 80 aircraft that are available for charter, these days it's strictly business. Executives estimated second-hand planes now account for 30 percent of sales, still less than in a more mature market like the United States but up from 10 percent just three years ago. A Gulfstream G550, one of the most popular business jets on the market, manufactured in 2010, for example, can be bought for half of the roughly $60 million it would have originally cost. Prospective owners can spend another $2-3 million to retrofit the cabin with Gulfstream's latest interior. "Compared to the price of a brand new plane, they are cheaper to buy and refurbish," said Jason Liao, CEO of China Business Aviation Group, which helps individuals buy and manage jets. "They are great value." ($1 = 6.4639 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques and Alex Richardson)
By Mai Nguyen HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's tech startups are emerging as a force to be reckoned with as foreign private equity funds bet the country's talented young brains will yield more successes like the international hit game Flappy Bird. Just last month, financial powerhouses Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered PLC raised their investment in the operator of e-wallet MoMo by $28 million, while Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist 500 Startups announced a $10 million Vietnam-focused fund. One of 500 Startups' shoestring investments is in automated marketing service Beeketing, founded by college drop-out Truong Manh Quan, 26, who estimates revenue this year of $2 million predominantly from customers in the United States. "We thought we'll invest in something like 10 to 20 companies over a 12-month period," said 500 Startups partner Eddie Thai. "But it quickly became clear, there's a lot more good companies to invest in." The startup boom is the latest chapter of Vietnam's growing presence in the global tech industry. In the three years since Hanoi-based .GEARS released Flappy Bird, Vietnam emerged from relative obscurity to become the Southeast Asian production hub of South Korean giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. Meanwhile, global tech firms that have long had factories in Vietnam - such as LG Electronics Inc, Panasonic Corp, and Toshiba Corp - have also been expanding into research and development. Part of Vietnam's appeal is a cheaper workforce than in China, as well as membership of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade bloc and free trade deals with the European Union, plus incentives aimed at luring investment away from neighbors. Of particular interest to venture capitalists, however, is Vietnam's tech-savvy population with a median age of just 30. "Vietnam has the highest-performing computer science students I've ever encountered," said Neil Fraser, a software engineer at Alphabet Inc's Google, who visited local schools. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ranks Vietnamese 15-year-olds above peers in the U.S., Australia and Britain in science and maths. "The exercises I watched them solve ... would be considered challenging problems for a Google hiring interview," Fraser said. E-COMMERCE Data covering Vietnamese startups is scarce, but Singapore-based startup community Tech in Asia - itself a startup with investors including Japan's SoftBank Group Corp - reckons there are about 1,500 in operation. That number, relative to population, represents a higher concentration than the 2,100 in Indonesia, 2,300 in China and 7,500 in India. Startups in Vietnam, like Indonesia, thrive with little government support beyond legal advice and $10,000 cash under a scheme dubbed Vietnam Silicon Valley. In contrast, China announced a $6.5 billion fund mainly for tech and green energy startups last year, while India pledged $1.5 billion in January. "I plan to grow this company for five years then sell it," said Beeketing's Quan. "Then I may become an angel investor myself." Most of Vietnam's startups are in e-commerce, a sector where sales grew around 35 percent last year to $4 billion, and whose 2.7 percent contribution to overall retail sales indicates ample room for growth. Supporting e-commerce are tech-related logistics startups such as Giaohangnhanh which helped reduce overall logistics costs in Vietnam to a fifth of gross domestic product last year from a fourth just one year earlier. Other startups include the operator of food-finder app Lozi that received a combined seven-figure investment from DesignOne Japan Inc and Singapore's Golden Gate Ventures. Tran Minh Son, one of four Lozi founders, quit university in Pennsylvania to concentrate on the app. "It was like cutting my legs off so I've no way back," he said. "My parents complained quite a lot. They said, 'You're not my son - move out'." Lozi, launched in 2012, now boasts 600,000 registered users and 4 million unique visits each month. (Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Martin Petty and Christopher Cushing)
There are few talk show guests more entertaining than Amy Schumer. Her sketch show and her movie and her SNL appearances have all been stellar, but she really seems to thrive on a couch with Ellen, Kimmel, or in this case, Jimmy Fallon.

DON'T MISS: HBO released 4 new Game of Thrones season 6 clips, and theyre intense

In a segment called "Explain This Photo" on The Tonight Show this week, Schumer and Fallon each perused the other's smartphone photo library to find a few photos that might require an explanation.

For example, why is Jimmy Fallon laughing hysterically in front of a condemned Carl's Jr. in Los Angeles? Why is Amy Schumer standing next to a pig on the beach? And why does Schumer have a picture of Tilda Swinton laying down in a pile of terrifyingly creepy dolls and stuffed animals?

You can learn all of that and more in the clip below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ty8BH3ArKY

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Amedy Coulibaly, the Paris terrorist who bought weapons from a man arrested in Malaga.

Spanish police have arrested the man who is alleged to have supplied weapons to Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who killed five people in an attack against a Jewish grocery store in Paris in January 2015.

The suspect, Antoine Denevi, was detained in Rincon de la Victoria, in the Andalusian province of Malaga.

There was a European arrest warrant against Denevi for arms trafficking and criminal association. Spanish High Court Judge Eloy Velasco had him remanded in custody on Wednesday.

Serbian nationals may have provided Denevi with access to weapons and ammunition

Denevi has pleaded not guilty and agreed to be extradited to France. Spanish prosecutors will green-light the transfer once they confirm that there are no pending criminal proceedings against the suspect in Spain.

The investigation into the Paris killings led to Malaga, where Denevi settled down in a bid to throw the police off the scent and take up his illegal activities again using fake ID. He is believed to have left France a few weeks after the supermarket attack.

Investigators believe that Denevi worked with Serbian nationals, who may have provided him with access to weapons and ammunition.

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A search of his home yielded fake documents, another persons valid European passport, and various computer-related items that the police are currently analyzing.

The man Denevi allegedly sold weapons to, Coulibaly, was gunned down by French security forces after he killed a local police officer and four of the hostages that he took inside Hyper Casher supermarket on January 9, 2015.

Spanish security forces found that the terrorist, who had ties to the Islamic State, had been in Spain days earlier, on January 2, to accompany his wife and three other relatives to the Madrid airport and see them onto a plane bound for Turkey.

English version by Susana Urra.
Russian warplanes buzzed a U.S. destroyer in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday.

A pair of Su-24 attack jets flew so low and so close to the USS Donald Cook that sailors aboard the warship reportedly said the passes, roughly 20 in all, created a wake in the water.

Related: Putin Revives a Cold War Dance as Russian Bombers Buzz US Carrier

The Russian aircraft flew in a simulated attack profile and failed to respond to repeated safety advisories in both English and Russian. USS Donald Cooks commanding officer deemed several of these maneuvers as unsafe and unprofessional, U.S. European Command said Wednesday in a statement.

"These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries, and could result in a miscalculation or accident that could cause serious injury or death, the statement continued.

The U.S. military has released videos of the fly-bys, showing the SU-24 attack aircraft.

Also on Tuesday, the Donald Cook was underway in the Baltic Sea when a Russian helicopter  a Ka-27 Helix  made seven overflights and appeared to be taking photographs of the Navy ship, according to reports.

Since its annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia aircraft have routinely buzzed U.S. and NATO military assets in the region and violated the airspace of several allies.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Monte Carlo (Principality of Monaco) (AFP) - Clay aces Stan Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal started their spring seasons in enviable form on Wednesday by booking spots in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters.

Reigning Roland Garros champion Wawrinka notched up a 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Nadal, seeded fifth, emerged a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Briton Aljaz Bedene as the Spaniard tries to recover the form that saw him dominate clay for most of a decade.

But Bosnian Damir Dzumhur pulled off a major upset with his defeat of Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-7 (1/7), 6-3. It marked only the second career win over a world top 10 opponent for the 99th-ranked underdog.

World number four Wawrinka, who beat compatriot Roger Federer in the final to win the 2014 title at the Monte Carlo Country Club, will line up in the third round against French 15th seed Gilles Simon.

"He's a really tough player," Wawrinka said of Simon. "It's going to be a good test for me to see where is my level. I will have to play already a really good match if I want to beat him."

Wawrinka is attempting to build momentum on clay this spring as his May return date to Roland Garros looms.

Breaks were exchanged at the start of the match before Wawrinka ultimately took the first set in a tie-break.

The Swiss squandered a 3-1 lead in the second set but broke Kohlschreiber again in the 11th game before sealing victory in one hour and 37 minutes.

"It was a good first match on clay. It's never easy to find the rhythm and to play the perfect match. In general, I'm quite happy with the level already," Wawrinka said.

Elsewhere, French 16th seed Benoit Paire defeated Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-4, 6-3 to reach the third round at his second consecutive Masters event after Miami last month.
By Dan Freed

NEW YORK (Reuters) - When Cubic Energy Inc's bankruptcy plan took effect on March 1, shareholders of the Dallas-based oil and gas company were wiped out. Among the losers was Wells Fargo & Co.

The bank had a nearly 10 percent stake in Cubic Energy at the end of 2015 - worth more than $25 million at the company's peak - through a private equity-style unit called Wells Fargo Energy Capital.

The No. 3 U.S. bank by assets, like its rivals, has billions of dollars' worth of exposure to the struggling energy industry through regular loans that are souring. But the case of Cubic Energy shows that Wells Fargo went further into risky areas than other banks, and may now face a reckoning.

The whole sector has been devastated by a 60 percent plunge in oil prices from highs of over $100 a barrel in 2014. The price drop has squeezed energy firms, especially smaller ones, and made it harder for them to pay back loans.

Some of Wells Fargo's most volatile exposure sits within Wells Fargo Energy Capital, a unit that sought fat returns through equity investments and high-risk loans to small companies like Cubic Energy, assuming the energy boom would last.

On top of the equity investment, Cubic owed Wells Fargo nearly $30 million in debt as of Nov. 30, according to its reorganization plan. The bank received land and other assets in Louisiana as part of the reorganization.

What those Louisiana assets are worth today is anyone's guess, said Jon Ross, who was Cubic's vice president of operations until it collapsed.

"Valuations now are so crazy in the oil and gas industry," he said. "What is really worth anything at $40 oil and $2 natural gas? So it's hard for me to say right now - and I'm being honest - how you value anything."

Wells Fargo Energy Capital is small relative to the bank's entire $915 billion-plus loan portfolio, or even its $42 billion energy loan book. But it is raising concerns for shareholders and Wall Street analysts.

Story continues

The banking industry's exposure to the energy sector has been a hot topic and is expected to get more attention this week as first-quarter earnings kick off with JPMorgan Chase & Co on Wednesday morning. Wells Fargo is set to report on Thursday.

OIL EXPERTS WRONG

Wells Fargo Energy Capital, based in Houston, prided itself on employees who knew the ins and outs of drilling as much as financing, said Cubic Energy's Ross.

"Our lender had a master's in geology: he understood the rock," he said. "He could talk in the field and understood what we were doing."

But few experts predicted the oil price rout, which has made it impossible for some companies to earn money from extracting new resources at all. About one-third of publicly traded oil and gas-related companies, with more than $150 billion in debt, are now at high risk of bankruptcy this year, according to a report by auditing and consulting firm Deloitte.

Wells Fargo Energy Capital had a $2.1 billion portfolio as of January 2014, according to a presentation by its president, Mark Green. Today it is about the same size, a person familiar with the business told Reuters. Many analysts expect the value to eventually be marked down.

Wells Fargo, which does not issue regular, precise updates on the value of that portfolio, declined to comment on Cubic, or its broader approach to energy industry financing, and did not make executives available for interview, because the company is preparing to release earnings soon.

More than half of the unit's exposure is in the form of equity, considered the riskiest type of financing because shareholders typically see their investment wiped out in a bankruptcy.

"Loss rates on this type of exposure will be very high," said Kevin Barker, an analyst at Piper Jaffray.

Bank executives were publicly bullish about Wells Fargo Energy Capital's appetite for investment and lending opportunities before oil prices collapsed. For instance, Green's presentation said the business was "aggressively seeking" new deals.

About half of its portfolio was equity investments. Most of the rest was made up of second-lien or mezzanine loans, a risky category that offers higher returns when a borrower is paying back debt, but is also more likely to suffer losses or be wiped out if a borrower runs into trouble.

Wells Fargo Energy Capital targeted returns of 25 percent or greater, compared to a 12.78 return on common equity earned by the bank as a whole in 2015.

"NOT NEW"

Wells Fargo Energy Capital was a key part of the bank's boots-on-the-ground strategy, where it puts extensive resources behind winning business with lots of small and mid-sized companies.

The lender told Reuters in 2014 it employed the largest staff of petroleum engineers of any U.S. bank, and had 400 employees dedicated to serving energy companies. (http://reut.rs/1Ys0V8M)

But as the price of oil has reversed, Wells Fargo may be regretting its deep and wide involvement with the sector.

The bank has already set aside $1.2 billion in reserves for possible losses on energy loans. Barker estimates the bank will need to set aside another $600 million.

"Wells Fargo was obviously aggressively targeting the energy industry, financing as much as they possibly could," he said.

Goldman Sachs bank analysts noted in a recent report that 80 percent of Wells Fargo's overall energy loans are to the two riskiest subsectors within energy: exploration and production companies, and services companies. Deutsche Bank has also pointed out that most of Wells Fargo's energy loans are to non-investment grade companies.

Wells Fargo Chief Financial Officer John Shrewsberry defended the bank's approach during a Feb. 9 investor presentation.

"It's important to remember that this is not new for Wells Fargo and reflects decades of focus on mostly private, middle-market firms - companies we know well and work closely with across cycles," he said.

(Reporting by Dan Freed in New York; Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra and Bill Rigby)
Paul Ryan isnt running for president: Or is he?

NEWS: Ryan aide: Speaker Ryan will make a statement at RNC this afternoon to to rule himself out (POTUS) & put this to rest once & for all  Luke Russert (@LukeRussert) April 12, 2016

Deutsche Bank freezes expansion plans in North Carolina: The decision was prompted by HB2, the state law that ends certain protections for gays, lesbians, and transgender people. PayPal announced similar plans last week.

A monument for womens equality: President Obama designated the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum in Washington, D.C., a national monument. Marina reports the museum will be renamed the Belmont-Paul Womens Equality National Monument, in honor of Belmont and Alice Paul, who founded the National Womens Party in 1917 and would become the key strategist of the campaign for the womens vote in the 1910s.

News from the morning here

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is aware of Russian planes flying dangerously close to a U.S. guided missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday and continues to be concerned about such behavior, a spokesman said on Wednesday. "The White House is aware of the incident," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a daily briefing. "This incident ... is entirely inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries operating in proximity to each other in international water and international airspace." Two Russian warplanes with no visible weaponry flew near the destroyer in what one U.S. official described as one of the most aggressive interactions in recent memory. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Megan Cassella and Eric Walsh; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is concerned that proposed legislation in Congress to address Puerto Rico's debt crisis will not give the U.S. commonwealth sufficient authority, and that more work needs to be done on the bill, a spokesman said on Wednesday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a daily briefing that U.S. House Republicans' proposal "was important progress, and we hope that we can keep that momentum going." (Reporting by Susan Heavey and Timothy Gardner; Editing by Diane Craft)
The Mexican consulate in Tucson, Arizona, headquarters of the CIAM. P. X. S.

More information Al otro lado del telefono de Mexico en Estados Unidos

At 9.47am on March 3, the Mexican consulate in Tucson, Arizona received a call from a man who was lost in the desert after entering the state illegally from Mexico and who had not eaten or drunk anything for two days. The consulate first called the US Border Patrol, and then migrant centers in Nogales, on the US side of the border, to try to find out who the man was. At the same time, officials told the man to call 911 so as to locate his phone. Two hours later a Border Patrol helicopter rescued him.

The Mexican consulates Information and Assistance Center for Mexicans (CIAM) in Tucson receives around 700 to 800 calls a day to its freephone number, 70% of them from people trying to locate somebody who has crossed from Mexico into the United States illegally.

At 12.44pm one morning last week, a typical call came into the center.

Where did he cross over? asked the operator, adding: Where was he coming from?

Over the course of 2015 around 92,500 people called the CIAM, and in the first two months of this year it has received 13,000 calls

The first thing operators do in helping somebody find a missing person is to consult US prison, sheriff, and court databases, which can be done in seconds while the caller waits on the other end of the line.

The missing man has been arrested and is being held by a court in Laredo, Texas. It turns out he has agreed to testify against the coyote, or people smuggler, who brought him over. He will be deported, but no ban will be placed on him applying to migrate legally to the United States. The operator tells the person on the other end of the phone that they will have to supply proof they are a family member: You could be the coyote trying to find out where this person is, he says.

A CIAM operator takes the details of a missing person.

The CIAM received 26,300 calls during its first six months of operation, in 2013. Over the course of 2015 around 92,500 people called it, and in the first two months of this year it has received 13,000 calls. Some 40 people working eight-hour shifts staff the telephones.

Operators are trained not only to provide information, but also to understand the problems the people calling them face: they visit border areas, attend border patrol courses, and visit detention centers and soup kitchens in Mexico. Sometimes the person were talking to has lost a loved one, and sometimes its the coyote, says one operator.

At another desk, a female operator carefully spells out the address of a prison in Florence, Arizona for a man calling from the Mexican state of Guerrero who needs to send money to his wife, who has been held there since she was caught crossing in March. Well tell him how to contact her. Prisoners are not told when money has arrived for them, so the sender must also write to the recipient, she says, adding that the center receives around 30 calls a day from people being held in prison asking for a message to be sent to their family in Mexico.

Mexican consul Ricardo Pineda at his desk.

The hardest part of the job is when we cant find somebody who has crossed over or we cant give information out to somebody who is going out of their mind on the other end of the line, says Gabriela Rodriguez, a line manager at the center. In 2013, the CIAM received 85 calls about people who were lost in the desert and were able to locate and rescue. Consulate personnel also regularly visit the local morgue to identify bodies found in the desert. On average around two cadavers are brought in every week, although in 2010, a total of 223 bodies were found.

The CIAM started out as a call center set up in 2010 in the wake of the Arizona state legislatures approval of SB1070, a law that allowed police to stop and search people on the basis of their skin color. Since then it has become the center of Mexicos nationwide network of consulates. In February this year it moved into new offices.

Weve adapted to changing times, says Pineda, explaining that his team started out explaining Arizonas legislation and has expanded to provide information about laws passed by the Obama administration to protect migrants against deportation. Obviously, the upcoming US presidential campaign is worrying a lot of people. We tell them that nothing has changed yet.

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English version by Nick Lyne.
Washington (AFP) - US First Lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday delivered a strong call for more education for women worldwide as the World Bank announced a new $2.5 billion initiative to foster schooling for girls.

"The evidence is quite compelling: when we invest in girls' education, when we embrace women in our workforce, that doesn't just benefit them, it benefits all of us," said Obama.

Obama, who last year launched her own Let Girls Learn education initiative, was speaking at the Bank's event to unveil its new funding for education projects for adolescent girls over the next five years.

The funding will go to facilities, scholarships and other needs mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia where a large percent of girls aged 12-17 do not go to school.

The $2.5 billion commitment "is an expression of our belief in the power of education to transform the lives and prospects of millions of girls worldwide - as well as the prospects of their families, their communities and of course their countries," said Obama.

"Make no mistake about it, these girls are our girls. These girls are our responsibility."

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said educating girls was a key part of the institution's anti-poverty mission.

Some 62 million girls around the world, half of them adolescents, are not in school, he noted.

"Empowering and educating adolescent girls is one of the best ways to stop poverty from being passed from generation to generation, and can be transformational for entire societies," said Kim.

"It's the smart thing to do for economies," he said.
Hong Kong (AFP) - The world's first museum dedicated to China's Tiananmen Square crackdown is to close its doors in Hong Kong, with organisers saying they believe they are being targeted for political reasons.

It comes at a time when concerns are growing in the semi-autonomous Chinese city that Beijing is tightening its grip.

There has been keen interest in the museum from mainland tourists. Half of the more than 20,000 total visitors since it launched in 2014 have come from mainland China, where all reference to the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters is banned.

The June 4 Memorial Hall is run by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which also organises the city's huge Tiananmen anniversary vigil each year.

Tenants in the commercial building housing the museum say it breaches regulations because the premises should only be used for offices, according to legal documents seen by AFP.

"I tend to believe they are politically motivated... the other side seem to have unlimited resources," said lawmaker Albert Ho, chairman of the Alliance.

Museum organisers say they cannot afford to continue the protracted legal battle -- the tenants have been pursuing the issue since it first opened.

The current venue will close by year-end and organisers are seeking bigger premises. If they fail to find somewhere in time, the exhibits will be put in storage.

Multiple requests for an interview with tenants' committee officials went unanswered.

One tenant complained to AFP that visitors to the museum "jammed" elevators during peak hours, but others said they were not aware of a public museum in their building.

The crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, is branded a "counter-revolutionary rebellion" by Chinese authorities and many on the mainland remain unaware of it.

Pro-Beijing groups protested when the museum first opened, saying it presented a skewed version of events.

Story continues

Venue organisers claim visitors have felt "harassed" by security guards who ask them to present their personal information.

The 800-square-foot (74 sq m) museum is in the commercial district of East Tsim Sha Tsui and features video clips and photographs.

There is also a two-metre tall statue of the Goddess of Democracy, similar to one erected at Tiananmen Square during the protests.

Beijing has never given an official death toll for the Tiananmen crackdown, which was condemned worldwide, but independent observers tallied more than 1,000 dead.

Hong Kong enjoys freedoms unseen on the mainland, enshrined in a deal made before Britain handed it back to China in 1997. But there are growing fears those freedoms are being eroded.
- The world's premier round-the-world sailing event will visit Hong Kong for the first time after the Volvo Ocean Race announced Wednesday the city has been chosen as a host port for the 2017-18 edition. The Ocean Race, which takes almost nine months to complete and covers 40,000 nautical miles (74,080 kilometres) visiting 11 host ports, is reckoned to be the toughest professional challenge in the sport. "For 43 years the Volvo Ocean Race has visited the majority of the world's most prestigious and iconic ports, with one obvious exception and that port has possibly the most wondrous waterfront in all the world," Jon Bramley, the event's director of news said at a press conference in the city. "For the first time the Volvo Ocean Race will be coming to Hong Kong in our next edition in 2017 to 2018," Bramley told media at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club on the city's famous Victoria Harbour waterfront.

AFP
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Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

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Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

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There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

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The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

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STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan

Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement

With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building

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ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression
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.

When Steven Pasquale and Philippa Soo announced their engagement in February via Instagram, it was the post seen round the theater world: Soo, 25, plays Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, the emotional center of the juggernaut Hamilton; theater and TV veteran Pasquale (Rescue Me, The Good Wife, Billions), 39, is wowing audiences off-Broadway in The Robber Bridegroom.

In true theater-royalty style, the two were set up in 2015 by Hamilton's King George III, Jonathan Groff. "Steve has been getting to know me as this whole Hamilton experience has unraveled," says Soo. "I've been grateful to have someone with an outside perspective but who totally understands." But it's likely they crossed paths years before their first meeting, she adds (Soo moved to New York in 2008 to attend Juilliard). "We talk about our favorite places, or art exhibits or shows we've seen in the past before we knew each other, and we'll say, 'I was there, too!' It's funny that our worlds were so close but we never met until last year. I think that's something magical about New York, that your circles are always crossing with the most interesting people."

Read More: New York Power Pairing: ICM Partners' 'Binky' Urban and New Yorker Writer Ken Auletta Share a Literary Life

Decompressing from eight shows a week happens over spicy noodles or Indian food on Sundays, when they discuss the pressures of Hamilton and the politics of the present: "Charlie Brown could be on the ballot opposite Donald Trump, and he would get our vote," says Pasquale, who has encouraged Soo in developing The Eliza Project, which brings arts workshops to at-risk children through Graham Windham, an organization descended from the orphanage founded by Eliza Hamilton 200-plus years ago.

Story continues

When Pasquale was filming The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story in 2015, he flew to L.A. to shoot scenes as Detective Mark Fuhrman but remained based in New York. If his CBS pilot (crime drama Doubt) gets picked up, the two will spend more time out west, though they remain committed to NYC ("We talk about what we want to do once we finally have our nights free, to see films and more shows," says Soo) and theater. "We'd love to do more work together," says Pasquale, "so at least we'd be in the same room!"
This story first appeared in the April 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

There's no busier theater in America than AMC Empire 25 on West 42nd Street in New York City. Naturally, its top-grossing movie of the year was Jurassic World, followed by Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But there's also no single more important city for indie film than the Big Apple, where foreign fare, docs and auteur works thrive - as evidenced by the below lists of the top-grossers of 2015 at popular Manhattan art houses offering refuge from stomping dinosaurs and creeping stormtroopers.

1. FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER

70 Lincoln Center Plaza

1. Dior and I

2. The Wolfpack

3. Ballet 422

4. The Assassin

5. Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict

2. IFC CENTER

323 Avenue of the Americas

1. Oscar shorts

2. Clouds of Sils Maria

3. Citizenfour

4. Phoenix

5. Two Days, One Night

3. ANGELIKA FILM CENTER

18 W. Houston St.

1. Carol

2. Woman in Gold

3. The Imitation Game

4. Irrational Man

5. Room

Read More: Warner Bros. Mulls Releasing Fewer Films as 'Batman v. Superman' Stalls

4. CINEMA VILLAGE

22 E. 12th St.

1. Ida

2. The Grand Budapest Hotel

3. Force Majeure

4. The Outrageous Sophie Tucker

5. The Interview

5. FILM FORUM

209 W. Houston St.

1. The Apu Trilogy

2. The Black Panthers

3. Leviathan

4. Dior and I

5. The Third Man

6. VILLAGE EAST CINEMA

181-189 Second Ave.

1. The Hateful Eight

2. The Imitation Game

3. Bridge of Spies

4. Pitch Perfect 2

5. Birdman
LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia's parliament will later on Wednesday debate the amended mines bill which proposes to reduce copper royalties to a variable tax of between 4 to 6 percent, depending on the price of the metal. The Mines and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill also proposes to reduce mineral royalties for other base metals to 5 percent for both underground and open cast operations. The royalty would be 4 percent when the price of copper was below $4,500 a tonne, 5 percent when it was between $4,500 and $6,000 and 6 percent when above $6,000. The new law also proposes to reduce the rate of mineral royalty for energy and industrial minerals to five percent for both underground and open cast mining operations. Mineral royalty for gemstones and precious metals would be set at six percent for both underground and open cast mining operations. Mining lobbies had asked for a price-based royalty structure to ease the tax burden during a period of depressed prices. Zambia in June last year cut mineral royalties for underground mines to 6 percent from 9 percent and those of open cast mines to 9 percent from 20 percent following an outcry by mining firms. [nL8N14B1M2] (Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by James Macharia)
One of Indias top newspapers faced a social media backlash on Tuesday after it splashed a picture across its front page of Britains Princess Kate suffering a Marilyn moment as her dress rose up in the wind.

(Photo by Dominic Lipinski - Pool/Getty Images)

New Delhi (AFP) -

Readers accused the Times of India of being disrespectful to the Duchess, who was wearing a white 1950s-style dress reminiscent of the one in the iconic Marilyn Monroe photo as she laid a wreath at the India Gate war memorial with her husband, Prince William.

Times of India was one of the top trending topics on Twitter on Tuesday morning as users questioned the papers judgement in picturing the Duchess inadvertently flashing an expanse of royal thigh.

Sleazy journalism at its best, tweeted reader Shagun in response to the image, which was accompanied by the headline Kates Marilyn moment at India Gate.

Well done Times of India! Our guests come to India and this is the photo you decide to put on your front page tweeted another.

Many recalled an incident last year in which the paper was strongly criticised for promoting video footage of a top Bollywood actress with a tweet that read OMG! Deepika Padukones cleavage show.

But Shekhar Gupta, who has edited some of Indias biggest news publications, took a different view.

Objections to ToI on Kates Marilyn moment silly. Brits have grown-up view of royals as glamorous celebs, Gupta tweeted.

Britains newspapers took a more restrained approach. Several published shots of her dress rising in the wind, but none was as revealing as the picture on the front page of The Times of India.

Popular tabloid The Sun came closest with an image of the Duchess laying the wreath under the headline A Royal Flash in India  Kates Marilyn moment.

The Daily Telegraph  a conservative daily known for its royal coverage  said a series of such problems had prompted suggestions that she should follow the Queens lead and slip small lead curtain weights into the linings of her outfits.

On Tuesday Prince William and Kate met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for lunch at Hyderabad House, a former palace in New Delhi, with the Duchess pictured wearing a calf-length teal-coloured dress.

The royal couple are scheduled to travel to northeast Indias Assam state later today, with a rhino safari inside the famous Kaziranga National Park on the agenda for Wednesday.
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Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

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There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

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The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

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The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

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STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan

Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement

With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh

USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens

ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression
Yerevan-Garni highway is trafficable again: Demand of Garni residents is met (video)

20.30 Residents of Garni village agreed to open the road after the authorities agreed to meet their demand and remove construction equipment from the gorge. Anyway, the villagers say they will be able to celebrate final victory after the construction project is cancelled.

Yerevan-Garni highway has been blocked for 8 hours now. Residents of Garni village continue their protest against a construction in a nearby gorge. They say they will not open the highway unless the construction equipment is removed from the gorge.Several residents of Garni village, who are holding a protest against a controversial construction in the Azat River Gorge, are now sitting on the ground, blocking the main road. They sat down on the asphalt after police officers formed a chain, determined to open the road. Numerous policemen have cordoned off the protesters, urging them to disperse but the villagers are ignoring their calls.Residents of Armenias Garni village in Kotayk province have blocked the main road demanding to halt constructions in the Azat River Gorge. By a government decision, an irrigation system is being constructed in the gorge that will take water from the Azat River and send it to Kaghtsrashen and Narek communities in Ararat province. The angered villagers demand a meeting with the head of the Armenian government, Hovik Abrahamyan. They claim that the Garni gorge is jeopardized and say the water will be piped to irrigate the lands and fish farms belonging to the Prime Minister. Hovik Abrahamyan is in Russia at present.Cheif of Kotayk regional Police Department has arrived in the village to talk to the villagers. He is persuading them to open the road but they are adamant. They say they will not leave the site unless the technique is taken out of the gorge.
Who will be next Secretary General of UN?

This year, the United Nations will choose its next secretary general. We need the best possible candidate for the job, Mogens Lykketoft, President of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly said. It is often spoken of as the most impossible job in the world. And given the files that the next United Nations secretary general will take over on January 1, 2017, it is easy to see why: appalling conflicts and human suffering in parts of the Middle East, Africa and Europe; violent extremism threatening us all; continued discrimination against women and girls; a worrying rise in xenophobia; over 800 million people struggling to escape extreme poverty; close to 60 million displaced around the world; a unique window of opportunity to address climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals, before it is too late; and an organisation that needs to adapt to the challenges and new goals the world is facing. In its 70-year history, the UN, for all its flaws, has demonstrated that it can rise to such challenges. But to do so today, it must secure the best possible candidate through this years process of selecting and appointing the next secretary general. The role of the secretary-general Many have suggested that the UNs most senior official should either be a secretary or a general. This is too simplistic, for the secretary general must be both and more. A person with strong moral courage and integrity, he or she  and I do not see why the best candidate should not be a woman  must be a voice for the worlds most vulnerable people and embody the very ideals and purposes of the UN. The worlds top diplomat, the secretary general must use independence, impartiality and good offices to prevent conflict, broker peace and stand-up for human rights. A person with political stature and strong leadership skills, the secretary general needs the authority to bring to the attention of the UN Security Council any matter which in his or her opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security. As the chief administrative officer of the UN, the secretary general must create a culture of integrity, fairness, competence and efficiency right across the UN family. This means overseeing an organisation with a budget of approximately US$10 billion, a staff of over 40,000 and 41 peace operations worldwide. The secretary general must be a person with strong inter-personal and communication skills  able to navigate smoothly in our increasingly multi-polar world and drive a global transition to sustainable development. An archaic selection process One might think, therefore, that the process for choosing the secretary general would be as vigorous, inclusive and transparent as possible. But to date this has not been the case. Previously, there has been no clarity on when the selection process actually started or, somewhat unbelievably, who was actually running for the job. Also, there has been no formal job description and no real opportunity for substantive and open engagement with the candidates. The result: recommendations negotiated behind closed doors  primarily by the five permanent members of the Security Council; eight secretaries general, not one of whom has been female; and a mostly symbolic appointment by the UN General Assembly. Therefore, secretaries general have, not always rightfully, been perceived as beholden to the powers they must be most independent of. A better way to choose the next SG The UN Charter is clear on the respective roles of the Security Council and the General Assembly in the selection and appointment process and it must be adhered to. But recent changes to the process itself, agreed to by all 193 members of the General Assembly, provide us with a genuine opportunity to make it more transparent, more robust, more inclusive and, ultimately, more effective. As president of that assembly, it is my job to ensure that those changes are implemented. So heres whats happening. Last December, the president of the Security Council and I set the selection process in motion by issuing a call for candidates to be presented as early as possible. We outlined the central features of the process. We pointed out some of the key criteria for the position and, in light of seven decades of male dominance, we encouraged member states to present both female and male candidates. To date, seven candidates have been presented. Their biographies and related information are now publicly available on my website. But perhaps the greatest opportunity to truly break from the past comes in the form of open dialogues that I will hold with the candidates. These dialogues  referred to by some as the SG hearings  will begin on April 12. Each candidate is expected to prepare a vision statement on the challenges and opportunities facing the UN and the next secretary general. They will present themselves for two hours of questions from the full UN membership as well as civil society, and each dialogue will be streamed live online. The dialogues will continue with new candidates until the Security Council makes its recommendation. I expect everyone who is serious about becoming the worlds next chief diplomat will engage openly and directly with the full UN membership and the people they will ultimately serve. An opportunity for change Of course, these innovations will not directly transform our world and discussions continue on issues such as the length and renewability of the secretary generals term, and whether the General Assembly should vote on an appointment or not. But they do have the potential to establish a new standard of transparency and inclusivity. They can increase our chances of securing the best possible candidate to lead the UN. And they represent, I believe, a moment when the General Assembly  the worlds most representative and democratic decision-making body  reasserts itself. Given the global challenges we face today, this could be a real game-changer. So, please, go online, participate on social media, make yourself heard and help us find the best possible candidate for UN secretary general  the candidate that our world needs.
We are going home but we shall return again - say protesters (video)

20.56 Protest outside the Russian Embassy in Yerevan ended a few minutes ago. We are going home but we shall return again unless Russia declares that it stops selling arms to Azerbaijan, the group said before leaving the site. 20.29 You are snivel, you are greenhorn yourself, protesters said outside the Russian Embassy in Terevan addressing their words to Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister. Then the group began throwing eggs and coins at the Embassy building. This was followed by clashes between the protesters and police. The organizers urged the group to continue the action on the opposite pavement in order not to hinder traffic on the street but the protesters refused to do it. We are staying here, they said. 20.38 The protesters finally reached the building of the Russian Embassy where they began vociferating, Karabakh is ours! Despite the policemens efforts to prevent the group from approaching the Embassy, the protesters broke through the police cordon and closed the road. When police urged citizens to keep away from the Embassy gate, Anahit Bakhshyan, a member of the Barev Yerevan faction in Yerevan's Municipal Council, told police officers, You are defending this building as if it were the border of Karabakh 19.45 The protesters stopped in front of the Armenian Foreign Office. It seems that we can pose serious demands to this structure but we simply ask Edward Nalbandian not to interfere in the countrys foreign affairs, said David Sanasaryan, one of the participants of the protest. 19.40 The participants of the protest against the Russian Federation stopped near the Armenian Government to express their indignation at Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyans decision to travel to Moscow to attend a meeting of prime ministers of EEC member countries. This undermines our values. Hovik Abrahamyan should have gone to Moscow only to inform the Russian side about Armenias intention to withdraw from the EEU, said Daniel Ioanisyan from the Union of Informed Citizens NGO. He added that 'if our prime minister smiles at the prime minister of a country that sells weapons to our enemy, he can stay in that country [Russia] and never return to Armenia. 18.57 Hundreds of Armenians are staging a protest at Liberty Square in Yerevan against Russias policy towards Armenia and Azerbaijan. Those who address the protesters from the tribute blame Russia for billions of dollars worth of deadly weapons to Azerbaijan which the latter uses to attack Armenian civilians. The participants will later hold a march to Embassy of the Russian Federation in Yerevan. A1+ is live streaming the event.
Inez and Vinoodh for W magazineJennifer Lopez fantasizes about a Nicholas Sparks-type romance, and shes not afraid to admit it. The multi-hyphenate performer opens up to W Magazine about never giving up hope on love, despite some very public relationship failures.

When it comes to work, I never get tired, Jennifer says. But with personal failures, I have thought, This is too hard. When my marriage [to Marc Anthony] ended, it was not easy to find forgiveness. It wasnt the dream that I had hoped for, and it would have been easier to fan the flames of resentment, disappointment, and anger.

The two split in 2011 after seven years together. But Jennifer says since Marc is the father of her children, eight-year-old twins Max and Emme, shes worked hard to make things right. Now, shes happily dating dancer Casper Smart -- her on-and-off beau of almost five years.

We got together and broke up and are now together again, she says. I still think about getting married and having that long life with someone. I love the movie The Notebook. A dream of mine is to grow old with someone.

For now, Jennifers living out her professional dreams. Shes got a new single out, titled Aint Your Mama, a Las Vegas residency, and her NBC cop drama Shades of Blue has been picked up for a second season. "I do have trouble saying no," she admits.

Jennifer also just wrapped the final season of American Idol -- a show she says helped changed peoples perceptions of her, though she hasnt stopped trying to prove herself.

"People may now think I'm 'nice,' but they still act surprised when I'm smart, she says. If a man does one thing well, people immediately say hes a genius. Women have to do something remarkable over and over and over.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc receives UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond (Photo: VNA)



The PM welcomed the visit by the UK diplomat which follows the successful visit by Prime Minister David Cameron in May 2015.

He expressed his pleasure at the sound and intensive cooperation between the two countries that is based on a bilateral strategic partnership.

Two-way trade has seen positive strides to top USD5.4 billion in 2015, however, this has yet to be on par with bilateral potential and desire, he said.

Underlining benefits from the conclusion of negotiations on the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the PM said he hopes UK businesses will inject more investments into Vietnam in the fields of their strength such as finance, banking, infrastructure development, insurance, science and technology.

He also proposed the UK Government step up the official signing and ratification of the EVFTA to actualise the pacts benefits and contribute to deepening the relations between Vietnam and the EU, including the UK.

He suggested potential realms for future cooperation and called on the UK Govenrment to continue support for high-quality human resources and English teaching in Vietnam, while creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese students to study in the UK.

The Government leader hailed the statement at the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, pertaining to the East Sea issue for the common goal of ensuring navigation and aviation safety and avoiding actions that raise tensions in the region and run counter with international law.

He asked the UK Government to pay more attention to and persuade the EU to have a stronger voice in requesting China to respect international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as well as settle any disputes via peaceful means, without use of force or threats to use force, and end any actions to change the status quo of the East Sea.

It is imperative to stop the reclamation and construction of artificial islands and militarisation in the East Sea, while implementing earnestly and fully the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and forge ahead with negotiations to build a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), he said.

The UK Foreign Secretary also took the opportunity to congratulate Nguyen Xuan Phuc on his election as new Prime Minister.

He told the host that the UK is ranked second among EU countries in investment in Vietnam, saying the signing of the EVFTA will facilitate comprehensive cooperation between the two nations in the future.

He underlined prioritising fields for bilateral collaboration and said that with its strength in finance and technology, the UK is likely to become the EUs biggest investor in Vietnam, through cooperative activities that help the Southeast Asian country shift from a business manufacturing economy to a knowledge-based one providing high-quality services.

The two countries could coordinate to cope with challenges in economic development such as anti-corruption and public administrative management, he said.

The diplomat revealed that the UK Government has a standby financial resource of around 500 million pounds (USD712.9 million) for exports, which could help UK businesses invest in Vietnam and he expressed his hope that Vietnam will make the best use of this financial opportunity.

The UK is also willing to cooperate with Vietnam in climate change adaptation as well as in tackling the illegal wildlife trade, he said.

He agreed with the Vietnamese PMs suggestion to boost bilateral affiliation in education, training, and science and technology, adding that he hopes the Vietnamese Government will further simplify administrative procedures in the aforesaid fields to attract investment from the UK.

He also reiterated the statement of the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Hiroshima on the East Sea issue, which stresses the support for ASEAN to look towards building a Code of Conduct to ensure navigation and aviation freedom, and he hoped the involved parties can peacefully resolve any disputes in line with international law./.
Cambodian lawmaker Um Sam An (C) is being escorted by police (Source: dailymail.co.uk)

The lawmaker was arrested in the province of Siem Reap in early hours of April 11after he returned from the US on April 10

Prosecutors at a Phnom Penh court ordered his detention pending trial.

According to Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak, the lawmaker used the border issue to incite people to revolt against the government and encourage racism between Cambodia and Vietnam.

Under Cambodias criminal code he could face up to five years behind bars if convicted.

During a visit to a development centre for invalids in Siem Reap the same day,

Prime Minister Hun Sen said the opposition lawmaker posted on his personal Facebook account messages accusing the government of having used false maps on the border with Vietnam.

He stated that the current official border map is protected by the Constitution, ratified by the Parliament and passed by the King. Therefore, the opposition lawmakers deed is a criminal act.

The PM also repeated that the order issued earlier allows authorities in the country to immediately detain anyone who accuses the government of using false maps.

In September, 2015, the PM warned that strict measures would be taken against organisations and individuals who caused political instability and misunderstanding on border issues.

In the afternoon on April 12th, the National Assembly summoned an urgent meeting to discuss and vote on the arrest of the opposition lawmaker.

The 15-minute meeting was attended by 63 lawmakers from the Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP), including PM Hun Sen, but none from the CNRP.

NA Chairman Heng Samrin announced that all 63 participating lawmakers agreed with the arrest of Um Sam An, the move that will allow the court to continue related procedures on the lawmaker on charges of inciting to cause political instability and serious damage to the country./.
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
Head of national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy Andriy Kobolev does not believe that an amicable agreement in the dispute with Russia's Gazprom being heard by the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

"Let's imagine that I will come and say that Gazprom offered compensation. It does not matter how much it is. Let's agree to it. I think that the number of lawmakers' requests would load this room from the floor to the ceiling. I think Mr. Miller has the same problem. One thing is to come to own chief and say that the court has decided, and another thing is to come and say that we've decided to come to terms. I don't believe in amicable agreements in the issue," he said in an interview with the Ekonomichna Pravda online publication.

He said that Naftogaz Ukrainy is open to discuss proposals for an amicable agreement.

Kobolev said that the main case on the gas supply contract will be heard in September 2016 and then on the gas transit contract. Preliminary hearings are currently underway.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has closed a criminal case over abuse of office by top managers of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) with purpose of reaping benefits for members of their families through notifying on the financial state of Delta Bank. They found that there was not sufficient evidence to continue the investigation.

"The criminal case registered on December 16, 2015 over abuse of office by NBU top managers was closed by NABU order of April 12. There was not sufficient evidence to continue the investigation," NABU said in response to Interfax-Ukraine's inquiry.

The pre-trial investigation was launched under an application describing a fact of abusing office by NBU top managers with purpose of reaping benefits for members of their families through notifying on the financial state of Delta Bank. This allowed withdrawing some UAH 12.6 million from deposit accounts at the bank.
The State Agency of Ukraine for Managing Exclusion Zone has presented a concept on reforming the Chornobyl zone. It would help to develop its scientific, technical and investment potential.

Agency Head Vitaliy Petruk told reporters that his agency has drawn up the required legislation base. It is to be agreed and approved by the government and parliament.

The concept is aimed at changing the status of the Exclusion Zone from the recipient of budget and donor funds to the self-sufficing economic entity.

"We want to change awareness in society and in the public policy and give grounds for scientific and technical cooperation in the zone," he said.

He said that studies showed that the zone could be narrowed in the near future and a biosphere reserve could be created there. A part of the territory which is ill-suited for living even in one thousand years should be declared the ad hoc industrial zone with facilities for disposing radioactive waste.

He said that 90% of waste is Chornobyl waste. There is no possibility of removing them to other country of Ukrainian region. Staff operating at Chornobyl facilities observes radio safety rules. There are no life hazards.

If the ad hoc industrial zone is created, the technical requirements to disposal of radioactive waste are mitigated. Expenses to dispose it are reduced. There is a possibility of using the zone from the scientific and industrial point of view. Additional opportunities for international cooperation open.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office has confirmed the existence of a criminal case into the allegations that Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk had received a $3-million bribe, for appointing Volodymyr Ischuk head of the Broadcasting, Radiocommunications, and Television Concern (BRT Concern).

In response to an inquiry by Dmytro Dobrodomov, an unaffiliated parliamentarian and a member of the parliamentary anti-corruption committee, a copy of which the People's Control non-governmental organization has posted on its website, the Prosecutor General's Office said its department for investigations in the government service and property field had continued a pre-trial investigation into a criminal case, under Ukrainian Criminal Code Article 368 Part 4, on the allegations that Yatseniuk enjoyed improper advantage of $3 million for appointing Ischuk head of the BRT Concern.

The pre-trial investigation is under way, it said.

"I have to inform at the same time that no one has been notified of being suspected of committing a criminal offence under Ukrainian Criminal Code Article 368 Part 4," the Prosecutor General's Office said in the response signed by acting Prosecutor General Yuriy Sevruk.
The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada's foreign affairs committee has turned down a draft resolution on the severance of diplomatic relations with Russia, says Volodymyr Aryev, of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction.

"A group of radical and populist deputies suddenly wished to sever diplomatic relations with Russia. Exactly at the time when the internal situation is the tensest. Actually, such a step remains possible, but it must be timely in the first place, when it's a well coordinated and well-prepared decision, by all foreign political institutions, and the government. But when a powerful weapon is used for shouts and self-promotion, it can't be called anything other than stupidity or deliberate sabotage. The foreign affairs committee has just reviewed this draft resolution by six votes and then turned it down," Aryev said on Facebook, on Tuesday.

Six committee members, i.e., Anna Hopko (unaffiliated), Aryev, Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze, Svitlana Zalyschuk, and Iryna Lutsenko (Petro Poroshenko Bloc), and Oleksandr Prysiazhniuk (People's Front) voted for turning the draft resolution down, he said.

The draft resolution on severing diplomatic relations with Russia was registered on March 15. Its authors are Oksana Korchynska and Yuriy-Bohdan Shukhevych of the Radical Party, Oleh Petrenko of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, Ihor Lutsenko of the Batkivschyna faction, and unaffiliated parliamentarian Volodymyr Parasiuk.
Ukrainian army reports 87 attacks on its positions in Donbas

Militants conducted 87 attacks on Ukrainian army positions over the past day, the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) press center wrote on Facebook on Wednesday morning.

Militants used mortars 22 times in ceasefire violations, the staff said. Nine attacks on Ukrainian army positions were observed in Avdiyivka. Weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements were used against strongholds in Novhorodske, Maryinka, Talakivka, Shyrokyne, Pisky, Zaitseve and Opytne.

Militants fired infantry combat vehicle weapons twelve times. Ukrainian army strongholds came under attack near Luhanske, Novhorodske, Mayorsk, Maryinka and Novotroitske.

The Ukrainian army had to return fire 25 times, solely by use of small calibers, in the reporting period, the staff said.
UN calls for immediate release of its staff member held captive in Donetsk

The United Nations has called for the immediate release of its staff member who was captured by militants in Donetsk on April 8.

"The United Nations is deeply concerned about the fact that one of its staff members is being held captive in Donetsk. The UN has mobilized all channels to ensure his immediate and unconditional release," the UN press service said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

According to the information available to the organization, its staff member is being treated well.

"The UN appeals to all parties, including the media, to respect the staff member and his family in this sensitive phase of the discussion around his release," the statement reads.

Earlier reports said that on April 8 militants captured a Ukrainian member of the UN monitoring mission in Donetsk. He is kept in a basement and representatives of the UN mission are not allowed to see him, nor given any information about the hostage's health condition.
The European Commission will send the EU Council and the European Parliament in late April its proposal ton amending legislation regarding the visa-free regime with Ukraine, EU Ambassador to Ukraine Jan Tombinski has said.

The European Commission said that by the end of April they will submit these proposals to the European Parliament and the EU Council. Nothing there has changed, the ambassador told reporters during a conference on reforms of accounting and audit in Ukraine in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) wants to transfer Ukrainian servicewoman Nadia Savchenko, who has been sentenced for 22 years in prison for the killing of Russian reporters, to a hospital. However, Savchenko has not given her consent so far, lawyer Ilya Novikov wrote on Facebook.

"FSIN chiefs after a panic - and after the agency's leaders finally issued instructions after a year and a half to give Savchenko a second mattress  now supports her transfer to a hospital, in order to avoid harm. Nadia so far doesn't agree. She insists authorities allow Ukrainian doctors to examine her," Novikov wrote on Facebook.

According to the lawyer, Savchenko feels her better after receiving intravenous treatment on Sunday, compared to last weekend.

"In addition to general weakness, her hands are cold and she is running a high temperature. Blood tests done on April 10 showed abnormal blood density," Novikov wrote.
"Ukrainian Infrastructure Forum '16'" will be held on April 22, 2016 in the hotel InterContinental Kyiv supported by the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine. Organizer  A7 CONFERENCES, Official partner  Lemtrans, Exclusive legal partner  International law firm Baker & McKenzie, Strategic partner  ArtBudService Construction company, Innovation partner  Microsoft Ukraine. The Forum will become a professional communication platform for opened public discussion, which unites the representatives of the government, international organizations, and Ukrainian businesses in order to move on a new level of the infrastructure markets development. The aim of the Forum is to draw attention of national and international investors to the potential of the transportation system of Ukraine for attracting foreign investments in the sector. Keynote Speakers of the Forum are: Volodymyr Omelyan, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Oksana Reiter, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine for European Integration, Vladyslava Rutytska, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine for European Integration, Mikheil Saakashvili, Head of Odessa Regional State Administration, Yaroslav Dubnevych, Head of Transport Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Igor Bilous, Head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, Olyana Gordiyenko, Partner of Kyiv office, Baker & McKenzie, Gokhan Bayhan, General Manager for CIS, Europe, Middle East, North Africa, General Electric Transportation, Flavio Canetti, Senior Director Business Development, Bombardier Transportation, Vladimir Mezentsev, Chief Executive Officer, Lemtrans, Oleksandr Smirnov, Chief Executive Officer, Portinvest, Tatyana Korotka, Deputy Business Ombudsman in Ukraine, Andy Hunder, President, American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, Oleksandr Kava, Manager of Transport and Infrastructure Section, Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO), Orest Klympush, Head, Federation of Transport Employers of Ukraine, Oleksiy Vadatursky, Chief Executive Officer, Nibulon, Ruslan Korzh, Partner Emeritus, A.T. Kearney, Oleksandr Kurlyand, President, Ukrferry, Yuriy Miroshnikov, President, Ukrainian International Airlines, Volodymyr Prykhodko, President, Kryukovsky Railway Car Building Works, Serhiy Vovk, Director, Center for Transport Strategies. Among other participants are leaders of top 100 Ukrainian and foreign companies in the transport sector, Ukrainian manufacturers of products in the infrastructure industry, foreign investors, and representatives of international financial corporations as well as embassies of foreign states. Igor Bilous, Head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine highlighted: "Over the past ten years the volume of marine container transportations decreased in 2 times, transit cargoes - in 3 times. And this is despite the fact that at most terminals private companies are operating. After examining the international experience, we have found that we need to change the model of managing public ports. At the moment the most effective model is a mid-term concession by which operates over 80% world ports. In Ukraine, this form of cooperation between state and private capital can be effective only under conditions of establishing a new concession law. That is why we initiated the establishment of an interagency working group to discuss and write a new Law, where the features of concessions will be defined not only for ports but also in general for the transport industry, for the sector of municipal engineering, medicine, social infrastructure, etc." Mikheil Saakashvili, Head of Odessa Regional State Administration stated: "If we consider Ukraine from the perspective of logistics business, we can offer routes 3 times more attractive from the Russian. The route across Russia, which takes 30 days, you can get across Ukraine up to 9! This is our chance, we just have to take." The Forum aims to enhance the interest of foreign investors to Ukrainian infrastructure projects. It will answer the key questions regarding the sources of financing for the resumption of the infrastructure and mechanisms for implementation of large investment projects. Besides, the Ukrainian business during the event will receive comprehensive information about the opportunities of launching the processes of modernization and operation with state enterprises in the infrastructure sphere as well as prospects financing from the national and international financial institutions. The specialty of the Forum will be "1-to-1" meetings between investors and representatives of Ukrainian companies on the second day of the Forum. Within the framework of the event a Catalogue of investment projects of Ukrainian public and private organizations in the field of infrastructure is planned to be created. The Forum will be supported by the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine. Organizer  A7 CONFERENCES, Official partner  Lemtrans, Exclusive legal partner  International law firm Baker & McKenzie, Strategic partner  ArtBudService Construction company, Innovation partner  Microsoft Ukraine. Exhibition partner  RC "Orange Park." General News Partner: Interfax-Ukraine, Business TV Partner: First Business Channel, General Media Partner: The Ukrainian Week, General Radio Partner: Golos Stolitsy Radio, Exclusive Media Partner: Liga Business Inform, Exclusive Business Media Partner: Business Newspaper, Business Media Partner: Delo.ua. Media Partners: 5 Channel, Persha Shpalta, Novoye Vremya, Ukrainian News, Business Channel, Companion, KyivPost, Delovaya Stolitsa, Hubs, Business Views, The Ukrainian Times, Platfor.ma, Industry in Focus, ABCnews, CTS, Industrial Cargoes, Liga:Zakon, ElectroNews. The Forum is supported by the UAIB, MBA International, ACC, EBA, CUCC, KMBS, Year of Europe in Ukraine 2020, Exporters of Ukraine Club, UBC, UVCA, CEO Club Ukraine, KSE, International Institute of Business, AHK Delegation der Deutschen Wirtschaft in der Ukraine. Online registration is open until April 21, 2016 at the web site: http://a7conf.com/infra For further details, please contact Oksana Kadochnikova, Public Relations Manager, A7 CONFERENCES via tel.: +38 044 227 27 77, +38 068 120 53 35, or -mail: oksana@a7-group.com
The makers of the Harry Porter spin-off film "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", has released its full-length trailer, subtitled in Chinese.

Making use of the iconic "Hedwig's Theme" from the Harry Porter film series, the teaser reveals quite a few amazing magic scenes, drawing viewers into the world created by J.K Rowling.

The trailer features a magician played by Eddie Redmayne, who is expelled by Hogwarts School for Magic, after the intervention on one of the teachers - could that be Dumbledore?

Redmayne travels to New York with with a managery of fantastical animals in his suitcase, passing the security check at the border successfully by using trickery.

According to the trailer, once the expatriate and the beasts reach the US metropolis, the local magic world descends into total chaos.

With David Yeats as the director and J.K. Rowling the playwright, the film is set to hit screens on November 18.

Follow-up movies are scheduled to be launched in 2018 and 2020.
CHONGQING, April 12 -- Two driverless cars produced by Chang'an Automobile in China started a 2,000-km test drive from Chongqing to Beijing on Tuesday.

Li Yusheng, engineer-in-chief of Chang'an Automobile Engineering &Research Institute, said the drive will help test their functions in diverse conditions.

"The vehicles have performed well in uncomplicated road conditions, such as urban driveways and highways, but they still need the help of a driver to navigate them in places like gas stations and toll booths," said Li.

"We want to improve the vehicles' sensors and processing technology, and then to prepare models for mass production," said Tan Benhong, deputy director of the institute.

Chang'an is aiming to put driverless cars into commercial use in 2018.

Worldwide, at least 18 companies are developing autonomous cars, including BMW, Audi and Toyota. China's contenders include auto makers BAIC group, GAC Group, SAIC Motor, Chang'an and BYD.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Israeli Parliament Speaker Yuli Edelstein in Beijing, capital of China, April 12, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for further cooperation with Israel in the field of innovation when meeting with Israeli Knesset (parliament) Speaker Yuli Edelstein on Tuesday in Beijing.

Li applauded the smooth and healthy development of China-Israel relations.

Bilateral trade has maintained strong growth against the backdrop of shrinking global trade last year, which showed the great potential of bilateral cooperation, he said.

Next year marks the 25th anniversary of the China-Israel diplomatic ties and China is willing to take the opportunity to further political exchanges and expand pragmatic cooperation with Israel, he said.

The premier called on the two sides to actively push forward the negotiation on a free trade agreement, and create mechanisms and platforms for innovation cooperation.

He hoped that the Israeli parliament will continue to support the development of bilateral relations and create a better environment for bilateral cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

Edelstein, on a China visit from Sunday to Thursday, said Israel is willing to enhance exchanges and communication with the Chinese government, law-making agency, business community, academic community and civil society.
PYONGYANG, April 12 -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) demanded Tuesday that South Koreareturn 13 DPRK nationals who Seoul claimed were defectors to the South and apologize for abducting them.

A spokesman for the central committee of the DPRK Red Cross Society said that the National Intelligence Service of South Korea lured and abducted the 13 individuals who worked at a state-run restaurant in China, calling this "a hideous crime" against the DPRK's dignity and its social system.

The spokesman asked South Korean authorities to apologize for the group kidnapping and send them back to the DPRK immediately.

The South will be accountable for serious consequences if it fails to do so, he added.

Seoul's unification ministry said Friday that the group defected to South Korea last week. Local media said it marked the first time that a group of DPRK citizens working at the same overseas restaurant defected to South Korea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang confirmed Monday that 13 DPRK nationals entered and left China legally with valid passports last week. He made the remarks at a briefing when asked to comment on a report that 13 DPRK nationals had gone to the Republic of Korea from a restaurant in an unspecified third country, possibly China.

"As for illegal entry by DPRK citizens, China will always properly handle the issue in line with international and domestic law as well as humanitarian principles. That's our established policy," Lu added.
An Ikea glass cup placed on the bedside table of a man surnamed Wu spontaneously exploded early yesterday morning, sending sharp shards of glass in Mr. Wus hair. Luckily, he was not injured.

Mr. Wu said the spontaneous explosion happened around midnight, which is when he was awakened by a loud bang. He said he would probably have been injured had his face been turned toward the glass. "Fortunately, I had the back of my head facing the glass cup," he explained.

It is thought that the cup may have exploded due to thermal shock; when an objects temperature changes over time, it can cause parts of the object to expand by different amounts. However, according to Mr. Wu, he only filled the glass cup with room temperature water.

Mr. Wu said he bought four wide-mouth glasses of this kind for 4.9 yuan each from Ikea in Xihongmen, Beijing in February of this year. There were no safety instructions or warnings about spontaneous explosion on the label, and the glasses did not come with any packaging.

According to Ikea's customer service department, the glasses meet the companys safety criteria. An employee explained, Spontaneous glass explosion is a phenomenon that causes tempered glass to randomly break for no apparent reason. However, the chances of such an event are no greater than five in 1,000."

Ikea agreed to give Mr. Wu vouchers of equal value to the four glasses as compensation.
(Xinhua file photo)

BEIJING, April 13 -- China's exports in yuan-denominated terms surged 18.7 percent year on year in March, while imports dipped 1.7 percent, customs data showed on Wednesday.

That led to a monthly trade surplus of 194.6 billion yuan (29.9 billion U.S. dollars), down from February's 209.5 billion yuan, according to figures from the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

Foreign trade in the first quarter was 5.9 percent lower than a year earlier at 5.2 trillion yuan, with exports down 4.2 percent and imports down 8.2 percent.

Trade surplus for the first quarter widened 8.5 percent from one year earlier to 810.2 billion yuan.

Exports to the European Union, China's biggest trade partner, dropped 1.4 percent year on year in the first three months of the year, the GAC data showed.

In the same period, exports to the United States, China's second-biggest trade partner, declined 3.4 percent and exports to the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, the third-largest trade partner, dipped 8.5 percent.
Rare conjoined twin sisters who were born in a set of triplets head into hours-long surgery to be separated

Surgery has started in Texas to separate two 10-month-old sisters born conjoined below the waist.

Driscoll Children's Hospital spokesman Jeff Salzgeber says the hours-long operation began on Tuesday morning in Corpus Christi.

Ximena and Scarlett Hernandez-Torres share a colon and bladders that will be reconstructed, however have their own legs.

Their identical triplet sister, Catalina, was born without serious health issues.

Undergoing surgery: Ximena and Scarlett Hernandez-Torres share a colon and bladders that will be reconstructed. The conjoined twins headed in for surgery in Corpus Christi on Tuesday morning

Driscoll Children's Hospital staff has cared for the girls since they were transferred to the facility last year

The girls were actually born triplets, with their identical sister, Catalina, born without any major health issues

The hospital staff has cared for the conjoined girls since they were transferred to the Corpus Christi facility hours after birth.

Dr. Haroon Patel says a team of 45 specialists has been working for months to prepare for the surgery, which could last 12 to 18 hours.

A hospital statement says doctors have a positive outlook for the children's recovery.

The girls will require additional surgeries as they grow.

Ceremony: The girls were baptized Saturday at the hospital in preparation for the surgery, as per their parents wishes

Triplets Ximena, Scarlett, and Catalina were born in May last year. Ximena and Scarlett are joined at the pelvis, but have separate legs. Catalina was born without any major issues

The girls were baptized Saturday at the hospital in preparation for the surgery.

'I'm nervous,' their father Raul Torres told NBC News.

'I've been praying a lot, every single day, even at work I think about them and think about the surgery. Sometimes I can't even sleep.'

'Just in case something happens like that, their soul can already be with God, before something bad happens.'

There is only a one in 50 million chance that conjoined twins are born in a set of triplets.

Rare: Experts say the chances of having conjoined twins in a set of triplets are one in 50 million
SYDNEY, April 13 -- When swimming in Australia's most famous harbour, take caution as there could be a pathogenic marine bacteria around you which causes more deaths each year than sharks, the nation's scientists warned on Wednesday.

High concentrations of two Vibrio bacteria species have been found in the warmest parts of Sydney harbour, one of the Australia's most densely populated and heavily used waterways, and also in less salty areas deeper inside the estuary.

Though the Vibrio bacteria causes cholera, the strain found in Sydney Harbour instead causes gastrointestinal illness through the consumption of contaminated seafood as well as flesh eating infections in swimmers with open wounds.

"This pathogen is responsible for 95 percent of all seafood-related deaths in the United States and carries a high mortality rate of approximately 50 percent in infected individuals," University of Technology microbiologist Dr. Maurizio Labbate said in a statement on Wednesday.

The findings, published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Microbiology, add to the understanding around the occurrence and distribution of the pathogenic bacteria, with the"perfect storm"scenario for outbreaks occurring in warm, less saline waterways.

This understanding is essential as more and more Vibrio-related infections increase in coastal ecosystems worldwide, particularly in ecosystems under environmental stress and water temperatures warm from human-induced climate change.

"Given the potential for these species to cause serious illness in humans as well as disease in a wide range of marine organisms including fish, corals and oysters, understanding when, where and why outbreaks of pathogenic Vibrios will occur is essential for public and ecosystem health management," said chief investigator and UTS Associate Professor of microbial ecology Justin Seymour.
Woman and her dog lost for nine days in Arizona forest are rescued after searchers find a 'HELP' sign she made out of sticks

A woman lost in an Arizona forest with her dog for nine days survived by drinking pond water, eating plants and spelling out 'HELP' on the ground with sticks, authorities said on Tuesday.

The sign helped lead rescuers to Ann Charon Rodgers, 72, and her dog in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona earlier this month, the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) said.

Rodgers went missing on March 31 as she headed to visit her grandchildren in Phoenix.

Ann Charon Rodgers, 72, who was lost in an Arizona forest with her dog for nine days, survived by drinking pond water, eating plants and spelling out 'HELP' on the ground with sticks (pictured), authorities said

Above an ambulance takes Rodgers to safety after she was rescued after being lost in the forest

Authorities said she got lost and her hybrid vehicle ran out of gas and electric power.

While she and her dog were stranded on a remote stretch of back country road near Canyon Creek on the White River Indian Reservation, she became disoriented, authorities said.

During that time, Rodgers tried to climb several ridge lines in an effort to get mobile service so that she could call for help.

Rodgers pictured before a helicopter airlifts her to a local hospital for treatment. She went missing on March 31 as she headed to visit her grandchildren in Phoenix

On April 3, the Gila County Sheriff's Office received a call to assist with a missing person and three days after a search began, her car was discovered but rescue crews struggled to find her.

Authorities eventually came across her dog on April 9 before an aerial search by a DPS flight crew spotted a 'HELP' signal made of sticks and rocks on the ground.

A handwritten note dated April 3 was also found under one of the rocks used in the help signal, indicating that Rodgers was out of food and water and was headed down the canyon.

Authorities said they found what appeared to be a shelter that had been abandoned by Rodgers.

Rodgers had left the area where the sign and note was discovered, but she was found nearby in the White Mountain Apache Reservation after starting a signal fire and waving to a helicopter.

She was rescued in fair condition, though suffering from exposure, and was taken to a helicopter that transported her to a hospital in Payson for treatment.

She has since been released from the hospital and reunited with her family.

Rodgers has a Tucson-region area code, but it is not clear where she lives or how she wound up in the eastern part of the state.

The drive from Tucson to Phoenix is a straight shot on Interstate 10, which does not run through the area where she was found.

Rodgers declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press.

Rodgers pictured left during her rescue. She has a Tucson-region area code, but it is not clear where she lives or how she wound up in the eastern part of the state
The first space hotel? Inflatable private space station set to launch in 2020 - and it will allow tourist visits

The first private space station is set to be an inflatable - and could launch in 2020.

United Launch Alliance will team with billionaire entrepreneur Robert Bigelow to market and fly habitats for humans in space, the two revealed today.

An inflatable module based on the Bigelow technology is currently being attached to the International Space Station.

United Launch Alliance will team with billionaire entrepreneur Robert Bigelow to market and fly habitats for humans in space - with the first blasting off in 2020.

The project hinges on space taxis being developed by SpaceX, Boeing Co and other firms, ULA and Bigelow said on Monday.

The agreement, announced at a news conference at the U.S. Space Symposium in Colorado Spring, Colorado, includes a 2020 launch of a 12,000-cubic foot (330-cubic meter) inflatable habitat aboard a ULA Atlas 5 rocket, currently the only vehicle with a big enough payload container to hold the module.

Bigelow told the news conference that partnering with ULA, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing, is 'a potentially enormously important relationship,' to open space to non-government research, commercial endeavors and tourism.

ULA and Bigelow did not give details on their alliance. ULA President and Chief Executive Tory Bruno said at the news conference that ULA is contributing 'resources of technology and talent.

'We don't talk about dollars and investment.

'You'll see as time goes by what this fully encompasses.'

The design was evolved from NASA's TransHab habitat concept. The B330 will have 330 cubic meters (12,000 cu/ft) of internal space. The craft will support zero-gravity research including scientific missions, manufacturing processes, a destination for space tourism and a craft for missions destined for the Moon and Mars.

Bigelow has designed inflatable space habitats made of a Kevlar-like material and other fabrics that protect against impacts from orbiting debris.

They are folded for launch, then inflated with air once aloft.

The light, compact habitats should save millions of dollars in launch costs, the companies say.

Bigelow Aerospace has been working on inflatable habitats for 15 years.

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, Beam for short, will stay on the station for two years, with astronauts occasionally entering it. It will be the first time an astronaut steps inside an expandable habitat structure in space. The pod's size, compared to an average man, is pictured

A miniature version of the expandable, fabric module arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship.

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, is expected to be attached to a station docking port on Saturday and inflated next month for a two-year trial run.

BEAM is the firm's first manned spacecraft. Bigelow had previously launched two unmanned prototypes in 2006 and 2007.

Once attached to the station, the soft-sided Bigelow compartment will be inflated to the size of a small bedroom. Made up of aluminum and soft fabric, Beam is designed to pack down into a relatively compact 5.7ft (1.7 metres) long and just under 7.75ft (2.4 metres) in diameter when stowed for the flight into space

Bigelow plans to follow BEAM with modules that are 20 times larger to serve as space outposts that will be leased to companies and research organizations.

Bigelow said he also would like to attach one of the modules, known as B330, to the space station for use by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and commercial customers.

The projects are dependent on commercial space transportation services, such as those under development by SpaceX and Boeing, to fly astronauts to and from the space station for NASA.

THE HISTORY OF BEAM

Bigelow Aerospace won't divulge the material used for Beam's outer layers - or even how many layers - just that the layers are spread out to absorb and break up any penetrating bits of space junk.

Back when Nasa was working on the technology in the 1990s, a combination of Nextel, Kevlar, foam and other fabric formed the multilayer shield.

Nasa called its project TransHab, for Transit Habitat. It never flew to space, despite elaborate blueprints and ground mock-ups. Designers envisioned an inflatable, four-level compartment, complete with dining, sleeping and exercising areas for station crews.

Nasa outlined the four possible ways it might expand, shown, in a newly released video. Although this will be the first of these habitats tested on the ISS, Nasa thinks expandables could be a key technology to help humans on the journey to Mars

Congress cancelled TransHab in 2000 and Bigelow Aerospace bought the patent from Nasa.

The company launched a pair of expandable spacecraft a decade ago from Russia as an experiment. Called Genesis I and II, they're still orbiting.

Nasa, meanwhile, paid Bigelow Aerospace $17.8 million for the upcoming test flight, making the Beam the most affordable module ever launched to the space station, said Michael Gold, director of operations and business growth for Bigelow Aerospace.
Exclusive interview with Dr. AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN (Part 3)

Together with the connectivity of ASEAN and 'One Belt One Road' proposed by President Xi Jinping, how do we accommodate the dreams and aspirations of both sides is more important. I would like to see the connection and juncture where dreams come together.

Dr. AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Peoples Daily Online during his visit to Peoples Daily headquarters in Beijing on Tuesday.

Dr. Mochtan introduces ASEANs focal notion of connectivity, elaborating why ASEAN sets it as their priority and how important connectivity is for the people to create benefits. Just like connectivity, One Belt One Road is another notion China develops to create more opportunities for the people. Dr. Mochtan thinks that combining the experience and dreams of citizens both in China and ASEAN is the goal of boiling down the two concepts, and working on where dreams come together.

Dr. Mochtan also notes that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a very important undertaking for ASEAN, but bringing together more than half of the population in the world is a huge task since ASEAN needs to reach agreement with 5 other countries including Japan, Korean, Australia, New Zealand and India apart from China. Dr. Mochtan believes RCEP will be a very big platform to seek for workable and practical ways to enhance economic cooperation in the region, and he also hopes negotiations on the RECP could be completed by the end of this year.

China and ASEAN to hold special commemorative summit for the 25th anniversary of dialogue relations  Exclusive interview with Dr. AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN (Part 1)

Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN calls for peaceful settlement of territorial disputes in the SCS  Exclusive interview with Dr. AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN (Part 2)
People lay flowers to mourn the victims at Maelbeek metro station in Brussels, Belgium, March 25, 2016. Two suicide blasts hit the departures hall of Brussels International Airport and a subway carriage at the Maelbeek station, close to the European Union institutions on Tuesday, killing at least 31 people and injuring over 300 others.(Xinhua file photo/Gong Bing)

STRASBOURG, April 12 -- The European Parliament held a debate on Tuesday with high representatives of the European Commission and the European Council over anti-terrorist strategies. Divisions have been seen on the issue.

Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, and Jeanine Hennis-Plaesschaert, defense minister of the Netherlands, as well as EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called for the optimization of existing tools and the creation of new measures in the fight against terrorism.

One of the new measures on the table would be the Passenger Name Record (PNR).

After a debate scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, Members of European Parliament (MEPs) will vote on Thursday on installing the PNR registry of flight passenger data on a European scale.

Even though the mechanism has been demanded by several European countries including France who have been struck by terrorist attacks last year, it has not received unanimous supports.

Aiming to fight terrorism, protect European citizens and bring responsible parties to justice, the European Parliament strongly called on all EU members to draw lessons from the past and intensify the exchange of information and cooperation between national intelligence services.

But the parliamentarians also reiterated, with insistence on Tuesday, the necessity to find a careful balance between private life and security.

Certain people have cast doubt on the efficiency of the PNR as a tool in the struggle against terrorism. This measure implies more systematic collection, use and retention of certain data, such as travel dates and itineraries as well as payment information.

The Strasbourg hemicycle has not shown a unified front.

The representatives of the European People's Party (EPP/right), like the Socialists, have called for the creation of a European security agency which has the power to investigate and even to pursue terrorists.

In other parliamentary ranks where the radical reinforcement of both internal and external EU borders is popular, to accept mandatory cooperation between intelligence services is out of question.

The necessity to promote prevention measures against radicalization, however, has earned wide assent within the parliament.

The Parliament has already adopted last November a resolution on the prevention of radicalization and terrorist recruitment or European citizens.

The acting capacities of Europol, the European police bureau, also touched in Tuesday's debates, will be on the schedule for the May plenary session, whereas the approval of increasing personnel for its counter terrorism center is expected in April.
Igor Luksic, Montenegro's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, candidate for the position of next United Nations Secretary-General, presents himself to the member states at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the United States, April 12, 2016. The UN General Assembly on Tuesday kicked off a three-day informal dialogue with candidates for the position of the next Secretary-General. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 12 -- The UN General Assembly on Tuesday kicked off three days of unprecedented interviews of the nine announced candidates seeking to replace Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonwhen his second five-year term ends on Dec. 31.

The first three interviewed were Igor Luksic, deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Montenegro; Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, director-general of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and Antonio Guterres of Portugal, recently-retired UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR).

Over some eight hours, representatives of member states, observers and members of civil society grilled the candidates in separate two-hour sessions. Most questions were repeated between sessions so that each candidate had a chance to answer many of the questions put to others.

The interviews, also known as the informal dialogues, is the first in the UN history and an opportunity for members of both the United Nations and the public to have substantive and open engagement with the candidates.

President Mogens Lykketoft of the 70th UN General Assembly chaired the sessions at UN Headquarters, generally keeping a tight rein over time limits imposed on questioners and candidates, even cutting some of them off after they failed to beat the clock.

"We are sailing into uncharted waters here," said Lykketoft addressing the press ahead of the start of the informal dialogues at UN Headquarters in New York.

Calling the process a "potential game-changing exercise," he said the informal briefings were part of a "very transparent, very interesting discussion about the future of the United Nations."

Among the topics the candidates were sounded out about were terrorism, migration and refugees, human rights, gender and geographic imbalance in appointments and representation, resisting influence and youth.

Each candidate gave an opening statement based on their "vision" on how they would take the helm of the world organization.

This is the first time such an exercise was held in a bid to ensure transparency in the secretary-general election process.

The UN Charter calls only for the 15-member UN Security Council to recommend a candidate to the 193-member General Assembly for approval. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council hold veto power.

Critics complain such a relatively small body has too much say over who would be elected and hope the new measures being taken will give a voice to the general membership.

On Wednesday, Danilo Turk of Slovenia, a former president of his country and a former UN assistant secretary-general will be interviewed. He will be followed by Vesna Pusic, deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Croatia, and Natalia Gherman, former deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Moldova.

The candidates to be interviewed on Thursday will be Vuk Jeremic of Serbia, the latest candidate to enter the contest, a former foreign minister and president of 67th UN General Assembly who only announced his candidacy late Tuesday; Helen Clark of New Zealand, head of the UN Development Program (UNDP); and Srgjan Kerim, a former foreign minister of the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia who served as president of the 62nd General Assembly.

The roster is heavy with candidates from Eastern Europe as there never has been a UN secretary-general from the region. It is highly likely for the next secretary-general to be from this region based on an informal system of geopolitical rotation.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks in a joint interview with the Chinese, Japanese and Mongolian media in Moscow, Russia, April 12, 2016. Relations between Russia and China are at an all-time high, Lavrov said Tuesday. (Xinhua/Dai Tianfang)

MOSCOW, April 12 -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Russia-China ties are at an all-time high, and that their relationship is consistently deepened for the benefit of both countries and peoples.

Russia and China are interested in expanding cooperation and aligning the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) with China's Belt and Road Initiative, Lavrov said in a joint interview with Chinese, Japanese and Mongolian media on the eve of his visits to the three countries.

"Currently, an agreement on trade and economic cooperation between the EEU and China is being prepared, and a roadmap for priority integration projects is being worked out simultaneously," he said.

The top Russian diplomat also stressed the importance of regional cooperation between the two countries, especially involving Russia's Far East and China's northeastern provinces, and the Volga-Yangtze project.

While Russia and China are experiencing "some negative effects" due to a sluggish global economy, Lavrov said he believed that the decrease in Russia's trade turnover with China and other Far East neighbors was only temporary.

Moreover, Lavrov said Russia and China have showed a willingness to establish a free trade zone between the EEU and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an idea initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Commenting on the South China sea issue that has led to spat between China and some Southeastern Asian countries, Lavrov said the disputes should be resolved through dialogue and attempts to internationalize the issue must be stopped.

He urged external players to stop interfering in the negotiations among those involved, warning that such attempts would be "completely counterproductive."

Moreover, Lavrov also expressed concerns about the possible deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system by the United States on the Korean Peninsula.

"Together with our Chinese friends, we realize that following this course will create a real threat to the security of our countries, and destabilize the strategic stability in Northeast Asia," he said.

He stressed that Russia and China recognize the right of Democratic People's Republic of Korea to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but do not accept its nuclear ambitions.

Moscow and Beijing are devoted to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the resumption of the six-party talks, which is "the real way to resolve the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue," he added.

Lavrov also praised the framework of the BRICS, a thriving cooperation mechanism that groups the world's five leading emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

As one of the most promising mechanisms in global state that brings together countries of different regions, he said, the BRICS is capable of cooperating in solving global issues, based on the value of equality, mutual benefit and balance of interests.
Exclusive interview with Dr. AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN (Part 1)

China and ASEAN will hold a special commemorative summit, which has already been scheduled to take place in September, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations, Dr. AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary- General of ASEAN, told Peoples Daily Online in an exclusive interview Tuesday.

There will be a series of commemorative activities throughout the year as 2016 marks the 25th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations. Since 2016 is also designated as the ASEAN-China year of education, Dr. Mochtan emphasized the importance of people-to-people exchange between China and ASEAN.

Dr. AKP Mochtan paid a visit to People's Daily on April 12. He is in Beijing, leading a delegation of scholars from ASEAN member states to attend a symposium on the 25th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations, co-hosted by China Institute of International Studies and ASEAN-China Center.

Dr. Mochtan notes the ASEAN-China relationship has progressed a lot, yet there is still room for improvement. Instead of confining the China-ASEAN relations to the previous 25 years, he suggests to look forward and endeavor to lift the relationship to new high. On top of the flourishing economic cooperation, people-to-people exchange is Dr. Mochtan's focal point as he believes people's real experiencing can eventually become appreciation and understand on both sides. I am satisfied with the relations at the moment, and I am having much more expectations for the future.

Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN calls for peaceful settlement of territorial disputes in the SCS  Exclusive interview with Dr. AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN (Part 2)

The juncture where dreams come together: China's 'One Belt One Road' and ASEAN's priority of 'connectivity'  Exclusive interview with Dr. AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN (Part 3)
Exclusive interview with Dr. AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN (Part 2)

Dr. AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN, said it takes time to settle territorial disputes in the South China Sea since these issues relate to sovereignty. The point is how do you arrive at an amicable, peaceful settlement. He stressed that the overlapping claims should be settled by the countries concerned.

During his visit to Peoples Daily headquarters in Beijing, the senior ASEAN official conducted an exclusive interview with Peoples Daily Online on Tuesday.

Dr. Mochtan quoted an old saying during his interview that a close neighbor sometimes is more important than a distant relative as he addressing the territorial disputes issue. Therefore, instead of conflicting, Dr. Mochtan suggested that countries in the Southeast Asian region have all the reasons to improve their relationships with China.

As it is inevitable that a lot of countries in the world have border issues with neighbors occasionally, Dr. Mochtan expressed his sincere hope for peaceful settlements and amicable solutions on the territorial disputes in the South China Sea. For that, this will be for those countries concerned to discuss, to negotiate, to settle with China, he added.

What ASEAN concerns is actually the stability, the security of the region. But lets also be clear when we are talking about the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, or Code of Conduct, these are not meant to be the instruments to settle the overlapping claims.

So I leave that to the countries concerned to address the issues and with the hope it will be pursued in a peaceful manner and arriving at an amicable solution.

Dr. Mochtan said Connectivity is the major notion ASEAN has adhered to. By connecting countries in the Southeast Asia and provide more benefits for the people is the main concern of ASEAN.

Dr. Mochtan is confident that border issues would not affect the big picture of the ASEAN-China cooperation since he believes China and ASEAN have more opportunities than challenges. Territorial disputes between countries is only one of the challenges, and how to manage the challenges and make full use of the opportunities to benefit the people would be the most important thing to work hard for.

China and ASEAN to hold special commemorative summit for the 25th anniversary of dialogue relations  Exclusive interview with Dr. AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN (Part 1)

The juncture where dreams come together: China's 'One Belt One Road' and ASEAN's priority of 'connectivity'  Exclusive interview with Dr. AKP Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN (Part 3)
What kindles the fire of love? People give many different answers, but a touching love story between a rich Chinese expat in Spain and a woman living in a remote rural village might give us a good idea.

Yao Nanshan and Liu Lijuan met for the first time on July 6, 2013. 57-year-old Yao was so entranced by the beauty of the terraced fields in Yunhe County in east China's Zhejiang province that he missed the last bus back to town. He had no choice but to knock on the door of a stranger's home and ask if he could stay the night.

To Yaos delight, the house owner, Liu, welcomed him into her home and did not even ask him to pay for accommodation, though Yao offered. Impressed by Liu's generosity, Yao spent a long time talking with Liu that night.

Yao learned about the difficulties that Liu had been through. She married her late husband at the age of 20. After many years of married life, they had to admit that they could not have a child of their own. Then one day in 1987, they discovered a baby girl left on their doorstep and adopted her. One year passed, and they discovered that their daughter was unable to straighten her legs. From then on, the familys life was centered around medical treatment and hospitals. In 2000 their daughter was diagnosed with osteonecrosis at a hospital in Beijing, and they were told they needed 100,000 yuan to cure her. It was a heavy blow for the poor family, but they never gave up, determined to collect the money from concerned friends and relatives.

The couple eventually gathered the money and their daughter was finally able to walk. However, in the mean time, Liu's husband had become disabled. He broke both his legs falling off a mountain on his way to collect money for their daughter. He refused to seek medical treatment because he didnt want to spend the money. In 2010, Lius husband was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died one year later, leaving behind a debt of more than 200,000 yuan.

In spite of all her suffering, Liu is still a warm-hearted person without many complaints about life, which made her attractive in the eyes of Yao. Yao left the village in the morning, but he didnt stop thinking about Liu. One month later, he returned to Yunhe County and told Liu that he had feelings for her. Although Yao was a good choice in Lius eyes, Liu did not accept him as a partner. She told Yao that she still had to pay off a big debt and did not want to burden him with her trouble.

At that moment, Yao felt sure that Liu was the woman for him. He proposed that they meet once more before he left for a long trip. During that meeting, Liu got to know that he was a billionaire, which made Liu feel even more confused about her future with him. Yao tried his best to reassure her, even proposing that he pay off Lius debts so she could come live with him in Spain. But Liu said no. She insisted on paying the debts herself.

After returning to Spain without Liu, Yao asked his three children to take over managing his businesses abroad. With that taken care of, he went back to China to live together with Liu. Yao helped Liu build a small inn so that she could have more income to pay off her debts. In December of 2015, the couple got married at last.
Photos taken on April 12, 2016 show the Hindu holy men touch children with feet as part of a ritual to bless them during a religious procession to mark the Gajan festival in Kolkata.

The Hindu festival of Gajan sees devotees across India celebrate deities such as Lord Shiva, Neel, and Dharmathakur. Lasting for one month, the festival culminates on Chaitra Sankranti, the last day of the Bengali calendar.

The central theme of Gajan is to derive satisfaction through pain, devotion and sacrifice.
Photos taken on April 13, 2016, show Taronga Zoo staff feed elephants that were all dressed up to celebrate the Songkran festival, Thai New Year, in Sydney.

The Asian elephants joined the Thai dancers in the zoo to celebrate the New Year of their hometown Thailand. The festival also features water fights.
Peoples Liberation Army Daily (PLA Daily), the official newspaper of the People's Liberation Army, published an article featuring a route map for travelling to Xisha Islands in South China Sea on April 9, 2016. The PLA Daily also held lottery online and picked three winners to join their correspondents for a trip to the Islands on the same day.

The article introduced some basic information, transportation, and what to see, what to do as well as what to eat on each island. It detailed each islands features and introduced what is best to do to enjoy the trip there.

The Xisha Islands can be reached by cruise North Bay Star, which can accommodate some 300 tourists and currently makes four to five trips to Xisha each month. An airport terminal has also been built on Xisha Islands and direct flights to Beijing and other cities are to be open, according to Xiao Jie, mayor of Xisha city.
Credit: Ross HalfinThe world should have a new Metallica album before the year 2017, if Lars Ulrich is to be believed. The drummer tells Billboard that the metal legend's follow-up to 2008's Death Magnetic will be released this year.

"I think it's going to get wrapped up soon," Ulrich says. "Unless something radical happens it would be difficult for me to believe that it wont come out in 2016."

He adds, "It's definitely coming along. Nearing completion. Should be done soon...hopefully."

Ulrich's declaration backs up the previous claim by Metallica's co-manager Peter Mensch, who recently told Billboard the group's new album will be released "probably later in the year."

On Friday, Metallica will release deluxe reissues of their first two albums, 1983's Kill 'Em All and 1984's Ride the Lightning. Then, on Saturday, the band will perform at the Rasputin Music record store in Berkeley, California, in honor of this year's Record Store Day.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 13



By Azad Hasanli - Trend:



The Azerbaijani Anglo Asian Mining PLC (AAM) company and the Swiss Industrial Minerals S.A. have signed a contract for selling copper, which is being produced by the AAM's flotation plant.



"In March 2016, the company signed a new contract with Industrial Minerals S.A. for the sale of copper concentrate produced from its flotation plant," said the AAM message.



This contract is valid until Dec.31, 2018, and it is has the same terms as the company's existing contract with the exception of improved terms for any penalty due to the concentrate containing zinc.



The AAM's copper production for Q1 of 2016 totaled 432 tons (181 tons from SART processing and 251 tons from flotation), which is by 29 percent more than the Q4 of 2015, according to the company's message.



The company's copper production target for Fiscal Year 2016 is between 1,700 and 2,100 tons, comprising 700-800 tons from SART processing and 1,000-1,300 tons from flotation plant, said the message.



The AAM company supplied 1,330 dry metric tons of copper worth $2.1 million in January-March 2016 (excluding the Azerbaijani government's profit share) versus 817 tons worth $1.3 million supplied in Q4 of 2015, according to the message.



Anglo Asian Mining PLC is a gold, copper and silver producer in Central Asia with a broad portfolio of production and exploration assets in Azerbaijan.



Based on the production sharing agreement signed with Azerbaijani government in August 1997, Anglo Asian Mining PLC has the right to develop six fields in south-west of Azerbaijan: "Gadabay", "Ordubad", "Gosha Bulag", "Gizil Bulag", "Vejnali" and "Soyutlu".



The gold produced at the fields is sent to Switzerland for purification. The ingots are delivered to Azerbaijan and stored in the government's account.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @AzadHasanli
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 13

Trend:

It is very important to hold a separate event on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the 25th annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) in Tbilisi, says Azay Guliyev, a member of the Azerbaijani parliament.

The OSCE PA's 25th annual session will be held in the Georgian capital July 1-5.

Speaking to Trend, Guliyev, who is also deputy chairman of the OSCE PA's Political Affairs and Security Committee, has said the ways of the conflict's settlement need to be discussed at that separate event with participation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

Guliyev recalled that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was discussed at a meeting of the OSCE PA Bureau in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Apr. 11.

He expressed hope that it will be possible to hold such a hearing at the OSCE PA's summer session in Tbilisi.

Guliyev went on to say that the OSCE PA should cooperate closely with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's settlement.

"The Minsk Group co-chairs should regularly inform the OSCE PA about the work done, the proposals put forward in connection with the conflict's settlement and the parties' attitude towards them," he added.

The MP said such cooperation and information exchange will make a significant contribution to the conflict's early resolution and create a constructive environment in negotiations.

"Everyone should know that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved in a short time with the early elimination of consequences of Armenia's aggression," said Guliyev adding there is a great need in this regard for effective coordination of the OSCE institutions' activities.

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. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 13

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

The Azerbaijani government is the victim of an ongoing smear campaign promoted by its rivals in the region, including Armenia, Elin Suleymanov, Azerbaijani ambassador to the US, said in an interview with The Washington Times.

Suleymanov said that the recent escalation of violence has been observed on the line of contact of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

"The recent reaction to the positive visit by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Washington D.C., shows that we have our share of enemies and ill-wishers," the ambassador said.

"So don't be surprised that we receive such heavy criticism," the diplomat said. "We are not against criticism if it is constructive."

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. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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, April 13

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend:

The US and EU have been completely inefficient in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, says Ariel Cohen, founder of International Market Analysis Ltd., director of the Center for Energy, Natural Resources and Geopolitics, senior fellow at the Institute for Analysis of Global Security.

"The fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh is like a chronic affliction that simmers down but never really stops," Cohen wrote in his article published on Huffingtonpost.com. "However, the eruption that began on April 2nd has flared up to levels unseen since the 1990s."

The expert wrote that a fragile cease-fire is holding, but this unstable equilibrium can blow up with consequences for the South Caucasus and beyond.

"Turkish-Russian tensions are at their highest since the end of the Cold War," Cohen wrote.

"With Washington AWOL and the U.S. busy with its most polarizing electoral campaign, Russia is likely to take this opportunity to consolidate its sphere of influence and boost its power in its southern flank."

The expert wrote that unfortunately, the U.S. and the West have neglected the regional dimensions of the conflict, despite the fact that it has implications for clashes of interest involving Russia, Turkey, Iran, the EU and the U.S.

"The Russian military presence has been building up in Armenia for decades," the expert wrote.

The expert wrote that the recent clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh will give Moscow excuses to deploy Russian peace-keepers in the zone of the conflict.

Cohen wrote that the military build-up in the region will also allow Russia to disrupt the Southern Energy Corridor, which harbors two main export pipelines for oil and gas.

"It is unfortunate that the EU and the U.S. have persistently refused to have a look at the maps," the expert wrote.

The expert wrote that for example, there were only six Western OSCE observers along the line of contact of the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, which is risible.

"Both the US and the EU/France, as co-chairs of the Minsk Group have been completely inefficient in resolving the conflict and preventing new clashes," Cohen wrote.

"Even after the hostilities erupted earlier this month, evidence of Obama's leadership remained amiss," Cohen wrote. "This has left Russia to play the diplomat. The latest cease-fire was negotiated by Russia directly, bypassing the Minsk group."

"In fact, the US and the EU are allowing Russia to rebuild its imperial sphere of influence," the expert wrote. "In the long term, this is definitely not in the interests of United States - or of its European allies and Turkey."

"The Great Game is back," Cohen wrote. "In fact, it never really went away."

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. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.



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 13



Trend:



Azerbaijan continues searching for the country's missing serviceman, the Azerbaijani State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People said.



The serviceman went missing during military operations on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.



"The search operations were conducted under the mediation of the international organizations," the Azerbaijani state commission said. "The purpose of these operations was to find Azerbaijani and Armenian servicemen who went missing during the military operations on the line of contact of both countries' troops from April 2 to April 5."



The Azerbaijani state commission also said that a body of Armenian serviceman was handed over to the other side.



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. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.



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. 13

By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:

The statement made by the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini on Apr. 12 is perhaps the most important statement in reference to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Peter Tase, political analyst, expert on international relations at the Marquette University, told Trend Apr. 13.

During a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasburg, Mogherini said the current status quo on Azerbaijan's occupied territories can only lead to more violence.

Tase says he is surprised why the US State Department has not issued a similar press release where it condemns the current status quo on Azerbaijan's occupied territories.

Armenia must urgently withdraw from Azerbaijan's occupied lands, the expert stressed.

Armenia has inflicted so much pain and suffering to the Azerbaijani nation, said Tase, adding that Azerbaijan has been very patient in dealing with problems of refugees and IDPs.

It is time for international community organizations (EU, OSCE) and major world powers (United States, Japan, Pakistan, Indonesia) to impose economic sanctions against Armenia for as long as Yerevan continues to occupy Azerbaijani lands, added the expert.

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. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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: @Anahanum
Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 19:33)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 13

Trend:

Azerbaijan is more than Armenia interested in creation of an international military tribunal on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as on the latest armed clashes along the line of contact, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry told Trend Apr. 13.

The ministry said it is a tribunal to prove the crimes, such as the Khojaly genocide, committed by Armenia against Azerbaijan.

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. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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.

Edited by EA
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 13

Trend:

The recent visit of one Greek MP to Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region does not, in any way, reflect the Greek government's official position on the Karabakh conflict, which remains unchanged and focused on its peaceful solution within the framework of the International Law, Embassy of Greece in Azerbaijan told Trend Apr. 13.

Azerbaijan has previously condemned the visit of member of Greek parliament Garyfallia (Liana) Kanelli and the member of the Latvian parliament Sergejs Potapkins to Nagorno-Karabakh, currently occupied by Armenia.

The spokesman for Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend Apr. 12 that the visit was an instigation and a biased approach towards the issue.

Similar steps, which contradict the positions of Greece and Latvia on resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through negotiations and the spirit of cooperation between Azerbaijan and these countries, encourage Armenia's provocative actions and exacerbate an already difficult situation, said Hajiyev.

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. 13

By Aygun Badalova - Trend:

The US president's administration has recently shown signs of engaging more deeply with Azerbaijan and toward counterbalancing growing Russian influence in the region as a whole, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Washington Elin Suleymanov said in an interview with The Washington Times.

Suleymanov stressed that far more US attention will be needed to prevent a wider regional security meltdown and suggested the Obama administration missed a rare chance to exert real influence between Turkey, Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan following the early-April clash.

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. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

Suleymanov added that it was Russian President Vladimir Putin - not President Obama - who has exploited the situation, portraying himself as a peacemaker and summoning Armenian and Azerbaijani military officials to Moscow to restore a ceasefire over Nagorno-Karabakh.

"It is obvious today that Russia's profile as a major diplomatic power in the region has risen significantly over the last two weeks," the ambassador said. "Russia is a very decisive player. We've seen it. And over the last two weeks, we've seen Russia being even more engaged than before."

The ambassador noted that Azerbaijani officials have "for a long time called for a more engaged US policy in the region".

"If the US engages in that peacemaking effort, along with Russia, that would be good," he said. "For peace to hold and to last, I think what we want to have is a stronger engagement from all the players, including the US and France."

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: @AygunBadalova
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 13

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegovic in Istanbul.

They hailed the dynamic development of the bilateral relations, and noted that there are good opportunities for expanding the mutual ties even further.

They exchanged views on the energy cooperation.

President Aliyev highlighted what has been done under the Southern Gas Corridor project.

The parties discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, especially the recent tension on the line of contact of troops.

Izetbegovic invited President Aliyev to pay a visit to his country.

The president thanked for the invitation, and also invited Izetbegovic to Azerbaijan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 13

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul.

The sides hailed the successful development of the friendly and fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey in all areas. The presidents expressed confidence that the strategic cooperation would continue to expand in all spheres.

They stressed the importance of the 13th Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in terms of the deepening of the bilateral ties.

The sides noted the role of the high-level meetings in strengthening the relations, and underlined the significance of cooperation in global projects in energy and other fields.

During the conversation, the presidents discussed the latest developments and the current situation on the frontline in the Nagorno-Karabakh. They also exchanged views over other issues of mutual interest.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 13

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) sold $20 million to a bank through the auction held by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), SOFAZ said Apr.13.

SOFAZ offered $50 million for sale through the auction.

SOFAZ will continue selling foreign currency through auctions in 2016.

The foreign currency is sold as part of SOFAZ's transfers to the Azerbaijani state budget, which are envisaged to stand at 7.615 billion Azerbaijani manats in 2016.

SOFAZ was established in 1999 with assets of $271 million.

As of January 1, 2016, SOFAZ assets reduced by 9.5 percent compared to 2014 ($37.1 billion) and were estimated at $33.57 billion.
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article, the Financial Times reported.

Italian financing agencies have teamed up to give Iran nearly 5bn in credit lines and guarantees for exports, in one of the most significant financial deals with the Islamic Republic since the landmark nuclear agreement that led to lifting of international sanctions.

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The Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Italy's state financing agency, which controls more than 350bn in assets, will issue 4bn in credit lines to Iranian public entities for them to fund big infrastructure projects such as railways and motorways. Italian companies such as Ferrovie dello Stato are expected to participate in those contracts.

Sace, Italy's export credit agency, will support the transactions by providing 4bn in guarantees for those deals and an additional 800m in funding for Italian SME's doing business in the country.

"This could be the most substantial development in resuming trade between Iran and Europe after the implementation day [of the nuclear agreement]," said Majid Zamani, managing director of Kardan, an Iranian investment bank.

The agreement in Tehran came during a two-day visit by Matteo Renzi, Italy's centre-left prime minister, who led a large trade delegation.

The centrist government of Iran's president Hassan Rouhani is under pressure by hardline opponents to deliver on a promise to improve the economy after the nuclear agreement came into force in January.

Foreign companies seeking to enter the Iranian market need banks to open letters of credit and insurers to underwrite critical export-related risks, but these do not currently exist - a legacy of the international sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme, most of which were lifted in January.

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But the continuation of US banking sanctions related to other issues - such as the facilitation of terrorism - has hampered Tehran's reconnection to the global financial system and made many international banks wary of working with Iranian institutions and individuals.

The credit lines issued by the Italian government are "a game changer and a very, very important development for Iran, by which development projects will start moving," said a senior European businessman. "It will open doors to a long line of medium-sized European banks and businesses who were worried about the consequences of doing business with Iran."

But while the credit lines could further encourage European and Asian Exim banks to finance Iran projects, it does not mean major international banks will re-establish relations with Iran in the near future.

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article.



A senior western diplomat in Tehran predicted it would take Iranian nationals at least one more year to be able to open bank accounts with the world's first-tier banks, while Iran's government will have to wait around five years to use the world's debt markets.

The Italian agencies will support trade through three private Iranian banks - Pasargad Bank, Parsian Bank and Saman Bank, according to an agreement made during a visit by Mr Rouhani to Rome in January.

The statement did not specify when the credit lines would be issued but one Italian official said "two very small transactions" had already taken place.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 12

By Aygun Badalova - Trend:

On April 17, major oil producers are expected to meet in Doha to discuss an agreement to freeze oil output at January 2016 levels. Despite strongly demonstrated willingness by the most oil producing countries to take measures to stabilize market, the results of the upcoming meeting seem quite uncertain.

Fenner Stewart, Director of Midwest Center for Energy Law & Policy, assistant professor, University of Calgary spoke to Trend about the most likely outcome of this meeting, measures needed to rebalance the oil market, as well as consequences and benefits of these measures.

Stewart believes that ideally, the participants at Doha will agree to a reduction in oil production so that there can be a "clearing of the oil market" (i.e., a clearing of the massive oversupply of oil stored globally), which is the necessary first step in the rebalancing of the oil order.

This rebalancing process has already started, which is represented in markets by highly volatile oil prices, in particular downward spikes that signal to oil producing countries that they must reduce production until the glut is consumed by demand, according to Stewart.

Until this occurs, the price of oil will not stabilize and trade higher, he said.

Adjust to New Oil Order

For any oil producing country that does not have the capacity to both reduce production levels and have a functioning economy, this is only the start of bad news, Stewart said.

When oil prices do stabilize, they will be well below $100 per barrel, he believes.

This is because when oil price hits the target for shale oil production (i.e., about $65), there is a fracklog (i.e., wells drilled but not fracked) in the U.S. that could quickly produce an additional 500,000 barrels per day. Moreover, if present oil companies cannot hold their position in this fracklog, because of low oil prices, new investors will buy it at a discount.

It is very important to understand that regardless of how many individual U.S. private producers go bankrupt due to this rebalancing process, the oil shale supply will not go away, said Stewart, adding that the genie cannot be put back in the bottle.

"'The market' will produce massive supply of "fast-cycle" shale oil (i.e., production capacity that can start or stop rapidly) when the price hits the target. The bottom line is that when shale oil is profitable to produce, someone will profit from it," Stewart said.

"Jeff Currie, the head of commodities at Goldman Sachs, predicts that this "New Oil Order" means that, over the long run, OPEC has been neutralized and the marginal barrel will be dictated by the shale oil market (i.e., about $65). If Currie is correct, and I think that he is, some oil producing states will not be able to avoid internal strife unless they can adapt successfully to lower oil revenues, which are here to stay," Stewart said.

He believes that undiversified petro-states (such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela) are likely in for some painful restructuring of their economies-the larger their reserves of foreign currency, the longer they will have to adjust.

"The pain will also be felt by more developed and diversified national economies (such as those of the offshore producer Norway and the oil sands producer Canada), where the cost of production, if extraction technologies remain the same, will be too high for substantial new investments for years to come," said Stewart.

From today's vantage point, without some dramatic political event, it appears inevitable that all oil producers will eventually grasp this reality, and adjust their economies to conform to this New Oil Order, he said.

Faster means better

Coming back to the Doha meeting this week, the expert said the participants need to cooperate and reduce production as a coordinated group, regardless of the pain.

"In a much simpler time, this is precisely what Henri Deterding (Royal Dutch Shell), Walter C. Teagle (Standard Oil) and Sir John Cadman (Anglo-Persian) supposedly did at Achnacarry Castle in 1928. Reducing production as a coordinated group is the only way to clear the oil glut, so that prices can be allowed to stabilize and increase," he explained.

"If oil producing countries refuse to accept this as the best on a menu of bad options, they will pay for it," Stewart said. "It means a longer cycle of over-production at an unacceptably low price in a fool's attempt to beat the market."

"It is a Sisyphean task, they cannot win. Eventually, all oil producing countries will discipline their output. The only other option is to be bludgeoned by violent downward price spikes and market instability. Those that adjust faster, even if they have to do so unilaterally, will likely be better off in the long run," Stewart said.

It is predicted that little meaningful change will occur at Doha, however Stewart is confident that eventually oil producing states will get the message.

"When-not if-they have had enough, they will agree to cooperate, reduce output, and then work to maximize their national revenues for the foreseeable future," he said. "As Deterding, Teagle and Cadman figured out in 1928, and as Rockefeller figured out 50 years before that: when there is too much oil, the oil market needs as much cooperation as competition, if it is to work to the advantage of producers."

Iran's role

While Iran may participate in the upcoming Doha meeting it firmly states that Tehran will not join the oil output freeze plan and will continue to increase export.

Stewart believes Iran is a wild card.

"It is emerging as a new force in oil pricing, since it is used to functioning without oil revenues thanks to the oil sanctions," he said.

"Will Iran forgo the post-sanctions profits to engage in economic warfare with its regional rivals? Who knows. It's possible," Stewart said.
Tehran, Iran, April 13

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Iran will provide the oil needed for some Shell refineries in South Africa once an agreement has been made, National Iranian Oil Company's International Affairs Director Mohsen Qamsari said, announcing that talks are underway between Iran and the British company.

As for the amount of oil likely to be sold to Shell, he said it will probably be set at the amount dating to the time that sanctions were imposed on Iran (namely about 100,000 bpd), Mehr news agency reported April 13.

He further stated that Iran has also held talks with British Petroleum and Petronas on exporting oil to South Africa.

Iran's oil trade with foreign countries was halted after sanctions were imposed on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

The country saw a relief from the sanctions following the January implementation of a nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran used to export 2.3 mbpd of oil before sanctions, while under sanctions the number shrunk to 1 mbpd.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.13

By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:

The upcoming meeting of oil producers in Doha will be very important and it will pave way for positive changes, according to a Russian expert.

The meeting will bring positive changes in the volume of production and lead to growth in oil prices which will reach $50-$60 per barrel by summer of 2016, Alexander Razuvaev, director of Analytical Department of Russia's 'Alpari' company, told Trend Apr.13.

The expert believes that Saudi Arabia will make a decision regardless of Iran's position.

"Russia and Saudi Arabia have agreed on the oil output issue. As for Iran, it partly spends the funds it receives from oil sales on purchasing weapons from Russia," he said. "Currently, Russia is rearming the Iranian army with quite new weapons. So Russia gets part of the money received from the export of Iranian oil."

Oil producing countries plan to hold a meeting in Doha on Apr.17 to discuss freezing the oil output at February level in order to stabilize the prices.

During the meeting in Doha on Feb.16, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela agreed to freeze the oil output at January levels if the other producers follow the suit. Ecuador, Algeria, Nigeria, Oman, Kuwait and UAE expressed readiness to join this initiative.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter in OPEC, said it will freeze the oil output without Iran's participation. Iran for its part, has said it won't join the output freeze initiative.

Edited by SI

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.13

Trend:

The European Union and Iran will discuss the possibility of importing gas from this country, TASS news agency reported.

The announcement was made by a source in the EU on the eve of the visit of Federica Mogherini, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, to Tehran.

"We don't rule out the possibility of importing gas," the source told reporters in Brussels Apr.13. "The discussions on this issue will start during the negotiations (as part of the visit of Mogherini and the EU commissioners)."

Last January, the International Atomic Energy Agency verified Tehran's compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA aka nuclear deal), opening the way for Iran's return to the global energy market.

The lifting of sanctions will not only make it possible to increase the production and export of oil by Iran, but will also enable Tehran to become one of the major players on the world gas market.

Iran's proven gas reserve stood at 34 trillion cubic meters as of early 2015, according to BP. The country's share on the world gas market is 17 percent.

Earlier, Iran stated that LNG export to Europe is its priority.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 13

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Kazakhstan and Turkey have discussed the possibility of strengthening the cooperation in trade, economic, investment making, agricultural, cultural and humanitarian spheres, read a message from the Kazakh president's press service.

The discussions were held by Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul.

Nazarbayev is on a visit to Turkey to take part in the 13th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

During the discussions, the parties pointed out the promising joint projects, the implementation of which can involve the small and medium business representatives from both countries, said the message.

Nazarbayev and Erdogan also reviewed the progress in implementation of the agreements reached during the Turkish president's visit to Kazakhstan in April 2015.

Kazakh president pointed out that leading Turkish companies and holdings can actively participate in implementation of the 'Nurly Zhol' program, as well as the industrial and innovative development programs in Kazakhstan.

Nazarbayev also highlighted Kazakhstan's transit and transportation potential, which can be effectively used for economic development of both countries.

Turkish president, for his part, underscored the necessity of strengthening the bilateral cooperation in order to achieve goals in a number of spheres.

Edited by EA

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Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 13

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Kyrgyzstan is creating a new government after Prime Minister Temir Sariev's resignation earlier this week, followed by consequent early resignation of the Government in line with the country's laws.

Deirdre Tynan, Director of International Crisis Group's Central Asia project believes that the new government will not bring any significant changes to Kyrgyzstan's foreign and internal policy.

"The new government will not change the country's policy course because Kyrgyzstan does not have a sophisticated policy course to change," Tynan told Trend by email.

She also expects that the challenges for the new Kyrgyz government remain the same as they were for the old government.

"High on that agenda, as the recent scandal shows, should be corruption. But tackling corruption would mean dismantling Kyrgyz politics as we know it and the new government is highly unlikely to do this," she said.

Sariev's resigned after the scandal erupted when the inspection uncovered violations in the procurement of the public tender won by a Chinese roads and bridges company. Sariev demanded the resignation of the minister of transport and communications, who in turn accused the prime minister of lobbying the Chinese company's interests.

It is not the first time when the government resigns in Kyrgyzstan.

"The frequent changes in government reflect the transactional nature of Kyrgyzstan's politics," Tynan said.

Following the resignation of Sariev, Kyrgyzstan's parliament elected deputy head of Kyrgyz presidential apparatus Sooronbay Zheenbekov to the post of the prime minister.

Jeenbekov has already submitted its proposals on the structure of the new government.

Edited by SI

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Apr. 13

By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:

Russia remains the most important partner for Turkmenistan, Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said during the meeting with Alexander Zhilkin, governor of Russia's Astrakhan region, in Ashgabat, said the message from Turkmenistan's government.

The president noted that given the huge industrial and resource potential, both countries have much to offer to each other in economic sphere.

The initiatives put forward by Ashgabat on creating transnational transportation and transit corridors and logistics centers, create opportunities for expanding the cooperation.

Currently, Turkmenistan purchases modern ferries for regular passenger and cargo transportation from Turkmenbashi port to a number of ports in the Caspian Sea countries, including the Russian port of Olya.

Moreover, shipbuilding, ship repair and expansion of trade relations were named as other priority areas of partnership between Turkmenistan and Astrakhan. The parties also expressed interest in supply of textile, chemical and food products.

Russia holds a leading position among Turkmenistan's largest foreign trade partners.

Turkmenistan has recently intensified the cooperation with Russia's largest regions such as Tatarstan, St. Petersburg and Sverdlovsk.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 12

By Farhad Daneshvar, Dalga Khatinoglu - Trend:

The National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) and the Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas, Enel have inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on gas and LNG related issues.

"We confirm that Enel has today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NIGEC (National Iranian Gas Export Company), setting forth the main principles for possible future cooperation between the two companies in natural gas, LNG and/or related infrastructure," an Enel spokesman told Trend Apr. 12.

"These principles might include sharing of information, studies, analyses and training courses, as well as exploring future opportunities for long term supplies," added the spokesman.

So far Iran has failed to produce LNG. Back in 2007, Tehran launched a project for constructing Iran LNG plant, at Tombak Port, approximately 50 km north of Assaluyeh Port, spending $2.5 billion.

However, international sanctions blocked the efforts made for finalizing the project. The project has progressed by 50 percent so far. The capacity of the Iran LNG plant is estimated at about 10.5 million tons a year.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi oversaw a ceremony Apr. 12 for signing of the MOU with Enel, where five other documents were inked as well.

So far, Iran and Italy have agreed on a total of 36 deals as six new documents were signed in Tehran, and 30 documents were signed in Rome in January.

Italian PM Matteo Renzi, heading a 250-member political and economic delegation, arrived in Tehran on Apr. 12 to discuss the expansion of ties.

President Rouhani visited Italy in January for two days during which the two countries signed deals worth up to 17 billion euros ($18.42 billion).

During his late January visit, Rouhani headed a high-ranking delegation of business leaders and ministers, signing a pipeline contract worth about $4 billion with oil services group Saipem.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 13

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh hasn't decided yet whether he will attend the Doha meeting of leading global oil producers regarding the freeze of the production, the country's oil ministry said.

It is not clear if the minister will attend at the event or not, Jafar Pourfarjoudi, spokesperson of Iran's Oil Ministry, told Trend April 13.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members and non-OPEC oil producers are expected to discuss freezing oil output to curb oversupplies on April 17, in the Qatari capital of Doha.

In February, the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Venezuela, and Russia discussed the current oil market situation in Doha and agreed to freeze oil production at January levels if other countries followed suit, in a bid to keep the oil prices from falling further.

Iran has previously announced that it will not join the oil output freeze plan.

Zanganeh said in early April that he may participate in the talks with fellow OPEC members and Russia in Doha without joining their proposal to freeze the crude oil production.

The minister was quoted as saying that he will participate in the Doha meeting if he "has time."

Zanganeh earlier said Iran is ready to join other oil producers on the output freeze issue after its own production reaches the level of 4 million barrels per day.

Oil prices saw major declines from $115 per barrel in mid-2014 to $41.54 per barrel for WTI Crude and $44.24 per barrel for Brent as of April 13.
Tehran, Iran, April 13

By Mehdi Sepahvand -- Trend:

Tens of Iranian lawyers have signed a petition condemning and calling for international action against numerous terrorist attacks that have turned the region into a boiling cauldron.

Recent terrorist attacks in Ankara, Istanbul, Brussels, Baghdad, and Lahore which have killed tens of people and disrupted basic freedoms and the territorial integrity of countries are strongly condemned, the document reads.

"In the modern times terrorism has turned from a national threat into an international threat and it is feared that it will endanger international peace and safety once spread," Jafar Afsharinia, one of the 44 signatories told Trend April 13.

The letter invites nations, governments, and international organizations to take common stances to more comprehensively fight terrorism, denouncing double standards against the phenomenon.
Tehran, Iran, April 13

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Negotiations with European countries have failed to have tangible results despite the fact that their delegations are regularly visiting Iran, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the visiting Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Some people blame this on the Americans, which is somehow true, regarding their past record and low level of commitment to the JCPOA, Ayatollah Khamenei said, his official website reported April 13.

Regarding the Islamic Republic's relations with Italy, he said President Hassan Rouhani's January visit to the country shows Tehran's goodwill in expanding ties with Rome.

Rouhani's visit, which came a few days after the Implementation Day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, included signing several memoranda of understanding.

"Iran adopts an optimistic approach toward Italy. Italy used to be more reasonable than some other Western countries during the sanctions. The Islamic Republic welcomes expanding relations with Italy in all areas, economy in particular," Ayatollah Khamenei said.

Iran's leader and some other political figures have blamed the US for not helping Iran's economic ties with European countries grow as much as they could under the nuclear deal.

Renzi, for his part, assured that his country abides by the terms of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers.

Elsewhere in their remarks, the two leaders stressed joint effort to fight terrorism, not only militarily and financially, but through cultural measures.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 12



By Umid Niayesh, Dalga Khatinoglu - Trend:



There is no evidence of any link between Iran and the September 11, 2001 attacks, a US State Department official said.



"As the 9/11 Commission noted in its report, they found no evidence that Iran or Lebanese Hezbollah group were aware of the planning for what later became the 9/11 attacks," Sam Werberg, press officer for the Office of Iranian Affairs at US Department of State, told Trend.



A US court has recently ruled against Iran over the September 11, 2001 attacks, which sparked harsh criticism in the Islamic Republic.



The court sentenced Iran to pay more than $10.5 billion in damages to families of the people killed on 9/11 and to a group of insurers.



"We sympathize with the families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks and strongly condemn Iran's past and continued support for international terrorism," further said Werberg.



While none of the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks were from Iran, the US judge George Daniels justified the verdict, saying Iran failed to defend itself against allegations of involvement in the attacks. The judgment came as the 9/11 Commission Report suggested that some attackers moved through Iran and did not have their passports stamped.



Earlier the US Department of State's Persian-language spokesman Alan Eyre told Trend that the department is not aware of any links between Iran and the attacks.
In a violation of the Syrian ceasefire, the al-Nusra Front, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, has fired on settlements and Syrian Army positions in Aleppo, Homs, and Latakia.

"Militants from the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group continue shelling populated areas and the government forces' positions in order to disrupt the cessation of hostilities in the regions of Aleppo, Homs and Latakia," the Russian Defense Ministry wrote on its Facebook page.

Militants were forced to withdraw in Latakia after suffering heavy losses, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Seven were killed, with another 27 injured, during the attack in Homs.

Despite these attacks, the Defense Ministry said that most Syrian regions appeared to be observing the ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined on Wednesday to comment on the first delivery of Russian-made S-300 air defense systems to Iran.

The first batch of surface-to-air missiles capable of downing jets was delivered to Iran on Monday, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

"We do not comment on this," Netanyahu's spokeswoman told RIA Novosti.

Russia and Iran signed a $900-million contract in 2007 amid opposition from Israel and the United States. The deal was suspended after the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Iran in mid-2010.

In April 2015, Russia resumed talks on S-300 deliveries following a framework agreement on a landmark pact that aimed to ensure the peaceful nature of Tehran's nuclear program.

Israel, in turn, criticized Russia's decision to go ahead with arms deliveries to Iran, saying that it would further destabilize the region.
The Pentagon is scaling down the number of US troops in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula citing a rise in terrorist attacks by Daesh and affiliated groups, a US defense official says, Press TV reported.

According to Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis speaking on Tuesday, the decision was made after the US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter began "formal communications" with Egypt and Israel notifying them about the US review of its military mission as to the hundreds of troops currently operating in the North African country's volatile Sinai Peninsula and the growing threat from terrorist groups.

The US has around 700 troops there as part of a United Nations operation established after Egypt and Israel signed a 1979 peace treaty and agreed for a Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) mission to monitor compliance.

Davis said the Pentagon remains "fully committed" to the MFO mission but wants to use drones and other high-tech tools rather than American personnel on the ground to assume some of the riskier work.

"I don't think anyone is talking about a full-scale withdraw. I think we are just looking at the number of people we have there to see if there are functions we can automate," He added. "We know that ISIL is active in the Sinai... It's a situation there that has risks, and we want to make sure we're addressing those risks appropriately."

Sinai Peninsula has been under a state of emergency since October 2014, following a deadly terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 33 soldiers from the Egyptian security forces.

Militants have been carrying out deadly attacks by taking advantage of the turmoil that has gripped Egypt after democratically-elected former president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted by the military in July 2013.

Militants from the Takfiri Velayat Sinai group, previously known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, have claimed responsibility for most of the attacks, mainly targeting the army and police. In November 2014, the group pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, mostly active in Iraq and Syria.
The socialist prime minister of France, Manuel Valls, has once again raised the thorny question of Muslim headscarves in the country, calling for a ban on the custom at the nation's universities, and causing outrage amongst party fellows.

In an extended interview with the French daily Liberation, Valls outlined that French Muslims should be "protected" from what the politician considers to be contagious extremist ideas. Valls said that a scarf covering a woman's head stops being "an object of fashion or consumption like any other" and becomes a political gesture, undermining basic gender freedoms.

Answering the question on whether a ban on headscarves should be introduced in higher education institutes, he said that "it should." However, he noted that the current constitution makes such a move difficult.

His statements immediately caused a backlash among other socialist politicians.

"There is no need for a law on the headscarf at university," Thierry Mandon, the higher education minister, claimed, pointing out that this piece of clothing is not banned anywhere else in French society.

France's education minister, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, agreed, saying that university students are young adults who have constitutional rights, including freedom of conscience and religious liberty.

"Our universities also have a lot of foreign students," she added. "Are we going to ban them access because in their culture there's a certain type of clothing?"

The Muslim headscarf debate has been ongoing in France for many years. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, who restricted the wearing of niqabs (a face veil covering all but the eyes) in public places in France, spoke in favor of banning headscarves.

Air France has recently allowed its female crewmembers to avoid working on flights to Iran, a country where headscarves are required anywhere off the aircraft.

Valls said that Islam, the second-most popular religion in France, must be "fundamentally compatible with the Republic, democracy, our values and equality between men and women."

"Certain people don't want to believe it, a majority of French citizens doubt it, but I'm convinced that it's possible," he said of conforming Islam with French values.

Commenting on the interview, a member of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, Abdallah Zekri, claimed that Valls statements represent "populist discourse which is worse than the far-right."

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160414/1037968236/french-muslim-headscarves.html#ixzz45kSSms5W
Turkish nationals can expect vise-free travel to the EU by June, the country's EU Minister Volkan Bozkir said Tuesday, Anadolu reported.

"We expect that the decision for the citizens of the Republic of Turkey to enter the Schengen zone without visa requirement will be taken before the end of June," he said following a meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders.

The Netherlands currently holds the EU presidency.

Bozkir said the EU Commission would release a report on early May on the visa agreement.

"We expect that the commission report will be positive and they will express opinion for removing the visa," he said at a news conference in Amsterdam. "All the developments are advancing in this direction.

"Following that, the topic will be presented before term president the Netherlands. It is the Netherlands that will organize the council's decision. We talked about this. Then it will go to parliament and the decision... will be finalized."

He said the necessary legislation would be finalized by the end of April. A decision to open Chapter 33 on financial and budgetary provisions would also be taken soon to speed up Turkey's EU accession.

Under an EU-Turkey deal to ease the refugee crisis facing Europe, EU leaders agreed to cut visa requirements for Turkish citizens and accelerate Turkey's EU membership bid.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 13

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

A major terrorist attack has been prevented in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin on the Syrian border, Anadolu agency reported Apr. 13

A car bomb was discovered as a result of a police special operation. The attack was prepared by members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist group, according to preliminary data.

Earlier, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that over 5,359 PKK members have been eliminated as a result of the operations against this terrorist group since July of 2015. He added that 355 Turkish servicemen were killed during these operations, which will continue until the complete destruction of the PKK.

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for over 25 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The UN and the European Union listed the PKK as a terrorist organization.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Turkish army killed 362 Daesh members and injured 123 others in its artillery strikes on northwestern Syria in 2016, which it carried out in retaliation for attacks on its border areas, Turkish defense minister said Wednesday, Anadolu Agency reported.

Addressing a press conference at the regional governor's office in south-central Kilis province, Ismet Yilmaz told reporters that the Turkish army had carried out 1,117 artillery strikes to achieve 146 objectives in northwestern Syria between Jan. 9 and April 12.

Kilis province has been hit by a number of rockets fired from Syria in recent days and months. Rocket projectiles fired from Al-Bab, a Syrian region under Daesh control near the Turkish border, on Monday and Tuesday injured 20 people, two of whom later succumbed to their wounds.

More rockets were fired from the same region Wednesday, but there were no reports of any casualties.

He said that two people injured this week from rockets fired from Syria remained in critical condition, while the health condition of five others was improving.

Also, four people were killed in January and March when rockets fired from the Al-Bab region hit a school and a residential area.

Speaking about material damages caused by the rockets, Yilmaz said: "All losses will be covered by the state".

The minister said the Turkish army also destroyed 36 Katyusha (name of Russian multi-rocket launcher vehicles) positions, 15 sniper positions, 40 headquarter buildings, 19 mortar positions, seven ammunition dumps, a tank and a cannon, 17 improvised explosives and 10 car bombs within the same time period in northwestern Syria.

He also mentioned that Turkey was working towards improving security in its border areas.

Turkey recently completed 300 kilometers (186.4 miles) out of the 911-kilometer (559.2-mile) long planned rocket-resistant concrete wall along its border with Syria.

Turkish Interior Ministry gave nearly 250 million Turkish liras to governorates of its border provinces of Sirnak, Mardin, Sanliurfa, Kilis, Gaziantep and Hatay for the construction of the wall, government sources told Anadolu Agency this week.

Yilmaz also said that security forces had caught 701 people trying to approach the Turkish-Syrian border within the same time period; 262 of them were remanded in custody, 97 were released on condition of judicial control, while others were deported.
In March, media reports emerged suggesting that the Turkish companies in question could file an international lawsuit against Gazprom because of the discount cancellations.

Earlier in the day, Turkish media reported that private natural gas firms in Turkey confirmed reaching a pricing dispute settlement with Gazprom.

"Gazprom Export and private Turkish gas importing companies, as result of constructive negotiations, have reached an agreement on gas prices for the current year. All agreements will be implemented in full," the statement said.

Enerco Enerji, Bosphorus Gaz, Avrasya Gaz, Shell Turkey, Bati Hatti and Kibar Enerji cooperate with Gazprom in addition to Turkey's state-owned Botas. The companies in question reportedly import 10 billion cubic meters of Gazprom's gas a year out of a total of 27 billion imported by Turkey from Russia.

In early March, Enerco Enerji said that Gazprom Export had reduced its gas supplies to Turkey and canceled a 10.25-percent price discount.
China was angered by some G7 member countries' statement on its territorial dispute. (Photo : Getty Images)

China strongly denounces irresponsible remarks on territorial disputes along the South China Sea made by certain member countries during the Group of Seven forum held in Hiroshima, Japan.



On Monday, Beijing expressed its dissent over statements made by some foreign ministers about condemning "any intimidating coercive or provocative unilateral actions."



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The G7 Controversial Statement



Several members of the G7, which include Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the U.S., the U.K. and High Representative of the European Union, made a strong but generic statement on maritime security published on the European Union's official website on Monday.



The statement was opened with a reaffirmation of the member countries' "commitment to further international cooperation on maritime security and safety," adding that they recognize the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).



"We express our strong opposition to any intimidating coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions," the group continued.



The statement also indicated that "all states to refrain from such actions as land reclamations" and "building of outposts . . . for military purposes."



According to BBC News, the group did not explicitly mention China in the statement, but it was clear that the message was directed to the Asian giant considering that it had been claiming territory all over the South China Sea and in several areas in the East China Sea.



Beijing's Answer



According to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang, there is a great chance that the special statement from the group targeting China was sparked by a request from Tokyo.



"If the G7 wants to continue playing a major role in the world, it should take an attitude of seeking truth from the facts to handle the issues the international community is most concerned with at the moment," Lu declared during a news conference in Beijing as cited by the South China Morning Post.



According to Lu, the G7 has been taken hostage by "the selfish interests of certain countries," and that it would not be beneficial for the group to continue their current course.



Li Mingjiang, an associate professor at the Nanyang Technological University's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said that the group was clearly trying to make China accept arbitration through the G7 forum statement.



But National Institute for South China Sea Studies President Wu Shicun believes that they would not succeed.



"But there is no turning back for China in the South China Sea," he said. "China will not comply with the arbitration ruling, nor will it change its policy."






A statement issued by foreign ministers at the G7 meeting regarding the East and South China Sea dispute disappointed China. (Photo : Reuters)

China has expressed strong displeasure on Tuesday, April 12, on the statement issued by foreign ministers attending the Group of Seven (G7) meeting regarding disputes in the East and South China Seas, the Xinhua News Agency reported.



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One of the four statements was on maritime security, which expressed "concerns over the situations in the East and South China Seas" and "opposed any intimidating, coercive, or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions."



The foreign ministers issued the statement despite calls from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday, April 9, asking them to refrain from playing up with the maritime dispute issue.



The G7 convened on Sunday, April 10, in Hiroshima, Japan, attended by foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.



"We urge the G7 member states to honor their commitment of not taking sides on issues involving territorial disputes," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in response to the statement issued by the foreign ministers on Monday, April 11.



The G7 bloc should have focused on global economic governance and cooperation, as the world economic recovery is still weak, rather than hyping up the disputes, Lu remarked.



"China's stance on the East and South China Seas are consistent and clear," the spokesman said, adding that the structures on the Nansha Islands and its reefs are within China's sovereignty. He also pointed out that the freedom of navigation and overflight in the East and South China Seas has not been restricted.



Lu reiterated China's commitment to resolve the disputes with countries involved, through negotiation and in line with international law with respect for historical facts, to preserve stability and peace in the area while protecting its maritime rights and territorial sovereignty.



Visiting British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was also told by Wang that China is hoping that Britain will not take sides on the issue and adopt an objective and fair stand.



Reiterating China's stance on Hong Kong, Wang stressed that the Hong Kong affair is part of the country's internal affairs and that the central government will adhere to the principles of "one country, two systems" and "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong" with a high degree of autonomy.



The Chinese foreign minister expressed appreciation of the side remarks by Britain, dismissing calls for "Hong Kong independence."



The minister also urged China and the U.K. to continue with close high-level exchanges and improve mutual understanding and trust, which he said would ensure the beginning of "golden era" between the China-U.K. relations.



According to Wang, the countries are now expanding cooperation in various fields as part of the results of President Xi Jinping's state visit to Britain in October last year.



The two ministers exchanged views on two global issues: the political settlement process in Syria and the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.


Women in Brazil were urged to postpone pregnancies owing to the spread of the Zika virsu through Latin America and the Caribbean. (Photo : YouTube/Al Jazeera English)

Public health officials in the United States have warned that the Zika virus and its impact in the country are "scarier" than anticipated. The virus is spread by mosquitoes and is linked to a range of birth defects.



"Everything we know about this virus seems to be scarier than we initially thought," Dr. Anne Schuchat, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S. was quoted by the BBC as saying at a briefing. Dr. Schuchat remarked that mosquitoes with the virus were capable of traveling further to more states in the U.S.



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The recent outbreak of the Zika virus began in Brazil in 2015. The virus has been associated with numerous causes of birth defect. Health officials have now begun warning those in the U.S. to be vigilant as the virus has the potential to spread.



Dr. Schuchat was quoted as saying everything researchers have discovered about the virus is less than reassuring. More than 300 cases of confirmed Zika cases have been reported in the U.S., the British news channel said quoting figures by the CDC.



At the beginning of this year, President Obama requested Congress for funds to combat the virus. He made the plea for $ 1.9 billion as an emergency fund to deal with the unfolding epidemic. According to the British news channel, the U.S. is currently delving into leftover funds allocated for research into the Ebola virus.



The leftover funds from Ebola research amounted to $589 million. However, the funds were a temporary measure and inadequate, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci who spoke to CNN. Dr. Fauci is from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He said the U.S. needs more funds for research into the virus.



Media reports have claimed that the White House has made it clear that Ebola funds need to be replaced. Dr. Fauci also told the American news channel that funds from tuberculosis and malaria are also being redirected toward the study of the Zika virus.



The mosquito-borne virus arises from a condition called microcephaly. Experts have linked the virus to premature births, neurological conditions and eye problems. Newborns with such conditions according to health professionals are being born to mothers infected with the virus at the time of their pregnancy.



Watch a clip which shows how those in Brazil cope with the virus :




Satellite image of the Lingshui Military Airfield on the southeastern coast of Haina. (Photo : Getty Images)

Tensions are heating up as China makes a strong statement against the enhancement of the Philippines military airport in a disputed island in the South China Sea.



Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told China Daily during a regular news conference that the Philippines is taking actions that are not corresponding with its words.



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"This has clearly exposed the hypocrisy of the Philippines, since its words are not matched by its deeds," he said, referring to Manila's current attempt to strengthen its military presence on one of the contested islands in the South China Sea.



The two countries have been grappling for jurisdiction over the territory for decades and have yet to resolve any issue even after Manila filed a case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.



Illegal Occupation



The spokesperson claimed that the Philippines has been illegally occupying Zhongye Island, which is a part of China's Nansha Islands, since the 1970s.



According to Asia Times, the Philippines, which refers to the said territory as the Pag-Asa Island, has been bringing building materials such as stones and sand as well as several kinds of fuel for the upgrade of an airport situated there.



Beijing claims that Manila has been carrying out large-scale construction in the island which consists of military and civil facilities such as ports, airports and barracks.



Manila's "Hypocrisy"



Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu called the Philippines' current move as a sign of the country's "hypocrisy" as it does not match its words.



According to Asia Times, the "words" Lu was referring to was Manila's claims in 2014 and 2015 that its has suspended its planned airport upgrade in Pag-Asa Island.



"The restart of the military airport upgrading project is clearly different from what Manila has claimed publicly in the past," an anonymous source told AT.



The U.S. Hand



While China is complaining about the Philippines' actions, the United States military force are gradually bringing their troops in to "solidify military relationship" with the latter.



According to the New York Times, the U.S. military force was allowed to occupy five Philippine military bases as the western superpower spread its forces all over the country.



The mere presence of the Americans, some analysts believe, could be instrumental in tilting the balance of power in the South China Sea that is obviously on the hand of China.



"The Chinese goal is not to pick a fight. Just the ability to impose any kind of cost, to get any kind of vessel out there on site, forces the Chinese to make a decision about how much they really want to engage in a certain activity," Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies director Gregory B. Poling explained.






Samsung's next Note device, Galaxy Note 6, will be the successor of Galaxy Note 5. (Photo : YouTube/TopKambo Tech)

As rumors surfaced that the Samsung Galaxy Note 6 on release date is packed with jaw-dropping hardware specifications, the Galaxy Note 4 with 32GB of internal memory tempts phablet fans with its sticker price down to $300. Is the Note 6 rollout imminent as deals on the old models are becoming aplenty?



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The latest irresistible Samsung flagship offering comes from the Daily Steals, Android Authority reported, that brought down the Galaxy Note 4 price tag several hundred dollars from the original price point. When the Note 4 came out in 2014, the asking price was as high as $1000, the report noted.



And the tag was fully justified as the Note 4 then was packed with hardware specs and features that easily overwhelm the competition. The 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display was the best at that time and can still match up with its 2015 and 2016 rivals.



The specific Note 4 that Daily Steals sells is on Verizon has a 32GB built-in memory that is expandable by up to 128GB, thanks to a microSD slot. The firepower is provided by Snapdragon 805 with support of 3GB RAM. The on-board GPU is Adreno 420. The battery juice comes from a massive enough battery pack of 3220mAh.



Topping the impressive specs is the camera combo of 16-megapixel on rear and 3.7-megapixel on front, which should prompt for a quick buy decision.



However, one might want to wait a bit for the Galaxy Note 6 that according to reports will get unpacked as early as July this year. And if fresh rumors are to be believed then the sixth-generation original phablet from Samsung promises to be a compelling buy.



SamMobile has reported, picking from a Weibo post, that the Note 6 is shaping up as the most powerful and fastest Android flagship ever, easily defeating its Galaxy S7 sibling. As the S7 runs on the tandem of SD 820 and 4GB of RAM the upcoming phablet is said to double down on the processing might.



When unboxed, the Galaxy Note 6 will rock a 64-bit 2.6GHz quad-core Snapdragon 823 processor with a mind-boggling 8GB of RAM provision. The package is completed by a very able Adreno 530 GPU, thus rendering the next Samsung phablet with computing might that is virtually desktop class.



This new rumor from China runs in counter with the earlier report that the Note 6 will mostly mirror the feature upgrades seen with the Galaxy S7. It could still be the case as the phablet is likely to borrow the waterproofing, microSD slot and other feature add-ons that the S7 was delivered with.



And as suggested above, the wait for the Galaxy Note 6 will not last for too long as Samsung has reportedly set the release date of its second 2016 flagship no later than July with one huge bonus - the likelihood of running on near-stock Android N.


Prostitution in such establishments is no new news, because people are all aware of the prevailing practice of slipping ads for sex workers under doors of hotel rooms. (Photo : Getty Images)

On April 13, a man was charged with assault at a Beijing hotel for attacking a female guest he mistook as a member of a rival prostitution ring, the Global Times reported. The incident sparked an interest in prostitution prevalent in Chinese budget hotels.



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Public attention, in particular, is focused on the case, as a security camera footage of the attack was uploaded online. With over a million views, the security video has caused plenty of women to fear for their safety when staying in affordable hotels.



Prostitution in such establishments is no new news, however, as people are all aware of the prevailing practice of slipping ads for sex workers under doors of hotel rooms.



Although many hotels and local enforcement bodies have already put mechanisms to curb prostitution, the practice is still rampant as ever.



To help shed light on how these prostitution rings operate, a reporter from The Beijing News went undercover and called the numbers printed on ads to experience it firsthand.



His investigation led him to meet a prostitute known as "Queen Fan," whom he met at a Seven Day hotel in Jingtaiqiao District. According to the woman, a so-called "chicken head" manages her and several other girls. Queen Fan conducts her business in southern Beijing, with 40 percent of clients in budget hotels.



"Our boss repeatedly warned us not to go to Haidian District, because there are many undercover police," Queen Fan told the undercover reporter.



Aside from being managed by a "chicken head," girls like Queen Fan are consistently monitored by drivers, who take them to their place of business. These drivers are also monitored by "chicken heads."



"We will wait outside when they are working and drive them back when they are finished," a driver said.



"Chicken heads" scout for prospective prostitutes by asking acquaintances or using social networking platforms like WeChat, asking strangers if they want a "part-time job."



Although local police have received countless complaints about the distribution of ads and calling cards in budget hotels, the trouble lies in the search for finding the distributors. Such individuals conceal their tracks, and if they are caught, can't really be punished due to lack to evidence.


The HTC 10, not the HTC 11, has not been received well by Chinese buyers, Taiwanese media said. (Photo : GR1/ YouTube)

The HTC 10 is official and is looking good so far. Early rumors indicate that the latest and greatest from HTC is destined to be repurposed as Google's Nexus 2016 flagship phone. Judging from the specs and features that were unboxed with the device, the HTC 10 could very well be the next Nexus.



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And here are the four reasons why:



Top-notch hardware specs



The HTC 10 hardware specs checked out with the expectations. The mighty Snapdragon 820 is part of the deal that HTC teamed up with 4GB of RAM. The basic storage is 32GB with users having the option to add extra space when needed or wanted. The touch display is snappy with HTC saying that touch response has been enhanced by 50 percent.



Then there is quick charge, USB Type-C connectivity and a 3000mAh battery pack that HTC advertised to deliver up to two days of battery life. All told, the new HTC 10 screams of high-end Android flagship experience that Google shouldn't think twice of adopting.



Insane camera features



It has been a long-standing Google commitment that the Nexus lineup will eventually deliver insanely great camera capabilities. And this can finally be realized by simply reimagining the HTC 10 as one of the Nexus 2016 handsets. Early testing of the 10 shooting prowess indicates that the device at least matches that of the best camera phones seen so far this 2016 - the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.



And this was according to a report by BGR, pointing to the assessment made by camera expert DxOMark. The HTC 10 boasts of the same 12PM rear and 5MP front camera seen with the iPhone 6S and Galaxy S7 but unlike its rivals the 10 camera is laced optical image stabilization on both shooters.



The HTC 10 camera system is also superfast - quick to launch and swift on the autofocus aspect. There is no reason for Google not consider making the HTC 10 shooter its own and render it for the next Nexus.



Design and build



Gorgeous. Stunning. Solid. And premium. These are the words that easily come to mind beholding the HTC 10. The device is a beautiful mix of metal of glass. HTC allowed bits of plastic, but hardly noticeable, for signal strength purposes but after that everything about the HTC device is near perfect 10.



The build is solid and classic at the same time with touches of modern curves that make for easier grip when in use. The HTC 10 fits well with the Nexus 2016 blueprint that Google has in mind.



Served as near vanilla Android



HTC claims, according to The Verge, that Android on the 10 is very near to what Google visualizes its mobile OS to be. "HTC says it worked with Google to reduce duplicative apps, and the 10 uses Google's apps for key things such as calendar, photos, and music. ... The interface more closely resembles a Nexus device, and HTC says it has redesigned its apps to fit in with Material Design guidelines," the report said.



But it's likely that when the HTC 10 rollout starts telco bloatware will be part of the package, which is a problem that Google can easily by re-releasing the device with the Nexus branding.



So everything is near-perfect for the HTC 10 to later reemerge as a Nexus 2016 flagship phone save for the price, which HTC says will start at $699. Again, Google can remedy this when on release date the repackaged HTC 10 has an asking price that is of Nexus level, perhaps ranging between $400 and $500 a pop.


Special police attend an anti-terrorism drill on November 20, 2015 in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province of China. (Photo : ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images)

In the latest development, about 25 Chinese tech firms have pledged on Tuesday to combat online images and information that aim at promoting terrorism.



The Chinese tech firms, which include Baidu Inc, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Sina Corp, JD.com and Tencent Holdings Ltd, have taken an undertaking to handle terror-related harmful and illegal information in a timely manner and create a clear Internet space as well as maintain social stability, Reuters reported quoting China's Cyberspace Administration. While Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com and Sina did not respond to request for comment, a spokesman from Baidu refused to comment on the issue.



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The Chinese Internet regulator further informed that more than 25,000 posts, over 4,000 videos and as many as 200 accounts having illegal content related to terrorism have been put down already. According to the Chinese Internet regulator, the move came in the wake of a new anti-terror law passed by China.



It is worth mentioning here that in December last year; China passed a contentious anti-terrorism legislation, which required tech firms together with companies owned by foreign investors opening up a patented source code to Beijing and also work closely with the Chinese government in combating terrorism.



However, several critics of the government have alleged that the authorities have been utilizing the recent law on counter-terror and national security to thwart freedom of speech, Chinatopix reported. In fact, this also led the United States State Department to express "serious concerns" over the issue. The State Department even stated that the new regulation was likely to cause more harm than good.



As expected, China has not only rejected all such criticism but defended its stand saying that the authorities have turned to the laws of the United States and other countries before passing the legislation. Chinese foreign minister Hong Lei said that the new regulation will neither curb any legal operation of these tech firms, nor have any effect on the companies' intellectual property (IP) rights or the "freedom of speech" the Internet users. "The new regulations do not provide a back door," Lei said.



At the same time, China has said that the country is faced with grave threats from terror groups like the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which is active in China's Xinjiang region. This restive far western region of China is the base of the Muslim Uighur people and witnessed several deaths in violent incidents in recent years.



Watch the video on terrorism evidence released by China below:






US woman who underwent first uterus transplant which failed says her mother will serve as surrogate

Lindsey McFarland, 26 has spoken out for the first time since the failure of her Uterus transplant operation. (Photo : YouTube/NewsBeat Social)

An American woman, who hoped to have the first uterus transplant in the country, has spoken out for the first time since the operation failed. Lindsey McFarland, 26, has revealed that her mother has volunteered to be her surrogate since the operation was unsuccessful.



McFarland, together with her husband Blake McFarland, revealed to NBC News the special role to be played by Lindsey's mother. The couple hails from Lubbock, Texas. They underwent the procedure in February and held a press conference to speak about the procedure.



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The American news channel reported that soon after the operation, McFarland noticed bleeding from the surgery incision. She was taken back into the theater to attend to the bleeding, when doctors at a clinic in Cleveland discovered a yeast infection. Doctors were then forced to remove the transplanted uterus, the news channel reported.



A week after the uterus was removed doctors had to operate on McFarland for a blocked artery in her leg. Owing to the complex surgery, she is no longer able to undergo a second transplant operation.



McFarland was born without a uterus. However, she does have functioning ovaries. She can conceive but lacks the ability to carry a fetus to term, the news channel reported.



"We're going to take a few years to focus on our boys and me build up strength and get back to normal," McFarland told the news channel. "Then we'll start the process. So we're excited."



The couple has three adopted boys. Prior to the transplant, the couple underwent aggressive bouts of IVF treatment, the Daily Mail reported. Doctors froze the embryos prior to the surgery in the hope of placing them in the transplanted uterus. However, the couple now wants to use those embryos with a surrogate.



The couple met at University and married in 2011. They were selected from more than 200 applicants following months of screening. The clinical trial required 10 eligible women for the surgery, the British publication reported.



Following the removal of the uterus, doctors are now looking into methods to prevent a yeast infection from taking place in such procedures. The infection was owing to a fungus - Candida albicans, the publication reported.



To date media reports suggest that doctors in Sweden pioneered the first successful uterus transplant. Nine of the transplants conducted in Sweden have resulted in five births.



Watch the clip on the McFarland transplant:




Telecommunications companies like AT&T and Sprint is said to have scheduled the roll out of the latest Android software anytime this month. (Photo : YouTube/Tim Schofield (Qbking77) )

Motorola mobile devices were one of the first smartphones to receive the latest Android Marshmallow 6.0 version in December 2015. The first software update was received in countries like Brazil and India because Motorola is one of Google's OEMs. It was only recently when Motorola confirmed that Motorola devices such as Moto X Play and X Style, Motorola G (2015, 2014 and 2014 LTE), E (2015) and X (2014) will get the latest software in selected areas any time this year.



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On the other hand, Moto E (2015) will not be able to receive the latest update the same time as other Motorola devices, specifically users from the United States. Hence, Android 6.0 Marshmallow version will be reaching Snapdragon 410 powered devices in regions like Latin America, Europe, Asia (except China) and Canada.



For those who are using the Moto X and G (2013), as well as Moto G (2013) LTE, Android 6.0 Marshmallow version will not be available due to compatibility issues. Instead Moto MAXX, Turbo and Droid Turbo will have the chance to get the latest Android software. There have not been any confirmed or tentative dates as to when the updates will be rolling for these devices, according to Neurogadget.



In addition, Senior Director of Motorola Mobility David Schuster was the person responsible for announcing, via Google+, that the update of Moto X (2014) and Moto X Pure Edition is now rolling out in certain areas. Motorola has also revealed the latest list of Motorola mobile devices that are set to receive the software update, Android Pit reported.



Schuster also added that in Dec. 8, Marshmallow version has been out across USC, Verizon and Sprint. As stated by the Motorola exec, software update should be reaching its US users any time soon, as the global release of the update is expected to come to its users sooner.



Telecommunications companies like AT&T and Sprint is said to have scheduled the roll out of the latest Android software anytime this month. However, what is not yet confirmed or settled is that if carriers such as US Cellular, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and AT&T will release the update to all Motorola phones sooner as scheduled.



Watch Moto G 3rd gen getting Android Marshmallow update:




A Syrian journalist who was shot in the Turkish city of Gaziantep in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group died from his wounds Tuesday, a close friend said.

Mohammed Zahir al-Sherqat died in a hospital in Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, according to his friend Barry Abdulattif, a Syrian activist.

Sherqat, who worked for Halab Today TV, was shot in the neck from close range on Sunday while walking on a street.

Friends told the AP that the journalist had received death threats as recently as two months ago from IS group extremists.

IS claimed the attack on Monday via the IS group-affiliated Aamaq news agency, which said Sherqat "used to present anti-Islamic State programs."

It marks the fourth assassination of a Syrian journalist in Turkey claimed by the extremist group.

Last year, two journalists were found with their throats slit in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa while a third journalist was shot dead in the street in Gaziantep. The attacks have prompted media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders to urge Turkish authorities to protect exiled Syrian journalists in the country.

"The situation is very bad, we don't feel safe," Abulattif said. "We know there are a lot of sleeper IS group cells in Turkey and elsewhere but it is not easy to catch them."

Sherqat came to Turkey in 2015 after surviving an assassination attempt in Syria and started to work with Halab Today. His programs took a stance against extremist groups.

Sherqat, a native of the Syrian town of Al-Bab, was an imam who studied Islamic Law at Damascus University, Abdulattif said. When the Syrian revolution started in 2011, he was a founding member of the local coordinating committee of Al-Bab and a field organizer of demonstrations against the Syrian regime. He later formed the Abu Bakr Brigade which fought under the banner of the opposition Free Syrian Army.

When extremist groups Al-Nusra and IS group appeared in Al-Bab, Sherqat opposed them, according to Abdulattif, who is also a native of the town.

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The Egyptian cabinet responded on Tuesday evening to questions and heated debate on social media regarding the state's recognition of Saudi sovereignty over the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir.

The cabinet's official thinktank, the Information and Decision Support Centre, said the maritime border demarcation decision will be presented to the Egyptian parliament for revision and discussion.

"The parliament has the full freedom to vote for or against the agreement, as the president won't ratify it except after the parliament approves it, and it is not applicable except after ratification," a statement released by the centre read.

The centre had on Monday released a statement collating a variety of historical documents supporting the government's stance that the two strategically valuable islands are Saudi. On Tuesday, the official body released a second statement addressing specific queries and comments from Egyptians about the deal.

The ISDC responded to accusations of lack of transparency and an apparent failure to conduct a public dialogue prior to announcing the demarcation agreement, saying that the Egyptian government signed the agreement following opinions and studies made by the National Committee for Egyptian Maritime Border Demarcation which had been working on the issue for six years.

Regarding claims that there was an agreement between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire in 1906 that is relevant to the issue, the governmental body said that the demarcation was related to drawing up land borders between the two states, and never discussed the drawing up of maritime borders.

The ISDC said that the two islands stance were never mentioned in the demarcation.

The ISDC also said that there are official documents that prove the islands are under Saudi sovereignty, including a presidential decree in 1990 that mentions the maritime borders of the country, which cites the two islands as being outside Egypt's borders, letters between the Egyptian foreign ministry and a Saudi counterpart in 1988 and 1989, and a UN map from November 1973.

The cabinet body referred to a letter sent by the American ambassador to Egypt to the American secretary of state in 1950 that says that Tiran and Sanafir are Saudi.

They also quoted the late veteran journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal's book Autumn of Fury, where they said Heikal affirmed that the two islands were Saudi and put under Egyptian control following a special arrangement between Cairo and Riyadh.

The body rejected claims that the two islands' situation was similar to that of the border region of Halayeb and Shalateen, over which a dispute with neighbouring Sudan has lingered for decades.

"The truth here proves that Halayeb and Shalateen's situation is totally different than those of the islands as the islands were of Saudi ownership under Egyptian control, while Halayeb and Shalateen are of Egyptian ownership under Sudanese administrationIf Egypt doesn't acknowledge Saudi's rights regarding the two islands, Sudan would use the situation to hold on to Halayeb and Shalateen," the ISDC said.

The ISDC's statement comes following widespread public debate in Egypt after it was announced last week that the two islands fall within Saudi maritime borders. The announcement left Egyptian politicians and public figures divided, with some publicly opposing the deal and calling on parliament not to ratify it. Saudi Arabia insists that the two islands have "always been Saudi."

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The decision to acknowledge the Saudi claim was made through documents with the Egyptian state institutions such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the General Intelligence Service

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi addressed the controversy around his government's recognition of Saudi sovereignty over two Red Sea islands last week, saying the islands of Tiran and Sanafir are Saudi.

"The controversy is caused by the difference between how the state deals with the issue and how people take it from an individual perspective," he said in a public meeting attended by public figure and top officials that was televised live.

"The decision [to acknowledge the Saudi claim] was made through documents with the Egyptian state institutions such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the General Intelligence Service; we also stuck to the 1990 presidential decree which was submitted to the United Nations," El-Sisi said, referring to several pieces of evidence that the government has put forward in recent days to explain the Saudi claim.

"In June 2014, I started to look into to the issue and to redraw the maritime borders with Saudi Arabia in order to start drilling for oil in the Red Sea without affecting the Saudi share. We're also doing the same thing with Greece and Cyprus," the president said.

On Saturday, the Egyptian government announced that it sealed a deal with the Saudi government which leaves the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir within the regional waters of Saudi Arabia. The two islands, which are located at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, have been under Egyptian supervision for decades.

"Eventually, the parliament will study the deal and vote on it to ratify it and I hope that we don't talk about it again," El-Sisi said.

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Egypt and Germany are in talks to ease restrictions on flights between Sharm El-Sheikh and German airports, which could see the return of direct flights from Germany to the Sinai resort town.

A number of European airlines and governments introduced restrictions on flights to Sharm El-Sheikh after a Russian passenger jet crashed in Sinai in October 2015, killing 224 people, most holidaymakers.

German airlines banned check-in luggage on flights from the city's airport, and direct flights from German airports subsequently stopped.

But Germany is now "negotiating with the Egyptian government to alleviate constraints on air traffic from and to Sharm El-Sheikh," Magdy El-Sayed, the head of the German embassy's press department, told Ahram Online Wednesday.

He said that talks come after German air travel safety inspectors conducted multi-day examinations last month at airports in the Red Sea towns of Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada and Marsa Alam to check additional security measures taken following last October's tragedy.

"Following the evaluation, the German government expressed readiness to modify ongoing restrictions on flights from Sharm El-Sheikh," El-Sayed said.

This includes allowing joint transportation of passengers and luggage from Sharm El-Sheikh to German airports "provided that the Egyptian government meets certain conditions," he said.

German authorities are in talks with their Egyptian counterpart to clarify such requirements. The Germans have also offered to assist Egypt in improving security at its airports.

The Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the October crash, saying it had smuggled a bomb on board.

Following the crash, the British government halted direct flights between Sharm El-Sheikh Airport, from which the passenger jet had departed, and British airports. It has since deployed expert teams to assess security practices at Egyptian airports, but flights to Sinai have yet to be resumed.

Egyptian tourism, a pillar of the economy and a key source of hard currency, has taken a blow since the plane crash, with Sharm El-Sheikh believed to be the biggest sufferer.



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In a meeting with dozens of public figures, the president asked people to stop talking about the Tiran and Sanafir islands issue and leave it to parliament to decide

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi addressed the controversy over Egypt's handing over of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia in a meeting with representatives of social, political and media groups, saying that the islands were Saudi according to official documents.

El-Sisi called for the meeting Wednesday following a heated public debate and a wave of controversy following Egypt's announcement on Friday that the islands of Tiran and Sanafir fell within Saudi maritime borders.

"The controversy was caused by the difference between how a state deals with the issue and how people look at it from an individual perspective," he said in the televised meeting.

The meeting was attended by the spokespersons of 19 political parties and heads of trade unions, professional syndicates, human rights organisations, the National Council for Women, and a number of high-profile media figures.

"The decision [to acknowledge the Saudi claim] was made based on documents from Egyptian state institutions including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the General Intelligence Service. We also stuck to the 1990 presidential decree that was submitted to the United Nations," El-Sisi said, referring to several documents that the government has put forward in recent days to back up the Saudi claim.

"Egypt did not give up one of its rights; we gave the land back to its people," El-Sisi said.

The president defended the timing of the agreement by saying, "had we announced the news about the islands eight months ago, our relationship with Saudi Arabia would have been negatively affected."

El-Sisi requested that people stop speaking about the issue, adding that the parliament would have its say on the matter.

"Are we going to get into a conflict with Saudi Arabia or are we going to give them their lands?" El-Sisi said.

El-Sisi stressed the importance of redrawing borders to aid in prospecting for natural resources, adding that Egypt was also redrawing its maritime borders with Cyprus and Greece.

"In June 2014, I started to look into the issue of redrawing the maritime borders with Saudi Arabia in order to start drilling for oil in the Red Sea without affecting the Saudi share," the president said.

The president also discussed several other issues during the meeting, including domestic media coverage of slain Italian student Giulio Regeni, the economy, personal freedoms and rights, the security situation in Sinai and participation by the youth in politics.

'Problematic local coverage of Regeni case'

On Regeni  the 28-year-old PhD student murdered in Cairo in January  El-Sisi asserted that investigations were being conducted with "utmost transparency."

He slammed domestic media for their coverage of the case, accusing outlets of "spreading lies" about security forces being responsible for the torture and killing of Regeni.

He denounced what he described as "evil" people in Egypt who spread "lies" and "allegations" about the case and "embarrass" Egypt internationally.

El-Sisi added the involvement of the country's judiciary in the investigation gives the process credibility.

He urged the media to be more cautious about what they publish, describing their handling of the issue as "scary" and saying that relying on social media as a source of information in such matters was "very dangerous."

Human rights questions

El-Sisi reiterated that authorities are trying to find a balance between addressing national security concerns and respecting human rights.

"Privately, you can talk about [the balance]. But in a state with a population of 90 million, and when we have evil people among us, then no." El-Sisi said.

He said that efforts were being made to ensure security and stability, including the arrest of those committing wrongdoings.

"I do not hide anything. Whoever lives with us in peace, we will take care of them. Whoever wants to use arms against Egypt, we [will pursue]."

El-Sisi told the attendees that they had to understand that the current challenges are big, adding that for the past forty years some people led the society into contradictory directions.

El-Sisi said that the government supports a role for the National Council for Human Rights and NGOs to play in society.

"During the past months, there were four batches of youths released [from prison], and we are ready to revise the cases of those jailed and release whoever is innocent. There is no doubt about this," he said.

22 months of accomplishments

El-Sisi also discussed the "accomplishments of the last 22 months," including the passing of the constitution, the election of a president and parliament, maximising efforts in fighting terrorism and the building up of state institutions.

"Compare the number of terrorist elements based in Sinai in the last five years with [their numbers] now," El-Sisi said.

He added that the security situation in North Sinai has not yet been resolved, and that the "fight would not be over quickly."

He called on the public to support the police and army in this respect.

"People [in North Sinai] are living with death for the sake of Egypt," he said.

Egyptian forces are grappling with an Islamist insurgency based in North Sinai that spiked following the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility of most of the attacks carried out in the region, which have killed hundreds of Egyptian security forces personnel.

Armed Forces officials have said that their operations in North Sinai have killed hundreds of militants.

Economy

The president attempted to reassure Egyptians over the country's economic situation, reiterating his pledge to low-income citizens that prices would not see hikes ahead of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

He also said the establishing of the El-Reef El-Masry company, which is tasked with distributing 1.5 million feddens for reclamation.

He added that the megaproject of the Suez Canal development corridor is underway.

El-Sisi said that within the coming two years, 50 percent of Egypts villages and rural areas will see developed sanitation networks.

He also discussed accomplishments related to infrastructure, electricity, and bridge construction, adding that on 25 April, several new projects would be introduced.

Foreign Policy



The president said that Egypt's foreign policy was moving in a positive direction.

"Egypt does not "answer attacks with attacks," in an apparent reference to international criticism of some government policies.

"When there is a pressure, or an enmity against me and us, our response should not rely on attacking [others], but through work," El-Sisi said.

Municipal Elections



El-Sisi asked Egyptian youth to combat corruption by participating in the upcoming municipal elections,.

He stressed that the youth would help in remedying many of the setbacks currently facing the country.

The president did not specify when the elections would take place.

El-Sisi closed by saying he neither disappointed the Egyptian people nor did he ever abandon them.

"I never doubted your sincerity. Please treat me and the state the way I treat you," he said.

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MPs said that Egypt's handing over of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia does not need to be put to a public referendum, only parliamentary review

After a meeting with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Wednesday, a large number of Egypt's MPs said a new technical deal aimed at redrawing the maritime borders between Egypt and Saudi Arabia does not need to be voted on in a public referendum.

"According to the constitution (Article 151), this kind of deal will have to be reviewed and voted on by parliament only," said Hatem Patshat, a leading deputy affiliated with the Free Egyptians Party.

Egypt's Friday announcement that it was handing Saudi Arabia two Red Sea islands under Egyptian control caused widespread controversy in Egypt.

Article 151 of the Egyptian constitution, which critics say was violated by the deal, stipulates that agreements related to issues of sovereignty, alliance, or reconciliation must be put to a public referendum, as well as a parliament vote and presidential ratification.

According to Patshat, Article 151's conditions for a referendum "do not apply to the new technical deal with Saudi Arabia because it just aims at redrawing the borders in a correct way."

"The deal does not state that Saudi Arabia will strip Egypt of part of its land or regional waters, but only corrects a wrong by handing over the two islands," he said.

Patshat, a former intelligence officer and an MP representing Cairo's eastern district of Zeitoun and Ameriya, said the deal was a necessary step towards building a suspension bridge between the two countries across the Red Sea.

Alaa Abed, parliamentary spokesman of the liberal Free Egyptians party, praised a speech El-Sisi delivered at a meeting with leading political figures on Wednesday.

"The meeting was necessary in order to clarify all the facts about several controversial issues, particularly the new maritime border deal with Saudi Arabia," said Abed.

Abed and Patshat also launched a scathing attack against local media, accusing outlets of distorting facts about the new deal.

"I think that all of these poisonous media outlets should stay silent until all the documents related to this deal come to parliament for discussion," said Abed.

"The media should not impose its say on the nation or spread unverified information that might harm relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia."

Patshat said that "the most important question that should be asked about this deal is whether it helps safeguard Arab national security against the influence of Iran and Israel, and the answer should be 'yes'."

Abed said that El-Sisi was very candid and honest in clarifying the facts about the two islands.

"The two islands were not given to Saudi Arabia in return for money or economic assistance," said Abed.

"The islands were merely left under the control, rather than the sovereignty, of Egypt for security reasons, and now the time has come to put them in the hands of Saudi Arabia, as documents say they are part of its regional waters."

"This does not need a referendum, because this is not a sovereignty issue, it only requires the review of parliament," he said.

Abed and Patshat stressed that "Egypt's parliament will not give a final vote on the deal until it reviews all the documents related to it."

"If these two islands are really part of Saudi Arabia, we will say yes, and if not, we will say no."

MP Margaret Azer said that "the presidential decree issued in 1990 on the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir is clear that they are part of Saudi Arabia's territory."

"The deal will be an implementation of this decree, and this does not require a national referendum," she argued.

Mohamed El-Ghoul, a leading MP affiliated with the Support Egypt parliamentary bloc, told reporters that "our role as MPs is to thoroughly review this deal, and this comes through entrusting a number of technical and legal experts [with studying the matter] in a scientific way."

"The decision of these experts will help parliament take its final vote in an objective manner," he added.

Hesham El-Hossary, an independent MP from the Nile Delta governorate of Daqahliya, said that "President El-Sisi's review of the deal with Saudi Arabia was marked with transparency and respect for the constitution and state authorities."

According to El-Hossary, Article 151 of the constitution gives parliament the final say on "border demarcation agreements as long as they are not related to sovereignty issues."

El-Hossary added that "all should wait until parliament discuss this deal."

Ahmed Khalifa, the parliamentary spokesman for the Salafist Nour Party, also told reporters that "the final say on the deal, according to Article 151, should be left to parliament."

He also urged the local media not to use the issue to drive a wedge between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat, chairman of the Reform and Development Party, said he agrees that "nobody can give a final say until all the related documents about the deal are presented."

According to Sadat, parliament must form a committee including professors of international law and history to verify the documents and give all the facts.

Mohamed Hani El-Hennawy, an independent MP from the Nile-Delta Beheira governorate, said that "the media tackled the issue in a very bad way."

"They discussed it without having the necessary documents and information," said El-Hennawy, adding that "they chose to spread lies that could negatively affect the national security of Egypt."

El-Hennawy joined the chorus of MPs who accused the media and social networks of "distorting the facts and spreading lies."

"I think the time has come to pass a new legislation that should impose some kind of control on these outlets if we to safeguard the national security of Egypt," said El-Hennawy.

Few MPs, including independent deputy and political researcher Samir Ghattas, argued that the agreement must be voted on in a plebiscite.

"As I understand, Article 151 of the constitution states that agreements related to sovereignty issues must be put to a public referendum," said Ghattas.

However, Mostafa El-Guindi, an independent Nasserist MP, differed with this assessment, saying that "the agreement deals only with demarcation rather than sovereignty issues between two Arab countries."

"It is similar to other agreements Egypt made with other neighbouring countries that were ratified by parliament."

Mostafa Bakri, an independent MP and a high-profile journalist, said the agreement "should not be viewed in sovereignty terms."

"It is just a technical agreement that aims at redrawing the borders in a correct way, not to mention that a bridge will be built to connect Egypt and Saudi Arabia via the two islands and Sinai," he said.

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The former minister of state for legal affairs and parliamentary councils says Saudi rights over Tiran and Sanafir are supported by all the facts

International law expert Moufid Shehab explained on Wednesday that all legal, geographic and historical records prove that despite the fact that Egypt agreed at some point in history to a Saudi request to oversee and protect the Islands of Tiran and Sanafir, the islands remained all along under Saudi sovereignty.

During a meeting between President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and public figures on Wednesday, Shehab said that the lengthy period of Egyptian guardianship over the two islands gave some people the wrong impression that the Islands were Egyptian, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

Shehab was a member of the Egyptian legal team that negotiated for several years with Israel for the return of Taba, Sinai February in 1989. He also served as minister of state for legal affairs and parliamentary councils during the period of 2004-2011 under the tenure of ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

Possession guarantees ownership under private law but not under international law, Shehab explained.

Shehab said, for example, Egyptian control over the Gaza strip (from 1948-1967) did not mean that Gaza could fall under Egyptian sovereignty.

The former minister said he found through his own legal review of the case that the joint Saudi-Egyptian committee that negotiated the status of Tiran and Sanafir over the last six years followed the same methodology that the Egyptian team used during the negotiations between Egypt and Israel over the then-disputed Taba.

Shehab said the agreement would go into effect after the two sides exchange ratified documents, not just after the Egyptian parliament votes for ratification.

Shehab said that while Article 151 of the constitution prohibits the signing of any deals that forfeit national territory and mandates referendums in specific cases involving territorial sovereignty, it does not, however, stipulate that a referendum is required for the redrawing of maritime borders, as is the case in the recent Egyptian-Saudi agreement.

He added that countries seek international arbitration in cases where disputes over sovereignty exist, though no such dispute exists between the Egyptian and Saudi sides.

Shehab concluded that Egypt and Saudi Arabia have finalised the redrawing of their maritime borders based on documents Egypt had previously submitted to the United Nations.

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Yemeni rebels killed a senior loyalist officer on Wednesday and deadly clashes erupted elsewhere in the country despite a UN-brokered ceasefire, sources said.

The fragile truce has been in place since midnight Sunday and is meant to lay the groundwork for peace talks next week in Kuwait.

The Shia Houthi rebels, pro-government forces and the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in the country last year have all promised to abide by the ceasefire, but sporadic fighting has continued.

Loyalist military sources and medics told AFP that a rebel sniper shot dead the commander of a pro-government army brigade, Major General Zaid al-Huri, early Wednesday in the northeast of the central Sanaa province.

The rebels fired a mortar round in the same area, wounding six loyalist soldiers, the sources said.

In Marib province to the east, two pro-government fighters were killed and seven wounded in several hours of overnight clashes with rebels, loyalist officer Major Abdullah Hasan said.

At least one rebel was killed and several wounded and captured during the fighting, Hasan said.

The country's warring sides have traded accusations of jeopardising the ceasefire ahead of the talks due in Kuwait from Monday.

In a statement, a Huthi military official accused loyalist forces, including the Saudi-led coalition, of "violating the ceasefire" on Tuesday in Marib, Jawf in the north, and Taez in the southwest.

Yemeni authorities said at least 117 ceasefire violations by the rebels were recorded in seven provinces on Monday, according to a statement on the sabanew.net website.

The coalition, which launched a military campaign against the Iran-backed rebels last year, had described violations on Monday as "minor".

Sabanew.net meanwhile quoted Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi as confirming that the government will attend the peace talks in Kuwait, while criticising "Iranian interference in Yemen and its attempt to extend the conflict by sending arms" to rebels.

The US Navy has said its forces in the Gulf seized a shipment of weapons on March 28 believed to be from Iran that was destined for the Huthis.

Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-dominated Arab allies are backing the Yemeni government in the conflict while Shiite Iran supports the rebels, who have seized the capital Sanaa and other parts of the country.

The war has left more than 6,300 people dead since March 2015 and worsened living conditions, with more than 80 percent of the population now on the brink of famine.

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India will sign an agreement soon with the United Arab Emirates on improving cooperation to stop human trafficking, following a similar recent deal with Bahrain, as part of a drive to tackle the growth in trafficking between the two regions.

More than 150,000 people are known to be trafficked within South Asia every year, but the trade is underground and the real number is likely to be much higher.

South Asia is the world's fastest-growing region for human trafficking and the second-largest after Southeast Asia, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Under the accord with the UAE, aimed at helping women and children in particular, anti-trafficking units and task forces will be set up and bilateral cooperation improved, India's government press bureau said on Wednesday.

The two nations will ensure rapid investigations and prosecutions of traffickers, while safeguarding the rights of victims, who will be sent home quickly for "safe and effective reintegration..." the press bureau statement said.

The accord is expected to be signed "very soon", it added.

India also has an anti-trafficking agreement with neighbouring Bangladesh.

"The reinforcement of anti-trafficking efforts at all levels between the UAE and India is essential" to prevent trafficking and protect victims, it said.

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Iraqi lawmakers held an all-night sit-in at parliament protesting efforts by powerful political blocs to maintain control of key government posts, pushing the speaker to convene an emergency session Wednesday.

The demonstration followed chaotic scenes in parliament Tuesday sparked by the postponement of a vote on a new cabinet that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi wants to include technocrats instead of party-affiliated ministers.

The political row comes at what US Secretary of State John Kerry last week described as a "very critical time" for Iraq as it seeks to recapture more territory from the Islamic State jihadist group.

Under pressure from the sit-in and with some lawmakers calling for his replacement, parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi convened an emergency session on Wednesday.

Abadi presented a list of cabinet nominees at the end of March, but influential political blocs put forward their own candidates and most of Abadi's were replaced on a second list distributed to lawmakers on Tuesday.

Some MPs demanded the opportunity to vote on Abadi's original list -- from which at least two candidates had already withdrawn -- but the session was adjourned without a vote on either the old or the new lists.

Parliament then descended into chaos, with lawmakers shaking their fists and chanting against the system of ministries being distributed according to political quotas.

An AFP journalist said that there were around 80 members of parliament taking part in the sit-in inside the hall around midday on Wednesday, some of whom chanted: "Yes yes to reform, no no to (political) quotas!"

Thin mattresses on which lawmakers slept were spread outside the entrance to the hall.

"More than 50 MPs from all the political blocs" took part in the overnight sit-in, said lawmaker Iskander Witwit.

Another lawmaker, Zainab al-Tai, said the main demand was the resignation of the parliament speaker, the premier and the president.

More than 150 members -- around half of parliament -- had expressed support for those measures, she said.

Abadi -- despite being in agreement with lawmakers who want cabinet reforms -- risks being hit by the political fallout if the changes fail to materialise.

Iraqi ministries have for years been shared out between powerful political parties that run them as their personal fiefdoms, relying on them for patronage and funds.

But even if the current cabinet lineup is replaced with independent, technocratic ministers -- a change that faces major obstacles -- that would only be the beginning of the process.

Ministries are packed with lower-level employees appointed on the basis of party and sectarian affiliation, and replacing them would face serious resistance.

Technocrat ministers would also lack the political cover afforded by party affiliation, and could face threats by armed groups opposed to changes they proposed.

Abadi called in February for "fundamental" change to the cabinet so that it includes "professional and technocratic figures and academics."

That kicked off the latest chapter in a months-long saga of Abadi proposing various reforms that parties and politicians with interests in the existing system have sought to delay or undermine.

Powerful Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr later took up the demand for a technocratic government, organising a two-week sit-in that put Abadi under pressure to act, but also supported the course of action he wanted to take.

Sadr relented after Abadi presented his first list of nominees at the end of March, but has yet to react to the most recent developments in efforts to replace the cabinet.

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Three French peacekeeping soldiers died after their armoured car ran over a landmine in Mali, the French presidency said Wednesday.

One soldier was killed immediately in the blast on Tuesday and President Francois Hollande learned "with great sadness" that two more soldiers had died in the west African country, a statement said.

The car was leading a convoy of around 60 vehicles travelling to the northern desert town of Tessalit when it hit the mine, according to the French defence ministry.

The troops were part of Operation Barkhane, under which France has some 3,500 soldiers deployed across five countries in the Sahel region, south of the Sahara desert, to combat the militant insurgency raging there.

The latest deaths bring to seven the number of French soldiers killed in combat in the operation, according to defence ministry figures.

Ten French soldiers were killed in an earlier military intervention launched in January 2013 to oust Islamist rebels who had taken over vast stretches of northern Mali in the chaos following a coup.

Countries across west Africa are scrambling to tighten security following a string of attacks against hotels and restaurants popular with foreigners that have highlighted the growing reach of militant groups in the region.

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Philippine militants that want to ally with Islamic State group militants (IS) have beheaded two local hostages, police said Wednesday.

Police on the southern island of Mindanao recovered the decapitated corpses of the two men on Tuesday, nine days after they were taken, said the police chief of Lanao del Sur province.

"Salvador Hanobas and Jemark Hanobas were beheaded by their abductors," Senior Superintendent Rustom Duran told reporters by telephone. "Locals brought the heads and the torsos to the mayor's office."

It was unclear if the two victims were related.

Duran said the kidnappers belonged to an Islamic militant group that battled government forces for a week in February, leaving three soldiers dead and forcing 20,000 people to flee their homes.

Police found black flags identical to those flown by Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria in the fighters' hideout in the remote Mindanao town of Butig.

Duran said the group had also abducted six workers at a local sawmill on April 4, accusing them of being military informers. Four were freed unharmed on Monday.

A Muslim separatist insurgency has raged for more than four decades in the southern Philippines, leaving more than 120,000 people dead.

Efforts to secure a peace deal with the largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), collapsed after parliament failed to pass a law to create an autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.

MILF leaders have warned the collapse of the peace deal could embolden hardline militants who want to resume a violent separatist uprising.

News of the beheadings came after the Abu Sayyaf, another Islamic militant group, released a retired Italian priest held hostage for six months last week.

A major firefight broke out afterwards on the remote southern island of Basilan on Friday, leaving 18 soldiers and more than two dozen Abu Sayyaf gunmen dead.

The military said skirmishes were still continuing with Abu Sayyaf fighters on Wednesday, and the toll of dead rebels had risen to 28.

Among those killed were a Moroccan bomb expert called Mohammad Khattab, who the military said had been sent to build ties between local Muslim rebel groups and an international jihadist network.

"Khattab planned to speak to all of them to unite and link them to the entire international terrorist network," military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla told reporters.

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The EU's foreign policy chief will lead a delegation of commissioners to Tehran on Saturday for the EU executive's highest-level talks in more than a decade, seeking to capitalise on last year's historic nuclear deal with Iran.

Federica Mogherini and seven European commissioners will discuss issues from banking to rights in the one-day trip to Tehran, seeking to rebuild a relationship that once made the EU Iran's top trading partner and its second-biggest oil customer but crumbled in the face of sanctions over Iran's nuclear plans.

"This is about us re-engaging gradually," said a senior EU official, adding that the bloc would also discuss the opening of a permanent EU diplomatic mission in Tehran.

The commissioners' visit follows trips to Tehran by European governments, most recently by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi this week.

While the EU delegation will not agree the kind of business tie-ups agreed by Italy and France since the July 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, it could help smooth the way for small countries to do business and allow the Commission to lobby on behalf of EU governments.

The EU is hoping it can forge a role to push for market reforms, political freedoms and improvements in Iran's human rights record.

The European Union is troubled by the more than 1,000 executions in Iran last year, its ballistic missiles and its funding of blacklisted militant groups. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards' support for President Bashar al-Assad puts Tehran directly at odds with the West in Syria.

Mogherini is expected to discuss Syria with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The European Union also renewed its human rights sanctions on more than 80 Iranians this week, although commissioners will not meet civil society groups in Iran, citing a lack of time.

During the commissioners' meetings, the EU will look at how to help Iran join the World Trade Organisation, leveraging its power as the world's largest trading bloc to seek favour with a country sitting on vast gas reserves.

EU officials will also talk to Iran about how to encourage European banks to do business there again. "We need to improve the investment climate," the official said.

Despite the lifting of financial sanctions linked to the nuclear deal, banks continue to be wary of Iran because of money laundering, Iran's financing of militant groups and being caught up in U.S. sanctions. Washington still prevents U.S. nationals, banks and insurers from trading with Iran.

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Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's grip on power was slipping Wednesday after more allies abandoned her in the fight against an impeachment drive which she has branded a coup.

The 68-year-old leader moved closer to being driven from office in a political and economic crisis rocking Latin America's biggest country less than four months before it hosts the Olympic Games.

With pressure rising after two blocs in Rousseff's ruling coalition announced they would vote to impeach her, she canceled her appearance at a ceremony to light the Olympic flame on Wednesday.

Tuesday's defections swelled the number of lawmakers likely to back a motion against her when the lower house of congress votes Sunday on whether an impeachment trial should be launched.

Polls published in the Brazilian media indicate opposition parties are closing in on securing the 342 votes needed to approve the impeachment motion and send it to the Senate for a further vote.

Leading newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo on Wednesday calculated on Wednesday that the number of lawmakers who have now decided to support impeachment has risen to 302 -- but dozens have yet to state a position.

Analysts say the desertion on Tuesday of two of Rousseff's key allies, the PP and PRB parties which have 69 lawmakers between them, could prompt a stampede.

"If all the medium-sized parties abandon her, Rousseff will have no way to survive impeachment," said political scientist David Fleischer of Brasilia University.

One of Rousseff's last remaining coalition allies, the PSD party with 36 votes, called a meeting in Brasilia on Wednesday to decide on its position.

Another party, the PR, was scheduled to meet on Thursday. It has 40 seats. Between them, the two parties could swing the vote against Rousseff in the 513-seat Congress.

Rousseff is in the final stretch of a bruising attempt to save her presidency over charges that she illegally manipulated government accounts to mask the effects of recession during her 2014 re-election.

On Tuesday she branded her vice-president Michel Temer a traitor and coup-plotter after an audio recording was leaked in which he was heard practicing the speech he would make if Rousseff is impeached.

"The conspirators' mask has slipped," she said.

"We are living in strange and worrying times -- times of a coup, and of pretending, and betrayal of trust."

Protesters both for and against Rousseff have called for demonstrations this weekend in Brasilia. Security forces have put up fences to protect government buildings from possible disturbances.

Lawmakers who have yet to declare their position were facing fierce lobbying, including from Rousseff's top ally and predecessor as president, Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva.

But he too faces pressure: the courts have suspended his appointment as Rousseff's chief of staff over a corruption case against him.

Brazil's political system has been paralyzed by a huge corruption scandal at state oil company Petrobras. The charges against Lula are linked to that case.

The country has sunk meanwhile into its worst recession in decades.

"Deputies are thinking about their chances of being re-elected" in the next elections, scheduled for 2018, said Fleischer.

Backing Rousseff is highly politically risky since her popularity has plunged so much, he added.

If the lower house votes by two thirds to move forward with the motion, the Senate must then hold a vote on whether to hold an impeachment trial.

"In the Senate it will be even harder to stop impeachment, because the PMDB (Temer's party) is the strongest there," said Michael Freitas Mohallem, a political analyst at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro.

Financial markets have been betting against Rousseff, with stock prices in Brazil rallying as her chances of being impeached have risen.

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The World Bank will provide the first $1 billion tranche of a $3 billion loan to Egypt after parliament approves the government's economic programme, World Bank vice president Hafez Ghanem said at a news conference late Tuesday.

Parliament is expected to pass the programme in April.

Egypt has been negotiating billions of dollars in aid from various lenders to help revive an economy battered by political upheaval since the 2011 revolt and ease a dollar shortage that has crippled import activity and hampered recovery.

The lender agreed to provide the first $1 billion in December but is waiting for the government's economic programme, which outlines the broad strokes of its reform plans, to be passed by parliament.

The government presented a programme to parliament in late March that aimed to reduce the budget deficit while protecting the poor.

The World Bank told Reuters in December that the first tranche was focused on "10 prior actions for policy and institutional reforms" already implemented. The second and third tranches are linked to additional reforms the government plans.

A long-delayed Value Added Tax (VAT) that has yet to be implemented but was included in the government programme was one of the reforms agreed to as part of the first tranche, Ghanem said.

Ghanem said there would not be specific conditions placed on future tranches but highlighted certain changes the lender would like to see, such as a shift in food subsidy policy away from reduced prices to direct cash transfers for the poor.

Egypt has delayed a number of difficult reforms, from a VAT that would increase government revenues and a civil service law that would trim the country's public workforce, to an ambitious plan to wean the country off costly energy subsidies that have since been scaled back.

Egypt's economy is currently growing at around 4.2 percent with a budget deficit of about 11.5 percent, the prime minister said last month.

Saudi Arabia, along with other Gulf oil producers, have pumped billions of dollars, including grants, into Egypt's flagging economy since the ousting of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

However, Egypt has said it would rely less on grants from its neighbours moving forward and would focus instead on attracting foreign investment that could re-launch its dollar-starved economy.

Last week it signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia to set up a 60 billion Saudi riyal ($16 billion) investment fund among other investment agreements including an economic free-zone to develop Egypt's Sinai region.

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Egyptian stocks rallied on Wednesday as foreign investors bought into the market after a correction earlier this week.

The benchmark EGX30 index rose 1.22 percent to 7,421 points with Arab investors the main net-buyers to the tune of EGP 51.4 million, followed by non-Arab foreign investors to the tune of EGP 13.3 million.

Landline operator Telecom Egypt saw its share price rise 1.34 percent to EGP 8.34. The company told the EGX that it would distribute a cash dividend of EGP 0.75 per share on 28 April, from profits realised in the year ending on 31 December 2015.

Market bellwether Commercial International Bank rose 0.61 percent to EGP 39.73, while the second largest listed stock, Global Telecom Holding, jumped 3.07 percent to EGP 3.02.

Real estate developer TMG Holding was up 0.82 percent to EGP 6.18, and Emaar Misr for Development rose 1.60 percent to EGP 2.54. Six of October Development and Investment (SODIC) rose 2.02 percent to close at EGP 10.61, while Palm Hills Development Company inched up 0.76 percent to EGP 2.65 a share.

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Local residents had suspected the structure was once a residence of Tawfiq Pasha, former khedive of Egypt

A building in Helwan which was reported by locals to be a palace belonging to 19th century ruler Tawfiq Pasha has been identified by antiquities officials as the Helwan Theatre.

After inspecting the building in Noubar Street in Helwan in southern Cairo, an archaeological committee appointed by the antiquities ministry said that the structure was in fact the theatre, which had not been listed on Egypt's official heritage list, a ministry press release said.

Ibrahim Nayrouz, director of the documentation administration in the ministry, told Ahram Online that the theatre was built in 1892 and registered on Cairo governorate's list as a historic edifice with distinguished architecture.

The theatre, he continued, follows the National Organization for Urban Harmony and not the ministry of antiquities because it is not listed on Egypt's Heritage List.

Nayrouz added that the inspection tour revealed that the theatre's widows and entrance areas are blocked with mud brick. The wooden facade of the stage remains in place, and the ceiiling is decorated with masks and harp shapes, Nayrouz said. A few chairs sit in front of the stage.

The building is unfortunately in very poor condition, he added.

A detailed report is to be sent to the ministry of antiquities. The ministry will then discuss the future of the building with the National Organization for Urban Harmony.

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President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Wednesday that the investigation into the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni in Cairo was being conducted with the "utmost transparency," and blamed some Egyptians he said had spread lies about the case.

In a nationally televised speech, El-Sisi blamed "evil" people in Egypt for "lie- and allegation-mongering" about the case and embarrasing Egypt internationally.

"We have done that to ourselves and put Egypt in trouble," El-Sisi said, in reference to accusations the country's security forces were involved in the PhD student's murder.

Regeni, who was in Cairo conducting research on independent trade unions, went missing on 25 January. His body was found, bearing signs of severe torture, by a roadside on the outskirts of the capital nine days later.

The case has strained ties between Cairo and Rome, otherwise close allies, prompting Italy last week to recall its ambassador to Egypt for consultations, after Egypt refused to share evidence deemed relevant to the case. Egyptian prosecutors said the Italian request for a large volume of call logs was "illegal and unconstitutional."

In his address, El-Sisi stressed that Cairo enjoys "special relations" with the Italians, emphasising that "Rome was quick to back Egypt following the 30 June revolution."

El-Sisi said the involvement of the country's judiciary in the investigation of Regeni's murder gives the process credibility.

"And you still do not believe?" he asked rhetorically.

He expressed his condolences to Regeni's family.

The Egyptian president urged the media to be more cautious about what they publish, describing media handling of the issue as "scary" and saying that relying on social media as a source of information in relation to such issues is "very dangerous."

Egyptian officials have repeatedly denied claims that security forces were involved in Regeni's murder.

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European states that had been engaged in bloody conflicts  especially during the two World Wars  managed to bury their differences. Why can't Arabs do the same?

The last few years have witnessed  and are still witnessing  dreary regional disturbance due to Arab-Arab infighting, whether directly or by proxy, in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

Sectarianism has intensified as dreadful inclinations drag the regions peoples into a bloody denominational swamp. Those conflicts are destructive to countries' unity and the idea of the national state established on citizenship, equating all its citizens regardless of ethnicity, colour, gender, religion and sect.

The two denominations deflect the struggles of the regions peoples from national struggles for independence, development and confronting the usurping Zionist entity to sectarian and denominational strife and conflicts. Thus, the Zionist entity is the main beneficiary of this criminal sectarian and denominational deflection.

The environment has been favourable to the exponential growth of hard-line, violent and terrorist forces raising jihadist-Salafist banners. Such forces are getting support from some countries in the region, as well as Western countries that use them for their own purposes.

These forces were used in confrontations with the national liberation movements during the destructive colonial era, against the Soviets in the war in Afghanistan, and against their own countries  in Egypt, Algeria and other states established on citizenship.

Whats astonishing is that several countries in the region moved from using sectarian and denominational matters in an unethically political way, without being themselves sectarian or denominational, to entrenching mean sectarian and denominational racisms within these countries and their bureaucratic and security bodies. This represents a real danger for the superstructure of these countries.

The result is the damaging chaos of vertical conflicts springing from sectarian, denominational or ethnic bases. It also resulted in obscurist and fascist forces becoming gigantic entities financed from lurking and hostile international forces, along with regional forces more fascist and backward than the old despotic regimes.

This caused a sea of blood of innocent citizens and caravans of millions of displaced people inside their countries, or in other merciful countries, or in lurking and hostile ones. All in all, this human and financial bleeding and sabotaging has wrecked the service, industrial and agricultural infrastructures that peoples and governments built over decades.

Social injustice and political despotism caused social conflicts and strife, while strife between Arab countries resulted in other forms of conflicts. All these conflicts revealed what is latent and unspoken in sectarian and denominational strife after social struggles for freedom and social justice were deflected into sectarian and denominational paths.

This destructive sectarian and denominational strife deserves to be given utmost attention from the countries of the region and the world, in order to be treated in a radical and decisive way, if anyone remains who cares about peace, ending conflicts and stopping the bloodshed in the region. Real determination is vital to set rules and lay foundations for living in peace in this region that is exploding and spilling over with chaos.

The Arab region's harvest of bloody conflicts

Despite the existence of rules that govern relations between states, to ensure avoidance of such conflicts (for example, respecting the sovereignty of states, non-interference in internal affairs, and respecting peoples choices), sectarian extensions and national conflicts underlying them, along with external ambitions for control, domination and revenge towards national states that opposed Western destructive forces in the colonial era, and in the frame of the Arab-Zionist conflict, have blown apart those international rules in practical reality.

This resulted in the chaos of damaging interventions in the internal affairs of the regions countries. Those interventions came from big international forces and some countries in the Arab and Middle East region. As a consequence, service, industrial and agricultural infrastructures were demolished. The Libyan national army, for example, was destroyed, while terrorist groups were armed with the latest weapon systems.

Libya became practically partitioned and on the brink of official fragmentation. What is astonishing is that following General Khalifa Haftars historic initiative to revive the Libyan national army, employing it to regain the cohesion and unity of Libya, an international resolution was issued preventing this army from being armed.

Powerful Western countries, especially the United States, obstruct rearming it. This Western option means that the West, especially the US, favours the continuity of chaos, and the splitting up and fragmentation of the Libyan state.

It also means that it is biased towards the control and hegemony of religious extremism and terrorism over the Libyan map. This map is already plagued by the NATO intervention and its evil objectives for partitioning Libya, drowning it in permanent chaos, and keeping it a source of terrorism and a threat to its neighbours.

As another consequence, the Syrian state suffered from a horrible terrorist war. International and regional forces, desiring to destroy the Syrian state and its national and territorial integrity, exploited popular protests for freedom and democracy and encouraged terrorist hoards to slip into Syria to sabotage it through militarising the conflict.

All forms of financial aid, enticements and armament were provided to those groups, leading Syria to turn into a grand inferno. About half the Syrian population was displaced inside and outside the country, and thousands of innocent citizens fell victim, and double that number were wounded and psychologically scarred due to the sabotage and devastation that happened to their homeland.

It is noteworthy to mention that the great popular revolutions of Egypt and Tunisia preserved their peaceful nature despite the bloody violence of the Mubarak and Ben Ali regimes in confronting them. Thus, they maintained their civil rights, the social entity and state entity, aiming to reform it afterwards without ripping society and state apart.

This peaceful characteristic was one of the greatest achievements of the two revolutions that expressed popular carefulness with regard to preserving society and the state.

What is really astounding is that some countries that did not feel the breeze of freedom, such as the Emirate of Qatar, claimed to be defending freedom and democracy in Syria!

Even Turkey, which supports terrorist hoards in Syria under the same incoherent justification, was transformed in the hands of Erdogan into a stronghold of suppression, becoming a model of fascism and national aggression against the large Kurdish ethnicity, not only in Turkey but in Syria as well.

The Russian Federation played a major role in revealing the intimate relation between Turkey and the terrorist hoards of the Islamic State (IS) group, Al-Nusra Front, Ahrar ash-Sham (Islamic Movement of the Free Men of the Levant) and other groups. Through aerial surveillance, it clarified a shameful economic relation based on buying and marketing stolen Syrian and Iraqi oil from the gangs of IS, Al-Nusra and other terrorist groups, especially that such thieves sell the stolen oil at extremely low prices, which yields enormous profits for their partners in Turkey.

Moreover, several partial settlements scandalised the Turkish role in sponsoring terrorism. When Lebanon reached a settlement with the terrorist Al-Nusra Front to retrieve its abducted Lebanese soldiers in Arsal in return for the release of some Al-Nusra prisoners, the agreement was made through Qatari sponsorship and those released travelled to Turkey.

This simply means that they are not held accountable as terrorists in that country. Or, to be clearer, they have safe haven there.

In Iraq, the formula of the sectarian and ethnic quota system, which was laid by the destructive criminal American occupation of Iraq since 2003, led to ethnic, sectarian, denominational divisions damaging the structure of the united Iraqi state.

This state became practically divided into an area controlled by the Kurds, another by IS, a third under the control of the central government, which is characterised by a denominational Shia hegemony. Consequently, hundreds of thousands of victims of denominational, ethnic and sectarian violence have fallen, tearing this big and leading country apart.

Moreover, the historical crime against the Iraqi Christians and against the small Yazidi sect will remain a shame hanging around the necks of the Americans and those loyal to them in destroying the Iraqi state and its central army.

Despite the importance of the popular movement that aims at building a national state for its sons on the basis of citizenship, it was ignored and the focus was directed to another movement led by one of the abhorrent sectarian and denominational symbols.

The denominational and ethnic quota formula is still prevalent and feeding Iraqs successive crisis.

As for Yemen, its former president, whom the Arab Gulf countries prevented being held accountable for the public funds syphoned and the blood spilt during the Yemeni revolution against him, returned in an alliance with the Houthis.

This time, the Houthis were not satisfied with demanding a fair division of power, or reforming the Yemeni state. They even attempted to capture it totally. Internal conflict flared between sons of the same country.

Instead of attempts to solve the issue peacefully, the crisis was transformed into an open regional conflict. The result was more than 6,000 victims, tens of thousands of wounded, and more than 2.5 million displaced within their country as well as a huge number displaced outside.

Moreover, the service, industrial and agricultural infrastructure was torn down and the situation became tragic and catastrophic for all rival combatants in Yemen.

It is difficult to end most of the open bloody conflicts in the Arab world, which are feeding on the blood of innocents, decisively with a clear and complete victory for one of the parties. Even for Syria, which is supported by Russia and Hizbullah, that scored big victories over the terrorist hoards, the conflict that has spanned years created a new reality.

It would be difficult to treat this reality without local and regional consensus on the priority of peace, democracy and the culture of life, instead of death borne by the devastating conflict. It is right that establishing peace requires uprooting local and foreign terrorists. But it also requires a settlement and a new social contract in Syria.

All these horrific situations and damaging crises for homelands, states and peoples in the Arab world should put Arab politicians in front of a grand and historic obligation, in order to reach peaceful and just solutions that respect legitimacy and the free choices of peoples. Such solutions are the only sustainable ones.

This might require some concessions from different parties involved in Arab-to-Arab conflicts. However, these concessions seem meagre compared to the enormous achievement represented in regaining peace in Arab lands and shielding Arab peoples from the storms of death, homelessness and alienation, in a terrifying labyrinth damaging human dignity.

History will put everyone who seeks to regain peace, prevent bloodshed, protect innocent lives in Arab countries, preserve states territorial integrity and the free choices of its peoples, in a distinguished and exceptional standing. In contrast, it will cover in shame everyone who contributed in the continuance of the tragedies of Arab infighting, bloodshed, and the wasting of souls and dignity in that infighting.

Europe reconciled, why cant Arabs do the same?

Europe was engaged in conflicts that were bloodier and more criminal during the two World Wars. In their essence, these wars were conflicts between capitalist predators for control over states and markets. In World War I, more than 10 million people died in Europe alone. In World War II, casualties ranged between 50-60 million people, the sweeping majority in Europe, and about 24 million people in the former Soviet Union alone.

Anyone who followed the paths of conflicts and the aforementioned two wars could not imagine that peace would be restored between those conflicting countries. However, the peoples, which the wars claimed, were ready for peace and for ensuring that wars wouldn't be waged between European states again.

Peace and cooperation were restored between these countries that also accepted changes to their borders of a punitive character. Economic-political organisations were established on the basis of mutual benefit in Eastern and Western Europe.

Afterwards, matters developed further, crystallising in the European Union, which comprises Eastern and Western Europe together in one giant economic bloc comprising the biggest market in the world.

Even the Russian Federation and Belarus, which the West took a negative standpoint towards, in regard to integrating them into economic and military cooperation systems, enjoy strong economic relations with European countries, regardless of temporary sanctions imposed on Russia since the flare-up of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and Russias regaining of the Crimea region. There is also a partnership concerning peace and security between the two parties.

If Europe, which is divided into a great number of nationalities, religious denominations, languages and countries, has said goodbye to bloody legend and began weaving stories of development and mutual growth, the Arab countries, which speak in the same tongue and are tied together in a long and common history, sharing religion, culture, traditions and conventions, ought to be more expected to stop the tragedy of Arab-to-Arab conflicts and infighting, in order to open the gates of the future to peace and development for their peoples.

This matter requires solidarity in confronting forces of terrorism, so as to uproot it before any internal political settlements are made. It also requires mutual respect for sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of any state by another state.

This governing principal has as a consequence stopping financial and military support for groups fighting governments and accepting a formula of settlements based on resorting to peoples to determine their own choices as to the way their countries will be governed.

Perhaps it will also be beneficial in this context that Arab countries that supported regime change in other Arab countries apply the same principal on themselves  i.e., to resort to their peoples to determine the shape and nature of their prevailing regimes in a democratic way, based on the peoples voices not on authoritarianism.

The writer is chairman of the board of Al-Ahram Establishment.

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The 240 BYD electric cars bought by a government-backed taxi company in Nanjing in 2014 are still in a BYD warehouse in the southern city of Shenzhen

(Nanjing)  China's largest electric vehicle manufacturer, BYD Auto Co., is under intense scrutiny following the death of a Nanjing auto dealer who accused the company of bilking a government subsidy program and a Caixin probe suggesting the charge may have legs.

The uproar began on March 9, when media outlets in the eastern city reported the suicide of 53-year-old Liu Peng, general manager of two BYD dealerships: Shangdi Automobile Trade and Service Co. and Sushunya Automobile Trade and Service Co.

Liu reportedly hung himself in his office.

An apparent suicide note obtained by Caixin from Liu's relatives said the businesses were heavily in debt and that BYD, through Liu's dealerships, had obtained government subsidy payments for electric cars it never produced.

Electric car and other alternative-energy vehicle subsidy programs sponsored by central, provincial and local governments across China have doled out hundreds of billions of yuan since 2009.

A BYD statement posted on March 10 on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, denied the charges in the note. The company "strictly abides by government laws and has never done anything fraudulent through the subsidy program," it said.

The statement also noted that BYD filed a lawsuit against Liu's Sushunya dealership in November for alleged failure to repay BYD some 30 million yuan, including 10 million yuan borrowed for vehicle purchases and nearly 20 million yuan in subsidy payments the company received from governments on behalf of BYD. The suit was filed in Shenzhen and a hearing is pending.

The note claimed BYD received 32.4 million yuan in government cash for electric cars sold through Liu's companies, but that the dealer kept 18.4 million yuan as sales bonus and to cover marketing expenses.

The charges of BYD wrongdoing parallel a central government probe launched in January into participation in subsidy programs by auto companies and local governments. Working together on the probe are the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Science and Technology, and the National Development and Reform Commission.

Government inspectors have been looking at auto parts purchases, production schedules and sales data nationwide to determine whether subsidy funds were misappropriated, according to the finance ministry.

Sources close to the probe said inspectors have already looked into Liu's allegations, which point fingers at the city of Nanjing and BYD officials. A BYD employee who asked not to be named said the company is assisting investigators.

On March 28, BYD reported 2.8 billion yuan in profits from its auto and battery businesses, up 551 percent from the previous year. The Shenzhen-based company also forecast a 495 percent to 644 percent increase in net profits for the January-March period based on expectations that subsidies and tax incentives would drive a sales boom.

Coincidentally, Nanjing was honored at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris last December for promoting use of alternative energy vehicles.

Buses and Taxis

The apparent suicide note claimed BYD fraudulently registered 600 electric buses with the city government to qualify for central and local government subsidies in 2014. Each electric bus that was sold could qualify for 1 million yuan in combined subsidies from the central and local government. A single bus sold for about 2 million yuan.

However, the note claimed, the company delivered only a few dozen buses to the city of Nanjing in first half 2014.

According to the note, Liu worked with city government vehicle management officials to register non-existent buses, using fake documents provided by BYD.

But an official at the management office who asked to remain anonymous denied the claim. A BYD employee who also asked not to be named said "all vehicles" were built "before they were registered."

The employee said most vehicles were made at a BYD plant in the central city of Changsha, although in order to improve chances of qualifying for the subsidies, the contract signed with the Nanjing government said they were built at BYD's Nanjing factory.

The note also claimed BYD defrauded the government in connection with sales of 240 electric taxis in December 2014. The company got the money, it said, but the taxis were never delivered.

"The whereabouts of these cars remains unclear," the note said.

On March 23, a Caixin reporter spoke with a BYD executive at a company warehouse in Shenzhen who said the 240 taxis built for and sold to Nanjing Bus Group have been stored at the facility since December 2014. He said the cars were in storage due to an ongoing taxi glut in Nanjing that started in 2014.

Why Nanjing Bus ordered the BYD taxes but apparently never took delivery is unclear. A bus company executive said the order originated with the city transportation bureau. But a bureau official said higher-ups in the city government, not his agency, made the decision.

Each taxi sold for 300,000 yuan, according to BYD sales contracts obtained by Caixin, while combined central and local government subsidies equaled 117,000 yuan per vehicle.

A Nanjing transport bureau officials said city and provincial agencies had distributed 2.3 billion yuan in subsidies from 2010 to 2015 for alternative-energy vehicles including buses and taxis.

The city's contribution to the subsidy payments  1.4 billion yuan  was "the biggest in the nation," said the official.

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, BYD produced 20,840 hybrid and electric vehicles in 2014, more than any other domestic automaker. Also that year, Nanjing was the largest buyer of BYD e-cars.

Forging Partnerships

People familiar with Liu said he got into the auto sales business in 2003. He then launched the Shangdi and Sushunya dealerships for sales of BYD vehicles in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

Liu's interest in BYD was partly linked to a 2009 central government plan to use financial incentives to promote the use of alternative energy vehicles by urban public transportation systems.

Nanjing started participating in the program in 2010, mainly focusing on promoting natural gas-powered vehicles, a decision based on cost factors and the city's lack of battery-charging facilities. But in 2013, the city government switched its preference to electric vehicles.

That same year, BYD announced plans to invest 3 billion yuan in a new electric bus production plant in Nanjing. The city, pleased by the investment, promised to buy vehicles and offered BYD land for the plant, which was to have a production capacity of 6,000 units by 2016.

In early 2014, the city bought 1,058 electric buses for the public transportation network, up from only a few dozen the previous year. The purchases accounted for 42 percent of the buses bought by the city in 2014. BYD sold 650 of those units, more than any other supplier.

The city also bought 400 electric taxi cars from BYD that year.

A manager at Nanjing Golden Dragon Bus Manufacturing Co., which also makes electric vehicles in the city, said it's unclear why the local government changed its preference.

"We don't know how BYD persuaded the government" to buy its buses, said the manager, who asked not to be named. "But as a result of the BYD (deals), electric buses have been widely adopted in Nanjing."

The BYD employee said reasons for his company's success in Nanjing should be obvious: The firm invested in a factory, and then cultivated good business relations.

The sales deals were cut "by BYD's team, not an individual or a single dealer," said the source. "Liu Peng helped by, for example, introducing us to some people."

Soured Relationship

But while BYD sales in Nanjing were growing, Liu's business was losing money. His relatives blame the automaker for forcing Liu and other dealers to increase electric car inventories even though sales were slow.

They showed Caixin what they said was Liu's diary. One entry said that in 2014 Nanjing's bus companies bought 540 BYD buses through Sushunya.

And BYD authorized Liu's companies to serve as the only after-sales service provider in Nanjing for its electric buses and taxis. The Nanjing Jiangnan Electric Taxi Co., for example, paid Sushunya 400,000 yuan every month of 2014 to maintain 400 BYD taxis, according to a contract obtained by Caixin.

The BYD employee said the lucrative vehicle service business "is profitable, and was BYD's reward to Liu for his previous efforts."

But a diary entry said BYD's high sales targets forced Liu's companies to maintain high inventories, which in turn strained cash flow. The dealerships had 400 units on hand at the end of 2013, and reported a loss of 2 million yuan that year. A 2013 diary entry said "the companies are at risk."

Sources close to Liu said he invested 5 million yuan in vehicle storage and maintenance facilities. Of that amount, 4.4 million yuan was borrowed from Nanjing Ningtai Micro-Loan Co. and the Bank of China.

To clear excess inventory, the dealerships launched an unusual sales campaign in September 2014 that made matters even worse. Buyers from outside Nanjing were offered help getting temporary residence documents so they could qualify for city government subsidies for residents who bought BYD Qin models. But in the end, authorities refused to reward non-Nanjing buyers.

An employee of Sushunya said of the more than 500 Qin models sold, only 100 were bought by Nanjing residents. That forced the dealership to refund about 400 buyers who could not qualify for subsidies.

In early 2015, the dealerships started asking BYD to provide sales rebates of 20,000 yuan per bus and 12,000 yuan per taxi. Liu claimed BYD had promised these rebates, but the automaker denied signing such an agreement.

"BYD doesn't need to promote sales through sales rebate offers," said the company source. "Liu didn't play a big role in BYD's partnership with Nanjing, and his demand was not reasonable."

(Rewritten by Han Wei)
(Beijing)  The oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell Plc has seen it credit rating cut due to a protracted slump in oil prices over the past two years and is also facing challenges linked to the booming renewable energy market.

In a recent interview with Caixin, Ben van Beurden, CEO of the Netherlands-based multinational company, talked about the petroleum industry and how his company has been coping with market volatility and a shift in energy consumption toward renewable.

He also shared his views on China's efforts to reform and open up, how those changes are affecting the energy sector, and the importance  and attractiveness  of the Chinese market.

"We have so much more potential ahead of us in China," van Beurden. "So you'll see us participating in every aspect in terms of growth."

The following are edited excerpts of Caixin's interview with van Beurden.

Caixin: Let's begin with oil prices. The price of oil has rebounded rapidly in recent months. Why?

Ben van Beurden: There're many factors playing into oil prices  both the positive and the negative. The oil market or the energy market in general is a very dynamic market. So many factors are acting at the same time. Quite often it's very hard to really understand what's happening. Even for me, a company CEO, I look at fundamentals, long-term trends, the things that we need to do for the company to thrive in today's environment. As to how we deal with the day-to-day, week-to-week movements in the market, we have a very competent trading department to handle that. But the reality is that nobody can really predict with certainty what the price of oil will be. We have to make sure as a company that we are competitive at every point in the price cycle. Fundamentally, it's all about reducing the break-even price of the portfolio that we have, so that we can be profitable whether the price is US$ 40, US$ 50, US$ 100 or US$ 150.

You're a veteran of the industry. Have you ever seen such volatility in the price of oil?

I think we have seen this before. We all knew, of course, that at some point in time that we're going to go through a cycle again. I think the more abnormal part this time around is that we had such stability in the oil price at relatively high levels for a few years. So we have been preparing for this downturn, of course, preparing in the sense that we are financially strong so that we could weather a downturn, but that we could also take advantages of it, which is of course what we have been doing when we took over BG Group.

Do you think the price of oil at the current level of US$ 30 to US$ 40 is sustainable? What's your long-term prediction for the price?

I don't think I want to make a long-term prediction because I'll be wrong anyway. But if I want to talk about the sustainability of today's price levels, sort of between US$ 30 and US$ 40, I do think fundamentals point toward a higher oil prices in the medium term. If you look at how demand continues to grow, oil demand has continued to grow since the discovery of oil. But, importantly, supplies from existing reservoirs also continue to shrink every year, and for that gap to be closed, the industry has to invest a trillion dollars at least every year. That amount of investment is not going to be forthcoming when cost and price are out of sync, where they currently are. So two things need to happen: cost of course needs to come down, which is happening, and price needs to go up, which will happen over the long term as well. Where will it settle? I don't know.

Do you think that renewable energy, such as solar power, will compete with fossil fuel in cost-effectiveness anytime soon?

It does already, maybe not everywhere and maybe not every type of renewable. But at the moment if you look at electricity from solar, it's fully cost competitive in many parts of the world. So we are seeing an increased penetration of renewables in the electricity sector. But what we have to remember is that it actually comes from a relatively lower base and we also have to remember that electricity is only about 20 percent of the total use of energy and about 80 percent of energy consumption is still taken in a form other than electricity. So it will take time. And what is also going to be required is an uninterruptible supply of energy. All of that points to more renewable, probably in a hybrid with other forms of energies such as natural gas.

So you still have the time to adapt. What have you been doing to accommodate this change?

A lot. If we look at future trends, we see an inevitable rise of natural gas in the mix, as I said, as a good partner to renewables. Of all the international oil companies, we are the one with the most significant natural gas portfolio. The acquisition of BG by Shell has helped, and at the moment we are actually more gas than oil. We are a gas and oil company rather than an oil and gas company. At the same time, we work hard to get into renewable forms of energy as well. Something which is very close to our competency set is biofuels. We have a joint venture in biofuels in Brazil. And we look at alternative technologies, future technologies and future business models that will work much more symbiotically with renewables as well.

Your credit rating has just been cut. The rating is at its worst level since the 1990s. Does that cause difficulties for you to raise money from the market?

There's a lot of pressure on ratings. The whole industry we are all in has had its ratings cut to around a negative watch or negative outlook, which is of course not surprising given what is going on in the industry. The cut to our rating was also very much a result of our acquisition of BG, which had a cash component to it, so we had to raise additional debt. But our credit rating was still at AA. Its immediate effect on our access to funds is manageable. But we do pay a lot of attention to our credit rating. We want to defend a very strong A+ rating because it is not only a sign of strength, it also helps us when we want to be a strong partner to not only Chinese counterparts and to many other counterparts and governments around the world.

You recently mentioned Shell should be simpler and nimbler, which means you'll focus on liquefied natural gas and deep-sea assets. Does this mean you'll trim your non-core onshore assets and downstream assets?

No, far from it. You have to be a simpler company, a company that really focuses on its strengths. Our strengths are indeed very much in the area of LNG, and very much also in the area of deep water. These are two very attractive areas in the energy system as well. Downstream is a very important part of our portfolio, though we have been restructuring the portfolio quite a bit. And if I look here in China, it is actually the mainstay of our business here. As a matter of fact, all the aspects of the downstream, whether it is petrochemicals, retail, trading, lubricants, all of this is still growing very fast, particularly in China. We hope to be able to expand the Nanhai project (a petrochemical facility in Huizhou, Guangdong Province) together with our partner, CNOOC.

The Chinese government plans to reform the oil and gas industry. What expectations do you have for this? Which areas do you think should be more open to international competition and investment?

All the aspects of reform that we're seeing are welcome. I think there's a tremendous transition going on in China, with energy reform as a key component. In recent years, we have been working together with State Council's Development Research Center (DRC) on understanding what would be good policy for energy markets. We just concluded a piece of work on the natural gas markets, with some very robust and very sound policy recommendations that DRC, with the help of Shell, has been formulating. And I hope this will indeed be part of the future policies.

I think further liberalization of the natural gas market is important, and as I said we have good policy recommendations in that area because it will unlock new demand, but more importantly also new supply domestically for natural gas. These are areas where I think this country has huge potential for growth. We've been an investor in this area in Changbei (a natural gas field in Shaanxi Province and the Inner Mongolia region), and would like to make a follow-on investment which we're working on together with China National Petroleum Corp. as well. This will be a key area in my mind for policy reform. But there are also other aspects of the system, be it oil products, even petrochemicals, strictly speaking, not energy of course. These are very important segments of the industry that foreign direct investment, the provision of technology, the opening up of the market in general, is going to be good for the Chinese economy.

Shell is engaging in everything in China, from exploration and petrochemicals to retail. Will you put more focus on any specific area in the future?

If I look at China, the country is so strategic not only in terms of the global economy, but also for the energy system and also for the key building blocks of the future economy, like petrochemicals. As we have done in the last 20 years, we'll take a close look at the opportunities in China. Yes, you're right, we're investing in every aspect of the value chain, and in every aspect of the value chain I want to do more. I think the phase we are in, the size of the economy, the growth prospects of the country, in relation to where we are at the moment, are out of proportion. We have so much more potential ahead of us in China. So you'll see us participating in every aspect in terms of growth.

Many multinational oil companies are cutting back on shale energy investments because of the low oil and gas prices. Do you intend to do the same thing? Are you going to cut back on your unconventional energy investment into China, like your Sichuan projects?

Well, in general, you've indeed seen that across the world, investors in unconventional resources, particularly in North America, are cutting back because at this point in time, with oil and gas prices, the relatively high cost structures, and the fact that shale developments have very short life cycle, you will see people cutting back because it makes economic sense. And we have been doing the same thing. Specifically to your question around Sichuan, we have had a significant drilling program in three profit-sharing contracts which we have completed. The results coming out of it have been pretty mixed. We always knew, of course, as we said before, the geology of Sichuan is particularly challenging. Geologically it is quite a challenging area to develop and at this point of time we have decided that there is no follow-up investment that can be justified.
(Beijing)  A city in the southern province of Guangdong says it will pay the owners of what it calls "electric motorcycles" 500 yuan each to hand them in before they are banned, joining other cities taking similar steps to ease traffic congestion and make the streets safer.

The government of Huizhou, a city about 70 kilometers northwest of Shenzhen, said the offer runs from April 1 to September 30. The vehicles will be banned from the city's roads starting October 1, the statement said.

China's government classifies battery-powered two-wheel vehicles into two categories. Those weighing less than 40 kilogram that can go no faster than 20 kilometer per hour are called "electric bikes," and vehicles weighing more and going faster are called "electric motorcycles."

Huizhou's government announced plans to ban the second category in December, citing safety concerns. It said 64 people were killed in more than 4,000 accidents involving e-motorcycles in 2014 and 2015  a figure that accounted for 70 percent of all traffic accidents in the city.

The city had more than 266,000 licensed e-motorcycles on its streets as of June 2014, police told the Southern Metropolis Daily late last year. This means the government may have to cough up as much as 133 million yuan if all owners take the payout.

A search on an e-commerce website shows that an e-motorcycle costs from 1,500 to 3,000 yuan apiece.

Two major cities in China have recently taken steps to get electric motorcycles off their roads recently.

Last month Shenzhen banned electric motorcycles and tricycles, drawing complaints from e-commerce and delivery companies whose businesses rely on the vehicles. More than 800 drivers have been arrested and nearly 18,000 vehicles impounded since the crackdown started on March 21, traffic police in the city neighboring Hong Kong said.

On April 11, the government of the capital banned e-bikes and e-motorcycles on 10 major downtown roads to "enhance traffic regulation and ensure road safety."

(Rewritten by Chen Na)
China has strongly criticized a statement released by foreign ministers at the Group of Seven industrialized countries meeting which expressed concern over tensions and territorial disputes surrounding the South China Sea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang accused the G7 in a statement of "hyping up maritime issues and fueling tensions in the region," and said China was "strongly dissatisfied with relevant moves taken by the G7".

The statement also advised the G7 to "respect the efforts by regional countries, stop all irresponsible words and actions, and make constructive contribution to regional peace and stability".

The G7's statement made in Japan this week expressed "strong opposition to any intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions, and urge all states to refrain from such actions as land reclamation, including large scale ones, building outposts, as well as their use for military purposes."

While the G7 statement did not explicitly name China, which is not a G7 member, it contained a message critical of Beijings massive efforts to assert its claims over a string of islands in the South China Sea through new constructions.

It came as the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is expected to reach a decision soon on a case filed by the Philippines against Beijing.

In January 2013, Manila formally complained about what it called China's "excessive claim" to practically the entire South China Sea. China voiced strong opposition about the case being taken to the international tribunal.

Foreign ministers from the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan met this week in Hiroshima to discuss issues -- including regional and global security -- paving the way next month for a G7 leaders' summit.
One of the biggest U.S. investment banks, Goldman Sachs, agreed Monday to pay the government $5 billion in penalties for selling financially questionable mortgage-backed securities leading up to the country's financial crisis in 2008.

A Justice Department official, Stuart Delery, said the agreement, "holds Goldman Sachs accountable for its serious misconduct in falsely assuring investors that securities it sold were backed by sound mortgages, when it knew that they were full of mortgages that were likely to fail."

The deal requires the New York company to pay $2.4 billion in civil penalties, $1.8 billion in relief to homeowners hurt by the economic downturn and $875 million to settle other claims. The company admitted it did not share information with investors regarding troubling information it had received about the business practices of the banks that had originated the loans with homeowners.
The Vatican said Tuesday that Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano submitted his resignation in January after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Pope Francis has replaced the Vatican ambassador who arranged a controversial secret meeting between the pontiff and Kim Davis, a Kentucky clerk who went to jail for refusing to comply with a court order to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

Vigano is being replaced by French-born Archbishop Christophe Pierre, who previously served as the papal ambassador to Mexico, where Francis visited two months ago.

Bishops are permitted to work past retirement age but can stay on at the pope's discretion.

Last September, Francis was embroiled in controversy after Vigano invited Davis to be among those greeting the pope at the Vatican embassy in Washington.

Davis' lawyer publicly described the meeting as the pope's support of his client's approach to conscientious objection. A Vatican spokesman insisted, however, the meeting was not an endorsement of Davis' views on same-sex marriage.


The North Korean Red Cross, which is in reality an organ of the state, said Tuesday, "We sternly denounce the group abduction of [North Koreans]... as a hideous crime against its dignity and social system."

North Korea on Tuesday made its first comments on the defection of 13 North Korean restaurant workers from China by claiming Seoul "lured and abducted" them.

The North vowed to retaliate. "In case the puppet group does not send them back, it will have to pay a high price for the serious consequences to be entailed by its action," the Red Cross said.

North Korea added it is investigating how the South "dragged" its people to Seoul but also criticized Beijing.

Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee told reporters that the defections were "completely voluntary" and said the North's accusations deserve no response.
Passengers can now board international flights carrying cold beverages they bought in the airport, and onboard announcements that made passengers feel like potential criminals have been stopped.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it revised regulations on carrying fluids and gels on board and for in-flight security staff. The revisions took effect Tuesday.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, all liquids of more than 100 ml were banned from carry-on luggage except duty-free purchases in the original packaging.

That often meant they had to throw expensive cosmetics or drinks they just bought at the airport.

But after a raft of complaints, travelers can now bring cold, lidded beverages bought after the immigration point onboard. Hot beverages like coffee and tea are still banned, as are bigger bottles of other fluids.

Flight crew will still advise fliers against violating three rules: smoking, use of electronic devices and obstructing the work of flight crew. But excessive onboard announcements pushed through by the ministry in September 2014 to warn travelers against assault, noise and sexual harassment have been scrapped.


Thirteen North Koreans who defected from a restaurant in Ningbo, China were working for the perpetually unfinished, 105-story Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, the Daily NK said Tuesday.

Quoting unnamed sources in Pyongyang, the website reported that hotel staff had been working overseas for years to raise hard currency for the regime and fund the completion of the hotel.

The Ryugyong Hotel is run by an agency under the North Korean cabinet and also operates restaurants overseas. The 13 defectors all worked in the Ningbo branch.

Construction of the hotel started in 1987 but was halted when the money ran out two years later. It resumed in 2008, when Egypt's Orascom, which has the mobile phone license in North Korea, invested US$180 million. Only the exterior has been completed so far.
UConn west campus may be sold to Chinese company

2016-04-13 10:29

The University of Connecticut's West Hartford campus, which may potentially be sold to Chinese education company Weiming Education Group. Weiming Education said it intends to establish an international high school academy for students from America, Asia, Europe and South America. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

One of the University of Connecticut's campuses could be sold to a Chinese education group, which wants to open a private international high school on the site.

The West Hartford campus, one of the state university's five regional campuses, is being sold off as the school prepares to open a new campus in downtown Hartford five miles east next fall.

The school has negotiated a tentative agreement to sell the 58-acre campus to Weiming Education Group for $12.6 million, the school told its board of trustees in a March 30 letter.

It said that the town of West Hartford has the right to match the terms agreed upon and buy the property for itself.

Ron Van Winkle, West Hartford town manager, told China Daily that the town will convene on May 2 to consider the option, although according to the university's letter to its board, "conversations between University representatives and [the town] staff suggest that the town will likely be supportive of a purchase by [Weiming Education Group]".

The town is supportive because of the education group's intent to use the property for educational purposes; that it is proposing collaboration with other West Hartford public schools; and because the company will pay real estate taxes on the property  which is currently tax-exempt state land  to the town, the school said.

Weiming Education Group, founded in 1999, said in its letter to the town of West Hartford that the international high school academy it will establish will serve American, Asian, European and South American students.

"The outstanding academic reputation of both West Hartford and the State of Connecticut is what has led to Weiming's interest in possibly locating at the University of Connecticut property," Tim DiScipio, CEO of Weiming Education Group USA, said in the letter.

"Connecticut leads the nation in academic excellence, the state high schools rank #1 in the combined Northeast and New England region, and the significant talent pool of teachers and administrators with advanced degrees is an important factor," he added.

DiScipio said that Weiming sees an opportunity for students in Connecticut's universities to teach abroad at the company's international schools in Asia, and in opening an educational institution at the campus would hire a significant number of faculty and staff.

"We believe our presence will enhance the state's global reputation as an education leader and enable local American students the opportunity to build lasting global peer connections to help them meet the demands of new emerging growth opportunities in the 21st Century international economy," DiScipio said in the letter.

Weiming Education is now in a period of due diligence, assessing the property and buildings to see if their proposals to establish an international high school are feasible.

"They will need zoning and wetland permits from the town, which probably won't be applied for until the fall. If all goes well, they could have an approved project by year-end," Van Winkle said.

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com
Isle of Man Delegation to Promote Business Relationships with China in its Economic Transformation and Upgrading

By:Zhao Chunyuan | From:english.eastday.com | 2016-04-07 21:32

Simon Pickering, Head of Retail Financial Services;Laurence Skelly,Minister for Economic Development of Isle of Man;Steven Beevers, Head of Special Projects(from L to R).



The reason why we are here today is after four years of working with Shanghai, we are going to sign a memorandum of understanding today with Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce. And this will endure and further our relationship between the Isle of Man and Shanghai in trade and commerce for the future, said Laurence Skelly,Minister for Economic Development of Isle of Man, in Shanghai on April 7,2016.

A high-powered government and business delegation from the Isle of Man, led by Laurence Skelly, Minister for its Department of Economic Development, visit China from April 4 to 8, 2016. The delegation host a series of high-level meetings and events with Chinese authorities and the local business community in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. The visit strives to strengthen Isle of Man - China business relations as the worlds second largest economy is starting its 13th Five-Year plan this year.

As China is initiating a new round of efforts to look for new drivers and strengthen its fundamentals for building a new economy, it is going to be more active and play an even more important role in international business. We believe the Isle of Man is well poised to support such endeavours, particularly in the West, because of our unique position as a trading and sales gateway to Europe and our ability to facilitate overseas investment, said Laurence Skelly.

Senior Government officials of the Department of Economic Development join the five-day China visit with Minister Skelly including Simon Pickering, Head of Retail Financial Services and Steven Beevers, Head of Special Projects. Representatives from a number of leading companies in the Isle of Man are also part of the delegation including Appleby, Equiom, ILS, KPMG Isle of Man, Manx Education Foundation and PWC Isle of Man.

About Isle of Man: A Small Island Offering Big Advantages

The Isle of Man is situated in the centre of the British Isles. It is a self-governing dependent territory of the British Crown. Isle of Man has its own legislative and taxation system and the corporate income tax rate is 0%. Establishing a European headquarters in the Isle of Man can cut operational costs and taxes.

Additionally, the Government is negotiating a network of bilateral tax agreements with key trading partners to give Isle of Man businesses further competitive advantage.

The Isle of Manas an international business centre, boasts highly-developed financial and professional services with sophisticated distribution, corporate, banking, legal and accounting services in multinational business.
iStock/Thinkstock(KENORA, Canada) -- A crisis in the Attawapiskat First Nation continued its pace Saturday when 11 people attempted to kill themselves in a 24-hour period, according to community leaders.

The remote area in Ontario is among many aboriginal communities in Canada dealing with abnormally high risks of suicide.

That single day was not unusual. Community leaders say there have been 101 suicide attempts in the small community since September 2015, leading Attawapiskat Chief Bruce Shisheesh to declare a state of emergency.

The Attawapiskat are not the only people suffering. The Nishnawbe Aski Nation, of which the Attawapiskat is one part, declared a state of emergency in January because of the growing epidemic highlighted at the end of last year by the reported suicide deaths of a 10-year-old girl, a 14-year-old girl and a 20-year-old woman.

"We have been working around-the-clock over the past few days to do everything we can to make sure that the people of Attawapiskat have the supports they need and we will redouble our efforts to help Chief and Council deal with the terrible situation," Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said in a statement Monday. "The numbers of suicide attempts experienced by this community are shocking and nothing short of a national tragedy."

Canadian Minister of Health Jane Philpott and Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett, who could not confirm the reported number of suicide attempts, said two mental health counselors have been dispatched, in addition to a crisis response unit from the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), which has a population of about 45,000. The Health Ministry of Canada or Health Canada is also working with the community and the local health authority to respond to the crisis.

Its unclear how many people have died by suicide compared to those who have attempted to kill themselves.

For the First Nation People, however, the risk of suicide has long been an ongoing problem. There have been at least two other states of emergency declared by NAN: in 1992 and 2013. A 1996 Canadian government report on suicide in aboriginal communities found four key contributors for the increased risk: mental illness, anxiety, schizophrenia and unresolved grief.

While it has been 20 years since that report, the issues appear to be unresolved, according to a January report by the Mushkegowuk Council, which is also part of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. Titled "The Peoples Inquiry Into Our Suicide Pandemic," the January 2016 report reviewed a period from 2009 to 2011, when an estimated 600 Mushkegowuk people attempted suicide, according to the report.

The Mushkegowuk were forced to take the situation into our own hands; we didnt want to see any more of our family members and children die," Mushkegowuk Council Grand Chief Jonathan Solomon said in a statement in January. "The people sourced their own funding to conduct the inquiry and started an in-depth review of ourselves, by ourselves.

Four commissioners were chosen and listened to hundreds of people's testimony before coming up with 16 factors that led to an increased risk of suicide in the community.

Traditionally, our people share what weve learned through experience or what has been passed down to us through stories," Solomon said in the statement. The peoples stories have shown us that our communities are determined to stop this suicide pandemic. After listening and being guided by the people, we offer this plan to help protect the Omushkegowuk.

The report found 16 unresolved issues that may have contributed to the suicide attempts, including violence, bullying, education issues, housing issues, health issues, sexual abuse and substance abuse.

Mushkegowuk community leaders have made recommendations for dealing with each of these factors but acknowledge the crisis is ongoing.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The minister said the order was an attempt to create stagnation in the higher education sector and that it was definitely a setback for the sector's progress.
#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....
Ricky Gervais is pulling out all the stops to make sure his Netflix feature film debut goes down a treat.

If you caught The Graham Norton Show last week you would have seen both Gervais and Eric Bana promoting the film with a clip that, after viewing this trailer, doesn't really look like it does the film justice. On the other hand, this new trailer does feel like it's giving the entire plot and a lot of the jokes away.

Per Netflix:



Bana plays Frank Bonneville, a charismatic New York based radio journalist whose arrogance and decadent lifestyle has hindered his career. With his job on the line, Bonneville is dispatched to Ecuador along with his hapless technician, Ian Finch (played by Gervais), to report on a potential rebel coup. On arrival at the airport, Finch realizes he has mistakenly thrown away their passports, tickets and money, and the two hatch a plan to fake front line reports from the comfort of their hideout above a Spanish restaurant in Queens. As their reports on the conflict escalate they become a national sensation, captivating the hearts of listeners across America, which leaves them having to sneak into Ecuador for real in order to untangle their web of lies.

Joining Gervais and Bana in the film are Vera Farmiga as Finchs not-so-devoted wife, Eleanor; Kelly Macdonald as their good-hearted radio reporter colleague Claire Maddox, Kevin Pollak as Geoffrey Mallard, their hard-boiled boss; America Ferrera and Raul Castillo as Brigida and Domingo, the sweet, kind and adorably dim owners of the Spanish restaurant where they hide out; and Benjamin Bratt as rival news correspondent John Baker.

'Special Correspondents' comes to Netflix exclusively on April 29th.

Via Netflix
Charlie Cox says his return as Daredevil "still feels too good to be true"
The European Commission said that it would increase humanitarian aid to Ethiopia to approximately 122.5 million to help the country deal with a deteriorating humanitarian situation caused by an extreme El Nino weather phenomenon. El Nino is characterized by rising temperatures and sea level, which interacts with the atmosphere and causes a variety of extreme environmental effects such as droughts or floods. Although the phenomenon has a global impact, it has particularly negative effects in Africa, where extreme weather conditions strongly impact health, food security, access to potable water and hygiene conditions for millions of people.

European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, commented that the humanitarian situation in the country is very worrying as more than 10 million people are currently struggling to find food. He said that the EU was taking action and the newly approved aid package will combine humanitarian assistance with early recovery assistance. Our new support will allow us to step up our efforts to help the most vulnerable in Ethiopia, he added. At the same time, European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, commented that the support generally aims at combining short-term life-saving with strengthening Ethiopias resilience by addressing the root causes of fragility and vulnerability. Mr Mimica also stressed that we can build on the past successes of Ethiopia which has already stepped up its efforts to tackle the drought crisis.

The new package comes in addition to the first aid funding approved in December whose aim was also to fight the consequences of the El Nino phenomenon. The December package consisted of 79 million for the Greater Horn of Africa region, from which nearly 43 million would benefit Ethiopia. Over the last five years, the EU has provided more than 200 million in humanitarian aid. Ethiopia is also the largest beneficiary of EU development assistance, with a total country program totaling at 745 million between 2014 and 2020.
Fish farms next on menu for New Hope Updated: 2016-04-13 09:16 (Agencies)

Liu Yonghao, chairman of New Hope Group Co.

The billionaire chairman of New Hope Group Co, China's largest privately held agricultural company, is looking to buy fish-farming assets in Southeast Asia as part of a 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) push to expand overseas.

"We plan to acquire an aquaculture company," Liu Yonghao, 64, said in an interview in Beijing. Though he declined to name any companies, Liu said targets need to be sizable and have good natural resources including light, water, land and low-cost labor.

Liu's comments help highlight how Chinese agriculture firms such as New Hope and State-owned China National Chemical Corp are seeing bigger appetites for overseas assets to feed the world's largest population. New Hope alone plans to spend 10 billion yuan in the next three to five years on high-end animal protein and food-related assets overseas, spurred by demand from the nation's expanding middle class.

"We shall go abroad and use our advantages in scale and the market to do acquisitions," Liu said.

Liu, who founded New Hope and started by selling hog feed, has since expanded operations to all kinds of animal feed and slaughtering businesses along with dairy, finance, real estate, and chemicals. Today, his wealth has grown to more than $5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

New Hope is also looking to acquire livestock-breeding companies overseas, Liu said, citing a lack of such capabilities in China and increasing domestic demand for beef, lamb and seafood.

"Every year we spend quite a lot of money importing animals such as cattle, pigs, chicken, ducks, even seafood like shrimps," said Liu.
Shenyang company offers world's first smart machine tool Updated: 2016-04-13 09:16 By Liu Ce in Shenyang and Siva Sankar in Beijing(China Daily)

Shenyang Machine Tool Co Ltd, China's leading manufacturer of numerical controlled machine tools and machinery equipment, has launched i5M8, the world's first integrated smart machine toolmaker.

The Monday launch at the ninth China CNC Machine Tool Fair in Shanghai is a new product of the i5 series, which has won two deals worth 1 billion yuan ($154 million) from Shenzhen-based firms.

The two firms plan to use the machine tool to produce phone shells and peripheral components for famous brands such as Xiaomi and Huawei.

Ma Shaoyan, sales manager of Shenyang Machine Tool, said more than 100 companies expressed interest in the sophisticated machine tool. "What's more, 38 of them have expressed their intent to buy the machine."

The toolmaker is expected to be used primarily in aerospace, automotive, consumer electronics and other industries that require high-precision parts like valves and pumps.

Toolmakers such as i5M8 are expected to find wide applications in the consumer electronics industry. So far, Japanese companies such as Fanuc dominated the segment of toolmakers.

The M8 series is the result of much research and development, according to Shenyang Machine Tool. It is capable of intelligent programming, graphic diagnosis and simulation, and online analysis.

It is also versatile. It can custom-produce a variety of machine tools to exacting specifications, to meet the needs of different companies.

For example, it can make gadget parts with a machining precision of 0.003 mm, equivalent to 1/25th of a human hair's width.

I5M8 can not only produce eight different models of a tool but make them in three-, four- or five-axis format, said Guan Xiyou, president of the company. "It's unique feature is multi-usage, it's like a wild card."

This could mean companies that hitherto needed eight to 10 such toolmakers, could now do with just two to three units of i5M8, saving on costs, labor and factory floor space.

The intelligent platform allows users to monitor its functioning on smartphones or other smart devices, Guan said.

Zhu Sendi, a consultant with the China Machinery Industry Federation, said: "The i5 series has introduced a new dimension in machine tool manufacturing. It has made toolmaking an internet-based technology. That's smart innovation."

Shenyang Machine Tool developed the i5 smart numerical control system in 2007 by investing 1.15 billion yuan.

The i5 broke the monopoly of companies such as Siemens and Fanuc over machine tool motion control systems, and demonstrated that numerical controlled machine tools could have a "Chinese brain".

"I5 proved to be a game-changer. Customers don't have to buy a machine tool outright. They can rent one or more of them. That way, they could stay asset-light, which is what many small companies try to be these days," Guan said.

Some 80 percent of i5 users, all Shenyang Machine Tool's clients in the Pearl River Delta area, rent the tool-maker at an average cost of about 10 yuan per hour.

Guan said: "From being a traditional manufacturer, Shenyang Machine Tool is transforming itself into an industrial service provider."

Zhu agreed. "It's a creative transition from selling tools to selling services. However, not every factory in China can organize production along those lines now. If most of the users accept this new way of production, it would be a revolution for the industry."

The company's new business model is marked by leasing of machine toolmakers and its smart factories.

In 2014, it established its own leasing firm to provide intelligent machine tools for use by medium and small companies, allowing the latter to pay for the service by either the duration of the use or output.
Russia-China ties benefit both countries, peoples: Russian FM Updated: 2016-04-13 03:45 (Xinhua)

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in Moscow, capital of Russia, on March 11, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

MOSCOW -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Russia-China ties are at an all-time high, and that their relationship is consistently deepened for the benefit of both countries and peoples.

Russia and China are interested in expanding cooperation and aligning the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) with China's Belt and Road Initiative, Lavrov said in a joint interview with Chinese, Japanese and Mongolian media on the eve of his visits to the three countries.

"Currently, an agreement on trade and economic cooperation between the EEU and China is being prepared, and a roadmap for priority integration projects is being worked out simultaneously," he said.

The top Russian diplomat also stressed the importance of regional cooperation between the two countries, especially involving Russia's Far East and China's northeastern provinces, and the Volga-Yangtze project.

While Russia and China are experiencing "some negative effects" due to a sluggish global economy, Lavrov said he believed that the decrease in Russia's trade turnover with China and other Far East neighbors was only temporary.

Moreover, Lavrov said Russia and China have showed a willingness to establish a free trade zone between the EEU and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an idea initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Commenting on the South China sea issue that has led to spat between China and some Southeastern Asian countries, Lavrov said the disputes should be resolved through dialogue and attempts to internationalize the issue must be stopped.

He urged external players to stop interfering in the negotiations among those involved, warning that such attempts would be "completely counterproductive."

Moreover, Lavrov also expressed concerns about the possible deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system by the United States on the Korean Peninsula.

"Together with our Chinese friends, we realize that following this course will create a real threat to the security of our countries, and destabilize the strategic stability in Northeast Asia," he said.

He stressed that Russia and China recognize the right of Democratic People's Republic of Korea to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but do not accept its nuclear ambitions.

Moscow and Beijing are devoted to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the resumption of the six-party talks, which is "the real way to resolve the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue," he added.

Lavrov also praised the framework of the BRICS, a thriving cooperation mechanism that groups the world's five leading emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Description

The 24th annual Long Island Guitar Festival will held April 13 to 17, 2016 on the LIU Post campus of Long Island University in Brookville, NY USA.



The concerts for the 2016 festival will feature Andrew York, Berta Rojas, David Starobin, Ronn McFarlane, and Hilary Field.

We will also feature the National High School Classical Guitar Competition, Ensemble Showcases and the LIGF Guitar Orchestra as well as master classes and workshops.

The Long Island Guitar now in its 24th season will provide a unique opportunity for students and the general public to see world-class artists teaching and performing.

Click here for the full schedule.
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Manan Vatsyayana | AFP | Getty Images. The trail of breadcrumbs from a troubled Malaysian state investment fund took another twist Tuesday when Swiss authorities said some of the money ended up in the movie business.

The trail of breadcrumbs from a troubled Malaysian state investment fund took another twist Tuesday when Swiss authorities said some of the money ended up in the movie business.

On Monday, an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC), and its subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS, said that they never received $3.5 billion in payments from troubled 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The payments were related to a guarantee for a bond placed by Goldman Sachs (GS).

Instead, the payments appear to have been sent to a nearly identically named firm registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Aabar Investments PJS Ltd.

Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General said on Tuesday that as part of its criminal investigation of suspected embezzlement from 1MDB, it was extending its probe to two former officials in charge of Abu Dhabi sovereign funds.

"The Swiss authorities have elements in hand allowing them to suspect that the amounts paid in connection with this guarantee were not returned to the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund that supported the commercial risk," the Swiss statement said. "To the contrary, these funds would have benefited others, particularly two public officials concerned as well as a company related to the motion picture industry. A former 1MDB body, already indicted in the Swiss proceedings has also benefited from these amounts."

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing global investigators, that much of the financing for the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "Wolf of Wall Street" originated from 1MDB. The investigators said that the movie's $100 million budget came from a company called Red Granite Pictures, which is led by Riza Aziz, the step-son of Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak, the WSJ reported.

Additionally, the United Arab Emirates' central bank has ordered a freeze on the assets of Khadem Al Qubaisi, formerly the managing director of IPIC, and former Aabar CEO Mohamed Badawy, banking sources told Reuters last week. The reason for the freeze was unclear, Reuters said.

Story continues

Swiss authorities asked Singapore and Luxembourg for "mutual legal assistance" in the matter. In January, the Swiss authorities said in a statement that Malaysia had been asked for legal assistance over around $4 billion that may have been misappropriated from Malaysian state enterprises in four instances over 2009-2013.

On Monday, 1MDB said in a statement that it was surprised by IPIC's statement denying ownership of Aabar BVI. 1MDB said its own records show "documentary evidence" of Aabar BVI's ownership, but the Malaysian fund didn't provide more detail beyond adding that the agreement was negotiated with Khadem and Badawy.

The 1MDB board is headed by Najib, who has been plagued by WSJ reports that as much as $700 million passed from 1MDB to his personal bank accounts. Najib has vociferously denied any wrongdoing.

In January, Malaysia's Attorney-General cleared Najib of any corruption or criminal offences, saying that $681 million transferred into Najib's personal bank account was not from 1MDB but was, in fact, a gift from a member of Saudi Arabia's royal family.

The fund remains at the center of several international investigations into its financial dealings.

Red Granite Pictures did not immediately return an email sent outside office hours Tuesday requesting comment. The office of Malaysia's prime minister didn't respond to an email on Tuesday requesting comment.

On Wednesday afternoon, 1MDB said via email that it hadn't been contacted by any foreign legal authorities on any matters related to the fund, but it added "we remain committed to fully cooperating with any lawful authority and investigation."

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.



By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1





More From CNBC


According to Reuters, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA has agreed to pay about $1 billion for a controlling stake in the online retailer, Lazada, marking its biggest overseas investment so far.



Headquartered in Singapore, Lazada is a Southeast Asian e-Commerce company founded by Rocket Internet in 2012. The company works with third-party players and develops its own logistics to improve goods delivery. It operates retail websites in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.



For the first nine months of 2015, Lazadas revenues surged 81% to $190.0 million, while active customers more than tripled to 7.3 million. For 2014, Lazada recorded net revenue of $154.3 million, up 104.4% from $75.5 million in 2013. However, net operating losses were $152.5 million, wider than a loss of $67 million in the prior year.



Why Lazada?



Historically, Southeast Asian countries have attracted investors from across the globe thanks to solid growth rates, booming populations and generally good governance.



Through the investment in Lazada, Alibaba will gain entrance into a nascent but very populous online retailing market with a population of 560 million. According to consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan, the e-Commerce market for business-to-consumer sales across Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand was just $10.5 billion in 2015, or 1.5% of total retail volume.



Therefore, the fact that the South East Asian e-Commerce market is still at a nascent stage is a huge advantage for Alibaba.



Also, Alibaba is dependent on China for the major portion of its business where growth has already reached its peak. In the last three months of 2015, the total value of goods transacted on the company's e-Commerce sites witnessed the slowest annual growth rate in more than three years.



So this investment comes at an opportune time. The deal is in line with Alibabas Chairman Jack Mas goal of getting at least half the companys revenues from overseas over the next few years. The Lazada deal will expand its sales in six Southeast Asian markets.



Not only Lazada, the Chinese company also has a stake in the logistics firm Singapore Post Ltd.

With this and other investments, Alibaba will likely be able to establish a beachhead in the emerging e-Commerce markets of India and Indonesia, to name a few. The markets are growing quickly, but e-Commerce still has relatively low penetration rates.



Alibabas President Michael Evans said in a statement, Globalization is a critical strategy for the growth of Alibaba Group today and well into the future... With the investment in Lazada, Alibaba gains access to a platform with a large and growing consumer base outside China, a proven management team and a solid foundation for future growth in one of the most promising regions for eCommerce globally.



To Conclude



Alibaba has been focusing on both developing and mature e-Commerce markets outside China where it already has 80% share.



In this regard, Alibaba has been investing in relatively nascent and growing markets like India and other untapped South Asian markets.



Getting in early will enable the company to take share, thus generating higher revenues and profits.



Alibaba has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).



Some better-ranked stocks in the same space are Travelport Worldwide Limited TVPT, Stamps.com Inc. STMP and Groupon, Inc. GRPN. While Travelport and Stamps.com sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Groupon has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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A Bangladeshi Dhaka University Art Institute student paints a mural as a part of Bengali New Year preparations in Dhaka on April 11, 2016 (AFP Photo/Munir uz Zaman) (AFP/File)

A Bangladeshi rights group has cancelled a planned "rainbow rally" to mark the Bengali New Year, which had been threatened by Islamists who said the secular festival was un-Islamic, organisers said Wednesday.

The street parade, planned for Thursday, was scrapped over permit issues, according to organisers from the Roopbaan group which promotes freedom of love and gender equality in the Muslim-majority nation.

"We've decided to scrap the Rainbow Rally this year as we did not have official permission from the authorities," an organiser told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

There was no immediate comment from officials.

The group had earlier vowed to press ahead with the colourful New Year event despite online posts by Islamists against the rally, with calls to beat up parade participants posted on Facebook.

The threats come after hardline clerics branded the Bengali new year celebrations, in which people carry masks of animals and colourful garlands, as "un-Islamic and Haram (forbidden)".

It's been two years since Roopbaan first launched the parade, which it says celebrates "diversity and friendship".

Authorities have banned outdoor evening concerts and masks, commonly worn during the new year parades, as part of increased security.

Police have also stepped up their hunt for Islamic militants as Bangladesh reels from a series of deadly attacks on religious minorities and foreigners in recent months.

In 2001 a new year bomb blast in Dhaka's Ramna Park killed 10 people. Eight Islamist militants were sentenced to death for the attack.

Roopbaan is also a platform for promoting the rights of LGBT Bangladeshis, seeking to spread awareness and tolerance in a nation where same-sex love is a punishable offence.
(Adds vice president audio message calls for national unity govt, Rousseff aide labels vice president a conspirator, stronger currency)

By Maria Carolina Marcello and Lisandra Paraguassu

BRASILIA, April 11 (Reuters) - A committee of Brazil's lower house of Congress voted 38-27 on Monday to recommend the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, who faces charges of breaking budget laws to support her re-election in 2014.

A vote in the full lower house is expected to take place on Sunday. If two-thirds vote in favor, the impeachment will be sent to the Senate.

If the upper house decides by a simple majority to put Rousseff on trial, she will immediately be suspended for up to six months while the Senate decides her fate, and Vice President Michel Temer will take office as acting president.

It would be the first impeachment of a Brazilian president since 1992 when Fernando Collor de Mello faced massive protests for his ouster on corruption charges and resigned moments before his conviction by the Senate.

Rousseff's chief of staff Jaques Wagner said the president was "perplexed and saddened" by the committee vote. A former leftist guerrilla, she has denied any wrongdoing and rallied the rank and file of her Workers' Party to oppose what she has called a coup against a democratically elected president.

Rousseff, caught in a political storm fueled by Brazil's worst recession in decades and the country's biggest corruption scandal, has lost key coalition allies in Congress, including her main partner, vice president Temer's PMDB party.

The rift between Rousseff and her vice president reached breaking point on Monday after an audio message of Temer calling for a government of national unity was released apparently by mistake, further muddying Brazil's political water.

Temer's 14-minute audio message sent to members of his own PMDB party via the WhatsApp messaging app showed he was preparing to take over if Rousseff is forced from office.

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The audio was posted on the website of the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper and confirmed to Reuters by Temer's aides as authentic. Aides said it was accidentally released and they quickly sent another message asking legislators to disregard it.

In his message, Temer said he did not want to get ahead of events, but he had to show the country he was ready to lead it if needed.

"We need a government of national salvation and national unity," Temer said in the audio. "We need to unite all the political parties, and all the parties should be ready to collaborate to drag Brazil out of this crisis."

Rousseff's chief of staff called the vice president a "conspirator" and said he should resign if Rousseff survives impeachment.

"Having joined the conspiracy, he should resign when it is defeated, because the climate will become unbearable," Wagner told reporters.

Wagner said the government will continue working to muster enough votes to block impeachment in the lower house, encouraged by the fact that in committee the opposition had not won the two thirds it will need in the plenary.

The committee vote, however, is expected to sway undecided lawmakers to vote for Rousseff's removal, said Claudio Couto, a politics professor at the Fundacao Getulio Vargas think tank.

"It has a snowball effect. With each approval, the chances of impeachment clearing the next chamber increases," Couto said. "The wider the margin, the more momentum impeachment will gather."

POLARIZED COUNTRY

The latest moves in Brazil's political crisis have the country on edge as it faces not only a government meltdown but its worst recession in decades. The political chaos in the capital, Brasilia, is playing out less than 100 days before the nation plays host to the first Olympic Games to be held in South America - an event that will cast the world's eyes on Brazil.

The battle over Rousseff's impeachment has polarized the nation of 200 million people and brought the government of Latin America's largest economy to a virtual standstill.

The proposed impeachment is also taking place as Brazil faces its largest corruption investigation, targeting a sprawling kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras.

Prosecutors say billions in bribes were paid over several years and have implicated not only members of Rousseff's Workers' Party but members of the opposition leading the charge to impeach her.

Eduardo Cunha, the speaker of Brazil's lower house, a Rousseff enemy who is guiding the impeachment proceedings, faces charges of accepting millions in bribes in connection to the Petrobras case, while the head of Brazil's Senate is also caught up in the investigation.

To battle to prevent impeachment approval in the full lower house vote, Rousseff's government is trying to win over lawmakers by offering government jobs that became vacant when the PMDB quit her governing coalition two weeks ago.

The Brazilian real strengthened nearly 3 percent before Monday's vote to an eight-month peak on expectations that the committee would decide to impeach Rousseff. Investors are betting that her removal will issue in more business-friendly policies to pull Brazil's economy out of a tailspin

(Additional reporting by Brad Brooks in Brasilia and Pilar Olivares in Rio de Janeiro; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Alistair Bell, Peter Cooney and Michael Perry)
SAO PAULO, April 13 (Reuters) - The Brazilian government attracted builders for only 14 out of 24 lots of power transmission lines offered in a licensing round on Wednesday as companies remain cautious in the country's tough economic environment.

The government was looking for companies to build and operate 6,500 km (4,000 miles) of transmission lines in 20 Brazilian states that would connect new generation capacity to the grid.

Despite failing to place all the lots on offer, it celebrated bringing newcomers to the sector such as investment fund Patria Investimentos and construction group WTorre.

"This is excellent," said Jose Jurhosa, a director at Brazil's electricity watchdog Aneel.

"Maybe the way we managed to structure the auction, forming smaller lots, made possible more participation, with companies that are not traditional players in the sector," he said.

The 14 lots that found buyers will require estimated investments of 6.7 billion reais ($1.92 billion), according to the government.

China State Grid was again active in the auction, as in previous rounds, taking two lots.

Energy group Alupar also snapped two lots, and Taesa, controlled jointly by local power company Cemig and the Coliseu fund, got another lot.

State-run company Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA again remained on the sidelines, as it tries to streamline its portfolio and focus on generation.

Other traditional power companies operating in Brazil, such as Cteep, also did not bid.

($1 = 3.485 reais) (Reporting by Luciano Costa; Writing by Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by James Dalgleish)
WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - A California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) administrative law judge recommended approving Charter Communications Inc proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks with conditions, according to a decision made public late on Tuesday.

The decision, which faces a vote by the commission as early as May 12, comes as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission continues its review of the transactions that would make Charter the No. 2 U.S. Internet and cable company after Comcast Corp.

Charter said in May it would buy Time Warner Cable, the fourth-largest U.S. cable company, in a $56 billion cash-and-stock deal. Charter also announced in March 2015 it would buy Bright House Networks in a $10.4 billion deal.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese)
(Adds details from proposed decision)

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - A California administrative law judge recommended approving Charter Communications Inc's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks with some significant conditions, according to a decision made public late on Tuesday.

California is the last state where the deal still faces approval. The approval by various states is in addition to a decision by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which is continuing its review of the transactions that would make Charter the No. 2 U.S. internet and cable company after Comcast Corp.

In California, the decision faces a vote by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) as early as May 12.

Charter said last May it would buy Time Warner Cable, the fourth-largest U.S. cable company, in a $56 billion cash-and-stock deal. Charter also announced in March 2015 it would buy Bright House Networks in a $10.4 billion deal.

In his proposed decision, CPUC Administrative Law Judge Karl Bemesderfer found that the merger was "in the public interest."

But the 70-page proposed decision imposes significant conditions on Charter. Within two and a half years of closing the transaction, Charter must convert all households in its California service territory to an all-digital platform with download speeds of not less than 60 Mbps - higher speeds than many users currently have.

In addition, Charter must offer all customers in California the option of acquiring their own modems and cable set-top boxes without any price increases.

The proposed decision also says Charter must comply with the FCC's open internet "net neutrality" order - even if a federal appeals court strikes it down. A court ruling on the FCC order could come as early as this week.

California's five-member commission often amends a proposed decision before approving it. A commissioner could also propose an alternate decision.

Charter said in a statement late Tuesday it was "pleased the regulatory process is moving forward and will continue our productive engagement at the California Public Utilities Commission as we work toward obtaining final approval in the weeks ahead and bringing the benefits of New Charter to more Californians."

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The proposed decision would impose other restrictions on Charter for three years: It could not adopt fees for users to use specific third-party internet applications and could not engage in usage-based billing or impose data caps during that time frame.

Last week, Charter's chief executive met with the head of the FCC on the proposed tie-ups.

New Charter would be the third-largest pay-TV provider in the country, serving roughly 17.3 million customers, and the second-largest broadband provider, with 19.4 million subscribers in nearly 40 states.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese)
By David Ljunggren and Rod Nickel OTTAWA/WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Canadian legislators told an emergency parliamentary session on Tuesday night that a rash of suicide attempts by aboriginal teenagers in a remote, poverty-stricken community was "completely unacceptable" and vowed steps to keep it from happening again. Over the past weekend alone, 11 members of the Attawapiskat First Nation community in northern Ontario tried to kill themselves, prompting the chief to declare a state of emergency. Separately, a second group was hospitalized on Monday after suicide attempts. The incident shocked the country, even though it is used to tragedies involving its 1.4 million aboriginals, who largely live in poverty, have a lower life expectancy than other Canadians and are more often victims of violent crime. Health Minister Jane Philpott said the suicide rates among aboriginal youth were at least 10 times higher than for the general population of young people. Aboriginals make up about 4 percent of Canada's population. "It is a staggering reality, it is completely unacceptable ... there is nothing more devastating than realizing someone has reached the point of no hope," she told the emergency debate in the House of Commons. "Tonight has to be a turning point for us as a country in order to decide together that we will do better," she said. Canada's new Liberal government said last month it would spend an extra C$8.37 billion ($6.54 billion) over five years to help the aboriginal population deal with dire living conditions. In Attawapiskat, 28 people attempted suicide in March, some of them adults, health officials said. Children as young as 11 were among those who tried to kill themselves during the past few days and police began 24-hour patrols in response to the crisis. Charlie Angus, a federal legislator from the opposition New Democrats whose constituency includes Attawapiskat, said Canada had betrayed its aboriginal youth. "The greatest tragedy in this nation is that we would waste a generation of children. What squander of potential," he said. "We failed them. It has to stop." The federal government and other authorities have sent 18 additional staff to Attawapiskat, including counselors, mental health workers and police. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called the suicide attempts "heartbreaking," took power last year promising to improve aboriginal living conditions. He did not attend the debate. 'WE FEEL ISOLATED' The reasons for the attempted suicides are varied, but local leaders point to an underlying despondency and pessimism among their people as well as an increasing number of prescription drug overdoses. Living in isolated communities with chronic unemployment and crowded housing, some young aboriginals lack clean water but have easy Internet access, giving them a glimpse of affluence in the rest of Canada. Attawapiskat, 965 km (600 miles) north of Ottawa on James Bay, is only accessible by plane or winter ice road. "We feel isolated - we don't feel part of the rest of the world," said Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, who represents 30 aboriginal communities. Attawapiskat, which has 2,000 people and is near a diamond mine, has declared five states of emergency since 2006. It previously sounded the alarm over flooding and raw sewage issues, poor drinking water and a housing crisis. Declaring a state of emergency is a symbolic move and does not legally oblige Ottawa to take action, said a government spokeswoman. The problems plaguing aboriginals gained prominence in January when a gunman killed four people in La Loche, Saskatchewan. An aboriginal teenager was charged in the shootings. Legislators complained during the debate that Ottawa had not yet delivered all the extra aid it had promised La Loche. Another Canadian aboriginal community in the western province of Manitoba reported six suicides in two months and 140 suicide attempts in two weeks. "An individual attempt at suicide is bad enough itself, but if there seems to be a group thing, it's even more cause for alarm," said National Chief Perry Bellegarde of the Assembly of First Nations, Canada's main aboriginal political group. In 2011, the U.N. special rapporteur for indigenous people said he was "deeply concerned" about living conditions in Attawapiskat. Resident Jackie Hookimaw-Witt, whose teenage niece committed suicide last autumn, said it was the third attempt for one 13-year-old girl who survived on Saturday. She said the girl had been challenged to kill herself on social media. In Cross Lake, Manitoba, dozens of people, many of them youths, have attempted suicide this year, said community health director Helga Hamilton. In some cases, teenagers talked about group suicide before trying to kill themselves separately. ($1=$1.28 Canadian) (Additional reporting by Alastair Sharp, Ethan Lou and Andrea Hopkins in Toronto; Editing by Grant McCool and Peter Cooney)
KITCHENER, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Apr 13, 2016) - Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Today, the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, accompanied by the Honourable Bardish Chagger, Minister of Small Business and Tourism, announced investments of approximately $19.6 million in seven new projects through the Government of Canada's Automotive Supplier Innovation Program.

The ministers made the announcement at Pravala Car in Kitchener, which will receive a contribution of up to $9.7 million to develop a platform that provides reliable and uninterrupted Internet connectivity in vehicles.

From the software and systems that will define the autonomous and connected cars of tomorrow to the lighter and stronger parts that will help make cars more environmentally friendly, Canada's automotive supply chain is at the centre of Canadian automotive innovation. The Automotive Supplier Innovation Program supports this innovation and helps Canadian suppliers take full advantage of new opportunities in a sector that is driven by modern technologies.

The Government of Canada continues to invest in small and medium-sized businesses that are bringing new technologies from early stage development to the global automotive marketplace. In addition to today's investments, the Government, as announced in Budget 2016, will extend the Automotive Innovation Fund through to the end of 2020-21, a program that was scheduled to sunset at the end of the 2017-18 fiscal year.

Quote

"These projects under the Automotive Supplier Innovation Program demonstrate how Canada's innovative automotive suppliers are developing the green technologies that will shape the cars of the future. Through our efforts, in addition to the Budget 2016 commitment to extend the Automotive Innovation Fund to the end of 2020-21, we are helping Canada's automotive sector to innovate, grow and improve its global competitiveness."

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- The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development

Quick facts

Canada's automotive sector is the country's largest manufacturing sector, producing over 2 million vehicles per year, roughly one car every 13 seconds.

It employs some 121,500 Canadians directly and another 390,700 indirectly with the largest job multiplier of any sector: six jobs for every assembly job.

Canada has an opportunity to draw on its research strengths in areas such as automotive lightweighting and information and communications technologies to help design and build the cars of the future. As announced in Budget 2016, the Government will extend the Automotive Innovation Fund through to the end of 2020-21 so that this expertise can be deployed together with partners and stakeholders.

Follow Minister Bains on Twitter: @MinisterISED

Backgrounder

Automotive Supplier Innovation Program

On April 13, 2016, the Government of Canada announced $19.6 million in funding for seven new projects under the Automotive Supplier Innovation Program (ASIP). This program helps Canadian automotive suppliers gain a competitive edge through the development of new innovative products and processes.

Pravala Car in Kitchener, Ontario, will develop a platform that provides reliable and uninterrupted network connectivity to vehicles (a contribution of up to $9.7 million).

Exco Technologies Limited in Markham, Ontario, will make large high-pressure die-cast moulds for power train and structural parts using less steel, thereby reducing waste and enabling faster production of these automotive components (a contribution of up to $4.6 million).

Verbom Inc. in Sherbrooke, Quebec, will develop its process used in forming complex aluminum body panels and parts, leading to reduced overall vehicle fuel consumption (a contribution of up to $2.6 million).

The Electromac Group in Windsor, Ontario, will develop an innovative prototype and process that involves using hot stamping technology to produce small components that are stronger and lighter (a contribution of up to $1.5 million).

Axiom Plastics in Aurora, Ontario, will produce a new hybrid plastic/fabric vehicle component that will be lighter than the current component and will provide increased noise and emissions reduction (a contribution of up to $881,000).

Mojio in Vancouver, British Columbia, will develop cloud-connected solutions to improve driver connectivity (a contribution of up to $260,000).

Landau Gage in Windsor, Ontario, will use its unique laser measurement technology to reduce measurement and inspection time of automotive drive train products (a contribution of up to $121,000).

Launched in 2015, ASIP complements the government's Automotive Innovation Fund, which has leveraged over $3.1 billion in Canada's auto industry since 2008. Each ASIP project is assessed against program criteria to ensure that it meets all terms and conditions. Contributions from the government cover up to 50 percent of the eligible costs. As part of Budget 2016, the Government of Canada will extend the Automotive Innovation Fund, currently scheduled to be phased out at the end of 201718, through to the end of 202021. Going forward, the government has also committed to examining approaches that will allow federal support to be more effective, including assessing the terms of the Automotive Innovation Fund.

Canadian automotive suppliers export parts globally and are integral to Canada's automotive sector, accounting for about $30 billion in sales. Manufacturers are looking to meet demands for fuel-efficient vehicles with sophisticated technologies, which creates new opportunities for Canadian automotive suppliers to develop and supply components.

Canada has strengths in traditional automotive supply chains, including as tool, die and mould makers, but also has a large IT sector specializing more and more in products and solutions for the automotive sector. In order to take advantage of important opportunities and grow their business, automotive suppliers must innovate and make new product development a cornerstone of their business strategies.

In 2015, Ontario was the second-largest vehicle-producing jurisdiction in North America, with five global original equipment manufacturers and a strong and established cluster of about 700 parts suppliers.

To learn more about the Automotive Supplier Innovation Program, including application criteria, please consult our website at http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/auto-auto.nsf/eng/h_am02377.html.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese online food-delivery service company Ele.me has raised $1.25 billion from Alibaba Group Holding and its arm, Ant Financial Services Group, according to an Ele.me statement on its official Weibo microblog on Wednesday.

Ele.me said Alibaba invested $900 million while Ant Financial invested $350 million. It didn't provide any further details of the transaction.

Ele.me, which roughly translates as 'Hungry Now?', is part of a trend in China for what is known as online-to-offline (O2O) services. These include taxi hailing and restaurant review apps that link smartphone users with offline businesses.

Alibaba did not have an immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.

Leading business weekly Caixin reported in December that Alibaba had agreed to invest $1.25 billion in the food-delivery firm for a 27.7 percent stake.

(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk and Adam Jourdan; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
By Xiaoyi Shao and Kevin Yao

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's exports in March returned to growth for the first time in nine months, adding to further signs of stabilisation in the world's second-largest economy that cheered regional investors.

March exports rose a blistering 11.5 percent from a year earlier, the first increase since June and the largest percentage rise since February 2015.

Fears of a hard landing in China even as policymakers press on with tough reforms to rebalance the economy have rattled financial markets, with investors eagerly hunting for tentative signs the economic slump may be bottoming.

Economists, however, warned that Wednesday's data was not evidence of stronger global demand as it was heavily skewed by base effects and seasonal distortions from the Lunar New Year.

And despite signs of green shoots for China, first quarter GDP data on Friday is expected to show the economy growing at its slowest pace since the financial crisis. Combined with tepid inflation, that is likely to keep Chinese monetary policy loose for some time yet.

Investors celebrated, nevertheless, with key Chinese stock indexes hitting three-month highs and the yuan firming, while regional stock markets and the Australian dollar (AUD=), which often trades as a proxy to Chinese growth, also firmed.

"China's foreign trade sector will likely improve from last year due to low comparables, but the improvement will not be dramatic, as the trends in external markets are not great," said Wang Tie Shi, economist with Industrial Securities.

The upside surprise comes after other March economic indicators hinted of slight improvements in the broader economy, although other surveys have shown intensifying downward pressure on wages and employment.

Imports continued to fall but less than expected, declining by 7.6 percent in dollar denominated terms and volumes of most major commodities, notably copper and iron ore, rose strongly.

That left the country with a trade surplus of $29.86 billion for the month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed, versus a forecast of $30.85 billion.

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"I think we should focus on the better-than-expected imports growth rate, which means domestic demand is also recovering, driven by infrastructure investment and also the real estate sector recovery," said Ma Xiaoping, analyst at HSBC.

MOMENTOUS SHIFT

China's slowdown might not be quite as severe as first feared but its "momentous" shift from investment-led growth is still having a chilling effect on trade globally, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

The IMF estimates every 1 percentage point investment-driven drop in China's GDP, cut growth for the entire Group of 20 nations by 0.25 percentage points.

"Even countries that have few direct trade linkages with China are being affected through the Chinese slowdown's impact on prices of commodities and manufactured goods, and on global confidence and risk sentiment," the Fund said.

Regardless, overseas investors also appeared inspired by the trade data. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 1.7 percent and Japanese shares (.N225) gained 2.8 percent.

Tony Nash, managing partner at advisory firm Complete Intelligence, which focuses on global trade flows, sees China's exports and imports stabilising over the next six months.

"As we close out Q2 and enter Q3, we'll see more stable trade data before starting to see sustainable, small rises in both sides," Nash said, adding data should be much less volatile in the second half as currencies and commodities stabilise.

NOT OUT OF WOODS YET

Economists polled by Reuters had expected March exports to rise 2.5 percent, after tumbling 25.4 percent in February - the worst showing since May 2009, and expected imports to fall 10.2 percent, based on weakness in global demand.

"Data across other Asian economies suggest that the headwinds in the trade sector remain," Zhou Hao, economist at Commerzbank in Singapore, said in a research note.

Still, markets were relieved to see a surge in China's demand for commodities, with copper arrivals hitting a record in March and pushing up first quarter imports by 30 percent from a year earlier. Exports to key markets such as the United States and Europe also posted double digit month-on-month gains.

China's rising exports are also due in some part to a successful move up the value chain by mid-tier manufacturers.

"China's export sector is not losing competitiveness. In fact, China is increasing its share of other countries' imports, even though the global volume of trade has been sadly stagnant in recent years," HSBC wrote in a research note.

Even as Chinese factories have learned to build more expensive car components and wind turbines, they have been shedding capacity in lower-end sectors like textiles and outsourcing such production to neighboring countries.

Premier Li Keqiang said last week that China's economic indicators showed signs of improvement in the first quarter but a sluggish world economy and volatile markets were undermining gains.

The government is aiming for economic growth of 6.5 to 7 percent this year, following 6.9 percent growth last year - the weakest pace in a quarter of a century.

(Additional reporting by Jessica Macy Yu and by Elias Glenn in SHANGHAI; Writing by Pete Sweeney; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Jacqueline Wong)
Mexican Railroads Shine as US and Canadian Railroads Slump

(Continued from Prior Part)

BNSF Railways total railcars

BNSF Railway (BRK-B) operates in the Western US. Its main competitor is Union Pacific (UNP). BNSF Railways total railcar units for the week ended April 2, 2016, fell by 21.3% to ~83,000 units from around 105,000 units in the week ended April 4, 2015. This fall is significant given BNSFs magnitude of operations. Excluding coal and coke, BNSFs other railcars also declined by 4.5% in the week ended April 2, 2016. You should note that BNSFs fall in total railcars was higher than the average decline in railcars for all reporting US railroads last week.

Why coal matters for BNSF

BNSF Railways coal and coke railcars were down by a remarkable 43% in the week ended April 2, 2016, compared with the corresponding week in 2015. The company moved 26,000 units of coal and coke in the week ended April 2, 2016, against 46,000 units in the corresponding period of 2015. Coal transportation contributed nearly 22% of freight revenues for fiscal 2015.

90% of all BNSFs coal originates from the Powder River Basin (or PRB) of Wyoming and Montana. The major coal producers operating in that area include Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) and Peabody Energy (BTU). These companies have lowered their 2016 coal shipment guidance from the levels in 2015. Overall, environmental concerns and competition from natural gas have hampered incremental coal shipment prospects for coal producers in 2016.

All the major US railroads make up 21% of the iShares Transportation Average ETF (IYT).

Progressing and regressing commodities

The main front runner commodities for the week ended April 2, 2016, were:

chemicals

motor vehicles

iron and steel scrap

non-metallic minerals

Those commodities that witnessed backward movement include grain, metallic ores, petroleum, stone, clay and glass, and forest products.

For more information on the previous weeks rail traffic, visit Market Realists North American Railroads as of March 26: Slipping off the Tracks. In the next part, we will go through the details of BNSF Railways intermodal traffic.

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SAO PAULO, April 13 (Reuters) - Brazilian steelmaker CSN has asked the nation's antitrust watchdog for permission to appoint members to the board of rival Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA, in which it owns a significant stake, because it is dissatisfied with some directors, Valor Economico newspaper said on Wednesday.

Cia Siderurgica Nacional SA, as the company is formally known, says the two board members representing minority shareholders in Usiminas have failed to meet their fiduciary duty, Valor reported, citing CSN Vice President Paulo Caffarelli.

Cade, as the Brasilia-based regulator is known, had ruled in March 2015 that CSN could not have direct participation in the board of Usiminas, which is jointly controlled by Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp and Techint Group.

According to Caffarelli, CSN sought Cade's permission to appoint a combined three members to Usiminas' board of directors and financial committee, Valor said.

None of the companies had an immediate comment on the Valor report.

CSN is Brazil's most indebted steelmaker and ranks third in the nation's flat steel market, behind Usiminas.

Usiminas is struggling with a rift between Nippon Steel and Techint as well as fallout from Brazil's worst recession in over a century. CSN had 14.1 percent of Usiminas' voting shares and 20.7 percent of the non-voting stock at the start of last year.

CSN spent about 3 billion reais ($860 million) throughout 2011, when it started to buy shares of Usiminas ahead of the entry of Techint into the company's controlling bloc. The stake is currently worth less than 500 million reais, according to Valor.

($1 = 3.4875 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
What Can We Expect from the Alaska AirVirgin America Deal?

(Continued from Prior Part)

JetBlue loses additional exposure to the West Coast

JetBlue (JBLU) has a strong presence on the East Coast with a major presence in New York, Boston, and the Caribbean. The airline has a much less commanding presence on the West Coast. However, California-based Virgin America (VA) has a strong presence on the West Coast, especially in Los Angeles and its base of operations, San Francisco.

Alaska Air Group (ALK) also has a significant presence on the West Coast, although the routes are significantly different than Virgin Americas routes. For more details, please read Alaska Air Group Can Derive Route Benefits from the Acquisition.

A Virgin America acquisition would have not only given JetBlue (JBLU) a stronger West Coast presence, it also would have made it a formidable competitor to Alaska Air Group (ALK) in that region. The merger would have also strengthened JBLUs transcontinental routes.

Future course of action

One possible way forward is that JetBlue (JBLU) may look to expand throughout the West Coast through the organic route. However, strong growth for JBLU in the region looks difficult because Alaska Air Groups position is expected to get stronger after the merger.

Also, there are limited slots available at San Francisco International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. In our view, JetBlue may do better to focus on becoming an East Coast specialist.

Also, JetBlue can now focus on strengthening its balance sheet, which was one of the reasons that it could not outbid Alaska Air. An acquisition of Virgin America (VA) would have led to more debt and would have worsened its balance sheet.

JetBlue (JBLU) forms 2.6% of the SPDR S&P Transportation ETF (XTN).

Outbid Alaska Air?

Another possibility is that JetBlue may come up with a counterbid for Virgin America. However, this seems unlikely given the fact that Alaska Air Group has already paid a hefty premium for Virgin America. To learn more, please read Is Virgin America Really Worth the Premium Alaska Is Paying?

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Next, we will discuss how the Alaska Air-Virgin America deal can impact Delta Air Lines (DAL).

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china prison police kick

For the past year or so, ad tech companies had been selling "header bidding"  the hacky workaround used a way to chip away at Google's huge ad tech monopoly  as one of their competitive advantages over rivals.

But now Google has effectively stamped it out.

As AdExchanger first reported and Google announced on Wednesday, has also begun testing allowing ad exchanges outside of its own AdX access to its "Dynamic Allocation" product.

Test partners include Index Exchange and Rubicon Project.

So why does this do away with the need for header bidding ... and what is header bidding anyway)?

To understand the answer to that question, you need to get to grips with what header bidding is and why it rose in popularity in the first place.

As the CEO of ad tech startup Beeswax, Ari Paparo, explained in a Business Insider article last year, virtually every publisher uses Google's DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) technology to serve ads on their websites.

Google DFP gave publishers the option to switch on the Dynamic Allocation product, which was closely tied to Google's AdX. That product allows AdX to compete directly with the ad slots sold by publishers' in-house sales forces.

Most of the time, in-house sales forces sell ads at a higher price than ads sold programmatically (in other words, using ad tech to make the ad buying process automated.)

However, there are occasions when ad tech can win out because they use cookies to build profiles on users based on their browsing behavior.

One example: Users that have previously been searching for vacations in Barbados are hugely valuable to travel companies, who are willing to bid a lot of money to serve ads to them. But a publisher's salesforce might not even know they have been visiting the site.

That's where ad tech can win. And publishers win too, because they sell their ads at a higher price.

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The problem for ad tech, when it came to DFP, is that only Google's AdX was being able to compete with the internal sales-forces for those audiences. Google's AdX didn't let third-party exchanges enter bids for those impressions. Everyone else had to wait for a slot that became available after the direct deals were sold.

That's where header bidding came in

How Header Bidding Works

Ad tech companies figured out a workaround. They asked publishers to insert a special piece of code into the header of their web pages that sent out the ad request before Google's DFP could take a look. And so header bidding was born.

The header bidding concept was created some years ago  Paparo says ad tech company AppNexus probably created the idea in 2009, although other people have claimed credit.

Now, use of header bidding is widespread. A report from BI Intelligence published earlier this year suggested almost 70% of publishers claim to have adopted header bidding technology, compared to almost zero two years ago.

In recent months, ad tech company, after ad tech company, after ad tech company, after ad tech company have been touting their new header bidding solutions.

Is header bidding no more?

baby wave

Paparo certainly thinks so.

"The announcement from Google today essentially removes the need for header bidding. Google is saying, that if you are a reputable exchange or source of demand, and the publisher wants you to integrate into DFP they're going to let you bid against the direct sold inventory without having to go through AdX. It's like Microsoft letting you install Linux on your PC," he told Business Insider.

Paparo thinks that's good news for publishers as it gives them what they want. He says it's also "pretty good news" for ad tech companies with ad exchanges and demand-side platforms (DSPs) as they get access to more ad inventory without paying a "AdX" tax.

In fact, he thinks it's "marginally bad news for Google" as the company is now giving away one of its key advantages  but it's most likely that Google is simply acknowledging that the market had moved on and it needed to follow.

Tom Shields, AppNexus SVP of strategy for the ad tech company's publisher technology group, is a little more suspicious about whether Google's move are well-intended.

He said: "If Google has finally embraced open dynamic allocation, thats a good thing for publishers, and we welcome them to the party. If theyre providing tools to help publishers see exactly whats happening inside their auctions, all the better. If, on the other hand, this proves to be just another measure to create artificial advantages and disadvantages in the market, then its the same old game."

In the blog post, DoubleClick director of product management Jonathan Bellack explains that the company is simply trying to help publishers make more money, without "compromising the user experience"  referring to how header bidding code can slow page load time down for users.

A spokesperson for OpenX, an ad tech company that has previously credited publisher adoption of header bidding technology as helping to grow its revenues, takes Google's side: "Along with Google, OpenX agrees that server to server is the best way forward for managing multiple header bidding tags. Server to server is a long term scalable solution, one that can also provide unprecedented levels of transparency and control, both of which are core to the relationship OpenX enjoys with publishers and buyers."

In addition, Google also announced on Wednesday that all of its DFP clients will now be able to use a new product called "First Look," which allows publishers to give all of its programmatic ad buyers the chance to bid on 100% of their inventory, including ahead of sponsorships and reservations. The product had previously only been available to a test group of publishers.

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Pakistani Army Chief Raheel Sharif (R), pictured on March 23, 2016, says Delhi is hostile to an ambitious economic plan by Beijing and Islamabad for the region (AFP Photo/Aamir Qureshi) (AFP/File)

Pakistan's powerful military chief accused India Tuesday of being "blatantly" involved in attempts to destabilise the country, saying Delhi was hostile to an ambitious economic plan by Beijing and Islamabad for the region.

General Raheel Sharif spoke in the southwestern port of Gwadar, described by officials as the "heart" of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The $46-billion initiative would give Beijing greater access to the Middle East, Africa and Europe through Pakistan, via a new highway to Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea.

It is part of China's ambition to expand its trade and transport footprint in the region, while countering US and Indian influence.

India "has openly challenged this development initiative", Sharif told a one-day seminar in Gwadar, in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

"I would like to make a special reference to Indian intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) that is blatantly involved in destabilising Pakistan," he added.

India has expressed wariness about CPEC in the past, though analysts have said that concerns would only emerge if there are "defence related matters".

Last month, Pakistan protested to Delhi after arresting a man suspected of being an Indian spy in Balochistan, sparking a fresh diplomatic tiff between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

The army has repeatedly claimed that a years-long separatist insurgency in Balochistan is "terrorism" promoted by states hostile to Pakistan such as India.

Pakistani officials hope CPEC will transform Balochistan, Pakistan's largest but least developed province.

Earlier Tuesday, Chinese officials told the seminar that they hope the port will be ready by the end of the year.
(Adds analyst comment, share reaction)

TEL AVIV, April 12 (Reuters) - Israel's antitrust watchdog and the Communications Ministry have opposed Cellcom's plan to buy smaller mobile rival Golan Telecom, paving the way for the possibility that Golan will seek a different buyer.

Cellcom, Israel's largest mobile phone operator, said on Tuesday that it had not yet been given reasons for the decision, but would consider its options when it gets them.

Cellcom agreed to buy Golan for 1.17 billion shekels ($305 million) last November but the deal has faced political opposition and regulatory hurdles.

One of five mobile network operators in Israel, Golan launched in 2012 when the government issued new licences to boost competition in a sector that had been dominated until then by three players.

Golan offered rock-bottom prices that its competitors have struggled to meet and has taken about 10 percent of Israel's mobile market.

Golan, owned by French businessmen Michael Golan and Xavier Niel, has said rejecting the deal would have a negative impact on the market and cause prices to rise.

But Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who was responsible for opening up the cellular market as communications minister, fears that losing one player would reduce competition and lead to higher prices.

Citi analyst Michael Klahr, noting that regulators and politicians have stated they want the market to remain a five player market, said the most likely scenario is one where Golan's owners sell to a third party that will invest in building a network.

"We continue to see high levels of competitive intensity in Israeli mobile for the foreseeable future," said Klahr, who rates both Cellcom and its biggest rival Partner Communications "neutral".

In early trading in New York, Cellcom's shares were down 1.4 percent at $7.23.

Consumers give Golan much credit for offering packages that include unlimited international and local calling, text messages and 6 GB of Internet surfing starting at $8 a month. Such prices have dented the profitability of Cellcom and its rivals.

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As part of its licence, Golan is required to enter into a network-sharing agreement with Cellcom or build its own.

Earlier this year, Niel said Golan had no choice but to merge with another player since a plan to share Cellcom's network was not approved by regulators while municipalities in Israel refused to approve the installation of more antennas.

(Editing by Susan Thomas and Louise Heavens)
khalid ibrahim el bakraoui brothers

ISIS released the latest edition of its English-language propaganda magazine this week, and it provides some clues about the backgrounds of the terrorists who attacked Belgium last month.

Unlike the main players in the Paris attacks that killed 130 people in November, the men who are thought to have carried out the Brussels bombings seem to have been radicalized and trained in Europe.

Authorities have been scrambling to secure Europe's borders to prevent terrorists from returning to the continent after training with extremist groups in Syria, but that might not always be enough to prevent future attacks.

ISIS (also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh) noted in its magazine that the brother suicide bombers in the Brussels attacks were radicalized while imprisoned in Europe.

The magazine, Dabiq, which is aimed at a Western audience, claims that Khalid al-Bakraoui followed the news about "atrocities against Muslims" in Syria while he was incarcerated.

His brother, Ibrahim, claimed to have had a "life-changing dream" while he was in prison that motivated him to fight "the disbelievers."

The brothers had been in prison for violent crimes including car jacking and bank robbery, according to The New York Times.

And while Ibrahim was reportedly deported by Turkey last year because authorities suspected him of trying to travel to Syria, Dabiq does not claim that he ever fought or trained in Syria.

New York Times terrorism correspondent Rukmini Callimachi pointed out on Twitter that what's notable about the biographies of the Brussels attackers in Dabiq is that only one of them, Najim Laacharoui, appears to have traveled to Syria.

Here's her analysis:

1. New issue of ISIS magazine is out, inc bio of Brussels attackers. Of interest is that only Najim Lachraoui seems to have gone to Syria  Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 13, 2016

2. The magazine explains Najim left for Syria and initially joined Absi's group, a battalion initially under Nusra Front before joining ISIS  Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 13, 2016

3. As @bentaub9 reported in his excellent piece, Absi's battalion was funnel through which Belgian jihadists passed https://t.co/ejoGgoaEMn  Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 13, 2016

8. Of equal interest to me is that magazine reveals (via omission) that neither of the Bakraoui brothers travelled to Syria. I wasn't sure.  Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 13, 2016

9. It says that the Bakraoui brothers radicalized in jail in Europe. In a long sequence they describe a dream that 1 of the brothers had  Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 13, 2016

10. The dream foreshadows attack. Whether he actually had this dream is of course unknown. Of interest is mention of Abu Muhammad al-Adnani  Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 13, 2016

11. In dream, attacker encounters Adnani, the ISIS spokesman & crucially the head of the branch inside ISIS dedicated to external attacks  Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 13, 2016

13. By mentioning Adnani, even if he only appears in a dream, it appears ISIS is positioning Brussels attack as under external ops' command  Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 13, 2016

14. & before anyone makes fun of the dream sequence, just remember: dreams are a big deal in jihadi ideology. Seen as prophetic instruments  Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 13, 2016

The Times identified Laacharoui as "one of the key connections" between the Paris and Brussels attackers. He was known as the bomb maker who made weapons for both the Paris and Brussels attacks.

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najim

He was born in Morocco, grew up in Brussels, and went to Syria in 2013, according to the Times.

He lived in the Schaerbeek neighborhood in Brussels when he was a teenager.

The area is now becoming known as a hotspot for jihadist recruitment.

A French police official cast doubt on the claims in Dabiq, telling The Wall Street Journal that it's important not to forget that Dabiq is "a propaganda tool for Islamic State."

The magazine did not give information on the suspects in the attacks who are still at large.

Damage is seen inside the departure terminal following the March 22, 2016 bombing at Zaventem Airport, in these undated photos made available to Reuters by the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, in Brussels, Belgium, March 29, 2016. Het Nieuwsblad via REUTERS

Pieter Van Ostaeyen, a Belgian expert in Islamic affairs, told the Journal that ISIS' claims about how the Bakraoui planned and carried out the attacks are likely exaggerated. Dabiq linked the brothers to both the Paris and Brussels attacks.

"I doubt the Bakraoui brothers had the operational knowledge," Van Ostaeyen told the Journal. "They could have helped easily in providing the weapons, as they were hardened criminals, but I dont see them capable of organizing all of this."

Dabiq articles lauding the terrorists who carry out attacks on Western soil are becoming a regular occurrence in the magazine.

After the Paris attacks, Dabiq featured an interview with one of the architects of the massacre, who bragged about evading authorities and traveling back to Europe from Syria.

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VERONA, Italy (Reuters) - Italy and Alibaba (BABA.N) hope to boost the share of Italian wine sold on the Chinese e-commerce network 10-fold as part of wider moves to increase Italian wine exports to China where it still lags France and other wine-making peers.

In a joint conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Alibaba founder Jack Ma said the aim was to increase the share of Italian wines "from 6 to 60 per cent" of all the bottles it sold on its platform.

"Chinese people have a passion for all things Italian. Alibaba wants to be the gateway to China for Italian brands and small businesses," Ma said, speaking at Italy's Vinitaly wine fair in the northern city of Verona.

Ma, who is also executive chairman of Alibaba, announced the launch of a Wine and Spirits Festival on Sept. 9, an online event aimed at introducing global wine and spirit brands to Chinese consumers.

Italy's reds and whites represent only 5 per cent of Chinese imports, worth an overall 1.8 billion euros ($2 billion), according to a report by think-tank Nomisma.

Alibaba's business-to-consumer marketplace Tmall is already host to more than 90 Italian brands.

But Italy's wine makers are mainly small and family-owned, making it hard for them to reach out and sell on complex markets like China. Of Italy's 5.4 billion euros of wine exports, only 87 million euros worth go to China.

"Italy has lost too many opportunities in the e-commerce sector. The only way for small companies to keep up with global competition is to turn digital," Renzi said.

According to Denis Pantini of Nomisma, which publishes the annual Wine Monitor report, out of a total of 55,000 national producers, almost 85 per cent make less than 10,000 bottles.

Pantini said Italy hobbles behind other countries, such as France and Australia, due to the fragmented nature of its producers, a lack of any national strategy on exports and high tax duties.

"We are still very little known in China where culturally wine is still not perceived as a household habit," Roberto Giannelli, owner of Tuscan winery San Filippo said.

($1 = 0.8761 euros)

(Reporting by Giulia Segreti, editing by Stephen Jewkes and Susan Thomas)
* Italy signs dozens of trade deals with Iran this year

* Italy economy minister to lead new mission to Iran

* Iran still has no access to the U.S. financial system

By Steve Scherer and Antonella Cinelli

ROME, April 13 (Reuters) - Italy will follow up on billions of euros of trade deals signed with Iran this year by sending a special mission to discuss how to fund and process them, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Wednesday in Tehran.

Speaking to industrialists on the second and last day of his visit, Renzi said some 50 agreements between Italian and Iranian companies "cannot remain on paper".

"The projects are there. They need to be realised," he said in remarks broadcast by Italy's RAI state television. "The priority today is financing."

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani made Italy his first stop in Europe in January to drum up investment after Tehran rejoined the global trading system in January thanks to a deal with world powers to lift crippling economic sanctions in exchange for limiting its nuclear activities.

Italy already took steps on Tuesday to ease financing for companies building oil-and-gas and transport infrastructure in Iran. Renzi said the delegation of financial institutions would be led by Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan.

On Tuesday, Italy signed seven deals with Iran, Iranian state television reported. Renzi said another 12 were signed on Wednesday. Some 30 others agreements were made in January.

The deal to lift sanctions did not include Iranian access to the U.S. financial system, which means Tehran still has trouble processing transactions in dollars, the world's main business currency and the dominant unit in the oil trade.

European banks are no longer banned from doing business with Iran, but they remain wary after BNP Paribas was slapped with a $9 billion U.S. fine in 2014 for violating U.S. financial sanctions and other penalties.

Since January, Iran has struck agreements worth more than $50 billion with countries including Italy, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Germany and others involving trade, project finance and other investment, but financial hurdles have kept significant sums of money from flowing.

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Italy's banking lobby ABI said it met with the Iranian central bank on Tuesday to consider "solutions to overcome the complexities of Europe's ending of sanctions, but which are still in force in the United States".

In its steps announced on Tuesday, Italy said its state-run lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti would offer credit lines of 4 billion euros for deals in Iran's oil-and-gas and transport infrastructure and export agency SACE would guarantee them.

A further 800 million euros in credit lines for small- and medium-sized firms will also be offered, SACE said.

(Additional reporting by Francesca Landini in Milan; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
Bamako (AFP) - A key Islamist suspect believed to head Mali's southern jihadist fighters was in detention in the capital Bamako on Thursday following his capture by special forces, security sources told AFP.

"Souleymane Keita, the top jihadist leader in the south of the country, was arrested a few days ago on the Mauritanian border, and transferred to Bamako on Wednesday," a security source said.

Keita's arrest comes as west African nations scramble to tighten security following a string of attacks against hotels and restaurants popular with foreigners that have highlighted the growing reach of jihadist groups in the region.

Keita is one of two suspected leaders of extremists operating in southern and central Mali that have been linked to the Ansar Dine group, which was one of three Islamist factions that conquered vast swathes of the country's north in 2012 before being repulsed by French troops.

A second security source told AFP that Keita's arrest near the town of Sokolo followed the capture of one of his allies a few months ago in the centre of the country.

"He was about to head to Timbuktu, probably to meet up with his mentor Iyad Ag Ghaly in the Kidal region" in north-east Mali, the source said, referring to the Tuareg leader of Ansar Dine.

Malian intelligence officials say Keita and Ag Ghaly fought side by side in 2012 in northern Mali.

When French troops stepped in to help Mali's government reconquer the area in January 2013, Keita moved south to his native region to set up a new group, the Khaled Ibn al-Walid "katiba" or combattant unit.

The group, also known as the "Ansar Dine of the South", has some 200 fighters, a Malian security source said.

- Two new jihadi groups in Mali -

Heading the Islamist push into central Mali is another jihadist commander who cut his teeth in the country's northern conflict, radical preacher Amadou Koufa, say security sources.

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He leads the Macina Liberation Front (FLM), a new group that emerged in 2015 and has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks, some targeting security forces in central Mali.

Long focused on targets in northern Mali, jihadist attacks have spread since the beginning of the year to the centre and the south.

In March 2015, Keita was accused by security services of heading a jihadist military training camp discovered outside Bamako.

He was also accused of attacks in Fakola and Misseni near the border with neighbouring Ivory Coast in 2015 as well as in Bamako.

Seven Malian jihadists arrested in August in Ivory Coast and extradited to Bamako admitted to being members of Khalid Ibn al-Walid and to taking part in several jihadist attacks, according to a source close to the case.

In the first attack of its kind in the Ivory Coast, 19 people were killed earlier this month in a gun and grenade assault on three hotels and a beach in the southeastern town of Grand-Bassam. Two Malians were arrested this week in northern Mali over the attack.

It was the third such strike in West Africa in recent months, following a November assault on a top hotel in Mali's capital which killed 20 people, most of them foreigners, and another in a Burkina Faso hotel in January which killed 30 people.
Libya has been in a state of chaos since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi (AFP Photo/Abdullah Doma)

Tripoli (AFP) - Libya's National Oil Corporation and Central Bank, backbones of its wealth, have thrown their support behind a UN-backed unity government in a blow to a rival administration refusing to cede power.

The two institutions, which have struggled to remain neutral since Libya's 2011 armed revolt and subsequent turbulence, said they welcomed the Government of National Accord, in separate statements.

Prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj and members of the GNA arrived Wednesday in Tripoli where a rival government, unrecognised by the international community, has ruled since mid-2014.

The Tripoli administration, established after the powerful Libya Dawn militia alliance overrun the capital that year, has demanded that Sarraj leave or surrender, branding the GNA "illegal".

Founded in 1970, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) is based in Tripoli where Libya's Central Bank -- the depositor of the country's oil wealth -- also has its headquarters.

They have continued to operate independently despite the chaos that engulfed Libya after the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

"We have been working with Prime Minister Sarraj and the Presidency Council to put this period of divisions and rivalry behind us," NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla.

"We have been looking to the future, and now we have a clear international legal framework in place," he added in a statement published Saturday on the NOC website.

The Central Bank of Libya also "welcomed" the GNA and wished them "all the success in carrying out the difficult tasks ahead of them".

It urged Libyans to "now more than ever to unite and collaborate by working together to ensure that security and safety prevail in Libya, to stop fighting and bloodshed, to empower the judicial system and to embrace the rule of law".

A Libyan financial expert said the NOC and Central Bank support amounted to "a resounding vote of confidence" in the GNA.

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"The two institutions are the basis of Libyan livelihood and without them the GNA would not be able to function," he said, asking not to be named.

- Battered economy -

Oil is Libya's main natural resource, with reserves estimated at 48 billion barrels, the largest in Africa.

The North African nation had an output capacity of about 1.6 million barrels per day before the uprising, accounting for more than 95 percent of exports and 75 percent of the budget.

But production has slumped amid violence as rival forces battled for control of oil terminals.

Control of the oil industry is key for the GNA, which not only needs to unite the country but also shore up an economy weakened by the drop of oil prices on the international market.

Since the revolt, and the emergence of two rival administrations, the central bank struggled to keep the country afloat, urging tough spending cuts and hinting that it dipped into foreign reserves.

On Thursday, Sarraj met the head of the Central Bank to discuss measures to safeguard banks and tackle the country's "cash flow problem", his office said.

"Difficult times lie ahead. The immediate challenge is to end the cash crisis," Mattia Toaldo, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said earlier in the week.

Following Sarraj's arrival in Tripoli, pledges of loyalty began pouring in and supporters rallied in the city although his government still needs the formal approval of the house of representatives (HoR).

"The HoR remains the legitimate body to endorse the GNA. I urge the HoR to hold a comprehensive session to vote on GNA in free will," UN envoy to Libya Martin Kobler said in a tweet Sunday.

On Thursday, the mayors of 10 coastal cities that were under the control of the Tripoli authorities called on Libyans to "support the national unity government".

The following day, guards in charge of securing installations in Libya's so-called eastern "oil crescent" also offered their support and said they would hand over to the unity government three oil terminal.

The UN Security Council has passed Resolution 2278 stating that oil exports from Libya must be placed under the authority of the GNA.
TOKYO, April 13 (Reuters) - Malaysian lender CIMB Group Holdings Bhd is close to signing an agreement with insurer Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Holdings Inc to distribute general insurance products in Southeast Asia, in a deal worth around $200 million, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.

CIMB, Malaysia's second-largest lender by assets, had been seeking proposals from insurers to distribute their general insurance products in four Southeast Asian markets, Reuters reported in September.

CIMB and Sompo Japan declined to comment. The source declined to be identified because discussions over the deal are not public.

Bloomberg reported the talks earlier.

The so-called bancassurance model is lucrative for banks because global insurers are willing to pay hefty fees for access to lenders' branch networks and exposure to emerging markets' growing middle classes to sell life, property, motor and fire insurance.

CIMB has about 1,000 branches serving about 13 million customers in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, with its home market and Indonesia making up the majority.

Asia has seen three large bank distribution deals for life insurance in the past three years, and all three saw aggressive bidding by insurers who are betting on strong growth in insurance premiums. (Reporting by Taiga Uranaka; Additional reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
The US Office of the Secretary of the Defense has released its annual report to Congress on North Korea's military, and the findings are chilling. Included in the report are the following three maps, which outline North Korea's military might.

north korea military map

North Korea's ground forces make up the primary thrust of the rogue nation's military. Nearly 70% of its ground forces are forward deployed to within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the South Korean border.

The ground forces are a mix of infantry corps, which are predominantly comprised of regular and light-infantry units. In general, these forces are housed in fortified underground facilities facing toward South Korea.

In addition to infantry, the ground corps also has large armor and artillery corps. Although corps make use of old technology, their forward-deployed nature remains a threat to South Korea. North Korea's artillery, in particular, is worrisome as the long-range cannons and rockets are capable of hitting South Korea's capital, Seoul, from over the border in the event of a war.

But aside from North Korea's special forces, its ground forces are generally underfed, ill-equipped, and poorly trained.

Screen Shot 2016 02 23 at 10.04.26 AM

North Korea's second-largest military branch is its air force. Like Pyongyang's ground forces, these airframes are largely based against the South  50% of North Korea's air force is within 62 miles of the South Korean border.

Although North Korea maintains a large air force, its fleet is estimated at having 1,300 aircraft, consisting almost entirely of legacy Soviet airframes. Pyongyang's most capable aircraft are MiG-29s that were likely procured in the late 1980s from the Soviet Union.

The hermit kingdom also has a few US-made MD-500 helicopters that were obtained in the 1980s by circumventing export controls that are capable of ground-attack missions. But the majority of North Korea's air assets are aging and the country has taken the route of improving its ground forces and hardening the country against air strikes than trying to modernize its air force.

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Screen Shot 2016 02 23 at 10.04.37 AM

The smallest of the military branches, Pyongyang's navy is also largely based against South Korea, with 50% of the navy's assets within 62 miles of the border. The navy is largely comprised of aging patrol boats, submarines, and air-cushioned hovercraft and amphibious vessels.

Of these assets, North Korea's submarine fleet is the most potentially dangerous. Although extremely old, the fleet of an estimated 70 submarines are capable of hiding around the Korean coast and harassing or possibly sinking South Korean vessels.

Additionally, in 2015 North Korea debuted a new submarine that it said was domestically built and capable of firing a ballistic missile.

But the three maps do not show North Korea's continued drive to create a nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missile program. The following chart highlights the known number of missiles in North Korea's missile forces.

north korea missile

The largest confirmed threat that North Korea is known to possess is the KN-08 missile.

It would be able to target portions of the West Coast of the continental US. Additionally, the missile is believed to be able to carry miniaturized nuclear warheads, should Pyongyang develop such a capability, and it's road mobile, making it difficult for the US to track.

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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]

The Philippines is resuming work on upgrading a military airport on an island it seized from China, a move that again displays its expansionist nature and belies its self-assumed image as a victim in the territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

It is also a slap in the face for certain countries that always accuse Beijing of taking provocative steps while turning a blind eye to Manila's provocative moves.

The Nansha Islands in the South China Sea have been Chinese territory since ancient times, as proved by historical and international documents.

However, the Philippines started to use military force to seize the Nansha Islands, one by one, in the 1970s. So far eight Chinese islands, including Zhongye Islandwhere it intends to upgrade its military airportare in the Philippines' hands.

Over the years, Manila has tightened its grip on the Chinese islands it has illegally occupied, by relocating civilians there, building military facilities, such as airports and docks, and most recently, installing a flight-tracking system on Zhongye.

It is such unilateral actions that have sparked and fueled the tensions in the South China Sea.

The Philippines has even been brazen enough to stage the farce of a villain suing his victim by seeking arbitration of its territorial disputes with China at the international tribunal in The Hague, which China, as is its right, does not accept.

The move is a political provocation under the cloak of international law, and Manila would not have staged such a stunt without the connivance and encouragement of its ally, the United States, which is more than happy to use the Philippines as a pawn to contain a rising China.

The US and some of its allies, although not directly involved in the South China Sea disputes, have singled out China as a threat to regional peace and stability. They have pointed accusing fingers at the country for its countermeasures to safeguard its sovereignty, and its construction of facilities on its islands for navigation and meteorological observation purposes.

Such partiality runs counter to the pledge not to take sides in territorial disputes in the region, and emboldens the Philippines and other parties to go further in challenging China's sovereignty.

China has always opposed the Philippines for its illegal occupation of its islands, and any construction projects on them will not consolidate Manila's illegal claim to sovereignty. Instead, they will strengthen Beijing's resolve to protect its maritime territory from further encroachment.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Tax officials from Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries will discuss ways governments can share and analyze data coming out of the Panama Papers cache of leaked documents, Australian officials said on Wednesday.

Spearheaded by Australian Tax Office (ATO) Commissioner Chris Jordan, the OECD's Joint International Tax Shelter Information and Collaboration (JITSIC) network will bring together senior tax administration officials from 46 countries at the Paris meeting on Wednesday.

"The meeting will consider how member jurisdictions can share information on leaked documents, and collaborate on analyzing the data and opportunities for joint action," an ATO spokesman told Reuters.

"A key outcome of Wednesday's meeting will be to develop a joint and coordinated response, including a commitment to collaborate and share data, analytical methodologies and future joint compliance action."

Tax havens and transparency have been thrust into the spotlight as governments worldwide launch probes into possible financial wrongdoing after the details of hundreds of thousands of clients' tax affairs were leaked from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca.

"The meeting of JITSIC leaders to discuss the Panama papers is unprecedented and a great opportunity to demonstrate global will and capability to take on this multilateral challenge when it matters most," the spokesman added.

(Reporting by Ian Chua; Editing by Sam Holmes)
HARRISBURG, PA--(Marketwired - April 13, 2016) - Pennsylvania Treasurer Timothy Reese today released the following statement on the final passage of the PA ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) Account Program Act.

"I commend the House and the Senate for passing legislation establishing the PA ABLE Savings Account Program. ABLE will help ease the financial burden facing disabled individuals and their families. This program will provide tax-free savings accounts that allow people to save for a wide range of disability-related expenses including health care, housing, education and transportation without jeopardizing their eligibility for other critical programs.

"I look forward to working with the administration as soon as the governor signs the legislation. Treasury is ready to work immediately on this new program and has already starting laying the ground work for making it operational.

"Finally, I would like to thank U.S. Senator Bob Casey for his leadership and work on the federal legislation that authorized states to establish these programs."

Pennsylvania Treasury which has been administering the Pennsylvania 529 program since 1993, has created a website with more information on the ABLE program and where those interested can sign up for updates and open an account when the program is available.



The Pennsylvania Treasury is an independent department of state government led by the state treasurer, who is elected every four years. The department's primary duty is to safeguard and manage the state's public funds. It invests state money to generate income on behalf of the citizens of Pennsylvania, reviews and processes payments for state government agencies, and serves as custodian of more than $100 billion in state funds. Key Treasury programs include Unclaimed Property, PA 529 College Savings Program and the Board of Finance and Revenue. To learn more visit patreasury.gov.
MOSCOW, Apr 13 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

VEDOMOSTI

www.vedomosti.ru

- Russia's central bank for the first time since 2006 has announced it will put into circulation new bills worth 200 ($3.04) and 2,000 roubles ($30.37). This measure is expected to help save funds on printing banknotes, the paper writes.

- Russia's Vimpelcom Ltd plans to issue Eurobonds on Wednesday, the paper reports citing sources.

- Air carriers in Russia transported 3.4 percent fewer people in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period of 2015. The market may lose some 7-10 percent of passenger traffic in 2016, the paper writes.

- Russia's largest gold producer Polyus Gold may float at least 5 percent of its shares on the Moscow Stock Exchange worth some 35.5 billion roubles ($539.10 million), the paper reports.

- The combined aatabase of subscribers of Russian mobile phone operators rose by more than 11.6 million people in 2015, the paper writes.

KOMMERSANT

www.kommersant.ru

- Russian President Vladimir Putin has excluded the former speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, Boris Gryzlov, from the Russian Security Council, the paper writes.

- Russian gas monopoly Gazprom is in talks with Turkish private gas importers on renewal of gas exports to Turkey, the daily says.

- The number of Russian holiday-makers choosing Georgia and Armenia for May Day holidays has risen by 16 to 86 percent by different estimates, the paper writes.

- Relatives of the Russians who died in the crash of the Flydubai plane in Rostov-on-Don have filed a lawsuit to a U.S. court, hoping to receive compensations of $5 million for each air disaster victim, the paper reports.

($1 = 65.8500 roubles) (Compiled by Ludmila Danilova)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, pictured on April 7, 2016, is just waiting for Tokyo to propose a date for him to visit Japan (AFP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky) (Pool/AFP/File)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is just waiting for Tokyo to propose a date for him to visit Japan -- which has a festering territorial dispute with Moscow -- Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

"Nothing is preventing President Vladimir Putin's visit to Japan," Lavrov said. "For it to take place, the invitation that was made long ago needs to get some kind of specific date."

Lavrov added that Moscow "will consider" whatever dates Tokyo proposes, in comments to Asian media outlets according to a transcript on his ministry's website.

He added that Russia has already proposed "concrete dates" for a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and "as far as I understand, such a visit will take place in the very near future."

Lavrov was speaking as he is about to make official visits to Japan, Mongolia and China. He is scheduled to meet his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on Friday as the two sides seek to lay the ground for a meeting between Putin and Abe.

Japanese-Russian relations have been hampered by a festering territorial dispute over four islands claimed by both countries.

Known as the Kuril Islands by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan, the archipelago was seized by Soviet troops at the end of World War II just after Japan surrendered.

The dispute has prevented the countries ever officially signing a peace treaty and hindered trade ties.

Lavrov said in January that Putin and Abe had agreed that the question of a peace treaty between their two countries was on a list of issues "to be decided."

Lavrov on Tuesday criticised Japan for joining Western countries in imposing sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, suggesting Tokyo's foreign policy was guided by the United States and European Union.

"We understand perfectly that unfortunately, Japan is not the only country that is not fully independent in its foreign policy," he said.
An airbag logo is seen on a steering wheel of Honda Motor Co's all-new hybrid sedan "Grace", which installed the airbag made by Takata Corp, during its unveiling event in Tokyo December 1, 2014. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. auto safety regulators said on Wednesday there were about 85 million unrecalled Takata air bag inflators in U.S. vehicles that would eventually need to be recalled unless the company can prove they are safe.

This is the first public accounting by the U.S. government of the total number of unrecalled Takata air bag inflators. So far 28.8 million inflators have been recalled by 14 automakers over the issue.

The air bags can explode with too much force and spray metal shards inside vehicles. More than 100 people have been injured in the United States and 11 killed worldwide in incidents linked to defective Takata inflators, including the March 31 death of a 17-year-old driver in Texas.

Reuters reported on Feb. 22 that there were 70 million to 90 million unrecalled Takata air bag inflators in the United States, citing a person briefed on the matter. Under an agreement signed last year, Takata Corp (7312.T) has until 2019 to demonstrate that all of the unrecalled air bag inflators are safe.

A U.S. House panel is set to hold a hearing with the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and auto trade groups on Thursday, and the Takata recall and other safety issues are expected to be raised.

NHTSA said on Wednesday that potentially defective Takata air bags still on the road include 43.4 million passenger side inflators, 26.9 million side air bag inflators and 14.5 million driver side inflators.

Takata could not immediately be reached for comment.

The company reached an agreement with NHTSA in November to pay a $70 million penalty to NHTSA in a settlement that included its commitment to stop making inflators that use ammonium nitrate by 2018. It also pledged to declare all remaining ammonium nitrate inflators defective by 2019 unless it can demonstrate they are safe.

Reuters reported in the same Feb. 22 story that Takata produced between 260 million and 285 million ammonium nitrate-based inflators worldwide between 2000 and 2015, of which nearly half wound up in U.S. vehicles.

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Takata has begun looking for a financial backer amid a global recall of its air bags, and plans to draw up a list of candidates by August, two people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Takata is also considering overhauling its management structure and selling overseas subsidiaries as part of a restructuring, other sources have said.

(Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)
Candles and fresh flowers in front of the Joseph Koenig Gymnasium at a memorial for victims of the Germanwings plane crash in the French Alps, in Haltern am See, Germany on March 24, 2016 (AFP Photo/Sascha Schurmann)

New York (AFP) - Relatives whose loved ones died last year when a Germanwings pilot deliberately crashed a plane in the French Alps filed a wrongful death suit Wednesday against the US flight school that trained him.

"Andreas Lubitz, the suicidal pilot, should never have been allowed to enter" the training program at Airline Training Center Arizona, Inc. (ATCA), said Brian Alexander, an attorney who filed the suit in federal court in Phoenix, Arizona.

It was filed on behalf of 80 people whose relatives perished in the March 15, 2015 crash of a Germanwings' Flight A320. Alexander's firm, Kreindler and Kreindler, was joined in the suit by attorneys in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

The crash took 150 lives, including that of Lubitz, a troubled pilot who had struggled for years with mental health problems.

The 28-year-old locked the pilot out of the cockpit and while alone at the controls, steered the jetliner into the side of a mountain, killing all 144 passengers and six crew.

The pilot, Captain Patrick Sondenheimer, can be heard on the "black box" recording retrieved from the crash site, banging on the cockpit door in the minutes before the crash, pleading with his young co-pilot to open it up.

Lubitz had received pilot training at ATCA between November 2010 and March 2011. ATCA, like the budget air carrier Germanwings, is owned by the German airline Lufthansa.

A spokeswoman for Lufthansa said the suit had "no chance of success," but declined further comment.

- History of depression -

Alexander said ATCA was "not just negligent, but also careless, and even reckless, in failing to apply its own well-advertised 'stringent' standards to discover the history of Lubitz's severe mental illness that should have kept Lubitz from admission to ATCA's flight school."

Investigators determined after the crash that Lubitz, 27, had a history of depression and suicidal tendencies and the case has raised questions about medical checks faced by pilots as well as doctor-patient confidentiality.

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But the plaintiffs' lawyers said numerous red flags should have made it clear that Lubitz -- with a history of serious mental illness that included suicidal tendencies -- was unfit to be a pilot.

His struggle with depression and other mental illnesses before entering ATCA's program was sufficiently serious to require that he break off his pilot's training for 10 months and receive treatment in hospital, the lawyers said in their suit.

Lubitz had filed false documentation with the US Federal Aviation Administration, deliberately concealing "his true medical history, past medical diagnoses and lengthy treatment, including hospitalization, for multiple psychotic and mental disorders," the lawsuit said.

Still, the German medical certificate Lubitz presented to ATCA bore a notation that indicated the certificate would be invalidated if there were a relapse or recurrence of his depression, according to the lawsuit.

And while Lubitz's FAA medical certificate carried no notation, it was issued with a warning about his history of "reactive depression" that would bar him from flying if it recurred, the suit said.

- Negligence claimed -

If not for their negligence, officials at ATCA could have known, and should have been able to disclose to US aviation authorities, the disqualifying details of Lubitz's medical history, the suit maintains.

"ATCA failed to use reasonable care to determine whether Lubitz's medical history of a severe mental disorder, including suicidal ideation, indicated a continuing lack of mental fitness and presented a risk of a recurrence or relapse which made him unqualified to be a commercial airline pilot," the text of the lawsuit said.

The plaintiffs are not seeking a specific dollar amount, but are asking for "just, full and fair compensation" for the "pain, mental suffering, grief, sorrow, stress, shock they each sustained by reason of their loved one's murder," the text of the suit said.
In this May 29, 2009 file photo, an oil rig works in the desert oil field of Sakhir, Bahrain. Crude oil followed the stock market up on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010, settling higher for the first time in five sessions.

Across the globein the US, Europe and Chinaoil companies big and small are scrambling to stay afloat, cutting expenses to the bone, and shelving flesh-and-muscle projects worth a collective millions of barrels a day in the future market. The likely repercussions include lower-than-expected profit in coming years, a crude oil shortage, and stunted global GDP growth.

But into the breach has marched Saudi Arabia, the worlds go-to swing producer since the 1970s. While ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP are slashing investment by tens of billions of dollars, Saudi Aramcos is soaring: As of March, the number of rigs drilling for oil in the kingdom had tripled to 69, from 23 in January 2011.

Many leading analysts continue to argue that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), including Saudi Arabia, has lost its punch, and no longer heavily influences the oil markets. Yet oil prices are trading at a five-month high ahead of an April 17 meeting in Doha involving Russia and some members of OPEC. They are up again this morning in European trading, to $43.37 a barrel.

This run-up hinges on confidence that the petro-states will figure out a formula to more or less freeze global production, begin to stem the oil glut, and push prices back up. In other words, the oil traders bidding up prices believe that OPEC can grow back its teeth.

But petro-states are unlikely to corral the oil surplus, because one of the groups most important membersIranwill reject the production freeze. Having just escaped Western sanctions, Iran is insisting on adding hundreds of thousands of barrels to its exports in order to make up for lost profits during the three-year sanctions period. It wont surrender this position.

But the Saudis are reasserting themselves

Still, there is something to the markets confidence. The Saudi drilling binge reflects its determination to maintain market share, and thus local and geopolitical influence, once the dust settles and prices are at a materially higher band than the current doldrums.

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Neil Beveridge, an analyst with Sanford Bernstein, says that since the 1990s, the Saudis have on average held 12% to 13% of the global oil market (see chart below). Right now, this means producing more than 10 million barrels of oil a day, with about 2.5 million barrels a day of production capacity kept idle for use if they choose to try to balance the market.

(Sanford Bernstein)

By 2020, Beveridge reckons that global oil demand will have risen to 100 million barrels a day, up from the current 93 million. If the current proportions hold, by that time the Saudis will have to produce 12 to 13 million barrels a day. If you tack on the usual 2 million barrels a day of spare capacity, it looks like the goal for total Saudi production capacity is 15 million barrels a day.

I think that is what is really happening here, Beveridge told Quartz. I dont think this is to grow share but to defend it and meet a market where demand is growing fairly strongly.

This view is a bit of an outlier. Jamie Webster, an oil analyst in Washington, DC, argues that the Saudis have had no specific plan, other than reacting to events as they happen. In terms of Saudi drilling, this is to maintain current production, not to increase capacity, he told Quartz.

What the consensus seems to miss, but Bernsteins Beveridge captures, is how wrapped up the Saudis are in holding onto their stature as oils senior statesman. A new Saudi generation is moving into power, but that remains a deeply held self-image. And its influence is based on how much oil the country drills and exports.

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It's also bullish on the Indonesian property sector.

Sinarmas Land's shares have lost almost half of their value in just little over a year. Singapore Business Review caught up with Ferdinand Sadeli, Chief Financial Officer of Sinarmas Land, to discuss how the company plans to drive growth despite escalating volatility in the market.

Sadeli shared that the company is eyeing more commercial asset acquisitions in the United Kingdom or Europe. Sinarmas Land made its first foray into the United Kingdom in June 2014, with the acquisition of a commercial office building for $161.1 million.

"To date, Sinarmas Land has transacted more than S$1 billion in London, all within the required timeframe and deadline. As Indonesias largest property developer, we will continue maintain our stronghold in Indonesia while implementing the Groups international expansion strategy into UK, Europe and Pan Asia," he said.

The group will also roll out asset enhancements on its existing properties to drive shareholder returns. He also said that the group will move ahead with its strategic developments including Nuvasa Bay, Batam's first luxury integrated residential & mixed-use development, as well as continued developments in its land banks in Johor, Malaysia and Bali, Indonesia.

Sadeli also shared that Sinarmas Land is mulling a spin-off Indonesian REIT listing in order to monetize some of its investment properties in Indonesia.

"The Indonesian government has announced further details on March with regards to the REIT regulations such as the reduction of sales tax and, land and building transfer fees. However, we are still waiting for the detailed implementation guidelines which we foresee to be announced by this year. Other than tax, the Group is also assessing, among other things, structural and regulatory framework for Indonesian REIT," he said.

Sadeli also remained bullish on the Indonesian property segment, and noted that he is hopeful that the Indonesian residential market will soon be open to foreign investors.

Story continues

"We see more blue chip Singapore real estate companies such as Keppel Land, CapitaLand and Ascendas, even Singapore sovereign wealth fund, GIC, increasing their investment or making their maiden foray into Indonesia. The long term prospects of Indonesian properties remains healthy and good, as the middle-income population is rising tremendously and demand for housing is strong," he said.





More From Singapore Business Review


Madrid police went into action after a worried friend got in touch to report the woman missing (AFP Photo/PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU)

Madrid (AFP) - Spanish police said Wednesday they had detained a man who may have supplied weapons used in the deadly jihadist attacks in Paris in January 2015.

Antoine Denevi, who is from a small town in northern France, was detained on Tuesday in the southern Malaga area under a Europe-wide arrest warrant, the police said.

They said 27-year-old Denevi's alleged trafficking ring supplied "arms and war munitions" to Amedy Coulibaly, who on January 8 and 9 last year shot dead a policewoman and took hostages in a Jewish supermarket, where he killed four people.

But prosecutors in the northern French city of Lille -- where Denevi is being investigated for arms trafficking -- played down a direct link with the Paris attacks.

"For the moment, there is no link... between accusations that may be levelled against him and the weapons used in the Paris attacks in January 2015," they told AFP.

Both Spanish and French police participated in Tuesday's operation in the seaside resort of Rincon de la Victoria, during which two other people were also detained -- one from Serbia and the other from Montenegro.

In their statement, Spanish police said Denevi "left the neighbouring country (France) weeks after the Paris attacks to escape police action, and settled in the province of Malaga from where he continued his illegal activities using fake papers."

"It's also been determined that his activities were linked with people of Serbian origin, who may have facilitated his access to arms and munitions."

- No terror charges -

Denevi, who hails from the northern French region of Pas-de-Calais, was immediately taken to Madrid, where he was brought before a judge in the National Court.

The National Court, which hears cases related to extremism, charged him with arms trafficking but so far no terrorism charges have been brought against him.

A judicial source, who wished to remain anonymous, said the suspect had denied selling weapons to jihadists and accepted to be extradited to France.

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Coulibaly was an accomplice of the Kouachi brothers who killed 12 people in an attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris two days before he held up the supermarket.

He had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, while the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed the brothers' attack on the magazine.

All three gunmen were shot dead by police.

Spanish police recalled that Coulibaly visited Spain just days before the attacks to accompany his partner, Hayat Boumeddiene, to Madrid airport to catch a flight to Turkey from where she made her way to Syria.

She is currently "fully integrated in the operational structure" of Islamic State in Syria, Spanish police said in their statement.

The three days of attacks in January 2015 shook France, prompting much soul-searching about how three French youths could gun down 17 fellow citizens in cold blood.

The trio had very specific targets -- cartoonists who had mocked the Prophet Mohammed in Charlie Hebdo's pages, the police and Jews.

Coulibaly was shot dead in the Jewish supermarket on January 9 in a dramatic raid by French special forces.

The Kouachi brothers were also killed by special forces in a near simultaneous assault on a printing factory just outside Paris where they had holed up.

The three-day killing spree was, at the time, the worst extremist attack on European soil in nearly a decade, but jihadists hit Paris again in November, killing 130 people.
By Michael Flaherty and Ross Kerber

NEW YORK/BOSTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's lawsuit against ValueAct Capital targets one activist investor but could call into question routine practices across the $16 trillion mutual fund industry, according to attorneys and industry representatives.

The U.S. Department of Justice last week alleged that the hedge fund improperly classified two company investments as passive - and therefore exempt from disclosure requirements - while taking an activist role with executives. ValueAct disputes the claim.

Some communications the government cites as evidence are similar to discussions that are increasingly common between traditional, buy-and-hold funds and companies in their portfolios.

The case comes as active and passive investors work more together to pressure management at underperforming companies. Activists court passive shareholders before launching such a campaign, and passive investors recruit activists to agitate, several activist managers told Reuters.

Traditional funds may need to reassess their compliance with disclosure laws, according to a memo to clients from Davis Polk, a New York law firm with expertise in financial services.

"Such an institution will have to examine whether it can claim to have a truly 'passive' intent," said the memo, issued in response to the ValueAct case.

Those firms could include, for instance, T. Rowe Price Group (TROW.O), BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) and Vanguard Group. Spokespeople at those companies declined to comment, and representatives of seven additional fund firms contacted by Reuters declined to comment or said executives were unavailable. The Justice Department also declined to comment.

An industry trade group said the case could restrain shareholders from addressing important issues with corporate executives and board directors.

"The DOJ case could have a chilling effect on dialogues between companies and their shareholders," said Amy Borrus, deputy director at the Council of Institutional Investors, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit whose members include pensions, endowments and major mutual funds.

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For a graphic showing the increase in company shareholder communication programs, see http://tmsnrt.rs/25PYHpm

Competition for better returns has led some big mutual fund firms to take a more active role, weighing in on issues such as CEO pay and corporate governance. Vanguard Chairman and CEO William McNabb, in a speech last June in New York, described how the firm increasingly addresses matters of concern with companies in its portfolio.

"Weve become more targeted in whom we mailed letters to and more prescriptive in our language," McNabb said.

For example, Vanguard sent out 500 letters in March 2015 to independent chairs and lead directors outlining six principles of corporate governance, McNabb said.

SIX WORDS

At the heart of the ValueAct case are six words in a 40-year-old law that requires disclosure of certain investments to assist the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission in antitrust review of mergers. The intent is to prevent investors from secretly buying up stakes to agitate for industry consolidation.

The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act requires all buyers of voting securities worth more than $76.3 million to notify the government, unless they were bought "solely for the purpose of investment."

The government alleges ValueAct failed to disclose a $2.5 billion position in two companies that planned to merge - oilfield services peers Halliburton Co (HAL.N) and Baker Hughes Industries Inc. (BHI.N)

ValueAct is fighting the case and has said that its outreach to the companies was standard shareholder input and not active investing. The firm declined to comment for this story.

Among the evidence asserted by the government is a December 2014 meeting with the Baker Hughes chief financial officer, where ValueActs chief executive discussed gaps in the company's North American margins and other underperforming areas. The government also cited a ValueAct email sent to Halliburtons CEO in July 2015 to schedule a meeting about executive compensation.

Davis Polk points out in its client memo that its common for investors with stakes deemed passive to discuss those topics with corporate management.

"It does seem to be ... a typical subject of discussion," wrote the firm, which represents Baker Hughes in the merger.

BLURRED BOUNDARIES

John Briggs, an antitrust attorney with the law firm Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP, called the case a one-off enforcement effort against ValueAct that does not necessarily signal a broader crackdown or a change in legal interpretation.

But Briggs agreed that the case highlights the blurring boundaries between activist and traditional fund managers. A ValueAct win could further cloud the issue, while a government victory could prompt major investors to dial back pressure on companies.

A managing director at a large asset manager, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that he and his colleagues routinely discuss business improvement and executive compensation with company executives, believing such topics do not cross legal lines. The ValueAct case could change that interpretation, the manager said.

The lawsuit could take months or years to resolve. Any resulting limits on fund managers could clash with a separate effort led by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the early 1990s encouraging more dialogue between investors and public corporations.

"The idea was that you want to free up those conversations, since more conversations allow more accountability," said University of Delaware finance professor Charles Elson, who follows corporate governance. "Anything that pushes things in a different direction is problematic."

(Additional reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington)
(Adds comment from Paxton's lawyer and Servergy)

By Suzanne Barlyn

April 11 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators charged Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday for his alleged role in a stock scam that defrauded investors in a Texas-based technology company called Servergy Inc.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused the company and former Chief Executive Officer William Mapp of selling private stock while misleading investors about the energy efficiency of its sole product, and accused Paxton of working to raise investor funds for the company without disclosing his commissions.

The SEC's civil case followed a related criminal case against Paxton for securities fraud. Last year, a Texas state grand jury indicted Paxton for his alleged role in a scheme to mislead investors.

"Like the criminal matter, Mr. Paxton vehemently denies the allegations in the civil lawsuit and looks forward to not only all of the facts coming out, but also to establishing his innocence in both the civil and criminal matters," said William Mateja, Paxton's Dallas-based lawyer.

Servergy, which has cut ties with Mapp, agreed to pay a $200,000 penalty to settle the SEC's charges without admitting or denying the agency's charges.

The SEC's case relates to investor communications made while Servergy was under Mapp's leadership, the company said. Servergy said it cooperated with the SEC investigation, which began in 2013, under a new CEO and considered Monday's announcement the end of the matter.

Mapp's lawyer could not be immediately reached for comment.

(Reporting by Suzanne Barlyn in New York; Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
(Adds VW saying reviewing NLRB order)

By Bernie Woodall

April 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. National Labor Relations Board voted 2-1 to uphold a December election in which a small group of workers at Volkswagen AG's Chattanooga, Tennessee plant voted to join the United Auto Workers union, the NLRB said on Wednesday.

VW had asked for a review of the election, which involved about 160 skilled trades workers at the plant, in which 71 percent voted to join the UAW. The plant has a total hourly workforce of about 1,400 workers.

The UAW will now see if it has additional leverage to press VW to agree to come to the negotiating table for the 160 workers, members of UAW Local 42 in Chattanooga, to bargain on wages and benefits.

The members of UAW Local 42 would be the first workers at a foreign-owned auto assembly plant to gain collective bargaining rights in the southern United States.

While the unit of skilled trades workers, who maintain the assembly machinery, are a fraction of the hourly work force, bargaining by VW with them could serve as a launching pad for the union's efforts to organize other foreign-owned plants in the South.

Officially, the NLRB voted to keep in place a regional director's ruling that affirmed the December election.

VW said in a statement, "We are reviewing the decision and evaluating our options."

In the past, VW has said it does not want workers to be separated into fragmented representation groups.

Gary Casteel, UAW secretary-treasurer and head of its organizing efforts in the South, said he hopes VW will "immediately" work with Local 42 "in the German spirit of co-determination."

Casteel referred to VW's policy of allowing worker input in management decisions, which it has done at nearly all of its factories outside the United States through "work councils" that include both plant and office employees.

The UAW in February filed charges with the NLRB claiming that VW had "unlawfully continued to refuse to bargain."

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The NLRB board member who dissented said the skilled trades workers do not work separately from the rest of the VW plant's workers. The two NLRB members in the majority said the company had failed to prove an "overwhelming community of interest" between the skilled trades employees and the rest of the plant's hourly workers.

The union narrowly lost a February 2014 election to represent all of VW's Chattanooga hourly paid workers.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Diane Craft and Steve Orlofsky)
Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of Theranos, attends a panel discussion during the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting in New York, September 29, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and the company's president, Sunny Balwani, may be barred from the blood-testing business for two years, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

In a March 18 letter uploaded by The Journal (PDF), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it plans to revoke Theranos' California lab's license based on its failure to comply with the agency's safety and performance standards.

A second letter, not yet released to the public, details the potential two-year suspension of Balwani and Holmes, which would, if put into place, bar them from owning or operating any lab, according to The Journal.

Theranos spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan confirmed to Business Insider that the company did receive the March 18 letter and responded in the 10-day time period. "Theranos has not received these sanctions," she said.

Barbara Cammarata, a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP, told The Journal that the penalties are some of the most severe that CMS can dish out. Theyre in a lot of trouble, she said.

The sanctions outlined in the March 18 letter were based on two main problems.

First, the finding of "immediate jeopardy" and Theranos' "failure to meet all CLIA condition-level requirements," and, second, the failure by the lab's owner and director to "comply with certificate requirements and performance standards" outlined during the survey that the agency conducted in December 2015.

Here are the specific sanctions (which Buchanan emphasized Theranos has not been given but rather warned about):

Revoking the California lab's CLIA license after 60 days.

Barring the lab from participating in the Medicare program.

Cancelling of the lab's approval to receive Medicare payments.

Limiting Theranos' hematology CLIA certification after eight days.

Possibly fining the lab $10,000 per day for each day it isn't compliant with CMS.

Forcing the lab to provide CMS with a list of all the physicians and clients who've used the lab since January 2014.

Story continues

NOW WATCH: Here's what popular dog breeds looked like before and after 100 years of breeding





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By Mai Nguyen

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's tech startups are emerging as a force to be reckoned with as foreign private equity funds bet the country's talented young brains will yield more successes like the international hit game Flappy Bird.

Just last month, financial powerhouses Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered PLC raised their investment in the operator of e-wallet MoMo by $28 million, while Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist 500 Startups announced a $10 million Vietnam-focused fund.

One of 500 Startups' shoestring investments is in automated marketing service Beeketing, founded by college drop-out Truong Manh Quan, 26, who estimates revenue this year of $2 million predominantly from customers in the United States.

"We thought we'll invest in something like 10 to 20 companies over a 12-month period," said 500 Startups partner Eddie Thai. "But it quickly became clear, there's a lot more good companies to invest in."

The startup boom is the latest chapter of Vietnam's growing presence in the global tech industry. In the three years since Hanoi-based .GEARS released Flappy Bird, Vietnam emerged from relative obscurity to become the Southeast Asian production hub of South Korean giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Meanwhile, global tech firms that have long had factories in Vietnam - such as LG Electronics Inc, Panasonic Corp, and Toshiba Corp - have also been expanding into research and development.

Part of Vietnam's appeal is a cheaper workforce than in China, as well as membership of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade bloc and free trade deals with the European Union, plus incentives aimed at luring investment away from neighbors.

Of particular interest to venture capitalists, however, is Vietnam's tech-savvy population with a median age of just 30.

"Vietnam has the highest-performing computer science students I've ever encountered," said Neil Fraser, a software engineer at Alphabet Inc's Google, who visited local schools.

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The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ranks Vietnamese 15-year-olds above peers in the U.S., Australia and Britain in science and maths.

"The exercises I watched them solve ... would be considered challenging problems for a Google hiring interview," Fraser said.

E-COMMERCE

Data covering Vietnamese startups is scarce, but Singapore-based startup community Tech in Asia - itself a startup with investors including Japan's SoftBank Group Corp - reckons there are about 1,500 in operation. That number, relative to population, represents a higher concentration than the 2,100 in Indonesia, 2,300 in China and 7,500 in India.

Startups in Vietnam, like Indonesia, thrive with little government support beyond legal advice and $10,000 cash under a scheme dubbed Vietnam Silicon Valley. In contrast, China announced a $6.5 billion fund mainly for tech and green energy startups last year, while India pledged $1.5 billion in January.

"I plan to grow this company for five years then sell it," said Beeketing's Quan. "Then I may become an angel investor myself."

Most of Vietnam's startups are in e-commerce, a sector where sales grew around 35 percent last year to $4 billion, and whose 2.7 percent contribution to overall retail sales indicates ample room for growth.

Supporting e-commerce are tech-related logistics startups such as Giaohangnhanh which helped reduce overall logistics costs in Vietnam to a fifth of gross domestic product last year from a fourth just one year earlier.

Other startups include the operator of food-finder app Lozi that received a combined seven-figure investment from DesignOne Japan Inc and Singapore's Golden Gate Ventures.

Tran Minh Son, one of four Lozi founders, quit university in Pennsylvania to concentrate on the app.

"It was like cutting my legs off so I've no way back," he said. "My parents complained quite a lot. They said, 'You're not my son - move out'."

Lozi, launched in 2012, now boasts 600,000 registered users and 4 million unique visits each month.

(Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Martin Petty and Christopher Cushing)
Can PepsiCo's New Tactics Win the 1Q16 Currency Headwind Battle?

PepsiCos 1Q16 results

On April 18, leading beverage and snack food company PepsiCo (PEP) is scheduled to announce its results for the first quarter of fiscal 2016, which ended on March 19. But PepsiCos revenue has declined in each of the past five consecutive quarters.

Recap of Pepsis and peers performances in 2015

PepsiCos revenue in fiscal 2015, which ended on December 26, 2015, declined by 5.4% to $63.1 billion, mainly due to the impact of currency headwinds. Adverse foreign currency movements had an impact of ten percentage points on the companys net revenue growth in fiscal 2015. But its organic revenuewhich is adjusted for the impact of acquisitions, divestitures, other structural changes, and currency fluctuationsgrew by 5% in fiscal 2015. Notably, the iShares US Consumer Goods ETF (IYK) has 6.9% exposure to PepsiCo.

Pepsis Frito-Lay North America and North Americas Beverages segments were its only two segments that reported revenue growth in fiscal 2015. Its international segments were impacted by adverse foreign currency movements as the US dollar gained strength against major world currencies. Its Latin America segment was also impacted by the deconsolidation of the Venezuela operations.

By comparison, PepsiCos nearest rival, Coca-Cola (KO), reported a 3.7% decline in its fiscal 2015 revenue, primarily due to the impact of currency headwinds. Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS), the third-largest soda beverage maker in the US, experienced a 2.6% growth in its fiscal 2015 revenue. This revenue growth was driven by favorable product and package mix, higher volumes, favorable segment mix, and higher pricing.

Despite adverse currency movements, Monster Beverage (MNST) reported a 10.5% rise in its fiscal 2015 revenue due to strong demand for energy drinks.

Revenue expectations

Analysts expect PepsiCos fiscal 1Q16 revenue to come in at $11.8 billion. This estimate indicates an expected decline of 3% on a year-over-year basis. But currency headwinds are expected to drag down 1Q16 revenue. For fiscal 2016, analysts expect PepsiCos revenue to decline by 1%.

Story continues

Based on the guidance issued in January 2016, PepsiCo expects an organic revenue growth of 4% fiscal 2016, excluding the impact of the 53rd week. The company expects currency headwinds to impact reported net revenue growth adversely by four percentage points. The additional 53rd week in fiscal 2016 is expected to contribute around one percentage point to reported net revenue growth.

Read on for more on how PepsiCo is focusing on innovation to boost its sales.

Continue to Next Part

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Crude oil has broken through a significant hurdle, one that may signal that low prices are officially behind us.

The WTI contract (New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL.1)'s ability to surpass its 200-day moving average on Tuesday for the first time since July 2014 is a meaningful sign, according to Amherst Pierpont strategist Robert Sinche.



"We had a double bottom in oil back in February. We've had a good rally. It stopped a couple of times around this 200-day moving average. This could be the breakout," Sinche said on CNBC's " Futures Now .





The move comes ahead of a Sunday oil producers meeting in Doha, Qatar. The big hope for oil bulls is that the major producers will agree to freeze output at current levels.

"You want to get at least a one-day close above that 200-day moving average. ... "A two-day close would give time for the Saudis to have a response," Sinche said Tuesday. "(A two-day close) really then does become support rather than resistance, and we're kind of into a new regime here for oil prices."



And, that "new regime," along with a recovering global economy, could help drive crude prices securely into the $50 to $70 range this year, he added.

Prices at $70 a barrel would be more than 60 percent higher than Tuesday's close of $42.17.





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Taipei, April 13 (CNA) The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is organizing a delegation that will depart within two or three days for a trip to China for talks about the recent incident in which Taiwanese nationals have been sent by Kenyan authorities to China, MAC Minister Hsia Li-yan () said Wednesday.
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Taipei, April 13 (CNA) The mother of one of the Taiwanese nationals who was detained by Kenyan police and deported to China said Wednesday her son has done nothing wrong and questioned how China could treat him as a member of a criminal organization.
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Patrick Brown tries to sell carbon pricing to conservativesYou know who liked the environment? Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the Ontario Progressive Conservatives are very keen to have you realize.Or, rather, theyre keen to have reluctant Progressive Conservatives realize, as those habitual Tories try to figure out what to do with a leader who wants to fight climate change by making greenhouse-gas emitters pay.Those loyalists were stunned when leader Patrick Brown announced his support in a major Ottawa speech for using carbon permits to fight climate change. His own MPPs didnt see it coming, let alone the rank and file. Brown had opposed carbon pricing when he ran for the leadership less than a year ago.Former leader Tim Hudak gritted his teeth and said Browns doing the wrong thing but can pursue the policy he thinks is right. Tory legislators had to scramble to amend or remove declarations, even petitions, on their websites condemning the very idea as a commie plot. No, no, no, they said, we just meant were against carbon-permit trading the way Premier Kathleen Wynne plans to do it. Sorry, was that not clear?Now Brown is trying to convince his own people he isnt a plant from the Liberals or the United Nations or some other shadowy fraternity of freedom-haters.The partys out with a video, starring firmly conservative MPP Monte McNaughton  the partys critic for economic development and jobs, at that. He explains that really, this has all been a terrible misunderstanding.
I assume this is the vehicle in question. It is more for quelling riots at home than being an attack deep into enemy territory kind of vehicle.It would replace the tanks they currently have. They purchased those under the national defense banner and they are not used in the war against Yemen but they are used in Bahrain to shoot political protestors, with Saudi gunners. They are a camel that can't change their spots.That sound you didn't hear was a result of me falling off my chair. Perhaps this is where I should take advantage of an agreement and use it to lever you away from the 'dark side'.Is there a version with 8 tracks rather than tires. If the back wheels turned in the opposite direction as the front one it would corner at high speed a lot better and tracks are flat proof.
If tiny Guernsey thrives outside the EU, why can't we - the world's fifth largest economy? Concluding his definitive series, EU MP DAN HANNAN says forget the Remain camp's Project Fear. The real risk lies with staying in...



Our pessimism about our country's ability is staggering



Please imagine that you are on a bus whose destination  a federalist United States of Europe  is clearly marked on the front.



Just in case any passengers have missed the point, the driver keeps calling out the stops ahead: common European taxation, a unified welfare system, an EU army. If you dont want to go to any of those stops, let alone the final destination, what should you do?



Should you remain motionless in your seat as the bus purrs along its route? Or should you politely get off and wave it on its way?



Yes, it takes nerve to do so, and Remainers play on our anxiety about change. The EU might be remote, they say, it might be self-serving, frustrating and arrogant and expensive and wasteful and corrupt, but can we be sure that the alternative wont be even worse?



The implicit pessimism here, the low opinion of Britain and her capabilities, is staggering.





Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the European Federation, has compared Britain and the EU to Hong Kong and China



Other countries take it for granted that they can live under their own laws while working with neighbours and allies. New Zealand shows no interest in merging with Australia, yet the Kiwis are not written off as insular Australo-sceptics who have failed to adjust to the modern world.



Japan is not applying to join China. But people dont hector the Japanese for being nostalgic Sinosceptics who simply cant get over the loss of their empire.



Self-government is the normal condition for a modern democracy. What we need is the self-confidence to grasp it while we can.



Are we prepared to use our faculty for reason, rather than be swayed by instinctive risk aversion? Are we prepared to aim, calmly and reasonably, for an economics-based deal that would suit both sides better than the current rancour?



Because, if not, the alternative is too awful to contemplate.



What, then, of a vote to leave? Where will that take us?



I have a very clear vision of what it will be like in an independent Britain if were bold and determined. Just think ahead a few years.



It is 2020, and the UK is flourishing outside the EU. The rump EU, now a united bloc and known officially as the European Federation, continues its genteel decline, but Britain has become the most successful and competitive knowledge-based economy in the region.



Our universities attract the worlds brightest students.



We lead the way in software, biotech, law, finance and the audio-visual sector. We have forged a distinctive foreign policy, allied to Europe, but giving due weight to the U.S., India and other common law, Anglophone democracies.



More intangibly, but no less significantly, we have recovered our self-belief.



As Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the European Federation, crossly puts it: In economic terms, Britain is Hong Kong to Europes China, Singapore to our Indonesia.



We remain full members of the EUs common market, covered by free movement of goods, services and capital, but we have also made a slew of free-trade agreements with the rest of the world, including the U.S., India and Australia.



Non-EU trade matters more than ever.



Since 2010, every region in the world has experienced significant economic growth, except Europe. The prosperity of distant continents has spilled over into Britain. Our Atlantic ports, above all Glasgow and Liverpool, are entering a second golden age.



London, too, is booming. Eurocrats never had much sympathy for financial services. As their regulations took effect in Frankfurt, Paris and Milan  a financial transactions tax, a ban on short selling, restrictions on clearing, a bonus cap, windfall levies, micro-regulation of funds  waves of young financiers brought their talents to the City instead.



Our farmers, freed from the Common Agricultural Policy, are world-beating.



Our fisheries are, once again, a great renewable resource. Breaking free from the EUs rules on data management made Hoxton in East London the global capital for software design.



Scrapping EU rules on clinical trials has allowed Britain to recover its place as a world leader in medical research.



Universities no longer waste their time on Kafkaesque EU grant applications. Now, they compete on quality, attracting talent from every continent and charging accordingly.



Immigration is keenly debated. Every year, Parliament votes on how many permits to make available for students, medical workers and refugees.



Every would-be migrant can compete on an equal basis: the rules that privileged Europeans over Commonwealth citizens, often with family links to Britain, were dropped immediately after independence.





Brand power: Without the EU, the UK would still attract brand power across the world with Wimbledon to Manchester United, from the Duchess of Cambridge to Downton Abbey



Unsurprisingly, other European states have opted for a similar deal to ours, including Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey and Georgia.



The result is that the United Kingdom leads a 21-state bloc that forms a common market with the remaining members of the European Federation, but is outside its political structures.



Meanwhile, the 25 countries of the Federation have pushed ahead with full integration, including a European army and police force and harmonised taxes, prompting Ireland and the Netherlands to announce referendums on whether to follow Britain.



Best of all, we have cast off the pessimism that infected us during our EU years, the sense that we were too small to make a difference.



We are the fifth largest economy on Earth, the fourth military power, a leading member of the G7, a permanent seat-holder on the UN Security Council. We are home to the worlds greatest city and most widely spoken language.



Our brands, from Wimbledon to Manchester United, from the Duchess of Cambridge to Downton Abbey, are recognised around the world.



We used to think of ourselves  in the phrase once used by the veteran actress Emma Thompson as an argument for staying in  as a tiny little island. But not any more.



And, from our position of independence, we know we have plenty more to give.



This brave new world I have outlined here is within our grasp, if we bite the bullet and vote to leave the EU at the referendum in June.



Two futures beckon. Neither can be foreknown with total certainty. But there is one thing we know in our bones: a confident country does not fear to follow her own path. As the poet Robert Frost wrote:



Two roads diverged in a wood, and I 



I took the one less travelled by,



And that has made all the difference.

Please imagine that you are on a bus whose destination  a federalist United States of Europe  is clearly marked on the front.Just in case any passengers have missed the point, the driver keeps calling out the stops ahead: common European taxation, a unified welfare system, an EU army. If you dont want to go to any of those stops, let alone the final destination, what should you do?Should you remain motionless in your seat as the bus purrs along its route? Or should you politely get off and wave it on its way?Yes, it takes nerve to do so, and Remainers play on our anxiety about change. The EU might be remote, they say, it might be self-serving, frustrating and arrogant and expensive and wasteful and corrupt, but can we be sure that the alternative wont be even worse?The implicit pessimism here, the low opinion of Britain and her capabilities, is staggering.Other countries take it for granted that they can live under their own laws while working with neighbours and allies. New Zealand shows no interest in merging with Australia, yet the Kiwis are not written off as insular Australo-sceptics who have failed to adjust to the modern world.Japan is not applying to join China. But people dont hector the Japanese for being nostalgic Sinosceptics who simply cant get over the loss of their empire.Self-government is the normal condition for a modern democracy. What we need is the self-confidence to grasp it while we can.Are we prepared to use our faculty for reason, rather than be swayed by instinctive risk aversion? Are we prepared to aim, calmly and reasonably, for an economics-based deal that would suit both sides better than the current rancour?Because, if not, the alternative is too awful to contemplate.What, then, of a vote to leave? Where will that take us?I have a very clear vision of what it will be like in an independent Britain if were bold and determined. Just think ahead a few years.It is 2020, and the UK is flourishing outside the EU. The rump EU, now a united bloc and known officially as the European Federation, continues its genteel decline, but Britain has become the most successful and competitive knowledge-based economy in the region.Our universities attract the worlds brightest students.We lead the way in software, biotech, law, finance and the audio-visual sector. We have forged a distinctive foreign policy, allied to Europe, but giving due weight to the U.S., India and other common law, Anglophone democracies.More intangibly, but no less significantly, we have recovered our self-belief.As Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the European Federation, crossly puts it: In economic terms, Britain is Hong Kong to Europes China, Singapore to our Indonesia.We remain full members of the EUs common market, covered by free movement of goods, services and capital, but we have also made a slew of free-trade agreements with the rest of the world, including the U.S., India and Australia.Non-EU trade matters more than ever.Since 2010, every region in the world has experienced significant economic growth, except Europe. The prosperity of distant continents has spilled over into Britain. Our Atlantic ports, above all Glasgow and Liverpool, are entering a second golden age.London, too, is booming. Eurocrats never had much sympathy for financial services. As their regulations took effect in Frankfurt, Paris and Milan  a financial transactions tax, a ban on short selling, restrictions on clearing, a bonus cap, windfall levies, micro-regulation of funds  waves of young financiers brought their talents to the City instead.Our farmers, freed from the Common Agricultural Policy, are world-beating.Our fisheries are, once again, a great renewable resource. Breaking free from the EUs rules on data management made Hoxton in East London the global capital for software design.Scrapping EU rules on clinical trials has allowed Britain to recover its place as a world leader in medical research.Universities no longer waste their time on Kafkaesque EU grant applications. Now, they compete on quality, attracting talent from every continent and charging accordingly.Immigration is keenly debated. Every year, Parliament votes on how many permits to make available for students, medical workers and refugees.Every would-be migrant can compete on an equal basis: the rules that privileged Europeans over Commonwealth citizens, often with family links to Britain, were dropped immediately after independence.Unsurprisingly, other European states have opted for a similar deal to ours, including Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey and Georgia.The result is that the United Kingdom leads a 21-state bloc that forms a common market with the remaining members of the European Federation, but is outside its political structures.Meanwhile, the 25 countries of the Federation have pushed ahead with full integration, including a European army and police force and harmonised taxes, prompting Ireland and the Netherlands to announce referendums on whether to follow Britain.Best of all, we have cast off the pessimism that infected us during our EU years, the sense that we were too small to make a difference.We are the fifth largest economy on Earth, the fourth military power, a leading member of the G7, a permanent seat-holder on the UN Security Council. We are home to the worlds greatest city and most widely spoken language.Our brands, from Wimbledon to Manchester United, from the Duchess of Cambridge to Downton Abbey, are recognised around the world.We used to think of ourselves  in the phrase once used by the veteran actress Emma Thompson as an argument for staying in  as a tiny little island. But not any more.And, from our position of independence, we know we have plenty more to give.This brave new world I have outlined here is within our grasp, if we bite the bullet and vote to leave the EU at the referendum in June.Two futures beckon. Neither can be foreknown with total certainty. But there is one thing we know in our bones: a confident country does not fear to follow her own path. As the poet Robert Frost wrote:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less travelled by,And that has made all the difference.

By Daniel Hannan, Conservative MEP for South East England, Writing for the Daily Mail13 April 2016Euro enthusiasts love to sneer at Brexiters like me: So whats your alternative? Dyou want Britain to be like Norway? All cold and empty?Or like Switzerland? Making chocolate? And cuckoo clocks? Thats what you want, is it? Eh?Its tempting simply to answer that, if youre in a structurally unsafe building, the obvious alternative to remaining is walking out.And with the migration and euro crises deepening, the EU is just that  structurally unsafe. So much so that staying in is a greater risk than leaving.But I know, too, that fear of change is deep in peoples genomes, and we tend to vote accordingly.Given the chance to win something of greater value by staking something of lesser value, we tend to make the mathematically irrational decision to stick with what weve got.As Remain campaigners are well aware, referendums the world over tend to be won by whichever side is opposing change. And they can hardly be blamed for making change-aversion their key argument.They dont want to get drawn into arguments about democracy, or sovereignty, or the EUs declining share of the world economy, or border control, or Britains budget contributions. Theyd much rather conjure up unspecific, inchoate fears about change.Fear of the unknown has become the mainstay of their case.One pro-EU friend, a Conservative MP, put it to me: Its like banks. Everyone moans about their bank. But how many people take their accounts elsewhere?To which I reply: Well, youd move your account pretty sharpish if you thought the bank might fail. In my view, the EU is now so rickety that sticking with it can hardly be called risk-averse. Voting to leave is now the safer option.What people need to understand before they choose which box to tick is that there is no status quo in this referendum. What we face, rather, is a choice between two futures, both of which we can sketch with some confidence.One future involves being part of the continuing political amalgamation of the EU, a process that has been rumbling along since 1956, but in which we will cede control over the larger questions of foreign affairs, economics, security, human rights and citizenship to Brussels institutions.The other involves a new relationship based on a common market, not a common government.A vote to leave will result in a trade-only deal with the EU. We will remain part of the European free trade zone that stretches from non-EU Iceland to non-EU Turkey.No one in Brussels argues that Britain would leave that common market if it left the EU. Given that every non-EU territory from the Faroe Islands to Montenegro has access to the European free trade area, it would be preposterous to claim that the UK, uniquely, would be denied full market access.This is obvious when we consider that the balance of UK-EU trade is very much in our favour. The UK market is worth 289 billion, so the EU is hardly likely to turn its back on us.Indeed, it needs our market more than we need theirs, so it is absurd to claim that non-participation in the various political structures in Brussels would mean trade coming to a halt.We will keep our trade links and, like every other independent state, we will negotiate our own deal on departure, tailored to suit our own conditions and needs.Will it be the Swiss, Norwegian or Icelandic model? No, none of these. It will be one especially for us.In terms of trade, Norway gets a better deal than Britain currently does, and Switzerland a better deal than Norway.But a post-EU Britain, with 65 million people compared to Switzerlands eight million and Norways five million, could expect something better yet.But wont we still have to conform to huge chunks of EU rules when we are outside, just as Norway and Iceland do?Gasping and swooning with all the theatricality of Victorian matrons, EU supporters have claimed this as a clincher in their case. Yet that issue has proved to be more a problem in theory than in practice. Between 2000 and 2013, the EU generated 52,183 legal instruments, of which Norway and Iceland adopted fewer than 10 per cent (and the Swiss none at all).In that same period, Britain, by contrast, had to apply 100 per cent of EU regulations to its economy. So even if we had to settle for a Norway or an Iceland-style agreement  which we wont  we would be far better off out.The very fact of mentioning Norway and Switzerland will lead to more scoffing from the pro-EU campaign. How can you possibly compare us to those countries? they will ask. Britain is very different.So, if Norway and Switzerland are too exotic for a true comparison, how about Guernsey in the Channel Islands? Guernsey is an English-speaking, common law, parliamentary democracy. Its currency is the pound. Its head of state is the Queen.It is, for certain purposes, in political union with the UK. Its political system resembles ours in every way.Except one. Guernsey is outside the EU. Essentially, it opts into the economic aspects of EU membership, but opts out of everything else.The Channel Islands are outside the Common Fisheries Policy, outside the Common Agricultural Policy (except for import duties on non-EU produce) and outside the common rules on justice, home affairs, foreign policy, employment law and environmental regulation.Guernsey is part of a free-movement area with the UK and Ireland, but controls immigration from the rest of the EU. Indeed, startlingly to British eyes, it really does have an immigration policy: its legislators vote on whom to admit, on what terms and in what numbers.They set an annual population target, and issue their residence permits accordingly, mainly taking in temporary workers from Latvia and Madeira.They are currently debating how many Syrian refugees they might take in.Parliamentary sovereignty evidently suits the people of Guernsey. Their economy has been growing steadily at around 3 per cent a year, their GDP per capita is one of the highest in the world, unemployment is in the hundreds and crime is virtually non-existent.Ah, say EU supporters, but Guernsey is a tax haven  thats why it is doing so well.If, by that, they mean there are lower taxes in Guernsey because  unfettered by Brussels  they can run their own affairs efficiently and attract investment, this is surely an argument for leaving.But you cant compare us to Guernsey, the scoffers will then cry. Its tiny! But are we seriously supposed to think that small nations can thrive outside the EU, but large ones cant?Its extraordinary how quickly EU supporters switch from Britain has to be part of a bigger bloc to You cant compare us to small countries. Apparently, were simultaneously too large and too small to prosper.The Chief Minister of Guernsey is a hugely impressive man called Jonathan Le Tocq, one of the last islanders to have been brought up speaking the local Norman French dialect.He studied in Paris and feels very European. But what he prizes above all is the sense of accountability intrinsic in the islands parliamentary system.People know that theyre in control, he told me. If they dont like a policy, they can get it changed. Extraordinary, really, that such a thing should need saying.Extraordinary, too, that Britain, which developed and exported the sublime idea that laws should not be passed, nor taxes raised, except by elected representatives, should now look enviously at its Crown possessions off the Normandy coast.WHY Vote Leave by Daniel Hannan is published by Head of Zeus at 9.99. Offer price 7.99 (20 per cent discount) until April 20, 2016. Call 0844 571 0640 or visit mailbookshop.co.uk. P&P free on orders over 12.Read more: If tiny Guernsey thrives outside the EU why can't the United Kingdom? | Daily Mail Online Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Thousands braved the rain and cold in Victoria today to pay their respects to Constable Sarah Beckett, the Mountie and mother of two killed on the job last week in a car crash.Janelle Navaroli was one of many who arrived early at one of the public viewing areas for Constable Sarah Becketts regimental funeral.Navaroli brought her young daughter, saying Becketts was a young life taken too soon.She is just one of thousands of people consisting of family members, friends, uniformed men and women, their spouses and regular people from across B.C. and even Washington State.With limited public seating at Colwoods Q Centre, that meant others waited outside along Island Highway to watch the procession go by before watching the service on the big screen at Westhills Stadium.Many at the Westhills Stadium viewing area say they have a loved one on a police force, and the loss of one officer is too many.The stadium was one of two public viewing areas set up for people to accommodate the wave of support being shown for the officers family and friends.moreBeckett was on general duty early this morning, when her cruiser was t-boned by a pick-up truck at a major intersection in Langford.Beckett leaves behind a husband and two young children, along with a mother and sister.She had recently returned to work after maternity leave.Watch a montage of moments from the life of fallen RCMP Cst. Sarah Beckett.
Unfortunately free trade did not work out the way it was supposed to. What it turned into is a race to the bottom because the US middle class, which is huge lost purchasing power when their jobs disappeared. The law of unintended consequences kicked in.
The objects of wonderment placed in the Plattsmouth Public Library cornerstone April 19, 1916, will be revealed during the stones 100-year anniversary celebration April 23.

Plattsmouth Journal covered the initial laying of the cornerstone in its April 20, 1916, issue. The event drew townspeople to the site at the southwest corner of Fourth and Vine (Ave. A), home to the library since Nov. 1, 1916.

The school children, assisted by Mrs. Mae Morgan as director and Rev. F.M. Druliner as cornetist, gave a number of stirring patriotic songs including America and the Red, White and Blue. The audience stood with bared heads as the stone was lowered into place by the contractor, J.W. Peeters. President A.L. Tidd of the library board had placed in the receptacle a number of documents that in later years may be objects of wonderment to the future generations as pages of bygone history, Plattsmouth Journal reported.

Young Ladies Reading Room Association members spearheaded the opening of a library in Plattsmouth by first forming the association on Feb. 24, 1885.

Twenty women of Plattsmouth met at the home of May Cramer for the purpose of organizing a young ladies social temperance society. Two weeks later on the third of March, the new society adopted bylaws and formally organized itself as the Young Ladies Reading Room Association, commonly known as the YLRRA, reads an excerpt from YLRRA 1885 to Plattsmouth Public Library 1985.

Plattsmouth Public Library Director Karen Mier said the YLRRA met at different places for the first year including the second floor of Matthews Hardware Store, once located at Fourth and Main Street.

The members painted the interior and spruced up the place for meetings. Because there was no electricity available, meetings took place during daylight hours. Coal oil lamps were brought in for extra-long sessions, the YLRRA history states.

By the end of 1886, the YLRRA moved its headquarters to Rockwood Hall, between Fifth and Sixth on Main Street.

On New Years Day, 1886, the new reading room was opened to the public and Plattsmouth had its first circulating library, the history states.

By 1888, the library had 500 books and carried three monthly periodicals. Books were checked out for two-week periods at 10 cents per book. That year, the YLRRA turned over the reading room to the YMCA. Two years later, however, the YMCA disbanded and returned the books and furnishings.

From 1885 to 1900, YLRRA members sponsored fundraisers to generate income for the reading room. They had buttermilk sociables, milkmaid carnivals, card parties, leap year balls, talent plays and other activities.

Although the city initially turned down YLRRAs requests to adopt a mill levy for the reading room, one passed on May 22, 1893.

The council passed an ordinance establishing a tax not to exceed one mill to be collected for a library fund. People Will Read was the headline in the Plattsmouth Daily Journal.

Olive Jones, one of the YLRRAs founders, was appointed head librarian, a position she served in until 1940.

On Jan. 1, 1901, Plattsmouth Public Library moved into a new building constructed for $3,000 at the northwest corner of Fourth and Vine (Ave. A). More than 200 people visited the facility that day.

The site would only prove home to the library for 15 years due to the rapid growth of the librarys collections. Total volumes tripled from 2,000 in 1901 to 6,000 in 1916, YLRRA history states.

By 1915, the library needed more space. Tidd looked into establishing a Carnegie library for Plattsmouth. In turn, the Carnegie Corporation offered a $12,500 grant for the construction of a new library, contingent on the city furnishing a site for it and adopting a levy of at least $1,500 per year for maintenance and repair.

Peters and Richards were awarded the building contract for $10,470. The plumbing, heating and lighting contract was given to Warga and Schuldice. Fiske and Meginnis of Lincoln designed the building, Mier said.

When the new library opened at the southwest corner of Fourth and Vine, Plattsmouth Evening Journal called it one of the handsomest buildings of its kind in the state and one that will stand as a monument to progress in the city and be an impulse to higher things.

And so it has been with an addition in 1974 and a recently updated computer room and automated checkout system.

The two-story structure is also on the National Registry of Historic Places and part of the Main Street Historic District, Mier said.

To celebrate this 100th-year milestone, Mier, staff and Friends of the Library volunteers have planned a program with historic throwbacks to the pride of Plattsmouths beginnings. Activities will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 23.

The public is encouraged to attend this history-making gathering.

See accompanying story for details of the April 23 celebration.
Tuesday morning, Delaney Hall at St. Patricks Catholic Church barely contained the joyful animation exuded by one individual who took center stage to address the very serious and complex issues that related to Alzheimers and other dementia-related illnesses. Illnesses that, if they afflict one person they afflict all the people within that persons network of family and friends.

The reality is: dementia doesnt just happen to one person; when one person gets dementia everyone around them is living with it, said Teepa Snow, the vibrant advocate who addressed the Delaney hall crowd on Tuesday. Snow, a devoted educator and supporter of dementia patients and their families spoke about issues relating to the care and treatment of illness.

As a leader in the field of dementia treatment and training in the United States, Snow addressed well over 400 professional healthcare workers from the Fremont area, and from around the state. Her experience working and caring for individuals suffering with dementia reaches across more than 30 years as a registered occupational therapist, and then as an educator and promotor of what those in the healthcare field call a Positive Approach to dementia care.

Humans must find joy in their life, Snow said. Humans need joy to thrive and survive.

People die if they cant find joy, she added.

And its that joyful attitude that Snow uses to approach her treatment, advocacy, and education of techniques used in caring for dementia patients and their families.

Before her lecture to the audience, Snow alluded to the large number attending the seminar.

It speaks to peoples increased awareness and increased need to do something that works (in the treatment approach to dementia), she said.

With an increased awareness, Snow believes that people, family members and professionals alike, are searching for more effective ways to address dementia caregiving.

MaryLynne Bolden, co-owner of MJ Senior Housing LLC, which operates five senior housing facilities in Nebraska, organized the event through MJ Senior Housing Foundation. With the help of co-owner Jason Lange, board members David Schmidt and Linda Dexter, along with several generous area sponsors and vendors, the Your Race is Now Alzheimers Educational event extended through the day and into the evening, passing on valuable resources and training to those in attendance.

Frontline caregivers like Debbie Wolfe and Debbie Nelson, two registered nurses at the seminar who work as partners for home health care, said the event offered information on innovative methods of treatment.

(The seminar) provides more ways to (approach treatment) with positive reinforcement, said Wolfe, denoting the energetic and constructive approach applied by Snow.

Wolfe and Nelson possess experience in caring for Alzheimers patients and emphasized that such care involves much more than treating the cognitive and memory indicators of the illness. For example, in later stages of the illness walking, feeding and sleep complications can arise.

Nelson also illustrated, with one example, the complexity of memory issues that manifest in sometimes peculiar ways. She explained how one long term patient for whom they cared, whose memory  both short and long term  began to significantly fail. However, Nelson used an alternative approach called music therapy.

Despite significant memory loss, Nelson explained, they still remember the words to songs.

Her example exemplifies the multifaceted ambiguities that science still faces in overcoming dementia-related diseases like Alzheimers.

Dementia is a great big umbrella term, Snow said, citing the fact that  based on the most recent knowledge  dementia actually includes anywhere from 90 to 110 different forms, causes and types  this is way more complicated than (when) it started off  this is a lot more complicated and a lot of what we thought was one thing is another thing.

Snow further illustrated that even Alzheimers can embody at least five different forms; and how it can be acquired varies from one case to the next. It could be genetics. It could be life situations. It could result from trauma. It could arise from another health condition such as diabetes or hypertension.

Dementia, particularly Alzheimers disease, initially affects the hippocampus and connected brain areas such as the amygdala. The hippocampus functions in learning new information and then remembering that information. The hippocampus, Snow explains, is hardwired to the amygdala which functions in the processing of emotion. The strong link between the hippocampus and the amygdala explains why humans learn best when they can attach emotion to that learning. In Alzheimers cases the amygdala generally begins to deteriorate after the hippocampus. So when patients exhibit difficult behavior they often respond better to emotional approach rather than attempting to redirect the patient with statements of logic.

A motivated crew of medical aides and certified nursing assistants lead by Healthcare Service Coordinator Alisha Anderson, all from the Country House, a memory care facility in Kearney, NE all attended the seminar. Anderson, Anber Horn, Heidi Anderson and Nancy Stark drove three hours across half the state to listen to Snows presentations and receive her training. They hoped to gain a better understanding on how to deal with difficult behaviors that emerge with dementia that can represent a major source of frustration for professional and family caregivers alike.

In those moments of difficulty the staff at Country House knows to take a deep breath, step back and ask another staff member to help.

Dementia is not a medical condition, Snow said, its a life condition.

Because of that it requires a unique approach. And its that approach to treatment that Snow hopes to extend to all those she trains and with whom she interacts.

Snow said, her unique approach to treatment resulted from her long experience and her curiosity.

I didnt give up, she said

She stayed curious about different ways to help.

One of the most important things she came to understand, flowered from her realization that the patient with dementia is only one side of the equation for patient treatment.

A lot of people still see dementia and related illnesses as a problem. But in reality, Snow said, they are just the other side of the equation instead of the problem.

The reality of this thing is: those who are living with dementia right now, probably are not going to see the cure, Bolden said, addressing the attendees. Know that the people who are living this right now, there race is now.

From out of that sentiment, on a road trip to Hastings, NE, Bolden explained, the Your Race is Now idea and Alzheimers educational event materialized.

The event lasted all day and closed with a sponsor showcase and an evening presentation open to the public. The presentation included lecture by Snow and a question and answer session by Dr. Stephen Bonasera, Associate Professor, Internal Medicine Division of Geriatrics at Nebraska Medical Center.
Alitalia inaugurates a new Rome-Beijing direct flight, resuming service between Italy and the People's Republic of China. The new Beijing service represents Alitalias third new intercontinental route of 2016, following Santiago de Chile (starting 1 May) and Mexico City (starting 16 June).

The new service will start on 18 July 2016. In addition to existing daily services to Tokyo and Seoul, the Beijing flight further strengthens Alitalias presence in the Far East. Companies doing business with Italy will also have the opportunity to send or receive goods thanks to Alitalia's cargo transportation through its aircraft belly.

Departure from Rome Fiumicino is every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 2.20 pm, arriving in Beijing at 6.20 am (local time) the next day. Departure from Beijing is every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 9.15 am (local time), arriving in Rome at 2.25 pm. This schedule offers convenient connections in Rome Fiumicino to customers traveling from 50 cities in Italy, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Guests flying to Beijing can connect to more than 30 destinations with SkyTeam Alliance partners China Southern and China Eastern. Alitalia also serves China with Etihad Airways code-share flights, via Abu Dhabi, to Beijing, Shanghai and Chendou. Alitalia will operate an Airbus A330 aircraft between Rome and Beijing with 250 seats equipped with three cabin classes: Business, Premium Economy and Economy. Onboard service includes newly renovated cabin layouts, as well as Wi-Fi connectivity for phone calls, Internet and e-mail. Business Class seats fully recline to comfortable flatbed positions and the new "Dine Anytime" meal service allows guests to decide when to dine on board. Tickets can be purchased at Alitalia.com
The Ritz-Carlton's first property in Hungary opened yesterday in Budapest. Located on Elizabeth Square, with views over St Stephens Basilica, The Ritz-Carlton, Budapest locates on the doorstep of Budapests heralded historic sites and minutes away from the glittering Danube River.

The building, which housed Le Meridien Budapest before rebranding into The Ritz Carlton, is constructed in 1914 as the headquarters for an Italian insurance company, the building has seen many incarnations, but today it re-opens as a luxury property with 170 elegantly appointed rooms and 30 suites.

The property has The Ritz-Carlton Club Level on the 8th and 9th floors, allowing guests an elevated experience and an additional sanctuary, with dedicated concierge, plus complimentary food and beverage presentations running throughout the day.

The luxury hotel has two restaurants and a bar. The unrivalled Deak Street Kitchen serves a variety of Hungarian-inspired dishes, created using local seasonal ingredients, and freshly grilled meat & fish, alongside one of the citys finest selections of indigenous Hungarian wines and beers. With an elegant outside terrace overlooking vibrant Fashion Street, with its designer stores and colourful market, it provides the perfect location to people-watch, whilst enjoying al fresco dining.

The Kupola Lounge, situated beneath the buildings iconic stained glass cupula and grand crystal chandelier, is ideally placed for a leisurely farmers market breakfast or light lunch overlooking the hotel lobby. The Ritz-Carlton, Budapest, also houses a fresh, contemporary bar. Combining sleek finishes with the buildings uncovered original architectural columns, the Kupola Bar focuses on serving innovative cocktails in a metropolitan, sophisticated ambiance.

The propertys facilities are completed with the ballroom, situated on the lower ground floor. Seating 180 people and the perfect new Budapest location for milestone celebrations, it is adjacent to five flexible meeting rooms, which combine contemporary interiors with state of the art technology.

The Ritz-Carlton Spa and Fitness Centre flooded with natural light on the top of the building, creates an unrivalled haven for guests to unwind, recharge or simply escape. This urban spa, with indoor pool and three treatment rooms, offers a full range of beauty and body therapies, including The Ritz-Carlton signature treatments, and sits alongside a professionally equipped fitness centre, which remains open 24/7.
The African cultural delegations representing South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Madagascar, Mauritius and maybe even Rwanda will fly to Seychelles for the countrys annual carnival; Carnaval International de Victoria.

Celebrating its sixth year, Carnaval International de Victoria will be held between 22 and 24 April 2016. "Promoting one's Culture is putting one's people at the centre of our Continent's Development" said a journalist from Africa at the last edition of the carnival in Seychelles. "Africa depends a lot on tourism and at the carnival in Seychelles, African Ministers of Tourism meet more press than they can ever hope for. They meet more press than at any tourism trade fair they go to" said another press organization from Africa.

Last year Ghana was at the carnival in Seychelles with a very large delegation headed by their King of the Ashanti. The Kingdom of Swaziland was represented by their Princess and and a cultural delegation and so was the Cote D'Ivoire present and this was the first West Africa Country to be at this carnival. "Africa should learn not to be ashamed of their people and of their culture" an American journalist covering the 2015 edition of the carnival said.

This year the African cultural delegations will be parading alongside the best carnivals of the world because Brazil, Notting Hill of the UK, the France Carnival, the Italy Carnival, Dusseldorf and also Cologne Carnivals from Germany and Indonesia Carnival. These carnival delegations will be followed by over 15 cultural troupes coming from countries who are demonstrating their pride as they showcase their culture and people.
Japans capital city will host the 49th IAPCO AM/GA in 2018. The announcement came at the recent Annual Meeting and General Assembly (AM/GA) of the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO) held in Cape Town, South Africa.

Tokyo will welcome prominent PCOs from around the world. While Tokyo will host the IAPCO AM/GA in February 2018, Osaka will host the related IAPCO Council meetings. In addition, the Organizing Committee of Japan 2018 is planning to offer opportunities for involvement by convention bureaus throughout the country, so that IAPCOs member PCOs could visit other prospective MICE destination cities in Japan for pre- and/or post-AM/GA activities.

IAPCO has seen significant growth in membership from the Asian region, and in 2013 a Japanese member: Ms. Kayo Nomura of Congress Corporation, was elected to the Council for the first time in 20 years. Tokyo 2018 will be the first time in 22 years that the IAPCO meeting will return to Asia (Bali, Indonesia 1996). It will be the second time Japan has hosted the event (Chiba, 1993).

Ms. Keiko Nishimoto, CMP of Japan Convention Services was recently elected to Deputy Chair & Treasurer of ICCAs Asia Pacific Chapter. Both Nomura and Nishimoto, along with everyone in Japans meetings industry, are looking forward to welcoming the 2018 IAPCO AM/GA meeting to their home turf.

Japans bid was supported by the national and local governments, including the Japan National Tourism Organization, the Japan Tourism Agency, the Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau.
Predicting the end of China has now become a fad. In the past quarter century or so, at least three rounds of "death notifications" on China have been issued: first at the turn of the 1990s and then in the early 2000s, most famously epitomized by Gordan Chang's eye-catching book, The Coming Collapse of China. Last year, veteran China watcher David Shambaugh joined the rank with his op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, warning about "the coming Chinese crackup" and claiming the "endgame of communist rule in China has now begun".

Unsurprisingly, a sudden U-turn by the prominent Sinologist known for his moderate views sparked an international debate on "China's future", which is exactly the title of his new book. This time extended arguments are supplied, many of which are more nuanced than the shorter commentary. Nonetheless, the key theme remains: China is on the verge of demise.

To be fair, unlike Chang's much more blunt forecast which proved utterly wrong not once but twice, Shambaugh has been making his case in a smarter way. He avoids to a large extent the embarrassment of being proved wrong. Yet he falls prey to what can be called the trap of "collapsism", which suffers from two symptoms.

First, the central tenet of Shambaugh's case for China's fall focuses on the political, by which he means the one-party rule. For example, in China's Future he argues that innovationwhich he considers the key to China's economic futurecan only take off when "substantive political liberalization" takes place. By putting all eggs in the political basket, Shambaugh underestimates, if not dismisses, China's social dynamism and political system's responsiveness to societal changes. In this sense, his "collapsism" places inadequate confidence in both the Chinese people and State.

Facts speak otherwise. For instance, the contracting-out system of rural land in China was famously initiated by a group of farmers in a remote village in an eastern province, which turned out to be one of the most successful policy innovations in the 20th century. It started bottom-up illegally but the State was quick to give it consent at first, then approval and finally assurance and support. Since the 1990s the contract period has been extended twice, from 15 years to 30 years to unspecified long term, and a specific law passed for the system. This is but one example of social dynamism and State responsiveness in the 30-odd years of China's reform. Nevertheless, it is enough to show Shambaugh is absolutely correct in directing our attention to the Chinese political system when it comes to pondering the country's futureit is just that in overdoing so, he turns to be a victim of his own success.
The Gamasutra Job Board is the most diverse, active and established board of its kind for the video game industry!



Here is just one of the many, many positions being advertised right now.

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Were looking for outstanding engineers to join our team! If you have a passion for gameplay, physics, networking, tools and/or graphics wed love to hear from you. As an engineer at Demiurge Studios youll work with other engineers, artists and designers to deliver innovative games for the PC, Android and iOS devices. Demiurge development teams are cohesive, highly skilled and well-supportedcome join us!

Responsibilities:

Work closely with art and design to understand and define game features and system requirements

Author technical design documents for the team which specify what will be developed and how

Provide time estimates and development plans for feature development

Implement, test, debug and maintain source code

Provide ongoing support to art and design

Track your development progress and keep production management well-informed

Think creatively and work proactively to solve any blocking issues for yourself and your teammates

Deliver high quality, functional systems on time and to specification

Review the work of other engineers and provide constructive guidance in a highly collaborative environment

Make educated trade-offs among scope, quality and pace.

Assist with live server operations and take turns responding to outages with the team

Must-Have Qualifications

4+ years game industry experience

Strong C++ programming and software architecture skills

BS or higher in Computer Science or similar discipline (Physics, Math, EE, etc.)

Excellent written and oral communication skills

Has an interest in good software engineering practices and maintaining code quality

Self motivated and able to achieve development goals with minimal supervision

Has a passion for games and plays them regularly

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis

Has outside interests!

Preference to Applicants with:

Engineering credits on one or more shipped titles for iOS or Android

Prior Python and Django experience

Database development experience with SQL

Previous experience architecting APIs with JSON

Experience setting up automated build systems and unit test frameworks.

Comfortable working in PC and Linux environments

Experience developing games using agile methodologies

Creating games is our passion. Founded in 2002 and acquired in 2015 by SEGA Networks, we bring years of expertise to our projects. Our developers build fun, accessible mobile games like our recent hit, Marvel Puzzle Quest.

Based in Cambridge, MA, Demiurge has contributed to titles such as Bioshock, Rock Band, and Mass Effect.

Interested? Apply now.

About the Gamasutra Job Board

Whether you're just starting out, looking for something new, or just seeing what's out there, the Gamasutra Job Board is the place where game developers move ahead in their careers.

Gamasutra's Job Board is the most diverse, most active, and most established board of its kind in the video game industry, serving companies of all sizes, from indie to triple-A.



Looking for a new job? Get started here. Are you a recruiter looking for talent? Post jobs here.
DES MOINES  Working with a funding increase of less than one-half of 1 percent for the coming fiscal year, Iowa legislators warned of higher tuition at universities and community colleges as well as delayed summer reading programs at the K-12 level.

Its unfortunate we are in a situation that only $4.9 million is being invested in our education program, Rep. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, told colleagues on the Education Appropriations Subcommittee Tuesday.

She was referring to the $4.9 million increase in education funding in the $7.35 billion budget lawmakers are expected to approve in the coming days. After factoring in a shift of $12.6 million from human services to education, the $1,009,736,682 education budget is an increase of 0.49 percent from the current year.

Subcommittee Co-Chairs Rep. Cecil Dolecheck, R-Mount Ayr, and Sen. Brian Schoenjahn, D-Arlington, hope to have final budget numbers Wednesday.

Were close, Dolecheck said. Theres not much to fight over when you only have $5 million.

The problem didnt start this year, said Sen. Wally Horn, D-Cedar Rapids, who noted that in his 43-year legislative career hes voted for at least three sales tax increases to support education funding.

We dont want education to go to hell, Horn said. Last year we said next year. We cant do that much more this year, but what are we going to do next year?

Nearly every member of the committee mentioned the need to increase community college funding, which was unchanged last year after Gov. Terry Branstad vetoed funds for the two-year schools.

Community colleges are looking at hiking tuition $10 to $11 a credit hour to cover their costs, according to Rep. Charlie McConkey, D-Council Bluffs.

A tuition increase is almost certain at regents universities, added Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, who said more than half of his constituents are Iowa State University students.

The Board of Regents asked for $20 million in new funds for the 2017 fiscal year. Branstad put $8 million in his budget proposal to be split between the three universities.

University tuitions have more than doubled in recent decades, Quirmbach said, and, when adjusted for inflation, regents university funding has decreased $300 million.

Lawmakers also discussed the lack of funding that has led to a delay in starting a summer intensive reading program for third-graders not reading at grade level. Branstad didnt budget funds for the program for this summer, but about 130 school districts are planning pilot programs.

Without state funding, the summer intensive reading program is a $10 million unfunded mandate of local schools, lawmakers said.
SIOUX CITY | The genesis for a Republican primary battle may have come from a high-profile, winter-months political skirmish over agriculture issues in advance of the Iowa caucuses.

That's why there's considerable attention being given to where Iowans with ag-industry and farming ties come down in the contest between seven-term Fourth District Rep. Steve King and his GOP challenger, state Sen. Rick Bertrand of Sioux City.

Both King and Bertrand say they'll get a substantial number of ag-related support, but for now industry officials are playing their cards close to the vest.

King ruffled some feathers in November when he endorsed presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who doesn't support an extension to the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for corn-based ethanol. That caused Gov. Terry Branstad and others to publicly criticize King's pick, with the Republican governor saying Cruz shouldn't be supported by Iowans after his knock on an industry that is so important to the state.

Cruz went on to win the Iowa caucuses and is one of three remaining GOP presidential candidates. Bertrand entered the Fourth District race in March, in part because he said Iowans and particularly those who work in agriculture aren't happy with King.

Now, with less than two months until the June 7 primary election, Iowa Republicans are deciding whether to support King or Bertrand, so where ag interests in the largely rural 39 counties come down in the race will be important.

Iowa State University political science professor Steffen Schmidt, who lives on a Story County farm, said nearby farmers told him they were not happy that King endorsed Cruz, "of all the candidates, the one guy who was not on board with ethanol and renewable fuels."

"They were pretty peeved and ticked off that Steve King would go with Cruz," Schmidt said.

The professor added that dissatisfaction, however, doesn't mean Iowans with ag ties will move to embrace Bertrand. He said they will look to see if Bertrand has the heft, as shown in campaign fundraising, endorsements and other benchmarks of strength, to defeat King. Schmidt said Bertrand will also have to convince Iowans that he would be a vocal supporter if he represented the district.

"They are not gonna automatically support someone who is gonna take on Steve King  who we know is a fabulous campaigner and has won every election he's ever run in  if they think that this is gonna go south and that (King) is going to survive the primary ... because they don't want him ticked off at them, either. So it is calculating game where the industry  farmers and ethanol fuel  are gonna be carefully watching Bertrand," Schmidt said.

"If it looks like King has been wounded and he is limping a little and there is blood, they just might go for a new guy," he added.

In an interview last week, King said that in his 2012 re-election race he won the support of about 60 agriculture groups. He expects those groups will continue to back him, although he conceded a few individuals who work in agriculture will defect to Bertrand.

"I don't know that any groups will go against me, just a scattered individual here and there," King said.

King criticized Branstad's intrusion into the caucus race.

"It looks like the governor has given us advice that you should only think of one thing, and that is the RFS, and nothing else matters," King said.

King sought to have Cruz fully support the RFS. Failing that, the congressman said he is relieved to know that while Cruz isn't supportive of extending the RFS, the senator from oil-rich Texas has vowed, as president, to "shape a policy that helps the (ethanol) industry grow and compete in the open markets."

Bertand said King made a bad decision for the ag economy with the Cruz endorsement. The Sioux City businessman and developer noted that the RFS doesn't cost taxpayers a dime, as "it is access, not a subsidy; it gains access for the markets."

"The question is, why did Steve King turn his back on Iowa agriculture? You can paint that pig anyway you want. But the bottom line is that the cattlemen, the corn growers, the soybean growers, the ethanol people  they understand what that endorsement meant," Bertrand said.

King won a key farm-state ally last Saturday, winning the endorsement of Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey on Saturday. Northey, a Spirit Lake farmer, became the first Republican state or federal officeholder to formally endorse in the Bertrand-King contest. In a statement, Northey didn't reference the Cruz-RFS flap, but noted Kings leadership and knowledge of production agriculture.

Bertrand has one big agricultural supporter with deep pockets, Bruce Rastetter, a Fourth District resident whose large business holdings have included biofuels, pork and farmland. Rastetter, who has signed on as Bertrand's campaign finance director, was the biggest donor to Gov. Terry Branstad's 2010 re-election campaign, giving the Republican governor $160,000.

Bertrand, who actively farms with his father, also has been touring the Fourth District to meet people who work in agriculture. One such stop came April 1 when he toured the Quad County Corn Processors plant in Galva and met with top officials and employees there.

Quad County CEO Delayne Johnson said he isn't taking a stance on the primary race, but mentioned King's endorsement of Cruz certainly turned heads in the ethanol industry.

"I am hopeful that every voter supports a candidate that publicly speaks out in favor of defending the RFS, which benefits farmers, main street businesses and our rural economies in western Iowa. I believe this issue is the biggest issue in our district," Johnson said.

Schmidt said it will take fortitude for the initial people to publicly pick either King or Bertrand. Schmidt said people often keep their political preferences private, but once a few people start airing them it will be easier for others to follow.

Some have already made up their minds.

Tim Bierman, a livestock and grain farmer from Larrabee in Cherokee County, has lobbied King on trade agreements and said the congressman took his positions into account. Bierman has known King since he was in the state senate in the 1990s and will vote for him over Bertrand.

Bierman said King was quick to embrace ethanol when it was a fledgling energy source and Bierman himself had initial doubts.

"(King) is a strong supporter (of grain commodities). He is probably one of the strongest supporters of ethanol," Bierman said.

Bierman isn't troubled that King supported Cruz: "Steve King is all about ag and doing the right thing for Iowa, not just getting re-elected."

Iowa Renewable Fuels Association President Monte Shaw said the organization's board members in a March meeting decided to stay neutral in the Bertrand-King primary. Shaw said the organization's political action committee also won't get involved, noting that King in the U.S. House and Bertrand in the Iowa Senate have been big supporters of renewable fuels.

"We are just not going to get involved in the primary. Individual people and individual plant PAC's will have to make their own decision," said Shaw.

Shaw said he isn't sure if King's support for Cruz will drive higher voter turnout in the congressional primary.

"I don't live up there; I'm not in the Fourth District. You know, it is no secret that some folks in our industry were not ecstatic that Congressman King endorsed Senator Cruz. How that will affect the primary, I don't know," Shaw said.
MASON CITY | Members of the Cerro Gordo County Arsenic Project team were honored by the state Tuesday.

Sophia Walsh, Doug Schnoebelen, Oscar Hernandez, Paul VanDorpe, Chad Fields, Ryan Budke, Lorelei Kurimski, Sherri Marine, Dan Ries and Brian Hanft received the 2016 Richard Remington Award from the Iowa Public Health Association.

The award recognizes an individual, a team or a community/business that has excelled in the advancement of public health.

The Cerro Gordo County Arsenic Project team was assembled from multiple agencies to address the arsenic in groundwater problem the entire state is facing.

Using Cerro Gordo County as the geographical testing ground, this team collaborated in 2009 and developed a plan to study the problem with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The project has received state and national acclaim and has changed policy on county and state levels, according to a press release from the Iowa Public Health Association.

-- Mary Pieper
The trial of a Charles City man who allegedly crashed into another vehicle, killing the driver and injuring two others, has been delayed until
FRISCO, Texas, April 12, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greatbatch, Inc. (NYSE:GB) announced today that it will host the 1st quarter 2016 earnings conference call on Thursday, April 28, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the operating results for the first quarter ended April 1, 2016. A press release will be issued after the market closes on that day.

The live dial-in number for the call is (866) 562-8327 (U.S.) or (330) 863-3319 (Outside U.S.). The participant passcode for the call is 67902849. A simultaneous webcast of the call will be available via the Greatbatch corporate website at www.greatbatch.com. The call will be archived on this site for a minimum of 12 months.

A recording of the call will be available beginning at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time on April 28, 2016 through May 5, 2016. To hear this recording, dial (855) 859-2056 (U.S.) or (404) 537-3406 (Outside U.S.) and enter code 67902849.

About Greatbatch, Inc.

Greatbatch, Inc. (NYSE:GB) is one of the largest medical device outsource (MDO) manufacturers in the world serving the cardiac, neuromodulation, orthopedics, vascular, advanced surgical and portable medical markets. The company provides innovative, high quality medical technologies that enhance the lives of patients worldwide. In addition, it develops batteries for high-end niche applications in energy, military, and environmental markets. The company's brands include Greatbatch Medical, Lake Region Medical and Electrochem. Additional information is available at www.greatbatch.com. In October 2015, Greatbatch, Inc. completed its acquisition of Lake Region Medical, with the combined company expected to be renamed Integer Holdings Corporation later this year (subject to shareholder approval).
Finnish English

Sanoma Corporation, Stock Exchange Release, 13 April 2016 at 8:45 CET+1

Sanoma Corporations Board of Directors has at its organisation meeting decided to appoint among its members the members for Audit Committee and Human Resources Committee until the Annual General Meeting in 2017.

Audit Committee comprises Anne Brunila (Chairman), Nils Ittonen, Denise Koopmans and Robin Langenskiold. All members of the Committee are independent of the Company. Anne Brunila, Denise Koopmans and Robin Langenskiold are also independent of the major shareholders as stipulated in the Finnish Corporate Governance Code.

Human Resources Committee comprises Kai Oistamo (Chairman), Mika Ihamuotila and Rafaela Seppala. All members of the Committee are independent of the Company and major shareholders as stipulated in the Finnish Corporate Governance Code.

In addition, Sanoma has an Executive Committee. The Executive Committee consists of Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board, President and CEO and at Chairmans invitation one or several members of the Board. In 2016, the Executive Committee will comprise Pekka Ala-Pietila (Chairman), Antti Herlin, Nils Ittonen and Susan Duinhoven.

Additional information

Sanomas Investor Relations, Pekka Rouhiainen, tel. +358 40 739 5897

About Sanoma

Sanoma is an inspiring, relevant and trusted consumer media and learning company. Ever since its formation in 1889, the company has held creativity and independent thinking at its core in order to deliver high-quality content in new and different ways.

Sanomas consumer media business provides consumers with engaging and personalised content through cross-media brands that touch their lives. Sanomas close relationships with its consumers enable the company to offer unique value-added marketing solutions to its business partners.

Sanoma Learnings learning solutions enable teachers to excel at developing the talents of every child, creating opportunities for children to advance their prospects in life.

With operating companies in Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Sweden, Sanoma realised net sales of more than EUR 1.7 billion in 2015. The company employed over 6,000 employees.
CAMP HILL, Pa., April 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global industrial company Harsco Corporation (NYSE:HSC) announced today that its Harsco Rail track maintenance business has been awarded a multi-year contract in the UK valued at more than $40 million.



The award from Network Rail continues a long-standing contracting service from Harsco Rail that began in 2004, under which Harsco operates and maintains a fleet of precision rail grinders on Network Rails behalf. The units re-profile railhead contours for extended rail life and smoother operation, thus reducing fuel consumption, operating costs and noise. Grinding also corrects surface damage that could lead to rail fractures.

The program provides nationwide, 24/7 service, maintaining complex switch and crossing trackwork from the north of Scotland to the south of England. Network Rail is the owner and infrastructure manager of most of the rail network in the UK, currently the fastest-growing rail system in Europe.

Announcing the latest award, Harsco Rails Managing Director for the UK, Mark Emmerson said, Our success in retaining these contracts is a testament to the efforts of our staff involved in delivering a safe and reliable service, evidenced by our excellent performance statistics in these areas.

Rail grinding is one part of a comprehensive range of services and equipment that Harsco Rail provides to customers worldwide for the maintenance, repair and new construction of railway track. To learn more, visit www.harscorail.com.

About Harsco Corporation

Harsco Corporation is a diversified industrial company providing a range of onsite services and engineered products to the global steel, energy and railway sectors. Harscos common stock is a component of the S&P SmallCap 600 Index and the Russell 2000 Index. Additional information can be found at www.harsco.com.
Another high-ranking police officer has been reassigned in relation to the wide-ranging FBI probe into possible pay-for-favors relationships between prominent businessmen and NYPD brass, as well as their ties to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Deputy Chief Andrew Capul has been reassigned from second-in-command of Patrol Borough Manhattan North to an administrative position, according to a police department announcement, making him the sixth to be demoted in relation to last week's revelation of the long-running federal investigation. The feds are reportedly looking into whether police took international trips, cash, diamonds, and other gifts from businessmen Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg in exchange for favors including security details for social events and business deliveries, as well as whether their support of de Blasio's campaign crossed any legal lines.

Capul, according to the New York Post, was questioned by federal agents about a trip he took to the Super Bowl. In being reassigned, he joins Deputy Inspector James Grant, former commanding officer of the Upper East Side's 19th Precinct; Deputy Housing Chief Michael Harrington, a onetime underling of former Chief of Department Philip Banks, who is also being investigated; Brooklyn South Deputy Chief Eric Rodriguez; and Deputy Chief David Colon. Grant and Harrington were stripped of their guns and badges, as was a detective who pleaded the Fifth during a grand jury hearing. Some 20 high-ranking officers have been questioned in connection with the investigation, according to reports.

The NYPD has not responded to questions about whether those officers with department-provided cars get to keep them under their new assignments.

Grant allegedly escorted Reichberg back from the airport following international diamond-buying trips and accepted diamonds as payment, and also allegedly took an envelope of cash at his Staten Island home. Banks, who quit the NYPD in 2014, took trips to Israel and the Dominican Republic with the businessmen and corrections union head Norman Seabrook, who is also being investigated for possibly investing union money with Rechnitz without his board's approval.

The Daily News reports that Reichberg, a powerful figure in Borough Park, Brooklyn, may also have used his police connections to squash two assault raps against his nephew, a purported member of a crew of toughs who called themselves Grouplech, Yiddish for "Forks," who two victims said attacked them in separate incidents and never faced repercussions.

Capul made headlines in 2010, when he was a deputy inspector and commanding officer of the 34th Precinct in Inwood, after a freelance journalist publicized his officers' downgrading of her sexual assault to a misdemeanor. Capul publicly apologized at a neighborhood meeting and was subsequently transferred to Manhattan North (violent crime was also up in his precinct at the time).

Capul wasn't the only officer reprimanded recently for whom a previous scandal failed to stop a career rise to the top echelon of the NYPD. Harrington was implicated in the alleged coverup of a 2008 incident where 10 rookie cops beat a taxi driver outside an Upper East Side bar, then arrested him.

As for the cash that Rechnitz, an Upper West Side developer, poured into Democratic campaigns including de Blasio's, so far de Blasio, state Senator Adriano Espaillat, and Councilman Mark Levine have said they would return money from him, though de Blasio has declined to give back the $40,000 Rechnitz bundled for his campaign or the $50,000 he gave to his nonprofit Campaign for One New York, which is now closing down.



U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (Getty Images)

At a banquet for the good-government group Common Cause, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara set hearts aflutter by saying that he is hard at work looking into de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Referring to his famous "stay tuned" directive after snaring kingfish Sheldon Silver in early 2015, Bharara said it would:

be nice...to have our elected leaders say, 'Stay tuned'and for that to mean something. It would be nice to hear them say, 'Stay tuned for reform. Stay tuned for change. Stay tuned for greater transparency, and greater accountability...Stay tuned as we finally hold the executive branch accountable.'

Instead, Bharara said, he had:
The office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has reportedly launched an investigation into the sale of 45 Rivington Street on the Lower East Side, a former nursing home for AIDS patients that was purchased by a trio of luxury-condo developers for $116 million, months after the City agreed to lift a deed protecting the building as a non-profit healthcare facility in perpetuity.

Mayor de Blasio has denied that he was aware of the controversial agreement when it was signed last November, insisting that if he had been informed, he would have intervened to stop it. The Citywhich got $16.1 million in exchange for the deed lifthas since stated that those with knowledge of the deal in the Mayor's office believed that the building would become a for-profit nursing home once it was out from under City-imposed restrictions.

Bharara's public corruption unit is investigating the deal, sources told PoliticoNewYork. The A.G.'s office is the fourth to take a closer look, alongside the Department of Investigation, Comptroller Scott Stringer's office and the State Attorney General's office.

"We have no knowledge of this inquiry [by the U.S. Attorney General] but will cooperate fully with any investigation," Mayoral spokeswoman Karen Hinton said on Wednesday.

Allure Group, a for-profit nursing home operator, purchased 45 Rivington from a nonprofit called VillageCare in 2014, for $28 million. Allure reopened the facility briefly in 2015 as the Rivington Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation, but shut down last December, citing its failure to obtain state Medicaid reimbursements. The $116 million sale to China Vanke Co., Slate Property Group and Adam America Real Estate was announced in February.

James Capalino, one of the city's top lobbyists, represented VillageCare from January 2013 to October 2014, and has since lobbied for Slate Group, although a spokeswoman for Capalino says he had no involvement with the Rivington sale. Capalino has reportedly bundled $50,000 in donations to Campaign for One New York, a nonprofit unimpeded by donation caps that has funneled donations to the Mayor's 2017 reelection efforts and initiatives like Universal Pre-K and affordable housing.

A Stop Work Order has been in effect at 45 Rivington since last Tuesday. The Department of Buildings says it was performing a routine audit of construction plans filed for the property, and found that the plans called for major building alterations that the construction permit does not cover.

The Mayor's office has stated that no deed restrictions will be removed for the duration of an internal review of the restriction-lifting process, and is exploring the possibility of suing Allure for damages. Lower East Side residents are demanding compensation for the lost hospital beds, and stricter laws regarding deed restrictions.

Bharara's office is also working with the FBI to investigate whether donors to the Campaign for One New York may have received favorable treatment from the de Blasio administration in return for their donations. The probe is part of a large investigation into two prominent businessmen who are backers of the Mayor, as well as top NYPD officials, some of whom have already been demoted over their alleged corrupt practices.

The good government advocacy group Common Cause New York called for a closer look at the Campaign for One New York in February, arguing that the fund violated the city's conflicts of interest provisions. Mayor de Blasio disbanded the nonprofit in March, stating that it had served its purpose.

"Everything we've done is legal and appropriate," said de Blasio at an unrelated press conference earlier this week.

"Everyone has a right to judge, but I want you to look very carefully at what these resources were supporting," he added. "They were supporting progressive change. Theres a lot of money out there thats trying to hold back progressive change."
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Cops are searching for a Brooklyn man accused of critically injuring his girlfriend during a dispute.

The NYPD says the incident happened shortly after 1 a.m. yesterday (Tuesday, April 12th) when Josh Luteran, 30, and his girlfriend argued in their Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment near Bedford and Jefferson Avenues. During the dispute Luteran allegedly struck the girlfriend, 28, in the head.

Luteran allegedly fled the scene. A police source tells AMNY that the victim at first refused medical attention, but she was eventually persuaded to let EMTs take her to the hospital. She fell into a coma en route to Methodist Hospital, and is currently in critical but stable condition.

Luteran, described as about 5'10" and last seen wearing a black skull cap, jacket and black sweatpants, is an actor and amateur boxer:

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.


Yesterday morning in Albanys Legislative Office Building, Alecia Barrazas voice cracked as she described her 21-year-old sons mental decline and eventual suicide during his isolation in solitary confinement at Fishkill Correctional Facility in Dutchess County.

We live with this tragedy every day, Barraza said of the death of her son, Benjamin Van Zandt. Reform is needed now! Not one more family should have to endure this pain.

A bill that would radically alter solitary confinement in New York, called the Humane Alternatives to Long Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act, is gaining traction in Albany. It would create substantive alternatives to solitary confinement, place strict limitations on the use and permitted durations of confinement, and improve due process protections for prisoners who face solitary.

Yesterday, The New York Campaign for Alternatives to Solitary Confinement (CAIC) brought over 200 people from all over the state to Albany to rally and lobby the legislature to pass the HALT act, which now has 59 co-sponsors in the state legislature. Advocates also built a model solitary confinement cell in the legislative chambers that was covered with poetry written by inmates currently serving time in solitary confinement.

The push for solitary reform is part of a growing public discomfort  especially in New York  with the way our criminal justice system currently operates, especially its over-reliance on solitary confinement.

Despite the approval of a New York State settlement that requires incremental changes, the New York State prison systems use of solitary confinement is one of the most egregious in the nation. Its prisons generally hold 3,700 people in isolation, more than 7% of the entire prison population. The average rate of solitary confinement nationally is 4.4%, and as low as 2% in states such as Colorado and Washington.

These people are held a tiny cell in extreme isolation and sensory deprivation for 22 to 24 hours a day, often for months or years, sometimes decades. The conditions of isolation often lead to serious psychological harm; over 40% of suicides in New York prisons in 2014 and 2015 took place in solitary, despite the fact that they only represent 7% of the inmate population.

"I did two years in the solitary confinement. It really affected me. Gave me flashbacks," said Tony Simon, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, who served over 30 years in prison.

"One time I was visiting my niece's house, and I got on the elevator, and had a terrible panic attack. I felt like I was back in solitary. It's like being in a coffin."



The rally for the HALT act outside the statehouse in Albany yesterday (Nick Malus / Flickr)

In New York, people with mental illness are disproportionately overrepresented in solitary: 20% of those in solitary confinement in New York prisons have diagnosed mental illness, the highest percentage in history, yet mental health treatment is barely existent. Racial disparities abound in NY solitary as well, with black prisoners overrepresented in regard to the general prison population by 20%.

We need more than rhetoric to address an issue that has plagued our communities for decades," Queens Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubrey, HALT's main sponsor in the Assembly, told the crowd. "Our taxes are perpetuating it. Our votes, or lack thereof, are perpetuating it. The enemy is us, until this is over.

Terrance Slater, who served 6 years of solitary confinement over the course of a 10 year sentence, also spoke.

"Back in the cell, I would hear all types of noises and things that you shouldn't hear. When you're facing all that solitude, you have no choice but to think about all the things you can't control."

The HALT act would place hard restrictions on keeping an individual in solitary confinement beyond 15 consecutive days or more than 20 total days in any 60 day period. If someone needs to be separated from the general prison population for more than 15 consecutive days, they must be placed a rehabilitative residential unit (RRU) providing rehabilitation programs and therapy to address the causes for the behavior that led to the separation.

Additionally, HALT would limit the violations that would allow for solitary confinement for more than 3 days to only most serious offenses. The act would also create a more robust system of due process for prisoners, and create a release mechanism from RRUs, with independent oversight.

Though the HALT bill has growing support, it still faces stiff opposition from some legislators, especially upstate, where the correction officers unions hold significant political sway.

It is simply wrong to unilaterally take the tools away from law enforcement officers who face dangerous situations on daily basis, a representative from the New York State Correctional Officers and Policemans Beneficiary Association said. Limiting the ability to have real measures to discipline violent inmates will only increase those numbers in the coming years.

[The union's] concerns are unfounded, Jack Beck, director of the Prison Visiting Project, told Gothamist. They think that solitary confinement makes them safer, when it actually doesnt because it makes prisoners incapable of interacting safely with others.

Jack Denton is a freelance writer, radio producer, and probably riding a bike right now. Follow Jack on Twitter @jackwdenton.
New York City boasts a hearty contingent of Michelin-starred restaurants: all delicious, but many prohibitively expensive for a routine visit. At some point this fall, however, the world's least expensive eatery to earn a Michelin nod will open an outpost in New York City, bringing its lauded bargain eats to Greenwich Village.

The Village Voice reports that Hong Kong-born Tim Ho Wan, a dim sum-centric eatery with outposts in Australia and Thailand and beyond, will open the first USA location at 4th Avenue and 10th Street inside a former Spice restaurant space. Proprietor Mak Kwai Pui is currently seeking a "local Chinese face" to be chef at the restaurant, which will steam up glistening prawn dumplings, baked buns and other dim sum specialities in addition to "dishes appealing to American appetites, including 'high quality beef dishes.'"

Unlike the point-and-grab cart system common at many dim sum restaurants, Mak's system includes a printed menu with pictures and descriptions of each dish, where diners select their desired dishesall priced under $5and hand over to the staff. The restaurant will also serve alcohol.
Business

Australias inflation expected to peak towards end of year: Official

Australias treasurer has warned that inflation in the country is expected to peak towards the end of the year and it will persist for a little bit longer because of the impact of the natural disasters and energy prices.
Upcoming events

Firefighters & friends event in Montana City

The Montana City Volunteer Fire Department will hold their ninth annual Montana Firefighters & Friends event on Saturday, April 9, at noon the Montana City School, 11 McClellan Creek Road in Montana City. Join us for this family fun event. There will be a silent auction, barbecue, bake sale and fire truck tours.

Firefighters will be cooking. Bring your appetite and your support.

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Grandstreet season launch party April 9

Join the Grandstreet Theatre staff and board of directors for the launch of the 2016-17 season with deserts, drinks and dancing to Ten Years Gone at the Montana Club, 24 W. 6th Ave.,on Saturday, April 9, at 7 p.m. The cost is $30.

We will announce the upcoming season lineup, present Grandy Awards, and offer discounts on season passes. Season logo artwork by Kelly Anne Dalton and Ali Zackheim will be on display, and we will have selections from our coming season performed by Katy Wright, Kevin Mathews, Lyla Ackerman and Maddie Cormier. Also, new this year, Grandstreet will sell a range of Flex Passes.

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AARP driver safety classes

AARP Driver Safety will hold a daytime and an evening class in Helena in April. Participants receive updates on the rules of the road and learn driving strategies to adapt to the effects of aging and to reduce chances of having a crash. The course was developed for participants age 50-plus, but is open to all ages. The course fee is $20 ($15 with AARP membership card). Auto insurance companies in Montana provide a multi-year discount to participants 55 years of age and older. To register for a class, call 457-4712

April 12 (Tuesday) at First Interstate Bank, 2021 N. Montana Ave., from noon to about 4:30.

April 20 (Wednesday) at Pheasant Glen Residences, 3440 Ptarmigan Lane, from 5:30 to about 10 p.m.

***

Bernie Sanders town hall meeting

A Bernie Sanders for president panel discussion will take place Thursday, April 14, from 6-9 p.m. at the Plymouth Congregational Church, 400 S. Oakes.

Helena-area panelists include, Mike Murray, Eric Ulberg, Tony Rubino, Mark Ibsen, Gerald Ziegler, Melissa Kaiser Synness and more. There will be a free soup and bread dinner, music and door prizes. For more information email HelenaforBernie@gmail.com.

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Warrior run and military gala April 16

The seventh annual Montana Warrior Run will take place on April 16 at Centennial Park. The 10K starts at 8:30 a.m. with a 5K at 10 a.m. and a 1-mile run at 11:15. To register go to runsignup.com/ and search for the Montana Warrior Run.

Later, join us for the second annual Military Appreciation Gala at the Gateway Center, 1710 National Ave., from 6-11 p.m. The event will celebrate the military and veteran community. There will be food, live entertainment, silent auction, raffle and more. Visit www.eventbrite.com for tickets and more information.

Announcements

Helena toastmasters take 3rd in contest

The International Speech and Evaluation contests were held in Missoula on April 2. This field of competition is from the clubs in western Montana. Molly Peterson from Helena Toastmasters Club took the third place in Evaluation Contest with Bonnie Hamilton from the Lewis & Clark Toastmasters Club taking third place in the International Speech Contest. The next level of competition, the Regional Contest is being held in Bozeman on April 23.

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PSC asks you to 'call before you dig'

In an effort to remind people about safe practices when digging, the non-profit Common Ground Alliance sponsors National Safe Digging Month every April.

Montana PSC Chairman Brad Johnson said, "A quick call to 811 before you dig can save a life, and as April is National Safe Digging Month, its only appropriate that we spread awareness of this important tool.

When someone calls 811 in the U.S., he or she is connected to the local one call center, where a representative collects information about the callers planned dig site. The call center then communicates the information to the appropriate utility companies, which send professional utility locating technicians to identify and mark the approximate location of lines within a few days of the phone call. Once lines have been marked, the caller may dig safely around the marks.

To learn more about National Safe Digging Month, visit: bit.ly/235pjnr and www.montana811.org/

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Host families needed for Spanish students

World Heritage Student Exchange Programs is looking for American families to host high school students from Spain. These students have received scholarships through a partnership with the Amancio Ortega Foundation in Spain. The foundation carefully screens and selects 100 students who have passed the high academic qualifications as well as being financial-need based to provide a full scholarship for them to study in the U.S. for one academic year.

By living with local host families and attending local high schools, the students acquire an understanding of American values and build on leadership skills.

To become a host family or find out more about World Heritage and the prestigious Spanish Scholarship Program, please contact regional coordinator Courtney Wade, at 720-209-1145 or 866-939-4111, via email at Courtney@World-Heritage.org or visit www.whhosts.com.

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Registration open for Advanced Placement Summer Institute

Montana educators can now access high-quality Advanced Placement professional learning without leaving the state, which will provide more students the opportunity to earn college credit for those AP courses.

The 2016 Montana AP Summer Institute is June 27-30 in Bozeman. Educators will spend four days learning from some of the nations best AP teachers in biology, computer science, English literature and statistics. Registration for the summer institute is now open.

Learn more about the AP Summer Institute or register, http://opi.mt.gov/Programs/gifted_AP/index.html.

***

Womens Foundation announces new grant opportunity

The Womens Foundation of Montana, a project of the Montana Community Foundation, announced they will invest more than $50,000 in increasing the economic security of Montana women and girls in the next year.

The new grant funding will focus on creating systemic change to improve the economic status of women, supporting programs that give girls the tools to be financially successful and programs that improve womens economic security. Funds will be awarded by WFMs board of advisors to nonprofit organizations that work to directly grow economic security for Montana women and girls through advocacy and programs such as job training, financial education, leadership and entrepreneurship programs, wage negotiation training and innovative STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programming for girls. Preference is given to programs that show innovation, collaboration and tangible, measurable results.

Letters of intent will be accepted until April 30. Application materials are available at www.wfmontana.org.
In November 2004, nearly 62 percent of voting Montanans thought medical marijuana was a good idea for Montana. In 2005, the Montana Legislature had a full plate and failed to establish a framework for the industry to be regulated. In 2007, again the Legislature had other, bigger fish to fry. Yes, even in 2009 they never got around to it. Finally, in 2011, after much public outcry and an industry that had grown to nearly 30,000 patients, the Legislature tackled the task of developing regulations that would rein in the unbridled expansion.

Unfortunately for Sen. Jeff Essmann, he drew the short straw and it was his bill, Senate Bill 423, that finally, without then-Gov. Brian Schweitzers signature, became law. It was a grueling session and the House majority had no taste for medical marijuana. They had their own idea and that was full repeal of the citizen-approved initiative. They would not even take up Essmanns bill until the Senate put the House repeal bill on the governors desk. The Senate did and Schweitzer promptly vetoed it. Actually, Essmanns SB423, before the House began amending it, was a pretty good start toward a reasonable framework for regulating the industry.

As a conservative, and my voting record speaks for itself, it pains me to have to call out my fellow GOP, but what the heck were you thinking? I mean, aside from the desperation of not having another bill and SB423 being the last bill heard before the gavel went down? When you argue against a $15 minimum wage as un-American and anti-free market then vote for an arbitrary three-patient/provider restriction, that is common core politics. The constitutionality of it is sketchy at best.

Enough of the blame game; my sincere apologies but lets look at the facts. SB423 missed its mark and continues in the courts. It has reduced the patients from nearly 30,000 in 2011 to 13,640 as of January 2016. The average patient is 47 years old and some are Montana veterans thanks to U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and his amendment providing veterans access to medical marijuana without risk of losing their benefits. Currently, 6,165 of the patients are between 50 and 100, with 10 over 90 years young. Crime is down and incarcerations are up, but not due to medical marijuana; meth and big pharma meds like Oxycontin are the real culprits and thats where Id suggest we redirect our energy and our resources.

Currently, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana and 18 more, including the very recent passage by Utah, have legalized CBD oil. The Food and Drug Administration has approved specific medical uses and continues to review applications as research is submitted. In 2015, S 683 was introduced in Congress to remove marijuana from the list of Class I drugs. Its proven medicinal value exempts it from the class with heroin, LSD and cocaine. Congress needs to pass S 683.

So while the Supreme Court weighs the motion for reconsideration and a stay until the 2017 Legislature can have another look at SB423, nearly 10,000 Montana patients wonder where will they continue to get their medication.

This isnt about recreational marijuana and I am not for that or a Colorado "free the weed" program. But in 2004, Montanans, by 62 percent, thought medical marijuana was a good idea. The Department of Public Health and Human Services program administrator says it is working. Patients are getting an affordable prescription alternative, and one they can live with while not destroying their kidneys and liver. Montanans were right: it was the right idea in 2004 and the facts show it still is 12 years later. Call your legislators and candidates and tell them "no patients left behind." Its just not how we roll in Montana, just ask a vet.

Daniel Fuchs is owner/president of Triangle Public Affairs, a government relations firm in Bozeman, and is under contract with Montana Families United in Bozeman.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun with gusty winds. High 89F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 73F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Josef Monsport is the sort of man who knows on which side his bread is buttered.

During the Communist years in the former Czechoslovakia, he was a zealous public prosecutor. Indeed, Monsport became a symbol of rigid totalitarian repression with the 1986 case of the band Jazz Section (Jazzova sekce), when he proposed jail sentences for up to 8 years for a group of overly independent jazz musicians  just for playing jazz.

But just a couple of years later, when the Communist regime was overthrown in the 1989 Velvet Revolution, Monsport changed his political colors to become a high-profile bankruptcy and criminal lawyer representing clients like Boris Vostry, the former head of Harvard Funds convicted of financial fraud, or Martin Bartak, the former Minister of Defense who was recently exonerated in a major corruption case.

Nevertheless, Monsports business activities go far beyond simply protecting the interests of his VIP clients. According to documents obtained by OCCRP and analyzed by the Czech Centre for Investigative Journalism (CCIJ), Monsport holds shares in three offshore companies worth US$ 101 million on paper but likely much less in reality.

The Panama Papers

MORE INFO One of the biggest leaks in journalistic history reveals the secretive offshore companies used to hide wealth, evade taxes and commit fraud by the world's dictators, business tycoons and criminals.

The documents, dubbed the Panama Papers, are internal records from an offshore companies registrar called Mossack Fonseca. They were received by the German publication Suddeutsche Zeitung and shared with colleagues from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and more than 110 media partners from 82 countries.

The documents indicate that two of Monsports companies, Integ S.A.and Kynsberg Trading, issued shares of US$ 50 million each.

Both companies are based in Samoa, a group of small islands in the Pacific Ocean between Australia and Mexico about 16,000 kilometers from Monsports law firm in the Czech Republic.

Monsport apparently went to some lengths to hide his role as the sole shareholder in these companies. According to the document trail, communications were handled by a formation agent, a Miami Beach, FL company called Waberia Consulting LLC which is known for sometimes overly creative tax and anonymity solutions.

A formation agent is a company that registers corporations and handles other paperwork for clients who wish to remain anonymous for a variety of reasons, including tax avoidance or potential prosecution. Waberia sent all correspondence about the companies to its close ally Pavel Novak, a Czech lawyer who says he is both a PhD and an engineer.

Originally, Integ and Kynsberg Trading were shelf companies sold together by the Panamanian branch of Mossack Fonseca. A shelf company is a paper company created to metaphorically sit on a shelf for some period of timea process called aginguntil it is needed.

Integ was registered in January 2013 and Kynsberg Trading in October 2013. At first, Monsport was not listed as a shareholder, and the directors and secretaries were appointed by Waberia from a portfolio of Mossack Fonseca proxies, or people who actually have nothing to do with a company but appear in the paperwork on behalf of those who really own it.

Monsport was first mentioned as shareholder in an email from Waberia to Mossack Fonseca on Jan. 8, 2014, which contained some peculiar demands: to increase the share capital from US$ 50,000 to US$ 50 million by decision of the director and to appoint Monsport as sole shareholder of five shares worth US$ 10 million each for Kynsberg Trading and another five shares worth US$ 10 million each for Integ.

The purpose of increasing the capital is to build (the) image of (a) big and economically strong financial group, both companies will be used for holding purposes, says one of the emails sent from a Waberia employee named Vaclav.

But at the very same time, the group requested a Letter of Inactivity, which confirmed that the Company has never traded or entered into any contracts or obligations whatsoever and, consequently, the Company has no assets or liabilities. This puzzling conflict is an indication that the group was never intended to actually do anything.

The last demand was to backdate the increase of shares to 2013, which raised eyebrows even at the very accommodating Mossack Fonseca. In response, Mossack Fonseca confirmed it could in fact backdate the share increase, but asked Waberia to clarify the reasoning behind the request.

Waberia Vaclavs answer shed light on the whole scheme: simply, the two Samoan companies, with fake capital of US$ 50 million each, were to be used to pay for an unidentified Slovak company after being bounced through a series of other paper companies in various jurisdictions.

Read More
A Facebook page has been created calling on the Armenian government to call back its ambassador to Georgia, Yuri Vardanyan.

It seems that the creators of the page are infuriated that Vardanyan did not officially respond to the remarks made by Georgian MP Georgy Gabashvili (who represents Saakashvilis United National Movement) on April 8 where he called for a settlement of the Karabakh conflict on the basis of the fundamental principle of territorial integrity.

Vardanyan was appointed Armenias ambassador to Georgia on June 24 of 2014 but has mainly been involved in making speeches.

According to the website of the Armenias embassy in Georgia, Vardanyan has only worked one day this year, January 27. It was on that day that the 24th anniversary of the establishment of the Armenian Armed Forces was marked in Tbilisi.

Overall, the ambassador merely participates in various holiday celebrations and events. It turns out, however, that the Armenian community doesnt let Vardanyan past the door when it holds important events.

Take the example of the consecration of St. Gevorg Church in Tbilisi last October 31. The ceremony was officiated by Catholicos Garegin II and was attended by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and various dignitaries. Security personnel didnt let Vardanyan into the church. Those present say that Vardanyan had to wait outside until the ceremony was over.

Vardanyan was also turned back on his way to attend the June 2015 ceremony unveiling a stone cross in the village of Karmir dedicated to the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. The village had made preparations to welcome the dignitaries, including Ambassador Vardanyan, but he never made it. The story is that the ambassador obeying, the call of the Marneuli provincial governor not to inflame tensions between the Armenian-Azerbaijani communities, returned to Tbilisi.

The recent round of fighting along the Artsakh Line of Contact has ratcheted tensions in Javakhk. Local Armenians tell Hetq that clashes have erupted on the Turkish-Georgian border between Armenians and Turks passing through the Kartsakh customs post. Ambassador Vardanyan appears uninformed of the matter.

In the end, there is one issue that greatly concerns the public.

Mr. Ambassador, are you aware that Armenia has suffered 75 dead to the recent round of fighting?

Mr. Ambassador, are you aware that as Armenias ambassador to Georgia, you were obligated to use the embassys website to disseminate credible information regarding the Artsakh issue and the fighting?

You also should have provided such information through various social internet sites and defended the positions of Armenia at various meetings and events. You were sent to Tbilisi on a diplomatic mission and not for an extended holiday.

Finally, Mr. Ambassador, step up to the plate or else remove yourself from the playing field, where they dont even applaud you. This is war, not a game.
The regional military and political events of the recent week raise a number of questions, the most important of which is related to Russias intentions.

While some try to claim that the recent tensions could have been possible without Russias permission and that Baku had attacked Nagorno Karabagh upon its own initiative, the events of the last few years bear witness of a different trend.

In particular, the Russian-Azerbaijani military trade, the fact that till today Armenia has not received the loan amount of 200 million USD (the loan agreement was signed in the summer of 2015) intended for purchasing arms, Azerbaijans protest against the loan and the apologizing response of Russian Foreign Ministrys official representative Maria Zakharova prompt Aliev that he will not run the risk of being scolded by the Russian big brother in case of provoking war. The diplomatic statements of the recent days also testify that Kremlin did not mind such developments. The following events show that Moscow has changed its approach not only in regard with arms sales, but diplomacy as well. One of the indicators was the act of moving the meeting of the EAEU prime ministers from Yerevan to Moscow by using war as an excuse. In reality, this was a message to Baku implying that the EAEU does not stand by Armenia in this difficult situation. Another indicator was Medvedevs decision to cut short his visit to Yerevan in order to be able to visit Baku as well. Moreover, the Russian prime minister also visited the monument dedicated to the so-called martyrs in Baku and laid a wreath in memory of Azerbaijani soldiers who died in the battles against the Armenian forces.

Naturally, Russias main aim is the deployment of Russian peacekeeping troops in Nagorno Karabagh. There is no doubt that Nagorno Karabagh conflict is the main lever for Russia to keep its influence in the South Caucasus. Hence, the resolution of the conflict (in favor of any of the sides) is not in the interests of Russia. Whereas the deployment of Russian peacekeepers would solve the issue of submitting Armenia to Russias will whenever Armenia would dare not to obey Kremlin. The circumstances mentioned below serve as testimony of such intentions of Russia:

1. The agreement on ceasing the fire was reached by Chiefs of General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on April 5. This means that the agreement is not a diplomatic but a military one because the issue was discussed by Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, not Foreign Ministers. Thus, a question arises What did the sides discuss during that meeting in Moscow and why was it a secret meeting?

2. On April 7, Armenian President Serj Sargsyan gave an interview to the German Deutsche Welle, in which he stated that Armenia had never objected to the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabagh. Taking into account the fact that Nagorno Karabagh has strongly opposed the deployment of peacekeepers in in its territory ever since 1994, we get the impression that Serj Sargsyan is paving the way for the news to come.

3. The Russian-Armenian relations have sharply deteriorated during the recent days. It was expressed in multiple ways: starting from the change of rhetoric of official Yerevan when referring to its strategic ally and ending with the fact that Dmitri Medvedev was accompanied to the Armenian Genocide Memorial only by Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan. This change may both be related to the fact of arms sales to Azerbaijan and some diplomatic coercion.

4. There is also an activation of discussion about the mystical Kazan Document which was suggested by Russia during the meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in 2011. Armenia had agreed to accept the document and Azerbaijan had refused. At that time there was speculation that according to that document Armenia had agreed to return part of the regions outside the territory of former Nagorno Karabagh Autonomous Oblast (some speculated about 5 of them, others  about all the 7), and Nagorno Karabagh had to receive a special status. In the first place, it is doubtful whether the document is beneficial for the Armenian side. Nevertheless, an even more doubtful statement was recently made by Sergey Lavrov in Baku. Namely, he had stated that the Russian side has suggestions regarding the conflict settlement and the sides are close to accepting those suggestions. In response to this statement, Spokesman of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan had mentioned that the Kazan document submitted in 2011 is on the negotiating table.

It is unclear what document the sides are close to adopting (the Kazan document or another one). Nevertheless, it is more than clear that if Kremlin forces a suggestion on Armenia according to which part of the territories will be passed to Azerbaijan and the rest will receive a special status under peacekeepers control, we will have clear diplomatic evidence that Bakus last attack was carried out with Russias permission or even provocation.

5. There are already political forces in Armenia which are in favor of deployment of peacekeeping troops in Nagorno Karabagh. Particularly, such an opinion has been expressed by head of ANC faction of the RA National Assembly Levon Zurabyan. Head of the ruling party faction has also announced that they would not mind the deployment of peacekeepers.

6. On April 11, we learnt that the National Guard, which was created according to Russian President Vladimir Putins decree, will receive authorization of carrying out foreign peacekeeping mission. And though that structure is based on the Russian police forces, it is going to operate beyond the Russian borders and have a peacekeeping mission. This means that in case Russian peacekeeping troops are deployed in Nagorno Karabagh, these are going to be the same forces that disperse protests in Russia.

Anna Pambukhchyan,

Union of Informed Citizens
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Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 16-04-13 Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/> TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW No. 68/16 13.04.2016 [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci: "For the first time Germany shows such an interest to the Cyprus problem" [02] Akinci: The cost of the non-solution will be higher than the cost of the solution [03] Akinci: "We want to cooperate with all EU member countries" [04] Ozgurgun is expected to submit the new "cabinet list" by Saturday [05] Talat says that the CTP rejected the privatization of the "electricity authority" [06] HP: Issues which are not related to the economy should not be included in the "economic protocol" [07] Aktig: "The political instability in the TRNC affects negatively the tourism sector" [08] Cavusoglu called on the Islamic States to support the breakaway regime, calling the negotiations the last chance for solution [09] Davutoglu: The Turkish Airlines will shorty start conducting direct flights from the Turkish city of Sanliurfa to the illegal Tymbou airport [10] Turkey is expecting visa-free travel in EU by June [11] Children from various countries to participate in the "18th International 23rd April Children Festival" [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci: "For the first time Germany shows such an interest to the Cyprus problem" According to Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen (13.04.16), Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, following the meeting with the German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier which lasted one hour and forty five minutes, stressed that "it is the first time that Germany, one of the leading countries in Europe, shows such an interest to the solution of the Cyprus problem. Germany was also a leading country in the past; however she did not show such a close interest to the Cyprus problem". Akinci further said that the stance of the German officials is to develop the relations with the Turkish Cypriot side and to continue this relation is important. In a statement outside the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) following a meeting with Steinmeier, Akinci said that a very constructive meeting was held with Steinmeier and that they had the opportunity to evaluate the current situation of the negotiating process. Stressing that he travelled to Germany upon the invitation of Steinmeier, Akinci said that the Turkish Cypriot side is one of the two equal sides of federal Cyprus and the development of relations from today will be beneficial. Commenting on the election which will be held in the "Greek Cypriot side" (translator's note: he refers to the Parliamentary elections of the Republic of Cyprus), Akinci argued that even though the Greek Cypriot side says that the elections will not influence the negotiations, it has slowed down the process. Akinci said: "Everyone can see that there is a slowdown in the negotiation process. If we want to turn 2016 into a year of peace, we need to enter into a quicker process as of the end of May. We are determined on this matter". Upon a question whether the reunited East and West Germany model has been used as an example in the negotiations in order to find a solution to the Cyprus problem, Akinci said that the Cypriots are trying to solve the problem considering the sui generis reality of the Cyprus issue, however, they can benefit from the experiences of other countries. Asked to comment on the statement by Turkish Minister for European Affairs Volkan Bozkir saying "despite many years have passed over the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Cyprus problem has not been resolved yet", Akinci argued that the Turkish Cypriots have done their part to demolish the wall in the referendum held for the solution of Cyprus problem in 2004, and added that the Turkish Cypriots are not the reason for the wall still standing. Claiming that "the Turkish Cypriots opened holes on the existing wall" by removing the "visa requirement" for those who pass to the "Turkish Cypriot side" (translator's note: the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus), Akinci concluded by saying: "Our wish is to remove this wall completely, and this will not be done with the effort of a single side. Both sides should do their parts and this time we will get two 'yes' votes at the referendum". (DPs) [02] Akinci: The cost of the non-solution will be higher than the cost of the solution Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris Postasi (online, 13.04.16) with the above title reports that Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci said that one of the unsolved problems is still the financing of the solution, adding that in case of a Cyprus settlement, the compensations will be one of the critical points and the natural resources founded in the sea will be one of the sources of the financing problem. Noting that there are discussions on the cost of the solution, Akinci said that the cost of the non-solution will be higher. Addressing a panel discussion organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Akinci evaluated the Cyprus talks and answered questions regarding the latest developments on the Cyprus problem. On the same issue, illegal Bayrak television (online, 13.04.16) reports that Akinci, explaining that the Cyprus negotiations process has been continuing for over 30 years and that this is probably the last chance for a federal solution to be formed in Cyprus, warned that if an agreement is not reached then, next year the two "peoples" on the island will further distance themselves from one another. Referring to the large amounts of natural gas resources located close to the island of Cyprus, Akinci said that with wide cooperation that will include Israel, natural gas could be sent to Europe via Cyprus and Turkey and all regional countries could benefit from this. "There is a great opportunity for cooperation in the region. This cooperation could strengthen relations between Israel, Cyprus, the EU and Turkey and at the same time contribute greatly to the solution process on the island", Akinci said and added that currently Turkey is the only country that fully supports the "TRNC" and that the solution of the Cyprus issue will assist Turkey's EU membership process. Asked to comment on the effects the coalition government to be formed in the "TRNC" will have on the Cyprus talks, Akinci said that the "coalition government" to be formed will have less support compared to the previous "coalition government" but expressed the belief that this will not affect the negotiations process. Akinci said that he is sure the "new coalition government" will support the Cyprus talks. "All the parties in the parliament have openly given their support to the February 11 2014 joint statement," he said. Noting that progress has been achieved at the Cyprus negotiations but that difficulties remained on issues such as territory and property, Akinci said that the financial issues cannot be solved by Turkish Cypriots or Greek Cypriots alone, the support of the EU and the international community is also needed to solve financial problems. According to Ankara Anatolia news agency (12.04.16), talks on the reunification of Cyprus may see a breakthrough later this year, Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci said on Tuesday. "It may be seen as an ambitious date to talk about 2016 but if we continue with this determination after the elections on the Greek Cypriot side, we can have the breakthrough, we can conclude an agreement on the main principles", Akinci said in Berlin. Greek Cypriots will hold an election in May and Akinci said that he hoped both sides will achieve further progress on the settlement, leaving minor details to next year. "If we conclude everything within months on the political side, on the basic principles, on the territory issue, on the security issue, property and other remaining main issues, then it is not very important, if we extend into 2017 certain other parts that will be worked out," he said. (DPs) [03] Akinci: "We want to cooperate with all EU member countries" Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis (13.04.16), under the title "I want to be in cooperation with all EU member countries", reports that Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, participating in a television program which was broadcast live in Germany, stressed that a Cyprus settlement is important for the region and for the EU and added that because of this he wants to cooperate with all EU member countries. When Akinci said that the Cyprus problem is a serious problem for Turkey's accession process to the EU, he was asked to comment regarding the influence of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the policy of the Turkish Cypriots. Akinci replied that they are working with the Greek Cypriot leader Nico Anastasiades for the reunification of Cyprus. Asked about his expectations from his Berlin visit, Akinci said that he believes that not only a solution to the Cyprus problem will constitute a good example in the turbulent region, but it will also contribute to the improvement of the relations between Turkey and Greece as well as Turkey and the EU. Akinci added that the EU has declared its readiness to support the solution and within this framework he was pleased receiving the invitation from the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Akinci further said: "As the Turkish Cypriot leader, I want to cooperate with all the EU member countries". (DPs) [04] Ozgurgun is expected to submit the new "cabinet list" by Saturday Turkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi newspaper (13.04.16) reports that the leader of the National Unity Party-National Forces (UBP-UG) Huseyin Ozgurgun, whose party was given the mandate to form a new "government", is expected to submit to Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci the list of the new "cabinet" by next Saturday. According to information acquired by UBP, Ozgurgun, together with the efforts to form a new "government", will exert efforts for the signing of the "economic protocol" with Turkey without any delay. Meanwhile, the central committee of the UBP will convene again on Friday in order to evaluate the developments, writes the paper. (AK) [05] Talat says that the CTP rejected the privatization of the "electricity authority" Turkish Cypriot daily Star Kibris newspaper (13.04.16) reports that Mehmet Ali Talat, leader of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) has said that his party had entered into the "coalition government" with the National Unity Party (UBP) having "very big hopes" and established the "government" by preparing a "very ambitious program". In statements to Ada television yesterday, Talat argued that they faced no criticism saying that they could not carried out reforms and faced no problem because they could not carry out a reform on the water issue. He argued that all the work on this issue had been carried out by the CTP. Referring to the "electricity authority" issue, Talat said that the division of the functions of this "authority" and the privatization of the distribution and revenue collection were on the agenda during the term of their "government", but the CTP rejected this. Talat noted that electricity is a strategic field and this strategic field should not be given to the private sector. "We have experiences on this issue, the prices increased", he said adding: "Even Turkey had re-established the Meat and Fish Agency, in spite of that big competitive environment, in spite of the existence of thousands of butchers, of thousands of companies which produce meat. We are a small place. The two companies agree on the price at a dinner one night. They increase it and monopoly emerges. We saw these in the past. We are seeing them today as well [?]". Referring to the "judiciary" issue, Talat noted that there are a lot of demands on this issue and expressed the view that the correctness of the inclusion of the "judiciary" in the "economic protocol" is something which can be debated. Talat said that the "judiciary" in the occupied area of the island needs money, new buildings and infrastructure, adding that his party had prepared some proposals on the issue together with the "high judiciary committee". Commenting on the allegations that the recently established People's Party (HP) of Kudret Ozersay will gain ground in possible "early elections", Talat said that the HP is a right-wing party and wondered whether we have clearly seen the positions of this party on the Cyprus problem. He recalled that Ozersay had been the negotiator of former Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu and argued that Ozersay was the one conducting the negotiations. "All statements were made by Mr Ozersay", he noted arguing that this led us to the point we are today. Talat added: "Look, the negotiator now is Ozdil Nami. How many statements he has made? Is the duty of the negotiator to make statements? Even this is showing what the wish or the desire of the people is. Please, let our people evaluate this [?]" (I/Ts.) [06] HP: Issues which are not related to the economy should not be included in the "economic protocol" Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (13.04.16) reports that the People's Party (HP) has expressed the view that issues which are not related to the economy should not be included in the "economic protocol' to be signed with Turkey for the period 2016-18. The party announced yesterday the points to which it objects, the points it wants to be changed, the points on which it wants clarifications and the points which it considers positive in the draft of the "economic protocol" recently published in the press. The party said it does not find correct the inclusion of issues having no "direct or indirect relation" with the economy in the draft of the protocol and expressed the belief that a "government" which will not take the strong support of the "people" will not be able to make the changes which will overcome the worries as regards the draft of the "protocol". Referring to the issues of dividing the "electricity authority" into three separate companies for production, transfer and distribution of electricity, the party expressed the view that this will cause further increase of the prices of the provided services. According to the HP, the most realistic solution for the telecommunications in the occupied area is a model in which a percentage of local partners and local employees will participate and the tax will be paid to the "TRNC" on the basis of sharing the income and the investments needed to be made. The statement notes that any changes in the "judiciary" should be made after the members of the "judicial organs" are informed and their views and opinions are taken. The party said it opposes to the change of the existing Anglo-Saxon "judicial system" and its substitution with another system, adding that all the elements which are tantamount to this development should be taken out of the "protocol". The party argues also that it cannot understand who and why felt the need to abolish the so-called "state planning organization", adding that it sees "insincerity in a work carried out behind closed doors without the government informing even the undersecretaries it had appointed". The party expressed also the view that the issue of whether a public private partnership is necessary for the occupied ports should be debated. (I/Ts.) [07] Aktig: "The political instability in the TRNC affects negatively the tourism sector" Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Bakis newspaper (13.04.16) under the title: "Tourism is the victim of politics", reports on statements by the chairman of the "Turkish Cypriot hotelier's union"("KTOB") Huseyin Aktig, who in statements to the paper, said that the political instability in the "TRNC" due to the collapse of the "government" affects negatively the tourism sector. Pointing out to the fact that they cannot make long-term planning in the tourism sector due to the fact that tourism is bounded to politics, Aktig stressed the need for the "tourist organizations" to become independent. "Every year the minister of tourism changes and because of this we cannot make long-term planning. All developed countries make a five year planning for their tourism and set goals. In our country, we cannot make long-term plans since our ministers change constantly", Aktig said, adding, that all the sector's representatives will exert efforts to succeed no matter which party or "minister" comes to power. (AK) [08] Cavusoglu called on the Islamic States to support the breakaway regime, calling the negotiations the last chance for solution Turkish Cypriot daily Vatan newspaper (13.04.16) reports that the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, addressing the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), in the framework of the 13rd Summit of OIC which is taking place in Istanbul, reminded the participants that negotiations for the solution of the Cyprus problem have been taking place since May 2015. "We have been given a very important opportunity. We hope that we will be benefited from it because this chance is at the same time the last chance", Cavusoglu stated. He also called on the Islamic States to support the "TRNC". (CS) [09] Davutoglu: The Turkish Airlines will shorty start conducting direct flights from the Turkish city of Sanliurfa to the illegal Tymbou airport Turkish Cypriot daily Vatan newspaper (13.04.16) reports that the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu speaking to the parliamentary group of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) stated that the Turkish Airlines will shorty start conducting direct flights from the Turkish city of Sanliurfa to the illegal Tymbou airport. (CS) [10] Turkey is expecting visa-free travel in EU by June According to Ankara Anatolia news agency (12.04.16), Turkish nationals can expect visa-free travel to the EU by June, Turkey's EU Minister Volkan Bozkir said Tuesday. "We expect that the decision for the citizens of the Republic of Turkey to enter the Schengen zone without visa requirement will be taken before the end of June", he said following a meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders. Bozkir said that the EU Commission will release a report early May on the visa agreement. "We expect that the Commission report will be positive and they will express opinion for removing the visa", he said at a news conference in Amsterdam. "All the developments are advancing in this direction. "Following that, the topic will be presented before term president the Netherlands. It is the Netherlands that will organize the Council's decision. We talked about this. Then it will go to Parliament and the decision? will be finalized". He said that the necessary legislation will be finalized by the end of April. A decision to open Chapter 33 on financial and budgetary provisions will also be taken soon to speed up Turkey's EU accession. [11] Children from various countries to participate in the "18th International 23rd April Children Festival" Turkish Cypriot daily Gunes newspaper (13.04.16) reports that "18th International 23rd April Children Festival" will take place between 18-25 of April in the breakaway regime, in the framework of the celebrations for the "International Sovereignty and Children day" which is celebrated in Turkey and the occupied area of Cyprus. According to the paper, children from Turkey, Latvia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Kirgizstan and from the London Schools of Turkish Language and Culture will participate in the festival. (CS) 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, 16-04-13 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Fifteen busses with refugees leave Idomeni in last 24 hours for accomodation centers [01] Fifteen busses with refugees leave Idomeni in last 24 hours for accomodation centers Fifteen busses with refugees and migrants have left Idomeni's makeshift camp in the last 24 hours for open organized accommodation centers in northern Greece, it was announced on Tuesday. "After the events last Sunday we realized there's no other way out and I will not allow myself to relive this kind of situation," a Yezidi Kurd told ANA-MPA. "My kids were terrified and they couldn't breathe from the teargas." Others present in the boarding of the busses said they were tired from the situation at the camp and hoped the living conditions at the centers would be better. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-13 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis' programme in Mytilene [02] Greek commercial stores to offer 20 pct discount on tourists from four countries [03] 53,661 identified refugees and migrants in Greece on Wednesday [01] Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis' programme in Mytilene Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis will visit Mytilene, on Saturday April 16th. The two religious leaders, together with Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos, will visit Lesvos, in an effort to raise the awareness of the international public opinion on the refugee issue. Archbishop Ieronymos is expected to arrive on the island on Friday. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will arrive also on Friday, at 8 pm. Pope Francis will be received on Saturday, at about 10.15 am, by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop Ieronymos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. They will all together visit the hot spot at Moria where they will meet with refugees and migrants and sign an international declaration on the refugee crisis . According to the Catholic Diocese of Chios (Lesvos - Samos), the Pope will meet with the Catholics Community of Lesvos and other Catholics on the island. The Pope will hold ten-minute meetings with Orthodox bishops and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and approximately at 3 pm they will all depart from Lesvos. [02] Greek commercial stores to offer 20 pct discount on tourists from four countries Greek commercial stores will offer a 20 percent discount to tourists from four countries every year. The four "honoured" countries for 2016 are Israel, Russia, Turkey and the US. Greek businesses accepted with pleasure Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Mardas initiative to promote commercial activities in the tourist season and reward the trust of foreign tourists, the president of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (ESEE) Vassilis Korkidis noted in a joint press conference with Mardas. Aegean Airlines also participated in the press conference as the relevant brochure will be distributed during its flights. Mardas underlined that this initiative will offer a boost to the Greek market. On his part, Korkidis noted that the tourists from these countries already have tax exemption for purchases they make in Greece while the 20 percent discount is not associated with tax free as the discount is made directly in the shop. The "honoured" countries in 2017 will be China, Iran, Western Balkans and the EU. [03] 53,661 identified refugees and migrants in Greece on Wednesday 53,661 identified refugees and migrants were on the Greek territory on Wednesday including 101 persons that arrived in the last 24 hours. According to the Refugee Crisis Management Coordination Body's figures, 29,250 of the refugees are in northern Greece, 10,680 of them are in Idomeni camp, 14,963 are hosted in the region of Attica (3,805 at Piraeus port), 7,150 on the Greek islands and 2,298 are hosted in different areas in central and southern Greece. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-13 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] PM Tsipras to Hollande: Deal with lenders should have concluded long ago [02] Greek police arrest seven foreign nationals on Wednesday near Idomeni [03] Ancient grave with 80 bodies found near Athens may be linked to Cylonian affair [01] PM Tsipras to Hollande: Deal with lenders should have concluded long ago Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with French President Francois Hollande in Paris on Wednesday at the Elysee presidential palace, with whom he discussed Greece's program review. According to information, Tsipras explained to Hollande that a deal on the Greek program review would have concluded long ago if the differences among the institutions had not caused delays. He also noted that every delay costs money and instability in Europe, adding that, based on data, the Greek economy is doing better than expected and no new measures are needed. Concerning the two draft bills on taxation and social security which the government said it will submit to parliament next week, Tsipras told the French president that it is the country's right to decide how to distribute financial burden. [02] Greek police arrest seven foreign nationals on Wednesday near Idomeni Greek police made two more arrests near Idomeni on Wednesday evening as part of its efforts to crack down on the unknown individuals who misinform the refugees in the camp, raising the total number of those detained to seven. The arrestees are two 24-year-old Czech nationals (male and female), in whose possession police found a small quantity of cannabis and a knife. Earlier, police arrested three Norwegians (two women and a man) and one Briton for possessing a walkie-talkie inside their car, while a German national was also detained this morning for possessing a pepper spray. A second German national detained on Tuesday for possessing a knife was released after being given a court date in September. [03] Ancient grave with 80 bodies found near Athens may be linked to Cylonian affair Archaeologists digging in the area of the Faliron Delta, a coastal area in southern Athens which served as a port for Athens in classical times, have discovered an ancient mass grave containing 80 bodies, placed side by side, some of whom are shackled, an antiquities curator said on Wednesday. From the research conducted so far, 50 pct of the area has been cleaned and the bones recovered appear to be young men, well-built, with excellent dentition, who do not appear to have bone fractures. One skeleton was discovered with an arrowhead stuck in its shoulder which points to a possible capture, archaeologist Stella Chrysoulaki from the Ephorate of Piraeus, Western Attica, and the Islands, said in a presentation at the Central Archaeological Council. The importance of the findings, which came to light during the past 20 days and were found at a depth of a mere 2.5 meters, is that they can be safely dated, because of the presence of two trefoil jugs discovered nearby, placing them at the third quarter of the 7th century BC. This date may connect the skeletons with the Cylonian affair. Chrysoulaki said the findings have a huge historical significance and require a close cooperation between the State and the Niarchos Foundation, which is funding the excavation, to best present and conserve the site. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Tuesday, the Illinois House State Government Administration Committee approved a measure to save taxpayers approximately $1.6 million each year by eliminating the office of Lieutenant Governor according to State Representative David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills), the sponsor of the legislation.

"I don't want anyone to be mistaken that this would take effect now as you described [in the first paragraph]," he told Illinois Review. "It would not go into effect until 2019."

UPDATE X1: Rep. McSweeney emphasizes that the measure he's proposing [as described below] would not go into effect until 2019, and if it were to go into effect at that time only, voters would be reminded that they are voting for governor and his potential successor would be the attorney general elected at the same time.

SPRINGFIELD - If, for some reason, Governor Bruce Rauner were not able to finish out his four-year term, the Republican would be succeeded by longtime Democrat House Speaker Mike Madigan 's daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan if a new measure moving through the Illinois House were currently in place in the Illinois Constitution.

The Illinois House State Government Administration Committee approved House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 5 (HJRCA 5) by a 12-0 vote.

The office of Lieutenant Governor has limited official responsibilities and it is time to eliminate the office, McSweeney said. In light of the states overwhelming financial problems, we need to be looking at ways to save taxpayers money. I have supported the idea of eliminating the office of Lieutenant Governor for many years because it is a simple way to reduce expenses and save taxpayers money.

House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 5 (HJRCA 5) would eliminate the office of the Lieutenant Governor beginning with the term of office commencing in 2019. The bill provides for a new Gubernatorial succession with the Attorney General, Secretary of State, and then as provided by law, respectively. The $1.6 million savings estimate is derived by averaging the money appropriated for the Lieutenant Governor's office for FY 11 through FY 15.

Currently, gubernatorial candidates run as a team with their select lieutenant gubernatorial candidates.

The bottom line is that eliminating the office of Lieutenant Governor would save taxpayers about $1.6 million each year, McSweeney said. Obviously, we still have a long way to go to get Illinois finances back on track, but we have to start somewhere. Eliminating an office with limited responsibilities and duties is a logical place to start."

In 2013, Representative McSweeney sponsored the same constitutional amendment to eliminate the Lieutenant Governor's office (HJRCA 18), which passed the House with 83 votes.

HJRCA 5 will now move to the House Floor for further consideration. It requires a three-fifths majority to pass, but a matching measure will also need to be passed by the Illinois Senate to amend the Constitution.

It will also need to be approved by a majority of Illinois voters.
Almost one year ago, after Governor Rauner submitted his 2016 FY budget that was billions of dollars out of balance, House and Senate Democrats passed spending plans for the current fiscal year.

These plans laid out Democrat priorities, including more money for elementary and high schools, and preventing the dangerous cuts the Governor had proposed in his budget; cuts such as zeroing out funding for services for children with autism, cutting funding for breast cancer screenings for nearly 15,000 women, cutting funding for child abuse prevention and cutting services for victims of sexual assault.

With the exception of the budget for elementary and secondary education, a budget that House and Senate Republicans voted against, the Governor vetoed the spending plans, rejecting funding for the states most vital programs, serving countless families across the state  including funding for sexual assault victims, medical care for the elderly, breast cancer screenings, homelessness prevention and mental health services.

The Governor chose to veto this critical funding, even though the state constitution provides that he may reduce or veto any item in an appropriations bill. We know the Governor understands this provision, because he used his line item veto power to remove specific items from a capital bill, while allowing other parts of the bill to become law.

It is regrettable that the Governor did not extend the same consideration to vital state programs that help sexual assault victims, the elderly and potential cancer victims. Since the Governors vetoes, numerous bills and amendments have been brought to the floor of this chamber as renewed statements of priorities of House Democrats. With few exceptions, the Governor and his people in this chamber have rejected those spending plans.

Even in the case of 9-1-1 services, motor fuel tax for municipalities and appropriations from federal funds, it took a great deal of time and effort to convince the Governor to move off his personal agenda. The Governors objections to House Democratic priorities are based on his insistence that the General Assembly first pass his personal agenda, which is targeted at diminishing the wages and standard of living of the middle class and other struggling families.

Its true that we need to do more to promote good-paying jobs with good wages in Illinois to improve our economic condition. But progress will not be made by targeting the wages and the standard of living of the middle class and others that are already struggling.

So we have had and will continue to have our differences. But differences with governors is not new to me, nor is it something that has prevented me from working with governors of both political parties for the good of the people of Illinois in passing state budgets.

Over 30 years, I have worked with six governors from both political parties  twice as many Republicans as Democrats. We didnt always agree on the issues. We didnt always agree on the best approach to passing the state government. I had differences of opinion with all the governors Ive worked with, including governors of my own party.

And let me repeat that  including governors of my own party. Many of you will recall the very strong differences I had with former Governor Rod Blagojevich.

However, we found a way to compromise. My record over the years is one of compromise. Regardless of the governor or his political party, to pass a budget that does not withhold the services that the people of Illinois depend upon. It is my openness to compromise that I stated more than a year ago, and why I continue to believe that to solve the state budget deficit, we must take a balanced approach.

The spending plans approved by the state legislature almost a year ago took that approach  cutting hundreds of millions of dollars without decimating the vital services that Illinois residents, children and the elderly depend upon. Like the governors own budget, ours, was not fully in balance. But we publicly acknowledged that and we have been prepared to address that.

Over the last 13 months, compromise has been very difficult to achieve. Never before has the state gone this long without a budget. Every other governor that I have worked with has negotiated with the General Assembly in good faith to help the people of Illinois and to insure that the people of our state would not needlessly suffer.

The fact is the current budget crisis was completely avoidable. While this crisis was avoidable, Governor Rauner has refused to put an end to the crisis. Some of his remarks in recent years clearly indicate this has been his plan from the very beginning.

At the Tazewell Countys Lincoln Day Dinner in March 2013, Governor Rauner said, and I quote, Even if the Democrats got a major majority against us, you know what? They cant stop us. They wont stop me if I want to dramatically spend less. You need the legislature if you want to spend more. If you want to spend less, they cant stop me. And I apologize, we may have to go through rough times. If we have to do what Ronald Reagan did with the air traffic controllers, if we sort of have to do a do-over and shut things down for a little while   like university and social service providers  thats what were going to do.

My view of the important role of state government, which I have argued, stands in stark contrast with Governor Rauners view of the role of state government as shown through his comments, has not changed since I first took office.

State government has a vital role to play from working to provide needed services for those who need them the most. You will even find that the few times Governor Rauner has set aside his personal agenda that hurts middle class families, we have been able to compromise to move our state forward.

That is why I will continue to make my top priority a budget that takes the balanced approach to prevent the most critical state services from being decimated by personal political agendas.

I support the passage of SB 2046, with critical funding for needed services that would be provided to the people of the state of Illinois. Thank you , Mr. Speaker, I recommend an aye vote.
On the aftermath of the II Pre-University (PU) Chemistry question paper having leaked twice, the Karnataka government, on April 12, stated that the exam conduction rules would be changed to prevent further fiascos such as this. Read the complete timeline here:

By India Today Web Desk: On the aftermath of the II Pre-University (PU) Chemistry question paper having leaked twice, the Karnataka government, on April 12, stated that the exam conduction rules would be changed to prevent further fiascos such as this.

Over 1.74 lakh students sat for the said exam on April 12 in a third attempt at a leak-free examination.

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Primary and Secondary Education Minister of Karnataka, Kimmane Rathnakar, according to a PTI report, said, "We selected the question paper this morning. So there was no chance for question paper leak."

"In the coming days we will be changing rules regarding how to conduct SSLC (Class 10th) and PUC (Class 12th) board exams," said the minister.

Read on to know all about the Karnataka Chemistry paper leaks:

March 21, 2016: Over 1.74 lakh students sit for the II Pre-University (PU) chemistry examination (new syllabus) across 975 centres in Karnataka.

March 21, 2016, 7:30 am: The PU helpline receives a call from a "II PU science student in Bengaluru" informing about a question paper leak, and stating that as many as 36 out of 37 leaked questions matched the original paper.

March 21, 2016, evening: The Department of PU Education (DPUE) cancels the conducted examination on receiving information on the leaked question paper.

(Read: Karnataka pre-university chemistry paper leak: Govt cancels exam)

CID takes over investigation: Protests ensue by students and parents, following which the state government hands over the investigation ropes to the CID.

Treasury leak suspected: The CID suspects that the question paper leaked from one of the treasury offices in Kolar, Chikkaballapur or Tumakuru districts, where the question papers are stored before dispatch to the exam centres.

March 31, 2016: A re-examination of the Chemistry paper was scheduled for March 31. However, the DPUE was again alerted of question paper leaks via Whatsapp from two locations in the state- Bengaluru and Tumakuru, at 3:30 am on the day of the exam, thanks to the CID sleuths. The exam was cancelled just two hours before its commencement.

Numerous suspensions: About 40 officials of the board ranging from the post of joint director to peon were suspended and the CID, which had already been probing the March 21 paper leak, was asked to inquire into the leak of the re-exam paper also.

Intense protests in front of DPUE: Political parties and student organisations join the protests by students in front of the DPUE building. They pelt stones at the DPUE office, one student faints, and another threatens to jump from the roof of the DPUE building as their opinions were not being heard by the officials.

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Pressure from Opposition: Opposition members stage a dharna in the Legislative Assembly and demand the resignation of Education Minister Rathnakar, holding him responsible for two question paper leaks in just a span of 10 days.

April 1, 2016, night: DPUE Director Pallavi Akurathi is transferred as the deputy secretary to government, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR).

April 4, 2016: The CID arrests three people who were involved in the question paper leak -- Manjunath, a PT teacher at a private college in Vijayanagar and an LIC agent; Oblaraju, personal assistant of Minister for Medical Education Sharan Prakash Patil; and Rudrappa, who works in the Public Works Department. It is suspected that they are part of a larger racket.

April 5, 2016: Karnataka State PU College Lecturers and Principals' Association demand a hike in their salary and boycott the evaluation of the re-examination answer sheets. Alternative arrangements will be made for paper evaluation in case all talks fail in this issue. The result is supposed to be announced as per the schedule.

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Measures taken for clean re-exam: Several measures are decided to safeguard the process of the third exam:

The question paper bundles were decided to be kept at only the district treasuries and not the taluk-level treasuries, from where they would be distributed to exam centres

The district treasuries were asked to install CCTV cameras for constant monitoring of the question papers

Officials distributing the question papers would not be allowed to use mobile phones

The paper setters were kept guarded by the police in an undisclosed location



Photocopy shops within a radius of 200 meters of SSLC and PUC exam centres were ordered to remain closed on examination days, by Bengaluru police commissioner N S Megharikh

April 12, 2016: Examination finally passes smoothly with the help of extensive security. Students glad after sitting for a relatively "easy" examination.



Watch students protesting against the Karnataka Board:

Check: 30 Delhi govt school principals undergoing IIM training to improve education quality

Click here to get more education news.

Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here.



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Following in the footsteps of most of the politicians, whose net worth increases many fold once they are elected, Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee's worth has also witnessed an astounding increase in just one year.

By India Today Web Desk: Following in the footsteps of most of the politicians, whose net worth increases many fold once they are elected, Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee's worth has also witnessed an astounding increase in just one year.

According to the Press Trust of India (PTI), Chatterjee, who is contesting Assembly polls from Behala West seat in south Kolkata, has declared his net worth to be a little over Rs 80 lakh.

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Following are the revelations that he has made in the affidavit filed before the Election Commission:

His last year's income was Rs 7.8 lakh.

He owns a movable asset worth Rs 57.5 lakh, which includes cash-in-hand of Rs 6,013, besides bank balance and investments.

He doesn't own any vehicles but his wife owns one.

The secretary general owns a multi-storied building in south Kolkata, estimated by him to be worth Rs 25 lakh now.

The state education minister has described himself as a social activist and HR professional.

The 63-year-old has an impressive academic background with a range of degrees in his pocket.

Apart from holding an MBA and LLB degree from the University of Calcutta, Chatterjee has also done a course in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations (PMIR) from Industrial Society in the UK.

Last year i.e in 2015, he completed a doctorate in economics from North Bengal University.

Check: 30 Delhi govt school principals undergoing IIM training to improve education quality

Click here to get more education news.

Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here.



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Destructive West Indies batsman Chris Gayle was all praise for his young Royal Challengers Bangalore team-mate Sarfaraz Khan, who he feels is one of the future stars to watch out for.

By Subhasish Dutta: Destructive West Indies batsman Chris Gayle was all praise for his young Royal Challengers Bangalore team-mate Sarfaraz Khan, who he feels is one of the future stars to watch out for.

Royal Challengers Bangalore started their IPL season nine campaign with bang on Tuesday scoring a massive 227 for 4 in 20 overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

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"Not a bad one from the team's point of view. The action was superb. AB and Virat put up a fantastic stand and credit must go to Sarfaraz," Gayle said after RCB's innings.

"It's a great team effort to get to that total," he added.

Despite the early loss of Gayle (1) in the second over, AB De Villiers (82) and skipper Virat Kohli (75) hit fifties, while helping themselves to generous boundaries, to set the foundation for a big score.

However, it was young India batsman Sarfaraz who blasted an unbeaten 35 off just 10 deliveries to set the tempo towards the end.

Entering after the fall of Shane Watson in the 18th over, Sarfaraz smashed 4 fours and a six off Bhuvneshwar Kumar's 19th over to send the home crowd into a frenzy.

The 18-year-old continued his marauding stroke-play in the final over too, hitting Bangladesh fast blower Mustafizur Rahman for a six and four to take RCB to the final big total.

On his camaraderie with Sarfaraz, Gayle said: "We get along well. Sarfaraz keeps texting me and the way he played today was fantastic. He's too young and he's like a son to me. He's definitely one for the future and one must keep an eye on him," he concluded.

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The British royals landed on Tuesday evening in the garrison town of Tezpur, in the state of Assam to visit the world's largest one-horn rhino park in India.

Prince William and his wife, Kate, planned their visit to Kaziranga specifically to focus global attention on conservation. (Photo: Reuters)

By AP: With the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arriving at the world's largest one-horn rhino park in Assam on Tuesday, conservationists hope the British royals can help raise global alarms about how black-market demand for rhino horns and other animal parts is fueling illegal poaching and pushing species to the brink. In pics



But just two days earlier, park officials said yet another rhino had been poached, bringing the total number of rhinos killed in Kaziranga National Park this year to six.

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Poachers shot the rhinoceros and, while it was still alive, sawed off its horn before fleeing before dawn Sunday, wildlife official Subasis Das said. Once the dying animal was discovered, park officials rushed to try to save it but were unsuccessful, he said.

Prince William and his wife, Kate, planned their visit to Kaziranga specifically to focus global attention on conservation. The 480-square-kilometer (185-square-mile) grassland park is home to the world's largest population of rare, one-horned rhinos as well as other endangered species including swamp deer and the Hoolock gibbon.

The royals landed Tuesday evening in the garrison town of Tezpur, in the state of Assam. At the airport, the state's chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, and his wife, Dolly, greeted the royal couple with "gamochas," or traditional hand-woven scarves used to greet special guests in Assamese culture.

William and Kate were surrounded by traditional Assamese dancers, who were moving to the beat of drums thumping and brass symbals clashing. In honor of the region's harvest festival of Bihu, which starts on Wednesday, the couple were invited to enjoy Assamese rice pancakes and coconut cookies as a refreshment.

They then left in a black sports-utility vehicle for an 80-kilometer (50-mile) drive to an exclusive, 12-cottage jungle resort with thatch rooftops overlooking fields and a river in Kaziranga.

The park has overseen major conservation success, with its rhino population increasing from just 75 in 1905 to 2,200 last year. Many give credit to Lady Mary Curzon, a British baroness who reportedly persuaded her husband, Lord George Curzon, to take steps to protect the rhino when he was governor general and viceroy of India in 1899-1905 when it was still part of the British Empire.

"The Royals should focus on global awareness and the success of Kaziranga, a conservation story started by Lady Curzon," said industrialist Ranjit Borthakur, who heads the Balipara Foundation conservation group in Assam.

But as the neighboring human settlements continue to expand, the animals find themselves in increasingly tense competition for habitat.

During their two-day stay, the royal couple will meet rangers and take a jeep safari through the park. They will also speak with Karbi tribal villagers who live in a nearby hamlet - a meeting that is expected to boost morale among locals trying to protect the area's wildlife.

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"The royals' visit will bring Kaziranga further into the limelight. The villagers around the park will get added encouragement to work harder," said Anowaruddin Choudhury of the Rhino Foundation for Nature in Northeast India.

All five of the world's rhino species are under constant threat from poachers seeking their horns to sell on the black market. Demand is high in countries such as China and Vietnam, where people mistakenly believe consuming rhino horns can increase male potency. It does not.

Already six rhinos have been poached this year, after 20 were killed in 2015.

"The Duke will use this visit to speak out against the lies and violence that threaten this valuable species and the communities that rely on it," Buckingham Palace said in a statement. "Traffickers in South East Asia are now marketing Indian rhino horn as 'fire horn' and lying about its increased potency when compared to African horn."

Conservationists say the visit couldn't be coming soon enough.

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"The British royals' visit will certainly increase the level of awareness on rhino conservation," said Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, who heads the local wildlife protection group Aaranyak.

But he wants the royals also to press China and other countries to curb consumption of rare animal parts, including rhino horns as well as tiger bones and pangolin scales. "We would expect the Duke and the Duchess to convince them to clamp down on such use," he said.

After visiting the park, the royal couple will fly to the neighboring kingdom of Bhutan on Thursday morning.

ALSO READ: World's hottest chilli on menu for Kate Middleton and Prince William during Assam visit

Kate Middleton and Prince William's effect on Bollywood: They came, they saw, they conquered

When Prince William and Kate met B'Town royalty



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With WhatsApp messages and wishes flooding in, doesn't it make you wonder why exactly is Baisakhi--a harvest festival--such a big deal for most North Indians?

By Somya Abrol: We Indians have a way with celebrations--especially the Northern species--we twist them and turn them and prune them to suit our convenience, but only to celebrate them with even more fervour than before.

Whether we're celebrating our festivals the way they were meant to be celebrated is a debate for another day. What we're revelling in at the moment is the fact that with the world shrinking in size, the awareness about our dear festivals has grown and we have managed to make the best of it.

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So, as a hearty part of the country (and the world) celebrates Baisakhi today, here's a look at what the festival was, what shape it's taken today and how it's celebrated around the country:

The Punjabi New Year falls on Baisakh--which is the first month of the Bikram Sambat Hindu calendar. So, here's wishing our Punjabi brethren a very Happy New Year! It marks the birth of the Khalsa in the year 1699, which was founded by Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh Guru. This day is also observed as a 'Thanksgiving' day by farmers, where they pay their tributes and thank their gods for the abundant harvest while also praying for future prosperity. The harvest festival is also characterised by the folk dance bhangra, which traditionally is a harvest dance (bet you didn't know that!). Baisakhi is also one of the very, very rare Indian festivals that fall exactly on the same day each year--April 13. To mark the celebrations, Sikh devotees generally visit the gurudwara before dawn with flowers and other offerings. The main celebration of Baikashi takes place at Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda, (where Guru Gobind Singh stayed for 9 months and completed the recompilation of the Guru Granth Sahib), and in the gurudwara at Anandpur Sahib, the birthplace of the Khalsa, and at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Sadly, this day also coincides with the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (also known as the Amritsar massacre), which took place on April 13, 1919.

How the world celebrates Baisakhi:1. Baisakhi is observed as a harvest festival in Punjab, Pakistan, as well, marking the local new year irrespective of people's varied faiths. Baisakhi fairs are traditionally held in various places including Lahore.

2. In the United States, there is usually a parade commemorating Baisakhi celebration.

3. In Manhattan, New York City, people come out to do seva (selfless service) to mark the day.

4. In Los Angeles, California, the local Sikh community holds a full day kirtan (spiritual music) programme, which is followed by a parade.

5. In the UK, nagar kirtnas are held in the Southall gurudwara (a week or two before Baisakhi) and in Birmingham (late April). Two separate nagar kirtans set off from gurudwaras in Birmingham and culminate at the Vaisakhi Mela at Handsworth Park.

This year, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the United Kingdom (UK) will celebrate Baisakhi at the MoD headquarters in Whitehall, London, which will be attended by senior British politicians and officials from the MoD as well as Sikh personalities from Britain.

6. In Malaysia, all government servants from the Sikh Malaysian Indian community are given a day off on Baisakhi, and open houses are held across the country on the day of the festival, or the closest weekend to it.

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7. In Canada, the Sikh community usually holds a nagar kirtan, which culminates in a parade in Surrey that attracts hundreds of thousands of people each year.

This year, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau is celebrating the festival with the Sikh community of the country. The charmer that he is, Trudeau also took out time to do this:

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The suspects were taken into custody during a police search in the Brussels district of Uccle on Tuesday.

The three were taken in for questioning after a home search related to the Paris attacks in the Brussels district of Uccle. (Photo: Reuters)

By AP: Belgian prosecutors say three people detained in the investigation into the Paris attacks that killed 130 victims in November have been freed after extensive interrogation.

They were taken into custody during a police search in the Brussels district of Uccle on Tuesday.

None of the three was charged, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office said in a statement on Wednesday.



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Belgian authorities have not said what they were looking for, or what they may have found.

Brussels was home to many of the attackers who struck the French capital on November 13 with suicide bombings and volleys of assault weapons fire.

According to Belgian and French investigators, the same cell was behind the suicide bombings that killed 32 victims at Brussels Airport and in the Brussels subway on March 22 this year.



ALSO READ: Brussels, Paris attacks key suspects detained in Belgium

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All the five worked for multi-level marketing company Q-net and promised attractive returns to investors.

By Mail Today: The Bengaluru police arrested 5 people in connection with a multi-level marketing scam following complaints from investors on non-payment of returns as assured.

According to the police, Sanjay Suri and V Santhosh Kumar from Hyderabad, Naresh Sharma from Shimla, Susheel Sanghvi from Mumbai and P Prashanth Kumar from Kochi were arrested from their homes in Bengaluru for allegedly cheating people.

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All the five worked for multi-level marketing company Q-net and promised attractive returns to investors. However, recently, a well-known doctor, who felt that he was cheated by the five people, approached the police and lodged a complaint. The police said that the five people had collected crores of rupees from working professionals as part of the scam and failed to pay returns as assured. A case has been filed and a probe is on.

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By PTI: Bhubaneswar, Apr 13 (PTI) Once known for its cool breeze and tranquillity, Odishas state capital Bhubaneswar today observed its 68th Foundation Day amid the prevailing heatwave with a call to keep the temple city pollution free.

"Bhubaneswar has already emerged in the list of Smart Cities. However, its should also become pollution free and a planned city as desired by its founders who set up the state capital here," Odisha Assembly Speaker Niranjan Pujari said after taking salute on the occasion of the 68th Foundation Day celebrations.

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Though Bhubaneswar, also refereed as the temple city, has a lot to feel proud for its glorious cultural heritages, Pujari said all should come together to make the place pollution free.

Planting enough trees and spreading awareness on environment could help to avoid such climatic impact on the state capital, he said.

Seeking cooperation of all, state excise minister Damodar Rout and school and mass education minister Debi Prasad Mishra highlighted how Bhubaneswar has emerged as the education hub and made marks in different fields.

To mark the occasion, a civilian parade was organised in front of the state Assembly in which school and college students and different organisation participated.

13 persons were awarded with Rajdhani Gourav Samman on the occasion.

Besides a number of cultural functions, the states information and public relations department organised a picture exhibition at the Jayadev Bhavan here.

On April 13, 1948, the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru had laid the foundation stone of the city. Eminent German architect and urban planner Otto Koenigsberger prepared the citys first master plan in 1948 for a population of 40,000.

Bhubaneswar was among the first four planned cities of India, said Capital Day Celebration Committee vice-president Pradumnya Kumar Mohanty. PTI AAM DKB

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Reetesh Sharma, who had gone to Saudi Arabia with hope for a better future, returned to India after a four-year stint that would haunt him forever.

By Sneha Agrawal: On one hand while Mohammed Afsar's family is fighting a legal battle to get his mortal remains back to India, another Indian worker's Saudi stint has only been marginally better. He managed to come back to India alive. Mail Today spoke to another worker, Reetesh Sharma, who had managed to escape the wrath of his employers.

Much like Afsar, Reetesh from Bihar went to Saudi Arabia in a hope for a better future but his four-year stint turned out to be horror story that would haunt him forever. Reetesh returned to India on April 6 after years of terrible torture.

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"I went to Saudi Arabia in December 2012. I was hired as a construction labourer with a good package. Later on, I realised I was trapped. My salary was not paid on time, my phone was confiscated. We were made to work for hours without any break. Any employee was found taking a break, the first thing they would do is snatch away our phones. We would also get beaten and abused," Reetesh said speaking to MAIL TODAY.

"With no breaks to go back home it had become difficult to survive. We had become slaves who lived at the mercy of our employers," he added.

Talking about his narrow escape Reetesh mentioned that he had grown close to another employee named Abdul Sattar Makandar who had been suffering a similar plight. At the same time, the pressure to release Abdul had started building up. "Although Abdul is still stuck there, one day I was told that my ticket to India has been booked and I would be escorted back," he said.

Afsar's death and Reetesh's story exposes the terrible plight of Indian workers in the Gulf.

Kundan Srivastava, a human rights activist who works closely with troubled Indian workers in Saudi Arabia told Mail Today, "I have been approached by several workers who want to come back but their passport has been taken away. They are denied food and basic necessities. The cruelty has no limit."

Kundan claims that there is a whole nexus that operates through travel agencies that are given targets to send Indian workers to Gulf countries for labour work.

"There have been cases where the Indian workers were given a certain job profile during their appointment but when they reached they found out it to be completely different from what was promised. Some workers bear the pain thinking of their families in India," he said.

In 2013, according to media reports around 28 lakh Indian workers were estimated to be working in Saudi Arabia forming the largest segment of the expatriate population there. About a sixth of those workers are from Kerala.

Saudi Arabia recently estimated that 30 per cent its foreign remittances went to India.

Also Read:

Saudi horror: Indian woman fights to get husband's mortal remains back

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Indian migrant gets jailed in Saudi Arabia after making a tearful video about terrible work conditions

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By India Today Web Desk: After announcing that he will offer an apology for a government decision in 1914 that denied entry to Sikhs in the country, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has wished everyone Baisakhi. And how!

"Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh," is what he opens his video message with.

He talks about the Liberal Party sharing the ideals of Khalsa panth- the ideas of fairness, respect and equality for all regardless of race, creed, religion or gender.

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While announcing about the apology, he also reminded the nation of the prejudice suffered by the Sikh community at the hands of the Canadian government. Trudeau will present an official apology for the Komagata Maru incident in the the House of Commons on May 18, 2016.

What was the Komagata Maru incident ?

The 376 passengers from Punjab, who were mostly Sikh, refused to disembark from the Japanese ship Komagata Maru when it sailed into Vancouver harbour on May 23, 1914.

Due to the refusal of the Canadian government, the Komagata Maru sat in the harbour for two months after which it was escorted out to sea by a Canadian naval cruiser. When it reached India, the people had to face the British troops and many of them faced death.

Cultural Inclusivity

Justin Trudeau tweeted Baisakhi greetings and even attended the celebrations.

Great to be at Vaisakhi on the Hill today! Im proud to celebrate the remarkable contributions of Sikh Canadians. pic.twitter.com/6nzXkvaOMl Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 11, 2016





Source: Twitter/JustinTrudeau

Source: Twitter/JustinTrudeau

Previously, while taking questions from students at the American University in Washington he also said that he has more Sikhs in his cabinet than Modi. "I have more Sikhs in my cabinet than Modi does," said Trudeau.

There are only two Sikh Cabinet ministers in the Modi government - Maneka Gandhi, who is a Sikh by birth, and Harsimrat Kaur Badal who is the Food Processing Minister.

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In a leopard attack caught on camera, the wild cat can be seen attacking a group of men outside an under construction building in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.

A leopard can been seen attacking a group of men outside army hospital in Meerut.

By India Today Web Desk: In dramatic footage captured on camera, a leopard can be seen attacking people outside an army hospital in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.

The video shows some youths trying to capture the wild cat that attacked people on Tuesday afternoon. In fact, the leopard pounced on one of the men from the group trying to capture it and then ran into a building under construction.

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Forest officials along with the army personnel have been present on the spot since Tuesday but have had no luck in capturing the leopard.

The area has been cordoned off as a precautionary measure and people have been cautioned to avoid the building.

Earlier, four villagers were injured in Karnau Village of Mathura district on April 4 when a leopard strayed into the village and attacked them.

A similar incident took place in Bengaluru in February, when a leopard was spotted at Vibgyor Public School. The beast injured three people in the school and was later tranquilised after a day-long operation.

ALSO READ | Watch: Leopard enters school premises in Bengaluru

More leopards come out near Vibgyor school in Bengaluru



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The Kerala government on Wednesday requested the Centre to immediately declare the Puttingal Devi temple tragedy that claimed 113 lives and left several injured as a national calamity.

By Press Trust of India: The Kerala government on Wednesday requested the Centre to immediately declare the Puttingal Devi temple tragedy that claimed 113 lives and left several injured as a national calamity.

"The Centre should take necessary steps to declare the tragedy as a national calamity without delay," Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters after a cabinet meeting which reviewed steps taken so far in the aftermath of the April 10 tragedy.

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The Chief Minister said the all-party meeting called on Thursday would try to arrive at a consensus on formulating a policy on bringing about restriction on fireworks.

Chandy said a section in society was not in favour of stopping traditional practices and rituals based on faith.

However, another group felt 'this kind' of calamity should not happen in future, he said, adding government has to find a solution, taking into consideration the views of both.

The Chief Minister said DNA tests to identify bodies still in hospitals has begun and would be completed soon.

A total of 13 bodies are still to be identified.

Chandy said police had received complaints that 21 persons were missing after the tragedy in the area and quoted experts as having stated that there was a possibility that the entire body of a person would have been charred, making even DNA testing difficult.

Government's priority now was to provide the best possible treatment to the injured being treated in hospitals, he said.

Chandy said a cabinet sub-committee of Ministers, comprising Adoor Prakesh, V S Sivakumar and Shibu Baby John, would visit the accident site tomorrow and take stock of the losses suffered in the area.

"A rehabilitation and compensation package would be decided, based on the committee's report," he said.

Flaying Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M) State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan for demanding resignation of Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala in the wake of the tragedy, he said "some are trying to politicise the mishap. It is very unfortunate and not correct".

He recalled the stampede at Sabarimala and Thekkady boat tragedy during the previous LDF rule and said UDF, then in the opposition, had not sought resignation of Balakrishnan, who was Home Minister.

"At a time like this, we all have to work unitedly to help the victims. Balakrishnan's statement was very unfortunate," Chandy said.

Asked about the delay in fixing responsibility for the mishap, he said a case has been registered and probe is on.

"It is not fair on my part to make a comment as the probe is on."

However, Chandy made it clear that any person found guilty for the mishap would be brought before justice.

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The CM declined to comment on Kollam District Collector's report that District police had failed to prevent the fireworks display, despite a ban issued by the authorities.

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By PTI: From Youssra El-Sharkawy

Cairo, Apr 13 (PTI) Egypt will return two disputed Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia after controlling it for over 60 years in a bid to "restore" the rights of Saudis, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said, a decision that has drawn sharp criticism from Egyptians who see the move an insult to their national pride.

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Egypt and Saudi Arabia agreed to maritime borders that handed ownership of disputed Red Sea islands Tiran and Sanafir over to Riyadh, Egyptian Cabinet said in a statement.

Egyptian government says the two islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba belong to Saudi Arabia, which asked Egypt in 1950 to protect them from Israel. Israel captured the islands in the 1967 Middle East war, but handed them back to Egypt under the provisions of the 1979 peace treaty.

"We did not surrender our rights, but we restored the rights of others. Egypt did not relinquish even a grain of sand," Sisi said.

The controversy is caused by the difference between how the state deals with the issue and how people take it from an individual perspective, he said.

"The decision was made through documents with the Egyptian state institutions such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the General Intelligence Service; we also stuck to the 1990 presidential decree which was submitted to the United Nations," Sisi said, referring to several pieces of evidence that the government has put forward in recent days to explain the Saudi claim.

The return of the two islands has drawn sharp reaction from many Egyptians, who showed their refusal on social media from mockery to allegations of poor governance.

Many Egyptians view Tiran and Sanafir with patriotic fondness because of the islands association with the four wars Egypt fought with Israel between 1948 and 1973.

The decision comes as Cairo struggles to steady its vital tourism sector. The decision was announced on Saturday during a five-day visit by King Salman.

Last Friday, the King Salman said that his country and Egypt would build a joint bridge over the Red Sea.

Salman said that the bridge would be aimed at boosting trade exchange between the two allied countries and connecting the two countries.

A recent statement by Egypts government said that agreement of demarcation the maritime borders between Egypt and Saudi Arabia is an important achievement that will make the two countries benefit economically.

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The statement also added that the islands Tiran and Sanafir now fall under the Saudi waters territory according to the Egypt and Saudi agreements which were signed as part of King Salmans visit to Egypt during last week. PTI YES UZM AKJ UZM

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By PTI: New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) India and South Korea today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation and mutual assistance in development of ports.

The MoU was signed by Road, Transport and Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari and South Koreas Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kim Young Suk, Shipping Ministry said.

The South Korean delegation, led by Suk, is in Mumbai to participate in the Maritime India Summit (MIS), 2016.

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This MoU is for cooperation and mutual assistance between India and Republic of Korea in port related matters. The Union Cabinet had approved the proposal of the Shipping Ministry for signing of this MoU on April 6, 2016, it said.

The MoU is expected to help both countries to encourage and facilitate development of ports, port-related industries and maritime relationship.

It will also enhance cooperation in the tasks of sharing of technology, experiences in the fields of port development and operation, exchange of information on construction, building, engineering and related aspects in the field of port development, among others, the ministry said.

MIS 2016 is a maiden flagship initiative of the Shipping Ministry that provides a unique platform for participants to explore potential business opportunities in Indian maritime sector.

MIS 2016 is being organised from April 14-16, 2016 at Mumbai and will have conference, exhibition and demo sessions.

Republic of Korea is the Partner Country of MIS, 2016. A delegation of over 100 participants from South Korea are attending the summit. PTI RNK ABM

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Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced on Tuesday that the logistics support agreement was on the cards in the coming weeks but underlined that it does not mean permission for deployment of US troops on Indian soil.

By Mail Today: Overturning years of resistance, the Narendra Modi government has agreed to sign logistics support agreement that would enable automatic clearances for US warships and military aircrafts to get fuel, food or other assistance while transiting through India.

With his US counterpart Ashton Carter standing by his side, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced on Tuesday that the logistics support agreement was on the cards in the coming weeks but underlined that it does not mean permission for deployment of US troops on Indian soil.

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The logistics support agreement has been under negotiations for more than 10 years but the previous UPA regime had resisted intense pressure from Washington to initiate what had been termed as an 'enabling pact for deeper defence ties'.

New Delhi had felt that the content of the pact were intrusive and an impinged Parrikar cautioned that no comment on the agreement should be made until the final draft is ready. Carter, who described Indo-US defence ties as defining partnership of the 21st century, explained that the logistic support pact will simplify interactions between the armed forces of the two countries.

India, US sign new military treaty.

India is looking to acquire cutting-edge technology from the US and the two sides discussed ongoing initiatives like cooperation in developing a new flat deck aircraft carrier and jet engine technology.

New Delhi and Washington agreed to initiate two new pathfinder projects under the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative. These new projects are: Digital Helmet Mounted Displays and the Joint Biological Detection System.

They also finalised four government-to-government science projects on Atmospheric Sciences for High Energy Lasers, Cognitive Tools for Target Detection, Small Intelligent Unmanned Aerial Systems, and Blast and Blunt Traumatic Brain Injury.

New Delhi also conveyed its concern over the sale of F-16 fighter jets by the US to Pakistan. Carter maintained that the sale to Pakistan was linked to fight terrorism and Washington's relationship with India was unique.

They also had detailed discussion on the situation in South China Sea. But India stopped short of agreeing to joint patrols with the US. They announced a new maritime security dialogue and commencement of navy-to-navy discussions on submarine safety and anti-submarine warfare.

Also Read:

Indo-US ties more serious than Pakistan, says US Defense Secretary

India, US "agree in principle" on sharing military logistics: Carter



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Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner confirmed that Ashish Nehra will miss out on couple of games due to a groin injury he suffered during the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday.

By India Today Web Desk: Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner confirmed that Ashish Nehra will miss out on couple of games due to a groin injury he suffered during the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Tuesday.

"Nehra has hurt his groin. He will be out for a couple of games," said Warner after his side's 45-run loss to RCB.

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It was Nehra's first game for the Sunrisers, having joined the team from Chennai Super Kings. He limped off the field after bowling 2.1 overs in which he conceded 21 runs. (Full Indian Premier League 2016 coverage )



"We have to look back and look at positives and turn it around. We have a good batting track at Hyderabad. We should not lose wickets in clumps," added Warner.

RCB captain Virat Kohli, who struck 75 off 51 balls and shared a 157-run stand with man of the match AB de Villiers (82 off 42), was all praise for the South African.

"We lost the toss and did not get what we wanted to. It was a really good effort from the batsman and Parvez showed composure. It is never easy for the spinners to bowl in Bangalore. Parvez was the stand-out bowler for me today. Last year, me and AB had a good partnership in Mumbai. He hit balls as only he can. It was a pleasure playing with him. He took some pressure off me," said Kohli.

(with PTI inputs)



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Jat agitation left 30 dead and hundreds injured during the nine day violence in February this year.

As predicted, the Haryana government has now started shunting out the senior police officers who failed to anticipate the gravity of Jat agitation which left 30 dead and hundreds injured during the nine day violence in February this year.

After Dr Rajshree Singh's removal as Murthal gang rape SIT chief, the state government has now removed DGP Y P Singhal and CID chief ADGP Shatrujeet Singh Kapur.

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The state government had earlier suspended IGP Rohtak Range, Shrikant Jadhav for the lapses .

Removal of senior officers clearly shows that they failed to perform their duty during the Jat agitation. Despite the deployment of army, para military and police forces, the Jat protesters caused havoc by setting ablaze private and public property. Besides the incidents of loot , they were reports of gang rapes committed by the protesters.

It is due to the casual nature and laxity of senior cops that the Punjab and Haryana High Court slammed the state police. The level of professionalism with which Murthal gang rape case was handled by the police, can be estimated from the fact that the police did not even register an FIR and handed over the SIT report to the court. Despite having received two 'anonymous' complaints, the police registered an FIR on March 30 only after court's order.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was left with no option but to remove the cops who failed to deliver. Besides the party MLAs and other functionaries, voices were getting louder against DGP Singhal who was at the helm of affairs when eight districts were being smothered.

The state government has now appointed Dr KP Singh as the new DGP who is a 1985 batch IPS officer.

ALSO READ: Manohar Khattar appoints 2-member committee to look into Jat agitation violence

Gurgaon to be renamed Gurugram, Mewat will be Nuh

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Tamil Nadu assembly elections are just round the corner, and the Opposition has launched an all out attack on Jayalalithaa government.

"People should change this most corrupt government in India and give NDA a chance," the BJP chief said in a sharp attack on Jayalalithaa whose AIADMK has extended issue-based support to the Modi government in Parliament.

By India Today Web Desk: Tamil Nadu assembly elections are just round the corner, and the Opposition has launched an all out attack on Jayalalithaa government.

BJP President Amit Shah in a press conference today accused the Jayalalithaa government of being the "most corrupt" in the country.

"People should change this most corrupt government in India and give NDA a chance," the BJP chief said in a sharp attack on Jayalalithaa whose AIADMK has extended issue-based support to the Modi government in Parliament.

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Shah, who was adressing the conference with Power Minister Piyush Goyal, also acussed the state government for non-cooperation over implementation of central schemes that were designed to help the debt ridden state power discoms.

"UDAY, for instance, is meant to reach consumers but the Tamil Nadu government is not coming forward to implement it," he said.

Refering to the proposal to set up a unit of AIIMS in the state, Shah said, "The Narendra Modi government is committed to the welfare of villages, the poor and labour class. I am confident the people of Tamil Nadu will give priority to NDA in the polls."

Shah also trained his guns at both DMK and AIADMK, besides Congress and charged them with corruption.

"Whether it be 2G (DMK) or disproportionate assets case (AIADMK) Aircel-Maxis (DMK) or ED case against (son of Congress leader P Chidambaram) Karti, their top leaders face corruption cases. These show they did corruption when they were in power," he said.

However, there was no corruption charge against the two-year old Modi government, he said, adding that his party stood for development.

When asked if an alliance with AIADMK was on cards earlier, Shah said BJP never expected the ruling party to propose a tie-up with it for elections.

Even the AIADMK's support to the NDA government in Parliament was "issue-based", he said.

Asked about the delay in constituting the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), Shah said BJP believed in taking all states along and favoured talks to arrive at a "consensus".

On the issue of fishermen being "attacked" and arrested by Sri Lankan Navy, he said his party-led government was committed to the welfare of the fishermen.

He recalled that as soon as it came to power, the Modi government had acted and saved five fishermen from the gallows and brought them back home. Talks were on with Colombo to find a permanent solution to the vexed issue.

"Fishermen no more face (Lankan navy's) bullets," he said.

Earlier, Shah met party candidates for the May 16 polls, besides those of other NDA constituents IJK and Akila Indiya Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhagam.

He expressed hope that his party will put up a good show despite lack of erstwhile allies like DMDK.

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Ad-filmmaker Lloyd Baptista, who is working on a remake of Kamal Haasan and Sridevi-starrer Sadma, says that a Hollywood version of the same will also be shot next year.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Ad-filmmaker Lloyd Baptista, who is working on a remake of Kamal Haasan and Sridevi-starrer Sadma, says that a Hollywood version of the same will also be shot next year.

"Yes, I will first shoot the Sadma remake in Hindi and then next year I will shoot it in English. We are simultaneously locking the star cast for both the films and both the films will have a different star cast," Baptista told IANS.

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"For the Hollywood version we will have an Indian actress and a Hollywood actor. The Indian actress will be someone who works in Hollywood, but I can't give out the names right now. It's one of the actresses who is working abroad," he added.

Sadma, which was a remake of the Tamil film Moondram Pirai, featured Sridevi in the role a young woman who regresses into childhood after a head injury.

Baptista also said that he had earlier spoken to actor Kareena Kapoor Khan, but she was busy with Ki And Ka.

"Mukesh Chabra is currently helping us with the casting and I had a chat with Kareena Kapoor Khan for the same but she was busy with Ki And Ka. It's very difficult to get the right cast who can do justice to Kamal and Sridevi's role. We are in talks with the A-list actors for the remake," he added.





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By PTI: From Lalit K Jha

Washington, Apr 13 (PTI) US Secretary of State John Kerry has offered greetings to the people of Sri Lanka and Nepal on the occasion of their new year.

"On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I join you in celebrating the Sri Lankan New Year," Kerry said in a statement.

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The past years accomplishments have been historic, demonstrating the deep commitment of the Sri Lankan people for reconciliation, tolerance and peace, Kerry said.

"I offer my best wishes for a happy New Year and continued success as you move ahead with the new constitution and further efforts to strengthen Sri Lankas democracy and prosperity," Kerry said.

72-year-old Kerry also greeted people of Nepal on the occasion of their new year.

"On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I offer my warmest wishes for a joyous New Year to Nepalis all around the world," Kerry said in a statement.

"Today is an opportunity to reflect on the progress Nepal has made on its democratic journey and to reaffirm national unity and goodwill," he said.

Noting that the US looked forward to strengthen its partnership with Nepal, Kerry said the "friendship between our people continues on the path to peace and prosperity in the New Year".

Nepali Calendar is nearly 56 years and 8 months ahead of the English Calendar known as Gregorian Calendar or AD. The new year in Nepal starts from the middle of April.

Sinhalese New Year is generally known as Aluth Avurudda. It is a major anniversary celebrated by not only the Sinhalese people but by most Sri Lankans. The festival has a close semblance to the Tamil New year, Thai New year and Bengali New Year.

According to Sinhalese astrology, new year begins when the sun moves from Meena Rashiya (the house of Pisces) to Mesha Rashiya (the house of Aries). It also marks the end of the harvest and spring. PTI LKJ MRJ

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By PTI: New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) The NDA government has "crossed the line" to "convert" India into a "full-fledged" military ally of the United States by giving nod to a logistics exchange agreement with that country, Left parties said today, terming the move as "dangerous and anti-national".

Accusing the government of "compromising" the countrys strategic autonomy with the move, the CPI(M) asked it to "immediately retract" from inking the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) which will enable both the militaries to use each others assets and bases for repair and replenishment of supplies.

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The party also said LEMOA is "just another name" for the Logistic Support Agreement (LSA) the US has entered into with military allies like Philippines, South Korea and Japan.

"The Modi government has taken the dangerous step of deepening military collaboration with the United States by agreeing to allow US armed forces to use base facilities in Indian naval and air force bases.

"... In doing so, the BJP government has crossed a line which no other government has done since independence - converting India into a full-fledged military ally of the United States," the CPI(M) Politburo said in a statement.

It accused the government of "compromising" national sovereignty and strategic autonomy of the country with its action and urged all political parties and "patriotic" citizens to oppose the Centres "surrender" to the US.

"The government must be told that these anti-national steps do not have support of the people. It should immediately retract from signing the Logistics Agreement," it added.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted: "By agreeing to sign the defence logistics agreement with the US, the BJP govt has given up Indias strategic autonomy, nurtured over decades."

"By kowtowing to the US, is this the strong message BJP govt is sending to the US for its supply of F-16s & Vipers to the Pakistan army?" Yechury asked in another tweet.

The CPI(M) said besides LEMOA, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has indicated that two other agreements Communication and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) are on the anvil.

"These will make Indian armed forces command and control structure integrated with the US armed forces," it said.

CPI national secretary D Raja observed that there is "no transparency" in what the Union Government does on "critical" policy matters and demanded the Centre explain why it is "desperate to please" Washington by taking the step "voluntarily". PTI ENM SMN SK SMN

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By PTI: Gandhinagar, Apr 13 (PTI) The dams in Saurashtra and Kutch regions are left with just 10 per cent water and these areas now solely dependent on the Narmada canal network, along which 147 SRPF jawans have been deployed to stop water pilferage, Gujarat government said today.

State Water Supply Minister Vijay Rupani, addressing a press conference about steps being taken by the government to cope with the water scarcity in the state, said several measures are being taken by the government so that people get drinking water.

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"Due to two subsequent weak monsoons, dams were not filled to their capacity in various parts of state. This has caused scarcity. In Saurashtra and Kutch, only 10 to 11 per cent water is left in dams. Among the dams in Saurashtra, some are completely empty today," Rupani said.

"As Gujarat generally gets its first showers by June 15, we have to wait for two more months. We are taking various measures to cope with the situation. We have started a control room, where people can call us and register their water-related complaints," he said.

According to the Minister, eight districts - Jamnagar, Devbhoomi-Dwarka, Porbandar, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Dahod, Panchmahal and Amreli - are the worst hit.

The state has increased the water supply given to these districts since last one month through Narmada canal network. Where there is no canal network, such as in Dahod, new hand pumps and bore-wells are being set up, he said.

"The situation would have been worse in the absence of Narmada and canal network. As local water resources (dams) are drying up, our water supply is now solely dependent on Narmada network, particularly in Saurashtra and Kutch," he said, adding that around 10,000 villages across Gujarat are now connected through Narmada canal network.

"147 jawans of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) have been deployed to stop theft of water from Narmada canals across the state. There are districts where water thefts are rampant, such as in Surendranagar and Dahod.

"We have deployed these jawans for round the clock patrolling to stop water pilferage," Rupani said, adding that various teams of water supply department are also engaged in checking thefts. (MORE) PTI PJT PD NP PRM BAS

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Raking up the famous Saradha chit fund scam, the Congress leader said that both the state government and the Centre had failed to provide relief to the victims.

By India Today Web Desk: Congress President Sonia Gandhi today launched a blistering attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her of unleashing 'tanasahi' (autocracy) in the state.

Addressing an election rally in Malda, Sonia said that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are 'two sides of the same coin'.

"Both (Narendra) Modi and Mamata bluffed the people. The people in Bengal are facing 'tanashahi' of the Centre and the Mamata government. Mamata has not kept her promises to the poor, the minorities and the backward. We had believed in her promises and supported TMC in the 2011 assembly poll," Sonia said.

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"Bengal has never witnessed such a situation as it is witnessing now. It is witnessing authoritarian rule of both Modi government and the Mamata government. The BJP is supporting the government in all her anti-social activities," she added.

Raking up the famous Saradha chit fund scam, the Congress leader said that both the state government and the Centre had failed to provide relief to the victims.

"We had trusted Mamata but she is now supporting the Modi government. Did the Modi government or Mamata Banerjee take any action against those who have looted lakhs of people in the name of chit funds?," she asked.

Further hinting towards an understanding between the Modi and Mamata government, Sonia said, "When BJP government gets into a trouble in Parliament, TMC helps it and in return Narendra Modi turns a blind eye to anti-people policies of Mamata Banerjee."

"Mamata did not arrest those who are involved in chit fund scam and Modi helped those who have looted banks to flee the country safely," she added, in an apparent reference to the Vijay Mallya case.

Sonia also alleged that the women in Bengal faced maximum atrocities despite the state having a woman chief minister.

"Women are no longer safe in the state and Mamata has no worry of it at all. She had promised to do something for women's safety, but she turned a blind eye to them after coming to power," Sonia said.

Turning to TMC's slogan of "Ma-Mati-Manush"(Mother-Soil-Humanity), she said, "Ma is suffering, mati is drying up and manush are facing hardship and unemployment".

"Farmers are deprived of just prices for their products. The poor have no job but Mamata government is not concerned," she added.

Congress is fighting the assembly elections in alliance with the Left. All 12 Congress-Left alliance candidates of Malda district were present at Gandhi's meeting.

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Police on Tuesday said the army opened fire on people protesting alleged molestation of a girl by a trooper.

Defence Minister Manohar parrikar has assured an early and positive consideration by the Ministry. (Photo: Reuters)

By Naseer Ganai: Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday assured the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti of a detailed time-bound probe to fix responsibility in incident of open fire by security forces at Handwara, around 75 km north of Srinagar, killing three persons.

Police on Tuesday said, the army opened fire on people protesting about alleged molestation of a girl by a trooper. The army though regretted the killings said it was a matter of investigation as to who opened fire army or police.

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The youths killed in firing were identified as Iqbal Farooq Pir, 21, and Naeem Qadir Bhat, 22, of Herpora Handwara. Later a woman named Raja Begam too, succumbed to bullet injuries .

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti met Parrikar in Delhi and raised the issue of Handwara firing.

J&K government spokesman Naeem Akhtar said "During the meeting, the Chief Minister called for a time-bound inquiry into the incident, so that people responsible for the deaths are handed exemplary punishment." He also said, the inquiry will act as a deterrent against occurrence of similar incidents in future.

Mehbooba said such incidents shake the confidence of the people and adversely impact the efforts of the State government in consolidating peace dividends. Moreover, the loss of lives of the innocent civilians cannot be compensated by whatsoever means.

However, she urged the Defence Minister to announce adequate compensation to the families of the victims, who have suffered an irreparable loss.

Akhtar said Chief Minister also discussed several other wide-ranging issues with Parrikar. "She called for expediting handing over certain portions of land not required by the Army to the State so that it can be used for promoting tourism and developing civic, educational and infrastructure facilities in the larger public interest," he added.

CM Mufti also took up the issue of concrete action by the Ministry of Defence on the decisions taken in the Civil-Military Liaison Conference.

She sought early approval to the State government's proposal submitted in 2014 regarding revision in the rates of rent to different categories of land held by the Army. She also requested revision in the rate of compensation to population affected by Field Firing and Artillery Practices.

The Defence Minister assured Mehbooba Mufti, with regards to the issues raised, early positive consideration by his Ministry.

ALSO READ: Toll in Kashmir firing touches 3, Handwara put under curfew

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India has asked its envoy in Pakistan to take up at the "highest possible level" with their foreign office the issue of early transportation of mortal remains of an Indian national Kirpal Singh who died in Pakistan on Monday.

Jagir Kaur, sister of Kirpal Singh, cries as she shows his photograph while mourning at news of his death, in Amritsar. (Photo: PTI)

By India Today Web Desk: Two days after the mysterious death of Indian national Kirpal Singh in a Pakistani jail, the ministry of External Affairs has sought answers from Pakistan in the incident related to the cause of death and post-mortem report.

India has asked its envoy in Pakistan to take up at the "highest possible level" with their foreign office the issue of early transportation of mortal remains of Kirpal Singh.



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"On Kirpal Singh, our acting high commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in the Pakistan foreign office this forenoon to seek early transportation of the mortal remains," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said on Wednesday.



"He will also ask for official information on cause of death, postmortem report etc," he added.

Family members of Kirpal Singh and Sarabjit Singh's sister Dalbir Kaur will meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today in the evening.



Delhi:Sarabjit's sister Dalbir comforts Jagir Kaur as latter breaks down while speaking abt her brother Kirpal Singh pic.twitter.com/1HpClQlWRBANI (@ANI_news) April 13, 2016

Kirpal Singh, 55, was found dead under mysterious circumstances at Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat jail in the wee hours of Monday. Pakistan authorities, however, have ruled out any foul play and have claimed that Kirpal complained of chest pain after which he was admitted to a hospital where he was declared dead.

Singh was languishing in the Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges.

Kirpal Singh was arrested in 1992 when he allegedly crossed the India-Pakistan border at Wagah. (Photo: ANI)

Kirpal Singh had allegedly crossed Wagah border into Pakistan in 1992 and was arrested. He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province.

"Kirpal Singh was found dead at his cell in early hours of Monday at Kot Lakhpat Jail," an official of Kot Lakhpat Jail said.

He said the body of Kirpal has been shifted to the Jinah Hospital Lahore for an autopsy.

Relatives of Kirpal Singh had yesterday staged a protest at the Indo-Pakistan Attari border.

The relatives of Kirpal raised anti-Pakistan slogans near the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari border.

Apart from Kirpal's sister Jagir Kaur and his other relatives, also attending the protest was Dalbir Kaur, the sister of Sarbajit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner who was killed in an attack by fellow prisoners at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.

Jagir Kaur said while the family could not campaign for his release due to severe financial constraints, no politician came forward to support his case.



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The AAP government's ambitious plan to allow micro-breweries in the national Capital got thumbs-up from residents and restaurant-owners but the project could not see the light of day as breweries fall under the prohibited category of Delhi Development Authority's (DDA) Master Plan for Delhi-2021.

By Shashank Shekhar: This summer Delhities will have to drive all the way to Gurgaon if they want to enjoy fresh beer because despite announcing licenses for micro-breweries in Delhi last June, none have become operational here.

The AAP government's ambitious plan to allow micro-breweries in the national Capital got thumbs-up from residents and restaurant-owners but the project could not see the light of day as breweries fall under the prohibited category of Delhi Development Authority's (DDA) Master Plan for Delhi-2021.

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Restaurant owners, who were eagerly awaiting the clearance, are citing state versus Centre dispute behind the delay. Even a senior official of the excise department confirmed that the police was sent to the DDA, which is the nodal agency for any kind of development work in Delhi. "DDA has not responded to the state government plan of establishing micro-breweries. It was told earlier that breweries are enlisted under the prohibited category," the senior official said.

A micro-brewery is a small-sized modern brewery that produces limited amount of beer. It crafts freshly-brewed beer, free from additives and can easily be made available at restaurants and hotels.

Experts claim that the existing law don't recognise the new concept of micro-breweries. "Under existing laws, brewing is interpreted as liquor making, a practice banned in Delhi. But a micro-brewery is a small set-up and is environment-friendly. Many cities in India, including neighbouring Gurgaon has given the nod but in Delhi is stuck between complex communications between various deaprtments of the government," Master brewer Ishan Grover said, who has several breweries in the country.

Officers from both the Delhi government and DDA are restrained from making official comments on the ongoing tussle between the state and Center but a senior officer of DDA told Mail Today that micro-breweries do not fall on the list of industries. However, additions or alterations to the list of prohibited industries could be made in public interest and if considered appropriate by the Central government.

Government is mulling over writing to the DDA and other central government bodies like the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to declare microbreweries as a green industry to pave way for setting up of such units in the capital's commercial zones.

The Delhi government does not see any hitch in getting approval from the top pollution watchdog. But restaurant owners are crying foul as whopping sums of money are riding on the micro-brewery back.

"There is a huge demand of micro-breweries in India. All the breweries of Gurgaon, Bangalore and Pune are doing great business as Indians love their beer. Gurgaon alone consumes over 70,000 litres of beer in a month. Delay of the project is causing a loss for Delhi, while Gurgaon is gaining in the process," Grover said, explaining that micro-breweries are non-polluting as the residual water can be used for watering plants, and the malt can be used as cattle fodder.

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Close to 25 restaurants had invested in the micro-brewery plant but the project remains in limbo.

"We opened our first outlet at a Mall in Vasant Kunj as soon as the Delhi government made the announced. But we don't see the project taking off any time soon," Ashwini Chaudhary, Managing Director of Striker group said.

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Doctors at New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences' Trauma Centre announced Farzana Khatoon's death 10 days after the couple was critically injured in a shooting in Bijnor on April 3.

By India Today Web Desk: The wife of murdered National Investigation Agency (NIA) officer Tanzil Ahmad, who was shot along with her husband in an attack in Uttar Pradesh earlier this month, succumbed to her injuries today.

Doctors at New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences' Trauma Centre announced Farzana Khatoon's death 10 days after the couple was critically injured in a shooting in Bijnor on April 3.

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The NIA also released a statement condoling her death. "With deep sense of grief, it is to inform that Ms Farzana Khatoon w/o Late Tanzil Ahmad NIA Insp(A BSF Asstt Comdt) succumbed to injuries in AIIMS Trauma Centre ICU today at 1045 hrs," it said.

The NIA statement said Khatoon's last rites will take place at the Jamia Millia Islamia's burial ground at around 6 pm today.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Police has announced a Rs 2 lakh reward on information about Muneer, the prime accused in Ahmad's murder. While two others involved in the killing - Reyan and Jainul - have been arrested, Muneer continues to be at large.

UP Director General of Police Javeed Ahmad had earlier announced a reward of Rs 50,000 on Muneer, a sharpshooter and named in many cases, including a murderous attack on an AMU student and also in a bank robbery.

Hailing from Bijnor, Muneer has gone missing after the NIA official was killed more than a fortnight ago while returning with family from a wedding. He is believed to be hiding in either Mumbai or Goa. Since he does not use a mobile phone, tracking him down through cyber surveillance is impossible, an official conceded.

Police have since claimed to have cracked the case and inferred that the killing was a result of a simmering hostility between the killers and the deceased official and a property dispute over a shop in New Delhi.

Police, however, have failed to address missing links like conflicting reasons for the murder, non-recovery of the murder weapon and the vehicle used to flee the crime scene.

--- ENDS ---
The much acclaimed filmmaker has now come up with a short film which he has made for India Tomorrow, a campaign being run by the India Today Group to highlight issues that must be addressed to create better and more informed citizens.

By India Today Web Desk: National Award winning director Hansal Mehta is one filmmaker who has always picked up significant social issues for his work. Mehta's intense storytelling in the 2013 flick Shahid, which was based on the life of human rights lawyer Shahid Azmi, who was murdered in 2010, won him the National Award for best direction.

His recent release, Aligarh, was based on a Marathi professor at Aligarh Muslim University Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras. The film tells the story of the professor who is ostracised by the society for being gay. Siras was found dead in his house just a few days after he won the legal battle against the university which had sacked him.

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The much acclaimed filmmaker has now come up with a short film which he has made for India Tomorrow, a campaign being run by the India Today Group to highlight issues that must be addressed to create better and more informed citizens.

The film - Reach For The Stars - is based on the suicide of University of Hyderabad PhD scholar Rohith Vemula.

In the 10-minute film, which is shot in black and white, actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub reads out the thought-provoking letter that the Dalit student had written before he decided to end his life.

Many of you would have read Vemula's suicide letter but hearing it out in Ayyub's emotional voice will shake you up to the core. Translated in Hindi by Swanand Kirkire, the letter captures Vemula's pain.

Reach For The Stars is one film which makes you think and hope that this is not #IndiaTomorrow.

Watch the film here:

Also Read:

Don't miss: Pradeep Sarkar's 'Others' on India's first transgender police officer



'Prime Time' with Rohan Sippy: Has hashtag journalism reduced TV news to mere soundbytes?

Don't miss: India... India, Meghna Gulzar's short film for #IndiaTomorrow



Now Showing: My Dream, Imtiaz Ali's short film for #IndiaTomorrow



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Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, speaking at a development conference on the impact of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said the significance of a Pakistan-China economic alliance had "raised eyebrows" in the region.

By Reuters: Pakistan's army chief on Tuesday accused longtime regional rival India of seeking to undermine his country's $46 billion project to build an economic corridor to transport goods from China's western regions through the Pakistani deepwater port of Gwadar.

Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, speaking at a development conference on the impact of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said the significance of a Pakistan-China economic alliance had "raised eyebrows" in the region.

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"In this context, I must highlight that India, our immediate neighbour, has openly challenged this development initiative," Sharif told the conference in Gwadar.

"I would like to make a special reference to Indian intelligence agency RAW that is blatantly involved in destabilising Pakistan. Let me make it clear that we will not allow anyone to create impediments and turbulence in any part of Pakistan. Therefore, it is important for all to leave behind confrontation and focus on cooperation."

Indian officials could not be reached for comment late on Tuesday night.

RAW is India's Research and Analysis Wing, its main external intelligence agency.

Last month, Pakistan said it had detained a suspected Indian spy for RAW in Baluchistan, the southwestern Pakistani province where most of the CPEC is taking shape.

India has confirmed that the man is a former Indian navy official but denied that he is a spy.

Majority Hindu India and mostly Muslim Pakistan, once part of a vast British colonial holding, have fought three wars since they were partitioned upon independence in 1947, leading to a violent separation that has fed decades of mutual suspicion.

Pakistan believes India is supporting a separatist insurgency in resource-rich Baluchistan. It also accuses India of fuelling strife in the city of Karachi. India denies any such meddling.

India has long accused Pakistan of backing militants fighting Indian security forces in its part of the divided Kashmir region, of helping militants launch attacks elsewhere in India and backing the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Pakistan says it only offers diplomatic support to the Muslim people of Kashmir living under what Pakistan says is heavy-handed Indian rule. It denies backing militant attacks in India.

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By India Today Web Desk: CINTAA (Cine And TV Artistes Association) is reportedly planning to send show cause notices to Dolly Bindra and Rakhi Sawant for their insensitive remarks on Pratyusha Banerjee's death.

It may be recalled that Dolly Bindra was in the eye of the storm for circulating her phone conversation with Pratyusha's mother after her death, in the media. In the said audio, Pratyusha's mother can be heard wailing while Dolly goes on to ask details of her suicide. Dolly also made a statement in the media Pratyusha had vermillion on her forehead when she was brought to Kolikaben Hospital.

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It is also reported that Dolly apparently went to Pratyusha and Rahul Raj Singh's Goregaon flat and clicked pictures.

On the other hand, Rakhi Sawant held a press conference where she claimed she knew a lot about Pratyusha and Rahul's relationship and went on to make a bizarre request to PM Narendra Modi -- to ban ceiling fans in order to stop suicides.

Pratyusha hanged herself on April 1 at her Goregaon flat. Her live-in boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh has been booked under abetment to suicide. Also read: Rahul Raj Singh granted interim relief



Dolly and Rakhi's publicity gimmicks earned them scorn from all quarters, including Pratyusha's friends and family.

Now it is being reported that the Cine and TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA) is planning to send show cause notices to both of them.

The Times of India reports that the governing body is planning to take a stringent action against them.

"We are appalled by their insensitive and obnoxious statements. It proves how inhuman they are even in matters of death. It's a serious matter, and we are sending a show-cause notice to them," TOI quoted a source as saying.

Confirming the reports, Amit Behl, Chairperson Dispute Committee, CINTAA, told the daily, "A notice will be sent to them soon. People can't stoop so low and hog the limelight when the matter is as sensitive as this. I will raise the issue at our Annual General Meeting on May 1 and propose a ban on them."

Earlier, a social organisation too had filed a complaint with the police against Dolly. Also read: Dolly Bindra in legal soup for circulating phone conversation with Pratyusha's mother

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Priyanka Chopra has finally broken her silence on the claims made by her former manager Prakash Jaju, who alleged the actor tried to commit suicide thrice during her struggling days.

By India Today Web Desk: Priyanka Chopra was in for a shock when her ex-manager made claims that the Quantico actor tried to commit suicide during her struggling days. Earlier this month, when the news of the sudden death of TV actor Pratyusha Banerjee shocked the Television industry, Priyanka's ex-manager Prakash Jaju revealed that suicidal tendency is quite common in girls in the film industry.

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In a series of tweets, he alleged that the Desi Girl too tried to commit suicide during her initial days in Bollywood.

ALSO READ: Priyanka Chopra tried committing suicide during her struggling days, alleges ex-manager Prakash Jaju

ALSO READ: Priyanka Chopra tried to commit suicide? Here's what Priyanka's mother has to say



However Priyanka, who was busy shooting for Quantico in Montreal, did not comment on the claims. But the actor, who was recently in the capital to receive the Padma Shri, finally broke her silence saying his statements were not authentic.

Jaju had said the 33-year-old actor tried to end her life in 2002 after the death of her alleged former boyfriend Aseem Merchant's mother.

"This is utter... First of all, it's so sad that Indian media has given credibility to the man, who was in jail because of harassing me, without checking the history who the person is. So, I have nothing to say because there is no credibility to this person, who media is giving credibility to," she told PTI.

Jaju also dragged her personal life and mentioned about the actor's turbulent relationship with then rumoured boyfriend Aseem Merchant. He alleged that the two had innumerable fights and Priyanka would often call him up in the night and cry. He further mentioned that once after her fight with Aseem, Priyanka drove to Mumbai's Vasai area to commit suicide, and that he managed to convince her to not do so.

Earlier Priyanka's mother Madhu Chopra took to Twitter to dismiss the claims as fabrication of a "lying b*stard". She added that Jaju has personal vendetta against her daughter and even spent time in jail because of his antics.

@ChopraLover @1lovePC that lying bastard spent time in jail...his old mother and father fell at Pc's feet begging forgiveness.

... Madhu Chopra (@chopramm5) April 3, 2016

It is a known fact that Priyanka and Prakash are not on good terms. Things turned sour between the two when Priyanka allegedly abruptly terminated Prakash's contract, and he filed a criminal lawsuit against the Bajirao Mastani actor in the Mumbai court. Jaju served 67 days in prison after Priyanka's father filed a suit against Prakash for intruding his daughter's privacy in 2008.

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Did you know that Chandan Prabhakar aka Raju of Comedy Nights With Kapil is a qualified mechanical engineer?

By India Today Web Desk: There are 10 more days to go for The Kapil Sharma Show and if the wait is still too much to handle, we have something exciting for you.

In an exclusive chat with AajTak, Kapil Sharma, Sunil Grover, Sumona Chakravarti and Chandan Prabhakar revealed a few details about their much awaited show. Read on.

1.Sumona Chakravarti is not playing Kapil Sharma's wife in the show. "I am not playing Kapil's wife. I am playing the role of his neighbour--a single, college-going girl," said Sumona Chakravarti.

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2.Chandan Prabhakar is not playing Kapil's servant in the show. He will be seen as a man who owns "chai ka business".

3. Though he was seen in the getup of a Haryanvi female cop during the shoot of the first episode, Sunil Grover confirmed, that's not the only character he will be playing in the show. He said will be seen playing various characters.



4. Sumona revealed that the first episode of the show is like a curtain raiser and the following episodes will be very different. Sunil Grover added that the actual episodes will be aired from April 24 onwards.

Kapil Sharma and Chandan Prabhakar. Photo: Viral Bhayani Kapil Sharma and Chandan Prabhakar. Photo: Viral Bhayani

The quartet of Sunil Grover, Kapil Sharma, Sumona Chakravarti and Chandan Prabhakar was in full masti mood. They missed no opportunity of pulling each other's leg. They also shared tid-bids about each other.

Kapil revealed that Sunil as Gutthi is so popular that when he appeared in the getup of a female cop at the Delhi shoot, people yelled, 'Gutthi police banke aa gayi". For Sumona, wherever she goes she is identified as Kapil Sharma's wife. She admitted that many people believe her to be Kapil's wife in real life too. Also read: Six things we figured about The Kapil Sharma Show



Chandan Prabhakar revealed that he is a qualified mechanical engineer. Interestingly, like us, Sumona too didn't know that.

In another revelation, Kapil said that Chandan and he are childhood friends. So that's the source of the duo's superb comic timing.

Also read: This is what 'intolerance' means to Kapil Sharma



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Police said that Shaili (40), a resident of Keshopur under Chandi police station in Bhojpur, was returning home after taking medicines from a local doctor when five men in an auto-rickshaw tried to molest her near Narvirpur village.

By India Today Web Desk: An RJD MLA's sister was reportedly killed while resisting sexual assault on Monday night. Shaili Devi, the only sister of RJD MLA from Bhojpur district Saroj Yadav, died today of injuries she sustained while resisting sexual assault on Monday night.

Mithilesh and Santosh, who have been named as accused, today surrendered before the Ara court. Three more are absconding.



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Police said that Shaili (40), a resident of Keshopur under Chandi police station in Bhojpur, was returning home after taking medicines from a local doctor when five men in an auto-rickshaw tried to molest her near Narvirpur village. When she resisted, one of the men attacked her with an iron rod. She was hit on her head. She was admitted to the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna after the assault.

RJD's Barhara (Bhojpur) MLA Saroj Yadav said, "My sister was hit with rods and thrown out of an autorickshaw. Initially we thought it was an accident but after investigation it came to light that she was assaulted and hit with rods. I have complete faith in my government but just because of the irresponsible behaviour of SP, my sister lost her life."

Police is investigating the matter.

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Mohammed Afsar Ansari, a young man from Jharkhand, was allegedly killed by his employers in Saudi Arabia because he wanted to return to India, and his widow, Noushaba Bano, has been fighting to get his mortal remains home.

Mohammed Afsar Ansari, a young man from Jharkhand, died mysteriously in March 2015 in Saudi Arabia. His widow, Noushaba Bano, is fighting to get his body back.

By Sneha Agrawal: Two years ago, Mohammed Afsar Ansari, a young man from Jharkhand, got himself a job in Saudi Arabia, hoping it would ensure a better life for his family. Today, his widow, Noushaba Bano, who's in her early 20s, is fighting to get the mortal remains of her 27-year-old husband. Ansari died mysteriously in March 2015. His family allege he was killed by his Saudi employers and the entire act was videotaped to scare other workers like Ansari who want to quit their jobs and return to India.

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The family claims Ansari wanted to quit his job as a bulldozer operator in a construction company as he felt he was being exploited by his employers.

When she learnt of her husband's death in March last year, Bano moved the Delhi High Court through her counsel Jose Abraham, seeking directions to get his body sent to India.

Bano's petition states that her husband, along with other two workers, were taken by force and thrashed for expressing their wish to return home. "We got to know from his colleagues that they hit him hard and he succumbed to his injuries. They even shot a video and showed it to other employees to intimidate them so that they never speak of returning to India," said Ansari's brother, Mukhtar.

The High Court in December directed the Government of India and the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to ensure that Ansari's mortal remains are sent to India as expeditiously as possible, preferably in a month's time.

Rajesh Kumar Gogna, standing counsel for the Government of India, said: "The court has sought status report from the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia. We are trying our best to help the petitioner. The embassy has been informed to file the report that would be submitted by April 19."

Noushaba Bano, is fighting to get her husband's body back.

When she felt there was inaction on the part of the government, Bano filed a contempt petition before the High Court on April 8. The court has sought a status report from the government.

Speaking on non-compliance on the part of the government, Bano's advocate Jose Abraham told court that the employer has been issued a no-objection certificate instead of the petitioner and the family's apprehension is that the employer would bury the body instead of releasing it to his family. "As per the usual practice, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would not keep the body for more than a year," he told court.

There have been reports from time to time of Indians working in the Gulf being exploited by their employers. In November 2015, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj had mentioned in Parliament that 7,432 complaints were received from Indians employed in Gulf countries this year. Many related to exploitation and torture by their employers.The highest number of complaints received by Indian missions till November this year was 3,236 in Kuwait, followed by 2,472 in Saudi Arabia.

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"A letter was sent to the petitioner on December 9, 2015 to send her written consent for dispatching the mortal remains and authorise the sponsor or somebody known to her in Saudi Arabia to complete the formalities," the Government of India stated in court.

Bano has told court that she does not want her husband's burial to take place in Saudi Arabia. She wants his body to be brought back to India.

"The last time we saw him was two years ago. He bid goodbye to his two-year-old daughter and wife, promising them a better future," said Mukhtar.

Mukhtar recalls that his brother was happy in his work initially. He sent money regularly but later he started complaining. "He wanted to come back to India. He told Bano on March 13, the day of his death, that he will speak to his employer that day itself and would be back soon. Since then, his phone remained switched off for two weeks."

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Ansari's family said after they learnt of his death, they came across several such cases where employers in Saudi Arabia have tortured Indian workers and denied them basic necessities. "We would not let this incident break our will and continue to fight," said Mukhtar.

Also Read:

Bihar man manages to escape from Saudi Arabia nightmare



Indian migrant gets jailed in Saudi Arabia after making a tearful video about terrible work condition

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A coffee shop in Chennai named Zuka Cafe has done something extravagant as a tribute to the superstar. The cafe has made a 6-foot tall chocolate statue of Rajinikanth.

By India Today Web Desk: In Tamil Nadu, mammoth-sized posters and cut-outs of superstar Rajinikanth are commonplace during the release of his movies.

And now, a coffee shop in Chennai named Zuka Cafe has done something extravagant as a tribute to the superstar. The cafe has made a 6-foot tall chocolate statue of Rajinikanth.

It is said that chocolate idol was made with about 600 kg of chocolate. The makers spent about two weeks to make the life-size chocolate statue of Rajinikanth.

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Vittur, the owner of the cafe, said that they came with the idea after an online survey. He said that they asked people on various social media platforms that whether they would like to see a chocolate statue of Rajinikanth. Obviously, many people voted in favour of the idea.

The owner also admitted that the move got him many footfalls at the cafe. People across the state and the country visited the coffee shop to see the exhibit. Vittur also added that many fans of Rajnikanth from Japan called him and inquired about the chocolate.

On the work front, Rajinikanth is awaiting the release of Pa Ranith's directorial venture Kabali. He is also shooting for 2.0, a sequel to Shankar's Enthiran.





--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: If reports are to be believed, actress Shilpa Shinde has landed herself in massive trouble.

The actress, better known as Angoori Bhabhi of Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai, has been making headlines for some time now over her fall out with the production house of her popular show. It is now being reported that Cine and TV Artistes Association (CINTAA) has taken a tough decision against her for not reporting to the shoot of the show.

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The Times Of India reports that CINTAA has decided to issue a non-cooperation directive against her, meaning no broadcaster or producer will be allowed to work with her.

"We tried to reason with the actress on several occasions. Finally, we have decided to act on the issue after contemplating over it for a month. She is setting a wrong precedent and we have no choice but to support the producer," TOI quoted Amit Behl, Chairperson Dispute Committee, CINTAA as saying.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees, whom Shilpa wanted to handle her case, are yet to take a call.

"We have discussed the case, but are yet to take a decision on it. Shilpa wanted the case to be tackled by our body, but did not turn up for the meeting on three occasions despite several calls and text messages. We need the producers to send us a letter before confirming that they will ban their colleague if he/she happens to cast Shilpa in the future," Dilip Pithva, Honorary General Secretary, FWICE told the daily. Also read: Five reasons why we will miss Shilpa Shinde on Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai



A few weeks ago, Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai producer Binaifer Kohli sent her a legal notice for 'breach of contract', while Shilpa accused the show runners of mental torture claiming that the channel wanted her to sign an exclusive contract and the production house made her work like a "puppet".

CINTAA stepped in to settle the dispute, and ordered Shilpa to start shooting for the show immediately. Sushant Singh, honorary general secretary, CINTAA and member of Joint Dispute Settlement Committee (JDSC) had said, "Yes Shilpa has been asked to do what is legally and ethically correct. We have told her to report on the sets and continue shooting for the show." Also read: Shilpa Shinde doesn't turn up for shoot; producer may take legal action



Singh also warned Shilpa that if she didn't follow the orders, strict action would be taken against her.

"We also found that she has been lying to the media by saying that she is being replaced. That is not the case at all. In fact, the producer is keen on having the actress back on the show. If she doesn't follow our decision, a disciplinary action will be taken against her", he had added. Also read: Here's what CINTAA ruled on Shilpa Shinde controversy



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Meanwhile Shilpa Shinde is not ready to relent. The actress told TellyChakkar that she will take the producers and CINTAA to court adding that she doesn't want to return to the small screen. "I don't want to return to small screen. They wouldn't need to ban me, as I am only banning them," she told the website.



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According to students, despite expressing their concerns earlier, the HRD Ministry refused to pay heed to their requests for hiking the fee.

A large number of students at IIT Kharagpur staged a peaceful protest against the Human Resource Development Ministry's decision to hike the fee structure from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2,00,000. Students demanded the HRD Ministry not impose the hike on the current students.

According to students, despite expressing their concerns earlier, the HRD Ministry refused to pay heed to their requests for hiking the fee.

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"The sudden increase in the fee structure is a grave burden on several students. This might discourage and hamper several talents," a student Atul Ashutosh Agarwal said

Following the protests at the Kharagpur campus, IIT Roorkee students are also planning to stage similar 'peaceful' protest in their campus.

However, some reports suggest that Education Minister Smriti Irani had already clarified that the hike will be applicable only to new students and not existing ones.

The HRD ministry last week had given approval to the recommendation made by the standing committee of IIT Council (SCIC) to increase the IIT fees from Rs 90,000 to Rs 200,000.

According to reports, Irani has also promised a complete tuition fee waiver for the backward class and physically challenged students studying at the premier technology institutions

The decision had been widely criticised with Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, who said that said that he wouldn't have been able to study at the premier institute if the fees were hiked earlier. Kejriwal himself is an IITian.



Also read: IITs hike fee from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2 lakh per year

--- ENDS ---
The top court said that it will not pass any immediate order but agreed to hear the case. The government had informed the court that there is no grounds to file new FIR against the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

By India Today Web Desk: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati may have to face a fresh case in connection with her illegal wealth as the Supreme Court today agreed to hear a petition seeking registration of a new FIR against her.

The top court said that it will not pass any immediate order but agreed to hear the case. The government had informed the court that there is no grounds to file new FIR against the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

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Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi who was representating the Centre/CBI today told the Supreme Court that the issues of donations to Mayawati had been heard by Income Tax department and she had been given clean chit in each case.

Mayawati's lawyer told the court that the petitioner Kamlesh Verma is an ex-BSP member and the case is nothing but political vendetta.

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Of the 15 million voters added to the rolls in Tamil Nadu in the last five years, 14 million are in the age group of 18 to 29.

By India Today Web Desk: The Tamil Nadu Election Commission has pitched its anchor for a smooth sail this year as it taps into every possible channel to increase awareness to ensure maximum voting on May 16.

Of the 15 million voters added to the rolls in Tamil Nadu in the last five years, 14 million are in the age group of 18 to 29.

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From memes, tweets, rap songs to the district collector paragliding, Tamil Nadu is most definitely on a roll for the Assembly election scheduled next month.

Check out a few innovations that the Election Commission has made to reach out to the people in the state:

1. The Paragliding District Election Officer



Putting up posters and distributing pamphlets seems to be old school in Tamil Nadu this year. A paragliding district election officer is a sure-shot proof for this.

Last week, the Nagapattinam Collector and District Election Officer S Palanisami went on the paragliding sortie in Nagapattinam.

Photo Courtesy:TheNewsMinute

It wasn't just the district collector; students drawn from schools and colleges including those pursuing nursing also went paragliding in a bid to ensure a 100 percent voter turn out.

2. Election Commission collaborates with Twitter and Facebook

After partnering with Twitter last month to promote the #TN100percent campaign, the State's Chief Electoral Officer, Rajesh Lakhoni, and Ankhi Das, director, public policy, India, South and Central Asia, Facebook, announced their tie up with Facebook on Monday.

This is the first time for the Election Commission to collaborate with a social networking site.

CEO Rajesh Lakhoni said that there are roughly 1.8 crore Facebook users in Tamil Nadu and approximately 5.79 crore voters, so it (Facebook users) accounts to about 31 per cent.

All Facebook users in Tamil Nadu will receive a reminder on May 15 and 16 to go and cast their vote the following day.

This trend of partnering with social networking sites is set to catch up with Puducherry and Kerela too.



3 The 'My Vote is Not for Sale' campaign

The 'vote not for sale' campaign will kickstart on April 14. The election commission has been sharing videos and tweets to spread the word among people in different ways.

The picture below shows a man is seen with a board which reads ,'Daiva Saidu Voteku Panam Vanga Vendam,' meaning please do not accept bribe for casting a vote.

Most important message for the day! #TN100percent pic.twitter.com/HdpSEIWqAf TN Elections CEO (@TNelectionsCEO) April 11, 2016

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The TN election commission has also made a video where people in Tamil Nadu give their opinion on 'Voting for their rights and not for money'.



4 Shot videos featuring celebrities:

In the video below Actor Nassar, stands in silence for a ten seconds and then sends out a powerful message saying, 'If you do not cast your vote, you might just end being idle spectators. Stand up for your rights. Go and cast your vote.'

Don't just watch. Pls RT. Let's make TN achieve 100% electoral participation. #TN100percenthttps://t.co/qJF5ubeoLI

TN Elections CEO (@TNelectionsCEO) April 9, 2016

Ajith or Vijay? Actor Siddharth speaks out. #TN100percenthttps://t.co/qh2477Ycbk

TN Elections CEO (@TNelectionsCEO) March 25, 2016

The official Twitter and Facebook pages of the Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer (TN Elections CEO) is filled a number of colourful posters dubbed with phrases out of famous Tamil movies like "Kanna Vote Poda Aasiya" and "Vote Illa Pattathari".

Put your ideas to some better use. Get TN to vote. #TN100percent #TNmemes pic.twitter.com/TSFaLfVhkJ TN Elections CEO (@TNelectionsCEO) February 21, 2016

5 'Vote Podu', election campaign rap song by Blaaze

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The highlight of this election campaign a peppy rap song called 'Vote Podu' by rap artist Blaaze and music composer Paul Jacob which has struck a chord with the youth in Tamil Nadu.

The three minute reggae blended with folk song starts with the power-packed lyrics, "Suthanthira dagam, Videdalay Ragam Vakkalikkum neram,Tamil Nattukku 100% Aakividu.Thanurimaikkaga Vottu Podu!." Which means,"Thirst for freedom, the tune of independence, the time has come to cast your vote and make Tamil Nadu's polling, 100 per cent. Vote for your rights.

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Varanasi, Apr 13 (PTI) Badshahs posters dot Varanasis Sarnath village seeking information of its whereabouts and a prize of Rs 50,000 to anyone who can trace the pet.

Badshah is not just any other pet but a 3-year-old bull which had gone missing a few days ago. The matter has reached the police station with the owner Manoj Kumar registering a complaint with Sarnath police.

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Posters carrying the details of the bull, including his physical appearance, size and color, have been put up in the village and its adjoining areas.

Kumar, who described Badshah as his family member, said the bull even had free access to his house.

"He was harmless and used to roam freely in the area," he said. PTI CORR FAR DV AAR

--- ENDS ---
A bunch of students from Delhi's Kalari Kendram participated in World Martial Art Festival, 2016, which was recently held in Purwakarta, Indonesia.

By India Today Web Desk: It won't be wrong to say that martial arts has more to it than just being a self-defence tool.

For those who've made martial arts central to their existence know that the art form comes with its share of dedication, discipline and passion.

In today's age, martial arts might've become a widespread practice--but its disciples from around the globe don't have any qualms in admitting that the art form drew its blood from the ancient Gurukuls of India.

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Students of authentic martial arts believe that it is a science and not just a means to hit opponents and develop one's body; instead, it is pure science that effects one's body, mind and spirit.

And for evidence, a bunch of students from Delhi's Kalari Kendram participated in World Martial Art Festival, 2016, which was recently held in Purwakarta, Indonesia.

Also Read: Exercise is the best way to boost 'body confidence': Jacqueline Fernandez

The students, who practice Kalaripayattu--a martial arts form that is considered to be the mother of all others--gave a high-octane performance on a stage built on water in Southeast Asia's biggest dancing fountain--Sri Baduga fountain in the presence of Regent of Purwakarta Kang Dedi Mulyadi.

Kalaripayattu is an ancient Indian combative art form that includes practices of yoga and is imparted to shishyas (students) by the guru.

The event that was held on April 1 and April 2, 2016, saw martial artists from all over the world showcasing their respective country's skills and fighting arts. Capoeira from Brazil, Shaolin Kung Fu from China, Taekwondo from South Korea, Karate from Japan and Pencak Silat from Indonesia took part in the event which celebrated the spirit of 'unity in diversity' and 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbhakam' in its true colours.

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) Excavated remains of soldiers, including fragments of bones, and artifacts of a US Air Force B-24 bomber and a C-109 aircraft that had crashed in present-day Arunachal Pradesh during the World War II were today sent off to the US.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, who was here on a three-day visit, oversaw the repatriation ceremony at the airport here.

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One set of remains was recovered in Arunachal Pradesh between September 12 and November 17, 2015. Another set of remains was handed over to Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) by a third party from the same region.

The remains recovered late last year are possibly associated with a B-24 bomber aircraft crash on January 25, 1944, where a crew of eight personnel assigned to the 14th Air Force, 308th Bomb Group were lost during a routine mission from Kunming, China to Chabua, India.

The remains that were handed over to DPAA are possibly related to a C-109 aircraft that crashed on July 17, 1945, while flying from Jorhat to Hsinching, China, with a four-man Army-Air Force crew.

Carter had yesterday expressed his gratitude to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and the Indian government for their support in facilitating the recovery effort.

The repatriation issue had figured in the joint statement issued last year during the visit of US President Barack Obama to India.

While the previous UPA government had stopped the recovery of remains following objections by China, which claims Arunachal Pradesh to be its territory, the Narendra Modi government gave Americans fresh permission.

The US is seeking to recover the bodies of American aircrew who died in crashes while flying resupply missions between Assam and Kunming in China during the war.

The US Department of Defense states that over 500 aircraft are still listed missing in the China-India-Burma theatre of the Second World War.

Multiple wreckage of aircraft were discovered north of Itanagar, south of Walong, upper Siang and at other sites in 2006 by a US-based private explorer, Clayton Kuhles.

After pressure from the families of the missing personnel, joint operations to recover the remains were started in late 2008. PTI SAP SMN SK SMN

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Merpel notes that the relevant point in time is now the date of filing or the date of priority of the EU trade mark application, following the coming into force of Regulation 2015/2424 /EU

the judgment is in Spanish and French, the Spanish version is attached

Two invoices (dated nine months after the relevant period for proof of use);



Advertisements of the FRINSA products in a product review;



Advertisements in two publications of the Spanish newspaper ABC;



The 2012 Urraki Catalogue;



Photographs of the FRINSA products;



The catalogue ELITE GOURMET describing FRINSA products;



The 2012 Guide, including master chefs recipes based on FRINSA products (which could be related to the relevant period for proof of use);



The book El mar en conserva (which could be related to the relevant period for proof of use);



The reference to the web page www.frinsa.es to additional information on the use of the mark FRINSA F.

Merpel adds that, for more details on the principle of interdependence in connection with proof of use, see here

The following post from former Guest Kat Valentina Torelli explores the question of having to prove use as part of an opposition proceeding and the differences of opinion between the courts in ruing on this challenging question."When it comes to conceiving the strategy for filing a trade mark opposition before the EUIPO, and the mark relied upon was registered more than five years after the date of], the opponent may be required to prove use of its earlier mark. But what exactly constitutes proof of use in such a circumstance? This was the issue before the General Court in case T-638/14 (), concerning the trade mark dispute between Frinsa del Noroeste SA and Frisa Frigorifico Rio Doce SA with respect to activities in the food business. The Court upheld the appeal filed by the opponent Frinsa and overturned the decision of the Board of Appeal, which had held that Frinsa failed to prove use of its earlier mark.Frisa Frigorifico Rio Doce SA, the Intervener on appeal before the General Court, had filed an application for registration of the EUTM (ex CTM) mark FRISA in stylized form for various goods in class 29 and related services in class 35.The opponent, Frinsa del Noroeste SA, relied on its registration of the stylized EUTM (ex CTM) mark FRINSA F, which had been registered for goods in class 29 on 31/08/1999.In the proceeding before the Opposition Division, Frinsa was able to prove use of its mark in respect of only some of the goods in class 29 for which it was registered, namely tunas, cephalopods, fish, shellfish. On that basis, the Opposition Division upheld the opposition against all contested goods in class 29 except for frozen potatoes for French fries, canned beans, canned cooked beans, which it ruled did not create a likelihood of confusion. It rejected totally the opposition in relation to the services covered by the opposed application.Both parties filed an appeal from the decision of the Opposition Division. Frinsa argued that frozen potatoes for French fries, canned beans and canned cooked beans were all confusingly similar to the goods covered by its earlier registration in class 29. Frisa alleged that the evidence submitted by the opponent as proof of use of its earlier mark was not sufficient to substantiate genuine use of the mark. This evidence consisted of the following:In particular, no sales figures or invoices from the relevant period were submitted by the applicant to show the volume of sales for the products sold under the mark. The two sole invoices submitted were not dated within the relevant time frame, 8/12/2006-7/12/2011, and the new evidence submitted on appeal showed no additional, objective and clear information for the purpose of proving use.The Board of Appeal overturned the decision of the Opposition Division on the ground of the inadequacy of the proof of use submitted by Frinsa for the relevant period. As result, the cumulative requirements of Rule 22(2)(3) EUTMIR were not met in the case at issue, namely the place, time, extent and nature of the use of the opposing mark in connection with the goods for which the mark is registered and on which the opposition is grounded. The Board of Appeal therefore rejected the opposition in its entirety (for all goods and services in classes 29, 35 and 39), thereby accepting the applicants appeal while dismissing that of the opponent.At the outset, it is noted that the General Court dismissed the EUIPOs claim that Frinsas appeal was inadmissible, ruling that Frinsa had sought to overturn the Board of Appeals decision and not the refusal of registration of the EU application FRISA. On the merits, the General Court stated that the broader scope of protection of marks with substantial reputation does not exempt the trademark owner from the need to substantiate that it has used its mark to maintain or expand market share for the products and services for which the marks are registered. Therefore, whatever the reputation enjoyed by the mark, proof of use must still be made. Interestingly, the Court noted that evidence of use outside of the relevant period need not be disregarded per se. It still can assist in determining the use of the trade mark where taken together with the totality of the evidence submitted.Moreover, the General Court stated that turnover and sales data are not dispositive when assessing proof of use. They must be analysed in connection with the scope of the business at issue, the manufacturing or commercialization capacity, or the degree of diversification of the business involved, as well as, of course, the nature of the relevant goods and services.Based on the foregoing, the Court found that the paucity of evidence regarding the sales volume of FRINSA products could be compensated for by the strength of other relevant evidence of use submitted by the Opponent. According to the General Court, the Board of Appeal erred in not considering the evidence regarding advertisements and publications (i.e. the 2012 Guide and the book El mar en conserva) that had been submitted by Frinsa. Likewise, the Court said that the Board of Appeal had improperly disregarded the evidence that bore dates outside of the above mentioned relevant period which, in fact, confirmed the use of the opponents mark FRINSA F.This judgement suggests that proof of use of an EU trade mark must be assessed on the basis of the interdependence among all the relevant factors, similar to what takes place in assessing the likelihood of confusion. Therefore, the relative lack of sales volume can be compensated for by the frequency and duration of use and vice versa []. Although the principle of interdependence is reasonable, still, in the view of this guest blogger, an opponent should try to make sure that at least some of the evidence on turnover and sales figures relates to the relevant period of proof of use of the mark(s) on which it is relying."
But Rezis visit is far from being the first high-level exchange between the two countries in the time since the JCPOA talks were concluded in July. Italy was among the first European countries to send trade delegations to the Islamic Republic to discuss investment opportunities, oil sales, and collaborative projects. Rome also played host to President Rouhani in January, during a visit that also took the Iranian executive to Paris.

Azer News pointed out on Tuesday that by the time Rouhani left Italy, the two countries had concluded 37 deals for economic collaboration and had signed 30 documents to that effect. The total value of these projects was estimated to be approximately 17 billion dollars. Renzis visit had reportedly already begun to expand upon this on Tuesday with the signing of additional bilateral agreements focused on the areas of oil and gas development, alternative energy, automobile production, and Italian participation in the renovation of an airport in Tehran.

Irans commercial airline industry has been deeply affected by economic sanctions and is badly in need of modernization. This fact has already led to the signing of a 25 billion dollar deal between Iran and the French-based aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

On the other hand, American companies like the air industry giant Boeing have been reluctant to enter into agreements with Iranian entities, for fear of lingering threats of US sanctions enforcement. But this situation appears to be changing in the midst of the ongoing interchange of Iranian and European officials. Furthermore, the White House reportedly assigned diplomats to discuss the nuclear deal with business leaders in recent weeks and convince them that they have little to fear from re-engaging with Iran.

These things appear to be having an impact, as evidenced by the fact that Renzis visit began a day after representatives from Boeing finally visited Tehran. That visit was even more historic that the Italian Prime Ministers insofar as it was the first such visit by the American manufacturer in nearly the entire 37-year history of the Islamic Republic.

A report by the Associated Press apparently confirmed that Boeings wariness had diminished as a result of White House efforts. That is, the companys leadership perceived more permissiveness from the Department of the Treasury, allowing the company to offer to sell at least three models of jet aircraft, as opposed to merely providing commercial passenger aircraft fleet planning.

It remains to be seen how lucrative this change in policy will prove to be for Boeing and whether it will result in similar steps by other US-based companies. On Tuesday, The Street published an article analyzing the likely impact of the visit upon Boeings stock prices. It claimed that a boost to those prices was uncertain at best, and quite unlikely unless Iran opts to gamble on an order of a significant quantity of the larger models of aircraft that Boeing is offering.

Numerous Iranian officials have been highly optimistic about their prospects for economic recovery, at least in their public statements. Whether or not these statements are sincere, they are certainly aimed at encouraging continued re-engagement from Western governments and business, for the sake of acquiring upwards of 50 billion dollars in annual foreign investment.

So far those efforts have succeeded in keeping up a steady flow of European and American delegations and agreements. And even without estimating how much investment it will help Iran to secure, this fact alone is sufficiently troubling to many opponents of the Iranian regime. Those individuals and groups have variously raised concerns about the possible misappropriation of that investment, leading to a growth in Irans military power, regional influence, and repressive domestic infrastructure.

Concerns along these lines were expressed, for instance, by UK Member of Parliament David Amess in an editorial published Tuesday in The Diplomat. The article focused upon Renzis visit and criticized him and other European heads of state for ignoring the various protests that have dogged every expansion in relations between Iran and major Western powers.

Many such protests, including those that coincided with Rouhanis visits to Rome and Paris, have sought to bring attention to ongoing human rights abuses. In his editorial, Amess echoed those protestors calls for European governments and business interests to make it clear that any expansion in trade relations with the Islamic Republic will be predicated upon improvements in the countrys human rights record.

Similarly, American congressional opponents of the White Houses Iran policy have attempted to initiate legislation that would bar the US from releasing funds to Iran unless it can be proven that that money will not contribute to human rights violations or the support for international terrorism.
These reports are sure to increase anxiety among Israel and other opponents of the Iranian regimes apparently expanding military influence in the Middle East. The S-300 missile defense system improves Irans defensive capabilities against possible airstrikes on its nuclear or military infrastructure, but it also may preface a general expansion in Irans military arsenal, as well as the use of that arsenal in foreign conflicts.

On Tuesday, Vice Admiral John Miller and American Enterprise Institute scholar Frederick Kagan published an editorial at Fox News which described the S-300 transfer as the first instance of Iran muscling up in a way that will ultimately demand a response from Western powers. The article observed that the finalization of the S-300 deal coincided with the development of a six billion dollar shopping list of other advanced military equipment that Iran wishes to procure from its Russian partners.

That equipment includes an anti-ship missile, long-range jet fighters and bombers, and a battle tank. At the same time that Iran is engaged in talks to obtain these weapons, it also claims to be expanding domestic production of weapons that include a battle tank that is comparable to the desired Russian T-90.

The US technically has the ability to block weapons sales to Iran in the UN Security Council if Russia decides to go ahead with them. But the Fox News article also observes that Iran has struck a defiant tone regarding these restrictions, and apparently with good cause. The rules that allow for such obstruction by the Security Council do not specify consequences for ignoring the restriction. Thus it is possible that Russia will see those consequences as being insufficient to outweigh the benefit of further expanding its relations with Iran.

The extent of that benefit may depend upon to the extent to which Iranian and Russian interests in the Middle East converge or diverge at the present time. And a Reuters reports about the Syrian Civil War, where both Iran and Russia have been backing the Assad regime, suggests that the alignment of their interests is very unclear.

That is, in recent days there have been inconsistent claims about the intentions of the Syrian regime and its backers in the midst of an internationally brokered ceasefire among most of the combatants in the multi-party war. On one hand, the Russian Defense Ministry denied that it had been planning an assault on the Syrian city of Aleppo over the weekend. But on the other hand, the Syrian government claimed that its forces had been planning such an attack on the understanding that they would be supported by Russia warplanes.

Backing up the latter claims, Syrian rebel groups claimed that both Syrian and Russian forces had resumed and intensified bombing in the area, in apparent violation of the ceasefire. Last week, the National Council of Resistance of Iran similarly observed that Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps forces and their Shiite militant proxies had been massing for a major offense at Aleppo.

By contrast, the Russians claimed that it was the militant, anti-Assad Al Nusra Front that was massing at that location. The Al Nusra Front, along with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, is not covered by the ceasefire, as foreign parties attempt to focus the attention of the Assad regime and the moderate rebel groups against the Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist organizations.

The complicated division of warring factions at Aleppo helps to make that city a major stumbling block in the supposed cessation of hostilities, according to Reuters. Clearly, the moderate rebels and the pro-Assad forces are each trying to blame the other side for the continuation of conflict in that region. Whats more, the Syrian Foreign Ministry has also attempted to assign blame to Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which back some of the same rebel groups as the US does.

While it may be difficult to say with certainty who is the primary aggressor at Aleppo, one thing that we do know is that at least four Iranian soldiers have been killed in fighting there, according to Arutz Sheva. These deaths indicate a continued Iranian presence on the frontlines, and the regimes response to those deaths seems aimed at justifying even greater engagement.

Arutz Sheva also points out that 220 Iranian fighters have been killed in Syria in the past six months, seemingly undermining the claim that Iranian forces are merely advisors to the Assad regimes military.

If Iran continues to expand its own presence in the conflict, Russia may or may not follow suit. The convergence or divergence of these two forces in Syria may go a long way toward indicating the strength of their alliance and thus the likelihood of Russia providing Iran with more advanced weapons to commit to the same war.
[April 12, 2016] USB 3.0 Promoter Group Defines Authentication Protocol for USB Type-C

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group today announced the USB Type-C Authentication specification, defining cryptographic-based authentication for USB Type-C chargers and devices. Using this protocol, host systems can confirm the authenticity of a USB device or USB charger, including such product aspects as the descriptors/capabilities and certification status. All of this happens right at the moment a wired connection is made - before inappropriate power or data can be transferred. USB Type-C Authentication empowers host systems to protect against non-compliant USB Chargers and to mitigate risks from maliciously embedded hardware or software in USB devices attempting to exploit a USB connection. For a traveler concerned about charging their phone at a public terminal, their phone can implement a policy only allowing charge from certified USB chargers. A company, tasked with protecting corporate assets, can set a policy in its PCs granting access only to verified USB storage devices. "USB is well-established as the favored choice for connecting and charging devices," said Brad Saunders, USB 3.0 Promoter Group Chairman. "In support of the growing USB Type-C ecosystem, we anticipated the need for a solution extending the integrity of the USB interface. The new USB Type-C Authentication protocol equips product OEMs with the proper tools to defend against 'bad' USB cables, devices and non-compliant USB Chargers." "USB-IF is unwavering in our mission to solidify USB Type-C as the single cable of the future," said Jeff Ravencraft, USB-IF President and COO. "USB Type-C Authentication is an important contribution to enable a thriving ecosystem of compliant, interoperable products." Key characteristics of the USB Type-C Authentication solution include: A standard protocol for authenticating certified USB Type-C Chargers, devices, cables and power sources

Support for autenticating over either USB data bus or USB Power Delivery communications channels

Products that use the authentication protocol retain control over the security policies to be implemented and enforced

Relies on 128-bit security for all cryptographic methods

Specification references existing internationally-accepted cryptographic methods for certificate format, digital signing, hash and random number generation



News - Alert), a USB-IF Board member and Promoter, knows how important authentication, validation, and protection is to the success and fast adoption of USB Type-C," said Joel Huloux, Director Standards & Industry Alliances at STMicroelectronics. "Consumers and the entire industry can rest assured knowing strong authentication for USB Type-C is the key security pillar of this specification." Developer Update

To further enable USB Type-C Authentication and the USB Type-C ecosystem, the USB 3.0 Promoter Group also released one revision and one new specification. The following updates are developer-only; the recommended consumer and end-user terminology for USB Power Delivery (USB PD) is unchanged. USB Power Delivery 3.0, the new revision of the USB Power Delivery specification, adds incremental features to the existing USB Power Delivery 2.0 specification. These features include enabling authentication message exchange over the USB PD communications channel for standard USB Type-C to USB Type-C cables. The new USB Type-C Bridging specification provides the necessary method for bridging messages to and from a USB PD link over the USB data bus. USB Type-C Bridging enables a USB host to communicate with the USB PD interface of a downstream port in a connected USB hub, among other capabilities. About the USB 3.0 Promoter Group The USB 3.0 Promoter Group, comprised of Hewlett-Packard Company, Intel (News - Alert) Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Renesas Electronics, STMicroelectronics, and Texas Instruments, developed the USB 3.0 Specification that was released in November 2008. In addition to maintaining and enhancing this specification, the USB 3.0 Promoter Group develops specification addendums (USB Power Delivery, USB Type-C, and others) to extend or adapt its specifications to support more platform types or use cases where adopting USB 3.0 technology will be beneficial in delivering a more ubiquitous, richer user experience. About the USB-IF The non-profit USB Implementers Forum, Inc. was formed to provide a support organization and forum for the advancement and adoption of USB technology as defined in the USB specifications. The USB-IF facilitates the development of high-quality compatible USB devices through its logo and compliance program, and promotes the benefits of USB and the quality of products that have passed compliance testing. Further information, including postings of the most recent product and technology announcements, is available by visiting the USB-IF website at www.usb.org. USB Type-C and USB-C are trademarks of USB Implementers Forum. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160412005983/en/

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CHAMPAIGN -- Eastern Illinois University and Parkland College will be hosting a celebration of the Eastern Illinois University and Parkland College partnership with the School of Continuing Education at EIU. This partnership offers five EIU degrees onsite at Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois including a B.S. in Business Administration, a B.S. in Organizational and Professional Development and a B.A. in General Studies. The partnership also offers two masters degrees  a MBA and M.S. in Technology.

Eastern Illinois University and Parkland College have a long and successful partnership of providing educational opportunities for residents of Parkland College District 505. EIU at Parkland recently moved into a new office in A170 on Parklands campus in Champaign. To celebrate, a number of activities have been scheduled for Monday through Thursday.

The Grand Re-opening Celebration schedule is as follows:

Monday: Wheel of Education, 9-5 p.m.; All are encouraged to stop by their office in A170 and spin the wheel to win a free prize.

Ribbon Cutting, 4 p.m. Join them for the official ribbon cutting of our new office---and snacks.

Tuesday: Free degree audits. Anyone interested in completing their General Studies, Organizational and Professional Development, or Business Administration degrees are invited to stop by the EIU at Parkland Office in A170, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. for a free evaluation of what they will need to complete their degree.

Wednesday: Leadership Reception, 5-6:30 p.m. Habeeb Habeeb will be speaking on Leading from the Heart. Join us for this dynamic presentation and networking event, along with some snacks. The Leadership Reception will be located in the Gallery Lounge at Parkland College, located in the A wing.

Thursday: Parkland Staff Open House, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Parkland faculty and staff are invited to stop by A170 to grab a mini-sandwich donated by Jimmy Johns.

The EIU Center at Parkland specializes in meeting the educational objectives of adult students who cannot access university coursework in a traditional manner. Courses and degree programs are offered online and at various sites throughout Illinois. Delivery formats include evening courses, weekend courses and technology delivered (online) courses. Information also will be available for students interested in pursuing a degree on EIUs main campus located in Charleston.

Reservations are not required but are appreciated and can be made by phone at 217-353-2255 or by email at parkland@eiu.edu.
Health & Fitness File

Living Resource Center

AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE: Part two of this three-part Optimal Health Series will focus on autoimmune diseases and how they present themselves in the thyroid, stomach, and through arthritis and psoriasis. 6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14, Living Resource Center, 6240 Bankers Road, Mount Pleasant. Fee: $10.

BloodCenter of Wisconsin

BLOOD DRIVE: People ages 16 and older in general good health and meeting eligibility requirements are encouraged to donate blood. Parental consent is required for 16-year-old donors. The process takes approximately one hour. Donors should bring a photo ID that includes date of birth. Donors will be given up to four passes to Olympus Water Park in Wisconsin Dells. Saturday, April 16, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Racine Harley-Davidson, 1155 Oakes Road, Mount Pleasant. To make an appointment, go to www.bcw.edu/racinehog2016 or contact Paula Pauley at pawz@wi.rr.com or 262-752-0245.

City of Racine

ZUMBA FITNESS CLASSES: The Racine Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department offers sessions of Zumba Fitness at Racines five community centers. These ongoing classes, created by Colombian dancer/choreographer Alberto Perez, incorporates hip hop, soca, samba, salsa, merengue and mambo dance to create an aerobic workout. Participants of all levels of fitness and dance experience are welcome. The schedule:

Tuesdays and Thursdays  Dr. John Bryant Community Center, 601 21st St., 3:30-4:30 p.m., 262-636-9235. Free.

Wednesdays  Cesar Chavez Community Center, 2221 Douglas Ave., 6:15-7:15 p.m., 262-636-9221, $1; Humble Park Community Center, 2200 Blaine Ave., 10-11 a.m., 262-636-9226, $3.

Wednesdays & Saturdays  Dr. Martin Luther King Center, 1134 Martin Luther King Drive, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Wednesdays, 10-11 a.m. Saturdays, 262-636-9237, $1.

For more information, call the community center or 262-636-9131.

St. Monicas Senior Living

SENIOR HEALTH FAIR AND OPEN HOUSE: Senior health fair and open house featuring free screenings, door prizes, tours of St. Monicas, food. Wednesday, April 20, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., St. Monicas Senior Living, 3920 N. Green Bay Road, Caledonia. Free. For more information, call 262-639-5050 or go to www.stmonicasseniorliving.com.
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Axiata take charge of Ncell from TeliaSonera

Govt unsure about levying capital gain tax on acquisition by Malaysian telecom giant
Bhaktapur ends tragic year on optimistic note

When Bhaktapur opened up for tourists after last Aprils earthquake on June 12, only 20 tourists visited the ancient city in the first month, recalls Damodar Suwal, the local tourist information officer.
Child marriage cases high in Jumla village

At age 35, Harimaya Bohara is married for more than 20 years. She became grandmother three years ago.
Congress aggrieved at Khotang and Doti road tragedies

The main opposition party  Nepali Congress  on Wednesday expressed its grief over the Khotang and Doti road mishaps.
Dealers woo customers with New Year offers

Automobile, two-wheeler and electronics dealers are hoping the New Year Bikram Sambat 2073 will change their fortunes after seeing their business take a beating in the year just ended due to the killer earthquake and Indian embargo.
'Doctor Strange' depicts Kathmandu in first trailer

In November 2015, Hollywood actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Chietewel Ejiofor had arrived in Nepal for the shooting of Marvel Studio's new superhero franchise Doctor Strange. The film crew was seen shooting at various places around Kathmandu.
Fewa New Year festival a big tourist draw

Domestic and foreign tourists have been celebrating the Fewa New Year festival in Pokhara to welcome the Bikram Sambat New Year 2073 with great gusto.
Himalaya Airlines makes maiden flight to Colombo

Nepal reestablished the direct air link with Sri Lanka after more than three decades, with the newly-launched Himalaya Airlines making its maiden commercial flight to Colombo on Tuesday.
National Flag Festival in Nepalgunj

A National Flag festival was held at the Nepalgunj Stadium during which the national flag was unfurled disseminating a message of national honour and unity.
Naya Shakti close to unveiling party, ideology

The Naya Shakti Nepal, led by former prime minister and Maoist ideologue Baburam Bhattarai, is set to officially announce the party and make its political ideology and economic policy public. Having been registered with the Election Commission, preparations for its formal announcement are under way, according to leaders.
Three professors among Doti jeep accident casualties

Three among the eight people killed in the jeep accident that took place in Doti last night are teachers at Padmakanya Campus of Kathmandu.
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

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The Atomic Energy Council has confirmed that the Mulago Radiotherapy machine was condemned in July 2015 but continued to operate without a valid license.

According to one of the specialists at the council, Deo Ssekyanzi, they made recommendations after inspecting the machine but the Uganda Cancer Institute insisted on using it.

While appearing before parliaments natural resources committee, the council explained that after the last inspection conducted in 2013, the machine has been running under dangerous mechanical condition.

Ssekyanzi further explains that the machine has been exposing both patients and doctors to very high levels of radiation because it was being operated manually.

About 2,000 cancer patients in need of radiotherapy treatment in Uganda will have to wait for about two years to receive relief from unbearable pain following a breakdown of an old Cobalt 60 radiotherapy machine last month.

The breakdown of the machine has caused national and international public outcry and has attracted widespread condemnation of government. Some sections of the public criticised government for failing to prioritise cancer treatment in the country following a Shs1.4 trillion supplementary budget passed by Parliament last week without funds dedicated to cancer.

At a hastily organised press conference by the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) on April 10th 2016, the Health Minister, Dr Elioda Tumwesigye, defended government for astronomic budget increments to UCI. From the 2014/15 budget, government gave UCI about Shs8 billion, Shs17 billion this financial year and in the financial year 2016/2017, government is going to give the cancer institute about Sh41b, Dr Tumwesigye said. He said government has already placed an order to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to replace the old Cobalt 60 machine installed 21 years ago.There are different types of radiotherapy machines and what we have is an older model and there is another machine we are buying and I think a receipt has been provided to you. We will be bringing a Cobalt 60 Machine, the minister said without being specific on the date.

Dr Tumwesigye said the new machine had been delayed by construction of a bunker to house it since the old one was found to have safety problems. Terming the bunker construction process as complex, Dr. Jackson Orem, the director of the UCI, said it had taken about two years to have the designs of the bunker approved by IAEA since it uses nuclear and atomic technology.

Story By Samuel Ssebuliba
Former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate Kiiza Besigye has been charged with disobeying lawful police orders before the Kasangati Magistrates Court.

The charges against Besigye are in connection to last weeks incident where he was intercepted by police at Mulago, arrested and briefly detained at Naggalama police station in Mukono.

He has denied the charges and has been granted a non cash bail of Shs 2m after he presented Tonny Kiyimba Ssempebwa LC 3 Chairman of Nangabo Sub-county and Ingrid Turinawe Chief Mobilizer FDC as his sureties.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Besigye-charged-disobeying-lawful-orders/-/688334/3157194/-/jcfv83/-/index.html
The Kabaka of Buganda Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II has urged Parents to support government in promoting education through its Universal Primary and Secondary Education programs.

Speaking at his ongoing 61st Birthday celebrations at Kings College Buddo Secondary School in Wakiso district, the Kabaka says the country needs educated people if its to overcome the problem of chronic poverty.

Speaking at the same event, the Katikiro of Buganda Charles Peter Mayiga has appealed to Kabakas subject to promote the heritage and values of Buganda.

The Kabaka has also used the same event to honor Afrigo Band led by local legendary musician Moses Matovu for their great contribution towards promotion of Bugandas culture and heritage through music.

Story By Dianah Wanyana
South Sudan President Salva Kiir and his Tanzanian counterpart John Pombe Magufuli who is also the Chairperson of the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit are scheduled to sign the Treaty of Accession into the Community on Friday.

The event will be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

At their 17th Ordinary Summit held on 2nd March, 2016 in Arusha, Tanzania, the EAC Heads of State received the report of the Council of Ministers on the negotiations for the admission of South Sudan into the Community as a new member.

The Summit then designated the Chairperson to sign the Treaty of Accession with South Sudan.

South Sudans admission brings to six, the number of EAC member states with a population of 162 million people.

This implies that South Sudan now formerly joins Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi and it will be part of the regional integration projects that have been the subject of discussion among member countries.

South Sudan applied for EAC membership soon after gaining its independence from neighbouring Sudan in 2011, upon being invited by the presidents of Kenya and Rwanda.

Story By Catherine Ageno
The Uganda National Bureau of Standards has today visited Kyaseka Towers, the building that collapsed on Monday afternoon killing atleast 4 people and injuring nine others along Makerere Hill Road.

John Sanyu an official from the Bureaus Department of material testing said the materials used to construct the five storey structure were substandard.

He says the iron bars used were banned by UNBS and the contractors used more sand than cement, making the building weak.

The officials have taken some samples including iron bars, cement mixtures and stones to establish their durability and quality.

Meanwhile, the police rescue teams continue with the search for survivors. The injured continue to recieve treatment at Mulago National Referral Hospital.

Story By Damalie Mukhaye
GARRETT  Its days of educating young people may be coming to an end, but the old Garrett High School building still served as a learning tool this week  for area law enforcement officers.

Garrett, Waterloo and DeKalb County police officers took part in active-shooter training Monday at the school, honing their techniques in resolving a violent confrontation that could take place in a school or office setting.

Under the direction of Auburn Police Department Cpl. Jeff Plank, a member of the countys SWAT team, officers used paintball guns to deal with scenarios ranging from hostage takers and hostile teachers to armed students. In some instances, the hostage takers were firing their own paintball guns at officers and hostages. After each scenario, Plank and other SWAT team members would critique how the officers responded.

Numerous students and staff members took part in the scenarios as volunteers, serving as hostages and armed combatants.

Being a teacher, Im glad theyre doing this type of training, said Jake Clifford, a high school teacher. You want to know how theyre going to handle it.

Officers went through the training in small teams, simulating what would happen if there were an incident such as a school shooting, when the first responding officers would have to deal with the threat rather than wait for a SWAT team to gather.

Garrett Police Department Detective Sgt. Tara Smurr said she was a little nervous heading into her first scenario.

It was pretty intimidating, she said.

Officers were not told what kind of situation they were facing, only that gunfire had been reported at the school.

You hope something like this never happens, Smurr said. I want to be prepared if we do. Lets learn from it here rather than the real thing.

A common theme during the post-scenario discussions was communication. Officers with different vantage points had to communicate information on suspects and hostages to the other officers on their team. Doing so amid a shooting scene, even a mock scene, proved challenging.

Its total chaos, Smurr said. Nothing goes as planned. You learn to adapt to the situation.

Smurr said it was helpful to train in working with other agencies, something that likely would be the case in the event of a tragic situation involving an armed gunman in a public place.

Plank said it was important to go through such training so officers develop the instincts they need.

We just need to keep working on our skills, Plank said.

While the officers learned their skills, participating in the training fulfilled at least one volunteer participants dream.

Ive always said since second grade it would be great to play paintball in this school, said Chase Hall, a 2012 Garrett graduate. Now, I am.
ANGOLA  Steuben County Commissioner Lynne Liechty was put in the hot seat over a new arena proposed for the Steuben County 4-H Fairgrounds during a meeting of the Steuben County Council on Tuesday.

Liechty was grilled over the proposed $1.3 million structure that would be open sided, feature two large exhibit areas and provide housing for most of the animal classes involved in 4-H. The building would be approximately 127,500 square feet and would eliminate a multitude of barns scattered about the fairgrounds, many of which are in decline.

Liechty went before the council requesting a line item where donated funds could be directed. She intends on funding the building solely with donations. Liechty hopes the building will be constructed in 2017.

The request was tabled but not before Liechty was questioned about campaign rhetoric from 2014 to details about revenue and expenses for the building.

Perhaps most dynamic were exchanges between Liechty and Councilman Ken Shelton, who posed a number of questions to the North District commissioner.

At one point, Shelton asked Liechty to not interrupt when she was answering one of his questions.

A sort time later, as she stood opposite him at the curved board room table where council members sit, Shelton told Liechty to back away.

Would you mind stepping back out of my space, he demanded.

Liechty did take a step back. Eventually Commissioner Ron Smith intervened to calm the situation.

We have no place at this point to put these funds, Smith said, referencing expected donations for the facility and the intent of Liechtys request.

It is likely the funds will be kept at the Steuben County Community Foundation. Liechty said a non-profit was needed to take the funds so donors could claim their donations as tax deductions.

Earlier in the discussion Shelton criticized Liechty for being critical of a council expenditure that was discussed earlier in the meeting.

Council President Rick Shipe intoned that the discussion needed to stay on topic.

Liechty didnt have hard data on the arena revenue and expenses, other than the projected cost.

When the topic was first presented, Councilman Dan Caruso asked Liechty about her change of heart about the fairgrounds. In her 2014 campaign, Liechty promised no more funding for the park at Crooked Lake after council approved a $3 million spending plan in 2012.

When I first got involved running for election, I said, why are we putting money out there? she said.

Liechty said she had a change of heart. With the new facilities being built that will be available to all, the park is for all of the county, not just 4-H, she said.

We have an opportunity here. We have a great opportunity, she said.

Other issues discussed included liability when the facility is rented to anticipated organizers of horse shows and other events, like car shows.

Sustainability of the parks facilities was also broached.

Councilwoman Linda Hansen said if revenue generated by the park were separated out, the county general fund would take a large hit, currently some $300,000.

Smith countered that the council always asked for the park to be self-supporting, but if its money keeps getting returned to county general theres no way to self-fund without its own fund to feed into.
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FORT WAYNE  Brooke Bieszke refuses to let the events of her eighth birthday negatively alter her future.

It was on that day, as her foster mother Jean recalled, that she, her brother and sister were taken from their birth mother and put into the foster care system. It took over three years for Bieszke to find a permanent family.

Jean and her husband, Darrin, have impacted Brookes life for the better and today, there is no longer a foster label. They are simply, family.

Blood doesnt always make a family, love does, Brooke said. That is the most important part of my life, knowing that you can learn to love people and that it doesnt matter who they are. They are an incredible family that has taught me to work hard and never give up.

With her parents awaiting her arrival, Bieszke was surprised with a Lilly Endowment Scholarship from the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne on Thursday afternoon at Carroll High School.

The scholarship is open to high school seniors in the top 40 percent of their class who have overcome significant hardships. Five students from Allen County are chosen to receive the scholarship, which offers four-year, full-tuition scholarships and a yearly stipend to Indiana students who intend to work toward a bachelors degree at any accredited college in Indiana.

Bieszke, however, has a tough choice. She has already been named a Chapman Scholar recipient from IPFW, which includes free tuition, fees, room, board and textbooks for four years. She could return the Lilly Endowment Scholarship, allowing an alternate student to receive the scholarship.

I am excited, and nervous, because I have some sorting out to do now, she said.

This decision should come easy, compared to how she grew up.

Until she was eight, Bieszke took care of her younger sister and older brother, who suffers from autism. Their biological mother, according to Bieszke, suffered from substance abuse.

We moved around a few times and it was tough, but we stayed together, Bieszke said. What I went through has made me stronger. It has made me realize that the struggles that I go through now arent that serious and I can handle them. It makes me a harder worker because I know this is not the worst that I have gone through.

Eventually, I found a new family and everything changed.

Bieszke planned on studying criminal justice at IPFW on the Chapman Scholarship, however the Lilly Endowment Scholarship opens up numerous doors. Law school at Indiana University is now a real possibility. She would like to be a prosecutor or a child advocacy lawyer.

I want to help out people who were once in my situation and make sure they dont get hurt, Bieszke said.

In all, 28 applications for the Lilly Endowment Scholarship were submitted, according to Krista Arnold, scholarship manager with the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne. In addition to her application, Bieszke had to write a pair of essays, one on her back story and another on her future plans.

(Bieszke) stood out as an excellent student, but she has risen above the circumstances she has come from, said Jenny Koerner, guidance counselor at Carroll High School. She is very resilient and hard working. She didnt let her previous life experiences dictate her future. She has worked hard to get to where she is at.

At Carroll, Bieszke is involved in the environmental club, the common sense club, drama club, neon nation, the speech and debate team and participated in a variety of school plays.

Its a very rigorous school, Bieszke said. The teachers are incredible. They wont let you stop at what you think your best is, because they know you can be better and always improve.

Carrolls last Lilly Endowment Scholar was Jerry Richart, who received the scholarship in 2008.

Bieszke will be honored at a reception at The Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne on May 5.
April 18

Second monthly meeting of the Huntertown Town Council. Meeting begins at 6 p.m. and takes place at Huntertown Town Hall, 15617 Lima Road.

2nd and 4th Mondays of month

Huntertown Lions meeting at 6:45 p.m., held at Huntertown United Methodist Church, 16021 Old Lima Road, Huntertown. Meetings are held between the months of September and May.

Wednesdays

The Friends of Huntertown Parks Inc. meets each Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. at the Huntertown Woodworkers Club, 16471 Lima Road.

1st Tuesday

of the month

Three Rivers Woodworking Club meets at the Huntertown Woodworkers Club House at 16471 Lima Road at 7 p.m. All are welcome. For information, call 637-6415.

2nd Tuesday and last Saturday of month

Huntertown area food distribution at Third Place, 1601 W. Cedar Canyon Road, 9-11 a.m. A clothing ministry is also available. For emergencies, contact the Huntertown United Methodist Church at 637-3798.

2nd Tuesday

of the month

Huntertown Heritage Days committee meeting. Meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Huntertown Town Hall, 15617 Lima Road. Everyone is welcome. Any questions, contact Jenny McComb at 637-6232 or kmc6101@comcast.net.

Flax & Fleecers Spinning Guild. 7-9 p.m. at Salomon Farm Learning Center, 817 W. Dupont Road. All spinners and fiber arts enthusiasts are welcome. Call 637-8622 for information.

2nd Monday

of the month

LaOtto Community Association meeting held at the Park Building in LaOtto. Open to the public.

2nd Thursday

of the month

LaOtto Park Association meeting at 7 p.m. in the community building. For more information, call 637-6011.

1st Monday

of the month

Multiple Sclerosis Support Group meets at 7 p.m. at the Lutheran Rehabilitation Hospital, 7970 W. Jefferson Blvd., Fort Wayne. Literature and video presentations are provided along with refreshments. For more information, call 637-3820.

4th Tuesday

of month

Epilepsy Support Group meeting from 12:30-2 p.m. in the East Parlor Room of the First Wayne Street United Methodist Church at 300 E. Wayne St., Fort Wayne. Call 432-7170 or 877-456-2971, ext. 3090, if planning to attend.

2nd Saturday of month

Korean War Veterans monthly meeting. Meetings begin at 10 a.m. and take place at the Eagles #248, 4940 Bluffton Road in Fort Wayne. Breakfast is served immediately after the meeting.
MINNEAPOLIS  One morning last March, hundreds of employees came streaming out of Target Corp.s towers in downtown Minneapolis with boxes in hand in one of the largest  and most shocking  corporate downsizings Minnesota has ever seen.

A year later, those workers have discovered there is life after Target  and in many cases its much brighter than they imagined.

Nearly all have found jobs, a testament to the respect other employers have for Target, the robust job market in the Twin Cities and the ability of white-collar workers to reinvent themselves.

A striking number, about 170, found themselves back at Target after the company realized it had cut too deep in certain areas. Another retail giant, Amazon.com in Seattle, hired scores. And so did UnitedHealth Group, the Minneapolis-area insurer that in October said it would hire 1,700 people in the Twin Cities by April.

Frankly, Im surprised how happy I am here, said Nikki Shultz, who was hired by UnitedHealths Optum unit after being laid off from Target, where shed spent more than a decade.

A lot of people realized how much they enjoy working at a small company or working in a different industry or in a totally different job, she said. Those were things they would have never done unless they were pushed out of the nest.

For decades, Target, one of Minnesotas largest and best-known companies, grew by leaps and bounds. It regularly added legions of workers to its Minneapolis headquarters, then trained them to move up the ladder. But its growth slowed in recent years as it neared saturation in American suburbs and grappled with emerging online competitors.

When Brian Cornell arrived as chief executive in August 2014, he saw that layers of bureaucracy made Target slow to innovate and adapt to changes in the marketplace. The ax fell on 1,700 workers in one day last March, followed by several smaller layoffs. In total, Target cut about 2,600 Twin Cities jobs, about one-fifth of its corporate staff.

In addition to severance, Target paid outplacement firms to help the laid-off workers find new jobs. Among those who used that help, the average time to land a new job was 10 weeks. Four out of five stayed in Minnesota and three out of five left retail. About 44 percent changed roles, according to Target.

Several major retailers sent recruiters to the Twin Cities last spring after the Target layoff. None tried harder to get them than Amazon, which has been aggressively growing and had already hired dozens of Target workers.

One laid-off Target employee said he got several messages from Amazon on LinkedIn before he responded to the firm. Amazon hosted an event in Minneapolis with free beer and food. It was a madhouse, said one laid-off Target worker who took a job at Amazon just two weeks later. Anyone who had the Amazon shirt on had six people around him.

An examination of LinkedIn by the Star Tribune found that about 90 Target headquarters employees took jobs at Amazon last year. Some of them had lost their Target jobs; others quit. In one case, Amazon hired about half of a 30-person strategy team who were all laid off from Target. In 2014, about 70 people left Target for Amazon.

So many former Target employees are now at Amazon that some do double-takes in the hallways. Its like, Hey, I didnt realize you were here. Welcome! said one Target-turned-Amazon employee who spoke on the condition his name not be used. The tongue-in-cheek response is that the cold got to them after a while. You dont want to wake up at 4 a.m. to shovel your driveway.

Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.

But many laid-off Target workers have family roots and other connections in Minnesota, making relocation unattractive. One factor that helped some of them stay in the Twin Cities was Targets decision, in many cases, to waive a policy of requiring that former employees wait two years before taking jobs with companies that directly do business with it.

Target did that for Brian Stanchfield, who ended up joining Jacobs Marketing, a retail broker that represents vendors selling products at Target.

I still felt bullish on where Target is going, said Stanchfield, whose wife works at Target. I was disappointed to not be part of the next chapter. But I came to the realization that I can still be part of the Target ecosystem and to be part of it through this end of it.

His new office is across the street from Targets headquarters, and he still works with many of the same people.

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Paul DeBettignies, a technology recruiter in the Twin Cities, said that in many cases, the ex-Target workers had to pitch themselves as nontraditional candidates since their retail background did not necessarily directly translate to other industries, such as banking and health care. Some also made trade-offs in accepting offers from smaller firms or startups.

Target has traditionally paid their folks well and they have had good benefits, DeBettignies said. So some folks had to think about some cost-of-living adjustments because the salary they were being paid was not what the rest of the market was willing to bear.

Teresa Daly, co-founder of Navigate Forward, one of the outplacement firms Target hired, initially wondered whether some of the companys setbacks, such as the 2013 data breach and its money-losing foray in Canada, would make prospective employers hesitate to look at the laid-off workers. We didnt see that at all, she said.

To the contrary, the Target workers seemed to land jobs faster than others she has worked with after major layoffs. The Target pedigree is very good in the marketplace, she added. They are really sharp people and the market gobbled them up.

In hindsight, some former Target workers admit they had become too complacent in their jobs and didnt think enough about a Plan B until they were laid off.

I had grown up there, said Jon Koss, who worked at Target for about nine years. I considered myself a poster child for Target. I look back on it and think I should not have been so naive.

While he wasnt initially sure what he wanted to do after losing his job, he found consulting, a field he had never before considered, to be a perfect fit. A friend put him in touch with Slalom, a boutique consulting firm with an office a block away from Targets headquarters.

Coffees led to interviews and finally an offer. He began work there about three months later.

Waking up the day after the layoffs, one of my biggest fears was I dont know if Ill find a place I loved as much as Target, he said.

But he has. Slaloms office is much smaller than Target, about 70 people, but it has the fun, collaborative environment he loved at Target. And he finds the work more fulfilling compared to Target, where he said ideas were often dissected to death in committees.

Its just very tangible here where I can see the direct results from my work, said Koss.

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Not everyone has had good luck. Kevin Khottavongsa was three months into a new job at Target when he was let go. A year later, hes still looking for a permanent job while going to school part-time at Augsburg College working toward an MBA.

I wish I could tell a better story, but I still havent landed anything solid yet, said the 28-year-old from St. Paul.

Meanwhile, Target is in the midst of a hiring spree of its own, though its mostly for software engineers and other tech-oriented folks to help improve its online game. Company executives said last fall they wanted to hire 500 people for those jobs.

Target may continue to tweak its workforce with small reductions in certain areas, but executives have said the bulk of that part of the companys transformation is behind it.

A lot of people realized how much they enjoy working at a small company or working in a different industry or in a totally different job. Those were things they would have never done unless they were pushed out of the nest. Nikki Shultz, who was hired by UnitedHealths Optum
In 2015, the Klar family reached out to my office for help to bring their adopted daughter Hadassa home to La Crosse from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although Hadassas adoption was approved in January of 2015, and her U.S. passport and visa were issued, the Klars were forced to wait because the DRC had stopped issuing exit permits for children who were adopted by international parents.

After months of my office working with the family and the U.S. State Department, Hadassa was finally granted an exit permit. In March her excited family traveled to the DRC to bring her home.

Recently I went and met Hadassa at her home in La Crosse. She is a smart, happy, and energetic little girl who is excited to be home with her loving family. I look forward to watching as Hadassa continues to thrive in her new home and community.

While Hadassas story had a happy ending, there are many children who are still waiting in the DRC to come home. Recently my colleagues in the Wisconsin delegation and I sent a letter to President Obama asking him to encourage the DRC to issue more exit permits. Additionally, I sent a letter to the Congolese Ambassador requesting the government to lift its ban on issuing exit permits to children being adopted by US families.

Every child deserves a loving and supportive family. I applaud all the families in western and central Wisconsin who have made the decision to open their hearts and homes.
Wisconsins Driftless Region has become a mecca for foodies, architecture buffs, and cyclists craving a challenge and a hearty dose of scenic beauty. Taliesin Preservation unveils a new ride inviting cyclists to explore a broad swath of Frank Lloyd Wright territory, starting and ending at his 800-acre Wisconsin River estate, that will offer a challenging ride, as well as a memorable gourmet experience.

The ride will be held Sunday, May 22, beginning at 8 a.m.

Tour du Taliesin features two different ticketing levels and two different route distances. The Master ($205 per rider) helps advance Taliesin Preservations mission with a generous charitable contribution  and includes a Taliesin-designed bike jersey. The Apprentice ($105 per rider) supports Taliesin Preservation with a charitable contribution  and includes a pair of Taliesin-designed riding socks.

There are two cycle routes to choose from: The 38-mile ride and the 100-mile ride. The 38-mile ride covers 38 miles of paved roads with over 1,361 vertical feet of climbing. The 100-mile ride is a true century ride and covers 100 miles of paved roads with over 6,245 vertical feet of climbing.

There will be an after-party at Tan-y-Deri Hill, which has resplendent views of Taliesin and some intimate out-of-the-way areas of the estate. Riders will enjoy local beer and seasonal fare, some of which are grown at Taliesin. A limited number of Taliesin House Tours are also available for an additional cost. (Advance reservations are required.)

In addition to riders, Taliesin Preservation seeks volunteers to assist with the event.

Space is limited. Reserve a ride or sign up to volunteer online at taliesinpreservation.org

Sponsorship packages are available. Call 608-588-7090, Extension 221 for more information.
Free Speech Isn't the Only Casualty of Erdogan's Repression

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey -- When Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, recently paid a visit to Washington, he gave Americans a taste of the kinds of policies he employs at home. His guards reportedly roughed up reporters outside a think tank while an LED-lit van that said "Truth + Peace = Erdogan" drove around the United States capital. Many American policy makers are horrified by Mr. Erdogan's efforts to kill off what is left of free speech in Turkey. Even President Obama admitted that he was "troubled" by the direction of the country, a NATO ally. While the American public is right to be concerned about Mr. Erdogan's efforts to stifle free speech and imprison journalists, as a Kurd I am saddened that the criticism ends there. There has been hardly any real mention of the government's abuses in the fight against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or P.K.K., the deportations of civilians, the destruction of Kurdish towns and the imprisonment of Kurdish politicians in Turkey. Both Europe and the United States have turned a blind eye to the human rights violations in Turkey's Kurdish towns over the past year. Europeans did so because they were desperate to strike a deal with Mr. Erdogan to get Turkey to contain Syrian refugees. Washington, for its part, feels that Turkey is indispensable in the fight against the Islamic State. But let me tell you what this pragmatic approach is hiding: Ever since peace talks between the Turkish government and the P.K.K. broke down last summer, the country has been in havoc. Last August, Kurdish youth groups close to the P.K.K. began an insurgency in some Kurdish towns. The government responded first with tear gas and plastic bullets, later with 24-hour curfews that lasted for weeks and finally with tanks and artillery. Photos from some of the besieged towns look like early pictures from the Syrian civil war. More than 300,000 people had to evacuate their homes. The death toll is over 1,000, hundreds of whom are civilians, according to the Turkish Human Rights Foundation. Large parts of the Kurdish towns of Cizre, Silopi and the historic Sur are now heaps of rubble. While the government and the P.K.K. have different views on why peace talks collapsed, there is no doubt about what motivates Mr. Erdogan's continuing military campaign. He is stoking nationalist sentiment with an eye to a possible referendum this summer that would expand his constitutional powers. Perhaps a little background is necessary here: Kurdish people living in Turkey have been waging a struggle for greater freedoms for decades. Generations have perished in prisons and torture chambers as Turkey has gone through successive military coups. When I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, we were not allowed to speak Kurdish, speak about speaking Kurdish or even sing in Kurdish. I became a human rights lawyer in part because my older brother went to jail for trying to do grass-roots activism -- just organizing peaceful demonstrations under a political party was enough to get him labeled a terrorist. We have come a long way in terms of Kurdish cultural rights, but Turkey is still far behind the rest of the world in basic democratic freedoms. True, the peace talks with the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan over the past few years did bring us a much-needed cease-fire and a breathing space to celebrate our political views. But since then, the negotiations have fallen apart and the Turkish government has sought to reverse those gains. The Turkish government is meanwhile trying to expand its draconian antiterrorism laws to censor speech and other political activities. Mr. Erdogan became even more intransigent about the peace process after my party, the Peoples' Democratic Party, or H.D.P., which advocates for Kurdish rights, cleared for the first time a 10 percent threshold in parliamentary elections in June 2015 and gained entry to the Parliament. This has impeded the president's ability to change the Constitution to expand his powers. Since last summer, hundreds of our party members have been arrested and dozens of our elected mayors have been dismissed or detained. Meanwhile, Turkey has been shelling Syrian Kurds who are fighting the Islamic State across the border in Syria. Mr. Erdogan is targeting our party precisely because we stand in the way of the authoritarian order he is trying to establish. The H.D.P. is a progressive coalition of Turks, Kurds, socialists, democratic Islamists, liberals and minorities dedicated to democratic reforms, gender equality, diversity and Kurdish rights. We ran on a party list that included people from Turkey's many ethnic groups, including Kurds, Turks, Armenians, Assyrians and Yazidis -- from all walks of life. I am a co-chairman of the party because every possible political unit, from municipal governments to local chapters, is led by a one man-one woman partnership. Our party was founded to provide common ground for all of the people of Turkey who want to see more democracy. All of this is anathema to the despotic, male-dominated nationalism fueled by Mr. Erdogan. In Washington, Mr. Erdogan presented himself as "fighting terrorism" and complained that the United States hasn't supported his campaign against the Kurds in Syria and Turkey. Someone should tell him that he is actually turning into a source of instability for the Middle East. By ending the peace process with the P.K.K., by creating a repressive security state, by shelving the rule of law and by cracking down on free speech, he is drowning what is left of Turkey's democracy -- making this country more susceptible to radicalism and internal conflict than ever.

Selahattin Demirtas is a co-chairman of the Peoples' Democratic Party.
Jay Eddy thought he may be interested in serving Black River Falls as mayor in the future after spending some time on the city council.

Eddy, elected to the council in 2008, didnt have a desire to run until Mayor Ron Danielson opted to retire, and that decision came this last spring.

Eddy then ran unopposed and was elected mayor in the April 5 election and will take his oath of office at next weeks city council meeting. He is looking forward to the opportunity to help lead the city, he said.

I believe in public service, and I believe everybody should step forward  everyone should do their part, said Eddy, a 1977 Black River Falls High School graduate. Ive got a pretty long history of doing different things with the public.

Danielson soon will turn over the meeting gavel after being elected to the council 26 years ago and serving as mayor for the past eight. Danielson, family, friends and community members celebrated his retirement from his public position Saturday at Donna Ks Bar and Family Diner, where officials also surprised him with a sign commemorating his service that will sit on the Foundation Trail.

I thought Ron did a wonderful job. He took us through some huge projects, Eddy said. The fair park  he was a hard charger on that, he battled through some issues when we were considering changing our police coverage from city to county.

Hes a great public servant  he really wants to do whats best for the city, and I think he did.

Eddy, also a Viterbo College grad and former real estate broker, said he looks forward to working with city and other community leaders to investigate ways to spur downtown economic development and revitalization.

He also wants to work with the police chief and police department on more ways to combat the drug problem in the city.

Im planning on working with the chief on what other things we can do outside of just strictly law enforcement, Eddy said. I dont know if theres anything we can do or not, but it would sure help to get a number of community members involved and come up with ideas to try.

Eddy, who works as benefits coordinator at Millis Transfer, said he wants to maintain city services despite constant fluctuations in state money and how it impacts the citys tax levy and tax rate.

I dont want to lose any services. We never know what the budgets going to be from the state  its just a constant surprise every year, he said. We have to stay vigilant and be good stewards of our tax dollars.

Danielson said he was humbled by the approximately 120 people who came to his Saturday party, and he also was surprised and humbled by the presentation of the sign that will go on the trail near the Jackson County Fair Park  two locations that symbolize some of his focuses during his time on the council.

I was very appreciative  very, very appreciative, he said. I really wanted to be done after this term, and Jay was by far an excellent person to become mayor.

Hes one  over the years who has looking at everything before making decisions because he wants to make the right decision for the city and not just for certain individuals.

City Administrator Brad Chown said Danielsons service will be missed, but it has been positive for the city over the past quarter century.

Hes always treated people with respect and always listened to you. I just cant get over how much he gives to this community. You can tell he was born here because he loves this community and spends a lot of time making things look good and keeping them moving along, Chown said. (Jays) got the experience on the council, which is going to help in that aspect, and hes got a lot of good ideas, too. Hes open-minded when it comes to decisions, and I think its good hes not coming in with an agenda and hes wanting to do whats right for the city.

Eddy said he encourages more people to come to meetings and bring ideas or concerns to him and council members.

Im willing to listen  come forward, he said. The hardest part about government is not knowing what people think. You always hear from the fringes  theres always people on both ends. In general, you dont always hear the middle.

I think if theres something we should be doing better, if someones got an idea, let us know  Weve got to be made aware.
Top health officials in the U.S. say the Zika virus is scarier than first thought.

The Zika virus is transmitted by mosquitoes. It can cause birth defects, such as an abnormally small head, a condition called microcephaly.

Dr. Anne Schuchat is Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Dr. Anthony Fauci is with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. They both spoke at the White House this week.

From the White House, Schuchat warns the U.S. needs to be ready.

Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially (first) thought. While we dont see widespread transmission, we need the states to be ready for that.

Schuchat and Fauci said there are other health problems linked to Zika, not just microcephaly. Those health problems may include Guillain-Barre syndrome, which paralyzes. Also, patients have shown brain inflammation that looks like multiple sclerosis.

Schuchat said there are other troubling developments.

Most of what were learning is not reassuring. We have learned that the virus is linked to a broader set of complications in pregnancy, not just microcephaly but also prematurity, eye problems and other conditions. Weve also learned that the virus is likely to be a problem at much of the pregnancy period, not just probably the first trimester but potentially throughout the pregnancy.

Officials say they are worried about the spread of the disease. They say hundreds of thousands could become infected in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

They have asked Congress for $1.9 billion to fight the virus. Fauci said if Congress does not act, health workers will not be able to stop Zika from spreading.

Fauci said, We really dont have what we need.

Fauci said health officials are fighting the virus with money borrowed from other funds. Last week, the Obama administration said it was directing $589 million to fight Zika. The money had been set to fight Ebola, but is now going to Zika.

Schuchat said we also feel a sense of urgency about Ebola and the global health security agenda. Ebola is still circulating in Liberia and Guinea, and many of the vulnerable countries in Africa are having outbreaks right now. We have to be, as a country, ready to support response to more than one outbreak at a time.

Obama administration officials have warned that without more money to fight Zika, infection might increase. Officials say there will be delays in controlling and monitoring mosquitoes, and in testing and developing a vaccine.

There are at least 672 confirmed cases of Zika in the United States. These include 64 pregnant women. One Zika-related case of microcephaly was confirmed in the island state of Hawaii.

Health officials say in the United States, the virus has been reported mostly in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa. But they say they believe it will spread in the continental United States in the coming months.

Schuchat said she does not expect there will be large numbers of infections in the 48 states between Canada and Mexico, but she is not certain.

At the recent press conference at the White House, Schuchat said that the mosquito spreading Zika is found in more U.S. states than first thought.

Again, here is Schuchat.

We have learned that the mosquito vector, the aedes aegypti mosquito, is present in a broader range of states in the continental U.S. So, instead of the about 12 states where the mosquito aedes aegypti is present, we believe about 30 states have the mosquito present.

About 40 million people travel yearly between the continental U.S. and countries with Zika. The Obama administration says that as of last week, 33 countries and territories in the Americas reported active cases of Zika.

In Puerto Rico, 31 health workers from the Centers for Disease Control are working. A center used to fight dengue fever is now fighting Zika. That includes controlling and monitoring mosquitoes, and educating pregnant women about avoiding infection.

Schuchat said that about 5,000 packages have been given out in Puerto Rico. The packages include chemicals to repel mosquitoes, information on how to protect against infection, condoms, and vouchers to buy screens to keep mosquitoes from entering the home.

Im Anna Matteo.

VOA Correspondent Aru Pande reported this story from The White House. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

initially  adj. of or relating to the beginning

transmission  n. the act or process by which something is spread or passed from one person or thing to another

infect  v. to cause (someone or something) to become sick or affected by disease

vaccine  n. a substance that is usually injected into a person or animal to protect against a particular disease

continental US  n. the 48 states between Canada and Mexico; does not include Hawaii, Alaska or US territories such as Puerto Rico

Americas  n. the countries of North, Central and South America

dengue  n. a disease spread by mosquitoes that causes flu-like sympts. It can develop into severe dengue, which can be fatal.

condom  n. a thin rubber covering that a man wears on his penis during sex in order to prevent a woman from becoming pregnant or to prevent the spread of diseases

screen  n. a sheet that is made of very small wire or plastic strings which are woven together and that is set in a frame in a window, door, etc., to let air in but keep insects out


The African militant group Boko Haram is increasingly using children to carry out suicide bombings.

The United Nations says 44 children were involved in Boko Haram suicide attacks last year. Only four children were used in such attacks in 2014.

The information comes from the UN Children's Emergency Fund, known as UNICEF.

A UNICEF report said that 20 percent of Boko Haram suicide bombers were children. The youngest was thought to be eight years old.

The militant group has sent children to carry out attacks in crowded markets and religious centers. The children sometimes do not know they are carrying explosives. The boys and girls are rarely considered as a threat by police or security forces.

Over the past two years, UNICEF said, Cameroon alone has recorded 21 suicide attacks involving children. Nigeria has 17 such attacks, while Chad has two.

The report was released on the second anniversary of Boko Harams kidnapping of 276 girls from Chibok in northern Nigeria. Among those, 219 are still missing.

Women and girls freed from Boko Haram say the militants used them as sex slaves or forced them to assist in the groups operations.

Boko Harams seven-year campaign of violence has killed 20,000 people and displaced more than 2 million others.

The group set out to establish its version of Islamic law in northern Nigeria. That has included launching war on Western education. Human Rights Watch reported Tuesday that Boko Haram has killed 611 teachers since 2009. Attacks have destroyed or led to the closure of over 2,000 schools.

This story was published on VOANews.com. Jim Dresbach adapted the story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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The ceasefire that began in February in Syria is close to collapsing, say those in the conflict.

Rebel fighters and politicians opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have been working together to unseat him. After five years, the United States and Russia negotiated a ceasefire.

But activists say government and Russian forces violated the ceasefire at least 66 times during a recent 48-hour period. They say almost 100 people -- including seven children and five women -- were killed in government airstrikes.

The rebels say they expect the government to attack them in the city of Aleppo.

Bassma Kodmani negotiates for the rebels. Peace talks are to begin in Geneva, Switzerland this week. On Sunday, he warned that over the previous 10 days there had been a serious deterioration to the point where the ceasefire is about to collapse.

Both the government and rebels have blamed each other for violating the ceasefire. United Nations officials have said the government has stopped aid to some important towns held by the rebels.

There was a sharp increase in fighting during the weekend. On Monday, Islamic State terrorists took back an important town in northern Syria. The town of al-Rai, close to the border with Turkey, was captured by the militants.

Observers said rebels failed in al-Rai because fighter jets flown by an international coalition failed to support them.

Since the end of March, rebels have seized 12 villages from Islamic State militants. The villages are near the Syria-Turkey border. IS did not agree to the ceasefire, which took effect February 27.

On Monday, rebel groups launched attacks in the provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia. The coastal province of Latakia is controlled by the Alawite sect. Assad is an Alawite.

If the ceasefire collapses, peace talks may not take place. Little progress was made in earlier talks. The major issue is the future of President Assad. The rebels say he must leave office and not be part of any transition government.

Im Christopher Jones-Cruise.

Jamie Dettmer reported this story for VOANews.com. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted his report for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, or visit our Facebook page.

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unseat - v. to remove (someone or something) from a position of power

deterioration  n. the act or process of becoming worse

sect  n. a religious group that is a smaller part of a larger group and whose members all share similar beliefs

transition  adj. a change from one state or condition to another


Taiwan is accusing China of wrongly taking eight Taiwanese citizens who were deported from Kenya.

Reports say a Kenyan court found 37 suspects, including 23 Taiwanese, not guilty of cybercrime charges last week.

The defendants were given 21 days to leave the country.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry says China pressured Kenyan police to put eight of the Taiwanese on a Chinese airplane traveling to China on Friday.

Kenyan officials said they were pressured by mainland China.

Taiwans Foreign Ministry demanded an immediate return of the eight people. It called their deportation a serious violation of basic human rights.

Taiwan had sent officials to Kenya to deal with the case. The self-ruling islands foreign ministry has no office in Kenya.

The foreign ministry said a court order should have kept the eight Taiwanese nationals in Kenya. However, the foreign ministry said Chinese officials obstructed its efforts.

It said Chinese officials delayed the court order and prevented Taiwan's representative from reaching the acquitted people.

The ministry said by the time Taiwanese officials arrived at the airport, the eight Taiwanese citizens had been taken to a passenger plane of China Southern Airlines and sent to the mainland.

The deputy minister of Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council, Shih Hi-fen said: This has not only harmed the fundamental human rights (of the eight), but has hurt Taiwan peoples feelings and severe negative impacts on ties between the two sides.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang was asked about the incident during a news briefing Monday. He said he needed to further understand the situation.

China considers Taiwan its own province. Nationalist Party forces fled to the island in 1949 after Chinas civil war with the Communist Party, which controls the mainland.

Im Anne Ball.

Aline Barros reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

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Words in This Story

obstruct v. to interfere with, to get in the way

acquit v. to clear of charges

fundamental adj. forming the base o
Ousting Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi without a strategy for what followed was his worst mistake, says President Barack Obama.

In 2011, NATO-led forces ousted the Libyan dictator. After that, Libya fell into chaos and turmoil.

Obama said his administration failed to plan for the day after Gadhafi was ousted. However, he said, taking action in Libya to protect civilians from Gadhafis forces was the right thing to do.

Gadhafi was captured and killed months after the United States and European nations began air attacks. The country was left in chaos. Militias took control, and two competing parliaments and governments were formed.

Libya became a place migrants used to get to Europe. This helped worsen Europes immigration crisis.

A unity government supported by the United Nations is in the capital Tripoli. But neither of the countrys two competing parliaments has announced support for a peace agreement.

Obama said Libya is now a mess.

On Monday, Obamas spokesman Josh Earnest noted that in a speech in September 2015 to the U.N. General Assembly, Obama said our coalition could have and should have done more to fill a vacuum left behind.

Earnest said the president believes the United States and other nations have not given Libya the help it needs to become stable.

The president asks about what situation will prevail and what sort of commitments from the international community will be required after military action has been ordered by the president, Earnest told reporters.

Obama said his greatest accomplishment during his more than seven years in office was saving the economy from collapsing.

The 2008 and 2009 economic recession was the worst in the United States since the 1930s. Millions of people lost their jobs and were unable to pay their home loans. Since then, the economy has improved, and the jobless rate is much lower.

Obama said the best day of his presidency was in 2010, when Congress approved national health care reforms that came to be called Obamacare. The program has given health insurance to millions of people who did not have it.

Obama said the worst day of his presidency was in late 2012, when he visited the small town of Newtown, Connecticut, two days after a gunman killed 20 students and six teachers at an elementary school.

Obama leaves office in January.

Im Bruce Alpert.

VOANews.com reported this story. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

chaos  adj. complete confusion and disorder; a state in which behavior and events are not controlled by anything

vacuum  n. a situation created when an important person or thing has gone and has not been replaced

accomplishment  n. something done or achieved successfully
LEXINGTON, Neb.  On Wednesday, April 6, Lexington High School Sophomore Julia Briones traveled to the State Capitol to meet the governor and be recognized for her writing.

As part of an assignment for her Honors Sophomore English class, Briones wrote a letter to an author telling him or her how one of their books impacted her. Her letter to Khaled Hosseini for his book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, won Alternate in the senior division for the state of Nebraska.

Of the more than 40 letters submitted for consideration statewide, a majority of them were written by her English students, said LHS English Teacher Melanie Chesley. She said her students wrote the letters in November for the Letters about Literature national contest.

Students wrote to a favorite author, dead or alive, whose work impacted them or changed them in some significant way, Chesley said.

In Lincoln, Briones met Governor Pete Ricketts, who made a proclamation for National Library Week that day, Chesley said. National Library Week in 2016 is April 10 -16.

Briones said she has read a wide-variety of books, from classics to chicklit books to biographies. However, sometimes you come across books that you don't just enjoy, you immerse yourself in their world. A Thousand Splendid Suns did that for me, she said.

Its words, so undeniably honest and raw, showed me a world that I did not know existed. Sure, I knew all the stereotypes about the Middle East and its people, and I watched the news that showed a barren landscape full of "extremists," but Khaled Hosseini gave me a new perspective. His words took off the blindfold, tied around my head by ignorance, and revealed the positives about the Middle East and its people, as well as the real problems, Briones said.

Hosseinis book informed her on the struggles that women in the Middle East go through, Briones said.

Reading the book A Thousand Splendid Suns, helped her grasp the gravity of the situations women in Afghanistan go through as part of their everyday lives.

For example, forced marriage is awful, but for these women, the ceremony is only the beginning. The real torture commences afterwards--the belittling, abuse, and seclusion is what Western cameras and media don't actually come even close to accurately capturing, Briones said.

Briones said she was pleasantly surpsied to hear her letter had won her an award.

Winning alternate for my letter was just...shocking! Honestly, we wrote these letters, shipped them in, and completely forgot about them for months. Then, out of nowhere, this huge honor just zips in via email to Ms. Chesley, she said.

Briones continued, Meeting the governor and going to Lincoln was just a cherry on top. I felt tremendously grateful that this busy man took the time out of his day to meet with this year's Letters for Literature winners. I think that shows a lot about his character.

Chesley said Briones is a student whose writing does not disappoint when one reads it.

Whenever I read Julias writing, I expect to read insightful, mature writing. She delivers every time. She has the mind of a much older person, Chesley said.

For more information about the Letters for Literature contest visit read.gov/letters and to look at past state winners.

Also, a group of LHS students that includes Briones, Danielle Rivera and Antonio Stewart won first, second and third respectively in the National History Day district contest at University of Nebraska at Kearney with their research papers. They will be competing at the state National History Day contest on April 16 at Nebraska Wesleyan with their senior division historical papers, Chesley said.
SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc said on Tuesday it has opened up its Messenger app to developers to create "chatbots," hoping that by simulating one-on-one conversations between users and companies it will expand its reach in customer service and enterprise transactions.

Chatbots are automated programs that help users communicate with businesses and carry out tasks such as online purchases. While chatbots have existed in some form for years, they have recently become a hot topic in the tech business as advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning make them far more capable and potentially able to assume a key role in the way customers communicate with businesses.

Facebook launched chatbots on Tuesday with a handful of partners, including Shopify, an ecommerce site, and cable TV news network CNN.

The chatbots are part of Facebook's effort to build out its Messenger instant messaging app as the go-to place for customers to contact businesses - a strategy that threatens traditional call centers and may cut personnel costs for some businesses.

"You'll never have to call 1-800-Flowers again," Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said during the company's annual developer conference in San Francisco.

Though messaging platforms including Kik, Slack and Telegram already have chatbots, Facebook is seen having several distinct advantages.

For one, Facebook commands a vast trove of data on the estimated 1.6 billion people who use the main service and the 900 million who use Messenger. That allows developers to create chatbots that can personalize tasks, such as making an airline booking or a restaurant reservation.

"From the enterprise or developer perspective, access to those 1.6 billion people is very exciting," said Lauren Kunze, principal at Pandorabots, which has been building and deploying chatbots for companies since 2002.

"People like a personalized experience and when the chatbot can remember personal details and follow up," she said.

CNN's bot, for example, can learn users' news preferences and recommend articles and summaries accordingly. For a shopping site, users could input price ranges and other preferences before receiving suggestions from the bot.

Tech companies will have to approach chatbots more carefully, however, after an experimental Microsoft Corp bot, called Tay, unleashed a barrage of racist and sexist tweets after being manipulated by Twitter users last month. The company quickly pulled Tay from the Internet.

A PLACE FOR BUSINESS

Facebook has been steadily adding features to Messenger since it was spun off as a separate app in 2014.

Last year, it partnered with Uber [UBER.UL] and Lyft so that users can order a car without having to go through the ride-sharing apps. It also recently partnered with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines so that customers can receive flight updates and booking confirmations through Messenger.

Chatbots could eventually automate such interactions and eliminate customer service calls.

"You're offloading the pain of navigating those phone systems," said Chris Fohlin, director of client strategy at consulting agency Engine Digital.

Last year, Facebook partnered with online shopping sites Zulily and Everlane to send customer receipts and order updates through Messenger. It now sees 1 billion messages sent between users and businesses every month, said Seth Rosenberg, Messenger's product manager. That prompted the company to begin experimenting with chatbots.

"Our goal is to make personalization available at scale for businesses," Seth Rosenberg, Messenger's product manager, said in an interview. "It's giving them ways to deeply engage with their consumers as everything becomes more competitive."

By making Messenger the go-to place for business-to-person interactions, Facebook hopes people will spend even more time using the app and increasingly rely on it for day-to-day tasks.

Facebook's chatbots could also threaten businesses' individual apps. Although there are millions of apps, users spend nearly 90 percent of their time on five apps, according to research firm Forrester. In the United States, two of those apps are typically Facebook and Messenger.

(Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb; editing by Jonathan Weber, G Crosse and Meredith Mazzilli)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
In November 2011, after nine Muslims accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts were granted bail, former home secretary GK Pillai had termed their incarceration for five years as 'tragic' and had said that the state 'owes them an apology,' as per an NDTV report.

However, nearly five years later, the accused find themselves under a cloud of suspicion all over again, with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) saying that it will oppose discharging them of terror allegations, as reported by The Indian Express.

The NIA on Tuesday told a Mumbai court that while its investigation is 'conflicting,' the accused, whose role was investigated by earlier agencies, cannot be discharged. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have also investigated the 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts, which left 37 people dead.

This has led to a unique situation in which both Hindu and Muslim people accused of terror charges are being tried for the same case.

When the nine accused were granted bail by a Mumbai court in 2011, the NIA had chosen not to oppose their release. Moreover, in 2013, the agency had told the court that it had evidence to link them to the blasts.

In fact, as per a PTI report, it had specifically submitted before the court that the 'evidence collected by NIA in further investigation is not in consonance with evidence collected by ATS or CBI.' At the time, the agency had not opposed the discharge application filed by the accused. The NIA had taken this stand after the confession of Swami Aseemanand, who had been arrested in the Mecca Masjid blasts case, as per a report in The Times of India.

The court is likely to pass an order on the discharge application filed by the accused on 25 April, as per a Mumbai Mirror report.

The NIA's change in stance assumes particular significance after special prosecutor Rohini Salian made startling revelations that she was asked to go soft on the accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blasts, in which Hindu extremists are alleged to have been involved, as reported by The Indian Express. She also claimed that while she wanted the NIA to file a discharge application with respect to the Muslim accused in 2006 blasts case, the agency did not do so, another report by the newspaper states.

With the court slated to pass an order on the discharge application in less than two weeks, the fate of the nine accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts hangs in balance again.
Kolkata: An IPS officer of the 1988 batch, Soumen Mitra on Wednesday took over as the new Police Commissioner of Kolkata after Rajeev Kumar was removed by the Election Commission from the post following complaints against him by major opposition political parties in poll-bound West Bengal.

Soon after assuming the chair of the city police chief at the Lalbazar Police Headquarters, Mitra said, "It's a challenging time. My main job now is to get through the elections peacefully."

Mitra was earlier working as ADG, CID in the state police. Handing over the charge to Mitra, Rajeev Kumar, an IPS officer of the 1989 batch, rushed to his new office to take over as ADG, Anti-Corruption Branch in state police. Kumar was appointed as Kolkata Police Commissioner in January this year.

With this change, Ram Phal Pawar (an IPS of the 1988 batch), who was holding the post of ADG, Anti-Corruption Branch in West Bengal, would now take over as ADG, CID in the state police.

A notification from the Home department today said the transfers were made with immediate effect and until further orders.

The BJP and Congress had recently moved the EC seeking removal of Kumar alleging that he was close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and accused him of "snooping" on opposition leaders, bureaucrats and journalists.

The BJP had complained to the EC after an alleged failed sting operation against the party's national secretary and former state president Rahul Sinha late last month. Two Kolkata Police personnel had allegedly tried to bribe Sinha in return for help to smuggle out cows to Bangladesh.

Sinha had alleged that it was a conspiracy by the TMC government to trap BJP leaders in the sting operation before the Assembly polls and demanded a CBI probe.
New Delhi: The creases on her face get more pronounced when she speaks of home, and the pain seeps through her eyes when she talks about the journey to a place where she is forced to live now; the alien place which she looks at with puzzled eyes.

Harvi Devi is just one of about two million people who have migrated to the capital seeking respite from the severe drought in Bundelkhand. In her late seventies, Devi took one of the many crowded trains from Mahoba district in Uttar Pradesh, one of the several drought-hit areas in and around Bundelkhand.

Devi, who initially insisted on staying back, had to leave home as survival became difficult because of the extreme living conditions.

Sab bin to koi jee le par bin pani kono kayse jiye ji? (You can live without a lot of things but how can one survive without water?), Devi said.

According to a CNN-IBN report, at least 18 lakh people  about 10 percent of the population  have migrated out of Bundelkhand to Delhi alone during the past one year.

Somalian poet Warsan Shire, while speaking on the European refuge crisis that captured the imagination of the world last year after the image of the three-year-old Aylan Kurdis lifeless little body on a Turkish beach went viral, wrote, No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. You only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well. No one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land.

Living in the shanties build around a construction site at Khichripur in East Delhi, these migrants may not possess the skills of poetic oratory to convey their plight but they speak of the same compulsion of leaving home.

As we enter the place around 6.30 am, the women are busy cooking while the children are playing in the field trying to adjust to their new life. The men are readying for their day-long work, as they clean themselves with the precious water stored away in gallons.

Khilla Ahrawar, who has migrated Silawat village in Madhya Pradesh said, Many members of my family are still living in the village. They are not willing to leave it as they are really afraid of coming to this big city. But I am afraid that with almost no help from the government they cannot survive their too.

He added, We have to ensure that we earn enough to live here and also send money back home so that they can feed themselves there. It is a struggle which does not seems to end."

Amna, another migrant who came to Delhi few weeks ago said, I will never be able to forget the last few months. We have seen drought earlier too but this time it was so bad that we had to leave our villages. Living here in these shanties with no security is very difficult. But at least we are getting water here. Our children are getting food to eat. If we would not have left our villages it would have eaten our children instead."

Most of these labourers are working at construction sites across the city. It gives them some income and two meals. But not all are that fortunate. Many get trapped in the clutches of unscrupulous contractors and have to beg for their dues.

Rakesh Kumar, an auto-rickshaw driver who also runs an organization called Bundelkhand Mazdoor Adhikaar Sangathan that helps the labourers coming from the Bundelkhand region said, I came from Bundelkhand a few years ago. I have seen thousands of people from my area coming here. But this year they have arrived in huge numbers because of the severe drought.

"They are living in slums across the city. In places like Rohini, RK Puram and in other parts of the National Capital Region. They are struggling to survive without any basic amenities but then they are able to stay alive," Kumar said.

Kumar works to help many labourers get their dues from contractor and feels that it is total lack of apathy that creates a situation that dives them out of their homes.

I went on a hunger strike a few days ago at Jantar Mantar to draw the governments attention towards the plight of our people. I hope our voice will reach to the authorities, Kumar said.

Rajan Dhameria, who belongs to Bundelkhand but has lived in Delhi for many years said, For so many years people from the Bundelkhand region have been forced to migrate as their basic needs cannot be fulfilled. Why does the government fail to respond? Why cannot the government ensure that the region is developed so that no one is compelled to leave their home and live like this on roads?

Politics and economics of underdevelopment and successive droughts in Bundelkhand will churn out some fancy arguments and rhetoric. However, what Harvi Devi said as she wiped her eyes with the corner of her saree came out to be the most straightforward and honest one.

Sarkaar to bahot badi cheez hoye hai, ou ka paani aur anaaj na de paay apni junta ko. (Government is a very big thing. How can it not provide water and food to its people?) Devi said.
Patna: An RJD MLA's sister on Tuesday died after she was allegedly assaulted by some unidentified persons a few days ago, triggering protest by the legislator who sat on dharna for over six hours on Ara-Patna National Highway.

On 9 April, Shail Devi (29), Yadav's sister, was badly beaten up by the accused after allegedly misbehaving with her while she was returning to her native place in Barhara from Keshavpur village in Bhojpur district where she had gone for treatment, DSP Sadar, Sanjay Kumar said.

According to the case registered, Shail took a shared autorickshaw from Keshavpur when some youths boarded the vehicle on the way and started misbehaving with her and later threw her out of it after badly assaulting her.

Some villagers spotted her and rushed her to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) in a critical condition.

Shail died on Tuesday during treatment, PMCH Principal SN Sinha said.

An FIR was lodged with Chandi police station in Bhojpur district in this regard.

The RJD MLA came down heavily on the police and criticised the coalition government headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, saying "When the sister of an MLA is not safe, how will the common man feel themselves safe?"

The MLA and his supporters jammed the NH near Kamyanagar in Ara for over six hours and demonstrated against the incident.
What makes human beings unique? Some say its language or tools. Others say its logical reasoning, argues physicist Stephan Hawking before throwing in his punch line. They obviously havent met many humans.

They certainly haven't met Shankaracharya Swami Swarupanand Saraswati.

Over the past few days, the avuncular Shankaracharya of Dwarka-Sharada Peeth has made a series of statements. All of them defy logical reasoning, established cultural beliefs and laws of karma and dharma.

Consider his latest gem. According to The Hindustan Times, the seer has blamed honeymooners for the devastating floods in Uttarakhand. People coming from different parts of the country to holy places of Devbhoomi (Uttarakhand) for enjoyment, picnic and honeymoon led to the Kedarnath disaster. Similar incidents could happen if unholy activities are not stopped, he said.

Ignore for a moment the insinuation that picnic is paap(sin) and honeymoon-anything that involves sex-is unholy. In a culture that considers Soma a stimulant that worked as an entheogen (something that invokes the divinity within)a Vedic god and revels in sculpture and art that celebrates coitus, not many would be inclined to believe the aforementioned acts could invoke the Almighty's wrath, lead to cloudbursts and killer flash floods.

Even without getting into the binary of unholy and divine, it can be argued that honeymooners, assuming a large number of them had the patience and energy to trek up to Kedarnath, didn't cause the destruction.

Flash floods in Uttarakhand killed more than 5,700 people in 2013. Most of the people were swept away because they were not informed in advance of the heavy rainfall in the Upper Himalayas. Just like the 2004 tsunami, the floods and landslide caught them by surprise, trapping thousands, killing hundreds. Also, environmental experts believe people were swept away because the rivers were obstructed by debris of under-construction dams. They argue the environment was damaged by unscientific development.

To be fair, the Shankaracharya is not a physicist. He doesn't deal in empirical evidence or logic. The only thing he believes in is faith. The only law of action and reaction he understands is this: If your actions annoy god there will be hell to pay. That his deity will react in anger and punish you. For him god is supreme, the only rationale behind the theory of everything.

This caricaturisation of god as an entity that gets offended and doles out severe punishment is purely a humanmostly Brahminicalconcept. The Almighty, in whatever form it exists for the believers, never announced itself as somebody who needs to be feared for his anger or acts of retributive destruction, like the one in Uttarakhand. It can be argued that in the absence of self-anointed messengers of god and middlemen, the Almighty might have been much more comfortable in the role of a loving, forgiving entity that watches from a distance as man and Nature interact, leading to the inevitable cycle of cause and effect, punishment and reward.

But believers like Shankaracharya find it more convenient to have someone to blame and fear, to find the hand of god in natural calamities and raise the bogey of punishment and reward in both the current and afterlife, a concept Hawkins calls a fantasy for those who fear the dark.

So, according to the seer, the current drought in Marathwada is because of the deification of Sai Baba, whom the Shankaracharya has been constantly vilifying. It is nobody's case that mortals should be revered with blind faith, seen as purveyors of miracles, medical cures, sources of wealth and happiness. But, to believe that rivers dried up and monsoon failed because of what happens in Shirdi is a giant leap of irrationality. It gives a clean chit to both El Nino and those responsible for destroying Marathwada with mindless construction and avaricious exploitation of natural resources.

If Sai Baba is to blamed for the drought in Marathwada, what explains the history of famines in West Bengal and Rajasthan?

Even more illogical is his assertion that Lord Shani would get so angry because of women's entry into a temple dedicated to him that it would lead to rape. Whatever be your faith, whether you are an agnostic or a bhakt, it is impossible to believe that the creator of this universe could be so irrational to order that women be punished for offering prayers in the Shani Shignapur temple. For god's sake, Shani is meant to be a deity, not some misogynistic villain in a Bollywood flick.

Shani, Indians believe, is the lord of justice. In popular culture, Shanischara is considered so kind and forgiving that many urban and rural households donate a bowl of oil (mustard) and flour every Saturday with the belief that the deity will forgive their sins during the preceding week and not punish them. If you believe in the legend of Shani then it is uncharitable to this kind deity that he will punish women for absolutely no fault.

The Almighty we know is kind and forgiving. He loves everybody equally: men, women, honeymooners, celibates, revellers, picnickers, believers, idol worshipers, cult followers, kaafirs and agnostics.

To perpetuate the myth and fear of a misogynist, perpetrator of droughts, famines, hunger, thirst and rapes may not be the best form of reverence even for venerable saints.
New Delhi: Nineteen minors, including 14 tribal girls, were rescued on Tuesday after raids at fake placement agencies and a chocolate manufacturing unit in north-west Delhi, police said.

The raids, which followed an investigation by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), the organisation founded by Nobel prize winner Kailash Satyarthi, were conducted by officials of the local police and administration.

Four persons were arrested for allegedly bringing children from poor families to Delhi and giving them up to serve as menial workers at low wages, sources said a BBA representative.

The girls, who hailed from different districts of Jharkhand, Assam and West Bengal, were rescued during raids at four "illegal" placement agencies based in the Shakurpur area, said a senior police officer.

The five boys were rescued during another raid at a chocolate manufacturing unit in the Keshavpuram area.

"Almost half of the stay-at-home labour employed in Delhi is underage. This constitutes about 5 lakh minors who are being abused and neglected in the capital," claimed RS Chaurasia, chairperson of the organisation.
New Delhi: Farzana Khatoon, the wife of slain NIA officer Tanzil Ahmad, succumbed on Wednesday to her injuries at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Aiims).

Ahmad was killed on 3 April when unknown assailants pumped 21 bullets into him while he was returning from a wedding in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district after midnight with his wife and two children. Farzana had got four bullet injuries in the incident and was admitted to hospital.

Farzana succumbed to her injuries at the Aiims trauma centre intensive care unit at 10:45 am, an NIA officer said.
The renaming of Gurgaon as Gurugram should have been a no brainer, since it is claimed to came from the same name source and has been returned to it. But there seems to be a repeat of mainstream media angst at it almost as if any inconvenience to an Englishmans tongue is a travesty of some sort.

We are all for continuity if it serves purpose but shouldnt be against change if it re-configures a peoples idea of themselves, their origins, their heritage or their history. That would be a bit like arguing against the Native Indians right to his village names in face of the White mans hegemonic drive to oust him along with his cultural hooks, syllable by syllable.

It makes sense to wonder why name changes matter when they bring with them no plausible or verifiable changes in living conditions. But is that all names signify? Arent names significant markers of who we are, where we came from and where we want to go? Isnt a name a material indicator of our aspirations our hopes and our dreams? Why are children named by parents after famous and successful people, or mythical Gods? Because, names are like arrow boards, little poles with directions stuck on them; with subtle messages to where you came from so you know how to find your way to where you can go.

Names are the first declaration of intent. It is the only identity before you have an identity. Names must come from source; they cannot be plastic, they cannot be assumed or imported. Names must come from the roots.

Let us not undermine the power of names to implant values in our polity. If Mumbai is what the people of Maharashtra know their city to be, why do we need an Englishman to propose his limited pronunciation as the official version. Isnt a modification of a name that came from Mumba Devi an assault on their traditions, their belief system, their religion, as it were?

The English did pretty much the same everywhere when they changed the names they were uncomfortable with to favour their tongues  or their strategy. Generations have lived with the dichotomy of having names of their cities and villages known by variations they cannot fathom to pronounce. The Haryanvi can say Gurugram without a hitch, as his ancestors were doing for ages. He can not say Gurgaon in the anglicised way we have come to learn and he must then call it Gudganwa as any local will tell you. This is a corruption of the word that followed the corruption of the word by the Anglican enunciation.

Every political regime brings with itself its own priorities, based on which it believes it won public approval. For those who did not care for the rechristening of Gurgaon to a name the state recognizes at its own, it is perfectly valid to suggest that it did not matter. But to a regime that believes that our cultural heritage is the bedrock of future greatness, names are symbols.

If this was the land where Dronacharya lived and if this is the mythology that we have all embraced, we should have no problem accepting this minor correction. It is in the nature of things to revert to the centre, return to roots. A name is more than a name. A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose only as long as it is not called a Lotus. So let's not pride ourselves in the phonetics of phoneytics. Lets learn to say it like it is.

Sanjay Kaul is a member of the BJP and tweets @sanjay_kaul
New Delhi: The Supreme Court and High Courts are handing over a large number of sensitive cases to the CBI for investigation without additional manpower, the government said on Wednesday, to highlight the acute staff crunch gripping the agency.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which acts as nodal authority for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has asked all states to send officers to fill large vacancies in the agency.

The CBI is facing an acute shortage of manpower in the ranks of Constable, Head Constable, Inspector and Superintendent of Police. To fill up these vacancies, the agency has, on several occasions, requested all state governments to send the names of willing officials or officers to join CBI on deputation basis to ensure effective investigation of cases, a communique from DoPT said.

The problem is especially acute in the wake of the Supreme Court and High Courts handing over a large number of sensitive cases to the CBI for investigation without any additional manpower, it said.

In a related development, a Parliamentary committee had late last year criticised perceived 'judicial activism' of Supreme and higher courts by overseeing investigation and passing interim directions to CBI saying it may appear to be an exercise of power by them.

Recently, the government has also sanctioned 598 new posts for CBI for investigation into the Vyapam scam and chit fund or ponzi scam cases. However, these posts have not been filled up so far, the DoPT said.

It cited a verdict of the apex court which had directed that steps be taken to fill up the existing vacancies expeditiously.

"It is once again requested that all state governments may kindly send the names of willing officials or officers at the earliest to CBI to fill their vacant posts on deputation basis in the rank of Constable, Head Constable, Inspector and Superintendent of Police," the DoPT said.

This issue will be discussed during a meeting scheduled to be held on April 22, by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh with Principal Secretaries (of Personnel or General Administration Department) of state governments.

The matter was also raised by the CBI before the members in the last meeting of Personnel and GAD secretaries.

As per the latest data, there are 1,641 vacant posts in CBI against its sanctioned strength of 7,274.

The matter of establishing four additional special courts--three in West Bengal and one in Andhra Pradesh--will also be discussed during the meeting.

Out of 22 additional special courts, 18 have become operational. Four such courts--one each in Visakhapatnam and Asansol, and two in Alipore--have not become operational yet, the DoPT said.

Issues like the status of abolition of interviews for recruitment to majority of government jobs (especially those at lower levels), meeting in Union Public Service Commission regarding the promotion of officials from state civil service to IAS and simplification of procedure for issuance of caste certificates among others will also be discussed during the meeting.
Srinagar: Congress in Jammu and Kashmir today demanded an impartial and time-bound probe into the death of three civilians in firing by Army in north Kashmir's Handwara town which triggered fresh clashes between protesters and security forces in the Valley.

Several state Congress leaders, including president G A Mir, were not allowed to visit Handwara town where they wanted to assess the situation after the incident and express solidarity with the bereaved families, a party spokesman claimed.

"The leaders demand a time-bound impartial probe into this firing incident, so that the truth comes to fore and guilty punished," the spokesman said. Strongly condemning the firing incident, the party leaders said that "killing of innocent people, in any form, cannot be justified by anything."

They termed the firing on protestors as "most unfortunate", saying such type of incidents would further alienate the people and vitiate the peaceful atmosphere in the state. The party leaders also questioned the promises made by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to protect innocent people and ensure peaceful atmosphere in the state.

Kashmir remained tense today as one more youth was killed in fresh clashes between protesters and security forces in the Valley amid curfew-like restrictions imposed in view of the disquiet following the death of the three civilians in the firing by Army yesterday.
Hyderabad: Yoga guru Ramdev Baba, who had said that he would have beheaded lakhs of people for not chanting 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' slogan, was booked by the Hyderabad police on Wednesday.

A case was registered on a complaint by Mohd Bin Omer, a medical college student and an activist of city-based Darsgah Jihad-O-Shahadat under section 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of the IPC on Wednesday, a senior police officer said.

Omer said in the complaint that he had seen a video clip on YouTube where Ramdev threatens members of a particular community, Assistant Commissioner of Police M Srinivasa Rao said.

"We are investigating the matter further," Rao said.

Ramdev had recently said he respects the law of the land and the Constitution, otherwise he would have "beheaded" lakhs of people for refusing to say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

Hyderabad-based MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had earlier said he would not say the slogan.
Tiruchirappalli (TN): Mounting a scathing attack, BJP President Amit Shah on Wednesday accused the Jayalalithaa government of being the "most corrupt" in the country and asked the people to oust it in the 16 May Assembly elections.

Addressing a press conference flanked by three Union ministers, including Power Minister Piyush Goyal, he also charged the state government with non-cooperation over implementation of central schemes including UDAY, aimed at helping debt-ridden state power discoms.

Goyal had recently said that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was "inaccessible" and criticised the state government for not joining the Centre's UDAY scheme.

Projecting NDA as an alternative to AIADMK and DMK, Shah said, "The Narendra Modi government is committed to the welfare of villages, the poor and labour class. I am confident the people of Tamil Nadu will give priority to NDA in the polls."

"People should change this most corrupt government in India and give NDA a chance," the BJP chief said in a sharp attack on Jayalalithaa whose AIADMK has extended issue-based support to the Modi government in Parliament.

Shah, who will launch BJP's campaign at a rally here later this evening, alleged that the Centre was facing problems in implementing many schemes in the state like UDAY.

"UDAY, for instance, is meant to reach consumers but the Tamil Nadu government is not coming forward to implement it," he said.

Same was the case with the proposed AIIMS, he said in an apparent reference to the proposal to set up one of the units of the premier health institute in the state, but which is yet to take off.

Shah also trained his guns at both DMK and AIADMK, besides Congress and charged them with corruption.

"Whether it be 2G (DMK) or disproportionate assets case (AIADMK) Aircel-Maxis (DMK) or ED case against (son of Congress leader P Chidambaram) Karti, their top leaders face corruption cases. These show they did corruption when they were in power," he said.

However, there was no corruption charge against the two-year old Modi government, he said, adding that his party stood for development.

The NDA will deliver on its development agenda in Tamil Nadu if voted to power, he said, alleging that sand and liquor mafia had exploited people under the Dravidian parties' rule in the state.

On whether an alliance with AIADMK was on cards earlier, he said BJP never expected the ruling party to propose a tie-up with it for elections.

Even the AIADMK's support to the NDA government in Parliament was "issue-based", he said.

Asked about the delay in constituting the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), Shah said BJP believed in taking all states along and favoured talks to arrive at a "consensus".

On the issue of fishermen being "attacked" and arrested by Sri Lankan Navy, he said his party-led government was committed to the welfare of the fishermen.

He recalled that as soon as it came to power, the Modi government had acted and saved five fishermen from the gallows and brought them back home. Talks were on with Colombo to find a permanent solution to the vexed issue.

"Fishermen no more face (Lankan navy's) bullets," he said.

Earlier, Shah met party candidates for the 16 May polls, besides those of other NDA constituents IJK and Akila Indiya Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhagam.

He expressed hope that his party will put up a good show despite lack of erstwhile allies like DMDK.
New Delhi: The CPI-M on Wednesday accused the government of taking a "dangerous step" by agreeing to let US armed forces use facilities in Indian naval and air force bases.

Along with other related developments, the Narendra Modi government has converted India "into a full-fledged military ally of the US", the Communist Party of India-Marxist said.

The US Defence Secretary and Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced on Tuesday a principle agreement for a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA).

"This is just another name for the Logistic Support Agreement (LSA) that the US enters into with military allies like the Philippines, South Korea and Japan," the Communist Party of India-Marxist said.

"Unlike what (Parrikar) says, refuelling, maintenance and repair facilities for American ships and airplanes will require the stationing of US armed forces personnel on Indian soil on a regular basis.

"Along with this agreement, the minister has indicated that two other agreements are on the anvil: Communication and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA).

"These will make the Indian armed forces command and control structure integrated with the US armed forces.

"In doing so, the BJP government has crossed a line which no other government has done since independence: converting India into a full-fledged military ally of the US.

"By this, the Modi government has compromised national sovereignty and the strategic autonomy of the country... It should immediately retract from signing the Logistics Agreement."
New Delhi: Attacking the Modi government over its decision to sign the Logistics Support Agreement with the US, Congress on Wednesday said it is "disastrous" and will hit the independence of India's foreign policy while Left parties termed it as "dangerous and anti-national".

"NDA government's decision to sign Logistics Support Agreement with the US is the beginning of the end of the independence of India's foreign policy and strategic autonomy."

"It is a disastrous decision. Government should retract the decision and should not sign this agreement and other foundation agreements", senior party leader A K Antony, who was Defence Minister in the UPA regime, told PTI.

Left parties also lashed out at the government for its "in principle" agreement for a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the US, terming it as "dangerous and anti-national" move and demanded that it "immediately retract" from inking the agreement.

Accusing Government of "crossing line" with the move, which the parties said "no other government" had taken since independence, they charged the Narendra Modi dispensation of converting India into a "full-fledged" military ally of Washington and "compromising" country's strategic autonomy.

The communist parties also claimed that there is "no transparency" in what the Union Government does with regard to "such critical policy matters" as Parliament is not taken into confidence and sought to know why the dispensation is "desperate" to "please" US by taking the step "voluntarily".

"Modi government has taken the dangerous stepIn doing so, the BJP Government has crossed a line which no other government has done since independence - converting India into a full-fledged military ally of the United States," the CPM noted in a statement.

India and the US had on Tuesday agreed "in principle" to the logistics exchange agreement to enable both militaries to use each other's assets and bases for repair and replenishment of supplies.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and visiting US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter had, however, made it clear that the agreement, which will be signed in "weeks" or "coming months", does not entail deployment of American troops on Indian soil.

Antony insisted that by signing this agreement, India would be gradually becoming part of the American military bloc.

"When UPA was in power, India had all along resisted such proposals. India had traditional relationship with Soviet Union, now Russia from the very beginning. Of late, we are steadily improving our relations with the US also. We always resisted pressure from everybody to be part of a military bloc", he said.

By inking such an agreement, India will allow the US Military, mainly Navy and Air force, to use its facilities for their smooth operations, Antony said.

"They can refuel their warheads, their ships and aircraft etc and if necessary keep their military equipment on Indian soil," he warned.

Contending that India rarely operates beyond its shores, the Congress leader said, "This agreement practically gives very little advantage to it, but gives enormous opportunity to US Military."

This is especially true at a time when the US has announced that in the next three years, 60 per cent of U S Marines will be placed in Asia-Pacific region, he said.

"It means gradually India will become one of their major facilitator. It is a dangerous game. It will become part of military conflicts. It will affect our strategic autonomy. In eyes of the world, India will become part of the U S military bloc," Antony added.

The CPM accused the government of "compromising" national sovereignty and the country's strategic autonomy of the country with the decision and urged all political parties and "patriotic" citizens to oppose Centre's "surrender" to the US.

"The (NDA) Government must be told that these anti-national steps do not have the support of the people. It should immediately retract from signing the Logistics Agreement," the party insisted.

It described LEMOA as "just another name" for the Logistic Support Agreement (LSA) that US enters into with military allies like Philippines, South Korea and Japan.

The party cautioned that "unlike what" Parrikar says, refuelling, maintenance and repair facilities for American ships and airplanes will require stationing of US armed forces personnel on Indian soil on a regular basis.

"Along with this agreement, the Defence Minister has indicated that two other agreements are on the anvil, Communication and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA). These will make Indian armed forces command and control structure integrated with the US armed forces," it said.

CPI national secretary D Raja said there is "no transparency" in what the Union Government does on "critical" policy matters and asked it to explain why it is "desperate" to please Washington.

"Earlier, there used to be tremendous pressure on India from the US to have access to our ports for refueling and such things. Now India is voluntarily offering all help to the US. Why is India so desperate to please the US? This Modi Government will have to explain," the Rajya Sabha member said.

Condemning the decision, JD(U) said it "compromises" national security, and appealed to all the opposition parties to come together to oppose the move.

"This is a clever conspiracy of the US to strengthen its military set up in Asian countries and India is not going to be benefited by this. Janta Dal (United) condemns the central government's move to deepen military tie-up with the US.

"This step of the government has not only compromised the national security but also brought India into a military alliance with the US like other military organisations such as SEATO and NATO," the party's spokesperson K C Tyagi said in a statement.

No previous government took such a decision and India has been a non-allied nation since its independence, he said.

JD(U) will also raise this issue in the coming Parliament session, Tyagi said.
New Delhi: The man who was arrested for hurling a shoe at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been hospitalised after he was taken ill inside Tihar jail.

Officials said that Ved Prakash, the general secretary of Aam Aadmi Sena (AAS), has been admitted to DDU hospital even as an office-bearer of the outfit claimed she was "stopped" by police and hospital staff when she had gone to meet him.

"Prakash developed high fever last evening and was treated by jail doctors before being referred to the DDU hospital," said a senior jail official.

AAS office-bearer Bhawna Arora, meanwhile, claimed she had tried to meet Prakash in the hospital but was "stopped" from doing so.

"I was prevented from meeting him although I just wanted to enquire about his health," she said.

Arora claimed Prakash had told her following his arrest that he was thrashed by some persons after he had hurled the shoe at Kejriwal.

The jail official said there was no untoward incident involving Prakash inside the jail in which he might have sustained injuries.

Incidentally, Arora, who said she was in-charge of the Punjab unit of the outfit, had earlier thrown ink at Kejriwal at a rally at Chhatrasal stadium to celebrate the success of the first phase of the odd-even scheme, on 17 January.

Prakash was arrested for the shoe attack at the Delhi Secretariat on 9 April when Kejriwal was holding a press conference on the roll-out of the second phase of the odd-even scheme.

Later, his bail plea was rejected by a city court and he was placed in 14-days' judicial custody on 11 April.

AAS is claimed to have been formed by a group of AAP dissidents in 2014.
New Delhi: On Wednesday former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat briefed Rahul Gandhi about the evolving political scenario in the state after the imposition of President's rule and trained his guns on the Modi government accusing it of pursuing a policy of "combative federalism".

In the meeting with the Congress Vice President, Rawat is learnt to have briefed him about the pros and cons for Congress if BJP chooses to form the government with support from the rebel MLAs or the Assembly is dissolved immediately for holding fresh elections.

Playing the victim card to the hilt, Rawat alleged the Modi government got him "removed" because BJP faced an impediment in pursuing its "communal agenda" in Uttarakhand while he was Chief Minister.

The former Chief Minister also expressed hope that people will not forget his government's dismissal and "teach" the BJP a lesson in the coming assembly polls.

"The Prime Minister often talks about cooperative federalism but what he is doing is combative federalism. What has happened in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand bear testimony to it. This is not a matter related to one state or only Congress party, this is an assault on federal structure," Rawat said and dared BJP to call for fresh elections.

He also expressed readiness for a probe into the allotment of mining leases and liquor sale after BJP made allegations against him on these issues.

"I have nothing to fear. I am rather keen that a probe happens. I have not granted any new mining licence. They were done during the previous governments headed by Vijay Bahuguna (who joined hands with BJP) and Ramesh Pokhrial Nishank (former BJP Chief Minister).

"A decision was taken by my government to hand over stocking of liquor from private parties to Uttarakhand Agriculture Production Marketing Committee, popularly called Mandi Samiti. Harak Singh Rawat (who was among the Congress rebels who joined hands with BJP) was its Chairman," Rawat said.

Training his guns on the Prime Minister, Rawat said, "I want to ask Modi ji whether he wants to spread this 'Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram' (promote defection) politics in states."

"What special or emergency situation had arisen in Uttarakhand that in a tearing hurry he rushed from Guwahati to chair a Cabinet meeting in Delhi and recommended promulgation of President's rule just a day before the state government was to prove its majority in the Assembly," he asked.

Insisting that he should be called a "dismissed" Chief Minister and not a former Chief Minister, Rawat said BJP is "keen" to form government and alleged that its senior leaders are "scouting" the state to "poach" MLAs from other parties.

"My belief is that they will try to form government. Otherwise their top boss will not be happy," he said.

Daring BJP to face fresh elections in the state, Rawat said, "If they have the courage, they should face the people but they will not do so as they are neither confident of getting people's support nor they have any confidence left in Modi."

Accusing the Centre of engaging in "brazen display of power" in "dismissing a duly-elected government", Rawat alleged the "defections were manufactured" by BJP in Uttarakhand.

He also alleged that the central agencies are being "misused" in the state to suit the "politics" of the NDA government.

"The BJP is even misusing the spell of President's rule in the state as its leaders are making all-out efforts to poach MLAs from other parties. From BJP's arguments for imposing President's rule in the state, it seems that the party will now even give final decisions on what has been passed in a state Assembly or not.

"BJP applies double standards on this matter. When the Aadhaar Bill was passed as Money Bill in Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it was the Speaker's discretion to decide which bill was money bill. But when the Appropriation Bill was passed in Uttarakhand Assembly, the Speaker's decision was given no value because the government here did not belong to BJP," Rawat argued.

Asked whether he is hopeful of proving his majority on the floor of the House if he is given such an opportunity by the court, Rawat said he has the backing of all "secular forces" in the state as they felt "injustice" was done to him.

About the sting operation that showed him purportedly trying to allure some rebels by offering cash, the former Chief Minister posed a number of questions.

"Can a media house do a sting for a political party. Will sting now be considered a basis for imposing President's rule in a state. If sting is the basis, why the Raman Singh government is not going as in a sting he appears trying to tamper with the electoral process (during a by-election).

"Why only Rawat should go over a sting? Let the other R, Raman also go if sting is the basis. Then what action was taken against Amit Shah and Narendra Modi over another sting in Ahmedabad (the snoopgate)? Let the Prime Minister say in Parliament that henceforth the state governments will be dismissed on the basis of sting operations," Rawat said.

Replying to questions on whether rebel Congressmen were given too long a rope by the party's central leadership and whether the practice of creating parallel power centres in the party backfired in case of Uttarakhand, Rawat replied in the negative and asserted that he continued as Chief Minister because he had "full backing" of the central leadership.

He said while ambitions of different individuals remain and there are always competing personalities, "it does not

mean leaders will betray their parent party and join others".
Dhaka: An Islamist group in Bangladesh has stoked controversy after it demanded the removal of the country's Hindu Supreme Court Chief Justice and sought to cut funding for Bengali New Year celebrations, terming it 'haram'.

The Ulema League, which claims to be an affiliate of the ruling Awami League, staged a human chain protest in the capital against the government's funding for the celebration of Bengali New Year, Pohela Baishakh, and demanded the removal of Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, who is Hindu.

The group also demanded that the government cut funding for Pohela Baishakh celebrations and divert the money to Islamic festivals like Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi.

Several secular groups and social platforms criticised the Ulema League and demanded an explanation from the Awami League on its relations with it, as senior ruling party leaders were previously seen joining their programmes.

The mass circulation Daily Star in a front-page commentary wrote, "So then, is our government upholding a 'haram' culture as it is a public holiday? Are the 160 million Bengalis observing a haram festival? . . . What Ulema League has been doing over the years is a crime."

"It (Ulema League) can hurt religious sentiments of the Hindus or any other minority people as it has done this time just yesterday when it said 'a Hindu chief justice in a country where 98 per cent people are Muslims is hurting the sentiment of religious Muslims'."

The Awami League, however, denied any links to the group.

"I am telling you, Awami League does not have any affiliate called Ulema League... we have 11 affiliated or associate organisations and you would not find the so-called Ulema League in that list," Awami League spokesman and joint

general secretary Mahbub-Ul-Alam Hanif told PTI.

He said that law enforcement agencies were asked to take required legal action against the group for carrying out controversial activities using the Awami League banner.

Hanif also denied a media report that the outfit was allowed to use a room inside Awami League's central office, saying "they earlier hung a banner in our office but it was removed as soon as it came to our notice".
Beijing: China is holding a number of Taiwanese on suspicion of fraud, officials said after Taipei accused Beijing of "abducting" its citizens from Kenya and forcibly returning them to the Chinese mainland.

Taipei said this week that Beijing had "illegally" pressured authorities in Nairobi to deport eight of its citizens to the mainland after they had been cleared of fraud charges in Kenya, adding that a total of 37 other Taiwanese were also facing return.

The head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Zhang Zhijun informed Taipei about "a group of Taiwanese residents who are criminal suspects thought to have carried out electronic fraud and who have been detained by our public security agency", the official Xinhua news agency reported late Tuesday.

"Taiwanese suspected fraudsters are thought to have created a base overseas to defraud mainland people with increasing frequency... these criminals must be brought to justice," he added in the Xinhua report, which was posted on TAO's own website.

It did not specify the number or identity of those held, or make specific reference to Kenya or to any deportation.

China considers Taiwan a province of its own, which it will one day unify by force if necessary, even though the territory has ruled itself since 1949 following a civil war split.

Relations between the two have often been tense. Political and trade ties grew in the last decade under the leadership of the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT), but the landslide election victory of independence-leaning Tsai Ying-wen in January's presidential poll raised fears that Beijing will take a more assertive stance.

China's President Xi Jinping met with Tsai's KMT predecessor Ma Ying-jeou last year for the first summit between the two sides since their 1949 split.

The meeting produced little of substance beyond the announcement of a telephone hotline between Beijing and Taipei. Xinhua said the hotline had been used to discuss the detained fraud suspects.

Taiwan said Wednesday that it had filed a suit against several top officials in Kenya for ignoring the court decision that cleared some of the suspects in the cyber scam case.

The officials "allowed Kenyan police to disrespect a court ruling, forcefully detaining our citizens for over 24 hours and illegally cooperating with mainland personnel to deport them to China," Taiwan's foreign ministry said in a written report to parliament.

Taiwanese authorities hoped to send a delegation of senior officials to China within two or three days to discuss the matter, said Andrew Hsia, head of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.

China resumed ties with former Taiwan ally Gambia last month, ending an unofficial diplomatic truce between the two sides. The African nation previously had relations with Taiwan.
Lagos: More than a week after 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped from the remote northeast Nigerian town of Chibok by Boko Haram on 14 April, 2014, a lawyer posted the first #BringBackOurGirls tweet.

Ibrahim Abdullahi's hashtag would go on to become one of Africa's most popular online campaigns and was shared more than four million times over the next month on Twitter.

Social media heavyweights such as Kim Kardashian and Chris Brown endorsed it, while US First Lady Michelle Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron both held up signs of the slogan.

#BringBackOurGirls undoubtedly brought global attention to a brutal but largely ignored conflict that since 2009 has claimed at least 20,000 lives and made more than 2.6 million others homeless.

It also galvanised international support against Boko Haram at a time when Nigeria's military was floundering badly in the face of the better-armed rebels, losing territory and vital public support.

But two years on, #BringBackOurGirls risks becoming another example of the limited influence of online protest, according to Ufuoma Akpojivi, a media researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

On the ground, 219 of the 276 girls are still missing, their Government Girls Secondary School is a broken ruin and Chibok is desperate for development.

"There's nothing to show for it," said Yana Galang, whose daughter Rifkatu is one of the 219 girls who haven't been seen since they appeared in a Boko Haram video message released in May 2014.

Galang, who doesn't have a Twitter account, said the online outrage hasn't helped her.

"The only thing that matters now is for my daughter to be back," she said, as fellow parents prepared to meet at the stricken school in Chibok on Thursday for a prayer vigil.

"This has been going on too long."

Complex issues

Translating social media success into tangible change on the ground has always been a challenge to online campaigns such as #BlackLivesMatter and #OccupyWallStreet.

#BringBackOurGirls was an initial success, bringing protesters out to the streets in a country where mass public demonstrations are rare.

But domestic politics in Nigeria trumped global outrage, as the online protest became entangled in the complicated web of identity politics and partisanship, said Akpojivi.

Supporters of Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian who was Nigeria's president at the time of the kidnapping, dismissed it as a fabrication by his political enemies in the Muslim-majority north to derail his re-election campaign.

Outspoken government critics such as the former education minister turned anti-corruption activist Oby Ezekwesili and the popular televangelist Tunde Bakare meanwhile promoted #BringBackOurGirls.

"They (Jonathan's government and supporters) thought the movement was fuelled by the opposition to discredit them, so the government criminalised the movement," said Akpojivi.

One woman was arrested after meeting Jonathan's wife, Patience, while the police moved to ban daily protests by Ezekwesili and other #BringBackOurGirls activists in Abuja.

The Jonathan administration's alienation from the campaign -- and an apparent reluctance or inability to find the girls -- highlighted the limits of well-meaning online protesters.

"There is the misconception that embracing social media or using new media technologies will bring about the needed change," Akpojivi said.

"Retweeting doesn't mean that the government will take action. We need to understand that there are other political and economic issues at play."

Limited advocacy

Despite the original #BringBackOurGirls tweet originating in Nigeria itself, US Twitter users posted the majority of the tweets.

Yet even here, the world's superpower has been unable to secure the girls' release, despite Boko Haram-related counter-terrorism assistance totalling more than $400 million to date.

A month after the kidnapping, US President Barack Obama sent some 80 military personnel to neighbouring Chad to help locate and "support the safe return" of the schoolgirls.

US and British surveillance experts reportedly located some of the missing girls and passed on their findings to the Nigerians but they failed to follow up.

A Pentagon spokesman said the personnel were redeployed because the Nigerian military had stopped requesting their services.

More direct Western military assistance for the counter-insurgency and finding the girls has been limited by concerns about human rights abuses by Nigeria's armed forces.

Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who leads the #BringBackOurGirls campaign in Washington, said she has struggled to get more funding for security assistance in Nigeria.

"Too many people think it's okay to limit their advocacy for this cause to tweeting," Wilson said, adding she is worried for the girls.

"I pray they are still alive but the reality is that we don't know where they are or what they are doing."
Rome: Italy's coastguard said it had rescued some 4,000 migrants in the past two days, adding to fears of a fresh push to reach Europe via that route as the number of migrants landing in Greece sharply recedes.

On Tuesday, 2,154 migrants were brought to safety in the Strait of Sicily between Italy and north Africa, on top of the 1,850 rescued in the area on Monday, the coastguard said.

A vessel from the EU border agency Frontex and a Greek cargo ship assisted the Italian navy in conducting a total of 25 rescue operations involving 16 dinghies and a rowing boat, officials said. All the passengers survived.

War-torn Libya is the main jump-off point for migrants trying to reach Europe from north Africa.

A spokesman for the Libyan navy said that country's coastguard intercepted a further six inflatable boats carrying

649 migrants off Sabratha, near Libya's border with Tunisia, on Tuesday.

On Monday, 115 migrants had been rescued by Libyan authorities after their boat got into trouble near the capital

Tripoli.

The arrivals represent a sharp increase on the average daily numbers landing in Italy since the start of the year.

According to the United Nations, 19,900 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to Italy so far this year, compared

with 153,000 landing in Greece.

Calmer seas at the onset of spring are encouraging greater numbers of migrants to attempt the perilous crossing to Italy after a winter lull.

There are also concerns that European efforts to shut down the migrant sea crossing from Turkey to Greece will encourage more people to attempt the more dangerous Mediterranean passage from Libya to Italy.
ROME Italy and Iran signed deals potentially worth billions on Tuesday when Prime Minister Matteo Renzi visited Tehran seeking a strong Italian foothold in a nation hungry for infrastructure investment as it emerges from financial isolation.

Renzi was accompanied by a delegation of some 60 business leaders in sectors including energy, railways and defence, and by Italy's export agency and state lender which pledged billions of euros in credit lines and guarantees.

Three months ago President Hassan Rouhani made Italy his first stop in Europe as he sought to drum up investment in the Iranian economy, which rejoined the global trading system in January following a deal to lift crippling sanctions in exchange for limiting its nuclear activities.

"The end of sanctions is a historic step not only for Iran but for the whole region," Renzi told reporters in Tehran with Rouhani standing by his side.

"We are committed to making sure the efforts of the international community are accompanied by mutual trust and by the immediate relaunch of economic links."

Business delegations from other European countries are expected in Tehran in coming weeks, but Italy is well positioned to win contracts that could deliver a much needed export boost for its chronically sluggish economy, especially in the energy sector.

Enel (ENEI.MI) said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Iranian Gas Export Company on possible future cooperation in natural gas, liquefied natural gas and related infrastructure, that could lead to long-term gas supplies for its power stations.

The Enel deal was one of seven signed by Renzi and Rouhani, Iranian state television said. Renzi was due to return to Rome on Wednesday.

Oil contractor Saipem said it inked an MOU with the Razavi Oil & Gas Development Company for the Toos Gas Field project, which holds more than 60 billion cubic metres of gas in place. The project involves drilling five firm and two optional wells, a statement said.

Oil major Eni (ENI.MI) has an agreement that allows it to take oil from Iran in payment for previous investments.

Italy's state railways company, Ferrovie dello Stato, said it signed a "framework of cooperation" agreement to build two high-speed lines in Iran. The contract could be worth some 3 billion euros, a source close to the matter said.

Italy's state-run lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti will offer credit lines of 4 billion euros to companies building oil-and-gas and transport infrastructure, while export agency SACE will guarantee those loans, a SACE statement said.

A further 800 million euros in credit lines for small- and medium-sized will also be offered, the statement said.

When Rouhani visited Italy in January, Saipem already signed preliminary deals that could be worth $4-5 billion, a source said at the time. Steel firm Danieli, infrastructure firm Condotte d'Acqua, rail and road company Gavio, and airplane manufacturer Finmeccanica also reached preliminary agreements with Iranian companies in January.

($1 = 0.8758 euros)

(Reporting by Steve Scherer and Stephen Jewkes, additional reporting by Sam Wilkin in Dubai, Isla Binnie in Rome and Francesca Landini in Milan, editing by Isla Binnie and Robin Pomeroy and Richard Balmforth)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New Delhi: Pakistan on Wednesday informed India that Indian inmate Kirpal Singh died of a heart attack at a jail in Lahore two days back after the issue of his mysterious death was taken up with the Pakistani authorities even as the government said it was awaiting further details in the case.

India's Acting High Commissioner JP Singh met Director General (South Asia) in Pakistan Foreign Ministry in Islamabad following a directive from the Indian government in connection with death of Kirpal Singh, who was languishing for nearly 25 years in jail in connection with a serial blasts case there.

"According to government of Pakistan, Shri Kirpal Singh died on April 11 at 1455 hours due to heart attack. We await further details," Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Vikas Swarup said.

He said India's Acting High Commissioner has also requested the Pakistan Foreign Ministry official for earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains of Kirpal Singh.

50-year-old Kirpal was languishing in a Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges. He had allegedly crossed over to Pakistan through Wagah border in 1992 and was arrested.

He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of charges related to bomb blasts by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons.

Jagir Kaur, Kirpal's sister, earlier said the family could not raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case.

The government asked India's acting envoy to seek a meeting with the Pakistan Foreign Office in connection with Kirpal's death under mysterious circumstances and seek early transfer of the mortal remains.

"On Kirpal Singh, our acting high commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in Pakistan Foreign Office this forenoon to seek early transportation of Singh's mortal remains," Swarup said earlier.
India and the US are stepping up defence cooperation and shoring up maritime security as fears of Chinas increasingly belligerent moves in the South China Sea and beyond are rattling its smaller South East Asian neighbours, as well as the international community at large.

The US pivot to Asia, has been in place for sometime, but India  under cautious UPA defence minister AK Antony  remained hesitant to move closer to the US in defence matters. The process had begun years ago, but many of the problems had to do with the strict laws that US has on transfer of information and technology to a non-Nato and non-NPT signatory country like India. The fear that information would leak from India to its close friend Russia, was also a major consideration for the US. Former Indian ambassador to Washington Naresh Chandra, who has been part of the complicated negotiations, believes that now both sides have softened their respective positions and will be able to work together.

Prime Minister Narendra Modis NDA is also much more enthusiastic about having closer defence ties with the US and wants to cut through the bureaucratic red tape. Also, both India and the US are worried about Chinas growing military clout. The US has long been looking for support from a large country like India. Washington wants New Delhi to take some responsibility in guarding the ocean lanes in its neighbourhood.

India can, to some extent, balance Chinas might, at least in times of size. A loose coalition of navies  led by the US  is gradually emerging, with Australia, Japan, East Asian nations and India to help meet future challenges to the world's common waterways.

"With an eye on China, the US is keen for closer maritime cooperation with India," said defence analyst Rahul Bedi,

Three important announcements were made on Tuesday after talks between visiting Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. This will lay the foundation for closer cooperation between India and the US.

At a news conference after the meeting, Carter said that the two sides were working on signing a commercial shipping information agreement in the coming months. Parrikar added said that a logistics supply agreement between India and the US will also be sealed and signed, once again "in the coming months".

The defence minister added that the draft of the agreement will be ready in a month. This had been hanging fire for a while as the UPA government was not ready to take the plunge. The third announcement was about starting a maritime security dialogue between the two countries. The two countries will now have more complex naval exercises. The Malabar drills announced in 1992 began in earnest only a decade later as an annual bilateral exercise. From now however, it will be a three-nation-drill with Japan as the third permanent member, despite Chinese unhappiness.

When all three agreements are in place, India-US defence cooperation will be on its way. This level of cooperation has never happened in the past. Ahead of Carter's visit, a senior US defence official was quoted by Voice of America as saying, We are doing things now with the Indians that could not have been imagined 10 or so years ago. The logistic agreement will mean that US and Indian defence forces could use each others land, air and naval bases for resupplies, repair and rest.

This will, however, not mean that US troops will be stationed on Indian soil.

When asked specifically about this point at the news conference, Carter said, "No one is talking about US troops on Indian soil."

He added that the details of the logistic support will be decided upon by the two governments. US troops can be in India only on the invitation of the Government of India and the agreement is not binding on either nation.

Naval sources explained that this would simply mean providing petroleum, oil and lubricants that ships often require after being at sea for several months. One of the reasons New Delhi had hesitated in signing the logistic agreement earlier was the fear that if base facilities and docking for US warships were provided, India could end up in American wars. The facilities provided to the US in peace time would have to also be given when the US went to war. So the UPA had insisted that the agreement be "India-specific" and not like the ones that the US signed with other countries.

The wording of the agreement once completed will provide a clue about how the two sides have tackled this problem.

The commercial shipping information agreement will keep Indias Navy and coast guard in the loop about the movement of ships in the Indian Ocean as well as on the Pacific route. In recent times, China has been using its commercial vessels to go to disputed spots and when the vessels are challenged, China sends out its naval ships to join the commercial ship. All this is worrying countries who have claims to areas in the South China Sea. Tracking commercial ships and by extension, keeping a wary eye on the China, is part of the shipping information agreement.

India is planning to sign similar pacts with 27 countries. So far, India has already signed these with Australia, Singapore and Thailand.

The US will be the fourth nation.
London: Many British Muslims do not share the values of non-Muslim fellow Britons on issues like homosexuality, according to a controversial poll that has sparked a debate about integration and multiculturalism.

The survey was conducted by the ICM polling institute for a Channel 4 documentary airing on Wednesday entitled "What British Muslims Really Think" and presented by anti-racism campaigner Trevor Phillips.

Out of the 1,081 respondents, 52 percent said they believed homosexuality should be illegal, compared to 22 percent of all Britons.

Thirty-nine percent believed women should always obey their husbands and 23 percent said Islamic sharia law should apply in areas with high Muslim populations.

"What it reveals is the unacknowledged creation of a nation within the nation, with its own geography, its own values and its own very separate future," Phillips, a former television presenter, wrote in the Sunday Times ahead of the broadcast.

Phillips said the survey showed Muslim integration would be "the hardest task we've ever faced".

"It will mean abandoning the milk-and-water multiculturalism still so beloved of many, and adopting a far more muscular approach to integration," he added.

The poll has already stirred controversy, with many campaigners objecting to the singling out of Muslims.

"Discussions and proposals to promote integration and cohesion are always welcome," Miqdaad Versi, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, wrote in the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday.

"But the starting point should not be that Muslims are the problem, 'not quite British enough', and must be civilised into a pre-existing notion of Britishness," he said.

Varsi pointed to the poll's finding that 86 percent of respondents said they were very attached to Britain and 78 percent said they wanted to integrate.
Police have charged a former school friend of James Russouw with his 2008 murder in Melbourne.

Mr Russouw, 24, was brutally stabbed to death at the Burwood East Reserve on March 7, 2008. His body was left in his father's four-wheel drive and the car was torched.

Christopher Lavery, 30, from Holloways Beach in Cairns, was charged with murder on Wednesday by Victorian cold case detectives who flew to Queensland.
It will take years for Bin Wu to recover from his burns. Credit:John Cowpland He said the pain was excruciating. "I don't even know this guy. The day before there had been a sliced sausage in the cafeteria. I had taken the last slice. "I didn't think anyone had taken that seriously. Not me, none of the other workers... I really don't know what's happening in this guy's mind," he said. Wu said he had worked with Show for about a month and "our only relationship was where we said 'hi' or 'good morning'".

Wu stayed in Hutt Valley Hospital for a week after the incident and did not return to work until the end of September, but was only able to work four hours a day. "My employer Turners and Growers didn't rush me. They were very good to me," he said. "The recovery will take a long time. Right now I still have nasty, very dark red scar tissue. According to my therapist it may look OK in two years, but it will never recover to how it was. "It still hurts sometimes, but I don't take painkillers anymore," Wu said. In the video footage Show can be seen sitting at a table in the full cafeteria eating lunch with associates.

Wu is seated at a table about five metres away, with his back towards Show. Show walks towards a coffee dispensing machine, picks up a bucket and walks to a wall-mounted hot water dispenser. He pours about two litres of boiling water into the bucket, then calmly carries the bucket toward Wu and pours it over his head and back. Wu jumps up immediately, steam rising from his back, and Show begins shouting at him. As Wu runs from the room a female kitchen worker approaches Show, takes the bucket from him and hits him across the head with it. Show then calmly walks back to his table and resumes eating his lunch.

Show's lawyer Leo Lafferty said Show had behaved "bizarrely" and "violently", but had no previous convictions and had been a law-abiding citizen in Malaysia. Show had been experiencing stress and his behaviour was "entirely out of order", Lafferty said. Crown lawyer Steve Manning said there was a high level of premeditation and the provocation was nothing more than the removal of a half-eaten hot dog the previous day. "There was nothing spontaneous about the defendant's actions," Manning said. He said the nature of the attack was "chilling" and Show had calmly and deliberately imposed extreme pain on his victim.

The judge said a lot of people suffered stress and did not pour boiling water over others. He said Show's use of boiling water amounted to extreme violence and there was clear premeditation. The judge said the attack was provoked by "a very petty incident indeed". "Apparently the day before the defendant had become upset because the complainant had taken the remains of a hot dog on his girlfriend's plate and consumed it," the judge said. "This was something the defendant clearly planned. He waited until he could get the boiling water without being interfered with."
Washington: Two Russian warplanes flew simulated attack passes near a US guided missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea, the US military said, with one official describing them as one of the most aggressive interactions in recent memory.

The repeated flights by the Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes on Tuesday, which also flew near the ship a day earlier, were so close they created wake in the water, with 11 passes, the official said on Wednesday. The planes carried no visible weaponry, the official said.

A Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter also made seven passes around the USS Donald Cook, taking pictures. The nearest Russian territory was about 70 nautical miles away in its enclave of Kaliningrad, which sits between Lithuania and Poland.
A massive student rally in West Berlin has ended in violent clashes between police and protesters.

Students blocked the citys main thoroughfare, the Kurfurstendamm, in protest at the shooting last week of one of their leaders, Rudi Dutschke.

Mr Dutschke was shot three times outside the offices of the German Socialist Students Federation (SDS).

He is still seriously ill in hospital.

Students chanted Mr Dutschkes name interspersed with shouts of Murderer Springer  a reference to millionaire publisher Axel Springer.

Students blame Mr Springers papers for inflaming public opinion against them and say the man who shot Mr Dutschke was influenced by views expressed in a Springer publication.

Since the attack on Mr Dutschke students have been attempting to hinder distribution of Springer papers which include the mass circulation tabloid Bild Zeitung.

As huge traffic backlogs built up around the Kurfurstendamm police used water cannon and officers on horseback to disperse the protesters.

More than 180 people were arrested.

Peter Brandt, son of the West German foreign minister, Willy Brandt, was among those detained.

Later there were clashes outside three police barracks where marchers had gathered in anticipation of the release of some of those arrested.

Student dissent has been growing for some time in West Germany with the SDS organising sit-ins and non-violent demonstrations.

However, more aggressive action has been taken since the death in June last year of student Benno Ohnesorg.

He was shot by a police officer during a demonstration against the visit of the Shah of Iran to Berlin.

The SDS is part of the Extra-parliamentary Opposition group set up in 1966.

It consists of student associations, trades unions, writers and other who believe there is currently no effective parliamentary opposition to the ruling Social Democrats.

Courtesy BBC News

In context

Student leader Rudi Dutschke survived being shot but his injuries contributed to his death in 1979.

In 1969 the man who shot him, carpenter Joseph Bachman, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment.

He committed suicide while in prison.

The Berlin student unrest mirrored protests by young people around the world in the late 1960s.

In the US, young people demonstrated against the Vietnam war while in Paris students rioted over the bourgeois university system and the police state.

However, by the early 1970s the German student movement was fractured and had lost much of its impetus and influence.
The Ministry of Culture of China and Macau authorities signed a cooperation agreement at Mandarins House yesterday. The agreement intends to implement a plan for cultural exchange and cooperation between China and Macau, followed by a ceremony to gift funds to national intangible cultural heritage representatives.

The cooperation program includes an exchange of human resources and enhanced communication. Alexis Tam, together with other cultural affairs officials, granted funds to three people involved in cultural heritage. Folk musician and late Nanyin music artist, Ng Wing-mui, Taoist Ritual music artist, Ng Peng Chi, and religious figure carving artist, Tsang Tak Hang, each received MOP30,000 in recognition of their past three years of artistic endeavors. The money was given by the Ministry of Culture to support their work in preserving intangible art.

Ng Peng Chi told the media that he would use the money to promote Taoist ritual music, but he admitted that no detailed plans have been made as yet.

Tsang expects to see more people willing to learn his craft. Moreover, he told the Times that Hong Kong and Singapore are the main customers when it comes to religious carving because there are more temples to be constructed when compared to the mainland. [] The local market is relatively smaller, said Tsang.

Currently, Macau has eight items of National Intangible Cultural Heritage, namely Yueju Opera, Herbal Tea, Woodwork  Macau Religious Figure Carving, Cantonese Naamyam (Nanyin music), Taoist Ritual Music, Feast of the Drunken Dragon, Na Tcha Belief and Customs, and A-Ma Belief and Customs. Staff reporter
A local 27-year-old woman was arrested yesterday by the Judiciary Police (PJ), under suspicion of sexually assaulting her three-year-

old son.

According to the PJ, the woman, unemployed, recorded the assault and shared the video in a parents group-chat via her mobile. A school reported the incident to the police.

The suspect stated that she was offered MOP200,000 by a man, whom she claimed to have met online. The man told her that if she had sex with her son, videotaped the whole process, and gave him her password to the mobile chat application, she would receive the money.

A PJ officer informed the press that the suspect lives separated from her husband, with whom the son had been living. She had taken the boy to a friends house, where the crime took place.

The woman never received the money promised by the mysterious man. The PJ is now investigating his identity.
For years, Chen Tiantian could only read about the gay rights movement in faraway places. She knew that there were activists in Beijing and a vibrant community in Shanghai, and that in San Francisco, a distant mecca, gay pride parades took up entire streets.

But yesterday, the 20-year-old English major sat on the steps of a courthouse and spoke fervently about how the struggle for equality had arrived in her central Chinese hometown  and how she planned to take part.

Its hard to believe, but were right in the middle of this, said Chen, who came with several friends to support a local couple who had challenged the citys civil affairs bureau after they were denied a marriage certificate. Its like Im finally entering the struggle myself.

Though it was dismissed by the court in Changsha, Chinas first legal challenge to a law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples has galvanized many of the hundreds of young Chinese gay rights supporters who gathered at the courthouse, some of them waving small rainbow flags. The hearings sizable public turnout and coverage by usually conservative Chinese media appeared to reflect early signs of shifting social attitudes in China on the topic of sexual orientation.

The lawsuit that was dismissed was brought by 26-year-old Sun Wenlin against the civil affairs bureau for refusing to issue him and his partner, Hu Mingliang, a marriage registration certificate. The judges ruling against the couple came down after a three-hour hearing  but that didnt dampen the mood of many of the hundreds of young Chinese who gathered outside the courthouse hoping for a chance to witness history, in the words of one supporter.

Some supporters, who had traveled overnight from neighboring provinces to line up at 5 a.m. to attend the hearing, said they felt energized because having a gay marriage lawsuit argued in a Chinese court for the first time was a small but significant victory in itself. Unlike in most politically sensitive legal cases, security outside the courthouse was light and the atmosphere was relaxed.

More seasoned activists said they too had reason to be optimistic given a pickup in legal challenges, even if successes in court remained few and far between.

Chinese society and the government have generally frowned on nontraditional expressions of gender and sexuality, but awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues is rising.

China doesnt legally recognize same-sex marriage, and officials with the central government have said they do not see the law changing soon. It also remains unclear how far gay rights activism will be allowed to go under the current political climate in China, where lawyers groups and feminist activists have been jailed in recent months.

But many gay rights activists in China say they feel public attitudes are shifting substantially given the growing mainstream media coverage of LGBT issues.

In 2014, a Chinese court ruled that gay conversion treatments were illegal. Earlier this week, a labor arbitration panel in the southern province of Guizhou heard Chinas first transgender job discrimination case and is expected to make a ruling in the coming weeks.

Ying Xin, the director of the Beijing LGBT Center, said there was a sharp uptick in awareness of gay issues compared to 2009, when the group started doing street performance art in Beijing.

This is a moment because of all the news coverage, and people are gaining exposure, Ying said, pointing out recent coverage of LGBT issues and lawsuits in domestic online and broadcast news outlets.

Central China Television, the state broadcaster, has covered gay issues on several occasions and sent a reporter yesterday to interview Sun after the court decision.

As he left the courthouse amid applause and cries of Hero, Sun, the plaintiff, told reporters and scores of supporters that he would continue to appeal until all of his legal options were exhausted.

The bigger significance of this case is that it will let more people know about their rights, said Gou Gou, a Beijing-based lawyer from an informal group of legal professionals called the Rainbow Lawyers network. But young people are the most passionate. This will hopefully direct them to become more involved with the right training.

For Chen, the English student, yesterdays hearing seemed like an awakening. She attributed the Internet to her knowledge of LGBT issues, saying she had read voraciously about everything from the battle over same-sex marriage in the United States winding its way to the Supreme Court to news of homophobic attacks in Russia.

Chen said she had long wanted to join some sort of organization or cause but had no idea how to participate in Changsha, which had no organized gay community to speak of.

Im going to become active, but Im just worried that as a college student we have no financial power to do anything real, Chen said. But this case definitely gave a lot of people courage to stand up. For gay people in China to make that first step was really not easy.

For the past week, Sun and Hu have been tracked by two college students who are making independent documentaries about them. Yang Dangling, 22, who traveled from the eastern city of Nanjing with her camera, said LGBT student clubs were forming on campuses across the country in the past five to 10 years.

Despite a surge in their national profile, Sun and Hu have sought to maintain a low-key lifestyle in Changsha. Several months ago, police came to the house to urge Sun to drop his case, but left after he reiterated his determination to press on.

Sun said his parents have been fully supportive of his legal battle, while Hus mother and father, who live in the Hunan countryside, are more conservative but have come to accept their sons sexual orientation.

The night before the hearing, Sun and Hu spoke to local reporters before settling down for 10 yuan (USD2) bowls of rice and fried peppers in a nearby eatery, where they contemplated the progress of Chinas gay rights movement.

Sun insisted he didnt want to be a spokesman for all gay people in China, but only fight for his individual rights and set a legal precedent. Social attitudes can only change with economic development, he said.

Hu, the more soft-spoken of the two, interjected to rebut the notion. He recalled bringing Sun home to the countryside several months ago, where he introduced him to some old friends, who shrugged off the revelation that he was gay.

These people knew me for 20 years, Hu said. If you know someone who is gay, that changes your perspective. It just takes exposure. Gerry Shih, Changsha, AP
Las Vegas Sands (LVS) announced yesterday [Macau time] that longtime board member and former president, Michael Leven has decided to retire from the companys board of directors.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which was incidentally bought by Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Sheldon Adelsons family in December, Leven will also retire from the subsidiary, Sands China, to be made effective immediately.

Leven was named as LVS president in 2009 as the company was expanding its presence in Macau and eager to enter Singapore. He presided over the office during one of the companys greatest periods of growth, and acted as Adelsons number two.

LVS informed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday [Macau time] but did not specify why Leven was retiring. He had been serving on the boards of directors for Las Vegas Sands and Sands China since December 2014 when he formally retired as president. Robert Goldstein succeeded Leven as president and chief operating officer.

Speaking to the Times in an exclusive interview in 2013, Michael Leven recognized the need for Macau to diversify from gaming operations, stressing the potential to develop the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) sector.

Pointing to the example of Las Vegas, which Macau government officials have typically eyed with an enthusiastic willingness to imitate, Leven said, it [Vegas] would not be successful [today] if the mid-week business of meetings and conventions, the MICE business, wasnt there.

He also warned, [if] Macau is to be the Las Vegas of Asia, you cant be that reliant only on one-day trip gamblers.

While Leven prophesized that the biggest growth in Macaus gaming would come from the mass market and the mass-mass market in the future (those betting mostly on slot machines and electronic tables), he also predicted, VIP [gaming] is going to continue to have moderate growth [in the future], about nine months before revenues started their unprecedented decline.

Leven was previously the chief executive of U.S. Franchise Systems Inc., a company he founded in 1995 that franchised the Microtel Inns & Suites and Hawthorn Suites hotel brands. He also served briefly as president of Holiday Inn Worldwide, Days Inn of America and Americana Hotels. DB
In a bustling, densely populated corner of Manila, fruit vendor Coring Gutierrez reads USD35 due from her latest water bill, more than triple what her family of six paid 15 years ago.

As long as we get water, she sighs, reflecting the relief many of the Philippine capital regions nearly 12 million residents feel about having a steady and safe water supply.

Water was not supposed to become so expensive for Manila under a 1997 World Bank deal that privatized the seaside citys water and sewage management.

That arrangement is under fire by the U.S. congressional committee that oversees the international development bank, which is now questioning whether the World Bank and its lending arm, the International Finance Corp., should join in such public-private partnerships.

In a letter sent this week to the World Banks president, the committees ranking member accuses the IFC of conflict of interest for its equity stake in one of two companies set up under the 1997 Manila water deal.

The IFCs stake in Manila Water Co. is leading to warped incentives that negatively influence the institutions ability to focus on expanding water access, U.S. Representative Gwen Moore, a Democrat from Wisconsin, says in the letter to World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.

Moore wants the World Bank and the IFC to cease promoting and funding privatization of water resources, pending an evaluation of the IFCs conflicts policy and practices and congressional hearings on the subject.

The IFC welcomed Moores letter as a chance to discuss the issues, saying the World Bank Group takes real or perceived conflicts of interests very seriously, according to the IFCs chief communications officer, Geoffrey Keele. In an email to The Associated Press, he noted that the IFCs role in advising the privatization deal was done several years before it invested in the company, and that the risk of perceived conflicts of interest was examined at each stage of the Manila Water investment approval.

Privately owned water utilities have existed for centuries in Europe and the United States, but have recently ballooned into a huge industry.

Worldwide, one in 10 people lack access to clean water, and for cash-short governments, privatization can help close that gap. But critics contend that privatizing water can make it more expensive, limiting access of the poor to the basic human right to clean water.

The record in Manila has been mixed.

Through much of the 1990s, supplies reached only about a quarter of the population, while the city utility lost up to 62 percent of its supply to leaks, illegal meter tampering and ad hoc connections. Sewage contamination made tap water undrinkable.

Today, the IFC cites Manila as a success story, with relatively reliable services, though costs to consumers have soared.

In 1997, the city paid the IFC $6.2 million to restructure management of its troubled water and sewage systems. Twenty-five-year concessions were awarded to two companies: Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co.

The IFC opted to provide $60 million in loans to Manila Water Co., which took over wealthier districts where customers were more likely to pay. The IFC also bought a $15 million chunk of equity, or about 2.5 percent, in Manila Water. The company became profitable within two years, launched a public offering in 2005 and has invested in water systems in other countries, including India, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Politicians who fear making unpopular decisions about utility tariffs tend to favor privatization. Even some U.S. communities are turning to the private sector to fix outdated systems or improve oversight and counter troubles such as the recent heavy metal contamination of tap water in Flint, Michigan, and New York City.

Moore says the IFC and World Bank created a situation in Manila where prices were bound to soar, as profits were prioritized above the banks mission to alleviate poverty. She worries Manila is being touted as a model for other cities in Africa and Asia.

I am increasingly uneasy with water resource privatization in developing countries, and do not believe that the current ring-

fencing policies separating the investment and advising functions of the IFC are adequate, her letter says, noting that the IFC was contracted to orchestrate programs in Benin and Mozambique.

Keele, the IFC spokesman, said the World Bank Group, in most cases, supports publicly run utilities with investments for upgrades and expansion. But sometimes governments seek out private operators.

In these cases, we assist the government in finding a private partner to do this through a public-private partnership, or PPP, he said. Our job is to support governments and help find a solution that works for them, whether it is a private- or public-sector led solution. They might prefer private management if, for example, they are seeking management expertise, he said.

Worry over privatizing access to water is growing, as dozens of municipalities terminate private management contracts or let them expire without renewal. In 2011, Italians voted in a referendum against privatizing control of water.

A year earlier, Paris took control over its supply back from the water giants Suez Environment and Veolia Environment, which provide water services to nearly 200 million people worldwide.

As urban populations expand while resources run dry, optimizing water use and sewage management is crucial for public health and quality of life.

The U.N.s International Resource Panel warned last month that nearly half the worlds population could be under severe water stress by 2030, with projected demand outstripping supply by 40 percent.

Its a tough balance to strike: If water is too cheap, there is little incentive to conserve. Too costly, and the public suffers.

Philippine law caps the rate of return on public utility assets at 12 percent, and in 2014 the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System ordered Manila Water to cut rates, saying it was overcharging customers. The company refused, took the case to the International Chamber of Commerce for arbitration, and lost. The 2015 ICC ruling said the IFC-brokered contract violated Philippine law.

Ironically, the World Bank 

an institution with a poverty alleviation mission  has aligned its own financial interests more closely with large private corporations than with the millions of people who desperately need clean, safe drinking water, said Nathaniel Meyer of the Boston-

based watchdog Corporate Accountability International.

Manila Waters spokesman, Jeric Sevilla, said the company provides full services to 99 percent of its coverage area and is upgrading its distribution network with some 5,000 kilometers of new pipelines.

The roughly 700 percent increase in rates since 1997 is in line with costs and less than what the poor would pay on the black market, he said.

But customers complain of weak or erratic water pressure and occasional shutdowns.

Even at night, very little water flows from the tap, said Michael Eleazar, a rice trader from Manilas San Andres district who earns $660 to $1,000 a month. He buys bottled water for drinking, but still pays $19 a month to Manila Water for water for bathing and for laundry, just once a week.

No matter how we try to save water, the bill is still high, he said.

Eleazar counts himself lucky to have water at all. Many remain off the water grid.

It is difficult not to have water. Its better not to have electricity, said 65-year-old Leoncia Duka, lighting a makeshift fire to cook a pot of rice for her grandchildren in the scrap-wood shanty they call home.

The dishes remain unwashed, Duka said, chuckling. So I said, lets just eat on banana leaves.

Asit Biswas, founder of the Mexico City-based think-tank Third World Center for Water Management, says its hard to assess Manila Waters record. There are no independent studies and the company refuses to provide technical data for analysis.

The emotional argument, that water is a human right, is a bit ridiculous. Food and shelter are also considered human rights, yet we pay for those without a thought, he said. But private management is usually going to be more expensive. Katy Daigle & Teresa Cerojano, Manila, AP
CHINA Though it has been dismissed by a court, the countrys first legal challenge to a law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples has galvanized many of the hundreds of young Chinese gay rights supporters who gathered at the courthouse.

TAIWAN A Mormon missionary from North Ogden has died after he was hit by a car in Taiwan while riding a bike. Mormon church officials said yesterday in a news release that 18-year-old David Smith Hampton died Tuesday near Taichung, Taiwan. He began his two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints four months ago.

SOUTH KOREANS voted in parliamentary elections that are expected to hand a decisive win to President Park Geun-hyes conservative party, and enable her to push ahead with controversial economic reforms. Exit polls, however, indicated her party would not regain its majority in the National Assembly.

PHILIPPINES In a bustling, densely populated corner of Manila, fruit vendor Coring Gutierrez reads USD35 due from her latest water bill, more than triple what her family of six paid 15 years ago. Water was not supposed to become so expensive for Manila under a 1997 World Bank deal that privatized the seaside citys water and sewage management.

INDONESIA Ride-hailing app Uber launches a motorbike taxi service in the Indonesian capital where Southeast Asian rivals Go-Jek and Grab are already battling for dominance. Jakarta is one of the worlds most congested cities and motorbike taxis ordered from a smartphone app have exploded in popularity in the past 18 months as a way to beat snarled traffic. UberMotor service would provide cheap and reliable transportation for hundreds of thousands of people.

INDIA Tiny bone fragments carry a world of significance and perhaps closure for at least one American family who lost a loved one over the mountains of India in World War II. During a solemn ceremony, U.S. military members pay final respects to what they believe may be the remains of one to two crew members from a B-24 bomber that crashed on a supply run from India to China over the Himalayan Mountains.

MIGRANT CRISIS The European Unions president says he is concerned about an increase in the number of migrants arriving from Libya, as the EU focuses on sending people back to Turkey. EU Council President Donald Tusk said that the numbers of would-be migrants in Libya are alarming, and that member countries should be ready to help Italy and Malta should they call for it. More than 15,000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy in March.

FRANCEs prime minister says hed favor a ban on Muslim headscarves in universities, prompting criticism from within his own government. In an interview with the daily Liberation, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said France should protect French Muslims from extremist ideology. He said the headscarf, when worn for political reasons, oppresses women and is not an object of fashion or consumption like any other.
Its been very enjoyable having mostly sunny skies, with the occasional rain shower, and warmer than average afternoon temperatures. The average high for mid-April is around 59 degrees. With high temperatures in the 60s and 70s its been 10 to almost 20 degrees above average.

Unfortunately, spring is a transitional season and while the warmth is nice it is time to come back to reality.

Wednesday through Friday temperatures will be cooler across southern Idaho thanks to an upper level storm system bringing in an upper level trough.

Temperatures range from the low 60s on Wednesday to the low and middle 50s Thursday and Friday. With these cooler temperatures will come the chance of rain showers and a few thunderstorms for the valleys and across the mountains, snow showers are possible. Most snow will fall late Thursday into Friday morning. Valley locations are not expected to see snow, elevations near and above 5500 feet could see some accumulating snow.

The good news is this cool down wont last. By the weekend and next week, temperatures will warm back into the low to middle 60s and even 70s. Skies will return to being mostly sunny with another nice stretch of good weather.
When the Powerball reached record highs recently, there may not have been a person left that didnt daydream, at least momentarily, about how that money could be spent. The Idaho Lottery has been around the state for 26 years and one of their marketing tools is the message that lottery funds benefit schools and the permanent building fund. There are three areas, by Idaho statute, that receive the fiscal benefits of the lottery: The Public School Building Fund, the Bond Levy Equalization Program and the Department of Administration Permanent Building Fund. Each entity receives a portion in varying amounts and for the 2015 year, $17 million was divided among Idahos public and charter schools. According to the official Idaho Lottery website, 21percent of monies are dividends. With lottery sales over $210 million dollars, the 2015 dividend was $45 million. All 115 school districts and the approximately 50 charter schools receive some kind of lottery distribution. That dollar amount is based on their average daily attendance. Cassia Countys portion of that was $317,370. This money is earmarked for maintenance of student occupied buildings, per Idaho code.

The state of Idaho has their own formula to determine how much maintenance money each school district receives. Its a fairly convoluted formula that takes in the total square footage of all student occupied buildings and the replacement costs of those buildings.

About ten years ago, the state was challenged, in court, on their support for public school facilities. The case centered on Article IX, section 1, of the state Constitution, that directs the legislature to establish and maintain a uniform and thorough system of public schools. The Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the legislature uphold the constitutional mandate and seek a solution through policy and legislative action. This decision triggered a statute to direct school districts to set aside a minimum of two percent of their overall budget for maintaining their buildings. Prior to the lawsuit, local schools could use their lottery funds in any manner they deemed necessary. Since 2006, schools must use their lottery funds for maintenance. These monies make up a slice of the overall two percent required. Cassias two percent totals $1.1 million. With the $300K in lottery funds, the state then provided $125K and the rest of the over a million dollar maintenance budget was gained from the local plant facility levy.

Most school districts have three ways of addressing maintenance of capital projects and infrastructure; their general fund and their supplemental and plant facility levies. Historically the state has left the issue of facilities up to local districts. The state provides the revenue for the day to day operations, which includes teacher/employee pay and benefits. That item alone is 87 percent of the schools general budget. School finance can be complex and each school district is required to post their expenditures and reports on local school websites for public review and investigation.

Cassia school district is not advocating that patrons play the lottery. Cassia neither opposes nor promotes the lottery. Thats an individual choice. With the attention, of late, on existing and new school facilities, the question was raised regarding the support schools receive by way of the lottery. Money is money and school districts arent snubbing their noses at the contribution lottery funds have to their budgets. However, with an overall state education budget of $1.5 billion, lottery funds represent a mere one cent of every dollar expended to districts statewide. Lottery funds do benefit our schools, but not in a way that offsets the need to supplement with state and local funds.
King Mohammed VI of Morocco and Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced Tuesday serious concern over the latest developments of the Sahara issue at the level of the United Nations Secretariat , making reference to the recent inappropriate remarks made by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during his tour in the Maghreb region.

The two leaders expressed their joint concern during a long phone conversation, says a press release issued by the Kings Office.

The Moroccan sovereign and the Russian Head of State agreed to strengthen their coordination and maintain continuous contacts on this issue in order to reach, by the end of April, a balanced and productive result.

Last month, UN SG Ban Ki-moon visited the Maghreb region and made inappropriate remarks on Moroccan Sahara, overstepping his mission and violating the neutrality which should be observed by all UN officials in any conflict.

His biased stand ignited tension in the region, prompting strong reaction from all components of the Moroccan society including MPS, political parties, trade unions and civil society activists, who all condemned Ban Ki-moon comments which offended the Moroccan people.

Many Security Council members expressed support to Morocco in its row against UN Chief.

Besides the Sahara issue, the phone conversation between King Mohammed VI and President Putin also covered various regional and international issues as well as bilateral relations.

The two leaders hailed on this occasion the progress made in various sectors and the evolution made in Strategic Partnership which gained momentum since the recent royal visit to Moscow.

During this visit, Morocco and Russia signed several cooperation agreements in the fields of environment protection, rational use of natural resources, fisheries, investments, energy
Moroccos King Mohammed VI and President Vladimir Putin of Russia agreed to strengthen their coordination and carry on contacts on the Sahara issue in order to reach, by the end of April, balanced and fruitful results.

The two leaders made the decision on Tuesday during an extensive phone talk that mainly focused on the latest developments in the Sahara issue.

King Mohammed VI and the Russian President voiced strong concern over the latest developments of the Sahara issue at the level of the United Nations Secretariat, said the Royal office in a statement released in Rabat on Tuesday.

The two leaders agreed to strengthen their coordination and carry on contacts on this issue in order to reach, by the end of April, balanced and fruitful results, said the statement.

The phone talks between the Moroccan King and the Russian President took place amidst tensions between the Security Council and the UN Secretariat General.

The tensions were created after Morocco vehemently responded to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moons biased remarks and blunders during his visit to the Tindouf camps and Algiers early last month.

The North African country took a number of measures, including suspending its voluntary financial contribution to the UN mission stationed in the Sahara to monitor the cease-fire, the MINURSO, ordering the mission to close down its military liaison office in Dakhla, and expelling some 80 civilian staff members of MINURSO.

Following these measures, the Security Council members held several meetings and expressed serious concerns about these developments and the implications of the staff pullout. According to a document posted on its website, the Security Councils immediate concern at this time is to determine how best to manage the crisis surrounding MINURSO in a manner that allows the mission to continue to operate as mandated.

The UN Security Council is due to hold its annual meeting on the Sahara by the end of the current month to debate the UN Secretary Generals report and vote on the extension of the MINURSO mandate.

Till the vote, Morocco and Russia will carry on contacts and coordinate action on the Sahara issue.

The Sahara issue had been discussed by King Mohammed VI and Vladimir Putin during the Kings visit to Moscow mid-March.

Putin had then voiced Russias support to Morocco in the Sahara conflict and affirmed opposition to any infringement of the parameters already defined by the Security Council.

The Statement on the Extended Strategic Partnership adopted by Russia and Morocco on the occasion of the Royal visit had pointed out that The Russian Federation and the Kingdom of Morocco do not back any temptation for acceleration or precipitation of the political process, nor any violation of the parameters already defined in the Security Council resolutions in search for a solution to the Sahara issue.

Russia also said that it takes due account of Moroccos position regarding the settlement of the Sahara issue and takes note of the socio-economic projects launched to develop the territory and improve the living conditions of the people living there.

The Statement on the Extended Strategic Partnership also outlined that the two countries pledge to preserve the territorial integrity of the two States and consolidate their unity and to develop actions of cooperation and partnership on all their territories.

Morocco and Russia deem their Extended Strategic Partnership is a positive and constructive contribution to strengthening regional and international stability.
Officials in Burundi on Tuesday said unidentified gunmen killed five people and left seven injured in an attack on a market in the eastern part of the country, close to the border with Tanzania.

The criminals fired into the crowd before fleeing, they left a total of five dead and seven wounded, local government district head Aloys Ngenzirabona said on Tuesday.

The unidentified gunmen are believed to be associated with exiles in Tanzania led by a former presidential spokesman. The spokesman was fired last year for advising President Pierre Nkurunziza not to seek a third term.

The country has been plunged for nearly a year in a deep political crisis, revived by the desire of President Pierre Nkurunziza to stay in power for a third term.

The violence has claimed more than 400 lives and forced more than 250,000 people to leave the country.

Last week the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) has partially suspended its multilateral cooperation with Burundi due to lack of progress of political dialogue.

Members of the Permanent Council of the OIF deplored the deterioration of the security situation and absence of progress in the establishment of a truly inclusive political dialogue despite significant continued efforts by the international community.
Central African Republics newly elected president Faustin Archange Touadera on Tuesday unveiled his first cabinet following a peaceful presidential election held in February after years of sectarian violence.

Three high-ranking jobs in the 23-member cabinet went to candidates who ran against Touadera this year in the first round of the presidential elections.

These are Josephe Yakete, who was named defense minister; Jean-Serge Bokassa, who was picked as interior minister; and Charles Armel Doubane, who will handle foreign affairs.

The new cabinet will also include several members who were ministers under the government of former President Francois Bozize. However, none of the ministers was picked from the Muslim and Christian militias that are behind the violence that plagued the country.

Prime Minister Mathieu Simplice Sarandjis cabinet will have an uphill task of restoring peace in the country where sectarian violence has killed thousands while about a tenth of the population of 4.8 million, fled their homes.

Touadera, a former math professor and prime minister, emerged from a crowded field of candidates and won the February 14 runoff with nearly 63 percent of the vote.

His task will be to rebuild the economy, restore stability and reunite a nation divided between mainly Muslim rebels in the northeast and Christian militias in the southeast.
A clinical study demonstrating the safety of the PulmoBind biomarker and the ability of the PulmoBind tomography (SPECT) scan to clearly show abnormal results in patients with pulmonary hypertension. Credit: Thinkstock.

During the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) in Chicago, a researcher from the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) presented the results of a phase II clinical study demonstrating the safety of the PulmoBind biomarker and the ability of the PulmoBind tomography (SPECT) scan to clearly show abnormal results in patients with pulmonary hypertension.

The work of the team headed by Dr. Jocelyn Dupuis has led to the development of the first safe, sensitive and non-invasive molecular imaging agent designed for early diagnosis and monitoring of pulmonary hypertension. Dr. Dupuis was able to demonstrate that PulmoBind could replace the tests currently used in clinical trials to establish an early diagnosis and monitor treatment efficacy. "This breakthrough brings great hope to patients with pulmonary hypertension because of the life-changing impact of benefiting from earlier treatment," says principal investigator, Dr. Jocelyn Dupuis. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a common, potentially life- threatening disease characterized by a progressive narrowing of the blood vessels in the lungs. It causes a gradual increase in shortness of breath, which leads to significant disability. There is currently no cure for pulmonary hypertension, and the development of effective medication is complicated by the lack of non-invasive tests that can screen for the disease at an early stage and monitor its progression. That is why this discovery gives so much hope to people with this disease. "I wish to express my gratitude to CQDM for believing in our project's potential from the outset. Its clinical progress would not have been possible without their substantial financing of $2.8 M," added Dr. Dupuis.

PulmoBind is a new radiopharmaceutical product developed jointly by Dr. Francois Harel from the MHI's Nuclear Medicine Department and Alain Fournier, PhD, a peptide chemist at INRSInstitut Armand-Frappier. "There is currently no equivalent to PulmoBind capable of performing a functional imaging of pulmonary circulation. We take pride in this product for which we carried out all stages of development, from the basic research to its human application. We were able to achieve this using the state-of-the-art equipment at the MHI's Nuclear Medicine Department," explains Dr. Francois Harel, nuclear cardiology specialist.

According to Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, Director of the Montreal Heart Institute Research Centre and professor of medicine at Universite de Montreal, "this discovery and the development of PulmoBind by Dr. Jocelyn Dupuis and Dr. Francois Harel could truly change the lives of patients with pulmonary hypertension by improving early diagnosis and personalized monitoring. Once again, the Montreal Heart Institute has demonstrated its leadership position in cardiovascular precision medicine with this remarkable advancement."

CQDM is pleased with the results yielded by the projects to date. "We are extremely proud to have supported this project from the very beginning. We also salute the contribution of mentor Michael Klimas from Merck when adapting the PulmoBind marker to positron emission tomography (PET) scans. Results are very impressive and point to a bright future," said Diane Gosselin, CEO of CQDM.

These results will lead to a phase III study extending three years and involving 350 patients across 10 centres in North America.

Explore further Positive results for new oral drug for pulmonary hypertension
Using test and brain-imaging data from more than 500 children and teens, researchers have created a 'growth chart' for brain development that could in future help spot attention issues and ADHD early. Credit: Sripada lab, University of Michigan

Want to know if your child's height and weight are on track? Check the growth chart that the doctor gives you after each yearly checkup.

Want to know if your child's brain is on track for healthy attention abilities? Someday, your doctor might have a growth chart for that too.

New research from the University of Michigan Medical School suggests that it might be possible to create a growth chart of brain networks that could identify early signs of attention difficulties and, potentially, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The team created the experimental growth chart by mapping the development of brain networks in more than 500 children and teens. They found networks are underdeveloped in those who have attention difficulties.

While it's far too soon to start offering such charting to families, future development of the technique could mean better chances for children to get a firm diagnosis of ADHD sooner. It could also help track whether their ADHD treatment is improving their attention functioning, which can help them in school and life.

Growth charts as biomarkers

The research, published in JAMA Psychiatry, shows the potential for brain imaging "biomarkers" for attention problems. But the idea could extend to other psychological conditions.

Traditional growth charts show a child's height and weight as points on curves that are based on data from hundreds of thousands of other children, and indicate normal, near-normal and problematic development.

"Growth charts enable a family and their physician to quickly spot problematic development, and when necessary, intervene appropriately," said team leader and U-M psychiatrist Chandra Sripada, M.D., Ph.D. "In the future, we want to provide clinicians with the same sort of guidance about brain development that we can about things like height and weight."

Maturing networks

The researchers launched the growth-charting research after noticing a gap in the state of the science.

Lead author Daniel Kessler explains, "We knew that the ability to sustain attention for an extended time increases dramatically during childhood and adolescence. We also knew that over the same time period, there are big changes in brain networks involved in attention. We came up with the idea of growth charting as a way to test if these two patterns were related: Would children with underdeveloped brain networks also have more difficulty with attention?"

Along with colleague Michael Angstadt, MAS, the researchers used data from 519 children and teens who had genetic testing, brain imaging and tests of their cognitive development as part of the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort based at the University of Pennsylvania.

The researchers created growth charts that reflected the configuration of what are called intrinsic connectivity networksimportant units of functional brain organization. The way these networks interact may hold the key to healthy attention.

For example, one called the default mode network seems to be involved in daydreaming and inwardly focused thought, whereas another set of networks are involved in cognitively demanding tasks.

As we grow from children into adults, these two systems become more defined and separate, working in tandem like pistons: when one is on, the other turns off. But in children and those with attention difficulties, the "pistons" often misfire: the default mode network turns on and interrupts the other networks thereby interrupting attention.

The researchers who gathered the data that the growth chart is based on measured attention functioning using a standard test in which children had to respond to a sequence of letters and numbers on a computer screen. The Michigan researchers then compared the brain development seen on the scans to attention functioning. It turned out they could actually predict how well a child would do on the attention test based on their place on (or off) the brain network growth chart. The children with ADHD symptoms, and those with the lowest performance for their age on the attention tests, were the furthest off the curve of brain network development.

"These brain network growth charts show real promise," said Sripada. "But they are far away from being ready for clinical use."

Future research paths

The research used advanced MRI imaging, but Sripada and his colleagues hope to develop ways to track network maturity using less-expensive techniques such as electroencephalography, or EEG.

They're working with other U-M researchers, led by Mary Heitzeg, Ph.D., and Robert Zucker, Ph.D., to see if the growth charting method will be useful in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study (ABCD for short) that will involve 10,000 teens over several years.

"The ABCD study is unprecedented in size and provides a real chance to develop definitive growth charts for brain networks," explained Sripada. "We have the opportunity to understand how brain network development relates to a variety of outcomes, including cognition, emotion, personality, and behavior."

Explore further Brain patterns in ADHD and bipolar disorder

Provided by University of Michigan Health System
European countries must stop denying migrants their fundamental right to healthcare, argues a doctor in The BMJ today.

Europe is experiencing the largest mass migration of people since the Second World War, according to estimates from the Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Jonathan Clarke, a doctor and Kennedy Scholar at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, says that "many people think that all migrants to Europe have meaningful access to healthcare, but the reality is different."

Earlier this year, Dr Clarke visited six clinics run by the charity Medecins du monde (MdM), also known as Doctors of the World, across Europe as part of his research project. The charity has been caring for Syrian migrants and refugees since the early days of the conflict in Syria.

He says two thirds of the 15,648 migrants attending clinics run by MdM throughout Europe last year had no access to healthcare. And in the UK, four in five (1154 of 1395) migrants had been unable to access a GP.

While the media tends to report that generous healthcare access promotes migration, only 3% of 15,648 migrants were motivated to travel for health reasons. And on average, migrants sought healthcare for the first time 6.5 years after arriving in Europe, and only a tenth with chronic illnesses knew about their condition before migration.

Around 85% of Doctors of the World's patients have experienced violence before, during or after their migration, and a third of asylum seekers have been tortured. Therefore, he says "migrants have considerable healthcare needs that must be recognised and respected by European nations."

But Europe is "taking a series of regressive, harmful political steps" and "states are 'in a race to the bottom' to make themselves look as unattractive as possible to migrants," he warns.

Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany "deprive migrants of their assets before they may access state support", while the Spanish government removed rights to healthcare for undocumented migrants in 2012.

The UK Department of Health is consulting plans to start charging for emergency and primary care for migrants. Dr Clarke says this move would make the NHS one of the most restrictive healthcare systems for undocumented migrants in Europe.

"Increasingly unwell, unhappy, and isolated migrant communities are an almost inevitable consequence of these discriminatory actions," he explains, and calls on "governments [to] seize the opportunity to reverse their recent regressive political course."

"Only then can they honour their humanitarian obligations to provide care to the people in greatest need," he concludes.

Anders Bjorkman, representing Doctors of the World International Network, will speak about delivering healthcare to migrants in Europe at the BMJ / IHI International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, next week (13 April) in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Explore further Austerity hits healthcare access in Europe: NGO

More information: Jonathan M Clarke. Stop denying migrants their fundamental right to healthcare, BMJ (). Journal information: British Medical Journal (BMJ) Jonathan M Clarke. Stop denying migrants their fundamental right to healthcare,(). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.i1971
DNA double helix. Credit: public domain

Researchers led by Ludwig Cancer Research scientist Richard Kolodner have developed a new technique for sussing out the genes responsible for helping repair DNA damage that, if left unchecked, can lead to certain cancers.

Genome instability suppressing (GIS) genes play an important role in correcting DNA damage involving the improper copying or reshuffling of large sections of chromosomes. Called gross chromosomal rearrangements, or GCRs, these structural errors can disrupt gene order or even result in an abnormal number of chromosomes.

"Mutated GIS genes have long been suspected of playing a role in the development of many types of cancers, but identifying them has been difficult due in large part to a lack of comprehensive GCR tests, or assays, in mammalian systems," said Christopher Putnam, an associate investigator at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, San Diego and one of the first authors of the study.

In the current issue of the journal Nature Communications, Putnam, Kolodner and their colleagues describe a novel two-pronged approach that combines methods from genetics and bioinformatics to identify GIS genesfirst in yeast and then in humans.

"This is one of the first large-scale studies to integrate these two methods," said co-senior author Sandro de Souza, a professor of bioinformatics at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte's Brain Institute in Brazil, who received Ludwig support for this study.

In the first step, the scientists used assays and technologies developed by Kolodnerwho is director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, San Diego and a distinguished professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicineand his lab to screen thousands of mutant yeast strains for genes that suppress GCRs. They identified 182 GIS genes, 98 of which had not been described before. "Ours is probably one of the most comprehensive lists of GIS genes in yeast to date," Putnam said.

The team also uncovered more than 400 previously unknown cooperating Genome Instability Suppressing genes (cGIS) genes, which only affect genome stability when combined with other mutations. "Before our experiment, only a few dozen cGIS genes were known. Now we know of hundreds," said Putnam, who is also an adjunct assistant professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

"These results have highlighted the complex genetic network that maintains genome integrity in normal cells," said first author Anjana Srivatsan, a postdoctoral fellow in Kolodner's lab at the Ludwig San Diego Branch and UC San Diego School of Medicine.

To determine how many of the yeast GIS genes had human counterparts implicated in cancers, the researchers searched The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)a compilation of genomic data from thousands of patientsfor such human gene homologues.

They also supplemented their candidate list with human genes that are not found in yeast but that participate in the same pathways and protein complexes as the yeast GIS genes. "We didn't want to just look for the human equivalent of yeast GIS genes because there are human GIS genes that don't have yeast homologs," Putnam said.

Three cancers in the TCGA were selected for screening: ovarian cancer, colorectal cancer and acute myeloid leukemia. The scientists hypothesized that a greater number of GIS gene defects should be implicated in ovarian cancer and colorectal cancer because these two cancers tend to involve numerous large-scale rearrangements of the genome. Leukemia served as an important control because it is a cancer with little genome instability, and thus should not involve any GIS gene defects.

As expected, the team found that 93% of ovarian cancers and 66% of colorectal cancers had genetic defects affecting one or more of the predicted GIS genes, whereas acute myeloid leukemia did not appear to have defects involving GIS genes.

The researchers are already screening more than a dozen other human cancers in the TCGA for GIS gene defects. "Understanding this process allows us to think more about how carcinogenesis proceeds and it might give us insights into defects that could be therapeutically actionable in the future," said Putnam.

Explore further Researchers uncover potential mechanisms to protect against genetic alterations, diseases

More information: Christopher D. Putnam et al. A genetic network that suppresses genome rearrangements in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and contains defects in cancers, Nature Communications (2016). Journal information: Nature Communications Christopher D. Putnam et al. A genetic network that suppresses genome rearrangements in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and contains defects in cancers,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11256
(HealthDay)Despite an increased proportion of Bordetella pertussis isolates lacking pertactin, vaccine effectiveness (VE) is still high in Vermont for the five-dose diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) series and the tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap), according to research published online April 12 in Pediatrics.

Noting that the proportion of Bordetella pertussis isolates lacking pertactin increased from 2010 to 2012 in the United States, Lucy Breakwell, Ph.D., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues conducted two matched case-control evaluations in Vermont to examine the impact on VE for DTaP among 4- to 10-year-olds and Tdap among 11- to 19-year-olds. Clinical cases of pertussis were reported during 2011 to 2013, and matched with three controls each.

The researchers found that the overall VE for DTaP was 84 percent. Within 12 months of dose five, VE was 90 percent, and decreased to 68 percent within five to seven years after vaccination. For Tdap, overall VE was 70 percent. VE was 76 percent within 12 months of Tdap vaccine, decreasing to 56 percent by two to four years after vaccination. More than 90 percent of cases with available isolates were pertactin-deficient.

"Our DTaP and Tdap VE estimates remain similar to those found in other settings, despite high prevalence of pertactin deficiency in Vermont, suggesting these vaccines continue to be protective against reported pertussis disease," the authors write.

Explore further Study finds effectiveness of routine Tdap booster wanes in adolescents

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Nils Halberg at the University of Bergen has identified a protein that makes it possible for cancer cells to spread.

The cells inside a tumour differ a lot. While some remains "good" and do not cause trouble, others become aggressive and starts to spread to other organ sites. It is very hard to predict which cells become aggressive or not.

Nevertheless, by isolating these aggressive cancer cells in in vivotests on animals, Nils Halberg at the Department of Biomedicine

at the University of Bergen (UiB) and the researchers Dr. Sohail Tavazoie and Dr. Caitlin Sengelaub at The Rockefeller University have discovered a certain protein (PITPNC1) that characterise aggressive cancer cells.

"We discovered that the aggressive cancer cells that are spreading in colon, breast, and skin cancer contained a much higher portion of the protein PITPNC1, than the non-aggressive cancer cells," says researcher Nils Halberg of the CELLNET Group at the Department of Biomedicine at UiB.

"This means we can predict which of the cancer cells are getting aggressive and spread, at a much earlier stage than today."

How cells penetrate tissue

The researcher also discovered that this protein, that characterizes the aggressive cancer cells, has got a very specific function in the process of spreading cancer.

The cancer cells spread from one place in the body to another, through the blood vessel. To get into the blood vessels, the cell needs to penetrate tissue, both when it leaves the tumour and when it is attaching to a new organ.

"The protein PITPNC1 regulates a process whereby the cancer cells are secreting molecules, which cut through a network of proteins outside the cells, like scissors. The cancer cell is then able to penetrate the tissue and set up a colonies at new organ sites," Halberg explains.

The researchers discovery is recently published in the journal Cancer Cell.

Custom-made therapy

A tumour that is not spreading, is usually not dangerous for the patient if it is removed. The hard part in cancer therapy is when the tumour starts to spread. Guided by the new discoveries, supported by the Bergen Research Foundations (BFS) Recruitment Programme, Halberg hopes to contribute to a better treatment of cancer patients.

"If we get to the point where we can offer a custom-made therapy that targets the function of this protein, we might be able to stop it spreading," says Nils Halberg.

Explore further Scientists discover how breast cancer cells spread from blood vessels

More information: Nils Halberg et al. PITPNC1 Recruits RAB1B to the Golgi Network to Drive Malignant Secretion, Cancer Cell (2016). Journal information: Cancer Cell Nils Halberg et al. PITPNC1 Recruits RAB1B to the Golgi Network to Drive Malignant Secretion,(2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2016.02.013
Georgia-China collaborate to make travel easier for tourists

Georgia could let tourist groups from China enter the country without a visa and China might well reciprocate.Tourism and foreign officials of Georgia and China met in Beijing for a consultation meeting to discuss future cooperation to develop bilateral tourism."The sides agreed to continue consultations about resuming the 1994 agreement between Georgia and China about visa-free travel for tour groups, which will increase the tourist flows between the two countries, said Georgias Foreign Ministry in a statement today.The officials also agreed to hold working meetings on a regular basis and create a relevant action plan that would address ways to increase cross-country tourism.The Ministry also said the Chinese side pledged to support events that promoted Georgia as a tourist destination among Chinese travellers.
UNM opposition party refuses to create any coalition

By Messenger Staff

The United National Monument (UNM) opposition party - which had ruled Georgia for nine years until the Georgian Dream (GD) coalition defeated it in the 2012 parliamentary race - does not intend to create any coalition for the upcoming 2016 parliamentary elections.We are not considering the creation of any political coalition for the elections, the United National Movement leader Davit Bakradze told local media.According to him, the party will participate in the elections much as it did in previous years."Unlike the last two elections, we will definitely win the October parliamentary elections and will change the government, which has led our country to stagnation and despair, he stated.However, several days ago, one of the leaders of the UNM, Giorgi Baramidze, did not rule out the UNM forming a coalition for the next parliamentary elections in order to boost its chances.Georgian analysts Gia Khukhashvili and Ramaz Sakvarelidze believe that Georgia's active political parties would refuse any coalition with the UNM, as such an union would be a precondition for failure.Khukhashvili states it is more likely the UNM will ally with other parties after the elections to weaken the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party.The upcoming elections are very important for all parties. The Georgian Dream coalition has deranged- the Republicans, the National Forum and the Georgian DreamDemocratic Georgia parties will participate independently in the race.Two other parties of the coalition - the Industrials and the Conservatives - have not yet announced their intentions regarding the elections.The individual ratings of the parties  with the exception of the GD party which is associated with the current ruling force - are quite low.The UNM party has consistent support amongst some voters. If the UNM voters fully turnout at the ballot boxes, the party will gain seats in the legislative body. However, it is important for the party to at least retain the status of the main opposition party of Georgia.The upcoming elections will be different and more interesting compared to the last few contests; victory, at this stage, could be taken by anyone.
The News in Brief

Maestro TV Companys new Director General



Maestro TV Company has a new Director General after Zurab Nakeuri was nominated to the post. His candidacy was supported by 80 % of the board of partners.



According to Maka Asatinais lawyer, Asatinai supported Nakeuris candidacy.



Maka Asatiani supported this decision as there is no a danger of any dispute. Zurab Nakeuri will likely be registered as the director today and will start performing his duties. Maestro needs a manager who will solve the existing problems, said the lawyer.



According to him, Zurab Nakeuri has already presented a plan for the solution of the company's financial problems. (IPN)







Georgian President Calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to direct efforts towards Peace



President Giorgi Margvelashvili has called on Georgias neighbours, Armenia and Azerbaijan, to direct efforts towards ending the renewed fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and resolve the conflict peacefully.



In the Caucasus region, I want to call on our neighbours to direct their efforts towards ending the conflict peacefully and to defuse tensions that we see just several hundred kilometres from here, and to [address] the conflict through diplomatic means with the active involvement of the international community, Georgias President said while addressing the NATO-Georgia Public Diplomacy Forum in Tbilisi on April 5. (Civil.ge)







Demand for tougher regulation of surveillance following sex tapes scandal



Organizations that are members of the This Affects You Too campaign on Monday called on the government to take measures to rein in the use of secret surveillance and wiretapping.



The groups also demand the resignation of Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze.



In a statement issued on Monday, the groups claim that the vast majority of officials who served under former President Saakashvili and ordered, collected and stored videos and files depicting people in private situations and likely blackmailed them, remain unpunished.



The groups also claim that there is reasonable suspicion that those who conducted illegal surveillance continue to work within Georgia's law enforcement bodies, which brings into question the effectiveness, objectiveness and neutrality of the investigation.



Three sex tapes were uploaded to the Internet  on March 11, 14 and 31  showing the private li es of several politicians. The last video was posted even after two people have been arrested as a result of the investigation. The clips contained warnings of more videos to come.



This Affects You Too has the following demands: to reform the State Security Service, as well as taking away the function of Internet monitoring and the access to phone surveillance from this body and transfer it to a more independent body; setting up an independent investigative body which can investigate crimes committed by officials, as according to them the government has no interest in effectively investigating such cases.



Members of the campaign are meeting with parliamentary factions to share their views related to this issue, and on Monday they met with the opposition party Free Democrats. The party fully supported the campaign.



Nino Goguadze from the Free Democrats believes that making legislation tougher is not enough and the Chief Prosecutor has to resign, as someone has to take the political responsibility.



Particular steps need to be taken in order that one day we do not discover a giant archive of footage collected by some special service and information is leaked from his archive and used to blackmail people, Eka Gigauri from Transparency International Georgia said after the meeting with the Free Democrats parliamentarians.



On March 23, This Affects You Too met with members of Girchi, a political party founded by former members of the United National Movement. Campaigners are also discussing their initiative with the Human Rights Committee in Parliament, which is considering an amendment to the legislation concerning secret surveillance.



This Affects You Too is a campaign that includes organizations like Education and Monitoring Center, TI Georgia, Open Society Georgia Foundation, SIDA and ISFED. (DF watch)




@joeflech

Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine says he supports the idea of a Cuban consulate in his city because he wants the Beach's policy toward Cuba to mirror the Obama administration's policy of engagement with the island nation.

When Commissioner Michael Grieco proposed a resolution reaffirming the city's longstanding opposition to having any relations with the Cuban government, Levine called it a politically opportunistic move and said Grieco wants to court Cuban voters for a future bid for Miami Beach mayor.

The debate is set for Wednesday's City Commission meeting.

Read more here.
@MichaelAuslen

Mark James Asay, convicted of killing two people in 1987, is asking the Florida Supreme Court to vacate his death sentence, citing a new law signed last month by Gov. Rick Scott.

Hes the first death row inmate to ask for a life sentence under the new death penalty laws that went into effect March 7. The U.S. Supreme Court in January threw out Floridas death penalty sentencing laws as unconstitutional, causing the Legislature to write a massive overhaul.

Among the new provisions is a requirement that 10 of 12 jurors vote to impose a death sentence. In Asays case, just 9 did.

That, his lawyers argue in a brief filed Wednesday with the Florida Supreme Court, is cause to change his death sentence to life imprisonment.

Because three jurors in Mr. Asays case formally voted to recommend life sentences, his death sentences violate the Eighth Amendment, Asays lawyer, Martin McClain, wrote, referring to the U.S. Constitutions prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments.

But the impact could be farther-reaching given the numerous questions surrounding Floridas death penalty.

The state Supreme Court has not yet ruled in the case of Hurst vs. Florida, which was remanded to them after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Floridas death penalty unconstitutional.

And they have not weighed in on whether the Hurst decision or the new laws written in its wake are retroactive.

Attorney General Pam Bondis office has argued they are not.

If one or more parts of the Hurst ruling are applied retroactively, courts could have to re-try or throw out the sentences of some of the 388 people on one of Americas most crowded death rows.

And if the state Supreme Court sides with Asay, applying the new law to old cases, it could affect hundreds of cases. Florida House staff found that from 2000 to 2012, 140 of the 320 death sentences issued in Florida were on a 7-5, 8-4 or 9-3 vote. None of those would be legal under the new system.
James Lamb cant stop believing in Marco Rubio.

The Fort Lauderdale man is formally launchingNominateMarco.com on Wednesday  the one-year anniversary of Rubios presidential kick off  imploring Republicans to nominate the former candidate at a contested convention.

So far, 2,371 people have signed a petition Lamb has circulated. Rubio dropped out of the race on the night of the March 15 Florida primary, dominated by Donald Trump.

However far-fetched, talk has grown of a nominee other than Trump, Ted Cruz or John Kasich. Rubio is retaining 172 delegates and has declined to join other Republicans in backing Cruz.

Lamb said Trump is not worthy of being president by virtue of his poor character. Cruz seems to be too right wing extremist and a troublemaker.

Its not crazy to think Rubio could re-surface, Lamb said. He reached out to Rubios camp about the petition and didnt hear back, which Lamb took as a silent nod and a wink. The website makes clear Rubio has not endorsed the effort.

Lamb, 47, is a transportation consultant and bundled donations for Rubios presidential campaign. His website is sponsored by the Small Business in Transportation Coalition, of which Lamb is chairman.

The wesite includes a lengthy FAQ, including, Is Marco really thinking about joining the Miami Dolphins staff? The given answer: We think this was just an April Fools joke. Another section knocks down talk Rubio will seek to become a vice presidential running mate or 2018 candidate for governor.

The petition on the site reads:

Whereas, mathematically, it appears virtually impossible that any Republican candidate will receive the requisite 1,237 delegates needed to secure the 2016 Republican party presidential nomination; and Whereas, we the members of the Republican party believe the Honorable Marco Rubio remains the best and most qualified candidate to defeat the Democratic nominee; Now, be it hereby resolved that we the members of the Republican party hereby request that any and all unbound delegates elect Marco Rubio as our nominee; and be it further resolved the party remove any and all barriers and suspend or eliminate any and all rules that interfere with such ability of said unbound delegates to vote for Marco Rubio as the nominee.

If Lamb doesnt succeed, hes already thinking ahead: On Facebook, he started a group called Elect Marco Rubio President 2020.

- by Alex Leary, Tampa Bay Times
Gov. Rick Scott will speak at the Republican National Committee in Broward County next week.

The RNC will hold it's spring meeting at the swanky oceanside Diplomat Resort and Spa in Hollywood starting Wednesday. The RNC has not yet released a schedule of events but several Florida politicians are expected to attend the event including Republican Party of Florida chairman State Rep. Blaise Ingoglia. Scott's political consultant Melissa Sellers confirmed that Scott will speak.

The RNC committees could discuss rules related to the July presidential convention in Cleveland -- the first potentially brokered convention in decades.

Republicans will be meeting in the county with the highest number of registered Democratic voters in the state: Broward has about 560,000 registered Democrats.
@MrMikeVasquez

Metromover will stay free.

A proposal to add fares to the downtown people mover system  pushed by Miami-Dade County Commissioner Barbara Jordan  died on Wednesday after being debated by fellow commissioners in a transportation-related committee.

Resistance to Jordans proposal was strong, and it didnt even make it to a committee vote. Only one other commissioner, Sally Heyman, voiced support for adding fares, and it was clear that all other commissioners present were opposed.

Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, for example, praised the free rides on Metromover for boosting ridership. The Metromover system became free after voters approved a half-percent transit tax in 2002, and it immediately saw a surge of new riders. Ridership is still growing today, and stands at about 10 million passengers annually.

The transit tax also funds free trolley buses operated by local cities, which Barreiro said are also successful.

The reason why theyre booming in ridership is they have no fares, Barreiro said.

Jordan had pushed the fare increase as a fairness issue  arguing Wednesday that affluent Brickell residents get to ride the Metromover for free, while the working poor carry the burden of paying $2.25 fares on Metrobus and Metrorail.

Read more here
By Steve Bousquet and Mary Ellen Klas

Bob Levy, a fixture in Florida's Capitol for four decades as a lobbyist for a wide array of causes, died Tuesday in Tallahassee. He was 67 and had been battling cancer.

A long-time resident of Miami Beach, Levy had deep political roots in Miami-Dade County and founded a successful lobbying firm Robert M. Levy & Associates. He lobbied for a number of cities, including Homestead, Doral and Florida City. He built a cottage industry as a consultant for scores of Miami-Dade judicial candidates and mentored dozens of young lobbyists, many of who are now elected officials or have successful lobbying practices of their own. He called them "Levites" and they were part of his "tribe."

A skillful story-teller, Levy was known for gathering people on Sundays in Tallahassee for "family dinner." He was a vodka aficionado -- particularly fond of Ketel One -- and he was the pioneer of Miami-Dade Days, an annual civic fly-in to Tallahassee, where he wore a big white apron and personally served heaping bowls of paella to hungry guests in the Capitol courtyard.

Levy called Dade Days "a way of bringing a little bit of Miami to Tallahassee."

Levy came from a "bygone era in which lobbyists cared about an issues and not just the transactional nature of the craft,'' said Susan Glickman, a lobbyist who first met Levy nearly 30 years ago.

"Bob's altruistic nature separated him from the typical lobbyist,'' she said. "Bob Levy was a generous friend to all but most importantly he cared deeply about the many people in his path. Bob was always there with advice, humor and insight and was quick to offer help. It may seem cliche but Bob Levy never met a stranger. He always looked to help others and to connect people he cared about."

Levy was devoted to many pro bono causes such as FarmShare.

"'Lead by Example' is what your look for in a mentor,'' wrote lobbyist and business partner Cynthia Henderson, on Levy's Facebook page Tuesday "Bob Levy was the most selfless giver I've ever met and he mentored so many people 'in the process.' The world is truly a lesser place without him."

Homestead City Manager Steve Shiver called Levy "a teacher, a mentor, a brother and a friend," also on Levy's Facebook page Tuesday. "We often talked about his students and those that clamored about to get a position with his firm over the years. They were called Levites and are now scattered throughout government from Miami-Dade County to Washington, D.C. He has always embodied the true meaning of a friend."

Levy was known for his steel-trap political memory, and for his personal calendar that meticulously noted every meeting with every legislator, staffer, bureaucrat and fellow lobbyist. His office a block from the Capitol was a virtual Florida political museum over the past five decades, the walls covered with campaign brochures, bumper stickers, faded news clippings and photographs of countless dinners, bill signings and SpongeBob paraphernalia.

He lobbied for cities, taxicab operators, nurses, mental health clinics, tow truck operators, hospitals, hypnotists, and for Vietnam veterans -- having been one himself. He served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1970.

No funeral is scheduled. A memorial service will be held at a later date.
The 37-year-old man arrested in connection with the brutal killing of a Seattle-area woman has a criminal past in Missoula.

According to the Associated Press, John Robert Charlton was arrested Monday after he allegedly killed and dismembered a woman, a 40-year-old nurse named Ingrid Lyne, at her Renton home before dumping her remains in a Seattle recycling bin.

He is currently being held on a $2 million bail set by a judge in King County, with criminal charges pending that prosecutors said may include second-degree murder.

Charlton also has a conviction for a 2009 felony theft that took place in Missoula. In that case, Charlton had been arrested in Idaho and was found with stolen merchandise that had been taken from the Target store in Missoula.

A loss prevention officer at the store who reviewed surveillance video found that on two occasions in May and June 2009 Charlton had come into the store, loaded up a cart with items from the electronics department, then left without paying for the merchandise. He later attempted to sell the items on eBay.

Charlton was charged with a felony theft as well as a misdemeanor theft for another incident in which he stole $180 worth of items from the Safeway grocery store in June 2009. He pleaded guilty to the felony theft as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

In April 2010, District Court Judge John Larson sentenced Charlton to five years with the Department of Corrections with credit for time already served in custody, in accordance with the plea agreement. The misdemeanor charge was dismissed as part of his sentencing. According to state records, that sentence expired Dec. 11, 2014.

The Associated Press also reported Charlton has a felony aggravated robbery conviction from Utah in 2006, as well as a conviction for negligent driving in Washington in 1998.
Bill Clinton trespassed against the cardinal rule of contemporary Democratic politics, which is that Thou Shalt Not Contradict Black Lives Matter Protesters.

Clinton's lapse came at a Philadelphia rally last week. When demonstrators inveighed against the 1994 crime bill signed by Clinton, the former president gave much better than he got. He rebutted them in finger-wagging detail, repeatedly returning to the point that the crime bill sought to diminish the rampant criminality that was destroying black lives.

Clinton thought he was winning the argument, and by any reasonable standard he was  but, politically, he committed a multitude of sins.

He defended the old term "super predator" as an accurate description of gang leaders who prey on kids  not realizing that the phrase has been deemed dehumanizing (gang leaders are very sensitive to such microaggressions). Instead of denouncing the police as agents of systemic racism, he defended sending more of them into the streets. And by using the phrase "black lives" in the context of blacks killing other blacks, he signaled he doesn't get that the only approved use of the slogan is as a bludgeon against the criminal-justice system.

In short, Clinton demonstrated a common-sensical, pre-Black Lives Matter understanding of criminal justice, and quickly had to backtrack. Presumably, he won't be guilty of such an offense ever again.

Both Clinton and his critics exaggerate the effect of the 1994 crime bill, which, among other things, funded more cops and prisons. Clinton attributes the drastic decline in crime rates to it, when the drop had already begun. The critics attribute the drastic increase in incarceration to it, when that, too, preceded the bill.

But the notion that the crime bill, and other tough-on-crime measures like it, was part of a racist dragnet to imprison black men guilty of low-level drug offenses is obviously absurd.

It is easy to forget now, but between 1960 and 1990, the United States experienced perhaps the worst crime wave in its history. Violent crime increased more than 350 percent. Across the 1960s, robbery rose 500 percent in cities with a population of a million. It would be impossible for the political system not to respond vigorously to such a tide of disorder, especially when the criminal-justice system was initially so inadequate to the task.

In his book "The Rise and Fall of Violent Crime in America," Barry Latzer notes how the criminal-justice system was fraying as crime spiked in the late 1960s: "The number of arrests per reported crime went down, not up; sentencing to prison occurred less often, not more; and prison time served for serious crimes actually shortened, not lengthened."

Subsequently, we readjusted, and it wasn't an exercise in quasi-white supremacy. From 1976 to 2005, blacks were 47 percent of murder victims. Bill Clinton's talk of kids wasn't just pulling at the heartstrings. During the crack epidemic in Washington, D.C., about 500 kids were shot and stabbed in a roughly two-year period. Since their communities suffered so grievously from drug crime, black Democrats supported important legislative elements of the crackdown on drug offenses from the 1970s onward.

Yet the war on drugs wasn't the main driver of the remarkable 30-year rise in incarceration, from roughly 300,000 to more than 1.6 million. According to John Pfaff of Fordham Law School, less than 20 percent of the inmates in state prisons (they house most U.S. prisoners) are there primarily on drug charges. The vast majority are guilty of violent or property offenses.

There is no doubt that policing and prisons  as well as the waning of the crack epidemic  played a role in breaking the great crime wave of the 1960s. That we are safer creates the political opening to rethink our incarceration policies. Bill Clinton will now want to button his lip before saying such a thing, but it doesn't make it any less true.
On April 24, 2013, some 1,134 people died in the collapse of the Rana Plaza complex outside Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The building housed factories where low-wage workers, largely women, stitched garments for the U.S. and European markets.

For several years before the disaster a number of U.S. opinion makers  notably New York Times columnists Thomas Friedman and Nicholas Kristof  had been arguing that assembly plants like those at Rana Plaza were crucial to the development of economies in the Global South and therefore a boon to the worlds most impoverished. The medias efforts to promote sweatshops suddenly slowed down after the collapse in Bangladesh, but they seem to be reviving now, just as we approach the third anniversary of the disaster.

The occasion for the new pro-sweatshop campaign is Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders opposition to trade pacts like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Senator Sanders has made criticism of the trade deals a key part of his bid for the Democratic nomination.

In an interview on April 1, editors of the New York Daily pressed Sanders to explain his opposition. I do believe in trade, Sanders responded.

But it has to be based on principles that are fair. So if you are in Vietnam, where the minimum wage is 65 cents 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 remarks triggered a number of articles seeking to defend the trade deals.

Worst Nightmare for the Poor?

Sanders fair trade policy would mean that the poor should remain poor, British writer Tim Worstall announced in a Forbes op-ed. The senators anti-trade rhetoric . . . could doom millions to poverty, according to a MarketWatch piece by Kenneth Rogoff (a Harvard economist who may be best known for a notorious data error). If youre poor in another country, this is the scariest thing Bernie Sanders has said, Zack Beauchamp charged at Vox. The kicker for an article by Slate contributor Jordan Weissmann went even further: Sanders, it proclaimed, is the developing worlds worst nightmare.

The argument against Sanders is that the one comparative advantage poorer countries have is their supply of low-wage workers, so the use of sweatshop labor to produce for export is the best way for these countries to expand their economies. And it works, these writers say: global trade has been the driving force behind historic declines in poverty, in Weissmanns words. So Sanders call for higher wages and better environmental standards would stymie progress for these countries. The senator basically doesnt think the U.S. should be trading very much at all with countries where wages are much lower than its own, Beauchamp writes. This, Weissmann adds, is simply inhumane.

There are two problems with the argument: it misrepresents the impact of free trade deals, and it misrepresents what Sanders said in the interview.

Sanders critics base their claims for the benefits of free trade mostly on the example of China, where Beauchamp says 800 million people have been lifted out of extreme poverty since 1981.

Theres no doubt that Chinas economy has grown tremendously over the past thirty-five years and that global trade has played a part in the growth, but trade is only one factor out of many in the sweeping transformation of a large, mostly rural command economy to a more industrial market-based economy. The comparison is also complicated by the fact that the increased wealth in China has been accompanied by a loss of some of the social and economic guarantees included in the old systems iron rice bowl, with the result that defining poverty in monetary terms may not present the whole picture.

Mexico and Haiti offer better examples, since in these countries free trade policies were applied without the massive social and economic changes that characterized China during the period.

According to the Mexican governments Consejo Nacional de Evaluacion de la Politica de Desarrollo Social (CONEVAL), 53.1 percent of Mexicos population lived in poverty in 1992. NAFTA went into effect in January 1994. The country suffered a devastating financial crisis eleven months later, and by 1996 the poverty rate had soared to 69 percent. The rate improved subsequently, falling to 42.9 percent by 2006, but it jumped again when the 2008 financial crisis hit the United States, Mexicos main trading partner. As of 2012 the rate was 52.3 percent, just one percent below the pre-NAFTA level.

Haiti hasnt experienced any single trade pact of the same scope as NAFTA, but since the 1970s successive Haitian governments have followed U.S. advice to focus on assembly plants for export as a way to transform the impoverished country into a Taiwan of the Caribbean. The program faltered in the political instability that followed the 1986 overthrow of dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc), but it has continued to this day on a somewhat reduced level. Reliable statistics arent easy to come by in Haiti, but in 2005 the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL, for the initials in Spanish) put together a table of estimates. In 1970 from 73.8 to 87.7 percent of the population was thought to live in poverty. In 2001, after three decades of export-based development projects, Haitis estimated poverty rate was 76.0 percent.

Free Trade in the Real World

The reality is that under present conditions low-wage production for export is simply not an effective way for most countries to develop their economies.

Clearly economic development isnt going to be powered by consumption on the part of the assembly plant workers  not when theyre trying to survive on wages near or even below subsistence level. The impetus for development would have to come from the profits of the factory owners and their local suppliers, which would need to be spent or invested locally. But the assembly plants are often owned by foreigners who return the profits to their own countries; the suppliers are also often foreign. Even domestic factory and supply company owners are quite likely  thanks to the globalization of finance  to invest or spend their profits abroad, or stash them away in tax havens like Panama.

But this free trade policy doesnt just fail to reduce poverty  it often increases poverty. NAFTA, for example, opened the United States to Mexican exports, but at the same time it exposed Mexicos small businesses and family farms to competition from U.S. retailers and agribusiness giants. The rural population was especially impacted when it was forced to compete with companies like Archer Daniels Midland that benefit from the U.S. governments agricultural subsidies. Mexico gained some 660,000 manufacturing jobs after NAFTA took effect, but this wasnt nearly enough to offset the loss of 2.3 million jobs in agriculture.

There was a similar process in Haiti, although without a pact like NAFTA. Instead, the U.S. government and the international lending organizations used direct pressure to have Haiti, a mostly rural country, remove protective tariffs for local farmers; the strong-arm tactics of former president Bill Clinton in 1994 were especially effective in this process. The result: while Haitian farmers produced about 80 percent of the countrys food in the 1970s, today 60 to 70 percent of Haitis food is imported, and Port-au-Prince is flooded with displaced farm families.

In other words, many of the workers supposedly lifted out of poverty by U.S.-sponsored trade policies were actually put there by those same policies.

Listening to the Workers

But what would happen if we applied Sanders fair trade policies instead? Slates Weissmann speculates that Vietnamese workers would start earning $5 or $7 an hour and U.S. companies would stop buying T-shirts from Vietnam. Factories are going to close, and businesses will move their operations, he claims.

But Sanders didnt tell the Daily News editors he wanted to raise Vietnamese workers wages to U.S. levels; he mentioned roughly equivalent wages. The possibility of establishing wage equivalence between different countries  that is, determining a wage level that would guarantee workers in the Global South a standard of living in their own societies comparable to what workers have here  has been under discussion for some time among labor rights activists and some development economists. There has even been talk of negotiating a global minimum wage, at least for certain industries.

Its true that this type of wage equivalence probably wouldnt bring many jobs back to the United States, but it also wouldnt lose many jobs for the poorer countries. And while it might mean a slight reduction in the bottom line for the U.S. manufacturers and retailers currently profiting from the exploitation of sweatshop workers, it would hardly constitute a nightmare for those workers.

Both Beauchamp and Weissmann cite experts for their positions. Maybe they should listen to a different set of experts  the people who actually work in the low-wage assembly plants. Far from feeling they need to maintain their comparable advantage, many of these workers have organized to fight low wages and intolerable conditions, often in the face of government repression.

The low-wage workers who died at Rana Plaza three years ago can no longer speak for themselves, but we can honor them by listening to the living workers now organizing for decent wages in Bangladesh and around the world  and by rejecting the U.S. medias effort to recycle a discredited rationale for sweatshops.

David L. Wilson is working on a revised edition of The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers (Monthly Review Press, July 2007) with co-author Jane Guskin.




Anaconda school trustees voted 5-2 Tuesday to close Dwyer Elementary School, said Kevin Patrick, the district's business manager.

The closure comes on the heels of a recent election in which Anaconda voters turned down two bond requests. These requests would have consolidated three schools into a new pre-school through eighth-grade building and resulted in the renovation of Anaconda High School and Mitchell Stadium.

Now, with the Dwyer closure, Anacondas pre-school, first- and second-grade students will attend Lincoln Elementary, while Fred Moodry Middle School will take on grades three through six. Anaconda High will become a junior-senior high school consisting of grades seven through 12.

Essentially (the motion) was plan B, said Superintendent Gerry Nolan, pointing out that closing Dwyer was a second option if the bond issues failed.

Nolan said consolidating Anacondas schools has long been overdue.

We have 1,100 students and five buildings, said Nolan, adding that the cost of maintaining the five buildings has forced the district to cut programs.

But with the closure of Dwyer, Nolan said, the district will save $400,000 annually, hire new teachers and bring back some of the programs that were previously slashed.

Well be able to hire six or seven new teachers, so we can replace and augment the programs we have for our students, Nolan said.

He added that he expects to see programs in art, music and technology, among others, return to Anacondas schools.

We want to have a more well-rounded student, said Nolan.

Discussions regarding consolidating Anacondas schools have been going on for some time.

Last year Anaconda residents weighed in on how Anacondas schools should be consolidated through a survey. Some raised concerns about housing middle- and high-school students in the same building. Then in April 2015 the board voted to consolidate Fred Moodry Middle School with Anaconda High School, but the motion was defeated 3-to-4 and the board held off on making a decision.

Although some residents have objected to mixing pre-teens with high-schoolers in the past, Nolan told the Standard on Wednesday that he believes fraternization between middle- and high-school students wont be a problem in the new junior-senior high school.

He pointed out that the two age groups will have separate entrances and different lunch periods and will be on different floors for the greater part of the day.

As for Tuesday nights vote, Trustee Glenda Crum made the motion to close Dwyer, and it was seconded by Michael Huotte.

Crum, Huotte, Bryan Lorengo, Lisa Crum-Petritz and Brandie Villa voted for the measure, while Angela Galle and Gayle Venturelli were the dissenting voters.
PRINCETON, N.J. -- One of history's most important battles happened here on a field you can walk across in less than half the 45 or so minutes the battle lasted. If George Washington's audacity on Jan. 3, 1777, had not reversed the patriots' retreat and routed the advancing British, the American Revolution might have been extinguished.

Yet such is America's neglect of some places that sustain its defining memories, the portion of the field over which Washington's nation-saving charge passed is being bulldozed to make way for houses for faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). To understand the gravity of this utterly unnecessary desecration, you must understand the astonishingly underestimated Battle of Princeton.

In December 1776, the Revolution was failing. Britain had sent to America 36,000 troops -- at that point, the largest European expeditionary force ever -- to crush the rebellion before a French intervention on America's behalf. Washington had been driven from Brooklyn Heights, then from Manhattan, then out of New York. The nation barely existed as he retreated across New Jersey, into Pennsylvania.

But from there, on Christmas night, he crossed the Delaware River ice floes for a successful 45-minute (at most) attack on Britain's Hessian mercenaries at Trenton. This was Washington's first victory; he had not been at Lexington, Concord or Bunker Hill. Trenton would, however, have been merely an evanescent triumph, were it not for what happened 10 days later.

On Jan. 2, 1777, British Gen. Charles Cornwallis began marching 5,500 troops from Princeton to attack Washington's slightly outnumbered forces at Trenton. Washington, leaving a few hundred soldiers to tend fires that tricked Cornwallis into thinking the patriot army was encamped, made a stealthy 14-mile night march to attack three British regiments remaining at Princeton. They collided on this field.

The most lethal weapons in this war were bayonets. The British had them. Few Americans did, and they beat a panicked retreated from the advancing steel. By his personal bravery, Washington reversed this and led a charge. An unusually tall man sitting on a large white horse, he was a clear target riding as close to British lines as first base is to home plate. Biographer Ron Chernow writes that, at Princeton, Washington was a "warrior in the antique sense. The eighteenth-century battlefield was a compact space, its cramped contours defined by the short range of muskets and bayonet charges, giving generals a chance to inspire by their immediate presence."

When the redcoats ran, the British aura of invincibility and the strategy of "securing territory and handing out pardons" (Chernow) were shattered. And the drift of American opinion toward defeatism halted.

In his four-volume biography of Washington, James Thomas Flexner said: "The British historian George Trevelyan was to write concerning Trenton: 'It may be doubted whether so small a number of men ever employed so short a space of time with greater and more lasting effects upon the history of the world.' But such would not have been the result if Washington had not gone on to overwhelm Princeton."

This ground, on which patriots' blood puddled on that 20-degree morning, has been scandalously neglected by New Jersey. Now it is being vandalized by the Institute for Advance Study, which has spurned a $4.5 million purchase offer -- more than $1 million above the appraised value -- from the invaluable Civil War Trust, which is expanding its preservation activities to Revolutionary War sites.

In today's academia there are many scholars against scholarship, including historians hostile to history -- postmodernists who think the past is merely a social construct reflecting the present's preoccupations, or power structures, or something. They partake of academia's preference for a multicultural future of diluted, if not extinguished, nationhood, and they dislike commemorating history made by white men with guns. The IAS engaged a historian who wrote a report clotted with today's impenetrable academic patois. He says we should not "fetishize space," and he drapes disparaging quotation marks around the words "hallowed ground."

The nation owes much to the IAS, which supported Albert Einstein, physicist Robert Oppenheimer and the diplomat and historian George F. Kennan. It is especially disheartening that a distinguished institution of scholars is indifferent to preserving a historic site that can nourish national identity.

The battle to save this battlefield, one of the nation's most significant and most neglected sites, is not yet lost. The government in today's Trenton, and in the city named for the man who won the 1777 battle, should assist the Civil War Trust.

George Will's email address is georgewill@washpost.com.

(c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group
What would you do with $11,197? Pay a mortgage, rent, bills or student loans? Save for your childs college tuition? Maybe you would use it for everyday items like groceries or child care?

The reality is that if you are an average full-time, year-round working woman in Montana, you dont see that money. As a result of the wage gap, full-time Montana women workers make an average annual salary of $32,293 compared to mens $43,490.

These numbers are unacceptable, which is why Gov. Steve Bullock created the Equal Pay for Equal Work Task Force in 2013. He mobilized state leaders in business, labor, education, tribal nations, the public sector and nonprofit organizations. The governor created a powerful private-public partnership with a unified goal: close the wage gap in Montana.

Today highlights an important day in that mission. Its National Equal Pay Day. On this day, we mark how far into the new year women would have to work just to make what men did in 2015. Sixty percent of Montana women are in the labor force. This yearly wage loss has a profound ripple effect across our families and our communities.

The governors Equal Pay Task Force, with community supporters, has been resolute in its mission to examine the causes of the wage gap and take tangible steps to close it. Since its inception, the task force has focused its attention on wage negotiation trainings, understanding that women are less likely to negotiate wages and benefits than their male counterparts because they are concerned about backlash when they do. The task force spearheaded wage negotiation trainings across the state and on college campuses, hosted two successful equal pay summits and will host a third next month focused on women in business and policies and practices that impact fair pay.

Statewide, we continue to garner support for logical, common-sense policies that support women workers in Montana. In 2015, the governors task force recommended and helped pass House Bill 306 in the state Legislature. This law now provides unemployment insurance for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. Thanks to this legislation, many Montana women are no longer forced to make the daunting and dangerous decision of choosing between their lives and their livelihoods.

As co-chairs of the task force, we have worked closely with Governor Bullock on fair pay and equality initiatives. The Department of Administration took direct action to prevent discrimination in state contracts by amending contract language to protect state and contract employees against discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. The state has conducted its own pay audit and served as a resource for city governments as they start their own pay equity initiatives. State agencies have also engaged in focused educational outreach and training on topics such as mentoring, encouraging women in STEM fields, and wage and benefit negotiations.

As we continue to educate, empower and examine the fair pay landscape in Montana, the governors early words from 2013 about the task force continue to ring true: It is imperative that young Montanansthe workforce of tomorrowjoin Montanas economy knowing that theyll earn a fair days pay for a fair days work, regardless of their gender. We want our daughters and sons to stay in Montana and raise their own children here because Montana is a place they can prosper and be valued for their contribution to our states economy.

As members of Governor Bullocks cabinet, we are fortunate. We know we make the same as our male counterparts in the cabinet. Ours is a rare story. On this Equal Pay Day, we encourage you to join the mission of the governors Equal Pay Task Force and become educated, involved and invested in fair pay. We encourage you to join us at Montana State University in Bozeman for the 2016 Equal Pay Summit May 2 and 3 as we work to close the wage gap for all Montanans.

-- Pam Bucy, Commissioner of Department of Labor & Industry, and Sheila Hogan, Director of the Department of Administration, serve as Co-Chairs of the Governors Equal Pay for Equal Work Task Force. Learn more about the Task Force and register for the May 2-3 Equal Pay Summit at www.equalpay.mt.gov
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.
It's now likely Republicans are headed toward a contested convention in July. But they might be headed toward more than that  the party could be on its way to an internal version of the 2000 election, the race in which the candidate who lost the popular vote won the presidency, leaving injured feelings and diminished faith in the legitimacy of the electoral system.

And it could be worse than that. The 2000 winner of the popular vote, Al Gore, lost the presidency because of the constitutional structure under which electors, not popular vote totals, determine who enters the White House. Seeing the popular vote loser, George W. Bush, win the election was unfortunate  it hadn't happened since the 19th century  but it was specifically provided for in the Constitution. Democrats unhappily accepted the result because they accepted the Constitution as the bedrock of our system of government.

In an intra-party Republican fight, on the other hand, the winner of the 2016 nomination could be determined not by the Constitution but by rules written by party activists and insiders the week before the GOP convention. If those rules can be reasonably viewed as unfair, they won't command the fundamental respect and consensus of a constitutional provision. And the resulting nominee won't command that respect, either.

There's no guarantee it will happen. Right now, the popular vote leader, Donald Trump, is also the delegate leader. According to RealClearPolitics, through the Wisconsin primary Trump has won 8,197,535 votes to Ted Cruz's 6,263,349. Trump leads the delegate race with 743 to Cruz's 545. (Yes, there are complicated ways to count delegates, but Trump still has a substantial lead.)

Even with losses over the weekend in Colorado's delegate selection, it's possible Trump will win the 1,237 delegates required to clinch the nomination before the convention. If he did that, he would certainly be the vote leader, too. It's far less likely  actually, almost impossible  for Cruz to hit the delegate mark before Cleveland. But if he could pull it off, in addition to his delegate-convention efforts, it could only be by collecting many, many more votes than Trump in the remaining big contests.

The more likely scenario is that Trump will go to the convention leading in delegates and the popular vote. The delegate totals will change on multiple ballots. The popular vote won't; there will be no more to win. And at this point it seems difficult for Cruz to overtake Trump's 1,934,186-vote lead. So it seems possible that, should Cruz become the nominee, he would do so as the popular vote loser.

Of course, winning the popular vote over a series of primaries and caucuses is not the same as winning the general election popular vote on a single election day. But winning the popular vote is the single most important factor in the Republican primary and caucus system. Some states award delegates winner-take-all  that is, to the winner of the popular vote. Other states award delegates winner-take-all to the winner of the popular vote in congressional districts, with an additional number of delegates going to the winner of the statewide popular vote. Other states award delegates proportionally, with the most going to the winner of the popular vote, either in districts or statewide.

All of those allocation methods are based primarily on the popular vote. It is the foundation of the primary and caucus system.

Republicans have not recently had to face the prospect of a popular vote winner losing the nomination. In 2012, Mitt Romney won 9,809,662 primary and caucus votes to second-place Rick Santorum's 3,909,460. In 2008, John McCain won 9,902,797 votes to Romney's 4,699,788. There was no question who won.

Democrats in 2008 faced a much more difficult situation, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ran neck-and-neck in the popular vote. In the end, Obama played Democratic Party rules much more craftily than Clinton, and won the delegate race. But he also came out ahead in the popular vote. By one count, Obama narrowly won  really narrowly, by 41,622 votes out of 35 million cast  while by another count, including vote estimates from some caucus states, Obama won by 151,844. Both were narrow, narrow victories, but victories nonetheless. Still, being close in the popular vote gave Clinton a powerful argument as she stayed in the Democratic race. When she said she was "proud to have put 18 million cracks in the highest glass ceiling," she wasn't talking about delegates.

Now, Republicans could be headed toward an end in which the popular vote loser becomes the party's nominee. Many Republicans undoubtedly have no problem with that. They are fond of pointing out that we live in a republic, not a democracy. That the rules are the rules. And that the Founders didn't much like democracy. There are counter-arguments for all  we live in a representative democracy, the rules are changeable, and the trend in the past 150 years has been to make American electoral practices more democratic. But don't expect any of the arguments to be settled.

Donald Trump will spend the next few days, and perhaps weeks, railing about the unfairness of the system. Of course he's doing it out of self-interest. But his campaign has raised a healthy question for debate: How representative of the voters should a party's nomination process be?

Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner.
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 []
Despite multiple trips of units at three power stations stress-testing the power system, Eskom managed to avoid load shedding on Tuesday.

The multiple trips of units resulted in a loss of 3 535 MW and in an effort to stabilise the power grid, Eskom used five diesel generators.

According to Eskom, load shedding was avoided due to the resilience of the power system.

Due to the interconnectedness of the power system, an earth fault at the high voltage yard at Tutuka power station had resulted in three units of the Majuba power station and two units at Drakensberg Pumped Storage being offline, Eskom said in a statement. Due to a separate and unrelated incident Tutuka unit 3 also tripped.

One Majuba unit, two Drakensberg units and one Tutuka unit have since been brought back on the grid. In addition, Matla unit 1, Grootvlei unit 4 and Camden unit 5, that were on opportunity maintenance, were returned to service to support the grid. The remaining units are expected to be back online before this evenings peak period.

Eskom currently has 33 840MW to meet an expected peak demand of 30 911 MW, it said.

Last week Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown said there is no prognosis for load shedding in the winter months. She said load shedding has become a thing of the past and the usage of diesel has also (been) reduced significantly.

In March this year, Eskom CEO Brian Molefe actually retracted a previous statement that the lower tariff hike granted by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) would lead to load shedding this year.

Eskom issued a statement shortly after Nersas decision to grant it an additional R11.2bn in revenue for 2016/17  almost half of the amount the power utility had originally requested. In the statement, Eskom warned it could not guarantee that the lights would stay on.

Fin24

More on Eskom

Eskom winning battle against defaulting customers

Outa not done with Eskom over price hikes
A Cybersmart subscriber recently forwarded a copyright abuse claim to MyBroadband from a company called Vobile, acting on behalf of Viacom.

The subscriber had allegedly downloaded an episode of the show Legend of Korra, which airs on Nickelodeon  a channel owned by Viacom.

Cybersmart said it forwards such abuse notices  including copyright notices  to subscribers as the law is not clear about an ISPs responsibility.

It is not clear that we are obliged to do so, but we do not see the harm in doing so, said Cybersmart CEO Laurie Fialkov.

It gives the customer an opportunity to correct his infringement if he knows about it, or to fix the problem if he doesnt.

MyBroadband asked what would happen if a subscriber ignored a copyright abuse notice, and Cybersmart said it will not do anything further unless it is legally instructed to do so.

We will not give customer information out on the strength of an email, said Fialkov.

What a copyright abuse notice looks like

A redacted version of Cybersmarts abuse notice is shown below.

Availability of Legend of Korra in South Africa

Legend of Korra is not readily available in South Africa, with Nickelodeon Africa showing episodes from the first season on DStv channel 305 at 01:30 on Sunday mornings.

No episodes from the subsequent seasons are on the channel.

The only other way to legally watch the show in South Africa is to buy imported DVDs or Blu-rays.

Viacom was asked why Legend of Korra isnt widely available in South Africa, but the company did not respond by the time of publication.

More on BitTorrent and copyright

South African BitTorrent users beware

This is when SAs ISPs hand over the private information of pirates

Copyright Amendment Bill approved by SA Cabinet

How SAs first online pirate was caught
A social media user has come out guns blazing with an expose of how some traffic cops are swindling clueless drivers. The Facebook user, Kavuttih Matthias Kings, in a detailed post narrates his experience with cops between Kericho and Kisumu last week Wednesday.

His post has since gone viral, as more victims came out to share their similar experiences.

This was his post:

I was fooled and smoothly robbed by rogue police between Kericho and Kisumu on April 6th 2016 at about 1300hrs (just after Moi Kipsitet Girls, which is a 50km/h speed limit zone). These are the dirty tricks that a gang of about 10 officers apply to steal from clueless drivers:

1. They have someone positioned a kilometer or so before their fake police check position. This contact calls them giving them the plate numbers of all/most vehicles coming towards them.

2. When you arrive at the spot they wave you down and one of them asks you for your driving licence, and starts walking away as they inform you that you were over-speeding. (They claimed I was doing 110km/h instead of 50km/h. When you imagine 110km/h at a market place full of pedestrians, cattle and speed-bumps, it does not add up. SMH).

3. They have a receipt book which they claim is legal, and is used for cash bail. Problem is the receipts have no stamps, no signature, whether yours or of the officer who charged you.

4. None of the officers has any identification numbers on them, as is required by law, nor do they care about producing any form of identification.

5. They have a book where they write the plate numbers as given via phone by their contact person. They have no speed guns. If by chance you escaped the attention of the contact person, the police quickly scribble down your plate number as they wave you down and proceed to purport that you were driving at an impossible speed.

6. If you cooperate with them you could bribe them for anything between KES200 and KES3,000. This depends on 2 things  the apparent age of your car, and your attitude. Needless to say, if your car is old, you get away with a smaller bribe. Woe to you if your car is new (if you have a new or posh car, you definitely have a fatter wallet, and you should therefore share its content with them, against your will). If you have a wrong attitude, such as wanting to know exactly where you were over-speeding, any speed-gun evidence, any police identificationboy, you are getting yourself into dung.

7. If you are not wiling to bribe them, then you pay KES5,000 cash bail, and they give you a receipt, a fake receipt. As earlier said, no stamp, no signatures, and therefore it is invalid. They claim that you should go to court on a particular date, but if you do, the receipt wont help you, because as far as they are concerned, you forged it, and you DID NOT pay any cash bail to nobody.

I saw drivers who just drove away when waved down, (perhaps they had been here before) and thats the only way youd escape being robbed by this rogue police. Alternatively, you should not give them your DL, because if you do, you will have to buy it back, way more expensively than your renewal fees for 3 years.

Like every victim of injustice, I feel abused, demoralized and insulted, and I am left with 2 choices: whine about it all day long, or accept that our police is irredeemable and move on, joyfully.

I am sharing this because I am not alone, and if you are a potential victim, you are more informed than I was. On our way back we saw even more vehicles packed at the same spot, and like everyone with a little more experience, we knew better. Imagine how many vehicles use that part of the road per day: say 200 vehicles, each driver paying an average of KES2000. Thats KES400000 per day, KES2.8m per week!

God Bless Kenya!

Here are some reactions:

John Calvins 

Benard Mogambi 

Remmy Nyongesa

Julius Weche

Zack Kirui 

Martin Tubula Sande 

Silas Kimathi 

Temesi Paul Etemesi 


What was supposed to be a great weekend for gamblers ended in tears as bookmaker mCHEZA slashed their bonus winnings to a mere Sh175.

In the same weekend, two people won and shared the Sh21 million jackpot.

Basically, a Jackpot has 13 or 15 games that should all be predicted correctly for one to win the entire amount. However, since it is incredibly difficult, bookmakers offer bonus amounts for correct predictions of 10 games and above.

These bonuses vary from bookmaker to bookmaker, but are basically in the thousands.

Over the weekend, mCHEZA customers who had predicted enough games correctly to warrant a bonus were left in shock after receiving only Sh175 from a bet of Sh100.

The betting company associated with Julie Gichuru said that there were so many winners and hence the winnings ended up being so small. In total, mCHEZA says there were more than 7000 bets that qualified for a bonus.

Trimming winnings and even cancelling bets is not new in the betting world, but here in Kenya it is still an infant industry.

Gamblers took their anger to social media, some even calling mCHEZA the next Chase Bank.



The bookmaker tried to explain the situation.



But Kenyans continued attacking it on social media.
Five suspects were arrested on Sunday after Ministry of Health officials raided a bogus yoghurt manufacturing and distribution syndicate in Nakuru.

The officials seized over 200 litres of the yoghurt manufactured without milk and which has been finding its way into the markets of Nakuru and its environs. The five were apprehended at their manufacturing den in Manyani estate, where the health officers together with the police destroyed the fake yoghurt.

Speaking after busting the illegal syndicate, Nakuru East Public Health Officer Vanice Kwamboka said that the officers were on a different mission concerning the polio vaccination exercise, when locals tipped them off.

It was reported that the ingredients used for making the product included corn flour- a product specially made for thickening soups, sauces and gravies, food colouring, and henna  a product used for decorating nails and dying hair.

The officers were further surprised to find that the products bore the Kenya Bureau of Standard quality logo, on 300ml and 500ml bottles.

The product going by the name Optimum is widely consumed in Nakuru especially by travellers, as it is hawked in the town with the 500ml bottle selling at Sh70 compared to rival products retailing at Sh100.







Heres the report by KTN News Kenya:


Calistoga Theater Company presents Black Tie

The Calistoga Theater Company will present A.R. Gurneys play Black Tie, directed by Sharie Renault, April 21-May 8 at the St. Helena Presbyterian Church, 1428 Spring St., St. Helena. The charming comedy is set in an Adirondack resort suite and told from the perspective of the grooms family on the eve of their only sons wedding. The run begins with a preview at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 21. The other showtimes are 7 p.m. Thursdays, April 28 and May 5; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, April 22, 23, 29, 30 and May 6 and 7; and 3 p.m. Sundays, April 24 and May 1 and 8.

Tickets: $15-$25.

Monthly UpValley Support Group

PFLAG Napa offers monthly UpValley Support Group meetings from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at St. Lukes Episcopal Church, 1504 Myrtle St. This months meeting is Thursday, April 14. Ian Stanley, program director for LGBTQ Connection, will be the guest speaker, followed by support group discussions. Parents, families, friends and allies of LGBTQ+ people are invited to attend.

All are welcome, 18 and older.

For information visit pflagnapa.org or call 681-1477.

Garden Club plant sale

The Calistoga Garden Club will have a plant sale as part of the Citywide Yard Sale on Saturday, April 23, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The club will be at 1314 Washington St., across the street from the Sharpsteen Museum.

Info: 942-6063 or 942-6768.

High school production features one-act plays

The Calistoga High School arts departments production this year is called Calistoga Wild Acts, composed of several one-act plays and monologues highlighting the individual talents of the drama class.

Among the selections featured is Once Upon a Crime: The Trial of Goldilocks by Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus. In this production the students have the opportunity to bring some of the classic fairy tale characters to the schools Black Box theater stage.

Another one-act play to be featured is Blue Sky by Lindsay Price, featuring three drama students in a play about imagination, hope and companionship.

Performances will be held in the Calistoga High School Black Box Theatre beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 21; Friday, April 22; Saturday, April 23; and at 6 p.m. Sunday, April 24.

For tickets or reservations call Toni Weems at the Calistoga High School office Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., at 942-6278.

Tickets: $5 students; $10 adults.

Calistoga Art Center Small Plate Social

The Calistoga Art Center, 1435 N. Oak St., will hold its first-ever Small Plate Social Fundraiser to benefit its growing ceramics program, and to help keep monthly class prices affordable, as well as materials stocked and the kiln firing.

Included in the price will be a one-of-a-kind handmade plate as well as appetizers, desserts and wines donated by local restaurants and wineries followed by live music at the end of the night. There will also be a silent auction of arts, crafts and wines.

The event will be April 30 from 5 to 8 p.m.

Tickets: $35 per person

Orsini to discuss Californias primary election

Robyn Orsini, vice president of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters Napa County, will discuss the upcoming primary election at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 21, at the Rianda House Senior Activity Center, 1475 Main St., St. Helena. Orsinis topic is How a New California Primary Election Law Makes Voting On June 7th More Important Than Ever. Attendees will learn about these ballot changes plus other important voter information.

Gala for wildlife planned for April 22

The second annual gala for the Wildlife Rescue Center of Napa County will celebrate the launch of the groups capital campaign to build a new, full-range center where raptors, birds and other wildlife can be treated and rehabilitated to be released back into the wild. A Wild Night at The Castle II, with Honorary Chairman Dario Sattui, will take place from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at Castello di Amorosa, 4045 St. Helena Highway in Calistoga. Tickets at $165 per person are available at napawildliferescue.maestroweb.com.

A Tapestry of Music on April 23

Craig Bonds St. Helena Choral Society will showcase the range of its talent with A Tapestry of Music at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 23, at the St. Helena Elementary School auditorium. Youll get Jazz @ 7 doing their swingy jazz thing, St. Helena High School alum Tyler Johnson playing a Bach piano concerto, and the St. Helena Chamber Choir performing Gabriel Faures Requiem Mass with orchestra and soloists Eileen Hunt and Ted von Pohle (who should both be familiar to White Barn fans). Tickets (available at the Roastery) are $20, or $10 for kids and students.

Grumpier Old Men on tap for April 23

Rianda House and the Cameo Cinema presents Grumpier Old Men at noon Saturday, April 23, at the Cameo Cinema. This oldie but goodie film stars Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon and Ann-Margret. Your $15 ticket includes admission, wine, popcorn and one raffle ticket to win a fishing trip for two with Bill Ryan, St. Helenas local fisherman. Tickets available at the Cameo Cinema or online at CameoCinema.com. Purchase additional raffle tickets for $5 each.

Low Vision Group meets

The Low Vision Group meets the fourth Thursday of each month at 1:30 p.m. in the recreation hall of Rancho de Calistoga Mobile Home Park. The monthly meetings are designed to provide support and information to people and families who experience low vision and blindness. This months guest speaker on Thursday, April 28, is Jamaal Cannon from Vanda Pharmaceuticals. Cannon will talk about the sleep-wake cycle problem that is the consequence of having Non-24 Circadian Rhythm Disorder.

Vanda received the 2015 Helen Keller Award from The American Foundation for the Blind, which celebrates individuals and organizations that have demonstrated outstanding achievement in improving the quality of life for people with vision loss. Questions and answer period will follow the talk.

For advance seating reservations call Dora Devorak at 942-4780. For other information call Dan Sund at 942-6301.

Yountvilles Art, Sip & Stroll at V Marketplace

Enjoy a day of fine wines while strolling Yountville and the eclectic galleries of V Marketplace from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 16. On view will be outdoor sculptures and dozens of artist booths featuring painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics and more. The artists from the V Marketplace are Betty Jo March from Hogan of Napa Valley; Guy Buffet and Marta Collings from North Bay Gallery; and Sue Averell from Gallery 1870. V Marketplace will host Dillon Vineyards, Trombetta Family Wines and Tognettie Family Winery on the front lawn and inside North Bay Gallery.

Pawsport NV is May 12-15

Pawsport Napa Valley, benefiting Napa Humane, will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 12-15. Guests enjoy experiences at 16 Napa Valley wineries and tasting rooms, featuring tastings, food pairings, discounts on bottle purchases, souvenirs for you and your pup, treats for four-legged friends, and more! Pawsports are $75 per person. Must be age 21 and up to attend. For information, visit napahumane.org/PawsportNV.

Museum for a Day is May 21

The St. Helena Historical Society is offering a Museum for a Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 21, in the St. Helena Catholic School gym. Since the historical society lacks a permanent home, its collection is scattered here and there around town. This is a rare chance to see some of those artifacts on public display, and also to honor St. Helenas founding families. Food will be available for purchase.
A Napa State Hospital psychiatric patient was back in Napa County Superior Court on Tuesday for an attempted murder charge that originated last year, according to court documents.

The patient, Joseph Loring Pavan, 33, pleaded no contest to attempted murder, admitted to special allegations that he used a deadly weapon and caused great bodily harm. Then he entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Both the defense and prosecution waived their right to a jury trial. Judge Francisca P. Tisher received reports filed by court appointed forensic psychiatrist Dr. Martin Blinder, and court appointed forensic psychologist Dr. John Shields, according to court documents.

Tisher found Pavan not guilty by reason of insanity.

Pavan was arrested on April 9, 2015 after allegedly wrapping an electrical cord around the neck of another Napa State patient, Benjamin Snow, causing him to lose consciousness, according to court documents. Snow was transported to Queen of the Valley Medical Center for his injuries.

Following the verdict, Pavan was returned to custody to await placement in a state psychiatric facility. A placement report is scheduled to be presented in court on May 2.
The NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will travel to London on Thursday, 14 April 2016.

During his visit the Secretary General will meet with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, The Right Honourable Mr. David Cameron.

Media Advisory

09:00 (Local time) Joint press spray with Mr. David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Still and video imagery will be available on the NATO website after the event.

The NATO Secretary General will be available for questions outside Number 10 after the meeting with Prime Minister Cameron.

Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress and @jensstoltenberg)
The NATO Deputy Secretary General, Ambassador Alexander Vershbow will visit Kiev on 14 and 15 April 2016.

On Thursday, 14 April Ambassador Vershbow will attend the Kiev Security Forum where he will deliver a speech titled NATO stands with Ukraine.

During his visit the Deputy Secretary General will also meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, H.E. Mr. Pavlo Klimkin and the Minister of Defence, H.E. Mr. Stephan Poltorak.

The program may be subject to change. For additional information on the event please consult the website http://ksf.openukraine.org/en. For any further information, please contact the NATO press office. Tel: +32 2 707 5041.

Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress and @NATOdsg).
Turkey plans to set up 2 more military bases in northern Syria

Germany wants to use Israel UAVs to protect its key infrastructures

UK defense secretary holds phone talk with Russia counterpart

US to attempt set Russia oil price cap above $60 per barrel?

Russia, Turkey defense ministers confer about Ukraine situation

Armenia official: Terms for buying, building houses for those displaced from Artsakh have improved

Saudi Arabia forum set to draw American business leaders despite existing tensions

Iran plans to increase natural gas exports to Turkey

Iran army ground forces holding exercise in West Azarbaijan Province

Sovereignty renunciation to be punished in Armenia with 12-15 years of imprisonment, as per justice ministry draft

2 pilots killed in Russia fighter jet crash

Russia, France defense ministers discuss Ukraine

Fighter jet crashes into house in Russias Irkutsk

150 residents of 3 Karabakh settlements handed over to Azerbaijan get compensation certificates

Rishi Sunak confirms UK premier bid

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

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Delegation from United Arab Emirates visits Armenia at invitation of head of MONKS: Two agreements signed

Dollar, euro drop in Armenia

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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

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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

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Martakert shall soon return to its former life, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) Prime Minister Arayik Haroutyunyan noted at Tuesdays consultation in this NKR town.

The consultation was devoted to the avenues for resolving the problems that have risen in Martakert and the Martakert Region, as a result of Azerbaijani military aggression from April 2 to 5.

The PM was briefed on the details of the respective damages caused to the local residents.

Haroutyunyan noted that these damages will generally be restored in several days, and that appropriate compensation will be paid for the damaged household furniture and appliances.

The [Artsakh] borders are solid, and the enemy will not awaken for a long time from the blow dealt by our army, he added.

Also, Arayik Haroutyunyan visited the Martakert hospital, and he thanked its staff for its selflessness during the hostilities.

Subsequently, the NKR PM went to the frontline and visited one of the NKR Defense Army positions which were a target of the recent fierce battles. He thanked the soldiers there for their feats and for keeping the motherlands borders impenetrable.

In addition, Arayik Haroutyunyan paid a visit to the Kashen mine.

Our economy shall work, and nothing can prevent the development of Artsakh, he stated.
YEREVAN. - Armenian FM Edward Nalbandian has clarified which document is currently on the bargaining table of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

In an interview with the Public Television of Armenia, the FM noted that the working documents are considered those which have been subject to consideration by the sides. The documents, which it hasnt been possible to reach progress on, are deposited with the OSCE Headquarters in Vienna.

The document which hasnt yet been deposited is the Kazanian one. All the other comments are superfluous, the FM noted.

In his words, there are different ideas, but theres no need to reinvent the wheel: the most important thing is that Karabakh will never be part of Azerbaijan. This idea stands out in all the documents, the FM stressed.

Responding to the question on the appropriateness to continue the talks when one of the parties tries to turn them into a farce, Nalbandian recalled that the entire international community urges to return to the bargaining table. Neither the war, nor military actions can solve this issue. The history shows that after wars the parties return to bargaining table, sometimes having deteriorated their positions. I think nobody needs a new war. Its necessary to find a way to settlement through talks, the FM noted.
YEREVAN. - Through the aggression unleashed against Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan tried to solve the issue by military means.

Armenian FM Edward Nalbandian said the aforementioned in an interview with the Public Television of Armenia.

I think Azerbaijan achieved neither minimum nor maximum of its goals. And now it will have to return to the bargaining table. And the talks require conditions: the efforts of the [OSCE Minsk Group] Co-Chairs are aimed at this, the FM said.

In his words, the current aggression of Azerbaijan was preceded by a failure on the battlefield and then during talks. Consequently, Azerbaijan decided to once again try to achieve success through force.

Opening the brackets, Id like to note that the international community and the Co-Chairs speak of three principles: non-use of force or threat to use force, peoples right to self-determination and territorial integrity. Azerbaijan talks only about one principle. The Co-Chairs spoke of three principles during their visit to Yerevan by the end of last week. The Azerbaijani press saw only one principle, Nalbandian said.

Nalbandian noted that Azerbaijan has had a number of failures, for instance Bakus ignoring of the five statements of the co-chairing countries, urgent departure of the Azerbaijani FM from the EU summit in Riga, the final document of which referred to the aforementioned five statements and the countrys unwillingness to listen to the calls on creating incident investigation mechanisms. The Armenian FM noted that indeed a lot of untargeted calls have been made, but together with them there have been those which specifically addressed Azerbaijan, but the latter wouldnt listen to them either.

At the same time, Azerbaijan has repeatedly turned down the almost achieved agreements, as it was in Kazan. Finding itself in a situation, where it had noting to say during the talks, Azerbaijan refused to meet with the Co-Chairs - as it did in Washington - and didnt conceal its aggressive intentions. It periodically violated the ceasefire, and now it has stepped further. Its evident to everyone who started. None of my colleagues, which I have talked to, has any doubts, Nalbandian noted.
Email at respect@emory.edu

Twitter: @RespectWell

Instagram: Respect_Program

Facebook: Emory Denim Day 2016

Wear jeans or denim on Wednesday, April 20, and encourage your friends and co-workers to do so, too.

Stop by the #EmoryDenimDay tables at Wonderful Wednesday, Rollins Cafe, Highland Bakery or other locations to make a sign showing how you support survivors. (Check http://respect.emory.edu for an updated schedule of table times and locations)

Take photos of yourself, your colleagues and friends wearing denim, tag the Respcect Program, add #EmoryDenimDay, and share them on social media.

Donate to support the Respect Program and the Intimate Partner Violence Working Group, which will benefit awareness campaigns and ongoing programming, including Sexual Assault Peer Advocates (SAPA), the Sexual Assault Forum to Educate Greeks (SAFE Greeks), Emory Active Bystander Skills (ABS), and more. Donations may be made here, by designating other and typing Respect Program.

Download posters, fact sheets and photo signs from the Respect Program website, or request buttons and stickers.

Emory Healthcare has partnered with the Respect Program to provide spcial Emory Denim Day pins for EHC employees who who may not be allowed to wear jeans or denim in the workplace.

To help show support for survivors of sexual assault  and the larger goal of ending sexual violence  the Emory community is invited to participate in Emory Denim Day on Wednesday, April 20.The event is designed to raise both awareness of victim-blaming and funds to support suvivors through Emorys Respect Program, which serves as a central hub for sexual and relationship violence prevention programs, as well as efforts to create a more survivor-supportive campus community.This year, Emorys Student Government Association has pledged to donate $1 to the Respect Program for every person who participates in Emory Denim Day. Participants are urged to wear denim on April 20 and send a photo as proof to the Respect Program through:To receive credit, participants sharing photos on social media must tag them the Respect Program and use #EmoryDenimDay.Last year, nearly 1,300 people and 48 groups shared #EmoryDenimDay photos, according to Drew Rizzo, Respect Program assistant director.With Emory Healthcare as a new partner this year  and special denim pins available for Emory Healthcare employees who cannot otherwise participate due to hospital uniform requirements  the program is confident those numbers will be surpassed this year in a demonstration of campus-wide compassion for survivors of violence and a condemnation of victim-blaming across the Emory enterprise, Rizzo adds.Emory Denim Day is being held a week early this year to avoid conflicting with final exams. The event is part of a national campaign sponsored by Peace Over Violence in response to a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court that involved a 1992 rape conviction that was overturned six years later when justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans, she must have helped her rapist remove them, implying consent.The following day, women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim. Denim Day was launched 17 years ago as a symbol of protest and sexual assault prevention education. Though the original conviction was finally reinstated in 2008, the movement continues, as victim-blaming remains a major concern across the globe, says Rizzo.Community members can support Emory Denim Day in several ways:Emory Denim Day is sponsored by the Emory SGA and organized by the Respect Program in partnership with Emory Healthcare, SAPA, the Intimate Partner Violence Working Group, the Faculty Staff Assistance Program, Alliance for Sexual Assault Prevention, and Grads Against Violence.For more information, email respect@emory.edu or call 404-727-6842.
The U.S. Water Alliance has announced Emory University as one of three winners of the prestigious 2016 U.S. Water Prize. The award recognizes organizations and companies that execute innovative solutions toward the advancement of "one water" sustainability, meaning strategies integrated across the water cycle and within urban management overall.

Emory is recognized for its WaterHub project, an on-site water reclamation system that opened last spring. The system, which utilizes eco-engineering processes to clean waste water for future non-potable uses, is capable of displacing up to 146 million gallons of potable water with recycled wastewater annually, nearly 40 percent of total campus water demand. The WaterHub generates an alternative water supply for critical heating and cooling operations while offering numerous economic, environmental and social benefits to both the University and broader community.

"We are gratified for this recognition from the U.S .Water Alliance for the WaterHub at Emory. Through this project, we've shown how universities can play an important role in advancing sustainability nationwide," says Matthew Early, vice president for campus services at Emory. "Not only has the WaterHub had tremendous impact on how we think about water and how it is utilized on campus, it has also become a national model for those seeking innovative technology to address the global need for water conservation and sustainable solutions."

The WaterHub was completed through a design-build approach between Sustainable Water, project consultant; McKim & Creed, engineer; and Reeves Young, contractor. With the WaterHubs superior approach to water management, Sustainable Water and McKim & Creed nominated Emory University for the U.S. Water Prize.

"McKim & Creed is incredibly proud to be a part of such a phenomenal and unique project as the WaterHub at Emory," says Tim Baldwin, McKim & Creed senior vice president. "Emory University has set a very high standard for water conservation that is being recognized and honored throughout the country."

Jonathan Lanciani, president and CEO of Sustainable Water, agrees. The dedication of the WaterHub allows Emory to significantly reduce its demand on the regional water resources," he says. "Taking wastewater and turning it into high purity reclaimed water with a natural process effective today has been achieved."

'Visionaries in the one water movement'

U.S. Water Alliance CEO Radhika Fox called the three winning institutions "true visionaries in the one water movement."

"While the challenges facing the water sector are great, our capacity of innovation and positive solutions is greater," Fox said in announcing the awards. "That's why the U.S. Water Alliance created the U.S. Water Prize  the first of its kind recognition program that celebrates outstanding achievement in driving towards a sustainable water future."

Jim Clark, senior vice president at Black & Veatch and chair of the U.S. Water Alliance's recognition committee, which selects the U.S. Water Prize winners, noted that the three winners "are nothing short of incredible" and praised Emory for "showing us what is possible when major anchor institutions like universities invest in water reuse."

Other winners of the 2016 U.S. Water Prize include DC Water for its Walter F. Bailey Bioenergy Facility and Dow for its Minimal Liquid Discharge technology. Emory University will join Dow and DC Water at the award ceremony during the One Water Summit June 8 in Atlanta, hosted by the U.S. Water Alliance.

The U.S. Water Prize is the latest in a long list of awards and accolades for the WaterHub. The project also won the 2015 Project Achievement Award by Construction Management Association of America South Atlantic Chapter; 2015 Innovative Project of the Year by the WateReuse Association; 2015 Atlanta E3 Award (liquid assets category) by the Metro Atlanta Chamber; 2015 Superior Environmental Performance award by Georgia Safety, Health and Environmental Conference and the Georgia Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers; 2015 Innovative Deal of the Year by Urban Land InstituteVirginia; 2016 Engineering Excellence Grand Award by the American Council of Engineering Companies North Carolina; and the 2016 inaugural Fulcrum Award by Southface,

Magazines such as District Energy, Industrial WaterWorld, CE News and Sustainable Business Magazine have published articles highlighting the WaterHub for its design as a replicable, sustainable wastewater management solution.
Posted by Mike Levine | December 8, 2009

Ford's technically advanced and unconventional new 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 turbocharged diesel will debut early next year in the 2011 Ford F-Series Super Duty lineup. No matter how powerful and sophisticated Ford's new oil burner is engineered to be, it won't be considered successful without a transmission capable of managing all of that horsepower and torque as well as efficiently sending that power to the wheels to tow and haul heavy loads. That's where Ford's new 6R140 TorqShift six-speed automatic gearbox comes in.

Like the new Power Stroke V-8, Ford designed and engineered the 6R140 entirely in-house. Al Bruck, Fords 6R140 transmission engineering manager, says its a clean sheet design and represents the next generation beyond the 2008-10 Super Dutys current 5R110 five-speed automatic transmission.

This isnt an evolutionary design with limitations and we built from that, Bruck said. Our benchmark for the 6R140 is the current Allison 1000 transmission used in GMs heavy-duty pickups. Weve got greater capability than the Allison, and were about 25 pounds lighter.

The dry weight of the 6R140 is approximately 325 pounds and about 350 pounds when filled with transmission fluid.

Bruck says that its not a single component that makes the 6R140 competitive but a series of interdependent features that add up to make this the most capable transmission Ford has ever offered in the Super Duty. Weve broken them down into the top seven features of Fords all-new 6R140 heavy-duty automatic transmission.



The 6R140 uses a long-travel steel turbine damper that's welded directly to the torque converter's turbine. The damper allows the powertrain to idle as low as 900 rpm and helps control torque input from the 6.7-liter V-8 diesel

1. Works with Fords Gas and Diesel Engines

Unlike GM's and Chrysler's heavy-duty trucks, which use separate transmissions for gas and diesel powertrains, Ford's latest HD pickups continue to share a single transmission for both applications. The 6R140 has to be flexible and intelligent enough to accommodate the low-end grunt of the 6.7-liter diesel and higher-revving peak power curve of Ford's new 6.2-liter V-8 gasser.

How does Ford adapt the transmission for each engine? The 6R140 uses a different torque converter, clutch plates, friction paper and shift schedule software calibrations depending on the motor. Thats it.

2. Single-Piece Housing

While other transmission housings are comprised of multiple pieces bolted together, like GMs three-piece case for the Allison 1000 transmission, the 6R140 uses a single-piece, deep-skirted case. Ford says the advantages of this design are that its quieter, saves weight by doing away with fasteners between body pieces and eliminates the possibility of fluid leak points at the join points.

From the back flange of the engine block to the slip yolk at the back of the transmission is a single-piece casting, Bruck said. Its a very efficient use of material for improved NVH and leak performance. Its also much stiffer since we can eliminate the points where bending might occur.

The only points where the transmission can leak are at the rear seal and the front seal near the torque converter.

Ford has also designed large drainage openings inside the housing to circulate transmission fluid in large volumes between the gears and clutches and fluid sump at the bottom of the housing. New friction plates in the clutches help to quickly drain fluid to reduce fluid resistance.

In the event that the transmission requires service, instead of disassembling the case like a conventional transmission, nearly all jobs start and end at the torque converter side of the gearbox. The 6R140s components are modularly constructed to help facilitate removal from the barrel.

3. Improved Fuel Economy

Fuel economy is at the top of most truck operators minds these days, and the transmission plays a critical role optimizing it. The 6R140 uses several technical tricks to make promised improvements to the Super Dutys mileage. One way fuel economy has been improved in the 6R140 is through the use of an early lockup closed piston torque converter, Bruck said.

The torque converter in an automatic transmission does the same job as a clutch in a manual transmission.

How does this improve mileage? When a torque converter is disengaged, the engine is still running but its not driving the wheels via the transmission, so fuel is wasted. This is important if youre driving a vehicle with an automatic transmission, so it wont stall at a stoplight. When you get going again, engaging the torque converter at a lower rpm means power can be sent to the wheels sooner, thereby improving fuel economy. Think of it as taking some of a manual transmission's inherent fuel economy advantages and applying them to an automatic gearbox.

"The lockup [strategy] depends on pedal positioning," Bruck said. "We've done a lot of work monitoring fuel rates at different speeds, different pedal rates and different gears to optimize the 6R140 for both gas and diesel."



The all-new torque converter helps improve fuel economy and directly links the segment-first Live Drive PTO to the crankshaft

As you might expect, there are different lockup strategies for the gas and diesel engines.

"There are advantages to not locking it up as early with the gas engine as we do for the diesel," he said. "The way we do it for the diesel, in full automatic mode, during a normal upshift, is to lock the converter between third and fourth and stay locked up through sixth. We're more aggressive locking up the torque converter earlier in tow/haul mode and manual mode."

Tow/haul mode is used in HD automatic transmissions to hold gears longer and keep engine rpms higher during towing and hauling situations so adequate power is available at all times, especially during upshifts to help prevent the truck from lugging after the shift.

Manual mode allows the driver to manually shift the automatic transmission up and down like a manual gearbox as long as the transmission doesn't exceed the engines rpm redline or stall the engine.

The torque converter also features a long-travel steel turbine damper that's welded directly to the torque converter's turbine. The damper, which is actually a set of springs arranged in a square pattern, limits the transmission of inertial forces produced by the 6.7-liter V-8, so they aren't transmitted to the transmission's input shaft all at once when the torque converter is locked or open. The damper allows the powertrain to idle as low as 900 rpm.



The long-travel damper is like a long spring body that can wind up as rpms drop and diesel torque increases, Bruck said. And the lower the engine speed, the better the fuel economy.

Like other competitive six-speed transmissions, the 6R140 offers two overdrive gears to improve fuel economy at highway speeds. The overdrive gears help the truck lope along at lower engine rpms.

4. Range Select and Manual Shift Functions

If a Super Duty driver wants custom control over the 6R140, they can switch from full automatic or tow/haul modes into Progressive Range Select or Manual modes. Range Select is activated via a toggle on the shift lever that allows the customer to reduce the range of available gears while in Drive. When the customer taps down into Range Select mode, the display shows the available gears and highlights the current gear state. This feature allows the driver to limit use of upper gears when heavily loaded or while towing on grades. Its especially helpful in terrain that includes constant hills when towing.

In manual mode, the driver can select the exact gear they desire, as long as they dont go over redline. The display will show the selected gear, and the control system will lock the torque converter and hold that gear for a full manual transmission feel. Manual mode is Fords way of making up for the loss of a standard ZF six-speed manual transmission, which goes away for 2011.

5. Live Drive Power Takeoff

Ford says the 6R140 transmission will be the first gearbox in the segment to offer what it calls Live Drive Power Takeoff.

Power Takeoff is used to power auxiliary tools, like generators or salt spreaders, off of the engine.

By linking the PTOs output gear directly to the engine crank via a flex-plate connected to the torque converter housing, the PTO output gear continues to turn as long as the engine is turning, even if the truck is completely stopped and the torque converter is disconnected to keep the engine from stalling. In the outgoing 5R110, the PTO is linked directly to the turbine shaft.

Its capable of mobile and stationary PTO, Bruck said. This will enhance the capability of PTO products that are available today.

6. New Ravigneaux Powerflow Gearset



The power-dense sinter-brazed Ravigneaux gear carrier manages the torque of the new 6.7-liter diesel and the high-speed shifts of the new 6.2-liter gas engines

The 6R140 uses a new tough sinter-brazed Ravigneaux planetary gearset to carry engine torque without artificially limiting torque at launch to preserve transmission hardware. Its a stout compound set of interconnected gears that acts as a two-in-one gearset, with one planetary carrier thats common to two sets of planetary pinions, two sun gears and one common ring gear. Its also capable of handling the high shift speeds of the gas engine and high torque loads of the 6.7-liter diesel.

This gearset has plenty of headroom, Bruck said. Its not stretched with our launch torque limits. When you see it side by side with the Allisons gearset, youll say that these guys are playing in the same sandbox.

The powerflow gearsets housing is made from powdered metal. Normally used to create components like an engines connecting rods, a metal powder is poured into a mold and heavily compressed with a mating die. When its removed, a binder holds the powder together; its then sintered into its final form, which is nearly as dense as steel. It can be double-pressed again after sintering to make it stronger through greater density. Powdered metal provides all of the features of a steel part without requiring machining.

A Ford-patented rocker one-way clutch is integrated with the torque carrier and helps improve 1-2 shift quality through the gearset. Its carried over from the 5R110 transmission.

7. 150,000-Mile Maintenance Schedule

To help lower operating costs, the 6R140 uses an internal dual-media filter thats split into two mesh components  a coarse-grained filter and a fine-grained filter. The coarse-grained filter cleans about 90 percent of the transmission fluid in the gearbox while the fine-grained filter continuously cleans about 10 percent of the volume. Over time, both large and small contaminants are removed from the fluid, extending its maintenance cycle to 150,000 miles. For comparison, the current 5R110 has a 60,000-mile change interval.

The concept is that over time you get a very effective cleaning, Bruck said. You dont have to draw everything through the fine media, which is very inefficient and doesnt work well in cold conditions. The dual-media setup uses a pressure balance to draw fluid into the fine media while everything goes through the coarse media. You reach an equilibrium of very clean fluid over time.



Main control assembly and new dual-media filter with 150,000-mile change interval. Note how these components are located inside the single-piece transmission case.

The internal dual-media filter removes the need for an external filter, which also eliminates another potential leak point for the transmission.

We studied doing a spin-on [filter], but the numbers we collected proved we could do it all internally, he said. Now were working to see if we can push the [maintenance interval] number even higher.

One interesting point about the transmission fluid used in the 6R140 is that Ford has created a new standard that will see most of its vehicles use the same transmission fluid regardless of application. Transmission fluid for the Super Duty will be the same as the Ford F-150 half-ton pickup and other vehicles like the Ford Fusion sedan and Ford Escape.

Theres been a lot of work done to migrate all of the vehicles to the same common fluid, Bruck said.
13:20

Saying that he was capable of withstanding pressures both political and otherwise because of the strong support of his family, businessman Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi said, "I am born and brought up here, would never leave my country, no pressure, even if I am humiliated. No matter what the government says, I have the ability to sustain and to absorb. I have a very strong and good family which gives me strength."





In an exclusive interview to ANI, Vadra who has often played a secondary role to his wife in the social and political life said, "I don't need my wife Priyanka to enhance my life, I have enough, I have always had enough. My father gave me enough. I have been educated enough to sustain in all types of situations."





When asked whether he would take the plunge into active politics, Vadra said, "I would not say never, let's see what future has in store for me.'





Robert Vadra has campaigned for his brother-in-law Rahul Gandhi and his mother-in-law Sonia Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh but has never made campaign speeches or taken part in political meetings.





When asked whether he planned to change that strategy, Vadra replied, "When people will call for me, when they think I can make some change, then only will I think of joining politics. I understand my responsibilities. I know with which family I am associated, what they have done for generations. I have to make sure that I respect it."
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BENGALURU: Before the buzz over the end-to-end encryption security feature of Whatsapp messages could fade, the instant messenger (IM) app is on a verge to get banned in India, reports Deccan Chronicle.

The end-to-end encryption facility for chats means that no third party can view chats through Whatsapp including Whatsapp employees, hackers, FBI officials, police and so on. This new security specification is unnecessary for the Indian telecom regulations, ultimately putting the IM company at risk.

Previously, encryption issue in Apple-FBI case was viral across the internet where tech honchos like Google and Apple were stood against FBI in terms of unlocking an iPhone, keeping users data privacy and security as areas of key concern. However, without any help from Apple, FBI was able to crack the device.

The Indian government always request decryption codes from IM chat providers, however Whatsapp is not willing to cooperate in doing so, with the claim that they themselves do not own the decryption keys. The refraining of data is a major loop hole, as more than half of the global population relies on Whatsapp for communication.

Statistics show that more than 70 million people of India use Whatsapp. To sustain and expand in India, Whatsapp needs to abide with the government policies and encryption rules which presently it does not.

As per telecom sector guideline, online services can use up to 40-bit encryption. In case of higher encryption standards, appeals and permissions to the government are only remedy. But keeping Whatsapps setup in preview, its not easy to convince the Indian government.

Thus, those using the updated end to end encryption version of Whatsapp in India are actually in to an illegal affair.

According to a report by the Independent, the government of India is yet to take a call about this Whatsapp issue.

Again, according to the Indian encryption rules, over-The-Top (OTT) services, like WhatsApp, Skype, Viber do not have encryption standards unlike telecom companies. The uses of these OTT services are not regulated in the country, and do not fall under encryption laws.

In 2015, TRAI had released an OTT consultation paper but have not imposed any rules or regulation on the OTT service providers. In that way, Whatsapp is still a legal OTT service provider in India with no encryption standards. However, lack of decryption keys can bring it to fault or problem on legal grounds at a later state. However, in overseas countries like France, China or Germany ample regulations are laid on OTT providers.

Asheeta Regidi, an Indian cyber law specialist shares with the Firstpost, WhatsApp, being an intermediary, is expected to comply with directions to intercept, monitor and decrypt information issued under Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Complying with such a direction will now be impossible for WhatsApp in view of its end-to-end encryption. Even before the introduction of this, since WhatsApp is not a company based in India, it may have been able to refuse to comply with such directions. In fact, compliance by such companies in regard to data requests from the Indian government has been reported to be very low.

Thus the big question now is about the future of Whatsapp in India?

The governments decision along with TRAI alone can derive robust conclusion to the future of Whatsapp in India.

READ ALSO: Telenor Expects To Be 4G Ready By Fiscal-End

Indian-Origin Scientist Selected For NASA's Pioneering Programme
Has Haiti's cholera epidemic become a permanent problem?

On January 12, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, killing thousands of people and displacing millions more.

Ten months later the country was stricken with an outbreak of cholera, a deadly diarrheal disease. Though the number of cholera cases has decreased from a peak of approximately 25,000 cases per month, it is likely that thousands of people are still falling ill with the disease.

Moreover, there are now worrying signs that cholera has transitioned from an outbreak to an endemic disease. This means that cholera could join the list of infectious diseases that regularly occur in Haiti.

My colleagues and I at the University of Florida have developed mathematical models to help understand cholera transmission in Haiti and provide insights into how it might be stopped. Unless drinking water and sanitation infrastructure are improved, cholera could remain in Haiti indefinitely, an unwelcome development for the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

What is cholera?

Cholera is a waterborne disease, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. People become infected when they consume food or water contaminated by this pathogen. Once ingested, the bacteria colonize the small intestine, releasing a toxin that disrupts the movement of water.

The results are devastating: acute, watery diarrhea that can result in the loss of one liter of fluid per hour and death by dehydration in less than a day. However, lifesaving treatment in the form of oral rehydration salts, a simple mixture of electrolytes and water, can prevent death in up to 80 percent of cases.

Though largely a forgotten disease in most developed countries, cholera was once a major source of illness and death. Before the advent of modern water and sanitation practices, cholera was found in much of the world and remains endemic in Bangladesh, India and parts of Africa. It is estimated that 1 to 4 million people become infected per year worldwide, and between 28,000 and 140,000 will die from this disease.

The earthquake created ideal conditions for water-borne diseases

After the earthquake in Haiti, millions of people were living in temporary camps without access to improved water or sewage systems, and crowded into very unhygienic circumstances. These are ideal conditions for the transmission of cholera.

In October 2010, a cluster of cholera cases was detected along the Artibonite River, the longest and most important waterway in Haiti. The cases were traced back to a tributary of the river, bordered by a garrison of Nepalese soldiers that were sent by the United Nations (U.N.) to help keep the peace in the aftermath of the earthquake. Like the majority of people infected with cholera, the soldiers were asymptomatic and unaware that they carried the bacteria.

The garrison discharged untreated sewage directly into a river that many people were relying on for drinking water. Once the river was contaminated, the spread of cholera was explosive.

By December 2010, cholera had spread throughout all 10 departments of Haiti, causing over 100,000 cases and thousands of deaths.

The outbreak continued to grow

In the year that followed, over 350,000 cases were reported, making Haiti the scene of the largest national cholera outbreak in recent history. The international community was, once again, mobilized to help Haiti with this new crisis.

By early 2014 it seemed as if the cholera epidemic was coming under control. The number of cases dropped to approximately 200 cases per week, with signs that the increase in access to cholera treatment centers, along with interventions in sanitation and hygiene, were working.

After a few consecutive weeks during the summer of 2014 when no new cholera cases were reported in Haiti, it appeared that the epidemic was finally finished and the international community started to close many of the cholera treatment centers in Haiti.

Cholera returns  and lingers

But in the fall of 2014, cholera transmission returned at a rate of around 2,000 cases per week and remains elevated at approximately 1,000 cases per week. Perhaps the disease returned because fewer treatment centers were available for those infected to receive treatment. Or maybe the acquired immunity in people who survived the infection started to wane.

However, it is also possible that the underlying dynamics of cholera transmission in Haiti had changed. Cholera is transmitted via two main routes. The first is person-to-person transmission within households by food, water or surfaces directly contaminated by fecal material from infected people. The second is environment-to-person transmission from the consumption of surface water that contains free-living populations of the bacteria in the absence of fecal contamination.

Cholera outbreaks and epidemics are typically characterized by person-to-person transmission. But if the causative bacterium, V. cholerae, has established reservoirs in the environment, then the disease may have become endemic.

Epidemiologists often use mathematical models to predict the course that outbreaks will take. For cholera, these models typically incorporate the number of people who have acquired temporary immunity after being infected and how long the bacterium can survive in the environment. Most models of cholera outbreaks assume that V. cholerae only survives in the environment for up to a few weeks and then dies.

Based on this reasoning, if all of the active cases can be treated and enough time passes for the V. cholerae in the environment to become noninfectious, no new infections occur and the epidemic will become extinct. This is likely why cholera treatment centers began to close when the cases approached zero.

However, given the right conditions, such as the warm tropical waters of Haiti, V. cholerae originally shed in the feces of cholera patients can survive for months or years in surface water. Environmental reservoirs of V. cholera can lead to recurrent seasonal outbreaks even after years without reported cases. This natural phenomenon is commonly observed in countries such as India or Bangladesh, where cholera remains endemic.

A growing body of evidence now suggests that this has happened in Haiti. My research group at the University of Florida noticed that despite a decrease in cholera cases in the summer of 2014, the isolation frequency of V. cholerae in the surface waters of the Ouest Department, Haitis largest administrative area, was actually increasing. This suggested that reservoirs had been established and cholera could have gained a permanent foothold in Haiti.

Can Haiti eliminate cholera?

If V. cholerae has established reservoirs in the environment, what will it take for Haiti to stop cholera transmission? We developed a new model to shed some light on this.

Like traditional models for cholera transmission, we considered the number of people who have acquired temporary immunity because they survived the infection. But instead of assuming that V. cholerae decays in the environment after a few weeks, our model assumes that it can not only survive for prolonged periods, but can proliferate in response to environmental factors.

Combined with information about recent pilot vaccinations trials in Haiti, we can estimate the effects that these interventions, as well as any improvements to drinking water and sanitation, will have.

Unfortunately, there is little evidence that sanitation systems or access to clean drinking water have improved in Haiti since 2010. Given these conditions, we believe that mass vaccination with oral cholera vaccines might be the only intervention available to stop transmission of the disease.

We are currently investigating how many people would need to be vaccinated, how quickly oral cholera vaccines would need to be administered and how effective the vaccine would need to be in order to halt cholera transmission in Haiti. Our preliminary results suggest that controlling cholera transmission with oral vaccines could be possible in Haiti, but would require significant financial and logistical support from the international community.

The World Health Organization considers cholera endemic in countries that have had confirmed cases in three of the last five years. By that definition cholera is now endemic in Haiti. The question is, how long will it remain that way?

This article originally appeared in The Conversation on April 11, 2016.
UF Online Learning Institute expands into new research lab

The University of Florida community got its first glimpse earlier this month of a new 1,600-square-foot research space where faculty and students will study how to use technology to create effective and engaging online learning experiences.

For months, collaborating researchers from the colleges of Education, Engineering, Journalism and Communications and the College of the Arts and its Digital Worlds Institute have been exploring personalized e-learning techniques as members of the UF Online Learning Institute. Now, the researchers will have the benefit of a dedicated space in Yon Hall that will house cutting-edge technology including eye-tracking, brain monitoring equipment and virtual reality.

We will be staffing the space and getting equipment to do research on innovative technologies for learning, said UF College of Education professor Carole R. Beal, who arrived in August 2014 from the University of Arizonas School of Information to head up the Online Learning Institute.

Possibilities include tailoring instruction in response to students' keystrokes, teaching through gaming, searching a semester's worth of video lectures with a single keyword, and apps to open textbooks and connect to tutoring from a smartphone.

Beal said she and her colleagues Kristy Boyer, Sriram Kalyanaraman and Angelos Barmpoutis will be able to ramp up their investigations into how to attract, hold and measure the attention of online learners so they can determine the most effective ways for educators to present information through technology.

Boyer, an associate professor in UFs Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering who joined the team last fall, said she is enthusiastic about the new space because it affords interdisciplinary scholars the opportunity to work together in a conducive environment.

I think it will make a huge difference in how we generate ideas and build on each others ideas, Boyer said. This is where our together happens, which is a major component of our vision for future work.

With enrollment in web-based courses soaring nationwide, research-based methods for how to deliver online education remains a work in progress, a situation that has prompted the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Engineering to identify personalized learning via the internet a global challenge and a top research priority.

This sense of urgency was a motivating factor that led UF to establish the UF Online Learning Institute as the research and development arm of UF Online, a fully online baccalaureate degree program for students who are either first time in college or transfer, in state or out of state.

But the new lab will provide research opportunities for colleges and units beyond the Online Learning Institute, Beal said. The research being conducted by the UF Online Learning Institute extends beyond traditional online education to include work on health education, technology-based learning for K-12 schools and resources for students with special needs.

People may have questions about how to promote learning with technology, and they might want to use our lab or partner with us on projects, Beal said. So this will be a resource for the entire campus.

College of Education dean Glenn Good views the Online Learning Institute as a vital component of the future of technology-assisted instruction worldwide.

If we hope to serve the state and the nation with high-quality online and hybrid course and degrees that attract large numbers of students, this effort is a tremendous opportunity for us, Good said. We are in a position to take a national leadership role in creating and disseminating models for top quality and effective delivery of courses and degrees online.

The new dedicated research space will get UF researchers there that much more quickly, Good said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is on a visit to India, on Wednesday called for concrete action by the global community against threat of terrorism. Modi and Sarkozy condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Pathankot, Brussels and other parts of the world, and called for concrete action by the global community against the threat of terrorism, said an official statement issued after a meeting between the two leaders. At least 130 people were killed in the terror attacks in the French capital on November 13 last year while 32 people were killed in the attacks in Brussels on March 22 this year. At least seven Indian security personnel lost their lives in a cross-border terror attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab, on January 22 this year. Wednesday's statement said Sarkozy also congratulated Prime Minister Modi for the positive role played by India for the success of the Conference of Parties (CoP)-21 climate summit in Paris last year. The prime minister congratulated Sarkozy on the publication and success of his recent book, 'La France pour la vie', it stated. Ahead of the meeting with Modi, Sarkozy called on External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here. Earlier on Wednesday, addressing a conference jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sarkozy said that Britain's exit from the European Union would be a "very bad thing" for Europe and have disastrous consequences for the country itself. "In my personal opinion, Brexit (Britain's exit from the EU) will be a very bad thing for Europe because of the simple reason that Great Britain at the moment is the second biggest economy in Europe. To lose the second biggest economy will be a big loss," he said. Referring to Britain's referendum on EU membership slated this summer, the visiting former French president said that in case the move happens, it will be a "catastrophe for Great Britain". If Britain exits from European Union, American companies would arrive, owing to the close relationship between the two nations, he said "So, there will be a very serious consequence," Sarkozy added. Noting that India and France had a free-trade agreement that benefitted both nations, Sarkozy suggested that the 'Make in India' campaign could be rephrased as 'Make with India' as it would help strengthen the partnership between India and France while paving the way for future collaborations. --Indo-Asian News Service ab/vt ( 428 Words) 2016-04-13-21:51:32 (IANS)
In her message here today, she said, '''Baisakhi' is one of the most important festivals of the Sikhs which is celebrated with great fanfare and gaiety, and which has profound religious significance closely connected to the harvesting season of rabi crop.

'''Baisakhi' assumes greater dimensions of joy and satisfaction for the people. It should be our earnest endeavour to promote all our traditional festivals like 'Baisakhi' in order to enhance sense of unity and social harmony,'' she said.

''May the celebrations of 'Baisakhi', this year, bring added happiness and prosperity to one and all,'' the Governor added.UNI AKM SS RSA PR2308

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-680572.Xml
It was on April 13, 1948 that first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had laid the foundation stone of the city.

World renowned German architect and urban planner Otto Koenigsberger prepared the city's first master plan in 1948 for a population of 40 thousand.

Since then, Bhubaneswar remains a celebrated model of modern architecture and city planning.

In the Smart City proposal, Bhubaneswar stood number one among the best cities of India with a score of 78.83 points.

The city remains a notable paradigm of modern town planning and architecture in India. (ANI)
On this occasion, farmers, especially in Punjab and Haryana, express their gratitude for a good harvest and pray for prosperity in the coming year.

Baisakhi has special significance amongst the Sikh, as they also celebrate it as Guru Gobind Singh's birthday and the foundation of the Khalsa panth.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his greetings to the nation on this occasion.

"On the auspicious occasion of Baisakhi, my greetings to people across India & the world. May this day bring joy & prosperity in society," he tweeted.

He also paid tribute to the martyrs, who lost their lives in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

"Saluting all the martyrs who lost their lives in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Their sacrifice & courage can never be forgotten," he tweeted.

On the Baisakhi in 1919, thousands of people sacrificed their lives at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar as British troops fired on the unarmed and peaceful protesters.

This incident is known as Jallianwala massacre in the history of freedom movement. (ANI)
Restrictions continued on separatist leaders, including chairmen of both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference (HC) while Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief and several other leaders remained under detention in the Kashmir valley, where a general strike is being observed today in protest against the killing of two youths allegedly in Army firing at Handwara in the frontier district of Kupwara. A general strike was also observed yesterday in the valley against alleged attack on Kashmiri students in educational and professional institutions in different Indian states. Both the faction of HC and JKLF have given strike call for today against the death of two youths in Army firing at Handwara in Kupwara where people were protesting against alleged attempt by a soldier to molest a girl yesterday. Hardline HC Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani remained under house arrest since he returned from New Delhi on April 6 after two months, a spokesman of the amalgam Aiyaz Akbar said. He said a large number of security forces and state police personnel remained deployed outside the Hyderpora residence of Mr Geelani, who was not being allowed to move out. He said HC general secretary Shabir Ahmad Shah also remained under detention in police station Raj Bagh for the past about one month.Mr Akbar said he nad a number of other senior leaders, including Mohammad Ashraf Sehrayee, Peer Saifullah, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Mohammad Ashraf Laya, Raja Mehrajuddin and Altaf Raja, are also under house arrest. A spokesperson of the moderate HC said chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Omar Farooq remained under house arrest since April 11 evening when he had called for a general strike yesterday. He said security force and state police personnel had been deployed outside the Nigeen house of Mirwaiz. JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik also remained detained in police station Kothibagh. Nr Malik was taken into preventive custody on April 11 morning to prevent him from leading a protest march against attacks on Kashmiri students outside the valley. More than a dozen JKLF supporters were also taken into custody when they tried to took out a protest march against attack on Kashmiri students outside the valley. Besides protesting against attack on Kashmiris outside, the separatists have called the strike today against slapping of Public Safety Act (PSA) on youths on ''flimsy grounds'', and alleged desecration of a martyrs graveyard in South Kashmir few days ago.UNI BAS SV PM1012 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-680796.Xml
February 14 is lovers' official day to mark love and romance, but what about the magic of marriage? One of India's leading online matchmaking services has decided to celebrate it on April 14. Matrimony Day is an initiative of Bharat Matrimony, which will celebrate its 16 years of existence with a host of offers and a contest for the hitched couples, giving them a reason to express their love for each other. By encouraging people to experience the joys of wedlock on this day, the company looks to turn the spotlight on the positive aspects of marriage. As per the web portal, the couples are entitled to exclusive offers that can be availed from Apollo Hospitals, Freecharge, Zomato, Uber, Greentrends, Zivame, Candere and Printo Gifts, brought together in a tie-up with Matrimony.com Limited. Besides, there are exciting offers from Tambulya and BharatMatrimony. Speaking on the importance of Matrimony Day, Murugavel Janakiraman, Founder and Managing Director of Matrimony.com said, "A special day is necessary to celebrate the joys of the most enduring of all relationships." He added, "Matrimony Day also provides an opportunity for couples to understand and appreciate the rich Indian marriage traditions, which brings together not just two people, but two families." (ANI)
Two people, including an army jawan, were killed and six others injured in a head-on collision between a bus and a truck near Bahadurpur under Salimpur police station in Patna district this morning. Police said the accident took place when driver of Bettia-bound bus hit the truck coming from opposite direction while overtaking another bus. While the bodies had been sent for post-mortem, the injured were rushed to Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH). The deceased Army jawan has been identified as Paras Bhagat, a resident of Sugauli village in West Champaran district.UNI IS AD SV NS1200 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-680905.Xml
A woman, who was injured in alleged firing by Army at Handwara in the frontier district of Kupwara, succumbed to her injuries in the hospital here early this morning. With this the death, toll in yesterday's Army firing on demonstrators, protesting against alleged molestation of a girl, has risen to three. Two youths were killed yesterday in the firing. Official sources said that Raja Begum who had received bullet injury in the head was admitted to S K Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura in a critical condition.UNI BAS SV NS1113 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-680813.Xml
Fire broke out in Darjeeling town area and at a jute mill in Howrah in West Bengal today destroying property worth several crores of rupees, police and fire brigade officials said. There had been no report of any casualty so far in both the fire incidents. Superintendent of police (Darjeeling) Amit P Javalgee said the fire destroyed eight shops in the wee hours in Darzi Bazaar of Darjeeling town. Fire tenders from all the sub-divisions were called to combat the flames.The cause of fire was yet to be ascertained, Mr Javalgee added. The traffic in the area was affected since the police barricaded the area, facilitating the firemen to douse the flames. In another inferno at Fort William Jute Mill in industrialised Sibpursector in Howrah district, stocks worth several crores of rupees were gutted today.As many as 12 fire fighting engines were pressed into service to douse the flames, when the report came in. The fire was noticed at around 0930 hours in the backyard of the godown, where raw and finished goods were stocked. The workers of the first shift saw the blaze and immediately evacuated the mill.UNI XC PC AD SV VN1215 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-680906.Xml
Life remained crippled for the second day today due to strike, called by separatist organisations in the Kashmir valley, where two youths and a woman were killed in alleged firing by Army in the frontier district of Kupwara yesterday. Yesterday, the strike was observed in protest against the alleged attacks on Kashmiri students studying in different parts of the country, human rights violations and slapping Public Safety Act (PSA) against youths and desecration of a graveyard. Majority separatist leaders remained either under house arrest or detained in different police stations in the valley. Shops and business establishments remained closed and traffic was off the road in restriction free areas in the summer capital, Srinagar, in response to strike called by both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference (HC) and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). However, private transport and some passenger vehicles (Cabs), though very less in number, were plying on some city and district routes. Traffic police personnel, who otherwise remain busy regulating traffic on busy city routes, were seen relaxing for the second day today. There was absolutely no traffic movement in the down-town and Shehar-e-Khas where restrictions have been imposed and all roads closed with barbed wire since early this morning. Very less number of three-wheelers were plying in the civil line and uptown area. However, they had yet another field day today, charging extra from the passengers in the absence of transport service as State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) buses also remained off the roads. However, government offices, banks and educational institutions remained closed on account of Baisakhi holiday. A complete shutdown continued with all shops and business establishments remained closed and traffic off the roads in this and other north Kashmir towns, a report from Baramulla said. Additional security forces and state police personnel remained deployed on all bridges, connecting the old town with civil lines in the town to maintain law and order. Similar reports were received from apple township of Sopore, Pattan and Bandipora. However, authorities had imposed restrictions in Handwara, Langate and Kupwara to prevent any violence. Business and other activities remained paralysed and traffic was off the road in this and other south Kashmir towns and tehsil headquarters, a report from Anantnag said. However, traffic on Srinagar-Jammu national highway, passing through Pulwama, Anantnag and Kulgam was plying normally though additional security forces and state police personnel had been deployed to prevent any violence. Reports of strike were also received from different parts of the central Kashmir districts of Ganderbal and Badgam. The strike called by separatists was supported by traders and other organisations after reports received here alleged that Kashmiri students were being tortured, forced to say Bharat Mata Ki Jai and harassed in different parts of the country.UNI BAS SV NS1230 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-680911.Xml
Defence minister Manohar Parrihar has assured Jammu and Kashmir Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti of a detailed and time-bound probe to fix responsibility in the incident of firing at Handwara in which two youths and a woman were killed yesterday. The assurance was given to Ms Mehbooba by Mr Parrikar when she met him at New Delhi this morning and discussed with him the 'unfortunate incident' yesterday in which three civilians were killed, an official spokesman said here. He said during the meeting, the Chief Minister called for a time-bound inquiry into the incident so that those responsible for the deaths are handed exemplary punishment. "This, she said, should come as deterrent against such incidents in future", the spokesman said. Ms Mehbooba conveyed to the Defence Minister that said such incidents might shake confidence of the people and adversely impact the efforts of the State government in consolidating peace dividends. She had also urged the Defence Minister to announce adequate compensation to the families of the victims, who have suffered such an irreparable loss, the spokesman said. "The Chief Minister also discussed wide-ranging issues with Mr Parrikar and called for expediting handing over certain portions of land not required by the Army to the State so that it can be used for promoting tourism and developing civic, educational and infrastructure facilities in the larger public interest", he said. Ms Mehbooba also took up the issue of concrete action by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on the decisions taken in the Civil-Military Liaison Conference. She sought early approval to the State government's proposal submitted in 2014 for revision in the rates of rent to different categories of land held by the Army. She also requested revision in the rate of compensation to population affected by Field Firing and Artillery Practices. Ms Mehbooba also sought forward movement on sorting out the issue of making functional Industrial Estate at Ompora, in Budgam district, functional. The Defence Minister assured Ms Mehbooba his Ministry's early and positive consideration over the issues took up by the latter. UNI BAS SV SS -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-680973.Xml
Training his guns on the BJP Government in Rajasthan, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the rape and murder case of a Dalit girl in Bikaner last month. Gandhi, who met the family members of the 17-year-old Dalit girl, said it is the responsibility of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to give them justice. "It's a matter of humanity. The victim's family feels injustice has been done with them, they are only asking for justice. It is the responsibility of the Chief Minister to give them justice, which can only be done by a CBI probe as the family feels that they won't get justice," he told the media here. The Dalit girl was allegedly raped by a teacher in an institute in Bikaner after which she was found dead in a water tank last month under mysterious circumstances. (ANI)
Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, toured Assam's famed Kaziranga National Park on Wednesday and excitedly clicked photographs when they spotted one-horned rhinos, elephants, swamp deer and other wild animals during their two-hour safari. The British royal couple also interacted with the forest staff who guard the park. Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, entered the Bagori range of the forest in an open Maruti Gypsy around 7.30 a.m. Before hopping on to the Gypsy, the couple were welcomed by the park officials with a gift of traditional Assamese shawls. Residents of the neighbouring villages had lined up in front of the park entrance since early morning to catch a glimpse of the royal couple. The park, home to the rare one-horned rhinos, is a Unesco World Heritage site. Park officials said the couple interacted with the forest staff and tried to understand the problems of the park as well as about the management of the park. "It was really nice to interact with them. They were thrilled to see all the animals in the park. They also enquired about the rhinos and how we patrol and manage the park," one of the forest guards, with whom the royal couple interacted, told IANS, declining to be named. "The couple also watched swamp deer and buffalo, and the princess got excited when she spotted a baby rhino with its mother among a group of rhinos," said the guard, adding that Kate clicked photographs during the entire safari. "The prince and princess clicked photographs with us inside the camp. Our officers explained to them about the geography of the park, its flora and fauna, ecology and everything related to the park. They listened to everything very carefully," said another forest guard. "They also enquired about the methods being adopted to reduce the man-animal conflict along the fringe areas of the park, and listened carefully when officers of the park told them about the methods employed to reduce such conflict," said another guard. Park Director M.K. Yadav, however, refused to comment on the visit of the royals. The couple is also expected to visit the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) located near the National Park. They are also likely to travel on Wednesday to the Kaziranga Discovery Centre built by Elephant Family, a charity founded by late Mark Shand, brother of the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla, who is the second wife of Charles, Prince of Wales and father of Prince William. --Indo-Asian News Service ah/rn/dg ( 431 Words) 2016-04-13-13:29:35 (IANS)
Reiterating his commitment for an all round development of rural areas, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said that the state regime initiated umpteen measures to implement the Prime Minister's "Gram Uday se Bharat Uday Abhiyan". Talking to reporters at his residence here, Mr Chouhan said "The Prime Minister would dedicate the ambitious national programme on the occasion of architect of the Indian Constitution Dr BR Ambdedkar's 125th birth anniversary at Indore district's Mhow, the birthplace of "Baba Saheb" tomorrow. Mr Chouhan said the 10-day campaign that earlier was scheduled to be undertaken from April 14 to 24 has now been extended till May 31. He said the campaign would be dubbed as 'Janta ka Abhiyan' as the people's participation would be the focal point of the entire programe. He said Ambedkar Jayanti would be conducted in each panchyat and his life and contribution to the society would also be highlighted among the people. The Chief Minister said that besides participation of the people, the list of beneficiaries would be made and funds would be provided to them who were deprived of the benefits of the schemes. "Other possibilities would also be explored, " he pointed out. After completion of the more than 45-day programme, a two-year plan would be chalked out in which road map would be made for farmers. The farmers would be educated about agro-climate zone and the pattern of climatic changes. Besides, a special health care facilities would be provided to needy rural women folk and the physically challenged people, toilets would be constructed in every village, a plantation drive would also be launched in villages and cultural programmes would be organised in which participation of youths would be encouraged. Mr Chouhan said that a nodal officer would be appointed for each panchayat to monitor progress of the schemes. He said Ministers, MLAs, people's representatives, NGOs and social organisations would also visit villages periodically to monitor the progress on the ongoing schemes. UNI BDG SV SS -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-681012.Xml
A complainant had submitted necessary documents to the talathi for making necesary changes in his property paper. For doing this work, a talathi, Pravin Inamdar (53) sought Rs 15,000, after bargaining the matter was settled at Rs 14,000, an official release from ACB said today.

However, the complainant was not willing to pay a bribe, he approached to the Aurangabad ACB office and lodged a complaint against him.

Verifying the fact, ACB team laid a trap at Talathi office at Vaijapur and arrested both of them.

Further investigation was on, it added.UNI VKB NV PR SV VN1349

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Several fire tenders were rushed to the spot and after one hour the raging fire was controlled, police officials here said. Reason behind the fire was yet to be known but none was injured in the incident.

Due to the incident, rail services on the busy Lucknow-Kanpur route was stopped for some time as the rail tracks passed near the place of the fire.

Police said a probe has been ordered while the company was assessing the loss in the fire.UNI MB SV VN1353

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Mehbooba Mufti, who is on her maiden visit to the national capital after taking over as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi this afternoon. "Ms. Mehbooba Mufti, CM of J&K called on the Prime Minister today," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) tweeted. Mehbooba earlier raised the issue of Handwara firing in which two civilians were killed with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. The Chief Minister said that the incidence of violence was unfortunate indeed and should never have happened. "I spoke to Lt General DS Hooda and Defence Minister Parrikar and they have assured me that an enquiry has been set in place and that those responsible will be punished. The family of the victims will also be compensated," she added. Earlier, violent protests broke out in Handwara after charges were made against an Army man of allegedly molesting a local girl. A mob of angry locals took to the streets and tried to set a security picket afire. The J-K Police along with the Army opened fire on the protesters as the agitation turned violent. Separatists have called for a shutdown today condemning the death of the two civilians. During her meeting with Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu earlier, the Chief Minister conveyed to him that she wants certain cities in Jammu and Kashmir to be considered under the schemes by the Centre and wants them to be developed like the 'Smart Cities'. "There are some cities in Jammu and Kashmir that are old and have a history of their own like Srinagar and Jammu. We want them to be developed like the smart cities. In my meeting now, I discussed issues like housing, drainage and waste management, for which the central government has many good schemes," Mehbooba told ANI. She added that she wants the state to also receive the benefits from the Central schemes. (ANI)
The minister gave the assurance to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti when she discussed with him the Tuesday firing at Handwara in which two men and a woman were killed.

Mehbooba Mufti sought a time-bound enquiry into the incident so that those responsible for the deaths were handed exemplary punishment. This, she said, would act as a deterrent against such incidents.

The chief minister said such killings shake public confidence, adversely impacting the efforts of the state government to restore peace. She also sought adequate compensation to the families of the victims.

Parrikar assured the chief minister a detailed and time-bound probe to fix the responsibility in the firing incident.

The chief minister also discussed several other issues with Parrikar.

She called for speedily handing over to the state land not required by the army so that it can be used to promote tourism and to develop civic, educational and infrastructure facilities.

She sought early approval to the state government's proposal submitted in 2014 regarding revision in the rates of rent to different categories of land held by the army.

The chief minister also demanded higher compensation to people affected by artillery firing by the military.

Mehbooba Mufti later met Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and discussed several proposals to upgrade civic facilities in cities and towns in the state.

She pitched for inclusion of both Srinagar and Jammu as smart cities in the 'Smart Cities Mission' and bringing Kargil town under the ambit of AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation).

Presently, Leh town is covered under the centrally-sponsored scheme.

--Indo-Asian News Service sq/sd/mr

( 306 Words)

2016-04-13-14:17:30 (IANS)
Police said M A Zacharia (58), son of M V Antony, Mavungal House, Kottayam, was arrested on a complaint by a animal rights organisation, yesterday.

Police said Zacharia was found involved in cruelty with the canine at the entrance of his room at Chethukadavu near Kunnamangalam and uploaded the act on Whatsapp.

A local court had yesterday sent him in remand for 14 days.

Human Society International, India had announced a reward of Rs one lakh for identification, arrest and conviction of the guilty.

The Society had also lodged a complaint with the DG Police for action.UNI PCH PR 1510

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Opposition leaders, including BJP candidate Rahul Sinha from Jorasanko in north Kolkata, today welcomed the ECI's move to oust city Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar who was accused of "illegal snooping" on Mr Sinha. The Election Commission last evening in a statement advised the state government to remove the controversial city police chief immediately and appoint senior IPS officer Soumen Mitra. BJP's national president Amit Shah had demanded removal of Mr Kumar, three days after two policemen, including an ASI of the Special Branch, were caught by Mr Sinha's followers while trying to bribe the BJP leader in a bid to hold a sting operation. Along with BJP, Congress and CPI(M) also demanded removal of the city police commissioner. Mr Sinha told reporters that the removal of city police chief was delayed due to collapse of Vivekananda flyover in north Kolkata that killed 27 people on April 3 last. Mr Sinha, who also had lodged an FIR with the Jorasanko police station to demand a CBI probe into the failed sting operation against him to malign the party and him, hoped the assembly elections in the city scheduled later this month would be free and fair. "I now can say the assembly elections later this month in the city are expected to be free and fair," Mr Sinha added. CPI(M) national geenral secretary Sitaram Yechury said though it was delayed but they have been demanding the removal of the controversial police officer. "Yes it is delayed but we are looking for the removal of the city police chief," Mr Yechury said. Congress state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also echoed the same.UNI PC AD ADG AN1458 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0136-681269.Xml
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy today asked Pakistan to act stringently against guilty of terror attacks on India, operating from its soil. "France is with India in the fight against barbarianism of terrorism. France wants Pakistan to act against the people who are guilty of attacks," Mr Sarkozy said during an event, 'France, Europe, India: Challenges and Opportunities' held at FICCI here.On global terrorism, he said it needed to be curbed with cooperation from the entire world."Problem of terrorism has widely spread like a cancer and we need to fight it like a war. We need cooperation to fight against it, without cooperation the terrorists find safe haven." the former president said.He said India has suffered a lot from such attacks and "we know from where they come. We can't close our eyes as France is very close to you."France has witnessed continuous terror attacks in recent years. On November 13, 2015, a series of coordinated attack occurred in Paris, in which 130 people were killed. The incident happened just a week ahead of United Nations Climate Change Conference, which left the entire global community shattered. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed solidarity with France and vouched the global fraternity to fight against terrorism unitedly. UNI ASH SW SB 1508 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0388-681215.Xml
Tamil Nadu Governor Dr K Rosaiah, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and leaders of political parties today greeted the people on the eve of Tamil New Year. In his message, the Governor said ''I extend my heartiest greetings and best wishes to the people on the joyous occasion of Tamil New Year, Vaisaki, Baisakhi and Vishu.'' ''Let us resolve to mitigate climate change and pledge to preserve and protect the abundant natural resources for the benefit of future generations'', he said, according to a Raj Bhavan communique. ''May the New Year promote peace, progress, unity and oneness in our mission to make India a global leader'', Dr Rosaiah said. Ms Jayalalithaa, in her message, said ''I extend my warm greetings on the occasion of Tamil New Year''. ''Tamil is a classical language, which has one of the oldest literary histories. On this day, we must take a pledge to take the State on the path to development'', she added. She also expressed her warm greetings to Malayalees on the occasion of 'Vishu' festival. TNCC President EVKS Elangovan, Tamil Maanila Congress leader G K Vasan, PMK Founder Dr S Ramadoss, BJP StatePresident Ms Tamizhisai Soundararajan, senior BJP leaderand Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan and leaders of various parties also greeted the people on the occasion.UNI GV 1440 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-681218.Xml
India and Germany signed an implementation agreement for integrated river basin management approach for Ganga Rejuvenation under the Namami Gange Programme today. The agreement was signed in presence of German Ambassador Martin Ney and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Ministry Secretary Shashi Shekhar, an official statement said.Germany's contribution in the project would be to the tune of Rs 22.5 crore for three years -- 2016 to 2018. The ultimate goal would be to adopt the successful river basin management strategies used for Rhine and Danube and replicate the same, wherever possible for attaining the pristine status of the Ganga.The objective of the agreement, between the Ministry and German International Cooperation was to enable responsible stakeholders at national and state level to apply integrated river basin management approach for the rejuvenation of the Ganga. This would be based on Indo-German Knowledge exchange and practical experience on strategic river basin management issues, effective data management system and public engagement, the statement added. The project would closely cooperate with other national and international initiatives, including Indo-German bilateral projects like Support to National Urban Sanitation Policy (SNUSP) and 'Sustainable Environment-friendly Industrial Production' (SEIP). The initial actions would focus on Uttarakhand, with scope of expansion to other upstream Ganga states. The German Ambassador said his country was aware of the devotion and cultural importance of river Ganga and would do its best to bring back mother Ganga to its pristine glory. Thanking the government of Germany, Mr Shekhar said the technical know how support from Germany would be immensely fruitful in pollution abatement of river the Ganga."Now onwards we will move at a much faster pace for cleaning of the river Ganga," he added. 'Namami Gange' is a flagship programme of government with a renewed impetus to decrease river pollution and conserve the revered river Ganga. Germany, with its vast experiences in cleaning and rejuvenating European rivers such as Rhine, Elbe and Danube, was keen to join hands for collaboration with India.UNI RBE SW 1432 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0427-681174.Xml
Seeking early release of Rs 4880 crore from the centre, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said to accelerate fund flow, there is a need to create a separate window for PM's Package. An official spokespersons said here today that Chief Minister met Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, at New Delhi last evening. He said Ms Mehbooba discussed with the Finance Minister the need for creating a separate window for Prime Minister's Development Package to speed up flow of resources to the state. She also requested early release this month of Rs 880 crore for interest subvention, Rs 2000 crore for damaged infrastructure approved by NITI Aayog and another Rs 2000 crore for displaced persons in Jammu so that disbursement of compensation can commence. Spokesman said Mr Jaitley assured the Chief Minister of early action in the matter. She was informed that Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ratan Wattal, has been appointed as the coordinator for smooth implementation of Prime Minister's Development Package. He will maintain close liaison with the State Finance Minister, Dr Haseeb Drabu, so that the flow of funds to the state is fast-tracked. Keeping in view the RBI nod for dollar-denominated trade for cross-Line of Control (LoC) transactions, the Chief Minister underlined the need for replacing the present barter system with banking system so that the cross-LoC Trade at Salamabad, Uri in north Kashmir district of Baramulla and Chaka da Bagh in Poonch in Jammu region is taken to a higher level. She also sought Mr Jaitley's intervention in inclusion of additional items in the approved list for which the matter has to be vigorously pursued in the next meeting of the Joint Working Group between India and Pakistan. Ms Mehbooba also demanded a new Central Industrial Policy for J&K as the one in vogue will expire on June 17 this year. She called for extension of exemptions on income tax and concession of insurance premiums to J&K entrepreneurs, on the analogy of industrial package available to the North-Eastern States. Chief Minister also met the Union Urban Development Minister, Venkaiah Naidu, and discussed with him several proposals for upgradation of civic facilities in cities and towns in the state.She pitched for inclusion of both Capital Cities of Srinagar and Jammu as smart cities in 'Smart Cities Mission' and bringing Kargil town under the ambit of AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation). Presently, Leh town is being covered under the Centrally-sponsored scheme. Ms Mehbooba said the State government expects liberal financial assistance from the Urban Development Ministry so that it benefits from various Central government schemes, which will help J&K to overcome challenges in solid waste management and proper drainage. UNI BAS QAB SV SB RAI1445 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-680999.Xml
Political battle over Dr B R Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary tomorrow has intensified as almost all the parties have announced programmes to reach to the dalits in wake of the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls with claiming themselves over Dr Ambedkar legacy. While BJP and Congress have already announced that they will celebrate the occassion in a big way, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), would also be holding a major programme at the Dr B R Ambedkar Samajik and Parivartan Sthal here in the state capital tomorrow. The decision by BJP and the Congress becomes significant as UP goes to the polls next year and it would be a challenge thrown to the BSP, which projects itself as the messiah of Dalits and lays claim to Ambedkar's ideals. To mark the 125th birth anniversary, the Centre in association with state governments and panchayat raj institutions will organise 10-day Gram Swaraj Abhiyaa' from April 14 to April 24. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a meeting of 3,000 elected representatives of the panchayats from across the nation at Jamshedpur during the campaign.. On the other hand BSP would bring a huge crowd of its supporters for the programme tomorrow. BSP leaders have been asked to bring here people from each of the 403 Assembly constituencies. The party leaders said the gathering will be "one of the biggest" for BSP in the state capital here after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Party sources said BSP Chief Mayawati, who returned from Delhi last week, will address the gathering and pay tributes to Baba Saheb Ambedkar. While Mayawati has attacked BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over their attempts to "claim" Ambedkar's legacy, she will be doing so for the first time in front of a gathering of her supporters. With an apparent motive to woe Dalit votes in the Assembly elections next year, the BJP and Congress leaders have also been invoking Ambedkar as their icon.. BSP's UP president Ram Achal Rajbhar said, "This is the 125th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar so BSP wants to celebrate it in a special way under the leadership of 'Behenji'. More people than last year will participate this time." Mayawati is also scheduled to hold a meeting with all party coordinators from across the state after paying tributes to Ambedkar. Congress has also entered the political battle claiming that it is the party who had honoured Dr B R Ambedkar the most and hence planned to celebrate the 125th birth anniversary tomorrow. Congress Spokesman P L Punia told media persons here today that it was his party that had made him the chairman of the Constitution drafting committee and later made him Rajya Sabha member besides appointing him as the country's law minister. "Country's first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru also supported the ideologies of Dr Ambedkar", he said. Mr Punia, a former bureaucrat, said that a high level committee under the leadership of Congress president Sonia Gandhi has been formed for the 125th birth anniversary celebrations. Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav slammed BSP chief Mayawati for downsizing the status of Dr BR Ambedkar by projecting him as a Dalit icon. "Dr Ambedkar was a towering personality, who not only gave us the Constitution but fought for emancipation of underprivileged and poor sections of the society all his life. It was he who gave a voice to voiceless people and a place of honour in the political order of the country," Mr Yadav said. The party would also organise a function at its state headquarters here tomorrow to celebrate the day. "Dr Ambedkar belongs to all - he cannot be confined to a particular caste, creed or community. He has a global stature and people fighting for civil and political rights draw inspiration from his struggle. It is hence disgusting to see that such a tall leader, who was hailed by Lohia and Jai Prakash Narayan, is being reduced as an icon of a particular caste", the former Chief Minister said. Recalling Ambedkar's contribution in shaping the modern Indian society, Yadav said: "He himself faced injustice and violation of civil rights which made him determined not only to fight the unjust social and political order but to stamp it out for good", the SP president said.UNI MB SS -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-681038.Xml
Chandy, who was briefing the media here after a meeting of his state cabinet, also said the Kerala Government is ready for any sort of inquiry, including one by the CBI, into the incident.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took stock of the situation post the inferno at the temple on Sunday, sought a detailed report from the state administration as to how the fire broke out and caused damage to life and property on such a large scale.

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday suggested that there should be a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry in the Puttingal temple fire mishap.

Seven officials of the temple trust have been arrested in connection with the incident.

After the tragedy, the officials had gone off the radar following which fingers were pointed at the temple committee for violating the guidelines.

The temple authorities had gone ahead with a competitive pyrotechnics display despite the denial of permission from the Kollam district administration.

Over 100 people were killed and several others injured in the fireworks mishap at the Puttingal temple on Sunday. (ANI)
Italy will follow up on billions of euros of trade deals signed with Iran this year by sending a special mission to discuss how to fund and process them, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Wednesday in Tehran.Speaking to industrialists on the second and last day of his visit, Renzi said some 50 agreements between Italian and Iranian companies "cannot remain on paper"."The projects are there. They need to be realised," he said in remarks broadcast by Italy's RAI state television. "The priority today is financing."Iran's President Hassan Rouhani made Italy his first stop in Europe in January to drum up investment after Tehran rejoined the global trading system in January thanks to a deal with world powers to lift crippling economic sanctions in exchange for limiting its nuclear activities.Italy already took steps on Tuesday to ease financing for companies building oil-and-gas and transport infrastructure in Iran. Renzi said the delegation of financial institutions would be led by Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan.On Tuesday, Italy signed seven deals with Iran, Iranian state television reported. Renzi said another 12 were signed on Wednesday. Some 30 others agreements were made in January.The deal to lift sanctions did not include Iranian access to the U.S. financial system, which means Tehran still has trouble processing transactions in dollars, the world's main business currency and the dominant unit in the oil trade.European banks are no longer banned from doing business with Iran, but they remain wary after BNP Paribas was slapped with a $9 billion U.S. fine in 2014 for violating U.S. financial sanctions and other penalties.Since January, Iran has struck agreements worth more than $50 billion with countries including Italy, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Germany and others involving trade, project finance and other investment, but financial hurdles have kept significant sums of money from flowing.Italy's banking lobby ABI said it met with the Iranian central bank on Tuesday to consider "solutions to overcome the complexities of Europe's ending of sanctions, but which are still in force in the United States".In its steps announced on Tuesday, Italy said its state-run lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti would offer credit lines of 4 billion euros for deals in Iran's oil-and-gas and transport infrastructure and export agency SACE would guarantee them.A further 800 million euros in credit lines for small- and medium-sized firms will also be offered, SACE said. REUTERS PS RAI1613 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-681446.Xml
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today categorically denied that his son Abhishek Singh, a member of Lok Sabha from Rajnandgaon, has any offshore account as per the Panama papers leak. "The issue has been raked up by the opposition with a political motive. The question of Abhishek having illegal foreign account does not arise," the Chief Minister pointed out. Reacting to query regarding the Panama Papers' leak and the name of his son Abhishek Singh featuring in the list, the Chief Minister, who returned to the state capital this morning after a week-long business tour to China, said Abhishek had already clarified the whole episode. The opposition raised the issue only to gain political mileage, he alleged. Quoting Panama papers' leak, the opposition Congress demanded resignation of both Chief Minister Dr Singh and his first time MP-son Abhishek, and a Supreme-Court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe into the scandal.UNI SS BDG SB AS1547 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-681263.Xml
Sr PI G S Randive of the Manpada police station said the girl a resident of Kalyan-Malang Gadh road went missing on March 18. Initially her parents filed a complaint of missing. As she was not found, the complaint was coverted to abduction.

The accused wooed her under the pretext of marrying her the complaint stated.

The police traced duo's cell phone and from the tower location they found that they were in Ludhiana, Punjab. Police rushed to Ludhiana and arrested the accused, Manish Munnilal Mourya (22) a supervisor in Dombivili MIDC.

Both were staying in the same area. Before landing in Ludhiana, the accused had taken the victim to UP, Bihar and various other locations.

According to police, the girl was subject to rape by the accused on a numerous of occasions.

The police have charged the man under sections 363,376 of IPC and also section 4 and 8 of the POCSO Act of 2012.

The accused was produced before the local magistrate yesterday and remanded in police custody for a week. UNI XR SF-NV SB AS1534

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Three pilgrims including two brothers were killed and six others injured when a truck hit a vehicle in Mahaban area of the district here today. Police sources here said that the pilgrims were standing near their vehicle near Srikrishna college when a truck hit their vehicle. The pilgrims were going for Ganga snan to Bulandshahr from Faridabad in Haryana. In the incident two brothers-- Rajendra(28) and Vinod(25) along with their cousin brother Bali(21) died on the spot. The injured were admitted to the hospital. The truck driver fled along with his vehicle after the incident.UNI MB SB AS1532 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-681225.Xml
Speaking to reporters after chairing a party meeting in Tiruchirapalli, around 340 km from here, Shah alleged that both the ruling AIADMK and the DMK were corrupt.

He said Tamil Nadu voters normally voted out a government but this time they should decide which party must come to power.

He added that the Bharatiya Janata Party could provide the "alternative" Tamil Nadu was seeking.

Tamil Nadu had not progressed because of corruption, Shah said.

He said that due to non-cooperation of the state government, central government schemes were not being implemented in Tamil Nadu.

--Indo-Asian News Service vj/mr

( 139 Words)

2016-04-13-17:13:35 (IANS)
A delegation of Muslim scholars today praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's development agenda and his successful implementation record. The delegation members which included Maulana Kalbe Jawwad Shia Cleric; Kamar Agha expert on International Islamic Affairs; and Shahid Siddiqui, among others called on the Prime Minister and congratulated him on his recent successful visit to Saudi Arabia, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.They said people in West Asia, Central Asia and North Africa, especially the youth, are extremely impressed with the development agenda of Mr Modi, and want good relations with India. The Prime Minister thanked the delegation and reiterated his commitment to development, laying special stress on education, and especially girl child education. He expressed hope that the Muslim community in India will be able to derive huge benefit from the welfare schemes initiated by the NDA government, such as the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and Mudra Yojana.UNI NY SW SB 1640 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0099-681484.Xml
Lucknow Fast Track court today held prime accused Gaurav Shukla guilty in the Ashaina gangrape case in which four youths kidnapped the girl and branded her with cigarette butts around 16 years ago.The four youths reportedly kidnapped the girl from Asiana locality when she was on way to her home. Later two accused also joined them. All six raped her in the car.Additional District Judge(ADJ) Anil Kumar Shukla after much legal hassle held Shukla guilty. However, the court will deliver the quantum of the punishment on April 16. The fast track court which was slated to deliver its judgement a couple of months ago but was stopped in the last moment after Shukla moved the Allahabad High Court on the decision of the court to declare him adult at the time of crime. But on March 18, Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court rejected a revision petition of Gaurav. However, the verdict of the fast track court came after yesterday the Supreme Court rejected a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the accused over his age dispute during the time of the crime.MORE UNI MB SW 1743 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0101-681587.Xml
Congress president Sonia Gandhi today lambasted both Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee governments at the Centre and in West Bengal respectively, saying the two have a made a "pact to undo the Saradha probe".Addressing her first electioneering in West Bengal, Ms Gandhi said the Mamata Banerjee government had belied people's expectations and disappointed the voters in her five-years-rule. "Both the BJP and TMC governments are anti-people," said Ms Gandhi. "People wanted to have a change and voted for poribartan but Mamata belied their expectations after coming to power in 2011. It is a shame that West Bengal ranks highest in crimes against women despite having a woman chief minister," Ms Gandhi pointed out.Ms Gandhi maintained that the law and order situation was worst under the TMC regime. The party has an understanding with the BJP at the Centre to carry forward the anti-people issues, she alleged. The Congress chief was on a hurricane trip to this state to address several Congress poll campaigns in Malda and adjacent districts before flying back to New Delhi from Andal airport in Burdwan district. Malda goes to polls in the second phase on April 17.She said the ruling party was flourishing with Saradha and Naradha scams and the Centre headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was aiding the "dictatorial government". Ms Gandhi appealed to the voters to elect Congress candidates and their friends and defeat the ruling party TMC and its "ally" BJP. The Congress has tied up with the Left parties to take on the Trinamool Congress.State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and some CPI(M) leaders, including Ambar Mitra, were present in the meeting.Congress MP Mausam Noor said this time all the 12 candidates (Congress and Left Front) will win the elections.UNI PC PL SB BD1710 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0138-681585.Xml
: Director General of Kerala Police TP Senkumar has sought a complete ban on fireworks show in the wake of Puttingal temple tragedy, in which 113 persons were killed, in Kollam district of Kerala. Seeking a complete ban on fireworks display, the DGP requested the State Advocate General K P Dandapani to submit it as an affidavit in the Kerala High Court. Mr Senkumar conveyed his opinion to the Advocate General, prior to submitting an affidavit in the High Court. The case related to ban on fireworks will come before the High Court tomorrow. A complete ban on fireworks display is the only solution to prevent tragedies, as the department has limitations in checking use of illegal elements in firecrackers, he clarified.UNI DS KVV AK 1717 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0324-681541.Xml
:Two teams from the Department of Information Technology, Pondicherry Engineering college have made it to the top four position of the "Cloud 20/20" student innovation project contest organised by Unisys. A Unisys release said here, it is a global information technology company that solves complex IT challenges for some of the world's largest companies and government organisations. The company offers outsourcing and managed services, systems integration and consulting services, high-end server technology, cyber security and cloud management software, and maintenance and support services. Unisys is the company that developed the world's first commercial digital computers, the BINAC and the UNIVAC. This year the fourth prize with cash award of Rs. 25000 was bagged by J. Kanimozhi and I. Valarmathi under the guidance of G.Santhi Assistant Professor/ IT, for the project titled: "A Smart Phone Enabled Behavior Monitoring System for Alerting Drowsy and Distracted Drivers." The project "God's Secret Key" by Laavanya N., Sofeiyakalaimathy C., and Priyadharshiny S. under the guidance of V.Geetha Assistant Professor/ IT was awarded the first prize with a cash award of Rs.2,00,000. This project proposes the use of Genetic code for encryption of public cloud data. The company has offered to patent and use this algorithm for their software security solution Unisys Stealth. All the students were assured of placement with a pay package of Rs seven lakh per annum. Unisys is organising this programme, since 2009 and the students of Department of Information Technology, Pondicherry Engineering College have been participating in this contest for the last four years and winning top three positions consistently under the guidance of IT department faculty Dr.V.Geetha and Dr.G.Santhi. In the year 2013, the third prize was awarded to the project 'Augmenting the Outcomes of SaaS Layer and IaaS Layer in Cloud Environments',' submitted by K. Anbukarasi, A. Muganthi, M. Abirami, V. Sasikala with a cash prize of Rs. 25000 under the guidance of Dr. V. Geetha Assistant Professor/ IT. In the year 2014, the third prize was awarded to the project 'Cloud Connect,' submitted by M. Thamizharasan and Rizwan Mohammed Hayat with a cash prize of Rs. 50000 under the guidance of Dr Geetha. In the year 2015, Nisha O., Pavithraa P., and Sujitha G. under the guidance of G.Santhi Assistant Professor/IT from Pondicherry Engineering College, Puducherry bagged the second prize for 'V-share' with a cash prize of Rs 75000. Unisys offered placement to this team with a pay package of Rs six lakh per annum. In response to the continuous success of PEC students in cloud 20/20 contest, Unisys came for campus recruitment this year and recruited six students.UNI PAB KVV AK 1625 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-681344.Xml
: The Confederation of Puducherry State Government Employees Association propose to file a contempt of court proceeding against Puducherry Chief Secretary in the 'backdoor' appointment issue, Confederation President Seetharaman and General Secretary, Premadasan said here today. Talking to newspersons here today, they said the Madras High Court in 2009 had given directions not to have any backdoor appointments and a clear-cut government order that all appointments be through the employment exchange is in existence. Still, the government violating all norms had appointed over 3500 employees, thereby severely affecting PWD,PASIC,Ponlait and other government organisations. The Confederation had written a letter to the Chief Secretary for initiating action in the issue and if there is no response from his side within a week, a court proceeding would be initiated against him,they said. In respect of the May 16 assembly elections,they said the government employees got certain demands and expectations. Political parties should avoid provision of money and freebies for votes. The parties coming to power should take steps for waiver of the loan dues of the union territory, ensure communal harmony, fifty per cent reservation for the government in private medical and engineering colleges here, a full stop to the backdoor appointments,all the textile mills be modernised and job opportunities generated for the youth here, proper steps to protect the ground water level, protection of heritage buildings,elections to the local bodies among others are demands placed by the government employees,they said. The Confederation Hon.President C H Balamohan was, among those, present on the occasion.UNI PAB KVV AK 1650 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-681354.Xml
: Alleging that the AIADMK government is the most corrupt regime in India, BJP President Amit Shah today appealed to the people of Tamil Nadu to oust it in the assembly elections slated for May 16 in Tamil Nadu, as the State has made no progress under its rule. Talking to newspersons here, Mr Amit Shah said the assembly election is crucial for Tamil Nadu. The people of the state normally voted to oust corrupt government from power. In this elections also, the people should vote to decide on which party should come to power and the BJP led National Democratic Alliance would provide that alternative, he pointed out. Tamil Nadu has been ruled by both DMK and AIADMK alternatively for nearly five decades years. People of the state are fed up with their inept performances and are badly seeking a change. Hence, the people should vote for a change. We will provide a transparent and good governance that will certainly transform Tamil Nadu, he assured. Terming the AIADMK and the DMK, with which Congress has entered into an electoral alliance, were corrupt parties, Mr Shah said because of rampant corruption, the State has not progressed in development. The BJP chief also alleged that there were problems in implementing central schemes in Tamil Nadu, owing to non-cooperation of the State government. Except Tamil Nadu, all other states, who have opted for 'UDAY' scheme had benefitted, he claimed. Mr Shah also claimed that due to various steps taken by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, firing on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lanka Navy has been stopped. Because of the constant efforts taken by the BJP government, the death penalty of five state fishermen in Sri Lanka was averted, he reasoned. Earlier, Mr Shah, who arrived here by a special flight from New Delhi, held separate meetings with senior leaders of the party and its allies, beside candidates contesting for the polls. He will address an election rally this evening and leave for New Delhi tonight. Security measures have been beefed-up in the city, in view of the visit of Mr Shah. UNI GSM KVV AK 1710 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-681524.Xml
In a statement here, Vijayakanth announced candidates for Omalur, Pudukottai, Trichy West, Kanniyakumari and Padmanabhapuram.

The DMDK, which had entered into an alliance with four-party combine, People's Welfare Front (PWF) that comprised the MDMK, the two Left parties--CPI and CPI(M)--and the VCK, besides the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) would contest 104 of the 234 Assembly seats in the polls.

As the second largest party in the grand alliance, the MDMK would contest 29 seats, TMC 26 seats, while the VCK, CPI and CPI(M) would contest 25 seats each.

The Front has named Vijayakanth as the Chief Ministerial candidate for the polls.UNI GV KVV AK 1745

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-681601.Xml
Elaborate arrangements have been made for peaceful celebration of the Hanuman Jayanti procession in this Western Odisha town and display of arms prohibited during the procession. As many as 27 platoons of police force have been deployed in the city to check any untoward incident during Hanuman Jayanti and the procession by various organising committee. This apart, 10 Deputy Superintendent of police (DSPs), 122 sub-inspectors (Sis) and assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs), 182 constables and 192 home guards have been deployed in the city, Additional Superintendent of Police Sambalpur S K Panigrahi said. The Sambalpur police as part of precautionary measures have arrested four members of the Hanuman Jayanti Co-ordination Committee (HJCC). They included former Sambalpur Municipality Chairman Girish Patel, president of the Hanuman Jayanti Co-ordination Committee Prabhat Panda, two members of the committee Siba Agrawal and Kanha Sharma. The arrest of warrant against these persons was issued by the executive magistrate of Sambalpur. "The executive magistrate issued warrant under section 113 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) against these four people and they were arrested on the basis of the warrant for apprehension of breach of peace in the town." Sambalpur Superintendent of police Akhileswar Singh said Earlier, the notices under section 107 and 110 of CrPC were served to nearly 70 people including these four, the SP added. The Hanuman Jayanti Co-ordination committee, however, condemned the arrest of its members before the procession. Advisor of the Co-ordination Committee, Pradeep Bohidar said. The police have prohibited the display of arms and weapons during the procession.UNI XC-DP KK RSA AS1831 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-681618.Xml
Police has arrested a wanted ring-leader of an interstate criminal gang from Benikala village under Hussainabad police station of the Palamu district.The arrested has been identified as Dilip Sharma alias Mukhiya alias Munna alias Amit Singh. A 'desi katta'. three live cartridges, a fake passport, Aadhar card, voter id, driving license, passbooks, four mobiles have also been recovered from him.Palamu SP Mayur Patel in a press conference today said that more than a dozen cases are lodged against Sharma in Hussainabad, Vishrampur and Auangabad police station area. He was wanted in several cases of loot, dacoity, murder and demanding extortion.UNI XC-AK AKM SB BD1818 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-681713.Xml
A woman was burnt to death by her in-laws for the want of dowry at Babudih colony located under Dhanbad Police Station area of this district.Police said the deceased has been identified as Ankita Jha (24). Sources claimed that her in-laws, including her husband, allegedly poured kerosene on her on the night of April 11 and set her on fire. She was later taken to Bokaro General Hospital, after which the accused fled from the spot.The family members of the woman, who reached the hospital from Bhagalpur, found their daughter dead. Today, they registered an FIR at the police station against her husband and in-laws. SSP Surendra Kumar Jha assured the family of adequate action and said the guilty would not be spared.UNI XC-AK RJ PR1822 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-681766.Xml
Bhumata Brigade activist Trupti Desai, along with other women activists, was detained by police near Tara Rani Chowk when they were on their way to Mahalaxmi Temple to offer prayers at the sanctum sanctorum. "They have been arrested for violating the order issued by the Additional Collector under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (which confers on him power to issue order in urgent cases of nuisance of apprehended danger)," said the police officer who detained Desai and other women activists. After garlanding the statue of Tara Rani at the chowk, the Bhumata Brigade activists had a plan take out a rally up to Mahalaxmi Temple before entering the sanctum sanctorum. However, they were stopped by the Kolhapur police from reaching the chowk. Police detained them and dislodged them from the scene in vans to maintain law and order situation there. Protesting their detention, Desai said, "We are going to garland the statue of Tara Rani, but police are trying to stop us, which is contempt of the Bombay High Court's order. We can take action against police." When asked she had been served a notice by the district administration prohibiting her to take out a rally, she said, "I have been served the notice now, it should have been sent to me earlier." Earlier talking to ANI, she said, "We have arrived in Kolhapur. We will take out a rally after garlanding the statue of Tara Rani and will march towards Mahalaxmi Temple." When told there was a tight security outside the temple and villagers, including women, also joined police to stop you, Desai said, "I don't think that anybody will be able to stop us. We got the high court's order. Besides, the district administration has given us permission to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. They have only told us to follow the dress code, to which we agreed. But, today we will offer our prayers at the temple with respect." Asked if she was denied entry to the temple, Desai said they would definitely offer prayers, and if police or administration tried to stop them, they would take legal course against them. (ANI)
"We will write to DMRC about the security lapses in the metro premises," Joint Commissioner of Police M.K. Meena told the media on Wednesday.

Two young men who had partially covered their faces entered the Rajendra Place metro station on the morning of April 11 and robbed Rs.12 lakh from the station control room after stabbing a Metro employee.

Meena said one of the criminals entered the station by hiding a small knife in his socks.

Both have been arrested. Police say they have recovered Rs.10.55 lakh.

Delhi Police handles crime cases in Delhi metro premises but its internal security is with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

Delhi Police had earlier urged the central government to hand over the entire metro security to it.

--Indo-Asian News Service rak/mr

( 171 Words)

2016-04-13-19:29:31 (IANS)
German banks and their chief supervisor, the European Central Bank, don't speak the same language -- in most cases literally.Almost all German banks directly supervised by the ECB have chosen to communicate with the watchdog in German rather than English, the ECB's working language, according to information obtained by Reuters from the ECB and the lenders.The refusal to speak English, the lingua franca of international finance, illustrates continued resistance from the euro zone's most economically powerful country to the ECB's project to establish itself as the bloc's main bank supervisor -- one of the pillars of Europe's response to the financial crisis that began in 2008."To a certain extent it has to do with the sense of importance of the German banking system," a German corporate lawyer who works with banks said. "They say, 'We're the biggest jurisdiction in the euro zone and the seat of the ECB - why can't the ECB communicate in German with us?'"The ECB and its Italian president, Mario Draghi, have come under renewed criticism in Germany over the central bank's cheap-money policy.German lenders, equally, resent instructions from Frankfurt and many hope that maintaining German as the language for communication will give them the upper hand in dealing with supervisors. "We outsource the risk of a wrong translation to the ECB," a German bank executive said.Banks have the right to choose the language in which they communicate with the ECB. English, the language of international business, has been the natural choice for most of them across the euro zone.In Germany, however, English has been selected by just as few as three, including Deutsche Bank, which operates in more than 70 countries and has a British chief executive, and the local subsidiary of Sweden's SEB.By contrast, just 14 of the remaining 107 banks supervised by the ECB in other euro zone countries opted for their local language.Part of the reason for picking German has to do with the domestic or even regional focus of many German banks, whose staff may not feel comfortable drafting highly sensitive documents in a foreign language."We communicate in German because we are a German bank," Hans-Joerg Vetter, chief executive of regional lender LBBW, said. "We make use of the legal opportunities we have."But this is not the whole story because even some of the more internationally oriented firms have opted for their local language."You want it in German so that you understand all the nuances and so that you can challenge it in court in your language," said the German corporate lawyer, who asked for anonymity because of his sensitive bank dealings."Although, it's good to see the English original because there may be errors in the translation."Their case for choosing German might even be strengthened if Britain decides to leave the European Union at a June referendum as this would erode the status of English in European politics.VOCAL CRITICSGerman banks have been among the most vocal critics of the ECB since it took over supervision of the euro zone's largest lenders in late 2014, with the aim of creating a single watchdog for the currency bloc after a raft of bank collapses during the financial crisis.One of them, state-backed Landeskreditbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, even tried to escape the ECB's supervision altogether. The case -- in German -- is still pending before the European Court of Justice.Germany's own financial watchdog Bafin has also criticised the ECB for overburdening small German banks with requests for data and the central bank's project to launch a euro-zone wide loan database has caused a backlash in the country.The banks' insistence on using German is also causing some trouble to the watchdogs themselves as at least some members of each ECB's supervisory team -- typically the coordinator -- are not from the same country as the bank they watch."It's a huge headache," one supervisor said. "I can't be constantly asking my colleagues and the translation service just takes too long sometime."For this reason some banks allow staff-level communication with the supervisor to take place in English, for instance for the upcoming stress tests, but they still expect official documents to be in German.An ECB spokeswoman said native speakers on supervisory teams can help colleagues who are not fluent, while the institution also uses internal and external translators, as well as interpreters for more formal proceedings. REUTERS PS RAI1917 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-681997.Xml
Security forces resorted to lathicharge and burst teargas shells in Srinagar to disperse protestors demonstrating against the killing of four people, including a woman, in security force action in the frontier Kashmir district of Kupwara.As the news of the killing of a youth in security force action in Drugmulla, 15 km from Handwara spread this evening, people, mostly youths, defied restrictions, imposed since today morning, in Maisuma and pelted stones at security forces.Security forces resorted to lathicharge to disperse the demonstrators which had no impact on the agitated protestors. The security forces later burst teargas shells to disperse the demonstrators, who were regrouping and pelting stones from narrow lanes.Reports of demonstrations were also received from other parts of the city, including Rambagh, and central Kashmir district of Ganderbal.UNI BAS ASM SB BD2012 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-682126.Xml
Police arrested a rebel Maoist at Sheikh Bigha village under Khijarsarai police station in the district late last night.Police said here today that the nabbed extremist of outlawed CPI(Maoist) Sanjay Yadav was involved in more than ten cases of Naxal activities. He had also blown up a police jeep under Khijarsarai police station area in 2005, resulting in the loss of lives of three police personnel. He was produced before a local court after his interrogation. Later, he was forwarded to a jail, police added. Further investigation is on. UNI XC-DH SB SB2010 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-681911.Xml
Former defence minister A.K. Antony on Wednesday said the government's decision to strike an agreement on providing military logistic support to the US will effect the independence of India's foreign policy and strategic autonomy, and urged the government to retract it. Antony said the erstwhile UPA government resisted the agreement for 10 years, and added that it would be disastrous for India. "This will lead to ending the independence of India's foreign policy and strategic autonomy. The UPA government resisted it for 10 years," he said. "It is a disastrous decision. The government should retract it." The Congress, however, has not given an official reaction on the "in principle" agreement between the US and India to conclude what has now been named a "Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Agreement". Asked about the agreement, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said: "We will be making a detailed statement." Sources from the party told IANS that the issue will be discussed with party president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi, both of whom were out of Delhi on Wednesday. Sonia Gandhi was out campaigning in poll-bound West Bengal, and Rahul Gandhi was in Rajasthan. "The issue will be discussed with the party leadership on Wednesday night, and an official statement will be given tomorrow (Thursday)," a party official told IANS. In a joint press conference with visiting US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced the agreement for a Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Agreement, the new name for the Logistics Support Agreement. The defence minister said the draft will take some time to be finalised, and it may take anything between a few weeks to a month or two. Carter also clarified that it will not involve presence of US troops in India. Antony, who was the defence minister of India from 2006 to 2014, said the step will eventually lead to India becoming a part of the US military bloc. Antony said India, which has traditionally been close to Russia, has seen improvement in relations with the US but always resisted such agreement. He also said that if needed, India can provide logistic support like refuelling etc. to US, but must keep their military equipment off Indian soil. --Indo-Asian News Service ao/pm/vt ( 385 Words) 2016-04-13-21:37:30 (IANS)
The Prime Minister congratulated Mr. Sarkozy on the publication and success of his recent book, "La France pour la vie". The Prime Minister and Mr Sarkozy condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Pathankot, Brussels and other parts of the world, and called for concrete action by the global community against the threat of terrorism.

Mr Sarkozy congratulated Mr Modi for the positive role played by India for the success of COP-21 Summit in Paris last year. UNI AR RSA 2144

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-682330.Xml
Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda today expressed disappointment over the decision of BJP government in Haryana to rename Gurgaon to Gurugram, calling the move a blow to the culture and history of Haryana. Taking to Twitter, Randeep, who hails from Haryana, said,"Changing the name of Gurgaon to Gurugram is a blow to the culture, language and history of Haryana. 'Gram' is not our word. Why has this happened? '' In another tweet the actor suggested another name for the city as Gurugaon., "I meant that in Haryanvi we have the word 'gaav' or 'gaam'. They could have changed it to Gurugaon," he tweeted. The decision to rename Gurgaon was taken by BJP government claimingthat people of the area have been making a demand in this regard. UNI SHS RSA 2155 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-682337.Xml
Urban Development Ministry today asked States to ensure launch of smart city projects by June 25. ''Smart Cities selected in the first round of City Challenge competition and respective state governments were asked by the Ministry of Urban Development to ensure launch of implementation of smart city projects by June 25 this year marking the first year of launch of Smart City Mission,'' an official statement said. Mr Rajiv Gauba, Secretary (Urban Development) spoke to the Chief Executive Officers of Special Purpose Vehicles set up for implementation of smart city plans and Municipal Commissioners of 16 Smart Cities and Mission Directors and senior officials of 9 respective state governments through video-conferencing and urged them to ensue launch of projects by June 25. During the two-hour long interaction, Mr Gauba reviewed the progress in respect of conversion of Smart City Plans of these cities into specific projects for tendering and awarding of works. Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam that account for the remaining four smart cities have been kept out of the review as assembly elections are in progress in these cities. Mr Rajiv Gauba ascertained progress by each city in respect of putting in place institutional mechanisms, transfer of central grants and share of respective states to SPVs, preparation of Detailed Project Reports for calling tenders etc. Each of the 16 cities furnished details of projects being prepared in respect of Area Based Development including Retrofitting and Redevelopment and ICT based Pan-city solutions. Urging the Smart Cities to ensure appointment of full time CEOs for the Special Purpose Vehicles, Mr Rajiv Gauba urged them to look beyond the IAS cadre given the shortage of officers and choose professionals for heading SPVs. On hearing the responses of different cities, Mr Rajiv Gauba complimented them for innovative thinking and initiatives like mobile governance, LED lighting, Smart Classrooms, Open Air Gymnasiums etc. Mr Naresh Kumar, Chairperson of New Delhi Municipal Council informed that substantial groundwork has already been done for the launch of projects by June this year. These include ; roof top solar systems, smart grids, e-Waste centres, 24 X 7 water supply and water quality sensors, mobile governance, multi-utility ducts, 20 MW Solar Power Plant, Smart Control Centre etc. He informed that a provision of Rs 400 crore for Smart City Project has been made in the Budget for this financial year. Cities that participated in today's review are : Visakhapatnam and Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), Belgavi and Hubbali-Dharwad (Karnataka), Pune and Solapur( Maharashtra), Ahmedabad and Surat (Gujarat), Jaipur and Udaipur (Rajasthan), Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Ludhiana (Punjab) and NDMC. Under Smart City Mission, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 25 last year, the first batch of 20 selected smart cities have proposed a total investment of over Rs 48,000 crore over the next four years. Central Government will provide an assistance of Rs 500 crore for each city while the respective States and urban local bodies will provide an equal amount. Rest of the required resources have to be mobilised through convergence of all schemes of central and state governments, PPP, Municipal Bonds and borrowings from financial institutions.UNI NY RSA 2150 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0099-682340.Xml
CPI (ML) today claimed that grand alliance would meet its waterloo in the impending panchayat election in view of the growing disenchantment of dalits, farmers and labourers with the Nitish Kumar government for taking them for granted. Talking to reporters after the two-day meeting of the party`s state standing committee, CPI (ML) general secretary Deepankar Bhattacharya told newspersons here that the state government did not keep fulfill any poll promise made to dalits, farmers and labourers. He said downtrodden and weaker sections of the society had given power to grand alliance with a hope that it would frustrate all attempts of feudalist forces, musclemen and criminals once it came to power. He said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stood fully exposed before the people now in view of growing criminal activities in the state during the last nearly six months. Mr Bhattacharya said the resentment was brewing among oppressed people due to rising crime graph in the state and their frustration was clearly visible during his visits to the different parts of the state. He alleged that CPI (ML) leaders were being attacked and killed across the state as they were challenging the "authority" of outlaws and also raising the voice of the poor. The CPI (ML) general secretary said the complete prohibition in the state was an outcome of the people`s sustained campaign against consumption of liquor. He also asked the state government to initiate effective steps for giving alternative employment to the people who lost their jobs due to ban on sale of liquor of all types and toddy. Until such people do not get alternative employment, they should be given compensation by the state government, he added. UNI DH AKM RSA GC2109 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-682211.Xml
Several BJP leaders today shared platform with pro-quota Patel community leaders and took part in a token one-day fast in Surat. Patels have been agitating against the ruling BJP government since July last, demanding reservation in jobs and educational institutions.Over 500 people from across the state began their symbolic fast this morning at Surat. The participants included BJP Kisan Morcha General Secretary Gordhan Zadaphia, BJP legislators from Kamrej Praful Pansuriya and Varachha legislator Kumar Kanani as well as Surat Mayor Asmitaben Siroya. Several Councillors of BJP-ruled Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) too attended the event. Lalji Patel, the businessman who bought the pinstriped suit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year at an auction in Surat for Rs 4.31 crore, along with several leading businessmen, were also present at the venue.''We are here to show our commitment to the community. Our government at the state is trying to work out a solution to break the impasse,'' said Gordhan Zadaphia.Talking about the presence of party leaders at the event, state BJP president Vijay Rupani said BJP leaders who participated in the programme, had done so after informing the party.Some of the protesters had a scuffle with a Patidar Anamat Aandolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Amul Patel near the venue. A few youths from the outfit tore Amul's shirt and pushed him out of the venue. The attackers, caught on the CCTV, later claimed that Amul had, with his pro-government stance, given a bad name to the stir. UNI ND RJ RSA 2237 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0098-682368.Xml
The Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) today announced that it would partner with the Botanical Society of Goa and its festival partners to present the 12th edition of the Konkan Fruit Fest, which is to be held at Campal promenade in the city from April 22-24.A statement here today said, University of Horticultural Sciences-Bagalkot, DBS Konkan Krishi Vidyapeet,Dapoli, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwar and Bangalore, ICAR-CCARI, Ela-Goa, Directorate of Agriculture and other organisations will participate along with a large number of fruit growers and processors of fruit products from juices, nectars and wines to jellies, jams and pickles.The participation of fruit growers and enthusiasts at the Konkan Fruit Fest will add value to the unique event, where scientists, industry, extension workers, producers and consumers learn from each other in an informal and enjoyable way, tasting fruits and fruit products, enjoying the music and fun competitions and interactions in a festive atmosphere.This year the focus would be on the Little Known Fruits of the Konkan, including the Rose Apple and berries of all types (Churna, Kanttam, Kaneram, Mulberry etc), while not forgetting the major fruits like Mango and the fast developing commercial fruits like Kokum and Jackfruit that have been promoted by the BotanicalSociety of Goa since 2003.Various competitions are to be held during the fruit fest which includes fruit presentations, fruit products, fruit carving and fruit eating.Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) chairman Nilesh Cabral expressed happiness at GTDC's association with the Botanical Society of Goa for organising the Konkan Fruit Fest.''Such events are not only of interest for farmers and those associated with farm products but tourists as well who get an insight into agro development taking place in the Konkan regions.The Konkan fruit fest is one event which draws large participants and visitors and GTDC is taking this opportunity of promoting this event and the flavours of Konkan fruits to one and all,'' he added.Botanical Society Secretary Miguel Braganza also expressed his happiness at the association of GTDC this year.He said, ''With GTDC becoming a festival partner, the Konkan Fruit Fest is bound to attract more tourists to the event and help to scale it up. The Corporation of the City of Panaji and the ICAR-CCARI, Old Goa, have been pillars of support for this event since the start. Other universities and agencies have participated over the years. The newly established Don Bosco College of Agriculture at Sulcorna-Quepem, is sending trained studentvolunteers to explain the fruits to the visitors. The event is now attracting vendors and participants from across the Konkan and the rest of the world.''UNI AKM SS RSA SB2306 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-682269.Xml
Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan has filed a legal complaint against a German comedian who recited a sexually crude satirical poem about him on television, embarrassing Angela Merkel who has only just enlisted the president's help in tackling the migrant crisis.The poem, seemingly a deliberate provocation by comedian Jan Boehmermann, has exploded into a diplomatic incident that pits freedoms championed by Western Europe against recent moves in Turkey by Erdogan that critics say crack down on dissent.Merkel, asked about the case, tried to separate the two issues and stressed her commitment to artistic freedom.Prosecutors in Mainz said Erdogan had filed a complaint against Boehmermann for insulting him. Under the criminal code, he could, if found guilty, be imprisoned for up to a year.In the March 31 programme, Boehmermann host of late-night "Neo Magazin Royale" on public broadcaster ZDF, recited a poem about Erdogan with references to bestiality and accusations that he repressed minorities and mistreated Kurds and Christians.Erdogan's German lawyer, Michael-Hubertus von Sprenger, said he was prepared to go to the highest court and added that the Turkish president wanted Boehmermann to be punished."He definitely won't get a heavy punishment, but rather it will be a punishment that is necessary to get him back on the right path - to produce satire, and not gross insults," Sprenger told German broadcaster ZDF.German media reported that Boehmermann was under police protection and had cancelled the next emission of "Neo Magazin Royale".Prosecutors are conducting a parallel investigation into the comedian on suspicion of the more serious crime of "offending foreign states' organs and representatives" after Turkey made a formal request. If found guilty of that, Boehmermann could face up to three years in prison.In the second potentially more serious case, the German government has to authorise prosecutors to go ahead. Berlin will decide on the request from Turkey in the coming days, Merkel said, adding that she cherished artistic freedom in Germany."Turkey is bearing a very big burden in relation to the Syrian civil war but all of that is completely separate from Germany's fundamental values ... freedom of the press, opinion and science apply and are completely separate from that," she told reporters.This clause in question, which seems to require political intervention in the justice system, is rarely used, say experts. Some politicians have called for it to be abolished because it is antiquated.In the last decade or so only a handful of cases have been initiated. Media reports say that in the 1960s, the Shah of Iran used the clause against the Koelner Stadt Anzeiger newspaper over a caricatured montage.CONUNDRUMThe law, which does not appear to exist in most other European countries, leaves Merkel with a conundrum.If her government gives the nod to prosecutors, it could enrage Germans already dubious about what they view as her Faustian pact with Erdogan to help stem the flow of migrants."If the government supported the move, there would be a huge backlash domestically," Wolfgang Kubicki, a lawyer and senior member of the business-friendly FDP party, told NDR radio.A YouGov poll showed 54 per cent of Germans opposed an investigation into Boehmermann by prosecutors with only 6 per cent in favour.Yet if it rejects Ankara's request, Merkel could hurt relations with Turkey, a crucial partner in the migrant crisis and a candidate to join the European Union."We cannot tolerate this. We want this shameless man to be prosecuted under German law for insulting the president," Turkish government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus said in response to a question after a cabinet meeting on Monday.Erdogan is known for his intolerance of criticism and his readiness to take legal action over perceived slurs. Turkish prosecutors have opened nearly 2,000 cases against people for insulting him since he became president in 2014, the justice minister said last month.Critics say he is using the law to stifle dissent. Those who have faced such trials include journalists, cartoonists, academics and even school children.Erdogan has said he is open to criticism, but draws the line at insults."I would (thank) each and every one of those who criticise me, but if they were to insult me, my lawyers will go and file a lawsuit," he said on the sidelines of a Nuclear Security Summit in Washington last month.Boehmermann, no stranger to controversy, made clear he was being deliberately provocative. He introduced the poem by saying that a previous song, which had triggered initial protests from Turkey, were just comedy.He said serious insults, however, would not be legal. "To be clear, we don't do this and would never do this. Never. But this is how it would look if we did..."Among those who have stood up for him are Matthias Doepfner, the head of the Axel Springer media group, publisher of the bestselling tabloid Bild. He wrote in Die Welt that the incident has made society think about how it deals with satire and intolerant attitudes towards satire from non-democrats.But, just over a year after the murder by Islamist militants of cartoonists at France's Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine unleashed a wave of support for Europe's cherished freedom of expression, German opinion is divided on Boehmermann."In a constitutional democracy we all have to stick to the rules, and one of these rules is that offending foreign heads of state is punishable by law," Peter Tauber, general secretary of Merkel's CDU told NTV television. REUTERS JW0455 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-680730.Xml
Three weeks after being struck by Islamic State suicide bombers, Brussels Airport was forced to close again briefly on Tuesday due to industrial action by Belgian air traffic controllers.An hour after announcing the problems, the airport operator said in a tweet that limited flights were resuming. At 11.30 pm (0300 IST) an online indicator board showed many flights were cancelled, delayed or diverted last evening, but nearly all today's flights were confirmed, although trade unions have not announced any deal with their employers.The airport, one of Europe's busiest, had reopened on April 3 with very limited capacity, restricted by temporary structures and tight security after bombs destroyed the departure hall.Other airports had taken on many connections but at least some of these, including nearby Charleroi, were affected by the controllers' action, which is part of a months-long dispute over employment conditions.A limited number of departures and arrivals in Brussels Airport were possible in the late afternoon and evening because one smaller trade union did not take part in the action.Police briefly shut down roads around the airport. The site operator said police had checked a suspicious vehicle nearby and had blocked the access road, which was reopened one hour later.The road has been the only means of access to the airport for passengers as the railway station has remained closed since the attacks. Along with a suicide bombing on the city's metro, the bombers killed 32 people. Police have arrested several local men accused of plotting the attacks.Belgocontrol, the agency which handles Belgian air space, said it was seeking a solution with the trade union. Labour leaders asked staff to call in sick yesterday due to disagreements over a proposed dispute settlement, including a rise in the minimum retirement age."This action by air traffic controllers is a kick in the teeth for all the airline and airport staff who have worked so hard to reconnect Brussels to the world after the appalling terrorist attack just three weeks ago," IATA, the world airlines' main trade association, said in a statement.Brussels Airlines, the main Belgian carrier whose flights have accounted for the bulk of those operating from Brussels this month, said on its website: "Until 22:00 local time Brussels (0130 IST), only a limited number of flights can be operated." REUTERS JW RK0715 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-680743.Xml
A British minister has denied that his decisions on press regulation were in any way influenced by the fact that he had found out that several newspapers had information about his past relationship with a sex worker.Critics in the opposition Labour Party said Culture and Media Secretary John Whittingdale should have given up responsibility for press regulation matters when he learnt that reporters had the potentially damaging story."It seems the press were quite deliberately holding a sword of Damocles over John Whittingdale," said Labour lawmaker Chris Bryant, who has campaigned on the issue of press intrusion."He has a perfect right to a private life but as soon as he knew this he should have withdrawn from all regulation of the press," he said.Whittingdale said he had a relationship in 2013-2014, before he took up his current post, with a woman he met on a dating website. He did not know she was a sex worker, and when he found out he ended the relationship."It has never had any influence on the decisions I have made as culture secretary," Whittingdale said in a statement.The row comes at a bad time for the government. The ruling Conservatives are split over EU membership ahead of a referendum on the issue in June, and Prime Minister David Cameron is under pressure for having held a stake in an offshore fund.Cameron's Downing Street office said: "John Whittingdale is a single man and is entitled to a private life. The PM has full confidence in him."Press regulation has been a highly political issue in Britain since a huge scandal over illegal phone-hacking by tabloid reporters in 2011 lifted the lid on close ties between politicians, police and certain sections of the media.A lengthy public inquiry ordered by Cameron made recommendations on how to improve press regulation, many of which have not been implemented.The suggestion from Whittingdale's critics is not that he did anything wrong in his private life, but rather that he may have been soft on media because he knew that newspapers had the embarrassing story about him.Hacked Off, a group campaigning against press intrusion, said the public could no longer have faith in his judgment and independence in making decisions about the media.The newspapers that had the story included the Sun and the Mail on Sunday, which have published many stories about the private lives of politicians in the past.They said they had decided not to publish this one because there was no public interest."There appeared to be absolutely no conflict of interest here. John Whittingdale wasn't in government at the time he had this relationship, and there was no moral rule broken here," the Sun's political editor Tom Newton Dunn told Sky News television.But Hacked Off founder Brian Cathcart said the explanation was "absurd" and the decision not to publish was "wholly out of character" for British tabloids.REUTERS PS RAI1450 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-681229.Xml
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has reiterated its support for Jammu and Kashmir's right to self-determination. In a meeting held here, on the sidelines of the 13th OIC Summit, the OIC contact group on Jammu and Kashmir voiced its continued support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir "in their legitimate struggle for the right to self-determination" in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions. "The principled position of OIC continued support to the Kashmiri people in their legitimate struggle for the right to self-determination and underscored that the Contact Group had been constantly conveying the OIC's concerns to the international community regarding the flagrant human rights violations and abuse of the basic rights of the Kashmiris," the contact group said, according to a Pakistan foreign ministry statement. Pakistan's National Security Advisor, Sartaj Aziz, led his country's delegation to the meeting, which was chaired by OIC Secretary Generals Special Representative on Jammu and Kashmir, Ambassador Abdullah Al-Alim. The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Turkey, senior representatives from Saudi Arabia and Niger attended the meeting. Aziz reiterated "Pakistan will continue its diplomatic, moral and political support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their struggle for realisation of their right to self-determination in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions." The group also "regretted some attempts to equate the Kashmiri struggle with terrorism, and emphasized that the Kashmiris were solely striving to achieve their inalienable right in accordance with relevant UN resolutions." The OIC Secretary General's Special Representative on Jammu and Kashmir welcomed the establishment of a standing mechanism of OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) to monitor the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir which would present its report to the next session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers. Al-Alim would also undertake a visit to Jammu and Kashmir shortly. The Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir was formed in 1994 to coordinate the policy of the OIC on Jammu and Kashmir. Azerbaijan, Niger, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are its members. --Indo-Asian News Service ahm-ruwa/rn/bg ( 350 Words) 2016-04-13-15:53:47 (IANS)
China's foreign ministry said today it has summoned in envoys from the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies to complain about a statement their foreign ministers issued this week opposing provocation in the East and South China Seas.China claims almost the entire South China Sea, believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, and is building islands on reefs to bolster its claims. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the waters, through which about 5 trillion dollars in trade is shipped every year.China also has a separate dispute with Japan over a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing that it had thought the G7 foreign ministers' meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima wouldn't really have anything to do with China.Once the statement came out, China decided there were certain "incorrect and mistaken" parts in it, Lu said, so China had to make its position clear."So yes we called in envoys from the relevant countries, solemnly expressing China's position on this matter," he added.China informed the envoys of exactly what it had said in public on the issue, Lu said.The Foreign Ministry yesterday expressed anger at the G7 statement, saying the grouping should not taking sides on issues involving territorial disputes.The G7 is composed of the United States, France, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Japan.G7 leaders will meet again in Japan for their summit next month. REUTERS PS VN1527 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-681322.Xml
Syrians voted in a parliamentary election in government-held areas of the country today in what voters called a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad, who is holding the poll in defiance of opponents seeking to oust him.The election is going ahead independently of a UN-led peace process aimed at finding a political solution to the five-year-long war. The government says it is being held on time in line with the constitution. The opposition says the vote is illegitimate and will obstruct already struggling diplomacy."We are voting for the sake of the Syrian people and for the sake of Assad. Assad is already strong but these elections show that the people support him and bolster him," said Hadi Jumaa, a 19-year-old student, as he cast his ballot at his university halls of residence in Damascus.Dozens queued to vote at one polling station where a portrait of Assad hung on the wall. Outside, some danced.With his wife Asma at his side as he went to vote in Damascus, a smiling Assad told state TV that terrorism had been able to destroy much of Syria's infrastructure but not Syria's "social structure, the national identity".The conflict has killed more than 250,000 and created millions of refugees, splintering Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by the government, an array of rebels, a powerful Kurdish militia, and the Islamic State group. The government views all the groups fighting it as terrorists.The government controls around one third of Syria, including the main cities of western Syria, home to most of the people who have not fled the country. The United Nations puts the number of refugees at 4.8 million.It is the second election held by the government in wartime: Assad was reelected president in 2014. Voters are to elect 250 MPs to parliament, which has no real power in Syria's presidential system. The state is rallying them around the slogan "Your vote strengthens your steadfastness".OPPOSITION SEES VOTE AS "THEATRE"The election coincides with the start of a second round of UN-led peace talks in Geneva. The opposition delegation is due to meet UN envoy Staffan de Mistura today. The government has said it will be ready to participate from Friday.The diplomacy is struggling to make progress with no sign of compromise over the main issue dividing the sides: Assad's future. The government had ruled out any discussion of the presidency ahead of the first round of talks last month."These elections do not mean anything," said Asaad al-Zoubi, chief negotiator for the main opposition body, the High Negotiations Council. "They are illegitimate - theatre for the sake of procrastination, theatre through which the regime is trying to give itself a little legitimacy."Foreign states opposed to Assad have said the vote is out of line with a UN Security Council resolution that calls for elections at the end of an 18-month transition. His allies, notably Russia, say it is in line with the constitution."The decision of the regime to hold elections is a measure of how divorced it is from reality. They cannot buy back legitimacy by putting up a flimsy facade of democracy," said a spokesperson for the British government.France said the elections were a "sham" organised by "an oppressive regime".Russia, one of Assad's main foreign allies, said however that the election was necessary to avoid a power vacuum."There is understanding already, that a new constitution should emerge as a result of this political process, on the basis of which new, early elections are to be held," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news briefing."But before this happens, one should avoid any legal vacuum or any vacuum in the sphere of executive power."Syrians living in opposition-held areas dismissed the vote."We used to be forced to cast our vote in sham elections. Now, we are no longer obliged to. After all this killing they want to make a play called elections," said Yousef Doumani, speaking from the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus.But Shereen Sirmani, who fled to Damascus from the Islamic State-besieged city of Deir al-Zor four months ago, said the election was good for Syria."We hope they bring people together," she said. "We support Assad and these elections are a boost for him." REUTERS PS AS1655 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-681532.Xml
Bangladeshi security forces have detained four suspected members of a banned Islamist militant group who were believed to be planning attacks on celebrations of the traditional new year, a police official said today.Muslim-majority Bangladesh has seen a surge in Islamist violence over the past couple of years, targeting liberal activists, as well as members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups.The four members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh were arrested in an overnight raid in Mymensingh, 115 km from the capital, Dhaka, said police official Mohammad Harun-ur Rashid.A large quantity of bomb-making material was seized and the suspects were believed to have been planning to target celebrations of the Bengali New Year on April 14, he said.At least five Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen members have been killed in shootouts since November, as authorities have intensified a crackdown on militants trying to establish an Islamist state.Celebrations marking the Bengali New Year have been hit by bomb attacks before. REUTERS PS BD1702 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-681555.Xml
Local ceasefire monitors arrived at three Yemeni provinces today to consolidate a shaky truce, residents and officials said, ahead of UN-sponsored peace talks scheduled to start in Kuwait next week.Over 6,200 people have been killed in a year of fighting between forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the Houthis, a conflict pitting the Yemeni allies of Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, against those of Iran.Local officials said teams of 12 monitors were deployed in Marib province east of the capital Sanaa, in southwestern Taiz province and in Hajjah province in the north to try to stop truce violations and allow humanitarian aid to pass through.The monitors - officers and tribal figures from among the Houthis and followers of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, along with Hadi's government - would also try to resolve problems and record complaints of violations and send them to a higher committee working under United Nations supervision.The deployment comes amid fresh reports of violations by both sides of the truce that began at midnight on Sunday.Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Salam had said local committees would be deployed in six provinces where fighting had been taking place. Apart from Marib, Hajjah and Taiz, monitors would also be deployed in Shabwa, al-Bayda and Dalea provinces in southern and central Yemen.Abdel-Salam, in remarks to the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper published on Wednesday, said the Houthis regard the truce "as a step towards a complete halt to the war" in Yemen.Officials say they see the truce as the best chance for Yemen to end a year of fighting that has drawn in a Saudi-led alliance to fight what they see as Iran's expansion into the Arabian Peninsula.Iran supports the Houthis, a political group with a powerful militia that belongs to the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam.Previous ceasefire agreements failed to end fighting that began in March last year after the Houthis advanced on Hadi's headquarters in the southern port city of Aden, forcing the president and his government to flee to Saudi Arabia.Saudi Arabia and the Houthi group have observed a period of calm along their common border since last month, paving the way for the truce to be reached.UN-sponsored peace talks are set to begin on April 18 in Kuwait, bringing together the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government. REUTERS PS AN1835 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-681823.Xml
Spanish police arrested a French man who allegedly had supplied the arms used by gunman Amedy Coulibaly, who killed four Jews and a policewoman at a kosher supermarket in Paris in January 2015, Spain's interior ministry said today.In a statement, the ministry said the 27-year-old man from Sainte Catherine in France was arrested in the Malaga area yesterday in a joint operation with French police.Coulibaly had attacked the supermarket a few days after two other gunmen shot 12 people at and near the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris.REUTERS PS PR1841 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-681864.Xml
Health inspector shot and killed

He was previously posted at the Piarco International Airport.

Police reports are at about 4 am yesterday a gunman ambushed Young in his bedroom and shot him in his head. One of two male tenants who live in the same house, sustainedwounds as he was running away from the gunman.

The house was not ransacked nor was anything discovered missing, relatives said.

On February 7, 2006, Youngs adopted brother, Shirlon Boxhill, 44, was stabbed five times in the kitchen area of the same house.

Speaking with Newsday yesterday at the house, Youngs sister Shirley Young-Lewis admitted that the entire family was baffled over the killing. Young-Lewis noted that when she initially learnt of the death, she immediately assumed that her free-spirited brother died in his sleep because he suffered from hypertension.

We just do not why someone would kill him. He was a man who lived good with people. He loved to lime with friends and family and curried duck must be part of that. He loved to mind ducks and would give away to people. Young-Lewis added that no one was charged for the murder of Boxill and she is not optimistic that her brothers killed would be arrested and charged.

We will get our own justice by consoling one another for these killings. I understand that when the gunman entered the room, Lute shouted run, run to the tenant. He was then shot. Relatives are awaiting the arrival of other relatives who live abroad to determine a funeral date.
Jack, Devant settle libel suit

As part of the settlement, a front page apology to Maharaj is expected to be published in Warners Sunshine newspaper next week.

Further details of the settlement were not revealed in court when the matter came up yesterday for trial before Justice James Aboud in the Port-of- Spain High Court. The judge commended both parties for arriving at a settlement and not wasting the courts time on a full trial.

As a result of the settlement, a consent order was entered and Maharaj withdrew his lawsuit against Warner, the Sunshine Newspaper and two of its reporters.

Both men, after informing the court of their decision, shook hands outside the Hall of Justice, in the presence of their attorneys.

Maharaj had filed the lawsuit for libel in 2014, complaining of a series of articles in the Sunshine Newspaper between February 21 and April 4 of that year.

He said the articles were intentionally malicious and designed to defame him in his public and personal life and paint him as a person who was corrupt, dishonest and unfit to hold public office.

Maharaj was represented by a team of attorneys that included Jagdeo Singh, Larry Lalla and Michael Rooplal, while Warner was represented by Keith Scotland, among others.
Daddy, daddy, daddy!!!

Daddy, daddy, daddy, the officers children cried out, their pain so overwhelming other relatives and the congregation that packed the St Pauls Anglican Church, Harris Promenade in the southern city, that there was hardly a dry eye at the service for the murdered policeman.

The attendance was also so large that people spilled onto the streets outside the church compound.

The emotionally charged event also spurred messages to Benjamins killer and criminals in general, with calls for them to repent, and even the need for a declaration of a sense of war against them, proposed by the Minister of National Security, Edmund Dillon, who was at the service along with Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams; Head of Southern Division Snr Supt Irwin Hackshaw and other senior officers; Mayor of San Fernando Kazim Hosein and members of the San Fernando City Corporation; scores of primary school children, staff of the medical fraternity, and members of military and para- military organisations.

The service was interrupted several times with the piercing cries from grieving relatives.

Ansons wife Cherry Ann Foster was inconsolable, so too his sons Arion, Aaron and Faith who broke down several times and had to be taken outside the church to be comforted. At one time, teachers of the Anstey Girls Memorial and Coffee Street Boys Anglican Schools relocated the best friends of Ansons children, Faith, eight and Aaron, nine, from the back of the church where they were seated, taking them to the front to sit next to the grieving children to console them.

I hope you would have taken note of the pain you have caused an already grieving family, a community, a national fraternity , an entire nation, a visibly distraught Dr Kerry Benjamin, brother of the fallen officer, directed to his killer. I hope that you can come to the understanding that the person you murdered came from a background of poverty and hardship, but he chose hard work as his way out. Kerry, a medical doctor had to be supported by a sibling. He went further into his eulogy, calling on the perpetrator of the heinous crime that took Anson away from us, to repent.

I hope you would have taken stock of the fact that you have left four sons and a daughter fatherless at the risk of becoming negative elements to the society, he cried. I hope the Holy Spirit of God would have convicted you and caused you to repent for your sins and turn from your wicked ways so that your soul and our nation could be saved. Struggling through his tears, Kerry also delivered a message to the countrys decision makers who he said seemed uncertain as to how to deal with the spiralling crime rate in Trinidad and Tobago.

To the decision makers, I beseech you to stop the perennial cycle of deciding what we should be doing about the crime situation and just do what has to be done, Kerry said. Lock down our borders. We do not manufacture guns or bullets in Trinidad. To date his killer remains at large. Last week Thursday, Anson, aged 45, a police officer for the past 16 years, succumbed to his injuries at the Intensive Care Unit of the San Fernando General Hospital where he had been warded for three days after being shot in the head. He and a female colleague had responded to a report of a robbery at a supermarket in St Clements, San Fernando. As he was making his way to the back exit door of the building, he was ambushed and shot in the head by one of the bandits..

Anson, a father of five, two from a previous relationship, was described by his brother as a people person and the quintessential family man who cared not only for his own family but also his siblings. He was the second of his late parents children.

Delivering the homily yesterday Fr Sherwin Dickerson called for a return of love in the communities and the world. He urged all those present not to forget the Benjamin family and to always keep them in their prayers as they will need all the support they could get.

Dickerson exhorted: Leave everything in the hands of God because God does not sleep.

Never pay back wrong with wrong Speaking to reporters after the service, Dillon said he was moved by the cries especially coming from Benjamins children while in church.

The Minister said: When one heard the cries this morning, one cannot help but condemn that cowardly act, the heinous act that took the life of this agent of the state who by his choice decided to join the police service, who by his choice decided to be one of the persons who will stand up for the security of the people of Trinidad and Tobago, and yet we see the circumstances under which he has lost his life together with others who have lost their lives. Several tributes were paid to the slain officer in song by colleagues during yesterdays service.

Following the funeral rites at the church in San Fernando, Benjamin, also called Benji and Breeze was buried with full military rites at the St Stephens Anglican Cemetery, Lothians Road in Princes Town. A team of police officers from the Southern Division has been appointed to investigate the killing.
Las Cuevas cliff victim flown to Canada

The mother of two children, was due to arrive at a top trauma hospital in Toronto after 9.00 pm last night, a relative said.

The relative told Newsday that after being assessed by the ambulance crew and prepped for travel, Antonio left the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH), where she had been since the fall on the night of March 28. She left before noon screaming because of the pain she experienced while being moved.

Due to the time that lapsed the relative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Antonio will have to be further assessed to determine what surgeries are required.

Unfortunately, the relative said, that since she was hospitalised, she did not undergo a CT scan because the hospitals machine was inoperable.

Antonio had also been told that the hospital could not operate on her complex multiple fractures and that she would have had to have surgeries done overseas.

The fractures included her pelvis  broken in several places, a fractured sacrum  which connects the pelvis to the spine, a broken right leg and broken right heel.

She could not move her lower extremities and her relative fears that she could never walk again.

Antonio was not the only patient who was being treated without having CT scans. A patient in the male orthopedic ward told Newsday that he has been waiting for three weeks now to be given a CT scan. He said that he has only been receiving pain killers since he was hospitalised.

Efforts to get a comment from the POSGH on the state of the CT scan machines were futile.

Newsday was told to send any queries to the Corporate Communications department which in turn told Newsday to address communications to the hospitals Chief Executive Officer and copy to the Corporate Communications department.

Meanwhile, the air ambulance to transport Antonio was made possible after Antonios friend Bre Clarke launched an online fund-raising campaign to secure CDN$56,000 of which 90 percent was to pay for the nine-hour air-ambulance flight, with a fuel stop between Piarco and Toronto. Antonios oneweek holiday was not covered by travel insurance.

While the full amount had not yet been secured to cover the transportation cost, fund-raisers were still being held with the promise to pay the full amount required.

As of yesterday morning a total of CDN$53,000 had been secured.

People who may want to contribute may do so at www.gofundme.

com/helpingelissa using credit cards.

Clarke told Newsday the response to the appeal was overwhelming.

Since he launched the appeal, Clarke, who also has Caribbean roots told Newsday he has received messages from dozens of Trinis who have spoken about unsatisfactory medical and nursing care, and poor working conditions at the PoSGH. Two Trinidadian- born nurses who reside in Canada, he said, begged him to get her out of Port of Spain General as fast as possible because she will die there. That was scary, he said.

Antonio would not complain, he said, because she was thankful for being alive, and just wanted to get back home.

A top surgeon who saw all the media coverage, Clarke said, has indicated that he wants to treat her, himself. Noting that she was not assessed for head injuries and internal bleeding, he said, She could have died if there was some serious internal bleeding. When she gets scanned here we will know if there was any additional damage. On Monday after the local media went public with Antonios fall, Clarke said, the hospital authorities offered to take her to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex for a CT scan.

However, because Antonio was leaving yesterday, the doctor treating her and herself decided not to move her twice.
JTUM: Budget review anti working people

It is clear that this burden of adjustment is being borne only by the poor, working people and the vulnerable with no burden being borne by the business community.

We saw that there are many measures, concessions and tax holidays that support the business without the corresponding measures to protect and support working people in this country, Roget added.

The union leader made the comments at a press conference held at OWTUs Paramount Building, San Fernando, where he addressed concerns about the mid-year budget review.

The review was presented on Friday last by Finance Minister, Colm Imbert, who announced a series of measures designed to increase revenue and curb expenditure.

Roget yesterday called on the Minister and by extension the government, to clarify several statements made. He also bashed the PNM administration and Imbert whom he accused of failing to address several issues. On the issue of retrenchment, Roget claimed that the Minister failed to address the issue altogether. On behalf of JTUM, Roget called on government to immediately bring emergency legislation to the Parliament to deal with the issue of the Retrenchment and Severance Benefit Act.

The union leader insisted that workers must be protected at work at all times.

We will begin a mobilisation campaign to demand that the government bring to the Parliament legislation, which both Government and Opposition must give their support, to protect working people
Keep my mothers case alive

My moms case is not more important than all the other unsolved cases. We ask that the police keep my mothers case alive.

We ask that the new government continue to invest its resources to make Trinidad and Tobago a safer country.

Justice must prevail.

This crime should be solved and not forgotten, said Draupadi, who resides in Canada.

Thursday will mark the fourth anniversary of Gangabissoons death.

On April 12, 2012, Gangabissoon and her husband Sugrim Gangabissoon, 93, were savagely beaten in their home by intruders who stole their pension money.

That same day, the couple celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary.

Two days after the brutal attack, on April 14, the elderly woman succumbed to her injuries at hospital.

My father never really recovered from his physical and emotional wounds caused that day and also that of losing mom. Without her, life seemed to have had no meaning.

He died in 2013. They were brutally attacked and savagely beaten in the middle of the day in the sanctity of their home, recalled Draupadi.

The couple lived at Calcutta Road No 4, Southern Main Road, Freeport.

Draupadi charged that police investigations have stalled although family members waited patiently for information and nothing transpired. Just months after the attack, the family initially agreed to pay a $50,000 reward for the successful arrest and conviction of the criminal or criminals responsible for the crime.

The reward was subsequently doubled to $100,000 and this reward still stands. She recalled that two police officers were appointed to the case. One became ill and the other subsequently transferred.

On his return to active duty from sick leave, the officer apparently was overwhelmed with this crime and many others, she insisted.

The family had also erected two Crime Stoppers billboards, one at St.Marys Junction and the other at Charlieville, with the hope of solving the crime.

My mother was a respected elder, not only in our family, but throughout the community in Trinidad, America and Canada.

To this day, we miss her immensely and think of her in our hearts countless times each day.

We have not yet solved this crime, but we have not given up, nor shall we, the daughter added.

Draupadi believes that the crime against her parents crime can be solved with a telephone call to Crime Stoppers Trinidad and Tobago at 800-TIPS (868-800-8477) and/or the Homicide Bureau.

Yesterday, police told Newsday that investigations are continuing into it.

An officer admitted that there is no new information about the crime.

Persons with information can contact the Homicide Bureau South at 652-0495 or the nearest police station.
Family seeks help raising money for funeral

Williams is the wife of Isiah Williams, 24, a fabricator, of West Park, Cocoyea, who died on Saturday in a vehicular accident .

The fund-raising campaign posted by Jana Mckenzie-Thomas was created on Monday and since then it has been circulating on social media via the website www.gofundme .

com. Mckenzie-Thomas stated that she was raising the funds on behalf of her cousin Williams because I feel helpless. .

I am a healthcare professional in New Jersey, USA and she is my closest cousin .

Anyone who has immigrated can probably understand how helpless I feel not being physically there for your family, McKenzie-Thomas stated .

She noted that the couple has been together since their teens and was married for a year and a half. Mckenzie- Thomas further noted that the duo had been blossoming as a unit and provided for their children Kael and Kyan, ages four and 19 months respectively .

Isiah had a bright future ahead of him but now hes been taken to watch over his family from a different angle .

I know you all can find it in your heart to help me help my family .

People in Trinidad who are not able to donate to the cause this way, please spread the word and thank you for being physically there. My family in the UK, you are able to help. Thank you all in advance, Mckenzie-Thomas said .

Up to 5.15 pm on Monday, only $500 was donated .

She urged members of the public to donate to this cause to help with funeral costs and any bit left over to raise these children .

On Friday shortly after 10 pm, Isiah left his home to lime with a group of friends. On Saturday at about 6 am, as they were returning home, the car he was travelling in crashed into a lightpole along the Solomon Hochoy Highway, near Tarouba .

Reports are that Williams was pitched out the car and his body landed on the median .

He died instantly. The driver identified as Antonio Guerra and two other passengers sustained multiple injuries and were rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital where they remain warded .

Cpl Ramdass of the Mon Repos Police Station is continuing investigations .
Hinds says Point Fortin highway to continue

We have said a thousand times that we intend to continue and to complete the San Fernando to Point Fortin Highway, Hinds said, before noting that a number of other road projects were also being planned which included a freeway from San Fernando to Mayaro.

We propose to develop a new road, a freeway between San Fernando and Mayaro, he said, adding, We propose as well the Wallerfield to Manzanilla Highway and I got the Cabinet to agree only recently to have one of the agencies come on board and we will begin that process. Hinds was addressing the Quality in construction seminar at the Centre for Enterprise Development, Innovation Avenue, Freeport yesterday.

He said several other projects were also being developed to ease traffic congestion including a Valencia to Toco highway, a ring road around Chaguanas to avoid commuters going through the urban centre was well as the development of a ferry port at Toco.

Hinds also defended the fiscal measures contained within the mid-year review which was presented by Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, last Friday saying government had no choice but to implement these measures little by little to avoid harsher measures in the future.

A number of the things that the Minister of Finance had to prescribe and to direct to us, given the responsibility he has are unpopular, a government doesnt want to impose taxes, a government doesnt want to remove the fuel subsidy, a government doesnt want to impose action on its citizens because doing so makes you unpopular, Hinds said.
Khan: Its criminal to free up OAS

Echoing Finance Minister, Colm Imberts words, Khan warned the population that the countrys economy is now in a new paradigm marked by a sea-change, in which revenues will no longer come from Gods bounty but from human productivity.

Lamenting a decline in the output of TTs aging oilfields, he said in the 1970s this country would export an oil cargo every three days, but that today it takes three months to fill an oil tanker ship.

He said everyone must pray for success in the exploration well now being drilled by BHP Biliton.

Khan said that a past government had tried to save Petrotrins Pointe-a-Pierre oil refinery, even as similar in Aruba, Curacao and St Croix had shut.

Recalling the billions spent on Petrotrins Gas Optimisation and Ultra Low Sulphur Projects, he remarked, In hindsight it would have been better to build a new refinery. Describing the State subsidy to the existing refinery as unbearable, he said Petrotrin is in trouble, and when they next appear before a parliamentary joint select committee (JSC) , the chips must fall where they may. Saying the countrys energy revenues come from taxes levied on oil companies, he said the current tax scenario is not viable, and that while the Government will honour current contracts, they will meet with oil companies to try to negotiate out of the present dilemma. He said the energy-sectors contribution to national revenues will fall from 33 percent in 2014 and 23 percent this fiscal year to just seven percent next year.
Abortion provider says fetal remains should be sent home with the patient in a gift bag

Pro-choice or not, is it too much to expect that the remains of unborn, aborted babies should be handled with dignity and respect?

Apparently so, according to at least one abortion provider, who suggested that fetal remains be sent home in a gift bag.

Breitbart covered the story, and its one that many readers may find highly disturbing.

A group of young pro-lifers  Students for Life of America  have created a video containing footage from a recent National Abortion Federation (NAF) convention, that was secretly filmed by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP). The CMP is the same pro-life activist group that released several controversial videos last year featuring undercover footage of Planned Parenthood officials and employees.

In the video, (view it here), Michigan abortion provider Renee Chelian talks about the disposal of aborted fetuses:

We thought well give it [the fetal remains] to everybody in a gift bag; they can take it home, figure out what to do with it. Its their pregnancy  why is this our problem? And Im saying that in all seriousness.

Nobody wants to talk about dead bodies  nobody but me. There was a point when Stericycle fired us that I had five months worth of fetal tissue in my freezers and we were renting freezers to put them in. So, all I thought about, I was so consumed with fetal tissue, I was ready to drive to upper Michigan and have a bonfire. And, I was just trying to figure out, you know, how I wouldnt get stopped or how far in the woods would I have to go to have this fire that nobody was going to see me.

And the garbage disposal was an option. I mean, there was a point that I actually hired someone from another clinic to come in and take 20 bottles and put it into my garbage disposal.

Chelian continues her shocking monologue, referring to pro-lifers as antis and describing the secret disposal of fetal remains:

When we sent to another state, it became the whole issue of: Do we tell FedEx what theyre picking up? How long will it take for the antis to figure it out?  Everything is a secret, so its really scary.

The abortion industry is under increasing scrutiny regarding the issue of fetal remains and their disposal. Whatever your laws are in your state, Chelian admits, if the antis know, this could shut us down.

Meanwhile, a bill has been introduced in the Ohio state legislation that would require women who received an abortion or suffered a miscarriage to choose whether they want their babies to be buried or cremated.

From Breitbart:

During an investigation into Planned Parenthood clinics in his state, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine found the clinics contract with medical waste companies that dump aborted babies into landfills.

Also, in South Carolina, an abortion clinic in Charleston and Texas-based waste management company MedSharps were fined a total of nearly $8,000 for improper disposal of fetal remains.

It should be noted that the majority of Americans believe that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.

And the issue goes beyond politics, according to Ohio Republican State Rep. Barbara Sears, who said:

The idea of respectfully treating the remains of an infant who has been aborted, I think is critical  And I dont think that it matters whether you are Republican or Democrat or Independent or oblivious to politics all together.

Maybe thats what bothers people the most about these videos of Planned Parenthood officials and abortion providers discussing their methods and opinions. Its the shocking callousness and basic disregard for human life that many of us find so distressing.

Personally, I support a womans right to choose. But cant we do it in a manner that shows some basic dignity and respect for both the mother and the unborn child?

Sources:

Breitbart.com

Breitbart.com

Submit a correction >>
Czech president now confirms what alternative media has been reporting for months: EU refugee wave is organized invasion

Slowly, but surely, leaders of liberal Europe are coming to terms with the massive wave of humanity flowing into the continent from the war-torn Middle East  namely, that those seeking shelter are bringing with them a culture that is far different from and, in many cases, even hostile to Western mores.

One of the most recent European leaders to understand this is the leader of the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman, who recently characterized the current refugee wave as little more than an organized invasion, adding that the young men from Iraq and Syria, especially, ought to be remaining behind to take up arms against the Islamic State.

I am profoundly convinced that we are facing an organized invasion and not a spontaneous movement of refugees, Zeman said in his Christmas message to the nation, as reported by the World Bulletin.

Millions coming

Zeman said that while compassion was possible for refugees who are older or perhaps ill, and also for children, it wasnt for young men whom, he believes, ought to be back in their home countries fighting against the tyranny of ISIS.

A large majority of the illegal migrants are young men in good health, and single. I wonder why these men are not taking up arms to go fight for the freedom of their countries against the ISIL, (another name for the Islamic State), said Zeman, 71, Czech president since early 2013.

He went on to note that young men fleeing their countries, and not fighting to retake them, only makes ISIS stronger. He compared the flight of young Syrian and Iraqi men to that of Czechs who fled their country after it was occupied by Nazi Germany from 19391945.

The Czech leaders comments were not the first regarding the mass wave of migrants entering Europe, the worst since the end of World War II.

As the World Bulletin further reported:

In November, the leftwinger attended an anti-Islam rally in Prague in the company of far-right politicians and a paramilitary unit.

The countrys Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, who has previously criticised the head of states comments, said Zemans Christmas message was based on prejudices and his habitual simplification of things.'

The Czech Republic, and Slovakia  both former communist members of the Soviet Union-led Warsaw Pact  joined the European Union in 2004. Both have rejected the EUs quota system for the distribution of the refugees pouring in. More than 1 million such migrants arrived in Europe in 2015, with the majority fleeing violence and war in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

The crisis has tested the governments comprising the EU, and has tested European sensibilities. Tens of millions of Europeans  including 70 percent of Czechs  oppose allowing mass numbers of mostly Muslim migrants into their countries, and that number is only rising following a series of incidents involving migrants and Europeans.

In Germany  the EU member that has taken in the most migrants by far  scores are protesting Chancellor Angela Merkels decision to take them in after citizens, and especially women, have been sexually and physically assaulted by Middle Eastern men who obviously dont share the same European values.

Merkel out!

As reported by the Global Post, members of the right-leaning PEGIDA movement protested recently, following a number of assaults in Cologne over the New Years Eve holiday.

Many chanted Merkel Out! and carried signs calling the migrants rapefugees.

Merkel has become a danger to our country. Merkel must go, a member of PEGIDA told a crowd, which repeated the call.

German authorities investigating the assaults said that the majority of suspects were foreign-born.

Some rallies turned violent, with Reuters reporting that police were forced to break them up using force.

Reuters added further:

The attacks, ranging from sexual molestation to theft, shocked Germany, which took in 1.1 million migrants and refugees in 2015 under asylum laws championed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, despite fervent opposition.

Sources:

WorldBulletin.net

GlobalPost.com

GlobalPost.com

NaturalNews.com

UK.Reuters.com

Submit a correction >>
East European media, politicians tear into Western liberals destroying national sovereignty by welcoming invaders

The political divide in Europe is widening over the influx of millions of culturally divergent refugees from the war-torn Middle East, with liberal-minded politicians open to welcoming more while conservative leaders decry them as invaders with opposing morals.

Eastern European leaders and their allies in the media have lashed out at politically correct German officials, and in particular German Chancellor Angela Merkel, following a series of sexual assaults committed by mostly Middle Eastern migrants against German women in towns and cities across the country over New Years Eve.

Labeling assailants nothing but hyenas, followed by a massive we told you so, politicians from across Eastern Europe have launched broadsides against Germanys welcoming attitude and tolerant view overall to the migrant influx, despite rising evidence that there are huge cultural problems beginning to boil over.

Hyenas

As reported by the German daily Spiegel Online, many East European leaders warned Merkel that her actions and those of other politically correct politicians and media risked bringing Europe misery and massive cultural change. Given recent events, they are now feeling vindicated.

The Left-leaning nationalist prime minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, said during a recent televised debate that the European media generally downplay problems associated with the migrants because they are a protected species. Using the Cologne example as justification, Fico has called for an immediate European Union summit to assess and deal with the cultural and security problems that are being created by the ongoing migrant crisis, which includes the formation of so-called parallel societies.

He went on to note that his country would not tolerate having its women being insulted in their own streets, but also not in insular Muslim-dominant communities. To their credit Slovakian media backed Fico, slamming the politically correct media in Germany as well as a naive subculture of do-gooders.

Various reports from the BBC and others have shown Germans lining up to welcome mostly Syrian migrants arriving from Hungary and other EU nations, waving banners of welcome and handing to migrants bags of food and water. As thanks for that kind of a welcome, scores of migrants have begun suing German authorities for not providing and paying benefits fast enough.

Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban also feels like his criticism has been vindicated. During a recent weekly radio address, he spoke of the crisis in liberalism that has led to the under-reporting by the media of the sex assaults in Cologne and other European cities. He said the Hungarian media was more free to speak than many outlets in the West (which are self-muzzled, essentially) and that he was right to call for immigration moratoria.

Liberal pigs

But the strongest language was used by Zsolt Bayer, a friend and colleague of Orban, as well as the co-founder of the Fidesz Party. In writing for the publication Magyar Hirlap, Bayer, a journalist well-known for his hard-right political viewpoint, described the assailants in Cologne as North African and Arabic animals  nothing but hyenas, according to Breitbart London. And he said that Merkel is essentially allowing migrants to cannibalize her family and children.

As quoted by Breitbart London another Hungarian media outlet noted: There are no bastards on this earth more abominable and more destructive than these liberal pigs who are digging Europes grave.

Meanwhile, in Romania, former President Traian Basecu said his nation, like others in Eastern Europe, planned to oppose EU quotas for accepting more refugees. He added that Muslim migrants who believe in and follow Islam, via the Koran, cannot adapt to or ever accept Christian European culture and laws.

Breitbart London reported further:

The leading Conservative-Liberal Romanian MEP Traian Ungureanu has described Mrs. Merkel and her open-door invitation to Germany as the disaster of the century. He also criticised official censorship of the events of Cologne he says prevails in Germany, adding: Every protest, every hint against gang rape is immediately classified as racism or extremism. It is the duty of public bodies to hide the facts and to deny.

Sources:

Breitbart.com

NaturalNews.com

Spiegel.de

Submit a correction >>
FBI moles caught provoking Oregon locals to turn against militia members with false-flag harassment campaign

Its no secret that federal law enforcement authorities regularly go undercover in order to gather evidence on suspects and solve or prevent crimes. But agencies like the FBI also have a history of infiltrating groups in order to foment trouble so that arrests can be made.

As Natural News has reported in the past, other federal agencies including the EPA, FDA and ATF also use similar infiltration tactics.

Now, it appears, the FBI has done it again, this time in an attempt to infiltrate and, possibly instigate a false-flag incident in order to justify force against a group that is challenging federal supremacy over a land dispute case.

According to the Cop Block blog, FBI agents posing as militia members in order to harass residents near Burns, Oregon, were allegedly outed by a local former fire chief.

The blog explained:

In what appears to be a coordinated effort to turn the local community against the Ammon Bundy led Citizens for Constitutional Freedom militia group currently occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters near Burns, Oregon, a local Fire Chief claims to have caught undercover FBI agents posing as militia members in order to harass residents.

In case you arent familiar with the recent events there, a story explaining Bundys actions can be read here, while a history of the Bundys experience with federal agencies can be found here. A history of the FBIs abuses of the public trust can be read here.

As noted by Cop Block and Natural News, among those abuses is convincing mentally unstable Americans to pose as terrorists so that agents can make arrests and pad their numbers while enhancing their careers.

Posing as dishonest people

In July 2014, UK newspaper The Guardian reported that federal agents were directly involved in most high-profile terror plots, citing a long report released by Human Rights Watch.

The US Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have targeted American Muslims in abusive counterterrorism sting operations based on religious and ethnic identity, the organization said in a press release, citing its study. Many of the more than 500 terrorism-related cases prosecuted in US federal courts since September 11, 2001, have alienated the very communities that can help prevent terrorist crimes.

The report further alleged that in some cases the FBI may have created terrorists out of law-abiding individuals by suggesting the idea of taking terrorist action or encouraging the target to act.

According to U.S. News & World Report, the ex-fire chief, Chris Briels, clarified that the individuals he identified were indeed undercover FBI agents but that they technically werent posing as militia.

They werent posing as anything other than dishonest people, he says. They were perceived as militia by the locals, but they werent posing out there with a shirt that said Im militia.

FBI silent on activity in Burns

That said, the FBI has definitely infiltrated militia groups in the past, on many occasions, and its confirmed presence in Burns, Oregon, was likely expected by most residents  and certainly by the Bundys and their supporters. After all, the group took over a building on property claimed by the federal government.

But what means is the FBI willing to employ in order to project federal supremacy and sort of teach us common folk whos boss? Were the agents identified by Briels going to try to infiltrate local militia groups who are guarding Bundy? We dont yet know, but judging by the agencys history, its a distinct possibility.

As U.S. News further reported:

Though Briels has poured cold water on the tale attributed to him, the FBIs Portland field office would not address whether or not undercover agents are being used to address the refuge occupiers, who have invited ranchers rights supporters from across the country to join them. Due to the ongoing investigation we cannot provide any comments at this time, said a statement from the Harney County Joint Information Center, in response to an inquiry emailed to an FBI spokeswoman.

Time will tell.

Sources:

CopBlock.com

NaturalNews.com

USNews.com

Submit a correction >>
Monsantos lethal Roundup contaminates beer making process in U.S. and Germany

Despite having a long-standing reputation for producing the worlds purest beer, Germany may no longer be able to claim that title after testing showed the beverage to be laced with a deadly herbicide thought to be the root cause of many of todays modern diseases.

In early March, the Munich Environmental Institute discovered flaws in Germanys purity law, which aims to maintain the integrity of beer, limiting its ingredients to hops, malt, yeast and water.

But that is not all thats in German beer. The environmental group learned that all of the 14 popular-selling beers it tested contained glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsantos Roundup.

Weed killer detected in beer

The results showed all beers to contain traces above the 0.1 microgram limit allowed in drinking water, Reuters reported; some of the beers had nearly 30 micrograms per liter of the widely used herbicide.

The revelations shocked some, but not all.

A plant pathologist who for half a century has studied the health and environmental impacts of Roundup Ready GM crops and their associated herbicides, including nutritional deficiencies, infertility and the depletion of soil micronutrients, among others, explains why its no surprise that beer is contaminated with glyphosate.

Dr. Don Huber, professor emeritus of plant pathology at Purdue University, told Health Impact News that beer brewers in general are struggling with impurities caused by glyphosate. He said:

A few years ago, when one of my colleagues wanted to get more Abraxis test strips for testing materials for glyphosate residue, he was told that they had a 3 month backlog. He asked, what was causing this? He was told that every load of malt barley coming out of North Dakota has to be tested, because the glyphosate levels were so high that it kills the yeast in the brew mix.

The majority of malts used in beer are derived from barley, a crop in the U.S. that is heavily sprayed with glyphosate. Farmers grow barley in colder climates, and sometimes, in order to avoid a late season snow, they will harvest their crop early.

Farmers do so by desiccating wheat and barley with glyphosate to wilt and dry the crop, taking a cut in yield and quality instead of risking the loss of an entire yield, explains Huber. But what they dont realize is how severely theyre contaminating the ingredients.

Glyphosate is a systemic chemical  it is highly water soluble  it moves to the growth points of plants. When you put it out at the late stage of growth, 2 to 3 weeks before harvest, the only place that glyphosate can go is into the seed.

As this leads to greater contamination in the food supply, the EPA increases herbicide tolerance levels on crops to protect the agricultural industry while covering up potential harm to public health or the environment.

Glyphosate withstanding fermentation

Glyphosate usage on barley is banned in Germany; however, the German Farmers Association says its possible the chemical is being used on fields before crops are planted each season. In other words, its likely that the crops are being grown in soil that is still drenched in the herbicide every year.

Clinging to Monsantos claims that the mean half-life for glyphosate in soil is 30 days, the Farmers Association asserts that the chemical could not possibly affect crops planted afterward; however, the herbicides persistent properties are undeniable. The presence of glyphosate in beer means that it was able to survive the fermentation process.

Its also shown to persist beyond digestion in humans. In addition to the beer, German researchers detected high levels of glyphosate in peoples urine. About 99.5 percent of the roughly 2,000 Germans tested had the herbicide in their urine; 75 percent had up to five times the allowable limit in drinking water.

The most telling conclusion that can be drawn from these results is that GMO food consumption is not the only means of exposure. Remember, GMOs are banned for human consumption in the European market. But they are not banned for livestock consumption.

German researchers suspect that glyphosate exposure is a result of meat consumption, because vegetarians and vegans have showed much lower levels of the herbicide in their urine than meat eaters.

This means that people are being poisoned with glyphosate indirectly. GM corn and soy fed to livestock is accumulating in animal tissue before being passed to humans.

Sources:

NaturalNews.com

Nikos-Weinwelten.de

Action.FoodDemocracyNow.org

Monsanto.com[PDF]

Reuters.com

MintPressNews.com

HealthImpactNews.com

HealthImpactNews.com

Submit a correction >>
SecDef Carter Hopes to Shore Up Ties with India as Counterbalance to China

(NationalSecurity.news) GOA, India (Reuters)  U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter began a three-day visit to India on Sunday, seeking to advance a relatively new defense relationship with a country Washington sees as a counterweight to the growing power of China.

In a sign of the importance Carter places on improving defense ties with India, the visit is his second in less than a year, and it kicks off in Goa, the west coast home state of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

For India, closer U.S. defense ties would bring greater access to American technology, and it too has been alarmed by Chinas naval forays in the Indian Ocean. But India has been historically wary of drawing too near to any one country.

Indias very reluctant to be seen as too close to the United States, but the Pentagon is very bullish on this relationship, said Shane Mason, a research associate at the Stimson Center in Washington.

It is also a favored initiative of Carter, who established a special cell within the Pentagon last year to promote cooperation with India.

Theres no question about where the United States-India relationship is going, Carter said on Friday, at a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. We can control and influence the pace, and I want to do that.

The U.S. military has made clear it would like to do more with India, especially in countering Chinas moves.

Last month, Admiral Harry Harris, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command, said the United States wanted to expand the naval exercises it held with India each year into joint operations across the Asia-Pacific.

But India, which has never carried out joint patrols with another country, said there were no such plans.

The Indians are being careful because its their neighborhood, said a U.S. congressional source familiar with U.S.-India military discussions. Its been a long-standing Indian policy to deal with China on a bilateral basis.

More:

DEFENSE MANUFACTURING

U.S. defense manufacturers hope closer ties will boost their own prospects in India, which is one of the worlds biggest defense spenders but still has major gaps in its military capabilities.

India has been looking to rebuild its aging air force and last week Lockheed Martin and Boeing pitched their fighter planes to its defense ministry.

In a statement, Boeing said it was in talks with India about the possibility of making F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft in India.

A Lockheed spokesman said the company also took part in talks last week between India and the United States on fighter jet production opportunities.

Separately, the two countries are negotiating Indias request for 40 Predator surveillance drones, officials said, a possible first step towards acquiring the armed version of the unmanned aircraft.

But deeper security cooperation has been tricky, because India has for more than 10 years demurred at signing three foundational defense agreements that would streamline military interactions.

India is concerned that the pacts, including the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) that allows the two militaries to access each others bases, could draw it into an undeclared military alliance with the United States.

Ahead of Carters trip, an Indian defense source said both sides were eager to conclude the negotiations on the LSA.

Theyre actually quite prosaic agreements, said Benjamin Schwartz, until last year the India country director at the Pentagon.

Nonetheless, signing them would indicate that the Indian government is more willing to work with the U.S., even if it means that theyre going to take some political heat, said Schwartz.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Robert Birsel)

(c) 2016 Reuters. Used with permission.

NationalSecurity.news is part of the USA Features Media network.

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Why are anti-Israel activists so offended by Morgan Freemans recent Facebook post?

Actor Morgan Freeman unleashed a virtual faceoff between Israelis and Palestinians and their supporters Tuesday after posting to Facebook a photo of himself in Jerusalem, a photo that he later set as his profile photo.

(Article by Sharona Schwartz, republished from //www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/04/13/this-photo-of-morgan-freeman-unleashed-an-israeli-palestinian-comment-storm-on-facebook/)

Palestinian supporters took issue with the photos designation as having been taken in Jerusalem, Israel. At the same time, pro-Israel commenters celebrated the recognition of Israels capital as Jerusalem, contrary to the media and State Department, which usually refer to the city simply as Jerusalem with no country designation.

Freeman captioned his photo Jerusalem #StoryOfGod in reference to his television series for which he traveled around the world.

On the one side of the Facebook fight: supporters of Israel, including the cousin of a controversial Muslim Israeli Knesset member who regularly attacks Israel.

Welcome to the eternal capital of the State of Israel! Mohammed Zoabi of Nazareth, who has faced threats from fellow Muslims over his pro-Israel stance, wrote.

Michael Dickson, Israel office director for the pro-Israel organization StandWithUs, wrote, Wonderful photo in Jerusalem, which as everyone knows has been the Jewish capital for over 3,000 years.

Theres only one Jewish country in the world, Israel, our ancient homeland. Its also the free-est country in the Middle East so for both those reasons we get some hate. Its a tough neighborhood. But we tough it out, live our lives freely and try and be a beacon for our neighbors, whose regimes are a little behind the times, he added.

On the other side were Palestinians and their supporters who took issue with Jerusalem, Israel.

Ahmad Abuznaid wrote, There is no Israel state before 1948.. It is the Palestinian capital and an occupied city according to the United Nations.

Mohammed Ghaleb Klabi wrote, I allways respect you mister morgan ! But i think i become hating you now !! This city is palestennian !! Every body knows her story and how it becomes israelian ! In our hearts and souls this city will come back to th le write people. ( palestine and muslim) and thank you very much for showin me who really you are !

Ahmad Hmarsheh said, It is called occupied Palestine, maybe it is not your fault that google maps write it Israel but you are a well educated man and should know that Jerosalim belongs to the Palestinians. So please respect that and I promise I will keep respecting you.

Dickson of the pro-Israel group StandWithUS summed up the virtual fight best, writing, Jerusalem, in Hebrew, means city of Peace: some of the commentators here ought to learn from that. Shalom and Peace. And thank you for visiting, Mr. Freeman.

Freeman visited Israel in October for his National Geographic faith series The Story of God. (You can hear Freeman tell TheBlaze more about The Story of God here.)

At the end of March, Belgian actor and martial arts star Jean-Claude Van Damme edited a Facebook status after facing flack himself from pro-Palestinian followers because he had greeted his fans Shalom from Jerusalem, Israel.

A rabbi with whom Van Damme met said the actor visited the Holy Land in search of spiritual guidance following the deadly terrorist attack that struck his hometown of Brussels.

Read more at: //www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/04/13/this-photo-of-morgan-freeman-unleashed-an-israeli-palestinian-comment-storm-on-facebook/

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National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign-2016

New Delhi, Wed, 13 Apr 2016 NI Wire

Current Year's Kharif Conference Gains Special Significance in the Backdrop Two Consecutive Droughts the Country has Suffered and the Government's Commitment to Double the Income of Farmers by the Year 2022- Shri Singh

The Country Is Now Geared Up To Handle Erratic Rainfall Situations

The National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign-2016 was organized on 11th and 12th April, 2016 at NASC Complex, Pusa, New Delhi. The Conference was inaugurated by Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and also addressed by Dr. Sanjeev Balyan, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The Conference was chaired by Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare. Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries and DG (ICAR) & Secretary, Department of Agriculture Research & Education (DARE) also addressed the Conference. The two-days Conference was attended by Agriculture Production Commissioners/Principal Secretaries/ Secretaries (Agriculture) of the Department of Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry & Dairying and Agriculture Marketing & Cooperation from State Governments, Senior Scientists from ICAR, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and officials from Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), D/o Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, D/o Fertilizers, NITI AYOG, RBI amongst others.

In his inaugural address, Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare stressed that the current year's Kharif Conference gains special significance in the backdrop two consecutive droughts the country has suffered and the Government's commitment to double the income of farmers by the year 2022. He stated that the country is now geared up to handle erratic rainfall situations. In this context he highlighted that despite high rainfall deficiency of 14% and 12% during the preceding last year, total production of foodgrains in the country during 2015-16 is estimated to be marginally higher at 253.16 MT as against 252.02 MT produced during 2014-15. He mentioned that given the vagaries of weather etc., the target of doubling farmers income in the next six years would not be achievable from crop production alone and would require a comprehensive strategy of integrated farming involving all the allied sectors of agriculture including Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries. As water is a critical resource, the present budget has brought creation of water sources and enhancing water use efficiency as core concern of the farm sector. The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna (PMKSY) launched in 2015-16 would not only enhance water resources in the country but also increase water use efficiency. Against revised estimate (RE) of Rs.1550 crore during 2015-16, the allocation under PMKSY for 2016-17 has been raised to significantly to Rs.2340 crore. Availability of Land being limited, higher income can be obtained only through increase in crop productivity which can not be achieved without balanced use of fertilizers. Therefore, the Government has launched a comprehensive Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme to promote use of fertilizers needed as per requirement of soil nutrients in respect of 14 crore holdings of the country. In this context, he highlighted that the States have already collected 90 lakh samples and tested more than 60 lakh samples. Considering the imbalanced use of fertilizers which has resulted in deterioration in the soil fertility, he emphasized on the need for creating awareness about Soil Health Cards. He also mentioned that there is considerable scope for promoting organic farming without compromising on yield. In this context, he mentioned the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) being implemented in a mission mode to promote organic farming, particularly in the rainfed and hilly areas. He emphasized on ensuring remunerative return to the farmers so as to enhance farmer income. Highlighting the importance of marketing reforms in agriculture sector, he informed that Government is launching the scheme for establishing National Agricultural Market (NAM) on 14th April, 2016 which will cover 200 markets by September 2016 and another 200 by March, 2017. This will help farmers in realization of more competitive prices on their produce and lead to increase in their income. He requested State Secretaries in-charge of Marketing to complete the reform process and join NAM as early as possible. He also expressed happiness that to secure farmers against various risks and uncertainties, Government is implementing the comprehensive and highly progressive Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY). This is a path breaking initiatives for farmers welfare, and advised all the States to finalize bids and assign district to various insurance companies so that farmers can take advantage of the PMFBY right from Kharif 2016.

To facilitate focused deliberations, the States were divided into following thirteen Groups on different topics on the first day of the Campaign namely;

i. Pulses & Oilseeds  strategy to improve productivity and production of pulses & oilseeds through improved technology package.

ii. Rice-Strategy to enhance productivity and production of paddy in stress prone areas (rainfed, flood prone etc.) as also in Eastern India.

iii. Cotton-management of cotton crop particularly pest & disease vulnerability by deploying appropriate technology management practices.

iv. Intervention and strategy needed to reduce cost of cultivation in farming through better input management.

v. Organic Farming-Promotion of organic farming in hilly areas to realize yield potential on a sustainable basis.

vi. Effective implementation of crop insurance scheme to achieve maximum coerage of the farmers over Kharif 2016

vii. Technology led growth for achieving high productivity in Horticulture.

viii. Reducing post harvest losses and augmenting the production towards cold chain.

ix. Enhancing animal productivity and production through better feed management and disease control.

x. Financing and management of procurement, processing and marketing infrastructure on the dairy sector, particularly refurbishing of very old dairy plants.

xi. Reforms in agricultural marketing  implementation of National Agricultural Market.

xii. Improving access of farmers to institutional credit for both short-term and long term capital investment in agricultural sectors.

xiii. Issues related to procurement of pulses and oilseeds at MSP under Price Support Scheme and its effective utilization to incentivize pulse and oil production in the country.

On the second day of the Campaign domain-wise group discussions with States were held for Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries and Marketing, Credit and Cooperation leading to finalization of recommendations and evolution of strategy of Kharif 2016. The recommendations of each of the 4 domains were presented before the Hon'ble Minister in the afternoon session of the 2nd day (12th April). All the participants were given an opportunity to share their opinions, comments and suggestions besides seeking clarification in 2 open house session. The 1st such session was chaired by the three Secretaries of the Ministry and the second one by the Union Agriculture Minister himself.

The conference ended with a concluding address by the Agriculture Minister who advised all the States to firm up their Kharif strategy based on integrated farming approach. The Minister advised the different Departments dealing with Agriculture and Allied Sectors at the State Level to work in a concerted manner.

Source: PIB
Need to consider Tigers as our "natural capital": PM Modi

New Delhi, Wed, 13 Apr 2016 NI Wire

Need to consider Tigers as natural capital, define conservation as a means to achieve development: Prime Minister

India has zero tolerance against wildlife crimes: Javadekar

Third Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation inaugurated

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has said that there is a need to consider Tigers as our "natural capital" and to define conservation as a means to achieve development, rather than considering it to be anti-growth. In his inaugural address at the 3rd Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation here today, the Prime Minister said that Tiger conservation, or conservation of nature, is not a drag on development and that both can happen in a mutually complementary manner. He emphasized the need to smartly integrate the Tiger and wildlife safeguards in various infrastructures at the landscape level. The Prime Minister called for the need to involve business groups through corporate social responsibility for various initiatives towards Tiger conservation.

The Prime Minister said that Tiger Range Countries are signatories to other international conventions to address international trade on endangered species. We are moving towards formally adopting the statute of South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network, he said.

Expressing concern over trafficking of body parts and derivatives of Tigers, the Prime Minister emphasized the need to collaborate at the highest levels of Government to address this serious issue. He said that Tiger Reserves also provide a range of economic, social, cultural and spiritual benefits This calls for factoring in the value of the ecosystem in the economic arithmetic of development and growth, the Prime Minister said. He added that the use of modern technology, including intelligent, infrared and thermal cameras on a 24x7 basis is being promoted for surveillance against poaching in sensitive Tiger Reserves.

The Prime Minister released a joint report on Status of Tigers in the Sunderban Landscape  India and Bangladesh on the occasion. He also presented awards in various categories for Tiger conservation to representatives from Tiger Reserves. The award-winning Tiger Reserves include: Periyar Tiger Reserve for Best Anti-poaching practices; Satpura Tiger Reserve for Village Relocation and Settlement; Kanha Tiger Reserve for Active Management; Parambikulam Tiger Reserve for Community Participation in Eco-Tourism and Kaziranga Tiger Reserve for Conservation of Species other than Tigers.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar strongly emphasized that India has Zero Tolerance' against wildlife crimes such as poaching. He said that the recent case of poisoning of Tigers in Pench Tiger Reserve is unacceptable and that all the culprits have been arrested and will be severely punished. We lead by example and are committed to cooperate with other Tiger countries, Shri Javadekar said.

The Environment Minister highlighted the need to protect Tiger corridors. We will incentivize project proponents to give land for Compensatory afforestation in Tiger corridors, Shri Javadekar said. Pointing out that Tiger is an epitome of ecosystem and if conservation of Tiger is successful, it means that the whole ecosystem is improving, the Minister said that as per the Tiger count conducted in 2014, India had 2, 226 Tigers. In the last two years, the number has been rising and according to rough estimates, there are nearly 2, 500 Tigers in the country. Shri Javadekar also said that as per WWF estimates, the Tiger population the world over has grown from 3, 200 to 3, 890 in the last five years, which is a 22% increase. He said that six countries in the world have shown an increase in the number of Tigers. We have started a unique experiment in new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for orphaned Tiger cubs. This has started yielding results and four such orphaned Tigers have been released back in the wild after proper care in In situ enclosures.

Shri Javadekar lauded the Prime Minister's commitment for Tiger conservation and that he adopted best conservation practices of nature and wildlife as Chief Minister of Gujarat. The growing number of Lions in Gujarat is a testimony to his efforts, the Minister said. He also referred to the increase in the budget for Project Tiger from Rs 185 crore to Rs 380 crore, and that with 60:40 participation of states, this increase translates into Rs 500 crore in one year for Tiger protection.

Chairman Global Tiger Forum and Minister of Agriculture & Forests, Bhutan, Mr Yeshey Dorji, also addressed the gathering. Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Ashok Lavasa, delivered the vote of thanks. Director General of Forest & Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. S.S Negi and Shri B.S Bonal, NTCA were among those present on the occasion.

Source: PIB
Rahul and Barkha Sharma performed for PM Modi Also in Prince William and Kate in Delhi

New Delhi, Wed, 13 Apr 2016 NI Wire

Mumbai, April 13, 2016: The talented musician Rahul Sharma, son of acclaimed santoor maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma along with his talented wife, Barkha Sharma attended and performed at the Hyderabad House in Delhi for the Royal couple Prince William and Kate. Also in attendance was our Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi.

While Rahul Sharma performed on the santoor, the highlight of the event was the fashion designer, Barkha Sharma accompanying her husband on the tanpura. Barkha is classically trained by none other than her father-in-law Pandit Shivkumar Sharma.

Barkha shared a proud moment as she revealed, "The PM asked Rahul to show Prince William & Kate how the santoor is played. Kate even tried her hand at it." She added, It was an honour to perform at the historical Hyderabad House in Delhi, for such an eminent and intimate gathering. Kate said she loved my dress and I loved hers.

On this prestigious occasion Rahul played 'Let it be,' the evergreen Beatles song, as a special request. He said, Having Barkha on the Tanpura after a long time made this performance truly memorable!

Rahul's performance for the select few ranged between Kashmiri folk and Indian classical contemporary. The British royals loved the evening of culture and music.
Billionaire Yuri Milner is spending $100 million on a probe that could travel to Alpha Centauri within a generationand hes recruited Mark Zuckerberg and Stephen Hawking to help.

Yuri Borisovich is a Russian entrepreneur, venture capitalist and physicist. He founded investment firms Digital Sky Technologies (DST), now called Mail.ru Group and DST Global. Through DST Global, Milner is an investor in Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, Flipkart, Spotify, ZocDoc, Groupon, JD.com, Planet Labs, Xiaomi, OlaCabs, Alibaba, Wish and many others. Milners personal investments also include a stake in 23andMe and Beepi. Yuri has an estimated networth of $3.1 billion.

In July 2012, Milner established The Breakthrough Prize  a set of international awards recognize three fields of endeavor: Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics

In July 2015, Milner launched the Breakthrough Initiatives, a major new scientific program investigating the question of life in the Universe. He announced the initiatives at the Royal Society in London, alongside Stephen Hawking, Martin Rees, Frank Drake, Geoff Marcy and Ann Druyan.

Two initiatives have been announced so far. The first, Breakthrough Listen, will invest $100 million over 10 years in the most comprehensive and sensitive search ever undertaken for evidence of civilizations beyond Earth.

Yuri Milner, the Russian tech billionaire, joined Stephen Hawking atop Manhattans Freedom Tower, where the pair will announced Starshot, a $100 million dollar research program, the latest of Milners Breakthrough Initiatives. (Mark Zuckerberg will serve on Starshots board, alongside Milner and Hawking.) With the money, Milner hopes to prove that a probe could make the journey to Alpha Centauri in only 20 years.

Milner wants his $100 million to fund research that will culminate in a prototype of a probe that can beam images back to Earth. He told me the images would arrive less than 5 years after the probe reached the star.

There are no official specs yet, but Milner said the probe would have a two-megapixel camera, along with star-finders to help it get its bearings, after it boots up on the approach to Alpha Centauri. The probe will target one of the systems two sunlike stars. It will be aimed at a planet (or planets) in the stars habitable zone, the temperate region where oceans dont boil or freeze, but instead flow, nurturing the kind of complex chemistry that is thought to give rise to life.

Milner envisions a sail thats only a few meters wide. Picture a thin disc about the size of a round picnic tabletop. It would have miniaturized electronics onboard, including a power source, cameras, photon thrusters for navigation, and a laser for communication. Some of this kit would be bundled into the discs center, and some would be distributed through the rest of the sail. But it would all be a single unit: If you saw it streaking by, it would look like a flat, round sheet of reflective material.

Milner wants to launch a small mothership, filled with hundreds of these thin, disc-like probes. (He thinks each probe can eventually be manufactured at roughly the cost of an iPhone.) Once the mothership reaches orbit, it would release one probe per day. The probe would exit the larger spacecraft, and use its photon thrusters to position itself in the path of a ground-based laser beam.

The laser would be located somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere. You need to put it high in the mountains, Milner told me. Too much air or moisture, and the laser will be distorted on its way out of the atmosphere. An interesting place would be the Atacama desert in Chile, he said.

Milner hinted that the atmospheric turbulence problem would be solved with adaptive optics.

Its the mass that gets you every time, said Andreas Tziolas, the director of Icarus Interstellar, a group that researches star travel. Every time Ive seen a beam-propulsion study, they quote the size of the sail without any physical or mechanical support. They work so hard to build something the size of a table that weighs one gram, but then they add a support, like a wire or a piece of steel, and it goes to 10 kilograms.

Tziolas did say there was interesting work being done in Japan, involving flexible sail-like materials that stiffen when charged, eliminating the need for a heavy support system.

Milner said hes imagining a spacecraft that weighs a mere few grams. He said the sail would be exceedingly thin, perhaps only a few hundred atoms.

University California Santa Barbara looked at sail mass and speed pushed by a 100 GW laser

UCSB has looked closely at issues for what Milner is proposing and have produced a roadmap for interstellar beam propulsion.

1 gram 24% of lightspeed 10 grams 14% of lightspeed 100 grams 7.8% of lightspeed 1 kg 4.3% of lightspeed 10kg 2.4% of lightspeed 100kg 1.4% of lightspeed 1000kg 0.77% of lightspeed 10 tons 0.43% of lightspeed 100 tons 0.24% of lightspeed

Milner is probably looking at less than 10 grams and about 2-4 GW ground based laser array.

UCSB Operational Maturation and Steps from their laser pushed sail roadmap:

Step 1  Ground based  Small phased array, beam targeting and stability tests  10 kw

Step II  Ground based  Target levitation and lab scale beam line acceleration tests  10 kw

Step III  Ground based  Beam formation at large array spacing 

Step IV  Ground based  Scale to 100 kW with arrays sizes in the 1-3 m size 

Step V  Ground based  Scale to 1 MW with 10 m optics 

Step VI  Orbital testing with small 1-3 class arrays and 10-100kw power  ISS possibility

Step VII  Orbital array assembly tests in 10 m class array

Step VIII  Orbital assembly with sparse array at 100 m level 

Step IX  Orbital filled 100 m array

Step X  Orbital sparse 1km array

Step XI  Orbital filled 1 km array

Step XII  Orbital sparse 10 km array

Step XIII  Orbital filled 10 km array

Milner appears like he wants to go to step 5 or 6 with $100 million and then work out the design issues up to step 11 or 12 on the UCSB laser pushed sail roadmap.
The Direct Fusion Drive (DFD) concept provides game-changing propulsion and power capabilities that would revolutionize interplanetary travel. DFD is based on the Princeton Field-Reversed Configuration (PFRC) fusion reactor under development at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The mission context we are proposing is delivery of a Pluto orbiter with a lander. The key objective of the proposal is to determine the feasibility of the proposed Pluto spacecraft using improved engine models. DFD provides high thrust to allow for reasonable transit times to Pluto while delivering substantial mass to orbit: 1000 kg delivered in 4 to 6 years. Since DFD provides power as well as propulsion in one integrated device, it will also provide as much as 2 MW of power to the payloads upon arrival. This enables high-bandwidth communication, powering of the lander from orbit, and radically expanded options for instrument design. The data acquired by New Horizons recent Pluto flyby is just a tiny fraction of the scientific data that could be generated from an orbiter and lander. We have evaluated the Pluto mission concept using the Lambert algorithm for maneuvers with rough estimates of the engine thrust and power. The acceleration times are sufficiently short for the Lambert approximation, i.e. impulsive burns, to have some validity. We have used fusion scaling laws to estimate the total mission mass and show that it would fit within the envelope of a Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle. Estimates of the amount of Helium 3 required to fuel the reactor are within available terrestrial stores.

In this Phase I study, we propose to analyze the Pluto mission concept using new models of the engine. We will develop an optimal trajectory including limits on the thrust steering and range of throttle. The throttling of the thrust and specific impulse will affect the efficiency, which we have not yet attempted to model.

Direct Fusion Drive is a unique fusion engine concept with a physically feasible approach that would dramatically increase the capability of outer planet missions. The fusion-enabled Pluto mission proposed here is credible, exciting, and the benefits to this and all outer planet missions are difficult to overstate. The truly game-changing levels of thrust and power in a modestly sized package could integrate with our current launch infrastructure while radically expanding the science capability of these missions

There was a 2014 presentation on the Princeton Direct drive fusion concepts. and a work from 2013

 The DFD design envelope fits between traditional chemical, electric and nuclear propulsion methods.

 Fusion products of the deuterium-helium-3 (D/He3) reaction have a very high exhaust velocity: 25,000 km/s

 We can convert some of their kinetic energy into thrust by transferring energy from the fusion products.

The work has been covered at Nextbigfuture back in 2014 and in 2013

This is different than the John Sloughs direct fusion drive rocket design. John Slough also had NASA funding.
The U.S. Navys new Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer (DDG 1000) is so covert that during normal peacetime operations its crew plan to sail with giant reflectors  reflective cylinders hoisted in the air  to ensure other ships can see it.

A lobsterman in Maine, Lawrence Pye, told The Associated Press that during a recent outing his radar indicated a 40- or 50-foot fishing vessel was approaching. It turned out to be the hulking 610-foot warship.

Its pretty mammoth when its that close to you, Pye told the news service.

The Zumwalt already is 50 times more difficult to detect on radar than other destroyers in the fleet. But it will be even stealthier after the testing equipment loaded onto the ship for trials is removed, Zumwalt program manager Capt. James Downey said.

The reflective material that will be used aboard the Zumwalt will look like metal cylinders. Other vessels have also used the material during difficult navigation conditions, such as in heavy fog or busy ship lanes.

Zumwalt stats

Displacement: 14,564 long tons (14,798 t)

Length: 600 ft (180 m)

Beam: 80.7 ft (24.6 m)

Draft: 27.6 ft (8.4 m)

Propulsion: Two Rolls-Royce Marine Trent-30 gas turbines driving Curtiss-Wright generators and emergency diesel generators, 78 MW (105,000 shp); two propellers driven by electric motors

Speed: Over 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph)

Weapons: 20  MK 57 VLS modules, with a total of 80 launch cells

RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM), four per cell

Tactical Tomahawk, one per cell

Vertical Launch Anti-Submarine Rocket (ASROC), one per cell

Two  155 mm/62 caliber Advanced Gun System

920  155 mm rounds total; 600 in automated store with Auxiliary store room with up to 320 rounds (non-automatic) as of April 2005

70100 LRLAP rounds planned as of 2005 of total

Two  Mk 110 57 mm gun (CIGS)
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Just a couple of weeks before the UN Secretary General submits his annual report on the Sahara to the UN Security Council, King Mohammed VI had on Tuesday an extensive phone talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin that covered among other topics the latest developments in the Sahara issue.

King Mohammed VI and the Russian President voiced strong concern over the latest developments of the Sahara issue at the level of the United Nations Secretariat, said a statement issued by the Royal office.

The latest developments refer to the controversial remarks and missteps of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during his visit to Algeria early March when he had used the word occupation while talking about Moroccos presence in the Sahara.

Vladimir Putin and King Mohammed VI- who had met at the Kremlin mid-March during the Moroccan Kings official visit to Russia- agreed to strengthen their coordination and carry on contacts on this issue in order to reach, by the end of April, a balanced and fruitful result, the Royal Office said in the statement released Tuesday afternoon.

According to the statement, the two leaders hailed the progress made in enacting the Moroccan-Russian Strategic Partnership and the commitment of both countries officials to ensure the full implementation of the economic, cultural, political and security dimensions of this partnership.

The two heads of State also praised the quality of the political dialogue between their countries and discussed various regional and international issues, especially the situation in the Maghreb and in the Middle East.

During the Kings visit to Moscow, Putin had voiced Russias support to Morocco in the Sahara issue, affirming opposition to any infringement of the parameters already defined by the Security Council. Meanwhile, his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had called for a negotiated settlement accepted by all parties to the Sahara conflict.

Besides Moscow, Paris, one of Moroccos traditional allies, also renewed its opposition to any trespassing of the framework outlined by the Security Council. The Sahara issue is the subject of a UN mediation, which France supports within the parameters set by the Security Council, Spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, Romain Nadal had said on March 9.

For France, the autonomy plan presented by Morocco in 2007 is a serious and credible basis for a negotiated solution to the Sahara issue, said the spokesman.

And last Sunday, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls reaffirmed from Algiers that Frances standpoint on this issue is unchanged and that any solution must be found within the framework of the United Nations.

In the same vein, Secretary of State John Kerry had reaffirmed, in a phone call to King Mohammed VI on March 23, that the United States policy supporting a formula of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty for the Sahara remains unchanged, and assured the King that the US will continue to work with Morocco to resolve this longstanding regional dispute.

Kerrys phone call came just few days after State Department Spokesperson John Kirby issued a statement reiterating that the US considers Moroccos autonomy plan serious, realistic and credible, and a potential approach that could satisfy the aspirations of the people in the Western Sahara to run their own affairs in peace and dignity.

Russia, France and the United states, all permanent members of the UN Security Council, could weigh in the balance during the coming negotiations within the Security Council, where a meeting is scheduled for April 26 with the countries contributing troops to MINURSO. The following day, the Security Council will hold consultations on the matter before it adopts, on April 28 as scheduled, a resolution on the Sahara extending the MINURSO mandate.

According to analysts, the immediate concern for the Council at this time is to determine how best to manage the crisis surrounding MINURSO in a manner that allows the mission to continue to operate as mandated.

Anyways, Morocco had repeatedly made it clear that it rejects any change or modification of the nature of the United Nations role in the handling of the Sahara issue, any change to the MINURSOs role and any plots seeking to shelve the autonomy plan.
The scandalous statements of Mohamed Abbadi, Secretary General of the banned Al Adl wal Ihssan movement on an Islamic state referring to the ideology of the terrorist ISIS group have triggered a strong wave of indignation.

The controversy grew after a video was circulated showing Abbadi calling for the establishment of a caliphate and threatening to behead recalcitrant people.

The secretary general of the Justice and Charity movement is seemingly still dreaming of the obsolete caliphate system and the site of his movement ashahid took on itself to reproduce his exhortations that are inspired from the jargon circulated by Daech.

At a recent meeting of the Council of Al Adl Wa Al Ihssane, Mohamed Abbadi claimed that the terrorist Islamic State group was defending the causes and interests of Muslims. What Muslisms is he talking about?

London-based Al-Arab publication vehemently denounced these incomprehensible statements and pointed out in its April 12 issue that the dwindling movement has been deviating on the ideological level since the death of its founder Abdessalam Yassine in 2012.

As an instance, the publication said, Abbadi uses in his statements the same terminology as ISIS and the fact that he calls for beheading those who oppose the advent of the Islamic State illustrates that the man and his movement have fallen into excess and extreme.

The notorious activism of Al Adl wal Ihsan in Europe spreads radicalism in several European countries, said Al-Arab pointing out that it is hard even for security services to grasp the true intentions of this so harmful sect.

The timing chosen by the movement to convey its scandalous message is not fortuitous. Abbadis statements came at a time ISIS is facing difficulties and suffering repeated setbacks as its strongholds in Syria and Iraq are falling one after the other like autumn leaves.
Specifics are for losers. Photo: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/2016 Getty Images

Jared Kushner, the publisher of the New York Observer, is married to Ivanka Trump, which makes the Donald his father-in-law. But that fact alone, the Observers editors claim, is not a reason for the paper to endorse Trump for president. After Kushner and one of the papers political editors, Ken Kurson, came under fire for personally penning Trumps only pre-prepared speech, today the Observer published a ringing 1,400-word endorsement of Trump  and it even came up with reasons for the endorsement besides the boss is married to Ivanka.

Unfortunately, none of those reasons are good. Unlike Trumps Kushner-and-Kurson-approved AIPAC speech, which seemed to have actual thought behind it, the Observers argument for Trump is basically fluff  make America great again padded out to fill a page. It includes well-intentioned run-ons such as, But what every pundits platitudes missed was simple: they failed to recognize that Mr. Trumps success is the result of one thingoptimism, and fragments like, Faith that Americans have the will to craft a brighter future, and the leadership to make it happen.

In the same vein as the candidate himself, the paper fails to point to any of Trumps specific policy plans, instead ripping things like 14-point proposals and SAT-like cramming of policy details. Because why would Observer readers care about the policies of someone for whom theyre being encouraged to vote?

Surely theyre much more interested in, say, the condemnation of the media elite and the professional political class, or the indisputable parallels between Trumps rise and the rise of Ronald Reagan. We are reminded of another presidential candidate who was derided for being just an actor and for proposing a vision for a stronger America, the Observer writes.

It goes on to describe Reagans record as the governor of California, which it then compares to that one time Trump rebuilt a skating rink. Thirty years later, it writes, that project still stands as a shining beacon of far-too-rare leadership in action and a can-do spirit.

The endorsement ends on a truly inspirational note:

In 1980 Ronald Reagan said, The time is now for strong leadership, and by 1984 was able to declare, It is morning again in America. Today, Donald Trump says it is time to make America great again. We agree.

Yet somehow, in more than 1,000 words, the Observers editors fail to explain exactly how Trump will make America great again. To be fair, they learned from the best.
Tax authorities are escorted by police as they retrieve documents from Mossack Fonseca. Photo: STR

Although Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca has maintained its innocence in regards to the Panama Papers leak (and has even claimed to be the victim), Panamanian officials arent convinced. On Tuesday, organized-crime prosecutors raided the law firms offices in search of evidence linking the firm to illegal activities, the Associated Press reports. A half-dozen police officers set up a perimeter while prosecutors searched the office for incriminating documents.

The attorney generals office said searches were also conducted at subsidiaries of the firm and that the official purpose of the raid was to, obtain documentation linked to the information published in news articles that establish the use of the firm in illicit activities. Its unclear whether any such documents were discovered.

The search comes a day after intellectual-property prosecutors visited Mossack Fonseca to investigate its claim that the data leak was the result of a hack into the firms computer system. Ramon Fonseca, one of the firms founding partners, maintains that his firm is innocent of all tax-evasion and fraud charges and that said hypothetical hack was the only crime committed. He said he believed the hack originated in Europe, but declined to give any further details, telling the AP only, finally the real criminals are being investigated.

Fonseca said that the firm hasnt destroyed any documents, and on Tuesday, the firm tweeted (in Spanish) that its cooperating fully with authorities. Earlier this month, Fonseca compared the scandal to a tropical storm, like the ones we have here in Panama where once it passes the sun will come out. He went on, I guarantee you that we will not be found guilty of anything.
Im Jeff Merkley, and I approve this Bern. Photo: Frank A. Fey/US Senate

Jeff Merkley has joined the socialist insurgency. The Oregon senator endorsed Bernie Sanders for president in a New York Times op-ed Wednesday morning, becoming the first member of the upper chamber to pledge allegiance to the political revolution.

It is time to recommit ourselves to that vision of a country that measures our nations success not at the boardroom table, but at kitchen tables across America, Merkley writes. Bernie Sanders stands for that America, and so I stand with Bernie Sanders for president.

Merkley frames his endorsement around the need for sweeping reforms to combat the threat that economic inequality poses to the living standards of the middle class and the legitimacy of our democracy. While conceding that Hillary Clinton has a remarkable record and would make a strong and capable president, Merkley argues that Sanderss crusades against unfair trade deals, corrupt campaign finance, and Americas reliance on fossil fuels make him the superior candidate.

.@SenJeffMerkley is the 1st and only senator to endorse @BernieSanders: Anything is possible in a campaign https://t.co/mvs5EfULZr  Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) April 13, 2016

On one level, the timing of Merkleys endorsement makes sense: We are a little over a month away from Oregons May 17 primary. But its also a rather late hour for a sitting senator to feel the Bern. Before today, every Senate Democrat had either declared themselves ready for Hillary or maintained neutrality. And at this point, Sanders has no real chance of winning the nomination, barring an unprecedented surge of support (or an indictment). Merkley tips his hat to this reality in the op-ed, writing, It has been noted that Bernie has an uphill battle ahead of him to win the Democratic nomination. But his leadership on these issues and his willingness to fearlessly stand up to the powers that be have galvanized a grass-roots movement.

Merkley would rather be in the good graces of that movement than in those of his partys likely standard-bearer. Even if Clinton is crowned in Philadelphia this summer, the Sanders Democrats will remain.
Can you hear me now?

Bernie Sanders gave his shouting endorsement to a crowd of striking Verizon workers in Brooklyn on Wednesday. Early that morning, 40,000 Verizon employees across the East Coast launched the largest strike America has seen in four years, after ten months of negotiations with the company failed to produce an agreeable contract.

I know how hard it is, what a difficult decision it is to go out on strike. I know youve thought a whole lot about it, and I know your families will pay a price, the democratic socialist told the picket line, in a speech that was broadcast live on cable news. Today, you are standing up not just for justice for Verizon workers, youre standing up for millions of Americans who dont have a union.

The workers are represented by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The former has been officially feeling the Bern since December. According to the Huffington Post, the unions primary complaints with Verizons most recent contract offer are that it lacked layoff protections for newer employees and allowed the company to force technicians to work far from home for up to two months at a time.

Verizon is one of the largest, most profitable corporations in this country, a hoarse Sanders shouted to his appreciative audience. They want to outsource decent-paying jobs. They want to give their CEO $20 million a year.

Verizons CEO Lowell McAdam was less enthused by Sanderss speech. McAdam decried the Vermont senators uninformed and contemptible views in a blog post on LinkedIn.

Our objective in these negotiations is to preserve good jobs with competitive wages and excellent benefits while addressing the needs of our ever-changing business, McAdam wrote. All of our contract proposals currently on the table include wage increases, generous 401(k) matches and continued pension benefits. Contrary to Sen. Sanderss contention, our proposals do not call for mass layoffs or shipping jobs overseas.

Hillary Clinton got in on the class warfare Wednesday afternoon, echoing Sanderss claim that Verizon wants to outsource more and more jobs. The Democratic front-runner called on the company to come back to the bargaining table with a fair offer for their workers. Its not every cycle that a leading presidential candidate joins a picket line. (In 2007, John Edwards, a faux-populist talking haircut, threw his support behind the Writers Guild strike.)

as far as i know, the last candidate to actually join an actual strike was John Edwards in 2007 https://t.co/8k2pOzfXEp  brendan james (@deep_beige) April 13, 2016

While Verizon can certainly hear Sanders now, theyve actually heard him a few times before. As a Vermont congressman in 2003, Sanders addressed striking Verizon workers from the back of a pickup truck.
This  this should not be legal. Photo: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Ted Cruz once argued that Americans have no constitutional right to bear dildos, that the government has a legitimate interest in discouraging autonomous sex, and that allowing the sale of sex toys is the first step on the road to legal incest.

This history comes courtesy of Mother Joness David Corn, who went searching for skeletons in Cruzs closet and stumbled across a bunch of dildo baggage instead. On Wednesday, the magazine published an expose detailing Cruzs defense of a ban on sex-toy sales while serving as the Texas solicitor general. Back in 2004, several adult-plaything providers challenged a Texas law that banned the sale and promotion of obscene devices. At the time, only three other states had similar laws on the books. The plaintiffs founded their challenge on the Fourteenth Amendments right to privacy, arguing, among other things, that some couples are unable to engage in intercourse without the aid of sex toys, or else require them to avoid passing along contagious diseases such as HIV. A federal judge turned the company down, it appealed, and in 2007 it fell to Cruzs legal team to keep dildos from undermining the fabric of Western civilization.

In a 76-page brief calling on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to stand with the lower court, Cruzs office wrote that any alleged right associated with obscene devices is not deeply rooted in the Nations history and traditions. While Cruz acknowledged that, after Lawrence v. Texas overturned sodomy laws, the government could not ban the private use of obscene devices, it could ban their sale so as to uphold public morals. Whats more, while the government cant forbid citizens from masturbating, it has a legitimate interest in discouraging  autonomous sex. Cruzs team went on to declare, There is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate ones genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationship.

Ted Cruz thinks people don't have a right to "stimulate their genitals." I was his college roommate. This would be a new belief of his.  Craig Mazin (@clmazin) April 13, 2016

The appeals court disagreed in a 21 decision, which held that the government has no business encroaching on Americans most private of affairs. But Cruz and Texas attorney general Greg Abbott (who is now the states governor) battled on, filing a brief requesting a hearing before the full court of appeals, claiming the three-judge panel had overstepped the precedent set by Lawrence. Cruzs office argued that the prior ruling would give all manner of deviants grounds to claim that engaging in consensual adult incest or bigamy must be legal as they have a right to enhance their sexual experiences. They lost the motion and ultimately chose not to bring the matter to the Supreme Court.

Cruz has never discussed his views on dildo commerce during the 2016 campaign, and its unlikely that many of his supporters know his history on such matters. Its difficult to gauge the effect this news will have on Cruzs standing with the electorate, as exit polls neglected to ask Republican primarygoers about their affinity for sexual devices. Regardless, the American people deserve to know whether Cruz still holds such an expansive view of the governments right to regulate public morality. There are undoubtedly no small number of patriots in this country who would tell President Cruzs jackbooted thugs, Ill give you my dildo when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
You wouldnt like me when Im not nominated. Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

For all that remains unknown in the GOP primary  who will win the final 16 states and by what margins; where the true loyalties of the actual delegates in Cleveland will lie; what novel vulgarities will drop from the front-runners gaffe-hole  the basic endgame appears all but certain. Donald Trump will almost definitely enter the convention without a majority of pledged delegates, but with far more than anybody else.

At the moment, Trump leads Ted Cruz by roughly 200 delegates. If current polling holds up, that advantage will increase substantially in the coming weeks, as a series of northeastern states cast their ballots. But next month, the primary will return to the West, where Cruz has typically outperformed the mogul. And as a result of the incompetence of his delegate-wooing operation, the Donalds path to a pre-convention majority has narrowed into a tightrope in recent days. Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has been so dominant in the delegate selection process, the Washington Post reports he will likely pick up at least 130 votes in the event of a second ballot  nearly enough to make a Trump victory impossible, barring a fundamental change in the mood of other unbound delegates.

Weeks ago, FiveThirtyEight asked a panel of experts to project the number of delegates Trump was likely to win in the remaining primary contests. The consensus projection put Trump on pace to come just short of a majority. Since then, Trump has underperformed that model, winning significantly fewer delegates in Wisconsin and Colorado than initially projected  in the latter state, Trump was shut out entirely. Making matters worse, recent polling of California suggests the Golden State will not give Trump the landslide hell need on June 7 to clinch the nomination before Cleveland.

At this point, Trump probably cant make an Establishment coup mathematically impossible. And so hes doing everything in his power to make it politically impossible.

The system is rigged, its crooked, Trump lamented on Fox News Monday. Over the weekend, Cruz secured every delegate in Colorado by out-organizing Trump at the Rocky Mountain States series of party conventions. Colorado allocates its delegates according to the consensus of those conventions, rather than through a primary vote.

We thought we were having an election, and a number of months ago they decided to do it by you know what, right? They said well do it by delegate, Trump complained at a rally in Albany Monday night. So its a crooked, crooked system. Trump reiterated his complaint on Tuesday, telling CNN that the Republican National Committee does not want him to win, because they dont have any control of me because Im working for the people.

Cruz, along with RNC chair Reince Priebus and most of the punditocracy, interpreted Trumps rants as sour grapes. And, on one level, they clearly are. The fact that Trump did not understand all of the rules governing the GOP primary contest does not make that contest crooked. And to the extent that delegate rules are undemocratic, theyve actually been undemocratic in Trumps favor: If delegates were allocated in strict proportion to ones share of the popular vote, the Donald would be in a far worse position than he is today.

But it doesnt really matter whether Trump has good reason to feel cheated  what matters is that his supporters think he does. The more Trump can stoke the sense that hes been victimized by a corrupt Establishment, the more politically difficult it will be for the party to deny him the nomination on a first ballot. Republican National Committee member Ryan Evans seemed to gesture toward that difficulty Wednesday, telling MSNBC that if Trump enters the convention with 1,100 pledged delegates  137 short of a majority  he will become the nominee.

Trump and his allies have hinted at audacious ways of making matters even more difficult for the Donalds foes. Last month, the mogul predicted his supporters would riot if he were turned back at the convention. Last week, longtime Trump ally Roger Stone vowed that he would direct enraged Trump supporters to the hotel rooms of any delegate that defied the Donalds will.

But such incitement may be unnecessary. A majority of Republican voters already believe that Trump should receive the nomination if he enters the convention with a plurality of delegates. As Politico notes, a CNN/ORC poll released last month showed that roughly two-thirds of Republicans would feel either enthusiastic or satisfied about a Trump nomination. The Donald is less popular than a typical front-runner, but he isnt nearly as reviled  at least, among Republicans  as the #NeverTrump crowd would have you believe.

And thats a big problem for anyone who doesnt want the party of Lincoln to nominate a proto-fascist reality star. There would be nothing crooked about GOP delegates thwarting Trumps nomination on a second ballot. The rules are what they are. But the Republican electorate is what it is  a group of voters that prefers Trump above any of his alternatives and one that has never seen a front-runner rejected by a convention. Should the confetti rain down on someone else this summer, a portion of that electorate will see Trump as a martyr felled by an illegitimate party.

In the coming months, Trump will work hard to grow that portion. His rants about the rigged, crooked system arent merely the frustrated ravings of a lifelong brat. They are also the foundations of an argument about what makes a nominating process fair. At this point, winning that argument may be just as important for the front-runner as winning primaries.
Shes scarier than Rosamund Pike. Photo: Photo: Merrick Morton/Twentieth Century Fox

There is in fact a real-life Gone Girl  shes 80, notorious for poisoning and killing her husbands and boyfriends, and known to an entire country as the Black Widow. This week, she was on the prowl.

Eighty-year-old Melissa Ann Shepard was arrested in Nova Scotia on Monday for using the internet in a public library, where she was presumably searching for more men. It was a breach of her most recent prison-release terms. Last fall, she was convicted of attempted murder for drugging her fourth husband days after their honeymoon. When she was released from prison in March, police issued a public warning, banned her from the internet, and demanded that she tell them about any romantic encounters (so potential boyfriends can be warned), along with 20 other conditions.

Since the 1990s, Shepard has harmed three of four husbands and one boyfriend. All of her victims have been elderly men who recently lost their spouses. She stole their savings, drugged their coffee and ice cream, and ran over one man twice with a car.

Each time she struck, the headlines lamented her ever-growing web, the Washington Post recounted. Here, the chilling tale of what happened to each man.

Husband No. 1: Russell Shepard

Her only husband who wasnt the victim of a methodical, practiced ruse. They divorced.

Husband No. 2: Gordon Stewart

In 1991, Shepard ran over Stewart twice with a Chevrolet Cavalier, on a dirt road. He was crushed and found with a near-lethal dose of drugs and alcohol in his system. When Shepard told police he tried to rape her and was trying to escape, she became a spokeswoman for battered-woman syndrome. She was convicted of manslaughter. After her release from prison in 1994, she gave speeches throughout Canada about defending herself as the victim of an abuser. She was interviewed for the documentary When Women Kill and sued The Guardians Barb McKenna for writing an article that dubiously portrayed her claims.

Husband No. 3: Robert Friedrich

She met Friedrich, an engineer, at a church in 2001. The Holy Spirit told me that this man would be my next husband, she later said from prison.

He started falling often during their five-month honeymoon, requiring trips to the hospital. Later, Shepard left a threatening voice mail for Friedrichs son, saying he and his two brothers were being taken out of their fathers will.

Friedrich died less than a year after they married, leaving her about $100,000. His sons filed a criminal complaint against her, alleging she overdosed his prescription medicine, but she has never been charged.

Boyfriend: Alex Strategos

In 2005, she drove a white Cadillac to Pinellas Park, Florida, and met Strategos for their first date. They had met online. She stayed the night  he woke up to go to the bathroom and felt dizzy. While they lived together, Strategos started to fall often. He went to the hospital several times, where he tested positive for tranquilizers, and realized she had been spiking his ice cream with Lorazepam. She was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing $20,000.

Husband No. 4: Fred Weeks

They met in a retirement community in Nova Scotia, after Shepard knocked on his door and said she was lonely. He started to get sick during their honeymoon in 2012, but fell really ill when they were back in Nova Scotia at a bed and breakfast.

Mr. Weeks didnt look well at all. He looked a little green, very gaunt-looking, the hotel owner said. Mrs. Weeks, on the other hand, she was beautifully groomed, in a lovely red suit.

Weeks fell out of bed, hit the floor, and was hospitalized. Doctors found a heavy dose of tranquilizers in his blood. Shepard had spiked his coffee. She was charged with attempted murder and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.

After the arrest this week, Shepard is due in court on May 24 and could face more jail time if authorities prove she broke release terms.

Can you change? the CBC asked her in 2005.

I cant say that from now on Ill be a perfect citizen, she said, but Im just going to try, day by day, to behave myself and do what I should have been doing all along. But I cant say that that is going to be the outcome of how my life will end.
Ben Whishaw while a good actor would never do a convincing job as Freddie.

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Ben Whishaw as Freddie? I like him but lol! no.



Just get Mercury's "son" to do it:



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this has to be his kid



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Is this supposed to be impressive or something? Honest question, idk if it's a meme

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He's one of the people that audiotined for the Queen tribute act 'Queen Extravaganza' or something. People loved this audition and I think he was chosen for the Extravaganza thing.



I don't see the appeal, but I guess.

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sometimes i think he sounds amazing and other times he sounds awful tbh it's so odd to me.

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probably needs training

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Would have been interesting to have Cohen play Freddie, sucks they differed on what the film should be about. Not here for Ben Whishaw.

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I would have LOVED to see SBC as Freddie, it would have been amazing (and I say that as someone who loves Freddie and hates all of SBC's comedic personas with a passion). Ben is lovely but no, just no...

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Freddie is my hero and I hate Sacha sfm. So glad he's off the project. Not sure how I feel about Ben. Would prefer someone at least partiall eastern ethnicity looking.

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Tbh, I wouldn't be surprised if what SBC said about the movie was true. I love Brian and Roger but they haven't been the best when it comes to managing Queen's legacy. I admire John for how he has handled himself and for what I can tell, there's problably some resentment between the members.

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Ben wishaw is ber a f tho  he my husband in lilting

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If only Adam Lambert could act.





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I wouldn't be surprised if what SBC said about them wanting to kill Freddie half way through the movie was true. But then I have a lot of feelings about Queen carrying on without Freddie.

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It's one of those things that is just so incredibly plausible. I can even imagine May saying it. Like, HD Video clarity in my head.

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I love Ben Whishaw but damn I am nhf whitewashed Freddie.





I mean, how in fuck did SBC think he was the right person to play a guy of Parsi Indian descent by way of East Africa? Are there no South Asian/Middle Eastern actors in the UK or what?



(I won't be mad if they did cast an actor of Iranian descent considering Freddie was Parsi)

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Yup, I agree. It's crazy how there's so much talk about who is the right match and whether Freddie's movie needs to have all the sex and drugs and whatever, but not enough people seem to comment on the fact Freddie was a Parsi guy from a British Indian family. The man was born in Zanzibar and lived lost of his childhood and teenage years in Mumbai, for God's sake. I personally think that's really interesting.

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i guess sbc is the new emma stone, he can play any race

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I think a lot has to do with Sascha bearing a similar resemblance to him.

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considering the disgusting way brian talked about freddie after his death... i totally believe sbc. brian has always acted weird when it came to freddies legacy.

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What did he say?

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Disgusting way? Dr. Bri? You sure? Any receipts?

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i randomly came across a hate-blog of brian may a long time a go and omg if even half of the stuff is true about him he's a total psychopath

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Glad SBC is out.

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I'll take any call out of him tbh

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In a sign of the times, the worlds largest private sector coal miner just went bankrupt.

The St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp. warned a month ago that it was considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and on Wednesday they made it official. Peabodys mines will continue to operate uninterrupted through the bankruptcy process. According to Peabodys court filing, it has obtained $800 million in debtor-in-possession financing facilities.



Through todays action, we will seek an in-court solution to Peabodys substantial debt burden amid a historically challenged industry backdrop. This process enables us to strengthen liquidity and reduce debt, build upon the significant operational achievements weve made in recent years and lay the foundation for long-term stability and success in the future, the company said in a press release. Related: Tesla And Other Tech Giants Scramble For Lithium As Prices Double

Peabody has suffered a dramatic fall from grace, after paying $5.1 billion to acquire major coal-producing assets in Australia in 2011. Since then, coal prices have collapsed, coal demand has ground to a halt, and Peabodys debt has piled up. In the U.S., cheap natural gas and environmental regulation has led to coals downfall in the electric power sector. Abroad, a slowdown in China has hurt both thermal and metallurgical coal demand. Chinas demand for steel has slowed and it is undertaking a shift away from coal because of air pollution, leaving the worlds top coal producers with a vastly smaller market than they had expected just a few years ago.

U.S. coal exports have declined in recent years, leaving Peabody  who oversees large mining operations in Wyoming  with too much coal and not enough demand. U.S. coal exports fell by 23 percent in 2015 compared to a year earlier.

Peabodys bankruptcy is the latest in a string of bankruptcies from major coal producers, including Arch Coal, Alpha Natural Resources, Patriot Coal, and Walter Energy.

By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The LNG Glut and the Golden Age of Gas, Part 1

Where are all the LNG postponements? was the puzzled, plaintive warning heard from Oil & Gas experts Wood Mackenzie last September. Besides the new Australian and American terminals preparing to ship out well over 100 Mtpa (Million tones per annum), of LNG, a second wave that size was making its way through the permitting process.

If there werent any postponements soon, the consultants warned, . . . the market could see an additional 100 Mtpa of LNG sanctioned in the next six to 18 months, expanding the likelihood of an oversupply of LNG in Asia to 2025.

It may not have been the first warning about the developing LNG glut, but its tone was the most disturbing, like a fire alarm. So far that years only postponement in the U.S. had been BG Groups Lake Charles terminal in Louisiana.

But I wondered if in asking its question about postponements, Wood Mackenzie wasnt being overoptimistic again, as all oil and gas experts seem to have been. WoodMacs question implied that a second wave of over 100 Mtpa would prolong the developing oversupply by several years, but could still lead to a market balance by 2025. Hence they assumed that the global LNG market, which has never traded more than about 240 Mtpa, could absorb new production of over 200 Mtpa in ten years.

Perhaps time will prove them right. I just didnt think it likely, one reason being that the worlds oil and gas experts had already proved their fallibility. So I started writing this series of articles, in which rather than making firm predictions I explored the probabilities of future market scenarios in light of past and present trends. Those probabilities led me to the following conclusions:

 It seems quite possible that todays early entrants on the global LNG market, such as Cheniere, will do fairly well, thanks to a solid portfolio of long-term contracts, and despite huge construction debts, low spot prices overseas, and in time the risk of rising domestic gas prices. But prospects are not favorable for more U.S. entries into the global LNG market than those now under construction. Related: Crude Charging Higher Ahead Of Big Week

 The common expectation that the global LNG market can absorb the first 100 Mtpa of new production by 2020 requires a boost in demand too steep to be plausible. It seems more likely that the market wont balance before 2025, or even later. This is due to the static level of global shipments in recent years, LNGs continuing cost disadvantage vis-a-vis other fuels, and the poor outlook for vigorous economic growth worldwide.

 At this time the addition to LNG liquefaction capacity of the greenfield projects proposed for the west coast of North America seems highly imprudent, given that prices in Asia have crashed and because of those proposals difficulties in obtaining quality long-term liquefaction or sales contracts.

 The worldwide rush to build liquefaction capacity has the characteristics of speculative bubbles and gold rushes of past centuries. In the case of the developing LNG glut, the blame must probably be shared by overambitious promoters and prestigious but imprudent energy experts.

One example of shared responsibility between promoters and experts could be the bar graph below, titled Steady LNG Demand Growth Projected, which was part of a presentation by Cheniere of July 2015. That was well before Charif Soukis ouster as CEO in December, and obviously designed to create enthusiasm for Soukis ambitious plans  which Chenieres new board has trimmed since.

According to Cheniere, the source of the graph was WoodMac. It shows actual annual LNG trade from 2000 through 2015 (except that the 2015 shipments were an estimate made in mid-year). Those years are followed by a projected LNG boom thats supposed to start now, in 2016. I have drawn three red horizontal lines on the graph. The bottom red line marks actual LNG trade in 2015. The other two mark WoodMacs trade predictions for 2020 and 2025. For clarity, I marked with numbers two recent years that are especially important, 2011 and 2015.

(Click to enlarge)

The bar graph shows that after rising at a fairly steady pace, the global LNG market saw sharp increases in 2010 and in 2011, when it reached 242 Mtpa. The Mtpa totals for the five years 2011 - 2015 are listed below:

Because during those five years, annual LNG trade moved within a narrow range between 237 and 242 Mtpa, I will call them the 5 flat years. As we shall see, in projections by gas experts those flat years were unforeseen.

While I would welcome contrary facts from people in the LNG business, I was able to find only limited evidence that supply shortages contributed to causing the 5 flat years, except perhaps in 2012:

The 2012 decrease in LNG trade was largely driven by supply?side issues in Southeast Asia (Indonesia and Malaysia) and domestic and political challenges in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen (e.g., the Libyan Marsa el Braga facility has made no deliveries since the 2011 civil war, and is assumed to be decommissioned). Increased production in Qatar and Nigeria partially offset these losses. Related: BP Shareholders Revolt Over CEOs Salary

That Qatar was capable of making up for some of 2012s lost capacity seems to be supported by the graph below, which shows that Qatar had added about 25 Mtpa of capacity during the three preceding years. (Qatar is the light blue in the bars below; the charts numbers are in m; 1 m = .405 tons.)

(Click to enlarge)

This 2015 graph by the IEA (International Energy Agency) also shows that 2012 saw the smallest addition to LNG export capacity since 2005, the Pluto terminal in Australia, which started operating at only part of its 4.3 Mtpa capacity. But 2013 added twice as much supply and 2014 doubled that again, as did 2015. Even more is expected to hit the market by 2020, mainly from Australia (dark blue) and from the U.S. (green). As an apparently unexpected result, LNG has already become a buyers market, with Asian interest in signing long-term contracts greatly reduced. That the effects of 2012s limited supply did not last long is also demonstrated by the steep slide of Asian spot prices that started in early 2014. In recent months they have slid even lower.

During the 5 flat years the first bar graph showed a steep increase in Asia-Pacific trade (the light blue bottom part), while European trade (dark blue) shrank, making up the difference. Its widely known that the rising Asia-Pacific trend was mostly driven by a demand boost in Japan, the worlds largest LNG consumer, due to the government-ordered closing for safety inspections of some four dozen nuclear power plants after the 2011 Fukushima meltdown. That calamity boosted imports of coal, oil and LNG to make up the lost generating capacity. It caused spot LNG prices in Japan, already higher than contract prices, to rise steeply, so that 2012 and 2013 saw some European LNG importers diverting or re-exporting contracted cargoes to Japan. Even with high LNG carrier rates they could make money on those trades, and unlike Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, Europe had pipeline gas available, along with cheap coal for its power plants.

While that same bar graph shows actual LNG trade of about 240 Mtpa during all the flat years 2011-2015, it does not show that WoodMac had predicted trade of 250 Mtpa by 2015. As confirmed by the red lines I drew on the nearby line graph, WoodMac had also predicted about 360 Mtpa for 2020, and 440 Mtpa by 2025. In other words, WoodMac considered it reasonable to expect a capacity increase of about 100 Mtpa to be absorbed by the market by 2020, and for that performance to repeat by 2025.

(Click to enlarge)

In 2012 Ernst & Young published even more upbeat projections for the global LNG trade, for which it had combined data from multiple sources. Those projections are shown in the bar graph below, again with red lines added to clarify them. Notice Ernst & Youngs black lines at the top, identifying as Actual the years through 2011, and as Projected those starting with 2012. Citing the IEA (International Energy Agency), they said:

(Click to enlarge)

Global LNG demand by 2030 could . . . be almost double that of the estimated 2012 level of about 250 million metric tonnes. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (collectively, JKT) have been and are expected to remain the backbone of the global LNG market, while China and India are expected to be the biggest sources of additional LNG demand. Related: The Halliburton-Baker Hughes Merger is Falling Apart. What Happens Next?

Like WoodMacs estimate for 2015, E&Ys estimated 2012 trade of 250 Mtpa turned out to be wrong. This is not serious by itself, but it was part of a projected growth trend that never materialized, which predicted global LNG trade of about 310 Mtpa by 2015, some 70 Mtpa or 29% more than the actual number. The table below compares the two projections, WoodMacs and E&Ys:

These numbers make plain that both consultants predicted that new demand could absorb over 200 Mtpa of new production by 2025, though E&Ys predictions were more front-loaded than WoodMacs. All this raises a couple of questions that are important for anyone trying to make predictions beyond 2015.

One question to ask is: what would have happened to the global LNG trade without the Japanese catastrophe? Would it have continued to rise, or would it have stagnated as it did, or declined?

The possible answers are a mixed bag. On the one hand, the passing supply restrictions of 2012 might still have had a temporary effect on growth. On the other, if in the absence of the earthquake Japanese demand had been flat or mildly rising, then shipments to Europe would have had to increase in order for global trade to keep growing at the same pace.

But European demand turned out to be not very robust, due to a combination of factors including mild winters, imported pipeline gas from Russia, and a lot of cheap coal used instead of gas for power generation. And finally, for its projected global growth E&Y in particular counted on robust demand growth in other Asia, the light grey part of the annual bars in its graph. Other Asia would be mostly China and India. But as we shall see, such high hopes among LNG exporters may be disappointed.

The other question we should ask is why, in view of the 5 flat years, we should believe that the present year, 2016, will see the start of another growth spurt in LNG shipments, and a steep one at that, to make up for the recent pause; for this is clearly what the first bar graph, from Cheniere/WoodMac, showed.

It seems counterintuitive, like shifting a manual transmission directly into third gear while standing still. I do realize that can be done while your car is parked on a steep hill facing down, but thats a unique situation. In this case the current low LNG prices may give a hill-effect, stimulating demand, but as we will see there are other market conditions that may work against that, too.

More about what we should believe in part 2.

1. WoodMac: Where are all the LNG postponements? WorldOil, 4 September 2015; WoodMac: LNG projects pushed head despite oversupply, LNG World News, September 3, 2015.

2. For simplicity I use the term Mtpa throughout these articles, even though one years shipments are usually stated as millions of tons, without the per annum part. For reasons I dont know, past annual LNG totals can vary slightly from one source to another. I should also mention that I have misgivings about the term demand, as used in the WoodMac bar graph. Demand isnt necessarily identical to trade volume, which is what the graph really shows and/or projects.

3.Global Natural Gas Markets Overview: by Leidos, Inc., under contract to EIA, August 2014, page 9.

4.Global LNG: New pricing ahead? - LNG demand growth EY  Building a better working world. The article is undated but its context suggests 2012 because 2011 is the last year listed as actual in the graph. http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Industries/Oil---Gas/Global-LNG--New-pricing-ahead---LNG-demand-growth

By Wim de Vriend for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
A recent speech by the European Commissions vice-president in charge of energy Maros Sef?ovi? has added fuel to an ongoing debate about the second part of the Nord Stream gas pipeline project.

Nord Stream 2, like the initial pipeline, is planned to pass from Russia to Germany, under the Baltic Sea. The project, involving the construction of two new pipelines, should double the current capacity of the pipeline by adding 55 billion cubic meters annually to its throughput. Russias state gas monopoly Gazprom is the operator, in consortium with German energy leaders BASF, Wintershall, and E.ON, plus Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, Austrias OMV, and French utility Engie (formerly GDF Suez).



Related: 70-90% Decline In Well Completions Raises Hope For Oil & Gas

Naturally, the main reason for the opposition is the persistent worry among EU members that any further gas transportation capacity built by Gazprom will only strengthen its foothold on the continent, which already gets between a quarter and a third of its gas from Russia. The stronger this foothold is, according to the opponents, the less space there is for effective competition, and the greater the EUs dependence on Russian gas will be.

In his speech, Sef?ovi? focused on the safety and environmental aspects of the project, stating that it should comply with the European Unions strict legislation in these respects, and hinted at the geopolitical implications of a new Russian pipeline (read: a greater opportunity for Russia to manipulate Europe through gas supplies).



Related: Why Low Oil Prices Havent Helped The Economy

Ukraine has already complained loudly about Nord Stream 2 because it will redirect part of Europe-bound gas supplies from the transit route that goes through its territory, cutting its revenues. Nine EU member states, including the three Baltic countries, Poland, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania, in March sent a letter to EC president Jean-Claude Juncker calling for the suspension of Nord Stream 2 because it would undermine the energy security of the continent. Again, read that as we depend too much on Russia for our gas and, whats more, these pipelines will not pass through our land, so we can reap at least some benefit from them.

The overdependence on Russian gas is a valid argument, and Europe is taking pains to solve its diversification problem: the start of construction on the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline could begin later this year, which will transport gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe. The North Sea is also still a major gas supplier for the EU. In other words, diversification measures are ongoing. So, why such a heated debate?



Related: Oil Hits 5 Month Highs Ahead Of Doha Meeting

The reason is simple. Whenever someone depends on someone else for an essential commodity, the likelihood of a great love and friendship blossoming between supplier and consumer is slim. Putting aside political sentiments and criticism about the state of Russias democracy, or lack thereof, the plain pragmatic truth is that Europe hates being so dependent on a single gas supplier, whom it has to regularly shake its fist at for being undemocratic, corrupt, etc.

Europe and Russia are in a complicated relationship, and whatever one or the other does, it will remain complicated for the observable future. Nord Stream 2, however, will most likely go ahead as planned, as some of Europes energy giants throw their weight behind it and make sure it is compliant with anything it needs to be compliant with.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Style, charisma, service. You know a keeper of a barkeep when you have one.

Sure, plenty of bartenders are just passing through the profession  dreaming of the future while pouring a drink  and that, of course, is how life is supposed to unravel for them.

But thats not who were talking about here. Instead, were bellying up to those whove built bartending into an abundant, fulfilling and in some cases, lifelong career.

Evan Barnes, who started his bartending career right after college in Whitewater, has been mixing and serving on and off for more than 15 years in Atlanta and Milwaukee.

In Milwaukee, Barnes worked at Hi-Hat Lounge, The Garage, Red Light, Nomad World Pub, Cafe Hollander on Downer, Palomino, Comet, Nessun Dorma and Bryants.

"I feel I've made a good, solid connection with my customers everywhere I've worked," says Barnes.

Barnes sees some bars as more than watering holes and as significant pieces of Milwaukees past. Bryants, for example, has been around since 1938 and today, still looks and feels like a step back in tavern time.

"I love what John Dye (Bryants owner) has done for the history of just one place," says Barnes. "There is such great history in my profession. And there are other John Dyes in Wisconsin keeping our stories and taverns alive and relevant. Taverns are the hub for neighborhood information, a meeting place for those neighbors, a place to take a date or sit and catch up on sports. That list goes on and on."

One of the most admirable aspects of the bartendering world is how strongly bartenders support other bartenders. Especially the good ones.

"We are blessed with career bartenders in Milwaukee. I haven't seen this as much in other cities," says Barnes. "Paul Kennedy, Tom Julio, College Dave (Mikolajek)  and the list stretches on and on."

Richard Kerhin has 27 years of experience in the bartending / service industry and he echoes the sentiment.

"People like Jim Sweeney, Jim Biava, Geo Kiesow, Bill Castagnozzi and College Dave are a rare breed and should be appreciated just a little more," he says.

Kerhin worked at Von Trier, Elsas, Hi-Hat Lounge, Eagans, Club Havana, Izumis and Carnevor before he moved into management.

"I think bartending takes a special kind of person. Even people like me who enjoy it and spend many years doing it burn out, need to switch," says Kerhin.

Many career bartenders long to own their own bars someday.

"I have wanted to open my own place for at least a decade. Capital is hard to find. I would love to work for myself, every bartender I know has a pretty good idea of 'how it ought to be,'" says Kerhin.

Greg Nadasdy, who currently works at Saz's, has ownership on the bucket list.

"I have not owned a bar. Yet," says Nadasdy, who has also poured at Mason Street Grill, Nanakusa, Roots, Euro Bar and Sazs.

Barnes took a shot at operating his own tavern with Evans (now Lees Luxury Lounge in Bay View), but it only lasted one year. However, what he learned during that time was extremely valuable and what others took away from the experience is still celebrated today.

"I was told that my picture remains on a refrigerator in England from a couple that got engaged at Evan's. She said yes and I was tending bar that night. I bought a bottle of champagne and had it sent to their table and later joined them for a toast," says Barnes.

"That is one of the moments that makes me want to never give up what I like doing. Don't get me wrong, I could always make more money or sleep better nights if I changed professions and I certainly think about it, but it will always be my profession of choice."

Preferring to work evening hours attracts many bartenders to the profession and keeps them there.

"I'm a night owl." says Nadasdy. "But I also like the people, having fun, cracking jokes. And I honestly love the action: making drinks, washing glasses. Im like a shark at work. Got to keep moving. Got to keep my hands busy."

Of course, most of all, having an interest, appreciation and curiosity for people is integral to solid bartending.

"I always enjoyed the people," says Kerhin. "As a bartender, you are the person responsible in many cases for providing much-needed relief from the stress of so-called 'normal' jobs. A little levity, some compassion, a warm welcome mean a lot."

And for most bartenders, although tending bar is a job and collecting tips is integral to their livelihood, friendships / relationships are a valuable currency.

Heather Newman, who has poured at Points East Pub for eight years, started working there because she loved live music but stayed for the people.

"Now I get to go in and work with some of my closest friends every day," says Newman.

Barnes simply likes interacting with people and making them happy, especially if theyve had a rough day.

"I love customer interaction. I love making folks happy and I genuinely want to be there with them while they are celebrating and if for some reason they aren't celebrating, I look forward to helping them look on the bright side," says Barnes. "I want to help where I can and be what a good bartender should be: a friend."

Whether or not they planned to tend bar as a career varies. For some, it was a conscious decision and for others its just how it worked out.

"I think for a while, maybe a decade, I considered that bartending was going to be my career," says Kerhin. "Then I started feeling a little old and decided to get into management, which is less physically demanding."

For Nadasdy, career bartending was not a plan, but a good fit that stuck.

"Life just unfolded this way. Got into the biz because I needed a new field and all my roommates at the time were in the industry. After that ... this is the first job I had that made total sense to me, kept my interest and used all of my skill sets. I dont ever plan on leaving it behind," he says.
The opinions expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the opinions of OnMilwaukee.com, its advertisers or editorial staff.

What is this, the academic version of "The Gong Show"? Whats next? Will UW System President Ray Cross tell Becky Blank and other chancellors to sit in a corner and count to 10 because theyre being "whiny"?

Yet there it was, a jaw-dropping paragraph in a Wisconsin State Journal story on Cross deciding not to have UW chancellors give verbal statements to the mostly politically appointed Board of Regents about the budget impact on their universities. Instead, they were to hand over terse written statements.

The newspaper article noted, "Cross  said in the interview he brought a red button to the meeting to be used if he felt a chancellor was complaining too much in a presentation. When he pressed the button, a sound effect shouted, No whining!"

Wait, what?

UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca M. Blank was a deputy U.S. Commerce Secretary. UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone has an MBA and a PhD. The UW-River Falls chancellor has a PhD in analytical chemistry. And so on. Sure sounds insulting.

Alex Hummel, UW System PR spokesman, says that, contrary to the State Journal report (which they didn't ask for a correction on), a chancellor brought the buzzer to the meeting and handed it to Cross. He added that it was possible Cross had "mischaracterized" who brought the buzzer to the State Journal reporter or it "got lost in translation."

"It (the buzzer) was in jest," he stressed. "It was lighthearted." No one actually was buzzed during their presentation, he added.

Either way, though, I think the buzzer being presented at all in the room is a colorful symbol of a bigger problem: the lack of wider public knowledge about the true impact of these cuts. The verbal statements should have been allowed as they would help change that; I for one would like to have heard what the chancellors had to say beyond short written statements. Why silence those voices or downplay them at all?



Frankly, I think the chancellors should be publicly shouting from the rooftops about the budget impact on their universities (backed up with facts, of course). The public has a right to know. Yes, there are many chancellors, but this is important, and a meeting that goes on for hours on end because there is so much to say would actually make a bigger point. It would also get greater coverage, meaning more people would learn whats really going on.

Theres a lot to say about this topic. And that's the bigger point, by far. Students are losing jobs, instructors (many of whom bring critical skills into classrooms) are losing jobs or are about to, courses are not being offered anymore, class sizes are rising, morale has suffered and good people are leaving for other environs. Indeed, theres a lot to say. Read for yourself.

Lets take a few details from one university. Lets randomly select Eau Claire. They report 197 fewer class sections, a 14 percent increase in average class size, 24 faculty resignations (a 150 percent increase), zero reserves, 15 percent of the workforce cut, 11 layoffs and eight contract non-renewals and so forth. Platteville included pictures reporting that students are being educated in a 50-year-old building. At UW-Stout, as just one example, faculty salaries are 79 percent of their peers' wages  far from the caricature painted of highly paid profs.

How is this moving Wisconsin forward? How is this good for the Wisconsin economy? Why, again, was this necessary?

I am a senior lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, whose opinions are my own and do not represent the institution where I work. I would define myself as a political independent (and have for years now) because I cant support decisions such as these: What the legislature and the governor did is retracting and causing harm to institutions that I think are critically important to Wisconsins economic future and just its general health as a society.

I received both of my degrees from UW-Milwaukee; I attended UW-Eau Claire before that. As a student from a rural area of the state, raised by a teenage mother near a town of just 200 people, the UW gave me opportunity. I see UW-Milwaukee granting my exceptionally talented and diverse students the same opportunity.

People talk constantly about the need to help the City of Milwaukee improve. Yet here is an institution that is doing just that. UWM has a diverse student body. It also has the most veteran students of any four-year university in a six-state region. It educates many first-generation students. Yet now I see actions taken with poorly articulated rationale that I believe will harm students and the quality of their education. I see poor morale and actual fear about the future.

We should be growing this institution and our flagship, Madison (wisely, of course). The UW institutions in smaller communities are also critically important.

Republicans talk about wanting people to "pick themselves up by their bootstraps" and be self-sufficient. Yet the UW institutions are helping people do just that. Oh, and if theres supposedly a massive "slush fund," how come we need all of these cuts now, and universities have deficits? Yes, thats a rhetorical question.

Yes, let the chancellors elaborate for an hour each if they want. It would be understandable. Let others talk too. Add some students, including those who lost student jobs. Add some professors, whose research is imperiled, who didnt leave or who opted not to come here. Bring on some of the ad hocs and fixed termers who bring critical workforce development skills into classrooms and who are now facing losing their jobs.

Yes, lets have a discussion. Not having as high profile of one benefits the people who did the cuts, not the people being cut.

Its just bad strategy to think that Republicans in the legislature wont cut the budget again next time if leaders tick them off with dramatic rhetoric now. Isnt that a little Stockholm Syndrome-ish besides?

If the legislature and governor who pushed the cuts in the first place using weak, unsupported rhetoric  supposedly lazy professors, always replenishing "slush funds" and so forth  become immune to the impact theyve caused, why wouldnt they cut more? They will say people in the UW were exaggerating before if they dont clearly articulate the impact now.

The first Wisconsin State Journal story on the Cross matter said that the Board of Regents opted against the verbal presentations in favor of short written statements from each chancellor.



Then it came out a few days later, also in the State Journal, that Cross scrapped the verbal presentations because he was worried about a "two-hour drumbeat." Apparently, Cross pulled the plug after a dry-run of the five-minute presentations. He was worried people would think officials were exaggerating the impact of the budget cuts, saying, "Were always thinking about the next budget." He didnt want the presentations to be "overly dramatic."

But the impact is!

When Cross was tapped for the job by the Regents in 2014, a newspaper article reported that one of the reasons was his "harmonious relationships with top Republicans at the Capitol." Meanwhile, one of Gov. Walkers oldest friends is the UW Systems vice president of university relations. The regents are almost all gubernatorial appointees.

Lets give Cross the benefit of the doubt and assume he thinks hes operating in the systems best interest by reaching an olive branch to Republicans; I will say that he and the chancellors are trying to deal with a tough hand. Except that didnt stop Republicans from imposing a massive budget cut. One thinks of the old fable relating to the frog and scorpion. Did he really think it wouldnt sting? Yes, thats dramatic whining (thank goodness, Ray Cross doesnt have the ability to buzz me).

The only thing that will stop future cuts is for the public to understand the pain. By getting rid of verbal statements, the system relied on wonky writings. Hummel says the outreach on the budget is going to be a long, ongoing process that will include open forums in local communities. Good. However, a PR truth is that whomever defines the issue on the front end wins the game.

I think the chancellors should have given verbal statements in a statewide forum that allows the public to grasp the extent and connect the dots of overall impact. I don't get the rationale for silencing their voices beyond writing. That made it less of a story, and it almost ensured that it would largely be a story told in print. The broadcast media reaches the masses. If you dont have video and soundbites, its hard for TV to make it a story. Emotional soundbites are memorable to people, and they capture impact.



This does not mean that I think the system is perfect; I dont. I think theres some waste, and some efficiencies could be found (and are; its not ALL bad), but I think the cuts were too big and too fast. The way to "reform" the system was through thoughtful study with numerous stakeholders (and dont even get me started on the weakening of tenure and shared governance).

Have you noticed Gov. Walker has largely stopped talking about the "UW System budget cuts/reforms"? He used to brag about them. Now he never mentions them. Maybe it didnt sell on Main Street. After all, the UW is an iconic brand. Maybe its already not playing well with the public. Thats the pressure point, not playing nice.

Meanwhile, I almost feel sorry for the system officials. Theyre facing hardened political operatives on the other side, and its like theyre responding by writing term papers.
Reprinted from www.dailykos.com



(Image by rob kall) Details DMCA



Acute observers like George Gallup Sr, the pollster; Noam Chomsky, the most-cited academic alive; and recently, John Kerry, US Secretary of State, say that Americans are way ahead of our government. Gallup:

"On most major issues we've dealt with in the past 50 years, the public was more likely to be right"based on the judgment of history"than the legislatures or Congress."

Leaders like Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Patch Adams, Daniel Ellsberg, Doris "Granny D" Haddock, Julia Butterfly Hill, John Perkins, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Coleen Rowley, Ralph Nader and Pete Seeger have all endorsed former Senator Mike Gravel's plan for national direct democracy. Mike ran for President in 2008 to publicize it, but the media gave him little chance. I worked directly for Mike in 2002, and signed up these folks, except Perkins.

But famous supporters are the least of the reasons we should make direct democracy a top priority. Indeed, an advantage of direct democracy is it counteracts the "star system" that makes only the richest, most powerful and most famous the "deciders," politically and socially.

As longshoreman/philospher Eric Hoffer put it,

"Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many."

Since "the 99%" have no representation in Congress, according to Princeton research, most Americans give up participating in their country's affairs.

Remember "no taxation without representation"?

Fortunately, direct democracy exists in crude form in 24 States and DC as ballot initiatives and referendums, and lets ALL voters be "deciders." If you can get enough signatures to get your proposal on the ballot, you can help set the agenda, too.

We must expand this to the whole country, and improve the process.

Initiatives and referendums were the start of everything from women's suffrage, child labor laws and secret ballots to minimum wages, 8 hour days and sunshine acts to renewable energy mandates, medical and legal marijuana.

1. Really getting money out of politics may require direct democracy: Polls show about 80% of all voters want it, but representatives for many decades have left loopholes big enough to drive trucks of cash through. Remember how Granny D walked across the US at age 90 to help get the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act passed? Now the problem is worse than ever. Money seeks politicians0, so we need to put people into politics, not just to elect representatives, but to keep money out and keep the country on track.

2. Bernie Sanders has repeatedly said that to get his agenda through an obstructive Congress, he'll need a million people to occupy the National Mall. That's doable, but occupiers eventually have to go back to their lives. Something permanent must remain to empower people, and make Congress our representatives.

3. Just as Progressives and Populists over a century ago demanded state initiatives and referenda and quickly used them to get women's suffrage, direct election of senators and secret ballots, polls have shown for decades that national ballot initiatives would advance our agenda. This is especially important when Congress is gridlocked or bought off.

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Gwadar port to be in full operation by 2017: Chinese official

GWADAR: A multi-million dollar port being developed by China in Pakistan is set to be at full operation by 2017, a Chinese official said Tuesday, part of Beijings ambitious economic plans in the region.



Gwadar port, on Pakistans southwest coast, will see roughly one million tonnes of cargo going through it by 2017, said Zhang Baozhong, chairman of the Chinese public company in charge of the development.



Current trade there is basically nothing, he told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar about the ports development Tuesday.



We hope a big jump will take place Our dream is to make Gwadar a regional trading centre, he said.



Gwadar, in Balochistan province, forms what officials call the heart of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a grand $46 billion project giving Beijing greater access to the Middle East, Africa and Europe through Pakistan.



The port was built in 2007 with technical help from Beijing as well as Chinese financial assistance of about $248 million.



Zhang said the tonnage will initially comprise quite a number of construction materials for the citys development, which Pakistani officials envision turning into another Dubai.



Exports will at first focus on the local fishing industry, he said, with a modern processing plant planned for the area, though he would not give a timeline for the plant.



We shall try to process it here So that the locals can benefit, he told reporters after the seminar.
Khursheed Shah angered by Nasir Ali comments

ISLAMABAD: The leader of the opposition lashed out at the interior minister for resorting to blackmail and accused him of being disloyal to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.



One would normally not expect Syed Khursheed Shah to lose his cool on the floor of the National Assembly.



A seasoned politician  who on Tuesday took the time to remind the house of his political credentials  the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly has proven himself a tactful man on many occasions.



I was watching the press conference yesterday, where [Chaudhry Nisar] was smiling as he pushed his knife deeper into Mian Nawaz Sharif, he said, referring to the ministers admission that the Mayfair apartments in London were indeed Nawaz Sharifs. The entire dispute is that they were not declared.



Khursheed Shah said, referring to the statement of assets submitted to the Election Commission. He also questioned the ministers loyalty to his own party leader.



A politician who sleeps soundly at home while his leader is in jail or exile is no lion,  an apparent jibe at Nisars house arrest after the 1999 coup when the Sharif brothers had been packed off to Adiala Jail.



Mr Shah already set the tone for his speech when he opened by saying: Parliament is the most important forum... bitter and sweet words are exchanged here, both harshly and softly. Lies are told and accusations are levelled.



He insisted his political career was like an open book and expressed his disappointment at the allegations that were levelled against him by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.



Im a politician who started from the bottom as a student leader. I have seen the sacrifices of the martyred Bhuttos; I would rather die than commit corruption, he roared.



He claimed he was still earning off the same business he opened in 1973 and insisted he had no offshore accounts, only two bank accounts.



In an apparent response to the interior ministers own such offer, he said the government investigate me and my assets. The inquiry committee should consist of government members, no one from the opposition. The day I take a single cent that is not mine will be my last day in Parliament.



With every word steeped in irony, Khursheed Shah said: I was a student leader when you were nothing. Ive never switched party loyalties, never deceived my leaders; and I have never slept soundly at home after my leaders were exiled.



Saying that Aitzaz Ahsan would respond to the allegations levelled against his person on his own, Khursheed Shah recounted the ministers tirade against him.



I have several files against opposition leader Khursheed Shah including NAB files, he quoted Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as saying, questioning the legal position of the NAB over passing on internal files to the minister even though it did not even come under the interior ministry.



Im waiting for the day when Shah speaks against me, then Ill open those files, he quoted the minister as saying, and sought an explanation from Law Minister Zahid Hamid.



By saying that he will open these files if I challenge him, the minister is betraying the sacred trust of his office and resorting to statements that can only be described as blackmail.



He also challenged the interior minister to present those files before the house, saying, Well talk about this right now.



Shah then asked the speaker that the house should appoint someone to lead an investigation into his (Shahs) assets. Please for Gods sake, all I ask is that investigations be held, he hastily concluded.
Nawaz Sharif to visit London

ISLAMABAD: After an extended weekend in Lahore, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will head to London on Wednesday for a three-day visit to undergo a pending medical check-up, the Prime Ministers Office said on Tuesday.



When asked, a senior PM Office official said that only close family members would be joining him on the trip but did not give any details. PM Sharifs two sons  Hassan and Hussain  are already abroad.



However, with the PM and his family becoming embroiled in the controversy surrounding the Panama Papers leak, his trip to London has created a lot of interest in political circles. In particular, PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardaris presence in London is being viewed meaningfully by the media at home.



Lending credence to the possibility of a meeting between the two political heavyweights  a sitting PM and a former president, no less  was PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan. At a time when PTI Chairman Imran Khan is ready to launch another sit-in, this time in Raiwind, the leader of the opposition in the Senate had been casting doubt on the reasons for the PMs sudden visit to London.



Talking to journalists outside parliament on Tuesday, Senator Ahsan wisecracked: The prime minister has no medical issues and is only visiting London to present himself in the court of Asif Ali Zardari.



He was also quick to add that whenever the prime minister came under pressure, he always looked towards the PPP leadership for help.



But in response, Dr Musadik Malik, one of the many spokespersons from the Prime Ministers Office, said that the PM had neither expressed a desire to meet the PPP leader nor had he scheduled a meeting with him. The PM is only visiting London for a medical check-up, Dr Malik said.



But when asked, a senior PTI leader said that there was every likelihood that the PM was going to ask the PPP to bail him out, considering the pressure mounting on him to have the claims against his family investigated. In return for coming to his rescue, the PPP may ask for something, since Dr Asim Hussain and many other senior PPP leaders in Sindh were facing serious charges.
PPP,PTI vowed to give a tough time to Nawaz Sharif 13 April, 2016



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Woke Bingo ISLAMABAD - The two major opposition parties PPP and PTI vowed to give a tough time to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as his family is facing the allegation of making billions of rupees through corruption.



PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, the party sources, said had given a go-ahead to give a tough time to the government  a hint the PPP-PTI alliance could be on the anvil.



A senior PPP leader told The Nation Zardari showed his resolve to protect democracy, but made it clear the party would not try to save the corrupt.

If there is a threat to democracy, the PPP will stand by the democratic forces and will not help the government hide corruption, he quoted Zardari as saying.



The sources said the meeting between PTIs Shah Mehmood Qureshi and PPP leaders, Aitzaz Ahsan, Khurshid Shah and Saleem Mandviwala, was positive about a joint strategy to pressurise the government.



Speaking to journalists after the meeting, opposition leader in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan warned his party against supporting Prime Minister Sharif on the Panama leaks.



The one-point agenda for Nawaz Sharif in London is to meet Asif Ali Zardari to seek his support, he claimed, warning the PPP would be in trouble if it decided to support PML-N this time.



Meanwhile, PTI chief Imran Khan is working for an all parties conference to launch a movement against the government. Yesterday, he also held telephonic conversation with Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq to discuss the matter.



Prime Minister Sharif will leave for London today (Wednesday) for medical check-up as speculations are rife about his possible meeting with Zardari who is already in the British capital, historically Pakistans political hub.



Spokesman for the PMs office, Mussadek Malik, however, denied such reports. The prime minister did not express his desire to meet the PPP leadership during the upcoming London visit, he said in a statement, adding Sharif would be in London only for medical check-up.

Imran Khan is also expected to arrive in London by April 14, where he will hold meetings on the Panama leaks with his supporters and, possibly, the British authorities. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is likely to land in the UK on April 16.



Insiders in the PPP and the ruling PML-N said a meeting or a contact between Sharif and Zardari cannot be ruled out despite the official denials.

Nawaz Sharif is looking for support at this time. Zardari will not deny a meeting, but will think twice before supporting the government this time. The PPP has got nothing for remaining silent for three years. The friendly oppositions role may not be the best option, a source close to the PPP leadership told Another PPP leader said Sharif had denied a meeting with Zardari when he was in trouble for making a controversial speech last year, but the party never backed attempts to destabilise the government.



The PML-N always creates problems for itself, but we have behaved responsibly for the sake of democracy. Most of our party members do not want us to back Nawaz Sharif at this point, but a final decision is still with the top leadership, he added.



There are hints Imran Khan might directly or indirectly try to contact Zardari after the meeting between Shah Mehmood Qureshi and the PPP leaders to stop him from saving Sharif.



There is no effort for a meeting, but it is very much possible that Imran Khan could try to contact Zardari for a one-point agenda of pushing the government to the corner, a source in the PTI said.



In his weekend address to the nation from his Islamabad residence, Imran Khan said his party would march towards Prime Minister Sharifs residence in Lahores Raiwind area instead of marching on Red Zone in Islamabad. He gave the government time till April 24 to take an appropriate action over the issue.

Earlier, Prime Minister Sharif addressed the nation over the television to defend his familys business practices, denying any wrongdoing and terming corruption claims old accusations repeated again and again.



Nawaz Sharif announced to set up a commission to investigate the allegations based on the Panama leaks that offshore companies headed by members of his family were avoiding paying taxes or disguising assets and their origins.



Political opponents, notably Imran Khan, have accused Sharifs family of having gained the funds illegally through corruption during his two previous stints as prime minister in the 1990s.



Sharif and his family have denied any wrongdoing, saying the assets were gained legally, mainly through the familys network of businesses and industries in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.



As the top politicians leave for UK, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari landed in Islamabad yesterday and held meetings with the AJK leadership. AJK President Sardar Yaqoob Khan and Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majid called on the PPP chief to discuss the upcoming polls. The PPP has been accusing the PML-N government of committing pre-poll rigging in AJK to ensure victory.
USA India to share military logistics

NEW DELHI: India and the United States have agreed in principle to share military logistics, United States (US) Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Tuesday, as both sides seek to counter the growing maritime assertiveness of China.



Washington has been urging New Delhi to sign a Logistics Support Agreement that allows the two militaries to use each other's land, air and naval bases for resupplies, repair and rest.



But after years of dithering, the two sides said an agreement was in hand, although not yet ready for signing.



"We have agreed in principle that all the issues are resolved," Carter said after talks with his Indian counterpart, Manohar Parrikar.



Carter said the two sides would finalise the text of an agreement in coming weeks.



India has had concerns that a logistics agreement would draw it into a military alliance with the US and undermine its traditional autonomy.



But Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration, faced with an assertive China expanding its influence in the South China Sea and into the Indian Ocean, has signalled its desire to draw closer to the US.



India is keen to access US technology for Modi's "Make in India" plans to build a domestic industrial base, including the defence, and cut expensive arms imports.



Carter said the two countries would also soon conclude a commercial shipping information exchange agreement.



The US military has made clear it wants to do more with India, especially in countering China.



Carter is on his second visit to India in less than a year, aimed at cementing defence cooperation in the final months of Barack Obama's presidency.



Carter said the two countries were advancing collaboration in aircraft carrier design and technology, potentially the biggest joint project since they launched a Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) in 2012.



India, which operates a re-tooled Russian carrier, plans to build its biggest indigenous carrier, for which is it looking at US electro-magnetic technology to launch heavier aircraft.
We will not allow anyone to create turbulence in any part of Pakistan: Raheel Sharif

GWADAR: Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, speaking at the Peace and Prosperity seminar on Tuesday, said Indian intelligence agency RAW is actively involved in destabilising Pakistan.



Hostile intelligence agencies are averse to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said the chief of army staff. Let me make it clear that we will not allow anyone to create impediments and turbulence in any part of Pakistan, added General Raheel Sharif.



He urged those involved in such activities to leave the approach of confrontation and focus on cooperation instead. Referring to CPEC as a corridor of peace and prosperity, he added that CPEC is the grand manifestation of the deep-rooted ties between China and Pakistan.



It (CPEC) will bind all these nations together and bring about an economic transformation through enhanced connectivity, said Raheel Sharif.



General Raheel also touched upon the ongoing counter-insurgency operation, and acknowledged that Pakistan has come a long was in its struggle for stability and development.



I take pride in mentioning the strong resolve and sacrifices offered by the people, intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and our gallant armed forces.



Operation Zarb-i-Azb is not just an operation, but a wholesome concept. It ultimately aims at breaking the syndicate of terrorism, extremism and corruption, emphasised the chief of army staff. On the occasion he also urged to international community to not only acknowledge Pakistans successes and sacrifices, but also come forward in blocking external help to terrorist organisations and their facilitators, abettors and financiers.



General Raheel, referring to CPEC, said that it is a lifetime opportunity for Pakistan and is poised to bring a true economic transformation to the province of Balochistan.



We look forward to the emergence of modern infrastructure, special economic zones, health facilities and universities which will bring enduring benefits for our people. He also emphasised on the sustainability of the project, which would only come with good management and transparency.



It is pertinent to mention that, though Gwadar is central to the broader conception of CPEC, the corridor itself ranges from Western China to the plains and coasts of Pakistan and promises to bring prosperity to the remotest areas of Pakistan from Gilgit-Baltistan to Balochistan. said General Raheel.



He added that zooming out to regional and global level, many world powers have appreciated the true potential of CPEC as a catalyst of economic transformation for the entire region.



Law enforcement agencies announced the arrest of Jadhav during an intelligence-based raid in Balochistan's Chaman last week.



The Indian Foreign Ministry earlier confirmed the arrested man was a former Indian Navy officer, but the Pakistani government claimed to have recovered travel documents and multiple fake identities of Jadhav, establishing him as an Indian spy who entered into Balochistan through Iran  holding a valid Iranian visa.



Jadhav was shifted to Islamabad for interrogation, during which an unnamed official said the spy revealed that he had purchased boats at the Iranian port in Chabahar in order to target Karachi and Gwadar ports in a terrorist plot. The official had said the 'RAW agent' is believed to be expert at Naval fighting techniques.



After Jadhav's arrest, Pakistan summoned Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale to lodge a strong protest over 'India's spying activities' in Balochistan and Karachi.
Laurence Ralph has used his time as a Radcliffe Fellow to study police violence and race in Chicago. "I wanted to examine the contradiction between the fact that the police are supposed to safeguard citizens and yet theyre contributing to an alarming number of violent deaths," he says. Credit: Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

Laurence Ralph, a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellow, has been studying the issue of police violence in Chicago from the perspective of its survivors and community organizers. Drawing on his research, he says there is a need to think critically about the state and practices of policing.

The Gazette sat down with Ralph, the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences in the Departments of Anthropology and African and African American Studies, to talk about his research, the limits of the American legal system in addressing issues surrounding police violence, and the current climate on the matter.

GAZETTE: You've been doing research on police violence in Chicago for the past decade, and the topic is very relevant today. What can your research tell us about the issue of police brutality against unarmed black men?

RALPH: The national debate about police violence in America stems from the growing collective awareness that police officers are contributing to an alarming number of violent deaths. My research shows that instead of assuming that lethal force was either necessary or the momentary overreach of a rogue cop, instead of assuming that these cruel events are accidents, many Americans now question whether lethal force is a fundamental aspect of modern-day policing.

GAZETTE: Part of your research has focused on the actions by Chicago activists to air issues of police violence before international bodies. Could you tell us more about this?

RALPH: I've been looking at activist organizations in Chicago that have gone to the United Nations in Geneva to try to make police violence a human rights issue and to get accountability. I'm also looking at the case for reparations for victims of reported police torture in Chicago. I've been studying the history in Chicago. The first case is from 1984, but since then more and more victims have come out. The city of Chicago has already paid over $200 million on legal fees and settlements to victims, and recently some of the victims have been awarded $5.5 million in reparations. There is an increasing effort to make the public aware of this problem, but also to find creative ways of addressing it. The international arena is one example.

GAZETTE: Can you tell us more about this? Is there a precedent for U.S. groups taking their grievances to the international arena?

RALPH: There is a group in Chicago called We Charge Genocide that went to the UN in 2014. They get their name from a petition of African-Americans, W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, among others, who went to the UN in 1951 to address the issue of systematic racism against African-Americans. The Chicago group takes its inspiration from this prior group and is making some of the same arguments. They're trying to follow a historical precedent. They're saying that although we had the Civil Rights movement in the United States, there are still big hurdles to overcome, particularly when it comes to race and legal justice.

GAZETTE: What happened with the first group? What do you think is going to happen with the efforts of the Chicago group to find justice?

RALPH: Back in 1951, people in the United States were afraid of the threat of communism. People were afraid that African-Americans would be more sympathetic to communism and subvert the United States from inside. There was a lot of effort not to talk about the first trip to the UN, but black newspapers talked about it. In the Chicago case, the goal is not merely to get particular sanctions on the Chicago Police Department, but also to give victims of police violence an outlet to express their grievances.

GAZETTE: For these activists, what does the international stage offer that the American legal system may lack?

RALPH: International laws give people a different language to talk about systematic racism and the fact that African-Americans are disproportionately impacted by police violence. Often within the U.S. legal system, police violence cases are looked at individually, and everything else is irrelevant. There is no way to talk about the fact that a particular racial group is overwhelmingly being impacted by police violence. So the international stage gives you another set of terms and allows for a broader set of arguments to be made. I think that beyond sanctions, the language is important, and also, since this latest group went to the UN, a lot of other incidents of police violence have happened in Chicago. Their efforts have helped the public mobilize around the issue. The activism that took place last year wouldn't have been that effective if they hadn't gone to the UN.

GAZETTE: What do activists in Chicago think about the American legal system?

RALPH: The group I'm researching is frustrated in the sense that, oftentimes in the American legal system, racial factors are excluded. You can't talk about race; you can't talk about social position. And oftentimes, the police are given the benefit of the doubt and they're more trusted in court than the victims of police violence. But the international organizations can look at patterns of police abuse, and they take into consideration the rights and the word of citizens first, when filing a petition. While in the U.S. this could be an open-and-shut case, that's the starting point for the international bodies.

GAZETTE: How would you describe the police violence situation in Chicago compared with other American cities?

RALPH: Part of the problem is that we don't actually know the scope of police violence. We can't make an assessment about which cities are better or worse in terms of police violence because a lot of what we need to keep track of, we haven't been keeping track of on a large-scale level. What I'm focusing on is the culture of policing. I ask: What gives people an incentive to enact violence when they don't necessarily need to? What kind of incentives are there to rise up the ranks within the police department? And why do some police officers keep silent when they know that misconduct is taking place? I hope that these cultural factors will be relevant to other police departments in other cities across the United States.

GAZETTE: What were the findings of your research in Chicago?

RALPH: I wanted to examine the contradiction between the fact that the police are supposed to safeguard citizens and yet they're contributing to an alarming number of violent deaths. I'm focusing on the factors that keep police misconduct hidden. Much of my work looks at the phenomenon of police torture, specifically. I'm interested in criminal suspects who have been brutalized or tortured in order to coerce confessions, and what keeps these methods under wraps. I find that, although many officers might know or suspect misconduct, they don't want to tell anyone because it could compromise them or put them in a position to risk their careers. Some develop strategies to avoid getting knowledge. The larger issue is how the police departments operate in America today.

GAZETTE: Would you say that there is a climate of looking the other way in most police departments when it comes to issues of misconduct?

RALPH: In the cases I have studied, there is a climate of looking the other way, definitely. There is a lot of pressure to both get arrests and confessions. And there are disincentives for outing police officers.

GAZETTE: What do you hope to see happen with grievances of police violence?

RALPH: My hope is that more creative solutions can be imagined to solve the problem. I don't know what those solutions will be yet. But what I'm seeing in the research is that the same solutions are being imagined as a way to solve the problem. Some examples are: another report, another committee created to address the problem, and more personnel being fired. But if we look at this from a long, historical perspective, we see that those changes don't affect what's actually going on. My hope is that we find another way to think about what can be done, and that's the importance of going to the UN. Not to say that's the answer, but it gives people a space to air grievances, an alternative vision of the law than what we currently have in the United States.

This story is published courtesy of the Harvard Gazette, Harvard University's official newspaper. For additional university news, visit Harvard.edu.
Bioaerosols deposition sampler array set up at the edge, and downwind, of a manure-applied field. Credit: Shane Rogers.

Consumers don't buy leafy greens and other healthy supermarket produce anticipating the food might make their families sick. Or at least, they didn't used to.

But high profile recalls of fruits and veggies seem to be a new normal in the American food landscape. The recalls follow outbreaks of foodborne illnesses caused by microbes like E. coli. These outbreaks can send unsuspecting veggiephiles rushing to the nearest toilet or, worse yet, the hospital. Some outbreaks can even result in deaths.

The average American is still unlikely to wind up at the emergency room after eating tainted produce. Still, outbreaks have major consequences for supermarkets and growers. After outbreaks, they must regain public trust or face possible financial ruin.

Of concern is how nearby farming practices can taint produce with bacteria. This can happen when farmers apply animal manure to fields near fresh produce. Tiny particles, including bacteria, may go airborne and drift to nearby fields. But scientists weren't sure just how likely microbes can travel from manure application sites to downwind produce.

That is, until now. New field research out of Clarkson University in upstate New York is providing an answer. Shane Rogers, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, led a research team that looked into the issue. They measured how far common bacteria, including Salmonella and E. coli, are likely to travel downwind from manure application sites. They hoped to better understand how fresh produce might be contaminated by nearby animal agriculture practices.

Rogers (right) explaining maintenance of bacterial research strains to undergraduate research student Alexandra Rowe (left) in research laboratories at Clarkson University. Credit: Ting-Li Wang.

"Our goal was to provide a logical framework to study this pathway," Rogers said. This helped them make science-based recommendations for setback distances that protect human health.

The team used field data to understand how these bacteria travel from manure application sites to produce. The research lasted three years. They took samples at several distances from manure application sites and measured the presence of illness-causing bacteria.

The researchers used computer models to expand their understanding. "It is not possible to obtain measurements for every possible set of circumstances that may exist," Rogers said. "The models allow us to predict produce contamination over a larger range of probable conditions than our raw measurements would provide." These include the type of manure, the terrain of the farm, and weather conditions at the time the manure is applied.

The team also evaluated the risk of illness. This gave the team a better understanding of how likely someone is to get sick from produce when a certain amount of bacteria is present.

Combining all that data, the team found that produce fields should be set back from areas of manure application by at least 160 meters. That distance should help lower the risk of foodborne illness to acceptable levels (1 in 10,000).

Rogers emphasized that the advice is for a minimum setback. "(160 meters is) the minimum distance that produce growers should maintain between manure application activities and produce growing areas," Rogers said. Additional distance and delay between manure application and harvest would provide further protection.

Explore further Buffer zone guidelines may be inadequate to protect produce from feedlot contamination

More information: Michael A. Jahne et al. Bioaerosol Deposition to Food Crops near Manure Application: Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment, Journal of Environment Quality (2016). Michael A. Jahne et al. Bioaerosol Deposition to Food Crops near Manure Application: Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment,(2016). DOI: 10.2134/jeq2015.04.0187
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water Deputy Assistant Administrator Joel Beauvais testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, before a House joint subcommittee hearing with the Environment and the Economy subcommittee and Health subcommittee on the ongoing Flint lead-contamination water crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The Environmental Protection Agency's top water regulator said Wednesday that officials are working urgently to strengthen a federal rule limiting lead and copper in drinking watera key focus in the ongoing lead-contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan.

But Joel Beauvais, acting chief of the EPA's water office, said proposed changes will not be released until next year, with a final rule expected months after that.

Beauvais told Congress that he and others at the EPA "certainly have a sense of urgency" about making changes to the lead and copper rule, but added, "We also want to get them right."

Meanwhile, Michigan's two senators said late Wednesday they have agreed to remove a bipartisan proposal to provide federal funds to help Flint from a larger energy bill stalled in the Senate.

Democratic Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters said they were disappointed that despite weeks of negotiations, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has refused to allow a vote on the Flint legislation. Stabenow and Peters said their bill would help not just Flint, but communities across the country with aging water infrastructures.

The Michigan senators said they would seek to find a way to move the Flint aid package through the Senate. Their decision to strip it from the energy bill allows the long-stalled energy measure to move forward.

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Keith Creagh testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, before a House joint subcommittee hearing with the Environment and the Economy subcommittee and Health subcommittee hearing on the ongoing Flint lead-contamination water crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The bill promotes a wide range of energy, from renewables such as solar and wind power to natural gas and hydropower. The legislation also would speed federal approval of projects to export liquefied natural gas to Europe and Asia and boost energy efficiency.

Flint's drinking water became tainted when the city switched from the Detroit water system and began drawing from the Flint River in April 2014 to save money. The impoverished city was under state control at the time. The crisis has affected some 100,000 residents of the predominantly African-American city.

Regulators failed to ensure the water was treated properly and lead from aging pipes leached into the water supply.

Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa. speaks during a House joint subcommittee hearing with the Environment and the Economy subcommittee and Health subcommittee joint hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, on the ongoing Flint lead-contamination water crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Elevated lead levels have been found in at least 325 people, including 221 children. Lead contamination has been linked to learning disabilities and other problems.

The lead and copper rule, part of the federal Safe Water Drinking Act, requires water systems across the country to monitor drinking water to ensure that lead, copper and other substances do not exceed federal recommendations.

The rule is widely considered flawed. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder called it "dumb and dangerous" at a hearing last month. Unless the federal rule is changed, "this tragedy will befall other American cities," Snyder said.

Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Nicole Lurie testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, before a House joint subcommittee hearing with the Environment and the Economy subcommittee and Health subcommittee hearing on the ongoing Flint lead-contamination water crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

EPA chief Gina McCarthy, speaking at the same March 17 hearing, said the federal rules "definitely need clarification, they need to be strengthened, and we're taking a look at that."

Beauvais repeated that message at a hearing Wednesday, telling the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the EPA has been "actively working on revisions" to the lead and copper rule for more than two yearswell before the Flint crisis was declared a public health emergency in October 2015. An advisory council that has been studying the issue recommended extensive changes in December, Beauvais said.

"We're working hard on it. We hope to get it right," he said.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., the energy panel's chairman, urged the agency to speed up its work, saying 2017 is "a long ways off."

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Keith Creagh, right, accompanied by, from left, EPA Office of Water Deputy Assistant Administrator Joel Beauvais; Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Nicole Lurie; Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon; testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, before a House joint subcommittee hearing with the Environment and the Economy subcommittee and Health subcommittee hearing on the ongoing Flint lead-contamination water crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Explore further What Flint's water crisis could mean for the rest of the nation

 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
European Parliament on Wednesday urged the EU to approve the weedkiller glyphosate for seven years and not 15 as requested by the bloc's top regulator amid fears the product could cause cancer.

Glyphosate was first used in the 1970s as the active ingredient in the Monsanto herbicide Roundup and is now one of the world's most popular weedkillers.

The European Commission, the EU's top regulator, is recommending that the bloc greenlight glyphosate for another 15 years when its current licence ends in June.

But critics, led by activists at Greenpeace, point to research from the World Health Organisation that concludes glyphosate is "probably" carcinogenic and are calling for the ingredient's outright ban.

"The European Commission should renew the EU market approval for glyphosate for another 7 years only instead of 15 as originally proposed," the non-binding resolution said.

The EU should also ban the non-professional use of glyphosate as well as its "use in or close to public parks, public playgrounds and public gardens," it added.

The resolution was passed by 374 votes for, 225 against and 102 abstentions.

In March regulators from the 28 EU members states, in addition to the European Commission, delayed their decision on rolling over the approval for glyphosate amid fierce lobbying from both sides of the issue.

"I am sure that the Parliament's vote will have a concrete impact," said Angelique Delahaye a leading MEP from the right-of-centre EPP party.

In an emailed statement, the Monsanto-led Glyphosate Task Force said it "acknowledges" the debate in European Parliament and urged for "constructive dialogue" in respect of the legislative process.

Among major EU member states, France and Austria have expressed opposition to glyphosate, while Britain and Germany are said to support its use generally.

The next meeting of the closed door committee is set for May 17 in Brussels.

Explore further EU delays weedkiller decision amid cancer uproar

 2016 AFP
Sampling of a centenary Scots pine with Pressler auger, Navarredonda de Gredos, Spain. Credit: Mar Genova

A new study, with the participation of UPM, has revealed a growing synchrony in ring-width patterns of trees in response to global warming.

A multidisciplinary research team consisting of Russian and Spanish researchers, with the participation of a female researcher from School of Forestry Engineering and Natural Resources at Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM), has assessed the tree-ring width patterns of diverse conifer species in Spain and Siberia. This study shows the existence of an increase of spatial synchrony of ring width patterns in both regions. These findings are a warning of the global warming impact on forest ecosystems at subcontinent scale.

Forests play a key role in the carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems. One of the main uncertainties in global change predictions lies in on how the spatiotemporal dynamics of forest productivity will be affected by global warming. Fortunately, we have registers of an indicator for biological responses to climate change impact: the sequence of tree-ring dating.

The concept of spatial synchrony in tree growth refers to the extent of coincident changes in ring-width patterns among geographically disjunct tree populations. As Mar Genova, the UPM female researcher, explained: "We aimed to verify whether this phenomenon was local or rather extended over large regions at subcontinent scale". With this purpose, two very contrasting terrestrial ecosystems were selected: "the extremely cold continental taiga of Siberia and the comparatively warm and dry Mediterranean montane forests". A total of 93 growth-ring chronologies of six different conifer species were used: 45 chronologies from central Siberia and 48 of diverse Iberian mountain systems.

In order to manage this huge volume of data, a new methodological framework was developed. This method is able to deal with large sets of ring width sequences that date back several centuries ago. These new methods have allowed researchers to show the synchrony among growth patterns in coniferous forests whose main limiting factor is cold, in the case of taiga, and drought, in the case of Mediterranean forests.

This unprecedented coherence at a large geographical scale in a recent past indicates that the growth synchrony among disjunt forests by almost 1000 km is quite similar to the trees inhabiting in a same forest mass.

This more synchronous growth of forests caused by the global warming is a global phenomenon too, but the particular mechanisms involved in every case are regionally dependents.

Particularly, these mechanisms are related to the increased drought stress at the end of spring in Spain and with greater impact of year to year fluctuations of summer temperatures in Siberia. Besides, all this is related to an earlier start of wood formation, which has been proved to be induced by a warmer climate.

The synchrony increase on the tree-ring width can be useful to establish climatic thresholds for tree survival as well as anticipating local and regional forest decay events.

More information: Tatiana A. Shestakova et al. Forests synchronize their growth in contrasting Eurasian regions in response to climate warming, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2016). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Tatiana A. Shestakova et al. Forests synchronize their growth in contrasting Eurasian regions in response to climate warming,(2016). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1514717113
Credit: NASA

(Phys.org)Despite losing its two reaction wheels, NASA's Kepler spacecraft hasn't stopped amazing the scientific community by detecting new alien worlds. The repurposed Kepler mission, called K2, has recently discovered another new so-called "hot Jupiter" exoplanet, demonstrating once again that it is the most prolific planet-hunting telescope to date. The findings were published on April 10 on arXiv.org.

An international team of astronomers, led by Marshall C. Johnson of the University of Texas at Austin, has used the data from K2's Campaign 4, which lasted from February 7 to April 23, 2015, to search for possible transiting planets. They found two periodic transit-like signals associated with two targets designated EPIC 211089792b (K2-29b) and EPIC 210957318b (K2-30b). While K2-30b was confirmed as a "hot Jupiter" exoplanet during previous observations, K2-29b is a new addition to the long list of Kepler's confirmed extrasolar worlds.

The astronomers also used three different ground-based spectrographs to conduct high-resolution spectroscopic observations of K2-29b, in order to definitely verify it as a "hot Jupiter." The Robert G. Tull Coude spectrograph, mounted on the 2.7m Harlan J. Smith Telescope at the McDonald Observatory, Texas, allowed the scientists to obtain both reconnaissance spectroscopy and radial velocity measurements. Similar observations were conducted using the Fiber-fed Echelle spectrograph (FIES) on the 2.56m Nordic Optical Telescope at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma (Spain) and the HARPS-N spectrograph on the 3.58m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, also at La Palma.

"Here, we present K2 photometry for two late-type dwarf stars, EPIC 211089792 (K2-29) and EPIC 210957318 (K2-30), for which we identified periodic transit signals, and our follow-up spectroscopic observations. These have allowed us to confirm both transiting objects as bona fide hot Jupiters, and to measure the stellar and planetary parameters," Johnson and his colleagues wrote in a paper.

Hot Jupiters are gas giant planets, similar in characteristics to the solar system's biggest planet, with orbital periods of less than 10 days. They have high surface temperatures as they orbit their parent stars very closelybetween 0.015 and 0.5 AU.

While the newly discovered K2-29b exoplanet has a radius that is about the same as Jupiter's, it's less massive (0.6 Jupiter masses) than our solar system's biggest planet. It has an orbital period of 3.26 days and an equilibrium temperature of approximately 800 degrees Celsius, making it a textbook example of a hot Jupiter.

The planet's parent star K2-29 is slightly smaller than our sun, with 0.75 solar radii and 0.86 solar masses. The star is about 2.6 billion years old and is located some 545 light years from the Earth.

The researchers also found that the orbit of K2-29b is slightly eccentric. This suggests that either the planet migrated to its current location via high-eccentricity migration, or that there is an additional planet in the system exciting the eccentricity.

"In general, eccentric orbits of hot Jupiters might be generated in two different manners: Either the eccentricity is primordial, a relic of high-eccentricity migration that emplaced the planet on a short-period orbit, or the eccentricity is being excited by an external perturber," the paper reads.

However, to investigate these possibilities, future observations using long-term radial velocity and transit timing variation methods are required.

"These possibilities could be distinguished using long-term radial velocity and transit timing variation monitoring to detect an additional companion," the team concluded.

More information: Two Hot Jupiters from K2 Campaign 4, arXiv:1601.07844 [astro-ph.EP] Two Hot Jupiters from K2 Campaign 4, arXiv:1601.07844 [astro-ph.EP] arxiv.org/abs/1601.07844 Abstract

We confirm the planetary nature of two transiting hot Jupiters discovered by the Kepler spacecraft's K2 extended mission in its Campaign 4, using precise radial velocity measurements from FIES@NOT, HARPS-N@TNG, and the coud'e spectrograph on the McDonald Observatory 2.7 m telescope. K2-29 b (EPIC 211089792 b) transits a K1V star with a period of 3.25892630.0000015 days; its orbit is slightly eccentric (e=0.084+0.0320.023). It has a radius of RP=1.000+0.0710.067 RJ and a mass of MP=0.613+0.0270.026 MJ. Its host star exhibits significant rotational variability, and we measure a rotation period of Prot=10.7770.031 days. K2-30 b (EPIC 210957318 b) transits a G6V star with a period of 4.0985030.000011 days. It has a radius of RP=1.039+0.0500.051 RJ and a mass of MP=0.579+0.0280.027 MJ. The star has a low metallicity for a hot Jupiter host, [Fe/H]=0.150.05.

 2016 Phys.org
Credit: www.shutterstock.com

When you walk through a neighbourhood undergoing gentrification, you can sense it  the area is dominated by strange contradictions. Public spaces are populated by vagabonds and cool kids; abandoned buildings sit in disrepair next to trendy coffee shops; blocks of council housing abut glassy new developments.

Urbanists describe gentrification as a form of urban migration, where a more affluent population displaces the original, lower-income population. In statistics, gentrification appears as the lowering of crime rates, rising housing prices and changes to the mix of people who live there.

If we could only predict where gentrification is likely to strike next, we might be able to alleviate its negative impacts  such as displacement  and take advantage of its more positive effects, which include economic growth. That's why our latest study  conducted with colleagues at the University of Birmingham, Queen Mary University of London, and University College London  aimed to quantify the process of gentrification, and discover the warning signs.

Detecting urban diversity

We constructed four measures of urban social diversity using data from social media. By combining these measures with government statistics about deprivation, we were able to pinpoint a number of neighbourhoods undergoing gentrification in London.

Of course, social media is notoriously unsuitable for population studies, because of the "digital divide": the split between people who can access the internet and those who can't exists even within urban areas  so information from social media only captures part of the overall picture. Twitter users in particular are known to be predominantly young, affluent and living in urban areas.

But these are precisely the demographics responsible for gentrification. So, we used information from social media from 2010 and 2011 to define the "social diversity" of urban venues such as restaurants, bars, schools and parks.

Urban social diversity  in terms of population, economy and architecture  is known to be a factor in successful communities. In her famous book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, urban activist Jane Jacobs wrote that "cities differ from towns and suburbs in basic ways, and one of these is that cities are, by definition, full of strangers".

In our work, we first measured the amount of strangers that a place brings together as the fraction of the social network of visitors who are connected on social media. This gave us an idea of whether a place tends to be frequented by strangers or friends. We further explored the diversity of these visitors in terms of their mobility preferences and spontaneity in choice of venues. Although we did not consider demographics or income levels, there is a known relationship between the wealth of people and the diversity of their geographical interactions.

We studied the social network of 37,000 London users of Twitter, and combined it with what we knew about their mobility patterns from geo-located Foursquare check-ins posted to their public profiles.

By studying the amount of strangers versus friends meeting at a bar, or the number of diverse versus similar individuals visiting an art gallery, we were able to quantify the overall diversity of London neighbourhoods, in terms of their visitors.

Networks are powerful representations of the relationships between people and places. Not only can we draw links between people where a relationship  such as friendship  exists between them; we can also draw connections between two places if a visitor has been to both. We can even connect the two networks, by drawing links between people in the social network who have visited specific spots in the place network.

In this way, we are able to extract the social network of a place, and the place network of a person. By the time we'd finished crunching the data, we could take stock of the range of people who had visited a specific place, and the different places visited by any individual.

When we compared the diversity of urban neighbourhoods with official government statistics on deprivation, we found that some highly deprived areas were also extremely socially diverse. In other words, there were lots of diverse social media users visiting some of London's poorest neighbourhoods.

Diminishing deprivation

To find out what was going on, we took the newly published deprivation indices for 2015 and looked for changes in the levels of deprivation from our study period in 2011. The relationship was striking. The areas where we saw high levels of social diversity and extreme deprivation in 2011, were exactly the same areas that had experienced the greatest decreases in deprivation by 2016.

A prime example can be found in the London borough of Hackney. Anyone visiting Hackney might describe it in terms of the contradictions we mentioned before  but few of us could afford to live there today. In our study, Hackney was the highest ranking in deprivation and the highest ranking in social diversity in 2011. Between then and now, it has gone from the being the second most deprived neighbourhood in the country, to the 11th.

So, although social media may not be representative of the entire population, it can offer the key to measuring and understanding the processes of gentrification. Neither entirely good nor thoroughly bad, gentrification is a phenomenon that we should all watch out for. It will undoubtedly help to define how our cities transform in years to come.

Explore further Predicting gentrification through social networking data

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.


Mexican rice borer caterpillar. Credit: Entomological Society of America

A moth caterpillar called the Mexican rice borer (Eoreuma loftini) has taken a heavy toll on sugar cane and rice crops in Texas, and has moved into Louisiana, Florida, and other Gulf Coast states. Now a new article in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management provides information on the biology and life cycle of the pest, and offers suggestions about how to manage them.

The Mexican rice borer was first described in Arizona in 1917, but it drew little attention until it arrived in southern Texas in 1980. Within just a couple of years of its appearance there, it became the primary pest of sugar cane, according to Julien Beuzelin, an assistant professor at Louisiana State University and lead author of the JIPM paper.

Since then, the insect has moved north and east along the Gulf Coast at a rate of about 15 miles per year.

"Out of the blue in 2012, it was detected for the first time in central Florida and is now established there too," Beuzelin said.

The Mexican rice borer causes damage to a variety of grasses, extending beyond sugar cane and rice to sorghum, corn, and non-crop grasses. In fact, it will attack any grasses that have stalks large enough for them to burrow into. The larvae hatch from eggs laid on leaves and stalks, and the caterpillars crawl onto the green parts of the plant and start feeding. After the second or third molt, they burrow into the culm.

Such damage could result in many millions of dollars of crop loss. One study suggested that in a worst-case scenario, the insect could cause more than $40 million a year in rice losses, and more than $200 million losses in sugar cane in Louisiana alone.

Growers mainly rely on a diamide pesticide known as chlorantraniliprole, which works well against both Mexican rice borers and another rice pest called the rice water weevil (Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus), but chlorantraniliprole works in much the same way as another diamide that might have its registration cancelled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"Because chlorantraniliprole has the same mode of action, the entomological community is afraid this might happen with chlorantraniliprole as well," Beuzelin said. "We don't expect it to be taken off the market, but we just don't know."

Other control methods beyond pesticides are available, although many need additional study. An example is to grow resistant varieties of crop grasses, which often work well to deter pests.

Growers can also adjust the cutting height from the usual 16 inches to 8 inches, essentially cutting away stems that are infested with larvae.

"This can decrease the number of Mexican rice borers in the stubble," Beuzelin said.

Another control method is to plant early. According to field experiments, later plantings (in mid-May vs. mid-March), as well as ratoon cropping, have increased infestations.

Soil amendments, particularly silicon, may also be helpful.

"This is ongoing work that we are doing, but we think the addition of silicon may be a cheap way to make rice more resistant to rice borers," Beuzelin said.

While he encourages research on control measures beyond pesticides, Beuzelin is also interested in the Mexican rice borer as a model for landscape-wide management.

"Instead of just taking a management approach on a field basis, it might be beneficial to manage this insect over a wider area," Beuzelin said. "I think the Mexican rice borer would be a good model for such landscape-wide management studies. As an entomologist, this makes the Mexican rice borer very interesting."

More information: "Biology and Management of the Mexican Rice Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) in Rice in the United States," "Biology and Management of the Mexican Rice Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) in Rice in the United States," dx.doi.org/10.1093/jipm/pmw006
As you go up in the income distribution, life expectancy continues to increase, at every point in the income distribution, Michael Stepner says. Credit: Christine Daniloff/MIT

Poverty in the U.S. is often associated with deprivation, in areas including housing, employment, and education. Now a study co-authored by two MIT researchers has shown, in unprecedented geographic detail, another stark reality: Poor people live shorter lives, too.

More precisely, the study shows that in the U.S., the richest 1 percent of men lives 14.6 years longer on average than the poorest 1 percent of men, while among women in those wealth percentiles, the difference is 10.1 years on average.

This eye-opening gap is also growing rapidly: Over roughly the last 15 years, life expectancy increased by 2.34 years for men and 2.91 years for women who are among the top 5 percent of income earners in America, but by just 0.32 and 0.04 years for men and women in the bottom 5 percent of the income tables.

"When we think about income inequality in the United States, we think that low-income Americans can't afford to purchase the same homes, live in the same neighborhoods, and buy the same goods and services as higher-income Americans," says Michael Stepner, a PhD candidate in MIT's Department of Economics. "But the fact that they can on average expect to have 10 or 15 fewer years of life really demonstrates the level of inequality we've had in the United States."

Stepner and Sarah Abraham, another PhD candidate in MIT's Department of Economics, are among the co-authors of a newly published paper summarizing the study's findings, and have played central roles in a three-year research project establishing the results.

In addition to reporting the size and growth of the income gap, the study finds that the average lifespan varies considerably by region in the U.S. (by as much as 4.5 years), but that the sources of that regional variation are subtle, and, like the aggregate national gap, subject to further investigation.

"The patterns are not exactly what you might expect," says Abraham, noting that regional variation in longevity does not seem strongly correlated with factors such as access to health care, environmental issues, income inequality, or the job market.

"We don't find those to be as highly correlated with differences in longevity as we find measures of health behavior, such as smoking rates or obesity rates" [to be correlated with lifespan], Abraham observes.

The paper, "The Association between Income and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2001-2014," is being published today by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The authors are Raj Chetty, a professor of economics at Stanford University; Stepner and Abraham of MIT, who are the second and third authors on the paper; Shelby Lin, an analyst with McKinsey and Company in New York; Benjamin Scuderi, a predoctorate fellow in Harvard University's Economics Department; Augustin Bergeron, a PhD candidate in Harvard University's Economics Department; Nicholas Turner of the Office of Tax Analysis in the U.S. Department of the Treasury; and David Cutler, a professor of economics at Harvard University.

The geography of mortality

The researchers looked at 1.4 billion anonymized income tax filings from the federal government, and combined that with mortality data from the years 2001 through 2014 from the Social Security Administration. This represents the most complete geographic and demographic landscape of mortality in America.

Among other things, the growth of the gap in mortality ratesby nearly three yearsstruck the researchers as noteworthy. To put it in perspective, they note that federal health officials estimate that curing all forms of cancer would add three years to the average lifespan.

"That change over the last 15 years is the equivalent of the richest Americans winning the war on cancer," Stepner observes.

At the same time, the researchers are quick to point out that the findings cannot immediately be reduced to simple cause-and-effect explanations. For instance, as social scientists have long observed, it is very hard to say whether having wealth leads to better healthor if health, on aggregate, is a prerequisite for accumulating wealth. Most likely, the two interact in complex ways, something the study cannot resolve.

"It's a descriptive story," Stepner says of the data.

A new puzzle emerging from the study, the authors note, is that differences in lifespan exist along the entire continuum of wealth in the U.S.; it is not as if, say, the top 10 percent of earners cluster around identical average lifespans.

"As you go up in the income distribution, life expectancy continues to increase, at every point," Stepner says.

And then there are the new geographic patterns in the findings. For instance: Eight of the 10 states with the lowest life expectancies for people in the bottom income quartile form a contiguous belt, curving around from Michigan through Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

So while average lifespans for everyone are lower in some Southern states, the poor do not fare worse in those places than they do in other regions.

"The Deep South is the lowest-income area in America, but when we're looking at life expectancy conditional on having a low income, it's not worse to be poor in the Deep South than it is in other areas of America," Stepner says. "It's just that there are far more poor people living in the South."

Future research: Think local

The researchers say that more analysis on the sources of local variation in lifespans could be among the most fruitful research areas stemming from the current paper. The research team is releasing all the data from the study today as well.

Among the municipalities where low-income people have experienced the greatest increases in lifespan from 2001-2014, for example, are Toms River, New Jersey; Birmingham, Alabama; and Richmond, Virginia. Cities with the largest drops in lifespan among the poor are Tampa and Pensacola, Florida; and Knoxville, Tennessee.

"We're not making any normative statements about what policy should be, but there is a wide dispersion of [results] happening in the U.S.," Abraham says. "That might need to be addressed at a more granular level."

Places with the overall longest lifespans for the poor include New York City, with a chart-topping 81.8 years on average, as well as a passel of cities in California. The bottom of that list includes Gary, Indiana (77.4 years on average); Las Vegas; and Oklahoma City.

Among the top income earners, people live longest in Salt Lake City (87.8 years on average); Portland, Maine; and Spokane, Washington. The rich have the shortest lives in Las Vegas (84.1 years on average); Gary, Indiana; and Honolulu.

Abraham also observes that the findings could have implications for national policy programs, as well.

"Things like Social Security aren't going to be as redistributive if the richer people are getting paid for 10 more years than the poorer people," she says.

Overall, the researchers say they hope to spark a larger discussion among the research and policy communities.

"We don't have all the answers," Abraham says. "But it's really important to make these statistics widely used so people have an idea of what the magnitude of these problems is, where they might focus their attention, and why this matters."

Explore further Your income, hometown may be key to your lifespan

More information: Raj Chetty et al. The Association Between Income and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2001-2014, JAMA (). Journal information: Journal of the American Medical Association Raj Chetty et al. The Association Between Income and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2001-2014,(). DOI: 10.1001/jama.2016.4226
Illustration of the initial charge transfer step in a dye sensitized solar cell. A photon from the sun is absorbed and excites the dye molecule. Subsequently, an electron can is injected into the ZnO-Layer where it can be trapped by so called interface-states. Credit: HZB/Mario Borgwardt

To convert solar energy into electricity or solar fuels, you need specialised systems of materials such as those consisting of organic and inorganic thin films. Processes at the junction of these films play a decisive role in converting the solar energy. Now a team at HZB headed by Prof. Emad Aziz has used ultra-short laser pulses and observed for the first time directly how boundary states form between the organic dye molecules and a zinc-oxide semiconductor layer, temporarily trapping the charge carriers. This explains why zinc-oxide (ZnO) dye-sensitised solar cells have not yet met expectations. The results evolved from collaboration between Monash University (Australia) and Joint Lab partners Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the Freie Universitat Berlin (FU Berlin). They have now been published online by Nature in the open access magazine Scientific Reports.

Converting the energy of the sun into electricity and solar hydrogen can be achieved with a whole series of materials. One important class of organic solar cells uses dyes applied to a semiconductor material like titanium dioxide (TiO2), for example. The dye molecules function as a kind of "translator" for the solar energy. They capture the light and inject electrons as free charges carriers into the TiO2 resulting in current flow. However, TiO2 is far from ideal and zinc oxide (ZnO) should actually be more suitable as an electrode material. This is because the charge carriers are far more mobile in ZnO, so they should flow more quickly after charge separation has occurred. In addition, nanostructures that capture sunlight especially efficiently can be produced in simple fashion using ZnO.

Detailed investigation of excited states with ultrashort Laser pulses

Nevertheless, constructing ZnO solar cells that better those of TiO2 had not been accomplished thus far. Now a team headed by Emad Aziz has for the first time directly observed the cause for this and investigated it in detail at the "Joint Ultrafast Dynamics Lab in Solutions and at Interfaces". The Joint Lab is being operated by HZB together with FU Berlin. It has a complete array of state-of-the-art laser instruments at its disposal, including a time-resolved photoelectron spectrometer that can generate ultra-short XUV pulses with duration below 45 femtoseconds. These ultra-short light pulses enable the temporal as well as energetic development of excited states to be tracked on ultra-short timescales.

Interface states as traps for charge carriers

"Our measurements show directly for the first time that charge carriers are temporarily trapped by formation of an interface state between the dye and the semiconductor boundary layer. As a result, they are no longer immediately available as free charge carriers", explains Mario Borgwardt, doctoral student on Aziz' team. These "trapped" electrons within the interface stay put longer. This increases the probability that they are "lost" again through recombination. That in turn reduces the efficiency level of the solar cell.

The samples for the experiment were made available by Prof. Leone Spiccia's team from Monash University, Australia. A fruitful collaboration evolved in the course of Spiccia's visit last year as part of his Helmholtz International Fellowship award from the Helmholtz Association that has contributed in a fundamental manner to the success of this project.

Helpful hints for the design of materials for energy conversion or storage

Aziz explains the importance of the results: "The work has led to a better understanding of the processes at the boundary layer between dye molecule and semiconductor. We have therefore been able to understand how dye and semiconductor materials communicate with one another. This enables us now to devise approaches for improving the communication in a direct way. That is important not only for the design of dye-sensitised solar cells, but also in order to be able to develop systems of materials for photocatalytic generation of hydrogen for storing solar energy as hydrogen fuel."

Explore further Dye-sensitized solar cells with carbon nanotube transparent electrodes offer significant cost savings

More information: Mario Borgwardt et al. Charge Transfer Dynamics at Dye-Sensitized ZnO and TiO2 Interfaces Studied by Ultrafast XUV Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Scientific Reports (2016). Journal information: Scientific Reports Mario Borgwardt et al. Charge Transfer Dynamics at Dye-Sensitized ZnO and TiO2 Interfaces Studied by Ultrafast XUV Photoelectron Spectroscopy,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/srep24422
University of Twente's Robird will make its first flights at an airport location in February. Weeze Airport in Germany, just across the Dutch border near Nijmegen, will serve as the test site for this life-like robotic falcon developed by Clear Flight Solutions, a spin-off company of the University of Twente. The Robird is designed to scare away birds at airports and waste processing plants.

"Finally, this is a historic step for the Robird and our company", says Nico Nijenhuis, Master's student at the University of Twente and the CEO of Clear Flight Solutions. "We already fly our Robirds and drones at many locations, and doing this at an airport for the first time is really significant. Schiphol Airport has been interested for many years now, but Dutch law makes it difficult to test there. The situation is easier in Germany, which is why we are going to Weeze."

Training the robot and human operators

Clear Flight Solutions is benefiting from the more relaxed rules at Weeze, as well as the relatively limited amount of air traffic there. The airport handles around 2.5 million passengers annually, most of whom come from the Netherlands. Schiphol Airport handles 55 million passengers annually.

In addition to testing the Robird, the company will also train the Robird's 'pilot' and 'observer' (who watches other air traffic). "If you operate at an airport, there are a lot of protocols that you have to follow", says Nijenhuis. "You're working in a high-risk area and there are all kinds of things that you need to check. We use the latest technologies, but the human aspect also remains crucial."

No option but to cross the border

Nijenhuis thinks it is a shame that the situation at Schiphol Airport is so difficult, but he also says that a lot of work is currently being done to accommodate the drone sector in the Netherlands. "Airports are very important to us, however the law in the Netherlands means that this kind of testing is very sensitive. There are major differences with countries like Germany and France. It is unfortunate to see that so much activity in the drone sector is being drawn away from the Netherlands. Fortunately, our politicians are starting to understand this. Meetings between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment and the drone sector are going well, so I'm very happy about that. Finally we are all talking about the rules together. At the moment, it is often the case that professionals are not allowed to do anything, while amateurs are can do whatever they want. Luckily, that situation is changing. The government has also launched an awareness and information campaign. That is another positive development."

Strong growth, partly due to students

The Robird is the flagship product of Clear Flight Solutions - a robotics and drone spin-off company of the University of Twente. The company was recently the beneficiary of an investment of 1.6 million from Cottonwood Euro Technology Fund. This investment has enabled Clear Flight Solutions to become a global leader in the field of bird management. "We have grown tremendously and we now employ 15 people", says Nijenhuis. "We have also become much more multidisciplinary. We even have a retired 747 captain on our team now, especially to help us with the airport projects. He knows the rules, so his input is very valuable."

The link with research and teaching at the University of Twente is still strong - in February, three new graduates started work at Clear Flight Solutions. The work of an earlier graduate, Berend van der Grinten, meant that an autonomous Robird was very close to being finished as early as last summer. "I recently gave a lunchtime lecture at the University of Twente and there were over a hundred students there. Eighteen of them were very interested in completing a final thesis project. That is wonderful - we need more of that. There has also been a lot of interest from Saxion University of Applied Sciences. Our work goes further than just electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. We are working on multidisciplinary solutions to social issues - that's what makes this project so cool."

The Robird

The cost of bird control at airports worldwide is estimated in the billions, and does not consist only of material damage, as birds can also be the cause of fatal accidents. Birds worldwide also cause damage running into billions in the agrarian sector, the waste disposal sector, harbours, and the oil and gas industry. A common problem is that since birds are clever they quickly get used to existing bird control solutions, and simply fly around them. The high-tech Robird, however, convincingly mimics the flight of a real peregrine falcon. The flying behaviour of the Robird is so true to life that birds immediately believe that their natural enemy is present in the area. Because this approach exploits the birds' instinctive fear of birds of prey, habituation is not an issue.

Explore further Autonomous Robird is one step closer
The explosion of digital content and data that we take in from screens each day through documents, email chains, web pages and social media flows is enormous and consequently, the rapid comprehension of complex information has become an essential aspect of modern life. The continuous scrolling technique typically used to browse this data is, however, far from perfect. In conventional scrolling, a number of objects are moving in the viewer window, which is problematic for visual attention. First, motion blur makes it impossible to focus on an object. Second, the user is not able to direct their attention for long enough to comprehend the content before it scrolls out of the window.

The EU COMPUTED project has created the Spotlights software to address many of the shortcomings of conventional scrolling. The naming of the new software is based on the spotlight metaphor of human visual attention. According to existing research, visual attention needs about half a second to focus, which is longer than the average amount of time that a sentence or picture remains on the screen when using the normal scrolling technique.

Spotlights works by locating on each webpage (whether it is a document, PDF, video, or web document) the visually important elements, and presents them using a transparent layer that appears on top of the text. These elements can take a number of forms, ranging from pictures, tables, graphs, headlines or sub-headings. In essence, the software chooses what the user should focus on and allows them enough time to be able to do so.

Testing Spotlights

The project team conducted three separate studies to test the new software. The first study tested user recall and was informed by empirical research on skim reading, emphasising the influence of time pressure, complex documents and a focus on comprehension. Users were asked to recall keywords and figures, also numerically rating their comprehension. To directly test whether Spotlights improved users' ability to attend to objects during scrolling, the researchers also collected data on gaze and scrolling behaviour. User recall was greatly improved with scrolling rates being 60 % faster. Users were also more confident with their comprehension of long documents when using Spotlights as a result.

The second study focused on overall comprehension and compared Spotlights to normal scrolling in a questionnaire-based test accompanied by standard workload metrics. The project team learnt from the recall study that participants employed more backward tracking, and to help this behaviour, the project turned on Spotlights' 'Click-and-Go' feature. When an object is highlighted, the user can specifically select it by clicking on it with the cursor, warping the user to that object in the document and removes any other highlighted objects from view. The user was also able to return to potentially important and/or interesting objects within the document. Overall, the team concluded that Spotlights helped users to orient themselves better to unfamiliar content, particularly by helping them to quickly understand the high-level structure of a book.

Finally, the third study considered skim reading done for lookup and filtering purposes. A target was given and the user had to locate it in the document. For this, the researchers expected that scroll speed would be higher than in the second study, as the participants were searching for a specific object in the document, and not attempting overall understanding. The results were highly promising, showing that participants were twice as successful in localising targets as they were in normal scrolling when using Spotlights.

Next steps

The project team sees many opportunities to develop Spotlights further, with their research being the first attempt to maximise the amount of the information on the screen for human visual attention. They acknowledge that it is presently a prototype and will need further development but have already considered numerous avenues of further research and testing.

These include adjusting exposure parameters for individual personalisation that would in theory lead to better performance rates. Some users developed strategies to counteract Spotlights by focussing on the middle of the screen instead of trying to find the best upcoming spotlight, so new techniques to automatically guide attention to the next object should be considered. Finally, there needs to be more consideration of how the complexity or unpredictability of an object affects visual processing requirements, with one possibility being to pre-process objects for complexity and modulate exposure time accordingly.

Explore further New scrolling technique accelerates skim reading

More information: For more information see the project page: For more information see the project page: cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/193547_en.html
This post originally appeared in The Huffington Post.

As a shaky ceasefire in Syria appears on the verge of collapse, peace talks are set to resume in Geneva this week. Its a harrowing time for Syrians, made all the worse by the Syrian government continuing to willfully cut off deliveries of food and medicine to civilians. The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, told reporters this week that 4.5 metric tons of medical supplies were stripped from a recent convoy headed for innocent people trapped in cities under siege. Instead of death by barrel bomb, Syrians face the agony of starvation, malnutrition, and preventable diseases. A slower way to die, but no less cruel.

Intentionally cutting off humanitarian aid is a war crime. Add that to the staggeringly long list of war crimes committed in Syria  unspeakable violations of what are universally considered the laws of armed conflict. Emerging news this week confirms a growing trove of documentary evidence to support such charges. But what good is a list of crimes if no one is ever held responsible for them?

Chief among those who must face justice is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. When his rule was challenged by protestors demanding freedom, rights, and opportunities during the heady days of the Arab Spring, his response was to launch a deadly campaign against the people of Syria. Security forces swept up, tortured, and disappeared thousands. The Syrian military has focused on punishing civilians living in opposition-held areas, killing hundreds of thousands of people and besieging more than 800,000.

The Syrian Air Force, backed by its Russian allies, has engaged in a bombing campaign on hospitals and clinics and has targeted doctors and other medical professionals, adding to the challenge of staying alive for those who have not fled the fighting. Physicians for Human Rights has documented 358 attacks on hospitals since 2011, more than 90 percent of them by Assads forces and their allies. The government has systematically violated virtually all the laws of war: hard-won standards aimed at making war a little less hellish for civilians.

Yet no court has come forward to claim jurisdiction over the crimes committed in Syria. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague was envisioned as a court of last resort to bring to justice brutal leaders like Assad who bear individual criminal responsibility for the worst crimes under international law. For too long, we lived in a world in which political power was parlayed into impunity.

The ICC came into being by international accord in 1998, but a self-congratulatory mood was soon replaced with an understanding that the courts mechanisms were inadequate. Civil society organizations had played a powerful role in advocating for the ICC, but when it came to bringing cases for prosecution, that power was granted solely to the ICC prosecutor, individual states, and the UN Security Council.

The ICC has had its high moments: last month, the court convicted former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba of war crimes and crimes against humanity. But thus far, the Security Council has failed to refer Syrias heinous crimes to the ICC. If a state like Syria has a champion among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, a referral to the international court will be blocked. Russia and China have vetoed any meaningful action on Syria. Power  or having powerful friends  is promoting a wanton disregard for international law.

In the short term, there are a few options to prosecute Assad. National courts may bring cases based on the principle of universal jurisdiction  the idea that some crimes are so egregious that no matter who commits them or where, all states that can do so should prosecute those crimes. The systematic nature of Assads crimes may well prompt some governments to exercise universal jurisdiction to start the wheels of justice turning.

In the longer term, once Assad is no longer in power, there may be support for the creation of a special Syrian Court, with assistance from people with expertise in investigating and prosecuting complex cases that capture the magnitude of the crimes committed. One such example was the special court for Sierra Leone, which in 2012 condemned former Liberian president Charles Taylor to 50 years in prison for atrocities committed in Sierra Leone during its civil war in the 90s.

And last month, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia sentenced former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to 40 years in prison for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed during the 1990s Bosnian war  including ethnic cleansing, the siege of Sarajevo, and the deaths of 8,000 Muslim men and boys who were slaughtered in Srebrenica under Karadzics command.

As government forces continue to perpetrate their war crimes in Syria, Assad would do well to remember that while Russia may have his back at the UN Security Council for now, those in power change, and their interests change. Over time, particularly as the world comes to understand the extent of Assads crimes, the calls for justice will strengthen, not wane.

Just last week, the ICC failed to pursue a case against Kenyas deputy president William Ruto, citing witness tampering and political interference. The ICC and international legal systems are no doubt flawed. But, as Radovan Karadzic, Charles Taylor, and others sitting in prison have learned the hard way, those who believe in justice do not give up, and sometimes international justice prevails.
This post originally appeared in The Huffington Post.

In New Hampshire, a bill to redefine opioid use or addiction in custodial parents, including pregnant women, as child abuse is making its way through the legislature, despite vocal objection from the states medical community. Much media treatment of this bill and similar bills in other states presumes women are not generally held criminally responsible for terminatingor losinga pregnancy.

This illusion is increasingly hard to sustain.

In March 2015, Purvi Patel, a 33-year-old woman in Indiana, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for, prosecutors claim, inducing an abortion. Patel has maintained she had a miscarriage, and has never tested positive for any of the abortifacients the prosecution claims she took. In fact, the pathologist for the prosecution partially relied on the long discredited lung test to determine if the recovered fetus had been born alive: a practice from the 17th century disproven as bad science over a century ago. Whether a miscarriage or an induced abortion, it is clear that Patel is in jail for not carrying a pregnancy to term.

Indeed, state legislators increasingly seek to hold women criminally responsible for not having healthy pregnancy outcomes. Since the beginning of this year, at least eight state legislatures have introduced bills to redefine legal personhood as starting at fertilization or conception. Though voters have generally rejected personhood measures when put to a votethree times in Colorado alonethey keep resurfacing in new versions.

From a medical perspective, fetal personhood bills make no sense. Conception is not a medical term and is interchangeably used to refer to the moment an ovum is fertilized and the moment a fertilized ovum implants in the uterine lining. Fertilization is a medical termreferring to fusion of male and female gametes to form a zygotebut not all fertilized ova implant in the uterine lining (that is: not all result in a pregnancy), and the precise moment of both fertilization and implantation is hard to determine. As a result, the length of a pregnancy is usually calculated with reference to the pregnant womans last periodwhen she clearly was not pregnant yetbecause that moment is an observable factor that can be defined.

There are also obvious logistical problems with fetal personhood bills. An estimated 10 to 20 percent of known pregnancies end in miscarriages, with the actual number likely much higher as many women miscarry before they know they are pregnant. In addition, the risk of miscarriage is higher for specific groups of women, such as older women, women with weight problems, women who have already miscarried, those who have contracted infections or who have immune response issues, and those who regularly use drugs, including alcohol and nicotine.

As a result, the implementation of fetal personhood laws would require unconstitutional discrimination and invasion of privacy. If a fertilized ovum has the same rights as a person after birth, each miscarriage (or failure to implant) would need to be scrutinized for intentional or reckless neglect. Detection would only be possible by registering all incidents of unprotected sex, and effective surveillance would require regular pregnancy testing, in particular of women at risk of miscarriage (think mandatory weekly pregnancy testing for women over 40 until they reach menopause). Of course, no one is advocating this.

Proponents of punitive pregnancy-related provisions have, however, successfully advocated for the growing surveillance of pregnant women from marginalized or stigmatized communities through social services, and in particular through medical providers. The organization National Advocates for Pregnant Women has documented the growing arsenal of state laws that treat drug use and addiction in pregnant women as a form of child abuse. Because health care providers in all states must report child abuse to the authorities, this reframing forces doctors and nurses to breach patient confidentiality for pregnant women who admit to struggling with drug use or addiction. The predictable result is a breakdown in the therapeutic relationship at best, and at worst, a reluctance to seek care at all for the women who arguably need it the most.

Many of these bills are pushed through without consulting the medical community, which is the case for the bill currently pending in New Hampshire. House hearings are under way, and both pediatricians and obstetric-gynecologists will testify to its predictably disastrous effects on the provision of addiction treatment and child welfare.

To be sure, both child abuse and drug addiction are serious matters, which require appropriate state support. Attempts to redefine drug use or addiction as child abuse in pregnant women, however, disregard the medical and psychological needs of both abused children and pregnant women. Advocates of such legislation are attempting to transform the fiction of fetal personhood into law by appropriating the problem of child abuse and punishing pregnant women in need of treatment for substance dependency or addiction.

A fetus is not a child and a womens right to choose an elective abortion should not be circumvented by legislating punishment for women in need of treatment for substance use disorders. Legislators should listen to the medical community. Whether the conversation is about elective abortion, treatment for substance use disorder, or any other medical intervention, decisions about care are best made by the patient in private consultation with her doctor.
CAMBRIDGE | A traffic stop on Cemetery Avenue late Monday led to the seizure of an unregistered handgun and the arrest of a Vermont man, police said.

Ashton McNeal, 28, of Bennington, Vermont, was arrested after he was stopped for driving a vehicle with a taillight out, Cambridge-Greenwich Police Chief George Bell said.

Cambridge-Greenwich Police Sgt. Jason Tefft determined there was marijuana in the vehicle, and during a search a loaded .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun was found in it, police said.

McNeal was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a felony, and non-criminal unlawful possession of marijuana and ticketed for driving with a taillight out, police said. He was arraigned and sent to Washington County Jail, but had posted bail as of Tuesday afternoon.

A permit is not needed for a handgun in Vermont, but is in New York.

McNeal is a former Cambridge resident.
Local union workers for Verizon Communications Inc. picketed in Glens Falls and Queensbury on Wednesday, joining thousands of others striking along the East Coast.

We dont really want to be out here, but its at the point where we have to be, said Rick Bachand, a union steward for Local 1104 who was in front of the Verizon building at the corner of Glen and Pine streets with about 15 others.

The company is incredibly profitable, and they are asking for major givebacks from the current contract, including taking away medical benefits and the ability to transfer people for up to two months, Bachand said.

Bachand, who has been with the company for 20 years and was a steward during the last strike in 2011, said his local represents about 50 telephone operators, while Local 1118 represents 35 technicians. The workers from Local 1118 were picketing at the Verizon store in Queensbury Plaza.

The two striking unions, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, represent installers, customer service employees, repairmen and other service workers.

In all, 39,000 members in nine Eastern states and Washington, D.C., went on strike Wednesday morning. Verizon Communications has a total workforce of more than 177,000 employees.

More than 99 percent of the striking employees work for the companys wireline business  its traditional landline phone service as well its fiberoptic network, which provides Internet, phone and video service. There is a small group of Verizon Wireless workers among the strikers, which gives the union the right to picket Verizon Wireless stores as well.

Mike Panzerino, a treasurer of Local 1118, said between 300 and 400 union members walked a picket line outside the companys office in downtown Albany, where workers set up an inflatable greedy pig and rat.

A spokesman for Verizon said the company is very disappointed that union leadership called a strike.

Spokesman Rich Young said Verizon has been trying to work with union leadership for the past few months to come up with a fair contract. He said, Unfortunately, they have been unwilling to negotiate in good faith and have now called this job action.

Young said Verizon has trained thousands of non-union workers to fill in for the striking workers.

We will be there for our customers, he said.

The unions say theyre striking because Verizon wants to freeze pensions, make layoffs easier and rely more on contract workers.

The telecom giant has said there are health care issues that need to be addressed for both retirees and workers as medical costs have grown.

Bachand said in his opinion, Verizon continues to be profitable and any money saved from the givebacks would go to the stockholders.

They want to take the money away from the hard-working employees and give it to Wall Street. We disagree with them, he said.

Bachand said one of the other items the union is asking for is for Verizon to expand its broadband offerings in upstate New York.

That would be better for their customers, he said. If they expand the fiberoptic builds, that would give better service and give us job security.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.
FORT EDWARD  Despite a court settlement requiring it, defendants in Washington County still dont have full representation at their arraignments.

Thats because the state, which promised $200,000 for the effort, hasnt sent Washington County the money yet. It would be used to send public defenders and assistant district attorneys to late-night arraignments at courts throughout the county. They are already represented at subsequent hearings.

If the state never gives us the money, were not paying for anybody to go anywhere, said finance chairman and Hebron Supervisor Brian Campbell.

The county had been promised funding in connection to a plan for full representation, which the county submitted.

Its not going to be receipts or anything. Theyre going to pay upfront, Campbell said.

Hes unhappy that the promised funding has not yet arrived. County officials reported that theyve been told the contract connected to the funding has not yet been signed.

Officials from the state Comptrollers Office could not immediately determine what was causing the delay. That office advises municipalities to not spend money until it has a signed contract, saying that on risk spending is not a best practice.

Following that policy, county officials have not begun the costly program.

We dont know if well see any money this year, Campbell said. Were still on hold.

The changes are the result of a settlement in a lawsuit that named Washington County and four other counties for alleged inadequate representation of the indigent.

Despite the lack of funding, he said state officials have told the county to start offering representation at first appearance, generally an arraignment at which the defendant offers a plea of not guilty and bail could be set.

Prosecutors want to be there to argue for bail if defenders are there. Only defenders must be there.

For the prosecutors, the plan is to have assistant district attorneys on call on a rotating basis, using their personal cars to drive to far-flung courts. They would be paid mileage for their driving costs.

But county supervisors are still considering whether to hold people overnight instead at holding cells at the county building, so that they see a judge during normal working hours. That would avoid the cost of on-call personnel, but would add holding costs and would force anyone arrested on a crime to wait overnight before being released.

Due to judges schedules, Campbell said the county would still have to provide late-night arraignments on Friday and Saturday nights, so they would have to pay for on-call workers on those nights.

We have to look a little harder to see which one is more cost-effective for the county, he said.

As for people arrested having to wait overnight, he wasnt particularly concerned.

Another deterrent, right? he said.
Inventory needs to be managed and managed well, or you are going to get in recurring trouble, and lose your credibility and hard-earned conversions, whether 

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The Obuasi mine has been idle since 2014 after the company laid off thousands of workers.

Illegal miners in February encroached the north end of the AngloGold's mining concession which led to a scuffle leading to the dead of the company's communications director.

"Illegal miners have been looting large quantities of high-grade gold bearing material for more than two months." Eric Asubonteng, general manager of AngloGold Ghana Ltd, told a news conference.

According to him, not only are they looting, they are also causing "significant damage to critical infrastructure" in the process.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines Mr. Sulemanu Koney has blamed the inaction of security agencies for the increase in illegal mining activities on the concessions of AngloGold Ashanti, Oware Mines and Peresus Mines.
Companies such as Owere Mines , AngloGold Ashanti-Obuasi (AGA) Mine and Peresus Mines in Ayanfuri in recent months have seen an escalation of activities of illegal miners on their concessions, he said in an interview with Citi FM.We believe that the inaction at Obuasi has indirectly contributed to the invasion of the Owere Mines and nobody knows which company will be next, he added.

The government withdrew the military from the mine on Tuesday, 2 February, after an initial incursion on 30 and 31 January 2016 by illegal miners.

But AGA in a statement said:"The onus for ensuring safety and security of individuals and property in any country, and therefore restoring safety and security to the site, lies with the authorities," AGA said in a press statement."
Speaking to Pulse.com.gh, the Public Relations Officer of the GES, Reverend Jonathan Bettey explained that authorities of the school caught the students with a book against the school's Christian beliefs titled The Ministry of Angels and how to activate them.

"...When the authorities laid hands on those books, they ransacked the chop-boxes of the children, then gathered all those books. So they have collected the books they saw from the children," he said.

Reverend Betty added that pictures on social media about the students practising occultism were those of "final year students who completed last two years."

There were earlier reports this week of some 22 students from the Wesley Girls Senior High School in Cape Coast being allegedly caught practicing occultism.
The package dubbed, the returnee programme, is a Ministry of Health initiative.

Mr Alex Segbefia, Minister of health who announced this during the commissioning of the new Shai Osudoku hospital, in Dodowa explained that these activities are expected to provide an excellent patient care to all especially those who patronize the facility.

The Ministry of Health is equally seeking best practices in the management of middle level hospitals with the view of instituting functional management structures for effective running of the facility right from the onset, Mr Segbefia said.

In the same vein, the Ministry of Health says it will provide resources for the training and retraining of staff for the facility.

Hospital Maintenance

Minister of Health, Mr. Alex Segbefia also announced that the facility will continue to receive maintenance from its main contractors, NMSI.

The deal he said forms part of the contract to provide a three year engineering and maintenance service of the 120 bed capacity hospital.

Efforts, Mr Segbefia said would be made to facilitate technology transfer to in-house technical staff to continue with Planned Preventive Maintenance of the hospital equipment at the end of the deal.

In 2015, over a 150 clinical staff received a 4-week training programme to promote a safe and effective use of the medical equipment and to understand Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), user manuals and maintenance requirements when they move to the new hospital.

Commissioning

Commissioning the facility, President John Dramani Mahami remarked that Ghanas 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.
We are less than 15 in the whole country and we work in outpatient and freestanding laboratories to diagnose ailments for doctors in the consulting rooms to prescribe appropriate medication, he revealed.

He also stressed that the performance of autopsies is the least of job specifications of a pathologist. Autopsies do not only determine the deceaseds cause of death but also help to discover more information about the genetic progression of a disease as well preventive measures closely related family can take.

According to him, the fact that they were working behind the scenes does not indicate they are irrelevant in healthcare delivery in the country. He stated that, doctors would not be able to provide adequate prescription to various ailments if it were not for the help from pathologist.
The decision was taken after a crunch meeting with staff of the hospital on Tuesday, Accra-based Joy FM has reported.

Scores of patients and staff of the Tamale Teaching Hospital last week rejected moves by the hospital to privatize its laboratory services.

The patients argued that access to healthcare in the region will be very expensive if laboratory services were privatised.

The transaction was said to be a part of a Private Public Partnership (PPP) agreement where the private company who receive the contract will ensure the efforts of hospital management are complemented leading to quality of service to its clients.
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Over the years, the Ghanaian gospel music scene has seen a transformation from the traditional highlife and reggae rhythm to the fusion of the hip-hop element and culture. Musicians who fall under this category mostly sing or rap in English with the lyrics more focused on praising God.

Pioneers of this new genre were subjected to criticisms by a section of the public who asserted that their style was rather worldly. Despite claims that such genre of gospel music was for the night club which is against Christian norms, the gospel musicians have firmly stood by their reason.

I did the hip-hop styled gospel song 'Praise the Lord' to solve the problems of the youth. Instead of going to the night clubs to listen and dance to hip-hop music, they will go to the church since the songs are similar but with a different message Even Jesus Christ was criticised so I don't have any problem with criticism. People criticised my 'Jama' styled Gospel music but later they accepted and loved it. That is the same way they will accept this 'hip-hop' styled music, Pastor Josh Laryea known for his hit song, Ngboo, said on GTV's Next Level in 1994.

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His reason is not anything different from new act, Kojo Bentil who asserts that, This type of music is not parallel to the traditional Ghana Gospel that has been around for years. This is more contemporary and appeals both to the ordinary secular man and to the people of faith. The target is not just to reach out to church folks only as it has been the usual norm. This is to go beyond to reach out to everyone out there.

Even before this period, Esther Smith had carved a niche for herself with her R&B style of Ghanaian gospel music.

Her songs were however not criticised because she sang in the local dialect [Twi] which made the people relate to it.

Currently, artistes in this bracket seem to be excelling as they have chalked remarkable successes. In 2013, Cwesi Otengs Mercy Project won him Album of the Year at the Ghana Music Awards. He was also adjudged Artiste of the Year (West Africa) and the Male Artiste of the Year at the 2014 African Gospel Music Awards (AGMA).

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Music group, Royal Priesthood has also won a number of International Awards. In 2013, their track, His Joy which features Ken Ken was adjudged Best International Hip-hop Song at the Gospel Music Awards, Italy. They also won Best International Artistes at the 2014 Sceptres Awards, Nigeria. In 2015, their album, New Wine was voted Best International Album at the Gospel Music Awards (Italy) and Best Inspirational Group at the Africa Music Awards.

The likes of Akesse Brempong and Preachers have also registered their brands as urban gospel musicians.

But has it been fully accepted into our jurisdiction?

One of the challenges is that we have so many young guys doing urban gospel music with great talents, lyrics, energy and concepts but no producers and managers to pump money into their works. It is just a few that are trying to make headway. Because of that, DJs and radio presenters find it difficult to put together a playlist of quality urban gospel songs for their shows We thank the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards for nominating some of our artistes but I think a more permanent way is to create a category for the few urban gospel artistes that are doing well, Royal Priesthood told Pulse.com.gh.

Notwithstanding the little support given to their music videos, one can state that there has been a vast improvement on what existed in the past.

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In previous years, most gospel music videos lacked storylines and were mostly shot close to fountains.

Currently, many of the Ghanaian gospel music videos are competing with the secular music videos. The improvement in costume, editing, special effects and other features accompanying gospel music videos cannot be overemphasised.

It is therefore not surprising that Cwesi Otengs Mercy music video won Best Gospel Video of the Year category at the 2011 Vodafone 4Syte TV Music Video Awards.
Lawyers of the businessman say, in spite of their clients acquittal of all wrong doing in relation to the award of a 51.2 million wrongfully paid him by the state in judgment debt, the individuals are still making comments casting him in negative light and portraying him as a criminal.

The individuals mentioned in the suit are Anthony Karbo of the New Patriotic Party, Kwaku Baako Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide and Nana Akomea, communications director of the NPP.

But, in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, Anthony Karbo said he will continue to speak about the case until the money is retrieved.

We will continue to have this discussion and no amount of court threats from Mr. Woyome can silent any Ghanaian. The discussion about Woyome is going on in drinking bars, it is going on in the workplaces, market square, everywhere and the Supreme Court of the land has asked that these monies should be paid back.

"Unfortunately our government has developed cold feet in the fight to recover the money and so we will continue to talk about the money.
The suspect is being investigated by Ivorian security agencies.

A security alert sent to all Ghana's security agencies dated April 9 2016, and seen by Pulse.com.gh said Intelligence gathered by the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), indicates a possible terrorist attack on the country is real.

Ghana and Togo are the next targets after the attacks in Burkina Faso and Cote dIvoire, the report said.

The choice of Ghana is to take away the perception that only francophone countries are targeted.

The Ivorian security agencies investigating the attack on the Grand Bassam, gathered that the terrorists mode of entry into countries with their explosives and weapons is through concealment.

They enter through approved and unapproved entry points. In the Ivorian attacks they reportedly entered from Mali using Niger registered 44 vehicle. They reportedly concealed their weapons and grenade in the vehicles compartment for a spare tyre, padded with cushions and bubbled wraps to keep them stable and prevent noise.

Following the real threat of the attack based on the information from Cote DIvoire; the NSCS has directed all controls, especially the northern borders with Burkina Faso to be extra vigilant.

The statement asked all security agencies to treat the instructions as important calling for thorough profiling of all people coming from high risk countries, including Mali, Libya and Niger.

The security alert statement was followed by a prophecy by the founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet T.B Joshua, predicting a possible terrorist attack on Ghana and Nigeria.

The renowned prophet, who gave the prophecy during a Sunday service on April 10 broadcast live on his Emmanuel TV channel, thus asked his congregation to pray for the two nations in a bid to forestall such plans by the enemy.

TB Joshuas prophesy comes on the back of a similar terror alert issued by the National Security Council in March, which said countries within the West African sub-region are at risk.

The Council said based on intelligence from other agencies, it has every reason to believe that countries including Ghana is at risk.
Because of prudent economic management, even though Ghana is experiencing a drop in the price of the oil that we export, we have sustained a drop in the price of our gold exports for almost four to five years now. You will notice that our economy still remains resilient and is not facing the kind of crisis that we are seeing in other parts of the world and that means that economic management of the economy has been good, the president said.

But, a Member of Parliaments Finance Committee, Kweku Kwarteng, has said the president's mission is only to deceive Ghanaians.

The President did not just get it wrong,I think the President is on a mission to mislead Ghanaians. To start with, this is clearly a President and a government sort of thing.. he is looking for excuses that cannot come.

Instead of assessing the circumstances that took us to the IMF, the president is beating his chest. We have more economic activities now so we should be reaping benefits but we arent, he told Accra-based Citi FM.
These four round spots form a symmetry with four other similar spots on the background, creating an abstract image of eight people in a circle with their hands lifted.

However, some media practitioners are reported to have kicked against the new logo when it was unveiled to them at a capacity workshop organized by the EC on the November polls.

According to them, the EC should revert to the old logo as they argue the new one gives no idea about the job of the EC at first sight.
The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party ordered a rerun of all the constituency elections, citing a Supreme Court ruling, which nullified the partys existing voter's register.

But, party members, including polling station executives, electoral area coordinators, and constituency executives have resisted the move and have warned of bloodbaths if the partys NEC dares hold the rerun.

In an interview on Radio Ghana, the NPPs Ashanti Regional General Secretary, Sam Pyne called on party members to remain calm as the executives meet with factions involved in the impasse in order to find an amicable solution towards the matter.

"They should be calm. The party will take decisions that will be in the best interest of the party. We are not looking at individual and partisan interest, but we are looking at what will be in the best interest of the people," he added.

The angry executives over the weekend, clad in red armbands and head gear wielded machetes and stones and chanted war songs to protest the intended re-run.
This comes on the back of complaints by some sections of the public about the exact nature of work between the two bodies after the Minister of Interior, Prosper Bani, issued a statement in which he claimed the company transmitted tallied results to the EC.

According to the party, the EC needs to clarify issues in order to ensure transparency ahead of the November polls.

But, the Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission in charge of Finance and Administration, Georgina Opoku Amankwaa, has told journalists that the company, STL was never involved in the transmission of election results but with the management and maintenance of biometric voter machines.

Transmission of results was never the work of STL and Dr. Afari Gyan, former Chairman of the Commission had always been emphatic on this fact.

The commission has never come out to say that what Afari Gyan put out there is not true; that is not why the commission did not speak about whatever is coming out because we have given our position and it has been made clear all this time that STL never transmitted results for the commission," she said.
As of July 2015, there are 1,031 such sites around the world with Italy being home to the most number of sites - 51.

Back home in Africa, there are a total of 135 sites located in 37 countries, with Ethiopia and Morocco having the highest number of sites - 9 each.

World Heritage Sites are significant in that they offer us a glimpse into history and also serve as tourist attractions.

If you're a lover of culture and history looking for tourist attractions with historical and cultural significance, here are 7 UNESCO World Heritage sites you can check out right here in Africa.

1. Air and Tenere Natural Reserves, Niger Republic: This is Africa's largest protected area, located in the Saharan desert of Tenere. It consists of the volcanic rock mass of Air and a small isolated Sahelian pocket with unique flora and fauna. It was considered for delisting in 1999 owing to increased military conflicts and the hostage-taking of six reserve staff, but it still stands as a World Heritage Site.

2. Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata, Mauritania: This site was founded in the 11th and 12th centuries to serve the caravans crossing the Sahara, and the trading and religious centres became focal points of Islamic culture. It offers a glimpse into the life of the people of western Sahara and their nomadic culture.

3. Asante Traditional Buildings, Ghana: This site hosts the final intact remains of the Ashanti Empire which reigned supreme in the 18th century.

4. Banc d'Arguin National Park, Mauritania: This park park consists of sand dunes, coastal swamps, small islands, and shallow bodies of water; all bordering the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

5. Bassari, Fula and Bedik Cultural Landscapes, Senegal: This is a well-preserved multicultural landscape which emerged from the interaction of human activities and the natural environment.

6. Cidade Velha, Historic Centre of Ribeira Grande, Cape Verde: This was the first European colonial outpost in the tropics, with remains dating back to the 16th century.
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According to the bereaved family, the boy was murdered by his school mates who had invited him to the hotel for a party, and dumped in the pool.

Their position, according to the family, is that when the boy reportedly drowned, the rest of the students who were dressed in all black at the function, did not raise any alarm and were about leaving the hotel premises when the security asked them about the last person in their team, but they casually said he was still enjoying himself inside the pool.

Here is a poser presented by a family member, Emeti Nyong, to the police:

'WHO KILLED UTIBEABASI IMOHOWO?'

"A week ago today, my sister-in-law's nephew, Utibeabasi Imohowo Sampson, was murdered by 7 children ages 14 to 16 at Pinnacle hotels, Edet Akpan Avenue Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

The murderers, including a girl, all dressed in black, had lured the 14-year-old boy to the hotel under the pretext of a get together, only for him to be left dead in the pool.

The heartless murderers who are students of Monef Secondary School, Uyo, and children of influential people in the state, were about leaving the hotel without their victim when the gate man who noticed they were 8 when they came in, accosted them and asked them of the eighth person.

The heartless demons mentioned casually that he may still be in the pool and laughed. Even if this boy drowned, why didn't they raise alarm and seek for help? Where were the staff?

The life guard said he went to ease himself, for how long? The police, as usual, are trying to cut corners.

When the case was transferred to the state police headquarters, the parents transported the children in their private cars instead of police vans.

The hotel is still open for business instead of being cordoned off and sealed for investigation. In saner climes the hotel management and staff would be investigated, but they are still going about their normal business.

The Nigerian police force is trying to play games with the boy's family.

Why didn't the hotel staff chase away 7 underage children dressed in all black? A boy that drowned did not swallow water but had blood and foam spewing from his mouth; there was no alarm raised by his purported friends, the hotel staff claimed not to have heard or seen anything.

I want the whole world to hear of the mysterious death of this bright, promising boy whose life was cut short because he refused to be by 7 heartless, spawns of the devil.

Their parents are fighting tooth and nail to make sure their children are freed while Utibeabasi is lying cold in the morgue, his family in tears.

His mother is inconsolable. The whole circumstances smirks of foul play. May Jehovah, the almighty God, the all seeing, fight for us.
What do you think he should do to such an aunt?

Read his letter here:

"My name is Kufre and I am a 46-year-old man from Akwa Ibom State. I graduated from the University of Calabar about 24 years ago and I was looking forward to a better life from myself and my family but all those dreams have been shattered due to family curses.

After my youth service in Kaduna State, I moved down to Lagos and got a job with an oil company with great perks; I had an official car, house, driver and opportunity to travel abroad twice a year.

But just after six months, I was sacked with no cogent reasons. That was the beginning of my travails in life as I have drifted from one menial job to the other to make ends meet. The wife I managed to get married to left me when she could no longer cope with my poverty stricken life.

My parents have even given up on me as I have not been able to provide for them while other family members have abandoned me. It gets so bad I have even contemplated suicide several times.

But three months ago, a friend took me to a spiritual church run by an Akwa Ibom pastor and during the service, the man called me out and to my surprise, he told me everything that has been happening in my life and gave me a one week dry fasting and assignment.

At the end of the fasting and assignment, the pastor revealed to me that my aunt, my father's elder sister, placed a curse on me that I would not amount to anything in my life after she had spiritually seen that I had a very bright future.

I remembered that when I worked in the oil company, I went home for a burial and gave her some money and it was when I came back to Lagos that my problems began.

The man of God has however, told me that the only solution to my problem is for my aunt to die but as much as I want a reversal of my destiny, I do not want her blood on my hands.

I do not know what else to do.

Kufre."

The teaser for the day was:

How Nigeria voted:

11% - I will kill him/her

58% - I will battle him/her spiritually

31% - I will report to other family members
Sabi said That we say it (Lagos-Calabar rail project) is not in the budget does not undermine the fact it is very important.

We have proffered a way forward. Bring a supplementary budget regarding this project or anyother one. We are more than willing take it and cooperate. National Assembly is open whenever the Executive bringa the supplementary budget.

But we must be guided by constitution. We have passed the budget. Nigerians are asking what next. The budget should be signed.

Section 81 of the Constitution takes care of a situation where there is omission or shortfalls. Sign the budget and submit a supplementary proposal.

The Senate spokesman also said Its just for somebody to admit there is error. Why shouldnt you ask why it was not in original budget? Why is it wrong to admit error when you committed a mistake?

President Buhari earlier accused the National Assembly of removing the Lagos-Calabar railway project from the budget, an allegation the lawmakers vehemently denied.

See Pulse Photo Gallery below.
AI made the call on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, through its Country Director in Nigeria, M.K. Ibrahim.

The horrific revelation by the Kaduna State government that hundreds of Shiites were gunned down and dumped in mass graves is an important first step to bringing all those suspected of criminal responsibility for this atrocity to trial, Ibrahim said.

It is now imperative that the mass grave sites are protected in order that a full independent forensic investigation can begin. The bodies must be exhumed and Nigerian authorities should immediately reveal the whereabouts of those held in unacknowledged detention and either charge or release them, he added.

Details of the mass burial were provided by Secretary to the Kaduna State Government, Balarabe Lawal on Monday, April 11.

The Shiites and the army clashed after members of the group allegedly attempted to assassinate Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai.

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This is in reaction to the advise by leaders of the South-East chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), urging pro-Biafra agitators to forget the cause and join hands with the present administration to build a united and formidable Nigeria.

As contained in a statement released after a meeting in Enugu State on Friday, April 8, the APC leaders appealed to MASSOB, Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) and other Biafra groups to drop the idea of breaking away from Nigeria.

We call on all the groups agitating for separation from Nigeria, particularly the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra to rethink and abandon the idea, and join other ethnic groups in building a formidable Nigeria where all Nigerians will be equally treated in line with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the APC Chieftains said.

Present at the meeting were Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige; a former Governor of the old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo; a former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Emeka Wogu; a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Agunwa Anakwe, among others.

In a statement by MASSOB National Director of Information, Samuel Edeson, the group said the politicians only care about their personal interests.

The statement read: MASSOB wishes to reply the South-East APC over the call on MASSOB/IPOB to abandon the idea of agitating for the independence of Biafra and to join them in building Nigeria.

MASSOB is calling on the Ndigbo and all Biafrans to disregard these Abuja politicians who have no conscience. All they are interested in are their personal interests.

The group wondered why the politicians did not show concern about the heinous activities of Fulani herdsmen in the South-East, yet asking Biafra agitators to abandon their struggle.

None of them can beat his chest boldly and say that this is what I have done for the Ndigbo. While calling MASSOB and IPOB to drop the Biafra agenda, they left Fulani herdsmen that have been killing our people, raping our women and destroying our farmland at will.

We will no longer allow these Abuja politicians to come to Igboland and deceive our people in the name of fighting for Igbo presidency. None of these men who claimed to be heavyweight politicians has ever challenged the evil done to our people.

The Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, all the federal roads and railway lines in the South-East are deathtraps.

They have never for one day spoken against the abandoned projects in Igboland. They have now run to APC where their sins will be covered, Edeson said.
According to the Army spokesman, Col. Sani Usman,Troops of 152 and 155 Task Force Battalions of Operation Lafiya Dole in conjunction with troops of Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) from Cameroon, conducted a massive joint clearance operation on suspected Boko Haram terrorists camps on Monday along Nigeria-Cameroon borders.

The unprecedented clearance operation swept through over 10 suspected terrorists hideouts along the border.

Usman also said 22 terrorists were killed in the operation.

He said During the operation, the troops cleared Nbaga, Bula, Dabube, Ybiri, Greya and Suduwa towns and other adjoining settlements.

The towns and settlements were occupied by fleeing Boko Haram terrorists who escaped from villages previously cleared by troops of the Nigerian Army.

Adding that The troops also rescued 1,275 persons held hostage by the terrorists.

The rescued persons are being administered and screened by 152 Task Force Battalion pending onward movement to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps.

It is gratifying to note that the operation was a huge success as there was no casualty or injury on the side of the troops.

The Nigeria Air Force fighter jets F-7NI has destroyed the logistics base of Boko Haram in Kangarawa, Borno State.

See Pulse Photo Gallery below.
The President stated this on Wednesday, April 13, while speaking to members of the Nigerian Community in Beijing, China.

"I ask for your support to make our vision of stamping out corruption a reality in the shortest possible time. Whoever is caught will not be spared," Buhari said.

"The government is still being dared, but those who are sensible should have learnt a lesson. Those who are mad, let them continue in their madness. I am aware that in the last two weeks, the national grid collapsed a number of times. I hope this message will reach the vandals and saboteurs who are blowing up pipelines and installations. We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram."

He assured the Nigeria Community that his administration is doing everything possible to find a lasting solution to the current economic crisis.

"Clearly, our vision of a diversified and inclusive economy will not be achieved overnight. It will be a long, and in some cases, painful journey. I am very confident we will get there. But we must start that journey now.

"We hear proposals for short cuts or quick wins. However, all we need to do is look at our history to know that there are no quick wins or short cuts in fixing Nigeria. The many decades of damage and destruction cannot be repaired overnight.

"The reform program we are implementing is not because oil prices are below $45 per barrel today. It is because when oil prices were over $100 per barrel, majority of Nigerians were still suffering. They were simply forgotten and left behind. So, our reforms are to ensure that the majority of Nigerians are not left behind," the President said.

On Boko Haram, Buhari said: "When we came into office in 2015, Boko Haram insurgents occupied 14 Local Government Areas. Today, I am pleased to say the insurgents have been routed out of these local governments and their capacity to fight as a force has been significantly degraded.

"We will continue working hard to ensure that the group is eliminated. This is achievable. And we will not settle for anything less."
Arkwright made the comment while receiving members of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group at the UK Embassy in Abuja.

My heart goes to the parents of the abducted girls. Two years is too long for the families to be suffering. The UK, the British government have not abandoned the Chibok girls, he said.

What I can say is that we are doing everything we can, including in the area of intelligence in their effort with the Nigerian government to rescue the girls. Two years on, that is not an easy tasks but what we are doing and we will continue to do is to work with Nigerian government to help to find and locate the girls.

We will look for other ways we can provide them help. I will go back to London with a very strong message you have given me, that you are looking on to the UK to reinforce that help.

I cant comment on the position of the current Nigerian government but what I do know is that they are concerned about the girls. I have spoken to senior people in the government.

What I can say to you is that we have not forgotten the girls. We are doing everything we can to help find the girls. We will look for other ways we can provide them help. I will go back to London with a very strong message you have given me, that you are looking on to the UK to reinforce that help.

I will not agree that the UK drop this issue after a couple of months after 2015. But that is in the past. We need to look to the future and see how we can help. You have my pledge that i will do whatever I could to help the parents.

The suffering has gone for far too long. I know that there are other people who were taken hostage by the Boko Haram sect, not just the Chibok girls. We will see what we can do for all the hostages.

We will engage again. We have a minister coming in the next few days. You will meet with him and have another opportunity then to talk to him about what concrete step we can take, he added.

The Chibok girls were abducted on April 14, 2014, and most of them remain in captivity.

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The minister said The government has learned with shock and dismay of a defamatory article in a Nigerian newspaper against the Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation to Nigeria.

I wish to state categorically that the government has no knowledge whatsoever of any of the matters discussed in the article and could therefore not have authorized anyone to speak on its behalf in respect of them.

He also said With regard to the defamatory article, the government has ordered an investigation and appropriate measures will be taken for any wrongdoing. It is to be emphasised that Nigeria and Switzerland enjoy very cordial relations.

Mayooraz reportedly arrived Nigeria in 2015, with a Brazilian man, Mr Carlos, who reports say is his partner.

See Pulse Photo-News Gallery below.
Testifying before Justice Angela Otakula of the High Court in Lugbe, Abuja, Emenalo said The money I collected from Mr. Otedola was meant to be an exhibit to prove that members of the ad hoc committee were being pressurised and I informed my Chiarman (Lawan) and handed over the money to him (my chairman).
This was disclosed by the NNPCs Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Garba-Deen Mohammed while speaking to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, April 12, 2016.

Port Harcourt (refinery) has been refining for quite a while now, from last week, between three and five million litres. We expect Kaduna to begin any time from now, and we also have vessels discharging fuel. And so, all these combined measures will bring down the situation, Mohammed said according to Punch.

When you have this kind of situation, people will naturally get agitated; but people are getting calm now because they know the supply gap has now been bridged and it is a question of distribution now, he added.

Mohammed also said that the situation would be fully resolved by the end of the week.

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Akubuiroh noted that no arrest was made during the operation that lasted severally hours, stating that items recovered included, four generators, three pumping machines, standing fan, among others.

He noted that the operation was carried out following an intelligent report and was painstakingly planned to avoid leakage. The commandant, however, warned economy "saboteurs" that the state was no longer a safe haven for them.

He appealed to community leaders to always report any suspicious activity in their area to law enforcement agencies.

"This people are economy saboteurs who must not be allowed to continue with their unwholesome activities. As far as I am concerned, vandals have no place in Edo. The state is no longer safe for them to operate.

"I must also appeal to community leaders not to allow their farm land and forest be destroyed by these economy saboteurs. They should report any suspicious movement in their area.
The DSS recently alleged that its agents discovered a mass grave containing Hausa-Fulani residents allegedly killed by members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in Abia state.

IPOB in a statement, said Governor Rochas Okorochass is proof that the DSS report was false.

Governors Okezie Ikpeazu and Rochas Okorocha of Abia and Imo states respectively, disagreed with the DSS report on the killing of Fulani herdsmen in Abia state.

Okorocha said On the issue of the killing of five Fulani men that has caused tension, the culprits have been arrested and will be dealt with under the law as well as made to pay the ultimate price.

Information reaching us reveal that it is not just five Fulani men as there are two corpses believed to be Igbos from the area, so it is not a direct attack on any ethnic group.

Speaking further on the DSS report, IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, Mr. Emma Powerful said While these people continue to make public fool of themselves, the world awaits season two of this epic movie. No amount of false accusations or fire brigade efforts to quench them, when they backfire, can stop our march to freedom. God is with us and freedom remains our goal."

Adding that A grave allegation of killing in cold blood and burying five Northerners was heaped on the IPOB by the DSS. Nigerians from the six geo political zones and foreigners alike, screamed foul. As the world reflects on the implications of this epic movie on our consciousness, the 22 million IPOB faithful from Benue to Delta, from Kogi to Bayelsa and beyond, plead with the international community to kindly and quickly investigate the corpses (if any) found by the DSS and conduct a thorough DNA coroner inquest, just to confirm to the world, what we have always known, which is; that God, the creator of Heaven and Earth, will certainly expose the remaining corpses of the over 200 IPOB members killed between November 2015 and February 10, 2016.

Governor Olusegun Mimiko has also called on President Buhari to look into the continuous attacks by Fulani herdsmen across Nigeria.

See Pulse Photo Gallery below.
The Daily Sun reports that the Commander-General of Niger-Delta Ex-militants, Mr. Uzoma Bobby Chukwuka said We, therefore, ask the authorities responsible for the amnesty programme to document us and train and treat us as others or return all our surrendered work tools or they have asked us to go back to the creeks or our major den.

We are ready to die for this shameful deceit if our demands are not met in good time.The Niger Delta Ex-militants third batch, Imo State chapter is calling for equity and fair pay. We wish to inform the general public that since 2011 till now that we accepted the amnesty, we surrendered all our arms and this is on record with JTF under the supervision of Caption T.C Okon at 34 Artillery Brigade, Obinze.

Our colleague in other part of Niger Delta Region have been enjoying the amnesty programme why we were abandoned in Imo state.

Following an intervention by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu in February 2016, 1,500 Niger Delta militants reportedly laid down their arms and decided to embrace the Federal Government sponsored amnesty program.

See Pulse Photo Gallery below.
The leaked document belonging to a Panama based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, exposed many top political leaders and business individuals from all around the world, who maintained shell companies in tax havens.

According to the EFCC Director of Information, Mr. Osita Nwaja,These papers (Panama Papers) did not emanate from Nigeria but they touch the lives of the people of Nigeria and corruption as well as money laundering have gone beyond national borders as we are seeing from these papers.

The EFCC is not just a Nigerian organisation. The work that we do goes beyond national borders. So this request will be looked into along with other requests by other well-meaning Nigerians along the already charted course of Mr. President which is zero tolerance to corruption, zero tolerance to impunity, zero tolerance to the abuse of public office and continued subjugation of the Nigerian people.

Nigerians who were allegedly named in the documents include Africas richest man, Aliko Dangote, former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, former Senate President, David Mark and wife of Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Toyin Saraki.

See Pulse Photo-News Gallery below.
According to Sony, the movie which finds its way to theatres on July 7, 2017, is titled Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Sony made the announcement on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, at CinemaCon, giving a title to the film which stars undefinedas Peter Parker, and undefinedthe adoptive mother of Peter Parker.

ALSO READ: undefined

Before that, Spider-Man will make his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Marvels Captain America: Civil War, which debuts in theaters on May 6.

ALSO READ: undefined

To be directed by Jon Watts, the next Spider-Man film debuts in theaters in IMAX and 3D on July 28, 2017. Sony Pictures will finance and release the next installment of the $4 billion Spider-Man franchise on July 28, 2017.Spider-Man is currently the most successful franchise in the history of Sony Pictures.
The Senate recently called on Amaechi to resign after the legislators were accused of removing provisions for the Lagos-Calabar rail project from the budget.

The Rivers PDP, via a statement released by its Chairman, Felix Obuah however urged Amaechi to stay on in office to show the world how badly behaved he is.

The statement reads:

We believe its rather too early to begin to quarrel with Rotimi Amaechi or call for his resignation when he is yet to fix the Nigeria he promised would be changed by his new found love, the almighty APC in matter of months. Again, Amaechi remains our beloved son who said he single-handedly sponsored and made His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, President and he is yet to recoup the billions of Rivers money he invested into the project.

Amaechi also said he planned to construct the controversial Lagos-Calabar rail line modernization project to empower the APC members in the South-South. This lofty dream will not be actualized if he resigns now. 

Though the National Assembly members may feel hurt by Amaechis ingratitude after it had accepted to deliberate over the later included supplementary budget which he later went public to claim was contained in the original budget proposal, thereby portraying the federal lawmakers as partial and discriminatory, the main reason for Amaechis mischief was to create the impression that he has the interest of the South/South people at heart which is a fallacy.

I am happy that Amaechi has carried his antics of setting brother against brother to the very Senate that screened and confirmed his ministerial appointment. I want the lawmakers to use same to reflect on all the submissions by not only the PDP, but also the people, the civil society and concerned citizens etc, before they went on to confirm his (Amaechi) appointment despite several allegations of corruption and breaches of the Rule of law by Amaechi.

This is the kind of falsehood, mischief and misrepresentation we have been contending with, from Chibuike Amaechi which his allies and the All Progressives Congress, APC have continued to deny and good a thing, he is now exhibiting same character to his appointees and this is just the beginning.

The issue is not whether or not Amaechi should resign as a minister or tender apology to the National Assembly, but this should serve as an eye opener and a pointer to the crisis he (Amaechi) instigated in Rivers State that brought about the panel of inquiry that indicted him of a myriad of alleged corrupt practices and fraudulent engagements while he served as governor in Rivers State for eight solid years.

We have said it times without number that Amaechi cannot change his true colour under President Buhari and must remain a cog in the wheel of progress. His early resignation will hardly free the APC members and the unrepentant Amaechi apologists from the world of theories which is not good for the country. The taste of the pudding they say, is in the eating, while experience remains the best teacher. Please let Amaechi be!

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In a statement issued by the Governor's spokesman, Lere Olayinka, on Wednesday, April 13, Fayose's trip to the Asian nation is to attend the 119th China Import and Export Fair, otherwise known as the Canton Fair holding between April 14 and 19.

In trying to justice the trip, Olayinka said the Governor had only travelled out of the country twice since he assumed office in October 2014 and this trip to China makes it the third.

He said it is part of Fayose's goal to to boost agriculture and improve technological expertise of artisans in the state, adding that he is expected to seek partnership with potential investors and technical experts without recourse to any loan.

On the other hand, Buhari's trip to China is to sign a loan infrastructure projects deal worth about $2 billion and the low interest loan is to be deployed to finance the N3 trillion deficit in the budget.

The governor will hold talks with prospective investors in mechanised farming, experts in skill acquisition, particularly training in the area of perfect finishing in building construction as well as experts in auto-repairs modern technologies, Olayinka said.

The Canton Fair, which is held biannually in Guangzhou every spring and autumn, with a history of 59 years since 1957, attracts various types of business activities such as economic and technical co-operations and exchanges.
He made this comments following the recent exchange of words between the Senate and the presidency over the exclusion, if you will, of the Lagos-Calabar railway project from the 2016 budget.

Fayose said I warned Nigerians of the consequences of electing an octogenarian as president and with the international embarrassment that this budget crisis has become, I have been vindicated.

The Governor also said The reality is that the President is challenged by age, exposure and ability. He did not read the budget proposal that he presented to the National Assembly and this should be a lesson for those who clamoured for a Buharis presidency that no man can give what he does not have.

The question is; can a minister present supplementary budget to the National Assembly and can the National Assembly act on budget proposal submitted by a minister?

Adding that It is shameful that after blaming former President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for close to one year, the presidency is now blaming the National Assembly for its inability to prepare a common budget.

Ayo Fayose also said President Muhammadu Buhari does not have luck.

See Pulse Photo Gallery below.
Sahara Reporters alleges that the amendment is a plot by Senators loyal to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to get him off the hook.

Saraki is currently before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) over a 13 count charge of false assets declaration.

The sponsor of the bill, Nwaoboshi has dismissed the allegations saying The intent is not because of what is happening (to Saraki); it is because we want to save Nigerians. We want Nigerians to see. You cannot put a quasi judicial arm under the control of the SGF, who is a politician appointed by the President, doing political job. Then, you put him in charge.

He also said We want to save Nigerians from overzealous politicians. The Code of Conduct Tribunal and the Code of Conduct Bureau now is under the Office of the Secretary to the Federal Government.

The Secretary to the Federal Government is a politician and can use it against political opponents or perceived political opponents. He oversees the CCB and the CCT, as they report to his office.

So, since the Supreme Court in its judgment has said that CCT is a court of some sort, it must be seen to be neutral in nature and should not report to a politician.

The Senator added that The CCB said you declare your asset upon assumption of office and when you are leaving office, you declare your asset.

Within the time you came to the office and the time you are leaving office, they must have investigated that your asset, what is left, is to investigate the asset declared when leaving office.

You do not just leave it for 100 years, then all of a sudden someone wakes up and says 56 years ago, you did not declare your asset. That should not be so.

The National Assembly is reported to have increased the budget of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) by over N4 billion.

A move many see as a bid to get the agency to soft pedal in the ongoing trial od Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

See Pulse Photo Gallery below.
In a statement made public by the secretary of Dr. (Mrs.) Taiwo Folasade Ipaye, explained the reasons for the various challenges being suffered by the school, while stating that the students have been kept abreast of the issues.

It debunked the statement by ULSU which alleged that the University vice chancellor was inaccessible during this crisis.

"The University wishes to reiterate that contrary to ULSUs claim of the inaccessibility of the Vice- Chancellor, the leadership of the students had unfettered access to the Vice-Chancellor. In fact, a meeting held in his office on 1st April, 2016 between 5.30pm and 7.30 pm. This informal discussion was at the behest of the ULSU President, , who met the Vice- Chancellor in company of two other members of ULSU executive. The meeting discussed various issues, " the statement said.

The senate also accused ULSU of making unreasonable demands such as "a new and befitting University Main gate; the purchase of a new bus for ULSU; the directive to the executive of cab operators to abdicate office" with the sole purpose of justifying "the premeditated move to truncate the Universitys academic calendar."

The statement then went ahead to explain why it is not to blame for all the challenges being faced by the varsity.

Electricity supply

"Until recently the University of Lagos had enjoyed a reasonably steady supply of electricity. It is a fact that the University, like every other part of the country, is now faced with the challenges of electricity and fuelsupply.

"Students at all times were kept abreast of government and Universitys efforts to improve the situation. SMS were sent on the LagMobile to all students to inform of the need to ration electricity to service critical areas such as classrooms, Library and hostels. The University currently has two units of 2,000KVA generating sets while the delivery of an additional two units of 2,000KVA generating sets is being awaited."

Rise in Commodities Prices

"The University has a Standing Committee that regulates and monitors the prices of commodities on Campus. The Committee, supervised by the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs, comprises ULSU Welfare Officers, food vendors, other commercial operators and representatives of the Dean of Student Affairs.

"Decisions arrived at by the Committee are enforced by the Committee itself. There are existing procedures for sanctioning violators of such decisions. It is curious that, to date, no violations have been reported by ULSU to the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs."

Shortage of Supply of Sachet Water on Campus

"The University of Lagos Ventures, the producers of sachet and bottled water, has been the only authorised supplier of sachet water to the University to guarantee quality of the water. Recently, it experienced a hitch in production on account of a valve problem with one of its equipment which led to shortages in supply. This resulted in complaints of inadequate supply from ULSU. ULSU unilaterally decided to bring into Campus another brand of sachet water which it sold to the students populace without any assurance of quality.

"The Vice-Chancellor, taking due cognisance of the possibility of health hazards from contaminated water, directed the Dean of Student Affairs to liaise with the Commercial Operators on the campus to come up with a laboratory-tested, NAFDAC certified brands to augment supplies. This was duly communicated to ULSU.

"As at the date of the protest, supply of sachet water on Campus was adequate with no complaints of any shortages from the student populace."

Intra-campus Transportation

"Intra-campus transportation is managed by Cab Operators. The University has a Regulatory Committee that moderates the fare and ensures the road worthiness of the vehicles. The Committee has student representation and no complaints were made to the Committee by ULSU on any matter that affects Students transportation on Campus. Recently, in a letter dated April 4, 2016, ULSU directed the Executive of the Cab Operators Union to abdicate office or face drastic measures- a matter not within their purview."

Electricity Supply

"Until recently the University of Lagos had enjoyed a reasonably steady supply of electricity. It is a fact that the University, like every other part of the country, is now faced with the challenges of electricity and fuelsupply.

Students at all times were kept abreast of government and Universitys efforts to improve the situation. SMS were sent on the LagMobile to all students to inform of the need to ration electricity to service critical areas such as classrooms, Library and hostels.

"The University currently has two units of 2,000KVA generating sets while the delivery of an additional two units of 2,000KVA generating sets is being awaited. Water Supply The University Management places a high premium on the regular supply of water to the hostels.

"Despite the lack of water supply from Lagos State Water Corporation, the University maintains a largely steady supply of water to the Halls of Residence using its own internal sources. The fact is that every hostel has its own borehole, from which it is serviced during emergencies."

After giving the explanations above, the management expressed its confusion as to why the students had to engage on a protest on April 6th and 7th, 2016.

"In , Student leaders put the University under siege for over 48 hours when they locked the Universitys two gates.

"This act caused untold hardship to families and pupils of the nursery, primary and secondary schools on campus who, after closing for the day, were prevented from going to their homes until about 11.00 pm.

"More alarming is the fact that the protesting students invaded the UNILAG Ventures and water production factory to beat up the staff and cart away countless number of bottled water packets.

"The University Senate, in an emergency meeting to deliberate on the crisis, arranged for a delegation of Senate comprising all serving and former Deans present, led by the highly revered Professor Akin Oyebode, to persuade the Student officials to suspend the protest and opt for dialogue.

"Rather, the protesters, some of who surprisingly wore masks, threw empty water bottles and other objects at the delegation and failed to listen to any appeal for negotiation.

"For the first time in the history of the University of Lagos, a Students protest extended until very late in the night. Indeed, masked protesters surrounded the University Council Chamber, where the Vice-Chancellor was presiding over the meeting of the Senate until well after 10.00 pm.

"It is worth recalling that in the last seven months, there have been occasional protests organised by ULSU which were contained by dialogue, none of which led

"This protest started on Wednesday, April 6, continued on Thursday April 7 with ULSU making good its threat to sustain the protest on Friday April 8, 2016.

"Vehicles were hijacked by identifiable ULSU officials and driven recklessly all over the Campus thereby endangering the lives of members of the community.

"Classes were violently disrupted in various faculties by identifiable ULSU officials, who harassed lecturers and also tore up students scripts in places where tests were being administered such as in the Faculties of Business Administration and Science.

"It is a fact that some of the ULSU officials are being investigated for numerous misdemeanours. It is notfar-fetched to see why this minuscule group teamed up with some others who were recently expelled for forgery, and others facing police investigation for suspected homicide, to forment trouble and disrupt the academic calendar."

The senate said, due to all these, it felt justified in suspending all school activities from Friday, April 8, with the intention of avoiding further breakdown of law and order. It added that, "in spite of the order, ULSU officials took over the two University gates and locked up the hostels to prevent law abiding students from obeying the Senate order."
Opurum was allegedly murdered by a member of the Port Harcourt police force during a UNIPORT students protest.

In a statement issued yesterday, April 12, TUC state chairman, Comrade Hyginus Chika Onuegbu urged the university management, the Rivers State Commissioner for Police, the Inspector General of Police and the Minister of Education to find those responsible for the killing.

The statement reads in part, The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) Rivers State condemns in its entirety, the unwarranted killing today of a who were on a peaceful protest. We are worried that if these unarmed protesting students will be killed in cold blood, then there is no guarantee that protesting workers or citizens will not be killed.

We note that students all over the world have the right to protest. And as a matter of fact, the right to peaceful protest is protected by the Nigerian constitution.

We want to state categorically that if within 14 days our demand is not met, we shall convene an emergency TUC State Council meeting and invite the State Council to take a decision on this matter, including the decision to withdraw the services of all our members in Rivers State.
Critics in the opposition Labour Party said Culture and Media Secretary John Whittingdale should have given up responsibility for press regulation matters when he learnt that reporters had the potentially damaging story.

"It seems the press were quite deliberately holding a sword of Damocles over John Whittingdale," said Labour lawmaker Chris Bryant, who has campaigned on the issue of press intrusion.

"He has a perfect right to a private life but as soon as he knew this he should have withdrawn from all regulation of the press," he said.

Whittingdale said he had a relationship in 2013-2014, before he took up his current post, with a woman he met on a dating website. He did not know she was a sex worker, and when he found out he ended the relationship.

"It has never had any influence on the decisions I have made as culture secretary," Whittingdale said in a statement.

The row comes at a bad time for the government. The ruling Conservatives are split over EU membership ahead of a referendum on the issue in June, and Prime Minister David Cameron is under pressure for having held a stake in an offshore fund.

Press regulation has been a highly political issue in Britain since a huge scandal over illegal phone-hacking by tabloid reporters in 2011 lifted the lid on close ties between politicians, police and certain sections of the media.

A lengthy public inquiry ordered by Cameron made recommendations on how to improve press regulation, many of which have not been implemented.

The suggestion from Whittingdale's critics is not that he did anything wrong in his private life, but rather that he may have been soft on media because he knew that newspapers had the embarrassing story about him.

Hacked Off, a group campaigning against press intrusion, said the public could no longer have faith in his judgment and independence in making decisions about the media.

The newspapers that had the story included the Sun and the Mail on Sunday, which have published many stories about the private lives of politicians in the past.

They said they had decided not to publish this one because there was no public interest.

"There appeared to be absolutely no conflict of interest here. John Whittingdale wasn't in government at the time he had this relationship, and there was no moral rule broken here," the Sun's political editor Tom Newton Dunn told Sky News television.
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.
A medical marijuana establishment in Pahrump has set its eyes on a new location, but some nearby residents said the addition will not benefit the neighborhood.

A medical marijuana establishment in Pahrump has set its eyes on a new location, but some nearby residents said the addition will not benefit the neighborhood.

A request to move the establishment from 2801 E. Thousandaire Blvd. to 9680 S. Oakridge Ave. was approved at the last Nye County board of commissioners meeting after Amanda Connor, agent for Nye Natural Medicinal Solutions made a request to the board.

The location at South Oakridge Avenue is an existing site of a medical marijuana cultivation facility for CW Nevada and already has a special use permit.

Nye Natural Medicinal Solutions proposed to utilize a few PharmPods to grow medical marijuana at its cultivation facility and to expand its cultivation facility into a greenhouse, according to the letter.

The proposed cultivation facility will be located in two portable PharmPods that are designed and created for growing plants indoors, Connor said in a letter.

Nye Natural Medicinal Solutions was awarded a provisional license from the state of Nevada to operate a medical marijuana cultivation facility in Nye County. A special use permit is consistent with the applicable standards of approval and will not have an adverse impact on adjacent properties, according to the letter.

Some nearby residents said that the facility over the past few months turned from a wonderful looking nursery to a prison.

Paul Ostrenger, who lives across the street from the facility, said that he hasnt objected to it initially, but after a razor wire fence went up, the sight from his yard was spoiled.

Im kind of not happy about it, I know its there, maybe I have to deal with it what it is, but a new facility that is going to increase the traffic and increase everything.  Its just ridiculous, Ostrenger said.

He also complained about the smell of marijuana in his back yard and increased traffic around the facility.

Whats there is there, I doubt any changes can happen to what is already there, but to put something else there, its just going to increase or double or triple what is already going on. And its not right, Ostrenger said.

In the meantime, Connor said in her letter that adjacent properties shall have no substantial or undue adverse effect as the facility will have stringent security and will comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

The traffic impact, if any, will be very minimal as the only vehicles traveling to or from the facility will be employees that work at the facility. There will certainly be less than 750 average daily trips to or from the facility. The proposed use shall not result in a substantial or undue adverse effect on the public health, safety or general welfare, the letter said.

Jason Thompson, president of CW Nevada, said he wanted to address the issues that were brought up.

Certainly, we want to be a good neighbor, he said.

We have odor control, its never been represented to us that its been an issue before, he added.

As suggested by Nye County Commissioner Dan Schinhofen, commissioners made a motion to grant a change of location under condition that the applicant will work with neighbors and make the facility more attractive and less invasive.

He also asked employees of the facility to drive on Silver Street and not Bond Street.

I believe some of these issues can be worked out with the local property owners, he said.
At the University of Nevada, Reno, in the agriculture building, there is a Natural History Museum. In its collection, there are samples of plant and animal life in the Great Basin dating back to the 1850s. The plants alone include 90,000 specimens.

At the University of Nevada, Reno, in the agriculture building, there is a Natural History Museum. In its collection, there are samples of plant and animal life in the Great Basin dating back to the 1850s. The plants alone include 90,000 specimens.

My colleague Kelsey Fitzgerald recently wrote about how the students of museum co-director Beth Leger have been studying seven plant species to learn how plant height and leaf size at a particular site had changed over time.

Of the seven, five were shrinking over time, which is the predicted response to the warming and drying of our climate, Leger said.

Corporate polluters like the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil spend huge amounts of money to pay people to promote climate change denial. But in the corridors of academia, the work goes on year in and year out, and evidence keeps piling up in support of science and in spite of the polluters.

Nevertheless, the polluters and fossil fuel industry continue to have an impact on public debate, because there is a substantial body of people who embrace conclusions dictated by ideology and then listen only to those who support that viewpoint. That is a reckless practice in the best of times. And these are not the best of times, because climate change is not just another problem. Climate change is not reversible. Humankind cant keep mistreating the earth and hope the earth will heal itself.

Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts, reported the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change two years ago.

The window of opportunity for acting in a cost-effective way  or in an effective way  is closing fast, Princeton geosciences professor Michael Oppenheimer told the Washington Post at the time.

Just last week, a study published in Nature reported that the west Antarctic ice sheet could start collapsing in a few decades, driving rapid sea level rise that will eliminate coastal areas and their cities.

The U.S. Department of Defense, apparently convinced that the polluters and deniers will continue to have political impact, is not waiting on wiser public policies. It now treats coastal erosion as a national security risk and is making plans for reinforcing coastal bases and other contingencies. A Pentagon document reads:

DoD recognizes the reality of climate change and the significant risk it poses to U.S. interests globally.  [C]limate change is an urgent and growing threat to our national security, contributing to increased natural disasters, refugee flows, and conflicts over basic resources such as food and water.

Meanwhile, in Congress, members whose campaign treasuries are stocked with money from corporate polluters and fossil fuel industries blather on with technical jargon that, however, is not supported by science. If you look at satellite data for the last 18 years, theres been zero recorded warming, says that great scientific mind Ted Cruz. The satellite says it aint happening. Scientists call that nonsense. He sounds like evangelists who claim the fossil record supports creationism.

Back here in the Great Basin as all this is going on, ranchers face serious impacts on forage and the fertility of grazing lands. Grazing allotments are already being cut because of reduced moisture.

If we keep listening to Kochs, ExxonMobil, and the likes of Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell, our children and grandchildren are going to live with considerably less quality of life than we have known.

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.
The announcement last week that 3,200 artifacts from the Rock Island Arsenal Museum are scheduled to be moved has several Quad-City museum and tourism leaders calling for the Army to put on the brakes.

Joe Taylor, president and CEO of the Quad-Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, told a Wednesday meeting of the Quad-City Times Editorial Board that arts, culture and heritage are very important to the Quad-Cities and that not only do they represent a rich culture, "but a rich industry."

He pointed to a 2014 study saying that together they account for $71 million in total annual economic activity in the community, supporting 1,906 full-time equivalent jobs.

Taylor and Kelly Lao, executive director of the German American Heritage Center, Davenport, and Gretchen Frick Small, director of programs and collections at the Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House, Moline, also said at the meeting that while the artifacts belong to the Army, they represent Quad-City history and should remain here.

At present, they are scheduled to be moved to an Army museum support center in Anniston, Ala.

If the move can't be stopped, Taylor said arts/culture/history groups should band together with other partners for an inventory of historical resources in the Quad-Cities to raise awareness and support for the area's heritage before more representations of it are lost.

"We don't want this to happen again," Taylor said.

Lao spoke for the others in saying the fear is that because the museum's staff and hours already have been cut  it no longer is open on weekends  that the attraction is in a downward spiral and, if that continues, could close.

In response to concerns from the public regarding rumors about the museum's future, garrison commander Col. Elmer Speights has scheduled a town hall meeting for 5:30 p.m. April 27 in the theater of the museum, Building 60 on Arsenal Island.

He has said he will answer questions as to why the artifacts are being moved and what is going to be done with them, as well as questions about the museum's future.

People wishing to attend the meeting should enter through the Moline gate where Speights said guards will have special instructions to assist in access.

In addition to Taylor, Small and Lao, other groups also have expressed opposition to the removal of artifacts. They include Davenport Mayor Frank Klipsch and members of the City Council, speaking at a city meeting on Tuesday; and the Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce and representatives of more than 20 area museums that signed a letter to the editor that was published in Sunday's Quad-City Times.

The Arsenal museum is the Army's second oldest, first opening to the public on July 4, 1905.

Its primary mission is to collect, preserve and interpret the history of the Rock Island Arsenal and Arsenal Island. It also is recognized for its extensive small arms collection, with more than 1,200 U.S., foreign, civilian and military small arms on permanent display.
ALEDO, Ill.  A defense expert has been appointed to evaluate a man in a violent sex offender case in Mercer County.

The Illinois Attorney Generals office wants Richard Stallings, 41, to remain committed under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act. The Aledo man will now be evaluated by Moline clinical psychologist Dr. Kirk Witherspoon, with a status hearing set for June 6 in Mercer County Circuit Court.

A petition was filed against Stallings late last year. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison in April 2004 on a Class X felony of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. The case involved a girl under the age of 13.

Prior to that offense, Stallings served time in federal prison after being convicted of possessing child pornography. He currently is in custody at the Taylorville Correctional Center. If declared sexually violent, Stallings would remain in custody for an indefinite period of time, receiving treatment under the Illinois Department of Human Services. He would stay in custody until he is no longer deemed a threat to society.

-- J.C. Taylor
DES MOINES  Working with a funding increase of less than .5 of 1 percent for the coming fiscal year, Iowa legislators warned of higher tuition at universities and community colleges, and delayed summer reading programs at the K-12 level.

Its unfortunate we are in a situation that only $4.9 million is being invested in our education program, Rep. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, told colleagues on the Education Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday.

She was referring to the $4.9 million increase in education funding in the $7.35 billion budget lawmakers are expected to approve in the coming days. After factoring in a shift of $12.6 million from human services to education, the $1,009,736,682 education budget is an increase of 0.49 percent from the current year.

Subcommittee co-chairs Rep. Cecil Dolecheck, R-Mount Ayr, and Sen. Brian Schoenjahn, D-Arlington, hope to have final budget numbers Wednesday morning.

Were close, Dolecheck said. Theres not much to fight over when you only have $5 million.

The problem didnt start this year, said Sen. Wally Horn, D-Cedar Rapids, who noted that in his 43-year legislative career hes voted for at least three sales tax increases to support education funding.

We dont want education to go to hell, Horn said. Last year we said next year. We cant do that much more this year, but what are we going to do next year?

Nearly every member of the committee mentioned the need to increase community college funding, which was unchanged last year after Gov. Terry Branstad vetoed funds for the two-year schools.

The Board of Regents asked for $20 million in new funds for the 2017 fiscal year. Branstad put $8 million in his budget proposal to be split between the three universities.

Lawmakers also discussed the lack of funding that has led to a delay in starting a summer intensive reading program for third-graders not reading at grade level. Branstad didnt budget funds for the program for this summer, but about 130 school districts are planning pilot programs.

Without state funding, the summer intensive reading program is a $10 million unfunded mandate of local schools, lawmakers said.
It's time to have that conversation with your parents.

Stranger danger doesn't have to be hands-on. Increasingly, it's hands-free.

The bad guys have tried to enter my parents' home through the phone at least 10 times since 2009. First, it was the Granny Scam.

Some young-sounding con cast his line, using my parents' love and concern for their grandchildren as bait.

"Hi, Grandma!" the calls began, followed by a bunch of baloney about being in an accident in Chicago and needing money to get out of jail. Mom knew it was nonsense, but she (too politely) didn't hang up right away. She demonstrated remarkable restraint in declining to say she was onto the caller's BS. ("That's no way for a grandmother to talk," she said).

Mom and Dad also have been targets of the computer scam. In this one, the caller says he's from Microsoft or with tech support from some other company. The swindler claims he needs remote access to the target's computer to remove a virus. The con then either steals personal information or convinces the target to buy some useless anti-virus software.

My folks smelled a rat instantly, because nothing was wrong with their laptops, and they don't use Word. All that was left to do in this case was to recover from the news it is possible to access their home computers from somewhere else.

More recently, the IRS scam has come calling. Three separate attempts have been made with this racket, which was a fairly easy dodge for my increasingly scam-wary parents.

In one case, the caller angrily claimed they owed back taxes. Mom knew better.

The IRS website (IRS.gov) reports that scammers are impersonating IRS agents, demanding payment through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. But the IRS never would make such a call without first sending notice through the mail. Plus, the IRS always offers opportunity for an appeal of a back-tax debt.

Part of this bamboozle is a threat of arrest or suspension of a license. It's fairly sophisticated, increasingly aggressive and pure evil.

"Note that the IRS will never ... require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card," the Davenport Police Department reminded taxpayers in an April scam alert, adding the agency never will ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

Many of our parents and grandparents didn't grow up with the kind of technology that is granting wholesale access to people with bad intentions. People of a certain age are used to getting calls at the house for a reason, and some are a generation removed from the second-nature skepticism that spares their children.

When talking to the seniors in your life about the scam risks that are finding their way into their homes, common sense is the best appeal. Our parents and grandparents aren't naive, and they are perfectly capable of understanding how they are being victimized.

The reason so many of these hustlers are successful is that their scam is new to their targets.

So, help those who are a little further along on the calendar embrace two basic rules:

 The IRS never would call you to verify your tax information. The agency already knows more about your finances than you do. Ditto for anyone claiming to be a representative of your bank, your local government or your credit card company.

 Hang up immediately. The moment you even suspect you're being played, get off the phone.

We have to empower ourselves. It's like Moline Police Detective Scott Williams wrote in an email this week, "I have no idea how we could ever stop this from taking place. Criminals have always found a way to get money from people and todays technology, as much as it makes our lives easier, also makes the lives of the criminals easier.

"Sit at home and call people to steal money. How lazy is that?"

All true. But there's another layer to it.

If this ever happens to your parents or grandparents, I can predict your reaction: Blind fury. You think getting cut off in traffic makes you angry? You think utility company phone trees can challenge your temper?

When some stranger makes it his mission to use greed and deceit to separate your kind, loving, giving parents from their money, you will want to crawl through the phone and stab him in the eye.

I'm not proud of the feeling. I loathe violence. But these dirty, rotten, lazy, lying thieves should be hung by a landline.

Callbacks are hell.
Philip Morris appeals fine by Russian Antimonopoly Agency for SMS advertisement

MOSCOW, April 13 (RAPSI)  Philip Morris Sales and Marketing Limited, an affiliate of tobacco corporation Philip Morris International in Russia, has appealed against the lower courts ruling over a fine issued by Russias Federal Antimonopoly Agency (FAS) for distributing advertisement via short message services (SMS).

The fine in question is 150,000 rubles ($2,272).

On October 9, 2015, the Moscow Commercial Court dismissed the companys lawsuit against FAS. This ruling was upheld on January 25 this year by the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals, and was later appealed in the Moscow District Commercial Court.

The fine was issued against the company after a tip from a person, who received a questionable SMS advertisement, had reached the local department of FAS in the Moscow Region. The SMS message from a sender listed as Marlboro read: Hello, Cyril! Dont miss your chance to participate in an exciting adventure. The most interesting part begins on April 14. Smoking kills.

This message was deemed inappropriate by the FAS department on the grounds that it had been sent to a person without prior consent to receive the advertisement. Additionally, FAS experts found out that this message violated Russian legislation on tobacco advertisement. As a result, on March 30, 2015, Philip Morris Sales and Marketing Limited were fined with 150,000 rubles.
Gazprom appeals $3.4 bln fine by Ukrainian Antimonopoly Agency

MOSCOW, April 13 (RAPSI)  Gazprom has appealed a 86 billion hryvnia ($3.4 bln) fine issued by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) to the Kyiv City Commercial Court, RIA Novosti reports on Wednesday.

The lawsuit against the Committee was filed by Gazprom on Tuesday. State-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz and its subsidiary Ukrtransgaz are listed as third parties in this case.

Earlier, Gazprom has been fined by the Antimonopoly Committee for abuse of its dominant position on the gas transit market. At that time, the company was ordered to pay the fine until April, 12. According to Gazprom, this fine was unexpected since the firm was not engaged in business activity within the Ukrainian territory. Gazprom states that natural gas is being sold to Naftogaz on the Russian-Ukrainian border.

The Kiev City Commercial Court will review Gazproms lawsuit in three days.
WASHINGTON The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated Custer County in Montana as a primary natural disaster area due to damages and losses caused by drought that occurred from March 1, 2015, and continues.Farmers and ranchers in Carter, Fallon, Garfield, Powder River, Prairie and Rosebud counties in Montana may also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous.All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on April 6, 2016, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDAs Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.Other FSA programs that can provide assistance, but do not require a disaster declaration, include the Emergency Conservation Program; Livestock Forage Disaster Program; Livestock Indemnity Program; Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program; and the Tree Assistance Program. Interested farmers may contact their local USDA Service Centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs. Additional information is also available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
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.
scroll.in - 12 April 2016

by David Bergman

The murder of 28-year-old law graduate on Wednesday was the sixth such killing since February 2015.

What can one conclude from Wednesdayas murder of 28-year-old law graduate Nazimuddin Samad who was hacked to death by assailants in Bangladeshas capital city of Dhaka, bringing to six the total number of men killed in a similar manner since February 2013?

Here are 10 key points about the attacks on young atheists in Bangladesh.

1. Whoas at risk?: If you are currently living or staying in Bangladesh and write, or have in the past written, critically about religion on any website, blog, Facebook or Twitter account, you are at risk from being attacked and killed by Islamic militants.

That may sound dramatic, but that is the unfortunate reality. Social class will obviously play a role a and elite atheist bloggers (so-called, even though some of them seem to have been targeted for expressing themselves on any form of social-media) are less vulnerable than middle or lower middle class people like Samad, who do not have their own cars and who have to walk to work, or take public transport.

The only positive point that can be said is that the attacks are not frequent. It seems that the number of militants involved is small, and they do not have the logistical ability, at present, to organise more than the occasional attack.

2. Whoas responsible?: The organisation Ansar al-Islam Bangladesh, which used to be known as the Ansarullah Bangla Team, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the killing. The local militant group is a known affiliate of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent and has previously claimed responsibility for a number of the previous killings of aatheist bloggersa .

It is not likely that this Al Qaeda outfit has any actual presence in Bangladesh a Ansar al-Islam has perhaps simply decided to affiliate itself with this international militant organisation for prestige purposes. It is not known the extent to which the Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent actually provides them assistance a or indeed whether these string of murders would have taken place even if there were not this international linkage.

These "blogger murders" appear to be distinct from other killings, involving the murder of foreigners and attacks on Shia gatherings, that have taken place since the middle of 2015, and for which Islamic State have claimed responsibility.

3. Who else faces threat?: According to reports, the Ansar al-Islam statement stated that aWe donat attack people for being atheist in their personal lives a. We only target those who deride Islam and the Prophet.a It then went onto say that they killed Nizam Uddin for committing ablasphemy against our beloved Prophet,a and referred to three particular posts that he had written on his Facebook page.

However, the statement also reportedly went onto threaten to target judges, lawyers, engineers and doctors awho donat allow others to follow the rulings of the Islamic Shariah.a

It is not clear what this means in reality a since this constitutes an enormous class of people. However, perhaps a greater concern is that other secular activists, who may not necessarily be atheists (or at least do not write publicly about their views ) could be at risk in the future.

This could include for example those who protest against Islamic fundamentalism and campaign in support of imposing the death penalty on those convicted of war crimes at the International Crimes Tribunal (see below). At present, while many "atheist bloggers" are also involved in or support these activities, it is their so-called atheistic writings that makes them the target. It is certainly possible, however that this could change.

4. Why are these attacks happening now?: There are a number of factors, but without the exponential increase in the use of social networks, these attacks would not be taking place. With social networks, anyone can write and publish whatever they want. And anyone in the world with an internet connection can then read it.

Ten years ago, perhaps the same number of people in Bangladesh had views critical of religion a but nobody then knew who they were or read anything they may have written. This has now changed a and intolerant Islamic militants can now read what they say, find out whether they live and target them.

5. Do these murders reflect wider conflicts within society?: Yes, these murders are also a reflection on the longstanding conflict within Bangladesh about the role of religion in the country.

The country fought to be independent from the Islamic state of Pakistan and Bangladeshas original constitution emphasised secularism, and banned religious political parties. However, after the assassination of the countryas independence leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, things changed. The ban on religious parties was lifted, secularism as a fundamental principle was removed from the constitution, and in time, Islam was made the state religion.

The current government however has reintroduced secularism. Islam, nonetheless, remains the state religion, in apparent acknowledgement of the deep divide within the country about the role religion should play. These murders are a stark reminder that this divide remains very potent.

6. What role does the International Crimes Tribunals play here?: These attacks also have to be seen in the context of the International Crimes Tribunal which were established in 2010 to prosecute those accused of war crimes during the countryas independence war and which pits the State against the leaders of the islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami. These attacks also have to be seen in the context of the International Crimes Tribunal which was established in 2010 to hold to account those accused of war crimes during the countryas independence war. What that meant in effect was the State being pitted against the leaders of the islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami.

The trials, in which supposedly pious religious politicians faced the prospect of the death penalty, always created the risk of some kind of blow-back a a risk that was perhaps exacerbated by criticisms regarding the fairness of the trials. And whilst there is no evidence to suggest that Jammat themselves have been involved in these blogger killings, it is very possible that the perverted minds of the men involved in these murders consider their involvement in aavenging blasphemya as similar in some way to the death penalties imposed by the state following these trials.

7. Is there a connection with the Shahbagh Movement as well?: The secular progressive anti-fundamentalist mass protests, which were triggered by a decision by the Tribunal in early February 2013 to impose a sentence of imprisonment rather than that of death on a convicted Jamaat leader, known as the Shahagh Movement, is also significant.

In order to delegitimise this movement, its opponents began claiming that the huge daily protests taking place in Shahbagh crossing were connected with "atheist bloggers" whose comments about Islam were published in some newspapers.

On February 15, 2013, Ahmed Rajib Haider, an atheist who wrote critically about religion, and was also involved in organising the Shahbagh protests, was hacked to death, the very first such murder.

8. Is lack of democracy also responsible? In the Wall Street Journal, Shafquat Munir, a respected security analyst at the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies is quoted as saying that aThe shrinking democratic space and the absence of a credible opposition creates a political void which then allows radicals, extremists and fringe elements to take centre stage.a This general position also seems to be reflected in a new report published by the International Crisis Group

Whilst Bangladeshas lack of democratic space a due to the absence of legitimate elections in 2014, the brutal crackdown on opposition leaders and activists including the filing of hundreds if not thousands of apparently false criminal cases, and the countless disappearances and extra judicial killings, along with the crackdown on the independent media a is certainly a very serious problem in Bangladesh, it seems too simplistic to suggest that this provides an explanation for recent killings.

Of course, if proper democratic politics does not return to Bangladesh, more people may will turn towards the extremes. But, even if Bangladeshs opposition was allowed to function, it is likely that for the reasons set out above, these killings would still have taken place.

9. Can the police protect these bloggers?: Apart from the authorities not having the capacity and resources to protect such a large number of potential victims, the police cannot be trusted to be on the side of the so-called bloggers. This is because Bangladesh has a panoply of laws that criminalise those who write critically about religion.

Under the 1860 Penal Code, it is an offence to deliberately aoutrage the religious feelingsa of any class of citizen as well also deliberately intend to awound the religious feelings of any persona . It is also an offence under the Information, Communications and Technology Act 2006, to write something on the internet that acauses to hurt or may hurt religious beliefa which has attached to it a minimum sentence of seven years imprisonment.

It should therefore be no surprise that aatheist bloggersa are wary of seeking the protection of the police, as they could be arrested for any of these offences. Many social network activists claim that they fear being arrested if they seek protection from the police. aI have not gone to the police because police actually tried to arrest me in 2013,a CNN reported one atheist blogger in Bangladesh as saying.

10. What is the governmentas stand in all this? Whilst most Bangladeshis would expect that the government to unconditionally condemn these killings, the government seems unclear quite how to react. Whilst there are voices within the government that do condemn the killing, others also seem to have half an eye on its lack of diligence in enforcing the laws criminalising ahurting religious feelinga , and the other half on not wanting to be seen by religious constituencies in the country supporting people with views critical of religion.

This confusion, results in a failure of the government to take a clear principled position against the killings. Instead, for example, one has the home minister focusing on what exactly it was that Nizam Uddin wrote. aIt is needed to see whether he has written anything objectionable in his blogs,a he told the BBC Bengali service.

o o o

[ SEE ALSO:

Text of Open Letter To Prime Minister of Bangladesh: Take urgent action for bloggers (23 May 2015) http://www.sacw.net/article11209.html
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The Ninth Circuit yesterday issued an interesting opinion faulting a district court for how it limited the evidence it considered and other problems with how it conducted a resentencing of a juvenile murderer given a mandatory LWOP sentence a decade before such a sentences was deemed unconstitutional by the Surpeme Court. Miller fan will want to read US v. Pete, No. 14-103 (9th Cir. April 11, 2016) (available here), in full, and here is how the opinion starts and along with some key passages from the heart of its analysis:

Branden Pete was 16 years old when he committed a crime that resulted in a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Later, Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012), held unconstitutional for juvenile offenders mandatory terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. On resentencing, the district court refused to appoint a neuropsychological expert pursuant to 18 U.S.C.  3006A(e) to help Pete develop mitigating evidence.

Our principal question on appeal is whether the district court abused its discretion in declining to appoint such an expert to aid the defense. We conclude that it did, and so remand for appointment of an expert, and for resentencing after considering any expert evidence offered. We also consider, and reject, Petes other challenges to his resentencing....

In rejecting the motion to appoint an expert, the district court ... noted that Petes upbringing and the circumstances of the crime have not changed, and maintained that because a psychiatric evaluation had been done in 2003, a second evaluation would be duplicative. [I]t is difficult to conceive how, the district court stated, the passage of time may impact [the psychiatric] evidence presented during the pretrial proceedings nearly ten years before. Further, the district court held that the impact of incarceration on Pete is not the type of mitigating evidence which Miller contemplates. We disagree with the district court as to all three aspects of its reasoning....

When the district court ruled that no expert testimony was necessary, it ignored Millers reasoning and directives. At the time of resentencing, Petes neuropsychological condition had not been evaluated in more than a decade. An updated evaluation could have revealed whether Pete was the same person psychologically and behaviorally as he was when he was 16. Rather than being duplicative, as the district court believed, a new evaluation could have shown whether the youthful characteristics that contributed to Petes crime had dissipated with time, or whether, instead, Pete is the rare juvenile offender whose crime reflects irreparable corruption. Id. at 2469 (citation omitted); see also Montgomery, 136 S. Ct. at 733. Similarly, without current information relating to the policy rationales applicable specifically to juvenile offenders, Pete was hamstrung in arguing for a more lenient sentence.

More specifically, the significant mitigating evidence available to Pete at resentencing, other than his own testimony and that of his lawyer (neither of which the district court credited), would have been information about his current mental state  in particular, whether and to what extent he had changed since committing the offenses as a juvenile. This information was directly related to Petes prospects for rehabilitation, including whether he continued to be a danger to the community, and therefore whether the sentence imposed was sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to comply with the purposes of sentencing. 18 U.S.C.  3553(a); see id. (a)(2)(C), (D). Such information is pertinent to determining whether, as Miller indicates is often the case, Petes psychological makeup and prospects for behavior control had improved as he matured, with the consequence that his prospects for rehabilitation and the need for incapacitation had changed.
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April 13, 2016

Restrictive medical marijuana reforms proposed by Ohio legislature in shadow of broader initiative effort

As a bellwether state with a long history of picking White House winners, I often feel very lucky to be in Ohio in big election years to observe how local, state and national politics surrounding various criminal justice issues play out in the Buckeye State. But this year, given my particular interest in marijuana reform, law and policy and the coming (brokered?) GOP convention in Cleveland, my Buckeye political and policy cup is already running over.

I bring all this up today because, as detailed in this new local article, "Ohio state lawmakers release plan to legalize medical marijuana," local GOP legislative leaders in Ohio are now actively peddling an important (but restrictive) medical marijuana reform proposal at the same time the national Marijuana Policy Project is gathering signatures and building a campaign for (much broader) medical marijuana reform in the form of a November 2016 voter initiative to amend the Ohio Constitution. Here are the basics and latest in these dynamic ongoing Buckeye marijuana reform developments:

Ohio state lawmakers released plans today to legalize marijuana for medical use. The bill being considered would allow doctors to write notes for marijuana for medical use. It would still allow for drugfree workplaces. People who use medical marijuana, could still be fired from their job, according to the bill. The bill will not allow for home growing of marijuana. Doctors would be required to periodically report to the state why they are prescribing marijuana instead of other drugs. Anyone taking medical marijuana under the age of 18 would require parental consent. Ohio lawmakers are also asking the federal government to change marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 2 drug. Hearing will start soon on the legislation and there could be as many as two hearings a week. No word yet on where Gov. John Kasich stands on the legislation. The move comes as groups start collecting signatures to put an issue on the ballot before voters in November.... [and] polls show that legalizing marijuana just for medical use is popular across the state.... Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, which is backed by a national group, expects to spend $900,000 collecting 306,000 valid voter signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

Cross-posted at Marijuana Law, Policy and Reform (where in coming days I will do some anaylsis of the Ohio bill and reactions thereto).

April 13, 2016 at 01:26 PM | Permalink

Comments

If home growing is prohibited, is there a means of producing marijuana set forth in the law?

Posted by: ohwilleke | Apr 13, 2016 8:09:10 PM

Any real medical marijuana legislation has to address two issues omitted in most medical marijuana laws: 1) how to assure that prescription is medically appropriate (as opposed to quacks willingly writing scripts for any "patient" who wants marijuana); 2) quality standards for producers and sellers of medical marijuana (i.e. a method for assuring that the doctor can prescribe a certain THC level per dose and that the patient gets that THC level per dose). If the legislation is unable to solve these two issues, it is not about the medical use of marijuana but about a covert way to legalize marijuana using "medical" as a fig-leaf to mislead the voters.

Posted by: TMM | Apr 14, 2016 4:02:19 PM

The thing I find funny about the second issue is that there is in fact a legal THC product in the pharmacological supply chain, goes under the name Marinol. It has been FDA approved since the 1980s.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Apr 15, 2016 1:25:18 AM

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Last year, SFist brought you a list of nine easy ideas for nights out on the town, with a friend or a date, organized by neighborhood so you don't have to be ordering cars or hopping any trains, mid-date. Once again we have some prescriptive ideas for you for how to have fun outside your living room, be it on a weeknight or weekend, and this time we even cross the Bay for a couple, just to appease everyone who yells at us for ignoring the East Bay.





Bernal Heights

"Maternal Heights," as some refer to the neighborhood south of the Mission, is full of evening possibilities for those who do and do not require a babysitter on date night. Start with an evening hike up Bernal Hill to achieve some of the city's best views. If you're looking for a bottle of something nice on the way up and approaching from the North, stop by Harvest Hills Market (3216 Folsom Street). Take in bridge-to-bridge sights before descending to the Mission Street side of the hill, perhaps via the Esmeralda Street stairs and slides. Yes, slides. Between microbrewpub Old Bus Tavern, romantic and delicious Blue Plate, and casual and fun (tall boy PBRs?) Emmy's Spaghetti Shack, you're covered. And for drinks, if your date has already been to El Rio, try Royal Cuckoo for dim lighting, good cocktails, and live jazz. The spot received the New York Times nod in their "36 Hours in San Francisco" segment, a video in which I am myself visible, on a (very nice) date. If drinks aren't what you seek, head over to Mitchell's Ice Cream to seal the deal that way. Caleb Pershan







SoMa Alleys

Pizza is hot. It's a great, shareable date food. But crust can be too filling  bloating is less hot. Fortunately, there's Montesacro Pinseria-Enoteca (510 Stevenson Street), the only place in the US that serves up the super popular Roman alternative: pinsa, whose crust is light and airy and made with a blend of rice, soy, and wheat flour imported from Italy. The atmosphere here in a former bakery is casual and datey without being at all over-the-top  don't try too hard, kids  and it's nicely off the beaten path. The wine selection doesn't hurt, and neither do reservations, which are available here. If you fancy an after dinner drink, consider Tempest (431 Natoma Street), a classic dive with a great beer list and bar food next door at Box. Or, for more wine in another lovely environment, stroll to Terroir (1116 Folsom Street), which SFist called one of our best wine shops/bars last year. We said that in part because the atmosphere is just so damn charming. Caleb Pershan





The rainforest sphere at the Academy of Sciences, at dusk. Photo: Tim Williamson/Academy of Sciences

Inner Sunset

It is far more fun, as an adult, to go to the Academy of Sciences when there are no children there. The aquarium experience, especially, benefits from the calm and tranquil vibe that adult company brings  even if during certain of the museum's Thursday NightLife events, there might be a DJ set up down there. So, any Thursday, find a friend or a date and head over there after 6 p.m. (advance tickets may be necessary), wander the rainforest with a cocktail, canoodle in that awesome glass tunnel under the water downstairs, and emerge from the museum after dark for a quick stroll over to Ninth Avenue. Head to longtime neighborhood favorite Ebisu for sushi, or Kiki with its crooked door if that's too crowded. If Japanese isn't your thing, you could also drop in for some top-notch Mexican at Nopalito, and then after dinner, assuming you live elsewhere in town, you could wander up toward Seventh Avenue on Irving and drop into the charmingly divey Fireside for a drink while you wait for the N to arrive and watch the fog roll past.  Jay Barmann





Photo: Sharon Hahn Darlin

Downtown Berkeley

Within 30 minutes (or less when BART is especially smooth), you could potentially find yourself in another lovely, food- and art-obsessed city just to our east, and I'm not referring to Oakland this time. Even outside the school year, there is a lot happening in downtown Berkeley. There's Berkeley Repertory Theater, where you're possibly going to see the next Broadway-bound hit. There's Comal, where a former Delfina chef is putting out some very good Mexican food. There's Freight and Salvage, where you'll find all kinds of NPR-friendly music shows. There's Ippuku, where you'll get some top-notch Japanese yakitori. And there's plenty of fun shops to wander into, like this game store, and this comic book shop. Stroll up toward the Cal campus and you could catch an exhibit or a movie at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, or just hang out for a beer near the fire pit in back of Jupiter, where you'll often catch a live band playing too. Or walk down Shattuck a few blocks to Tupper & Reed, for some high-end cocktails from the team behind Bourbon & Branch. If you're really feeling like dropping a few bucks and getting a full Berkeley experience, you could also hop in a three-minute cab up Shattuck to Chez Panisse Cafe, where you'll need to order a pizzetta, a salad, and some Bandol rose.  Jay Barmann







Photo via Facebook.

The Haight

The Haight has a lot going for it, but it frequently gets a bad rap for the throngs of tie dye-sporting tourists (and stoned panhandlers) that clog the sidewalks. And while, yes, that's part of it, it is only part. Haight Street also has all you need for an amazing night on the town. Start with cocktails at The Alembic, or Martinis at Aub Zam Zam, a dark and cozy cocktail spot with a curved semi-circular bar that means you can actually look at your date as your sip and talk about the artwork that adorns the walls. If it's a first date, and you're still trying to find your conversational footing, the jukebox packed with great tunes has your back. When you've drank your fill, walk east on Haight a block and a half to Club Deluxe. With live jazz seven nights a week, and no cover ever, this bar would be amazing even without the killer pizzas coming out of their kitchen. However, you would be foolish to pass on the pies (our favorite is the mushroom, but the spinach pizza is also on point). This is the perfect moment in the evening to sit back, put some food in your stomach, and impress your date with your knowledge of Charles Mingus. Post dinner calls for a quick stroll to head off potential sluggishness that can follow pizza, so settle your tab, hold your lover's hand, and head east on Haight Street for about 15 minutes until you get to Noc Noc. Walking into this Lower Haight beer, wine, and sake bar has the feeling of entering a hip cave of some sort  the ceilings and walls curve and, if you've had enough drinks, start to undulate with the low lighting. Order a Speakeasy Massacre and find a nook. At this point, making out is highly encouraged. With your blood flowing and your cheeks rosy, it's time to head to the block away Underground SF. If you've timed it right, a dance party will be in full swing.  Jack Morse





We certainly hope Yelp user Debby L. wasn't planning on drinking all of these. Then again, why not?

Outer Richmond

I've been married for almost ten years now, so I guess it might be safe to give up my surefire secret weapon: The Outer Richmond date night that will let you know, once and for all, if your new crush is ride or die or pump and dump. I successfully used this night, or close variations on it, on a multitude of partners from 1997 through 2002. (And, yes, the last time I used it was on the man I married.) Start with dinner at an area hot pot joint: I like Boiling Hot Pot at 5512 Geary or The Flame at 1801 Clement. Hey, look, you're cooking together! Watch your potential mate for compatibility in re control freakiness, squeamishness, adventurousness, and willingness to share. All these are indications not just of your possible future together, but what they will be like in the sack! This is important data. After dinner, hit the Four Star Theatre (2200 Clement, and one of SF's best movie houses) for a flick. (Sit in the back row, so if it sucks you can make out instead.) When the movie's over, cross Geary and head to Tommy's Mexican Restaurant (5929 Geary) for one of the Bay Area's best margaritas or, if you're feeling reckless, a selection or two from their staggering tequila list. Now, Tommy's shuts down at 11, by which time both of you should have made your mind up about which way this night is headed. But for picky/indecisive types, I have one more stop: Trad'r Sam (6150 Geary). By 11, that dump will definitely have one or two unpleasant drunkards in there just spoiling for a fight. Now, I'd never tell you to go start a brawl, because that would be very bad! But there's nothing sexier than fighting side by side, Mr. and Mrs. Smith style. It got Brad and Angie together, and it just might work for you, too.  Eve Batey





One of the SF Zoo's charming capybaras. Photo: Marianne Hale

Parkside By Day

"Let's play hooky" you say to your crush as he/she prepares to hop out of bed for another day at the rat race. "Wanna go to the zoo?" The zoo? Yeah, the freakin' zoo. Here's the deal: Every month, the SF Zoo has a "resident free day," during which people with local IDs (a bill with your address works too) get in for free, instead of the Zoo's usual admission price of $17. So check their calendar, and when the big morning comes, head to Java Beach Cafe (2650 Sloat) for a nice cup of coffee, because just because you're skipping work doesn't mean you need to pass up on glorious, glorious caffeine. The Zoo opens at 10, so you can hop across Sloat any time after that and go talk to the animals. When I go, I always make sure to visit Silent Knight and Henry, catch the penguin feeding, and say "hi" to the capybaras  but this is your date, do what you want! When you've had your fill of wildlife, walk a couple blocks to 3132 Vicente Street, home of the Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant and one of San Francisco's best Mandarin Chinese joints (do not miss their Beijing-style hot pots). They're open from 11:30-5:30 most days so it's the perfect spot for a post-Zoo late lunch/early dinner.  Eve Batey





Photo via Yelp.

The Mission

There are a million things to do in the Mission, and the neighborhood rightly plays host to many date nights. Start off in the late afternoon by grabbing a bite to go at Taqueria Vallarta. This place has a well-earned reputation for being one the best taco spots in the city, and you won't be disappointed. Tacos in hand, walk down the street to Galeria de la Raza (they close at 6 p.m., so keep that in mind). The nonprofit arts organization focuses on the work of Chicano/Latino artists, and always has interesting work up. Next, walk the four blocks to Southern Exposure. Discussing the exhibition at the 20th Street gallery will give you a chance to sound artsy and intellectual early in the night. With plenty to talk about, head over to the Armory for a workshop (these sell out, so make sure to buy tickets in advance). Run by Kink.com, and with titles like "Beat it! Everything You Need to Know About Flogging" and "Stripping and Lapdancing 101," this is probably not first date stuff (although, depends on the date, we guess). The workshops are super fun, and taking one also gives you a chance to go inside the Armory (which you've always wanted to do). With the class over, and a new host of skills, it's time to celebrate with drinks. Stroll on down to Latin American Club. Although just like everything else in the Mission, it's gotten more expensive over the years, snagging a window booth and people watching while you sip one of the bar's notorious margaritas is still one of the best bargains around. As a bonus, no one will judge you and your date for sitting on the same side of the booth. Next, walk down 22nd to the Make Out Room. By this time you've probably missed whatever live act was playing earlier in the night, but that's OK because there will be a DJ spinning something extremely danceable.  Jack Morse





Photo: Aya Brackett for Ramen Shop

Rockridge, Oakland

There are a few reasons to go to Rockridge, if you live in SF, besides Ramen Shop. But mostly, you really want to go to Ramen Shop. Yes, it is popular and awesome enough that there can be a long wait, so early and off hours are recommended, but if you don't mind waiting they do offer a full bar featuring some lovely Japanese whiskey cocktails. Also notable in the 'hood and great for dinner are A Cote, with some fine Cal-Med-by-way-of-France fare; A16, the East Bay spinoff of the popular southern Italian spot in the Marina; Wood Tavern, which has California comfort cuisine and friendly service down pat; and Oliveto at the higher end, the OG fine dining spot in this 'hood. It is also a very cute neighborhood for strolling that will make you wonder, if you hadn't already, why you haven't considered living in the East Bay. (One reason, this neighborhood is just as expensive as some in SF.)  Jay Barmann
From today's rally in solidarity for Iris Canada. 99 years strong. Eviction = Death. Let our seniors live in peace. pic.twitter.com/iro45ajyQf  Tina Cheung (@tinacheung) April 13, 2016

After a court hearing to consider her eviction from the Western Addition flat she's occupied since the 1940s, 99-year-old Iris Canada led reporters from the Chronicle and elsewhere up to her Page Street apartment.

Canada insists she has kept the place up, which lawyers for the unit's owners argued she has not, violating the terms that allow her to continue to live there for the rest of her life at the price of $700 a month.

That agreement was reached, according to the Examiner, during a remediation in 2002 after the owners attempted to evict her under the Ellis Act. Canada, 85 at the time, lawyered up and fought back.

Inside her living room, decorated with a Chinese lantern, slot machine, and cuckoo clock, Canada intended to prove that she had indeed maintained the apartment (which it appears she has).

The nonagenarian was granted a reprieve in Superior Court yesterday when her eviction proceedings were put on hold, for a week. "I feel happy," said Canada, reportedly gripping her walker. She's lived to fight another day.

Housing Rights Committee counselor Gus Brown, who counts himself a friend of Canada, says that Canada has paid $79,000 over many years to the owners of the unit. They thought in 2005 that, in two or three years, shed be dead, said Brown. Thats what this is really about.

Lawyers against Canada argued that the 99-year-old, who is a widow, has failed to permanently reside at the premises, violating the 2005 agreement. In fact, they claim Canada moved out for more than two years, staying with family members in Oakland.

As 48 Hills points out, Canada doesn't dispute she's left, at times, treating health issues and caring for others in her family.

When Canada moved to the city, she was a nurse; her husband was a merchant marine sailor. Where she lives, at 670 Page between Steiner and Fillmore, once put her in the heart of a Black neighborhood. She's now the only black person in her building.

Peter Owens, Carolyn Radisch, and Steven Owens, a married couple who now live on the East Coast and the husband's brother, bought the apartment as a tenancy in common in 2002. It was, apparently, an investment for them. Now they seem to wish to convert the building to condos.

Next week, Canada will be back at a hearing. I love living in San Francisco, she told the Chronicle. San Francisco is my home, and my home is my home. I dont want to go anyplace.

Canada's case follows on the similar, sad tale of 97-year-old Marie Hatch, who also had a liftetime lease on her home in Burlingame, and who died last month in the midst of an eviction battle of her own.

Related: 97-Year-Old Woman Fighting Eviction In Burlingame Dies
Sean Parker, the Napster co-founder and onetime Facebook president, called Bill Gate's Billionaire Pledge, a promise to give half of his wealth away before he dies, "a good start" according to the Chronicle. That's to say that by the time Parker is dead and gone, he plans to part with all of his riches  an amount the Verge puts at $3 billion (thanks, Facebook IPO!) And since he isn't going to spend it all on legalizing pot, the 36-year-old billionaire has announced a $250 million contribution to the eponymous Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, a massive, Presidio-based research center and extended network that will seek to harness the power of the body's immune system in the fight against cancer.

Parkers gift will come over the course of seven years from his $600 million foundation, the Business Times explains, and the donation goes to a potentially $1 billion effort with big-name researchers from UCSF and Stanford attached. In full, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy will have room for 300 or more researches in 40 laboratories at six centers in total.

With government grants, you really have to have (a program) half-done before you get the money, UCSFs Lewis Lanier told the Business Times. By contrast, Parker allows us to take a new, crazy idea and immediately put some seed funding in it to see if its going to go anywhere.

That crazy idea: immunotherapy or immuno-oncology, which Parker has invested in before. Previously, he's supported University of Pennsylvania researcher Carl June, who will direct part of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at that campus. June's treatment of patients for a form of blood cancer has been effective according to peer-reviewed medical journals.

In an essay published in the Wall Street Journal last year, Parker positioned himself as a new kind of "hacker philanthropist." Of a new bread of tech billionaires with hacking mentalities and wealth to spare early in life, he wrote, "This new generation of philanthropists wants to believe there is a clever hack for every problem, and they have launched a number of radical experiments."

Immunotherapy fits the bill, it would seem. As Parker put it in a statement:

"We are at an inflection point in cancer research and now is the time to maximize immunotherapys unique potential to transform all cancers into manageable diseases, saving millions of lives... We believe that the creation of a new funding and research model can overcome many of the obstacles that currently prevent research breakthroughs. Working closely with our scientists and more than 30 industry partners, the Parker Institute is positioned to broadly disseminate discoveries and, most importantly, more rapidly deliver treatments to patients."

Parker's initiative will fund institutions including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Stanford Medicine; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, San Francisco; the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; and University of Pennsylvania. And, in Parker fashion, the'll share intellectual property, granting equal access to discoveries any of them makes.

You know, sort of like Napster, but for immunotherapy.

Related: Napster Co-Founder Sean Parker To Fund CA Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure
SIOUX CITY | The genesis for a Republican congressional primary battle may have come from a high-profile, winter-months political skirmish over agriculture issues in advance of the Iowa caucuses.

That's why there's considerable attention being given to where Iowans with ag-industry and farming ties come down in the contest between seven-term 4th District Rep. Steve King and his GOP challenger state Sen. Rick Bertrand of Sioux City.

Both King and Bertrand say they'll get a substantial number of ag-related support, but for now industry officials are playing their cards close to the vest.

King ruffled some feathers in November when he endorsed presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who doesn't support an extension to the federal Renewable Fuel Standard for corn-based ethanol. That caused Gov. Terry Branstad and others to publicly criticize King's pick, with the Republican governor saying Cruz shouldn't be supported by Iowans after his knock on an industry that is so important to the state.

Cruz went on to win the Iowa caucuses and is one of three remaining GOP presidential candidates. Bertrand entered the 4th district race in March, in part because he said Iowans and particularly those who work in agriculture aren't happy with King.

Now, with less than two months until the June 7 primary election, Iowa Republicans are deciding whether to support King or Bertrand, so where ag interests in the largely rural 39 counties come down in the race will be important.

Iowa State University political science professor Steffen Schmidt, who lives on a Story County farm, said nearby farmers told him they were not happy that King endorsed Cruz, "of all the candidates, the one guy who was not on board with ethanol and renewable fuels."

Said Schmidt, "They were pretty peeved and ticked off that Steve King would go with Cruz."

The professor added that dissatisfaction, however, doesn't mean Iowans with ag ties will move to embrace Bertrand. He said they will look to see if Bertrand has the heft, as shown in campaign fundraising, endorsements and other benchmarks of strength, to defeat King. Schmidt said Bertrand will also have to convince Iowans that he would be a vocal supporter if he represented the district.

"They are not gonna automatically support someone who is gonna take on Steve King -- who we know is a fabulous campaigner and has won every election he's ever run in -- if they think that this is gonna go south and that (King) is going to survive the primary ... because they don't want him ticked off at them, either. So it is calculating game where the industry -- farmers and ethanol fuel -- are gonna be carefully watching Bertrand," Schmidt said.

"If it looks like King has been wounded and he is limping a little and there is blood, they just might go for a new guy," he added.

In an interview last week, King said that in his 2012 re-election race he won the support of about 60 agriculture groups. He expects those groups will continue to back him, although he conceded a few individuals who work in agriculture will defect to Bertrand.

"I don't know that any groups will go against me, just a scattered individual here and there," King said.

King criticized Branstad's intrusion into the caucus race.

"It looks like the governor has given us advice that you should only think of one thing, and that is the RFS, and nothing else matters," King said.

King sought to have Cruz fully support the RFS. Failing that, the congressman said he is relieved to know that while Cruz isn't supportive of extending the RFS, the senator from oil-rich Texas has vowed, as president, to "shape a policy that helps the (ethanol) industry grow and compete in the open markets."

Bertand said King made a bad decision for the ag economy with the Cruz endorsement. The Sioux City businessman and developer noted that the RFS doesn't cost taxpayers a dime, as "it is access, not a subsidy, it gains access for the markets."

"The question is, why did Steve King turn his back on Iowa agriculture? You can paint that pig anyway you want. But the bottom line is that the cattlemen, the corn growers, the soybean growers, the ethanol people, they understand what that endorsement meant," Bertrand said.

King won a key farm-state ally last Saturday, winning the endorsement of Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey on Saturday. Northey, a Spirit Lake farmer, became the first Republican state or federal officeholder to formally endorse in the Bertrand-King contest. In a statement, Northey didn't reference the Cruz-RFS flap, but noted Kings leadership and knowledge of production agriculture.

Bertrand has one big agricultural supporter with deep pockets, Bruce Rastetter, a resident of the 4th district whose large business holdings have included biofuels, pork and farmland. Rastetter, who has signed on as Bertrand's campaign finance director, was the biggest donor to Gov. Terry Branstad's 2010 re-election campaign, giving the Republican governor $160,000.

Bertrand, who actively farms with his father, also has been touring the 4th district to meet people who work in agriculture. One such stop came April 1 when he toured the Quad County Corn Processors plant in Galva and met with top officials and employees there.

Quad County CEO Delayne Johnson said he isn't taking a stance on the primary race, but mentioned King's endorsement of Cruz certainly turned heads in the ethanol industry.

"I am hopeful that every voter supports a candidate that publicly speaks out in favor of defending the RFS, which benefits farmers, main street businesses and our rural economies in western Iowa. I believe this issue is the biggest issue in our district," Johnson said.

Schmidt said it will take fortitude for the initial people to publicly pick either King or Bertrand. Schmidt said people often keep their political preferences private, but once a few people start airing them it will be easier for others to follow.

Some have already made up their minds.

Tim Bierman, a livestock and grain farmer from Larrabee in Cherokee County, has lobbied King on trade agreements and said the congressman took his positions into account. Bierman has known King since he was in the state senate in the 1990s and will vote for him over Bertrand.

Bierman said King was quick to embrace ethanol when it was a fledgling energy source and Bierman himself had initial doubts.

"(King) is a strong supporter (of grain commodities). He is probably one of the strongest supporters of ethanol," Bierman said.

Bierman isn't troubled that King supported Cruz: "Steve King is all about ag and doing the right thing for Iowa, not just getting re-elected."

Iowa Renewable Fuels Association President Monte Shaw said the organization's board members in a March meeting decided to stay neutral in the Bertrand-King primary. Shaw said the organization's political action committee also won't get involved, noting that King in the U.S. House and Bertrand in the Iowa Senate have been big supporters of renewable fuels.

"We are just not going to get involved in the primary. Individual people and individual plant PAC's will have to make their own decision," said Shaw.

Shaw said he isn't sure if King's support for Cruz will drive higher voter turnout in the congressional primary.

"I don't live up there, I'm not in the 4th district. You know, it is no secret that some folks in our industry were not ecstatic that Congressman King endorsed Senator Cruz. How that will affect the primary, I don't know," Shaw said.
SIOUX FALLS | A Little Rock, Iowa, man was sentenced to prison Monday for using his cellphone to set up a meeting to have sex with a fictitious female minor.

Lance Hunter Jr., 30, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls to 18 months in prison on one count of use of interstate facilities to transmit information about a minor.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Hunter responded to an online advertisement that had been posted as part of an undercover law enforcement operation. Hunter sent text messages to set up a meeting in Sioux Falls to have sex with a fictitious 15-year-old girl. Hunter was arrested after he tried to leave the scene. Authorities found the cellphone used to send the messages and $100 in cash.
God has a special love for children. It begins before the child is even born. From the moment of conception God views that child as a human being. God uniquely designed their life before they took their first breath. And because we have the audacity to kill God's children, he will bring judgment to America for the killing of the innocent.

How do you think God views the slaughter of 1.4 million children in our country every year through abortion? But we need to know that this sin of abortion is not beyond the forgiveness of God. We just have to ask. President Obama celebrates the right to choose as the greatest right available to women. Hillary Clinton said that people of faith, Christians, need to throttle back on the issue that abortion is wrong. Liberals call this health care. God calls it murder. Planned Parenthood affiliates have given millions of dollars to liberal politicians in recent years.

We the taxpayers fund Planned Parenthood more than $500 million per year. I suggest giving the money to the Wounded Warrior project.

The only candidate running for president who will shut down Planned Parenthood on day one is Ted Cruz. So if your plan includes voting for one of the liberals in November, you will want to say this little prayer: God, don't look at me.

Remember, God is pro life. - Dave Henry, Sioux City
If youre a resident of New Jersey or Wisconsin, you cant legally sell cookies and similar baked goods made in a home kitchen. But there are efforts underway in both states to reverse the ban on home baked cookie sales.

Erica Smith, an attorney for the Institute for Justice, explained the current situation in an exclusive interview with Small Business Trends, In order to sell baked goods you have to get an expensive commercial licence and either buy or rent your own commercial kitchen space, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. And that applies even to foods that are not potentially hazardous, like simple cookies and breads that dont require refrigeration and are perfectly safe.

Reverse The Ban On Home Baked Cookie Sales

Although home bakers have been trying to change the laws in those states for years, the Institute for Justice has recently gotten involved. Lawmakers have introduced a bill in New Jersey to make it legal for independent bakers to sell their home baked goods. And the Institute for Justice has taken legal action in Wisconsin to change their policies.

Although Smith says shes confident that home bakers in those states will eventually be able to legally sell their baked goods, theres one roadblock in New Jersey that is making the effort more difficult. The proposed bill has passed in New Jerseys lower house twice. But the state Senates health and human services Chairman Sen. Joe Vitale hasnt brought up the measure for a vote.

Vitale opposes the legislation not just because of health concerns, which Smith says shouldnt really be an issue as evidenced by the other 48 states that allow the sale of home baked goods. His other concerns revolve around fairness to other commercial bakers.

Allowing home bakers to sell their cookies and similar items could potentially lead to some issues for those who have spent time and money building their own commercial baking businesses. Those who bake in their home kitchens could likely sell their baked goods for lower prices due to their lower overhead.

However, for those who want to run part-time baking businesses or simply dont have the resources to rent or own their commercial spaces, the proposed laws could open up more opportunities for business ownership.

For those who would like to see the effort to legalize the sale of home baked goods succeed in New Jersey, Smith says you can contact Sen. Vitale and share your opinions. And she said that shes confident that the laws will eventually be changed in both states to reverse the ban on home baked cookie sales and give more opportunities to independent bakers.
Tea is one of the most popular beverages around the world. As a result, starting a business that offers this healthy and delicious drink can be a rewarding and profitable experience.

If youre interested in starting a tea business, a franchise can help you get up and running quickly. These opportunities give you access to proven menus and systems. And you can attach yourself to a recognizable name right away.

There are tons of tea franchises available, all with different niches and specialties. Understanding the options can help you make the best decision for your new business venture.

Unique Tea Franchises

Here are 18 tea franchise concepts to consider for aspiring entrepreneurs.

1. Fava Tea

Fava Tea is a retail tea business that currently has multiple locations in Wisconsin, with potential expansion opportunities throughout the U.S. The company sells a variety of specialty teas along with related products and gifts. The company also aims to provide a memorable experience for visitors. Franchisees pay an initial fee of up to $30,000. Startup costs range from $126,825 to $349,150.

2. TeaGschwendner

TeaGschwendner first opened in Germany in the late 1970s. Since then, the company has opened up more than 130 retail locations in seven countries. Their U.S. operations are headquartered in Chicago. New franchisees and managers can receive training there before getting started. The franchise fee ranges from $15,000 to $25,000.

3. The Teahouse

This Texas-based chain specializes in tea and other healthy beverages in a quick service environment. The Teahouse is a family friendly company thats been around since 2000. They use carefully chosen ingredients in their teas. And they also aim to provide quality service and open communication to franchisees. The franchise fee is $25,000. Upfront costs range from $165,000 to $300,000, depending on what type of location you want to open.

4. The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

Though not exclusively a tea franchise, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf offers a variety of both coffee and tea beverages. Founded in Southern California in 1963, tea and coffee franchising company has since grown to include more than 1,200 locations around the world. The company is looking to expand through multi-unit franchise development. The business also offers a variety of nontraditional models and location options, including those at airports, colleges, hotels, and grocery stores. It provides training, development, design, operations, marketing and logistical support. Franchising fees range from $15,000 to $25,000. The initial investment ranges from $183,250 to $615,500.

5. Teapioca Lounge

Originally founded in 2010, Teapioca Lounge offers traditional and specialty teas along with other beverage options. The brand aims to mix both east and west tea traditions in quick service environments. The company is known for product quality, innovative drinks, and trendy settings. The franchise provides training and grand opening assistance for franchisees. Theres a $25,000 franchise fee. Initial investment ranges from $205,500 to $351,100.

6. Dobra Tea

Founded in 1992 in Prague, Czech Republic, Dobra Tea aims to spread authentic tea culture from around the world. The company already has several locations throughout the U.S., and more in other parts of the world. Dobras team helps franchisees with training, publicity and more. They specifically look for franchisees that love tea and tea culture. The company doesnt list any franchise fees publicly. However, youll pay between $50,000 and $100,000 to get a new store set up.

7. TSUJIRI

TSUJIRI is a global tea brand that specializes in Japanese tea culture. The company even offers specialty products like matcha. TSUJIRI doesnt currently have any locations in the U.S. However, there are a few in Canada. The company is open to expansion in new markets. Inquire about specific costs if youre interested in bringing this franchise to a new customer base.

8. Sweetwaters

Sweetwaters is a franchise coffee and tea house. If youre a tea lover, youll probably appreciate the variety of classic and premium teas, along with the tea boxes that are available for sale. Franchisees can enjoy a comprehensive training program along with marketing and operations support. A franchise fee of $49,000 is required. Initial investment ranges from $260,076 to $393,174.

9. Spice Merchants

With stores in several states throughout the U.S., Spice Merchants is a retail business that offers spices, teas and other specialty food items. The company offers help with training, inventory and store setup. You dont need a culinary or tea background to get started. However, you should expect to spend between $60,000 to $127,000 in total startup costs, including a franchise fee of $25,000.

10. Presotea

Presotea specializes in espresso style tea. The company has more than 370 locations in countries around the world. While the brand isnt especially active in the United States, it is looking for new expansion opportunities. Presotea offers training and consultation along with management counseling and other services for franchisees. The opportunity comes with a $14,000 franchise fee, plus $20,000 for the required training program. Initial startup costs range from $235,000 to $365,000.

11. The Spice & Tea Exchange

The Spice & Tea Exchange is a retail business with franchise opportunities available. There are already franchise locations set up throughout the United States. As a result, youll be able to enjoy some brand recognition depending on the market you choose. The company encourages new franchisees to learn from current business owners. It also offers a training program called Spice UniversiTEA. The initial franchise fee is $37,750. New franchisees can expect to pay between $183,650 and $384,250 to get started.

12. Jamba Juice

Jamba Juice is a well known chain, though not particularly famous for tea. However, it does offer a variety of tea products including Talbott Teas. Other products include smoothies, juice and other healthy beverage options. The company provides training, operations support and access to high quality vendors. The brand looks for entrepreneurial individuals. Those with experience in food service or retail, as well as those interested in opening multiple locations, are preferred. The fee for a new franchise is $35,000. Initial costs range from $273,000 to $504,300.

13. Tea Shop

Tea Shop is a tea franchise based in Spain. However, the company is expanding into new markets like Brazil and Italy as well. Theres no word on whether the company plans to expand into the U.S. market but interested franchisees may want to keep this brand on their radar. The company provides individualized information about the business model and operations throughout each step of the franchising process. The fee for a new franchise is 12.000 . And total upfront costs are around 77,000 .

14. Tea Lounge

Tea Lounge aims to bring a cafe style tea house to communities throughout the world. The company wants to create a non traditional franchise program with a community feel rather than a corporate environment. Based in New York, Tea Lounge allows franchisees to personalize their shops by working with local artisans, bakers, and more. The initial franchise fee is $25,000. Upfront costs range from $140,750 to $243,750.

15. Hiccups Restaurant & Tea House

Hiccups offers an Asian Fusion restaurant mixed with a trendy tea house. The brand is known for specialty drinks, fresh ingredients, and welcoming environments. The franchise fee is $40,000, or $20,000 for those who have opened three or more stores. Overall startup costs can go up to $350,000.

16. Demmers Teahaus

Demmers Teahaus offers a wide array of specialty teas in a traditional store environment. Most of the companys locations are currently in Europe and Asia. The brand looks for individuals who are passionate about tea and have business experience. The company provides assistance with training, marketing, and logistics. Demmers doesnt make franchising costs available. Interested franchisees must inquire directly to get more information.

17. i-Tea

i-Tea offers specialty drinks in a quick service environment. Most of its current locations are in California. However, the brand is open to expanding to new markets as well. The stores also provide some food items. Fees and other expenses vary by location and the company hasnt published that information. As a result, those interested in becoming franchisees must contact the company for more information.

18. Camellias Tea House

Camellias Tea House offers tastings and specialty teas in a traditional store and tea house environments. The company is heavily involved in traditional tea culture in the U.K. However, they now sell products in other countries as well. The company is still relatively small. They dont publish information about costs and fees, but an inquiry might result in more information.

How Profitable is a Tea Franchise?

A tea franchise can be profitable under the right circumstances. However, many are not profitable at least in the first few years. Generally, they do not carry expensive products. Overhead for traditional store environments can be high. As a result, choosing a franchise with a diversified product offering and low operating expenses can make these businesses more profitable.

What is the Cost of Opening a Tea Franchise?

A franchise can cost between $50,000 and $400,000 to open. Most fall somewhere between $150,000 and $250.,000. Costs depend on the business model you choose. For example, a traditional store may cost more than a small cart or other non-traditional setups.

What is the Best Tea Franchise to Own?

The best tea franchise depends on what youre looking for. If you love traditional tea, a business like the Spice & Tea Exchange or The Teahouse may be of interest. Those looking for brand recognition may opt for a business that offers other options like Jamba Juice or The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.
TransferWise is an international money transfer platform that makes it up to 10 times cheaper to send money abroad compared to using a bank. Developed by two former Skype employees, TransferWise uses peer-to-peer technology to get rid of all the charges banks and brokers have kept hidden for decades and gives users access to the real mid-market exchange rate.

International money transfers are far more expensive than banks let on, said Joe Cross, U.S. general manager for TransferWise in a telephone interview with Small Business Trends. Even when they claim there are no fees, they typically use an inflated exchange rate to increase their profits. People lose as much as five percent when they send money across borders. We have a way of moving money for much less.

This chart shows the difference between the two rates:

Unlike banks and brokers, TransferWise is always transparent about its pricing, Cross said. We charge one percent for transactions below $5,000 and 0.7 percent for amounts over that  up to 10 times less expensive than banks on average.

Why TransferWise Was Founded

The idea for the company, which started in 2011, resulted from the frustration its two founders  Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Kaarmann  experienced when making bank transfers between the British pound and the euro.

As the story goes, Hinrikus worked for Skype in Estonia, and was paid in euros, but lived in London. Kaarmann worked in London but had a mortgage in euros back in Estonia. So the two devised a simple scheme.

Each month they checked that days mid-market rate on Reuters to find a fair exchange rate. Kaarmann put pounds into Hinrikuss U.K. bank account, and Hinrikus topped up Kaarmanns euro account with euros. Both got the currency they needed and neither paid a cent in hidden bank charges.

We came up with this idea to save ourselves money, and weve continued to grow and expand our platform because we believe that people who live, work, study, or do business abroad shouldnt be ripped off when they transfer their money, Hinrikus wrote in a blog post on the TransferWise site.

Theres only one real exchange rate, and thats the mid-market rate, which is tweaked and bumped up by banks and brokers to suit their purposes. Until now, consumers had very little say in the matter, as the real exchange rate was never available. But thanks to companies like us, all that is changing.

TransferWise Approach Influenced by Skype

According to Cross, the companys revolutionary method of money transfer was inspired by Hinrikuss time working at Skype.

Hinrikuss experience at Skype influenced the TransferWise approach and philosophy, Cross said. Calling across borders was far too expensive, and Skypes model disrupted the industry, bringing the price down until it was incredibly cheap. The founders took that same philosophy and applied it to international money transfer.

Since its founding, the company has attracted upwards of $91 million from some of the worlds leading investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Sir Richard Branson and Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal.

Small Business Owners Experience With TransferWise

This new approach to funds transfer has proven to be a boon for small companies doing business internationally, saving millions in fees they would otherwise incur from banks.

One of the companys small business customers, Cat MacLeod, owner of Leod Escapes, an international motorcycle touring company headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., said in a telephone interview with Small Business Trends that he uses TransferWise to process transactions in foreign currencies all the time, in currencies ranging from Australian dollars to British pounds to euros.

When asked what he likes about TransferWise, MacLeod said, I enjoy the fact that I can get a reasonable exchange rate. With big banks, wire transfers are exceedingly expensive, theres lots of paperwork and banks can delay transfers for an unpredictable amount of time.

TransferWise is different. It sets up an exchange at a market rate thats much more affordable than what banks charge. The company is also more consistent regarding transfer time  three or four days on average.

When asked why he doesnt just use PayPal to manage transactions, MacLeod said that it costs more than TransferWise, although not as much as a bank. But he was quick to point out, International funds transfer is not PayPals strong suit.

How TransferWise Works

To the user, the process for moving money is relatively straightforward.

Once you create an account, which is free to do, you determine how much you would like to send and choose the currencies involved in the exchange. You can send to your account abroad or another person or business.

See Also: Microsoft Announces New Skype for Business Pricing Models

After that, you add the recipients bank details, confirm the transfer details and upload the funds in your local currency using a debit card, PayPal, or via an ACH bank transfer or domestic wire transfer from your U.S. bank to TransferWises U.S. bank. The system then manages the transaction on your behalf. But its TransferWises peer-to-peer funds matching algorithm that enables you to save so much money.

Cross explained it this way:

The solution is local bank transfers. For example, if you want to send U.S. dollars from your American bank account to a British pounds account in the U.K., you can use your TransferWise profile to do the following:

Set up a transfer through which you provide us with your recipients bank account details; Pay in money from your U.S. bank account to TransferWises U.S. bank account.

We will then convert it at the real exchange rate and pay out the resulting amount as a cheap, local transfer from our U.K. bank to the recipients U.K. account. We have a bank or partner through which we can make local transfers to every currency we support.

To balance the process, it is constantly working in reverse. Money that is paid in from many of the currencies you send to is converted to U.S. dollars and paid out to bank accounts within the United States.

Lets say, for example, that you upload $1,000 to TransferWise in U.S. dollars to send to someone in the U.K. The platform converts that money into pounds using the real exchange rate minus our fee. But we dont actually move that money. We take the funds from customers in the U.K., who are uploading pounds and send them to the recipient. The original dollars stay within the U.S.

Think of it this way. There are two pots of money, one in the starting currency and one in the finishing currency. You put money into one pot and TransferWise takes money out of the other to pay the recipient. Because the money doesnt cross borders, no banks are involved, which is how we keep down the cost.

TransferWise can transfer funds using nearly 40 currencies, including Australian dollars, British pounds, Chinese yuan, Indian rupee, U.S. dollars and the euro. Other currencies are being added routinely as well.

The companys financial transactions are governed the same way as any other financial institution within the U.K., by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 (Firm Reference 900507) for the issuing of electronic money.

As to security, the company has a specialized team that continually reviews processes to ensure it is fortified against the latest safety threats. All transactions are protected by industry standard 256-bit RSA encryption.

Put succinctly, TransferWise is attempting to disrupt international money transfers the same way Skype did international phpne calls with an emphasis on savings and security small businesses may appreciate.
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
LEONARDTOWN, Md.

Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: http://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at http://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at http://so.md/expungeme.

(April 12, 2016)The St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office Vice Narcotics Division today released the following incident and arrest reports. The Division is an investigative team comprised of detectives from the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office and Federal Drug Agents (HIDTA Group 34). The Division was established on September 1st, 2007.ADDERALL, ALPRAZOLAM DISTRIBUTION:, was indicted and subsequently arrested for Distribution of Adderall and Distribution of Alprazolam, both controlled prescription medications.HEROIN DISTRIBUTION: Vice/Narcotics detectives identified, as a distributor of Heroin. A search and seizure warrant was obtained and executed and Suspect Kelly was found to be in possession of heroin and cocaine. He was also found to be in possession of marijuana, which he received a civil citation. He was arrested and additional charges are pending a review with the state's attorney.FIREARM VIOLATIONS, COCAINE DISTRIBUTION:, was indicted, arrested and charged with numerous counts of firearm violations, conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine distribution.COCAINE DISTRIBUTION:, was identified by detectives as a distributor of cocaine. She was charged with Conspiring to Distribute Cocaine and Distribution of Cocaine.CRACK COCAINE DISTRIBUTION:, was identified as a distributor of cocaine in King Kennedy area of Mechanicsville. A search warrant was obtained for his person and a quantity of crack cocaine was recovered. He was arrested and additional charges are pending a review with the state's attorney.
PRINCE FREDERICK, Md.

Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: http://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at http://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at http://so.md/expungeme.

(April 13, 2016)The Prince Frederick Barrack of the Maryland State Police (MSP) released the following incident and arrest reports.WARRANT SERVICES; POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA, METHADONE, ADDERALL: On 4/4/2016 at 10:52 am, Trooper Megelick stopped a vehicle in the WaWa parking lot in Prince Frederick. The driver,, was placed under arrest for an open warrant through Anne Arundel County. A passenger,, was arrested for two open warrants through St. Mary's County. One other passenger,was arrested for possession of marijuana, methadone and adderall. William H. Hephner was transported and released to a trooper from Leonardtown Barrack. Thompson and Barr were incarcerated at the Calvert County Detention Center.POSSESSION WITH INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE MARIJUANA: On 4/6/2016 at 11:59 pm, Trooper Warrick stopped a vehicle on Rt. 4 and Morning Glory Lane in Dunkirk for traffic violations. A strong odor of raw marijuana was emitting from inside the vehicle. A probable cause search revealed a large amount of marijuana, morphine tablets and drug paraphernalia.andwere arrested and charged with CDS Possession with Intent to Distribute and CDS PossessionNot Marijuana. They were incarcerated at the Calvert County Detention Center.DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY: On 4/8/2016 at 6:45 am, Trooper First Class Bray responded to the 1700 block of Parkers Creek Rd. in Port Republic for a malicious destruction of property call. The victim reported the driver's side tires appeared to be punctured with a sharp object and the rear driver's side window and back window were both shattered. Investigation continues.WARRANT SERVICE: On 4/8/2016 at 6:45 am, Trooper First Class Bray while working on the destruction of property call, foundwho resides at the residence had an open warrant through Charles County. He was placed under arrest and was turned over to a Charles County Sheriff's Deputy.POSSESSION OF FENTANYL AND MARIJUANA: On 4/9/2016 at 1:46 am, Trooper Warrick stopped a vehicle for traffic violations on Rt. 4 near Bright Lane in Owings. Due to several criminal indicators, Tpr. Warrick requested the assistance of a CDS K-9. K-9 "Flip" completed a scan of the vehicle which resulted in a positive alert. A probable cause search was conducted and both marijuana and fentanyl were located.was arrested for possession of CDS. He was incarcerated at the Calvert County Detention Center.DUI ARREST:, arrested on 04/06/2016 @ 04:15 pm by TFC W. Costello
Commissioners Proclaim April as Archaeology Month



On Tuesday, April 12, the Charles County Commissioner proclaimed the month of April as Archaeology Month in Charles County. Charles County has a rich history and heritage, exemplified by historic buildings, cultural landmarks, natural features, and local rituals. The county is enhanced by historic preservation associations, groups, and professionals who donate countless hours and dollars to preserve our history.



In attendance were Carol Cowherd, Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland, Inc.; Ken Robinson (District 1); Elsie Picyk, Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland, Inc.; Commissioner Bobby Rucci (District 4); Commissioner Vice President Debra M. Davis, Esq. (District2); Commissioner Amanda M. Stewart, M.Ed. (District 3); and President Peter F. Murphy.



2016 Charles County Pay It Forward Week Scheduled for April 22-28



Mark your calendar for Charles County Pay It Forward Week, the week of April 22-28. The County Commissioners would like to encourage all citizens to show random acts of kindness and inspire others through their actions. The receiver of the kind deed is encouraged to "pay it forward," creating a ripple effect that is visible, motivating, and energizing.



During Pay It Forward Week, citizens are invited to report random acts of kindness. The Commissioners will highlight some of these actions during their meeting on Tuesday, May 3. Send random acts of kindness reports via email to SpeakOut@CharlesCountyMD.gov, send us a message on Twitter @CharlesCoMD or Facebook at www.facebook.com/CharlesCounty. Use the hashtag #SpeakOutCharles.



Check our social media throughout the week to see what positives things are taking place in Charles County. Pay It Forward Week demonstrates the power of a single kind act. Help turn April 22-28 into a kindness movement in Charles County, culminating in national Pay It Forward Day on Thursday, April 28.



Everyone can make a difference regardless of age, ethnicity, economic or social status, or background. There is always a way to help others. You can pay for someone's cup of coffee, mow a neighbor's lawn, give up your seat on the bus, donate to a local food pantry, or return someone's shopping cart. Teachers can help their classes participate by illustrating a picture book for hospitalized children, or doing a community cleanup project. Even businesses can get involved by encouraging staff members to participate or donating to a charity.



For more information, contact the Public Information Office at 301-885-2779. Citizens with special needs may contact the Maryland Relay Service at 711, or Relay Service TDD: 800-735-2258.



Historic Preservation Commission to Host Awards Ceremony on May 7



The Charles County Historic Preservation Commission will host a Preservation Reception and Awards Ceremony on Saturday, May 7 from 10 a.m. until noon at St. Pauls' Episcopal Church (4535 Piney Church Road, Waldorf). The winner(s) of the Charles County Preservation Award for 2015 will be announced at this time.



The Historic Preservation Award is presented annually to an eligible individual, business, organization, or project that deserves recognition for outstanding achievements in historic preservation. Awards are presented in two categories: Preservation Projects and Preservation Service.



Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., the current chairman of the Charles County Historic Preservation Commission will be the guest speaker for this event. Robinson has served on numerous task forces and commissions throughout Maryland, DC, and Virginia. He has been a leader in historic preservation efforts in Southern Maryland for more than a decade. His recent accomplishments include appointment to the board of the Maryland Historical Trust by Governor Hogan, and the publication of Faith & Tobacco, A History of St. Thomas' Episcopal Parish, Prince George's County Maryland. Robinson is the recipient of the St. George's Day Award, and the Preservation Service Award. Mr. Robinson is employed as an Archivist with the Archives Center in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and resides at the Robinson family farm, Serenity Farm, in Benedict.



Light refreshments will be provided at the event. A donation of $5 per person to the St. Paul's Episcopal Church is encouraged.



For more information or to RSVP for the event, please contact Beth Groth at 301-645-0684 or GrothB@CharlesCountyMD.gov. Citizens with special needs may contact the Maryland Relay Service at 711, or Relay Service TDD: 800-735-2258.



Commissioners Proclaim Charles County Saves and Money Smart Week as April 23-30



On Tuesday, April 12, the Charles County Commissioner proclaimed April 23-30 as Charles County Saves and Money Smart Week. Personal and household savings is fundamental to the stability and vitality of Charles County residents. On April 30, the Assets for Financial Independence Foundation, Inc. (AFFIF) in partnership with the other community organizations will offer a Money Matters Fair from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Waldorf West Library (10405 O'Donnell Place, Waldorf). The fair will offer free financial planning sessions, information on estate planning and credit repair, activities for children and teenagers, and free tax preparation for those with a household income of $54,000 or less.
St. Mary's County Public Schools' Ethics Panel To Meet



The St. Mary's County Public Schools' Ethics Panel will be holding a meeting on Thursday, April 14, 2016, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., in Fiscal Services/Human Resources Suite 2-C Gray Conference Room, 23160 Moakley Street, Leonardtown, Maryland 20650. For more information, call 301-475-5511, ext. 32247.



School System Calendar Changes



On April 13, 2016, the Board of Education revised the 2015-2016 school system operating calendars. Students will be attending school on April 29, 2016 as a two-hour early dismissal day, instead of a full professional day for staff. There will be no school for Head Start and Prekindergarten on April 29, 2016.



By having students attend on Friday, April 29, 2016, the last day for students will be moved to Friday, June 10, 2016. This will impact the final days of the school year in the following manner:



 Tuesday, June 7, 2016 will be a regular day of school with all Head Start and Prekindergarten students attending school on a normal schedule. June 7, 2016 will be the last day of school for Head Start and Prekindergarten students.



 Wednesday, June 8, 2016 will be a two-hour early dismissal day with no school for Head Start and Prekindergarten students.



 Thursday, June 9, 2016 will be a two-hour early dismissal day with no school for Head Start and Prekindergarten students.



 Friday, June 10, 2016 will be a two-hour early dismissal day and the last day of school for students K-12.



 Tuesday, June 14, 2016 will be the last day for teachers and other 10 month staff.



Friday, April 29, 2016 will also be an early dismissal day for the Chesapeake Public Charter School. The last day of school for the Charter School will be Friday, June 10, 2016. June 8, 9, and 10 will be early dismissal days for students attending the Charter School. June 14, 2016 will be the last day for the teachers at the Charter School.
WASHINGTON

(April 13, 2016)The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced the following contract awards that pertain to local Navy activities., is being awarded amodification to the previously awarded advance acquisition contract for the Lot IX low-rate initial production F-35 Lightning II Propulsion contract (N00019-14-C-0004) for the Air Force, Navy/Marine Corps, international partners and foreign military sales (FMS) customers. This modification provides for components, parts and materials associated with the procurement of 28 F135-PW-100 conventional take-off and landing propulsion systems for the Air Force; six F135-PW-600 propulsion systems for the Marine Corps; and four F135-PW-100 propulsion systems for the Navy. In addition, this modification provides for seven each F135-PW-100 and F135-PW-600 propulsion systems for international partners, as well as 11 F135-PW-100 spare propulsion systems for FMS customers. This modification further provides for three spare propulsion systems and one trainer propulsion system for the Air Force. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force ($365,456,442; 35 percent); the Navy/Marine Corps ($226,542,833; 22 percent); international partners ($299,525,306; 29 percent); and FMS customers ($146,550,108; 14 percent). Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut (85 percent); Indianapolis, Indiana (11 percent); and Bristol, United Kingdom (4 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2019. Fiscal 2014 and 2015 aircraft procurement (Navy and Air Force); international partner; and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $1,038,074,689 will be obligated at time of award, $14,479,576 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor modification P00012 to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-14-D-0001) to exercise an option for depot-level maintenance support and sustainment for the F/A-18 A/B/C/D aircraft. This includes the performance of High Flight Hour (HFH) inspections, HFH recurring inspections, additional inspections, modifications and liaison engineering. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida, and is expected to be completed in December 2016. No funds are being obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor order 1253 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-15-C-0026) for non-recurring and recurring engineering efforts for the installation, integration and testing of the NP2000 propeller system in support of the E-2C Hawkeye program. This order includes systems engineering; technical, logistical and management support; installation modification; instrumentation installation and removal; aircraft maintenance; ground and flight testing; data analysis and transmittal; technical documentation development; and installation kit development and procurement for the government of Japan under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed in Misawa, Japan (52 percent); Melbourne, Florida (25 percent); Norfolk, Virginia (7.8 percent); Windsor Locks, Connecticut (7.5 percent); St. Augustine, Florida (4.7 percent); Rolling Meadows, Illinois (1.3 percent); Indianapolis, Indiana (0.7 percent); Salisbury, Maryland (0.6 percent); Bridgeport, West Virginia (0.2 percent); Longmont, Colorado (0.1 percent), and Herndon, Virginia (0.1 percent), and is expected to be completed in July 2018. Foreign military sales funds in the amount of $19,189,897 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded amodification to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract (N00019-14-C-0032) to provide additional funding for a portion of the small business contract incentive that was negotiated as part of the Lot 38 full-rate production procurement of EA-18G and F/A-18E aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed in April 2016. Fiscal 2013 and 2014 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $13,715,272 are being obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded acost-plus-incentive-fee contract for the design, manufacture, integration, demonstration and test of 15 Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) engineering development model pods in support of the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the NGJ program. The NGJ system is a pod-based tactical jammer that replaces the 40-plus-year ALQ-99 jammer system on the EA-18G aircraft. This contract also provides for the manufacture of 14 NGJ aero-mechanical test pods, which will be used to verify aircraft flying qualities and pod safe separation from the host aircraft; provide equipment needed for system integration laboratories; and mature manufacturing processes. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California (49.5 percent); Forrest, Mississippi (14.7 percent); Dallas, Texas (13.9 percent); McKinney, Texas (8.1 percent); Torrance, California (5.5 percent); Ft. Wayne, Indiana (4.2 percent); Marion, Virginia (1.6 percent); San Diego, California (1.4 percent); Andover, Massachusetts (0.8 percent); and Tucson, Arizona (0.3 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2020. Fiscal 2016 research, development, testing and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $134,608,248 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code  2304(c)(1). The, is the contracting activity (N00019-16-C-0002)., is being awarded afirm-fixed-price modification to the previously awarded P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft advance acquisition contract N00019-14-C-0067. This modification provides for the procurement of long-lead items for the manufacture and delivery of 11 Lot 8 full-rate production IV P-8A aircraft for the Navy. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington (82.6 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (6.2 percent); Greenlawn, New York (4.2 percent); Cambridge, United Kingdom (3.5 percent); and North Amityville, New York (3.5 percent), and is expected to be completed in January 2017. Fiscal 2016 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $235,273,7121 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded aindefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for engineering and technical services for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division's Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems Division in support of the Navy and the government of the United Kingdom. Services to be provided include system test planning and system test and evaluation; and development of procedures, specifications, and test planning for systems. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland (58 percent); Patuxent River, Maryland (21 percent); California, Maryland (16 percent); Jacksonville, Florida (4 percent); and various shipboard and site locations throughout the U.S. (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2021. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. This contract competitively procured as a 100 percent small business set-aside; two offers were received. This contract combines purchases for the Navy ($44,929,233; 99 percent) and the government of the United Kingdom ($453,830; 1 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales program. The, is the contracting activity (N00421-16-D-0005)., is being awardedfor firm-fixed-price delivery order 4014 against basic ordering agreement N00019-14-G-0019 for non-recurring engineering efforts in support of the MH-60 R/S aircraft. These efforts provide for the modification, testing, and qualification of three MH-60R/S avionics weapons replaceable assemblies. These services are in support of the Navy and the government of Australia. Work will be performed in Owego, New York (67 percent); Farmingdale, New York (18 percent); and Huntsville, Alabama (15 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2018. Fiscal 2015 aircraft procurement (Navy); and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $8,475,334 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the Navy ($7,237,936; 85.4 percent); and the government of Australia ($1,237,398; 14.6 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales program. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded acost reimbursement contract to provide for the preliminary work associated with the engineering change proposal 6472 integration of the Next Generation Jammer Pod onto the EA-18G aircraft. This effort will ensure the development, preparation, and delivery of the aircraft modification design is suitable for the engineering and manufacturing development stage of the Next Generation Jammer Pod program. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (80 percent); and Bethpage, New York (20 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2016. Fiscal 2016 research, development, testing and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $19,900,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6 302-1. The, is the contracting activity (N00019-16-C-0032).
Peter Bisuito is the worlds only gay bodybuilder comedian.

Its been a double edged sword. Ive done a lot of research and I cannot find at allnot one person in this worldwho is a full time gay, muscle bodybuilding comedian, said Bisuito.

He certainly doesnt look like many leading comedians on the circuit.

Ive always told myself Im like Kathy Griffin-meets-Wanda Sykes-meets-George Carlin, he said, naming three heavyweights. People arent used to seeing comedians who look like me, so they dont make the connection. Sometimes it works for me and sometimes against me.

Bisuito, who grew up outside of Rochester, New York, had concentrated on theater and dance in his early years before taking up bodybuilding at the age of 27 and catapulting his weight from 145 lbs. to 245 lbs. today.

About the same time he moved to Los Angeles and a couple of years later came out, a long process, he recalled.

Then the corporate executive and entrepreneur turned his attention to comedy.

Deep down I always knew I wanted to perform, Bisuito said. I was 42 and woke up one day, decided to take the leap of faith, gave up my job and put myself on food stamps.

That was four years ago and in just a couple weeks, he will be headlining a seven-city European tour of England, Ireland and the Netherlands.

But first, Bisuito will make his South Florida debut at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale.

Bisuito and his husband recently relocated to the area after spending 13 years in upstate New York.

Thats all you need to know about that decision, he explained, expressing no remorse about leaving the harsh winters behind.

Im a storyteller, I dont tell jokes. Im not a rimshot comedian, Bisuito explained, preferring to relate his recent experiences and encounters to audiences.

Bisuito also relies on his audiences to set the tone at his performances. The gayer the audience, the gayer the stories.

I do this whole schtick where I compare gay couples and straight couples: If you walk into a straight bar and bump into a straight guys girl, you end up in a bar fight. But, if its a gay bar, you end up in a three-way, he said with a chuckle, noting the name of his act, My Big Funny Peter.

See Peter Bisuito in My Big Funny Peter in the Abdo New River Room at the Broward Center on Saturday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $26 - $35 at BrowardCenter.org. For more information, go to MyBigFunnyPeter.com.
In February, Humana agreed to pay a $500,000 fine for lack of cooperation in an investigation. The fine was included in a consent order. This investigation concerned charges that Humana had discriminated against people living with HIV.

This consent order did not address the merits of the discrimination charge. As part of the order, Humana agreed to ensure that it does not by effect or design treat those living with HIV/AIDS less favorably than any other condition.

In 2014, The AIDS Institute and The National Health Law Program filed a discrimination complaint with the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The complaint charged that Humana and other insurers had placed HIV medications on the medication tier with the greatest expense to the consumer. The Federal Office for Civil Rights then notified the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (FOIR) of this complaint. FOIR then began its own investigation leading to this Consent Order.

The charges in this case relate to a type of discrimination, Marketplace Discrimination. It occurs when health insurance practices discourage people with expensive-to-treat medical conditions from purchasing health insurance. As discouraged people tend to be invisible, its effects are impossible to measure. For example, health insurers categorize medications into tiers, based on expense to the customer.

Marketplace discrimination occurs on those occasions when an insurer clusters all or most of the medications to treat a disease on the most expensive tier. According to Michael Ruppal of The AIDS Institute, marketplace discrimination extends to other diseases such as Hepatitis B and C.

This understanding of marketplace discrimination is consistent with the business model of health insurance. Cliff Eserman of Incompas Financial described this business model as spreading the risk over a bunch of people, just not yourself. Ruppal argued that if Health Insurance Companies spread their risk among customers with multiple needs, they could minimize risk. Instead, certain companies have policies that discourage people with expensive-to-treat medical conditions from purchasing their plans.

In practice, however, other factors come into play. According to Eserman, Health insurers label the ratio of benefits-paid-out to income-received as the Usury Ratio. Eserman reported that health insurers strive for a Usury Ratio of 80 percent. The remaining 20 percent has to cover wages, salaries, overhead, and profits. This creates an incentive to minimize benefits-paid-out through excluding more costly patients.

Before the Affordable Care Act, private insurance could refuse to sell insurance to people with expensive-to-treat medical conditions. Now, marketplace discrimination drives them to less discriminatory insurers. This would concentrate risk among those non-discriminating insurers, driving up their costs. Health insurers engaging in marketplace discrimination discriminate against customers and engage in unfair business competition.

Ruppal argues that marketplace discrimination also precludes effective cost containment. Individuals lack the purchasing power to negotiate costs with pharmaceutical companies. Health insurers, however, could use their group purchasing power to negotiate costs with pharmaceutical companies.

In marketplace discrimination, insurers merely pass on the high cost of medications to patients. Challenging marketplace discrimination puts pressure on health insurance companies to negotiate costs with pharmaceutical companies. This could drive down the prices of medications.

We want the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to work as intended, and we want it to work for people living with HIV/AIDS and others with chronic health conditions, said Ruppal. But shifting all the cost of medications to the patients is not only blatant discrimination, but it also leads to poorer health outcomes, since beneficiaries will not be able to afford and access their life-saving medications.
Locally, the City of Miami Beach joined the City of West Palm Beach in its protest of North Carolina's Gov. Pat McCrory's recent signature of a new law banning anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender people, as well the the law Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed allowing businesses to refuse service to gay couples based on religious objections.

Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine filed a recent resolution city commission meeting, which was passed by all, condemning the new laws in both states, according to a release from the city. The now-ordinance prohibits official city travel to these states, and imposes a moratorium on the purchase of goods or services sourced in these states, if passed.

"I firmly oppose the recent efforts that unjustly target the LGBT community in North Carolina and Mississippi, and call on my colleagues to join me in sending a clear message on behalf of the City of Miami Beach that the days of bigotry must come to an end," Levine said in release. "North Carolina and Mississippi leaders should join the great progress we've seen on achieving full equality in our country rather than embrace policies of hate and intolerance."

After backlash N.C. Gov. McCrory said he would like the bathroom law partially changed after backlash, according to a Washington Post report this evening. Miss. Gov. Bryant has not yet publicly spoken on whether or not he has planned changes to the law in his state, which is set to take effect July 1.

Businesses, such as Deutsche Bank and others, are now stopping major business projects in North Carolina in protest of the bias law, according to the New York Times. Musician Bryan Adams recently canceled a concert in Mississippi to protest that state's law, the Washington Post reported.

After pressure from major corporations that do business in Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal recently vetoed a "religious" freedom bill, according to CNN. The Human Rights Campaign said that it has tracked nearly 200 bills deemed to be against the LGBT community in nearly three dozen states during state legislative sessions this year.

Anthony Martinez Beven covers Miami-Dade County for SFGN. Contact him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Seasoned political operatives gathered inside a local coffee shop on Thursday, April, 7, to hear from the former chairman of the Broward Democratic Party and leading candidate for Clerk of the Courts.

Mitch Ceasar told a group of mostly gay men from Fort Lauderdale that he would make every effort to rebuild a broken clerks office.

The office needs help, Ceasar said.

A practicing attorney, Ceasar is attempting to win public office after decades of working behind the scenes as a Democratic party boss. According to the Broward Supervisor of Elections office, Ceasar faces competition from five other candidates  Elizabeth McHugh, Brenda Forman, Lisa Ferreri, Shandrall Roscoe and Rubin Young. Of the six, Ceasar has raised the most money -- $174,984 compared to $71,500 for McHugh and $30,075 for Forman, wife of retiring County Clerk, Howard C. Forman.

Mitch is a great manager, said Ron Mills, a gay man, who has in the past, served as Broward Countys state committeeman for the Democratic Executive Committee. He has the managerial skills needed for the job and he has never not put forth the motions.

Joining Mills at the Fort Lauderdale reception for Caesar were former Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl, one-time County Commission candidate Ben Lap, local attorney George Castrataro, former Florida GLBT Caucus chairman Michael Albetta and SFGN publisher Norm Kent. Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Dean Trantalis introduced Caesar to the invited guests.

Our court system is in complete shambles, Trantalis, an attorney, said in his endorsement speech of Ceasar. You cannot leave this task in anybodys hands. It takes a special talent -- someone who pushes people, who organizes people, has a history of understanding how people work and act.

Ceasar, a married straight man, proudly displayed a plaque to the group recognizing his participation in a gay PrideFest parade circa 1997. Before his remarks, Ceasar told reporters standing up for human rights is a no-brainer.

I certainly did not do it because it was the popular thing to do, I did it because it was the right thing to do, Ceasar said.

A member of the national Democratic Executive Committee, Ceasar will have input on decisions made this July in Philadelphia. Chairing a major political party in a South Florida county home to more than two million people has its advantages.

Ive known Mitch for many, many years throughout my activity in the Democratic Party, Trantalis said. Mitch is a leader and not just for Democrats. Hes reached out to so many groups and built this party to what it is today. Often times this county will turn the entire state.

Browards primary election is scheduled for Aug. 30. Currently, no Republican has filed for the clerks position.

With 36 years as a lawyer to his credit, Ceasar said his campaign would focus on treating the public better. He also mentioned his work on committees for the Anti-Defamation League, Urban League and the independent authority which created the Sawgrass Expressway.

That was the only road in Broward County history that came in six months early and millions of dollars under budget, said Ceasar, chair of the authority.
As New Yorkers prepare to cast their votes in the U.S. Presidential campaign, particularly on the Republican side, the race appears foggier than ever.

Businessman Donald J. Trump suffered a decisive defeat in Wisconsins primary and was outmaneuvered in Colorado by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Trump, who did not compete in Colorado, called the contest a total fix.

According to Real Clear Politics, Trump holds a 743 to 545 delegate lead over Cruz with Ohio Governor John Kasich with 143 delegates. A Republican candidate must procure 1,237 delegates in order to claim the partys nomination at this summers convention in Cleveland.

Andy Eddy, a member of the Broward Log Cabin Republicans Chapter, said the GOP convention could be contested if Trump doesnt reach the required number of delegates. Eddy, who said he is leaning towards Kasich, questions Trumps ability to change the way he operates.

Being a businessman and being a politician is very different, Eddy said. Im from New York and I understand (Trump) where he comes from and having to make deals in a New York minute with real cut and dry decisions. Im just not sure if he can change from that to being a politician and using influence to win favor.

On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont enter New Yorks primary with each claiming local roots. Sanders was born and raised in the city borough of Brooklyn, while Clinton served two terms in the U.S. Senate representing the Empire State.

Clinton holds a 1,287 to 1,068 lead in pledged delegates over Sanders, who continues to do well in western caucus states and took a rare primary win in Wisconsin last week. In New York polling, Clinton holds a 53 to 39 percent lead. New Yorks primary is scheduled for Tuesday, April 19.

On Monday, Clinton told NBC News that Sanders is essentially being exposed as an untested candidate.

Senator Sanders is having trouble answering questions about his core issue which is dealing with the banks, Clinton said.

Sanders is on the defensive for failing to outline specific steps in how he would break up the big banks to fulfill his campaign promise of making Americas economy more equitable.
Tim Peake Reads "Road to the Stars" ESA

On 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit Earth in his Vostok spacecraft that launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, now in Kazakhstan.

ESA astronaut Tim Peake was launched into space from the very same launchpad as Yuri Gagarin and now, 55 years later, he tweeted this picture of himself on the International Space Station reading Yuris autobiography Road to the Stars.

The book is a special copy, signed by Gagarin himself, and it flew to space in 1991 with British astronaut Helen Sharman to the Russian space station Mir. The book is now signed by the current crew on the International Space Station, as well as the crew on Mir during Helens mission.

12 April has become a worldwide day of celebration of human spaceflight. Cosmonauts on the International Space Station are given a day off on this day. Today Yuri Malenchenko, Oleg Skripochka, Alexei Ovchinin are given a break from their busy schedules in space aside from their obligatory daily exercise.

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The police will check the activities of sympathisers of far-right LSNS party at train stations.

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The sympathisers of far-right extremist and Banska Bystrica Regions Governor Marian Kotleba will patrol at railway stations. The aim, according to them, is to increase the safety of passengers, the Sme daily reported.

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The far-right Peoples Party  Our Slovakia (LSNS) of Kotleba introduced the patrols after April 7 when a girl was robbed on a train from Nove Zamky (Nitra Region) to Zvolen (Banska Bystrica Region). The party claims that the perpetrator was a Roma.

Such activities are unequivocally racially motivated, Alena Chudzikova of the Centre for Ethnic and Culture Research (CVEK) told Sme.

Read also:

Read also: Kotleba to spend state money on militia Read more

She also pointed out that Kotleba and his party deliberately choose cases in which the Roma minority is involved.

Not even passenger carriers agree with such activities, they told Sme.

The daily also pointed out that the crime rate in Slovakia has been dropping and that incidents on trains and at stations are minimal. While in 2012 a total of 896 crimes were committed at train stations, in 2015 the number dropped by 191 cases. The clear-up rate currently amounts to 53 percent, Sme wrote. Politicians should not replace the police, opines Police Corps President Tibor Gaspar.

In addition, Kotlebas symphatisers are distributing leaflets which the police are currently investigating for the suspicion of dispersing hatred against minorities. The activities on trains are also scrutinised by the General Prosecutors Office, its spokesperson Andrea Predajnova confirmed to Sme.
There are more and more powerful voices against the EU, NATO or the West in Europe now than weve had in the last 25 years, says Anne Applebaum who is visiting Bratislava at the end of this week to attend the Globsec conference.

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You wrote recently that we are three bad elections away from the end of NATO and the end of the EU. What did you mean by that?

Anne Applebaum (AA): Its not about the concrete elections, but about the fact that people who dont see the EU and the NATO as the main priority are gaining power. In the US we are facing a real threat that Donald Trump will become the Republican candidate, in France Marine LePen leads the polls. Obviously, everybody is saying that these candidates wont win, but a scandal might break out and the results might be completely different that what we expect now. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders is doing well, and the head of British Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn goes against the European integration to some extent too. If all this is combined, Europe as we know it today will become history.

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What would the breakup of the EU look like?

AA: There might be many ways. From the breakup of the Schengen area, the closure of borders and creation of various groups, through introduction of new tariffs, to a complete breakup of the EU. The worst-case scenario would be an armed conflict.

Is this something that could happen or something that will happen?

AA: I think that it could happen, I might very well be too negative. There are more and more powerful voices against the EU, NATO or the West in Europe now than weve had in the last 25 years.

You have also written that we should not isolate ourselves in reaction to terrorism. But it looks like a lot of voters want to do exactly that: close borders. How can politicians go against their voters?

AA: The job of politicians is to explain to the people what the consequences would be. Youll be poorer, youll have fewer opportunities, you will be more isolated, you will not be safe. People do not remember the 1930s when there was economic protectionism which helped bring down many economies. They do not remember the 1980s when Europe was still divided, with very little communication between eastern and western Europe. It is important to teach people what consequences this kind of choice would have.

Perhaps it is more about peoples fears rather than rational thinking. Is it possible to persuade them by explanation?

AA: It is harder to explain to people, to give people rational arguments because they have some alternatives. Its one of the consequences of the way the internet is now used and the way information is spread. For example you can now read versions of the events which are completely opposite to reality, and you can believe them because they are repeated by some people over and over again.

In Europe, some things that were unimaginable last year are now real, like borders and fences.

AA: Yes, nobody could imagine the end of Schengen, thats true. And now it seems quite possible that Schengen could end. So yes, quite a lot of quite unimaginable things now are happening.

One of the changes is the agreement with Turkey about the returning of refugees. Because there are questions about human rights: whether Turkey is safe, whether refugees would not be denied the chance to ask for asylum. Do you think Europe is losing its foundation, its ideals of human rights, or is it pragmatic thinking that was always there.

AA: Right now I do not see a big choice for Europe, another option that would work. Of course its a terrible thing to do and its against many standards that weve created. But I dont think people are doing it happily. Its just that there are no other options right now. Maybe later there will be something better. The migrant question is incredibly difficult because all the solutions to it are bad. One solution would be that the EU would put together an army, invade Syria and end the war. You could do it but its not going to happen. Another solution is to let all the refugees in to Europe, that cannot happen because it is destabilising Europe already. The third option is to have a third place to keep them and this is also a bad option, but its the one right now that is feasible.

How long do you think Angela Merkel stays firm with her position for which she is criticized at home and abroad?

AA: I do not think that right now Merkel is in any danger. A few weeks ago actually 70 or 80 percent of the votes in Germany still went to the established parties like CDU, social democrats, maybe the Greens. Its not like there is the majority of anti-European parties in Germany. I think people are exaggerating a little bit how dangerous the situation in Germany is. It is much more dangerous in other places. Of course she will be not in power forever and whether she wants to stay after the next election is another question. She has been in the job for a long time. I do not think that she is in danger for some following months.

And do you think Panama Papers can change something in European politics?

AA: So far theres nothing in the Panama Papers that I would find surprising. I knew how it worked, I knew that the Russians are keeping their money offshore. These offshore banks are all legal. Even in Britain, if you have an ordinary bank account in an ordinary bank, you go there and say I would really like to have a euro account theyll say we cannot create for you a euro account in the UK, but we can do an offshore euro account for you. Thats nothing illegal, nothing strange, it is how the banking system works. The British are in particular responsible because so many banks are in British territory. I think the answer is to shut down the offshore system, make it illegal, and people will not be using it any more. Its a pretty simple solution and it would be to the benefit of everybody.

Is it possible to shut it down when some of the havens are also in the UK, Cyprus. Some of them are right in the EU.

AA: The EU can shut them down, for example in the UK, Luxemburg, Cyprus and say that it is illegal to keep money in them, if you are a citizen of a European country.

Do not you think that this could be one of the arguments against staying in the EU, for example in the UK because they would say Brussels is pressing us to close banks on Isle of Man?

AA: I think that theyre going to have to be careful. The backlash against offshore banks and against people and companies who dont pay taxes is growing and is quite big in Britain already. And if the Tories or anybody else start arguing in favour of tax evasion they would lose power. Forget about Europe, its in the UKs interest to end this.

Emotions are used quite a lot in the campaign before the referendum on Brexit. Do you think that rational stands of David Cameron can work?

AA: Cameron is not running a good campaign. All the emotion is on the other side, for the most part. I dont know, right now polls say its 50:50 and I will not bet on the outcome. I would guess it could go either way. We are still a couple of months away and the real harsh campaign is going to happen in June, after the local election.

And if Brits vote for the Brexit, what would Great Britain look like in five years?

AA: That might be the end of Great Britain. We would have England, we would have Scotland, which would be a separate country. Great Britain would probably lose Northern Ireland which would probably leave and reunify with the rest of Ireland. And that would be the end of Great Britain. Its very hard for me to see how anything different from that would happen.

Will this also lead to the rise in popularity for other separatist movements around Europe?

AA: The success of the Brexit campaign could inspire a similar campaign in the Netherlands, which has strong anti-EU views, or in France. There is a number of countries where you have anti-EU sentiments and this can inspire them.

Do you see those sentiments also here, in central Europe?

AA: Of course. Poland has elected an anti-EU party, Law and Justice (PiS). We didnt see during the campaign that they were anti-EU, but now it turned out they are. The party has begun using anti-European rhetoric. A year ago Poles were 85 percent pro-European. But under the influence of a different kind, like state television, and with a government now devoted to anti-Europe sentiment we could see how it would be different here.

For example, the same is said about Hungary. Also, Slovakia has filed a suit against the EU. Do you think these stances are similar?

AA: I think theyre all similar. I dont think theyre different from the same phenomenon in western Europe. Im not sure if theres anything specifically anti-European about them. They seem a little bit more irrational because the EU has been such a huge benefit for eastern Europe, its just extraordinary in terms of Schengen, the subsidies, the open trade, and other kinds of ways.

How would you explain that? Dont these people understand what they get?

AA: Some people dont understand it, some people are so accustomed to it that theyve forgotten what life was like before. Some people are too young to remember. And some politicians are really cynically trying to use xenophobia and nationalism to take power. Everything thats wrong they blame on Europe, and everything thats right they take credit for themselves. So they use Europe as a kind of political tool and it's not that different in western Europe and central Europe.

But those politicians must know that if that goes on, they will somehow break up the EU.

AA: Yes, but maybe they dont care because theyre in power. One thing I learned last year is that the point of trying to win power as a nationalist party in a small European country is not to do good for your country, the point is to put yourself in power.

And if those countries of central Europe will move out of Brussels and there would be some smaller Schengen, do you think they can somehow counter the press from the Russian side?

AA: Russia itself is not in very good condition right now, this can change in a few years. I can certainly imagine the situation in which there were a group of pro-Russian countries in Europe with undemocratic political systems, or where the democracy would be controlled by news. And they stick together and they were opposed to western Europe. I can imagine that.

You were been here in the 1990s when all those revolutions were going on and lot of efforts were done to make those countries work. Did you expect that these words could be said in 25 years?

AA: Remember that in the 1990s we had very low expectations: people didnt know if there would be any democracy here at all; whether it will work in one year, let alone in 25 years. And the surprise has been that its been a sheer success.

Do you have the same feelings as you had in 1990s about Poland, Slovakia, etc. now about Ukraine? Do you believe it can work?

AA: I dont know; Ukraine has much worse geopolitics; it is under sheer economic and political pressure from Russia. I dont think anyone in the West is enthusiastic about Ukraine, except for a few people and Washington maybe. And Ukraine doesnt have a lot of friends in Europe; whereas in the 1990s, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary had a huge number of friends. People wanted them to succeed; a lot of effort was made to see them succeed. But I dont see anyone doing that for Ukraine. A lot depends on whether Ukrainians themselves can change things internally.

The support for Ukraine in Europe has decreased against two years ago when many Europeans were saying We must help them now that they have chosen Europe.

AA: Not that many people were saying it, and they said that when they were shocked by the Russian invasion. Two years later, people want to go back to doing business with Russia. People feel less enthusiastic about spreading democracy now than they did maybe 25 years ago.

Pro-Russian politicians in central Europe  you wrote in the fall that we still need to find the right word to call them  do you have it now?

AA: No. The useful idiot is probably the best phrase, although many of them know  for example Orban knows exactly what hes doing. He is cynically running a policy which is pro-Russian to the degree that it suits him financially, and he didnt care about Ukraine.

Do you see in central Europe anyone who is in power who can stand up for Ukraine and against Russia?

AA: No. If they wanted to make it a priority, Poles and Czechs and Slovaks would do it; but it doesnt look like they want to  you know your government. The British and the Germans are pretty ambivalent but the German government is still supporting Ukraine, the British government is supporting Ukraine. They have not been abandoned, and the IMF is still working with Ukraine. But its sure that theyve lost enthusiasm.

Slovak President Kiska is on the side of Ukraine.

AA: That would make a difference. A strong voice in Slovakia would help a lot. Any solidarity which he can build with his counterpart elsewhere, with other central-European presidents, would be great. He should try to build it with the Polish president.

If you can explain to Europeans what is happening in the US: whats your explanation of the phenomenon of Trump?

AA: You should understand the phenomenon of Trump very well; the phenomenon of Trump is the same as far-right and radical parties in Europe. He represents the extremist-radical, anti-establishment, anti-intellectual, anti-political, anti-party way of thinking. But he is still far from being a president; and actually, his support is still pretty small.

In US politics, there are some eccentric candidates but they have so far always been pushed outside the mainstream politics. Is that over?

AA: Historically that is true, although we have had  you forgot because we didnt have them recently  candidates like him before. We had George Wallace in the 1960s who became very popular in Europe; and we had William Jennings Bryan and a lot of American historical examples of radical populists whove done very well. Its not a phenomenon unheard of.

What is the biggest threat to the West. Is it ISIS?

AA: I dont think ISIS is the biggest threat to the West actually, its not big enough; its not the ideological threat. I think that the biggest threat to the West is the danger of radical populism and the biggest military threat to the West is Russia. It may be in a bad shape but it still has power.

Even though you say it is in a bad shape?

AA: Just because they are poor and oil is not doing well, doesnt mean they dont have weapons. They have an army and they can use it like they are doing it in Ukraine. I think the state of their economy has nothing to do with whether they are a real threat. When Hitler invaded Poland he was losing money. Germany was actually economically dull. This is not a measure of military pressure.

Do you think that people in Europe  politicians and ordinary people  understand this threat?

AA: No, I dont think so. Because its been too long and theres been peace for a long time, and people think even the idea of talking about war in Europe is absurd and ridiculous. And when you do talk about it you sound hysterical. And people simply dont think about it.
Students of the Comenius University in Bratislava improve their skills within a unique Future Medical Leaders Academy project.

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Patients should be cured after visiting doctors, but also satisfied with their approach. This is the main idea of the project running at the Comenius Universitys Medical Faculty. During two semesters, composed of 20 trainings, students will learn more about communication, empathy, time management, working in a team, critical thinking, and leadership.

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The Future Medical Leaders Academy is unique not only in Slovakia, but also in Europe, the Comenius University informed in a press release.

The project was created in early 2016 by students Tomas Havran, chair of the Bratislava Medical Students Association, and Marek Karman, former president of the Slovak Medical Students Association.

To build a good relation with patients is not easy; it requires the knowledge of so-called soft skills which is something medical students need to learn but, most of all, try it before starting their practice, Havran said, as quoted in the press release.

The first semester began on March 15, 2016 with 36 students divided into three groups. The students of first to fifth year will attend one training a week, focusing on selected topics.

We hope that the sooner the students join and acquire these skills, the sooner they will be able to apply them in hospitals, Havran continued, adding that the project is offered additionally to the education at the Medical Faculty.

Vice-Dean of the Comenius Universitys Medical Faculty Viera Stvrtinova considers the project important for students as they should know basics of rhetoric, communication, ethics and philosophy.

Only this can help them become mature personalities capable of helping their patients, Stvrtinova said, as quoted in the press release.

The next two trainings will take place on April 16, 2016, starting at 9:00 at the premises of the Institute of Anatomy of the Comenius Universitys Medical Faculty on Sasinkova street in Bratislava. They will focus on time management and conflicts in teams. The trainings will be held in English for both Slovak and foreign students.

The applicants need to register for the event online at fml-academy.weebly.com or in person in Bratislava Medical Students Association on Sasinkova street in Bratislava. The fee is 99 for the whole semester. Though it is now possible to register only for the next semester, the organisers plan a summer camp which should take place in early July, Havran told The Slovak Spectator.
The police confirmed the body belongs to missing chief economist of the Finance Ministry Martin Filko.

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Filko (35) went missing on March 28 when his canoe capsized on the Danube close to Bratislavas Pristavny Most bridge. The second man on board survived.

The police found a dead body in the river close to the village of Dobrohost (Trnava Region) on April 13. Martina Kredatusova of the police regional directorate in Trnava later confirmed to the TASR newswire that the body belongs to Filko. He was identified by a friend who was with him in the canoe, the private broadcaster TV JOJ informed.

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Read also: Well-known economist is missing Read more

Filko served as an advisor to former finance minister Jan Pociatek between the years 2008-2010. At the time, he prepared a reform of calculating the prices of medicaments, based on which the prices started to be compared with other countries. He also became advisor to ex-prime minister Iveta Radicova (2010-2012) for health care. After Robert Fico returned to power in 2012, Filko returned to the Finance Ministry and became director of the Institute for Financial Policy.

He was also mentioned as potential health minister in the new government, but the post later went to Tomas Drucker, former head of state postal service operator Slovenska Posta. Filko, however, told the Trend weekly in his last interview that he was to lead a new body at the Finance Ministry that would be responsible for the IFP and also the budgetary agenda.
All charges in the case of the overpriced CT scanner for Piestany hospital have been dropped, as the law was violated to the detriment of the accused.

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The first deputy of the General Prosecutor, Rene Vanek, has dropped all charges in one of the gravest scandals of the previous government, the Sme daily wrote on April 13. The defendants turned to the General Prosecutors Office asking it to scrutinise the lawfulness of the investigators decision. The Prosecutors Office ruled that by bringing charges against the defendants the Police violated the law to their detriment.

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One of the main flaws is the insufficient determining of the looming damage  due to the un-usability of the expert opinion, spokeswoman of the General Prosecutors Office Andrea Predajnova told Sme.

In this case the Police charged nine people with the especially grave crime of violating their duties when administering other peoples property. They faced ten to 15 years in prison, and damages were calculated at more than 400,000. The defendants included the former head of the hospital, Maria Domcekova, as well as her deputies Anton Pobjecky and Jozef Gajdarik; four board members (including lawyer Michal Straka, aka the well-known rapper Ego), and three members of the expert committee.

The decision made by the Prosecutors Offices does not mean, however, that the defendants are innocent: the evidence will be completed, flaws removed, and Predajnova has not ruled out the possibility of bringing further charges against the defendants: Police are proceeding with the case and the prosecution is still underway, she said.

A. Winter Hospital in Piestany violated the law when procuring the CT scanner, which cost the positions of then health minister Zuzana Zvolenska, former speaker of parliament Pavol Paska and then deputy speaker Renata Zmajkovicova (all from the Smer party), who were all involved in the case in one way or another.

The hospital proceeded with the purchase in a non-transparent way, according to the Public Procurement Office (UVO), when it chaotically described the subject of the order concerning the post-guarantee service. It also violated the principle of transparency when evaluating the fulfillment of the conditions of participation in the tendering process  but this did not affect the procurements result. Piestany hospital had previously wanted to purchase a CT scanner in 2012 but the transaction did not take place, and after the ruling Smer party took over the hospital management, it scrapped the 2012 tender and announced a new one, for a better and more expensive scanner. The new competition was won by the Kosice company Medical Group SK, which should have delivered the device for almost 1.6 million (almost one million euros more than the hospital in Czech Havlickuv Brod paid for a similar device). The company is connected with Paska who used to work there.

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The first official visit undertaken by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico after the appointment of the new cabinet should have been be to the Czech Republic, as is traditional.

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The government approved this on April 13. Ficos programme in Prague includes talks with his Czech counterpart Bohuslav Sobotka and an audience with President Milos Zeman. Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska, Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak and Economy Minister Peter Ziga will also take part in the Prague delegation.

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The visit will focus on the development of economic cooperation, infrastructure projects, cooperation in relation to security and tourism as well as on current issues concerning European and international relations. The Slovak Government is interested in further strengthening relations between the two countries in all aspects of common interest, including the tradition of joint government sessions. The fourth such session in Slovakia is due to be organised soon.

UPDATE: Fico scrapped the trip to the Czech Republic, as after the government session on April 13, he went to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NUSVH) where he underwent examinations,because of a suspected heart attack. He is spending the whole day, Thursday, April 14, there, the Sme daily wrote.
Not only do you appear to have an all-dude coffee policy, your bros are living in some alternate universe unreachable by us mere mortals. Theyre switched off, intentionally so, and its the women who are picking up the slack.

The above admonishment is taken from a recent coffee shop review on a website you may not yet know about: Douchey Dude Baristas (DDB), a Tumblr blog rating the Melbourne coffee scenes level of douchiness. Using humorlots of itthe DDB blog is attempting to tackle the specialty coffee industrys gender problem.

As many have already pointed out and discussed, higher-visibility roles in coffee are seldom occupied by women. At barista competitions, there are few women competing, and even fewer on the podium. The same goes when it comes to coffee roasting. You have to ask: where do the women go?

Despite that hospitality has statistically a majority female workforce, we are seeing the top leadership positions being held by men, says Alex, a trained barista, cafe owner and the founder of DDB (Alex is a pseudonymshe runs the site anonymously). It doesnt add up, she says.

DDB relies on a very forward approach, but its not the only site aiming to get the coffee world engaged around the issue of women. There is a growing number of female-focused initiatives to engage women in the coffee industry, from the inaugural Coffeewoman panel to the Instagram account Barista Darlings, showcasing incredible female baristas around the globe to Smart Girls Make Coffee (SGMC), an online platform supporting and promoting women in coffee, inspired by Amy Poehlers Smart Girls and founded by Andreea Varga.

Women experience sexism in a variety of arenas, but ask any woman in the coffee industry, and you will probably end up with at least one story of a time when she was negatively treated at work because of her gender. Varga tells me in an email about a time when she was using a La Marzocco Linea PB, pushing a button and getting annoyed when it didnt work on the first try. A male barista commented that the buttons are made by women and basically thats why they dont work properly, says Varga, Honestly I had no words.

While Douchey Dude Baristas and Smart Girls Make Coffee take different tacticsone focused on snarky, in-your-face reviews, and the other on building an online community of women in the coffee professionthey address the same problem: the industrys gender imbalance.

Whether we are men or women, many of us drink coffee, so why then has it become such a gendered drink? In a 2007 article titled Espresso: A Shot of Masculinity, published in Food, Culture & Society: An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, Julie Kjendal Reitz lays out a theory that coffee was originally viewed as a masculine beverage, yet when it crossed over into a drink that was made at home, it lost its male exclusivity.

I was pointed to this article by Lisa Knisely, a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon with a PhD in Womens, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Knisley has covered this topic before, and has applied Reitzs theory to specialty coffee. While the coffee retail industry used to be more like so-called pink-collar fields such as nursing and teaching, efforts to make espresso slinging more professional have led to a masculinization of the workforce, Knisley says. That is, the more a job is thought of as skilled, the more social prestige is associated with it, the higher the wage, and the harder it is for women to get, keep, and advance in the field, Knisely writes in an article published in Bitch, titled Steamed Up: The Slow-Roasted Sexism of Specialty Coffee.

According to Knisely, this pink-collar shift corresponds with a transition from espresso as a public beverage when it first appeared in Europe (similar to going to a bar, something only men did)to a largely private domestic product in the 20th century and then back to a public space beverage in the late 20th century.

This notion is consistent across diverse industries: work that is done in the public space is valued, while domestic, caring work isnt. Compare a surgeon to a nurse. A surgeons work is considered skilled, while nursing despite being an essential part of the healthcare industryis seen as caring labor, and therefore gets put into the pink-collar category. Or consider the world of fashion and clothing, with high-end fashion designers on one end and tailors on the other. Fashion designers quickly gain notoriety (and its worth noting that few of the head designers in the fashion world are women), while people who sew and mend clothing yet again, important rolesare rarely talked about, as sewing is culturally viewed as a more domestic activity, with no cultural currency. We simply dont put a monetary value on caring labor because the assumption is that it should be done in the private sphere, disproportionately by women, for free, says Knisely. We think care labor should be free, so we dont want to pay for it in public, especially from women.

As Knisely points out, this public-masculine vs. private-domestic-feminine divide is very deeply rooted in the West, but was really calcified with the Enlightenment idea of the rational, public political man who was the head of his familyand whom he represented in the public democratic sphere. We might be far from the Enlightenment, but that line of thinking still appears in our modern society. Even though we now dont have the same sociopolitical system, our ideas about public and private are still deeply imbued with these gendered undertones, says Knisely.



A cafe is a public space, but it also strives to be that third space, where people comfortably congregate somewhere that isnt work or home. In the third space, we want the best of both worldsattentive caring service and expertly pulled shots. Our own gender expectationsand what classifies as public/skilled work, typically classified as male, as opposed to private/service work, typically classified as femalecan lead to this sexism problem, e.g. men being expected to have more technical proficiency than women, and women to be better at hospitality. The sort of service youre asking for from a barista can range from a technically executed shot to someone to talk to about your day, but as the Douchey Dude barista site seems to critique, different people are perceived as performing different roles and this is often quite gendered, says Knisely.

If we want to address sexism in the coffee industry, we must start here. The answer to how to eliminate the gender gap in specialty coffee would be for us all to commit to changing the culture at large to associate men with domesticity and women with professionalism in order to counteract very deep-seated gendered divisions, says Knisely.

Douchey Dude Baristas Alex is aiming to do just that, and with its punchy take on the situation, she receives a lot of feedback about her website, both positive and negative. Ive received overwhelming support from female hospitality workers since launching the blog which means its resonating, and its resonating because its true, says Alex. But others arent so thrilled. People feel personally attacked when you make fun of them, and that is fair, Knisely says of the style. Getting them to understand the importance of the critique in context is much harder to do. It takes work and it takes lots of people doing that work.

While some may find the cutting down to size of the male baristas she depicts a bit harsh, Alex points out, it isnt my job here to complete the story for these men, to give them depth of character My job, is to if anything, give depth to the women, and to ask the critical questions such as Whos missing in this equation? Who is this cafe not representing? Who is being left out, and why?

But even if we start asking ourselves these questions, changing these deep-rooted expectations of gender is difficult. For Varga, her goal with Smart Girls Make Coffee is to create a space that is supportive of and inspiring to women, which is part of the solution to the overall problem.

I wanted to bring my input in the world on the issues I care about, says Varga. It is really important to me to speak up about the problems I encounter. She cites a favorite line from the artist Bjork about womens unique challenges when striving in the workplace, and the reason why Varga strives to raise these questions day after day: I want to support young girls who are in their 20s now and tell them: Youre not just imagining things, its tough. Everything that a guy says once, you have to say five times.

* * * *

With all this in mind, I start thinking about interactions that I myself have had when being served coffee, and how I perceive a baristas actions depending on their gender. I contemplate whether or not I put up with bad behavior when its from a man, more so than I do when it comes from a woman. Male baristas can safely perform and inhabit a coffee douche role in a way that women can not in nearly as comfortable a way, says Knisely. It is no accident that when you talk about a jerky barista most people will think of a guy most of the time, she continues.

This isnt because men are just worse people; its that women simply cant get away with being cold or distant in a service work job for the most part, she explains. And this all gets back to the space thing. Women can inhabit public space, but with the expectation that well accommodate others and police ourselves, says Knisely.

Culturally, we will accept that women can occupy that public spacein this case, behind the coffee barbut women have to conform to social norms far more than their male counterparts.

That makes banding together even more essential, which is why its promising to see initiatives like Barista Connect that physically bring women together and communities like SGMC which give women an online platform to support each other. Women need opportunities, but they also need support and open channels of communication with one another, says Alex. The patriarchy is designed to separate us, so we need to find ways to come together and seek strength in each other.

No matter which side of the coffee bar we are on, we all have a role to play in improving this aspect of the industry, be it addressing sexism head on by raising questions and challenging the status quo, or providing support networks to ensure that we work towards true equality. That means that theres a whole lot more to think about next time you have a baristabe it a man or a womanserve you a cup of coffee. Its no easy task, but if we dont take it on, we can just expectand are responsible formore of the same.

Anna Brones (@annabrones) is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in the American Pacific Northwest, the founder of Foodie Underground, and the co-author of Fika: The Art Of The Swedish Coffee Break. Read more Anna Brones on Sprudge.
Defense Ministry sources say that the US is ready with another proposal of 22 defence technologies which India is not very keen on acquiring as most of them are believed to be obsolete. Commenting on this issue, Cowshish further says, "As what can be gathered from the talks so far, it is the US that has been pressurising India to take certain defense technologies. They have offered what they want us to take. However, US has not made it clear whether they are willing to transfer those technologies which the Indian Defense Ministry is requesting for. This is the biggest question."

Prior to Carter's visit there was a buzz in Indian media that the two sides would sign the Logistics Exchange Agreement (LSA), one of the three "foundational agreements" US has been hoping to push through since more than a decade now. But, the only development on that front was that the two sides "agreed in principle" to conclude the LSA. Defence Minister Parikkar's categorically stated that the LSA would apply only to supplies like fuel and food and not for stationing US military in India, signaling that US would require to re-work its draft agreement to accommodate India's inherent concerns. Responding to this, Carter said, "No one is talking of US troops on Indian soil. It is for making it easier to work together".

Strategic Analyst and former member of India's National Security Council, Prof Bharat Karnad told Sputnik that he does not see the LSA being signed anytime soon "I had said earlier that India and US were unlikely to seal any deal. US has prepared a draft LSA but it is up to the Modi's cabinet to decide on how to proceed. What will be the ramifications? But it is very difficult. I do not think this is going to happen."

Indian Defence Ministry officials refused to comment on record but majority of them stressed that India will not sign any agreement with the US that will jeopardise its relations with all-weather friend Russia and hamper the progress in mending relations with China.
Harry Potter: Did you the receive funds?

Mossack Fonseca: Dear Harry, your 25,000 was received.

FACT #2. One of the two founders of the law firm was Ramon Fonseca, a Panama-based award-winning novelist.

Contrary to what his firm does, as a young man, Fonseca wanted to save the world. In his two award-winning novels, La Danza de las Mariposas ("The Dance of the Butterflies") and Sonar con la Ciudad ("The City of Dreams"), the author addressed the issues of morality, inequality and the struggles of the poor as a result of capitalism.

FACT #3. The scandal has tarnished the name of the Latin American nation, as in most countries the leak has already become strongly associated with Panama. Since the #PanamaPapers went viral on social media, residents of Panama are trying to push for the use of the #mossackfonsecapapers.

"Our country isn't the only one that has problems with tax evasion. Many other countries do too," the president of Panama, Juan Carlos Varela, said, as cited by Svenska Dagbladet.

FACT #4. To reveal classified documents to the public, investigating journalists had to work akin to spies. But it so happened that Mossack Fonseca also liked the spy theme, especially the James Bond movies.

When opening shell companies (not to be confused with the Royal Dutch Shell oil company), the law firm repeatedly used names and words associated with the James Bond movies, including Goldfinger, Skyfall, Goldeneye, Moonraker, Specter and Blofeld.

FACT #5. When every media outlet in the world was talking about the Mossack Fonseca scandal, Jurgen Mossack, one of the two founders of the Panama law firm, came in defense of his company.

The creation of 240,000 shell companies wasn't a mistake, well maybe only in some cases, Fonseca said, adding that his company will continue to do what it does.

"We aren't planning on shutting down our activities and instead growing bananas or something," Mossack said, as cited by the Swedish newspaper.

FACT #6. Although there is a long list of foreign public figures and celebrities involved in the Mossack Fonseca scandal, there are very few US citizens. It certainly doesn't mean that Americans don't use offshore firms to hide their money, but because they prefer to use their own firms within the US territory, Svenska Dagbladet said.
Citizens of Japan and the international community are alarmed by calls to simply release the tritium-laced water into the Pacific Ocean. But many scientists claim that concerns are groundless, as tritium is considered one of the least hazardous radioactive materials produced by nuclear power plants.

"Tritium is so weak in its radioactivity it won't penetrate plastic wrapping," said Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, adding that what would be released from Fukushima would be well below the global contamination standard.

Environmentalists doubt the optimistic prognoses, opposing any release of water containing tritium into the oceans. They warn that tritium potentially increases the risks of cancer and other illnesses, and that children are at risk as they are more susceptible to radiation-linked diseases.

"Any exposure to tritium radiation could pose some health risk. This risk increases with prolonged exposure, and health risks include increased occurrence of cancer," said Robert Daguillard, a spokesman for the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Japan's anti-nuclear activists argue that tritium must be removed from the water, even though its radiation is weaker than that of strontium or cesium.

In spite of strong opposition, releases are likely to begin later this year.
Viktor Yanukovych, despite being a crook and gangster rejected the loan offer from for the $17 billion IMF loan. The world sadly is only coming to terms with this disaster now. Wisely for a chance, he opted for the Russian aid package worth $15 billion with an added incentive of cheaper Russian Natural gas. His change of heart is what pushed the Neo-Cons in Washington to mobilize and turn Maidan into a scene of violence and Bloodshed.

According to the Oakland Institute, "Whereas Ukraine does not allow the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture, Article 404 of the EU agreement, which relates to agriculture, includes a clause that has generally gone unnoticed: it indicates, among other things, that both parties will cooperate to extend the use of biotechnologies.

"There is no doubt that this provision meets the expectations of the agribusiness industry. As observed by Michael Cox, research director at the investment bank Piper Jaffray, 'Ukraine and, to a wider extent, Eastern Europe, are among the most promising growth markets for farm equipment giant Deere, as well as seed producers Monsanto and DuPont'."

Ukrainian constitution forbids farmers from using GMO crops, but now with these insidious agreement, Ukraines pristine lands are going to be invaded.

For our Russian Readers this video is for you.

This article is provided courtesy of www.tacticalinvestor.com
Rogers already owns stock in Russian airline Aeroflot, the Moscow Exchange and fertilizer producer PhosAgro. He also owns exchange traded funds and is investing in Russian treasury bonds.

"I bought more Russian government bonds about two or three weeks ago, or a month ago short-term. If I got a chance I would probably buy more," the investor said.

He emphasized that he is only investing in Russian ruble bonds, not Eurobonds. According to Rogers, Russian treasury bonds have much higher yields.

"More and more people coming to understand that Russia is a good place to invest Russia is not a huge debt nation, it's not like Portugal or America," he pointed out.

"The Russian economy is suffering a lot and many people have already cut back but America has not yet had a big drop, Germany did not have a big drop yet, but when they drop they will drop much more than Russia because Russia has already dropped," he concluded.

The Russian economy is attractive for investors because in the near future ruble and oil prices will stablize, chief investment officer at Credit Suisse Michael OSullivan said.

"I think Russia looks interesting. [] The Russian economy is definitely recovering, but it would take some time," he told RIA Novosti.
Hillary Clinton is a bought-and-paid-for representative of the big banks, the military-security complex, and the Israel Lobby. She will represent these interests, not those of the American people or Americas European allies.

The Clintons purchase by interest groups is public knowledge. For example, CNN reports that between February 2001 and May 2015 Bill and Hillary Clinton were paid $153 million in speaking fees for 729 speeches, an average price of $210,000.

As it became evident that Hillary Clinton would emerge as the likely Democratic presidential candidate, she was paid more. Deutsche Bank paid her $485,000 for one speech, and Goldman Sachs paid her $675,000 for three speeches. Bank of American Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Fidelity Investments each paid $225,000.

Despite Hillarys blatent willingness to be bribed in public, her opponent, Bernie Sanders, has not succeeded in making an issue of Hillarys shamelessness. Both of the main establishment newspapers, the Washington Post and the New York Times have come to Hillarys defense.

Hillary is a warmonger. She pushed the Obama regime into the destruction of a stable and largely cooperative government in Libya where the Arab Spring was a CIA-backed group of jihadists who were used to dislodge China from its oil investments in eastern Libya. She urged her husband to bomb Yugoslavia.

She has pushed for regime change in Syria. She oversaw the coup that overthrew the democratically elected president of Honduras. She brought neoconservative Victoria Nuland, who arranged the coup that overthrew the democratically elected president of Ukraine, into the State Department. Hillary has called President Vladimir Putin of Russia the new Hitler. Hillary as president guarantees war and more war.

In the United States government has been privatized. Office holders use their positions in order to make themselves wealthy, not in order to serve the public interest. Bill and Hillary Clinton epitomize the use of public office in behalf of the office holders interest.

For the Clintons government means using public office to be rewarded for doing favors for private interests. The Wall Street Journal reported that at least 60 companies that lobbied the State Department during her [Hillary Clintons] tenure as Secretary of State donated a total of more than $26 million to the Clinton Foundation.
Independent journalist and commentator Steve Topple told Sputnik:

"He has not broken any rules or law, but that is surely the point: people like the prime minister, in the position he's in, are allowed to do these kind of deals, it's perfectly legal. He doesn't have to be transparent about it either. It shouldn't be about public trust in Cameron. This needs to be focused on public trust in the system that allows this to happen in the first place."

Tax Transparency

Speaking at the regular Prime Minister's Question Time, Cameron faced a mauling from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who said:

"The European Commission introduced new proposals on country-by-country tax reporting, so that companies must declare where they make their profits in the EU and in 'blacklisted' tax havens. Conservative MEPs voted against the country-by-country reporting and against the blacklisting. The Panama Pares exposed the scandalous situation where wealthy individuals seem to believe that corporation tax and other taxes are something optional."

The PM promised a *public* register from the tax havens but he's only giving a *private* one, Corbyn says at #PMQshttps://t.co/skKgGXogdQ  RT UK (@RTUKnews) April 13, 2016

Good dig from @jeremycorbyn that the government is clamping down on tax collectors as he goes on HMRC staff cuts. #pmqs  Owen Bennett (@owenjbennett) April 13, 2016

Cameron responded, saying:

"We've already brought in over US$2.85 billion from offshore tax evasion since 2010. I think we should try and bring some consensus to this issue.

For years in this country, Labour governments and conservative governments had an attitude to the Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories [such as the British Virgin Isles, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey] that their tax affairs were a matter for them and that their compliance affairs were a matter for them. This government has changed that.

"We got the Overseas Territories, we got the Crown Dependencies round the table and said: 'you've got to have registers of ownership, you've to collaborate with the UK Government, you've got to make sure people don't hide their taxes and it's happening,' " he said.
The politician underlined the fact than many mosques in Germany are being financed from abroad, in particular, by such countries as Turkey and Saudi Arabia. According to Scheuer, Germany should introduce a so called Islam law which would prohibit the funding of German mosques from abroad and provide for a special training of imams in Germany.

"We need to deal with political Islam more and more critically because it prevents people from integrating with us," the politician said in an interview with the newspaper. "We need an Islam law. The financing of mosques or Islamic kindergartens from abroad, e.g. by Turkey or Saudi Arabia, should be stopped. All imams must be trained in Germany and share our core values," he added.

According to the politician, Europe needs its own kind of Islam, which would correspond with the European culture and mentality.
"[] The threat that Sweden will change its political course is used to stir up the conflict among the public," the politician wrote for the newspaper.

According to Hultqvist, the current debate over Sweden's possible membership in the military alliance is aimed at creating an atmosphere of uncertainty about Sweden's foreign policy.

"After a number of discussions I've got the impression that these rumors and speculations are spread by right-wing politicians and researchers who have a wishful thinking and use false information as a political lever. They simply want to spread uncertainty about what Sweden is going to do," Hultqvist wrote.

The principle of neutrality has been a kind of trademark for Sweden since the 19th century. Sweden is a non-aligned country with regard to foreign and security policy, although it maintains friendly relations with NATO.

"The Swedish course is aimed at improving defense capabilities along with the active co-operation with other countries and organizations," the official wrote. "The position of Sweden to NATO is clear and is being respected. Cooperation  yes, Membership  no," Hultqvist concluded.
BELGRADE (Sputnik)  On Tuesday, Ivanov signed a decree to halt all the legal proceedings against the country's politicians with an aim to end the political crisis in the country. The decision has been criticized by both ruling Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization  Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) and the opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) that called for protests against president's decision.

According to the Macedonian Telma television channel, the protests started at 06:00 p.m. local time (17:00 GMT). Soon after the beginning the protesters marched from the prosecutor's office to Ivanov's office and smashed the building with stones, eggs and fireworks, smashing building's windows.

The broadcaster added that the protesters demanded the resignation of Ivanov and creation of an expert body to organize credible and fair elections in the country.
From here we wish to see this dynamic in the Russia foreign policy extended to the peace process between the Israelis and us. The quartet led by the United States did not succeed to achieve progress because of the Israeli government rejection to its efforts. This situation is imposing the need of new multilateral approach, where Russia should have a central role, and which will allow other Arab and European partners to participate in new and effective mechanism with time table and references and international conference similar to other international groups that achieved progress in Iran, Syria and other conflicts.

- Your Excellency, you stated in an interview that Palestinians understood and accept the painful compromises required to reach peace well before the Oslo Accords were signed. What issues are Palestinians ready to compromise on today to reach peace?



This is true and we did it, in 1988 the Palestinian National Council which is our Parliament, decided to recognize a solution built on two States, one is already existing which is Israel and to establish the State of Palestine on our land occupied in 1967, the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its Capital, which means that we accepted a historical Palestine. This is a huge and painful compromise for our people, to which the Israelis haven't reciprocated until now.

- At the end of March, the UN Human Rights Council adopted four resolutions related to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. One of these resolutions related to investigative processes to ensure Israeli accountability for violations carried out in occupied Palestinian territories. Is the Palestinian Authority in contact with the UN in regard to the steps needed implement this resolution? Has Your Excellency seen any initial results since the introduction of these resolutions?

The importance of the mentioned resolution is that it has practical aspects with regard to the listing of companies working in or with Israeli settlements in Palestine. The government of Palestine via the ministry of Foreign affairs and our mission in Geneva are following closely this matter with the UN and we hope for the resolutions to be implemented soon by both the UN and its member states. I here want to reiterate that settlements are illegal and considered as a war crime under international law.

- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on March 23 that Israel is ready to hold unconditional talks with Palestinian representatives "anytime, anywhere". Is Your Excellency and the Palestinian Authority ready to put aside doubts about Netanyahu's commitment to a two-state solution and resume peace talks?

I am always ready to meet Mr Netanyahu in order to engage in serious and meaningful negotiations that will lead to the end of the occupation and to a lasting peace that will ensure freedom for our people and state. Policies and practices of the government of Israel and the dramatic facts on the ground due to the ongoing confiscation of our land, building of more settlements and the demolition of Palestinian houses, leave no doubts about Netanyahu's commitment to destroy the two state-solution

- On March 27, you had a meeting in Amman with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon where you briefed him about recent developments in the Palestinian territories and updated him on Palestine's plan to seek a UN Security Council resolution to halt the construction of Israeli settlements. What progress has been made in the implementation of this plan?

The consultations are ongoing with the Arab League at the ministerial level and with other international partners in order to decide on the content and timing for its submission to the Security Council. Israeli Settlements are illegal and constitutes the main obstacle in achieving peace based on two state.

- A French proposal to hold an international conference on settling the Palestinian issue was also discussed between you and Ban Ki-moon. Your Excellency, could you please elaborate on what progress has been made in the preparations for this conference?

We highly appreciate the French initiative to hold an international conference, it is time for the international community to renew its efforts to achieve a final peace. The French are engaged nowadays in consultations with all concerned regional and international parties in order to finalize the details for this conference. From our side we need this initiative to be the starter for a new multilateral process with a new mechanism where Russia should play a central role, and that will allow practical steps toward ending the Israeli occupation and achieving a just peace.

- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has called on Muslims across the globe to strengthen their unity against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. Addressing the 5th Extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit on Palestinian issues in Jakarta, Zarif lashed out at Israel for its "expansionist plans" to change the demographic makeup of al-Quds (Jerusalem). Could Your Excellency please elaborate on the role Iran is playing in establishing an independent State of Palestine?

Iran as well as all other Muslim countries member of the OIC have a duty toward Palestine and Al Quds. To face the Israeli practices and violations against our people, mainly in East-Jerusalem, a lot is still needed to be done.



- It was reported recently that Fatah and Hamas have agreed to form a unity government and hold parliamentary elections for the Legislative Council and the presidency within six months. What is Your Excellency's assessment of the prospects for two the factions' rapprochement given the fact that meetings have been held over the years and three agreements were signed  in Qatar, Cairo and Gaza  but none of this has led to any real changes on the ground? Have any concessions been made by the two sides in regard to critical issues that have divided Hamas and Fatah in the past, such as the fate of prisoners, political arrests, and the return of the Palestinian Authority's rule to the Gaza Strip?

Reconciliation is a top priority on our agenda, we want to achieve our unity as soon as possible to be able to focus on the only real priority which is to end the Israeli occupation and reach peace.

Meetings in Cairo and Doha are focusing in achieving an agreement to form a unity government and go for elections immediately. We hope to see progress soon.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  After the Chilean-Bolivian war in the late 19th century, Bolivia lost access to the Pacific Ocean, although the country still has Naval Force, including a marine infantry unit. In 2013, Bolivia filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice in The Hague, asking the court to bring Chile to the negotiating table for Bolivian access to the Pacific.

"We would like to thank the international community, international organizations, the Organization of American States itself, who have expressed through various means, including resolutions, that Bolivia has sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean," the minister said.

In September, the ICJ dismissed a Chilean claim that the court had no jurisdiction in the issue, ensuring that the case will be heard.
The new Turkish drama Yolculuk ("The Journey") shows the life of a young Turkish man who becomes indoctrinated with the ideas of jihad and travels to Syria to fight against its government will be released on April 22.

The drama tells the role of the Turkish government and its aggressive policies, as well as the complex system of recruiters and radical Salafi preachers that all cause Mehmet, the confused young man, to make a decision to join the ranks of a terrorist organization in another country, Aybasti said.

According to the film director, the movie shows how the Turkish government's attempts to add fuel to the fire in neighboring Syria by supporting terrorist organizations eventually backfired against Ankara.
However, the advances of the Syrian Army and its allies backed by Russian airstrikes have foiled attempts by militants to advance, according to Stratfor.

Al-Nusra Front has deployed up to 10,000 militants near the Syrian city of Aleppo, the Russian General Staff reported on April 11.

"According to our intelligence, about 8,000 al-Nusra Front militants have been deployed south-west of Aleppo, while up to 1,500 militants have been deployed north of the city," they reported.

According to the General Staff, a large-scale offensive is planned by the terrorists to cut the road from Aleppo to Damascus. Militants continue attacks on Sheikh Maqsoud and al-Zagra on the outskirts of Aleppo.

"If these attacks are successful, the northern parts of Syria could fall under blockade again. That's why all actions by the Syrian army and the Russian aviation are aimed now at thwarting al-Nusra Front's plans. No storming of the city of Aleppo is being planned," Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy warned.

Different struggles are underway in the northern part of Aleppo. There is a disagreement between Washington and Ankara on which forces to rely on to drive Daesh out. Ankaras priority is to stop the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which crossed the Euphrates River after capturing the Tishrin Dam and now hold positions near the Daesh-controlled town of Manbij.
ANKARA (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, Yilmaz arrived in the Turkish southeastern town of Kilis, which has repeatedly been shelled from the Syrian territory. On Tuesday, local media reported that several rocket-propelled projectiles fired from Syria and targeting Kilis, had landed on the Turkish territory, injuring up to 20 people, according to various estimates.

"Following the rocket shelling of Kilis, the Turkish Armed Forces immediately opened fire in response 48 artillery pieces, 115 tanks and 187 armored carriers are involved in the shelling [from the Turkish side]. Since January, our troops have conducted 1,117 firings with 3,998 strikes from Firtina howitzers against 146 targets [in Syria]," Yilmaz told journalists, adding that the Turkish military use unmanned aerial vehicles and radars in order to find out the location of Daesh positions.

According to the defense minister, 362 Daesh militants, 36 rocket launchers, 40 shelters and 6 warehouses with weapons have been destroyed since January.
I was provoked to join war journalism by the lies and hypocrisy of the media deceiving us. When the media published fraudulent pictures of mass demonstrations in Damascus, I immediately set off to these areas and took photos of the truth, so that people can see that there are no such demonstrations, Samar said.

Samar further said that she went to the front of Eastern Guta and began to work side by side with her husband, who died in 2013. His heroic death gave me the strength to continue his work and to cover all actions of our army on the other fronts. My only goal  death for the sake of the country, or reporting our victory, Samar added.

Aurora Isa is another fearless woman soldiers jokingly call the suicide bomber because she repeatedly goes ahead with the camera to literally capture a shot on the battle front. Aurora studied to be an ordinary journalist but at the beginning of the Syrian war, she realized that she could serve her country only as a military journalist and nothing else.

When my brother was killed on the battlefield, it became my calling. I stood up in front of everyone and made a promise that I would go ahead and protect people with my weapon  journalism. Since then, I have always been sent to the front line together with armed comrades, Aurora said.

Aurora further said that after everything she has seen in the war, she realized that, Life is a road to dignity. Life can stop in one second and it is important what will remain of you on the pages of history.

In addition to the civilians and soldiers during the war, Syria has lost many journalists. The most prominent one was the murder of a correspondent of the Al-Ihbariya TV channel, Yara Abbas, by a terrorist sniper. She was killed at the front in Homs at Al Qusayr. The terrorist shot her, despite the fact that she was dressed in a distinctive uniform which clearly showed that she was from the press.
The casualties add to a death toll that has risen sharply since the collapse of a ceasefire between the warring parties last July.

Thousands of militants as well as hundreds of civilians and soldiers have been killed in the clashes so far. Radio Sputnik discussed relations between Turkey and the Kurds with Ari Murad, a Kurdish human rights activist.

Turkeys very strict nationalist agenda included the persecution of Armenians and Kurds. In 2015 when a general election was held the pro-Kurdish party protests through a democratic and peaceful means but the Turkish authorities started taking out journalists and anybody who was a threat to the AKP.

Since then there has been violence and persecution of the Kurds. The human rights activist raised the question as to how Turkey gets away with such actions.

Turkey has a population inside Turkey but it is also bombing the Kurds in Northern Iraq, South Kurdistan. It is also funding jihadists in West Kurdistan and Syria. While at the same time, telling European democratic states how they should implement their media in censoring certain news. They censor it in Turkey and are telling Europeans how they should behave, Murad said.

The analyst further spoke about the Kurdistan region, talking about how the villages are in need of better infrastructure and educational institutions. He spoke about how Kurds dont feel any support from the center government in Ankara and how they are in dire need of development of their region.

Kurds in Turkey dont want independence, contrary to what Turkish media has been portraying. Kurds want autonomy.

Murad also discussed the martial law that Turkey had implemented in the Kurdistan region and how the area is still being attacked and people are suffering.

It is a complete military crackdown on the Kurds and we believe that they are just trying to radicalize the next generation to distract the Turkish people from the economic problems and to let the AKP and Erdogan consolidate more and more power. To become an autocracy. It is all to consolidate power, the analyst said.
"It would be a disaster if this would change the way we do cooperation in civilian applications," Battiston said.

Europe, Russia Space Cooperation Excellent, Unaffected by Sanctions

Joint space exploration efforts by Russia and the European Union remain on track, with no impact from Western sanctions against Moscow, European Space Agency Director-Gener"The cooperation between the European Space Agency and Roscosmos is excellent," Woerner said on Tuesday, using an abbreviation for the Russian Federal Space Agency.

Asked whether work had been affected by Western sanctions against Russia, Woerner replied: "No. In relation to Roscosmos I dont feel anything."

Woerner cited Europes ExoMars mission as one example of ongoing work with Russia.

"We are continuing the cooperation also with ExoMars. We are flying together to Mars so its working perfectly."

The ExoMars satellite  with an attached spacecraft that will attempt to land on Mars rocky surface  was launched last month on a Russian-made Proton rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.al Jan Woerner told Sputnik.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Saturday, the US Department of State expressed concerns about the April 11-13 referendum over whether the violence-torn Darfur, divided into five states, should unite into one entity. Washington said that the vote could not be an expression of Darfuris' will, because of Sudan's inadequate registration of millions of Darfuris residing in the camps for the internally displaced persons outside the region.

According to SUNA news agency, Undersecretary of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry Abdul-Ghani Naeem summoned Lanier and strongly condemned the US statement as making a wrong message in wrong time.

The agency added that Naeem told Lanier that referendum was a civilized process to decide on the region's future and was a good alternative to the violence.
In in an interview with Sputnik, the lawmaker shared her views on Russias stance toward the Kurdish issue as well as the Kurds influence on the situation in Syrian and in the Middle East.

"The main theme of my visit was the participation of women in combat actions in the Middle East. Kurdish women from Europe and Rojava [a Kurdish region in northern Syria] came to Moscow with me. We shared our experiences and told how Kurdish women fight Daesh militants," Tasdemir said.

She also praised Russias official position toward Kurds.

Russian officials want to establish bilateral relations with the Kurdish people and support its fight against terrorism, she noted.

"The struggle of the Kurdish people has significant influence on the politics in the Middle East. Regional powers have to make decisions, considering Kurds as an important player," the lawmaker added.

Deputy Secretary General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Barham Salih said that the settlement in Syria should include the interests of the Syrian people, including the Kurds interests.

"Syrian Kurds expressed their views on the political future of Syria. Iraqi Kurds support the decision. No other country like Turkey should influence the choice of Syrian Kurds," Salih told Sputnik.

He underscored that Iraqi Kurds are interested in having good relations with Turkey, but the Kurdish problem cannot be solved with violence.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier this month, the US newspaper published an article where it called Ukraine a "corrupt swamp" which could no longer be fed by the Western money, and Kiev could not expect more aid unless serious reforms were implemented in the country. The publication also portrayed Poroshenko as accepting corruption as the price to pay for his time in office.

"Russian intelligence services continue the hybrid war against Ukraine with the help of a fake letterhead, they tried to arrange an interview with American newspaper New York Times, on behalf of the President of Ukraine," Svyatoslav Tsegolko said on his Facebook page late Tuesday.

The spokesman attached an image which had the appearance of Poroshenko's letter addressing New York Times Executive Editor Dean Bacquet, where Ukraine's leader requested a telephone conference to debunk the statements issued in the article.
In late January, then-French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius outlined plans to arrange an international conference in the coming months to help resume the stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks. He stressed that France would be prepared to recognize Palestinian statehood if the talks yielded no results.

We highly appreciate the French initiative to hold an international conference, it is time for the international community to renew its efforts to achieve a final peace, Abbas said in English.

The French are engaged nowadays in consultations with all concerned regional and international parties in order to finalize the details for this conference. From our side we need this initiative to be the starter for a new multilateral process with a new mechanism where Russia should play a central role, and that will allow practical steps toward ending the Israeli occupation and achieving a just peace, Abbas added.

Abbas Hopes for Swift Implementation of UNHRC Resolutions on Israel Settlements

Palestine hopes that the United Nations and its member states will soon implement recent resolutions on illegal Israeli settlements, which were recently adopted by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Mahmoud Abbas told Sputnik.

"The government of Palestine via the ministry of Foreign Affairs and our mission in Geneva are following closely this matter with the UN and we hope for the resolutions to be implemented soon by both the UN and its member states. I here want to reiterate that settlements are illegal and considered as a war crime under international law," Abbas said.

Four resolutions were adopted in March by the UNHRC dealing with settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Syrian region of the Golan Heights.

The Palestinian leader mentioned in particular the motion envisioning the establishment of a database of all entities operating with or in Israeli settlements.

"The importance of the mentioned resolution is that it has practical aspects with regard to the listing of companies working in or with Israeli settlements in Palestine," Abbas said.

Abbas Hopes to See Progress in Forming Hamas-Fatah Gov't, Holding Elections

Palestine hopes to soon see progress in the formation of Hamas-Fatah government and holding elections in order to focus on settling the Arab-Israeli conflict, Mahmoud Abbas told Sputnik.

Over the years, the Hamas movement and the Fatah movement, headed by Abbas and recognized by a wide majority of UN member states as the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, have met several times in Qatar, Cairo and Gaza and signed several reconciliation deals. Hamas, which had de-facto control over the Gaza Strip, and Fatah formed a unity government in 2014, but as intra-Palestinian relations remained strained the unity government resigned in June 2015.

"Meetings in Cairo and Doha are focusing in achieving an agreement to form a unity government and go for elections immediately. We hope to see progress soon," Abbas said.

He noted that intra-Palestinian reconciliation was a "top priority" in order to work on settling a conflict with Israel.

"Reconciliation is a top priority on our agenda, we want to achieve our unity as soon as possible to be able to focus on the only real priority which is to end the Israeli occupation and reach peace," the leader said.

Fatah was the dominating party in Palestine until Hamas arose as a resistance movement against Israeli occupation in 1987. In 2007, a deadly conflict between Fatah and Hamas led to the split of the Palestinian Authority and the latter taking over the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians seek the recognition of their independent state, proclaimed in 1988, on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government refuses to recognize Palestine as an independent political and diplomatic entity, and builds settlements on the occupied areas despite objections from the United Nations.
However, despite Turkey's importance in German politics, Berlin is unlikely to satisfy Erdogan's demands and allow the prosecution of the journalist, German N-TV correspondent Hubertus Volmer wrote

According to Volmer, in this way Germany could demonstrate to "the Turkish despot" that the freedom of expression in Europe is untouchable.

"Now she [Merkel] can show that the press freedom in countries such as Germany is more important than good relations with a problematic ally, even if you need it," the journalist wrote.
"I doubt that direct talks will take place at this round. It is far from possible. Because of the position of the regime," Yahya Aridi said.

Mohammed Alloush, the leader Jaysh al-Islam, which is considered a terrorist organization in Russia, will keep the role of chief negotiator of the Syrian opposition's High Negotiations Committee (HNC) at the talks in Geneva, Yahya Aridi said.

"Mohammed Alloush will stay the chief negotiator," Aridi said, responding to a question on whether the role of Alloush in the new round of talks would be changed.

"During 36 hours we had a real tension on thisI personally wanted him to stay, because you cannot change horses during the race," Aridi added.

While commenting on the US statements on a possible "plan B" for Syria, implying weapon supplies for the moderate Syrian opposition in case the ceasefire fails, Aridi said they were aimed at pushing peace talks in Geneva forward.

"You remember what Putin did at the beginning of the previous round  announced the withdrawal  in order to push the peace talks further. I think these statements have same objective," Aridi said.
But it was only the beginning. In 2005 Soros Foundation kicked off a program called "Wider Europe." The project was particularly aimed at Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, which were targeted as "partners to the greater EU community." Soon after, the tentacles of the Soros-led organizations and their affiliates have spread all across Eastern and Central Europe and beyond.

Then George Soros began to make efforts to shape the EU policies. It was the American billionaire who strongly recommended that the EU should "rescue" Ukraine after the notorious coup of 2014 and provide "a new financial package of $50 billion or more," to the country torn by neo-fascist thugs and corrupt oligarchy.

And it is Soros who is now urging European governments to absorb between 300,000 and 500,000 asylum seekers per year, completely ignoring the fact that the EU is suffering from recession and social instability.

The American billionaire noted in his recent article for The New York Review of Books that it would cost the EU just 30 billion ($34 billion) a year to carry out this plan.

"Thirty billion euros might sound like an enormous sum, but it is not when viewed in proper perspective. First, we must recognize that a failure to provide the necessary funds would cost the EU even more," Soros stresses.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The United States should avoid provoking the renewal of an armed conflict in Syria, Russian parliaments deputy speaker Sergei Zheleznyak said Wednesday.

"I hope that the Washington's leadership will keep prudence and urge [the United States] not to provoke the renewal of the armed conflict [in Syria] that could completely destroy a formidable way to peace in the Middle East," Zheleznyak told journalists.

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal quoted US officials as saying that Washington planned to supply what it deems "moderate" Syrian rebels with powerful weapons. According to the media outlet, the so called Plan B aims to provide the Syrian opposition factions with various types of anti-aircraft weapons which can be used against the Syrian governmental forces.
Turkey has strongly demonstrated that normalization of relations with Israel is only possible at the background of progress on the Palestinian issue. Despite the fact that the formation of relations between Turkey and Israel is based on economic and strategic interests of both the countries, the condition of lifting of the Gaza blockade, put forward by Turkey, continues to create some difficulties in the negotiation process.

The analyst further said, Meanwhile, Turkey still showed some flexibility on the issue of Israel's fulfillment of the three conditions set by Ankara after the incident with the Mavi Marmara ship. Firstly, the Turkish side insisted on the full lifting of blockade. Then we saw that this condition was replaced by the requirement to recognize certain benefits and privileges for Turkey on the issue of supply of goods to Gaza. After the operation in 2014, Israel provided a certain relief in terms of supplies of goods into Gaza and providing entry and exit of people.

Despite the active steps which have been expressed in the meetings of Erdogan's government with representatives of the Israeli lobby in the United States and the leaders of the Jewish community, the anti-democratic actions of the Turkish authorities, violations of rights and freedoms, as well as the use of anti-Semitic rhetoric have been a matter of concern.

Speaking about these troubles the Jewish community has, Nasi said, It would be ideal if Ankara in parallel with the establishment of relations with Tel Aviv, expressed a clear position on the issue of combating anti-Semitism. But the policy is based on its own rules. I think this process will take place with varying speed and intensity.

The analyst further said, Anti-Semitism requires considerable time and political will. At the moment, I do not see a situation in which case there would be a political will.

Meanwhile, it must be emphasized that the two sides for a long time tend to avoid the use of rhetoric that could harm the course of the negotiation process. You cannot even compare the level of anti-Semitism, which was observed in the last period with what is happening now. However, Turkey needs to take more concrete steps in this direction.

Nasi said that anti-Semitism is a cultural, social problem, a problem of religious education and training, which is also fueled by political rhetoric. Furthermore, it takes a long time to overcome it. I believe that if the relationship between the two countries is actively build, the degree of tension in the Jewish community living in Turkey, will gradually decline.
Secondly, it's Iran that has developed strong and mutually beneficial relations with the country after the Shiite opposition took power in Baghdad.

Turkey, the third major player, is supporting the country's Sunnis and conducts oil business with the Kurds in northern Iraq.

"Turkey works with Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and his circle of associates to extract energy resources from Iraqi Kurdistan and to create opportunities for Turkish business in the region. At the same time, Ankara uses its control over Iraqi Kurdistan's export lines and bolsters the Sunni Arab groups in northern Iraq to keep Kurdish autonomy in check," Stratfor's analysts elaborate.

Ankara and the Iraqi Kurds seem to be strange bedfellows, since the Erdogan regime is well-known for its harsh attitude to the Kurdish minority in Turkey. The Turkish leadership is at war with the Kurdistan Workers' Party at home and with the People's Protection Units in northern Syria.

In light of this, the Barzani clan is at pains to justify its close cooperation with the Erdogan government, Stratfor notes.

To add insult to injury, Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party has recently come under heavy criticism from its political rivals  the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Gorran party and smaller Islamic parties  for establishing excessively close relations with Ankara.

Turkey is interested in increasing its influence in the region.

"For example, Turkey is already trying to quietly expand its own military presence in northern Iraq to prepare for the fight against the Islamic State [Daesh] to retake Mosul (and to keep a long-term presence in northern Iraq to contain Kurdish ambitions)," the US intelligence firm's report reads.
The Syrian ceasefire agreement, worked out with the help of Russia and the United States, has eased the refugee crisis and significantly improved the situation in the south of Syria, Fakhoury told Sputnik.

"Yes, of course," Fakhoury stated when asked whether the cessation of hostilities in Syria has helped with the issue of refugees. "That is why the southern part of Syria has been much calmer and less extremist and less violent than other parts of Syria."

The Jordanian minister added that Amman and Moscow have "a very special relationship that works very well."

The cessation of hostilities in Syria took effect on February 27 to facilitate humanitarian access to all besieged areas in the country, among other goals.

Jordan Could Push for More Help From Europe, Allies to Address Refugee Crisis

Jordan is implementing the $1.7-billion Syrian refugee response plan, and would ask the international stakeholders to provide aid assistance to the country if the crisis in Syria worsens, Jordans Minister of Planning and International Cooperation also stated.

"We are working very hard to implement now what was agreed in London, the Jordan Compact [response plan]," Fakhoury stated. "We will push the European and the international community to help us in additional areas if the Syrian crisis gets worse."
While LeVine reports that other automakers are still downplaying what just happened, the unprecedented pre-sales of this new, all-electric car (which will offer more than 200 miles on a single charge and won't even be available until late 2017 at the earliest), suggests this may be a moment akin to when Nokia, once a cellphone goliath, suddenly disintegrated, virtually overnight, after the introduction of Apple's iPhone.

By "getting people lined around the block and 115,000 orders sight unseen  and then, once people saw the car, another 200,000 orders," Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk "demonstrated there is a very sizable group of people in the world who are prepared to pay $35,000 for an electric car. This was notice to the whole industry that the incumbent car companies who, themselves, even now, are sitting on the sidelines waiting to see whether Musk will pull this off  they could end up like Nokia."

"Hello! 325,000 orders!," LeVine observes, adding "there's going to be blood on the floor" for those companies that don't take quick action to respond to a market inflection point that may now finally be occurring. He also explains, however, that Musk could still blow it, before we then move to the "momentous geo-political shift" that will soon occur with the proliferation of battery-powered vehicles and a world beyond petro-dollars.

"Oil has made the world go around now, literally, for 150 yearsBut, hang on to your hats!," he warns. Countries whose influence is built on oil could see "their whole economic and power structure pulled out right from under them. It's going to be fascinating to watch."

Finally, in a brief return to 'Discrimination Nation', we close with President Obama's designation today of the nation's newest national monument honoring women's suffrage and 'Equal Pay Day'.

You can find Brads previous editions here.

And tune in to Radio Sputnik one hour a day, five days a week.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to OECD, comprising 34 world's developed countries, the wealthy states spending on the refugee crisis at home amounted to 9 percent of the combined aid budget  over $12 billion  in 2015. In 2014, the donor countries spent $6.6 billion on the issue.

"Countries have had to find large sums to cover the costs of an historic refugee crisis in Europe, and most have so far avoided diverting money from development programmes. These efforts must continue," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said, as quoted on the organizations website.

According to the OECD statistics, European countries affected most by the migrant crisis experienced a surge in official development assistance (ODA) spending last year, which is reportedly linked to the growing "in-donor" refugee costs.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The documents may reportedly contain Saudi connection to the attacks. The reports come amid renewed pressure on Obama to release the documents ahead of a presidential trip to Saudi Arabia next week.

According to the Fox News television channel, Graham said he was "pleased that after two years this matter is about to come to a decision by the president." Graham, who is former US Senate Intelligence Committee chairman and a co-author of the September 11 report, has stated that the 28 classified pages "point a strong finger" at the government of Saudi Arabia.

On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda suicide bombers hijacked four passenger planes in the United States, crashing two into New York's World Trade Center towers, another into the Pentagon and the fourth was sent in the direction of Washington D.C., presumably to attack the White House or the Capitol. All planes, except for the last one, reached their targets.
One of the whistleblowers said that they have chosen to come forward now because they are hurting people to keep their power. They fired several people at ALEA who were just trying to do their jobs, and now they dont have a way to pay their bills and they dont have health insurance. At least one of the families has a sick child who is now suffering as a result. It has been hard enough to work in the administration with all of this going on these last two years, but I cannot sit quietly anymore.

The sources claim that Bentley got into an argument with his wife in the summer of 2015, after he refused to sever ties with his then-senior advisor and mistress, Rebekah Mason, and fled to their beach home. In the process, he forgot his wallet and ordered one of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) helicopters to deliver it to him, which they did.
On Tuesday, the German newspaper claimed in a report that intelligence agencies from different countries, including the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), were using the services of Mossack Fonseca for years to open shell companies and conceal their activities.

However, Steinberg maintained that the real losers from the leak were the perpetrators of transnational crime and arms traders, not Russia President Vladimir Putin or Chinese President Xi Jinping as some Western media reports had claimed.

"Drug money, arms trafficking, wealthy tax evaders had their dirty secrets exposed and the infrastructure of banks, law firms and others who service global crime are more exposed than ever before. Forget Putin, Xi and other targets of lazy journalists," Steinberg stated.

Former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou agreed that the pattern of the leaks seemed to reflect public concern at exposing crime and scandals rather than focused on dirty tricks operations by major intelligence services.

Kiriakou expressed doubt that intelligence agencies from different nations had previously used the services of Mossack Fonseca for years to conceal their activities, as Sueddeutsche Zeitung claimed.

"I highly doubt it. Too many people would be involved without a need to know," Kiriakou commented.

Among Mossack Fonseca customers were people involved in the Iran-Contra international scandal in 1980s when the US senior officials secretly facilitated the arms sale to Iran, the report claimed.

The newspaper added that the current or former senior officials of the intelligence services from Saudi Arabia, Colombia and Rwanda were also involved with the firm.

A total of 143 prominent politicians around the world were directly or indirectly implicated in secret money investments or flows, though by no means necessarily illegal ones, exposed in the leaked documents.
Miami Valley Raceway responded to one confirmed case of strangles identified in Barn 2 at the Warren County Fairgrounds formerly known as Lebanon Raceway.

The Warren County Fair Board operates the private training center owned by the County of Warren, Ohio. Racing officials were notified of the confirmed case on Saturday, April 9.

According to the treating veterinarian, precautionary measures where immediately placed in force at the fairgrounds, specifically within Barn 2, to prevent the spread of the contagious infection. Immediately following notification, Miami Valley Raceway informed the five trainers with horses stabled in Barn 2 of a temporary restriction on entries from all horses stabled in Barn 2 until further notice. Miami Valley instituted this restriction after consultation with representatives of the OHHA and the OSRC.

Race Secretary Gregg Keidel comments, Miami Valley evaluated all the facts in this case and took necessary measures to protect the racehorse population. Horsemen can be assured the race paddock here is clear of infection risk.

The Warren County Fair Board, on the recommendation of the attending veterinarians, has ordered Barn 2 quarantined and no horses are entering or leaving Barn 2 during this period. Treating veterinarians confirm all 25 horses housed in the barn are examined daily and to this point, have not exhibited symptoms. Miami Valley Raceway officials will reassess the restriction on entries from these horses after the quarantine is lifted by the Warren County Fair Board.

Miami Valley Racing Operations Manager Helen Carlo said, We will provide updates, if warranted, and are hopeful for an expeditious resolve so we can re-open the entry box to horses in Barn 2. We empathize with the trainers who, through no fault of their own, are currently enduring this unfortunate hardship.

Live racing from Miami Valley Raceway resumes Friday and Saturday at 6:05 pm and continues postward Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays at 2:05 through Sunday, May 9th.

(Miami Valley Raceway)
Forbes: Wallops Island Ideal Location for Navy MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft

Forbes Tours Wallops Facilities, Meets with Regional Alliance Leadership



Contact: Alex Gray 202-225-6365



WASHINGTON, April 12, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- Congressman J. Randy Forbes (VA-04) visited Wallops Island on Tuesday, April 12th, 2016 to tour space facilities and meet with the Wallops Island Regional Alliance. His visit coincided with the Navy's consideration of Wallops Island as the East Coast base for the MQ-4C Triton unmanned maritime surveillance aircraft, which would require the stationing of up to 400 personnel plus family members at Wallops.

"Wallops Island does important work, with tremendous potential to play an even more significant role for NASA, our national defense, the commercial space industry, and the economy of the region," Congressman Forbes said. "As a member of the House Armed Services Committee and Chairman of the Seapower subcommittee, I am particularly interested in opportunities to bring new military missions to Wallops. With its prime location, room to grow, and experience operating unmanned systems, Wallops is an ideal place to base the Navy's new Triton aircraft, and I look forward to discussing that option with the Pentagon."

The Navy is currently considering Wallops as one of three East Coast options for permanently basing the MQ-4C Triton unmanned maritime patrol aircraft. The Triton provides real-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities in maritime and coastal regions. Should the Navy select Wallops as the permanent East Coast location, it would serve as both a launch and recovery site, as well as an operational-level maintenance hub, supporting rotational deployments of personnel and aircraft outside the United States, in addition to the up to 400 permanent personnel plus families stationed there.

Wallops' central location in the Mid-Atlantic Region; its proximity to Patuxent River, Maryland where the Triton is developed; the presence of NASA's own RQ-4 Global Hawks (a similar aircraft) at Wallops; and the facility's relatively uncrowded airspace make it an ideal permanent location for this platform. Currently, the Navy is conducting an environmental assessment, with a decision on the permanent basing of the Triton expected later this year.

The facility at Wallops Island, Virginia is home to some of the most innovative work in the commercial space industry, and supports the needs of both NASA and the Department of Defense. Whether it is providing field carrier landing practice to Navy pilots, supporting rocket launches as part of Missile Defense Agency exercises, or serving as one of two U.S. sites launching vital cargo to support the International Space Station, Wallops is an integral part of U.S. space efforts.
'Blood Money Trail' to Call Out Corruption

Contact: Lauren Handy, Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, 434-420-9634, lauren@survivors.la



SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 13, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- The Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust is demanding that Kamala Harris, Attorney General of California, resign after she authorized a raid on whistleblower David Daleiden's home last week.

Since last Summer, Daleiden, of the Center for Medical Progress, has been releasing videos from his undercover investigation into Planned Parenthood which give reasonable cause for an official investigation into Planned Parenthood concerning the legality of its fetal harvesting program.

"Instead of investigating Planned Parenthood, Harris is going after the whistleblower. I guess no good deed goes unpunished," said Rev. James Conrad, Director of Outreach with Survivors.

Conrad added, "In March, Harris was criticized by the Los Angeles Times for taking too long to indict Daleiden. In our opinion, this is missing the point. Harris should uphold the law, period. If Daleiden broke the law, prosecute him. But that goes the same for Planned Parenthood. It seems pretty obvious to me from the videos that Planned Parenthood was haggling over the harvested body parts, which proves they are selling them for consideration. It doesn't cost Planned Parenthood much to let a harvesting firm come in, so why the haggling? That's illegal. We're upset at the double standard."

"In contrast," said an email from Life Legal Defense Fund, "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."

The Survivors are co-hosting a rally at 11:00 AM in front of the AG's office, 1300 I St, Sacramento, to call attention to the fact that the California AG is supposed to be the State's "chief law officer" with the duty "to ensure that the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" (California Constitution, Article V, Section 13). "If she won't do her job, she shouldn't have it. Nobody likes people like that," said Bobby Bullock, veteran Survivors activist.

"These laws against selling baby body parts for profit are there for a reason, to keep abortionists honest, to make sure abortions aren't incentivized, so that women will be given all the information about all the options, not influencing them toward the one they profit from," said Sheila Jimenez, Survivors' part-time activist, full-time mom.

Jimenez further noted, "And guess who's getting a share in those profits... That's right, Kamala Harris! She has received $81,000 from Planned Parenthood in campaign contributions. That's a conflict of interest, that's corruption."

After the rally, Survivors will host a "Blood Money Trail," a peaceful, prophetic, performance protest to make the connection to the public.

Conrad added, "The Bible records that a wise man once said, 'Partiality in judging is not good. Whoever says to the wicked, 'You are in the right,' will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations, but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.' Today these verses from Proverbs (24:23-25) are being fulfilled."

The Survivors are young people of this generation, directly affected by the horror of this holocaust because it happened to us -- we are its target. Abortion has claimed the lives of our classmates, our friends, our brothers and sisters. It is our obligation to tell their story and compel the world to recognize us as the Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust.

WHAT: Anti-Corruption Protest

WHEN: Wednesday, April 13 at 12:00 p.m.

WHERE: Outside the AG's office in Sacramento

ADDRESS: 1300 I St, Sacramento, CA 95814

MAP: Google Map
One incumbent is running in the five-candidate race for two open seats.
Nash David

A little over a decade ago, a sophomore at Harvard University  Mark Zuckerberg  wrote some lines of code to create what became the world's favourite social network. Over the decade has gone by and things have changed. Facebook is no longer a college student's project. It had an IPO and is now worth billions. With several more at stake. And is now accountable to some very powerful investors.

In retrospect, it does make sense. Ever since its IPO in May 2012, Facebook has been betting big on advertising. Revenues from Facebook advertising has been going strong for Facebook, unlike Twitter which is going through its own set of challenges. However, at this year's F8 conference, Facebook made a set of announcements. The most important among them was around chatbots.

This is surprising on many fronts. First, Facebook was about bring people together and initiating conversations. What happened to giving brands a face to connect with customers? In fact, a very popular industry term is conversations. Add to it sentiment. Whether the nature of conversations around a brand is positive or negative is the single largest peg upon which the digital marketing industry exists.

In such an age where humanness is key to better engagement, Facebook seems to have initiated a new trend  of enabling brands to implement chatbots to communicate with users. Effectively, you could simply chat with your airline's chatbot to clarify doubts you may have about your scheduled flight later in the day, rather than staying on a wait over a phone call. That's a welcome development. But again, would a brand prefer having a bot engage with its customers? How then, could a bot possibly bring people together? Something like what IVRS was in the '90s?

Technology does simplify and scale things up. But what brands would need to be careful about is the deepening of customer relationship. Any marketer would agree that's foremost priority. It's interesting that just a couple of weeks ago, Microsoft announced it was going a similar direction. And in terms of inspiration, several mentions of WeChat were made. Everyone seemed to look East to highlight how chatbots are relatively big in China. Automated conversations seem to work for users in the world's most populated market.

So if Microsoft, and now Facebook, are heading the chatbot way, and in fact, refer to chatbots as the next leap of innovations then there's much to ponder over. What happens to human to human conversation? The irony of a social network made to connect humans to other humans, is now bringing about a wave of algorithms to determine conversations? That somehow doesn't feel too good.

We've known AI is a field of active interest for at least a couple of decades, although it has existed as a term for much longer. But when all your favourite brands hop on to the AI bandwagon, you ask yourself: What if you just want to pick up the phone and speak to someone when you need to? Or would you need to have Facebook installed on your mobile phone just because the pizza you ordered didn't arrive?

During Build 2016, that's exactly what Microsoft demoed. Instead of going to the website of Domino's Pizza, you could simply chat with its chatbot. It all seemed exciting, till you realise that this is going to be a significant technology trend. Microsoft calls its offering the Bot Framework. It intends to help developers create chatbots, and integrate them with applications such as Skype, email, or just about any web service.

As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella puts it:

https://twitter.com/nashpd/status/715228631170088961

This is evidently the beginning of a new chapter of intelligence. Apple, Google  you're next!

Could 2016 possibly trigger the 'rise of the bots'?
tech2 News Staff

Samsung might have "accidentally" released a developer preview of it's upcoming Android N, even though Google is yet to reveal the exact name of the upcoming OS along with the version number.

According to a report by SamMobile, this version has been released with Android N(7.0) compatibility, reads the change history for Samsung MultiWindow SDK 1.3.1. A previous report also pointed out that the Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge are all reported to get the Android N update as soon as it releases sometime in mid 2016. Users of Galaxy S6, S6 Edge and S6 Edge+ back at home in South Korea will be getting the Android Marshmallow update, followed by rollout across the globe.

The first phone to ship with Android N pre-installed will be the Samsung's Galaxy Note 6, according to Digital Trends. Google surprised developers with an early release of N, which makes it possible for Samsung to release the Note 6 with Android N.

Android N Developer preview is available on a number of devices. The update brings performance optimizations, improvements in accessibility options and changes to Android for Work apps. The preview is available for Nexus Player, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 6, Nexus 9, Pixel C and General Mobile 4G. Enrolling for the Android Beta Program allows for users to download the preview versions as OTA updates.
tech2 News Staff

Seems like the "talk-of-the-town" is still about Apple and the FBI. According to a report by the Washington Post, the FBI cracked the San Bernardino terrorists iPhone with the help of professional hackers who discovered and brought it to the bureau, according to people familiar with the matter. Reportedly, they were paid a one-time flat fee for the solution too.

The information shared was then reportedly used to create a piece of hardware that helped the bureau crack the iPhone's four-digit personal identification number without triggering the security feature. The "researchers" who shared the information specialise in hunting for vulnerabilities in software.

Just two weeks ago, the government dropped its effort to require Apple to crack an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the December attacks in San Bernardino, California, saying it had unlocked the phone without Apples help. Some observers thought the government would back away from the New York case too, since the suspect has already pleaded guilty. But in a letter filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, the Justice Department said, The government continues to require Apples assistance in accessing the data that it is authorized to search by warrant.

At issue in the Apple case was a county-owned iPhone used by Rizwan Farook, one of the husband-and-wife shooters in the December rampage in San Bernardino, California, in which 14 people were killed and 22 wounded. The couple died in a shootout with police after the attack.

Tech industry leaders including Google, Facebook and Microsoft and more than two dozen other companies filed legal briefs supporting Apple. The Justice Department received support from law enforcement groups and six relatives of San Bernardino victims.
The Arizona Coyotes relieved general manager Don Maloney of his duties on Monday, opting to go all-in on an analytical approach. Sportsnets Elliotte Friedman reported the Coyotes would hand over more personnel control to 26-year-old assistant GM John Chayka, but said he doesnt think Chayka will take over as GM. The big question remains: Who will take over the Coyotes GM vacancy? Friedman reported Arizona had expressed interest in Leafs assistant GM Kyle Dubas.

(1/2) Hearing there was interest expressed by ARIZ about TOR Assistant GM Kyle Dubas. Dubas (in media jail) did not comment, but  Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) April 12, 2016

(2/2) word is his choice is to stay in TOR despite any interest, instead of pursuing the possibility.  Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) April 12, 2016

Dubas would make perfect sense in Arizona. Hes the analytics wunderkind. Dubas has got experience working in a front office and has helped the Maple Leafs build an impressive core quickly, as a part of one of the smartest management groups in the league.

But, as Friedman mentions, Dubas may prefer to stay in Toronto. Its hard to blame him. The 30-year-old came to Toronto two seasons ago in high regard from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhound of the OHL. Many expect Dubas to take over the Leafs GM role once Lou Lamoriello retires, which should happen in the next couple years.

The Coyotes would be in tough to try to convince Dubas to leave all that hes accomplished in Toronto for a chance to lead the Coyotes. The only way it could happen is if Dubas was unsure hes next in line to the GM throne in Toronto and went to the Coyotes for an immediate chance to run a team. Dubas will be a GM eventually, but it will likely be for Toronto.

The Coyotes are smart to sniff around, but Dubas probably isnt going anywhere.
Fresh fire in Sundarbans` Chandpai range

Nearly two weeks into a fire incident that took place in the Sundabans, another fire erupted at Abdullah Shila in Chandpai range of the worlds largest mangrove forest in Sharankhola upazila on Wednesday morning. M Saidul Islam, divisional forest officer of Sundarbans East Zone, said the fire originated at Abdullah Shila adjacent to Nangli camp around 10am. Officials of the forest department have already cut a fire lane to stop the spread of the fire, Saidul added. Meanwhile, a firefighting unit started for the spot from Morelganj. Earlier on March 27, a fire broke out in the Dhanshagor stations Nangli forest camp area of the Sundarbans Chadpai range, located in the eastern part of the mangrove forest. -- Bagerhat, Apr 13 (UNB)
5 Ctg buildings tilt in earthquake

Chittagong, Apr 13 (UNB) - Five buildings tilted here on Wednesday following a powerful earthquake that jolted the country in the evening. Fire Service sources said the establishments tilted in New Market, Love Lane, Sagorika and Chandgaon areas. Officer-in-chare of Chandgaon Police Station Shahjahak Kabir said a building at road 538 of Chandgaon Residential Area leaned on the nearby building following the jolt. Meanwhile, around 40 garment workers were injured while scrambling for getting down from the factory buildings in Chittagong EPZ area.
The history of the Bengali New Year

Uttam Kumar Nag :

In Bengal, Emperor Akbar started the Bengali calendar-year on 10 March, 1585, but it became effective from 16 March, 1586, the day of his ascension to the throne. The basis of the Bengali year is the Hijri lunar year (Muslim era counted from the year of Muhammad's (Sm) going to Madina in 622 AD) and the Bengali solar year. The Bengali year was accepted even at the grass root level. A possible reason for this may be that the basis of the Bengali year is agriculture and the beginning of the Bengali year is a time of collection of taxes from the farmers. For instance, the farmer does not plough the field even if it rains in Chaitra (the last month of the Bengali year) and corresponding to mid-march to Mid-April. The fields are generally ploughed in the month of Baisakh (April-May) and the prayer for the rains is also because of this. However, the common man still refers to the Bengali calendar of his day-to-day activities and the city-dwellers to the Julian calendar. In this context, Shamsuzzaman Khan has rightly remarked that Akbar had once started the pan-Indian Islamic year as well as the Bengali year. "The introduction of Bengali year had not only survived but at one time had also given the unique power of nationalistic feelings and pride to the separated and divided mainly joint Bengali society."

The New Year begins in different seasons in different countries of the world. The Bengali New Year is in summer. Summer is not a pleasant time in Bangladesh. Festivals and merriments are not as much possible in summer as during the beginning of winter or spring.

Many people believe that the Bengali New Year should have begun in the month of Agrahayan (the eighth month of the Bengali year and corresponds to Mid-November to Mid-December) even considering from the point of agriculture as Agrahayan is, for instance, the month of reaping. Yet New Year is celebrated in Baisakh. Pallab Sengupta writes: "The New Year is calculated either from Hemanta or late autumn (between autumn and winter) or spring that is from the time when new crops, flowers and fruits start growing. This, at least, was the custom initially. Later, with the passage of time, it shifted to other seasons due to practical necessities."

But that mystery has not been unraveled. As our country is located in the Tropics the importance of summer in this region is natural. Moreover, the drying up of the canals, rivers and streams at that time and the acute crisis for water makes the tremendous changes in season easily felt. And then comes the Nor'westers like wild buffaloes throwing everything in complete disorder. The rains start immediately lowering the temperature and making the conditions favourable for ploughing.

In any country the principal festival has been organised with respect to the particular season which has gained importance there. Moreover, the minor seasonal festivals are also regularly held. Bengal has a unique position in this regard. It is clear that its main seasonal festival was in summer. Just as elsewhere in the world, the main seasonal festival have been considered as the New Year festival, the main summer festival of our country is likewise considered as the New Year festival. One feels that the devastating form of nature and the consequent creativity of that one witnesses in Bangladesh must have made summer and the summer festivals so important in our ancient culture. Otherwise the New Year celebration and festival of Bangladesh would have been greatly influenced by religion. Our country is largely inhabited by the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians but "no particular influence of these religions are observed in our New Year celebrations and festival."

During the last four hundred years, which is after the introduction of the Bengali year by Akbar, many festivals connected probably with agriculture and seasons have become associated with it. And the first of Baisakh gradually changed in this way to become the New Year. To the special features of the Bengali New Year that Enamul Huq has mentioned, we can add here that the Bengali New Year saw the addition of a new political dimension from the 60's of the present century. No season in any other country has such a political aspect.

The most important function of Baisakh and the first day of Baisakh is the fair. The New Year fairs of our country are also nothing but the changed forms of the oldest 'seasonal festivals' and 'agricultural festivals' of Bangladesh. This is because local agricultural products and handicrafts are sold in these fairs even today. According to a survey, about two hundred fairs are organized throughout Bangladesh on the first day and the first week of Baisakh.

It has already been mentioned before that in Bangladesh celebration of the first day of Baisakh began as a part of the cultural movement and it added a new dimension to the political movements. During the regime of Ayub Khan in the late sixties, when attack was made against Rabindra Sangeet (Tagore Song) and the Bengali culture, the Chhayanat group organized a programme of Rabindrasangeet on the first of Baisakh under the banyan tree at Ramna to celebrate the New Year. It was a protest against religious fundamentalism. This endeavor by Chhayanat gradually became popular and in the perspective of the freedom movement the Bengali New Year was celebrated in a grand way as a protest against the ideology of the ruling class. After the Independence of Bangladesh, the Bengali New Year was declared as public holiday. Thus with the celebration of the New Year at the grass-root level was added the endeavor of the urban people.

We may conclude that the only secular festival of Bangladesh, in every sense of the term, is the Bengali New Year. Its specialty lies in the fact that in spite of being the festival of a country where the majorities are Muslims, it is not melancholic. Although the state has been successful in other areas it has failed to incorporate the religious factor in this case. Moreover, the New Year still adds a new dimension to the movements against tyranny. Considering all these aspects we can refer to the Bengali New Year as a festival of the world which has rare characteristic.

- Bengali Community Singapore - BCS
Cultural pluralism to wipe out fanaticism: Minister

UNB, Dhaka :

Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor on Wednesday said the country's folklore with its messages of cultural pluralism and humanity will wipe out extremism, intolerance, radicalism, prejudice and discriminations from society.

"The ugly face of religious orthodoxy and fanaticism has no place in our national culture," said the minister while inaugurating a workshop on folklore as the chief guest. The five-day international workshop, titled 'The Third Edition of Folklore Summer School', began at Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad Auditorium of Bangla Academy. Since its inception in 1955, he said, Bangla Academy has been playing a pivotal role not only in the collection, documentation, study, and publication of folklore materials but also in the development of an appropriate infrastructure for folklore study and research in Bangladesh by inviting eminent folklorists from different countries of the world. Addressing the workshop, Director General of Bangla Academy Professor Shamsuzzaman Khan said, "Now it's time to judge our development and failure in folklore research, collection and practice."


China to increase aid for BD's agri, infrastructure sectors

Staff Reporter :

Assistant Foreign Minister of China Kong Xuanyou on Wednesday said China is interested to increase its assistance to Bangladesh for its agriculture, communications and infrastructure sectors.

The Chinese junior minister said this when he made a courtesy call on President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban.

Welcoming the Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister at Bangabhaban, the President said Chinese assistance in various sectors, including agriculture, communications and infrastructure, are increasing and it is playing an important role in socio-economic development of the country.

President's press secretary Joynal Abedin briefed reporters after the meeting.

Abdul Hamid praised the Chinese government for allowing duty-free access of Bangladeshi products to China. It will increase Bangladesh export to China, he added.

He underscored the need for high-level visits both at government and private sector levels between the two countries to expand the bi-lateral relations further.

The Bangladesh President also invited his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to visit Bangladesh.

Kong Xuanyou said the trade and investment relations between the two countries will further be expanded once Bangladesh, India, China and Myanmar-Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC) is implemented as it will benefit the people of the two countries.

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ma Mingqiang, Bangladesh Ambassador to China M Fazlul Karim and secretaries concerned to the President Office were present.
When Preity Zinta scared Sussanne

Newly-married Preity Zinta is having the time of her life after returning to Mumbai! The actress, who is busy with the ninth season of IPL, took some time off to catch up with her friends.

The actress took to Instagram to share a picture with her friends including Sussanne Khan and Malaika Khan.

Preitys caption to the photo was as amusing as the picture itself. It read, The art of #photobombing requires one to not just magically appear in the photo but also to scare the living day lights out of the people taking the photo... hehehheh ! #thisisliving #friendsforever #guestappearance #photobomb #thiscrazyweek #lovingit #laughter Ting.

Preity tied the knot with her American boyfriend Gene Goodenough in a private ceremony in Los Angeles on February 29. On the Bollywood front, Preity Zinta will be back on the silver screen with her long-delayed project titled Bhaiyyaji Superhit which has Sunny Deol as her co-star.
Bullet-hit body of 2 missing ICS men found in Jessore

Staff Reporter :The bodies of two of Islami Chhatra Shibir leaders were found shot dead in Jessore district on Wednesday after about three weeks of their missing from Jhenaidah district.The bodies were recovered from a local cremation ground (Shashan ghat) at Laukhali village in JessoreSadar upazila in the morning. The deceased have been identified as Abujar Gifari, 22, President of Kaliganj Municipal unit of Chhatra Shibir and son of Islam Ali, an inhabitant of Chapali village under Kaliganj upazila in Jhenaidah district, and Shamim Hossain, 20, a local Shibir leader and son of Ruhul Amin from Bakulia village under the same upazila, our local corresponded said after quoting police and the family members of the victims.Gifari was a third year student of Bangla Department of Jessore MM College and Shamim was a second year student of KC College in Jhenaidah.Both the victims' families at separate press conferences claimed that plainclothes police introducing themselves as detectives picked up Gifari and Shamim on March 18 and 25 respectively and they remained missing since then. But the DB police rejected the allegation, reports our correspondent.Kaliganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Anwar Hossain said that they were informed that the bullet hit bodies of the two Shibir leaders were laying in the funeral spot of Barampukur in Jessore Sadar upazila around 9:00am. The bodies had been sent to the Jessore Sadar Hospital for an autopsy. Nur Mohammad, father of Abujar said, four persons, who introduced themselves as members of Detective Branch (DB), picked up him after Jumma prayer when he was returning home from a local mosque on March 18. He filed a general diary with local police, and held a press conference at Jhenaidah Press Club in this regard. But the police repeatedly rejected the charge.Ruhul Amin, father of Shamim Hossin, alleged that his son was picked up by DB members from the main gate of Mahtab Uddin Degree College in Kaliganj town on March 24. Police rejected the accusation.Meanwhile, three other Jamaat-e-Islami leaders were allegedly picked up by DB police when they were returning from a district court on Wednesday afternoon.They are Atiqur Rahman, President (Ameer) of Jhenaidah Municipality, Hafizur Rahman, leader of local Jamamt-e-Islami and and Alamgir Hossain, an activist. In addition, another college student, Sohanur Rahman, 16, has been missing from the day the police picked up him on Sunday, his family said.He is a first-year student of local Shahid Nur Ali College.Altaf Hossain, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Jhenaidah, told The New Nation, "Law enforcers have no relation with the picking up incidents."Police are trying to find out of the motive of the missing and murder incidents, he said. We suspected that they were dumped in the pond after killing somewhere else.
Water crisis poses serious threat

City dwellers in peril

Sagar Biswas :

Like the previous years, the dwellers of different city areas have been facing acute crisis of pure drinking water at the advent of hot summer season this year.

Usually the underground water layer goes deep to deeper in March and April. It is now falling drastically as about 88 per cent of water is being pumped out through deep tube wells. Besides, the annual maintenance work of sewerage and water pipelines in this part of the year makes the situation more critical.

And taking this opportunity, a section of unscrupulous officials of the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority [DWASA] allegedly start money-making business by selling water to the dwellers in a high price.

Managing Director of DWASA Engineer Taksim A Khan, however, denied the allegation saying that he would take tough action if any official is found involved with the illegal water trade.

"In fact, the problem is very much technical. It is not water scarcity. At this moment, we have no deficiency in production. But it is difficult to supply the water to the consumer level due to shortage of pump machines. Some of the pumps are kept shut due to technical problem," the MD said.

But the scenario is totally different in many parts of the city, which does not match with the statement of top DWASA man. Actually, the crisis of drinking water along with moderate hot spell has multiplied the sufferings of the city residents now.

The condition of different city parts, particularly Azimpur, Malibagh, Mouchak,

Khilgaon, Rampura, Sayedabad, Jatrabari, Mirpur and Shyamoli is stated to be the worst. Household works, including bath and washing, have been stopped in several families of these areas due to low-pressure in the supply line.

In this situation, a section of dishonest DWASA officials are selling water to the sufferers above the actual price. The price of water in a tanker is Tk 600. But they are now taking Tk 1500 to Tk 2000 for the same.

At Jatrabari, long queues of residents, mostly women and children, would be seen almost every day in front of water pipe lines and hand pumps. Local residents alleged that the DWASA failed to make proper arrangements of water distribution, increasing pains of one area at the cost of other.

"We have not getting enough water for last seven days. The DWASA has not taken any initiative to meet the crisis despite repeated complaints. The situation will be worsening if water problem is not solved immediately," said Md Anisur Rahman, a resident of Jatrabari yesterday.

Several people alleged that shortage of water have increased risk of spreading different diseases.

"Water supply begins in the area after 3 pm everyday, which has made our life miserable. We do not know when the authorities will remove all hindrances and we shall get water regularly," Saifunnahar Begum, housewife and resident of Azimpur, said.

Official sources say that DWASA has a capacity to produce about 242 crore litres of water every day. But it can produce 228 crore to 230 crore litres in the capital and Narayanganj town. The condition of the water treatment plant at Pagla is not satisfactory.

Officials of DWASA said, "The situation has started deteriorating. If more water treatment plants are not installed, the people will face severe water shortage. The reasons behind water crisis are drastic fall of underground water level, insufficient water treatment plants and lifting of water by deep tube wells."

Experts said the acute water crisis in Dhaka city has triggered for rapid growth of population and indiscriminate urbanisation making the available civic facilities inadequate. There remains a lack of safe water although Bangladesh is not in short supply of water.


Task force for quick recovery of stolen money

Kazi Zahidul Hasan :

The government has formed a 'special task force' to expedite recovery of the $81 million that was stolen from Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank at New York and transferred to Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) of Philippines.

The Banks and Financial Institutions Division (BFID) issued a circular signed by Deputy Secretary Md Rezwanul Huda in this regard on Wednesday. BFID Secretary Md Eunusur Rahman has been made the convener of the task force, while one official each from the Finance Ministry, Foreign Ministry,

Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, Anti-Corruption Commission, the Attorney General's Office and the National Board of Revenue has been included as the members.

The task force has also been authorized to include qualified persons suitable for the job if necessary.

"The task force has been assigned to speed up retrieve of the Bangladesh Bank's heist fund that illegally transferred to five fictitious accounts of RCBC's Jupiter Branch," a senior Finance Ministry official told The New Nation on Wednesday, requesting not to be named.

He added, a number of local and foreign agencies are investigating into the heist, but the taskforce will only work to bring back the fund from Philippines.

The official further said that it will closely work with Philippines central bank and Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and take all necessary measures to bring back the laundered fund.

Kam Sin Wong, a Chinese junket operator known in the Philippines as Kim Wong, recently told the Philippines Senate hearing that the $81 million laundered fund was remitted by two Chinese businessmen, Gao Shuhua and Ding Zhize.

The Senate hearing revealed that the $81 million was remitted to five accounts created with fictitious names at the branch of the RCBC on February 5 and then consolidated to the casinos and junket operators through Philrem, a money changer company in Philippines.

Wong said, $63 million of the total $81 million went to the Solaire and Midas casinos, while the remaining $17 million is still with the Philrem.

"The mystery behind the money-laundering was revealed at the Senate hearing. We are hopeful that we should get back our money," said the finance ministry official adding, "The process of bringing back the money will be expedited with the formation of the task force".

Earlier, experts cautioned that the recovery of the stolen funds might take three to ten years unless the government was formed a special task force to expedite the process.
BB sent 3 urgent messages, but RCBC ignored all

Staff Reporter :Bangladesh Bank (BB) sent three urgent messages to the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) on the morning of February 9, alerting the Philippines based financial institution about the fraudulent transaction of $81 million that was stolen by unidentified hackers from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank at New York.The heist was later revealedto be the largest money laundering scheme in Philippine history. "Please be informed that this is a doubtful transaction. You are requested to stop the payment, and if you have already made the payment then freeze the account of the beneficiary for proper investigation. We think the transaction is contradictory with the anti-money laundering law," read the messages sent by the Bangladesh central bank on February 9.The following day, February 10, the BB sent another message to RCBC through the Swift system which read: "Top urgent. Please be informed that this is a fraudulent transaction and unauthorized access in our Swift system. So you are requested to stop the payment and if you have already made the payment, then freeze the account of the beneficiary and please [put] back the funds to the account number 21083190."Chief legal adviser of the RCBC Ma. Celia Fernandez-Estavillo came up with the discourse while speaking at the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on Tuesday, reports Inquirer.net. Estavillo said the Swift transmissions were sent via an "unauthenticated, free format" message "of normal priority" that did not immediately catch the attention of bank officials that Tuesday morning, amid the deluge of interbank fund transfer messages after the Chinese New Year long weekend. "So when we received 790 [Swift] messages, our officers proceeded to read the e-mails sequentially, unless we had a stop payment which would be the first that we would read or high priority messages, none of which applied to the Bangladesh Bank," Estavillo said.Sen. Teofisto "TG" Guingona, who chairs the committee, expressed dissatisfaction with RCBC's procedures that allowed the funds to be withdrawn despite the subsequent messages from Bangladesh."Had you opened the text, you would have been sufficiently alarmed. It does say 'top urgent, top urgent'," the lawmaker said, reading the Swift message to RCBC.Estavillo countered that Bangladeshi authorities used "vague terms" in its message, adding that the bank had, in the past, "received many stop orders but never anything as ambiguous as this."Guingona countered by quoting the message again: "We think the transaction is contradictory to the anti-money laundering law.""I think that's clear enough," he said. "I'm not a banker, but to me it's pretty clear."To settle the issue, the Senate summoned a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas official familiar with the Swift system used by international banks to communicate fund transfer instructions.Speaking at the hearing, BSP Settlement Services Division acting manager Nenita Cadapan said that the reason the Bangladesh Bank could not send the more commonly used high priority stop payment order via the Swift system was that Bangladesh Bank and RCBC did not have previous dealings that would have allowed an "authenticated" message to be used."Would a bank be able to know if the sender [of the funds] is a central bank and not just an ordinary bank?" Guingona asked her.The Swift system, Cadapan said, automatically identifies in its messages-via an eight-character code-the parties involved in the transaction, including the name of the institution and the country it is from."You can identify who and from where the registered user of that Swift code is," she said. Even banks using an old Swift database of codes can easily determine the identity of the sender by searching on the Internet, she added. "You can Google it."RCBC officials also heaped blame on their former Jupiter St., Makati City branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito for allegedly facilitating the release of the funds despite the stop payment request from Bangladesh.Deguito countered, however, that she consulted with her superiors on what to do with the funds once it was flagged as suspicious, to which RCBC treasurer Raul Tan supposedly replied to her in a phone call: "That's not our problem. That's the problem of Bangladesh."Tan confirmed speaking with Deguito on the phone but said he could not recall making this statement.
Jute workers call off strike, blockade

Staff Reporter :

Employees and workers of seven state-owned jute mills in Khulna on Wednesday called off strike and rail road blockade programme.

After a meeting with Textiles and Jute Minister Md Emaj Uddin Pramanique and State Minister for Textiles and Jute Mirza Azam the CBA and Non-CBA Oikya Parishad of the seven jute mills called off strike and rail road blockade programme.

The minister and state minister for jute held talks on Wednesday with the workers who were holding strikes and blockades for dues.

"The employees and workers withdrew their protests from Wednesday. They will return to the respective jute mills from the next working day,"

Mirza Azam, told journalists. The CBA and Non-CBA Oikya Parishad of the seven jute mills - Crescent Jute Mills, Platinum Jute Mills, Khalispur Jute Mills, Star Jute Mills, Eastern Jute Mills, Jessore Jute Mills and Carpeting Jute Mills - enforced the strike on April 4.

Besides enforcing the strike at the jute mills from 6am-2pm over the last eight days, the workers also continued blocking road and rail routes till Wednesday.

In the wake of strike, the government allocated taka one thousand crore to the textiles and jute ministry to pay the arrears of state-run jute mills' workers and purchase jute.
A new online portal, acadianaopportunity.com, is the latest strategic effort among state officials and community partners from Lake Charles to Lafayette to address job losses resulting from plummeting energy prices.

One Acadiana's Jason El Koubi Photo by Robin May

The online portal, which was unveiled April 11, is designed to help connect unemployed or underemployed workers from the Acadiana area with suitable jobs in the Lake Charles region. It will also link the to training opportunities.

The site is a collaborative effort between Louisiana Economic Development, the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, One Acadiana, the Louisiana Workforce Commission along with the two Workforce Development Boards in the region, Louisiana Job Connection and South Louisiana Community College.

There are numerous opportunities along the I-10 corridor from Lake Charles to Baton Rouge for displaced energy, construction and manufacturing workers and for our businesses, says Gregg Gothreaux, president and CEO of LEDA, in a press release. The Acadiana Workforce Opportunities Initiative is another illustration of the collaborative nature of our community. Our organizations will continue to identify companies who are actively hiring and connect them with our displaced workers.

At the same time One Acadiana is recruiting new companies to diversify our regional economy, were also focused on protecting our base of companies already here and the workers who provide the backbone of our economy, says Jason El Koubi, One Acadiana president and CEO.

Those local officials say workers who have been recently laid off may be eligible for grant funds to pay for training and certification classes. The website provides initial eligibility screening to the Louisiana Workforce Commission. Users will learn about the job opportunities outside the oil and gas industry and get instructions on applying for unemployment benefits.

Gerald Bowers, a client of the Lafayette Workforce Development Board, was eligible to receive full tuition assistance through the Lafayette Business and Career Solutions Center. Bowers completed a seven-week Commercial Vehicle Operator program at SLCC and is now employed as a truck driver with Prime Inc.

AcadianaOpportunity.com also links people to SLCC, where the training and certification classes will be taught. Visitors to the site should complete the colleges contact form online for more opportunities available through SLCC.

Visitors to the site can also access Louisiana Job Connection, a site designed by Louisiana Economic Development that matches users with available jobs based on their skills and experience. After posting their resume for free, job seekers will start receiving matches. As new jobs are posted, the site will send matches directly to the job seeker, eliminating the need for constant searching.

Job seekers also have access to the Louisiana Workforce Commissions online jobs and training portal called HiRE, or Helping Individuals Reach Employment. HiRE is one of the nations most advanced workforce development systems, where job seekers can gain access to training opportunities to advance their skill sets and apply for jobs that match their qualifications, interests and salary requirements.

For those without access to a computer or the internet, the Louisiana Workforce Commission has Business and Career Solutions Centers in almost every parish of the state to offer these services with hands-on assistance from experienced professionals. These local offices offer resume building assistance, interview tips, job counseling, skills assessments and much more.

In addition to serving job seekers, the LWC offers essential services and training opportunities to Louisiana employers who wish to invest in their employees futures. The Incumbent Worker Training Program, funded by unemployment insurance tax contributions, brings together the LWC, business and industry leaders and training providers to advance the employees existing skills to promote employee productivity and company growth.

The launch of AcadianaOpportunity.com follows the successful Industrial Trades Career Fair held at the Cajundome Convention Center in early March. Thirty-six companies from across South Louisiana participated in the event, which attracted 1,800 job seekers.

Company representatives reported making 72 job offers at the event, with 266 additional interviews scheduled. More than 80 percent of company representatives said it was likely they would hire a job seeker who attended the event, and 91 percent rated the job seekers they met as excellent or good. The majority of the job seekers at the event were from Lafayette Parish, and 78 percent of job seekers indicated they were currently unemployed with 10 or more years of work experience.
Forum For Equality/Facebook

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  Gov. John Bel Edwards issued an executive order Wednesday banning discrimination in state government based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Democratic governor also rescinded his Republican predecessor's order offering protections to people who oppose same-sex marriage.

Edwards' LGBT protection order prohibits state agencies, boards and contractors from harassment or discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, political affiliation, disability or age. State contracts will be required to include a similar anti-discrimination provision.

"We are fortunate enough to live in a state that is rich with diversity, and we are built on a foundation of unity and fairness for all of our citizens," the governor said in a statement. "We respect our fellow citizens for their beliefs, but we do not discriminate based on our disagreements."

Edwards' order comes as states across the country, particularly in the South, wrestle with "religious freedom" legislation and laws that critics have called discriminatory against the LGBT community. Supporters say they're trying to protect religious beliefs.

In Louisiana, the order includes an exemption for state contractors that are religious organizations. The provision affecting contractors takes effect July 1. The rest of the order starts immediately.

"While this executive order respects the religious beliefs of our people, it also signals to the rest of the country that discrimination is not a Louisiana value, but rather, that Louisiana is a state that is respective and inclusive of everyone around us," Edwards said.

Louisiana doesn't have a state law protecting the state's LGBT residents from discrimination, and efforts to enact such a law have failed. Shreveport and New Orleans have passed their own anti-discrimination ordinances.

Edwards' edict is similar to orders enacted by two former Louisiana Democratic governors  but he added language protecting against discrimination based on "gender identity," a provision that protects transgender people.

Matthew Patterson, managing director of LGBT rights organization Equality Louisiana, said the executive order is "the first time transgender people have ever had any degree of statewide legal protections in Louisiana."

The governor's office released statements of support from leaders of chambers of commerce in New Orleans and Shreveport.

"This action will help to solidify Louisiana's current reputation as a welcoming place for business and talent," said Michael Hecht, president and CEO of Greater New Orleans Inc.

Edwards also terminated a religious objections executive order issued by former Gov. Bobby Jindal last year. That "Marriage and Conscience" order from Jindal prohibited state agencies under the governor's control from denying licenses, benefits, contracts or tax deductions to businesses and people that take actions because of a "religious belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman."

When he was a state lawmaker last year, Edwards opposed Jindal-backed legislation that would have enacted similar provisions in state law. That bill failed amid opposition from business groups and LGBT advocates, so Jindal followed up with the order.

Edwards described Jindal's order as divisive and threatening to business growth.

"It goes against everything we stand for  unity, acceptance, and opportunity for all," he 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.
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.

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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.
BENTON  A high-speed chase involving a Kentucky man and several officers from multiple agencies ended Tuesday when the man was fatally wounded by law enforcement after he fired several shots, according Illinois State Police Lt. Michael Alvey.

Joshua Moreno, 38, of Bowling Green Kentucky, was the man fatally shot in the incident.

At about 3:03 p.m., Franklin County Sheriffs Department received a report of a residential burglary, police say. Witnesses reported the suspect leaving the residence with multiple firearms. Alvey said officers located the suspects and a pursuit ensued at 3:06 p.m.

During the pursuit, the suspect hit a deputys vehicle after refusing to stop and fired multiple shots at officers, Alvey said. The suspects vehicle then became disabled on Interstate 57, and he committed an armed hijacking and continued to flee from officers.

Alvey said the pursuit continued south of Benton, where the suspect left the vehicle and continued to fire at officers. He said multiple departments responded to the scene and the suspect was eventually struck by gunfire from officers and pronounced dead by the Franklin County Coroner Marty Leffler.

Several police cars had Illinois 37 south of Benton near Pearson Skating Rink blocked off for several hours.

The loss of life in this incident is tragic, Alvey said.

Our sympathies are with the family and Benton community, he said. This incident underscores the importance of good citizens willing to make a difference and report suspicious behavior.

Alvey said there were no known injuries to anybody in the community or to any law enforcement personnel.

The incident is under investigation by the Franklin County Sheriffs Office and the state police, he said.

Authorities did not take additional questions during a news conference outside of the Franklin County Sheriffs Office, citing a pending investigation.

A witness, Lisa Brown of Benton, interviewed outside of the sheriffs office, said as she was near Bluebell Bluff when she saw police cars and then saw a black truck driven by a man at about 100 miles per hour.

She said he was reaching under seat and then the police continued to follow. As she drove further, she saw two men on the side of the road that said the truck that drove by fired shots at them, but they were not wounded. This information was not confirmed by authorities on Tuesday.

Brown gave the statement to the newspaper before she gave a statement to investigators.
Two headlines that appeared simultaneously last week present a vital question for the 2016 campaign: What is the political legacy of the Obama economy? CNBC.com reported on April 8 that the U.S. economy -- already weak -- took a turn for the worse in the first quarter of 2016. The headline declared, "First-quarter economy looks bleaker by the day." The Wall Street Journal, in turn, featured a story with a headline reading, "Obama readies flurry of regulations," with the article explaining that the president is planning to release significant new regulations "affecting broad swaths of the economy" as he unilaterally tries to carry out an anti-business crusade the Republican-led Congress would never participate in.

The facts are clear. The average GDP growth under President Obama from 2009 through the end of 2015 was just 2.2 percent, compared with 3.9 percent during "the average recovery following post-1960 economic slowdowns," according to Larry Elder. "President Obama will be the first president to reign over a recovery in which not a single year's economy grew at least 3 percent."

The Obama administration is trying to convince voters that the economy is good, including perpetuating the false narrative that having an official employment rate of 5 percent means that the economy has recovered. Well, the U-6 unemployment rate, which includes those who are underemployed and discouraged, is 9.8 percent. And the labor force participation rate is still only 63 percent, down 2.7 points from when Obama took office.

So which candidate or party will gain, and which candidate or party will suffer, as a result of Obamanomics? It's not as easy to determine as one would guess. You might think the Democrats would be punished for this weak economy in November, but in the surreal world of 2016, even though the economy will be an anchor around Hillary Clinton's neck, it could also produce an opponent she can beat.

In order to save her candidacy from a surging Bernie Sanders, Clinton has had to embrace all things Obama, including an awkward defense of his administration's economy. It will be hard for Clinton to say she represents anything other than more of the same on the economy. And given that she already has a reputation for being untrustworthy, it will be hard for her to pivot away from the Obama economy in the general election, after she secures the nomination. If she suddenly tries to disassociate herself from the low-growth, anti-business, anti-job policies of the Obama administration, she will look like she is posturing and insincere.

Oddly, the hopelessness and discouragement the Obama presidency has caused may produce a Republican nominee who is colossally unpopular and who has little chance of beating Clinton or Sanders in a general election. Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner, is the beneficiary of the despondency caused by the economic decay Obama has presided over, yet he is the least likely to get elected and be in a position to change Obama's policies. It is ironic that the backlash from the Obama economy has produced the political circumstances that will virtually ensure a continuation of the corrosive Obama economy.

As the liberals' low-growth policies strangle the private economy, their social policies exile the church, immigration is left unchecked, and regulations keep costs to consumers high. All this combines to smother the middle class and create more government dependents. Hope is fading as more and more people struggle with surviving in the Obama economy, but the Democrats are not doing anything to combat the root of the economic malaise. And why would they? Poverty creates Democrats. Liberal policies are the gift that keeps on giving.
It is ironic that some of the adults in the GOP who have inveighed against dysfunction brought on by backbencher extremists like the Freedom Caucus and urged pragmatic compromise in the face of criticism from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are now acting more like the all-or-nothing crowd they once denounced. The Wall Street Journal editorial board recounts:

"Across the 2011 debt ceiling showdown, the 2013 ObamaCare shutdown that Mr. Cruz engineered, and the various budget deals, anyone who recognized the limits of political possibility with a liberal President was smeared as lacking philosophical conviction. When these gambits inevitably failed, he blamed the establishment for that too."

Fair enough. And we have no bones to pick on this front either: "Outflanked by Mr. [Donald] Trump, the Texas Senator let himself be dragged further toward positions that alienate much of the GOP and American mainstream. On immigration he criticized Mr. Trump not for mass deportation but because Mr. Trump suggested he might let some of the deported re-enter legally." But, the rejoinder must be: So what?

Unless there is some other vehicle for getting to a contested convention (i.e. defeating Trump), Cruz would argue that it is time to make one of those pragmatic decisions and vote for him in the remaining primaries. At the convention, we have argued, it is not impossible to come up with an alternative to the three current candidates, but it is unlikely.

Likewise, Carl M. Cannon reminds us: "But for many prominent Republicans, having to choose between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump is an exquisite form of torture. Cruz's colleagues find him officious, selfish, and maddening. They doubt his sincerity. They hate how he grandstands. They despise him for impugning the integrity of his own party leaders." Who can quibble with that? And yet, Cruz is the alternative right now to Trump. ("But as the July convention draws closer with Cruz having the only chance to catch Trump in the delegate count, the Republican establishment is realizing that it does matter. [Sen. Lindsey] Graham himself endorsed Cruz, one of five former 2016 presidential candidates to do so.")

Mainstream Republicans who put up with attacks on perfectly honorable Republican leaders, with talk radio hosts spinning fiction about how they sold out the base and with holier-than-thou Beltway groups like Heritage Action impugning their conservative credentials, are understandably perturbed. But to insist on some magical solution to their Trump problem other than the only currently available choice (Cruz) would be as self-destructive as the 2013 shutdown.

Ironically, Cruz is now doing what he has decried in the past. He's talking practicalities, asking for fellow Republicans to think rationally about the race. He told the Republican Jewish Coalition over the weekend: "Many of you started with someone else. . . . And one of the things we are working very much to do is welcome everyone who supported someone else, welcome them with open arms." He continued: "Sixty-five to 70 percent of Republican recognize nominating Donald Trump will be a disaster and hands the general election to Hillary Clinton. If we can unite the 65-70 percent of Republicans we win. If not we lose." Asked about social issues, he said" "Tone matters a lot. . . . I am not running to be pastor in chief." He vowed to fight on the "terrain" of the Little Sisters of the Poor (i.e. Obamacare's mandate on contraception) -- an issue on which most Americans would be more sympathetic. On gay marriage, he said he favored a "diversity of views," namely allowing states to decide. (That ship sailed with the Supreme Court, but Cruz was suggesting that he would fight smart, not in ways that would infuriate a large segment of voters.)

Cruz is now practicing what his former Republican critics preach: He is touting the value of a concrete agenda and speaking in the context of real-world choices. His past and current critics would say this is "opportunism," but one man's opportunism is another's flexibility or pragmatism. Cruz, by necessity, has learned that the inflexible, antagonistic Cruz cannot win a primary, let alone a general election. He has, as the liberals like to say, "evolved." His GOP critics are entitled to be skeptical and even annoyed, but by the same token, they should recognize that Cruz is savvy enough to adapt and adjust to changed circumstances. More important, he is the only means of stopping Trump from getting to 1,237 delegates.

While the chances of someone other than Cruz or Trump coming out of the convention as a nominee are slight, as a delegate I would ask, "Who've you got in mind?" At that point, everyone can take a shot at finagling the rules and winning over the delegates. Until then, everyone will need to get over any (understandable) resentment toward Cruz. Otherwise Trump will be the nominee, and the results will be devastating to Republicans at all levels.
Among a number of bold, some would say outrageous, pronouncements made by Donald Trump during the 2016 election cycle, none has been more dangerous than his suggestion of ending (or drastically reducing) American involvement in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Some might equate this Trump talking point with other similar statements about foreign policy, like pulling back from Japan and Korea and providing those nations a nuclear capability. Considering Trumps lack of foreign policy and national defense experience (for example, his ignorance of the concept of the nuclear triad), many might ignore the NATO comments as pure campaign red meat to base supporters and leave it alone.

However, as our NATO allies intently follow the rhetoric of credible U.S. presidential campaigns, the rhetoric about NATO demands reply. This is particularly true after Trump recently refused to rule out using nuclear weapons in Europe in response to an Islamic State terror attack. Our NATO allies know Trump has a chance to put these thoughts into action as a possible commander in chief.

First point: NATO costs relatively little for a huge benefit to our national defense. From The Washington Post: The United States is responsible for 22.1 percent of the costs (of NATO), or about $514 million. Thats a fortune by average-American standards, but not by Trump standards, much less U.S.-government standards. The 2016 defense budget for the U.S. is $585 billion, meaning that this NATO expenditure is only 0.09 percent of the total. So for every $100 the military spends, 9 cents is spent on NATOs annual budget. And for every $100 the government spends, only about a penny is spent on NATO.

It is true that Germany, the next-highest-spending ally, contributes 15 percent and the United Kingdom follows with 11 percent. However, due to the top contribution of the United States, we are able to fill the post of the supreme allied commander, Europe (SACEUR) and the other top leadership positions in NATO. Basically, we pay more but we also drive the direction of NATO. The fact that other NATO nations benefit is not a reason to end a good deal for the United States.

Some might argue we spend more with indirect costs to NATO. However those costs go primarily toward maintaining our troops in a forward deployed position in Europe. This includes major training bases for the United States in Europe, like the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMTC formerly CMTC).

JMTC is analogous to the National Training Center, and one of only three such bases offering operational level land force-on-force operations so needed for combat readiness. The U.S. troops in Europe would have to be maintained elsewhere in the United States, with the cost of deploying if necessary to overseas locations. The U.S. Seventh Corps, stationed in Europe as a NATO component during the Cold War, was used as the spear point of Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Those troops were forward deployed and ready to fight due to the unique coalition training environment of Europe.

A reason NATO is such a deal for the United States comes with the security and quick access to NATO allies for operations in support of the United States. For example, NATO allies were a substantial part of the forces deployed during the Gulf War. Additionally, NATO allies were with us from the beginning in Iraq and Afghanistan after the attacks of 9-11. The International Security and Advisory Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan was a NATO force that became the major command in Afghanistan and was commanded by U.S. general officers. This was primarily to the benefit of the United States, as we were the nation attacked on 9-11.

When I served as the senior U.S. military adviser to Afghan National Security Forces in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, the United Kingdom controlled the operational battle space of that very volatile province. The British forces sustained countless casualties, wounded and dead, in their fight against Taliban forces. The British forces came as a NATO ally, just as they were stationed in Basra, Iraq, at that time.

Multiple NATO nations sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan during those wars, and the United States benefited from the unique capabilities of even small new NATO countries like Romania. I remember seeing the resolve of the Romanians operating in Zabul, Afghanistan, Polish Special Forces, and seeing the pride of these new NATO countries that might face Russian aggression back home.

Throughout the Cold War, our NATO allies helped keep the Soviets contained until the Soviet Union finally imploded. The successor Russian Federation remains a threat to both Europe and the United States, particularly considering the massive nuclear force at Russias disposal and the size of its military.

Because of the new NATO allies in Central Europe, Russia cannot aggressively expand into Europe trying to reclaim lost territory. Many analysts believe this is Putins goal of a new Russian resurgence, and a reason for Russias involvement in the Ukraine. If Russia were to expand across Europe without the U.S. component to NATO, this would be at the expense of the national security interests of the United States.

The United States does need to focus on U.S. interests first, unlike much of the nation building weve experienced over the past couple of decades. We must cut our national debt through a reduction in our spending.

However, Trumps purported savings of ending U.S. involvement in NATO for the half-billion per year is a tiny fraction of what we should cut with entitlements.

A recent Heritage Foundation report provides the full picture: Eighty-five percent of the projected growth in spending over the next decade is due to entitlement spending and interest on the debt. Obamacare is the largest driver of increasing federal health care spending, and it alone will add $1.8 trillion in federal spending by 2024.

The half-billion in NATO spending is a grain of sand in the beach of our federal budget, and yet keeps the United States far more secure. Interestingly, while decrying the alleged NATO bad deal, Trump has recommended universal health care ensured by the federal government, continued taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood and few proposals for tackling entitlements.

Participation in NATO is in our national interest and well worth it. The other NATO nations benefit, but their benefit is not our detriment. Its win win. We have forged the alliance in the darkest days of the Cold War, went on to win the Cold War and spilled blood together in the sands of the Middle East and Afghanistan.

We now face the challenges of a common enemy in the Islamic State and a common potential enemy in Putins Russia. Lets keep the alliance strong and our national security sound. Lets pray we have the right leadership in the White House to take us through this time of challenges at home and in the world.
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/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan and Japan enjoy big opportunities to develop the economic ties.

Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry Sahil Babayev made the remark, while meeting a delegation of Japans Okinawa Prefecture, headed by economy expert Kazuyasu Ishida and Speaker of Okinawa Parliament Masaharu Kina.

Reminding that Japanese companies have invested $4.8 billion into the Azerbaijani economy, Babayev said that over the past year the trade turnover between the two countries more than doubled and amounted to $558.1 million.

Azerbaijan, which chooses non-oil sector as the priority for the development of its economy has great opportunities for the expanding ties with the Okinawa Prefecture, which specializes in agriculture, industry and tourism, the deputy minister explained.

Masaharu Kina, for his part, stressed the importance of meetings to be held in Azerbaijan for the development of bilateral relations.

The main goal of our visit is to get acquainted with Azerbaijan, as well as to twin the city of Miyakojima in Okinawa Prefecture and Nakhchivan, he said.

Like Nakhchivan, Okinawa also has a strategically important location.



During the visit, the Japan delegation expects to hold a number of meetings and discuss ways of developing cooperation between the two regions, in particular in the field of tourism, energy and renewable energy.



Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Japan was one of the first countries to support Baku's forward-looking oil strategy.

Today two major Japanese companies - Itochu and INPEX - are involved in the Contract of the Century. Leaders of Japanese business, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Marubeni, and Sojits are involved in energy and infrastructure projects in the country as well.

The INPEX Company owns a 10.96 percent stake in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block development project, as well as a 2.5 percent stake in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

So far, Japanese companies were involved mainly in projects in the energy sector, but in recent years their interests to cooperate in areas such as petrochemicals, oil refining, energy, medicine, high-tech and space industry have increased.
"Finally, the official Yerevan realized the existence of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law," spokesman of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev said when he commented the accusations of the Armenian side on violation of the Geneva Conventions requirements.





According to him, Armenia has violated international humanitarian law, and the official Baku intends to inform the international community about this. "Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan, the policy of bloody ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories, genocide in Khojaly, torture of Azerbaijani captives and hostages, murder and burial in mass graves and other similar war crimes against humanity has been documented and presented to international organizations," Hajiyev said in his statement.





Shooting civilians along the contact line of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, killing and wounding civilians continue. Since the early morning on April 2 Armenia intensified military activity on the front line, committed acts that are equal to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Thus, the deliberate systematic and targeted bombardment, including from heavy artillery pieces were subjected many settlements of Azerbaijan. As a result of the shelling 32 settlements, six civilians were killed, including two children under 16 years, and 26 residents were wounded. Great damage was caused to public and private property, civil infrastructure, 232 houses, 99 poles for power transmission lines, three electrical substations, water mains and gas pipelines length in kilometers were seriously damaged or destroyed. Missiles bombed schools, hospitals and other social infrastructure - schools, hospitals, and mosques. The assessment of the damage caused to civilians and to objects continues. To evade responsibility for these deeds the Armenian side spreads staged photos and videos with scenes of the dead and misinformation.





Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated the continuation of the work on informing the international community of Armenia and the state, and the personal responsibility of members of the military and political leadership of Armenia for their crimes, and take the necessary international legal steps, reads the statement.




/By Azernews/

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijans State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People continues to search for the Azerbaijani serviceman, who went missing during the military operations launched as a result of Armenian provocations on the contact line of troops.

As a result of the search efforts made through the mediation of international organizations in order to clarify the fate of the military servicemen from the both sides, the body of one more Armenian serviceman was found and carried away from the neutral zone, the commission reported on April 13.

Baku has informed the relevant international organizations on this fact.

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.

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.

The parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have retrieved the bodies of the military personnel left on the battlefield in accordance with the agreement, which was reached through the mediation of relevant international organizations.

However, despite the agreement, Armenian Armed Forces continue to violate ceasefire on the contact line of troops. Azerbaijans State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People said the enemy also violated the ceasefire during the process of exchanging the bodies of the military personnel.




/By Azernews/

By Nazrin Gadimova

Dozens of civilians, including children, women and elderly people were killed and seriously wounded as a result of military attacks provoked by the Armenian side.

Elmira Suleymanova, Azerbaijans Human Rights Commissioner stated about this in a statement in connection with the aggravation of the situation in Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"On the night of April 2, 2016, the frontier positions of Azerbaijani armed forces, residential areas, schools and other social facilities along the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops were subjected to heavy firing from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons and heavy artillery," the statement reads.

As a result of the shelling 32 settlements, six civilians were killed, including two children under 16 years, and 26 residents were wounded.

Great damage was caused to public and private property, civil infrastructure, 232 houses, 99 poles for power transmission lines, three electrical substations, water mains and gas pipelines length in kilometers were seriously damaged or destroyed. Missiles bombed schools, hospitals and other social infrastructure - schools, hospitals, and mosques. The assessment of the damage caused to civilians and to objects.

The ombudsman believes that Armenia has grossly violated the Geneva Conventions and its obligations to other international documents while committing these military crimes.

The statement has been addressed to the UN Secretary General, the UN Security Council, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, OSCE, the International and European Ombudsman Institutes, the Asian Ombudsman Association, the International Peace Bureau, ombudsmen of a number of countries, Azerbaijans diplomatic missions abroad and foreign countries diplomatic missions in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani diaspora organizations.

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. However, Armenia has ignored the agreement and started violating the ceasefire again.
/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

The Caucasian Muslims Office held an event on April 13 to commemorate memory of Azerbaijani martyrs, who died heroically while repulsing the Armenian provocation on the line of contact of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

CMO Chairman Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, addressing the event, stated that the events of past days have shown that Azerbaijan is ready to liberate its lands from the occupation.

Azerbaijan is supported both inside and outside, which is a result of the governments policy. We believe that our lands will be liberated from the Armenian occupation. The whole world knows that these lands belong to Azerbaijan, Pashazade said.

He voiced his condolences to the families of martyrs, who gave their lives for the liberation of Azerbaijan.

The state adviser on international issues, multiculturalism and religion, Kamal Abdulla, for his part, said that the recent tension on the contact line once again showed that Azerbaijan is able to have its say.

The state advisor stressed that the recent events made Azerbaijan even closer to the victory.

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.

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.

Later, the heads of religious confessions of Azerbaijan, including Sheikh-ul Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, Orthodox Community's Head Archbishop Alexander Ischein, Head of Mountain Jews Religious Community MilikhYevdayev and Chairman of the Community of European Jews in Baku Gennady Zelmanovich appealed to the international community.

We turn to you with a view to share the concern caused by the Armenian provocation on the contact line. It is our duty to God and the homeland as religious leaders. We are always in favor of peace and understanding in all over the world, the statement reads. Armenian provocations observed over the past days on the frontline once again proved occupying intentions of Armenia. Azerbaijan has always stood for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. The country does not want to increase the number of innocent victims of the conflict and first announced a ceasefire unilaterally. Although it was agreed on the general cease-fire, the Armenian side periodically violates it.

The whole world, including Armenians, knows that Karabakh is an Azerbaijani territory. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is recognized by all international documents, the heads of religious confessions emphasized.

We bow our heads in front of the memory of the martyrs who gave their lives for the territorial integrity of the motherland, we express deep condolences to their families, friends and all the people of Azerbaijan and wish speedy recovery to the wounded, the statement reads.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. The two countries 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.
/By Azernews/

By Aynur Karimova

Iran has urged Italy to restore its role as the Islamic Republics largest economic partner in the European Union.

Such a call was made by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on April 12 during a joint press conference with Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who is on a visit to the Islamic Republic.



"Italy used to be Iran's largest economic partner in the EU before sanctions were imposed [on Tehran] and we want Italy to restore its previous role," Rouhani said, IRINN news channel reported.



Italy was one of Iran's major economic and trade partners before the international nuclear-related sanctions were imposed on Iran. Then, the trade turnover amounted to 7 billion euros, while this figure stands at 1.6 billion euros now.



Rouhani further said that he and Renzi discussed the ways to foster economic and trade cooperation in the post-sanctions era, activity of Italian investors and companies in Iran, fighting terrorism, regional issues and tourism.

Speaking about the financial ties between the two countries, President Rouhani called for removing obstacles to the expansion of trade ties. He said proper measures have been taken to strengthen banking ties between the sides, but the parties still need to solve some issues.



"Although the sanctions on Iran's banking system have been lifted, there are still some psychological impacts that should be removed," he noted.



Renzi, who heads a 250-member political and economic delegation, embarked on a visit to Iran on April 12.

During Renzi's visit, the two countries signed seven documents on cooperation in a number of sector including, industry and renewable energy, railway, gas, development of Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, car industry.



So far, Iran and Italy have agreed on a total of 37 deals as 30 documents were signed in Rome in January during President Rouhani's visit to Italy. Then, the two countries signed deals worth up to 17 billion euros.



During his January visit, Rouhani headed a high-ranking delegation of business leaders and ministers, signing a pipeline contract worth between $4 billion and $5 billion for oil services group Saipem.

Since the nuclear deal between Iran and Group P5+1, Italy has been trying to turn into Iran's first trade partner in Europe and in this connection several Italian ministers as well as trade and government delegations have visited Iran.

Both countries believe that there are many sectors where the two countries may cooperate. This includes energy and health fields. Also, there are plenty of opportunities in Iran for Italian small and medium sized companies.
Turkish nationals can expect vise-free travel to the EU by June, the country's EU Minister Volkan Bozkir said Tuesday, Anadolu reported.

"We expect that the decision for the citizens of the Republic of Turkey to enter the Schengen zone without visa requirement will be taken before the end of June,"? he said following a meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders.

The Netherlands currently holds the EU presidency.

Bozkir said the EU Commission would release a report on early May on the visa agreement.

"We expect that the commission report will be positive and they will express opinion for removing the visa," he said at a news conference in Amsterdam. "All the developments are advancing in this direction.

"Following that, the topic will be presented before term president the Netherlands. It is the Netherlands that will organize the council's decision. We talked about this. Then it will go to parliament and the decision... will be finalized."

He said the necessary legislation would be finalized by the end of April. A decision to open Chapter 33 on financial and budgetary provisions would also be taken soon to speed up Turkey's EU accession.

Under an EU-Turkey deal to ease the refugee crisis facing Europe, EU leaders agreed to cut visa requirements for Turkish citizens and accelerate Turkey's EU membership bid.
A major terrorist attack has been prevented in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin on the Syrian border, Anadolu agency reported Apr. 13

A car bomb was discovered as a result of a police special operation. The attack was prepared by members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist group, according to preliminary data.

Earlier, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that over 5,359 PKK members have been eliminated as a result of the operations against this terrorist group since July of 2015. He added that 355 Turkish servicemen were killed during these operations, which will continue until the complete destruction of the PKK.

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for over 25 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The UN and the European Union listed the PKK as a terrorist organization.
The National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) and the Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas, Enel have inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on gas and LNG related issues.

"We confirm that Enel has today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NIGEC (National Iranian Gas Export Company), setting forth the main principles for possible future cooperation between the two companies in natural gas, LNG and/or related infrastructure," an Enel spokesman told Trend Apr. 12.

"These principles might include sharing of information, studies, analyses and training courses, as well as exploring future opportunities for long term supplies," added the spokesman.

So far Iran has failed to produce LNG. Back in 2007, Tehran launched a project for constructing Iran LNG plant, at Tombak Port, approximately 50 km north of Assaluyeh Port, spending $2.5 billion.

However, international sanctions blocked the efforts made for finalizing the project. The project has progressed by 50 percent so far. The capacity of the Iran LNG plant is estimated at about 10.5 million tons a year.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi oversaw a ceremony Apr. 12 for signing of the MOU with Enel, where five other documents were inked as well.

So far, Iran and Italy have agreed on a total of 36 deals as six new documents were signed in Tehran, and 30 documents were signed in Rome in January.

Italian PM Matteo Renzi, heading a 250-member political and economic delegation, arrived in Tehran on Apr. 12 to discuss the expansion of ties.

President Rouhani visited Italy in January for two days during which the two countries signed deals worth up to 17 billion euros ($18.42 billion).

During his late January visit, Rouhani headed a high-ranking delegation of business leaders and ministers, signing a pipeline contract worth about $4 billion with oil services group Saipem.
The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) has inked a pact with the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC)-DIFC Branch, a leading state-owned commercial bank in China.

The development further cements the strategic intent of the regions most diversified exchange, DGCX by enhancing its association with its Chinese partners, said a statement.

This alliance will focus on areas of product development, strategy and exchange related market intelligence, it said.

Chinas third largest lender by assets ABC is listed on both the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The bank has had a first movers edge in the precious metal business in China and is known to hold lead positions consistently.

Gaurang Desai, chief executive officer of DGCX, said: ABCs vast customer network, increasing local presence, coupled with DGCXs expertise in the precious metals, commodities and derivatives provides an exciting platform to develop product and services that our shared customer base desires. We want to actively facilitate the tradeflows in the precious metals and commodities between China and the Middle East.

Fang Min, general manager of Agricultural Bank of China (DIFC branch), said: Promoting the precious metals and commodities business has been a focus area for us in the Middle East. In line with this business objective, a strategic collaboration with an Exchange like DGCX which is known to have a great portfolio of derivative products and influence across the regional financial markets, is beneficial for both parties as we combine our relevant area of expertise and experience." - TradeArabia News Service
Dubai Investments, a leading diversified investments conglomerate based in Dubai, UAE, plans to seek new growth opportunities in asset management, healthcare and education sectors.



The company expects this investment strategy to add around Dh20 billion ($5.445 billion) in assets over the next three to five years.



This was revealed at the the company's annual general meeting (AGM) held today (April 13).



The company posted a net profit of Dh1.1 billion ($299.48 million) for 2015, it said. The company had assets of Dh15.3 billion as on December 31, 2015, an increase of Dh800 million over 2014. For 2015, equity attributable to owners of the company reached Dh10.71 billion vs Dh10.11 billion for 2014.



The AGM approved a 12 per cent cash dividend to the shareholders.



Hussain Mahyoob Sultan Al Junaidy, vice-chairman of the board of directors of DI, read out the chairmans report, highlighting the companys success in delivering strong results despite difficult market conditions in 2015.



The company has been successful in building on its existing operations in property, manufacturing and contracting and financial investments, and is seeking new growth opportunities via diversification into new sectors of asset management, healthcare and education, he said.



Presenting an optimistic outlook for 2016, the report said: Although the beginning of 2016 was challenging, conditions are improving gradually and we hope that there will be a progressive market improvement during the year. We plan to continue our commitment to diversify into new sectors, enhance our geographical footprint and continue to target new opportunities with a focus on increasing asset base, strengthening bottom line and improving operational efficiency.



Highlights  2015:

Dubai Investments continued with its drive to grow its property sector  the companys main operating segment accounting for around 58 per cent of its total assets. Major milestones included an increase in its holdings of two significant Dubai joint ventures  Properties Investments and Al Mujama Real Estate  the latter which will result in Dubai Investments owning 100 per cent of the company.



The companys manufacturing and contracting business also witnessed significant growth in 2015, driven by the increasing demand for building materials across the region. To meet this demand, Emirates Extrusion, a subsidiary of Masharie, the private equity arm of Dubai Investments, announced a third production line to increase capacity by 7,000 tonnes, while Dubai Investments Industries recently announced a new aluminum rolling plant in Abu Dhabi via a joint venture with Dubal Holding and Singapore-based MARS.



In line with the companys corporate strategy of diversification and building long-term shareholder value, Dubai Investments entered the healthcare and education sectors in 2015 through investments in Austria-based Modul Universitys first campus in Dubai and in Londons Kings College Hospital, with plans to open the multi-specialty Kings College Hospital Dubai in 2018, and a number of clinics in 2016 and 2017. - TradeArabia News Service
Leading companies in Oman's power sector are planning to invest around RO400 million ($1.03 billion) in the expansion and upgrading of transmission and distribution networks this year, said a report.



The move is aimed at boosting the power supply this year to help meet the rising needs of the sultanate, reported Times of Oman, citing a senior official of Electricity Holding Company (Nama Group).



The group companies have already registered a 14 per cent increase in power supply which surged to 29,000 gigawatt (GW) per hour in 2015, it stated.



"Our group firms have already raised the funds from the market for the upgradation work and we do not intend to use the government funding for now," remarked Omar Khalfan Al Wahaibi, chief executive officer of Nama Group.



The investment is aimed at the development of transmission and distribution lines, he added.
Kuwait-based Leminar Air Conditioning Company said it has signed an agreement with leading Swiss group Georg Fischer Piping Systems for the supply of its full range of piping systems in the country.



A member of the Al Shirawi Group of Companies, Leminar is one of the largest HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) distribution companies in the region with six showrooms across the UAE as well as offices in the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah in addition to offices in Qatar, Oman and Kuwait.



Founded in 1802, Georg Fischer Corporation is headquartered in Switzerland and is present in 32 countries with 121 companies, 45 of them being production facilities.



The new distribution agreement will widen the existing portfolio of renowned international brands for Leminar and provide Georg Fischer with access to its comprehensive distribution network in Kuwait, said Navin Valrani, CEO of Leminar Air Conditioning Company, after signing the agreement with Sven Erlandsen, the regional manager Middle East of Georg Fischer, in the presence of Pramodh Idicheria, the Leminar general manager.



"It will meet the needs of commercial and industrial customers looking for Georg Fischer Piping Systems. We expect this agreement to accelerate growth of our market share in Kuwait," noted Valrani.



GF Piping Systems, one of the three divisions within Georg Fischer Corporation, manufactures mainly plastic piping systems for industrial, utilities and building technology sectors.



The product portfolio includes pipes, fittings, valves and the corresponding automation and jointing technology.



"GF Piping Systems can also develop tailored piping systems for the treatment and distribution of water as well as the safe transport of industrial fluids and gases," he stated.



GF Piping Systems has more than 30 manufacturing facilities and research and development centres, with a turnover of 1.4 billion ($1.56 billion).



Idicheria said: "At Leminar, we are constantly evolving our product range in collaboration with our partners. Leminars comprehensive distribution network in Kuwait, our operational capabilities and prompt delivery will help to increase the market share of GF Piping Systems in Kuwait market."



Located in the Al Rai area of Kuwait, the Leminar showroom features a one-stop solution for mechanical contractors HVAC requirements.-TradeArabia News Service
Tesla Motors will recall 2,700 Model X sport utility vehicles in the US due to a faulty locking hinge in the third-row seats that increases the risk the seats could fall forward in a crash, the electric car maker said on Monday.



It said the recall affects all Model X SUVs built before March 26, 2016. It is the first recall for the Model X since Tesla began deliveries of the luxury electric SUV in September.



The recall comes as Tesla enjoys an influx of advance orders for its Model 3 lower-cost sedan, which is due to begin production in late 2017. The car received 253,000 advance orders in the first 36 hours after its high-profile unveiling on March 31.



The Silicon Valley company said it was recalling the Model Xs after the seats failed a strength test in the European Union. Tesla had previously performed 15 tests in the US in which the seats passed. The EU test was different and more stringent, the company said.



Tesla said it was issuing the recall in an abundance of caution in the US even though it was not mandated to do so. The Model X has not yet been delivered to European customers.



The company's shares were down 0.2 per cent at $249.52 on Monday afternoon. The stock had jumped 77 per cent since a February low thanks to the Model 3 unveiling.



Tesla will begin notifying customers of the recall on Monday. The repair, which will replace both third-row seats, will take about two hours. The process to fix all recalled cars will take about five weeks, Jon McNeil, Tesla's president of sales and service, told reporters on a conference call.



"We've had no issues with any failures in the field," he said.



Tesla said that supplier Futuris had manufactured the seats and would assume all cost for their replacement.



In November, Tesla recalled 90,000 Model S sedans worldwide over a possible defect in the front seat belt assembly. In 2014, the company recalled 29,222 Model S vehicles over a charging defect that could lead to a fire hazard.



Tesla has acknowledged bumpy production over the first few months for the Model X due to technical challenges with its "falcon-wing" doors, a panoramic windshield and moveable seats.



Those issues have not affected Tesla's Model X production rates, McNeil said. - Reuters
Canon Office Imaging Solutions (Doha), a subsidiary of Canon Middle East - a leader in imaging solutions, has inaugurated its first dedicated business solutions showroom in Doha, Qatar.



With the new showroom, the company will continue to give Qatari customers the opportunity to receive direct advice on products and services from Canon professionals, said a statement from the company.



The facility is part of the Canons overall strategy to further contribute to the countrys rapidly growing economy, it added.



Celebrating this milestone, Canon hosted an exclusive Canon for Business event where it unveiled 12 new printing machines and solutions in the presence of 100 C-level executives, IT chiefs, partners and key decision makers, it said.



At the event, attendees were given on-site product demonstrations and shown how the full portfolio of Canons print solutions, services and value-added support, can help them grow their businesses, it added.



The 12 new business-to-business (B2B) products and solutions are designed to meet the increasing demand from both commercial and in-house print service providers ensuring enhanced throughput, ensure consistent colour, accurate registration controls, and flexible media handling and finishing, said the statement.



The new lineup includes  Canons flagship printer, the imagePress C10000VP; Canons imageRunnerAdvance 8500 Series; Canons imagePrograf Pro 2000. 4000, 4000s and 6000s; and Canons imagePrograf Pro 1000.



Additionally, the company also demonstrated its workflow solutions such as imageRunner Advance Gen3, Uniflow, ThereFore and IRIS in a specially constructed Enterprise Zone.



These industrial style workflow solutions ensure automation and management of printing processes in organisations, driving productivity, saving their costs and delivering against the most demanding deadlines, it stated.



Ayman Aly, marketing manager, Canon Middle East, said: Qatar has been a key market for us and the establishment of our Doha unit is reflective of our commitment to this region.



Often organisations find their resources drained due to excessive colour printing, inefficient processes and personal copying. Canon's new solutions and products address this gap with holistic customised solutions, services and products, he said.



With this showroom, we will ensure that Canon maintains its position as a leader in imaging solutions and offers unprecedented amenities throughout Qatar, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Britain said it could offer state loans to tempt a private bid for Tata's loss-making Port Talbot steelworks as Prime Minister David Cameron scrambles to save at least 10,000 jobs thrown into jeopardy by a global steel crisis.



Britain is battling to save a once mighty steel industry after Tata Steel announced it was putting its British steel operations up for sale, citing a surge in cheap Chinese imports, soaring costs and weak demand.



The Indian conglomerate reached a deal to sell one of its plants in northern England on Monday, but Cameron is under pressure from unions and the opposition Labour Party to ensure that Tata's other British steel assets are sold to save thousands of jobs.



Business Secretary Sajid Javid even opened up the possibility of the state taking a stake in Tata's flagship Port Talbot plant in south Wales.



"The key point is any investment would have to be on commercial terms," Javid told parliament on Tuesday.



"Investment can take a variety of forms - for example it could be debt," Javid said, adding that it would not be correct to give details of the plans at this stage.



A government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, told Reuters that a government loan as part of a deal with other investors was the "likeliest scenario" for the purchase of the steelworks.



The source said that there was only a remote possibility that the state would end up taking an equity share in the Port Talbot operation.



Still, a Conservative government floating the possibility of taking equity in ailing steelworks once privatised by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher underscores the seriousness with which Cameron is treating what the Labour Party called a national emergency.



FIND A BUYER?



Both Cameron and Javid have pitched themselves as heirs to Thatcher, who during her time in office in 1979-1990 privatised British Steel and sold off government stakes in loss-making national champions.



Javid, who keeps a portrait of Thatcher in his office, said on Monday that nationalization was "rarely the answer" but ruled nothing out, while Cameron's spokeswoman said: "Nationalisation is not the right answer."



As many as 15,000 jobs were put at risk when Tata announced on March 30 that it was selling its British steel operations.



"This is a human tragedy," Javid said. "When we talk about job losses in the abstract it is easy to forget that each of them represents a person. A hardworking, highly skilled man or woman."



Under a deal struck on Monday, Tata agreed to sell a steelworks in Scunthorpe, northern England to investment firm Greybull Capital for 1 pound, saving around 4,400 jobs.



But more than 10,000 jobs remain at risk at other Tata plants across Britain and the complexities of taking on a loss-making steel enterprise amid soaring Chinese exports of the metal mean the government is under pressure to clinch a deal.



"EMERGENCY"



The crisis comes as Britain faces a referendum on June 23 on its membership of the European Union and a debate on steel in parliament on Tuesday descended at times into an assessment of the merits of EU membership.



The government was criticised by lawmakers for failing to halt Chinese imports and moving too slowly to stem the crisis.



"The situation now facing the steel industry cannot be categorized as anything other than an emergency," Angela Eagle, Labour's business spokeswoman.



She called on Javid to clarify his plans for the future of steelmaking, saying that the industry was "hanging by the thinnest of threads".



"Call it what you like - co-investing, part-nationalization, temporary public stewardship, or sheltering the assets - it's clear that circumstances may require the government to do this. They should spare their ideological blushes and just get on with it," Eagle said.



After Britain asked China to tackle the problem of oversupply, Beijing said it wanted to work with the rest of the world to find a resolution to overcapacity in the steel sector.



China makes half of the world's steel and produced 803.8 million tonnes in 2015. That was almost eight times the output of Japan, the No. 2 producer, and nearly 20 times that of Germany, Europe's biggest producer. - Reuters
Two Russian warplanes with no visible weaponry flew simulated attack passes near a US guided missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, a US official said, describing it as one of the most aggressive interactions in recent memory.



The repeated flights by the Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes, which also flew near the ship a day earlier, were so close they created wake in the water, with 11 passes, the official said.



A Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter also made seven passes around the USS Donald Cook, taking pictures. The nearest Russian territory was about 70 nautical miles away in its enclave of Kaliningrad, which sits between Lithuania and Poland.



"They tried to raise them (the Russian aircraft) on the radio but they did not answer," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding the US ship was in international waters.



The incident came as Nato plans its biggest build-up in eastern Europe since the Cold War to counter what the alliance, and in particular the Baltic states and Poland, consider to be a more aggressive Russia.



The three Baltic states, which joined both Nato and the European Union in 2004, have asked Nato for a permanent presence of battalion-sized deployments of allied troops in each of their territories. A Nato battalion typically consists of 300 to 800 troops.



Moscow denies any intention to attack the Baltic states.



The USS Donald Cook had just wrapped up a port visit in the Polish city of Gdynia on April 11 and then proceeded out to sea with a Polish helicopter on board.



The first incident took place on April 11, when two SU-24 jets flew about 20 passes near the Donald Cook, coming within 1,000 yards of the ship, at about 30 metres in altitude.



That was followed by even closer passes by the SU-24s the following day and the passes by the Russian helicopter.



The US defense official said the commanding officer of the Donald Cook believed that Tuesday's incident was "unsafe and unprofessional," but cautioned that a formal US military review of the matter was underway.-Reuters
Zain Saudi Arabia and Nokia have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on a major initiative that will transform Jeddah, one of Saudi Arabia's largest cities, into a model for smart cities in the country and worldwide by 2018.



Under the MoU, Nokia and Zain KSA will apply advanced networking technologies in the Internet of Things (IoT) and the cloud to connect and manage a wide array of devices, vehicles, homes and applications.



Use of these technologies will improve municipal services, enhance the business climate in Jeddah and create a better quality of life for the city's nearly three million residents, said a statement.



Zain and Nokia will also employ advanced network and customer experience management tools to ensure smooth and seamless operation across the objects and locations. To ensure privacy and fulfill public safety requirements, the companies will place a strong focus on the reliability and security of the network.



Over the course of this two-year plan, the companies will enhance the network capacity, accessibility and efficiency of Zain KSA's mobile broadband network in Jeddah, eventually leading to 5G access, while also expanding the utilization of small cells and Wi-Fi to ensure continuous connectivity throughout the city.



Sultan AlDeghaither, chief technology officer, said: "Jeddah is the second biggest city in Saudi Arabia - and thanks to our collaboration with Nokia, it will also be a smart city. Introducing IoT to all walks of life is a top priority for Zain KSA, and Nokia's Smart City solutions will provide us with a framework for enriching the lives of the people in Jeddah."



Ali Aljitawi, head of Zain KSA customer team at Nokia, said: "The world is becoming more urbanised, with exponentially more connected devices. For every device connected to the Internet today, 10 more will join it in the near future. Through IoT and smart city concepts, we can automate our lives by connecting mobile devices to appliances, lights, roadways and just about everything - a shift that will improve efficiency and enable economic, social and environmental sustainability. We believe that the Jeddah Smart City concept can be a model for smart cities not just in the Kingdom, but across the region and the world." - TradeArabia News Service
A Kuwaiti labour union leader said on Wednesday plans for a strike by thousands of workers at state-owned oil, gas and petrochemical companies starting next week were in place, denying reports that negotiations were under way.



Acting oil minister Anas Al-Saleh said on Wednesday that talks were proceeding between the government and unions to avert the strike, due to start on Sunday over plans to cut some of the workers' benefits and wages.



Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, spokesman for Kuwait's oil sector, said the Ministry of Social Welfare had invited the parties to meet on Thursday to try to resolve the dispute. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) would attend the talks.



"There are no negotiations between the unions and the government over the strike," Farhan Al-Ajmi, head of the Petrochemicals Industries Company workers union, told Reuters. He said the door for negotiations had been closed since the last meeting with Al-Saleh earlier this week.



"The strike will not be cancelled or suspended until all the demands are met," he said.



The union did not say how long the walkout would last.



Sheikh Talal said that under Kuwaiti laws, no strike can take place while negotiations are under way, urging workers and KPC and its subsidiaries not to "heed calls to obstruct work".



A spokesman for Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) had said production and exports would not be affected by the strike, and a strategy was in place to deal with this kind of action where extra staff will be used to run operations.



Workers fear reduced salaries, benefits and layoffs will be part of a planned government overhaul of the payroll system in the public sector.



Strikes are fairly common among public sector workers in Kuwait - one of the world's richest countries per capita - unlike in other Gulf states like the United Arab Emirates, where unions are banned.



The other firms where workers plan to join the strike are Kuwait Oil Company, Kuwait Oil Tanker company, Equate Petrochemical Industries Company and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company.



Opec-member Kuwait pumps 3 million barrels of crude per day and has three refineries with a combined capacity of 930,000 bpd. - Reuters
The worlds biggest brands and businesses are still failing to tap into the trillion-dollar Muslim lifestyle market, according to the UKs first B2B conference discussing the fast-growing sector.

Over 150 businesses took part in MLE Connect in London, which discussed and showcased how the Muslim lifestyle sector has grown and evolved over the last decade.

Alongside recognised brands such as Tesco, Asda and Ogilvy Noor, the event brought together businesses, sector experts, entrepreneurs, investors and industry specialists from across the UK.

The conference featured seminars from industry experts, panel discussions and networking sessions across a number of sectors such as fashion, food and drink, travel, media and finance. It is the first event of its kind ever held in the UK.

According to the latest statistics, the Muslim consumer lifestyle market is today one of the fastest growing sectors globally, with a recent report estimating the global expenditure on food and lifestyle sectors at $1.7 trillion.

The UK is now seen as a key market for the Muslim lifestyle sector with brands and businesses from the Middle East and Far East keen to connect with consumers.

Tahir Mirza, founder and director of MLE Connect, said: The entire conference was designed to stimulate debate about how the Muslim lifestyle sector has evolved and how to capitalise going forward.

The quality of the speakers and attendees provided a great backdrop to engage this topic further and we were delighted with the success of the conference and how well it was received. We are now looking forward to the Muslim Lifestyle Expo in October in Manchester and putting brands and businesses in front of Muslim consumers, he added.

Guest speakers at MLE Connect 2016 included Sultan Choudhry, CEO of Al Rayan Bank; Altaf Alim, commercial director of modest fashion brand Aab; Shelina Janmohammed, vice president of marketing agency Ogilvy Noor; award winning TV producer Navid Akhtar; and Moe Nawaz, mentor and strategic advisor to FTSE 100 Leaders.

This year, Muslim Lifestyle Expo 2016 takes place on October 29-30 at Event City in Manchester.

The 2015 event brought together 7,000 visitors from across the UK and 85 exhibitors from countries including Malaysia, Norway, Turkey, USA and South Africa. Earlier this year, the Expo won the Services in Creativity and Technology category at The British Muslim Awards 2016.  TradeArabia News Service
The European Union executive is considering whether to make U.S. and Canadian citizens apply for visas before travelling to the bloc in a move that could raise tensions as Brussels negotiates a free trade pact with Washington.



The European Commission will debate the issue, prompted by US and Canadian refusals to waive their visa requirements for holders of some EU member states' passports, at a meeting next Tuesday. That is just over a week before US President Barack Obama arrives in Europe on a visit that will include discussions on trade.



"A political debate and decision is obviously needed on such an important issue. But there is a real risk that the EU would move towards visas for the two," an EU source said.



Washington and Ottawa both demand visas before travelling for Romanians and Bulgarians, whose states joined the EU in 2007. The United States also excludes Croatians, Cypriots and Poles from a visa waiver scheme offered to other EU citizens.



Europe's Schengen area, comprising 26 states, most of which are in the 28-member EU, has a common visa system. Poland is a member of Schengen, and the other four states are due to join.



Trade negotiations between Brussels and Washington are at a crucial point since both sides believe their transatlantic agreement, known as TTIP, stands a better chance of passing before President Barack Obama leaves the White House in January.



Obama is due to visit Britain before meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a trade fair in Hanover on April 24.  Reuters
Al Faisaliah Hotel, a leading five-star hotel in Riyadh, Soudi Arabia, has welcomed Ramzi Fikani as its new director of sales.



A Lebanese national, Fikani is expected to bring his international expertise to the role as he drives the domestic and international sales efforts for Al Faisaliah Hotel Al Faisaliah Suites and Hotel Al Khozama.



Fikani joins Al Faisaliah with more than 10 years experience in the hospitality industry. Most recently, he held the position of cluster director of marketing for the Constellation Hospitality Group in Morocco, where he was responsible for the sales and marketing strategy for the prestigious Amphitrite Palace and Avanti Mohammedia hotels, as well as the CORUM International Convention Centre.



Previously, he held a senior position with Oetker Collection, whose iconic properties set the bar for luxury hospitality in Europe, and include; The Lanesborough in London, Le Bristol Paris and Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc on the Cote DAzur. Throughout his career, Fikani has held a number of management positions at renowned properties in Turkey, Africa and the Middle East, he brings with him results driven leadership skills, enterprising marketing expertise, and a strong background in developing, guiding and retaining high performance teams within an organisation.



Commenting on the new appointment, the hotel's general manager Alexander Blair said: We are excited to welcome Ramzi to the Al Faisaliah team and we eagerly anticipate working in tandem with him to pursue our sales goals and targets. we look forward to working with Ramzi and the team to further strengthen our position as the Kingdoms leading luxury hotel and conquer new market segments. - TradeArabia News Service
Egypt is confident of luring back millions of foreign visitors and putting a smile on their faces, according to its new tourism minister, despite heavy first quarter losses and setbacks including a bomb that brought down a Russian passenger plane.



Yehia Rashed said the ancient land of the pyramids and Red Sea resorts was determined to secure a strong recovery even though the number of foreign tourists fell by 40 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, compared with the same period last year.



The most populous Arab nation aims to attract 12 million tourists by the end of 2017 with a six-point plan, he said.



"I am very hopeful, optimistic about the future of tourism into Egypt," Rashed told Reuters in an interview. "I want to get that smile that you are smiling into the faces of everybody. We want to stay positive."



Egypt tourism revenue has taken a heavy hit since a Russian plane crashed in the Sinai last October, killing all 224 people on board in what President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called an act of terrorism. Islamic State said it planted a bomb on board.

Rashed said Egypt had improved airport security since the crash. "These people have worked day and night," he said. "Egypt is safe."



The torture of Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni, whose body was dumped on the side of a road in February, has also hurt Egypt's image.



Human rights groups say torture marks on his body fit a pattern that suggested Egyptian security services had killed him, an allegation the government has strongly denied.



Asked if Egypt would take action if it was determined that a policeman had killed Regeni, as widely suspected among human rights groups, Rashed said "justice is justice".



"We care big time about human rights. The best way, actually, is to create positive vibes in the mind of people that Egypt is safe and it is worth visiting," he added.

The Regeni case has brought allegations of widespread police brutality in Egypt under sharper focus.



HURTING EARNER



Egypt's tourism industry, a cornerstone of the economy and critical source of hard currency, has been struggling to rebound after the political and economic upheaval triggered by the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.



More than 14.7 million tourists visited Egypt in 2010, dropping to 9.8 million in 2011.



"The first quarter is down about 40 per cent compared to last year. However, there is a positive with every negative. The Gulf business is up about 45 per cent from last year," said Rashed.



Egyptian tourism has survived hard times in the past.



In 1997 Islamic militants killed 58 tourists and four Egyptians at a temple in Luxor, on the Nile.



Rashed seemed optimistic. He said the new six-point plan to boost tourism would include increasing the presence of national carrier EgyptAir abroad, working with low-cost airlines and the improvement of services.



Asked how the state would fund these projects, he said: "We are not doing new things what we are doing is stimulation programmes. Taking from the current funding and putting it into where our bread and butter is," said Rashed.



"We don't have the figures of the total cost of this. We are currently working on the costing." - Reuters
Leading global aviation professionals along with severaal airport and logistics exhibitors are in Bahrain to attend a two-day forum being hosted by Bahrain Airport Company (BAC).



The BIA Development Forum (BIAD) opened today (April 13) at the Movenpick Hotel, Manama under the patronage of Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications.



At the forum, the topics of discussion focused on Bahrain Airport's development as engine of economic growth, with special emphasis on airport technology integration, sustainable airport development and strategic planning, airport mobility and boosting the kingdoms capabilities as a regional transport hub.



Further areas include the pressing challenges and obstacles faced by the industry and the solutions to overcome them, said a statement from BAC, the managing body of Bahrain International Airport (BIA) and host sponsors of this significant event along with Arabian Reach.



The forum also featured a combination of speeches, presentations with an esteemed line-up of speakers from Bahrain and the global arena, including representatives from the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Bahrain Airport Company, Bahrain Airport Services, Arabtec- TAV JV, Hill International, Sita, GBM, Kone Elevators & Escalators, Cisco and CEM Systems.



With a substantial number of aviation experts gathering together from the local, regional and international aviation industry, this event promises to offer attendees a significant knowledge-sharing and networking platform, opening up the doors to new business leads, lucrative business prospects and commercial partnerships, it stated.



Throughout the event, attendees will benefit from the accompanying exhibition utilising it to explore and finalise their procurement and supply needs.



In addition to being an ideal networking platform, the event also serves to showcase the kingdoms ambitious airport modernisation plans and reiterate the countrys significance as a strategic access point to the Gulfs trillion-dollar market, highlighting BIAs unparalleled regional connectivity and competitiveness as a major multimodal logistics hub.



BAC is the authority responsible for enhancing BIA and increasing the airports contribution to the local economy in line with Bahrains Economic Vision.



In its operational role, BAC is responsible for elevating the airports operations, infrastructure and services. This is set to improve the airports capabilities and cater to the growing number of passengers coming into the kingdom as well as the changing demands of stakeholders.-TradeArabia News Service
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Lion King Kids free at Summit

Disneys The Lion King KIDS is playing at Summit Elementary School on Monday, April 18t and Tuesday, April 19 at 6 p.m. Admission is free and the public is welcome.The 60-minute musical, designed for middle-school aged performers, is based on the Broadway production directed by Julie Taymor and the 1994 Disney film. The Summit cast contains approximately 90 students led by Robin Grussendorf, music educator.

The Lion King KIDS features classic songs from the 1994 film such as Hakuna Matata and the Academy Award-winning Can You Feel the Love Tonight as well as additional songs penned for the Broadway production.

News from Holy

Family

Club 50, the mens club, will meet for breakfast at 7 a.m. Saturday, April 16. Fr. Jim Dean will continue teaching on the faith of the Church. All are welcome.

Risen, a movie on the resurrection of Jesus, will be presented in two episodes in the parish hall after the 9 a.m. Sunday Eucharist on April 17 and 24.

On Sunday, May 1, the homily at the 9 a.m. Eucharist will be given by Stephen Kinner on the subject, the KAIROS ministry in the Greenville Correctional Institute in Virginia. Confused, discouraged and frightened men coming to accept forgiveness from Jesus on His Cross and then forming a cell in the Body of Christ in the prison. We are asked to pray for the ministry team that will interact with the prisoners Thursday through Sunday, April 13 to 17. By the Grace of God, any man or woman in Casper could sense the same spiritual loss and be open to the good news of the Gospel.

After the Eucharist, a special video witness will be presented in the parish hall by Chris and Charlotte Kinner. Walking in the Steps of Jesus  a spiritual recounting of their pilgrimage to Jerusalem and journey through Israel. Viewers will receive a new vision of the Holy Land. A carry-in brunch will be shared by all people attending. We invite all people, and those with time constraints may just arrive about 10 a.m.

For information please call: Bishop Ken Kinner, 262-7505; Father Jim Dean, 262-6875; Senior Warden John Becker, 262-8813.

Essay award Sunday

One Wyoming high school student will receive a $5,000 prize for having the top entry in the American Dream Essay Contest. This state-wide competition is centered on bestselling author, Jim Owens Ten Principles to Live By, as highlighted in his book Cowboy Ethics. Every high school and homeschool student is invited to participate by asking students in grades 9-12, to reflect on the ten principles and write an essay based on their own personal beliefs or guiding forces. Local winners go on to compete on the state level with the competition culminating in the Awards Banquet to be held on Sunday, April 17 at 1 p.m. at the Ramkota Hotel. Senator John Barrasso will address the students as the featured guest speaker.

A total of 664 students, representing 25 schools, participated in this years contest. Monetary awards are given for first, second, and third place winners on the local level. The top essay wins $5,000 cash, second place receives $3,000 and third $1,500. A total of $35,000 will be awarded in prize money.

The American Dream Essay contest is sponsored by the Templeton Foundation, Zimmerman Family Foundation, Robert P. Schuster, Larry and Margo Bean, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming.

For more information, please contact Lou Bruggman at 235-4079.

Out of the Box

fundraiser April 22

Join us at ART 321 at 6 p.m., on Friday, April 22, 2016, for the Out of the Box annual gala and fundraising event. Tickets, limited to 200, are available for $75 each in advance and will be $80 at the door if any remain.

It will be an evening of art, music, food, fun, and a live auction. We have secured several outstanding packages to be auctioned during this fun event. You may also bid on the beautiful and unusual out of the box artwork created by many area artists.

Get your tickets early by visiting the gallery or visiting our website. If you are unable to attend, you may also bid on the artwork anytime before the live auction by visiting our gallery, Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Fun run helps

humane society

The 2016 Casper Humane Society Fun Run will be held Saturday, April 23 at the 3 Crowns Golf Club. Bring your favorite 4-legged buddy and run or walk for Caspers furry friends! There will be refreshments and breakfast snacks available  and prizes raffled after the event.

The fun begins with check-in at 8 a.m. and the walk/run beginning at 9 a.m. Registration is $25/person, children 12 years and younger are free. Early registration would be appreciated with payment due the day of the race. You can register by emailing info.chswyo@gmail.com or calling 265-5439.

All the funds raised at this event will be used to pay for the medical care of animals at the Casper Humane Society.

St. Marks preschool registration

St. Marks Preschool is now registering for the 2016-2017 school year! Let us help you get your child ready for kindergarten. We offer developmentally appropriate activities structured towards kindergarten readiness. We have classes available for children from 2-5 years old. We promote fine and gross motor development, cognitive skills, social skills, independence, math and reading readiness skills, and Christian living.

Playgroup/2-year-old class: Mon/Wed or Tue/Thur, 9 to 11 a.m., children do not need to be potty trained for the 2-year-old class.

3-year-old class: Tues/Thurs, 9 to 11:30 a.m., children must be potty trained for the 3-year-old class.

4-year-old class: Mon/Wed/Fri, 9 to 11:30 a.m.

5-year-old class: Monday-Thursday, 12:30 to 3 p.m. Children should be 5 by January 31.

For more information, please call us at 234-0831 or stop by for a visit at 701 S. Wolcott.

Fireball 500 Club results

Results of the 4-person handicapped Fireball 500 Club friends and family tournament, held at Sunrise Bowling Center April 9.

Mens high series, Paul Lenski, 587; mens high game, Rod Nation, 254.

Womens high series, Kristi Dudgeon, 513; womens high game, Kristi Dudgeon, 202.

1. Gutter Girls: Stephanie Benton, Lynn Lucero, Karen Farley, Dee Fairservis, 2,406; $316.80 plus $80 trophy money, $99.20 each.

2. 2 & 2 Makes 4: Lea Dole, Jamie Dean, Anita Burd, Ken Bachler, 2,379; $211.20, $52.80 each.

3. Go Getters: Debra Zeigafuse, Jason Kegler, Kristi Dudgeon, Josh Dudgeon, 2,333; 4. Pin Crushers, Laurie McNally, Barb Goff, Pat Lawrence, Alice Palmer, 2,312; 5. Lets Give This a Try: Vivian Murphy, Jenny Rhoads, Shannon Berliger, Rod Nation, 2,288.

Financial event for women

The Wyoming Womens Foundation has teamed up with State Farm Insurance to bring you Becoming a Financial Diva!, a workshop devoted to women and their finances.

The inaugural event will take place May 3 at the Hilton Garden Inn. The one-day conference is made up of two guest speakers, three breakout sessions on various topics, and will conclude with a panel discussion on charitable estate gifts.

The event is open to women of all ages and backgrounds interested in learning how to create a future of financial stability and security. Additionally, participants will learn how planning today can create opportunities for giving back to important causes in the future.

Registration for the event is limited so attendees are encouraged to register early to confirm their spot. The event cost is $35 in advance until May 1, 2016, at which time the cost increases to $50. Participants may register at wywf.org.

Please visit the event Facebook Page or call the Wyoming Womens Foundation (307-721-8300) for more information.

Constitution Party meets

Constitution Party/ Natrona County meeting in the Agricultural Resource & Learning Center, next to the Fairgrounds in the Midwest Room at 7 p.m., on April 29, 2016. See us at wyocp.com.
Editor:

Last week we learned that 465 of our neighbors lost their jobs at the North Antelope Rochelle and Black Thunder mines in Campbell County. Unfortunately, our state has become far too familiar with mass industry layoffs in recent years. These job losses are directly attributable to the unconstitutional war on coal being waged by radical environmentalists and government bureaucrats in Washington. Liz Cheney deserves credit for laying out important legislative priorities that will reverse these policies.

As someone who has lost faith in a lot of politicians who say one thing and do another, I have to say I was glad to see that Cheney announced such a detailed plan to restore Wyoming coal jobs and stand up for our mineral resources. Her list of priorities showed that she is committed to lifting the moratorium on coal leases on federal lands, restoring effective congressional oversight, and stopping the Clean Power Plan in its tracks.

Our nations founders never thought the federal government would carry this much influence over the states. Its important that our leaders are committed to bringing our precious natural resources and their value to Wyoming jobs and families, to the forefront of national attention. Liz Cheneys plan shows she is the leader we need to fight this fight.

I'm proud to support Liz Cheney in her run for Congress. I know she supports Wyoming and will fight for the future of our great state.
Guatemala

Bank raid, probe target Venezuelan man

GUATEMALA CITY  Guatemalan prosecutors raided the offices of a bank and froze some $20 million worth of the banks shares on Friday as part of a money-laundering probe involving a Venezuelan man.

The search at Banco de los Trabajadores targeted documents related to the holdings of Hidalgo Rafael Socorro Urdaneta, a Venezuelan said to be the legal representative of DHK Finance INC Panama. The firm was established in October 2011 in Panama City.

Judge Marco Villeda told The Associated Press that the complaint presented by prosecutors was based on strong indications that the money could have come from illicit acts.

Nigeria

Army attack leaves Shiite leader near-blind

KANO  The detained leader of Nigerias Shiite Muslims has been left near-blind and underwent several operations to remove bullets when he was shot in an army raid on his home, a human rights lawyer said Friday.

Lawyer Femi Falana spoke after he was granted access to Ibraheem Zakzaky for the first time since he and his wife, Zeenat Ibraheem, were detained in December and denied access to their doctors and family.

Human rights groups say the military killed hundreds of Shiites over three days in northern Zaria town.

South Africa

Religious leaders ask Zuma to resign

JOHANNESBURG  A group of South African religious leaders on Friday said President Jacob Zuma should quit over a scandal involving millions of dollars in state spending on his private residence.

Representatives of the National Religious Leaders Council, an umbrella group, appealed for Zumas resignation after a meeting with leaders of the ruling African National Congress party.

The religious leaders say the president has lost the moral authority to lead the country.

Wire reports
age 84 of Tucson passed away Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016 after a lengthy illness. He was born December 8 1931 to Anthony and Virginia Durand in Petersburg, VA. Ed is survived by his loving wife of 26 years Darlene Howard Durand, who was at his side when he died; a daughter, Debra Cossu of Kansas City, MO; two sons; Edward Durand Jr of Virginia Beach, VA, and Anthony Durand and wife Roberta, also of Kansas City, MO. A sister, Lynette Moody of CA and half-sister, Roxie. He was blessed with 11 surviving grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren all living in MO, VA or WVA. He was most proud of his children and their families. Besides his parents, Ed was preceded in death by his first wife, Catherine Louise Windows, a son, Warren Lee Durand; two daughters, Julia Ann Durand, and Jeanene Marie Hefner; one grandchild, and one great-grandchild. Ed enlisted in the US Air Force in 1951 during the Korean War and served as a pharmacy technician. After his honorable discharge, he attended Virginia Commonwealth University graduating in 1958 with a degree in pharmacy. Ed worked in all aspects of pharmacy practice, and had been president of the Virginia Hospital Pharmacy Association. A dedicated professional. The family thanks the entire staff at Hospice Family Care Golden Hope Adult Care Home for their exceptional care. A special thanks to caregivers Georgia, Nancy, Christina, Angela, Dee Dee, and dear friend Louise for their care and support to both Ed and Darlene. "These three things continue forever: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love" 1 Corinthians 13;13. Arrangements entrusted to the Neptune Society, Tucson with a Memorial Service Monday, April 18, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. Saint Mark's Methodist Church, Tucson to celebrate Ed's life.
PHOENIX  The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to specify circumstances when police must give a person a Miranda warning about the constitutional right to remain silent during police questioning.

The justices will review an appellate court's ruling in a Yuma County burglary case that questioning of a man outside a vacant building was permitted even though he wasn't initially given a Miranda warning.

A key issue in the case is whether Carlos Andrews Maciel was in custody or free to leave when he first made incriminating statements during questioning.

A Court of Appeals three-judge panel's majority said Maciel voluntarily remained at the scene, but a dissenting judge says circumstances indicate otherwise.
A federal judge sentenced the owners of Barrier Wear to three years of probation and 120 hours of community service to resolve a $30 million criminal fraud investigation.

U.S. District Court Judge James A. Soto sentenced Paul Grillo and Raymond Lawson on Monday after the pair pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing a government auditor, a Class D felony, and forfeited $2.1 million.

The charge stemmed from a scheme in which Barrier Wear made clothes for the U.S. military in Mexico and switched the tags at its Rio Rico facility to indicate the items were made in the United States.

The subterfuge gave the appearance of complying with the Berry Amendment, a federal requirement that U.S. military garments be produced domestically.

Defense attorney Michael Piccarreta, one of three attorneys representing Grillo and Lawson at Mondays hearing, cast the scheme as a response to a labor shortage at the Rio Rico facility.

The company made cold-weather clothes for the military on behalf of the primary contractor, Virginia-based Atlantic Diving Supply, Picarreta said. However, Barrier Wear received purchase orders, rather than contracts, and laid off workers for months at a time when the purchase orders dried up.

The Broomfield, Colorado-based company also made fire-retardant clothes for private-sector clients at facilities in Hermosillo, Sonora, and nearby Baviacora.

Lawson told the judge that when the company received purchase orders, but did not have enough Arizona workers, the orders were filled by the Mexican facilities.

Grillo told the judge he was real sorry about everything that happened, and Lawson said he felt deep remorse.

The parties agreed the garments delivered to the military were of sufficient quality and quantity. However, the Berry Amendment is meant to support U.S. industries, and the governments sentencing memorandum said the case certainly merited a felony resolution with a substantial forfeiture to provide just punishment for the offense.

Piccarreta characterized the plea and forfeiture deal as a very harsh agreement for two entrepreneurs who had a 30-year business history without any previous criminal violations.

In contrast, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Zipps said the plea deal was commensurate with their conduct.

Barrier Wear made a concerted effort to defeat the provisions of the Berry Amendment by deceiving federal auditors and removing information about the label-switching from documents sent to Atlantic Diving Supply, Zipps said.

The defense argued that similar cases were resolved in civil court rather than with criminal charges, but Zipps said his office ruled out a civil case due to evidence of mail fraud, false statements to federal authorities and obstructing a government auditor.

The government relies on people to engage in honest conduct, Zipps said, noting the only reason the scheme was uncovered was an officer at a Nogales port of entry checked the labels on the garments.

In 2009, a Nogales customs officer saw crates of camouflage garments coming into the United States, an unusual sight at the port, Brian McNulty, Homeland Security Investigations agent for the Barrier Wear case, told the Star in an interview.

One of the country-of-origin tags on the garments was so poorly attached it fell off in his hand, he said.

His agency has seen trade violations at the Nogales ports of entry, but nothing of this magnitude.

Agents followed the shipment to the Rio Rico facility and then to Atlantic Diving Supply, he said. Soon after, Barrier Wear employees contacted them, saying somethings not right.

The Department of Defense then put more federal agents on the case, which showed that it was a big deal, McNulty said.

On Monday, Zipps said unsupervised probation, rather than prison, was appropriate for Grillo and Lawson.

Judge Soto accepted the plea deal, despite being troubled by the negotiated forfeiture of $2.1 million.

All told, the company shipped about $48 million in clothes from 2008 to 2013. The parties agreed about $30 million worth of those garments were made in whole or in part in Mexico and Barrier Wear saved about 10 percent on costs for the Mexican-made garments, court records show.

Soto said he was concerned the $2.1 million did not match the amount Barrier Wear saved by outsourcing to Mexico, but the court filings showed uncertainty about those costs and whether the government might have received less at trial.

Soto noted the company could have used a labor shortage exemption in the Berry Amendment and Lawson replied that we should have looked at that.

Going forward, the federal government is seeking to prohibit Barrier Wear from receiving military contracts for three years, Zipps said.

Barrier Wear also faces a possible multimillion-dollar civil claim by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for import violations, the government said in its sentencing memorandum.

In Mexico, the company faces a lawsuit for closing its factories in 2013 while owing 6 million pesos, or about $375,000, to workers who made about $12 per eight-hour shift, according to Hector Robles, director of the Sonoran chapter of the Workers Federation of Mexico.

In addition, the union presented authorities with evidence of unsafe and unsanitary working conditions at the Barrier Wear facilities, he said.
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is among four sites that will be considered as a base for an Air Force Reserve F-35A Lightning II fighter squadron by 2023, the Air Force announced Tuesday.

The other bases under consideration are Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida; Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, Texas; and Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, the Air Force said in a news release.

The preferred and reasonable alternatives are expected to be selected in the fall, and the F-35As are set to begin arriving at the first Reserve-led F-35A location by the summer of 2023.

The Air Force also released basing criteria that will be used to select candidate bases for two Air National Guard squadrons, which are to get their first aircraft in the summer of 2022.

Local military supporters and government officials have been touting D-M for new missions as the Air Force has moved to retire the entire fleet of A-10 Thunderbolt II close-air-support jets, D-Ms biggest mission.

Blocked by Congress the last two fiscal years, the Air Force said in February it will delay the A-10 fleets final retirement until 2022, though D-M could start losing some of its A-10s by 2018.

Supporters cite D-Ms importance to the local economy, which had an estimated economic impact of $974 million in fiscal 2014 according to base figures.

But a vocal group of neighborhood activists have opposed the basing of the F-35 at D-M, arguing that plane is too loud to be based at the air base.

A pending lawsuit by three D-M neighbors seeks to halt an increase in training flights at D-M approved by the Air Force last year, alleging the Air Force failed to properly study noise, safety and other environmental factors.

Any move to base F-35s in Tucson would likely require a lengthy environmental study under federal law.

The Air Force is committed to a deliberate and open process to address F-35 basing, said Jennifer A. Miller, the deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations. As we progress through the basing process, we will share information so interested communities are aware of what to expect.

The head of a Southern Arizona military-support group said the Air Forces announcement is a good sign for D-M and Tucson.

I think its a great opportunity for the community, said David Godlewksi, chairman of the Southern Arizona Defense Alliance and president of the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association. Weve been saying all along we should be receptive and open to any and all future flying missions.

Earlier this year, the Air Force named D-M among four bases under consideration for additional reconnaissance drone units.

Brian Harpel, president of the local support group the DM50, said he was surprised by the timing of the announcement but not by D-Ms selection as a potential F-35 base, noting that the group stressed community support to Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James when she visited Tucson in March.

We conveyed our view that the community supports any flying mission at D-M, and that message seemed to be well-received by the secretary, Harpel said.

Arizona Republicans Sen. John McCain Rep. Martha McSally cheered the Air Force announcement.

I think its great news, and it lines up with my all-of-the-above strategy for Davis-Monthan and accepting and growing any mission there, McSally said.

McSally, a former A-10 combat pilot at D-M, said the weather and proximity to ranges for live air-to-ground weapons training make D-M a national treasure, and since the F-35 is pegged as the future replacement for all of the U.S. tactical aircraft, its no surprise D-M would be considered for the F-35.

McCain echoed those sentiments.

Im confident that as the Air Force continues to finalize its site-selection process, Davis-Monthan will stand out as the best home for this vital aircraft, McCain said in a prepared statement.

But a member of Tucson Forward, a group that has opposed operating the F-35 in Tucson, said the F-35  the nations newest jet fighter  is too noisy and unproven to fly in an urban area.

The F-35 has been plagued by technical problems and cost overruns, and the Air Force version is not expected to be declared operationally ready until later this year.

Were really concerned about the safety of it  this is not something that should be flown over a densely populated city, said Lee Stanfield, a Tucson Forward member who lives near East Broadway and South Wilmot Road.

A 2012 Air Force study showed that basing F-35s at the Arizona Air National Guard 162nd Wing at Tucson International Airport, a major F-16 training base, would subject thousands more residents to intrusive noise levels. The 162nd Wing was later passed over as an F-35 base.

Basing F-35s at D-M would affect even more residents, said Stanfield, a 73-year-old retired social worker and counselor.

It will be a problem if they fly it where they have regular overflights now, she said, noting that jets regularly fly over Reid Park and midtown.

McSally said shes willing to listen to concerns over D-M operations, but the base is too important economically to abandon.

If we were to lose the base or significant missions at the base, it would be devastating to this community, she said.

Im willing to listen, but my position is, this community is very strongly in support of Davis-Monthan and in bringing any mission here, she said. I think there are ways we can work through the issues to mitigate any concerns as we go through the process.

Stanfield said D-Ms economic importance to Tucson is overblown, and expanding aircraft operations would have a negative effect on tourism, which has a greater economic impact.

The Air Force said F-35 basing criteria for the Air National Guard bases include mission requirements such as weather, airspace and training-range availability, capacity like sufficient hanger and ramp space and facilities, environmental requirements, and cost factors.

The Air Force said it will evaluate Guard installations with runways of at least 8,000 feet and operational A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, F-16 Fighting Falcons or F-15 Eagles against the approved criteria to identify candidate bases for the F-35A.

Based on the criteria and site visits, the Air Force said it plans to identify candidate installations for the Air National Guard locations this summer, before selecting the preferred and reasonable alternatives and beginning the environmental impact analysis process later this year.
The Air Force announced Tuesday that Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is among four bases that will be considered as a base for a Reserve F-35A Lightning II fighter squadron by 2023.

The other bases under consideration are Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida; Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas; and Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri, the Air Force said in a news release.

The preferred and reasonable alternatives are expected to be selected in the fall and the F-35As are slated to begin arriving at the first Reserve-led F-35A location by the summer of 2023.

The Air Force also released basing criteria that will be used to select candidate bases for two Air National Guard squadrons, which are planned to receive their first aircraft in the summer of 2022.

Local military supporters and government officials have been looking for future missions as the Air Force has moved to retire its mainstay contingent of A-10 Thunderbolt II come air support jets. The Air Force has said it will delay the A-10 fleets final retirement until 2022, but D-M could start losing come of its A-10s by 2018.

Neighborhood activists have opposed the basing of the F-35 at D-M, arguing that the Air Forces loudest plane is unsuitable for the urban air base. A pending lawsuit by three activists seeks to halt an increase in training flights at D-M approved by the Air Force last year.
OPINION: "As a parent and teacher, I know the best way to address discord is to listen first and establish trust. As a neighborhood leader, I know how to work through differences by treating people with dignity and respect. As a mathematics teacher, I always taught my students that there is more than one way to solve problems," writes Theresa Riel, a candidate for the District 2 seat on the Pima Community College Governing Board.
PHOENIX  Saying theyre exempt, state representatives voted Tuesday to allow themselves to carry their guns onto the House floor.

On a party-line vote, the Republican majority beat back a proposal by Democrats to enact a new rule to forbid any person from entering the House building while armed. The only exception would be for peace officers acting in their official capacities.

Rep. Randall Friese, D-Tucson, pointed out that Arizona law makes it a crime to bring a weapon into a public building if there is a no guns sign at the door. And he pointed out there are such signs at the public entrances.

Your constituents do not have the right to bring a deadly weapon into this building, Friese told his colleagues. What were asking ourselves today is should we move ourselves above the law.

But Rep. Noel Campbell, R-Prescott, said this isnt about legislators saying they can ignore the law.

We have a special exemption, he said, with the Legislature as a separate branch of government entitled to write its own rules.

And Campbell said hes quite comfortable with the fact that some legislators may be armed.

Were a safer building with people not knowing if were armed or not armed, he said.

The debate arose after Democrats discovered that House Speaker David Gowan had quietly decided to allow legislators to have their guns.

House GOP publicist Stephanie Grisham insisted that did not make lawmakers into law breakers.

She pointed out that Gowan had removed the no guns sign at the back door of the building, the one not available to the public. Therefore, Grisham said, no one was flouting the law.

But Rep. Lisa Otondo, D-Yuma, had a different take.

Otondo said she has nothing against weapons, boasting of her 20-gauge shotgun.

And I like a nice Sunday morning with a cup of coffee out at the range, she said.

I believe in our right to own weapons, Otondo continued. But thats not what this is about.

Otondo said she believes the statute banning firearms in public buildings means what it says, without exception for lawmakers. But she said theres also the issue of what guns do to the demeanor at the House.

Some of our members feel threatened because others are carrying guns, she said.

Rep. John Allen, R-Scotts- dale, a native New Yorker, told colleagues he has neither owned a gun nor shot one. But Allen said he understands the desire of some legislators to be armed.

We are increasingly a target of people with bad intentions, he said. Allen said that justifies lawmakers arming themselves.
PHOENIX  Pressured by members of his own party, House Speaker David Gowan has suspended his ban on reporters on the floor who have not first undergone extensive background checks.

But not full access.

House Republicans also voted Tuesday to preserve Gowans unilateral authority to decide in the future whether to rescind overall access, whether to require extensive background checks and even to ban a single reporter for any reason at all.

In a brief statement, House Republican publicist Stephanie Grisham said the badges that had been given to regular Capitol beat reporters that opened certain doors are not being reactivated. That had provided easier access for reporters to go to lawmakers offices, including that of the speaker.

Instead, reporters will have access to the floor only when the House is in session and only after first signing in.

Gowans decision to suspend his policy comes less than a week after he claimed that House members had demanded he tighten up security procedures. That followed a disturbance in the public gallery.

However, the letter from GOP legislators that Gowan said led to the policy change never actually mentioned concerns about reporters on the floor. Instead, it simply asked Gowan to spend money in the House budget for the purpose of improving the physical security of the Arizona House of Representatives building.

The speaker stands by his security plan, Grisham said Monday. But she acknowledged there had been pressure on her boss to reverse his stance, saying he has a responsibility to his members and public who expressed concern.

Hours later, House Democrats moved to preclude Gowan or any future speaker from further curbing access.

Thats a right he now has.

House rules require a place for the press, with no requirement it actually can be on the floor. That concerned Rep. Lisa Otondo, D-Yuma.

She acknowledged reporters can view and record floor speeches from the gallery. But Otondo said that precludes reporters questioning lawmakers afterwards about their statements.

When we really have to answer the questions is when theyre an arms-length away, she said.

No Republican stood up to defend Gowans now-suspended policy. But Rep. Noel Campbell, R-Prescott, said that does not mean the rules should be changed, suggesting Democrats might have a different point of view if and when that party ever takes control of the House.

That doesnt mean Campbell and other GOP lawmakers were pleased about the actions the speaker took last Thursday, a move that came as a surprise to many of them when they went to the floor only to find reporters who refused to consent to extensive background checks banished to the third floor gallery.

Im happy you guys are back down here, Campbell said.

Im not going to criticize the speaker, he continued. But Im glad he saw the light.

In the now-suspended  but not revoked  policy, Gowan had demanded not only that reporters consent to examinations of criminal and civil records but also provide information about drivers license and prior addresses. More significant, his policy said anyone convicted of certain specific crimes would never be allowed access.

That included not only serious felonies but also the crime of trespass  the Class 2 misdemeanor that would have disqualified Hank Stephenson, the Arizona Capitol Times reporter who discovered Gowan used $12,000 in state resources for travel for both personal purposes and in his congressional campaign.
A Tucson physician who had been under investigation for unprofessional conduct has surrendered his license to practice medicine, Arizona Medical Board documents show.

Rinly R. Gecosala, who had been practicing in Arizona since 1999, agreed to give up his license on March 10, board records show.

Board documents show an investigation was initiated after a complaint that Gecosala inappropriately prescribed opioids and sent text messages that were sexual in nature to a patient (referred to as KT in board documents) whom Gecosala began treating in 2006.

The board investigation says Gecosala, who was a general-practice physician, failed to adequately review prior medical records or perform studies to assess the cause of the patients pain.

In spite of a relatively normal X-ray result, Gecosala, continued to prescribe opioid medications and muscle relaxants to treat KTs complaints of chronic back pain, the surrender agreement says.

The agreement says board investigators found a pre-signed prescription pad a with blank spaces for the name and date of birth of the patient during a site visit to Gecosalas office in 2015. Signing a blank, undated or predated prescription form is considered unprofessional conduct under Arizona law.

Gecosalas last listed practice address was at a clinic called Citymed at 4099 E. 22nd St., Suite 107. County assessor records show that Gecosala owns the building.

The clinic, which has in its window the listed specialties of internal medicine, family practice, occupational medicine, preventive medicine and personal injuries, was closed and undergoing renovations on Tuesday.

The board can accept the surrender of a licensee under investigation if the licensee is either unable to safely engage in the practice of medicine or has committed an act of unprofessional conduct, said Patricia McSorley, who is executive director of the board.

When the Arizona Medical Board accepted the voluntary surrender of Gecosalas license, it prevented any need for the matter to progress to an administrative hearing that may have resulted in the revocation of his license, she said.

Medical-license revocations are rare, McSorley said. There were eight MD licenses revoked in Arizona during a period between Jan. 1, 2013 and Feb. 19, 2016, McSorley said.

Physicians are more likely to surrender for disciplinary reasons than proceed to a hearing that may result in revocation, she wrote in an email.

The board had taken prior disciplinary actions  two letters of reprimand and five years probation  against Gecosala, a general-practice physician, dating back to 2005.

Details of those prior board actions were not available on the boards website Monday or Tuesday.

According to a May 2005 article published in the Tucson Citizen, Gecosala was reprimanded and fined $1,000 by the Arizona Medical Board for falsifying medical records and charging excessive fees.
Help India!

By Shafeeq Hudawi, TwoCircles.net

Kozhikode: Kerala Adivasi leader CK Janus decision to side with the NDA and contest from the Wayanad seat has drawn criticism from people who have worked with her.

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The tribal leaders saffron tilt has evoked harsh criticism from her colleagues. M Geethananthan, leader of Adivasi Gotra Maha Sabha, said that it was shocking to hear such news. A left-leaning leader has been now driven to the Sangh camp. Her greed for power has driven her to the saffron fold, he said.

The AGMS state coordinator, who is the ideologue of tribal outfits, was with C K Janu in organising the South Indian Tribal Conclave in 1992 and Muthanga Agitation of 2003, which are said to be two milestones in the tribal history of Kerala.

Geethanandan said that she will be ousted from AGMS and its newly formed political outfit Janadhipathya Ooru Vikasana Munnani.

On April 8, Janu launched her party, Janadhipathya Rashtreeya Sabha at Alappuzha.

Geethanandan went on to say that the decision will harm Janu as a person and the Adivasis in the state along with their political movements.

Even if she contests as an independent, we will not agree to it and we will definitely oppose her, he said.

Janu alleges exploitation at hands of UDF, LDF

Meanwhile, tribal leader C K Janu justified her new move saying it was need of the hour to take such a turn. Both LDF and UDF extended us raw deal and turned a blind eye towards our woes. The government has not done justice to the pacts, signed between them and tribal leaders. The agitations like standing struggle were given no consideration, she said.

She lashed at LDF and UDF saying, The two fronts treated us as rally and poster employees, who are meant to work for their campaigns. Parties like CPI (M) could have considered us as an alliance. But, they never did. Now, NDA has respected our identity by inviting us to its front. We expect a better deal from the new alliance, she said.
Help India!

By TCN Staff Reporter

With the death toll at Kollam temple tragedy touching 110, the media attention Kerala has now turned to the bitter facts that led to one of the largest man-made tragedies in the state.

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On Tuesday, the Indian Express, through a comprehensive report, exposed how the local Hindu groups had resorted to playing their communal card to get the ban lifted on the use of fireworks. Officials with Kollam District Collectorate told media persons that both the local Hindu groups had attributed communal motives as a reason when Additional District Magistrate A Shanavas and District Collector A Shainamol denied permission for fireworks citing safety reasons. Both Shanavas and Shanimol are Muslims. According to reports, the local politicians and Hindu groups threatened the duo saying they were indulging in communal politics by opposing fireworks.

Through an order Additional District Magistrate A Shanavas had banned the show on April 8. Despite the existing ban, temple authorities went ahead and disobeyed the orders and held a fireworks show, backed by local political leaders who didnt want to hurt the Hindu sentiments while the state is gripped with election fever, told Sham Mohammed, a local journalist, to Twocircles.

According to reports, a senior officer at the Kollam district collectorate said, A senior minister had called district collector demanding her to change her stand while Shainamol went on with decision to impose ban following a report was submitted by Additional District Magistrate. The minister, according to the official, even asked Shainamol if she wanted to upset the sentiments of community, to which she didnt belong.

The primary report by the district administration said that no permission was taken from some of the residents living in the temple premises though some of them issued complaints citing the noise pollution created by the fireworks show that was held in a competitive manner.

Pankajakshi Anandan, an 80-year-old, was one who faced threats from Hindu groups for issuing complaints against the show. They threatened me consequences if I remain reluctant to withdraw my complaint, Pankajakshi said while having a talk with a local Malayalam channel. The ban order was issued on the complaint of Pankajakshi.

However, Shainamol didnt want to disclose much, saying I dont want to reveal anything about the unfortunate issue.

Sangh Outfits Spew Communal Venom

On Sunday morning Sangh outfits across the country woke up to tweets and posts showered on social media while Kerala had a tragic morning. Hash tags said that the tragedy was an act of sabotage by communists and Jihadis in Kerala. The tragedy has been made by Dewaswam Board, the ruling body of Hindu temples in Kerala, governed by Congress. They have given quotation to Jihadis to destroy the temples and kill Hindus. Few days ago, a Muslim firecracker maker was arrested in Kannur. He is the man behind this tragedy, said a tweet. Some of the accounts were closely associated with Sangh followers like Subramanian Swamy and Sanjeev Punalekar.

The accounts were later deleted when social media and online media took up the issue. Meanwhile, the RSS leadership distanced itself from the accounts from which the objectionable tweets were sent.
Help India!

By A Mirsab, TwoCircles.net,

New Delhi: Stressing upon the need of proper utilization of parliament to resolve problems of people, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President and MP Asaduddin Owaisi called for certain technical transformation in the parliament procedures.

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Owaisi said in his address at a seminar for legislative reforms organised by NGO, PRS Research foundation that parliaments functioning can become more effective if certain technical changes are made in parliamentary procedures like calling attention motions, short duration discussions and selection of questions for question hour so that individual MPs, irrespective of their party affiliations, can get more time to flag issues concerning their constituency and people of the country at large.

He also advocated for providing of funds to Members of Parliament for research support.

In addition to this he also took exception to the frequent disruption of parliament and said it provides the government an easy escape route in answering critical questions.

Parliament should be used to debate and discuss peoples issues. Disrupting it from carrying out its functions is a cardinal crime. Opposition gives an easy escape route to the government as most of the ministers are scared to speak on real issues concerning our country, he said.

The house does not belong to the BJP or the Congress. It is property of the people. So the issues, concerns and grievances of the people must be addressed, he said added.

He further said that parliaments functioning of 0nly 90 days in a year is too less a time and it should be increased to 120 days.

it doesnt function for more than 90 days which is too less a time to discuss real issues. Therefore constitution should be amended to fix a minimum days for parliament meet, Owaisi suggested.

On the functioning of parliamentary standing committee he said that it should include experts and its meetings should be opened to the public for increasing more transparency.
Help India!

Jaipur : Demanding a CBI inquiry into the rape of a now-dead minor Dalit girl in Rajasthan, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked the Modi government over what he said was its indifferent attitude towards the Dalits in the country.

To stress his point, he pointed to Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemulas case whose death, he said, was a murder and not a suicide.

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Addressing a Dalit Sammelan organised here by the Congress, he said: Rohith Vemula was a Dalit and was being targeted and discriminated against.

You are a Dalit. Dont think you are like others. The complete force of the Indian government was targeting him. He succumbed to pressure and committed suicide, Gandhi said.

It was not a suicide. It was a murder committed by the Indian government. He was pressurised and discriminated (against) so much that an intelligent boy broke down, succumbed to pressure and committed suicide, the Congress vice president said.

What did the government say after his death; what did Sushma Swaraj ji say: this boy was not a Dalit; Rohith Vemula was not a Dali. And, I said question is not if he was a Dalit or not. The question is why a boy was killed.

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi visited the 17-year-old girls village in Barmer, over 550 km from Jaipur and met with her family.

The family said she was raped before she was found dead under mysterious circumstances in her institutes water tank in Rajasthans Bikaner district.

In the morning, I went to Barmer and met the family of a Dalit girl. The Rajashtan government says it was a suicide not a murder. A delegation meets Chief Minister Vasundhara (Raje) ji. The first question she asked was for whom have you come  the girl or the other side. When the delegation members said they had come to plead for the girls case, who was murdered, the chief minister said why are you wasting my time? Why are you insulting my government?, the Congress leader said.

The chief ministers job is to provide justice, he added.

The girl was pursuing a course to become a school teacher in Bikaner but was found dead on March 29.

The girls parents alleged their daughter was raped and murdered in the institute by a teacher and she was also subjected to caste abuse by one of the teachers.

Three teachers are at present in judicial custody till April 21 and investigations are underway into the case.

Gandhi spent about half an hour with the family and enquired about the state governments action in the case.

Talking to the media, Gandhi said: We want justice for the family. It is the state governments duty to provide justice to the family.

Proper inquiry should be conducted, he said, demanding a CBI probe into the matter.


Help India!

By A Mirsab, TwoCircles.net,

New Delhi: Yet another meeting of Muslim leaders with Prime Minister Narendra Modi went fruitless as it ended up with mere appreciation of his development agenda and receiving of an award in Saudi Arabia.

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Today a delegation of Muslim leaders led by Dr. MJ Khan, National Convenor, Indian Muslims Coordination Centre met Modi and congratulated him for being conferred upon the highest civilian award The King Abdul Aziz Shah Award during his visit to Riyadh.

Dr. MJ Khan while congratulating the PM said this honour is for all the Indians, as over 30 lakh Indians work in KSA and Muslims in India are particularly happy due to Muslims two sacred placed being in Saudi Arabia.

The delegation members also expressed happiness over the inclusive agenda of growth and his successful implementation record. However, no Muslim community specific issues were raised and discussed by the leaders making the meet in vain for the community.

Modi is frequently engaging with Muslim leaders but the leaders representing the community are falling short in discussing important issues.

Using todays meeting to the fullest Modi thanked the delegation and reiterated his commitment to development, laying special stress on education, and especially girl child education. He expressed hope that the Muslim community in India shall be able to derive huge benefit from the welfare schemes initiated by the NDA Government, such as the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, and Mudra Yojana.

Todays meeting took place on the initiative of the Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who earlier met a larger group on February 4 at his residence, along with NSA chief Ajit Doval.

The delegation was comprised of 11 people including Dr. MJ Khan, National Convenor, Indian Muslims Coordination Centre and Chairman, ICFA ;Shahid Siddiqui, Editor, Nai Dunia; Maulana Kalbe Jawwad, Chief Shia Cleric, Lucknow;Maulana Abdul Wahid Chisti, Chief, Dargah Ajmer Sharief; Wamiq Warsi, Chief, Dargah Dewa Sharief; Kamar Agha, Expert, International Islamic Affairs; Justice IM Kuddusi, Retired Chief Justice Odisha High Court; Qurban Ali, Noted Media Personality and Muslim Intellectual; Syed Mahdi, former Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia; Ilias Azmi, former Member of Parliament (LS) and Mufti Aijaj Arshad Qasmi, Member, Muslim Personal Law Board and President, Darul Deoband Old Boys Association.

Related:

When Modi met Muslims

PM discusses Muslim issue with community leaders

Modi meets Muslims, again
OBJECTIVE - In patients with prostate cancer, evaluation of quality of care requires the inclusion of patient-reported outcomes measures assessed by validated and reliable instruments. Basic psychometric tests of the Norwegian version of the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite with 26 items (EPIC-26) were performed in this study.

MATERIALS AND METHODS - Translation of the original questionnaire (University of California, Los Angeles Prostate Cancer Index Composite), field testing and retranslation were done according to published guidelines. The final EPIC-26 items were subsequently selected from the Norwegian version of the EPIC-50 with slight verbal adjustments to comply with the English version of the EPIC-26. Reliability and validity were tested among 471 patients who, between 2009 and 2010, had been included in a prospective Norwegian multicenter study assessing adverse effects after radical prostatectomy or prostatic radiotherapy, usually combined with (neo)adjuvant hormone treatment. All patients completed the EPIC-26 before treatment and 3 and 12 months afterwards.

RESULTS - Internal consistency was documented by Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranging from 0.64 to 0.91 for the five domains/subdomains. Item-to-scale correlation coefficients ranged from 0.20 to 0.88, with the lowest value (0.20) for overall sexual problem. Criterion validity was proven by significant correlations between individual responses to the International Prostate Symptom Score and sum scores of the irritative/obstructive subdomain score of the EPIC-26. Satisfactory sensitivity and responsiveness reflected clinical utility for assessing between-group differences and treatment-related changes.

CONCLUSIONS - Based on basic psychometric tests, the Norwegian version of the EPIC-26 showed acceptable reliability and validity for assessment of adverse effects after treatment of non-metastatic prostate cancer.

Scandinavian journal of urology. 2016 Apr 06 [Epub ahead of print]

Sophie D Fossa, Anne Holck Storas, Eivind A Steinsvik, Tor Aa Myklebust, Lars M Eri, Jon H Loge, Alv A Dahl

a National Advisory Unit on Late Effects after Cancer Treatment , The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital , Oslo , Norway ;, a National Advisory Unit on Late Effects after Cancer Treatment , The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital , Oslo , Norway ;, d Division of Surgery, Department of Otorhinolaryngology , Akershus University Hospital , Lrenskog , Norway ;, b Cancer Registry of Norway , Oslo , Norway ;, c Faculty of Medicine , University of Oslo , Oslo , Norway ;, c Faculty of Medicine , University of Oslo , Oslo , Norway ;, a National Advisory Unit on Late Effects after Cancer Treatment , The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital , Oslo , Norway ;

PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27049891
Current therapy for metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) consists of the serial administration of single agents. Combinations of VEGF and mTOR inhibitors have been disappointing in previous randomized trials.

However, the combination of lenvatinib, a multitargeted agent that inhibits VEGF as well as FGF receptors, and everolimus demonstrated promising results in a randomized phase II trial. Moreover, the emergence of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors has spawned the investigation of combinations of these agents with VEGF inhibitors and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) inhibitors. These ongoing phase III trials in conjunction with the development of predictive biomarkers and agents inhibiting novel therapeutic targets may provide much needed advances in this still largely incurable disease.

Annals of translational medicine. 2016 Mar [Epub]

Carlo Buonerba, Giuseppe Di Lorenzo, Guru Sonpavde

1 University Federico II, Naples, Italy, 2 Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Birmingham, AL, USA., 1 University Federico II, Naples, Italy, 2 Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Birmingham, AL, USA., 1 University Federico II, Naples, Italy, 2 Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Birmingham, AL, USA.

PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27047959
Republican front runner Donald Trump has dominated the primary over the last 10 months since making his announcement last June. Despite this, Trump has stumbled over the last month, which included controversial comments about abortion and nuclear weapons, and a string of primary loses to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Trump goes low

The New York primary for the GOP candidates is scheduled for next Tuesday. With 95 delegates up for grabs, the billionaire real estate mogul is looking to bounce back after a loss in Wisconsin last week by picking up a victory in the Empire State.

During his April 12 campaign rally in Rome, New York, Trump took a shot at 2008 Republican nominee Mitt Romney in controversial fashion.

'Like a dog': Donald Trump impersonates Mitt Romney 'choking' in the 2012 election https://t.co/dX9r9HADCA pic.twitter.com/Ny7ULsOIhW  Business Insider (@businessinsider) April 12, 2016

As reported by the Business Insider on Tuesday, Trump spoke about the importance of the Republican party winning on a national level. "The RNC hasn't won an important election in a long time," Trump told a crowd of supporters, saying President Obama has been in office for "far too long."

"The last election should have been won, except Romney choked like a dog. He choked," Trump said, before mocking Romney with his hands in a choke position.

As the crowd burst into laughter, Trump shouted "I can't breathe, I can't breathe," mocking the last words of African-American Eric Garner, who was choked to death by NYPD officers on the streets of New York in 2014.

Primary status

With 743 delegates, the former host of "The Apprentice" is leading his remaining Republican opponents.

Cruz has provided the biggest challenge, currently with 545 delegates to his name, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich is hanging in the race with 143 delegates. If Trump wants to reach the required 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination, a win in New York is the best way to start. According to Real Clear Politics most recent rolling average, Trump holds a commanding double-digit lead in New York, with 54.3 percent support.

Kasich is far behind with 21.3 percent, and Cruz with 18 percent, but if they can continue to pull enough delegates from Trump, the party could be forced to hold a brokered or contested convention this July.
Budding legacy of an eternal prize Updated: 2016-04-11 17:44 By Joseph Li(chinadailyasia.com)

Lui Che-woo wishes to serve the global community by recognizing achievements in the sustainable development of resources, the betterment of human welfare and enhancement of positive energy, with a 'prize for world civilization'. Joseph Li spoke with the noted entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Lui Che-woo, Founder-chairman of K Wah Group [Photo by Roy Liu / China Daily]

It has been the wish for decades of Lui Che-woo, founder and chairman of K Wah Group in Hong Kong, to launch a prize in his own name to reward people who have made outstanding contributions to the world and to make it a permanent international prize that lasted for generations.

His grand dream has now come true. After years of contemplation of the idea and planning, the Lui Che Woo Prize has been inaugurated and the laureates will be awarded for the first time in the fall of this year.

Unlike similar prizes that honor academic attainment by and large, the Lui Prize puts more emphasis on disciplines of humanities.

It has three prize categories, the first being sustainable development of global resources such as food supply and safety. The award also honors achievement in the improvement of human welfare, such as the treatment and control of epidemics and infectious diseases.

The third category is about positive life attitude and positive energy, aiming to recognize those who inspire, energize and light up the world with what they do and say.

Born on the Chinese mainland in 1929, Lui came to Hong Kong at the tender age of five. Now a sprightly 87-year-old, he remains in good physical and mental health and is able to present his viewpoints clearly.

"I first had the idea of launching a prize two or three decades ago. Since I had dropped out of school during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, that prompted me to offer help to the poor and underprivileged, especially in the areas of education and medical care, over the years," Lui told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

"Over the past 50 years or so, I have seen a lot of the world, society and people's sufferings. And as I have been investing in China since its economic reforms, I have realized how important education is to the country."

He explained why the Lui Prize is a bit different from other awards. "We are living in a modern world that has seen big advancements in science, technology and innovation. Yet in some parts of the world, there are still wars, conflict, killings, and people are living in pain. Human beings should be able to enjoy the world's natural resources, live in peace and harmony, and stop fighting.

"I chose to present the inaugural awards this year because it is the 60th anniversary of my company, and it is my wish to give out the awards every year," Lui said with a smile.

Global aspirations

Lui has his sights set beyond Hong Kong and intends to launch a grand award on the international scene.

He has opened an independent company to handle the Lui Prize and also invited a galaxy of renowned political and academic celebrities to be advisors and judges.

Among those sitting on the Lui Prize Council are Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Vice-Chairman and former Hong Kong SAR chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and World Bank ex-chairman James Wolfensohn.

Lawrence Lau, former vice-chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is chairman of the nomination committee and Nobel Literature Laureate Mo Yan, a celebrated mainland author, is a member.

Former University of Hong Kong vice-chancellor Tsui Lap-chee and Mass Transit Railway Corporation Chairman Frederick Ma Si-hang are among members of the board of governors of the Lui Che Woo Prize Ltd or "Prize Company", a charitable company limited by guarantee incorporated in Hong Kong.

Star-studded lineup

"It is a big feat and I need a lot of able people and good friends to help me and transform my thinking into reality," Lui said enthusiastically.

The individual prize money is HK$20 million ($2.58 million), which is higher than that of the Nobel Prize and the locally founded Shaw Prize.

"Bigger prize money is offered because I hope the winners can continue their contribution to the world after being awarded for their achievement," he said.

The nomination and selection processes are in progress. The winners will be announced in June, with a grand awards ceremony to follow in October.

Lui said he would invite prominent personalities to present the prizes.





Administration of Lui Che Woo Prize

Lui Che Woo Prize Limited (www.luiprize.org), an independent company from K Wah Group, has been formed to handle related affairs. To set up the Prize, Lui Che-woo has made a generous donation of HK$2 billion as initial working capital. Lui is the chairman of the Board of Governors of the company, while the other board members are Tsui Lap-chee, Frederick Ma and Moses Cheng.

The Prize is governed and selected by a three-tier structure, comprising the Prize Council, the Prize Recommendation Committee and the Selection Panels of three Prize Categories.

PRIZE COUNCIL

The Prize Council comprises five international personages and leaders. Lui Che-woo is the Chairman of the Prize Council. It is responsible for the deliberation and approval of the awardees recommended by the Prize Recommendation Committee.

Lui Che-woo

* Founder & Chairman of the Board of Governors cum Prize Council.

Tung Chee-hwa

* Vice Chairman of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, People's Republic of China

* Former Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Condoleezza Rice

* Former US Secretary of State

* The Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business; the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution; and a professor of Political Science at Stanford University

James Wolfensohn

* Former President of the World Bank

* Chairman of Wolfensohn & Company, LLC

Rowan Douglas Williams

* Master of Magdalene College

* Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales

PRIZE RECOMMENDATION COMMITTEE

The Prize Recommendation Committee comprises six world renowned academics or top people of different disciplines. It is responsible for deciding a specific area of focus for each Prize Category every year and forming and supervising the Selection Panels of each Prize Category, reviewing the proposal for awards submitted by the Selection Panels of the three Prize Categories and recommending awardees to the Prize Council.



Mother Teresa is a role model

The Lui Che Woo Prize is open to all, regardless of ethnic background, nationality, geographical origin, cultural affiliation or religious belief, and it is hoped that it can carry on from generation to generation.

"It has no frontier at all," Lui explained. "My goal is as simple as that. I strive to promote preservation of global resources, maintain peace, harmony and mutual respect, so that everyone can enjoy the resources."

In theory, people from Hong Kong are also eligible for nomination and can win the award. Lui disclosed that the response to the prize has been quite good but did not reveal the number of nominations received and if there are any Hong Kong people among the nominees.

He added that the prize is not intended for Hong Kong alone, in response to a question on whether the city needs positive attitude and energy after the illegal 'Occupy Central' movement, veto of political reform, and the presence of those who do not seem to abide by the law.

"There are many elites in Hong Kong with important achievements. They are surely eligible for nomination and winning the awards," he said, but declined diplomatically to say which Hong Kong people he thinks deserve a nomination or can even win the award.

Asked which foreign figures live up to his standard of integrity, contribution and achievement, Lui said: "I think (the late) Mother Teresa (Nobel Peace Laureate of 1979) is a role model who deserves commendation, all for her great love, good work and unselfish sacrifices for the poor."

Contact the writer at joseph@chinadailyhk.com


G20 sherpa meeting lays solid ground for summit: China Updated: 2016-04-11 21:38 (Xinhua)

BEIJING - The second G20 Sherpa Meeting, with substantive discussions on major issues, has laid solid groundwork for the G20 summit that China will host in September, a spokesperson said on Monday.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang was speaking at a news briefing when asked to comment on the meeting in Guangzhou last week.

The sherpas -- officials who negotiate and prepare for an international summit before leaders take part in -- had substantive discussions on the agenda for the Hangzhou summit, Lu said, including a global agenda for sustainable development, guidelines for global investment and the international hunt for fugitives and illegal assets.

The spokesman underscored a presidency statement on climate change at the G20 Sherpa Meeting, according to which G20 members are expected to sign the Paris Agreement beginning on April 22 or after.

It sent a strong signal that G20 members will address the climate change with united actions, Lu said, adding that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the statement.

China will work to hold an open, transparent and inclusive summit that will see G20 members focus on major economic and financial problems and contribute to global growth and economic governance, Lu said.
Social security payment cuts on way Updated: 2016-04-12 02:38 By Zhao Huanxin(China Daily)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang presides over a symposium to discuss the nation's economic situation with the heads of several major provincial regions, in Beijing, capital of China, April 11, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

China will cut social security payment requirements to lower the burden on businesses, and increase efforts to stabilize employment, Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday.

"The government will support various localities, in light of their local conditions, to reduce contributions to the five major insurance programs and housing provident funds," Li said at a forum in Beijing on the national economic situation.

He added that this will be conducted "in a step-by-step fashion and under a unified national framework".

The five major programs cover endowment, medical insurance, unemployment, employment injuries and maternity insurance.

Under the current arrangement, employers must pay just over 39 percent of their payrolls into the five social insurance programs.

Li's remarks follow his promise at the end of the national legislative session in March, when he said local governments would be authorized to cut this percentage adequately.

No specific measures were announced on Monday, but Li said that a national guideline on the change will be available very soon.

Zeng Xiangquan, head of the School of Human Resources at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said China's social insurance programs are among the world's most expensive, meaning excessively heavy burdens for enterprises and workers.

"Lowering the percentage is an important way to implement supply-side structural reform," Zeng said. "It aims to relieve the burden on enterprises and local governments."
Premier urges local governments to propel reform Updated: 2016-04-12 03:53 (Xinhua)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang presides over a symposium to discuss the nation's economic situation with the heads of several major provincial regions, in Beijing, capital of China, April 11, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has urged local governments to push forward supply-side structural reform to help stabilize economic growth when meeting the heads of several major provincial regions on Monday.

Local authorities should continue to cut red tape, implement tax breaks, encourage innovation and eliminate outdated capacity, Li said at the meeting participated by the governors of Hebei, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hunan, Guangdong and Qinghai provinces, and the mayor of Chongqing Municipality.

According to the premier, China needs joint efforts from central and local governments to face up to economic challenges.

The local heads agreed that more efforts are needed to stabilize growth as previous reform measures have begun to take effect.

Li asked the governments to delegate more power.

The plan to replace business tax with value-added tax should be "vigorously pressed forward to guarantee tax burdens are reduced in all industries and small firms actually benefit," according to Li.

Local authorities should build more platforms and provide better services for people who are trying to start their own businesses, he said.

Talking about the overcapacity seen in provinces such as Hebei and Liaoning, Li said excess capacity in coal and steel production should be eliminated so traditional economic engines can be fine-tuned. Local governments should help those made redundant to find new jobs.

The premier stressed the importance of maintaining market liquidity, making the financial sector better serve the real economy and introducing debt-for-equity swaps to gradually bring down the corporate leverage ratio.

He promised all central government budgetary investment will be allocated within the first half of this year.

In addition to making use of these funds, local governments should mobilize more private funding, Li urged.
Shenzhen to set rules for express vehicles Updated: 2016-04-13 08:31 By Qiu Quanlin in Shenzhen(China Daily)

Massive increase of electric tricycles 'threatens road safety, worsens urban traffic'

Traffic authorities in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, will specify measures for the use of electric tricycles by express services, following the drafting of national technical requirements for the vehicles, according to a local officer.

"Electric tricycles for express delivery services can be used on designated roads at specified times if they meet the national technical requirements," said Xu Wei, head of the Shenzhen traffic police.

The State Post Bureau published a draft of the national electric tricycle requirements on Monday for public review.

The draft specifies that delivery tricycles can be no more than 1 meter wide, 3 meters long and 1.4 meters high, with a maximum payload of 180 kilograms, excluding the driver.

The maximum speed is 15 km/h. Tricycles used for delivery services should have a sign in front reading "express", according to the draft.

The country's booming e-commerce has led to a rapid expansion in the express delivery industry nationwide, especially in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

However, the massive growth of electric tricycles - especially ones that are unlicensed or have substandard technologies - threatens road safety and worsens urban traffic, according to the draft.

Shenzhen was put in the spotlight recently after local traffic authorities launched a campaign to crack down on illegal electric bikes and tricycles.

During the campaign, which ended on April 5, some 18,000 unlicensed or illegal electric bikes and freight tricycles were confiscated, with only 60 belonging to delivery workers, according to the traffic police authority.

"The action mainly targeted illegal electric bikes that ferried passengers, rather than the express delivery industry," said Xu.

According to Xu, local police will add 5,000 tricycles to the existing quota of 13,000 registered electric bikes and freight tricycles for express delivery use.

Additionally, the local authority will introduce a mobile management system in late April in which a QR code listing delivery contents will be installed on electric tricycles.
Pushy parents provoke child-vote backlash Updated: 2016-04-13 08:31 By Tang Yue(China Daily)

Users of instant-messaging platforms are becoming increasingly annoyed by frequent messages canvassing online support for children in competitions, as Tang Yue reports.

In China, there are usually two reasons people receive messages from friends and relatives from whom they haven't heard for a while.

The first revolves around New Year greetings, which are always welcome. The second reason is often less palatable, however; people are increasingly contacting long-lost friends, or even casual acquaintances, and urging them to cast online votes for their children or grandchildren in competitions.

The practice, which has been growing rapidly, has now reached the point where people are becoming jaded, frustrated and annoyed. In short, they are sick and tired of voting.

The results of a recent survey conducted by the Jinhua Evening News in East China's Zhejiang province show that 94 percent of 384 respondents had been asked by friends or relatives to cast votes online for their children.

The contests range from the "cutest baby" to dancing competitions, but in many cases the people receiving the messages haven't heard from the sender for a long time and have never met the child involved.

'Canvassing parents'

Li Liang is what is known as a "canvassing parent". Two weeks before Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, which fell on Feb 8, Li's wife entered their 4-year-old daughter in a "New Year's Kid" contest for children age 14 or younger in Dalian, a city in the northeastern province of Liaoning.

Like most of these contests, the child's ranking was based entirely on the number of online votes they received. As a reward, photos of the top 10 children were printed in the Dalian Evening News on Chinese New Year's Day.

Li, who also has a 1-year-old son, was too shy to bother his friends by messaging them individually. Instead, he posted a message on the homepage of his public account on WeChat, a popular instant-messaging and social-networking platform.

"To be honest, I don't like this kind of activity. The organizers are taking advantage of the parents' love for their children for commercial purposes. But still, I hope you can spend a minute checking the photo of my daughter and voting for her," Li wrote, when he posted the link to the voting site.

To vote, people usually have to first subscribe to the organizer's public WeChat account, which quickly results in a flood of unsolicited messages and ads.

In the case of Li's daughter, nicknamed "Little Pomegranate", the competition involved two rounds.

The preliminary round was sponsored by a children's art school, while the final was sponsored by a company that provides consultations and services for parents.

Thanks to the efforts of Li and his wife, Little Pomegranate attracted 266 votes in the first round and was ranked 13th. After the preliminary round, her grandparents joined the canvassing team in a bid to ensure that she made the top 10 in the final.

"They contacted almost every single person they've ever known, all over China, and asked them to vote for their granddaughter," said Li, who works for a shipping company.

The girl eventually received 1,268 votes, well beyond Li's expectations, but her ranking remained the same as during the first round so Little Pomegranate's photo wasn't printed in the newspaper, much to her disappointment.

Adverse affects?

Although the competitions may appear to be harmless fun, some education professionals are concerned that they could have an adverse effect on children.

Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences, voiced concerns about the long-term impact.

"It actually sends a message to children that what really counts is not who you are or how hard you work, but how many social-networking resources your parents have," he said.

Moreover, helping children to win titles they don't really deserve is also likely to give them an unhealthy self-image: "Placing an artificial halo around a child's head will put too much pressure on him or her, and could prevent a child from discovering their own self and fully realizing their potential."

Safety concerns

Similar concerns were expressed in March, during this year's meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body.

Tang Sulan, a member of the CPPCC's National Committee, proposed a ban on online competitions featuring minors to prevent future psychological issues.

She was also concerned that public disclosure of a child's personal information and publication of photos poses a potential risk to the child's safety.

Li Hongyan, the mother of an 11-year-old girl and an 18-month-old boy in Beijing, said she has never canvassed on behalf of her children.

Although on the surface the children are competing among themselves via their parents' social networks, the competitions are also about parents seeking a "sense of victory" for themselves, she said.

"It feels as though parents are using their babies as tools to win glory for themselves, rather than truly respecting their kids' dignity and nature."

However, despite her antipathy to the contests, she has twice voted for the babies of close friends because "it would be embarrassing to say no".

The frustration and annoyance generated by the constant stream of requests have led some people to post jokes online mocking the practice.

One of the best-known goes like this:

"Please vote for my baby. No 157."

"OK. I've voted. No 175."

"No, it's No 157."

"I voted for 175 on purpose because No 157 is not cute at all."

When friends asked Li Kang to vote for their child's work in a drawing competition, he agreed to help. The graphic designer from Cangzhou, Hebei province, who has studied art since childhood, opened the link and reviewed the entrants' work.

In his opinion, the top-ranked painting was not very good, but it garnered more than 2,000 votes, while a child he regarded as "very talented" gained just 24 votes.

"I was worried that the boy would feel bad about himself. It is too cruel," he said.

The following day, Li Kang phoned the kindergarten the child attended, and pretended to be his uncle so he could speak with him.

"I said 'I just want to tell you that the spaceship you drew was really good'. The cute kid giggled and replied, 'Actually it was a whale," Li Kang said.

According to the Jinhua Evening News survey, while 70 percent of respondents didn't agree with parents canvassing for their children, 26 percent said they would vote if asked, and 60 percent said they would consider voting, depending on their relationship with the child's parents.

Of those who have voted, 8 percent did so because they thought the children were "really great", while 66 percent voted to "give face" to friends. A further 21 percent ticked the box to facilitate an exchange of votes.

"Every parent thinks their baby is very cute, probably the cutest in the world, so I don't see the point of selecting the cutest one at all," said Lin Xiangzhen, the mother of a 2-year-old girl in Haikou, Hainan province.

"I am especially annoyed by people who offer hong bao - red envelopes that contain electronic money - on WeChat groups while canvassing for their babies. I always think, 'are you buying my votes for your baby?'" said the vocational school English teacher.

'Acquaintance society'

Yang Yiyin, a social psychology researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said canvassing for minors among friends and relatives is in line with China's traditional "acquaintance society", in which behavior is guided by kinship and emotion rather than reason and law.

"Compared with the West, respect for the rules and the spirit of an agreement are not deep-rooted in China. People feel it's natural to help their friends and relatives, regardless of the legitimacy, especially when it only takes a minute. If you don't vote, you are considered stubborn," she said.

Not all the votes are the result of the acquaintance society, though. Hundreds of independent vendors on Taobao, China's major online-shopping platform, offer voting services at about 0.5 yuan (8 cents) per vote.

Li Liang said professional voters were probably involved in the final round of the "New Year Kid" contest in which Little Pomegranate took part.

"I just ate breakfast, and then discovered that one kid had already gained another 500 votes. I don't believe any parent can convince so many people in such a short time," he said.

His family held a meeting and decided that they wouldn't employ professional voters.

"It is not that we can't afford it, because it's not a lot of money," said Li Liang. "Chinese parents will do anything for their children, but this has definitely gone too far. I know that if we did that (employ professional voting services), we would probably consider the same means next time, and that would have a very bad impact on the children.

"I really regret taking part in these activities and feel sorry for inconvenience I caused my friends. I will never put my child in a contest like that again."

Contact the writer at tangyue@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/13/2016 page6)
DPRK changing course will lead to peace talks Updated: 2016-04-07 08:12 (China Daily USA)

Beijing has two goals on the Korean Peninsula: peace and denuclearization.

So while Wu Dawei, China's special representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs, is in Tokyo seeking coordination on restarting the Six-Party Talks, the Commerce Ministry announced a list of commodities to be embargoed to and from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Since China's full-hearted participation is crucial for the new United Nations' sanctions to have effect, the embargo should be a welcome indication that Beijing is serious about its vow to "conscientiously" implement the sanctions.

And with Beijing on board, the sanctions have begun to bite. The DPRK just called on its people to prepare for another "arduous march", during which they "will have to chew the roots of plants once again".

In a break from its all-threatening rhetoric, the DPRK made a plea on Sunday for talks with the United States, saying "maintaining stability" is "more important than unilateral sanctions", and a "better solution can be found through negotiations".

The DPRK's softer approach may offer a window of opportunity for defusing the tit-for-tat actions that have raised tensions on the peninsula. Wu's latest push for resuming the Six-Party Talks makes sense in that respect.

But just as he experienced on similar missions to Washington and Seoul, besides words on closer collaboration to execute the sanctions, he has received no pledge on restarting the talks.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said earlier the precondition is Pyongyang shows credible moves oriented at denuclearization. Citing Pyongyang's credibility problem, the Defense Ministry of the Republic of Korea has said now is not the time to talk with Pyongyang, and Seoul will instead focus on sanctions.

So no matter how hard Beijing works to revive talks, they simply will not happen until Pyongyang convinces the others of its sincerity about denuclearization. Something that appears unlikely at present.

Not just because Pyongyang has a credibility crisis. But, more importantly, it seems determined to pursue its nuclear capabilities.

Following its recent nuclear test and rocket launch, satellite imagery has reportedly detected "suspicious", "unusual" activity at a nuclear complex in the DPRK. If it is trying to simply buy time for a fifth nuclear test with its request for talks, Pyongyang does not deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Beijing should avoid playing into Pyongyang's hands by single-mindedly advocating for peace. Peace-brokering should never be at the price of appeasing Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

(China Daily USA 04/07/2016 page11)
China demise theory wrong and unhelpful Updated: 2016-04-13 08:32 By Peng Chun(China Daily USA)

Predicting the end of China has now become a fad. In the past quarter century or so, at least three rounds of "death notifications" on China have been issued: first at the turn of the 1990s and then in the early 2000s, most famously epitomized by Gordan Chang's eye-catching book, The Coming Collapse of China. Last year, veteran China watcher David Shambaugh joined the rank with his op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, warning about "the coming Chinese crackup" and claiming the "endgame of communist rule in China has now begun".

Unsurprisingly, a sudden U-turn by the prominent Sinologist known for his moderate views sparked an international debate on "China's future", which is exactly the title of his new book. This time extended arguments are supplied, many of which are more nuanced than the shorter commentary. Nonetheless, the key theme remains: China is on the verge of demise.

To be fair, unlike Chang's much more blunt forecast which proved utterly wrong not once but twice, Shambaugh has been making his case in a smarter way. He avoids to a large extent the embarrassment of being proved wrong. Yet he falls prey to what can be called the trap of "collapsism", which suffers from two symptoms.

First, the central tenet of Shambaugh's case for China's fall focuses on the political, by which he means the one-party rule. For example, in China's Future he argues that innovation - which he considers the key to China's economic future - can only take off when "substantive political liberalization" takes place. By putting all eggs in the political basket, Shambaugh underestimates, if not dismisses, China's social dynamism and political system's responsiveness to societal changes. In this sense, his "collapsism" places inadequate confidence in both the Chinese people and State.

Facts speak otherwise. For instance, the contracting-out system of rural land in China was famously initiated by a group of farmers in a remote village in an eastern province, which turned out to be one of the most successful policy innovations in the 20th century. It started bottom-up illegally but the State was quick to give it consent at first, then approval and finally assurance and support. Since the 1990s the contract period has been extended twice, from 15 years to 30 years to unspecified long term, and a specific law passed for the system. This is but one example of social dynamism and State responsiveness in the 30-odd years of China's reform. Nevertheless, it is enough to show Shambaugh is absolutely correct in directing our attention to the Chinese political system when it comes to pondering the country's future - it is just that in overdoing so, he turns to be a victim of his own success.

The second symptom of Chinese "collapsism", Shambaughian or otherwise, is that it relies on an over-simplified yet long-entrenched dichotomy between authoritarianism and democracy. The associated verdict is simple: democracy lives while authoritarianism dies. There are two problems with this dichotomy.

First, Shambaugh's analysis is blind to the fact that there is a vast terrain of gray areas between the two. In his new book, he suggests China is approaching a roundabout with four choices ahead: hard authoritarianism (which in his view is the current path), soft authoritarianism, neo-totalitarianism and semi-democracy. With the first two paths, Shambaugh predicts decline, atrophy and collapse. For the latter two, successful reform transition. While he is right in conceptualizing regime types more or less along a spectrum, his analytical framework is still too schematic. The analogy he uses is telling: a roundabout. You either turn this way or that. And you turn quickly. This is in direct contrast with the analogy of gray zones. Shambaugh has thereby downgraded a complex process of exploration and experiments into a seemingly straightforward multiple-choice question. Along the way, a false sense of clarity and simplicity is gained at the expense of a sound grasp of the necessarily convoluted reality, which is exactly what China and the world need today. Therefore, instead of treating this moment or indeed any other moment as the breaking point for either-or choices, as Shambaugh has done, we should better keep muddling through. It may not look elegant. But it works.

The second problem of the authoritarianism versus democracy paradigm, on which Chinese "collapsism" is based, is that it masks more than it reveals under each of these labels. It is interesting to note that when international media cover the multi-faceted crises that Europe faces, words such as stagnation, decline or even decay are frequently used, but rarely the word "collapse". When it comes to China, however, even if very similar problems are under discussion - be it economic slowdown or social disparity - regime crackdown/crackup seems to be the natural choice of term. Such "discriminatory" treatment is not conducive to understanding either China or the West.

By using the authoritarian tag, China watchers neglect the contrary trends, or at best underestimate their significance and implications. For instance, over the years, China has been ranking bottom in all sorts of international indices in terms of transparency. Yet anyone living in China can tell that government openness is on the rise with more and more information being put online. Government responsiveness is increasing, too. The ill-designed stock market circuit breaker mechanism was removed just days after being put in place, accompanied by the stepping down of the securities authority chief and a public apology from a deputy chairman. The National People's Congress, the top legislature, is more minutely scrutinizing the government, as evidenced by the annual query on the budgeting by the Finance and Economics Committee at the NPC session.

All this is the reverse of authoritarianism, which foreign observers refuse to acknowledge. In contrast, under the label of "democracy", deep-level structural pitfalls in many countries tend to be brushed aside hastily as epiphenomenal, wasting valuable opportunities of systematic overhaul again and again. Fortunately or unfortunately, there is no one shouting out "the coming collapse of Europe" or predicting the United States' demise is likely to be "protracted, messy and violent".

Let's be clear: no one is trying to boast the China miracle or trumpet the China model. There is no established model since China is still in the process of reform and transformation. For every little progress, there awaits a bigger challenge. Complacency has no room here. Nor has "collapsism". Because "collapsism" unduly rejects the resolution, confidence and dynamism in both the Chinese nation and State to face up to the mounting challenges that have been nicely listed out in Shambaugh's book. But be alerted: his diagnosis is inaccurate and his prescription unhelpful.

The author is a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Law, Peking University.

(China Daily USA 04/13/2016 page12)
Rail giant CRRC looks to branch out in US Updated: 2016-04-13 11:24 By Hezi Jiang in New York(China Daily USA)

China Railway Rolling Stock Corp (CRRC) said it is interested in manufacturing vehicles for all forms of rail transportation in the US, from subway cars to trains, from freight wagons to high-speed locomotives.

The company is bidding for a double-decker train contract in Philadelphia, CRRC Vice-President Yu Weiping told China Daily on Monday in New York. He also mentioned a bid for a subway project in Los Angeles during an interview with Bloomberg.

Yu's comments came after the company won a $1.3 billion contract last month to supply up to 846 new railcars for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) - the largest railcar purchase in CTA's history. The prototype cars are scheduled for delivery in 2019, and are expected to be in service the following year.

Yu said the two sides are finalizing the deal, and along with the order, CRRC will build a new railcar-assembly facility in the Windy City, generating about 170 jobs.

It will be CRRC's second facility in the US. Construction began on the first 220,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Springfield, Massachusetts, last September, and according to Yu, the work has been going smoothly, with completion scheduled for fall 2017. The first cars are expected to be delivered to Boston in 2018.

"We expand globally, and we operate locally," said Yu. "These local investments help us to adapt faster and establish relationships.

"The two facilities in Springfield and Chicago will provide about 300 direct jobs, and more indirect ones throughout the supply chain," he said.

CRRC also has taken a minority stake in a joint venture to manufacture freight wagons in Wilmington, North Carolina.

The company is also involved in a high-speed rail project between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, announced before President Xi Jinping's state visit last September.

"The US will certainly have more and more high-speed rails," said Yu. He believes a high-speed rail between Boston and Washington DC through New York City is much needed, and the line would be profitable.

"CRRC now has a presence in 101 countries around the world," he said. "The US is one of our major markets."

When asked about CRRC's ultimate goal in the US market, Yu responded, "Like when one needs a car ride, he thinks of Uber. When he needs to take public transportation, he thinks of CRRC."

Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said that every country is working hard to improve their economic conditions through measures such as construction of infrastructure, which gives companies like CRRC business opportunities.

Zhou said expanding of equipment manufacturing overseas is China's goal and high-speed train fits into that strategy.

"China's companies should strengthen their advantages, the government should not take care of everything and let the market decide," he said.

Du Xiaoying contributed to this story.

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com
China, UK showcase best books in London Updated: 2016-04-13 08:31 By Li Wensha and Fu Jing in London(China Daily)

China and the UK are among more than 110 countries displaying their best books at the London Book Fair this week.

Publishers from both countries are marking the 400th anniversaries this month of the deaths of playwrights Tang Xianzu and William Shakespeare.

A specially commissioned Chinese play combining Tang's Peony Pavilion and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was being performed in Chinese and English on Tuesday, the opening day.

A mini performance space based on Shakespeare's Globe Theatre has been set up at the Olympia exhibition center in London. Shakespearean actors from around the world will perform extracts of works in six languages - Chinese, Spanish, Polish, Hindi, Arabic and English - in recognition of Shakespeare's global influence.

Celebrating its 45th anniversary, the London Book Fair is a global marketplace for the negotiation of rights, sales and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels.

Wang Jihui, a professor of English at Peking University, said the two legendary writers can help people to understand both countries' civilizations.

Wang also said there is a shortage of understanding and cultural exchanges between China and the West, and urged the latter to take a more active approach, particularly in view of a Chinese-UK commitment to strengthen their partnership.

As part of the 400th anniversary celebrations, a delegation from China Publishing Group Corp headed by company vice-president Li Yan visited Bohunt School in Hampshire, southern England, where CPG donated books.

Last year, the school was invited to take part in a BBC documentary, Are Our Kids Tough Enough? The broadcaster invited five Chinese middle school teachers for a month of Chinese-style teaching at the school, triggering debate on educational differences.

CPG brought along more than 100 books, including bilingual texts of Shakespeare and Tang, Chinese textbooks, reference works, books for adolescents and works on Chinese history and culture.

Wang Mingjie and Song Wei contributed to this story in London.

(China Daily 04/13/2016 page1)
In Liang case, attempt to unite 2 groups Updated: 2016-04-13 11:24 By Niu Yue and Hezi Jiang in New York(China Daily USA)

Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams speaks at Brooklyn Borough Hall on Tuesday in an attempt to unite the Asian- and African-American communities. Provided to China Daily

"Peter Liang's case should not become a barrier" between the Asian- and African-American communities, said John Chan, chairman of the Asian Community Empowerment in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

That relationship has experienced some tension after the manslaughter conviction in February of Liang, a former New York City police officer, in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, 28, an African-American man, at a Brooklyn housing project in November 2014.

Liang, now 28, discharged his gun in a darkened stairwell at the housing project. The ricocheted bullet fatally struck Gurley on a lower floor.

Some in the Chinese community argued that Liang was convicted to compensate for past cases in which African-American men had died in confrontations with police in the US.

Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson issued a statement on March 23 recommending Justice Danny Chun sentence Liang to five years of probation with six months of home confinement and 500 hours of community service, instead of jail time.

Charles Barron, a state assemblyman and longtime community activist, warned of unrest if Liang gets a sentence with no jail time. Some from the Chinese community said that such statements can affect the outcome of the case.

Asian community leaders, including Chan, former New York City comptroller John Liu and black community leaders, including Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, gathered at Brooklyn Borough Hall on Tuesday in an attempt to unite the two communities.

"Today we represented two minority groups, took the first step by sitting together seeking social harmony," Chan told China Daily after the meeting.

Chan said the meeting focused on how to achieve harmony and cooperation.

"What we need is timely communication when problems arise," Chan added.

Chan said that the black community leaders proposed that both sides take part in each other's activities more often to improve understanding.

The one-hour meeting was extended by 20 minutes, and more than 30 people attended.

"I hope the contradiction could be minimized by taking this opportunity; otherwise, our two minority groups will both be sufferers," Chan said.

The judge granted Liang's attorneys a hearing to question juror Michael Vargas, who the defense alleges wasn't truthful in peremptory questions before he was selected for the jury.

The hearing will take place on Wednesday, a day before Liang's scheduled sentencing.

"We have decided our reaction to different results," said Wu Yiping, a community leader who has reached out to thousands of Chinese across the US through social media app WeChat.

"If the judge dismisses the conviction and orders a retrial, we will stay silent," he said. "If Liang is sentenced, either with jail time or no jail time, we will continue to speak up. This is an accident."

Contact the writers at hezijiang@chinadaily.com.cn
One of my dreams, for this week in California, was to manage to daven one morning on the beach. As it turns out, it's only about a block from the friend's house where I've been staying to the edge of the Pacific.

As we walk down to the beach, the sun is shining brightly in a sky of pale robin's-egg blue. As we draw closer to the water, the wind lifts up my featherweight rainbow tallit around me like wings.

We settle on the sand. Whoever feels moved offers the beginning of a prayer -- either a beloved melody, or the beloved lilt of weekday nusach -- and the rest of us join in. We work our way through the whole matbeah, the ancient ladder of the prayer service.

At the appropriate moment I chime in with part of the Song at the Sea, because -- well, here we are, at the seashore on the cusp of Pesach. Ozi v'zimrat Yah -- "My strength is in Your song..." Next time I sing those words at havdalah they will have a different feel.

Seagulls fly overhead. A sandpiper pecks at the wet sand by the water's edge. Two wetsuit-clad surfers paddle out into the water, and from time to time I see one of them stand and glide a ways in toward shore.

We move in and out of nusach. We have moments of silence which I spend beaming. We sing "Mi Chamocha" to the melody of "Adir Hu," a Pesach song, which evokes years of Passover memories. When we rise into our amidah, our standing prayer, I have a shivery moment of recognition. Recently I had a mental image of a doorframe on the beach at the edge of the sea. Suddenly the sea ahead of us here reminds me of the view through that door.

We close with "Eli, Eli," a setting of a poem by Hannah Szenes. In English, it can be rendered as "My God, my God, I pray that these things never end: the sand and the sea, the rush of the waters, the crash of the heavens, the prayer of the heart." As we walk away from the beach, the prayer of my heart is a fervent Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Four happy daveners, primed now for fabulous morning meetings!

(L to R: me, Rabbi T'mimah Ickovits of Holistic Jew, ALEPH's Rosh Hashpa'ah Rabbi Shohama Wiener and my co-chair Rabbi David Evan Markus.)

Many thanks to the kind stranger who graciously snapped our photo so we could all be in the picture.
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Hackathon is one of the secrets for the continuous development and growth of technology giants such as Google and Facebook.  Photo Topica

HA NOI Viet Nam News - The organising board of the Edtech Asia Hackathon 2016 contest announced the winning teams at the two-day contest in Ha Noi last weekend.

Edtech Asia Hackathon 2016 is a group programming contest; each group contained two to four people. Nineteen teams competed for 48 hours to provide innovative and unique technology products in the field of education.

It is the first time that the contest has been held in Viet Nam. The total awards of the contest, organised by Topica and Edtech Asia, with the sponsorship of the two technology giants, Facebook and Google, is up to US$90,000.

Team ACT, which includes four members, won first prize with the Muzikator application, which helps people learn music. The application can also combat some of the drawbacks of traditional music teaching.

By winning the first prize, the team will attend the Edtech Asia Summit in Bangkok, Thailand.

The app Kid REC from team Eezy won second prize and the FBStart Award, worth $80,000, from Facebook as the best mobile app.

Kid REC helps children between the age of six and 10 build emotional skills. The programme aims to use technology as a tool to help children interact with other people. Kid REC is a game model in which children record videos to complete the tasks.

The third prize went to team Powerify with Somia - dream without end application and team JustDoIt won the Topica Award with the Virtual Book application.

Hackathon is one of the secrets for the continuous development and growth of technology giants such as Google and Facebook. The Like button and Facebooks Chat function (Facebook Message) were products from Hackathon contests.

Facebook and Google said they were very interested in the development of the technology community in Viet Nam in recent years, and spoke highly about the regular creative competitions as well as Hackathon.

Huynh Kim Tuoc from Facebook, said that Viet Nam had many excellent "actors" in IT, but there was a lack of stages for them.

The first Hackathon in Viet Nam opened a new stage for the countrys IT community, he added.  VNS
A view of HCM City.  Photo VNA

HCM CITY Viet Nam News - Twelve of 17 markets in the Asia Pacific recorded declines in MasterCards Index of Consumer Confidence, but Myanmar, Viet Nam and India are still extremely optimistic in their outlook.

For the first time since 2012, consumers in the region are not optimistic about the immediate future, according to a MasterCard report titled Consumer Confidence (H2 2015).

The index has fallen below the 60 point optimism mark to neutral, with 12 of the 17 markets seeing a deterioration in confidence levels. Stock market sentiment was the key driver of the decline followed by prospects for employment. The biggest decline in optimism levels was seen in Sri Lanka, followed by Singapore and Taiwan.

Myanmar, Viet Nam and India on the other hand are extremely optimistic in their outlook for the next six months.

Consumer confidence in India stayed stable with consumers maintaining their extremely optimistic outlook.

Between November and December last year 8,779 respondents aged 18 to 64 in 17 Asia Pacific markets were asked to give a six-month outlook on five economic factors -- the economy, employment prospects, regular income prospects, the stock market, and their quality of life.

A zero score is most pessimistic, 100 is most optimistic and 50 is neutral.

Eric Schneider, region head, Asia Pacific, MasterCard Advisors, said: The decline of consumer confidence in Asia Pacific reflects the continued uncertainty in the global economic environment. In particular, recent stock market turbulence has significantly impacted consumer outlook.

However, a number of emerging markets are bucking this trend, namely, Myanmar, Viet Nam and India, which are all continuing to see strong economic growth.

So while Asia Pacifics overall confidence has dampened and growth has slowed, its markets will still play a key role in driving global growth in 2016.

Overall, the Asia Pacific markets saw a deterioration in confidence, falling 6.4 points to 59.7 points in H2 2015 from 66.1 points the previous half. Eight of the 17 markets surveyed are now below the 50 point neutral, double the number in H1.

There were declines across all five key economic indicators: stock market (-10.8 to 52.0), employment (-7.1 to 59.8), economy (-6.7 to 56.2), quality of life (-4.7 to 57.4) and regular income prospects (-2.9 to 72.9).

People in Myanmar, Viet Nam and India are however extremely optimistic about economic prospects over the next six months, with Myanmar showing the biggest improvement.

Compared to H1, only Myanmar (+14.1), Indonesia (+12.2) and Viet Nam (+7.3) out of the 16 Asia Pacific markets surveyed recorded a greater than five-point improvement in consumer confidence.

Declines were recorded in 12, with extreme deterioration in Sri Lanka (-25.2), Singapore (-20.9), and Taiwan (-20.6).

The decreases in Korea, Malaysia, and Taiwan moved them from neutral into pessimistic territory, while Australia, the only pessimistic market in the previous survey, moved from pessimistic to neutral.  VNS
BA RIA  VUNG TAUViet Nam News - Cai Mep International Port berthed a giant cargo vessel with a capacity of 14,000 containers (equivalent to 150,000 tonnes of cargo) on Monday .

Millau Bridge, which is 366m long and 52m wide, arrived to carry goods to Northern Europe, marking an important milestone in cargo transport from Viet Nam to Europe.

Cai Mep is the only deep-water port in Viet Nam that can handle vessels with a capacity of 150,000 tonnes.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Cong said receiving such a huge cargo vessel confirms the value and effectiveness of Cai Mep International Port. After five years of operations the port has received 224 ships with a capacity of over 80,000 tonnes.

The ship sails from Hong Kong to ports in 10 countries including Viet Nam, Singapore, the Netherlands and Britain.

The ship is operated by CKYHE Alliance formed by Asian container lines Cosco, Yang Ming, Henjin Shipping, and Evergreen. This is CKYHEs first large container ship to arrive in the country as part of efforts to connect Asian and European markets.  VNS


Viet Nam is currently the United States' 13th largest exporter, selling primarily apparel, electronic machinery and spare parts, footwear and interior decor.  VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet

HA NOI Viet Nam News - Opportunities to export to the US and the US requirements for imported food and pharmaceuticals were discussed during a seminar held in Ha Noi on Monday.

Viet Nam is currently the United States 13th largest exporter, selling primarily apparel, electronic machinery and spare parts, footwear and interior decor.

Agro-fisheries and food exporters, however, sustained negative growth last year due to a string of barriers set up by the US, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trades Trade Promotion Agency o Kim Lang said.

According to the ministry, two-way trade between Viet Nam and the US soared from US$452 million in 1995 to $1.51 billion in 2002 when their bilateral free-trade agreement came into effect.

The figure hit $37.9 billion last year, during which Viet Nam rose to 19th place and was among the US leading trade partners.

US technical expert David Lennarz said US firms were interested in Viet Nam and were switching to Vietnamese partners from others in the region.

Vietnamese enterprises were, however, facing obstacles caused by the US technical barriers and strict food safety requirements.

Moreover, the US had also launched the Container Security Initiative and set requirements for food production, processing and warehousing, which were adding to export costs.

Besides this, the US trade laws were complicated and cumbersome.

Experts suggested Vietnamese firms thoroughly learn about their US partners and their business rules and practices before making any transactions.

The event was hosted by the ministrys Trade Promotion Agency.  VNS
HCM CITY Free trade agreements set out ambitious labour standards for companies and stress the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR), experts have said.

Last year Viet Nam wrapped up negotiations for the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), Swedish ambassador Camilla Mellander told a seminar held in HCM City yesterday.

The EVFTA will be strengthening the EU and Viet Nam relationship even further and it also includes a comprehensive chapter on trade and sustainable development.

We should ensure that trade does not happen at the cost of the environment or of peoples rights. Businesses in Viet Nam should be aware of the importance of CSR compliance, as committed by the Vietnamese Government in the EVFTA.

Consumers are getting more and more aware of how the products they buy have been produced in terms of effects on the environment and workers conditions.

Consumers awareness is, among other factors, putting pressure on businesses in Viet Nam and elsewhere to strengthen their efforts to comply with international CSR standards.

Kristin Palsson, deputy director of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs International Trade Policy Department, said, The Swedish Governments view is that open trade and export promotion should go hand in hand with high ethical standards.

It is also important to engage in a dialogue with businesses on the challenges that this presents.

Corporate Social Responsibility is becoming more important for sustainable economic growth in todays globalised world.

Vo Tan Thanh, deputy president of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the EU-Viet Nam FTA and the TPP would bring Vietnamese businesses the opportunity to grow and expand their markets.

But they also pose challenges for Vietnamese businesses to comply with international CSR standards in light of the EVFTA, he said.

When the EVFTA comes into force, it is estimated that Viet Nams GDP will grow by an additional 15 per cent and its exports to the EU by almost 35 per cent.

Once in place, expectedly in 2018, the EVFTA, the first of its kind the EU has signed with a developing country, will not only facilitate trade and enlarge the market for Vietnamese goods and services but also offer Viet Nam new opportunities to improve sustainability and industrial relations.

Labour reform

According to Chang Hee Lee, director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Viet Nam, the EVFTA and TPP reaffirm the four basic labour standards specified in the ILO Declaration: freedom of association and right to collective bargaining, elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour and child labour and non-discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

To enjoy the full benefits of the TPP and other FTAs, Viet Nam would have to embark on major and wide-ranging reforms to improve its business environment, legal system and institutions, he said while speaking at the Viet Nam Leadership Summit last Friday.

It would also have to embark on major labour reforms, particularly its industrial relations system, he said.

At the heart of the TPP requirements is Viet Nams full respect for the principle of freedom of association, which is seen to be the most difficult labour-related challenge under the deal.

Now all unions must be a part of the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL), but under the TPP, workers should be given the freedom to set up or join any organisation they choose.

This is a significant change not only for workers and the VGCL but also for employers and the Government.

Nguyen Manh Cuong, director of the Ministry of Labour Invalids and Social Affairs Centre for Industrial Relations Development, said in terms of the right to establish employees representative organisations, Viet Nam and all countries acceding to the TPP would have to respect and ensure employees rights to establish and participate in employees representative organisations at any enterprise.

International experience and comparative research at the global level clearly show that effective industrial relations create benefits for all stakeholders, Lee said.

Viet Nam should use the TPP as a golden opportunity to transform its outdated industrial relations into an effective and modern system that can serve its businesses, workers and society, he added. VNS
"Viet Nam will open its market to electronic payments through credit cards without any restrictions on the number of card companies."  Photo tuoitre.vn

HCM CITY Viet Nam News - The Vietnamese banking industry should take advantage of the Trans Pacific Partnership to develop and integrate with global markets, a seminar heard in HCM City yesterday.

Viet Nam will have the chance to attract more foreign investment in its banking industry, Luong Hoang Thai, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trades Multilateral Trade Policy Department, said.

Speaking at the seminar titled TPP: opportunity and challenge for financial industry and Vietnamese enterprises business development, he said, Greater participation of foreign investors will help the industry strengthen its resources, technology and management as well as to expand co-operation.

His deputy Ngo Chung Khanh said The TPP is a new model for regional economic co-operation, and creates the most favourable conditions for trade and investment.

He pointed out that when the TPP came into effect, local companies would benefit from a more transparent business environment, larger export markets, lower prices of goods and services, and a chance to join global supply chains and borrow from international sources.

But he also warned that competition would increase significantly with respect to certain products.

Domestic enterprises must compete for capital and human resources with foreign investors and, if they want to join the supply chains, improve their management and technologies.

They should know what Viet Nams obligations are, change their mindset in the new scenario, make long-term business plans, improve their competitiveness and seek co-operation with international partners to join global supply chains, he said.

Vu Minh Chau of the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV)s International Co-operation Department spoke about Viet Nams TPP obligations.

TPP members are committed to retaining existing policies. In case of amendments, freer ones will be allowed. She was referring to the fact that any changes in commercial policies mean they have to be loosened in favour of foreign entities.

"The TPP stipulates that members have to offer national treatment to financial organisations, meaning they cannot discriminate between local and foreign ones," she said.

Viet Nam will open its market to electronic payments through credit cards without any restrictions on the number of card companies.

"Foreign credit institutions can set up representative offices, branches of foreign banks, joint venture banks and banks with 100 per cent foreign capital more easily.

The SBV must have a comprehensive legal framework to be in line with the TPP.

She added that the challenges faced by local banks were limited financial products, poor governance, and middling risk management. - VNS
An Aircraft Aibus A-320 of Jetstar Pacific Airlines lands in Da Nang International Airport.  Photo Cong Thanh

A NANG Viet Nam News - Jetstar Pacific Airlines plans to launch its new route from the central city of a Nang to Osaka, Japan, in August with four flights per week.

It will be the first new international flight launched by Jetstar Pacific this year. The airline will use a 180-seat Airbus A320 for the seven-hour flight.

The airline said the new route would meet the increasing demand for low-cost travel between a Nang and Osaka.

In 2014, the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines officially launched the first direct flight connecting Narita Airport, Tokyo, and a Nang with seven direct flights per week.

The operation of a Nang-Osaka would give another choice to tourists visiting destinations in the central region.

The number of Japanese tourists to the central city is expected to grow from 15 to 20 per cent due to the launch of direct flights.  VNS
HA NOI  The 26th Viet Nam International Trade Fair (Viet Nam Expo) opened today in Ha Noi with an aim of enhancing regional and international economic connectivity.

The event is hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Over 500 enterprises from 14 domestic provinces and cities, as well as other countries and territories like India, China, South Korea, Laos, Cambodia and Australia, are showcasing their products at 600 booths.

Products on display include machinery, equipment, electronic devices and accessories, food and beverages, houseware and healthcare products.

The fair is expected to step up stronger connections between Vietnamese firms and their foreign counterparts in trade, investment and technological transfers, helping to boost the countrys export growth and luring more foreign investment.

It will also offer exhibitors a chance to learn about Viet Nams investment policies and tools for trade links.

Named the honourable country of this years Viet Nam Expo, Belarus will co-operate with Viet Nam to host a trade forum.

As scheduled, the Viet Nam export promotion forum will take place tomorrow morning for enterprises and trade managers to discuss export prospects and policies.

The fair will last until Saturday and is expected to attract over 30,000 visitors. -- VNS
HA NOI  A photo contest will be launched by the Ha Noi Association of Photographic Artists in co-ordination with the Viet Nam Association of Photographic Artists (VAPA).

The contest is held annually to encourage Ha Noi-based photographers to record the citys long history.

This years contest titled An Tuong Ha Noi (Ha Noi Impression) will allow photographers to take photos in different genres, such as landscapes, portraits and daily life featuring architecture, historic and cultural sites, traditional crafts from villages, as well as cultural activities and important events in the city.

In particular, photographers are encouraged to take pictures of outstanding people in the campaign to "study and follow President Ho Chi Minhs moral example".

The contestants will upload photos on the contest website www.lienhoananhkhuvuc. vn from May 1 to June 15. Each contestant can send a maximum of eight photos .

Vu Khanh, chairman of VAPA, will head a five-member panel that includes Chairman of the Ha Noi association inh An, and international award-winning photographer Tran Viet Van.

The award-winning photos will be displayed at an exhibition on July 15 in Ha Noi. -- VNS
A Vietnamese-French septuagenarian has sent to HCM City over 300 photos featuring the Vietnamese community in France. Photo Vietnamplus.vn

HCM CITY  A Vietnamese-French septuagenarian has sent to HCM City over 300 photos featuring the Vietnamese community in France.

Le Tan Xuan, 77, took photos at various community events like Lunar New Year, Ho Chi Minhs birth anniversary, Independence Day, Prime Minister Pham Van ongs visit to France, and others, capturing the communitys cultural evolution over the years.

He has been a photographer and member of the Vietnamese community in France for 50 years.

This year the country will celebrate the 105th anniversary of Ho Chi Minhs departure from HCM City in his quest for national salvation and 70th anniversary of his visit to France as president, and through the photos Xuan hopes to contribute to the occasions.  VNS
LONDON  Britons who want to leave the EU in Junes referendum are sending the governments pro-Europe leaflets back to Downing Street in a furious protest against a campaign critics have slammed as scaremongering.

The "Post It Back" campaign on Facebook and Twitter has attracted support from hundreds of people who do not appreciate the taxpayer-funded, pro-European Union leaflets being delivered to their homes this week.

Kirsty Stubbs posted a picture of her leaflet on Facebook defaced with slogans including "What scaremongering rubbish" and "Vote Leave!" before sending it back.

Alex Armstrong sent his leaflet back to a freepost address for Prime Minister David Camerons Conservatives with an added special package in the hope of lumbering the party with a large bill for postage.

"Just sent back the propaganda leaflet to the freepost address with a suitably heavy attachment -- a lump of concrete," he wrote on Facebook.

Others burnt their leaflets or said they would use them as toilet paper, coffee mats or cat litter.

Eurosceptic MPs are also angry that Camerons government has spent over 9 million (11 million euros, $13 million) on the leaflets, which will eventually go to every home in Britain.

They forced a debate on the issue in the House of Commons on Monday.

"It is bad enough getting junk mail, but to have Juncker mail sent to us with our own taxes is the final straw," said Liam Fox, a senior Conservative, punning on the name of European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.

Another Conservative, Nigel Evans, spoke of his work as an election monitor and compared ministers campaign tactics to those in Zimbabwe.

"If in any of the countries I visit I witnessed the sort of spiv (racketeer) Robert Mugabe antics that I have seen carried out by this government, I would condemn the conduct of that election as not fair," he said.

More than 200,000 people have signed a petition on parliaments website opposing the use of taxpayers money to pay for the "biased" leaflet, forcing MPs to schedule another debate on the issue for May 9.

Unfair advantage?

The glossy, 16-page leaflet makes a series of claims including that leaving the EU would "create years of uncertainty and potential disruption" and that EU membership "makes it easier to keep criminals and terrorists out of the UK".

The main pro and anti-EU campaigns will each be entitled to send a publicly-funded leaflet to all households or electors, worth up to 15 million each, in the run-up to the June 23 vote.

But opponents say that by spending 9 million on this extra leaflet before the formal campaign period begins on Friday, the government is getting an unfair advantage.

Support for both camps is tied at 50 percent, according to an average of the six major polls.

Darren Halket set up the "Post It Back" social media campaign, which has drawn support from figures including UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage.

He expects that hundreds of thousands of people will eventually send their leaflets back.

"Its public money that could be spent elsewhere on X number of nurses, help for the homeless, food banks," Halket, who runs a small business developing websites in Manchester, northwest England, said.

"This country is not in the best shape," he said.  AFP
BRASILIA  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff took off the gloves Tuesday, branding her vice president a traitor and coup-plotter ahead of an impeachment vote in Congress, with a party once in the ruling coalition set to cast a ballot against her.

In a blistering speech, Rousseff, 68, charged: "If there were any doubts about my reporting that a coup is under way, there cant be now."

Referring to Mondays leak of an audio recording in which Vice President Michel Temer practices the speech he would make if Rousseff is impeached, the president said: "The conspirators mask has slipped.

"We are living in strange and worrying times, times of a coup, and of pretending, and betrayal of trust," she said in the capital Brasilia.

"Yesterday, they used the pretense of a leak to give the order for the conspiracy."

Rousseff is in the final stretch of a bruising attempt to save her presidency from impeachment on charges that she illegally manipulated government accounts to mask the effects of recession during her 2014 re-election.

Temer, who will take over if Rousseff is impeached, countered that a war was being waged against him on both a personal and professional level.

"Im not waging war, Im defending myself," he told Globo News.

But making it clear he was ready to step in Rousseffs shoes, Temer, 75, added: "Without being pretentious, but with much modesty, I must say that I have a lot of experience in public life."

After a congressional committee voted to recommend Rousseffs ouster in chaotic and bad-tempered scenes late Monday, the stage was set for a weekend showdown in the full lower house.

Scramble for votes

Deputies were due to start debating Friday, with a decisive vote on Sunday, officials said.

"Voting will begin on Sunday at 2:00 pm (1700 GMT) and we calculate that the result will be late that evening," a spokesman for the speakers office said.

If the house reaches a two-thirds majority, or 342 deputies, Rousseffs case is sent to the Senate. Anything less, and Rousseff will walk away with her job.

The latest survey of the 513 deputies in the lower house by Estadao daily showed 300 favoring impeachment and 125 opposed. That left the result in the hands of the 88 deputies still undecided or not stating a position.

Then, after hours of meetings, the Progressive Party announced it has decided to pull out of the ruling coalition, and that most of its 47 lawmakers will vote for her to be impeached.

The PP is one of the larger parties previously largely favorable to her.

Corruption scandals

Rousseff is hugely unpopular as Brazil sinks into its worst recession in decades. The political system has also been paralyzed by a huge corruption scandal at state oil company Petrobras.

In the latest arrest in the probe, dubbed Operation Car Wash, a former senator who helped lead an anti-corruption committee was charged Tuesday with taking more than $1.5 million in bribes to help corrupt companies avoid scrutiny.

Rousseff and allies, led by ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have fought back hard in the last few days, describing the impeachment drive as a thinly veiled coup plot.

"I would never have thought that my generation would see putschists trying to overthrow a democratically elected president," Lula, who ruled from 2003 to 2011, told thousands of supporters Monday in Rio de Janeiro.

He singled out Temer and Cunha, who has been charged with stashing millions of dollars in bribes in Swiss accounts.

However, Lula himself is charged with money laundering in a Car Wash-related case, and supporters of impeachment say that Rousseffs allegedly illegal manipulation of government accounts fits a pattern of incompetence and corruption.

Impeachment procedure

If the lower house does approve Rousseffs impeachment, the case goes to the Senate.

The Senate must then confirm it will take the case, at which point Rousseff would step down for up to 180 days while a trial was held. Temer, who recently left the ruling coalition to enter the opposition, would take over.

To depose Rousseff, the Senate would need to vote by a two-thirds majority, with Temer remaining president to serve out her term.

After winning Mondays skirmish in the committee, opponents of Rousseff declared they were on a roll.

"It was a victory for the Brazilian people," said opposition deputy Jovair Arantes, predicting that the result would carry with "strong" pro-impeachment momentum into the full chambers vote.

But pro-government deputy Silvio Costa said he was also confident.

"The opposition is very arrogant" after Mondays committee victory, he said.

There were worries that passions will spill over as the lower house vote approaches. Large crowds of both Rousseff supporters and opponents were expected in the capital Brasilia and will be separated by a metal barrier.

More than 4,000 police and firefighters will be on duty, G1 news site reported, and security has been stepped up at Congress, with heavy restrictions on access to the building.  AFP
Director-General of the World Trade Organistion (WTO) Roberto Azevedo .  Photo guardian

GENEVA Viet Nam News - Viet Nam is on the right path to international integration, Director-General of the World Trade Organistion (WTO) Roberto Azevedo said.

He made the statement during an exclusive interview granted to Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Geneva ahead of his official visit to the Southeast Asian nation on Thursday and Friday.

Following is the full text of the interview:

This is the first time a WTO Director-General has visited Viet Nam. Could you tell us the purpose of the visit?

Well, it is in fact my first visit to Viet Nam as Director General, and more generally as a person, and as it is my first visit I am very interested in the country. Viet Nam has boasted very significant progress, both in economic terms, but also in social terms  millions have been lifted out of poverty. So Im very happy with the progress. As the country has experimented over the last several years, Viet Nam has become a leading agriculture exporter, its a very attractive sight for foreign direct investment in Asia, its an economy thats playing a role in the region and in the world, and its important for me to hear a little bit about what the projects are for the country. What are the strategies for growth, or for trade in the country?

And I will be meeting with government officials and representatives from business and academia, so its important for me to listen to all those things and check how the WTO can help. And how we can deepen the dialogue between the two of us.

What is your assessment of Viet Nams efforts in international integration?

Well, Viet Nam acceded to the WTO in 2007, and before that and after that, a number of reforms were introduced that made a big difference.

Trade was liberalised considerably, tariffs in general were lowered, there were reforms in services as well, and there is clearly an improvement also in intellectual property and enforcement and protection. So, there were many things that were done. The government took several steps to modernise the economy, to make it more attractive, to make it more business friendly, and all those things now are benefitting the country.

So I think Viet Nam is on the right path. It has also developed a network of trade agreements; it has participated in regional agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP, which is very important as well. So the efforts are paying off, and I think Viet Nam is on the right track.

What, in your opinion, should WTO and Viet Nam do to increase the countrys role and position in global trade activities?

Well first, we have to talk to each other more, and thats precisely what Im doing. Thats why Im coming to Viet Nam - precisely to deepen the understanding of what Viet Nam has planned for the future and how the WTO can help them, and also Viet Nam can help the WTO too, helping to develop new disciplines and areas for negotiations that may benefit the country in the future.

Implementing agreements that we have already is very important. Viet Nam was early in ratifying the trade facilitation agreement - it did so last December - so now implementing that agreement is very important because in general it will lower the cost of doing business for Vietnamese enterprises and it will facilitate the business of small and medium enterprises which are the larger part of the Vietnamese economy. It is composed of small and medium enterprises, and they benefit significantly from that agreement.

And of course now we are figuring out how to conduct further negotiations, how to move forward with our negotiations, both with the impending issues of the Doha round, but also non-Doha issues which members want to talk about like electronic commerce, even small and medium enterprises, or facilitation of investments and other things people are talking about that Viet Nam could consider discussing here with the WTO to help further its plans for development and growth.  VNS
HA NOI  The 13th National Assembly (NA) fulfilled its major objectives during its tenure, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said at the 11th meeting -- the last session of the 13th legislature.

In her closing speech this morning, Ngan said the 13th legislature had fulfilled its task of promulgating the 2013 Constitution and fully realising the Constitution through laws on the organisation of the State apparatus; the protection of justice, human rights and citizens rights; the perfection of a socialist-oriented market economy mechanism and the strengthening of defence and security, along with the assurance of social welfare, environmental protection and international integration.

A key task of the last session was to review the NAs performance throughout its tenure, she said, noting that lawmakers had devoted time to examining reports reviewing the five-year performance of the assembly, the president, the government and the prime minister, as well as the chief justice of the Supreme Peoples Court, the procurator general of the Supreme Peoples Procuracy and the State Auditor General.

She said in the context of the changing domestic and international situations, under the leadership of her party and with the trust, support and supervision of the people, the State apparatus had inherited and promoted the achievements of the previous tenures, while continuing the reformation of its organisation and operations, thus fulfilling its duties in line with the regulations of the Constitution and laws.

The NA chairwoman said at this session that the legislature had removed and elected high-ranking leaders in a democratic manner and in accordance with the partys orientations and regulations under Vietnamese law, thus meeting in a timely manner the requirements of the partys leadership and the States guidance.

For the first time, the NA chair, the president, the prime minister, and the chief justice had taken oaths in front of the national flag, committing absolute loyalty to the fatherland, the Vietnamese people and the Constitution and vowing to do their utmost to fulfil their assigned tasks.

The NA believed and supported the newly elected leaders and wanted them to continue improving themselves in order to accomplish their tasks, she said.

To continue managing the duties of the 13th tenure and to prepare for the operations of the 14th tenure, the NA requested the NA Standing Committee, the NAs Council for Ethnic Affairs, the NA committees and the National Election Council, as well as all branches and administrations at all levels of the government, the Supreme Peoples Court, the Supreme Peoples Procuracy and the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee, in addition to other relevant agencies and organisations, to focus on implementing the newly adopted laws and resolutions and prepare for the election of deputies to the 14th National Assembly and members of Peoples Councils at all levels during the 2016-2021 tenure, she said.

With 462 approval votes, which was 93.52 per cent of the total deputies, the NA also passed a resolution on the five-year socio-economic development plan for 2016-2020.

The resolution sets the overall targets of ensuring macroeconomic stability, striving for higher economic growth than the five previous years, accelerating the execution of strategic breakthroughs and restructuring the economy in parallel with renewing its growth model, along with increasing productivity, efficiency and competitiveness.

Promoting culture, democracy, social progress and equality as well as guaranteeing and increasing social welfare and local living standards are also among the goals of the plan.

The other main objectives include proactively adapting to climate change; effectively managing natural resources and environmental protection; strengthening national defence and security; persistently and resolutely safeguarding national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity; and ensuring political security, social order and safety.

The plan also aims to improve the efficiency of external affairs and international integration while sustaining peace and stability and creating a favourable environment for national construction and defence, thus elevating the position of Viet Nam in the international arena and developing the country into a modern industrialised society.

The major specific goals, as outlined in the plan, include an average gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.5-7 per cent per year, with GDP per capita of some US$3,200-3,500 by 2020.

The proportion of industry and services is projected to make up 85 per cent of the GDP, while the total social investment capital is expected to reach some 32-34 per cent of the GDP. The budgetary overspending will be brought to under 4 per cent of the GDP by 2020.

The total factor productivity (TFP) is hoped to contribute around 30-35 per cent to GDP growth. The average social labour productivity is due to increase by 5 per cent per annum, while the ratio of urbanisation will reach 38-40 per cent by 2020.

The ratio of agricultural workers in the labour force will stand at around 40 per cent, while that of trained workers is 65-70 per cent. The unemployment rate in urban areas is set to be reduced to under 4 per cent, and the household poverty rate will reduce by 1-1.5 per cent each year. As much as 95 per cent of the population in urban areas and 90 per cent in rural areas will gain access to clean water, 85 per cent of toxic waste will be treated, and forest cover will reach 42 per cent, according to the plan.

The plan also sets a target of having more than 80 per cent of its population covered by health insurance, with 9-10 doctors and 26.5 hospital beds serving every 10,000 people.

With 465 votes, or 94.13 per cent of the total deputies, the NA adopted the resolution on reviewing the performance of the NA, the president, the government and the prime minister. The performance of the chief justice of the Supreme Peoples Court, the prosecutor general of the Supreme Peoples Procuracy and the auditor general of the State Audit Office during the 2011-2016 tenure will also be reviewed.

The resolution made clear that the NA had approved the assessment made by the aforementioned organs and officials with regard to their performance as well as their shortcomings, limitations and the lessons they had learned.

In the time ahead, the NA should further improve the quality and efficiency of its activities to promote democracy, creativity and transparency, thus ensuring the NA fulfils its role as the highest representative agency of the people and the supreme State power body of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, the resolution stressed.

In the same vein, the president should uphold his role as the head of State who represents the nation in internal and external relations and as a commander of the peoples armed forces and the chairman of the Council on National Defence and Security, thereby contributing to strengthening national unity and firmly safeguarding independence, national sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as enhancing the efficiency of external relations.

The government and the prime minister also needed to focus on leadership, management and guidance and on building a pure, strong, united and responsible government of action that finds effective measures to realise the annual and five-year socio-economic targets, the resolution said.

The NA required the government to continue restructuring and enhancing the management of the State budget and public assets, taking appropriate measures to increase budget collection, reduce overspending and curb public and bad debts, while paying due attention to improving the material and spiritual living conditions of the people, ensuring social welfare, and speeding up poverty reduction.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Supreme Court and Procuracy were required to wield their responsibility and power in accordance with the Constitution and laws, improve the quality of judicial activities and ensure human and citizens rights.

The State Audit was also expected to improve its auditing quality and boost coordination with the relevant agencies in handling violations.

Last session a success

The 11th session of the 13th NA was a success, fulfilling all set tasks regarding making laws, reviewing the legislatures performance during the 13th tenure, and deciding on socioeconomic issues and State personnel work, said NA Vice Secretary General Le Minh Thong at a press conference on the outcomes of the session later that day.

Lawmakers considered and passed seven bills, including the Law on Access to Information; the revised Law on Signing, Joining and Implementing International Treaties; the amended Law on Press; the Law on Children; the amended Pharmacy Law; the revised Law on Export-Import Tariffs; and the Law on amendments and supplements to some articles of the Law on Value Added Tax, the Law on Special Consumption Tax and the Law on Tax Management.

The legislature also adopted a resolution ratifying the diplomatic note on the visa agreement between Viet Nam and the US, said Thong, who is also Vice Chairman of the NAs Committee for Legal Affairs.

At the session, legislators looked into Government reports on supplementary assessments of the implementation of socioeconomic development plans from last year, this year and the period from 2016-20.

They approved a resolution on adjustments to the land use plan by 2020 and the national-level 2016-20 land use plan in order to meet land demands for socio-economic development, national defence and security.

The Government was requested to make annual reports on the implementation of the land use plans to the NA.  VNS
At the meeting, the PM told new Cabinet members that the hope for new achievements is a great responsibility entrusted to them by the Party, State and people.  Photo VNA

HA NOI Viet Nam News - Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc vowed to facilitate entrepreneurship, safeguard national sovereignty, and fight corruption and waste as he chaired the first meeting of the freshly-elected government right after the closing of the 13th National Assemblys 11th session in Ha Noi yesterday.

At the meeting, the PM told new Cabinet members that the hope for new achievements is a great responsibility entrusted to them by the Party, State and people.

He also admitted that the new Government was facing challenges that need to be tackled, including the severe drought and saltwater intrusion in the Central Highlands and Mekong Delta, business closures and limited revenue for the State budget.

Public concern over traffic and food safety also needed to be addressed.

Considering the meeting was held three and a half months ahead of elections for the 14th National Assembly and Peoples Councils for 2016-2021, he asked the Government to remain united and pool all possible resources for national development by driving back bureaucracy and settling issues of public concern. In the lead-up to the Governments April meeting, the leader requested thorough preparations for its agenda.

Accordingly, the Government will chair a meeting in HCM City with local businesses to seek ways to overcome difficulties. It will also host conferences on food hygiene and safety, and disaster recovery, he said.

Relevant ministries and agencies were asked to refine a resolution on improving the business climate, bettering ODA disbursement, managing public investment, and ensuring the safety of credit institutions while preparing the 2016-2021 agenda.

Concluding the meeting, the PM also expressed hope that Cabinet members would do their best to fulfill tasks assigned by the Party, State and people.  VNS
HA NOI  Viet Nam wants close co-operation with the UK Government across the board for their mutual benefit as well as for regional and global peace and prosperity, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond at a meeting in Ha Noi yesterday.

The PM welcomed the visit by the top UK diplomat which follows the successful visit by Prime Minister David Cameron in May 2015.He expressed his pleasure at the sound and intensive cooperation between the two countries that is based on a bilateral strategic partnership.

Two-way trade has seen positive strides to top US$5.4 billion in 2015, however, this has yet to be on par with bilateral potential and desire, he said. Underlining benefits from the conclusion of negotiations on the Viet Nam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the PM said he hoped UK businesses would inject more investments into Viet Nam in the fields of their strength such as finance, banking, infrastructure development, insurance, science and technology.

He also proposed the UK Government step up the official signing and ratification of the EVFTA to actualise the pacts benefits and contribute to deepening the relations between Viet Nam and the EU, including the UK. He suggested potential realms for future cooperation and called on the UK Government to continue support for high-quality human resources and English teaching in Viet Nam, while creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese students to study in the UK.

The Government leader hailed the statement at the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, pertaining to the East Sea issue for the common goal of ensuring navigation and aviation safety and avoiding actions that raise tensions in the region and run counter with international law.

He asked the UK Government to pay more attention to and persuade the EU to have a stronger voice in requesting China to respect international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as well as settle any disputes via peaceful means, without use of force or threats to use force, and end any actions to change the status quo of the East Sea.

It was imperative to stop the reclamation and construction of artificial islands and militarisation in the East Sea, while implementing earnestly and fully the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and forge ahead with negotiations to build a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), he said.

The UK Foreign Secretary also took the opportunity to congratulate Nguyen Xuan Phuc on his election as new Prime Minister.

He told the host that the UK was ranked second among EU countries in investment in Viet Nam, saying the signing of the EVFTA would facilitate comprehensive cooperation between the two nations in the future.

He underlined prioritising fields for bilateral collaboration and said that with its strength in finance and technology, the UK was likely to become the EUs biggest investor in Viet Nam, through cooperative activities that help the Southeast Asian country shift from a business manufacturing economy to a knowledge-based one providing high-quality services.

The two countries could coordinate to cope with challenges in economic development such as anti-corruption and public administrative management, he said.

The diplomat revealed that the UK Government had a standby financial resource of around 500 million pounds (US$712.9 million) for exports, which could help UK businesses invest in Viet Nam and he expressed his hope that Viet Nam would make the best use of this financial opportunity.

The UK was also willing to cooperate with Viet Nam in climate change adaptation as well as in tackling the illegal wildlife trade, he said.

He agreed with the Vietnamese PMs suggestion to boost bilateral affiliation in education, training, and science and technology, adding that he hoped the Vietnamese Government would further simplify administrative procedures in the aforesaid fields to attract investment from the UK.

He also reiterated the statement of the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Hiroshima on the East Sea issue, which stressed the support for ASEAN to look towards building a Code of Conduct to ensure navigation and aviation freedom, and he hoped the involved parties could peacefully resolve any disputes in line with international law.

Foreign Minister talks

On the same day, UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond held talks with Vietnamese Foreign Minister-cum-Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh.

The two sides expressed delight at the positive development of the Viet Nam-UK strategic partnership and agreed on measures to promote the strategic partnership in various fields including politics, security and national defence, trade-commerce-investment, education and training, science-technology, the environment and climate change.

The two sides agreed to increase exchanges of delegations at all levels and affirmed that co-operation in economy, trade and investment is a priority pillar in the two countries relations. They agreed to create favourable conditions for businesses of the two countries to get access to markets, increase investment and business in each country, and to maximize advantages and business and investment opportunities brought in by the Viet Nam-UK Free Trade Agreement after it was approved.

The two sides agreed to expanded co-operation in vocational training to help develop the qualified human resources of Viet Nam.

Apart from bilateral co-operation, the two sides also discussed regional and international issues of common concern. They agreed to continue co-operating and supporting each other at multi-national forums, particularly the UN, ASEM and ASEAN-EU.

The two sides shared views on opportunities and challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region, including the East Sea issue. They agreed that all disputes needed to be settled via peaceful means, without any actions worsening the situation and without use of force or threats to use force, respecting international laws, including the 1982 UNCLOS, the DOC and COC.  VNS
Many drivers and owners of motorised 4-wheel vehicles face business difficulties when their vehicles are denied certificates of quality and environmental control, reported the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. Photo vneconomy.vn

HA NOI  Many drivers and owners of motorised 4-wheel vehicles face business difficulties when their vehicles are denied certificates of quality and environmental control, reported the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

After banning self-modified three-wheel vehicles from traffic to curb traffic accidents and congestion, the Government allowed the use of four-wheel vehicles instead.

These small vehicles are not automobiles. They are designed as small trucks for transporting cargo within the city. And they use electric engines or motorbike engines which run on gasoline.

At present, more than 10,000 four-wheel vehicles are being used nationwide under the trial project. But only 180 of these vehicles have certificates of technical safety and environmental protection.

These 4-wheel motorized vehicles are not classified as automobiles or motorbikes. So authorised agencies are often confused about whether or not to grant them quality control certificates. And drivers and vehicle owners often face trouble with traffic police when using them.

Thanh Hoa Province resident Tran Van Luan, whose family is living on his goods transporting service, expressed anger at being fined VN2.5 million (US$110) for driving without a certificate of technical safety and environmental protection. He tried to explain to the police that he didnt know where to get the certificates, the newspaper reported.

Luan said he had been trying to get the required certificates since buying the car. But all his attempts had failed, so far.

I went to some vehicle quality control agencies. But officials refused to grant the certificates. They even said I was crazy to ask for the certificates, said Luan. But traffic police fined me for not having the certificates, he said.

Many drivers of motorized 4-wheel vehicles still face the same problems as Luan.

Meanwhile, Colonel Huynh Trung Phong of HCM Citys traffic Police affirmed that fining motorised 4-wheel vehicles was lawful. "Getting the required certificates is the duty of drivers and vehicle owners. And granting these certificates is the responsibility of quality control agencies," Phong said.

In a follow-up report yesterday Tuoi Tre said that the Viet Nam Register Department asked registering agencies to review registration procedures for the vehicles.

The registration policy is justified. But implementation has caused difficulties for people. Poor people spend about VN65 million (US$3,000) for new 4-wheel vehicles. But every day owners of these vehicles worry about traffic police targetting them while they do their work.

The government issued a ban on self-modified three-wheel vehicles in 2007.

According to the HCM City Traffic Police, there were 60,000 no-engine three-wheelers and some 1,500 engine-powered three-wheelers in the city alone before 2007. The ban has seriously affected drivers, most of whom are poor working people.

These types of vehicles are useful for transporting goods in areas where roads are often too narrow for even mini-trucks. Hawkers at markets and construction material shops depend on three-wheelers to transport their goods. Such businesses will be affected by the ban.

But 3-wheelers hinder the smooth flow of city traffic, which affects business. These vehicles do not have enough capacity to load people or cargo, compared to cars, buses and trucks. But they occupy a lot of road space and cause severe traffic jams and road blockages.  VNS
Khanh Hoa Province has banned aquaculture breeding in these rivers to protect the ecosystem.  Photo baokhanhhoa

KHANH HOA Viet Nam News - More than 2,000 mussel traps have been placed illegally by residents on the Tac and Quan Truong rivers of central Khanh Hoa Province, slowing down renovation work here.

According to the Lao ong (Labour) newspaper, Khanh Hoa Province has banned aquaculture breeding in these rivers to protect the ecosystem.

A restoration project, controlled by the Khanh Hoa province waterway traffic projects management board, is currently underway. Illegal placement of the traps has made it impossible for the construction equipment and machines to reach the rivers.

Nguyen Thi Hoa Sim, deputy chairwoman of the Phuoc Long Wards Peoples Committee, one of the wards that run along the rivers, said the rivers used to be very dry, so raising the mussels was difficult. Since the river dredging project began, the residents have been taking advantage of the emerging tides to place their traps and collect the mussels.

There were some 400 traps in the region, but only two households that had laid seven traps had been penalised so far, Sim said.

Nguyen Le Hoang Viet, from the provincial waterway traffic projects management board, said the board had co-operated with local authorities to curb the violations but nothing had changed.

Mussels have high economic value and are mainly used as food for shrimps. They can be raised without being fed, so residents from provinces such as Binh inh, Quang Ngai and Phu Yen place the traps and go away, returning two to three months later to collect the mussels, which are then sold.

The traps also hindered the flow of the rivers, polluted these water bodies and slowed down the river dredging progress, Nguyen Anh Tuan, deputy chairman of the Nha Trang citys Peoples Committee, said.

The situation became more complicated when residents resorted to threatening the construction workers and officers of local authorities

The Peoples Committee had ordered the authorities of the wards that own the rivers to persuade residents to stop the aquaculture exploitation, but most had failed to follow the rules, he said.

After April 15, inter-sector forces would remove the traps and punish violators according to the regulations, if the residents failed to remove them, he added.  VNS
Customers purchase vegetables at a supermarket in Ha Noi. Authorities will tighten food safety management and inspection during the Food Safety Action Month that will begin from April 15.  Photo infonet.vn

HA NOI  The Ha Noi authorities will tighten food safety management and inspection during the Food Safety Action Month taking place in all provinces and cities nationwide from April 15.

Speaking at a workshop to launch the action month yesterday in Ha Noi, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said that food safety was one of the major issues of concern for the government and the National Assembly.

Authorities should find out and list publicly the violators as well as instruct residents on how to identify unsafe foods in the market, Long said.

People want to consume safe food and vegetables. To ensure that, the trading and use of banned substances in agriculture and food processing should be strictly punished as per the current laws and regulations, he said.

Leaders of cities and provinces should take the responsibility for every violation found in their localities, Long added.

The annual month aims to promote the production, trading and consumption of safe vegetable and meat products and handle violations relating to the use and trading of banned substances in breeding and farming.

During the month, the city will strengthen supervision and inspection with an aim to find and punish groups and individuals violating food safety regulations.

The city has formed six inspection teams to tour all districts to check food hygiene and safety, especially with regard to the cultivation and trading of vegetables and meat products.

The Ha Noi Health Department Deputy Director Hoang uc Hanh said that it was necessary to improve the management of food materials from safe cultivation and production to product processing and distribution in the market.

Communication campaigns will also be promoted to enhance the communitys awareness on food production, trading and consumption.

Information about safe food products and manufacturers will be popularised through mass media to ensure that people avoid buying unsafe foods.

The action month on food safety will also start on the 15th of this month in HCM City, the citys Food Safety and Hygiene Department said.

The citys inspection team will check management activities related to food safety in districts across the city.

Fruit, vegetables and meat products will be a priority during this evaluation period.

The launch ceremony is scheduled to be held in Cu Chi District, the main supplier of agricultural products.

During the action month, activities to enhance consumer confidence in buying and consuming fresh food will be held. The media will be widely used to raise awareness on food safety and the requirements of food certificates.

Dr Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, deputy head of the Food Safety and Hygiene Department, said the department would inspect premises, test food and handle violations in the city.

In addition, facilities providing catering services will be expanded, especially in areas where there are many public canteens.  VNS
Gia Loc

HCM CITY  A pregnant woman visiting the Hung Vuong Obstetrics Hospital in HCM City picked up a leaflet about the Zika virus off a shelf in the examination room.

The woman, 41, was especially concerned about the virus after hearing that HCM City had recorded its first Zika case, that of a 33-year-old pregnant woman from District 2.

Im worried about the disease as it can harm the fetus, she said, adding that she would take the leaflet home for her husband and relatives to read. They will have more awareness of this new disease and carry out preventive actions.

Dr Huynh Xuan Nghiem, deputy head of the Hung Vuong Hospital, said that obstetrics hospitals in the city provided information about the disease as well as protective measures.

Along with leaflets, many standing posters on the disease are placed in the Hung Vuong hospitals campus.

A hotline at the hospital that will provide counselling on the Zika virus will begin next week.

It is very necessary to do it right now because many pregnant women who visit the hospital are worried. Insufficient information about the disease, via social media, newspapers and word of mouth, has quickly spread, Nghiem said.

Since the Ministry of Health reported the first Zika case last week, more than 100 pregnant women have visited the hospital daily to ask for counselling, according to Nghiem.

Of more than 100 pregnant women, 30-50 per cent want to have blood tests for the disease although they do not have a fever or rash.

They do not understand that the test is just done for people who have had symptoms of fever, rash or joint pain for three to five days, Nghiem said.

The test is free for people who show symptoms and who have visited high-risk areas in the city or elsewhere.

A 25-year-old man from Tan Phu District who had brought his wife to Hung Vuong Hospital for a prenatal check-up told his wife to ask for more details about Zika when she met her doctors.

A pregnant woman from Binh Tan District said she was also worried.

Luckily, I live in Binh Tan District. If I live in District 2, I would move to other districts to live. Every day, I take protective methods by using creams that protect from mosquito bites and I also use a mosquito net, she said.

Nghiem said that pregnant women should not be too anxious, noting that health officials had carried out methods to stop the spread in the area.

He said that residents should clear away any standing containers of water with larvae and mosquitoes inside and around their home because the Zika virus is transmitted through bites of the infected Aedes mosquito.

Health officials have said that Viet Nam is also home to the mosquitoes that cause dengue and yellow fever.

The Zika virus can be transmitted through sex, according to World Health Organisation.

The virus is a mild disease and most people with the virus do not have symptoms.

However, evidence is growing that the virus can cause both microcephaly and Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which is an uncommon sickness of the nervous system.

The virus has been detected in blood, urine, amniotic fluids, semen and body fluids found in the brain and spinal cord.  VNS
Viet Nam News -An 11-year old boy in the central province of Binh Thuan was reportedly kidnapped for ransom and later killed in early April. The death has highlighted the importance of teaching children life skills to keep them safe from harm.

Police arrested kidnapper Nguyen Bao Vu, a close friend of the victims brother, who admitted the crime to the police.

According to his statement, Vu told the boy that his parents had asked Vu to take him home after his martial arts class. Upon realising that Vu was not heading home, the boy started crying and resisting. So Vu took him into the roadside woods.

The boy kept crying. Vu was afraid of being caught. So he strangled the boy with the belt of the boys martial arts uniform, then buried the body at the site.

In late March, social network rumours about child kidnappings in big cities like Ha Noi and HCM City concerned many parents.

The rumour was later denied by police. But the incident left parents anxious. So they took measures to protect their children.

Le Thi Sinh, the mother of a four-year-old boy in Thanh Xuan District, said she got scared when she read a number of news reports on child abduction and children getting lost on the street.

Sinh and her husband tried to keep a close watch whenever their son went out. They took the boy to his class every day and asked teachers not to let anyone pick him up from school, without their consent.

Many dangers in society made people feel insecure, said Nguyen Thanh Le, the mother of two girls in Ha ong District.

I let my elder daughter cycle to secondary school for about two weeks. Then I decided to take her to school by motorcycle, after she was injured in a traffic accident, she said.

In addition to getting injured in traffic accidents, children might be kidnapped and abused by others, Le said.

Nguyen Thu Phuong, the mother of a third-grade student in Tu Liem District, agreed.

Despite the fact that my husband and I are so busy with our jobs, we manage to pick up our daughter at school every day, she said. Her house is only three hundred metres from the school.

Of course parents need to care for their children and do everything possible to protect children from potential dangers. But this could make the children become passive.

Nowadays, parents in big cities spend too much time taking their children to school, to extra classes, and home. Parents do all this to prevent people with bad intentions from harming their children. And children have few opportunities for outdoor activities.

Because of all these preventive measures, parents are tired. The dual responsibilities of working and caring for their children exhaust them.

I was stressed from taking my two children to school in the morning before going to work and from bringing them home at noon,  Le said. She repeats this process on school afternoons. She does this five days a week.

In the past, children often went to school alone or with friends. Even children as young as first graders did so.

Parents need to brainstorm a workable solution for this problem. Children should be taught survival skills so they can protect themselves when their parents arent around.

Its important for children to understand that they shouldnt talk to strangers or accept gifts from them.

In addition to teaching children how to deal with strangers, children should be taught self-defence for emergencies, and how to call for help.

In many countries, children are taught life skills and how to respond to difficulties.

Japan is a good example. Elementary school students in Japan learn to hide under their desks, in case of an earthquake. People across Japan hold drills every year.

The Philippines, a country hit by 20 typhoons every year, has integrated disaster preparedness into primary and high school curricula. Filipino children are also taught to store all school records, manuals, books, and electronic equipment in a safe, elevated place, in case of floods.

Its time for Vietnamese parents to teach their children life skills, such as how to protect themselves. As people often say: Prevention is better than cure.  VNS
Ericsson, a Sweden-based telecom equipment firm, has won its first deal in India in the utilities space. It is to install 15,000 smart meters in Assam over the next three years, for a public sector power company.

The pilot project will start soon and the company expects to get more such deals in its industry and society vertical, created last year to tap opportunities thrown by the government through its Digital India and smart cities initiatives, said Orvar Hurtig, vice-president, industry and society, .

For in India, the bulk of business comes from telecom network equipment. The company expects 20 per cent of the business to come from the industry and society vertical by 2020 in India, as well as globally, he said.

Under the smart meters project, will provide a comprehensive Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solution for operating the 15,000 units, along with systems integration and support services in Guwahati.

The solution will offer outage management, reduction in aggregate technical and commercial losses, power quality management and net metering.

The aim is to reduce network losses and improve system efficiency. The smart meter deployment is a key component in improving energy usage and distribution, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Under the new segment, the focus is on three areas -- public safety, utilities and transport. In Elektrilevi, Estonia's largest utility, Ericsson has deployed 630,000 smart meters, along with Operation Support Systems to manage the data collected.

Ericsson is also in discussion with state governments for their solutions on 'smart cities', said Hurtig.

Ericsson India reported 34% jump in the fourth quarter at 3.2 billion Swedish krona ($380 million), driven by investments in mobile broadband infrastructure by Indian telecom operators to support the high growth in data usage. Ericsson Indias full year sales grew by 74% over the previous year. India has contributed 5% to overall sales in FY15 and continues to be top third country, for Ericsson globally.

The government has clubbed all its digital programmes under Digital India, with an estimated Rs 1.13 lakh crore of projects. And, approved a plan for building 100 'smart cities' in India, with an outlay of Rs 48,000 crore.

In the domain of Public safety, Ericsson provides end-to-end solutions in life-saving and emergency response. For instance, in Sweden, SOS Alarm relies on Ericsson to support emergency service coordination. We are looking to deploy similar solutions in India. It will grow very fast, said Hurtig.

Around 40 per cent of the population is expected to be covered by long-term evolution networks in India by 2020 which means various industries including transportation, public safety and utilities, are realizing the transformative power of a fast-moving ICT environment as India moves in its journey to become 'Digital India', he said.
Starting his three-day visit to India in Goa on Monday, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter declared that his Indian counterpart, Manohar Parrikar, is "one of the most important defence ministers in the world for me to interact with."



The reason for this was illustrated on Tuesday, when the two announced a breakthrough logistics agreement; new, high-level maritime dialogue; cooperation on submarines and tracking commercial shipping in the Indian Ocean, and a significant expansion of high-technology defence cooperation.

After delegation talks in New Delhi, Carter and Parrikar announced a breakthrough in negotiating three "foundational agreements" that Washington has long pressed for to facilitate operational and technological cooperation.

They announced an "in principle agreement to conclude a logistics exchange memorandum of agreement (LEMOA), and to continue working toward other facilitating agreements to enhance military cooperation and technology transfer."



The India-specific LEMOA, will allow American and Indian military units to use facilities in each others' bases, subject to mutual agreement in each instance.

As Business Standard has reported, another agreement - communications and information security memorandum of agreement - is close to finalisation. This would allow the US to supply India with highly secure radio equipment. Some work remains on a third agreement, the basic exchange and cooperation agreement for geospatial information and services cooperation (BECA), which relates to digital mapping.

In a strategic signal that will be noted in Bejing, the two ministers reaffirmed support for "freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, including in the South China Sea". Indicating the growing regional consensus against China's aggressive moves to control these waters, they "emphasised their commitment to working together and with other nations to ensure the security and stability that have been beneficial to the Asia-Pacific for decades."



Such intent had also been signaled in the "India-US joint strategic vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region" that President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed in January 2015, Carter and Parrikar added teeth to that by announcing a bilateral maritime security dialogue, which would involve both sides' defence and foreign ministries.

For the first time, the US -- a global leader in submarine warfare - agreed to work with India in this field. The joint statement "agreed to commence navy-to-navy discussions on submarine safety and anti-submarine warfare."



Intriguingly, given the navy's control over Indian Ocean shipping lanes, and over the strategic choke points at Hormuz and Malacca, the two sides "reaffirmed their desire to expeditiously conclude a 'white shipping' technical arrangement to improve data sharing on commercial shipping traffic.

This would enhance India's ability to monitor vessels in these waters. The two sides also expanded the scope of the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI), by announcing joint development of two projects in addition to the six projects already under way.

The two sides "agreed to initiate two new DTTI pathfinder projects on Digital Helmet Mounted Displays and the Joint Biological Tactical Detection System."



Deepening high-technology cooperation, Carter and Parrikar also announced four "government-to-government science projects" on: high energy lasers, cognitive tools for target detection, small intelligent unmanned aerial systems, and the management of blast and blunt traumatic brain injuries.

They also agreed to deepen cooperation on two major DTTI projects already under way: one on jet engine technology (which India hopes to use in its Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft), and another on aircraft carrier design (for India's second indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vishal). An "information exchange annex (IEA) was announced, which would allow the sharing of data about aircraft carriers.

In a measure that will go down well with the American public, India has begun assisting the Pentagon in locating the remains of US pilots who crashed in the Eastern Himalayas during World War II, whilst airlifting supplies from Assam to Chinese armies that were fighting the Japanese. After years of reluctance to allow US servicemen into sensitive Arunachal Pradesh, Parrikar has committed India's assistance.

In Delhi, Carter also presided over the repatriation ceremony of an American pilot's remains from India to the US. He also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla rapped narrow minded criticism of the two-day visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Saudi Arabia on April 2 and 3.

Heptulla also said the PMs visit to Riyadh and his attending the World Sufi Forum here on March 17 had sent a "positive message in Assam, which concluded a two-phase assembly poll on Monday. Muslims are a third of its population.

Heptulla also said relations with other Muslim countries like the Maldives, Iran and Sudan had improved. This was part of another effort in recent days by both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the government to project the Riyadh visit as path-breaking. Heptulla claimed the PM had brought Saudi Arabia on board the fight against terrorism. She stressed how Modi was conferred with the highest civilian honour there by King Salman, custodian of the two holiest shrines of Islam.

She didnt identify which opposition parties had been critical of the PMs visit but said politicians should look beyond their respective party lines. They should have this bare minimum grace to recognise that the visit was in the national interest and also sought to improve the lot of the millions of Indian workers in that country.



BJP president Amit Shah and other party leaders have repeatedly referred to the PMs Riyadh visit in their election speeches in Assam, and in other poll-bound states with a substantial Muslim population like Bengal and Kerala. While 34 per cent of Assams population is Muslim, it's nearly 25 per cent in Kerala, which polls on May 16; a third of Bengals electorate is Muslim.

Elections there are being held over six phases, the first of which was on April 4 and the last will be on May 16.

During his visit to Riyadh, the PM had gifted the Saudi King a copy of a mosque in Kerala, said to have been founded in the seventh century.

The World Sufi Forum was critical of the ultra-conservative Wahhabism that is known to be supported by Saudi Arabia. Sufi groups in India have been critical of madrasas in India that get funding from West Asia.
POISED FOR PARTNERSHIP

Deeping India-Japan Relations in the Asian Century

Rohan Mukherjee and Anthony Yazaki (eds)

Oxford University Press

307 pages; Rs 895



A one-line summary of Indo-Japanese relations could read thus: "not living up to potential". Though the two countries have little or no political or historical baggage, India lags China and Association of Southeast Nations (Asean) countries on multiple parameters of trade, investment and co-operation with Japan.

The Indo-Japanese relationship has followed a sinusoidal pattern since the 1950s. It saw its crests right after India's independence and after the Cold War. It witnessed its troughs during the Cold War and after India's nuclear tests in 1998. That said, post 2005, the relationship is on an upward trajectory and all signs are indicating towards a sustained peak.

Poised for Partnership, edited by the Rohan Mukherjee, Stanton Nuclear Fellow at MIT, and Anthony Yazaki, member of United Nations University's Center for Policy Research, is a scholarly work that explores an area of international relations that is under-researched. As identified by the editors in the introduction to this volume, despite a congruence of interests and identities, India and Japan's mutual appreciation has been largely confined to the societal and cultural domain and not expanded fully into the sphere of economics and security.

The work sets out with two broad goals: one, to bring together scholars and experts in specific areas and examine bilateral relationship from a perspective that mirrors sectorally specialised knowledge that is much needed in both countries; and, two, to write about the pitfalls and obstacles and the potential for cooperation. The book succeeds on both counts.

The book is divided into four parts covering Economic Cooperation, Energy & Climate Change, Security & Defence and Global Governance. Every section contains chapters from an Indian perspective and another from the Japanese perspective. The introduction and the conclusion, however, are co-authored by the editors.

The introduction provides a historical overview of the relationship and acts as a primer for anyone who is interested in understanding the dynamics between India and Japan. The complementarities in various areas is a theme that is explored throughout the book and particularly so in the sections devoted to Economic Cooperation and Security & Defence.

The section on Economic Cooperation starts with a chapter dealing with Japan's economic recovery and growing economic relations with India. Authors Shujiro Urata and Mitsuyo Ando's analysis concludes that India and Japan can derive immense benefits by increasing their economic relationship especially in areas like foreign direct investment, foreign trade and so on. The authors conclude with a comprehensive set of recommendations to derive more out of this complementary bilateral relationship. The Indian perspective is provided by Devesh Kapur and Rohit Lamba, who explore the principal economic dimensions between India and Japan, analyse the areas with the greatest economic potential and examine how Indian infrastructural woes can be addressed by Japanese investment.

The section on Security & Defence focusses on security cooperation and strategic partnership between the two nations. While the chapter on cooperation provides valid policy recommendations like suggesting India scale back its conventional defence spending, one gets a feeling that the authors veer towards radiophobia (opposition to the use of nuclear technology) particularly when they say "Japan must continuously emphasise the importance of a nuclear-free world". Although there is historical basis from a Japanese point of view to such a statement, it does not have much credence from a realist standpoint.

The Indian perspective, provided by C Raja Mohan and Rishika Chauhan, discusses expanding the defence engagement, outer space and cyber security, the rise of China and how it has both encouraged and discouraged stronger Indo-Japanese partnership. However, the concluding section that analyses the constraints on rapid advances in bilateral ties and provides suggestions to overcome these constraints is noteworthy. A commentary on India's complex offset policies and procurement procedures would have strengthened these two chapters.

Two other objectives, as spelled out in the introduction, deserve mention. First, each chapter is co-authored by one established and one emerging scholar from respective countries. This is done with the intention of combining expertise with fresh insights. Second, the authors are invited to think for the long term so that the volume can have a longer shelf life. The book largely succeeds on the first count, but only time will tell us about the second.

The fact that a volume like this is published in 2016 re-affirms that India-Japan relationship is indeed poised for partnership. However, the price (at an exorbitant Rs 895) probably limits the number of individuals who can understand this burgeoning relationship better. This scholarly work deserves to be read by a wider audience.

The reviewer is a policy analyst at The Takshashila Institution, a Bengaluru-based think tank and a school of public policy.
Indian mining giant Adani's $21.7 billion coal mine project in Australia today faced a fresh legal hurdle after traditional owners of Queensland's Galilee Basin challenged the leases granted to the controversy-hit project.

Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) representative group said it has filed an interlocutory application in the Federal Court of Australia challenging the leases.

The application would argue that the mining leases, announced by Queensland state's mines minister Anthony Lynham this month, were not properly issued.

"The Queensland government issued the mine leases in the absence of the consent of the W&J people to Carmichael mine, and in the face of their three-time rejection of an Indigenous Land Use Agreement with Adani," a statement said.

The W&J representative group also released a letter dated October 15th last year, in which Lynham said he would consider the lease applications after all legislative requirements were satisfactorily explored.

W&J spokesperson Adrian Burragubba said, "We have formally rejected this disastrous project three times. In this light, Lynham's issuing of the mining leases is a shameful episode in the trashing of Traditional Owners' rights by the exercise of government power.

"In a letter to our legal counsel in October 2015, and again this year, Lynham said that he intended to await the outcome of our Federal Court Judicial Review before issuing any leases. His letter was clearly not worth the paper it was written on, and is now a demonstrable show of his bad faith and the betrayal of us by the Government."



Burragubba said, "Lynham's decision is also reckless politics. As he himself indicated publicly, issuing the mining leases prior to the determination of our legal challenge to Carmichael puts the leases at risk. The Minister's treatment of us, and his failure to allow legal due process to play out, calls into question his integrity and the exercise of his powers.

"In filing this action today, we are making good on our pledge to oppose this mine every step of the way. We will continue to pursue all legal avenues, Australian and international, and test the limits of the law in this country," he said.

The W&J representative also announced that they have filed a complaint under the Racial Discrimination Act with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission on the systemic discrimination in the administration of Native Title system in Australia.

"These actions show we are standing strong," Burragubba said.

Adani's plan to build one of the world's biggest coal mines in Australia has been hampered time and again. A federal court in August last year had revoked the original approval due toenvironmental concerns.

In October last year, the project got a new lease of life after the Australian government gave its re-approval.
04:34 Jim Chalmers has to start making some hard decisions Former Victorian Liberal Party President Michael Kroger says Treasurer Jim Chalmers is just like a commentator simply telling us the...

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06:00 The game is up for despicable Lidia Thorpe Sky News host Chris Smith says he believes the game is up for the "despicable" Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe, following recent revelations....

06:06 Distinct intensification of concerns about Taiwan Former US deputy assistant secretary of defence Elbridge Colby says theres a distinct intensification" of concerns about Taiwan in the...

05:48 Entitled and small-minded: Netball Australia has cooked its greatest golden egg Netball Australia is about to learn the lesson, "go woke and you go broke" the hard way, says Sky News host Chris Smith.
Ryan rules out presidential bid

WASHINGTON (AP)  House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday definitively ruled out a bid for president this year, insisting the partys choice should emerge from the group of candidates who pursued the GOP nomination. Count me out, he said.

In a brief news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, the Wisconsin Republican sought to tamp down rampant speculation he could end up as the partys standard-bearer if front-runner Donald Trump and the other candidates flame out at a contested convention.

Georgia executes man who killed neighbor

JACKSON, Ga. (AP)  A man convicted of killing his neighbor during a burglary in 1996 on Tuesday became the fourth person put to death in Georgia this year.

Kenneth Fults was executed by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson.

The 47-year-old inmate had pleaded guilty to killing 19-year-old Cathy Bounds during what prosecutors have described as a weeklong crime spree in January 1996. A jury in 1997 sentenced him to death.

Fults declined to make a final statement but did agree to have a prayer read over him.

Verizons workers

are going on strike

NEW YORK (WP)  Tens of thousands of Verizon workers will walk off the job today in hopes of pressuring the telecom company to strike a better bargain with union leaders.

The strike  said to be one of the largest in Verizons recent history  could interrupt service for countless customers who subscribe to Verizons wired services, including telephone and FiOS Internet, although Verizon has said it has trained thousands of temporary replacements to weather the coming storm.

It is unclear how long this latest disruption will last. But workers contract negotiations with Verizon have been stalled for months.

Ohio police officer

dies of wounds

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  An Ohio police officer died two days after he was critically wounded when a man opened fire on a SWAT team trying to arrest him for allegedly setting his estranged wifes house ablaze, officials said.

Columbus police said Officer Steven M. Smith died late Tuesday afternoon surrounded by his family. He was 54 years old.

Lincoln Rutledge, of Columbus, shot Smith and held police at bay for several hours Sunday after officers tried to arrest him for the fire, which was set the day before, police said.

Rutledge, 44, is being held without bond. Rutledges former employer, Ohio State University, and others have commented on Rutledges erratic behavior in recent months.

N.C. governor seeks

to ease LGBT law

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said Tuesday he wants to change part of a new law that prevents people from suing over employment discrimination in state court, and he officially extended LGBT employment protections to many state workers.

But McCrorys not interested in changing the rest of the law he signed three weeks ago that prevented local governments and the state from mandating similar protections in the private sector or at stores and restaurants. And the executive order he signed affirmed parts of the law directing people inside government buildings and schools to use the multistall bathrooms corresponding to the sex listed on their birth certificate.
Sinkhole threatens Des Moines home

DES MOINES (AP)  Emergency crews are monitoring a large, gaping hole found in the front yard of a Des Moines home.

A man felt his home shaking early Wednesday and later realized a 40-foot-deep sinkhole had swallowed a large tree in his front yard.

Utility crews shut off the homes water and gas and closed a portion of Fifth Street on the south side of Des Moines.

Officials and neighbors said the sinkhole may be linked to several coal mines and shafts that once operated in the area.

Benton Co. crash victims named

WATKINS (AP)  Authorities released the names of a driver who was killed and two passengers who were injured when their vehicle crashed during a chase by officers in Benton County.

The driver was identified as 32-year-old David Janish of Cedar Rapids. His passengers were identified as 36-year-old Wesley Schmelzer Jr., also of Cedar Rapids, and 21-year-old Alisha Miller of Atkins. Schmelzer and Miller were hospitalized.

The Linn County Sheriffs Office said the chase began around 3:40 p.m. Monday when a deputy tried to pull over the car for a traffic violation south of Palo. The car raced down gravel and paved roads in Linn and Benton counties for about 15 minutes before it went out of control and hit a tree in Watkins.

Shellsburg man denies killing

SHELLSBURG (AP)  A May trial has been scheduled for an eastern Iowa man accused of killing a woman whose body was found near a stolen truck in Benton County.

Online court records say 32-year-old David Miller last week pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and theft.

Authorities say Miller stabbed and strangled Sabrina Hustad, 25. Police found her body Oct. 25 when they arrived at Millers residence in Shellsburg.

His trial is scheduled to begin May 9.

Woman jailed for embezzlement

CEDAR RAPIDS (AP)  A woman who admitted embezzling from her Cedar Rapids employer has been given 33 months in federal prison.

Teresa Meeks, 60, was sentenced Tuesday. She was ordered to pay nearly $380,000 in restitution. Shed pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud.

In her plea agreement, Meeks admitted she altered company records at Primus Construction Inc. while working as an accountant from September 2009 through October 2014.

Cross burning probed in Dubuque

DUBUQUE (AP)  Dubuque police are investigating an apparent cross burning as a possible hate crime.

Dubuque dispatchers received a report early Wednesday of burning items at the intersection of 22nd and Washington streets, but authorities did not initially find anything in the area.

Police were notified again around 9:30 a.m. of burned objects in the same area. They found what appeared to be two crosses damaged by fire.

Authorities are now investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.

Dubuque Police Chief Mark Dalsing said the crosses were in an area fenced off due to a construction project.
A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Wednesday April 13, 2016:

DISTRACTED: Distracted driving is a growing epidemic, according to the Iowa Department of Public Safetys Governors Traffic Safety Bureau, which is observing April as Distracted Driving Awareness Month.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there were 3,179 people killed nationwide in 2014 in distracted driving crashes. That was 10 percent of all crashes. In addition, the number of crash injuries from distracted driving increased 18 percent to 431,000.

In Iowa, there were four fatal crashes out of 322 attributed to distracted driving and 324 distracted-driving injuries. However, the Safety Bureau says distracted driving-related fatalities are greatly under-reported and many, if not most, of the 207 lane-departure fatalities may have been the result of distracted driving.

Distracted driving isnt just cell phones and other electronic devices. It is anything that takes a drivers attention away from focusing on driving. Texting is one of the most common causes of distracted driving and is considered six times more dangerous than driving while intoxicated, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Texting and driving is now the leading cause of death among U.S. teenagers, according to a study by Cohen Childrens Medical Center.

FOR FORKS SAKE: A state senator is calling out Statehouse cafeteria users who take metal forks with their meals but fail to return the cutlery to the ground-floor eatery in the Iowa Capitol building.

The ample supply of forks, knives and spoons that were available to diners at the beginning of the 2016 session in January has dwindled to the point where Sen. Michael Breitbach, R-Strawberry Point, complained on the Senate floor Wednesday that he was unable to procure a metal fork for his previous days lunch.

I know there could be some senators, well, maybe inadvertently have a few sets in their desk drawers, Breitbach told his colleagues during a brief point. It might be nice if youd hand them to a page, let em go downstairs, so if I go down to eat lunch today maybe I could have a steel fork instead of a plastic one.

RECOGNITION: The Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs will host the 2016 Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day Ceremony on May 6. Gov. Terry Branstad will lead the ceremony, which will begin at 11:00 a.m. at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial located south of the Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines. Included in this years ceremony will be the unveiling of a new plaque dedicated to the honor of the many Americans and Iowans that served in Vietnam and Southeast Asia who have for many years have suffered from the effects of their duty. The new Iowa Vietnam War In-Memory Memorial Plaque will be located along the sidewalk leading to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and is dedicated to their honor and memory.

IOWA ARTS: Registration will open next month for a statewide gathering of Iowa arts professional set for Aug. 5 in Des Moines. Officials with the Iowa Arts Council say the will begin accepting registrations on May 2 for the biannual conference for artists, cultural organizations and communities that seek to enhance the quality of life in Iowa through the arts. The years summit will be held at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. The registration fee is $50 per person; $35 for students and artists. A limited number of scholarships are available. More information regarding registration and this years schedule will be available May 2 at www.iowaculture.gov.

AWARENESS: State and federal health officials are hoping to raise awareness this month for young Iowans who are at increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Nearly 20 million new sexually transmitted infections occur in the United States every year; according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with half of all new STDs in the country estimated to occur among young men and women aged 15 to 24 years.

Officials with the state Department of Public Health say preliminary 2015 data for Iowa indicate there were more than 12,000 reported cases of chlamydia and 2,200 of gonorrhea. Adolescents and young adults accounted for 65 and 48 percent of those cases, respectively. The high STD incidence underscores the need for prevention, officials said. More information is available at http://idph.iowa.gov/hivstdhep/std/resources.
DECORAH  Decorah police arrested a man Monday in connection with a threat on the school district.

Bruce Divers Jr., no age given, was arrested for two counts of second-degree harassment, a serious misdemeanor, and one count of third-degree harassment, a simple misdemeanor.

On Saturday, the Decorah Police Department began an investigation into the harassment of three Decorah School District teachers. Divers sent an email to the school expressing his displeasure with the content of some of the curriculum at the school, police said.

Then on Monday, he posted information on Facebook, threatening the welfare of two teachers.

Police and Decorah Schools announced classes would continue Monday but extra precautions would be taken to ensure the safety of students.

Police said earlier Divers was upset about sex education curriculum being given to fourth-graders.

Sex offender jailed on firearm charge

WEST UNION  A West Union sex offender has been sentenced to prison for taking his fathers handgun after cutting off his GPS tracking device and assaulting his girlfriend.

Judge Linda Reade sentenced Thomas Andrew Cannon, 30, to seven years and eight months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release Monday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Cannon had pleaded guilty to a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Authorities said they found the weapon, a .22-caliber Ruger, in Cannons mothers vehicle after he missed a sentencing hearing in state court for a sexual abuse charge. Cannon, who has prior convictions for theft and weapons, had barricaded himself in a friends mobile home near Waukon.

Cannons father had reported the handgun stolen.

Sex with student leads to probationt

LE MARS  Samantha Kohls has already lost her teaching license and will have to register as a sex offender.

Those life-altering circumstances alone were a significant punishment for having sex with a student, District Judge Jeffrey Neary said.

Theres not much more that I can do as far as a penalty, Neary told Kohls, a former Remsen-Union Community School teacher.

Kohls now lives in Cedar Falls.

Neary on Monday gave Kohls, who had pleaded guilty to lascivious conduct with a minor, a serious misdemeanor, a deferred judgment and placed her on probation for one year. She also must register with the Iowa Sex Offender Registry and pay a $315 civil penalty.

Kohls, 25, had been charged in Plymouth County District Court with two counts of sexual exploitation by a school employee for having sex with a male student, who was age 17 at the time, at her apartment in July and August 2014.

Plymouth County Attorney Darin Raymond told Neary he agreed to the reduced charge so Kohls would not face the mandatory prison sentence contained in the original charges. Raymond said an investigation showed incarceration was not appropriate, and the boy and his family did not want to see Kohls go to prison.

Man in country illegally sentenced on firearm charge

HAMPTON  A Mexican citizen has been sentenced to prison after he was found with a stolen handgun in November.

Judge Linda Reade sentenced Rufino Rolon-Polo, 36, also known as Rufino Rolon-Gamboa, to one year in prison Monday in connection with a guilty plea to a charge of possession of a firearm by a person unlawfully in the United States.

He also was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment and will have to serve three years of supervised release following his prison time.

According to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Iowa, witnesses had seen Rolon firing a gun in an alley in Hampton on Nov. 1. The following day, officers found a stolen .22-caliber High Standard Double Nine revolver wrapped in a bandanna in a dresser in his apartment. He allegedly admitted he fired the gun but said he wasnt shooting at anyone, court records state.

Authorities said Rolon was in the country illegally.

Guatemalan jailed for identity theft

POSTVILLE  A Guatemalan citizen has been sentenced to prison for using another persons Social Security number to apply for job in Postville in 2010.

Efrain Ramos-Gutierrez, 35, was sentenced to two years and one month in prison for charges of misuse of a Social Security number and aggravated identity theft. He will have to serve three years of supervised release following prison and pay a $200 special assessment.

Ramos is originally from Joyabaj El Quiche, Guatemala, and entered the United States in March 2001. He lived in the Sioux Falls, S.D., area where he was arrested for theft in 2003 and granted a voluntary departure in lieu of deportation in 2006 following a domestic assault charge that was dropped.

Authorities said he didnt leave the country and instead moved to Missouri.

In May 2010, Ramos moved to Iowa and applied for a job at the Agri-Star meat processing plant using another a Social Security number registered to Jose Urbina-Garcia, court records sate. He had purchased a card with the number for $50 in Sioux Falls. In December 2014, he again used the number when he completed insurance forms at Agri-Star, according to court records.

He was arrested in October.

Man sentenced

for stolen guns

WATERLOO  Three stolen guns will mean prison time for a Waterloo man.

Randall Law Terrell Williams, 25, formerly of Cedar Falls, was sentenced to four years and nine months during a Tuesday hearing U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. He will have to serve three years of supervised release after prison and pay a $100 special assessment.

Williams had pleaded to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, admitting he bought three weapons  a 9mm Ruger, a .22-caliber Marlin bolt action rifle and a .410-bore New England Pardner shotgun  from a person involved in burglaries in the Cedar Falls area.

Williams is prohibited from possessing firearms because of convictions for a drug felony in Iowa and a burglary charge in Cook County, Ill.

Woman accused of assaulting staff

FAYETTE  A woman has been charged with assault following an incident Monday at the Prairie View Residential Care facility.

On Monday about 9:45 p.m., the Fayette County Sheriffs Office received a report of an individual assaulting staff at the facility. Upon further investigation, Kalkidan F. Hefel, 21, had assaulted five different staff members.

This incident remains under investigation and more charges could be filed.
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Ukrainian reactors need two years to adjust to load-following

13 April 2016

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Ukraine's Energoatom has said it would need at least two years and extra funds to introduce load-following at the 15 VVER units it operates. The Cabinet of Ministers requires the country's reactors to be adapted to load-following mode by the end of this year, according to its Action Plan for 2016.

A load-following power plant adjusts its electricity output as demand fluctuates throughout the day.

At a round table discussion held last week, representatives from Energoatom and the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine discussed how the government's target could be achieved.

According to a statement issued by the company on 8 April, Energoatom director Yuriy Sheyko said during the meeting that adapting Ukraine's VVER-type reactors to load-following was "technically possible, but would take at least two years of thorough preparation".

Energoatom has to date performed 21 loading and unloading cycles at unit 2 of the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant, as authorised by the regulator, Sheyko said. "The unit's power was reduced from 100% of nominal capacity to 75% and then increased back to 100%," he said.

During this process, the company was able to identify items of equipment that would need to be upgraded to enable the change to load-following mode. A detailed report on this and other recommendations has been sent to the regulator, he said.

Sheyko noted that, in order to test a unit's suitability for load-following, a reactor would need to undergo 200 loading/unloading cycles. This means the company would need at least two years to adapt all of the country's reactors.

The head of the regulatory authority, Serhiy Bozhko, said shifting to load-following was "conventionally accepted best practice" among nuclear plant operators.

"A lot of countries have already adjusted their nuclear power plants that were originally designed for baseload operation to load-following," he said, adding that France had been following the practice since the mid-1970s.

Konstyantyn Yschapovskyy, the prime minister's deputy, said daily control of power output was technically feasible, but requires "long-term and comprehensive tests". Energoatom would need to take in account, Yschapovskyy said, the cost of new equipment and labour required for the work.

"These will require additional financing and Energoatom would need to be compensated for expenses associated with load-following operation." At this stage, neither the technical requirements nor the related expenses have been worked out, he added.

Oleh Hodun, Energoatom's head of design safety and fuel utilisation, stressed that analysis of the technical requirements of load-following was not an "experiment", but "implementation of a program with due regard for stringent safety requirements".

But Ivan Plachkov, chairman of the Ukrainian Energy Assembly and a former energy minister, noted that Ukraine had already been working for ten years on an analysis of load-following for its reactors. The fact the government has set a target date, of 31 December 2016, is misleading as it suggests Energoatom is hastily preparing a program in response to this, he said. Plachkov also said that the country's regulator is respected among its peers in other countries and would, "I am sure, rule out any experiments or abnormal operations at Ukrainian nuclear power plants".



Normally, baseload generating plants, with high capital cost and low operating cost, are run continuously, since this is the most economic mode. But also it is technically the simplest way, since nuclear and coal-fired plants cannot readily alter power output, compared with gas or hydro plants. The high reliance on nuclear power in France has meant the reactors collectively need to be used in load-following mode.

All of France's nuclear capacity is from pressurized reactor (PWR) units, for which there are two ways of varying power output - control rods and boron addition to the primary cooling water. For the last 25 years EDF has used in each PWR some less absorptive "grey" control rods which weigh less from a neutronic point of view than ordinary control rods and they allow sustained variation in power output. This means that grid operator RTE can depend on flexible load-following from the nuclear fleet to contribute to regulation in three respects. These are primary power regulation for system stability (when frequency varies, power must be automatically adjusted by the turbine); secondary power regulation related to trading contracts; and adjusting power in response to demand (decreasing from 100% during the day to 50% or less during the night, etc.).

Established in 1996, state-run Energoatom operates all of Ukraine's 15 Russia-built pressurised water reactors, which are at four sites - Khmelnitsky, Rovno, South Ukraine and Zaporozhe.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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 How many games do they offer? There are lots of different types of games to choose from. Roulette, blackjack and poker are some of the most popular options, but you might find slots, video pokers, video bingo and others as well. You can usually filter these games down to only show the ones that interest you best, so make sure that your list isnt too long!

 Is there a bonus offer? Many online casinos offer free bonuses as part of their welcome package  which includes new players being awarded 100% up to $10 instantly, for example. These offers are great but not everyone has access to them all the time (and some require you to deposit real money). If youd prefer to avoid paying a fee, some casinos offer no-deposit bonuses where you can get a certain amount of funds before you need to put any actual money into the account. These are usually offered alongside welcome bonuses, so make sure you read both parts of the terms and conditions carefully before signing up.

 Does it offer live dealer games? Live dealers are much preferred by many over regular virtual versions, so it pays to check this option out too. Most online casinos now offer live dealer games in addition to their regular offerings, allowing you to experience the thrill of the real thing without needing to leave home.

Now that youve got an idea of what to look for when choosing an online casino, heres some tips for making the right choice

It really comes down to personal preference. No two people are exactly alike, so everyone has an opinion on what they like and dislike about each casino. That said, here are some things to consider in order to narrow down your choices

 Popularity. Check out reviews, forums and Facebook pages to see what other people think of the casino. Also, ask around at work or friends houses who they would recommend to you. You could always take a look at the casinos website too, to see what kind of information they provide about themselves.

 Reputation. Find out what the general public thinks about the casino. Check out any customer reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Amazon and Google Play to find out more. As far as gaming goes, you can also check out the Better Business Bureau to see whether there have been any complaints against the casino.

 Security. Make sure the casino uses SSL encryption to secure its transactions, meaning that your private data stays safe during transactions. Other than that, look for security seals on the site itself and verify that theyre legitimate. You can also check out the casinos privacy policy to see how they handle confidential information.

 Payment methods. Its good to have multiple payment options available, especially if you plan to play frequently. Its also nice to find a casino that accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. If youre worried about safety, you can always opt for a credit card or PayPal instead.

With all those criteria in mind, heres our top picks

Betway:

Betway is a relatively new UK casino offering online gambling to residents of the United Kingdom and European Union. They offer hundreds of games across both land based and digital platforms, with plenty of top software providers like Net Entertainment, Microgaming and Yggdrasil Gaming Network. With a generous welcome offer that gives players 100% up to 100, you really cant go wrong with Betway.

Coral Casino:

Coral Casino is operated by the same company that runs the famous Caribbean casino, Grand Reef. Like many casinos, Coral Casino offers a wide variety of games, including plenty of video slots and table games. New players can benefit from a huge 100% match bonus up to 1000, while existing customers enjoy 25% cash back on deposits made within 48 hours of opening an account.

Ladbrokes Casino:

Ladbrokes Casino is owned by the same company as the famous bookmaker that started life in 1921. With more than 500 games from leading software providers such as Amaya, NetEnt and Microgaming, you wont be disappointed by the quality of the games here. New players get a 200% match bonus up to 500, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits.

Paddy Power Casino:

Paddy Power is another Irish-owned casino that operates throughout Europe. Not only does Paddy Power Casino offer traditional casino games like blackjack, roulette and slots, but it also provides a full range of sports betting, including football, tennis, boxing and horse racing. New players can receive a massive 100% match bonus up to 200, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits.

William Hill Casino:

William Hill Casino is one of the biggest names in the industry, operating in Europe, Asia and North America. Founded in 1984, this online casino has more than 400 games to choose from, including slots and table games, with a wide array of software providers like WagerLogic, Big Time Gaming and Rival.

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If youre interested in trying out an online casino but arent quite ready to commit to one, why not try out one of the many no deposit casinos weve reviewed? You can test drive various casinos completely risk-free, so you can feel confident about your choice before you make a single penny deposit.
Canl Bahis siteleri sektoru son derece onu ack ve farkl ozelliklere sahip bir sektordur. Elbette bahis secenekleri arasnda yuksek kazanc getiren alan kuskusuz canl bahistir. Peki, canl bahis nedir?

Canl Bahis Nedir?

Canl bahis adndan da anlaslacag gibi devam eden musabakaya bahis yapmaktr. Bu bahis musabaka devam ederken de yaplabilir olmasdr. Basta futbol olmak uzere voleybol, tenis, hentbol, basketbol, buz hokeyi ve masa tenisi gibi spor organizasyonlarna canl bahisler yaplabilmektedir. Canl bahis siteleri bu oyunlarn hepsine yuksek oranlara bahis yapmanza imkan tanr. En fazla tercih edilen futbol canl bahisleri diger alanlara gore daha fazla on plandadr. Siteden siteye degisen sartlar ve uygulama esaslar soz konusu olsa da kurallar sabittir.

Canl bahisi populer klan ve heyecan katan en onemli ozellikle musabakann basladg ana dek bahis yapabilmedir. Canl bahis icerisinde yer alan secenekler kazanma sansnz da dogrudan arttrmaktadr. Ilk korneri kim kullanr, ilk tac, gol, sar kart, krmz kart gibi futbol musabakas icerisinde olabilecek hemen hemen her seye bahis yaplabilmektedir. Normal bahisegore de son derece yuksek oranda olmas avantajl yonlerini ortaya koymaktadr. Nitekim dogru secenek ksa surede kazancl ckmanza etki edecektir.

Strateji ve dogru analizle 90 dakika gibi bir surede anaparanzkatlayabilirsiniz. Tabi bunu basarabilmek icin mutlaka musabakaya dair ayrntlar iyi degerlendirmek gerekir. Soz konusu musabakann detaylarn inceleyip, cezal, sakat oyuncu veya performans dusen takm oyunu gibi detaylar bilmek canl bahiste kazanc belirleyen onemli unsurdur. Guvenilir Canl bahis hem heyecanl zaman gecirmeyi hem de musabakalar takip ederken para kazanmay saglamaktadr.

Canl Bahis Nasl Oynanr?

Bahislerinizi guvenilir sitelerden gerceklestirdiginiz zaman herhangi bir sekilde para cekme de sorun yasamazsnz. Guvenilir bahis siteleri tespit edip sonrasnda da uyelik islemlerini tamamlamanz gerekmektedir. Belirlenen uyelik sartlarn yerine getirip hesabnza da paray aktardktan sonra bahis islemlerini sorunsuz yapabilirsiniz. Peki, canl bahis nasl oynanr?

Oncelikle bahis konusunda mutlaka dogru site arastrmas yapmalsnz. Yapacagnz arastrma neticesinde buldugunuz site uzerinden canl bahisislemlerini gerceklestirebilirsiniz. Bunun icin uye olup, hesaba para atp, canl bahis bolumune girmelisiniz. Sonrasnda dahil olmak istediginiz musabakann saatini ogrenip, gerekli analizleri yapmalsnz. Tahminlerinizi belirledikten sonra karsnza ckacak olan bahis sayfasndan istediginiz hamleyi yapmalsnz. Bahis tutarn belirledikten sonra musabaka baslayacaktr.

Canl bahis diger normal bahis esaslarna gore farkllklar icermektedir. Bunlardan en onemlisi musabakann gidisatna gore islem yapabilir olmaktr.Ayrca musabakann 2. Yarsna gore hamle yapp ayr bir bahisin soz konusu olmas da ciddi avantajdr. Dogru hamle ile sizde istediginiz bahisi yapp kazanc elde edebilirsiniz. Nitekim canl olarak yapacagnz bahis icin mac oncesi raporlara gore hareket etmek onemlidir. Cunku takmlarn durumlarn analiz etmek tahmin gucunu arttracaktr. Misal tamnn en iyi oyuncusu sakat ya da kart cezals ise takmn performansnda dusus yasanacaktr. Buna ek olarak takmn deplasman performans ile evinde ki performans ayr olacaktr. Burada da takmn musabakay nerede yaptgna bakmak gerekir. Bu ayrntlar da iyice analiz ettikten sonra bahsinizi yapp kazanmann keyfini yasayabilirsiniz.

Canl Bahis Siteleri

Son derece yuksek getiriye sahip bahis sektoru uzun zamandr faaliyet gostermektedir. Cok ciddi rakamlarn soz konusu oldugu bu sektor zamanla sanal ortamlara donusmustur. Elbette guvenli ve bir o kadar da avantajl olan bu siteler cok yonlu frsatlar sunmaktadrlar. Canl iddaa siteleri gerek yeni uyelere gerekse de hali hazrdaki uyelerine bolca bonus frsatlar vermektedir. Yatracagnz tutara gore belirlenen bonuslar site icerisinde rahat hareket etmenizi de saglayacaktr.

Canl bahis sitelerini kullanmadan once mutlaka guvenli olup olmadgna goz atmalsnz. Zira baz kullanclar guvenli olmayan sitelerden yaptklar islemlerden dolay magdur olmaktadrlar. Nitekim guvenli ve sorunsuz hizmet sunan yurt ds site tercih etmek en dogru secenektir. Sektorde uzun yllar faaliyet gosteren siteleri tercih edebilirsiniz. Bu alanda yer alan yabanc siteler musteri memnuniyetine onem vermektedir. Oncelik site kullanclarn sorunsuz sekilde bahislerini yapabilir olmasn saglamaktr. Bahis sitelerinde amac hem daha fazla kullancya hizmet vermek hem de sektorde emin admlarla ilerlemek onceliklidir. Dogru site tercihi ile sizde canl bahislerinizi sorun yasamadan gerceklestirebilirsiniz. Sizler icin hazrlams oldugumuz canl bahis siteleri listesi su sekildedir;

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Sralams oldugumuz bu siteler sektorde basarl islere imza atms sitelerdedir. Canl bahis konusunda beklentileri karslayacak olan bu siteler sizlere kolaylk sunmaktadrlar. Bol bonuslu secenekle de sizlere farkl bahis yonlerini sunacaklardr. Sistemsel etki icerisinde her zaman etkin sonuc alabilmek icin surekli olarak faaliyet icerisindedirler.

Canl Bahis Taktikleri

Bahis sektorunun en fazla dikkat edilmesi gereken hususu dogru taktik ve dogru tahmindir. Elbette dogru tahmini yapabilmek icin analizi cok iyi yapmak gerekir. Canl bahis taktikleri arasnda ilk sra analiz gelmektedir. Analiz yapamadgnz zaman basarl tahminlerde bulunmanz pek de mumkun degildir. Cunku bahiste onemli olan konu musabakann analizini cok iyi yaplmas gerektigidir. Canl bahisin ozelliklerini iyi bilmek ve nasl bir hamle yapacagnz bilmek gerekir. Ozellikle riskli maclarda yaplacak degerlendirmeler cok daha onemlidir.

Canl bahis yapacaklarn takip edecegi degerler takmlarn durumlar ile alakal olmaldr. Performans uzerine kurulu bahis sisteminde takm degerlendirmesine iyi bakmak gerekir. Iki takmn son 5 macta nasl bir sonuc ortaya koyduguna bakarak hareket etmek onemlidir. Ayrca hangi takm evinde daha iyi performans sergiliyor diye de ayrca bakmak gerekir.

Analizlerle alakal puan durumlarna da goz atmak cok onemlidir. Puan degerlendirmesinde oncelikle takmlarn ihtiyaclar ile dogru orantl hareket etmek gerekir. Cunku olusturulan performans takmn da durumunu ortaya koymaktadr. Nitekim istenilen sonucu elde edebilmek icin tum ayrntlar bilmek gerekir. Takm ici duzenden tutunda da takmn son durumuna kadar her ayrnt onemlidir. Iki takmn birbirleri arasnda ki sonuclar da incelemek gerekir. Burada dikkat edilecek detaylarn basnda maclarda kac gol oldugu ve gollerin hangi dakikalarda atldgdr. Cekismeli gecen musabakalarda bazen goller ilk yarda daha fazla olurken baz maclarda da ikinci yarda daha cok gol olmustur. Iki takm arasnda ki maclarda gollerin cogunlugu ilk yarda geliyorsa buna gore bahis yapabilirsiniz.

Canl Bahis Siteleri Bonuslar ve Kampanyalar

Bahis yapanlar veya yapmay dusununler sitelerin sunmus olduklar frsatlar merak etmektedirler. Cunku siteler daha fazla kullancya erismek icin her donem kampanyalar duzenleyerek kullanc odakl hamleler yapmaktadrlar. Canl bahis bonuslar ve kampanyalar oldukca populer olup, siteler bu konuda adeta birbirleri ile yarsmaktadrlar. Birbirinden farkl ozelliklere sahip olan kampanyalar size frsatlar sunmaktadr. Daha cok kazanma ihtimalinizi arttran bu bonuslar daha cesur olmanza da dogrudan etki edecektir. Nitekim bonuslar sitelerin cekiciligini ve avantajlarn arttrmaktadr. En cok kazandran canl bahis siteleri bedava bonuslar ve kampanyalar icin http://www.milano2018.com/canli-bahis-siteleri-2022/ linkinden yardm alabilirsiniz.

Hos geldin bonusu ile baslayan ve sonrasnda para yatrdkca bonus veren cok sayda site bulunmaktadr. Canl bahis bonusu veren siteler yeni uyelere sunduklar frsatlar farkl kampanyalarla mevcut uyelerine de sunmaktadrlar. Hali hazrda siteyi kullananlarn da bonus frsatlarndan yararlanmalar icin donemsel kampanyalar olusturmaktadrlar. Boylece baska sitelere gidisler olmayacag gibi site de daha keyifli zaman gecirmek mumkun klnmaktadr. Bu tur eklentiler yapan sitelerde musteri memnuniyeti daha fazladr.

Bahis siteleri ozellik ve uygulama bakmndan farkllklar bunyelerinde bulundurmaktadrlar. Verilen bonuslarn olusturulmas ve kullanclar aktarlmasnda yatrlan para miktarlar belirleyici olmaktadr. 1.000 TL yatran bir kullanc yuzde 20 bonus frsat olan bir kampanyadan 200 TL bonus kazanabilmektedir. Yatracag tutar 10.000 TL oldugunda bu bonustutar 2.000 TL olabilmektedir. Gerceklesen ve uygulanan esaslar tamamen donemsel olarak yaplan kampanyalarla alakaldr. Iyi Canl bahis siteleri bonuslar ve kampanyalar icin sitelerin vermis oldugu oranlar takip edebilirsiniz.

Canl Bahis Siteleri Para Yatrma

Online Canl bahis yapacaklarn merak ettigi konulardan bir digeri de para yatrma islemleridir. Oldukca onemli olan bu konuda hata yapmamak cok onemlidir. Canl bahis sitelerine para yatrma islemi sanlann aksine son derece basittir. Oldukca basit ve uygulama esas dogru etki olusturan bu yapda sizde islemi rahatca tamamlayabilirsiniz. Para yatrma konusunda su yolu izleyebilirsiniz.

Guvendiginiz ve herhangi bir sekilde aklnzda soru isareti kalmayan bahis sitesine uye olmanz gerekmektedir. Uyelik islemini sorunsuz sekilde tamamladktan sonra para yatrma islemine gecebilirsiniz.

Kullanacagnz siteye uye olduktan sonra karsnza kullanc ad ve sifresini gireceginiz yer gelecektir. Buraya giris yaptktan sonra site icerisine islemlere devam edebilirsiniz.

Sitede yer alan para yatrma sekmesine tklayp sonrasnda karsnza gelen sayfay inceleyebilirsiniz. Para yatrma bolumunde yer alan ksma ne kadar para yatracagnz yazp devam tusuna basmalsnz.

Yatrmak istediginiz tutar girip sonrasnda da devam tusuna bastktan sonra karsnza kart bilgilerinizi gireceginiz sayfa gelecektir. Kredi kart kullanarak para gondermek isteyenlerin tercih ettigi bu sayfa tum bilgiler girilip islem onaylanmaldr.

Canl bahis sitelerine para yatrma islemini gerceklestirmek icin hesaba havale secenegini de kullanabilirsiniz. Site icerisinde musteri hizmetleri ile iletisime gecerek banka hesap numaralarn ogrenebilirsiniz. Belirtilen IBAN numarasna istediginiz tutar havale edebilirsiniz. Havale ederken acklama ksmna yazlacak bilgilere dikkat etmelisiniz.

Kredi kart veya banka havalesi ile gerceklesen para yatrma islemi sonucunda site hesabnzdan bakiyenize bakabilirsiniz. Bakiyenize gore dilediginiz sekilde bahislerinizi gerceklestirebilirsiniz.

Canl Bahis Siteleri Para Cekme

Canl bahiste dogru hamleler ve dogru tahminler sonucunda kazandgnz bedeli geri almak isteyebilirsiniz. Kazanclarnz istediginiz banka hesabnza cekebilmek icin uymanz gereken kurallar soz konusudur. Oncelikle bahis sitelerinden para cekebilmeniz icin uye olurken dogru bilgi paylasmnda bulunmanz gerektigidir. Cunku canl bahis sitelerinden para cekme islemi icin kullanc hesab ile talep edilen banka hesap bilgilerinin ortusmesi gerekir. Yani uye olurken verilen bilgi ile banka hesab kime ait ise o bilgiler ayn olmaldr. Bu uygulama sitenin hem kullancsn hem de kendisini guvene alma politikasdr. Ayrca frsatclarn onune gecerek yeni bir uye olusumunun da onune gecmek amac gutmektedir. Uye olan kisi farkl para cekilme talebi verilen hesap farkl oldugunda para cekme islemi gerceklesmeyecektir.

Bahisleriniz sonucunda kazanc elde edebilir ve bu kazancnz da hakknz olarak almak isteyebilirsiniz. Burada son derece basit uygulama soz konusu olurken siteler aras farkl gorunumler soz konusu olabilir. Fakat yine de tum sitelerde uyenin site icerisinde para cekme bolumune girmesi yeterlidir. Burada cekilecek olan tutarn belirlenmesi ve hesap numarasnn girilmesi ile birlikte islem onay gerekecektir. Para cekme taleplerinde sizden gerekli bilgiler istenmekte ve havale islemi istenilen bilgiler esliginde yurutulmektedir. Dogru bilgi paylasmak sorunsuz para cekebilmeniz en onemli kuraldr. Istenilen bilgiler girildikten sonra site sorumlular gerekli kontrolleri yapp herhangi bir sorun yoksa ksa surede hesabnza gerekli paray aktaracaklardr.

Canl Bahis Sitelerinden Para Cekmek Icin Istenen Belgeler

Bahis sitelerine uye olduktan sonra baz kullanclar para cekme taleplerinin karslanmadg konusunda sikayetlerde bulunmuslardr. Bu sikayetlersektorde uzun zamandr bulunan guvenilir bahis siteleri de yer almaktadr. Fakat sikayetlerin dayanaklarna bakldgnda ise islerin tamamen farkl oldugu gorulmektedir. Yasanan bu durum kullanclarn hatal bilgi girmesi ve uyelik bilgileri ile banka bilgilerinin uyusmamas ile dogru orantldr. Birde canl bahis para cekmek icin istenen belgeler eksik ya da hatal olarak sunulmus olabilir. Ortaya ckan karsklar neticesinde para cekme talebinde bulunan kisi istedigini alamadg icin sikayetci olmaktadr. Oysa ki istenilen bilgiler dogru ve istenilen evraklar eksiksiz sunulsa para cekme islemi sorunsuz olacak.

Sitelerin para cekme konusunda dikkatli hareket etmesi hilelerin ve illegal faaliyetlerin onune gecmek adnadr. Cunku baz kullanclar farkl bilgiler vererek ikinci hesap acabilmektedirler. Bazen de bilincsizce hatal bilgi girilebilmektedir. Hatal islemlerin cozumu konusunda islem yaptgnz sitenin musteri temsilcileri ile gorusebilirsiniz. Talepleriniz dogrultusunda para cekme islemlerinde ki sorunlar giderilecektir. Canl bahis para cekmek icin istenen belgeler listesi su sekildedir;

Kullanc bilgileri ile banka bilgilerini karslastrmak icin kimlik fotokopisi

Banka hesap bilgileri

Ikametgah ve kisiye ait herhangi bir fatura.

Kacak Iddaa

Turkiyede dogrudan bahis yapmak icin resmi kanallar kullanlabilmektedir. Fakat tercih edilen ve oran olarak cok daha fazla frsatlar sunan kacar iddaasiteleri bulunmaktadr. Bu siteler kanunlara aykr sekilde yaplmakta olup, yasal bir dayanag yoktur. Elbette bu sitelerin kurulus merkezi Turkiye olmayp, ds ulkelerdedir ve faaliyetler belirlenen siteler uzerinden yaplmaktadr. Kacak Iddaa oldukca riskli olup, cok dikkatli olunmas gerekir.

Kacak Bahis

Kanunlar cercevesinde istediginiz gibi bahis yapamayabilirsiniz. Bahis yapabilmek icin ya kanuni olarak sorun olmayan ulke dsnda ki kumarhanelere gitmeniz veya kacak bahis sitelerinden islem yapabilirsiniz. Zira bu durum tehlikeli olsa da cok sayda site guvenli sekilde bu alanda hizmet vermektedir. Kacak bahiste oldukca fazla secenek bulunurken yuksek oranda kazanc sunuyor olmas da ragbeti arttryor.

Illegal Bahis

Bahisin bircok alanda yasak oldugu Turkiyede bu alanda cok sayda yabanc merkezli siteler hizmet vermektedir. Illegal bahis sektorunde faaliyet gosteren siteler guvenli hizmet anlays ile kullanclarna frsatlar sunmaktadr. Yurt ds merkezli bu siteler sorunsuz sekilde hizmetlerini surdururken bulunduklar ulkelerde kanunlara uygun sekildedir. Elbette faaliyet noktasnda bulunduklar ulkelerde sorun teskil etmese de Turkiyede faaliyet gostermeleri kanunin yasaklanmstr.

Yasads Bahis

Gerek olusturulan etkenler gerekse de ortaya konulan riskler yasads bahis de oldukca tehlikelidir. Kanunlarn mudahil olduklar bu alanlar da hem kullanclar hem de populer bahis yaptranlar tum riskleri goze almaktadrlar. Fakat yasaklardan uzak sekilde guvenli hizmet sunan siteler de bulunmaktadr. Takipler neticesinde kapatlan sitelerin muhakkak alternatifleri kurularak yollarna devam etmektedirler.

Canl Iddaa Siteleri Nelerdir?

Dunya genelinde kabul gormus cok sayda guvenli hizmet veren populer bahis siteleri bulunmaktadr. Elbette bu siteler dunyann bircok ulkesinde faaliyet gosterse de Turkiyede yasaktr. Sektorde yer alan cok sayda legal iddaa siteleri bulunmaktadr. Herhangi bir kanunsuzlugun olmadg bu sitelerden hzl ve guvenli islem yaplabilmektedir. Tabi bu sitelerde uygulanan oranlar yasal olmayan sitelere gore daha dusuktur. Illegal sitelerin tercih edilme sebeplerinin en onemli etkeni de olusturulan oranlardr. Peki, Iddaa siteleri nelerdir? Faaliyetleri ve uygulama esaslar nelerdir?

Turkiyede faaliyet gosteren yasal iddaa siteleri listesi su sekildedir;

Iddaa

Bilyoner

Tuttur

Birebin

Oley

Nesine

Misli

Iddaa

2004 ylnda hizmet vermeye baslayan Iddaa Spor toto tarafndan kurulmus olup, ilk etapta bayilik seklinde calsmaya baslamstr. Elbette zamanla gelisen teknolojiye ayak uydurarak internet uzerinde de populer bahis severlerin hizmetine sunulmustur. Kuruldugu donemde devletin resmi kurumu olarak faaliyet gosterirken gelinen yeni donemde ozellestirilmistir.

Bilyoner

Turkiyede faaliyetine 2006 ylnda baslayan Bilyoner ilk ozel yasal bahis sitesi olma ozelligine sahiptir. Guvenilir bahis siteleri Turkiyede bunlardr. Ksa surede populer olan site halen faaliyetlerini sorunsuz sekilde surdurmektedir.

Tuttur

Ksa surede adndan bahsettirmeyi basaran Tuttur 2009 ylnda faaliyetlere baslamstr. Guvenilir bahis siteleri arasnda yerini almstr. Gunumuze dek bircok alanda populer bahis yapanlara frsatlar sunarken avantajlar ile de begeni toplamstr.

Birebin

Kullanc odakl calsmalar surdurse de 2011 ylnda sektore giren Birebindiger sitelere gore daha az ragbet gormektedir. Bahis oynamak ise bu sitede oldukca kolaydr. Elbette farkl yaklasmlara sahip olmasndan dolay ilerleyen sureclerde adndan sklkla bahsettirecek gibi gorunuyor.

Oley

2009 ylnda Dogus yayn gruplarnn istiraki olarak kurulmus olup yasal olarak herhangi bir sorunu olmayan sitelerdendir. Bahis siteleri arasnda hzl cks yapms bir sitedir. Oley yapms oldugu yenilikler ile kullanclarn da dikkatini ksa surede cekmeyi basarmstr.

Nesine

Birbirini takip eden surecte Nesine de yine 2006 ylnda hizmet vermeye baslamstr. Yasal bahis siteleri arasnda yerini almay basaran firma ksa surede sevilen ve ragbet goren bir site olmustur.

Misli

2009 ylnda sektore cok hzl giris yapan Misli cok sayda reklam filmi ile on plana ckmay basarmstr. Internet uzerinden hem yasal hem de sorunsuz hizmet veren bahis sitelerinden bir tanesi olmustur.

Canl Bahis Siteleri Kayt ve Uyelik Islemleri

Her zaman populerligini koruyan ve surekli gelisim gosteren canl bahis gun gectikce daha da gucleniyor. Bahis oynamak icin ise sitelere uye olunmas gerekir. Yuksek getirisi ve begeni toplayan faaliyetleri ile cok sayda site bu alanda faaliyet gostermektedir. Elbette sorunsuz sekilde uye olmanz ve faaliyetler gostermeniz de oldukca kolaydr. Canl bahis siteleri kayt ve uyelik islemleri dakikalar icerisinde gerceklestirilecek yapya sahiptir.

Uye olacagnz siteyi belirledikten sonra siteye girmeniz gerekmektedir. Girdiginiz sitenin ana sayfasnda uye ol ya da kayt ol bolumu bulunacaktr. Siteler arasnda degiskenlik gosteren bu alanda temel unsurlar bulunmaktadr. Elbette farkllklar olsa da temelinde benzer bilgiler uye olmak isteyen kisilerden talep edilmektedir.

Uye ol bolumune tkladktan sonra karsnza uyelik bilgi formu ckacaktr. Bu formda sizin kim oldugunuzu ogrenmek ve sitenin guvenligini saglamak adna islemler yaplmaktadr. Uyelik formunda yer alan ad soyad bolumunu eksiksiz ve dogru sekilde doldurmalsnz. Sizden bu formda istenen bilgilerin tamamn girmeniz istenecektir. Istenen bilgiler mutlaka dogru ve eksiksiz sekilde olmaldr. Eksik veya hatal bilgi uyelik islemlerinde sorun teskil edebilir. Yine de yanls bilgi girisine ragmen uyelik islemleri tamamlanabilir. Fakat boyle bir yol izleyenler sonrasnda buyuk skntlarla karslasabilirler. Bu skntlarn basnda da para cekme islemlerinde yasanan sorunlardr.

Uyelik islemleri dikkatli ve ozenle doldurulmas gereken yapdadr. Canl bahis siteleri kayt ve uyelik islemleri gerceklestirilirken verilen bilgiler site yonetimi tarafndan muhafaza edilmektedir. Herhangi bir sekilde 3. Sahslarla paylaslmas gibi bir durum soz konusu degildir. Bu faaliyetleri surduren sitelerin guven unsurlar arasnda bu nokta onceliklidir.

Bahis sitelerine uye olurken hatal bilgi paylasmnda bulunmak size faydadan cok zarar verecektir. Diyelim ki bilgileri hatal girdiniz ve uyelik onayland. Uyelik tamamlandktan sonra siteye para yatrdnz ve kazanc elde ettiniz. Kazancnz sonrasnda hesabnza almak istediginizde karsnza banka bilgileri bolumu gelecektir. Para cekme talebi gerceklestikten sonra site uyelik bilgileri ile banka hesap bilgileri ortusmez ise paranz alamazsnz. Boyle bir durumla karslasmamak adna bu hususa ayrca dikkat etmelisiniz.
Apr 13, 2016 | By Kira

A 64-year-old man from Tiberias, Israel, has become one of the first people in the country, and even in the world, to receive a 3D printed jaw prosthetic thanks to maxillofacial surgeons at the Baruch Padeh Medical Center and 3D printing specialists from A.B. Dental. The titanium 3D printed implant was custom-made for the patient and dramatically reduced both his operation and recovery time, while significantly improving his post-surgery quality of life.

David Goldstein, a resident of Tiberias, initially came to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery with complaints that he was suffering from non-specific pain in his jaw. A series of tests soon confirmed that he had a large metastatic tumor, measuring close to half an inch, in the back of his jaw.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, metastatic tumors in the oro-facial region are quite rare, accounting for only 1-1.5% of all malignant oral tumors, and can be very difficult to treat. At the same time, such tumors can grow rapidly, leading to pain, difficulty chewing, and disfigurement.

Surgery of metastasis in the jaw are not commonly done, said Dr. Imad Abu al-Naag, head of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department in Poriya. On the other hand, we know that an oncological treatmentradiation and chemotherapydont solve the [missing jaw tissue] problem. So, after consulting with the oncologists at Rambam and Sheba hospitals, we decided to make the rare move in such a case and perform surgery.

Knowing this would be a complex and unique case, the medical team turned to A.B. Dental, a company that specializes in producing custom-made dental implants using cutting-edge technologies, including computerized implant planning, 3D printed surgical guides, and metal 3D printed implants made using SLS technology.

Just earlier this year, A.B. Dental used its 3D printing medical expertise to rebuild an injured Syrian mans face.

Using 3D medical imaging, A.B. Dental was able to create an exact titanium replica of Goldsteins healthy jaw, which was implanted with no complications. Its the best treatment available around the world today, said Dr. Avi Toueg, a senior member of the department.

According to Dr. Imad, the surgery, which normally takes up to six hours, was performed in only two. Better yet, the 3D printed jaw prosthetic has numerous advantages that will help to improve Goldsteins quality of life.

First, Dr. Imad noted the cosmetic advantage of the 3D printed part, which perfectly replaced his previous jaw and did not alter his facial appearance in any way. In terms of functionality, the 3D printed jaw also does not require the patient to adjust his chewinga common issue with traditionally used plates, and one that resulted in a high rate of broken plate. In fact, just a few hours after surgery, doctors reported that Goldstein was already eating normally.

[A.B. Dental created a] perfect copy of Davids jaw, said Dr. Toueg, That enabled us to locate the jaw precisely in its place, and, most important, it will facilitate an immeasurably better functionality compared with the plates that were used in the past.

The 3D printed jaw implant, one of the first in Israel, is a major success story, and one that will hopefully inspire more doctors and patients, both in Israel and around the world, to adopt 3D printed medical solutions to improve operations and patient outcomes.

While this procedure is one of the first of its kind in Israel, it is not the first in the world. Previously, 3D printed prosthetic jaw implants have saved the lives of patients in Australia, India, South Africa, and China.

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carlo docchio wrote at 10/15/2016 4:46:17 AM:can you have teeth or dentures after operation my father had a titanium insert and they told him he could never have teeth again very sad he tries so hard to eat things but just cant chew with just top teeth please respond thank you for your time carlo




Apr 13, 2016 | By Kira

April showers may bring May flowers, but they also bring pesky rainclouds that can block our night time view of the Moon. However, thanks to a brilliant combination of NASA Lunar data, 3D printing technology, and exquisite engineering, a team of designers has created MOON, the first topographically accurate lunar globe that displays actual lunar phases in real-time.

MOON, launched today on Kickstarter, is a 1/20 million-scale replica of the Moon, featuring every known crater, elevation, and ridge in accurate 3D relief. When turned on, a carefully programmed ring of LED lights illuminates its surface in stunning detail, recreating the Moons lunar phases as we see them from Earth, and even allowing us a glimpse at the unattainable far side'.

The project was initiated four years ago by French designer Oscar Lhermitte, whose personal interest in the Earths only satellite quickly escalated to an obsession with designing the most accurate and detailed 3D lunar globe possible.

Thanks to NASA, we have access to beautiful and incredible accurate space imagery. And thanks to 3D printing technology, we can create intricate physical models from that raw data. The data is available, the technology is there, so why not make a 21st century version of the lunar globe? asked Lhermitte.

The images he is referring to were gathered by the Institute of Planetary Research at the German Aerospace Center, which is working on NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. Lhermitte was granted special access to their internal Moon mapssome of the most intricately detailed images of the Moons surface known to manfrom which he created 3D CAD models that could be accurately 3D printed.

Countless hours have been spent working on the file in order to achieve the correct scale of terrain, make it spherical and compatible for a 3D print, he explained.

He then partnered with a 3D printing service provider, who, after several tests with different materials, 3D printed an accurate MOON master using an industrial SLS 3D printer and nylon material printed with a layer thickness of 100 microns.

From this 3D printed master mold, the lunar globes are rotocasted from hard polyurethan resin using a custom-built machine, and then carefully pigmented to achieve the most realistic moon-like color.

For Moon enthusiasts, this three-dimensional orb is an almost perfect representation of the Moon itself, complete with dimples, craters and ridges. However the real magic begins once the sun goes down and the LED lights turn on.

Lhermitte partnered with Peter Kridge and Alex Du Preez of London design studio Kudu. Given their expertise in mechatronic design and custom hardware prototyping, they were the perfect fit to help Lhermitte design a unique and scientifically-accurate lighting system.

The duo programmed an internal digital clock and designed a ring of LED lights that rotate around the MOON, mimicking the movement of the sun.

The precise programming of this computer allows for three distinct modes: Manual, which lets your rotate the sun yourself to see a specific lunar phase; Demo Mode, which follows a complete month-long rotation in just 30 seconds; and Live Mode, a real-time rotation that is synced with the actual sun and moon, and takes a full 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2.80 seconds to complete.

That means that even on the cloudiest days, youll know exactly what lunar phase can be seen from outer space.

After four years of meticulous design, careful craftsmanship, and mechanical and electrical engineering, the MOON team has finished their first working prototype, and are ready to bring their product to market.

Through Kickstarter, Lhermitte and his team are offering various sizes of the 3D topographical lunar globe, some with the sun lights and some without, with prices ranging from around $430 to over $1,000. Their fundraising goal of 25,000 (US$35,500) will go towards starting production of the first 50 models, to be delivered by the end of this year.

The MOON 3D Lunar Globe is a stunning cross between design, technology, art, and science. Whether as an educational tool, or simply a beautiful work of moving art, its sure to be a hit amongst space enthusiasts and daydreamers alike.

There is still a full lunar month before the MOON Kickstarter is complete. Until then, you can still 3D print the moon or other space wonders in your very own home: check out MOON2STL, the ESAs 3D printable Rosetta comet, or these stunning 3D printed galaxy marbles.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Seraphim little wrote at 4/22/2019 11:30:22 AM:how much, do you deliver to Australia? and do you accept paypal?andy wrote at 8/10/2016 7:52:59 AM:Maybe its better use transparent moon model material and put the sun light inside the moon. So the huge sun light orbiter can be eliminated. just an idea..:) keep going the invention.




Apr 13, 2016 | By Alec

Japanese car manufacturer Toyota is one of the most successful in its field for a variety of reasons, including excellent safety standards. But more importantly, they seem to know exactly what their target groups want, something that the hybrid Toyota Prius and environmentally aware drivers proved once again. Now, the company has set its sights on a completely different group: the young adults that make up Generation Z. To reach that difficult demographic, the company has designed the Toyota uBox: a sporty vehicle that can be both professional and recreational and even features a customizable 3D printed dashboard.

This new car concept is remarkable in a number of ways. While most of Toyotas North American vehicles are developed and produced in Southeast Michigan, the uBox is actually the result of an intensive collaboration with graduate students from Clemson Universitys International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) in South Carolina. The collaboration, called Deep Orange, has been ongoing for two years now and has enabled considerable student design input; the students even hand-built the concept car. According to Johnell Brooks, an associate professor in Clemson's graduate engineering program, it was almost like a boot camp for automotive development. Deep Orange gives students hands-on experience with the entire vehicle development process, from identifying the market opportunity through the vehicle build, he said of the experience.

But how do you begin to reach the young Generation Z? The oldest of the generation are already in their late teens and early twenties, and have a reputation for liking big-ticket, flashy purchases, such as cars. To reach them, Toyota was looking for a car that is pleasing to the eye, featuring modern curves, and appeals to both the young professionals who can afford it and the party loving students who want it. The typical customer for uBox is a young entrepreneur who wants a vehicle that can provide utility and recreation on the weekend but that can also offer office space or other career-centric or lifestyle uses during the week, Toyota explains in their press release.

A challenging goal, but it certainly seems like the CU-ICAR students delivered. The exterior is bold and eye-catching, and looks a bit muscular  if thats even possible for a car. Most importantly, they made the interior fully customizable and reconfigurable. The floors and seats, for instance, can be rearranged to make room for lots of cargo or for transporting passengers. If you want, you can also add a curved glass roof to the vehicle, supported by composite carbon fiber rails developed through a unique pultrusion technique. The roof pultrusion was something unexpected and very interesting when they first started talking about the concept, said Toyota Executive Program Manager Craig Payne. The fact that [the students] were able to achieve an industry-first manufacturing technique as students speaks volumes for this program.

But nowhere is that drive for customization more visible than in the interior features, where a large number of components can be replaced through 3D printing. This includes the vents, the dashboard display fixtures and door trims. To support that customizable nature of the uBox, Toyota has announced that they are working on an online 3D printing hub, where car owners can upload and share their 3D printable designs. Perfect for accommodating the modern desire for originality.

Of course young people also need constant access to electricity as well so Toyota has built in a compact, dual-purpose, all-electric powertrain and plenty of 110-volt sockets on the inside and outside of the vehicle. These will provide power for all forms of consumer electronics, from smartphones to tablets. Even power tools, they say, can be plugged in. But the car is still under development, so who knows what other features might be incorporated. Toyota is currently aiming for a 2020 release.

Unsurprisingly, CU-ICAR was very impressed. The Toyota management team constantly challenged the students with justifying their design and engineering decisions based on brand essence, real-world customers and what the students believed the future would embrace. This experience can simply not be gained from a text book, said Paul Venhovens, endowed chair for automotive systems integration at CU-ICAR. But more importantly, the cars breakthrough customization options gives us a glimpse of what the cars of the future might look like. Before we know it, we might all be 3D printing car accessories.

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Apr 13, 2016 | By Alec

If youve ever been shopping around for a 3D printer online, chances are youve found yourself on the websites of some resellers. Depending on where you live, its just a simple fact that not every 3D printer manufacturer will be selling their products near you. If thats the case, a reseller can sometimes provide an excellent solution. Of course not all resellers are backed by excellent customer reviews, but Dutch 3D printing innovators Ultimaker have managed find a reseller in one of the most respected electronics companies in the world. The Apple webstores for 19 different European countries will now be selling Ultimakers current flagship 3D printer, the Ultimaker 2+.

Over the past few months, this reselling deal has been spreading out over Apple webstores throughout Europe, and is currently available in nineteen different countries: The UK, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Most of those countries were home to an Ultimaker reseller already, but obviously none can compete with Apple in terms of brand recognition.

Ultimaker, of course, is one of the two most recognizable desktop 3D printer manufacturers in the world, alongside MakerBot. The Dutch 3D printer specialists are especially successful in Europe, where they are the premier 3D printer manufacturer. They owe their success to a variety of reasons, including their strong links to the RepRap community (from which it originated), their dedication to open source principles, and obviously their excellent products. But Ultimaker also knows a thing or two about clever marketing. Just last month, they teamed up with Dutch postal services PostNL to deliver an active 3D printer without ruining the print.

This deal with Apple is definitely also a marketing achievement, as its a rare honor for electronics developers to be incorporated into Apples product line. Apples decision to team up with Ultimaker is quite interesting as well as they have several 3D printing patents already, but have never actually stepped into the industry. Perhaps a sign of things to come?

But for now the Ultimaker 2+ is the only 3D printer backed by Apple. In their webstores, they are currently selling this Ultimaker 3D printer with a price tag of  2,299.00 (depending on what currency your country uses). An improved version of the award winning Ultimaker 2, it is currently one of the best desktop models around, with a build place of 223223205 mm, print speeds of up to 300 mm/s, interchangeable nozzles and a resolution of down to 20 microns.

Strangely, however, this deal isnt exactly showcased on the Apple website. Ultimakers 3D printer can be found at the bottom of the Printer/Scanner section in their webstores, next to Ultimaker PLA filament in three colors (silver, red and white). According to Apple, they have stock and ship throughout the EU every 24 hours (no extra shipping costs). They also accept credit card payment without a surcharge  unlike most dealers  and have a 14 day no-questions-asked return policy. For Apple product veterans, it will also be important to note that the companys common one-year limited warranty does not apply to products that are not Apple-branded, even if they are sold by them or packaged with Apple products.

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Henry Giardina in The Paris Review:

In the fall of 1921, journalists were clamoring to know if Charlie Chaplin intended to play Hamlet. They asked him in Chicago at the Blackstone Hotel. They cornered him at the Ritz. His response each time was coy and evasive: Why, I dont know. Of all the unlikely questions they tended to ask him at this point in his careerAre you a Bolshevik? What do you do with your old mustaches?the Hamlet question seems most out of place. Why would an actor known for his comedy and silence take on a famously verbose and tragic role? Hamlet, with his hemming and hawing, didnt seem a natural fit for an actor in Chaplins position. But then, no actor had ever been in Chaplins position before.

In 1921, Chaplin was the most famous man in the world, famous in a way that hadnt been possible since the birth of cinema a mere twenty-odd years earlier. Hed just put out The Kid, his most ambitious film, and the first feature-length film comedy. There had been other attempts, mainly accidents: Harold Lloyds A Sailor-Made Man, which ran over its three intended reels into a fourth, and Chaplins earlier Tillies Punctured Romance had the length but lacked the architecture. The Kid was different. It merged tragedy and comedy into a third, fluid form. Chaplin wanted to wring out of audiences every single emotion at once without losing any narrative cohesion. The result was a high emotional realism not yet seen in the short history of the cinema. This was, before 1921, unheard ofinadvisable, even. People thought Chaplin too ambitious, especially for his medium. It wont work, his friend Gouverneur Morris told him. The form must be pure, either slapstick or drama; you cannot mix them, otherwise one element of your story will fail. But Chaplin understood something of the complicated response he produced in his audience, a response belonging neither to pure joy nor pure sadness. In 1914, an actress had approached him with tears in her eyes after watching him film a two-reel comedy. I know its supposed to be funny, she said, but you just make me weep.

More here.
I've thought about White Grass often over the years. He usually comes to mind when I'm driving down a road in the country and the smell of a skunk rises up and fills the air.

One day in late April or May, a few hours after the morning meal, I went into the walk-in refrigerator. White Grass was there, bent over, pulling leaves from a head of lettuce.

When I entered, he looked up at me with an expression I'd never seen on him: It was happiness, real happiness, vibrant and alive. A lost part of him had bobbed to the surface.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He showed me the lettuce. "It's for the babies," he said.

"What babies?"

"The babies," he repeated. "C'mon! Look!"

He brushed past me, hurrying down the hall to the outside door.

Reed and Mackey, both prisoners, were working over by the grills. I asked them what babies White Grass was talking about.

"We had some skunks born out back a couple of days ago," Reed explained. A pregnant skunk had crawled beneath Rothe Hall and given birth.

Mackey laughed. "White Grass thinks he's the daddy," he said. "He wants everybody to go out and look at the goddamned things."

I had started down the hall to take a look when Reed called out to me.

"Don't get too close," he advised. "She's wild. She's not spraying White Grass, but she might get scared."

I went to the door and peeked out. White Grass crouched 20 feet to my right, dropping bits of lettuce into a small recessed area along the wall. He was talking to the mother.

"There you go. Mama's hungry. Sure she is."

I walked out the door a few feet, wanting to get a glimpse of the skunks, but then I chickened out.

White Grass stayed outside most of that morning, sometimes coming into the kitchen for more lettuce or cabbage  far more than the mother could have eaten. He acted like the proud father, busy and excited.

That afternoon, before I got off my shift, I made my rounds of the kitchen, which included checking the area out by the garbage cans. White Grass knelt there still, down on one knee, cooing to the mother. His delight was a lovely thing to see.

When I left work, I stopped at the desk and spoke to Lieutenant Burns. I asked if he knew about the skunks.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "We've got to get rid of the damned things."

I can't fathom now how I missed the import of that sentence. When people in the country talk about "getting rid of the damned things," they mean killing them. That night, someone at the prison poisoned the mother skunk and her babies.

The next morning, White Grass found the bodies.

Just before 11 a.m., I pulled up in front of the cyclone fence at Rothe Hall. As soon as I opened the car door, I heard a wailing in the distance.

"Aa-ii-ee-ee!"

The sound echoed, as if rolling down from the hills.

I walked up to the gate, and the tower guard buzzed me through. As I closed it behind me, the sound rose again.

"Who's making that noise?" I called to the guard.

"White Grass," he shouted. "He's been doing that all morning."

I didn't need to ask why  it hit me hard.

If only I'd been smarter the day before. If I'd been thinking, I would have told Burns that the death of the skunks would kill White Grass. Burns was a hard man, but he wasn't cruel. We could have lied to White Grass. It would have been easy  White Grass was so childlike. We could have removed the bodies and told him the mother skunk had taken her babies deep into the woods; he would have believed it.

Poor White Grass.

I ran into Rothe Hall and hurried through the dining hall into the kitchen. Mackey was cooking, but Reed and Pop stood at the end of the hallway, staring. I stepped outside. My colleague Charlie and the morning desk sergeant stood watching White Grass, about 20 feet away. He remained still, his back arched and his face tilted up toward the sun. His long hair fell loosely behind him, and his arms opened toward the sky. Tears ran down his cheeks as he shook his head back and forth. He brought his hands to his face and dug the heels of his palms into his eyes, crushing the tears. He drew in a long breath and let it out. Then another breath, even longer  but this time, as the air rushed out of his lungs, it carried a long, deep moan. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and a prickly sensation ran down my back. White Grass dropped his arms to his sides, and his head fell to his chest. He stood there, limp and motionless.
3. Student loan interest

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, most people didnt have to make student loan payments in 2021. And those who did make voluntary student loan payments didnt have to pay interest. Nevertheless, if you had a private student loan, you probably had to continue making payments and paying interest.

Most people know that mortgage interest is deductible, but most student loan interest is deductible, too. You can deduct up to $2,500 in interest each year, or the amount you actually paid, whichever is smaller. If you paid more than $600 in interest, you should get a Form 1098-E, Student Loan Interest Statement.

One nice thing about the student loan interest deduction: You dont need to itemize to get it. Its an adjustment to income, so you are eligible even if you take the standard deduction, which most taxpayers do. Tax folks call this an above-the-line deduction, because its above the line that calculates your adjusted gross income.

Keep in mind that there are income limits for those who deduct student loan interest. The deduction for single filers and heads of households phases out between $70,000 in modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) and $85,000 in MAGI. For married couples filing jointly, the deduction starts to phase out at $140,000 in MAGI and ends at $170,000.

4. Charitable donations

Even if youre taking the standard deduction, you can deduct up to $600 on your tax return for charitable donations. Like student loan interest, this is an above-the-line deduction.

This deduction has to be for charitable deductions you made in 2021. And the deductions must have been made in cash; clothing, household items and used cars dont count. Items donated to charity are eligible for a deduction if you itemize.

The maximum with the standard deduction was $300 per tax unit for 2020, which meant that single filers and joint filers only got $300 per return. In the 2021 tax year, the charitable deduction for cash donations increases to $300 per filer, so married couples filing jointly could each claim $300, for a total of $600.

5. Long-term care expenses

Sometimes an extra deduction will take you over a high hurdle  such as the current standard deduction. You need to have more in itemized deductions than the standardized deduction to make itemizing worthwhile. In the 2021 tax year, the standard deduction is $12,550 for single filers, $18,800 for heads of household and $25,100 for married people filing jointly. Its even bigger for taxpayers 65 and older.

If youre close to overcoming the standard deduction, however, dont forget to deduct the premiums you pay for long-term care insurance. This counts as a medical expense deduction, which means you can only deduct the amount of your qualifying medical expenses that exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income. If you had adjusted gross income of $50,000, for example, you could only deduct the medical expenses that exceed $3,750.

Be that as it may, long-term care premiums arent cheap, and the IRS allows you to deduct an increasing amount of those premiums as you get older. In the 2021 tax year, for example, someone who is 51 to 60 in the taxable year can deduct $1,690 in long-term care premiums. The amount rises to $4,520 for those 61 to 70 and $5,640 for those 71 and older. Be aware that the deduction is mainly for traditional long-term care policies. Some newer hybrid life insurance policies may not qualify. Be sure to ask your agent about how much, if any, of your premium is deductible.

What you pay for certain long-term care services can also qualify as medical expenses for tax purposes, helping to get above the 7.5 percent threshold. The expenses must be unreimbursed and medically necessary for a critically ill individual, and can include diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic, curing, treating, mitigating and rehabilitative services, according to the IRS, as well as maintenance and personal care services. See IRS Publication 502 for the full list of qualifying medical expenses.
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.
Thomson Reuters is building bridges with NetSuite and other vendors enterprise resource planning software, tying its sales tax technology to theirs.

Last month, Thomson Reuters announced it has integrated its ONESOURCE Indirect Tax sales tax technology with NetSuites cloud-based ERP system (see Thomson Reuters Integrates Indirect Tax with NetSuite). Thomson Reuters hooked into NetSuites ERP system through an application programming interface.

NetSuite has historically not offered an API, which is new in their 16.1 release, said Chris Carlstead, managing director of Thomson Reuters indirect tax and property tax business. Before, we would have had to build a custom integration and maintained that custom code, so were the first to market with a standard integration. That will then be released with every NetSuite release going forward. That offers the customer a more streamlined approach in implementing a tax engine, as well as bringing them access for the first time to the Thomson Reuters engine.

Carlstead is looking to differentiate Thomson Reuters sales tax technology from the competition.

Where we really started to differentiate ourselves and where the growth, especially over the last few years, started to pick up is that we are one of the sole providers of our own content, and we went global, he said. We got to that global market faster than our competition and as a result its really helped us in that space.

When he joined Thomson Reuters a year and a half ago, the company had already integrated with Oracle and SAP. But he saw opportunities in building links to ERP systems for small and midsize businesses.

Clearly there was a movement afoot in that midmarket to SMB space, said Carlstead. Folks we didnt even expect to be competition, like Avalara, have done a good job of creating a market down there. We internally looked at where we stood, and from a product standpoint, we knew we had the right offering, and from a content standpoint, we knew we needed the right offering. What we needed to do was really start focusing on that market. We didnt want to do a me too.

Other corporate sales tax software vendors like Vertex have also been focusing more on the SMB market.

Carlstead admitted that Avalara has managed to build links to hundreds of other vendors software, but Thomson Reuters is taking a more targeted approach.

From the standpoint of Avalara and their 400 integrations, maybe in time we aspire to get there, said Carlstead. But were more targeted in terms of having strategic relationships. We also are working very closely with Microsoft and particularly with the Dynamics product, and focusing on those new markets initially as our strategic kind of entry point. Within the Microsoft category we have an integration with GP as well as an integration with AX on 2012, and were now working with Microsoft on an AX 7 integration as well. On the NetSuite side, we did our first integration with their SuiteTax API, which just launched in March. Through those two channels, and just given the number of customers of those product offerings, thats where were really looking to focus the growth.

Thomson Reuters has recently added a developer community to engage third-party software developers to build further integrations from its tax software to their systems.

Overall, Carsltead sees great opportunity in the sales tax technology market as more businesses go international.

I would have defined a multinational a couple of years ago as a many-country, multibillion-dollar company, he said. Today, with current trends, multinationals can be mom and pops that just opened up on eBay. One day theyre selling just to the U.S., and the next thing you know, theyre getting goods from China and theyre selling into Latin America and facing all the complexities of Brazil. That is a direct result of cloud enablement and e-commerce and in general the acceleration of technology. Its put these SMB companies in a great position to grow their businesses at a lower cost structure, but the corresponding impact is that theyre now engaged very heavily in a tax world that theyre not prepared for. Thats really the opportunity for us in the software space.

Thomson Reuters is able to leverage its international presence to provide its customers with global tax research content.

We have organically built content built by a team around the world that holds the same data integrity and consistency in processes to ensure that the quality across the globe and the depth of that content is available and ultimately pretty easy for our customers, said Carlstead. We feel were unique in that way. That greatly differentiates us in the marketplace against our competition. The second area of opportunity is just the global nature of our offerings and being able to bring that enterprise benefit, if you will, into the SMB market, which is getting more and more global and finding themselves more impacted by global taxes than they have been in the past.

In addition to sales and use tax and indirect tax, ONESOURCE also includes software for property tax, transfer pricing, workflow, and global trade management. From soup to nuts, we can handle everything with a single vendor in a shared platform, said Carlstead.
The Tax Court ruled against a gossip site founder in a case involving taxes on partnership income.

Nik Lamas-Richie started a gossip blog on a website in 2007, originally posting gossip about the cool kids in Scottsdale who thought they were celebrities.

The site was successful, and he later branched out by posting gossip of regional and national interest. As the site gained viewers, it attracted the attention of investors. One of them, James Grdina, suggested the formation of a partnership that would take over the website and supply capital to help it expand. Grdina and his company Intrigue Investment Co. loaned the partnership, which they named Dirty World LLC, $650,000.

Dirty World filed its Form 1065 return for the calendar year 2011 reporting $62,000 as ordinary business income from the Web site, consisting chiefly of advertising revenue. Lamas-Richies share reported in the K-1 was $25,400, but he did not receive a copy of the K-1 and was not aware of the contents of the Form 1065 until the IRS began its examination of his 2011 return. Dirty World had never previously reported any net profit.

Lamas-Richie reported his salary of $74,500 and separately reported on Schedule C sole proprietorship income of $46,000. The return did not include any other income or loss stemming from his limited partnership interest in Dirty World.

The Tax Court, in T.C. Memo 2016-63 (filed April 11, 2016), found Lamas-Richie taxable on his distributive share of partnership income, even though it was not distributed to him in 2011. The court found him not liable for the penalty with respect to this item.

A partnership is not subject to federal income tax, the court noted. After items of income and expense are determined at the partnership level, each partner is required to take into account separately in his return his distributive share, whether or not he received it, and whether or not he was aware it existed at the time it was earned.

Each partner is taxed on their distributive share without regard to whether the amount is actually distributed to him, the court said.
Large, profitable American corporations paid only 14 percent of their profits in federal income taxes on average from 2008 through 2012, and approximately one-fifth of them paid nothing at all in each of those years, according to a new government report commissioned by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

In each year from 2006 to 2012, at least two-thirds of all active corporations had no federal income tax liability, although larger corporations were more likely to owe tax, according to the report.

The report, from the Government Accountability Office, found that among large corporations (generally those with at least $10 million in assets) less than half42.3 percentpaid no federal income tax in 2012.

Of those large corporations whose financial statements reported a profit, 19.5 percent paid no federal income tax that year. The reasons why even profitable corporations may have paid no federal tax in a given year include the use of tax deductions for losses carried forward from prior years and tax incentives, such as depreciation allowances that are more generous in the federal tax code than those allowed for financial accounting purposes. Corporations that did have a federal corporate income tax liability for tax year 2012 owed $267.5 billion.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, who is facing off against Hillary Clinton in next weeks Democratic primary, requested the report from the GAO. On the campaign trail, Sanders has been calling for steep tax increases on large corporations and the wealthy.

There is something profoundly wrong in America when one out of five profitable corporations pay nothing in federal income taxes, Sanders said in commenting on the report. Large corporations cannot continue to get more tax breaks when children in America go hungry. We need real tax reform to ensure that the most profitable corporations in America pay their fair share in taxes. That means closing corporate tax loopholes to raise the revenue necessary to rebuild America and create millions of jobs.

Last year, Sanders, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., introduced the Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act to prevent profitable corporations from receiving tax breaks by sheltering income in Panama, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and other offshore tax havens.

According to a 2015 report by Citizens for Tax Justice, most Fortune 500 corporations have established offshore subsidiaries.

The percentage of large, profitable American corporations that paid nothing at all in each of the years studied by the GAO ranged from 17.9 percent in 2008 to 24.1 percent in 2011.

Large corporations use a variety of deductions to pay far less than the federal corporate income tax rate of 35 percent, including maneuvers that shift profits overseas, Sanders noted. Corporate greed is destroying the fabric of America, he said. It must come to an end.

Congress and the Obama administration have expressed interest in reforming the U.S. corporate income tax and the rate at which U.S. corporations' income is taxed, the GAO noted. Currently, the top statutory corporate income tax rate is 35 percent. The GAO's 2013 report on corporate effective tax rates, or ETRs, found that in tax year 2010, whether for all large corporate filers or only profitable ones, the average ETRs were significantly below the statutory rate.

These reasons also explain why corporate ETRS can differ substantially from statutory tax rates, according to the GAO. ETRs attempt to measure taxes paid as a proportion of economic income, while statutory rates indicate the amount of tax liability (before any credits) relative to taxable income, which is defined by tax law and reflects tax benefits built into the law. The statutory tax rate on net corporate income ranges from 15 to 35 percent, depending on the amount of income earned. For tax years 2008 to 2012, profitable large U.S. corporations paid, on average, U.S. federal income taxes amounting to about 14 percent of the pretax net income that they reported in their financial statements (for those entities included in their tax returns).

When foreign and state and local income taxes are included, the average ETR across all of those years increases to just over 22 percent. The GAO also computed ETRs that combine large profitable corporations and those large corporations with current year losses, which pay little if any actual tax.

Over tax years 2008 to 2012, all large corporationsprofitable and those that reported current year lossespaid 25.9 percent of their pretax net income in U.S. federal income taxes, and 40.1 percent when foreign and state and local taxes are included. Including corporations with losses results in a more comprehensive estimate, but makes the results difficult to interpret because ETR is not meaningful for a corporation in a year in which it has a net loss.

The GAO said it could not examine the variation in ETRs across corporations with the aggregated data available, although the GAO's prior work suggests that ETRs are likely to vary considerably.
With the Vivo IPL 2016 already underway, title sponsor Vivo has rolled out a brand campaign promoting its latest product offering, Vivo V series smartphones  V3 and V3Max Series. The new campaign, conceptualised by Lowe Lintas, is themed around Faster than Faster and highlights multiple features of the newest offering from the smartphone player, including its breakthrough faster fingerprint unlocking technology.

To further strengthen the brands popularity among the consumers, Vivo India has roped in actor Ranveer Singh as its brand ambassador, who will be exhorting users on the benefits of the new smartphone in a quirky and unabashed manner.

Commenting on the new campaign, Alex Feng, CEO, 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. And we are truly delighted to have Ranveer Singh as the face of Vivo in India. Ranveer enjoys a huge fan following amongst the young Indian audience and Vivo being the brand for the youth, this lethal combination is all set to create magic in the Indian market. The campaign also looks young and fresh and we are confident that it will help the brand grow to the next level.

Launched exclusively on the digital platform first, the campaign sets up Vivo V3 and V3Max as a device thats faster than any other phone in the market. It includes three TVCs which showcase how the Vivo V3 and V3 Max help Ranveer go about fulfilling his tasks rather faster. The faster performance has been illustrated by means of fast cuts which also show the progression of the story. The stories capture Ranveers personality and his energy. The viewer gets to see three different shades of Ranveer in each TVC. While in one TVC, we see how he, as a celebrity, deals with a star struck fan; in the second one he is a cute boyfriend who is trying to make things possible for his girlfriend; and the third one shows his naughtier side.

The films have been directed by Bollywood filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee and has been produced by Sniper Shoots Production. The key features of the phone  faster fingerprint unlocking, faster processor and 4GB RAM have been integrated in all the three films.

Naveen Gaur, President, Lowe Lintas Delhi, elaborated, The task was to establish Vivo in an incredibly competitive landscape of mobile handsets and launch the new V3 and V3 Max with a campaign that brings alive the product proposition of fastest phone in the market. For that, we chose Ranveer Singh as the brand ambassador as he truly symbolises fast both in terms of his success and growth in the film industry and his immense energy. His association has ensured a strong youth connect and he has beautifully demonstrated the key features of Faster RAM, faster fingerprint unlocking and faster processor in the campaign.

Sharing his views on the creative thought-process behind the campaign, Arun Iyer, Chief Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas, said, The features that make Vivo V3 and V3 Max exceptional were many, but the ones that particularly stood out and provide the brand its ethos were fast speed, huge memory and being an able ally of the youth. The campaign shows Ranveer Singh encapsulating these attributes in his unusual style and manages to establish a strong brand connect. Filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee has done a wonderful job in bringing these moments to life in a manner befitting the brand.

The campaign has already been released and will span popular online and offline mediums.



'Faster than Faster' ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMNBFhW6UiM
#NotJustApril: Know your part, do your part

Working in the field of sexual assault prevention and response, it's presumable that I think about the subject more frequently than the average person. As such, my children have been subjected to a plethora of discussions regarding risk reduction and effective bystander intervention -- far too many "lectures" if you ask them.



In fact, before my daughter left for college, she and her five closest friends gathered in my living room to discuss dorm room decorating ideas, class schedules, sororities and other important college freshman issues. As I eavesdropped on their conversation and observed their enthusiasm and excitement, it occurred to me that statistically one of these vibrant young women could likely be a victim of sexual assault.



According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, 1 out of every 6 American women will be the victim of an attempted or completed rape at some point in her lifetime. Let's think about this for a minute. Picture six women you know: 1 in 6. Picture your unit's holiday party, a family reunion, or a retirement ceremony: 1 in 6. Your softball team, bowling league, or scrapbooking club: 1 in 6.



As my son prepares to enlist in the Air Force, it also occurs to me that at least one young man in his basic training flight might be the victim of sexual assault. RAINN reports that 1 in 33 American men will be the victim of an attempted or completed rape at some point in his lifetime.



The media would have me believe that he is at a much higher risk in the military, yet the statistics would suggest otherwise. Neither one of my children is at higher risk than the rest of our society simply because of their career path. This crime does not discriminate and knows no boundaries. It can occur regardless of gender, rank, age, race, religion, income, ability, profession, ethnicity or sexual orientation.



There is a good chance that someone you know has been or may be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, yet 68 percent of victims will not report the crime. If a survivor trusts you enough to share their experience, how will you respond? Will you believe them? Will you be empathic and supportive? Social norms often direct questions of clothing choices, alcohol consumption or promiscuity; will you dare to challenge those norms, to hold offenders, not survivors, accountable for their actions?



The Peterson AFB objective during Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month (and all year round) is to focus on creating the kind of culture that does not accept sexual assault or any acts of interpersonal violence. This requires a personal commitment from all service members at every level, our civilian counterparts, as well as our families and friends. Together, we can collectively take action to promote safety, respect and equality. We all have a part in combating sexual assault and April offers an excellent opportunity to focus attention on our individual roles. You speak with your actions. What are you saying?



Know your part. Do your part. #NotJustApril
Reservists motivated to help others

Lt. Col. (Dr.) Joni Scott-Weideman is just one of more than 100 service members from across the United States who is spending long April days here supporting Operation Arctic Care, an Innovative Readiness Training project designed to give military members valuable training while providing much-needed medical services to people in this small fishing village. But her reason for being here is the same as all her fellow Airmen, Soldiers and Sailors.



It just gives you a good feeling inside to help others, Scott-Weideman, an optometrist assigned to the 413th Aeromedical Staging Squadron at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, said Monday as she took a quick break from seeing patients inside what used to be an old grocery store in the downtown area.



Just across a curtain from the makeshift optometry clinic, military doctors and nurses were addressing the general health needs of a host of local residents. On the other side of the optometry section, dentists and dental assistants were taking care of a wide variety of oral health problems. In a small room in the back, specialists from the Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity were assembling glasses as fast they were getting prescriptions from the optometrists. And on the other side of the grocery store, Army veterinarians were making sure Kodiaks four-legged citizens got the medical care they needed.



Scott-Weideman, a veteran of six other IRT projects in the Philippines, Indonesia and Belize among other places, loves to see the reaction she gets from patients who are seeing clearly for the first time.



We get to treat patients who have never had an eye exam before, and its amazing to see the look on their faces when they are finally seeing like they should be, she said. I had a lady in yesterday who works at a fishery, and she told me that she was constantly cutting her fingers at work. I told her, You keep cutting your fingers because you need glasses. We were able to get her fitted with a new pair of glasses, and she was able to see clearly. Thats going to be huge for her.



Scott-Weideman said she really enjoys working with her active-duty and Reserve counterparts from all the other services, but its the feeling she gets from helping others that keeps her signing up for IRT projects.



The training we get is awesome, and its important that we work together as a total force, but the best part about projects like Arctic Care is bringing care to people who otherwise couldnt get it. Its just a great feeling.
F-22s deploy to Europe to show support for allies

F-22 Raptors, Airmen and associated equipment were deployed to Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, on April 11 to conduct air training with other Europe-based aircraft.



The F-22s come from the 95th Fighter Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, and will continue training until May.



"This F-22 training deployment is the perfect opportunity for these advanced aircraft to train alongside other U.S. Air Force aircraft, joint partners and NATO allies," said Gen. Frank Gorenc, the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa.



The fifth-generation, multirole fighter aircraft will also forward deploy from the U.K. to NATO bases to maximize training opportunities, affirm enduring commitments to NATO allies, and deter any actions that destabilize regional security.



The training marks the second time the U.S. European Command has hosted a deployment of F-22s in its area of responsibility.



"It's important we test our infrastructure, aircraft capabilities, and the talented Airmen and allies who will host these aircraft in Europe," Gorenc said. "This deployment advances our airpower evolution and demonstrates our resolve and commitment to European safety and security."


AF releases criteria for basing new RPA units

The Air Force released basing criteria April 12 that will be used to select candidate bases for a potential new MQ-9 Reaper wing with units at up to two locations.



The Air Force is pursuing additional locations to help diversify assignment opportunities for personnel within the MQ-9 enterprise, provide increased opportunities for leadership from within the community, and provide flexibility to enhance integration with other organizations and capabilities.



The desire for additional locations for an MQ-9 wing was identified during surveys of officers and enlisted Airmen in the MQ-9 and MQ-1 Predator enterprise as part of Air Combat Commands Culture and Process Improvement Program.



We are initiating the strategic basing process to determine the best locations for hosting additional locations for the MQ-9 mission, said Jennifer L. Miller, the deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations. As we go through the basing process, we will use the information we collect to help us determine the affordability and potential locations for expanding MQ-9 enterprise.



The basing criteria will focus on mission requirements (runway length for the launch and recovery mission and synergies between common missions with existing units), capacity, environmental requirements, and cost factors.



The Air Force will first identify a location to potentially host an operations group with mission control elements. All active-duty Air Force bases in the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii that do not currently have an MQ-9 wing will be evaluated. The locations being considered must also have an active-duty flying wing or group that performs at least one core RPA mission and/or is co-located with an active-duty distributed ground system. MQ-9 crews will fly the MQ-9 from these locations but no aircraft will be associated with these units.



The Air Force also plans to identify a second potential location, which may host a full MQ-9 wing that will include a launch and recovery element and a mission control element. This second installation must be an active-duty Air Force installation in the continental U.S., Alaska or Hawaii that has at least an 8,000-foot runway and does not currently have an MQ-9 wing. This location is expected to have 24 MQ-9s located there.



After identifying candidate bases, ACC will conduct site surveys at each location. Site survey teams will assess each location against requirements, potential impacts to existing missions, infrastructure and manpower. They will also develop cost estimates to bed down the units.



Based on the results of these efforts, the Air Force plans to identify candidate installations in the summer of 2016 and the preferred alternatives in the winter of 2016/2017. Final basing decisions will be made by the secretary of the Air Force after the requisite environmental analysis is complete.
AF names candidate bases, criteria for choosing next F-35A sites

Air Force officials announced April 12 that Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona; Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida; Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas; and Whiteman AFB, Missouri, are candidate bases for the first Reserve-led F-35A Lightning II location.



The preferred and reasonable alternatives are expected to be selected in the fall and the F-35As are slated to begin arriving at the first Reserve-led F-35A location by the summer of 2023.



The Air Force also released basing criteria that will be used to select candidate bases for two Air National Guard squadrons, which are planned to receive their first aircraft in the summer of 2022.



The Air Force is committed to a deliberate and open process to address F-35 basing, said Jennifer A. Miller, the deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations. As we progress through the basing process, we will share information so interested communities are aware of what to expect.



The basing criteria for the Air National Guard bases include mission requirements (weather, airspace and training range availability), capacity (sufficient hanger and ramp space, and facility considerations), environmental requirements, and cost factors.



The Air Force will evaluate Guard installations with runways of at least 8,000 feet and operational A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, F-16 Fighting Falcons or F-15 Eagles against the approved criteria to identify candidate bases for the F-35A.



After identifying candidate bases, the Air Combat Command and Air National Guard will conduct site surveys at each location as applicable. Site survey teams will assess each location against operational requirements, potential impacts to existing missions, infrastructure and manpower, and then develop cost estimates to bed down the F-35A.



Based on the results of these efforts, the Air Force plans to identify candidate installations for the Air National Guard locations this summer before selecting the preferred and reasonable alternatives and beginning the environmental impact analysis process later this year.
Hyten announces Space Enterprise Vision

Gen. John Hyten, the commander of Air Force Space Command, announced the command's Space Enterprise Vision April 12 at Peterson Air Force Base. The SEV is the result of an AFSPC-commissioned study that looked at how to make the nation's national security space enterprise more resilient.



The August 2015 SEV study addressed the findings of several previous studies that identified the U.S. space enterprise is not resilient enough to be successful in a conflict that extends to space. The SEV also recognizes that acquisition and programmatic decisions can no longer occur in mission area stovepipes, but must instead be driven by an overarching space mission enterprise context.



"In the recent past, the United States enjoyed unchallenged freedom of action in the space domain," Hyten said. "Most U.S. military space systems were not designed with threats in mind, and were built for long-term functionality and efficiency, with systems operating for decades in some cases. Without the need to factor in threats, longevity and cost were the critical factors to design and these factors were applied in a mission stovepipe. This is no longer an adequate methodology to equip space forces."



The SEV accounts for the increasing threat to space systems, and provides a vision for how the Air Force should build a force responsive to that threat. The vision describes an integrated approach across all space mission areas, coupling the delivery of space mission effects to the warfighter (such as communications, positioning, navigation and timing, missile warning, and weather data) with the ability to protect and defend space capabilities against emerging threats.



Consistent with U.S. National Space Policy, the vision enhances U.S. space forces' ability to deter others from interference and attack, defend our space systems if deterrence fails and contribute to the defense of allied space systems.



"The future space enterprise will maintain our nation's ability to deliver critical space effects throughout all phases of conflict," Hyten said. "Operating as an enterprise as opposed to a set of independent platforms improves resiliency and is critical to the ability to survive and deliver effects in a contested environment."



Since the study was commissioned, AFSPC and the National Reconnaissance Office have worked together to incorporate principles of the NRO vision as well, with additional work ongoing to fold in the remaining facets of the Defense Departments space capabilities and the key linkages with the intelligence community.



"Ultimately, the SEV must incorporate requirements from across the U.S. government's space enterprise," Hyten said. "By incorporating interagency space visions, the SEV will fold requirements into a single-enterprise vision that addresses the unique needs of each agency."



To guide the development of this future enterprise, the SEV proposes using a new optimizing concept called "resilience capacity" to characterize and evaluate space capabilities. Resilience capacity will measure how well space enterprise forces can respond to the full range of known threats, and how quickly they can adapt to counter future threats, while continuing to deliver space effects to joint and coalition warfighters. It will replace the traditional "functional availability" metric used for decades to plan and manage individual constellations, but which does not account for emerging threats.



"The future space enterprise will be built by changing how we architect, develop, acquire, and operate our space systems," Hyten said. "Going forward, we will rigorously focus on a clear definition of warfighter requirements with programs acquired using greater horizontal integration across the space enterprise. We will also move toward shorter program life cycles and decreased time between constellation updates, which improves the availability of new technology on-orbit."
Living with mental illness has been a harrowing ordeal for Safiatu Kondeh. The 34-year-old, who lives in Kabala, northern Sierra Leone, with her mother and two children, has had to endure conditions almost worse than the disease.
Jordan has raided and shut down the headquarters of the original Muslim Brotherhood group in its capital.



Jordans Muslim Brotherhood split in March 2015 over whether to remain a branch of the mother movement in Egypt. The group that cut ties is now licensed, while the old Brotherhood is outlawed, despite severing ties with the Cairo movement earlier this year.

Old Brotherhood spokesman Badi al-Rafayaa says Wednesdays raid was illegal.

A Jordanian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief media, said the headquarters were shuttered because the group is not licensed.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the regions oldest Islamist movement, won a series of electoral victories following the Arab Spring uprisings but provoked a backlash in several countries. Egypt now outlaws the group.
Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif has accused India of destabilising his country and attempting to subvert its crucial $46 billion economic corridor project with China.

Speaking at a seminar on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the coastal town of Gwadar, he said the significance of a China Pakistan economic cooperation had raised eyebrows in the region and India had openly opposed the project. The CPEC is a deep manifestation of the time-tested relations between China and Pakistan. But there are foreign forces who, realising the potential of CPEC and wanting an influential role in the region, are working to destabilise Pakistan and the project, Raheel said yesterday. Hostile intelligence agencies were averse to this grand project (CPEC), especially Indian intelligence agency RAW, which is blatantly involved in destabilising Pakistan, the Pakistan Army Chief claimed.

But we will not allow anyone to create impediments and turbulence in any part of Pakistan, he added.

Describing the project as a corridor of peace and prosperity, Raheel said that CPEC is a lifetime opportunity for Pakistan to improve the socio-economic equation of its underprivileged areas and populace. However, there were external intelligence agencies who are involved in facilitating terrorists, their abettors and financiers in Pakistan in a bid to subvert the economic corridor project, he said. As COAS, I assure you security of CPEC which is our national undertaking. We won t leave any stone unturned and continue to close watch at every step, the General said.

He said work on the CPEC was progressing at a fast pace and already 675 kilometres of roads had been completed in just two years time.

Transparency and good management is important for sustainability of the CPEC which will eventually benefit the people of Balochistan and Pakistan, he said. Other speakers said on the occasion that Gwadar port will be fully operative by the end of 2016 and will slowly become hub of international trade.
Australian all-rounder Shane Watson is mighty impressed with young Indian batsman Sarfaraz Khan, who he says is an incredible batsman with amazing control over his shots.

Sarfaraz smashed 35 runs off just 10 balls, hitting five fours and two sixes, to propel Royal Challengers Bangalore to a 200-plus total against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday.

He is an incredible young man and there is no doubt that he has worked extremely hard to get all kinds of shots right. The control over shots he has Never seen before for a young talent like him. It shows he has practised hell of a lot, and we saw him this [against SRH], he told reporters at the post-match press conference.

Watson also said it is a pleasure to watch AB de Villiers bat. The South African batsman hammered Hyderabad bowlers around the park with a whirlwind knock of 82, that was laced with seven fours and six shots over the ropes.

What I saw tonight is as good as batting I have ever seen. He didnt look like taking risk at all in his entire innings. One shot he played off the backfoot for a six is an incredible shot to play, and he does it with so much of ease is really a pleasure to watch. He executes his shots incredibly well, he said.

Replying to a query, Watson said there is no need for changing batting order of Chris Gale, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, as it gives a momentum to the team.

This I saw happening in the previous season when I was playing as a rival for Rajasthan Royals. So, why should one change the order when the top three are delivering. You need to take early wickets, otherwise you are in deep trouble, and thats what exactly happened tonight, he said.

Watson did not read much into Chris Gayles failure at the top.

It is not going to be everyones day. Chris got out early, but we had depth in batting with likes of Kedar Jadhav, Sarfaraz, AB and Kohli in our side, he said.

Watson also said that the way Kohli and De Villiers batted together in their magnificent 157-run partnership he felt he wouldnt get to bat.

Watson eventually turned out to bat and contributed in his teams cause with a 19-run cameo that had three sixes.
CBI will send judicial requests to Singapore, Hong Kong and the USA in an attempt to trace money trail, a possible motive, in the Sheena Bora murder case in which former media baron Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani Mukerjea are main suspects.

Sources said the CBI today approached a special court in Mumbai with an application to issue Letters Rogatory in connection with the murder case.

They said once the court issues Letters Rogatory, these will be sent to judicial authorities, through diplomatic channels, of Singapore, Hong Kong and the USA with a request to provide desired information.

The CBI is investigating money as possible motive behind the murder of 24-year-old Sheena Bora, Indrani Mukerjeas daughter from her first marriage.

The agency had told a special court that the Mukerjeas allegedly siphoned off funds to the tune of Rs. 900 crore from their company 9X Media through a layer of nine companies.

The CBI had made the submission while telling the court that it has sought Interpols help for access to overseas bank accounts of the Mukerjeas.

It had claimed that investments of crores of rupees were allegedly made by the couple and that Indrani and Peter had formed various companies during 2006-07 and invested Rs. 900 crore in them.

The agency had alleged that the money siphoned off from INX (in which Peter and Indrani were partners) dealings was routed to Sheena Boras HSBC account in Singapore. The CBI also told the court that a woman working in DBS Bank Singapore allegedly helped Mrs Mukerjea open an account in HSBC Singapore in the name of Ms Bora.

During investigations, Mr Mukerjea had allegedly told the CBI that accounts might have been opened in the name of Ms Bora (by Mrs Mukerjea) in HSBC and other banks in Hongkong and Singapore.

According to the CBI, the couples company 9X Media Pvt Ltd allegedly carried out its internal audit in which nine companies having shareholding as on March 2009 were found to have instances of alleged misallocation and siphoning off substantial amounts of funds by the Mukerjeas.
WASHINGTON, April 13, 2016 - The European Parliament is recommending that the European Commission, the governing arm of the EU, renew its authorization of glyphosate for seven years and release all data used in a recent assessment of the herbicide by the European Food Safety Authority.

Members of the Parliament (MEPs) voted 374-225, with 102 abstentions, for the nonbinding resolution. The ECs Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (Phytopharmaceuticals Section) is scheduled to vote next month to adopt or reject an existing EC proposal to renew approval of the herbicide for 15 years, with few conditions.

If the proposal is not adopted by a qualified majority, then the EC itself would have to decide. A committee vote slated for last month was postponed. The current authorization is due to expire June 30.

The resolution calls on the EC to approve glyphosate, which Monsanto brought to market in 1974 under the trade name Roundup, for seven years but ban any non-professional uses of the chemical, the most heavily used weed-killer active ingredient in the world.

The resolution notes that the Commission can withdraw its approval during that seven-year period on the basis that new scientific evidence can demonstrate that it no longer satisfies the criteria for its approval.

The Commission should table the current 15-year reauthorization proposal for a number of reasons, including serious concerns about the carcinogenicity of glyphosate, but also doubts as regards a possible mode of action in relation to its endocrine-disruptive properties, the resolution said.

The parliamentary group that proposed the compromise was happy with the outcome.

We are in favor of a temporarily limited renewal, but above all, we want much stricter conditions than those foreseen by the Commission, said MEP Peter Liese, the European Peoples Party group spokesman in the environment committee.

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In my opinion, it is absurd that in many European countries, glyphosate is still used in order to optimize the date of harvesting or in order to kill the cultivated plant just before harvest, making the use of harvesting machines easier, he said. In some countries, this has already been prohibited for a couple of years and this should also be the case in Europe.

The vote was criticized by Czech MEP Katerina Konecna, coordinator for the European United Left/Nordic Green Left on the environment committee.

Right-wing groups succeeded in passing their amendment calling on the Commission to renew the approval of glyphosate for another seven years, she said. Glyphosate is carcinogenic to animals and probably carcinogenic to humans and its authorization should not be renewed. This is an outrageous gamble with the health of European citizens by the Commission and right-wing groups.

Matthew Phillips, director, Crop Protection and Seeds at Phillips McDougall, however, told Agri-Pulse, Thats very good news that common sense has prevailed. Phillips McDougall is a crop protection and agricultural biotechnology consulting firm. Phillips was attending the Croplife America/Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment spring conference in Washington.

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WASHINGTON, April 13, 2016 - Senate critics of farm programs are trying to head off an effort to use the appropriations process to provide new subsidies to cotton producers struggling to deal with depressed global prices.

Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan saying that the new payments may not be merited.

The industry, with support from lawmakers representing cotton-growing regions, urged Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to make cottonseed eligible for the new Price Loss Coverage and Agriculture Risk Coverage programs created by the 2014 farm bill. Vilsack declined to act, saying he lacks the legal authority do so.

USDA has estimated the payments would average about $1 billion a year.

Sources have told Agri-Pulse that some language benefiting cotton growers may be added to a fiscal 2017 appropriations bill for USDA.

Flake and Shaheen said cotton producers already benefit from a generous level of income supports, subsidies and crop insurance options.

The additional payments deserve a full debate on topics of appropriateness, equity, trade compliance, implemented cost, and realistic offsets. It is unlikely that an appropriation strategy will yield the attention to this topic that taxpayers deserve, the senators wrote.

The senators went on to suggest that supporters of the industry proposal were being hypocritical since they oppose other attempts to change farm programs. Proponents of federal farm subsidies often insist that any changes to them only take place within the confines of Farm Bill negotiations, the letter said.

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House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, argues that Congress left the door open to include cottonseed as an eligible oilseed under PLC and ARC programs. Under the 2014 farm bill, oilseeds not specified in the law receive a PLC price guarantee, or reference price, of $20.15 per hundredweight, which is well above recent market prices.

Although Vilsack rejected the PLC/ARC coverage, the White House Office of Management and Budget is considering a separate proposal he has made to provide payments that would offset farmers ginning costs.

Flake has been a frequent critic of crop insurance and biofuel mandates, while Shaheen has led attacks on the sugar program.

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WASHINGTON, April 13, 2016 - The U.S. isnt waiting until Congress votes on the Trans-Pacific Partnership to start making sure that the other 11 countries in the free trade deal are ready to begin implementing it if and when it takes effect, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said Wednesday.

Looking ahead, we are already working with our TPP partners on implementation and monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, Froman said in a conference call with reporters. So weve had teams go out to our TPP partners over the course of the last several weeks to talk through what it is they can do to bring their systems into compliance with TPP obligations.

But making sure other countries are ready to follow through with TPP obligations such as cutting tariffs will take a lot of work, and the USTR cant do it alone, Froman said.

We are developing whole-of-government monitoring and enforcement efforts to make sure we are using our embassies, the USDA, the Department of Labor or whoever the relevant agency is to monitor how countries do in [implementing] these obligations, he said on the call, which was hosted by the National Cattlemens Beef Association.

Those actions mesh with the agencys efforts domestically. Last week Froman told a gathering hosted by the U.S. Export-Import Bank that USTR officials are working with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to produce legislation that would put into place promises the U.S. made in the trade pact.

Congressional ratification isnt a certainty, especially this year with the upcoming election and presidential candidates from both parties railing against the deal. But both Froman and NCBA Vice President Kevin Kester said on the call they are optimistic that lawmakers are coming around to support TPP, even if they are not publicly showing that support.

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Its going to be a tough road, but I think its doable, and from what I hear from members on the Hill, I think theyre probably going to keep their powder dry until later in the year, but were going to push hard and I think were going to be able to cross the goal line sometime this year, Kester said.

The most obvious window the Obama administration might have to get Congress to pass the TPP would be after the elections in November, but Froman said that pro-TPP forces have to be ready whenever a window opens.

Were working very closely with the leadership of the House and Senate, with the leadership of the relevant committees, to make sure that the agreement is ready to go -- that weve resolved outstanding issues and legislation is drafted appropriately, that weve got Congress input for whenever the window during this period of time opens up, and that were ready to move forward, Froman said.

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Kerry Silent on Assyrian, Yazidi Genocide

( Greg Groesch/Washington Times) Secretary of State John Kerry's unannounced visit to Baghdad on Friday was notable for what he didn't say as much as what he did. More than three weeks after Mr. Kerry formally declared that the Islamic State, or ISIS, had committed genocide against Christians, Yazidis and other minorities, and after the House had passed the genocide resolution calling for this designation, the topic was not even mentioned in his meetings with Prime Minister Haider Abadi or with the officials representing the Kurdish Regional Government, according to Baghdad sources. Advocates for victims of the genocide in Mesopotamia were left to wonder,"Why not?" Mr. Kerry's trip was an effort to shore up the position of Mr. Abadi, who has been under fire for weeks with charges of corruption from the party of the radical Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, and to report successes in reclaiming territory occupied by ISIS. Mr. Kerry announced $155 million of additional humanitarian aid would be coming to the U.N. agencies helping feed and house the millions of internally displaced people in Iraq. Nothing about the secretary's visit at the State Department website mentions genocide, Christians, Yazidis or other genocide victims. "I am concerned that the secretary went to Bagdad and apparently said nothing about the genocide. Of course, the State Department officials have said they need a couple of months to catch their breath and take action," says Juliana Tamairoozy, president of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council. But more could be done, says Ms. Tamairoozy. "Aid should flow immediately to [nongovernmental organizations] directly helping the Assyrians, Yazidis, Turkomens and other victims of the genocide. However, feeding mouths is not a viable long-term solution. Therefore, the West should move now to economically develop the Nineveh Plain so that people from the region can move back to their land," says Ms. Tamairoozy. Mr. Kerry's visit comes at a time when the Iraqi army is bogged down in its campaign to reclaim the northern city of Mosul from ISIS' hands. Meanwhile, the ISIS military strategy for several weeks has been to distract Iraq's elite troops away from the Mosul area by launching spectacular attacks in Baghdad and in the southern city of Basra, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. All hands agree that Baghdad needs more troops to prosecute the war. One option for helping the minorities most damaged by the genocide would be to train and equip ethnic militias to defend themselves in their homeland, according to David Lazar and Max Primorac of Restore Nineveh Now, a nonprofit advocating for Assyrians in Iraq and Syria. Funds to support that effort are already available through the $1.6 billion National Defense Authorization Act passed last year and are being used in the Iraq Train and Equip Program (ITEP). Mr. Primorac, who served as a senior State Department official during the surge of 2007, says the ITEP is a win-win program both for the central government and for the minority groups in Iraq's northernmost province of Nineveh. True, there reportedly are thousands of Assyrians already serving with majority-Assyrian units of the Kurdish Regional Guards, known as the Peshmerga, but their equipment and support comes from the Kurdish Regional government which is almost bankrupt as a result of low oil prices. Meanwhile, the Yazidi minority already has an armed militia fighting ISIS in the Sinjar mountains to the west of Mosul, and the Assyrians have trained and equipped a military force of 300 men known as the Nineveh Protection Units, with 2,000 more volunteers ready to be trained and given weapons, according to Restore Nineveh Now. The U.S. military has restored the use of Fire Base Bell, behind the Makhmour front, midway between Kirkuk and Mosul, as a command center and could train recruits there, Mr. Primorac says. The manpower for new militia units is already nearby. More than 1.8 million internally displaced persons are living in camps in Kurdistan, including 300,000 Assyrians and close to 300,000 Yazidis. In addition to these, there are approximately 1.2 million Assyrian refugees taking shelter in neighboring Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, and many recruits could come from these countries, according to sources at Restore Nineveh Now. "In terms of holding territory, you want people trained who will protect their own lands," Mr. Primorac says, adding that "The ITEF is a military vehicle to leverage political reform. "It will formalize these [militia] forces and bring them under the authority of the Iraqi Security Forces. Baghdad already pays the salaries of thousands of Sunni militia members, chiefly in Anbar Province, and this will allow it to train and support militias of the minorities most damaged by genocide," he says.

Douglas Burton is a former State Department official in Iraq and reports on the Middle East from Washington, D.C.
Cardinal Dolan Talks About His Trip to Iraq

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York visits a displacement center in Dawodiya, Iraq on April 10, 2016. ( Elise Harris/CNA) Erbil, Iraq -- As he leaves Iraqi Kurdistan, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said what struck him most during the visit were the people's faith and hope, despite violent persecution. "These people from an earthly point of view don't have much, but my, oh my, their sense of resilience and hope were simply astounding," Cardinal Dolan said in an interview with CNA. "Do they mourn the past? Yes they do, but they're about the present and they're about the future, and that's a sentiment that will never leave me." Cardinal Dolan is the Archbishop of New York and chair of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA). He was joined by Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, a CNEWA board member, for a three-day visit to Iraqi Kurdistan, where he toured projects aimed at helping refugees and met with families, Church leaders, priests and religious who were displaced as a result of the 2014 Islamic State attacks. The trip included visits to the Kurdish capital of Erbil, and to the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk. It concluded with a Mass celebrated by Syriac-Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan, in which representatives of several other rites were present, including the Latin and Chaldean rites, as well as the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church of the East. Both Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Murphy spoke to CNA in a sit-down interview on the last day of the trip to share their thoughts and reflections about what they had seen and experienced. Below is CNA's full interview with Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Murphy: What are your impressions after spending these days here in Iraq? Cardinal Dolan: I would find my impression would be on both sides. First of all there's an impression of sadness and sobriety in what these people have gone through. They've lost their homes, their homes that have been in their families for centuries, centuries and centuries, alright. They've lost a sense of security, they've lost in many ways a sense of stability that is so necessary for human existence. So there is an undeniable sense of sadness and somberness. But then I jump ahead to the other side of the spectrum to say that they haven't lost their sense of hope. They haven't lost their faith. We've heard people cry out in anguish, but they always have a sense of hope. And I can't get over it. I mean look, you were at the liturgy yesterday. You talk about joyful, reverent, grateful prayer and praise, trusting in God. Of all people you'd think they would be almost dour in Mass. You'd wonder if some of them would be tempted not to come anymore because they were so crushed. We have our parishes at home for Sunday Mass where sometimes there's a sense of heaviness and people don't seem interested, and we've got prosperity, we've got peace, we've got stability. These people from an earthly point of view don't have much, but my oh my, their sense of resilience and hope were simply astounding. And I see it in the priests, I see it in the sisters, I see it in the lay leaders, I see it in my brother bishops. Do they mourn the past? Yes they do, but they're about the present and they're about the future, and that's a sentiment that will never leave me. Is there a specific moment that was particularly moving for you? Cardinal Dolan: Bishop Murphy and I have shared a number of them, and when we process this it's amazing that we both have felt the same thing. One would be the desire of people just to go back home. Just to go back home. They're not saying 'take us to America.' They're saying 'we just want to go back home, can you help us get back home?' And number two, the second I think, would be that sense of hope and promise. They're so resilient that their kind of making the best of what they've got. They have this trust in God and they say 'we wanna go back home, we don't know how long we're going to be in exile, but let's make the best of it. Let's tend to the basics of faith, education, healthcare, food, shelter, protecting our kids. That's basic civilization, that's basic solidarity and they're doing it magnificently. Yesterday Bishop Wardona said that they are very grateful for your visit, but wished that it had come sooner and that the United States was doing more to help. Do you have a response to his comments about your visit, and that maybe the U.S. should have acted quicker and sooner? (Editor's note: Bishop Shlemom Wardona is one of three auxiliary bishops in Iraq serving under Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako). Cardinal Dolan: We say: so do we. We wish we could have come sooner too, and we certainly want to do more. That's one of the things we've said from the beginning, that the purpose of our visit is to learn. We don't come here as saviors, we don't come here as know-it-alls, we don't come here as experts. We really came to listen and learn so we can bring that back home, and we need to. We need to encourage our people to more fervent and deeper prayer, we they're already doing very well. We need to be unafraid to ask our people to be more generous to the agencies like CNEWA, like Aid to the Church in Need, like the Knights of Malta, like Catholic Relief Services, who are doing very well here for these people and whose work is deeply appreciated. And we need to do more advocacy. We really do, and that's what we learned. Now we can come back with a little bit more credibility, because we've been there. Bishop Murphy said earlier we're not just geography now, we're not just talking about them or those people. We've met them, we've hugged them, we've listened to them, we've entered their cabanas, their little trailers where they're living. They become part of us. It's such a vivid reminder of the family of the Church, the mystical body of Christ. I know it's still early, but do you have an idea of what this advocacy will look like once you guys are back? Cardinal Dolan: I think there's probably going to be much more...Bishop Murphy and I have said that we've already got homilies for about six months, we've got blogs for about six months, we've got columns we're going to write. And we just need to talk to our people about it, we've got to remind them of it. That's what it means to be Catholic. We're not congregationalists, we're Catholic. The sense of the Church is always a bit beyond us, and we have a solicitude for the Church universal and this is a particularly acute area where that solicitude needs to be exercised. So I think you're going to hear us. It's going to color everything we say and do in the future. As a journalist I sometimes find that people read the news and move on. How can we convince people to continue to be interested and invested in what's happening here? Bishop Murphy: One of the things is [that] I've been doing blogs each day. They're not as long as a column, but you get them out. Everybody who's on that website will see this regularly. Another thing we did was last year, we announced that in the middle of the summer, July-August, that weekend would be Middle East weekend. So we did what we Catholics do and took up another collection (laughs). But we were able to get some more money out of that, and I think we just need to take opportunities like that and call the attention of people to it. Then some people respond and you'll find some groups will respond. As Abraham Joshua Heschel said: you start it with one, then another, then a third and fourth, and before you know it you have a movement. And I think we should really be encouraging those who catch on to this. To start to do some things on their own that would be helpful. We can't be the only voice, for example, in Washington. We can be a voice, but we're just the bishops. Take the decision on Christian genocide. What made the difference there? It wasn't the fact that the names of x-amount of bishops were there, it was the fact that all of the sudden, people picked up on it. I'm not saying that's changing things radically, but it's another force for good. Cardinal Dolan: Let me mention this. We've got a lot of Catholic business leaders who would do a lot of business in this area of the world, and when I meet with them, when they tell me, 'oh, I'm going to Saudi Arabia,' or 'I'm going to Iraq' or 'I'm going to Iran,' or 'I'm going to Kurdistan as part of some business ventures,' I will often say to them: 'are you going to meet with prominent leaders and government officials?' -- 'Oh, yes.' -- 'Are you going to mention to them the persecuted Christians?' -- 'Well I hadn't thought of that. That's not really my responsibility, I don't know if I'm an expert there.' I'll say to them: 'Let me ask you this. If one of your Jewish partners were going to a country where there's a persecution of Jews, would your Jewish partner bring that up to government leaders?' And they'll say 'probably so.' And I said when are we going to start doing that? When are we going to encourage our lay people? Sometimes they have a lot more clout that we bishops do. They expect us, fat, balding bishops, to go home and start talking about this. We've got to advocate with our people. Bishop Murphy: I'll give you an example of that. I spent two years on the International Commission for Religious Freedom. And one of our jobs was to study every time, whoever was the president at that time, went to a foreign country, someone from the White House would call us and say for example, 'the President's going to China. What do you have by way of names of people, what do you have about issues?' And he would bring those things with him and literally take them out of his pocket, and when he'd come back we'd get a little report from the president saying 'I did talk with the president of China about those things you gave me.' So there are different ways this can happen, but what I think what the cardinal suggests is it's something we need to be more acute about. Cardinal Dolan: You know when I had brother bishops from India at my house, they told me that when President Obama went to India last summer they deeply appreciated the fact that he spoke publicly about the persecution of religious minorities, especially the Christians. Now Lord knows I've done my share of criticism of President Obama, as we bishops have with any and all of our presidents. We'd like to compliment them when they do good, we criticize them when they don't, but my brother bishops say 'that meant the world to us.' So it's that kind of advocacy that we need with our political leaders, but let's not forget the business leaders, and let's not forget the grassroots people who can make this work.
April 12, 2016

Following previous media discussion about and announcements of a visit that has been postponed for months, French President Francois Hollande is to arrive in Beirut on April 16 as part of a four-day tour of the Middle East.

A source close to Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil told Al-Monitor that Bustros Palace, which houses the Foreign Ministry, has been working with officials at the French Embassy for days on finalizing the schedule of Hollandes visit.

The source said, The schedule contains a clear protocol issue due to the presidential vacuum, but added that Hollande still "will make a visit to two Lebanese officials who do not hold the title of head of state. These are Prime Minister Tammam Salam and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

The source said no other visits have been scheduled for Hollande. Even Maronite Patriarch of Antioch Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi is not on the list for a visit, even though the seat of the Maronite Church in Bkerke has several centuries of relations with Paris and a standing tradition whereby every French president visiting Beirut would visit the patriarch at the patriarchal edifice.

The source said that in case no visit to the patriarch's quarters takes place, a special arrangement is being discussed where Hollande would hold a short, private meeting with the patriarch on the sidelines of a dinner that will be held in honor of Hollande at the French Embassy in Beirut and attended by various Lebanese religious officials.

Hollande will meet with various politicians, such as heads of political parties and parliamentary blocs, in a similar meeting at the Pine Residence, the embassys historic headquarters, in Beirut. The visit includes a meeting between Hollande and UNIFIL's French battalion in the south.

A French diplomatic source told Al-Monitor, Four key items are on the agenda for the visits and political meetings. First is the promotion of bilateral French-Lebanese ties in all fields. Second is the situation in Syria and its tragic impact on Lebanon, especially the influx of Syrians, which has become an economic, security and environmental burden on Lebanon. Third is French confirmation of support for Lebanons official military forces, especially the Lebanese army. Therefore, the Saudi $3 billion grant to supply the Lebanese army with French-made weapons, which was canceled in February, will be raised in the meetings. Paris and Beirut are interested in bringing back the grant ... for many reasons. The last item on the agenda of Hollandes discussions in Beirut is the presidential vacuum that has been ongoing since May 25, 2014.

The French source told Al-Monitor, Hollande had voiced his intention to visit Beirut months ago, but his visit was delayed every time. Some Lebanese factional and state officials were making sure to relay to France the message that nothing can be done now in Beirut for France. Therefore, there is no point for France to make this presidential trip at the moment. Some Lebanese officials were asking France not to waste the card of Hollandes visit, because its poor timing means that it wont bear any tangible fruit, especially amid the presidential vacuum. They wanted to spare Lebanon another disappointment or shock following a [potential] failed French step, which would make citizens feel that nothing can get Lebanon out of its presidential stalemate after seeing the inability of the president of a major power to set the right stage for the election of a new president.

The French diplomatic source added, Such discouraging talk was also circulating in Paris in the French press, which repeated analyses on the inability of French authorities to make a breakthrough on the presidential dilemma under the current circumstances.

This visit is part of a Middle Eastern tour, and this alone justifies the French presidential visit. Besides, this tour constitutes a chance to tackle the Lebanese presidential issue in several concerned capitals in the Arab world. France has been preparing for this visit. French Ambassador to Lebanon Emanuel Bon met with Hezbollah in the context of preparing for Hollandes visit. Bon met with Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc Leader MP Mohammad Raad [on April 7], the source added.

The French diplomatic source considered this visit significant, as it indicates Frances openness to all Lebanese parties and seriousness in talking to everyone and finding out about their stances to pave the way for any initiative that Hollande might launch in Lebanon or during his tour in the Middle East.

However, Lebanons experience with French initiatives, especially presidential ones, has not been historically encouraging.

Former Lebanese Ambassador to the United States Abdallah Abu Habib commented on the French sources words and on the media atmosphere accompanying Hollandes visit. He told Al-Monitor, France has a chronic obsession with Lebanon  one that stems from the fact that it once occupied the country. For that reason, it always thought it had the upper hand in managing the countrys affairs, but that was never the case. The international and Lebanese balances of power have radically changed. In 1943, France occupied Lebanon, and there were presidential elections. At the time, France decided to support the candidacy of Emile Eddeh. But his rival Bechara al-Khoury won the presidency instead. Ever since, Frances attempts and failures have gone hand in hand. The situation in Lebanon is currently more complicated than Frances approach or the ability of Hollandes visit to cause a change. The visit will be merely symbolic, while the serious issues will have to wait for other circumstances and key players.

Nevertheless, Hollandes visit to Beirut on April 16 will top political headlines in Lebanon, which has been absent from Western and European news priorities for a while.
April 13, 2016

Key US lawmakers are questioning the wisdom of giving yet more money to Egypt when Cairo is sitting on more than half a billion previously appropriated dollars.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs panel on the Middle East, brought the issue up during an April 13 hearing on the State Department's budget request. She suggested the Obama administration's annual request for $150 million in economic assistance could prove a tough sell amid reports that the Egyptian government is blocking myriad US grants from moving forward.

"In Egypt we are facing a significant pipeline issue where between $500 million to $700 million in previous years funds have not been spent nor obligated," Ros-Lehtinen said. "Yet the administration continues to request $150 million in ESF [economic support funds] for Egypt, without presenting a concrete plan on how it will spend these unobligated funds and without having the flexibility to operate in Egypt that we once had."

Both Republican and Democratic staffers confirmed to Al-Monitor after the hearing that there is interest in the Foreign Affairs Committee to reallocate at least some of the Egyptian aid, if only to send Cairo a message. But they questioned whether there's much appetite to do so among their Appropriations Committee colleagues who actually hold the purse strings.

In the Senate, foreign aid appropriations Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., last week proposed an emergency supplemental of "multiple billions" for Egypt and several other Middle East nations rather than an aid cut. And members on both sides of the aisle appear to agree that the $1.3 billion in annual military assistance that makes up the bulk of US bilateral aid to Egypt is here to stay amid Islamic State attacks in the Sinai Peninsula and elsewhere.

The Egyptian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

One possible beneficiary of a reallocation: Tunisia. While the State Department's budget request seeks a $20 million boost in economic assistance, the Tunisian Embassy in Washington has been pressing Congress to restore an equivalent cut in military aid.

"Tunisia is strategically important, and this is where the democratic transition has been referred to by the administration as a model for other states in the Arab world. However, when compared to Egypt, Jordan or even Lebanon, our aid package to Tunisia does not really indicate that the administration views its future as a high priority," Ros-Lehtinen said at the hearing. "The people and government of Tunisia need us now more than ever."

Some democracy activists are openly arguing for such a shift in priorities.

"Every year, administration officials struggle to pull together funds to respond to urgent crises and new opportunities, while there are hundreds of millions of dollars left sitting on the table in Egypt," said Cole Bockenfeld, the deputy director for policy at the Washington-based Project on Middle East Democracy. "If the Egyptian government refuses to cooperate with the US on development programs, the emerging democracy in Tunisia is a prime candidate for more assistance  its government faces mounting economic and security challenges, and has shown a real desire to work with the US to help meet those challenges."

State Department officials testifying at the hearing acknowledged concerns with the human rights and security situation in Egypt. But they made the case for continued support to programs that can encourage international investments and job creation in the Arab world's most populous country.

"Given the current challenging environment," USAID official Paige Alexander testified, "USAID continues to focus its program in areas where we believe we can achieve immediate results and will continue to consult with Congress as discussions progress with the government of Egypt."

Congressional concerns date back to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report last year, which found that $460 million out of $1.4 billion in economic support funds appropriated between 2009 and 2014 remained unobligated. The GAO report faulted "ongoing changes in Egypts political leadership" and "various congressional holds and legal restrictions" for the backlog, which ballooned as Congress and the Obama administration held up aid out of concern both with President Mohammed Morsi's leadership and with the military coup that deposed him.

Since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's May 2014 election, however, the backlog has only gotten worse. US officials say the Egyptian government is to blame.

"For the bulk of our ESF assistance currently, US agencies and departments enjoy collaboration and appreciation from their Egyptian government counterparts," a State Department official told Al-Monitor in an emailed statement. "However, over the past year, some ESF implementing partners have encountered difficulties in obtaining the Egyptian government approvals necessary to do their work, which has contributed to the large pipeline. We are working with the Egyptian government to address these problems and will look forward to working with Congress as we move forward."

The North Carolina-based Research Triangle Institute (RTI) is a case in point.

The nonprofit organization has been providing technical assistance to the Egyptian education system for many years and was recently awarded projects for primary learning and higher education partnership. But it has struggled to get the final approvals it needs to move forward amid a renewed crackdown on civil society, including revived investigations into nongovernmental organizations accused of taking foreign funding.

The situation hasn't been helped by the proliferation of conspiracy theories about hostile foreign powers in the Egyptian media. An April 6 article in the Youm 7 newspaper, for example, bragged of having penetrated "the secret US file to spy on Egypt."

"Washington is planting RTI to ignite sectarian strife and provoke minorities using aid money," the newspaper alleged. "The institute held training courses for Egyptians abroad to support gay rights.

Aaron Williams, RTI International executive vice president of government relations and corporate communications, denies any such activity.

"While we remain optimistic that these issues will ultimately be resolved," Williams told Al-Monitor in an emailed statement, "we are concerned that recent Egyptian media coverage has included gross inaccuracies and unfounded inflammatory statements regarding the good work RTI has accomplished both in Egypt and around the globe."

He struck a note of optimism that the situation will eventually be resolved and that RTI's US-funded assistance can resume.

"We believe that our education projects are a great asset for the Egyptian people and that ultimately that view will prevail," he said. "While we understand that the overall situation in Egypt is the subject of higher level discussions between the respective governments, we are focused on implementing educational assistance projects that will benefit the Egyptian people and society."
April 12, 2016

Turkey is finally starting to get through to US lawmakers about its concerns with American support for the Syrian Kurds, with potential repercussions for the fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS).

Fresh off a trip to the Syrian refugee camp in Gaziantep, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters last week that the Obama administration's strategy of relying on the People's Protection Units (YPG) to destroy IS is "never going to work." The remarks were immediately picked up by the Turkish press, which eagerly framed them as evidence that Washington may be coming around to Ankara's point of view that the YPG is a close cousin to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a US-designated terrorist group.

"What I saw from Turkey was a real anxiety about our strategy in Syria," said Graham, a hawkish member of the Armed Services Committee who unsuccessfully ran for president this cycle. "Turkey is of the view that this strategy will never work and will never result in destroying [IS]. And they're very worried that the training of the Kurdish forces inside of Syria is going to flow into their side of the border. I cannot tell you how upset they are with our Syria policy."

Graham said he's had "a lot of discussions" with fellow members of the committee about his concerns that supporting the Syrian Kurds is a fool's errand because they have little incentive to attack IS' stronghold in Raqqa. The city is majority Sunni Arab and is located south of the Syrian Kurdish region along Turkey's southern border.

"This is not a strategy to destroy [IS]," Graham said. "It's a strategy to diminish them and pass this problem on to the next president."

Other powerful lawmakers have shared similar misgivings.

"There is no ground force that is both willing and able to [take] Raqqa, nor is there a realistic prospect of one emerging anytime soon," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., said in a Dec. 17 floor speech on President Barack Obama's strategy to defeat IS. "The Syrian Kurds could take Raqqa but won't, and the Syrian Sunni Arabs want to but can't, partly due to our failure to support them."

Congressional hawks such as Graham and McCain also have misgivings about the Syrian Kurds because of their relative truce with Bashar al-Assad's regime. They and others argue the Syrian leader is fueling global recruitment for IS and must step down.

Asked if Congress has any appetite for trying to condition US aid to the Syrian Kurds  for example, as part of the annual Defense Authorization bill  McCain said it's possible.

"We've talked about it," he told Al-Monitor. "I don't know what the attitude of the committee is, because we haven't had a hearing or anything. We'll be looking at it very carefully."

Such a move could prove a tough sell, however, even among committee members who share Graham's concerns about antagonizing Turkey.

"The Kurds and the Turkish leaders have their problems, but they're actually a vital part of a force that could expel [IS] and try to stabilize Syria," said Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who was on the Turkey trip with Graham. "So we've got to figure out how to have a policy to continue to provide some level of support and encouragement to them as we do with the Kurds in Iraq."

The Syrian Kurds have been "some of the most reliable people taking the fight to [IS] in Iraq, taking the fight to [IS] in Syria," Tillis added. "So if you can work out some way that deals with the sensitivities of one of our NATO partners, it would be worth looking at. But you've got to take those sensitivities into account."

A similar debate has been raging inside the Obama administration for several months. While some officials are incensed that the Syrian Kurds have attacked CIA-trained Sunni rebels battling the Assad regime around Aleppo in the north of Syria, as Bloomberg reported in February, others are impressed with the Kurds' battlefield successes against IS.

Increased US support for the YPG can be traced back to the dismal failure of the administration's $500 million plan to "train and equip" the Syrian Sunni opposition. The US military airdropped 28 bundles of weapons, ammunition and supplies to the Syrian Kurds battling IS in Kobani in October 2014 as Turkey stayed on the sidelines, and has continued its support since.

Since then, Ankara has continued to pressure the United States to revise its stance. After Brett McGurk, the special envoy to the international coalition fighting IS, visited Kobani earlier this year, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blew up, demanding to know, "Who is your partner  the terrorists in Kobani or me?"

The Syrian Kurds are pushing back with their own campaign to influence US policymakers.

"The YPG's fight is about Syria, not Turkey," Saleh Mohamed  co-president of the Democratic Union Party (PYD)  wrote in an April 11 New York Times op-ed demanding a seat at the table in the ongoing Syria peace talks. The YPG is the PYD's militant wing.

The State Department has continued to try to work with both sides.

"What weve said, and weve said this last week as well and our policy has not changed, is that we believe the YPG is not affiliated with the PKK," department spokesman Mark Toner said at his Feb. 22 briefing. "However, we recognize Turkeys concerns over PKK and terrorism on the ground and its right to defend itself, but we have urged it to stop shelling over the border. Weve also told the YPG that it should stop taking actions on the ground in and around Aleppo that, frankly, are counterproductive to the situation on the ground, to a de-escalation of the situation on the ground."

Barak Barfi, a research fellow at the New America Foundation, argues that lawmakers are wrong to dismiss the Syrian Kurds' importance in taking back Raqqa. He argues in a new report for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy that the YPG can be a key player in defeating IS in Syria, as long as US aid is forthcoming.

"The more you work with them," Barfi told Al-Monitor, "you can tone down their localized aspirations for autonomy [and] federalism [and] try to integrate them into the Syrian opposition and reduce tensions with Turkey."
April 13, 2016

CAIRO  Despite the warm welcome given to Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud by Egyptian official institutions and media outlets from the moment he arrived in Cairo on April 7 on his first official foreign visit since ascending to the throne in January 2015, the visit was quickly marred by widespread controversy and anger. Soon after his arrival, official talks began and an announcement was made about the signing of a maritime border agreement, under which Egypt relinquished ownership of Sanafir and Tiran  two Red Sea islands  to Riyadh.

After a full day of secrecy about the provisions of the maritime border agreement that Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail signed April 8 during an official ceremony attended by the Egyptian president and the Saudi monarch, the Council of Ministers announced in a press release that the agreement recognized that Sanafir and Tiran islands were located in Saudi territorial waters. This thus gave Riyadh full ownership and sovereignty over the islands.

The governments statement recognizing Saudi ownership over the islands caused anger that spread through social networking sites. Thousands of people used the hashtag #Awad_Sold_His_Land  in reference to an Egyptian folk figure who brought shame upon his family after selling the family farm  to express their ire concerning the abandonment of the Egyptian islands. In addition, numerous maps and documents, taken from official Egyptian websites or educational curricula, affirming Egyptian ownership of the islands were disseminated. Opposition to the agreement was not confined to Internet blogs, as a number of lawyers filed lawsuits before Egyptian courts objecting to their governments signing of the agreement, while signatures were being collected rejecting the agreement.

The government attempted to contain the popular anger through a new press release that followed the Saudi kings departure from Cairo on April 12, to which it attached a number of documents asserting Saudi ownership of the two islands since the latter requested that Egypt provide them with protection in 1950. The Council of Ministers statement also included a 1950 classified cable by the American ambassador to Cairo, as well as other Egyptian correspondence to the United Nations proving Saudi sovereignty over the two islands.

The islands of Tiran and Sanafir are of particular strategic importance due to their location in the strait that separates the Gulf of Aqaba from the Red Sea; this can provide control over maritime navigation in the region as a whole. The two islands also fell under the control of multinational forces due to their being included in Zone C of the 1978 Camp David Accords, which say that neither Egypt nor Israel are allowed to hinder maritime navigation through the Strait of Tiran.

Concurrently, the timing of this agreement and the announcement that the islands belonged to Saudi Arabia raised many questions about potential Egyptian political or economic gains resulting therefrom. There are also unknowns concerning issues related to the Camp David Accords and Saudi Arabias ability or willingness to abide by their provisions, particularly considering that Saudi Arabia has not recognized the existence of the Israeli state and views Israel as an enemy.

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Ismail said, The negotiations and meetings that preceded the signing of the agreement with the Saudi side dealt with all issues related to the status of the islands under the Camp David Accords. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry discussed, with all relevant parties, the special arrangements pertaining to this issue. Nothing in the agreement stipulates that Egypt would receive 25% of the islands natural gas or oil reserves; however, under any exclusive maritime economic zone agreement, exploitation of proven natural gas or oil reserves located on the center line that divides the respective zones of two countries shall be divided in proportion to the reserves located in each of the countries.

In a letter that seemed addressed by the Egyptian regime to the international community, Egypts official Al-Ahram newspaper published a front-page report on April 11, confirming that Cairo informed the Israeli side of the minutiae of the Agreement on Maritime Delimitation in the Gulf of Aqaba, and any repercussions thereof on the peace accords. Cairo also provided assurances and guarantees that Saudi Arabia would respect the terms of the accords as they related to the status of the two islands, the presence of international troops thereon, the guarantee not to use the islands for military purposes or to hinder maritime traffic through the Gulf of Aqaba. This is despite the fact that Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir stated in a press conference in Cairo that no agreements would be signed with Israel concerning the islands of Sanafir and Tiran.

A former Egyptian assistant foreign minister for Arab affairs, Ambassador Hussein Haridi, told Al-Monitor, The islands will become Saudi once the agreement is ratified. Saudi Arabia was not a party to the Camp David Accords, so international law does not compel it to abide by the provisions of these accords.

The agreement remains subject to the approval of the Egyptian parliament pursuant to stipulated constitutional procedures. But the speech given by Salman from the speakers podium in parliament, and the generous ovation he received from parliamentarians, represented a public endorsement of the terms of the agreement.

Member of parliament and former Foreign Minister Mohamed Orabi told Al-Monitor, The agreement shall be thoroughly reviewed by the parliamentary Defense and National Security Committees, and a detailed position in its regard made available to the public after deliberations.

A diplomatic source with the Department of Arab Affairs at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry drew a link between the timing of the agreement and the Egyptian-Saudi decision to begin building a land bridge between the two countries, which would pass through the islands of Sanafir and Tiran.

The source, which requested anonymity, told Al-Monitor, The decision to build the bridge necessitated a number of prerequisite measures, starting with determining the ownership of the islands, and discussing securing the bridge, particularly in light of the peace accords provisions barring the presence of Egyptian security forces on the islands.

After the first official round of talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Saudi monarch announced the building of a land bridge between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, a step welcomed by Cairo in view of its strategic importance on the political, economic and military levels. The warm reaction reached the point that the Egyptian minister of awqaf (religious endowments) characterized the plan as mentioned in the Holy Quran, despite it being previously rejected by former President Hosni Mubarak for reasons attributed by analysts at the time to Israeli and American pressure.

The controversy surrounding ownership of the two islands and the building of the bridge did not end with the visit of the Saudi king to Cairo. The road remains arduous before Egypts political administration in its anticipated negotiations to reassure Israel on one side, and appease domestic public anger on the other.
April 13, 2016

TEHRAN, Iran  The auto giant PSA Peugeot Citroen has become the first foreign company since the Jan. 16 implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to obtain a license from the Iranian government to invest in Iran Khodro Co. (IKCO), the biggest car manufacturer in the country. Jean-Christophe Quemard, PSA Peugeot Citroens executive vice president for Africa and the Middle East, said earlier this month that the next big step for the multinational automaker would be the creation of a joint venture this summer, the French business magazine Challenges reported April 6.

PSA Peugeot Citroen, a past IKCO partner, has just resumed deliveries of auto parts, after a four-year hiatus. Its abrupt 2012 pullout from the Iranian market as nuclear-related sanctions against Iran intensified upset Iranian authorities. The move greatly harmed the Iranian automotive industry. IKCO CEO Hashem Yekkeh-Zare said in an interview with the Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency that to avoid similar such incidents, any foreign company interested in the Iranian market must first make an investment.

IKCO and Peugeot have apparently put aside their differences and agreed that each will hold a 50% stake in a 400 million euro ($452 million) joint venture to produce Peugeot 208, 2008 and 301 models over the next five years. Under the agreement, the Iranians will fill the CEO position in the joint company while the French side will chair the board. The Iranians have required that manufacturing technology be transferred over the course of a few years, a policy implemented by President Hassan Rouhanis administration as a prerequisite for any industrial partnership. Iran hopes this strategy will bring an end to the economic ostracism imposed on it by the West over the past decade.

Despite Iran's investment conditions, Peugeot officials have expressed happiness over the recent deal, with Quemard calling it a win-win contract. Their satisfaction may partly be due to a likely 15% hike in car production by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, until March 20, 2017. If forecasts hold true, Iran will produce more than 1 million vehicles by year-end, although the figure will still be far lower than the record-setting 1.6 million vehicles produced in 2011. IKCO will be responsible for about half of the output.

The deal with PSA Peugeot Citroen is not the only IKCO initiative for developing the Iranian automotive industry. IKCO executives are also hammering out a deal with Mercedes-Benz, a subsidiary of Germany-based Daimler, to locally manufacture commercial vehicles and passenger cars. According to the state-run Iran Daily, a letter of intent will be signed in the coming months, allowing the popular German giant to begin operations in Iran. Mercedes-Benz is also negotiating with Iranian companies on the local production of trucks and power-train components, according to the newspaper. It has already agreed on a comprehensive re-entry into the Iranian market with Iran Khodro Diesel and the Dubai-based Mammut Group and is preparing to return as a shareholder in the Iranian Diesel Engine Manufacturing Co., which is based in the northwestern city of Tabriz.

Separately, earlier in April, Irans English-language Press TV reported that Volkswagen and its Skoda brand are also among the multinational automakers that have approached Iranian carmakers. VW is now weighing the selection of a local partner, likely Kerman Motor or Mammut Group, to position itself in the race to capture market share in Iran. Meanwhile, the Italians have wasted no time getting into the race. Ahmad Pourfallah, head of the Iranian-Italian Chamber of Commerce, told the Fars News Agency that Fiat is finalizing negotiations with IKCO to buy a part of its shares and establish a joint venture later in the year.

Meanwhile, SAIPA, the second-largest Iranian car manufacturer, has its own development plans as part of the broader national effort to boost the auto sector. The Asr-e Khodro news site reported April 9 that SAIPA will probably sell 49% of its shares to Citroen. The possibility of the establishment of a joint venture with Citroen was confirmed by Naser Agha-Mohammadi, SAIPA Groups vice president for product development, in a recent interview with leading economic newspaper Donya-e Eqtesad.

SAIPA, which consists of seven manufacturers, plans to select up to four strategic foreign partners, which would enable SAIPA to develop its brand both nationally and internationally, Agha-Mohammadi said. A total amount of 500 million euros ($564 million) in foreign direct investment will soon be made, an investment that would considerably elevate the status of SAIPA, and more broadly, transform the whole industry in Iran, Agha-Mohammadi said. Other likely partners are Frances Renault, Japans Nissan and South Koreas KIA.

Yet despite the Rouhani administration's all-out efforts to turn the sluggish Iranian auto industry into a more productive one, it has forecast a 33% rise in revenue from car import tariffs in the budget currently being reviewed by parliament. The budget forecasts 22 trillion rials ($726.6 million) in revenue from car import tariffs, up from 13.68 trillion rials ($451.8 million) last year. Critics say the administration is unlikely to meet the target revenue, as domestic demand for expensive cars has already fallen. Given this situation and the 43% drop in revenue from car import tariffs last year, perhaps the best solution would be to allow more affordable cars to be imported.

Thus, although the ownership structure of Iranian automakers is set to dramatically change over the coming year or so, it need not necessarily be to the detriment of those exporting cars to Iran. Auto giants can keep sending vehicles, with the exception of luxury cars, to the 80-million-strong Iranian market as long as there is a lack of high-quality domestically made cars that meet both industry standards and are affordable for the middle and working classes.
April 13, 2016

Iranian officials and media have hailed the trip of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to Iran as a new era in economic and diplomatic cooperation between Iran and Europe. However, despite the positive reception and billions in economic agreements signed, there are still people in the country who feel visits by European leaders have failed to produce tangible benefits.

Renzi, who traveled to Tehran with a delegation of 60 business leaders, said, The end of sanctions is a historical step not just for Iran but for the entire region. Iran and Italy signed seven agreements of cooperation in the fields of tourism, gas, oil and railways. When President Hassan Rouhani visited Italy in January, 30 agreements were signed between the two countries. During their meeting in Tehran, Rouhani said that the expansion of ties between Italy and Iran is the first step toward better ties between Iran and the European Union.

The top story of Reformist Etemad newspaper was headlined, The post-nuclear deal laughter. A picture of Rouhani and Renzi clapping and smiling accompanied the story. Arman Dailys top story covered Renzis trip to Iran as well with a picture of Rouhani and Renzi walking and smiling. The picture also oddly appeared to have been manipulated to appear as if both leaders were emanating light.

Maryam Salari wrote in Iran Newspaper, which operates under the management of the administration, that Tehran has become the destination of world diplomats. Salari credited Rouhanis election and his message of moderation for the numerous trips from European and regional leaders. The Islamic Republic News Agency, which also operates under the administration, wrote that Iran-Rome relations can be the model for Europes relations with Iran.

The jubilation over Renzis trip is understandable given that before international sanctions over Irans nuclear program, Italy was Irans largest trading partner in Europe with trade at 7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) a year in 2010. Rouhani said that he hopes Italy would once again restore this position.

Media close to the administration also covered the trip between Renzi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei favorably. The headline in Iran Newspaper focused on Khameneis positive assessment of Iran-Italy ties. What the headline omitted and what media critical of Rouhanis outreach to the West did cover in their headlines was Khameneis criticism that the trips by European leaders have so far had no tangible benefits.

Some European countries and companies are traveling to Iran and negotiating [business deals], but the outcome of these negotiations until now cannot be sensed, Khamenei told Renzi. He added, Some people put the blame of this issue on the shoulders of the Americans.

Khamenei's reference was to the remaining US sanctions preventing Iran from conducting business in US dollars; this has caused many European businesses to hesitate about doing business with Iran. There is still confusion in Iran about these sanctions. On April 13, four Iranian parliamentarians asked Valiollah Seif, the head of Irans Central Bank, to clarify precisely which banking sanctions have been removed.

Khameneis comments, and the focus that a number of conservative and hard-line media such as Kayhan and Vatan-e Emrooz placed on them, show that despite the victorious tone of Reformist media, the Rouhani administration is still facing serious economic challenges domestically.
April 13, 2016

About a year after being elected to the Knesset on the Zionist Camp list in March 2015, the popular sports announcer Zuhair Bahloul discovered that in the game of politics, there are many rivals and that someone who doesnt play by the rules could find himself an outcast, even in his own party.

In an April 4 interview with radio station Darom, Bahloul refused to use the word terrorist in reference to the Palestinian assailant executed March 24 in Hebron by an Israeli soldier while lying neutralized on the ground after stabbing another soldier. In an interview with Army Radio on April 7, Bahloul tried to explain why he thinks that not every Palestinian assailant is a terrorist, stating, Obviously, if he [the Palestinian] killed someone, then he is a murderer, but if we keep going back to the same terminology, how will we ever make peace? How will we instill peace between the Palestinians and us? Israelis believe that anyone who fights for his freedom and independence is a terrorist  [but] he is not a terrorist.

Bahloul called the assailants murderers, and said they should be punished, but his refusal to call them terrorists led to accusations across wide swathes of Israeli society that he himself supported terrorism. One of the first to go on the attack against him was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described his remarks as disgraceful. That said, journalist Ronen Bergman of Yedioth Ahronoth checked and reported on April 11 that in his 1987 book Terrorism: How the West Can Win, Netanyahu distinguishes between terrorists, who attack civilians, and guerrillas, who attack military targets to achieve political aims. In the chapter The Definition of Terrorism, Netanyahu wrote that guerrilla fighters are the exact opposite of terrorists. He claimed that unlike guerrilla fighters, who go to battle against military forces, which in most cases are much stronger than they are, terrorists choose to attack civilians who are defenseless and weak.

Even members of Bahlouls own party didnt go easy on him. The party's position stipulates that a terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist. It does not matter if he sets out to kill Arabs or Jews, said Zionist Camp Chairman Isaac Herzog, to clarify the partys position. Other Knesset members from his party also condemned Bahloul, who thus found himself under attack from the left and the right. Zionist Camp Knesset member Eitan Cabel went so far as to say that Bahloul could no longer be a member of the party.

I want to build bridges, not destroy them. I want to create a discourse with the Israelis and mainly want that others will listen to me as an Arab citizen of Israel, Bahloul told my colleague Mazal Mualem in October 2015 during an interview with Al-Monitor. Given the storm now swirling around him, a perhaps naive Bahloul has discovered that most Israelis are not ready to listen to him.

The question of who is a terrorist has hovered over Israeli society ever since the signing of the Oslo Accord in 1993. At the time, Palestinian prisoners deemed bloodthirsty terrorists were suddenly released from Israeli prisons. At the same time, certain Palestinian groups  including Hamas (in 1989), Islamic Jihad (in 1990), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (1986) and various Salafist groups  were declared terrorist organizations by the Israeli defense minister in accordance with Knesset legislation. The Fatah movement was considered a terrorist organization up until the signing of the Oslo Accord. During the second intifada (2000-2005), its Tanzim and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades were declared unlawful organizations in accordance with Israeli defense regulations.

Hamas may well have become a political movement and its Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades a uniformed army of recruits who train and operate according to standard military doctrines. Nevertheless, it has been unable to free itself from being branded a terrorist organization. As long as Hamas regards civilians as legitimate targets  in Operation Protective Edge in 2014, the al-Qassam Brigades fired rockets at civilian targets in Israel  the Israeli government will undoubtedly continue to designate Hamas as a terror organization.

According to the Hebrew-language Even-Shoshan Dictionary, A terrorist is someone who acts on behalf of a hostile organization, engaging in sabotage and terror in order to achieve political or other objectives. This is quite similar to the definition adopted by the European Union in 2001. Given this, how should the people whom Bahloul rightfully referred to as assailants be defined? What about the Palestinian youngsters who launched attacks during the recent wave of terrorism, young people unaffiliated with any group and who did not train day and night in underground situations? Are they really terrorists?

Whether someone is labeled a terrorist, a murderer or an assailant is more than just a matter of semantics. It has bearing on how Israel confronts the issue operationally. During the second intifada, when people associated with specific Palestinian terrorist groups conducted suicide attacks in Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operational response was to launch military operations to shatter the terrorist infrastructure. Operation Defensive Shield in 2002 and other operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were intended to attack the terrorist organizations themselves and the underground cells that they had established throughout the territories. In the current round of violence, the third intifada, launching a military operation isnt even on the table. After all, there is apparently no terrorist infrastructure, no terrorist organization and no underground cells.

As written in Al-Monitor on April 4, the way the IDF has acted to restore calm has yielded positive results, at least to date. Over the past few weeks alone, there has been a significant decline in the number of attacks in Israel, and it looks like the motivation to launch them has slackened as well. There are many reasons for this, including close cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

One thing, however, is certain. If the IDF were forced today to contend with terrorists and terrorist organizations and infrastructures across the West Bank and Gaza, the policy of restraint that it has adopted over the past few months would not be useful. In fact, it would encourage more attacks. For the most part, however, the Israeli public remains trapped by the definitions used by so many politicians, from Netanyahu to opposition leader Herzog, so none of that seems to matter. As far as they are concerned, terrorists are terrorists, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a traitor who supports terrorism, even if that person is a beloved sportscaster like Zuhair Bahloul.
April 13, 2016

With the trash crisis still pending, having tainted Lebanons image around the world and exposed its governments division and incompetence when it comes to performing a basic duty like waste collection, another crisis looms on the horizon: Lebanons airport security and its compliance with international safety standards are now called into question.

This time, too, the government has failed yet again to perform one of its essential duties: preserving security and protecting a vital economic facility at a critical time when terrorism is striking in many world capitals and airports, with the latest incident at Brussels airport on March 22.

Lebanon has already been the stage of terrorist attacks, the latest of which was the twin explosions that shook the Burj el-Barajneh neighborhood in Beiruts southern suburb on Nov. 12, 2015, only two days prior to the Paris attacks.

Airport security returned to the forefront with Lebanese Interior Minister Nouhad al-Machnouqs official three-day visit to London on March 20, which aimed to enhance bilateral ties between Lebanon and the United Kingdom and explore opportunities for cooperation on security and counterterrorism. During his visit, Machnouq met with several British officials who voiced their concerns over Beirut airport security.

I am raising my voice now, because I am tired of the situation, he said in a statement issued March 25, holding his colleague Minister of Public Works and Transportation Ghazi Zeaiter responsible for the current security gaps and referring to him as the airports tutelage minister.

Two technical committees comprising aviation safety experts from the United Kingdom and France visited Rafik Hariri International Airport on Jan. 16, and concluded with comments on the administrative, technical and security situation at the airport.

Safety concerns were raised in regard to the Beirut airport, which has no fence or wall equipped with surveillance cameras and protection devices. In addition, the luggage inspection methods are inefficient due to a lack of scanners and the baggage carts are obsolete.

British Airways had already expressed concerns over baggage inspection and asked the airport administration to run a random inspection on passengers via drugs and explosives detectors. But the most important announcement was communicated at a press conference Jan. 31 by Fadi Hassan, the head of the airport. Hassan addressed three technical gaps: the airports perimeter wall lacks surveillance cameras, the baggage carts need to be replaced and X-ray scanners should be deployed at the airport.

Machnouqs statements in London prompted a response from Zeaiter, who held a press conference March 29. Zeaiter blamed the problem on the Lebanese government, accusing it of negligence with regard to airport security, as no funds have been allocated to address the security gaps.

He said, They allocate money for interior ministers, Lebanons delegation to Milan and the Ministry of Education, but not for the Beirut airport. He added that nothing substantial will comfort the French and the British concerns because of a lack of funds. Zeaiter said that an approximate sum of $1.4 million was needed to meet the costs of the necessary security provisions.

At another press conference April 6, Zeaiter spoke of an amount that is estimated at $30-$35 million to guarantee airport security and general aviation safety in all departments.

If the amount of $1.4 million seems too small for a security renovation plan at an international airport, the second higher estimation reveals the need for a clear and accurate budget for this purpose.

The Ministry of Interior offered a more detailed figure of $26,239,555 to complete the work it is overseeing, including the installment of surveillance cameras, scanners and inspection equipment.

However, this amount was deducted from Saudi Arabias donation of $1 billion, which was canceled by the donor due to "special reasons," according to the Interior Ministrys statement in January.

This was a prelude to the unfolding of the crisis that broke out between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, after the latter claimed that Hezbollah controls Lebanon.

The harsh reality is that today, the appropriation of funds for this specific project encounters a financial problem since the required funds have been either canceled after the suspension of the Saudi donation or cannot be met by the budget reserves due to the lack of a Cabinet decree, which in turn is subject to the current division within the government.

A Cabinet source told Al-Monitor, We were not able to include the issue on the agenda that was discussed during the Cabinet session on April 7. There is no consensus among the ministers as to the items on the agenda and the disagreement revolved around the priority of the addressed issues. He added, The airport [security] issue is of critical importance as it was the main subject of discussion between the British foreign minister and Prime Minister Tammam Salam during the surprise visit of Philip Hammond to Lebanon on March 30.

Former member of parliament Fares Soueid, the March 14 secretariat coordinator, tweeted April 8, London will be the first European capital to impose an embargo on flights coming from Beirut if the government fails to implement security reforms.

Gen. Wehbe Katicha, the Lebanese Forces adviser and a leading figure in the March 14 coalition, told Al-Monitor, Lebanon is constantly under threat of suicide attacks. The main problem is that there is no government in Lebanon. Finding a radical solution for the technical gaps at the airport is complicated; not only that, but the airport crisis may persist longer than the current sanitary crisis.

The current security situation at the airport in Beirut does not bode well. No solution is available in the short term. On Twitter, each minister marches to the beat of his or her own drum, while Lebanon steps closer to anarchy.

After the garbage crisis and the unfolding of the Arab sanctions on Lebanon  represented by the suspension of the Saudi donation for considering the Lebanese government under Hezbollahs control  will the government rift over Beirut Rafik Hariri Airport drive international and Arab airlines to halt their flights to Lebanon, intensifying the countrys isolation? This does not seem unlikely.
April 13, 2016

KOBANI, Syria  On April 1, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) started making military movements in northern Syria, at the Tishrin Dam west of the Euphrates, to level ground offensives against Manbij and Jarablous. This military maneuver points to an imminent large-scale offensive to expel the Islamic State (IS) from the remaining areas it controls in the eastern Aleppo countryside.

Meanwhile, factions of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) operating under the Hor Kalas operations room expanded their control in northern Syria by taking over a 10-kilometer (6-mile) borderline with Turkey. On April 8, the factions drove IS out of al-Rai and adjacent towns that have been under the group's control for 2 years.

These movements are tightening the noose around IS, which is currently facing government forces from the south, the FSA from the west, and the Kurds  backed by the US-led coalition  from the east.

Manbij, al-Bab and Jarablous are a part of the Aleppo province in northern Syria. They are about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the center of Aleppo, to the northeast. The cities have been controlled by IS since Jan. 23, 2014. IS seized a 55-kilometer (34-mile) border area with Turkey to the west of the Euphrates, from Jarablous to the outskirts of al-Rai, which is currently witnessing fierce battles between IS and armed opposition factions.

Speaking to Al-Monitor, Col. Mohammad Khalil, operations commander of al-Mutassim Brigade and liaison officer at the Hor Kalas operations room, said, The FSA is locked in fierce battles near the strategic town of al-Rai." On the FSAs next target, he said, It is either the city of Jarablous or farther south to al-Bab."

For its part, IS-affiliated Amaq News Agency confirmed in a statement posted on its official website on April 8 that the US and Turkey-backed opposition factions took control of the town of al-Rai."

Khalil did not rule out of the possibility of IS launching a counterattack. He said, "We have information saying that IS is mobilizing troops to level a sudden attack." He added, "Our forces are well-prepared to thwart any attack, and we are at our best military readiness."

Fawzi Suleiman, a military commander of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), one of the most prominent factions of the SDF, told Al-Monitor, "We are looking forward to linking all three Kurdish provinces," namely Afrin, Kobani and Hasakah, which are separated by IS-controlled Manbij and al-Bab cities.

Suleiman said, "The goal of the Syrian Democratic Forces is to liberate the area from terrorists. Answering a question on the latest military movements in Aleppos eastern countryside, he said, "What is happening now is that the residents and civilians of those cities had repeatedly called on our forces to rid them of IS terrorists."

The ongoing advancement of the opposition and the SDF toward the Turkish border would limit IS presence in northern Syria, which Turkey and the US-led coalition views as a priority in the battle against IS.

Speaking to Al-Monitor, Mohammad Zahid Gul, a Turkish political writer and analyst, praised the moderate Syrian oppositions control over new swaths in northern Syria," considering that this advancement would bring "comfort" to Turkey. He said, "The control of any terrorist organization, including IS, over sites close to the Turkish border are of concern to Turkey. Turkey, however, will not directly intervene in the battles and will limit its intervention to the use of artillery."

On April 7, the Turkish army bombarded IS targets in northern Syria in response to a cross-border artillery attack on the Hiwar Kalas border town, which injured three civilians.

Gul confirmed that Turkey is not an involved military party in the Syrian battles, saying, "The battles on the ground are taking place on the Syrian territory, including the border areas with Turkey. All that Turkey cares about is not to have its national security put in jeopardy."

Turkey accuses the YPG of having close ties with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Gul said, "The Syrian Democratic Forces are managed by the Democratic Union Party [PYD] and its commander, Salih Muslim Muhammad." Turkey accuses the PYD of being a branch of the PKK.

According to Gul, "The US supports these forces, given its own interests, under the pretext of strengthening the front against IS. The forces, however, engaged in many conflicts with the moderate revolutionary factions as well."

Kurdish political writer and analyst Farouk Hajji Mustafa, director of Bercav Center for Freedoms and Media, told Al-Monitor, "IS is spending its last days in the north of Syria." He believes that this was shown through the latest US-Turkish agreement, leaked to the media on April 3. He said, Turkey allowed the Syrian Democratic Forces to advance in northern Syria, provided that they do not advance toward Azaz, Mare and the Syrian opposition strongholds in northern Aleppo countryside."

Hajji Mustafa added, "There is a will to defeat IS by dragging it further into the center and away from the Turkish border."

"The [US-led] coalition intensified its air raids on the IS-controlled areas, which coincided with the Syrian Democratic Forces and FSA factions movements, which indicates that a large-scale battle to expel IS of Syria is imminent," he said.

The latest military movements by the SDF and armed Syrian opposition factions in northern Syria aim to cut off the supply route to IS, which links the eastern and northern Aleppo countryside to Raqqa, and to bottleneck IS militants by cutting off the remaining border passages with Turkey.

Analysts and experts in Syrian affairs believe it is likely for the coming days to witness heated and decisive battles between conflicting parties, changing the balance of power in favor of the forces fighting IS.
April 13, 2016

Palestinians rely on banks and money exchange offices for their financial transactions  but so do Palestinian factions abroad and their members in the territories. Therefore, the Palestinian Authority (PA) sometimes imposes strict policies on the offices, fearing money will reach Hamas-affiliated figures and institutions.

On March 28, Quds Net News Agency quoted what it said were well-informed Palestinian political sources as saying security forces have disrupted large money transfers worth millions of dollars to personal accounts and Palestinian institutions. The money, the sources said, was to fund activities against the PA. The security forces have tightened their auditing of these undisclosed accounts and have been scrutinizing banks to prevent money transfers to anti-PA parties.

These actions are related to the crisis in May, when numerous charities were left without support after Palestinian banks seized the groups' money transfers on the charge that they were affiliated with Hamas.

Mohammad al-Attal, head of the Student Friends Association in the Gaza Strip, told Al-Monitor recently that some banks have been refusing to process money transfers from donors to charities since early 2016."

"As a result, we have accumulated $330,000 in debt, since we were forced to secure this amount to distribute aid to the needy and pay for the operational expenses of the association. When we headed to other banks, they refused to give us the IBAN [International Bank Account Number] due to security instructions they received from the PA, which wants to punish Gaza and its charities for political reasons.

Munir al-Barsh, president of the National Association of Moderation Development, said the group has suffered under the PA procedures. Thirty-one charity associations were no longer able to provide their services as a result of the PAs pressures on banks. Moreover, banks refused to open new accounts for 50 charities and returned hundreds of bank transfers sent from the donors, he told Al-Monitor.

This halted 40,000 aid programs" involving $2 million per month. "The procedures affected 11 schools for orphans and disabled children, including 9,000 students, as well as 20 health centers frequented by half a million patients a year, and it deprived 7,000 university students of financial aid.

The orphans aid program implemented by Human Appeal is one of the most important charity programs for Hamas. The international organization makes monthly transfers to beneficiaries on behalf of sponsors residing abroad, particularly in the Arab Gulf states. In addition to the bank checks disbursed to beneficiaries, Human Appeal also delivers in-kind aid to their homes.

Zayed Shukair, banking operations director at Palestine Islamic Bank, told Al-Monitor, Banks have no problem handing down transfers to any institution producing legal documents. Sometimes, the transfers are directly handed to the beneficiary, which is a more transparent financial process. We do not mind handing down transfers to any association directly if the necessary supporting documents are provided.

These charity organizations are thought by many to be an important financial resource for Hamas. Even if the movement does not directly benefit from them, the charities relieve it from a heavy financial burden by sponsoring tens of thousands of needy families in Gaza. The PA probably imposed restrictions on banks and associations to tighten its noose on Hamas.

A Palestinian security official in Ramallah told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, The PA measures aimed at monitoring the bank accounts of individuals and institutions increased at the beginning of 2016 in a bid to reveal the nature and size of the transfers being made, especially when the transfer amounts to more than $500,000. In such cases, we are entitled to know the identity of both the sender and the recipient. After we monitored several transfers, we learned that these transfers are made by parties hostile to the PA with the aim of causing security unrest in the West Bank.

Omayya Joha, a famous Palestinian cartoonist who often criticizes the PA, told Al-Monitor she was surprised a few months back when her bank account was closed. Joha would not disclose the name of the bank she had been using for five years. She learned her account was closed, like many others, because someone considered her close to Hamas and hostile to the PA. Joha was forced to open a new account.

Ayman Ayesh, director general of nongovernmental organizations in the Interior Ministry in Gaza, told Al-Monitor the ministry has received numerous complaints from Palestinians about the security measures.

This shows the PAs security encroachment upon purely humanitarian issues carried out by charities," Ayesh said. "Meanwhile, banks operating in Gaza have been refusing to accept our signatures insofar as bank accounts are concerned."

The Palestinian security follow-up has not been limited to banks; it has included currency exchange offices scattered across the Palestinian territories. Exchange offices in the West Bank have been repeatedly subjected to Israeli raids for allegedly transferring funds to Hamas militants.

In May, Palestinian security forces arrested journalist Mohamed Awad of Ramallah on charges of smuggling hundreds of thousands of shekels to Hamas through currency exchange offices. Whats more, many Palestinian journalists had their money transfers withheld by the parties they work with.

Raed Hamid, owner of a currency exchange office, told Al-Monitor he has been dealing with international companies to transfer money for years.

At the beginning of 2016, however, we received instructions from the Palestinian security agencies about a blacklist including individuals and institutions to whom financial transfers should not be executed. The list is regularly updated," Hamid said. "For example, the disbursement of a transfer of $2,000 to any given citizen requires the approval of the security services and the identification of its source, even though some of the transfers are destined to the families of martyrs, prisoners and orphans.

Parliament member Mona Mansour, a Hamas representative on the Palestinian Legislative Council, told Al-Monitor that the PAs campaign against some bank accounts has been going on since 2006, following Hamas victory in the legislative elections.

Some banks have even closed our own accounts out of fear of being accused of supporting terrorism, and they forced us, the elected [parliament members], to open new accounts with other banks at the behest of Palestinian security parties, she said.

Banks and currency exchange offices have come to constitute a new front between Hamas and the PA, as the latter continues to tighten the noose on the movement, which is reeling under a severe financial crisis and is trying to manage its affairs in Gaza despite many harsh and unprecedented austerity measures.
April 11, 2016

ALEPPO, Syria  An unprecedented plummet in the Syrian pounds value against foreign currencies is contributing to skyrocketing food prices and compounding Syrians' already-dire economic situation as the war here enters its fifth year.

The pound's exchange rate against the US dollar exceeded 500 in early April. Markets in the Syrian opposition-controlled areas in Aleppo have been plagued with a semi-recession due to the rising prices of food and other commodities, the declining local currency and weak purchasing power. This comes amid a lack of job opportunities and low revenues.

Abu Muhammad is the provider for his seven-member family. Al-Monitor met him in a popular market in the opposition-controlled area in Aleppo city.

I came here to buy some goods for the house," he said. "I have 2,500 Syrian pounds [$5]. Previously, I could buy enough food for two weeks with this amount. Today, with the high prices, the amount is enough to buy food for four days. The prices are skyrocketing and there are few job opportunities because of the war. Should there be any jobs available, the salaries are very low, while prices are on the rise in the market. We only buy necessities.

As their currency's value sinks lower day after day, Syrians have been exchanging pounds for foreign currencies through exchange offices. This is true particularly since the Central Bank in Damascus has failed to deliver on its promise of pumping US dollars into the market. This comes on top of the widening gap between the Syrian pound exchange rate in the banks and on the black market, which can range from 10 to 15 pounds per dollar.

Abdel Kareem Ahmad, owner of a cash store in the Qazi Askar neighborhood, confirmed to Al-Monitor that in recent months the Syrian pound's value has fallen significantly. "In early March, 400 Syrian pounds were equal to $1. After March 15, the Syrian pound started to crumble in an unprecedented manner as a result of the Russian troop withdrawal from Syria, which further raised doubts about an imminent end to the war in Syria. The central bank also stopped pumping dollars into the market, causing 500 Syrian pounds to be equal to $1."

He also noted the flock of affluent citizens and merchants exchanging Syrian pounds for foreign currencies, particularly US dollars or Turkish lira, fearing the pound could collapse further.

No one wants to buy Syrian pounds, and if they had to the amount would be very small. There is no longer trust in the local currency, especially now," he added.

The countrys trade deficit of $3.5 billion, the almost complete lack of imports and exports, and the Islamic State's (IS) control over most of the oil fields have created a dilemma for the Central Bank regarding the pound devaluation problem, given the constant need to pump hard currencies into the market. However, in light of war-related consumption and the trade deficit, the Central Bank has failed to meet that need.

Under normal circumstances in any country, the economic situation depends on the trade balance and stability, as well as the revenues from agriculture, trade, tourism, taxes and customs, which achieve the bulk of the trade balance," said Mohammed Bakour, an economist living in the opposition-controlled Saif al-Dawla neighborhood in Aleppo. "However, with the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, most revenue sources were halted while disbursements increased, which was the cost of the ongoing war, in the regime's view. It is only normal for the local currency to collapse gradually at that point. However, given the support provided to the regime by Iran, Russia and Iraq, among other allies, there had been some sort of balance in the Syrian pound price up to a certain stage.

He added, Among the factors that led to the collapse of the Syrian currency are supply and demand. The regime started to print large quantities of 500 Syrian pound bills, which increased the supply of the Syrian currency. Therefore, the demand decreased, causing the currency collapse, he added.

The changing political and military situations in the country have also contributed to the currency's collapse, he noted, especially "the displacement and migration of millions of Syrians, who stopped dealing with Syrian pounds.

On solutions that can be adopted now, Bakour said, We, the people of the liberated areas ... suggested dealing with hard currencies such as the US dollar or the Turkish lira in major transactions, limiting the Syrian pound to minor ones by canceling bills of 500 Syrian pounds, while keeping the smaller notes, as they have little effect and are not widely traded.

On the possibility of a recovery for the Syrian pound, in light of the regime forces advancements on the ground, Bakour said, The issue is not related to the recent victories by the regime forces in several parts of Syria. The problem is that these victories are accompanied by the population's displacement from those parts, which has disrupted daily life.

"Moreover, factors necessary for an economic revival are not available in areas that the regime seized recently. The natural resources are under IS control, the land crossings are under Syrian armed opposition control, and Aleppo, which is of major importance for the Syrian economy, is becoming empty of the majority of its people, including traders and industrialists, whose factories were transferred to Turkey. The economic life will not be recovered unless the war ends."
April 12, 2016

After a weeklong campaign, the Islamic State (IS) captured Mosul on June 10, 2014, with the help of local supporters. That was the beginning of a new phase in the region. After putting Mosul under its absolute control, IS attacked Sinjar where Yazidi Kurds lived. Thousands of Kurds were killed and thousands were taken prisoner. The town fell under IS control. Shocked by this development, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) moved to liberate Sinjar with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on its side. The PKK, which had shown special attention to Sinjar and the Yazidis for years, finally had the opportunity it was looking for.

The PKK joined the regional Kurdish forces and sent a 500-strong unit from its base in the Qandil Mountains to Sinjar. The PKK leadership announced that it would withdraw forces after liberating Sinjar.

But that is not what happened. After liberating Sinjar from IS, the PKK stayed put. The KRG warned the PKK to leave, but instead the group set up the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), composed of Yazidis, and settled in.

Sources close to the PKK say that the organization has boosted its manpower in the area to 5,000 militants. Although this number could not be verified, it is obvious that the PKK is organizing itself.

At first, nobody grasped what the PKK had in mind and why it decided to stay after Sinjar was liberated. Only after rumors of a Mosul operation began did it become clear why the PKK had stayed. The PKK openly voiced its wish to join the operation to liberate Mosul. Although the KRG opposed the idea, the PKK remained firm.

Both the YBS and the PKKs armed wing, the People's Defense Forces, have announced they had permission from the central government to join the Mosul operation.

Why is an organization based in Turkey, whose main area of interest is Turkey's Kurdish regions, so interested in Mosul, a center of Arab nationalism? Likewise, why does the PKK want a role in the Mosul operation when it is engaged in a new phase of clashes in Turkey?

Erbil-based political analyst Siddik Hasan Sukru says that by creating an area it can control in Mosul, the PKK will be protecting both Sinjar and the Kurdish region in Syria.

[The] capture of Mosul will be a guarantee for Rojava [the Kurdish term for western Kurdistan in Syria] and especially Sinjar. As long as IS is in Mosul, it will be a threat to Sinjar, Rojava and the Jazeera canton. The PKK is preoccupied with the Kurds of Turkey and Rojava, but I dont think their interest in Mosul has anything to do with obtaining legitimacy. This is not their problem. The PKK wants to find its place in the region and become an actor in restructuring of the region. I dont think the PKK will seek its legitimacy from the United States and Europe. It will want it from the Kurds, Sukru told Al-Monitor.

Sukru says although the PKK claims it has the permission of the Iraqi government, it cannot participate in the Mosul operation without the agreement of the United States. The PKK announced it is ready to join the operation with 4,000 guerrillas. But it cant do it without the permission of the United States. Then there is Turkey. Turkish forces brought to Bashiqa are not there to fight IS but to block the PKK and its allies. Without US blessing there will be problems between Turkey and the PKK, he explained.

As the debate continued, the Iraqi army announced last month the start of its Mosul operation. The Iraqi army, along with Kurdish forces, began advancing toward Mosul from Makhmur but then called off the operation after a few days.

The operation is expected to resume any moment but for now it appears to be a local skirmish. The real conflict will be behind the scenes between the Kurds. On the one hand, you have Barzanis KDP, which doesnt want the PKK, and Jalal Talabanis Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which does. Behind it all is the power game over Mosul between regional powers such as Turkey and Iran. If it can get a role in the operations and control some territory, the winner may well be the PKK because it will then be astride an invaluable corridor between the Qandil Mountains and Syria.
April 13, 2016

In the past few years, many Turkey observers have focused on the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which is the base of Kurdish nationalism, as the possible vehicle for a meaningful transformation in Turkish politics. These days, however, the party that holds the key to Turkey's political future is the one that lies at the exact opposite end of the political spectrum: the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which is the base of Turkish nationalism. The ongoing struggle for the leadership of the fourth-largest party in Turkish politics may determine whether President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ambition for total power will come true or not.

The MHP is the party that is least known and noticed by the Western media, for it offers nothing "sexy." It is not interested in minority rights, LGBT freedoms, Islamism or anything that makes sense globally. It rather seems like a very parochial party that supports old-fashioned Turkish nationalism, calls for crushing pro-Kurdish terrorism and adds nothing new. Moreover, its age-old leader Devlet Bahceli, who has been the MHP chairman since 1997, inspires no one.

Yet still there is something that makes the MHP a very important party: It is the only one that can steal votes from Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP). Both parties appeal to right-wing or conservative voters, which for decades have roughly made up some 65% of the Turkish electorate. Meanwhile, the left-wing vote, which again for decades has almost never gone above the 35% barrier, is now shared by the main opposition Republican People's Party and the pro-Kurdish HDP.

What is more newsy is that the MHP is now boiling with the open challenge to Bahceli from three younger, more articulate and more promising politicians: Meral Aksener, Umit Ozdag and Sinan Ogan. Especially Aksener, a female politician who has a successful past in Turkey's center-right politics, seems to be a very promising candidate for lifting up the party.

Aksener launched her campaign in late November 2015, soon after the electoral decline of the MHP earlier that month, for which many blamed the uninspiring leadership of Bahceli. The party "must not be stuck in the past and lose the future," she said. Since then, both she and other opposition currents in the MHP have become more vocal and active, calling for a new MHP that can shake up Turkish politics. Word has it that even some AKP moderates, who are disillusioned by the Erdoganist zeal in their own party, are now hoping to see a way out in a "new MHP."

However, there is a problem for all those who wish to see change. According to its bylaws, the MHP is not scheduled to have its next party congress until March 2018. This means that unless calls for an early congress are recognized, Bahceli will keep his seat for two more years. And the MHP will keep on being the same old, boring, uncharismatic party whose votes barely pass the 10% national threshold.

Now, this scenario is great not only for Bahceli, who apparently fears losing the party's leadership, but also for the AKP and Erdogan, who cherish a weak MHP. It is quite clear that in the next two years Erdogan will want to introduce a whole new constitution tailor-made in his endless pursuit for more power. It is also very probable that Erdogan will call for new elections or referenda to realize his grand ambition. If he needs to trust in God for that, along with keeping his powder dry, as the saying goes, he also needs to keep the MHP feeble.

This is why and how an Erdogan-Bahceli alliance has surfaced recently. First, pro-Erdogan media began praising Bahceli's statesmanship and condemning his inner-party rivals as pawns of nefarious conspiracies. This week, Bahceli also joined the show, and vowed that he would not leave the MHP to "the parallels," the latter-day AKP term for the Gulen movement. His rhetoric on this imagined conspiracy so closely mirrored the Erdoganist narrative that it can be taken as a landmark speech that marked the Erdogan-Bahceli alliance.

Meanwhile, it should also be noted that Erdogan himself has come closer to Bahceli on a very important matter: the Kurdish question. The "peace process" that Erdogan initiated in 2013 with the armed and outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was always condemned by Bahceli as "kneeling before terror." But now the peace process is long gone and Erdogan has taken a much more hawkish stance against the PKK, vowing that terrorists will either surrender or be "neutralized," i.e., killed. That must have been not only music to Bahceli's ears, but also convinced him that this is the time to support the state, which is embodied in the persona of Erdogan.

Yet still, it is unclear whether Bahceli will remain as the leader of the MHP until March 2018. The fact that he fervently avoids competition further tarnishes his reputation. Moreover, the inner-party opposition won a legal victory April 8, forcing Bahceli to an early congress, whereas Bahceli called for an appeal of the ruling. So, for the time being, the legal battle will continue along with the struggle to create a formidable political alternative to the 14-year-old dominance of the AKP.
April 13, 2016

An advance party of some 500 Mercedes-Benz vehicles arrived in Turkey before the arrival of Saudi Arabias King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud. Then the king himself, after a five-day visit to Egypt, landed in Ankara on April 11.

Even by Saudi Arabias extravagant standards, this weeks visit to Turkey by [Salman], seen as a key moment for relations between the two leading Sunni Muslim powers, has set new records for opulence and paranoia. An advance team of 300 Saudi security officials was sent to Ankara to prepare for the kings arrival, The Guardian reported.

When Salman stepped on the tarmac of Ankaras airport Monday afternoon, his host, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was there. This was unusual because according to the strict protocol of the Republic of Turkey, the official welcoming ceremony for a foreign guest of the president should be held at the presidential palace.

Erdogan ignored the rules for his friend Salman. The two developed a personal rapport after Salman took the throne in January 2015, when Erdogan rushed to Riyadh for his inauguration.

Erdogan has increasingly become a proponent of cash-savvy foreign policy, and Saudi Arabia provides the biggest coffers. Yet that consideration is not sufficient to explain the warmth between the two countries since Salmans accession. It probably had more to do with Salmans decision to change his predecessor's policy toward the Muslim Brotherhood, a movement with which the Turkish leadership has much in common.

Erdogans Turkey sponsored any Muslim Brotherhood-led government established in the post-Arab Spring Middle East and North Africa regions. The overthrow of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in 2011 by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi antagonized Erdogan, who identified himself with the post-Hosni Mubarak power configuration in the country. Moreover, Saudi hostility toward the Muslim Brotherhood and apparent involvement in ousting Morsi presented insurmountable obstacles to any sort of rapprochement between Ankara and Riyadh.

God interfered to redress the balance of power in the Sunni end of the region, which has been locked in sectarian strife. The death of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud and his replacement by Salman saw the accession of the Sudairi clan of the royal family to key positions in power and led to a new Saudi policy of reconciliation toward the Muslim Brotherhood. The change removed the biggest obstacle for a possible rapprochement with Turkey.

Since Salmans accession, Ankara-Riyadh relations have developed steadily. In Ankara, the new, increasingly security-obsessed Saudi leadership found the Sunni muscle it lacked against a strengthening Iran. And in Riyadh, Erdogan found both the necessary ally for his financial prospects and the backing of a monarch carrying the title of the custodian of the two holy mosques.

The two leaders are also cooperating closely in Syria to support the Salafi rebels fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Saudi Arabia has emerged as the main source of funding and weapons for the Ankara-backed Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest), a coalition that includes al-Qaedas Syrian branch Jabhat al-Nusra and another main Salafi group, Ahrar al-Sham.

In addition to the pompous reception in Ankara, Salman received Turkey's highest award. The website Diken's headline announced that the medal had been given to a "Saudi despot. The article read, The leader of Saudi Arabia  who has one of the worst records of human rights, is given the state's highest medal by President Erdogan. Erdogan praised the leader of a country that is seen as one of the main culprits of the instability in the Middle East, saying that he is the guarantor of regional peace, security, tranquility and stability."

Erdogan's pampered guest then went to Istanbul to attend the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

It looks almost certain that the Arab monarch is trying to use his imperial background to mediate between the two major Sunni power centers of the region: Egypt and Turkey.

At this juncture, despite Salman's efforts, such a mediation initiative looks like an impossible mission. Istanbul hosts the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated Egyptian parliament in exile, the disbanding of which is more or less essential for any improvement between Cairo and Ankara. Erdogan seems adamant that he will not take any steps backward to satisfy Sisi.

Another low-profile but problematic matter is Turkeys (or Erdogans) strong interest in the Gaza Strip. Turkey and Israel have improved their relations, reconciling over Israel's 2010 raid on the Mavi Marmara flotilla. The Gaza issue remains the main obstacle. Ankara is insistent that Israel should give Turkey access to Gaza by lifting the blockade.

Extending Turkish influence over Gaza is essential for Erdogan, who wants to resurrect his diminished image in the Muslim world and with Sunni Arabs. However, Erdogans interest in Gaza is a touchier subject with Egypt than with Israel. Egypt has always been considered an essential interlocutor when it comes to Gaza. For Israel, maintaining the balance with Egypt and not alienating it, for obvious geopolitical reasons, is as important as improving relations with Turkey.

But even if the Saudi mission to mediate between Egypt and Turkey doesn't bear fruit, there is another strong tie between Salman and Erdogan: US President Barack Obama.

Though Obama was once a staunch ally, his name now has a sour taste for both Muslim leaders. Erdogan had a fairly unhappy encounter with the American president recently. And as CBS News' "60 Minutes" reported April 10, In 10 days, President Obama will visit Saudi Arabia at a time of deep mistrust between the two allies, and lingering doubts about the Saudi commitment to fighting violent Islamic extremism.

The visit comes, CBS reports, when the White House and intelligence officials are reviewing whether to declassify one of the most sensitive documents on the possible existence of a Saudi support network for the 9/11 hijackers while they were in the United States.

Reza Zarrab, the most important figure in the embezzlement probe that rocked Erdogan's rule in 2013-14, was arrested March 19 in Miami and awaits trial in New York. That situation is expected to have a huge impact on Turkey's political agenda.

All things considered, there are more than enough reasons for Salman and Erdogan to stick together.
April 12, 2016

WASHINGTON  The United States expressed deep concern that a possible Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian army operation against al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra militants near Aleppo could escalate hostilities with rebels and unravel the fragile 6-week-old cease-fire just as new Syria peace talks are set to resume in Geneva April 13. The warnings came amid increasing violence threatening to unravel the partial cease-fire and as diplomats said that the Syrian regime was increasingly blocking humanitarian aid deliveries.

We are very, very concerned about the recent increase in violence, and that includes actions we believe are in contravention to the cessation of hostilities, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told journalists at a press briefing April 11.

The cessation of hostilities has not been perfect, but it has brought about a substantial decrease in the level of violence, Toner said. And to have it go off track right before the next round of proximity talks, we feel  could potentially harm the success of those talks, and we need to see real progress.

US and Russian officials have intensified discussions about the increasing fragility of the cease-fire, including in a phone call between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov April 10. Among the concerns are that some of the rebel groups who have signed on to the cease-fire operate close to Jabhat al-Nusra near Aleppo.

Russian officials have told the Americans that they are committed to sustaining the cessation of hostilities. Indeed, after Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was cited telling a visiting delegation of Russian lawmakers April 9 that a Russian-backed Syrian army operation was soon to get underway to liberate Aleppo, the Russians told the Americans dont listen to him, hes irrational, a Syrian opposition contact in touch with US officials working on Syria told Al-Monitor.

Notably, after the US expressed concern about how a major operation against Jabhat al-Nusra near Aleppo could affect the cease-fire ahead of new talks, Russia did not provide air support to Iranian special forces involved in intense clashes against Jabhat al-Nusra in Al-Eis, near Aleppo, on April 11-12, an Iranian and a British journalist near Aleppo said.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura traveled to Damascus April 11 and to Iran April 12 for consultations on resuming the Syria peace talks, which he stressed should focus this round on sensitive political transition and governance issues. His consultations come also as Western diplomats say there has been a deterioration in Syrian cooperation to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and zero progress in the release of detainees in Syrian prisons, as well as no progress in a political transition.

What we discussed was how the future intra-Syrian talks  can be effective, de Mistura said after meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Tehran April 12. We agreed that what is very important is that cessation of hostilities continues, that humanitarian aid reaches every Syrian,  [and] that a political process leading to a political transition is now crucially urgent. And I think it is very important for me to consult Iranian authorities because they do have an influence.

US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, after a video briefing to the UN Security Council by de Mistura from Tehran, implored those countries that have influence with the Syrian regime to use it now.

Those who can influence the regime, now is the time, Power said.

On Syria, we are pretty much at a crossroads, a European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor. There is fragile momentum. The cessation of hostilities is really fragile. It can unravel.

We need to see if we are in position to convince the Russians to help us engineer a credible transition in Syria, the European diplomat continued. They have a big influence on that.  The Russians may be tempted to do some kind of fake shuffling. Take three or four opposition guys  and put them in the government.  Keep [Bashar al-] Assad there  a kind of fake transition.

We have to convince them to move, the diplomat warned. To stop the chaos in the region, we need some transition.  If Assad keeps control of the army, security services, forget about transition.  If you organize constitution reform, elections with Bashar still in control of security, I dont think it will work. There would be a problem of credibility. The opposition will walk away. I think the Russians know that. But they want to know the Plan B.

Sustainable governance  needs to be prepared in advance, the diplomat said. If we lose the current momentum, if we dont soon enter a credible political transition, the situation on the ground will unravel, and fighting will resume.

The Syrian opposition High Negotiating Committee (HNC) has told the United States that the cessation of hostilities is breaking down, humanitarian aid is not being delivered, no detainees have been released and there has been no real movement on a political transition, Bassam Barabandi, a former Syrian diplomat who advises the HNC, told Al-Monitor April 12.

According to Barabandi, the HNC told US officials, If all three items are not working well and there are not tangible results from the political negotiations, then we cannot survive, our people will reject us.

We will not be able to go forward. The regime is not serious for any of these four items.

Barabandi said the HNC also told the United States that during the cessation of hostilities, the Free Syrian Army was able to fight the Islamic State in north Aleppo, and they won, liberating 27 villages. So if you do not keep the COH [cessation of hostilities] working, you will be empowering all the extremists, the Syrian army, everybody will attack, to collapse the negotiations.

He added, The Americans are telling us that they understand all these points, they feel it and they are working with the Russians in order to give the cessation of hostilities and bring back the situation as it used to be two or three weeks ago, when there was a huge reduction in killing. So they try to bring it back to the way it used to be.
As the spring semesters are winding down all over the state, many college students are gearing up for summer school. Summer school is a great way to get ahead or catch up on academics, but very often, students who want to attend summer school are stuck with very expensive options for lodging. With a little creativity though, lodging for the summer can be cheap and sometimes even free. Some of the best options are listed below.

Move away from campus and get a roommate

Many students make the mistake of subleasing costly apartments during the summer months of June and July since dormitories and university-operated apartments are often closed during those months. Currently, a one-bedroom apartment in Alabama is averaging $703 per month. That's far too much for someone who is going to spend most of his or her time at school or at work. A better option would be to get a three-bedroom apartment with a couple of roommates for $996 per month. That simple decision saves $371 each month.

Live with parents and take transient classes

Students also make the error of thinking they must take all of their classes at the university in which they are enrolled. Instead, that's far from the truth. A student can take a wide range of preapproved courses at any accredited college or community college in the same state as his or her enrolled university.

With that in mind, students should considering living with their parents for the summer and taking classes near their parents' home. This is not a perfect option though. First, a student's parents may live in the middle of nowhere or out of state, which makes this option completely unattractive. Second, a student who has a job will have to pause employment until he or she returns for the fall semester.

Become friends with a mentor who has free living space

This option is the best of the three options as it is free and does not cause lost wages. In order to get free lodging, one is going to have to get out of his or her comfort zone and become close friends with a mentor. While it may not seem like a likely option, it gets implemented in more ways than we realize.

For example, a fledgling college student might obtain free lodging as a result of close ties with a professor who needs a pet-sitter or a house-sitter during the summer. A student might also get free lodging from an elderly person who simply wants some company. The options here are endless.

The most important thing to remember in all this is to always think proactively. All students need to practice this quality immensely prior to graduation, and there's no better time to practice than during the summer.

Ben Baxter is a Tuscaloosa dweller, a Dothan native, an experienced engineer, and a regular contributor for personal finance and career development topics.
The National Baptist Congress held an announcement at Birmingham City Hall on Tuesday: it's bringing its annual meeting in June to the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex and Sheraton Birmingham Hotel.

More than 5,000 people are expected to attend the 110th annual Christian education session June 12-17, said National Baptist Congress President and CEO T.B. Boyd III. Last year's meeting in Atlanta drew more than 10,000 people, Boyd said.

They'll fill up hotels and bring business to downtown restaurants, Mayor William Bell said. "It's a great honor for the city to host the National Baptist Congress," Bell said. "It's an economic development opportunity. More important, it's a spiritual uplifting."

But there are several national church groups that call themselves National Baptists. Which one is this?

It definitely has a long history, associated with leadership by one family, the Boyds of Nashville, who have continued to produce Sunday school educational materials for use by churches affiliated with several National Baptist denominations.

"We are in various conventions," said Boyd, whose "great-great-grandad" R.H. Boyd founded the R. H. Boyd Publishing Corporation 120 years ago. "We all teach about the same Christ."

Baptist historian Bill Leonard has noted that the first Baptist church started in Holland in 1609 - and split in 1612. ''Controversy is built into the system,'' Leonard said.

Roger Williams began America's first Baptist church in 1639 in Providence, Rhode Island.

The predominantly white Southern Baptist Convention, now the largest U.S. Protestant denomination, was organized on May 10, 1845, in Augusta, Ga., after a dispute with northern Baptists over whether slaveowners could be sent as missionaries. The northern group became the American Baptist Convention.

After slavery, black Baptists began their own denominations.

In 1880, about 150 Baptist pastors met in Montgomery and formed the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention. That merged with other groups to form what is now the National Baptist Convention USA, which is the largest black Baptist denomination with an estimated 7.5 million members.

A split in 1915 involved ownership and operation of the publishing board. The publishing board was a successful, profitable agency led by R.H. Boyd.

Those who supported Boyd and his view that the publishing board was independent formed the National Baptist Convention of America. But later that denomination also created its own publishing board, so the Boyds began calling their organization the National Baptist Congress.

LaDonna Y. Boyd, chief operating officer of R.H. Boyd Publishing and daughter of the president, continues the Boyd family's 120-year-old administration of one of the most revered and durable black-owned corporations in America.

It's both a denomination, with about 1,000 affiliated churches, and a publishing board.

"We have had a lot of difference of opinions," Boyd said. "Nobody's mad at each other. We just keep worshipping and praying for one another."

The Rev. Michael Wesley, pastor of Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Birmingham, is the host pastor of the National Baptist Congress. "I saw a unique opportunity to feature our city," he said.

But his church is affiliated with the National Baptist Convention USA.

"Most of us are National Baptist Convention USA," Wesley said. "It's still the kingdom of God."

Wesley attended last year's event in Atlanta and was impressed with the work the National Baptist Congress does with youth. "I don't think we can get enough Christian education," Wesley said. "It does focus a lot on youth. Most conventions are aimed at adults."

The National Baptist Congress will feature an opening day parade through downtown led by youth, called a March for Jesus.

"It's quite a fanfare," said LaDonna Y. Boyd, chief operating officer of R.H. Boyd Publishing and daughter of T.B. Boyd III.

During the week, youth undergo drill training and do a performance on Friday night at the conclusion of the convention. "We'll have a thousand kids, dressed in uniform, Christian soldiers," T.B. Boyd III said. "They are incredible. You just have to see it."
An Etowah County jury Tuesday found a Gadsden man guilty of first degree sodomy and sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years of age in a 2011 case.

Judge David Kimberley set sentencing for May 18 in the case of Dale Emmett Ramsey, 68. Ramsey was arrested after a December 2011 incident involving two eight-year-old girls.

According to District Attorney Jody Willoughby, the girls told their parents that Ramsey offered them money if they would let him "play in their panties." One of the children fled, but not before seeing Ramsey put his hands inside the other child's pants. According to the victim, Ramsey touched and kissed the child on her private areas, Willoughby said.

The case was investigated by the Etowah County Sheriff's Office and the James M. Barrie Center for Children, as well as the Etowah County Department of Human Resources.

Willoughby said the verdict came the same day as the Barrie Center's annual Pinwheel ceremony, meant to focus attention on child victims of physical and sexual abuse.

"We are fortunate to have outstanding agencies here working to protect the children of Etowah County, and a judicial system that also works very hard to see that justice is done," he said.

"It is never easy for a child to have to take the witness stand and tell a roomful of strangers about the scariest thing that has ever happened to them," said Deputy District Attorney Carol Griffith. "It is also difficult for jurors to have to hear that testimony, and make this type of decision. We are very grateful for their willingness to participate in this process," she stated.

Ramsey faces a minimum sentence of 20 years imprisonment up to a possible 99 years or life imprisonment on the sodomy charge, and a sentence of 10 to 20 years on the sexual abuse. Sentences involving victims under 12 years of age are not eligible for any type of early release under Alabama law.
The runoffs for the Democratic and Republican primary runoffs in Jefferson County had several close races Tuesday, with only 17 votes separating the two candidates in a school board race.

With 98.3 percent of the vote counted, it was too close to call on a few races. Provisional ballots, those where voters' eligibility were in question, won't be counted until later.

Jefferson County Board of Education Place 1

Seventeen votes separated the two candidates in the Republican Primary runoff race for Jefferson County Board of Education Place 1.

Donna Pike had 1,209 votes, or 50.35 percent and Ronnie Dixon had 1,192 votes, or 49.65 percent.

Circuit Judge Place 26 Democratic Primary

Deputy Jefferson County District Attorney Michael Streety won the Democratic Primary runoff Tuesday for Circuit Judge Place 26.

Streety got 4,005 votes, or 53.38 percent, and Birmingham attorney Everett Wess got 3,498 votes, or 46.62 percent.

Streety is a senior trial attorney for the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office since 2004. Prior to that, he was a probation/parole officer for the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles for two years, and a Jefferson County Sheriff's deputy from 1996 to 2002.

Streety is a graduate of the Birmingham School of Law, attended Alabama A&M University and graduated from Miles College.

Streety faces former circuit judge Gloria Bahakel, who was unopposed in the Republican primary, in the November general election.

The winner in the general election Place 26 race will fill the judgeship being vacated by retiring Criminal Circuit Judge Tommy Nail.

Circuit Court Place 11 Democratic Primary

In the race for the Democratic Primary for Circuit Court Place 11, Brendette Brown Green won the runoff with 3,854 votes, or 51.64 percent. Her opponent Linda Hall had 3,609 votes, or 48.36 percent.

Green is a municipal court judge in Birmingham, and has been a special circuit judge for Jefferson County Family Court, senior trial referee in family court and managing attorney for May Green & Associates.

Green has a bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama and a law degree from Miles Law School.

Green will face Circuit Judge Pat Thetford, a Republican, in the November general primary. Thetford, who was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Judge Houston Brown, did not face a Republican Primary challenger.

Circuit Judge Place 25 Democratic Primary

Reginald Jeter won the Democratic Primary runoff race Tuesday night for Circuit Judge Place 25 in the Bessemer Cutoff.

Jeter got 2,673 votes, or 72.64 percent, and opponent Roderick "Rod" Evans got 1,007 votes or 27.36 percent.

Jeter serves as trial attorney for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company where he specializes in commercial insurance defense litigation. Prior to that, he was a Partner at Haskell Slaughter Young & Rediker, LLC. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority, as well as, the Hoover Chamber of Commerce. He also previously worked for Alagasco prior to receiving his law degree. He also was a law clerk in the Bessemer District Attorney's Office.

Jeter received his law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law. He has a bachelor's degree in Business Management from Samford University and a Master in Business Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Jeter now faces the winner of the Republican Primary, attorney John Tindle in the November general election to decide who will replace Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff Circuit Judge Gene Verin, who is retiring.

Jefferson County Treasurer

In the race for treasurer of Jefferson County, Mike Miles was leading former state representative Eric Major by 133 votes.

Miles had 5,681 votes, or 50.59 percent and Major had 5,548 votes, or 49.41 percent.

Provisional ballots are not included in the runoff vote totals and won't be counted until later. Provisional ballots are those ballots cast when a voter's eligibility is questioned.
Carlos Whatley arrest April 13, 2016

Carlos Whatley, 34, was taken into custody shortly after an April 11, 2016, robbery at Wells Fargo, located at 2921 26th Street North. (Birmingham Police Department)

A suspect in a Monday holdup at a Birmingham bank has been charged with first-degree theft of property.

Carlos Whatley, 34, was taken into custody shortly after the robbery at Wells Fargo, located at 2921 26th Street North. He is being held on a $20,000 bond.

Authorities said a black male entered the bank, handed the teller a note demanding money and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash. Birmingham police officers were given a description of his vehicle, which they spotted and chased to the 1100 block of Alabama Avenue.

Investigators determined that the suspect, later identified as Whatley, was not armed. His vehicle was towed as part of the investigation.

Court records show that Whatley was charged with robbery and theft of property in 2000. He pleaded guilty in 2001 and began a 22-year prison sentence.

He was paroled in May 2012.
Pernambuco State, Brazil  At around 1:30am on a Saturday morning, 26-year-old Jaqueline Vieira de Souza bundled her four-month-old son, Daniel, into the car. They drove from her working-class neighbourhood on the outskirts of the city of Olinda to the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) office in Recife, roughly 40 minutes away at that time of the morning.

The office was opening specifically to process disability pension applications for babies, like Daniel, who have microcephaly.

Ten hours later, Vieira de Souza was exhausted. I need to put my head down. I went to bed around midnight and managed to sleep about half an hour, she said.

The area around Recife, the capital of Pernambuco State, has been the epicentre of the microcephaly epidemic. It seems linked to the Zika virus, but this has not yet been confirmed.

As of April 2, Brazils Ministry of Health has reported 6,906 suspected cases of microcephaly since 2015. Of these nearly 27 percent came from Pernambuco, which is located in the impoverished northeastern region of Brazil that accounts for nearly 80 percent of the countrys microcephaly cases.

Zika and microcephaly have grabbed international headlines, but they are also highlighting some of the faultlines in Brazilian society around gender, race and class.

Some of the biggest issues underlying the epidemic reflect the inequality within the country.

Low-income communities frequently have no sewage systems or a regular water supply, conditions that facilitate mosquito breeding. Questions related to the countrys prohibition on abortion procedures and a lack of sex education have also bubbled up in relation to the crisis.

Continuous struggle

You dont know what the limitations are going to be, and that really makes you anxious, Vieira de Souza said, remembering when, during her pregnancy, she learned that Daniel wasnt developing normally.

A two-time cancer survivor and a single mother of two, Vieira de Souza is no stranger to challenges.

In November, she registered with the INSS for an appointment for Daniel. Four months later, thanks to this day focused on mothers with microcephalic babies, the paperwork is done.

But the long wait for the appointment and the pressure needed to convince the government to open its offices, illustrate some of the day-to-day struggles facing women in a region coping with dengue, chikungunya, and Zika.

For about a month, Vieira de Souza has been participating in a support group through AMAR, the Alliance for Rare Mothers and Families. The group helps mothers of children with rare diseases and special needs, but it also presses for policy changes. It was the groups open letter that helped convince the INSS to open offices across northern Brazil on Saturday.

Along with the Recife INSS office, those in Fortaleza, Salvador and Sao Luis de Maranhao opened as well.

In 30 days Vieira de Souza will learn whether her son will receive a pension of 880 reals (roughly $250) that the government provides to people with disabilities.

Its resolved, but its not going to come through because of my income. I receive an illness pension because I had cancer and support my [older] son. When the paper comes, Ill go to court. Its [Daniels] right, she said.

Since separating from her partner, Vieira de Souza has spent all of her income on rent. She has fed her children thanks to donations, including some from AMAR.

According to Silvia Camurca, a community educator with the womens rights organisation SOS Corpo, this situation is typical of what happens with many low-income women when faced with a family health crisis.

In Brazil, the majority of the people who work for themselves with no social protection are women. If youve got Zika, and you dont work for three days, you wont have the money to buy groceries at the end of the week, Camurca said.

Although the Pernambuco State Health Department said no analysis had been done to determine the demographics of those with Zika, Dr Adriana Scavuzzi of Recifes pediatric teaching hospital, IMIP, said that almost 99 percent of the microcephaly cases come from people who use Brazils public health system.

This suggests that they are low-income and lack the money to pay for a private health insurance plan.

Systemic failures?

While financial issues pose one obstacle for mothers like Vieira de Souza, abandonment presents another. Roughly 40 percent of AMARs 400 members, some 69 of whom have babies with microcephaly, have been abandoned by their partners, says Debora Rorato, vice president of the organisation.

Rorato argues that the microcephaly phenomenon has simply exposed existing failures in Brazils system for dealing with disabilities and rare diseases.

[Mothers] dont have a creche. This is a right that the government has denied. And when we talk about disabled children, theres a whole generation here. Where are the special schools? Where are the therapy centres? They dont exist, Rorato said.

Gender bias

For Andreia Vieira da Silva, a community representative for Coelhos, one of Recifes poorest neighborhoods, the reason behind these shortcomings may lie in gender bias. The government is very machista. Even if Brazil has a woman president.

For Vieira da Silva this machismo plays out in lack of access to reproductive health education.

Its not clear yet if microcephaly is linked to mosquitoes or not, but even so, I dont see a massive effort to educate people here in the community [about reproductive health], Vieira da Silva said.

In early March, Amnesty International charged Latin American countries with endangering womens lives with their reproductive health policies. Their report argues that policy decisions prioritise religious doctrine and stereotypes instead of women and girls real needs.

In Brazil, abortion is illegal except in cases of rape or risk to the mothers life.

If my life had been at risk, if it had been an issue of death, I would have wanted to [terminate], Vieira de Souza told Al Jazeera, stressing that she was happy that her son came to term.

Many womens advocates support legalising abortion to allow women to choose whether they wish to keep or terminate the pregnancy.

But, said Camurca: We cant take on the issue of abortion just to avoid a generation of disabled people.

Camurca believes that society needs to include the full range of able and disabled people.

If there are people who cant be productive for companies, they also need to be included, and they can contribute with other kinds of meaning in life.

Read more: Zika virus facts you need to know
She died in front of my office door. Her head just slumped back in her wheelchair. She was 24 years old.

Freetown, Sierra Leone  When 20-year-old Memunatu Kamara fell pregnant, she wasnt sure what to do. She knew she wanted to concentrate on her education, but abortion is illegal in Sierra Leone.

So she went to see a traditional practitioner who she believed would help her end the pregnancy.

She was instructed to drink a sour green concoction.

Shortly afterwards, the bleeding began.

I was so scared and was afraid to tell anyone, she remembers. I felt so so sick  so bad.

When her older sister found her crawling around on the floor bleeding and in unbearable pain, she took her straight to hospital. They arrived just in time and a safe post-abortion procedure was performed.

WATCH: Nigerias Fake Doctors

Kamara was one of the lucky ones. Many other women and girls who visit traditional practitioners for what are commonly called backstreet abortions, arent so fortunate.

Unsafe abortion is a major issue in Sierra Leone  one that accounts for an estimated 10 percent of maternal deaths in public hospitals, says Janie Benson, the vice president of research and evaluation at IPAS, a global organisation working to end preventable deaths and disabilities as a result of unsafe abortions.

Many more women are unable to seek care in health facilities and die in their communities or suffer short or long-term morbidity, she continues.

Kamaras boyfriend of several months had refused to wear a condom, and she hadnt known about the birth control pill, but many others end up pregnant as a result of rape.

Anne Marie-Caulkner was raped when she was 16. When she discovered she was pregnant, she found a nurse who gave her an injection that was supposed to help her abort the foetus.

It affected me for a whole month, she says, describing the pain. I thought I was going to die. There was so much blood, and this baby was in me  dead. I wanted to die.



That was decades ago and Caulkner says she still faces irregular periods which she believes are a side effect of the abortion.

Sexual violence against women

During the recent Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone, sexual violence against women and girls increased as, for example, girls were kept out of school or those who had lost parents became more vulnerable to abuse. This led to a resulting increase in teenage pregnancies.

Arlene Omo-Liska is an activist for womens rights who works for IPAS in Sierra Leones capital, Freetown.

She says some women and girls try to conduct abortions themselves  sometimes by inserting the straightened top of a coat hanger into their cervix.

Or sometimes they will stand from a high point and fall to put pressure on the foetus, she explains. Or they will lie on the floor and invite someone to jump on their stomach because that pressure can cause the foetus to go. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt, and then they tell them [to] jump harder.

She says young women are dying as a result of unsafe abortions and safe services need to be introduced in order to avoid such deaths.

The countrys president, Ernest Bai Koroma, came close to signing off an abortion bill last December. It would have allowed pregnancies to be terminated under any circumstances up to 12 weeks gestation and up to 24 weeks in cases of incest, rape, foetal impairment and when the womans health is at risk.

The bill passed through Sierra Leones parliament, but religious leaders raised objections. After further discussion in parliament, the bill was presented to the president in March but was once again rejected.

Martha Chigozie, a reverend with the Inter-Religious Council in Sierra Leone, does not want to see the bill passed, believing abortion to be unethical.

You dont know whats going to happen [to that life], she says. And for those conceived in a negative way, like rape, they still can become somebody. You are destroying a life; you dont know who that person will become.

Chigozie says that instead of legalising abortion, the government should introduce stricter punishments for rape. The countrys Sexual Offences Act currently prescribes five to 15-year prison sentences for rape. But Chigozie thinks that increasing those terms might lead to a decrease in rape cases.

The reverend would also like to see a greater emphasis placed on educating the young about safe sex.

She died in front of my office door. Her head just slumped back in her wheelchair. She was 24 years old. by Dr Rowland Taylor

Sheikh Abu Bakarr Conteh is the president of the Inter-Religious Council. He believes the proposed bill fails to adequately consider the rights of a womans sexual partner, particularly when that woman is married. He would like to see a woman get the consent of her family before having an abortion in order to maintain peace.

She died in front of my office door



Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with 1,360 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2015.

According to the World Health Organization and the nonprofit Guttmacher Institute, nearly half of abortions worldwide are unsafe, and about 98 percent happen in the developing world.

The United Nations and African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) has asked Sierra Leone to respect its obligations under international and regional human rights law by ensuring access to sexual and reproductive health and rights for women, including maternal healthcare and access to all methods of contraception.

The ACHPR has also launched a campaign asking those African countries that havent already done so to decriminalise abortion.

Dr Rowland Taylor is an obstetrician gynaecologist at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital, in Freetown.

He says that, on average, two women a week come in to see him with complications resulting from an unsafe abortion.

Treating post-abortion complications can be expensive, he says, particularly in the most severe cases.

In contrast, he says, safe abortions using manual vacuum aspiration can be a relatively simple procedure once somebody is trained in the method.

One of the main side effects women experience after an unsafe abortion is bleeding. Parts of the foetus are often left in the uterus. Sometimes, Taylor says, he has to open the abdominal cavity due to infection and some complications can even lead to infertility.

It is, he stresses, a public health issue that has nothing to do with religion or ethics.

He recalls one nursing student who came in after an unsafe abortion.

She was bleeding from her vagina and the blood was black, the doctor recalls.

Thats the first time Ive ever seen someone bleeding with the blood black. She died in front of my office door. Her head just slumped back in her wheelchair. She was 24 years old.
Ex-serviceman who built communications infrastructure for US drone programme in Afghanistan speaks out against it.

Cian Westmoreland was 18 years old when he enlisted in the US Air Force.

Now 28, the former serviceman served with the 606 Air Control Squadron in Germany and the 73rd Expeditionary Air Control Squadron in Kandahar, Afghanistan, as an Air Force Technician.

He built the communications infrastructure for the US militarys drone programme in Afghanistan, which, according to a 2015 report by The Intercept led to the deaths of hundreds of civilians.

In 2010, after four years in the military, he left the Air Force and joined other whistle-blowers speaking out about US drone policy. The group of technicians and operators wrote an open letter to US President Barack Obama.

Here, he tells his story in his own words:

My first day deployed in Kandahar was really strange. I walked from my tent to the little box that was my office and my boss was in there smiling. He turned to us and said: Were killing bad guys now, boys.

I had this big lump in my throat and an uneasy stomach. When I read the Bible, I learned that were not supposed to kill people, but here I was, building the infrastructure for people to do just that.

I built a data-relay system. I also did guard shift, where I saw kids begging for water and we werent allowed to give it to them.

One day, I realised that if I didnt load the encryption each day, nothing would happen. Aircraft wouldnt be able to use this system to implement the drone programme.

They told us in the military: No bombs without coms.

All you hear is voices telling you what to do

Theres no physical danger from the enemy and thats what makes the job so tough.

If youre in danger, if someone is pointing a gun at you, you can justify  in your own mind  shooting someone.

But if youre sitting in Kandahar, youre confronted with a screen where you watch people day in, day out  you might even start to realise theyre not bad people.

Some people start to feel a connection to the people theyre pursuing and start to understand their humanity. That can be traumatising, and you have no one to talk to.

When youre in the drone programme, youre isolated  operators, analysts, leaders all work separately. All you hear is voices telling you what to do.

Youre exposed to just a limited amount of the spectrum.

People like me, who speak out about the programme, feel weve been exposed to something we see as questionable. When you dont hit survival mode  that instantaneous fight or flight mode  you wont override your critical facilities, which can leave you with a huge moral dilemma and no one to talk to.

Civilians died

Quite a few civilians died because of what I was working on.

Whether youre a drone operator or a technician, youre still involved. When you look at the Nazi concentration camps, you had paper pushers everywhere who moved people through the lines. They didnt know what was going to happen, but, like now, there are a lot people of who are responsible for civilian deaths who are totally unaware of their role.

READ MORE: A decade of drones

Right now in the United States we have a military that is not accountable to the public. Thousands of people are in the Joint Special Operations Command, a force accountable only to the president.

The military is out of control. The compartmentalisation of knowledge means that by 2030 the majority of people hired could be technical support or maintenance. Whos responsible then?

A schizophrenic way to live

In the drone programme you usually do 10 to 12-hour shifts.

Its a schizophrenic way to live. You have to go home after a mission like everything is normal.

When someone plays video games for a long time they look drained and gaunt, imagine that when theres real repercussions. It has a huge impact on people mentally.

Also the public image of the programme is so awful that you have guys trying to explain to their kids that theyre not monsters.

When you think about soldiers being deployed and whats involved in that, well, drone operators are redeployed on a daily basis. Im speaking for both technicians and operators here, especially the ones that work in the US. They are in combat situations every day with limited support and work long shifts.

I had nightmares about killing children

It hit me when I was in Kandahar airbase, on one side you have a McDonalds and down the road theres kids begging for water.

Those people lived an austere life, and were sitting there from the comfort of the joystick, resolved in the idea that were killing bad guys.

Maybe theyre not bad guys. Maybe we just need fewer bombs and more communication between cultures.

When I got back from deployment I had quite a number of unresolved mental issues.

WATCH: Drone  Inside the CIAs Secret Drone War

The nightmares encompassed everything I didnt understand. I had nightmares about bombing villages, about being bombed, about killing children and trying to save them.

I was emotionally detached from loved ones and had a battle with alcoholism.

And thats just one part  theres also an insidious part  the moral injury side of things, where the more you learn, the worse it gets. Youre trying to figure out what you did, why you did it and whats going on in that country.

Thats what brings you to a real point of hopelessness.

Backlash

Obviously, the military dont like people speaking out.

When I first went public in 2015, I spoke out with two people who were featured in the movie Drone, and another guy who was speaking out for the first time. Initially our bank accounts were frozen. Our lawyers posted it on Twitter, it got retweeted a lot, and then they opened them again.

I think the military is cautious about coming after us when were collaborating with other groups, lawyers and activists

However, they are trying to mitigate interactions between us and people still in the programme. Im going to assume by now that they have communicated with everyone we know and everyone in the programme, telling them not to speak to us.

Right now 12 people from the programme have been in touch and are active in speaking out about their experiences in the programme. That number could grow and thats worrying for them.

If you break the security clearance, if you speak to a journalist or an organisation or leak documents, they send you to jail for espionage. But we signed up to give back to our country and thats why we had to speak out.
As the only female member of the countrys human rights commission, Ansari fights for Nepals most marginalised.

Kathmandu, Nepal  In November 2014, Mohna Ansari received a telephone call from the office of Nepals prime minister. They asked her to join the Nepal Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the government body tasked with safeguarding human rights.

The lawyer from a lower middle-class Muslim family in the southern city of Nepalgunj says she couldnt quite believe it.

I never believed that I would get this. In my family, nobody is in politics, Ansari, now a commissioner at the NHRC, explains.

Her position is the highest held by a Muslim woman in Nepals modern history.

Hard work paid off, says the 39-year-old softly as she sits in a hotel lobby in the capital, Kathmandu.

Her rise has also been seen as a reflection of the change that has been taking place in Nepal since the monarchy was abolished in 2006  after a decade of Maoist rebellion.

As the only woman in the five-member commission, which has tackled issues such as security force excesses and gender discrimination, Ansari says: Its very difficult to operate.



Speaking out and facing criticism

Ansari is active on social media, where she often challenges Nepals entrenched political class over their commitment to addressing the issues facing ordinary Nepalese  from womens and indigenous rights to the plight of the Madhesis and delays in post-earthquake reconstruction.

I was the first to oppose the deployment of the army to deal with Madhesi agitation. I was the first to speak publicly against that, she says, referring to recent protests by members of the ethnic group that forms more than a third of the countrys population but feels economically and politically underrepresented.

I faced a lot of criticism, she continues. People phoned me; a senior journalist wrote an article against me.

Still, she says, other newspapers supported her stand. But she has had to deal with more than just the media.



Last week, the office of Prime Minister KP Oli summoned the NHRC chairman and four other members of the commission after Ansari addressed the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in mid-March, raising the issue of the force used against Madhesi protesters.

At least 50 people, mostly Madhesis, had been killed since last September, when protests erupted in the countrys Tarai region against Nepals new constitution, which the Madhesis say does not address their historic underrepresentation.

But rights groups and activists have backed Ansari.

Fighting violence against women

Ansari is not new to working with the government. Before joining the NHRC, she was a commissioner at the National Women Commission (NWC) for four years  her first major government assignment.

She was invited to join the NWC in 2010, while working on a UN Development Programme (UNDP) project.

This was the first time a Muslim [woman] was appointed at such a high level, she says.

We are proud of her, says Urmila Devi Vishvakarma, who worked with Ansari at the NWC for nearly two years.

After the Maoist rebellion ended in 2006, Nepals democratic space was opened up as those who had been marginalised, such as women and indigenous groups, began to demand their rights.

I raised a lot of issues, especially violence against women, and advocated for a gender bill to end discriminatory practices, Ansari explains.

Sheikh Chand Tara, a former chairwoman of the NWC, praises Ansari for her professional acumen: Since she came from an NGO background, she was organised and her experience in international law and womens rights helped her in the new job.

Becoming Nepals first female Muslim law graduate

But the journey to where she is now hasnt been easy, and the odds have long been stacked against her.

Her familys sole source of income was her fathers carpentry shop. However, Ansari explains that her parents are illiterate, so they wanted their kids to be educated and to have careers in different sectors.

In Nepal, Muslim parents generally dont want to send their kids to formal education at secular institutions, Ansari explains. However, she went to a co-ed government school.

Still, she wasnt given the same opportunities as her brothers as her family, like so many others in this nation of 27 million people, believed that sons will look after [the family], while daughters will go.

My brothers went to [English medium] boarding school, and I went to government school, Ansari says. But I am happy they sent me to school where I got my education  not only Islamic, but also a modern education.

But financial issues plagued her college education and she was forced to drop out after her first year. She returned three years later upon getting a scholarship.

Later, I enrolled in a bachelors degree [programme] in law from Mahendra Multiple College  the only government college in Nepalgunj  and passed in 2003, she explains.

During her studies, she supported herself by teaching in schools and working as a private tutor. She also found time to write articles about issues affecting women and children for local newspapers.

Ansari became the first in her family to graduate and the first woman law graduate from the Muslim community, which forms just under five percent of the countrys population and is typically poor with low levels of education.

But in a small town like Nepalgunj, her legal career struggled to take off. Most of her clients were poor, vulnerable women.

But, she explains, It was [too] difficult to begin my career in Kathmandu with my background.

My family supported me all along, she says, describing how she went on to work for leading global NGOs.



I never compromise

Her work has not gone unnoticed. In 2012, she was honoured by the president with the Suprabal Jana Sewa Shree award, a presidential medal for public service. That same year, she received the Nava Devi Award, which recognises Nepals female role models and achievers.

She has become a source of pride for many in the Muslim community.

She is doing a good job and is a role model for many others in the community, says Athar Hussain Faruqi, a local Maoist leader from Nepalgunj.

Ansari has travelled across Nepal, hearing from women and marginalised communities.



WATCH 101 EAST: Nepals slave girls

I never imagined that a person from my background would go on to work in policy-level work representing all women, she says.

And, she believes, the Muslim community is slowly  coming up.

The new constitutional amendments give them a ray of hope, she says, referring to a clause in the constitution that ensures a job quota for Muslims.

Ansari also supports the decision to reserve 33 percent of government jobs for women, and hopes that Muslim women  who are at the bottom of social and education indicators  will also benefit from this.

WATCH: Fighting to end child marriage in Nepal

Ansari will certainly be fighting to make sure they do.

I am a little provocative, she says. I never compromise on issues, and I believe in justice.

Then, by way of a goodbye, she adds: I receive a lot of threats, but I dont care.
When the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) holds its highest-level meeting this week, there will sadly be no shortage of serious challenges to discuss. Indeed, the unusually tight security we can expect around the summit in Istanbul  a city that has been the victim of recent terrorist outrages  itself underlines the severe threat to stability and safety of member states and their citizens.

There were, of course, plenty of problems to address when the OIC heads of state last convened in Cairo three years ago. The summit expressed its deep concern over the continuing tragedy of Palestine, the threat posed by violent extremism and the rise of Islamophobia. But today, the horizon seems even darker.





We are no nearer to the two-state solution, which is the only way to address the hopes and rights of the Palestinian people.

Hopes that all-out civil war in Syria could be avoided have been dashed as the country has plunged into chaos and barbarity and millions have been forced to flee their homes.

Violence in Syria

The violence in Syria has also helped fuel terrorism, which is a growing threat around the world. Pakistan, Turkey, Nigeria, Iraq, Belgium, France, Egypt, Ivory Coast, and Afghanistan are just some of the countries to have already felt its deadly impact this year.

The security situation in Afghanistan is again worsening. And far from a better understanding of the decent values of Islam, there is growing fear and suspicion.

ALSO READ: Kazakhstan FM  overcoming extremism is a priority

It is why the Istanbul summit on Thursday, attended, among others, by Kazakhstans President Nursultan Nazarbayev, is so important.

No country, no matter how powerful, can hope to tackle these problems on its own. by

No country, no matter how powerful, can hope to tackle these problems on its own. Only by increased cooperation and promoting dialogue both within the Ummah and beyond can we make progress.

Unfortunately, a lack of trust between states, including some Islamic countries, is preventing the world from focusing its combined energy and effort on resolving the current challenges.

It is not all bleak news: The agreement over Irans nuclear programme  which Kazakhstan helped to broker by hosting two round of talks  was a historic breakthrough and shows what can be achieved with patience and determination.

It is now crucial that no time is wasted in dismantling the sanctions regime. Irans re-entry into the global economy is a boost to the entire region.

The general ceasefire in Syria, agreed upon with the involvement of Russia and the US, and ISILs forced retreat, are also the first tentative signs of a way out of Syrias catastrophe.

The Islamic and international community urgently need to work together to capitalise on these positive steps. Humanitarian aid to the Syrian people and those countries that are shouldering the highest burden of the refugee crisis must be stepped up.

Twisted ideologies

Increased cooperation  from sharing intelligence to educating our young people  is also the only way to successfully tackle terrorism and root out the twisted ideologies on which it feeds.

I am sure we will again see a strong message from Istanbul that such attacks are against true Islamic values and a pledge to redouble our efforts to root out this cancer together.

But increased economic cooperation is also important to help create jobs and prosperity across the Islamic community. This will deny the extremists the despair they need to recruit our young people.

Hunger is also a powerful recruiter for the extremists. The new Islamic Organisation for Food Security, set up at our initiative and based in our capital, Astana, can play an important role in preventing food shortages across the Islamic world. It is exactly the kind of cooperation we need to see across a wide range of areas within the OIC and beyond.

ALSO READ: Syrias chaos casts a deep shadow over our future

We need to work harder as well to foster understanding and respect between different faiths and cultures. It is something upon which Kazakhstan  which prides itself on having forged a tolerant society of people from many different backgrounds  places huge importance.

It is why we host the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, which has become an increasingly important platform to promote dialogue. We need to stress much more strongly that what unites the great faiths, including the shared decent values which underpin them, is far greater than anything that divides them.

At a practical level, as well, this unity can help counter the threat and appeal of violent extremism. We are hosting a major international conference next month to bring religious and political leaders together to agree upon new steps to stop faith from being hijacked by criminals.

Nuclear weapons

There is an urgent need, as well, to prevent terrorists from getting their hands on nuclear weapons, which we know they are actively seeking and will not hesitate to use. We need increased cooperation on nuclear security but also bold steps to prevent the spread of these weapons. I hope the OIC will throw its full weight behind the creation of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East.

What is troubling is that rather than new efforts to bring our world together, we are seeing old divisions  including within the Islamic community  revived and widened. These divisions risk severely damaging all our hopes of peace and progress.

Kazakhstan, since its earliest days as an independent nation, has worked tirelessly to foster dialogue and cooperation. We hope that if we are successful in gaining a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for 2017 and 2018, we can bring new impetus to the search for agreed peaceful solutions to the worlds challenges.

They are certainly needed. Our world is facing very difficult times. But through increased cooperation and by resisting those who try to divide us, we can build a better future for all our citizens. I am confident that the Islamic summit in Istanbul will be another important milestone in this journey.

Erlan Idrissov is the Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
The programme shows ominous signs of becoming a vehicle for suppressing free speech and dissent in the public domain.

I was heartened to see the vote at the British National Union of Teachers conference at Easter for the withdrawal of the Prevent programme in schools.

I recently chaired a meeting of Waltham Forest Faith Communities Forum and was told of yet another example of Islamophobic graffiti on the outside of one of our mosques.

Here in Walthamstow, where I am a vicar, we have excellent relationships between our diverse religious communities, and it is painful to us when any of our faith buildings are subject to hate crime.

We stand together in solidarity when any of our communities are under attack. That is why I spoke recently at a local meeting to register my opposition to the governments Prevent strategy.

Mass opposition

Opposition to Prevent has grown since it became a statutory duty of the public sector in February 2015.

Several hundred professors and academics have signed statements expressing concern; opposition includes the National Union of Students, the National Union of Teachers, the University and College Union, the Muslim Council of Britain, and other Muslim and anti-racist organisations.

Most important of all is the growing opposition within the Muslim community itself.

The majority of Muslims in my community see Prevent as placing their families under suspicion. Nothing could be more damaging or divisive.

This is not a misapprehension on their part. The Prevent narrative, despite disclaimers, implies that every Muslim has the potential to be a violent extremist and that our mosque communities are potential seedbeds for radicalisation.

In my own borough the Waltham Forest Council of Mosques (WFCOM) has declared a boycott of Prevent and issued a strong statement, condemning Prevent as racist.

Safeguarding procedures and legal provisions exist for the protection of our youth, and the evidence is that Prevent is not only counterproductive but also serves to alienate those with whom we need to engage if we are to protect them. by

This follows the racial profiling of Muslim primary schoolchildren under the BRIT project, which had the effect of stigmatising nine-year-old Muslim children as prone to violent extremism.

This has been compounded by press coverage of young people referred under the provisions of Prevent for expressing perfectly legitimate political or religious views. Some parents in my own community now warn their children not to discuss current affairs and political issues in class.

Suspect communities

The WFCOM statement and the opposition to Prevent in the Muslim community should be treated seriously. Long gone are the days when we should be claiming to know better than the victims of racism as to what does or does not constitute prejudice and discrimination; nor should we take cover behind unrepresentative think-tanks that are themselves part of a Prevent industry.

Community resentment towards Prevent must also be seen in a wider context. Muslims in my community are subject to Islamophobia from the media and on the streets.

A local family was refused permission to fly to the United States on a visit to Disneyland with no explanation.

We regularly see headlines equating Muslims with terror, child abuse and extremism. We are witnessing a rise in Islamophobia and hate-crime, particularly against Muslim women.

OPINION: UK counterterrorism strategy just does not prevent

In 2015, the Metropolitan Police recorded a 70 percent increase in Islamophobic hate crime in London, the figure being at 270 percent in some boroughs such as Waltham Forest.

Prevent cannot claim to be unjustly connected to these developments. It rests upon a barely concealed narrative of a suspect community.

It shares this narrative with more open expressions of Islamophobia in the media and political circles in Britain, Europe and North America.

Much of this narrative echoes the demonisation levelled against Jews a century ago. It is a narrative of suspicion and hostility that extends not only to Muslims but to refugees and migrants seeking safety from war and economic deprivation.

Mass hysteria

Prevent has gained support or acquiescence from many genuine professionals who are rightly concerned with safeguarding our young people.

Many are horrified by open Islamophobia, let alone hate crimes, and would not hesitate to confront it.

But this is precisely where Prevent is so damaging and divisive. All of us want to see action to prevent young people absconding to Syria or being drawn into violence.

However, safeguarding procedures and legal provisions exist for the protection of our youth, and the evidence is that Prevent is not only counterproductive but also serves to alienate those with whom we need to engage if we are to protect them.

OPINION: Britains counterterror strategy just got worse

More recently, Prevent shows ominous signs of becoming a vehicle for suppressing free speech and dissent in the public domain.

Meetings held on campuses to campaign against Islamophobia or Prevent are asked to provide a neutral chairman or an opposing view on the platform.

If this were to be applied to climate change or Black History Month meetings on Malcolm X or establishment political speakers, there would be uproar.

But Muslim now equates with extremist and such demands point to an Islamophobic culture that is taking a perturbing currency.

The attempt to suppress dissent has also extended to demonising opponents of Prevent in sections of the press  often laced with racialised slurs of the worst type.

Muslim organisations such as Muslim Engagement and Development, CAGE, and Prevent Watch have suffered media hysteria. This hysteria has also extended to the National Union of Students and the National Union of Teachers  both organisations have taken admirably principled positions on the issue.

This raises serious concerns for democratic debate, especially when the British governments counter-extremism bill is seeking to remove the distinction between extremism and violent extremism.

Prevent has been branded by authoritative establishment figures as toxic and counterproductive. It has sown division and suspicion and has helped to fuel prejudice against the most disadvantaged and discriminated.

It has become a vehicle for undermining the very principle of free expression and criticism. It gives rise to Islamophobia in communities such as Walthamstow. We should demand its repeal before any more damage is done.

Reverend Steven Saxby, is the Canon of St Barnabas Church, Walthamstow, London, and Chairman of Walthamstow Faith Communities Forum.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
The regime is using the peace process as a diversionary tactic, buoyed by recent battlefield gains such as Palmyra.

On April 10, United Nations Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura arrived in Damascus for meetings with regime officials in the run-up to the resumption of peace talks in Geneva on April 13. That very day, Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi said regime troops were preparing a major offensive to retake Syrias largest city Aleppo.

This represents a clear rejection of De Misturas call for the cessation of hostilities to be maintained, and is yet another indication of the regimes disdain for a negotiated settlement to the Syrian conflict.

It is unsurprising that Damascus would want to scupper the latest round of talks, because the focus is supposed to be a political transition that it has repeatedly rejected.

Not really a ceasefire

It has become a hallmark of the regime to do and say inflammatory things prior to and during diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict, so it can be seen to participate in them while ensuring they do not progress.

Just days after the first round of talks in Vienna late last year, Syrias Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said: We are not at all talking about what is called a transitional period. There is no alternative to [Assads] leadership.

In February this year, the president vowed to retake all of Syria amid efforts by his ally Russia and Western powers to secure the current cessation of hostilities, leading to a rebuke from Moscow.

In addition, Damascus entered last months Geneva talks reiterating that Bashar al-Assads fate  the biggest, most persistent obstacle to a negotiated solution to the conflict  is a red line that it will not discuss.

The fact that the Geneva talks are going ahead despite all this should not be cause for optimism, but a sign of the determination to continue the facade of a peace process. by

The regime has repeatedly violated the cessation of hostilities, with the opposition saying on Sunday that it is close to collapse following the renewed use of barrel bombs.

Dozens of them were reported on Monday to have been dropped on civilian areas of Aleppo, only two days before peace talks began on Wednesday.

One of the main aims of the cessation of hostilities was to allow humanitarian aid to besieged areas. However, the UN and NGOs have said the regime is blocking access, delaying convoys, removing medical equipment and forbidding evacuations, violating international law and worsening the humanitarian crisis.

On March 31, Jan Egeland  the UN-appointed chairman of a task force on humanitarian aid  said Damascus had become less responsive to requests for aid convoys than it was immediately after world powers agreed on the cessation of hostilities in early February.

The previous day, senior UN official Stephen OBrien described the situation in regime-besieged areas  mere minutes drive away from UN warehouses in Damascus  as dreadful.

OPINION: Syrian Civil War  US should not arm the rebels

In one of those areas, Daraya  besieged for more than three years  women last week wrote an open letter warning that they were on the verge of witnessing their children and relatives starve to death if aid does not reach them soon.

In one incident last month, three children in regime-besieged Madaya bled to death because they could not be evacuated for medical treatment after a bomb explosion.

Diversion tactics

These are not the actions and statements of a party that is willing to negotiate in good faith. On the contrary, the regime is using the peace process as a diversionary tactic, buoyed by recent battlefield gains such as Palmyra thanks to Russias direct military intervention, an increase in Iranian forces, and foreign militias such as Hezbollah.

However, it is precisely the regimes reliance on foreign forces that makes its self-confidence so misplaced, because it is unable to take or keep hold of territory without them, and their presence in Syria will not be indefinite.

OPINION: The intentions of Syrian Kurds with self-administration

Indeed, Russia has partially withdrawn its forces, with many observers ascribing this, at least partly, to frustration with the regimes belligerence at the negotiating table. Furthermore, the day after Halqis statement about the regimes upcoming Aleppo offensive, Russia denied claims that it planned to storm the city.

Perhaps Assad has forgotten his admission last summer that his army is suffering from manpower shortages. He should also be mindful of reports of increasing disaffection within his own Alawite community, including once-unthinkable street protests, and the release this month of a document by Alawite leaders distancing themselves from his regime, a move some described as deeply unusual.

The fact that the Geneva talks are going ahead despite all this should not be cause for optimism, but a sign of the determination to continue the facade of a peace process.

And all this is happening while the regime tries to ensure that the focus is diverted away from the core issues of the conflict  a transition of power and Assads fate  to security and terrorism, meaning any opposition to the regime.

And why not, when such diversionary tactics have worked for neighbouring Israel, at the Palestinians expense, for almost a quarter of a century? All process and no peace is a tried and tested formula.

Sharif Nashashibi is an award-winning journalist and analyst on Arab affairs.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Lobby group says UN has not disclosed full number of sexual abuse claims against troops in Central African Republic.

The United Nations is withholding more than 40 new cases of sexual violence by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR) in direct contravention of its promise to disclose all information to the public, an NGO has said.

AIDS-Free World, the US-based NGO, said on Wednesday that it received information that the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) had documented 41 additional cases of sexual violence by peacekeepers in the country.

The NGO, which is running the Code Blue campaign to end impunity for sexual exploitation and abuse, said that a cable leaked to them showed that MINUSCA had informed UN headquarters on April 7 that an integrated team sent to the town of Dekoa from March 25-April 4 interviewed 59 women and girls and found 41 new cases had never been previously reported.

These exercises in evasion, after the cable had been received, are deeply disappointing. Its clear that the culture of suppression of information is still alive and well at UN headquarters, the statement released on Wednesday read.

Meticulous as possible

The UN immediately denied the charge and said that it was suppressing no information.

I dont think were withholding information [] weve been trying to keep reporters, the public and officials, including Troop Contributing Countries, up to date, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general, said during a midday briefing in New York on Wednesday.

I think, with allegations of sexual abuse that we take extremely seriously, one also has to be very  as meticulous as possible in handling numbers, in handling and interviewing victims, and its exactly what we are doing, Dujarric said.

AIDS Free World reserved special criticism for Jane Holl Lute, the special coordinator on improving UN response to sexual exploitation and abuse, accusing her of failing to live up to her mandate.

Its quite a commentary on the way in which the UN works when the coordinator becomes the lead dissembler, the NGO said.

On visit to #CARcrisis, Jane Holl Lute discusses @UNPeacekeeping response to sexual exploitation & abuse https://t.co/jKANGfihdf  UNIC Washington (@unicdc) April 11, 2016

The UN has been in the spotlight after dozens of allegations of child rape and other sexual abuses by its peacekeepers, especially those based in CAR.

In March, it said that it learned of 108 new sexual abuse cases in CAR.

AIDS Free World said the leak showed that the UN is clearly unable to handle sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping operations. There is no plan, and there is absolutely no leadership.

On Monday, Paula Donovan, co-director of AIDS Free World, said the UN was not in a position to investigate claims of sexual abuse committed by its own peacekeepers.

Donovan said the onus was now on member states to create an independent and impartial body made up of prosecutors and judges to monitor and rule on these crimes.
The Progressive Party leader says his partys 47 politicians will support impeachment of the president.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has lost another coalition partner before an upcoming parliamentary vote on her possible removal.

The right-wing Progressive Party (PP) announced late on Tuesday that it was leaving the government.

Ciro Nogueira, the leader of PP, said the partys 47 politicians would support Rousseffs removal from office in a parliamentary vote planned for Sunday.

The lower house of parliament is scheduled to vote on whether to start the process of having Rousseff removed from office, for which a two-thirds majority vote is required.

If the vote passes this hurdle, the motion passes on to the upper house, or Senate, for approval.

The Brazilian Republican Party, which also left Rousseffs coalition, has said its 22 members of parliament would also vote against the president, who is a member of the leftist Workers Party.

In March, Rousseff lost her largest coalition partner, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party.

READ MORE: Brazilian President labels Vice President coup plotter

On Tuesday, Rousseff branded her vice president a traitor and said he was a conspirator in a coup using impeachment proceedings to bring down a popularly elected government.

If there were any doubts about my denunciation that a coup is under way, there cant be now. The coup plotters have a leader and a deputy leader, she said in a blistering attack in the capital Brasilia on Tuesday.

Referring to the leak on Monday of a recording in which her vice president, Michel Temer, practises the speech he would make if Rousseff were impeached, the president said: The mask of the conspirators has fallen.

We are living in strange and worrying times, times of a coup and pretending and treachery, she said. Yesterday they used the pretence of a leak to give the order for the conspiracy.

Rousseff is accused of hiding the extent of the budget deficit during her re-election campaign at the end of 2014.

The political pressure is being exerted against the background of a corruption scandal at the semi-public Brazilian fuel multinational Petrobras, at which Rousseff worked as chair of the supervisory board between 2003 and 2010.
Pressure from Beijing played a part in the deportation of nearly four dozen Taiwanese from Nairobi, legal experts say.

The deportation of nearly four dozen Taiwanese from Kenya to China, where they are being investigated over wire fraud allegations, is focusing new attention on Beijings willingness to assert its sovereignty claim over Taiwan, and the leverage it wields over smaller nations in backing that position.

A Chinese spokesman said on Wednesday that under Chinese law, Beijing has jurisdiction in the case of the 45 Taiwanese because the victims of the crimes they are suspected of committing were Chinese.

They are part of a larger group of 117 Taiwanese and mainland Chinese detained by Kenya on suspicion of trying to swindle money from Chinese victims using electronic communications.

Legal experts said Chinese law is not quite so explicit and the cases handling appears to be based mainly on the one-China principle that insists Taiwan be viewed as part of China  and Taiwanese as Chinese for legal purposes.

I think the Chinese are taking a hard approach to these matters, Joseph Cheng, a scholar of Chinese politics formerly at the City University of Hong Kong, said.

They are saying we can play hard ball, and in places like Kenya we have a lot of influence. Cheng added.

As a major investor in Africa, China has used its influence with several of the continents governments to further its own aims.

South Africa has barred the Dalai Lama, a nemesis of Beijing, while Zambia has used force to suppress anti-management protests against Chinese-run copper mines.

Kenya is a particularly close ally and its government may have been more than willing to comply with Chinese demands that the Taiwanese be turned over to Beijing.

Along with massive investment in Kenyan infrastructure and businesses, China has chosen the capital, Nairobi, as the African hub for state broadcaster CCTVs African operations.
Seventy-year old woman latest to die as protesters face off with police for a second day in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Indian authorities have imposed a curfew in parts of Kashmir to stop fresh demonstrations following the killings of four people by Indian troops.

The latest death occurred on Wednesday when a man was hit on his head by a tear gas shell fired by security forces in the northern village of Drugmulla in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said.

He was part of hundreds of rock-throwing protesters who clashed with government forces for a second day as authorities enforced a curfew in Srinagar, Handwara, and neighbouring villages.

We imposed restrictions in the old town of Srinagar and in Handwara to prevent violence, director general of police, K Rajendra, told the AFP news agency.

A resident from Handwara told Al Jazeera that clashes continued throughout the day even though shops and schools were closed and streets deserted because of a security lockdown.

A nurse at the local hospital in the government sub-district hospital in Langate told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity that about 20 people had been brought in for treatment for tear gas and gunshot wounds.

Mehbooba Mufti, who recently took over as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, said the killings would have a negative impact on her governments peace efforts in the region.

Police said a 70-year-old woman, who was hit by gunfire and was among a dozen injured during clashes between residents and government forces on Tuesday, died in hospital on Wednesday. Two others also died from army gunfire.

The protest and clashes in the northern town of Handwara erupted on Tuesday following an allegation by residents that an Indian army soldier had tried to sexually assault a teenage schoolgirl.

The police said preliminary reports indicated there was no such incident of molestation and that it may have been an attempt by locals to create trouble.

Rage in Kashmir over killing of youths by Indian army

Indian military, police and government officials, wary of the killings escalating the conflict in the volatile region, ordered investigations.

The incident will be investigated and anybody found guilty will be severely dealt with, Indian army commander General D S Hooda said in a statement.

Rights groups, however, say such investigations rarely yield any concrete results and are often aimed at calming public anger.

Police Inspector General Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani said the soldiers fired at protesters when they tried to torch their bunker.

Shortly after the womans burial, clashes broke out as villagers defied the curfew and hurled rocks at government forces, who responded by firing tear gas.

She was working in her orchard 4km away from the protest site. The soldiers came and shot her. Its a plain murder, said villager Ghulam Mohammed Shah.

Later on Wednesday, hundreds joined the funeral of two young men and shouted Go India, go back and We want freedom.

Meanwhile, the separatist groups challenging Indias sovereignty over Kashmir called for a general strike on Thursday and anti-India protests on Friday.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep among the population of Kashmir, and human rights groups have long accused the Indian military of using rape and sexual molestation to intimidate the local population.

Kashmir has been split between Indian and Pakistani control since the British colonialists left in 1947, but is claimed in full by both countries.

Hundreds of thousands of Indian troops are deployed in the region, making it one of the worlds most militarised zones. They enjoy immunity from prosecution in civilian courts unless specifically permitted by New Delhi.
Former Argentine president testifies about alleged irregularities at the central bank that occurred under her watch.

Argentinas former president Cristina Fernandez has accused the government of political persecution after testifying in court about alleged irregularities at the central bank that occurred under her watch.

In a defiant speech outside the federal court in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, Fernandez addressed tens of thousands of supporters who showed up in the rain to cheer her on, beating drums and singing: If they touch Cristina, were gonna create chaos.

They can call me to testify 20 more times. They can imprison me. But they will not be able to silence me, she said.

Fernandez, who was constitutionally barred last year from running for a third consecutive presidential term, is a divisive figure, revered by many for generous welfare programmes and reviled by others for economic policies such as nationalising businesses and currency controls.

She was called to testify on Wednesday about charges against the central bank for selling US dollar futures at below-market rates during her presidency, costing the government billions of dollars.

The 63-year-old former president said the banks actions were legitimate and the case against her was an abuse of judicial power.

Fernandez attacked President Mauricio Macri, who has implemented a string of unpopular austerity policies since taking power last December, such as a steep currency devaluation and cuts in gas, power and transportation subsidies.

I never saw so many calamities in 120 days, she said in an impassioned speech broadcast live on Argentine television.

READ MORE: Panama Papers  Argentinas Macri has nothing to hide

Macri says these measures are necessary to reduce the ballooning fiscal deficit and attract the investment needed to reboot Latin Americas third-largest economy.

One Fernandez supporter at the rally, Gustavo Sanchez, a teacher from the northern Buenos Aires suburb of Tigre, said her presidency marked some of Argentinas best years and he lamented the change in government.

Students come to school poorly fed because their parents cant afford good food with the cost of water and gas rising, he said. Some Fernandez backers at the rally came together on buses from hours away, tangling with central Buenos Aires traffic.

In a separate case, last weekend a prosecutor accused Fernandez of money laundering. Under Argentine law, a judge still needs to decide whether to accept the charge and open an investigation.

Opposition politicians including Fernandez accuse the government of pursuing charges against her to distract Argentines from the difficult economic situation and from Macris links with offshore companies revealed by the Panama Papers leak.

Macri campaigned partly on a promise to root out endemic corruption in Argentina and has vowed to provide investigators into his finances with whatever information is necessary.
Analysis: Despite offering to lead militarily a NATO coalition in Libya, Italy hopes there will be no need for it.

In the first visit of a foreign official to the United Nations-backed unity government that took office last week, the Italian Foreign Minister, Paolo Gentiloni, said his country was ready to play its part in Libya and cooperate with Tripoli on security and immigration.

The international community should match the braveness of the Libyan government and come forward to support it, said Gentiloni, referring to the sensational arrival of Libyan Prime Minister, Fayed al-Sarraj, who sailed into Tripoli defying threats by the opposing factions.





Gentiloni arrived on a C130 cargo plane loaded with tonnes of much-needed food supplies and medical supplies that the Libyan Presidential Council will be in charge of distributing to hospitals in Tripoli and Benghazi.

As the unity government seeks to consolidate its authority in Tripoli, Rome watches with a mix of hope and apprehension the political developments in its troubled Arab neighbour.

Sarraj has been rallying support at a faster pace than anyone would have expected, outpacing the predictions of some sceptics who had bet on his immediate failure and a military intervention as the inevitable way to fix the Libyan chaos.

In Italy, political analysts and strategists are hoping that Romes cautious approach, a strategy that prioritises diplomacy over direct intervention, would soon bear fruit. Diplomats have been working silently while the government shunned all political and public debate in an attempt to dribble the most controversial issue of all: What would Italy do about Libya if diplomacy failed?

READ MORE: How serious is the ISIL threat in Libya?

The few statements on the issue are the result of a blunder by the US ambassador in Rome, John Phillips, who last month suggested that Italy may send 5,000 troops to Libya in aid to its NATO allies against the Islamic State.

A united Libya is in Italy's interest. However, if a national unity project is difficult to envisage at this stage, much more so is the fragmentation in multiple regions, whose leaders are motivated only by opportunistic reasons. by Roberto Aliboni, senior analyst

On the same day, Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, had to come out publicly on the issue: As long as I am prime minister, Italy will not go to Libya for an invasion with 5,000 men, was Renzis irritated response.

If there is a need to intervene, Italy will not back down, he added, but clarified that his administration would not take the initiative uninvited by the legitimate Libyan unity government.

In the middle of the parliamentary storm following the statements of the US ambassador, Gentiloni reassured that another condition for Italy to intervene would be the go-ahead from the Italian parliament.

If talks about a possible deployment of troops had taken place behind the scenes, the government was obviously not ready to address them publicly.

So far Italys position on Libya has been very prudent. While offering to take the lead of a possible NATO mission, Rome has pushed for a diplomatic solution under the umbrella of the United Nations.

Italian diplomacy has repeatedly called on allies to limit intervention until the unity government requests international help and has offered Sarraj much needed medical aid and food.

However, with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) consolidating its stronghold in Sirte, a stones throw from Italys shores, and migrants arriving in the thousands on almost a daily basis, it is not clear how Rome will be able to wait for the Sarraj government to stabilise Libya, before being forced to take a more proactive role.

When asked to comment on a possible deployment of troops and the ensuing scenario, Minister of Defence Roberta Pinotti told Al Jazeera she was not interested in talking about the issue.

OPINION: Libyas litmus test with ISIL

In the meantime, Paolo Scaroni, a former chief executive of Italys national oil company ENI, that has huge interests in Libya, made headlines last week with a controversial statement.

A stable Libya is a dream that will never come true, he said. For months, maybe years we have been hearing the same refrain, that we can intervene only if asked by a legitimate government. This solid government is nowhere to be seen, he told an Italian daily, adding that Libya should become Italys national priority.

According to Scaroni, instead of focusing on recomposing the Libyan puzzle, the international community should build a strong government in Tripoli to begin with, or support the creation of regional governments that might later federate. But insisting on imposing an artificial unity against the will of the people is senseless, he said.

Roberto Aliboni, a senior analyst at the Institute of International Affairs, says political analysts and politicians in Italy dont share Scaronis views.

A united Libya is in Italys interest. However, if a national unity project is difficult to envisage at this stage, much more so is the fragmentation in multiple regions, whose leaders are motivated only by opportunistic reasons, he said.





While Rome hopes that Sarraj would bring about the national unity that the international community is counting on, the US, French and British allies have been intervening with or without Italys cue.

Leaked news reports say that the three countries have special forces on the ground, are conducting surveillance flights, gathering intelligence and hitting ISIL targets.

Italy has only recently authorised the use of its Sigonella airbase to conduct air strikes against ISIL outposts in Libya and Italian dailies have been reporting the possible deployment of Italian Special Forces prompting a denial by official sources.

Analysis: Will the West intervene in Libya?

What is clear is that despite its offer to lead militarily a NATO coalition in Libya, Italy hopes that there will be no need for it. According to Leonardo Tricarico, a former air force chief of staff, a military intervention in the current circumstances doesnt make sense.

The military option simply doesnt exist. Neither I believe is someone seriously working at it, said Tricarico, who chairs the Intelligence Culture and Strategic Analysis Foundation. What is most likely is that the coalition may think about a sort of peace enforcement operation, but this should take place only if sanctioned by the legitimate Libyan government.

The difficulty of intervening in Libya lies in the lack of what Tricarico describes as recognisable targets, due to a web of transversal affiliations and alliances of local political actors, foreign players and the factions involved in the conflict.

The situation is too fluid and mutable on the ground. If the coalition intervenes indiscriminately, the situation might get worse, he said.

The use of force cannot bring about a permanent solution if there is no concerted effort to cut the supply routes, whether financial or political, from outside Libya, Tricarico explained.

Meanwhile, with ISIL taking control of more and more territory along the Libyan shores and a political settlement still uncertain, the clock is clicking against Italys cautious approach.

Italys historic ties with Libya, its economic interests and the huge influx of refugees beg for a serious political discussion that the government is unwilling to undertake, at least in the public sphere.

Amid scandals which have led to the resignation of the Minister for Economic Development last week and repeated calls for the Minister of Reforms to leave office, Prime Minister Renzi struggles to keep his government afloat.

A public and parliamentary debate about Italys intervention in Libya would be very controversial and may diminish consensus, a challenge Renzi wont face until it becomes an inevitable and absolute necessity.
Security services searched and evacuated the building before sealing off the entrance with red wax.

Jordanian security services have closed the Amman headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the countrys main opposition force, a security source and lawyer for the movement said.

Jordanian security searched the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and evacuated it before sealing off the entrance with red wax, lawyer Abdelkader al-Khatib told AFP news agency on Wednesday.

This is clearly a political decision in line with what is happening in the region, he said.

A security source told AFP the movements headquarters was closed on the order of the governor of the [Jordanian] capital as the Brotherhood did not obtain legal authorisation for its activities.

READ MORE: UK releases report on Muslim Brotherhood

The Jordanian authorities view the Brotherhood as an illegal organisation because its licence was not renewed in accordance with a political parties law adopted in 2014.

The Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was formed in Egypt in 1928 and has affiliates across the region, has wide grassroots support in the kingdom.

Tolerated for decades in Jordan, the Brotherhood has had tense relations with the authorities since the Arab Spring uprisings that shook the region in 2011.

In Egypt it has been blacklisted as a terrorist group.

Politically motivated

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Amman, Badi al-Rafaia, spokesperson for the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, called the governments decision illegal, an act of martial law, and politically motivated.

Ammans governor, who is an official of the Jordanian interior ministry, has no legal jurisdiction to close down the offices of his group, he said.

If they had legal issues that questioned the existence of our organisation, they should have moved the matter through the courts and legal channels.

Hossam al-Abdallat, a Jordanian opposition leader and former chief of staff to current Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, told Al Jazeera from Amman the governments decision was unjustified and illegal.

The government intends to repeat the Egyptian regimes crackdown on the Egyptian Brotherhood organisation, and if the government insists on doing that it will end up having catastrophic political, economic, and social consequences on the country, Abdallat said.

He added the Jordanian government sees the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat because it is the only real opposition group in the country. Throughout its 70-year history in Jordan, the Brotherhood has always been an ally of the regime and is peaceful, said Abdallat.

The intervention of the security services has the sole purpose of influencing the upcoming elections and results, Khatib said.

Jordan is expected to hold legislative elections by early next year. The Brotherhood boycotted previous elections in 2013 and 2010.

The movement accuses the authorities of trying to exploit divisions within the organisation.

Last year the government authorised the formation of a breakaway group known as the Muslim Brotherhood Association.
Ramallah, Occupied West Bank  Palestinian rights groups, parliamentarians and party officials have launched a global campaign to nominate Marwan Barghouti  a prominent Fatah leader serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison  for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The campaign, kick-started at the now-defunct Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah on Tuesday, is aimed at drawing attention to the plight of Barghouti, also a parliamentarian, as well as approximately 7,000 Palestinians incarcerated by Israel, according to Fadwa Barghouti, the Fatah officials wife.

This nomination is important because it says that the Palestinian people have a legitimate right to free themselves from the Israeli occupation, said Fadwa Barghouti, who recently returned from Tunis, where its parliament announced its support for nominating the imprisoned leader for the prize.

Israel calls Barghouti and the rest of the prisoners terrorists; this nomination says otherwise, she added.

The campaign, supported by the Palestinian Prisoners Club, a Ramallah-based rights group, and the Palestine Liberation Organizations Commission for Prisoners Affairs, is also backed by Adolfo Perez Esquivel, an Argentine human rights activist, who was the recipient of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize.

Outside parliament, dozens stood carrying Palestinian flags, and posters showing Marwan raising his shackled hands in a gesture of defiance.

Regardless of whether Marwan wins the prize or not, the crux of the matter is the political, legal and symbolic importance of this nomination, said Issa Qaraqe, head of the PLO Commission for Prisoners Affairs.

Israeli occupation

Marwan Barghouti was arrested in 2002  during the second Intifada  and was later convicted by an Israeli court on five counts of murder.

Given the support and widespread respect he enjoys among Palestinians and the various parties, Barghouti has been named a possible successor to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.

Barghouti had previously been imprisoned in 1978 for more than four years for being a member of Fatah  something Israel considered a crime back then.

Fluent in Hebrew and politically active during his student years at Birzeit University, he became a leading member of the partys young guard. He was deported to Jordan during the first Intifada, only to return when the Oslo peace accords were signed between Israel and the PLO.

Barghouti was elected to parliament in 1996, but he came to prominence during the second Intifada, which began in 2000, when he gave fiery speeches about resisting the Israeli occupation, and led marches to military checkpoints. Israel accused him of being a founder of Fatahs al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which he denied, and imprisoned him accordingly.

In a few days, Marwan will have spent his 15th year in an Israeli prison, said Azzam al-Ahmad, who heads Fatahs parliamentary bloc at the PLC.

Israel will try to fight this nomination. If its authorities imprison 12-year-old girls, then of course they will go against this nomination, because they are afraid of peace, al-Ahmad said, in reference to a Palestinian child currently being held in an Israeli prison.

Sometimes referred to as the Palestinian Mandela, Barghouti is considered an important figure, even behind bars. Having helped to draw up the Mecca agreement for a national unity government in 2007, he is seen as the man most likely to close the chasm between Fatah and Hamas, the parties that have been at loggerheads for almost a decade.

While in prison, he also outlined the 2006 Palestinian Prisoners Document, in which jailed leaders of various factions agreed to adopt the two-state solution.
As conditions deteriorate for millions of displaced Iraqis, the chance to rebuild post-ISIL may be lost, report finds.

Without a coherent strategy to address the urgent needs of displaced Iraqis, the opportunity to rebuild parts of the country liberated from ISIL may be lost, a new report has warned.

The report from the Minority Rights Group International and the Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights, released on Wednesday, highlights the dire situation facing millions of Iraqis amid the countrys ongoing war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

In the context of limited governance and continued insecurity, the opportunity afforded by the retaking of territory from ISIS is being lost, the report states. If communities are unable to co-exist, Iraq may soon reach a point beyond repair.

READ MORE: Iraqis live in uncertainty after fleeing ISIL

The United Nations estimates that there are more than 3.4 million displaced people living in Iraq, while 10 million are in need of humanitarian assistance. Depending on the intensity and scope of the conflict, that number could reach 13 million by the end of the year, said Lise Grande, the deputy special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq.

We estimate that three million people are living under ISIL control, and there are thousands of people who are caught between lines, desperately seeking safety and support, Grande told Al Jazeeera.





Financial pressures facing the central government in Baghdad and the government in Iraqs Kurdish region (KRG) have steadily ballooned as the war against ISIL has dragged on for two years, with an ensuing failure by the state to protect civilians basic human rights, the report found.

Collapse of the rule of law, widespread impunity, territorial or tribal disputes and the inability or sometimes unwillingness of the Iraqi government and KRG to respond to the sheer scale of the crises, have further complicated the protection of IDPs [internally displaced people] in Iraq, the report noted.

The study catalogued a host of problems facing displaced Iraqis, including overburdened infrastructure and public services, a scarcity of food, severely limited economic opportunities, and a collapse of local governing authorities in the face of continuing violence. The relentless pressure has spurred side conflicts to emerge, with harassment and intimidation of displaced people based on their religious and ethnic backgrounds.

Iraqis from the Sunni heartland of Anbar  who constitute the largest displaced population, numbering 1.4 million throughout the country  feel they have been abandoned by the central government, while also experiencing discrimination from other civilians due to prima facie suspicion of ISIS affiliation, the report notes.

The division of Iraq on sectarian lines continues apace, Mark Lattimer, the executive director of the Minority Rights Group International, told Al Jazeera. Both forces loyal to the Shia-led government and the KRG are using the liberation of territories from ISIS to engineer demographic changes.

Families have exhausted their savings, and many are increasingly forced to contemplate whether they can continue to live in Iraq with dignity. by Lise Grande, deputy special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq

The vast majority of Iraqs  IDPs are being denied the possibility of returning to their homes, despite the fact that many of them have been liberated, he added. Unless a coherent strategy for return and reconciliation is put in place, the possibility of a democratic, multicultural Iraq will be gone within the next few years.

Representatives for the central government and the KRG did not immediately respond to Al Jazeeras requests for comment.

INTERACTIVE: Enemy of enemies

After Anbar, Iraqs second-largest IDP population is in the capital Baghdad, where nearly 600,000 displaced people face risks that include suicide bombings, abductions and killings by armed groups. More than 3,400 people were reportedly killed in Baghdad last year.

At the same time, free movement and access to critical services have proved challenging for many displaced Iraqis, amid onerous identification requirements that may be impossible to fulfill for people who fled in haste without passports or national identity cards.

The report calls on the Iraqi government and the KRG to take a number of steps to alleviate the crisis, including implementing reasonable, non-discriminatory entry procedures at governorate borders, developing a strategy to support the integration of displaced people, and making arrangements to allow for the safe, voluntary return of displaced Iraqis to their home regions.

It also calls for urgent funding to the UN and other international agencies working with Iraqi authorities.

Humanitarians are profoundly concerned about the millions of Iraqis who are trapped in areas where organisations are unable to provide assistance because the areas are unsafe and insecure, including areas controlled by ISIL, Grande said, noting as the crisis in Iraq enters its third year, the UN has launched an appeal for more than $860m to help cover basic humanitarian needs.

Families have exhausted their savings, she said, and many are increasingly forced to contemplate whether they can continue to live in Iraq with dignity.

Follow Megan OToole on Twitter: @megan_otoole
Egyptian president defends giving Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, saying conspirators were working against the country.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has hit back at criticism of a deal to hand Saudi Arabia two islands and of the investigation into an Italian students murder, saying evil people were conspiring against his country.

Sisis comments came on Wednesday after a deal was announced on Saturday that set maritime boundaries with Saudi Arabia, placing two islands in the Red Sea within the kingdoms borders.

The announcement, which came as a surprise to many Egyptians who thought the islands belonged to their country, came during a five-day visit by Saudi Arabian King Salman.

It provoked a backlash on social media and even in press normally loyal to the president, with thousands tweeting a hashtag accusing Sisi of selling the land.

Sisi said the islands, which Saudi had leased to Egypt in 1950, belonged to the kingdom, something he said was recognised by former president Hosni Mubarak in 1990.

We dont sell our land to anyone, and we dont take anyones rights, Sisi said.

Why are Egyptians more suspicious of each other than people are in other countries? he asked, suggesting experts and religious scholars should look into the question.

Italian envoy withdrawn

Meanwhile, Italy suddenly said it was withdrawing its ambassador from Cairo, citing a lack of progress in the probe into Giulio Regenis death.

The Cambridge University student was found murdered more than a week after his disappearance from Cairo earlier this year.

The Italian press has suggested that Egyptian security services were behind his abduction and murder, which Egypt denies.

Addressing both issues in a speech to a group of officials and journalists, Sisi suggested conspirators were working against the country.

The conspiracy by the people of evil, they have been at work, and are still working, Sisi said, adding that he would not identify them.

Trust the man you entrusted with your country, with your honour. Your land is your honour. Im saying, guys, theres a lot of chaos, he said in the speech, broadcast live on state television.
Alfred Ladu Gore back in Juba after two years of fighting in move that may herald return of rebel leader Machar.

The deputy chief of a South Sudanese rebel group has returned to the capital Juba as part of a peace deal, raising hopes that the opposition leader will return next week.

Alfred Ladu Gore, a former general and minister, flew into the capitals airport after more than two years fighting in the bush.

I am very happy to be home  our advance team came here to proclaim peace and I have come to reaffirm that peace will not be reversed, Gore said, after arriving with a delegation of around 60 people.

READ MORE: UN reports horrific campaign of killing and rape

Gore, though, condemned the arrest of 16 of his supporters who had been mobilising people to welcome him.

Peace means freedom to express your mind, to gather together even if it means you disagree, he said.



Watch: Have war crimes been committed?

He was welcomed by Akol Paul, a senior member of the ruling party. His arrival today signifies that indeed the war has come to an end, Paul said.

A 1,370-strong force of opposition soldiers and police also arrived in Juba over the weekend.

They are to supposed to ensure the security of rebel chief Riek Machar  named vice president in February  who is due to arrive in Juba next week.

Civil war erupted in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that have split the country along ethnic lines.

Machar has said that he will come to Juba on April 18 to form a unity government, which would be the first time he has returned to the capital since he fled two years ago.

READ MORE: Riek Machar to return to S Sudans capital on April 18

The arrival of the rebels  especially Machar  would be a major symbolic step, though many warn that the practical implementation of the peace deal will be a long and tough task.

Tensions remain high, with the rebels accusing the army of boosting its presence in the capital.

Under the peace deal, Juba is supposed to be officially demilitarised to within a 25 kilometre radius, apart from a number of units given an exception. Other troops are meant to gather in special cantonment sites.

The United States on Monday condemned army attacks on rebel positions, which destroyed a declared opposition cantonment site near the town of Wau in the countrys northwest.

Washington said there were credible reports that rebel troops had also attacked the army and civilians.

There is no military solution to the conflicts in South Sudan, the US said . We call on all parties to fulfil their commitments to implement the provisions of the peace agreement in full.
Police arrest Antoine Denevi, suspected of arming Amedy Coulibaly who, along with Kouachi brothers, killed 17 in 2015.

Spanish police said on Wednesday that they had arrested a Frenchman suspected of heading a weapons trafficking ring that supplied arms to one of the attackers who killed 17 people in Paris in January 2015.

Police said Antoine Denevi is suspected of arming Amedy Coulibaly, who shot dead a policewoman and took hostages in a Jewish supermarket, where he killed four people.

Coulibaly was an accomplice of the Kouachi brothers, who killed 12 people in an attack on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo two days before Coulibaly held up the supermarket. All three were shot dead by police.

In a statement, police said Denevi, a 27-year-old from a small town in northern France, was arrested on Tuesday in the southern Malaga area after Paris issued a Europe-wide arrest warrant.

Spanish police said that Denevi left France weeks after the deadly attacks and settled in the province of Malaga, from where he continued his illegal activities using fake papers.

Its also been determined that his activities were linked with people of Serbian origin, who may have facilitated his access to arms and munitions.

Both Spanish and French police participated in Tuesdays operation, during which two other people were arrested  one from Serbia and another from Montenegro.

Denevi, who hails from the small town of Sainte-Catherine in the French region of Pas-de-Calais, was immediately taken to Madrid, where he was brought before a judge in the National Court.

The National Court hears cases related to extremism.

A judicial source, who wished to remain anonymous, said the suspect had denied selling weapons to Coulibaly and had agreed to be extradited to France.

The attacks over three days in January 2015 shook France, prompting much soul-searching as to how three French youths could gun down 17 fellow citizens in cold blood. Coulibaly was shot dead in the Jewish supermarket on January 9 in a dramatic raid by French special forces.

The Kouachi brothers were also killed by special forces in a near simultaneous assault on a printing factory just outside Paris where they had holed up.

The three-day killing spree was, at the time, the worst attack on European soil in nearly a decade, but gunmen hit Paris again in November, killing 130 people.
Halab Today TV presenter Mohammed Zahir al-Sherqat had spoken out against ISIL and other groups.

A Syrian journalist who was shot in the Turkish city of Gaziantep in an attack claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has died from his wounds, a close friend said.





The death of Halab Today TV presenter Mohammed Zahir al-Sherqat on Tuesday marks the fourth assassination of a Syrian journalist in Turkey that has been claimed by ISIL, also known as ISIS.

Sherqat, who was shot in the neck from close range on Sunday while out walking, died in a hospital in Gaziantep near the Syrian border, according to his friend Barry Abdulattif, a Syrian activist.

Friends told the Associated Press news agency that the journalist had received death threats as recently as two months ago from ISIL.

The group took responsibility for the attack on Monday via their Amaq news agency, which said Sherqat used to present anti-Islamic State programmes.

The journalist came to Turkey in 2015 after surviving an assassination attempt in Syria and started to work with Halab Today. His programmes took a stance against ISIL and other groups.

READ MORE: ISIL and the curious case of John Cantlie

Sherqat, a native of the Syrian town of Al-Bab, was an imam who studied Islamic Law at Damascus University, Abdulattif said.





When the Syrian revolution started in 2011, he was a founding member of the local coordinating committee of al-Bab and a field organiser of demonstrations against the Syrian government.

He later formed the Abu Bakr al-Sadiq Brigade which fought under the banner of the opposition Free Syrian Army.

When groups such as al-Nusra Front and ISIL appeared in al-Bab, Sherqat opposed them, according to Abdulattif, who is also a native of the town.

The killing of Sherqat follows the assassinations last year of two Syrian journalists who were found with their throats slit in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa and a third journalist who was shot dead in the street in Gaziantep.

READ MORE: Turkey is sinking into the quagmire of Syria

The attacks have prompted media pressure group Reporters Without Borders to urge Turkish authorities to protect exiled Syrian journalists in the country.

The situation is very bad, we dont feel safe, Abulattif said. We know there are a lot of sleeper [ISIL] cells in Turkey and elsewhere but it is not easy to catch them.

Many Syrian activists based in Gaziantep or other cities near the border report receiving threats from ISIL, yet most do not have a financially viable or legal way out of Turkey.

Complicating matters, a controversial deal between Europe and Turkey, home to 2.7 million Syrians, recently came into effect with the aim of curbing the flow of people to Europe.

Turkish authorities havent commented on the murder of Sherqat.
Opposition leader says government flouting UN resolutions as Geneva talks get under way amid fresh fighting in Aleppo.

The Syrian government is flouting all United Nations resolutions and using pretexts to avoid talks, opposition leader Asaad al-Zoubi told reporters on Wednesday after holding talks with the special UN envoy in Geneva.

Zoubi, the chief mediator for the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), described President Bashar al-Assad as the disease that has struck Syria, which can only heal once he and other emblematic figures leave.

He said that the Assad regime had committed 2,000 ceasefire violations and dropped 420 barrel bombs in March alone.





A truce between the government and the moderate opposition brokered by the United States and Russia has largely been holding since February 27, but fresh fighting in northern Syria in the past four days has killed more than 100 people.

UNs Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said there have been incidents on the ground but cessation of hostilities were still holding.

The UN envoy said the recent upsurge in fighting amounted to incidents and not a bush fire as he vowed to press ahead with efforts to reach a political transition in the war-torn country despite mixed messages about the process from the Damascus regime.

A government delegation is expected to arrive in the coming days for the proximity talks in which the two sides meet separately with de Mistura, but with no face-to-face meeting between delegations.

Transitional government

The Syrian opposition leader said that the establishment of a transitional governing body is the top priority in this round of talks, but earlier in the day the countrys deputy foreign minister ruled out any negotiations on the fate of Assad.

He said that the opposition has to let go of its dream of a transitional government, saying it would amount to a coup detat.

Speaking to The Associated Press in Damascus on Wednesday, Faisal Moqdad said that such an idea will never be acceptable.

Syrias deputy foreign minister, who travelled to Damascus backers Moscow and Tehran before the peace talks, said that he had told the HNC he would pursue an agenda of political transition.

On the day the talks began, Assads government held parliamentary elections in government-controlled areas.

Critics insist the elections are illegitimate largely because the five-year war has driven millions of Syrians from their homes, leaving them unable to vote.

But Russia and Iran have supported the elections, with Moscow saying the elections were needed to shore up its existing state structures until peace talks pave way for a new vote.
Satirical poem read on TV by Boehmermann erupts into a diplomatic incident that catches Angela Merkel in a conundrum.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed a legal complaint against a German comedian who recited a satirical poem about him  an incident that has created a diplomatic headache for Angela Merkel.

The move on Tuesday came as a pact between the European Union and Turkey, which involves refugee and so-called economic migrant swaps, was being implemented in attempt to stop the flow of people to Europe.





In a March 31 television programme, Jan Boehmermann, the host of the late-night Neo Magazin Royale programme on public broadcaster ZDF, recited the poem with references to bestiality and accusations that the Turkish leader repressed minorities and mistreated Kurds and Christians.

The poem, seemingly a deliberate provocation by Boehmermann, has exploded into a diplomatic incident that pits freedoms championed by Western Europe against recent moves in Turkey that many in the West see as an attempt to silence opposition voices.

Merkel, asked about the case on Tuesday, tried to separate the two issues and stressed her commitment to freedom of expression.

Turkey is bearing a very big burden in relation to the Syrian civil war but all of that is completely separate from Germanys fundamental values  freedom of the press, opinion and science apply and are completely separate from that, she told reporters.

2,000 cases opened

Under the German criminal code, Boehmermann could, if found guilty, be imprisoned for up to a year.

German media reported that Boehmermann had been placed under police protection and had cancelled the next episode of Neo Magazin Royale.

Prosecutors were conducting a parallel investigation into the comedian on suspicion of the more serious crime of offending foreign states organs and representatives, after Turkey made a formal request.

If he were found guilty of that offence, Boehmermann could face up to three years in prison.

For the second potentially more serious case to proceed, the German government would have to authorise prosecutors.

Berlin will decide on the request from Turkey in the coming days, Merkel said, adding that she cherished artistic freedom in Germany.

The law, though, which does not appear to exist in most other European countries, leaves Merkel with a conundrum.

If her government gives the nod to prosecutors, it could enrage Germans already dubious about what some view as a Faustian pact with Erdogan to help to stem the flow of refugees.

READ MORE: AK party is back on stage with force and responsibility

A poll by market research company YouGov showed that 54 percent of Germans opposed any investigation into Boehmermann by prosecutors, with only 6 percent in favour.

Yet if it rejects Ankaras request, Merkel could hurt relations with Turkey, a crucial partner in the refugee crisis and a candidate to join the EU.

Turkish prosecutors have opened nearly 2,000 cases against people for insulting Erdogan since he became president in 2014, the justice minister said last month.
A candidate who came second in Mauritanias June 21 presidential election rejected results announced by the national election commission, contending that fraud and irregularities marred the voting.

President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz won another five-year term with 82 percent of the vote, the election commission announced on Sunday following an election that was boycotted by most opposition parties.

Anti-slavery campaigner Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid came in a distant second with nine percent of the vote.

If these elections were held under normal circumstances, I would get between 35 and 40 percent by Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid,defeated presidential candidate

We have filed an appeal at the Constitutional Council, Ould Abeid told a news conference, accusing the government of having influenced the election in order to favour President Abdel Aziz, Reuters news agency reported.

If these elections were held under normal circumstances, I would get between 35 and 40 percent, he said in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott on Tuesday.

Opposition boycott

Abdel Aziz, who assumed power in a coup in 2008 and won elections a year later, has been a staunch ally of the West.

The National Forum for Democracy and Unity, a coalition of main opposition parties, decided to exclude themselves from the contest when the election date was chosen without their input.

They complained that Abdel Azizs control of state institutions would ensure his victory and described the vote as grotesque theatre, AP news agency reported.

Abdel Aziz hails from the countrys ethnic Arab elite that long has dominated the ruling class, but his policies have made him popular among the poor black majority.

Two other unsuccessful candidates in the election have accepted the results and congratulated the president.
Decades after migrating to Lebanon, more than 250,000 Palestinians are still denied basic social and economic rights.

Filmmaker: Bahiya Namour

In 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave their country during the Nakba, the catastrophe, the founding of the state of Israel.

The majority of Palestinians in Lebanon retain the hope of one day returning home  known internationally as the right of return. But almost seven decades later, refugee camps have become part of the urban landscape of Lebanon.

More than a quarter-of-a-million Palestinians still live in the 12 UN-registered camps and 42 other so-called gatherings across Lebanon. Lebanon is their home but any chance of becoming a genuine part of the communities they live in is constantly undermined by strict laws protecting Lebanese citizens rights, general safety and wellbeing.

Where can I go? Only in the camp. I stay awake so that I don't dream. If I dreamt, I'd fall into a black hole. by Ahmad Rushdy, Palestinian refugee

Mustafa Shehada is a qualified engineer but finding permanent employment with a Palestinian ID has proved near impossible. Being paid on a daily basis for more than a decade has also taken its toll.

Ive been working since I was 16. People like me dont start their lives at 28. Our lives are over by 28, says Shehada.

His story is typical among the immigrant Palestinian community in Lebanon.

Lots of tea boys have bachelors degrees  When I was studying for my masters at university in Beirut, I had a colleague who was a taxi driver, says Palestinian journalist Yasser Ali.

Most Palestinians simply want a normal life, to work and invest back into the place where theyve grown up. However, Yasser Ali says that not only has the initial political welcome of Palestinians to Lebanon long worn out, but that the current situation has stunted any growth within the immigrant communities.

According to the journalist, Illiteracy among Palestinians in Lebanon has reached 25.5 percent. But its only 6 percent in the West Bank and less than 1 percent in Gaza.

The situation has been exacerbated by the mass influx of new refugees from the Syrian civil war, meaning that the Lebanese perspective on the deteriorating situation is increasingly one of Lebanese first.

This extends not only to prioritising jobs for locals, regardless of expertise or education level, but also to home ownership.

Lebanons concern about the permanent settlement of Palestinians in Lebanon was the reason behind this law. But its not specifically aimed at Palestinians, claims Lebanese lawyer Antoine Nasrallah.

But Ali Howeidy, of the Palestinian Return Centre, says that someone with citizenship of a Western country can own property but a Palestinian cant.

The increase of crime and radical activity that has allegedly originated in the camps has given the Lebanese government the case it needs to continue applying rules restricting basic Palestinian rights.

Its a security belt, needed for the special security situation of these camps. We could do without it by developing the Lebanese security capabilities, cancelling checkpoints and establishing state authority everywhere, including the camps. But this would be challenging. Palestinians are concerned about their security just as much as the Lebanese, says Lebanese MP Ghassan Moukheiber.

Yasser Ali has his own theory on the endgame for this discrimination if the Palestinians communities continue to grow: Its clear they want Palestinians to give up, despair and emigrate. Thats the main goal.
Fault Lines investigates how the Albuquerque police department became one of the most violent in the United States.

Since 2010, police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have shot 40 people, 27 of whom have died from their injuries.

For a city of only 550,000 people, Albuquerque now has the highest rate of fatal shootings by police in the United States, eight times that of the police in New York City and nearly double that of Chicagos police department.

They come in here, knowing that 'we can shoot anybody and get away with it. Our badge is my license to kill'. by Mike Gomez, father of an APD shooting victim

In early 2014, police officers killed James Boyd, a homeless man with a history of schizophrenia.

His killing, caught on an officers body camera, sparked national outrage over police brutality, and two officers are facing murder charges. Its the first time in decades that an Albuquerque police department (APD) shooting has led to criminal proceedings against a police officer.

In the past few years alone, the city has paid tens of millions of dollars to families bringing civil lawsuits against the police. Yet the families say that many of the officers involved have escaped scrutiny and remain on the force. Officers, who, they say, should have never been allowed to join the police force in the first place.

After Boyds death, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) released a scathing report on the APD, which was based on a 16-month investigation. It highlighted patterns of unconstitutional and deadly use of force and culture of aggression.

Since then, the police have insisted that they are implementing reforms in agreement with the DoJ.

But in interviews with Al Jazeera, former officers, local lawyers and journalists say that change is only scratching the surface and that the corrupt and violent culture of the police department continues unabated.

Fault Lines investigates how the Albuquerque police force has become one of the most violent and deadliest police departments in the US and asks if any of the officers will face any accountability.
Through the story of one Zimbabwean family we tell the parallel tale of the decline and collapse of their country.

Newly liberated with productive farms and an education system that was the envy of its neighbours, Zimbabwe in the early 1980s was a land of plenty.

Within one persons childhood all that changed.

Filmmaker Tapiwa Chipfupa returns to the country of her birth to understand why the catastrophe happened.

Guided by a box of old family photographs and phone calls to her parents who are in exile in the UK, she traces the story of her familys life across Zimbabwe and the parallel story of the decline and collapse of the country.

Told from the perspective of a middle-class African, this is a story of remembrance, of coming to terms with exile and change, and a reminder of the need to guard and protect hard-won freedoms.

FILMMAKERS VIEW

By Tapiwa Chipfupa

I was born in 1977, just three years before Zimbabwe gained its freedom from the government of Rhodesia. My mother was a nurse and my father was one of the first qualified black farm managers.

For more than 20 years we moved from farm to farm, going wherever my dad was posted. As the country approached the turn of the century, the government tried to fast-track land reform and in that process my outspoken father was removed from his job.

In 2000, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe introduced an accelerated land reform programme  the Third Chimurenga or third revolution in the Shona language  after much tussling with our former colonial master Britain over land reparations and restitution.

The programme included the appropriation of land from white landowners and the breaking up of large government-owned farms into smaller plots to be handed out to new black farmers. However, even this land reform process did not happen quickly enough for many, particularly the war veterans who had for two decades been waiting for restitution. Frustrated, they began grabbing land by force in 2000.

The government supported these farm invasions and began to accelerate its own land appropriation process. Economic sanctions were soon imposed on Zimbabwe. My country, already troubled by several other issues that had been escalating as we approached the new century, could not withstand the strain. The economy buckled and the country slid into a monumental meltdown.

Opinions on the true long-term effects of the land reforms remain divided but the immediate economic effect was devastating in human terms. Millions of Zimbabweans left the country to seek a better life and security around the globe. Some left legally because they could, while others found a way to leave even if it meant swimming across crocodile-infested rivers.

Some stayed on because they were hopeful things would get better, while others had no choice but to stay. My mother left to find work in the UK and together with my father and four siblings we struggled to make ends meet in Zimbabwe. A few years later my father joined my mother with my siblings. I continued my studies, gave birth to my daughter and obtained a scholarship to the AFDA film school in Johannesburg, South Africa.

When I was finally able to visit my parents I tried to go to England but by then the British authorities had changed the immigration laws and they denied me a visitors visa. They have refused me many times since then, with the result that I have not seen my parents or siblings in 12 years. I wanted to make a film that showed what had happened to my family amid the tense political situation at the time.

My familys gradual decline and disintegration mirrored that of our country. My family left not because they wanted to or just because they could, but because the circumstances gave them with no other choice. Now they live in limbo in Europe and Australia with visa restrictions on both our sides preventing a reunion.

As the years steadily pass by, the sadness in my heart continues to deepen as my younger siblings transform into grown men and women and my parents hair turns grey over countless photographs and Skype conversations.

My family have never met my nine-year-old daughter and she does not know the touch of a grandparent. I am overwhelmed by the pain of separation from my family and life in exile and so making this film and going back to Zimbabwe was a very tough experience, both emotionally and physically.

I had to make sense of what had become of my life, perhaps to try to understand what I am going through and to be able to accept the situation I find myself in. I cannot see my family but at least this film gave me the opportunity to go back home.

The film was very challenging for me because it was a deeply personal and emotional journey. It was difficult to accept that none of my family was there and to see what had happened to the places where I grew up, to see what has become of the country of my childhood. But it was very rewarding in the sense that, like so many others, I had reached a place of acceptance with what it is today and had somehow forged a way forward.

Filming in Zimbabwe is very complicated. Getting a filming permit was a difficult process. In some areas it was very dangerous to film and on a few occasions our lives were threatened by war veterans who were afraid that we were filming them or that we had some other agenda.

We had to film on two cameras, the larger camera that was obvious in the safer areas, and the smaller camera, that appeared to be a stills camera wherever filming was restricted. All the farms we filmed at were places I had once lived, and it would have been impossible to gain access to film there if the current occupants had not seen the photographs of the old days and, in some cases, recognised me and respected me as the daughter of Mr Chipfupa, the old farm manager.

I did not set out to provide statistics, to sum up the land reform process in Zimbabwe or to discuss the politics of my country. My film is not a diatribe against particular individuals or politicians. I set out to make a personal film that explores the universal themes of childhood, exile, family separation and loneliness.

Vicariously through that I wanted to present one of the many unheard and untold stories of an ordinary Zimbabwean by telling my own story of my connection to, and my separation from, the land.

The result is a film that is deeply personal and at the same time contains quite strong and genuine social and political content that is current and relevant to a fuller understanding of what is happening in Zimbabwe.

This film was first broadcast on Al Jazeera English in August 2013.
Guitarist Dave Stryker carries a soulful sound that took root in his early years in Nebraska, where he played the blues before finding his way into the world ofand. More was added to the recipe when, after moving to New York City , he earned his way into the real-time universe of gritty veterans likeand, musicians who played directly to people with heart, feeling and purpose. His tenure with Turrentine lasted over a decade in total."I started in '1986," he says. "I was there '86 to '96 and then I left for a little while. Then I came back with him the last year he was alive."By then it was 2000. "He started to call me and I would do some New York gigs. Then I did a little tour of the west coast. We came back and were doing the Blue Note. Everything was going great. He sounded great." The saxophonist bid goodnight to his cohorts. The next afternoon in the hotel he suffered a heart attack. "We all showed up at the gig Sunday night and there was no Stanley."Stryker's fond experiences with the renowned saxman were the basis of his recent tribute CD, Messin' With Mr. T, a hard-hitting gem that calls on some of the best saxophonists in the business to interpret music associated with Turrentinea different one on each of the ten tunes. The music is joyous and ballsy, successfully conjuring up Turrentine's vibe. It includes "'La Place Street," the last song Turrentine played on his last gig and also the name of the street he grew up on in Pittsburgh . The CD rose to the top of the jazz charts in 2015.If that weren't enoughand it never is for Stryker, who marked his 26th recording as a leader with Mr. Tthe guitarist revisited his longstanding association with saxophonistthis year with the new CD Routes, done with an expanded band that has three horns melding with the quartet. That recording, by necessary intent, explores different territory, moving from steady swing, to more aggressive and angular territory ("Nothin' Wrong With It"), to serene ("Great Plains") to funky groove ("Lickety Split Lounge"). All of that music is penned by Slagle or Stryker, save for onetune ("Self-Portrait in Three Colors").To have diverse projects is not new for Stryker, whose chops can handle anything from soul to more outlandish music inspired by the likes of. Not only does he have the physical means to dazzle his instrument, but he has a big, warm sound that further entices the listener. He plays with feeling, not just dexterity."I think that's what we like about jazz is the improvisation of it and composing on the spot," says Stryker. "The longer you do it and the better you get, you're making up new melodies, not just rehashing licks. To play the music, you have to learn the language, but once you learn the language, you get past that to the next level, where you're making melodies. It's exciting.""Also having a good feel so when people hear you" is a key, he says. "The first thing they hear is your sound and they hear your feel before they hear your notes. So if you have a good feel, and it hits people in their heart, then you're doing the right thing. That's what music should do: make you feel good."That's what Stryker accomplishes whether with his organ trio, his partnership with Slagle or appearing with others. It's a lesson that was re-enforced working with the likes of McDuff and Turrentine. Both influences pop up. Even his association with Slagle has its beginning in McDuff's band. The CD title Routes, has the double meaning of describing the routes the two players have taken and how those paths have crossed, and also the roots of their music, which have similarities.Stryker went to New York in 1980 and his first big-time job was with the organist. "McDuff had told me if I ever get to New York, to look him up. So I went up there and auditioned with him. Steve Slagle was in the band, so there's a lot of paths crossing there. When I was with McDuff, we played a steady gig up in Harlem at a place called Dude's Lounge. A lot of guys would come in there.andand Stanley Turrentine. That's where I first met Stanley. When his guitarist couldn't make it, I went. Stanley offered me the gig."He recalls, "They both played with a lot of feeling. A lot of soul. You had to have that blues underpinning. For a young guy to have that opportunity to play, first of all, with Jack... he had all my favorite guitar players in his band. Grant Green, Pat Martino, George Benson. That was a validation. Then of course, we all love Stanley. He just was super soulful. Great time. Great feel. If you're following one of his solos, your game's got to be on top, otherwise it's going to be pretty sad. You're not going to last very long. It was that kind of standard. The bar was set high. You had to play with feeling and soul and good time."The venues always had good crowds, says Stryker. "He knew how to play music that was challenging, but it was accessible. People dug it. Whenever we would play, he'd have his fans and there were a lot of people there. The way he would program a set. Those kind of lessons were great ... Any musician knows Stanley was a formidable saxophonist."Before the Turrentine tribute, Stryker started his own label, Strikezone, and his recording Eight Track did well."I wanted to follow it up and keep the momentum going," he says. The idea of a Turrentine tribute had been on his mind for some time. When he decided to push forward with it, he selected songs Turrentine would play in a set list every night. He decided it would be more interesting to use different players, rather than one person burdened with interpreting the material throughout the entire CD. He enlisted monsters like, Slagle and even"I basically used guys I knew. Friends of mine, but who I would have actually seen at gigs. When I was with Stanley I would see Javon Jackson or Eric Alexander. I would see a lot of these guys at the bar when we were playing. So I knew they were deep into Stanley. Everybody I called was immediately on board. Any saxophonist loves Stanley. So I was fortunate to get all the great sax players that I did get."He only met Heath last year, when he was asked to play on the album Heath was doing with singer, Connecting Spirits. Turrentine would often play "In a Sentimental Mood" as his ballad during a set, and Heath agreed to do it for the album. "I was honored."Routes deals with Stryker's relationship with Slagle. "We started playing together in the early '80s. We both did our own projects through the years. About 10 or 15 years ago, we started to call it the Stryker-Slagle band. We've done about five records with that group."The CD hason piano and an unusual array of horns added to the mixJohn Clark on French horn, Clark Gayton on tuba and trombone and Billy Drews on tenor sax and bass clarinet. "Some of the tunes are evocative of where Steve grew up in Los Angeles . I have one on there called 'Great Plains,' because I'm from the midwest.In Omaha, Nebraska, where Stryker was raised, he was listening to likeand got into the Allman Brothers. His soul started there. "But also, it's something you have or you don't. You feel it in your soul. Music comes from your heart. You've got that grounded in your playing, which all the greats that I like do. It permeates whatever you do. It's a feeling that's in there," he says.In Omaha, Stryker took guitar lessons, but never attended music school. "I listened to the records and I did gigs. That's how I learned how to play. That's a good foundation to havelearning that old-school way." He started his relationship with the organ, playing with John Maller. "He was into Jimmy Smith. Every town has great unknown players wherever you go. I was lucky to have a couple of the older guys take me under their wing. At jam sessions, they weren't afraid to take me by my coattails and tell me what I needed to do."His sound and feeling "was probably solidified once I got the gig with Jack McDuff and then Stanley Turrentine. You had to have some kind of soul in your playing. Otherwise you wouldn't last very long. I had that in there before I even got with those guys, but then once I spent all the years on the road with those cats, it really seeped in," says Stryker. "I feel like I have taken that and put a new standard upon it. A lot of times I stretch it out and do more advanced harmonic ideas. I got way into Coltrane and all these guys. And of course all the great guitar players. That's how I learned how to play, by listening to Wes Montgomery,, Grant Green, Pat Martino, George Benson. All those guys."From Maller to McDuff and beyond, Stryker has had a fondness for the Hammond B3 and still plays with, a remarkable organ player."It's a classic sound. From Jimmy Smith, who's the world champ of that, to guys like. I really got into those records withand Grant Green, the trio they had. It's a sound that melds with the guitar really beautifully. You've got the bass lines with the left hand and feet. So when the organist is soloing, it leaves the harmony and the chords up to the guitar. Whereas if you're playing in a piano situation, it's a different approach, because the chords are already being stated by the piano in his left hand. With an organ, because he's kicking the basshe only has to hands. A lot of people have the misconception that the bass is only the feet, but actually the bass line in the organ is in the left hand, with accents on the pedals with the feet. Except where you're doing slower tempos or ballads. Then it's different ... It feels great. It just swings like nothing else. Even the great bass players I know get jealous sometimes because it just swings so hard. You can't deny it."For a time he didn't use organ in his projects, though he played on a record each withand. "I felt like I'd already done that," he notes. But about 12 years ago a club opened up near his West Orange, N.J. home. Cecil's was owned and operated by drummer Cecil Brooks III and they hosted jam sessions. It was at Cecil's where he met Gold. That brought him back to the guitar-organ sound. "Once I started playing with Jared about 10 years ago, he's been my go-to guy. Sometimes we'll add vibes. Or a saxophonist... It's a big sound with three people. You damn near sound like a big band sometimes. But you can also be as subtle as you want with it, as Larry Young showed us. You can be harmonically modern and cool."Stryker was in New York for a few years before landing the McDuff gig, playing in a lot of sessions around town and hustling up gigs. In 1988, he recorded his first record, First Strike, on a Japanese label. In 1990, he went to SteepleChase Records, the first being Strike Zone, which included Slagle in the band. "We did about one record a year for at least 20 years. So I've been fortunate to document a lot of my ideas. Done everything from big band to my Blue to the Bone band with four horns that focuses more on the bluesier side of my playing," he says. "I've done everything. It's been great."In addition to running his Strikezone label, he teaches guitar at Indiana University in an arrangement that allows him to commute a couple times a month for teaching, which gives him time to tour and perform."I'm keeping busy and happy to be busy," Stryker says. "There's a lot of healthy competition, as there should be. I've been paying my dues a long time. I'm happy to see young cats come along and I'm happy to help. I feel like I'm part of the last generation of guys that got to play with some of these masters. I got the experience of being on the road and paying those dues in a van with McDuff. Flying all over the world and playing tons of gigs with Stanley. With Stanley, I got to play with Jimmy Smith,. If there's anything I can help pass along to the next generation, I'm happy to do."Meanwhile, he continues to please audiences and record buyers with his sweet sound, crisp chops and his restless creativity."One thing I learned from Stanley and Jack McDuff is, you play something people recognize, even if it's a pop tune, but it's done in a hip waywhich is what I did in the Eight Track recordpeople really dig it," he says. "It's a song they know. They're hearing it in a different way. It's a way to bring people into the music. Stanley dd that and Jack did that. It's been going on for a long time. It's nothing new."And the improvisational aspect still a joy and challenge. It's the flame that has been attracting jazz moths for decades. "It's hard to explain. The improvisation part of jazz is so unknown," he says. "You're inventing something new. Trying, in the moment, to create something new every time. Whether you're doing a standard tune or an original or a revamped pop tune, when you're improvising you're trying to come up with your own melodies over it. It's not worked out. So it's always fresh. Out of that comes that excitement of, 'What's going to happen?'"Photo credit: Chris Drukker
Nostalgia, in Japanese, lightly translates into natsukashisa, a yearning for something from the past. American born, multi-instrumentalisthas reverted to his ancestral Japan for inspiration on Neo, a synthesis of dignified taiko drumming with the jazz sensibility of improvisation. Prepared with a degree in jazz flute and saxophone performance, Watanabe spent a decade performing and touring with Kodo, the globally recognized taiko drum ensemble, and has contributed to the Silk Road Project. This recording of original compositions, is a culmination of an artistic quest into creative music with shades of natsukashisa.Taiko drumming can be traced back over 2000 years in Japanese history. It is intrinsically connected with battlefield applications, theatrical productions, as well as religious ceremonies. To achieve any level of expertise in taiko requires dedication to an extensive educational and communal experience, not only for rudimentary practice, but in its spiritual connotations as well. Watanabe mastered these essential elements, and performs taiko from a contemporary perspective.Commencing with the hayashi (festival ensemble) leanings of "Bloodlines," there is an immediate sense of complexity as the flute improvises over the repetitive drums. The mysterious drama of Noh and Kabuki theater is imagined in "Dreams," as the glossolalia chanting raises the perception level into an illusory dimension of birds and wind. "Prism," with intense nohkan flute phrases, and odd meters, blurs the lines between ancient ritual and the vanguard, while "Chiru," (scattering of cherry blossoms) praises the deconstruction cycle of nature with a definitive folkloric cadence depicted with three taiko drummers.The trilogy of "Kagura Gurui," separated on the disc, are arranged around a common pulsation simulating the heartbeat. Kagura originates in Shinto celebratory folkdances, and there is a continuous forceful momentum depicted in the pieces. An intricate harmony and rhythmic relationship is evident on "Together Alone," a piece with heightened flute representation. "Iki," brings back the incantations, though upon careful listening, they are multilingual voices of protest saying "I Can't Breathe," as Watanabe joins those raising awareness against grim social injustice. Sumie Kaneko is featured on the shamisen (three stringed lute) on the introduction of "Shinobu," a soothing lullaby with a compassionate yet varied undulation,Watanabe bids farewell with "One," a solo performance composed for a cathedral recital with dominant Shinto intonations in the opening flute passage, a thunderous entry of the taiko, yielding for the flute, then a dramatic conclusion. Watanabe utilized shinobue bamboo flutes from the classical fue tradition on the recording, allowing tonal variations while maintaining the proper melodic ambiance desired amidst the dominant drumming. Neo is so ethereal that words to describe it skip like a breeze on water. It encompasses time and space from a culture that remains elusive and exotic, yet is audibly accessible in this presentation.
Editor's note: This is part of an ongoing series on sexual assault survivors. See Thursdays paper for an overview of the legal options and processes that survivors experience.

Annie Carper always asks before she holds their hand.

Its a different person each time, waiting in an examination chair.

But while the person is different, each one is a survivor of sexual assault.

And Carper will only be there if they ask.

They have chosen me  most likely a stranger  to be with them in one of the most intimate and difficult experiences they have maybe ever been through, she said. I always tell my clients that its a privilege to be with them in that place.

  

A victim advocate at UF for the past year and a half, Carper is one of the faces survivors see as they begin recovery  working through the initial medical examinations in the aftermath of an assault.

Carpers goal is to help empower the survivors and give them back control of their lives.

The survivor dictates how involved Carper is in their recovery.

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A lot of that depends on if there is other support available or if Im the primary source of support, she said.

The norm, though, is for Carper to be right beside the survivor, their fingers laced together while a sexual assault nurse gathers evidence for a rape kit.

A familiar face in the examination room for Carper isnurse practitioner Jennifer Donelan, who is one of two nurses in the Student Health Care Center qualified to perform forensic sexual assault exams.

No survivor has to pay for an exam, and the clinic does everything it can to alleviate other costs that may arise, such as prescriptions and follow-up services, Donelan said

Cost is not something we want people to be limited by, she said.

The result is more people than ever coming forward to report incidents and have exams performed, especially since a forensic exam is covered for survivors at both the SHCC on campus and UF Health Shands Hospital.

Carper said about 250 students came forward last year for victim advocate services.

She said she believes that number will increase because students are becoming more aware of their options in a changing culture.

For that reason, the Office of Victim Services is hiring a third advocate to join Carper and her fellow advocate, Naomi Phineas.

I think for a long time the culture of reporting sexual violence in particular was very much centered around the victim and what they may have done to be in that situation, Carper said. We are creating an environment that is more conducive of people coming forward.

Donelan said she agreed. The increase in number is not due to more assaults but an increase in people recognizing it is not their fault when this happens, she said.

Theyre sort of understanding the definition of assault and the definition of consent better than they used to and feeling safe reaching out, she said.

But, for Carper, the feeling of clammy hands, shaky breaths and heartbreaking stories never gets easier.

You wish that you could fix it, she said. You wish that you could take away that pain and suffering.

  

Andres Leiva Jennifer Donelan, a UF Womens Clinic nurse practitioner and trained sexual assault nurse examiner.

Every time Jennifer Donelan tears open a rape kit, she plays two parts.

She is a nurse practitioner, and she is a human.

She knows that behind every new rape kit is a new person with a heartbreaking story, but she also knows it is her job to collect evidence to help them.

The navy blue examination chair sits in the center of her office, her desk only an arms length away.

Its an examination area where Donelan treats women for birth control, sexually transmitted infections, gynecology and other health needs.

Its also where she performs forensic exams collecting evidence from sexual assault survivors.

She focuses on gathering as much evidence as she can.

As she pulls out a black comb, she collects pubic hair and swabs for DNA residue.

For about two hours she listens to her patients story as she examines and documents every bruise, scratch and memory of that persons sexual assault.

She closes the rape kit with bright red seals and protects it until law enforcement picks it up. Even if a survivor hasnt made a decision to press charges, a completed rape kit can be held in evidence.

I always tell people its fine to not want to, she said. The one thing to know is that it gives you options later. We often see that after a while when things soften out and people have thought about things, sometimes they want to have those options available.

  

This semester, the clinic has completed only two rape kits, despite the high statistical prevalence of sexual assault among students.

Its very intense, Donelan said. Theyre at their most vulnerable when they come in this situation. Im mostly just very grateful that I am able to provide something to them.

However, a survivor can only go to the Womens Clinic, located at 280 Fletcher Drive, Monday through Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to have a rape kit examination.

Those who cant be treated by the nurses at the SHCC are sent to the emergency room at Shands, Donelan said.

There are more trained sexual assault nurse examiners who are on call to respond to sexual assault cases.

Of the patients Donelan has seen, none have been male.

I dont love the fact that we are housed in the Womens Clinic for that purpose, she said.

Men less commonly report their assault, Donelan said, but she is trained to perform an exam on a man if needed.

We can certainly perform a forensic exam on anyone regardless of their gender identity in exactly the same way, she said. You can swab anywhere that was involved in an assault, and the actual paperwork that we use to document injuries have both male and female figures.

She and the clinics other trained nurse practitioner, Susan Ryals, have performed nine rape kit exams this school year. The numbers vary by semester, Donelan said.

The clinic has also seen eight sexual assault patients this school year who were treated for care related to sexual assault but chose not to have an exam done.

Thats one of the reasons that we have to send so many to the ER, she said. There are only two of us, and were also doing our normal daily activities.

Because the number of survivors coming forward is increasing, a third nurse will begin the 40-hour sexual assault examination training in May, Donelan said.

Even as more survivors are coming forward and a third nurse is joining Donelan, she cant help but worry about the future in a world where people still often disregard consent

Its very intense emotionally, she said. Its part of our job. I definitely go home on a day after Ive done one of these exams and hug my kids tighter and feel the weight of that responsibility.

@mollyidonovan

mdonovan@alligator.org

WHO TO CONTACT

Victims Advocate

A Victims Advocate is available 24 hours a day by calling UPDs Dispatch Center at 352-392-1111. During business hours, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Advocates can be contacted directly at 352-392-5648. You can email Victim Advocates at annekcarper@ufl.edu and nphineas@ufl.edu

U Matter We Care

You can confidentially and anonymously reach out to the Dean of Students Office U Matter We Care team about students who may need help at umatter@ufl.edu

STRIVE

STRIVE peer educators are available to hold open nonjudgmental forums for discussion of issues related to sexual violence. You can contact them at 352-392-1575 or visit their website at gatorwell.ufsa.ufl.edu/strive.

UF LGBT Affairs

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Affairs provides education, advocacy, and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and straight-allied students, staff, and faculty at the University of Florida. You can reach the University of Florida LGBT Office at 352-392-1261 or email lbh@multicultural.ufl.edu.

Medical Care

The University of Florida Student Health Care Center leads, collaborates, and excels in the provision of comprehensive services through wellness promotion and compassionate and accessible care. The Student Health Care Center also has a Womens Health Care Clinic that is a nurse practitioner-run clinic with a female focus. The clinic includes but is not limited to services such as counseling on contraceptive options, sexually transmitted disease/infection (STD/STI) prevention, sexuality and other womens health, screening, diagnosis and treatment of STDs/STIs, breast exams and instruction in self-examination, pap smears and routine pelvic exams and pregnancy testing.

Counseling Services

The University of Florida Counseling and Wellness Center has professional counselors and therapists on staff and offers individual or group counseling dealing with any form of sexual exploitation or other issues related to victimization. All counseling services are free and confidential. The center has an excellent referral system should your needs be better met by a different agency or program. You can reach the University of Florida Counseling and Wellness Center at:

3190 Radio Road

(352) 392-1575

www.counsel.ufl.edu/cwc

Correction: Jennifer Donelan was incorrectly identified as a doctor. She is a nurse practitioner.
The Alachua County Labor Coalition will join the Civic Media Center, located at 433 S. Main St., to screen Dream On today at 7 p.m. The film will later air on PBS.

The documentary is hosted by John Fugelsang, a former host of Americas Funniest Home Videos, who argues the American Dream is dwindling and wage inequality is increasing.

It talks about a state of being that a lot of Americans are experiencing right now: a declining middle class who are working longer and harder hours, said Jason Fults, a Santa Fe College professor and co-chair of the coalition.

Fults said he feels disheartened when Gainesville residents feel stuck in a certain socioeconomic class.

Its also unfortunate, he said, when recent college graduates have to worry about maintaining a livable wage.

I know a tremendous number of over-educated poor people, he said.

Alachua County has the highest wage inequalities in the country, said Sheila Payne, a membership coordinator for the coalition.

She said county workers could put more money into the local economy if they spent less on living.

Theyre not going on fabulous vacations to the Bahamas, she said of county workers. Theyre just paying their rent on time.

UF history professor Paul Ortiz previewed the film and said he enjoyed following the travels of Alexis de Tocqueville, a propagandist of the American Dream.

I would say that the condition of the American Dream right now is in peril, he said.

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A student news organization is battling a Florida university for the right to know the names of Student Government officials in meetings and documents.

On Friday, Knight News, Inc., a student newspaper, won against the University of Central Florida in a court case that began in 2013.

In an opinion released Friday from Floridas Fifth District Court of Appeal, the appellate court found that a previous court should have required UCF to reveal the names of Student Government officials accused of engaging in misconduct in impeachment documents.

Previously, both the trial court and the appellate court supported the universitys claim that it could cover the names of students in Student Government documents because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, said Justin Hemlepp, an attorney for Knight News.

If UCF somehow had won this or still finds a way to do so, it will force every other Student Government in this state at a public university or community college to shut down their records to the public, to shut down their meetings to the public, he said. And all the sudden all of these Student Governments will be operating in secrecy.

The university could not be reached for comment.

In court documents, the university stated that FERPA protects the rights of student information, including SG officials.

In March, Knight News filed another lawsuit against UCF after the university closed an election commissions meeting to the public. The paper is arguing that Floridas Sunshine Law allows public access to public officials, including those in SG.

Knights News is waiting for a response from UCF.

Its a different school, two hours away, but it could come to our backyard, UF SGs Solicitor General Nicholas Gurney said.

Gurney, who advises UF senators and students on UFs Constitution and codes, was a former attorney general for UCFs Student Government Association (SGA).

UF SG adviser James Tyger declined to comment on the cases and directed the Alligator to UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes.

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Sikes wrote in an email that the university is keeping an eye on the ongoing litigation to see how it could impact UF.

In addition to the two cases filed by Knight News, Jacob Milich, a student who attempted to run for UCF Student Body president, also filed a case against the university.

UCFs elections commission removed him from the ballot following a closed-to-the-public meeting, he said.

The 25-year-old Marine veteran said he offered to drop the lawsuit if he was put back on the ballot for the elections. The university declined, he said.

Were preparing for trial, essentially, he said. Its a fight worth fighting. This cannot happen again.

Chad Binette, the assistant vice president for UCF News & Information, wrote in an email that the universitys SGA is governed by its own procedures, and candidates such as Milich are required to follow the rules set by their SGA.

During the SGA campaign, Mr. Milich asked a circuit court to intervene in the process, Binette said. A judge denied his request for a temporary injunction, and we believe his lawsuit is meritless.

The 2016 lawsuit was launched under Brigitte Snedeker, the news editor for Knight News. Fridays opinion validated the papers fight for transparency in SGA, the 20-year-old UCF radio-television and Latin American studies junior said.

Were just really happy that this motion came through today, and it just shows that nonprofit news organizations can make a difference against the big guys, Snedeker said.

@MelissaGomez004

mgomez@alligator.org
You can't really go down in history as a true supermodel without a major beauty contract on your resume. And while Cara Delevinge was tapped by Yves Saint Laurent beauty for campaigns back in 2013, her newly announced beauty contract is going to be even more major.

Today, Rimmel London announced that the 23-year-old model and actress will be the company's newest brand ambassador. To which we say: Duh. It makes total sense for the U.K.-based company. Delevingne joins Rimmel spokeswomen Georgia May Jagger, British singer Rita Ora, and supermodel of all supermodels Kate Moss. Given that part of Moss's affiliation with Rimmel is a line of Kate-inspired lipsticks (Ora also had a line of 12 lipsticks) we're going to go ahead and consider this an official request for a line of Cara Delevingne brow products, please and thank you.

To celebrate the announcement, Rimmel is hosting a press conference on Friday onwait for itSnapchat. Fans will have a chance to interact with Delevingne and ask her questions, which she'll answer live on the platform. For now, Delevingne expressed her excitement in a statement saying that she's "honored" to become Rimmel's newest brand ambassador. "It's the first makeup brand I was introduced to as a teenager. I'm a London girl through and through, and Rimmel London truly captures and represents the city's edgy, cosmopolitan beauty styles," says Delevingne.

Cara Delevingne at the Met Gala:
If you're a Sephora Beauty Insider, a self-proclaimed beauty junkie, or you travel frequently to South Korea, then you're familiar with Chosungah 22. The Korean makeup brand launched Stateside in the fall of 2015 and has already gained a huge fan base among beauty enthusiasts and makeup artists alike. Backstage at New York fashion week, makeup artist Tom Pecheux gushed about the products he recently discovered. "They look crazy, but they're so good!" he laughed. And while many of us are familiar with the cutesy packaging, innovative delivery systems, and superb formulas, not many people know the incredibly talented woman behind the brand. Chosungah was the number-one makeup artist in Korea for over 25 years, working on celebrities, models, and VIPs. When she made a rare appearance at an event to introduce the full line in New York City a couple weeks ago, I got the chance to chat with her and hear her story.

Why did you decide to start a makeup line?"I worked as a makeup artist for 26, 27 years, and I worked with celebrities and non-celebrities, you name it. And the thing that everyone had in common was they all wanted to look better, except they didn't know exactly how because there are a lot of products to use and a lot of methods to know. I wanted to turn using makeup into a very fun, easy processkind of like when you take your kids to Toys R Us and let them loose. You let them figure out what to play with and how to have fun without being told what to do. I wanted to create the same experience for women in terms of makeup."

In my years as a beauty editor I've learned that makeup can be intimidating to a lot of people. "I completely agree. It's very easy to get intimidated and then get discouraged. So making the process of putting on makeup easy and fun is why I came up with the line; it's really our philosophy."
           2005     ..        




AR's Editor Joe Shea Talks About Elections On Iranian TV Bear Stearns Saved By Fed As Lehman Bros. Falters; Major Bank

Failure Looms Over Wall Street, Sends Markets Into 200-Pt. Dive Lie Upon Lie Five Years Into the Iraq War

The Administration Still Churns Out Lies by Randolph Holhut A Small Tragedy Even at 90, As Friends Turn Cool

She Knows the Show Must Go On by Joyce Marcel I'll Take Me Imagine John Wayne or Arnold

In Heels, Silk and a Girdle by Elizabeth Andrews Sen. Nelson Calls For New Fla. Primary; Gov Crist Backs 'Do-Over' Who'll Win? Ask Spock Spock.com Engine Predicts Winners

By Site Searches; It Can be Wrong by Jay Bhatti Chatting Up The Cat God Gave Me Dominion Over Him

But I Think He's a Non-Believer by Constance Daley Death of a Thug The Life and Horrors of Suharto by Andreas Harsono ___________________________ This Just In Sierra Club: McCain Ducked All 15 Key Votes On Green Laws (AR) A Work By AR's T.S. Kerrigan Is Chosen As 'Best Poem' By Wordpress Site Murder At Mile 63

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AFTER 5 YEARS, WE'RE STILL LIED TO ABOUT IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Next week is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And it is likely that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the 4,000th American soldier will die in Iraq. [MORE] Momentum

OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - It's 1931, and a 14-year-old girl is standing alone on a stage. She's small and lively with dark curly hair, widespread hazel eyes, slender wrists and an open, eager face filled with the wonder of performing. Her name is Rose, and one day she will be my mother. But now she is performing an Eugene O'Neill monologue called "Before Breakfast" for a ladies' club in a wealthy suburb of Long Island. [MORE] One Woman's World

COMFORTABLE WITH MYSELF by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I'm not sure but I think I may be socially incorrect. [MORE] On Native Ground

ENOUGH FOR A WAR, NOT FOR A PEOPLE by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the National Governors Assn. met in Washington, D.C. One of the tasks the NGA had on its agenda was to ask President Bush to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects as a way to stimulate the economy. He rejected their pleas out of hand, claiming that infrastructure projects wouldn't offer any short-term economic boost. [MORE] Brasch Words

BEWARE THE SELF-REVERENTIAL PRESS by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter called Sen. Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination "inevitable." It also called for Hillary Clinton to "start her campaign for Senate majority leader." [MORE] Constance

A CONVERSATION WITH MY CAT Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not. [MORE] Momentum

OUT OF STRUGGLE, ART by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center. [MORE] Campaign 2008

HOW TO PREDICT SUPER TUESDAY II WINNERS? ONLINE SEARCH by Jay Bhatti NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries? [MORE] One Woman's World

DON'T VOTE; IT ENCOURAGES THEM by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November. [MORE] On Native Ground

BUSH AND THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain. [MORE] Momentum

WHICH AMERICA DO YOU LIVE IN? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing. [MORE] Make My Dat

THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] On Native Ground

FIDEL RETIRES: NOW THE COLD WAR IS REALLY OVER by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over. [MORE] Make My Dat

THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] One Woman's World

POLITICS IS NO PARTY by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Are you having a hard time focusing your eyes? Do you have faint red spots all over your body? Is there a ringing in your ears and do you see wavy lines when you look at your television set? Do your hands shake when you try to hold a cup of coffee? And have you recently been forgetting what day of the week it is - or what year? [MORE] Make My Day

FOR BETTER OR WORSE ... A LOT WORSE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse." [MORE] Constance

YOU CALL THESE RIGHTS? by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try. [MORE] Momentum

THE BRIDGE WOMAN by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them. [MORE] On Native Ground

OBAMA AND MY GENERATION by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4. [MORE] The Willies:

WARNING: THIS MEDICATION MAY MURDER YOUR FRIENDS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't? Well, that warning is not on the bottle, but like countless mass-murder incidents before it, Friday's shootings at Northern Illinois University, as well as the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 last year, was probably precipitated by the effect of stopping medications that suppress anger and other powerful emotions but do not relieve the underlying cause. Isn't it time we started warning people - or stopped prescribing these medicines? [MORE] One Woman's World

DON'T KNOCK ON MY DOOR by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I wish I could feel delight in my poet's mansion being like Grand Central Station all the time, but I can't. And I wish my place was such a place that someone would one day write: "Her door was always open and she always made you feel all fuzzy and warm in her presence. She could make a cup of coffee seem like a banquet." [MORE] Reporting: Panama

PANAMA'S VIOLENT LABOR UNREST INTENSIFIES Mark Scheinbaum PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say. [MORE] Brasch Words

TO STIMULATE ECONOMY, BUY A CHINESE-MADE U.S. FLAG by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler. [MORE] Make My Day

THE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1 [MORE] Momentum

THE WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid. [MORE] The Willies

AMERICA TO HILLARY: GET OUT! by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. [MORE] Constance

CONFESSIONS OF A DISAPPOINTED VOTER by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote. [MORE] Reporting: Florida

SIERRA CLUB SET TO SUSPEND FLA. CHAPTER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports. [MORE] One Woman's World

PLANT A NEW WORLD THIS SPRING by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background. [MORE] On Native Ground

VERMONT AND THE 5 STAGES OF CONSERVATIVE GRIEF by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. [MORE] Make My Day

REBEL WITHOUT A TONGUE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species. [MORE] The Willies

FOR DEMOCRATS, NOW IT'S ABOUT RACE, INCOME AND GENDER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity. [MORE] Momentum

SUPER TUESDAY BLUES by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections. [MORE] The Willies

ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY, YOUR PUSH IS NEEDED by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future. [MORE] Campaign 2008

AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. [MORE] One Woman's World

STAND BY YOUR WOMAN by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote. [MORE] An AR Special

SUSPECTS IN BENAZIR ASSASSINATION HAVE TIES TO MUSHARRAF by Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto? [MORE] Momentum

TO THE VERMONT DELEGATION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt.  Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff. [MORE] On Native Ground

IF BUSH HAS HIS WAY, WE'LL NEVER LEAVE IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. - In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year. [MORE] Campaign 2008

CLASH OF COMMENTS AND PROTESTORS AT CLINTON, OBAMA RALLIES IN DENVER by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday. [MORE] The Willies

WHY THE FLORIDA PRIMARY STINKS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot. [MORE] Passings: Suharto

DEATH OF A KEMUSU THUG by Andreas Harsono JAKARTA - A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartos house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartos residence on Cendana Street. [MORE] Constance

I REMEMBER YOU by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child. [MORE]
Those who want to understand exactly how bitcoin is being adopted in the U.S. would do well to take a look at the tech startup Snapcard.

The company has existed less than three years, but it's already reinvented itself twice, changing its business model to adjust to bitcoin's evolution. A look at what the company has attempted and the market forces it's faced provides insight into digital currencies' acceptance in the U.S., the technology's disruption of traditional banking, and what the future might hold for bitcoin-based commerce.

The upshot: Providing bitcoin wallets  which let people buy things with an app using bitcoin  is a tough road for multiple reasons. But the use of bitcoin for international payments holds promise and is already helping startups edge out traditional banks.

Snapcard's founders have been "very smart, very agile in the way they envision the markets," said Pascal Levy-Garboua, head of business at Checkr, an angel investor at Weave Capital and an early investor in Snapcard.

"When you're in the very beginning of a market, like bitcoin is, where it's not clear it will work for anybody, I like that," he said. "And I like the fact that they have this plan of partnering with other companies to help them transition bitcoin initially for the wallet, now today remittances. They were very active in pursuing these possibilities; they weren't shy about it."

Evolution of a Bitcoin Startup

In its first incarnation, Snapcard created technology to help merchants handle bitcoin payments.

"That's where you go to a business and say, Hey, bitcoin is the new currency; we think you should start accepting it," said Michael Dunworth, Snapcard's CEO.

The San Francisco company's founders soon realized that commercial adoption of bitcoin was slim to nonexistent in the U.S. and other developed countries.

"It's a very hard sell trying to get people to convert their stable currencies into bitcoin, which is somewhat volatile compared to the U.S. dollar," Dunworth said. "So the value proposition is pretty thin."

Dunworth noted that in 2013, when the company began navigating the bitcoin space, there were no role models to follow.

"This is a whole new industry, so blockchain and bitcoin are brand new, we're writing it as we go," he said. "As a company, we've always said we want to stay nimble in understanding what the market wants."

Pivot No. 1: Becoming a Bitcoin Wallet Company

Once it became clear that merchant processing wasn't the right approach, Dunworth and his team decided to create a bitcoin wallet that would let people buy, send and receive bitcoin through a mobile app.

Snapcard became the second-largest bitcoin wallet provider in North America. But once again, market realities quickly set in.

"The total addressable market of people who want to buy bitcoin is very, very thin," Dunworth said. "If we're trying to build a business, we can't build it on 100,000 American users that are looking to get into bitcoin."

Another challenge is that it's hard to charge much for a bitcoin wallet  people expect the service to be free.

"Essentially you're selling $1 for $1 and trying to work out a way to make money off that," Dunworth said. "It's a really tough break."

Snapcard is not the only company phasing out of bitcoin wallets. Coinkite recently shut down its wallet. In a blog, the company cited problems with daily DDoS attacks and government interference.

"Being a centralized bitcoin service does attract attention from state actors and other well-funded pains in the butt, and as a matter of fact, we've been under DDoS since the first month we launchedover three yearsyay," the blog stated. "Plus we have put real fiat dollars into our lawyers' pockets, to defend our customers from their own governments. This is not what we love to do, which is coding and delivering awesome services."

The company said it plans to create a physical device for storing bitcoin, basically a read-only USB flash drive. It also plans to build a standalone bitcoin terminal with a printer and quick response code scanner, hardware products for authentication and security, and hardened servers for hosting bitcoin wallets. (Coinkite did not respond to a request for an interview by deadline.)

"You'll see a lot more of this over the next six to 12 months; you'll see a lot of shutdowns or acquisitions or acqui-hires in the blockchain space," Dunworth said.

Even the market share leader in bitcoin wallets, Coinbase, is regrouping. In a blog, CEO Brian Armstrong said that 80% of all activity on the Coinbase app is people buying, selling, and storing bitcoin as an investment, and only 20% of the time is it used as a wallet for day-to-day spending. "We set out to build a bitcoin wallet, but it turns out we were building a retail exchange," he wrote. (Coinbase declined a request for an interview.)

Having an exchange and a wallet in one app is too confusing, he said, because people want different things in the two products.

In bitcoin wallets, people expect low-friction sign-up, fast transactions and privacy. In a retail exchange, on the other hand, converting government-backed currency into and out of bitcoin "requires building relationships with banks and regulators in many countries, and is a highly regulated business," Armstrong wrote. "All third-party apps must pass a stringent review process. Customers are more tolerant of high-friction on-boarding (since it is the norm with financial services) and less privacy."

That's why within a year or so, Coinbase will become a retail and institutional exchange.

Levy-Garboua still sees a market for bitcoin wallets in the U.S. "But it seems this market is not as big as people thought it would be, so in the U.S. it makes sense to look around to see if there are better opportunities than just that."

Pivot No. 2: Taking on International Payments

Snapcard's second reinvention was a much larger leap  to a service that helps companies send payments overseas.

"We thought we could use our technology to transfer local currency internationally much cheaper," Dunworth said. Wiring U.S. dollars to China through a bank might take 24 to 48 hours and fees range from 5% to 10% of the payment, he said. Typically the payment goes through several correspondent banks, which takes time and adds cost. Snapcard's MassPay service charges less than 1% and the payment is completed in a few hours, Dunworth said.

Snapcard uses bitcoin behind the scenes to help with the currency exchange, but customers generally don't know this. "These customers don't use bitcoin or hear about bitcoin, they just know that the technology is faster and cheaper," Dunworth said.

The company accepts a payment in local currency, such as U.S. dollars, converts it to bitcoin tokens, transfers it to the destination country, and converts the tokens back to the local currency on the other end. Snapcard uses hedging models to alleviate the risk that the value of the bitcoin will fluctuate during the course of the transaction.

The company targets very large businesses with subsidiaries in multiple countries, remittance companies, foreign exchange companies and money transfer companies that might have some outdated technology. Banks could use Snapcard's service; the company has had conversations with some. It provides an API suite for the integration.

Two clients are RationalFX, an international payments service for high-net-worth individuals that charges only a margin of the exchange rate; and XendPay, a company that helps migrant workers send money back home for an optional fee (the company recommends 0.4% of the payment amount, 76% pay the recommended amount, a small percent pay nothing, the rest pay a little more than the suggested fee).

Both companies were founded and are led by Paresh Davdra and use Snapcard to send payments to China and Brazil, where it has established relationships with local banks.

"Banks in those countries are backward when it comes to technology," Davdra said.

And Brazilian currency cannot be purchased on the open market. "I'm in the U.K., I can't go into the Barclays platform and buy the Brazilian real, it's just not available," Davdra said. "If one of my customers wants to send money in euros or dollars, that currency is converted locally at the other end. I can't tell them what they'll receive at the other end."

Davdra doesn't care about Snapcard's use of bitcoin and blockchain protocols.

"For us, it has to be safe, it has to be secure, it has to be licensed, and they tick all those boxes," he said.

Snapcard seems to have settled into a business model that works  95% of its transactions now come through its MassPay product. "That's where we commit most of our resources and effort," Dunworth said.

The evolution of bitcoin continues, and other use cases may open up that today seem obscure.

Levy-Garboua, for instance, sees an application in the Internet of Things, letting machines pass micro-payments to each other. And there are many potential uses for the technology underlying bitcoin, the blockchain distributed ledger, from securities settlement to transfers of mortgage ownership to the tracking of shipping containers.

Smart companies experiment, take chances and find the working formula.

Editor at Large Penny Crosman welcomes feedback at penny.crosman@sourcemedia.com.


A second major U.S. bank is allowing customers to contact it using Facebook's Messenger app, a move that will likely improve satisfaction in the short term but underscores big-picture existential worries faced by the banking industry.

TD Bank Group is set to announce Thursday that customers of its TD Bank unit in the U.S. will be able to get live support via Facebook Messenger. The Toronto-based company rolled out the live chat, which is available every day from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time, to its Canadian user base in December.

Unlike what Facebook announced on Tuesday with partners from various industries including Bank of America, TD's service is staffed by people, rather than supported by artificial intelligence "bots." Nonetheless, the goal is the same  to be where the bank's customers are.

"Given the vast popularity of Messenger, we believe this initiative will make contacting us for support even faster and easier  enabling us to deliver an unsurpassed customer experience," said Michael Rhodes, head of consumer banking at TD Bank.

More banks are likely to add the service, or at least they should consider it, observers say.

If successful, the partnerships could give banks another way to interact with their customers on one of the busiest platforms in the world. By pairing with one of the most downloaded apps, banks would likely gain prominence on their users' phones, which is becoming at least as important as being "top of wallet." The AI component could eventually give banks a way to upgrade their mobile experience from one built on quick tasks  like paying a bill or checking the balance  to the kinds of advisory services they aim to provide in person.

In other words, this is a game changer. And down the line, it could lead to a more active role for tech giants like Facebook in the realm of financial services.

Immediate Opportunities

Using Facebook Messenger for communications is part of a broader push by banks to be more customer-oriented. That's the root of omnichannel banking  letting customers pick how they want to interact with the bank, rather than limiting their options.

With its 900 million users, Facebook is a natural avenue for such communication. If people are already there, why not use that platform?

Indeed, Bank of America cited the social network's omnipresence as part of its motivation in announcing that it would work with Messenger.

"We want to serve clients wherever and whenever they choose, and Messenger is a perfect complement to our connected banking proposition through 2016 and beyond," said Michelle Moore, head of digital banking at B of A, in a press release Tuesday.

The company already allowed users to directly connect with a customer service representative by tapping a button on the mobile app. It also has a chat function on its website. B of A sees Messenger as a supplement to those services, not a replacement, a spokeswoman said.

Also, as people increasingly see Messenger as a valid method of communication, some banks will likely want to adopt it quickly to remain relevant, said Julie Conroy, a research director at Aite Group.

"You don't want to be the bank that can't interact with millennials, for example, in the way that they want to," she said.

In the mobile phone realm, the ability to latch on to one of the most downloaded apps in the world is compelling.

"Most phones are loaded with apps, but consumers only use four or five, Facebook usually being one of those," Conroy said. "If this bot idea does take off, and it starts being used for business-to-consumer transactions, then your brand has to be capable of interacting on this platform."

In addition to connecting with customers on the channel, the partnerships with Facebook could help banks gain prominence in notifications on the home screen of a mobile phone, said Mark Schwanhausser, director of omnichannel financial services at Javelin Strategy & Research.

"The value of the real estate in notifications is on par with finding an apartment in San Francisco," Schwanhausser said.

Down the Road

Most companies that will be using Facebook Messenger will rely on chat bots, essentially artificial intelligence software that can answer questions, on the platform.

Right now, such technology has mixed reviews. It can range from gimmicky (asking Siri on the iPhone if the character Jon Snow on "Game of Thrones" is dead) to disastrous (see Twitter's Tay fiasco) to marginally useful.

That will change, observers say.

"Years from now, we will look back on 2016 and remember how clunky [automated services] were, but see them as a real part of our lives," Schwanhausser said. "No one is backing off from trying to make this happen."

For now, companies will likely use the Messenger chat bots for simple tasks. Security concerns could keep things that way.

B of A, for instance, said its initial capabilities would likely center on important real-time alerts.

Conroy said banks that do use this platform will have to have the proper risk protocols in place. Since they are essentially trusting Messenger to authenticate the person the bank is interacting with, she said, banks will have to decide how services are delivered.

"If someone just wants to do a balance check, you might trust Messenger to authenticate them; if they want to transfer money, a bank will likely take additional [security] steps on the back end," she said. "One thing we are seeing is fraudsters are escalating attacks on the contact center. This is one very attractive attack vector to do that."

But as artificial intelligence improves and institutions and users become more comfortable with the service, the bots could potentially handle more tasks and give banks the opportunity to provide advisory services digitally, observers say.

"We could see it migrating toward more complex financial decisions. Imagine it going from understanding 'I'd like to save more' to 'Can you help me find ways to get closer to my savings goal?'" said Bradley Leimer, head of fintech strategy for Santander U.S. Innovation.

Leimer declined to comment on Santander's plans with Facebook Messenger, but AI is clearly something the global bank is looking at. The bank announced late last month that it was rolling out voice technology to it U.K. customers, allowing them to ask the mobile app questions like "Where did I spend the most money this month?"

The Big Picture

If banks were already concerned about getting replaced or reduced to plumbing by Facebook or its tech giant brethren, Facebook's play with Messenger and businesses should only heighten those concerns.

"Players like Google and Facebook are trying hard to engrain themselves into the center of your life through virtual assistance," Schwanhausser said.

So, should Facebook Messenger's play for business-to-consumer communication take off and people become comfortable discussing their finances via Facebook, could the banks be cut out of the equation? Maybe, observers say.

Of course, there is the issue of regulation  that's likely to keep some tech companies from going fully into the banking business, given their global business models.

Another factor in banks' favor is that people trust them, even though they see them as tech laggards, Schwanhausser said. Meanwhile, tech companies are increasingly gaining trust of consumers.

"Big tech companies are moving up  they are gaining confidence from consumers," Schwanhausser said. "Banks risk losing the game if they are not careful."

Fintech startups focused on messaging, not surprisingly, say that banks ought to see Facebook's move as underlining the importance of chat, but should be wary of a situation where they don't have control over the system.

"It's clear from Facebook's announcement yesterday that messaging must be one of your top mobile features for consideration in 2016," said Shannph Wong, vice president of engineering at Magnet Systems. "Define your messaging strategy now, or it will be defined for you."

But should Facebook see Messenger as a way into the banking industry, observers say there is still an opportunity for banks. In fact, it could be an extension of a hypothetical model in which banks increasingly look like app stores, holding customers' deposits but connecting with other players for virtually everything else via application program interfaces. (APIs work like Lego blocks, allowing software developers to easily bolt their apps onto existing services.)

Some banks are afraid of being relegated to "dumb pipes" in such a scenario, but Leimer said they shouldn't be so quick to dismiss that fate.

"When you're the plumbing, the plumber still gets paid," Leimer said. "The 'dumb pipes' fear factor is relevant, but there is still quite a lot of potentially good business in that."

Bryan Yurcan contributed to this article.


WASHINGTON  In declaring that five U.S. banks' resolution plans were "noncredible," regulators provided new details on exactly what each institution did wrong.

Following is a guide to the issues cited by regulators and the banks' reaction to the findings.

JPMorgan Chase

What regulators criticized:

Liquidity risk, including the potential for ring-fencing, because the bank's plan relies on funds held by foreign entities



Insufficient model to estimate the company's liquidity needs



Plans to align legal and business lines through divestiture were not "sufficiently actionable"



No analysis of how JPMChase would phase out trading portfolios if counterparties cease trading with the bank



Inadequate governance mechanisms for the implementation of the resolution plan

What regulators said improved:



Reduction of cross-border sweep arrangements and reliance on short-term funding



Compliance with clean holding company guidance, which aims to cut down on financial arrangements within the holding company that could complicate the resolution process



Tracking of securities collateral, mapping of dependencies and other improvements in documenting the firm's internal systems and processes



Adherence to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association 2015 Universal Resolution Stay Protocol

How the bank responded:

In its earnings call on Wednesday morning, Jamie Dimon, the bank's chairman and chief executive, said "we're going to do everything possible to fix this issue."

Noting that the bank was cited for its liquidity processes, Dimon said: "We have tons of liquidity. If other firms can satisfy that, I'd be surprised if we can't."

Marianne Lake, JPMorgan's chief financial officer, said that the bank was "disappointed" by the finding but determined to make the required fixes in a timely fashion.

"Based on the preliminary read, there's going to be significant work to meet the expectations," she said.

Bank of America

What regulators criticized:

Uncertainty with regard to the bank's liquidity profile. Regulators said the bank's liquidity model did not demonstrate that the institution appropriately estimates and maintains sufficient liquidity



Governance processes did not include triggers to allocate capital and liquidity to material entities in the event of a bankruptcy



Insufficient details on the wind-down of derivative portfolios, including information on the interconnections between banking entities and broker dealers



Insufficient analysis of the state and federal law challenges B of A would face in bankruptcy



The bank's criteria to identify legal entities in order to simplify its structure "lack specificity"

What regulators said improved:



Better funding structure, including through increase of high-quality liquid assets



Compliance with clean holding company requirements, which aims to cut down on financial arrangements within the holding company that could complicate the resolution process



Governance processes for the implementation of a resolution plan



Alignment of shared services along legal entity lines



Simplification of the company's structure, with moves like the merger of BAC and Merrill Lynch & Co.



Simplification of the bank's derivatives booking model

How the bank responded:

"As the regulators indicated today, we have made progress over the past several years by taking important steps to enhance our resolvability and facilitate an orderly resolution in bankruptcy, but we have more work to do. We will expeditiously address the shortcomings and deficiencies identified, and develop a credible plan that allows for an orderly resolution without taxpayer support. Today's announcement does not affect our ability to serve our customers and clients and return capital to our shareholders."

Wells Fargo

What regulators criticized:

The plan contained "material errors," including in the projections of available liquid assets if the bank were to be placed under FDIC receivership. Regulators demand "a robust process to ensure quality control and accuracy" in the next living will



Insufficient handling of shared-services issue



The company's legal entity criteria were not specific enough to ensure the firm's structure was simplified appropriately for a resolution plan

What regulators said improved:



Increased high-quality assets



Compliance with clean holding company requirements



Better tracking of financial contracts



Reduction in the number of legal entities since acquisition of Wachovia Corp.



Adherence to ISDA Protocol

How the bank responded:

"We were disappointed to learn that our 2015 resolution plan submission was determined to have deficiencies in certain areas. The Federal Reserve Board and the FDIC acknowledged the continued steps Wells Fargo has taken in enhancing its resolution plan and we view the feedback as constructive and valuable to our resolution planning process. We understand the importance of these findings and we will address them as we update our plan by the October 1, 2016 deadline identified by the agencies. We remain dedicated to sound resolution planning and preparedness."

State Street

What regulators criticized:

Shared-services plan to ensure critical operations during bankruptcy is not "actionable"



Insufficient alignment of legal and business entities



The regulators were not convinced by the company's modeling of the capital levels needed for undergoing bankruptcy



The liquidity plan was not sufficient, or detailed enough



The governance playbook describing how the board members would implement the resolution strategy was "not fully developed"

What regulators said improved:

Increase in high-quality liquid assets

Compliance with clean holding company requirements



Governance mechanisms including a playbook that addresses how board of directors would implement resolution strategy



Playbook that addresses a plan to wind down securities



Reduction in the number of legal entities



Adherence to ISDA Protocol

How the bank responded:

"While the Federal Reserve and FDIC noted improvements in our 2015 resolution plan over our prior resolution plans, the regulatory authorities jointly determined that our 2015 resolution plan is not credible or would not facilitate an orderly resolution. We are required to address the deficiencies jointly identified by the Federal Reserve and the FDIC by October 1, 2016."

Bank of New York Mellon

What regulators criticized:

Insufficient handling of shared-services issue



Regulators not convinced by the bank's bankruptcy plan, which assumed that BNY Mellon Trust and the Bank of New York Mellon would fail simultaneously



Failure to fully implement legal entity criteria to simplify the bank's structure



The firm's liquidity plan was also called into question, though regulators blacked out much of the details of their concerns in the public release of their letter to the bank

What regulators said improved:



Funding structure, including increase in high-quality liquid assets, ring-fencing measures and monitoring of intraday liquidity



Compliance with clean holding company requirements



Governance mechanisms include a playbook that addresses how board of directors would implement resolution strategy



Simplification of structure with moves including the move of BNYM International Operations India to the main bank



Adherence to ISDA Protocol

How the bank responded:

"BNY Mellon acknowledges the regulators' feedback and is committed to addressing the issues raised within the required timeframe. As noted in the regulators' letter, BNY Mellon has taken important steps to enhance the firm's resolvability and facilitate its orderly resolution in bankruptcy. We remain fully focused on meeting the regulatory expectations to strengthen our plan as part of this iterative process."

Citigroup

Citigroup was the only bank to pass both the FDIC and Fed's assessments of the living wills. Still, regulators flagged several areas its plan could be improved.

What regulators criticized:

Governance mechanisms insufficient to fund subsidiaries and for escalating information to senior management in the event of a bankruptcy



Insufficient analysis of state and bankruptcy law challenges



Overoptimistic modeling of the wind-down of trading portfolios



Liquidity plan lacking specificity in addressing minimum cash flow requirements

What regulators said improved:



Funding structure, including increase of high-quality liquid assets, better capital and liquidity policies and better operational management of liquidity



Compliance with clean holding company requirements



Development of specific legal entity criteria to simplify the company's structure



Reduction in asset sizes and number of business and legal entities



A better shared-services plan  which would allow different entities to maintain operations independently if the holding company were to shut down.

How the bank responded:

Michael Corbat, Citi's CEO, said in a statement: "We are pleased that neither the Fed nor the FDIC found any deficiencies in our 2015 Resolution Plan. The preparation of the plan entailed a rigorous, firm-wide process across Citi's businesses, functions and regions. We will address the feedback we received from the Fed and FDIC and are committed to continuing to strengthen Citi's resolution planning capabilities. "Citi has become a simpler, smaller, safer and stronger institution since the financial crisis and it is critical that Citi can be resolved without the use of taxpayer funds and without adverse systemic impact," Corbat added.

Goldman Sachs

Goldman was cited as deficient by the FDIC, but not the Fed. Only a joint determination by both regulators starts a regulatory countdown to make appropriate fixes, but the regulators are asking the bank to make several fixes before Oct. 1.

What the FDIC criticized:

Estimation of the liquidity requirements of the bank's entities was not detailed enough



Plan to address the wind-down of trading activities lacked specificity, including interconnections between the banking entities and broker-dealers how it would reduce over-the-counter derivatives



Governance triggers that would ensure timely access to funds among the different entities in the during a bankruptcy



Limited analysis of the bank's legal challenges in the event of a bankruptcy



Short duration of the runway period  the amount of time the firm has between recognizing the inevitability of failure and filing for bankruptcy

What the agencies said improved:



Funding structure, including the loss-absorbing capacity through the increase of high-quality liquid assets



The types of financial arrangements with the holding company that could complicate the resolution process were cut down satisfactorily



Shared services were made more independent



Alignment of its legal and business lines and reduction of the number of entities



Simplification of the firm's booking model to reduce risk during internal transfers



Adherence to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association 2015 Universal Resolution Stay Protocol

How the bank responded: The bank has not yet posted a response.

Morgan Stanley

Morgan was cited by the Fed, but not the FDIC. Like Goldman Sachs, however, it must still make fixes before Oct. 1.

What the Fed criticized:

The bank's liquidity modeling had several shortcomings, including underestimation of the potential for ring-fencing



The plan for a wind-down of trading activities was not detailed enough, in terms of costs and risks



The governance mechanisms lacked certain specific bankruptcy triggers



Insufficient analysis of the state and bankruptcy law challenges Morgan Stanley would face in bankruptcy

What the agencies said improved:



Funding structure, including increase in high-quality liquid assets



Compliance with clean holding company requirements



Governance mechanisms for transfer of assets and information escalation in the event of a failure



Shared-services model includes separate service entities



Simplification of the firm's structure, including the reduction of the number of legal entities and operation of the wealth management and investment management businesses from the broker-dealer business



Adherence to ISDA Protocol and decrease in financial interconnectedness

How the bank responded: The bank has not yet posted a response.

Kristin Broughton and Alan Kline contributed to this article.


WASHINGTON  Regulators struck down the living wills of five of the eight megabanks under evaluation, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, requiring them to submit fixes to their resolution plans by Oct. 1 or face more stringent regulatory requirements.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Federal Reserve Board announced Wednesday that five banks' resolution plans were jointly determined as "non-credible": BofA, Bank of New York Mellon, JPMorgan, State Street and Wells. Those firms have a little more than five months to fix deficiencies outlined by regulators, ranging from liquidity concerns to problems related to shared services between the company's separate entities and governance mechanisms that could trigger the failure of a bank.

The FDIC found that Goldman Sachs submitted a "non-credible" plan, while the Fed ruled that Morgan Stanley's plan was deficient, but because the two agencies did not concur on those two banks, they are not subject to the enforcement action of most of their peers.

Only Citigroup received a passing grade from regulators. The agencies found flaws with Citi's plan, but "they did not believe the shortcomings rose to the level of the statutory standard required for a joint determination of non-credibility," FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said in a statement.

"The actions the FDIC and the Federal Reserve are announcing today are a significant step forward in the use of the living will authority to require systemically important financial institutions to demonstrate they can fail in an orderly way under bankruptcy at no cost to taxpayers," Gruenberg said.

This is the first year since the exercise began in 2012 that the FDIC and the Fed have come together on joint determinations of non-credibility. Two years ago, the FDIC was prepared to find several big banks' plans as "non-credible," but the Fed disagreed. The determinations now give the agencies additional powers to impose higher capital requirements and, if problems are not fixed, asset divestures.

Speaking with reporters on a conference call, a senior agency official stressed that living wills are evolving documents that banks are must update as their business changes.

The agencies cut banks a little slack, saying that while all eight institutions had to correct deficiencies in their 2015 living wills by October, they did not need to submit new annual plans by July of this year. The banks' next full submissions are due in July 2017.

The agencies are still evaluating the plans of several large foreign-based banks. The senior agency official said, however, that those grades won't likely be released until after the banks implement a requirement to form an intermediate bank holding company in July. Regulators will examine the banks' 2015 plans, but will take into account the structural changes of the banks since their determinations.

Some regulators emphasized that the eight U.S. banks had fallen significantly short in accomplishing what regulators wanted, suggesting the exercise shows that ending "too big to fail" is a long way off.

"Each plan has shortcomings or deficiencies, although as the letters emphasize, some firms have made more progress than others," FDIC Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig said in a statement. "Most importantly, no firm yet shows itself capable of being resolved in an orderly fashion through bankruptcy. Thus, the goal to end too big to fail' and protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts remains just that: only a goal."

But the grades are a clear sign that regulators are planning to toughen up their supervisory approach to the biggest banks.

"The rejection of living wills is the latest confirmation that U.S. regulators are not easing up on the largest banks," Capital Alpha Partners said in a statement. "The living wills exercise leaves bank stocks with a lot of potential for unpleasant surprises."

Still, though regulators eventually gain the power to break up the banks if they do not submit a satisfactory living will, such a move is a long way off, analysts said.

"There is a long and torturous path between failing the living will and having the Federal Reserve and FDIC demand structural changes at the banking company," said Jaret Seiberg in a statement from Guggenheim Securities. "Divestitures would be years away even if that is what regulators are seeking."

Both agencies were under intense scrutiny to come together on at least a handful of determinations this year for both internal and external reasons, experts said.

"The agencies have to demonstrate that they are using their authority under Dodd-Frank and progress is being made," said James Wigand, a partner at Millstein & Co. who served as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s first director of the Office of Complex Financial Institutions. "The most transparent way to do that is for the agencies to disclose that some plans were not credible and the timeframes institutions have to address the plans' deficiencies."

"Otherwise," Wigand told American Banker before the determinations were announced, "the findings and supervisory actions, which both agencies agreed upon, may not appear to be advancing the process."


Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and its U.S. subsidiary, MUFG Union Bank, have named Ranjana Clark to the role of San Francisco Bay Area president.

Clark adds this role to her existing responsibilities as the head of transaction banking for the Americas at the $115.4 billion-asset MUFG Union Bank. In the newly created position, Clark will handle relationships with the company's existing Bay Area clients, local civic leaders and community-based organizations.

Additionally, Clark will oversee the company's philanthropic efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area, including coordinating its employees' volunteer work. She will continue to report to MUFG Bank President and Chief Executive Steve Cummings.

"The Bay Area is home to a large group of the bank's senior leaders and employees who are vital to our business in the Americas," Clark said in a news release Monday. "Our Bay Area customers and clients are incredibly important to our business, and we view this region as a critical growth engine for our entire organization."

Clark has been recognized several times as one of American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Banking. She was ranked No. 25 in 2015.


The reason Senator Ted Cruz swept the Colorado delegate count this past Saturday at the state assembly in Colorado Springs had nothing to do with party malfeasance, establishment monkey business nor any rigging of the system. Donald Trump lost the Colorado delegate race for one reason only  he got out-worked. I know; I am a Colorado Republican Party officer, I live here, I was there and I sincerely dont have a dog in this hunt.

The Cruz team developed and executed a very effective campaign effort in our state; one that started early and did not relent until the final delegate names were announced Saturday night. From the time our precinct caucuses ended team Cruz was focused on the proverbial ground game. It worked.

As a voting member of our state assembly, in the 5  weeks since our precinct caucuses (March 1), I have received a steady stream of emails from individuals running to become delegates to the July Republican National Convention as pledged to vote for Ted Cruz. Other emails encouraged me to vote the Ted Cruz slate. Not only did the official Cruz campaign endorsed slate market itself others whod joined forces in an attempt to win via a strength-in-numbers strategy did as well. They sent email and snail mail flyers thru the USPS. They filled my inbox on a daily basis. Id conservatively estimate I received three dozen such emails last week alone. I and the other 5,000-plus Coloradans in this mix did too. I recall receiving one from someone running as a pledged Trump delegate.

For as many emails as the Cruz team sent, they made even more phone calls. I received multiple calls and have been told of a Cruz volunteer who made 1,500 calls to encourage support for those running as pledged to Cruz. I never got one phone call from team Trump.

The Cruz camp bombarded representatives to assemblies with robocalls; robocalls to delegates to congressional assemblies were recorded by U.S. House Representative Ken Buck, a Colorado politician very popular in conservative circles. Robocalls for those headed to the state assembly were recorded by Cruz himself.

Colorado has 64 counties. As a state party official (Vice Chairman) I log a lot of miles in support of county GOP operations. In the past two months Id been to many county meetings, Lincoln Day Dinners and other fund raisers, attended both county and congressional assemblies, plus other less-formal grassroots meetings. Team Cruz never failed to have someone at each of these gatherings to speak on behalf of Ted Cruz for President, distribute literature and solicit delegate support. A representative was present to speak on behalf of Mr. Trump less than half the time.

Which brings us to this past Saturday.

Our state assembly was held at the World Arena in Colorado Springs. Delegates and state and county officers from across the Centennial State were in attendance. On approach to the venue Cruz supporters were conducting honkn waves at street intersections. The walkways leading to the building were lined with Cruz signs. Once inside the foyer, external hallways and even parts of the arena itself looked like a Ted Cruz rally. The Cruz camp had purchased large, full-color banners and TrusTed signs, which were everywhere. Hawkers with an endless supply of slick flyers and other handouts touting the Senators record, accomplishments and campaign pillars were strategically placed. You had NO chance of walking past them without being handed one. The various Cruz slates each had their own color-coordinated vote this Cruz slate flyers, which they dutifully placed on seats, in bathrooms and directly into hands all over the building.

When he delivered his speech on Saturday Cruz stood in front of a line of supporters wearing bright, dayglow orange CRUZ t-shirts. Dozens and dozens and dozens of Cruzs people wore them. In fact so many were visible in the arena that at one point during his speech Cruz quipped, We did it for the Broncos in reference to the unmistakable orange hue.

Cruz delivering a speech on Saturday was the coup de grace. On Saturday April 9 in Colorado Springs, Ted Cruz, a man seeking to win as many delegates as possible in his quest to secure the Republican presidential nomination, did something none of his rivals did: he showed up. Cruz arrived at the World Arena and delivered what was generally considered a rousing, effective twenty-minute speech. Following his time on stage, Cruz hung around, shook hands, posed for selfies, signed autographs and generally did the politician-seeking-votes thing. Donald Trump did not attend the Colorado Republican state assembly.

For the record, as a party officer I cannot show favoritism nor pick a candidate in the race. Off the record, I havent picked one. I would be perfectly fine supporting any of the three gentlemen left in the Republican primary. I happen to believe Mr. Trump is a very smart man who would bring many sound, admirable qualities to the Oval Office. He would be a highly effective president and Ive no qualms about supporting him should he become the nominee. But he did not lose Colorado so much as Senator Cruz won it.

Mr. Trump was not cheated, swindled, bamboozled nor ripped off. He was simply out-hustled.

rev. 06:36
Should the success of Mr. Donald Trump in the Republican nomination contest make us despair of our people's capacity to govern themselves? That seems to be the implication of certain writings by nominally conservative authors in recent months. Such reaction to electoral disappointment has been common enough on the left, as anyone around after the 1994 congressional elections will recall.

Bears, cornered in the hunt, have departed life with greater decorum than some of the Democrats and their media allies exhibited, reacting to the loss that year of the majority in both Houses of Congress. But how startling now to read Bret Stephens on the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal, inveighing against the voters themselves: "Mr. Trump is a loudmouth vulgarian appealing to quieter vulgarians. The vulgarians comprise a significant percentage of the GOP base. The leader isn't the problem. The people are. It takes the demos to make the demagogue."

All of the longings and grievances that might lead ordinary citizens to repose hope in a Trump presidency Stephens dismisses as "a parade of semi-sophisticated theories that that act as bathroom deodorizers to mask the stench of this candidacy."

A little less acerbic but in much the same vein are the remarks of Jonah Goldberg and Peter Wehner. "[I]f it's true that politicians can disappoint, I think one has to say that the people can, too," laments Goldberg. Wehner likewise reminds us that "vox populi is not vox dei" and posits that "a fever that is raging through significant parts of the Republican Party these days, one that is immune to reason." The coming of Trump Wehner further attributes to a contemporary "cultural rot," affecting "the moral sensibilities of the young."

And there is John Podhoretz, whose contempt for Trump's supporters is, if anything, more unbridled than Stephens's. He attributes their folly first to "baby boomer nostalgia" (here reference is made to the writings of Yuval Levin) and then to a mindless and malignant desire to punish. Podhoretz deems it foolish for anyone to be worried about the presence of millions of foreigners here illegally and a continuously porous border when the Simpson-Mazzoli Act was propounded in 1986. It is similarly absurd to oppose the abortion industry and the horrors of infanticide today, when the Supreme Court decision constitutionalizing abortion occurred in 1973. These concerns are out of date  you know, like record players. Furthermore, Trump supporters have no good reason to be worried about terrorism by Moslem immigrants, as at San Bernardino, or by Mexican ones, as in the murder of Kathryn Steinle. They just want Trump to punish someone  anyone. "Whatever. He's their Punisher" is Podhoretz's mocking characterization. Trump supporters have no more claim to sense than a pack of hyenas.

Now, there are a few of us who generally share the view of Donald Trump voiced by the above writers and therefore support the Republican candidate who has most nearly matched Trump in the primaries and caucuses: Senator Ted Cruz. We support Senator Cruz not merely because he is the only one with so much as a slight chance of defeating Trump before the convention, but also because of his exceptional intellect, oratorical gift, parliamentary courage, and devotion to the cause of constitutional conservatism. He is the best that we have in government, and he would address the very salient preoccupations of Trump's followers. Among the authors cited above, only Jonah Goldberg has written in support of Cruz as the available alternative to Trump. Stephens and Podhoretz, in other columns, display a detestation of Cruz at least equal to that which they hold for Trump.

Between them, Trump and Cruz have won an overwhelming majority of votes and delegates in the nomination campaign. Is it then the wider Republican electorate, not merely Trump's plurality of voters, whom our commentators despise? And should either Trump or Cruz be elected president, the same condemnation logically would apply to a majority of the entire American voting public. Can we claim to believe in representative democracy, and yet so rudely dismiss the judgment of the people?

"No policy that does not rest upon philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained," says Lincoln (1860). This must be the most enigmatic fragment attributed to the great man. If there is one thing that can never be philosophical, then surely it is public opinion! What might he have meant? To be "philosophical," we take it, is to be wise, in some sense. Can the great multitude of people, with their limited education and attention to public affairs, be wise in political matters? There is an ancient voice that tells us, "The many, of whom none individually is an excellent man, nevertheless can when joined together be better  not as individuals, but all together  than those [who are best] just as dinners contributed [by many] can be better than those equipped from a single expenditure" (Aristotle, Politics III, 11). The people's wisdom, while slight in each individual, is great when combined, as though they become one person, formed of their combined virtue.

Madison says our system is predicated upon a confidence that the best qualities in our people will be dominant: "As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust, so there are other qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence. Republican government presupposes the existence of these qualities in higher degree than any other form" (Federalist, 55). If popular wisdom springs from the amalgamation of millions of souls, then no doubt it requires time for it to form and take effect. In any case, it seems that we must wait for it. The vox populi assuredly is not the vox dei, but as we a while back dispensed with the divine right of kings, it is the will of the people that determines our rulers.

Mr. Trump, of course, has proclaimed his intention of "making America great again." It is natural that to a dynamic man, this should mean performing prodigious deeds, his footsteps thundering in the world. Such men are likely to be uninterested in the preservation of a document that limits what rulers may do to their citizens. We nonetheless venture to suggest, no more to Trump than to Republicans countenancing support for Hillary Clinton, that America will be made great again only by restoring the primacy of its Constitution. That is the foundation of everything else.

Will Trump adopt the attitude of the incumbent president, of Secretary Clinton, and of many in their party that the Constitution is but an anachronistic series of impediments to progressive action? The signs  e.g., Trump's expressed intention to silence unfriendly newspapers by punitive lawsuits  are not encouraging.

It is easy to forget that a democracy's greatness arises from the endeavor, the bravery, and the patriotic devotion of the people, and that those things result from a disseminated confidence that such endeavor and sacrifice will be attended by justice, not by arbitrary penalty and repression. It is in order to live in a free society that Americans have always been willing to labor and to fight, and the Constitution that upholds freedom. But however wrong some of our citizens may be in supporting Trump, it is understandable doubt of either party's willingness to protect their American birthright, and not the loutishness attributed to them by a certain class of commentator, that accounts for the present twilight of political orthodoxy.
Never have the cannons of government turned with such determination and force against the American people. The theme of liberal government is its pursuit of legitimacy through power -- there is only futility in believing otherwise. If you disagree with the curent administration, you are the enemy. It is a message delivered to the nation with shot. We are witness to the force of dishonesty when spoken with enough audacity and counterfeit outrage that reason must limp from the encounter. Progressive interests in America are now seeking to exploit any rhetorical or imagined social differences in our culture in order to create a general perception of systemic injustices from which to establish the political conditions necessary for their success.

Due to the interference of progressive design upon Americas first principles -- her fundamental commitment to the protection of her citizens and their rights, to equality, liberty, and self-determination -- liberalism has changed into a politicized authoritarian ideology. It has become, in effect, a strategy of power. Its scripture now demands a twofold sacrifice of intellectual honesty to ideological commitment and of individual conscience to a political shame culture -- and so zealously have its votaries defended intellectual oppression and the misinformation that proceeds from propaganda, that it is now necessary to secure freedom from the liberal.

Freedom is a principle to be defended, not an issue to be argued. Unfinished minds, however, have been taught that freedom is an arbitrary privilege of class, wealth, and property -- and therefore valid as an issue of social justice. But nowhere in a just society can the equality of all persons be considered apart from the freedom enjoyed by each person. We cannot err as a nation if we assert that the principles of equality and freedom are the foundation of individual rights. To speak against the assertion is to favor a special definition of justice found only in the handbooks of tyranny. If we are made to believe that justice is the rule of the stronger party, then we have forfeited a first principle of democratic society to the new liberal order. If we cannot live as we like under equal protection, free of the prejudices of ideology, free of unwarranted State interference, free to pursue our personal interests under law without harming the rights of others or without being harmed by others, then there is no such virtue as justice.

Why do progressives feel they must strike down these principles in order to establish a better form of government? Any barrier to freedom inhibits the good that an individual might achieve in his own choice, in his own study, or in his relationship with society. When leftists encourage hatred or intolerance towards others or distort the truth through their propaganda, when they stifle dissent and reward conformity of thought with the spirit of inclusion, they impair not only the maturity and character of the person, but they are also making a perverse form of social equality by denying whole populations the freedom to enjoy their right to know, their right to express, and their right to self-determination. If one wishes to believe what others have told him to believe, then he is not a free individual. This is the basis of new age political correctness. Those who desire political identity and stature within a closed society more than they would the spirit and courage of intellectual honesty have already forfeited their intelligence to the new liberal order.

Freedom under law is an idea implicit in Americas founding documents -- that the people, in regard to their lives and their just pursuits, shall be free of the arbitrary or coercive powers of government. This is more than a reasonable contract between society and State. It is rather a fundamental principle of justice correlative to that of equality under law. In order to ensure these mutually reliant principles, the Constitution of the United States and Bill of Rights include precise language prohibiting the federal government from undue interference in the speech, the privacy, or the activity of persons and associations. But a long succession of attempts on the Constitution has shown that the progressive character -- adolescent, aggressive, ideologically driven, and intolerant of opposition -- is dissatisfied with a charter that tells the government what it cannot do. And this unfortunate disinclination to accept any constraint on the authority of the federal government we may define as "the liberal problem" in America.

In only one political season, and in our enthusiasm to participate in a historic election, America forgot herself and her fundamental moral purpose. Had we observed the red marks of one unprepared to assume to duties, the trust, or the character of the presidency, there never would have been an Obama administration. That the American people could have been persuaded to elect an ideologue so opposed to the Constitution of the United States, so willing to operate beyond its provisions, and so capable of lying to the people in order to secure his office proves a fault in the man. That we could have re-elected him, however, proves a fault in ourselves. The vote-farming tactics developed and employed by the liberal establishment since the '08 election have created vulnerable and reliant constituencies, fearful of upsetting the distinction between entitlement and servitude; and one can already sense a strenuous reluctance among these targeted populations to change their new relationship with the State.

Barack Obama has largely succeeded in the small affairs of politics, but his ideology could not assist him in preserving the nations economic and security interests; and in these greater matters, he has failed. Our choices define our humanity; but Obama has failed to prove that the choices available to us by the good intentions of government providers are the only good choices. All his promises meet in the socialist economic disillusionment of the European states -- that a world of government assistance and entitlement programs, of high taxation, and forcible wealth distribution represents a world without choices.

The people cannot express their will through a government that seeks to impose its will upon them. As President Obama withdraws American influence from the world, he extends a malicious imperial doctrine into the domestic private sector. In exercising its vast regulatory powers, his administration has discovered the means by which it may exceed its lawful commission given by the people as expressed in their written Constitution. Therefore, against the willful disregard of fundamental law by a few in the power of office, the people must hold dearly their own legitimate right and obligation to correct their government. As the Oracle of History counsels us, government is the least effective instrument of progress yet devised by intelligence, but it has often proven the most effective engine of control of the many by a few -- and control, in the progressive's dictionary, is the universal definition of progress.

Anyone wishing to agree or disagree with the author, to discuss, suggest or censure, may contact him at his email address: phahl@icloud.com.
At last voices of sanity, whether genuinely sincere or uttered for political reasons, are being heard in Britain. They may not be voices of turtledoves, but they address in sharp tones the problem of anti-Semitism in the British Labour Party. The virus in that country, the cancer of anti-Semitism, not only exists in the Labour Party, but is metastasizing.

Once again the Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and members of the British Labour Party have been reluctant to deal with the virus. The leader, himself not anti-Semitic, who has called anti-Semitism absolutely abhorrent, was asked by the Prime Minister David Cameron to expel a troublesome individual, Gerry Downing. from the Party, but Corbyn refused to respond.

Downing had been expelled from the Party in August 2015 for remarks he made on the social media, but had appealed and was reinstated. One of his bizarre remarks was that the 9/11 terrorists must never be condemned. Among the other intellectual contributions of Downing, a member of the Socialist Fight  group, was that the ambition to overthrow capitalism is a very legitimate political ambition. He left unstated the means by which this will be done.

The latest problem for the Party concerns a young 20-year-old Muslim student at Warwick University named Aysegul Gurbuz who is the youngest Labour Party councilor in Luton, a town about 30 miles from London. She has been suspended from the Party for a number of anti-Semitic tweets posted on her profile for three years. She had tweeted that The Jews are so powerful on the U.S. its disgusting. Another on October 27, 2011, was that Adolf Hitler was the greatest man in history. A third tweet hoped that Israel would be wiped out by an Iranian nuclear bomb.

At first, Gurbuz claimed she had not written the offensive tweets but that her sister had posted them on their joint account.

The real problem with this case, and the other incidents involving Labour Party members, is that the leadership of the Party has not initiated inquiries or actions against the blatant anti-Semites, but has acted only when their hand had been forced by complaints of other people, within and outside the Party. If Corbyn does not take effective action it will demonstrate that Labour is not ready to govern.

Two British public figures have addressed the anti-Semitic issue. One is Sadiq Khan, a Muslim of Pakistani origin, Member of Parliament for Tooting, London since 2005, the Labour candidate for Mayor of London in the 2016 election. He admitted he wore a badge of shame because of the anti-Semitism in his party. He criticized Corbyn for not taking a tougher stand on the issue.

Khan declared that more of the offenders should have been expelled. The members of the National Executive of the Party should be trained in what anti-Semitism is. It may well be that these utterances of Khan were as much politically motivated and aimed at Londons Jewish population rather than genuine. Khan is conscious that his Conservative Party rival, Zac Goldsmith, privileged and wealthy MP for Richmond, London since 2010, is half-Jewish.

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, was blunt about the problem. Anti-Semitism persists in dark corners of Britain, including the Labour Party and major universities. It has now reached the highest level for thirty years. Anti-Semitic language and attitudes should not be tolerated. He did not say that the LP was riddled with anti-Semitism, but asserted there are real problems. Corbyn was unfit to govern unless he eliminates anti-Semitism from the Party.

Carey asked a question which UN organizations and BDS bigots always avoid asking or trying to answer. Where do we find equivalent international action, as is customary against Israel, against Saudi Arabia or Sudan which are hostile to Christians or ban worship by them, or against the human rights abuses in Iran? Corey blamed the savage ideology of ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Al Shabaab, shaped by mistaken and warped theologies, for the hatred against Jews and Christians.

The present Archbishop of Canterbury since 2013, Justin Welby, has also touched on the issue. In 2015 he admitted that he had failed to stand up and protest against anti-Semitism. He said there was a need to do so, and was embarrassed by the failings of the Anglican Church in tackling it.

At present he is unlikely to pursue the issue, since he is involved in the unfortunate dilemma of suddenly discovering he is illegitimate. His real father was not Gavin Welby, the husband of his mother, but a well-known personality, Anthony Montague Brown.

Brown was a handsome, brave fighter pilot who attacked Japanese communications lines in World War II, who became the private secretary of Winston Churchill from 1952-65, and was the person who signed the death warrant of Churchill. In private life a womanizer with many conquests, and who had a brief affair with Jane Portal, the archbishops mother, and the niece of Chief of Air Staff Charles Portal, who conceived his child while married to Welby from whom she was divorced after a brief marriage.

There are a number of interesting aspects to this story, but one has not been discussed. The supposed father Welby was a bootlegger and successful whiskey salesman, who became an alcoholic and had led a colorful life. Among his friends was Jack Kennedy, to whom he introduced a 21-year-old Swedish woman who became his mistress a few weeks before JFKs marriage to Jacqueline. Welby himself had a romance with and for a time was engaged to the actress Vanessa Redgrave.

But Welby was not always Welby. His real name was Bernard Weiler, who came from a family of German Jewish immigrants. It is not clear if, and probably is most unlikely, that the archbishop knew of the parentage of his supposed father. Now the archbishop has to consider his identity, which he says he can find in Jesus Christ, not in genetics and my identity in him never changes. An enticing thought occurs. If the archbishop had known or thought he was half-Jewish would have spoken out and acted more strongly to counter anti-Semitism?
Political parties are not intended to be democratic institutions, and their nominees are not supposed to be chosen to represent the "will of the people." Political parties are supposed to be voices for particular values and policies. Although obscured by news pressure of the next primary or caucus, this quite properly undemocratic aspect of party selection shows up in an interesting background story to the two contested party nominations.

Republican and Democrat conventions are not based upon "one man, one vote" or the anything like that at all. Both political parties give delegates to those states based upon how each state has supported the party in recent elections. This means that "red" states get a lot more Republican delegates than "blue" states of the same size and that "blue" states get a lot more Democrat delegates that "red" states of the same size.

The two parties have different formulae  Republicans, for example, give more emphasis to state legislative chambers  but the goal is still the same: those states that support our party and its principles will be rewarded with more influence at the national convention.

How this plays out during the nominating process is interesting. New York is a big state, but it is much bigger for Democrats than Republicans. New York will choose 5.3% of the Democrat delegates this year but only 3.8% of the Republican delegates. The last big primary state is California, which will provide 10% of all the Democrat delegates but only 7% of the Republican delegates.

Not only does this give Republicans in New York and California an incentive to win elections and deliver electoral votes to gain future delegates, but it also means that Republican contenders from those states have an incentive to help their party win. Donald Trump, for example, may lose the nomination because he and other New Yorkers have been such failures in persuading their fellow New Yorkers to vote Republican.

Consider this grim math for Trump. New York will send 95 delegates to the Republican convention in Cleveland, which sounds like a lot, but New York will have fewer delegates than Nebraska (36), Idaho (32), and Wyoming (29)  three small states that will send 97 delegates to Cleveland. In stark contrast, New York has the potential to be a kingmaker in the Democrat convention, as it will send 247 delegates there, while those three small red states of Nebraska (25), Idaho (23), and Wyoming (14) collectively will send only 52.

Texas will send 6.3% of the delegates to the Republican Convention but only 4.7% of the delegates to the Democrat Convention. North Carolina and Georgia, two other large states that are strongly Republican, provide a much larger percentage of the delegates to the Republican convention than the Democrat convention.

This has already had a big influence on the Republican race because Trump was able to persuade conservative Republicans in the South to overwhelmingly support him, while the states that will doubtless give him big wins in the Northeast have proportionately many fewer delegates in Cleveland. If Trump ends up losing the nomination, it will be because Republican delegates in the South leave him on the second or third ballot, probably because they have come to see him as not truly conservative.

This also means that Bernie Sanders has a real shot still, because the remaining states that have not voted are largely big blue states like New York, California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, which have a much higher percentage of the delegates in Philadelphia than those states will have in Cleveland.

So if Hillary wins the nomination, it will not be because she, like Trump, has done better than her rival in the South  that region sends a much smaller percentage of delegates to the Democrat convention than to the Republican convention  but rather because Sanders has not trounced her convincingly enough in those upcoming states, which send more delegates to the Democrat convention than their population and which have not yet voted and which vote Democrat in elections.

If Hillary and Bill had been able to persuade Southerners in 2012 and 2014 to vote Democrat, then Hillary would be in a much stronger position now. If Trump had spent more time and money helping Republicans defeat Democrats in New York, he might be on the verge of locking up the nomination with that state's primary.

It has been a long time since this mattered  nominations have all been locked up by April in recent elections  but it sure matters this time around.
Not to be outdone by Bernie Sanders in promising free stuff to voters, Hillary Clinton is promising to raise taxes by an astounding trillion dollars. [Update: that is a ten year total, not per year.] Taking that kind money out of the economy and putting it into the hands of government bureaucrats will tank the economy. But of course, with so many members of the voting pubic not paying income taxes, this may actually be an attractive proposition to them.

In a interview with the New York Daily News editorial board, she proposed (as the Daily Caller summarizes):

The former secretary of state proposed a slew of new hikes  including a 28 percent cap on itemized deductions to raise $350 billion for college subsides. Through business tax reform, she said she plans to bring in $275 billion for infrastructure purposes and plans to raise somewhere between $400 and $500 billion in revenue by eliminating certain deductions, raising the estate tax, capital gains tax and implementing the Buffett Rule, meaning anyone making over $1 million a year will face at least a 30 percent tax rate.

Capping deductions at 28% of income will cause many sole proprietorships, typically the smallest of small businesses, to go out of business. This penalizes the poorly capitalized small businesses that cannot afford the lawyers (and often the corporate taxes  California charges a tax of $500 a year for the privilege of being a corporation) who must subtract supplies, hired labor, and other deductions from their gross income. Hillary would kneecap the bottom rungs of the ladder of entrepreneurship this way. But with five shell companies in Delaware, protected by secrecy laws that rival Panama, Hillary has no understanding of the little guys or gals who want to start out as their own biss with as little overhead as possible.

The deduction limit would also torpedo large gifts to charity.

As for hiking estate taxes, that will be a full employment act for lawyers and tax consultants, who will generate lots of income gaming the system. And high capital gains taxes penalize investment in job creation.

Just what we need as the percentage of the population employed is falling to historic lows since the mass introduction of women into the labor force.

For those who plan to sit out the election if Trump is nominated, this is something to think about.
The United States Navy honors its traditions, and the white Navy Dixie Cup hat worn by sailors is among those symbols of continuity that bind together shipmates working under conditions of isolation and stress.

A lot of time and water has moved under the bridge since this 1917 poster was first deployed as a means to recruit sailors during WWI. At last, it finally seems to have nearly come to fruition.

Female Navy recruits are now being issued the Dixie Cup, which until now has been a traditional part of the male Navy uniform for Sailors E-6 and below.

This is only the most recent action as the Navy strives to reach gender neutrality in uniform for sailors.

This most likely came about as a result of a media discussion in July 2015 about U.S. considerations of transgender personnel currently in the military. Some of them were wearing the female versions of military uniforms of several countries. After seeing this, how could the Navy not take notice and start hatching a plan to conform in its own way while simultaneously maintaining some kind of control?

Of course, other than deeming the issue addressed, this in no way helps the Navy with larger issues, which include a Freedom Class Littoral Combat Ship developed by Lockheed Martin, three of which have been plagued by catastrophic failures, some found within weeks of being commissioned (here and here).

On the strategic front, China expands its hold on the shipping lanes in the South China Sea in an astounding military buildup. China has created several new islands there by dredging up sand to make defendable platforms that are capable of supplying an increasing number of aircraft carriers, destroyers, and frigates. The goal of finally laying claim to these islands creates a threat to several countries there that realize they are strategically vulnerable to being taken over by the communist behemoth (here).

Since their conception in 1775, the U.S. Navy and Marines have been keeping shipping lanes open worldwide and began fighting to do so against Muslim pirates on the Barbary Coast in 1801. Since that time, the Navy has been key to protecting trade routes during peace and times of war when countries sought to deprive allies by attacking shipping lines and was key to overpowering Germany in WWI and both Germany and Japan in WWII, and again in Korea, Viet Nam, Gaddafis Line of Death in the Gulf of Sidra, and both Iraqs and Irans attempts to close the Persian Gulf by mining the Strait of Hormuz.

Navy vigilance has always ensured that trade routes are open and has met threats to free trade with superior strategy and tactical presence, many times at great cost.

That imposing figure of sea power has been greatly diminished in recent years due to the current administrations preoccupation with social justice and experimentation, a position our enemies, which include Russia, China, Iran, and a constantly growing number of Islamic terrorist organizations, openly mock. See here.

But never fear. Multiculturalism, diversity, and gender neutrality will save the day.
Google has been, for the most part, finding approval notices and open roads greeting their self-driving cars in a huge number of new places, all the way from Canada to Texas and Rhode Island. Of all the places for self-driving cars to find opposition to their full potential via local laws, Googles homeland of California issued an initial response that left them gravely disappointed; in essence, the state said that testing self-driving cars was only approved if there was a driver behind the wheel, ready to kick the car into manual mode at a moments notice. Since Google was hoping to use their self-driving cars to kick off a massive unowned and unmanned transport revolution that would empower those who otherwise couldnt drive, it was a bit of a blow. A new bill is being put forward, however, that may amend that and allow fully autonomous cars on California roads.

The new bill is called AB-2866 Autonomous vehicles, and includes text that, as long as normal safety conditions were met, would authorize, notwithstanding the above requirements, the operation of an autonomous vehicle without a driver in the vehicle or an autonomous vehicle not equipped with a brake pedal, accelerator pedal, or steering wheel on public roads for testing and operation purposes The bill proposes to accomplish this by amending current laws concerning transportation and the operation of autonomous vehicles. The bill is currently in assembly status, meaning it has a good few more steps before it can become law. Introduced back in February, the bill has already been through the ringer and amended before reaching its current state.

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The bill is set to have its day in assembly for an initial vote on the 18th of April, but no further timelines for actions or hearings have been set, most likely pending the assembly vote on that day. If the bill passes all the way into law successfully, it outlines requirements for the state department of motor vehicles to comply with the new regulations by July of 2018. This timeline would allow for further development of the technology, as well as seeing how well it does in more welcoming markets. Check out the source link for the full text of the bill and what sections it amends.
The above image is one that many users might have come across along their travels on the Internet when using Google Chrome. If youre lucky enough to not have seen it, this is the warning that Google Chrome will offer up to users when theyre about to head to a website that is known to be dangerous or unsafe. For the most part, this warning applies to known phishing scams, an unsafe certificate or a malware report, but Google is taking things further, and finally doing something about those fake download buttons and other deceptive banners and links that are often found in less-than-wholesome parts of the Internet.

Over on their Webmaster Central blog, Google lists a number of different examples that this new change will apply to. The fake download buttons and warnings about an outdated Flash player or media player are exactly the sort of things that fall under Googles new attack on Social Engineering hacks, and its nice to see Google shine on a light on things like this, and more importantly protect those that might come across these sort of things. We cant help but feel like Google is a little late to the party on this one however, as these fake buttons and links have been around for a long time now. Still, its nice to see Google use such strong language in their blog post, and this could lead to a significant drop in the amount of people getting fooled by these, especially given the amount of people that are using Google Chrome all over the world.

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Google outlines the sort of things that it thinks are deceptive content as something that pretends to act, or look and feel, like a trusted entity or that tries to trick you into doing something youd only do for a trusted entity. These sorts of things are more often than not scams to either send someone down a rabbit hole by clicking the wrong download button or get them to give up some of their personal information. Regardless of which it is, Google has had enough, and is doing something about it, which can only be good news for the rest of us.
For some time now, Facebook has been trying to find the next big thing to keep people inside of Facebook, while also appealing the rest of the outside web. With WhatsApp and Instagram under their wing, Facebook clearly holds a lot of clout in the online world these days, but much of the news and content that people view comes from outside of Facebook. To bring that content back into Facebook and appeal to online publishers, Facebook introduced their Instant Articles, a platform that allows for much faster page loads and importantly for a lot of publishers, 100% of their own ad revenue. Now, Facebook is opening this up to everyone and anyone that wants to offer their own Instant Articles.

The news comes hot on the heels of Facebooks F8 conference held this week, and will be music to the ear of many of a publisher. Facebook says that Instant Articles have certainly been a success with their opening partners, generating 20% more clicks than traditional mobile web page links and that these articles are 70% less likely to see their readers disappear to find something more interesting. This is perhaps down to the fact that Instant Articles can be as much as 10 times as fast as viewing a standard web page. For Facebook, Instant Articles are a win-win situation. This new form of content will keep people inside of the big blue app, and it will also bring recognizable content that people know and love to Facebook users.

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For content publishers, the fact that this is now open to everyone could help them rethink the way they approach Facebook for clicks, views and shares. The big question of whether or not these Instant Articles will continue to bring in much-needed ad revenue is neatly settled by a landing page for the service detailing that publishers can serve display ads that are directly sold by your own sales team and keep 100% of the revenue. This move can also be seen as a blow to Google as well, who has struggled with failures such as Google Currents which morphed into the less-than-revolutionary Play Newsstand. Those interested in getting their site signed up can take a look at Facebooks blog post linked below for more info.
The Google Photos application and service is Googles current means of backing up and organizing your photo and video library. The service replaced the older Google+ Photo Backup service and offers users a choice of either unlimited but reduced quality storage, called high quality by the application. The unlimited service restricts photographs to 16MP JPEGs in size and videos to 1080p resolution. Customers may instead use full quality images and video streams, or save in a RAW file format, but this utilizes Google Drive space. The application can be set to backup photographs and videos over either mobile data and Wi-Fi, or Wi-Fi only. It has toggles for only backing up data when connected to the power supply or when roaming, allowing a granular level of control over how and when your photographs and videos are backed up.

In addition to the ability to back up and store unlimited quantities of photographs, Google Photos also has powerful, cloud-based search functionality built into the application. Its possible to search for individuals based on facial recognition, objects, animals, places or times and the search engine is deliberately optimised for your device, which means that the results are speedy. The importance of a powerful search engine behind the Photos service cannot be underestimated because over time, many people collect thousands of images and finding a particular photo or collection of photographs can be difficult. Google have added the ability to include albums, which may be shared with contacts, making it easier than ever to share media across the world.

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As with most Google products and services, the company is constantly improving the application. Weve seen photo editing functionality included into Google Photos and improvements in how to share images from third party applications to facility backing up images. However, one area that has been lacking is the ability to manually upload individual items for the backup service. This can be very useful if you wish to share a given photograph or video with another contact, or back up a particular image or video just in case. Google Photos already has the ability to upload media from a third party service into the backup system and it is about time that the application includes a manual backup option. Keep your eyes on the Google Play Store for the application update, which should be arriving any day now.
Canada wants to be a global leader when it comes to internet infrastructure  it is a source of pride as a country. They want to be the ones spearheading 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), and expanding service to attract new businesses. Many people do not fully understand what the IoT means  The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical objectsdevices, vehicles, buildings and other itemsembedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange dataresulting in improved efficiency, accuracy, and economic benefit. Telus and Rogers are leading the way and investing billions of dollars to make this happen.

About a year and a half ago, Telus launched Canadas first IoT online business marketplace, and according to Nigel Wallis from IDC Canada, there are only 45-percent of Canadian companies are deploying IoT solutions, but it is expected to be valued at over $13 billion by 2019. Back then, Shawn Sanderson, TELUS vice-president of Internet of Things said, IoT technology has tremendous potential to make Canadians businesses more productive and profitable Early this month, Rogers announced that it was the first Canadian carrier to offer the IoT as a service to its business customers. Rogers claimed they were looking at three specific areas  incident management, so Rogers can be their customers one-stop problem solvers  farm and food monitoring, to prevent spoilage  and level monitoring, where businesses must monitor liquids, grains, oil, water and waste materials.

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However, from their announcement, it looks like Telus is ready to upgrade the Ontario area to help increase their economy. Darren Entwistle, Telus President and CEO said, By the end of 2019, TELUS will have invested more than $45 billion to provide Ontario citizens businesses, healthcare providers and educators with access to critical next-generation health, education, business and government services and solutions. The TELUS team is dedicated to helping advance Ontarios economy by expanding the worlds fastest wireless technologies to more communities across the province, enabling businesses to compete on a local, national and global basis.

Telus wants to add capacity and extend its wireless network reach to the rural areas across the Ontario province. They are investing in the IoT to further Ontarios global competitiveness and to reduce environmental impact and increase worker safety. By investing in areas like advanced analytics, cloud-based security solutions, and integrated security solutions, Telus believes they can help stop the increasing number of sophisticated online threats. They want to extend their fibre optic networks so businesses and the federal governments can have access to the fastest and most reliable networks in the world. Expanding healthcare solutions is another way Telus wants to invest in Ontario so that records are secure and transmitted as quickly as possible when needed  which is, of course, what everybody wants.
Its an election year in the United States of America, which typically means a number of trends emerging in the run up. One of these is how presidential candidates discuss taxes and for todays article, corporate taxes. Last night at the University of Buffalo, Senator Bernie Sanders said: Over the years Verizon has made billions of dollars in profit, but in a given year has not paid a nickel in taxes. The Sanders campaign has earmarked Verizon Wireless as the third biggest tax evader in America. The same team also claim that Verizon has almost $2 billion in offshore tax havens so as to avoid paying income tax, which would amount to over $600 million.

Sanders statement is arguably more about promoting a reform of corporate tax rather than an attack on Verizon because they are Verizon. Nevertheless, Americas largest wireless carrier isnt taking this lying down: today it has published a blog post on the matter, which opens by stating that Sanders is dead wrong on this issue. Verizon reposted a statement from Mark Mullet, Verizons vice president of Federal Government Relations. Verizons take on the matter is that any tax reform is far too significant and important a matter to be influenced by a continued campaign of misinformation. Mark stated that Verizon paid $15.6 billion in taxes in the 2014 and 2015 tax years.

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The misinformation that Verizon is talking about is something the carrier is attempting to put right. The blog on the matter explained that the carrier complies with all tax laws and pays all owed taxes. For 2015 this was over $8.4 billion, whereby $5.3 billion represents income taxes (net of any refunds the company received). $1.3 billion of this represented employment taxes and the remainder consists of property and other taxes. 2014s tax bill amounted to approximately $7.2 billion. The carrier also stated that in these two tax years it also invested nearly $35 billion bringing broadband and wireless services. The blog also says: There is wide bi-partisan agreement in Washington that the tax code is broken and needs to be fixed so that all Americans might benefit. Verizon agrees.

The blog goes on to crititize the US corporate tax regime, explaining that there are too many loopholes and these result in North American companies being uncompetitive in the world today. Verizon also explained that these tax loopholes result in inversions, which is a means for a North American company to rebase its headquarters overseas through corporate acquisition. Essentially, companies become targets for overseas businesses, which allows them to move headquarters to another location with a lower corporate tax rate. Verizon is using its blog to promote the move to encourage the US government to reduce the corporate tax rate and in doing so, to make North America a more competitive corporate environment for businesses.

For Verizon, Sanders comments come at a difficult time because around 40,000 employees were preparing to strike today, Wednesday. The Communications Workers of America said earlier in the week: Even though Verizon made $39 billion in profits over the last three years  and $1.8 billion a month in profits over the first three months of 2016  the company wants to gut job security protections, contract out more work, offshore jobs to Mexico, the Philippines and other locations and require technicians to work away from home for as long as two months without seeing their families. Verizon is also refusing to negotiate any improvements in wages, benefits or working conditions for Verizon Wireless retail workers, who formed a union in 2014. If these employees walked out, it would be the largest strike in the United States since 2011.
In 2013, Motorola released the original Moto X device, which combined higher end if not flagship components, clever software features and a stock plus interface  that is, the Moto X used a near-stock version of Googles Android with a number of embedded additional features. This trend was continued with the 2014 Motorola Moto X, which used a similar specification to earlier flagships from 2014, which included the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset, 2 GB of RAM and a 1080p AMOLED panel. The device was bundled up with a carefully optimised antenna arrangement to ensure the device received the best possible reception and data speeds, a superb microphone setup and again a near-stock user interface, which keeps things responsive and snappy. These first two generations of the Moto X were generally quick to receive their software updates, at least until both AT&T and Verizon Wireless confirmed that their carrier-branded 2014 Moto X devices were not to receive the upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Given that a typical flagship Android device can expect to receive software support, including upgrades to the current version of Android, for two years after launch this does not appear to have been a wise decision by AT&T and Verizon. For customers of the original Moto X excited to see their devices receiving the update to Android 4.4 Kit Kat around the same time as Nexus customers, where this was a reason to upgrade to the 2014 model, this is a very bitter pill to swallow  when Moto X customers from elsewhere around the world are enjoying Android Marshmallow on their devices. Its a move that has seen many customers promise never to buy another Motorola / Lenovo device again, which is a shame as it is as much the carriers fault if not more. For their part, the carriers have not completely dropped support for the device: today we have learnt that Verizon Wireless has released a software update for the Motorola Moto X.

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Verizons update brings the 2014 Moto X to software version 23.201.2 and is labelled as a security patch. This is not the update to Marshmallow; Verizon didnt change their minds and the former flagship model is still running Android 5.1 Lollipop. The 2014 Moto X remains a solid smartphone, but AT&T and Verizon branded devices could be so much better  and todays update feels somewhat insulting.
Canada has many snow birds or business workers that travel to the US with their smartphone, and while traveling, naturally they want to keep in touch with family, friends, and the office. The Canadian carriers are well aware of their situation and have developed packages or plans to help alleviate the added expense of roaming and data fees  especially with the government hearing complaints from customers about overage charges. According to internal documents our source has obtained, Wind is now offering two new promotional plans to both new and existing customer and those both on contract and off contract. These plans are designed with US roaming in mind  the Everything 45 and the Everything 60  that allow customers who frequently travel to the US a way to roam without having to purchase a monthly travel packs for an additional fee  much like Rogers Roam Like Home or Bells Roam Better or Telus US Easy Roam.

These are entirely new plans  not an add-on  so they cover your usage in both Canada and the US. The Everywhere 45 Plan gives you unlimited Canada and US calling, unlimited international texting and 5GB of data to use. While you are in the US, you get 2,400 Canada and US minutes to talk, unlimited texting, and pay-per-use data at five cents per MB. The Everywhere 60 Plan gives you the same amount of Everywhere 45 except the data is bumped up to 10GB to use in Canada and 1GB to use while in the US. Being an active Plan, not an add-on, the Everywhere 60, is good for people that must travel back and forth across the borders and do not want to be bothered about remembering to add a new travel pack each month.

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Winds pay-as-you-go roaming rates are very reasonable when compared to other Canadian carriers, so it really comes down to how much traveling you do to the US. Winds individual rates are $0.15 per minutes, $0.05 per text, and $0.05 per MB  so if you visit the US only on occasion, you might just want to pay-per-use. Just remember, those rates can quickly add up if you are staying for an extended time and do a lot of talking.
Xiaomi has announced a couple of compelling devices recently, but it seems like they dont intend on stopping anytime soon. The company has introduced their new flagship during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in February, the Mi 5. Following that announcement, the company has unveiled the Redmi 3 Pro last month, and it seems like they intend to release yet another smartphone in the near future, read on.

The Xiaomi Max and Xiaomi Pro Weibo (Chinese social network) accounts started popping up recently, and they basically suggested that Xiaomi is preparing to introduce another device (or more than one) in the near future. Well, it didnt really take Xiaomi long to confirm that, as the company has confirmed earlier today that they intend to launch a phablet device soon. That is not all though, the company has fired up a pool in which they ask for your opinion, what do you think this phablet should be called? Well, if youd like to participate, follow the source link down below. Now, some of you might say, why are they launching a new phablet when they havent released the Mi Note 2 yet? Well, who knows what Xiaomi is planning, and considering the attention Xiaomi is giving to this phablet, we do expect it to sport at least a 6-inch display, which would make it the largest Xiaomi handset ever (Mi Note & Mi Note Pro feature 5.7-inch panels).

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We dont really have lots of info when this phones specs are concerned, but there are some rumors roaming around. One particular rumor claims that the device will sport a 6.4-inch panel, and that it will be fueled by the Snapdragon 820 64-bit quad-core SoC. Now, this is possible, but its also possible that this will be Xiaomis mid-range offering, especially if they intend on releasing the Mi Note 2 this year. Which brings me to another rumor that surfaced, which says that Xiaomi intends to release the Redmi Max handset, which would be their mid-range phablet, and would also sport a 6.4-inch display, but unlike the flagship phablet, this device would ship out with the Helio X25 64-bit deca-core SoC on the inside. As you can see, the specs are based on vague rumors at this point, so take this info with a grain of salt, as its usually the case with such info.
(ANSA) - Tehran, April 12 - Premier Matteo Renzi arrived in the Iranian capital on Tuesday for the first day of a two-day visit aimed at reinforcing economic and political ties between the two countries.

The Italian leader kicked off the visit by meeting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

The Iranian head said he hoped Italy would return to being the country's leading trade partner in Europe now that nuclear-related sanctions have been lifted. "We have signed 36 memoranda of understanding and we want them to become operative," Rouhani added after a bilateral meeting with Renzi. The Italian premier's agenda also includes afternoon meetings with the chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council Hashemi Rafsanjani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On Wednesday Renzi is scheduled to sign a series of agreements and memoranda following a business forum at the chamber of commerce in Tehran, to be attended by the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

His visit comes on the heels of Rouhani's historic visit to Italy in January following the lifting of sanctions related to last year's historic nuclear deal.

An Italian delegation of 197 enterprises led by Transport and Infrastructure Minister Graziano Delrio and Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina also travelled to the majority Shia Muslim country in February. Italy is at the head of the line of countries now clamouring to do business with Iran, which aims to attract between 30 and 50 billion dollars of foreign investment each year, according to SACE sources. Following the lifting of sanctions early this year Italian exports to Iran could increase by nearly three billion euros over the next four years. Over and above international mirth over the decision to cover nude statues for Rouhani at the Campidoglio in Rome his January visit reportedly went in this direction, resulting in major contracts and bilateral agreements particullarly in the minerals, energy and infrastructure sectors as well as a joint commitment to fighting Islamic State. In addition to oil and gas, Italian companies are also looking to branch out into the transport sector (trains, aeroplanes and cars, given the need to renew a very old car fleet of 14 million vehicles). Adequate housing will also be needed to accommodate a marked growth in population - there are currently 77 million Iranians but the number is expected to rise to 100 million by 2050 - with significant room for development forecast in the construction materials and machinery sectors. Meanwhile the government has recently approved a bill ratifying a double-taxation agreement and anti-evasion measures between Italy and Iran.


(ANSA) - Rome, April 13 - General Paolo Serra, the military advisor to the UN's special representative for Libya Martin Kobler, said Wednesday that Libya needed support for reconstruction to prevent one million potential migrants from attempting to cross the Mediterranean. "In Libya there are one million potential migrants," Serra told parliament's Schengen committee.

"By helping the country to rebuild its economic, agricultural and industrial fabric, these people will no longer have cause to move". Serra also said there was a risk of terrorist sleeper cells disguising themselves among asylum seekers landing in Europe. He said that the flows of migrants from Libya could represent "a security risk, inside there could be sleeper cells".


(supersedes previous)(ANSA) - Rome, April 13 - General Paolo Serra, the military advisor to the UN special representative for Libya Martin Kobler, said Wednesday the international community must act to prevent an estimated 250,000 people from being forced to flee from Libya by year's end.

"Last year 154,000 migrants left Libya," he told a joint parliamentary foreign and defence commissions hearing. "Of those, International Organization for Migration (OIM) figures show 120,000 headed to Italy. January 2016 saw migrant numbers almost double, from 3,000 to 5,200...(this means) we could reach 250,000 by year's end if nothing is done".

Serra also qualified earlier remarks about one million migrants now in Libya. "I did not mean to say that one million people ready to take off for Italy are now in Libya," he told lawmakers.

"What I wanted to say is that before the (2011) revolution, Libya had the capacity to absorb up to a million new immigrants from Chad, Nigeria, the Sudan and so forth, who were prevalently employed in construction. Today, security conditions in Libya prevent the need for that workforce".

Serra also said there was a risk of terrorist sleeper cells disguising themselves among asylum seekers landing in Europe.


(see related) (ANSA) - Rome, April 13 - Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan has said Italy has a good record on combatting tax havens but admitted that the Panama Papers showed there was still much to be done on the international arena. "Italy is at the cutting edge in the fight against tax havens," Padoan said in an interview published in Wednesday's Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper. "At the same time, the Panama Papers show there are still many black holes in the fight against international (tax) evasion, above all in terms of the location of company structures". He also announced "formal and informal initiatives at international seats" and called for the reinforcement of the "existing international cooperation".


(ANSA) - Vatican City, April 13 - There is no saint without sin and no sinner without a future, Pope Francis said at his general audience Wednesday.

He also said it was not the healthy that needed doctors, but the sick.

In the weekly audience in St Peter's Square, where the wind ruffled his garments, blowing his mantle up into his face, Francis reflected on how Jesus came to call not the righteous, but the sinners. The pope drew from the Gospel account of Christ calling Matthew - a tax-collector and public sinner - to follow him.

Francis also issued an appeal for prayers for his upcoming trip to the Greek island of Lesbos, where he will meet with some of the tens of thousands of refugees who have passed through the island.


(ANSA) - Rome, April 13 - Premier Matteo Renzi said on a live Facebook and Twitter feed Wednesday that Italy is committed to Libya and Iran. "The key point is that our bet on Iran is not just an economic one, but also to bring it back to the international table," he said. Renzi has just returned from an official visit to Iran, where several bilateral business deals were signed. As far as Libya, where a UN-backed government of national accord has just been seated, he said "not only are we not abandoning it, but yesterday (Foreign Minister Paolo) Gentiloni went to Tripoli - he brought food and medicine, met with (Prime Minister-designate Fayez) al-Sarraj and assured him of Italy's commitment to supporting Libya. I believe that was a clear sign of what we are doing".


(ANSA) - Milan, April 13 - Italy is a "simpler" country thanks to a government Constitutional reform and it is time to stop speaking ill of the country, Premier Matteo Renzi said at the Milan furniture fair Wednesday. "With yesterday's reform we have made the country simpler, but these reforms must be linked to one clear point: let's stop speaking ill of our country," he said at the Salone del Mobile. The reform, which goes to a referendum in October on which Renzi has staked his future, turns the Senate into a leaner, regional body to end the parliamentary gridlock that has long marked Italian politics.

The prime reform is to stop speaking ill of Italy, Renzi said. "You can slam the government, you can slam me, but the first and foremost reform is you have to stop speaking ill of Italy - political infighting can't take the country and its outlook hostage," he said. "No matter what the cost we're working to recover our hope and pride as Italians. In speaking of Italy we are all committed to making sure the country regains ground. We're doing it abroad, and trying to do it in Italy".


(ANSA) - Cairo, April 13 - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Wednesday denied that Egyptian security services were behind the Cairo torture and murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni. He said those who killed the researcher were "evil people", without giving details. "There are evil people among us," he said, adding "social networks and media professionals" are to blame for pointing the finger at security services. "We announce a project, they cast doubt on it," he said. "We announce a decision, they cast doubt on it. We announce a case such as (the Regeni one) and they accuse the State".


(ANSA) - Genoa, April 13 - An Italian court on Wednesday found the country of Tunisia guilty in the assault and battery case of two Tunisian policemen who attacked two Italian colleagues in Italy in 2008. The court ordered Tunisia to pay 5,000 euros in damages to police officer Laura Tassistro after she and a male colleague were beaten up by two Tunisian officers in Genoa in November 2008. The court also sentenced each of the assailants to one year in prison.

"This is the first time a foreign State has been convicted in Italy for crimes committed by members of its law enforcement," Tassistro's lawyer Michele Ispodamia said.

"This is a groundbreaking verdict that could serve as precedent in cases for crimes against Italians abroad - beginning with the Giulio Regeni case".

The 28-year-old Italian university researcher was severely tortured and murdered in Cairo earlier this year. The lawyer also said it took a year to overcome resistance from the Italian foreign ministry to allow Tunisia to be cited in the case, in the form of its ambassador to Italy, Naceur Mestiri.

Tassistro and her colleague were beaten up after they asked the two Tunisians for their shore pass as they were coming ashore. The Tunisians refused and became belligerent, and attacked the Italians after they tried to take them both down to the police station for questioning.


Italy committed to Libya and Iran, Renzi says

(ANSAmed) - ROME, APRIL 13 - Premier Matteo Renzi said on a live Facebook and Twitter feed Wednesday that Italy is committed to Libya and Iran. "The key point is that our bet on Iran is not just an economic one, but also to bring it back to the international table," he said. Renzi has just returned from an official visit to Iran, where several bilateral business deals were signed.



As far as Libya, where a UN-backed government of national accord has just been seated, he said "not only are we not abandoning it, but yesterday (Foreign Minister Paolo) Gentiloni went to Tripoli - he brought food and medicine, met with (Prime Minister-designate Fayez) al-Sarraj and assured him of Italy's commitment to supporting Libya. I believe that was a clear sign of what we are doing".




'Visits like that of Italian FM needed', UN envoy to Libya Kobler calls on other ministers to do likewise

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, APRIL 13 - UN special envoy to Libya Martin Kobler on Wednesday praised Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni's recent visit to Libya.



In a tweet, he said that ''Gentiloni visit accompanied by delivery of medical supply for hospitals. Ppl of libya need exactly this. Deeds count more than words'' and in another one that ''Tks min.gentiloni for visit to tripoli. Great sign of solidarity for the PC and the ppl of libya. Hope other ministers will visit to support''.



PC was a reference to the presidential council under Prime Minister Designate Fayez Al-Sarraj. (ANSAmed).




Egypt criticized for 'selling' islands to Saudis Presidential decree mocked, appeals filed

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, APRIL 13 - A presidential decree by Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi selling two uninhabited but strategically important and disputed islands in the Red Sea has prompted criticism of the government.



Parliamentary discussion of the issue is shaping up to be difficult despite the fact that most of the assembly supports the head of state, while an appeal will be made to the administrative court and former presidential candidates and well known dissidents have launched an appeal and mocked the move. The giving over of the Tiran and Sanafir islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, a few kilometers east of the Sinai peninsula, was announced on Saturday as part of an ''agreement concerning maritime borders'' signed with Saudi Arabia, from which Sisi's government receives a large amount of financial support. The agreement was reached after six years of talks, during a visit that ended on Sunday by Saudi Arabia's King Salman that was included deals worth 25 billion dollars, according to an Egyptian ministry. The announcement of the ''sale'' of the islands sparked an immediate negative reaction on media and social media networks. A few days before, an agreement had also been announced for the building of a bridge between Saudi Arabia and the Sinai Peninsula, which had initially been planned in projects drawn up in 2000 and 2013 but which had never been carried out. The maritime borders agreement will ''soon'' undergo parliamentary debate, in an assembly split between those who believe that the islands have always been in Saudi territorial waters and those who think differently and want a referendum, according to the Al Ahram website. The human rights lawyer and former presidential candidae Khaled Ali told the newspaper Al Masry Al Youm in an interview that he had filed an appeal with the administrative court that will be debated on May 17. The Middle East Eye website reported that even pro-government websites had questioned the decision to sell the islands, while dozens of well known figures in the country - including the 'Nasserite' Hamdeen Sabahi, also a 2012 presidential candidate - have signed a statement against the agreement. Novelist Alaa Al-Aswani, probably from his 'exile' in Paris, said that those justifying the sale of the islands (calling them ''slaves of the sultan'') should be ashamed. Probably from the West Coast of the US - where he has lived since he deemed it impossible to continue doing televised satire in Egypt - the popular comedian Bassem Youssef instead compared Sisi to a souvenir auctioneer: ''"Roll up, roll up, the island is for a billion, the pyramid for two and a couple of statues thrown in for free''. (ANSAmed).




(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, APRIL 13 - The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has launched an awareness campaign in Tunisia alongside the justice ministry on the issue of human trafficking entitled 'Pas a Vendre' ('Not For Sale'). Five mini-films and a commercial will be shown on all national media, made by a group of 30 young students and civil society activists from Sousse with technical support from a team of multimedia experts. The aim is to awaken consciences on an issue that is still little known in Tunisia but widespread as well, as the country is a country of origin, destination and transit for human trafficking. Most of the victims at the national level are children, women and the handicapped and the top form of exploitation is ''domestic slavery'' and forced labor, followed by sexual exploitation and prostitution. Human trafficking towards foreign countries includes Tunisian women forced into slavery for domestic work, especially to Lebanon, and in West African countries and the UAE. Tunisia is also a transit country for young women from sub-Saharan Africa who are trying to get to Europe, in search of a better future, who often end up being induced by traffickers into forced domestic labor or other illegal trades. 'Pas a Vendre' is part of a series of activities by the Tunisian undertaken by the Tunisian government against human trafficking. The parliament is currently debating a draft law on the matter that is in line with international standards concerning the prevention and fight against human trafficking. Once approved, the country will serve as one of the regional models in the area on the issue. The campaign is part of the SHARE II project, which aims to support the Tunisian government in the fight against trafficking and assistance to its victims, and was developed by the Tunisian branch of IOM in collaboration with numerous government and non-governmental organizations, receiving partial funding from the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP) of the US State Department. (ANSAmed).


IMF: upgrades forecast for Serbia's economic growth to 1.8 %

(ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, 13 APRIL - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised this year's forecast for Serbia's economic growth by 0.05 percentage points to 1.8 percent, it was said in the IMF spring meetings.



According to the IMF data Serbia is expected to post an economic growth of 2.3 percent in 2017.



By 2021, the IMF expects the balance of payments deficit to drop below the level of 4 percent of GDP. As for the jobless rate, the IMF expectation is that from 18.5 percent in 2015 it will reach 18.7 percent in 2016, and 18.9 percent in 2017.



(ANSAmed).




(ANSAmed) - NAPLES, APRIL 13 - The Mediterranean dolphin is at risk and researchers from the area will be sharing information on its habits, habitat and social organization to help preserve it.



Starting on Wednesday and through Friday, a conference for this purpose will be held on the Italian island of Ischia by Oceanomare Delphis Onlus, which promotes awareness and conservation practices of cetaceans and marine biodiversity, in collaboration with the Malta-based Biology Conservation Research Foundation and Switzerland-headquartered OceanCare.



The need for researchers to work together has come after alarming data in recent years show that Delphinus Delphis - which until a few years ago was common throughout the entire Mediterranean and was the most numerous of cetaceans in the area - in in decline in the entire central and eastern parts of the sea, except for in the Alboran Sea between Spain and Morocco. The sharp drop over the past decades has raised conservation issues for the species and the sub-population of the Mediterranean dolphin was listed in 2003 as an endangered species on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The inclusion of the endangered species was on the basis of the A2 criteria, which refers to a decline of 50% in abundance over the last three generations, the cause of which ''may not have ceased or may not be understood or reversible''. Scientists from across the Mediterranean will be taking part in the three days and will discuss the life of dolphins, starting from the eating habits of those living off the coast of Israel, as illustrated by University of Haifa professor Dan Kerem. Researchers from Libya, France, the UK, Malta, Spain, the UAE, Algeria and Slovenia will be arriving on Ischia to exchange knowledge on the Mediterranean dolphin and to combine scientific and conservation efforts for the species at the local, national and international levels. The event aims to both take stock of the situation of the species as well as find mechanisms to launch new collaborations, activities and projects. (ANSAmed).


ROME - General Paolo Serra, the military advisor to the UN special representative for Libya Martin Kobler, said Wednesday the international community must act to prevent an estimated 250,000 people from being forced to flee from Libya by year's end.



"Last year 154,000 migrants left Libya," he told a joint parliamentary foreign and defence commissions hearing. "Of those, International Organization for Migration (OIM) figures show 120,000 headed to Italy. January 2016 saw migrant numbers almost double, from 3,000 to 5,200...(this means) we could reach 250,000 by year's end if nothing is done".



Serra also qualified earlier remarks about one million migrants now in Libya. "I did not mean to say that one million people ready to take off for Italy are now in Libya," he told lawmakers.



"What I wanted to say is that before the (2011) revolution, Libya had the capacity to absorb up to a million new immigrants from Chad, Nigeria, the Sudan and so forth, who were prevalently employed in construction. Today, security conditions in Libya prevent the need for that workforce".

Serra underscored that Libya needed support for reconstruction to prevent one million potential migrants from attempting to cross the Mediterranean. "In Libya there are one million potential migrants. "By helping the country to rebuild its economic, agricultural and industrial fabric, these people will no longer have cause to move".

Serra also said there was a risk of terrorist sleeper cells disguising themselves among asylum seekers landing in Europe. He said that the flows of migrants from Libya could represent "a security risk, inside there could be sleeper cells".
Libya: ISIS suicide attack east of Misrata At least one dead and four injured in shooting

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, APRIL 13 - A suicide attack was carried out on Wednesday at a checkpoint east of Misrata that killed at least one and injured four, according to the television station Skynews Arabia. The broadcaster said that the attack had been conducted by the Islamic State (ISIS) and that it had been preceded by shooting between those guarding the checkpoint (at the Al-Saddada port') and ISIS members. Checkpoints east of Misrata - a key city during the Libya uprising and of the new national unity government - have been attacked several times by ISIS. (ANSAmed).




BEIRUT - Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad and his wife Asma on Wednesday cast their ballots in Damascus near the Al-Assad library during the parliamentary elections held despite the ongoing war. Reports were from state-run news agency SANA. The voting began at 7 AM (8 AM in Italy) and will end a 7 PM.



Some 3,500 candidates were approved by the government for 250 seats, while 7,000 withdrew. Opposition groups and Western leaders consider the voting a 'farce' as talks are set to begin on Wednesday that are meant to lead to a transitional government and then elections.
STRASBOURG - European Council President Donald Tusk told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday that the EU was ready to support Italy with the asylum-seeker crisis. "After the solution on the front of the Balkan route we know that the central Mediterranean one may reopen," Tusk said.



"We are ready to show solidarity to Italy and Malta". A new agreement between Brussels and Ankara has come into force to ease the asylum-seeker crisis which will see, among other things, economic migrants being sent to Turkey in exchange for the EU accepting Syrian refugees currently in Turkey.



"Without the agreement with Turkey, the Schengen (border-free system within the EU) would have collapsed," Tusk said. "It would have been political chaos and we would have had populism advancing". There is currently tension between the EU and Vienna over Austria's moves to reinforce controls at its border with Italy at the Brenner Pass, including via the construction of a new barrier.
UN envoy to meet Syrian opposition at Geneva talks After trips to Tehran and Damascus

(ANSAmed)- GENEVA, APRIL 13 - UN special envoy for Syria Staffan De Mistura on Wednesday will meet in Geneva with the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) of the Syrian opposition. The meeting, which will mark the resumption of the UN-brokered talks for peace in Syria, will occur in the late afternoon, according to a UN statement. De Mistura has recently traveled to Tehran and Damascus for talks with the authorities aiming to give new life to the talks in Geneva, which will have to deal with the crucial issue of a political transition in Damascus, he said. (ANSAmed).




US readies 'plan B' to arm moderate rebels if truce fails Reports WSJ

(ANSAMED) - ROME, APRIL 13 - The CIA and its regional partners have drawn up plans to supply more powerful weapons to the most moderate rebel groups in Syria if a shaky ceasefire in effect in the country falls through, reported the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Wednesday.



The newspaper cited US officials and other sources. The 'plan B' would focus on providing rebels with anti-aircraft systems that could help with attacks against Syrian regime aircraft and artillery positions. In February, the WSJ reported that President Barack Obama's military and intelligence advisors were putting pressure on the White House to draw up a new plan against Russia's presence in Syria. Since then, new details have emerged on the nature of the artillery that might be used on the basis of the plan. The WSJ reports that the preparations were discussed during a secret meeting between Middle East intelligence chiefs shortly before the ceasefire came into effect on February 27. Coalition members agreed on the details of the 'plan B' at those meetings, while the White House still has to approve the list of specific weapons that can be introduced into the battlefield. US officials said that the CIA told its allies that the new systems, once the agreement was reached, would be given to the rebels only if the ceasefire and simultaneous political process for a lasting peace were to fall through, with widespread fighting in Syria resulting. A US official stressed that the administration's goal at the moment is to bring hostilities to an end and make sure that peace talks continue. (ANSAmed).




Frightening revelations on the Daily Summary: The children in Arges did not die because of the E.coli

The shocking allegations of a mother who lost her daughter after she got sick in Arges , in the infections wave that scandalized the whole country.

Ioana was barely a year old and died at the Marie Curie Hospital in Bucharest in February, after two days of undergoing dialysis.

The family accuses doctors that they were too quick to put her on dialysis, although the child showed signs of recovery.

According to parents, physicians havent looked for signs of other sources of illness than the hemolytic uremic syndrome. Another bacterium would have actually attacked the girl's lungs.

Little Ioana died from pneumonia.In response, doctors at Marie Curie say it is a criminal investigation following which they will make statements.

Prosecutors have started investigations on charges of manslaughter.

The grief stricken grandmother is asking for explanations as to Ioanas death.

I did not understand anything from the answers received. I still do not know what killed Ioana. Nobody told me: for this child we did everything we could. Nobody knows how these children got sick, "said Ioanas grandmother, Sunday on the Daily Summary.

Official documents show no signs of E.coli.

Ioanas grandmother spoke to the Health Minister, Patriciu Achimas-Cadariu.

 He was not able to answer to anything I have asked him. First he told me he was a doctor and that he studied at the medical school. But he could not. He seemed weak to me, the woman said.

 I asked why they did not set up a crisis cell earlier. He could not give me an answer. I asked why he did not show up at the Marie Curie hospital to see the children, because thats where they were, not in Pitesti, and he said: Madam I kept in touch, it was all under control, Ioanas grandmother said.













According to her, the Marie Curie hospital was understaffed. "The weekend killed the child and the she was treated in intensive care. There was nobody in charge of the child (...). Her mother and I spoke in vain. Nobody even noticed us. "

Who is guilty for the deaths of children suffering from hemolytic uremic syndrome?

 Nobody asked us what kind of cheese the child ate. There was no epidemiologic investigation carried out in our home(...). No measure was taken until the child could not brie the , the grandmother accused.

Asked if he thought the health system knew the truth about the death of children, she said, "they know but wont tell."

 The truth is being hidden. Several authorities are involved. Some would not lose their position and others are incapable, she accused

Ioanas mother doubt that the truth about her daughters death will ever be known.

The painful outcry of a mother who does not know why her child died: "We are treated like in the third world!"




Oman Airs chief executive officer Paul Gregorowitsch said: On behalf of Oman Air, I am delighted to be joined by so many frequent flyers already to celebrate the launch of our new service between Muscat and London. This is one of Oman Airs flagship routes and our second daily frequency is a clear indication of the strong demand for flights between these two great cities. As a result of this new service, many thousands more travellers will be able to visit Oman and discover its remarkable beauty and warm hospitality, or continue on to one of Oman Airs many other exciting destinations. In addition, customers will enjoy even more choice and convenience as they travel to London from any point within our rapidly-growing network. In addition with our double daily flights to London we offer now superb connectivity on the North Atlantic, with major cities in the USA and Canada in reach with short connection times at London Heathrow within three hours.

Furthermore, the depth of the relationship between the Sultanate of Oman and the United Kingdom is clearly illustrated by the presence at our celebration of His Excellency Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Zahir Al Hinai, the Omani Ambassador. Oman Airs new service will further strengthen the long-held economic and political ties between the two countries.

It has been an honour to share our celebrations with His Excellency, with John Holland-Kaye of Heathrow Airport, and with so many of our vital partners within Britains travel trade.

It has also been a real pleasure to join so many of our loyal and valued customers aboard the inaugural flight and we hope that our free wi-fi offer makes an already superb passenger experience even better.

The new service flies through the night, departing Muscat at 01.25 and arriving in London Heathrow Terminal 4 at 06.30. Return flights depart Heathrow Terminal 4 at 08.25 and arrive in Muscat at 18.55. All timings quoted are local. The service therefore enables highly attractive short connection times to major USA Cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Toronto in Canada.
Qatar Airways award-winning service to Boston is operated non-stop daily with the state-of-the-art Airbus A350. The airline was the global launch customer of the aircraft, and operates the A350 to Munich, Philadelphia, Singapore, and will start operating to Adelaide in Australia from next month. There are currently eight Airbus A350s in the fleet, with a further 72 to be delivered.

Al Baker rsaid: We have introduced the worlds newest aircraft to Boston and look forward to providing all of our passengers on this route with a memorable journey that provides a superior inflight experience.

He added: Boston is a key city for business and leisure travellers and total comfort and hospitality is point of focus, in particular as the US market means that our passengers are travelling long- and ultra-long haul. Our entire customer experience is focused on the details, on all aircraft types. Qatar Airways has the youngest international fleet in the world, averaging just five years old, and our experience is second to none."

Ed Freni, Massports director of Aviation, said: We are pleased Qatar Airways, recognised by Skytrax as 2015s Airline of the Year, is coming to Boston. This is yet another affirmation of the importance of the regional economy to the global economy. People from around the world come here for education, for health care, for business and for fun and we are proud that Logan Airport is New Englands gateway to the world.
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William Wylers anti-macho Western The Big Country, which is remarkable for its imposing visual beauty and sonorous musical score, makes it to the (relatively) big screen at the New York Historical Society (as in bigger than your flatscreen TV but smaller than the screens it was made for back in 1958).

The movie is also remarkable for a lot more than its lush production  not least the way it debunked the Western cliche of score-settling violence. All of this is likely to be discussed by Wylers daughter, the documentary film producer Catherine Wyler, who will introduce the screening on Friday in conversation with HBOs Susan Lacy (best known for creating the American Masters series on PBS).

Some background: It was 1956. Wyler had long since earned the right to independence. But even as his career and reputation thrived, all his attempts to gain total control of his pictures  in deals with Liberty, Paramount, and now Allied Artists  had fallen short. So Wyler decided to join forces in a venture with Gregory Peck, who had become a close friend. Peck announced that they would make a comedy, Thieves Like Us, about an art heist of El Greco and Titian masterworks from the Prado in Madrid.

This thing didnt happen out of the blue, Peck told me when I interviewed him for my Wyler biography, A Talent for Trouble . Willy and I had grown very close. We spent holidays together at Sun Valley with our families. We were always dining out together. It would be the Wylers at the Pecks or the Pecks at the Wylers. [Our wives] Veronique and Talli really liked each other. We were a foursome. Wed been together in Rome [making Roman Holiday], and wed been very happy. The idea of doing that again in Madrid seemed quite appealing.

But the script for Thieves Like Us didnt work out, and the project was dropped.

Then James Webb, a screenwriter whod co-written many Westerns, brought Peck a story by Donald Hamilton, Ambush at Blanco Canyon, which was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post and later expanded into a novel, The Big Country. I took the story to Willy, Peck said, and asked him what he thought of making a big-scale Western. I told him I thought there were half a dozen very good parts, so we could do some great casting. I also thought the theme would appeal to him. It was kind of an anti-macho Western. The setup seemed perfect. Peck had a development deal with United Artists, which would finance and distribute the picture, but he and Wyler would be the bosses. The pair divided their producing responsibilities and formed separate companies. Wylers was World Wide Productions; Pecks was Anthony Productions, named for his infant son. Wyler would be in charge of all things artistic. Peck would have casting and script approval, and he would handle the ranching aspects of the picture: hire the wranglers, rent the livestock, choose the horses, in effect serve as foreman.

But that was the beginning of their difficulties, and it complicated the making of The Big Country. I cover the entire story  the troubles between Wyler and Peck that ensued on and off the set, the making of the movie, and its mixed reception  in the biography.

Postscript: British film professor Neil Sinyards appreciation of The Big Country in his brilliant book on Wylers movies, A Wonderful Heart, is the best Ive read.
All the latest Ashbourne news. Ashbourne is an historic market town in Derbyshire. Situated on the southern edge of the Peak District, it is known as the 'Gateway to Dovedale' and the 'Gateway to the Peak District'. Ashbourne is famous for the annual Royal Shrovetide Football Match, which has been played since at least 1667, although its origins may date back centuries earlier. Ashbourne became a Fairtrade town in March 2005. The popular Tissington Trail, which follows the route of the former Ashbourne to Buxton railway, starts on the edge of town. Keep up to date with the latest news from the town by signing up for our newsletter.
by Mathias Hariyadi

The two students are the first Mentawai islanders to get a degree in education through a programme funded by a Catholic charity and the Diocese of Padang. Their home islands are the countrys remotest and most undeveloped region. Trained in Central java, they are on their way home, where educational levels are very low.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  Mespin and Merpin are the first two Mentawai islanders to become primary school teachers thanks to the Love Humanity Devotional Group (Kelompok Bakti Kasih Kemanusiaan or KBKK), a Catholic charity that funded their studies for more than three years.

For the two, becoming educators where we live "is something out of context. Through intensive guidance and counselling, our motivation to develop our home island was boosted. Such a good idea could only be done effectively through education.

Now they are ready to go home and teach in Mentawai Islands, west of Sumatra, one of Indonesias most isolated and undeveloped areas.

The islands are some 62 nautical miles from Padang, the nearest town of some importance. To reach it, it takes 10 hours by boat. In 2010, an earthquake followed by a tsunami hit the islands, and many people lost their homes.

Due to the islands isolation, educational levels tend to be low. Teachers tend to be underqualified, as the better ones seek employment in better schools, elsewhere in the country.

In 2013, the KBKK launched a project to improve education on the islands, funding the training of five students, three men and two women, in Central Java.

The Diocese of Padang, the Jesuit-run Sanata Dharma University in Yogyakarta (where the students trained), and some priests on the Mentawai Islands backed the initiative.

For the five students leaving their region to go to Java was a real culture shock. They had never left the Mentawai, and none of them had an identity card. They knew nothing about Javanese food or language, which are very different from their own.

Mespin and Merpin completed their studies in three and a half years, faster than the average. A third student, Aris, will graduate this October.

The students realise that they could not have plunged into this adventure without the help of many people, invisible hands that followed their steps towards their education.

The KBKK raised the money to fund their studies. Linda Dharmali from Padang made possible their flight to Jakarta and then Yogyakarta. The Prayoga Foundation in the Diocese of Padang found them a position in Mentawai schools where they will teach.

According to KBKK, Mespin and Merpin are the first who will benefit from this programme; however, the latter is expected to go on for years. Currently, eight other students are on a scholarship to pursue their studies in education, the group said.
The meeting comes at a time of "great tensions" between Lebanon and the region's governments. For the local Church, it is "very important" to understand "the fate" of workers, who should be protected because they "have nothing to do with political tensions." At least 50,000 Lebanese live and work in the Gulf States.

Beirut (AsiaNews)  Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is expected to meet tomorrow morning with the Ambassadors of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) the status of Lebanese expatriates in the Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar).

The cardinal invited the diplomats to Bkerke, see of the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate, as part of routine meetings that he holds with the representatives of regional and international powers.

The audience is "very important" because it comes at a time of "great tensions" between Lebanon and the Gulf countries, Patriarchate sources said.

In fact, as relations deteriorate, the regions governments have threatened to expel Lebanese nationals and block their bank accounts.

Recently, Saudi Arabia halted US$ 4 billion in assistance to the Lebanese army and security forces, and GCC states labelled Hezbollah a terrorist organisation.

Earlier this month, the United Arab Emirates jailed three Lebanese for setting up a group affiliated with the Lebanese Shia movement. After serving a six-month sentence, they will be expelled.

Lebanons Hezbollah is the main cause of disagreement. The Saudis and the Gulf States loathe the Shia armed group, whose influence has grown in Lebanon over the past few decades.

Backed by Iran, the group has come to the rescue of Syrian President Assad in his fight against the al-Nusra Front (Al-Qaeda) and the Islamic State (IS) group, inflicting major defeats on them.

Last month, the Arab League declared the Lebanese Shia group as terrorist, following an earlier decision by the Gulf monarchies for the groups alleged interference in Yemen and Iraq.

At a critical time for diplomatic, government and economic relations, Cardinal Rahi decided to intervene in person to discuss the conditions of Lebanese in the Arab Gulf, and to ask about their fate. In his view, expatriates should be protected because they have nothing to do with the political tensions.

Some 50,000 Lebanese nationals live in the Gulf States, providing remittances that are vital to the countrys economy.

Discussions are also expected to touch on Lebanons ongoing presidential saga. Under the countrys constitution, the office is reserved for a Christian, but for the past two years, the Lebanese parliament has failed to elect a new president.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis is going to Lesbos "along with my brothers the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew and the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Hieronymos, to express sympathy and solidarity with refugees and the citizens of Lesbos and all the Greek people who are so generous in their welcome. Accompany me with your prayer, said the Pope after the general audience, dedicated today to the call of Matthew.

The Pope observed "he was a tax collector and therefore considered a public sinner. But Jesus called him to follow him and become his disciple". This call causes scandal among the Pharisees and disciples, because they believe Christ should not sit with sinners, or call them to be his disciples: "By calling Matthew, Jesus shows sinners that does not look at their past, their social condition or external conventions, but rather he opens a new future for them. I once heard a nice saying: 'There is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future'. This is what Jesus does".



The Church, he said is not a perfect community, but disciples on a journey, who follow the Lord because they know that they are sinners and in need of his forgiveness. The Christian life then is a school of humility that opens us to grace".



This behavior is incomprehensible to those who, with presumption, believe themselves better than others: "Arrogance and pride will not allow them recognize they are in need of salvation, in fact, they are unable to see the merciful face of God and to act with mercy. They have a wall. Arrogance and pride are a wall that prevents their relationship with God. Yet, Jesus mission is this: To come looking for each of us to heal our wounds and call us to follow him with love. "



If the Pharisees see only the invited sinners and refuse to sit with them "Jesus, by contrast reminds them that they too are Gods guests. In this way, sitting at the table with Jesus means to be transformed by Him and saved. In the Christian community Jesus table is twofold: there is the table of the Word and there is the table of the Eucharist (cf. Dei Verbum, 21). These are the medicine with which the Divine Physician heals us and feeds us. With the first - the Word - he reveals himself and invites us to a dialogue between friends. Jesus was not afraid to talk to sinners, publicans, prostitutes ... No, he was not afraid; he loved them all! His Word penetrates us, and like a scalpel, operates deep to free us from the evil that lurks in our lives".



Sometimes, Francis continued, "this Word is painful because it intrudes on hypocrisies, unmasks false excuses, exposes the hidden truth; but at the same time illuminates and purifies, it gives strength and hope, it is a precious tonic on our journey of faith. The Eucharist, in turn, feeds us the very life of Jesus and, as a powerful remedy, in a mysterious way continually renews the grace of our baptism. Approaching the Eucharist we are nourished by the Body and Blood of Jesus, and yet, coming to us, it is Jesus who unites us with his Body".



Closing the dialogue with the Pharisees, Jesus recalls the prophet Hosea: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice." Jesus concluded the pope, " also applies this prophetic sentence to human relationships: those Pharisees were very religious in form but were not willing to share the table with publicans and sinners. They did not recognize the possibility of a reformation and thus a healing. They do not put mercy in first place while being faithful custodians of the law, they show the di not know the heart of God! It is as if your parents gave you a package containing a gift and you, instead of going to look for the gift, just look at the paper in which it is wrapped: only appearances, form, and not the fact of the grace, the gift that is given.
Polling stations will be open throughout the day today. The vote takes place in a third of the country, home to 60% of the population. The opposition deserts the polls. 3,500 candidates vying for 250 seats. The party of President Assad launches the slogan "The elections of resistance". The WFP underscores the importance of respite for the distribution of aid.

Damascus (AsiaNews / Agencies)  Polling stations for parliamentary elections have opened this morning In areas controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a vote that has been deserted by the opposition which considers them illegitimate.

Voting got underway at 7am in about a third of the country, home to 60% of the Syrian population. Polling stations will be open for 12 hours, provided that government officials do not decide to extend the opening hours "because of the crowds".



The vote coincided with the start of the second round of indirect UN brokered peace talks in Geneva (Switzerland). The goal is to end the conflict and ensure a permanent peace. However, the future of President Assad remains the stumbling block between the parties.

Returning to the vote today in Syria, analysts and experts predict an easy victory of the Presidents Baath party guaranteeing his future control of Parliament. This is the second vote in the country since the war began in March 2011, which in five years has caused at least 270 thousand deaths and millions displaced, giving rise to an unprecedented humanitarian emergency.

11,341 candidates applied to compete in todays elections for one of the 250 seats in Parliament. After an initial screening 3,500 people were chosen, while others have abandoned the race because - explains the head of the Electoral Commission Hisham al-Shaar  they knew "they have no chance of winning." The slogan used by the ruling party on billboards and campaign posters read: "The elections of resistance".



Meanwhile, on the humanitarian front the World Food Program (WFP) is warning that there is a renewed escalation of violence in the country, which threatens to undermine the fragile ceasefire in place since February 27. A new spiral of fighting could hamper the delivery of aid and food to areas long under siege, where the population is facing severe food difficulties.

In an interview with AFP Matthew Hollingworth stresses that the ceasefire "was important" because it gave people not only food but "also hope". The end of the truce, he adds, would "destroy this hope". Last month, thanks to the ceasefire (which does not concern the Islamic State and other extremist groups such as al Nusra Front), the United Nations has been able to deliver aid to 83 thousand people in the most vulnerable areas, much of 53 thousand in February when the conflict was still raging.

The senior UN official concludes that the governments of Germany, Russia, Italy, Holland and the United States have been the most committed to aid distribution.
A survey of 3,500 young people from 16 countries of the region reveals that the majority is against Isis. 77% worried about the fate of the region. Only 15% believe that Daesh will reach the goal of creating an Islamic State. But experts warn: IS violence reflects a persistent unease. Worries about unemployment.

Beirut (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The majority of young people in the Arab countries "strongly rejects" the philosophy and actsof Daesh [Arabic acronym for Isis] and is convinced that the jihadist movement "will fail in its attempt to found an Islamic state".

This is revealed in a recently published survey of at least 3500 boys and girls from 16 different Arab nations of the Middle East. The questionnaire - 180 questions - also reveals that 50% of respondents felt the fundamentalist movement is the "greatest obstacle" facing the region. 77% also expressed "concern" about the fate of the area compared to 37% last year, confirming a worsening of the general picture.

The survey results were presented during a press conference in Dubai, in the context of an annual event (Asda's Burson-Marsteller) that traces the situation for young people in the Arab countries. Respondents are young people (50% each) between 18 and 24 years, interviewed in January and February by the US research group Penn Schoen Berland.



The authors of the survey, which to date is the most extensive in this area, explain that only one in six (15% approximately) believes that the terrorist group will succeed in the aim of establishing an Islamic State in the Arab world; by contrast, 76% believe the jihadist movement will fail.



Despite growing concerns, the "tacit" support for Daesh is decreasing in the Arab world, with 78% of young respondents rejecting the ideology of the group even if you change your tactics. Only 13% (down from 19% last year) is a convinced supporter of the jihadists, provided the movement dampen the violent tone of its actions. In addition, the young people are convinced that the high level of unemployment is the decisive factor that draws new followers to the Islamic State. 24% say this is the "main reason" for its attraction to young people, while one in four does not understand why anyone would join the extremist group.

The ILO data (International Labour Organization) confirms that there are 75 million people without a job in Arab countries. All this generates pessimism and the desire for redemption in movements and extremist ideologies, struggling against the governments [deemed incapable and corrupt].

Other reasons for Daeshs success are its interpretation of Islam, seen as superior to others (18%), sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shiites (17%) and the growth of Western ideas and secular values " in the region (15%).

Analysts and experts warn that although the attitude towards the Islamic State and its violent practices is changing, there are still unresolved issues on the ground that are pushing the people, particularly young people, to different forms of redemption and rebellion.

Hassan Hassan, Middle East scholar and co-author of "Isis: Inside the Army of Terror" confirms that "many" do not share Daeshs actions but the group takes on the "real and unresolved problems." In reality, the jihadist movement is a symptom of the "growing unease" which instead should be countered. The academic believes that military and intelligence responses are not enough against Isis, because the organization uses "the economic, social and religious failures" of the leaders of the region and the West. "Daesh can also weaken and disappear - he concludes - but the disease remains and other such groups will emerge in the future if it is not resolved.
The sensitive data of 55 million registered Filipino voters, including 1.3 million passport numbers of Filipinos overseas and 15.8 million records of fingerprints, were compromised following the hacking of the Commission of Election's (Comelec) website, said a tech security firm.

Taiwanese firm TrendMicro, founded in 1988, published on April 6 that every registered voter in the Philippines is now vulnerable to fraud and other risks based on its investigation.

Last March 27, hacktivist group Anonymous Philippines hacked the poll body's website, asking Comelec to make sure the PCOS have security features in place.

Hours later, another group named Lulzsec Pilipinas, posted Comelecs entire database and leaked it on Facebook, with three mirror links to download the database, CNN Philippines said.

But Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez downplayed the effect of the hack, saying no sensitive information was compromised during the hacking and the website to be used for the election results reporting will be a different one from its website.

TrendMicro countered Comelec's statement saying that its investigations showed a huge number of sensitive personal identifiable information (PII), including passport information and its expiry dates, were included in the data dump.

"Our research showed that massive records of PII, including fingerprints data, were leaked. Included in the data COMELEC deemed public was a list of COMELEC officials that have admin accounts."

The tech security firm expressed its concern on the data breach, saying that the information can be used to extort the affected citizens.

"Cybercriminals can choose from a wide range of activities to use the information gathered from the data breach to perform acts of extortion. In previous cases of data breach, stolen data has been used to access bank accounts, gather further information about specific persons, used as leverage for spear phishing emails or BEC schemes, blackmail or extortion, and much more," said TrendMicro.

Comelec's Jimenez said on Twitter that the poll body has yet to check the firm's sources and what it claims to have studied.

For the May 9, 2016 polls, around 55 million Filipinos were registered as voters, while active Filipino voters abroad reached 1.4 million  the total is the largest number of registered voters the country has seen so far.

The defacement of the Comelec website by a hacker group called Anonymous Philippines happened at near midnight on March 27. In a message to the government, the group said they want the poll body to implement tighter security measures on the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to be used in the May 9 polls.

"But what happens when the electoral process is mired with questions and controversies? Can the government still guarantee that the sovereignty of the people is upheld?" the hackers posted in the defaced Comelec website.

A report from online news site Rappler said a second hacker group called LulzSec Pilipinas posted within day an online link to the Comelecs whole database. The following day, the group also reportedly updated the post to add three mirror links to an index of files that could be downloaded.

Trend Micro said the leak may turn out as the biggest government-related data breach in history, surpassing the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hack in 2015 that leaked personally identifiable information (PII), including fingerprints and social security numbers (SSN) of 20 million US citizens.

While the Comelec has given assurances to the public the day after the hacks that the no sensitive information was compromised and the country's second automated polls will be secure, the securty firm believes otherwise.
Photo caption: View of Vancouver West End and mountains at sunset./ Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons CC

By Will Tao

Special to The Post

The foreign-ownership and housing affordability debate is currently the most reported and talked about socio-political issue in the City of Vancouver.

Truthfully, for those of us who care immensely about this citys future, it is not an easy conversation. Regardless of partisan politics or ethnic background or even financial wealth, few would disagree that some form of a solution is needed urgently to address the growing concern of working class Vancouver families and professionals.

Browsing through the foreign ownership studies and anecdotal stories over the past year, I cannot help but feel very conflicted on a personal level. I am a young lawyer in Vancouver, earning a decent salary. However, when I subtract my expenses and debts, I too could become someone who will be renting in Vancouver, living paycheck to paycheck with no guarantee of any future ownership prospects.

Yet, I am fortunate. I am painfully aware that many families with young children cannot even afford rent, let alone food or clothing.

The west side

My interpretation of the foreign ownership debate is influenced by my self-identification as a Chinese-Canadian born in Canada. I have lived at home much of my life. My home happens to be on the much-discussed west side of Vancouver.

My parents, both naturalized Canadian citizens, immigrated to Canada from China in the late 80s, carrying with them non-anglicized names that they never changed. In fact, my legal name is itself non-anglicized (the Chinese name comes first). According to current name-analysis study methods, my parents would be classified as foreign owners even though they have been Canadian citizens for over two decades.

I can also anecdotally report that there are many families like mine all across the city: Asian-Canadian families that have been in this country long enough that the tag of foreign should not logically apply. Yet, I have also noticed a trend of more recent arrivals.

However, many of these individuals, too, are legally Canadian. They hold permanent resident cards; many of them have also obtained citizenship, and aside from the length of time spent here, they are as Canadian as you and I. This begs the question, what separates a foreign owner from a Canadian owner? Can we even tell the difference?

Media narrative

I suggest that the current media narrative is incomplete. My story of how we ended up on the west side, living in homes that are now valued at over a million dollars, does not square with the current brouhaha around "wealth and investment".

As second-generation Canadians or Canadians who arrived in their early years, or, in some cases, in late high school, our families worked long hours, multiple jobs, and moved from basement to basement. My parents, like many other immigrant parents, sacrificed their own material well-being, rarely taking family vacations and working full-time jobs, to be able to afford a house in Vancouver.

Many of our parents successfully started businesses in Canada, often taking risks after periods of under-employment or under-recognition in the mainstream economy. They gave their businesses ethnic-sounding names to honour their immigrant roots or their intended client base. These businesses often focused on export-import, providing language-specific services, including a global trade element.

These businesses, along with immigration to Vancouver, flourished in the late 90s and early 2000s. Ironically, some of these businesses (restaurants, consultancies, and sole proprietorships) are the very Canadian ones newspaper columns and some community commentators are targetting for carrying ethnic names.

"Astronaut families"

Another trend among these families is that several of them (my late father included) had a family member return to China to pursue economic opportunity. On paper, this may sound like an astronaut family, a term that has taken on a somewhat derogatory tone for the over privileged children and wives that the parent supposedly left behind.

However, for a majority of families that I know, economic opportunity, leadership positions and a salary more in keeping with what they deserved, were beyond reach, leading them to take the life-altering decision to leave Vancouver. Working abroad in global companies that respected their ability to understand both cultures, doubled and tripled their compensation and even more importantly, rewarded them with management positions.

Ironically, my generation (similar to my parents' generation) is now facing similar challenges in the local job market. The Toronto Star recently reported on how having a non-anglicized name or ethnic resume has led to challenges obtaining employment.

It is no surprise that with these barriers many Canadian-born and -raised graduates and professionals are pursuing career opportunities overseas, earning higher incomes. Many of these individuals are returning to Vancouver when they are financially stable, buying condos and houses, partners and children in tow.

The problem then becomes, who are these so-called foreign-owners? In my opinion, it cannot be as simple as searching up non-anglicized names in a real estate registry. Any attempts to levy taxes or penalties must inevitably transcend race, ethnicity, and country of origin to be consistent with fundamental Canadian values and rights.

Will Tao is a Canadian Immigration Lawyer at Larlee Rosenberg, Barristers and Solicitors, in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is also a director at New Canadian Media.

This piece was originally appeared in New Canadian Media (newcanadianmedia.ca). See http://www.newcanadianmedia.ca/item/34256-name-calling-in-vancouver
By Sherman Chan,

Special to The Post

We had Glutinous Rice Balls with peanuts and sesame seeds, House Special Grass Jelly and Black Sesame & Walnut Paste. I liked the rice balls because they were soft, lightly chewy, and not too sweet.

Doolami has the best shaved ice in town.They make everything in house and dont use additives. We had Strawberry and Mango shaved ice. Fluffy, light, a bit creamy, the ice was on point. The strawberries were on the tangier side. As for the mango, they are always fresh.

We also had the Papaya. I liked the balanced tartness and sweetness of mango. It wasn't too "papaya"-tasting. All of the shaved ice paled in comparison to the Golden Dragon Fruit.This ice was mouth-watering sweet, bright and refreshing. It was pure luxury.

We had their CRA-award winning Mango Sago. It was mildly sweet and fresh. Big chunks of fresh mango, tapioca pearls and grapefruit added more flavour. The Durian Sago Cream was even creamier. The deep flavours of the durian really came through though but not overwhelming.

The natural Ice Cream is the real draw at Doolami. We had the Durian ice cream which rich, light and airy with the pungent sweetness. The Matcha had an immediate hit of green tea that gave way to a touch of sweetness, then ended with a mild bitterness.

We also tried the Blueberry Lavender. They didnt overdo the lavender so I could actually taste blueberries.The waffle cone bowl was a treat. Quality and commitment in crafting naturally-flavoured desserts ensures that I will be coming back.

Doolami

8030 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC

The Good:

 All natural and fresh ingredients

 Not heavy-handed with the sugar

 Textures are spot on

The Bad:

 For this quality, you will need to visit and ATM

Sherman Chan is the #1 ranked food blogger on the Vancouver portal of Urbanspoon.com. Read more of his reviews at www.shermansfoodadventures.com.
How To Stand Out On Social Media

Unhappy At Work? These Tips Can Help You Become A Social Media Star

With over 6.4 million followers on Vine, content creator David Lopez knows a thing or two about standing out on social media. The 28-year-old Southern California native specializes in producing short-form comedic videos featuring creative characters and slapstick humor. Lopez has partnered with Unilever (the personal care brand behind AXE) for its #100PorCientoTu campaign and was a featured speaker at Hispanicize, an annual event for Latino trendsetters in media and tech.

We chatted with Lopez to find out how he found success and get his tips on growing a following on various platforms. [It] was very random, I would say. I like to tell jokes and I like to express myself through my comedy, and then Vine came along. I downloaded the app and started making videos, then grew a following, he says. For a year, it was only Vine. Then I started [using] Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. And it's really cool, since I can now do long-form comedy, and it's a better way to show who I am.

"When someone can't accept they're a horrible driver" @jaymendoza A video posted by David Lopez (@davidlopezfilms) on Apr 8, 2016 at 3:18pm PDT

RELATED: Stop Making These Social Media Mistakes If You Want To Be A Success Story

The transition between different social platforms was pretty smooth for him. I would say Twitter was the hardest one because it was just words. But then the visuals came in," says the Vine star. When he first started getting recognized by strangers, he felt nervous and shocked. I never would've thought that someone would stop me to take a picture with me. I never thought that I would be here at Hispanicize, working with Unilever, meeting all these people  even being on this interview. I never thought any of this would happen. It's all really cool, its a blessing to me.

How To Stand Out On Social Media

Lopez says there are a lot of cool things you can do to stand on out on social media. The biggest one is self-expression. Find your talent and what you really are passionate about, he says. Music, style and grooming are different interests you can use to express yourself.

RELATED: How I Went From Being Bankrupt To Becoming A Millionaire In Less Than Two Years

Being engaged with your followers is also really good, and noticing trends is helpful. But what makes people stick around is your originality, he says. Doing the trends and the hashtags is part of it, but the fun comes from being original.

An arm and a leg is just an expression @joshdarnit @djhunts A video posted by David Lopez (@davidlopezfilms) on Mar 20, 2016 at 10:11am PDT

How To Start Out

So how should you go about starting a vlog, blog, YouTube channel or other social account? The first thing I say is, 'start'. A lot of people would be like, 'Hey, I want to make Vines, I want to have a lot of followers', says Lopez. Start the vlog, start the Vine, start whatever you want to do, and then from there just be yourself and express yourself. Don't be afraid to show who you are.

There is one thing he wishes he knew back when he was starting out: Be patient and don't force anything. [Don't be] like, Oh, I need to post something or, I need people to see this. Take time with every piece of content you are putting out, because that's what everyone is going to see. Be ok with it not being successful at first because you do learn and do you do grow.

This Generation A video posted by David Lopez (@davidlopezfilms) on Mar 28, 2016 at 6:12pm PDT

What To Do When Youre Stuck In A Creative Funk

Creativity plays a big role when it comes to being successful on social media. But you can find yourself hitting a wall during the content creating process. So, what gets the creative juices flowing for Lopez? For me, it's [listening to] music and working out, he says. I honestly will go to the gym and put on all kinds of music and just [get] inspired. And that's how most of my ideas grow. Its either that or just seeing everyday life experiences and going, 'Oh, this would be funny'.
Textalyzer Will Help Police Examine Phone Records For Distracted Driving

Trending News: The Police Can Now Tell If You Were Texting And Driving

Why Is This Important?

Because dimwits who insist on texting behind the wheel need to be held accountable for their dumb behavior.

Long Story Short

The New York legislature will consider a bill that would force drivers involved in an accident to submit their phones to police in order to determine if it had been in use prior to the crash.

Long Story

Presumably fed up with the numbskulls who insist on dicking around on their phones while driving, lawmakers in New York are moving ahead with a bill that would alter the current motor vehicle law to have drivers give implied consent to having their phones checked by police following an accident.

The police wouldnt have the ability to examine the contents of the phone or check whether a call was being made, text was being typed or game being played; it would simply see if the device was in use. All other information would remain confidential. Its likely a warrant would be needed if further phone-snooping, such as determining if hands-free technology was in use just before the crash, is required. Not handing the phone over for examination could result in the drivers license being suspended and/or revoked.

The legislation was created following lobbying by the group Distracted Operators Risk Casualties (DORCs). The groups co-founder Ben Lieberman, whose 19-year-old son was killed by a distracted driver in 2011, said in a statement, When people were held accountable for drunk driving, that's when positive change occurred. It's time to recognize that distracted driving is a similar impairment, and should be dealt with in a similar fashion. This is a way to address people who are causing damage.

The so-called textalyzer technology is being developed by Cellebrite, the Israeli tech firm believed (correctly or not) by many to have helped the FBI crack San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farooks iPhone.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: How long before this becomes a national policy?

Disrupt Your Feed: People need to seriously re-think their relationship with their phones. Authorities in Germany say the February railway accident in Bavaria that killed 11 and injured more than 80 was likely caused by a railway dispatcher playing a game on his phone.

Drop This Fact: Its believed at least eight people die and 1,161 are injured a day in the US as a result of distracted driving.
San Francisco Box Dweller Banished Due To Fire Codes

Trending News: Buzzkill Inspectors Drive Man Out Of His $400 San Francisco Box

Why Is This Important?

Because this is why we can't have nice things, or even not very nice things.

Long Story Short

The man who went viral for renting a small box in someone's home to avoid San Francisco's astronomical rents has some bad news: Due to fire regulations, his "pod" is illegal, and he's since vacated.

Long Story

So, remember the guy who, not two weeks ago, went viral for coming up with an elegant solution to San Francisco's stupidly high rents? Though depressingly dystopian in concept, Peter Berkowitz's 8'x3.5'x4' "pod" was cosy enough for him, and about the only affordable bed in the city at the scant $400 month his friend charged him to occupy the space in his living room. But now, his hubris seems to have gotten the better of him  since his story hit the press, San Francisco fire and safety officials are reminding people that no, living in a man-sized matchbox is a fire hazard, and illegal.

Officials say they've tried to track Berkowitz down, but were unsuccessful. Berkowitz told the Guardian that he has no interest in running afoul of the law and has since moved out of his box and in with family for the time being.

The housing codes, the fire codes and the building codes are fairly restrictive in terms of what you can do inside, in terms of coming up with another enclosed bedroom, said William Strawn, director of public affairs for San Franciscos department of building inspection. With these types of, what Ill call creative efforts to try and cope with what everybody recognizes is a tough housing market here, you still have to follow some basic safety  rules.

It's true. If the house catches on fire while you're sleeping in your box, you can't even call it a coffin because it would burn too and you and the box would finally become one, ashes to ashes dust to dust. Strawn said that someone in Berkowitz's situation could, for instance, hang or otherwise establish some kind of curtain around his space.

Rent is too damn high everywhere, but in San Francisco it's an astonishing $3,670 per month (on average) for a one-bedroom apartment. Even if you call it maybe $3,000 for a studio, I'm sorry, but that's way too f*cking much. But because some people's jobs require them to be near San Francisco and the tech companies that have driven up the rents, we'll continue to see creative solutions by people who want to live somewhere decent without mortgaging their internal organs.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

What is the city doing to address the housing crisis?

Disrupt Your Feed

Too bad, if you want to live in San Francisco, you'd better be able to afford it.

Drop This Fact

Not to be outdone, New York isn't far behind  a one-bedroom there averages $3,100 per month.
The race to become the global chair at Baker & McKenzie is underway with four partners putting themselves forward for election. They are Paul Rawlinson, London managing partner; Eric Lasry, the former Paris managing partner; Gary Senior, chair of the firms EMEA region; and Claudia Prado, chair of the Latin America region.Eduardo Leite is due to step down as global chair following six years in the role, having been given a two-year extension in 2014. The winner of the election will not continue in their current role.Authorities in Panama have raided the offices of the law firm at the centre of the massive leak of documents exposing financial details of thousands of wealthy individuals and businesses. Mossack Fonsecas premises were entered by Panama national police late Tuesday. They were looking for any evidence of illegal activities.The firm says that it was the victim of a hack and denies any wrongdoing. Panama authorities say that they were able to carry out their search of the Mossack Fonseca offices without incidence or interference. Norton Rose Fulbright has hired experienced insurance lawyer Samantha Kelly as a partner in its Sydney office. She was a senior insurance partner at DLA Piper and predecessor firm DLA Phillips Fox and her appointment follows that of former DLA Piper colleague, partner Jacques Jacobs last month.Kellys experience is in the defence of general liability and casualty claims, product liability, environmental liability and defamation. She has acted for top Australian and international insurers and companies, including in class action disputes; general civil litigation; and royal commissions, coronial inquests and other bodies of inquiry.Shelley Zhang has been promoted to partner in the Beijing office of Orrick. She has played a key role in the firms intellectual property practice group, focusing her practice on IP prosecution and enforcement.The lawyers who successfully proved that Happy Birthday was in the public domain and therefore not subject to copyright, have filed a new lawsuit over another popular song.The unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement We Shall Overcome was placed under copyright by Ludlow Music and The Richmond Organization in the 1960s but the group of lawyers calling themselves the We Shall Overcome Foundation says that the song is from the late 19or early 20century and was in the public domain long before the copyright claim.
Lawyer Alex Lewenberg was hit with a 15-month ban by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal yesterday after being found guilty of professional misconduct in March.



Lewenberg told a sex abuse victim not to help police prosecute paedophile, because they were both Jewish. He admitted making the comments but said they had been taken out of context, the VCAT heard last month.



He was ordered to pay $55,000 in costs to the Legal Services Commissioner and will only be able to return to practice following the successful completion of a legal ethics course, the Herald Sun reported. The ban will take effect from June 1.



VCAT acting president Judge Pamela Jenkins said she had no confidence Lewenberg had any remorse in his conduct.



I am not exactly delighted that another Yid would assist police against an accused, no matter whatever he is accused of, Lewenberg told the sex abuse victim in a recorded conversation.



There is a tradition, if not a religious requirement, that you do not assist against (the people of Abraham).



Lewenberg has previously been banned from practising for a period of two years back in 1989 when he was found guilty of three charges of professional misconduct.


A franchise of stores across Australia that regularly employs international students has been heavily criticised for paying below the minimum wage and exploiting workers who speak limited English.Some 7-Eleven, whose franchisees are predominantly from non-English speaking backgrounds, particularly China, Pakistan and India, paid their employees $10 to $12 an hour, an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman has found.The investigation report reveals that the FWO has received regular reports alleging widespread compliance issues across the 7-Eleven network since 2008 and uncovered serious and deliberate manipulation of visa holders."Frankly, I'm sick and tired of seeing matters come before us where people are being paid $10 and $12 an hour, well below the minimum wage. We have minimum pay rates in Australia, they apply to everyone, and they are not negotiable," said Natalie James, Fair Work Ombudsman."Employers cannot undercut minimum wages, even if their employees offer to accept lower rates and they must keep accurate time and wages records at all times. It is not acceptable for an employer to take advantage of any worker, especially overseas workers who speak limited English and have limited understanding of their workplace rights," she added.She also pointed out that so far this financial year more than 70% of the matters the FWO has placed before the courts involve alleged underpayment of visa holders but she believes that the vast majority of visa holders are reluctant to come to the regulator for help.While international students can legally work 40 hours a fortnight while they are studying in Australia, the investigation found many working up to 50 hours a week. And as a result they were breaching their visa conditions and so were reluctant to report not being paid properly due to a fear that other government agencies would investigate them.Indeed, some employers who found out their staff were co-operating with the FWO, or thought their staff might seek assistance from officials, threatened to contact the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) about the employee breaching their visa conditions."During the course of this Inquiry, we encountered a common misconception among franchisees and their employees that the obligation to comply with the terms of a visa falls solely to the employee. It does not. DIBP makes it clear that employers are obliged to check and confirm that any foreign national working for them has a valid visa with work conditions that provide permission to work," James said.The investigation found that false record keeping appears to be ingrained within aspects of the 7-Eleven network. "And if some 7-Eleven franchisees have built the underpayment of employees, particularly vulnerable workers, into their business model, this culture will be difficult to address," James explained.She pointed out that it may be that chronic underpayments and associated behaviour will not be entirely eradicated as long as these operators continue to be part of the network. "While not legally responsible for the entitlements payable to employees of its franchisees, it is our view that 7-Eleven has a moral and ethical responsibility for what has occurred within its network and is capable of taking steps to prevent this occurring again. However, this conduct is not likely to be rectified quickly and comprehensively overnight. It can only be stamped out through persistent, resourced and ongoing accountability measures," James added.She also revealed that the FWO is receiving more requests for assistance from visa holders than ever before. "We will continue to actively encourage overseas workers who have concerns that their workplace rights are being compromised to contact us," she said.
Hello there

I would love some advice! I know i posted this on other theard but Im nervous and need some opinion.



Ive been in Australia on tourist visa 2 times. I came to visit my bf and meet his family and friends. First I came in July 2015 stayed almost 3 months then we went for almost 3 weeks to Thailand and Singapore to renew my 3 months. After we got back to Australia in October I stayed 3 months (to be exact 78 days).. I knew when we get back that officers gonna ask me questions. And so she did. She was asking about why I want to get back since I was there for 3 months, if I work and I work illegaly in Australia. She was asking my bf questions as well. And at the end she said that immigration doesnt like when couple use tourist visa to come to Australia (which I totally understand) and we should think about applying for partner visa onshore.. And they let me in.



I left Australia in January 2016 since I had to go back to work and I had surgery schedulde to get my tonsils out. Well when I got back it turned out my boss doesnt want me to work for her anymore. So i recently become unemployed and heres my questions for YOU guys, what do you think.



My last eVisitor was valid till June 2016, but I applied for a new eVisitor and Ive got it without any problems and its gonna expire in 2017.



I would love to go back to Australia in May or June (so in 1 or 2 months from today) and Im planning on staying for 3 months. I just wanna visit my bf and his family as well as visit some friends.

My boyfriend offered that he's gonna pay for everything while im there and Im gonna stay at his place. Of course I'm gonna have some cash with me.



When I was in Australia I was like 5 or 6 times sick, where I needed to go to the doctor for antibiotic, I had tonsillitis so I wasnt able to travel around much.

This time I really want to visit Sydney (which is the typical tourist place), Melbourne and Tasmania, where my bf auntie lives. She's into Polish language, culture and we haven't met face to face yet we only talk on the phone. So this time I would love to visit her.



As I said the officer at the airport said about the partner visa that we should apply. Well to be honest I do not know if I want to apply for it. At least I do not plan on doing it. Its a really big deal and comitmnet. Im really close with my family and all of them are in Poland. Im not too sure if im ready to leave my family, friends and my country and move across the world. And tbh Im not really sure if we meet the criteria to apply for this partner visa, I haven't even checked it..



So can you tell me if it is a big deal that I dont have a job here in Poland? Im leaving here with my parents and since I dont work Ive become "full time housewife" like cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and washing dishes, which I dont mind. My grandmas sick, she's having the beging of dementia (I think that what its called, you can tell her Im going to the shop to buy a bread and 5 min later she ask where are you going, she forgets how old are you or your name) so Im helping with looking after my grandma (she needs someone with her 24/7).



my reasons to spend time in Australia:

- visit friends and bf

- my friend has her big birthday bash in June ( 50th bday party, shes sending invites and i got one thru facebook as well)

- my bf birthday in July

- i wanna see Sydney, Melbourne and my bf's auntie in Tasmania (in this almost 6 months in Australia I was sick like 5 or 6 times where I was at the doctors so I wasnt feeling too good to travel)



reasons to leave after 3 months:

-like i said im gonna have ticket to aus and back home to poland,

-i wanna go back to poland since my dads 55th bday is in august,

-my grandmas sick

-i wanna find a job here in poland

- im even thinking about going back to school, to start Uni in October but Im still not too sure

- ALL of my family is in poland



Can you please tell me what do you think?
As of today, the Ather 450X, Ola S1 Pro, TVS iQube S and Bajaj Chetak are the best electric scooters one can buy but choosing the best one among them turned out to be quite a challenge.
SUV

They say that one kilometer here equals to ten in the real world, and the numerous crashes or breakdowns attest to that. Land Rover has a permanent test facility near the track and has developed everything from the Evoque to the Range Rover Sport at the "Green Hell." So why should this be an exception?The current Discovery has been around since 2009 and is due for a major update. Despite the heavy camouflage, we can tell that the boxy design of the current model is being replaced by a cross between the Range Rover and the Discovery Sport.Around the back, we see that the design of the taillights is horizontal, vaguely mirroring that of the F-Type. Inspiration also comes from the Vision Concept of 2014. The overhang is massive, most likely designed to accommodate a more comfortable third row of seats.Unlike the Discovery Sport, this fullerwill be available with a supercharged V6 engine, just like the F-Pace S. However, most of the buyers will choose one of the latest Ingenium 4-cylinder turbo engines. This is possible only thanks to Aluminum body construction that will help shed unwanted kilos. While the outgoing Discovery 4 outweighs a Range Rover, the new one should go below 2 tons. For the sake of efficiency, a hybrid model should be ready within a year of the launch.Instead of having a performance version, the Discovery will mirror Jeep's Trailhawk and offer something called "SVX." This version will be more capable of dealing with the rough stuff and will boast a manlier appearance.The British automaker will also use the 2017 Discovery to introduce brand new features. We are not talking about something as boring as Apple CarPlay. No, expect Mercedes-like road scanners that detect potholes and adjust the suspension accordingly.
CVT

Power is about the same as before. However, a small jump to 177 hp may be justified by the efforts of the marketing teams or rating systems. Besides the 6-speed manual, the Chinese Civic sedan will also be fitted with agearbox. That's right; we are talking about the first small turbo engine from the company that's famous for its VTEC systems. But considering it claims to do 0 to 100 km/h in 8.6 seconds, things aren't so bad.Towards the end of 2016, the Civic 180Turbo model will be introduced. That number doesn't represent the displacement or output and is just a marketing tool. Under the hood will be a 1.0-liter engine with three cylinders and forced induction. Thanks to an output of 129 hp and 200 Nm of torque, you could even consider it overpowered compared to the Focus 1.0 EcoBoost. This move may coincide with the launch of the European Civic hatchback that may require a small gasoline engine.For the record, the outgoing Civic sold in China was available with a 1.8-liter making 141 hp or a 2.4-liter Si engine making 208 hp. Production is still handled by the joint venture with Dongfeng, established way back in 2003. Other notable changes include a revamped strut front suspension and a new multi-link rear suspension mounted to a rigid subframe. To assist with cornering, Honda has also installed a new system called Handling Assist, which uses the brakes to mimic a limited slip differential.The overall proportions and design have remained the same. LED headlights and a wide chrome grille define the front. Meanwhile, the rear features boomerang-style taillights.Despite not being the biggest Honda available in China, the Civic is expensive. Prices can go as high as 17 million won, equivalent to $27,000.
Bonhams will try to sell this beauty at the Aston Martin Works Sale in May. Care to guess what the estimate on this Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante X-Pack finished in Cumberland Grey is? 220,000 to 260,000, which is $312,575 to $369,350 at current exchange rates. To put the estimate into perspective, that kind of money buys you a seriously luxurious Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II EWB.Compared to the regular model, the Aston Martin V8 Vantage with the big bore X-Pack treatment boasts 432 horsepower from its 5.3-liter V8, Cosworth pistons, Nimrod racing-type heads, straight-through exhaust, and 50 mm carbs instead of 48 mm Webers. In its heyday, this was the fastest convertible money could buy. It also looks like its worth a million bucks. The flared wheel arches and extended front spoiler help with that, as does the Cumberland Grey paint job.Over the years, chassis number 15595 has been serviced only by recognized Aston Martin specialists. The previous owner made some repairs to the bodywork in 2002 and rebuilt the engine in 2003. The history file also contains photographs of the restoration, which should please the man who will bid the most.These said, during a time when American manufacturers were recovering from the so-called Malaise Era, Aston Martin showed the world that the muscle car was far from being dead. If youre interested in this blast from the past, more info about it and the Aston Martin Works Sale is available on the Bonhams website
Anyway, the rendering of the day is of an M2 that pays tribute to the legendary CSL. It doesn't look like a shark, but it most certainly is dangerous.The M2 seems to have captured everybody's imagination, perhaps more than any other German performance compact (A45 and RS3). And why wouldn't it, when we're dealing with something Motor Trend says is faster and more fun than the M4?The M235i looks better than the regular 2 Series. The M2 adds another layer of aggression on top with an awesome front bumper, flared fenders and quad exhaust. The CSL would be even better on the track and could be just what BMW needs to battle the Cayman GT4.As things stand, the M2 is a road car that can have some fun on the tracks. But it doesn't have the right setup to compete with Porsche, which BMW is known to do sometimes.Why does the M2 CLS rendering look so familiar? It's BMW's fault for showing us the 3.0 CSL concept at Villa d'Este and also the CSL 3.0 Hommage R. There was also the Vision Gran Turismo that looked like an M235i race car with a huge wing and roll cage. We could show you photos of all those things, but we want to keep things nice and original, so the spotlight is going to be placed back on YasidDESIGN's original work.Below, you will find some more of this crazy ideas, including race cars based on the Z3, Z4 and X6. Somehow, despite the brand dilution, BMW is still cool.
In western societies, the myth of blonde, half-naked girls washing a car with soap and sponges is just a cliche that pops its ugly head every now and again in B-movies, XXX movies, or parodies. And, anyway, it all usually ends with a big foam fight between the "workers" resulting in wet t-shirts and equally wet dreams for those who are watching.There are the occasional exceptions, like the aptly-named Baywash Bikini Car Wash , but getting your car clean usually means talking to a fully-dressed man and then just sitting as a set of automated brushes and water sprinklers do their thing. No bikinis, no blonde hair and definitely no wet t-shirts or dreams. It's just a dull activity you need to do once in a while to make sure you don't forget the color of your car.This Chinese car wash, on the other hand, has it all: blonde models from Russia, pink tops (minimal), torn up short jeans, high heels, pink sponges and, very important, pink foam. The car wash has quickly become more popular thanks in no small part to the non-Chinese girls doing the hard work. According to the source (CarNewsChina), using Caucasian models is considered very exotic in those parts, and judging by the cars shown in the images, it's safe to assume that having your vehicle washed there isn't going to come cheap.Selfies with the two girls, on the other hand, are free, something a man well past his prime is taking full advantage of, as you can see in one of the images below. You don't need to be a feminist to realize there's something horribly wrong with this whole arrangement, but you can't really blame the owner of the shop for trying to grow his business. And it would appear his idea proved to be an inspired one. Not very original, but as long as it works, who cares?
The teaser images show a green 5-door hatchback with tiny proportions. The rear doors almost touch the taillights and the hood is as short as that of a smart. Despite this, we like the boldness of the design, which is something the Tata Nano lacks. All the major lines of the preview concept presented in 2014 have been kept.We mentioned the Nano because the redi-GO is specifically built for the Indian car market. On April 14, it will be presented at the New Delhi Auto Expo, and rumors suggest it's going to be cheaper than the Renault Kwid.While Dacia may eventually develop a version of the Kwid for Europe, we believe the Datsun model has a 0% chance of coming over. Not even Russia would pick up such a vehicle in our opinion.Power will come from Renault's engine, a 0.8-liter SCe that uses its three cylinders to develop 54 PS and 75 Nm of torque. This thing will feel slower even than a smart. The 5-speed manual gearbox should also be borrowed from the French brand.Unlike the Kwid, the Datsun redi-GO will probably not benefit from a more powerful 1-liter gasoline engine. However, recent reports suggest a diesel unit of that displacement is currently under development. It should have superior fuel consumption compared to the 25.17 km/l of the 0.8-liter.Even though its name suggests otherwise, the CMF-A platform being used here has almost nothing to do with the architecture of the Nissan Qashqai or Renault Megane. Instead, you are going to see spartan features that remind you of the Clio 2 and the Twingo of its era.
If you ever plan on making a bucket list for yourself, it should start and end with driving on the Green Hell. Having miles after miles of track in front of you isn't something easy to come by, and the fact that the circuit is open to anybody during the Touristenfahrten days makes it a rather easy entry to check on your list.All you need to do is travel to Germany, rent a car and go driving. It doesn't even have to be a fast car. Vans are constantly being spotted on the 'Ring, even though it does make sense since everybody knows that white van drivers are in fact retired Formula One pilots. The idea is that it's better to have a car that you'll drive to the limit, than to have a very powerful one that won't even get the chance to stretch its legs due to the track being too crowded.Take the first car that shows up in this video as an example. It's probably the first American muscle car we've seen on the Nordschleife and doesn't it look lost? If you know the directions to the nearest McDonald's restaurant, be a good sport and give them to this guy. That's a damn beautiful car, though.The following actors are more of your usual 'Ring suspects: not very expensive cars with more powerful than average engines and drivers who think they're better than they really are. And God bless them for that, because if they were all driving within the limits of their skills, we wouldn't have this clip to enjoy right now. Besides, that's what you do when you're on your way to your in-laws; on the 'Ring, you give it all, and then some.The title of "Best entrance" has to go to the silver BMW 3 Series, which comes into the scene interpreting a very elaborate ballet routine. The following red Honda Civic Type-R tries to imitate it, but is not as successful. Still, full marks for sitting in a car parked in a bend, across a circuit filled with amateur drivers and not panicking. Meanwhile, Lisa R. and Max R. can get a perfect view of their names written on the asphalt.
kWh

SUV

Meet Model X 75D; standard with AWD & more range https://t.co/fQxX6T4NvN pic.twitter.com/ek6IOsd9Bt  Tesla Motors (@TeslaMotors) April 12, 2016

This new upgrade has brought a series of changes to the vehicle, so along with the 5bump of the battery capacity, and the Model X keeps all-wheel drive as standard. Additionally, thes entry version has a top speed of 130 MPH (209 km/h), and can dash from 0 to 60 MPH in 6.0 seconds (0-96 km/h).The estimated range of the Tesla Model X 75D is 237 miles (381 km), just 20 lower than the Model X 90D. Compared to the version it replaces, the EPA-estimated maximum range has increased by 17 miles (27 km).Acceleration has not been affected by the update. However, the Model X 90D is significantly faster than the 75D when accelerating from 0 to 60 MPH and reaches a top speed of 155 MPH (250 km/h), and it also features Smart Air Suspension, but costs $10,000 more.Meanwhile, the price of the Model X has been increased by $3,000, and the top speed was decreased from 140 MPH (225 km/h) to 130 MPH (209 km/h), as mentioned above.According to Teslas website, the first deliveries of the 75D will take place in June.Along with this upgrade, Tesla has also updated their webpage with the Model X Design Studio, a custom configurator where users can see how they can change the Model X before ordering.The same online tool lets you see just how much one could spend on a Tesla Model X. The P90D starts at $115,500 (cash price, no incentives included), and that is without the Ludicrous Speed Update, which would be a shame not to have and costs an extra $10,000.You should also get the optional Autopilot Convenience Features, which cost $2,500 when ordering or $3,500 after delivery. Ticking all the boxes would raise the price of a Model X P90D to $151,750 without destination&doc fee, which is an extra $1,200.Tesla unveiled the update in the Model X range just a day after the company had announced a recall for 2,700 Model X units. They wanted to fix a defect in the latch of the rear row of seats, which had the potential risk of folding forward in the case of an accident.
We like the blue one up top better, but beggars can't be choosers. The Chiron only recently made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show, and it seems customers orders have started. Nobody in America got one yet, but Monaco is home to at least one of these billionaire toys.Even if you aren't a fan of the Veyron, you'd be crazy not to respect the Chiron. It's draped in carbon fiber and strikes an excellent balance between tradition and technology.With only 500 examples being built and boasting 1,500 horsepower, the Chiron deserves to be treated as it had blue blood. Not only does it have twice the power of a Lamborgini Aventador but it also has much more attention paid to every detail.The Chiron stole its good looks from the Vision Gran Turismo concept of last year. The car that's not being unloaded has the two-tone color design we saw in Geneva and it's still very cool, partly because many elements are made from immaculately finished carbon fiber. For now, the full-width active wing remains tucked it, but it can be raised at the push of a button. A long strip of light serves as a never-before-seen taillight design. As for the exhaust, it's big, and there are another couple of active pipes on the sides that you can't really see.When this car transporter arrived in Monaco, several dozens of amateur car spotters flocked to the scene, desperate to post some of the first delivery videos on YouTube. Or maybe they just wanted to capture and remember the moment when they first saw 2.2 million euros in the carbon flesh.
They were shutting down the Transparent Factory in Dresden, the place where they built the Phaeton, but someone from Volkswagen decided to turn the space into an exhibit.So, in just ten days after they closed the facility, Dresdens Transparent Factory was transformed into a showcase of Volkswagens electric mobility solutions and digitalization.Volkswagen has installed around 50 interactive exhibits for the fun of the visitors, and test-drives are included in the price of the ticket.Customers who pre-book their tickets will be able to test drive a car on Sunday if they visit the Glaserne Manufaktur that day. Virtual test drives are also available.As some of you already know, Volkswagen is planning to launch 20 plug-in models by the end of this decade, not including the ones they currently sell.This offensive would not be possible without convincing as many people as possible of the benefits of driving a plug-in hybrid car instead of a conventional vehicle. Showcasing the technological benefits of plug-in vehicles is an easy way to achieve a part of the work required to convince a person to choose one of these when acquiring a new car.Volkswagen kept the name of this facility as the Transparent Factory, even if they do not manufacture vehicles at this site. However, insiders and rumors say this is just temporary, as the Dresden factory will return to production in 2019, when it will make the next Phaeton. Some of you might remember the rumors that announced a fully-electric Phaeton, but the car has not been confirmed by company officials.Until the new Phaeton comes along, though, Volkswagen will have to erase the disgrace brought on itself by the Dieselgate scandal. They also need to come up with a fix for the 11-million affected vehicles, as well as a solution to help the owners and the world forgive them for this massive fiasco. So, the marketing department came up with this walk-in apology, and one that is not half bad.
Hennessey Performance took over the speed war record with its Venom GT Coupe against Bugatti's Veyron Grand Sport, for an unofficial run of 270.4 mph two years ago. To mark Hennessey's 25th anniversary in the auto industry, the company has once again outperformed its rival carmaker to become the fastest car in the world for 2016.

Bugatti previously held the current record at 254 mph with the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, according to an AutoExpress post. With Hennessey's upgraded Venom GT Spyder, the new feat was set at 265.6 mph and was reached at the US Navy's 2.9-mile runway stretch in Lemoore, California.

Running on a modified 7.0-litre V8 engine and producing 1,451 bhp, the Venom GT Spyder can go as fast in 4.4 seconds for a 0-100 mph run and 2.4 seconds on a 0-60 mph, respectively. Hennessey intends to build two more cars for this line to commemorate the company's latest record win, with each car at $1.3 million each, as per the news agency.

"2016 marks the 25th anniversary of Hennessey Performance," Hennessey Performance founder John Hennessey said. "I thought that this would be a special way to celebrate 25 years of making fast cars faster." The speed test was verified by Racelogic, and behind the wheel was Brian Smith, Ford Performance Racing School director, Digital Trends reported.

Hennessey also expressed wanting to test the top speed of the Venom GT Spyder less its roof, after witnessing the coupe model blaze NASA's Space Shuttle runway at 270.4 mph in 2014. The updated Venom GT Spyder also comes equipped with a solid 6-speed gearbox that can produce up to 1,287 lb-feet of torque to its rear wheels. "This was a great way to validate the technical excellence of our car which includes high-speed stability with an open roof," Hennessey added.
One Pamela Anderson fan apparently went all by covering his Lamborghini with images of the Baywatch star. The supercar was recently spotted in London.

Several photos of the pink Lamborghini Aventador, dubbed the Pamborghini, surfaced online after people spotted it on the streets of London.

The Sun notes that the car, valued at over $420,000, was repainted pink and had black rims. The hood and roof of the vehicle presented the same image of Pamela Anderson in a green bathing suit lying on several $100 bills. The Lambo had the plate number 99 MG and was registered in the United Kingdom. The owner apparently named the car Pamborghini, based on the hashtag decal on the top part of the windshield.

The Pamborghini is believed to be owned by Nitin Passi, founder of the fashion website Missguided. The name of the site also appears on the door of the car and decals of the company logo were placed on the windshield, rear bumper and hood. The car may have been styled after the actress after she became the face of Missguided.

Passi started in the retail business in 2009 and has since become a multimillionaire with the success of Missguided. The pink Aventador may have been styled for advertising purposes primarily.

Polish and Glow Productions is the company behind the unique styling of the Pamborghini. The company shared on YouTube that they customized the vehicle for the launch of Pamela Anderson as Missguideds new sponsored star. The video showed how the originally black car was wrapped in Bubblegum Pink and laid out with the graphics. The meticulous process involved applying the wrap by hand throughout the car. The windows also appeared to have been tinted with a darker shade. The details were also shown, which included at least one bill featuring the face of Passi. It was not revealed how long the entire project took.

Mail Online writes that London has seen a number of eccentric cars in the past few weeks. The pink Pamborghini was spotted just days after four gold cars arrived in the city, which were reportedly owned by Bin Abdullah, a wealthy Saudi tourist. The young foreigner has been going around London in his golden Lamborghini, Rolls Royce and Bentley.

More Londoners should expect to see these unique luxury vehicles cruising the streets in the following dates. More updates on Missguided and the Pamborghini are expected soon.
Transit agencies are embracing Uber as a partner, increasingly viewing mobility startups as a low cost alternative to public mass transit.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) announced in a press release last month that it aims to create a "dynamic multimodal lifestyle" together with companies like Uber and Lyft. APTA unveiled a study suggesting that car-sharing and ride-sharing services can become a valuable partner in complementing traditional transit agencies operating on fixed routes.

According to CityLab, the APTA study suggests that Uber and Lyft do not serve the same purpose as public transit. Rather than commuting, riders usually use ride-sourcing apps for social trips. The peak demand for car-sharing and ride-sharing services in a week lands on weekends, between 10 P.M. and 4 A.M., at a time when public transit operates infrequently or has stopped running.

Some cities already launched partnerships with the mobility service providers. Florida, St. Petersburg, Dallas, Atlanta are experimenting with ride apps helping people to get to and from transit stations. Uber and Lyft transformed in just few years in a valuable partner of the transit agencies.

Green Car Reports reports that Altamonte Springs, a suburb of Orlando, has become the first American city to subsidize Uber within its borders. The city will cover 20 percent of rides that begin or end within its limits. For rides to the region's commuter train system, SunRail, the city will cover 25 percent of the Uber fare.

The partnership between Uber and Altamonte Springs is considered as a public-private venture aimed to provide a low-cost alternative to subsidized mass transit. Frank Martz. Altamonte Springs City Manager explained for NPR that the city had allocated $1.5 million for a project supposed to operate like a city-owned Uber. The project called FlexBus was stopped and the funds were relocated for subsidizing Uber.

In most low density cities mass transit on a fixed route is not convenient for their population. Users of the public mass transit would need to wait considerable time and walk lengthy distances to get to their destinations. Ride-sharing and car-sharing services might prove a more efficient solution and we could see more similar public-private partnerships in the future.
The concept of self-driving cars has been the subject of several automakers research and development in recent years. To further address safety issues and efficacy, Toyota is creating a guardian angel that will co-pilot the car.

The new technology by Toyota may make potential drivers of self-driving vehicles feel more at ease, since they do not completely surrender control over the wheel. The backup driver involves a partially autonomous system that can substitute the driver and man the wheel at certain times.

While other car companies are aiming to feature full substitutes for human drivers, Toyotas concept involves having an invisible guardian angel sit beside the driver. This guardian angel will only take over to prevent untoward incidents, similar to a driving teacher, Digital Trends notes.

In the same way that antilock braking and emergency braking work, there is a virtual driver that is trying to make sure that you dont have an accident by temporarily taking control from you, Gill Pratt said, CEO of the Toyota Research Institute (TRI).

The new system will reportedly take over the steering wheel temporarily only during potentially dangerous situations, according to Engadget. Based on previous research, drivers take at last eight seconds to regain control of a vehicle that was previously fully autonomous. The new guardian angel system can activate only to avoid collisions, which will make up for the eight-second delay and potentially avoid accidents and save lives.

The MIT Technology Review says that the new guardian angel feature is currently being developed at TRI.The institute started its tests in 2015 after receiving a $1 billion grant to boost its efforts in autonomous driving, robotics and artificial intelligence. Tests will soon be conducted at a TRI location near Mt. Fuji in Japan.

Simulations are also expected to be conducted at Toyota research facilities in the United States. More testing will be done at three TRI facilities in the U.S. The Japanese automaker is required to accumulate 1 trillion worth of road tests to gain clearance for eventual commercial production of the guardian angel feature.

Some of the issues that Toyota has to overcome with the guardian angel include setting it to determine when and how to react and take over. Pratt added that they also intend to observe how human driers will respond as soon as the vehicle takes control temporarily, based on its judgment.

Toyotas guardian angel, if fully developed, would be another step towards actual production of self-driving cars. More updates and details are expected soon.
Aston Martin is set to announce its entry into the marine transport business through the luxurious AM37 powerboat. The new water vehicle will officially debut at Milan Design Week.

The global premiere of Aston Martins first powerboat happened at the company headquarters in Gaydon, United Kingdom. The opulent AM37 powerboat was created by Quintessence Yachts, which is set to challenge the status quo of the nautical world. One of the objectives of the event was to publicly announce the partnership between Aston Martin and Quintessence Yachts. It took 10 months for the two groups to develop the special powerboat, under the technical support and supervision of Netherlands-based naval architect Mulder Design.

During the presentation, Marek Reichman, Chief Creative Officer at Aston Martin, explained how their new partnership with Quintessence Yachts will bring new and genuine concepts to the maritime industry. Aston Martin and Mulder stated how the AM37 stands for the ideal symbiosis of luxurious and technical materials, creating a sense of power, albeit understated. They emphasized how the simplicity, perfect proportions and dynamism of the AM37 makes it very unique.

TopGear writes that the AM37 features a combination of design elements from the fields of both maritime and automotive. The power boat has a wooden deck, a swimming platform, an electronic anchor system that is deployed through a tablet, a remote-controlled coffee machine, refrigerator and air-conditioner, an electrical-powered bimini top and fingerprint recognition.

Buyers can also add optional features such as underwater lights and a cocktail bar. Similar to its luxury cars, Aston Martin also offers a lot of customization options in terms of colors and materials in its new powerboat.

The AM37 powerboat also offers buyers some choices in terms of its engine. There is an option between propeller and jet thruster propulsion. There are also three powertrain choices. The base model includes a pick between a two 370bhp diesel engine and twin 430bhp petrol engine. The top model, AM37 S, is powered by twin 520bhp petrol engines, giving it a top speed of 52 knots or close to 60mph.

Bas Mulder teased that the AM37 also features the exciting Q element, which they cannot share more about at the time.

According to its makers, the AM37 offers the same excellent performance, handling and comfort that Aston Martin cars have provided clients through the years.

The AM37 powerboat will launch at Milan Design Week in mid-April 2016. More updates and details are expected soon.
13 April 2016 12:10 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Armenia has violated international humanitarian law, and Baku intends to inform the international community about this, said Hikmet Hajiyev, Spokesman the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

"Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan, the policy of bloody ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories, genocide in Khojaly, torture of Azerbaijani captives and hostages, murder and burial in mass graves and other similar war crimes against humanity has been documented and presented to international organizations," Hajiyev said, while commenting on the accusations of the Armenian side on violation of the Geneva Conventions requirements.

"Finally, the official Yerevan realized the existence of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law," the spokesman added.

Armenia still continues shooting civilians along the contact line of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, killing and wounding civilians.

Since the early morning on April 2 Armenia intensified military activity on the front line, committed acts that are equal to war crimes and crimes against humanity. As a result of the shelling 32 settlements, six civilians were killed, including two children under 16 years, and 26 residents were wounded.

Great damage was caused to public and private property, civil infrastructure, 232 houses, 99 poles for power transmission lines, three electrical substations, water mains and gas pipelines length in kilometers were seriously damaged or destroyed. Missiles bombed schools, hospitals and other social infrastructure - schools, hospitals, and mosques. The assessment of the damage caused to civilians and to objects continues. To evade responsibility for these deeds the Armenian side spreads staged photos and videos with scenes of the dead and misinformation, Hajiyev informed.

The Foreign Ministry is committed to continue the work on informing the international community about the personal responsibility of members of the military and political leadership of Armenia for their crimes, and take the necessary international legal steps.

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.

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13 April 2016 12:40 (UTC+04:00)

Weapons, ammunition, night vision equipment, various documents, military vehicles and other equipment of Armenian armed forces left on the battle field have been obtained by Azerbaijani armed forces, Azerbaijan's defense ministry reported on April 13.

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.

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.

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. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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13 April 2016 13:22 (UTC+04:00)

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijans State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People continues to search for the Azerbaijani serviceman, who went missing during the military operations launched as a result of Armenian provocations on the contact line of troops.

As a result of the search efforts made through the mediation of international organizations in order to clarify the fate of the military servicemen from the both sides, the body of one more Armenian serviceman was found and carried away from the neutral zone, the commission reported on April 13.

Baku has informed the relevant international organizations on this fact.

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.

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.

The parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have retrieved the bodies of the military personnel left on the battlefield in accordance with the agreement, which was reached through the mediation of relevant international organizations.

However, despite the agreement, Armenian Armed Forces continue to violate ceasefire on the contact line of troops. Azerbaijans State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People said the enemy also violated the ceasefire during the process of exchanging the bodies of the military personnel.

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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

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13 April 2016 14:08 (UTC+04:00)

By Nazrin Gadimova

Dozens of civilians, including children, women and elderly people were killed and seriously wounded as a result of military attacks provoked by the Armenian side.

Elmira Suleymanova, Azerbaijans Human Rights Commissioner stated about this in a statement in connection with the aggravation of the situation in Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"On the night of April 2, 2016, the frontier positions of Azerbaijani armed forces, residential areas, schools and other social facilities along the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops were subjected to heavy firing from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons and heavy artillery," the statement reads.

As a result of the shelling 32 settlements, six civilians were killed, including two children under 16 years, and 26 residents were wounded.

Great damage was caused to public and private property, civil infrastructure, 232 houses, 99 poles for power transmission lines, three electrical substations, water mains and gas pipelines length in kilometers were seriously damaged or destroyed. Missiles bombed schools, hospitals and other social infrastructure - schools, hospitals, and mosques. The assessment of the damage caused to civilians and to objects.

The ombudsman believes that Armenia has grossly violated the Geneva Conventions and its obligations to other international documents while committing these military crimes.

The statement has been addressed to the UN Secretary General, the UN Security Council, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, OSCE, the International and European Ombudsman Institutes, the Asian Ombudsman Association, the International Peace Bureau, ombudsmen of a number of countries, Azerbaijans diplomatic missions abroad and foreign countries diplomatic missions in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani diaspora organizations.

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. However, Armenia has ignored the agreement and started violating the ceasefire again.

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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

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14 April 2016 01:12 (UTC+04:00)

By Nazrin Gadimova

Armenian militaries used powerful and destructive weapons during the renewed hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Famil Babayev, the head surgeon of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces made the remark while talking to local media.

"While analyzing the severity of wounds received by the Azerbaijani servicemen, who are currently treated at the mobile army surgical hospital, I came to the conclusion that the enemy used destructive weapons against our military," Babayev said.

He noted that the number of cases related to severe injuries did not exceed 10-12 percent.

"The figure now reached 40-45 percent. This once again proves that the Armenian occupants used powerful and destructive weapons. For example, we have found approximately 40 fragments in the body of one of the wounded. Thanks to the efforts of professional surgeons all these shards were removed," Babayev stressed.

He further added that latest modern medical equipment and technical tools simplify the work of the medical staff at the mobile army surgical hospital.

Earlier, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry reported that weapons, ammunition, night vision equipment, various documents, military vehicles and other equipment of Armenian armed forces left on the battle field have been obtained by 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.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5.

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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

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13 April 2016 10:05 (UTC+04:00)

By Joseph S. Nye

Current polls show a closely divided electorate. Prime Minister David Cameron claims that the concessions he has won from Britains EU partners should lay to rest popular concerns about a loss of sovereignty to Brussels and an influx of foreign workers from Eastern Europe. But Camerons Conservative Party and his own cabinet are deeply divided, while Londons populist mayor, Boris Johnson, has joined the supporters of British exit.



The question of the costs and benefits of British membership in the EU divides the British press as well. Many mass-circulation publications support Brexit, whereas the financial press supports continued membership. The Economist, for example, points out that some 45% of British exports go to other EU countries, and that the atmosphere for negotiating a post-Brexit trade deal would likely be frosty.



Moreover, the EU has made clear to non-members such as Norway and Switzerland that they can have full access to the single market only if they accept most of its rules, including the free movement of people, and contribute to the EU budget. In other words, a Britain outside the Union would gain little in terms of sovereignty; on the contrary, it would lose its vote and influence over the terms of its participation in the single market. Meanwhile, rival financial centers such as Paris and Frankfurt would seize the chance to establish rules that would help them win back business from London.



Another complication is political: the rise of nationalism in Scotland and the effect of Brexit on the survival of the United Kingdom. In 2014, Scotland voted in its own referendum to remain in the UK; but the nationalists won almost all of Scotlands seats in the general election eight months later. With Scottish opinion much more pro-European than in England, many believe that Brexit would lead to another referendum on independence. Cameron could be remembered as the prime minister who helped break up the UK (and possibly Europe).



In the United States, President Barack Obamas administration has stated clearly its belief that Britain and Europe are both stronger together. Illusions of a special relationship with the US replacing the influence of Europe are mistaken. But the British people will weigh whether to support Brexit, and an American hand on the scale could be counter-productive.



At the same time, in the words of Douglas Alexander, the former Labour shadow foreign secretary, since the end of World War II, America has been the system operator of international order built on a strong, stable Transatlantic Alliance supported by the twin pillars of NATO and the EU. If Britain leaves the EU, Americas closest ally would be marginalized.and the whole European project at risk of unraveling at precisely the time new economic and security threats confront the West. It is no wonder that Vladimir Putins Kremlin would welcome Brexit and meddles in European countries domestic politics to try to weaken the EU.



The geopolitical consequences of Brexit might not appear immediately. The EU might even temporarily pull together. But there would be damage to Europes sense of mission and its soft power of attraction. Ensuring financial stability and managing immigration would be much more difficult as well.



In addition to a revival of Scottish separatism, Britains inward turn in recent years could accelerate. And over the longer run, the effects on the global balance of power and the liberal international order  in which Britain has a strong national interest  would be negative.



When it acts as an entity, Europe is the largest economy in the world, and its population of nearly 500 million is considerably larger than Americas 325 million. It has the worlds largest market, represents 17% of world trade, and dispenses half of the worlds foreign assistance. It also has 27 universities ranked in the top 100 worldwide, and its creative industries contribute about 7% to its GDP. American per capita income is higher, but in terms of human capital, technology, and exports, Europe is very much an economic peer.



In terms of military expenditure, Europe is second only to the US, accounting for 15% of the world total, compared to 12% for China and 5% for Russia. Of course, that number is somewhat misleading, given Europes lack of military integration. France and Britain are the two major sources of European expeditionary power.



European and US resources are mutually reinforcing. Direct investment in both directions is higher than with Asia, and US-European trade is more balanced than US trade with Asia. At the cultural level, Americans and Europeans share the values of democracy and human rights more with each other than with any other world regions.



Faced with a rising China, a declining but risk-inclined Russia, and the prospect of prolonged turmoil in the Middle East, close transatlantic cooperation will be crucial to maintaining a liberal international order over the long term. Recognizing that Brexit, by weakening both Europe and Britain, would make a disorderly international system more likely, should tip the balance in favor of maintaining the status quo.





Copyright: Project Syndicate: Brexit and the Balance of Power

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13 April 2016 11:27 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Food security remains a priority for Azerbaijan, as that allows to provide population with local and quality products, and to reduce dependence on imports.

The establishment of the Stocking and Supply of Food Products OJSC will play a crucial role in resolving food security problems in the country, believes MP Vahid Ahmadov.

"This is a very positive decision," he told Azernews on April 12. "There were discussions in the Parliament and in the media, and the most important issues, which concerned us, were related to the food security of population, as well as problems of farmers in delivery of agrarian products to the market and their sale.

President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the establishment of the Stocking and Supply of Food Products OJSC, which will be engaged in resolving food security issues in the country.

The decree signed on April 11 says that the new body will be established under the Agriculture Ministry.

This new body is established to stimulate production and processing of agricultural products, to ensure development of producers of agrarian goods, to further improve the quality of food products, to provide rational use of public funds, to create the soil for improving the social welfare of the population engaged in the agricultural sector in the regions, as well as to provide a centralized implementation of purchase of food products by the state order.

The new body will focus on purchase of food products from the manufacturers and sellers of the product, their stocking and transfer to purchasing organizations.

Ahmadov, pointing to existing problems in the agrarian sector, said that Azerbaijan has recently constructed several refrigerators in the regions to prevent the products from being spoiled.

"However, there were some problems with the cost of the refrigerators. But now, such a body was established, which will ink deals with farmers and purchase their products, and then deliver them to the market or export to foreign markets. This will be the body's activity," he added.

This body will allow farmers to focus on production of agrarian goods, while the company will organize the products' supply to the market and their sale.

"The establishment of the CJSC, being an important step towards ensuring food security in the country, will lead to increase of agricultural production, as well as become a support to the agrarian sector," the MP said adding that this body will also allow increasing the share of the domestically produced products in the population's food basket.

MP Eldar Ibrahimov agrees that the establishment of such a body will encourage local producers of food products.

"Producers of food products will exactly know that they have a definite customer in the face of the state, which will purchase a certain part of the product produced by them," he told Trend on April 12.

The products purchased by the OJSC will be used for meeting the food needs of kindergartens, military units and so on.

"Earlier these facilities were allocated funds from the state budget for purchase of food products. This year some 309 million manats in the state budget are envisaged for these expenses. The facilities often bought imported products, but the establishment of this body will reduce food imports and create conditions for promotion of local producers," the MP noted.

Touching upon the mechanisms of operation of the OJSC, Ibrahimov said that this body will study the needs of facilities, as well as the volume of produced food goods.

"Most likely, the body will conduct research to figure out the volume of products necessary for facilities, and then order these volumes to producers. A mechanism should be created for this purpose," he added.

The state regulation over the operation of the body will allow avoiding the negative aspects, which often faced earlier.

"The state, in a centralized way and bypassing the tender, will purchase products and deliver them to the consumer, which will have a positive impact on food security. Also, this will allow avoiding artificial increase of prices of food products. Furthermore, the experience of many years shows that the industry, not supported and not regulated by the state, develops much more slowly. Therefore, the establishment of the OJSC will only lead to positive changes," the MP concluded.

The agrarian sector is of significant importance for Azerbaijan, which is keen to reduce its dependence on petrodollars. Azerbaijan, being engaged in increasing export potential, considers the agricultural sector as a tool to diversify the national economy.

The state focus on the agrarian sector was recently voiced by President Aliyev, who chaired the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on the results of socio-economic development in the first quarter of 2016 and the future tasks.

Speaking at the meeting, the head of state pointed to the necessity of developing the agricultural sector.

"The development of agriculture has always been a priority for us, and its value has increased even more in the current conditions. We must further accelerate the export of agricultural products," he said. "Food security has always been a priority for us, and remains a priority today. This allows us to provide ourselves with our own products, high quality and clean products, to reduce dependence on imports."

He stressed that Azerbaijan should achieve rapid development in cotton breeding, sericulture, tobacco cultivation and tea growing, as well as viticulture.

With its 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.

Azerbaijan's agricultural sector also plays an important role in providing the 9.7-million population's food security in a best way.

Experts believe that this year and in coming years agriculture will become one of the main sectors with export-oriented products which will bring huge revenues to Azerbaijan's state budget.

Azerbaijan, within the "Azerbaijan-2020: Vision into the Future" concept, is taking steps to ensure food security in the country, and one of the key elements of this concept is to eliminate dependence on food products imports. The country has been able to achieve this goal in the past five years, and Azerbaijan is expected to be able to fully meet demands through the local production in the coming years.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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13 April 2016 18:06 (UTC+04:00)

By Etibar Aliyev

Nurturing peace remains one of the vital problems in war-torn Syria, the most vulnerable land in the Middle East for now.

Syria is holding parliamentary elections in condition of fragile ceasefire agreement reached late this February.

While some hope the parliamentary elections to help to stabilize the situation in long-suffering Syria, many believe them to be ineffective in terms of finding a solution to the politically ill situation in the country.

Can the elections be regarded when the country's opposition Supreme Committee on negotiations calls them illegitimate due to their irrelevance? Furthermore, the U.S. Department of State does not recognize their results referring to inability to demonstrate the Syrian people's will, which means that they will not be recognized by the West as well.

Sergei Balmasov, a senior analyst at the Center for the study of the crisis of society, believes that it is at least too premature to hold elections in one-third of the country on behalf of the Syrian people.

"It is not the first time that Assad holds election," he said.

The main aim, on the one hand, is to show the international community its democracy, and on the other hand, to demonstrate to their own people," turnover "of power. And always, these ideas do not reach its goal, primarily due to the fact that it controls only about one third of the former territory of Syria.

As peace-building process is clashing with stones almost on each side, even a small step forward achieving a positive change is regarded as a "big success". Indeed Syria has made a huge progress over the past period to return to its stable life it had five years ago. Over these uneasy years the Syrian problem could become the most dangerous development in the region, leaving almost no hope for diplomatic tools to work in their right direction.

Now the crisis has reached it peak as the world majors are grappling to find a solution that could begin the peace building process.

Balmasov believes that Assad will just witness the real Syrian border under its control.

The general situation in the country continues to be difficult, and in some provinces controlled by official Damascus, tends to the complexity. Yesterday's attempt to counter-attack forces "Dzhabhat en-Nusra" in Latakia province clearly demonstrated that Russian air strikes have not destroyed the potential Islamic radicals.

Balmasov believes that a truce in many parts of the country was very conditional and periodically violated by both sides. Furthermore, after the withdrawal of a considerable part of the Russian aviation group from Syria, some categories branded "moderate" in fact stood in a raw of radicals. This is especially evident in the Aleppo area, causing jihadists significantly to expand the territory they control, which caused significant losses to the forces opposing the government forces, the Iranian troops and Shiite militias volunteer.

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13 April 2016 10:47 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Events in Nagorno-Karabakh are a reminder how dangerous a protracted conflict can be.

This was stated by Federica Mogherini, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, at a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on April 12.

A large scale conflict is not in the interest of anyone and can lead to nowhere, believes Mogherini.

"Everyone now understands that status quo can only lead to more violence and this is exactly what happened. Let us not underestimate dangers of this conflict, let us turn current situation into an opportunity towards peace," she said.

Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions of Azerbaijan have been under the control of the Armenian military and separatists since a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended in 1994. Over 20 years of negotiations have brought little progress in resolving the conflict, though a fragile truce has been in place.

Heavy fighting erupted between Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region on April 2 following the Armenian provocation.

The renewed hostilities, which are regarded as the worst since the ceasefire deal signed in 1994, were assessed as the result of inactivity of the international community, which turned blind eye to the injustice towards Azerbaijan.

Mogherini further added that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh was the center of her talks in Armenia and Azerbaijan during her February visit.

Mogherini reminded that the EU is increasing its efforts towards a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"It [the conflict] continues to pose a threat to regional security in our neighborhood, and it is an obstacle towards development of both countries and of the entire region. South Caucasus is a crucial region for Europe, it lies on the crossroads between Europe, Asia and the Middle East," she noted.

Baku, which has suffered from Yerevan's aggressive policy for more than two decades, has repeatedly stated that the presence of the Armenian Armed Forces in the occupied territories is a major obstacle to the settlement of the conflict and threat to the regional stability.

Despite the fact that the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) demanding the Armenian troops to withdraw from Azerbaijan's occupied territories, they were ignored and have not been implemented by Yerevan yet.

Although the OSCE Minsk Group, which is in charge of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as other international institutions have repeatedly made statements on the conflict resolution, all efforts ended without any result.

Azerbaijan has been and remains committed to the peaceful negotiated solution to the conflict.

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13 April 2016 11:42 (UTC+04:00)

The Azerbaijani government is the victim of an ongoing smear campaign promoted by its rivals in the region, including Armenia, Elin Suleymanov, Azerbaijani ambassador to the US, said in an interview with The Washington Times.

Suleymanov said that the recent escalation of violence has been observed on the line of contact of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

"The recent reaction to the positive visit by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Washington D.C., shows that we have our share of enemies and ill-wishers," the ambassador said.

"So don't be surprised that we receive such heavy criticism," the diplomat said. "We are not against criticism if it is constructive."

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. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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.

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13 April 2016 11:57 (UTC+04:00)

By Nazrin Gadimova

The OSCE Troika believes that there is no military solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

This was stated following the meeting of Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and German Foreign Minister with Ivica Dacic, Serbia's Foreign Minister and his Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz, as well as the OSCE Secretary General, Lamberto Zannier, who mulled recent development in the OSCE region.

The members of the OSCE Troika discussed situation in Ukraine and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, as well as condemned terror attacks in Ankara, Istanbul, Brussels and Paris, according to the joint statement.

Touching upon the recent escalation in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, the OSCE Troika urged the sides to end all violence, to strictly adhere to the ceasefire, and underlined that there can be no military solution to the conflict.

Moreover, they agreed that de-escalation and stepping up the political process have a paramount importance.

Before the meeting of the Troika, Steinmeier told media there is a need to hold serious talks aimed at solving the crisis in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The German Foreign Minister then added that he welcomed the armistice between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but at the same time he emphasized that the existing status quo cannot provide security.

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.

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.

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. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

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13 April 2016 13:44 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan and Malaysia discussed ways of developing cooperation between the two countries` legislative bodies at a meeting held at Azerbaijans Parliament on April 12.

The meeting was held within the Baku visit of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Malaysian Parliament, Seri Ronald Kiandee.

Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliament Ogtay Asadov, addressing the meeting, expressed confidence that the visit of the Malaysian official would give a new push to the development of interparliamentary ties.



He hailed the establishment of the friendship group with Azerbaijan at the Malaysian Parliament, adding the group will play a vital role in developing relations.



Asadov underlined the significance of the high-level reciprocal visits and meetings in expanding cooperation. He described the political relations between the two countries as excellent, expressing Azerbaijans keenness to develop relations with Malaysia in the field of information-communication technologies.

Touching upon the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Khojaly genocide, he said that more than 20 U.S. states recognized the massacre, and called on the Malaysian Parliament to react to the issue.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

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.

As many as 613 civilians mostly women and children were killed in the massacre, and a total of 1,000 people were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 of them remains unknown.

Kiandee, for his part, hailed Malaysian-Azerbaijani ties, describing them as fraternal. He underlined that Azerbaijan had a strategically favorable location.

Later, the Malaysian official met with members of the Azerbaijan-Malaysia interparliamentary friendship group.

Head of the group Mahir Aslanov stressed the importance of the visit in terms of developing the bilateral relations. He noted that Malaysia was an important partner and friend of Azerbaijan.

He also spoke of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and noted that despite a number of international organizations adopted resolutions on the settlement of the dispute, the problem has not yet been solved due to Armenias non-constructive position.

Kiandee said Malaysia has always backed Azerbaijans position on the problem, and stressed that his country would continue supporting Azerbaijans territorial integrity.

During the Baku visit, the Malaysian official earlier was received by President Ilham Aliyev, who said there are ample opportunities for developing cooperation between the two countries in investment making, high technology, tourism and other fields.

Malaysia enjoys close and friendly relations with Azerbaijan since diplomatic relations were established in 1993. Azerbaijan established its diplomatic mission in Malaysia in 2007, while Malaysia established its Embassy in Baku in 2014.

Last year, total trade turnover between the two states amounted to $89 million.

Malaysian National Oil Company - Petronas owns a 15.5 percent stake in the Shah Deniz production sharing agreement operated by a consortium of companies, 15.5 percent share in the South Caucasus Pipeline Company (SCPC), 15.5 percent share in the SCPC holding company, and 12.4 percent share in the Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company.

Earlier in March, Azerbaijan and Malaysia opened direct cargo flight service, which envisages the mutual use of the aircraft fleet and the expansion of aviation route networks in different regions of the world.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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13 April 2016 17:18 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

The Caucasian Muslims Office held an event on April 13 to commemorate memory of Azerbaijani martyrs, who died heroically while repulsing the Armenian provocation on the line of contact of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

CMO Chairman Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, addressing the event, stated that the events of past days have shown that Azerbaijan is ready to liberate its lands from the occupation.

Azerbaijan is supported both inside and outside, which is a result of the governments policy. We believe that our lands will be liberated from the Armenian occupation. The whole world knows that these lands belong to Azerbaijan, Pashazade said.

He voiced his condolences to the families of martyrs, who gave their lives for the liberation of Azerbaijan.

The state adviser on international issues, multiculturalism and religion, Kamal Abdulla, for his part, said that the recent tension on the contact line once again showed that Azerbaijan is able to have its say.

The state advisor stressed that the recent events made Azerbaijan even closer to the victory.

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.

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.

Later, the heads of religious confessions of Azerbaijan, including Sheikh-ul Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, Orthodox Community's Head Archbishop Alexander Ischein, Head of Mountain Jews Religious Community MilikhYevdayev and Chairman of the Community of European Jews in Baku Gennady Zelmanovich appealed to the international community.

We turn to you with a view to share the concern caused by the Armenian provocation on the contact line. It is our duty to God and the homeland as religious leaders. We are always in favor of peace and understanding in all over the world, the statement reads. Armenian provocations observed over the past days on the frontline once again proved occupying intentions of Armenia. Azerbaijan has always stood for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. The country does not want to increase the number of innocent victims of the conflict and first announced a ceasefire unilaterally. Although it was agreed on the general cease-fire, the Armenian side periodically violates it.

The whole world, including Armenians, knows that Karabakh is an Azerbaijani territory. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is recognized by all international documents, the heads of religious confessions emphasized.

We bow our heads in front of the memory of the martyrs who gave their lives for the territorial integrity of the motherland, we express deep condolences to their families, friends and all the people of Azerbaijan and wish speedy recovery to the wounded, the statement reads.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. The two countries 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.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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13 April 2016 17:56 (UTC+04:00)

By Nazrin Gadimova

A contact group, which will be created under the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), will take stronger position in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish Foreign Minister made the statement on April 13.

"Turkey will continue to support Azerbaijan", he said, adding that today, the Islamic world is facing a number of challenges that must be addressed through dialogue and close cooperation.

Cavusoglu believes that the OIC should intensify its activity in this regard. "The Organization of Islamic Cooperation is of great importance for the whole Islamic world," he concluded.

The OIC announced on April 12 about its plan to establish a contact group for the settlement of the long-lasting Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Baku appraised this decision given that the OSCE Minsk Group failed to resolve the conflict.

The OIC always kept the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in focus. Its member states expressed concern over the occupation of Azerbaijan territories by Armenia as well as the looting and destruction of archeological, cultural and religious monuments in those areas, including those Islamic monuments included in the resolution adopted by the organization during the OIC summit in Dakar, Senegal in 2008.

Moreover, the Organization has repeatedly slammed Armenia for the destruction of Islamic artifacts in the invaded lands.

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.

--

Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

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13 April 2016 23:07 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev, who is on a visit to Turkey, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on April 13, Azertac state news agency reported.

The sides hailed the successful development of the friendly and fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey in all areas.

The presidents expressed confidence that the strategic cooperation would continue to expand in all spheres. They stressed the importance of the 13th Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in terms of the deepening of the bilateral ties. They further noted the role of the high-level meetings in strengthening the relations, and underlined the significance of cooperation in global projects in energy and other fields.

During the conversation, the presidents discussed the latest developments and the current situation on the frontline in the Nagorno-Karabakh. They also exchanged views over other issues of mutual interest.

Earlier, President Aliyev met with Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegovic.

The sides hailed the dynamic development of the bilateral relations, and noted that there were good opportunities for expanding the mutual ties even further. They exchanged views over the energy cooperation.

President Aliyev highlighted what has been done under the Southern Gas Corridor project.

The parties discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, especially the recent tension on the line of contact of troops.

Izetbegovic invited President Aliyev to pay a visit to his country. The head of state thanked for the invitation, and also invited the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Azerbaijan.

Also, a dinner reception was hosted on behalf of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his spouse Emine Erdogan in honor of heads of state and government, who are in Istanbul to attend the 13th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

President Aliyev and Mehriban Aliyeva attended the dinner reception.
13 April 2016 15:50 (UTC+04:00)

The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) sold $20 million to a bank through the auction held by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), SOFAZ said Apr.13.

SOFAZ offered $50 million for sale through the auction.

SOFAZ will continue selling foreign currency through auctions in 2016.

The foreign currency is sold as part of SOFAZ's transfers to the Azerbaijani state budget, which are envisaged to stand at 7.615 billion Azerbaijani manats in 2016.

SOFAZ was established in 1999 with assets of $271 million.

As of January 1, 2016, SOFAZ assets reduced by 9.5 percent compared to 2014 ($37.1 billion) and were estimated at $33.57 billion.

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13 April 2016 16:18 (UTC+04:00)

The Azerbaijani Anglo Asian Mining PLC (AAM) company and the Swiss Industrial Minerals S.A. have signed a contract for selling copper, which is being produced by the AAM's flotation plant.



The company signed a new contract with Industrial Minerals S.A. in March 2016, for the sale of copper concentrate produced from its flotation plant, the AAM reported.



The contract which is valid until December 31, 2018 has the same terms as the company's existing contract with the exception of improved terms for any penalty due to the concentrate containing zinc.



The AAM's copper production for Q1 of 2016 totaled 432 tons (181 tons from SART processing and 251 tons from flotation), which is by 29 percent more than the Q4 of 2015, according to the company.



The company's copper production target for Fiscal Year 2016 is between 1,700 and 2,100 tons, comprising 700-800 tons from SART processing and 1,000-1,300 tons from flotation plant.



The AAM company supplied 1,330 dry metric tons of copper worth $2.1 million in January-March 2016 (excluding the Azerbaijani government's profit share) versus 817 tons worth $1.3 million supplied in Q4 of 2015, according to the message.



Anglo Asian Mining PLC is a gold, copper and silver producer in Central Asia with a broad portfolio of production and exploration assets in Azerbaijan.



Based on the production sharing agreement signed with Azerbaijani government in August 1997, Anglo Asian Mining PLC has the right to develop six fields in south-west of Azerbaijan: "Gadabay", "Ordubad", "Gosha Bulag", "Gizil Bulag", "Vejnali" and "Soyutlu".

Anglo Asian Mining started gold and silver production in May 2009 and copper concentrate production in 2010 at the Gadabay mine.

The gold produced at the fields is sent to Switzerland for purification. The ingots are delivered to Azerbaijan and stored in the government's account.

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13 April 2016 10:38 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Leo Tolstoy, a master of realistic fiction, once said that music is the highest form of art. As time passes, we all see how much Tolstoy was right.

A joint concert of two brilliant musicians, a famous pianist, Honored Artist of Azerbaijan Nargiz Aliyarova and American violinist Melissa White is the best proof of that.

The grand event took place at Azerbaijan State Philharmonic last week, Trend Life reports.

The concert began with a piano solo by Nargiz Aliyarova, who performed Joseph Haydn piano sonata in F major. Her deep and soulful performance drew the listeners into a musical world of emotionally inspiring melodies.

After that, the Azerbaijani musician performed "Waltz in a minor" and "Waltz in C-sharp minor" by a Polish composer Frederic Chopin.

Before performing "Nocturne cis-moll", Nargiz Aliyarova spoke about this composition, which has never sounded until the death of great composer.

The pianist dedicated her performance to the memory of Azerbaijani martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their country. She also expressed condolences to the parents of martyrs, their families and friends.

Then, Nargiz Aliyarova invited all those present to observe a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of those who lost their lives in the battles.

Later, Melissa White appeared on the stage. Before her performance, Nargiz Aliyarova informed the audience about the creativity of Melissa White.

"Violinist, Melissa White, is a founding member of the esteemed Harlem Quartet. The Quartet was awarded the prestigious musical award Grammy," said Aliyarova.

Further, the musicians performed Sonata No. 3 by Edvard Grieg. Perfect tandem caused a storm of applause and emotions.

The concert program also included the sonata for violin and piano from the ballet "Seven beauty" of great Azerbaijani composer Gara Garayev as well as "Homeland Ballades" by Faiq Suceddinov.

"Homeland Ballades is one of my favorite musical pieces. I know that students, who attend my concerts, have heard this many times. I believe that each of us must work for our country, our Motherland", stressed Aliyarova.

The musicians also performed together "Sonata for violin and piano" by Gara Garayev.

Aliyarova said that she was very surprised by how Melissa White felt the music of the great Azerbaijani composer.

The concert ended with a performance of "Prelude and Allegro" by Fritz Kreisler.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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13 April 2016 12:25 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan's Culture and Tourism Ministry has organized the first Republican contest of young kamancha performers to honor the memory of prominent Azerbaijani kamacha player Habil Aliyev, Trend Life reports.

The contest aims to develop the professional performance skills, promote young talents and commemorate the world-renowned kamancha player, People's Artist of Azerbaijan Habil Aliyev.

The contest was opened at school No.23 named after A.Badalbeyli on April 11. The first round will run till April 30 in Baku, Sumgayit, Mingachevir as well as Aghjabadi and Goranboy regions. The second and final round will take place in Agdash city on May 2-5.

A gala concert by winners of the Republican contest will take place at the International Mugham Center in Baku in May.

Habil Aliyev passed away of heart and lung failure at the age of 89 on September 8, 2015.

Born in 1927 in the countrys Agdash region, Aliyev began to study subtleties of Azerbaijani national music, Mugham, from when he was seven years old.

He created miracles on his kamancha and made significant efforts to acquaint the whole world with this marvelous national instrument.

Thanks to him, many young people were inspired to take up playing the mesmerizing instrument.

People in many countries have applauded him, referring to him as the Master of magical sounds.

He filled the music venues with thousands of music lovers on his tours all over the world, including Tunis, Switzerland, Holland, Syria, the U.S., Germany, India, France, Pakistan, Japan, Greece, Italy, and Iran. Aliyevs records with unforgettable pieces were released in U.S. France, Japan, Greece, and Italy.

He breathed new life into the styles of Mugham, such as "Bayati-Ghajar", "Bestenigar", "Bayati-Shiraz", "Bayati-Kurd", "Segah" and "Zabul." His performances are a cascade of challenging motifs, which evoke an inexhaustible imagination of bright national coloring and musical patterns.

Five samples of mugham performed by Azerbaijani mugham luminaries including Habil Aliyev were included in the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music of the World.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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13 April 2016 16:34 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

The Organizing Committee of the first Booktrailer Festival in Azerbaijan has announced jury members, Trend Life reports.

The secretary of Azerbaijani Writers' Union, President of the PEN club, world-famous writer Chingiz Abdullayev, screenwriter, director, honored art worker and laureate of state prize of the USSR KGB Prize Ramiz Fataliyev, a graduate of Russian State University of Cinematography, laureate of national awards, director Elkhan Jafarov, honored art worker, laureate of national awards, director Ulviyya Konul and another graduate of Russian State University of Cinematography, laureate of national and international awards, filmmaker Nadir Mehdiyev and founder and director of the festival, actor Ruslan Sabirli are the jury members.

Booktrailers are short videos that promote a book or an author, providing a good illustration of the book content. The Organizing Committee has recently announced that the number of trailers submitted in the festival has been more than expected.

The winner will be announced on the International Book Day - April 23, 2016. Films accepted to the Festival will be available on social networks. The first place will get a prize in the amount of 1000 manats ($604), while the winners of the second and third places 800 manats ($483) and 500 manats ($302), respectively.

The Festival aims at promoting books, supporting and developing creative forms of reading, searching talented young people in cinematography and promoting bookrailers as a part of art and business.

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/BooktrailerFest

For all questions, please contact: [email protected]

Media partners of the event are Trend, Day.az, Milli.az and Azernews.az

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13 April 2016 11:21 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

The Carbamide Plant of SOCAR which is currently under construction will make profit in seven or eight years after its commissioning, said Plant Director Khayal Jafarov.

The company is expecting high profits and productivity from the plant, Jafarov told journalists on April 12, reminding that its capacity will be about 2,000 tons of carbamide a day or 650,000-660,000 tons per year.

The plant will consist of sectors that produce ammonia, liquid and granular carbamide.

The Carbamide Plant is expected to release its first products during the first quarter of 2018.

Main construction contractor is the Korean Samsung Engineering company. The Korean company has completed more than 66 percent of the works on the construction of the Plant. Some 600 people are currently employed in construction and at its peak this figure will reach 2,500 people.

The demand for carbamide in Azerbaijan is about 150,000-200,000 tons per year which can be considered as the most optimistic figure.

The remaining part, about two thirds of our total production, will be exported, Jafarov said, noting that the main market for the Carbamide Plant will be Turkey.

Currently, Turkey imports 1.5-1.8 million tons of carbamide per year mostly from Ukraine, Russia and the Middle East. The realization of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project will also contribute to realize exports to the Turkish market.

Jafarov stressed that a number of factors needs to be considered in this regard. Middle East countries like Qatar and Egypt export carbamide to the eastern markets- China and India. Meanwhile, natural gas is an important factor for Ukraine to produce carbamide.

The official further added that about 320-330 million euros has been spent in the framework of the plant construction. This amount has been spent only to the current works performed by Samsung.

Jafarov believes that a large amount of taxes has been paid during the construction of the plant, which is really a great support for the state budget.

Furthermore, representatives of EXIM Bank of Korea will visit Azerbaijan in two weeks in order to discuss the allocation of a long-term loan to SOCAR for the construction of the Carbamide Plant, Jafarov said.

The Plant has already applied to the government for obtaining a state guarantee for the loan. The negotiation process will take from three to four months.

The funds needed for the completion of the plant reaches 498 million euros. The figure covers only the costs for the production site, while the cost of setting up external infrastructure is not included.

The total cost of the project will amount to 910-920 million euros, including 200 million euros of taxes.

The launch of the plant will provide job for 2, 000 people in Azerbaijan.

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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva

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13 April 2016 16:30 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh will not attend the gathering of the large oil producers in Doha on April 17 to discuss freezing oil output, reported Bloomberg on April 13.

Zanganeh will instead send his representative to Doha, the agemcy cited Seda reporter Reza Zandi as saying.

OPEC member countries and non-OPEC oil producers agreed to meet in Qatari capital Doha in order to consider putting a cap on their production volumes of oil to keep oil outputs in the market at the levels at early 2016 hoping to stabilize oversupplied oil market and push prices up.

Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela previously agreed in Doha on February 16 to support world oil prices by maintaining the production during 2016 at the level of January, if other manufacturers to join this initiative as well.

Ecuador, Algeria, Nigeria, Oman and Kuwait are also among countries that expressed a will to join the act.

Mohammed bin Salman, the deputy crown prince and Defense Minister of Saudi Arabia said earlier in April, that Saudi Arabia will not put a cap on oil production, if other oil producers and Iran do so as well, reported Bloomberg.

However, Iran does not support the major oil producers attempt to freeze oil output.

Saudi Arabia, the major OPECs exporter of oil, is not planning to cut its production level. Ali al-Naimi, the Oil Minister of SA rejected the possibility of reducing Saudis oil output.

Recently, Russia and Saudi Arabia reached oil-freeze consensus regardless Irans position.

Saudi Arabia will make final decision on freezing production at the Doha meeting that will happen this weekend.

Iran repeatedly said before that it does not have plans to take neutral speed on extracting oil but tries to achieve the level of oil production during 2011-2012 before sanctions imposed on Iran by the West, said Eldar Kasaev, Expert Council of the Union of Oil and Gas Producers of Russia on April 12.

Before sanctions, daily production of oil in the country reached about 4-4.3 million barrels, which is 1.5 times higher than the current figures, Kasaev added.

The expert believes that only few of oil producers will agree on a temporary freeze of production.

Irans objection to freeze oil production will incentivize Saudi Arabia who has been longtime geopolitical and economic opponent of Tehran not to stop growth of crude extraction in practice even if it joins agreement in words, added Kasaev.

Iran increased its oil export approximately to 1.55 million barrels per day in March 2016 from average export level of 1.1 million barrel per day during 2015, according to the statistics of International Energy Agency and Reuters surveys.

Total oil output of the country increased by less than 300,000 barrels per day in February 2016, according to OPECs monthly report for March.

Iran earlier said that it would increase oil exports by one billion barrels per day.

Iran has about 30-50 million barrels of crude oil and gas condensate stored in tankers, which makes it possible for Iran to keep its exports at the current level for more than half a year without an immediate need to increase the production level

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13 April 2016 17:11 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

The price for Azeri light, crude oil that Azerbaijan sells to the world market via Supsa, Batumi and Ceyhan, has increased.

The price of Azeri LT CIF was $44.97 per barrel on April 13 after an increase by $1.50 or 3.45 percent per barrel rose.

The minimum price of Azeri light was observed in December 2001 ($19.15), while the maximum price was recorded in July, 2008 ($149.66).

That was the most positive figure for the energy rich country after long and considerable decline in crude rates at the world markets over the past six months at least. Azerbaijan received the core part of its budget income from oil revenues, which constituted almost 65 percent of the entire income. Fall in prices was the major reason for the government to redesign its budget, and reform it based on prices at $25 per barrel of oil.

Meanwhile, the price of WTI crude decreased by $0.32 to $41.85 per barrel in the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

The cost of North Sea Brent fell by $0.14 to $44.55 per barrel in ICE Futures exchange in London.

Now the positive trend on the market in the run up to long-anticipated Doha meeting makes the large oil producers hope for better developments. At this meeting, oil producers will discuss the issue about freezing their oil output at the level of early 2016.

Azerbaijan joined this initiative of oil producers, which is expected to stabilize oversupply in the market and even push prices up.

Rovnag Abdullayev, President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has said earlier this month that Azerbaijan is ready to freeze the oil output.

On April 17, Azerbaijan will participate in the gathering between OPEC member states and non-OPEC oil producer in Qatari capital Doha.

The total oil output of the OPEC members stood at 32.38 million barrels per day in February, which is 175,000 barrels less compared to the production volume in January.

Azerbaijan holds 0.4 percent of the worlds total proven oil reserves, and produce 1 percent of the worlds oil total output according to the BP Statistical review of World Energy 2015.

Azerbaijan mainly exports its oil to the European markets via Baku-Supsa, Baku Novorossiysk and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipelines.

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13 April 2016 17:47 (UTC+04:00)

WorleyParsons has been awarded a five-year contract for Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCm) services for BP-operated assets in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, Azertac state news agency reported.

Under the agreement, WorleyParsons will provide EPCm services primarily to BP-operated Sangachal Terminal and pipeline systems in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.

The Sangachal terminal, located 55km south of Baku, is an oil and gas terminal that receives, processes, stores and exports crude oil and gas produced from all currently operated BP assets in the Caspian basin.

The terminal includes oil and gas processing facilities, the first pump station for the Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline and South Caucasus gas pipeline (SCP) compressor and other facilities.

The oil and gas from the offshore fields flow through the subsea pipelines into the terminal and they stretch across the entire length of the terminal.

There are eight different pipelines entering the terminal from offshore locations and eight leaving it.

Sangachal terminal consists of two main parts: the Early Oil Project (EOP) and Sangachal Terminal Expansion Programme (STEP).

EOP part of the terminal has been constructed to process, store and export oil from the Chirag offshore field in the Caspian, while STEP is the part of the terminal which has been expanded to receive, store and process oil from Azeri and Deepwater Gunashli sections of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field and gas from the Shah Deniz field.

WorleyParsons said that the services would be provided by a WorleyParsons Improve Team in Azerbaijan.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
13 April 2016 17:41 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Since the international nuke-related sanctions imposed against Iran were lifted, the oil and gas companies of Europe have been showing great desire to regain their previous places in the Islamic Republic's energy market.

French Total Head Patrick Pouyanne has announced that his company is interested in the projects in the gas and petrochemical industries in Iran.

"Today all [sanctions] are removed, and we go back to Iran. Gas is a priority for us. Petrochemical [industry] is a way to monetize the gas," Pouyanne said at a press briefing on the sidelines of the LNG conference in Australia.

Despite the speculations in media, Total has not yet concluded with Tehran any transactions in the oil sector, he told journalists on April 13.

In late March, Reuters cited Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh as saying that Iran has signed an agreement with Total on the development of the South Azadegan oil field.

Until January 2016, Total was unable to work in Iran due to the international nuclear-related sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic.

MoU signed

Not only oil sector is priority for the European companies. The Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas, Enel has concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Iranian Gas Export Company.

The company's spokesman told Trend on April 12 that the two companies inked a MoU, "setting forth the main principles for possible future cooperation between the two companies in natural gas, LNG and/or related infrastructure."

These principles might include sharing of information, studies, analyses and training courses, as well as exploring future opportunities for long term supplies.

So far, Iran has failed to produce LNG. Back in 2007, Tehran launched a project for constructing Iran LNG plant, at Tombak Port, approximately 50 kilometers north of Assaluyeh Port, spending $2.5 billion.

However, international sanctions blocked the efforts made for finalizing the project. The project has progressed by 50 percent so far. The capacity of the Iran LNG plant is estimated at about 10.5 million tons a year.

Shell refineries

Energy-rich Iran, which is the fourth country in the world for its proven oil reserves of 158 billion barrels, is also keen to return to the oil market. The country eyes exporting oil to European countries' refineries in third countries.

Mohsen Qamsari, the National Iranian Oil Company's International Affairs Director, has announced that Iran and the British Shell Company are in talks on supply of oil from Iran to Shell's refineries in South Africa.

He said that Iran will provide the relevant volume of oil needed for Shell refineries in South Africa once an agreement is concluded.

As for the amount of oil likely to be sold to Shell, he said it will probably be set at the amount dating to the time that sanctions were imposed on Iran (namely about 100,000 barrels per day), Mehr news agency reported.

He further stated that Iran has also held talks with British Petroleum and Petronas on exporting oil to South Africa.

Before the sanctions were imposed on Iran, the Islamic Republic used to export 2.3 million barrels of oil per day, while under sanctions, this figure shrunk to 1 million barrels of oil per day.

Wintershall signs MoU

German companies also seek a good place in Irans energy market. Wintershall Holding, Germany's largest crude oil and natural gas producer did not miss its chance and inked a MoU with the National Iranian Oil Company on potential future cooperation.

Wintershall, a subsidiary of the leading chemical producer BASF, has been active in the Middle East for years.

To prepare for possible further activities in the region, the company inked such a MoU with the Iranian company. The details of the MoU are subject to confidentiality, Stefan Leunig, the Head of Media Relations in Wintershall, told Trend.



SHANA news agency reported under the document, over the next month the companies will exchange data and then the German company will study four reserves in western part of Iran.



Wintershall has never been involved in oil business in Iran.

So not only old partners, but also new companies show interest in Iran. One can expect Iran soon reach its goal - to be on focus of the leading energy companies and reach milestones in the energy sector.

--

Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
13 April 2016 18:21 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

Thanks to the introduction of know-how in enterprises, Turkmenistans industry enjoys good potential to establish flexible economic system which is receptive to the scientific and technological innovations, reads the analytic report by the Strategic Planning and Economic Development Institute of Turkmenistan.

The report highlighted that the integration of the Turkmen industry into the world economy happens through extracting and manufacturing sectors. An interest in advanced processing of raw materials and its use as a raw ingredient for the production of products rises.

The Turkmen Institute drew attention to the fact that one of these projects is the construction of the country's first gas chemical complex in the village of Kiyanly in Balkan province. The natural gas processing plant is designed to produce 386,000 tons of polyethylene and 81, 000 tons of polypropylene a year.

The development of gas chemical industry will create prerequisites for the development of new directions such as production of energy efficient composite construction materials, lacquers and paints, various kinds of technical fabrics, wear-resistant and gas-proof rubber and sealants, plastics and elastomers with a wide range of application areas and other products, the institute informed.

Oil refining industry also has a significant share in the manufacturing sector. This sector was expanded in 2015 with new installations designed to produce 2 million tons of heavy oil and 230,000 tons of low-octane gasoline per year.

In addition, one million ton of raw material for gasoline and liquefied natural gas, 900,000 tons of tar for bitumen production will be produced based on vacuum processing.

The Institute emphasized that the rich resources of natural gas are the basis for the production of nitrogen fertilizers.

Particularly, the ammonia and carbamide production complex were commissioned in Mary town which helped to meet demand of the agricultural sector and to ensure stability of this product in the volume of the countrys export turnover.

Currently, the construction work is underway for the Garlyk mining combine in Lebap province which will be the largest combine in the Central Asia. The combine will produce 1.4 million tons potash fertilizer per year.

The growth of investment activities has led to the accelerated development of the construction materials industry in Turkmenistan as well.

The construction work for the quartz sand producing factory and plant for the production of various glass products was started in Akhal province in 2015. Products of these facilities will contribute to Turkmenistans import substitution and be export-oriented in future.

Turkmenistan holds the fourth place in the world for the largest natural gas reserves, according to BP's report.

---

Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
13 April 2016 17:49 (UTC+04:00)

Russia remains the most important partner for Turkmenistan, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said during the meeting with Alexander Zhilkin, governor of Russia's Astrakhan region, in Ashgabat, the Turkmen government reported.

The president noted that given the huge industrial and resource potential, both countries have much to offer to each other in economic sphere.

The initiatives put forward by Ashgabat on creating transnational transportation and transit corridors and logistics centers, create opportunities for expanding the cooperation.

Currently, Turkmenistan purchases modern ferries for regular passenger and cargo transportation from Turkmenbashi port to a number of ports in the Caspian Sea countries, including the Russian port of Olya.

Moreover, shipbuilding, ship repair and expansion of trade relations were named as other priority areas of partnership between Turkmenistan and Astrakhan. The parties also expressed interest in supply of textile, chemical and food products.

Russia holds a leading position among Turkmenistan's largest foreign trade partners.

Turkmenistan has recently intensified the cooperation with Russia's largest regions such as Tatarstan, St. Petersburg and Sverdlovsk.

---

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A couple who beat a 3-year-old foster child to death and left her body in their southwest Bakersfield home as they fled to Mexico were sentenc
A Leicestershire accountant has narrowly avoided jail after stealing more than 26,000 from cafe chain Delifrance.

The company, which has its UK headquarters in Wigston, Leicestershire, employed financial accountant Emma Hoy in 2012.

Over a three-year period, she then made illegal payments into her own bank account, using the log in details of a colleague.

Hoy paid herself 26,680 in total, into a bank account under the name of her partner.

She made up fictitious business names based on her partners surname, and then got the payments countersigned by other employees, who had no way of knowing the payees were made up.

At Leicester Crown Court last week, Hoy was told by Judge Ebraham Mooncey said: "Im thoroughly disappointed you could behave in the manner you did.

For the sake of your two sons you will not get the custodial sentence which you richly deserve."

He told Hoy to continue paying Delifrance back, which she has been doing for the past three months.

Trust to repay

Mooncey said: "Its a huge amount of money and Im going to trust you to repay Delifrance."

Hoy, who pleaded guilty to fraud, was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months. She was also given 12 months supervision by the probation service and ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work.
Artisan bakery Peel & Stone is set to open its first retail-focused site in Harborne, Birmingham.

The company runs a wholesale bakery in Birmingham, which has a limited retail function, selling sandwiches and bread. The new venture in Harborne will allow the company to have a store focused entirely on retail.

Dave Finn, wholesale manager at Peel & Stone, said: There will be bread and cakes, and we will be baking all of both on site.

The bakery aims to employ five or six members of staff, but an exact date has not been set for the opening as yet.

Finn explained: Were going into an old building, so small problems crop up here and there.

He added that Peel & Stone did not currently have any further expansion plans in the pipeline, aiming for quality over quantity.

He said: Were a young company and I think weve learned that we do one thing and we do it well. Were in it for the long term.

Peel & Stone specialises in producing slowly leavened bread without additives. It also produces a range of rustic sweet treats, including chocolate brownies and seasonal fruit pies.
US spice brand McCormick has walked away from talks to buy Mr Kipling-maker Premier Foods after examining its books.

It said that, after conducting a due diligence review of Premiers affairs, it was unable to make an offer the Premier board would recommend.

Shares in Premier Foods have fallen by over 25% this morning off the back of the announcement.

Premier has previously turned down offers of 52p, 60p and 65p from McCormick, before letting the US suitor take a look at its books and pension obligations.

Premier has acknowledged McCormicks announcement, but remained bullish, predicting a strong future for an independent Premier Foods. It also highlighted the benefit of its co-operation agreement with Japanese noodle firm Nissin, which will see it distribute its products in the UK while seeing the availability of its wares increase in key overseas markets.

In a statement, McCormick said: McCormick has, after careful consideration, concluded that it would not be able to propose a price that would be recommended by the board of Premier Foods while also delivering appropriate returns for McCormick shareholders. Accordingly, McCormick has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Premier Foods.

Here is how the story has played out over the last few months:

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21 January - Premier Foods records virtually static 0.1% Q3 sales growth, though sweet treats grew 6.5%

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12 Febraury - McCormick makes its first offer for Premier, valuing the company at 52p per share

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14 March - McCormick makes a second offer for Premier at 60p per share

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23 March - Premier Foods publicly announces its rejection of both offers, saying they undervalue the company

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30 March - McCormick makes a third offer for Premier at 65p a share, which is rejected the next day

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6 April - Premier reveals it has held "constructive" discussions with McCormick

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13 April - McCormick walks away from talks with Premier Foods. The end?

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Three students are facing charges in connection to drug-laced gummy worms at Boca Ciega High School.

Three students arrested



Other students facing school consequences

Police warn parents to look out for suspicious snacks



School officials said five students were taken to the hospital Monday - four by ambulance - as a precaution after consuming the drug-laced gummy candies.



According to Gulfport Police, two students at Boca Ciega High School were arrested Tuesday and charged with delivering a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, a 2nd degree felony.

A third student was arrested and charged on Wednesday.



Police said only those students will be charged criminally as they were the only ones involved with "delivery" of a controlled substance. The other students will have school consequences.

Bay News 9 is not naming the juveniles in accordance with our crime guidelines.

In light of the investigation, St. Petersburg Police have released photos of similar "treats" as a warning to parents.

The marshmallow/cereal type treats, gummies, and lollipops laced with high concentrations of THC were confiscated during an ongoing investigation.

Police warn these "treats" are dangerous for children and teens and are warning parents to be on the lookout for suspicious snacks.


A Hillsborough County Spanish teacher has been removed from the classroom for a controversial questionnaire in which she asked students for personal information about their religion, skin color, sexual orientation and disabilities.

Teacher's questionnaire was called 'privilege form'

Questionnaire asked for personal information from middle-school students

One student said Yoselis Ramos is a good teacher

The Office of Professional Standards began an investigation into Spanish teacher Yoselis Ramos, 23, a first-year educator at Monroe Middle School in Tampa, but she resigned Thursday, according to Hillsborough Schools spokeswoman Tanya Arja.

Ramos had two different classes fill out the "privilege form" on April 4. A couple of parents complained the next day, Arja said.

Dale Cox wonders why Ramos asked her seventh-grade grandson to fill out the form in the first place.



"A conversation about a child and their sexuality should not come into play," Cox said. "If youre going to do a class paper, then you do the class paper on the subject of Spanish. Not anything else."



The categories "asexual" and "pansexual" were under the sexual orientation section of the form. Arja said the topic in class was about equality, but the district would never ask students for that kind of information.

Student Jacob Cox said Ramos is a good teacher.

"I hope she comes back and starts teaching Spanish again," he said.

Bay News 9 was unable to reach Ramos for comment.


Theres a burglar on the prowl in South Tampa and police finally got a good look at him, thanks to one tech savvy homeowner.

Burglar seen on camera built into door bell

Homeowner watched burglar in real time on cellphone app

Police believe rash of South Tampa burglaries all committed by one person



Cameron Browns home was broken into earlier this week. He watched the burglar exit through his front door home in real time on a cellphone app.



Brown said its part of the security system he had installed just a month ago, that includes a surveillance camera hidden in the doorbell.



I just went completely blank and just had a cold feeling of this is actually happening, Brown said.



The burglar got in by breaking in through a bedroom window. Brown said he was only inside for a minute and 10 seconds but still managed to make away with jewelry and blank checks.



For it to happen at 2:25 in the afternoon, it seems like he knows what hes doing, said Brown.



There have been a total of eight home burglaries in South Tampa since the end of March and police believe they could all be connected.



The suspect is described as a well-dressed Hispanic man who speaks fluent Spanish. He may be driving a four door brown sedan.



If you have any information, please contact the Tampa Police Department.
A Palm Harbor teen is preparing for her second heart transplant.

Maddie Price, 16, had her 1st heart transplate at age 5

Price will have her 2nd transplant procedure in St. Pete

Price is waiting for her new heart at home rather than in a hospital

Maddie Price, 16, has battled heart problems since she was nine days old. When she was 5, she had her first heart transplant.

She said she has known for years that she would need a second transplant. When she went in for a checkup last month, doctors told her it was time to be listed for a new heart.

"The right side of my heart is in failure. Its not relaxing properly, Maddie said.

Maddie and her mom, Melanie, spent seven months in St. Louis, Missouri, for her first transplant. But this time, they are staying local: Maddie will have her surgery at Johns Hopkins All Childrens Hospital in St. Petersburg.

"It gives us a chance to make things as normal as we can, whatever 'normal' is for our family, Melanie Price said.

Maddie spent more than three weeks in the hospital preparing for the surgery but was released Friday. She carries around a small bag that contains medicine she receives through a port in her arm. She said its easier waiting for her new heart at home.

"Its nicer to see friends here rather than the hospital, Maddie said. I get to go out a little bit. I have to wear a mask, but its still nice to get outside more."

Maddie also got out of the hospital just in time to celebrate her 16th birthday. Monday, her friends and teachers at Calvary Christian High School surprised her with a "Sweet 16" celebration.

"I love Calvary, because its just like a family, so it was nice to just see everyone, Maddie said.

Maddie said she hopes to get a new heart and recover in time to return to school this fall. She is currently finishing her sophomore year online.


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Gangs have had a tendency to ruin iconic tattoos for everyone.

Houstons largest gang  Tango Blast  likes to use local emblems as identifiers. Those tattoos can range from the Astros logo to the city skyline to Bayou City area codes. Similarly, Tango Orejon gangs in San Antonio like to incorporate the Spurs logo or the Alamo in their body art. Tango cliques in Austin and Dallas ink themselves with regional symbols, like the Cowboys star, Hookem Horns or even the state capitol.

HOUSTON TATTOO CONVENTION: Local Tattoo Extravaganza celebrates 40 years

Now Playing: Trending News Around The Nation Video: Houston Chronicle

Just so were clear, we understand that probably everyone you meet with an Astros tattoo is not a gang member. (Were clear on that, right? They dont make you a criminal, and tattoos can be rad art). However, gangs' history of co-opting cultural symbols can have real-world consequences for non-gang affiliated people.

The Wall Street Journal wrote a story in 2012 about how body art had derailed green card applications for some immigrants with no criminal records. These Latin American immigrants were denied green cards because of tattoos they said were ornamental  religious imagery or Laugh Now, Cry Later theater masks. But those same images were associated with the regions most violent gangs.

SEE MORE: Tattoos that define gangs in the U.S. and around the world

In Japan, a recent government survey found that most hotels ban not only inked locals but also tattooed tourists from public bathing areas because body art has long been tied to yakuza gangs.

Other co-opted gang symbols include the Jewish Star of David for some of Chicagos street gangs. The Black Gangster Disciple Nation was founded by a man named David Barksdale  hence the use of the star. And in addition to Nazi insignia, white nationalists get tats of shamrocks.

See the gallery above for a look at iconic symbols co-opted by gangs.
"Weather permitting" might be the two most important words for anyone who wants to get outdoors to work or play.

Rain chances were forecast at 90 percent today as a cold front moves toward Southeast Texas and stalls off the coast.

No severe storms are expected, but some locations could see more than an inch of rain, said Roger Erickson, the weather service's warning coordinator meteorologist.

It could result in minor river flooding in the Deweyville area, hit hard by the Toledo Bend flood into the Sabine River a month ago.

That's also not great news for Village Creek State Park, struggling to reopen all its trails and campgrounds after the third-worst flood in its 22-year history, said park superintendent Jerry Rashall.

Half of the park is still closed because of the flooding from Village Creek's tributaries after the torrential rain of March 8-11 dumped an estimated 18 inches at Toledo Bend but also inundated large areas to the west.

Much of Beaumont and Jefferson County were spared the worst of it, but the massive storm that curled around Beaumont produced rapid flooding and erosion.

"We had a few inches to several feet of water," Rashall said.

None of the park's major buildings were flooded, though cabins and the pavilion did. Half of the park's roads were closed for almost a month recently reopened.

Campsites that are served by water and electricity are open and were booked all through this month, Rashall said.

Walk-in campsites are still closed.

Ordinarily, in such good spring weather, the park would have about double its usual number of visitors, Rashall said.

Two of eight miles of trails are open. The water receded enough for park employees to check the rest of the trails.

The canoe launch is open, he said.

Village Creek rose to 23.39 feet because of this year's flood, Rashall said.

In October 1994, it got 25.5 feet and in October 2006, it got 28.3 feet.

This flood did more damage because the water rose so fast with a higher flow and caused more damage, he said.

Rashall said he expects all of the park's facilities will be open by mid-summer.

While the reservoirs at Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend are full and open for recreation, the mouths of the Neches and Sabine rivers that drain into Sabine Lake have carried tons of debris into the shallow estuary, which also is still almost all fresh water, said Carey Gelpi, ecosystem team leader for the Texas Parks and Wildlie Department's coastal fisheries program in Port Arthur.

"It's still dangerous for boating," he said. "I wouldn't recommend it."

He said the TPWD research vessel in the lake got a bent propeller because of a submerged log. Fiberglass-hulled vessels are particularly at risk because slamming into debris could easily rip a hole in them, he said.

In Beaumont, the city's parks are in good shape, which provides people with access to exercise opportunities, cited as a shortcoming in a report released this week about Jefferson County's well-being.

The exercise opportunities don't refer exclusively to expensive gym memberships but also to open-air parks with amenities for exercise on them.

Beaumont has about 30 parks, ranging from little pocket parks in neighborhoods to larger community parks and a regional park like Tyrrell Park, at which the city will build a boardwalk into Cattail Marsh to attract birders looking to observe migratory species.

Outdoor recreation isn't confined to full-contact exertion.

The Big Thicket Association offers its Neches River Adventures boat trip aboard its Ivory Bill vessel, which cruises up the Neches River from Riverfront Park each Saturday from March through November for floating class on the local environment, said Bruce Walker, the association's executive director.

With a recently announced sale of the city-owned marina, where the Ivory Bill is docked, the tours' future has yet to be determined.

The tour took aboard more than 2,000 students from nine school districts and six private schools for 39 days' worth of outdoor classes, Walker said.

The Ivory Bill ran 56 private charters and public tours that brought another 2,000 visitors into the Beaumont unit of the Big Thicket in 10-Mile Bayou, he said.

DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/dwallach
A Taylor High School student in Katy has been charged with assault in a fight that took place near the school April 5.

Reese Reno, 19, was charged Friday with assault causing bodily injury for the fight with Gilberto Toro. Both are students at Taylor High School, the Katy Independent School District confirmed.
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Three South Texas residents have been arrested after allegations of infidelity led to a gun going off and a high-speed police chase.

RELATED: Former missionary who fled to Central America convicted of killing man in South Texas

Aransas County Sheriff Bill Mills told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that a woman found her boyfriend with another woman after being dropped off at a residence at around 4 a.m. Monday.

"They started arguing, one shoots a gun (into the air), the neighbors hear and everyone starts to run," Mills told the newspaper. "The girls just panicked after the shots were fired. They were running, but did not know why."

RELATED: Utah high school teacher who had sex with 3 students says one of the boy's grades improved

Witnesses told police that a blue pickup truck and a white pickup truck with four people between them took off from the scene, according to the Caller-Times.

The driver in the white pickup truck sped away from officers when a police vehicle hailed them to pull over, leading to a chase that reaches speeds of 100 mph, the newspaper reported.

Two women in the truck  April Diane Petruska, 34, and Alexandra Saldana, 17, were arrested after being stopped, the Caller-Times reported.

A man in the truck  Thomas John McMahon, 39  had jumped into the bay, but was later arrested.

RELATED: Police: East Texas middle school teacher sent nude photos to 14-year-old student on Snapchat

Petruska and Saldana have each been charged with evading arrest or detention, according to Aransas County jail records.

Petruska was charged with intent to give false information and failure to identify herself as a fugitive.

Bonds have not been set for either woman as of Tuesday afternoon.

McMahon has been charged with parole violation. His bond has been set at $50,000.

It's not clear whether the suspects are the same three people involved in the initial cheating snafu.

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports
China has a number of would-be metropolises in the country. These grand cities have sprawling roadways, towering apartments and glimmering government buildings. These same places also lack inhabitants.

The spectacle of Chinas ghost cities emits an eerie vibe. Eight-line streets with no cars, stadiums with no teams and parks with no people. A recent article in Wired explained the phenomenon, noting the Asian giant has built hundreds of new cities in the past three decades in an effort to urbanize the enormous country.

TRAVEL GUIDE: 12 ghost towns to visit in Texas

The goal is to move 250 million rural residents into cities by 2026. The places can look like an imitation of Manhattan, and their enormity turns off potential occupiers.

From Wired:

Most people dont want to live somewhere that feels dead, and these new cities sometimes lack the jobs and commerce needed to support those who would live there. In Kangbashi, the government used some administrative tricks to address this, relocating bureaucratic buildings and schools, then trying to convince people in surrounding villages to move in. It had minor success. Today, a city designed for at least 500,000 has around 100,000 inhabitants.

The hope is that urbanization can fuel economic growth. And its Chinas prosperous growth that fueled the big empty cities in the first place. The BBC wrote in 2012 about how many of these places rose from investment for investments sake. Heres how they described what happened:

Investment in infrastructure accounts for much of China's GDP - the country is said to have built the equivalent of Rome every two months in the past decade. And with such a large pool of labour, it is harder to put the brakes on when growth slows and supply outstrips demand.

CREEPY: Eerie ghost towns around the world

The enormous cities do manage to attract tourists, who want to bear witness to these mammoth dead spaces. Photographers have taken ruin porn of these metropolises that show an uncanny scene that would fit right into the The Twilight Zone.

See a few of these strange ghost cities in the gallery above.
Nearly 85 percent of physicians say they regularly or occasionally discuss the cost of treatment with patients, according to the Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2016.

Here are five findings:

1. Thirty percent of physicians regularly discuss treatment costs with their patients.

2. Around 35 percent occasionally discuss cost of treatment with patients.

3. Twenty percent discuss treatment costs occasionally with their patients, of the patient brings the subject up.

4. Approximately 10 percent never discuss cost with their patients because they don't know the cost of treatments.

5. Another 5 percent of physicians never discuss cost with their patients because they don't feel it is appropriate.
Primary care physicians looking for a new gig might want to consider looking in a rural area. Not only do many rural areas have significant need for PCPs, but they may also offer the biggest compensation packages, according to data from The Medicus Firm, a national healthcare staffing company.

The Medicus Firm compiled data based on its placements of PCPs and physician assistants made with more than 250 hospitals, health systems and medical groups in 2015.

Here are six takeaways on PCP and PA compensation based on its findings.

1. Internal medicine physicians bring home higher salaries on average than family practice physicians. Based on data provided by The Medicus Firm, the average family practice physician salary was $210,192 in 2015. Comparatively, the average internal medicine salary was $238,975 in 2015 or about 14 percent more than family practice.

2. By average placement salary, rural settings are the most lucrative for both internal medicine physicians and family practice physicians. The average placement salary for family practitioners in rural areas was $227,261  16 percent more than the average urban salary and nearly 10 percent more than the average salary in a mid-sized community. For internal medicine physicians the average rural placement salary of $256,667 is 13 percent greater than its urban equivalent and 10 percent greater than the mid-sized community average.

3. Average signing bonuses across both family practice and internal medicine seem to follow the trend of greater awards in rural areas. The average primary care signing bonus is $19,714, according to the The Medicus Firm. However, broken down by family practice and internal medicinephysicians,the signing bonus data shows no clear trend. Internal medicine physicians placed in mid-sized communities saw the highest average signing bonus of $27,127, and the lowest was in urban communities, where the signing bonus was $10,417. The highest average signing bonus for family practice physicians was in rural areas, at $23,181, and the lowest was in mid-sized communities at $16,111.

4. Average total compensation  including both salary and signing bonus  got larger as community size got smaller. Despite the range of signing bonuses, total compensation, like average salary trends, shows a negative correlation between total compensation and population size.

5. By geographic region, both average salary and average total compensation was highest in the Central U.S./Upper Midwest and the South/Southwest. This includes Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

6. PAs earned an average salary of $112,680 and an average signing bonus of $6,250 in 2015. About one-third were paid relocation bonuses ranging from $5,000 to $15,000, averaging about $8,751. PAs were the fourth most-placed clinician in 2015, according to The Medicus Firm. Salary and compensation data by community size and region was not available.

Note: Salary data includes base salary only, unless indicated otherwise. It does not include bonus compensation or benefits. It reflects primarily outpatient-only primary care opportunities. Averages include physicians of all ages and experience levels. About one-third of candidates are new, entry level physicians, while the rest have more experience.

Community size is classified by population. A rural community was considered a population of 25,000 or fewer, a mid-sized community was considered a population of 25,001 to 500,000 and an urban community had a population of 500,001 or greater.

More articles on compensation:

No pay raises for Community Health Systems CEO and CFO in 2016

Tenet CEO and CFO compensation slashed in 2015

What physicians think they should be earning
Honolulu-based Nan  a construction company  has donated $1 million to Honolulu-based Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, according to Hawaii News Now.

Kapiolani will use the funds to create a new auditorium and pediatric intensive care unit.

Nan Chul Shin, founder of Nan, said he chose to donate because the hospital is meaningful to him and other employees. "My three daughters are [sic.] born here. This is where I learned to train to raise kids," Mr. Shin said, according to the report. "It has a lot of meaning to our family. This is where my kids start [sic.] their life from this hospital."

Kapiolani will name the auditorium and PICU building the Nan, Inc. Auditorium.
Nashville, Tenn.-based Accordias Healthcare Services has found its niche.

The company, a second phase startup in growth mode, provides business office and revenue cycle management services to critical access, rural community and independent hospitals nationwide.

Founded in 2012 by Carmen Voelz, David Rose and John Zimmerling, the company initially decided not to take on clients bigger than 150 beds.

With "our original practice, we were doing what we would gracefully refer to as upgrade or implementation recovery. We had a lot of sites that were contacting us after an implementation or an upgrade that didn't go well, and we would step in and resolve a lot of those issues," Mr. Rose, Accordias' managing partner, says.

Today, the company has nearly 50 employees, two service centers in the Nashville area, and is connected to about 50 hospitals in 18 states. It has also added a fourth partner, Chris Joiner.

Mr. Rose recently spoke with Becker's Hospital Review about the company's founding and its future plans.

Note: Interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Question: How was the company started?

David Rose: Healthcare Management Systems, which is a health information system company, had a service group they were going to eliminate. Mr. Zimmerling used to run that organization with HMS and the people in the organization called him and said, 'What are we going to do?' So he got in touch with Ms. Voelz and asked if we would be interested in going in with him on this enterprise.

Q: What specific need within the industry did you hope to address by founding Accordias?

DR: Rural community hospitals always have struggled with high-level Medicare resources or business services, normally just a lack of availability of high-end resources. Most don't need a full-time Medicare biller, so it just made sense to have an organization that supports those services.

Q: What kind of expansion or growth do you project in the next couple of years?

DR: We've doubled every year so far, and we expect to more than double this year. We're going to continue with the basic practices we have now, but we are going to add one additional practice. Probably in the fall of this year we're going to add analytics. Basically we're just going to provide some data mining and some other type tools to our rural community hospitals that could really never afford that kind of service from some of the bigger companies.

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The top three vendors hospitals use to attest to the meaningful use program are Cerner, MEDITECH and Epic, according to March 2015 ONC data.

Here are 23 hospitals and health systems that posted job listings seeking EHR and IT expertise for these platforms in the past two weeks.

Note: This is not an exhaustive list. Job listings were compiled from online job seeker websites.

Cerner

1. Stony Brook (N.Y.) Medicine: Seeks a lead programmer analyst/application specialist

2. Fairbanks (Alaska) Memorial Hospital: Seeks an IT systems analyst

3. MedStar Health (Columbia, Md.): Seeks an applications analyst

4. Banner Health (Phoenix): Seeks a clinical performance analyst

5. The Aroostook Medical Center (Presque Isle, Maine): Seeks a registrar for the emergency department

6. Virginia Commonwealth University Health System (Richmond): Seeks a revenue cycle trainer

MEDITECH

1. Good Samaritan Hospital (Los Angeles): Seeks a clinical system analyst

2. Regional Medical Center of San Jose (Calif.): Seeks a manager of patient access

3. Tidelands Health (Georgetown, S.C.): Seeks a clinical measurements analyst

4. Brockton (Mass.) Hospital: Seeks a patient registration representative

5. Covenant Medical Center (Lubbock, Texas): Seeks a patient access representative

6. Methodist Health System (Dallas): Seeks a collector

7. Canton-Potsdam (N.Y.) Hospital: Seeks a patient registration clerk

Epic

1. NorthShore University HealthSystem (Evanston, Ill.): Seeks an associate trainer

2. Carolinas HealthCare System (Charlotte, N.C.): Seeks an application coordinator

3. Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago: Seeks an EHR trainer

4. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles): Seeks a systems analyst

5. Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas): Seeks an application analyst

6. John Muir Health (Walnut Creek, Calif.): Seeks a manager of clinical systems

7. Boston Medical Center: Seeks an EHR trainer

8. Riverside Healthcare (Kankakee, Ill.): Seeks an application coordinator

9. The Queen's Medical Center (Honolulu): Seeks an EHR trainer

10. Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals and Clinics (Tyler, Texas): Seeks a trainer

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GE Ventures, a venture capital subsidiary of General Electric, and Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic have jointly launched Vitruvian Networks, an independent platform company focused on accelerating access to cell and gene therapies through advanced, cloud-ready software systems and manufacturing services.

Vitruvian Networks will partner with therapy producers and provide them with a leading software and manufacturing platform to bring the Internet of things to cell and gene therapies. The platform, which includes powerful business intelligence and data analytics capabilities, will be a network orchestrator for therapeutic companies.

Vitruvian Networks, which will be led by a team of life science and software development experts, will focus on the production of autologous cell therapies that target blood cancers. It will use Mayo Clinic's data related to biomarkers, cell therapy processes and clinical outcomes to guide further development of personalized therapies. The new company will also develop the supporting standards and infrastructure that will expedite discovery, delivery and regulation in the field.

"Autologous therapies in the area of regenerative and personalized medicine have shown great promise in treating life-threatening diseases," said Andre Terzic, MD, PhD, director of the MayoClinicCenter for Regenerative Medicine. "We are excited that Vitruvian Networks will further drive standardization of the industry, increase scalability and bring forward the realization of critical therapeutic potential to address the unmet needs of patients around the world."
Morrisville, Vt.-based Copley Health Systems, the parent of Copley Hospital, has named Arthur "Art" Mathisen president and CEO.

Here are five things to know about Mr. Mathisen.

1. He will will replace CEO Melvyn Patashnick, who is retiring.

2. Mr. Mathisen has more than 16 years of experience in the healthcare administration.

3. Most recently, he has served as COO of Morrisville, Vt.-based Copley Hospital.

4. Previously, Mr. Mathisen held senior executive positions at Munson Army Health Center in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Kirk Army Health Clinic in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., AllGood Army Community Hospital in South Korea, and Weed Army Community Hospital in Fort Irwin, Calif.

5. Mr. Mathisen earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maine in Orono and a master's degree in health administration from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

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Legislation that would that would allow Maryland health systems to open and shut down hospitals without receiving approval from the state's certificate of need process was approved Monday on the final day of the 2016 Maryland General Assembly session, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Gov. Larry Hogan (R) still needs to sign the bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Thomas Middleton (D).

Under the proposed law, hospital operators would not be required to obtain a certificate of need from the state to build a freestanding facility if they inform the Maryland Health Care Commission at least 45 days in advance of changing services. Commission members would also need to conclude the changes are "not inconsistent with the State health plan," enhance "the delivery of more efficient and effective healthcare services" and are in the best interest of the public, according to the report.

Additionally, the hospital owner will be required to inform the public on proposed changes in open meetings. The owner must also provide details to state officials on the reasons for a proposed closure or the conversion of a community hospital, and how the transition of acute care services will be handled. Finally, the hospital owner must provide details on how "displaced employees" will be reassigned and trained for new roles.

A House version of the Senate bill was passed by the Senate Monday, but contained amendments that would have prevented the proposed closure of two hospitals. However, that bill died when the session ended after Sen. Middleton forced it back to the Senate Finance Committee on a floor motion, according to the report.

Two opposing bills that would have stipulated greater input and approval by local boards of health before hospitals could close facilities were opposed by hospital owners and died in committees.
The contentious debate on gun control could slow progress on a mental health reform bill in the U.S. Senate, according to The Hill.

Senators worry gun-related provisions in the bill will not garner Democratic support, dashing chances of passing what is otherwise a bipartisan bill, according to the report. The bill's controversial provisions call for a full judicial hearing to ban a person from buying guns on the grounds of mental illness, but if the judge's order expires, the ban would be lifted, according to the report.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) already indicated the provisions would keep him from supporting the bill, according to the report. He said he would support other parts of the bill, such as a provision that would treat rather than imprison mentally ill people who have committed crimes. Because the gun-control provisions would spark additional amendments  especially since many Democrats feel mental health reform is not a substitute for better gun control  they would slow the bill down, according to the report.

Sen. John Corryn (R-Texas) said he disagrees with "this whole idea that we're not going to have a fulsome discussion about mental health and [the] problems it creates with the criminal justice system, housing and the healthcare field," according to The Hill, but also indicated he is open to discussion changes and would like to find a solution.

Nonetheless, both Republicans and Democrats are still optimistic on reaching an agreement, according to the report.

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Nashville, Tenn.-based Hospital Corporation of America and the Florida Department of Revenue have settled a years-long corporate income tax battle worth more than $60 million, reports Florida Trend.

Below are five things to know about the dispute.

1. The dispute involves lawsuits related to HCA's tax returns in Florida from 1994 to 2012.

2. HCA first filed suit against the Florida Department of Revenue in 2011 challenging nearly $760,000 in interest payments the department said HCA owed on its 1994 state taxes.

3. Florida's Department of Revenue brought a suit against the hospital chain in 2014 alleging it owed $10.4 million in back taxes to the state, including $3 million in interest from unpaid taxes between 2007 and 2009. HCA disputed the claims and contended the state owed HCA refunds for overpayments. Specifically, HCA claimed it made overpayments of nearly $10 million between 2012 and 2013.

4. Under the terms of the settlement obtained by Florida Trend, Florida's revenue department has stopped pursuing money from HCA in back taxes. Similarly, HCA agreed to drop its claims the state owed HCA refunds for overpayments.

5. Records from the Florida Attorney General's office show the entities reached a settlement March 28, reports Florida Trend. HCA withdrew its suit against the department of revenue March 30.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has appealed a Broward County judge's decision to reinstate David Di Pietro as chairman of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Broward Health, according to a Sunshine State News report.

Gov. Scott suspended Mr. Di Pietro in late March. In his executive order, Gov. Scott said Mr. Di Pietro had engaged in malfeasance. On Monday, Broward County Judge Lisa Phillips held that the order did not meet the requirements of Florida law because it failed to state the specific acts that led to Mr. Di Pietro's suspension. Judge Phillips ruled that Mr. Di Pietro be reinstated as chairman of Broward Health.

Gov. Scott appealed the decision Tuesday. However, Mr. Di Pietro told Sunshine State News the governor's appeal is a "stall tactic," and he's confident the court's decision will be upheld.

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The lawyers representing the government in Zubik v. Burwell told the U.S. Supreme Court that any compromise to resolve the case is only acceptable if it will end the legal controversy and ensure women can access contraceptive coverage in another way, according to The Washington Post.

Otherwise, the lawyers said, litigation would continue for years in the states and many women would not be able to access contraceptive health coverage, according to the report.

In an unusual move, on March 29 the Supreme Court asked lawyers on both sides to provide supplemental briefs exploring a possible compromise to resolve the case  in which religious nonprofit organizations claim the contraceptive coverage mandated under the Affordable Care Act violates their religious freedom. The initial briefs were due Tuesday, and response briefs are due April 20.

Here are three things to know about the briefs filed by both sides.

1. Lawyers supporting the plaintiffs said they would compromise if the religious nonprofits truly had no hand in the process of providing female employees birth control coverage. This includes signing documents to indicate to the government they object to the contraceptive mandate, as is currently required, according to The Washington Post. They said they were in support of examples given by the Supreme Court, according to the report.

2. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., who represents the government in the case, wrote in his brief to the court that "a requirement that an employer state in writing its religious objection and eligibility for an exemption is a minimally intrusive process, and petitioners have never suggested an alternative arrangement like the one posited in the court's order," according to The Washington Post.

3. The eight-justice court appeared to be split at the March 23 hearing of the case. In the event of a deadlock without a compromise, the lower court rulings will stand. This means nothing will change except for in the following states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas. In those states, regional appeals courts ruled that religiously-affiliated nonprofits are not required to provide women contraceptive coverage because the religious accommodation under the ACA does not go far enough and violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, according to the report.

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Washington authorities have now caught both patients who escaped from Western State Hospital, a Lakewood, Wash.-based psychiatric hospital, according to The Seattle Times.

On April 6, Mark Alexander Adams and Anthony Garver escaped from the 800-plus-bed hospital. Police believe they may have left the facility through a loose window.

Mr. Adams was arrested in 2014 on charges of second-degree assault with a domestic violence enhancement, but was found incompetent to stand trial. Police caught him in Des Moines, Wash., on the afternoon of April 7.

Mr. Garver was arrested in 2013 for using electrical cords to tie up a 20-year-old woman and subsequently stabbing her 24 times. He too was found incompetent to stand trial. Police found him near his parents' home in Spokane, Wash., on the evening of Friday, April 8. Authorities utilized the help of a law enforcement dog named Gunnar to locate Mr. Garver, who was hiding under a pile of debris in a forest.

"I feel outstanding that none of my citizens" were injured, said Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich in a news conference, according to the report. "The state of Washington needs to figure out how to keep [Mr. Garver] from escaping."

According to the report, police believe Mr. Garver utilized a bus company to travel from Lakewood to Seattle, where he purchased a Greyhound ticket to Spokane.

Mr. Garver's parents  who investigators said were cooperative in the search  called police on the afternoon of April 8, claiming their son had paid them a visit. "His father stepped out of the room and made a call to us and then stepped back into the room, and that kind of spooked Garver," said Mark Gregory, Spokane sheriff's spokesman deputy, according to the report. "During that time, [Mr. Garver] said he wanted his passport and said that he wanted to travel to Morocco."

As of the evening of April 8, Mr. Garver had been arrested and was being treated for dehydration and hunger, according to ABC News.

This isn't the first time Mr. Garver been involved with law enforcement. Police said he's "possessed military-style weapons and explosives" and has "threatened mass shootings," according to the report.

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There is incredible variation in hospital C-section rates  so much so that a Consumer Reports investigation finds that the single biggest variable that influences a woman's chance of having a C-section is which hospital she chooses to deliver her baby.

In fact, after examining C-section rates of more than 1,200 U.S. hospitals, Consumer Reports found almost six in 10 hospitals exceed the national target C-section rate.

"Our investigation reveals that most U.S. hospitals have failed to come close to reaching what we consider to be attainable benchmarks," Doris Peter, PhD, director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center, said in a statement. The group published rates for all hospitals that make the information available.

Here are the main findings from the investigation.

1. Roughly one in six hospitals investigated by the consumer group had C-section rates above 33.3 percent. This is far above the national target of 23.9 percent, and the cutoff established by Consumer Reports for its worst score.

2. Only about one in eight had rates of 18.4 percent or lower.

3. Variation in C-section rates is extremely pronounced. C-section rates for low-risk deliveries range from 11 percent at some hospitals to 53 percent at others. Variation even exists within the same communities.

4. Variation also varies by region. Consumer Reports found higher rates in the Northeast and South and lower rates in the West and Midwest.

5. Mississippi, Kentucky, Florida and Washington D.C., have among the highest C-section rates, all above 30 percent.

6. Conversely, South Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico and North Dakota have the lowest rates, all below 18.5 percent.

7. Many hospitals do not release C-section rates. Consumer Reports notes that 24 of these hospitals that do not share C-section rates have a high volume of deliveries of more than 5,000 births annually.

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Invest NI has said the EU referendum is a "live issue" with potential investors when it comes to considering whether to invest in Northern Ireland.

And it has come under fire from both sides of the Brexit debate for failing to declare its own position on the EU referendum.

The economic development agency has said that while its board has "considered" the impact of the UK leaving the EU, it isn't saying whether Northern Ireland should remain, or exit.

But the agency has been accused of being "cynical" in not declaring a pro-EU hand, while a Brexit supporter has said its "statement of neutrality is confused and mistaken".

Bro McFerran, former managing director of insurance giant Allstate, said he can't see "how Invest NI's interests would benefit by Brexit". He said: "They may say, the EU has curtailed funding, controlled by the EU. That's the only downside from an Invest NI point of view. It sounds like a cynical position they are taking up.

"The first thing is, the big attraction, is that Northern Ireland is part of the EU. With American investment we have some sort of foothold into Europe.

"If there is a Brexit, Northern Ireland will be considered as an off-shore part of the UK."

He said while EU "handcuffs" may be taken off Invest NI in terms of funding, he would expect the UK Treasury to impose its own restrictions.

And Jeff Peel, businessman and spokesman for pro-Brexit Business in Britain campaign, said Invest NI's statement of "neutrality" is "confused and mistaken".

"Amongst the many myths peddled by the pro-EU camp is that there is only certainty by remaining in the EU. This simply isn't true."

He said those who back keeping businesses in the "straitjacket of EU regulation and political meddling have no answers to fundamental questions".

Mark Ennis, chairman of the board of Invest NI, said it has "considered recently published reports and anecdotal feedback from companies, relating to both trade and market access issues associated with any decision to either remain in or leave the EU".

He said the board recognises that "given that there is no clarity" on what the UK and EU could look like following the referendum, "the potential upside of an exit in the long term is impossible to objectively assess".

He said there is "uncertainty" in the "short to medium term" on any business confidence "during any transition period".

And a spokeswoman for Invest NI said it is "aware that the referendum is a live issue with some potential investors and is part of their consideration when choosing a country location".

But it added that it is "unclear how both potential and existing investors would respond to a change" and how they "may view NI as an investment location in the future".
John McDonnell says the world of offshore tax havens has been "constructed piece by piece by multinational corporations and the super rich"

The City of London is seen as a "tax haven" at the centre of a worldwide system designed to help the super rich avoid paying tax, John McDonnell has warned as he called for an independent inquiry into the Panama Papers.

Leaked documents linked to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca have caused shockwaves around the world and have led to David Cameron, George Osborne and Jeremy Corbyn publishing details of their own tax returns.

The Government has allocated 10 million for a new cross-agency taskforce to look at the papers but the shadow chancellor is urging ministers to go further.

Leading a debate on tax avoidance and evasion, Mr McDonnell told MPs that the world of offshore tax havens has been "constructed piece by piece by multinational corporations and the super rich" and is "aided by shady offshore operations like Mossack Fonseca".

But it is also helped by "supposedly reputable accountancy firms here in London playing their part".

"PWC have, according to the Public Accounts Committee, aided tax avoidance, and I quote, 'on an industrial scale'," he said.

"Deloitte have advised big businesses on avoiding tax in African countries. Ernst and Young act as tax advisers to Facebook, Apple and Google.

"Just last month KPMG had one of its tax avoidance schemes declared illegal by the High Court.

"Altogether the big four accountancy firms in this country earn at least 2 billion annually from their tax operations but it isn't just them."

Mr McDonnell said banks headquartered in London have been "particularly proficient in directing their funds to Mossack Fonseca shell companies", naming HSBC and RBS subsidiary Coutts.

"Supposedly reputable companies are aiding and abetting the systematic abuse of our tax system," he said.

"We should be clear about this: the City of London is now being viewed by many as a tax haven in the middle of a dense network of havens created for the super rich to avoid the taxes the rest of us must pay."

Labour is calling on the Government to implement the party's Tax Transparency Enforcement Programme which includes plans for an independent public inquiry into the Panama Papers.

The party also wants HM Revenue and Customs to be "properly resourced" so it can investigate tax avoidance and evasion.

The leaking of the Panama Papers prompted a row over the Prime Minister's investment in an offshore trust.

Treasury Minister David Gauke said the taskforce investigating the Panama Papers would have the use of sophisticated technology and experts and will have powers to prosecute criminals.

In addition British firms have been asked to declare their links to Mossack Fonseca by the City regulator.

Mr Gauke said: "The taskforce will include analysts, compliance specialists, and investigators from across HMRC, the National Crime Agency, the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Conduct Authority.

"Between them these agencies will have some very sophisticated technology, experts and resources to tackle money laundering and tax evasion anywhere in the world.

"This taskforce will report to the Chancellor and the Home Secretary on their strategy by taking action and we will update Parliament later this year.

"I stress the point that the taskforce will have total operational independence if they find people to prosecute, they will prosecute them, if they find information of illegality they can act on it and in addition, the independent Financial Conduct Authority has writen to financial firms asking them to declare their links to Mossack Fonseca."

Mr Gauke also defended the Government's record: "This is a Government that year in year out closes loopholes, this is a Government that has led to the OECD work on base erosion and profit shifting, this is a Government that has given more powers to HMRC, this is a Government that has seen a significant fall in the tax gap, particularly in the context of the avoidance, this a Government that has a proud record on dealing with tax avoidance and tax evasion and dealing with all of these abuses in the tax system."

But he was criticised by SNP economy spokesman Stewart Hosie for allegedly equating success with money.

Mr Guake had claimed Labour was "hostile to wealth", saying: "Too often in the past week, Labour has appeared to be motivated by something else, and that something else is hostility to the wealthy.

"Not for dodging taxes but just for being wealthy - for being successful, for earning money and for wanting to pass it on to their children, for doing things that millions of people aspire to do."

But Mr Hosie said: "Success is not merely measured in monetary terms.

"There are many, many successful people who will forgo stashing cash in the attic or the bank or indeed the offshore tax haven."

Mr Hosie said he was "delighted" the subject was now under real scrutiny.

He said: "The cat's out of the bag on this one. It's not just Mossack Fonseca, this is the tip of the iceberg. The public will not allow this matter to be quietly swept under the carpet again."

Tory Kevin Foster (Torbay) said: "All of us recognise there's more work to be done to try and capture those revenues that escape all taxation in all jurisdictions, and the role we can play as the UK in building up the capability of developing nations to crack down on tax avoidance that costs them even more than it does ourselves."

Labour's Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North), chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption, said a great number of her constituents had been in contact to share their concerns.

She said: "The vast majority of people in this country play by the same rules and have very little choice about the contribution they make to the public purse. It's not about envy or anger at wealth, whether it be earned or inherited, but it's about the fact that those at the top end of the income scale seem to play by an entirely different set of rules and it understandably makes people angry and the Government must take genuine steps to level the playing field and to regain the public's trust."

It was unacceptable, she said, that prosecutors of economic crime, tax evasion, corruption and fraud were "effectively operating with one hand tied behind their back".

She said: "Ahead of next month's anti-corruption summit the Government could send out the clearest message to the rest of the world that the UK is serious about tackling economic crime in all of its forms, and its facilitation, and I therefore urge the Government to take the opportunity to take this important step to arm our law enforcement agencies and courts to properly hold companies to account."

Conservative Phillip Lee (Bracknell) said: "I listened to the shadow chancellor's contribution and found myself understanding his frustrations and the points that he was making.

"I guess the problem is that his solution appears to be some sort of socialist utopia and I personally don't think and see no example in history of that working.

"But it does force me to consider what could be a viable solution to this state of affairs because understandably ... the general public is angry, they are frustrated, there is a palpable sense of a breakdown in trust, not just with us in this chamber but also in systems of government - be it the tax system, be it the social work system."

Mr Lee said the public is understandably " deeply mistrustful" and "deeply cynical " given other tax cases, such as Google.

He added: "The response should not be hypocrisy, it certainly shouldn't be envy, it should be what can we practically do in this globalised economy that we all inhabit."

Mr Lee said another challenge is intergenerational inequity, noting: "The problem is we have significant wealth tied up in a particular generation that was born post-war, how are we going to facilitate the transfer of that wealth in a fair and equitable way?

"Answers on a postcard please because at the moment we don't really have one that is working. We need one that works."

On transparency, Mr Lee said: "I'm quite attracted to the Scandinavian - Norwegian, Swedish - model of publishing tax and wealth online.

"I personally would support that, I have absolutely - as I'm aware - nothing to hide. When I mentioned this to particularly Conservative colleagues they always worry about privacy and the like, but if that's the case and those arguments are strong then I don't think the Prime Minister should have published his tax returns and neither should anybody else.

"It's either all or nothing as far as I'm concerned."

Conservative MP Maria Caulfield suggested the fall-out since the Panama Papers data leak was the result of jealousy, insisting that those who earn more do pay more.

She told the Commons: "I do feel the events of the last few days and in particular the debate this afternoon is more about the politics of envy.

"Because of the measures this Government has taken we now see that the top 1% of earners are actually paying 28% of income tax and those figures are likely to grow in recent times.

"Those that earn more pay more. With the Prime Minister paying nearly 76,000 of income tax, which is double the amount of what I earned as a nurse just a few months ago and that does show that there is equality in this country that if you earn more you do indeed pay more."

She added that opposition parties "lead their politics of envy march " with an attack on inheritance tax.

She said: "I want to touch on inheritance tax which members opposite seem to lead with their politics of envy march and assume that inheritance tax is just there to tackle those who have a high income and have a lot of assets."

She said that many low income earners who are income poor but asset rich are forced from their local area in order to pay inheritance tax.

To groans from the Labour benches, she added: "I hope the members opposite will desist from this politics of envy and deal with the problem of tax avoidance."

Labour's David Anderson said the British people will no longer put up with double-standards.

"The real problem that this leak has exposed is the huge range of opportunities that are only open to the rich, the wealthy and powerful in this nation and this is what proves we're simply not in this together," he said.

"Those in the know have not just the opportunity or the good fortune to make money in the first place, it's also clear that when they get that money they've many more avenues open to them to keep their hands on that money."

He added: "It's not the politics of envy, it's the politics of fairness. And make no mistake we've seen the end this week of the farce that we're all in this together.

"This is yet again one law for the rich and one law for the poor and the people of this country will not stand for it."

Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Seema Malhotra bemoaned the fact it is not the Government's intention to "push the issue" of having public registers in overseas territories which detail exactly who owns a company.

She said: "Instead the information that is now agreed on will only be available to UK law enforcement and tax authorities."

Ms Malhotra said that the Government is "very good at spin but their record does not stand up to scrutiny".

"This is not about begrudging successful entrepreneurs and those who succeed in business," she said.

"It is a basic question of fairness in our society."

But Harriett Baldwin, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, attacked Labour for criticising the Government.

She said Mr McDonnell had "managed over the last week to confirm his party as anti-aspiration, anti-wealth creation and wanting to create an atmosphere of envy".

Meanwhile, she said Ms Caulfield had made an "excellent speech highlighting the Labour Party's politics of envy".

A Labour motion calling on the Government to set up an independent inquiry into the Panama Papers and to do more to tackle tax avoidance and evasion was defeated by 300 votes to 266, a majority of 44.
The IMF said the risk of a further equity rout could knock global growth by as much as 4%

Central banks worldwide need to take further action to tackle threats to financial stability which could " tip the global economy into economic and financial stagnation" , the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.

In its latest Global Financial Stability report, the IMF said that, while stock markets have steadied after recent turmoil, the risk of a further equity rout could knock global growth by as much as 4%.

The Washington-based fund said a repeat of the market woes which sent equities tumbling worldwide last August and again at the beginning of the year could "create a pernicious feedback loop of fragile confidence, weaker growth, tighter financial conditions, and rising debt burdens".

It estimated this gloomy scenario could leave global growth 3.9% below the baseline over the next five years - equivalent to forgoing one year of global growth.

But it believes proactive moves by central banks to head off these risks could see world output as much as 1.7% above the baseline by 2018.

Jose Vinals, financial counsellor and head of the IMF's monetary and capital markets department, said: "A key question that this report addresses is whether the turmoil over the past months is now safely behind us, or is it a warning signal that more needs to be done?

"I believe it is the latter: more needs to be done to secure global stability."

It wants regulators to continue tackling issues within the banking sector left over from the financial crisis, while it said emerging market economies also needed to bolster their resilience to global headwinds.

It pointed to China as the emerging economy most in need of action to stabilise and balance growth.

China's slowdown in growth was behind the recent stock market turbulence, sparking a lengthy commodities rout amid fears over a slump in demand from the world's second biggest economy.

The IMF warned that bank loans to companies potentially at risk in China could cause bank losses of around 7% of gross domestic product.

It said the magnitude of these vulnerabilities calls for an "ambitious policy agenda".

But it said stock markets had been helped by intensified policy actions by the European Central Bank and a more cautious stance toward raising rates by the US Federal Reserve.

London's FTSE 100 Index surged 1.5% to a new 2016 high on Wednesday as commodities contin ued to rally higher after Chinese exports rose 11%, brightening the outlook for global trade.

In its Fiscal Monitor report published separately, the IMF warned that the public finances of many economies had "worsened significantly" over the past year as it revised up the debt- to-growth ratios for a raft of countries, including the UK.

It cautioned that the "outlook remains very uncertain and the likelihood of a protracted lower-growth scenario has increased" and said policymakers must take "bold and swift" action if global output falls significantly.

The IMF added that the UK referendum on membership of the European Union could have "large consequences for the future of Europe".

This comes after it downgraded UK growth on Tuesday over fears of disruption if Britain votes to leave the EU on June 23.

In its World Economic Outlook, the global financial body warned that Brexit could inflict "severe regional and global damage" by disrupting trade relations.

It scaled back its projection of UK economic growth for 2016 by 0.3 percentage points to 1.9% - marginally below the 2% forecast of the Government's Office for Budget Responsibility - but held its forecast for 2017 at 2.2%.
The Government is coming under increasing pressure to reveal its plans to help save jobs in the steel industry and explain how it will "co-invest" in the business.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid faced a barrage of questions during a three-hour debate in the Commons, with Labour pressing him to be more "up front".

Indian conglomerate Tata has launched a formal process for selling its loss-making UK assets, including the giant plant at Port Talbot in South Wales.

Business Minister Anna Soubry told the Welsh Affairs Committee she had received emails and a text from firms expressing "very serious expressions of interest" in buying Tata's UK sites.

Mr Javid hinted that the Government was set to announce moves to include more British steel in defence projects.

He told the Commons that Defence Procurement Minister Philip Dunne could make an announcement "in the coming days" on Ministry of Defence acquisition of British steel.

Potential Government "co-investment" with a commercial buyer in Port Talbot could involve taking on some of the business's debts, Mr Javid added.

MPs and unions have been pressing the Government to explain what it means by co-investing after the term was used by Mr Javid on Monday.

Labour MP Stephen Kinnock asked Ms Soubry for more detail, saying it would be helpful to send a message to potential buyers which gave more "clarity" about what it meant.

The minister replied: "We are looking at all options. These things are so commercially sensitive. It would be wrong to go into detail. The most important thing is to find a buyer. We want a responsible buyer, with a view to giving a sustainable long-term future."

Shadow Business Secretary Angela Eagle said: "Today was Sajid Javid's big chance to set out a comprehensive plan to save the steel industry. I'm afraid it must go down as yet another missed opportunity."
Mr Kipling cakes firm Premier Foods saw shares plunge by more than a quarter after Schwartz spice US owner McCormick & Company gave up on its takeover pursuit.

McCormick walked away from the takeover tussle after having three bid approaches worth up to 537 million rejected by Premier, saying it could not pay a price that would be accepted by the Premier board.

Shares in Premier - which also owns Oxo, Bisto and Sharwood's - slumped 28% as investors were left disappointed.

McCormick said it had, "after careful consideration, concluded that it would not be able to propose a price that would be recommended by the board of Premier Foods while also delivering appropriate returns for McCormick shareholders".

"Accordingly, McCormick has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Premier Foods," it added.

Premier bosses insisted they see a "strong future for an independent Premier Foods".

St Albans-based Premier found itself at the centre of a takeover saga, rejecting several offers from McCormick while agreeing a "co-operation agreement" with Japanese noodle giant Nissin Foods, which has built up a 19.9% stake in Premier.

But some investors were left disgruntled after it emerged Premier told Nissin of the bid from McCormick before notifying the rest of its shareholders, while they were also angered by the board's dismissal of earlier offers.

Premier rejected McCormick's first offer of 52p in cash per share, a second at 60p and a third made at the end of March worth 65p a share, saying they undervalued Premier and its future growth prospects.

However, after the third approach, the Premier board agreed to open talks for the first time with McCormick.

Premier said it appreciated McCormick's "open and collaborative spirit" in discussions.

Shares in Premier had almost doubled since McCormick's takeover interest first emerged.

Premier said it believed its "longer-term prospects will be enhanced by the co-operation agreement it has signed with Nissin Foods".

The agreement c ould see Nissin's products distributed in the UK and Premier taking advantage of the Japanese firm's international distribution network.

Nissin has also agreed not to attempt to buy Premier Foods for six months, unless another group makes a firm bid for the UK food business.

The Japanese firm bought its stake in the UK food firm from private equity group Warburg Pincus, upping the holding from 17.3% to 19.9% at the end of March.

Nissin Foods - which invented the first instant noodles in 1958 - trades across 19 countries and has annual revenues of 3.8 billion US dollars ( 2.6 billion).

Its products include Cup Noodles and Top Ramen.
Black Mirror (19.99) Snubbed at the Baftas, it's unlikely that Charlie Brooker will ever produce anything quite like this again. Rosie says: "It's rare to find British TV so challenging. Parts of the first episode, involving a Prime Minister and a pig, are quite difficult to watch. But the second has a sweet heart to it."

The sky is the limit (or indeed the depths of Hades given the nature of the show) for Black Mirror season 3, which Netflix is putting all its weight behind.

Chatting to The Independent at Netflix's first festival in Paris on Tuesday, Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said of the series: "I was blown away by the first episode I ever watched. We went, How did we not make this?

"Its a very ambitious show with what Charlie [Brooker] and Annabel [Jones] were doing and they were looking for a big global audience. We came in as partners to help give that show a big global footprint; we saw how people reacted to the show all over the world and it came up that Charlie and Annabel wanted to make the show bigger.

"We looked to the Christmas special with Jon Hamm as the model - they wanted a lot more money to reach a bigger audience on a bigger platform. We followed the model along and Channel 4 ultimately could have had it and chose not to. We saw the ability to really support visionary storytellers - were thrilled to see what else theyre going to do. "

In addition to this financial boost, Sarandos promised they had given Brooker and Jones "complete creative control", adding: "theyve been all over the world filming too."

With Channel 4 having passed up/been outbid on the show, its future in the UK has been a little uncertain. The new season was initially only confirmed for a group of territories that didn't include the UK, but it sounds like this has been sorted out, with Hastings adding: "Black Mirror will be available everywhere at the same time."
Top Gear presenters Chris Evans (left) and Matt LeBlanc filming time trials for the new series in Blackpool.

Top Gear presenters Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc will be filming in Kerry this weekend.

Speaking on his BBC Radio show this morning, Chris said, "Matt and I are going to Ireland on Friday to make a couple of Top Gear films that will be combined. We're thinking of going to the Dingle area."

Evans spoke to his newsreader, who is of Irish stock, about where to visit and asked her about Dingle.

She said, "It's beautiful, wonderful food, lovely pubs".

"We won't have time for any of that!" he replied, "Technically we'll be working. We'll try and eke out some time for a bit of socialising."

Evans also mentioned visiting the neighbouring village of Killorglin and asked about driving further south along the coast.

"We don't want to go inland, we want to go on the coast road. It's better for shots," he said.

2FM's Tracy Clifford first picked up Evans' revelation and asked listeners for recommendations for the team during their trip.

Kerry Fine Gael TD, Brendan Griffin said: "Two years ago I contacted the BBC and invited the Top Gear programme to come to Kerry and the Wild Atlantic Way, as I believed that the landscape, the roads and the people would be a perfect fit for the programme. I was delighted today to hear Chris Evans confirm that the show will be coming to Dingle on Friday.

"Top Gear is a hugely popular programme watched by millions of people across the globe. By coming to Kerry, the programme will expose the area to a whole new audience and will present a massive opportunity for tourism.

"Major programmes and films such as Star Wars visit to the Skelligs, and now Top Gears trip to Kerry, draw attention to the area and their importance cannot be underestimated. This is a free showcase for our spectacular county and culture. I look forward to the people of Kerry welcoming the Top Gear team to Kerry. I am confident that they will get some stunning shots of the area, which will attract many new tourists to Kerry."

Netflix confirmed on Tuesday that the new series will be streamed internationally and it will premiere on BBC One in May.
A British composer who produced the music for the new Hollywood blockbuster Captain America: Civil War said he has "worries" about the support given to state-educated children to succeed in the arts.

Henry Jackman, who studied at Eton College and the University of Oxford, voiced concerns about the opportunities offered to talented young musicians in comprehensive schools as he attended the film's world premiere in Los Angeles.

His comments follow the debate about the success of Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch and other former public school stars, with James McAvoy warning that the continued dominance of a wealthy elite in the arts will be "damaging for society".

Jackman, who received a Bafta nomination for his score to Captain Phillips, said he received a scholarship to study at Eton which provided "an opportunity at an institution I could not possibly have afforded".

He told the Press Association: "If you look at all decent artists ... like Monet, Debussy, Benjamin Britten, I'm not being rude to the English aristocracy, but it has not produced the world's greatest artists.

"The one I do worry about is music education and how that works and where you get the opportunity. I was lucky. My dad came from a working class family but he was a great musician so it was flowing through the house.

"If you imagine you've got some kid whose mum works in the local store and it turns out he's naturally really good at the violin, how does that work?

"If you went to a comprehensive in Peckham and went, hey, can we get some violin lessons for this guy? I don't know if the answer is going to be, yeah sure, we've got loads of violins. That worries me.

"The great thing about music is it is meritocratic."

Jackman joined the stars of Captain America: Civil War on the red carpet for the film's premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Chris Evans, who plays Captain America, and Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr attended along with host of their co-stars including Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle and Paul Bettany.

Evans paid tribute to Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee after the pair embraced on the red carpet.

"It's overwhelming," he told reporters. "It's Stan Lee. What can you say to a legend like that? The fact he even knows me is a big deal."

Rudd, who plays Ant Man in the film, praised the movie's directors, brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, for managing a plethora of superhero characters.

He said: "The Russo brothers did such a great job balancing all of it. I'm only a small part of it. They did such a good job focussing on the story and all the different relationships between the characters. They're really talented guys."

Captain America: Civil War is due to be released at UK cinemas on April 29.
A founder member of the DUP is running in South Belfast against his old party, claiming the constituency needed a "local person" to stand up for it.

Former Deputy Lord Mayor Billy Dickson has set up a new political party, the South Belfast Unionists.

He is running against two DUP candidates - Emma Little Pengelly and Christopher Stalford - as well as their former party colleague Ruth Patterson.

Mr Dickson (69) also faces competition for unionist votes from UUP candidate Rodney McCune, Ukip's Bob Stoker, the PUP's Ian Shanks and Conservative candidate Ben Manton. At the last Assembly election in 2011 just two unionists were returned in the constituency - Jimmy Spratt (DUP) and Michael McGimpsey (UUP).

Mr Dickson said his party was established out of a sense of frustration.

"It was formed as a result of a number of years of not being able to deliver for the community on a number of issues, and it was felt the time had come. We need a party that just focuses on South Belfast," he claimed.

"With all the community work I have been involved with, I just felt that, really, you need someone in the Assembly who is local and can get across the views and hopefully deliver." He said his concerns included education. He pointed out there were no controlled secondary schools within inner city South Belfast.

He also flagged up problems with the road network, citing Boucher Road and the Westlink; the number of apartment blocks being built; the lack of affordable housing, and the number of private landlords.

The veteran - who survived a murder attempt by the INLA in 1982 - admitted membership of his party was low, but said he had high hopes for it and there were plans to field candidates in the next Belfast council election.

"We are confident; we are not out to attack other people, we just feel that our strength is in being local," he said.

"I have been involved with community work for a long time and with a number of organisations.

"There is very little about the South Belfast area that I don't know.

"People know me, they know the community associations I am involved with."

Mr Dickson claimed that, through his community work, he was well aware of those politicians who were committed to the constituency and those who were not.

However, he denied there was any animosity between him and other unionists, saying another candidate had recently helped him to carry his election posters into a hall.

Mr Dickson was involved with Ian Paisley's Protestant Unionist Party in the 1970s before becoming a founder member of the DUP.

He served on Belfast City Council for the DUP and narrowly missed being elected to the Assembly in 1982 - he had been unable to canvass after being shot at his home by members of the INLA just six weeks before the election.

Mr Dickson left the DUP in 1986 and later joined the Conservative Party.

In 2014 he stood for election for Belfast City Council for Jim Allister's Traditional Unionist Voice.

Despite looking forward to his 70th birthday next January, Mr Dickson said he felt "fitter, stronger and more determined than ever".

In total there are 18 candidates running in South Belfast, half of them unionists.

In 2011, as well as the two unionists returned, three nationalists were elected - Alex Maskey (Sinn Fein), Alasdair McDonnell (SDLP) and Conall McDevitt (SDLP) - and the Alliance Party's Anna Lo.
Two years after the Assembly agreed to set up a body to support controlled schools, recruitment has commenced for a chief executive.

One of the body's tasks is to address under-achievement among some working class Protestant children.

As part of the legislation that created the Education Authority (which replaced the former five education boards), the Assembly agreed in 2014 to form a body to support controlled schools.

It was argued that with falling standards at controlled schools, they needed a support body, similar to the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) that supports maintained schools.

Now, almost 24 months later, recruitment has begun for a chief executive of a Controlled Schools Support Council (CSSC).

The post is described as a full-time position based in the greater Belfast area and comes with a salary ranging from 61,868 to 64,888.

It requires a minimum of three years leading an organisation related to the education sector.

The CSSC will not have the same type of responsibilities as the CCMS which was established as an upper tier of management for Catholic schools in 1989 in response to concerns about under-achievement. It has responsibilities including raising standards and the employment of teachers.

Instead the CSSC will provide an advocacy role and work with schools to develop and maintain a collective ethos including, where appropriate, a role in identifying, encouraging and nominating governors and in ensuring ethos is part of employment considerations.

The boards of education of the Church of Ireland, Presbyterian Church in Ireland and Methodist Church in Ireland have all welcomed the establishment of the body, saying it will correct a deficit in the education system which has existed for decades.

DUP education spokesman Peter Weir has welcomed the "step forward" for the CSSC. "The advertisement of the chief executive of the Controlled Schools Support Council is another important step forward in ensuring equality in education in Northern Ireland," he said.

"This will be a key part of the jigsaw in ensuring the full establishment of the CSSC, and will mean for the first time in education that there will be a specific body representing all controlled schools, with a place directly on the Education Authority."

UUP education spokeswoman Sandra Overend qualified her welcome of the move with the question of why it has taken so long. "It seems to have taken an age to set up this Controlled Schools Support Council and the advertising for the job of chief executive is just a step along the way," she said.

"A working group to pave the way for CSSC was set up in 2012 and the Executive agreed to its establishment in 2014."
Friday 18th March 2016 Clean up operation takes place this morning after Saint Patricks day in the Holylands area South Belfast. Photographer Jonathan Porter / Press Eye

Friday 18th March 2016 Clean up operation takes place this morning after Saint Patricks day in the Holylands area South Belfast. Photographer Jonathan Porter / Press Eye

Friday 18th March 2016 Clean up operation takes place this morning after Saint Patricks day in the Holylands area South Belfast. Photographer Jonathan Porter / Press Eye

Friday 18th March 2016 Clean up operation takes place this morning after Saint Patricks day in the Holylands area South Belfast. Photographer Jonathan Porter / Press Eye

Friday 18th March 2016 Clean up operation takes place this morning after Saint Patricks day in the Holylands area South Belfast. Photographer Jonathan Porter / Press Eye

Friday 18th March 2016 Photographer Jonathan Porter / Press Eye Clean up operation takes place this morning after Saint Patricks day in the Holyland area South Belfast. Holyland area of Belfast and the city centre on St Patrick's Day. Police said the arrests were for public order offences including disorderly behaviour and assaulting police. But they added there was no repeat of what they described as "disgraceful" levels of violence on Thursday morning. A residents association in the Holyland in south Belfast wants to meet Stormont ministers over the disturbances.

Five men have appeared in court on charges linked to St Patrick's Day disorder in south Belfast.

Five men have appeared in court on charges linked to St Patrick's Day disorder in south Belfast.

Disturbances broke out in the Holylands area of the city last month, where large crowds gathered on the streets for the annual celebrations.

One police officer was injured after being hit on the shoulder by a bottle.

Three of the defendants at Belfast Magistrates' Court face charges linked to disturbances at Agincourt Avenue.

Nineteen-year-old Enda Tierney, from Royal Oak Road in Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh, is accused of riotous behaviour at that location.

Ciaran McCloy (20), of Ballymacilcurr Road in Maghera, Co Derry, is charged with assaulting two police officers, disorderly behaviour, resisting and obstructing police.

Luke Burns (21), from Rossorry Terrace in Enniskillen, faces a single count of disorderly behaviour.

Two other men have also been charged over separate alleged incidents in nearby streets on the same day.

Ciaran McConville (22), is accused of disorderly behaviour close to his address on Carmel Street.

Forty-year-old Thomas Duffy, of Dismas House Hostel on the city's Ormeau Road, faces the same charge in connection with another incident at Palestine Street.

All five defendants were released on continuing bail after being connected to the alleged offences.

They are expected to confirm their attitude to the charges when they return to court later this month.
James Steele was charged over cruelty to donkeys in 2015 and cows kept in barbaric conditions on farm

James Steele was charged over cruelty to donkeys in 2015 and cows kept in barbaric conditions on farm

Sickening scenes of animal neglect that saw living and dead cows housed together have led to a Co Antrim farmer being given a suspended jail sentence and banned from keeping animals for five years.

James Steele (46) of Gobrana Road in Glenavy had been the subject of the biggest-ever seizures of herd cattle in Northern Ireland.

He'd already been banned from keeping animals for life in an earlier case of neglect of a number of donkeys.

At one point he operated a successful farming operation worth more than 1m, but when his business imploded after a divorce, the animals were left in barbaric conditions.

In Antrim Crown Court yesterday Mr Steele was convicted of six offences of causing unnecessary suffering to bovine animals, two charges of failure to dispose of animal carcases, one charge of failure to comply with an animal by-product requirement and one charge of using an ear tag supposed to be for another animal.

The conviction follows numerous inspections of Mr Steele's farm by DARD veterinary staff over a six-week period in April and May 2015.

Inspectors took video and picture evidence that showed dead and dying cattle in the same areas, with a number having to be put down.

Some were found injured from calving but had received no veterinary care, while others had no access to food or water.

In court, Mr Steele's solicitor said that the cattle farmer's wife had been "the glue that held the farm business together" and after the marraige ended he was no longer able to cope.

It has been described as a "horrendous welfare case" by DARD's head of veterinary enforcement Danny Gray.

He said: "There were animals who had died out in the fields trying to give birth and they hadn't been given veterinary attention, there were other animals lying dead in sheds, they had no access to feed. There were other living animals in the sheds, stepping over the top of the animals that were lying in the mud."

In January, 153 animals were seized from Mr Steele's farm as the result of a separate animal cruelty case.

At the time, 18 of the animals were in such terrible condition they had to be put down.

Mr Steele's sentence of five months imprisonment suspended for three years for the animal welfare and by-product charges, and two months suspended for three years for the cattle ear tag charge are to run concurrently.

In February the Belfast Telegraph reported that Mr Steele was found guilty of two charges under the Welfare of Animals Act (NI) 2011 relating to the neglect of six donkeys.

In June 2015 animal welfare officers from Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council said they found 11 donkeys with severely overgrown hooves, making it difficult for them to walk.

The animals were kept in fields in the Stoneyford area of Co Antrim.

Nine of the animals had to be put to sleep with the surviving two - named Tinsel and Jingles - taken in by a donkey sanctuary in Co Cork.

Mr Steele pleaded guilty to the offences and was ordered to pay costs of 1,059.98 and 166.

In addition to the fines, Mr Steele received a lifetime ban from owning animals, from keeping animals, from participating in the keeping of animals and from being party to an arrangement under which that person is entitled to control or influence the way in which the animals are kept.

Since coming to The Donkey Sanctuary, Tinsel and Jingles have undergone several veterinary treatments to address their neglected condition.

At the time Jane Bruce from the Donkey Sanctuary said: "This is a very sad case but we are very pleased that these lovely donkeys are now safe in our care."
Pacemaker Press Belfast 13-04-2016: A south Belfast family has been struggling to deal with a plague of rats that has infested their home. Eighteen rats have been caught and killed recently at their terraced home on Edinburgh Street, off Lisburn Road. The family, which includes three young children, has said more rats are in and around the property and they need help to deal with problem. Picture By: Arthur Allison.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 13-04-2016: A south Belfast family has been struggling to deal with a plague of rats that has infested their home. Eighteen rats have been caught and killed recently at their terraced home on Edinburgh Street, off Lisburn Road. The family, which includes three young children, has said more rats are in and around the property and they need help to deal with problem. Picture By: Arthur Allison.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 13-04-2016: A south Belfast family has been struggling to deal with a plague of rats that has infested their home. Eighteen rats have been caught and killed recently at their terraced home on Edinburgh Street, off Lisburn Road. The family, which includes three young children, has said more rats are in and around the property and they need help to deal with problem. Picture By: Arthur Allison.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 13-04-2016: A south Belfast family has been struggling to deal with a plague of rats that has infested their home. Eighteen rats have been caught and killed recently at their terraced home on Edinburgh Street, off Lisburn Road. The family, which includes three young children, has said more rats are in and around the property and they need help to deal with problem. Picture By: Arthur Allison.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 13-04-2016: A south Belfast family has been struggling to deal with a plague of rats that has infested their home. Eighteen rats have been caught and killed recently at their terraced home on Edinburgh Street, off Lisburn Road. The family, which includes three young children, has said more rats are in and around the property and they need help to deal with problem. Picture By: Arthur Allison.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 13-04-2016: A south Belfast family has been struggling to deal with a plague of rats that has infested their home. Eighteen rats have been caught and killed recently at their terraced home on Edinburgh Street, off Lisburn Road. The family, which includes three young children, has said more rats are in and around the property and they need help to deal with problem. Picture By: Arthur Allison.

A south Belfast family has been struggling to deal with a plague of rats that has infested their home. Eighteen rats have been caught and killed recently at their terraced home on Edinburgh Street, off Lisburn Road. The family, which includes three young children, has said more rats are in and around the property and they need help to deal with problem. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker Press Belfast 13-04-2016.

These are the dramatic pictures that illustrate the rat problem that has plagued a south Belfast family's home.

A total of eighteen rats have been caught and killed recently at their terraced home on Edinburgh Street off the Lisburn Road,

But despite efforts to deter the rats with traps and poison they keep coming back to the family house which is home to three young children.

The landlord told the BBC that the tenants keep the house "very well" but that the rats were causing major problems and that it was a "matter of time" before the lights go out.

He said: "They're eating the concrete floor in the kitchen, they're eating through the cavity walls, they disconnected the electricity in the shower.

"It's just a matter of time until the lights go out, we would think."

The landlord criticised Belfast City Council for being slow in responding calls for help.

He said: "The best reply that we can get is that these people will come out in about 10 to 14 days."

Belfast City Council said in a statement that they had received a report about the problem but that there is a "huge demand" on their pest control service.

A council spokeswoman said: We can confirm that this case was reported to the Council yesterday (Tuesday 12 April). We are committed to responding as soon as possible but as there is a huge demand on our free pest control service, the caller was advised that it can take up to ten to 14 days.

"An appointment was scheduled at the beginning of next week  well within the advised timeline - and advice offered on action that could be taken in the interim.

"It should be pointed out that the Council has no statutory responsibility for dealing with rats; however, in the 12 months to the end of March 2016, we dealt with more than 2,700 requests for service and baited more than 12,200 manholes."
Mr Neeson hopes to be able to return to his job.

A Stormont department unlawfully stopped a convicted murderer continuing to work as a groundskeeper, the High Court heard.

Lawyers for west Belfast man Martin Neeson claimed he was wrongly and irrationally deemed unsuitable for a job he had carried out for 18 years after release from prison.

They argued that the move was based on an earlier decision taken by Peter Robinson during his tenure as Finance Minister back in 2007 that should have gone before the full Executive.

Neeson's judicial review challenge centres on an alleged failure to continue with guidance for employers on recruiting staff with conflict-related convictions.

Described as a former political prisoner, he got out of jail in 1987 after serving eleven-and-a-half years for a murder committed when he was aged 16.

No further details of the killing four decades ago were disclosed in court.

Following his release he secured groundskeeper work with a conservation charity in the Poleglass area of Belfast.

But due to a technical change in the body's contractual relationship with the civil service he had to undergo security vetting.

Checks carried out by Access NI resulted in the Department of Finance and Personnel deciding in December 2014 that he is unsuitable to continue in the role.

Neeson went to Sinn Fein to seek their help in lobbying on his behalf.

But after that proved unsuccessful he issued proceedings against the department.

In court on Wednesday, a judge was told the guidance had been formulated as part of the Good Friday and St Andrew's political agreements.

Barry Macdonald QC, for Neeson, said it was adopted by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) before Mr Robinson decided it should not apply.

The barrister argued that under Stormont rules the then Finance Minister should have taken the issue to the Executive because it was significant, controversial and cut across departments.

He told the court Sir Nigel Hamilton, a former head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, appeared to be unaware the guidance had been revoked when he gave evidence to the Finance and Personnel Committee in 2012.

"It remains incongruous for these guidelines not to apply to the Civil Service in circumstances here OFMDFM adopted them and recommended to everyone else they should apply," Mr Macdonald said.

"It was prima facie unlawful for the Minister of Finance and Personnel to disapply the guidance.

"If it had been in force the applicant would not have been deemed unsuitable for this particular job."

The hearing continues.

Outside court Neeson's solicitor said the decision had resulted in him losing employment he had performed "diligently" for 18 years.

Niall Murphy of KRW Law added: "The intention of these proceedings is to render that decision unlawful and irrational, which will lead to Mr Neeson resuming his job."
The Titanic Museum is on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast's Titanic Quarter

The Southwell family. L-R Caspian, Atticus, Sarah and Bodhi.This picture was taken before they went in to the museum. Bodhi went missing on the way out.

A family from America have thanked the PSNI for finding their son after he went missing during a visit to Titanic Belfast..

Tim and Sarah Southwell from Montana in the USA were plunged into "fear and panic" as their seven-year-old boy slipped away among the crowd at the museum.

In a letter to the Belfast Telegraph they said "fear, panic and an unimaginable feeling of dread" spread over them and they scoured the area for their son.

After 15 minutes of their last sighting of their son they spoke with Constable Jim Millar over his lunch break at the Dock Cafe.

They said: "Without giving it a second thought Constable Millar was up and engaged in priority one: finding our boy.

"Constable Millar displayed an air of calmness, professionalism and downright excellence as he went about engaging his network of fellow officers to implement a plan for locating our son.

"I was impressed with his compassion and inventive thought in implementing a plan of action."

The little boy was found 45 minutes later a mile away from the museum and was "scared and shaken" but in good health.

So pleased that this little boy was found safe & well. Thank you Constable Millar. Great job! #KeepingPeopleSafe https://t.co/J0HqqwB8FJ  Stephen Martin (@ACCMartinPSNI) April 13, 2016

Mr and Mrs Southwell said they will be "forever grateful" to the PSNI.

"Though the online sites and tourist books proclaim the fancy restaurants, comfy hotels and hottest attractions as the reason to visit a particular city, it is the hidden gems that make a place worth visiting.

"Belfast has such a thing in its police force - men and women like Jim Millar of PSNI Strandtown, working tirelessly to provide safety and well-being for all folks that walk her streets.

"We are forever grateful for their service and will look forward to another visit to this wonderful city in the years to come."
The Victims Commissioner has called for new members for the Victims Forum as politicians prepare to confront the past.

Judith Thompson said she hoped the move would help the organisation represent a larger range of people.

"Future planning for the victims and survivors of the conflict is essential as the aim of the forum is to help build a shared and better future," she added.

"This means an ongoing assessment of the needs of victims and survivors is crucial.

"Practically, funding arrangements and the provision of services which accompany these issues also need to be tackled and solutions found."

The forum is seeking individuals interested in sharing their experiences with other victims or survivors "to help inform the commissioner in the delivery of advice to government". Expressions of interest are sought by Wednesday, May 4 at 4pm.

The panel will be appointed for the period June 2016 through to September 2019, coinciding with the Victim Commissioner's term of office.

A plan on how to help victims of the Troubles was left out of the Fresh Start agreement between the DUP and Sinn Fein but is expected to be a priority for the next Executive.

The current forum, which includes members linked to the RUC and UDR, as well as civilian victims of IRA and loyalist paramilitary attacks, said it had "lost all trust and confidence in local politicians" following the deal last November.

Mrs Thompson previously predicted an agreement on the past was "very much on the cards" but also warned negotiations after the May 5 Assembly election could be the last chance for agreement.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holyland on St Patrick's day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Revellers in the Holylands on St Patrick's day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph PACEMAKER BELFAST 17/03/2016 A Police Presence in the Hollands area of Belfast, Celebrating Saint Patricks day.One police officer has been injured and three people have been arrested after disturbances in the Holyland area of south Belfast. Police were attacked with bottles in Agincourt Avenue as a crowd of about 300 people gathered in the area. The disturbances lasted for over two hours, ending at about 04:30 GMT. Police said they went to the area after a crowd was reported to be blocking the road and throwing missiles at homes and cars. Vehicles parked along the street were damaged during the trouble. One police officer said some people in the crowd had been singing "pro-IRA songs". Picture Matt Bohill Pacemaker Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph PACEMAKER BELFAST 17/03/2016 A Police Presence in the Hollands area of Belfast, Celebrating Saint Patricks day.One police officer has been injured and three people have been arrested after disturbances in the Holyland area of south Belfast. Police were attacked with bottles in Agincourt Avenue as a crowd of about 300 people gathered in the area. The disturbances lasted for over two hours, ending at about 04:30 GMT. Police said they went to the area after a crowd was reported to be blocking the road and throwing missiles at homes and cars. Vehicles parked along the street were damaged during the trouble. One police officer said some people in the crowd had been singing "pro-IRA songs". Picture Matt Bohill Pacemaker PACEMAKER BELFAST 17/03/2016 A Police Presence in the Hollands area of Belfast, Celebrating Saint Patricks day.One police officer has been injured and three people have been arrested after disturbances in the Holyland area of south Belfast. Police were attacked with bottles in Agincourt Avenue as a crowd of about 300 people gathered in the area. The disturbances lasted for over two hours, ending at about 04:30 GMT. Police said they went to the area after a crowd was reported to be blocking the road and throwing missiles at homes and cars. Vehicles parked along the street were damaged during the trouble. One police officer said some people in the crowd had been singing "pro-IRA songs". Picture Matt Bohill Pacemaker PACEMAKER BELFAST 17/03/2016 A Police Presence in the Hollands area of Belfast, Celebrating Saint Patricks day.One police officer has been injured and three people have been arrested after disturbances in the Holyland area of south Belfast. Police were attacked with bottles in Agincourt Avenue as a crowd of about 300 people gathered in the area. The disturbances lasted for over two hours, ending at about 04:30 GMT. Police said they went to the area after a crowd was reported to be blocking the road and throwing missiles at homes and cars. Vehicles parked along the street were damaged during the trouble. One police officer said some people in the crowd had been singing "pro-IRA songs". Picture Matt Bohill Pacemaker Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Picture - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Belfast , UK - March 17, Pictured is The scenes in the Holylands on St Patricks day on March 17, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph ) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph A naked man is pictured wearing a Tricolour in the Holylands. Picture: BBC reporter Claire Graham @JournoClaire Clean up at the Holylands area of Belfast on Thursday Morning, One police officer has been injured and three people have been arrested after disturbances in the Holyland area of south Belfast. Photo Pacemaker Press Around 300 people gathered in the Holylands. March 2016. Picture: BBC People in the Holylands celebrating Saint Patricks day.One police officer has been injured and three people have been arrested after disturbances in the Holyland area of south Belfast. Picture Matt Bohill Pacemaker People in the Holylands celebrating Saint Patricks day.One police officer has been injured and three people have been arrested after disturbances in the Holyland area of south Belfast. Picture Matt Bohill Pacemaker The morning after the night before. People in the Holylands celebrating Saint Patricks day.One police officer has been injured and three people have been arrested after disturbances in the Holyland area of south Belfast. Picture Matt Bohill Pacemaker The morning after the night before. People in the Holylands celebrating Saint Patricks day.One police officer has been injured and three people have been arrested after disturbances in the Holyland area of south Belfast. Picture Matt Bohill Pacemaker 17/03/2016 The morning after the night before. People in the Holylands celebrating Saint Patricks day.One police officer has been injured and three people have been arrested after disturbances in the Holyland area of south Belfast. Picture Matt Bohill Pacemaker Clean up at the Holylands area of Belfast on Thursday Morning, One police officer has been injured and three people have been arrested after disturbances in the Holyland area of south Belfast. Photo Pacemaker Press The situation was brought under control at around 4.30am. March 2016. Picture: BBC / Facebook

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Addressing a two-day conference attended by victims' groups and policymakers, Mrs Thompson said Fresh Start had been a "crushing disappointment".
While Parliament must seem like some sort of bizarre pantomime across the pond, there is one MP in it whose appeal is proving transatlantic: Dennis Skinner.

The Beast of Bolsover was unceremoniously ejected from the House of Commons for branding David Cameron Dodgy Dave and refusing to take back the adjective during a riotous debate.

Their exchange has endeared the yah-boo style of politics to some in the US, with the news and media site Gawker declaring the argument extremely good s**t and Mr Skinners jab as a pithy schoolyard nickname.

It crescendoes in Skinner delivering a thunderous applause line and then being tossed out of Parliament, writes Gawker.

"England is.... great?"

Comments suggest Mr Skinners jibe has also won him a few American fans.

Holy sh*t! Speaking of sick burns...Dennis Skinner has a whole section of his Wikipedia devoted to cracks he makes during the Queens Speech. Dude DGAF old-school Labour Style, wrote one.

I just love this. Its so British... the disdain, the language, everything. I could watch it twenty times," said another.

Another commenter suggested he was also an admirer of Speaker John Bercow's intevention, saying: "The Speaker, John Bercow, is pretty badass, too, with that sneering 'I dont require assistance from some junior minister'."

The New York Times also reported on Mr Skinners ejection, describing Westminster debates as rough and tumble affairs.

@nytimesworld that's what happens when you tell the truth.  Laura (@choirsingergirl) April 12, 2016

I found the reason @matthewwalther kinda loves Dennis Skinner lhttp://freebeacon.com/blog/sort-love-dennis-skinner/ pic.twitter.com/RS1HZBWX06  Elizabeth Harrington (@LizWFB) April 11, 2016

Knowing next to nothing about UK politics, I think I'm a really big fan of Dennis Skinner: https://t.co/0CW4Jslnap  Nels Anderson (@Nelsormensch) April 13, 2016

The House of Commons is way more fun than Congress. https://t.co/2xKH1FApiC  William D. Adler (@williamadler78) April 12, 2016

"dodgy dave"! parliament is lit https://t.co/0Vf22w5Vmq  david rind (@thedavidrindexp) April 12, 2016

You gotta love the UK's Parliamentary give-and-take. they bring it! https://t.co/ZFtGtTeDOU  Ray Ruga (@RayRuga) April 12, 2016

Mr Skinner is known for heckling every year seconds before the Queens speech, shouting Coalition's last stand to bursts of laughter from fellow MPs in 2014.

His viper-tongue quips have seen him ejected from the House of Commons 10 times over the years.

Independent
Another 85 families became homeless last month, a leading charity has revealed.

Focus Ireland said its records show the housing crisis left 293 families, with about 600 children, with no home in the first three months of the year.

And according to the Government's own figures 912 families and 1,881 children were living in emergency homeless accommodation at the end of February.

Mike Allen, the charity's head of advocacy, said it was highly worrying that despite all the talk about homelessness the caretaker government has taken no new actions to tackle it since the election.

"These new figures clearly show that the family homeless crisis is continuing to deepen with nearly 300 newly homeless families referred to Focus Ireland's Family Services in the first three months of this year compared to a total of 739 becoming homeless in Dublin during the whole of last year.

"Many more single people have also become homeless during this time."

Focus Ireland warned the homeless numbers would be even higher if it was not for the work it does supporting families into secure housing with the support of the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive.

It helps at least one family a day while another three are left with no home.

"It was great to see these families we have been working to support finally find a place to call home. It means so much to them and is so positive for all - especially the children," Mr Allen said.

Focus Ireland called for the housing and homeless crisis to be at the heart of any new programme for government, including a commitment to end homelessness and building 40,000 social homes over the next five years.

Mr Allen added: "We must remember that while the horse-trading to form the new government is taking place more than three families have become homeless every single day so far this year."

He said actions could be taken while government talks go on including greater security for tenants in buy-to-let properties as 27,492 of these properties are more than 90 days in mortgage arrears.

Focus Ireland also called for a rise in the rent supplement to meet market levels and confirmation of what action is required to ensure Nama delivers more social housing.

According to data from the Department of the Environment there were 912 families with 1,881 children left homeless in the last week of February. Some 600 were single parent families.

The Government's homelessness report recorded 2,692 homeless adults in Dublin at the end of February, 260 in the South-West which includes Cork and Kerry and 260 in the South-East in Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford.

Another 220 were recorded in the Mid-West, which includes Clare and Limerick, and 187 in the Mid-East region of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow.

More than half were aged 25-44.

The Peter McVerry Trust said government departments must be brought together urgently to plan how to deal with the 5,811 people accessing emergency homeless shelters in February, up from 3,908 a year earlier.

Chief executive Pat Doyle said: "It makes little sense for the Department of the Environment to hold standalone forums when finance, social protection, health, justice, children and youth affairs, and public expenditure all have a role to play."

Mr Doyle said each department should be challenged to come up with a set of actions they can take in order to help tackle the crisis.

"The danger we now face is that politicians in their rush to be seen to act, simply respond by introducing measures to make building houses more profitable," he said.

"Instead, we need to see action on land management, planning and building standards, reform of the rental market, action on mortgage arrears and support for approved housing bodies."
Diplomats have been criticised by a leading human rights body for accepting the word of Egyptian authorities over the incarceration of an Irish teenager.

Ibrahim Halawa was transferred between prisons in recent days without the knowledge of embassy staff in Cairo, Department of Foreign Affairs chiefs in Dublin or his family.

He has been held without trial for almost three years and could face the death penalty if convicted of involvement in protests over the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Reprieve, a human rights group which campaigns to stop state executions, said it was increasingly concerned over the 20-year-old's welfare.

Harriet McCulloch, deputy director at the agency, said it was shocking for both the Egyptians to mislead Irish diplomats and for authorities in Dublin not to demand more answers.

"Given recent widespread reports of enforced disappearances and deaths in custody in Egypt, it's shocking that Irish officials appear to have been misled over Ibrahim's whereabouts - and have taken the Egyptian authorities at their unreliable word," she said.

"Ibrahim, who was just 17 when he was arrested, has already suffered an unacceptable ordeal of torture, dire prison conditions, and an unlawful mass trial - which could see him sentenced to death.

"The Irish Government must escalate their demands to see Ibrahim without delay, and must challenge the Egyptian government on his appalling treatment."

Diplomatic chiefs in Dublin insisted Mr Halawa's c ase continues to receive high priority in the department.

A series of meetings have been ordered by Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan amid the controversy, including sending the Irish Ambassador to Egypt Damien Cole for talks in the Egyptian foreign ministry to highlight concerns.

Mr Flanagan will meet the Egyptian ambassador to Ireland Soha Gendi on Thursday.

The department also said officials in the embassy in Cairo are to visit Mr Halawa in jail in the coming days.

Reprieve said it was concerned amid widespread reports of so-called disappearances of prisoners and deaths in Egyptian jails, including in the case of Italian student Giulio Regeni.

The 28-year-old Cambridge student's body was found in a roadside ditch outside Cairo on February 3, more than a week after he disappeared.

Meanwhile, Mr Halawa is understood to have been moved from Tora prison in Cairo to the Wadi el Natrun prison, north of the city, several days ago.

He was 17 when he was detained while taking refuge in a mosque near Cairo's Ramses Square as a "day of rage" was held over the removal of president Mohamed Morsi.

The mass trial he is facing, along with more than 400 others, has been repeatedly postponed since his detention in 2013.

Mr Halawa's detention has been raised in the European Parliament in Brussels and in a letter from leading human rights lawyers in London to British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Reprieve said that a report on the death penalty in Egypt last year found that more than 70% of recent death sentences were handed down in relation to protests. The report also detailed the frequency of torture and incommunicado detention in the country's prisons.

Mr Halawa, from Firhouse in Dublin, was initially arrested with three of his sisters.

His lawyers, who were refused access to him until September, said he was denied medical treatment for a gunshot wound to his hand following his arrest and he has been left permanently disfigured as a result.

Somaia Halawa, Ibrahim's sister, said the family's dealings with Irish diplomats had been disappointing on a number of occasions.

She said the department had not informed them of the planned meetings between officials in Dublin or Cairo as the final trial looms in late June in the courthouse beside Wadi el Natrun.

"That is what is making our campaign a bit harder," she said.

"We feel we have two fights with two governments. You feel you are not just having a problem with Egypt but a problem with the Irish Government."

Ms Halawa said she got confirmation of where Ibrahim was being held after another brother, Ahmed, made contact with him.
Unions have urged the owners to repay the loyalty of workers at the Shepton Mallet cider plant,due to close in the summer

An Irish drinks giant has been urged to find a buyer for one of Britain's oldest cider plants.

The Shepton Mallet mill in Somerset is to close in the summer with 120 jobs on the line and the threat that it will bring a 246-year-old tradition to an end.

Trade union chiefs in Unite said Dublin-based owner C&C should repay the loyalty of staff after it shifted cider-making to one of its plants in Ireland.

Regional co-ordinating officer Steve Preddy said Shepton's famous brands such as Gaymers, Blackthorn and Olde English, coupled with highly-skilled workers, should make it an attractive proposition for a buyer.

"Since buying the plant in 2009, C&C has profited from the association with Shepton, which has been synonymous with cider-making for centuries," he said.

"It is unacceptable that the company should now decide to divest itself of the plant and its loyal workforce without a backward glance."

C&C announced the Shepton closure in January although it vowed to keep pulping fruit in the town and to source apples for its Irish cider-making from Somerset farmers.

It subsequently sold a bottling line at at the site to Brothers Drinks, also a maker of cider, saving a number of jobs.

Mr Preddy claimed Ireland has its own experience of global companies pulling out in moves which devastate communities.

"Unite members are therefore particularly disappointed that an Irish multinational, such as C&C, should be effectively discarding not only the Shepton facility and its workforce, but also the long tradition of cider-making which made Shepton such an attractive location in the first place," he said.

"We are calling on C&C to repay the loyalty and hard work of the Shepton workforce by finding a buyer to take on the main Shepton site as a going concern, thus preserving a tradition of cider-making in the town stretching back to 1770.

"We believe that iconic brands, combined with a highly-skilled and motivated workforce, would make Shepton a very attractive proposition for a buyer."

When announcing the Shepton closure at the start of the year C&C said it was ending production in Somerset and in one of its Irish plants in Borrisoleigh, Co Tipperary.

The move was to expand operations in Clonmel, where 80 staff were being hired as the town became the main location for Bulmers and Magners, Tipperary Water and niche premium beers and ciders.

C&C warned that trading in the UK and Ireland had been intensely competitive in recent years.
An inquest into the death of Denis Donaldson has been badly delayed

The family of murdered IRA spy Denis Donaldson have launched legal proceedings against the Irish state over ongoing delays in holding an inquest.

The development emerged after another adjournment in the long-stalled coroner's probe into the shooting of the MI5 agent by dissident republicans 10 years ago.

Relatives of Mr Donaldson walked out of Donegal Coroners' Court on Wednesday in protest at the latest hold-up.

The 55-year-old senior Sinn Fein official and close colleague of party president Gerry Adams was shot dead at an isolated cottage near Glenties in Co Donegal in April 2006.

He had been living there since his exposure as an MI5 agent the previous year.

With the inquest approaching its 20th adjournment, Mr Donaldson's relatives have issued proceedings with the High Court in Dublin against Donegal coroner Denis McCauley; the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Garda Commissioner, the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice.

Family solicitor Ciaran Shiels said they wished to challenge the ongoing delays and the "antiquated" legislation under which the multiple adjournments had been granted.

After the hearing in Letterkenny, Mr Shiels said: "There comes a point after so many adjournments, after the tenth anniversary, that the delay in commencing the inquest proper becomes intolerable.

"With that in mind the family instructed me to commence judicial review proceedings against the Garda Commissioner, the coroner, the Attorney General, the DPP and also the Minister of Justice."

He added: "Today the family have walked out of the inquest and I have been instructed not to attend further until there is definitive ruling from the courts in the south."

Last year, the family launched separate legal proceeding with the courts in Europe over the delays in the investigation.

Dissident republican group the Real IRA claimed responsibility for the murder in 2008 but the circumstances surrounding Mr Donaldson's outing as a British agent and subsequent assassination have been shrouded in mystery.

The Garda believes the killers can still be caught and do not want an inquest to proceed while its criminal investigation remains live.

In 2014, gardai made a mutual assistance request to a police force outside the Irish Republic in a bid to gain potentially "significant" material.

On Wednesday, Garda Superintendent Michael Finan told Mr McCauley his officers had obtained that material last month. He asked for an adjournment of four months to enable detectives to pursue enquiries linked to the fresh evidence.

"I regret the number of adjournments but the investigation into the death of Mr Donaldson must be allowed to gain all available evidence and present it to the DPP," he said.

Mr Shiels said the family did not accept the "bona fides" of the application.

Relatives of Mr Donaldson have long been critical of the Irish police's handling of the investigation.

Specifically they have accused gardai of refusing to hand over a journal Mr Donaldson was writing in the months before his death to Police Ombudsman investigators in Northern Ireland, and of failing to interview the police handler who worked with the Sinn Fein official.

Counsel for the state Stephen Byrne insisted there was no suggestion the application for adjournment was anything other than genuine.

"There is no evidence or no concrete evidence to support such an insinuation," he told the court, which was sitting in the Mount Errigal Hotel.

Granting the adjournment to August 31, Mr McCauley said he was satisfied there continued to be "momentum" in the criminal investigation.

"The momentum that has been developing would appear to be continuing to be moving forward," he said.
A British university teacher who worked in Hong Kong has been killed on the Chinese mainland.

Hilary St John Bower, 60, vanished on March 22 after he travelled from the city to Shenzhen, where he lived with his girlfriend and son.

Investigators on the mainland have told Hong Kong police that he died on the day he disappeared.

The city force could not confirm if there was any "criminal element" to his death, but there has been speculation that he may have come to harm after a six-figure property deal.

Mr Bower's colleague Richard Charles told the South China Morning Post: "I do know that after buying at the bottom of the property market a good few years ago, he was expecting to be paid somewhere in the region of nine million Hong Kong dollars (816,156) for a property he just sold in Shekou."

The English language teacher had worked at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) since 1996 and was due to retire later this year.

A spokeswoman said: "It is with deep regret that the Hong Kong Polytechnic University has received confirmation from the Hong Kong police this morning of the passing away on the Chinese mainland of Mr Hilary Bower, language instructor of the English Language Centre.

"The University will render all necessary support and assistance to Mr Bower's family, and offer counselling to colleagues and students in need."

Mr Bower was reported missing to Hong Kong police by his girlfriend on March 30, the force said, and when investigators discovered he was a regular traveller between the city and the mainland they contacted authorities there.

A spokesman for Hong Kong police said: "Police received information from the mainland authorities that the subject had been killed on the night of March 22. We cannot identify yet whether there is any criminal element."

According to his profile on the PolyU website, Mr Bower had also taught in South Korea, Thailand, Spain and Kuwait during his career.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are providing support to the family at this difficult time, and will remain in close contact with local authorities."

Fellow Briton businessman Neil Heywood was killed in China in 2011 when he was poisoned by Gu Kailai, the wife of senior Communist party official Bo Xilai.

A political scandal erupted in the wake of his murder, with Bo expelled from the party and in 2013 jailed for life for corruption.

His wife received a suspended death sentence for killing Mr Heywood.
The agencies set out five key points they say must be addressed to solve the humanitarian crisis (AP)

The Government is turning a "blind eye" on the "world's poorest and most vulnerable" by failing to provide an "adequate response" to the European migrant crisis, according to a group of aid agencies.

In a damning report, 13 aid and refugee agencies accuse Britain and other EU member states of failing to live up to their "moral responsibility".

In an open appeal to the Government, Oxfam, the British Refugee Council and 11 other agencies called on the Home Office to recognise its "obligation" to offer asylum to a "fair share" of refugees.

Oxfam's head of humanitarian policy, Maya Mailer, said: "The UK is trying to pretend that this is someone else's problem, and that refugees and migrants could and should be dealt with elsewhere.

"But people who are desperate will take huge risks to reach safety.

"The UK needs to accept its moral responsibility to offer a safe haven to the world's poorest and most vulnerable - men, women and children who have been made homeless by war, violence and disasters."

The agencies also warn that the Government's strategy of providing foreign aid to the countries neighbouring war-torn Syria and Libya is inadequate, and should be focused on "protection for people on the move".

In their report the agencies set out five key points they argue must be addressed to solve the humanitarian crisis.

They include expanding legal routes to reach the UK, improving conditions at border crossings between European countries, and ensuring that refugees are given the opportunity to request asylum on arrival.

The report also calls for Britain and the EU to better assist in the improvement of conditions in sprawling refugee camps that have been set up in countries including Jordan and Lebanon, as well as tackling the cause of displacement.

Maurice Wren, chief executive of the British Refugee Council, accused European leaders of lacking the "political leadership and moral courage" to tackle the crisis.

"Today we're presenting a roadmap for change which prioritises saving lives, solidarity and safe passage," he said.

"European governments, including the UK, must take a long hard look at themselves and ask is this the best they can do? We say that it doesn't have to be this way."

Next week will mark the one-year anniversary since 800 people drowned attempting to reach Lampedusa, the largest of the Italian Pelagie Islands.

Despite the creation of a European naval patrol in the Mediterranean and Aegean, more than 135,000 migrants reached Europe by sea between January and March this year, according to figures published by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Jeremy Corbyn has claimed he pays more tax than companies owned by people that David Cameron "might know quite well".

The Labour leader defended his tax return, described by the Prime Minister as "late, chaotic, inaccurate and uncosted", after it emerged Mr Corbyn failed to include thousands of pounds of pension income and was fined for submitting it late.

The pair clashed after the Panama Papers data leak forced them to publish their tax returns alongside Chancellor George Osborne and following a row over the PM's investment in an offshore trust.

During Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Corbyn grilled Mr Cameron over the commitment of British overseas territories - often seen as tax havens - to transparency and cuts to HM Revenue and Customs staff.

As the pair traded blows, the Prime Minister drew attention to the Opposition leader's 2014-15 tax return which did not contain details of his pension income and which was the subject of a 100 fine for being submitted late.

Mr Cameron said: "I thought your tax return was a metaphor for Labour policy - it was late, it was chaotic, it was inaccurate, it was uncosted."

Mr Corbyn hit back: "I'm grateful to the Prime Minister for drawing attention to my own tax return, warts and all.

"The warts being my handwriting, all being my generous donation to HMRC - I actually paid more tax than some companies owned by people that you might know quite well."

Mr Cameron said Britain will publish a full beneficial ownership register of companies in June but admitted overseas territories' similar lists would not be made public.

The PM said he did not want to force the crown dependencies to make their registers public because "some of them might have walked away" from the drive for transparency.

But Mr Corbyn said the Cayman Islands premier was "celebrating victory" because the information would not be available publicly or directly to UK agencies and the chief minister of Jersey stressed information will only be provided in relation to terrorist activity.

The Labour leader said: "Only two days ago you said you had agreed that they would provide - these are the overseas territories - UK law enforcement and tax agencies with full access to information on the beneficial ownership of companies.

"There seems to be some confusion here because the chief minister of Jersey said, 'this is in response to a need for information without delay where terrorist activities were involved'.

"Obviously we welcome this commitment to fighting terrorism, but is Jersey and all the other dependencies actually going to provide beneficial ownership information or not?"

Mr Cameron replied: "The short answer to that is yes, they are, and that is what is such a big breakthrough.

"Look, I totally accept they are not going as far as us because we are publishing a register of beneficial ownership, that will happen in June, we will be one of the only countries in the world to do so - I think Norway and Spain are the others.

"What the overseas territories and crown dependencies are doing is making sure that we have full access to registers of beneficial ownership to make sure that people aren't evading or avoiding their taxes."

In a separate answer, Mr Cameron said: "We did not choose the option of forcing them to have a public register because we believed if that was the case we'd get into the situation that you spoke about ... some of them might have walked away from this co-operation altogether."

Mr Corbyn dismissed Mr Cameron's assertions as "tough talk" without real action.

"You talk very tough and I grant you that, the only problem is it's not a public register that you are offering us, you are only offering us a private register that some people can see," the Labour leader said.

"You are supposed to be chasing down tax evasion and tax avoidance, you are supposed to be bringing it all into the open, if you cannot even persuade the premier of the Cayman Islands or Jersey to open up their books, where is the tough talk bringing the information we need to collect the taxes that should pay for the services that people need?"

Mr Cameron insisted the public beneficial ownership register would be an "absolute first" for Britain and highlighted other moves to make foreign companies declare details of the properties they own, claiming Labour is "catching up" on the issue

The PM added: "I am not saying we have completed all this work but we have got more tax information exchange, more registers of beneficial ownership, more chasing down tax evasion and avoidance, more money recovered from businesses and individuals, and all of these things are things that have happened under this Government.

"The truth is you are running to catch up because Labour did nothing in 13 years."

In earlier exchanges, Mr Corbyn highlighted Tory MEPs' opposition to new European Commission proposals on country-by-country tax reporting to make firms declare where they make profits.

Mr Cameron said the plans had been drawn up by EC financial commissioner Jonathan Hill, who was appointed by the Government.

Mr Corbyn said: "If the proposals were put forward by the British Government why did Conservative MEPs then vote against them? There seems to be a sort of a disconnect here."

The two leaders also clashed over funding at HMRC, with Mr Corbyn claiming the PM was cutting staff levels by 20% and closing tax offices.

Mr Cameron insisted the Government had invested 1 billion in HMRC since 2010 to improve tax collection and was hiring more staff in its compliance department.

"It's not how much money you spend on an organisation, it's about how many people you can actually have out there collecting the taxes and making sure the forms are properly filled in," the PM said.

Mr Corbyn replied: "You are quite right, the number of people out there collecting taxes is important, therefore why have you laid off so many staff at HMRC who therefore cannot collect those taxes?"

Green MP Caroline Lucas (Brighton Pavilion) claimed the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers data leak, Mossack Fonseca, is potentially shredding documents and deleting data in its UK office.

She told the PM: "Authorities in Peru, El Salvador and Panama have raided offices of Mossack Fonseca, seizing documents and computer equipment.

"But no-one has knocked on the door of the law firm's branch here in the UK.

"Now while recognising the operational independence of our enforcement agencies, do you share my deep concern that as we speak documents are no doubt being shredded and databases being wiped, undermining the opportunity to bring further potential wrongdoing to light?"
The Foreign Office's new feline resident is settling into his home on Whitehall - and has already attracted a large online following on his official Twitter account.

The black and white cat, named Palmerston, was recruited from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home to join the Government department as "chief mouser", scaring off any unwanted pests.

Palmerston was immediately thrown into the spotlight on arrival at the Foreign Office - as he was greeted by a media pack.

"Wasn't expecting to give media interviews on my 1st day!", a post on his official Twitter account (@DiploMog) read.

The cat, who is apparently named after Viscount Palmerston, who was foreign secretary almost 200 years ago and twice served as prime minister, is also shown in a photograph posted on the account playing with a piece of brown string.

A post alongside the image reads: "Making myself at home @foreignoffice HQ."

The Foreign Office's newest member of staff may only have been on Twitter a few hours, but has already attracted more than 700 followers keen to see behind the scenes of the department.

Palmerston will be in good company in Whitehall, living just yards away from Larry, Prime Minister David Cameron's cat in Downing Street.

His upkeep will be paid for by a "staff kitty" and will assist pest controllers in controlling mice numbers at the King Charles Street building in London, the Foreign Office said.
TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady praised those employers paying the higher minimum wage without cutting pay and conditions

Demonstrations will be held across the country for higher pay for young workers amid evidence that firms are cutting staff perks to pay for the National Living Wage.

The GMB union will stage protests in cities including Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff, calling for an end to the "outdated" practice of younger employees being paid less than older workers.

The Living Wage of 7.20 an hour only applies to over 25-year-olds.

Food chain Eat has stopped paying staff for their lunch breaks, while employees at Caffe Nero are losing their right to a free lunch.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "It's great that the vast majority of employers are managing to meet the higher minimum wage without cutting pay and conditions.

"If they can do it, then the minority of companies doing things like cutting paid breaks should think again. Employers using higher pay as an excuse to cut wider terms and conditions will be called out."

Ross Holden, of the GMB Young Members Network, said: "In the UK where age discrimination is ostensibly illegal, it is worrying that those aged under 25 can be paid up to 40% less than their over 25 colleagues for the same work, as a result of the Government's own living wage policy.

"Even the over 25s rate of 7.20 per hour falls well short of the 10 per hour rate that many need to make ends meet."

GMB national officer Kamaljeet Jandu said: "We are calling for companies to pay workers 10 an hour and stop this outdated practice of underpaying young workers."
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on stage with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan (right) in Mumbai

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge should be receiving the warmest welcome to India possible because of the kindness shown to Indian immigrants in the UK, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has said.

The actor, who is known as "King Khan" to his legions of loyal fans, met the royal couple on Sunday at an evening celebrating India's film industry during their stop in Mumbai on their royal tour.

After meeting his newly re-dressed waxwork at London's Madame Tussauds, he said: "You can't deny the relationship that Great Britain and India share and more so now, with the number of people from the sub-continent here. It's important for us to know people from here and royalty from here and to know them in such a casual and nice manner.

"You think of everyone from the outside as different so it's very right. England has been so welcoming to everyone from India so it is only fair we should be even nicer and warmer."

The couple chatted about their children, food and Bollywood films during the charity gala in the industry 's historic home city, hosted at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel where some of the bloody 2008 Mumbai attacks took place.

The hotel is now a symbol of defiance to the terrorists who killed 31 guests and staff.

Khan, 50, was presented to the Duke and Duchess at the dinner and said they were very relaxed, adding: "I have met royalty around the world and yes, I had the protocol, but it was very casual because they are like that.

"I think they are very full of poise and grace, very gracious. They were easy to just talk with.

"You build up certain scenarios in your head, like "royalty is there so you have to be proper" but no, in 30 seconds when they shook hands with us they made us feel like they were extremely normal.

"They know they are but we were expecting them to be different so it was fantastic to spend time with them. I spent a couple of hours with them, we had dinner and chatted.

"We talked about our kids and the food they were eating. They had dishes from all over the world and I was the worst person because I know very little about food."

Khan, who is in London promoting his new film Fan, said he dismissed a suggestion from a member of his team that he should try to record a Dubsmash video with the pair, in which they would lip-sync to a well-known song.

He revealed: " I don't know how to do a Dubsmash so I would have been the most awkward. When you meet them they were casual enough to chat with them and do anything but a Dubsmash is pushing it."

Khan also revealed he would love the chance to work on a British production, saying: "I've never been offered but I have shot in London, my last three films shot here. I've never been offered a role in a Western film but oh my god, if I was I would be there."

The prolific actor, who has starred in 55 full-length films, is famous around the world among Bollywood fans but said he would never wish to return to anonymity.

He said: "To be honest, I don't want to be anonymous. I've worked half my life to be known by people. Why would I want to be unknown now?"
Dilma Rousseff arrives for a ceremony with teachers and students at Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia (AP)

Embattled Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff lashed out at the two men in line to succeed her if she is impeached, calling them "heads of the conspiracy" to remove her from office.

Speaking to teachers and students at the presidential palace in Brasilia, Ms Rousseff said Vice President Michel Temer and Chamber of Deputies Speaker Eduardo Cunha are jointly plotting her downfall.

The remarks came after the allegedly accidental release on Monday of an address to the nation that Mr Temer intended to deliver after a hypothetical congressional vote that would suspend Ms Rousseff from office.

In the 13-minute audio, which Mr Temer said he unintentionally sent to politicians through an instant messenger app, the vice president speaks as if he had already assumed the top job.

Ms Rousseff said she was "shocked" by the recording, which she said "reveals treason against me and against democracy".

The president said: "The mask of the conspirators has fallen."

With 342 votes in the 513-member Chamber of Deputies needed for the process to move forwards, analysts say the outcome is too close to call.

Ms Rousseff took a hit on Tuesday when 31 of the 47 deputies with the Progressive Party, the country's fourth-largest party and a member of her governing coalition, announced they would vote for impeachment.
North Carolina's governor has ordered anti-discrimination rules be expanded for state employees but stopped short of repealing the law.

There has been widespread fallout since Governor Pat McCrory signed the law that limits LGBT protection three weeks ago, with corporate executives, gay-rights groups and political opponents blasting him.

Some companies have scaled back their planned job expansions, and Bruce Springsteen cancelled a concert in the state.

Saying he received lots of "feedback and suggestions and opinions", Governor McCrory also wants lawmakers to restore the ability of all workers to sue over employment bias in state court, which was removed in the law.

"This was my conclusion after hearing from many, many different sides of the issue," the governor told The Associated Press shortly after he signed an executive order on Tuesday addressing the law.

But Governor McCrory said he sees no need to repeal the rest of the law.

North Carolina's measure is among several advanced across the country that opponents say is discriminatory toward gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Governor McCrory's order expanded the equal employment policy for state employees to include sexual orientation and gender identity, and urged lawmakers to restore the right of all workers to sue in state court over employment discrimination on the basis of things like race, age and gender.

"I am taking action to affirm and improve the state's commitment to privacy and equality," Governor McCrory said in a video released with his announcement.

The order also affirmed parts of the law directing people at government buildings and schools to use the multi-stall bathrooms corresponding to the sex listed on their birth certificate.

And the law still prevents local governments and the state from mandating businesses extend protections to LGBT people who work for them or when they visit their shops and restaurants.

Although some critics of the law called the order a positive first step, the most vocal opponents said nothing short of repeal will be enough.

"The governor's action is an insufficient response to a terrible, misguided law that continues to harm LGBT people on a daily basis," said Sarah Warbelow, legal director at the Human Rights Campaign.

"It's absurd that he'll protect people from being fired but will prohibit them from using the employee restroom consistent with their gender identity."

A Charlotte ordinance approved in February that would have allowed transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity in public accommodations caused the Republican-controlled General Assembly to hold a special session March 23. Legislators overturned the ordinance and blocked all other cities and counties from passing similar rules targeting anti-LGBT discrimination.

There was no need for a state law "until the city of Charlotte brought it up," said Governor McCrory, himself the previous mayor of North Carolina's largest city.

"It wasn't a problem in my 14 years as mayor and I've never heard it as an issue during my three years as governor."

Still, current Mayor Jennifer Roberts tweeted she was pleased to see movement from Governor McCrory's office: "Historic to include LGBT protections for state employees. Look forward to more dialogue."

Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat challenging Governor McCrory for governor this autumn, said Governor McCrory should have vetoed the law to begin with and the order does not change that last month's legislation "has written discrimination into the law".

Equality North Carolina, the American Civil Liberties Union and three LGBT citizens sued in federal court two weeks ago to overturn the entire law.

A full repeal appears highly unlikely from the General Assembly. In statements, Republican legislative leaders did not address Governor McCrory's request to restore the right to sue in state court for employment discrimination.

But they praised him for reaffirming bathroom provisions in the law they say keeps women and children safe from men who may have used ordinances similar to Charlotte's as a pretense to enter women's restrooms.

The order affirms the importance of the General Assembly's action "to protect North Carolina citizens from extremists' efforts to undermine civility and normalcy in our everyday lives," Republican House Speaker Tim Moore said.
The publication of the Panama Papers is a reminder that, when it comes to colonialism and corruption, there's nothing new under the tropical sun.

The state of Panama was carved out from Colombia by the United States in 1903 precisely to facilitate the super-rich in squirreling their wealth away out of sight of the tax authorities.

In the same year, the US imposed the Cuban-American Treaty of Relations, under which Cuba undertook to hand over land for the construction of a military base over which the US would have sovereignty - Guantanamo Bay - and gave the US a right to intervene unilaterally in Cuban affairs any time it felt its interests were not being looked after.

In 1906, US Secretary for War, future president William Taft, concerned about opposition to the US's role in the Caribbean, appointed an administration of his own in Havana and declared himself Governor of Cuba.

Taft's "government" stepped down once Washington was content that the Cubans would mind their manners in future. But the Treaty of Relations remained in force as a fall-back.

Cuba became a mafia state, controlled by US gangsters and gangster politicians, until Castro swept into Havana on New Year's Day 1959. Castro's regime was/is far from perfect. But it didn't launder dirty money for drugs criminals, or provide the global elite with bespoke tax-evasion services.

This is the proper context for evaluation of the complaints from US Republicans and Cuban exiles that Barack Obama had been too soft when he promised to lift sanctions without waiting to see whether the Cubans had met US conditions. The conditions had mainly to do not with human freedoms, but with free access to the island for US capital. The old story.

Meanwhile, across the bay, the major Western banks were up to their oxters in Panamanian chicanery. In the Observer last Sunday, Ed Vulliamy wrote that, in hacking Panama out of Colombia, "Roosevelt acted at the behest of various banking groups, among them JP Morgan and Company".

The paperwork for the establishment of the new state was handled by a Republican lawyer, William Cromwell, legal counsel to JP Morgan. The bank itself became Panama's first "fiscal agent" - supervising the inflow and outflow of funds.

Three years ago, JP Morgan confessed to having played a major role in the 2008 banking crash, which almost brought down the world economy and agreed to a $13bn settlement for having sold fraudulent, mortgage-backed securities to the tune of tens of billions. One of the bank's current "global ambassadors" is former prime minister Tony Blair. No surprise there.

(There has been comment on the fact that few US companies, or individuals, have been mentioned in the Panama Papers. But hold on. Only a fraction of the leaked material has so far been released. The editor of Suddeutsche Zeitung, the German newspaper which partnered an international consortium of journalists to publish the Panama material, said last weekend: "Just wait for what is coming next.")

And wait to see what effect it might have on the race to the White House.

David Cameron may well feel aggrieved to have been placed in a glaring spotlight over his relatively modest personal profit from his father's by-no-means-modest immersion in Panamanian practices. Panamanian practice differed in degree, but hardly in principle, from what was happening day to day in the City of London.

In May last year, the National Crime Agency declared that: "We assess that hundreds of billions of US dollars of criminal money almost certainly continue to be laundered through UK banks." The same laundering networks used by criminal gangs were also being used by terrorists, the agency said. We can take it that the networks were paying no tax on the dodgy, undeclared dosh.

The largest UK bank of all, HSBC, was fined more than a million pounds four years ago for acting as launderer-in-chief for the Mexican Sinaloa cartel, washing tens of billions of dollars of contaminated money clean before funnelling it into ostensibly respectable accounts.

Few will have sympathy for Cameron in a predicament of his own making. But it ought to be said, if not in his defence, then at least in explanation, that he may have believed his misdemeanour pretty harmless given the scale of the felonies condoned in the past on both sides of the Atlantic and the ocean of sleaze which has engulfed not an exotic pip-squeak made-up state in Central America, but the linchpin of finance capital itself, the soaring City of London.

Asked for a comment, Bernie Sanders responded: "It's just capitalism."

Sound man, that Sanders.
Pope Francis is a giddy romantic. He esteems married life almost stratospherically. Reading his treatise on family love Amoris Laetitia (The Joy Of Love) one is left wondering who these married people are who measure up to the standard he describes.

"Those who marry do not expect their excitement to fade. Those who witness the celebration of a loving union, however fragile, trust that it will pass the test of time." I wonder how many people, if you stopped them on a wet lunch hour in Royal Avenue, would accept that as a description of their own marriage.

There are times when Francis shows that he comprehends that relating may be difficult. He's not completely cut off from the real world. Then he goes off into describing the loving gaze with which married people contemplate each other: "Loving another person involves the joy of contemplating and appreciating their innate beauty and sacredness, which is greater than my needs."

If I told my wife that I was "contemplating and appreciating" her "innate beauty and sacredness", when she thought I was cleaning the bathroom, she'd call for help. And it wouldn't be the help of a theologian.

This is what makes this treatise from Francis so difficult to read. His reflections on that loving gaze are as drippy and cloying as any Mills & Boon novel: "The aesthetic experience of love is expressed in that 'gaze', which contemplates other persons as ends in themselves, even if they are infirm, elderly or physically unattractive."

But then he goes on to show that he knows something of what he's talking about; the partner who feels under-appreciated, who says: "He never looks at me anymore."

But, surely, it is a mistake to think that the partner who is being shunned and ignored actually wants to be "gazed at" to have their "innate beauty and sacredness" appreciated. More likely they'd just like the other to stay in at night so that they could watch telly together.

And some will say that this is not surprising; that a celibate priesthood produces trite nonsense when it contemplates sex and intimacy, something it usually knows nothing about, at least in a healthy and contented relationship.

But, then, if you are a theologian and your perspective on life is honed by reading and discussing the recondite texts of your predecessors rather than by meeting someone with whom you wish to be intimate, then you will come to think that the "most intense joys in life arise when we are able to elicit joy in others, as a foretaste of heaven".

Francis has a lighter touch than previous Popes. There had been some speculation that he would move away from the stern philosophy of Pope Paul VI, who banned artificial contraception in his encyclical Humanae Vitae.

And it is, indeed, impossible to imagine Paul quoting a popular film in the way Francis quotes from Babette's Feast, or recommending that churches put a bit more into St Valentine's Day.

Yet he stays with Humanae Vitae's basic vision that sexual relating is about having children.

He is not as stern as Paul VI was. His logic that sex was only for procreation was the basis of his ban on the Pill.

Francis is a bit more indulgent of married people who would continue to have a sexual relationship primarily as an expression of love for each other. Paul VI wanted married couples to aspire to chastity.

There is only one reference to contraception in the whole 60,000-word document. Francis writes: "The upright consciences of spouses who have been generous in transmitting life may lead them, for sufficiently serious reasons, to limit the number of their children, yet precisely for the sake of this dignity of conscience, the Church strongly rejects the forced state intervention in favour of contraception, sterilisation and even abortion."

What he appears to be saying is that married couples who have already had children may, for good reason, decide not to have more. They are exercising the "dignity of conscience". He then attacks "forced state intervention".

So, his problem is with governments which insist on contraception and he has no apparent difficulty with married couples using it of their own free will. This is a radical departure, surely?

After this, the ban on contraception is like an old law that sits on the statute books but has effectively expired - like the one that says you can't drive a car unless someone walks in front of you waving a red flag.

While Francis draws on Humanae Vitae, its blessed author has been usurped. This is a concession to the reality that the ban on contraception simply didn't work.

Catholics, instead of following their Church's teaching on it, simply stopped going to confession. And the priest in the pulpit twigged quickly that he was best saying nothing about it.

One of Pope Paul's advisers on Humanae Vitae, the Irish philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe, argued that if the Church conceded sex was for anything other than procreation, that would open the door to legitimising homosexuality.

Here again Francis' concern is more for the behaviour of governments than people.

He quotes the synod on the family saying that homosexual union can not be analogous to God's plan for the family, but he is not even saying that he agrees with that.

The only statement in his own words is a criticism of international bodies and aid agencies, which would make recognition of same-sex marriage a condition of funding.

Francis had an opportunity in this document to repeat the old line about the homosexual being "disordered", but he left that out.

Other traditional values get a mention that is equally slight.

It used to be that sex before marriage was regarded as an horrific sin.

Now Francis seeks to remind us that chastity "proves invaluable for the genuine growth of love between persons". One might ask for the evidence behind that assertion and not find it here.

And that is the only reference to chastity in the whole document.

Critics of Francis say that he has not gone far enough, but he was hardly going to change the fundamental rules of his Church.

He has, however, shifted the emphasis away from berating the faithful about their sexual morality to arguing for a Church that helps them towards that "foretaste of heaven", which he believes is to be found in a joyful family life.

The early responses to this document conclude that it is not radical at all. But, set against the writings of previous Popes on sexuality and the family, this is - if occasionally trite - far more humane.
Dr Manuch Soleimani, who has been awarded an EU grant to develop new tomography technology that could help save the UK and EU steel industries (University of Bath/PA)

New imaging technology could help save UK and European steel industries, according to a university scientist.

The Shell-Thick project will develop an innovative induction tomography system for assessing the solidification process of metal.

This new system will significantly improve the continuous casting process of steel by providing a real-time, non-destructive and reliable method of measuring the molten steel to detect any defects or fails as it solidifies and becomes a market product.

The system will form a kind of contactless bracelet around the billet of molten steel and take continuous measurements as the steel solidifies.

It will visualise the electrical conductivity of the different states of the solidifying steel and therefore provide an image of the structural composition of the steel as it cools.

By enabling industry to continuously monitor and alter the cooling process of steel, this innovative method will improve the quality, safety, productivity, costs and ultimately competitiveness of the UK and EU steel industries.

Induction tomography is a new and emerging non-invasive imaging technique used in a number of applications including medical diagnostics, geophysical exploration and civil engineering.

The EU and particularly UK steel industry is currently in a desperate state and facing widespread job losses due to its inability to compete with the highly subsidised steel industries in China.

Steelworks such as the Tata steelworks at Port Talbot are currently in emergency talks to try to prevent the plant closing.

It is hoped this technology may help the UK/EU steel industry become more competitive and have greater job security in the long-term future.

Dr Manuch Soleimani, from the University of Bath, has received an EU Horizon 2020 grant to lead this three-year project.

He said: "We are delighted to play a critical part in this project by using world-leading techniques in our engineering tomography lab, in the area of electromagnetic imaging.

"This is an exciting and yet very challenging project that will have a great impact in helping in the competitive production of high quality steel, which is very important for the sustainable future of the UK and European steel industry."
A come clean here. This morning, as I was preparing for a radio interview on which I was on the guest side of the microphone, I was slammed with overwhelming fears, feels and tears. The title of the segment on Vivid Life Radio was The Successful Freelancer and the host, Crystal-Lee Quibell invited me on her show since my work in the literary field has been many decades in the making. Writing is my passion and purpose and something I cant NOT do. It fuels my soul and over the years, it, along with other skills helped to pay the bills. There have been times when it was the bulk of my financial support. At the moment, after a series of lay offs, it is back to being part of the seeking freelance gigs routine.

I went into this snarky dialog in my head, initiated by my inner critic that I refer to as Perfectionista, How can you call yourself successful and offer advice to other people when you are struggling yourself? My protective (no name for her yet) persona was there, hands on hips in response, standing up to her bullying, Knock it off! I then called in to the show and spoke with Shayne Traviss who is also the producer of my radio show, called Its All About Relationships and explained my current state. I felt hugged over the phone as he reminded me that I was a success and that every creative person goes through doubt. I dried my eyes, donned my big girl panties and did the interview, feeling more confident as time went on.

Afterward, I called my long time friend and mentor, newly tattooed lady, Yvonne Kaye who added her vote of confidence and reminded me that I was worth investing in and that I was characteristically being tough on myself. She plays many roles in my life including, since my mothers passing in 2010, maternal figure. I told her today that I was young enough to be her daughter. We both got a laugh out of that. Even after hanging up the phone I can still hear her Brixton-British accented voice saying, I know you and what you have accomplished. I could imagine her standing next to the part of me that was in protective mode as they faced down Perfectionista. She reminded me that I needed to keep on keeping on.

A third angel is a new friend on the other coast, in Portland, Oregon, named Tom Ziemann who has been an ardent and much appreciated cheerleader who came out of nowhere as we are supporting each other in living our passion and purpose. His words and actions have touched my heart and encouraged me as well.

These folks have generously allowed me to borrow their belief in me, as my own sometimes flags at times, as much as I present as ultra-confident and when fear comes calling, they send it on its way.

Bhaya Naash Mantra (Sanskrit Mantra For Overcoming Fear -Durga Devi Mantra) sung by Jitender Singh
Movie flashback

Action, adventure, and something mysteriousthats Indiana Jones.

There have been four films in the Indiana Jones franchise, all starring Harrison Ford as the swashbuckling archaeologist with a penchant for artifacts, and directed by Steven Spielberg, one of the movers and shakers of the blockbuster movie form.

By day, Jones is a lecturer at a university, perhaps the less interesting part. Part-time, hes saving artifacts from the greedy and bringing the artifacts back to museums, where, he says, they belong. And he gets well-paid.

The action scenes and sense of adventure make his endeavors come to life. Part time jobs were always the most interesting.

Hes a bit of a ladies man with echoes of James Bond. He has no trouble getting the girl.

When saving artifacts for museums, he happens to get in over his head: hes saving peoples lives and encountering the supernatural, which keeps him on his toes.

It is grand storytelling, with mystery elements, such as whats the story with the lost Ark of the Covenant, whats so important about an Indian villages sacred stones, and the significance of the cup of Jesus at the Last Supper otherwise known in legend as the Holy Grail.

The aura of mystery around these artifacts gives the franchise an advantage over the more straight forward action adventure tales.

The franchise started with Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

The best of the franchise by a long shot. The production and writing quality is top notch, and the characters, especially Indiana Jones, have become legends.

In an original twist on the Ark of the Covenant, Indianas friend Marcus Brody says the ark should be researched because of its unspeakable power.

Creating myth out of an Old Testament artifact did not sit well with some. The myth the film created is unhistorical and not biblical on some counts, but may be true enough on other points.

We just need to read some passages in the Book of Samuel in the Bible to see how true it can be, more or less.

At a simple level, it did convey a sense of coveting supernatural power for selfish purposes. That not only works as a plot device, but also as a religious or spiritual theme.

The coveting of eyes are the Nazis, circa 1936, just before World War II. Indiana Jones was there to save the world from what could have been a Nazi take overbut those Nazis couldnt procure the power they so desired.

The lesson? Succumbing to temptations to use powers we dont understand end fruitlessly.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Director and producer Seven Spielberg convinced the censors to give this film the first ever PG-13 rating. A PG-13 rating would make the film reach more people than the R-rating it was going to be given because of the films violence.

That controversy aside, there are some interesting themes.

Indiana Jones is almost a Messianic figure in that he comes into an Indian village, after escaping a near-death misadventure, unaware that the village is in need of help. The village elder says Indiana has been sent to save them.

Indiana has his reasons to help out. The stones required could be sold to a museum, so he thinks. But the villagers dont see the stones that way. To them, the stones bring well-being to the village.

As well, the children of the village have been taken by a cult. Indiana must save the children as well as the stones and, as always, he is up to the challenge of sacrificing his interests for the needs of others.

An aside: on that theme of sacrificing ones interests, could we conceivably give up our convictions for the needs of someone else or a group of people? That may be democracy, but where would we draw a line?

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

So far the series had covered a major piece of the Old Testament and a small bit of folksy Indian religion. Next was Christianity with a medieval flavor.

The cup of Jesus Christ at his Last Supper is framed in Arthurian legend while still maintaining the presence of Christs sacrifice hundreds of years earlier.

Sean Connery plays Professor Henry Jones, the father of Indiana. Henry is a medieval lecturer who is searching for the lost Grail or chalice Christ shared at the lost supper.

The message seems to be: seek and you will find.

When Henrys getting closer to finding the chalice, he may find more than a chalice, but an experience of faith which illuminates his awareness.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

After twenty years without Indiana Jones films, there was a hunger for more.

For me, the film was a letdown. Harrison Ford as the older, wiser Indy lacked the presence of the original Indiana. But I cant deny that Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones has made the character his ownprobably forever.

In this sequel, Indy is betrayed by a friend, meets up with a lost love and her son, and tries to help a long, lost professor who has lost his mind. It should be interesting, but isnt.

I remember a pivotal scene in the film more than the featured parts which were promoted heavily.

The scene is of a god getting upset. This time its Cold War Russians, not Nazis, who seek to use the gods power for their mind control techniques. That theme goes back to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In closing

It is interesting that the Indiana Jones franchise goes back to themes from spirituality and religion.

Perhaps its about having respect for things we dont understand. If that thing we dont understand is spiritual, we should tread carefully.

There is always apprehension to things spiritual, rather than going headlong into it. That is being safe.

Thats because we dont really understand what it is we are coming into contact with.

However, those that seek spiritual powers for their own ends, end up with the short end of the straw.

Its no wonder that director Steven Spielberg has made spiritual-themed films before such as E.T. (1982), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and The Color Purple (1985).

And executive producer George Lucas made the seminal and spiritual Star Wars.

If life is perilous and life threatening, the Indiana Jones story comes back to religious and spiritual themes to anticipate answers.
On the eve of Bangladeshs largest cultural festival, a group of female journalists protested in Dhaka over the alleged inaction of police to arrest any male suspects who groped and sexually harassed women at Bengali new year celebrations last April.

The Bangladesh Women Journalists Center and other working women formed a human chain outside the National Press Club, during which they urged women to attend this years instalment of the Pahela Boishakh celebrations, but watch out for potential sexual harassment.

They also called for women to resist efforts by Islamic fundamentalist to discourage women from attending the event and to confine [women] to the four walls.

At last years festival, some women attending public celebrations in Dhaka were groped or harassed by men, including one woman who reportedly was disrobed by assailants in the crowd in broad daylight.

[T]he militants and the fundamentalists have been conspiring to foil the celebration through fatwas and sexual assaults on women at public places, Nasimun Ara Haque, the centers president who led the human chain, told BenarNews.

According to news reports, fundamentalists have declared the festival, which is celebrated every April 14 and draws millions of revelers to festivities nationwide, as un-Islamic.

Meanwhile, Bangladeshi authorities announced earlier this month that they were beefing up security around this years Pahela Boishakh, and were cancelling concerts and other programs scheduled to take place on Thursday night over concerns that militants might target the celebrations.

During Boishakh celebrations in Dhaka in 2001, the banned militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islamic (HuJI) carried out a bombing that killed 10 people.

We, on behalf of the women, want to make it clear: the Pahela Boishakh must take place, Haque said.

The ploy is to discourage the women from attending the Pahela Boishakh celebration. They want to confine us to four walls, she said.

Udisa Islam, a senior reporter of the news site banglatribune, said that fundamentalist forces such as HuJI were trying to undermine womens empowerment through their criticism of Boishakh, which brings together Bangladeshis of all castes and creeds.

They will talk like this as it is their so-called ideology; I am not surprised by this. They will talk like this and we will go ahead, Islam told BenarNews.

She also criticized the authorities for imposing a late-afternoon curfew.

I am really saddened by the attitude of our law enforcers; they would force us to go into our house before 5 p.m. Who are they promoting? The women are worried because we are supposed to go to the police, in case militants attack us or we are sexually harassed, she added.

Our responsibility

The governments curfew order came after Hefazat-e-Islam, an association of conservative Muslim teachers and students, faxed a statement to media outlets on Monday urging people not to celebrate the anti-Islamic Pahela Boishakh.

A day earlier, a group calling itself the Awami Ulama League also branded the Pahela Boishakh celebrations as against Islam, and voiced its opposition to womens participation at the festivities.

Our responsibility is to ensure security of the people. And this responsibility has prompted us to put up some restrictions. I request people to leave the spots before evening, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told BenarNews on Wednesday.
A man holds a placard outside parliament during a rally to repeal the Sedition Act, Oct. 16, 2014.

Malaysias High Court is scheduled Thursday to hear a challenge to the Sedition Act lodged by a satirical cartoonist and his legal team on grounds that it contradicts the countrys constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech.

Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque  better known as Zunar  and attorneys Eric Paulsen and N. Surendran filed the challenge in October 2015 after Zunar was slapped with nine charges of sedition for tweets he sent criticizing the jailing of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on sodomy charges in February 2015.

The High Court is likely to decide the matter at its first hearing Thursday, Paulsen told BenarNews.

A rejection of the case will clear the way for a lower Sessions Court to set a date for Zunars sedition trial.

Although we are likely to appeal further to the court of appeal, and we will seek further postponement of Zunars hearing at the Sessions Court, Paulsen said.

A guilty verdict on all nine counts of sedition could carry a 43-year jail term.

After he sent the tweets in February 2015, police seized a compendium of his cartoons, which focused on Anwar, alleged government corruption, and the lavish lifestyle of Prime Minister Najib Razaks wife Rosmah Mansor.

Zunar called nine charges under the Sedition Act a new tactic to ensure that Im silenced forever. Since 2008, he has twice been arrested. His books have been banned. Printing presses and book stalls have been warned not to work with him.

They dont need nine. Logically, one is enough, he told BenarNews in an interview in November.

In 2014 and 2015, some 200 people were investigated, arrested or charged under the Sedition Act, he said.

We challenged the law because in our view, it goes against the Federal Constitution which in Article 10 states that every citizen has the right to freely give their views, Zunar said.

Zunar, 53, received an International Press Freedom Award in November 2015 from the Committee to Protect Journalists, an international non-profit organization that promote press freedom.

Editors Note: Zunar is a BenarNews contributor.
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For Immediate Release, April 13, 2016 Contact: Collette Adkins, Center for Biological Diversity, (651) 955-3821, cadkins@biologicaldiversity.org

Amey Owen, Animal Welfare Institute, (202) 446-2128, amey@awionline.org New Hampshire Withdraws Proposal for Bobcat Hunting, Trapping Seasons CONCORD, N.H. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department today withdrew a proposed administrative rule that would have opened the first bobcat hunting and trapping seasons in the state since 1989. Todays announcement responds to concerns raised by conservation and animal-protection organizations  including the Center for Biological Diversity and Animal Welfare Institute  that federally protected Canada lynx could be mistakenly shot or ensnared by bobcat hunters and trappers. Photo  Robin Silver, Center for Biological Diversity. This photo is available for media use. Were so relieved the agency listened to our concerns, and that New Hampshires bobcats and lynx are safe from hunters and trappers, said Collette Adkins, a Center attorney and biologist. At public expense, these bobcat seasons would have benefited only the few who'd like to kill these beautiful animals for sport or ship their pelts overseas to China for profit. The state heard loud and clear that people value these cats in the wild and don't want to see them cruelly trapped or shot. New Hampshire has protected bobcats since 1989, after decades of hunting and trapping caused the state's population to plummet to only 200 animals. Under the states proposed rule, hunters would have been allowed to chase bobcats with hounds and trappers would have been able to set unlimited numbers of indiscriminate traps that could hurt or kill endangered Canada lynx. We are thrilled with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Departments decision to withdraw its proposal for a bobcat hunting and trapping season, given legal concerns, opposition by many New Hampshire citizens, and the objection from the legislative rules committee, said Tara Zuardo, a wildlife attorney with the Animal Welfare Institute. This decision will prevent much animal suffering, allow the states bobcat population to continue to recover, and help prevent harm to federally protected Canada lynx. On April 1 the New Hampshire Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules voted 9-1 to object to the proposed bobcat hunting and trapping rule. The legislative committee agreed with conservation and animal-protection organizations that the proposal might violate federal law protecting the Canada lynx. Listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, lynx share the same habitat as bobcat, and the two species of wild cat are very similar in appearance, which could have led to accidental killing of lynx by bobcat hunters and trappers. 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.
EPFL scientists propose a new way of understanding of how the brain processes unconscious information into our consciousness. According to the model, consciousness arises only in time intervals of up to 400 milliseconds, with gaps of unconsciousness in between.

The driver ahead suddenly stops, and you find yourself stomping on your breaks before you even realize what is going on. We would call this a reflex, but the underlying reality is much more complex, forming a debate that goes back centuries: Is consciousness a constant, uninterrupted stream or a series of discrete bits - like the 24 frames-per-second of a movie reel? Scientists from EPFL and the universities of Ulm and Zurich, now put forward a new model of how the brain processes unconscious information, suggesting that consciousness arises only in intervals up to 400 milliseconds, with no consciousness in between. The work is published in PLOS Biology.

Continuous or discrete?

Consciousness seems to work as continuous stream: one image or sound or smell or touch smoothly follows the other, providing us with a continuous image of the world around us. As far as we are concerned, it seems that sensory information is continuously translated into conscious perception: we see objects move smoothly, we hear sounds continuously, and we smell and feel without interruption. However, another school of thought argues that our brain collects sensory information only at discrete time-points, like a camera taking snapshots. Even though there is a growing body of evidence against "continuous" consciousness, it also looks like that the "discrete" theory of snapshots is too simple to be true.

A two-stage model

Michael Herzog at EPFL, working with Frank Scharnowski at the University of Zurich, have now developed a new paradigm, or "conceptual framework", of how consciousness might actually work. They did this by reviewing data from previously published psychological and behavioral experiments that aim to determine if consciousness is continuous or discrete. Such experiments can involve showing a person two images in rapid succession and asking them to distinguish between them while monitoring their brain activity.

The new model proposes a two-stage processing of information. First comes the unconscious stage: The brain processes specific features of objects, e.g. color or shape, and analyzes them quasi-continuously and unconsciously with a very high time-resolution. However, the model suggests that there is no perception of time during this unconscious processing. Even time features, such as duration or color change, are not perceived during this period. Instead, the brain represents its duration as a kind of "number", just as it does for color and shape.

Then comes the conscious stage: Unconscious processing is completed, and the brain simultaneously renders all the features conscious. This produces the final "picture", which the brain finally presents to our consciousness, making us aware of the stimulus.

The whole process, from stimulus to conscious perception, can last up to 400 milliseconds, which is a considerable delay from a physiological point of view. "The reason is that the brain wants to give you the best, clearest information it can, and this demands a substantial amount of time," explains Michael Herzog. "There is no advantage in making you aware of its unconscious processing, because that would be immensely confusing." This model focuses on visual perception, but the time delay might be different for other sensory information, e.g. auditory or olfactory.

This is the first two-stage model of how consciousness arises, and it provides a more complete picture of how the brain manages consciousness than the "continuous versus discrete" debate envisages. But it especially provides useful insights about the way the brain processes time and relates it to our perception of the world.

Source: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
Standard Bank is hosting the East Africa Trans-Regional Conference in Kenya, Nairobi from 11 to 14 April 2016 to facilitate business development between clients from the East Africa region and South Africa.

Image by 123RF

Targeted at clients which have an interest in expanding their operations or partnering with businesses within the East Africa region, the conference will provide delegates with an overview of commerce and industry in East Africa, while presenting opportunities for access to the market and business development.

Over three days, seventy of Standard Banks business banking clients from, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi and South Africa will take advantage of networking opportunities in a guided and informative environment.

Standard Bank: Rest of Africa, head of commercial banking, Dr Manessah Alagbaoso, said this is the first of a series of inter-Africa trade conferences aimed at facilitating business development. The event underlines our commitment as Standard Bank to create effective partnerships for our clients in the region and across the continent.

Alagbaoso added that it was critical for Standard Bank, in its commitment to intra-regional, to create additional value for business banking clients by assisting them to identify services they could access, match them with much needed expertise and provide financing solutions. Standard Bank, as Africas largest bank, has an established and on-the-ground presence in East Africa.

We are committed to the East Africa region as indicated by our established presence in Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and recent expansion into Ethiopia. Our sector expertise and in-depth local knowledge enable us to partner with our clients to make Africas progress real.

The landscape in East Africa had changed with improved governance, responsive regulatory measures and a stronger infrastructural environment to create opportunities for savvy investors who are prepared to make long-term business commitments within the region, Alagbaoso said.

The conference line-up includes speakers such as, Carole Kariuki, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) CEO; Dr Ndiragu Kibata, TAUSPCE strategies group head; and Jibran Qureishi, Standard Banks Regional Economist for East Africa.
This week, we find out what's really going on behind the selfie with Charlie Stewart, CEO of Rogerwilco.

Paragliding. Check how white those knuckles are.

1. Where do you live, work and play?

Stewart: Durbanville and the winelands Ive lived here since relocating from the UK 14 years ago. When people heard we were opening a digital agency in Cape Towns northern suburbs they laughed in our faces, telling us wed never hire real people. Today, were the ones laughing as weve been able to bring some stellar people on board  people who want to grow their careers and want to avoid the misery that is Woodstock traffic.

2. Whats your claim to fame?

Stewart: Gosh, I suppose top of my current professional brag list is that Penguin published a book I co-authored on B2B marketing earlier this year. As a personal brag, Ive had my Apple Watch since December and still havent had to make a payment for it Discovery, your actuaries will never get the better of this canny Scot! And at a pseudo-fame level, the time in Australia back in the mid-90s when I was confused with Keith Flint, the frontman of the Prodigy. That was an extraordinary evening.

3. Describe your career so far.

Stewart: After studying Theology I realised I didnt have the kind of calling my fellow students had, so I became a spin doctor, helping some pretty big businesses extricate themselves from a variety of crises. After moving to SA and setting Rogerwilco up with my co-founder Jakes Redelinghuys, I tentatively embraced digital. I was surprised to find that online marketing wasnt too far removed from traditional marketing  for example, SEO is really just media relations with a bit of techie jargon.

4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.

Stewart: Words; a good malt whisky preferably East Coast; great food; exploring some of the lesser-walked paths of the world; having one of my UK friends tell me a travel agent had sold him on visiting us in South Africas undiscovered season  basically, the middle of winter.

5. What do you love about your industry?

Stewart: The speed at which it moves; the manner in which South Africans are embracing digital; the fact that, at an entry level, the barriers to entry arent high, which empowers people to move into digital, yet its also incredibly complex, which fosters a culture of innovation.

6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.

Stewart: Into the office at 07:00, three coffees by 07:30 (Des, our barista/office mother makes the best cappuccino this side of Italy); team catch up at 08:00; meetings, meetings, meetings. Gym at lunchtime; meetings, meetings, meetings. Leave at about 18:30, home by 18:35.

7. What are the tools of your trade?

Stewart: MacBook, iPhone, brain.

8. Who is getting it right in your industry?

Stewart: At a creative level, Gloo and Ogilvy continue to excel.

9. What are you working on right now?

Stewart: Mostly strategy  some for clients, some for our own spinouts; when theres a gap Im trying to focus on the 2nd edition of the book  which is all about case studies of really good B2B marketing campaigns and yup, thats an invitation to anyone reading this column. If youve got an example of a B2B campaign that generated really good results, please let me know.

10. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.

Stewart: Hmm my language is a bit choice, so probably best not to repeat my catchphrases, although we have a fridge in the office thats plastered with some of the teams more interesting' utterances. I heard a client criticising one of their colleagues for solutionising the other day which put a smile on my face, but that was trumped by an article I read recently featuring the word thought-ware. And it wasnt written by George Orwell.

11. Where and when do you have your best ideas?

Stewart: When Im pounding the roads and trails. Running is one of the few times that Im able to switch off. And thats when the best thoughts come.

12. Whats your secret talent/party trick?

Stewart: When my daughter was younger I taught myself magic. But I was pretty rubbish at it. When you get called out by a bunch of eight year olds, you figure theres no point giving up the day job. So these days I generally stick to wielding a tequila bottle. Which I do with alarming alacrity. Mostly when there are no kids around.

13. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?

Stewart: My devs would definitely put me down as a technophobe. But one day I will surprise them. Im tenacious like that.

14. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?

Stewart: Lots of apps I never use. Some obscure music and heaps of half-written notes.

15. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?

Stewart: Dabble in everything but specialise in something. Digital encompasses so many areas that you really need to have a good idea of what its about and what you want to do if youre to break into the industry. Show passion  be it for copywriting, design, coding, search or many of the other digital disciplines  and youre on the right track.

You can read more about Rogerwilco by visiting their website or press office and interact with Stewart through the following social media accounts:

LinkedIn

Twitter

*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.
Apparel group Edcon should sell its noncore retail brands, CNA and Boardmans, as a way to cut costs in the face of mounting pressure over interest payments on its hefty debt.

Responding to media reports that Edcon has asked its bondholders for a deferral in interest repayments, analysts said on Tuesday that Edcon should start trimming some of its noncore retail brands.

Edcon said on Tuesday that it was still in talks with bondholders, and would announce its plans in due course. This was after Bloomberg reported that a postponement in interest payments to bondholders would give the groups owner, Bain Capital Partners, time to explore options including the sale of all or some of the business.

The countrys leading clothing and footwear retailer, which owns Edgars, Red Square, Legit, Jet, CNA, Jet Mart, and Boardmans, was loaded with debt when Bain bought Edcon in 2007.

Abri du Plessis, a portfolio manager at Gryphon Asset Management, said if Edcon decided to sell some brands, it should sell Boardmans or CNA.

"I think it is better if they just simplify their business and get rid of noncore operations," Du Plessis said, adding that neither brand fitted in with the groups core apparel business.

Boardmans, which sells homeware, has 33 outlets. Stationery and book retailer CNA operates 193 stores across the country.

However, CNA and Boardmans may not be attractive buys.

Du Plessis said Edcon would probably get a buyer for Boardmans rather than CNA, which faced a lot of competition from other retailers.

Ron Klipin, a portfolio manager at Cratos Wealth, said: "Depending on price, the noncore division (CNA and Boardmans) should be the first to be given the chop, because these do not fit into the core apparel business."

Klipin added that getting rid of a part or all of the discount stores would be another option.

"Pricing for any of these divisions would be a difficult task seeing that consumers are also under pressure. Especially because offerings from a store such as Boardmans are seen as (a) luxury.

"On the other hand, CNA is facing competition from other retailers and the niche they had in this market is no longer that viable," Klipin said.

There are still opportunities for the groups flagship brand, Edgars, which has more than 200 stores.

Du Plessis said Edgars could still steal some market share from Mr Price and Woolworths, because these competitors had lost focus on basic clothing items.

But for now, Edcon needed investors in at least 75% of the $950m of notes due in March 2018 to support the moratorium to make it binding on all bondholders, Bloomberg reported, quoting two people familiar with the matter who declined to be named.
Sumitomo Rubber South Africa (SRSA) is investing R2 billion to upgrade and expand its Dunlop tyre manufacturing plant at Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal province. It launched the commencement of the second phase of the investment recently.

Riaz Haffejee, CEO at SRSA

The investment is a catalyst for both socio-economic and technological advancement in South Africa. The direct job creation impact and employment spinoffs as a result of the completion of Phase One, are already being realised. "Employment levels are already increasing due to Phase One. The first of nearly 120 new employees needed over the next few years, have already been recruited. Phase Two will attract a further 300 new employees. This will increase the employment of the plant to more than 1,200 employees on completion of the second investment phase," says company CEO Riaz Haffejee.

"As one of the largest employers in Ladysmith [the investment] will deepen our impact on stimulating job creation through increased production and industrial development competitiveness."

New technology for new demand

The initial phase of R1.1 billion, which commenced in 2014, focused on the upgrading and modernisation of the plant's capacity, introducing new technology and equipment aimed at increasing manufacturing output of high quality passenger and Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) tyres. Its parent company, Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) in Japan, allocated the investment for the development of Phase One. This coincided with the introduction of new SUV tyre models that were not yet manufactured at the Ladysmith plant. "This is our response to the market trend and demand for these models in both South Africa and other African markets," Haffejee said.

Phase Two, at an estimated value of R910 million, focuses on the introduction and manufacture of truck and bus tyres for commercial use. This Dunlop branded product line is currently being imported into South Africa from SRI's plants in Japan and China, due to the unavailability of suitable manufacturing capacity locally. This new investment will establish a suitable local manufacturing base and terminate the current import arrangement.

Dunlop manufacturing plant in Ladysmith

Innovative partnership

In what is an exemplary model of private-public sector partnership, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) approved SRSA's application for a support grant of an estimated R300 million under the Automotive Investment Scheme programme toward this initial phase roll-out. In addition, the implementation of the DTI's Tariff-free Trade Agreement (T-FTA), will enhance foreign trade and is set to strengthen export activity into key African areas.

The Emnambithi Ladysmith Municipality, who donated the underutilised tract of land adjacent to the existing plant to SRSA at no cost, is further underscoring this innovative partnership approach. The development will take place on this piece of land. SRSA will explore onsite resource efficiency improvements in renewable energy generation and water management interventions.

"Our investment underscores the confidence of our company's foreign owners in South Africa as an investment destination. It reaffirms what is possible when government and industry work together in pursuit of mutually beneficial economic and industrial objectives. We will continue to support government with innovative solutions and constructive engagement to overcome regulatory challenges and impediments crucial to our industry and the pursuit of employment generating, high growth and competitive industrial and manufacturing initiatives," Haffejee concluded.

The second phase of the investment was launched at the Ladysmith production plant. Key representatives and leaders of national, provincial and local government, customers, suppliers, plant employees, labour unions as well as senior foreign and local members of the company's board attended the announcement. It included the Minister of Trade and Industry - Dr Rob Davies, the MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs - Michael Mabuyakhulu, Japanese ambassador to South Africa - Shigeyuki Hiroki and Sumitomo Rubber Industries executive director - Yutaka Kuroda.
SHANGHAI - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba will acquire a controlling stake in leading Southeast Asian online shopping platform Lazada for $1bn, it said on Tuesday as Jack Ma's company seeks to expand outside its home market.

Alibaba's Taobao platform is estimated to have more than 90% of the consumer-to-consumer market in China, while its Tmall platform is believed to command more than half of business-to-consumer transactions.

But its international commerce business only accounted for six percent of its revenue for the quarter ended in December, its latest earnings report showed.

Alibaba is investing $500m in newly issued Lazada shares and acquiring stock from some existing holders to take a majority stake in the firm for a total of around $1bn, according to the statement, which did not specify Alibaba's total holding.

The deal values Lazada at $1.5bn, a shareholder -- Germany's Rocket Internet -- said in a separate statement.

"With the investment in Lazada, Alibaba gains access to a platform with a large and growing consumer base outside China, a proven management team and a solid foundation for future growth in one of the most promising regions for e-commerce globally," Alibaba president Michael Evans said.

Lazada claims to be Southeast Asia's "number one" online shopping and selling platform with a presence in six countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore -- where it is headquartered.

Lazada's chief executive Max Bittner said the deal will help the company leverage the Chinese firm's knowhow and technology to improve its own services, according to the Alibaba statement.

Analysts said the deal would give Alibaba greater access to other Asian markets.

"Overseas expansion requires a lot of investment in logistics, it would take Alibaba much longer to build the business from the ground up," Li Yujie, a Hong Kong-based analyst at RHB Research Institute, told Bloomberg News.

"What Alibaba could do is integrate the businesses and introduce more existing merchants to Lazada to export their products overseas."
Marimba drums, gumboot dancers and Survivor-style bandannas were all part of the fun at SPARK Media's Cape Town launch of #ROOTS2016 - here's what you missed if you weren't there.

Last week, SPARK Media CEO Gill Randall kicked off the Johannesburg version of the #ROOTS2016 launch. Yesterday John Bowles, SPARK Medias chief operations officer introduced the Cape Town marketing, media and creative industry to the presentation, with the Durban leg taking place on 14 April and all the insights to be revealed on 18 April.

After 28,000 interviews throughout 120 urban communities, South Africa's largest urban community level quantitative survey, sponsored by Caxton, is back. Bowles presentation kicked off with a performance by gumboot dancers and a version of 'The times they are a-changing. Thats a fitting choice for an event that's all about just how things change over time, particularly consumer trends. If you don't keep up, you won't be top of mind for long.

That's the warning from the SPARK Media team. While economic headwinds have intensified and consumer confidence is at an all-time low, necessary purchases are still being made  but what are consumers buying, from where, and why? This all points to the fact that there's never been a more pertinent time to ensure you know your customer to keep your business afloat in the bad times and shining brightly when things are going well. Hence the ROOTS2016 theme of survival.

Know thy customer

Bowles explained that marketing science is no longer an oxymoron, as with #ROOTS2016, science has finally come to marketing. The magic of ROOTS, he said, is that its gathered with the consumer, not just in the big metros. And that consumer is largely online. The somewhat sceptical audience murmured their approval on hearing that the rise of the digital consumer, touted as one of the biggest consumer trends of 2016  has been well and truly factored into the research.

As an example of this, Bowles talked us through a typical evening at home in Chiawelo, Soweto. Its a house with lots going on  a soapie on the TV, social media being checked and updated through internet-connected devices and in-depth news being read in the local newspaper, usually all at the same time. In 2013 internet penetration in Chiawelo was at 2% and in the past three years has skyrocketed to 38%  a great insight but not indicative of what youd find in the rest of Gauteng or even in different areas of Soweto, so Bowles cautions against using regional comparisons and national averages.

At the end of the day we need to cut through the clutter. Build your share one person at a time, one area at a time. Look at it area by area to figure out your competition, says Samu Makhathini, research manager at SPARK Media, but keep in mind that certain trends do apply across the country:

With a strong focus on audience participation the launch event was fun, insightful and filled with facts to help media planners and marketers alike get to the root of what really makes the scree-distracted consumer of 2016 tick in the tough economic climate of 2016. The full data will be available online from 18 April at www.sparkmedia.co.za.

For more information, contact Makhathini on sm@sparkmedia.co.za. Follow the launch on Twitter @sparkmediasa with the #ROOTS2016 hashtag and find them on Facebook.
A Stellenbosch University (SU) researcher is part of a team of international scientists undertaking the largest study to date to explore the genetic causes of prostate cancer (CaP) in black men.

In addition to gaining valuable insight into the origins of CaP in ethnic populations, this project will also develop genetic and epidemiological capacity and resources on the continent that can be used by other African researchers, says Dr Pedro Fernandez, with the division of urology at SUs faculty of medicine and health sciences.

Collaborative project

The study, known as MADCaP (Men of African Descent and Carcinoma of the Prostate), is funded by the American National Cancer Institute (NCI), and is a collaborative project between researchers from America, South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, and Nigeria.

Professor Timothy Rebbeck from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the US will lead the project. Fernandez is the principal investigator and was awarded a US$3m (approximately R45m) grant to lead the collection and genomic analysis of biosamples for the study.

Double the risk

CaP is the most common type of cancer affecting South African men and international statistics suggest that men of African descent have double the risk of developing CaP compared to men from other population groups.

The majority of cases in sub-Saharan Africa are diagnosed with aggressive disease, often at late, incurable stages. In both sub-Saharan Africa and African American men, this pattern may be due to a combination of tumour aggressiveness and late detection, the MADCaP research team statement says.

Looking for common features

Thus there may be common features of CaP aetiology in men of African descent that may explain the observed mortality patterns. Knowledge gained from studies of prostate cancer in sub-Saharan African may improve the understanding of aggressive prostate cancer in men of African descent around the world.

While numerous prostate carcinoma genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been reported, only one has been reported in an African population, and most of the GWAS-identified loci have not been replicated in men of African descent. There is a pressing need to identify African-specific alleles and thereby to elucidate the aetiology of prostate carcinoma with regards to risk and disease aggressiveness, the research team said.

Four-country project

The NCI-funded MADCaP project aims to address this current knowledge disparity by conducting a GWAS with samples collected in South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana and the entire project will run over a five-year period.

The project as a whole will be open to engagement with the SSA scientific community, with a particular emphasis on boosting cancer research capacity in Africa. Owing to the sample volume to be processed in the study, cancer researchers will benefit from having access to an African-centric cancer genotyping array application. This will facilitate the design and execution of small-to-medium size pilot studies which may in turn lead to further large-scale GWAS studies in African populations, the MADCaP team concludes.
Green Monday Community Outreach

From our own health to the health of the environment and the well-being of animals, there are a lot of reasons to eat more plants, but also a lot of misconceptions about what that means.

Families on tight budgets might assume that plant-based meals are expensive or time-consuming to prepare. In reality, plant-based meals can be more affordable, easier to prepare (and more delicious) than conventional animal-based foods.

Wholesome cooking

In order to demonstrate this reality and empower all South African communities, including low LSM communities, to be green and healthy by eating plant-based at least one day per week, plant-based cooking took Philippi by storm.

55 participants from the Philippi Community attended the Green Monday South Africa workshop which aimed to provide them with the skills and knowledge to cook more wholesome, healthy and inexpensive plant-based meals.

The workshop began with a short talk on the nutritional benefits of plant-based eating. Then participating chefs - Mama Kaba from Abalimi, Nikki Botha from PLANT, Toni Brockhoven from Beauty Without Cruelty and Kim Unser from Ladle of Love demonstrated how delicious, easy and inexpensive plant-based dishes are to prepare. Guests enjoyed Butternut Soup in Keep It Bag, Umfino spinach pie, basil spaghetti and sweet Rooibos mieliemeal dishes.

All produce was sourced from Abalimi/Green Road, and equipment needed was sourced from the community itself, ensuring that participants can easily replicate these dishes in their own homes. Guests were also given Green Monday booklets (in English and Xhosa) filled with recipes based on locally available ingredients.
The Africa Rising narrative is holding strong in the continent's hospitality sector, particularly in Nigeria and Angola, despite the contraction in these economies due to the lower oil price.

Global and domestic hotel chains have ramped up their investment in the sector, with more than 64,000 rooms in the development pipeline this year, according to an industry survey compiled by the Lagos-based W Hospitality Group.

This is 30% higher than development activity last year and more than double the development pipeline in 2009.

"Africa is still on the up," Matthew Weihs, the MD of conference organiser Bench Events, said on Monday, 11 April.

"For business, trade, and capital investment, the continent remains an attractive proposition, leading to continuing demand for accommodation and other hospitality services," Weihs said.

Nigeria has the highest number of hotels in the development pipeline this year, followed by Angola.

Together, the two countries account for almost 30% of the total pipeline.

The high level of hotel investment in the two West African countries comes amid dwindling economic expansion due to plunging government revenues as a result of the weak oil price. SA occupies ninth spot in terms of planned hotel development on the continent, with about 2,058 rooms across 11 hotels in the pipeline.

City Lodge Hotels said it was constructing a 169-room hotel in Nairobi, scheduled to be opened in the second quarter of next year.

Andrew Widegger, financial director of the hotelier, whose primary client is the business traveller, said construction of the group's hotels in Dar es Salaam, Maputo, and Windhoek was expected to begin during this quarter.

Sun International, SA's second- largest listed hotel and gaming group by market value, said it was developing a casino property in Menlyn, Tshwane, to house a 245-room, five-star hotel.

Despite the promising numbers for hotel development, W Hospitality Group MD Trevor Ward cautioned on the number of hotel deals that had been signed but not yet opened.

More than 30% of the hotel deals signed between 2009 and 2013 have still not been opened, mainly due to the lack of finance.

Source: Business Day
As part of South African Tourism's roadshow to boost tourism from key source markets, Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom visited India to engage with the travel and tourism trade in the country.

HONGQI ZHANG via 123RF

India's outbound travel market

India has a booming outbound travel market and is an important market for South African Tourism. India has emerged as a key market for tourism in South Africa, with the highest growth potential. We have seen a strong revival in bookings in the last quarter and we expect strong growth in arrivals from India in the future, said Hanekom.

Indias large diaspora and growing middle-class tourists have stimulated foreign travel, especially among younger generations. The UNWTO predicts the Indian outbound travel market will account for 50 million tourists by 2020 and that total outbound spending is expected to cross the US$28 billion mark by 2020. South Africa is among the emerging countries that are fast becoming a destination of choice for Indian tourists.

We have had constructive discussions with the tourism trade on how to meet the growing demand for our destination. The response from the trade about the destination has been positive and they have appreciated our presence in the country, said Hanekom. The Indian trade partners have been forthcoming with their feedback and welcomed the various measures we are planning to introduce to ease travel for Indian visitors to South Africa.

Visa application processes causes delays

As a part of ongoing efforts to ease visa application processes, South Africa has announced four new visa facilitation centres that will be opened by the end of 2017. South Africa also announced a provision for BRICS nationals who apply for visas to visit South Africa for short-term business purposes will now receive a long-term visa allowing them multiple entries for up to 10 years, while frequent travelers can be granted up to three-years multiple-entry business visa. The Minister also said that a proposal to ease measures of grant visa-on-arrival to those who hold a valid visa for the US, UK or other countries that have follow a stringent visa verification process was under consideration.

In India, travel and tourism operators appraised Hanekom of the delays they experienced in processing visas to visit South Africa. The delays are a result of India's unique travel calendar that results is sharp peak periods and a corresponding shortage of personnel to process documents in the visa processing centres. The establishment of new visa centres as well as new multiple-entry visa categories will have the effect of easing the number of applications during peak seasons and will improve overall efficiency and the turnaround of issuing visas

Restoring arrivals

The direct engagement with the trade in India has been extremely useful, said Hanekom. The Minister reassured the travel and trade partners that ensuring easy accessibility was of prime importance to the continued growth of tourist arrivals from India. Accordingly, SA Tourism has been working with various airlines to ensure sufficient arrivals into key cities including Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, through marketing alliances and code-sharing.

We will work with our sister government departments and with the trade to restore the number of arrivals from India. There are strong family ties between people in India and South Africa, and people on both sides will benefit greatly from improving the visa application process. Tourism also contributes to growing the strong cultural and business links between our countries.

Tourism is one of the key contributors of growth to the South African economy. Directly and indirectly the sector contributes to over 9% of the total GDP. The World Travel and Tourism Council have estimated that one new job is created for every 12 tourists arriving into South Africa.
According to The State of Cape Town Central City Report: 2015 - A year in review, which was published by the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID), average hotel room rates in Cape Town's Central City were 23% higher than the median for the metropole in 2015, driven by both business and leisure tourism demand for centralised accommodation. Revenue Per Available Room (RevPar) of hotels in the CBD was also a significant 22.5% higher than the citywide average according to the report.

Mirko Vitali via 123RF

Published for four years now by the CCID, The State of Cape Town Central City Report 2015 details more than R8 billion of new investment to be made into South Africas oldest downtown within the next five years and provides analysis on the major sectors that are influencing growth in the CBD, from the rollout of accessible and affordable broadband in a pilot project being championed by the City of Cape Town, to the CBDs ever-increasing night-time economy and tourism sector desirability.

Hotel developments

According to Rob Kane, CCID chairman, the lions share of the most recent investment announcements  amounting to more than R1.6 billion  has been devoted to the development of three new hotels in the CBD.

Says Kane: Signatura and the Stonehill Property Fund are spending R1 billion on the redevelopment of Triangle House, which is to become the Radisson Blu Hotel & Residences scheduled to open in December this year, and Tsogo Sun a further R680 million on a SunSquare and a StayEasy hotel.

The Radisson Blu Hotel will add more than 200 five-star hotel rooms to the Central City. The location is approximately 500m away from the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), which itself is currently being doubled in size at an investment of R832 million to meet the demand for world-class conference and exhibition space in Cape Town.

The new SunSquare and StayEasy hotels are both being constructed at the intersection of Strand and Bree streets, less than 1km away from the CTICC and just a block away from the Fan Walk that runs through the CBD connecting it to Cape Town Stadium and Green Point Urban Park. Their combined total room count will be 500.

Key factors driving growth

CCID communications manager and author of the 2015 Report, Carola Koblitz, says: Both the business and leisure tourism sector in the CBD is doing extremely well, driven by several key factors. Visitors primarily want to be in a safe, central location that is well serviced by a diverse leisure and retail mix with some of the citys finest restaurants and bars in walking distance. According to the various media reports that have been appearing over the past year, Bree Street is now becoming known as Cape Towns new foodie capital and it is therefore a major visitor drawcard.

The CBD also has the best transport links in Cape Town and is just minutes away from Table Mountain, the V&A Waterfront and the beaches of the Atlantic Seaboard; all extremely attractive features to leisure tourists.

Business tourists, in turn, want to stay close to where theyre working and the CBD is the most concentrated business centre in Cape Town, accounting for more than 25% of the metropoles economy and 30% of its workforce. This market segment includes MICE (meetings, incentives, conference and exhibition) visitors to the city, and to this end the CTICC alone saw more than 550,00 people pass through its doors in 2015.

Accommodation performance

According to Cape Town Tourisms monthly Accommodation Performance Review and Forecast Report, the average 2015 per person room rate in the CBD was R1,714, compared to a city-wide average of R1,360. RevPar in the CBD for the year averaged R1,086, compared to R866 for Cape Town as a whole.

Kane concludes: There are currently 4,600 hotel beds in the downtown area, with a conservatively estimated 700 more rooms to be added by the end of 2017, catering to an extremely wide market segment from budget to luxury accommodation.

Almost exactly a year ago, Business Day quoted Tsogo Sun CEO, Marcel von Aulock, as saying the continued development and rejuvenation of Cape Towns city centre would lead to growing demand for hotel accommodation, and the extremely encouraging investment data released in the latest The State of Cape Town Central City Report shows every indication that he is right.
The Port of Richards Bay, South Africa's bulk port, commemorated its 40th anniversary on 1 April and further events are planned for the remainder of the milestone year in celebration of this. The port was established in 1976 and has expanded to include a variety of exports, earning its reputation as one of the most successful of its kind within South Africa's shores.

Chief Executive of Transnet National Ports Authority, Richard Vallihu, said the landmark year for the port served as an indicator of the economic growth opportunities available. When you consider that this area was once seen as one lacking in potential as a harbour, the rise of the port and the town as a whole becomes that much more remarkable. The success of the Port of Richards Bay over these past 40 years demonstrates the capabilities of the country and our ports in providing a system of growth that is beneficial to the surrounding communities, promoting careers and business opportunities in the maritime industry, Vallihu said.

A leading port

The Port of Richards Bay was created for the purpose of transporting locally-mined coal to international shores. Today it routinely handles a diverse mix of commodities inclusive of magnetite, chrome ore, alumina, coking coal and ferroalloys  all this in addition to the ports main line of export, coal.

Its existence has led to the creation of other industries within Richards Bay, providing thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities for the people of the city and in turn, transforming the small fishing village into an industrial hub while supporting big businesses such as Richards Bay Coal Terminal, BHP Billiton, Richards Bay Minerals and Foskor.

Richards Bay further cemented its role as one of the countrys leading ports during the 2010-2011 period, when it increased its revenue generation, breaking the R1 billion turnover mark for the first time in the ports history. During the 2015/2016 financial year, the port handled 99.229 million tons of bulk and breakbulk cargo.

In addition to this, the ports 23 berths, specialised cargo handling facilities, fast vessel turnaround, deep-water infrastructure, excellent rail links to the hinterland and its large greenfield development potential, has made the Port of Richards Bay one of the worlds leading bulk ports.

Working together

Preston Khomo, Richards Bay port manager, said the achievements of the port showcased the key aspect of working together to build the standing of an entire public. The continued success of the Port of Richards Bay will be dependent upon partnerships with business and the community, and we see this landmark anniversary as a means through which these relationships can be strengthened.

Future planning at the port is in line with the South African governments National Growth Plan and, in particular, the Operation Phakisa initiative where the main objectives are economic development, job creation, and skills development.

As part of the Ports 40th Anniversary celebrations, TNPA has planned a host of events to mark the occasion. The festivities kicked off on 1 April when TNPA honoured the real heroes of the ports achievements  the employees. There will also be community inclusive events, as well as exclusive celebratory occasions for dignitaries and principles of industries.
The new Renault Kadjar SUV Crossover is set to make its mark on one of South Africa's most hotly contested vehicle categories. New Kadjar expands Renault's presence in this segment and follows the successful launch of the Renault Captur in May last year.

The New Renault Kadjar is the result of an international creative collaboration. To ensure that a global approach was taken with the newcomer's overall design, Renault's design chief, Laurens van den Acker and his team sought input from its network of design centres worldwide. Renault Kadjar is the result of the integration of three vehicle categories: capable SUV, dynamic hatch and versatile sportswagon.

The new Renault Kadjar line-up comprises three models all powered by forced induction turbo engines. At the top end of the range is the turbo diesel-powered Dynamique 96kW 1.6 dCi (320Nm) 4x4 followed by the turbo petrol-powered Dynamique 96kW (205Nm) and entry-level Expression variants.

According to Renault, these new generation low-inertia turbo engines boast efficient and advanced technologies derived from Renault's Formula 1 expertise affording the new Renault Kadjar significantly lower fuel consumption and CO emissions.

The brand's hallmark diamond-shaped centrepiece dominates the new crossover's front grille. Kadjar's new lighting signature, C-shaped LEDs on its daytime running lights, are also a safety feature. The full LED headlights on the Dynamique variants are said to be 20% more powerful than conventional halogen lamps.

Going inside the vehicle, the seats are body-contoured and detailed with topstitching. There's a soft touch dashboard - with chrome-bordered gauges - and leather seats (electric and heated) are available as an option on the Dynamique trim.

A high-tech touchscreen infotainment system, automatic climate control (Dynamique) and intuitive digital instrument cluster make motoring even more enjoyable and effortless. The Kadjar also boasts Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, including Self-Parking with Blind Spot Detection and 360 Park Distance Control with rear camera are available as an option (Dynamique).

In November 2015 it was named Best Crossover at Next Green Car Awards (UK) while in January 2016 it scooped top honours in the 'Small SUV Class' in Contracthireandleasing.com's 2015 Car of the Year Awards (UK). The new Renault Kadjar comes to the South African market only a year after its international reveal at the Geneva Motor Show in 2015.

As is the case across Renault's entire product range, the all-new Kadjar line-up comes standard with a five-year/150,000km mechanical warranty and a six-year anti-corrosion warranty. In addition the entire Kadjar range comes standard with a five-year/90,000km service plan. Services take place at 15,000km intervals.
A young woman who spoke Arabic on a tram in Prague was physically assaulted for this

13. 4. 2016

cas cteni < 1 minuta





A student of Lebanese origin was hit in the face by a woman on a Prague tram for saying a few words in Arabic to her sister who was travelling with her. "A woman started verbally abusing me and then hit my face with her fist for having spoken in Arabic," said the student.

The student reported the incident to the Czech police but they were disinterested. "They asked me whether I really did want to report this," she said.

"I was born in the Czech Republic, I hold Czech citizenship, I have graduated from a Czech university and I am a voter in the Czech Republic. I have now been subjected to a physical assault on public transport only for speaking a foreign language," she said on Facebook. The incident has now been reported by the Lidove noviny newspaper.

Source in Czech HERE

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Everything On Kate Middleton's Wardrobe For India's Tour, From Hairstyles To Designers Fashion Kaustubha

If you are even remotely close to Indian media, you'll know what a big deal Kate Middleton and Prince William visit to India is. Since their arrival, the headlines are all about the royal couple.

It was not only Indian media, to be fair, world media couldn't wait to cover everything and anything about their visit to India. In fact, Kate Middleton in India started trending on Google search.

However, it was the duchess who was covered more than the Prince for the reasons that are absolutely related to her style statement. Fashion media just bombarded all of us with Kate's dresses.

Well, of course, it's Kate Middleton. Her style quotient is out of this world. She is sophisticated and chic. Good God! She even makes a maxi looks regal. How awesome is that!

I know how much you guys love to read about her dresses. So today, it's all about Kate's wardrobe in India. From designers to hairstylists. So let's have a look at Duchess of Cambridge fashion, shall we?

Day1, Dress 1, Desginer: Alexander McQueen Kate wore a beautiful red paisley print dress accentuated with a peplum top as her first outfit during the tour. She wore this when she visited the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, the scene of the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008. Day1, Dress 1, Shoes: L.K Bennett Kate matched her red paisley look with nude pumps byL.K Bennett. Shoes are worth175. Day1, Dress 1, Clutch: Russell & Bromley To finish the look, Kate added a beige clutch worth165. Day1, Dress 2, Designer: Jenny Packham For a royal dinner with Bollywood biggies, Kate picked this cobalt blue Jenny Packham gown with beadwork made in India. Her floor-length gown with a boat neck was further enhanced by a removable cape. Day1, Dress 2, Teardrop Earrings: Amrapali Kate wore statement teardrop earrings by Amrapali, which were complimenting the colour of her chosen gown for the evening. Kate wore her hair in a braided bun for this event. Day1, Dress 3, Designer: Anita Dongre Kate wore this Jaipuri print maxi dress for a cricket match in Mumbai. This summery dress was paired byMonsoon's 45 Fleur Espadrille wedges. She wore her hair open for this event. Day 2, Dress 1, Designer: Emilia Wickstead Kate wore this elegant white wool crepe dress in New Delhi at India Gate. Th dress had cute detailing, adding the grace with a little peter pan collar. Day 2, Dress 1, Shoes: Rupert Sanderson Kate added blush pink heels to her pretty dress. And let her hair down. Day 2, Dress 1, Clutch: Mulberry Bayswater Duchess added a classicMulberry Bayswater clutch to finish her look. Day 2, Dress 2, Designer: Temperley London Another Indian motif-inspired gown. Kate wore this for Queen's 90th birthday party. Kate half-tied her hair and added statement earrings. To finish the look she added black open toe heels. Day 2, Dress 2, Clutch: Prada Kate added this super elegant black clutch by Prada with her black and cream dress. Day 3, Dress 1, Designer: Glamorous Kate opted for this floating red maxi dress by Glamourous for visiting slum kids in New Delhi. She added beige crossover XPresso shoes to finish the look. Kate half tied her hair and accents with braid to her hairstyle. Day 3, Dress 2, Designer: Temperley London Duchess wore this high neck sea green lace dress by Temperley London dress for the lunch with Prime Minister. Day 3, Dress 2, Earrings: Kiki McDonough Drop Earrings Kate wore these elegant drop earrings. We loved her hairstyle though. Braided and chignon. Day 3, Dress 3, Designer: Anna Sui Kate wore a printed Anna Sui green dress while celebrating a Bihu festival. Day 3, Dress 3, Shoes: Black Wedges Dutchess wore the perfect set of black wedges to match with her printed green maxi dress.
WASHINGTON  The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is pressing the Securities and Exchange Commission to update and modernize its municipal securities disclosure rule as well as develop a parallel rule that gives municipal advisors continuing disclosure responsibilities.

SIFMA made its request on Tuesday in a white paper on SEC Rule 15c2-12 on disclosure. That rule was adopted for primary market disclosure in 1989 and then amended in 1994 to cover secondary market disclosure. The rule was amended again in May 2010, mostly regarding event notices.

The SIFMA white paper notes that 15c2-12 dates back 26 years and that enormous changes have occurred since then in technology, electronic communications, regulations and market practices.

Rule 15c2-12 goes through dealers, which the SEC regulates, to get to issuer's disclosure practices because the SEC can't regulate issuers.

Under the 1994 amendments on continuing disclosure, for example, dealers cannot underwrite bonds unless they have reasonably determined that the issuer has contractually agreed to disclose annual financial and operating data as well as event notices when certain events happen.

Underwriters also must review the issuer's official statement for municipal securities and have a reasonable basis for believing that the representations in it are true and accurate.

Leslie Norwood, associate general counsel and co-head of munis for SIFMA who authored the letter, said that while the white paper calls for muni advisors to take on some continuing disclosure responsibilities, it is not trying to shift dealer's duties onto them.

"We're not here to eliminate underwriter's responsibilities. We're here to add responsibilities [to MAs] where it is appropriate," she said.

The group's recommendations for updating and modernizing the rule are meant to make it less confusing and more helpful, she added.

"There's no reason to play hide the ball with any of this stuff," Norwood said, referring to some confusing aspects of 15c2-12.

The new MA rule would relate to a footnote in the SEC's 1988 proposed Rule 15c2-12 that dealt with the role of financial advisors in an issuer's preparation of a financial statement. The footnote said that issuers will generally employ an FA to help on a competitive offering and the FA will ordinarily perform many of the functions normally undertaken by the underwriters in corporate and muni negotiated offerings.

"Thus  [FAs] will have a comparable obligation under the antifraud provisions [of federal securities laws] to inquire into the completeness and accuracy of disclosure presented during the bidding process," the footnote read.

SIFMA said 15c2-12 should be revisited with regard to municipal advisors now that they are federally regulated and subject to Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board regulations, as mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act.

Norwood used competitive deals to explain why an MA rule would be beneficial. In competitive deals, underwriters have much less time to conduct due diligence and review the offering statements, Norwood said. They bid on the bonds, but don't become involved with them unless they win the bid.

"It begs the question of who else has the responsibility," she said. "It seems like a natural fit if newly regulated parties, municipal advisors, who are there all along helping the issuer put together their offering document, have the responsibility."

The white paper recommends that when municipal advisors help prepare official statements, they share with underwriters the due diligence responsibilities for reviewing those documents to ensure the information is true and accurate.

"Just having similar duties for the municipal advisors would be helpful to the industry overall," Norwood said.

But Susan Gaffney, executive director of the National Association of Municipal Advisors, said SIFMA's paper "appears to be much ado about nothing" and that NAMA "strongly opposes suggestions to shift onto MAs, broker-dealer responsibilities for documents provided to their investor customers."

"NAMA members are well aware of their long standing responsibilities under the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws," Gaffney said. "The suggestions for changes to 15c2-12 appear to unnecessarily complicate the rule in a way that does not appear workable."

SIFMA would also like to see the SEC upgrade and modernize provisions of 15c2-12. It wants the commission to eliminate the requirement that issuers file event notices for rating changes since those changes are all posted on the MSRB's EMMA system, Norwood said.

The requirement "is a lot of redundant work for not a lot of additional benefit," she explained.

SIFMA is also asking the SEC to clarify several portions of 15c2-12 rule and to incorporate into it past guidance and recent guidance, such as from the commission's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) initiative MCDC offered favorable settlement terms to municipal bond underwriters and issuers that self-reported continuing disclosure violations.

The SEC said in interpretive guidance on underwriter responsibilities in 15c2-12's primary disclosure requirements in 1989 that "the primary responsibility for disclosure rests with the issuer." SIFMA wants that repeated in the continuing disclosure amendments to 15c2-12.

The group also is asking that the SEC affirm the position it took in its initial proposing release for 15c2-12 that given the structure of a competitive deal, "the task of assuring the accuracy and completeness of the disclosure [in competitive deals] is in the hands of the issuer."

Past guidance on disclosure has also generally focused on underwriter responsibilities without giving much detail on issuer and obligated persons, Norwood said.

Additionally, SIFMA wants the SEC to codify in 15c2-12 the staff guidance from 1991 to help underwriters distinguish between primary and secondary offerings, as well as the 1995 guidance it provided to questions from the National Association of Bond Lawyers. Muni market participants should not have to go back and forth between 15c2-12 to these documents, Norwood said. Instead the guidance should all be in one place, she said.

SIFMA is seeking some changes to the timing and availability of disclosure information under 15c2-12.

The group of dealers wants to eliminate current complex language in 15c2-12 that dictates when participating underwriters are expected to send customers copies of final OS'. Instead the rule should require underwriters to provide final official statements to customers from when they are posted on EMMA until the offerings close.

The white paper also asks the SEC to change 15c2-12 to require that the "primary offering disclosure period" lasts for 25 days after the closing date to align the rule with the MSRB's Rule G-32.

SIFMA recommends 15c2-12 require issuers to set an actual date as the due date for their disclosures of annual financial and operating information. Currently issuers typically say the information will be disclosed within so many days after the close of the fiscal years, leaving underwriters to "burn brain cells" and count days, Norwood said. It would be so much easier if the issuer said the information will be posted on June 1 of any other specific date, she said.

Another recommendation is for the provision of 15c2-12 that exempts from disclosure requirements primary offerings with institutional investors to be expanded to explicitly include primary offerings with sophisticated municipal market professionals, qualified institutional buyers, and accredited investors.

An SMMP designation usually applies to banks, savings and loan associations, registered investment advisors, and any person or entity with total assets of at least $50 million. QIBS are defined by the SEC and must own and invest, on a discretionary basis, at least $100 million in securities or, if they are broker-dealers, must meet a threshold of $10 million. Accredited investors can be any individual who consistently earns $200,000 per year, has a net worth exceeding $1 million, or has a leadership role with the issuer of the security being offered.


F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

WASHINGTON (BNS): The US Defence Department has awarded a contract worth US$ 1.4 billion to engine maker Pratt & Whitney to supply engines for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.



The ninth low rate initial production (LRIP) contract covers 66 total production engines, including spare engines, spare modules, and spare parts.



The production contract includes 53 conventional take off and landing (CTOL) and 13 short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) propulsion systems for the United States Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps as well as five countries - Italy, Norway, Israel, Japan and the United Kingdom, the company said in a statement on April 12.



"The latest agreement with the F-35 Joint Programme Office continues a reduction in costs associated with engine production, and demonstrates our commitment in providing affordable and dependable propulsion for the global F-35 programme," said Mark Buongiorno, vice president, Pratt & Whitney F135 Engine Programme.



To date, Pratt & Whitney has delivered 273 production engines for the JSF programme.


Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 12/04/2016 (2385 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nine kindergarten students who applied for the Brandon School Divisions popular single-track French immersion program didnt get in this year.

In January, the BSD board voted to change how parents apply for the program, which is only available at two classes atEcole Harrison School, to a lottery-style system. In previous years, the division used afirst-come, first-served model that saw parents line up for hours to ensure their child got one of the 40 available spots.

In total, 55 applications were received for this years program. Of those, 24 applicants have siblings already attending Harrison and were guaranteed a spot in the program by the board.

Who of the remaining applicants made it into the 16 remaining spots was decided by chance, according to a report prepared by BSD assistant superintendent Mathew Gustafson and presented to trustees at Mondays board meeting.

Three applicants from the ensuing wait list have since been registered due to withdrawals.

Another three of those on the wait list reside outside BSD boundaries, and will only get a chance to enrol if the rest of the wait list is exhausted.

Gustafson said that for each of the last three years, three to six single-track applicants residing within boundaries havent been accommodated.

During the meeting, trustee Kevan Sumner pointed out that of the 73 BSD students who registered, only 12 didnt get their school of first choice and three have since been accommodated.

BSD board chair Mark Sefton said he sympathizes with the unsuccessful applicants.

If youre  (on the wait list) then you might be a little ticked off by (the sibling rule), but at the same time I think that parents would understand its a matter of practicality. It doesnt make a lot of sense to have two of your three children at Harrison and then a third at Riverheights, he said.

Its also not realistic for the board to add more single-track kindergarten classes, Sefton said.

If we do it for one year, we cant accept all those in one year and not the next, so now you have to have the two classrooms the next year and then three the year after that and then four the year after that. Thats the problem: space.

Harrison is full, he said, and the playground it shares with George Fitton School isnt able to support more portable classrooms.

Furthermore, there are bigger priorities within the division.

Our greatest enrolment pressures are in schools like Riverheights (which is) bursting at the seams. Its got more students than is listed as capacity  Those are the issues that the board feels we need to address, or are a higher priority for the whole division, he said.

Sefton reiterated that theres still space at inEcole New Era School andEcole OKelly School in Shilo, which offer dual-track French immersion. Single-track immersion involves only French immersion classes, while dual-track immersion has both French and English classes.

The board chair said hes aware of one appeal, from an applicant on the wait list, that has been filed following the draw.

Theres any number of grounds on which they might file, he said, but declined to go into specifics.

Hes personally heard of no complaints, he added.

As promised, the board will still review the change in procedure.

These kinds of things will be reviewed automatically just because we want to make sure were using the best process we can, Sefton said.He said the review may also fall on the shoulders of BSDs education committee, but there likely wont be another public consultation.

 tbateman@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @tombatemann
By David Raleigh

Irish Euromillions winner Dolores McNamara is in the running to buy a massive retail park in her native Limerick.

The bonanza queen's company, Blue Haven, which has bid more than the 44m guide price for the Childers Road Retail Park, is being advised on the potential deal by finance guru, Eddie Hobbs.

Insurance firm, Irish Life, has also bid for the 257,000 sq ft park, located close to the Parkway Shopping Centre.

McNamara who scooped 115m in the Euro lotto draw in 2005, purchased a 16-bedroom Victorian mansion on the shores of Lough Derg, for 3.5m, in 2012.

At the time, the mother of six beat off stiff competition from bidders across Europe, with a local firm of solicitors buying the estate in trust.

Her original home, a modest bungalow on St Patrick's Road, Garryowen, is currently available to rent for 1,000 a month.

Childers Road Retail Park comprises 12 retail warehouse units together with two restaurant units in a traditional open mall with front car parking.

The park is anchored by Dunnes Stores, and is considered one of the most productive in the country.

According to CBRE's Paul McCoy, exceptional footfall levels are the primary reason for the park's top rating.

"We set out to identify Ireland's best retail parks and a key determinant of this was the current footfall levels being generated by the parks versus current market rent," Mr McCoy said in a statement posted on the park's website.

A final round of bidding for the park is expected to take place in the coming days.

While McNamara has no other known commercial property investments, Irish Life is hoping to add the Childers Road retail park to its Irish portfolio valued at more than 2.5bn.

Joint agents HWBC and DTZ Sherry FitzGerald are handling the sale of the Limerick Park for Harcourt Life, which previously acquired the entire share capital of IBRC Assurance Company.

Childers Road Retail Park was developed more than 10 years ago by Alan and Brian McCormack of Alanis Capital with funding from Anglo Irish Bank.

It has a healthy rent roll of 3.22m from 14 traders which also include, Boots; Dorothy Perkins; Heatons; Next; Lifestyle; Argos; Harry Corry; Smyths Toys; Costa Coffee; KFC; and Pizza Hut.
Irish drinks giant C&C has been urged to find a buyer for one of Britain's oldest cider plants.

The Shepton Mallet mill in Somerset is to close in the summer with 120 jobs on the line and the threat that it will bring a 246-year-old tradition to an end.

Trade union chiefs in Unite said Dublin-based owner C&C should repay the loyalty of staff after it shifted cider-making to one of its plants in Ireland.

Regional co-ordinating officer Steve Preddy said Shepton's famous brands such as Gaymers, Blackthorn and Olde English, coupled with highly-skilled workers, should make it an attractive proposition for a buyer.

"Since buying the plant in 2009, C&C has profited from the association with Shepton, which has been synonymous with cider-making for centuries," he said.

"It is unacceptable that the company should now decide to divest itself of the plant and its loyal workforce without a backward glance."

C&C announced the Shepton closure in January although it vowed to keep pulping fruit in the town and to source apples for its Irish cider-making from Somerset farmers.

It subsequently sold a bottling line at the site to Brothers Drinks, also a maker of cider, saving a number of jobs.

Mr Preddy claimed Ireland has its own experience of global companies pulling out in moves which devastate communities.

"Unite members are therefore particularly disappointed that an Irish multinational, such as C&C, should be effectively discarding not only the Shepton facility and its workforce, but also the long tradition of cider-making which made Shepton such an attractive location in the first place," he said.

"We are calling on C&C to repay the loyalty and hard work of the Shepton workforce by finding a buyer to take on the main Shepton site as a going concern, thus preserving a tradition of cider-making in the town stretching back to 1770.

"We believe that iconic brands, combined with a highly-skilled and motivated workforce, would make Shepton a very attractive proposition for a buyer."

When announcing the Shepton closure at the start of the year C&C said it was ending production in Somerset and in one of its plants in Borrisoleigh, Co Tipperary.

The move was to expand operations in Clonmel, where 80 staff were being hired as the town became the main location for Bulmers and Magners, Tipperary Water and niche premium beers and ciders.

C&C warned that trading in the UK and Ireland had been intensely competitive in recent years.
The family of murdered IRA spy Denis Donaldson have launched legal proceedings against the Irish State over ongoing delays in holding an inquest.

The development emerged after another adjournment in the long-stalled coroner's probe into the shooting of the MI5 agent by dissident republicans 10 years ago.

Relatives of Mr Donaldson walked out of Donegal Coroners' Court on Wednesday in protest at the latest hold-up.

The 55-year-old senior Sinn Fein official and close colleague of party president Gerry Adams was shot dead at an isolated cottage near Glenties in Co Donegal in April 2006.

He had been living there since his exposure as an MI5 agent the previous year.

With the inquest approaching its 20th adjournment, Mr Donaldson's relatives have issued proceedings with the High Court in Dublin against Donegal coroner Denis McCauley; the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Garda Commissioner, the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice.

Family solicitor Ciaran Shiels said they wished to challenge the ongoing delays and the "antiquated" legislation under which the multiple adjournments had been granted.

After the hearing in Letterkenny, Mr Shiels said: "There comes a point after so many adjournments, after the tenth anniversary, that the delay in commencing the inquest proper becomes intolerable.

"With that in mind the family instructed me to commence judicial review proceedings against the Garda Commissioner, the coroner, the Attorney General, the DPP and also the Minister of Justice."

He added: "Today the family have walked out of the inquest and I have been instructed not to attend further until there is definitive ruling from the courts in the south."

Last year, the family launched separate legal proceeding with the courts in Europe over the delays in the investigation.

Dissident republican group the Real IRA claimed responsibility for the murder in 2008 but the circumstances surrounding Mr Donaldson's outing as a British agent and subsequent assassination have been shrouded in mystery.

The Garda believes the killers can still be caught and do not want an inquest to proceed while its criminal investigation remains live.

In 2014, gardai made a mutual assistance request to a police force outside the Irish Republic in a bid to gain potentially "significant" material.

Today, Garda Superintendent Michael Finan told Mr McCauley his officers had obtained that material last month.

He asked for an adjournment of four months to enable detectives to pursue enquiries linked to the fresh evidence.

"I regret the number of adjournments but the investigation into the death of Mr Donaldson must be allowed to gain all available evidence and present it to the DPP," he said.

Mr Shiels said the family did not accept the "bona fides" of the application.

Relatives of Mr Donaldson have long been critical of the Gardai's handling of the investigation.

Specifically they have accused gardai of refusing to hand over a journal Mr Donaldson was writing in the months before his death to Police Ombudsman investigators in Northern Ireland, and of failing to interview the police handler who worked with the Sinn Fein official.

Counsel for the state Stephen Byrne insisted there was no suggestion the application for adjournment was anything other than genuine.

"There is no evidence or no concrete evidence to support such an insinuation," he told the court, which was sitting in the Mount Errigal Hotel.

Granting the adjournment to August 31, Mr McCauley said he was satisfied there continued to be "momentum" in the criminal investigation.

"The momentum that has been developing would appear to be continuing to be moving forward," he said.
A farmer in Co Cork has said the auction of his herd of cattle yesterday was like seeing "your life burnt in front of you" and fears his son will move to New Zealand instead of staying at the farm.

Peter Kingston, 51, from Nohoval, Co Cork, broke down as he tried to explain the emotional effects of seeing his 1,000 cattle sold off,

Read More:

Mr Kingston cried as he listened to an auctioneer calling for bids on the herd being sold off after ACC Loan Management secured a 2.45m judgment against him.

As up to 100 protesters from the New Land League stood outside, Mr Kingston said it was particularly hard for his 77-year-old father, George.

Two weeks ago he had to get stents in the heart. Hes aged by about 10 years. The weakest are those affected the most, said Mr Kingston, whose family won the RTE series Irelands Fittest Family in 2014.

He said his father started the dairy farm in 1972 after he had made some money from beekeeping. He always had a passion for cows. He worked all his life here and still lives on the farm.

Peter Kingston started working with his father in 1983, when they had 120 cows. He said he had hoped his eldest son, Richard, 21, would keep up the tradition. But now he said it is likely Richard will hop on a plane to New Zealand to try his hand at dairy farming.

Nobody has died, but to see your life burnt in front of you is very hard. The Phoenix rose from the ashes and Ill do that too, said Mr Kingston.

He said he is concerned he might also lose the family home. A number of private security guards and gardai were present around the farm yesterday as bidders arrived at the auction organised by Sinead McNamara, sheriff of Co Cork.

One New Land League member, who had come from Wicklow, berated a foreign bidder: Did you come here to buy some cheap cows? How would you like it if I came to your country and did that to you?

League spokesman Jerry Beades said around 100 members had come to show solidarity with the Kinston family. He said he fears they are an example of where Irish farming is going, because the government facilitated the selling of debt.

TD Michael Collins said he was there to support the family.

Im a farmer too and I think this (auction) is very heavy-handed. There has to be another way and myself and Mattie McGrath will be raising it in the Dail. A more caring society is needed.

Cllr Alan Coleman, a dairy farmer in neighbouring Belgooly, said it was a sad day for the Kingston family and that more farm families may get into similar trouble.

Legislation also has to be changed to allow some money from such sales to be given to unsecured creditors, he said.

Con McCarthy, chairman of West Cork Community Alliance, said banks should work out long-term deals with such families.

This type of sale is appalling, he said.
Fianna Fail have this evening thrown down the gauntlet to Independents giving them one last opportunity to vote for Micheal Martin as Taoiseach, writes Irish Examiner Political Editor Daniel McConnell .

Senior Fianna Fail sources have told the Irish Examiner that tomorrow's vote will be the last opportunity for them to vote for Mr Martin as Taoiseach and to support a Fianna Fail-led minority government.

The sources have said that should the Independents not do so, the party will concede and begin talks to facilitate a Fine Gael minority Government, headed by Enda Kenny.

Fianna Fail had felt that many of the Independents were more likely to vote for Mr Martin than Mr Kenny.

They said Fine Gael had said they had six independents willing to support them and they called on those people to declare their intentions.

They had told Fine Gael had they done so, they would have bowed out.

But, no declarations emerged and hence the party felt the need to stop going around in circles and force their hands.

The high risk move by Mr Martin follows a series of intensive engagements by Fianna Fail with Independent TDs.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, one source said it was time for Independents to call Fine Gael's bluff. The source also said it was unreasonable that Fine Gael would not support a Fianna Fail-led minority government.

Talks between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael on government formation have ended for the

Read More:

A Fine Gael source said the party's negotiators were "frustrated and disappointed" at what they said was the unwillingness of Fianna Fail to engage on policy matters.
Lawyers for Ibrahim Halawa have accused Egyptian authorities of providing misleading information to the Irish Government about his imprisonment.

The Dublin man has been in jail in Cairo since taking part in an anti-Morsi protest in August 2013.
Update 11.51am: David Begg, director of the economic development agency TASC, and a former general secretary of ICTU said that the government should have some regard towards stabilising the industrial relations climate.

Nothing will undermine a Government more than to have chaos at the industrial relations front throughout the country, he said.

Update - 11am: The firm which runs the Luas has warned it can legally terminate staff contracts with just one day's notice.

All workers were placed on protective notice by Transdev yesterday in a protracted dispute over pay.

The firm says it is costing 100,000 every day the tram is not running and there have been eight strike days so far.

It is also warning that pay could be docked to recoup losses.

Gerry Madden, the Managing Director of Transdev, says the row is putting its contract to run the Luas service in jeopardy, but letting workers go with only a day's notice is still a last resort.

Mr Madden said: "We can do (terminate staff contracts with just one day's notice), but we have no plan to. It's a measure that we may have to at some point go there, but we are trying to say to people that there are many other options apart from this.

"If for instance, Transdev were to be taken off the pitch or if after 2019 didn't win again, therefore the employees would have to start again. There is no contractual rights between the members and TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland)."

Update - 9.30am: A former general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is calling for the re-establishment of the Employer Labour Conference.

It comes after the Luas operator Transdev placed all staff on protective notice, placing their future employment on a day to day basis and putting an April 17 deadline on accepting a lower pay offer.

David Begg - is the director of economic development agency TASC and a former general secretary of ICTU - says the new Government needs to carefully consider ways to avoid major industrial unrest.

Mr Begg said: "It needs now a broader government perspective.

"I think Micheal Martin's people and the Taoiseach's people - when they are negotiating - they need to take a few minutes to contemplate how would we stabilise the economy from an industrial relations point of view and whether there wouldn't be a good case for re-introducing something which is tried and tested."

Earlier:

SIPTU has said it is considering balloting Luas workers on an all out strike.

Last night Transdev put workers on protective notice - saying the union's expected pay rises are beyond its available resources.

The company wrote to staff yesterday and warned that anyone engaged in industrial action will face pay deductions.

Transdev has said it is now hiring workers on a day by day basis - while SIPTU has said the action makes the possibility of reaching a negotiated settlement more remote.
A depressed woman who became pregnant as the result of a brief romance through a dating website went on to suffocate her baby daughter and dump the body in a bin, a court heard.

Receptionist Federica Boscolo-Gnolo, from Chioggia in Italy, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter by diminished responsibility of two-month-old Farah between January 23 and 30 last year.

At a hearing at the Old Bailey, she was sentenced to a hospital order with an unlimited restriction order under the Mental Health Act in the light of psychiatric reports.

Outlining the facts of the case, prosecutor Mark Heywood QC said Boscolo-Gnolo, 32, first came to the UK in 2012 to do a language course and took a job as a receptionist.

She met a man on Match.com in 2013 although the relationship was "not close"and was short lived, he said.

By the time she found she was pregnant, the relationship had "drifted" and was nearly at an end so she returned to her family in Italy in September 2014, Mr Heywood said.

When the baby was born in November 2014, she was found to have an eye defect although surgery would have helped her development.

Boscolo-Gnolo's mother described the defendant as being "attentive and caring" towards the newborn child, the court heard.

But in January last year, she took a flight to London without telling her family and checked into the Lily Hotel near Earls Court in west London with Farah.

While there, she texted the baby's father and contacted a former colleague who visited and promised to stay in touch.

Boscolo-Gnolo then suffocated baby Farah by putting a pillow over her head because she felt "hopeless" and saw no reason why her daughter should suffer.

Afterwards, she bought a new suitcase, disposable gloves and bin liners before leaving the child's body in a bin in the Russell Square area of central London.

Despite extensive searches the body has never been recovered, the court heard.

Boscolo-Gnolo moved to another hotel alone and contacted her parents in Italy telling them she had taken the baby to see a doctor about her eye condition and she had been taken away by social services.

They were concerned for their daughter and granddaughter's welfare and flew to London on Thursday January 29.

They took Boscolo-Gnolo to a police station to report Farah missing but detectives later arrested the mother over the baby's disappearance.

Sentencing, Recorder of London Nicholas Hilliard QC said psychiatric reports had provided an explanation of how the "precious life" had been lost.

He accepted that she had been suffering from at least "moderate" depression with psychotic symptoms and probable underlying personality disorder.

She had been hearing voices telling her how her daughter would "suffer in her life" and had also lost touch with reality, he said.

The judge told her: "You were quite simply overwhelmed by the prospect of how you thought your daughter would suffer in her life."

He added: "I have no doubt you have expressed remorse for what you did and will continue to do so as your insight increases."
A woman lost in an Arizona forest for nine days survived by drinking pond water, eating plants and spelling out "help" on the ground with sticks, authorities said.

The sign helped lead rescuers to Ann Rodgers, 72, in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona earlier this month, the state Department of Public Safety said.

Ms Rodgers told a Tucson TV station that she had food and water in her car, but ran out after several days and turned to survival mode.

"I was eating desert plants. My dog was too, diving into clovers and finding all the places that were the easiest to go," she told KOLD.

Ms Rodgers went missing March 31 as she headed to visit her grandchildren in Phoenix.

She got lost, and her hybrid vehicle ran out of gas and electric power, authorities said.

Her car was discovered three days after a search began, but rescue crews struggled to find her.

Authorities came across her dog April 9, and a department flight crew spotted a "help" signal made of sticks and rocks on the ground.

Ms Rodgers had left the area, but she was found nearby on the Fort Apache Reservation after starting a signal fire.

The Department of Public Safety said Ms Rodgers was suffering from exposure, but she was in fair condition and able to walk to and board a helicopter with little assistance. She was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Payson for treatment and later released.
KARACHI: Gold prices on Friday lost some value on the local market, traders said. They dropped by Rs500 to Rs147400...
TOKYO: Japan intervened in the foreign exchange market on Friday to buy yen for the second time in a month after the...
LONDON: Liz Truss came to 10 Downing Street vowing to be a disruptor. She U-turned on almost everything else, but...
The Australian National University (ANU) has lodged a formal complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleging anti-competitive behaviour by state-based university admissions centres.

ANU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Marnie Hughes Warrington said the university has raised anti-competition concerns with the ACCC after being denied membership of three state-based university admissions centres in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.

ANU deputy vice chancellor Marnie Hughes-Warrington has complained to the ACCC about anti-competitive entrance centres. Credit:Jeffrey Chan

This means students in these states would need to pay an additional fee of just over $30 each to apply to the ANU.

The ANU has argued to the ACCC that as Australia's national university, around half of the annual student preferences to study at ANU come from people who live outside of the national capital.
Glass, metal and clay

Three diverse artists are showing their works at Nancy Sever Gallery this month. Contemporary designer Gilbert Riedelbauch combines digital technologies with traditional metalworking techniques. Avi Amesbury explores the multi-layered and intricate relationships between place, experience and memory. She uses materials collected from the land, such as clay and volcanic ash, to explore her place within the Australian landscape. And Mel George looks to "give form and permanence to the intangibility of time  the impression of both its impending and passing presence. Glass allows her to present abstract narratives and archetypally ephemeral daily acts as visually soft immersive fields that give rigid preservation and permanence." Riedelbauch | Amesbury | George is showing at Nancy Sever Gallery, 4/6 Kennedy Street, Kingston, until May 1.

Sally Walk, Semblance.

Witness Trees

They stand sentinel over life events, and never say a word, and now, they're the subject of an exhibition at the Gallery of Australian Design: "'Witness trees are long-standing trees located in places where they may have "witnessed" key events in history," says the gallery. "The organised, massive tree plantings of Canberra provide records of the lifespans of the trees of the urban forest. As these trees come to the end of their useful life as city street trees, they are removed and usually mulched. The ACT Witness Tree Project has distributed the timber of a handful of these trees to selected artists, craftspeople, and furniture makers. These makers have investigated the local history and heritage of the felled trees, reflected on what the trees may have 'seen' or 'heard' in their lifespans, and made objects that reflect the trees' experiences." The ACT Witness Tree Project is showing at GAD, 47 Jardine Street, Kingston, until April 30.
Searching "technology and kids" in Google will bombard you with the harm that excessive screen time can cause.

But there seems to be much less attention given to the opportunities that arise from digital learning.

The Google Apps for Education Summit at Gungahlin College. Participants from left, Sue Norton, principal at Fraser Primary School, Scott Pearce, executive teacher and ICT co-ordinator at Fraser, and Renee Waters, a year 6 teacher at Macgregor Primary School. Credit:Graham Tidy

On Monday and Tuesday, more than 250 educators from ACT schools gathered for the Google Apps for Education Summit 2016, to share how Google tools can enhance learning in and out of the classroom.

The event, which featured a range of international speakers, is the second of its kind in Canberra and the sixth in Australia.
Convicted criminal Matthew Massey has been charged with selling illicit drugs to an undercover detective in Canberra during a joint ACT/NSW Police operation in January 2013.

Massey, who has spent the last six months in solitary confinement for unrelated crimes and has a reputation as a hard man in the underworld, denied the charges and said he "smelt a rat".

Convicted criminal Matthew Massey in 2001.

The 40-year-old Ngunnawal man was one of 60 people arrested and charged as a result of Strike Force Delicate; a joint investigation into the supply of prohibited drugs that started in August 2012.

Massey has also been charged with three counts of supplying methamphetamine in NSW during December 2012.
The Captain Cook Memorial Jet has hit further setbacks, with the National Capital Authority now faced with the news that asbestos encases the high-voltage cables and the substation connection is out of date.

The new problems will add still more costs to the $2.7 million already spent on refurbishing the two pumps and other work after breakdowns early last year that have seen the fountain dormant since June 2015.

National Capital Authority chief executive Malcolm Snow underground at Regatta Point with the newly refurbished pumps for the Captain Cook Memorial Jet. Credit:Jamila Toderas

The pumps are back in place, with new switchboards and an upgrade of ventilation and air-conditioning, and chief executive Malcolm Snow said the authority would decide in the next couple of weeks on the next step.

"It's take a deep breath and keep going," he said on Wednesday. "We are fully committed to it operating again."
There's an all-too-familiar drill when serious misconduct is uncovered in a bank. Faced with evidence of wrongdoing, top executives  often belatedly  front the media to insist it's an isolated incident, and that the problems are being dealt with.

These sorts of claims are now being made on an industry-wide scale, as banks fight Labor's promise to hold a royal commission into illegal and unethical behaviour in finance if it wins government.

However, there are good reasons to be sceptical about such assurances, and I'm not saying that just because many people don't like banks.

Indeed, highly relevant research finished last year provided concrete and industry-wide evidence suggesting senior leaders in Australian banks may often be unaware of their own banks' cultural failings, which tend to be key triggers for misbehaviour such as customer rip-offs.
State and federal officials said Goldman Sachs would pay $US5.1 billion ($6.6 billion) to settle accusations of wrongdoing before the financial crisis.

But that is just on paper. Buried in the fine print are provisions that allow Goldman to pay hundreds of millions of dollars less - perhaps as much as $US1 billion less - than that headline figure. And that is before the tax benefits of the deal are included.

The bank will be able to reduce its bill substantially through a combination of government incentives and tax credits. For example, the settlement calls for Goldman to spend $US240 million on affordable housing. But a chart attached to the settlement explains that the bank will have to pay at most only 30 per cent of that money to fulfil the deal. That is because it will receive a particularly large credit for each dollar it spends on affordable housing.

Goldman is the last of the major banks to settle with the government. Past deals with other banks also contained some of these concessions, but Goldman appears to have negotiated an even sweeter deal. For all the banks, the credits suggest that the amounts that the banks will have to actually spend on consumer relief will be much lower than the numbers announced in the news releases.
It has been only one year since Martin Swinburn renovated the kitchen in his Asquith family home, and yet the shiny new space could soon be little more than rubble.

Mr Swinburn's is one of 91 NSW homes that has tested positive to loose-fill asbestos across 28 local government areas, including Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai, North Sydney, Manly, Warringah and Hills Shire.

The news came after Mr Swinburn and his wife registered their home for testing in the state government's "Mr Fluffy" loose-fill asbestos voluntary purchase and demolition program.
Only the hardest of the hard-hearted could fail to be moved by what happened to Sally Faulkner last May. After agreeing to allow her two young children, aged four and six, to travel to Beirut to holiday with their father, she was told by him, via Skype, that they were not coming home. Ms Faulkner had separated from her husband, Ali al-Amin, early in 2014, and what she did next, while perhaps understandable, invites bafflement and disbelief.

Retaining the services of a company called Child Abduction Recovery International, Ms Faulkner travelled to Lebanon with CARI operatives to snatch the children on their way to school in suburban Beirut and smuggle them out of the country by boat, then back to Australia.

The mission's abject failure has generated media attention around the world, not only because it's a great human interest story but also because a Channel Nine film crew assigned to chronicle the escapade has been arrested as well. Ten people have either been detained or charged with the attempted abductions, including two British citizens, two Lebanese and a Romanian national. The most serious charges carry jail sentences of up to 20 years.

Cross-border child-custody battles are notoriously tangled and, in this case, there is the added complexity of cultural differences. Although Ms Faulkner apparently initiated the separation with her Lebanese husband, she seems not to have sought to formalise care and custody arrangements. One can understand, therefore, her grief and loss at being told the children would not be returned because Mr Amin wanted them brought up in his extended Lebanese family.
Australian banks, especially the big four banks, are among Australia's sacred cows. Nevertheless, the financial services industry of which they are a large part has been guilty of many crimes and misdemeanours over the past decade. These incidents have been so frequent that they may well be systemic rather than the result of a few bad apples. Many people in the community have suffered. That is why a royal commission into the banking industry is not a bad idea.

Regardless of the immediate dismissal of Bill Shorten's proposal by the Prime Minister, support for the idea is remarkably widespread. Eight federal Coalition MPs either support the idea or think it is worthy of serious consideration, which is a lot when it is remembered that almost half of Coalition MPs are inhibited by ministerial solidarity from saying what they really think.

Former Treasury head Ken Henry, who represents the banks and is highly respected and has considerable clout in the community, could be expected to resist a royal commission into banking. Credit:Quentin Jones

It reflects the fact that a desire to throw public light on the banking industry is not just a left-wing idea embraced by Labor and the Greens, who were first into the field, but one which finds considerable resonance in the wider community. This includes the rural sector and the aged/senior community, traditionally two important elements of voting support for the Coalition.

The sometimes brutal treatment of the rural community by the banking industry over the years means that there is always a well of anti-banking sentiment within the National Party and some rural Liberals. The aged, too, are especially vulnerable and feel they have little redress. But dissatisfaction extends more widely than that.
Malcolm Turnbull's lost his mojo, and the Australian public along with it.

What voters liked about the Prime Minister was both his appeal to their optimism and the palpable relief from watching the slow public death of Tony Abbott.

Malcolm Turnbull's buzzwords of innovation and entrepreneurship got into our conversation, writes Madonna King.

On the night Turnbull took over, it seemed as though there had never been a better time - at least in recent years - to be an Australian. Tick.

Life, he told us, was complicated and couldn't be reduced to simple slogans. We had to have a thoughtful, hard, national discourse. Tick.
Bob Carr, foreign minister at the time, recalls in his published diaries an encounter with a "pensive" Opposition Leader, who reflected fatalistically, "Well, you never know where it goes in this game. The people seem to like Kevin."

As usually happens after a major leadership change  whether it turns out to have been a good idea or not  the opinion polls responded positively, with the government either drawing level with the opposition after preferences, or sitting slightly ahead.

Some elements of the exercise, such as lining up almost 100 foreign diplomats for a meet and greet, were excessive; others, like the challenge to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to a Press Club debate on government debt and deficits, were inspired. (Abbott declined that invitation and Rudd attended solo but then largely wasted the opportunity.)

When Kevin Rudd began his fleeting second prime ministership in mid 2013, he immediately set about filling the gaping authority vacuum that had troubled Australians for three years. His every move was aimed at generating incumbency, reassuring Australians that finally someone was in charge, someone they could trust.

But the polls soon soured again and the old Rudd returned: the one who flitted from thought bubble to brainwave, in search of that elusive bounce. Hey, let's have an economic zone in the country's north! No subsequent poll improvement. Okay, how about this: why don't we move the country's naval base from Sydney to Townsville?

Did anyone in the prime minister's entourage contemplate how this flaky behaviour appeared to voters? By the time of the first campaign debate, a desperate Rudd had discarded any skerrick of dignity and spent much of the time bleating about the Coalition's secret plan to raise the GST. In a zero-sum game, Abbott's stature grew before our eyes.

Labor insiders believed they had no choice: the polls were turning and the kitchen sink was required. But from a distance it looked like unnecessary panic. Rather than obsess over the opinion poll trajectory, Rudd would have been wiser working out how to give voters an election-day choice between a high-brow, wonkish incumbent and a volatile, boyish challenger.

In 2016, Malcolm Turnbull sometimes gives a half-decent Kevin Rudd impersonation. In the past few weeks two high-profile policies have popped out of nowhere: handing income tax powers back to the states, and pressing ahead with the very fast train. The first was astonishingly reckless and frightening to the voter, the second innately appealing to Australians. On top of earlier GST and negative-gearing outbreaks, though, semi-engaged voters are getting a message: Malcolm is desperate to come up with something, anything, any big idea, for the election.

Once again, does the prime minister's inner circle understand how much this undermines Turnbull's authority? It's as if he has been consuming too much political commentary  that he's read how Labor has "seized the policy initiative" and decided the government must catch up. Why? Because the scribblers say so.
Jeremy Clarkson says BBC hounded him

Clarkson's ITV show to go head-to-head with Top Gear Confirmation that Netflix will be showing the new Chris Evans version of Top Gear internationally means it could go into direct battle with Amazon's Jeremy Clarkson car show. Ted Sarandos, the chief content officer for Netflix, told BuzzFeed on Wednesday the Evans show would screen, following months of speculation it would do so. The show is to screen on the BBC next month, and Netflix already shows the older version of Top Gear starring Clarkson. Sarandos said the Evans show would fall under the same deals of international distribution as the existing Top Gear, but could not say if it would be shown in every country.

"Worldwide I don't know, as there are pockets of output deals that block all of those things, so we can only control worldwide on things that we can control outright, or things that we take on very early in their life," he said. "But multi-territory for sure." New Top Gear hosts Matt LeBlanc and Chris Evans with the Stig. The new Amazon show is fronted by Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May on its Prime streaming service, with a recent trailer confirmed it will appear later in the year. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, at a Netflix event in Paris, was asked by BuzzFeed if he ever planned to sign the new Clarkson, Hammond, and May show after Clarkson left the BBC for punching a producer. He said: "They bid themselves out to many people and to the highest price, like most creators do. It's a natural process and Amazon paid the highest price."
It's a question that surfaces with shocking regularity but each time it shakes us to our core. Just as quickly it dissolves again to linger in the background.

How could a parent kill their own child?

After days of unanswered questions about how little Sanaya Sahib was killed, including claims she was randomly snatched and dumped in a creek, police have charged her mother, Sofina Nikat, with the alleged murder.
Tens of thousands of Sydney commuters who travel by train between Bankstown and Sydenham each day will be forced to catch buses for more than six months while the line is converted to carry metro trains.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the government would try to minimise the length of time the 13.5-kilometre stretch of track would be out of action but conceded that it would "pose a challenge".

"It is going to be a disruptive time  I won't sugar-coat that," he said on Wednesday.

"There will be a period of time where that rail line will be decommissioned and as a result we are going to have to manage the commuter needs through that period."
No one wants to live in Queensland anymore.

So the Palaszczuk Government plans on getting aggressive in its attempts to woo people - and their business - back to the sunshine state.

Queensland is on track for negative population growth. Credit:Nicolas Walker

Research commissioned for News Corp found Queensland was in danger of seeing more people leave the state than enter it for the first time since 1947, with the downward trend in migration showing just 7000 people moved to Queensland in the year to September.

Treasurer Curtis Pitt was sanguine about the news, saying "there had been forecasts for some time" suggesting the Queensland population growth had slowed.
Notorious prison escapee Brenden Abbott's long legal fight will take its latest turn on Friday as his legal team attempt to block his extradition to Western Australia.

Lawyers for the so-called "Postcard Bandit" lodged documents in Brisbane on Wednesday for a Supreme Court review of a magistrate's decision for him to be extradited to Perth.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Terry Gardiner on Tuesday ordered the newly paroled bank robber's extradition to WA, where he could face another 16 years behind bars over a 1989 jailbreak.

But it was suspended soon after, pending the application for a Supreme Court review, which was lodged by Abbott's legal team on Wednesday afternoon.
Lawyers for the notorious armed robber and jailbreaker nicknamed the "Postcard Bandit" have filed an appeal against his extradition to Western Australia.

The notorious bank robber was remanded in custody on Tuesday after being released on parole, having served 18 years behind bars in Queensland.

Brenden Abbott, the "Postcard Bandit", pictured at a Gold Coast hotel swimming pool. Credit:File

Brisbane Magistrate Terry Gardiner denied Abbott bail after ordering his extradition to WA, where he could face another 16 years behind bars for a 1989 jailbreak.

However, he suspended the order to allow Abbott's legal team 24 hours to lodge a Supreme Court application to review the decision.
A Queensland police officer has been stood down over allegations he accessed and released confidential information.

The 31-year-old constable, from the northern region, is the subject of an investigation concerning the alleged misconduct, the Queensland Police Service confirmed on Wednesday.

A 31-year-old Queensland constable has been stood down over the alleged release of confidential information. Credit:File

AAP
Aboriginal elder and renowned actor Jack Charles has again been refused a cab in Melbourne because of what he calls systemic racial discrimination against Indigenous Australians by taxi drivers.

The 72-year-old was with two artists visiting from Turkey when they tried to catch a taxi from outside Flinders Street Station about 3pm on Wednesday.

Well-known actor Jack Charles said there is systemic racism in the taxi industry which must be addressed. Credit:Simon Schluter

"Uncle Jack" said a taxi pulled up and the party started to get inside when the driver told them he would not accept the fare.

"My mate Ibrahim jumped in the front and started to explain where we were going and I started to jump in the back," Charles said.
Embattled mayor of Geelong Darryn Lyons might be feeling deflated, but the day after the state government moved to sack him and his dysfunctional council, he found a reason to smile: the graduation of his partner Elissa Friday.

On Wednesday, she was presented with her journalism degree at Deakin University  a celebration somewhat soured by the recent death of Ms Friday's mother and news about the council's impending sacking.

Geelong mayor Darryn Lyons with fiance Elissa Friday as she graduates from a journalism course at Deakin University on Wednesday. Credit:Joe Armao

"I don't know if [the sacking] has actually happened yet, so I'm still holding out a bit of hope," she says before the ceremony.

On Wednesday night that hope appeared futile, with the Andrews government on Thursday to press ahead with legislation removing Cr Lyons and Geelong's 12 ward councillors.
The mother of slain toddler Sanaya Sahib has refused to appear before a magistrate after being charged with her daughter's murder, amid concerns over her mental state.

Sofina Nikat, 22, had been due to appear before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday over the death of her 14-month-old daughter, Sanaya Sahib, in Heidelberg West, but she declined to be brought into court from the cells below the building.

Defence counsel Michael McNamara said a doctor and a psychiatric nurse had seen Ms Nikat while she was in custody, and both were concerned about what effect a court appearance would have on her.
Labor voters in Michael Danby's Melbourne Ports have rejected his push to preference the Liberals ahead of the Greens in the marginal seat, according to a new poll.

The seat has becoming increasingly marginal due to major demographic change from its working class past to sought after inner city living.

Labor MP Michael Danby has said he wants to preference the Liberals ahead of the Greens Credit:Andrew Meares

Mr Danby's current margin is 3.6 per cent and Labor strategists have the seat, which includes St Kilda, Balaclava and South Melbourne, on a watch list of seats potentially under threat, with a major change in demographics in Albert Park and Port Melbourne favouring the Liberals.

Mr Danby has held Melbourne Ports since 1998 but requires preference flows to defeat the Liberals, who last election won the primary vote.
The older sister of a man accused of the brutal killing of his parents has told a court their father had been an angry man who would severely beat her and her brothers with a belt he called Joey.

Ian Thomas, 38, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his parents, William, 65, and Pauline, 63, at their home near Wangaratta in April 2013.

Pauline and Bill Thomas died in April 2013. Credit:Border Mail

Mr Thomas's sister Bernadette Cameron told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that when they were growing up, her father would take the belt to her and her brothers Ian and John.

Ms Cameron said that her sisters, Jacinta and Madonna, were also disciplined but never as badly as the other three.
A media release from Professor Frank Daly, chief executive of Child and Adolescent Health Service, said: "It is acknowledged that there are potential significant side effects to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The response to these treatments will vary from child to child and it is not known in advance what the full impact of treatment will be for the individual child". Some immediate side effects can be improved with pain relieving and anti-nausea medication, to a point. Longer term it has been acknowledged publicly that Oshin could have visual, hearing and cognitive impairment. Other medical problems that will likely arise cannot be predicted. The statement adds: "CAHS has a duty of care to ensure that all children attending Princess Margaret Hospital are provided with the best available medical treatment... treatment with the aim of cure and not palliative care, remains the best treatment for the child". The standard of treatment is not being questioned. Its value to this family is. The CAHS statement makes no reference to comfort as a priority. In contrast, the affidavit of Oshin's mother, Angela Kiszko, describes the pain and suffering she has witnessed her son go through as well as the significant effects on his two siblings. It describes the feelings expressed by Oshin himself and her concern for his quality of life.

It ends with a plea for palliative care and the opportunity for quality time. And herein lies, in my opinion, the crux of this issue. It is a clash of values between the parents and the doctors over comfort, treatment and cure. The parents value comfort higher than a 50 per cent chance of five-year survival. The doctors hold the opposite value. The parents and doctors might as well be speaking different languages. One is talking treatment with the hope of longer life, while the other is talking about comfort and quality of life. In this instance these two concepts are not compatible. Hence the argument turns on the moral standpoint of which matters more. As a doctor I can state categorically that it is much easier to dispense treatment than to be on the receiving end. This is a statement of the obvious but also demonstrates that we see the world through our own eyes. The experience of a person undergoing treatment is not the same as that of the doctor. Neither is right or wrong  but they are not the same.

In turn, the priorities of doctor and patient may differ. Doctors tend to place a high store on cure. So do most patients, but not all. Above all else, if treatment does not succeed the doctor has done their best but the end result is the same. They may be saddened, but are no worse off. In this case it is agreed by all that treatment will lower the quality of life in the short, medium and long term, and the chance of surviving (with significant permanent damage) for five years is between 30 and 50 per cent at very best. Oshin and his family have to live with the consequences. When he is crying at 3am in three months' time, who will be there to comfort him? When he is vomiting who will clean him up? When he misses out on simple childhood joys like jumping in puddles, who will watch and weep? It will be his family; not the doctors, not the courts. The judge notes " the difficulty for parents to see beyond the immediate short to medium term negative impact of the treatment upon the quality of life of the child against the prospect that there is a cure possibly available".

He concludes " the prospect of long-term cure is the matter that must most heavily weigh in the decision" and "one other matter that I think ought to be given weight is that the uncontested medical evidence is that the great majority of other parents faced with a similar decision would opt for the intervention that the hospital process". Thus the value of possible survival for five years outweighs the value of comfort in this judgment. The statement by CAHS and the court ruling do not claim Oshin will be cured. They acknowledge he will suffer. The impact of Oshin and his parents having to live with the consequences every day, 24/7, is glossed over. I was asked last week by Nine News what I would do as a parent and doctor. As a parent it is impossible to know what you would do unless you are in that situation. As a doctor you need to have extremely strong grounds to seek to over-rule parents. The downside is with them not the doctor. I would not have taken this action based on my knowledge of the case.
Accusations have flown for years about the West Australian health system being broken...and now there's proof.

A Health Department staffer sent WAtoday this screen shot of the department's employee intranet, thinking it would deliver a chuckle.

The link to Strategic Intent (inset) and the broken link to which it directs.

The image illustrating a broken link is a broken arm, proving IT staff have just as much of a sense of humour as anyone else.

Even better, the broken link in question was arrived at by attempting to click on WA Health Strategic Intent 2015 - 2020.
Mystery surrounds why plans for a $5 million redevelopment of the Indiana restaurant on Cottesloe beach were shelved.

The proposal included a new restaurant, boatshed facilities for the Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club and public toilets.

The redevelopment of Cottesloe's iconic Indiana restaurant is under a cloud. Credit:Erin Jonasson

The Town of Cottesloe axed the project after councillors were advised a "key issue" in the business plan had changed.

Because of this, chief executive Mat Humfrey told councillors a new business plan would need to be developed and advertised.
Local community leaders, Canning MP Andrew Hastie, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley have met on Wednesday to discuss a recent spate of youth suicide deaths.

Up to eight teenagers in the Peel region, between Rockingham and Harvey, have taken their own lives in a four-month period.

PM hears call for help from Mandurah leaders following youth suicides. Credit:Mandurah Mail

The statistic includes three friends, two of whom attended the same school.

"Locally, we are seeing the tragic deaths of young people who have lost hope," Mr Hastie said.
Beijing: A Chinese court has ruled against formalising the marriage of a gay couple on Wednesday, in the country's first ever same-sex marriage case.

The court in the city of Changsha, capital of the Hunan province, handed down its decision on a case filed by Sun Wenlin, 26, in just a few hours.

Same sex statues adorn the top of a wedding cake at a wedding specialists store in England. Credit:Getty Images

Mr Sun sued the city's civil affairs bureau after the government office rejected his application to register his marriage to his partner Hu Mingliang, The Associated Press reported.
A woman lost in an Arizona forest for nine days survived by drinking pond water, eating plants and spelling out "help" on the ground with sticks, authorities say.

The sign helped lead rescuers to Ann Rodgers, 72, in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona earlier this week, the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) said.

Rescuers saw 'help' spelled out in sticks on the ground. Credit:Arizona Department of Public Safety

She went missing on March 31 as she headed to visit her grandchildren in Phoenix.
Idomeni: Macedonian police have fired tear gas to disperse about 50 migrants stranded in Greece who tried to pull down part of the razor wire fence separating the two countries, a witness says.

Scuffles briefly broke out and Greek riot police later intervened to break up the crowd.

Greek authorities said Macedonian police fired tear gas and stun grenades to deter the group from trying to get over the razor-wire fence using blankets.
Residents angry about the rise of rich foreign real estate buyers and absentee owners, particularly from China, have begun protests on social media, including a #DontHave1Million Twitter campaign. The provincial government agreed this year to begin tracking foreign ownership of real estate in response to demands from local politicians. Guests look at Rolls Royces at a private reception at the Oakridge Centre in Vancouver. Credit:New York Times The anger has had little effect on the gilded lives of Vancouver's wealthy Chinese. Indeed, to the newcomers for whom money is no object, the next purchase after a house is usually a car, and then a few more. Many luxury car dealerships here employ Chinese staff, a testament to the spending power of the city's newest residents. In 2015, there were 2500 cars worth more than $C150,000 registered in metropolitan Vancouver, up from 1300 in 2009, according to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. Paul Oei photographs his wife Loretta Lai, centre, with a new car at a Lamborghini dealership reception in Vancouver. Credit:New York Times

Many of Vancouver's young supercar owners are known as fuerdai, a Mandarin expression, akin to trust-fund kids, that means "rich second generation". In China, where the super-rich are widely criticised as being corrupt and materialistic, the term provokes a mix of scorn and envy. The fuerdai have brought their passion for extravagance to Vancouver. White Lamborghinis are popular among young Chinese women; the men often turn in their leased supercars after a few months in order to play with a newer, cooler status symbol. From left: Loretta Lai, Chelsea Jiang and Diana Wang at a reception at a Lamborghini dealership in Vancouver. Credit:New York Times Hundreds of young Chinese immigrants, along with a handful of Canadian-born Chinese, have started supercar clubs whose members come together to drive, modify and photograph their flashy vehicles, providing alluring eye candy for their followers on social media. The Vancouver Dynamic Auto Club has 440 members, 90 per cent of whom are from China, said the group's 27-year-old founder, David Dai. To join, a member must have a car that costs more than $C100,000 ($102,000).

Diana Wang takes a selfie in a friend's Rolls Royce in Vancouver. Credit:New York Times "They don't work," Dai said of Vancouver's fuerdai. "They just spend their parents' money." Occasionally, the need for speed hits a roadblock. In 2011, the police impounded a squadron of 13 Lamborghinis, Maseratis and other luxury cars, worth $C2 million, for racing on a metropolitan Vancouver highway at 200 km/h. The drivers were members of a Chinese supercar club, and none were older than 21, according to news reports at the time. On a recent evening, an overwhelmingly Chinese crowd of young adults had gathered at an invitation-only Rolls-Royce event to see a new black-and-red Dawn convertible, base price $C402,000. It is the only such car in North America. Among the curious was Jin Qiao, 20, a baby-faced art student who moved to Vancouver from Beijing six years ago with his mother. During the week, Jin drives one of two Mercedes-Benz SUVs, which he said were better suited for the rigours of daily life.

But his most prized possession is a $C600,000 Lamborghini Aventador Roadster Galaxy, its exterior custom wrapped to resemble outer space. A lanky design major who favours Fendi clothing and gold sneakers, Jin extolled the virtues of exotic cars and was quick to dismiss those who criticised supercar aficionados as ostentatious. "There are so many rich people in Vancouver, so what's the point of showing off?" he said. Asked what his parents did for work, Jin said his father was a successful businessman back in China but declined to provide details. "I can't say," he stammered with evident discomfort. Because of high import and luxury taxes, supercars are often 50 per cent cheaper in Canada than in China. And in Canada, Chinese immigrants said, people are far less likely to question how they obtained their wealth. "In Vancouver, there are lots of kids of corrupt Chinese officials," said Shi Yi, 27, the owner of Luxury Motor, a car dealership that caters to affluent Chinese. "Here, they can flaunt their money."

Some Chinese immigrants think a supercar is a poor investment, because its value decreases over time. "Better to spend half a million dollars on two expensive watches or some diamonds," said Diana Wang, 23, a University of British Columbia graduate student who said she owned more than 30 Chanel bags and a $C200,000 diamond-encrusted Richard Mille watch. Wang, a star on the online reality show "Ultra Rich Asian Girls of Vancouver," normally drives her parents' Ferrari or Mercedes-Maybach when she visits them in Shanghai. But in Canada, her parents gave her a strict car budget of $C150,000, so she drives the less-flashy Audi RS5. "I could be in danger if people saw me in a supercar," she said, her Breguet watch, worth more than a BMW, glinting in the sunlight as she drove the Audi through town. Four years ago, to learn the value of money after her friends criticised her spending habits, Wang spent three days on the streets of Vancouver, playing homeless. She said she had left her mansion with no phone, identification or wallet, wearing Victoria's Secret pajamas and $C1000 Chanel shoes.
The Brazilian Health Ministry confirmed the zika-microcephaly link in December. Brazilian doctors who first detected the brain defect in babies issued further confirmation in February .

Scientists at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a careful review of existing research and agreed that the evidence was conclusive, director Thomas Frieden said. It is the first time the CDC confirms a mosquito-borne virus has been linked to congenital brain defects.

US federal health officials confirmed on Wednesday that the Zika virus causes a rare birth defect and other severe fetal abnormalities, marking a turning point in an epidemic that has spread to nearly 40 countries and territories in the Americas and elsewhere.

"It is now clear, and CDC has concluded, that the virus causes microcephaly," Mr Frieden said. CDC is launching more studies to determine whether children with that rare condition, which is characterised at birth by an abnormally small head, represent the "tip of the iceberg of what we could see in damaging effects on the brain and other developmental problems."

A municipal health worker on Tuesday draws blood from three-month-old Shayde Henrique, who was born with microcephaly, in Joao Pessoa, Brazil. Credit:AP

The outcome validates the growing research of past months that strongly implicated Zika as the culprit behind a broad set of complications in pregnancy. The pathogen is also increasingly linked to neurological problems in adults. The CDC report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, focused only on reviewing the evidence linking Zika and fetal anomalies.

Global health officials had already assumed the virus was to blame for the problems being seen in various countries. Since January, many have advised women who were pregnant or hoping to become so to avoid travel to Zika-affected areas or to take steps to avoid Zika infection. That medical advice expanded over time to include women's partners, especially as it became clear sexual transmission of the virus was more common than had been known.

The research released on Wednesday won't change that advice, officials said. But they are hoping it will help educate the public about the virus and its potential for harm -- particularly in the United States.
Latest News NAB reveals six market megatrends for brokers More opportunities for investors, first home buyers

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The value of Chinese foreign investment approvals for Australian real estate doubled last financial year, surging to a record $24 billion.Data from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) show that China remains the largest source of proposed foreign investment in Australian real estate  including both residential and commercial real estate. Chinese investors compromised close to half (41%) of the total value of real estate approvals by foreign country in 2014-15.The total value of Chinese investment also more than tripled foreign investment from the USA, Australias second biggest source of proposed foreign investment.According to FIRB, the flux of Chinese investment was driven mainly by a large increase in residential real estate approvals.Australia is now the second-most-popular destination for Chinese property investors after the US, according to search data from Juwai.com, a popular international real estate portal in China.The total value of foreign investment in Australia residential real estate, specifically, surged by 75% in 2014-15. The FIRB data showed that there were 36,841 applications by foreign investors worldwide to buy residential properties, totalling $61 billion.Investment in commercial real estate declined over the year, falling by 9% to $36 billion.Victoria attracted the most interest from foreign investors, with 16,775 applications approved for real estate investment over the year. This was followed by New South Wales (12,349) and Queensland (5,023). There were only 88 applications by foreign investors in the Northern Territory, the least amount of any state or territory.
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Legendary Midwood pizzeria Di Fara will remain open  despite rumors its landlord plans to sell the building. Owners put the building on the block for $4 million last week, food blog Eater reported on April 7. But workers at the half-century-old pizza palace said the listing was premature and has since has since been taken down, leaving open the possibility for a sale in the future. The restaurant may be safe for now, but fans of Di Faras world-famous za are bracing for the day that septuagenarian founder Dom DeMarco  the stores lone pizza-maker  hangs up his apron and paddle.

Di Fara is an institution, said Manhattanite Sanjay, who stopped Avenue J pie house the day after reports the building was for sale. Theres respect here. Ive flown from Dallas to New York before just to eat this pizza with friends. But its not going to exist forever, and I think New Yorkers are preparing for the day it closes. Itll be devastating.

DeMarco has owned and operated the shop since 1964. The store has garnered praise from celebrity chefs and food reviewers and routinely has lines form open to close. Pizza fanatics have had to go without before. The city health department has shuttered the spot for health violations  which DeMarco has said is the only time I get to relax  but the shop always bounces back.

Representatives from GFI Realty Services, which reportedly listed the building for sale, declined to comment. The buildings owners could not be reached.

 with Max Jaeger
Research News

Journal supplement points out disparities among African-American, white smokers

Smoking among African-American high schoolers had been on a downward trend before stagnating in 1992.

By DAVID J. HILL

That the decline has stalled in the last 22 years is, to me, very sad news. I think it's about the industry working really hard to keep this market. 

The percentage of African-American high school seniors who smoke has changed very little over the past two decades. In fact, the percentages in 2014 and 1992 are statistically the same.

Thats among the findings presented in a supplement to the April issue of the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

Smoking among African-American high schoolers had been on a downward trend before stagnating in 1992, when 8.7 percent of African-American high school seniors smoked; the figure in 2014 was 9 percent.

That the decline has stalled in the last 22 years is, to me, very sad news. I think its about the industry working really hard to keep this market, says Gary A. Giovino, professor and chair of the Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, who served as co-editor of the supplement with Phillip Gardiner of the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program, University of California Office of the President.

Bridgette E. Garrett, associate director for health equity, and Italia V. Rolle, lead epidemiologist, from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) Office on Smoking and Health, which sponsored this special supplement, also contributed to the editorial process.

Giovino previously served as guest editor for an issue of the journal Preventive Medicine, and contributed to the Surgeon Generals 1998 report on tobacco use among racial and ethnic minority groups.

The supplement  titled Critical Examination of Factors Related to the Smoking Trajectory among African-American Youth and Young Adults  also presents new findings on smoking among African-American inmates.

We always knew that could be an issue, but this is the first time weve ever had data on it, Giovino says.

The major surveys that measure tobacco use are not distributed in prisons.

When you factor in the number of African-American inmates, the smoking prevalence estimate for adults goes up by one percentage point  not 1 percent, but one percentage point, which is a big deal, saays Giovino, who previously worked for the Office on Smoking and Health at the CDC.

Papers in the supplement also address these issues:

African-American adult smokers are less likely than white smokers to quit as they get older.

African-Americans who started smoking as young adults are less likely to quit than African-Americans who started at younger ages, and are less likely to quit than whites in general.

African-American young adults are more likely to take up smoking than white young adults, but they still smoke at lower rates than white young adults because their rates of smoking as adolescents were so much lower than among whites.

African-American teens are less likely than their white peers to begin smoking as adolescents, in part because of protective factors such as parental opposition and differential price sensitivity. African-American youth appear to be more responsive to price increases than whites.

Among African-Americans, smoking deaths occur at the same rate among those who started smoking early and those who began when they were older. However, in whites, those who take up smoking later in life experience lower mortality than those who started earlier.

The findings point to the need for better efforts to prevent African-Americans from taking up smoking at an older age.

Even though African-Americans start smoking later in life, they still die disproportionately from tobacco-related diseases compared to their white counterparts, Gardiner says. This information has been known for some time and calls upon all of us to redouble our efforts to allocate greater resources for prevention and cessation in the African-American community.

Giovino and Gardiner co-authored a commentary in the supplement that, among other points, outlines a need for the FDA to ban menthol cigarettes, which are favored by blacks and marketed more heavily in African-American neighborhoods.

The predatory marketing of menthol and other candy-flavored tobacco products to African-Americans over the past 50 years is a tragedy, adds Gardiner. More than 80 percent of black smokers use these products. A major step in fighting smoking health disparities would be for the FDA to ban the use of menthol in tobacco products.

The supplement includes a literature review on smoking cessation among African-American and white smokers authored by Jessica A. Kulak, a PhD student in UBs Department of Community Health and Health Behavior.
Non-banking financial company (NBFC) is looking to deploy $150 million (Rs 990 crore) over 12-18 months in commercial office properties and the infrastructure sector.



This is besides the $400 million it is looking to deploy in mid-income and affordable housing segments, said Sanjay Grewal, chief executive officer at . The NBFC is promoted by Clearwater Capital, Abu Dhabi Investment Council and Varde Partners. Altico plans to focus on extending credit to promoters, who have a track record of developing and leasing office space for early stages of development and construction financing as opposed to the late-stage lease rental discounting transactions, Grewal said. Alticos rival Piramal Capital is also looking to deploy Rs 5,000 crore in Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Read more from our special coverage on "ALTICO CAPITAL"

Altico would raise Rs 2,000 crore through a mix of instruments and funding sources including bank lines, commercial paper and non-convertible debentures (NCDs). It has also appointed Dhruv Jain as its chief financial officer. Jain was earlier with Milestone Capital.Last week, Altico said it had invested Rs 575 crore in real estate projects in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru. It had entered into a multi-project financing arrangement with Marvel Developers, in Pune. Additionally, it concluded a second transaction with the Midcity group, a developer focused on society redevelopments in Mumbai. It also closed its third transaction in Bengaluru, financing Unishire against a portfolio of five projects.

Altico's average size is Rs 150 crore, but it would also like to do deals of Rs 200-300 crore. We would want to have a loan book of $1.5 billion by FY20 and $1 billion by FY18," Grewal had told Business Standard recently.

Private equity firms have set up a number of real estate-focused NBFCs in the past couple of years that compete with each other. Piramal Fund Management, Xander NBFC and the NBFC floated by KKR along with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC are some of the prominent ones in this space. Real estate accounts for 17-20 per cent of their deals.

"There is a requirement of $15 billion of funds in real estate every year and scope for everybody," Grewal said.
The promoters of the telecom handset company are working on a revamp of the company and the brand, with competition putting pressure on market share in the past year.

will focus more on software solutions and services that can be offered through smartphones, such as payment of utilities. Its four co-founders say they aim to take the brand among the top five globally by 2020.

Rahul Sharma, one of the four, told this newspaper: We are rebooting . We need to change, as times have changed. We want to stay a leader.



It has had a tumultuous ride in the past five quarters. Top executives have left due to differences with the promoters. Last year, Vineet Taneja, chief executive, and Sanjay Kapoor, chairman, had quit. And, the brand lost nearly four percentage points in market share among smartphones between December 2014 and December 2015, from 18 to 14.1 per cent.

Currently, the four co-founders, who own nearly 80 per cent of the equity, lead from the front. Sharma looks after mobile products and branding. Vikas Jain is in charge of partnership development, services, tablets and the computing business. Rajesh Agarwal takes care of the international and LED businesses, and manufacturing. The legal and information technology departments are supervised by Sumeet Kumar, the fourth co-founder.

To achieve the ambitious target of getting into the top five global mobile companies, Micromax has targeted markets abroad, such as the Commonwealth of Independent States (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan, among others). We need to take our overseas sales to 30 per cent of the total from 10 per cent currently, said Vikas Jain.

Experts say the initiative is more an obligation than a choice. Chinese handset majors like Xiaomi and LeEco are putting pressure on established Indian brands by offering superior hardware at a cheaper price. They are also focusing on offering services to provide better consumer experience, helping hold back consumers in a market where brand loyalty is on a decline. Recently, Xiaomi tied-up with Hungama and Chinese peer LeEco held hands with Yupp TV and Eros to provide exclusive audio and video contents on their handsets.

The days of differentiating oneself by hardware specifications are gone, says Tarun Pathak, senior telecom analyst, CounterPoint Research. He feels Micromax needs to look beyond the sub-Rs 6,700 ($100) price category. They should focus on the above Rs 17,000 ($250) category, he said, apart from increasing its footprint abroad.

To differentiate its brand and products, Micromax will emphasise more on digital solutions and keep investing in software-based solution providers, Jain said. It also plans to revamp its online arm, storemicromax.com, and plans to launch a full-fledged digital store within 2016.

To strengthen its base, Micromax is setting up two units in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, to be ready in a year.

Once our four plants become operational, we will be producing five million units a month, said Jain. It currently makes handsets and LED television sets at its Rudrapur unit in Uttarakhand. The second plant in Telangana will become operational in months.

Winds of change



* Micromax revamping begins with new logo and tagline, increased focus on services ecosystem



* Cofounders remain in charge, to provide direction in future as we always did: Rahul Sharma



* Aims to become top five global handset brands by 2020 from current tenth



* Management sets target of 100 million connected devices among consumers by 2018, production capacity to be five million per month March, 2017



* Unveils 20 devices at one go which can be inter-connected; sets 25 percent annual growth target



* To increase portfolio by venturing in other consumer electronic categories
In the tender for setting up 500 megawatt (Mw) capacity for a in Karnataka, four Indian solar outbid foreign players to win major capacities. Rattan India-promoted Yarrow Infrastructure, which quoted the lowest bid of Rs 4.78 a unit, won the contract to set up 50 Mw capacity.



This was closely followed by Adani Power, Acme Solar, Tata Power and Fortum Finnsurya with same bid of Rs 4.79 per unit. They all quoted the bid for 100 Mw  two power units of 50 MW each. Fortum, a Finnish energy utility, is the only foreign company to win a project in this tender.



With the current win, RattanIndias solar portfolio has increased to more than 290 MW. Once connected to the grid, the electricity generated from the park will be sold to NTPC, under a 25-year power purchase agreement. The project is expected to be connected to the grid before end-2017. These bids witnessed aggressive bidding since Karnataka has very high solar insolation in the country, said RattanIndia in a statement.



ReNew Power, backed by Goldman Sachs in India, won 50 Mw by quoting Rs 4.8 per unit. All bids were in the open category of solar cell procurement.



Karnataka is setting up a 2,000 Mw at Pavagada in Tumakuru (earlier Tumkur) district and this is the first tranche of 500 Mw. This would be the largest to be developed in India. Till recently, the upcoming 750 Mw park at Rewa in Madhya Pradesh was being touted as the biggest in the world.





Among other winners were SoftBank-promoted SBG Cleantech, Hero Solar Energy, Azure Power, Canadian Solar, etc. The governments aim of 100,000 Mw solar power generation by 2022 hinges on the success of 33 solar energy parks with 19,900 Mw capacity being planned across 21 states.

Under the solar park policy, land is provided by the state governments. Around 5 acres are required for one megawatt capacity. The land cost in solar parks, however, is higher than elsewhere, as project operators are offered developed infrastructure. Analysts fear this could lead to increase in final tariffs.

The Union government is giving developers Rs 2 lakh for every MW capacity as viability gap funding if being developed under the solar park policy. The developer recovers the remaining cost from project operators.

The Union government provides the guidelines for development, sets benchmarks and provides incentives. The ministry of new and renewable energy handles the other key area of coordination required for power evacuation.
will hire about 100 pilots and 400 cabin crew as it prepares for significant fleet expansion this year.

Its capacity expansion since launching in 2005 has been slow, at an average of two aircraft a year. It has 19 Airbus A320s at present and this is set to change. There are 72 of the A320neo on order and in FY17, it is expected to make a net addition of eight of these. The first delivery is likely next month. Our recruitment process is in place and we will hire foreign pilots when needed. Upgrade of eligible first officers to captains is also continuing, a spokesperson said in an e-mailed response. Currently, it has about 260 pilots and 400 cabin crew. It is operating 975 weekly flights to 22 destinations. With new aircraft, the frequencies on existing routes should go up. It is also exploring launch of flights to Kuwait, Teheran and Male (Maldives).

Read more from our special coverage on "GOAIR" GoAir announces new flights to Leh, Patna, Lucknow

This is a fantastic time to expand capacity, as the fuel price is low and demand is strong. However, the challenge for would be to attract and retain talent. The airline has seen high levels of attrition and this needs to be addressed. There is a serious shortage of pilots across Asia and according to our analysis, nearly 1.5 pilots from every 10 will reach retirement age soon, and this is expected to spark a major demand for crew in the region, said aviation consultant Mark Martin.
The government is likely to change route-dispersal guidelines to boost air connectivity to Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Under route-dispersal norms, airlines should deploy 10 per cent of their metro routes' capacity on Category-II routes to Jammu and Kashmir, north-east, Lakshadweep, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Further, one per cent of the capacity on metro routes needs to be deployed within Kashmir and north-east.

Sources say the civil aviation ministry has proposed to include Himachal Pradesh (Shimla, Kullu, Dharamshala airports) and Uttarakhand (Dehradun) airports in the Category-II routes. Currently, these airports are included in Category-III, with all other non-metro routes.

The move comes against the backdrop of an ongoing petition on the lack of air connectivity to Shimla and the Supreme Court criticising the government on the issue. The move is part of a draft civil aviation policy, which has been forwarded for inter-ministerial consultations, a source said. The Cabinet is likely to finalise the policy later this month. More destinations in Category-II routes will make it easier for airlines to comply with norms, the source added.

Civil aviation secretary R N Choubey did not comment. There are scheduled flights to Dehradun, Kullu, and Dharamshala. But no scheduled flights to Shimla. Air India stopped operations to Shimla in 2012.

In February, the ministry told the Supreme Court that Air India could lease ATR-42 aircraft to start service to Shimla, but it would require viability-gap funding from the state government to bridge the gap between costs and revenue. The ministry said a second airport in Shimla can be considered considering limitations at the existing airport.
Even as Dalmia Group-owned (GTL) has started rolling out cigarette packets adhering to the new pictorial warning norms, Tobacco Institute of India (TII) members such as ITC and Godfrey-Phillips are sticking to their decision to halt production until clarity emerges in the rules on health warning.

TII is a representative body of manufacturers, farmers, exporters and ancillaries of the cigarettes segment of the tobacco sector.

GTL is not a member of TII.

When contacted, ITC did not offer any comment on the situation. Earlier, in a regulatory filing with the BSE, it had said that from April 1 the company was forced to shut its tobacco plants due to lack of clarity over the pictorial warning norms.

TII director Syed Mahmood Ahmad, too, had said that owing to ambiguity on the matter, TII members were unable to continue manufacturing cigarettes, which resulted in the sector facing Rs 4,550 crore losses.

The health ministry had on September 24, 2015 directed cigarette makers to print pictorial warnings on 85 per cent area of the front side of the cigarette packet from April 1 onwards against 40 per cent earlier.

According to sources, the new rules could benefit imported cigarettes that hardly carry any pictorial warnings.

Consumers may be led to believe that imported cigarettes are safer than the Indian made brands, said an source.

According to retailers such as B K Mahapatra of A B Associates, a tobacco distribution company, since GTL brands such as Panama and Chancellor do not command a significant market share, new stocks of the brands will hardly have an impact in the market.

It is ITC brands that are in demand followed by Godfrey-Phillips. GTL brands are hardly bought by smokers and there are few retailers who keep stocks of GTL brands, said Mohammed Hussein, a wholesaler in Kolkata.

Echoing similar views, G Paras of Paras Pan House, a tobacco retailer in Vadodara, said: Stocks of ITC-branded cigarettes with the distributors are depleting fast. And, with most major cigarette makers shutting down production, I dont know what the future beholds as far as prices and availability are concerned.



According to estimates, ITC commands 80 per cent of the cigarette trade, and Godfrey-Phillips has 10-11 per cent, while GTL has only two or three per cent market share.

Narsee Monjee-founded GTL posted a 18.75 per cent decline in its net income during the April-December 2015 period at Rs 32.49 crore, while its net losses from the tobacco business mounted to Rs 26.75 crore in the same period against Rs 23.52 crore in the corresponding nine months of FY15.
At a time when investors are struggling to find a good exit route, Equitas Holdings, the parent company of Indias fifth largest microlender Equitas, has given good returns, especially to social funds, through its initial public offering (IPO). The recent IPO of the Chennai-based company saw 10 investors exit with returns ranging from two to 13 times.



Venture Intelligence, which tracks private equity transactions, termed the returns for the three social investment funds  Aavishkaar, India Financial Inclusion Fund and Lok Capital  as excellent.



Aavishkaar Goodwell exited with over 13 times returns for an investment of $1.5-million it made in March 2008, according to Venture Intelligence data. The fund was one of the earliest investors in Equitas, valued at Rs 30 crore then. While India Financial Inclusion Fund saw its investment multiply 4.5 times, Lok Capital gained over two-fold.



Multilateral institutions  International Finance Corporation and Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), which partially focus on social investments  too made good returns.





However, for pure financial investors like private equities and venture capitalists, it was not satisfying, especially when compared with the returns they get from sectors such information technology.An analyst said, The internal rate of return, which they have got, is very close to the expectation. Helion Ventures exited with three times and Aquarius made more than double its investment. CLSA Capital and Sequoia Capital India exited with 2.3 times. Creation Investments made the smallest gain of 1.6 times.Siddharth Purohit, analyst at Angel Broking, said considering the current environment, this was a fair valuation. On SKS Microfinance, which went public in 2010, fetching investors higher returns, Purohit said the two could not be compared as the environments were different when they had listed.

There was lots of optimism and the industry was doing well when SKS IPO had hit the market. The regulations have changed. The market is different, especially after the Andhra Pradesh MFI crisis. Besides, Equitas return on assets and return on equity is comparatively low and it would take a few years to improve as the company is now converting itself to a small finance bank. All these are challenges for companys profitability, he said.However, the long-term outlook for the company remained optimistic, he added. Sequoia Capital India enjoyed higher returns in SKS as it was an early investor (round 2), but in Equitas its first investment was in the fifth round.
Liberty House Group expects Tata Steel Ltd to set an end of May bid deadline for the sale of its UK steel assets and said his firm wouldn't need financial backers to make an offer. Liberty House has a balance sheet of more than $1 billion and has no long-term leverage, founder Sanjeev Gupta said at the FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland on Wednesday. The private company has been approached by potential financial backers, but doesn't necessarily need to borrow to fund an acquisition, he said. Tata Steel said in March that it plans to sell all its ...
Hyderabad-based Madhucon Group announced it has completed strategic sale of its 74% stake in Madhucon Agra-Jaipur Expressway Limited (MAJEL) to Cube Highways and Infrastructure Pte Limited.



The company had signed a share purchase agreement with Cube Highways on October 21, 2015 for Rs 248 crore.



"Upon receiving all necessary approvals the transaction was concluded on March 30, 2016 with a stake transfer of 74%. The divestment of stake has assisted Madhucon Group to pare down its debt by Rs 212 crore. This is the major strategic sale in Madhucon's highway portfolio," the company said in a statement.



MAJEL is an operational BOT project of National Highway Authority of India Limited (NHAI) between Bhartpur and Mahua in the state of Rajasthan connecting the tourist cities of Agra and Jaipur. The project commenced toll collections from May, 2009. Madhucon group reported a total income of Rs 1,164 crore for the financial year 2014-15.
Flipkart's most high profile hire Punit Soni, who came from Google as the e-commerce firm's chief product officer quit the firm on Wednesday ending speculation of his exit after co-founder Binny Bansal took up the CEO role.

Soni informed colleagues of his exit in an email on Wednesday. He joins other top executives such as Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, to quit the online retailer after its planned restructuring in January. Since then, Soni did not have a clear roadmap for his role in the e-commerce marketplace.

Flipkart confirmed the of Soni's exit. Tasked with transforming Flipkart into a mobile-only platform, Soni led the shutting down of subsidiary Myntra's website last year. The experiment, which is seen to have cost Myntra the loss of users and revenue was scrapped when Myntra relaunched its mobile website in February.

He was brought in by chairman Sachin Bansal, a move which kicked off the trend of hiring top silicon valley executives by India's e-commerce firms. Soni was credited to have revived the Motorola brand under Google ownership.
App-based taxi hailing firm Uber is running an email campaign explaining that new rules by the Karnataka government curbing surge pricing would increase fares by a third. The Silicon Valley firm says it is engaging with the state government to explain why its business model encourages savings for customers.

Since January 2016, Uber riders in Bengaluru would have spent Rs 25 crore more (on rides) if the regulator's pricing model was followed, said Bhavik Rathod, general manager for South and West at Uber.

Last week, Karnataka had introduced rules governing taxi aggregators such as Ola and Uber, mandating them to register with the local transport authority, set caps on fares and install physical fare meters in taxis. But Uber wants to educate people of the savings they would get by using its system and influence the government to retain the model.

In the light of Karnatakas move, co-founder of Infosys Nandan Nilekani said India lacked disruption in transportation due to the absence of a national regulator. For transportation the regulator is the state, and the moment a state is a regulator, each of them will have a different thing, he said at an event in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The three most disruptive regulators in India are the Reserve Bank of India for banking, the Securities and Exchange Board of India for mutual funds and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for telecommunications, all of whom are national regulators, he added.

Our technology automatically analyses the market for demand and supply and adjusts price. So to ensure that you have a constant supply of vehicles, it's essential to ensure that you do not have a price cap," Rathod said. "Majority of our rides are cheaper than the government-prescribed prices and surge is just a mechanism to ensure that you have a car every time you want one.



He said Uber has responded with its feedback on the rules and proposed changes that makes the industry viable for all.

India's taxi-hailing market is estimated to be between $1 billion and $1.2 billion (Rs 6,600 crore and Rs 7,900 crore) in annualised gross booking value in February 2016, according to RedSeer Management Consulting Pvt Ltd, a research and advisory firm that tracks online businesses in India. Between Uber and Ola, 600,000 drivers ferry 300 passengers each a month on one-way trips, majority of them in large cities such as Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Maharashtra is also planning similar rules to govern taxi aggregators. More states could follow with rules to restrict these aggregators.

For Uber, India is the largest market that is still open for competition. In China, Uber faces intense competition from local rival Didi Kuadi, which is the biggest player, in a global alliance with firms such as Ola and Lyft.

Ola dominates the Indian market with over 65 per cent share, according to RedSeer. But Uber, which launched its India service from Bengaluru, has caught up quickly to own the remaining share.
As shareholders of Fairfax India gather at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto to attend their first annual general meeting on Thursday, its India-born chairman, Prem Watsa, is ready to impress with a highly productive investment record. The investment holding company has deployed nearly 90 per cent of the $1 billion it raised last year.

Of this, about $500 million was invested in the past 15 days alone, when the India-focused investment firm bought a 30 per cent stake in Sanmar Chemicals and a 33 per cent stake in Bangalore International Airport. Its parent, Fairfax Financial, provided an additional $122 million for these two buyouts as the investment strategy for Fairfax India restricts it from investing more than $250 million in an individual firm.

These two deals made in a fortnight also mark new calls in Watsa's investment strategy for India. Hyderabad-born Watsa, also known as the Canadian Warren Buffett, largely focused on financial services and travel businesses for his investments in India till he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2014.

Modi was then on a state visit to Canada to attract investments. Watsa responded to his 'India Calling' appeal by raising about $1 billion through listing of Fairfax India on the Toronto Stock Exchange in January 2015. He promised to primarily invest this amount in India in a couple of years to benefit from the pro-business political environment under the new government.

"Fairfax India believes that the sectors of the Indian economy that will benefit most include infrastructure, consumer services, retail and exports," says a person, who works closely with Watsa. "But, it is open to investments in other opportunities such as manufacturing where India has an advantage over other countries," he says talking about the strategy that Fairfax India is playing out.

Sanmar, the largest speciality PVC company in India, is in the process of doubling its capacity in Egypt to 400,000 tonnes per annum. Once the expansion is completed, Sanmar will have a total PVC capacity of over 700,000 tonnes per annum, making it among the largest PVC in the world. In addition, Sanmar also manufactures caustic soda, chloromethanes, refrigerant gases, industrial salt and speciality chemical intermediates.

Sanmar is not the first chemical business that Fairfax India has invested in. In November last year, it invested $19 million for a 45 per cent stake in oleo chemicals producer Adi Finchem. Oleo chemicals are derived from plant or animal fat, which can be used for making both edible and non-edible products. These investments are targeted to leverage India's export and manufacturing potential as chemical production is shifting to Asian countries from developed ones on account of raw material availability and environmental concerns.

Fairfax India's other investments include a 21.8 per cent stake that it bought in India Infoline (IIFL) for $202 million in December 2015 through an open offer. Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel Fund first invested in IIFL in 2010. It also holds board representation in the financial services firm since 2012 and has about nine per cent stake.

"Prem Watsa's strength lies in his ability to take big bold macro-economic calls," says R Venkataraman, managing director, IIFL, reminding how he rightly predicted the global financial crisis in 2008. "He is optimistic about India's economic growth over the next decade, and hence is investing not only in financial services but also in infrastructure and manufacturing," says Venkataraman.

FAIRFAX SPREADS ITS WINGS
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a four-year public interest suit that had challenged the appointment of as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and alleged irregularities in the selection process.

The petition was filed by a group of people, including former IPS (Indian Police Service) officer Julio Ribeiro. It challenged a change to Sebi rules in the run-up to Sinhas appointment. The ministry of finance, the Sebi chief, and the central government were impleaded as respondents.

The matter was listed on Wednesday, for final disposal before a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and R Bhanumathi and U U Lalit.

The attorney general told the bench the Sebi rules had been further changed, which took care of most of the concerns raised in the petition. A new petition challenging the recent one-year extension to Sinha was mentioned in the court on Wednesday. It was listed for hearing on April 22 (next Friday), according to lawyers.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today said that she will not allow GAIL's pipeline project to come in the state and will keep putting pressure on the Centre not to implement in the project in Tamil Nadu.

During her campaign, for the upcoming Assembly Elections, at Dharmapuri today, Jayalalithaa said around 120,000 trees will be lost because of the project. Around 12 lakh trees need to be planted, which is not possible.

"I will not allow the GAIL pipeline project and will keep putting pressure the Centre not to implement the project in the state," said Jayalalithaa.

Thousands of farmers in these seven districts are opposing the project stating that it will impact their livelihood, as it will be difficult to do agriculture in the land once the pipeline is laid.

GAIL (India) Limited was instructed by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 2013, for laying pipeline alongside the Highways without affecting the agricultural lands of the farmers of Tamil Nadu.

GAIL had challenged the above order of Government of Tamil Nadu in the Madras High Court which quashed the state government's order in November 2013. Government of Tamil Nadu challenged the Order in the Supreme Court and the same was dismissed two months back. The Supreme Court ordered the State Government of Tamil Nadu to fix market value of land as on January 1, 2016 for the Right of Use (RoU) compensation purpose.

The ownership of the land remains with the land owner and RoU of land is acquired for laying of gas pipeline and after laying the pipeline, the land is restored back in original condition to the land owner.

Compensation is paid to the land owner as per Petroleum & Minerals Pipelines Act and the Supreme Court have ordered that the RoU compensation against land will be 10 per cent of market value as on January 2016 plus 30 per cent Solatium.

Farmers can continue agricultural activities after the restoration of land and only construction of permanent structure, plantation of deep rooted trees are not allowed in the acquired RoU and as such there will be no adverse effect to the interest of the farmers, said the Minister.

However, farmers fear that any kind of digging of land above the pipeline could be considered by the company as an offense and even if the pipeline is damaged due to some other reason, the land owners has to face serious legal action.

They are also alleging that if the pipeline cuts across a farmland splitting the land into two parts, the farmer cannot take water from one side to the other side by establishing a pipeline, as any possible damage to the gas pipeline would result in serious legal action.

The 925 kms Kochi-Kottanad-Bangalore-Mangalore pipeline passes through Kerala (505 kms), Tamil Nadu (310 kms) and Karnataka (60 kms). The pipeline has already been laid for 200 kms at a cost of Rs 685 crore.

The project was originally started in 2012, of the total project only 50 kms has been completed in Ernakulam (Kerala). Not only in Tamil Nadu, farmers have been protesting in Kerala fearing that they will loose their livelihood. They also want the Government to withdraw the Petroleum & Mineral Pipelines Act, 1962 (PMP Act). State Government also supports the farmers in this mater.
Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh on Wednesday said the forecast of good monsoon has raised hopes of higher farm production this year.

"We hope that production will be good this year as it will come after two back-to-back droughts," Singh said.

Earlier, agriculture secretary Shobhana K Pattanayak said the government hopes that kharif sowing will be on in full swing. "The government expects good distribution of rainfall and will keep close watch on the situation in August and September, when there is possibility of slightly more rain as projected by the Met department," Pattanayak said.

He said IMD's forecast is a welcome development because of short rainfall in the past two years. "Ten states are having drought-like condition so the prediction of normal monsoon is very good for farmers because our kharif sowing will go on in full swing," the secretary said at a seminar.

On its first seasonal forecast for 2016, India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said the monsoon was expected to be "above normal" at 106 per cent of the long period average (LPA).

Southwest monsoon is a lifeline for millions of farmers across the country and its even distribution is as critical as total rainfall. The Director General of IMD, L S Rathore said, there could be possibility of excess rains in some parts, but its prediction is difficult as of now.

On drought and drinking water crisis in many states, Radha Mohan Singh said the ministry of drinking water and sanitation has released over Rs 2,300 crore to the affected states. Another Rs 820 crore would be allocated soon.

"I hope that now states would also contribute their share of the funds as Centre's allocation is just 50 per cent of the total fund," Singh said.

On the claims that indiscriminate sugarcane cultivation in Marathwada and Vidarbha has led to the water crisis in the region, the agriculture minister said instead of altering the crop cycle, there is a need to introduce drought and flood resistant seed varieties, which the government is doing.
Banks Board Bureau (BBB) Chairman Vinod Rai met Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha in New Delhi on Wednesday, a week ahead of the board's next meeting scheduled on April 22.

Rai, former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, said the first priority of BBB would be to kick-start lending activity without fear of bureaucratic overhang. "First priority is to kick-start lending activity among Public sector banks (PSBs) without fearing bureaucratic overhand," said Rai.

The bureau had met for the first time in Mumbai on April 8 to discuss consolidation among PSBs and board-level appointments, and recapitalising the lenders.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan had cut the repo rate by 25 basis points earlier this month to 6.5 per cent after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stuck to the fiscal consolidation path in the Budget. The monetary policy had wanted the lower rates passed on to public.

On the much-awaited consolidation of public sector banks, Rai said it was difficult to give a timeline. "The work on PSB consolidation will start along with kick-starting of lending activity by banks."



The bureau was launched on April 1. It is a temporary arrangement, to be transitioned into a Bank Investment Company (BIC) that would act as a holding company for all government-owned lenders. BIC will also be responsible for capital infusion in PSBs.

The transformation of IDBI Bank into a privately owned lender is also underway. Finance Minister Jaitley had said in his Budget speech that the government would bring its stake below 50 per cent in IDBI Bank and look into ways to consolidate existing banks.

Jaitley had also said the government was moving towards privatising IDBI Bank. Capital infusion of Rs 25,000 crore in 2015-16 was also not enough for PSBs. The bureau is expected to discuss a way forward.

Losses of many public sector banks - including Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Central Bank - aggregated over Rs 12,000 crore in the third quarter of 2015-16, while others such as State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) witnessed a sharp erosion in profits.

PNB posted a 93 per cent decline in profit, with non-performing assets (NPAs) rising to 8.5 per cent of all loans. SBI saw a 62 per cent decline in net profit and fresh slippage of Rs 20,700 crore.

Gross NPAs of public sector banks stood at Rs 3.60 lakh crore at December-end, up from Rs 2.67 lakh crore at the end of March 2015.
Moodys said on Wednesday that the fall in remittances from Indian workers in West Asia would not have adverse effects on the country because the shortfall would be offset by robust remittance flow from Indians working in other foreign locations, such as the US.

Around 50 per cent of remittances to India are from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries. There has been a notable fall in inflow from these countries as a slowing global economy and plunging oil prices affected jobs and income of workers there.

Other than Indias, the global rating agency analysed the impact of falling remittances from the GCC countries on five other Asian nations - Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Like India, the Philippines and Vietnam will also not feel much pain from the shrinkage in remittances, Moody's said.

For Vietnam, the US is the source of 57 per cent of remittances. India gets 15.9 per cent of its inflows from the US.

For India and the Philippines, the relatively diverse occupations of their workers should also provide a buffer against the slowdown in remittances, Moodys said.

It would take a 10-30 per cent fall in remittances to outweigh a 50 per cent drop in net oil imports for most countries. Given its larger net oil import bill, India is an exception, and can thus withstand a much greater fall in remittances.

Moodys said in India, where oil import costs exceed the value of remittances as a percentage of GDP, the net impact of lower oil prices on the current account should remain positive even if remittances fall.

In case of sovereigns that are already facing external pressures, or where growth is weakening, a slowdown in remittances will exacerbate such challenges. Sri Lanka stands out in this regard due to its large financing needs and thin foreign reserve cushion. Bangladesh and Pakistan face similar challenges to a lesser degree, Moodys noted.
The government is planning to develop five new major ports to improve trade and transport along the 7,500-km coastline, Union shipping minister said on Wednesday.

India currently has 12 major ports and three more are being developed, one each in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The total cost of the three upcoming ports is about Rs 25,000 crore.

"We will give more details about the five planned ports over the next three days," said Gadkari.

He was speaking in here ahead of the three-day Maritime India Summit 2016, starting on Thursday.

The event is expected to see signing of deals worth Rs 82,900 crore. It will comprise 86 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 68,700 crore and 35 concession orders worth Rs 5,900 crore. About 3,000 delegates are expected at the event which will also have 12 Cabinet ministers, along with chief ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Goa.

At the inauguration, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to lay focus on the ambitious Sagarmala project of the government. The Sagarmala expects to see investment worth Rs 12 lakh crore, creating around 10 million jobs.

Meanwhile, the shipping ministry has signed an MoU with South Korea for cooperation in port-related matters. South Korea is also the partner for the maritime event starting on Thursday.
The National Agriculture Market (NAM), to be launched on a pilot basis by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, will require statutory changes to enable smooth inter-state movement of farm goods.

"This will happen only after all states and mandis are integrated and the fine-print for this change would be suggested by a high-powered panel of experts constituted under the chairmanship of former Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices chief Ashok Gulati," a senior official said.

The launch of national e-agriculture market will enable farmers in eight states, including Uttar Pradesh, to sell 25 commodities online in 21 wholesale mandis.

Once the targeted 585 wholesale mandis across the country are integrated with NAM by March 2018, the Centre will allow of agri-produce after addressing issues related to taxes among others.

The NAM portal will also be launched on Thursday by Modi here on the 125th birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar. The portal will be inaugurated by state dignitaries in 21 wholesale mandis in eight states - Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh.

"We have received proposals from 12 states for integration of 365 wholesale mandis. Of these, 21 mandis from eight states have been selected for the pilot launch," Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh told reporters.

He said 25 commodities such as onion, potato, apple, wheat, pulses, coarse grains and cotton, among others, had been identified for online trading. For instance, in Uttar Pradesh, six wholesale mandis have been integrated with the digital platform for trading wheat.

Farmers can sell their produce in any one of these markets where prices are quoted higher.

To integrate a wholesale mandi with the online platform, the state governments have to amend their APMC Act to ensure there is a single licence for trading to be valid across the state, single-point levy of market fee and provision for electronic auction as a mode for price discovery.

Singh said some states have given in-principle nod to be part of NAM and are expected to soon send their proposals while in states like Bihar and Kerala, there is no APMC Act and those states need to take a call.

According to a senior agriculture ministry official, the NAM portal has been designed for integration of mandis across the country.
In a major bonanza for Indian shippers, the Railway Board has removed the port congestion surcharge levied on cargo moving to inland distribution points.

The move is likely to benefit companies in the coal and iron ore sectors, apart from shippers of containerised cargo. It will lead to 15 million tonnes of incremental traffic in the current financial year alone.

The railways had been levying the surcharge since November 2014 on companies importing goods as a compensation for the huge cost arising from the pressure on intermodal rail connection as a result of the surge in import volumes.

The surcharge, levied at a rate of 10 per cent of base freight rate, is applicable on all goods traffic, including containers, originating from the ports. The circular for the withdrawal of the port congestion surcharge will be issued shortly. This is in line with the rail ministers promise of making rail a competitive mode of transport vis-a-vis roads, a senior rail ministry official told Business Standard.

A sizeable portion of Indias freight, particularly containerised goods, moves by rail, given the traditional cost advantage as compared to roadways, and ease of handling. The pace of containerisation of commodities has gained momentum in recent years following the entry of private players in the intermodal sector, a monopoly of the state-owned Container Corporation of India until 2006.

Traffic handled at 12 major ports in India dropped by more than 4 per cent to 549 million tonnes between April 2015 and February 2016 as compared to 527 MT in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Indian Railways is grappling with a severe drop in freight volumes thanks to a slump in core sector growth.

The railways missed a bulk of the last financial years target of carrying incremental freight of 85 MT with volume losses observed in all principal commodities of its freight basket including coal, iron ore, cement and food grains.
Sponge iron price jumped up 10% in the last one month on the back of an upsurge in demand from steel mills, following the governments protectionist measure to protect the interest of domestic producers.

Trading currently at Rs 12,500 a tonne, the steel-making raw material has seen a sharp uptick in restocking from steel producers amid expectations in seasonal demand from infrastructure and housing activities.

The sudden jump indicates a proportionate increase in prices of steel products in global as well as domestic markets and thereby, a revival in the fortunes of steel mills.

Indian steel mills had suffered a major setback in the two years following a sharp increase in dumping from China, Japan and South Korea.

However, measures taken by the government to curb cheap import from the aforementioned three origins are set to reduce dumping into India. Thus, the demand of steel making raw material is expected to increase by the second half of the current financial year.

Sponge iron demand has increased in the last one month on restocking from steel mills. The prices of competing raw material i.e. melting scrap, has also jumped similarly. The trend is likely to continue in future as well with strong revival in sponge iron prices by the second half of the current financial year, said Amitabh Mudgal, Vice President, Monnet Ispat.

Meanwhile, melting scrap has also become costlier by 10% in the last one month to trade currently at $225 a tonne from the level of $180-190 about a month ago as Turkey, which was not a major buyer in the world market until now, has started buying in large quantity.

The traditional supplier of melting scrap, i.e. Europe has diverted shipments to Turkey than exporting to Indian importers. Indias melting scrap import has witnessed a highest ever at around 15 million tonnes in the financial year 2015-16, a rise of over 40% from the previous year.

The sharp increase in import of melting scrap, a substitute, has resulted into lower demand of sponge iron from India resulting into price crash in the last two years from the level of around Rs 18,000  19,000 per tonne in 2014.

But, now the trend is changing rapidly in favour of Indian sponge iron producers with prices of melting scrap started moving up. In fact, a sharp cut in low grade iron ore price has made sponge iron making viable for independent producers. Despite that, sponge iron units are operating with a 40-45% of its installed capacity, said an independent producer in Chhattisgarh.

The government-owned iron ore miner NMDC announced 25-20% cut in the prices of low grade iron ore, a raw material for sponge iron making, which provided breather for its producers.
Kevin Rudd, former prime minister of Australia and president of Asia Society Policy Institute, a New York-based think-tank, has been championing the cause of India joining Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). In a recent visit to India, Rudd explains to Sudipto Dey why it is important for India and the US to resolve pending concerns around India's membership at the earliest, before the next APEC Summit at Lima in November this year. Edited excerpts:



What are the key concerns of APEC members about giving membership to India?



My position is that India's membership in APEC is overdue by 25 years. APEC was established 25 years ago, and India should have been a member from the beginning. That is a matter of history. My concern is about the future. My understanding is that not one among the APEC member states has any fundamental objection to India becoming a member.

I think there is a concern with the US, which prefers to see a more activist Indian position on regional and global trade liberalisation, than what it has seen in the past. The American concern is that India might slow down the APEC process, if it becomes a full member. I deeply disagree with that. Among other reasons, we have not applied such pre-conditions on other countries that have sought to become members of APEC. Secondly, if we are concerned on pan-regional level about India's economic and trade future, then we should deploy APEC to encourage India to move towards that direction.

There is another point that goes to the essence of APEC's arrangements. I don't think it is a credible argument that India could slow down, impede or undermine the normal work of APEC. That is, the timetable for implementation of any collective APEC resolution on tariff regulations or any regulatory reforms behind tariff wars lies with each individual member state. They have the flexibility to pursue the timetable of their choosing. If you look at economic development of each of the APEC states, there is difference between Canada, China, Chile, or Vietnam. So, each member is proceeding at its own pace.

Would you suggest any confidence-building measures for India to bridge the gap in perceptions?



These are matters that need to be resolved between New Delhi and Washington. I would strongly encourage both sides to resolve any outstanding impediments. Look at the upcoming APEC Summit in November at Lima in Peru. The question of future membership could well come up because of the issue around Columbian accession (to APEC). Then there is the question of democratic Burma (Myanmar), and how that government wants to fully integrate with economies of the region. If the membership question opens up (at Lima), I hope the pending issues before New Delhi and Washington get resolved before that.

Do you see any role for businesses, both from India and the US, in this?



I will encourage the Confederation of Indian Industry, which has been our collaborators in the Asia Society Policy Institute, on joint task force on India's APEC membership, to enter into a debate here. I would encourage US-India Business Council and the APEC Business Council to speak to the business constituency. When APEC Summits are held, they bring CEOs (and business leaders) from a remarkable range of corporations, from all 21 member states. It is not just a gathering of government and policy decision-makers. An APEC Summit is always accompanied by an APEC Business Summit, which is network of thousands of significant business leaders from the Asia-Pacific region. Those networks open up further opportunities.

If there is any serious concern in domestic debates about India missing out on access to global value chains (GVCs), then APEC undertakes considerable technical work with member states and member economies, on those very issues. They ensure members are fully integrated to GVCs. Among the most integrated GVCs, the top 10 are APEC members.

What India does in formal trade negotiations, with Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) or the board of the World Trade Organization negotiations, is a matter for India (to decide). In fact, all the TPP members are APEC members. If India wants to go further in regional trade arrangements, APEC is the common underpinning to all the negotiating parties - RCEP, TPP, and in the future, for Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific as well. That is phase II. Phase I for India is APEC itself.

How do you assess the political implications of the Panama Papers leak?



All countries benefit from transparency. I support the Indian government's approach to dealing with challenge of corruption in the country. Transparency is a challenge for everybody - developing and developed countries alike. If maximum transparency and maximum competitive neutrality compete on the basis of their merits, you have a high quality product with a competitive price. That's where market economies work. What are the enemies of market economy? Anti-competitive conduct and corruption. By opening our economies more and more, we reduce the likelihood of massive distortions and abuse of such distortions.
TThomas Mathew, additional secretary to President Pranab Mukherjee, has emerged the front-runner for the post of chief executive officer of the country's first sovereign wealth fund - National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). The government is in the process of finalising the name by early May.



NIIF, which has a corpus of Rs 40,000 crore, will act as a nodal agency for development of infrastructure including railways, ports, roads, airports and industrial corridor. While the government will invest Rs 20,000 crore in NIIF, the remaining amount will come from private investors.



Prior to his stint at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Mathew was joint secretary, capital markets division, in the finance ministry.



We have received about 70 applications for the post, said a government official.



The appointment will be finalised by the search-cum-selection committee formed under the chairmanship of Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das. The fund will be responsible to identify and invest in commercially viable projects.



Jaspal Bindra, former Asia CEO of Standard Chartered, is also among the contenders. He had stepped down from the position last year as part of a broad management shake-up. Vikram Limaye, managing director and CEO of IDFC Ltd, is another applicant.



India and the United Arab Emirates signed a pact to mobilise up to $75 billion long-term investment in in February during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to that country.



The government has been seeking private, including foreign, investments to fix Indias creaky infrastructure, which would support the countrys Make in India campaign.



was set up in December 2015 as an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable new, existing and stalled projects. It is expected to be a lean organisation. India Infrastructure Finance Co has been appointed an investment adviser to and IDBI Capital Market Services as an adviser to NIIF Trustee Ltd initially for six months and one-year, respectively. The government had significantly liberalised foreign direct investment norms in the construction sector last year.
BJP president Amit Shah today charged the ruling AIADMK, its rival DMK and the Congress as corrupt parties.

He asked the voters in Tamil Nadu not to vote to these parties, while stating that BJP can be an alternate in the state.

Shah was talking to reporters at Tiruchy and he listed out the corruption cases against DMK (2G case), disproportionate asset case against AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, enforcement directorate case against Karti Chidambaram, son of Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

"There is no corruption charges against the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," claimed Shah.

BJP could provide the "alternative" Tamil Nadu was seeking, he said adding that Tamil Nadu had not progressed because of corruption. "BJP will give transparent and good governance and would transform the state," said Shah.

Echoing few of the Union Ministers view, Shah said due to non-cooperation of the state government, Centre's schemes are not implemented in Tamil Nadu.

For instance, Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) has benefited states that have opted for it whereas Tamil Nadu has not agreed to join the scheme.

However Tamil Nadu government's stand is that the UDAY scheme would benefit only the banks and the private power producers and not the state government or the people, he alleged.

He claimed that due to the steps taken by the BJP government, firing at Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy has stopped and because of efforts taken by the Centre, the death penalty of five fishermen in Sri Lanka was stopped.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi will be contesting from Tiruvarur constituency, his hometown, while M K Stalin, his son and DMK leader will contest from Kolathur, Chennai, according to the list of candidates announced by the party today, for the Assembly elections to be held on May 16, 2016.

The party has today announced candidates' list for 173 assembly constituencies out of the total 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu. It has allocated 61 seats to the alliance parties, mainly to the Congress.

In Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency, where All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) supremo and the present Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa is contesting, the party has fielded Simla Muthu Chozhan.

The party has earlier announced that Karunanidhi will be submitting his nomination at Tiruvarur on April 25.

The DMK leader is planning to start his election campaign in Chennai on April 23. Karunanidhi contested at Tiruvarur Constituency in 2011, after a long period as it was under reserved category till 2008.

This time, senor party leaders such as party general secretary K Anbazhagan, Ko Si Mani, Subha Tangavelan among some others did not find their place in the candidates' list.

DMK has also entered into an alliance with Congress to contest in the assembly elections in Puducherry together. Congress will contest in 21 constituencies in Puducherry, while DMK will contest in nine, it is said.
Many have established a separate internal segment to cater to the needs of start-up entities, as they see value in building a relationship with some of these expected to become large companies in years to come.

"For the first time in our country, entrepreneurship is being promoted in a structured manner. And, most of private equity and venture capital funds are foreign owned; investments will flow in. Clearly, they are here to stay and become bigger; we want to engage with them as they start up," said Smita Bhagat, co-head, e-commerce at HDFC Bank. It has launched services that offer banking transactions, advisory services, forex and payment solutions for start-ups.

Recently, State Bank of India opened a dedicated branch for start-ups in Bengaluru, to assist them in servicing needs such as employee account maintenance, arranging for funds, etc. RBL (formerly Ratnakar Bank) has also opened a specialised branch for this category.

"They have to get the business started and at this time, we come up with a value proposition offering specialised services, which also ends up being a differentiator for us, and so we are engaging with this highly charged-up eco-system from early on," said Rajeev Ahuja, strategy head at RBL.

The bankers also expect that as these companies keep engaging with them, it would be possible to cross-sell products.

Recently, even the Reserve Bank of India has expressed interest, saying it would take steps to contribute to an environment that is conducive for growth of start-ups.

Experts say segmentation helps in attracting a new customer base. "It is similar to what we have seen in other product offerings, such as for women, senior citizens, kids, etc. The products might be fairly similar but marketing and packaging it differently helps attracting potential clients," said another banker, requesting anonymity.
The Supreme Court has said that it is in favour of making public the total figure of outstanding bank loans to individuals and entities. Commenting on the list provided by the central bank, a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice R Banumathi said that This information does make out a case. This is quite a substantial amount which is involved.



RBI has objected to naming and shaming the defaulters on the grounds that defaults are possible in a bad economic scenario.

Looking at the list of defaulters who owe Rs 500 crore or more to banks, the bench observed Rich people take crores of rupees as loans and declare insolvency, while poor farmers are suffering. Arguing the case for the petitioner, advocate Prashant Bhushan said had seized and auctioned several acres of farmers land despite the fact that they had defaulted in the repayment of very small loans ranging between Rs 15,000 and Rs 1 lakh.

Rather than looking at the issue in hand which is of defaulters, it seems the debate in moving towards a rich versus poor battle.

The crux of the matter is the distinction between defaulters and wilful defaulters. RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said defaults in business do happen because everything is not under promoters' control and making such names public could hamper their operations.

Most of the banking NPAs in the current scenario are on account of poor policies and lethargic governance as in the case of power and infrastructure sector. Steel sector loan defaults are on account of dumping from global majors as worldwide demand has crashed.

These sectors account for a major chunk of NPAs that are currently dragging down. Naming and shaming the promoters of such companies is unlikely to solve the problem or change anything.

An article in Business Standard by Renuka Sane, Anjali Sharma and Susan Thomas [LINK 1] says that the Supreme Court order for defaulter disclosure appears to be a case of overreach. The original dispute made no demand for defaulter information from the RBI.

The article continues to point out that the job of a court is to adjudicate disputes: hear both sides, weigh the evidence, deliver a judgement, in an efficient and timely manner. If there is no clear link between the disclosure order and the case at hand, the disclosure order has only added costs and delays, and thus diminished the performance of the court.



The present case which the Supreme Court is hearing is one that was filed in 2003 by the non-profit Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) and had originally raised the issue of loans advanced to some companies by state-owned Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO). The bench later expanded the scope of the PIL and impleaded the Ministry of and Indian Banks Association.

Court delays have only made the matter worse as wilful defaulters use it as a tool to defer payments and force to enter a settlement. Take the case of Kingfisher and Vijay Mallya; there have been 81 hearings since 2013 but there is no sign of a start of the recovery process. Ironically it was a single judge and a division bench of the Calcutta High Court who had rejected pleas against declaring Kingfisher a .

While Rajans point makes sense that genuine cases should not be clubbed with wilful defaulters, Bhushans argument also carries weight. Just as a bank considers external forces can be reason for a company defaulting the same logic should be extended to farmers. Low prices of their products or changing weather patterns should be taken into account before depriving the farmer of his land.

Releasing the list of defaulters is not going to help in recovery of the money. In fact if the courts would have been proactive we would not have so many defaulting cases in the first place. The Business Standard article [LINK 1] says that BIFR proceedings can run for four to five years. Civil court proceedings on issuing or enforcing orders for recovery have gone on for 20 years.

The need of the hour is for the speedy implementation of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015 which discourages delays and gives banks a free hand in recognising a problem and addressing it immediately. Delays, be it at the end of the government, banks or courts result in curable assets turning bad and later toxic.
Memorandum of Understanding between India and United Arab Emirates on cooperation in preventing and combating of Human Trafficking .

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and United Arab Emirates (UAE) on cooperation in preventing and combating of Human Trafficking. The MoU is expected to be signed very soon after the approval. .

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The MoU will strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two countries and increase the bilateral cooperation on the issues of prevention, rescue, recovery and repatriation related to human trafficking especially women and children expeditiously. .

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The following are the salient features of the MoU: .

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(i) To strengthen cooperation to prevent all forms of human trafficking, especially that of women and children and ensure speedy investigation and prosecution of traffickers and organized crime syndicates in either country. .

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(ii) Taking preventive measures that would eliminate human trafficking in women and children and in protecting the rights of victims of trafficking. .

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(iii) Anti-trafficking Cells and Task Forces will work on both sides to prevent human trafficking. .

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(iv) Police and other concerned authorities will work in close cooperation and exchange information which can be used to interdict human traffickers. .

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(v) The repatriation of victims would be done as expeditiously as possible and the home country will undertake the safe and effective re-integration of the victims. .

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(vi) A Joint Task Force with representatives from both sides would be constituted to monitor the working of the MoU. .

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Background: .

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As a destination of trafficking, South Asian countries are mainly affected by domestic trafficking, or trafficking from the neighboring countries. However, South Asian victims are also increasingly detected in the Middle East. .

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India is a source and transit country as far as trafficking to UAE is concerned, whereas UAE is a destination and transit country for men and women, predominantly from South, Southeast and Central Asia and Eastern Europe who are subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. Migrant workers, who comprise over 95 percent of the UAE's private sector workforce, are recruited primarily from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iran and East, South and Southeast Asia. Some of these workers face forced labour in the UAE. Women from some of these countries travel willingly to the UAE to work as domestic workers, secretaries, beauticians and hotel cleaners, but some are subjected to forced labour by unlawful withholding of their passports, restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, threats and physical or sexual abuse. .

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The reinforcement of anti-trafficking efforts at all levels between the UAE and India is essential for prevention and protection of victims. This requires mutual cooperation among both the countries for intelligence sharing, joint investigation and a coordinated response to the challenges of human trafficking. For this purpose, it is proposed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with UAE. We have already signed one MoU to prevent trafficking with Bangladesh and another with Bahrain is to be signed during this month. .

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Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, former President of France meets PM

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Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, former President of France, met Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today. .

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The Prime Minister congratulated Mr. Sarkozy on the publication and success of his recent book, La France pour la vie". .

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The Prime Minister and Mr. Sarkozy condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Pathankot, Brussels and other parts of the world, and called for concrete action by the global community against the threat of terrorism. .

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Mr. Sarkozy congratulated Prime Minister Modi for the positive role played by India for the success of COP-21 Summit in Paris last year. .

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Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation Limited (ALIMCO), working under the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, conducted a mega distribution camp for Aids and Assistive Devices, in Bareilly yesterday. 1578 beneficiaries were provided with state-of-the-art high-end technical devices, in an event presided over by Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, in the presence of Shri Santosh Kumar Ganwar, Minister of State of Textiles (Independent Charge), Member of Parliament, Bareilly. .

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Speaking on the occasion Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot said that the Central Government has brought transparency to the ADIP Scheme and the massive response and success of the scheme has added to the popularity of this initiative by the Ministry. The Union Minister also informed the audience that 315 children with Hearing Impairment have been successfully provided with Cochlear Implants. He also added that the Government has launched the Accessible India Campaign/Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan as a step towards achieving Universal Accessibility. 50 Cities and 705 Railway stations in India are being covered under the Campaign. .

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Appreciating the efforts of the Department in successfully organizing this Camp at Bareilly, Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar expressed his gratitude on behalf of his constituency. He added that this Camp will benefit many persons with disabilities (PwDs) and help them overcome odds that they currently face in their daily lives. .

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Shedding further light on the activities of DEPwD Secretary DEPwD, Dr Vinod Aggarwal informed the gathering that the Department was not only providing Assistive devices to PwDs but has also provided skill training to over 1 lakh PwDs in the past one year. .

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1578 beneficiaries were provided with free-of-cost equipment worth Rs 1.31 Crore. The beneficiaries were identified under a screening exercise carried out by ALIMCOs Baliya Unit with help from District Administration, Bareilly.The distributed high end devices included - .

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25 Motorised Tricycles .

1200 Tricycles .

96 Folding Wheel chairs .

15 C.P Chairs .

678 Crutches .

138 Walking Sticks .

16 Braille Cane .

360 Behind-the-ear Hearing Aid .

07 MSIED Kits .

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CMD ALIMCO, Shri D.R Sarin; was also present on the occasion. .

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The 10th Civil Services Day function will be organised at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on April 21, 2016 by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, PG and Pension. The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will confer awards to civil servants for excellence in implementation of Priority Programmes of the Government of India namely Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), Swachh Vidyalaya and Soil Health Card Scheme. This is for the first time a new category of Excellence in implementing a Priority Programme has been added to the Prime Ministers Awards for Excellence in Public Administration. .

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A total of ten districts will be awarded the Prime Ministers Awards this year under the four Priority Programmes. These awards be given in three Groups, - the first group consists of eight North-Eastern States and the three Hill States of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The remaining 18 States constitute the second Group while the third Group comprises of the seven Union Territories. Eight awards will be given to the first and second Group under the four Priority Progammes. However, no award will be given for two Programmes, - Swachh Bharat (Grameen) and Soil Health Card for the Group comprising seven Union Territories. .

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The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) has conducted an exhaustive analysis and assessment for short listing the awards. Ministries concerned with the four Priority Programmes were involved at each stage. Line Ministries submitted a list of top ranked 74 districts in all the four Priority Programmes, - PMJDY - 20, Swachh Vidyalaya 20, Swachh Bharat (Gramin) 17 and Soil Health Card 17. This was followed by presentations by each District Officer. The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances hired an expert agency, Quality Council of India (QCI), to analyze the feedback taken from the citizens. A call centre was set up through BSNL and more than 3 lakh surveys were conducted across the four priorities programme. Citizen feedback was analysed and it was incorporated into the evaluation process.

A two member team consisting of Director/Deputy Director level Officers were sent for Field Study Visits to 38 shortlisted districts during March 9-12, 2016. These teams held multiple interactions with various stakeholders. Based on firsthand experience which helped validate the claims made during presentations by district officers, the Experts Committee headed by Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Shri Devendra Chaudhry recommended 24 districts to the Empowered Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary Shri Pradeep Kumar Sinha. This committee made final recommendation to the Prime Minister. .

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Like the previous year, the Civil Services Day function will be an elaborate affair spread over two days. The Union Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu will be the Chief Guest at the inaugural function on April 20, 2016. The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh will preside over the function. The inaugural session will be followed by eight panel discussions on the replication of PM awarded initiatives during last year and four priority programmes. These sessions will be chaired by Union Ministers/persons of eminence. .

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Civil Services Day is organized on 21st April every year, when civil servants rededicate themselves to the cause of the citizens and renew their commitment to public service. This day coincides with the date on which Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel had addressed the first batch of probationers at the All India Administrative Service Training School at Metcalfe House, New Delhi in 1947. The Prime Ministers Awards for Excellence in Public Administration are also given away on this day. Civil Services Day was organised for the first time in 2006. Since then every year the function is being organized by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. .

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PM Awards for Excellence in Public Administration have been instituted with a view to acknowledge, recognize and reward the extraordinary and innovative work done by officers of the Central and State Governments for the welfare of common citizen. .

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Prime Minister to inaugurate first ever Maritime India Summit in Mumbai Tomorrow; Contracts and agreements worth over Rs. 82 Thousand Crore likely to be signed during the event .

As the Maritime Sector in India goes through a phase of rapid transformation and modernization, the Ministry of Shipping is all set to showcase the investment opportunities in the sector at the first ever Maritime India Summit 2016, scheduled to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in Mumbai on the 14th of April 2016. The objective of the three day Summit from 14th to 16th April 2016 is to attract potential investors to the vast opportunities that the various components of the Maritime Sector have on offer. It will showcase projects covering sectors like port development and modernization, Greenfield ports, port led development under Sagarmala", shipbuilding, ship repair and ship breaking, inland water transportation, coastal shipping, lighthouse tourism and cruise shipping, hinterland connectivity and logistics handling facilities to the potential investors from across the world. .

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The event will have participation of delegates, CEOs and speakers from 41 countries in addition to India. Republic of Korea is the Partner Country for the Summit. A large delegation led by its Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Mr. Kim Young-Suk and comprising of two Deputy Ministers, senior Government officials and representatives of 52 maritime sector companies is participating in the Summit. Ministers from Mauritius, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Madagascar, Sudan and Maldives will also participate in the Summit. .

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A high level CEOs Forum has been organized on the first day of the conference where 19 CEOs from abroad and 17 CEOs from India, all from maritime companies are expected to participate. .

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Thematic sessions will be held on 14th and 15th April, while the exhibition will remain open till 16th April 2016. The 13 thematic sessions include sessions on Sagarmala - Port Led development; Ship Building, Ship Repair and Ship Breaking; Skill Development through Maritime Education & Training; Inland Water Transportation and Coastal Shipping; Hinterland Connectivity & Multi-Modal Logistics; Opportunities in International Shipping & Maritime Financing;Opportunities in Maritime States; Cruise Shipping & Lighthouse Tourism; Island Development & Aquatic Resources; Maritime Security and Counter-Piracy. The partner country South Korea which is a leading country in Maritime related technologies and accounts for 30% of the global shipbuilding market will have a special session focusing on potential areas of collaboration. There will also be sessions on opportunities in maritime states. .

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72 speakers (Foreign - 38, Indian - 34) have confirmed their participation in the thematic sessions while more than 3000 delegates including over 300 international delegates have registered and are expected to attend deliberations. .

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Two sessions on 14th and 15th April have been planned for signing of over 120 business and concession agreements and EPC contracts. These are worth over Rs. 82 Thousand Crores (over US $ 12 Billion). 20 LOIs are being signed covering an investment of Rs. 8,260 Crores (US $ 1.3 Billion). An MOU with South Korea on Port Development & Operations is also proposed to be signed. .

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Talking to newspersons on the eve of the Summit in Mumbai, Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari said that the port led development is high on priority of the Government. He said it has potential of creating one crore jobs, 40 lakh directly and 60 lakh indirectly in next five years. The Minister added that the Summit will open a new era of international cooperation in maritime sector which will immensely benefit the country. .

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Other Union Ministers scheduled to participate in the Summit include Minister of Home Shri Rajnath Singh, Minister of External Affairs Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Minister of Defence Shri Manohar Parrikar, Minister of Steel & Mines Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, MoS (Independent Charge)for Power,Coal and New and Renewable Energy Sh. Piyush Goyal, MoS for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Sh. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, MoS for Tourism and Culture (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation Dr. Mahesh Sharma, MoS Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge) Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, MoS Petroleum and Natural Gas (Independent Charge) Sh. Dharmendra Pradhan, MoS for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Sh.

Pon. Radhakrishnan, MoS for Agriculture Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, MoS for Home Affairs Sh. Kiren Rijiju and MoS for Railways Sh. Manoj Sinha. .

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Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Sh. N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Maharashtra Sh. Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Gujarat Smt. Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister of Goa Sh. Laxmikant Parsekar will also participate in the Summit in addition to ministers and senior officials from different states. .

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An exhibition, along with exclusive demo sessions will showcase the latest technologies, products and services as well as help disseminate knowledge about the latest development in Maritime Sector. The exhibition has a special India Pavilion and dedicated pavilions for South Korea and Norway. A total of 200 companies are setting up stalls in the exhibition showcasing maritime competence and latest technologies. .

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A Special Ship Museum is being created at the venue by famous art director Shri Nitin Desai. This museum has depiction of Indias glorious maritime history and heritage. A special e-book lounge focusing on Indian Maritime History and Heritage has been created for participants. .

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Given its 7517 Km long coastline, 14,426 Km of navigable inland waterways and rich and ancient maritime traditions, Indian Maritime Sector offersimmense development potential. Sea borne trade is growing at twice the global growth rate. The Indian Government has brought in policies to promote ease of doing business and give incentives for investment. 100 percent FDI has been allowed under automatic route for port development projects. Web based Port Community System has been put in place for promoting online port business and bidding process for PPP projects has been standardized and made transparent. Shipbuilding and ship repair industry has been accorded infrastructure status and is being given fiscal incentives. Further, income tax exemption is being provided to infrastructure development including ports. There is now reduced Service tax incidence on coastal shipping and Viability Gap Funding for PPP projects. All these steps have been taken so that the Maritime Sector in the country can realize its full potential and regain its lost glory. .

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Minister of State of Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju will inaugurate the national workshop on An Integrated Approach to Fire Safety" here tomorrow on the occasion of the Fire Services Day. The day long workshop is being held to deliberate upon the integrated approaches to fire safety.

The theme of this years Fire Services Day is Prevent Fire Accident, Promote Nations Development". The Ministry of Communications and IT, Department of Posts will release a postage stamp on the theme Fire Services in India. .

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In addition, Fire Services Week will be observed throughout the country from 14th-20th April, 2016. .

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Fire Services Day is observed on April 14th every year since 1968 in memory of the sacrifices made by the firemen during the devastating fire on SS Fort Strikine ship in Mumbai Dock in the year 1944. .

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NDMC to launch most of the projects by June; Rs.400 cr budgeted for smart city projects .

Smart Cities selected in the first round of City Challenge competition and respective state governments were today asked by the Ministry of Urban Development to ensure launch of implementation of smart city projects by June 25th this year marking the first year of launch of Smart City Mission. .

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Shri Rajiv Gauba, Secretary (Urban Development) spoke to the Chief Executive Officers of Special Purpose Vehicles set up for implementation of smart city plans and Municipal Commissioners of 16 Smart Cities and Mission Directors and senior officials of 9 respective state governments through video-conferencing and urged them to ensue launch of projects by June 25th. During the two hour long interaction, Shri Gauba reviewed the progress in respect of conversion of Smart City Plans of these cities into specific projects for tendering and awarding of works. .

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Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam that account for the remaining four smart cities have been kept out of the review as assembly elections are in progress in these cities. .

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Shri Rajiv Gauba ascertained progress by each city in respect of putting in place institutional mechanisms, transfer of central grants and share of respective states to SPVs, preparation of Detailed Project Reports for calling tenders etc. .

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Each of the 16 cities furnished details of projects being prepared in respect of Area Based Development including Retrofitting and Redevelopment and ICT based Pan-city solutions. .

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While urging the Smart Cities to ensure appointment of full time CEOs for the Special Purpose Vehicles, Shri Rajiv Gauba urged them to look beyond the IAS cadre given the shortage of officers and choose professionals for heading SPVs. .

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On hearing the responses of different cities, Shri Rajiv Gauba complimented them for innovative thinking and initiatives like mobile governance, LED lighting, Smart Classrooms, Open Air Gymnasiums etc. .

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Shri Naresh Kumar, Chairperson of New Delhi Municipal Council informed that substantial groundwork has already been done for the launch of projects by June this year. These include ; roof top solar systems, smart grids, e-Waste centres, 24 X 7 water supply and water quality sensors, mobile governance, multi-utility ducts, 20 MW Solar Power Plant, Smart Control Centre etc. He informed that a provision of Rs.400 cr for Smart City Project has been made in the Budget for this financial year. .

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Cities that participated in todays review are : Visakhapatnam and Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), Belgavi and Hubbali-Dharwad (Karnataka), Pune and Solapur( Maharashtra), Ahmedabad and Surat (Gujarat), Jaipur and Udaipur (Rajasthan), Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Ludhiana (Punjab) and NDMC. .

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Under Smart City Mission, launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on June 25 last year, the first batch of 20 selected smart cities have proposed a total investment of over Rs.48,000 cr over the next four years. central Government will provide an assistance of Rs.500 cr for each city while the respective States and urban local bodies will provide an equal amount. Rest of the required resources have to be mobilized through convergence of all schemes of central and state governments, PPP, Municipal Bonds and borrowings from financial institutions. .

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AAR
Indias and Germany's Thyssenkrupp are holding high-level talks on the possibility of combining their European steel operations in a joint venture, but are also looking at other options, German daily Rheinische Post said on Wednesday.

The newspaper said under the model currently being discussed Tata and Thyssenkrupp would each have shares in the joint venture proportional to the values of the businesses they were contributing. It also said Tata was very interested in Thyssenkrupp's Brazilian CSA steel plant. Officials at both Thyssenkrupp and declined to comment on the report.

Following Tata Steels announcement that it plans to sell its loss-making British business, there were renewed media reports that Europe's battered industry was set to undergo a long-awaited consolidation, starting with a merger of Tata's Dutch operation with Thyssenkrupp's European business.

A person aware of the talks had told Reuters at the time that Tata and Thyssenkrupp had been discussing combining their European steel operations.

Rheinische Post said on Wednesday that an agreement was not imminent, and that other options besides a joint venture were being discussed as well.
The high court in Kolkata has ruled in favour of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in the matter of de-recognition and exit of the (CSE).

The decision, unless challenged, could mark the beginning of the end of the 186-year bourse, once the country's second largest, with about 2,200 companies listed.

In a judgment dated Wednesday, judge Debangsu Basak disposed of two petitions filed by the exchange, in 2014 and 2015. These challenged Sebis power to move for compulsory exit and derecognition if an exchange did not fulfil minimum trading turnover and other criteria mentioned in the policy. The exchange had argued the regulator had to first form an opinion that it was in the public interest to shut it down and allow the exchange an opportunity to be heard before taking such a call.

Another issue under contention was Sebis shutting down of a clearing house operated by the exchange, which brought the latter to a standstill.

According to the judgement, the court had four broad questions before it. These were One, whether the Exit Policy of Sebi promulgated by a circular dated May 30, 2012, was in consonance with Section 5 of the SCR Act, 1956? Two, if CSE was obliged to apply for continuance of its clearing house business in terms of the SECC Regulations, 2012? Three, was the procedure undertaken by Sebi to close down the clearing house business of CSE vitiated by a breach of the principles of natural justice? Four, in the facts of this case, was Sebi justified in taking steps to make CSE exit the market compulsorily?



The bench concluded the first and the second issues are answered in the affirmative. The third issue is answered in the negative. The fourth issue is answered in the affirmative, in favour of Sebi and against the CSE.



B Madhav Reddy, president of CSE, told this newspaper the board of directors would be meeting shortly to decide the course of action. Our lawyers are studying the order. They will advise the board. We strongly believe there is a place for an exchange like us, where small companies can raise capital at reasonable costs. It would be unfortunate (if we are forced to exit), he said.

He added that the exchange was not compliant with the Rs 1,000 crore minimum annual turnover requirement fixed by Sebi for allowing regional exchanges to continue. But, this was due to the technical reason that the clearing house was not operational.



Between 2013 and 2015, Sebi granted exits to 17 regional exchanges, which became redundant after electronic national exchanges such as the National Stock Exchange and BSE had cornered most of the trading. CSE, among the bigger of the regional exchanges, did not apply for voluntary surrender of recognition and exit.

According to the 2012 exit policy, regional exchanges with own trading platform, with an annual trading of not less than Rs 1,000 crore and a minimum net worth Rs 100 crore, were allowed to continue. CSE was the only regional one to conform to the norms on trading platform and net worth, which impelled other such bourses to seek a tie-up with it. The exchange has its own trading platform, C-Star.

In June 2012, Sebi tightened the norms on clearing corporations, notifying the Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations Regulations, 2012.

Under these, bourses should either have their own Sebi-recognised clearing corporation or tie-up with one. Till then, CSE was putting through trade through an in-house clearing mechanism. In April 2013, CSE had to suspend trading, as it failed to comply with the clearing corporation norm.

According to the latest shareholding pattern filed by the exchange, about 26.5 per cent is held by trading members, public individuals hold 23.16 per cent, 93 corporations (including Kesoram, WBIDC and BSE) own 47 per cent, with banks and financial institutions owning the rest.
Shares of companies whose business is related to the rural sector extended gains for the second straight day after India's weather department forecasted above normal monsoon this year.

Swaraj Engines (12% at Rs 1,126), (up 7% at Rs 1,321) and VST Tillers Tractors (4% at Rs 1,783) from automobiles, Insecticides (6% at Rs 425), Kaveri Seed Company (6% at Rs 404), PI Industries (5% at Rs 643), Coromandel International (5% at Rs 219), Tata Chemicals (4% at Rs 390) and Rallis India (4% at Rs 190) from fertilizers and agrochemicals were up more than 3% each on the BSE.

At 10:51 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 1.7% or 430 points at 25,576.

After two consecutive droughts, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said the monsoon this year is expected to be above normal. It forecast monsoon at 106% of the Long Period Average (LPA). This is the first time since 1999 that department has made an above normal prediction.

Earlier, a private weather forecaster, Skymet, also forecasts above normal southwest monsoon rainfall in the country during the June  September, 2016 period. According to Skymet, rainfall during this period is likely to be at 105% of its long period average of (LPA) of 887mm, with a margin of error of +/- 4%.
At least 90 insurgents were killed and 120 injured in a military operation in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province in the past four days.

Launched in Dasht-e-Archi and Kunduz city, the operation aims at clearing insurgents from a number of villages here.

Colonel Mangal Rahat, a military commander in Kunduz said the operation was still ongoing.

"It's a joint military operation and the security forces have made good achievements during the operation. The insurgents built strong bases which have been destroyed by security forces during the operation and they [insurgents] had major casualties," Tolo news quoted Rahat as saying.

Rahat said the security forces have issued warning to the insurgents about eliminating them.

"The security forces are ready to fight until their last drop of blood," he added.

The security forces have also recovered weapons during the operation.

The operation in the region was launched following the increase in the militancy activity in some parts of Kunduz city and Dasht-e-Archi district of the province.
Seems like veteran actor Anupam Kher got his moment of pride yesterday, when he was invited to join Prime Minister Naendra Modi for the lunch hosted for the Royal Highness Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The 61-year-old actor took to his Twitter handle to share some pictures from the event, with the Prime Minister, Kate Middleton and Prince William and wrote, "Pleasure to meet The Royal Highness Duke & Duchess of Cambridge. They are so charming and Royal. Thank you PM Sir."

Earlier, Kher shared the invite on his Twitter page and wrote, "Looking forward to meeting the Royal Highness Duke & Duchess of Cambridge at the lunch hosted by PM @narendramodi.:)"

The Duke was in a dark suit and tie, while the Duchess wore a knee-length light blue dress.

Though their host, PM Modi, is an observant vegetarian, the four-course lunch featured both Indian 'veg' and 'non-veg' cuisine.

After the lunch, the Royal couple headed to the Kaziranga National Park in Assam.
Bangladesh has moved seven notches up in the global energy index prepared and released by the Economic Forum (WEF), which depicts a significant progress in energy management.

The Geneva-based WEF in its 'Energy Architecture Performance Index (EAPI) 2016' put Bangladesh at 106, up from the 112th position of last year.

The country also achieved a higher overall score for better energy management towards economic growth and development and environmental sustainability, reports Daily Star.

This year, the country earned a total score of 0.50 on a scale from 0-1 against last year's score of 0.45.

Progress has also been made in economic growth and development (from 0.52 to 0.63), environmental sustainability (from 0.39 to 0.44) and energy access and security (from 0.44 to 0.45).

The EAPI ranks countries on their ability to deliver secure, affordable and sustainable energy.

Switzerland topped the index followed by Norway with scores of 0.79 and 0.78 respectively. Sweden, France and Denmark were among the top five countries, with each nation scoring 0.76.

Conversely, Bahrain (0.36) was at the bottom of the index, which included 126 countries.

Lebanon (0.43), Yemen Republic (0.44), Haiti (0.44) and Ethiopia (0.44) were the four other countries in the bottom five.

Among the South Asian nations, Sri Lanka was ranked at 54th, India 90th, Pakistan 103rd and Nepal 115th.

Bangladesh has increased its installed power generation capacity to 12,339 megawatts in the last six years.

The country now generates, on an average, more than 7,500 MW of electricity a day, catering to two-third of its population.
Odisha's capital city Bhubaneswar is celebrating its 68th Foundation Day today.

It was on April 13, 1948 that first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had laid the foundation stone of the city.

World renowned German architect and urban planner Otto Koenigsberger prepared the city's first master plan in 1948 for a population of 40 thousand.

Since then, Bhubaneswar remains a celebrated model of modern architecture and city planning.

In the Smart City proposal, Bhubaneswar stood number one among the best cities of India with a score of 78.83 points.

The city remains a notable paradigm of modern town planning and architecture in India.
The lone sister of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA from Bhojpur district Saroj Yadav, succumbed to her injuries which she sustained while resisting sexual assault on Monday night.

Shaili Devi was being treated in Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna.

40-year-old Shaili took a shared auto-rickshaw from Keshavpur when some youths boarded the vehicle on the way and started misbehaving with her.

When she resisted, one of the men attacked her with an iron rod and later threw her out of the vehicle after badly assaulting her. She was hit on her head.

Some local residents spotted her and rushed her to hospital in a critical condition.

Shaili died yesterday during treatment.

The FIR lodged with the Chandi police station lists five people as accused, of which the identity of three is not known.

The MLA blamed the police for the rising crime and criticised the state government, saying when the sister of an MLA is not safe, how will the common man feel themselves safe.

After the incident, a large number of supporters of the MLA from Barhara blocked the Patna-Ara road and disrupted traffic for about four hours.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for further cooperation with Israel in the field of innovation as he met Israeli Knesset (parliament) Speaker Yuli Edelstein in Beijing.

Applauding the smooth and healthy development of China-Israel relations, Premier Li said the bilateral trade between the two nations has maintained strong growth against the backdrop of shrinking global trade last year, which shows greater potential of bilateral cooperation, reports Xinhua.

Li asserted that as the 25th anniversary of the China-Israel diplomatic ties will be marked next year, Beijing is willing to take the opportunity to further political exchanges and expand pragmatic cooperation with Israel.

The premier called both sides to actively push forward the negotiation on a free trade agreement and hoped that the Israeli parliament would continue to support the development of bilateral relations and create a better environment for bilateral cooperation.

Edelstein, who is on a five-day visit here expressed that Israel is willing to enhance exchanges and communication with the Chinese government, law-making agency and others.

He also called on both sides to build a partnership in accelerating economic growth and encouraging innovation.
Rahul Raj Singh, who is presently in dock for abetting the suicide of his girlfriend Pratyusha Banerjee, today looked quite disturbed as he attempted to downplay the allegations levelled against him by the late actress' friends and family members.

Rahul, who arrived at the Bangur Nagar Police station in an ambulance, was all in tears when posed questions by the media about the latest allegations against him.

"Bring Pratyusha back. Can you? Can you bring Pratyusha back?" he said.

Rahul, who was booked by the Bangur Nagar Police for abetting Pratyusha's suicide, got some relief from Bombay High Court yesterday.

The High Court, which heard Rahul's pre-arrest bail plea, retrained the police from arresting him on a surety of Rs. 30,000 and directed him to attend the police station everyday till April 18.

After the 24-year-old 'Balika Vadhu' actress allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself in her flat in suburban Goregaon on April 1, a case under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 504, 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC was registered against Rahul on April 3 following a complaint lodged by the actress' parents.
The UK's exit from the European Union (EU) could cause severe regional and global damage. The so-called 'Brexit' would disrupt established trading relationships and cause major challenges for both the UK and the rest of Europe.

It was time for EU to relook at its policies and consolidate its outlook, said Nicolas Sarkozy, Former President of the French Republic, at an interactive session on 'France, Europe, India: Challenges and Opportunities' organized by FICCI jointly with the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In his special address, Sarkozy said that the 'Make in India' campaign resonated well within France. However, he suggested that the campaign could be rephrased as 'Make with India' as it would help strengthen the existing partnership between India and France while paving the way for future collaborations.

Speaking about the strategic relationship between Indian and France, Sarkozy said that India had been one of the stable alliances of France. Stressing on the areas of cooperation between India and France, he said that significant progress in bilateral relations have been made and through regular exchanges in strategic areas of security, defence, nuclear energy, space, the bond has been further strengthened.

Sarkozy said that India and France had a FTA between them which was benefitting the two nations. However, he pointed out that there was a trade imbalance and this could be bridged by entering into new and meaningful partnerships which would translate the friendship between India and France into a more concrete relationship.

Sharing his views on the permanent seat for India at the UN Security Council, Sarkozy said that France supports India's candidature and wishes that India secures a permanent seat at the Council.

He added that France does not support the double standard of the UN, where it gives the power of veto to one permanent member and disallows another from the same. It is time that UN adopts uniform processes for all its members.

Underlining the threat of terrorism, Sarkozy said that both India and France had witnessed the acts of terrorism and it was time for all nations to build a consensus to fight against it.

He added that terrorism needs to be fought with a collaborative approach otherwise the terrorists will find a safe haven in some country.

Harshavardhan Neotia, President FICCI and Chairman, Ambuja Neotia Group, said that India, just as France and rest of EU, has to redefine the approach to growth with a firm eye on security - at the domestic, regional and global levels. "We see future engagement between nations being dictated by two themes: economic prosperity and global peace and security," he added.

Neotia said that strategic trade agreements have assumed great significance in the wake of mega accords such as TPP and TTIP. During the recent visit of PM Modi to Brussels for the 13th India-EU Summit, both sides have agreed to re-engage in discussions with a view to considering how to further the EU-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA). India and France have to work together to bridge divergence of opinion on critical issues to find comfortable common ground.

On the occasion, URGO Group and Eucare Pharma signed a MoU with Pierre Moustial, CEO of the Urgo Group, announced a strategic partnership with Eucare, an Indian family owned company based in Chennai. Urgo Group is one of the leading healthcare companies in the world and global expert in the treatment of serious wounds.

The vote of thanks was delivered by Pierre Behnam, President, Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Mehbooba Mufti, who is on her maiden visit to the capital after taking over as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi this afternoon.

"Ms. Mehbooba Mufti, CM of J&K called on the Prime Minister today," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) tweeted.

Mehbooba earlier raised the issue of Handwara firing in which two civilians were killed with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

The Chief Minister said that the incidence of violence was unfortunate indeed and should never have happened.

"I spoke to Lt General DS Hooda and Defence Minister Parrikar and they have assured me that an enquiry has been set in place and that those responsible will be punished. The family of the victims will also be compensated," she added.

Earlier, violent protests broke out in Handwara after charges were made against an Army man of allegedly molesting a local girl.

A mob of angry locals took to the streets and tried to set a security picket afire. The J-K Police along with the Army opened fire on the protesters as the agitation turned violent.

Separatists have called for a shutdown today condemning the death of the two civilians.

During her meeting with Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu earlier, the Chief Minister conveyed to him that she wants certain cities in Jammu and Kashmir to be considered under the schemes by the Centre and wants them to be developed like the 'Smart Cities'.

"There are some cities in Jammu and Kashmir that are old and have a history of their own like Srinagar and Jammu. We want them to be developed like the smart cities. In my meeting now, I discussed issues like housing, drainage and waste management, for which the central government has many good schemes," Mehbooba told ANI.

She added that she wants the state to also receive the benefits from the Central schemes.
The sister of Kabeer Baloch, one of the persons declared missing, has said in a statement that it has been more than seven years since his enforced disappearance.

According to her statement, Kabeer and his friends, Mushtaq Baloch and Attaullah Baloch, disappeared on March 27, 2009, and there is no information about their whereabouts or confirmation whether they were alive.

Currently, more than 24000 Baloch are declared missing,including women and children. The range of the ages of the enforced disappeared by the Pakistani forces varies from 80 to nine.

Kabeer's sister claims that she has approached and appealed to the United Nations, several international human rights organizations and powers to put pressure on the Pakistan government to return those declared missing or dead.

She has criticised western democracies for speaking about the rights of individuals on the one hand, and on the other hand pursuing foreign policies that expose them as narrow interest-based states.

She also questioned the need for the United States and its allies to supply F-16 fighter jets and other defence equipment to Pakistan, when it is a well known fact that the military brass has a history of using them to commit humanitarian atrocities on the Baloch.

She appealed to the conscience of the bodies and western democracies to speak up in solidarity with the families of Baloch victims of enforced disappearance - tortured, executed in official custody, and dumped on the streets of Balochistan.
'LTE Innovation Summit 2016' an international conference cum exhibition concluded on a successful note at the Lalit hotel in Mumbai.

The summit was organized by Nexgen Conferences, one of India's leading conferences and B2B event organizer.

LTE Innovation Summit 2016 received overwhelming response from the industry, trade visitors and participating exhibitors. The Summit hosted more than 250 industry professionals which include industry thought leaders, leaders and policymakers.

LTE Innovation Summit is the largest event devoted to the needs of telecom professionals, which brought together the industry's most innovative leaders to discuss the hottest trends and technologies impacting 4G LTE services in the country.

The day-long summit started with an inaugural session where the topic was "4G LTE - Network Operator's Progress and Perspectives on 4G Development for the future".

Speakers of the inaugural session included Shyam Mardikar, Chief - Strategy, Architecture and Engg. Airtel, Vikram Tiwathia, Dy. Director General, COAI, Radhey Shyam Sarda, Solutions Director - Wireless, Huawei, Anil Tandan, Chief Technology Officer, Idea Cellular,. Gulshan Khurana, Joint President and CTO, Reliance Comms., Aditya Chaudhuri, Sr. MD - Comms. and Telecom, Accenture, Ajit Garg, VP and Head of Network Operations, Telenor India, Siddhartha Roy, CEO, Hungama Mobile.

"A summit like this would definitely benefit all of us which provides an excellent platform for all the telecom professionals to come together and exchange ideas. 4G LTE is a very important subject since there is spurt in the number of smartphones in India in the recent past which has led to an increase in demand for the improvement of connectivity and services. Immediate requirement to boost overall connectivity and 4G network across the country was the need for Backhaul," said Chief Technology Officer, Idea Cellular, Anil Tandan.

According to Radhey Shyam Sarda, Solutions Director - Wireless, Huawei, "As the operators are launching the 4G based networks in the country, the demand for high-bandwidth communication like video streaming is going to be much higher. 4G network infrastructure market opportunity will also grow to a great extent."

The topic for second session was "4G Success in India - Smart Networks, Smart Devices, Smart Services and Smart Consumers". This session was chaired by Udit Bajpayi, Regional CTO-North and Sr. Vice President, Reliance Jio.

Addressing the audience, Udit Bajpayi, Regional CTO-North and Sr. Vice President said, "With the 4G and LTE enabled networks available, the consumption of video on demand and video calling is going to increase. Availability of the spectrum and pricing of the spectrum is an issue for the Indian telecom operators.

So, availability has to increase in terms of availability of the MHz of the spectrum for the telecom operators and pricing of the spectrum also needs to be reduced."

The last session of the summit was on the topic-'Monetizing 4G and Generating New Revenue Streams', which was moderated by Jalaj Choudhri, VP - Network Planning, Reliance Comms.

Other speakers of the session included Sachin Verma, Product Manager Mobile Service, PaloAlto, Denis NG, Director, Mktg. and Infra Solutions, Rosenberger, Soman Venugopal Sr. Manager, Cisco Systems,Paramjit Puri, Director - India Wireless Broadband Alliance, Nikhil Shah, Director - India Broadband Forum.

This session was followed by an interactive session with well-known ethical hacker and CEO of TAC Security Trishneet Arora. Trishneet is an Indian author, a cyber security expert, an ethical hacker and entrepreneur.

According to Anjani Kumar Singh, CEO, Nexgen Conferences, "We are delighted to receive the

participation from so many quality speakers, exhibitors and quality trade visitors during the LTE Innovation Summit 2016. We are hopeful that next year the summit would be much bigger and better."

Huawei Telecommunications was the principal sponsor of LTE Innovation Summit 2016. Other organizations, which supported and sponsored the summit includes Accedian, Rosenberger, Paloalto Networks, Anritsu, Empirix, Telrad, Fortinet, Ingram Micro, Viavi, Accenture, Juniper Networks, COAI, Broadband Forum and Wireless Broadband Alliance.
MDI Gurgaon, one of the top B-Schools in India, has revived the MoU with University of Kashmir for its International Summer University 2016.

The purpose of the MoU is to invite meritorious students from University of Kashmir for the summer programme and give them enhanced academic exposure. The International Summer University 2016 hosts several overseas students and faculty who wish to experience India's environment first hand and understand this emerging national economy from close quarters.

The MoU will, therefore, also offer augmented multi-cultural interactions to the most promising students of tier II cities in India. The MoU was signed in the presence of Prof C.P Shrimali, Acting Director, MDI, Gurgaon.

Sharing his thoughts about this initiative, Prof. C.P Shrimali said, "At MDI, we believe in widening the horizons of students from across the country through our best-in-class facilities and programmes."

"The idea is to offer them the best of international exposure so that they become nimble in their decision-making, thought processes and approaches. The International Summer University is one of the most vibrant, mentally stimulating and culturally educative programmes that students from tier II cities in India can benefit from," added Shrimali.

Students from all the partner institutions of MDI are invited to interact and exchange their thoughts and ideas to gain an evolved social, cultural and economic perspective on various subjects.

Some of the indicative courses offered for ISU's faculty nomination include doing in India, big data business analytics, energy and public policy management, cross culture management and digital innovation and startups among others.
Farzana, the wife of late NIA officer Mohammad Tanzil Ahmed, who was shot dead by assailants in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district, succumbed to her injuries here today.

Farzana had been referred to the AIIMS trauma centre from Noida's Fortis Hospital on Monday evening where she had been kept in ICU and was battling for her life.

Tanzil Ahmed, probing terror cases related to the Indian Mujahideen, was shot dead on April 3 by two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants who also wounded Farzana, when they were returning home from a wedding.

The Uttar Pradesh Police yesterday said that "domestic dispute" had led to the killing of the NIA officer.

"All aspects, including professional, personal rivalry, were looked into during the probe. Terror angle was specifically investigated. Reyaan (accused) was in frustration because he was denied help from Tanzil Ahmed when he needed it," Inspector General (Bareilly Zone) Vijay Singh said.

Uttar Pradesh police has arrested two accused, Jainul and Reyaan, in connection with the case.

The state police had announced a reward of Rs. 50,000 to those providing information leading to the arrest of main accused Munir in connection with the murder of the NIA officer.
Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of Pokhara International Airport at Chhinedanda of Lekhanath Municipality in Kaski district.

China had pledged to provide financial assistance for the development of the airport, reports The Himalayan Times.

Prime Minister Oli urged the senior leaders of major political parties to take part in the development works.

UCPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Thapa, Deputy Prime Minister and Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum Democratic chairman Bajay Kumar Gachhadar and various other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
Expressing his heartfelt tribute to the victims of road accidents in Khotang and Doti, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has wished for speedy recovery of those injured.

Deuba said that he would urge the government soon to take necessary initiatives to minimise the road accidents.

At least 24 persons were killed on the spot and 31 others injured when a passenger bus met with an accident at Barkhetar of Mahadevsthan VDC, along the Halesi-Diktel road section of Mid-hill Lokmarga, in Khotang, yesterday morning.

In another incident, as many as eight people were killed and seven others injured in a jeep accident at Jijodamandu-8 of Doti district last night.
An interim relief till April 18 was granted to late actress Pratyusha Banerjee's beau Rahul Raj Singh on Tuesday by the Mumbai High court, after the Session Court rejected his bail application on April 7.

Singh, who was booked by the Bangur Nagar police for abetting Pratyusha's suicide, had filed an anticipatory bail application (ABA), which after getting rejected by the Mumbai Session Court was plead to the High Court by his lawyers.

Opposing Rahul's bail, public prosecutor Usha Kerjiwal argued that after the actress' suicide, he went absconding and then got himself admitted to a private hospital to escape the police action.

After the 24-year-old 'Balika Vadhu' actress allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself inside her flat in suburban Goregaon on April 1, a case under IPC sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 504, 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC was registered against Rahul on April 3, following a complaint lodged by the actress's parents.
With Pakistan claiming that Indian inmate Kirpal Singh died of a heart attack at a jail in Lahore, the Ministry of External Affairs has sought for official information on the cause of death and the post mortem report from Islamabad.

"According to Govt of Pakistan, Shri Kirpal Singh died on April 11 at 1455hrs due to heart attack. We await further details. Our Acting High Commissioner met DG South Asia in the Min of Foreign Affairs & asked for earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains," MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a series of tweets.

Singh's sister Jagir Kaur told ANI that her family will do everything to ensure that his body returns home.

"We want our brother's dead body to be returned to us. At least we will think that we have seen our brother for the last time. We want to perform his last rites and cremation," she said.

The relatives of Kirpal Singh had yesterday staged a protest at the Attari border and raised anti-Pakistan slogans near the Integrated Check Post (ICP).

Apart from Kirpal's sister Jagir Kaur and his other relatives, also attending the protest was Dalbir Kaur, the sister of Sarbajit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner who was killed in an attack by fellow prisoners at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.

Kirpal Singh, who was on death row in Pakistan and was in prison for the last 25 years, died in Lahore's Jinnah Hospital.

Singh, around 50, is said to have crossed over to Pakistan on February 29, 1992, and was arrested on alleged charges of being involved in a bomb explosion and for spying for which he was later sentenced to death.

He was acquitted of bomb charges by the Lahore High Court (LHC) but his death sentence wasn't commuted.
The police officials raided the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama city 'without incident or interference' and revealed how the world's wealthy and powerful used offshore companies to stash assets.

The Panama Papers, centered on a huge cache of documents pilfered digitally from the Mossack Fonseca, had repercussions around the world, reports The Guardian.

The leaked 'Panama Papers' have shown how some wealthy people use offshore firms to evade tax and avoid sanctions.

However, the firm has denied any wrongdoing and said that information is being misrepresented.

Panama's government promised an investigation soon after news reports emerged more than a week ago based on more than 11 million documents from the firm.

Iceland's Prime Minister Sigurur Ingi Johannsson was forced to resign after his name appeared as one of the beneficiaries of an offshore company. Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron had to disclose his tax records, reports news.com.au

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to divert attention from his entourage by claiming it is all a US plot against him.

The wealthy citizens in Australia, France, India, Mexico, Peru, Spain and elsewhere face probes over suspected tax avoidance after their names figured in some of the 11.5 million documents.

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela has promised to work with other countries to improve transparency in its offshore financial industry.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday paid tribute to the martyrs who lost their lives in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and said that their sacrifice and courage can never be forgotten.

"Saluting all the martyrs who lost their lives in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Their sacrifice & courage can never be forgotten," the Prime Minister tweeted.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, took place on 13 April 1919 when a crowd of nonviolent protesters, along with Baishakhi pilgrims, who had gathered in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar in Punjab, were fired upon by troops of the British Indian Army under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer.

Some historians consider the episode a decisive step towards the end of British rule in India.

Meanwhile, Britain's oldest Sikh diaspora organisation, The Indian Workers Association (IWA) has reportedly asked UK Prime Minister David Cameron to repeat in the House of Commons, his description of the massacre as a "deeply shameful act in British history", which he made during his visit to Amritsar in February, 2013.

Cameron during his visit, had written in the visitors' book saying "This was a deeply shameful act in British history, one that Winston Churchill rightly described at that time as 'monstrous'. We must never forget what happened here and we must ensure that the UK stands up for the right of peaceful protests".
India is a land of Royals and romance, so when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on visitation in India, there needs to be something royally romantic for them.

Prince William and Princess Kate enjoyed their romantic outing at a fireside harvest festival at the Kaziranga National Park, in Assam on Tuesday evening, reports People magazine.

The couple enjoyed a colourful Bihu festival there, which marks the end of the harvesting season in the month of Maagha.

The Duchess of Cambridge, in a green patterned Anna Sui dress sat with her Prince around a sandy enclosure where beautiful traditional dance, called Bihu, was performed along with drum-beats.

Among the drummers was a 3-year-old boy, who was waving to the beat alongside his dad, a sweet moment that prompted smiles from the royal parents who have left their kids, George and Charlotte back in England.

According Ranjinee Bhukan of the British deputy high commission, they looked happy and it seemed "they were remembering their little one - 2-year-old Prince George, who is back home in England with his sister, nearly 1-year-old Princess Charlotte.
The Indian Army is commemorating April, 13 as Siachen Day in memory of the gallant soldiers of 4 Kumaon, an Infantry unit, launched Operation Meghdoot that culminated with the establishment of the writ of the nation on the Glacier. By so doing the brave soldiers accomplished a feat of valour that has no parallels in the annals of the military history.

Colonel Narendra Kumar, a reputed mountaineer and Commandant, of the Indian Armys's High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) came across a map in the possession of a German rafter, in 1977, which showed a dotted line joining NJ 9842 to the Karakoram pass thus depicting that the India-Pakistan boundary line ended at NJ 9842. With great energy he launched a couple of expeditions from 1977 onwards and unearthed the Pakistani plan to control the territory.

Pakistan had already taken the first few steps by opening the area to mountaineering expeditions by civilians and was inching towards gaining military control.

It was under these circumstances that Operation Meghdoot was launched on 13 April 1984. In an unimaginable feat of grit and bravery the Indian army gained control over the dominating heights on the main passes of the Saltoro ridge, Sia La and Bilafond La in a short period of time.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated the Diwali of 2014 with the soldiers at Siachen. By so doing, he reiterated the commitment of his government to uphold the position that the Indian Army has maintained with so much sacrifice.

On Siachen Day, as April 13 is celebrated by the army, the nation needs to remember and salute its brave sons who have upheld its sovereignty and integrity in such treacherous heights well named as the highest battlefield in the world.
The Mumbai born international lawyer, Sarosh Zaiwalla, Founder and Senior Partner of Zaiwalla and Co., is among one of only three Indian origin men to be featured in GQ UK's '100 Most Connected Men in 2016' list.

Also named on the prestigious list are Rishi Saha, the Head of Public Policy at Facebook UK, and Samir Desai, Director at Funding Circle.

The magazine has collaborated with Hobsbawn's networking and editorial intelligence to compile the list. The list does not rank its entrants, but has simply chosen people based on their networking ability and philanthropic activities.

Embodying this ethos of effective networking is Sarosh Zaiwalla, who in 1982 was the first Asian man to establish a London City law firm. Born and raised in Mumbai, the lawyer left India for London to become a solicitor, just like his father.

After qualifying, he trained at Stocken and Co., a maritime law firm in Fleet Street. Among Zaiwalla's most renowned early interns was a young Tony Blair. Over the course of his illustrious career, Sarosh Zaiwalla has represented a number high profile names, including the Gandhi family, the Dalai Lama, Benazir Bhutto, the Ruler of Dubai, Tchenguiz brothers and the Chinese government to name a few.

Sarosh Zaiwalla successfully represented the case between Iran's largest private bank, Bank Mellat in its highly-profiled sanctions litigation with the European Council. Zaiwalla's firm had successfully challenged the ruling, whereby the European Court of Justice upheld the decision that Bank Mellat did unfairly have sanctions placed upon it by the European Council. The European Court of Justice confirmed the annulment of the fund-freezing measures in place against Bank Mellat since 2010 and also ruled that the European Council failed to provide sufficient grounds or evidence.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear a plea against restricting women's entry in Kerala's Sabarimala temple.

The apex court had earlier sought to examine previous judgments on entry of women in religious places, while underlining that any religious practice banning their entry will have to necessarily pass the test of constitutionality.

The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the 'Indian Young Lawyers' Association', seeking entry of women in the Sabarimala temple.

The hearing came close on the heels of the Bombay High Court order directing Maharashtra Government to ensure that women are not denied entry at any temple.

Defending the ban, the Sabarimala temple administration earlier said the tradition is connected to essential religious practice.

Supporting them, the Kerala Government told the court that beliefs and customs of devotees cannot be changed through a judicial process and that the opinion of the priests is final in matters of religion.
The security forces, who were carrying out a joint operation in the riverine area of Rajanpur, got a final nod yesterday for air strikes to hit the gangsters.

The Rajanpur Police requested Punjab IG Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera to provide them two military helicopters for the strikes.

The forces also offered the gangsters, who were hiding in a 10 km-long piece of tract surrounded by water, to surrender before the air strikes.

The official said the police, Rangers, Elite Force commandos and Counter-Terrorism Department personnel were taking part in the operation, which was codenamed Zarb-i-Ahan, reports Dawn.

Punjab Police chief Mushtaq Sukhera visited the frontline checkposts yesterday to review the operational strategy.

The Punjab IG said the fight against the 'evil elements' of society had entered a final phase and added that the security forces would soon eliminate them.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif left for London from Lahore's Allama Iqbal Airport on Wednesday for a routine medical check-up days after the Panama Papers' leak exposed his family's offshore dealings.

Before his departure, Sharif held a meeting with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other senior aides to discuss the current political situation in the country and also implications of the Panama Papers scandal, reports the Dawn.

A massive leak of 11.5 million tax documents on April 3 revealed secret offshore dealings of leaders and celebrities, including three of his children for owning London real estate through offshore companies.

Asif Kirmani, the PM's political secretary confirmed that Sharif's visit was a personal one and he would not any political meetings during his stay in London.

Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz tweeted, "My father reverently kisses my grandma's hand as she surrounds him with prayers for his health before seeing him off."

Meanwhile, President Mamnoon Hussain left for a three-day visit to attend an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation conference in Istanbul.
According to a recent study, the root of marriage can be traced back to nothing romantic, rather it may have been started just to avoid sexually transmitted diseases (STIs).

The University of Waterloo study found that prehistoric humans may have developed social norms that favour monogamy and punish polygamy thanks to the presence of STIs and peer pressure.

As hunter-gatherers began living in larger populations of early settled agriculturalists, the spread of STIs could explain a shift towards the emergence of social norms that favoured one sexual partner over many.

The work uses computer modeling techniques to simulate the evolution of different social mating behaviours in human populations based on demographic and disease transmission parameters.

Researcher Chris Bauch said that this research shows how events in natural systems, such as the spread of contagious diseases, can strongly influence the development of social norms and in particular our group-oriented judgments. The study illustrates how mathematical models are not only used to predict the future, but also to understand the past.

The study, by Professor Bauch and Richard McElreath from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, found that when population sizes become large, the presence of STIs decreases fertility rates more among males with multiple partners, therefore changing which mating behaviour proves to be most beneficial to individuals and groups.

"Our social norms did not develop in complete isolation from what was happening in our natural environment. On the contrary, we can't understand social norms without understanding their origins in our natural environment," Professor Bauch. "Our social norms were shaped by our natural environment. In turn, the environment is shaped by our social norms, as we are increasingly recognizing."

The researchers note that STIs may be one factor among many, including female choice, pathogen stress and technological impacts that altered human behavior from polygamy to monogamy.

The study appears in journal Nature Communications.
Two more accused have been arrested in connection with the murder of in Investigation Agency (NIA) Deputy Superintendent of Police Mohammad Tanzil Ahmed.

Divulging details, Bijnor Superintendent of Police (Rural) Dharamveer Singh said, "Police have arrested two more accused in connection with the Tanzil Ahmed's murder case, who are being sent to the jail."

"The duo, Rixwan and Tanzim, who were arrested from the Sahaspur area under Sehohara police station, were a part of the conspiracy that led to the NIA officer's murder, and also helped the assailants to execute the crime," said the SP

When asked whether police would register a fresh case after the slain NIA officer's wife Farzana had died at the All India Institute of Medical Science in Delhi on Wednesday, the officer said: "A case has already been registered under Sections 302 (punishment for murder), 307(attempt to murder) and 120 (concealing design to commit offence punishable with imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and it will be included into that.

Farzana, the wife of late NIA officer Mohammad Tanzil Ahmed, who was shot dead by assailants in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district, succumbed to her injuries at the AIIMS trauma centre on Wednesday.

Mohammad 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 at a village falling under Syohra Police Station in Bijnor district.

Farzana was referred to the AIIMS trauma centre from Noida's Fortis Hospital on Monday evening, where she had been admitted to Intensive care Unit (ICU).

The Uttar Pradesh Police have already arrested two accused - Jainul and Reyaan - in this connection, and have issued a reward of Rs. 50,000 on information leading to the arrest of main accused Munir.

Police said some "domestic dispute" led to the killing of the NIA officer.

"All aspects, including professional and personal rivalries, were looked into during the probe, while the terror angle was specifically investigated. Reyaan (accused) was in frustration because he was reportedly denied help from Tanzil Ahmed when he needed it," Inspector General (Bareilly Zone) Vijay Singh said.

The state police had announced a reward of Rs. 50,000 to those providing information leading to the arrest of main accused Munir in connection with the murder of the NIA officer.
The United States Secretary of State, John Kerry on behalf of President Barack Obama and the people of the country offered Sinhala and Tamil New Year greetings and said that Sri Lanka's accomplishments in the past year have been historic.

Praising the accomplishments made the island state; Kerry said, it all demonstrated Sri Lankan people's deep commitment for reconciliation, tolerance and peace.

"On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I join you in celebrating the Sri Lankan New Year. The past year's accomplishments have been historic, demonstrating the deep commitment of the Sri Lankan people for reconciliation, tolerance and peace," he said, reports Colombo Page.

Kerry also wished for the island nations continued success as it moves ahead with a new constitution and further efforts in strengthening Sri Lanka's democracy and prosperity.
Following the announcement of 'spring offensive' by the Afghan Taliban, the United States has said that it is assisting Kabul in defending itself against the insurgent group.

"We always see the announcement of the spring fighting season. We are preparing, as we have been, to assist the government in defending against the Taliban. We have - working through both U.S. and coalition forces, we have been working with Afghan forces on the ground to improve their capability, their ability to fight and push back," said U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner during a press briefing here.

The Afghan Taliban had yesterday announced large-scale attacks on enemy positions would be employed across the country during the offensive which they dubbed as "Operation Omari" in honour of the movement's late founder Mullah Omar, whose death was announced last year.

Toner said that Washington was closely working with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Afghan security forces to ensure that all necessary training and equipments were secured to preserve the gains made over the last 14 years.

Asserting that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's ( NATO) Resolute Support Mission on the ground was present and would continue doing so, he said that Washington's goal is to support and build up the capacity for Afghan forces to in providing security in the country.

"And recognizing the ongoing security challenges, the decision was made, of course, to maintain a level of troops, to keep the 5,500 American troops in Afghanistan beyond 2016 in order to continue to carry out that essential mission on the ground. And that includes counterterrorism operations against remnants of al-Qaida and, of course, ISIL and other terrorist groups in the region," Toner added.

Meanwhile, the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANDSF), the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had said that the security forces would appear stronger in the coming fighting season.

The annual spring offensive normally marks the start of the fighting season.

The insurgent group has been waging war against the state since being toppled from power in 2001.
UK continues to occupy top slot followed by USA and Russia amongst the countries availing e-Tourist Visa facility during March 2016

A total of 1,15,677 tourists arrived in March 2016 on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 25,851 during the month of March 2015 registering a growth of 347.5%.

Commencing from 27th November 2014 e-Tourist Visa facility was available until 25th February 2016 for citizens of 113 countries arriving at 16 Airports in India. The Government of India has extended this scheme for citizens of 37 more countries w.e.f 26th February 2016 taking the tally to 150 countries.

The following are the important highlights of e-Tourist Visa during March, 2016:

(i) During the month of March, 2016 a total of 1,15,677 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 25,851 during the month of March, 2015 registering a growth of 347.5%.

(ii) This high growth may be attributed to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 150 countries as against the earlier coverage of 43 countries.

(iii) The percentage shares of top 10 source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facilities during March, 2016 were as follows:

UK (27.74%), USA (13.41%), Russian Fed. (7.04%), France (6.55%), Germany (5.18%), China (4.49%), Canada (3.89%), Australia (3.79%), Spain (1.99%) and Ukraine (1.66%).

(iv) The percentage shares of top 10 ports in tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa during March, 2016 were as follows:

New Delhi Airport (46.76%), Mumbai Airport (18.75%), Goa Airport (11.11%), Chennai Airport (5.55%), Bengaluru Airport (5.03%), Kochi Airport (2.82%), Kolkata Airport (2.38%), Amritsar Airport (2.12%), Hyderabad Airport (2.07%) and Trivandrum Airport (1.33%).

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Shares of eight FMCG stocks rose by 0.27% to 2.45% at 14:51 IST on BSE after the India Meteorological Department in its release of the long range forecast for the 2016 southwest monsoon yesterday, 12 April 2016 predicted good monsoon this year.

FMCG firms derive substantial revenue from rural India.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) (up 2.45%), Dabur India (up 2.22%), Colgate Palmolive India (up 2.02%) Britannia Industries (up 2.4%), Tata Global Beverages (up 2.03%), Jyothy Laboratories (up 0.35%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care (up 0.27%) and Godrej Consumer Products (up 0.79%) gained. Nestle India (down 1.32%), Marico (down 1.94%), GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare (down 0.73%) and Bajaj Corp (down 3.29%) declined.

The BSE FMCG index was up 1.55% at 7,796.86. It underperformed the Sensex, which was up 1.89% at 25,620.40

The S&P BSE FMCG index had outperformed the market over the past one month till 12 April 2016, rising 9.16% compared with 1.73% rise in the Sensex. The index, however, underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 2.62% as against Sensex's 1.88% rise.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its initial monsoon forecast that the southwest monsoon is likely to be 106% of the Long Period Average (LPA) during the four-month period from June to September 2016, with an error margin of plus/minus 5%. The IMD's announcement hit the market after trading hours yesterday, 12 April 2016.

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An MoU was signed by Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road, Transport and Highways and Shipping, Government of the Republic of India and Mr. Kim Young Suk, Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, Government of the Republic of Korea in Mumbai today. The South Korean delegation led by Minister Kim is in Mumbai to participate in the Maritime India Summit, 2016 (MIS, 2016). This MoU is for cooperation and mutual assistance between India and Republic of Korea in port related matters.

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Shipping for signing of this MoU on 06 April 2016.

It is recalled that MIS, 2016 is a maiden flagship initiative of the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India that provides a unique platform for participants to explore potential business opportunities in Indian Maritime Sector. MIS, 2016 is being organised from April 14-16, 2016 at Mumbai and will have conference, exhibition and demo sessions. Republic of Korea is the Partner Country of MIS, 2016. A delegation of over 100 participants from South Korea are attending the Summit.

The signing of the MoU is expected to help both countries to encourage and facilitate the development of ports, port related industry, maritime relationship and cooperate in the tasks of sharing of technology, experiences in the fields of port development and operation, exchange of information on construction, building, engineering and related aspects in the field of port development, Joint participation in port-related construction, building and engineering projects that both parties are interested in, exchange of experts including officials from the relevant ministries of each country in the field of port, and related education and training, other types of cooperation that may be mutually agreed upon between the two countries.

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To J K Tyre Group

Kesoram Industries announced that it has completed the sale of Company's entire shareholding in its subsidiary, Cavendish Industries to J K Tyre Group on 13 April 2016 and the deal stands finally concluded.

Notwithstanding the sale referred to above, the Company remains strongly committed to its presence in the Tyre Business and continues to operate a tyre manufacturing facility in Balasore, Odisha. Birla Tyres will continue to be present in all products and market segments.

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In the backdrop of screaming headlines on the 'Panama Papers' and some prominent Indian entities and individuals figuring among them, as much as $1.32 billion (about Rs 9,000 crore) was remitted out of India in a perfectly legal way under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), apex industry body ASSOCHAM stated today.

Of $1.32 billion remitted by individual residents in the fiscal 2014-15, the maximum remittance took place under the 'Gift' head ($403 million), followed by 'Studies abroad' ($277.1 million) and 'Maintenance of close relatives' ($174 million). Investment in equity/debt amounted to $195.5 million, according to the RBI data accessed by the ASSOCHAM Economic Research Bureau.

"Instead of seeing all the remittances abroad with a needle of suspicion in the context of the so-called Panama Papers, we must realise a fair amount of liberal foreign exchange regime is in operation and which is how it should be," ASSOCHAM Secretary General Mr D S Rawat said.

He said, "Let us not pre-judge the outcome of the investigations being done by a multi-agency government team. It would certainly find out what is permissible and what is not."

As per the Master Circular of the RBI, investment under the LRS is permitted in several activities including acquisition of shares or debt instruments, immovable property outside India, up to $2,50,000 per year, without prior approval of the central bank.

Moreover, remittances under the scheme can be consolidated in respect of family members subject to individual family members complying with its terms and conditions.

Besides, resident individuals can set up Joint Ventures (JV)/Wholly Owned Subsidiaries (WOS) outside India for bonafide business activities within the overall limit of $2,50,000.

Under the RBI scheme authorised dealers may freely allow remittances by resident individuals up to $2,50,000 per financial year (April-March) for any permitted current or capital account transactions or a combination of both.

Since some reports suggested how money was remitted abroad for acquisition of expensive paintings etc, it must be noted that the LRS eminently allows such a proposition. According to the RBI Master Circular, "Remittances under the Scheme can be used for purchasing objects of art."

A resident individual can invest in units of mutual funds, venture capital funds, unrated debt securities, promissory notes etc. under this scheme. Further, the resident can invest in such securities out of the bank account opened abroad under the Scheme.

Outward Remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) for Resident Individuals:

(US$ Million)Outward Remittances under the LRS 1,325.801.1 Deposit 51.41.2 Purchase of immovable property 45.51.3 Investment in equity/debt 195.51.4 Gift 403.51.5 Donations 3.21.6 Travel 111.7 Maintenance of close relatives 174.41.8 Medical Treatment 7.21.9 Studies Abroad 277.11.10 Others 157.1"Others' include items such as subscription to journals, maintenance of investment abroad, student loan repayments and credit card payments.Source: RBI

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The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and United Arab Emirates (UAE) on cooperation in preventing and combating of Human Trafficking. The MoU is expected to be signed very soon after the approval.

The MoU will strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two countries and increase the bilateral cooperation on the issues of prevention, rescue, recovery and repatriation related to human trafficking especially women and children expeditiously.

The following are the salient features of the MoU:

(i) To strengthen cooperation to prevent all forms of human trafficking, especially that of women and children and ensure speedy investigation and prosecution of traffickers and organized crime syndicates in either country.

(ii) Taking preventive measures that would eliminate human trafficking in women and children and in protecting the rights of victims of trafficking.

(iii) Anti-trafficking Cells and Task Forces will work on both sides to prevent human trafficking.

(iv) Police and other concerned authorities will work in close cooperation and exchange information which can be used to interdict human traffickers.

(v) The repatriation of victims would be done as expeditiously as possible and the home country will undertake the safe and effective re-integration of the victims.

(vi) A Joint Task Force with representatives from both sides would be constituted to monitor the working of the MoU.

Background:

As a destination of trafficking, South Asian countries are mainly affected by domestic trafficking, or trafficking from the neighboring countries. However, South Asian victims are also increasingly detected in the Middle East.

India is a source and transit country as far as trafficking to UAE is concerned, whereas UAE is a destination and transit country for men and women, predominantly from South, Southeast and Central Asia and Eastern Europe who are subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. Migrant workers, who comprise over 95 percent of the UAE's private sector workforce, are recruited primarily from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iran and East, South and Southeast Asia.

Some of these workers face forced labour in the UAE. Women from some of these countries travel willingly to the UAE to work as domestic workers, secretaries, beauticians and hotel cleaners, but some are subjected to forced labour by unlawful withholding of their passports, restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, threats and physical or sexual abuse.

The reinforcement of anti-trafficking efforts at all levels between the UAE and India is essential for prevention and protection of victims. This requires mutual cooperation among both the countries for intelligence sharing, joint investigation and a coordinated response to the challenges of human trafficking. For this purpose, it is proposed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with UAE. We have already signed one MoU to prevent trafficking with Bangladesh and another with Bahrain is to be signed during this month.

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European cement manufacturers with a presence in India are likely to benefit if the Indian government's plans to ramp up infrastructure spending come to fruition in the next 12-18 months, says Moody's Investors Service today in a new report. India's 2016 Union Budget, announced on 29 February, contained plans to hike public infrastructure spending, especially on roads, which could revive stagnant cement demand in the country.

"Planned infrastructure spending will revive sluggish demand in the Indian cement market and could significantly benefit European players in the sector, though any benefits rely on the projects being effectively and timely executed," says Falk Frey, a Moody's Senior Vice President and author of the report.

According to the Indian government's 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) investment in infrastructure should increase from 7.6% of GDP in 2014 to 9% in 2017. However, cement demand for government-funded projects has been weak in the last four years with many construction schemes delayed or put on hold. As a result, while infrastructure investment will be a key growth driver, the timing of such investment remains uncertain.

As the second-largest cement maker in India, Swiss-based LafargeHolcim (Baa2 stable) is in a good position to benefit from any increase in infrastructure spending. LafargeHolcim is also the best placed European player to benefit from uneven regional demand, with a much larger scale and more prominent operations in northern India, where it sells almost 42% of its local cement volumes.

Conversely, southern-based HeidelbergCement AG (Ba1 Stable), CRH plc (Baa2 Stable) and Italcementi S.p.A. (Ba3 review for upgrade) have limited geographic coverage and are more exposed to local overcapacity in this region.

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As a measure towards improving the ease of doing business

As a measure towards improving the ease of doing business, it has now been decided that except for a few sectors viz. Defence, Telecom, Private Security, Information and Broadcasting and Non-government organization and except a few countries, the power to grant approvals for establishment of Branch Office (BO)/Liaison Office (LO)/Project Offices (PO) in India by foreign entities, would be delegated to the Authorised Dealers Category-I Banks. Further, anyone who has been awarded a contract for a project by a Government authority/PSU would be automatically given approval to open a bank account.

Regulations in this regard have been notified by RBI vide G.S.R. 384 dated March 31, 2016.

Earlier these entities used to seek the approval of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) before setting-up their BO/LO/PO office in India. While Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gives permission in those cases where 100% FDI is allowed under automatic route, all other cases are referred to the Government for approval.

The establishment of Branch Office (BO)/Liaison Office (LO)/Project Offices (PO) in India by foreign entities is regulated in terms of FEMA 22/2000-RB dated May 3, 2000, as amended from time to time. The foreign entities can set-up their BO/LO/PO in India without registering themselves as companies/trusts etc. under Indian Laws.

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BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday alleged that the AIADMK, DMK and the Congress were all corrupt and urged the people of Tamil Nadu to vote his party to power.

The Bharatiya Janata Party can provide the alternative to the existing political parties in the state, Shah said.

Speaking to reporters in Tiruchirapalli, around 340 km from Chennai, after chairing a party meeting, Shah alleged that that ruling AIADMK, DMK as well as the Congress were corrupt parties.

He listed out the 2G corruption case in the context of the DMK and the case of disproportionate assets to target AIADMK leader and Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.

Shah said the Enforcement Directorate's case against Karti Chidambaram, son of Congress leader P. Chidambaram, showed that the three parties indulged in corruption when in power.

In contrast, he asserted, there were no corruption charges against the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said Tamil Nadu voters normally voted out a government but in the May 16 assembly elections, they should decide which party must come to power.

He added that the BJP could provide the "alternative" Tamil Nadu was seeking. The BJP will give a transparent and good governance.

According to him, the AIADMK and DMK had ruled Tamil Nadu alternatively for the past nearly 50 years and it was time for a change.

The BJP leader said Tamil Nadu had not progressed because of corruption.

He said that due to the non-cooperation of the state government, central government schemes were not being implemented in Tamil Nadu.

He said the central government's Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) had benefitted states that opted for it but Tamil Nadu didn't join the scheme.

The Tamil Nadu government's stand is that the UDAY scheme benefits only banks and the private power producers, and not the state government or the people.

Shah claimed that due to the steps taken by the Modi government, the firing at Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy had stopped.

The central government had also ensured that the death penalty given to five fishermen in Sri Lanka was not carried out.

The BJP is fighting the assembly polls in Tamil Nadu alongwith smaller parties.
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, whose 125th birth anniversary falls on April 14, has emerged as one of India's most revered leader especially during the last two decades. No political party can afford to ignore him though the reasons for doing so are more electoral than emotional.

Independent India's first cabinet of prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had only 14 members with B.R. Ambedkar as law minister listed at No.11 in the order of precedence, below Jagjivan but above Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherji of the Hindu Mahasabha (later the Jan Sangh founder). Mahatma Gandhi had prevailed upon Nehru Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to include non-Congressmen as well because independence had come for the whole country - and not only for those who led the freedom movement.

It was only four years later, on September 27, 1951 after Ambedkar quit the Nehru cabinet that it became known that one of the causes for his doing so was that he was not given the portfolio of his choice: ministry of planning. However, the prime reason for his resigning was over the government's failure to pass the Hindu Code Bill, faulting Nehru with "lack of determination" to get the measure through.

Suffering from many ailments, including diabetes, rheumatism and high blood pressure contacted in a life full of relentless struggles, Ambedkar died in December 1956 after turning 65. Only two months earlier, he had formally embraced Buddhism and converted lakhs of his followers to his new faith. It was a culmination of a long process spanning nearly 50 years. But it was really after independence that Ambedkar made up his mind to adopt Buddhism, a religion he saw as a liberating force for the entire country.

Even though he had ceased being a minister, the government allowed him to retain his bungalow where he spent the final years of his life focussed on studying Buddhism. He also began to learn Pali and translated Buddhist texts into Gujarati and Marathi. In 1954, during a trip to Burma (now Myanmar), Ambedkar made a proposal for sponsoring a campaign for Buddhist conversion in India, arguing that Budhism was a religion for the whole world.

At a dhammadikha ceremony held in Nagpur, attended by nearly 500,000 people, Ambedkar and his followers converted to Buddhism. Besides dedicating them to social service and eradication of casteism, Ambedkar adminstered 21 vows to his followers, which included renunciation of all aspects of 'Brahmanic Hinduism'. The neo-Buddhists took a vow against worshipping Hindu gods and goddesses and not to perform shraddh ceremonies or worship the cow.

As Ambedkar will be remembered most by posterity for his monumental contribution to the making of India's constitution it is appropriate to quote from his last speech in the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949, the eve of the statute being adopted the following day:

"On January 26, 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be reorganizing the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this Assembly has so laboriously built up."

But Ambedkar was much more than the architect of India's constitution and a Dalit leader who today towers above others of his ilk. He was an educationist, economist, anthropologist, sociologist, journalist, jurist and, above all, a great parliamentarian and social reformer who devoted his whole life for the uplift of the weakest and most vulnerable sections of Indian society.

This much and, more, will be remembered, and said, about Ambedkar during the year of his 125th birth anniversary celebrations.

(Praveen Davar, an ex-army officer, is a member of the National Commission for Minorities. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at praveendavar@gmail.com)
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said the complete ban on liquor in his state has given a new direction to the entire country.

In a historic move, the Bihar government imposed a complete ban on sale of any kind of liquor in the state starting April 1.

"A total ban on liquor in Bihar has given a new direction to the entire country," Nitish Kumar said at a function in Araria district.

He said his government has laid the foundation for social change in Bihar with the liquor ban.

Nitish Kumar said after Bihar banned liquor, impressed by the measure, voices have been heard in other states as well for a similar ban.

He said people in neighbouring Jharkhand have demanded the liquor ban in their state and DMK chief Karunanidhi and AIADMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in the poll-bound state have promised to ban liquor if they are elected to power.

Banning liquor was one of the main poll promises of the Grand Alliance during the Bihar assembly elections. Experts say the ban would cost the state government a whopping Rs.4,000 crore in revenue annually.
Britain's exit from the European Union would be a "very bad thing" for Europe and have disastrous consequences for the country itself, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday.

"In my personal opinion, Brexit (Britain's exit from the EU) will be a very bad thing for Europe because of the simple reason that Great Britain at the moment is the second biggest economy in Europe. To lose the second biggest economy will be a big loss," Sarkozy said at a conference here, jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Referring to Britain's referendum on EU membership slated this summer, the visiting former French president said that in case the move happens it will be a "catastrophe for Great Britain".

If Britain exits from Europe, American companies will arrive owing to the close relationship between the two nations, he said

"So, there will be a very serious consequence," Sarkozy added.

Noting that India and France had a free-trade agreement that benefitted both nations, Sarkozy suggested that the 'Make in India' campaign could be rephrased as 'Make with India' as it would help strengthen the partnership between India and France while paving the way for future collaborations.
The union cabinet on Wednesday observed two minutes' silence in the memory of those killed in the fire tragedy in Kerala's Kollam district on Sunday.

"The union cabinet meeting today morning began with a two-minute silence in memory of all those who lost their lives in the fire tragedy at Puttingal Temple, Paravur, in Kollam district of Kerala on April 10, 2016," an official statement said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also tweeted that the cabinet observed two minutes silence in memory of the fire tragedy victims.

At least 113 people were killed and over 350 injured when a huge stock of firecrackers went up in flames in the temple premises early Sunday.
Actor Charlize Theron has ruled out having more children.

The "Huntsman: Winter's War" actress has her "hands really full" with four-year-old Jackson and baby August, who she adopted last July, and won't even consider her son's recent request of getting a pet, reports eonline.com.

"Both my hands are really full right now. I think I'm good for now. My son (Jackson) is like, 'Let's get a cat,' and I'm like, 'No! No! No more things that need to be fed! We're slowing down," Theron said.

The 40-year-old beauty feels very "lucky" to have two "amazing" children.

"There's not one moment where I don't realise how unbelievably lucky I have it. They're little gems, they really are. They're amazing," Theron added.

At the MTV Movie Awards last weekend, Theron thanked her children when she accepted the Best Female Performance prize for her role as Imperator Furiosa in "Mad Max: Fury Road", and she has admitted Jackson was a great source of support for her on the film set.
The Congress on Wednesday lambasted the Modi government for allegedly not ensuring sufficient relief to the drought-affected states and said it is more interested in taking credit for whatever little it has done in the matter.

The opposition party also demanded that the government table a white paper in parliament in the next session on the drought situation and the steps taken by it to provide relief to the affected people.

"There is severe drought-like situation in many districts. On an average, 90 farmers committed suicide every week in 2016. The Modi government's shamelessness is in full display when its agriculture minister tries to downplay the calamity's effects, saying the media is exaggerating the situation," Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters here.

"In drought-hit Maharashtra alone, nine farmers commit suicide daily. As many as 3,228 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in 2015, the highest since 2001. Vidarbha and Marathwada regions, with 5.7 million farmers, accounted for 83 percent of all farmer suicides in Maharashtra in 2015," he said, asserting that India is facing the worst water crisis in a decade with 91 major reservoirs having no more than 29 percent water.

As many as 246 districts in 10 states were declared drought-affected in 2015-16, according to the Centre's statement in the Lok Sabha on March 10.

The situation is bad in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha, Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

"Even as the country faces the worst drought since 1986-87, the Modi government has reduced funds for rural water supply from Rs.9,700 crore in 2013-14 to Rs.5,000 crore in 2016-17," Singhvi said.

The Congress leader said that instead of providing relief and succour to the people, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government was busy taking credit for the water sent to Latur by putting banners on the train.

The Congress leader said: "Although two water trains have been sent to the parched Latur city, the quantity is far less than required. Latur needs 100 times more water than what the trains took there."

"Instead of announcing concrete measures to deal with the water crisis, central ministers are busy playing down the situation," he said adding that the summer months have begun but the Centre has refrained from taking meaningful steps to redress the situation.

The Congress leader said the Supreme Court too had rapped the government for the delay in releasing funds for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme to drought-hit states. The apex court had also questioned the government's role in declaring drought in states.

"The apex court has categorically asked the government as to why it is not declaring drought as a national calamity and why it could not be brought under the Disaster Management Act of 2005 to release funds for the affected families," Singhvi said.

The Congress welcomed the meteorological department prediction of more than normal monsoon this year.

"We are hopeful it may bring some long-term cheers to Indian farmers who have seen absolutely no respite or assistance from the government of the day," Singhvi said.
US Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is close to ensuring that Donald Trump cannot win the GOP nomination on a second ballot at the party's July convention in Cleveland, scooping up scores of delegates who have pledged to vote for him instead of the front-runner if given the chance.

The push by Cruz means that it is more essential than ever for Trump to clinch the nomination by winning a majority of delegates to avoid a contested and drawn-out convention fight, which Trump seems almost certain to lose, The Washington Post reported.

The GOP race now rests on two cliffhangers: Can Trump lock up the nomination before Cleveland? And if not, can Cruz cobble together enough delegates to win a second convention vote if Trump fails in the first?

Trump's path to amassing the 1,237 delegates he needs to win outright has only gotten narrower after losing to Cruz in Wisconsin and other recent contests, and would require him to perform better in the remaining states than he has to this point.

In addition, based on the delegate selections made by states and territories, Cruz is poised to pick up at least 130 more votes on a second ballot, according to a Washington Post analysis.

That tally surpasses 170 delegates under less conservative assumptions -- a number that could make it impossible for Trump to emerge victorious.

That is why the race centres on the fevered hunt for delegates across the country. The intensity of the fight has sparked another round of caustic rhetoric -- including allegations from party leaders that Trump supporters are making death threats.

"It's unfortunate has reached a new low. These type of threats have no place in politics," said Kyle Babcock, a Republican delegate from Indiana's third Congressional district.

He received an email from a Trump supporter who warned, "Think before you take a step down the wrong path."

Cruz's chances rest on exploiting a wrinkle in the GOP rule book: that delegates assigned to vote for Trump at the convention do not actually have to be Trump supporters.

Cruz is particularly focused on getting loyalists elected to delegate positions even in states that the senator from Texas lost.

Cruz said this week that he thinks the odds of a contested convention are "very high".

"In Cleveland, I believe we will have an enormous advantage," he told radio talk-show host Glenn Beck.

Trump has a commanding lead in total delegates and the overall vote total, but has complained that Republican leaders are conspiring against him in a bid to silence his supporters.

"The RNC should be ashamed of itself for allowing this to happen," Trump said on Tuesday night while campaigning in Rome, N.Y.

Paul Manafort, a senior adviser to Trump, said he was confident that Cruz will never have a chance to convert Trump delegates.

"Just because [Cruz] has won some delegates in a state where we have the delegates voting for us is not relevant until and unless there's a second ballot," Manafort said. "There's not going to be a second ballot."

When the presidential nomination vote is held at the convention, 95 percent of the delegates will be bound to the results in their states for the first vote, giving Trump his best shot at securing a majority.

But if Trump falls short, the convention will cast a second ballot in which more than 1,800 delegates from 31 states -- nearly 60 percent of the total -- will be unbound and allowed to vote however they want.

By the third round, 80 percent of the delegates would be free, sparking a potential free-for-all that could continue for several more rounds.

That is the crux of the state-by-state battle that is playing out over the next two months as Republicans gather at the precinct, county, congressional district and statewide level to choose convention delegates.

"If we go into a contested convention, we're gonna have a ton of delegates, Donald is gonna have a ton of delegates, and it's gonna be a battle in Cleveland to see who can earn a majority of the delegates that were elected by the people," Cruz told a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on Saturday.

He predicted that the first ballot "will be the highest vote total Donald Trump receives. And on a subsequent ballot, we're gonna win the nomination".
A 21-year-old former DMRC employee has been arrested with his associate in connection with the Rs.12 lakh robbery at the Rajendra Place metro station on April 11.

Pawan, a former Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) employee, was arrested along with his associate Sonu, 22, from their hideouts in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday night, said a police officer.

Police have recovered Rs.10,55,000 of the stolen amount from the possession of the accused.

Police said Pawan and Sonu are the main culprits who entered Rajendra Place metro station at 5.14 a.m. on April 11, and looted Rs.12 lakh from the metro station control room after stabbing on duty metro employee Kunal Kishore.

Kishore is recuperating in a private hospital.

Police had filed a case under sections 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 397 (robbery), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in connection with the robbery.

Sharing more details about the attackers, Joint Commissioner of Police M.K. Meena said Pawan was the mastermind of the whole incident. "The culprits were held with the help of CCTV footages and the smart cards they had used at the time of committing crime."

"Pawan was a former DMRC employee and had been deployed at the Rajendra Place metro station. So he knew the topography well," Meena said, adding that the robbery was planned around 15 days ago.

The officer said both the culprits had hired an auto-rickshaw from Anand Vihar in east Delhi to reach Rajendra Place metro station.

He said the culprits wore surgical masks to cover their faces for hiding their identity just before entering the metro station.

"Pawan had brought a knife and managed to take it inside the metro premises by hiding it in his socks despite his frisking by the CISF men. After committing the crime, both the attackers exited from the metro station and again took another auto-rickshaw to go back to Anand Vihar. They later went to their place in Kaushambi in Ghaziabad and distributed the looted money," Meena said.

A Delhi police source, who is very close to the investigation, told IANS that the culprits had bought a mobile phone and some other things before leaving for their respective native places.

Pawan and Sonu are residents of Bulandshahr and Amroha in Uttar Pradesh, respectively.

Pawan told police that he wanted to earn quick money as his father had incurred a huge debt during his sister's marriage recently, while Sonu was in search of a job.

The officer further said that Sonu used to meet Pawan and asked him to arrange a job for him in Delhi metro as he was a former employee.

"Pawan misguided Sonu, saying that a metro job was not as good as he thought. He then discussed his robbery plan with Sonu. He also assured Sonu that the metro employees and security personnel would be sleepy in the early morning hours and it would help them in committing the robbery," the officer said.

Asked why Kunal Kishore, the attacked metro employee, did not raise an alarm till about 20 minutes after the incident, Joint CP said: "We are yet to question him properly to know the exact reason behind his action."

The officer, however, did not rule out the possibility of Kishore's involvement in the case.
At a time when residents of Delhi are hoping for a workable solution for the next phase of "odd-even" car rule from April 15, the newly introduced bike taxis may well provide a breather.

After gaining popularity in Goa, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Gurgaon, bike taxis have made their debut in the national capital as well. Available for tariff as low as Rs.5 per km, they are emerging as the most convenient short-distance travel option for students and office-goers alike.

"In cities like Delhi and Bangalore, commuting is a major issue due to a dearth of proper public transport. Additionally, last mile connectivity is an issue especially on a regulated basis," said Divya Kalia, co-founder of Bikxie,

"As rickshaws and autos are not part of any regulated market they charge customers a lot. Most of them do not ply with the meter," Kalia, whose company runs its services in Gurgaon, told IANS.

Bike-taxis, or motorcycle taxi service, have proved a popular and feasible mode of transportation in places like Brazil, China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. It is considered to be cheaper and more convenient for small distance routes.

"I first got the idea of launching a bike taxi service when I visited Thailand a few years ago. Today, OneRyder has become a reality with over 70 riders on-board for our launch in Delhi. The target is 200 more will join by the April-end," said Rahul Gupta, the company's founder.

Gupta obviously expects a spike in users during the odd-even days in April.

OneRyder, a startup, launched its service in Delhi on April 5. Aimed at providing efficient, last mile connectivity and smart transportation solutions, the bike-taxi service is planning to spread itself to the Delhi NCR region in the next few months and to major metro cities in about a year.

Another service provider, Promto has launched battery operated bikes with in-built GPS systems.

"Ahead of the second phase of odd-even scheme, we have come up with eco-friendly bike taxis for that last-mile connectivity problem. Since the launch, we are doing 150-200 rides everyday on an average with a fleet of 20 bikes," Karan Chadha, promoter of Promto, told IANS.

The two-wheeler electric bike-taxi service, which currently runs only from the Rajiv Chowk Metro station, is planning to open in four more locations within Delhi and add 60-80 bikes every month. It is also targeting to get another 30 bikes for the odd-even week, Chadha said.

"We foresee Promto becoming a major transport solution during odd-even rule."

Some of the other players around the capital include RideJi, UberMoto and Baxi. But some major issues still remain unresolved. Will such bikes need different number plates? Must these bikers be given a different category of licence? Will they have to pay commercial tax rates?

For the moment, however, the stakeholders IANS spoke to said since all two-wheelers are exempted from the odd-even policy, during which cars can ply on odd-or-even days depending on the last digit of their registration, bike-taxis will certainly prove to be a convenient option.

(Porisma Pompi Gogoi can be reached at porisma.g@ians.in)
Union Minister for Development of North East Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh on Thursday called for private participation in expansion of railways across the country.

The government could get more useful inputs by engaging private business institutions in railways, said the minister for Development of North East Region (DoNER) at the PHD Global Rail Convention, 2016.

"The participation of private players would be beneficial for the overall objective of having an efficient rail networking system," Jitendra Singh said.

"Private participation can be in the form of PPP model in laying down tracks or running the trains. The more we engage private players, more useful inputs we are likely to get," he said.

Taking a dig at the previous Congress government, Jitendra Singh said it did not do enough to develop the rail network in northeastern India.

"There may have been variety of reasons for not having developed an efficient rail network in the northeast, such as topography or militancy. However, I believe the main reason was misplacement of priorities by the previous government."

"The northeast region deserves to have a rail network, but still we were not able to do it," he said.

Highlighting the achievements of the government for the promotion of railways in the northeast, Jitendra Singh said that within six months of coming to power, the NDA regime connected two states -- Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya -- with the rail network of the country.

The government also increased the budget allocation for the development of railways in the northeast, he added.

"The total budget allocation during the last five years of the previous government was Rs.2,126 crore. However, in just two years, our government has already allocated Rs.5,163 crore for the same," he said.
Chief product executive Punit Soni of e-tail major Flipkart has resigned, a company source said on Wednesday.

"Soni has put in his papers," the source told IANS after the company's official spokesman failed to respond to calls and messages for confirmation.

A high-profile former Google executive from Silicon Valley in the US, Soni returned to India and joined Flipkart a year ago.

Soni's exit comes months after the company's e-commerce platform head Mukesh Bansal and chief business executive Ankit Nagori resigned early this year.
A Class 10 girl student was attacked with acid when she was sleeping in her school hostel in Jharkhand's Giridih district, police said.

According to police, the attack took place at the Kasturba Gandhi Ballika Awasiya Vidyalay, in Dumri town of Giridih district. The student has been admitted to a local hospital.

The hostel warden has been quizzed by police.

The hostel authorities, according to police, have claimed the incident could have been the work of an insider of the hostel.

Police have begun investigations and are trying to get video footage of the CCTV installed in the hostel.

In another development, police seized a large quantity of explosives in Pakur district on Wednesday.

According to police, more than 900 gelatin sticks were seized and one person was arrested from Chendanga village under Malpahari police station's jurisdiction of the district.
An RJD legislator in Bihar on Wednesday demanded death penalty for those accused of fatally injuring his sister by throwing her out of a running auto-rickshaw after she resisted their molestation bid.

Saroj Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal legislator from Barhara assembly in Bhojpur district, also demanded action against superintendent of police of Bhojpur for alleged police failure to act against the accused.

"The accused deserve death penalty. I demand that the state government ensure that they get death penalty. It will be true justice to me and my family. I have faith that the government will do everything," Saroj Yadav told the media here.

Senior RJD leader and former chief minister Rabri Devi also demanded justice for the victim.

"The state government should act tough to provide justice to the victim," she said.

Saroj Yadav's sister Shail Devi died at the Patna Medical College and Hospital here on Tuesday.

According to police, four to five people misbehaved with her and tried to sexually assault Shail Devi while she was on way to a doctor in Bhojpur last Saturday.

"When she resisted their attempt, she was assaulted and thrown out of the running auto-rickshaw," police said.
Instead of banning Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik, the Goa government should first ban Nigerian and Russian mafias operating in the state, Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said on Wednesday.

"Muthalik should not be banned in Goa. There are many others from outside, who can be from the Nigerian and Russian mafias, who need to be banned before Muthalik is... Even Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Kanhaiya Kumar is moving around the country," Raut told reporters here after taking stock of Sena's organisational affairs in Goa.

Last month, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government in Goa extended the ban on Muthalik, first imposed in 2014.

Sene courted controversy after its activist allegedly attacked young men and women in a pub in Mangalore in 2009 for, what they claimed, was insult to Indian culture.

In 2014, Muthalik said he would open Sene units in Goa and try to steer the former Portuguese colony away from "Western influences".
A sessions court in Gujarat's Amreli district on Wednesday sentenced Bharatiya Janata Party's Amreli MP Naran Kachhadiya to three years' imprisonment in an assault case.

The court also convicted four others, including a local woman BJP leader, and imposed fines of Rs.25,000 each on all five for roughing up an on-duty government doctor Bhimji Dabhi three years ago.

They were, however, given interim relief against arrest for a month and time till May 11 to move the high court against the verdict.

Meanwhile, Kachhadiya, 58, told reporters after the court verdict: "I am innocent and will move the high court."

Amreli civil hospital doctor Bhimji Dabhi was beaten up in January 2013 when he allegedly refused to treat Ravi Joshi, 23, a son of woman BJP leader Madhuben Joshi. Ravi was beaten up by some people in Chalala town following an argument.

After the doctor allegedly asked the Joshis to leave the hospital, she called up Kachhadiya who rushed there along with his supporters.

After an altercation, a supporter of Kachhadiya roughed up the doctor. The hospital staff went on a flash strike to protest against the assault.

Later, a police complaint was lodged against the parliamentarian and 15 others.
A heat wave on Wednesday swept across Telangana and Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh with most places recording a maximum temperature of above 40 degrees Celsius , while a couple of places sizzled at 44 degrees, officials said.

The met office has issued heat wave warning for seven out of 10 districts of Telangana and all four districts of Rayalaseema region of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

The meteorological centre at Hyderabad said heat wave conditions will prevail in the districts of Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Rangareddy, Khammam, Medak and Nalgonda in Telangana.

Most places of Telangana state were very likely to record maximum temperature between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius. Rise in maximum temperatures by one or two degrees was very likely, said the met office.

Heave wave conditions were also likely to prevail in Anantapur, Kurnool, Kadapa and Chittoor districts of Rayalaseema.

The highest maximum temperature of 44 degrees Celsius was recorded at Ramagundam in Telangana and at Jangamaheswarapuram in Andhra Pradesh.

In Telangana, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad and Bhadrachalam experienced maximum temperature of 43 degrees Celsius. It was 42 degrees in Hyderabad, Adilabad, Khammam and Mahabubnagar.

Anantapur and Kurnool in Rayalaseema recorded 43 degrees Celsius.

Authorities in both states have cautioned the people to take all precautions to protect themselves from sun stroke. They have been advised to avoid venturing out, especially between noon and 5 p.m.

The streets in many parts of Telangana and Rayalaseema wore a deserted look after 10 a.m. as people preferred to remain indoors.

Heat wave conditions this season have so far claimed 111 lives in the two states. According to figures released by the disaster management department last week, 66 people have died in Telangana and 45 in Andhra Pradesh.
Thailand's weather forecaster has warned that the temperature will be over 40 degrees Celsius during the water-splashing Songkran festival that begins on Wednesday.

A large number of visitors from across the world are expected to visit Thailand during the festival, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to a statement posted by Thai Meteorological Department, the weather in the Thai capital Bangkok would be hot to very hot with haze during the day throughout the festival.

The highest temperature recorded in the country was 44.5 degrees Celsius in the northern province of Uttaradit in 1960, but the temperature in the Sukhothai province in recent days has already shot to 44 degrees Celsius, nearing the record set.

Weather forecasters have asked people not staying in the sun for too long given the risk of a potentially fatal heat stroke.
The academic world has always taken "great interest" in Indian mathematical genius Srinavasa Ramanujan's path-breaking works, but the Hollywood film "The Man Who Knew Infinity" has brought more public focus on the scientist, says noted mathematician and Ramanujan expert K. Alladi.

Indian-origin mathematician Krishnaswami Alladi of the University of Florida, also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Ramanujan Journal says the 19th century scientist's legacy (a college drop-out who revolutionised the field of mathematics in his short life of 32 years) should inspire youngsters to pursue a subject out of pure passion and not fashion.

"There has always been great interest in Ramanujan's work in the academic world, especially the world of mathematics. Robert Kanigel's book did a lot to attract the attention of the general public worldwide to the fascinating life and work of Ramanujan. Now with the movie, there is even greater attention on Ramanujan worldwide among the general public," Alladi told IANS in an email interaction.

The film which released in India last Friday is based on the book "The Man who Knew Infinity: A life of the genius Ramanujan" written by Robert Kanigel.

For enthusiasts, in the offing (in two years) is a comprehensive encyclopaedia on the scientist's personal and professional life by Springer, of which Alladi is an editor.

Born on December 22, 1887, Ramanujan belonged to an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family in the town of Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu.

In the film set in 1913, actor Dev Patel essays Ramanujan, a 25-year-old shipping clerk and self-taught genius, who failed out of college due to his near-obsessive, solitary study of mathematics.

"Determined to pursue his passion despite rejection and derision from his peers, Ramanujan writes a letter to G. H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons), an eminent British mathematics professor at Trinity College, Cambridge. Hardy recognizes the originality and brilliance of Ramanujan's raw talent and despite the skepticism of his colleagues, undertakes bringing him to Cambridge so that his theories can be explored," according to the movie's website.

It also tackles Ramanujan's dilemmas, as a young vegetarian Iyengar boy, in England during the days of the British Raj and racism with World War 1 in the backdrop.

Alladi rues the discrimination bit, in general, has been carried a bit too far.

"There is discrimination everywhere in the world in one form or the other. We should accept the fact that the British did recognise Ramanujan by electing him Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1918 (despite opposition) even though he did not have a college degree," he asserted.

Ramanujan returned to India in 1919, "a very sick man" and died in April 1920 in Chennai (then Madras).

The Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy (SASTRA University) purchased his home in Kumbakonam and is maintaining it as a museum. Apart from December 22 which is observed as National Mathematics Day, there are innumerable conferences, books and films (the 2014 Tamil film "Ramanujan") that serve as constant reminders of his contributions which also impacted physics and computer science.

Alladi believes the younger generation in India know about Ramanujan: "His life, not so much about his mathematics (number theory etc.) except for a few sensational stories like 1729 (the famed taxicab number)."

Hardy told the story that once he visited Ramanujan in a hospital at Putney, south-west London and told him that his taxicab number was 1729. The British mathematician told the Indian one that the number seemed a rather dull one. To which Ramanujan replied that it was rather an interesting number.

"It is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways," Hardy quoted Ramanujan as having said. In the esoteric world of higher mathematics, this was an interesting, impromptu response and it became famous as the Hardy-Ramanujan number. For those interested, the number is one cube plus 12 cube and nine cube plus 10 cube (or 1x1x1 + 12x12x12 and 9x9x9 + 10x10x10).

"His life and work should inspire youth today to pursue a subject passionately, for the love of it (be it science, poetry, or painting). One should not take up a field because it is fashionable or lucrative. If you pursue a subject in which you are passionately interested, then you will succeed and make a fundamental contribution," Alladi signed-off.

(Sahana Ghosh can be conacted at sahana.g@ians.in)
In a wake of prolonged slump in global prices, India has asked the United Arab Emirates for better terms on the import of crude oil and liquified petroleum gas from the Gulf country.

"Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan pitched for maximising the term volume for Indian companies which import crude and LPG from the UAE on favourable terms," a ministry statement said on Wednesday.

Pradhan earlier met UAE Energy Minister Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei before concluding his official visit to the country.

Pradhan also met UAE Minister of State Sultan Jaber, the chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, it said.

"He (Pradhan) also highlighted the interests of the Indian companies to participate in prospective exploration in the UAE and third countries," the statement added.

Pradhan also discussed investment opportunities in several major hydrocarbon sector projects in India, including Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Petro Additions Ltd., Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd., Petchem complex in Andhra Pradesh, West Coast refinery and the Ennore LNG terminal.

"Had detailed discussion with Oil Minister of UAE; it's 3rd meeting with him in a year; agreed on few concrete projects," Pradhan tweeted earlier.

"Discussed investment in Indian strategic oil reserve; mutual investment in oil, gas, refinery, petrochemical projects," the minister said in another tweet.

Gulf and Saudi oil majors, such as Aramco, the Kuwait Petroleum Corp and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, had earlier shown interest in storage facility in India as it reduces their transport costs into Southeast Asia.

In India's first phase of building strategic oil reserves, the storage bunk at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh has been completed while construction is in the final stages at Padur and Mangaluru, both in Karnataka.

Pradhan's visit to the UAE is a follow-up of the February visit of Abu Dhabi's crown prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Energy Minister Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei to Delhi.

The UAE contributes in a major way to India's energy security, being the sixth largest supplier of crude oil. India is the second largest destination for UAE's oil exports.
India on Wednesday signed an agreement with German agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) for the rejuvenation of the Ganga river under the 'Namami Gange' project.

The agreement was signed here between the ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation and GIZ, which represents the German government in development cooperation across the world.

"The agreement's objective is to enable responsible stakeholders at the national and state levels to apply integrated river basin management approach for the Ganga river's rejuvenation," a water resources ministry statement said.

"It will be based on knowledge exchange and practical experience of both countries on strategic river basin management issues, effective data management system and public engagement," it added.

"The project will closely cooperate with other national and international initiatives, including bilateral projects like Support to National Urban Sanitation Policy and Sustainable Environment-friendly Industrial Production," the statement said.

The German contribution to the 2016-2018 project will be Rs.22.5 crore. Initial actions will focus on Uttarakhand, with a scope to expand it to other states upstream of the Ganga river.

The ultimate goal is to adopt the successful river basin management strategies used for Rhine and Danube rivers in Germany and replicate the same for the Ganga, the statement said.
India is seeking the body of an alleged Indian spy who died in a Pakistani jail so that he can be cremated in his village in Gurdaspur in Punjab.

"We are waiting permission for post-mortem. After that we will hand over the body of Kirpal Singh," Deputy Superintendent of Police Iqbal Shah said in Lahore.

Lahore hospital sources said the Indian High Commission was reportedly demanding that the cause of death should be given to them in writing. Only after that will the mission agree for autopsy.

The body of Kirpal Singh, 54, who according to preliminary reports died of cardiac arrest on Monday, was in the morgue of the Jinnah Hospital.

Earlier, the Indian government said it had asked its envoy in Islamabad to take up at the "highest possible level" the issue of early transportation of the body.

"Our acting high commissioner has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in the Pakistan foreign office for early transportation of the (body)," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said.

"(Acting high commissioner) will also ask for official information on the cause of death," Swarup added.

Kirpal Singh died at the hospital after becoming seriously ill in Kot Lakhpat Jail.

He was alleged to have been involved in a bombing at the Faisalabad railway station in 1991 and sentenced to death for spying and terrorism in Pakistan.

Pakistani authorities said Kirpal Singh died due to heart failure.

On Tuesday, a sister of Kirpal Singh staged a protest at the Attari-Wagah checkpost on the India-Pakistan border.

"My brother was murdered just like Sarabjit earlier. The Pakistani jail authorities are responsible for his death," Jagir Kaur said.

Her reference was to Sarabjit Singh, an Indian death row convict who died in 2013 after being attacked by two Pakistani prisoners at the Kot Lakhpat Jail.

Jagir Kaur was accompanied by many others. One of them was Dalbir Kaur, the elder sister of Sarabjit Singh.

Kirpal Singh's family demanded that his body be handed over to them for cremation at his village in Punjab's Gurdaspur district.
India on Wednesday sought the "earliest possible" repatriation of the mortal remains of an Indian held in a Pakistan prison who died on Monday.

"Our acting high commissioner met DG South Asia in the (Pakistan) ministry of foreign affairs and asked for earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

He said that, according to the Pakistan government, Kirpal Singh died on April 11 at 2.55 p.m. following a heart attack.

"

"We await further details," Swarup stated.

Kirpal, 54, died at a hospital in Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat Jail. He was alleged to have been involved in a bombing at Faisalabad Railway Station in 1991 and sentenced to death for spying and terrorism in Pakistan.

He was transferred to a hospital on Monday after his health deteriorated suddenly, jail officials said.

In 2013, an Indian death row convict Sarabjit Singh was attacked by two other inmates at the Kot Lakhpat Jail. He later succumbed to his wounds at the hospital.

On Tuesday, a sister of Kirpal protested at the Attari-Wagah integrated checkpost on the India-Pakistan border over his death.

"My brother Kirpal has been murdered just like Sarabjit was earlier. The Pakistani jail authorities are responsible for his death," Jagir Kaur said during the protest.

She was accompanied by many other protestors, among them Dalbir Kaur, the elder sister of Sarabjit.

The family demanded that Kirpal Singh's body be handed over to them for cremation at his native village in Punjab's Gurdaspur district.
India has asked its envoy in Pakistan to take up at the "highest possible level" with their foreign office the issue of early transportation of mortal remains of an Indian national who died in Pakistan on Monday.

"On Kirpal Singh, our acting high commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in the Pakistan foreign office this forenoon to seek early transportation of the mortal remains," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said on Wednesday.

"He will also ask for official information on cause of death, postmortem report etc," he added.

Kirpal Singh, 54, died at a hospital in Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat Jail. He was alleged to have been involved in a bombing at Faisalabad Railway Station in 1991 and sentenced to death for spying and terrorism in Pakistan.

He was transferred to a hospital on Monday after suddenly his health deteriorated, jail officials said.

Pakistani authorities said Kirpal Singh died due to heart failure.

In 2013, an Indian death row convict Sarabjit Singh was attacked by two other inmates at the Kot Lakhpat Jail. He later succumbed to his wounds at the hospital.

On Tuesday, a sister of Kirpal Singh protested at the Attari-Wagah integrated checkpost on the India-Pakistan border over his death.

"My brother Kirpal has been murdered just like Sarabjit was earlier. The Pakistani jail authorities are responsible for his death," Jagir Kaur said during the protest.

She was accompanied by many other protestors, among them Dalbir Kaur, the elder sister of Sarabjit Singh.

The family demanded that Kirpal Singh's body be handed over to them for cremation at his native village in Punjab's Gurdaspur district.
It was business as usual for most jewellers on Wednesday after they called off their nationwide strike called to protest against the Centre's budget proposal to impose one percent excise duty on non-silver jewellery, a top industry official said.

"Nearly 90 percent of the jewellers are back in business today (Wednesday). The strike was called off yesterday (Tuesday)," All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation director Ashok Minawala told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

According to him, the industry suffered an estimated Rs.50,000 crore loss in business due to the strike that began on March 2.

"The daily jewellery business across the country is around Rs.1,000 crore," he said.

He said the government had agreed to simplify the excise rules so that the jewellery trade was not affected in a major way.

"Things will be smooth if the excise duty process is simplified and without harassment from officials," Minawala said.
Jordanian security personnel stormed the headquarters of the Muslim brotherhood, the main opposition group in Amman, dismissed all people inside and sealed the premises on Wednesday, sources said.

All the people inside were forced to leave the headquarters of the brotherhood, located in the Abdali district, Efe news quoted brotherhood sources as saying.

Relations between the Jordanian authorities and the Muslim brotherhood, the country's main opposition force, have been strained for years and have recently worsened.
"Mexican food is just not a plate of nachos with a heap of toppings; it is so much more than that," says Neeti Goel, owner of La Bodega, a colourful eatery that transports you to the streets of the "real" Mexico - sans the fusion.

Located in South Delhi's posh Khan Market, La Bodega plays with all the senses. The interiors are subtle, not over the top with red and orange being the dominating colours along with Aztec prints, wooden flooring and a mural depicting a Mexican market. Seating is sprawled across two floors along with the terrace.

Launched by sisters Neeti and Smriti, La Bodega opened its doors in June 2014.

"We do not offer Tex-Mex (fusion of American and Mexican cuisine) here, we serve what one could find at somebody's home in Mexico," Goel told IANS.

La Bodega imports spices like chillies from Mexico. Their head chef Mauro Mendez hails from Mexico City.

"When we opened two years ago, the concept was a little alien and they either loved it or did not really understand. But now when they come in, they know exactly what to expect," Goel added.

The menu is not very extensive. It is divided into antojeria (street food), botanas (snacks), large plates, salads, soups and desserts.

To start on this Mexican trail, we were served classic margarita cocktails, which were undoubtedly the perfect tequila-based lime infused drink to start our food journey.

The drinks were quickly followed by tortilla chips with green and red salsa dips and sour cream, a tostadas (flat roasted tortilla with toppings) platter, cochinita pibit taquito (rolled-up tortilla with filling) and the gringa des res quesadillas, all which were part of the antojeria section of the menu.

The platter had three types of toppings - potato and chorizo, shrimp and pulled chicken, out of which the first and second were the winners. The flavours were practically doing a salsa in my mouth. A perfect balance of spice and sourness from the addition of fresh lime juice made the dish unforgettable.

The taquito consisted of a pulled pork filling, which was moist and juicy and again an amalgamation of flavours. The quesadillas which were filled with jalapenos and cheese, were crisp and being a hardcore non-vegetarian, this dish managed to completely change my thoughts.

Next, from the botanas section, we were served the ceviche de atun and croquetas de papa. The ceviche was definitely the winner of this entire Mexican food trail. Fresh tuna, mixed with Mexican staples like tomato, cilantro and lemon juice served with crisp tortilla chips tasted like tropical summer. Once tasted, this dish could not be put down. Sweet, sour, spice - all at once.

The croquetas de papa were potato and cheese croquettes which can be described as the perfect snack to munch on along with a drink.

From the large plates section, we were served red snapper with a warm white bean salad and cordo adobado - roasted porkbelly with red adobo sauce with corn and mashed potato.

The first dish could be a little towards the acquired side. The fish itself was not very highly seasoned. The skin was very crisp and the the meat was melt in the mouth. The bean salad again had hints of lemon juice and pepper. When mixed, the taste was very pleasant. On the other hand, the pork belly was very well seasoned and the adobo sauce (mix of paprika, oregano, salt, garlic, and vinegar) enhanced its flavour.

To bring an end to this hearty delicious experience, we were served the churros with chocolate sauce and de tres leches - cake made of three kinds of milk (evaporated, condensed and heavy cream) served with chantilly cream and fruit. The long and thick churros or fried-dough pastry are a very popular Mexican snack. Dusted with sugar and cinnamon, when dipped in the chocolate sauce, everything else seem oblivious.

In the second dessert, the cake was served with cream which balanced the sweetness and the strawberries added the much needed tang.

La Bodega would be a desirable place to visit for anyone who wants to experience the "real" Mexico on a plate.

FAQs:

Where: 1st Floor, 29-B, Middle Lane, Khan Market, New Delhi

Meal for two: Rs.1,700 (with alcohol)

Timings: 12.00 p.m. to 12.30 a.m.

(The writer's visit was at the invitation of La Bodega. Karishma Saurabh Kalita can be contacted at karishma.k@ians.in)
A man suspected of supplying weapons to the terrorist who killed four people in a Paris supermarket and a policeman in January 2015 was arrested in Spain on Wednesday.

Antoine Denive, 27, a suspected arms dealer and the subject of an European arrest warrant issued by French authorities, was detained in the town of Rincon de la Victoria on the south coast of Spain, reports Xinhua.

He was arrested with two other people who police described as being a Serb and a Montenegrin.

Denive is thought to have escaped from France and moved to the south of Spain where he continued his arms dealing activities.

A search of his accommodation uncovered several false documents along with computer material which are currently being analyzed.

Denive is suspected of giving weapons to Amedy Coulibaly, who killed five people in two separate attacks on January 8 and 9 last year in Paris.

He shot four of his victims in a Jewish supermarket in the east of Paris before he was killed by French security forces.

The incidents coincided with the killing of 11 people at the satirical magazine 'Charlie Hebdo' by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi who were known to Coulibaly.

Security forces later discovered that Coulibaly had been in Spain on January 2, a week before his death, as he accompanied his wife and three family members to the Madrid airport, from where they flew to Turkey and onto Syria.
Jammu and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Wednesday.

Mehbooba is presently on her maiden trip to Delhi after taking over as the first woman chief minister of Jammu and .

The state is ruled by Mehbooba's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in alliance.

She also met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday. On Tuesday, she met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to include Srinagar and Jammu in the central government's Smart Cities project.

Mehbooba called on Modi here for the first time since assuming office as the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on April 4. The two discussed developmental and political situation in the state, a state government statement said.

Mehbooba's Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party are the ruling alliance partners in Jammu and Kashmir.

The statement was silent on Modi's response to Mehbooba's demand.

Mehbooba also met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar and Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu.

"During the meeting with the prime minister, both the leaders deliberated upon several wide-ranging issues of the state. (Mehbooba) urged Modi to favourably consider the inclusion of the two state capitals in the 'Smart Cities Mission'," the statement said.

The mission is an urban renewal programme under which 100 cities across the country will be developed, with a sharp focus on infrastructure, land use planning, transport, design and architecture.

The state government had hoped that Srinagar and Jammu also will feature in the list of the 100 cities. Since the Centre didn't include them in the coveted list, it became one of the issues that stalled the installation of a PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir after the death of the then chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed on January 7.

The statement said the chief minister also "requested for an additional allocation of 4.30 lakh tonnes food grain over and above given under targeted public distribution system fixed under the National Food Security Act".

Mehbooba also sought Modi's intervention in expediting the central government's "nod for continuation of special dispensation of 50 percent in promotion quota in All India Services (AIS) for state service officers for another five years, beyond December 31, 2013".

"The prime minister assured her of Centre's full support in the holistic development of Jammu and Kashmir."

During her meeting with Sushma Swaraj, the chief minister discussed the measures required for broadening the scope of cross-Line of Control trade and travel in the state.

Mehbooba also proposed the opening of new routes across the LOC for better connectivity which, she said, will take people-to-people contact beyond the ritual of meetings between divided families.

The increase in Haj quota in respect of the state also figured in the meeting.

With Parrikar, Mehbooba discussed the firing in Handwara in which three civilians, including a women, were killed. Parrikar assured of a time-bound inquiry to fix responsibility in the case.

Mehbooba also called on President Pranab Mukherjee and discussed issues related to Jammu and Kashmir.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to include Srinagar and Jammu -- the two capitals of Jammu and Kashmir -- in the central government's smart city project.

Mehbooba called on Modi in Delhi in a first meeting with the prime minister since taking over as the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on April 4.

The two discussed the developmental and political situation in the state, an official statement by the state government said,

"During the meeting, both the leaders deliberated upon several wide-ranging issues concerning the state. (Mehbooba) urged Narendra Modi to favourably consider the inclusion of the two capital cities in the 'Smart Cities Mission'."

The mission is an urban renewal programme of the government under which 100 cities all over the country will be developed with a sharp focus on infrastructure, land use planning, transport, design and architecture. The state government had hoped that Srinagar and Jammu will feature in the list of 100 cities.

However, the central government didn't include them. This was one of the issues that had stalled the PDP-BJP government formation in the state after the death of then chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in January.

The state government statement appeared silent over Modi's response to Mehbooba's demand.

It said that the chief minister also "requested for an additional allocation of 4.30 lakh metric tonne foodgrains over and above the targeted public distribution system fixed under National Food Security Act".

Mehbooba also sought Modi's intervention in expediting the central government's "nod for continuation of special dispensation of 50 percent in promotion quota in All India Services (AIS) for state service officers for another five years, beyond December 31, 2013".

"The prime minister assured the chief minister of centre's full support in the holistic development of Jammu and Kashmir."
King Mohammed VI of Morocco and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday agreed that the two countries are interested in expanding bilateral cooperation.

The two leaders talked over a phone call, the king office said in a statement, adding that the agreement signed last month opened a new era for the bilateral relations and strengthened the strategic partnership, Xinhua reported.

They also discussed the joint work on implementing the agreement, hailing the progress of cooperation made in the areas of economic, cultural, political and security areas, the statement said.

Russia and Morocco also inked a convention on extradition and signed memorandums of understanding.

Current issues on the international and regional agendas were also touched upon, with a focus on the situation in the Maghreb, the statement noted.
An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale that hit the Myanmar-India border region shook several parts of northeastern India, as also West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and even Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). Many people were injured in Bengal and Manipur, officials said.

The quake was felt at 7.25 p.m. and occured at a depth of 134 km below the earth's surface. It snapped communication -- mobile and landline connectivity -- for a while in some parts and caused damage to some buildings in cities like Guwahati in Assam.

People busy shopping for the Bengali New Year at malls in Kolkata ran out to the streets, driven by fear and panic even as multi-storeyed buildings emptied out quickly as residents rushed down to the streets.

The Kolkata Metro Railway services were temporarily halted.

At least 10-12 people suffered minor injuries in north Bengal. While some of them fell on the stairs in their mad rush to come out of buildings, a few others tripped while running on the streets.

Four-five people were injured in the north Bengal town of Siliguri in Darjeeling district. At least seven others sustained injuries in nearby Jalpaiguri district.

Some of the injured were taken to hospital in Siliguri and sent home after first aid.

At least six people were injured in Manipur when the earthquake shook the state, officials said. The injured were rushed to hospitals, but are said to be out of danger. Hospital sources said their condition was stable.

The head offices of the State Bank of India and BSNL in Imphal suffered some damage. The new secretariat as well as the police station buildings in Lamphel area were also partially damaged.

"There is no report of major damage in Tripura, Mizoram, southern Assam and adjoining areas yet. Only some cracks developed in some buildings in Assam, Manipur and Mizoram adjoining Myanmar," disaster management coordinator Sarat Das told IANS at Agartala.

Jolts were felt in Delhi and the National Capital Region, Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

"I was sitting in my office when I felt the tremors around 7.40 p.m. We immediately came out of the building. The tremors lasted for a few seconds," Alok Kumar Kaushik, who works at a bank in north Delhi, told IANS.

Mild tremors were also felt in Mayur Vihar in east Delhi and neighbouring Noida, causing the people to come out of their homes.

The tremors from the quake were felt in Bangladesh as well.

The US Geological Survey put the magnitude on the Richter scale at 6.9 and said the epicentre lay 74 km southeast of Mawlaik in Myanmar.

In Patna, hundreds of people rushed out of their houses and gathered in open spaces. In April last year, a massive earthquake rocked major parts of Bihar, in which 19 people were killed. The epicentre of that earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale was in Kodari, Nepal.

Tremors shook Assam's main city Guwahati and adjoining areas causing minor damage to some high-rise buildings while the Assam State Disaster Management Authority said no major damage had been reported so far.

The northeastern states -- Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur -- are considered by seismologists as the sixth major earthquake-prone belt in the world.

On April 10, a major earthquake jolted parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, in which two people were killed and 10 injured in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, officials had said the earthquake measured 7.1 on the Richter scale hit parts of the country's northern and eastern regions.

On April 10 too, in India, the authorities said the magnitude of tremor was at 6.8.

The tremors on Sunday were also felt all across northern India, including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
The Uttar Pradesh Police has announced a Rs.2 lakh reward on information about Muneer, the prime accused in the murder of NIA official Tanzeem Ahmad, an official said on Wednesday.

While two others involved in the killing -- Reyan and Jainul -- have been arrested, Muneer continues to be at large.

Director General of Police Javeed Ahmad had earlier announced a reward of Rs.50,000 on Muneer, a sharp shooter and named in many cases including a murderous attack on an AMU student and also in a bank robbery.

Hailing from Bijnor, Muneer has gone missing after the NIA official was killed more than a fortnight ago while returning with family from a wedding.

Police have since claimed to have cracked the case and inferred that the killing was a result of a simmering hostility between the killers and the deceased official and a property dispute over a shop in New Delhi.

Police,however, have failed to address missing links like conflicting reasons for the murder, non-recovery of the murder weapon and the vehicle used to flee the crime scene.

Inspector General (Bareilly) Vijay Kumar Meena, however, said many links which seemingly are missing so far will fall in place once Muneer is arrested.

He is feared to be hiding in either Mumbai or Goa. Since he does not use a mobile phone, tracking him down through cyber surveillance is impossible, an official conceded.
The Centre on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that it had done away with putting two nominees of the finance minister on the search-cum-selection panel for the SEBI chief.

As Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said the government had done away with the practice for the appointment of chief of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the court disposed of a public interest litigation challenging change in the panel composition.

An apex court bench comprising Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice R. Banumathi and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit was told that the decision on not having two ministerial nominees on the selection panel was taken in December 2015.

The petition in the case was filed by former Punjab director general of police Julio F. Ribeiro, former chief election commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh, former air force chief Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy and others in 2013.

Addressing the court, when Rohatgi wondered how former Bombay Police commissioner Ribeiro was concerned over the panel composition, Chief Justice Thakur observed: "One is policing the people, other is policing the market."
US President Barack Obama is considering a visit to Hiroshima during his visit to Japan in May for the Group of Seven summit, the White House has said.

The White House on Tuesday said the US government was exploring the first visit by an incumbent US president to Hiroshima, where the country's forces dropped an atomic bomb in 1945, The Japan Times reported.

"This is a question about whether or not the president will visit Hiroshima that comes up regularly whenever the president makes plans to travel to Japan," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

"The president will, and his team will obviously consider our options here."

The pursuit of a world free of nuclear weapons continues to be "a long-term goal" for Obama, Earnest said.

"There's no more powerful illustration of that commitment than the city that contained the victims of the first use of that weapon," the spokesman said.

A visit by an incumbent president to Hiroshima or Nagasaki, which was atomic-bombed by US forces in 1945, is expected to stir controversy in the US, where it could be interpreted as tantamount to an apology for the attacks, which many veterans and others see as having been necessary to get Japan to surrender in World War II.

Earnest said such concerns would not be a factor in the final decision about Obama's possible visit to Hiroshima.

Whatever decision Obama makes "will be consistent with the president's strong view about the bravery, courage and heroism of those Americans who fought and won World War II," the spokesman said.

"The symbol of Hiroshima is the significant and even, in some ways, tragic ability that mankind has to wreak terrible destruction," Earnest said.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has reiterated its support for Jammu and Kashmir's right to self-determination.

In a meeting held here, on the sidelines of the 13th OIC Summit, the OIC contact group on Jammu and voiced its continued support to the people of Jammu and "in their legitimate struggle for the right to self-determination" in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.

"The principled position of OIC continued support to the Kashmiri people in their legitimate struggle for the right to self-determination and underscored that the Contact Group had been constantly conveying the OIC's concerns to the international community regarding the flagrant human rights violations and abuse of the basic rights of the Kashmiris," the contact group said, according to a Pakistan foreign ministry statement.

Pakistan's National Security Advisor, Sartaj Aziz, led his country's delegation to the meeting, which was chaired by OIC Secretary General's Special Representative on Jammu and Kashmir, Ambassador Abdullah Al-Alim.

The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Turkey, senior representatives from Saudi Arabia and Niger attended the meeting.

Aziz reiterated "Pakistan will continue its diplomatic, moral and political support to the people of Jammu and in their struggle for realisation of their right to self-determination in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions."

The group also "regretted some attempts to equate the Kashmiri struggle with terrorism, and emphasized that the Kashmiris were solely striving to achieve their inalienable right in accordance with relevant UN resolutions."

The OIC Secretary General's Special Representative on Jammu and Kashmir welcomed the establishment of a standing mechanism of OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) to monitor the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir which would present its report to the next session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers.

Al-Alim would also undertake a visit to Jammu and Kashmir shortly.

The Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir was formed in 1994 to coordinate the policy of the OIC on Jammu and Kashmir. Azerbaijan, Niger, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are its members.
The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and opposition Congress on Wednesday lambasted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly taking contradictory stands on important issues concerning Punjab.

The attacks on Kejriwal, who is also Aam Aadmi Party convenor, came at the political conferences the two parties organised on harvest festival Baisakhi at the Takht Damdama Sahib in Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda district.

Kejriwal did not attend AAP's political conference at Talwandi Sabo.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal accused the AAP and Congress leaders of double-speak on the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal and inter-state water-sharing issue.

He said the ruling Akali Dal will do anything to stop sharing of more water with other states.

Terming the SYL canal construction as a "death warrant" for Punjab, Badal said: "Punjab has not a single drop of water to share with other states. The Congress has divested the state of its rights by giving water to Rajasthan, Haryana and other states by signing various water agreements. The AAP is now making desperate attempts to get the SYL canal constructed."

Union minister and Akali Dal's Bathinda parliamentarian Harsimrat Kaur Badal accused Kejriwal of running away from attending his party's political conference.

"He had no answer as to why he betrayed Punjab farmers by siding with Haryana on the SYL canal issue. It could be the only reason for him giving the Baisakhi political conference a miss. He earlier attended the Maghi mela and was till recently visiting Punjab on every given opportunity. He had even announced he would make an important announcement on Baisakhi," she said.

Accusing Kejriwal of double-speak, Harsimrat Kaur said he should tell whether he would file a pro-Punjab affidavit in the Supreme Court on the SYL issue or continue to play politics on the sensitive matter.

Addressing the party's political conference, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh appealed to the Supreme Court to "look into the ground realities and assess the water availability in Punjab's rivers before pronouncing their judgment on the SYL issue".

He said the "ground realities had changed since 1950s and the water levels gone down and hence Punjab could not spare any more water for other states".

"In 1955, the total availability of water in Punjab's rivers was 15.8 million acre feet; it has come down to 13 MAF now. Punjab itself is water-deficient; how can it afford water for others?" he asked.

Amarinder Singh said that in case of adverse judgment against Punjab on the SYL issue, he will resign from parliament and fight Punjab's battle for saving its water.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday left for London for a "personal and medical checkup".

Before departing, Sharif held a meeting with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali and Punjab Chief Minister -- and his brother -- Shahbaz Sharif as well as other senior aides at Lahore's Allama Iqbal Airport.

Sharif discussed with the aides the implications of the Panama Papers scandal and the current political situation in the country, Dawn online quoted sources as saying.

"It's just a personal visit and Sharif will not hold political meetings during his stay in London," said Asif Kirmani, the prime minister's political secretary.

Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz, who is tipped to take over the reins of the party in the future, posted a photo of the prime minister before leaving the country.

"Nawaz will spend one week in London and would also visit doctors for medical treatment," added Kirmani.

Meanwhile, President Mamnoon Hussain has left for Istanbul on a three-day visit to attend an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation conference.
Police in Panama have raided the headquarters of the law firm Mossack Fonseca at the centre of a massive data leaks dubbed as "Panama Papers".

Prosecutors said the operation had been carried out at the offices of Mossack Fonseca in Panama city "without incident or interference", BBC reported.

The leaked "Panama Papers" show how wealthy people use offshore firms to evade tax and avoid sanctions.

The firm has denied wrongdoing. It said it is the victim of a hack and that the information is being misrepresented.

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela has promised to work with other countries to improve transparency in its offshore financial industry.

Police carried out Tuesday's raid along with officials from an organised crime unit.

Officers set up a perimeter around the headquarters while prosecutors entered the offices to search for documents.

The attorney general's office said the aim had been "to obtain documentation linked to the information published in news articles that establish the use of the firm in illicit activities".

The statement added that searches would also take place at subsidiaries of the firm.

Panama government promised an investigation soon after news reports emerged more than a week ago based on more than 11 million documents from the firm.

The firm tweeted [in Spanish] that it "continues to co-operate with authorities in investigations made at our headquarters".

Many other countries were probing possible financial crimes by the rich and powerful people in the aftermath of the leak.

Mossack Fonseca partner Ramon Fonseca said the company had been hacked by servers based abroad and has filed a complaint with the Panamanian attorney general's office.

Fonseca served as a minister in Valera's government but stepped aside earlier this year after separate allegations linked the firm to the corruption scandal engulfing the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras.

The leaked documents were passed to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which then shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The documents show how the company has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax.

Mossack Fonseca said it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and never been accused or charged with criminal wrongdoing.
Pope Francis said on Wednesday that during his visit to the Greek island of Lesbos on April 16, he will express his "closeness and solidarity" with refugees fleeing from conflict in their countries, but also with the people of Greece "who are very generous in their welcoming".

During a ceremony at the Vatican city, the Pope said he will be accompanied by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, and Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, Ieronymos II, during his visit, Efe news reported.

In Lesbos, Pope Francis is expected to meet refugees, mostly Syrians, who have reached the island across the Aegean Sea after fleeing from the war.

The visit comes parallel to the Pope's effort to shed light on the status of migrants and refugees, whom he commemorated with prayers during his visit to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa.
South Korea on Wednesday rejected North Korea demand to return 13 of its nationals, who are said to have defected to South Korea, the country's unification ministry said.

Urging Pyongyang to stop unreasonable insistence and threats of provocations, the ministry said in a statement that the group defection of North Korean nationals to South Korea was made in accordance with their free will.

It further called for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear and missile programmes that provide no benefit to the North Korean people.

Pyongyang demanded on Tuesday that Seoul return the 13 North Koreans who had defected to South Korea, saying that the country's spy agency lured and abducted the 13 individuals who worked at a state-run restaurant in China.

Seoul's unification ministry last Friday said the group defected to South Korea, marking the first time that a group of North Korean citizens working at the same overseas restaurant fled to South Korea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang on Monday said 13 North Korean nationals entered and left China legally with valid passports last week.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to Britain on Wednesday -- ostensibly to undergo a pending medical check-up -- has set political circles abuzz after he landed in controversy following the Panama Papers leak.

Sharif will head to London for a three-day visit for a medical check-up, the prime minister's office said on Tuesday.

Only close family members will join Sharif. His two sons -- Hassan and Hussain -- are already abroad, a senior official said.

At a time when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan is ready to launch a sit-in at Raiwind -- home to Sharif's palatial residence, leaders of the opposition in the senate had been casting doubt on the reason for the prime minister's sudden visit to London.

The movements of Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, who is also in London, is being closely monitored by the media.

PPP senator Aitzaz Ahsan on Tuesday said: "Sharif has no medical issues and is only visiting London to present himself in the court of Zardari."

Whenever Sharif came under pressure, he always looked towards the PPP leadership for help, Ahsan said.

A senior PTI leader said it was very likely for Sharif to ask the PPP to bail him out, considering the pressure mounting on him for the investigation of his family regarding the leaks.

A Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmaker admitted that there was a great deal of nervousness among the party's top leaders following the revelation of documents in the Panama Papers leak.
The South Korean National Election Commission reported a cyber attack on Wednesday as the country voted to elect a new parliament.

A denial of service attack (DDoS) hit the website of the South Korean electoral body for three minutes at 2.22 p.m. (local time) on Wednesday, Yonhap news agency reported.

The cyber attack targeted the search engine that helps voters find designated polling stations, the commission said in a statement.

However, all online services resumed after a few minutes and no damage was reported.

The election watchdog has alleged that the incident was an intentional act and has asked police to investigate it.

In previous cyber attacks on public and private organisations in South Korea, the government has blamed hackers from North Korea, although in this case, no fingers have so far been pointed at the neighbouring country.
World-renowned British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking on Tuesday teamed up with Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and Facebook founder in a $100 million effort to make tiny spaceships that are capable of interstellar space travel.

Hawking and Milner made the joint announcement at a press conference held at One World Observatory in New York City on Tuesday, Xinhua reported.

The project, dubbed "Breakthrough Starshot," is a research and engineering programme that aims to build laser beam propelled "nanocrafts" that can travel at 20% of lightspeed  more than 1,000 times faster than current fastest spacecraft.

According to Milner, once the "nanocrafts" are built, they could reach Alpha Centauri, a star 4.37 light-years away, approximately 20 years in a fly-by mission.

Alpha Centauri is one of the closest star systems to the solar system and the current fastest spacecraft would have to spend 30,000 years to get there.

The "nanocrafts" are gram-scale robotic spacecrafts consisting of two main parts: a computer CPU sized "StarChip" and a "Lightsail" made with metamaterials no more than a few hundred atoms thick.

Although weighing just a few grams, the "StarChip" is a fully functional space probe, which carries various equipment including cameras, navigation and communication.

"The 'StarChip' can be mass-produced at the cost of an iPhone," Milner said.

The "nanocrafts" can then be propelled into space by a powerful laser beam, which according to Avi Loeb, a theoretical physicist and panelist at the news conference, will carry a power of 100 gigawatt.

"This is the power needed to lift off a space shuttle," Loeb said.

Milner and the scientists believe that with the rising power and falling costs of lasers, the entire process is practical within a couple of years.

"Fifteen years ago, it would not have made sense to make this investment. Now we have looked at the numbers, and it does," Milner said.

The project was part of the Breakthrough Initiatives first launched in July 2015 by Hawking and Milner, including a series of research plans to scan the 100 galaxies closest to the Milky Way in search for aliens. "Starshot" is its newest endeavor.

Hawking believes that human's innate sense to transcend limits is the driving force behind the project. "Gravity pins us to the ground, but I just flew to America."

While one cannot hear the joking tone through Hawking's voice synthesizer, his humour had been easily received.

What the scientists are looking for is not just reaching Alpha Centauri, but what can be learned during the efforts.

"A lot of science will be learned by the process of going through this, making this happen," said panelist Mae Jemison, a former NASA astronaut.

"There is big task ahead, there's a big leap in getting something of a micro size to go at some percentage of the speed of light. That will have all kinds of reverberations."

Tuesday also marked the 55th anniversary of the first human space flight by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

"Today we commit to this next great leap into the cosmos because we are human and our nature is to fly," Hawking said.
A strife-torn Syria began voting in parliamentary elections on Wednesday, with around 3,500 candidates vying for 250 parliamentary seats amid a boycott by opposition groups.

A total of 7,300 polling stations opened at 7.00 a.m. (local time) in government-controlled areas across the country, Xinhua reported.

Election sub-committees in government-controlled provinces announced full readiness to facilitate the voting process.

In February, President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree to hold parliamentary elections on April 13.

The last parliamentary elections were held in 2012, just months after the adoption of a new constitution in the strife-torn country.

In the current and the last elections, the opposition announced a boycott.

Munther Khaddam, a member of the National Coordination Body (NCB) said his group will boycott the elections for the second time "because it comes in the abnormal context and runs against the political track of the Geneva talks".

However, the decision to hold the elections was interpreted by government loyalists as evidence that Damascus still has its independent decision, and that the elections and the Geneva talks, which are set to resume soon, are two separate tracks.

In Damascus, streets were festooned with posters of the candidates, as part of the government encouragement for the people to vote.

However, and unlike the pre-war times, when the candidates used to erect election tents to explain their programmes to the people, the residents in the capital and elsewhere only know the candidates by their posters this year, as the sessions for the candidates to present their programmes have been cancelled for security reasons.
Syrian university students participated in Wednesday's parliamentary elections, hoping the candidates would secure job opportunities for them.

In the Damascus University dormitory, students from various cities, including those from rebel-held areas, waited in queues to cast their ballots, Xinhua news agency reported.

Norhan, a student from the southern province of Daraa, where the country's five-year-old conflict originated, said Syrian youth must participate in the elections to choose people capable of delivering their objectives.

"We should all participate and support the elections in order to express our opinions and choose the right person who will live up to our hopes, represent us and deliver solutions to our problems to provide a better future," she said.

Her friend, Siham, said the elections are important for those coming from hotspots as it gives them a sense of belonging to their country, despite the fact that their cities have for long been out of the government's control.

"We came from hotspots and are here today (Wednesday) to choose the candidate who can fulfil our demands, such as improving university education, regulating food prices, and most importantly secure us job opportunities," she said.

Muhammad, another student from the northern province of Aleppo -- also torn between the government and opposition militants, said the elections are a constitutional duty and a very important process towards efforts to rebuild the country.

"After five years of war, we must participate and vote to rebuild Syria, because Syria needs us, its youth. We must all join in, not just stand and watch from a distance."

Syria's parliamentary elections began on Wednesday, with some 3,500 candidates vying for 250 parliamentary seats.

Election subcommittees in government-controlled provinces announced their full readiness to facilitate the voting process.

In February, President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree to hold the parliamentary elections on April 13.

The Syrian government said elections are set at their usual time since the government holds these elections every four years.

The last parliamentarian polls were held in 2012, just months after the war-torn country adopted a new constitution.

The Syrian opposition boycotted this year's elections and the one in 2012 due to loss of confidence in the Syrian government.

Munther Khaddam, a member of the National Coordination Body (NCB), said his group will boycott the elections for the second time "as it comes through an abnormal context and runs counter to the Geneva talks political track".

However, the decision to hold the polls was interpreted by government loyalists as proof that Damascus is still an independent decision maker, and that the polls and the Geneva talks, set to resume soon, are separate from each other.

Ahead of the elections, Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said polls for the people's assembly are a "constitutional right", and added that they send a message within the country and abroad.

"Election day will be an exceptional one in Syrians' political life, especially those who want a true opportunity to express their stance following five years of war in Syria," he sad.

Al-Zoubi said the political process under discussion in Geneva is separate from the constitutional right and that the current constitution is valid until it is replaced by a new one.
Three French soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit an explosive device during an operation in Mali, French President Francois Hollande's office said on Wednesday.

They were deployed in Mali as part of a mission to ensure stability in the Sahel and fight terrorism, Xinhua cited the Elysee as saying in a statement.

Hollande sent condolences to the families of the victims and expressed his solidarity with them, it added.

Since 2013, 13 French soldiers have been killed in Mali as part of an operation to eradicate Islamist insurgents in the former French colony.
The Pentagon on Tuesday said 12 militants of al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida-affiliated group in Somalia, were killed in US airstrikes this week.

The US military conducted two airstrikes late Monday evening and early Tuesday morning on an al-Shabaab camp in southern Somalia due to an "imminent threat" against US troops in Somalia, Xinhua quoted Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis as saying.

Further details about the strikes were not available at the moment.

Despite its involvement in assisting the Somalian government and African Union forces in battling al-Shabaab, an extremist group responsible for dozens of terror attacks in east Africa, particularly Kenya, the US military so far was not launching regular airstrikes against the group in Somalia.

In March, the US military conducted an airstrike against a training camp of the group about 193 km north of Mogadishu, the largest city in Somalia, killing about 150 al-Shabaab fighters.
A handful of Tibetan refugees followed their deposed ruler, the Dalai Lama, to India in 1959 with nothing in their hands. Decades later, this nation has emerged as the largest reservoir of the authentic Tibetan culture. A photo festival here presents their success story.

The largest ever photo-exhibition on the Dalai Lama and Tibetan civilisation - "Thank you Dalai Lama" by photographer Vijay Kranti is running at All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society (AIFACS) till April 15.

"This photo-festival is an artistic tribute to the success story of a peaceful and brave refugee community, its monk leader the Dalai Lama and their magnanimous hosts - the people and the government of India", said Vijay Kranti, a senior Indian journalist, an accomplished photographer and an acclaimed Tibetologist.

"On behalf of Indian citizens, I acknowledge HH Dalai Lama and Tibetan refugee community for making a creative use of Indian hospitality," he said.

"The benevolent presence of HH Dalai Lama in India as our honoured guests since 1959 has enriched India's spiritual, social and cultural life enormously in so many ways," he added.

Kranti started his professional interaction with the Tibetan community and the Dalai Lama in 1972.

He has frequently written and extensively photographed the cultural and social life of the Tibetan community.

His coffee table book "Dalai Lama - The Nobel Peace Laureate Speaks" which is based on his photography and interviews with Dalai Lama, stands out as the only one of its kind in the international market.

The ongoing exhibition is the concluding show of Vijay's five year long photo-festival titled "Buddha's home coming" which started in March 2011 at Barcelona in Spain.

About 300 photo exhibits, along with slideshows of over 500 images, present an intimate photo-study of Dalai Lama, Tibetan culture and Tibetan refugee community in India.

"The Dalai Lama is considered as the reincarnation of Lord Buddha. His coming and adopting India as his second home has proved a blessing in disguise for India," said Vijay Kranti.

When India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, ensured the rehabilitation and a favourable and free environment to the refugees, the Dalai Lama persuaded the exiled community to start a process of national reconstruction around whatever manpower and talent was available.

"Looking at the enormous contribution he has made to India's spiritual and cultural life, I look at his presence in India as the second homecoming of Buddha after a long gap of over 2,500 years," Vijay Kranti said.

The collection has been acknowledged as the largest photo documentation of Tibetan life and culture across the globe.
The family of three people who were shot dead in 2014 outside Jewish facilities in Overland Park have filed lawsuits over the sale of guns used in the shootings.

The family of William Corporon and his grandson, Reat Underwood, who were shot dead outside the Jewish Community Centre, filed suit on Tuesday in a Johnson county court, The Kansas City Star reported.

In two identical suits on behalf of each victim, they alleged that employees of a Walmart store in Republic, Mo., were negligent when they sold a shotgun later used to kill Corporon and Reat.

"Gun dealers, including Walmart, owe a duty to use the highest standard of care to prevent the supply of firearms to those prohibited from possessing them," they said in their suits.

On Monday, the family of Terri LaManno, who was killed outside Village Shalom care centre, filed a similar suit against Walmart, a gun store in Lebanon, Mo., and the operators of a gun show where guns were purchased.

F. Glenn Miller Jr., a 75-year-old southern Missouri neo-Nazi, carried out the attacks on April 13, 2014, in an effort to kill as many Jews as possible. None of the victims was Jewish.

A Johnson county jury convicted Miller, also known as Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., last year. He was sentenced to death.

Miller, who was a previously convicted felon, could not legally buy or possess firearms.

According to the lawsuits, he enlisted another southern Missouri man, John Mark Reidle, to purchase the weapons.

Federal prosecutors charged Reidle for falsely claiming on a federal form that he was purchasing guns for himself.

The suit alleges that Miller "initiated" the purchase, but then claimed he did not have any identification, and offered to have Reidle purchase the weapon, which he did.

"Given the circumstances of the purchase, Walmart should have taken affirmative steps to confirm that Miller was the actual purchaser and intended user of the Remington shotgun, and that the sale of the shotgun to Reidle, a straw buyer, was illegal," according to the suits.

Four days later, Miller used that shotgun to shoot Corporon, 69, and Reat, 14, outside the Jewish Community Centre where Reat was participating in a singing competition.

Miller, 75, also used a semi-automatic rifle and handgun to fire at others before he drove to the nearby Village Shalom retirement centre.

There, he encountered 53-year-old LaManno, who was visiting her mother, a resident of Village Shalom.

According to trial testimony, he attempted to shoot her with the shotgun but it misfired. He then got another shotgun from his car trunk and shot LaManno.

That weapon was purchased from employees of Friendly Firearms from Lebanon at a Springfield gun show in October 2013, according to the suit filed by LaManno's family.

A spokesman for Friendly Firearms said on Tuesday that he had not seen the suit and could not comment.

A spokesman for Walmart said the company expresses condolences to the families who lost loved ones, but that because company officials have not seen the suits they cannot comment on them.

Based on the remarks and behaviour of Reidle and Miller, employees of Friendly Firearms and Walmart "knew, had reason to know, or recklessly failed to know that Miller was not lawfully entitled to purchase or possess a firearm", according to the suit.

"The Corporon family's claims do not challenge law-abiding citizens' Second Amendment rights to purchase guns or law-abiding retailers rights to sell guns," said attorney David Morantz who represents the family.

"These lawsuits seek to hold retailers accountable for adhering to long-established laws designed to prevent guns from ending up in the hands of dangerous criminals and designed to prevent tragedies like the shootings of April 13, 2014."
Some 15 major oil producers, including Opec members, Saudi Arabia and Russia will meet this weekend in Doha. That meeting could determine prices in the near future. The exporters hope crude production can be cut, or at least frozen, at current levels.
After the Panama Papers story broke, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley spoke of it as part of a larger narrative concerning a new international financial order in which transparency in property ownership would be the norm rather than the exception. In the future, any person or company parking their illegitimate money anywhere in the world would be identifiable through publicly accessible records and therefore, vulnerable to criminal prosecution. Presumably, Jaitley based his remarks on the spate of multilateral and bilateral information exchange agreements signed between countries in the recent past and the steps taken by the major economies of the world (including India) to improve disclosure and transparency in the domestic financial system.
Valuations of HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank are inching northwards whereas pressures on assets persist for most other private and public sector banks. In these conditions, smaller banks like Karur Vysya Bank and City Union Bank, with over half their business in South India, emerge as investment alternatives in the banking space.

Smaller banks had solved asset problems and were among the first to shift focus to retail (individual) lending. Karur's retail business grew 19 per cent in September-December over a year. With a well-spread retail portfolio of home loans (35-40 per cent of total credit), vehicle and home loans (30 per cent of business), SBI Capital expects Karur's loan business to grow 14.3 per cent in FY17.

These two banks posted net interest income (NII) growth of 15 and 20 per cent, respectively, in September-December, over a year, indicating that the retail strategy is paying off. Net profits rose 34 and 10 per cent in September-December over a year, respectively, for Karur and City Union Bank with net interest margins a little upwards of 3.5 per cent for both.

The Street is comfortable with Karur's gross NPA (GNPA) ratio of 1.91 per cent. City Union Bank's GNPA ratio in September-December was 2.37 per cent. Analysts at Motilal Oswal Securities say City Union Bank is better than government-owned banks and other small private banks such as South Indian Bank and Dhanlaxmi Bank (gross NPA ratios of 2.75 and 9.69 per cent, respectively).

With fundamentals intact, Siddharth Purohit of Angel Broking says Karur and City Union Bank may see significant re-rating. Both trade at a reasonable one-two times the price-to-book value.
The political battle for the legacy of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar starts Thursday, his 125th birth anniversary. And the battle will keep intensifying as Uttar Pradesh (UP) assembly polls (early 2017) draw closer.

Political parties, from those which swear by him and others trying to appropriate his legacy, like Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, will take part in several events to celebrate the occasion.

Modi is set to address a rally at the birthplace in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, to launch his governments 10-day Gram Uday se Bharat Uday Abhiyan or village self-governance campaign. The campaign aims to foster farmers welfare and social harmony in villages, and aims to strengthen panchayati raj. Later in the day, the PM will inaugurate a platform for integrating wholesale markets in the country. BJP chief Amit Shah will address a rally on the occasion in Haridwar. The BJP has asked its Lok Sabha members, including ministers, and particularly those from UP, to be in their constituencies on April 24, the last day of the village self-governance campaign. Arun Jaitley, Smriti Irani, Suresh Prabhu, and Manohar Parrikar, all Rajya Sabha members, will be in UP when the PM addresses all gram sabhas in the country on that day from Jamshedpur. The BJP chief will also be in UP on that day.

The government has also directed 350 of its officers to go to as many gram panchayats, to spread the word about pro-Dalit, pro-poor, and pro-farmer policies.

Rahul Gandhi, the Congress vice-president, addressed a public rally in Nagpur on Monday. It marked the culmination of the partys year-long series of events to mark the 125th anniversary. On Wednesday, he was in Rajasthan to demand a central probe into the rape and murder of a Dalit girl in Barmer. He also attended a Dalit conference in Jaipur.

One of the more important political events on Thursday will be Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawatis public rally in Lucknow. She is expected to launch her partys election campaign for the state polls. Her speech will be keenly listened to for its nuances, particularly after reports that there might be another Central Bureau of Investigation case against her on a disproportionate assets charge.

Of late, Mayawati has focused her criticism on the BJP, instead of her main rival, the Samajwadi Party (SP). The SP government in UP might be losing credibility but Mayawati wants to dispel any accusations that she could align with the BJP. The BSP chief has been criticising both the Congress and BJPs outreach towards Dalits as attempts to mislead the community.

There is speculation that BSP and Asaduddin Owaisis AIMIM might reach an understanding for the state polls. BSP leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui recently met Shia religious leader Kalbe Jawad. Over the past year, BSP cadres have been working in their areas with the objective of making Mayawati the chief minister of UP for a fifth time.
The Congress Party on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government of not doing enough to help people affected by drought.

India is facing its worst water crisis, and 91 of our major reservoirs are below 30 per cent of their capacity. This reflects a human tragedy with complete governmental apathy, said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, adding 246 districts in 10 states were drought-affected.

According to him, the Narendra Modi-led government is more interested in self-publicity. They are more concerned with trains carrying banners of Modi, said Singhvi, referring to the posters that were plastered across special trains carrying water to water-scarce areas.

He alleged that the parched Latur region of Maharashtra got two trains, while the water requirement was 100 times the quantity brought by the trains. Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh has gone without water for the past eight days, he added. He also lambasted the Centre for not releasing the specific figures of expenditure levels released under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNRES).

Recalling how the Modi government first ridiculed the rural employment scheme and then adopted it, Singhvi said: On the one hand, they are forced to admit the efficacy of MNREGS and Aadhaar; on the other, even the Supreme Court had rapped the government for the delay in releasing funds for the scheme, especially to drought-hit states.



In times of rural distress, MGNREGS has been recognised as the most effective means of providing the healing touch, Singh said. The Supreme Court is making the same point to the government, day in and day out. Shockingly, the Modi government has reduced funds for rural water from Rs 9,700 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 5,000 crore in 2016.



The Congress has demanded that the government table a comprehensive white paper in the next session of Parliament, detailing the relief measures it has taken with respect to the drought situation.
Unlike the Left parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)s motives to oppose the India-US nuclear deal in 2008 had little to do with ideology and were patently political. In government, the Narendra Modi-led BJP has pushed for the conclusion of the nuclear deal. But this bipartisan support for India-US relations is in stark contrast to the early-1990s when the Chandra Shekhar-led minority government was slammed by political parties of all hues for allowing American planes, then involved in the Gulf War after Iraq had invaded Kuwait, to refuel in India.

Compared to the controversy over the refueling in 1991 and the India-US nuclear deal in the 1998, the reaction to the India-US defence pact where the Americans will get access to Indian bases has been much muted at least until now. None of the key political parties, barring the Left, have been critical of the move.

At least since the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, there has been a consistent effort for greater strategic synergy in India-US ties. The Strobe Talbot-Jaswant Singh dialogue initiated the process in 1999 during the Vajpayee years (1998-2004). It was further consolidated during Manmohan Singh years (2004-2014) with the then US President George W Bush (2000-2008) being a strong votary of a India-US entente. The last decade and a half has seen not just the India-US nuclear deal but increased defence cooperation between the two countries.

In a statement, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) termed the move to allow US armed forces to use facilities in Indian naval and air force bases as a dangerous step. It said the Narendra Modi government has compromised Indias sovereignty and autonomy and that it was an anti-national step.

The CPI (M) said the India-US Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) was just another name for the Logistic Support Agreement that the US enters into with military allies like the Philippines, South Korea and Japan.

It contended that the claims by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar that there will not be any permanent presence of US forces in India were wrong. The party said refueling, maintenance and repair facilities for American ships and airplanes will require the stationing of US armed forces personnel on Indian soil on a regular basis.

It also criticized two other agreements on the anvil  the Communication and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA). These will make the Indian armed forces command and control structure integrated with the US armed forces. In doing so, the BJP government has crossed a line which no other government has done since independence  converting India into a full-fledged military ally of the United States.

The latest agreement comes in the wake of increasing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean region. Over the last few months, Beijing has added to its string of pearls in the Indian Ocean, with more assets in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Pakistan. China is building ports and infrastructure projects both in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is also a matter of concern for New Delhi.



Meanwhile, the US has been increasing its focus on the Indo-Pacific region to try put in shape a new security architecture that involves Australia, several of the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) members like Indonesia and Vietnam - all of whom have their own concerns about a more assertive China.
Twelve people were killed today when a temporary structure at a construction site collapsed after it was hit by a crane in southeast China's Guangdong Province.

Two persons were also reported missing as the debris covered about 200 square metres.

Local officials said the accident occurred early today in Mayong Township, Dongguan, and the workers appeared to have been using the temporary structure as a dormitory.

So far, 14 people have been rescued and were admitted to hospitals, the city's information office said.

An earlier statement issued by the office said 69 people had managed to escape the mishap when the collapse happened.

Initial investigation showed the crane was blown over in a gale, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

More than 200 firefighters were searching for those still buried, and 40 fire engines are on hand.
Spanish police today arrested 13 people in nationwide raids for allegedly glorifying terror acts by three radical groups in Facebook and Twitter messages, the interior ministry said.

Those arrested repeatedly made comments on social network profiles with large numbers of followers that ranged from "glorifying the terrorist organisations and the murders they carried out, to mocking the victims of terrorism", the ministry said in a statement.

The groups praised the armed Basque separatist group ETA, Catalonia's nationalist Terre Lliure or Free Land group and the shadowy far-left group GRAPO. None has carried out armed actions in recent years.

The arrests were carried out in seven of Spain's 17 regions, the ministry said, adding that the operation remained open and there could be more arrests.

The operation followed a number of other arrests as part of a crack down on incitement to violence online that have led to over 60 arrests.

ETA in 2011 declared an end to its armed activity after four decades of bombings and shootings that left 829 people dead in a campaign for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France but it has yet to formally disband or disarm.

GRAPO, which stands for First of October Anti-Fascist Resistance Group, has been relatively inactive since it was broken up in France and Spain in 2000 and 2002.

It was founded in 1975 a few months before the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and has been blamed for the murders of more than 80 Spanish police and soldiers.
The US-led coalition campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria has successfully completed its first "phase" of operations, a US military spokesman said today.

The coalition is working through three main steps as it wages its 20-month-old fight against the IS group, Baghdad-based spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.

"Our enemy has been weakened and we now are working to fracture him. Phase one of the military campaign is complete," Warren told Pentagon reporters, noting that this initial step was to "degrade" the IS group by stopping it from making additional territorial gains.

"We are now in phase two, which is to dismantle this enemy," he added.

Warren said the final phase of the campaign is to ensure the IS group is dealt a lasting defeat, primarily by enabling local forces to prevent a resurgence of jihadist influence.

Yesterday, Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said IS's ranks have been pared back in Iraq and Syria to their lowest level since Washington began monitoring the group.

Though the IS group maintains a firm grip on vast areas of the two countries, the jihadists have suffered some serious setbacks including the loss of Ramadi in Iraq.

"While ISIL can still put together some complex attacks, they have not been able to take hold of any key terrain for almost a year now," Warren said, using an IS acronym.

"We've struck leaders, supply lines, fighters, industrial base and funding sources in both Iraq and Syria.
Two teenagers drowned today while three others are feared dead after they were swept away by the turbulent waters of Beas river here.

SSP Amritsar (Rural) Jasdip Singh Saini said the incident occurred this evening when nine people of Wazir Bhullar village were bathing in the river to celebrate Baisakhi festival.

Five of them were swept away by sudden turbulent waters at the spot which is 42km away from here, he said.

Bodies of Palwinder Singh (18) and Harjit Singh (17) were recovered from the river late in the evening while Paramjit Singh (20), Kalu (21) and Lovejit Singh (18) were still missing and are feared dead, the SSP said.

A special team of NDRF and trained divers were on their way to help in the efforts to search the missing persons, he added.
A two-year-old boy who was kidnapped by a man in Mishal Garhi area was rescued from a village in Gorakhpur district, police said today.

Superintendent of Police (Rural) Rakesh Pandey said one Battan had lodged a missing report of his two-year-old son Arjun on April 11 evening at Masuri police station in the district. In the complaint, he also said that one Baijnath used to play with his son.

After tracing Baijnath's number to his native village in Gorakhpur, a police team was immediately dispatched to Gorakhpur district in UP yesterday.

Late last night, police nabbed Baijnath from his house and rescued the child. During interrogation, he confessed of his crime, Pandey said.

Both the accused and the child were brought to Ghaziabad today, he added.

Baijnath confessed that he was under depression as he was childless even after 5 years of marriage. So he had kidnapped the child. However, he told police that ransom was not his motive.
As many as 61 Naxals, including seven women, most of them lower rung members, today surrendered in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district citing "disappointment" with the ideology of the outlawed CPI (Maoist).

"The rebels turned themselves in before senior police and administrative officials at Jagdalpur district headquarters," Bastar Superintendent of Police R N Dash told PTI.

Of them, Phulo Madkami, who was carrying a reward of Rs 3 lakh on her head, was active as regional committee supply member ofthe Maoists and a prominent cadre in the region, the SP said.

Another cadre, Jibo Kawadi, was carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head, while the rest belonged to different lower rank squads of the banned outfit including Janmilitia, Sangham and Chetna Natya Manch - a cultural wing of the ultras, Dash said.

In their statements, they all expressed disappointment with the ideology of the outlawed Naxals and violence. Besides, they were also impressed with the provisions of surrender and rehabilitation policy of the state government which encouraged them to join the mainstream, the SP said.

Police claimed that with this surrender, Katekalyan Area Committee of Darbha Divisionofthe Maoists, which has allegedly been instrumental in executing several deadly attacks in south Bastar, has collapsed.

At least 34 of the surrendered rebels belongs to Mudenar village which comes under Katekalyan area committee of the ultras. With the surrender, it appears that this area committe has completely vanished, the officer said.

They all will be provided with facilities as per the surrender and rehabilitation policy, he said, adding 247 Naxals and their supporters have surrendered in Bastar district in the past three months.
At least eight persons including two management staff of an automotive steel wheel maker, were today injured in a clash between workers and company's security personnel at Govindpur, on the outskirts of the steel city here, officials said.

The incident occurred when a labour leader Rajeev Pandey launched a signature campaign against the company management in front the factory's entrance, Sub-Divisional Officer (Dalbhum), Suraj Kumar said.

When security guards opposed this, a scuffle ensued between labourers and the guards.

Following this, a section of workers ransacked the factory premises and the control room, CCTV cameras and computers were damaged, Kumar said.

A room was also set on fire which was, however, put out quickly.

In the melee, six labourers and two management staff were injured, the SDO said.

The SDO along with DSP Animesh Naithany and police personnel reached the site and brought the situation under control.

The management of the company lodged a written complaint with the police, Kumar said.

Police procured the hard disk of the CCTV to verify the footage.

Meanwhile, the workers alleged that they were assaulted by the company's security guards unprovoked.

The administration has deployed Quick Response Team (QRT) force in and around the company.

Kumar said the first shift production of the company was affected due to the violence.
National airports operator AAI has terminated discussions with a Singaporean government agency to operate and maintain Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports, a proposal which was mooted during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Singapore last November.

Airports Authority of India's (AAI) decision comes after its assessment that the Changi Airport's proposal would not be commercially viable, a senior official close to the development said.

With regard to Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports, AAI had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) during Modi's visit to the island nation.

In January, the Union Cabinet had also given its ex-post facto approval to the MoU.

According to the official, AAI held discussions with people from Changi Airport but could not reach "mutually agreeable terms".

SCE had nominated Changi Airport for the proposed project. Changi Airport Group (Singapore) Pte Ltd runs the Changi airport in Singapore.

As giving the operation and maintenance of the two airports to the Singapore entity would not be "commercially viable", AAI has decided not to go ahead with the proposed collaboration, the official said.

In this regard, AAI has written to the Singapore entity concerned, he added.

Queries sent to AAI acting Chairman in-charge S Raheja on the issue did not elicit any response.

According to the official, AAI would float a fresh tender to select entities through competitive bidding for operation and management of Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports.

Under the MoU, both parties were to cooperate in planning and development of Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports besides other aspects including traffic and commercial development, service quality and operations and management.

Globally, limited O&M (Operation & Maintenance) contract models are prevalent for the entire airport operations, the statement said, adding the AAI has no previous experience in awarding O&M contract model of terminal buildings to other entities.

In order to implement the decision, it was necessary to ensure that a suitable entity be engaged for undertaking the O&M contract at Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports, the statement said.

During 2014-15, Ahmedabad airport handled 5.05 million passengers, out of which 1.22 million were international travellers. In the same period, Jaipur airport saw 2.20 million passengers and out of them, 0.33 million were overseas people.
While Shiv Sena and MNS have demanded in the past that the Eastern Freeway in the city be named after the late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, Aam Admi Party today demanded it be named after Dr B R Ambedkar.

As the country would be celebrating Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary tomorrow, AAP leaders here said it would be a fine tribute to the architect of the Indian Constitution.

The 4-lane and 16.8 km long Eastern Freeway connects the Fort area in South Mumbai with the Eastern Express Highway at Ghatkopar. Shiv Sena and its splinter offshoot MNS had demanded it be named after Thackeray when it was opened.

"We are celebrating the 125th birth anniversary of our beloved leader and creator of our Constitution. So now the best-ever opportunity has arrived to name the Eastern Freeway after Ambedkar," said Ashutosh Sengar, in-charge of AAP's Maharashtra unit.

"We are sending out letters demanding this to the Chief Minister, BMC and (planning body) MMRDA as well," he said.

Satish Jain, another AAP leader, said some AAP volunteers who study at the IIT Bombay had devised an android application which can weed out the loopholes in the draft development plan of the civic body, published last year.

The app, through its accurate mapping, will help the civic authorities draft a plan as per the UN guidelines about open spaces, recreational areas, footpaths, etc.

"Our 'Delhi Dialogue' in the national capital has been a big hit. We want to follow the same model in Mumbai and this QIGS software-based app will definitely help not only us but also the BMC," Jain said.
Delhi government has offered a temporary Group C level job to Raja Vemula, the younger brother of deceased Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, on "compassionate" ground, which has not yet been accepted by him.

Raja Vemula (25), who holds a Master's degree in Applied Geology, "thanked" Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the gesture but said he is yet to decide whether to accept the offer.

"We are thinking about it. My mother is also not keeping well. I am happy that Kejriwal sir has come forward. The state governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh should be ashamed for not taking a single step in this regard," Raja told PTI.

The communication of the Delhi government states that Raja was being offered a temporary post of Grade IV as a special case under compassionate ground in the pay band-1 of Rs 5,200-20,200 with grade pay of Rs 1,900 plus allowances.

He has been asked to respond within two weeks.

"The candidate has been given relaxation from normal procedure of selection i.E coming through employment exchange and relaxation of skill test qualification," it says. A government official said only Grade IV jobs can be offered on compassionate ground.

Asked whether he expected a better job offer, Raja said he had no such expectations when he along with his mother approached Kejriwal in February this year. The AAP Cabinet had then cleared a proposal in this regard.

"We had no such demands so we are grateful. The political advisor to the Delhi CM rang me up regarding the offer and also two Delhi Ministers. Whereas here we are not even being allowed to enter the University of Hyderabad campus," he said.
AAP National spokesperson and in-charge of Punjab's Party affairs Sanjay Singh today said the gathering at Talwandi Sabo has proven that AAP would win all 117 seats in the ensuing assembly polls.

"After seeing such a mammoth gathering I will also convey to Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal that Punjab is all geared up to break AAP's record of Delhi by winning all the 117 seats", said Singh.

Singh said a few journalists asked me which political party he thought would be in direct contest with AAP in 2017.

"I think by seeing such a sea of people they must have got the answer... How AAP will completely sweep Punjab in 2017,", added Singh.

Singh said Akalis and Congressmen are misleading people by spreading the word that the AAP leaders lacked experience and hence they would not be able to govern.

"Yes we have no experience to distribute money, liquor and other gifts during elections. We have no experience to distribute drugs as cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia does. But with our experience we have already made a huge difference in the health and education sectors in Delhi", said Singh.

Sanjay Singh called upon people not to get scared by the Akalis who are "implicating" the AAP supporters in false cases.

"Once the AAP government is formed in Punjab not only of AAP supporters but all false cases will be taken back', he assured.

He said even revenue minister Bikram Majithia had filed a defamation case against him to scare him from criticizing him for his role in drug trade.

"Today I say it again that when AAP will form the government in Punjab we will send Majithia to jail for his role in drug trade".

"These Badals are running the Punjab government like their private limited company where all family members are cabinet ministers. In AAP's constitution only one member of a family can get a party ticket, said Sanjay Singh.
Backing India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC), former French President Nicolas Sarkozy today said it is "absurd" to imagine that the world's largest democracy is yet to become a permanent member of the powerful wing of the world body.

India will soon be the world's most populous country in the world and "it is really absurd to imagine" that " it is not a permanent member of UNSC", he said while addressing a conference organised by an industry body here.

"We must ensure India has a permanent membership of the Security Council. How can you ignore a billion Indians?" Sarkozy wondered.

Proclaiming himself as a "friend of India", the current Leader of Opposition of France, said there is something "very special" about India and he shares a "deep fascination" for it and said there must be strategic partnership between India and France.

He advocated reforms in the architecture and functioning of global institutions like the G20 and the WTO.

The former French President said he was opposed to the double status of some countries having veto power in the UNSC while others don't.

France's partnership with India, he said, can grow stronger if India becomes a permanent member of the UNSC.

He said there was a "need to increase the permanent members" and every continent has to decide who it would like to designate as a permanent member. He also said the architecture of other global institutions like the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the G20 and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) needs to be relooked at and reformed.

Referring to the yet to be concluded nearly Rs 60,000 crore Rafale jets deal and the nuclear pact, Sarkozy gave a "commitment" that his party or whoever comes to power in the French presidential election scheduled to be held next year will honour India's agreements with the French Republic.

"There is a possibility that in a year there will be a new government in France, possibility (is there) that our party will come to power in France. Commitment that agreement with the French Republic will be respected.

"If you sign agreements for nuclear reactors or Rafale we will commit to these when we come to power. France is 100 per cent behind you whichever government is in power," said the former French President.

Noting that India has an "immense responsibility towards its citizens and the environment", Sarkozy lauded the country's stance at the Paris climate summit, terming the position taken by it as "very courageous".

The universal agreement, which were reached at Conference of Parties (CoP21), aims to keep the global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius this century and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

India had hailed as "historic" the adoption of a legally-binding pact in Paris but said the deal could have been more ambitious, if developed nations had shouldered more historical responsibilities.
Amsterdam's Schiphol airport was partially evacuated and one person arrested amid an unspecified security alert, an official has said.

"Police have evacuated part of the airport plaza and the adjacent Sheraton Hotel and arrested one person amid a suspicious situation," spokeswoman Danielle Timmer said, adding she had no further information.

Television images showed heavily armed Dutch special military police, wearing balaclavas, patrolling the airport which has been on high alert since the March 22 attacks in Brussels.

Military police spokesman Alfred Ellwanger said that "around 9:45 p.m (local time) a man was arrested on the square in front of the main entrance to the airport's plaza".

"The bomb disposal squad is also on the scene and they are checking the man's luggage," he said.

Ellwanger added that no flights were disrupted at the busy airport and trains were arriving as normal at the underground station which links the huge travel hub to the rest of the Netherlands.

It was not immediately clear how many people were evacuated when military police cordoned off the area, but Ellwanger said there had only been a few departures or arrivals left for the day.

Schiphol, which lies just outside the Dutch capital Amsterdam, is one of Europe's busiest travel hubs with about 50 million visitors passing through each year.

Tensions have been high since the Brussels airport and metro bombings killed 32 people in neighbouring Belgium.

Like the November attacks on Paris, the March 22 bombings were claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group.
Having adapted the American terrorism drama "24" and shown interest in making a TV version of "Modern Family" for viewers here, actor Anil Kapoor has hinted at working on yet another American show.

Kapoor bought the official rights of "24", the first season of which was launched in India in 2013. He has also collaborated with the makers of Emmy-winning series "Modern Family" for television viewers here.

"There is something else as well that I am doing after 'Modern Family'. We are working on it. I can't reveal anything at the moment," Kapoor told PTI.

In 2008, the 59-year-old actor was seen in "Slumdog Millionaire", a British drama film directed by Danny Boyle. He was also seen in "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" (2011), an American action spy film.

To a query on when he would do another Hollywood film, he said, "Give me a month's time, there is something that will be announced."



Following an overwhelming response to the first season of "24" from Indian viewers, the "Mr India" actor is now working on the second season of the show.

"When you do something that has international aesthetics you raise the bar, as you have to be appealing not only to Indian audiences but those who stay outside India," he said.

"We want to deliver something that is of international standard, so it's taking time. We have raised the bar with season two of '24'," Kapoor said.

In the last season of the show, Kapoor's character saved the life of the future Prime Minister, and in the second season he has the responsibility of protecting the nation.

In season two, the "Pukar" star will reprise his role of ATU chief Jai Singh Rathore.

"24" is a real time finite espionage series which traces the life of Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU) Chief Jai Singh Rathore as he battles the odds in the line of duty during the course of 24 hours.

When asked about the status of the Indian version of "Modern Family", a mockumentary that follows the lives of Jay Pritchett and his family all of whom live in suburban Los Angeles, Kapoor said, "We are working on it. It's important to get the right casting. If I don't get anyone apt for the show, I will be part of it.

The director-actor is all praise for thespian Soumitra



Chatterjee.

"Soumitra Chatterjee is our Marcello Mastroianni. I would love to direct him in future. He is one of the greatest actors," Kapoor said.

Kapoor, who rated Ritwik Ghatak as one of his favourite directors, named Satyajit Ray's "Apur Sansar" and "Charulata' as two gems where Soumitra's genius was manifest.

He is coming to Kolkata again later this week for the 'I Don't Like It-As You Like It by Rajat Kapoor' show on June 19.
Argentina's ex-leader Cristina Kirchner faced a judge today over alleged fraud in a case raising the political heat after her successor was separately named in the Panama Papers scandal.

The leftist ex-president, 63, has rejected the accusations that she was involved in suspect currency transactions by Argentina's central bank last year in the closing months of her presidency as a plot by the new government.

"I am not afraid of them," she wrote in a declaration filed with the court on Wednesday and published on her Facebook page.

"I will face up to this case and any other one that they want to fabricate against me."



The case follows separate revelations that current conservative President Mauricio Macri had ties to an offshore company named in the Panama Papers leaks. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Macri took over from Kirchner in December after he narrowly beat her side in an election. That ended 12 years of leftist rule by her and her late husband Nestor, who came to power after a financial crisis.

Macri launched steps to liberalize the Argentine economy, Latin America's third biggest. Kirchner's supporters say his spending cuts and price rises are hurting poorer families.

Thousands of Kirchner's supporters gathered in the rain to greet her as she arrived smiling at the courthouse in central Buenos Aires.

"Cristina, the people are with you," they yelled.

"If you go to jail, I'm going with you," read one of the signs waving in the crowd.

Judge Claudio Bonadio is investigating whether there are grounds to charge Kirchner over claims that she mishandled public funds in connection with the sale of dollars below market value by the central bank in September.

It is one of numerous cases connected to former leading officials from the Kirchners' center-left governments.

Bonadio is an open critic of Kirchner, who in the past tried to have him dismissed from his post.

She arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday following four months in southern Patagonia, where she secluded herself after leaving office.

The case comes in a tense political atmosphere, with accusations of bias among prosecutors and judges.

Argentina's former economy minister and former central bank chairman are also named in the case.

reports over the weekend said Kirchner could also be investigated for alleged money laundering in a separate suit fanned by revelations from the Panama Papers leaks.
Red-faced Austrian police are acknowledging that they published a photo of US actor and TV producer Peter Marc Jacobson by mistake in their search for a suspected fraudster.

Police spokesman Roman Hahslinger said today that they circulated Jacobson's photo after it was provided by a woman who said she was defrauded of 46,000 euros (about USD 52,000).

He said the suspect apparently used a photo of Jacobson in a false identification document he gave the victim and "must look deceptively similar" to him. She wasn't identified in keeping with Austrian confidentiality rules.

Jacobson is best known as the co-creator of the popular US sitcom "The Nanny." Hahslinger says he hasn't been in contact over the mix-up, adding Austrian police "cannot know every celebrity in the world.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked the people of Punjab to unite and intensify the struggle against the construction of the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal as construction of SYL would "ruin" the state.

Addressing a gathering here during a religious congregation to mark the Baisakhi festival, Badal said the people of the state have to wage relentless battle against Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), who were "hell bent upon snatching" the river waters of the state.

He alleged the Congress and AAP were both the enemies of the state and were hand in glove with each other to deprive Punjab of its water by constructing SYL canal.

Badal claimed that the AAP government in Delhi in its affidavit has termed the stand taken by Punjab on SYL canal as "unconstitutional and anti-national".

The Chief Minister said that it was a fact that as per universally accepted Riparian principle of water sharing, Punjab was the only rightful owner of river waters of the state and Punjab has no single drop of water to share with any other state.

He alleged that Congress has divested the state of its rights by giving water to Rajasthan, Haryana and other states by signing the various water agreements.

The Chief Minister said Punjab would be "ruined" if SYL canal was constructed as water was the only lifetime of the state.

He said that water was basic ingredient of life and any such move to share the river waters of the state would be disastrous as it would ruin Punjab.

"We are opposed to the construction of canal because it is a direct assault on the food security of the state and Sikh panth.

"So no Punjabi will ever tolerate this grave injustice against the state," he added.

Listing the major achievements of his government, Badal said that during the past nine years the state government has provided free power to farmers worth Rs 28000 crore.

He said the state government has started first of its kind scheme to provide interest free crop loans worth Rs 50,000 to the farmers.

Badal said all farmers in the state would be provided a health insurance cover of Rs 50,000 and an insurance of Rs 5 lakh in case of accidental death or incapacitation of head of family adding that now the state government has passed a law.

(REOPENS NRG20)



Meanwhile in Fazilka, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal lashed out at AAP and Congress and described them as "forces inimical" to the interests of Punjab.

The politics being practised by the likes of AAP and Congress is centred solely on acquiring power for which they are even ready to destroy the social fabric of the state, he alleged.

During a Sangat Darshan programme of 60 panchayats of Fazilka area, Badal said the SAD-BJP government has made the state power surplus, improved the road infrastructure and implemented various welfare schemes successfully to ensure the living standard of the people is uplifted.

Branding Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as a person "ignorant of the history, culture and traditions" of Punjab, Badal alleged that he was trying to vitiate the state's atmosphere and defame it.

He suggested that the AAP convener better forget about forming government in Punjab and instead concentrate his energies on improving Delhi.

On reports of Congress seeking written undertaking from those hoping for party tickets in the 2017 assembly elections, Badal said it amply proved that Congressmen don't trust each other and in such a condition what good would PPCC chief Amarinder Singh do for the state.
The newly-constituted Bank Board Bureau (BBB) will have its next meeting on April 22 to deliberate on various issues including consolidation, stressed assets and capital infusion.

"The Bureau is first looking at filling board-level vacancies," BBB chairman Vinod Rai told reporters here.

Besides, BBB is also looking at how to reduce NPAs in the public sector banks and kickstart lending activity.

The Bureau is also looking at capital infusion plans for current financial year.

The first meeting was held on April 8 and also attended by attended by Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha and RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, besides its members.

Besides Rai, Bureau members -- ICICI Bank's former Joint Managing Director H N Sinor, Bank of Baroda's former CMD Anil K Khandelwal and rating agency Crisil's ex-chief Rupa Kudwa -- were present.

Its ex-officio members -- Ameising Luikham, Secretary Department of Public Enterprises, and R Gandhi, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank -- too attended.

The Bureau has three ex-officio members and an equal number of expert members in addition to the chairman.

The Bank Board Bureau has been constituted to help the government select heads of public sector banks and financial institutions and assist banks in developing strategies and capital-raising plans.

There are 22 state-owned banks in the country, including SBI, IDBI Bank and Bhartiya Mahila Bank.

BBB was proposed by the government as a body of eminent professionals and officials, which will replace the Appointments Board for appointment of whole-time directors as well as non-executive chairman of PSBs.

They will also constantly engage with the board of directors of all the public sector banks to formulate appropriate strategies for their growth and development.
Beijing has summoned top diplomatic representatives from the Group of Seven nations to express anger at their statement on the South China Sea, the foreign ministry said today.

"China summoned the diplomatic envoys of relevant countries," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular press briefing, without elaborating.

A two-day meeting of G7 foreign ministers -- a grouping that excludes China -- in the Japanese city of Hiroshima issued a joint statement this week saying: "We are concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas, and emphasise the fundamental importance of peaceful management and settlement of disputes."



The G7 statement did not name China but Beijing lays claim to almost all of the South China Sea despite conflicting partial claims from Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.

"A senior official of one of the G7 countries mentioned that China needs to heed the voice of G7", Lu said in a comment that seemed to be aimed at Japan.

Tokyo has its own dispute with Beijing in the East China Sea over uninhabited islands that it administers but that are also claimed by China.

The G7 also urged "all states to refrain from such actions as land reclamations" and "building of outposts... For military purposes".

Beijing has built up artificial islands in the South China Sea, some of them equipped with runways 3,000 metres long.

"We believe that they shouldn't make relevant remarks," Lu said. The ministers, he added, "are just trying to amuse themselves by issuing such statements.
Three people arrested in Brussels in connection with the November Paris attacks have been released without charge, Belgian prosecutors said today.

"Within the case opened in the wake of the Paris attacks of November 13th 2015, the three persons that were arrested for questioning yesterday... Have been released by the investigating judge," said Eric Van der Sypt, a spokesman for Belgium's federal prosecutors.

"They have not been charged," he added.

Yesterday, Belgian police arrested the three people in the Brussels district of Uccle during a raid linked to the investigation into the Paris attacks, which left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded.

A separate wave of attacks in Brussels on March 22 left 32 people dead and hundreds wounded.

Investigators have uncovered extensive links between the Paris and Brussels attacks, with many of the same people involved and linked to Islamic State in Syria which claimed both.
Bill Gates said today that "with any luck" polio will be eradicated by 2017 in the last two countries where it remains active, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Microsoft founder, who has donated billions to fight global diseases, was speaking in Doha at the official announcement of a USD 50 million donation from Qatar to "The Lives and Livelihood Fund".

This is a partnership fund between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), who together have been working to try to eradicate diseases, including polio, since 2012.

"There's very few cases left, just two countries at this point, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and with any luck either this year or next year we will have the last cases of those," Gates said.

Pakistan has already made it an official target to rid the country of polio -- an infectious viral disease resulting in muscle damage -- in 2016 though there have already been eight recorded cases so far this year.

Although these are the two countries where the disease remains endemic, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative calculates eight countries are "vulnerable" to the virus, including Cameroon, South Sudan and Syria.

The billionaire, who is the world's richest-man according to Forbes, is also well-known for his work in trying to combat malaria.

Earlier this year he announced the launch of a USD 4 billion fund to help eradicate malaria, which he called the "world's biggest killer".

The donation he received in Doha will go towards a fund seeking to provide affordable financing for the 30 least-wealthy countries among IDB members.

It aims to ease the burden for some of the world's poorest people through grants and Sharia-compliant loans.

Gates said the injection of cash from Qatar will enable the fund to begin its work.

"This is a great milestone for helping the poorest," he said. "Qatar has always been very generous as a donor."



In total, the fund is trying to raise USD 2.5 billion.

The money has been donated by Doha through the Qatar Development Fund (QDF), a public body which distributes foreign aid.

The head of the QDF, Khalifa bin Jassim Al-Kuwari, said Qatar was "very interested in poverty reduction".

"We aim at launching several projects in the health sector, which will improve the quality of life for millions of people across the Muslim world," he said.
Bosch and Siemens Household Appliances (BSH) is set to enter the Indian refrigerator market and looking to have 10 per cent share in the double door segment in next three years.

The German firm plans to introduce its Serie 4 range of refrigerators, that are claimed to have been specially designed to suit Indian consumers, in the market in May.

"We are entering the double-door refrigerator segment in the 290 to 350 litres range. We are in the process of introducing these products," BSH Household Appliances Manufacturing MD & CEO Gunjan Srivastava told PTI.

In the next three months, the company will add 12 to 15 products completing the range, he added.

Srivastava said the Serie 4 range will be sold under the Bosch brand, which caters to the upper end of mass market.

Bullish on the Indian market, he said:" We are aiming to have around 10 per cent market share in the double door segment by FY 2019-20."



At present, total size of refrigerator market is around 9 million units annually in which 2.2 million is from the double door segment, he added.

In order to take on established players, including South Korean majors Samsung, LG besides homegrown players like Godrej, he said BSH is focusing on providing cooling and freshness with storage at a competitive price.

Bosch Serie 4 range of refrigerators would start from Rs 34,000 and above. The company has plans to address the other two door segment between 210 to 290 litres in future.

"We would go below 290 litres in future and in the coming months we would also introduce the new range of side by side and premium end as well," he said adding these units would be manufactured at Pune, through a third party.

On retail expansion, Srivastava said it currently has presence in 1,400 stores across the country and is expected to go beyond 1,500 after its entry into the refrigerator space.

"We are having 55 to 60 brand stores and we would extend it to 100 by end of the year," he said adding that Bosch brand serves the mass premium segment, while Siemens is for the premium segment.

"When we would go towards 100, most of the increment would happen in Bosch being in the upper end of mass segment. It would enter into many new cities and Siemens would restrict to the bigger cities and premium places only," he said.

Srivastava added that presently Bosch is having higher growth compared to Siemens as "we are introducing more new categories under Bosch."



BSH clocked a growth of 65 per cent by value in India last year against its global growth of 11 per cent being its fastest growing market.

"In the next 10 years, we see India as BSH's growth engine and also hub for the emerging market. India would be among top 5 to 10 markets of BSH global," said Srivastava.

BSH has a manufacturing unit in India at Chennai which manufactures washing machine and exports 30 per cent of its production to ASEAN markets and Australia, New Zealand.
Embattled Brazilian President lashed out at the two men in line to succeed her if she is impeached, calling her vice president and the lower house speaker "heads of the conspiracy" to remove her from office.

Speaking to teachers and students yesterday at the presidential palace in Brasilia, Rousseff said Vice President Michel Temer and Chamber of Deputies Speaker Eduardo Cunha are jointly plotting her downfall.

The remarks came on the heels of an allegedly accidental release on Monday of an address to the nation that Temer intended to deliver after a hypothetical congressional vote that would suspend Rousseff from office. In the 13-minute audio, which Temer said he unintentionally sent to lawmakers through an instant messenger app, the vice president speaks as if he had already assumed the top job.

Rousseff said she was "shocked" by the recording, which she said "reveals treason against me and against democracy." "The mask of the conspirators has fallen," she said.

"I don't really know which one is the chief and which is his second-in-charge," Rousseff said, referring to Temer and Cunha, both members of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, which pulled out of Rousseff's governing coalition late last month.

"One of them is the not-so invisible hand that's leading this impeachment process, through perversion of power and unimaginable abuses," she said. "The other is rubbing his hands together and is rehearsing the farce of a would-be inauguration speech."



On Twitter, the head of Rousseff's office and a close confident of the president, Jaques Wagner, said that "there is no possibility of pardon for conspirators."



"After impeachment is vanquished, the only possibility for Temer is resignation," Wagner wrote.

With 342 votes in the 513-member Chamber of Deputies needed for the process to move forward, analysts say the outcome of that vote is too close to call. Rousseff took a hit Tuesday when 31 of the 47 deputies with the Progressive Party, the country's fourth-largest party and a member of her governing coalition, announced they would vote for impeachment.

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters that Washington is confident in Brazil's ability to overcome its political crisis.

"We believe Brazil's democracy is mature. It's strong enough to ensure that its current political challenges are met and get resolved in a way that allows Brazil to prosper," Toner said in Washington.

On Monday, a lower house commission brought Rousseff one step closer to impeachment after approving a report in favor of her removal.
The Islamic State fighters who carried out the attacks in Brussels honed their skills through combat in Syria, and the sibling suicide bombers were also crucial to planning the Paris attacks, according to the extremist group's magazine released today.

In the English-language magazine Dabiq, the group drew a direct line between the two attacks and made no mention of the key suspects captured in Belgium.

"All preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels started with" brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El-Bakraoui, the group said.

Brussels was home to many of the attackers who struck the French capital November 13 with suicide bombings and volleys of assault weapons fire that left 130 people dead. According to Belgian and French investigators, the same cell was behind the suicide bombings that killed 32 people in Brussels on March 22.

The younger El Bakraoui blew himself up in a rush-hour Brussels subway train, killing 16 victims. That same morning, his older brother was one of two suicide bombers who detonated explosives-laden suitcases at Brussels Airport, killing another 16.

The other airport bomber was Najim Laachraoui, the bomb maker for both the Brussels and the Paris attacks, who left for Syria in 2013 and was an early recruit for the Islamic State group.

It is "firstly due" to the El Bakraouis that the attacks in the French capital occurred, Dabiq said. Subsequently, it said, Khalid El Bakraoui had a dream to carry out another attack.

The magazine also prominently mentioned Mohamed Belkaid, the IS fighter who was killed covering Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam's escape from a hideout "during the final stages of preparation for the raid in Brussels."



It said Belkaid, who had Swedish residency, took part in some of the extremist group's most important battles, including the capture of Ramadi, and decided to return to Europe with Laachraoui for an attack.

Although it was light on new details, the magazine article offered a glimpse of how the attack cell was constructed and how the plot formed among supporters in Belgium and Syria.

Abdeslam, who returned from France to Belgium after his brother blew himself up in the Paris attacks, is entirely absent from the narrative, as is Mohamed Abrini and Osama Krayem. All three were captured in the Brussels area, Abdeslam just a few blocks from the Molenbeek home where he grew up.

A Belgian television network today released previously unknown footage from Molenbeek of Abdeslam, whose role in the Paris attacks has never been defined and who is not formally linked to the Brussels bloodshed.
Brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, the suicide bombers who hit Brussels last month, obtained the weapons and explosives for those attacks and for November's carnage in Paris, the Islamic State (IS) group said today.

The English-language edition of the jihadist group's magazine Dabiq says of Khalid El Bakraoui: "All preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels started with him and his older brother Ibrahim.

"These two brothers gathered the weapons and the explosives."



If the group's claim is proven, it would mean the brothers played a more prominent role in the Paris attacks than previously thought.

The magazine also says Najim Laachraoui, who blew himself up with Ibrahim El Bakraoui in Brussels' Zaventem airport, had prepared the explosives for the attacks in Brussels and Paris.

Khalid El Bakraoui detonated his explosive suicide vest on a crowded metro train in the attacks which killed a total of 32 people in the Belgian capital.

IS gunmen and bombers killed 130 people in Paris on November 13 in attacks on bars and restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium.

The latest edition of IS's magazine also paid tribute to Mohamed Belkaid, an Algerian who was shot dead in a police raid in Brussels during which other suspects escaped six days before the attacks on the city.

Dabiq said that although Belkaid could have escaped, "he decided to make this his final stand and to ensure his brothers a safe exit".
Packed passenger trains are rolling out of Cambodia's capital for the first time in over a decade this week, as a railway service running down to the country's southern coast resumes after years of suspension.

The trains will be ferrying passengers from Phnom Penh to the southwestern seaport of Sihanoukville over a nine-day trial lasting until April 17 -- a week that coincides with the Khmer new year holiday.

If the service proves popular, the passenger trains could start operating the nearly 270 kilometre route regularly, according to Royal Railway Cambodia, which in recent years has only used the line for freight.

The Southeast Asian country has more than 600 kilometres of railroad extending from its northern border with Thailand down to the south coast, but decades of war and neglect have left vast stretches of track damaged.

"This is a fantastic occasion. You can see that the carriages are just about full," Royal Railways CEO officer John Guiry told AFP as passengers climbed on board the train in Phnom Penh's station.

"Hopefully, if nothing else...We take some cars off the road and reduce the traffic jams and the frustrations of trying to have a good weekend," he added.

The carriages were filled mostly with local holidaymakers, who peered outside as the train rumbled through farmland and passed along the scenic coast.

Pao Putsereyroth, a passenger, said he was hoping trains would be back for good.

"I'm so excited to be here," he told AFP from inside the train car, decked with the country's flag.

"For Cambodian people we are proud that the train has been put in place once again.
Prime Minister David Cameron today lauded the special contribution of Sikhs to British life through their hard work and entrepreneurial spirit, as he wished the community members on Vaisakhi festival.

"I want to send my best wishes to everyone in Britain and around the world celebrating the festival of Vaisakhi.

"As Gudwaras across Britain prepare to mark the birth of Khalsa, this is also a time for us to celebrate the special contribution the Sikh community has made to British life," Downing Street said in a statement from Cameron.

"Whether it's through hard work, an entrepreneurial spirit that has helped our country prosper or a vibrant cultural tradition, British Sikhs have brought so much to our society," the statement said.

"So as the Gudwaras are decorated with flowers and offerings, and vibrant processions take place in the streets, I want to wish everyone an enjoyable Vaisakhi and a great year to come."



Vasakhi refers to the harvest festival in Punjab.
Canbank Venture Capital Fund has picked up a minority equity stake in Chandigarh-based Him Teknoforge for a consideration of Rs 30 crore.

The VC firm acquired the stake through its Emerging India Growth Fund.

"Continuing our strategy of investing in unlisted companies with high growth potential, through our Emerging India Growth Fund, we have picked up a minority equity stake in Him Teknoforge (HIM) for a consideration of Rs 30 crore. This includes Rs 7.80 crore towards partial buyout of equity shareholding held by IFCI Venture Capital Funds Ltd," Canbank Venture Capital Fund Managing Director K Baskaran told reporters here.

HIM is a leading manufacturer of forgings and machined components for end-use in agri-machinery, automotives, railways, defence, oil & gas sectors. The product range comprises gears, axles, shafts, levers, flanges, assemblies, sub assemblies, non gear/spider kits, among others.

The company envisages good business potential in widening its product and customer base by undertaking modernisation-cum-technology upgradation and expansion at its existing plant at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. The proposed capex will help the company in meeting the demands of its existing customers for the machined components, Baskaran said.

The forging industry, estimated at more than USD 3 billion currently, has emerged as a major contributor to the manufacturing sector of the Indian economy. Approximately 20- 25 per cent of the size of the forging industry is attributed to exports.

"We have been looking for funds to expand and upgrade our operations to achieve the full capacities of the units and also to enhance the product value and branding besides increasing our share of business from the existing customers as well adding new customers," HIM Executive Director Rajiv Aggarwal said.

The funds from Canbank Venture will be deployed towards modernisation and additional plant and machinery and tools at our existing forging and machining units at Pithampur (MP and Uttarakhand, Aggarwal said.

The company is playing a significant role in the agri- machinery, automobile and engineering industry. HIM caters to major OEM clients which includes Mahindra & Mahindra, Escorts Ltd and Ashok Leyland.

The company is also looking at raising money through an IPO in the next 2-3 years to fund its expansion plans, Aggarwal said.
The Centre has appointed Finance Secretary Ratan Wattal as the liaison officer with Jammu and Kashmir government to ensure that the flow of funds to the state is fast-tracked for smooth implementation of Prime Minister's Development Package.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his meeting with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti yesterday assured her of complete cooperation on all the issues related to his ministry.

"Jaitley assured the Chief Minister of early action in the matter, adding the Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ratan Wattal, has been appointed as the coordinator for smooth implementation of Prime Minister's Development Package. He will maintain close liaison with the state Finance Minister, Dr. Haseeb Drabu, so that the flow of funds to the state is fast-tracked," a statement from the state government said.

Mehbooba had met Jaitley and sought creation of a separate window for Prime Minister's Development Package to speed up flow of resources to the state.

"She also requested early release this month of Rs 880 crore for interest subvention, Rs 2,000 crore for damaged infrastructure approved by NITI Aayog and another Rs 2,000 crore for displaced persons in Jammu so that disbursement of compensation can commence," it said.

She discussed with Jaitley the need for creating a separate window for Prime Minister's Development Package to speed up flow of resources to the state.

The Chief Minister highlighted the need for replacing the



present barter system with banking system at the cross-LoC Trade at Salamabad (in Baramulla) and Chaka da Bagh (in Poonch) keeping in view the RBI nod for dollar-denominated trade for cross-LoC transactions



The statement said she also sought Jaitley's intervention in inclusion of additional items in the approved list for which the matter has to be vigorously pursued in the next meeting of the Joint Working Group between India and Pakistan.

The Chief Minister demanded a new Central Industrial Policy for the state as the present policy will expire on June 17 this year.

"She called for extension of exemptions on income tax and concession of insurance premiums to Jammu and Kashmir entrepreneurs, on the analogy of industrial package available to the North-Eastern States," it said.
Reacting guardedly to the landmark Indo-US logistics exchange agreement, China today said India pursues an independent foreign policy but hinted it might raise the issue during Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's visit here next week.

"We have noted relevant reports on US Defence Secretary Ash Carter's visit to India," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters when asked about the agreement that enables militaries of India and the US to use each other's assets and bases for repair and replenishment of supplies.

"India is also an influential country in the world, and India has been upholding independent diplomatic policy. India will make up its diplomatic policies based on its own interests," Lu said.

Significantly, Lu's reference to Parrikar's visit to China from April 18 was seen as a hint that Beijing might raise the issue with him. The two-day visit is yet to be officially announced by either side.

"India's defence minister will visit China very soon," the spokesperson said.

India and the US yesterday agreed "in principle" to a series of initiatives, including the logistics exchange agreement, which they hope will strengthen military ties.

Parrikar and Carter, however, made it clear that the agreement, which will be signed in "weeks" or "coming months", does not entail deployment of American troops on Indian soil.

The two countries also agreed to set up a new bilateral Maritime Security Dialogue between officials from their respective defence and foreign affairs ministries.

This came as India and the US emphasised on freedom of navigation and need for international based order, apparently in reference to China's assertiveness in the South China Sea.

In a joint statement after their meet, Parrikar and Carter expressed their support for a rules-based order and regional security architecture conducive to peace and prosperity in Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.

China, which has the world's largest 2.3-million-strong army, has been increasing its presence in the Indian Ocean, traditionally India's backyard, concerning New Delhi.

In its dispatch from New Delhi, China's state-run Xinhua agency reported that the agreement "will give India and US armed forces access to each other's bases, and both the countries have been harping on it for nearly a decade."



Quoting Carter it also said that both the countries would soon ink another agreement on sharing of information on commercial shipping, which is going to bolster security on the seas.
Kenyan police will deport 45 Taiwanese to mainland China where they face investigation for fraud, Chinese state media said today after Taipei blasted Beijing for "abducting" its citizens.

Taipei said this week that Beijing had "illegally" pressured authorities in Nairobi to deport eight of its citizens to the mainland after they had been cleared of fraud charges in Kenya, in a case which has inflamed passions in Taiwan.

A total of 67 people from Taiwan and mainland China will be deported from Kenya today after 10 were sent back at the weekend, the official Xinhua agency cited police as saying. Altogether, 45 are Taiwanese.

"Mainland police will investigate the Taiwanese suspects in strict accordance with the law and keep Taiwanese authorities informed," Xinhua cited China's public security ministry as saying.

China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, even though the island has ruled itself since 1949 following a civil war split.

Relations have often been tense, and the landslide election victory of independence-leaning Tsai Ing-wen in January's presidential poll raised fears that Beijing will take a more assertive stance.

Political and trade ties between Taipei and Beijing grew in the last decade under the leadership of the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT).

China's President Xi Jinping met with Tsai's KMT predecessor Ma Ying-jeou last year for the first summit between the two sides since their 1949 split.

But the meeting produced little of substance beyond the announcement of a telephone hotline between Beijing and Taipei. Xinhua said the hotline had been used to discuss the detainees.

"Judicial organs on the Chinese mainland have legal rights of jurisdiction over the repatriated suspects," Xinhua cited the public security ministry as saying.

Taiwan said today that it had filed suit against several top officials in Kenya for ignoring the court decision which cleared some of the suspects in the cyber scam case.

The officials "allowed Kenyan police to disrespect a court ruling, forcefully detaining our citizens for over 24 hours and illegally cooperating with mainland personnel to deport them to China", Taiwan's foreign ministry said in a written report to parliament.
China is holding a number of Taiwanese on suspicion of fraud, officials said after Taipei accused Beijing of "abducting" its citizens from Kenya and forcibly returning them to the Chinese mainland.

Taipei said this week that Beijing had "illegally" pressured authorities in Nairobi to deport eight of its citizens to the mainland after they had been cleared of fraud charges in Kenya, adding that a total of 37 other Taiwanese were also facing return.

The head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Zhang Zhijun informed Taipei about "a group of Taiwanese residents who are criminal suspects thought to have carried out electronic fraud and who have been detained by our public security agency", the official Xinhua agency reported late yesterday.

"Taiwanese suspected fraudsters are thought to have created a base overseas to defraud mainland people with increasing frequency... These criminals must be brought to justice," he added in the Xinhua report, which was posted on TAO's own website.

It did not specify the number or identity of those held, or make specific reference to Kenya or to any deportation.

China considers Taiwan a province of its own, which it will one day unify by force if necessary, even though the territory has ruled itself since 1949 following a civil war split.

Relations between the two have often been tense. Political and trade ties grew in the last decade under the leadership of the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT), but the landslide election victory of independence-leaning Tsai Ying-wen in January's presidential poll raised fears that Beijing will take a more assertive stance.

China's President Xi Jinping met with Tsai's KMT predecessor Ma Ying-jeou last year for the first summit between the two sides since their 1949 split.

The meeting produced little of substance beyond the announcement of a telephone hotline between Beijing and Taipei. Xinhua said the hotline had been used to discuss the detained fraud suspects.

Taiwan said today that it had filed a suit against several top officials in Kenya for ignoring the court decision that cleared some of the suspects in the cyber scam case.
Chinese scientists have completed their 32nd scientific expedition to Antarctica during which they tested the first fixed-wing aircraft.

During the 158-day expedition, that started on November 7, the icebreaker Xuelong (meaning Snow Dragon) covered about 30,000 nautical miles carrying 277 scientists from more than 80 research institutions.

The team returned to China yesterday.

During the mission, China's first fixed-wing aircraft for polar flight Snow Eagle 601 completed 47 flights totalling 264 hours and nearly 80,000 km, said Sun Bo, deputy director of the Polar Research Institute of China and deputy head of the team.

The aircraft conducted airborne remote sensing and transport tasks.

China will develop a fleet of such fixed-wing aircraft and it will need to set up a professional Antarctic aviation team, Sun was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua agency.

The expedition team conducted marine environmental assessment in waters around the Antarctic Peninsula.

They confirmed earlier speculation about the South Pole being home to the world's largest canyon and found many subglacial lakes and currents connected to the canyon, forming a giant "wetland" beneath the Antarctic ice, the report said.

They also collected 630 pieces of meteorite.

China now has more than 12,000 pieces of meteorite, trailing behind only Japan and the United States.

Thirty-three members of the team remain in the Changcheng and Zhongshan stations in Antarctica for further research.
In solidarity with the victims of the Kerala temple tragedy, Delhi-headquartered Believer's Church, a Christian denomination with congregations and parishes worldwide, is collecting medicines, food packets and clothing to provide relief to the affected people in Kollam.

The Church said it is also mobilising its medical team with specialised doctors from its Tiruvalla Hospital to aid in relief operations. A number of volunteers on behalf of the Believers Church are also assisting the local administration in relief operations, it said.

K P Yohannan, Metropolitan of Believers Church said, "We will do everything in our power to help the bereaved families and provide timely medical assistance to those who have been injured."



The Church said it is willing to provide free of cost treatment to the sufferers at its state-of-the-art multi-specialty hospital in Tiruvalla which is about 35 kms from Kollam.

"Believers Church Medical College Hospital, Tiruvalla, is offering free treatment to all victims of the Kollam tragedy," added Yohannan.

The Church said it is pooling resources, including collecting donations, for carrying out relief work in Kollam and assisting in rebuilding works.

"We have collected 5,000 mosquito nets and as many packets of medicines, food and clothes to be sent to Kollam. We have a team of doctors which is monitoring the verification of medicines that are to be sent," Bishop Simon John of the Delhi Centre of Believers Church said.

The Bishop said the Church has asked all its members in cities like Lucknow, Udaipur, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Delhi, Amritsar to contribute for the cause.

"Use of firecrackers is a part of the festival. People should be more careful while using them. And as a Church we have taken an initiative and asked our members not to use firecrackers. We are trying to communicate to people and raise awareness that firecrackers may cause harm," he said.
In a setback to Opposition Congress in Telangana, its MLA Ch Rammohan Reddy today joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

The legislator from Makthal in Mahabubnagar district met TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and announced that he joined the ruling party "in the interest of development of his constituency".

On the occasion, state Health Minister C Laxman Reddy, who also belongs to Mahabubnagar district, said the MLAs from opposition parties are voluntarily joining TRS and that there is no pressure on them.

Congress won 22 seats in the 2014 Assembly elections, but some of its MLAs have since switched loyalty to the ruling party.

As many as 12 MLAs of the opposition TDP who switched loyalty to the TRS since the latter formed government in June 2014, have recently been recognized as members of the TRS in the Assembly.

Consequently, the strength of TRS rose to 78 (from 65 after the 2014 polls) and the TDP's strength reduced to just three (from 15).
The Russian authorities in Crimea today banned the governing body of the Crimean Tatar community, the Mejlis, in a move slammed by international rights group.

The Mejlis, a respected decision-making body of the Crimean Tatar minority on the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed in March 2014, has resisted Russian rule and operated under pressure, with many key figures banished from the region.

Today, Crimea's prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya, who has long accused the organisation of various wrongdoings, said she has decided to "halt the activities of the Mejlis" because its goals are "extremist activity" and "destabilisation."



The Mejlis is "banned from using all state and municipal media, hold mass events, use bank accounts and carry out any activities," she wrote.

The organisation has represented the Crimean Tatars, a Muslim people native to Crimea who were deported under Stalin and only returned to the peninsula in the 1990s, since it was founded in 1991.

Amnesty International said in a statement the decision was "aimed at snuffing out dissent" and "demolishes one of the few remaining rights of a minority that Russia must protect instead of persecute."



It added that the Crimean Tatars have "borne the brunt of Russia's clampdown in the region," with at least six people disappearing and one found dead in 2014.

Russia has prosecuted several community leaders for a rally that took place prior to annexation, charging them with terrorism in February. A prominent Crimean Tatar channel ATR was forced off the air last year.
Texas Sen Ted Cruz blasted rival Donald Trump in a radio interview, accusing the Republican front-runner of being a bully, inciting violence and using dirty tricks to intimidate voters and delegates, as Trump continued to rail against a nominating system he says is crooked and rigged.

Using some of the harshest rhetoric of the campaign to date, Cruz said his billionaire rival is a bad businessman who has been surrounded by sycophants his entire career.

"Donald's whole pitch is he's a great businessman," Cruz said in a wide-ranging interview on the Glenn Beck radio show, adding that given how Trump runs his campaign, "it appears he can't run a lemonade stand."The comments came as both campaigns work tirelessly behind the scenes to secure delegates who will back them at the Republican Party convention this summer in Cleveland.

So far, Trump has appeared badly outmaneuvered by a better-organized Cruz operation, prompting the real estate mogul to rail against the Republican electoral system, claiming that the will of the voters is being denied.

"Our Republican system is absolutely rigged. It's a phony deal," said Trump at a rally in a packed airport hangar in Rome, New York, on Tuesday evening, where his speech was dominated by foot-stomping over the primary process.

He pointed to Colorado, where he said the delegate-selection system was set up by "crooked politicians" to make sure an outsider like him could never win.

"These are dirty tricksters," he said, placing the blame on the Republican National Committee. "They should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this kind of crap to happen," he added, saying that both Republicans and Democrats have set up "phony rules and regulations" that makes it "impossible for a guy that wins to win."



He went further a few hours later during a CNN town hall in New York City, suggesting the RNC was actively working to defeat him.

"The RNC doesn't like this happening. They don't like that I'm putting up my own money because it means they don't have any control over me," Trump said, arguing that the deck is "stacked against me by the establishment".
Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz is a "natural-born citizen" under the US constitution and may run in the New Jersey state's primary elections on June 7, a judge has ruled.

A group of New Jersey residents had challenged the 45- year-old Texas senator's eligibility for the presidency. He was born in Canada to a Cuban father and American mother.

But Judge Jeff Masin found that Cruz met the constitutional requirements.

New Jersey's Lt Governor, Kim Guadagno, is now expected to review the decision.

Sen Cruz's main rival for the Republican nomination, Donald Trump, has also questioned his eligibility for the presidency.

"There's a big question mark on your head," the billionaire businessman said at a debate in January. "You can't do that to the party."



The South Jersey Concerned Citizens Committee and law professor Victor Williams, a presidential write-in candidate, argued in court in on Monday that Sen Cruz's birth in Canada meant he could not be a "natural-born citizen" as envisaged by those who wrote the US constitution.

They claimed he was a naturalised citizen and that presidents had to be born on US soil.

Cruz's lawyer argued that he was a natural-born citizen because his mother was American.

On Tuesday Judge Masin dismissed the challenge, while acknowledging that "absolute certainty as to this issue is only available to those who actually sat in Philadelphia and themselves thought on the issue".

"The more persuasive legal analysis is that such a child, born of a citizen-father, citizen-mother, or both, is indeed a 'natural born citizen' within the contemplation of the constitution," he wrote in a 26-page decision.

Judge Masin added that his decision might be adopted, modified or rejected by Lt Gov Guadagno, New Jersey's secretary of state, who is authorised to make a final decision on the matter. She must transmit the names of candidates to appear on the primary ballot to county clerks by Thursday.

A similar legal challenge was rejected a court in Pennsylvania, where Sen Cruz will appear on the state's Republican primary ballot later this month.

In the Republican primaries held so far, Trump is leading with 758 delegates while Cruz has 538. To secure the party's presidential nomination, the successful candidate should have 1,237 delegates.
A man who has admitted hijacking a domestic EgyptAir flight and diverting it to Cyprus is requesting political asylum on the island, claiming he is afraid of how he could be treated by Egyptian authorities because of his political beliefs, officials said today.

Cyprus' Interior Minister Socrates Hasikos told The Associated Press that 59-year-old Seif Eddin Mustafa's asylum claim is being examined while a request by Egyptian authorities for his extradition proceeds.

The asylum claim is based on Mustafa's fears about his possible treatment at the hands of Egyptian authorities, said his lawyer, Robertos Vrahimis.

Vrahimis told the AP that he has yet to receive specific instructions from his client because of a dispute with Cyprus Central Prisons authorities over which Arabic-speaking translator to use. The prison authorities only allow a translator approved by them, which Vrahimis says would violate client-attorney privilege.

He says he has sent a letter of complaint asking that he be allowed to bring a translator of his choice.

A court hearing on Mustafa's extradition proceedings is scheduled for April 22. Vrahimis said Cyprus could extradite Mustafa if they don't approve the asylum request.

Cyprus Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou told the AP that Egyptian authorities have given written assurances that the suspect won't face the death penalty and that he will be given a fair trial.

A police prosecutor told a court last month that Mustafa had insisted during the six-hour hijacking that a letter be delivered to his Cypriot ex-wife in which he demanded the release of 63 dissident women imprisoned in Egypt.

Mustafa described by Cypriot authorities as "psychologically unstable" forced the Airbus A320 to land in Cyprus' main Larnaca airport by threatening to blow it up with a fake suicide belt on March 29. He was arrested when he stepped off the plane after all 72 passengers and crew were released unharmed.
Navy Chief Admiral R K Dhowan today said aircraft carrier INS Viraat is on its last legs but the actual date of its decommissioning has not been decided yet.

"I must mention that INS Viraat has done excellent service to the Navy and the nation. I would like to congratulate the commanding officers and the entire ship company making sure that INS Viraat is maintained, operational at its peak efficiency. But now, it is on its last legs," Dhowan said while addressing media following the Investiture Ceremony at Naval dockyard here onboard INS Viraat.

"We have not yet decided on the date but we certainly are looking at the aspect when the ship would be decommissioned," he said.

When asked about prospects of turning the country's flagship aircraft carrier into a museum after its decommissioning, Dhowan said, "Yes, we have proposed to the Ministry of Defence that it (INS Viraat) should be converted into a museum."



"The MoD is in touch with various state governments who have made some proposals and these are under examination," he added.

On other aspects, Dhowan said the Navy has tried to provide a good level of accommodation in all commands for officers and sailors.

"Around 6,000 houses have been built for officers and sailors under phase I and II of MAP (Married Accommodation Project). Besides, we have put forth a proposal of another 12,000 houses," he said.

Underlining that accommodation problem was acute in Mumbai, the chief of Navy Staff said they have urged the MoD to sanction 4,000 houses for officers and sailors.

"We have seen accommodation problem has been largely sorted out at our stations in Kochi and Vishakhapatnam. But in Mumbai the problem is acute. We have cleared some pending projects and things have improved some extent. Apart from it, we have urged MoD to provide 4,000 houses and hope it it would be sanctioned soon," he said.

On the recently held International Fleet Review in



Visakhapatnam, Dhowan said there were 50 navies, about 100 ships and submarines, 24 from foreign nations present there.

"This was a great occasion where we showcase our professionalism," he said and termed last year as period of "extremely high tempo for Indian Navy".

"Last year, we showed our flag across the world. We went from as far east and western Pacific to west and the northern Atlantic, from the countries of the Gulf to countries to East coast Africa. We also went to south west Indian ocean islands, Bay of Bengal, South East Asia and Australia," he said.

He said the Indian Navy, last year, got opportunity to conduct exercises with all the major navies of the world including Exercise Malabar with United States Navy.

"Then there was trilateral exercise which we did between Indian, Brazilian and South African navies," he said.

The Navy chief lauded ships Sumitra and Trakash for doing an "outstanding" job during Operation Rahat in Yemen.

"During Operation Rahat, we safely evacuated 3,074 people, including 1,291 foreign nationals from over 30 countries. I would say that our ships - Sumitra, Mumbai and Tarkash - did an outstanding job during this operation," he said.

He said there is a policy and a requirement of Indian Navy that whenever our ships are deployed for overseas deployment they should be ready for HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief) operations.

"When the requirement was to evacuate people, INS Sumitra which was on Gulf wade and patrol was converted into a role change and was off the ports of Aden and Yemen within hours, that is why we could respond immediately," he said.
India today asked its acting High Commissioner in Islamabad to seek a meeting with the Pakistan Foreign Office in connection with the death of an Indian under mysterious circumstances in a jail there.

The envoy has also been instructed to seek early transfer of the mortal remains of Kirpal Singh, who was found dead in his cell in a Lahore Jail where he was languishing for over 20 years in connection with a serial blasts case there.

"On Kirpal Singh, our acting high commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in Pakistan Foreign Office this forenoon to seek early transportation of Singh's mortal remains.

"He will also seek official information on the cause of the death and postmortem report etc," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swaroop said.

50-year-old Kirpal Singh was languishing in a Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges and was found dead in his cell on Monday under mysterious circumstances.

Kirpal Singh had allegedly crossed Wagah border into Pakistan in 1992 and was arrested. He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of bomb blast charges by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons.

Jagir Kaur, Kirpal's sister, earlier said the family could not raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case.
Difficulties faced by French firms wanting to invest in India must not be underestimated and its rules must be "fair and visible", Nicolas Sarkozy, former French President and now Leader of Opposition, said today.

Sarkozy, who is currently on a visit to India, is slated to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi here later in the day.

Pointing out that bilateral trade between India and France in the last 10 years has gone up three times, he said French investments in India are worth USD 20 billion and French companies employ 3 lakh people here.

"I would not say 'Make in India' but 'Make with India' because it seems like a better concept with a partnership on equal footing," he said at an industry conference here.

"Many French business leaders want to come (to India). They want rules to be fair and visible," he added.

Emphasising that choosing India is an "important commitment" to make for French companies, he said: "Don't underestimate difficulties for French companies to come to India. I would also like to see more Indian companies in France".

Stating that India is a young country which has "very deep roots", Sarkozy said France and India must work together on all subjects and although things are going well "they could be better".

He said the strategic partnership between India and France is real because of the collaboration in space, nuclear cooperation, energy and national defence which is very important for India.
To Commemorate BR Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary, Delhi University is organising a debate on various aspects of the Indian Constitution..

"Marking the 125th anniversary of the architect of the constitution of India, DU is organising a programme titled 'Bhim Rao Ambedkar : Discourse on the Constitution of India'," the university said in a statement.

"Eminent Constitutional experts, lawyers including Sanjay Hegde and academicians from Centre for Policy Research will deliberate on the topic and discuss the relevance in the present context," it added.
Egypt will return two disputed Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia after controlling it for over 60 years in a bid to "restore" the rights of Saudis, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said, a decision that has drawn sharp criticism from Egyptians who see the move an insult to their national pride.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia agreed to maritime borders that handed ownership of disputed Red Sea islands Tiran and Sanafir over to Riyadh, Egyptian Cabinet said in a statement.

Egyptian government says the two islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba belong to Saudi Arabia, which asked Egypt in 1950 to protect them from Israel. Israel captured the islands in the 1967 Middle East war, but handed them back to Egypt under the provisions of the 1979 peace treaty.

"We did not surrender our rights, but we restored the rights of others. Egypt did not relinquish even a grain of sand," Sisi said.

The controversy is caused by the difference between how the state deals with the issue and how people take it from an individual perspective, he said.

"The decision was made through documents with the Egyptian state institutions such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the General Intelligence Service; we also stuck to the 1990 presidential decree which was submitted to the United Nations," Sisi said, referring to several pieces of evidence that the government has put forward in recent days to explain the Saudi claim.

The return of the two islands has drawn sharp reaction from many Egyptians, who showed their refusal on social media from mockery to allegations of poor governance.

Many Egyptians view Tiran and Sanafir with patriotic fondness because of the islands' association with the four wars Egypt fought with Israel between 1948 and 1973.

The decision comes as Cairo struggles to steady its vital tourism sector. The decision was announced on Saturday during a five-day visit by King Salman.

Last Friday, the King Salman said that his country and Egypt would build a joint bridge over the Red Sea.

Salman said that the bridge would be aimed at boosting trade exchange between the two allied countries and connecting the two countries.

A recent statement by Egypt's government said that agreement of demarcation the maritime borders between Egypt and Saudi Arabia is an important achievement that will make the two countries benefit economically.

The statement also added that the islands Tiran and Sanafir now fall under the Saudi waters territory according to the Egypt and Saudi agreements which were signed as part of King Salman's visit to Egypt during last week.
Within a fortnight of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Brussels to attend the Indo-EU Summit, the European Union today said it is keen to conclude the long-pending FTA with India but both partners should first establish their objectives clearly.

"We are very much interested to have such an agreement (FTA). There are certain interests on the European side as well as on the Indian side and let's first discuss them at a proper level to establish what are our objectives, what are our levels of ambitions to fix the main elements before we go into more negotiations," EU Ambassador to India Tomasz Kozlowski told reporters here.

Talks for the free trade agreement (FTA), officially known as the Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), have been stalled since May 2013 as both sides are yet to bridge substantial gaps on crucial issues, including data security for the IT sector.

At the 13th Indo-EU Summit held in Brussels late last month, Modi and his Belgian counterpart Charles Michel had pitched for resumption of FTA talks on "mutually agreed terms".

Kozlowski said there are certain issues which are high on agenda for FTA to be completed but both partners are very far apart.

On the EU side there are concerns surrounding industries like auto components, wines and spirits, while on the Indian side there are issues related to visas for professionals, especially those from the IT sector.

He, however, said discussions are going on at official and political levels, and there is great commitment from both the sides to continue talks for concluding this agreement.

The ambassador said European companies consider India as a prospective market and this is the reason why they are making investments here. There are around 6,000 European companies present in the country.

"Some EU companies have flagged to me that for them it would be good to use India as a production hub and to produce not only for India but for international markets as well. So, from that point of view, trade liberalisation will be perceived favourable by the international community," he said.

According to Kozlowski, for decades the 28-member block and India have developed their co-operation and have achieved a lot but it is much below potential.

"We have to think much more pragmatically on what are our common interests, how to transform our common values, and to clearly identify common interests. Such a process should take into account each others' expectations and priorities as well," he said.

Speaking about India, Kozlowski said the country is



experiencing "very fine economic growth" and it belongs to a group of new engines of growth for the world economy.

Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving a new impetus to the economy, he said the present government is more open and is reaching out to new partners.

"A number of reforms have been introduced or are being discussed. According to our assessment, the business environment here is becoming better and we hope this process will continue," the envoy said.

He said in 2015, the Indo-EU trade in goods stood at USD 100 billion while for services it was USD 30 billion.

European companies invested around 5.2 billion euros in the country in 2014.

On the Panama papers leak, Kozlowski said the European Union is analysing the case and it will be taken up at the next G-20 meeting to be held in China in September.

He said in the EU, there is a system of information exchange among the member countries.

"We need international cooperation to deal with such cases," he added.
Marvel Studios has released the first teaser trailer for "Doctor Strange", bringing Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's self-styled Sorcerer Supreme to the big screen for the first time, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role.

The feature offers an existential edge with the story of a surgeon who finds a new purpose in life, and a grander cosmic destiny, following a traumatic accident, said The Hollywood Reporter.

It provides a new dimension to Marvel's line-up, breaking from the straight-ahead superheroics of Captain America, Iron Man and The Avengers.

Also starring in the Scott Derrickson-directed film are Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mads Mikkelsen. The movie will be released in the US on November 4.

The trailer debuted on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live as part of the show's Marvel Week, which kicked off with "Captain America: Civil War" stars Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Paul Rudd and Anthony Mackie.
Observing that many schools force students to buy textbooks other than NCERT's or those prescribed by it, the CBSE has written to principals that coercing parents and children to buy them is an unhealthy practice.

In its letter, the Board said that in spite of many directions, it had been found that some of the schools affiliated to it force children and their parents to buy books other than NCERT-CBSE texts which is evident from the complaints received.

"In this context, CBSE would like to reiterate in unequivocal terms that prescribing of too many textbooks and coercing parents and children to buy them is unhealthy practice that is educationally unsound, especially since NCERT textual materials are the base for preparing test items in the board examinations and the question paper of CBSE is set according to prescribed syllabus of the subject," the CBSE letter said.

Asking schools not to force parents to buy additional textbooks, the CBSE said that NCERT books are available online. They can also be procured from NCERT sales counters at Ajmer, Bhopal, Shillong, Bhubaneswar, Mysuru, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Guwahati and New Delhi, it said.
A Madrid court on Wednesday ordered that disgraced former top banker be held without bail pending investigations into alleged money laundering.

Conde, 67, who was previously jailed for embezzlement committed when he was chairman of the Banesto bank, was arrested on Monday along with his son and daughter, and four other people.

Conde, who became a symbol of the "get-rich-quick" culture in Spain in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was chairman of Banesto when it was taken over in 1993 after an audit revealed a shortfall of $4.1 billion.

He was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2002 for embezzlement and fraud but was released on parole in 2005.

Conde's arrest on Monday was ordered by the National Court which is investigating whether he and his children set up a network of companies to help channel back to Spain 13 million euros stashed away in offshore accounts in Switzerland and other financial centres that he had embezzled from Banesto.

The National Court, Spain's top criminal court, ordered Conde and his former lawyer Francisco Javier de la Vega to be held in jail without bail while the investigation continues, after brief questioning on Wednesday.

The court placed his daughter Alejandra Conde, who is suspected of playing a key role in the alleged money laundering under house arrest,

His son, junior, and the three other people arrested were released but banned from leaving Spain.

Conde's lawyer Ignacio Palaez called the court's decision to jail his client "excessive".

Banesto was eventually sold at auction to Spain's Santander bank, which is now the eurozone's largest lender.
Twelve members of a France-based jihadist network that sent fighters to Syria were given prison sentences today, including a woman who had taken her three children to join her husband there.

The court in Paris heard that the group had become radicalised after attending a mosque in Villiers-sur-Marne in the Paris suburbs where they came into contact with their "guru", a radical imam called Mustapha Mraoui.

Mraoui, who is on the run, and another man, Karim Assani, who held a religious post at the mosque, were considered by prosecutors to be the organisers of the network. They were each sentenced to 10 years in prison in absentia.

Investigators believe Assani has probably been killed fighting in Syria.

Only five of the 12 defendants were present in court, including the 27-year-old woman who had taken her three children to Syria.

The court heard that she is now in the process of divorcing her husband whom she was visiting there.

She was sentenced to five years in prison, three of which are suspended.

Her lawyer Daphne Pugliesi said the sentencing had been "balanced".

"It takes into account what each of them did, but also what each of them is."



France says around 600 French citizens have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, and some 280 of them have returned.

Most of the gunmen and bombers who killed 130 people in the series of attacks on Paris in November had been to Syria.
French naval ships Tonnerre and Guepratte have begun their nearly a week-long Kochi visit.

Captain Laurent Sudrat and Commander Claire Pothier are the Commanding Officers of Tonnerre and Guepratte, respectively.

According to a Navy release, various interactions with Southern Naval Command have been planned during the visit.

Colonel Frederic Ugo, Resident Defence Attache and Commander Loic Bizot -- Resident Naval Attache, Embassy of France, New Delhi, accompanied by the Commanding Officers of French Naval Ships, called on the Chief of Staff of the Southern Naval Command yesterday.

Other planned interactions during the stay of the French ships include exchange of visits by specialist officers and personnel from both the navies with Indian Navy personnel visiting the French naval ships and vice-versa, the release said.

"The French side had shown interest in learning Kabbadi and training for it was conducted on the beach front of INS Dronacharya at Fort Kochi today.

"The defence industries of France viz; Zodiac, Nexture, DCNS, MBDA, SAGM and Thales have put up display on board FN ship Tonnerre. Specialist medical officers from Indian armed forces visited Tonnerre for professional interaction," it said.

On departure, a joint exercise, PASSEX, is planned between the ships of the navies of India and France. INS Sunayna and INS Sharda will be participating in PASSEX, it said.

The French ships had last visited Muscat and are headed to Singapore, on departure from Kochi on April 16.
A German male nurse jailed for life last year for murdering two patients with a potent heart drug is a suspect in at least 24 more deaths, police said today.

The man, identified only as Niels H., 39, has claimed killing perhaps 30 patients with such lethal overdoses, which would make him one of Germany's worst post-war serial killers.

The tall and heavyset man, who was jailed for life in February 2015, has been found guilty of two murders and three attempted murders of intensive-care patients.

He has admitted to injecting some 90 patients with the drug so he could then try to revive them and, when successful, shine as a saviour before his medical peers.

He said he felt euphoric when he managed to bring a patient back to life, and devastated when he failed. Each time he would then vow to himself to end his deadly game, he said, only to strike again soon after.

After the shocking revelations of the nurse's murderous obsession, police and prosecutors launched a special forensic commission dubbed "Kardio" (Cardio) to look into other patient deaths.

They said today they had now exhumed and tested 77 sets of mortal remains of former patients who had been in the care of Niels H. At the Delmenhorst hospital near the northern city of Bremen.

Aside from the 24 suspicious cases where traces of the unprescribed drug were found, they said, they were still awaiting test results from seven other bodies.

The sweeping investigation is looking into some 200 fatalities at the hospital and at the nurse's previous places of employment and is expected to take many more months.

The nurse had previously worked at another clinic, an elderly home and an emergency medical service.

The grisly case dates back to 2005, when a colleague witnessed Niels H. Injecting a patient in Delmenhorst.

The patient survived and Niels H. Was arrested and, in 2008, sentenced to seven and a half years in jail for attempted murder.

Amid the media publicity, a woman then contacted police, voicing suspicion that her deceased mother had also fallen victim to the killer-nurse.

The authorities exhumed several patients' bodies and detected traces of the drug in five of them, declaring it either the definitive or possible contributing cause.

These results sparked the trial that sent the nurse to jail for life, but authorities fear the two confirmed murders may just be the tip of the iceberg.
The government today imposed an anti-dumping duty of up to USD 149 on imports of a chemical used in fermentation of sugar from five countries, including the European Union, Malaysia, Singapore and the US.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), in a notification, said Normal Butanol, or N-Butyl Alcohol, exported from the EU, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and the United States was found to be "below normal value, thus establishing dumping of the same".

The Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) in its investigation into the import of N-Butyl Alcohol from the five nations had on February 19 stated that "the domestic industry continues to suffer material injury on account of dumped imports and it is necessary to recommend imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports of subject goods from the subject countries".

An anti-dumping duty of USD 46.27 per tonne was imposed on imports from the EU while the same from Singapore and South Africa was put at USD 35.66 and USD 13.24, respectively.

For N-Butyl Alcohol imports from the US, the government went for an anti-dumping duty of USD 24.16.

Exports of the same by Petronas Chemicals Marketing from Malaysia will attract anti-dumping duty of USD 51.42 and the same by BASF Petronas USD 26.59. Any other exports originating from Malaysia will face USD 149.31 anti-dumping duty.

"The anti-dumping duty imposed under this notification shall be effective for five years," CBEC said.

Imports of the chemical from the five countries have risen to 53.195 tonnes in 2013-14 from 19,297 tonnes in 2010-11.

Countries the world over impose anti-dumping duties under the multilateral regime of WTO when these see goods being dumped in their territories causing injury to the domestic industry.

India has already imposed an anti-dumping duty on several products to tackle cheap imports from countries, including China.

N-Butanol is a product of the fermentation of sugar and other carbohydrates and is present in many foods and beverages. It is also a permitted artificial flavorant in the United States, used in butter, cream, fruit, rum, whiskey, ice cream and ices, candy, baked goods and cordials. It is also used in a wide range of consumer products.
The BJP-led Government in Maharashtra was a "management disaster", Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil today said, addressing the media after the Budget session.

Stating that the Government was a complete failure on all counts during the session, the Leader of Opposition stated that the Finance Minister couldn't specify exact monetary allocations for most of the announcements made in the Budget.

"There have been incidents where sitting as well as former MLAs were assaulted. There were several other incidents where BJP workers are involved which creates the impression that the Government is backing the goons," he said.

"Chief Minister appears to have opened a 'single-window' to give clean chits to his ministers," Vikhe-Patil said, commenting on the way the corruption charges against several ministers were brushed aside.

"Inquiry needs to be done, this is our contention," said the former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, mentioning the pulses scam issue raised in the House and alleging that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave misleading information over the issue in the House.

Vikhe-Patil also criticised the state Government for not allocating funds for the proposed Shivaji memorial and said the BJP used King Shivaji's name only for political gains.
Congress today demanded that the government retract the "disastrous" decision to sign the Logistics Support Agreement with the US, alleging that it would lead to "end of independence of India's foreign policy and strategic autonomy".

"NDA government's decision to sign Logistics Support Agreement with the US is the beginning of the end of the independence of India's foreign policy and strategic autonomy.

"It is a disastrous decision. Government should retract the decision and should not sign this agreement and other foundation agreements," senior party leader A K Antony, who was Defence Minister in the UPA government, told PTI.

Antony insisted that by signing this agreement, India would gradually become part of the American military bloc.

"When UPA was in power, India had all along resisted such proposals. India had traditional relationship with Soviet Union, now Russia from the very beginning. Of late, we were steadily improving our relations with the US also. We always resisted pressure from everybody to be part of a military bloc," he said.

Noting that by signing this agreement, India will allow U S Military, mainly Navy and Air force, to use its facilities for their smooth operations, he said "They can refuel their ships and aircraft etc and, if necessary, keep their military equipment on Indian soil".

Antony said India rarely operates beyond its shores. "This agreement practically gives very little advantage to it, but gives enormous opportunity to US Military."



This is especially true at a time when the US has announced that in the next three years, 60 per cent of its Marines will be placed in Asia-Pacific region, he said.

"It means gradually India will become one of their major facilitators. It is a dangerous game. It will become part of military conflicts. It will affect our strategic autonomy. In eyes of the world, India will become part of the US military bloc.," he added.

Antony's response came a day after India and the US agreed "in principle" to a logistics exchange agreement to enable both militaries to use each other's assets and bases for repair and replenishment of supplies, an issue which did not find favour with the previous UPA government.
The government will start the process afresh for gradual opening of legal services to foreign firms, a move aimed at boosting the country's services sector, a top official said.

"Advisory and arbitration are low-hanging fruits. We can begin with these. The initial consultation with the stakeholders will be initiated by the Law Ministry. The commerce ministry is strongly involved in the process," the official told PTI.

The commerce ministry had earlier floated a Cabinet note to open certain legal services to foreigners, but it was abandoned because of certain reservations expressed by stakeholders, including the Bar Council of India (BCI).

The official said the government would follow a calibrated approach to open its education and legal services for foreigners.

The UK and the US have been pushing India to open up the legal services sector to foreign firms.

The Advocates Act, which is administered by BCI, provides for foreign lawyers or law firms to visit India on a reciprocal basis for temporary periods to advise their clients on foreign law and diverse international legal issues.

Issues related to opening up of these services are expected to figure in the forthcoming Global Exhibition on Services (GES). The three-day event will start from April 21 in Greater Noida.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last year pitched for making India a hub for global arbitration and asked lawyers not to be scared of foreign competition.

The government is also working on relaxing norms for entry of foreign players in the education sector.
Government today announced a host of welfare measures for Scheduled Caste (SC) category weavers, artisans and entrepreneurs in the textile sector.

Government will also formulate a housing scheme for SC workers in the jute sector and provide marketing support to weavers.

"The Ministry of Textiles proposes to give fresh impetus to measures for the welfare and development of weavers, artisans, jute workers, sericulture workers, entrepreneurs and others in the textile sector, belonging to the Scheduled Caste category.

"A clear strategy and action plan have been formulated for the same, with a budget allocation of Rs 167.5 crore for the current financial year," an official statement said.

According to the decisions announced, SC weavers will now get higher subsidy for powerloom upgradation under a modified scheme.

The ministry said the guidelines for In-Situ Upgradation Scheme for Plain Powerlooms have been modified and weavers will receive differentiated and enhanced subsidy under the new scheme.

"The Government of India will provide financial assistance to the extent of 75 per cent of the cost of upgradation, up to a maximum subsidy of Rs 60,000 per loom, for attachment with rapier kit. The new scheme has come into effect from April 1, 2016," it said.

Moreover, government has now decided to bear SC weavers' share completely towards Group Insurance Scheme for powerloom workers.

Till now, SC weavers were required to pay Rs 80 as share of the premium towards the insurance scheme. Government's share was Rs 290 per weaver and Rs 100 was paid from Social Security Fund of LIC.

As regards the jute sector, it said training and skill development of SC workers has been initiated by National Jute Manufacturers Corporation (NJMC).

Besides, SC category members working in jute mills will now receive additional subsidy for coverage of life insurance and accident insurance, by paying the premium under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY).

"SC workers in jute mills will now have better housing facilities; a scheme for housing shall be formulated, with 50 per cent subsidy being given by the Union Government," the Textiles Ministry said.

Besides, it said the allocation for welfare of SC category in the handloom sector has been increased from Rs 16.38 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 40 crore in 2016-17.

"It has been decided to focus on providing marketing



support to SC weavers, to enable them to participate in various handloom marketing events. Arrangements will be made for their travel, lodging and boarding.

"It has been decided that block-level handloom clusters having at least 25 per cent weavers in the SC category will be given preference, while sanctioning Central Government financial assistance," it added.

In the handicrafts sector, the budget outlay for welfare of SC category artisans has been increased from Rs 14.6 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 43 crore in 2016-17.

The measures include a higher stipend of Rs 250 (from Rs 150 earlier) to trainees undergoing training under HRD Scheme for Design and Technology Upgradation, a higher DA of Rs 250 (from Rs 150 earlier) and local conveyance allowance of Rs 150 for participation in marketing activities, increase in freight allowance and free stall space at Dilli Haat.

For the silk sector, Textiles Ministry said a special scheme for SC beneficiaries has been prepared for 2016-17 at a total cost of Rs 24 crore.

The scheme covers all important beneficiary-oriented activities across the silk production chain, involving both Central Silk Board and Department of Sericulture for implementation.

It will cover around 1,000 SC families in the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Telengana and Andhra Pradesh.
Amreli sessions court in Gujarat today sentenced the BJP MP Naranbhai Kachhadia to three years' imprisonment for assaulting a doctor at a government hospital on January 1, 2013.

Judge D R Bhatt also imposed a fine of Rs 35,000 on him.

The court stayed the sentence for a month so as to enable Kachhadia and other convicts to approach the High Court against the conviction.

Kachhadia, a two-term MP from Amreli, might face disqualification under The Representation of The People Act as per the July 2013 judgement of the Supreme Court.

Kachhadia and others were accused of beating up Bhimjibhai Dabhi, a doctor at Amreli civil hospital, on January 1, 2013, for refusing to attend to a BJP worker's relative.

Dabhi asked the patient to wait as he was tending to another person. The patient called up Kachhadia who came to the hospital and beat up Dabhi, apart from hurling casteist abuse. Dabhi belongs to a scheduled caste.

A case was registered under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the IPC.

The court acquitted the MP of the charge under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, but awarded him three years' imprisonment for 'voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant doing his duty', and 'using force or violence through unlawful assembly'.

Four others -- Kirit Bhamja, Madhu Joshi, Ravi Joshi and the MP's driver were also sentenced to three years's prison term.
Basking in the acclaim he got for sensitive portrayal of a gay professor in "Aligarh", actor Manoj Bajpayee will now be seen as a traffic policeman in his next film, a project for which he had to bring up the peculiar traits of cops for his role.

The 46-year-old actor says most of the constables in Mumbai come from the interiors of Maharashtra and he had to take special attention in understanding how they communicate when he was preparing for his role in the film "Traffic".

"Most of the Mumbai traffic cops or constables come from the interiors of Maharashtra. That part I had to bring it up. They are not Mumbaikars. They are all coming from Satara, Marathwada, from the interiors. They have a different culture, way of speaking, communication is different," Bajpayee told reporters on the sidelines of the film's trailer launch here.

Directed by late Rajesh Pillai, "Traffic" is a remake of a 2011 Malayalam film of the same name.

The "Aligarh" star says he was observant about the body language of traffic police personnel and did not model his character on any particular officer.

"If you're living in Mumbai and if you keep your eyes and ears open, you keep meeting these guys. As an actor you are observant all the time. You don't have to go looking for some one guy. I don't do it, never done it."



The drama-thriller is inspired from an actual event that happened in Chennai where a doctor couple donated organs of their 15-year-old son who died in a road accident.

The young boy's heart was transported to another hospital for a girl who required heart transplant. The road journey, which would've taken close to 45-minute, was completed in 11 minute as the police cleared the way and gave green signal for the ambulance to pass.

Pillai, who had helmed the original film as well, died on February 27 in Kochi due to a liver-related disease.

"We made the film in one year and then we were contemplating on finding the right release. Now we found it. The only sad part is the director is no more and not with us when we have started promoting the film," Bajpayee said.

Bajpayee is elated finally even mainstream films are tackling subjects which are close to reality.

"I am very happy that finally, not only niche or parallel or different films but also mainstream (movies) somehow decided to make stories which are real. And those films are doing well."



"Traffic", which also stars Jimmy Shergill, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee, Divya Dutta and Amol Parashar, is scheduled to release on May 6.
Renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking in collaboration with Facebook is backing a new USD 100 million interstellar project to explore a star system which is 25 trillion miles away from Earth.

"If we are to survive as a species we must ultimately spread out to the stars," Hawking told BBC.

"Astronomers believe that there is a reasonable chance of an Earth-like planet orbiting one of the stars (in) the Alpha Centauri system. But we will know more in the next two decades from ground based and space based telescopes.

"Technological developments in the last two decades and the future make it possible in principle within a generation," he said.

The spaceships will be blasted by laser beams from Earth to explore our nearest star system which is 25 trillion miles away under the most ambitious space mission in history announced yesterday.

The100 million dollar research programme to develop the computer chip-sized "starships" was launched by the billionaire Yuri Milner, supported by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

"For the first time in human history man can do more than just gaze at the stars. We can actually reach them," Milner said.

Weighing only a few grams, the spacecraft would contain a camera, communications devices and navigation equipment. These craft would be attached to "light sails" a few hundred atoms thick, which would be pushed by the lasers.

Over the course of a few minutes, the craft could be accelerated to 130 million miles per hour, a fifth of the speed of light, and reach Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system, in 20 years.

By using lasers it would not need to carry its own propellant.

Philip Lubin, the University of California physics professor on whose ideas the plan is partly based, said that the approach may well be our best shot at interstellar travel.

"We have smartphones, lasers in DVD players, lasers in medicine, in industry. Their improvements allow us to speak of something which a decade ago was not feasible," he said.

Prof. Hawking, the author of A Brief History of Time, is backing the project by Milner's Breakthrough Foundation, a private organisation funding scientific research initiatives that government funders think to be too ambitious.

The nearest star system is 40 trillion km (25 trillion miles) away and using current technology it would take about 30,000 years to get there.

The expert group concluded that with a little more research and development it might be possible to develop spacecraft that could cut that journey time to just 30 years.

"I'd have said that even a few years ago travel to another star at that kind of speed would not be possible. But the expert group figured out that because of developments in technology there appears to be a concept that appears to work," said Dr Pete Worden, who is leading the project.
The Madras High Court today directed the state government to spell out its final decision on the recommendations of an expert committee on the minimum land requirement for schools in the state for grant of recognition.

The matter relates to a plea submitted by the Tamil Nadu Nursery, Primary Matriculation and Higher Secondary School Management's Association, Chennai, seeking a direction to the Secretary, School Education Department, to pass appropriate orders on the recommendations.

The Professor S.V. Chittibabu Committee was constituted to go into such aspects as fee structure and minimum infrastructural facilities including land area for each school depending upon the location of the school, for grant of recognition.

Justice R. Subbaiah posted the matter for orders to April 18 when the petition would come up for hearing.

The petitioner alleged that the School Education department had issued an order on August 18 last year stating that 746 matriculation schools had not met the requirements of minimum land area as per a government order and a final decision had to be taken by government in this regard.

A temporary conditional recognition was granted till May 31, 2016 to these schools pending a final decision on the committee's recommendations.

The petitioner submitted that in the absence of any final orders being passed by the state government, the students will be affected.

Hence the Association prayed with the Court to direct the School Education department to pass final orders on the recommendations of the expert Committee.
October 15, 2022, Saturday

US President Joe Biden has said Pakistan is one of the most dangerous nations in the world as it has nuclear weapons without ...
The University of Hyderabad Students' Union has passed a resolution demanding resignation or removal of Vice-Chancellor Prof Appa Rao Podile from the post.

The University General Body Meeting (UGBM), held yesterday and attended by 949 students, passed six resolutions. It included a condolence resolution for Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula, which was passed unanimously.

Vemula had allegedly committed suicide in a hostel room of the varsity in January.

UGBM is the highest decision-making body of the students of the university, claimed a release from varsity students.

The university's students union president, Zuhail K P, addressed the students explaining the recent developments on the campus after the death of Vemula. Opinions were sought from all the students present in the UGBM, it said.

A resolution demanding the resignation/removal of Prof Appa Rao Podile from the post of VC was passed by voting, in which 948 students voted in favour of the resolution demanding his resignation/removal and one student objected to it, the release said.

The University of Hyderabad, popularly known as HCU, has witnessed sporadic protests over the suicide of the Dalit research scholar, with students demanding removal of Appa Rao from the VC's post.

Appa Rao was earlier booked under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and for abetment of Vemula's suicide.

The students' union had on March 30 sought President Pranab Mukherjee's intervention to resolve issues related to the varsity and to ensure sacking of Appa Rao.

Meanwhile, the other resolutions passed unanimously by the UGBM yesterday include revoking blockade of the university , against militarisation of the campus, and for setting up a 'committee against prejudice and discrimination' in higher educational institutions.

Another resolution demanded dropping of all police cases against the students and teachers of HCU and it was also passed unanimously.

The Hyderabad High Court had yesterday directed the registrar of the HCU and the Cyberabad police commissioner not to allow any political party or association to hold a meeting on the varsity campus.

HCU has been at the centre of controversy since the suicide of Vemula on January 17, and recently after the resumption of duty by Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile.
China's top geneticists say the country should set its own standards and regulations on human genome research, state-run media reported today, as ethical debate erupted over a Chinese study on modified human embryos.

Researchers from Guangzhou Medical University said they used a gene-editing technique known as CRISPR to artificially induce a mutation in human cells and make them resistant to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Their paper, which appeared last week in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, is only the world's second published account of gene editing in human embryos.

Critics said the study -- intended as a proof-of-principle exercise -- was unnecessary and lacked medical justification, and strongly cautioned against the broader ethical implications of the slippery slope of human genome modification.

"This paper doesn't look like it offers much more than anecdotal evidence that (CRISPR) works in human embryos, which we already knew," George Daley, a stem-cell biologist at Children's Hospital Boston, told the prominent science journal Nature.

It demonstrated that "the science is going forward before there's been the general consensus after deliberation that such an approach is medically warranted", he added.

Tetsuya Ishii, a bioethicist at Japan's Hokkaido University, denounced the research as "just playing with human embryos", Nature said.

In a statement to China's state-run Global Times newspaper, the paper's lead author Fan Yong brushed aside such concerns.

"Regardless of criticism, which is not authoritative... we have to stick to the path, obtain independent intellectual property rights and a say" in international academia, he wrote.

"It is the pioneers that will make the rules in this field," he added.

Han Bin, the director of China's National Center for Gene Research, told the paper -- which often takes a nationalistic tone -- that the technology's potential therapeutic benefits for all diseases caused by inherited variation, including cancer, should outweigh any qualms.

Instead of following other countries' ethical stances, China should formulate its own standards and regulations, the Global Times cited him as saying.

China is quickly cementing a reputation as a leader in the fields of genetic research and cloning, showing a willingness to forge ahead even as others hesitate over ethical issues.
In an apparent jab at presidential challengers Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, Secretary of State said today the United States must never again resort to torture.

Trump, the frontrunner to secure the Republican nomination for this year's White House race, has repeatedly said he supports the use of waterboarding, or simulated drowning, and "a hell of a lot worse" on terror suspects.

Texas senator Cruz, Trump's closest rival, argues that waterboarding does not amount to torture and that he would consider authorizing it as president if America faced imminent attack.

President Barack Obama banned "enhanced interrogation techniques" after taking office in 2009 after CIA interrogators working under predecessor George W Bush resorted to the torture of detainees.

Kerry, introducing the annual State Department global human rights report, insisted that the ban must stay in place and warned that America would be weaker if it lost its claim to moral leadership.

"I want to say a word about the issue of torture. I want to remove even a scintilla of doubt or confusion that has been caused by statements that have made in recent weeks and months," he said, without giving names.

"The United States is opposed to the use of torture in any form, at any time, by any government or non-state actor. This is a standard that we insist that meet and therefore we must meet this standard ourselves."



Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, said that he understands "the fierce anger that arises in war when fellow countrymen are attacked".

"But there is a sharp dividing line between societies that abandon all standards when times are tough and those that do their absolute best to maintain those standards. Because ultimately, upholding core values is what makes a nation strong."



This week, CIA director John Brennan said his agency would not carry out waterboarding or enhanced interrogation again, even if ordered to by a future president. Trump dismissed this warning as "ridiculous".
India and Bangladesh today agreed to deepen cooperation in health sector as the two countries discussed a range of issues in this regard.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda, who met his Bangladeshi counterpart H E Mohammed Nasim here, said India strongly values the historic relationship with Bangladesh and both the nations are set to "usher in" an era of much closer cooperation in the health sector.

"Had a very fruitful meeting with H E Mohammed Nasim Hon'ble Health Minister of Bangladesh. Both the countries are set to usher in an era of much closer cooperation in Health sector," Nadda said in a series of tweets.

He said that India accords the highest importance to Bangladesh to deepen the engagement between both the nations.

"India strongly values the historic relationship with Bangladesh and accords highest importance to deepen our engagement," Nadda tweeted.
As part of its aggressive plans for port-led development, government today said it is looking to add eight new major ports to the already existing 12.

"We are planning to add eight new major ports, including the three already announced -- at Wadhwan in Maharashtra, Sagar in Bengal and Colachel in Tamil Nadu," Union Shipping and Ports Minister Nitin Gadkari said here a day ahead of the Maritime India Summit.

He did not reveal the locations of the other five ports, but added that the aforesaid three ports entail investment of Rs 25,000 crore and work on them will start this year itself.

After Kandla in the 1950s, India has not built any other major port. Following rapid economic growth, country saw the development of private sector non-major ports.

Gadkari said the 12 major ports together have delivered Rs 4,200 crore profit in 2015-16, and their growth rates are faster than private sector rivals as well as global peers.

Apart from it, state-run corporations such as Shipping Corporation, Dredging Corporation and Cochin Shipyard will deliver another Rs 1,500 crore in profits, taking the overall contribution by the enterprises under his ministry to over Rs 6,000 crore, he said.

From a long-term perspective, the government is planning investments of more than Rs 12 trillion in the ports and waterways sector which will help generate 1 crore new jobs, Gadkari said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will inaugurate the



summit here, will release a national perspective plan on the Sagarmala Project with details of investments, Gadkari said.

At the three-day summit, agreements entailing investments of over Rs 82,000 crore will be signed, he said, adding this includes 35 concession agreements of Rs 5,900 crore, 20 work orders of Rs 8,250 crore and 86 MoUs involving an investment of over Rs 68,700 crore.

More than a dozen union ministers are expected to address the summit, for which 3,000 delegates, including 300 from 41 countries, have registered, he said. Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat will also be present.

To be held at NSE Grounds in suburban Goregaon, the summit will have 13 technical sessions, 200 exhibitors and 52 participants from South Korea, which is the partner country for the event.

It will also have a museum resembling a ship displaying the maritime history of the country, made by art director Nitin Desai.

India and South Korea also signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation and mutual assistance in the port sector, Gadkari said.
India and South Korea today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation and mutual assistance in development of ports.

The MoU was signed by Road, Transport and Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari and South Korea's Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kim Young Suk, Shipping Ministry said.

The South Korean delegation, led by Suk, is in Mumbai to participate in the Maritime India Summit (MIS), 2016.

This MoU is for cooperation and mutual assistance between India and Republic of Korea in port related matters. The Union Cabinet had approved the proposal of the Shipping Ministry for signing of this MoU on April 6, 2016, it said.

The MoU is expected to help both countries to encourage and facilitate development of ports, port-related industries and maritime relationship.

It will also enhance cooperation in the tasks of sharing of technology, experiences in the fields of port development and operation, exchange of information on construction, building, engineering and related aspects in the field of port development, among others, the ministry said.

MIS 2016 is a maiden flagship initiative of the Shipping Ministry that provides a unique platform for participants to explore potential business opportunities in Indian maritime sector.

MIS 2016 is being organised from April 14-16, 2016 at Mumbai and will have conference, exhibition and demo sessions.

Republic of Korea is the Partner Country of MIS, 2016. A delegation of over 100 participants from South Korea are attending the summit.
An Indian-American student at the Yale University is among 30 recipients of a prestigious fellowship aimed at supporting graduate students who have demonstrated "creativity" and "originality" in their lives.

Durga Thakral is among the winners of the 2016 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans and will use her award to support work towards an MD/PhD in genetics at Yale School of Medicine, the university said in a statement.

Thakral says her work with communities with minimal healthcare resources has shown her the "dire need for better access to medical care and affordable biomedical devices."



An MD/PhD student in the laboratory of Yale geneticist Richard Lifton, Thakral said she hoped to take advantage of the vast and growing power of molecular medicine in her work to improve the human condition and empower others to pursue their dreams.

The fellows, selected from a pool of over 1,400 applicants, will receive tuition and stipend assistance of up to USD 90,000 in support of graduate education - in any field and in any advanced degree-granting programme - in the US.

Hungarian immigrants Paul and Daisy Soros established the programme in 1997 to support the graduate educations of students who were born abroad but have become permanent residents or naturalised citizens of the US.

Each award recipient must have "demonstrated creativity, originality, and initiative in one or more aspects of her or his life," as well as "a commitment to and capacity for accomplishment that has required drive and sustained effort," the statementr said.

In addition, they must have shown a commitment to the values expressed in the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Born in Illinois, Thakral is the daughter of Indian immigrants. She earned a combined bachelor's and master's degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale.
Insurance regulator Irdai has imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company for violating Group Insurance Guidelines (GIG).

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) found that the company had made payments to the group master policyholders in the name of 'market research', 'sales training' and 'display of publicity material'.

"There shall not be any payments as management expenses or documentation expenses or profit commission or bulk discount or payment of any other description to the group organiser or group manager," the regulator said in the order.

The company made such kind of arrangements to channelise extra payouts to the group master policyholders and thereby violated the provisions of the Group Insurance Guidelines, it added.

"The Life Insurer has made considerable payouts under the guise of these agreements. Hence, as per the powers vested on the Authority, a penalty of Rs 5,00,000 is levied on the Life Insurer," it said.

It has also asked the life insurer to ensure compliance of the said guidelines hereinafter.

The regulator has directed the company to pay the penalty of Rs 5 lakh within a period of 15 days from the receipt of the order.

Besides, it was also found that the company kept its main database servers in Singapore SingTel DC, which violated IRDAI's (Maintenance of Insurance Records) regulations.

Policy-wise details of all policy holders are sent to the main server located in Singapore SingTel DC, it said.

The regulator also observed that in case of their channel management system (RCMS Application) and Financial system - RGL, both applications main server and back up servers are at Singapore SingTel DC and Germany DC, respectively, it added.

"...The Authority already has processed the representation made by the Life Insurer and accorded time period up to September 30, 2016, to shift the servers to be in line with the IRDAI (Maintenance of Insurance Records) Regulations," it said.

The Life Insurer is advised to comply with the same under intimation to the Authority, Irdai added.
ISIS terror group has issued a list of names of Muslim clerics, calling them "imams of kafir" and asking its followers to kill anyone who disagrees with them - including Islamic leaders.

In the latest issue of its propaganda magazine Dabiq, the ISIS, also known as Daesh, has singled out those clerics who criticise them and said the "imams of kafir" (leaders of infidels) should be slaughtered.

Muslim clerics across the world, including India, have condemned the attacks by ISIS in Europe, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, saying being a Muslim was about peace, not violence.

In September last year, nearly 1,000 Muslim clerics in India signed a fatwa against ISIS and other terror groups, saying they were "not Islamic organisations".

In a chapter called 'Kill the Imams of kafir in the west', the magazine said: "How can Muslims living in the West who claim to have surrendered themselves to Allah, completely accepting His rule alone, stand idly as these imams of kafir continue to spread their poison from atop their pulpits?



"One must either take the journey to dar-al-Islam, joining the ranks of the mujahid or wage jihad by himself with the resources available to him (knives, guns, explosives, etc.) to kill the crusaders and other disbelievers and apostates, including the imams of kafir, to make an example of them, as all of them are valid - rather, obligatory - targets," the Express newspaper reported, citing the magazine.

The group has published a list of names of Imams it has singled out as being "kafir". However, the paper did not disclose their names.

The magazine also identified those behind the Brussels terror attacks and praised them along with their photographs.
Philippine militants that want to ally with Islamic State jihadists have beheaded two local hostages, police said today.

Police on the southern island of Mindanao recovered the decapitated corpses of the two men yesterday, nine days after they were taken, said the police chief of Lanao del Sur province.

"Salvador Hanobas and Jemark Hanobas were beheaded by their abductors," Senior Superintendent Rustom Duran told reporters by telephone. "Locals brought the heads and the torsos to the mayor's office."



It was unclear if the two victims were related.

Duran said the kidnappers belonged to an Islamic militant group that battled government forces for a week in February, leaving three soldiers dead and forcing 20,000 people to flee their homes.

Police found black flags identical to those flown by Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria in the fighters' hideout in the remote Mindanao town of Butig.

Duran said the group had also abducted six workers at a local sawmill on April 4, accusing them of being military informers. Four were freed unharmed on Monday.

A Muslim separatist insurgency has raged for more than four decades in the southern Philippines, leaving more than 120,000 people dead.

Efforts to secure a peace deal with the largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), collapsed after parliament failed to pass a law to create an autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.

MILF leaders have warned the collapse of the peace deal could embolden hardline militants who want to resume a violent separatist uprising.

of the beheadings came after the Abu Sayyaf, another Islamic militant group, released a retired Italian priest held hostage for six months last week.

A major firefight broke out afterwards on the remote southern island of Basilan on Friday, leaving 18 soldiers and more than two dozen Abu Sayyaf gunmen dead.

The military said skirmishes were still continuing with Abu Sayyaf fighters on Wednesday, and the toll of dead rebels had risen to 28.

Among those killed were a Moroccan bomb expert called Mohammad Khattab, who the military said had been sent to build ties between local Muslim rebel groups and an international jihadist network.

"Khattab planned to speak to all of them to unite and link them to the entire international terrorist network," military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla told reporters.
Israeli police said today it has appointed its first Muslim Arab deputy commissioner, who will head efforts to boost policing in Arab communities of Israel.

Major General Jamal Hakrush, from Kafr Kanna in northern Israel, joined the force in 1978 and has since climbed the ranks, all the way up to the force's second-highest rank.

Police announced he had taken up his post in a statement.

Arab Israelis, who include descendants of Palestinians who remained after the creation of Israel in 1948, say they face heavy discrimination, particularly related to jobs and housing.

They account for around 17.5 per cent of Israel's eight million population and are largely supportive of the Palestinians.
Acting on the Panama Papers leak, the Income Tax department has sent a detailed questionnaire to about 50 individuals and entities figuring in the list of those allegedly holding offshore assets in tax havens.

Officials said investigation wings of the department in different cities have dispatched the communication to these people whose names have appeared in the Indian Express newspaper seeking answers on two broad questions from them.

The first question seeks to know if they are indeed the person named in the list made public recently and the second asks them about the vitals of their transactions made with the law firm Mossack Fonseca.

It includes the year of incorporation, their source of income, details of business transactions done and whether they declared these investments and transactions to the Income Tax department and other regulatory bodies like RBI any time till now.

They said as and when the department obtains more names, fresh communication of this kind will be sent. There are about 500 Indians named in the list which includes prominent businessmen, film celebrities and those belonging to lucrative professions.

The government has created a Multi-Agency Group (MAG) of probe agencies to go into these cases, comprising the IT department (CBDT), its foreign tax wing, the RBI, Financial Intelligence Unit and the Enforcement Directorate.

A preliminary report has been sought from the MAG by this week by the Finance Ministry, which is expected to forward it to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

The names were released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with 'Indian Express' newspaper in India. The ICIJ added a disclaimer that there are also "legitimate uses for offshore companies".

The 'Panama Papers' leaks contain an unprecedented amount of information, including more than 11 million documents covering 2,10,000 companies in 21 offshore jurisdictions. Each transaction spans different jurisdictions and may involve multiple entities and individuals.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today arrived here to attend the annual spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, in addition to meeting his Chinese and American counterparts.

During his week-long stay in the US, Jaitley would also travel to New York to meet with private sector leaders with an objective to attract foreign direct investments to India.

Jaitley would kick off his Washington visit with an interaction with the city's influential think-tank community, at a time when the IMF and the World Bank has projected a robust growth for India, overtaking China.

He is scheduled to deliver remarks on 'Steering India Towards Growth' at Carnegie Endowment for International Relations, a top think-tank, which recently opened its branch in New Delhi.

Tomorrow, he is scheduled to hold a one-to-one meeting with his US counterpart Jack Lew, followed by the 6th Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue between India and the US.

Later in the day, Jaitley would participate in the BRICS NDB Board of Governors Meeting and the BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting.

He will also meet the Chinese Finance Minister tomorrow.

He is also likely to attend the G-20 Reception and G-20 Working Dinner.

On Friday, the Finance Minister will participate in the G-20 Session for Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.

Thereafter, he will participate in the Special Event to honour UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in nurturing the World Bank-UN Partnership.

On Saturday, Jaitley will participate in meetings associated with the IMF and the World Bank.

He would leave Washington for New York on Sunday.

In New York, he is scheduled to participate and address the Asia Society Event 'Make In India-The New Deal' on April 18. He will also hold meeting with Long-Term Funds and Pension Funds on 'Invest in India'.

Jaitley is also scheduled to address the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on World Drugs on April 19. He is expected to participate in Institutional Investors Meet the same day.

Jaitley would leave New York for India on April 20.
All India Jat Arakshn Sanghrash Samiti president Yashpal Malik today said Jats will hold a rally on May 10 at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to demand that the Centre give reservation to Jat community in Central government jobs.

"We will hold a rally at Delhi on May 10 in which we will be request the Centre to give jobs to Jats in central government departments," Malik said while addressing a rally here.

He further said Jat leaders will also demand release of Jat youths who have been "falsely" implicated in the cases during Jat agitation in February in Haryana.

"We will also raise the issue of release of innocent Jat youths who have been wrongly arrested by police and withdrawal of cases against them," he said.

"If our demands were not met, we shall against resort to agitation," he said.

Malik alleged that the government has not fulfilled the promises made to Jat leaders for release of youths and there is great resentment in the community over the arrest of "innocent" jat youths.

Yashpal Malik and other jat leaders later met Deputy Commissioner N.K.Solanki and SP O.P.Narwal and demanded withdrawal of police cases against the arrested jat youths.

On the assurance of DC and SP that no one will be arrested without proper probe, the protesting jats ended their nine day old dharna.

The jat rally was addressed by Ram Bhagat Malik,Karnail Singh and Azad Singh Lakda.

Despite the prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPc,



which bans assembly of five or more persons at public places, a convoy of tractor-trolleys and motorcycles passed through some sensitive areas today.

On being asked that a youth atop a heavy vehicle and part of protesters, was seen flaunting a gun in Rohtak yesterday, Jat leaders including Rohtash and Yashpal Malik today claimed that it was a "toy gun".

Addressing the protesters today, Abhay Chautala said that government wants to "delay the matter" by having formed a committee of officers to talk to Jats.

The INLD leader said that Chief Minister Khattar should himself come forward to resolve the issue.

During the fresh round of the agitation, the protesters have been staging dharnas at various places in the state amid elaborate security arrangements.

Security has been further strengthened in sensitive Rohtak district, officials said.

Last year, arsonists had also set fire to the Rohtak residence of Haryana's Finance Minister Abhimanyu.

In view of the fresh Jat stir, paramilitary forces have been deployed in sensitive areas, while the state police is maintaining a strict vigil.

The call for the fresh stir was given by certain Jat outfits, especially those owing allegiance to the body headed by Yashpal Malik.

Khattar had earlier said the government had accepted the demand of Jats of giving jobs to the next of kin of those who had lost their lives during the agitation last year.

As many as 30 people were killed and property worth crores of rupees was damaged at many places in Haryana during last year's Jat stir which had turned violent. However, this time the state has been put on maximum alert, the officials said.

Rohtak and some of its neighbouring districts, including Sonipat and Jhajjar, were the worst hit by the violence last year.

The Haryana government's decision to grant reservation to Jats and five other communities in jobs and educational institutions under the newly created Backward Class 'C' category was challenged last year after a PIL was filed in this regard before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The PIL was filed by a Bhiwani resident, who challenged the constitutional validity of The Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Act, 2016, passed by the assembly on March 29 last year.

The Act provides 10 per cent quota in Class III and IV posts and educational institutions and six per cent quota in Class I and II posts to Jats, Jat Sikhs, Rors, Bishnois, Tyagis and Muslim Jats in Schedule-III.
JD(U) today dubbed the 'Gramodaya se Bharat Uday Abhiyan', to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar tomorrow, as an "attempt to throw dust in the eyes of people".

The Abhiyan aims to take Ambedkar's pledge of harmony, equality and mutual respect for the Dalits to every villages in the county.

"The Abhiyan, to be launched by the PM, is nothing but an attempt to throw dust in the eyes of people. Gramodaya can't be achieved merely by giving speeches," JD(U) National General Secretary Shyam Rajak said in a statement.

The party's deputy leader in Bihar Assembly said if the Prime Minister is "committed" to welfare of the Dalits then he has to bring them on par with other social groupings.

"For this he has to immediately fill a large backlog of vacant posts for Scheduled Castes in jobs," Rajak said and asked the Prime Minister to implement reservation in promotion for SCs and ensure quota in private sector.

In an apparent reference to Rohith Vemula case, he said, "The (Central) government has to end atrocities against Dalits in educational institutions.
Jewellers in the national capital today temporarily called off their 42-day strike, demanding rollback of proposed excise duty on non-silver jewellery, for 12 days after the government's assurance that there will be no harassment by excise officials.

"We have decided to temporarily call off the strike till April 24 after the government's assurance," Surinder Kumar Jain, Vice-President of All India Sarafa Association told PTI.

Jewellers in Maharashtra have also called off their strike temporarily from April 14 to April 24, Maharashtra Rajya Saraf Suvarnakar Federation President Fatechand Ranka said.

Jewellery houses remained closed since March 2 after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Budget proposed levying 1 per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery.

Jewellers, bullion traders and artisans reopened their establishments yesterday in Rajasthan, said Subhash Mittal, President, Rajasthan Sarafa Sangh in Jaipur.

"If the government does not consider our demand of rolling back its decision of imposing 1 per cent excise duty, we will resume our strike from April 25," said Ram Avtar Verma President of Bullion and Jewellery Association.

Meanwhile, jewellers in Meerut also reopened their shops today.

The gems and jewellery industry is estimated to have incurred over Rs 1 lakh crore loss due to the 42-day strike.

Over three lakh jewellers from more than 300 associations kept their establishments closed across the country since March 2.

Jewellers are also against the mandatory quoting of PAN by customers for transactions of Rs 2 lakh and above.

The Centre has already constituted a panel under former Chief Economic Advisor Ashok Lahri to look into the demands of the jewellers.

The panel, which has been asked to submit its report in 60 days, will look into issues related to compliance procedure for the excise duty, including records to be maintained, forms to be filled, operating procedures and other relevant issues.

The government, in Budget 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 those studded with diamonds and precious stones.

"Excise duty of 1 per cent without input and capital goods tax credit or 12.5 per cent with credit may apply to parts of articles of jewellery, made of platinum, gold and silver," the government said while accepting the sub-committee's recommendations submitted to it on June 23.

Also, there will be no requirement to submit any ground plan of premises for taking Excise registration and the excise duty on jewellery is payable at first sale invoice value.

"No excise duty may be payable on the sale of traded goods; (also) records maintained for State VAT and other private records, showing details of inputs, stocks, manufactured goods, sold/exported goods, etc to be accepted for excise purposes. Stock details to be maintained on weight and caratage basis," it said.

Movement of jewellery, which does not involve sale (for example, movement of jewellery, to be shown as samples, branch transfers not involving sale, for display in exhibition, for hallmarking, and for approval before sale) will not be liable to excise duty. No transit checks by excise officers.

"When a retail customer brings jewellery (other than in form of gold or any precious metal) to a jeweller which is converted into new jewellery by the jeweller or a job worker of such jeweller, excise duty will be payable only on value addition, including cost of additional materials and labour charges charged, subject to the maintenance of certain records," the government said.

Further, "an optional scheme may be prescribed" for jewellers who are not able to maintain separate physical stocks and/or records of manufactured and traded goods.

For availing the optional scheme, a principal manufacturer of jewellery should maintain separate stocks on weight and/or carat basis separately for -- silver studded jewellery, gold or platinum jewellery studded with diamonds and other gold or platinum jewellery.

The sub-commitee's recommendation of "no visit, search and seizure at job workers premises" has also been accepted by the government.

"No visit to premises of the principal manufacturer (jeweller), except on the basis of specific intelligence and with the approval of Commissioner or equivalent rank officer" is another major suggestion which has been accepted.

Summons may be issued only with the approval of Commissioner, the Ministry added.

In a tweet, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said: "The report of Laheri committee is also accepted by Govt in toto about procedural aspects of the levy". The sub-committee was chaired by Ashok Lahiri.
Jordanian security services today closed the Amman headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's main opposition force, which denounced the move as politically motivated.

Previously tolerated for decades in Jordan, the Brotherhood has had tense relations with the authorities since the Arab Spring uprisings that shook the region in 2011.

"Jordanian security searched the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and evacuated it before sealing off the entrance with red wax," said a lawyer for the group, Abdelkader al-Khatib.

"This is clearly a political decision in line with what is happening in the region," he added.

A security source told AFP that the movement's headquarters were "closed on the order of the governor of the capital as the Brotherhood did not obtain legal authorisation" for its activities.

The authorities view the Brotherhood as an illegal organisation because its licence was not renewed in accordance with a political parties law adopted in 2014.

The Jordanian branch of the movement, which was formed in Egypt in 1928 and has affiliates across the region, has wide grassroots support in the kingdom.

The intervention of the security services "has the sole purpose of influencing the upcoming elections and results", Khatib said.

Jordan is expected to hold legislative elections by early next year. The Brotherhood boycotted previous elections in 2013 and 2010, crying foul.

Other governments in the region, particularly the Gulf monarchies, are also deeply suspicious of the Brotherhood, fearing that its brand of grass-roots activism and political Islam could undermine their authority.

The Brotherhood's second-in-command in Jordan, Zaki Bani Rsheid, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in February 2015 for criticising a decision by the United Arab Emirates to blacklist the organisation.

In Egypt, it has been blacklisted as a "terrorist group" and the authorities have cracked down hard on its members, including ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi who has been sentenced to death.

Hundreds of Morsi's supporters have been killed and tens of thousands jailed since he was ousted by the army in 2013.

The Jordanian branch of the Brotherhood accuses the authorities of trying to exploit divisions within the organisation.

Last year, the government authorised the formation of a breakaway group known as the Muslim Brotherhood Association.
Karnataka government today formed four cabinet sub-committees to study drought situation and relief works being undertaken in different parts of the state.

The committees constituted for four revenue zones of Bengaluru, Kalburgi, Belagavi and Mysuru will tour different districts between April 15 and 30 and gather information from officials and general public.

They will thereafter submit a report to the government on the ground realities, an official statement said.

Each sub-committee has four ministers and one principal secretary to the government as nodal officer.

It said Regional Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners will co-ordinate with the nodal officers in assisting the committees.

Karnataka is reeling under "worst" drought in recent times, and the government has already declared 137 taluks as "drought hit".

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah too had earlier announcedthat he will embark on a tour from April 15 to assess the situation.
Kashmir remained tense today as one more youth was killed in fresh clashes between protesters and security forces in the Valley amid curfew-like restrictions imposed in view of the disquiet following the death of three civilians in firing by Army yesterday.

An Assistant Sub-Inspector of Jammu and Kashmir Police was today suspended for "mishandling" of the law and order situation in north Kashmir's Handwara town where two youth and a woman were killed and four injured in firing by Army yesterday after allegations that a girl was molested by some soldiers.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who is in Delhi on her maiden visit after assuming the charge, raised the matter with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who assured her that a probe will be conducted and the culprits punished.

Describing the firing incident as "very unfortunate", she said, "Such incidents should not happen in the future."



She said the families of the victims will be compensated.

Northern Army Commander Lt General D S Hooda visited the affected area in Handwara and pushed for early completion of probe into the killing of three civilians yesterday. He termed the incident as "highly regrettable".

Meanwhile, one more youth was killed when security forces fired teargas shells to quell protesters, raising to four the toll in the clashes between protesters and security forces since yesterday.

The youth, identified as Jehangir Ahmad Wani, died after being hit by a teargas shell in the head during protests in Drugmulla, about 95 kms from here, over yesterday's deaths.

Wani was taken to a hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, a police official said. Two others were injured in clashes with security forces.

A woman Raja Begum (55) who was injured in the firing yesterday, succumbed at a hospital this morning, making the death toll in yesterday's clashes three.

Protests were today reported from a number of other places as well even as authorities imposed curfew-like restrictions in six police station areas of Srinagar city and Handwara area of Kupwara in north Kashmir, a police official said.

He said restrictions were imposed in Rainawari, Maharajgunj, Nowhatta, Khanyar, Safakadal and Maisuma police station areas of Srinagar as a precautionary measure in view of apprehensions of law and order problems.

However, the official said, in view of Baisakhi festival, movement of members of Sikh community was allowed.

Separatist groups had also called for a strike against the killings as a result of which most of the shops, business establishments and petrol pumps were shut in areas other than those were restrictions have been imposed.
Tension prevailed in Kashmir today as one more youth was killed in fresh clashes between protesters and security forces amid curfew-like restrictions imposed in view of the disquiet following the death of three civilians in firing by Army yesterday.

The state government, which promised thorough probe and punishment to those guilty of firing to kill the three civilians in Handwara town, suspended an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Jammu and Kashmir Police for "mishandling" of the law and order situation after allegations that a girl was molested by a soldier.

Army today claimed that there was no molestation by any of its soldiers and to buttress its contention, it released a purported video statement given to the police by the girl in question in which she denies any involvement of any army man and accuses local boys of hatching a conspiracy.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who is in Delhi on her maiden visit after assuming the charge, raised the matter with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who assured her that a probe will be conducted and the culprits punished.

Describing the firing incident as "very unfortunate", she wanted a time-bound probe and said, "Such incidents should not happen in the future."



She said the families of the victims will be compensated.

Northern Army Commander Lt General D S Hooda visited the affected area in Handwara and pushed for early completion of probe into the killing of the two youth and a woman yesterday. He termed the incident as "highly regrettable".

Meanwhile, Kashmir witnessed protests and clashes between stone-pelting mobs and security forces and police at a number of places.

A youth, identified as Jehangir Ahmad Wani, died in Drugmulla, about 95 kms from Srinagar, when security forces fired teargas shells to quell protesters.

With the death of Wani, who was hit by a teargas shell in his head, the toll in clashes between protesters and security forces since yesterday rose to four. Two others were injured.

A 55-year-old woman Raja Begum, who was injured in the firing yesterday, succumbed at a hospital this morning, making the death toll in yesterday's clashes three.

A police spokesman said tonight that 110 of its personnel were injured while trying to disperse unruly mobs at various places in the Valley.

Many areas adjoining Handwara town witnessed violent protests during which a shed inside a police post was set ablaze, the spokesman said.

In Srinagar also, some parts of old city witnessed stone pelting in which two CRPF jawans were injured, he said.

"Police exercised utmost restraint despite heavy provocations," the spokesman said, adding "Situation in other parts of the valley remained by and large peaceful."



The protests were reported even as authorities imposed curfew-like restrictions in six police station areas of Srinagar city and Handwara area of Kupwara in north Kashmir.
China is unilaterally trying to assert and act on territorial claims in the South China Sea, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said and called for resolving the disputes there through diplomacy and negotiation.

"We are all aware that right now is a critical time in the Asia-Pacific region," US Secretary of State John Kerry said.

"China seems determined to unilaterally assert and act on territorial claims in the that several countries in the region dispute," he said in his address at the Pacific Council on Policy in Los Angeles.

"We don't take a position on the disputes themselves, but we do take the position that they ought to be resolved without unilateral action, without militarisation, through diplomacy, through negotiation," said the Secretary of State.

In his remarks, Kerry also batted for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

"If we don't set these rules in conjunction with other countries in an effort to raise, elevate standards and put our values into the context of our trade - if we don't step up to the plate and shape the agenda, believe me, will be all too eager to fill the void by moving in the dangerous direction of low or no standards and no accountability, no transparency, no enforceability, no rule of law," he said.

"Right now, China is working to finish its own version of TPP, binding its market with 16 countries, extending from India to Japan. And you can be sure their agreement doesn't raise labour or climate standards or protect intellectual property or promote fair play or, needless to say, insist on a free and open Internet," Kerry said.

"I can't think of anything more dangerous or damaging to the rule of law and structure we have worked for since the end of World War II. In other words, supporting TPP shouldn't be a hard choice at all," he added.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has offered greetings to the people of Sri Lanka and Nepal on the occasion of their new year.

"On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I join you in celebrating the Sri Lankan New Year," Kerry said in a statement.

The past year's accomplishments have been historic, demonstrating the deep commitment of the Sri Lankan people for reconciliation, tolerance and peace, Kerry said.

"I offer my best wishes for a happy New Year and continued success as you move ahead with the new constitution and further efforts to strengthen Sri Lanka's democracy and prosperity," Kerry said.

72-year-old Kerry also greeted people of Nepal on the occasion of their new year.

"On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I offer my warmest wishes for a joyous New Year to Nepalis all around the world," Kerry said in a statement.

"Today is an opportunity to reflect on the progress Nepal has made on its democratic journey and to reaffirm national unity and goodwill," he said.

Noting that the US looked forward to strengthen its partnership with Nepal, Kerry said the "friendship between our people continues on the path to peace and prosperity in the New Year".

Nepali Calendar is nearly 56 years and 8 months ahead of the English Calendar known as Gregorian Calendar or AD. The new year in Nepal starts from the middle of April.

Sinhalese New Year is generally known as Aluth Avurudda. It is a major anniversary celebrated by not only the Sinhalese people but by most Sri Lankans. The festival has a close semblance to the Tamil New year, Thai New year and Bengali New Year.

According to Sinhalese astrology, new year begins when the sun moves from Meena Rashiya (the house of Pisces) to Mesha Rashiya (the house of Aries). It also marks the end of the harvest and spring.
All-weather Krishnapatnam Port today said it has entered into a pact with Mearsk Line for commencing a new service from Salalah, Oman.

"Krishnapatnam Port welcomes Mearsk Line India for starting a new service from Salalah, Oman to Krishnapatnam Port. It will be a weekly service starting from April 17, 2016," Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd (KPCL) said in a statement.

The service will connect customers in the surrounding area of Andhra Pradesh, northern Tamil Nadu and eastern Karnataka directly to Oman and neighbouring region.

"It will offer fast transit time between eastern coast of India, Sri Lanka and Oman. The ports of rotation for the services are: Salalah - Colombo - Krishnapatnam Port - Kattupalli - Salalah," the statement said.

Managing Director of KPCL Chinta Sasidhar said: "We are very pleased to welcome Mearsk Line and look forward to a rewarding professional relationship. The new service will substantially reduce transit time in these areas and will also minimise the cost, which will be of a huge benefit to our customers."



Shipping lines service coupled with the Chennai Express which has been calling Krishnapatnam Port for almost two years will benefit a large number of exporters and importers, KPCL said.

Faster transit time and weekly fixed cut-off will benefit ensure a smooth supply chain for customers.

KPCL on the east coast of India at Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh was promoted by the Hyderabad-based CVR Group.

The port with a transit storage area of 6800 acres has the country's largest waterfront area of 161 sq km, and a depth of 20.5 metres. Its current draft of 18.5 metres can accommodate full-sized cape vessel of 200,000-tonne capacity.
A labour dispute sparked flight cancellations to or from Brussels airport for a second day today, just after it reopened in the wake of last month's deadly jihadist bombings.

Some 200 flights were cancelled -- about half of the total scheduled for the day -- after around a hundred flights were axed yesterday. The airport said in a tweet that it was "still unclear" whether there would be more cancellations into tomorrow.

Staff from Belgium's air traffic control organisation Belgocontrol were protesting the terms of a labour contract, including the decision to delay the effective retirement age to 58 instead of the existing 55.

Belgocontrol spokesman Dominique Dehaene told the Belga agency that the organisation had a full team working until 2200 GMT today, but "we expect new problems" after that.

Controllers "said they were sick" and unable to work, according to a statement from Belgocontrol, which said it "was looking for operational solutions".

Prime Minister Charles Michel told Belga "a handful" of workers were "taking the country hostage" just when "the image and economy of the country is under threat" following the jihadist attacks that hit the airport and Brussels' metro.

Belgian authorities have been the subject of international criticism for their failure to prevent the coordinated suicide bombings on March 22 that killed 32 people.

The airport reopened on April 3 for the first time since two Islamic State attackers blew themselves up in the departure hall in coordinated blasts that also struck the Maalbeek metro station near the city's EU headquarters.

It will take months to repair the departure hall and full operations are not expected to resume for weeks.

In Geneva yesterday, the International Air Transport Association condemned the strike as a "kick in the teeth for all the airline and airport staff who have worked so hard to reconnect Brussels to the world".
In one of its biggest mid-level changes, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has shifted a majority of its 40 executive directors (EDs), apart from elevating 10 general managers as EDs.

There are likely to be two more senior appointments at the state-run insurer as one of its three managing directors, SB Mainak, retired in February, while it has sought government permission to have a fourth MD, a decision on which is awaited.

Mainak was looking after the investments vertical. One round of interviews for the MD's post has already been conducted.

Considering this, the company has retained two of its senior EDs -- Sunita Sharma, chief executive and managing director of LICHFL, and Saroj Dikhale, CEO of LIC Nomura MF -- in their existing positions.

Company sources said the transfers were effected this Monday and the personnel will have to assume charge in May.

Sharma, who is among the front-runners for the post of the third MD, will be completing her three-year tenure at LICHFL in November.

At present, LIC, which is headed by its chairman S K Roy, has only two MDs -- V K Sharma and Usha Sangwan.

The company has also transferred its ED (HR), Neeraj Agrawal, to the audit department. He has been replaced by Sharad Srivastava, who was in-charge of the zonal office in Kanpur.

Srivastava had appeared for the interview for the MD's post.

LIC has also transferred Kiran Sahdev, who was at the board secretariat as ED for personnel and industrial relations.

She is being replaced by S C Singh, who was looking after marketing in Kolkata zone.

Vipin Anand, who was heading the direct marketing division as ED, is being transferred to Patna as the zonal head and is being replaced by P K Jain, who was looking after pensions and group securities in New Delhi.

Ganesh K, who was heading the Hyderabad zone, has been transferred to customer relationship management at the headquarters, replacing Susheel Kumar.

Kumar is being sent to Hyderabad.

Hemant Bhargava is being transferred from Kolkata to New



Delhi as zonal officer, whereas Rajesh Kandwal will continue to head the operations in Saudi Arabia.

Pravin Kutumbe, who was in charge of the operations wing of the investment vertical, is being transferred to the monitoring wing. V Chandrasekaran has been named his replacement.

The investment wing is considered a coveted posting at LIC and it is divided into operations, monitoring and research departments.

Vinay Sah, who is also in the race for MD's post, will continue to be ED-marketing.

S N Bhattacharya, who was heading the corporate communications wing, and had been transferred on March 1 to head the New Delhi zone, is being called back to the headquarters and will continue to head the same division.

Padmaja Bhaskaran, who was heading the credit cards division, will now be heading the zonal training centre at Gurgaon. R K Sood, who was in charge of RTI, is being transferred as underwriting head.

Among those who have been promoted as EDs include RC Dutta (additional director, zonal training centre, Chennai), GS Chawla (IT software development), Nalini Ratnam (international operations), Dinesh K Pangaty (Housing AMC, a venture capital floated by LIC), DP Mohanty (additional ED, IT business process reengineering), R Chaturvedi (RTI), PK Molri (investment and research), Madhuri Kulkarni (actuarial) and Shilla Hindoa (chief personnel officer).
A marine robot deployed in the waters of Scotland's Loch Ness has found the remains of a monster but it turned out to be a prop from a movie shot in 1970.

The robot, belonging to Norwegian offshore oil company Kongsberg Maritime, is drawing up the first high-resolution map of the 230-metre deep lake in a project named "Operation Groundtruth".

"Although it is the shape of Nessie, it is not the remains of the monster that has mystified the world for 80 years," Scottish tourism agency VisitScotland, which is backing the project, said today.

The agency's statement said "Nessie found" with an asterisk at the bottom reading "replica model".

The blurry object with a long neck was a 9.15-metre long model of the monster made for the film "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes", directed by Billy Wilder.

"It is thought the model sank after its humps were removed (the buoyancy was in the humps) never to be seen again," VisitScotland said in a statement.

The monster was actually a submarine in the film.

The mapping is being carried out by a robot called "Munin", which resembles a missile-shaped drone.

It also found a 27-foot long shipwreck, which is still being investigated, and worked out that there is no "Nessie trench" in the loch bed in which a creature could be hiding, as previously believed.

"The vehicle is providing insight to the loch's depths as never before imagined. Finding Nessie was, of course, an unexpected bonus," Craig Wallace, a Kongsberg Maritime engineer, said in a statement.

Previous discoveries made in Loch Ness include a crashed World War II bomber plane, a 100-year-old fishing boat and the remains of a speedboat used in a 1952 speed record attempt which killed its pilot.

The lake has been notoriously difficult to survey due to its depth and steeply sloping side walls.

VisitScotland estimates the revenue generated by tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of "Nessie" at 60 million pounds (76 million euros, USD 85 million) a year.
The dams in Saurashtra and Kutch regions are left with just 10 per cent water and these areas now solely dependent on the Narmada canal network, along which 147 SRPF jawans have been deployed to stop water pilferage, Gujarat government said today.

State Water Supply Minister Vijay Rupani, addressing a press conference about steps being taken by the government to cope with the water scarcity in the state, said several measures are being taken by the government so that people get drinking water.

"Due to two subsequent weak monsoons, dams were not filled to their capacity in various parts of state. This has caused scarcity. In Saurashtra and Kutch, only 10 to 11 per cent water is left in dams. Among the dams in Saurashtra, some are completely empty today," Rupani said.

"As Gujarat generally gets its first showers by June 15, we have to wait for two more months. We are taking various measures to cope with the situation. We have started a control room, where people can call us and register their water-related complaints," he said.

According to the Minister, eight districts - Jamnagar, Devbhoomi-Dwarka, Porbandar, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Dahod, Panchmahal and Amreli - are the worst hit.

The state has increased the water supply given to these districts since last one month through Narmada canal network. Where there is no canal network, such as in Dahod, new hand pumps and bore-wells are being set up, he said.

"The situation would have been worse in the absence of Narmada and canal network. As local water resources (dams) are drying up, our water supply is now solely dependent on Narmada network, particularly in Saurashtra and Kutch," he said, adding that around 10,000 villages across Gujarat are now connected through Narmada canal network.

"147 jawans of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) have been deployed to stop theft of water from Narmada canals across the state. There are districts where water thefts are rampant, such as in Surendranagar and Dahod.

"We have deployed these jawans for round the clock patrolling to stop water pilferage," Rupani said, adding that various teams of water supply department are also engaged in checking thefts.

According to Rupani, all District Collectors have been



given permission to deploy tankers wherever necessary.

"We provide water through tankers at those places, where canals or local resources are not available. As of now, we are providing water through tankers in 231 villages and 209 small localities near villages. In the next two months, we are preparing to cover another 300 villages," Rupani said.

Earlier on March 31, Gujarat government had declared 527 villages of the parched Saurashtra region as partially scarcity-hit owing to deficient rainfall during last monsoon.

According to Rupani, the situation in Gujarat is much better than neighbouring Maharashtra, which is hit by severe water crisis in many parts of state.

"As of now, we have not sought any help from Centre to tackle the situation. Maharashtra is different. They have declared scarcity while we have not declared it yet. The state government is fully prepared to cope with the present situation," he said.
Realty firm M3M India Ltd today said it has paid the last instalment of over Rs 700 crore to Sahara group, thereby completing the deal to acquire 185 acre of land in Gurgaon for 1,211 crore.

The Gurgaon-based developer said the last instalment was deposited in the Sahara-Sebi account on March 29.

Sahara had in December 2014 sold a big land parcel at the outskirts of the national capital for Rs 1,211 crore to M3M India to raise funds in a bid to get its chief Subrata Roy released from jail.

The Supreme Court had asked Roy to give Rs 5,000 crore and an equal amount in bank guarantee for securing bail.

"The M3M Group and Sahara land deal has come to a closure. The deal was finalised at Rs 1,211 crores; with the payment of last instalment Rs 700 plus crores in the Sahara SEBI Account, all the dues for the 185 acre plot have been cleared," M3M said in a statement.

It has paid the entire amount of the land deal which along with the stamp duty amounts to more than Rs 1,300 crore.

"The land deal is complete now and M3M has acquired the rights of the property with the payment of the last instalment. We plan to develop a mixed use project on this land which happens to be first sectors on NPR when coming from Delhi," said Vivek Singhal, President- Corporate Strategy, M3M India said.

The land is located along the Dwarka Expressway on the Delhi Gurgaon border and the company plans to launch project next year after getting necessary approvals.

The 185-acre land in Gurgaon, with 12 million square feet built-up area, would be used for mix-use development and has sales revenue potential of Rs 12,000 crore, M3M India had said while announcing the deal.

Delhi-NCR has witnessed many big-ticket land deals during last one decade, including Wave Group's 151 acres deal in Noida for about Rs 6,500 crore in 2011 making it the biggest land deal in the region.

India's largest realty firm DLF was also involved in two high-value land transactions. It had bagged a 350-acre plot for Rs 1,750 crore in Gurgaon in 2009 and another 38 acres in the heart of Delhi for Rs 1,675 crore in 2007.

Unitech had won 340 acres in Noida through auction for Rs 1,582 crore in 2006.
Macedonia was mired in fresh turmoil today after the president blocked judicial proceedings against top politicians embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal, sending protesters back onto the streets in a crisis that threatens the country's EU aspirations.

The United States and European Union both voiced "serious concerns" about the move by President Gjorge Ivanov, which drew hundreds of demonstrators onto the streets of Skopje yesterday evening.

The Balkan country is also on the frontline of the migrant crisis, with its use of force to prevent desperate migrants from crossing onto its territory leading to a row with neighbouring Greece.

In a televised address to the nation yesterday, Ivanov said he was bringing the legal proceedings to a halt "in order to put an end to this political crisis" ahead of elections planned for June.

Last year, the opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) accused then prime minister Nikola Gruevski of wiretapping some 20,000 people, including politicians and journalists, and said the recordings revealed high-level corruption.

The government denied the accusations and in return filed charges against SDSM leader Zoran Zaev, accusing him of "spying" and attempting to "destabilise" the country of two million people, which is hoping to join the EU.

Gruevski was among those targeted in the probes, along with Zaev, former interior minister Gordana Jankulovska and ex-intelligence chief Sasho Mijalkov.

An ally of the president, Gruevski stepped down as premier in January, paving the way for parliamentary elections -- but the opposition has announced plans to boycott the polls, saying it fears electoral fraud.

Although he may himself benefit from the dropping of the probe, Zaev denounced what he called a "coup d'etat" by the president.

A group of protesters in Skopje pelted Ivanov's party's headquarters with eggs and calls for further protests were circulating on social networks.

Macedonia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2005 but accession talks have yet to open and the prolonged crisis will do nothing to improve its chances.

The EU voiced alarm over the dropping of the wiretap inquiry, saying it raised "serious concerns".

"We call on all sides to avoid interventions that risk undermining years of efforts within the country and with the support of the international community to strengthen the rule of law," a spokesperson for the bloc's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said.
Macedonia's president has blocked all judicial proceedings against top politicians embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal that sparked a major political crisis, a move the European Union said raised "serious concerns".

Opposition leader Zoran Zaev blasted the move by President Gjorge Ivanov as illegal, and a few hundred people took to the streets of the capital Skopje in protest.

In a televised address to the nation, Ivanov said yesterday he was bringing the legal proceedings to a halt "in order to put an end to this political crisis, which will end with democratic elections".

Last year Zaev's Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) accused then prime minister Nikola Gruevski of wiretapping around 20,000 people, including politicians and journalists, and said the recordings revealed high-level corruption.

The government denied the accusations and in return filed charges against Zaev, accusing him of "spying" and attempts to "destabilise" the poor Balkan country, which is hoping to join the EU.

A special prosecutor has been probing the wire-tapping scandal and all the allegations.

Gruevski - the former strongman leader who is a political ally of the president - was among those being targeted in the probes, along with Zaev, former interior minister Gordana Jankulovska and ex-intelligence chief Sasho Mijalkov.

The EU expressed alarm at the president's move.

"Today's decision by President Ivanov on the pardoning of a number of officials raises serious concerns," the bloc's foreign policy arm said in a statement.

"We call on all sides to avoid interventions that risk undermining years of efforts within the country and with the support of the international community to strengthen the rule of law."



EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said on Twitter that Ivanov's decision was "not in line with my understanding of the rule of law."



Hahn urged Macedonian political leaders to get back to the negotiating table, warning that recent political actions "put the Euro-Atlantic future of their country seriously at risk."



Macedonia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2005 but accession talks have yet to open.

Zaev said the pardons broke last year's EU-mediated political agreement to end the crisis, and urged protesters to take to the streets. A few hundred demonstrators gathered outside the prosecutor's office late yesterday.

Some of them hurled eggs at the headquarters of Ivanov's VMRO-DPMNE party, which said it was "shocked" at the president's decision.

"We have no doubt in his honest and good intentions... But we want to express our huge disagreement with his move," the party said in a statement.
The Maharashtra government will hold a meeting with newspaper managements within a week to ensure implementation of recommendation of the Majithia Wage Board for journalists and non-journalists, the state Assembly was informed here today.

"We will hold a meeting with newspaper managements within a week to ensure the recommendations are implemented," Labour Minister Prakash Mehta said.

"The government will also discuss the Wage Board issue with journalists' associations," the Minister said.

He was replying to a debate on a calling attention notice by Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil.

A Supreme Court bench had last year, upheld the recommendations of Majithia Wage Board for journalists and non-journalists on their pay structure and directed that the revised salaries be given to them.

NCP MLA Jayant Patil said the government should direct newspaper establishments to implement the Wage Board's recommendations.

Mehta said the Wage Board recommendations are binding on newspaper establishments and the government will take action to ensure they are implemented, he added.

BJP MLA Ashish Shelar said occupancy certificate should not be given to buildings constructed at Bandra Kurla Complex here by owners of newspapers who have failed to implement the Wage Board recommendations.

Mehta said the government will take a call on the certificate issue after the meeting.
Maharashtra government will recommend to the central government to confer Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour, on 19th century social reformer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said.

"The state government will recommend to the Centre that Bharat Ratna be given to Phule," he said in the Legislative Assembly.

The government will also organise various programmes on the occasion of 125th death anniversary year of the great social reformer, Fadnavis added.

(Reopens BES31)



"Mahatma Jyotiba Phule's work occupies a unique position among other social reformers of the State. He revolted against the unjust caste system under which millions of people had suffered for centuries. The government will hold various programmes as a tribute to him this year and spread his thoughts among the people," Fadnavis said.

BJP MLA Manisha Chaudhary demanded that the government should also recommend name of Phule's wife Savitribai for Bharat Ratna.

"Savitribai Phule, wife of Jyotiba Phule, should also get a Bharat Ratna as she had contributed along with her husband in the social reform sector," she said.

Welcoming the government's move, opposition leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said, "the government should recommend to declare Bharat Ratna for the leader (Phule) on the behalf of the House and not (on behalf of) government".
Maharashtra Assembly today unanimously approved the Prohibition of Social Boycott Bill, which seeks to crack down on extra-judicial bodies like caste and community panchayats.

"There was a demand that existing laws were inadequate to deal with social boycott cases and a new legislation was needed," Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, replying to a debate on the bill.

"In this bill, we have treated indulging in social boycott as a crime," he said.

"I am happy that the House is approving this progressive law unanimously," Fadnavis said.

Maharashtra cabinet had on March 1 approved the draft Maharashtra Prohibition of Social Boycott Bill, 2016.

The bill provides for prohibition of social boycott of a person or group of persons, including their family members, by an individual or a group like caste panchayat.

Maharashtra is set to become the first state in the country to enact a law against social boycott.

The bill states that social boycott is prohibited and its commission shall be an offence, the maximum punishment for which will be seven years in prison or fine up to Rs 5 lakh or both.

It also states that maximum punishment for extending aid in relation to the commission of offence will be three years or Rs 3 lakh or both.

As per the bill, the victim or any member of the victim's family may file a complaint either through the police or directly to the magistrate. To ensure speedy justice, the trial shall be completed within a period of six months from the date of filing of the charge sheet.

Social Boycott Prohibition Officers will be appointed to detect the commission of offences, to assist the magistrate and police officers in discharge of their duties under the Act.

The burden of proving that no offence under this Act have been committed, shall lie on the accused.
The Maharashtra Assembly today unanimously approved the Prohibition of Social Boycott Bill, which seeks to crack down on extra-judicial bodies like caste and community panchayats, and prescribes a maximum punishment of three years in jail.

The "Bill to provide for prohibition of social boycott of a person or group of persons including their family members and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto" was passed on the last day of the Budget session today. It is yet to be passed by the Legislative Council.

"There was a demand that the existing laws were inadequate to deal with social boycott cases and a new legislation was needed," Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said during the debate on the bill.

"In this bill, we have treated indulging in social boycott a crime," the Chief Minister said, adding that he was happy that it got the support of all the members.

The cabinet had on March 1 approved the draft bill.

The legislation provides for the prohibition of social boycott of a person or group of persons including their family members by an individual or a group like caste ('jaat') panchayat.

Maharashtra is the first state in the country to introduce a bill against social boycott.

As per the bill, the offence of imposing social boycott will attract maximum punishment of 3 years in prison or a fine up to Rs 1 lakh or both. The abetment of the offence also attracts the same punishment and fine.

'Social Boycott Prohibition Officers' will be appointed to



detect the commission of offences under the Act.

The burden of proving that no offence under this Act has been committed shall lie on the accused.

Maharashtra, in recent times, has witnessed an increasing number of incidents of social boycott and violence on the orders of caste panchayats.

Anti-superstition activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar too had taken up the issue before his murder in Pune in 2013. For years, a number of activists and academics have been demanding an Act against the practices of caste panchayats.
A 26-year-old man, who had married a woman just six days back against the wishes of her family, was allegedly hacked to death by some of her relatives at Ulhasnagar in the district, police said today.

The incident took place on Monday night and the deceased was identified as Pankaj Raju Gouher, police said, adding five of the accused, all relatives of the woman, were held today.

"Pankaj and his girlfriend Pooja Soudhe, both residents of Ulhasnagar, wanted to tie the knot. However, since her family was against the marriage, they had gone for a court marriage six days back," Thane city police spokesperson Gajanan Kabdule said.

However, her family members strongly opposed the move as the man did not have government job and his financial position was also not sound, he said.

On Monday midnight, around ten people went to Pankaj's residence located on Gandhi Road in Camp no. 5 in Ulhasnagar, pulled him out of his house and attacked him with sharp weapons, due to which he died on the spot, Kabdule said.

Thereafter, the accused also turned to Pankaj's parents and his brother and attacked them with weapons like swords and sickle, injuring them seriously.

"After coming out of the house, the accused also moved in the locality wielding swords and threatened the local residents that they would also be dealt with severely if they reveal the incident to anyone," the police spokesperson said.

The five accused--as Dhannu, Lokesh, Arun, Mahesh and Shyam-- were arrested in the early hours today.

Police have charged the accused under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 452 (house-trespass), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) also Indian Arms Act sections 4 and 25 and the Bombay Police Act sections, police said.

The hunt is on to nab another five to six accused and further investigation is on, police said.
In a bustling, densely populated corner of Manila, fruit vendor Coring Gutierrez reads USD 35 due from her latest water bill, more than triple what her family of six paid 15 years ago.

"As long as we get water," she sighs, reflecting the relief many of the Philippine capital region's nearly 12 million residents feel about having a steady and safe water supply.

Water was not supposed to become so expensive for Manila under a 1997 World Bank deal that privatized the seaside city's water and sewage management.

That arrangement is under fire by the US congressional committee that oversees the international development bank, which is now questioning whether the World Bank and its lending arm, the International Finance Corp., should join in such "public-private partnerships."



In a letter sent yesterday to the World Bank's president, the committee's ranking member accuses the IFC of conflict of interest for its equity stake in one of two companies set up under the 1997 Manila water deal.

The IFC's stake in Manila Water Co. Is "leading to warped incentives that negatively influence the institution's ability to focus on expanding water access," US Representative Gwen Moore, a Democrat from Wisconsin, says in the letter to World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.

Moore wants the World Bank and the IFC to "cease promoting and funding privatization of water resources," pending an evaluation of the IFC's conflicts policy and practices and congressional hearings on the subject.

The IFC yesterday welcomed Moore's letter as a chance to discuss the issues, saying "the World Bank Group takes real or perceived conflicts of interests very seriously," according to the IFC's chief communications officer, Geoffrey Keele.

In an email to The Associated Press, he noted that the IFC's role in advising the privatization deal was done several years before it invested in the company, and that "the risk of perceived conflicts of interest was examined at each stage of the Manila Water investment approval."



Privately owned water utilities have existed for centuries in Europe and the United States, but have recently ballooned into a huge industry.
Gearing up for the municipal corporation by-polls scheduled for May 15, the Delhi BJP's election committee today held a meeting to discuss the probable candidates for the 13 seats.

The final list of candidates is likely to be released within next 2-3 days, a senior BJP city unit leader said.

The meeting chaired by Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay was attended by state in-charge Shyam Jaju, Union minister Harsh Vardhan, MPs Meenakshi Lekhi, Ramesh Bidhuri, Pravesh Verma, Udit Raj and other senior leaders.

Upadhyay said for strict monitoring of campaign, the party has decided to appoint senior leaders or state office-bearers as in-charge of all the 13 wards were by-polls would be held.

The Aam Admi Party has already announced its candidates for the by-polls while Congress today released a list of 12 nominees.

The posts of councillors in the 13 wards fell vacant after nine of them resigned on becoming legislators in the 2013 Assembly elections and four after the 2015 polls.
City-based MedTrix Healthcare, digital and medical communication solutions provider, today said it is expanding its footprint in the US and European Union.

The expansion plans are in line with some recent strategicagreements with its key clients in these markets, the companysaid in a release here.

The company was planning to expand in multiple geographies by increasing its access to the top 20 pharmacompanies and doubling headcount, it added.

Stating that digital solutions are expected to resultin 7-11 per cent of savings in total healthcare spending,MedTrix said it is proud to partner with some of the largeglobal pharma companies for their key initiatives in this direction.

Among its clientele are big players like Novartis, Bayer, Nestle, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and Amgen, it added.

"With an estimated investment on digital solutions by Global Healthcare and Pharma Industry touching USD 6.9 billionin 2015, this space does look attractive and MedTrix has begun to offer a berth for India in this intellectually exciting space for others to follow," MedTrix Healthcare Founder andDirector Vimal Narayanan said.
Two men, including a former Delhi Metro employee, were arrested today in connection with the Rs 12 lakh heist at Rajendra Place metro station here on Monday.

"The accused have been identified as Pawan Kumar (21) and Sonu Kumar (22), both residents of Vijay Nagar near Kaushambi in Ghaziabad. They were tracked down with the help of their metro smart card details," Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) M K Meena said.

The police first tracked down Pawan, who broke down during interrogation and disclosed about his accomplice Sonu, who was arrested from his residence in Ghaziabad.

The accused told police that they had gone inside the metro premises with a knife -- with which they stabbed the station controller and made away with the weekend earnings -- and left the premises with the weapon, raising serious security concerns.

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is entrusted with the security of metro stations, had claimed the accused were frisked clean when they entered the station.

Pawan, a Business Administration graduate, had been a token operator in Delhi Metro. He was sacked from services in 2015 after the department received a complaint against him for misbehaving with passengers, an official privy to the investigation said.

He said the complaint based on which Pawan was sacked was filed by Kunal Kishore, the station controller who was stabbed in the robbery executed on early Monday morning.

The police have so far ruled out any revenge angle in the case as they claimed the strike was pre-planned and any station controller could have been in duty at that hour.

Meanwhile, the investigators also haven't yet given a clean chit to Kishore who did not raise any alarm after the incident, the police officer said.

The police have recovered Rs 10.55 lakh from the possession of the accused who were arrested in the wee hours following a series of raids in Delhi and Ghaziabad.

A high-end smart phone which Pawan had purchased with the robbed money was also recovered. The duo spent the balance amount in paying off some dues, police said.

During probe, it also emerged that Pawan had bagged the job in Delhi Metro using a wrong address.

During interrogation, police said, it emerged that Pawan had set up a mobile recharge coupon shop in Ghaziabad's Vijay Nagar after being sacked from Delhi Metro and Sonu was his regular customer who was also looking for a job and often asked Pawan about job opportunities in Delhi Metro, police said.

Pawan was also in dire need of money as he was under huge debt after his sister's marriage.

The duo soon became friends and allegedly hatched the plan after Pawan meticulously explained to Sonu security shortfalls in the Metro network, police said.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said the 11-day village self governance campaign, to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at B R Ambedkar's birth place Mhow tomorrow, will be extended by 37 days in the state.

"Prime Minister Modiji is going to launch the campaign at Amdedkar Nagar (Mhow in Indore district) tomorrow on the 125th birth anniversary of Baba Saheb Ambedkar. We have extended the duration of 'Gram Uday se Bharat Uday Abhiyan' (village self governance campaign) of the Centre by 37 days," Chouhan said at a press conference here.

He said the central government will run the campaign from tomorrow to April 24, for 11 days.

"To incorporate some more welfare schemes in the drive, we have decided to run it for the uplift and welfare of rural people between April 14 and May 31," Chouhan said.

"A flag and a song have been made to bind the rural populace and to infuse a sense of belonging in them," he said.

On the request of journalists, the chief minister also sang a few lines of the song amid cheers.

He said that during the campaign, special plans will be charted out for the welfare and uplift of rural people, especially the farmers.

"We want to double the income of the farmers in next five years, as Prime Minister Modi wished during a farmers' rally in Madhya Pradesh's Sehore district in February this year," he said.

"Village-level meetings and functions will be organised during the drive to promote social equality and harmony among other things," he added.
Union Health Minister J P Nadda today assured support to the expansion plans the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and asked the institute to find out ways to fast-track admission of patients requiring emergency treatment.

Nadda who is also the president of AIIMS chaired the 149th meeting of the reconstituted Institute Body (IB) of AIIMS, which is the highest administrative decision-making body in the hospital.

Assuring all support to AIIMS expansion plans, the Union Health Minister asked officials to make all out efforts to ensure the institute maintains its pre-eminent status as the apex medical sciences university of the country.

"The Institute is in a sustained phase of expansion and all efforts should be made to ensure the pre-eminent status of the institute as the apex medical sciences university of India.

"Nadda also directed Director AIIMS to examine ways to fast-track admission of those patients requiring emergency treatment or interventions," an official statement said.

Welcoming the members of the newly constituted IB, Nadda said that their rich experience will make a valuable contribution in further development of AIIMS - a premier specialist institute in tertiary health care in the country.

Health officials said that the IB of AIIMS was reconstituted on February 12 this year.

While the chairman of the body is Nadda, MPs - Ramesh Bidhuri, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma and Ram Gopal Yadav are members.

The other members include AIIMS chief MC Mishram, Vinay Sheel Oberoi, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, M K Bhan, Health secretary B P Sharma, Yogesh Tyagi, VC, DU, Director General Health Services Jagdish Prasad, D S Rana chairman of board of management, Sir Ganga Ram hospital...

...Vijaya Laxmi, non-medical scientist Indian Sciences Congress Association, Mahesh B Patel, dean Gujarat University, DG Mhaisekar VC, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, N Gopal Krishnan, professor Nephrology, Madras Medical College.

The IB is reconstituted after every five years.

During the meeting, Misra introduced the Institute Body members and presented a brief outline of the AIIMS.
The Supreme Court today said it may refer to a five-judge constitution bench a plea seeking setting up of National Court of Appeal with regional benches in major cities for deciding cases arising from high courts.

A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur also sought Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi's response on suggestions submitted by senior advocate K K Venugopal, who has been appointed amicus curiae in the case.

"K K Venugopal, amicus, has proposed certain issues that call for a more authoritative pronouncement by a larger Bench. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi seeks time to examine the issues, as formulated, and make his suggestions. Post on April 25," the bench said.

The apex court also asked Rohatgi to assist Venugopal in formulating "suggestions and points" for its consideration in the case.

The apex court was hearing a PIL by Puducherry-based V Vasanthakumar pressing for setting up of a National Court of appeal at Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata and quashing of the government order rejecting his proposal on the issue.

In February 2014, Kumar had moved the apex court with the same prayer when it had disposed of the matter directing the Centre to respond to his suggestion within six months.

Later, the Centre rejected his suggestion on the ground that it would require an amendment in Article 130 of the Constitution which "is impermissible as this would change the constitution of the Supreme Court completely."



Vasanthakumar has now approached the apex court again seeking quashing of this decision of the central government.
Prominent Patel leaders and Gujarat-based businessmen today announced the formation of a new outfit to push for the release of jailed quota agitation spearhead Hardik Patel and his three aides.

They later sat on a day-long hunger strike in support of their demand.

The group, 'Patidar Sangh', is the outcome of an initiative launched by Surat-based diamond tycoon Laljibhai Patel, a BJP supporter who was in the for buying Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pinstriped suit for Rs 4.31 crore at an auction last year.

Around 400 businessmen and prominent Patel leaders, most of them BJP supporters, sat on a day-long hunger strike in Surat, about 200km from here, to demand the release of Hardik and his aides -- Chirag Patel, Ketan Patel and Dinesh Patel.

They are in jail since their arrest late last year and are all facing a slew of charges, including that of sedition.

Newly-appointed National General Secretary of BJP Kisan Morcha, Gordhan Zadafia, also attended the event and extended his support to the cause.

According to Laljibhai, Hardik and three other Patel leaders should be freed from jail at the earliest.

"As Hardik and other Patel leaders are still behind bars, prominent Patel leaders came together and decided to form this Patidar Sangh. We want the government to release these leaders. The hunger strike was arranged to raise that demand," he said.

Talking to reporters, Zadafia said efforts are being made to resolve the reservation issue and end the impasse between the Patel quota leaders and Gujarat government.

"The Gujarat government is actively trying to arrive at a compromise formula. BJP, too, is very much concerned about the issue. We are trying to find a solution through social and legal means," he said.

The formation of Patidar Sangh, with support from BJP, comes at a time when the two major outfits related to the quota stir -- Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) and Sardar Patel Group (SPG) -- are already pushing for Hardik's release and are at loggerheads with the BJP government.

Patidar Sangh largely comprises BJP supporters. However, anti-BJP sentiment prevails among the members of PAAS, headed by Hardik, and SPG.

Asked about Zadafia's presence at the event, Gujarat BJP President Vijay Rupani said the ruling party had never been against a compromise on the quota issue.

"As the state party chief, I gave consent to Patel leaders (like Zadafia) to attend this event as BJP also wants an amicable solution. BJP does not have any problem if both the parties (government and Patel leaders) reach a compromise," said Rupani.
Maharashtra government will not take any further action on reservation for Maratha, Muslim and Dhangar communities in education and jobs till the Bombay High Court gives its final ruling in the case, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said today.

"The HC has given a stay on extending reservation to jobs. However, in its interim order it has allowed the government to extend reservation in education till it gives a final order," he said in the Legislative Council.

Fadnavis was replying to a debate on the question of extending quota to these communities raised by Congress' Sanjay Dutt in the Upper House.

Stating the Constitution does not provide for quota on religious lines, he said, "The HC has upheld a petition challenging reservation on religious lines."



To enable government lawyers argue the case for quota to Maratha community, the state is collecting proofs on their backwardness. The government has sought relevant documents in this regard from all those concerned, the Chief Minister said.

He said the Advocate General had opined the government needs to present its case before the Centre based on facts.

The state government has asked Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) to solicit views on reservation for Marathas from all stakeholders, he added.

Marathas want quota under OBC category (a demand backed by Government), while Dhangars (traditional shepherds) are agitating for ST status. The previous Congress-NCP government had provided five per cent quota for Muslims.
A recovery in steel demand is unlikely before next year, an industry group said today, owing to a slowdown in the Chinese economy and weakness in manufacturing.

The forecast comes as the industry is roiled by a collapse in prices, the fear of cheap Chinese steel flooding markets, and the social impact of cutbacks to production.

"The economic environment facing the steel industry continues to be challenging with China's slowdown impacting globally..." said T V Narendran, who heads the economics committee of the World Steel Association, or worldsteel.

After dropping by 3 per cent last year, global steel demand will decrease by another 0.8 per cent this year to 1,488 million tonnes, worldsteel predicts.

"Growth for steel demand in all markets except China is expected in 2017" with an expansion of 0.4 per cent to 1,494 million tonnes, said Narendran, who is also managing director of Tata Steel for India and southeast Asia.

Chinese demand for steel is expected to decline by 4.0 per cent this year followed a 3.0 per cent drop in 2017 to 626.1 million tonnes.

Narendran's company Tata has begun offloading assets in Britain as it tries to scale back.

European steel manufacturers have called for protection from cheap steel imports from China, but the EU has moved slower than the United States in imposing protective tariffs.

Demand in the United States, Canada and Mexico is expected to pick up by 3.2 percent this year and 2.6 percent in 2017.

The EU will see more modest demand growth of 1.4 per cent and 1.7 per cent.
Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde today refuted allegations of wrongdoings in the purchase of 'chikki' meant for distribution among tribal school children in several districts of the state.

The state Women and Child Development Minister, while replying to a question raised by Congress legislator Sanjay Dutt in the legislative council, said the report of the Ghaziabad referral laboratory as well as those of 12 other labs have confirmed that the 'chikki' (sweet savoury) manufactured by contractor Ms Suryakanta were found to be of "good quality".

Munde had been accused of irregularities in procurement of items worth Rs 206 crore, including 'chikki'. It had also been alleged that the 'chikki' meant to be distributed among tribal students, had traces of clay. It was also alleged that the purchase of these items was done in violation of rules.

"When complaints were made, the state government stopped the distribution of 'chikki'. Only in one case some dirt was found in the sample. In 20 districts, where the 'chikki' were distributed, there were no complaints of fungus, metal pieces or mud being found," she said.

Munde pointed out that the decision to award the contract to Ms Suryakanta was taken in 2012-13 during the previous Congress-NCP government.

"The then government had even given Rs 30 crore contract to the same company," she said.

Replying to queries on the amount of electricity bills the company incurred during the production of chikki, she said it was not her duty to check the said bills.

"The government's duty was to ensure good quality of chikki and nutritious food supplements were provided to tribal school children," she said.

Defending the decision of awarding the contract on the



basis of rate contract, Munde said the government had allocated Rs 120 crore for the purpose.

"Out of this, only Rs 75 crore was allocated for the purchase of 'chikki' while the rest was given to anganwadi schools for providing fruits and other food materials," she said.

She added that the government's decision to go for e-tendering process for any procurement above Rs 10 lakh was taken after the contract was awarded to Suryakanta.

Taking part in the debate, Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde contended that the rule mandates the company to have its own production facility.

He alleged that going by the amount of electricity bills (shown) by the company, it should have taken over five years to produce 1,500 kg of chikki.

"However, the company supplied the same in a matter of just four months," he said.
Pakistan today claimed that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has backed the "right to self-determination" for Kashmiris in accordance with UN resolutions and that the organisation's envoy Abdullah Al-Alim would soon visit Jammu and Kashmir.

The Foreign Office (FO) here said in a statement that the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir met on the sidelines of the ongoing 13th OIC Summit in Turkey.

"(It) reiterated OIC's continued support to the people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in their just struggle for realisation of their right to self-determination in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions," it said.

Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, led the Pakistani delegation to the meeting chaired by OIC Secretary General's Special Representative on Jammu and Kashmir, Ambassador Al-Alim.

Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Turkey and Senior Representatives of Saudi Arabia and Niger also attended.

Secretary General's Special Representative reiterated the principled position of OIC of continued support to the Kashmiri people in their "legitimate struggle" for the "right to self-determination" and underscored that the Contact Group had been constantly conveying the OIC's concerns to the international community regarding the "flagrant human rights violations and abuse of the basic rights of the Kashmiris".

"He regretted some attempts to equate the Kashmiri struggle with terrorism, and emphasised that the Kashmiris were solely striving to achieve their inalienable right in accordance with relevant UN resolutions," the statement said.

He welcomed the establishment of Standing Mechanism of OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) to monitor "human rights" situation in Kashmir, it said.

The Standing Mechanism will maintain close contact with Kashmiri civil society and NGOs working in the field to fulfil its mandated task, the statement said.

The Special Representative would also undertake a visit to Jammu and Kashmir shortly, it said.

Aziz reiterated Pakistan's continued diplomatic, moral and political support to the people of "Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir" in their just struggle for their right to self-determination as per UN resolutions.

The Foreign Ministers and Senior Representatives at the meeting also said that the unresolved nature of the Kashmir dispute had implications for regional peace and security.

Jeddah-based OIC is a group of 57 Muslim countries.
Oil prices retreated today as a rally fuelled by reports Saudi Arabia and Russia had agreed to an output freeze petered out.

Prices shot to 2016 highs yesterday, as reports that two of the world's biggest crude producers had reached a consensus boosted expectations that a wider deal could be struck at a key meeting in Doha on Sunday.

But the market faded today with traders booking profits as official data showed US crude inventories rose more than expected -- and as OPEC warned about the consequences of a global supply glut that has massively depressed oil prices over the past couple of years.

Around 1600 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in May was down eight cents at USD 42.09 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for June delivery fell 21 cents to USD 44.48 a barrel compared with yesterday's close.

WTI and Brent had jumped around two dollars to USD 42.25 and USD 44.81 yesterday -- the highest levels this year.

Prices nevertheless remain far below the USD 100-a-barrel mark reached in mid-2014, despite recovering from near 13-year lows in February.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries today warned that the world remains awash with crude, as it prepared for Sunday's meeting.

"Positive market sentiments continue to arise from the output freeze plan being considered by major crude exporters," as well as an expected fall in output in the United States and elsewhere, OPEC said.

"Nevertheless, hurdles prevail as oversupply persists and inventories remain high," the cartel warned.

The Doha talks will bring together OPEC members led by Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC producer Russia to discuss how to ease an oil glut that has depressed prices for nearly two years.

Yesterday's price rally was driven by "optimism that Saudi Arabia and Russia have formed consensus towards an output freeze", said Margaret Yang, an analyst with CMC Markets in Singapore.

"This has greatly increased the certainty in the upcoming freeze meeting this Sunday, regardless of Iran's attitude," she said.

Iran has said it will not join freeze calls as it is still ramping up production following the lifting of nuclear-linked sanctions in January.

Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi today appeared to rule out a cut in oil production, with the kingdom's production in March almost at the same levels as in January.
Oil prices took a breather in Asia today after sharp gains fuelled by reports of an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia on freezing output ahead of a key producers' meeting.

Prices climbed to their highest levels this year yesterday, as reports Saudi Arabia and Russia had reached a consensus boosted expectations of a wider deal during Sunday's meeting in Doha.

The meeting will bring together OPEC members led by Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC producers, such as Russia, to discuss how to ease an oil glut that has depressed prices for nearly two years.

Prices are still more than 60 per cent below peaks of over USD 100 a barrel in mid-2014 despite recovering from near 13-year lows in February.

At around 0250 GMT today, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in May was down 34 cents, or 0.81 per cent, at USD 41.83. Brent crude for June delivery, the European benchmark, was trading 19 cents, or 0.43 per cent, lower at USD 44.50 a barrel.

Prices were up on Monday and Tuesday after surging eight percent or more week-on-week last Friday.

Yesterday's rally in particular was driven by "optimism that Saudi Arabia and Russia have formed consensus towards an output freeze", said Margaret Yang, an analyst with CMC Markets in Singapore.

"This has greatly increased the certainty in the upcoming freeze meeting this Sunday, regardless of Iran's attitude," she said.

"However, as a lot of optimism has been priced-in ahead of the meeting, traders shall remain cautious to the possible 'sell on news' next week."



Iran has said it will not join freeze calls as it is still ramping up production following the lifting of nuclear-linked sanctions in January.

Yang said traders are also eyeing official data on US commercial crude inventories, which will be released later today, to gauge demand in the world's top oil consuming nation.
Transportation mobile app Ola today launched autorickshaws in 12 more cities, taking the service to a total of 24 cities across the country.

Ola said it is targetting to serve at least two million daily rides by end of 2017 through its app by getting on-board hundreds of thousands of autorickshaw drivers on its platform over the year in these cities.

"Ola has over 1,00,000 auto rickshaws registered on its platform across 24 cities and plans to launch in more cities in the coming months," the company said in a statement.

The new cities that were launched Bhopal, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Kota, Surat, Madurai, Guwahati, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Jodhpur, Visakhapatnam and Udaipur.

The company said its autos are available 24x7 in all the 24 cities and it has also launched a new billing system that will record the details of the trip including time of booking, distance travelled and fare payable, either in cash or through Ola Money.

"Users can request a bill on completion of their ride from the Ola app and pay for their rides with Ola money," it added.

In the past one year, Ola said it has brought a convenient hailing experience for users and predictable and continuous demand for driver entrepreneurs, helping them earn as much as 40 per cent additional revenue on a daily basis.

"Autos as an ubiquitous mode of transportation in Indian cities, already serve hundreds of millions of users everyday. By bringing them on the Ola app, we are transforming the mobility experience for users and improving the revenue opportunity for auto driver-partners," Nitesh Prakash, Senior Director, Operations at Ola said.
One person was killed and four others including theatre activist turned Trinamool Congress MP Arpita Ghosh were today injured in a collision between her car and a three-wheeler in South Dinajpur district, police said.

The driver of the three-wheeler, used for transporting goods, died while Ghosh, her bodyguard, and two other persons were injured in the mishap that occurred at Malancha village when she was returning from a party meeting at Hili.

Her vehicle overturned following the mishap, police said, adding local villagers rushed to the spot and all the victims were rushed to a hospital.

"Ghosh has sustained injuries on her head, right shoulder and left foot. She suffered multiple fractures in the left leg," police said.

The Balurghat MP was being taken to a hospital in Kolkata while the other injured were admitted to Balurghat district hospital.

The deceased is yet to be identified, police said.
Over 100 troops, pro-regime militia, jihadists and rebels have been killed in four days of fierce fighting on a strategic front of Syria's Aleppo province, a monitoring group said today.

Since Sunday, fighting around Al-Eis and Khan Touman in Aleppo's southern belt has killed 61 rebels and members of Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front and 50 troops and pro-regime militia, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"In the past 24 hours alone, 42 rebels and Al-Nusra members died, as well as 34 regime loyalists," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Regime troops are trying to recapture Al-Eis, held by Al-Nusra and rebel allies, which in turn have launched an offensive to take over nearby Khan Touman from the regime.

The fighting came as UN-brokered indirect talks resumed in Geneva, threatening to break a fragile six-week truce that was brokered by the United States and Russia.

Neither Al-Nusra nor the jihadist Islamic State group are included in the truce, but the fact that rebels are fighting alongside Al-Nusra while regime forces push back has sparked concerns over its durability.

Washington voiced concern Monday that a regime assault on Al-Nusra in Aleppo could spread to more moderate factions, and cause the truce to collapse and derail the peace efforts.

The area where the fighting is focused is important because it is located near the highway linking Damascus to war-ravaged Aleppo city, the Observatory said.

It is also key because it is near the Shiite towns of Fuaa and Kefraya in neighbouring Idlib province, which are under siege by opposition forces.

"Most of the regime loyalists killed were militia fighters from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan," Abdel Rahman said.

"For them, this is an ideologically-driven battle to break the siege on Fua and Kefraya," he told AFP.

Abdel Rahman said the fighting shows that neither President Bashar al-Assad's regime nor the opposition represented at the Geneva talks calls the shots in fighting on the ground.

"The real decisions are made by (regime backers) Iran and Russia on one side, and jihadist factions and opposition backers on the other," he said.

Syria's war began as a popular anti-regime revolt but later morphed into a brutal civil war after Damascus unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent.
Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif has accused India of destabilising his country and attempting to "subvert" its crucial USD 46 billion economic corridor project with China.

Speaking at a seminar on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the coastal town of Gwadar, he said the significance of a China Pakistan economic cooperation had "raised eyebrows" in the region and India had openly opposed the project.

"The CPEC is a deep manifestation of the time-tested relations between China and Pakistan. But there are foreign forces who, realising the potential of CPEC and wanting an influential role in the region, are working to destabilise Pakistan and the project," Raheel said yesterday.

"Hostile intelligence agencies were averse to this grand project (CPEC), especially Indian intelligence agency RAW, which is blatantly involved in destabilising Pakistan," the Pakistan Army Chief claimed.

But "we will not allow anyone to create impediments and turbulence in any part of Pakistan", he added.

Describing the project as "a corridor of peace and prosperity", Raheel said that CPEC is a lifetime opportunity for Pakistan to improve the socio-economic equation of its underprivileged areas and populace.

However, there were "external intelligence agencies who are involved in facilitating terrorists, their abettors and financiers in Pakistan in a bid to subvert the economic corridor project," he said.

"As COAS, I assure you security of CPEC which is our national undertaking. We won't leave any stone unturned and continue to close watch at every step," the General said.

He said work on the CPEC was progressing at a fast pace and already 675 kilometres of roads had been completed in just two years' time.

"Transparency and good management is important for sustainability of the CPEC which will eventually benefit the people of Balochistan and Pakistan," he said.

Other speakers said on the occasion that Gwadar port will be fully operative by the end of 2016 ans will slowly become hub of international trade.

(Reopens FGN 17)



Gen Raheel today chaired a high-level meeting at the Corp Commander's headquarters in Karachi to review the ongoing operation against terrorists and criminal elements in the Pakistan's financial hub.

"A terror free and peaceful Karachi is the ultimate aim of this operation and all efforts must be directed with a focused approach to achieve this objective," he said.

He said that Pakistan's economic progress was linked to having lasting peace in Karachi which is the country's economic and financial hub.

The operation clean-up has been going on in Karachi since October, 2013.

The Army chief also expressed satisfaction over success of law enforcement agencies in the continuing operation against criminal elements in the city.

Earlier, he addressed the faculty, participants and allied forces of Air War Course, and spoke on the regional security environment and the army's fight against the menace of terrorism.
The Pakistan government today denied that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's sudden departure for London was an effort to seek support from former president Asif Ali Zardari against a possible backlash over the names of the premier's children figuring in the leaked 'Panama Papers'.

Sharif left for the UK for purported medical check-up amid chaotic political scenes by the opposition demanding his resignation after his daughter and two sons were mentioned in the Panama Papers as having secret offshore companies.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf leader Imran Khan is consulting other parties for a joint possible protest outside Sharif's residence in suburbs of Lahore and Zardari's PPP joining the agitation that may make things difficult for the government.

Senior Pakistan People's Party leader Aitizaz Ahsan said yesterday that Sharif was going to seek support of Zardari who has been living in London for past several months.

Interior minister Nisar Ali Khan rejected the impression that Sharif was in tight corner and needed Zardari's support.

"For the last three weeks, his (Sharif) health has deteriorated for which the prime minister had to travel," he said at a press conference in Islamabad.

"In this country some people cannot even get ill as rumour-mongers keep on politicising the issue," he said.

Earlier, Sharif departed for London for what the government said was a "routine medical checkup, which was repeatedly postponed due to his official engagements over the past few months".

Sharif has been under pressure ever since a massive leak of over 11 million tax documents on April 3 exposed the secret offshore dealings of world leaders and celebrities, include Sharif's three children.

He had later addressed the nation and also promised to set up a commission to probe any wrongdoing.

However, the formation of the commission was delayed as the opposition rejected it.
Pakistan today informed India that Indian inmate Kirpal Singh died of a heart attack at a jail in Lahore two days back after the issue of his mysterious death was taken up with the Pakistani authorities even as the government said it was awaiting further details in the case.

India's Acting High Commissioner J P Singh met Director General (South Asia) in Pakistan Foreign Ministry in Islamabad following a directive from the Indian government in connection with death of Kirpal Singh, who was languishing for nearly 25 years in jail in connection with a serial blasts case there.

"According to government of Pakistan, Shri Kirpal Singh died on April 11 at 1455 hours due to heart attack. We await further details," Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Vikas Swarup said.

He said India's Acting High Commissioner has also requested the Pakistan Foreign Ministry official for earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains of Kirpal Singh.

50-year-old Kirpal was languishing in a Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges. He had allegedly crossed over to Pakistan through Wagah border in 1992 and was arrested.

He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of charges related to bomb blasts by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons.

Jagir Kaur, Kirpal's sister, earlier said the family could not raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case.

The government asked India's acting envoy to seek a meeting with the Pakistan Foreign Office in connection with Kirpal's death under mysterious circumstances and seek early transfer of the mortal remains.

"On Kirpal Singh, our acting high commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in Pakistan Foreign Office this forenoon to seek early transportation of Singh's mortal remains," Swarup said earlier.
A Pakistani intruder was detained by BSF while crossing the Indo-Pak border in Bikaner division on Monday night.

The intruder identified himself as Gafur Bhatti (44), resident of village Malarahmaniyan, Bahawalnagar of Pakistan, BSF spokesperson said today.

The accused is being interrogated by security agencies after which he will be handed over to local police.
Panama warned France of unspecified "diplomatic measures" if it doesn't drop it from a blacklist of tax havens in the wake of the revelations.

"If France's government doesn't reconsider it's position, Panama's government will find itself obliged to take diplomatic measures," President Juan Carlos Varela said yesterday.

Following the reports showing how a Panama law firm helped wealthy people from France and other countries stash their assets in offshore companies, Paris last week put Panama back on its national list of Uncooperative States and Territories (ETNC), from which it had removed it in 2012.

France is also urging the European Union and all member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to follow suit.

Such an designation would deal a heavy blow to Panama's vital financial services sector, upon which the Panamanian government recently imposed reforms to move it towards global transparency standards.

Varela said Panama was asking Paris, "strongly and respectfully" to take back its "wrong and unnecessary" decision to blacklist his country. Such a designation entails financial sanctions such as heavy French withholding taxes on transactions.

Panama's laws also provide for retaliation in such cases that can lead to public tenders being withheld from companies belonging to offending states.

Panama has mixed such threats with affirmations that it is open to discussing how to improve transparency, all in a bid to head off wider action against it.

The Panama Papers, centred on a huge cache of documents pilfered digitally from the law firm Mossack Fonseca, has had repercussions around the world.

Iceland's prime minister was forced to resign after his name appeared as one of the beneficiaries of an offshore company. Britain's prime minister has had to disclose his tax records.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to divert attention from his entourage by claiming it is all a US plot against him.

China has been censoring online forums and media to try to prevent the names of relatives close to the leadership circulating.

And wealthy citizens in Australia, France, Spain, Mexico, Peru, India and elsewhere face probes over suspected tax avoidance after their names figured in some of the 11.5 million documents.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give away awards to bureaucrats from both the Centre and states for excellence in implementing NDA government's priority programmes like 'Swachh Bharat Mission' and 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana'.

Select bureaucrats will get the Prime Minister's awards on April 21, observed as Civil Services' Day, for their contribution to effective implementation of the government's key initiatives.

The award, which carries a citation and cash prize, is to recognise and reward the extraordinary and innovative works done by officers of the central and state governments.

This is for the first time a new category of "excellence in implementing a priority programme" has been added to the PM's awards. The theme of 10th Civil Services Day is "Transforming India--Reform to Transform".

"Modi will confer awards to civil servants for excellence in implementation of priority programmes of the government of India namely Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), Swachh Vidyalaya and Soil Health Card Scheme," a press release issued today by Ministry of Personnel said.

The Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) is to bring about an improvement in the general quality of life in the rural areas, by promoting cleanliness, hygiene and eliminating open defecation.

Whereas, Swachh Vidyalaya mission is aimed at ensuring separate toilets in every school for boys and girls. The objective of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is to provide weaker sections and low income groups access to various financial services like savings bank account, need based credit, remittances facility, insurance and pension.

The Soil Health Card scheme is meant to give each farmer the soil nutrient status of his holding and advise him on the dosage of fertilisers, besides information on soil modification for long-term improved soil health.

A total of ten districts will be given the Prime



Minister's awards under the four priority programmes. These awards will be given in three groups--the first group consists of eight north-eastern states and the three hill states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The remaining 18 states constitute the second group while the third group comprises seven Union Territories. Eight awards will be given to the first and second group under the four priority programmes, it said.

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) has conducted an exhaustive analysis and assessment for short listing the awards.

Like the previous year, the Civil Services Day function will be an elaborate affair spread over two days. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu will be the Chief Guest at the inaugural function on April 20. Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh will preside over the function.

Civil Services Day is organised on April 21 every year when civil servants rededicate themselves to the cause of the citizens and renew their commitment to public service.

The day coincides with the date on which Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel had addressed the first batch of probationers at the All India Administrative Service Training School at Metcalfe House, New Delhi in 1947.

The Prime Minister's awards for excellence in public administration are also given away on this day. Civil Services Day was organised for the first time in 2006. Since then every year the function is being organised by the DARPG, the release said.
Poland's Solidarity freedom hero Lech Walesa today viewed the secret police files that allegedly prove he was a paid communist spy, prosecutors said, adding that the former president again denied their authenticity.

"Documents related to the collaboration of a secret agent codenamed 'Bolek' were shown to Lech Walesa," said the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), which prosecutes Nazi and communist-era crime.

The 72-year-old "denied the authenticity of the documents," the IPN said in a statement, adding that it would now go ahead with handwriting analysis to see if the Nobel Peace laureate's signature matches that of the files.

Walesa has been battling the allegations since February, when the IPN seized the previously unknown regime documents from 1970-76 from the widow of a communist-era general.

Walesa, who is renowned for negotiating a bloodless end to communism in Poland in 1989, denounced the files as "complete fakes" at the time and said he "didn't cooperate" with the secret police.

He enigmatically admitted however to having "made a mistake" and in the past had said he signed "a paper" for the secret police during one of his many interrogations.

Experts have consistently raised doubts about the credibility of communist secret police files, arguing they could easily have been manufactured to frame opposition activists like Walesa.

A special vetting court ruled in 2000 that there was no basis to suspicions that he had been a paid regime agent.

But the rumours persist that he covertly fed the communist regime information while leading the freedom-fighting Solidarity, the Soviet bloc's only independent trade union.

A book published by the IPN in 2008 alleged that while the regime registered Walesa as a secret agent in December 1970, he was cut loose in June 1976 due to his "unwillingness to cooperate".

Poles have mixed feelings about Walesa. His boldness in standing up to the communist regime is still widely respected, but the combative and divisive tone of his later presidency earned him scorn in many quarters.
Pope Francis called on Catholics worldwide today to pray for his upcoming trip to the Greek island of Lesbos, on the frontline of Europe's migrant crisis, saying he wanted to show "solidarity" with the refugees and the Greek people.

"On Saturday I will go to the island of Lesbos, where a huge number of refugees have arrived in the past months," the pontiff said in a message during his general audience in Saint Peter's Square.

The intention, he said, is "to show closeness and solidarity with the refugees as well as the citizens of Lesbos and to all the Greek people who have been so generous in their welcome.

"I ask you to accompany me on this trip in prayer," Francis told the crowd of 22,000 in the square.

The pope has repeatedly spoken out about the refugee crisis that has overwhelmed and divided Europe, urging Europeans to welcome and not reject people who are fleeing war and poverty.

His visit comes as European countries debate how to handle the massive influx of refugees to the continent, with the Balkan nations shutting their borders to block the migrants' route to northern Europe, and the European Union struggling to implement a new migrant plan with Turkey.

Francis, accompanied by the Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and the archbishop of Athens, will visit the Aegean Sea island for a few hours to draw the international community's attention to the suffering of asylum seekers, many of them on the run from a devastating war in Syria.

At the start of his pontificate in 2013, he visited the Italian island of Medusa, where large numbers of migrants were arriving from conflict-hit Libya.
A high definition English/Hindi travel channel will introduce its Bengali feed on Bengali New Year or Naboborsho tomorrow.

"The move to introduce premium travelxp HD in Bengali is fraught with the objectives to connect with regional audiences and broaden the audiences base that it enjoys enabling viewers to experience the unique, exclusive and premium programming content in their language and bringing all the popular shows like - Bliss, World Spa, Backpack, Great World Hotels, Strictly Street, xp guide, Food Fact Fun," Prashant Chothani, CEO, travelxp said in a release.

Bengalis, who are ing among the top three traveller communities in India, can now explore and travel to new places, find new cultures and destinations, know about different food tastes with their families in their own drawing room, he said.

Travelxp will continue to be available on DTH platforms Tata Sky, Dish TV, Videocon D2h and Airtel and leading cable networks like Hathway, In Cable, Siti Cable, GTPL, UCN and others, he added.
President Pranab Mukherjee will present medals to award winners and hand over parchments to foreign officers on the Graduation Day of Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) at Wellington in Nilgiris district on April 15.

A total of 458 officers, including 34 from 25 countries, will be graduating from the College at the ceremony of the 71st Staff Course, an official release said today.

DSSC is a premier Tri-Services training institution providing command and staff training to the officers of Army, Navy, Air Force, civil services and those of Commonwealth and friendly foreign countries.

After the graduation ceremony, Commandant will present a Banner of Excellence to the President on behalf of the college.
Prolific British playwright Arnold Wesker, who drew on his heritage as a working-class Jew to create plays that captured the dialogue and struggles of the common man, has died, his son Lindsay said today.

He was 83 and had Parkinson's disease.

Wesker, who wrote more than 40 plays that were translated into 18 languages, first gained prominence with a trilogy about the lives of Jewish socialist intellectuals: "Chicken Soup with Barley" (1958), "Roots" (1959) and "I'm Talking about Jerusalem" (1960).

He was known, together with writers including John Osborne and Brendan Behan, as one of the "angry young men" of the British stage in the 1950s - though he dismissed the label.

The playwright drew on his youth in east London, where conversation, argument and song were woven into the fabric of daily life. He loved the rhythms, the dialogue and the thirst for knowledge gained just by sitting around talking.

"There were quarrels and they were upsetting, but in a strange way there was so much love around, it overshadowed the distress," he told the BBC's "Desert Island Discs" program in 2006.

Born on May 24, 1932, Wesker never went to college but instead had a string of jobs that informed his writing, including bookseller's assistant, farm laborer, kitchen porter and pastry cook, as well as service in the Royal Air Force in 1950-52.

"I really do feel I missed out not going go to university," he told the BBC. "I just failed exams. I didn't even pass my English exams. When I write prose, I keep my fingers crossed that I'm writing it as I remember having read it in good literature."



In the stiff, upper-class world of British drama in the 1950s, Wesker was part of a wave of new voices who took on all subjects, the "kitchen sink" of drama. Together with playwrights like Harold Pinter, Wesker helped broaden the appeal of theater to a new generation.

His plays have experienced a revival of late, with "Chicken Soup" performed in 2011 at London's Royal Court Theatre. Dominic Cooke, the Royal Court's artistic director at the time, said Wesker understood theater "is always metaphorical, even when the social context of the play is realistic and detailed."



"In 'Chicken Soup,' for example, the gradually disintegrating family stands for the fading political idealism of the 20th century, but the daily life of the family on stage is brought to life with insight and honesty," he said.

Wesker's other well-known plays include "Chips With Everything," based on his service in the RAF, and "The Kitchen," which draws on his days as a pastry cook. They were stories of ordinary people and real life. And he loved telling them well.
Delhi government today said that private schools which are housed on its land cannot increase their fees without seeking prior approval from it.

The announcement came days after take-over notices were sent to two branches of Maxfort School over alleged financial irregularities.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the government is ready to take "tough steps" to prevent "arbitrariness" in private schools' fee structure.

The government announced its stand after a delegation of parents met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Sisodia and complained about a private school over an increase in its fees.

"Kalka Public School located at Alaknanda has been directed not to increase fee without taking permission of government," Sisodia tweeted.

He also said that private schools, which are built on government land, cannot increase fees without prior nod from the government.

"The government is serious about preventing arbitrariness by private schools and is ready to take strict steps," said the deputy chief minister who also holds education portfolio.

Earlier this week, the government had issued show-cause notices to two branches of Maxfort School (Pitampura and Rohini) asking why it should not take over their management after finding these to be "guilty of financial irregularities and other malpractices".
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will today meet the family of the 17-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and murdered last month in Bikaner even as her father reiterated his demand for a CBI probe into the matter.

Gandhi arrived in a plane and landed at Uttarlai airforce station from where he along with the PCC President Sachin Pilot and former MP Harish Chaudhary left for the girl's village, which is nearly 100 kms from here.

After meeting the family, Gandhi will leave for Jaipur to address a Dalit sammelan.

Sitting outside his single-room house along with other members of the family and locals, the father, Mahendra Ram, told reporters, "The government's attitude is apathetic and police is also trying to dilute the case. It was a murder but police is saying it was suicide. I have no faith in the investigation of the local police therefore I demand a CBI inquiry for an impartial probe."



"I want justice for my daughter and that will be only through impartial investigation. The local police is diluting the case, the state government has neglected our demand but Rahul Gandhi listened to our demands and he is arriving here," he said, adding, he expects Gandhi to raise the issue.

45-year-old Ram said he took the decision to allow his daughter to study as she was an intelligent student.

The girl, who was persuadingBSTC(a teacher training course) in a private educational institute, was found dead in a water tank on March 30. In the intervening night of March 28-29, she had been found in the room of physical trainer and instructor Vijendra Singh by the hostel warden.

Singh was arrested after the girl was found dead. The hostel warden and principal were also arrested for not informing the police when she was found in the instructor's room.

Congress leaders have supported the family's demand for a CBI inquiry and held the BJP government responsible in such cases against Dalits.
Rejecting Congress's allegations against his son and BJP MP Abhishek Singh that he held offshore assets, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today dubbed such charges as "politically motivated".

"Four months ago the same allegation was levelled (against Abhishek Singh) and that time also he had refuted it," he told reporters here to a query over allegations of his son holding offshore assets.

The Chief Minister was interactingwithmedia persons at Swami Vivekanand Airport here after returning from his week-long China tour.

"Abhishek has rejected the allegation and clarified that neither he has offshore accounts nor any (foreign) investment. These charges are nothing but politically motivated," Singh said.

Last week, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had alleged at a press conference in Delhi that as per an investigation by International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) a year ago, Abhishek Singh was holding offshore assets, a charge denied by the Lok Sabha MP from Rajnandgaon.

Meanwhile, terming his China visit as successful, the Chief Minister said his delegation visited different parts of the neighbouring country from April 6-12, during which several MoUs were signed in different sectors which would attract an investment of around Rs 26,000crorein the state.

Singh also said that on the occasion of Dr B R Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary tomorrow, he will inaugurate Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Gram UdayseBharat Uday Campaign' from Rajnandgaon and subsequently, a mega 'Gram Suraaj Abhiyan' will also be carried out in the state.

During the 'GramSuraajAbhiyan' and the PM's village self governance campaign, focuswill be on development while dealing with water scarcity will be another major issue, he said.

"We will take steps for water conservation wherever there is shortageof water and also make necessary arrangements. A working plan will also be drafted in coordination with different departments to avoid scarcity of water in those areas in future," he added.

Singh is also credited with introducing a transparent



and efficient PDS system which is being followed by other states. Besides, he succeeded in enacting Chhattisgarh Food Security Act, much before the National Food Security Act.

Along with appreciation, his government also faced allegations of corruption.

When the alleged multi-crore scam in the state's civil supply corporation was unearthed last year, over a dozen officials and employees were booked in this connection.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is likely to submit a charge sheet against two IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officers in connection with the scam.

Even the opposition tried to embroil the Chief Minister and his family in the scam.

The state government also faced criticism over death of women after sterilisation surgery at government-held camps in Bilaspur in 2014,the incident ofunnecessary hysterectomies by doctors to allegedly make insurance claims, botched cataract surgeries, and alleged killing innocent tribals in the name of Naxal encounters.

Left Wing Extremism has been another major issue with which the state has been struggling since past several years.

The chief minister says thatthe way Maoist problem has been eliminated from Sarguja (north Chhattisgarh bordering Jharkhand and Odisha), Bastar will also soon get out of the clutches of Naxalism.

Meanwhile, the main opposition Congresshas put forth 13 questions on different issues, including promises made to farmers by BJPahead of the last Assembly polls, alleged increasing graph of crime against women and scams, before Chief Minister Raman Singh on completion of 13 years of his government, challenging him to come up for a debate over it.

"Chhattisgarh was known as paddy bowl, but according to the statistics of last few years, four farmers have committed suicide daily, on an average, in the state," state Congress president Bhupesh Baghel said.

"BJP has cheated farmers by not providing them bonus of Rs 300 and minimum support price of Rs 2,100 for each quintal of paddy, as promised them during the last Assembly polls," Baghel alleged.

"Development can't be achieved just by constructing some buildings and roads. The statistics reveal the ground realty that how common man's life has became difficult in the past 13 years of BJP government," he further said.
A trio of rare Bengal tiger cubs have become the stars of a Mexican circus in Nicaragua, one of the few Central American countries that still allow circuses to own live animals.

The tigers -- one white, one orange and one golden -- were born three months ago to Paulina, a 200-kilogram female in the De Renato Circus, its owner, Renato Fuentes Townsend, told AFP.

Bengal tigers are classed as an endangered species, and Fuentes said "it is the first case I've seen" of such varied coloring in one litter.

His outfit, part of a traditional Mexican circus group called Hermanos Gasca, is unable to return to its homeland because of a law passed there 15 months ago prohibiting circuses from owning live animals, in line with legislation across much of Central America.

The circus has been touring for the past five years with a menagerie that also includes female elephants, two camels, a buffalo, a pony, two miniature donkeys and four horses.
Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today requested Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi to lead the 'Loktantra Bachao, Uttarakhand Bachao' agitation against the dismissal of the party's government in the hill state.

Rawat, who met Gandhi to brief him about the political scenario in the state, told the Congress Vice President that his participation would enthuse party workers in Uttarakhand, who have launched an aggressive agitation against the Centre over the dismissal of the Rawat government.

Talking to reporters, Rawat said the party will organise a series of agitations to highlight how the Narendra Modi government is pursuing its 'Congress-mukt Bharat' agenda by "toppling democratically-elected party governments".

Congress has started the 'Loktantra Bachao, Uttarakhand Bachao' (Save Democracy, Save Uttarakhand) campaign to elicit the support of the people against BJP over the imposition of President's rule in the state.

Targeting the Modi government, Rawat said it was pursuing a policy of "combative federalism".

Rawat is learnt to have briefed Gandhi about the scenario for Congress if BJP chooses to form the government in Uttarakhand with support from the rebel MLAs or if the Assembly is dissolved immediately for holding fresh elections.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal had on Wednesday asked Sebi to re-investigate whether Independent Media Trust, related to RIL, acquired control over from Raghav Bahl even before inking the share purchase pact in 2014.

The tribunal gave the direction to Sebi while deciding on an appeal which alleged that the open offer price fixed by the acquirers of was much less.

In February 2012, an investment agreement was entered into between Independent Media Trust  of which Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary  and six holding of Raghav Bahl and the Bahl Group.

Under the pact, Independent Media Trust was to invest in the six holding by subscribing to Zero Coupon, Optionally and fully Convertible Debentures (ZOCD).

Meanwhile, the Share Purchase Agreement between the parties was inked in May 2014. "Perusal of various clauses contained in the ZOCD agreement... led us to believe, prima facie, that by executing ZOCD agreement on February 27, 2012 the Bahl group sought to divest its control over the six holding and consequently sought to divest control over target company and TV18 without receiving any consideration which is rather strange and unusual to say the least," the tribunal said.

Two shareholders of  Victor Fernandes and Sangeeta Fernandes  had filed the appeal against Sebi, Independent Media Trust, Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings, Reliance Industries, JM Financial Institutional Securities and Network 18.

In the present case, the tribunal said that divesting the control over the target company prima facie falls within the meaning of the word 'control' as defined under Sebi's Takeover Regulations.

According to SAT, Sebi has failed to give reasons as to why various clauses contained in the ZOCD agreement do not amount to divesting control over the target company to Independent Media Trust.

The tribunal said that in public interest it was directing Sebi to "re-investigate the question as to whether the respondent No 2 (Independent Media Trust) in the guise of executing ZOCD agreement, indirectly acquired control over the target company without following the procedure prescribed under the Takeover Regulations, 2011".

In case, it is found so, the tribunal said appropriate action should be taken against the concerned person or persons for violating takeover norms "so that such violations are not committed again".

In July 2014, Reliance Industries had announced taking control of Network 18 and its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast Ltd.

SAT said the appellants' argument that Sebi should have approved the open offer price at Rs 5,68,430.32 per share of Network 18 instead of Rs 41.04 apiece is without any merit.

As per the share purchase agreement, purchase of 60,000 shares of the six holding companies by Independent Media Trust constituted acquisition of 100% shares of the six entities.

Since that amounted to Independent Media Trust indirectly acquiring shares having voting rights in excess of 25% in Network 18, the open offer was triggered.

If the gross amount paid under the share purchase agreement dated May 29, 2014 for acquisition of shares of the six holding companies and RB Holdings Pvt Ltd is segregated, then Independent Media Trust has paid less than Rs 41.04 per share of Network 18.

"Therefore, in the facts of present case, decision of Sebi in approving the open offer price at Rs 41.04 per share, by taking into consideration the amount invested under the ZOCD agreement cannot be faulted," the order said.
Relatives whose loved ones died last year when a Germanwings pilot deliberately crashed a plane in the French Alps filed a wrongful death suit today against the US flight school that trained him.

"Andreas Lubitz, the suicidal pilot, should never have been allowed to enter" the training program at Airline Training Center Arizona, Inc (ATCA), said Brian Alexander, an attorney who filed the suit in federal court in Phoenix, Arizona.

It was filed on behalf of 80 people whose relatives perished in the March 15, 2015 crash of a Germanwings' Flight A320. Alexander's firm, Kreindler and Kreindler, was joined in the suit by attorneys in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

The crash took 150 lives, including that of Lubitz, a troubled pilot who struggled for years with mental health problems.

Lubitz received pilot training at ATCA, between November 2010 and March 2011. ATCA, like Germanwings, is owned by the German airline Lufthansa.

Alexander said in a statement that ATCA was "not just negligent, but also careless, and even reckless, in failing to apply its own well-advertised 'stringent' standards to discover the history of Lubitz's severe mental illness that should have kept Lubitz from admission to ATCA's flight school."



Investigators found after the crash that Lubitz, 27, had a history of depression and suicidal tendencies and the case has raised questions about medical checks faced by pilots as well as doctor-patient confidentiality.

Lubitz was allowed to continue flying despite having been seen by doctors dozens of times in the years preceding the disaster.
Relatives whose loved ones died last year when a Germanwings pilot deliberately crashed a plane in the French Alps filed a wrongful death suit today against the US flight school that trained him.

"Andreas Lubitz, the suicidal pilot, should never have been allowed to enter" the training program at Airline Training Center Arizona, Inc. (ATCA), said Brian Alexander, an attorney who filed the suit in federal court in Phoenix, Arizona.

It was filed on behalf of 80 people whose relatives perished in the March 15, 2015 crash of a Germanwings' Flight A320. Alexander's firm, Kreindler and Kreindler, was joined in the suit by attorneys in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

The crash took 150 lives, including that of Lubitz, a troubled pilot who had struggled for years with mental health problems.

The 28-year-old locked the pilot out of the cockpit and while alone at the controls, steered the jetliner into the side of a mountain, killing all 144 passengers and six crew.

The pilot, Captain Patrick Sondenheimer, can be heard on the "black box" recording retrieved from the crash site, banging on the cockpit door in the minutes before the crash, pleading with his young co-pilot to open it up.

Lubitz had received pilot training at ATCA between November 2010 and March 2011. ATCA, like the budget air carrier Germanwings, is owned by the German airline Lufthansa.

A spokeswoman for Lufthansa said the suit had "no chance of success," but declined further comment.

Alexander said ATCA was "not just negligent, but also careless, and even reckless, in failing to apply its own well-advertised 'stringent' standards to discover the history of Lubitz's severe mental illness that should have kept Lubitz from admission to ATCA's flight school."



Investigators determined after the crash that Lubitz, 27, had a history of depression and suicidal tendencies and the case has raised questions about medical checks faced by pilots as well as doctor-patient confidentiality.

But the plaintiffs' lawyers said numerous red flags should have made it clear that Lubitz -- with a history of serious mental illness that included suicidal tendencies -- was unfit to be a pilot.

His struggle with depression and other mental illnesses before entering ATCA's program was sufficiently serious to require that he break off his pilot's training for 10 months and receive treatment in hospital, the lawyers said in their suit.
British royal couple Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton today visited the Kaziranga National Park in a jeep safari.

Wearing the Assamese honour scarf 'Bihuwan', they sat in an open jeep with security vehicles escorting them into the Bagori range of the world heritage site known for one-horned rhinos.

After they came out of the park, officials accompanying the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge briefed the waiting journalists at the gate of KNP saying the couple saw rhinos, buck deer, buffaloes and many other animals.

They also went to the Dunga and Rowmari Forest camps mostly inhabitated by rhinos and tigers in the park.

They had breakfast at Bimoli camp and interacted with the KNP frontline staff asking about the habits of rhinos and elephants, the officials said.

They also enquired about the anti-poaching measures and if they were satisfied with the efforts. Prince William enquired about the challenges they faced in their efforts to keep the animals safe from poachers and if they required superior weapons.

The Duke and Dutchess also asked about the families of the forest personnel, they said.

The couple was informed about forest conservation efforts and anti-poaching measures adopted to reduce the killing of rhinos by poachers.

Before setting out on the safari, the royal couple was welcomed in front of the Kaziranga Infomation Centre by Principal Chief Conservator of Forest O P Pandey and Additional PCCF N K Yadav with the traditional 'Bihuwan'.

They read in detail the map of the park and information about the animals with senior forest officials explaining to them where the animals could be spotted.

(REOPENS CES3)



The royal couple had yesterday arrived at Tezpur on a two-day visit. After a 90-minute drive from Tezpur Airport, they came to the Diphlu River Lodge in Kaziranga where they were entertained with Assam's folk dance Bihu and Jhumur dance of the tea tribes.

Before the dance performances started, they observed the tradition of offering a 'horai' (bell metal plate with a stand) of 'paan-tambul' (betal nuts) with 'dokhina' (offerings) to the 'Gurujona' (God) for peace and prosperity of all.

The Duke and Duchess interacted with the dancers, drum players and pepa (local flute) players and Prince William even attempted to blow a pepa.

He asked one pepa player Ankur Phukan from the bihu troupe at what age he started playing the instrument.

Today, before setting out on the safari, they soaked in the view from the sight seeing tower of the Diflu River Lodge while having their morning tea.

Both the Duke and Duchess are scheduled to visit the Kaziranga Discovery Centre, where the Mark Shand Asian Elephant Learning Centre is situated, to see and know the activities of the Captive Elephant Clinic which completed 4883 cases.

The royal couple will also be briefed about efforts to protect the Asian Elephants by the local people of Rong Terang village, considered friends of Mark Roland Shand, a renowned travel writer and conservationist.

Shand was the brother of Duchess of Cornwall Camilla and the co-founder of the Foundation of Elephant Family in 2002.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said Rs 15,000 crore will be spent on Bhopal's development in the next five years.

"People who come to the state capital get swayed by its beauty. Rs 15,000 crore will be spent on Bhopal's development in the next five years and a blue-print for this has been drawn," the Chief Minister said after inaugurating a railway overbridge (ROB) at the Habibganj station here.

The ROB - Savarkar Sethu - is named after freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

He said greenery will be enhanced in the smart city which will come up here. Bhopal is among the 20 cities selected in the first batch by the Centre for the Smart City project.

Chouhan also announced Rs 100 crore especially for infrastructure development in the capital city. Earlier, during the programme, the Bhopal Mayor had sought Rs 75 crore for the purpose.

Praising the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) for naming the ROB after Savarkar, Chouhan said like him (Savarkar) many patriots sacrificed their lives to free us from the British rule.

Unfortunately, we have forgotten many of these heroes, the Chief Minister added.

He said Savarkar was a great patriot and also announced financial help to youths from the state who will visit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands where Savarkar and other freedom fighters were imprisoned during the British rule.
Russia today pushed for measures at the United Nations to monitor extremist groups fighting in Syria, warning of a "clear and present threat" that they could stage chemical attacks, possibly in Europe.

Russia and China presented a draft Security Council resolution that calls on all countries, in particular those neighboring Syria such as Turkey and Iraq, to report any move by armed groups to acquire or produce chemical weapons.

Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the measure would address the threat of chemical terrorism.

"I have not heard anybody claim that they are concerned that the Syrian government may use chemical weapons in a subway in a European city -- all those things are happening with the terrorists," Churkin told reporters.

"We know that they there is a strong concern, with reports that thousands of them have moved to Europe."



"Could some of them have brought with them components of chemical weapons? Could some of them have brought to a European city or European country their knowledge of how to build chemical weapons?"



"Obviously, this is a clear and present threat."



The draft resolution was presented during a closed-door council meeting to discuss progress in a UN-mandated investigation to determine who is behind chemical attacks in Syria.

The joint investigative mechanism (JIM) was set up last year after evidence surfaced of chlorine gas attacks on three Syrian villages in 2014 that left 13 dead.

A strong Syrian ally, Russia reluctantly backed a resolution setting up the JIM after rejecting western claims that the Damascus regime was behind the chlorine gas attacks.

President Bashar al-Assad's regime and rebel groups have accused each other of using chemical weapons in the five-year war that has killed more than 270,000 people.

Churkin said the draft resolution would address a "loophole" in efforts to prevent chemical weapons use by asking for reports from member-states and also requesting that the JIM monitor the armed groups.

"We do not do any work on the possibility of terrorists actually preparing to build chemical weapons," he said.

Western diplomats dismissed the measure as an attempt to dilute the mandate of the JIM, which is working to draw up a list of perpetrators of chemical attacks.

The draft resolution was also seen as targeting Turkey, which Russia has repeatedly accused of helping jihadists fighting Assad's forces.

A first report by the JIM in February zeroed in on five possible cases of serious chemical weapons use including an attack in Marea on August 21, 2015, that pointed to the likely use of mustard gas by Islamic State militants.
Russian military aircraft have conducted a series of "aggressive" overflights of a US destroyer in international waters in the Baltic Sea, a US defense official said today.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official described several incidents this week, including one yesterday in which a Russian Su-24 jet flew just 30 feet above the USS Donald Cook in a "simulated attack profile."



"This is more aggressive than anything we've seen in some time," the official said.

The maneuvers began Monday while the destroyer was located about 70 nautical miles from Kaliningrad in International waters.

Two Russian Su-24s flew 20 times past the USS Cook at a distance of less than 1,000 yards and at an altitude of about 100 feet, the official said.

Then yesterday, a Russian Ka-27 Helix anti-submarine helicopter flew seven times around the destroyer, taking photographs as it passed.

Shortly after, an Su-24 arrived and flew straight over the ship, "so low it created wake in the water," the official said. The plane was "wings clean," meaning it was not visibly armed.

US sailors tried multiple times to hail the Russian craft on international frequencies but got no response.

"The commanding officer (of the Cook) -- his assessment was that this was unsafe and unprofessional," the official said of the overflights.

The incidents come at a time of heightened tension between Moscow and Washington over Russian involvement in conflicts in eastern Ukraine and in Syria.
Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut today said those having links with Russian and Nigerian "mafia" should be banned in Goa, and not someone like Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik.

"Muthalik should not be banned in Goa," Raut said, speaking to reporters here.

Since 2014, BJP-led Goa government has denied Muthalik permission to enter the state, as police fear his entry can create a law and order problems.

"There are many others from outside from Nigerian and Russian mafia who need to be banned," the Rajya Sabha MP said.

"Even the Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Kanhaiya Kumar is moving around freely in the country," Raut quipped.

Muthalik, whose organisation hit the headlines after an attack on young men and women at a Mangalore pub, had said he planned to protest against the "pub culture" in Goa.
South Korea's conservative ruling party said it had "disappointed" voters after it suffered a serious setback in today's general election, losing its 16 years of parliamentary majority.

The elections, clouded by North Korean nuclear threats and the multiple challenges facing Asia's fourth largest economy, came as President Park Geun-Hye enters the final stretch of her term in office.

With more than 90 percent of ballots counted, Park's Saenuri Party was predicted to win 124 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, Yonhap agency said.

That leaves the party shy of the crucial 60 percent majority that would have allowed it to override opposition attempts to block legislation in the new assembly, making Park very much a lame duck.

"The Saenuri Party humbly accepts the election results and voters' choice," party spokesman Ahn Hyung-Hwan told journalists.

"The people are deeply disappointed with us, but we've failed to read their mind," he added.

The left-leaning main opposition Minjoo Party was projected to secure 121 seats and the splinter opposition People's Party was predicted to bag 39 spots.

It marked the first time in 16 years the conservative party has lost control of parliament, with the three opposition parties tipped to win a combined 165 seats, well over the majority.

Voter turnout was 58 per cent, up 3.8 percentage points from the 2012 election, and final official results were expected tomorrow morning.

"This is a voters' judgement against President Park. Many voters are fed up with her authoritarian style of administration", Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies told AFP.

Park has also fallen short on most of her key economic promises, a failure she puts down to legislative inaction.

But critics accuse her of skewed priorities, poor decision-making and a dogmatic style of leadership.

Political power in South Korea is firmly concentrated in the presidency, with incumbents limited to a single five-year term.

Dissatisfaction is especially high among young people, with the jobless rate among those aged 15-29 at record levels.

The left-wing opposition sought to frame today's vote as a referendum on Park's economic policies. But it has suffered from factional infighting and breakaways that threaten to split the liberal vote.
South Korea's conservative ruling party may have lost its parliamentary majority in today's general election, exit polls by three TV channels showed.

The polls said the Saenuri Party was forecast to win between 118 and 147 seats in the 300-member National Assembly.

The main opposition Minjoo Party was expected to secure between 97 and 128 and the splinter opposition People's Party to win between 31 and 43 seats.

"Obviously, we're worried about the exit poll results but we will calmly wait until the final ballot counting results are returned", Saenuri's parliamentary floor leader Won Yoo-Chul said on national KBS TV.

The elections were clouded by North Korean nuclear threats and the multiple challenges facing Asia's fourth-largest economy, as President Park Geun-Hye enters the final stretch of her term in office.

Political power in South Korea is firmly concentrated in the presidency and elections to the single-chamber national assembly are traditionally dominated by local issues.

It is expected to become clear at about 1500GMT if Saenuri has lost its majority.

Observers, however, cautioned that exit polls have been wrong in the past five parliamentary elections.

If the ruling party, which won 152 parliamentary seats four years ago, fails to hold a majority it would be forced to rely on independent lawmakers to retain power in parliament.

Rising unemployment, plunging exports and worryingly high levels of household debt have led to criticisms of Park's handling of the economy and, by extension, of her ruling conservative Saenuri Party.

Dissatisfaction is especially high among young people, with the jobless rate among those aged 15-29 at record levels.

The left-wing opposition has sought to frame the vote as a referendum on Park's economic policies, but has suffered from factional infighting and breakaways that threaten to split the liberal vote to Saenuri's advantage.

Kate Kim, an unemployed 25-year-old college graduate, said that crippling levels of joblessness had persuaded her and many of her previously apathetic friends to vote.

"This is the first time I have voted... Our country desperately needs change, especially for young and jobless people like me," Kim said.

All 300 seats in the legislature are up for grabs, with 253 chosen in first-past-the-post constituency elections, and the remaining 47 elected on a separate ballot via proportional representation.

Analysts had predicted Saenuri's chances would receive a boost from surging military tensions on the divided peninsula.

But the exit polls indicated that threats from North Korea may have failed to aid of the ruling party, traditionally regarded as hawkish on security issues.
Singapore, a major international financial centre, has put in place a "robust preventive regime" as part of the global efforts against money- laundering, a top official said today.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has put in place a "robust preventive regime" that combines tough licensing requirements, strict regulations and rigorous supervision, said Chan Chun Sing, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office in parliament today.

Speaking on behalf of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Chan told the house "Financial institutions here have to put in place controls to detect and deter illicit funds through the Singapore financial system.

They are required to report any suspicious transactions that they come across.

Responding to a question in the house, the Minister also pointed to the Suspicious Trade Reporting Office, which plays a key part in flagging potential illicit transactions here.

Opposition member of parliament, Sylvia Lim, had asked whether the country's anti-money laundering regime is robust enough to deter illicit money flowing through its financial system.

Local reports said the question was raised in light of the current investigation into Malaysia's state fund 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the recent release of the Panama Papers, which detailed the offshore financial activities of political leaders and international figures.

Singapore's Attorney-General's Chambers is assisting its Swiss counterpart with investigations into the troubled 1MDB, financial dealings of which is linked to the Malaysian government.

The chambers is assisting the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland relating to information and documents on certain fund flows from 1MDB and entities related to it, The Straits Times reported today.

On Singapore's stance on corruption in general, Chan agreed with Lim that while corruption numbers are low, the country must continue to maintain its vigilance.

"We have a robust and comprehensive anti-corruption framework. Our Prevention of Corruption Act provides for extra-territorial jurisdiction such that acts of Singapore citizens, even if it's done overseas, will be dealt with in the same manner as they were committed in Singapore," he said.

"Our reputation for being against corruption is hard-fought and hard-won, but that does not mean we can let our guard down," Chan was quoted as saying by Channel Asia.
CBI will send judicial requests to Singapore, Hong Kong and the USA in an attempt to trace money trail, a possible motive, in the Sheena Bora murder case in which former media baron Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani are main suspects.

Sources said CBI today approached a special court in Mumbai with an application to issue Letters Rogatory in connection with the murder case.

They said once the court issues LRs, these will be sent to judicial authorities, through diplomatic channels, of Singapore, Hong Kong and the USA with a request to provide desired information.

CBI is investigating money as possible motive behind killing of 24-year-old Bora, Indrani's daughter from her first marriage.

The agency had told a special court that Peter and Indrani allegedly siphoned off funds to the tune of Rs 900 crore from their company 9X Media through a layer of nine companies.

The CBI had made the submission while telling the court that it has sought Interpol's help for access to overseas bank accounts of the Mukerjeas.

It had claimed that investments of crores of rupees were allegedly made by the Mukerjea couple and that "Indrani and Peter had formed various companies during 2006-07 and invested Rs 900 crore in them".

The agency had alleged that the "money siphoned off from INX (in which Peter and Indrani were partners) dealings was routed to Sheena Bora's HSBC account in Singapore".

CBI also told the court that a woman working in DBS Bank Singapore allegedly helped Indrani open an account in HSBC Singapore in the name of Sheena.

During investigations, Peter had allegedly told CBI that accounts might have been opened in the name of Sheena (by Indrani) in HSBC and other banks in Hongkong and Singapore.

According to CBI, the couple's company 9X Media Pvt Ltd allegedly carried out its internal audit in which nine companies having shareholding as on March 2009 were found to have instances of alleged misallocation and siphoning off substantial amounts of funds by Peter and Indrani.

Sheena (24) was allegedly killed by Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her former driver Shyamvar Rai in April 2012. Peter was also arrested in the case.
As part of its expansion plans, US-based fitness chain Snap Fitness is planning to open around 240 health clubs across the country in the next three years.

The company, which entered India in 2008, currently has 60 operating centres across the country.

"Our goal is to have a footprint of 300 clubs over the next three years. Our immediate focus is on opening 20 stores by the end of this year," Snap Fitness Global CEO and President Peter Taunton told PTI.

India has been a very important market for the company and one of the fastest emerging ones in the APAC region, he added.

Out of the total 300 health clubs, 270 will be franchise clubs and 30 company owned, he said.

"We follow a 'hub-and-spoke' model, where we have one company-owned centre and franchise-run locations built around that area," Taunton said.

When asked how the company plans to fund the expansion, he said: "The investment required to open one club is approximately Rs 1.5 crore. Franchise-owned clubs are funded completely by the franchise owners."



The company-owned stores are funded mainly by internal accruals, he said adding: "We are also open to PE investment."



Apart from focusing on the markets in India where it does not have a strong presence, the company is looking for smaller cities for future expansion.

"We are a strong player in South India and our focus is now in the northern belt. We currently have 10 outlets in Delhi-NCR and are looking at opening more centres there," Taunton said.

Going forward, tier-II cities will be integral markets to the company's expansion plans as "we will be looking at opening in a lot more tier-II cities," he added.

As part of future expansion in India, he said: "We will also look to build, operate and transfer model where we will be looking at opening stores in a new area and transferring ownership to a franchisee once it's successful. We currently also manage clubs for franchisees at a management cost."



Snap Fitness is currently present in Bangalore, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, Vadodara, Guwahati Mysore, Tumkur and Davangere, among others.

Founded in 2003 by Peter Taunton, Snap Fitness is currently present in 18 countries including USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, India, Mexico and Egypt with over 2,500 clubs.
South Koreans today voted in a parliamentary election that many predict will hand President Park Geun-hye's conservative party a decisive win, despite frustrations over a sluggish economy.

If the vote allows the ruling Saenuri Party to comfortably regain its majority over a divided opposition, as pollsters predict, it raises expectations the party will take the presidency in 2017, after Park's single term expires.

Criticism of Park's economic policies has taken a back seat to national security issues following North Korea's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

Hostility between the rival Koreas in election years has often been seen as helping the conservatives by allowing them to highlight their hard-line approach against the North. Liberals have traditionally backed rapprochement policies with the North.

Officials from the main opposition Minjoo Party have expressed worry that Saenuri could achieve something close to a two-thirds supermajority of the 300 seats in the new National Assembly.

Official figures show household debt is at new highs and the unemployment rate for people under 30 is approaching levels not seen since the late 1990s, when millions lost their jobs during a crippling financial crisis.

In a survey of 1,000 adults unveiled last week by Gallup Korea, the percentage of respondents saying Park was doing a good job as president rose by 5 percentage points from the previous week to 43 per cent.

The survey showed that Park's supporters highly rated her diplomatic policies and stern measures against the North, including economic sanctions and the shutdown of a factory park in the North that had been jointly run by the rivals.

Since losing its second consecutive presidential election in 2012, the Minjoo Party has struggled with factional infighting and lawmaker defections, and saw its seats decline from 127 to 102 in the current assembly.

In this year's general election, the Minjoo has been forced to compete for mainstream liberal votes with a new party created mostly by those who left Minjoo, including its former co-chairman, Ahn Cheol-soo, who is seen as a potential candidate for the 2017 presidential election.

Ahn's People's Party has focused its campaigning efforts in the southwest Jeolla region, which has traditionally been the core liberal support base. Some pundits predicted that a strong showing by the People's Party in the region could cost Minjoo as many as 20 to 30 seats.

South Korea's electorate is deeply divided along generational and ideological lines and also by fierce regional loyalties. Voters in the southeast Gyeongsang regions have for decades overwhelmingly voted for conservatives in parliamentary and presidential elections.
Spanish police said today they had detained a French national suspected of heading a weapons trafficking ring that provided arms to Amedy Coulibaly, who staged a deadly attack on a Jewish supermarket in Paris last year.

In a statement, police said Antoine Denevi, a 27-year-old originally from northern France, was detained yesterday in the southern Spanish Malaga area after Paris issued a Europe-wide arrest warrant.

He "left the neighbouring country (France) weeks after the Paris attacks to escape police action, and settled in the province of Malaga from where he continued his illegal activities using fake papers," the police said.

"It's also been determined that his activities were linked with people of Serbian origin, who may have facilitated his access to arms and munitions."



Both Spanish and French police forces participated in yesterday's operation, during which two other people were detained -- one Serb and another from Montenegro.

Coulibaly was one of three Islamic extremists who waged attacks in Paris on January 7-9 last year that left 17 dead.

He shot dead a policewoman and later took hostages in a Jewish supermarket, where he killed four people.

His accomplices, the Kouachi brothers, killed 12 in an attack on the office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Sri Lanka has made "historic" accomplishments in the past one year, signaling the people's commitment for reconciliation, tolerance and peace, US Secretary of State John Kerry said today.

In a message to greet Sri Lankan people on the occasion of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, Kerry said, "I offer my best wishes for a happy New Year and continued success as you move ahead with the new constitution and further efforts to strengthen Sri Lanka's democracy and prosperity".

The past year's accomplishments have been "historic, demonstrating the deep commitment of the Sri Lankan people for reconciliation, tolerance and peace", Kerry said.

Kerry visited Colombo in May last year to convey the US government's appreciation of the democratic transformation in the country which laid the foundation for the new government's current efforts to achieve national reconciliation.

Kerry during his last year's visit to Sri Lanka had praised President Maithripala Sirisena's new government for reaching out to the Tamil minority after the end of the nearly three-decade of ethnic conflict that claimed more than 100,000 lives.

Sirisena had vowed to pursue reconciliation more vigorously than his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was known for his hardline Sinhalese nationalism.
Prehistoric humans may have developed social norms that favour monogamy and punish polygamy due to the presence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and peer pressure, a new study suggests.

As hunter-gatherers began living in larger populations of early settled agriculturalists, the spread of STIs could explain a shift towards the emergence of social norms that favoured one sexual partner over many, researchers said.

Researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada used computer modelling techniques to simulate the evolution of different social mating behaviours in human populations based on demographic and disease transmission parameters.

"This research shows how events in natural systems, such as the spread of contagious diseases, can strongly influence the development of social norms and in particular our group-oriented judgements," said Chris Bauch, professor at the University Research Chair at Waterloo.

The study, by Bauch and Richard McElreath from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, found that when population sizes become large, the presence of STIs decreases fertility rates more among males with multiple partners, therefore changing which mating behaviour proves to be most beneficial to individuals and groups.

In early hunter-gatherer populations, it was common for a few males to monopolise mating with multiple females in order to increase their number of offspring.

In these small societies where there is a maximum of 30 sexually mature individuals, STI outbreaks are short-lived and tend not to have as significant an effect on the population.

However, as societies evolved around agriculture and group sizes grew, the research predicts that prevalence of STIs increased amongst polygamist networks that overlapped.

With the absence of modern medicines, infertility from syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea would likely have been high.

This made it more advantageous for males to mate monogamously, and more importantly, to punish other males who did not. Groups that enforced monogamous social norms could therefore outcompete groups lacking such norms.

"Our social norms did not develop in complete isolation from what was happening in our natural environment. On the contrary, we can't understand social norms without understanding their origins in our natural environment," said Bauch.

"Our social norms were shaped by our natural environment. In turn, the environment is shaped by our social norms, as we are increasingly recognising," he said.

The researchers note that STIs may be one factor among many - including female choice, pathogen stress and technological impacts - that altered human behaviour from polygamy to monogamy.

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
A parliamentary panel is likely to recommend a hefty penalty and a jail term of up to five years to celebrities endorsing misleading advertisements.

"The panel has discussed the issue at length at several meetings. It felt there was a need to fix some accountability for misleading ads. It has decided to recommend a hefty fine and even a jail term of up to five years," a source said.

For a first-time offence, the panel is planning to propose a Rs 10 lakh fine or imprisonment up to two years or both. A second offence could attract Rs 50 lakh fine and imprisonment for five years.

The panel is also planning to propose increase in the penalty for subsequent offences, which can be linked to the sale volumes of such products or services, sources added.

The 20-member Parliamentary Committee on Consumer Affairs, headed by Telugu Desam Party MP J C Divakar Reddy, is scheduled to meet again on April 19 to finalise the report, which will later be placed before the Parliamentary session starting April 25.

The sources added, "The panel is concerned about consumers who get misled by celebrity endorsements of products and services which are either poor quality or sub-standard."



The panel observed that a steep financial penalty is necessary to ensure brand ambassadors become careful while signing an advertisement contract with private firms.

On action against Maggi brand ambassadors like Madhuri Dixit, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had last year said: "Everybody associated with the misleading ads put out on the nutritive value of Maggi Noodles was liable for action under FSSAI."



Some celebrities have come under fire for endorsing brands misleading consumers.
Suspected ethnic Fulani herders killed at least 15 villagers and burnt down homes in Taraba state in eastern Nigeria in a dispute over grazing rights, police said today.

State police spokesman Kwaji Joseph told AFP the incident happened on Sunday when the herdsmen stormed Dori and Mesuma in the Gashaka local government area.

"A group of people numbering about 20, suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, invaded and attacked Dori and Mesuma villages via Garbabi ward and burnt some thatched houses, forcing the villagers to flee into the villages of Mayo-Selbe and Sabon Gida for safety," he added.

"Eight people were killed in Dori while seven were also killed in Mesuma."



Police have been drafted to the area to contain the violence and "normalcy has since returned to the two villages", Joseph said, adding two people have been arrested.

Local media put the death toll higher, saying 44 people were killed and dozens of houses razed in the clashes.

The attack is the latest in a long-running dispute over grazing rights in Nigeria.

In the nearby central states of Benue and Plateau, deadly ethnic clashes are common. Recent violence in Benue is said to have killed hundreds of the ethnic Agatu community.

The largely agrarian Christian communities maintain the Muslim Fulani herdsmen are engaged in a prolonged battle to gobble up land from the areas of so-called indigenous people.

Fulani leaders counter their people face discrimination and are deprived of basic rights, including access to land, education and political office, despite having lived in the area for generations.
Some Syrians voted enthusiastically today in a parliamentary election held in areas controlled by President Bashar al-Assad's regime but others dismissed the vote as a sham.

Assad pressed ahead with the vote despite the start today of another round of UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending the devastating five-year conflict, with a political transition and the Syrian leader's future key sticking points.

Voters could cast ballots at some 7,200 polling stations opened in government-held areas -- around a third of the country's territory where about 60 per cent of the population lives.

They were due to close at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) after 12 hours of voting, unless the electoral commission decides to extend the deadline.

Assad's Baath party, which has controlled the country for more than half a century, is expected to extend its dominance of parliament, although several parties are participating in the polls.

"I voted because this election will decide the country's future. I hope that the winners will be true to the nation even before being true to the voters," Yamin al-Homsi, a 37-year old who voted in Damascus, told AFP.

Samer Issa, a taxi driver, told AFP he had "fulfilled his national duty" by casting his vote.

"Now, it's up to the winners to fulfil their promises," the 58-year-old added.

The presidency published photos of a smiling Assad and his wife Asma casting their ballots in Damascus.

"We have been at war for five years but terrorism has failed to reach its main goal, which is to destroy Syria's social structure and identity as safeguarded in the constitution," Assad said.

In the ancient city of Palmyra, where Russian-backed Syrian forces drove out the Islamic State jihadist group less than three weeks ago, four polling stations opened.

"I wasn't afraid to come vote today," one newly returned resident said.

Last month, the domestic opposition tolerated by the regime called for a widespread boycott, accusing the government of using the vote to gain leverage in the peace talks.

The High Negotiations Committee, the main opposition body involved in the negotiations, has branded the election "illegitimate".

In Syria's divided second city Aleppo, polling stations only opened in western government-held districts.

"These elections are a farce and I don't believe in them," said Mohammad Zobaidiyyeh, who works as a mechanic in the eastern rebel-controlled neighbourhoods.

The vote is the second parliamentary ballot since the beginning of the war in 2011.

More than 270,000 people have died since, and millions more have been forced to flee their homes. The country's economy has all but collapsed and swathes of territory remain out of government control.
Talks to end Syria's brutal five-year conflict resumed in Geneva today, but were clouded by a surge of violence threatening a fragile truce on the ground.

Adding to the tensions, Syrians began voting in government-controlled areas in a parliamentary election which is not recognised by the United Nations or by President Bashar al-Assad's main opponents.

The UN-brokered talks in Geneva are aimed at forming a transitional government and a new constitution followed by general elections to end a conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced half of the country's population.

But Assad's fate remains a major stumbling block.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura met with Assad's key allies Tehran and Moscow ahead of a meeting with the main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) today afternoon and regime representatives later in the week, probably Friday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed the importance of this round of talks, which is scheduled to last about 10 days.

"The Syrian parties should discuss the new constitution, and how they see the structure that will ensure a peaceful transition towards a new system," he told reporters in Moscow.

A Western diplomat also said "there is more riding on this round" than previous rounds, since de Mistura is looking to tackle the thorny issue of "what does transition away from Assad actually look like".

Before the meeting with de Mistura, HNC advisor Yahya al-Aridi told AFP the opposition would "insist that there's one topic on its agenda: the political transition."



The main question will be whether the regime delegation will agree to broach the issue of Assad's future, which it until now has insisted is off limits.

De Mistura is "walking in a bit of a minefield," al-Aridi acknowledged.

Complicating matters further, a surge in violence in recent days has threatened a landmark ceasefire agreed in February.

This has piled more pressure on the talks, which follow fruitless attempts in previous years to negotiate an end to the bloodshed.

"Right now, there are signs that this (the ceasefire) is slipping and it is a much more delicate environment for de Mistura to convene political talks," US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power told reporters in New York after a briefing by the envoy yesterday.

Power said Moscow had to put pressure on Damascus to "get the regime back with the programme", adding she was "very alarmed" by Syria's plans to launch a Russian-backed counter-offensive in Aleppo, the epicentre of the renewed fighting.
India's tea exports to Pakistan jumped 59 per cent to Rs 176.95 crore in the April-February period of the 2015-16 financial year.

The overall outbound shipments of tea, on the other hand, rose by 11 per cent to Rs 3,884.74 crore in the same period.

Tea exports to the neighbouring nation stood at Rs 111.41 crore in the first eleven months of 2014-15 fiscal.

India is the world's second biggest tea producer and also one of the largest consumers. The country exports CTC (crush- tear-curl) grade tea to countries like Egypt, the UK, and other traditional varieties to Iraq, Iran and Russia.

The overall tea shipments was at Rs 3,508.38 crore in the April-February period of the 2014-15 fiscal, according to the Tea Board data.

The per unit price at which tea was exported to Pakistan increased to Rs 98.14 per kg in 2015-16 from Rs 83.14 per kg a year ago.

In volume terms, outward shipments from India to Pakistan increased to 18.03 million kg in the 11-month period of 2015-16, from 13.40 million kg in April-January period of 2014-15.

The total tea exported from India in the period under review rose to 202.81 million kg as against 180.84 million kg a year earlier.

The increase in tea exports was seen in major tea-importing countries such as the CIS countries, the UK, Germany, Poland, the UAE, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Tea production has been low this fiscal mainly due to unfavorable weather conditions. Besides, wage-related issues also hit tea producers.

The tea sector has also been facing other issues including migration of laborers to other industries.

Tea plucking in India mainly starts between July and October.
A 16-year-old girl from the district was allegedly kidnapped and raped by a youth who took her to Ludhiana from where she was rescued, police said today.

The girl, a resident of Kalyan-Malang Gadh road in Dombivili area of Thane, went missing on March 18. Initially, her parents filed a missing complaint.

When she was not found, the complaint was converted under relevant sections for abduction, said senior police inspector G S Randive of Manpada police station.

During probe in the matter, police tracked the girl and the youth to Ludhiana in Punjab while trying to gather their mobile phone locations, he said.

A police team from Dombivili then rushed to Ludhiana and rescued the girl on April 7. The youth, identified as Manish Munnilal Mourya (22), was subsequently arrested, Randive said.

As per the complaint, the accused, employed as a supervisor with a company in Dombivili, wooed the girl staying in her neighbourhood on the pretext of marrying her.

He took the girl to UP, Bihar and various other places prior to landing in Ludhiana where he did some odd jobs for livelihood.

During this period, the girl was allegedly raped by the accused on a number of occasions, police said.

The police team along with the girl and the youth reached Dombivili on April 8, Randive said.

On April 9, the accused was produced in court which remanded him in police custody for seven days.

The accused has been charged under sections 363 (kidnapping) and 376 (rape) of IPC and also sections 4 and 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, police added.
Telangana government would soon hold talks with Karnataka on taking up pending works of Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS) irrigation scheme in Mahabubnagar district.

"Telangana Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao has written a letter to his Karnataka counterpart M B Patil proposing talks between the two sides on RDS," an official release said.

The state is not able to provide water to 87,500 acres by availing 15.9 TMC water through RDS as per the tribunal award. The works proposed three years ago by the then undivided Andhra Pradesh government are still pending, Rao said.

The release stated the Telangana irrigation minister proposed to his Karnataka counterpart that the pending issues be resolved through talks and the date and time be suggested for the purpose.
Three brothers were today killed after their vehicle was hit by a truck near Gokul barrage here, police said.

The deceased, all residents of Faridabad in Haryana, have been identified as brothers Rajendra (28) and Vinod (25) and their cousin Bali (20), they said.

The mishap took place early morning when they along with other family members were returning from a pilgrimage in two separate vehicles, one of which was hit by the truck, police said.

Another person was injured in the incident, police said, adding he was rushed to a hospital where his condition was stated to be critical.
Three labourers working in an under-construction building in Fazalpur area in Cantonment here were injured in an attack by a leopard, which has created panic in the city prompting authorities to shut all schools today.

The injured trio has been admitted to a hospital where their condition was stated to be out of danger, District Magistrate Pankaj Yadav told PTI.

The feline was last morning spotted near the Army hospital in the Cantonment area. Army jawans had informed senior officials of the presence of the leopard in human settlements following which police and forest officials rushed to the spot.

A team of forest officials is trying to tranquilise the wild cat which was last spotted in the JCO mess of Army in the Cantonment adjoining Fazalpur, SSP D K Dubey said.

The team of experts which has been assigned the task of capturing the feline includes forest officials from Delhi, Bengal and Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, Dubey said.

All schools in the city uptill standard XII today remained closed as panic gripped the city after the leopard was spotted yesterday.

Locals have been advised not to move out of their houses, the DM said.

A team of forest officials from Bareilly last night shot tranquiliser darts into the leopard who was spotted sitting on a tree in the Army hospital complex. The big cat, however, managed to escape, Yadav said.

This is the third incident of a leopard entering human settlements in Meerut. Previously the big cat was spotted in 1995 and 2014.

(REOPEN MES1)



Meanwhile, Coimbatore District Collector Archana Patnaik today convened a meeting to discuss the strategy to capture and translocate the rogue elephant.

She discussed the issue with officials,including District Forest Officer K Periyasami and District Revenue Officer, Christ Raj, officials said.

Based on complaints from the public,particularly farmers, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests had ordered translocation of the elephant, which has killed at least three persons and destroyed agriculture produce worth lakhs.

Accordingly, Senior Forest Department officials and veterinarians from Coimbatore and Nilgiris district were deputed to the range yesterday to commence operations.

Meanwhile, one more Kumki (trained elephant), Paari from Chadivayal camp in the district today joined another Kumki, Vijay, aged 45 years brought yesterday from Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Nilgiris district, for the purpose, they said.
In a repeat of what happened in DMDK which saw a split albeit minor, Tamil Maanila Congress leaders Peter Alphonse and P Viswanathan today rejoined their parent party Congress.

Peter Alphonse, former Rajya Sabha MP and MLA, and P Viswanathan, former Lok Sabha MP, joined Congress in the presence of national General Secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu, Mukul Wasnik, TNCC chief EVKS Elangovan and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram at party headquarters Satyamurthy Bhavan.

Welcoming the duo, Elangovan said a big victory was awaiting Congress and it has gained strength by Alphnose and Viswanathan joining it.

"A situation has now emerged in which Congress is a big party after the two big parties of Tamil Nadu (AIADMK and DMK)," he said.

Chidambaram said, "Congress party has to undertake a long journey. In order to achieve the (party) ideals, party functionaries should work unitedly."



Alphonse and Viswanathan lauded the Congress leadership in getting 41 seats for the party and said they will not contest the Assembly polls. Along with them, several of their supporters from TMC joined Congress.

Reacting to the development, TMC chief G K Vasan said "some may think of breaking strong parties, but their intention will not be fulfilled...If some individuals and 40-50 persons along with them quit TMC", it will not weaken the party.

"TMC does not need persons who weaken themselves by thinking that the grass is green on the other side of the fence."



Soon after TMC formally sided with DMDK-PWF combine, voice of dissent began in the party which today culminated in two senior leaders leaving its fold.
Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today greeted people on the occasion of Tamil New Year, Vaisaki, Baisaki and Vishu, to be celebrated tomorrow.

"I extend my heartiest greetings and best wishes to the people on the joyous occasion of Tamil New Year, Vaisaki, Baisakhi and Vishu", Rosaiah said.

"Let us resolve to mitigate Climate Change and pledge to preserve and protect the abundant natural resources for the benefit of future generations", he said in a Raj Bhavan release.

"May the New Year promote peace, progress, unity and oneness in our mission to make India a Global leader", he said.

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in her greetings said let us pledge ourselves to unite together for the progress of the State."On this occasion, let happiness and prosperity prevail to Tamils", she said.

In her greetings to Malayalees celebrating Vishu, Jayalalithaa said people celebrate the day by meeting friends and relatives and seeking blessings from elders. "I wish love and peace prevail to Malayalees on the joyous occasion", she said.

PMK Chief Ramadoss also extended his Tamil New Year greetings.
In a bid to encourage its employees to follow odd-even scheme rolling out from April 15, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) has introduced a carpool reward system under which those who carpool more during the road-rationing plan will be rewarded.

TPDDL, a joint venture of Tata Power and Delhi government, said that its 'Sandesh-Carpool Rewards' is aimed to encourage employees to carpool more and will reward those employees who have carpooled the most in the organisation.

"This noble initiative will sensitise youth and employees to save energy and reduce carbon emissions for bringing progress towards a greener future. Carpooling reduces traffic on the streets and also weighs less on the pocket," TPDDL, a joint venture of Tata Power and Delhi government, said.

The company said that 'Sandesh-Carpool Rewards' is aimed to encourage employees to carpool more and will reward those employees who have carpooled the most in the organisation.

Meanwhile, another organisation IUNIR has introduced a carpooling app through which users can avail the services of car, taxi and two-wheelers.

The fortnight-long odd-even scheme is all set to begin from April 15 in the national capital.
In some good to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton ahead of the crucial primaries here, the two US Presidential front-runners who suffered a string of losses recently were today declared the winners of the close Missouri primaries, nearly a month after the polls were held.

Announcing the results of the Republican and Democratic primaries held on March 15, Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander tweeted: "I certified the presidential preference primary. @HillaryClinton and @realDonaldTrump have officially won Missouri."



The votes in both parties were too close to call. In the Republican primary polls, Trump and rival Texas Senator Ted Cruz were neck-and-neck, as were Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic contest.

In the final tally, Trump pipped Cruz by just 0.2 percentage points - 40.9 per cent to Cruz's 40.7. Trump will receive 37 delegates to Cruz's 15. Ohio Governor John Kasich will receive no delegates.

On the Democratic side, the 68-year-old former secretary of state also led Sanders also by 0.2 percentage points - 49.6 per cent to his 49.4. She won the election by about 1,500 votes of the 630,000 cast in the Democratic primary.

Each candidate will receive 34 delegates, but with superdelegates included, Clinton will have 46, CNN reported.

69-year-old Trump is looking to bounce back from a decisive loss in last week's Wisconsin primary, while Clinton has lost eight of the last nine Democratic contests.

Reacting to the of his victory, the real estate tycoon said, "Thank you to the great people of Missouri who voted for me and the state officials who worked to ensure the votes of the people mattered."



"It is great to have yet another victory as we look forward to the upcoming primary in New York," Trump said in a statement ahead of the crucial primaries here on April 19.

New York will award 95 Republican delegates while the two Democratic candidates are fighting over 247 delegates in the city.
Turkish authorities have arrested two suspected Russian secret agents over the assassination in Istanbul last November of a prominent figure from Russia's restive Caucasus region of Chechnya, reports said today.

Russian citizens Yury Anisimov and Alexander Smirnov have been placed under arrest by a Turkish court ahead of trial over the murder on November 1 last year of Chechen Abdulvakhid Edelgireyev in Istanbul, the Haberturk daily said.

It said they were first detained on April 8 in Istanbul while carrying out reconnaissance work for a new attack. It was not immediately clear which branch of the Russian security services they are suspected of belonging to.

Russian consul general Andrei Podyelyshev confirmed that two Russians had been detained but did not give further details.

"They have a lawyer, we are in contact with them and intend to follow how their rights and interests are being respected. They have no complaints about the conditions of their detention," he was quoted as saying by the RIA-Novosti agency.

The Haberturk report said the two Russians had left Turkey in the wake of the Edelgireyev assassination but then returned on April 4 to plan a new action.

They were said to have entered Turkey on fake passports, following an investigation lasting six months.

Edelgireyev has been described in some media as a member of the underground Islamist movement in Russia's Northern Caucasus which has for years waged an insurgency against the Kremlin's security forces.

He was killed on November 1 by a bullet fired through the front window of his car close to his home in Istanbul.

Istanbul has become a known hub for exiles from Russia's troubled southern regions like Chechnya and Dagestan and many are believed to be on the run from the Russian security forces.

The arrest of the two alleged undercover agents comes as Turkey and Russia are experiencing their worst row for years following Ankara's shooting down of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border on November 24.

Russia and Turkey are on opposite sides in the conflict in Syria, with Moscow intervening militarily in favour of President Bashar al-Assad and Turkey backing anti-Damascus rebels.
Turkey's armed forces today launched new artillery strikes on jihadist positions in Syria, after three days of deadly fire on a Turkish border town that has left residents on edge.

Kilis, which lies just a few kilometres from the border with Syria, has been hit by fire from Katyusha-type rockets every day this week raising concerns over its vulnerability.

Two people were killed by shelling from an area controlled by Islamic State (IS) jihadists yesterday and four more rockets hit the town today but caused no injuries, a Turkish official said.

Speaking in Ankara, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed Turkish troops had hit IS positions in Syria.

In a sign of Ankara's alarm over the repeated firing on Kilis, Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz, powerful intelligence chief Hakan Fidan and top general Hulusi Akar visited the town today to investigate the situation.

Addressing a press conference there, Yilmaz confirmed Turkish artillery hit areas controlled by IS and warned against any further attacks on Turkey.

"If they harm Turkey, they will be subjected to much more," Yilmaz said. "Whoever is friendly with Turkey will find it is to their benefit."



Yilmaz also said the government had established a commission to compensate residents for their losses.

In Ankara, Davutoglu also warned that those who attacked Turkey would pay "the heaviest price", insisting that the government was determined to protect its citizens from the latest cycle of violence.

Dozens of people had rallied in the centre of Kilis yesterday to demand protection from the shelling, Turkish media reports said.

The violence comes after IS militants wrested back control of the town of Al-Rai near the Turkish border, which rival rebels had captured last week.

Kilis, a town of just under 100,000, is the only major urban centre in Turkey which now has a majority of Syrians after the influx of refugees from the civil war.

Neither the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front nor IS are included in a truce brokered by the United States and Russia that came into force on February 27.

Washington has applauded Turkey's role in the anti-IS coalition but US officials on occasion have urged Ankara to do more.

In a separate development, Turkey's army opened fire on a group of four people -- one man and three women -- who attempted to cross into the border town of Karkamis late yesterday from IS-held Jarablus in Syria, local media reported.
A Turkish town on the Syrian border was today hit by new rocket fire from Syria, a day after two people were killed by shelling from a jihadist-controlled area, reports said.

Kilis, which lies just a few kilometres from the border with Syria, has been hit by fire from Katyusha-type rockets every day this week amid growing concern over its vulnerability.

The latest rocket fire caused no injuries with the projectiles falling in two separate open spaces in the centre of the town, the Dogan agency said.

Yesterday morning, eight people were wounded when rockets fired from an area in Syria controlled by Islamic State (IS) jihadists crashed into the centre of Kilis.

One of the wounded died later in the day and another overnight yesterday to today, Dogan said.

In a sign of Ankara's alarm over the repeated firing on Kilis, Turkey's top general Hulusi Ankar and its powerful intelligence chief Hakan Fidan were both in the town Wednesday to investigate the situation, Turkish television said.

Dozens of people had rallied in the centre of Kilis yesterday to call for greater security measures against the shelling, Turkish media reports said.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey's armed forces had responded on Tuesday by launching artillery strikes of its own against IS positions in Syria.

The exchange of fire comes after the IS wrested back control of the town of Al-Rai, near Turkey, which rival rebels had captured last week.

Neither the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front nor IS are included in a truce brokered by the United States and Russia that came into force on February 27.

Washington has applauded Turkey's role in the anti-IS coalition but US officials on occasion have urged Ankara to do more.
Two of the accused in the alleged sexual assault and death of an RJD MLA's sister surrendered before the Bhojpur district court today, while three others are still at large.

Mithilesh Singh and Santosh Singh surrendered before the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) who remanded them to judicial custody.

Besides the two, three unknown persons have been made accused in the case registered with the Chandi police station of Bhojpur district. They are yet to be arrested.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) A Rahman has been camping at Ara to supervise the case.

"No accused will be spared," the DIG said.

RJD MLA Saroj Yadav's elder sister was allegedly sexually assaulted and badly beaten up by the accused on April 9. She died during treatment in Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) yesterday.

Talking to mediapersons at Ara today, the RJD MLA from Barhara demanded stern action against the outgoing Bhojpur Superintendent of Police Navin Chandra Jha for allegedly showing leniency in the case.

Describing the incident as "serious", senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said the crime took place as the police was busy implementing the alcohol ban in the state. BJP MLA Nitin Navin echoed the views.

Former Chief Minister and RJD leader Rabri Devi said law would take its own course and sought adequate compensation for kin of the victim.

JD(U) spokesman Ajay Alok expressed sorrow over the episode and said the law would not spare any wrongdoer.
The anti-talk faction of separatist outfit ULFA has threatened to blow up Bangladesh's largest gas transmission pipeline, prompting authorities to order an intensified security vigil, a media report said today citing an Indian intelligence tip-off.

The Paresh Barua-led faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) recently issued the threat to blow up the transmission line of the Bibiyana gas field, which supplies 45 per cent of the gas, the mass circulation Samakal newspaper in a lead story, basing it on information given by Indian intelligence agencies.

The article said Indian intelligence agencies recently unearthed the plot tapping a telephone conversation of Barua with an ULFA commander when he asked him to blow up the pipeline in Bangladesh.

The 119 kilometre-long Bibiyana pipeline is Bangladesh's largest transmission line that supplies gas to the national grid from the Bibiyana gas field in northeastern Habiganj, bordering Assam to central Dhunat sub-district, operated by US oil giant Chevron.

Officials of state-run Petrobangla, which contracts out the gas plants to foreign and local oil companies, said they received the information last week and took up the issue with concerned government authorities and cautioned Chevron.

"We have sought necessary government steps for the security of the gas line and cautioned Chevron to enforce an extra vigil on the Bibiyana's production and transmission systems," Petrobangla director M Kamaruzzaman told PTI.

He said Petrobangla and Chevron already held a meeting with the officials of the home ministry and security agencies concerned to ensure adequate security for the plant and the transmission line.

A home ministry official said the law enforcement and security agencies were asked to take necessary steps in view of the reported threat, enhancing their vigil as the outfit has record of carrying out sabotages on Indian gas pipelines.

However, officials said they were assessing its authenticity and capacity of the outfit's "remnants".

Home minister Asaduzzaman Kamal expressed his doubt about the authenticity of the threat and capacity of the ULFA faction as most of their top leaders gave up their separatist campaign in view of their negotiations with the Indian government.

"I cannot tell you anything about the threat before we could fully verify it, but I am in doubt about the capacity of ULFA remnants in carrying out any sabotage in our country," Kamal said.

He added that Bangladesh long ago drove out ULFA from its borders with India, evicting their makeshift hideouts.

"Paresh Barua, however, is still on the run but we understand India has kept a watch on his activities and so have we, as he once secretly took refuge in Bangladesh," Kamal said.

(Reopens FGN5)



Barua was earlier handed down death penalty by a



Bangladeshi court after in absentia trial for weapon trafficking through Bangladesh territory while media reports suggested he was currently hiding in Myanmar-China borders.

He was given the death penalty by a southeastern Chittagong court in 2014 along with 13 Bangladeshis including two former ministers, two ex-army generals and, after trial of the country's biggest-ever weapon haul involving the separatist outfit.

In November last year, Bangladesh extradited ULFA leader Anup Chetia to India as he himself wanted to be repatriated after being lodged in Bangladeshi jails for over 18 years since his 1997 arrest on intrusion charges.

Several other ULFA stalwarts including their chief Arbind Rajkhowa were reportedly arrested in Bangladesh and subsequently were handed over to India in recent years but Dhaka officially confirmed none of these incidents.
The United Nations today said that one of its staff members had been captured by pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine's separatist east.

The UN is carrying out a humanitarian mission in the war-torn republics of Lugansk and Donetsk.

The world body's office in Kiev said it had mobilised all channels to ensure its unnamed staff member's immediate and unconditional release.

"The United Nations is deeply concerned about the fact that one of its staff members is being held captive in Donetsk," the United Nations said in a statement.

It added that "the staff is well treated" but provided no details about the person's nationality or when and under what circumstances the capture occurred.

Nearly 9,200 people have died and more than 1.5 million driven from their homes since a pro-Moscow revolt broke out in the former Soviet republic's industrial heartland in April 2014.

A series of periodic truce deals in 2015 have abated some of the violence, which Kiev and its Western allies accuse Moscow of stirring and backing, a charge that Russia denies.

On Sunday, the European Union criticised the "unprecedented level of violence" in eastern Ukraine after international peace monitors came under fire.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said Saturday that several monitors carrying out an observation mission had come under fire 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of the insurgents' de facto capital Donetsk.

In a separate incident Thursday, an OSCE monitor was threatened at gunpoint by a rebel, forcing the patrol to leave a checkpoint they intended to pass, the group said.
A US federal appeals court today cleared Argentina to make payments on its debt, paving the way for the country to settle its long battle over bonds defaulted in 2001.

A three-judge panel rejected an appeal from some holdout creditors of a March ruling that removed injunctions blocking the payments.

Argentina will thus be able to follow through on settlement deals with other holdouts over some USD 9 billion in claims.

The appeal had held up the country's plans to raise some USD 12-15 billion on global capital markets to pay off the creditors, who have battled for full compensation for their bonds for years.

Until Argentine President Mauricio Macri took office in December, Buenos Aires had rejected the claims of the holdouts, most of them hedge fund investors, labelling them "vultures" for having refused to support the restructuring of the country's debt.

But the dispute had prevented Argentina from being able to raise any more funds in world capital markets and hobbled its economy.

Reformist Macri opened new talks over more than USD 9 billion in claims for principal and interest on the bonds in February, and has struck compromise deals over most of them.

But some of the creditors were seeking better deals and moved to block the payouts.

Argentina defaulted on close to USD 100 billion in bonds in 2001 and over the subsequent nine years reached international agreements to restructure the debt with about 93 per cent of creditors, who agreed to sharp writedowns of their bonds' value.

Many of the holdouts though bought the bonds at steep discounts after the default and sued for full payment rather than back the restructuring. In a controversial decision in 2012, a New York court backed their claim.
US House Speaker Paul Ryan has definitively ruled out a bid for president this year, insisting that the Republican Party's choice should emerge from the group of candidates who pursued the nomination.

"Count me out," the 2012 vice presidential candidate told reporters yesterday.

In a statement at the Republican National Committee headquarters, the Wisconsin Republican sought to calm rampant speculation that he would emerge as the nominee from a potentially contested convention. Many in the party are worried that front-runner Donald Trump becoming the nominee could mean losing the general election in November to the Democrats.

"We have too much work to do in the House to allow this speculation to swirl or have my motivations questioned," said Ryan. "Let me be clear: I do not want, nor will I accept the Republican nomination."



Ryan's comments come as a contested convention looks more likely by the day. Ryan and his aides have continually denied the speaker has presidential ambitions this year.

Ryan also denied he wanted to be House speaker last year after then-Speaker John Boehner announced his resignation, but ended up with the job anyway.

Yesterday's appearance may not be enough to quiet the talk about Ryan, given the unpredictable twists of the Republican presidential primary.

"So let me speak directly to the delegates on this: If no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, I believe you should only choose a person who actually participated in the primary. Count me out," Ryan said. "I simply believe that if you want to be the nominee, to be the president, you should actually run for it. I chose not to. Therefore, I should not be considered. Period."



Trump looks unlikely to accumulate the necessary delegates to clinch the nomination ahead of the July convention. That would allow his lead challenger, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, to make a play for the job.

Party leaders fear neither Trump nor Cruz could beat likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in November. They also fear the Republicans won't be able to hold onto control of the Senate with Trump or Cruz at the top of the ticket.

If neither candidate can get the delegate votes necessary as balloting progresses in the party convention, chaos could result and other Republicans who aren't currently running could emerge.

As a young and charismatic conservative, popular with donors and with some conservative activists, Ryan's name has been at the top of that list for months. Ryan is also seen as a possible candidate in 2020.
Six years after being paralysed from the chest down, an American man can use his right hand to stir coffee and swipe a credit card, a groundbreaking study reported today.

The unprecedented feat was made possible by computer software replacing the damaged spinal cord as the communication highway between Ian Burkhart's brain and his hand muscles.

"This is the first time a completely paralysed person has regained movement just by using their own thoughts," said researcher Chad Bouton of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York.

Burkhart, a 24-year-old from Ohio, has a pea-sized chip in his head to read his brain signals, which are then deciphered by a computer and rerouted to the hand, wrist and finger muscles.

The muscles receive their instructions from an electrode sleeve worn on the right forearm -- with which Burkhart can now also swipe a credit card, pick up a spoon, hold a phone to his ear and play the cords of a guitar video game.

The US-based researchers hope their work, still in an early phase, will one day allow paralysed people to feed and dress themselves.

Their device, called NeuroLife, reroutes messages from the brain to the muscles, bypassing the spinal cord.

Two years ago, they reported a major breakthrough when Burkhart was able to open and close his hand.

With a lot more training, he has since refined his skills and can now grip a "stir stick" with his fingertips, and use it.

Burkhart broke his neck in a holiday diving accident aged 19 and was left quadriplegic -- meaning his arms and legs are paralysed.

"Doctors told me I'd broken my neck and that most likely I'd be able to move my shoulders around, but nothing else for the rest of my life," he told journalists in a teleconference ahead of the report's release.

He volunteered for the trial, Burkhart said, because he wanted to help people like himself regain their independence.

"Just not being able to use your hands does limit you quite a bit," he said. "I have to rely on other people for things."



Burkhart underwent surgery to have the chip implanted in the brain's motor cortex area, which controls movement.

The chip was attached on top of the skull to a "connector" linking it to a computer which Burkhart "trained" to read his mind and decode which movements he wanted to execute.
The US received over 2,36,000 H-1B petitions in just five days of opening up the process early this month for the most sought-after work visa for IT professionals, including from India, and has completed the computerised draw of lots.

This is more than thrice the Congressionally-mandated cap of 65,000 in the general category for the work visas for highly-skilled workers in the general category for Financial Year 2017.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) yesterday announced it also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions by those foreign students who completed their higher studies from a US academic institute in subjects if science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

USCIS received over 2,36,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period, which began April 1, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption, a media statement said.

It said it has completed the computerised draw of lots that would determine the successful applicants.

On April 9, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process, or lottery, to select enough petitions to meet the 65,000 general-category cap and the 20,000 cap under the advanced degree exemption, also known as the master's cap.

The agency conducted the selection process for the advanced degree exemption first. All unselected advanced degree petitions then became part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit, it added.

USCIS will reject and return all unselected petitions with their filing fees, unless the petition is found to be a duplicate filing, it said.

As announced on March 16 this year, USCIS will begin premium processing for H-1B cap cases no later than May 16.

It would continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap.

H-1B visa, popular among Indian techies, is used by American companies to employ foreign workers in occupations that require highly specialised knowledge in fields such as science, engineering and computer programming.
A New Jersey judge has ruled that Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz meets the constitutional requirements to be president and may appear on the state's presidential primary ballot.

Judge Jeff Masin ruled yesterday that a child of a citizen-father or citizen-mother is "indeed a natural born Citizen within the contemplation of the Constitution."



Cruz, who was born in Calgary, Alberta, to a Cuban father and American mother, faced challenges to being on the June 7 primary ballot from Catholic University of America law professor Victor Williams and the South Jersey Concerned Citizens Committee.

The challengers argued Cruz was a naturalised citizen because he was not born on US soil.

The decision goes to Republican Lt Gov Kim Guadagno, who as secretary of state can accept, reject or modify the ruling.
The US supports India's rise as a capable actor in the region and deepening bilateral defence cooperation is a part of it, an Obama administration official said today.

"Our defence cooperation with India, as you know, is strong. It's a leading pillar of our broad relationship," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

"We support India's rise as a capable actor in the region, and part of that is deepening our defence cooperation," Toner said.

His comments came as its Defence Secretary Ashton Carter concluded his India visit.

"We support positive, peaceful, stable relations with all countries in the region, and that includes India and China. There's no zero-sum," he said.

In April, Defence Secretary returned to India for an



unprecedented third visit in less than a year.

"There is no country in the world that we are supporting in this manner as an emerging global defense leader. This is unique," the White House official said on the growing India US defence relationship.

"Never in our history we have supported an indigenous aircraft program in any other country," he said.

Lavoy said India US cooperation on counter terrorism has become a crucial pillar of a broader strategic partnership.

This is fitting as the US and India view acts of terrorism as threat to global peace and security but also to their common values of democracy, justice, the rule of law and the protection of every individual.

"The United States has come a long way in security partnership with India. One of the sustaining strength of this relationship is not underpinned by this treaty, but by our common interest and values. It is voluntary and it continues to grow. This strategic logic is simple, it is bipartisan in both nations," he said.

Lavoy said he would like the two countries to adopt more practical collaboration in all domain, in space, in the air, on the sea, under the sea, on land and on multilateral forums, in ways that respects India's sovereignty but also reflects their status as increasingly close partners who tackle problems side by side.

Today India does count in world affairs, but it has taken a long time for India's aspiration to realise, he said as he recollected a 1949 speech of the first Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

"It is the most dynamic relationship that we have today. Each of the things that we are doing enables us to take this to the next level and have to simultaneously work on expanding the partnership in new domain," Lavoy said in response to a question.

"This is a unique relationship worldwide where we can't choose between deepening and broadening. We have to do both simultaneously," he added.
Governments around the world are cracking down on basic freedoms, the United States warned today, in a report that did not spare key US allies like Turkey and Egypt.

Secretary of State John Kerry, writing the preface to his department's annual human rights report, said attacks on democratic values point to a "global governance crisis."



"In every part of the world, we see an accelerating trend by both state and non-state actors to close the space for civil society, to stifle media and Internet freedom, to marginalise opposition voices, and in the most extreme cases, to kill people or drive them from their homes," he said.

The report, compiled on a country-by-country basis by US diplomats, has no legal implications for US policy and a critical write up does not compel Washington to cut ties or military aid to rights abusers or to impose sanctions upon them.

But Kerry argued that the detailed report -- the 40th his department has produced -- would strengthen US determination to promote what he called "fundamental freedoms" and to support those groups Washington sees as human rights defenders.

"Some look at these events and fear democracy is in retreat," he said. "In fact, they are a reaction to the advance of democratic ideals, to rising demands of people from every culture and region for governments that answer to them."



As might be expected, the report is critical of US rivals like Russia and China -- where it says civil rights groups face increasing repression -- and of foes like Iran and North Korea, where citizens face extra-judicial killings and torture.

But it also paints a grim picture of the state of play in some allied countries, including NATO member Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has cracked down on opposition media and arrested several leading journalists.

"The government has used anti-terror laws as well as a law against insulting the president to stifle legitimate political discourse and investigative journalism," the report says.

It accuses Turkish authorities of "prosecuting journalists and ordinary citizens and driving opposition media outlets out of business or bringing them under state control."



And, while denouncing the violence of the "PKK terrorist group," the report accuses Turkish security forces of excesses of its own, citing "credible allegations that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings."



The report will anger Erdogan, who visited Washington last month and denied that there had been any crackdown on free expression in his country, even as his security detail tried to expel opposition journalists from the think tank hosting his speech.

Egypt, which receives USD 1.5 billion dollars in US military aid despite President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi authoritarian style of rule, also faced stern criticism.

"There were instances of persons tortured to death and other allegations of killings in prisons and detention centers," the report says, citing NGO and UN reports of hundreds of Egyptians having gone missing since the 2011 revolution.
A 40-year-old woman worker was buried alive today after loose soil fell on her at a construction site at Southweek area in this tourist town.

The woman, Mary, along with four other workers were removing debris at the site, when the loose soil fell on her from a height of about 25 feet, police said.

As the attempts by co-workers to retrieve her became futile, fire and rescue personnel arrived there and managed to take her out in dead condition.
A woman suffered severe injuries after her husband allegedly stabbed her multiple times following an argument over her taking up a job at a nearby factory in northwest Delhi's Shahabad Dairy area, police said today.

The incident took place around 10.30 pm yesterday after the accused, Anand, a driver by profession, came back home from work in an inebriated state and started abusing his wife Pushpa.

The argument was over her taking up a job and Anand later attacked her with a kitchen-knife, a police official said.

She was rushed to a hospital where she was admitted with injuries in her head, neck and arms.

Anand (40) has been arrested under the charge of attempt to murder, the official said.
The World Bank and the new China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, originally seen as possible rivals, joined hands today with an agreement to co-finance projects.

The two development banks signed off on a framework for working together on infrastructure programs over the coming year which will give the World Bank some crucial oversight on how projects are planned and implemented.

In its first year of operation, the AIIB expects to approve about USD 1.2 billion in financing, with a "sizable share" of that to be in joint projects with the World Bank, the two said.

Under consideration are around a dozen projects including water, transportation, and energy developments in East, Southeast and Central Asia.

Beijing riled some World Bank backers two years ago when it moved to establish the AIIB to support the huge demand for infrastructure development in Asia.

Critics led by the United States worried that the AIIB would set much lower standards for projects that would undermine principles of social, environmental and economic sustainability adhered to by the World Bank and other multilateral development finance institutions.

The AIIB was formally created in December with 57 members, including India, and China the largest shareholder with 30 per cent.

But the United States and Japan declined to join, reserving their support for the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, where Washington wields great influence.

The two development banks said today that under their agreement, the World Bank will prepare and supervise the joint projects "in accordance with its policies and procedures in areas like procurement, environment and social safeguards."



World Bank President Jim Yong Kim called the agreement "an important first step toward working with a new partner to address the world's huge infrastructure needs.
US First Lady Michelle Obama today delivered a strong call for more education for women worldwide as the World Bank announced a new USD 2.5 billion initiative to foster schooling for girls.

"The evidence is quite compelling: when we invest in girls' education, when we embrace women in our workforce, that doesn't just benefit them, it benefits all of us," said Obama.

Obama, who last year launched her own Let Girls Learn education initiative, was speaking at the Bank's event to unveil its new funding for education projects for adolescent girls over the next five years.

The funding will go to facilities, scholarships and other needs mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia where a large percent of girls aged 12-17 do not go to school.

The USD 2.5 billion commitment "is an expression of our belief in the power of education to transform the lives and prospects of millions of girls worldwide -- as well as the prospects of their families, their communities and of course their countries," said Obama.

"Make no mistake about it, these girls are our girls. These girls are our responsibility."



World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said educating girls was a key part of the institution's anti-poverty mission.

Some 62 million girls around the world, half of them adolescents, are not in school, he noted.

"Empowering and educating adolescent girls is one of the best ways to stop poverty from being passed from generation to generation, and can be transformational for entire societies," said Kim.

"It's the smart thing to do for economies," he said.
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's March exports blew past analyst expectations, rising 11.5 pct from a year earlier, the first increase since June and the largest rise since Feb 2015.

Imports fell by 7.6 percent from a year earlier, less than expected.

That left the country with a trade surplus of $29.86 billion for the month, the General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.

Analysts polled by had expected exports to rise by 2.5 percent, and predicted imports would fall by 10.2 percent.

(Reporting by Xiaoyi Shao and Pete Sweeney; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
By David Stanway

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is facing increasing international pressure to tackle a steel supply glut that has flooded global markets and left beleaguered overseas producers at risk of closure.

China produces half the world's steel but those hoping it will tackle its surplus capacity quickly will be disappointed, despite rhetoric from Beijing.

A steel production glut that has taken years in the making, will equally take years to resolve. The economy is growing at its slowest pace in 25 years and labour unrest is on the rise, a worry for the ruling Communist Party that fears the social unrest that millions of laid off steel workers could bring.

"Closures can not be completed overnight," said a person with ties to China's leadership. "Stability is the top priority."

China's fading economic growth has exposed the huge surplus capacity in steel making, leaving many producers with heavy losses that are adding to already high debts. Many see the solution in exports, which rose to a record in 2015, a major factor dragging global prices down to decade lows.

India's Tata Steel has blamed a flood of cheap steel imports, including from China, for a decision to pull out of Britain, putting 15,000 jobs at risk.

On Monday, more than 40,000 German steel workers took to the streets to protest against dumping from China, among other issues such as industry consolidation that they fear will cost them their jobs.

Hillary Clinton, widely expected to be the Democrat candidate in U.S. presidential elections this year, added her voice to the criticism, saying on Monday she would "impose consequences when China breaks the rules by dumping its cheap products in our markets."

"VICIOUS CIRCLE"

Official data shows China's production capacity is just over 1.1 billion tonnes a year although analysts estimate another 100 million tonnes are produced illegally.

Underlining the scale of problem facing Beijing, official figures suggest surplus capacity is some 300-400 million tonnes a year and exports in 2015 reached a record 110 million tonnes - about 10 times the annual steel output of Britain.

Although the China Iron and Steel Association and some steel executives have predicted that exports will fall in 2016, Chinese customs data on Wednesday showed shipments soared 30 percent in March from the same month a year ago.

Much of China's production glut was sparked by the country's debt-fuelled stimulus in 2009, when a government-directed 4 trillion yuan ($625 billion) was injected into the economy to ward off the global financial crisis.

The stimulus drove up steel demand by as much as 100 million tonnes in 2009 and encouraged producers to embark on a rapid capacity expansion using cheap credit.

"The steel mills were delighted - they didn't need to die, breathed a sigh of relief and also relaxed their vigilance towards overcapacity," said Liu Zhenjiang, the vice secretary-general of the CISA. "Those years created ingrained bad habits when it came to overcapacity."

China raised hope of a solution in February when it pledged to shut 100-150 million tonnes of old production capacity in five years, but actual production is expected to stay high as Beijing tries to minimise job losses and social disruption.

New plants have continued to come on line, and CISA has warned that capacity would increase further this year.

"The government is understandably very nervous about how exactly they're going to do this," said Geoffrey Crothall, communications director at China Labour Bulletin. "I think eventually pressure will build and they will have to go ahead. But you really shouldn't expect it to happen overnight."

CISA's Liu said existing mills are doing little to curb supply, noting they were trapped in a "vicious circle" in which they ramp up production at the first sign of price improvements.

Many firms engage in "hostile competition", raising production and slashing prices in a bid to outlast rivals, he said.

Government policy initiatives have not always helped either. One target to consolidate 60 percent of capacity in the hands of the 10 biggest steel enterprises helped spur a fevered round of expansions at mid-sized mills desperate to avoid being swallowed up.

"INGRAINED BAD HABITS"

Premier Li Keqiang reiterated on Monday Beijing intended to quicken steps to tackle the surplus production.

But the central government faces strong resistance from many local governments. Dozens of "zombie" mills cling to life thanks to the support of local governments terrified by the prospect of mass unemployment and carrying the steel firms' spiralling debts.

"You're not just shutting down the steel plants, you're shutting down their entire community," said Crothall. "That's why it's so difficult for the government just to put them out of business."

China's bankruptcy mechanisms also present massive challenges. Zhang Wuzong, chairman of Shiheng Special Steel Group, said China's bankruptcy laws offer little protection for executives, who could find their personal assets get frozen.

Xia Nong, head of the industry department of the National Development and Reform Commission, the state planner, said China's "survival of the fittest" mechanism remained inadequate.

"The fit are not strong and the unfit are not eliminated, and bad currency is still driving out good in the steel sector," he said.

(Reporting by David Stanway; additional reporting by Jessica Macy Yu and Ben Lim in BEIJING and Ruby Lian in SHANGHAI; Editing by Neil Fullick)
By Xiaoyi Shao and Kevin Yao

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's exports in March returned to growth for the first time in nine months, adding to further signs of stabilisation in the world's second-largest economy that cheered regional investors.

March exports rose a blistering 11.5 pct from a year earlier, customs data showed on Wednesday, the first increase since June and the largest percentage rise since February 2015.

Economists warned that the data was heavily influenced by base effects and seasonal distortions from the Lunar New Year, and was not necessarily evidence of stronger global demand. Chinese investors celebrated, nevertheless, with key stock indexes hitting three-month highs and the yuan firming.

"China's foreign trade sector will likely improve from last year due to low comparables, but the improvement will not be dramatic, as the trends in external markets are not great," said Wang Tie Shi, economist with Industrial Securities.

"We've started to see improvement in PMI and other indicators, which points to some degree of recovery going into the second quarter."

The upside surprise comes after other March economic indicators hinted of slight improvements in the broader economy, although other surveys have shown rising downward pressure on wages and employment.

Imports continued to fall but less than expected, declining by 7.6 percent in dollar denominated terms, led by sharp corrections in imports of tax-free foreign goods, rentals and leasing and imported equipment.

However, import volumes of most major commodities, notably copper and iron ore, rose strongly. That left the country with a trade surplus of $29.86 billion for the month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed, versus a forecast of $30.85 billion.

"I think we should focus on the better-than-expected imports growth rate, which means domestic demand is also recovering, driven by infrastructure investment and also the real estate sector recovery," said Ma Xiaoping, analyst at HSBC.

MOMENTOUS SHIFT

China's slowdown might not be quite as severe as first feared but its "momentous" shift from investment-led growth is still having a chilling effect on trade globally, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

The IMF estimates every 1 percentage point investment-driven drop in China's GDP, cut growth for the entire Group of 20 nations by 0.25 percentage points.

"Even countries that have few direct trade linkages with China are being affected through the Chinese slowdown's impact on prices of commodities and manufactured goods, and on global confidence and risk sentiment," the Fund said.

Regardless, overseas investors also appeared inspired by the trade data. The Australian dollar climbed above 77 U.S. cents, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 1.4 percent and Australian shares gained 1.1 percent.

Tony Nash, managing partner at advisory firm Complete Intelligence, which focuses on global trade flows, sees China's exports and imports stabilising over the next six months.

"As we close out Q2 and enter Q3, we'll see more stable trade data before starting to see sustainable, small rises in both sides," Nash said, adding data should be much less volatile in the second half as currencies and commodities stabilise.

NOT OUT OF WOODS YET

Economists polled by had expected March exports to rise 2.5 percent, after tumbling 25.4 percent in February - the worst showing since May 2009, and expected imports to fall 10.2 percent, based on weakness in global demand.

"Data across other Asian economies suggest that the headwinds in the trade sector remain," Zhou Hao, economist at Commerzbank in Singapore, said in a research note.

"Given the gloomy economic outlook, we believe that the overall Asian trade growth will have limited upside this year."

Still, markets were relieved to see a surge in China's demand for commodities such as copper, with imports hitting a record monthly high, while its exports to key markets such as the United States and Europe also posted double digit month-on-month gains.

Premier Li Keqiang said last week that China's economic indicators showed signs of improvement in the first quarter but a sluggish world economy and volatile markets were undermining gains.

Key economic data, including first-quarter economic growth, are expected this week. The government aims for economic growth of 6.5 to 7 percent this year. The economy grew 6.9 percent in 2015, the weakest pace in a quarter of a century.

(Additional reporting by Jessica Macy Yu and by Elias Glenn in SHANGHAI; Writing by Pete Sweeney; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Jacqueline Wong)
By Francesco Canepa

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German banks and their chief supervisor, the European Central Bank, don't speak the same language -- in most cases literally.

Almost all German banks directly supervised by the ECB have chosen to communicate with the watchdog in German rather than English, the ECB's working language, according to information obtained by from the ECB and the lenders.

The refusal to speak English, the lingua franca of international finance, illustrates continued resistance from the euro zone's most economically powerful country to the ECB's project to establish itself as the bloc's main bank supervisor -- one of the pillars of Europe's response to the financial crisis that began in 2008.

"To a certain extent it has to do with the sense of importance of the German banking system," a German corporate lawyer who works with banks said. "They say, 'We're the biggest jurisdiction in the euro zone and the seat of the ECB - why can't the ECB communicate in German with us?'"

The ECB and its Italian president, Mario Draghi, have come under renewed criticism in Germany over the central bank's cheap-money policy.

German lenders, equally, resent instructions from Frankfurt and many hope that maintaining German as the language for communication will give them the upper hand in dealing with supervisors. "We outsource the risk of a wrong translation to the ECB," a German bank executive said.

Banks have the right to choose the language in which they communicate with the ECB. English, the language of international business, has been the natural choice for most of them across the euro zone.

In Germany, however, English has been selected by just as few as three, including Deutsche Bank, which operates in more than 70 countries and has a British chief executive, and the local subsidiary of Sweden's SEB.

By contrast, just 14 of the remaining 107 banks supervised by the ECB in other euro zone countries opted for their local language.

Part of the reason for picking German has to do with the domestic or even regional focus of many German banks, whose staff may not feel comfortable drafting highly sensitive documents in a foreign language.

"We communicate in German because we are a German bank," Hans-Joerg Vetter, chief executive of regional lender LBBW, said. "We make use of the legal opportunities we have."

But this is not the whole story because even some of the more internationally oriented firms have opted for their local language.

"You want it in German so that you understand all the nuances and so that you can challenge it in court in your language," said the German corporate lawyer, who asked for anonymity because of his sensitive bank dealings.

"Although, it's good to see the English original because there may be errors in the translation."

Their case for choosing German might even be strengthened if Britain decides to leave the European Union at a June referendum as this would erode the status of English in European politics.

VOCAL CRITICS

German banks have been among the most vocal critics of the ECB since it took over supervision of the euro zone's largest lenders in late 2014, with the aim of creating a single watchdog for the currency bloc after a raft of bank collapses during the financial crisis.

One of them, state-backed Landeskreditbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, even tried to escape the ECB's supervision altogether. The case -- in German -- is still pending before the European Court of Justice.

Germany's own financial watchdog Bafin has also criticised the ECB for overburdening small German banks with requests for data and the central bank's project to launch a euro-zone wide loan database has caused a backlash in the country.

The banks' insistence on using German is also causing some trouble to the watchdogs themselves as at least some members of each ECB's supervisory team -- typically the coordinator -- are not from the same country as the bank they watch.

"It's a huge headache," one supervisor said. "I can't be constantly asking my colleagues and the translation service just takes too long sometime."

For this reason some banks allow staff-level communication with the supervisor to take place in English, for instance for the upcoming stress tests, but they still expect official documents to be in German.

An ECB spokeswoman said native speakers on supervisory teams can help colleagues who are not fluent, while the institution also uses internal and external translators, as well as interpreters for more formal proceedings.

(Additional reporting by Andreas Kroener; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
By Clara Denina

LONDON (Reuters) - Global steel demand will continue to fall this year before a slight pick-up in 2017, the World Steel Association forecast on Wednesday.

Falling demand has plunged the global steel market into crisis, with excess capacity taking a heavy toll on producers, including those in China - leading to plant closures and job losses.

Global apparent steel use - deliveries minus net exports of steel industry goods - is expected to fall 0.8 percent in 2016 to 1.488 billion tonnes after a 3 percent fall last year, according to Worldsteel.

China's steel demand is seen falling 4 percent this year to 645.4 million tonnes and a further 3 percent in 2017, after a slide of 5.4 percent in 2015, the group added.

China, which produces about half the world's steel, is under increasing international pressure to tackle a local supply glut that has flooded foreign markets with cheap material.

"The key to this year's figure is the decline in demand from China, where a surplus in residential properties is a problem, but also weaker demand from Brazil and Russia," Worldsteel Director General Edwin Basson told a briefing in London.

Steel demand in both economies is expected to contract by 8.8 percent this year.

Europe has taken a huge hit from the market slide. Tata Steel has put its UK business up for sale after substantial losses over the past two years.

"The global steel market is suffering from insufficient investment expenditure and continued weakness in the manufacturing sector," Worldsteel said.

"In 2016, while we are forecasting another year of contraction in steel demand in China, slow but steady growth in other regions including NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement countries) and EU is expected."

Next year, however, global demand for steel is due to edge up by 0.4 percent to 1.494 billion tonnes, Worldsteel added.

(Reporting by Clara Denina and Eric Onstad; Editing by Mark Potter and Greg Mahlich)
By Clara Denina

LONDON (Reuters) - Global steel demand will fall again this year as leading market China continues to slow, before eventually stabilising in 2017, the World Steel Association forecast on Wednesday.

Falling demand has plunged the global steel market into crisis, with excess capacity taking a heavy toll on producers - including China - leading to plant closures and job losses.

Global apparent steel use - deliveries minus net exports of steel industry goods - is expected to fall 0.8 percent in 2016 to 1.488 billion tonnes after a 3 percent fall last year, according to Worldsteel.

China's steel demand is seen falling 4 percent this year to 654.4 million tonnes and a further 3 percent in 2017, after a slide of 5.4 percent in 2015, the group added.

China, which produces about half the world's steel, is under increasing international pressure to tackle a supply glut that has flooded world markets with cheap material.

Europe has taken a huge hit from the market slide. Tata Steel has put its UK business up for sale after substantial losses over the past two years.

"The global steel market is suffering from insufficient investment expenditure and continued weakness in the manufacturing sector," Worldsteel Director General Edwin Basson told a briefing in London.

"In 2016, while we are forecasting another year of contraction in steel demand in China, slow but steady growth in other regions including NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement countries) and EU is expected."

Next year, however, global demand of the key industrial metal is due to edge up by 0.4 percent to 1.494 billion tonnes, Worldsteel added.

(Reporting by Clara Denina and Eric Onstad; Editing by Veronica Brown and Mark Potter)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An exit by Britain from the European Union would be a "negative shock" for the British and European economies as well as London's status as a financial hub, the International Monetary Fund's monetary and markets chief said on Wednesday.

Jose Vinals told a conference that a vote in June by Britons to leave the EU would launch a long period of uncertainty for the financial sector as the details of how banks in London could operate in Europe, up to two years.

"I think that an exit of Britain from the European Union would be a negative shock economically and financially to Britain to the European Union and that's something that would be negative for confidence, including confidence in the role of the city of London as a global financial hub," Vinals said.

(Reporting By David Lawder)
By Devika Krishna Kumar

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil futures fell from fresh four-month highs in choppy trading on Wednesday as comments from Russia's energy minister added to doubts a producer meeting set for Sunday in Doha to discuss freezing output would yield a positive outcome.

Prices fell after reported that Russian oil minister Alexander Novak told a closed-door briefing that a deal on an oil output freeze scheduled to be signed this month in Doha will be loosely framed with few detailed commitments.

The prospect of a combined OPEC and non-OPEC deal to prop up prices has boosted oil in recent weeks but analysts said that even if a deal is struck, it will do little to restore supply/demand balance.

"We have muted expectations for any meaningful impact on crude fundamentals from the April 17th Doha meeting," Macquarie Capital analysts wrote in a note.

"We do not believe that anyone is going to cut production to get back into compliance with January levels."

Brent crude was down 42 cents at $44.27 per barrel by 12:42 p.m. EDT (1642 GMT), while U.S. crude fell 35 cents to $41.82.

The from Moscow came as data showed a bumper build in U.S. crude stocks last week. U.S. crude inventories rose 6.6 million barrels to 536.53 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, compared with analyst expectations for a 1.9 million-barrel rise.

A larger-than-expected draw in gasoline inventories and falling U.S. crude production softened the blow of soaring crude stocks. Gasoline fell by 4.2 million barrels to 239.76 million, compared with an analyst forecast for a 1.4 million-barrel draw.

"Ultimately, the downside based upon inventory figures is limited because of two factors: the strong gasoline demand and falling U.S. crude production," said Anthony Headrick, energy market analyst at CHS Hedging.

Prices came under pressure earlier in the session, falling more than 2 percent after comments by Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi in the al-Hayat newspaper that confirmed his country's position that an outright production cut was out of the question.

"Forget about this topic," al-Naimi told the newspaper when asked about any possible reduction in Saudi crude output.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh does not plan to attend the Doha meeting, but Iran will send a representative, an Iranian journalist from the Seda weekly wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

Iran has said it does not plan to participate in the freeze agreement as it seeks to boost its production in the post-sanctions era.

Morgan Stanley analysts said the market may still be underestimating the potential near-term headline upside risk of the Sunday meeting.

(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in London, Keith Wallis and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Meredith Mazzilli)
on Wednesday cut its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2016 and warned of further reductions citing concern about Latin America and China, pointing to a larger supply surplus this year.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries also said top exporter Saudi Arabia kept output steady in March - a sign Riyadh is serious about a plan to be discussed this weekend to freeze output and support prices - while supply overall rose only slightly.

World demand will grow by 1.20 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2016, said in its monthly report, 50,000 bpd less than expected previously. Read more from our special coverage on "OPEC" Julian Lee: OPECs little helper from Iraq

It also cited the impact of warmer weather and the removal of fuel subsidies in some countries.

"Economic developments in Latin America and China are of concern," OPEC said. "Current negative factors seem to outweigh positive ones and possibly imply downward revisions in oil demand growth, should existing signs persist going forward."

OPEC's view contrasts with that of the US Energy Information Administration, which on Tuesday raised its demand forecast slightly.

A third closely watched oil report, from the Energy Agency, is due on Thursday.

A big slowdown in demand could complicate producers' efforts to bolster prices by freezing output. The plan, to be discussed on Sunday in Doha, has helped oil prices to rally above $41 a barrel from a 12-year low close to $27 hit in January.

OPEC's refusal to cut output in late 2014 helped accelerate a drop in prices, which is slowing the development of relatively expensive rival supply sources such as US shale oil and other projects worldwide.

In its report, OPEC said it expected supply from outside the group to fall by 730,000 bpd this year, more than the 700,000-bpd drop expected previously.

But it reiterated that producer efforts to maintain output were making the forecast uncertain.

Despite the slightly larger non-OPEC decline expected, OPEC projects demand for its crude will average 31.46 million bpd in 2016, down 60,000 bpd from last month's forecast.

The 13-member group pumped 32.25 million bpd in March, the report said citing secondary sources, up 15,000 bpd from February.

Saudi Arabia told OPEC it kept output in March steady at 10.22 million bpd. Riyadh in February struck a preliminary deal with fellow OPEC members Venezuela and Qatar, plus non-OPEC Russia, to freeze output.

Iran, which wants to regain market share after the lifting of Western sanctions on Tehran rather than freeze output, told OPEC it raised output by a minor 15,000 bpd to 3.40 million bpd.

The report points to a 790,000-bpd excess supply in 2016 if the group keeps pumping at March's rate, up from 760,000 bpd implied in last month's report.
Panama's attorney general late on Tuesday raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm to search for any evidence of illegal activities, authorities said in a statement.

The Panama-based law firm is at the centre of the "Panama Papers" leaks scandal that has embarrassed several world leaders and shone a spotlight on the shadowy world of offshore companies.

The national police, in an earlier statement, said they were searching for documentation that "would establish the possible use of the firm for illicit activities." The firm has been accused of tax evasion and fraud.

Police offers and patrol cars began gathering around the company's building in the afternoon under the command of prosecutor Javier Caravallo, who specializes in organized crime and money laundering.

Mossack Fonseca, which specializes in setting up offshore companies, did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Earlier, founding partner Ramon Fonseca said the company had broken no laws, destroyed no documents, and all its operations were legal.

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 of China's President Xi Jinping, and the president of Ukraine.
By Elida Moreno

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama's attorney general late on Tuesday raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm to search for any evidence of illegal activities, authorities said in a statement.

The Panama-based law firm is at the centre of the "Panama Papers" leaks scandal that has embarrassed several world leaders and shone a spotlight on the shadowy world of offshore companies.

The national police, in an earlier statement, said they were searching for documentation that "would establish the possible use of the firm for illicit activities." The firm has been accused of tax evasion and fraud.

Police offers and patrol cars began gathering around the company's building in the afternoon under the command of prosecutor Javier Caravallo, who specializes in organised crime and money laundering.

Mossack Fonseca, which specializes in setting up offshore companies, did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Earlier, founding partner Ramon Fonseca said the company had broken no laws, destroyed no documents, and all its operations were legal.

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 of China's President Xi Jinping, and the president of Ukraine.
By Keith Wallis

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures fell in early Asian trade on Wednesday as profit taking and concern over a larger-than-expected build in U.S. crude stocks outweighed more positive that Russia and Saudi Arabia had reached consensus on an oil output cap.

U.S. crude fell 46 cents to $41.71 a barrel as of 2318 GMT after settling up $1.81, or 4.48 percent, in the previous session.

Brent crude had yet to start trading but hit a four-month high in the previous session, settling up $1.86, or 4.3 percent, at $44.69 a barrel.

"There are two things. There has been a fantastic rise in prices so I think in the Asian time zone there's been a little bit of profit taking," said Jonathan Barratt, chief investment officer at Sydney's Ayers Alliance.

"The second thing is that while we're waiting for more official inventory data, investors are thinking 'are prices warranted at these levels'," he said.

Investors are also concerned oil production could rise as prices move even higher curtailing moves by oil producers, including Russia and Saudi Arabia, for an oil output cap.

That came as Russia and Saudi Arabia were reported to have reached a consensus on Tuesday about an oil output freeze, ahead of an oil producers' meeting in Doha on April 17.

"There's no reason for a freeze when oil is at $50 a barrel. If oil prices move back to $35 a barrel there'll be rhetoric and action for an output cap; at $50 a barrel there'll just be rhetoric," Barratt told on Wednesday.

That came as U.S. crude stocks rose by a larger than expected 6.2 million barrels to 536.3 million last week, according to data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute.

That compared with analysts' expectations for 1.9 million barrel increase.

Official data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is due out later on Wednesday. [EIA/S]

U.S. crude production is forecast to fall by 560,000 barrels per day to 8.04 million barrels in 2017, while U.S. demand would increase by 190,000 bpd, according to the EIA's short term energy outlook published on Tuesday.

Global oil demand will climb to 1.16 million barrels per day, a 10,000 barrel rise compared with earlier estimates, the EIA said in its monthly forecast on Tuesday.

The agency raised its oil demand growth estimate for 2017 by 120,000 bpd to 1.33 million bpd.

(Reporting by Keith Wallis; Editing by Stephen Coates)
US-based PureCircle, a global supplier of high-purity stevia ingredients for the international food and beverage industry, has become the first major player to explore investment opportunities in the country after India allowed use of stevia - the product is obtained from the leaves of stevia rebaudiana berton, a plant locally known as "Meethi Tulsi" and "Meethi Patti" - five months ago.

The company plans to invest $200 million to partner with thousands of Indian farmers to plant 5,000 hectares of stevia and build a stevia processing facility in India in the next five years.

"Our investment in India signals the huge potential we see in this market for stevia as a sweetener and as an agricultural commodity," said Jason Hecker, PureCircle's President of Group Sales and Marketing. "We believe this plant can not only help farmers in the region earn extra income, but also help to naturally reduce calories for Indian consumers while maintaining the sweet tastes they want."

Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) cleared the use of Steviol Glycoside, a white to light yellow powder which is 200 - 300 per cent sweeter than sugar on 13th Novermber, 2015. A scientific committee that looked into the safety aspects of this food ingredient had recommended the clearance of the product some four years ago.

FSSAI has specified the amount of stevia that can be used in dairy based drinks, flavoured Dairy based desserts (ice-cream, frozen desserts, cream toppings), yoghurt , fruit nectars, non-carbonated water based beverages (non alcoholic), ice lollies or edible ice jams, jellies, marmalades, ready to eat cereals, soft drink concentrate, carbonated water and chewing gum.

"Across the globe, PureCircle's portfolio of innovative stevia sweeteners and flavors has enabled major brands to reformulate full sugar products with this natural, zero-calorie solution to address consumer demands. We feel confident that stevia's approval India will lead to new, lower calorie taste innovation for this market and help consumers significantly reduce their sweet calorie intake." Ajay Chandran, Senior Director for South Asia Region said.

Global soft drink majors like Coca Cola and Pepsi and local players such as Parle and Dabur are all known to have shown interest in introducing products that have stevia content.

While stevia is grown in India in a very small scale, the entry of companies like PureCircle is expected to boost its commercial value and hence production.

The company said that it would provide the farmers seeds, technology and a buy back assurance at a pre-determined price. "Indian farmers that grow PureCircle stevia on one hectare of land can expect to yield an income of about Rs 4 lakh a year, executives said.

PureCircle is already in touch with farmer groups in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, where field trials to identify the appropriate stevia variety is underway.
Two Indian organisations and one each from Bangladesh and Pakistan are among eight to receive the $5 million grant from US Agency for International Development (USAID) for finding innovative ways to end extreme poverty.

The two Indian companies Orb Energy and Simpa would receive grants from the USAID for social impact, improved outcomes, and market viability, as well as for building pathways to sustainability.

Orb Energy has developed in-house financing solutions to make solar energy access more affordable to small and medium sized enterprises seeking solar systems in India, a media release said.

Simpa provides pay-as-you-go solar home systems to rural households and small shops in India allowing low-income customers to finance ownership of the system over time.

USAID said the awards are funded through the Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) program, a year-round open competition that seeks innovative, breakthrough development solutions.

The new awardee organisations will implement their solutions in over six different countries.

The majority of the awardee organisations are new to USAID and are using technology to address global development challenges, a media release said.

"Through our open innovation programs like DIV, USAID works with innovators from around the world to test, prove, and scale solutions that work," said Ann Mei Chang, USAID's Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director of the US Global Development Lab.

"These awardees join 145 other DIV innovations [since 2010 inception], working to improve millions of lives at a fraction of the usual cost," Chang said.

TraumaLink from Bangladesh utilizes a 24-hour emergency hotline and trained local first responders to save the lives of traffic accident victims.

And Naya Jeevan Welfare Organizsation from Pakistan connects female healthcare providers who work from home with underserved, low-income patients via telemedicine, the release said.
Fiscal year 2015-16 was a landmark year for Maruti Suzuki India, India's largest car maker for well over two decades. Its domestic tally, at a little over 1.3 million, was its highest ever, helping it lead the industry with a growth of 11.5 per cent. Not surprisingly, then, Maruti dominates the Top 10 best-selling list during the fiscal with as many as six cars. In fact, the only new addition to the list - Celerio - is a Maruti at the expense of Hyundai Eon.

In fact, there are hardly any surprises in the list. The Alto, a bestseller for well over a decade now, remains on top but it increasingly looks like the brand will not grow from here. Simply maintaining its tally at over 250,000 units per annum from here itself would be a job well done. Having usurped the second spot from its older sibling, compact sedan Dzire defies odds to again grow in double digits. At 2.34 lakh units in 2015-16, it is getting closer to Alto - who knows what it is store in fiscal 2017.

Sales of the Swift slide marginally and there has been a definite impact of stable mate Baleno in the Past six months. The latter has so far notched up an impressive 45,000 unit sales in six months and will dent Swift's prospects further this year.

Changes of any significance are in the position of non-Maruti nameplates. Hyundai Grand i10 is the only car in the Top 5 that is not a Maruti, snatching that position from Mahindra Bolero. The latter saw a steep 20 per cent decline in sales, clearly reeling under the twin impact of TUV and KUV launches, and just about holds on to the position of being the largest selling SUV in the country. Hyundai Creta or Maruti Vitara Brezza would be odds-on favourites to emerge as winners this year.

Hyundai's Elite i20 sees the highest year-on-year growth - a remarkable 46 per cent. This is the first time ever that two Hyundai cars have managed to sell more than 100,000 units in a year. Yet, not all is rosy for the Korean carmaker. Its entry level small car is being brow beaten by the unheralded Renault Kwid. A 13 per cent decrease in sales ensures it is now out of the Top 10.

Another big gainer is the Celerio with a 28 per cent increment partly due to the introduction of the diesel version in mid-2015. It would be interesting to see if Tata's Tiago has any impact on this brand.

Maruti's ubiquitous Omni and Honda City round off the list. With a number of cars like Creta, Kwid, Baleno and Vitara Brezza snapping at the leaders' heels, 2016/17 promises a virtual shake up of the list.


A number of Ireland's leading business groups yesterday joined together in calling for ongoing negotiations on the formation of the next government to deliver a clear, comprehensive agreement that will ensure the next administration is in a position to run its full term.



Leaders of the Small Firms Association, ISME, Ibec, Irish Exporters Association, Construction Industry Federation and Chambers Ireland all signed a statement which calls for the next government to have an unwavering focus on the significant challenges Ireland faces, one with the mandate, authority and capacity to plan ambitiously and take difficult decisions if needed.

The statement warns that Ireland would not be served well by a government preoccupied by the possibility of an imminent general election.



According to the statement, "The Irish economy is moving in the right direction, but domestic pressures, global economic uncertainty and a possible vote by the UK to leave the EU means we cannot take the recovery for granted. We need a government that can effectively manage every eventuality and is able to capitalise on opportunities as they arise. If the conditions are right, business will create the growth, jobs and tax revenue needed to deliver the public services, infrastructure and living standards that we all aspire to."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

About us
It was announced today that Slack has moved its European Headquarters to One Park Place in Dublin.

As a result of this move, Slack will be hiring for 80 new jobs over the next two years to meet growing demand from European businesses and existing customers including the Financial Times, Ticketmaster, Lush and Spotify.

As of April 2016, Slack has 2.7 million daily active users and 430 employees worldwide.

Slack is a messaging app for teams which helps make working lives simpler, more pleasant, and more productive by bringing team communication, file sharing and other tools together in one central platform.

It integrates with dozens of popular services such as Twitter, Dropbox, Trello, Asana, Google Docs, JIRA, MailChimp, Stripe, Zendesk and others to help consolidate and make sense of the ever-growing flows of data that confront modern teams.

The move to the new European Head Quarters which occupies 29,000 square feet in the heart of Dublin comes after strong growth and the company opening its Asia Pacific headquarters in Australia at the end of March.

The jobs are being created with the support of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through IDA Ireland.

Slacks Dublin-based Senior Manager of Accounts, James Sherrett says, "Customer growth and adoption across all markets in Europe are driving the growth of our team and operations in Dublin. We are the fastest growing business application in history. Our user base grew tenfold last year and were seeing strong demand across all industries and from businesses of all sizes, for more efficient and effective team communications."



Welcoming the announcement today, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD added, "Winning investments from world-leading companies like Slack not only create large numbers of jobs in themselves, but also make it easier for us to market Ireland for further investments and develop a vibrant start-up community here."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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It was announced today that Ibec will be holding their CEO Conference on Thursday 21 April 2016 at the RDS in Dublin.



The event is a calendar highlight for many businesses and organisations around Ireland.

This year's conference will examine how to capitalise both economically and socially on the domestic economic recovery.

It will discuss the uncertain international backdrop including the UK referendum on EU membership, US elections and the European migration crisis.

Furthermore, leading Irish and international CEOs will also look at how individual businesses and industries can best navigate the changing economic environment.

Speakers as diverse as Alastair Campbell and David McWilliams will be taking part. Event partners include Eir, Accenture and MERC Partners along with media partner, CNBC. A list of speakers is included below:



Alastair Campbell, Writer and Strategist

Gideon Rachman, Chief Foreign Affairs Columnist, Financial Times

David McWilliams, Global Economist, Author and Journalist

Gina London, CNN Correspondent and Anchor

Cal Thomas, Author and radio commentator

Aongus Hegarty, President, Dell Europe, Middle East and Africa

Chris Martin, CEO Musgrave Group

Edel Creely, MD Trilogy Technologies

Ryan Shanks, Head of Strategy, Accenture



Source: www.businessworld.ie
The 16th annual Corporate Challenge quiz, in aid of Dublin Simon Community, has been launched by the Business Journalists Association of Ireland (BJAI) today.



The event will take place on Thursday, June 2nd, 2016, at the Radisson Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin 2.



Each year the Corporate Challenge Quiz night attracts some of the top names from the world of law, business and public relations.

Since the annual event began it has raised close to 450,000 for the Dublin Simon Community. It is open to all companies interested in helping to raise funds for Dublin Simon Community, who provide services and support to those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.



The cost for a corporate table of four is 1,000. A journalist will also join a corporate table and act as an additional team member for the evening's quiz.

The event starts at 7:15pm with drinks and the quiz starts at 8p.m. Last years winner was ABP, one of Europe's leading privately owned food processors, who were presented with a custom designed Waterford Crystal Trophy



RTEs Bryan Dobson will return as quizmaster and Mr. Justice Peter Kelly, President of the High Court, will adjudicate on the night. The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), William Fry and eir are 2016 sponsors.



Chair of the Business Journalist Association of Ireland, Donal ODonovan says, "When we re-started the Corporate Challenge in the depths of the 2012 gloom, we were bowled over by the support we got and the number of people telling us how much theyd missed it."

He added, "Since then, many firms have experienced the Corporate Challenge for the first time, and have come to love it as much as our stalwarts. As the economy recovers, we hope to see even more newcomers this year, so we can raise even more money for this very deserving cause."



Source: www.businessworld.ie

About us
The U.S. government posted a $108 billion budget deficit in March, more than double the amount from the same period last year, the Treasury Department said on Tuesday.

The government had a deficit of $53 billion in March of 2015, according to the Treasury's monthly budget statement. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a $104 billion deficit for last month.

Accounting for calendar adjustments, March would have shown a $102 billion deficit compared with an adjusted $89 billion deficit in March 2015.

The current fiscal year-to-date deficit was $461 billion, up 5% from a $439 billion deficit this time last year.

Receipts last month totaled $228 billion, while outlays stood at $336 billion. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
PROVIDENCE  Residents got their chance to let the City Council know what they thought of a new form of government that could be implemented in the coming months. If a proposed ordinance is passed, the city would hire a manager that would take care of its administrative duties instead of keeping that responsibility with the mayor.

The council listened to citizens and discussed the pros and cons of a manager for almost three hours Tuesday night at Providence Elementary. Strong opinions were voiced both for and against the change that would cost taxpayers an estimated $120,000 in salary, but that some see as a necessary step forward for a community that has experienced rapid growth.

The council was set to vote on the issue in the May 29th council meeting, but decided it would be best to get public opinion in order to better weigh the options. As of Tuesday nights meeting, some council members were still undecided, and no date has been set for a vote.

Even if the idea is eventually rejected by the council, change could still take place. Providence resident Chad Checketts circulated a petition to enact the change. With 500 verified signatures the ordinance would go to a public vote in November, and it seems Checketts will have the signatures in time. With just one more name needed to reach the required number, Checketts requested Mayor Don Calderwood sign the petition in front of the audience as the final signature. Calderwood declined.

Checketts said the mayor has both administrative and legislative power in the current form of government. He said switching to a city manager form of government would split those powers, giving administrative powers  such as hiring city employees  to the manager.

As an example of the mayors current power, Checketts referenced a deciding vote by last May in regards to the purchase of a new city building. Former council member John Russell was out of state and unable to vote, so after the remaining members split their votes at 2-2, Calderwood cast his vote in favor of the purchase.

When we have one person that is in charge and calls the shots, we usually refer to that as a dictatorship, Checketts said. It gets to be where one persons personal agenda could lead an entire city which I believe is much less desirable than a city where a quorum of like-minded people make the decisions, and thats how it operates with a city manager.

Calderwood disagreed with Checketts. He said Providences government is not a strong-mayor type and that all his hiring decisions have to first be approved by the council. He also offered a rebuttal explaining the purchase of the building. He said his vote was to approve the contract between the owner and the city and that the actual vote to purchase the building was made in a later executive session.

There were three council votes to buy the building, he said.

Providence resident Ron Smith was one of the many residents who voiced an opinion Tuesday night. He said he hasnt heard a compelling case for hiring a city manager.

Ive heard about grievances, he said. But Ive heard nothing that says we ought to really go back to this and make a big, and for a little town like Providence, a costly change.

Providence resident Bryan Cox said the city has grown and evolved. He believes having a qualified city manager would benefit the city with legal issues as well as others.

Weve got people bringing attorneys to council meetings to get their way, he said. It just raises the bar so weve got somebody there.

Council member Kirk Allen said for him it all comes down to an educated vote.

We have to make sure that the voice is heard, he said. Whether it goes to election or we have more meetings like this, it has to be heard.
Saudi Arabias attempt to persuade Azerbaijan to join its anti-terror coalition comprised of Islamic countries has created problems for Baku due to fierce opposition to this coalition from Iran and Russia. Azerbaijans leadership subsequently attended the international donor conference on Syrias future, seeking to become part of an international platform that will limit the countrys involvement to humanitarian affairs. However, while Azerbaijans interests and capacity to engage in international discussions about Syria are limited, the involvement of Azerbaijani fighters in the terrorist organization calling itself the Islamic State (ISIS) may require Baku to join some kind of international anti-terrorism coalition in the future, aimed at supporting intelligence sharing and cooperation with the aim of preventing recruitment of Azerbaijani jihadists.

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of civil war in Syria has had indirect negative effects on Azerbaijan. The critical issue is that, according to government sources, at least 200-300 Azerbaijanis have been trained and fought in Syria and Iraq within ISIS and other terrorist jihadi groupings. The real numbers may well be higher than those in official statistics. In order to prevent Azerbaijanis from joining the jihadi insurgency, the national criminal law was changed in March 2014, making participation in fighting on foreign territory punishable by imprisonment of up to twelve years.

With the exception of its support for resolutions on Syria during its non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council in 2011-2013 and its vote to suspend Syrias membership in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in 2012, Baku has not expressed a position on the Syrian situation.

However, recent domestic and international developments have triggered additional negative consequences for Azerbaijan. The first is internal; despite reports by Azerbaijans National Intelligence Service that a number of Azerbaijanis who joined jihadi groups had been detained, a scandal in the Ministry of National Security last year resulted in the detention of its leadership and the removal of a significant number of officials. At the heart of the scandal lay the revelation that the Minister and his associates had extorted large amounts of money from medium-sized Azerbaijani enterprises. This, in combination with a corruption scandal, resulted in the dissolution of the Ministry in December 2015. In its place, a State Security Service was created for internal matters, and a Foreign Security Service for international security matters.

The international context is that just before Russias military involvement in Syria, Moscow proposed uniting the counterterrorism activities of all Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) members under the auspices of a newly empowered and revitalized Anti-Terrorist Center. Russia founded this Center in 2000, but it has never been an effective institution. With an expanded scope, the Center would essentially unite the intelligence gathering services under Moscows guidance, as expressed by the Russian President at the CIS Head of States meeting on October, 2015. However, Azerbaijan joined the Center in 2000 with the proviso that it would not participate in any intelligence gathering, or allow any activities by the ATC on Azerbaijani territory. Russias active involvement aims to gain the support of a number of former Soviet countries including Azerbaijan. But joining any Russian activities in Syria (even intelligence sharing) will be perceived as supporting Russias position on the conflict. Baku seeks to support international efforts aiming to end the war and eliminating the ISIS threat. Saudi Arabias proposal in December 2015 for creating an anti-terror coalition of Islamic countries has therefore provided a kind of cover for Azerbaijan, and Baku declared that it was considering this option.

IMPLICATIONS: Saudi Arabias attempt to persuade Azerbaijan to join its Anti-Terror coalition has been beneficial for two reasons. Firstly, on a bilateral level, since the decline of oil prices and Azerbaijans economic troubles, Saudi Arabia has been seen a key source of investment. The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs visit to Saudi Arabia in April 2015 was important in this respect. The second factor is that Riyadhs offer includes most Muslim states, with which Azerbaijan often cooperates, seeking their support on a number of issues including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

However, the Saudi-led coalition has met with fierce opposition from Iran and Russia. Saudi Arabia proposed the coalition before its decision in January 2016 to execute 47 prisoners, including the Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, which triggered a diplomatic crisis between Tehran and Riyadh. In the aftermath, joining the coalition could seriously damage Bakus relations with Tehran. In a January government meeting, Aliyev clearly expressed his concerns about the increased tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia: this situation has an impact on events in the Muslim world. Russias military involvement in Syria, the timing of the Saudi proposal, and Moscows response  questioning the need for a new coalition  constitute additional difficulties for Baku in terms of joining the anti-terror coalition.

Beyond Iranian and Russian opposition, Azerbaijans concerns lie in the military and political scope of Riyadhs anti-terror coalition; i.e. whether participation in the coalition requires sending a peacekeeping mission to Syria or Iraq. During Bakus past peacekeeping missions in Kosovo and Iraq, international legitimacy and U.S. backing were key, but this is lacking in Saudi Arabias initiative. Azerbaijans leadership will also find it difficult to justify military involvement domestically  even at a symbolic level  given the strong public opposition to Saudi activities among the active part of Azerbaijans Shia population. Shia clerics have perceived Saudi Arabia as an exporter and financer of Salafism; and the war in Syria has also contributed to radicalizing Salafist groups with anti-Shia overtures, resulting in Azerbaijani nationals participation in jihadi groups.

This brings a high degree of political complexity to the Saudi coalition, namely its image problem: the coalition comprises Sunni Muslim countries. Riyadh would like to erase this negative Sunni-club appearance by involving Azerbaijan, a predominantly Shia country. However, this would entail encountering a sectarian fault line. For the government in Baku, even encouragement from its strategic ally Turkey  which is part of the Saudi-led coalition  is not enough. Ultimately, Azerbaijan fears that its participation will be perceived as involvement in sectarian struggles. In its current format, the Saudi-led coalition is unlikely to succeed.

The Azerbaijani leadership has not officially rejected the Saudi proposal, but found another way to gently decline it by becoming part of an internationally supported coalition on humanitarian affairs in Syria. That is was the reason for Aliyevs subsequent attendance at the donor conference on Syria in London in February 2016. In reality, Baku will provide little support on this matter. It is currently distributing relief packages to Syrian refugees in Jordan via the Azerbaijan International Development Agency, but will not provide any major assistance, either through financial support or receiving Syrian refugees.

In order to please Iran and Russia, the Azerbaijani leadership expressed Bakus support for Syrias territorial integrity and a political process that includes all the countrys political forces. Although this initially seemed to indicate Bakus support for Irans and/or Russias positions on Syria, the later official declaration indicated that Baku is upholding its core principle of territorial integrity, due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It has previously expressed this position in other cases, such as Russias annexation of Crimea.

CONCLUSIONS: Azerbaijans participation in the Saudi anti-terror coalition has ended in a stalemate due to fierce opposition from Iran and Russia. This opposition has shown that political maneuvers have their limits; in order to break the stalemate while both pleasing Iran and Russia and not ignoring Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan has engaged with the internationally supported humanitarian approach to Syria. Azerbaijans only possibility for participation in Saudi Arabias format is if this coalition becomes part of an international alliance on fighting terrorism. This will eliminate Bakus concerns about sectarianism and relations with Iran. Alternatively, if the Saudis can push this initiative through under the official banner of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Baku may be interested, even if this includes intelligence sharing.

AUTHUORS BIO: Zaur Shiriyev is an Academy Associate at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London. His areas of expertise include security issues and conflict resolution in the post-Soviet space, Turkish foreign policy, and the foreign and national security policies of the South Caucasus states, with an emphasis on the domestic determinants of such policies.

Image Attribution: www.jamestown.org, accessed on April 12, 2016
Dozens of soldiers and civilians were killed as the worst fighting in two decades threatened to spread beyond the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory and adjacent occupied territories. International organizations have warned that the escalating conflict could spiral into a full-scale war over Nagorno-Karabakh, threatening to destabilize the region.

Starting from mid-day on April 5, the cease-fire regime was restored after heavy fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces along the line of contact since April 2. According to information posted on the website of Azerbaijans Defense Ministry, military forces are now working on strengthening their position in newly liberated areas.

On Tuesday morning, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry reported that the situation along the frontline remained tense throughout April 4 and 5, and that particularly the areas of Khojavand, Fizuli, Aghdara and Tartar were under fire from the Armenian side. The [Armenian] HQ of the strategically important military base in Madagiz, which is located on the main road to Aghdara, that is one of the big bases in this direction, has been completely destroyed in an accurate fire strike, the statement read. In order to minimize damages caused to our residential areas from the opposite side, our units in the Khojavand-Fizuli direction destroyed two tanks and their crew, as well as five wheeled vehicles loaded with military equipment.

There are not yet independent records of casualties during the confrontation. Azerbaijans Defense Ministry claimed that 16 servicemen of Azerbaijans Armed Forces were killed along the frontline. A military spokesman of Nagorno-Karabakh stated that 20 Armenian troops had been killed since the fighting escalated on April 2, while 26 others were missing, the Mediamax news agency reports.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijans prosecutor-generals office asserted that over 300 Armenian servicemen were killed, while 12 tanks, 12 armored vehicles and 15 artillery devices had been destroyed. The office reported that four Azerbaijani civilians had been killed and 17 wounded since the renewal of armed hostilities around Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the escalation in the Karabakh conflict zone in a telephone conversation on Monday. It was agreed that the Russian, U.S. and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, the main mediating body on the conflict, should intensify their efforts to assist in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. According to the ministrys statement, Lavrov and Kerry have condemned the attempts by certain outside players to instigate a confrontation around Karabakh and expressed serious concern over the escalation of the standoff in Nagorno-Karabakh, having reaffirmed their urgent call for immediate ceasefire.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden tweeted on April 4 that he had told Armenias and Azerbaijans Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev that a comprehensive settlement on Nagorno-Karabakh is critical for their stability, security and prosperity.

The OSCE Minsk Group has urged the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to immediately cease using force. The statement was made on April 5 and signed by the representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, the U.S., France, Belarus, Finland, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Turkey), as well as the incoming Austrian OSCE Chair (2017) and the Serbian OSCE Chair (2015). The statement strongly condemns the outbreak of unprecedented violence along the line of contact and urge the sides to cease using force immediately. There is no military solution to the conflict.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will visit the region, including Baku, Yerevan and the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh in a few days, the French Foreign Ministrys spokesman Romain Nadal said on Tuesday. He did not specify the date of the visit and said only that it will take place in the near future, while the Armenian Foreign Ministry said that the mediators are expected to visit Yerevan on April 9.

In a tweet on April 5, President Aliyev stated that the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. There is no other option. He asserted that a solution must be based on United Nations Security Council resolutions, starting with the return of five occupied districts around Nagorno-Karabakh region to Azerbaijan.

Image attribution: www.rferl.org, accessed on April 11, 2016
On March 11, footage allegedly showing an intimate scene involving one of the leaders of opposition party Our Georgia-Free Democrats (OGFD) was leaked in Georgian social media. The anonymously posted video was secretly recorded, triggered anxiety among the Georgian public and was strongly condemned by the government, media and watchdog groups.

The Georgian news agency responsible for spreading the video came under enormous pressure, compelling the media outlet to sack one of its editors. PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili termed the case a blow to the state and blackmail of the entire society. He pledged that an investigation into the case would be launched immediately and that those responsible for producing and publishing the video would be punished in an exemplary manner. However, the Prosecutors Office (PO) has so far achieved no tangible results.

In the end of February, unknown perpetrators shot and wounded another leader of the OGFD, the former State Minister for European integration Alexi Petriashvili. The crime took place at midday when he was visiting his friends grave at a cemetery in the Saburtalo district of Tbilisi. Although police arrested one of the suspected offenders after several days, Petriashvili denied familiarity with him and asserted that the case should not be considered solved unless the person who ordered the attack is arrested.

Parallel to these events, the ongoing confrontation within the Georgian Dream ruling coalition  between the Republican (RP) and Industrialist (IP) Parties  deepened. One of the IP leaders, MP Gogi Topadze, known for hos radical pro-Russian stance, accused RP Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli of election fraud in Sagarejo.

The MP by-election in the Sagarejo single-mandate constituency in eastern Georgia took place on October 31. The RP candidate Tamar Khidasheli narrowly defeated her rival Irma Inashvili, leader of the pro-Russian Alliance of Patriots of Georgia (APG).

Inashvili argued that the Defense Minister had overseen the deployment of more than 500 additional soldiers to the polling station at the Mukhrovani military base to manipulate poll results. The Central Election Commission as well as the court turned down Inashvilis complaints, whereas Georgias largest non-governmental election monitoring group, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) did not question Khidashelis victory. In response, Inashvili engaged in a two-week hunger strike in front of the government headquarters, however failed to attract attention from the authorities.

On March 3, in the midst of the confrontation between RP and IP, the PO opened an investigation into Minister Khidashelis alleged abuse of power during the Sagarejo elections but declared on March 21 that it had found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Aside from election fraud, Topadze accused the Defence Minister of deceiving the Georgian people with statements about the countrys progress in its integration with NATO. He also urged resistance against the EUs endeavor to impose laws related to the rights of LGBT persons, which he claimed contradict the will, culture and traditions of the Georgian people. RP termed Topadzes rhetoric an anti-Western campaign directed not only against RP, but also against the interests of the coalition, the government and the country.

Notably, APG as well as former parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadzes Democratic Movement  United Georgia party largely share IPs and particularly Topadzes views on foreign policy. Burjanadze has visited the Kremlin several times in recent years and in February met with Russias Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin.

It should be noted that the attacks on OGFD and RP have coincided in time. Whereas this could well be a coincidence, the possibility also exists that it is not, especially in light of the parliamentary elections scheduled for October.

Both parties, along with GD itself, were founding members of the GD coalition. OGFDs decision to leave the coalition in November 2014 raised expectations that RP would do the same, given the close ideological and interpersonal links between the two parties. Nevertheless, RP took advantage of the situation to increase its sway in the government. Despite the RPs small number of seats in the legislative body, it managed to gain several ministerial portfolios, including the post of Defense Minister. RPs increased clout has become an irritant to the rest of the coalition.

Some commentators speculate that Topadzes feud with RP is backed by former PM and oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, aiming to curtail RPs growing political ambitions. The rationale is allegedly to weaken OGFD in order to deny RP the alternative of leaving the GD coalition and enter a new one as cooperation with other political forces is vitally important for the small RP. This would also be a possible motive for the simultaneous attack on both two parties.

Indeed, divergence within the coalition on foreign policy priorities makes it harder for RP to retain its allegiance to GD and could force it to break ranks ahead of the 2016 parliamentary elections.

In late March, it was announced that the RP would not run in an election bloc with the Georgian Dream Party in the upcoming elections, but would nevertheless remain in the coalition government until then.

Image attribution: www.ajaratv.ge, accessed on April 6, 2016
Sargsyans previous visit to Athens took place in 2011, and in 2014 Armenia welcomed the Greek President Karolos Papoulias in Yerevan. On March 14, Sargsyan had a tete-a-tete meeting with Pavlopoulos, discussing a wide range of issues of interstate relations, bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the framework of international organizations. The presidents touched upon the Armenian-Greek partnership in different areas, interparliamentary cooperation, the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, EU-Armenia relations, the process of recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, as well as issues of international importance, e.g. the migration crisis in Europe and the Syrian crisis. Pavlopoulos has formerly been a member of the Armenian-Greek parliamentary Friendship Group.

On March 15, President Sargsyan met with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The parties highlighted the importance of deepening cooperation in trade and economy, agriculture, culture, education, health care, tourism, as well as the necessity of encouraging investments and contacts between representatives of business circles. They stressed the role of the Armenian-Greek intergovernmental commission. The 5th session of the intergovernmental commission took place on March 3-4 in Athens. During a press conference on that occasion, the parties stressed the importance of activating ties between business circles in order to upgrade economic ties between the two countries.

Tsipras mentioned the need to bolster Armenian-Greek relations in the context of regional cooperation plans. Considering Armenias close relations with Iran, Tsipras assessed the development of Greece-Armenia-Iran cooperation as promising. After the nuclear deal with Iran and sanctions gradually being lifted, new possibilities for Iranian foreign policy arise and in this context such plans seem increasingly promising. During his visit to Yerevan in October 2015, Irans Minister of Transport Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi highlighted Irans interest in creating a transport corridor in the Black Sea through Armenia and Bulgaria. Irans potential interest in the Black Sea region may provide favorable conditions for boosting cooperation between Greece, Armenia and Iran.

In a statement to media, Sargsyan appreciated Greeces principled position on the condemnation and recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In this context, the Armenian president underlined the fact that on September 9, 2014, the Greek Parliament passed a Resolution on the Fight against Racism and Xenophobia, which also criminalized the denial of the Armenian Genocide. Sargsyan noted that in 2015, Armenias National Assembly in turn adopted a Declaration on the Condemnation of the Genocides of Greeks and Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire. References to these issues by Greeces Prime Minister and President later provoked criticism from Turkeys Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On March 17, Tanju Bilgic, a spokesperson for Turkeys MFA, declared that the statements in question are the product of a pathetic mentality proving that the relations and solidarity between Greece and Armenia is built upon a joint hostility and slander language directed against the Turkish identity.

As discussions between the official delegations were concluded, following the meeting between Sargsyan and Tsipras, several documents were signed, including a Program of Cooperation in the area of Health Care and Medical Aid for 2016-2018, an Action Plan of Cooperation between the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia and Government of the Hellenic Republic for 2016-2020, and a Program of Cooperation in the area of Education and Research for 2016-2020. During his visit, Sargsyan also met with the President of the Greek Parliament Nikos Voutsis and members of the Armenian diaspora in Greece.

From Athens, the delegation left for Nicosia, Cyprus, where Sargsyan met with his Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades. The Cypriot President was among the four heads of state (along with Francois Hollande, Vladimir Putin and Tomislav Nikolic) present at the events dedicated to the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide Centennial in Yerevan on April 24, 2015. Sargsyan also met with the President of the House of Representatives Yiannakis Omirou and Archbishop of All Cyprus Chrysostomos II, as well as members of the Armenian diaspora in Cyprus. During Sargsyans visit to Nicosia, several agreements were signed, among them a Program of Cooperation in the Area of Culture, an Action Plan on Cooperation in the Area of Education and Science for 2016-2020, and an Agreement on Mutual Recognition of the Higher Educational Qualification to start and continue education in the higher education institutions of the two countries.

Image attribution: www.ajaratv.ge, accessed on April 6, 2016
Bohmermann vs. Erdogan: What are the limits of satire?

Published on April 13, 2016

Story by euro topics Translation by: euro topics

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First the German ambassador was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry because of a satirical video aired by German state broadcaster NDR, now a "smear poem" by German satirist Jan Bohmermann has provoked Ankara's ire. Turkey's President Erdogan has filed a criminal complaint against Bohmermann. How can the dispute be settled?

Bohmermann has fuelled hatred - Handelsblatt, Germany

Bohmermann must take responsibility for his actions, the liberal business paper Handelsblatt urges in response to the criminal complaint filed by the Turkish president against the German comedian: "Jan Bohmermann hasn't called anyone's bluff; all he's done is to deliberately provoke an artificial controversy that has now taken on a dynamic of its own. ... The sad thing about clowns like Bohmermann is that they fuel the disenchantment with politics that they otherwise so love to condemn. For Bohmermann's fan base - which is mainly on the Internet - the big enemies are once again the idiotic German government, the rotten system, and also the stupid state television which has in the meantime erased the controversial video from its media library. The only winner is ironic Bohmermann, the champion of 'meta levels' of understanding. What he's really doing with all this, however, is simply fuelling hatred. He's not the victim but the perpetrator. If satire really should have the freedom to do anything it wants, why not admit responsibility for the damage that has been caused, Mr Bohmermann?" (13/04/2016)

Don't attach too much importance to silly satire - Hurriyet, Turkey

Columnist Mehmet Y. Ylmaz rips into Bohmermann's poem but warns against overreactions: "Never have we witnessed such base political satire.  As a member of the audience I felt my intelligence was being insulted.  And this dumb programme has rightly provoked even fiercer reactions in Turkey.  But Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus went too far when he said a serious crime against community had been committed. I would like to point to the contradiction when a government that is the closest friend of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, describes a silly satire programme as a 'crime against humanity'. If Mr Kurtulmus wants his words to be taken seriously, he should choose them more carefully." (13/04/2016)

Merkel's hypocrisy on press freedom - Magyar Hirlap, Hungary

After the attack on Charlie Hebdo last year German Chancellor Angela Merkel was defending press freedom. But by chastising Bohmermann she has shown just how little she respects her own position, columnist Zsolt Bayer writes in the conservative daily Magyar Hirlap: "Angela Merkel put on a Pharisaical face after the attack on Charlie Hebdo. Back then she maintained that the freedom of the press and opinion were key European values and that Charlie Hebdo had the right to offend the most holy sentiments of Muslims and Christians because that was what made Europe what it is. ... Press freedom stands above the sensitivities of believers. For Merkel, this lying, base hypocrite, this idea fits in with her political interests at the time. Today, however, she is pursuing different political goals: namely sucking up to Erdogan." (13/04/2016)

Bohmermann deliberately provokes authorities - Der Standard, Austria

The fact that Bohmermann's criticism deals with an "intentionally damaging text", as Chancellor Merkel says, is only half the truth. The poem that borders on the obscene is just a means to an end, the centre-left daily Der Tagesspiegel believes: "Bohmermann is deliberately provoking the German authorities and in particular Chancellor Merkel. Because while the commentators are almost exclusively up in arms about the strong choice of words, hardly anyone payed proper attention to how the poem was introduced: Bomermann isn't at all concerned with Erdogan. He is only interested in showing the limits of the freedom of expression. With his co-moderator Ralf Kabelka he discussed the question of how far satire can go. Abusive criticism aimed solely at disparaging people is forbidden, everyone agrees on that. Bohmermann recited the poem as a clear example of mocking criticism, but refused the audience's applause. Such a text, he intimated, should never be recited in Germany: that is forbidden." (08/04/2016)

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30 Countries, 300 Media Outlets, 1 Press Review. The euro|topics press review presents the issues affecting Europe and reflects the continent's diverse opinions, ideas and moods.

Story by euro topics

Translated from Bohmermann vs. Erdogan: Was darf denn nun Satire?
Paris joins Warsaw with one voice: "My body, my choice!"

Published on April 13, 2016

Story by Katarzyna Piasecka Translation by: Katarzyna Piasecka

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Photo gallery from Place des Invalides, Paris, where crowds gathered on the 10th of April to support members of the Polish diaspora in protesting against the introduction of a total ban on abortion in their country. Magdalena awniczak, a Polish photographer living in Paris, was there to document the event. Her photos provide a glimpse into the Europe wide manifestations.

Crowds gathered near the Polish embassy in Paris this Sunday the 10th of April, to protest against the proposals for further restrictions on abortion laws in Poland. Alongside the Polish diaspora, numerous representatives of feminist organisations and other citizens of the multicultural Parisian population attended the event. People of all ages came to leave a coat hanger: chosen as a symbol of the protest movement. Some bore the names of those unable to attend in person.

Story by Katarzyna Piasecka

Translated from [Foto] Paryz wtoruje Warszawie: Odzyskac wybor
SHARE GEORGE TULEY/SPECIAL TO THE CALLER-TIMES RODEO: Rodeo Corpus Christi is this weekend at the American Bank Center, 1901 N. Shoreline Blvd. Cost: Tickets range from $15 to $30. Information: www.BucDays.com. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times These are just a few of the Dr. Hector P. Garcia memorabilia items that will be on display during the book signing for "The Inspiring Life of Texan Hector P. Garcia" at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Mary and Jeff Bell Library at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

WEDNESDAY

COMMUNITY: The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Bend will partner with Buffalo Wild Wings to host the 3rd annual Community Day at 2001 S. Padre Island Dr. Buffalo Wild Wings will donate 10 percent of total sales from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to the organization. Cost: Free to attend, food prices vary. Information: www.bgccorpuschristi.org.

BOOK SIGNING: Celebrate the legacy of Dr. Hector P. Garcia, founder of the American GI Forum and a Mexican-American civil rights leader, with a reception and book signing of "The Inspiring Life of Texan Hector P. Garcia." The event will be at 1:30 p.m. at Mary and Jeff Bell Library at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Information: heather.selim@tamucc.edu.

THURSDAY

EVENT: The 3rd annual Roast Celebration with CCPD Chief Mike Markle will be at 6 p.m. at Omni Corpus Christi Hotel, 900 N. Shoreline Blvd. Cost: $50. Information: 361-658-0687.

RODEO: Rodeo Corpus Christi will start at 7:30 p.m. at American Bank Center, 1901 N. Shoreline Blvd. Cost: Tickets range from $15 to $30. Information: www.BucDays.com.

For more events check Caller.com/vivacc
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Del Mar College Regent Guy Watts is sworn in December 2014.

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By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times

Six Corpus Christi residents took to the podium in support of a censure against Del Mar College regent Guy Watts.

One of them, 84-year-old Joan Veith, offered the board money in case anything can be done to remove him from the elected position.

"There needs to be something done to where (he) no longer represents Del Mar College," Veith said. "As a tax payer, I'm willing to contribute some of my taxes to do something. As a tax payer, I resent that he is a member of this board."

During a special meeting in March, the board voted in favor of drafting the censure resolution, which is the highest form of disapproval the board can express.

On Tuesday, the board in a 8-0 vote made the censure official.

While the board has the authority to censure him it can't remove him. Being absent for more than half the regularly scheduled board meetings in a calendar year are grounds for removal, according to the Texas Education Code. Watts' term expires in 2020 and he has been absent to one of three regular meetings.

Watts walked out of the board's Tuesday meeting about an hour before the board passed the resolution. He later declined to comment about the censure.

"This is a very serious agenda item for a board to undertake," board chair Trey McCampbell said. "A censure against one of our own does not happen everyday."

The decision comes after the board decided in a 7-0 vote in February to initiate an investigation into Watts after reviewing documents penned by him. Watts and regent Carol Scott were absent during that meeting. Scott was at a conference in Washington, D.C.

Emails, letters and other communications between Watts and regents, Caller-Times articles and editorials by and about Watts, documents distributed to the public by Watts and minutes from every meeting Watts attended since August 2014 were reviewed during the monthlong investigation. The investigation, handled by an Austin-based firm, showed he violated six provisions of the board's bylaws. Watts did not cooperate in the investigation, according to the 18-page report by Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta LLP. The total cost of the investigation has not yet been tallied, said Claudia Jackson, the college's executive director of strategic communication.

Twitter: @CallerBetty

Censure
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By Chris Ramirez of the Caller-Times

Two people were killed and another was injured in a high-pressure leak Tuesday afternoon near Woodsboro.

Dennis Henneke, 54, of Woodsboro, was pronounced dead about noon at the scene of the accident after equipment he was using "appears to have failed," according to a written statement issued by Southcross Energy Partners.

Henneke was employed with Southcross Energy as a construction supervisor, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Jesse Gonzalez Jr., 30, of San Diego, was pronounced dead at the Refugio County Memorial Hospital by Justice of the Peace Lorraine Lopez, the Refugio County Press reported.

Another contractor, Rene Roel Elizondo Jr., 22, of San Diego, was injured but survived, the newspaper reported.

Henneke was a good-natured, outgoing man who loved to laugh, said longtime friend Thomas "Sawedoff" Unger, of Inez.

"I never seen him run into anybody that he couldn't make friends with the moment they met him," Unger, 58, said.

Henneke was known for his interest in two hobbies: cooking and exercise, Unger said.

On Saturday Henneke finished first in his age group and 11th overall at the 2016 Chick-fil-A 5K/10K Race in Victoria.

"He was in great shape," Henneke's friend said. "He worked out every day."

Unger said he met Henneke soon after graduating high school almost four decades ago. Unger's mother and father worked with Henneke's parents in a traveling skating rink, he said.

He described his friendship with Henneke as "close."

"He was a friend that everybody would like to have," Unger said.

The two bonded over a shared love of cooking and routinely attended barbecue and chili cook-offs together  about twice a year, Unger said.

Starting in 1990, Unger and Henneke competed each year in the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. They last attended the event in February.

Unger said when he and other friends attend next year's cook-off, Henneke will not be forgotten.

"He'll be there with us  no doubt," Unger said.

The Refugio County Press reported that Lopez said the three men were working in a manhole when about 800 pounds of pressure leaked, blowing them out of the manhole.

Southcross said the incident did not result in a gas release or fire, and that it was investigating the cause. Woodsboro is about six miles south of Refugio on U.S. Highway 77.

This is the latest in a string of incidents reported at Southcross facilities in just over a year.

Two workers were injured after an explosion and large fire in February at the company's plant in Frio County, near San Antonio.

In January 2015, a fire erupted at the company's Gregory plant. Three people were in the facility just off Farm-to-Market Road 136 during the release of flammable gas and liquid that triggered a fire that prompted highway closures. No one was injured.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration in July fined the Dallas-based gas processor $112,000 in that incident.

Twitter: @Caller_ChrisRam

Staff writer Julie Garcia contributed to this report.
SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Ximena and Scarlett were born May 16 attached at the pelvis and share a rectum and other organs. The procedure to separate them began today just before 7 a.m.

By Chris Ramirez of the Caller-Times

Sisters Ximena and Scarlett Torres did something Tuesday they haven't been able to do since their birth 11 months ago  sleep in their own beds.

The formerly conjoined twins were said to be under close watch at Driscoll Children's Hospital after a grueling, high-risk separation surgery.

Family members came from Brownsville, Houston and Mexico to pray in a hospital waiting room, hoping for good news about the girls, who lay yards away in an operating room crowded with physicians and medical staff.

By 11 a.m., doctors had completed a kidney separation procedure. The girls were separated just before noon, family members said. Doctors moved them to different rooms, where they did reconstructive work on their lower bodies.

"They haven't lost a lot of blood, everything is going smoothly," said the twin's father Raul Torres, 26.

Silvia Torres, 22, delivered Ximena and Scarlett, and a third daughter, Catalina, in Corpus Christi by cesarean section May 16, one day short of 34 weeks. Each girl weighed the same at birth  4 pounds, 11 ounces.

Ximena and Scarlett were born attached at the pelvis. They shared a rectum, an umbilical cord, bladders and intestines, laced together by what doctors called a "skin bridge."

Family encircled the girls' tiny hospital bed moments before the surgery and prayed with the team of physicians and technicians.

Nearly four dozen doctors, nurses and medical technicians participated in the procedure, which was expected to last 12 to 18 hours.

Silvia Torres said Scarlett was out of surgery by 5:45 p.m. and that Ximena was out of surgery around 9:30 p.m.

"God is awesome," she posted on Facebook. "He has done a lot, and I thank the doctors and nurses for doing a very good job on my baby girls. Feeling anxious to see them already."

A prognosis was not known by Tuesday afternoon. Earlier, Dr. Haroon Patel told reporters Ximena and Scarlett likely will need more surgeries throughout their lives as their bodies grow and mature.

Parents posted pictures of the girls in frilly white dresses and veils from their baptismal service, held Saturday at the hospital. Nearly 5,000 people "liked" updates they posted throughout the day about the twins on social media, where they thanked supporters for their prayers and concern.

In a post on Facebook, Silvia Torres said her daughters' perseverance was an example of the miracles God can perform, and called them "my little fighters."

"I have certainty that everything will ... be great," she said.

Roughly 200 pairs of conjoined twins are born alive each year, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. About half of the twins die before their first birthday.

About 70 percent of conjoined twins are girls. Forty to 60 percent of conjoined twins arrive stillborn, and about 35 percent survive only one day.

Since 1950, at least one twin has survived separation about 75 percent of the time.

Twitter: @Caller_ChrisRam
Gilbert Ruiz and Amador Cerna

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By Julie Garcia of the Caller-Times

Two men are in Nueces County Jail weeks after they were arrested in connection with a March double homicide on the Southside.

Gilbert Ruiz, 20, was arrested on suspicion of capital murder in connection to the double homicide of Elisabeth Martinez, 34, and Eric Rodriguez, 32. Martinez and Rodriguez were shot multiple times inside a car in the 4700 block of North Shea Parkway on March 25. Ruiz's bond is set at $1 million.

Amador Cerna, 18, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated robbery. He was wanted in connection with an aggravated robbery in the 5400 block of Hitching Post Court, according to Corpus Christi police. His bail is set at $100,000.

The men were taken into custody by U.S. Marshals on April 1 in San Antonio and were held at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on out-of-county warrants until Monday when they were taken to the local jail, according to Bexar County jail officials.

Warrants were obtained for Cerna and Ruiz after police arrested Daniel Martinez, 21, and Micayla Licea, 19, in connection with the robbery on Hitching Post. Daniel Martinez confessed to killing Elisabeth Martinez when he was being interviewed by police, according to an arrest affidavit.

Martinez is in jail with bail set at $1.1 million. Licea's bail amount was raised to $100,000 by Judge David Stith on April 1.

Twitter: @Caller_Jules Reporters Beatriz Alvarado, Natalia Contreras, and Fares Sabawi contributed to this report.
GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES

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By Julie Garcia of the Caller-Times

A 28-year-old man was taken into custody hours after police said he shot a man in the chest in the middle of a street.

Officers arrived at the 600 block of Van Cleve Drive about 11:30 p.m. Monday to find a 33-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his upper chest lying on the ground near a 2002 Ford F-150 pickup, according to a Corpus Christi police news release.

Two shell casings and a gun were recovered and officers interviewed neighbors to piece together what occurred. The 33-year-old man was taken to Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial in serious condition, the release stated. Police on Tuesday afternoon did not know man's condition.

After an investigation, the United States Marshal's Service Fugitive and Violent Offenders Task arrested the suspect about 2:53 p.m. in the 1500 block of Arlington Drive.

According to police, the man was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a firearm and tampering with identification numbers on certain property. The man was taken to the City Detention Center before his transport to Nueces County Jail where he will be processed.

Check back with Caller.com for updates.

Twitter: @Caller_Jules
Gilbert Ruiz and Amador Cerna

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By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times

A man suspected in a double homicide last month made his first appearance in front of a judge.

Gilbert Ruiz, 20, sought out familiar faces on Wednesday in the courtroom. A woman waved to him and he mouthed the words "I love you."

Ruiz and his half brother, Amador Cerna, were transported from the Bexar County Jail this week to the Nueces County Jail. Ruiz was arrested on suspicion of capital murder. Cerna, 18, was arrested on suspicion of an aggravated robbery that occurred hours apart from the deadly shooting on March 25. U.S. Marshals arrested the pair on April 1.

On Wednesday, Ruiz and Cerna were appointed lawyers by 319th District Judge David Stith.

Daniel Martinez, another man arrested in connection with the deaths of Elisabeth Martinez and Eric Rodriguez implicated Ruiz in the shooting and Cerna in the robbery, according to police.

Martinez, 34, and Rodriguez, 32, were found shot in a car on the city's Southside.

A woman, Micayla Licea, was also arrested in connection with the robbery.

Capital murder is punishable by life in prison without parole or the death penalty.

Twitter: @CallerKMT
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By Julie Garcia of the Caller-Times

Years after their tours have ended, veterans can still be left behind.

The Coastal Bend State Veterans Cemetery wants to make sure that doesn't happen to John Priesmuth Jr., a United States Coast Guard veteran, who recently died with no family being immediately found. He was 64.

Priesmuth will be buried with full military honors in a plot next to his wife who was also a veteran and was buried last summer. Services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday in the cemetery. The cemetery staff will coordinate with their Honor Guard to complete the military honors including the playing of taps and folding of an American flag, according to J.J. De La Cerda, assistant director of the cemetery.

While a niece was located, none of his family will be attending the ceremony, said Marc Fuentes, owner and funeral director at Guardian Funeral Home.

The community is invited to attend the ceremony.

Twitter: @Caller_Jules
Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Pulitzer Prize winner and renowned historian David McCullough speaks at a news conference at the Omni on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, before the Christus Spohn Health System 2016 Lyceum.

SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO David McCullough, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, addressed a group as part of the 28th annual Christus Spohn Health System Lyceum on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, at the American Bank Center. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Pulitzer Prize winner and renowned historian David McCullough speaks at a news conference at the Omni on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, before the Christus Spohn Health System 2016 Lyceum. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Pulitzer Prize winner and renowned historian David McCullough speaks at a news conference at the Omni on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, before the Christus Spohn Health System 2016 Lyceum. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Pulitzer Prize winner and renowned historian David McCullough speaks at a news conference at the Omni on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, before the Christus Spohn Health System 2016 Lyceum.

By Natalia Contreras of the Caller-Times

Author, historian and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough encouraged younger generations in the Coastal Bend to pursue an education.

"Read, read, read," McCullough said. "Learn a language other than your own, travel and live somewhere you have never lived before."

McCullough spoke Tuesday to a crowd of about 650 people at the American Bank Center as part of 28th annual Christus Spohn Health System Lyceum.

The historian and narrator of documentaries including Ken Burns's "The Civil War" said history is not only about politics and war but about the people.

"To know history you have to go where things happen," McCullough said. "You have to ask questions and be curious about your surroundings."

McCullough has written numerous books, including "Truman," "1776," "The Path Between the Seas," "John Adams," "Mornings on Horseback," and most recently, "The Wright Brothers".

McCullough has received a long list of recognitions, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and two National Book Awards, in addition to the Pulitzer Prizes.

Christus Spohn Health System officials said the goal this year was to bring in a speaker who could talk about the history of the United States and to promote and educational experience for the community without focusing on politics.

"Christus Spohn is undergoing a major transformation and part of that transformation is the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Family Health Center," Christus Spohn Health System president and chief executive Pamela Robertson said. "We are honored to have the community participate and to have someone like David McCullough."

Proceeds from the event benefit the 43,000-square-foot Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Family Health Center, which is one component of a $325 million expansion for local health care services.

The center is planned to boast a drive-thru pharmacy, an extended hours walk-in clinic and programs to teach healthy lifestyles.

Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Foundation President Cecilia Garcia Akers said she agreed with McCullough about the importance of educating younger generations beyond the history books.

"I am truly honored that Christus Spohn named this clinic after my father. His legacy will continue to carry on," Akers said. "There's still a lot of work that we need to do as far as education and awareness about what he did for this community."
When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas
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Michael Ysassi

Cellphone use while driving dangerous

Using your phone while driving has been an issue for years. In Texas there are 40 cities that have banned texting and driving according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Recently near Corpus Christi there was a car collision which took the life of two sisters and a friend who were driving back home to Houston from South Padre Island during spring break. The driver, who was the only survivor, was using her cellphone as a GPS to navigate back to Houston.

Driving while using your phone is dangerous and life threatening. Let's make driving in our community safe by turning off our phones when we get in the car.
'Thinking Chinese' can provide a different perspective for your business and brand. In just 35 years China has achieved three times the growth that the West achieved during the entire industrial revolution, which, by the way, took over 80 years. These numbers alone suggest that there must be something the world can learn from China.

Theres nothing new about borrowing from China, its been going on since Marco Polo stole the idea for pasta and the English pinched some tea bushels to plant in India.

Then theres Sun Tzus Art of War, which has influenced both Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategies and more since the fifth century, and continues to do so even today.

But what about modern China?

In her controversial 2011 book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua outlined the trials and tribulations of being a 'Tiger Mom'. Chua noted: We all want our kids to grow up happy, strong, and self-reliant. But different cultures have very different ideas about the best way to do that.

The fact is, while there are many downsides to the Tiger Mom approach, the results are often extraordinary and as such, many commentators believe that its time to selectively borrow some Tiger Mom thinking.

What we are proposing here for marketers is that we can be selective in what we adopt from China.

The Chinese art of getting stuff done fast

If theres one thing that characterises modern Chinese life and business, its speed.

New airports are built at 'China speed. New products and brands are developed from scratch and launched at 'China speed.

More often than not theres a price to pay for this pace. Sometimes its a compromise in quality, or in the case of a new product launch it can be a misfire.

Either way, China speed deserves its place in the contemporary vernacular. If you bottled Nikes tagline and threw in some of Adidas Nothing is impossible, and applied it to a country, you would end up with something that looks like Chinas development program over the last 35 years.

The development of Chinas infrastructure involves big visions being applied, and being applied fast.

Consider Chinas high-speed rail network, which didnt even exist fewer than 10 years ago. Today, China has the world's longest such network, with more than 16,000 kilometres of track in service as of December 2014. Thats more than the rest of the world's high-speed rail tracks combined! The system also includes the world's longest line: the 2,298-kilometre Beijing-Guangzhou Railway.

So, while centralised economic planning has its well-documented downsides, boy, can China get stuff done. And fast!

So, how did they achieve such an extraordinary outcome? In a nutshell, China proves that when theres a visionary task at hand, its essential to aggressively strip away the flotsam and jetsam in order to get the job done.

In many countries there are endless amounts of rules and regulations in place so when major infrastructure tasks (for example, Olympic developments) are to be undertaken, special authorities have to be set up to cut through the red tape.

Takeaways for marketers

When large-scale and visionary tasks are at stake, are self-imposed rules, regulations and other processes getting in the way?

In our branding and marketing world, have our well-intentioned processes reached the point whereby they take too much time?

When its appropriate, could a committed and visceral cut to the chase approach be a better way to get things done, and done fast?

And if youre about to face off with a Chinese competitor, you'd better look out! Take an assumed Western timeline and at the very least, theyll halve it. Rest assured, theyll be coming at you, at China speed.

One of the principles that allows for China speed to happen, is the focus placed on doing what is most important in order to get to market, for example, ensuring you have the right territory, and then factor in fine-tuning over time. The benefit is speed.

Call it intuition, gut instinct, or informed guessesthe Chinese embrace trying new things with minimal startup costs. If it tanks, cut it. If it takes off, then ramp up what works.

At the risk of stating the obvious, applying this principle has to be selective.

You do not want to be living in a building where the engineering or design is at 70 percentor driving a car thats 70 percent done (sadly this can happen in China).
| BY Ricki Green |

Sydney-based FSM managing director Rick Schweikert has announced his departure from the creative studio after 32 years.

Says Schweikert: FSM was established by Steve Dunn and myself in 1984. We started with a seed of an idea to break with the conventional post company ways and as the saying goes, just do it for ourselves. Like any start up, the first few years were challenging, terrifying and huge fun  we had nothing except determination and a desire to do good work. We had no money, earned no personal income, did everything ourselves but still managed to convince a bank to loan us enough for our first set of equipment. And weve now borrowed, and paid back, many, many millions.

We were hugely dedicated, still are, spending countless hours at all times of the day working on project after project. Just ask our partners and theyll confirm the sleepless nights, the long days and the crazy uncertainty of it all.

Now, 32 years later, having made thousands and thousands of commercials, many feature films, hundreds of corporates, documentaries and TV series, innumerable music clips, quite a few birthday videos, too many research animatics and employed hundreds of talented people, the partnership is concluding. Not in a bad way, but its time for me to move on.

Im extremely proud of what weve achieved. Not only is the company the longest running post business in the country, its been a privilege and pleasure to work with many of this countries most talented people. And probably as satisfying is giving a start to the professions of people we employed over the years who have gone on to prosperous and successful careers.

There are too many people to thank, but I have to single out my wife Louise as having the patience of a saint and the sense of humour to allow me to follow the dream. And to Stephen and his wife Neidra who have shared the journey.

The business continues in safe hands and an exciting future, with Stephen solely at the helm. Hes ably assisted by an enthusiastic team, including newly appointed EP Craig Sloane, CD Emile Rademeyer and a great crew of designers, compositors and production staff. I leave on the best of terms and with a massive sense of achievement that we survived this long, through significant economic upheavals along with cultural and professional changes. Weve done pretty well to make a life for ourselves and families, expand our horizons and most importantly, maintain our sanity.
| BY Ricki Green |

General Mills has engaged The Taboo Group to help launch Haagen-Dazs in the Australian market, and establish the world famous super premium ice cream.

Taboos concept, Haagen-Dazs House, is a sleek pop-up restaurant with a modern Scandinavian aesthetic. Visitors are invited to take a pint home, order from the dine-in menu, or book the by appointment only experience, The Ultimate Tasting, a 45-minute session led by an official taste technician. Guests are taken through a series of sensory experiments to identify their unique flavour sensitivities and preferences from which their bespoke dish is created. Melbourne bookings are now sold out and Sydney bookings opening soon.

Built by award-winning architects, Archiblox, and styled by Louisa Curtis, Haagen-Dazs House features ice cream themed art by world-renowned artist Henry Hargraves and menu garnished by chef Jane Lowe, formerly of Lake House.

Says Andrew Machinnon, managing director, The Taboo Group: We set out to re-launch this brand in Australia by creating the best Haagen-Dazs experience in the world. We believe weve done that.

The campaign has been supported by outdoor, print, PR and influencer seeding. Haagen-Dazs House finishes up in Melbournes Federation Square on 16th of March before migrating to The Rocks in Sydney from 22nd April to 21st May 2016.

Creative Agency: The Taboo Group

Managing Director Taboo: Andrew Mackinnon

Creative Director: Reece Hobbins

Strategy Director: Richard Hack

Designer: Charlie Brookes

Copywriter: Kiriana Wheaton

Account Manager: Andrew Dix
| BY Ricki Green |

Digital Arts Network and Eleven, in partnership with Krispy Kreme, have created a limited-edition 1950s-inspired jukebox to launch the world famous doughnut brands new range of American Classics.

Not only does the jukebox double as a Krispy Kreme doughnut boxeach American Classics flavour comes with its very own original theme tune, written and recorded in a Sydney studio.

The limited-edition jukebox comes with a built-in Bluetooth speaker to transport doughnut lovers back to deliciously sweet 1950s America, with exclusive Spotify playlists including the four bespoke theme tunes.

The jukeboxes can turn any Krispy Kreme doughnut moment into a party fit for The Fonz. To operate, people simply have to flip up the lid, grab a phone and select their favourite doughnut playlist to be transported into another era.

Says Roberto Pace, managing director of Eleven: The fifties is an important decade for pop culture and the music that went with it. We wanted to capture the eras most memorable hits, bring back the jukebox and transport people back in time to celebrate the new Krispy Kreme range in a fun, memorable way.

The four new doughnuts  The Big Apple Pie, Peanut Butter Jelly Time, Coconut Cream Pie and Campfire Smores  are inspired by some of the best flavour combinations to come out of the USA.

Says Andrew McGuigan, CEO, Krispy Kreme Australia: Our inspiration behind the four new flavours was American vintage with a modern twist. Weve been working with songwriters and Spotify to make sure its not only the taste buds which are in for a treatbut the ears too. You can not only taste the Classics, but hear them as well.
We spent a year exploring why COVID testing is broken

We look at the failures of America's diagnostic testing systems. There are structural barriers that prevented the U.S. from scaling up testing.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 11:16PM

Logitech has reached an agreement with Jaybird to acquire said wireless audio maker. Logitech says theyll be paying US$50 million in cash with the possibility of $45 million more if Jaybird meets its growth targets in the future. Logitech is looking to boost its audio offering, particularly those in the wireless audio market, and they think Jaybird has done especially well in that respect. The company says they plan to feed the Jaybird brand, which could mean future products will carry the Jaybird brand. The deal is expected to close in the coming weeks.

Source: Logitech | Via: Android Central
Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at 5:22PM

Treating the challenges faced by the disabled as issues that can be solved with smart engineering, Google's charitable arm, Google.org, has given $20 million USD in grants to nonprofit organizations around the world to help develop open-source technololgy for the disabled. The 30 winners of the Google Impact Challenge: Disabilities launched last spring were the recipients of said grants. About six of the 30 grantees were given $1 million USD, while the average grant was around $750,000 USD.

Some of the projects funded including developing libraries for the visually impaired, devices that can turn manual wheelchairs into powered ones, and cheap, 3D-printed prosthetics for children.

Source: The Verge
He had other reasons for not standing - his family was not keen given the stress it would take on family life, he would turn 70 this year, and he did not have a job that would allow him to take the time out to campaign, he said.
She was given little time to think about it or talk it through with her family, even though the second operation was likely to pose an even greater risk.
The National Broadband Network Company  a government-owned wholesale network that provides last-mile copper and fibre connections for all operators  awarded Telstra a contract worth A$1.6 billion ($1.2 billion) to provide planning, design, construction and construction management services for the network.

Rod Sims, chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, warned: We have raised several concerns with Telstra and NBN Co, including that Telstra may receive a competitive advantage if it has access to better information than other service providers or if it is able to use infrastructure built for the NBN network before that infrastructure becomes available to other retail service providers.

The contract covers an upgrade to the NBN Cos hybrid fibre-coaxial network, which uses copper to deliver services on the final drop to customers premises. The network will be upgraded to 3.6 million homes by 2020.

Under the deal, Telstra will also try out fibre to the node or direct to the premises to test the feasibility and economics.

Under the original plan for the NBN, almost all homes in Australia were to be directly connected with fibre, but the project was scaled back in 2013 when the Labor government, which conceived the plan, was defeated in a general election.

The regulator said it had had extensive and productive discussions with NBN Co and Telstra about its concerns, and had received proposals from the companies.

We are looking at the parties proposals carefully to consider to what extent these proposals address our concerns, said Sims. It is important that Telstra doesnt get a head-start selling retail services over the NBN just because its technical expertise is being used in the construction and maintenance of the NBN.
Three college students who first met while attending a Catholic high school in Florida have launched a scholarship fund to help others experience faithful Catholic education at a Newman Guide college. As we went off to different colleges, we kept in touch and found time to catch up whenever we returned []
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
Applications are invited by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Patna for admission to 2 years Master of Technology (M.Tech) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) programme for the academic session July, 2016.

M.Tech programmes are offered in School of Engineering & Technology and Basic Sciences. While Ph.D programmes are offered in the department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, Chemistry, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences, Materials Science & Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering and Physics.

Eligibility Criteria:

M.Tech Programmes:

Candidates must have completed bachelor's degree in Engineering/ Technology/ M.Sc or equivalent professional degrees (AMIE, etc). Candidate should also have a valid GATE score.

Ph.D in Engineering Programme:

Candidates must have M.Tech/M.E degree in a Engineering/Technology, with a minimum CPI of 6.5 or 60% of marks OR

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Technology in a relevant area with a minimum CPI of 6.5 or 60% of marks OR

Master's degree in Science in a relevant area with a minimum CPI of 6.5 or 60% of marks

Ph.D in Science Programme:

Candidates should have:

M.Phil or master's degree in Science in a relevant area with a minimum CPI of 6.5 or 60% of marks OR

Master's degree in Engineering/Technology in a relevant area with a minimum CPI of 6.5 or 60% of marks

For more details on eligibility criteria, visit the official website

How to Apply?

Candidates should visit the official website to apply online

The application fee of Rs 300/- should be paid by the candidates belonging to General/OBC (Male) candidates. While Rs 150/- should be paid by the candidates belonging to SC/ST/PD/Female (all categories)

Application fee needs to be paid online or through challan

Candidates must send the completed application form along with the relevant documents and e-receipt of online payment or challan to the following address: " The Assistant Registrar(Academics), Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihta, Kanpa Road, District - Patna, Bihar , PIN - 801103".

Selection Procedure:

Candidates will be intimated to appear for the written test/ interview, based on their performance in GATE/NET, grades/marks in the qualifying examination.

Financial Assistance:

M.Tech Programme: Rs 12,400/- per month will be provided to regular students (Indian nationals) under financial assistantships. To avail the benefit students should have a valid/qualifying GATE score and also above cut off marks prescribed for M.Tech programme.

Ph.D Programme:

Candidates who have completed post graduate degree in Basic Science with NET/GATE qualification or graduate degree in Professional programme with NET/GATE qualification or post graduate degree in Professional programmes will be offered with JRF of Rs 25,000/-

Candidates with JRF qualification and 2 years of research experience, will be offered financial assistantships of Rs 28,000/- per month

Important Dates:

Last date to apply online: April 25, 2016

Last date to receive completed application forms: May 02, 2016

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Ssangyong is launching its new, compact crossover in the UK market this summer with prices starting from 12,950, offering the choice between front- and all-wheel-drive versions and two 1.6-litre engines.



The all-wheel-drive version will be offered only with the 1.6-litre diesel engine which produces 113hp/3400-4000rpm and 300Nm/1500-2500rpm. Official mpg figures have not been released yet but the CO2 emissions are, with the manual FWD Tivoli 1.6 Diesel to emit 113g/km and the 4WD one raising this figure up to 123g/km. Basic price for the manual EX 44 diesel model is set at 17,100.

The petrol unit makes 124hp/6000rpm and 157Nm/4600rpm and is mated to a six-speed manual as standard. An optional six-speed automatic is offered for both engine options.

Three trim levels will be available, SE, EX and ELX with Ssangyong offering for the first time a customization scheme under the name My Tivoli to those who want to build the car according to their personal taste.

This personalisation programme includes the Styling Pack which in turn offers 5 different two-tone colour combinations, the Red Leather Pack and two special colours, metallic Jazz Brown and Icecap Blue.

With the small crossover segment being one of the most popular in Europe right now, Ssangyongs move to launch the Tivoli is a wise one.

PHOTO GALLERY
The soap opera that is Top Gear takes more turns, now with news that the new stars of the BBC car show might hate each other already.



According to British tabloid The Sun, the relationship between Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc has disintegrated further following the Cenotaph controversy last month.

A source said: Matt was never Chriss choice  it was a decision forced upon him to attract the US market.



He accepted it and was desperate to strike up a bond when they were filming, but the spark just wasnt there. Since the Cenotaph, their relationships deteriorated. Chris thinks Matt severely damaged the brand.



Behind the scenes its very frosty between them.

On Wednesday, LeBlanc tweeted that he thought he and Evans were still pals.

Im at war with @achrisevans ?

Thats funny , I thought we were pals. Matt LeBlanc (@Matt_LeBlanc) April 13, 2016

For the past year, BBCs Top Gear has been at the center of controversy since former host Jeremy Clarksons assault on a producer and subsequent firing  and the resignation of the other two hosts as a result. The hiring of radio personality Chris Evans also raised eyebrows, but not as much as the announcement this year actor LeBlanc  best-known for his roles on comedies Friends and Episodes  would join Evans. The on-set tension between the two reportedly stems from Evans, who feels LeBlanc was hired simply to please American viewers.

While Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May were never said to be the best of friends, they did have a chemistry on and off screen. And with the production of the rebooted Top Gear already bruised by production problems, the last thing the show needs is a deep feud going between the two stars before it reaches air or Netflix.

At least it has a name already.

Video
The iconic British off-roader proves to be a popular target for thieves in Great Britain, especially now that prices in the used car market are rising.



The NFU Mutual insurance company says that claims for stolen Defenders have increased 8 per cent in 2015 when compared to previous year with police officials adding that a significant number of the stolen vehicles are shipped and sold abroad.

It appears an organised group of criminals is specifically targeting this make and model of vehicle, Sergeant Nick Hill, of Stokesley Police said earlier this year to Autocar. Of greatest concern to us is that it is evident these thieves have knowledge of this particular vehicles factory-fitted security and electrical systems.

Local UK police departments are advising Defender owners to safeguard their vehicles by adding better security systems and tracking devices.

The Land Rover Defender ended its production cycle last January, after 68 years of duty and with more than 2,000,000 units sold worldwide.

PHOTO GALLERY
Ever since the RX 400h went on sale in April 2005, Toyotas luxury brand has managed to deliver more than 1 million hybrid cars worldwide.



In order to commemorate the new milestone, Lexus had its European boss, Alain Uyttenhoven, hand over the keys of a new NX 300h to a customer in Milan, Italy.

I was surprised to hear that I was the buyer of the 1 millionth Lexus hybrid, and I am honoured to celebrate this important milestone with Lexus!, said the customer, who added that the hybrid crossover is his first Lexus.

Lexus has been gradually expanding its hybrid vehicle family after the debut of the RX 400h, which was joined by the GS 450h in 2006 and the LS 600h, one year later. In 2009, Lexus added the HS 250h, followed by the first premium hybrid compact, the CT 200h, in 2011. 2012 saw the debut of the IS 300h, while the GS 300h and NX 300h were introduced in 2013 and 2014, respectively, followed by the RC 300h, which was launched globally at the end of 2015.

Lexus hybrid vehicle lineup currently includes 10 models and it has just celebrated the addition of the LC 500h, which features a new-generation performance hybrid technology, called Multi Stage Hybrid System (MSHS).

Since 2005, North America is the firms largest market when it comes to hybrid cars, with over 345,000 vehicles sold, followed by Europe, where more than 237,000 units have been delivered. In its homeland, Lexus has sold 225,000 hybrid cars, while China and Hong Kong accounted for almost 100,000 units. The best-seller is the RX, with 335,000 units, followed by the CT, with 267,000, and the ES, with 118,000.

PHOTO GALLERY
As a brand ambassador for Opel, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp demonstrates how his Insignia fares in traffic with the help of its Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with automatic brake function.



As they do on most vehicles, active safety systems such as ACC enable the car to maintain a safe following distance to the car ahead autonomously, regardless of how that particular vehicle behaves in terms of braking and accelerating.

Actor Ken Duken is also featured in this video, and even goes on to ask Klopp if such a system doesnt make the driver completely superfluous, to which the Liverpool manager replies: I still make the decisions.

For those who dont speak German, the spot ends with the slogan The decision-makers choice, which certainly reflects well on both Klopp, Opel and Liverpool as a third party.

With the autonomous follow assist, Opel once again underscores its commitment to innovative technology, and this is perfectly spotlighted with Jurgen Klopps help, said Opel CMO Tina Muller.

Opels ACC tech constantly checks the distance to the vehicle ahead and if the pre-set distance is breached, the system will automatically slow the car down and even perform an emergency braking maneuver if a collision is imminent.

PHOTO GALLERY

VIDEO
The BMW Group-owned MINI brand is looking into expanding its lineup with a fifth model that will could be a saloon.



Aimed at the United States and China, the four-door MINI remains a possibility, as the firms VP of Product Management, Ralph Mahler, told Autocar, at the New York Auto Show, last month, without confirming plans.

For example, in Asia and the US, the sedan segment is very big. This is very interesting to us, of course, he said, adding that The sedan concept is in our history, so we have roots there.

Details on the upcoming vehicle remain scarce, but it could be based on the new Clumban, sharing its 2,670 mm long wheelbase and bodywork up to the B-pillars. If so, it would have a length of around 4,300 mm, becoming one of the smallest saloons on the market. Since BMW still owns trademarks for Riley and Triumph after the sale of the MG Rover Group in 2000, they could use the names on the sedan, but again, were speculating here.

Mahler continued to talk about the next Countryman, stating that MINI wont push it upmarket, as it happened with the Clubman. It will be underpinned by BMWs UKL1 platform and its referred to as a more authentic SUV, with a roomier cabin and four-wheel drive. It could gain hybrid powertrains in the future, which might be used on other vehicles in the companys lineup too.

Following its plan to offer five core models, MINI will not replace the Coupe, Roadster and Paceman, by Mahler did say that the Paceman and Countryman are really close together and, in the future, we would rather split them apart.

Note: MINI Superleggera Vision Concept pictured

Photo Gallery
In an attempt to go head-to-head with Clarkson, May and Hammond and their upcoming show on Amazon, the new Top Gear will also air on Netflix.



The announcement was made by the streaming giants content officer, Ted Sarandos, who was quoted by TheGuardian as saying that it falls under the deal Netflix has with BBC for previous seasons of the show. Since the British Top Gear is preferred over local versions, Sarandos stated that talks continue to expand the list to as many territories as possible.

The show is very popular on Netflix as you can imagine. Theres a change in format but people definitely prefer the British Top Gear over the local Top Gear in almost every country of the world.

While the revamped motoring show will air on BBC next month, an exact date for when new episodes will be available on Netflix hasnt been announced yet. In its new format, Top Gear will be led by radio DJ Chris Evans, whose will be joined by Friends star Matt LeBlanc, former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan, Ring Queen Sabine Schmitz and motoring journalists Chris Harris and Rory Reid.

The as-of-yet unnamed car show from Amazon, with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, should roll out its first episodes this fall.

VIDEO
The crew of the Flash-animated feature Long Way North traveled to Japan last month to accept the Tokyo Anime Award Festival grand prize for animated feature. The French-Danish co-production won this recognition from among 24 animated feature submissions, a significantly more competitive field than the Academy Awards, which had only 16 submissions in its feature category last year.

Below is a video of jury member Ryuichi Yagi, director of the Japanese hit Stand by Me Doraemon, presenting the award to the Long Way North team.

Liane-Cho Han, the animation supervisor of Long Way North, shared a few photos from the crews trip to Japan. He was especially delighted to meet Japanese animation luminary Toshiyuki Inoue (pictured below), who reportedly loved Long Way North and watched the film three times.
Crime Stoppers is asking the publics assistance in locating the following female who is wanted on a province-wide warrant as of April 13, 2016.

Stacie Marie Redekop (DOB 1977-07-15) is wanted for two counts of theft under $5000.

Redekop is described as a 38-year old Caucasian female, 52 tall and 119 lbs. She has blonde hair and green eyes.

Crime Stoppers will pay cash for information leading to the arrest of this suspect. If you see her, do not approach her.

Call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS, go to www.crimestoppers.net or text to CRIMES (274637) Keyword: ktown.

RCMP File # 2015-26084

Photo: Crime Stoppers Kelowna's most wanted is Stacie Marie Redekop.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: RCMP

The RCMP are warning businesses in Kamloops that two fake U.S. $50 bills were used at local gas stations recently.

Last week, a man used counterfeit money twice at two gas stations, although it wasnt discovered they were fake until the second bill was used, police say.

Businesses should discuss techniques for detecting counterfeit bills with their employees. Information can be found on the Bank of Canada website, said Cpl. Jodi Shelkie. If you suspect someone is attempting to use counterfeit money at your business, you should not accept the money and refer them to the police.

RCMP say it is not known if the man knew he was using phoney money but they would like to identify him to find out where he obtained the bills.

Photos have been released showing a white male in his thirties. Police say he is associated to a grey or tan coloured four-door Ford F-350.
To say that I am not amused would be understating this just a bit.

Why would our roads and transportation needs not be met by the taxes we already pay? This is a dastardly cash grab because you cannot budget properly! Are you not willing to admit to an over 10% tax hike because of incompetence? We have had roads for a "few" years now, I would have thought it would have floated up that you had no money to pay for them. So council sat around and decided we could just pay again, did they?

So, I went to where I get my pay from and told them I had spent all my money so I had to charge them extra to cover the overage. I got the same response I am giving you. No.

I read the 4 reasons we could submit a complaint and did not see incompetence listed, so I revised your list.

Get you hand out of my pocket! I pay enough and always on time.

Jo-Anne Lamb
Photo: DPAC North Okanagan

With public trust eroded, a special adviser from the Ministry of Education is to be asked to review and provide recommendations to the North Okanagan Shuswap school board on its current governance issues.

As well, board chair Bobbi Johnson has made a public apology over the use of operating surpluses to support capital projects, including the multi-million dollar administrative and education support centre in Salmon Arm.

On behalf of the board, I apologize that this process was not completed in a transparent way as part of the year-end public budget process, Johnson said, during a board meeting Tuesday night. At future meetings, we will be addressing how the district plans to move forward so that the budget process is as transparent as possible.

The board also accepted the resignation of two trustees, Barry Chafe and Jennifer Wilchuk, but ignored a suggestion to resign en masse.

Chafe and Wilchuk will leave their positions following a by-election in late June.

The board voted 5-4 to ask the ministry to appoint an adviser.

Trustees have been under fire over proposals to close a number of schools and over revelations they had transferred millions of dollars in surplus operating funds into capital funding projects over the past five years, including the new $9.3 million board offices.

The board takes full responsibility for the decisions and actions taken regarding the construction of the new district education centre and the transfer of operating funds to local capital, Johnson said in a prepared statement last night.

These annual transfers have been clearly identified in the school district financial statements.

Johnson said the statements are published on the district's website.

Johnson also defended the secretary treasurer of the time who began the transfers, Sterling Olson. He currently works in the same role for the Vernon School District.

The secretary treasurer was asked to do two things. Build a new district education centre and get the district out of funding protection. He did both, said Johnson, who issued an apology to Olson stemming from a discussion with the District Parents Advisory Committee (DPAC) in Salmon Arm last week when she tearfully admitted mistakes had been made.

The intent at last Thursday'As DPAC meeting was not to blame anyone. The board apologized to Sterling Olson for any unintended harm coming out of the discussion at the meeting.

Sterling Olson is one of the longest serving and well respected secretary treasurers in the province of B.C., Johnson continued, listing his accomplishments.

Meanwhile, the man who followed the money and discovered that $10.5 million had been transferred out of operating funds over five years said that among the parents there was a a sense of betrayal.

Noah Ralston, a teacher at Salmon Arm Secondary, believes about $7 million of the money went on capital building projects while the rest was spent on capitalized items like chairs, computers and vehicles.

I guess I did start the conversation. It was after the February board meeting when there was a call out to parents, as they had done in the past, basically stating 'Well, we're open to suggestions. You go through the budget and if you see anything you can give us feedback'.

I started looking. I had questions about transfers to capital and started asking questions and started sending emails to other parents as well, some with accounting backgrounds, and said 'okay, this is what I'm seeing, am I missing something?' Little by little it all came together.

While some parents feel the money should have been used to boost educational programs, Ralston is kinder. People feel a sense of betrayal and I'm not saying I agree with the board's decision, I'm just saying it's not my decision.

People are wanting to see a consequence, he admitted.

For me, I look forward to the rebuilding of the relationships and the reestablishment of trust. We can't stay where we are at. We are now in the process of fixing some of the things that were broken and I look forward to seeing that rebuilding happen.
Photo: Contributed

The case of a man who allegedly brought a loaded shotgun into the Penticton courthouse continues to be delayed.

Jessy Michaud, who appeared by video, still doesn't have a lawyer and claims he doesn't have documents he requested from Crown counsel.

Crown had been dealing with Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre on the matter, yet Michaud is at the Surrey Pretrial Centre.

Judge Gale Sinclair said Wednesday the matter needs to be dealt with, as it is dragging along interminably and Michaud is sitting "high and dry."

Michaud, 46, is facing charges including unauthorized possession of a firearm, carrying a weapon or prohibited device and careless storage of a firearm stemming from the incident on July 13, 2015, when he allegedly carried a DeWalt toolkit with a gun inside into the courthouse.

A warrant was issued for Michaud July 21 on three outstanding warrants, including the incident at the courthouse. He was apprehended without incident in early August at a Penticton motel and has been in custody since.

Sinclair set the matter over to April 20.
Photo: Facebook - Greater Vernon Recreation

A four-year-old girl was rescued in Vernon's public swimming pool Monday afternoon after having a seizure.

A swim instructor saw the youngster was unresponsive and called for assistance.

Aquatic staff began first aid treatment and the girl quickly regained consciousness. She was transported to the hospital for observation. Recreation Services staff have been in contact with the family and have been assured that the little girl is doing well and should be back at swimming lessons next week.

"All of the staff did an amazing job, said Gary Lefebvre, aquatic co-ordinator. We do a lot of training to prepare ourselves to respond to emergencies, but when it involves a child so young, it adds a heightened level of emotion."

"We are very proud of the lifeguards and swim instructors we have at the Vernon Aquatic Centre."

The family thanked staff for the quick response and quality of treatment provided by them.

The identities of the child and the staff members are being withheld.
Photo: Google Street View

UPDATE 3:40 P.M.

Kamloops RCMP arrested a 61-year-old man who had been protesting the demolition of the McDonald Park pool.

Police in Kamloops were contacted at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday by a bylaw officer who said he had been bumped by a vehicle.

As excavation equipment was being offloaded in McDonald Park, a bylaw officer noted a protestor got into their vehicle. Fearing that the protestor might drive his vehicle into the park to block the excavator, the bylaw officer advised the male not to move his vehicle and then stood directly behind him, said Cpl. Jodi Shelkie. The male put the vehicle in reverse and hit the officer, then sped away at a high rate of speed. The bylaw officer did not have any injuries.

Police attended the suspects home where he resisted arrest.

The protestor was lodged in cells for a short time and released with a court date of June 23. Police are recommending charges of assault with a weapon and resisting arrest.

ORIGINAL

Demolition of McDonald Park Pool is underway.

The pool, built by volunteers in 1958, was ordered into the scrap heap by city council.

A decision to demolish the pool was first made by city council last week, then reaffirmed Tuesday night.

The pool was closed due to the cost of extensive repairs required to keep it operational.

Heavy equipment arrived at the site Wednesday to start demolition. Filling and leveling the pool as soon as possible is required to mitigate liability issues.

The city reminds residents that the area is a construction zone and that it is restricted access for safety reasons. Security will be on site 24-7.

The pool will be replaced with a new community park including a spray area and wading pool.

The new facility is slated to open early this summer in the McDonald Park location.
CDC Adds Saint Lucia to Interim Travel Guidance Related to Zika Virus

Media Statement For Immediate Release: Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Contact: Media Relations,

(404) 639-3286

CDC is working with other public health officials to monitor for ongoing Zika virus transmission. Today, CDC posted a Zika virus travel notice for Saint Lucia. CDC has issued travel notices (level 2, practice enhanced precautions) for people traveling to destinations with Zika. For a full list of affected countries/regions, visit http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/zika-travel-information.

As more information becomes available, CDCs travel notices will be updated. Travelers to areas with cases of Zika virus infection are at risk of being infected with the Zika virus. Mosquitoes that spread Zika are aggressive daytime biters. They also bite at night. There is no vaccine or medicine for Zika virus. The best way to avoid Zika virus infection is to prevent mosquito bites.

Some travelers to areas with Zika will become infected while traveling but will not become sick until they return home and they might not have any symptoms. To help stop the spread of Zika, travelers should use insect repellent for three weeks after travel to prevent mosquito bites.

Some people who are infected do not have any symptoms. People who do have symptoms have reported fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes. The sickness is usually mild with symptoms that last from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon and the number of deaths is low. Travelers to areas with Zika should monitor for symptoms or sickness upon return. If they become sick, they should tell their healthcare professional when and where they have traveled.

CDC has received reports of Zika virus being spread by sexual contact with sick returning travelers. Until more is known, CDC continues to recommend that pregnant women and women trying to become pregnant take the following precautions.

Pregnant women

Should not travel to any area with Zika.

If you must travel to or live in one of these areas, talk to your healthcare provider first and strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites.

If you have a male partner who lives in or has traveled to an area with Zika, either use condoms the right way every time you have sex or do not have sex during your pregnancy.

Women trying to get pregnant

Before you or your male partner travel, talk to your healthcare provider about your plans to become pregnant and the risk of Zika virus infection.

You and your male partner should strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites.

Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is very likely triggered by Zika in a small proportion of infections, much as it is after a variety of other infections. CDC is working with Brazil to study the possibility of a link between Zika and GBS. For more information on Zika, visit www.cdc.gov/zika .

###

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESexternal icon
Protestors seek talks with President over PT Semen Indonesia's Rembang plant

13 April 2016

PT Semen Indonesia was targeted by nine women who protested against the development of its new cement plant in their hometown in Rembang, Central Java. The public rally was held in front of the Presidential Palace on Tuesday from local residents who demanded to meet the President over disputed factory.



The protesters expressed their concerns over potential environmental damage, saying that the plant could contaminate water and degrade their livelihoods, the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) said. Those nine women are frustrated and want to meet President Joko Widodo, LBH Jakarta lawyer Yunita said, adding that they would keep holding the demo until they had secured a meeting with the President.



Residents of Rembang from 14 subdistricts have held similar such rallies since 2013 to protest the plants development in Watu Putih. Environmentalists have estimated that potential losses could reach up to 51 million liters of water.



The company, however, will go ahead with the construction project, claims the Jakarta Post. The construction process started in June 2014, and the plant is expected to start production this year.

The new plant is expected to produce 3Mta of cement.



Meanwhile, PT Sement Indonesia's Corporate Secretary, Agung Wiharto, was reported by Kontan to use output from its Tuban and Tonasa plants to sell cement in Australia from July to December 2016, but no contract with Australian cement companies has yet been signed.

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Hankook Tire America Corp officials announced Wednesday the company will locate its North American headquarters in Nashville. The global tire manufacturer will invest approximately $5 million and create up to 200 jobs in Davidson County.

By choosing Nashville for the location of its North American headquarters, Hankook Tire continues to help make our state known as a worldwide leader in the automotive sector, Governor Bill Haslam said. This will be the companys second facility in Tennessee  an investment that brings us closer to our goal of becoming the No. 1 location in the state for high quality jobs, and we thank Hankook for its commitment to creating jobs in Tennessee.

Hankook Tire could choose anywhere to locate its North American headquarters, and it says volumes about Davidson County and Tennessee that they chose us, Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd said. Hankook Tire is an innovative leader in its industry, and we are proud that they now call Tennessee home for the new headquarters."

Hankook Tire was established in 1941 in South Korea and entered the U.S. market in 1981. Hankook is one of the leading and fastest growing tire companies in the world, with over 20,000 global employees.

This is the second facility in Tennessee for Hankook. In 2014, the company broke ground on a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Clarksville that will be completed by the end of this year.

"I am delighted to announce that Hankook Tire will move our American headquarters to Nashville later this year, Hankook Tire Vice Chairman and CEO Mr. Seung Hwa Suh said. We believe by relocating our headquarters to Nashville, Hankook Tire can benefit from the people, resources and infrastructures of Tennessee, and we hope it will provide job opportunities and contribute to the Tennessee economy."

Hankook plans to relocate its headquarters to Tennessee to service North American markets. The company is in the process of looking for space for its headquarters in downtown Nashville.

Local leaders and partners expressed gratitude to Hankook for choosing Nashville as the location for its North American headquarters.

"It's great news that Hankook Tire has selected Nashville for its North American headquarters and for creating these jobs in Davidson County," said House Speaker Beth Harwell, who represents a portion of Davidson County. "This announcement will positively impact Nashville and Davidson County, and I look forward to building a strong partnership with Hankook for years to come."

We are thrilled that Hankook Tire has chosen to locate its U.S. headquarters in Nashville and bring up to 200 jobs here, Nashville Mayor Megan Barry said. Hankook Tire joins a growing number of international firms who have chosen to invest in Nashville and become cherished members of our community.

TVA and Nashville Electric Service congratulate Hankook Tire on the decision to locate its new corporate headquarters and bring quality jobs to Nashville, TVA Senior Vice President of Economic Development John Bradley said. We are pleased to partner with Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, and Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development to help companies like Hankook Tire create new jobs and prosperity in the Valley.
Everyone is talking about digitalizing society and industry. Doing so will also have an enormous influence on the laboratory. analytica, which takes place in Munich from May 1013, 2016, will examine the challenges facing manufacturers and users and what solutions are already available for the intelligent laboratory.



In the future, the increased complexity of laboratory processes will call for the use of integrated automation and digitalization solutions. The objective is to transform manual processes into automated ones and to integrate them into laboratory information management systems (LIMS). Particularly when it comes to growth-oriented industrial laboratories, it is important to improve efficiency, optimize structures and increase flexibility. Essential prerequisites and factors of success for reaching those objectives include state-of-the-art, high-resolution, communication-capable analysis systems, functional automation solutions to monitor reaction parameters and product quality and ensure rapid data availability, and efficient data management.

Concrete system solutions for smart labs

At this year's analytica, experts will present corresponding tools as well as software and networking solutions in theory and in practice. This year we will look to the future and focus on the latest solutions for the intelligent laboratory, says Susanne Grodl, Exhibition Director of analytica. analytica's visitors can gather the latest future-oriented information on everything from robotics and laboratory automation to handling Big Data. Among other things, LAUDA will present thermostats and circulation chillers with various interfaces. For the first time ever, its exhibits will include optimized thermostats for bath applications and circulation thermostats for external applications in which the operating unit is completely independent of the thermostat and can be placed wherever it is needed. A new joint initiative is also exploring promising new possibilities: nexygenTHE NEXT GENERATION LABis a coalition of the German companies Kottermann, Memmert, Hirschmann, 2mag and Sartorius, which are exhibiting together at analytica to show what they have to offer the laboratory of the future. The employees of the equipment manufacturers and service providers have joined forces to develop products with optimum customer utility. They include innovations that increase useable space in the laboratory and surfaces that perform tasks such as stirring, heating, cooling and weighing.

The objective: Networking laboratory processes

The Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA is also working on using LEAN management to optimize laboratory processes. The team of researchers who work with Andreas Traube, Head of the Department of Laboratory Automation and Biomanufacturing Engineering at Fraunhofer IPA, has developed new approaches for networking laboratory and analysis processes in the value chain covering everything from sample logistics to documentation that will be presented at analytica. By successfully implementing their objectives, the team of researchers did an exemplary job of bridging the gap between the life sciences and automation technology. We live in an age of increasingly personalized products. As a result, laboratories that are used to research and test products in various branches of industry are becoming a key factor in the product development process, predicts Traube. Networking key laboratory elements such as laboratory processes, data analysis, equipment and operating personnel are essential elements for an efficient smart laboratory. The technological foundation for this is already available. These technologies will have an enormous influence on and change laboratories in the years to come!
Parade steps off Audio Article For the first time since 2019, marching bands, classic cars, dance troupes, scouts and politicians made their way along Midlothian Turnpike for the annual Midlothian Day Parade on Saturday, Oct....
A University of Illinois team has developed technology that could detect homemade bombs like those used in the Brussels airport attacks last month.

Chemistry professor Kenneth Suslick created a sort of digital "nose" that can sense certain chemicals in the surrounding environment  including triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, an explosive compound made of ingredients found in hair salons and hardware stores.

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"It would be a very useful technology if one could replace dogs as our primary chemical sensor," Suslick said. "Dog may be man's best friend, but he's neither quantitative nor, ultimately, highly reliable."

The "nose" is actually a group of sensors embedded with stripes of dye that are compared before and after exposure. Based on how the colors change, scientists can tell which chemicals are present.

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The sensor array could be packaged into a small device that would be more portable than the printer-sized machines security agents currently use to test passengers for residue from military-grade bombs. Those machines require extra steps that can slow down the screening process and can't detect chemicals used in homemade bombs, Suslick said.

Then there's the risk of waiting until the security screening area of an airport to begin detection.

"The fundamental problem with any security issue in public spaces is beyond the secure zone, there's a bottleneck," Suslick said. The Brussels bombings occurred outside of the security checkpoint.

Last July, Suslick and his colleagues published their findings from a study investigating the technology's potential for identifying explosives in the journal Chemical Science. The research was funded in part by the U.S. Department of Defense.

"It's a useful additional tool that one would want to be able to have readily available, not just for the detection of TATP, but there are many toxic chemicals and flammable chemicals that are available off the shelf," Suslick said.

He said a portable device with the artificial nose could be programmed to alert the user, or someone in a command center, when dangerous chemicals are detected.

Suslick said he didn't develop the technology with any one use in mind.

"I was hoping it would do everything," he said.

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In 2015, the artificial nose was used to detect pollution levels surrounding valuable Disney artwork in a traveling exhibit that went to Shanghai and Beijing. Suslick said the arrays worked for 90 to 108 days in those settings before becoming overloaded and requiring replacement. In busier areas, where more people and chemicals are present, such as airports, they may need to be replaced sooner.

Suslick said a company he had a hand in founding, iSense, is in the processing of commercializing the artificial nose technology. The company's first project is creating a tool to quickly detect blood infections by embedding the technology in culture tubes used in labs or hospitals, he said.

Representatives from iSense did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the progress of commercialization.

Whether the tools are eventually adopted in hospitals, museums or airports, the color-based display should make the technology easy for anyone to understand, Suslick said.

"We're very visual creatures," he said. "The idea of being able to see an odor is something people grasp intuitively."

aelahi@tribpub.com

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Chad Williams, a manager at Devils Backbone Brewing Co., fills a growler of beer in Roseland, Va., in this 2011 photo. Anheuser-Busch announced this week an agreement to acquire Devils Backbone, the leading and fastest-growing craft brewery in Virginia. (Rosanne Weber / AP)

Anheuser-Busch InBev has announced plans to buy Virginia's Devils Backbone Brewing Co., the eighth craft brewery that the global beer behemoth has purchased during the past five years. (As Chicagoans will recall, the deal that began the trend was AB's purchase of Goose Island in 2011.)

During a phone call Tuesday, Devils Backbone co-founder Steve Crandall and Felipe Szpigel, president of Anheuser-Busch InBev's High End beer division, discussed how and why the deal came together.

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For Devils Backbone, the deal arose because it had sunk all its money into rapid growth that has the brewery on pace to make nearly 100,000 barrels of beer in 2016, up from 62,000 barrels in 2015. Having come close to maxing out its ability to borrow money more than a year ago, Devils Backbone began looking for a buyer.

From AB's perspective, Devils Backbone fills a hole in its portfolio  and quite well. The brewery, founded in 2008, has won 28 medals at the Great American Beer Festival and was named the nation's midsize brewer of the year in 2014. This interview was edited for space and clarity.

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Q: Steve, how did this deal come together for Devils Backbone?

Crandall: We've been incredibly fast growing, and with growth came expense. The investment in capacity was stretching us pretty darn thin, to the point that we were putting money into capacity versus filling the potholes in our road. We were reaching the terminus of the ability to fund our growth, so we reached out to First Beverage Group (a Los Angeles-based beverage industry advisory firm) and told them what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go. They generated a list of 20 potential partners, from private equity to strategic (meaning other breweries), and we very early discounted the private equity piece. I wanted some assurance that whatever we did, there would be some longevity to it. We whittled the list to a half dozen international and national breweries. We were very humbled by this process; there were some amazing, very recognizable names, and it's pretty gratifying that those guys will fly in and talk to you. What it says is that there are a lot of people interested in buying craft.

Q: How did you wind up picking AB?

Crandall: As the list grew tighter, the one rising to the top was AB. We have a vision, and we've had a vision since we started this business. We're on 100 acres here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and we want to develop a very positive experiential facility, including a campground and RV hookups. We're a destination brewery  people drive to get here and want to stay on the property  but we couldn't spend any money on it because everything was going to capacity. AB listened to us and believed in us. From the very beginning, we had a great relationship with these guys; prior to meeting them, I wasn't sure they put they're pants on one leg at a time, but they do. They're decent people. So we're building the campground  plus some other things we're not ready to announce yet  and a 50,000-square-foot facility at our packaging facility in Lexington. There were folks who actually offered a little more money upfront, but they were uncertain about building out what we saw as our dream, and that was very important.

Q: What has the reaction been?

Crandall: We had our company meeting today, and it was very enthusiastic  surprisingly so. People got it. The people knew. We were buying old beat-up forklifts and using hand sandpapers to sand them down and repaint them and trying to put new wheels on them. That's the life you live when you're a 60,000- to 70,000-barrel brewery and trying to play the big game. It's a very big challenge. But I've never worked for anybody else. That's going to be a challenge too.

Szpigel: The consumer is the boss.

Crandall: The consumer is the boss  that's a good line, Felipe. But the second boss is Felipe. Actually Felipe is the third boss. The second boss would be my wife.

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Q: Felipe, what does AB get out of this deal?

Szpigel: Whomever we want to bring on board, the question is, do they believe in what we believe? And do they believe in something bigger than what they have done up to now? And do they want to achieve that as partners? We shared a similar vision of the industry (with Devils Backbone), and we got excited by the things we could do to support them and, even more than that, the things they could do to support us. And when you focus on what's in the glass, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to see what the guys are doing here. The beers are out of this world, and they complement the portfolio we have today.

Q: How do they complement AB's craft portfolio as compared with the seven breweries you'd previously bought?

Szpigel: One is (Devils Backbone's) focus on lagers, and an unbelievable balance between flavor and sessionability. There's a national transition (happening). People are looking for complexity and balance rather than just intensity. There's a world out there to educate on craft. That's a key role that AB and The High End can do with our partners; it's not a war in beer and not a war in craft. This is about things that consumers want and how can we make it available and educate them on it. There's a lot of people drinking lagers and light lagers, and that's great. I have a lot of respect for the brands that have been represented for so many years, but there's a lot of great flavors and balance that can come with craft beer.

Q: Steve, I'll ask for honesty even though the new boss is sitting there with you. I know you must have thought long and hard about this. What if anything were your hesitations about agreeing to a deal with Anheuser-Busch?

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Crandall: That's a great question, and I have to figure out how to answer honestly. My whole company has been very active in the craft beer movement, and we were very much wedded  and are still wedded  to craft beer. When the concept of joining forces with ABI came, there was an initial questionable reaction from me. But my brewer, Jason Oliver, immediately said it was the greatest thing that could ever happen. He went to UC Davis (which has one of the nation's leading brewing schools) and knew a lot of Anheuser-Busch brewers. When we initially opened the brewpub, and I was not schooled very effectively on the whole beer scene, Jason said we needed to put Bud Light in the cooler. I said, "Are you kidding me?" He said, "Look, I know those guys, and they're passionate about beer, and they do what they do very well. We're not going to tell the consumer what to drink; the consumer can come in here and make their own choice." From that day forward, one of our values in our company has been being "beer positive."

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Q: But why were you hesitant about the sale?

Crandall: I didn't know the people at ABI that I've ultimately gotten to know and come to admire and respect. The other part was I had to leave the craft Brewers Association (which doesn't consider a brewery owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev "craft"). I always did have reservations about the line in the sand about the guys in and out of the "craft" tent  Founders, Lagunitas and we could keep going on. I never quite understood the definition and its impact on the industry. To us, it's all about the beer in the glass and the consumer. I'm not saying they're wrong. I totally believe in the Brewers Association and what they've done. By joining forces with ABI, it's obvious there's going to be a split there. That's not a bad thing. But as we move forward with Anheuser Busch, we're going to continue to support craft in Virginia. I asked these guys, "Can I still do that?" And they said, "Sure, absolutely."

Q: In your opinion, are we past needing a thing that's called "craft beer?" Is there no need to differentiate anymore?

Crandall: Absolutely, that's true. There's a great need for the Brewers Association to support craft breweries, and they've done an amazing job  they're very skilled at what they do. But there should be some acknowledgment that maybe there's different levels in the Brewer's Association. Maybe there's a tier of different sizes of breweries. But I believe in the end, it should all be about the beer in the glass.

jbnoel@tribpub.com

Twitter @joshbnoel
"I continue to believe that she has not jeopardized America's national security," said the president. "Now what I've also said is that  and she has acknowledged  that there's a carelessness, in terms of managing emails, that she has owned, and she recognizes."
A "sustained, coordinated citywide effort" is needed to ensure the future of neighborhood high schools that have been hard-hit by dwindling enrollment amid greater school choice over the last decade, an educational advocacy group says in a report that offers a series of policy proposals for Chicago Public Schools.

The report, made public Wednesday, calls on CPS to hold off on closing or opening new high schools without a citywide planning process; criticizes "unbridled school competition"; stresses the need to "raise the profile of neighborhood public high schools"; and urges leaders to approve a new education funding formula.

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"I think the essence is to advocate for a renewed focus on the important role that neighborhood high schools play in our overall education portfolio," said Terry Mazany, head of the Chicago Community Trust and a former CPS CEO who is on the advisory council of Generation All, the group that produced the report.

With funding from the Ford Foundation, Generation All enlisted both CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union, as well as the Chicago Community Trust, to collect input on neighborhood high schools from community groups beginning in fall 2014. The report's recommendations include investing in teachers and principals and making neighborhood high schools centers of their community.

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"There's still far too few desirable high school options, and if you think about the quickest way to produce more high quality seats for kids, let's take our good neighborhood high schools and energize them so we don't have to build new buildings or start new schools from scratch," Mazany said.

CPS on Tuesday issued its own six-page set of findings on neighborhood high schools, which was compiled by a group the district assembled last summer.

The district's High School Working Group report says CPS should "develop a strategy for under-enrolled high schools," explore a single application for all high schools and involve "all sectors of the community" in CPS decisions.

Both reports land at a time when a growing number of students are attending a school other than the one assigned based on where they live. A Tribune analysis of enrollment data earlier this year showed that nearly 76 percent of CPS high school students opted not to attend their neighborhood high school this school year. Last school year, that figure was about 73 percent.

More than a dozen Chicago public high schools were less than one-third filled by the 20th day of classes this school year. Nearly three dozen high schools were less than half full, based CPS' space-utilization formula.

The city in recent years has closed neighborhood schools, while the number of independently-operated charter schools has grown. Other high schools have been reshaped with specific programming for subjects like math and science. Advocates say those policies expand options for students.

CPS did not respond to requests for comment about the Generation All report.

Beatriz Ponce de Leon, Generation All's executive director, said the two reports can launch a broader discussion about the future of the city's traditional high schools, while the district continues to work on a strategy for its high school buildings.

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"We might not be in complete agreement," she said of the two reports "But I do see the potential for them to be complementary."

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The district's working group included CPS officials and charter school representatives; Generation All's plan employed district officials as well as the CTU and allied groups. Several individuals contributed to both reports, and there are many similarities between both sets of findings.

The enrollment issue has prompted questions about the district's strategy for schools in vulnerable neighborhoods, which tend to serve poor black students who often fall behind academically and can't get into Chicago's charter, magnet or selective enrollment programs.

Many of those under-enrolled high schools hold the district's highest rates of special-needs students, and most have some of the highest suspension rates among district-operated high schools.

Both CPS and Generation All acknowledge those problems. Wendy Katten, who was on Generation All's Steering Committee, said the issues will take some time to address.

"Is it going to happen in a year? I don't think anyone is looking at it that way. It's a long-term vision," said Katten, head of the Raise Your Hand advocacy group. "There's an awareness that it's a long-term vision, and the collective mindset has to change."

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Niketa Ingram gives a snack Michael Nawrocki, 33, left, and Richard Larrabee, 43, right, in their assisted living quarters, in Joliet on April 12, 2016. Ingram saids she likes her job but it's hard making ends meet at $9 per hour. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

Organizations that provide care to people with disabilities are reporting crisis-level shortages of employees needed to feed, bathe and perform other essential tasks for residents in Illinois, a situation that has prompted the closure of some group homes and kept hundreds of families on waiting lists for services.

"We've never encountered anything like this, where people are actually closing homes or moving people into other homes because they can't get the staffing," said Tony Paulauski, executive director of The Arc of Illinois, a nonprofit that advocates for people with disabilities. "This is really, really unusual."

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Advocates say the staffing shortages are the result of organizations' inability to attract workers  known as direct support professionals  with an average wage of $9.35 per hour, as determined by state funding. The wages have not been increased in eight years, leaving potential applicants in the improving economy to opt for jobs where they can make more money doing less grueling work.

In hearings before House and Senate committees this week, advocates for some of the largest organizations providing services to people with disabilities are calling on legislators to approve bills aimed at raising the minimum wage for direct support professionals  who work in all types of settings, from residential facilities to day service centers  to $15 an hour. The state's minimum wage is $8.25 per hour, and Chicago's minimum wage is $10 an hour, set to increase to $10.50 on July 1.

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The Senate committee passed the bill Tuesday with a 6-1-0 vote. A corresponding bill will be presented to a House of Representatives committee Wednesday. The bills must still be approved by both houses and signed into law by the Governor.

"The direct support professionals are working with people that often times require their help physically to move. They are transferring people in and out of their wheelchairs, helping them with their personal care that they need, driving vehicles," said Kim Zoeller, CEO of the Ray Graham Association, which operates 42 sites around DuPage County providing services to people with developmental disabilities.

"You think about $9.35 an hour, and why would you have all the emotional and physical stress put on you when I could fold shirts at Target?" Zoeller asked.

While a similar shortage of direct support professionals is playing out across the country, some Illinois' legislators say the bills before the House and Senate are a tough sell here due to the state budget impasse.

"At this point, we just don't have the money to do this," said Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine. "We're running a bigger deficit every day even without passing a budget."

Niketa Ingram, 33, took a job as a direct support professional for Trinity Services, Inc. last year because she liked the idea of caring for people in need. Since then, she has worked at a group home in Joliet where she helps residents get dressed, eat, go to doctor's appointments and complete other day-to-day tasks. She received training when she was hired but wasn't required to have any specialized skills, she said.

Although Ingram loves her work, she said her $8.35 per hour wage has made it hard for her to provide for her two children.

"I try to stick around just to see if they can try to get raises," Ingram said. "If not, then I will have to try to look for something that's giving me a little bit more money coming in. It's very stressful and very hard."

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Administrators who run group homes say it's a sentiment echoed by many direct support professionals, who make up about 90 percent of the staff at many facilities serving the disabled.

Zoeller said she currently has 40 unfilled direct support professional positions at the Ray Graham Association, more vacancies than she has seen in her 22 years there. Before the last 18 months, the highest number of jobs available were 10 to 15, she said.

"I think a lot of it had to do with the point of time where we were with the economy... that you started to see fast food restaurants upping their wages and going through very concerted wage campaign efforts," Zoeller said.

"I believe the minimum wage (increase) in Chicago hurts us," she added, noting that the organization's facilities are all in DuPage County.

Niketa Ingram helps Michael Nawrocki, 33, adjust his wheelchair's table top at his living quarters, in Joliet, Tuesday April 12, 2016. Ingram saids she like her job but is hard making ends meet at $9.00 an hour. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

At Trinity Services, which operates nearly 100 group homes across the state, the effect of staffing shortages is starting to show. Two homes in the Joliet area recently closed, and administrators are in the process of consolidating two more within the next six weeks, said Art Dykstra, Trinity's CEO.

For the last two years, Dykstra also has turned away parents with state-issued decrees granting their children residential services. Parents can wait years for their children's names to be pulled off waiting lists for such benefits, but without enough staff to operate residential facilities, Dykstra can't open new homes to accommodate them, he said.

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"That's the quandary," he said. "You can imagine the joy that parents have when their kid's name is pulled, and now they're still waiting to find out what to do next."

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Marianne Manko, spokeswoman for Illinois Department of Human Services, said state officials, too, would like to see wages increase for direct support professionals, but they are powerless to do so because the wages must be approved by state lawmakers.

Most of the nonprofits in Illinois that cater to people with disabilities operate primarily with funds that come from state allocations, which are either introduced by the governor or included in a budget approved by the state Legislature. Money provided by the state is matched with federal funds through Medicaid, advocates said.

"In a perfect world, we would be able to pay people a higher amount of money," Manko said. "But right now, we have a legislature that won't even give us a budget."

Josh Evans, legislative director for the Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, said in the meantime, organizations that provide services to the disabled will be forced to operate homes with high numbers of residents  as many as eight  while similar homes across the country tend to keep the number of residents at fewer than four. Ultimately it becomes a safety risk for those residents, he said.

"We understand there are all these various crises going on, and we get that, and they're all legitimate," Evans said. "But the state has an obligation to provide opportunities to people with disabilities."

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A police evidence marker is placed next to a gun after a shooting in the 3400 block of West Harrison Street on March 16, 2016, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

In what would be a reversal from four years ago, Chicago police are considering posting violent-crime detectives out of a West Side police facility as homicides and shootings rise sharply in nearby neighborhoods.

Since the old Harrison Area detective bureau was shut down for budget reasons in 2012, detectives have had to travel from the Area North bureau to investigate violent incidents on the West Side.

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The move would mark one of the first noteworthy decisions by Superintendent Eddie Johnson after his surprise selection by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to head the 12,000-strong Police Department amid a double-barreled crisis  rising violence and continuing fallout over the release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video.

Johnson, who won City Council approval Wednesday to hold the post permanently, has spoken of the proposed change with the Fraternal Order of Police, the police union representing rank-and-file officers, as well as his command staff, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.

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The move would ensure that the department puts detectives "in the areas that are experiencing upticks in violence so they can respond quicker to crime scenes," Guglielmi said.

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Violence has risen sharply in Chicago so far this year, particularly in two West Side districts. Through Sunday, the Harrison District, which covers crime-plagued neighborhoods such as East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park and Lawndale, leads the city by far with 26 homicides, up from just six a year earlier, official department statistics show. Shooting incidents in the district have more than doubled to 126 from 48, according to the department.

In the Austin District on the city's far West Side, 11 homicides were recorded through Sunday, compared with just three a year earlier, the department said. Shooting incidents in the district have nearly tripled from 22 to 60, according to the statistics.

Citywide, 154 people have been slain through Sunday, compared with 95 last year, an increase of 62 percent, the statistics show. Shooting incidents jumped 78 percent to 744 through Sunday from 418 a year earlier, according to the department.

Several hundred detectives were transferred elsewhere in the city when the Harrison Area and a second detective bureau were shut down in 2012 as part of an effort by Emanuel to ease a then-$636 million gap in the city budget.

At the time, the FOP expressed concern that violent-crime detectives would respond slower to crime scenes on the West Side because they would be traveling from the Area North bureau in the Lakeview neighborhood, more than 10 miles away from some West Side neighborhoods.

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Cornell Store and Flats building at 1230-32 E. 75th Street in Chicago, shown April 12, 2016, stands out as a rare example of commercial Prairie School architecture designed by one of the school's masters, Walter Burley Griffin. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

Property owned by municipalities and institutions highlights the newly announced "Most Endangered Historic Places" in Illinois, underscoring the ramifications of the state budget impasse, according to the group that assembles the annual list.

Included in the 2016 collection of properties in danger of demolition or in need of a financial shot in the arm are St. Adalbert Catholic Church in Chicago, public school buildings in Highland Park, the Harley Clarke Mansion on Sheridan Road in Evanston and the Massac County Courthouse in far downstate Metropolis, where a popular statue of Superman stands watch in the town square.

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"Virtually all of the listings are publicly owned buildings or owned by institutions," said Bonnie McDonald, president of Landmarks Illinois, the nonprofit group that has assembled the list for 21 years. "This illuminates the state budget impasse and how the lack of a state budget is having an impact on our infrastructure."

It is often a challenge for government to maintain and invest in real estate, McDonald said, and without an operating budget, saving threatened buildings of historic significance becomes even more difficult, with funds unavailable or priorities shifting to other areas.

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The buildings on this year's list hold promise and significance for their neighborhoods and communities, she said, but they need money for rehabilitation or a creative reuse plan. The 2016 edition of the list was announced Wednesday in Springfield.

Ravinia School in Highland Park. Historic neighborhood schools continue to be a threatened community resource statewide, according to Landmarks Illinois. (Adam Nantenshon / Landmarks Illinois)

The outlier on the list is the Cornell Store and Flats building at 1230-32 E. 75th St. in Grand Crossing, a commercial Prairie School-style structure designed by Walter Burley Griffin. The vacant building, which used to contain retail space on the ground level with residential units above, is privately owned. But the building, built in 1908, is slated for demolition unless a viable rehabilitation plan emerges, McDonald said.

Since Landmarks Illinois began announcing its annual endangered places list, 75 of 207 sites have been saved and 46 have been lost. Eighty-six other sites remain in the working stage. The group works with owners, governments and institutions to fund reuse and engineering studies, find tax credits, provide grant money for redevelopment and lend architectural and historical expertise.

"Our goal is to move from vacant, underutilized properties to success stories," McDonald said.

In Evanston, the future of the Harley Clarke Mansion near Lake Michigan is uncertain. Martin Lyons, assistant city manager and CFO, said the City Council had tabled plans for the site for the immediate future. The council received only one bid for the mansion during the fall, to turn the mansion into a boutique hotel, which it rejected. There are no plans for demolition this year, Lyons said.

"Our marching orders are to keep it safe," Lyons said.

At the other end of the state, in the far southern town of Metropolis near the banks of the Ohio River, the Massac County Courthouse faces an uncertain fate. Voters there rejected a March proposal for a 1 percent sales tax to fund a rehabilitation project. The 1942 courthouse, where the giant statue of Superman stands, suffers from a leaky ceiling, cracked windows and deteriorating brick mortar.

St. Adalbert and other historic Catholic Churches in Chicago also made the list. The Archdiocese of Chicago announced in February that the church, with its recognizable towers at 1650 W. 17th St. in Pilsen, would close because it needs about $3 million in repairs.

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Also listed are "historic neighborhood schools" in Highland Park and Rockford slated for possible closure.

Other sites on this year's list:

Illinois Youth Center Auditorium and Gymnasium, on Campton Hills Road in St. Charles.

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Lakewood Farms, 27277 Forest Preserve Drive in Wauconda.

Salem Armory, Salem.

YWCA Building, Springfield.

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Central High School and neighborhood, including the Albert and Julia Burnham House, Champaign.

Citizens Savings and Loan Association Building, East Alton.

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A vigil for a 16-year-old boy killed by police turned into a protest Tuesday night that resulted in two arrests and the brief closing of the Eisenhower Expressway.



More than 100 people gathered around 7 p.m. in the 3400 block of West Grenshaw Street, where Pierre Loury was shot Monday evening after he allegedly threatened a Chicago police officer with a gun.



Metallic red and blue balloons were tied to a black iron fence as the crowd chanted "Justice for Pierre." Some people held up a fabric poster with the faces of young black people killed be police.



Shortly after 8 p.m., protesters began to walk onto the nearby Eisenhower Expressway. Police sirens went off immediately and officers jumped out to try to stop them, but some were already too far ahead. Police vehicles stopped traffic on the expressway, causing a backup on lanes headed toward downtown.



Other protesters walked away from the entrance to the highway, some shaking their heads and questioning the leadership of the group.



"I don't condone what they did out here," said Tatiana Balogun, 18, who lives on the 3400 block of West Grenshaw Street. She was marching with the protesters but ran the other direction when the group went onto the expressway.



"I don't condone what they did to the rest of the black people out here but I'm not getting killed for nobody," she said. "You don't take innocent kids on the expressway. You're an adult. You don't take kids on that expressway. That's wrong."



Protesters split into groups throughout the night. but a main group stayed near the intersection of St. Louis Avenue and Grenshaw Street.



"It's been hectic," said Deshawn Nelson, 17, a friend of Pierre Loury. "Stop the violence, we're too young."



Two people, including a teenage girl, were arrested during the protest, police said.



They were near the headquarters of the Harrison District police station in the 3100 block of West Harrison Street when a 17-year-old girl climbed on top of an unmarked squad car and start jumping up and down, police said.



As officers tried to get her down, 33-year-old Shimron Robinson of Blue Island came up to an officer from behind and knocked him over, police said.



Robinson was charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer, a felony, and misdemeanor resisting arrest. He appeared in court Wednesday, and was ordered held in lieu of $30,000 bail by Cook County Judge Maria Maria Kuriokos Ciesil.



The teenage girl, whom police did not identify because she is a juvenile, was charged with misdemeanor criminal damage to property.



Loury lived about two blocks from where he was shot. Police say an officer was chasing him down an alley after the boy jumped out of a car that was stopped because it matched the description of a car in an earlier shooting.



During the chase, Loury turned and aimed a gun at the officer, police said, citing a preliminary investigation. He was shot once in the chest as he was climbing a fence and pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital.



Bionca Johnson, who lives on the 3400 block of West Grenshaw Street where the shooting occurred, said Loury had brought her groceries home for her before. Many people in the neighborhood have a "kill or be killed" mentality, she said.



"It's the story of the police [that] everybody has a gun," Johnson said. "Half the time, these babies probably do have guns. They're probably scared with everything they're seeing on the news, so it's like, '[I'm going to] shoot first before I get killed.'"



She said people need to stop "knocking down" teens and put more funding into youth programs to create hope for a better life.



"When you look around, what do you got to look forward to?" Johnson said. "Like, am I going to have to live here my whole life?"
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, speaks to reporters while heading into Gov. Bruce Rauner's office for a meeting with the governor on April 12, 2016, in Springfield. (Seth Perlman / AP)

SPRINGFIELD  After sitting down with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner for the first time since December, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan exited out the back door, providing no status update on Tuesday's hourlong gathering.

The speaker, it turned out, was saving his impressions of how the meeting went for the House floor.

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In a rare, 10-minute speech, Madigan ratcheted up his rhetoric against Rauner, delivering a scathing address in which he accused the former private equity investor of trying to make good on an early campaign threat to shut down state government by pursuing a "personal agenda" aimed at harming the middle class.

Speaker for all but two years since 1983, the 13th Ward Democrat told the House he has a long record of working with governors of both parties, even ones with whom he's had strong disagreements. The situation with Rauner is different, Madigan said.

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"Over the last 13 months, compromise has been very difficult to achieve. Never before has the state gone this long without a budget. Every other governor that I have worked with has negotiated with the General Assembly in good faith to help the people of Illinois and to ensure that the people of our state would not needlessly suffer," Madigan said. "The fact is the current budget crisis is completely avoidable. While this crisis was avoidable, Gov. Rauner has refused to put an end to the crisis."

Then Madigan, a week shy of his 74th birthday, muscled through a plan to spend nearly $4 billion on higher education and social services, which have languished without state funding amid the recordlong budget stalemate. Rauner has threatened to veto the measure, arguing there isn't enough money to pay for the spending.

A Rauner spokeswoman declined to directly address Madigan's remarks, saying instead that the administration stood by a letter it sent to lawmakers earlier Tuesday. The missive, from deputy chief of staff Richard Goldberg, chided Democrats for pushing "another phony budget" bill.

"Now is the time to negotiate in good faith, not push each other farther apart. Now is the time for bipartisan solutions, not another partisan spending bill filled with empty promises," Goldberg wrote.

Illinois has been operating without a complete budget since last July, when Rauner vetoed almost the entire spending plan Democrats sent him, one that was at least $4 billion out of balance. The only portion Rauner approved was nearly $7 billion in K-12 funding to ensure schools opened on time last fall.

This spring, with prospects for an end to the stalemate dim, education spending is in the crosshairs as Rauner and Democrats fight over the future of school funding. The governor has called on Democrats to send him a bill that would spend an extra $55 million and ensure the next school year isn't disrupted should the stalemate drag on. Democrats say the governor's plan only throws more money at an inequitable system that props up wealthy districts to the detriment of poorer ones and suggest now is the time to overhaul the entire school aid funding formula.

Rauner told an annual meeting of business groups Tuesday the Democratic strategy was designed to purposely create chaos over school funding in an effort to force a tax increase.

"They're trying to create a crisis so our public schools don't open, to force a tax hike," Rauner said. "Believe me, it's hand-to-hand combat every day. It's really hard to run a government without a budget. Really hard."

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For months, Madigan had offered a dispassionate response to Rauner's attacks on the Democratic legislative majority, accusing the governor of "operating in the extreme" but saying he would work "professionally" to find compromise with the Republican governor on a budget balanced with cuts and the need for new revenue.

But with his floor speech on Tuesday, Madigan provided a Democratic playbook for his candidates in critical legislative elections this fall that find all 118 House seats and 40 state Senate seats up for election against Republicans wanting Rauner's backing and campaign cash.

Madigan noted he has worked under six governors, including four Republicans and two Democrats, in reaching past budget compromises to ensure services to those most in need of government help. But that, Madigan said, has stopped with Rauner, contending it has been the Republican governor's strategy all along to try to get rid of public unions and seek a state government shutdown.

The Democratic leader quoted from a speech then-candidate Rauner made a couple of years ago in Tazewell County in which he likened the need to act in state government to the way President Ronald Reagan did in a 1981 decision to fire thousands of striking air traffic controllers.

"I apologize, but we may have to go through a little rough times and we have to do what Ronald Reagan did with the air traffic controllers," Rauner said at that dinner.

"We sort of have to do a do-over and shut things down for a little while, that's what we're going to do," Rauner said.

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In addition, by calling Rauner out for pushing what he called the governor's "personal agenda," which includes union-weakening provisions involving collective bargaining and paying prevailing union wage rates on public works projects, Madigan made it clear that the battle between the two men had escalated well beyond any professional disagreements with no budget resolution at hand.

Earlier Tuesday, education funding had emerged as the latest battleground, as both tried to gain the upper hand on the issue.

Rauner's approach took the form of the carrot, as he dangled out a list detailing how dollars would be doled out to school districts across the state under his plan to beef up K-12 spending by $55 million this year. It's a time-tested tactic aimed at building support within districts that would benefit from the plan, designed to put pressure on suburban Democrats whose schools stand to take home more dollars.

Madigan employed the stick, introducing a constitutional amendment to make public education in Illinois a "fundamental right," creating the potential for the state to be sued if it doesn't come up with the majority of money to finance public schools. It's a signal that Democrats aren't backing down from their larger plan to rewrite the state's school aid formula following years of complaints that districts with a lesser ability to raise money from property taxes are falling further behind property tax-rich districts.

Under Rauner's plan, Chicago would lose $74 million, though some suburban districts would take in millions more.

The plan was immediately blasted by Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool, who said the proposal amounted to "doubling down on a broken educational funding system.

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"The budget he puts forth continues to cut education funding for poor districts throughout the state of Illinois, including the Chicago Public Schools, while increasing education funding for wealthy districts. And he's trying to justify it by claiming it's a good thing," Claypool said of Rauner's plan to reporters gathered at school district headquarters.

Claypool instead supported pending legislation backed by Senate President John Cullerton and Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, as "a positive step in the right direction."

That bill represents Manar's latest effort to revamp how the state doles out money to school districts and also includes a provision to have the state pick up $200 million in CPS pension costs. The pension payment provision has elicited concern from Madigan, while Republicans have panned the measure as a bailout for the Chicago school system.

Meanwhile, Madigan has proposed a state constitutional amendment changing the education article of Illinois' governing document and creating the potential for the state to be sued if it doesn't come up with the majority of money to finance public schools.

Madigan was a delegate to the convention that drew up the 1970 Illinois Constitution, including the current education article, which says: "The state has the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education."

But under a 1973 legal challenge brought by interests arguing that the state should provide more than half the funding of public schools, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the intent of the phrase "was to state a commitment, a purpose, a goal" and was not a legal mandate.

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The phrase, inserted by the late state Comptroller and Sen. Dawn Clark Netsch, was aimed at acknowledging concerns over the inequality of funding among the state's public school districts, based on local property-tax wealth.

Madigan's proposed constitutional amendment would strike the "primary responsibility" language. Instead, it would say "the state has the preponderant financial responsibility for financing the system of public education."

It also would change the wording that the state's system of "free schools" was a "fundamental goal" to a "fundamental right."

Moreover, it would declare it to be "the paramount duty of the state" to "guarantee equality of educational opportunity as a fundamental right of each citizen."

Madigan's proposal would require a three-fifths majority of the members of the House and Senate to appear on the Nov. 8 general election ballot for ratification from the voters.

Chicago Tribune's Juan Perez Jr. contributed.

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There's a crisis gripping a small indigenous community in Northern Ontario: The Attawapiskat First Nation, home to fewer than 2,000 people, is struggling with a suicide epidemic.

In October, a 13-year-old girl committed suicide in Attawapiskat; since then, according to the Canadian Press, there have been 100 more attempted suicides -- including 28 in March.

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On the night of April 9 alone, officials said, 11 people attempted to take their own lives in Attawapiskat, prompting the chief and council to declare a state of emergency.

"I'm asking friends, government, that we need help in our community," Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Bruce Shisheesh said, according to CBC. "I have relatives that have attempted to take their own lives ... cousins, friends."

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There have been more suicide attempts since the chief and the council declared a state of emergency.

A scheduled forum April 11 for young people and mental-health workers was canceled when multiple people -- including one as young as 7 -- were taken to the hospital after apparently planning a group suicide, relief nurse Crystal Culp told CBC, adding that some of the youth "had already initiated steps to self-harm."

The disturbing number of suicide attempts are very high again for the month of April. Pray for Attawapiskat.  Bruce Shisheesh (@BruceShisheesh) April 12, 2016

Anna Betty Achneepineskum of Nishnawbe Aski Nation told the Ottawa Citizen that police detained 13 youths after learning of a suicide pact and had them placed under watch at the local hospital.

"It is very tense," she told the newspaper.

The youth, according to the CBC, spoke with mental health counselors "about their feelings of despair" and said bullying and "a lack of things to do" were among the factors that made them suicidal.

"It hasn't been easy to be strong," Shisheesh, the Attawapiskat First Nation chief, said in an interview with CBC. "It hasn't been easy to stay positive because I keep thinking about our young people. And as a chief and as leaders here in our community, we don't want to lose any youth."

On Twitter, Shisheesh noted "the disturbing number of suicide attempts" and added: "Pray for Attawapiskat."

Suicide has plagued Canada's indigenous communities for decades. The leading cause of death among indigenous youth and adults younger than 45 is suicide and self-inflicted injuries, according to Health Canada.

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It hasn't been easy to stay positive because I keep thinking about our young people. And as a chief and as leaders here in our community, we don't want to lose any youth.  Bruce Shisheesh, Attawapiskat First Nation Chief

Indigenous youths face a number of suicide risk factors, as outlined by Canada's Aboriginal Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy. They include poverty, unemployment, substance addiction, abuse, and a family or community history of suicide. Aboriginal youths also face violence and conflict with the law. For centuries, many of Canada's native peoples were removed and placed into residential schools, where they were forced to learn English and drop native practices and languages. Researchers have cited this inter-generational trauma, passed down over centuries, as another suicide risk factor.

"We talk about things like historical trauma as if it's events that have happened in the past," researcher Gerald McKinley told the Canadian Medical Association Journal. "But the number of suicide completions [is] increasing steadily, decade over decade over decade. What's happening [now] is new communities are joining in."

People younger than 26 were involved in nearly half of the suicides committed by Aboriginal people in Ontario between 1991 and 2013, according to a study by McKinley, a postdoctoral fellow at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Small, remote communities such as Attawapiskat have long-standing issues that affect the mental health of their residents, Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Zimmer told the Canadian Press.

"They are very, very remote, they're small, there's no economy, there is a sense -- especially among the younger people -- of despair, a lack of opportunity and it leads to depression and anxiety and these sorts of things," Zimmer said.

Last month, Pimicikamak Cree Nation in Manitoba also declared a state of emergency over attempted youth suicides, according to Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde.

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The news from Attawapiskat is heartbreaking. We'll continue to work to improve living conditions for all Indigenous peoples.  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 10, 2016

"The situation facing the people of Attawapiskat is a national tragedy that demands immediate action," Bellegarde said in a statement Monday -- one day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed concern about the suicide epidemic. He tweeted, "The news from Attawapiskat is heartbreaking. We'll continue to work to improve living conditions for all Indigenous peoples."

Tuesday, Canada's House of Commons held an emergency debate about the Attawapiskat suicide crisis.

"This isn't just particularly about Attawapiskat, it's about who we are as Canadians and our whole nation," Member of Parliament Charlie Angus said, according to CBC. "The greatest tragedy is the image of these helpless communities, and these lost children."

"When I think that there are communities in our country where ... young people in groups are deciding that there is no hope for their future, we must do better, we have to find a way to go forward," Minister of Health Jane Philpott said. "Tonight has to be a turning point for us as a country in order for us to decide together that we will do better."

Attawapiskat has four health-care workers who lack specialized mental-health training, Shisheesh said.

"These four workers, crisis workers, are burned out," Deputy Grand Chief Rebecca Friday said, according to CBC. "They can't continue working daily because of the amount of suicides [that] have happened. They're backlogged."

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Additional resources have come to the community following the state-of-emergency declaration. The country's health ministry dispatched 18 health workers, mental-health counselors and police to Attawapiskat, CBC reported.

"Our government wants to assure First Nations that we are personally and directly engaged in the recent states of emergencies that have been declared," reads a statement from Health Canada. "We have reached out to First Nations leadership over the past day to identify how we can work together to provide both immediate and long term help."

Angus, the MP who represents this area of Ontario, said there had been more than 700 suicide attempts in the James Bay Region in the past few years.

"Why does it take a state of emergency to get a planeload of health-care workers into the community?" Angus said, CBC reported.

There's also a worry about the far-reaching impact so many suicides and attempts have on this tiny community. Clusters of such attempts can be contagious, leading to more attempts, Ian Manion, director of youth mental health research at Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, told the Ottawa Citizen.

"There is no single suicide that can occur in a community like that that doesn't ripple through the entire community," Manion said.

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At a community forum Tuesday, Carissa Koostachin, a 14-year-old from Attawapiskat, said her 13-year-old cousin, Sheridan Hookimaw, killed herself last year in part because she'd been bullied.

But, CBC reported, "she says she doesn't like to talk about why her cousin committed suicide, fearing that it could prompt others to follow her path."

"If you keep talking about suicide, it's going to make the other youth want to do it again," Koostachin said.

"I don't want to lose another one from suicide," she said.
This photo released on the official Facebook page of Syrian Presidency, shows Syrian President Bashar Assad casting his ballot in the parliamentary elections, as his wife Asma, left, is standing next to him, in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (AP)

Even as Syrian peace efforts resumed Wednesday in Geneva, President Bashar Assad took a major jab at the process from Damascus: voting in parliamentary elections denounced as a farce by the opposition.

Syria's state-run media published photographs of the embattled leader and his wife, Asma Assad, smiling as they cast ballots in the capital for a new 250-member parliament.

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The decision to hold the elections during peace talks in Geneva backed by the United Nations was another signal that the Syrian leader has no plans to step aside - a key demand of the opposition delegation at the negotiations.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad underscored Assad's stance in an interview with the Associated Press, saying the opposition - including factions backed by the West and its allies - must abandon the "dream" of a transitional government.

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Such a plan "will never be acceptable," Mekdad said.

Voting took place only in government-held areas of the country. Regime opponents boycotted the elections, which almost certainly will produce a rubber-stamp legislature for Assad.

"The Assad regime will do whatever it can to undermine and derail the political process," said Salem al-Meslet, a spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee, an umbrella group that represents the opposition in Geneva.

Despite the elections, which Meslet called a "farce," the group pledged to participate in the talks.

"Free elections must be held in Syria after the political transition," he said.

The vote may also be viewed as a snub to Russia, an important ally of Assad that has intervened militarily in the Syrian conflict and given a crucial boost to government forces.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that a political transition, which includes drafting a new constitution and holding another round of elections, remains key to ending the conflict.

But Lavrov also offered praise, albeit guarded, for Wednesday's elections. "These elections held today are designed to play this role of not allowing a legal vacuum" during the ongoing political process, he said, according to the Reuters news agency.

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Russian air power - combined with thousands of Shiite militiamen from countries such as Iran and Lebanon - has helped Assad's forces make key gains against rebel fighters in recent months. The Syrian leader now looks less vulnerable.

If Russian President Vladimir Putin expected greater flexibility in the Geneva negotiations from Assad, though, it would appear unlikely.

In recent weeks, the Syrian leader has firmly dismissed key parameters of a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted in December - and backed by Russia - that calls for a transitional government and elections within 18 months.

Despite statements by both Assad and the opposition that indicated little room for negotiation over a political transition, U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura said Wednesday that all parties have agreed to discuss it. During visits over the past week to Damascus, Tehran and Moscow, he said, he was "very clear" about the agenda, which includes "full implementation" of the resolution.

"The word 'governance' is crucial," de Mistura said, "and no one had any objection to that point." He said it was "normal that each delegation normally states its own strong position." But, he added, "when we come here, we come here to negotiate." Although the resolution calls for the transitional body to assume all government functions, it does not mention whether Assad can be part of it.

De Mistura said he also would hold a meeting Thursday of a task force led by the United States and Russia that was set up to monitor a fraying cease-fire, which began in February. He cited "serious incidents" that, if they "are too often repeated, could at least deteriorate the spirit and confidence" in what is officially known as a "cessation of hostilities."

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Pro-government forces appear to be intensifying attacks in the northwestern Latakia province, along the border with Turkey, where they have seized villages from rebel forces.

South of the city of Aleppo, battles raged Tuesday between Shiite militiamen from Lebanon and Iran and militants from al-Qaida's Syria affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra. More than a dozen pro-government militiamen were killed in that assault, which occurred near the Tel Eis area, according to statements published on Twitter by opposition figures.

Video images, which could not be independently verified, purportedly showed bodies of Shiite militiamen scattered in the Tel Eis area and a Jabhat al-Nusra fighter beheading at least one Shiite militiaman.

It is unclear whether Russian airstrikes have come to the aid of pro-government fighters near Tel Eis.

Although Putin announced last month that he would draw down his military forces in Syria, Russian aircraft and soldiers still appear to be participating intensively in battles against the Islamic State militant group, which controls significant territory in Syria.

Last month, pro-government forces captured the ancient city of Palmyra from the Islamic State, which is not a party to the cease-fire.

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Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report.
Driver Robert Smolin and horse Macho Burbon win the second race during the last night of harness racing Saturday at Balmoral Park. (JOHN SMIERCIAK / Daily Southtown)

Having had no luck finding someone willing to keep Balmoral Park operating as a harness racing track, owners of the historic park near Crete have set a June 2 auction for the property.

A New York firm, Keen-Summit Capital Partners, has been hired to solicit bids for the nearly 200-acre property at 26435 S. Dixie Highway which are due June 1, with the auction being held the following day in the offices of the law firm overseeing the track's bankruptcy case.

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The owners, which also operated Maywood Park, filed for bankruptcy in December 2014, shortly after a federal appeals court ordered them to pay nearly $79 million to casinos in Aurora, Elgin and Joliet. The filing was meant to stay that judgment and give the owners breathing room to reorganize, although they are also appealing the decision.

Maywood closed last fall, while Balmoral held its final races at the end of last year, after an extended sale process and extensive marketing efforts failed to produce a bidder acceptable to the debtors who would keep Balmoral running. In a recent court filing, Balmoral said that "it has become clear that a buyer for substantially all of the debtor's assets as a going concern simply does not exist."

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No harness racing dates for this year at Balmoral were issued by the Illinois Racing Board, but Keen-Summit, in online materials promoting the upcoming auction, notes that it would basically be a turnkey operation should some bidder want to take a shot at resuming racing there. The firm also notes the "potential expansion" beyond racing to casino gaming, which is something that the park's owners had hoped Illinois legislators would approve.

With a grandstand capable of seating up to 71,000 people, Keen-Summit suggests the property could be repurposed as a concert venue or site for outdoor music venues, or cleared and developed for warehouse-distribution users. Annual property taxes for the land approach $400,000.

While the June 2 auction will focus on the real estate, the park owners, in a court filing, indicated a separate auction could be held in the coming weeks at Balmoral for other assets.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 18 Historic Balmoral Park in Crete, which has hosted horse racing since 1926 when it opened as Lincoln Fields, shown here in 1926, was forced to close due to a decision by the Illinois Racing Board. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

On Tuesday, the judge overseeing Balmoral's bankruptcy case approved the park owners' proposal to sell its off-track betting facility in Crestwood, 5065 Cal Sag Road, to Hawthorne Race Course for $800,000.

mnolan@tribpub.com
An attorney for Bremen Youth Services filed a lawsuit Monday in Cook County against Bremen Township after the township board voted to cut its funding last month.

Meanwhile, an annual township meeting Tuesday night was declared invalid because notice of it wasn't posted properly, but another meeting is tentatively scheduled for next month giving time for BYS supporters to add items to the agenda upon which they would like to vote.

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The lawsuit alleges the process the township used to select another provider of youth counseling services was unfair and not objective because a scoring chart wasn't used to compare agencies.

"The lack of an objective scoring process for bid selection, in and of itself, demonstrates that the RFP (request for proposal) process was not objective and unfairly tainted in favor of (Township Supervisor Maggie) Crotty's preferred bidder, Aunt Martha's," the complaint states.

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The lawsuit asks the court to invalidate the township's contract with the Aunt Martha's counseling agency and award the contract to BYS, or order that the bidding process be conducted again following industry standards.

While waiting for the court's decision, BYS supporters are hoping to force township officials to act in the agency's favor through the use of the annual meeting at which township residents can vote on agenda items.

Tuesday's annual township meeting was filled with BYS supporters, many of whom were in front of the township office along Oak Park Avenue beforehand holding up signs reading "Save BYS."

"They've done so much good in my life and the lives of others," said BYS supporter Sheri Freeman. "There's no reason not to be out here."

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Since it was an annual meeting at which township residents could vote, BYS supporters elected BYS board member Chuck Wolf as the meeting's moderator.

Alicia Tracy, a BYS supporter and township resident, asked when notice of the meeting was posted and was told the date of April 7 by township officials. Wolf said notice of an annual meeting must be posted 15 days prior according to Illinois law.

"This is ridiculous that people who have been running the township as long as they've had didn't place proper notice," audience member Kim Bots said.

But the mistake gave BYS supporters the opportunity to tentatively schedule another meeting of the electors for May 10.

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Wolf explained that residents have until April 24 to submit agenda items.

Chuck Quinn, president of the BYS board, said he was unclear about what type of agenda items are legally allowed to be placed on such an agenda for a public vote. For example, he said he didn't know if residents can force the township to do what the BYS lawsuit requests.

Frank Vaisvilas is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Gov. Bruce Rauner is given a tour of Wilmette Junior High School, guided by several of the school's eighth-graders March 28, 2016. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune)

Gov. Bruce Rauner is passing up a golden opportunity to become a hero to millions of underprivileged children and guarantee a legacy as a heroic public figure.

He could do something the legislature and courts in Illinois have been unable to do for generations, and that is restore some semblance of fairness to education funding in Illinois.

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He could use his executive power to reduce state funding for wealthier districts and send more aid to poor ones. That would make him like Robin Hood, who was a beloved character in folklore. In real life, though, no one wants to make such a politically unpopular move.

But Rauner isn't like anyone else. He's in charge of a state that for nearly 10 months has shut off funding for social services and higher education during a budget impasse. He knows college students, people in need of mental health treatment, homebound cancer victims and many others are suffering. But he sticks to his principles, hoping the other side caves first.

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Rauner doesn't care how unpopular he is, which makes him the perfect guy to play Robin Hood and fix the state's unfair system of paying for education.

Instead, as Chicago Democratic state Rep. Christian Mitchell says, Rauner is like "Robin Hood in reverse." Rauner proposes to decrease funding for schools in places like Harvey and East St. Louis while schools in rich towns like Winnetka and Lake Forest would get more.

Rauner wants to increase K-12 funding by $120 million next year. His plan would, for the first time in seven years, fully fund the foundation level of $6,119 per student and end the practice of proration. Allocations per district would be based on enrollment, poverty level and property values. Chicago Public Schools would receive $74 million less than this year, and CPS chief Forrest Claypool immediately blasted the proposal.

Illinois relies too heavily on property taxes to fund schools. The most important number in education is a child's ZIP code. Spending ranges from $6,000 to $30,000 per student, creating inequality. Last year, The Education Trust found Illinois' school funding system to be the nation's most unfair.

For decades, advocates have demanded reforms. Efforts have always fallen short due to the lack of political will to fix the system. No politician wants to face voters in Naperville, Hinsdale or Lake Bluff and tell them their tax dollars are going to help schools in Robbins, West Chicago or Waukegan.

Everyone knows children in poor neighborhoods lack education opportunities enjoyed by those in wealthier communities. At best, some say, the state's role should be to try to mitigate the imbalance and ensure some level of quality for all. In the debate over equity vs. adequacy, the state chose adequacy.

Rauner's plan accelerates the imbalance in a broken system. More money is not more fair.

Some schools in the Southland would receive significantly less money next year under Rauner's plan. Numbers released by Rauner's office on Tuesday show Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 is No. 7 on the list of biggest losers. Its state appropriation would be cut by $664,846. That means Lincoln-Way would have to cut positions or programs to account for the difference.

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Thornton High School District 205 would see its state funding reduced by $415,597. Harvey District 152 would lose $392,562, and districts serving Dolton, South Holland, New Lenox and Ford Heights would receive less money.

Rauner's proposal produces some big winners in the south suburbs, too. Oak Lawn-Hometown School District 123 would see its share of state funding increase by $1.4 million, and Bremen Community High School District 228 would get an additional $1.3 million next year. Other Southland winners include districts serving Homewood, Flossmoor, Lansing, Chicago Heights, Palos Hills and Hickory Hills.

The governor has said he doesn't want to tackle school funding reform right now. But his school funding proposal links the issue to the state budget stalemate. The legislature is unlikely to let Rauner's plan advance, so 2017 funding for K-12 education essentially becomes the key that could finally unlock progress toward a state budget. Rauner, after all, met Tuesday with the four legislative leaders for the first time since December.

State Sen. Andy Manar, a Democrat from Bunker Hill, has been leading the legislative reform efforts of late. Last week Manar unveiled his latest proposal to shift state funding from the "haves" toward the "have-nots," with a hold-harmless provision that would maintain or increase funding for all districts next year and gradually phase in changes over four years.

Rauner criticized the notion, saying, "What we can't have is a system where we pit school districts against each other."

In unveiling his own school funding plan for next year, Rauner creates winners and losers without making any progress toward restoring fairness to the education funding formula.

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The complicated issue of school funding reform in Illinois ranks among the most researched topics in state history. For stakeholders or those with an interest in the issue, I recommend the 2015 article, "The Search for the Magic Formula: History of Illinois School Funding Reform" by Joshua J. Cauhorn.

Cauhorn is a young attorney with the Chicago firm Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella. He said his wife is a schoolteacher, and he earned academic credit for the research piece while pursuing his law degree.

He recounts how the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention that produced the state's first new constitution in a century left delegates exhausted. Delegates saved debate about education funding reform until the end of the convention, but lacked the energy to deal with the complicated and controversial problem.

Two sides formed at the convention, with one favoring little to no state constitutional commitment for funding by the state and the other group favoring a strong state commitment, Cauhorn writes.

Delegate Dawn Clark Netsch proposed a simply worded amendment: "The state has the primary responsibility for financing the system of public educational institutions and services." She understood the wording would not create a legally enforceable duty.

Netsch knew judges would not be able to use the language to compel action by the state. Delegate Malcolm Kamin summed up the sentiment of the exhausted delegates when he said, "I want to go home. Let's vote." The delegates applauded, then approved Netsch's amendment.

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Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

As attempts to restore fairness led to lawsuits and the Illinois Supreme Court made a landmark 1996 decision in "Committee For Educational Rights v. Edgar." The court said, "The process of (school funding) reform must be undertaken in a legislative forum rather than in the courts."

House Speaker Michael Madigan knows the state's history of education funding. On Monday he introduced legislation proposing a constitutional amendment be put before voters. The amendment would declare that education is a fundamental "right"  as opposed to a "goal"  and establish that the state has the "preponderant financial responsibility" for funding schools.

Those who understand the wording of Netsch's 1970 compromise and the state Supreme Court's 1996 ruling in the Edgar case will understand this would give the courts the power to decide what is fair when it comes to school funding in Illinois.

To the more cynical observer, Madigan's amendment would do something else: It would allow the legislature to abandon its duty to devise an equitable formula for funding education and shift that responsibility to the Illinois Supreme Court.

After years of kicking the can down the road and refusing to address the politically unpopular issue of education funding inequality, Madigan now wants the courts to deal with the problem instead of the legislature.

tslowik@tribpub.com

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Twitter @tedslowik
A Texas man made his first formal court appearance Wednesday on marijuana trafficking charges stemming from a Friday traffic stop on I-90 near Elgin, according to court records.

Daniel Cuellar, 32, remains in Kane County Jail on $100,000 bail accused of trafficking marijuana, as well as possession of cannabis and manufacturing/delivering the drug. Prosecutors turned over documents in the case to Cuellar's public defender during a Wednesday hearing. Cuellar is scheduled to return to court May 5.

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A Kane County sheriff's deputy stopped Cuellar for minor traffic violations on the tollway near Route 31 Friday morning when the deputy noticed the smell of marijuana coming from the vehicle, according to the sheriff's office. A search of the vehicle turned up two bags containing nearly 26 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $200,000.

Court records from Hidalgo County  in the far southern tip of Texas along the Mexico border  show a history of arrests and prison time for Cuellar since 2000, several of them relating to drugs. Cuellar has been charged with misdemeanor drug possession seven times  six involving marijuana and once with a controlled substance  and, in 2013, he was accused of felony marijuana possession of up to five pounds in a drug-free zone. Earlier this year he was charged with possession of a weapon by a felon, records show.

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Cuellar's most recent problems with the law followed a handwritten letter he sent to a Texas judge overseeing one of his cases in 2014, records show.

"I'm ready to do better in life no more smoking marijuana for me," Cuellar wrote.

Dan Campana is a freelance reporter.
Sarah McLaughlin, an Evanston massage therapist who specializes in the abdominal area, said she works in some of the body areas that would be off limits under a proposed new massage law in Evanston. (Bob Seidenberg / Pioneer Press)

Evanston City Council members have placed back on the table an ordinance regulating massage establishments, responding to criticism from professional massage therapists that the provisions are too restrictive and would affect the operations of legitimate massage operations.

At the urging of Ald. Delores Holmes, 5th, aldermen held over the item until the May 23 City Council meeting. Holmes expressed hope that the additional time will give officials time "to look again at some of the language."

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City officials had proposed the new ordinance "to address ongoing community concerns and provide an enforcement tool related to illegal sexual activities at massage establishments," said Grant Farrar, the city's corporation counsel and police Chief Richard Eddington, in a memo to aldermen.

The proposed ordinance "clearly ties into state licensing requirements and makes City inspections and enforcement actions follow a clear path," they said.

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Police have investigated sporadic complaints about illicit activities at local massage establishments in recent years. The department recently invested significant resources investigating residents concerns about a massage business operating illegally in close proximity to Evanston Township High School, Eddington said.

Police worked with Cook County Sheriff's Office investigating the case, prompting the department to look at a different approach to the issue, he said.

"It's kind of silly to invest that type of law enforcement resources when we can say, 'Do you have a massage license, are you licensed by the state? Can I see your license?'"

"All this stuff is automatic," he said, "and it reverts to an inspectional process rather than an undercover process."

It also gives "peace of mind" to everyone involved, he said.

But some speakers at Monday's meeting thought the ordinance might have gone too far.

Evanston massage therapist Sarah McLaughlin, who works out of the Heartwood Center, 1818 Dempster St., request that language prohibiting massage to certain parts of the body, such as the buttocks area, would limit her treatment.

"I am an abdominal massage therapist primarily and it would prohibit me from working on problems as simple as constipation, to treating scar tissue and bladder incontinence for women who have had hysterectomies," she said.

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She said Evanston can and should create an ordinance that gives police the tools they need to shut down illicit activity.

"And please trust me when I say that no one wants to end illicit activity more than the massage community," she told aldermen.

On the other hand, she said she moved from Chicago and set up her practice here "because of an incredibly similar ordinance," in that city.

Another speaker, Steve Rogne, director of Zen Shiatsu of Chicago, 825 Chicago Avenue, spoke in support of the motivation behind the ordinance, maintaining that the issue of criminals pretending to be massage providers is getting worse, not better.

He said the proposed ordinance missed the mark due to lack of stakeholder input. He volunteered his services on any group formed to consider changes to an ordinance.

The city also is home to the American Massage Therapy Association, noted James E. Specker, its director. He also volunteered that group's work, helping shape a new ordinance.

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bseidenberg@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter @evanstonscribe
With the scope and penalties of Chinas social credit system being further clarified in 2021, legal and regulatory compliance has become more important than...
Xinhua Dictionary [File photo]

Guinness World Records Tuesday confirmed that Xinhua Dictionary published by the Commercial Press of China is the "most popular dictionary" and the "best-selling book (regularly updated)."

As of July 28, 2015 (last updated date), Xinhua Dictionary, the first modern Chinese dictionary since the foundation of the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949, has sold 567 million copies globally, Guinness World Records announced at the presentation ceremony in London.

"Over the past year, our teams have completed extensive data investigation, collection and examination for these two records and we are delighted to verify that Xinhua Dictionary is the most popular dictionary and the best-selling regularly updated book," said Marco Frigatti, senior vice president of Records at Guinness World Records.

"China Publishing Group has many time-honored member publishing houses and comprehensively recognized publications, among which The Commercial Press and Xinhua Dictionary are typical examples. The 'Most popular dictionary' and 'Best-selling book (regularly updated)' record titles themselves are the epitome of Sino-Foreign cultural exchange, showing the increasing international influence of Chinese language from a micro level," said Tan Yue, President of China Publishing Group.

Yu Dianli, President of The Commercial Press, said the two Guinness World Records titles would bring more opportunities for cooperation between globally famous cultural institutes and the press.

Dubbed the "National Dictionary," Xinhua Dictionary has been a tool for several generations of Chinese people, bearing the culture of a great country and impacting the linguistic lives of billions. It is also a good tool for foreigners who are learning Chinese language and culture.
The Egyptian Embassy announced Monday in Beijing new archeological findings and tourist destinations to celebrate the 2016 Sino-Egyptian Culture Year.

Dr. Monica Hanna talks about new findings in Egyptian archaeology in Beijing on April 11. [Photo by Guo Yiming / China.org.cn]

The announcement came during a lecture by Egyptian archeologist Monica Hanna at an event hosted by the All China Journalists Association. During the lecture, Hanna shared new radar scanning discoveries of King Tutankhamun's tomb: two unexplored chambers and various objects related to the king.

In addition to Tutankhamun's tomb, Mamdouh Eldamaty, Egypt's antiquities minister, announced the discovery of a 3,400-year-old necropolis from the New Kingdom Era at Gebel el Silsila. Another important recent finding is a large fortress at the Horus Military Route near the Suez Canal, which reflects ancient Egypt's military legacy.

Egypt hopes that these new archeological findings will attract tourists from countries across the globe, including China. The archaeologists also promoted other historical tourist destinations such as Siwa and Menya, associated with Alexander the Great and Akhenaten, respectively.

Archeologists like Hanna believe that China and Egypt hold common grounds in terms of culture and history as two of the world's oldest civilizations, which could eventually lead to collaboration between the two.

"I think the future also holds a lot of cooperation for us," Hanna said. "And through this Cultural Year, we will build a new Silk Road of cultural exchange."

Although Egypt has more experience working with Western archeologists from the United States and Europe, it is also seeking opportunities to work more with archeologists from Asia. Hanna welcomed Chinese archeological institutions to come work in various excavation sites throughout Egypt.

Hanna, who gained international recognition for exposing antiquity-looting after Egypt's 2011 revolution, further stressed the importance of protecting archeological findings. She pointed out that China faces similar problems with antique lootings and said she hopes the two countries can collaborate in protecting archeological findings and cultural relics.
Alibaba founder and chairman Jack Ma (2nd R) and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (2nd L) at the ongoing 50th Vinitaly international wine fair in Verona, north Italy, on April 11, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Italy will be joining hands with the Chinese commerce giant Alibaba to reinvigorate its wine sales, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said Monday.

"The future of Alibaba and Italy are closely linked together," he told a forum of 600 people at the 50th Vinitaly, a major international wine fair.

"Italy has lost too many opportunities in this sector (of wine)," Renzi said, adding that Alibaba, with its knowledge of the digital economy, can transform the Italian economy.

Renzi hoped that Italian wine exports can reach 7.5 billion euros (8.6 billion U.S. dollars) by 2020, compared with the current level of 5.4 billion euros (6.2 billion dollars).

Compared with French wine, which is over-valued due to its successful promotion campaigns, Italian wine is a better choice, Renzi told Alibaba Chairman Ma Yun, who agreed that Italian wine would have "great potential" on his commerce platform.

The Alibaba head said his company is scheduling a wine promotion day at 9:00 a.m. on Sept. 9 as the number "nine" and the word "wine" have the same pronunciation in Chinese.

Ma said Alibaba can be an important showcase not only for wine, but other made-in-Italy products, which he said are well accepted in China.

Vinitaly 2016 began Sunday and will run until Wednesday. Trade dealers from more than 140 countries are expected to attend dozens of events, including b2b meetings, exhibitions, exclusive tasting and haute cuisine to promote the wine industry.
Iran continues to pump more oil after the sanction relief, together with Iraq and Angola, all of which contribute to an increase of crude oil production of OPEC, the cartel's monthly report showed on Wednesday.

OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, continued to maintain its high level of oil output in the past months despite the price of the crude oil plunged.

"OPEC crude oil production in March averaged 32.25 million barrels per day, a marginal increase of 15,000 barrels per day over the previous month. Crude oil output increased mostly from Iran, Iraq and Angola, while production decreased in the UAE (United Arab Emirates), Libya and Nigeria," the report said.

The cartel's largest oil pumper, Saudi Arabia, who accounts for around one third of the OPEC output, kept its oil output level unchanged in March.

The production cut has been a key issue in keeping the balance of the oil market since the oil price collapsed, however, world's major oil producers fail to make a substantial agreement over the issue.
The mountains of Beijing have been crawling with new critters in recent weeks, and locals aren't happy about the new additions to the food chain.

According to a report in the Beijing Evening News on Monday, more than 300 foxes and raccoon dogs were released in Beijing's Huairou District without authorization. The captive animals were reportedly set free by Buddhists as a way of showing benevolence and earning merit.

Releasing animals into the wild has a long history in China, dating back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). The practice is thought to cultivate kindness, compassion and benevolence, but it did not become popular until Buddhism was introduced to China.

The tradition has caused controversy in recent years after guinea pigs and venomous snakes have been released into the wild, causing public panic.

Peng Yuchun, a villager in Huairou's Tanghekou Township, said the animals have attacked chickens, attracting complaints from locals.

"Hundreds of foxes were released into the mountains a few days ago and they killed some of my chickens," Peng told Huairou's forestry bureau.

A witness who saw the animals being released said several people drove to the town on March 27 and "released a bunch of foxes."

Foxes and raccoon dogs

The local forestry bureau said that all the freed animals were arctic foxes, which are not a protected species in China. The foxes and raccoon dogs were all raised in captivity, according to the bureau.

Bureau staff said they have retrieved more than 100 foxes, many of them already dead, presumably from starvation as the animals were not equipped to survive in the wild.

Local police have launched a manhunt for those who released the animals.

A similar incident was reported last week in east China's Anhui Province, after more than 100 foxes were freed in a village in Huangshan City. Investigators found that those responsible brought more than 100 foxes from a farm in Shandong Province and freed them with the help of a local monk. Local authorities have so far retrieved 120 foxes, eight of them dead.

The recent cases have fueled an online debate, with netizens remaining divided on the issue. While many argue that practice conforms with Buddhist beliefs, others say it disturbs the ecological balance and harms society.

According to Chinese law, freeing wild animals must be authorized, and the environment must be suitable for the animals' survival.

Raised domestically

An underground market has emerged to meet the demand.

Kong Lingshui, a law enforcement officer with the Beijing Bureau of Landscape and Forestry, said most of the freed animals were raised domestically. The releasers did not even know where the animals came from, according to Kong, nor did they know if the animals could adapt to their new environment.

"Freeing wild animals blindly disturbs local ecological systems," he said. "We once caught a group of people freeing Brazilian tortoises in Beijing. The animals eat fish fry in rivers and multiply easily, damaging the aquatic ecosystem."

The rewards for the practice are not just spiritual. According to Kong, his team found an animal-freeing organization in 2007 was demanding 500 yuan (US$77) in "releasing fees" and 30 yuan for transportation costs from 500 participants.

"The actual cost of the activity was only 20,000 yuan," Kong said. "Additionally, the pheasants they released barely had any feathers, meaning they could not survive in the wild," Kong added that many released animals, such as sparrows, are recaptured and sold to releasers again." Almost 30 percent of sparrows die in the process."

Chen Junfeng, an officer with the Huangshan forestry police, said the released animals could also threaten other wild species already facing extinction.

There is currently no law to address the release of captive animals, so even if police find the releasers in the Beijing case, it will be difficult to penalize them, said Kong.

Yang Zhaoxia, an ecology expert with the Beijing Forestry University, said China must adopt legislation to encourage "harmonious coexistence between animals, the environment and human beings."
Recently, the U.K.'s steel industry has been plagued by news of closures and sell-offs, with thousands of jobs at risk.

This is a sad story: the pioneer of the modern steel industry - once the world's factory, churning out almost half of the world's steel in the latter half of the 19th century - is shrinking and bogged down by difficulties.

However, it is regrettable that some people in Britain blame China for what is happening in the British steel industry, accusing China of "dumping" steel in Britain and pricing local companies out of the market.

Labeling China as the "scapegoat" only misleads the public and contributes nothing to the problem's solution.

As Chinese Ambassador, I believe it is my duty to share with the British public what I believe to be the reasons behind the sluggishness in Britain's steel industry.

First of all, the shrinking steel sector follows the general trend in advanced economies of traditional manufacturing being replaced by the modern services and financial sectors. Sheffield's transformation from a steel-making city to a sport and education hub is a case in point.

Second, in the post-financial crisis era, recovery is still weak and demand remains scarce in many economies. Steel overcapacity thus becomes an acute issue worldwide, and steelmakers, wherever they are, face similar difficulties. The U.K. is not alone. Steel companies in Europe, China, and beyond are all facing the same predicament.

Third, the price of steel production, including energy, labor, and environmental costs, is rather high here in the U.K. In the face of fierce global competition, British companies are less competitive and less profitable in the field of ordinary and low-end steel production.

Steel imports from China, which are very limited, have little to do with the predicament of the U.K.'s steel industry. Measured by both volume and value, steel from China makes up only a fraction of the U.K.'s total steel imports.

In 2015, for example, only 11 percent - or 760,000 tons - of the U.K.'s 6.66 million tons of imported steel came from China. If measured by value, Chinese steel made up only 7.6 percent - or $457 million - of the UK's $5.98 billion worth of steel imports

Moreover, steel products from China are mostly low value-added, such as ordinary steel rods and plates, which Britain no longer makes and would have to import from other countries anyway.

Therefore, imports from China have no impact upon the British steel market. On the contrary, by importing steel from China, British automobile, machinery, and construction industries, among others, have effectively lowered their costs and increased their profit margins. And imports from China are not "dumping," as some claim. Chinese steel manufacturers have strictly followed market rules when exporting to Britain.

Like their British counterparts, steelmakers in China are also facing difficulties. But the situation in China is even more serious and challenging than in Britain. Over the past three years, China has reduced steel capacity by 90 million tons. In 2015, for the first time in nearly 30 years, China's crude steel production fell by 2.3 percent year on year. In the coming five years, China is going to cut crude steel capacity by 100-150 million tons.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
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China and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) have signed a cooperation document to promote the Belt and Road Initiative construction.

The letter of intent was signed by Foreign Minister Wang Yi and visiting UNESCAP Executive Secretary Shamshad Akhtar in Beijing on Monday, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Tuesday.

According to the document, the two sides will jointly promote regional connectivity and the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. The two sides will make specific action plans, and encourage relevant countries to synchronize their development strategies with the initiative, Lu said.

He noted that the letter of intent is the first document signed between China and an international organization on boosting cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, though China has signed cooperation deals with more than 30 countries in this regard.

"The Belt and Road Initiative has gained support from more and more countries and international organizations, which is going to be an important cooperation platform of reciprocity for all sides," Lu said.
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Russia and China are concerned about the possible deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system by the United States on the Korean Peninsula, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday.

"Together with our Chinese friends, we realize that following this course will create a real threat to the security of our countries, and destabilize the strategic stability in Northeast Asia," Lavrov said here in a joint interview with Chinese, Japanese and Mongolian media.

He said that Russia and China recognize the right of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but does not accept its nuclear ambitions.

The top Russian diplomat added that Moscow and Beijing are devoted to the denuclearization of the peninsula and the resumption of the six-party talks, which is "the real way to resolve the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue."

In March, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution to impose the toughest ever sanctions on the DPRK to curb its nuclear and missile programs.
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Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) began on Tuesday large-scale military drills in the southeastern part of the country, Press TV reported.

Code-named the Great Prophet, the drills started in Sistan-and-Baluchestan province, the report said, adding that the IRGC has deployed 10 reconnaissance drones.

The war game also involves IRGC's newly-founded ground force airborne unit, Tasnim news agency reported.

On Tuesday, the unit's helicopters took part in a heliborne operation to deploy combat forces to the rear of the hypothetical enemy's front. The combat choppers also hit targets with rockets.

Moreover, IRGC's special forces took part in the drills on Tuesday. The forces practiced a hostage rescue mission, with ground troops using T-72 tanks and BMP-2 personnel carriers to launch an attack against the mock enemy.

The three-day drills will also be held in the provinces of Kerman, South Khorasan and Hormozgan in the east and south of Iran, Commander of the IRGC Ground Forces Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour was quoted as saying by Press TV.

The drills are partially aimed at maintaining the preparedness of the IRGC forces, displaying the Iranian Armed Forces' might, improving security of the region and implementing certain tactics, Pakpour said.

The IRGC staged missile drills and test-fired several ballistic missiles in March, which incited the criticism of the West that fears that the program might be developed for carrying nuclear warheads.

Iran has denied the allegations, insisting on defensive and peaceful nature of its missile plan.
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China and Nigeria have pledged to further promote their strategic partnership during the state visit of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to Beijing on Tuesday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) holds talks with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in Beijing, capital of China, April 12, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]



To further deepen the friendship and reciprocal cooperation between the two countries is in the long-term interests of the two countries and peoples, and conducive to the peace, stability and development of Africa and the world, said Chinese President Xi Jinping , in his talks with Buhari at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday.

Xi said the two sides should maintain high-level engagement, increase exchanges in all areas, give each other understanding and support on issues of their core interests and major concern, and strengthen strategic mutual trust.

China is ready to expand bilateral cooperation in such areas as agriculture, fisheries, oil refining, mineral exploitation, mechatronics, light industry, textile and processing. China is also willing to help Nigeria solve the bottleneck of infrastructure, professionals and funds in developing industry and modern agriculture, Xi said.

He called on the two countries to increase cooperation in the areas of culture, education, media, youth and women. Xi said China will support Nigeria to play a bigger role in international and regional affairs, and strengthen communication and coordination on major issues such as the peace and stability of Africa, climate change, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Xi also pledged to give more support to Africa's development. He said China will implement the outcome of the latest Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit held in Johannesburg last December to give more assistance to Africa to realize reciprocity and common development.

Buhari thanked China for its long-term assistance to Nigeria's infrastructure construction.

He said the Johannesburg summit injected new vitality into Africa-China relations and brought more opportunities for Nigeria-China cooperation. Nigeria was willing to implement cooperation deals already reached with China, strengthen cooperation in areas including agriculture, mining, infrastructure and human resources. Nigeria will also strengthen coordination with China on international affairs.

After the talks, the two presidents witnessed the signing of several deals of cooperation in infrastructure, production capacity, investment, aviation, technology and finance.

Buhari is on his first state visit to China from Monday to Friday at the invitation of Xi. He will also visit Shanghai, an economic hub in east China, and Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.
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A total of 1,275 hostages in Boko Haram's custody have been freed in a joint military operation by Nigerian and Cameroonian troops, Nigerian army said on Tuesday.

A statement signed by army spokesman Col. Sani Usman said the hostages were rescued late Monday during a joint operation carried out in towns and settlements located along the Nigeria-Cameroon border in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno.

The rescued people are currently being administered and screened by troops pending onward movement to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps within Borno State, said the statement.

During the operation, which swept through more than 10 suspected terrorists' hideouts, three suspected commanders of Boko Haram were also apprehended while 22 suspected terrorists were killed, it added.

The Boko Haram commanders were identified as Malam Lawal Abba, Malam Hisna and Malam Gana Shatte. Further investigation into their activities with the terror group was underway, the statement said.
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News of a female student being abused and assaulted at Paris metro five days ago has stirred concerns among Chinese internet users.

Passengers on the metro where Fangfang was attacked. [Photo/weibo]

Fangfang (alias), a student at a public university in France, ran into two women when she and her friend got off a subway train at night on April 7. The two women humiliated Fangfang and her friend with words and gestures. Fangfang thought they were drunk.

The next morning, they met the two women again in a subway train bound for Gard Du Nord. There were another two White women and a Black guy along with them. Fangfang and her friends pretended not to understand what the women were shouting and screaming at them in French.

Then the White girl threw a solid object at Fangfang's forehead, which made the student angry and asked the girl why she did that. Instead of replying, the White girl punched Fangfang's face several times and even kicked her.

Luckily, a middle-aged French woman intervened and drew away the girl and persuaded her and her friends not to do such things.

Apart from the woman, who even agreed to take Fangfang to police station to file a complaint, the other passengers reportedly did not help them when the White girl was assaulting her, and did not even tell her the local police phone number when she asked them.

Fangfang tried to take photos of the three women with her mobile phone when they got off the train, but her phone was snatched by the Black man. Luckily, a middle-aged man heard Fangfang's screams and brought her phone back.

Fangfang shared her metro experience on her Sina Weibo account to warn others about such incidents.

Fangfang's post describing her experience got 11,400 reposts, 5,755 comments by Wednesday, while a hashtag #Chinese student is attacked at Paris metro had 16.23 million reads and 10,000 Internet users discussed the topic by 8:30 am on Wednesday.

Many Internet users shared their experiences in foreign countries and gave their suggestions, such as a Weibo user named tvmf said: "Maybe you should post your experience on French social network sites", which got 4,649 supports.

Another user named Shenj said: "I feel sad after reading the post. It's really difficult for Chinese studying and living in foreign countries. I used to meet a hooligan and had to pretend I didn't understand what he said and tried my best to run away from him. I really understand the girl's helplessness." The message got 2,248 supports.

While another user named Misuchiru said: "There are villains everywhere", and cited his experience in Canada as an example in response to some Internet users showing their bias toward France, as one named Mifenglai said: "My impression of Paris is getting worse and worse".

A user named Longxiaoyue said: "I suggest Fangfang drive a car instead of taking metros, since most low-paid people take metros and the low-paid people are prone to do harm to social stability."

Another Chinese student surnamed Li, who studies at Universite Pantheon-Assas, said: "Indeed, I heard some Chinese were humiliated in France, but most French people are kind" during an interview with Legal Evening News.

Li thought what happened on Fangfang rarely happens and suggested Chinese people should interact with local people more and let the latter better understand them to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

Li also gave her advice as far as robbery is concerned. "To avoid being robbed, Chinese people should not show off wealth and go out alone at night," said Li.

Besides Li, Pierre Piccard, a China Expert in Universite de Paris VIII, said what happened to Fangfang has something to do with the current economic and social conditions in France, during his interview with Legal Evening News.

"France has become an object of terrorist attack, which made some French repulse foreigners. Moreover, since economic conditions in France and even in whole Europe are not that positive, many French think foreigners coming to France make their income and business worse, " said Piccard.

Piccard also said some French have many misunderstandings about Chinese people, though Chinese studying and living in France nowadays are better integrated into local community.

In early days, some Chinese came to France to avoid war and they lived a poor life, which made French see Chinese people in a biased way, while in the 1980s, many Chinese people made big money through doing business in France, which made locals blame their worsening life on these Chinese.
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Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of parliament) announced Tuesday it is set to vote Sunday on whether or not to launch an impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff.

Image provided by Brazil's Presidency shows Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff(R) participating in a meeting with representatives of educational sector at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on April 12, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Eduardo Cunha, president of the Chamber of Deputies, told Brazilian lawmakers they would begin to debate the issue early Friday and put it to a vote Sunday night.

If the chamber votes in favor of the impeachment, the motion then will go to the Senate, where it will be debated and voted on again before a congressional impeachment process can begin.

Rousseff's political opponents said her administration inflated the public accounts prior to her run for re-election in 2014, and generally mismanaged the economy.

Rousseff refuted the charges, describing the push for the impeachment as a "coup" by rival political groups for grabbing power.

At a meeting Tuesday with members of the educational sector which assembled at the presidential headquarters in a show of support, Rousseff said: "Now they are openly conspiring, in broad daylight, to destabilize a legitimately elected president."

A day earlier, Brazilian media outlets published a leaked audio of the estranged vice president, Michel Temer, who rehearsed a post-impeachment speech to the nation, calling for national unity.

The audio made Temer appear overly keen to fill in as president while Rousseff undergoes an impeachment or is eventually forced out of office.

Also on Tuesday, Ernesto Samper, secretary general of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), expressed concern that a politically-motivated impeachment drive could undermine judicial institutions in Brazil and the region.

In a statement issued at the Unasur headquarters in Quito, Ecuador, Samper noted the lawmakers were pursuing a trial "without any evidence that personally and directly incriminates (Rousseff) in committing a crime."

"The president can only be tried and ousted ... for crimes in which her active and willful participation can be proven," he added.

Accepting that a head of state "can be ousted from office for alleged administrative failures would lead to the dangerous criminalization of governing," driven by political motives, said Samper.

A two-third majority of the lowe house, or 342 of the 513 deputies, are needed to pass the impeachment motion.

Members of the Workers' Party and affiliated political groups that form the ruling coalition fear Cunha will try to manipulate the voting in favor of the impeachment by trying to have the representatives of Brazil's wealthier conservative southern states vote first, which will possibly give the impeachment greater momentum.
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Kenyan police are deporting 77 Chinese telecom fraud suspects, including 45 from Taiwan, to the Chinese mainland.

Chinese telecom fraud suspects deported from Kenya get off a plane after arriving at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, April 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

The first 10 people were repatriated on Saturday and the remaining 67 on Wednesday, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) has confirmed. It is the first time that China has repatriated such a large group of telecom fraud suspects from Africa.

In recent years, syndicates led by suspects from Taiwan and based in Southeast Asia, Africa and Oceania have been falsely presenting themselves as law enforcement officers to extort money from people on the Chinese mainland through telephone calls, according to Chinese police.

In one case cited by the MPS in a statement, a person surnamed Yang from Duyun City of Guizhou Province was cheated by a syndicate, led by a Taiwan suspect, of 117 million yuan (US$18.1 million) in December 2015.

Victims in other cases included migrant workers, teachers, students and elderly people from the Chinese mainland, and some of them committed suicide under the pressure of their economic losses, according to the statement.

The MPS said judicial organs on the Chinese mainland have legal rights of jurisdiction over the repatriated suspects.

Mainland police will investigate Taiwan suspects in strict accordance with the law and keep Taiwan authorities informed, the statement added.

The 77 suspects are from two telecom fraud syndicates. On Nov. 29, of 2014, Kenyan police arrested 48 people from the Chinese mainland and 28 from Taiwan over telecom scams. On April 8 of 2016, 19 suspects from the mainland and 22 from Taiwan were apprehended on similar charges.

In the past few years, police from the mainland and Taiwan have arrested more than 7,700 suspects, about 4,600 of them from Taiwan, in 47 joint operations to fight telecom frauds based in Southeast Asia.

However, in many of the cases handled by Taiwan judicial organs, Taiwan suspects were not brought to justice and victims on the mainland were unable to retrieve their lost money, An Fengshan, spokesperson for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference on Wednesday.

Quite a few Taiwan suspects were released as soon as they were returned to Taiwan and some resumed their wrongdoing soon after, An said.

"They have caused a tremendous loss to people on the Chinese mainland... triggering strong discontent," according to the spokesperson.

An said the office's director Zhang Zhijun informed Taiwan's mainland affairs chief Andrew Hsia about the repatriation on Tuesday.

The legal rights and interests of the repatriated Taiwan suspects will be guaranteed in accordance with the law, he said.

"Judicial departments from Taiwan are welcome to visit the mainland to explore ways of strengthening cooperation between the two sides in cracking down on such international telecom fraud," said the MPS.
People cross a street outside a tax free department store popular among Chinese tourists in Tokyo, Japan, February 11, 2016.[Photo/Agencies]

The new tax on imported goods purchased from e-commerce sites will not affect Chinese travelers who buy abroad, the Ministry of Finance said on Saturday.

Shoppers had expressed concern that a new tax on foreign products, which went into effect on Friday, would spell trouble for outbound tourists. However, the ministry said the fears stemmed from confusion.

"The new policy targets e-commerce, not individual outbound tourists," People's Daily quoted an unidentified ministry official as saying.

According to the authority, the rules for tourists returning from abroad remain unchanged, with purchases up to the value of 5,000 yuan ($770) exempt from duties. The new tax relates only to e-commerce platforms that allow consumers to order imported goods online to be delivered through postal services.

The policy is aimed at creating a "level playing field" for cross-border e-commerce sites and brick-and-mortar stores that sell imported goods. It means overseas retail goods bought online are no longer treated as personal postal articles but as imported goods.

Cross-border e-commerce has boomed with the surge in demand for higher-quality products among China's middle class. For a time, websites have enjoyed an edge over other channels, such as onshore duty-free shops, as they did not need to pay tariffs, import value-added tax or consumption tax.

Now, retail goods sold on e-commerce sites are subject to the three taxes. Tariffs are currently all set at zero, with a 30 percent discount on import VAT and consumption tax for purchases up to 2,000 yuan, and only if a consumer's annual gross transactions are under 20,000 yuan.

Operators of bonded areas, part of the e-commerce chain, also expressed concern about the tax changeas it came into effect only about two weeks after it was announced, some areas said they did not have enough time to clear inventories.

Shoppers also have complained they must now pay higher taxes on low-priced overseas products. Previously, these were subject to only a 10 percent parcel tax, but now are subject to a tax between 11.9 and 32.9 percent.

However, analysts noted that some luxury items, such as cosmetics priced up to 2,000 yuan, now have a lower tax, as the previous parcel tax was 50 percent.

Fitch Ratings said in its latest report that China's restrictions on overseas purchases may narrow the price differential of luxury goods between China and the rest of the world, potentially boosting domestic consumption.
PARIS - French industrial and medical gas multinational, Air Liquide, announced on Tuesday it has signed a new long-term contract with Maoming Petrochemical Co (MPCC), a subsidiary of the Chinese oil giant Sinopec.

According to the contract, Air Liquide will invest about 40 million euros ($46 million)into a new Air Separation Unit (ASU) which will be located in Maoming city in the Guangdong province of China.

This new ASU, which will have a production capacity of 850 tons of oxygen per day, is expected to start operating in the second quarter of 2017, said Air Liquide in a press release.

The French giant added that the ASU will be owned and operated by ALMPCC, a joint venture established in June 2012 by Air Liquide China and MPCC.

Francois Venet, the company's vice-president of Asia Pacific and a member of Air Liquide group's executive committee, said, "Air Liquide has developed a strong business relationship with MPCC since 2012. This new agreement also illustrates our wish to develop our activities in China over the long term."

Lu Weiqun, deputy general manager of MPCC and vice-chairman of ALMPCC Board, also said that by combining Air Liquide's advanced technology and management expertise with MPCC's experience in the local market, ALMPCC has seen great successes in recent years.

"Through the new project, we expect ALMPCC to contribute more to the development of MPCC as well as to that of local economy," said Lu.
A view of Shenzhen's landmark skyscraper Kingkey 100, June 16, 2015. [Photo/IC]

Shenzhen released an outline of its 13th Five-Year Plan on Tuesday, setting a GDP target of 2.6 trillion yuan ($402.1 billion) by 2020 which may entail an annual growth of 8.2 percent in the next five years, the 21th Century Business Herald said.

The city's GDP stood at 1.75 trillion yuan in 2015, up 8.9 percent from a year earlier, ranking fourth nationwide after Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

China registered an economic growth of 6.9 percent last year, the lowest in the past 25 years. The country has set a growth target of 6.5 percent or above in the next five years.

In the new five-year plan, Shenzhen, the first city to set up a special economic zone in the country, aims to further develop itself into an international innovation-oriented economic hub, housing more than 10,000 high-tech enterprises by 2020 - a figure that will be twice the number of companies established in 2015.

Strategic emerging sectors, including genetic technology, new energy vehicles, advanced materials, as well as environmental protection, are estimated to reach a size of 3 trillion yuan in the next five years.

Meanwhile, the scale of future industries - satellite manufacturing and application, avionic devices, robots, wearables and new health technology - is projected to increase 150 percent to hit 1 trillion yuan by then.

For the past few years, Shenzhen has been in the leading position in developing innovation-driven economy in China. According to the city's statistics bureau, the added value of the strategic emerging industries in Shenzhen reached 700.3 billion yuan, contributing 40 percent to the city's GDP in 2015.

Zhu Lingqing contributed to this story.
KUNMING - Farm produce sales via Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba topped 69.6 billion yuan ($10.7 billion) in 2015, up by 44 percent year-on-year, according to a report released on Wednesday by AliResearch, the research arm of the Alibaba Group.

The report, released at the first China Farm Produce E-commerce Summit in Mile, Yunnan Province, said Alibaba's e-commerce platforms have registered more than 900,000 farm produce sellers. More than 100,000 of them are from Guangdong province, with the second- and third-highest concentrations in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

Zhang Ruidong with AliResearch said e-commerce-based consumption from Guangdong topped 8 billion yuan last year, while those from north China's Gansu and Hebei as well as the eastern Anhui were growing fast.

Chinese online retailers, chief among them Alibaba and JD.com, have been trying to unlock the commercial potential of rural China. Alibaba and JD.com have both established infrastructure in rural areas and computer showcase areas to demonstrate to locals how to use e-commerce.

Alibaba said it has built more than 8,000 stations where villagers can shop on Alibaba's online marketplace and bring their own farm produce and local specialties to sell online.

According to AliResearch, in addition to selling farm produce, farmers also bought 5 billion yuan of farming materials via Alibaba's platforms last year, up 83.2 percent year-on-year.

During a month of Alibaba promotions on farm materials that ended on March 22, farmers from 14,000 villages in 27 provinces and regions bought more than 10 million items of farming materials, saving about 100 million yuan in production cost.
AkzoNobel, a leading global paints and coatings company, has announced the launch of the 2016 China Student Sustainability Award. Celebrating its fifth year, the Award recognizes Chinese university student groups making a positive impact on local communities through diverse educational activities.

The China Student Sustainability Award is the first award in China to recognize university student groups' contributions to communities. Since 2011, it has received more than 1,000 entries from 185 universities in 77 cities and engaged more than 10 million people across China.

Interested university student groups are encouraged to submit their community education programs to AkzoNobel by June 30, 2016.

Dr. LIN Liangqi, President of AkzoNobel China and Managing Director of Decorative Paints, China and North Asia, said: "Youth is the source of vitality and they have a crucial role to play in the sustainable development of society. Through our Student Sustainability Award, AkzoNobel is committed to recognizing and inspiring younger generations who innovate and make positive contributions to their communities. Combining education and service to society complements AkzoNobel's Human Cities program, which aims to make urban life more energizing, inspiring and vibrant."

This year, AkzoNobel is going to to continue its partnership with the School Department of the Central Committee of the China Communist Youth League (CCYL). Under the guidance of CCYL, AkzoNobel, the Executive Committee of the China Education Support Project and the China Youth University of Political Studies will launch a special project; the National University Students' Social Practice Research. The research will analyze Chinese student's current approaches to community service and develop a tool to help universities better coordinate community service opportunities for students going forward.

Mr. LI Ji, Deputy Director of the School Department of the Central Committee of CCYL, said: "AkzoNobel has set an example of how businesses can enhance the holistic development of Chinese college students and has played a significant role in helping the CCYL unite youth and serve China. With this year's special study, we can get a deeper understanding of how Chinese students engage in community service to improve future programs and help students further expand their horizons."

This year's Award includes continued support from AkzoNobelh's business areas. AkzoNobel Powder Coatings is sponsoring a special Interpon eco-magination award to collect creative ideas for the Interpon eco-video script campaign to raise student awareness of environmental protection.

Eddie Wang, Regional Director of AkzoNobel Powder Coatings, North Asia, said: "AkzoNobel's mission is to create everyday essentials that make people's lives more livable and inspiring. As a global leader in sustainability, we focus on doing more with less through our Planet Possible approach. We welcome young students to work with us to create more value for society."


A stevedore works at Qingdao port in Shandong province, July 1, 2015. [Photo/IC]

China's economy has stabilized, according to latest growth data for the first quarter, with an official at the National Development and Reform Commission hailing this as an "auspicious start".

Although still at its lowest point for 25 years, the slowdown of the past two years has been arrested.

Financial institutions are beginning to raise their forecasts for China made at the start of the year.

The GDP growth rate in the first quarter will not fall noticeably lower than last year's 6.9 percent, officials and analysts said.

"Almost all economic indicators improved in March," said an official from the National Bureau of Statistics. The average forecast by economists surveyed by Reuters is 6.7 percent.

Zhao Chenxin, spokesman for the National Development and Reform Commission, said major economic indicators show that the economic fundamentals have improved, although it is too early to say that the economy has started to bottom out.

In the first two months, fixed-asset investment increased by 10.2 percent year-on-year, up by 0.2 percentage points compared with the whole of last year. Investment in new planned projects increased by 41.1 percent in the same period year-on-year, the highest growth since 2010. "The trend has continued in March," Zhao said.

Prices of major raw materials, such as steel, have risen significantly and the producer price index, which gauges factory-gate prices, rose for the first time since January 2014 on a month-on-month basis, he said.

Corporate profits increased by 4.8 percent year-on-year in the first two months, reversing the trend of falling profit last year. It marked the first monthly increase since June, Zhao said.

Home sales and fiscal revenues also picked up in the first two months, the spokesman said.

China's exports rose by the most in a year and import declines narrowed, sending a clearer signal of stabilization in the nation's economy.

Exports rose by 11.5 percent in dollar terms in March year-on-year, compared with a 25 percent fall in February, when business activities cooled due to the weeklong Spring Festival holiday. Imports continued to fall, by 7.6 percent from a year ago, customs data showed.

Premier Li Keqiang said on Wednesday that China's economic growth is "still within an appropriate range and positive factors are increasing", according to a China Central Television report. But he also said that since the world economic recovery is fragile, China still faces challenges.

Normura economists said in a research note that China's railway freight and electricity consumption growth improved considerably in the first quarter, which reflects stabilized industrial production growth.

"These data are consistent with the improvement in trade data and point to a small improvement in real economy growth momentum, especially domestic demand, from stronger fiscal easing and increased property investment growth," the report said.

Keun Lee, an economist at Seoul National University, said he is confident in China's stable growth.

"A growth rate of 6 percent to 7 percent is suitable for China," he said on Wednesday on the sidelines of an economics forum organized by the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "So long as the decline is gradual, it will not be a problem for China."

Contact the writer at xinzhiming@chinadaily.com.cn
BEIJING - China's exports in yuan-denominated terms surged 18.7 percent year on year in March, while imports dipped 1.7 percent, customs data showed on Wednesday.

That led to a monthly trade surplus of 194.6 billion yuan ($29.9 billion), down from February's 209.5 billion yuan, according to figures from the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

Foreign trade in the first quarter was 5.9 percent lower than a year earlier at 5.2 trillion yuan, with exports down 4.2 percent and imports down 8.2 percent.

Trade surplus for the first quarter widened 8.5 percent from one year earlier to 810.2 billion yuan.

Exports to the European Union, China's biggest trade partner, dropped 1.4 percent year on year in the first three months of the year, the GAC data showed.

In the same period, exports to the United States, China's second-biggest trade partner, declined 3.4 percent and exports to the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, the third-largest trade partner, dipped 8.5 percent.

Related story: MOC survey finds foreign trade fundamentals unchanged from Xinhua

China's foreign trade fundamentals have not changed despite mounting downward pressures, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Thursday.

The yuan's fluctuation, rising cost, soft outbound demand and financing difficulty are the major challenges facing China's exports, Shen Danyang told a briefing, citing a nationwide survey conducted by the ministry.

The MOC dispatched 17 work groups to export-oriented provincial-level regions including Guangdong and Jiangsu from late February to early March to get first-hand information on the local exports situation.

According to the survey, regional foreign trade authorities believed that China could still maintain and even increase its share of the international market. Export enterprises said that export business must go through structural adjustment and upgrading.

China will continue to alleviate burdens on enterprises and encourage them to innovate to boost the country's exports, Shen said.

China's export slumped more than 20.6 percent year on year in February, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.
A cyclist rides past a signboard of Alibaba Group in Hangzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province, June 25, 2014. [Photo/IC] Online shopping major has large and growing consumer base outside China

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has taken a controlling stake in Southeast Asian online shopping major Lazada Group SA for roughly $1 billion.

The acquisition will beef up the Chinese internet giant's presence in one of the world's most-populated areas where e-commerce is booming.

Alibaba will spend about $500 million to buy newly issued equity in Lazada and the rest will be spent on acquiring shares from existing holders such as British retailer Tesco Plc.

"(The acquisition) is expected to help brands and distributors around the world that already do business on Alibaba's platform, as well as local merchants, to access the Southeast Asian consumer market," said a joint statement released by Alibaba and Lazada.

Michael Evans, president of New York-listed Alibaba, said the buyout is in line with the company's globalization strategy.

"With the investment in Lazada, Alibaba gains access to a platform with a large and growing consumer base outside China," according to Evans.

Max Bittner, CEO of Lazada, said the transaction will help the Singapore-based company to build its consumer base and "rapidly improve" services by leveraging the Chinese company's technologies.

Lazada operates retail sites in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The six countries have a combined population of about 560 million, nearly twice that of the United States. Approximately 200 million in the region use the internet, according to Internet Live Stats.

Cao Lei, director at Hangzhou-based China E-Commerce Research Center, said overseas expansion is becoming a key strategy for Alibaba and Southeast Asia could be the company's next focus.

"The region is close to China, so Alibaba will be able to use its logistics capability in those countries. The high density of population will also help the e-commerce business quickly expand," said Cao.

With only 3 percent of the region's total retail sales conducted online, Southeast Asia is expected to offer tremendous growth potential, said Alibaba.

The cash-rich company is the biggest spender on overseas acquisitions compared with other Chinese e-commerce players.

From a Hong Kong-based newspaper to the broadcasting right for rugby games, company founder and Chairman Jack Ma is investing in a wide spectrum of sectors amid discussions China's demand in online shopping is hitting a ceiling.

In the e-commerce segment, Alibaba took in shares of the US group-buying platform Groupon Inc and a number of small-time shopping sites.

"The results for Alibaba's US investments are mixed due to complicated reasons from the investment targets. It rarely makes e-commerce-related investment in the Southeast Asian region, which the company may put a little more attention on," according to Cao.

Ma's most prominent investment in the region was a year ago when Alibaba paid $249 million for a minority stake in Singapore Post Ltd, the city-state's key postal service.

More than 80 percent of Alibaba revenues by the end of last year were generated from the Chinese retail marketplace, according to the company's latest financial results.

Alibaba is trying to unlock demands from the mobile and rural sectors to grow its business, on top of its overseas expansion.

Meng Jing contributed to this story.
Rural areas will be the next battlefield for e-commerce giants as the State Council, China's Cabinet, looks to promote online shopping by providing faster internet connections to remote locations.

The government will invest more money in establishing rural broadband networks, which in turn will facilitate the exchange of industrial products and agricultural goods between urban and rural areas, according to a statement issued by the State Council's executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang last Wednesday.

It is part of a program that aims to integrate the internet with the logistics sector, thereby reducing costs, increasing profits, stimulating consumption and boosting employment, the statement said.

E-commerce giants such as the Alibaba Group Holding, JD Inc and Suning Electronic Materials Company are expanding into rural areas as the market in first- and second-tier cities becomes saturated.

The exchange of goods and services between cities and villages in China is traditionally quite expensive, compared to developed economies, due to the vast differences in rural and urban development.

Urban residents, worried about food safety, thirst for uncontaminated food from the countryside, while farmers go to great pains to sell their fruits, vegetables and meat in the harvest season.

The situation has gradually improved since domestic reform and opening-up policies began in the early 1980s, liberalizing the market and giving rise to more players that can participate in rural businesses. But more progress is needed.

In the internet era, online shopping can be a good means to bridge the rural-urban gap and make it easier for the exchange of products and services between these areas, especially with the rise of mobile internet in recent years.

The expansion of internet usage in rural areas will facilitate the sales of agricultural goods and increase the incomes of farmers. Looking at the bigger picture, it will also enrich cities' supply lines and stabilize market prices.

However, China only ranks 91st among more than 200 countries around the world in terms of broadband speed, and internet access in the country's rural areas is more sluggish than the cities. Thus comes this new policy to provide more funds for rural Internet infrastructure and broadband connections.

According to the latest report by the China Internet Network Information Center, in 2015, 195 million of China's Internet users lived in rural areas, accounting for 28.4 percent of the country's total. The number of rural netizens saw a year-on-year increase of 9.5 percent last year, almost double the increase in urban internet users.

As of last year, more than 600 million people lived in China's rural areas and at least 405 million of those are potential internet users and online shoppers. This is 50 percent more than the population of the United States.

China Post used to dominate mail delivery in rural areas as the company benefited from its nationwide network that reaches even the most far-flung places. This monopoly has been broken as express delivery companies eye the potential that rural areas present.

The 11 key measures publicized by the central government last year were regarded as a boost for rural online shopping and express delivery companies are setting up branches in rural areas where the transport network is less efficient.

In East China's Anhui province, for example, express delivery companies have set up branches in all of Yuexi county's townships and goods from Beijing can now be delivered in two days, a 1,200-km journey that used to take two weeks.

According to the CINIC report, online shopping shows great potential in rural markets as 22.4 percent of online shoppers live in townships and villages. This number is growing fast and rural residents may outnumber urban buyers within 10 years, necessitating the buildup of broadband infrastructure.
BEIJING -- Premier Li Keqiang on Monday presided over a State Council special workshop to study relevant issues concerning the full replacement of business tax with value-added tax (VAT). The meeting heard views from relevant provinces, and made arrangements for the work ahead.

The Ministry of Finance made a report, and leading officials from 20 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities spoke and made proposals.

After hearing the reports, Premier Li said, full replacement of business tax with VAT is an important tool to promote structural reform, supply-side structural reform in particular. It would be the most significant step of tax reduction in recent years, and would significantly ease the burden of businesses. In a way, it will contribute to building an innovative country and to improving the overall economic structure. The reform measure will lead to multiplied effects. It will serve to encourage more R&D expenditure by companies, boost demand through extended production chains, and make the environment more conducive for modern services and small and micro businesses. It will generate more jobs, and help resolve the long-standing problem of double taxation through a well-managed and consistent tax regime. The reform measure will reinforce the current performance of the economy and, at the same time, sustain momentum of its future development.

Premier Li pointed out that though positive changes are increasing in the economy, the foundation of economic performance is not yet stable. Local governments must seize the policy opportunities presented by the full replacement of business tax with VAT and major structural tax cuts. It is important to focus on economic transformation and upgrading, mobilize the initiative of companies, and expand effective investment in equipment upgrading and technology transformation. To rise up to challenges, innovative steps must be taken to develop competitive industries in light of local conditions, and energetic efforts must be made to strengthen the new economy, and foster new growth drivers while transforming and upgrading traditional ones, so as to grow the economy in both quantity and quality. While offering an enabling environment for companies, it is necessary to open up more tax sources and increase the "blood-making" capacity of local governments. As the reform is carried out, inadequate administrative intervention should be abolished, like restriction of cross-region management of companies or orders on companies to buy local products. This is a way to prevent local protectionism and segregation of the market, as well as improper competition for tax sources, which would do disservice to the development of a nationwide market. No one should act in disregard of existing policies or put up backward and overcapacity projects for the sake of mere short-term or local interests. We must act to ensure that the effectiveness of the structural reform is not weakened.

Premier Li said that to replace business tax with VAT is a task for the central and local governments alike. It is important to take a long-term and overall approach, balance the interests of various parties, mobilize the initiative of everyone, and appropriately allocate VAT revenues between central and local governments. This way, we could form synergy, overcome difficulties, and deliver reform results. Given the tight schedule and magnitude of the task, leading officials of local governments should get personally involved in the job, and finance and taxation authorities should work closely with each other. Careful preparations should be made and operational procedures cleared. While pressing ahead with the reform, problems should be addressed duly. It is imperative to ensure that the tax burdens on all sorts of sectors are truly lightened, that fiscal and tax work is carried out in a stable manner, and that governments at all levels are better able to discharge their duties. Besides, publicity on the reform needs to be stepped up to respond to people's concerns and provide a sound atmosphere for the reform.
President calls for perseverance in safeguarding heritage; Premier Li stresses traditional values

China's top leadership has reiterated its staunch determination to intensify protection of the nation's cultural heritage.

A cultural relic restoration specialitst checks the stone texture condition of a Guangin statue at the Dazu Rock Carvings site in Chongqing in March 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

Cultural relics and heritage impart the brilliance of China's civilization, culture and legacy, and they bond Chinese people together with the strong ethos they embody, President Xi Jinping said.

However, he said in a guideline statement released on Tuesday, the responsibility is great and the path will be long.

He put a priority on cultural relic protection and stressed the importance of perseverance in the protection work.

Premier Li Keqiang, meanwhile, emphasized that cultural relic protection is important because the traditional values that the relics embody continue to resonate in modern China, and they elevate social morals and boost social development.

Vice-Premier Liu Yandong, who presided over a national cultural heritage conference in Beijing on Tuesday, relayed Xi's and Li's emphasis on relic protection to conference participants.

Liu said the nation's cultural heritage work made great progress during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) period. For example, China now has 4,510 registered museums, an annual increase of about 300. Additionally, an average of 26,000 exhibitions were organized every year during that time, attracting more than 700 million visits every year.

About 140 billion yuan ($21.7 billion) in public funds was allocated to cultural heritage protection from 2011 to last year, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Nevertheless, problems still exist. About 44,000 cultural heritage sites disappeared during the late 1980s and 2011. Half of the counties in China do not have professional cultural relics protection administrations.

The vice-premier underlined the importance of improving the quality of Chinese museums and their exhibitions. She also noted that only 38 colleges in China have museum-related majors, and only seven have majors related to relic restoration.

Liu told the conference that non-government efforts to protect cultural heritage should be more actively sought.

Li Xiaojie, head of the China Cultural Relic Protection Foundation, said: "Social efforts should take the jobs that are currently difficult for governments to do. Governments can still offer guidance, but it is more efficient for the whole of society to gear up for the work."

For instance, the foundation, China's only State-level non-profit devoted to cultural relic protection, is planning a trial program in Zhejiang province to improve the restoration of privately owned property in traditional villages. Half of the capital will be provided by the foundation, with the rest to be raised by the property owners.

"Protection of cultural heritage doesn't have to conflict with urban construction," said Wang Wei, director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Establishment of archaeological relic parks in recent years is an attempt to combine the two," Wang told the conference.

He added that Chinese professionals should more frequently go abroad to take part in international cooperation projects.

"While the US, Europe and Japan are active in such projects, China is often absent," he said.

"Some scattered projects are undertaken, but the country needs national-level strategic guidance to lead more expertise overseas to reflect our deserved status in the world as a culturally abundant ancient civilization."

wangkaihao@chinadaily.com.cn
The central government will determine a reasonable share of revenue for local governments from the value-added tax, which will replace the business tax nationwide next month, Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday.

Li was speaking to heads of government of 20 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions at a meeting while soliciting opinions on how to divide the expanded VAT.

The expansion of the VAT will encourage businesses to invest effectively in equipment and technological upgrading, the premier said, because the tax is levied on the difference between revenue and cost.

Li said local governments cannot unreasonably intervene with corporate operations and obstruct enterprises' cross-regional activities to collect more tax revenue.

Local governments now get about 40 percent of their revenue from a tax levied on businesses' income, according to the State Administration of Taxation. Beginning on May 1, it will be replaced by the VAT in all sectors as part of national tax reform.

The new VAT will cut local governments' revenue if the proportion is not changed. The 20 provincial-level regions reported an estimated tax reduction this year of 1.7 billion yuan ($263 million) to 13 billion yuan.

Currently, the central government gets 75 percent of the VAT revenue and local governments collect 25 percent. That proportion is expected to be adjusted to 50-50 in the new VAT, media have reported.

Local governments would likely get double their current share to compensate for the income reduction caused by the tax replacement, experts said.

At the meeting, governors from western China provinces such as Qinghai, Gansu and Guizhou called for more funds from the central government to go to less-developed areas in the central and western part of the country.

Losang Jamcan, chairman of the Tibet autonomous region, said the VAT will bring 1.7 billion yuan less in tax for local governments, accounting for 9 percent of total taxation.

"I hope the central government will continue the favorable policy to leave all taxes for the use of Tibet to support our social and economic development," the chairman said.
China will inject new impetus into cooperation with Israel on technological innovation, Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday.

Li, who met in Beijing with Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, speaker of the Israeli parliament, said China will develop a mechanism for cooperation as next year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Edelstein said he was the first Knesset speaker to visit China in 20 years.

China-Israel trade volume increased last year amid weakening global trade, showing great potential for bilateral cooperation, Li said.

Innovation has been a key area for bilateral relations. Last month, Vice-Premier Liu Yandong visited Israel for the second meeting of the China-Israel Joint Committee on Innovation Cooperation.

Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Peking University, said Israel is known for its technology, including that used in growing fruits and vegetables in desert areas.

Moreover, he said, Israel focuses on promoting technological innovation, which is in line with China's national strategy that aims to create new technologies and business models for economic restructuring.

Edelstein met with his Chinese counterpart Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, on Monday.

Premier Li said the exchanges between both legislatures can promote the understanding between the Chinese and Israeli people.

Edelstein said that Israel "will strengthen exchanges with the Chinese government, legislature, enterprises and academic circles to boost economic growth and innovation".
A safety inspector checks food products at a supermarket in Hefei, Anhui province, in February. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's top legislature will inspect enforcement of the new food safety law in 10 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions from mid-April to the end of May.

Legislators from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress will check the food safety situation in such places as Tianjin, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Heilongjiang province after some recent scandals, such as fake-brand baby formula, triggered public outrage.

Zhang Dejiang, the top legislator, said on Tuesday that five teams will conduct the inspection, keeping safety foremost on people's minds and supervising the effectiveness of the law, which took effect in October.

In the baby formula case, Shanghai police arrested nine people suspected of being involved in the production and sale of milk powder that was packaged with fake brand labels, Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday.

The police investigated the case after receiving reports in September, and they caught the suspects and seized about 1,000 cans of milk powder, more than 20,000 empty cans and 65,000 fake brand trademarks, from Dec 9 to Jan 7, Xinhua said.

Six of the suspects have been transferred for prosecution, it added.

"Making people confident while eating has been a key issue among legislators, and we've increased efforts in updating food work systems and providing the strictest supervision in the industry," said Zhang, the committee's chairman.

"The new law has been revised for more practical enforcement, and awareness of the law will be enhanced in government departments," said Zhang, who also is the inspection leader.

The inspection will review law enforcement at every step of the food production process. It will look at such things as whether local governments provide special funds for food safety supervision and how food enterprises train employees for safety management, according to a committee statement.

Vice-Minister of Public Security Huang Ming said that authorities have cracked 15,000 cases involving food safety and arrested more than 26,000 suspects since the law took effect.

The China Food and Drug Administration also said that it is accelerating the development of rules to help governmental departments effectively implement the law.

In addition, more food sample checks have been developed, especially regarding baby-related food, the administration said.




A traffic warden intercepts an electric tricycle in Beijing on April 11, 2016. The capital imposed a ban that bars electric bikes and tricycles from 10 roads, including Chang'an Avenue and some of its connecting roads. Drivers will be fined 20 yuan ($3.10) for using the roads, and their vehicles will be seized if they refuse to pay the fine. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

Traffic authorities in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, will specify measures for the use of electric tricycles by express services, following the drafting of national technical requirements for the vehicles, according to a local officer.

"Electric tricycles for express delivery services can be used on designated roads at specified times if they meet the national technical requirements," said Xu Wei, head of the Shenzhen traffic police.

The State Post Bureau published a draft of the national electric tricycle requirements on Monday for public review.

The draft specifies that delivery tricycles can be no more than 1 meter wide, 3 meters long and 1.4 meters high, with a maximum payload of 180 kilograms, excluding the driver.

The maximum speed is 15 km/h. Tricycles used for delivery services should have a sign in front reading "express", according to the draft.

The country's booming e-commerce has led to a rapid expansion in the express delivery industry nationwide, especially in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

However, the massive growth of electric tricycles - especially ones that are unlicensed or have substandard technologies - threatens road safety and worsens urban traffic, according to the draft.

Shenzhen was put in the spotlight recently after local traffic authorities launched a campaign to crack down on illegal electric bikes and tricycles.

During the campaign, which ended on April 5, some 18,000 unlicensed or illegal electric bikes and freight tricycles were confiscated, with only 60 belonging to delivery workers, according to the traffic police authority.

"The action mainly targeted illegal electric bikes that ferried passengers, rather than the express delivery industry," said Xu.

According to Xu, local police will add 5,000 tricycles to the existing quota of 13,000 registered electric bikes and freight tricycles for express delivery use.

Additionally, the local authority will introduce a mobile management system in late April in which a QR code listing delivery contents will be installed on electric tricycles.


Passengers on the metro where Fangfang was attacked. [Photo/weibo]

News of a female student being abused and assaulted at Paris metro five days ago has stirred concerns among Chinese Internet users.

Fangfang (alias), a student at a public university in France, ran into two women when she and her friend got off a subway train at night on April 7. The two women humiliated Fangfang and her friend with words and gestures. Fangfang thought they were drunk.

The next morning, they met the two women again in a subway train bound for Gard Du Nord. There were another two White women and a Black guy along with them. Fangfang and her friends pretended not to understand what the women were shouting and screaming at them in French.

Then the White girl threw a solid object at Fangfang's forehead, which made the student angry and asked the girl why she did that. Instead of replying, the White girl punched Fangfang's face several times and even kicked her.

Luckily, a middle-aged French woman intervened and drew away the girl and persuaded her and her friends not to do such things.

Apart from the woman, who even agreed to take Fangfang to police station to file a complaint, the other passengers reportedly did not help them when the White girl was assaulting her, and did not even tell her the local police phone number when she asked them.

Fangfang tried to take photos of the three women with her mobile phone when they got off the train, but her phone was snatched by the Black man. Luckily, a middle-aged man heard Fangfang's screams and brought her phone back.

Fangfang shared her metro experience on her Sina Weibo account to warn others about such incidents.

Fangfang's post describing her experience got 11,400 reposts, 5,755 comments by Wednesday, while a hashtag #Chinese student is attacked at Paris metro had 16.23 million reads and 10,000 Internet users discussed the topic by 8:30 am on Wednesday.

Many Internet users shared their experiences in foreign countries and gave their suggestions, such as a Weibo user named tvmf said: "Maybe you should post your experience on French social network sites", which got 4,649 supports.

Another user named Shenj said: "I feel sad after reading the post. It's really difficult for Chinese studying and living in foreign countries. I used to meet a hooligan and had to pretend I didn't understand what he said and tried my best to run away from him. I really understand the girl's helplessness." The message got 2,248 supports.




Photo taken on April 11, 2016 shows a bird's eye view of the Liujiang River in Liuzhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Continuing heavy rainfall has caused the rise of the river's water level to 79.93 meters on Monday morning, 2.57 meters lower than the warning level. [Photo/Xinhua]

Flood control authorities issued alerts for more than 40 rivers in southern China as weather forecasters warned of more heavy rainstorms likely to bring floods in coming days.

"The amount of rain in the area will be far above the same period in previous years," the China Meteorological Administration, the State forecaster, said in a news release on Tuesday.

Torrential rains in South China have so far resulted in the flooding of small and medium-sized rivers in six areas, including Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, according to Yang Kun, a news officer at the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

"Water levels in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, as well as Dongting and Poyang lakes, are 1.5 to 2 meters higher than the average level in previous years," he said.

He added that water storage in reservoirs and lakes in the middle and lower Yangtze basin are 20 percent higher than the same period in previous years.

The forecaster said a new round of storms began on Tuesday in some areas, with another wave expected to hit central and southern China on Wednesday. Some areas in Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangxi are expected to see total precipitation of between 70 and 120 millimeters.

Looking further ahead, the forecaster predicted another series of strong storms through Monday. Total precipitation could reach 100 to 250 millimeters in parts of the region, it said.

Liu Ning, secretary-general of the headquarters and vice-minister of water resources, said during an inspection trip last month that it was highly likely the Yangtze area will see major flooding this year as a result of the strongest El Nino in history.

In a statement on the website of the Ministry of Water Resources, Liu said the situation this year is similar to 1998, when massive flooding along the Yangtze, Songhua and Nenjiang rivers claimed thousands of lives.






Bias and old habits still refuse to go while hardware improves, female college students increase

Women's numbers may have sharply increased on university campuses and in graduate schools in recent years, but they are yet to become a force when it comes to higher studies in science and large government-sponsored research projects.

While their growing base number as science students does help, they still have to overcome the 2,000-year-old social bias against women and make smart choices for themselves and their families.

The winning solution for women still seems to be in "getting either a good husband or a good assistant", says Li Peng, a woman professor at the School of Life Sciences of Tsinghua University, one of the country's top universities for science and technology. And since that is not covered by government grants or the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), the change has to be brought about by women themselves.

The number of women applying for higher science and technology courses has been continuously increasing since the early years of reform and opening-up. In fact, more women than men have been enrolled in general colleges since 2009, according to Ceiea.com, an information website affiliated to Ministry of Education.

The dominant numbers of female students expanded from language and arts colleges to business administration and theoretical science schools, and then to engineering and technology majors, or what were referred to as the "monks' community" until the beginning of this century.

In 2015, women made up 40 percent of the undergraduate students in Guangzhou-based South China University of Technology.

"Science is a world where you achieve your goal through wisdom, or by setting your mind free, and that's a kind of charm you don't experience elsewhere," says Li, the Cornell-trained biology professor.

According to a white paper on gender equality, published by the State Council, or China's Cabinet, in 2014 women made up 52.1 percent of the undergraduate students, 51.6 percent of the post-graduate students, and 36.9 percent of the PhD candidates in institutions of higher learning.

And figures from China Association for Science and Technology show that by the end of 2013, women accounted for nearly 39 percent of the 70 million or so "scientific and technological workers" in the country.

At the Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites, one-fourth of the research staff in Jin Feng's department are women. Jin, a specialist in electromagnetic and microwave technologies, says that not many years ago, the department lacked even the basic necessities for women to take up research projects.

"Back in the 1970s and 1980s, traveling with a male colleague could be a difficult proposition. Some places did not even have a lavatory for women," Jin said. That, fortunately, is no longer the case.

While the material conditions and facilities can improve fast, ideas and habits don't, Jin laments. "Some people believe women aren't suited for science because they tend to be emotional, oblivious of the fact that women can be particularly strong in details."

Going by international standards, however, China does not occupy a leading position in tapping the talent of potential woman scientists. A report published by the Academy of Science of South Africa in October 2015 - arguably the first comprehensive global survey of science academies and gender relations - women account for only 12 percent of the total members in 69 national science academies; their proportion was as low as 6 percent in mathematics and 5 percent in engineering.

The national science academies of South American and African countries have the highest percentage of woman members, ranging from 19 percent to 27 percent. European countries and the United States rank in the middle with 10 percent or more woman members.

Despite having a large number of female college students and research workers, China is in the lower range in the survey, with a mere 6 percent of its top-level researchers being women.

Wang Zhizhen, a biophysicist and member of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences, argues that such a situation prevails not because women are less competent or intellectually less qualified, but because they "tend to be affected more easily by social and cultural factors".

In contrast to female students comprising the majority in colleges, Wang says, women account for only 8 to 10 percent of all professors and are leading only 5 percent of the national research projects.

It is still difficult, it seems, for China's woman scientists to find both an understanding husband and a supportive environment in the workplace.

chengyingqi@chinadaily.com.cn
Users of instant-messaging platforms are becoming increasingly annoyed by frequent messages canvassing online support for children in competitions, as Tang Yue reports.

In China, there are usually two reasons people receive messages from friends and relatives from whom they haven't heard for a while.

The first revolves around New Year greetings, which are always welcome. The second reason is often less palatable, however; people are increasingly contacting long-lost friends, or even casual acquaintances, and urging them to cast online votes for their children or grandchildren in competitions.

The practice, which has been growing rapidly, has now reached the point where people are becoming jaded, frustrated and annoyed. In short, they are sick and tired of voting.

The results of a recent survey conducted by the Jinhua Evening News in East China's Zhejiang province show that 94 percent of 384 respondents had been asked by friends or relatives to cast votes online for their children.

The contests range from the "cutest baby" to dancing competitions, but in many cases the people receiving the messages haven't heard from the sender for a long time and have never met the child involved.

'Canvassing parents'

Li Liang is what is known as a "canvassing parent". Two weeks before Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, which fell on Feb 8, Li's wife entered their 4-year-old daughter in a "New Year's Kid" contest for children age 14 or younger in Dalian, a city in the northeastern province of Liaoning.

Like most of these contests, the child's ranking was based entirely on the number of online votes they received. As a reward, photos of the top 10 children were printed in the Dalian Evening News on Chinese New Year's Day.

Li, who also has a 1-year-old son, was too shy to bother his friends by messaging them individually. Instead, he posted a message on the homepage of his public account on WeChat, a popular instant-messaging and social-networking platform.

"To be honest, I don't like this kind of activity. The organizers are taking advantage of the parents' love for their children for commercial purposes. But still, I hope you can spend a minute checking the photo of my daughter and voting for her," Li wrote, when he posted the link to the voting site.

To vote, people usually have to first subscribe to the organizer's public WeChat account, which quickly results in a flood of unsolicited messages and ads.

In the case of Li's daughter, nicknamed "Little Pomegranate", the competition involved two rounds.

The preliminary round was sponsored by a children's art school, while the final was sponsored by a company that provides consultations and services for parents.

Thanks to the efforts of Li and his wife, Little Pomegranate attracted 266 votes in the first round and was ranked 13th. After the preliminary round, her grandparents joined the canvassing team in a bid to ensure that she made the top 10 in the final.

"They contacted almost every single person they've ever known, all over China, and asked them to vote for their granddaughter," said Li, who works for a shipping company.

The girl eventually received 1,268 votes, well beyond Li's expectations, but her ranking remained the same as during the first round so Little Pomegranate's photo wasn't printed in the newspaper, much to her disappointment.
22-year-old Zhan Weiwei, who was abducted 19 years ago, reunites with his biological parents on April 11, in Ankang city, Northwest China's Shaanxi province. [Photo/VCG]

A 22-year-old man that was abducted when he was only 3 finally reunited with his biological parents on April 11, thanks to a DNA database that tries to link abducted people with their families, in Ankang city, Northwest China's Shaanxi province.

The abduction took place one evening in March 1997. His mom was working at a coal mine, and the two stayed in the company's women's dormitory. One night when they were about to go to bed, somebody knocked on their door. Thinking it was one of their acquaintances, the mother opened the door, and a well-built young man stormed in, beating the woman while suffocating her under a quilt. As she struggled to get out of the quilt, the man left and her boy was gone.

In 2015, the parents had their blood samples taken at a local police station, who uploaded their DNA information to a DNA database, that was built by China's Ministry of Public Security in April 2009. Their information was matched to a young man that was in Jiangsu province. The police in Jiangsu located the young man, conducted further physical examinations and interviews, and confirmed he is the biological son of the couple.

After being abducted when was a boy, Zhan Weiwei was sold to a man surnamed Li, who never got married but always wanted a kid, for 13,000 yuan ($2012). Li treated him very well through the years. Zhan said he would take care of both Li and his biological parents as they age.
Two hungry foxes in Huairou district of Beijing are fed on Saturday after they were set free. They are incapable of surviving in the wild, experts say. Hei Ke/For China Daily

A few days after being set free in the wild, dozens of raccoon dogs and Arctic foxes were found dead in Beijing's Huairou district, according to the Beijing Evening News.

A preliminary investigation suggested that the animals had been bred for their fur but were purchased and deliberately freed.

Two witnesses said about 300 to 400 foxes and raccoon dogs were released from trucks on March 27. In the following days, local villagers reported that their poultry had been "harassed" and killed as the dogs and foxes sought food.

To prevent further financial losses, the local forest authority sent out 30 officers to catch the dogs and foxes on Saturday. So far, 80 have been found. Of those, 40 had died because they were incapable of surviving in the wild, the authorities said. The rest were sent to a wild animal rescue center in Beijing.

According to the Huairou Forestry Bureau, advance approval is required before setting living things free in the wild, including mammals, birds or turtles. Neither the municipal forestry bureau nor the district bureau received any application for a large-scale release, they said.

Even though the police are still looking for the responsible parties, it is believed likely the incident was driven by goodwill. Some people believe it's morally right to buy caged animals and then set them free. There is even an underground industry that derives profits from such feelings, according to the authorities.

Kong Lingshui, the law enforcement team leader at the Beijing forestry authority, said he once monitored an activity in the city's Changping district in which participants paid 530 yuan ($82) to set animals free.

"The foxes released in March were purchased outside Beijing," Kong said. "They don't know how to hunt for food in the wild. And after being set free the majority of them will die," Kong said.

"Setting animals free without doing an investigation could also have a negative influence on the ecological balance. If foxes don't have natural enemies here, the number of foxes will grow very fast and threaten other species. That's the reason why an application is needed before doing this," he said.

Kong told the newspaper that in recent years many birds, snakes and bullfrogs were bought and set free by people.

"Many snakes were bought in the warm southern part of China and they cannot live in cold Beijing," Kong said. "Setting free captive species is something that needs scientific guidance."
It is the responsibility of both the government and the community to educate misinformed youths about China's sovereignty over Hong Kong, the chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Leung Chun-ying, said on Tuesday.

Leung told reporters before a Tuesday Executive Council meeting that the region's Basic Law says Hong Kong's economic system and way of life will remain unchanged until 2047, there is no time limit on China's sovereignty.

Leung's remarks came in response to the notion of a poll on independence sought by student activists and opposition political figures. He said young people must be clear about the seriousness of China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

During an address at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club on Tuesday afternoon, Wang Zhenming, head of the legal department of the central government's Hong Kong Liaison Office, took aim at the way freedom of speech was being used to justify the poll, saying that reasonable limits on speech are boundaries that help avoid "unaffordable consequences".

Wang said that while freedom of speech is protected by the Basic Law in the SAR and in China's Constitution, reasonable limitations on speech are necessary and commonplace in other countries and regions.

Wang, who is dean of the Tsinghua University School of Law, referenced the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal's 1999 ruling in a flag-burning case that freedom of speech was not unlimited.

Wang said suggestions by independence agitators would create conflict and social instability - not to mention that the very prospect of independence was not achievable.

Basic Law Institute Chairman Alan Hoo said advocating for Hong Kong independence may violate Crimes Ordinance provisions regarding treason, sedition and incitement.

Hoo said the stated goal of Demosisto, one of the parties organized by student activists, was to decide Hong Kong's future through a referendum, which may violate the law.

"Establishing a party to advocate an illegal platform is an obvious action," Hoo cautioned. "One cannot pretend it is merely freedom of expression."

Contact the writers at tim@chinadailyhk.com
A researcher checks on corn plants in a green house cultivating natural corn and genetically modified corn in Syngenta Biotech Center in Beijing, China, Feb 19, 2016. Picture taken February 19, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

China could push forward with the commercial cultivation of pest resistant, genetically modified corn over the next five years, a government official said on Wednesday.

Liao Xiyuan, head of the Agriculture Ministry's Department of Science, Technology and Education, told a news conference that the country was considering the move during the 13th Five Year Plan (2016-20) period.

He said the agricultural authority will also prioritize the commercial cultivation of GM cotton in the next five years.

"We will push forward industry strategies that emphasize commercial crops and crops that serve as industrial raw materials during the 13th Five-Year period," he said.

Liao added that China cannot afford to be left behind in the GM sector and will continue to push forward with its independent innovation efforts.

China's agricultural authorities have to approve GM grains before they can be marketed.
China will further step up its oversight of the markets to prevent the sale of unauthorized genetically modified seeds, an agricultural official said on Wednesday.

Liao Xiyuan, head of the Agriculture Ministry's Department of Science, Technology and Education, told a news conference that the ministry would focus on key agricultural seasons to prevent unauthorized seeds from flowing into the markets.

Liao's remarks follow a report from environmental nonprofit organization Greenpeace in January that claimed farmers were illegally growing genetically modified corn in northeastern China.

The organization claimed that 93 percent of samples taken from corn fields in five counties in Liaoning province last year tested positive for GM contamination.

China's agricultural authorities have to approve GM grains before they are marketed, with only domestic GM papaya and cotton having so far been approved for commercial cultivation.
Two Tajik farmers turn the earth with help of an oxen-pulled plow. The apricot flowering season is busy farming time for Tajiks living on the Pamir Plateau in Xinjiang. [Photo/Xinhua]

Spring is returning to Pamir Plateau in the southwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region: apricot trees are blooming, winter crops are turning green and Tajik farmers are preparing to plow their fields.

While snow still covers the mountain tops on the plateau straddling China, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, pink and white apricot flowers have turned the valleys of Datong township in Tashi Kuergan Tajik autonomous county into a sea of flowers.

Taxkorgan, the only county in China with Pakistan as neighbor, is on the highest part of the Pamir Plateau. Qogir Peak, the second-highest peak in the world at 8,611 meters above sea level, stands to the south. In the north, the snowcapped Muztagata Mountain is found at an altitude of 7,546 meters and numerous glaciers surround its base.

Enterprising Tajiks have built productive farms in the flatlands of the river valleys.

Datong township, with an average altitude of about 2,800 meters, enjoy a moderate climate throughout the year. Spring is a popular season to visit as blossoming apricots, green highland barley and tinkling rivers transform area villages into an earthly paradise.
Two gay men who lost a court case on Wednesday in which they had battled for the right to marry have vowed to carry on the fight.

It was the first case of its kind in China in which gay people had tested whether same-sex couples have the right to marry. While homosexuality is not illegal in China, same-sex marriage has not yet been explicitly legalized.

The lawsuit was brought by the couple who were challenging the decision of a local civil affairs bureau that had denied them the right to marry. The case was dismissed after an open hearing that lasted three hours and that was held before an audience of nearly 200 people that included many journalists. The case was heard at a court in Furong district, Changsha city, Hunan province.

Sun Wenlin, the 26-year-old plaintiff, walked out the court hand-in-hand with his partner Hu Mingliang and said he would appeal.

"We gave away our 'wedding' candies after the hearing and even the opposing lawyer took a candy with a smile," he said.

Sun had filed the case in December after he was denied the right to marry his 36-year-old partner. The couple had gone to the Furong District civil affairs bureau in June register to marry but were rejected and told a legal marriage had to be between a man and a woman.

Sun disputed this in court, saying the Chinese term "yifuyiqi," which means a husband and a wife in the marriage law, refers to the identity of the participants, not their gender.

But the judge said China did not have explicit laws concerning same-sex marriage and that a husband and wife could only be a man and a woman under the marriage law.

Shi Fulong, Sun's lawyer, said he would like to represent Sun when he appeals.

"Marriage is a basic right of all citizens, including homosexuals," Shi said.

Li Yinhe, a famed sociologist who is a prominent supporter of LGBT rights, said the fight to realize same-sex marriage would continue.

"The result is not surprising but the process will have inspired others to courageously recognize and strive for due rights, despite social discrimination and stigma," she said.

Li said Chinese tradition highlighting reproduction was the reason why marriage is considered to be an institution between a man and a woman in China, while in the west, religion is the driving influence.

More than 600,000 netizens watched the online broadcast of the trial on Netease, one of the leading news Web portals in China.

Online, opinion about the lawsuit was largely skewed against the couple, with some labeling them "abnormal". Some netizens said they hoped such a high-profile court case would not encourage young people to "try homosexuality".

Sun said homosexuality was not a choice.

"Unsubstantiated fear comes from ignorance," he said. "We are born this way."

A gay man in his 50s, who followed the case, said: "I appreciate their courage in bringing the issue before the court and into the public spotlight. I would like my partner to be able to legally claim my heritage if I die before him but that won't happen without legal same-sex marriage."

Experts estimate China has about 25 to 30 million gay men.

Zhang Beichuan, a professor of sexology at Qingdao University, Shandong province, said legalizing same-sex marriage might help address a looming disparity in the numbers of men and women in the country and the problems that will cause in terms of traditional marriage.

Previous reports have said that, by 2020, China is likely to have 24 million more men than women. That is likely to leave areas, such as poor rural parts of the country, with massive populations of aging bachelors.
The slightest mention of Sichuan province in Southwest China's Sichuan province will remind visitors of fine food.

But there is no universal standard about what a high-quality Sichuan cuisine restaurant is.

The Sichuan Provincial Tourism Development Committee and Sichuan Provincial Department of Commerce announced on Wednesday that they will officially commence the Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant Certification.

"The event will run annually for five to 10 years to discover the finest Sichuan cuisine restaurants from around the world and promote the magic of Sichuan cuisine," said Hao Kangli, chief of the Sichuan Provincial Tourism Development Committee.

His committee was known as the Sichuan Provincial Tourism Bureau until recently.

Each year, the finest Sichuan cuisine restaurants from around the world will be chosen and ranked in accordance with the Gold Panda, Silver Panda and Bronze Panda criteria.

"A Gold Panda restaurant is a must for visitors because its food is perfect and the dining experience is perfect. A Silver Panda restaurant is worth of visit because its food is wonderful and the dining experience is wonderful. A Bronze Panda restaurant is a recommended one where its food is good and the dining experience is good," Hao said.

"Each restaurant will be subject to stringent checks to ensure consistency of quality. Those who fall short will have their ranking lowered or removed," he said.

While formulating the certification, Sichuan has emulated advanced restaurant rating systems in the world and consulted many famous restaurant owners, chefs and Sichuan cuisine researchers in the province.

Experts overseeing the certificate include Chen Xiaoqing, chief director of "A Bite of China," a household TV series produced by China Central Television, and Chen Qingren, editor-in-chief of TimeOut China.

"The certification will take into consideration the selection of materials, food preparation, cooking, and the arrangement and cultural connotation of dishes," Hao said.
Efforts to focus on safeguarding the nation's economic blueprint for the next five years

China's top prosecutors are ready to prevent corruption from derailing the nation's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), according to a senior anti-graft official.

A high-level prosecutor from the revamped anti-graft bureau of the Supreme People's Procuratorate said the bureau will make a more focused effort this year on tackling corruption cases at provincial and ministerial levels and above.

The bureau was formed by merging three anti-graft authorities at the end of last year.

The prosecutor, who declined to be named, told China Daily in an exclusive interview such cases are more likely to occur in key projects involving infrastructure construction, land acquisition, restructuring and transfer of State-owned enterprises and other assets, and in healthcare and education development.

Top-level justice officials are also prepared to investigate behavior hindering or affecting the implementation of national economic strategies, the prosecutor said.

These strategies include the central government's Belt and Road Initiative to promote business ties with nations on the ancient Silk Road.

The largest key projects are listed in the 13th Five-Year Plan. But this is the first time that a top Chinese judicial professional has defined the role of the country's justice authorities under the long-term economic program.

Yao Jianlong, a law professor at East China Normal University in Shanghai, said national investment and trade projects are where government officials' power is more closely involved with the largest public funds. In comparison, the authorities' financial management is still not strong enough.

Loopholes in the system are more likely to attract greed and various forms of corruption, he said.

Hong Daode, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law, said that with a reinforced staff, the anti-graft bureau formed last year can help the justice system to focus on the most dangerous type of corruption offenses.

Previously, the top procuratorate could not concentrate on the highest level of corruption due to a lack of power and staff members to overcome "institutional barriers", Hong said.

Yao said the new anti-graft mechanism can also be more effective in preventing local administrations from interfering with investigations into the most serious cases of official corruption.

According to the Supreme People's Procuratorate, 22 high-ranking officials stood trial last year under the nationwide anti-graft campaign. Another 41 were placed under investigation, a rise of 46 percent compared with 2014.

Among those who stood trial were Zhou Yongkang, the former national security chief, who was sentenced to life in prison, and Jiang Jiemin, former head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, who was sentenced to 16 years.
China is to tighten management of vaccines to ensure people's health and safety, especially young children and juveniles.

The move comes after a scandal in which a large quantity of improperly stored or expired vaccines have allegedly been sold nationwide since 2011.

Reports on the scandal were submitted on Wednesday to an executive meeting of the State Council presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.

Revisions were made to update the regulation on vaccines, aimed at imposing stricter management nationwide and to prevent further violations.

For the first time, violators of the regulation will be forbidden from entering the vaccine business and officials in charge must resign.

Last month, police in Shandong province cracked a case in which 25 vaccines for children and adults worth 570 million yuan ($88 million) were not stored properly.

A mother and her daughter are alleged to have bought the vaccines illegally and sold them to 24 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions since 2011.

The State Council set up a special team to investigate the scandal and the regulatory system that failed to prevent the distribution of substandard vaccines.

Police have arrested 202 suspects nationwide and 357 officials in 17 provincial-level regions had been removed from their posts or demoted as of Wednesday.

Under the old regulation covering distribution and vaccination, which took effect in June 2005, some vaccines were provided by the government free of charge to people, while others were bought by people for optional vaccination.

With reduced supervision by disease control authorities, affordable vaccines could be bought freely, increasing the risk of contamination after improper storage and transportation.

The new regulation requires these vaccines to be incorporated into the provincial-level procurement platform for public resources such as free vaccines.

It also prohibits pharmaceutical wholesale enterprises from trading in vaccines. A new system will be set up to trace vaccines from production to use, with particular requirements for refrigerated storage and transportation.

Harsher penalties will be imposed on those who illegally trade in and improperly store and transport vaccines.

Jia Xijin, a professor of public management at Tsinghua University, said: "The revision shows the central government's concern for the healthcare and safety of people, especially children. ... If the new regulation is implemented strictly, the quality of vaccines will be improved."
Stephen Hawking listens to the announcement of the Breakthrough Starshot initiative involving investor Yuri Milner in New York on Tuesday. LUCAS JACKSON / REUTERS

British physicist Stephen Hawking has opened an account on Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo, amassing more than 2 million followers within 24 hours.

Netizens, including those who are baffled by Hawking's scientific theories, expressed their admiration for him.

In his first blog post, at 10:12 am on Tuesday, Hawking, 74, reminisced about his trips to China and welcomed communication with Chinese people through social media. Within hours, the greeting had been forwarded more than 190,000 times and had generated more than 180,000 comments.

Hawking posted a second message, announcing a $100 million space mission with Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The mission was announced by Hawking and Milner at a news conference at the One World Observatory in New York City.

The bilingual blog post was forwarded more than 640,000 times and had received nearly 80,000 comments by Wednesday afternoon.

A netizen using the name ConanMC commented, "Hi, dear Mr Hawking. It's morning now in China. I am so happy that I can read such wonderful information just as I wake up. Although I cannot understand it completely, it is obvious that it will be a great breakthrough."

Others were less diplomatic.

"I do not understand his words, even in Chinese," netizen Yishu Benshen wrote.

Another, Ali Mumu, commented: "I do not understand a word he says, but I leave this comment to express my admiration for Hawking."

Hawking's new project, the Breakthrough Starshot, aims to build laser beam-propelled "nanocraft" that can travel at 20 percent of the speed of light, more than 1,000 times faster than today's swiftest spacecraft.

Once the "nanocraft" are built and deployed, they are expected to reach Alpha Centauri, a star that is 4.37 light-years away, in about 20 years.

Chen Xuelei, a researcher who specializes in dark matter research at the National Astronomical Observatories affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said it is natural that Hawking's Weibo message has attracted attention, even if the physicist's participation in the project has more symbolic, than practical, meaning.

"The project is set to solve some technical problems, such as how to make a spacecraft into the size of a stamp and how to keep the laser beam aimed at the nanocraft over long distances. Solving these problems are not in the expertise of theoretical physicists like Hawking," Chen said.

Xinhua contributed to this story.
Samsung Bioepis Co Ltd, which aims to become a force in the fledgling biosimilar drugs industry, has filed a lawsuit against the originator of the world's best-selling drug to stop it blocking the launch of its own version.

The unit of South Korea's Samsung Group, along with its partner and minority shareholder Biogen, filed suit in the United Kingdom on March 24 against AbbVie Inc, the maker of rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira, which generated sales of $14 billion last year.

It is the company's first lawsuit against a drug originator.

Interest in biosimilars - lower-cost copies of complex biotech drugs - has soared in recent years as copies of some of the world's best-selling prescription medicines have hit the market.

Unlike generic versions of simple chemical medicines, biotech drugs are made from living cells, so it is impossible to manufacture exact copies.

The IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics says biosimilars could save healthcare systems in the United States and Europe's top five markets as much as 98 billion euros ($111 billion) by 2020.

The South Korean conglomerate is hoping for big things from the unit - including a revenue target of 1 trillion won ($872 million) by 2020 - amid sagging profits at its electronics business, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's biggest maker of smartphones and televisions.

Success in the endeavour is seen as key for de facto Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee, 47, to prove himself as steward of the family-run smartphones-to-insurance empire. His father, group patriarch Lee Kun-hee, has been hospitalized since a heart attack in 2014.

Pushback

The composition patent for Humira loses its exclusivity in the US in December 2016 and in Europe in October 2018, but Illinois-based AbbVie, which earned 61 percent of its 2015 net revenue from Humira, has been filing new patents in a bid to push back sales of biosimilars.

In addition to Samsung Bioepis and Biogen, more than a dozen firms have challenged AbbVie's strategy through patent authorities or the courts.

"We believe that AbbVie has been attempting to obstruct market entry of competing products by applying for a large number of overlapping patents around Humira, which could affect patient access to affordable medication," Samsung Bioepis told Reuters.

"We believe competition should take place in the market, but not through such misuse of the patent system," it added.

AbbVie told Reuters it was aware of the lawsuit filed by Samsung Bioepis and Biogen. "As we have said, we intend to defend our intellectual property," it said.

Samsung Bioepis, which brought its first drug to market late last year, has a pipeline of 13 biosimilars, versions of existing drugs with similar efficacy at much lower prices, and is initially focusing on six of them to get out in front of the market.

The Samsung Group has a track record of moving fast. Late to enter the smartphone market, Samsung Electronics quickly rose to become the industry leader. The group is also one of the world's most active patent filers and has over the years tried to move beyond its image as a "fast follower".

"The first drug to hit the market takes the most market share, so this is the right strategy to go with," said Kang Yang-ku, analyst at HMC Investment & Securities.

There are potentially rich pickings for early movers; more than 10 blockbuster biological drugs with combined yearly sales of $60 billion are on track to see their US and European patents expire over the next four years, according to Allied Market Research.

Biosimilars are a source of consternation for investors in drug producers, however, as the cheaper copies threaten to undercut profits for the original drug makers.

In December Bioepis began selling a biosimilar of Amgen's arthritis drug Enbrel in South Korea, and the drug has since launched in some European markets including Germany and the UK early this year. The European Medicines Agency on Friday also recommended the Bioepis copy of another blockbuster drug Remicade for approval in Europe.

Samsung Bioepis is 91 percent-owned by Samsung Biologics, which manufactures biological drugs and is in turn mostly owned by Samsung C&T Corp and Samsung Electronics.

(China Daily 04/13/2016 page17)
A female Chinese student was shot to death on Saturday in Arizona, an official from the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles said on Sunday.

Jiang Yue, a 19-year-old second-year student at the Arizona State University, was shot multiple times by 32-year-old white female Holly Davis, whose car hit Jiang's in front of a stop light in Tempe city, according to information released by the consulate.

While Jiang's male passenger got out the car to check the damage, Davis walked up to the car and shot Jiang through the window, preliminary information showed.

Local Tempe police Lieutenant Michael Pooley said it was a road rage shooting.

The injured Jiang later lost control of her car, which then collided with a third car that was carrying five passengers, including a pregnant woman and three children.

Davis fled but was captured by police soon after.

Jiang died after being sent to hospital. Jiang's passenger sustained minor injuries. The five passengers of the third car did not sustain any serious injuries.

Davis has been charged with premeditated first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct with a deadly weapon, local media quoted police as saying.

The Chinese consulate said Jiang's family in China has been informed and the consulate will closely watch the investigation and follow-up issues.

The consulate also urged the police to protect the legal rights of Chinese citizens in the United States.

Xinhua - AP
A river in Yichang, Central China's Hubei province, is severely polluted with garbage. [Photo/asianewsphoto]

On Monday, an official at the Ministry of Water Resources responded to a recent report suggesting that more than 80 percent of the water in China's aquifers is too polluted for human consumption by asserting China's deep underground drinking water sources are safe. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Tuesday:

That more than 80 percent of China's underground water sources are said to polluted, does not come as a surprise, as most believe that not only shallow groundwater, but also the water extracted from deep underground for human consumption, have fallen prey to serious contamination.

Keeping the deep underground water sources from being contaminated is already challenging and requires strenuous efforts, never mind treating water that has been polluted. And the nation's water will not be able to cleanse itself, because the threshold for so-called self-recovery has already been crossed.

In other words, no one is immune from the increasingly severe water pollution. For all departments concerned, the top priority should be to resolutely halt the illegal discharge of heavy metals and organic pollutants, regardless of the behind-the-scene power for money exchanges that may seek to deter their efforts.

The polluters who have always managed to exploit the loopholes in supervision deserve due punishments including being excluded from the market. Supervisors at all levels have to shoulder their responsibilities to keep industrial polluters and their illicit businesses at bay, instead of turning a blind eye to such misdeeds, and hold all officials concerned accountable.

Long-term management and targeted measures are also needed to curb the groundwater contamination. The Water Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, which was issued by the State Council a year ago, pledges to keep the "tightest-ever" rein on the management of the water resources in the country, but it fails to include deep underground water, which can affect the shallow water resources as well.

It is time for the relevant authorities to face up to the fact that many Chinese residents, be they urban or rural dwellers, have very limited access to uncontaminated water, due to the loose enforcement of the regulations on discharges of industrial waste.

Apart from informing the public of the severity of the groundwater pollution, they are obliged to make concrete efforts to end the extensive development mode, which has caused great damage to the environment and people's health.
The 33-year-old Vanessa Rogers from Canada was left paralysed from the neck down unable to scratch her own nose.[Photo/IC]

A 36-year-old paraplegic patient in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, Central China, spent all his savings to hire someone to kill him. But after being stabbed a dozen times by the "murderer" he had hired, he was still alive and called for help. As a result of the attack he has lost the movement and feeling he had in his upper body. The Beijing News commented on Tuesday:

A paraplegic's life can easily become dehumanizing, because there is also no privacy for the patient in terms of bodily functions and their inability to participate in many social activities. They may have no close friends, and few have the opportunity to enjoy hobbies. Most of them even suffer some kind of discrimination.

Although people have been caring for him, the man still found his life unbearable.

Psychological help is even more important than treatment and basic life care for people severely disabled in an accident.

In the United States and other developed countries, such patients are usually offered psychological help and counseling to help them to face life and find the courage to carry on.

In China, the cost of psychiatric treatment is too expensive. Almost every year, there are calls for psychotherapy to be included in the basic medical insurance, but that is yet to happen.

Supporting measures related to mental health should be put on the agenda of local hospitals as soon as possible.
China and Switzerland have agreed to formulate a Sino-Swiss innovative strategic partnership to promote the common development and prosperity of the two countries.

The agreement was reached in Beijing on Friday, when Chinese President Xi Jinping met his Swiss counterpart Johann Schneider-Ammann during the latter's state visit to China.

It is expected the newly established innovative strategic partnership will inject new vitality into bilateral cooperation.

Xi said that Switzerland was one of the earliest Western countries to establish diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China, and he praised the sound development of Sino-Swiss relations in recent years.

The two countries have jointly cultivated a cooperative spirit featuring equality, innovation and win-win, Xi said.

He also suggested the two sides enhance their strategic consultations, increase mutual understanding and trust, and outline major areas of cooperation, so as to effectively implement the new partnership.

It is the first time China has established an innovative strategic partnership with any other country, demonstrating the great importance China has attached to innovation.

Despite its small size, Switzerland has been one of the most innovative countries with its per capita patents ranking the second in the world, next only to Japan. The country also boasts many world-known enterprises in high-end manufacturing, ecological and environmental protection.

The new partnership is expected to set an example for international cooperation in innovation.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea launches a long range rocket launched into the air in this file still image taken from KRT video footage, released by Yonhap on February 7, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

To implement Resolution 2270 passed by the UN Security Council on March 2 against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has published a list of goods that cannot be imported from or exported to the DPRK.

The list, however, has sparked a debate, especially because it makes exceptions for goods the DPRK people need as basic necessities and those that are for humanitarian aid.

China believes sanctions on the DRPK are aimed at preventing Pyongyang from developing nuclear weapons and bringing it back to the negotiations table. But China is opposed to the use of sanctions while excluding dialogue, or "full sanctions" that will harm the interests of ordinary people in the DPRK and could lead to a humanitarian crisis.

The denuclearizing of the Korean Peninsula is linked to the easing the DPRK's normal concerns, its security concerns in particular. It is thus unrealistic for the United States and the Republic of Korea to propose that the DPRK abandon its nuclear program before talks can be held on other issues. The US and ROK have been pushing for full sanctions on the DPRK in the hope that Beijing would pressure Pyongyang into accepting all the conditions to hold a multilateral dialogue. Their aim, in other words, is to push Pyongyang toward collapse.

China opposes such moves, because it knows they will lead to a humanitarian crisis in the DPRK and could endanger the interests of other countries. In this sense, the publication of the list of embargoed goods is a pragmatic move by China to protect not only the interests of ordinary people in the DPRK but also the security of all the countries in Northeast Asia.

Some Western media outlets have deliberately misinterpreted China's list or focused on Pyongyang's dissatisfaction with Beijing in a bid to sour China-DPRK ties. The fact is, the essence of Beijing-Pyongyang ties has not changed. There are no essential disputes between Beijing and Pyongyang except for their difference on the Korean Peninsula's nuclear issue.
The Summer of Yaya, a Gansu-made film won the "Best Educational Film" at the 2016 Universe Multicultural Film Festival in South Bay, Los Angeles on April 1 to 3.

It tells a story of Chen Yaya a new college graduate who chooses to return to her hometown, instead of taking work opportunities in Shanghai, in favor of helping local villagers find ways to get out of poverty.

The film highlights the spirit of the college-graduate village official who seeks the truth and works for the public good. The film also highlights the changes in Chinese rural areas, said Lynn Tang, chairman of the Universe Multicultural Film Festival.

The Summer of Yaya is awarded "Best Educational Film" at the 2016 Universe Multicultural Film Festival in Los Angeles. [Photo/Youth.cn]

It's a film heavily featuring rural China and also the first of its kind to win an award at the international A class film festival. Its success signals a great breakthrough in down to earth Chinese filmmaking.

Zhu Jianghua, director of the film and Li Xiaozhou the film producer attended the awarding ceremony.

The film was jointly produced by the Gansu Provincial Publicity Department, provincial administration of radio, film and television and Baiyin city's publicity department.

The Universe Multicultural Film Festival is an annual event held in Los Angeles. The film festival aims at providing a universal platform for different countries to share culture and exchange ideas through film.

The 2016 film festival attracted more than 1,200 films from 50 countries and regions including the United States, China and France.




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Chinese telecom fraud suspects deported from Kenya get off a plane after arriving at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, April 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Seventy-seven Chinese, including 45 Taiwan residents, have been repatriated from Africa and are being investigated for suspected telecommunication fraud, the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said on Wednesday.

An Fengshan, the office's spokesman, said at a regular news briefing that in recent years, wire fraud criminals from Taiwan have obtained more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) yearly from the Chinese mainland. Only 200,000 yuan has been recovered, he said.

"The case is considered China's first large-scale repatriation from Africa of telecom fraud suspects," said a senior official of the Ministry of Public Security who requested anonymity.

On Wednesday, police in Kenya transferred 67 of the suspects to Chinese authorities. They arrived on chartered flights at airports in Beijing and Jiangsu, Hunan and Sichuan provinces.

The 10 other suspects, including eight from Taiwan, were repatriated to the mainland on Saturday to stand trial.

The case dates to November 2014, when police in Kenya discovered tools used by the criminals, including computer data interchangers, in a house in the capital, Nairobi. Through further investigation, the Kenyan police uncovered a cross-border telecom fraud ring. They detained 48 suspects from the Chinese mainland and 28 from Taiwan.

According to the ministry, the criminal gang established many fraud dens in Nairobi and recruited phone callers to pose as law enforcement officers from the Chinese mainland to swindle Chinese residents in nine areas, including Beijing, Jiangsu and Sichuan.

"The victims, including elderly people, migrant workers, laid-off workers and students, were cheated out of a large amount of money by the swindlers. Many families and enterprises became bankrupt, and some of the victims have committed suicide," the official said.

"Our judicial department will investigate the Taiwan suspects according to law, and their legal interests will be protected," said An, the office spokesman.

According to the ministry, police officers will update the Taiwan side on developments after careful investigation. Additionally, Taiwan judicial authorities will be invited to the Chinese mainland for discussions on combating cross-Straits telecom fraud.

Since an agreement was signed on both sides of the Straits in 2009 for a joint effort to fight crime and for mutual legal assistance, severe measures have been taken to crack down on wire fraud involving Taiwan residents, the ministry said.

The two sides have launched 47 joint law enforcement operations in Southeast Asia and destroyed more than 500 dens, cracking about 10,000 wire fraud cases. More than 7,700 wire fraud suspects, of whom 4,600 are from Taiwan, have been arrested, according to the ministry. When Taiwan suspects were handled by the island, many were not punished, and money obtained through fraud was not paid back to victims on the mainland, it added.

Zhang Zhijun, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office, talked with Andrew Hsia, Taiwan's mainland affairs chief, via a hotline on Tuesday afternoon, discussing the repatriation and investigation of the Taiwan suspects.

Zhang said telecommunication fraud allegedly conducted by the Taiwan suspects and involving mainland residents occurred despite repeated prohibitions. Criminals must be brought to justice to protect people's interests, he added.

Fewer tourists visiting Taiwan

Applications from individual mainland tourists to travel to Taiwan dropped by 15 percent between March 23 and April 5, while the number of group travelers dropped by 30 percent, according to the island's Tourism Department.

The number of visits to Taiwan might see a year-on-year drop for the first time in 17 years, the department said in a statement on Tuesday.

Last year, more than 10.4 million visits were made to Taiwan by tourists from the mainland. During the first two months of this year, there were 1.78 million visits, of which 40 percent were by tourists from the Chinese mainland. The department said the number dropped rapidly in the past two weeks.

According to Xinhua News Agency, mainland travelers have been reluctant to visit the island because of the uncertainty of cross-Straits relations. They also worry about service quality and safety while in Taiwan, it said.

The reduction also might reflect that mainland tourists are increasingly interested in other destinations, including European countries, Xinhua said.
Relationship-building between China and the US should be carried out in practical, down-to-earth terms by people who cherish the idea that healthy and strong US-China collaboration across all sectors will benefit not only the world's two biggest economies, but the whole world.

Happily, visionary political and business leaders are joining hands and advocating for more and better exchanges and communications between China and the US, even amid US politicians' election-year China bashing and highly publicized worries over China's economic slowdown.

China's top diplomat in San Francisco - Consul General Luo Linquan - on April 5 hosted some 30 senior executives from leading American corporations, Chamber of Commerce leaders and elected officials at his residence. Luo expressed his sincere hopes that all parties and individuals involved would work together to deepen bilateral economic and trade ties.

"A prosperous and strong US-China relationship participated in by American and Chinese companies will help build a new model of major country relations between the world's two largest economies," Luo said.

Guests included San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee; president of Bay Area Council Jim Wunderman; Gary Dickerson, CEO of Applied Materials; Ken Wilcox, president of Silicon Valley Bank; Alan Siqueira, executive vice-president of Wells Fargo; Andy Sherman, executive vice-president of Dolby; and Ed Baker, vice-president of Uber, among others.

Deputy Consul General Ren Faqiang said each guest was asked to complete a survey about China's economy and doing business in China.

"Through this questionnaire, we'd like to gather first-hand information about how foreigners think about China, and how we governmental organizations might help them operate more smoothly in China."

In his remarks, Luo highlighted President Xi Jinping's successful state visit to the US last September and his recent meeting with US President Barack Obama at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on March 31.

"The two countries have carried out effective communication on various issues. Although there are always disagreements, I believe China and the US at the same time will cooperate and go forward together," said Luo.

According to the US Department of Commerce, China became America's biggest trading partner last year with a total bilateral trade volume of $598 billion. Chinese investment in the US has grown sharply by 60 percent, reaching a total of $8.4 billion.

All five states in Luo's jurisdiction - California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Alaska - have been leaders in business cooperation and exchanges with China.

"Trade volume of the five states with China in 2015 was $202 billion, accounting for a third of the total China-US trade volume," said Luo, adding that Chinese investors injected $3.6 billion in the five states last year.

The two-way economic exchanges would not be possible without the cooperation mechanisms initiated by the top leaders of both countries, said Luo.

Back in 2013, Xi, during his visit to California, signed with California Governor Jerry Brown and seven Chinese provinces the Trade and Investment Cooperation Joint Working Group, the first institutional platform for promoting local economic and trade investment cooperation between China and US.

In his visit to Seattle last September, Xi also facilitated similar mechanisms between Washington state and Chinese provinces.

Through these platforms, participants in both nations can expand trade and investment cooperation, strengthen communication and trust, boost economic growth, as well as create jobs together.

Gary Dickerson, CEO of Applied Materials, said the world's largest semiconductor materials engineering solutions provider is to expand in the China market through investments and other projects with a combined value of $616 million in the next few years.

"China's pro-innovation environment for high-tech industries has given the semiconductor and display industries tremendous opportunities for companies such as Applied Materials," said Dickerson.

Contact the writer at Junechang@chinadailyusa.com.
China and the UK are among more than 110 countries displaying their best books at the London Book Fair this week.

Visotors look to a booth at the London Book Fair April 12, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Publishers from both countries are marking the 400th anniversaries this month of the deaths of playwrights Tang Xianzu and William Shakespeare.

A specially commissioned Chinese play combining Tang's Peony Pavilion and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was being performed in Chinese and English on Tuesday, the opening day.

A mini performance space based on Shakespeare's Globe Theatre has been set up at the Olympia exhibition center in London. Shakespearean actors from around the world will perform extracts of works in six languages - Chinese, Spanish, Polish, Hindi, Arabic and English - in recognition of Shakespeare's global influence.

Celebrating its 45th anniversary, the London Book Fair is a global marketplace for the negotiation of rights, sales and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels.

Wang Jihui, a professor of English at Peking University, said the two legendary writers can help people to understand both countries' civilizations.

Wang also said there is a shortage of understanding and cultural exchanges between China and the West, and urged the latter to take a more active approach, particularly in view of a Chinese-UK commitment to strengthen their partnership.

As part of the 400th anniversary celebrations, a delegation from China Publishing Group Corp headed by company vice-president Li Yan visited Bohunt School in Hampshire, southern England, where CPG donated books.

Last year, the school was invited to take part in a BBC documentary, Are Our Kids Tough Enough? The broadcaster invited five Chinese middle school teachers for a month of Chinese-style teaching at the school, triggering debate on educational differences.

CPG brought along more than 100 books, including bilingual texts of Shakespeare and Tang, Chinese textbooks, reference works, books for adolescents and works on Chinese history and culture.

Wang Mingjie and Song Wei contributed to this story in London.
The University of Connecticut's West Hartford campus, which may potentially be sold to Chinese education company Weiming Education Group. Weiming Education said it intends to establish an international high school academy for students from America, Asia, Europe and South America. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

One of the University of Connecticut's campuses could be sold to a Chinese education group, which wants to open a private international high school on the site.

The West Hartford campus, one of the state university's five regional campuses, is being sold off as the school prepares to open a new campus in downtown Hartford five miles east next fall.

The school has negotiated a tentative agreement to sell the 58-acre campus to Weiming Education Group for $12.6 million, the school told its board of trustees in a March 30 letter.

It said that the town of West Hartford has the right to match the terms agreed upon and buy the property for itself.

Ron Van Winkle, West Hartford town manager, told China Daily that the town will convene on May 2 to consider the option, although according to the university's letter to its board, "conversations between University representatives and [the town] staff suggest that the town will likely be supportive of a purchase by [Weiming Education Group]".

The town is supportive because of the education group's intent to use the property for educational purposes; that it is proposing collaboration with other West Hartford public schools; and because the company will pay real estate taxes on the property  which is currently tax-exempt state land  to the town, the school said.

Weiming Education Group, founded in 1999, said in its letter to the town of West Hartford that the international high school academy it will establish will serve American, Asian, European and South American students.

"The outstanding academic reputation of both West Hartford and the State of Connecticut is what has led to Weiming's interest in possibly locating at the University of Connecticut property," Tim DiScipio, CEO of Weiming Education Group USA, said in the letter.

"Connecticut leads the nation in academic excellence, the state high schools rank #1 in the combined Northeast and New England region, and the significant talent pool of teachers and administrators with advanced degrees is an important factor," he added.

DiScipio said that Weiming sees an opportunity for students in Connecticut's universities to teach abroad at the company's international schools in Asia, and in opening an educational institution at the campus would hire a significant number of faculty and staff.

"We believe our presence will enhance the state's global reputation as an education leader and enable local American students the opportunity to build lasting global peer connections to help them meet the demands of new emerging growth opportunities in the 21st Century international economy," DiScipio said in the letter.

Weiming Education is now in a period of due diligence, assessing the property and buildings to see if their proposals to establish an international high school are feasible.

"They will need zoning and wetland permits from the town, which probably won't be applied for until the fall. If all goes well, they could have an approved project by year-end," Van Winkle said.

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com
China Railway Rolling Stock Corp (CRRC) said it is interested in manufacturing vehicles for all forms of rail transportation in the US, from subway cars to trains, from freight wagons to high-speed locomotives.

The company is bidding for a double-decker train contract in Philadelphia, CRRC Vice-President Yu Weiping told China Daily on Monday in New York. He also mentioned a bid for a subway project in Los Angeles during an interview with Bloomberg.

Yu's comments came after the company won a $1.3 billion contract last month to supply up to 846 new railcars for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)  the largest railcar purchase in CTA's history. The prototype cars are scheduled for delivery in 2019, and are expected to be in service the following year.

Yu said the two sides are finalizing the deal, and along with the order, CRRC will build a new railcar-assembly facility in the Windy City, generating about 170 jobs.

It will be CRRC's second facility in the US. Construction began on the first 220,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Springfield, Massachusetts, last September, and according to Yu, the work has been going smoothly, with completion scheduled for fall 2017. The first cars are expected to be delivered to Boston in 2018.

"We expand globally, and we operate locally," said Yu. "These local investments help us to adapt faster and establish relationships.

"The two facilities in Springfield and Chicago will provide about 300 direct jobs, and more indirect ones throughout the supply chain," he said.

CRRC also has taken a minority stake in a joint venture to manufacture freight wagons in Wilmington, North Carolina.

The company is also involved in a high-speed rail project between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, announced before President Xi Jinping's state visit last September.

"The US will certainly have more and more high-speed rails," said Yu. He believes a high-speed rail between Boston and Washington DC through New York City is much needed, and the line would be profitable.

"CRRC now has a presence in 101 countries around the world," he said. "The US is one of our major markets."

When asked about CRRC's ultimate goal in the US market, Yu responded, "Like when one needs a car ride, he thinks of Uber. When he needs to take public transportation, he thinks of CRRC."
The head count of wild tigers roaming the jungles and forests of Asia has gone up for the first time in more than a century.

After hitting an all time low of 3,200 in 2010, the world's wild population of the striped predators now stands at an estimated 3,890. The counting was done by conservation groups and national governments in the latest global census, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Global Tiger Forum.

India has the lion's share with more than half, 2,226. Russia has 433; Indonesia, 371; Malaysia, 250; Nepal, 198; Thailand, 189; Bangladesh, 106; and Bhutan, 103.

China has more than seven, the report said. Vietnam has fewer than five; Laos has two; and Cambodia has zero.

Experts said the news was cause for celebration but stopped short of saying the number of tigers itself was actually rising.

"I think the numbers need to be looked at carefully and verified before there is celebration," J.A. Mills, author of Blood of the Tiger: A Story of Conspiracy, Greed and the Battle to Save a Magnificent Species, wrote in an e-mail to China Daily.

Mills pointed out that while tigers are extinct or nearly extinct in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, the number in Bangladesh is down by more than half and there has been a worrying increase in tiger poaching in India and Nepal.

Still, this is the first time tiger counts are increasing since 1900, when there were more than 100,000 in the wild.

"More important than the absolute numbers is the trend, and we're seeing the trend going in the right direction," Ginette Hemley, senior vice-president of wildlife conservation at WWF, told The Associated Press.

The global census, compiled from national tiger surveys as well as the International Union for Conservation of Nature, was released on Monday, a day before ministers from 13 countries meet for a three-day tiger conservation meeting in New Delhi.

The countries teamed up with conservation groups after the alarmingly low count and at a meeting in Russia in 2010 pledged to double wild tiger numbers by 2022. Film actor Leonardo DiCaprio joined the effort through his foundation.

"Tigers are some of the most vital and beloved animals on Earth," DiCaprio said in a statement following the announcement. "I am so proud that our collective efforts have begun to make progress toward our goal, but there is still so much to be done."

Not all nations are yet seeing progress. While Russia, India, Bhutan and Nepal all counted more tigers in their latest surveys, Southeast Asian countries have struggled.

"When you have high-level political commitments, it can make all the difference," Hemley said. "When you have well protected habitat and you control the poaching, tigers will recover. That's a pretty simple formula. We know it works."

Tiger parts have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 1,000 years. Bones, teeth, claws, whiskers, penis and eyes have been prescribed for ailments including insomnia, malaria, meningitis, leprosy, epilepsy, impotence and malaria.

Tigers are being farmed in China, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, to conservationists' dismay. The Environmental Investigation Agency estimates that there are between 5,000 and 6,000 tigers being held in captivity in 200 facilities in China where they "are often intensively bred for trade".

"Even if there are 3,890 tigers remaining in the wild, that is not nearly enough to withstand the onslaught of demand that will occur if China's tiger farms are allowed to fully open trade in products from farmed tigers," Mills said, explaining there will still be a consumer preference for wild-raised parts over those bred in cages.

"Think of bones from farmed tigers as cubic zirconia and bones from wild tigers as natural diamonds. Supply of one will not satisfy demand for the other," she said.

Marco Lambertini, director general of the WWF, said the new tiger headcount "offers us great hope and shows that we can save species and their habitats when governments, local communities and conservationists work together."

"I believe President Xi Jinping will save wild elephants with the ban he has mandated on ivory trade in China," Mills said. "I believe only he can save wild tigers by mandating an end to tiger farming. Until then, every last wild tiger will have a handsome price on its head."

"The US just made major move to regulate its captive tigers by making it illegal to trade so-called 'generic' tigers," she added.

Contact the writer at chrisdavis@chinadailyusa.com.
SEOUL -- The Republic of Korea (ROK) on Wednesday rejected the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s demand to return its 13 nationals, said to have defected to South Korea, back home, Seoul's unification ministry said.

The ministry said in a statement that the group defection of DPRK nationals to the ROK was made in a sheer accordance with their free will, urging Pyongyang to stop unreasonable insistence and threats of provocations.

It called for the DPRK to give up its nuclear and missile programs that provide no benefit for DPRK people.

The DPRK demanded Tuesday that South Korea return 13 DPRK nationals who Seoul claimed were defectors to the ROK, saying that Seoul's spy agency lured and abducted the 13 individuals who worked at a state-run restaurant in China.

Seoul's unification ministry said last Friday that the group defected to the ROK last week, marking the first time that a group of DPRK citizens working at the same overseas restaurant fled to the ROK.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang confirmed Monday that 13 DPRK nationals entered and left China legally with valid passports last week. He made the remarks at a briefing when asked to comment on a report.
China wins Market Focus Achievement Award at 2016 London Book Fair award ceremony on Tuesday. Lin Liying, vice president of China National Publication Import and Export Corp (second from left) accepts the award at the ceremony. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

China has won two awards at this week's London Book Fair award ceremony, highlighting the country's growing influence on the global publishing scene.

The Market Focus Achievement Award recognized China's efforts to showcase its publishing industry in 2012, the year China was the annual fair's focus country.

The Jieli Publishing House Co. Ltd also won the Children's and Young Adult Trade Publisher Award, in recognition of a broad and inclusive approach to creating a catalogue that reflected high caliber domestic and international authors and titles.

Lin Liying, vice-president of China National Publication Import and Export Corp. (CPIEC) said China had taken the opportunity of the 2012 event to adopt an innovative approach to exchanges with the global publishing industry. It marked a milestone in the internationalization of China's publishing industry.

Lin said the vast variety of publishers and books that China brought to the London Book Fair in 2012, the large collection of literary events it organized and the number of famous Chinese authors who attended, were all key to making China's role as market focus country a success.

Lin said the powerful impact China made at the 2012 event boosted awareness and understanding among Western publishers and readers of China's publishing landscape.

Wang Yanchao, rights manager of Jieli Publishing, said it was an honor for her team to receive the Children's and Young Adult Trade Publisher Award. She said her team placed a high emphasis on the quality of new titles that were added to the catalogue.

The company's annual catalogue has about 400-500 titles, over half of which are from a wide range of international markets, and the rest by Chinese authors.

Jacks Thomas, director of the London Book Fair, said it is wonderful to see China winning the two awards. She said she believed China's publishing industry had growing global influence.

Thomas said she looked forward to seeing more Chinese books being translated, as they would provide a window for the world to understand China better.

The London Book Fair awards celebrate success in 14 categories. China was shortlisted for five, just ahead of the USA and Australia with four each.

China was also shortlisted for Paper Republic for the Publishers Weekly Literary Translation Initiative Award, Higher Education Press Limited Company for the SSP Scholarly Kitchen Academic and Professional Publisher Award, and Sanlian Bookhouse for The Bookstore of the Year Award.
Beijing-based New World Press and its British partner, Global China Press, are to publish books on Chinese governance, Sino-EU relations and expert foreign views of China theater. [Photo by Fu Jing/China Daily]

Beijing-based publisher New World Press and its British partner Global China Press have signed a deal to publish fifteen books with topics ranging widely from China's governance structure to Sino-European relations and how outside experts view Chinese theater.

The agreement was signed on Tuesday at the start of the three-day London Book Fair. More than 100 countries are attending the event, which has attracted more than 40 Chinese publishing houses and printing works.

"To achieve better understanding of China, we are taking urgent action to negotiate with partners worldwide to publish China-themed books in an effort to update foreign readers with the latest developments in the country and introduce Chinese culture," said Fang Zhenghui, vice-president of China International Publishing Group, of which New World Press is a subsidiary.

At the fair, Global China Press, China International Publishing Group and New World Press launched English and Chinese versions of China's Urbanization: Migration by the Million. The book is edited by Xie Chuntao, professor of the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC.

The launch marked the debut of the China Urbanization Studies series, a joint project to explore the stories behind China's impressive urbanization.

China International Publishing Group and New World Press also launched on Tuesday an English version of The Belt and Road Initiative: What Will China Offer the World in Its Rise, written by Wang Yiwei, professor of China's Renmin University.
An increasing number of Chinese are tracking, through social media and online live streaming, what the United Nations describes as the ongoing "job interview" for the next UN secretary-general.

Incumbent UN chief Ban Ki-moon's term will end on Dec 31. For the first time, the United Nations selection process is accompanied by candidate campaigns and, as time allows, some questions from the public via live video streaming.

As of Wednesday, five male candidates and four females had been scheduled, one by one, to present informal briefings scheduled from Tuesday to Thursday.

The campaign is intriguing the Chinese public in part because of the color added by female candidates and the candidates' connection with China  eight out of the nine have visited the country.

The UN System's branch in China has offered live video streaming as well as live Chinese language interpretation through its account on Weibo.com, China's largest social network.

Recorded video clips for each candidate  around two hours long each  are also available for netizens.

The video of Montenegro's Foreign Minister Igor Luksic attracted more than 300 comments and 500 reposts alone.

The interpreters for the briefing with Luksic were the subject of complaints as well as praise among Chinese netizens.

One, whose username is @Xiexiaowanying, said that "the interpreter is funny", while @fangxiaobaihua said, "It is so common to see errors when no written materials are provided."

Chen Jian, former UN undersecretary-general and a veteran Chinese diplomat, said the UN's media campaign, especially the use of social networks, "effectively adapts the UN System to the changing media landscape, in which there are increasing, multiple channels and outlets for spreading information".

Chen said the informal briefings "symbolize progress in the procedures of democracy", compared with what he called a lack of transparency in the past.

On Wednesday afternoon, the weibo account of the UN System's China branch confirmed that Vuk Jeremic had become the ninth candidate for the post and said he will present his briefing on Thursday at 9 am New York time (9 pm Beijing time). Jeremic was president of the 67th session of the UN General Assembly and is former Serbian minister of foreign affairs.

Teng Jianqun, a researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, said the interview process is being pushed partly by the rising voices from countries in Eastern Europe and Africa that Teng said had called for openness and transparency in the selection process.

The competition ultimately will be shaped by the votes of the UN Security Council, and the two key factors will be geopolitics and gender, Teng said.

It will be difficult "to estimate who will stand out to be the new UN chief until July", when the General Assembly will discuss the final list of candidates, he added.
(Photo : China Photos/Getty Images) A barge carrying the wreck of the 800-year-old sunken merchant ship 'Nanhai No.1' (or 'South China Sea No. 1'), prepares to berth on a temporary dock on the South China Sea on December 24, 2007 in Yangjiang of Guangdong Province, China.

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China aired its side on Tuesday relative to the strong opposition against provocation in East and South China Seas made by the foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies.



According to China Daily, China, through its foreign ministry, expressed its anger via an official statement.



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"We urge the G7 member states to honor their commitment of not taking sides on issues involving territorial disputes," the country pointed out.



The statement reportedly added that "The G7 should focus on global economic governance and cooperation against the backdrop of weak economic growth rather than hyping up disputes and provoking problems."



South China Sea has been the subject of disputes among countries claiming it. China is said to be claiming almost the entire area, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam are trying to get certain parts of it.



Based on available data, about $5 trillion in trade is shipped within the region annually.



While China has emphasized on its claims on South China Sea, it was noted that it is committed to resolve disputes with other countries through talks provided that they will be in accordance with the international law and on historical facts, which accordingly must be respected.



"We urge the G7 member states to fully respect the efforts made by countries in the region, stop making irresponsible remarks and all irresponsible actions, and truly play a constructive role for regional peace and stability," the foreign ministry of China stated.



It can be recalled that on Monday, after a meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, the G7 foreign ministers said that they do not agree with "any intimidating coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions" in the East and South China Seas.







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(Photo : Reuters) Facebook's newest project Terragraph aims to deliver low-cost, high-speed wireless Internet connection.

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Facebook is fulfilling its promise! The company has opened up the Instant Article service to all publishers. Publishers can now import their content into Facebook and add it directly into user's News Feed.



In a statement, Facebook said, "Opening up Instant Articles will allow any publisher to tell great stories, that load quickly, to people all over the world. With Instant Articles, they can do this while retaining control over the experience, their ads and their data."



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Facebook claims that the decision to open Instant Article to all publishers is a big success not only for the social network giant, but to all publishers in general.



Aside from opening Instant Articles to all publishers, Facebook announced that it has added new tools and partners to the fold. Facebook Instant Articles will now have native integration with Medium, WordPress, ShareThis, Sovrn, RebelMouse, Nielsen, Tempest, Chartbeast, Adobe Analytics, SimpleReach and Parsely.



Several tech analysts agree that by opening up Instant Articles to all publishers, Facebook has clear advantage over Google which launched its own initiative called the Accelerated Mobile Pages project.



Both Facebook's Instant Articles and Google Accelerated Mobile Pages are designed to make webpage load faster. However, unlike Instant Articles, Accelerated Mobile Pages is an open-source project, which means that other services like Twitter can use it.



On the other hand, experts agree that Facebook's biggest advantage over Google is its massive user base. Facebook's social network service also makes it easier for users to read and share articles without the need to leave the platform.



Facebook debuted Instant Articles in February. Back then, the service only supported a handful of publishers including BBC News, The Atlantic, The Guardian, BuzzFeed, NBC, National Geographic, Spiegel Online and The New York Times. Prior to the recent update, Facebook claims that it was able to add a few hundred publishers into the service.



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TagsFacebook, Facebook Instant Article, Instant article, Instant Articles, Instant Articles publisher, facebook update, Facebook upgrade
(Photo : United Kingdom United Nations /Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) The UN will select its Next Chief through an interview process. Outgoing Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is seen in the picture.

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For the first time in the 70 years history of the United Nations (UN), there will be an open engagement with candidates for the Secretary General job. The interview will last from April 12 to14.



Each candidate is getting two hours each to prove he/she is the person for the job in front of the General Assembly.



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The UN General Assembly consists of 193 members countries and observers from Palestine and Holy See, who are overseeing the process, which is being telecast live on the UN's website. This process on the UN's website is described as "job interview in-front of the whole world".



In next two days, all eight official candidates will take questions such as; how they can enhance sustainable development, their perspective on bringing lasting peace to disturbed parts of the world, how to protect human rights and how to address large scale humanitarian disasters. The candidates will also be facing questions from the selection panel on ways to reach the goals outlined in the 2030 Sustainable development agenda.



There are currently eight candidate hoping to replace sitting Secretary General Ban-Ki-moon and half of them are women. As there is no deadline for joining the competition, speculations are rife that German Chancellor Angela Merkel may make a strong last moment entry.



Under the principles of regional rotation, there is an assumption that somebody from East Europe will be next to occupy this prestigious global positon. With Slovenia and five rival candidates from East European countries, experts say the selection will be very tough.



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(Photo : Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images) In the picture Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster Inc., second from left, attends the Bloomberg Vanity Fair White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner afterparty.

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Tech billionaire Sean Parker has donated a $250 million grant to support research on new innovations to address cancer treatment through immunotherapy.



Parker, who founded music-sharing service Napster, will establish an immunotherapy centre with this money, in partnership with other cancer research institutes in the US.



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The proposed Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy will collaborate with over 40 laboratories and 300 renowned researchers and immunologists hail from all over the world.



"We are at an modulation point in cancer research and now it is the perfect time to maximise immunotherapy's exclusive potential to transmute all cancers into manageable diseases, saving millions of lives," said Parker, who also established the Parker Foundation in 2015.



The establishment of a new grant can help overcome many of the difficulties that currently averts research innovations. The Parker Institute is placed to broadly disseminate discoveries as it will work closely with lead scientists in the field and with more than 40 industry partners.



University of California-San Francisco scientist Jeffrey Bluestone will lead this centre. He was also named in a committee to help guide the "moonshot" cancer initiative announced this year by Vice President Joe Biden.



Parker is following in the steps of Bill and Melinda Gates, who are harnessing their effort to tackle malaria globally. Parker has revealed that he was affected by the death of Laura Ziskin, a film producer and fiend, who died of breast cancer almost 3 years ago.



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Bibles are being removed from Missing Man tributes at VA clinics and military bases. Why? Guest Columnist | 13 April, 2016 by Todd Starnes / Fox News

YOUNGSTON, Ohio (Christian Examiner)  It really takes a special kind of low-life to desecrate a military display honoring prisoners of war and those missing in action.

Over the past several months the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has waged a campaign to have Bibles removed from "Missing Man" displays located on federal property. They claim the inclusion of the Bible is a violation of federal law.

Click here to join Todd's American Dispatch: a must-read for Conservatives!

So far at least three VA medical clinics and one Air Force base have complied with the MRFF's demands to cleanse the displays of the Good Book.

I have been reporting on this religious cleansing for the past two years  and now a group of conservative organizations is preparing to fight back against the MRFF.

Fox News has exclusively obtained a letter sent to Robert McDonald, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs  urging him to reinstate the Bible to the Missing Man displays.

READ THE FULL STORY AT FOXNEWS.COM!

Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is "God Less America: Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values." Follow Todd on Twitter@ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.
Reading, Writing, Arithmetic  and Religious Intolerance 13 April, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

WASHINGTON (Christian Examiner)  The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has issued a troubling report on the religious content of textbooks in Pakistan's schools.

According to a study commissioned by USCIRF and conducted inside Pakistan by the Islamabad-based Peace and Education Foundation, the textbooks are rife with factual errors about religions other than Islam, false historical accounts of world events, and outright attempts to encourage the suppression of minority faiths in the country.

Textbooks are an important means for communicating the importance of national unity in any country and, in the case of Pakistan, a predominately Muslim country, the books find their way into the hands of more than 41 million school children. The problem, according to USCIRF, is that the texts negatively portray religious minorities and depict them as untrustworthy and inferior.

Missing from these textbooks are any references to the rights of religious minorities and their positive contributions to Pakistan's development. These textbooks sadly reflect the alarming state today of religious freedom in Pakistan. A country's education system, including its textbooks, should promote religious tolerance, not close the door to cooperation and coexistence.

"Pakistan's public school textbooks contain deeply troubling content that portrays non-Muslim citizens as outsiders, unpatriotic, and inferior; are filled with errors; and present widely-disputed historical 'facts' as settled history," USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George said in a statement.

"Missing from these textbooks are any references to the rights of religious minorities and their positive contributions to Pakistan's development. These textbooks sadly reflect the alarming state today of religious freedom in Pakistan. A country's education system, including its textbooks, should promote religious tolerance, not close the door to cooperation and coexistence."

Ironically, this is the second such study commissioned by USCIRF. In 2011, another study identified passages in textbooks which the Commission deemed intolerant of other religions and worldviews.

The new study found that many of the passages discussed in the 2011 report were either removed from the books or heavily edited in new editions. However, new passages filled with religious bias were included in the new books  including those which portray Westerners as colonial oppressors and Hindus and Indian nationalists. India is considered the greatest enemy of Pakistan.

The report claims, for instance, that history and social studies texts are built upon a "polemical historiography," or one targeting the enemies of the state.

"In the social studies, Pakistan studies, and history curriculums students are taught a version of history that promotes a national Islamic identity of Pakistan and often describes conflicts with India in religious terms. The conflation of national and religious identities creates a narrative of conflict and historic grievance between Pakistani Muslims and Indian Hindus," the report concludes.

There is also a heavy emphasis on Islam as the "paramount feature" of Pakistan's national identity in the textbooks. The adherence to Islam, one textbook claims, makes cooperation with Hindus impossible.

"This theme ignores not only the religious diversity of Pakistan and the many contributions of religious minorities throughout the nation's history, but also places religious minority students in a precarious status of either inherently flawed Pakistani citizens at best, or foreigners and enemies of the state at worst," the report claims.

In addition to the emphasis on Muslim nationalism, the books also misrepresent other religions  especially Christianity, which is portrayed as the religion of "untrustworthy missionaries" who are aligned with colonial governments. In one instance, an eighth grade social studies text claims Christian pastors have "degraded other religions" and promoted the "illegal and ignorant rule of the Church."

Christians are also said to have learned kind-heartedness and tolerance from Muslims.

Perhaps the most disturbing feature of the textbooks is the effort to glorify war and war heroes, the report claims.

"In particular, the conquest of Sindh by Muhammad bin Qasim and 17 famous attacks by Sultan Mehmood Ghaznavi are included proudly in every textbook. Highlighting these two events as the beginning of civilization in the sub-continent, while ignoring the evolution of art, architecture, and culture, remains a key problem in textbooks. In post-independence history, wars with India are emphasized and examples of peace initiatives are largely ignored, resulting in an unbalanced historical discourse focused on intractable conflict. This narrow nationalism only fulfills the task of educating Pakistanis in the most superficial way," the report claims.

Every year since 2002, USCIRF has recommended the U.S. State Department place Pakistan on its list of Countries of Particular Concern. That designation means persecution is real and systemic in a particular location and improvements must be made alongside any furtherance toward successful diplomatic relations.

As for one of those improvements, USCIRF recommended another reformation of the children's textbooks, to include more references to religious freedom as a constitutional protection given to all citizens, including religious minorities; a "constructive patriotism" that isn't built on fear of minority faiths or ethnic groups; an urging that all groups co-exist peacefully; and corrections to the "historical omissions and misrepresentations" in the books.

USCIRF's 2016 report on religious freedom in Pakistan and other countries will be published at the end of this month.

The Peace and Education Foundation, which conducted the study, encourages madrasahs to adopt modern curricula on science, religious tolerance and human rights. It also asks teachers to promote critical thinking and "peacebuilding skills" among students.
Former Sec. of State Albright: Religion in foreign policy is like brain surgery, 'necessary ... but disastrous if you mess up' 13 April, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

WASHINGTON (Christian Examiner)  Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright has claimed western diplomats have erred over the past century when they've excluded religion from discussions on foreign policy.

"I was part of a generation that was taught to keep God and religion as separate as possible from foreign policy," Albright said in her address during the 10th anniversary celebration of Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs April 7.

"We took a narrow view. It's not so much that religion was forgotten. It was compartmentalized. It was personal, not public. Local, not global. We were not naive, but neither did we accord religion as much weight as it deserved in the foreign policy discussion," Albright said.

There are some who might want to engage in such a bridge-building effort without bringing religion into the conversation  to them I say, 'Good luck.' ... As Desmond Tutu said, 'Religion is like a knife. It may be used to slice bread or stab your neighbor in the back. It cannot be ignored.'

Albright said the rise of Arab nationalism in the 1950s, pushed by secular leaders, associated religion with backwardness. Diplomats then came to see Cold War diplomacy in the Middle East solely as a "chess match" over which nation would influence Egypt, Iran and other countries. Religion faded from the discussion and led to gaps in knowledge about the foreign cultures the United States was engaging.

By the 1980s, however, it was clear that religion still very much influenced world affairs. Albright said radical Shia Islam in Iran and radical Sunni Islam rose in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Religion played a role in the Balkan crisis of the 1990s. It also plays a role today in the rise of the Islamic State and other radical groups.

Albright said it is hard for Americans to grasp the importance of religion in foreign policy because the country has such a long tradition of separation of church and state. Still, she said, Americans have "never separated religion from public life, and in today's world a president must take religion into account when they speak or act in world affairs. The question is how to do this without creating new problems."

She said considering the role of religion in foreign policy is like brain surgery  "necessary to do, but disastrous if you mess up."

Albright said the task diplomats now have is to "build bridges of understanding and tolerance before mutual ignorance and insecurity harden into an unbridgeable chasm of hate."

"There are some who might want to engage in such a bridge-building effort without bringing religion into the conversation  to them I say, 'Good luck,' " she said. "As Desmond Tutu said, 'Religion is like a knife. It may be used to slice bread or stab your neighbor in the back. It cannot be ignored.'"

With respect to terrorism, Albright claimed Americans should remember that they were not attacked on Sept. 11, 2001 by the Muslim world. She said the attacks were carried out by the "followers of a perverse ideology that uses Islam to justify terrorism." The attackers were not practicing their faith, but betraying it, she said.

Albright said the world's worst nightmare would be the continued expansion of sectarian conflicts to the point they could no longer be contained. She acknowledged, however, that conflicts over religion have happened repeatedly throughout history  especially in ancient times.

Albright was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. She was secretary of state under President Bill Clinton and is the author of The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God and World Affairs. Albright was born in Prague in 1937, two years before it was invaded by Nazi Germany. Her family fled to England and, later, to the U.S.
After one of my recent lectures, a Christian college student approached me and asked if black people are uncomfortable with the fact that Jesus is white. I responded, Jesus is not white. The Jesus of history likely looked more like me, a black woman, than you, a white woman.

I wasnt shocked by this students assumption that Jesus was of European descent, or the certitude with which she stated it. When I am in US Christian spaces, I encounter this assumption so often that Ive come to believe it is the default assumption about Jesus appearance. Indeed, white Jesus is everywhere: a 30-foot-tall white Savior stands at the center of Biola Universitys campus; white Jesus is featured on most Christmas cards; and the recent History Channel mini-series The Bible dramatically introduced a white Jesus to more than 100 million viewers. In most of the Western world, Jesus is white.

While Christ the Lord transcends skin color and racial divisions, white Jesus has real consequences. In all likelihood, if you close your eyes and picture Jesus, youll imagine a white man. Without conscious intention or awareness, many of us have become disciples of a white Jesus. Not only is white Jesus inaccurate, he also can inhibit our ability to honor the image of God in people who arent white.

Jesus of Nazareth likely had a darker complexion than we imagine, not unlike the olive skin common among Middle Easterners today. Princeton biblical scholar James Charlesworth goes so far as to say Jesus was most likely dark brown and sun-tanned. The earliest depictions of an adult Jesus showed him with an Oriental cast and a brown complexion. But by the sixth century, some Byzantine ...

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Last year, the American Library Association (ALA) fielded 275 formal challenges to materials in schools and librariesa record low.

Making the top 10 list of challenges for the first time: the Bible.

The reason: religious viewpoint.

But the ideological grounds for the religious books appearance on the 2015 Most Challenged List likely doesnt tell the whole story, says James LaRue, who directs the ALAs Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF).

You have people who feel that if a school library buys a copy of the Bible, its a violation of church and state, LaRue told the Associated Press. And sometimes theres a retaliatory action, where a religious group has objected to a book and a parent might respond by objecting to the Bible.

Three out of five Americans believe that religious liberty is on the decline, according to a recent LifeWay Research study. At the same time, two out of five Americans think Christians complain ...

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At the age of 18, Danny Duchene sat in a California county jail cell, coming out of an intense withdrawal from a heavy addiction to alcohol and marijuana. He had been arrested for participating in a crime that resulted in the killing of two men, and now faced a double life sentence.

Once I became sober, the full weight of my crimes and what I had done came crashing down on my conscience, Duchene, now 52, recently told a crowd at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. It was at my lowest point that Gods mercy showed up in my life.

Locked in that California cell, Duchene never could have imagined that on April 2, 2016, hed be standing in front of a congregation of thousands, sharing his testimony from the pulpit at Saddleback. That day, lead pastor Rick Warren and a team of his colleagues commissioned Duchene as the newest pastor of Celebrate Recovery Inside: a national prison ministry that connects inmates with biblical counseling curriculums and works to connect local churches with prison ministries and help them fight recidivism.

Duchene first prayed for forgiveness behind bars. Much like Chuck Colson, the former Nixon administration counselor famous for his prison ministries BreakPoint and Prison Fellowship, he soon saw his conversion lead him to a lifestyle of evangelism and discipleship "inside"even despite his exposure to gang violence and a culture of severe racism.

At 19, I was still feeling the new Christian euphoria of being freefeeling like I had a new connection with God, that I was kind of focused on him, Duchene said in an interview with The Local Church. I was still young and naive about the world ahead.

After two decades of participating in prison ministries, with scopes ranging from drama to leadership, Duchene heard of the 40 Days of Purpose curriculum, which walks participants through Warrens The Purpose Driven Life. In 2003, he contacted Warren, who not only provided the curriculum to Duchene, but also led a service at the state prison where Duchenes study took place. That night, 100 men converted, and a church was born inside the prisons walls.

But Warren didnt just help Duchene with his ministry; he also wrote a letter to the prisons parole board pleading for his release. In December 2014, that plea was granted. Duchene now oversees Saddlebacks inmate ministry, which has 900 programs currently running in more than 100 prisons nationwide and has distributed hundreds of thousands of books and study guides.

Celebrate Recovery not only focuses on spiritual needs of inmates, but also helps fight against relapses into criminal behavior and aids in reintegration after a prisoners releaseoften by connecting the inmate with a healthy church on the outside.

We want to be a safe place for them to come when they get out, Duchene said. We want to help them while theyre in, but were also inviting local churches and asking for a responsive welcome.

Duchene is now known as Pastor Danny. Hes newly married to his wife, Susan, who co-leads a Bible study with him in their home.

Its still really over my head now. You feel like youre worth something, Duchene said. So much of your life in there, men and women dont feel like their lives are worth anything. To have someone like Rick Warren show you mercy like he did, and show the worth of what God has done in my lifeits a weight of worthlessness off your shoulders.
Restored Hope Network Accredited by National Financial Accountability Organization Contact: Dan Busby, President, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, 800-323-9473, Dan@ECFA.org



MILWAUKIE, Ore., April 12, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- The ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability) announced today the accreditation of Restored Hope Network of Milwaukie, OR.



ECFA accreditation is based on the ECFA Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship, including financial accountability, transparency, sound board governance and ethical fundraising.



Restored Hope Network joins a growing number of Christ-centered churches and ministries across America, supported by over 27 million donors that have earned the right to display the ECFA seal. When an organization is accredited by ECFA, it demonstrates its willingness to follow the model of biblical accountability.



"We are pleased to accredit a ministry committed to restoring hope to those broken by sexual and relational sin, especially those impacted by homosexuality," said Dan Busby, president of ECFA.



Founded in 2012, Restored Hope Network (www.restoredhopenetwork.org) proclaims that Jesus Christ has life-changing power for all who submit to Christ as Lord; they also seek to equip his church to impart that transformation.



To learn more about Restored Hope Network and their stewardship opportunities, visit ServantMatch, ECFA's program that matches God's servants with the stewardship options of ECFA members based on ministry sectors and categories. It is ECFA's newest online feature that allows you to quickly and easily find giving opportunities.



ECFA, founded in 1979, provides accreditation to leading Christian nonprofit organizations that faithfully demonstrate compliance with the ECFA Standards pertaining to financial accountability, fundraising and board governance. For more information about ECFA, including information about accreditation and a listing of ECFA-accredited members, visit www.ECFA.org or call 1-800-323-9473.

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home World EU High Court rules in favor of Iranian Christian convert seeking asylum in Sweden

The European High Court has ruled in favor of an Iranian Christian convert seeking asylum in Sweden. The court's ruling in the case of F.G. v Sweden was based on the life-threatening situation that the man could and would face should he be deported back to his Islamic country.

The Catholic News Agency quotes part of the ruling that states: "The applicant's conversion to Christianity is a criminal offence punishable by death in Iran. In addition to the risk of social persecution as a Christian, the applicant risks criminal prosecution for the crime of apostasy.

"The order for the applicant's deportation to Iran, where he could be tried under the above-mentioned criminal and procedural law, equates to a violation of principles deeply enshrined in the universal legal conscience."

In its ruling, the Grand Chamber said that deporting the man would be a violation of Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the statutes of which protect people's lives and safeguard them from inhumane treatment.

In 2009, the man who was politically persecuted for opposing the regime in Iran sought asylum and residency in Sweden. In 2011, his requst was denied by the Swedish Migration Office. His appeal was denied in 2014 by the lower chamber, saying that the migration office's decision was just since his life was not really in danger. According to the CNA, the lower court said that he could keep his faith private since the Iranian government does not know that he has converted to Christianity.

The Alliance Defending Freedom International disagreed. A brief filed by the organization to the European Human Court of Human Rights argued that Christian converts are at risk in Iran and that the lower court has violated the man's religious freedom.

In an interview with the Catholic News Agency, Robert Clarke, director of European Advocacy for ADF International, said that "the lower chamber (of the court) underestimated the severe danger to this convert's life."

He explained that the Islamic regime in Iran has ways of identifying Christian converts.

"If a convert to Christianity is identified by the Iranian government, he or she is very likely to suffer substantial harm, deprivation of liberty, assaults and continual harassment. In the worst case the individual could face severe ill-treatment or death," he said.

According to Clarke, the Grand Chamber was correct in noting that "Christian converts are one of the most persecuted religious minorities in Iran."

The 2016 World WatchList by OpenDoors says that Iran ranks ninth in the list of countries where Christians are most severely persecuted. North Korea, Iraq, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Somalia, and Sudan make the top eight, while Libya is 10th in the list.
home World Norwegian Lutheran Church votes in favor of same-sex marriage

The Lutheran Church in Norway voted in favor of allowing same-sex couples to get married, and the religious movement in the church that lobbied for the change is happy with the results.

"Finally we can celebrate love independently of whom one falls in love with," Gard Sandaker-Nilsen, leader of the Open Public Church, said as quoted by Reuters.

The voting took place on Monday, April 11, during the church's annual conference. Of the 115 delegates present, 88 were for allowing gay couples to be wed. This would put in place new rules, but priests can still object if they do not wish to preside over the marriage.

The Norwegian church in Norway is not the first Christian organization to allow same-sex marriage. According to Reuters, both the Protestant Church in France and the Presbyterian Church in the United States have also allowed it.

However, the Church of England is not in agreement. According to a report by The Independent in January, the Anglican Church in the United States has been penalized for recognizing same-sex marriage. This was when the Primates had a meeting in Canterbury, and they remained firm in their stance that marriage is between a man and a woman. This has apparently created a divide between liberals who support gender-neutral unions and the conservatives who are against it.

Norway has recognized registered same-sex partnerships since 1993, and it made gender-neutral marriage legal in 2009, the sixth country to do so. However, under the law, religious communities are not required to perform the marriage.

In a poll conducted by Ipsos in 2013, 78 percent of respondents in Norway believed that same-sex couples should be allowed to get married legally, while 11 percent thought that they should be given legal recognition but not marry.
Archbishop of Kenya retaliates in 'forged' letter row

The Archbishop of Kenya has denied that he signed or approved a letter released under his signature that appeared to change Kenya's stance on its boycott of the meeting of Anglican leaders in Zambia this week.

The Most Rev Eliud Wabukala told Anglican Ink that the forgery was a ruse to defy his authority and justify the attendance of the Kenyan delegation in Lusaka.

Archbishop Wabukala said he had been in northern Kenya when he realised the Kenya delegtion had tickets and reservations to travel to Lusaka. As he could not get there, he sent an aide to attend a meeting with the leader of the delegation to explain the Archbishop's position that was against the delegation traveling to the Anglican Consultative Council meeting.

Nigeria, Uganda and Jerusalem and the Middle East have boycotted the meeting and Archbishop Wabukala had intended that Kenya should do the same.

Archbishop Wabukala said that his aide was in fact expelled from the meeting.

He said the delegation then decided they would go to Lusaka. They drafted the letter in question, asked him to sign it and read it to him over his cell phone.

Parts of the document were acceptable, the archbishop noted: "the ACK does not approve of TEC. We support the Global South. We support the primates meeting."

Wabukala said the line on his cell phone had not been clear and he was unable to make out everything in the letter. "I was not comfortable. So I said I will come back and see what it is."

He added: "So when I came back to the office I found the letter had been released under my signature. This is not what I said. So I was real annoyed. I called the office of communications and said 'please do not put that thing out because it was not what I wrote'."

The letter was signed with a "rubber stamp", a digital signature used for internal church memorandums.

He said it presented a false position to the Kenyan Church and the wider Anglican Communion. "I think it is a bit of a misunderstanding, a very clear misunderstanding. That statement does not bear my position."

He added: "It is contradictory to the position of Kenya because the conclusion was against the synod of bishops, and the solid Biblical position we have taken as a Church in support of the primates in January, in support of the General South position. So after you have said all that why say, 'I am going'?"

Earlier this month the general secretary of the Anglican Consultative Council, Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, said: "The unsubstantiated public allegations of forgery against the members of the Kenyan delegation are scurrilous and untrue and are made in a manner against all biblical principles of appropriate behaviour."
'Call the Midwife' season 6 Christmas special filming begins in South Africa

The cast and crew of "Call the Midwife" are now in South Africa to begin their work on the show's Christmas special for season 6.

In the upcoming Christmas special, Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter), Nurse Phyllis Crane (Linda Bassett), Sister Winifred (Victoria Yeates), Shelagh Turner (Laura Main), Dr. Patrick Turner (Stephen McGann), Rev. Tom Hereward (Jack Ashton), Trixie Franklin (Helen George), Barbara Gilbert (Charlotte Ritchie) and Fred Buckle (Cliff Parisi) will be travelling to an area in the Eastern Cape of South Africa to extend a helping hand to a small mission hospital.

According to the synopsis released by BBC (via Metro UK), the Nonnatus House gets a call from the small, struggling mission hospital called Hope Clinic, which is on the brink of shutting down. They are tasked to help attend to the patients using limited supplies and resources.

"Far from home and everything familiar, the team are both shaken and exhilarated by the challenges they face  and by the time the mission trip is over, some lives are permanently changed," the synopsis reveals.

The Nonnatus House staff will be joined by Dr. Myra Fitzsimmons (Sinead Cusack), the head of the Hope Clinic.

Meanwhile, reports confirmed that Chummy (Miranda Hart) is set to return to Poplar after appearing in the upcoming Christmas special in "Call the Midwife" season 6.

According to the official statement from the show, as reported by Radio Times, "We are delighted to tell you that our beloved Miranda Hart will be returning to Nonnatus House as the brilliant Chummy Noakes. We've been bursting to share the news that Chummy has now left the Mother and Baby Home and is heading back to Poplar for season 6!"

Hart had to miss the entire season 5 because of prior work commitments such as her own BBC1 sitcom and appearance in the movie "Spy" with Melissa McCarthy. But she is set to return to the show for the rest of the sixth season.

"Call the Midwife" season 6 Christmas special airs later this year.
Hundreds of Christians join North Carolina rally to support new bathroom privacy law

Hundreds of Christians in North Carolina staged a rally on Monday to support the decision of their lawmakers, backed up by their governor, to pass a bathroom privacy law, overturning an ordinance in Charlotte that would have allowed transgender individuals to use bathrooms of the opposite sex.

Members of various social conservative groups, including the Christian Action League of North Carolina, gathered on the grounds of the old Capitol building in Raleigh to affirm their rights to privacy, which they said would have been violated if the bathroom ordinance took effect.

North Carolina state lawmakers recently passed House Bill 2 repealing an ordinance in Charlotte giving transgender people access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers meant for those belonging to the opposite sex. The bill was quickly signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory.

"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 said in a statement to justify the measure, as quoted by CBN News.

Dr. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League and one of those who joined the rally hosted by the "Keep NC Safe Coalition," said McCrory and other North Carolina officials made the correct decision in overturning the controversial bathroom bill.

"The bill that passed and the one the governor signed, H.B. 2, overturned an egregious Charlotte ordinance and restored basic expectations of privacy people have when using the restroom," Creech also told CBN News.

"The bill also provides that private businesses can make their own decisions regarding accommodations and services and not be forced by a city ordinance to do certain things that could be detrimental to their business," he added.

Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr., a nationally known African-American Pentecostal minister and social conservative activist and commentator, meanwhile dismissed claims by some lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups that their members will be discriminated against because of the recently enacted law in North Carolina.

"This is not an issue of discrimination; this is really protecting the rights of women and under-aged girls, and I think it's a significant day for us to take a stand," Jackson said.
'Indiana Jones 5' news: Film will be continuation of 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'

"Indiana Jones 5" will be a follow-up to the fourth film in the franchise  "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." This is according to producer Frank Marshall, who also emphasized (via Variety) that there will be no one else to don the fedora but Harrison Ford.

"Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was released in 2008 to a lukewarm to poor reception from critics and fans alike. With the film still slandered by many, there's hope that "Indiana Jones 5" will help bring the franchise back to its former glory.

Unfortunately, Marshall did not elaborate on his statement and did not offer more details about what "Indiana Jones 5" will be all about. Screenrant emphasizes that with the self-contained nature of the "Indy" movies, the upcoming installment will be given the same treatment.

That being said, it could be that "Indiana Jones 5" won't exactly be a continuation to "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which was pretty close-ended plot-wise. Marshall may have meant that it will simply not be a prequel, which is entirely impossible to make happen.

The fifth "Indiana Jones" film will be released in 2019. By that time, Ford will be 77 years old. Marshall is nonetheless open to more "Indiana Jones" movies but not to the idea of having a new actor to play the titular whip-wielding archaeologist.

"It's all about the story. I think both in the 'Jason Bourne' series and on 'Indiana Jones,' we are not going to do the Bond thing," Marshall said. "We think those characters are iconic, and those are the only actors who can play that," he maintained.

Ford himself is excited about the prospect of playing the character once again in the big screen. Before he was confirmed to reprise the iconic role, the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" star expressed excitement to be back.

The same goes for "Indiana Jones" movies director Steven Spielberg, who was as adamant as Marshall in saying that Ford is the only Indy and no one else.

"Indiana Jones 5" hits the big screen on July 19, 2019.
King Abdullah to help fund Holy Sepulchre restoration

King Abdullah of Jordan has offered to contribute to the restoration of the centrepiece of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

The gesture by a Muslim sovereign has been widely welcomed. According to the Jordan News Agency, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III praised the King's generosity and said he embodied "in deed, and not only in word, the shared living of Muslims and Christians all over the world and particularly in the Holy Land".

The Roman Catholic Church's representative in Jerusalem, Bishop William Shomali described it as "excellent news, news of a highly symbolic character, since the Holy Sepulchre is the most sacred place for Christians of all confessions".

Agreement on the repair of the Aedicule, the shrine at the heart of the complex under which is supposedly located the tomb of Jesus, was reached after years of tortuous negotiations between the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, which share responsibility for it. The renovation will cost $3.4 million and will see the monument, which in its present form dates back to 1810, completely rebuilt. The marble slabs will be taken off, the 12th century Crusader shrine beneath will be repaired and the cracks in the rock-hewn tomb under that, where many Christians believe Christ was actually buried, will be filled.

It is unclear how much King Abdullah will contribute to the restoration. However, while his gesture is seen as a generous statement of solidarity with Christians, it is also politically calculated. The holy places of Jerusalem, including not only Christian sites but also the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, were under Jordanian sovereignty until the 1967 Six Day War. The peace treaty between Israel and Jordan in 1994 pledged Israel to respect Jordan's historic role in caring for the sites. However, this has become an increasingly contested area with the upsurge in Palestinian unrest.

In his response to the gift, Patriarch Theophilos refers to Jordan's historic claims, saying that its role in protecting Christians in the Holy Land is "clear and undeniable". The donation is "just more proof of His Majesty King Abdullah's commitment, in word and in deed, to the Holy Sites in Jerusalem, as has always been the case with the Hashemites and the Jordanian people", the Patriarch said.

He also referred to an agreement reached in 637 AD when Jerusalem was conquered by the Arabs. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was allowed to continue as a place of Christian worship. "Our churches will continue to pray for the peace and security of Jordan, its army, its security agencies, its people, and its leader who justly and honestly continues the Pact of Omar," he added.
Lost Caravaggio masterpiece found in leaky attic depicts bloody apocryphal scene

A painting found after more than 150 years of lying forgotten in an attic has been attributed to the Italian baroque master Caravaggio.

'Judith Beheading Holofernes' could be worth nearly 100 million, according to French experts.

The painting shows Judith, a widow who is heroine of the apocryphal Book of Judith. The book has been controversial throughout the ages because she uses her beauty and charm to seduce the wicked King Nebuchadnezzar's general, Holofernes, before beheading him with a sword.

The 144cm x 175cm painting was found by the owners of a house near Toulouse when they broke down a door to investigate a leak, and found an area under the rafters they had not known existed. Although parts of the painting were damp because of the leak, it was undamaged.

It is thought to have been painted in Rome in the early years of the 17th century Caravaggio, whose real name was Michelangelo Merisi.

"A painter is like us he has tics, and you have all the tics of Caravaggio in this. Not all of them, but many of them  enough to be sure that this is the hand, this is the writing of this great artist," the painting expert Eric Turquin told Reuters TV.

"It has the light, the energy, typical of Caravaggio, without mistakes, done with a sure hand and a pictorial style that makes it authentic."

The owners of the painting had no idea they had it, he added. He said he had kept it out of the public eye for two years while he studied and cleaned it.

"They had to go through the attic and break a door which they had never opened... They broke the door and behind it was that picture. It's really incredible."

The French Culture Ministry believes it to be of "great artistic value" and has banned its export from France for 30 months. This will allow French galleries to study and buy it if they wish.

Nicola Spinoza, former director of the Naples museum, told Agence France Press: "One has to recognise the canvas in question as a true original of the Lombard master, almost certainly identifiable, even if we do not have any tangible or irrefutable proof."

However the French newspaper Le Quotidien de l'Art suggested it might not be by Caravaggio. Art expert Mina Gregori told the paper that it was not an original although she recognised the "undeniable quality of the work".
Nigerian pastor tells MPs of Christian persecution: 'We don't have liberty'

Politicians crammed into a room in the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday afternoon to hear about Christian persecution in northern Nigeria.

More than 35 MPs and peers attended the launch of a report by persecution charity Open Doors, including shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, minister for international development Desmond Swayne, and former shadow business secretary Chuka Umanna.

Zoe Smith, head of advocacy for Open Doors, told Christian Today after the event that politicians were reminded Christans did not just suffer attacks from Boko Haram but also from Fulani tribesman and Islamic local government figures.

The UK government, she said, was aware of attacks by Fulani people on Christians but it was not their main focus. "We ask ministers to ensure UK aid is evenly distributed across northern Nigeria including areas affected by Fulani herdsmen's attacks."

Smith continued: "Our report indicates aid had not been reaching Christians in these areas to the same extent as the far north." In 2014, UK aid to Nigeria totalled 237m.

As well as Smith, parliamentarians heard from Nigerian pastors who spoke of attacks they had faced. One church leader touched on another of Open Doors' recommendations to ensure a commitment to religious freedom. "Our constitution guarantees liberty, but we don't have liberty," he said.

Open Doors' report called for a full investigation into atrocities in northern Nigeria as records of attacks are "relatively poor," Smith told Christian Today.

"I am hoping MPs and peers will take our full recommendations and bring them to the government whether in written questions or letters to ministers.

"If implemented the recommendations would go a long way to help Christians in the north of Nigeria to have equal rights and a lack of discrimination.

"We do not want Christians to receive preferential treatment over Muslims. We just want equal treatment."
Oldest African-American church in Indiana capital sold to hotel developer after failing to collect donations for repairs

For lack of financial support, a 147-year-old African-American churchthe oldest such church in Indianapolis, the capital of the U.S. state of Indianais closing its doors. It will be taken over by a company that will redevelop the church and its adjoining parking lot into two hotels.

The pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church was forced to sell the property built in 1869 after a fundraising effort to pay for the estimated $2 million cost of building repairs came up way, way short.

"It wasn't even a drop in the bucket of what we needed," the Rev. Lewis Parham said.

Last fall, Bethel church was approached by multiple potential buyers, Parham said. However, the church refused at that time.

Earlier in August last year, Bethel hosted a community discussion that drew only 20 church members. Church leaders told them that much needed church repair would cost $2 million. The amount would be used to put a new roof, fix the foundation, adjust the floor joists and replace the electrical system.

Church members expressed confidence they could raise that amount.

The church made direct appeals to friends and family members. It also created a page on the GoFundMe fundraising website. Parham said he was told by a Texas organisation to expect $300,000 within five months once the GoFundMe page was active.

However, the church received only a $100 gift card from an Indianapolis resident and $11,000 in donations from church members, the pastor said.

"We were totally disappointed," Parham said. "People want the building to stay, but people don't want to do what it takes to keep it here."

The buyer of the property, Indianapolis-based SUN Development and Management Corp., plans to build a replica of the church on what is now the church's parking lot. The company declined to reveal how much it paid for the property.

The pastor said the church will transfer to a still undetermined location, where "the evangelistic efforts we make would be more successful," and where there are residents with young families.

Church historian Olivia McGee-Lockhart said the building has been a landmark for many visitors to the city.

She expressed hopes that the church's history of social justice and dedication to improving the quality of people's lives won't be lost when its members move to a new location.
Parliament to debate ISIS 'genocide'

MPs will have the chance to vote on whether ISIS has committed genocide against Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities in the Middle East when the House of Commons considers the question in a debate next Wednesday.

Next week's motion, tabled by the Conservative MP Fiona Bruce, calls on the government to bring pressure on the United Nations Security Council. The hope for supporters is this will allow the International Criminal Court (ICC) to intervene.

The government has previously been reluctant to describe the conflict as a genocide, which would place moral obligations on the state. However pressure has mounted on the Prime Minister after the White House joined the European Parliament in labelling ISIS' atrocities as genocide in March.

In a debate last month the foreign office minister Tobias Ellwood hinted the government could shift its position. He told MPs in Parliament's secondary chamber he believed "acts of genocide have taken place" and said Christians, Yazidis and others had suffered "systematic and horrific attacks" because of their religious beliefs or ethnicity.

However Ellwood continued: "Genocide is a matter of legal rather than political interpretation... Such matters are determined first in the international courts and in the United Nations Security Council."

The debate next Wednesday will be a backbench business debate which means any outcome will not force the government to act.

However Christian Today has been told that Fiona Bruce intends to force a vote at the end of the debate. If the motion is passed in a vote, it would significantly increase the pressure on Downing Street to take action.

The move is the latest in a series of attempts by British politicians to highlight the atrocities religious minorities face at the hands of ISIS. The Catholic peer Lord Alton has pushed the issue in the House of Lords and co-signed a letter to the Prime Minister in December alongside 74 other peers and MPs.

A number of QCs joined Alton in a second letter in February that criticised Cameron's view that genocide was a matter for the international legal system.

They wrote: "The only way in which the International Criminal Court can investigate and prosecute acts of genocide is with a referral from Syria or Iraq, which at this moment appears unlikely, or with a referral from the UN Security Council, of which the United Kingdom is a prominent and permanent member."

A debate followed in the House of Lords with an amendment tabled that would have forced a High Court judge to decide if ISIS had committed genocide. However the amendment was defeated by 148 to 111 after the government opposed the change.

Christian Today has been told the government is likely to oppose Wednesday's motion as well if it does not change its position that genocide remains an issue for the legal system, not for politicians.

Other parties will consider their positions although it is likely Labour and the SNP will support the motion.
Taking in 20,000 Syrian refugees 'will cost the UK more than 500m'

It will cost more than half a billion pounds to resettle the government's pledged 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020, it emerged today.

The Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) scheme is estimated to cost 598 million, according to Syrian refugee minister Richard Harrington.

Harrington revealed the figures in a written response to a parliamentary question from Jim Cunningham, Labour MP for Coventry, according to the BBC.

The first year's VPR scheme will be paid for by the UK's overseas aid budget. It is not clear where the rest of the money will come from.

Harrington detailed the budget for the duration of the scheme.

It will cost 99m in 2016-17, 129m in 2017-18, 149m in 2018-19, and 83m in 2020-2021, he said.



Keith Vaz, the Home Affairs Committee chairman, has queried the figures, branding them "huge".

"As the Home Office refuses to provide regular updates on the numbers being resettled, or where they are being placed, there is an unacceptable lack of transparency in the use of these significant funds," he said.

The budget has also allocated 129m to help local authorities with costs for the duration of the VPR scheme. To date, 55 local authorities have signed up.

The UK has so far resettled 1,194 Syrians under the scheme, including 605 under-18s.

In October 2015, a collective of bishops wrote a letter to David Cameron urging him to show a "meaningful and substantial response" to the refugee crisis by raising the number of refugees resettled in the UK over the next five years to 50,000.
Made you look, made you stare

The works in Ill Be Your Mirror, a collection offered in FIRST OPEN | London, confront the viewer with alternative ways of seeing, asking us to reconsider the world we know

Carefully curated over a period of more than 20 years, Ill Be Your Mirror is a 21st-century Kunstkammer where nothing is quite as it seems. The collection represents a contemporary meditation on one of art historys most fundamental themes: the relationship between reality and its reproduction.

Playful and disarming, the collection invites us to enter a parallel world both familiar and strange. Simulated sunlight beams forth from Olafur Eliassons National Career Lamp 1. Time stands still in Elmgreen and Dragsets Broken Clock. Christian Marclay offers a recorder stripped of all musical potential. Unified by a common language  one of imitation, replication and appropriation  the collection brings a single question to the fore: in an age of avatars, digital simulation and virtual identity, how do we measure our own reality?

In confronting this question, each of these artists engages with a debate stretching back 100 years to when Marcel Duchamp bestowed the values of high art upon a series of ready-made objects. In doing so, he fundamentally ruptured the distinction between art and daily life, declaring that the two were interchangeable. In Ill Be Your Mirror, a new generation of sculptors, video artists, photographers and painters carries this legacy into the 21st century.

Berlin-based American artist David Adamo creates uncanny replicas of objects ranging from the utilitarian and banal to the comedic and whimsical. Untitled (Margret) was originally conceived as part of a larger installation piece, in which a variety of objects  including an empty violin case and bow, squashed tomatoes, a pair of socks and six sledgehammers  were arranged like discarded props on an empty stage. This perfect bronze cast of a sparkling red shoe lay upon the floor, abandoned by its leading lady: perhaps a Cinderella who never found Prince Charming, or a Dorothy who lost her way on the Yellow Brick Road. In Untitled (11 Erasers), (shown top) Adamo turns to one of his favourite subjects, painstakingly reproducing in clay the smudged, weathered appearance of a group of used rubber erasers. In doing so, he not only strips them of their original function but also recasts them as hallowed artefacts curated upon a shelf.

In 1995 Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset began to collaborate on what has since become a wide range of thought-provoking works and installations which span art, architecture and design. In a series of projects entitled Powerless Structures (1995-2002), the artists transform the meaning of objects and spaces by re-contextualizing the familiar. Broken Clock, 2001 (above), is a wonderful example in which Elmgreen and Dragset attempt to alter the conventional function of the object to establish new possibilities. The seamless crack that shatters the clock into two fragments transforms it into a fictional entity. As the artists explain, We prefer to create art works which can function on various levels and can be read from different angles.

R.R. (above) belongs to Kaari Upsons definitive series of silicone mattresses. Cast from discarded bedding found on the streets of Los Angeles, these works embody the Californian artists fascination with the physical traces of human existence. Evolving from her landmark series The Larry Project, based on possessions salvaged from the ruins of a house belonging to her parents neighbour, the mattresses were inspired by Upsons own experiences of being bedridden by illness. I am very interested in their stitching and fabrics that are made to camouflage the bodily fluids of years of living, she explains.
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If ever there were a Texas town that embodied the old adage, "Everything old is new again," it might be Marfa, Texas. That's where a number of historic places have been replaced with bold new incarnations of their former selves, including the Hotel Saint George.

It's been 87 years since the historic lodging venue closed, and less than a month since it reopened.

The minimalist, boxy structure sits on the same plot of land where its ancestor welcomed guests from 1886 to 1929. That's when it was the primary place to rest for cowboys and railroad travelers.

READ MORE: What to eat, see and do in Marfa, Texas

More Information Hotel Saint George Location: 105 South Highland Ave. in Marfa, Texas More info: marfasaintgeorge.com See More Collapse

The new Hotel Saint George took about a year and a half to complete, and it houses nearly 300 original works of art from visionaries like Mark Flood, Christopher Wool and Jeff Elrod. Stark white walls  and a grey-and-white color palette  provide the perfect backdrop for vibrant canvases throughout the entire space. In addition to decorating the walls of the lobby  referred to as a public "living room"  these paintings also adorn the 55 guest rooms.

Apart from the framed works that line the space's interior, there's also functional art in the form of furnishings built by Marfa's Joey Benton and steel doors created by Marfa resident and welder Mac White. In a way, the entire space shows off a concentration of creative Marfa talent, right down to its owner. (Story continues below.)

Long-time Marfa resident Tim Crowley debuted this re-imagined Hotel Saint George, designed by Houston-based architecture firm Carlos Jimenez Studio. Crowley, a former plaintiff's attorney from Houston, is a contemporary art museum Chinati board member who's also known for being one of the founders of the Marfa Book Co. bookstore and launching the nonprofit Crowley Theater. He's among the pioneers of the creatively charged Marfa that we know today.



SEE ALSO: Best places to eat on a Texas road trip

The Marfa Book Co. collection is now operating in the Hotel Saint George's lobby. Crowley's also preparing to launch a secondary public space adjacent to the hotel, the Farmstand, later this year. It will provide additional dining options and a swimming pool. Farmstand's event space is already open and accepting bookings.

Full service in the desert

Marfa already has a wide, varied range of accommodations for tourists. Lodging options vary from the sleek, modern Thunderbird Hotel to the historic Hotel Paisano and the quirky El Cosmico, with its trailers, tee-pees and Mongolian yurts.

The Hotel Saint George will fill the void of a full-service, high-end place to stay, where those accustomed to the amenities of a major metro's five-star hotels will feel pampered. Even in the middle of the West Texas desert.

Beyond that, it will provide a new restaurant, LaVenture. The French-influenced, American cuisine menu will center on locally sourced ingredients and will be executed by chef Allison Jenkins.

While the hotel's detailed service and and contemporary decor might seem like the opposite of the original Hotel Saint George, in a way it's the same: It reflects present-day Marfa and it's built upon Marfa residents' ingenuity and the raw, reused materials they find around town.
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The Big Bash

The Suffers will headline Art Blocks: The Big Bash on Main Street Square. The afternoon will include a half-dozen musical guests, a beer and food-truck garden, a kids' zone and a market showcasing handcrafted work of local artists. The day is a celebration of Art Blocks, a public-arts initiative.

When: Noon-6 p.m. Saturday

Where: 900-1100 blocks of Main

Information: artblockshouston.org

Drum work

Noted percussionist Kenny Endo and his ensemble will perform original works using traditional instruments, such as the Japanese zither, bamboo flutes, vibraphones and African drums, during a performance at Miller Outdoor Theatre. Free tickets for covered seating are available 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on the day of the show.

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: 6000 Hermann Park Drive

Information: milleroutdoortheatre.com

Flea by Night

Shop for one-of-a-kind works of art, clothing and collectibles at this monthly flea market at downtown's Discovery Green. Expect to find vintage jewelry, recycled and embellished clothing, organic products, housewares and plenty of old-fashioned kitsch.

When: 6-10 p.m. Saturday

Where: 1500 McKinney

Information: discoverygreen.com

Canine Carnival

The Houston Disc Dogs, Dock Dogs and local rescue groups will be showcased at the second annual Canine Carnival at the Village of Sawmill Lake. The event also will include carnival rides and games and a pup-related marketplace.

When: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday

Where: 9815 Cameron Way

Information: siennaplantation.com
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April 14 marks the 77th anniversary of The Grapes of Wrath, an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939.

In detailed storytelling, Steinbeck captured the plight of millions of Americans whose lives had been crushed by the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression during the 1930s.

The book traces the fictional Joad family of Oklahoma as they lose their family farm and move to California in search of a better life. Unfortunately, they encounter only more difficulties and a downward slide into poverty.

A year later, the book was quickly made into a Hollywood movie of the same name directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad.

PHOTOS: When the Great Depression hit Texas more than 85 years ago

The book awakened the nation's comprehension and compassion. It also won many critics. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962.

Surprisingly, Steinbeck never made the trip with a real-life Joad family from Oklahoma to California in order to do research for his novel. He wrote the book in just five months, according to The Big Read.

The Dust Bowl severely affected New Mexico, Colorado, the western third of Kansas and two-thirds of the Texas Panhandle.

To limit the Dust Bowl's effects of wind erosion in 1935, the Texas legislature established conservation districts for wind-erosion control in nine Panhandle counties. Local authorities were given power to force farmers to institute measures to halt blowing dust.

Between 1935 and 1937, over 34 percent of the farmers in the area left with their families to safer ground, just like the Joad family, according to the Texas State Historical Association.

The Grapes of Wrath's themes of unemployment, income inequality, social injustice and the value of family have stayed with readers inspired by the Great Depression through the recent Great Recession, keeping "The Grapes of Wrath" relevant today in many classrooms and classes.

The book's progressive ideals of collective action have made Steinbeck's work exemplary towards what America stands for today.

To celebrate Steinbeck's award winning book, take a look at some incredible images from that time era above.
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Master of Ceremonies and the new 93Q's Kevin Kline had one job at the UTHealth PARTNERS spring luncheon: to persuade Wednesday's 480 attendees to fill out the support cards placed at each table setting. Fortunately, the country radio host took the responsibility very seriously; thanks to his and co-chairs Susan M. Cooley and Bette Thomas' efforts, the crowd raised more than $250,000 towards the School of Nursing's scholarship and financial assistance programs.

UTHealth President Dr. Giuseppe N. Colasurdo, School of Nursing Dean Dr. Lorraine Frazier, and PARTNERS board chair Roberta Prazak addressed the River Oaks Country Club's packed ballroom before Rev. Dr. Linda Christians  a former nurse - delivered a powerful invocation.

"I've always said that I make a better pastor for having been a nurse," Christians said.

Afterwards, a video presentation illustrating how the PARTNERS program allows medical students to complete their education with little to zero debt streamed on projection screens and lifetime member Sara Howell acknowledged honorees Suzie and Phil Conway.

Keynote speaker, research professor, and three-time "New York Times" bestselling author, Brene Brown, spoke next on the importance of supporting aspiring nurses by sharing a number of personal milestones.

"If I look at my life and think about the very best and very worst times, there was a nurse standing across from me in each of those moments," she said, her voice overcome with emotion. Brown, a Houston resident whose TED talk "The Power of Vulnerability" boasts more than 25 million views, also repeated a valuable piece of advice from her husband and pediatrician, Dr. Steven Alley. "Nurses have a very sensitive BS detector; don't mess with them. And, tell it like it is."

The founder and CEO of COURAGEworks, an online platform that offers classes based on Brown's research, closed her remarks with the surprise announcement that she would donate her honorarium to PARTNERS.

"The first time I came to River Oaks Country Club, I had to borrow a dress from a friend and shoes from my mom," Brown admitted. "If you have $10,000 to give, then give it. But if you're embarrassed to put your five dollars in an envelope, don't be. Your Starbucks money makes a difference, too."
Carolyn Johnson stars as Judy Garland, and H.R. Bradford plays her fifth husband, Mickey Deans, in "End of the Rainbow," which has been extended through April 17 at Stages Repertory Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway,

Both actors recall Garland as Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," but Bradford said, "My character became somebody by marrying Judy Garland. Otherwise, we would have never heard of him."

Peter Quilter's musical drama, which played on Broadway in 2012, portrays the weeks leading up to Garland's death in 1969 by an accidental overdose of barbiturates. She was 47.

The play's regional premiere also calls upon Johnson to sing more than a dozen of Garland's signature songs, said director Kenn McLaughlin.

More Information More information Details: For more information, call 713-527-0123 or visit stagestheatre.com See More Collapse

"Carolyn really, really has the vocal capacity to deliver," he said. "(As Garland), she gives these magnificent performances, then we go back to her hotel room, where her life was incredibly tragic despite her indomitable spirit."

Johnson said she was initially thrilled to be cast as Garland.

"My second reaction was to be completely overwhelmed, because she is such an icon. You can count (our true icons) on one hand: Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland. It's a little daunting because of all the expectations. The first thing I had to do was let go of all of that."

Bradford lives in the Museum District and teaches theater at Clear Lake High School, while Johnson, a longtime resident of Westbury, moved last year to the Idylwood neighborhood near the University of Houston.

"It made my husband's commute a lot shorter," she said, referring to Jim Johnson's position as a tenured associate professor of voice and dialects at UH's School of Theatre and Dance.

The actress said that Garland's accent is most closely akin to Mid-Atlantic.

"It's sort of a learned accent," she said. "Judy Garland was born in Minnesota, but she was a child of vaudeville.

"Her accent really came out of Hollywood because that is how many film stars in the '30s and '40s spoke."

Johnson added, "I have always been into vintage films, so I've watched a lot of Judy Garland's movies and always admired her."

For example, Garland was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress for her performance in 1954's "A Star is Born."

In contrast, Bradford said he learned about Garland "through Liza" (her daughter, Liza Minnelli, who won the best actress Oscar for 1972's "Cabaret").

But Bradford also recalls performing "a long Judy Garland medley that was fantastic" when he was a student at the Royal Scotland Academy.

"That was the most exposure I had to her music," he said.

"End of the Rainbow" audiences will hear Johnson sing classics that include "I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby," "The Man that Got Away," "When You're Smiling," "Get Happy," "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "Over the Rainbow."

"Learning her music and learning her style," said Johnson, "has taught me a lot. It has been an amazingly enlightening process."

For further information, call 713-527-0123 or visit stagestheatre.com
The city of Houston Public Works and Engineering Department has launched a traffic study at one of Kingwood's key intersections to evaluate the need for a traffic signal.

The purpose of the traffic study, begun on March 28, is to evaluate whether or not to remove the signal at Kingwood and Royal Forest drives and to improve the overall traffic progression in the area.

The city is taking a closer look at the intersections of Kingwood Drive at Loop 494, Royal Forest Drive, Chestnut Ridge and Green Oak as well as Rockmead Drive and Rock Falls as part of the traffic signal study.

"The city first considered this study several months ago as a suggestion from Councilmember (Dave) Martin to improve traffic congestion on Kingwood Drive between 59 and Green Oak," said Lauren Laake, chief of staff for Martin's office. "This portion of the study will take approximately two weeks and is not expected to impact traffic flow."

The entire study is expected to take up to 90 days to complete, Laake added.

Julie Gilbert, division communications manager for the public works and engineering department, said the reasons for the study have to do with the proximity between traffic signals in the area.

"The signal (Kingwood at Royal Forest) is located roughly 500 feet from the signal at Loop 494 and about 400 feet from the Union Pacific Rail Road tracks.

"Signals located this close together make two-way progression along the corridor (particularly one as congested as Kingwood Drive) more challenging," she said.

The study will be conducted with the signal on and functioning as usual, and then again after the traffic signals are turned off for a period of time.

The study is expected to continue through the end of the school year, and will be conducted once school is back in session.

"So, this will take some time to complete to ensure we have fully evaluated all of the traffic patterns," Gilbert said.

After the 90-day examination period has concluded, public works will evaluate the data based on travel time, stops and delay during morning, midday, and evening peak hours between Interstate 69 and Green Oak Drive.

These data points will measure the level of service improvement at Royal Forest Drive by comparing the signalized intersection to the modified one-way stop control conditions.

The testing is not part of the comprehensive improvement plan, which includes major improvements to Kingwood Drive scheduled to begin before 2019.

"No significant impact is expected," Gilbert said. "If a determination is made that the signal should be removed, it may be necessary to make some channelization changes in the area.

"Any changes would be made under a generic intersection improvement contract that already exists and will not impact other CIP projects."

Meanwhile, public works will also conduct a second level of service comparison at other intersections to verify no significant negative impact after traffic control modification at Royal Forest Drive has occurred.

Additionally, a safety impact analysis will be examined comparing crash data to assure no increase in crash incidents at the subject location or adjacent intersections have been impacted by the modified traffic patterns.

For more information on these projects, please contact the District E office at 832-393-3008 or via email at districte@houstontx.gov.
Volunteers from Temple Sinai are inviting the community to a neighborhood picnic, serving up a spread from some of the best food trucks around.

The West Houston Food Truck Festival is slated for noon to 4 p.m. April 17 on the temple grounds, 13875 Brimhurst Drive. The cost to attend is $8 for adults. Children 12 years old and younger are admitted free.

"For those food truck foodies, we will have some of the best trucks coming to the festival," said Michael Burg, event organizer.

These cream of the crop restaurants-on-wheels include Churrascos, Coreanos, Sandy's Snow Cones, Smoosh Cookies, SweetRide!, Tila's, the Waffle Bus and Flaming Patties Seriously Gourmet Burgers.

The Golden Grill will be serving up gourmet grilled cheese, while Pho-Jita will offer Thai and Mexican fusion, including "Thai-males."

Fusion also is on the menu at the It's A Wrap truck, where flavors from around the world are mixed into the wraps.

Koagie Hots sells Korean-style cheesesteaks and hot dogs, while Kurbside Eatz serves comfort foods with an Asian twist and the Lucky Fig offers farm-to-street modern Italian cuisine.

"This is an opportunity to try the food truck experience," Burg said. "It's not fast food. It's different food. It's often food you can't find in a restaurant."

He said that the fusion style and experimental nature of these roaming kitchens makes for some exciting dishes.

"It's really a chance to try foods you might not have of thought of before, and at a low price point," Burg said.

Beer and wine will be available to purchase as well. No Label Brewery donates the beer to the event every year.

There will also be live music on the stage during the festival, country tunes by Francie Krienitz, rock songs by Righteous Cause, indie pop by Xwansongs and folk by Rod Branch.

"It's a very family friendly event,' Burg said. "We're going to have face painters, balloon artists and two moonwalks for the kids."

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Houston Food Bank and to a school and camp scholarship fund for students at the synagogue.

Burg said this will be the fourth year for the temple to host the festival. He and fellow members of the Temple Sinai Brotherhood had the idea for this creative fundraiser.

"We help out at the temple and in the community in general," Burg said. "We host four blood drives every year. We've built houses for Habitat for Humanity. We do whatever we can to help."

The West Houston Food Festival was just another way to give back.

"We started with just five trucks and a little under 400 attendees," Burg said. "It's grown every year."

Now there are 14 trucks and Burg expects a crowd of close to 2,000.

"People come out, bring blankets and tents," he said. "We have a big grassy area and great trees for shade. And there's a big parking lot where we set up all the trucks."

Amy Ragan, chief development officer for the Houston Food Bank, said she is grateful for the festival's effort.

"We love it when people host creative events like this, because it raises awareness," she said. "They realize there are people out there who really need help."

Ragan said that the past three festivals have provided more than 7,200 meals for those in need.

She said that on any given day in Houston, more than 66,000 people are struggling with hunger, and 5,000 of those are children.

"There is a big need," she said. "A misconception is that it's people who are lazy or not working. But we're really helping people who already are working but are struggling to make ends meet. We can't do this without the community's help."

For more information, call 281-496-5950 or visit www.westhoustonfoodtruckfestival.com
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A Houston federal judge tossed out a lawsuit Wednesday that challenged Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's eligibility to run for president.

U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller dismissed the suit with prejudice, meaning that Houston lawyer Boris Schwartz cannot file the suit again. He found that Schwartz, as a citizen and taxpayer in Texas, had no legal standing to bring the case.

Schwartz, who is 85 and wore an American flag lapel pin with a red, white and blue striped tie, had asked the judge during oral arguments Wednesday morning to rule as swiftly as possible.

He said he planned to buy an airline ticket as soon as the judge handed down an order for dismissal so he could file an appeal in person at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

The suit - which identifies Cruz by his full name, Rafael Edward Cruz - had raised the question of whether Cruz is ineligible to run for president because he was born on Canadian soil, even though his mother was a U.S. citizen.

Cruz's lawyer, Layne Kruse, argued Wednesday that Schwartz had no legal standing to raise the legal question. He told the judge that questions about a candidate's eligibility for office are the purview of the electoral college and the legislative wing of government, not the judiciary. And he said that Schwartz did not have a cause of action because there was no evidence of direct harm to him from Cruz being on the ballot.

Cruz is among three candidates who remain in the Republican primary race for their party's presidential nomination.

The suit also initially raised questions about the eligibility of President Barack Obama and former GOP presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, but a judge threw out that motion one week after it was filed.

The judge heard arguments Wednesday morning and didn't mince words about dismissing the case.

"It seems to me the weight of authority is on the side of dismissal for standing," Schwartz said, after Schwartz finished his argument.
Five months ago, the Texas Education Agency announced it was ordering the closure of the Victory Prep charter school network, citing three straight years of poor academic performance.

Now, leaders of the Houston Independent School District are considering saving Victory Prep. The HISD school board is set to vote Thursday on whether to allow the district to contract with the charter network, which enrolls about 500 students.

A spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, DeEtta Culbertson, said it would be "unusual" for a traditional school district to take over a charter school that the agency was forcing to shut down. However, she said, the decision is up to the local district.

If HISD contracts with Victory Prep, the district would be held responsible by the Texas Education Agency for the charter school's academic ratings in future years.

"While Victory Preparatory Academy is not currently meeting state academic standards, students at all Victory campuses last year showed improvement on every academic measure used in the state accountability system," HISD said in a statement Wednesday. "If the proposed contract receives board approval, the (district's) Secondary Schools Transformation Office will work with Victory Prep staff on a plan to help the campus meet state standards."

The school board agenda, from HISD's chief school support officer, Mark Smith, says the contract with Victory Prep would "mitigate the impact of this organization's closure on the students and communities it currently serves."

HISD board members did not ask questions about the proposal at their agenda-review meeting Monday.

Victory Prep's superintendent, the Rev. Lisa Berry-Dockery, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Charter schools are public schools that receive state funding but are run privately. Traditional districts also can contract with outside operators to run charter schools.

Victory Prep is run by a nonprofit group called Management Accountability Corp., which has a history of taking over other troubled charter schools. The nonprofit's board over the years has included former U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige and Kirbyjon Caldwell, the high-profile senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church. The school had a campus at the church site.

Management Accountability Corp. previously ran another charter school in HISD, the High School for Business and Economic Success. That high school was born from a long-struggling charter school, Gulf Shores Academy, which the Texas Education Agency had tried to close for years.

In 2011, the High School for Business and Economic Success took over Benji's Special Educational Academy after the state education agency forced Benji's closure amid financial problems. The news conference announcing that deal drew U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston.

Three years earlier, the HISD school board agreed to turn a private Catholic school into a charter school, Mount Carmel Academy, after the local archdiocese said it was too expensive to run.
A Houston woman linked to four slayings will begin trial Wednesday on charges of capital murder, accused of killing a man during a robbery in 2014.

Kimberly Nicole Cormier, 41, was arrested after a shoot-out with police as she and James Earl Nicholas, 48, fled authorities in a dead man's car.

THE CHASE: Suspect killed after gun battle with pursuing officers

Nicholas was killed in the gunfight, and Cormier was arrested after the pair led police on a three-mile chase near Channelview on Sept. 11, 2014.

Earlier in the week, Jose Bonilla, a 52-year-old self-employed automobile broker, was found dead inside his home near Sheldon Lake. Two days later, investigators with the Harris County Sheriff's Office filed arrest warrants for Nicholas and Cormier in the fatal shooting.

THE BONILLA KILLING: Man found bound and fatally shot in his home

After she was arrested, Cormier gave a statement linking Nicholas to four killings including Bonilla and the slayings of Katherine Gingrich, 26, and Johnny Holcomb, 33, earlier that month.

Gingrich and Holcomb, who were neighbors in an apartment complex near Cormier's home, were found fatally shot inside their respective apartments on Sept. 2, 2014. Police have said little about the cases, and even less about a fourth, which was investigated by the Houston Police Department.

THE GINGRICH, HOLCOMB CASE: Woman, neighbor found dead at apartment complex

Defense attorneys for Cormier are expected to put on testimony that she was a victim of "battered woman syndrome" a condition seen in a woman who has been repeatedly abused by a partner, court filings show.

Take a look back at some of the most shocking crimes of 2015 in the gallery above.
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A Houston man arrested for stealing a guitar died after being beaten by two other inmates in a crowded holding cell at the Harris County jail, according to court documents.

The April 4 beating was captured on a cell surveillance camera, but no guards were watching at the time. Jail officials allowed one alleged assailant, Ebenezer Nah, 26, to post bond on a felony drug charge and freed him soon after the attack.

Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman Ryan Sullivan said Nah was allowed to leave the detention facility because he had not yet been identified by investigators as a suspect in the assault on inmate Patrick Joseph Brown.

Sheriff's investigators later used the same footage to charge both Nah and another inmate, Curtis Anthony Maxwell, 23, with aggravated assault.

Brown, 46, was arrested on a misdemeanor theft charge April 3, but not yet able to post $3,000 bond. He had been housed at the 701 San Jacinto jail only about a day when the assault occurred about 11:48 p.m. on April 4. He died of a brain hemorrhage at a hospital about eight hours after the attack, according to court and county records.

In an e-mail response to questions, Sullivan confirmed that surveillance cameras were recording activities in the cell block that night, but acknowledged no one was monitoring the cameras at that time.

Sullivan said jailers made a mandatory check of the holding cell three minutes prior to the assault, but that staff were initially unaware that an assault had occurred during an argument among the three inmates. Instead, they say they were later notified of "an unknown medical emergency."

"It was not until investigators conducted a review of the surveillance footage that the assault was discovered," Sullivan said in an email.

Diana Claitor, executive director of the Austin-based Texas Jail Project, said the circumstances surrounding Brown's death made her question whether Harris County jails were adequately staffed and supervised. Claitor said Texas county jails generally have a high employee turnover rate.

"But certainly in holding cells where  a lot of different people (are) held together, there should be a lot of supervision," Claitor said. "And especially if they have video, why are they not keeping up with the situation better?"

About 20 inmates in cell

A Houston Chronicle investigation in 2015 found that assaults occurred frequently at the jail. At least 75 in-custody deaths were reported from 2009-2015, most of whom were pretrial defendants like Brown.

The Chronicle identified at least 19 cases in which inmates died of illnesses that were either treatable or preventable, or in which delays in care, or staff misconduct, could have played a role in their deaths.

Brandon Wood, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, said the agency is investigating Brown's death, reported to the commission on April 5. It's one of seven in-custody deaths reported by the sheriff's office this year, though no details were immediately available.

After Brown's death, a sheriff's investigator reviewed surveillance footage from holding cell No. 338, where Brown, Maxwell, Nah and about 17 other inmates were being held at the time of the assault. Court documents state that the footage showed both Nah and Maxwell hitting and kicking Brown's face, head and body.

The assault lasted less than a minute before Brown crumpled to the ground, curled into a fetal position, "spasmed significantly and rolled to his back," according to a court record. Moments later, Brown stopped moving.

Medical personnel entered the holding cell about 13 or 14 minutes after the incident and started giving Brown CPR, the same record shows. He was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital, arriving shortly before 1 a.m., and died later that morning. Court documents do not state what happened in jail between the end of the assault and the medical staff's arrival.

Stemmed from argument

Investigators were able to determine the identities of Maxwell and Nah from the video and other evidence.

Maxwell, originally arrested and jailed on April 2 after an alleged felony assault involving someone he was dating, was still in Harris County jail and admitted to the assault against Brown, the court record shows. He told investigators the incident stemmed from an argument between Nah and Brown, court records state.

Maxwell told investigators he did not know Nah's name and only knew him from jail. Another inmate who witnessed the incident identified Nah from a photo line-up.

Nah, arrested and jailed on April 1 on a felony drug possession charge, already had posted a $10,000 bond and been released by the time investigators identified him as a suspect in Brown's assault. Charges of aggravated assault were filed against Nah on April 6. That same day, he was arrested by the Houston Police Department for unrelated cocaine possession charges.

Maxwell and Nah are being held in the Harris County Jail without bond. Charges may be upgraded against both men pending the outcome of an autopsy by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

A former girlfriend, who asked not to be identified, said Brown left behind a teenage son who has been devastated by his father's death.

She questioned how Brown could have been assaulted on camera without anyone noticing.

"All I know is, something like this shouldn't happen," the woman said. "Who gets beat up and killed in jail in a holding cell?"
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and five other institutions will collaborate to advance the development of cancer immunotherapy under a new alliance funded by the largest-ever contribution toward what's considered the great new hope to treat the dreaded disease.

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Sean Parker, the first president of Facebook, is giving $250 million to create the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, a partnership of renowned scientists, clinicians and industry leaders who will attempt to better harness the body's defenses to attack malignant tumors. The institute's formation is being announced Wednesday in Los Angeles.

"We are at an inflection point in cancer research and now is the time to maximize immunotherapy's unique potential to transform all cancers into manageable diseases, saving millions of lives," Parker, 36, president of the Parker Foundation, said in a statement. "We believe the creation of a new funding and research model can overcome many of the obstacles that currently prevent research breakthroughs."

The institute will bring together most of the top scientists in the field, including M.D. Anderson's Jim Allison and the University of Pennsylvania's Dr. Carl June. Both men have done pioneering work in immunotherapy, giving life to an area long considered a lost cause.

All told, the institute will include 300 immunotherapy researchers and 40 laboratories among its six leading cancer centers. Besides M.D. Anderson and Penn, the partnership includes Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City; the University of California, San Francisco; Stanford; and UCLA.

Allison, who co-discovered an immune system brake and developed a drug that removes it to unleash a patient's defenses to attack cancerous tumors, will direct the institute's research at Houston's M.D. Anderson. He said the emphasis on uniting people with different interests and expertise should yield key new insights and that its stable funding will allow the pursuit of risky projects.

Move follows others

More Information By the numbers $250 million Sean Parker's donation will create the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. 300 Number of immunotherapy researchers at new institute. 40 Number of laboratories among six cancer centers. See More Collapse

The announcement comes two weeks after former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other philanthropists unveiled plans to give $125 million to the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University for an immunotherapy institute, and a few months after billionaire entrepreneur and oncologist Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong said he's developing a coalition to speed production of immunotherapies to fight cancer. Vice President Joe Biden's $1 billion national Moonshot effort, announced earlier this year, also is making immunotherapy a priority.

"There have been other cancer therapies that attracted significant funding, particularly from pharmaceutical companies, but I've never seen anything this big," said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. "Given the number of good ideas that don't get funded, $250 million is huge."

Immunotherapy has great potential because it has produced lasting results in some patients with difficult-to-treat cancers - lung, melanoma, kidney cancer - that have spread to other organs, something few other treatments have achieved. Most notable, it appears to have successfully treated the cancer of former president Jimmy Carter, diagnosed with melanoma that had spread to his brain.

But the therapy is still in its early stages of development. For all the buzz about its arrival as a new pillar of cancer treatment, immunotherapy is only helpful in a fraction of patients, mostly in just a few cancers. Scientists are still trying to understand why some patients get better but most don't.

It is those limitations that Parker Institute researchers want to overcome.

"The question is, how do you get immunotherapy on steroids?" said Dr. Jeffrey Bluestone, the immune system brake's co-discoverer and the CEO and president of the Parker Institute in San Francisco. "Instead of curing 30 percent of people with melanoma, how do we get it to help 80 percent of people with all cancers? But once you have success like immunotherapy has had, it becomes an engineering challenge - how do you amplify it, enhance it, exploit it?"

Interest in immune system

Bluestone said the genesis of the initiative came from Parker's personal interest in the immune system, because of his own asthma and allergies and auto-immune disease in his family. Visiting cancer centers some years ago because a friend had been diagnosed with the disease, he came to think that engaging the immune system to attack cancer was a better way to fight the disease than treatment that targets the tumor, Bluestone said.

Parker, who also co-founded the file-sharing service Napster, declined to be interviewed before Wednesday's announcement. He was portrayed by Justin Timberlake in the 2010 movie The Social Network, a film about the start and early days of Facebook.

Parker, a billionaire, launched the Parker Foundation last June with $600 million in seed money, though he'd already been an active donor to health causes. He pledged $5 million in 2012 to Stand Up to Cancer and the Cancer Research Institute to create an immunotherapy dream team and $24 million in 2014 to create the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research at Stanford. In December, he gave a $10 million grant to create the Sean N. Parker Autoimmune Research Laboratory at UCSF.

Each of the six centers in the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy will get $10 million to $15 million to get started. The investment will continue to increase annually.

Allison said the institute's priorities will be: developing novel approaches to modify the immune system's T cells to enhance their function and then developing a new generation of more effective T cell therapies; improving the rates of lasting responses and broadening the use of immunotherapies by better understanding why some patients respond so well, some respond only to relapse and some don't respond at all; and conducting DNA sequencing and immune system monitoring to identify new immunotherapy targets.

T-cell research included

The institute will also fund research into the type of immunotherapy June pioneered at Penn - isolating T cells taken from a patient's blood, then genetically engineering them to recognize and kill cancer when they're reinjected in the patient;and the development of therapeutic cancer vaccines, which stimulate the immune system to fight cancer or stop its recurrence. M.D. Anderson has been actively involved in vaccine research.

"We're very excited to see the field we pioneered catching on and getting the resources needed to help more and more patients," said Jill O'Donnell-Tormey, CEO of the Cancer Research Institute in New York, a 63-year-old organization dedicated to funding and advocating immunotherapy. "This initiative should reap great benefits, but people need to remember that science isn't linear; there are jumps and stops and failures and successes. Immunotherapy's made everyone stand up and take notice, but it's still at the start."
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It's not often that when police ask people to be on the lookout, residents are keeping an eye out for a kangaroo. But thanks to some Texas police, a boy has been reunited with his most valued possession.

Corpus Christi police received a message Monday asking for help in locating a stuffed kangaroo belonging to 2-year-old Sterling from San Antonio.

"Please help Dit'dee find his way home," the message from Sterling's mother read, "My sons' clumsy Kangaroo took an unfortunate trip out of the truck window while traveling home this morning from vacation."

Officer Kirk Stowers posted photos to Facebook of the stuffed animal, named Dit'Dee, and a "missing" poster Sterling drew himself in Crayon.

"Dit'dee has been part of our family since my son was born, and they never leave each others' side," Sterling's mother told the department in her post. "When our son told us what happened it was far too late to turn around. His window was open between the Hampton Inn and Suites on 361 and the Ocean Treasures shop where Hwy 361 meets 358."

An employee at the Ocean Treasure Shop found the kangaroo inside a basket.

"It was very surprising, I was very shock when I saw it in the basket, I was shaking so bad, I couldn't wait to get upstairs to post it on there, I found it, I found it," Ocean Treasures Shop worker Lisa Force told KZTV.

Force has shipped the Kangaroo back to San Antonio and the two will be reunited thanks to a community effort.

"I remember when I was that age and of course, I had a stuffed animal that I was attached to, it was a great, touching thing to all of us, and I knew it would touch the hearts of the Coastal Bend," Stowers told KZTV.
A University of Nebraska sorority has "swiped left" on one of their members because she used a suspect photo on her Tinder profile page.

Ex-Chi Omega sister Shannon Workman told the New York Daily News she apparently violated the "Human Dignity" rule. The rule states members are forbidden from posting photos featuring Chi Omega in a capacity that would "bring disrespect to the chapter."
A Tulane University fraternity with a history of questionable activity has caused public outcry again, this time with a makeshift wall and a message: "Make America Great Again."

Kappa Alpha Order pledges constructed a sandbag wall around the fraternity house with Donald Trump's infamous rallying cry painted on it last week, Jezebel reports. It was later taken down and replaced with message-less sandbags, but the earlier images of the wall circulated around the web today.
Houston City Council agreed to subsidize the redevelopment of Houston's dilapidated Crestmont West apartments Wednesday, allocating $5 million in local and federal funds to aid the construction of a 192-unit affordable housing complex 10 miles south of downtown.

Council also backed the developer's application for non-competitive low-income tax credits, which would help finance the $33.4 million project.

The development is set for completion in the summer of 2018, 10 years after Hurricane Ike forced Crestmont West to close. The apartments have remained empty in the years since, and their absentee owners have refused to comply with court orders to raze the property.

Mayor Sylvester Turner praised the deal for helping to eliminate blight in the South Acres neighborhood while increasing the available housing stock.

"Even if you exercise eminent domain, for example, you've got to pay them the fair market value. Either way you go, you've got to pay it. Then if you do it that way - let's say you go through the proceedings - it can be lengthy. So you have the conditions, the blight remaining in that neighborhood for an extended period of time," Turner said. "Or you could simply say, 'Look let's determine what the fair market value is minus whatever expenses or liens may exist, pay them out and move forward.' This is the course that just makes more sense. It gets him out of the picture, and then it provides housing for a community that desperately needs housing."
-- ANOTHER ROUND, from The Texas Tribunes Edgar Walters: Hefty cuts to a state Medicaid program that pays for poor and disabled Texans to receive in-home therapy won't endanger patient lives or destroy livelihoods, a state district judge was told Tuesday. Coming from a major health insurer that covers foster care youth and children with disabilities, that assertion has added another layer to an already contentious eight-month legal fight over whether Texas has been overpaying companies to provide services like speech, occupational and physical therapy.

-- Where we stand on reform, by The Dallas Morning News Bob Garrett. As Speaker Straus weighed in, high-level changes at the protective services department continued, with departures by the top regulator of foster care vendors and the director of field operations at Child Protective Services.

In recent weeks, problems have mounted for the Department of Family and Protective Services, with the horrific beating death of 4-year-old Leiliana Wright of Grand Prairie underscoring disarray in CPS Dallas County child abuse investigations and afederal judges initial moves to press changes on the states system of long-term foster care .

Straus noted that last year, lawmakers increased funding of CPS by $231 million and embraced several Sunset Advisory Commission recommendations for improving the agency. But the statewide system is still broken, and the Texas House will work with all parties to fix it, he said.

-- FLASHBACK, per QR's Kimberly Reeves: Home healthcare providers took the Health and Human Services Commission to court over proposed cost-containment measures to reimbursement rates for physical, occupational and speech therapy. Sulak enjoined those Medicaid rate cuts last September, which the state appealed, arguing Sulak lacked jurisdiction. Sulaksaction may have stopped the state, but it did not block the managed care organizations that hold state contracts. On April 1, Superior HealthPlan sent out a memo informing providers it would cut its fee schedule by up to 30 percent, based on its own market analysis and intended to create parity in the marketplace

-- More: Five leave Texas child protection agency in rare regime change, Austin American-Statesman

-- Paxton faces high hurdles in SEC case, by the Chrons Brian Rosenthal and Lise Olsen. Over the past two years, the SEC has won 95.9 percent of the cases not related to insider trading that it has taken to a federal courtroom, according to Joseph Grundfest, a former SEC commissioner who studies the agency as a professor at Stanford Universitys School of Law.  Part of the reason for those odds is that the SEC does not levy formal accusations until giving defendants a chance to argue in writing and in person why a case should not be filed - a process Paxton almost certainly exhausted before the commission moved forward, experts said.

-- Today the Center for Public Policy Priorities released its annual State of Texas Children report, which looks at child well-being across the state. A sold-out release event begins at 9am in Dallas with remarks by County Judge Clay Jenkins. The report focused on racial, ethnic and gender equity this year, and found that for Texas kids, there are large disparities between Hispanic, Black, Asian and White children  many caused by discriminatory historical and current policies. CPPP includes policy recommendations that would improve child well-being for all kids and would also focus resources to those populations that need more supports.

CAPITOL DAYBOOK

HOUSE:

9 a.m.  Pensions (E2.010)

SENATE:

10:30 a.m.  State Affairs (Senate chamber)

JOINT:

1 p.m.  TRS Health Benefit Plan (E2.012)

SPEED READ

More must be done to protect Texas children, lawmakers demand, Star-Telegram

Haruka Weisers cause of death was strangulation, sources say, Austin American-Statesman

Texas Take: Castro caught in the middle, Houston Chronicle

Tomlinson: Millionaires line up against shameless tax loophole, Houston Chronicle

Top Republicans may skip GOP convention, The Hill

Cornyn, who voted against landmark equal pay law, says issue bipartisan, The Dallas Morning News

Gun provisions snag mental health reform bill, The Hill

Trump, Cruz prepare mass-money arms race in California, Politico

Trump fights to fend off Cruz in upstate NY, Politico

Cruz lining up support in Texas GOP delegation, The Texas Tribune

More texting drivers in Texas and other states without ban, study says, Houston Chronicle

Inmate dies after Harris County jailhouse beating, Houston Chronicle

Texas affluenza teen heads to adult court, Austin American-Statesman

Paul Ryan: I do not want, nor will I accept GOP nomination, USA Today

QUOTE TO NOTE

It's a disgrace for the party. And Reince Priebus should be ashamed of himself. He should be ashamed of himself because he knows what's going on.

-- Trump in an exclusive interview with The Hill on Tuesday, when he called the GOP nominating process a scam and a disgrace

RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE

-- MUST READ this morning: Trump, losing ground, tries to blame the system, by The New York Times Jeremy Peters and Jonathan Martin. His charges built on comments in the last few days by associates, senior advisers and Mr. Trump himself, seeking to cast a shadow of illegitimacy over the local and state contests to select delegates to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July.

By blaming the process rather than his own inadequacies as a manager, Mr. Trump is trying to shift focus after Senator Ted Cruz of Texas outmaneuvered him in delegate contests in states like Colorado, North Dakota and Iowa, losses that could end up denying Mr. Trump the nomination.

Asked about the appearance of disorganization, Mr. Trump said in an interview, You have to remember Im leading. He added, Im more than 200 delegates ahead, so over all, Im doing very well. But in what sounded like a wink-wink aside, he said, Dont forget, I only complain about the ones where we have difficulty.

-- Long Island is both hostile territory and fertile ground for Trump, by The New York Times Nicholas Confessore. Yet Long Island looms as a test of his broader appeal to suburban Republicans, a crucial constituency in national elections, but one that has turned against Mr. Trump in states like Iowa, North Carolina and Virginia. Demographically speaking, Long Island is hostile territory and Mr. Trumps breadbasket.

The densely settled bedroom communities of Nassau County are some of the wealthiest and best educated in the United States, home to stockbrokers and accountants, the kind of place where he has struggled in earlier nominating contests. But there are potential Trump strongholds farther from the city, where parents have withdrawn their children from Common Core-inspired testing at some of the highest rates in the country, and along Long Islands southern shore, where blue-collar towns still bear scars from the Great Recession.

-- Mothers of black victims emerge as a force for Clinton, by NYTs Amy Chozick. Having these women by her side has provided Mrs. Clinton with powerful and deeply sympathetic character witnesses as she makes her case to African-American voters. And they have given her campaign, an often cautious and poll-tested operation, a raw, human and sometimes gut-wrenching feeling.
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.
Peste 300 de liceene s-au inscris in Startup School si sunt gata sa invete bazele antreprenoriatului tehnologic. Vezi cum a fost la evenimentul de lansare a programului national de educatie antreprenoriala
Editors Note: This post was produced as part of a graduate course on media writing and storytelling taught by the editors of Columbia Journalism Review.

On Monday, Obama administration officials at a White House news conference made a public plea for more funds to combat the Zika virus. The mosquito-borne illness continued spread throughout the Americas, including the United States, virtually ensures that the topic will draw domestic and international media attention throughout 2016.

The possibility that Zika will make a significant landfall in the US is of great importance to American media and their audiences. But that localized threat shouldnt blind the press from global context, including close examinations of how Zika outbreaks compare with other mosquito-borne illnesses around the world. Missteps in coverage over the past few months have exoticized the virus, providing important lessons in the way journalists should proceed as it develops further. Repeating mistakes, on the other hand, may lead to the spread of a different sort of contagionfear.

Focus on mosquitos

Zika was first discovered in 1947 in Ugandas Zika Forest (hence, the name). The mosquito-borne illness is closely related to dengue fever, chikungunya, and West Nile virus, and all are carried by the Aedes species of mosquito. But very few news outlets have explained the relationship between Zika and these infectious diseases. Just after the WHO announced Zika to be a public health epidemic in February, initial articles, including those published by BBC, Yahoo News, The Huffington Post, and CBS, failed to mention other diseases transmitted by the same species of mosquito.

Mosquitos need to be the focus of the discussion, rather than the virus, says Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. When you narrowly focus on Zika, it misses the point that weve been in the battle for some time with mosquito-borne illnesses.

Compared to other types of diseases, such as chikungunya and dengue, Adalja says Zika isnt as big a threat to global public health. The WHO estimates there could be between 3 and 4 million new cases of Zika in the Americas over the next year. But dengue fever, whose symptoms include nausea, severe headaches, and possibly death, has an estimated 50-100 million infections annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Helen Branswell, a reporter covering Zika for STAT, The Boston Globe-owned health sciences site, says her experience reporting on Zika in Puerto Rico reinforced the importance of mosquito control, as well as the challenges to its implementation. When you drive around and see they could breed there, they could breed there, they could breed there, she says, it kind of drives home how gargantuan a task it is.

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Reporters have also tripped up by regurgitating official statementsa practice not unique to Zika reporting. Until late March, for example, there was no definitive evidence that Zika caused microcephaly, a birth defect that results in an infants head being significantly smaller than normal, or Guillain-Barre, which can weaken breathing muscles and affect the involuntary nervous system. Neither disease is exclusively related to Zika.

The WHO believed the link to be sufficient enough to proclaim the crisis a public health epidemic; Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO, announced in a speech earlier this year that the Zika virus was spreading explosively.

Directly after Chans announcement, dozens of news outlets ran the word in their headlines, but few explained what an explosive outbreak would actually entail. Relying on official information in the early stages of coverage is, to some extent, understandable. Still, it must be bracketed with outside analysis to provide balanceeven if it tempers a grabby headline. The lack of such depth at the time was all the more glaring given that, as The New York Times reported, there was debate even within the WHO as to how serious a tone to strike.

Use statistics carefully

Continued confusion in coverage since has stemmed from one of the reasons Zika received so much attention in the first place: It affects fetuses. Until the WHO finally confirmed the link among Zika, Guillain-Barre, and microcephaly in a report released last month, that relationship wasnt clear.

Even so, many outlets turned to numbers to back up the perceived association, often in a misleading fashion. The Huffington Post, for example, reported that Zika had been linked to several thousand cases of microcephaly in Brazil in January. A CNN article in February suggested the number of microcephaly cases had increased to about 4,000.

But only a fraction of those fetuses with microcephaly tested positive for the Zika virus. And, conversely, less than 1 percent of pregnant women infected with Zika will have fetuses that develop microcephaly, according to the most recent WHO estimates.

There was a huge number of microcephaly cases reported in Brazil, says Andrew Joseph, a reporter at STAT. As they started looking more closely, some were microcephaly [seemingly caused by Zika], and some were caused by other things or not microcephaly at all.

While numbers can help illustrate the scope of infectious diseases, if used improperly, they can be doubly deceiving. If you get a cluster [of cases], that raises your suspicion that something is going onthats happened with outbreaks in the past, says Stephen Morse, an epidemiologist at Columbia University. Cases of microcephaly or Guillain-Barre may have existed in the past, but there may not have been the critical mass required for the same sort of media frenzy.

People forget that dengue kills thousands of people every year, says Adalja. Its not that Zika doesnt cause bad disease, it just has to be put into the context of what other diseases are similar or can be contrasted to it.

Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify STATs relationship with The Boston Globe.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Isabella Kulkarni is a student at the Columbia Journalism School. Follow her on Twitter @ibbykirk.
Its been eight months since the Tampa Bay Times rolled out an investigation into five elementary schools in Floridas Pinellas County that had become Failure Factoriesalmost exclusively black, with some of the worst test scores in the state, chronic violence, and crippling staff turn-overand the impact just keeps on coming.

The county school district has reformed discipline practices to try to address the disparity in how black and white children are treated, and hired a turnaround leader who has a staff of eight and a charge to improve the schools. The district added 100 classroom aides, and community volunteer hours in the schools have more than doubled. The state legislature found $400,000 for a special reading program.

Then, just last week, the school district announced pay increases of up to $25,000 for teachers at the schools, in an effort to attract and retain better teachers. The school day at the five schools will be extended for an hour to give students more time devoted to learning to read, but also more time at recess and in art and music class. A minority achievement officer will be hired to look at systemic issues across the district.

Thats not all: Also last week, the US Department of Education opened a civil rights investigation into the district, the Times reported. Top department officials had first visited the district after reading the original Times series, which made clear that these arent just any struggling schoolstheyre schools where student performance plummeted beginning in 2007, when the district abandoned an integration plan that had been in place for decades and the schools became resegregated.

The federal probe follows a state review launched last fall, and at the district level, the first reforms were put in motion even before the Times series was published. But lately, just tracking the fallout, as the paper has been doing on the series landing page, has become almost a full-time beat. In February it seemed to start snowballing, says Michael LaForgia, one of the reporters on the project.

The impact is noteworthy, but its not surprising. As I wrote in August, the series was deep, thorough, and authoritative. It didnt hesitate to assign responsibility to local officials, and it carefully showed that many other schools serving poor or minority students around the state were doing a much better job of educating those kids. Some of the solutions Pinellas officials are trying are taken from efforts at other school districts that the series highlighted.

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The series has already won a slew of awards. The response from readers has been impressive, too, thanks in part to the smart interactive prologue designed by data reporter Nathaniel Lash.

A good project put out by the Times used to get between 75,000 and 100,000 page views, LaForgia says. As of this month, Failure Factories was up to about 600,000 views from more than 260,000 unique visitors. Our prologue element alone drew more than 260,000 views.

Despite the list of reforms, the response of school officials has been mixed, with some board members and others complaining that the newspaper is focused on the past. We dont care if they admit [mistakes] or not, as long as they help these children, says reporter Lisa Gartner.

But the response from the broader community has been overwhelmingly positive, say Times journaliststhough they do get the occasional racist phone message, reporter Cara Fitzpatrick told me.

Some hater also decided it would be a good idea to post the home address of Fitzpatrick and LaForgia, who are married. And my driving record, Fitzpatrick says. That was fun.

Then there was the mysterious subscription to Ebony magazine, which started showing up in the mail. We have two kids, LaForgia says. Its kind of hard to miss the message that we know where you live.  (On the other hand, Fitzpatrick says, shes enjoyed reading it: Its a great magazine.)

The reporters have no intention of backing down because of a few random racists. They recently met with their editors and gave them a years worth of stories that we want to follow up on, LaForgia says.

One angle to follow: whether there will be any serious effort to desegregate the schools. In March, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund announced it intends to revive the 50-year-old lawsuit that originally desegregated Pinellas schools.

Whatever happens on that front, the series is a great example of how a newspaper can make a concrete difference in a complex issue: Dive deeply into the data and report the hell out of what it shows.

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.
This railroad town promotes its ties to Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and the poet Carl Sandburg. But Galesburgs long history also shows in a hidden way: Aging pipes have been leaking lead into the drinking water for decades.

Blood tests show cause for concern. One in 20 children under the age of 6 in Knox County had lead levels exceeding the state standard for public health intervention, a rate six times higher than the Illinois average, in 2014.

Galesburg offers just one example of how the problem of lead-tainted drinking water goes far beyond Flint, Michigan, the former auto manufacturing center where the issue exploded into a public health emergency when the citys entire water system was declared unsafe.

An Associated Press analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data found that nearly 1,400 water systems serving 3.6 million Americans exceeded the federal lead standard at least once between Jan. 1, 2013, and Sept. 30, 2015. The affected systems are large and small, public and private, and include 278 systems that are owned and operated by schools and day care centers in 41 states.

Galesburg officials downplay the waters potential contribution to lead poisoning, which can affect childrens mental development. But city councilor Peter Schwartzman called the APs findings alarming.

Most people in Galesburg are not really being told that there is a problem, said Schwartzman, an environmental scientist. Im very close to this and didnt know it. I feel ignorant.

The AP reviewed 25 years of sampling data reported by 75,000 drinking water systems that are subject to a federal lead rule that took effect in 1991. Details of the EPA data were first reported by USA Today.

While no amount of lead exposure is considered safe, the rule calls for water systems to keep levels below 15 parts per billion.

If more than 10 percent of sampled high-risk homes are above that level, water agencies must inform customers about the problem and take steps such as adding chemicals to control corrosion and prevent leaching of the lead.

In Galesburg, a community of 31,000 about 200 miles southwest of Chicago, lead levels have exceeded the federal standard in 22 out of 30 testing periods since 1992. City officials say their ground water and water mains are lead-free, but the toxin enters the supply in service lines that deliver water from the streets to 4,700 homes. Lead-based plumbing fixtures that were common in homes built before 1980 also contribute.

The city discovered its most recent problem last fall, when 7 out of 40 samples came back at unacceptable levels. The city followed EPA guidelines by informing residents of the situation two months later. Its notice said that a chemical added to the water since 1993 has been effective in reducing the lead levels and resulted in lead compliance since 2010, a misleading statement since no testing was required in 2013 and 2014.

The notice added that recent testing showed the standard had been exceeded by a narrow margin. In reality, lead levels were 1.5 times the standard.

Whitney Zielke, 32, said her mother freaked out after receiving that notice but that she didnt know what to think.

Its so downplayed, Zielke said, standing outside her mothers home on a street where testing revealed high amounts of lead. Its like, Hey, we have to tell you this may or may not be happening. Its bogus.

Critics say the current rule has not done enough to protect public health or to inform individual homeowners about risks. Dozens of systems have exceeded the standard 10 times or more in the last quarter-century, including in Portland, Oregon and Providence, Rhode Island, the data shows.

In a statement, the EPA said events in Flint and elsewhere have raised questions about how the lead rule has been implemented. The agency is considering changes to the rule and urging state water regulators in the meantime to improve lead monitoring.

But the ultimate solution is expensive: It will take billions of dollars to replace millions of miles of lead service lines throughout the country. Those are the lines that connect water mains to homes, schools and businesses, remnants from a time when scientists didnt understand the dangers caused by lead.

Water operators sought to distance their systems from the situation in Flint, saying they were taking actions to reduce lead.

We try to minimize it, whatever our contribution is to childhood lead poisoning, said Joseph Bella, executive director of the Passaic Valley Water Commission in New Jersey, which has repeatedly exceeded the standard.

His agency serves 314,000 customers and has increased its lead sampling. Its also replacing the last 400 lead service lines the utility owns and is speeding up a $135 million plan to add storage tanks for treated water so phosphate can be added to prevent the corrosion that leads to lead contamination.

Lead problems have been particularly persistent in Massachusetts communities outside Boston such as Malden, Winthrop and Chelsea, which have repeatedly exceeded the limit. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, which serves those cities, announced a program last month to make $100 million available in interest-free loans to replace lead service lines.

Several schools have restricted access to their water amid lead concerns.

The kids are not exposed to it other than hand-washing, said Sandra Porter, who manages the water system at Ava Head Start in Ava, Missouri, where a 2014 test revealed lead levels more than four times the federal standard.

The crisis in Flint, where residents have been without tap water for months, has highlighted how tainted water can poison children. Even low levels have been shown to affect IQ, the ability to pay attention and academic achievement.

Children age 6 and under and pregnant women  whose bones pass along stored lead to infants  are considered the most vulnerable to lead, which can also damage brains, kidneys and production of red blood cells that supply oxygen.

A close look at Galesburg illustrates some of the regulatory shortcomings that can fail to protect public health.

To save money, Galesburg officials years ago scrapped a program that helped homeowners pay to replace their lead service lines. Now, they say they do not have the $15 million that would be required to replace the lines citywide. Instead, they are spending $15,000 more this year to increase the amount of phosphate they add to the water to inhibit corrosion and, they hope, reduce leaching of the lead pipes.

Galesburg Public Works Director Wayne Carl said that is the most cost-effective way to address the problem, which he insisted doesnt contribute to childhood lead poisoning.

We havent run into anything that would show it was a concern, he said, blaming lead paint from the citys old homes for high levels in children.

After AP inquiries, school Superintendent Ralph Grimm ordered lead sampling at 25 drinking fountains throughout Galesburg schools, which had not been tested for years, if ever. The results showed levels far below the federal standard, a relief to school officials.

Knox County public health officials said they were also unaware that lead levels in Galesburgs drinking water stood out nationwide. They say they focus on keeping children away from lead paint and toys, and that it was up to the city to operate the water supply. In 2014, lead levels in 1 in 10 county children exceeded the federal standard for public health intervention.

Schwartzman said Galesburg was doing the minimum thats legally required and should do more. He wants to bring back the service-line replacement program, do more sampling, help residents purchase water filters and increase education on anti-lead strategies such as letting water run in the morning before drinking it.

But Tim Fey, Galesburgs water operations supervisor, said the city has been very active in informing the public. Standing outside his 100-year-old home, Fey said he drinks tap water even though recent testing there revealed lead levels far over the federal limit. The results were disappointing, he said, adding: Its all transparent. Were not hiding anything.

(Hoyer, an Associated Press data journalist, reported from Washington, D.C.)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Jewelry and watches remain the costliest content claims items, according to the latest Xactware Annual Property Report.

Data from the companys 2015 report was outlined recently during the Verisk Monday webinar.

In its eleventh year, the property report on the housing and construction marketplace is made up of 24 in depth reports.

In 2015, the companys full cycle claim analytical reporting tool processed more than 4.2 million estimates valued at $39.6 billion, said McCall Robins, project manager, Analytics for Xactware.

Estimate values were higher in 2015 due to thunderstorms and flooding in Texas and Oklahoma. Year end average value of property estimates totaled $9233. Because of the flooding, the most common type of loss was due to water and accounted for 1.2 million estimates, Robins said. Hail was the second most common type of loss with 990,000 estimates. While not as common, fire losses were expensive averaging more than $45,000 per loss, whereas losses due to water averaged $6,000.

The report highlights the top 20 personal loss groups by volume. Robins explained that adjusters handling property claims can choose from 15 million vendor specific items. Xactware reported 483,000 claims were processed in 2015 for a total value of more than $4.3 billion.

The top 10 common line items reported:

Clothing and accessories; Housewares/home decor; Tools; Furniture  home and office; Electronics; Sporting goods; Linens and soft goods; Jewelry/watches; Toys/games; Personal care & beauty.

Jewelry and watches were deemed the costliest category at $688 million, and represented 20 percent of the total value of all contents estimates submitted.

According to Robins, theft was the most common cause of personal property loss.

Hail accounted for one of every four estimates in 2015. Seven states were responsible for the most hail claims: Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, Georgia, Minnesota and Oklahoma. Texas led the nation with 172 severe hail days in 2015, costing $2.4 billion.

The report offers a cost and trends analysis on a variety construction/repairs. According to Rob Lund, GC and manager of Xactware Structural Data Services, the reconstruction cost index is broken down by state and reveals a 3.66 percentage change (national average) from 2014.

There were nominal increases in labor and materials between 2014 and 2015. Lund explained that the nations housing and job market played a significant role in keeping both costs stable.

Water damage mitigation costs grew by 6 percent. Carpet costs revealed a slight decrease in materials which held steady in 2015, Lund said.
It has been a busy week. Again, not surprisingly, my article last week entitled The Emerging Hail Risk: What The Hail Is Still Going On and Getting Worse generated a lot of discussion. Mostly positive (even Chip Merlin has nice things to say again), but also a fair amount of negative. Thats not surprising, as Im not shy in stating that my objective is to see an end to the abuses, fraud and outright illegal conduct that have sadly become the norm in the hail lawsuit feeding frenzy.

That scares some of the folks who are making a lot of money right now. So vocal opposition is not surprising.

But I did find surprising that some questioned whether the problem was as bad as I portrayed.

It is. And here are some statistics.

Between 2006 and 2011, Tarrant County (Fort Worth) saw 12 storms with hail at least 1.75 inches in diameter. But no more than 49 hail lawsuits were filed in any of those years. Compare that to 2014 in which 375 hail lawsuits were filed, and 2015 which saw 381 hail lawsuits filed. These statistics dont lie  it has always hailed in Tarrant County, but only recently have we seen hail lawsuits total in the hundreds.

And things arent slowing down much. In the first three months of 2016, 73 hail damage lawsuits were filed in Tarrant County.

The onslaught of lawsuits continues in the rest of Texas as well. In the first three months of 2016, almost 1700 hail lawsuits were filed across Texas. Significant numbers of lawsuits were filed in Hidalgo, Webb, Cameron, Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Harris, Fort Bend, El Paso and Bexar counties. Many other counties are affected as well.

We are on track to see almost 7000 hail damage lawsuits in Texas this year.

Heres an interesting fact. One lawyer (in a two-lawyer firm) filed 27 hail damage lawsuits in a single day. Yes27.

And the vast majority of the 1700 lawsuits were filed by the same dozen or so law firms.

The feeding frenzy to sign up clients continues.

The Balanced Solutions

After over three years deep in the trenches dealing with all of these issues, the abuses are readily apparent. And each abuse has a readily apparent solution. These solutions to seven common abuses will help to restore balance:

1. End Lawsuits Against Individual Insurance Adjusters

Abuse: When a consumer buys a television from Best Buy that turns out not to have the features promised by the salesman, the consumer sues only Best Buy. The salesman is seldom a defendant. When a consumer hires a contractor who puts on a bad roof, the consumer sues only the contractor. The individual workmen are seldom named as defendants. Why is it then that when a consumer buys insurance and its claim is not paid, the consumer always sues the adjuster? There is only one answer  to destroy diversity jurisdiction and stay out of Federal Court. The hail lawyer wants to keep the matter in state court, where it is more difficult for the insurance company to obtain dismissal of meritless lawsuits and more likely that the court will push the matter to settlement. There is no legitimate argument to the contrary. In fact, the truth is exposed by the fact that claims against the adjuster are never actively pursued in the litigation and in many cases the adjuster is dismissed in exchange for an agreement by the insurance company not to seek removal.

Solution: Claims against individual adjusters should not be allowed. To ensure that the consumer still has a right to address improper conduct by an adjuster, the Texas Insurance Code should be clarified to make it absolutely clear that an insurance carrier is responsible for the conduct of adjusters acting on its behalf in the claims process. If a case against an out of state insurance carrier is properly removable to Federal Court, then the hail lawyers will then think twice before filing boilerplate and often meritless lawsuits that they know will be heard by a federal judge. In fact, read the recent opinions being issued by Judge Alvarez in the Southern District of Texas (which includes Hidalgo County). It is apparent she is growing increasingly impatient with the hail lawsuits pending in her court.

2. Allow Insurance Companies to Obtain a Release When a Claim Is Paid

Abuse: It is presently considered a bad faith practice for an insurance company to ask for a release in resolving an undisputed claim. A release is not allowed even when the claim is paid on the building owners loss measure and resolved amicably. Without a release, a canvasser can step in long after the claim is resolved and induce the building owner to pursue litigation with promises of more money.

Solution: An insurance company should be allowed to obtain a release when it resolves an undisputed claim. A standard form release should be adopted that protects the insurance company from lawsuits drummed up by the door-to-door canvasser model, while protecting the building owner by allowing it to reopen the claim process (as opposed to filing a lawsuit, see #3 below) for additional damage components that were unknown and inherently undiscoverable at the time the release was given.

3. Lawsuits With New Damage Components Subject to Dismissal

Abuse: The traditional insurance claim adjustment model must be restored. All claim components must be included as part of the claim adjustment process. New damage components cannot be brought for the first time in litigation. The insurance company must be given an opportunity to adjust the claim before facing a lawsuit.

Solution: Existing pre-litigation notice requirements must be strengthened. Simply providing for abatement of a lawsuit filed without proper notice is meaningless. The hail lawyers just wait out the sixty day abatement and move on. Instead, lawsuits that contain new damage components not previously included within a claim submission should be subject to dismissal with a mandatory award of attorneys fees to the insurance company. As a prerequisite to litigation, the building owner must provide the insurance company with a signed statement setting forth the additional damage components and estimated claim measure. The insurance company then should be given a reasonable period of time to adjust the claim and provide a claim decision. The building owner thereafter have an opportunity to respond to the claim measure. Suit can be filed only after that this process has taken place.

4. Strengthen Waiving Deductible Law

Abuse: It is illegal for a contractor to waive, absorb, rebate or otherwise not collect a deductible from the building owner. Regardless, contractors do it all the time. They rely on an old Attorney General opinion to support their practice. The present statute needs to be strengthened to clarify this prohibition. Building owners should only file an insurance claim when they are prepared to pay their agreed deductible portion of the total damage amount. Perhaps they will then think twice about whether there is really damage to their property and an insurance claim is warranted. The days of the no cost roof replacement must come to an end.

Solution: Amend the current statute to clarify that waiving of deductibles is illegal.

5. Claim Notice Deadlines

Abuse: Public adjusters and canvassers roam neighborhoods sometimes two or three years after a storm event. Late reported claims are becoming commonplace. When a claim is reported long after the loss date, it is typically more difficult for the insurance company to establish when the reported damage actually occurred. Additional consequential damage has also often occurred.

Solution: Hail and wind damage, along with all other types of damage insured under a property damage policy, is readily discoverable after a storm event. An absolute one year claim notification deadline should be established.

6. Eliminate Duplicative Remedies

Abuse: Lawyers allege causes of action under various statutory and common law theories. Some of these result in duplicative recoveries, such as trebling of damages, interest and attorneys fees.

Solution: Chapters 541 and 542 of the Texas Insurance Code should be the exclusive statutory remedy for insurance-related claims (eliminate DTPA and Finance Code remedies).

7. Knowing Standard for Statutory Penalties

Abuse: Under the Texas common law duty of good faith and fair dealing, an insurance carrier cannot be held liable if there exists a bona fide dispute as to coverage or payment of a claim. This standard is fair. It protects the insurance carrier from bad faith exposure when there is a legitimate dispute as to whether a claim is covered or whether a payment is owed. However, Section 542 of the Texas Insurance Code creates a strict liability standard for statutory penalties. The hail damage lawyers use this as leverage in negotiating settlements.

Solution: Create a bona fide dispute exception to statutory penalties under Section 542 of the Texas Insurance Code. There can be no liability if the reason the insurance carrier failed to timely pay the claim was a bona fide dispute as to whether the claim was covered or a payment was owed.

Notably, only one of these seven targeted changes (the last one, above) impacts the rights available to consumers under the Texas Insurance Code. That single change does not take away a consumers right to file suit when faced with improper insurance company conduct. The change only modifies the standard for recovering statutory interest and attorneys fees. Independent compensatory damages, treble damages, statutory interest and attorneys fees all remain fully recoverable when an insurance company knowingly engages in improper conduct.

Finally, two more comprehensive solutions should also be considered:

1. Allow Installation of Only UL Class 4 Hail Rated Shingles

Abuse: Texas building codes contain roof design requirements for wind, rain, snow and even foot traffic. But the codes say nothing about designing for our most common peril  hail. Why is that? Its because the roofing shingle manufacturers have a good gig going in Texas (and they have a strong influence over the model building code authors). The manufacturers sell a 40 Year Shingle knowing very well that most Texas homes have their roofs replaced as a result of hail damage every 10 to 15 years. Do you think these manufacturers ever receive a warranty claim in year 39? Of course not. These same manufacturers market UL Class 4 Hail Rated Shingles that are made to withstand moderate sized hail. These products are already marketed and sold in Texas.

Solution: Mandate that only UL Class 4 Hail Rated Shingles are installed on Texas homes, for both new construction and when insurance proceeds are used to replace a roof after a hail event. Yes, there will be an increased cost for these shingles. Perhaps the legislature could provide the insurance industry with additional protections from litigation in exchange for industry agreement to absorb this additional cost. A radical proposal? Yes, but these are radical times. In the long run, both homeowners and insurance companies will benefit from such a requirement. Its just plain common sense that we should design for our most common peril. Right now we dont.

2. Regulate Insurance Restoration Contractors

Abuse: Every session there is a cry to license roofing contractors. Every session it falls on deaf ears. The problem is not limited to roofing contractors; it involves all contractors who get involved in the insurance restoration business. Out-of-state storm chasers only show up after a storm. The amount of insurance money floating around after these weather events is staggering. Most stories in the media of homeowners being taken by contractors involve insurance proceeds. Texas needs to regulate contractors who work on projects involving insurance proceeds. If a contractor doesnt want to be licensed, it doesnt have to work on insurance jobs.

Solution: Texas needs a consumer protection statute regulating the conduct of all insurance restoration contractors. Any type of contractor who is being paid on a construction project with insurance proceeds must be licensed, agree to maintain liability insurance, and agree to certain guidelines of ethical conduct (including never waiving deductibles).

Concluding ThoughtsUntil I Write Again in 2018

In 1970, Hurricane Celia struck the Corpus Christi coast. Damage was catastrophic. Faced with this ongoing risk exposure, many private insurers withdrew from the coastal insurance market. The following year, in 1971, the Texas legislature created the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, known today as TWIA, to ensure adequate windstorm coverage for the Texas coastal counties. Every legislative session brings disputes as to the funding of this quasi-governmental agency. No one likes the State of Texas being in the insurance business.

Unless the Texas legislature acts in the next session to address the hail lawsuit crisis, it is predictable that in a few years Texas will also have THIA  the Texas Hailstorm Insurance Association. Like what occurred after Hurricane Celia, the private insurance market will withdraw from portions (if not all) of the Texas hail insurance market. It is already happening.

Most of the abuses, fraud and other illegal conduct fueling the Texas hail claims crisis can be remedied through legislative action. Balance can be restored  a balance that provides the insurance company with protection from improper conduct and that provides the building owner with protection from improper conduct.

If nothing is done, the Texas hail claims feeding frenzy will continue unchecked. In two years from now Ill be back to write another follow-up article talking about how the private insurance market has stopped writing hail policies in Texas. I will be talking about the need for THIA.

Lets end the feeding frenzy, not for the benefit of my insurance company clients, but for the sake of all Texans who are the ultimate victims of this crisis.

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
Lincoln Center's May Gala to Celebrate 'Jazz and Broadway' With Vanessa Williams

Jazz at Lincoln Center's annual May gala will celebrate everything jazz has shared with New York's Great White Way. The benefit will feature Vanessa Williams as the evening's host alongside Wynton Marsalis and the JALC Orchestra. (Photo : Brad Barket/Getty Images)

For jazz, some of its most beloved standards were born on New York City's Great White Way. And with that, Jazz at Lincoln Center has announced that its forthcoming May gala will champion that idea with a celebration in the theme of "Jazz and Broadway" with Vanessa Williams.

The ceremony, which will be held May 9 at JALC's headquarters on 60th street, will celebrate everything Broadway has to offer in the way of jazz. A one-night only benefit, the event will take place at 7 p.m. at Frederick P. Rose Hall.

Vanessa Williams will host the celebration alongside the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Also on the docket for performances is Chris Botti, Aaron Diehl, Raul Esparza, LaChanze, Norm Lewis, Marilyn Maye, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Chita Rivera, Denzal Sinclaire, Tommy Tune, Daniel Ulbricht, dancers from Shuffle Along and more.

According to a press release, the theme of the night is to highlight "the music of Broadway and the profound influence jazz has had on the Great White Way throughout history."

Also a part of the evening will be the Emmy-nominated Robert Pullen, who will direct the show, and choreographer Christopher D'Amoise. All proceeds will benefit diverse education programs and resources that Jazz at Lincoln Center produces each year.

It's also been noted that JALC will present the Ed Bradley Award for Leadership in Jazz to Diana DiMenna. DiMenna, who is a board member, will be honored alongside her husband, hedge fund manager Joe DiMenna.

Lately, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra embarked on its longest tour in almost 15 years. In fact, the jazz band performed its George Gershwin Songbook repertoire at London's Barbican on Feb. 20 as part of the set list.

Nonetheless, ticket prices for JALC's May celebration begin at $2,500 and table prices begin at $35,000. For tickets, please contact Jazz at Lincoln Center Special Events at 212.258.9980 orspecialevents@jazz.org.

In the meantime, check out a preview of Mr. Marsalis and the orchestra below.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsJazz at Lincoln Center, Jazz and Broadway, Wynton Marsalis, Vanessa Williams
Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic Boast World Premiere Alongside Brahms

Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in a 4-night engagement of Brahms with a world premiere from Frank Krawczyk entitled 'Apres.' His last season, Gilbert and the orchestra will feature cellist Carter Brey as the soloist for the evening. (Photo : Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

Premiering Wednesday, April 27, the New York Philharmonic will take to David Geffen Hall in a performance of Brahms' Symphony No. 2. Maestro Alan Gilbert will conduct alongside soloist Carter Brey on cello.

The concert will also feature a world premiere by Franck Krawczyk entitled Apres along with Schumann's Cello Concerto. For Kawczyk, his revered piece was part of a Henri Dutilleux commission with two other composer.

According to the NY Phil website, the performance was written up as:

"'Cheerful and sweet' is how Brahms described his Second Symphony, written on the shores of a lake 'with melodies flying so fast that you need to watch that you don't step on any of them.' One such melody: the lullaby we all know and love. Also on the program: Schumann's lyrical Cello Concerto with Principal Cello Carter Brey as soloist, and a premiere inspired, in part, by Beethoven."

This season will be Alan Gilbert's penultimate as it's been confirmed that he will step down from his post with the company to make way for Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden. Having served as music director since 2009, this season will be emotional for the New York Philharmonic's loyal fandom.

As is par for the company's programming, opening night for the concert will be preceded by an open rehearsal scheduled for 9:45 a.m.

The Brahms and World Premiere concert will premiere a four-night engagement from April 27-30 with a running time of one hour and 45 minutes. A matinee performance will take place on Friday, April 29 at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $29-134 and can be found here.

While the concert being one of Gilbert's last for this season and next, the evening should be an intimate setting for one of Brahms' most iconic pieces in the classical canon.

But don't take our word for it, catch a preview of the piece below before you purchase your ticket.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsNew York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert, Brahms
AKRON, Ohio -- A Tallmadge man is charged in a crash that killed a 17-year-old girl whose car broke down on the side of Interstate 76 on Easter morning.

Charles Queer, 63, is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, a second-degree felony. He is charged with misdemeanor crimes of drunken driving and failing to control his car.

He posted 10 percent of a $25,000 bond Wednesday at his initial court appearance. His blood-alcohol content tested at .204, more than double the legal limit.

Patricia Powell pulled over to the side of the highway shortly after 2:15 a.m. after her car overheated. Queer's 2015 Chevy Equinox slammed into the rear of Powell's 2002 Oldsmobile Alero. She was taken to Akron City Hospital where she later died. Queer also suffered injuries.

Powell went Easter shopping at Walmart with her mother that morning. She left to go home and later called her mother to tell her that her car broke down.

Powell, a junior at Ellet High School, told her mother that a friend was coming to pick her up and to not worry. Hours after she didn't return calls or texts from her mother, an Akron police officer called Powell's mother and told her that she was hospitalized after a traffic crash.

Powell was an honor-roll student with a 3.7 grade-point average. She was in the National Honors Society. She played the clarinet and saxophone in the marching band and violin in the school orchestra.

She was in the Key Club, on student council, and volunteered through the Venture Club, which is affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America.

Powell had applied to take some college courses during her senior year and planned to attend Kent State University after graduation in 2017.

She worked at Eastgate Lanes bowling alley. She previously worked for Aeropostale at Chapel Hill Mall before the store closed. She was survived by her mother, father, grandparents and four younger siblings, ages 10, 9, 7 and 5.

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SAGAMORE HILLS, Ohio -- A Sagamore Hills man accused of growing marijuana in an underground bunker with his wife sold the drugs to employees at a Valley View car customization company.

James Giglio, 50, and his wife, Jeanne, 53, both are charged with first-degree felony marijuana growing. Both posted bonds in their cases which are being reviewed by a Summit County grand jury.

An informant told Sagamore Hills police on Jan. 28 that Giglio built an underground bunker in a barn at his home in the 7800 block of Carter Road.

Another informant told police that Giglio used to bring bags of marijuana into Dawn Enterprises in Valley View, where he was the general manager. He would open his jacket to reveal bags of marijuana for sale, according to court records.

The informant told police Giglio regularly sold the drugs to half the workers at Dawn Enterprises, a custom car company, court records say.

Sagamore Hills police subpoenaed the electricity use at Giglio's house. They reported the use of electricity was seven times higher during times when Giglio was harvesting the plants. That was higher than five neighboring homes, investigators said.

Giglio also kept younger plants at Dawn Enterprises to replace plants after they were harvested, according to court records.

Giglio was also a partner in other marijuana-growing operations in Akron, according to court records. He has not been charged in any of those cases.

Sagamore Hills police then raided his home March 28. Police found 19 marijuana plants and between 11 and 44 pounds of the drug, according to reports.

They also reported finding an infrared surveillance video system in the bunker.

Police seized jewelry, a rare coin collection, a John Deere backhoe, a Cadillac SRX, a Chevy Silverado and $621 on the belief they were obtained with drug money.

Authorities are also trying to seize Giglio's home.

Dawn Enterprises owner Robert Kovach said Giglio remains general manager of the company. He said Giglio has worked there for 35 years. He disputed that Giglio sold drugs to any employees. He also said he walks every inch of his building and doesn't believe any plants were ever stored there.

"I've never heard he was selling anything to anyone here," Kovach said. "As far as his job, he's honest, loyal and hardworking. I've never had any problem with him working for the company. What he did, I'm not aware of and don't know a lot about it."

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AKRON, Ohio -- A Summit County Jail inmate died Tuesday after corrections officers found him unconscious in his jail cell.

Antonio Daniel, 39, was taken to Akron General Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about 10 a.m.

Daniel complained of chest pains first about 9 p.m. Monday night and again at 5 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Summit County Medical Examiner.

Both times medical personnel checked Daniel and decided that he was okay, the medical examiner said.

He refused his medication and didn't eat breakfast early Tuesday. He also had been on dialysis prior to his arrest.

Corrections officers found him unconscious in his cell about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to Summit County Sheriff Inspector Bill Holland.

Medical personnel at the jail tried to resuscitate Daniel by performing CPR, Holland said.

Holland said the circumstances surrounding Daniel's death is being investigated.

Daniel died about three hours before a scheduled court hearing on a contempt of court charge, according to court records.

Daniel skipped a Feb. 24 hearing in his misdemeanor theft case. A judge issued a bench warrant. He was arrested on Monday and held in jail for his hearing in Akron Municipal Court on Tuesday.

The theft charge stemmed from allegations that he refused to pay a $65 cab fare on Feb. 14. He also fought with police officers after they told him he would be issued a summons for theft.

Officers also charged with disorderly conduct. He was freed on a $5,000 signature bond after his arraignment.

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AKRON, Ohio -- The number of people dying in car crashes in Summit County has dramatically spiked in the first three and a half months of 2016, according to the State Highway Patrol.

Seventeen people died in 16 crashes across the county compared to five deaths in five crashes during the same timeframe in 2015, the patrol said. There were 25 traffic deaths in all of 2015.

Lt. Leo Shirkey, the commander of the Canton post, said he's contacted all police departments in the county in an effort to curb the increase in traffic deaths.

"We're always proactive, but when you have this happening you have to reevaluate what's going on," Shrikey said. "We're going to start traffic safety initiatives, especially with the summer coming up which means more people traveling."

Shirkey said eight people who died in crashes were not wearing seatbelts making it the leading contributor to the deaths that occurred this year. Two crashes involved motorcycles and others involved pedestrians struck by vehicles.

Laura Byrd, 54, of Akron, was not wearing a seatbelt when she died March 2 in a head-on crash on Ohio 18. Justin Miller, 33, the driver whose car struck the car Byrd was in is charged with vehicular manslaughter.

Six of the deadly crashes involved a driver under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the second leading contributing factor. That number could increase since toxicology tests are pending in some of the more recent crashes.

One fatal drunken-driving case that garnered attention happened on Easter morning. A suspected drunken driver crashed into the rear of 17-year-old Patrica Powell's car which broke down on the side of Interstate 76. The 63-year-old Tallmadge man has not yet been charged.

Shirkey said nine of the crashes happened in Akron. Three happened in Barberton, including a 14-year-old boy who died after leading New Franklin police on a chase into Barberton.

Three others happened in Copley, including a double-fatal crash on Feb. 28. Other crashes happened in Mogadore and New Franklin.

Nine of the crashes happened between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m., Shirkey said

Shirkey said the patrol will be more visible in the coming months.

"The goal be visible and let people see us stopping cars," he said. " Hopefully people seeing that will correct their behavior. If a citation is warranted to correct behaviors, we'll issue a citation."

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Mo Williams

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Mo Williams will travel to New York on Wednesday to for a checkup on his injured knee.

(Gus Chan, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland Cavaliers guard Mo Williams flew to New York on Tuesday for a Wednesday appointment regarding his bothersome left knee, league sources informed cleveland.com.

This will come two days after seeking a second opinion from renowned knee specialist Dr. James Andrews in Florida. The 13-year veteran has traveled to see Dr. Andrews on three occasions this season.

He is expected to return to Cleveland to be on the bench with his team for Wednesday's regular season finale against the Detroit Pistons, but he will not dress.

Williams' injury is being termed as chondromalacia, inflammation of cartilage under the kneecap. It has been an injury that has plagued him all season and caused him to miss over a month of time. He's trying to get more information because he has a great desire to play this postseason.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenpress news agency presents on the air of Lratvakan radio all that you will hear, read and see on todays news.

Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan is on working visit in the Russian capital Moscow where he will participate in the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council session. During the visit it is scheduled to have a meeting with the Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. There were different opinions concerning the Armenian Prime Ministers visit to Moscow. Today the press conference will be held by the Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov where it is expected that the question will be raised related to Armenias participation in the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council session.

Within the framework of regional cooperation in the energy sector a quadrilateral meeting will be held on April 13 with the participation of Energy Ministers of Armenia, Russia, Iran and Deputy Energy Minister of Georgia in Yerevan. It is expected to discuss and sign the necessary road map for the formation of the North-South Energy Corridor initiative.

What kind of demographic picture do we have, what are the problems from that viewpoint and what are the possible solutions? The Executive representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Garik Hayrapetyan and the head of the Labor and Social Affairs Ministrys department on demography Vanik Babajanyan will talk about these issues.

The provocative actions by Azerbaijan in the line of contact of Karabakh and Azerbaijan, the reaction of international community, the actions by the Armenian side in the focus of political, expertise discussions. The Deputy Director of the Free Democrats Party, political scientist Anush Sedrakyan, economist Tatul Manaseryan, the head of the Union for National Self-determination Paruyr Hayrikyan, Armen Martirosyan and Zaruhi Postanjyan from the Heritage party, honorary President of the Union of Artsakh Liberation War Veterans Hamlet Hovsepyan, a member of Arabo squad, lawyer Seyran Grigoryan and others will talk about the recent developments.

Protest against the Russias stance on Nagorno Karabakh issue. A protest action will be held against Russia for its stance on the recent clashes between Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces and for the selling of weapons to Baku. It will begin from the Freedom Square and will end in the front of the Russian Embassy in Yerevan. The participants will demand from Russia to perform its duties as a strategic partner, to respect the national interests and the security of Armenia in his further decisions, to immediately stop selling weapons to Azerbaijan.

You can read more about these and other topics at armenpress.am or listen to the news on the air of Lratkvakan radio. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
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How many drinks is OK? The world disagrees. A recent study from researchers at Stanford University shows that countries have very different ideas about how much alcohol is safe or healthy, and the standards even within a country can be confusing.

""There's a substantial chance for misunderstanding," said study co-author Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford, in a press release. "A study of the health effects of low-risk drinking in France could be misinterpreted by researchers in the United States who may use a different definition of drinking levels. Inconsistent guidelines are also likely to increase skepticism among the public about their accuracy. It is not possible that every country is correct; maybe they are all wrong."

The researchers started with the one of the closest things to an international standard: the World Health Organization. According to the study, the WHO identifies a standard drink as having 10 grams of pure ethanol  a little more than a third of an ounce. Its guidelines recommend no more than two drinks per day on average for both men and women. But across a pool of 37 countries with national drinking guidelines, the researchers found wide variations in how tall a "standard" drink is, and how many drinks are safe in a day or a week.

Some countries define a standard drink more liberally than the WHO does. American guidelines consider 14 grams of pure alcohol to be a standard drink, four grams more than the WHO's definition. But that is just the start. U.S. guidelines say women should consume no more than 42 grams of pure alcohol in a single day day (about three drinks). That is double or more than the WHO limit and the daily limits in most other countries on the list. Now consider Vietnam, Poland and France. All three say a standard drink is a more modest 10 grams  in line with WHO recommendations.
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado  The Space Symposium in this scenic Rocky Mountain setting is usually a staid affair, with lots of people in suits talking about propulsion systems. This year, however, the gathering was shaken up by a newcomer. A billionaire who has big plans for space, and who has been quietly competing for contracts.

We're not talking Elon Musk.

This billionaire was Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com .

"I've been obsessed over rocket, rocket engines and space flight since I was five years old," Bezos told a packed hall at the Broadmoor Hotel here on Tuesday. Internet retailing made Bezos rich, and he's pouring part of that fortune into his rocket company Blue Origin.

Why is it taking so long?

Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO Getty Images

Wealthy players like Bezos, Musk, Richard Branson and others have invigorated the space industry, and yet its progress is seemingly glacial compared to the growth Amazon experienced on the internet. Bezos said the internet was able to grow rapidly due to existing infrastructure  phone lines. Amazon was specifically able to grow so fast thanks to existing package delivery companies and credit card payment systems. However, for space, "The big heavy-lifting pieces are not yet in place," he said. "I think it's just one big piece: We need much lower cost of access to space. It's just still too expensive." Reusable rockets should bring down the cost, but Bezos said the other hurdle to success is the lack of practice. "If you need to have a surgery, find somebody who does the operation 20 to 25 times a week."

Bezos thinks the key to practice in the rocket industry is space tourism, and Blue Origin hopes to use its New Shepard rocket to regularly take six paying passengers at a time to the edge of space where they can float for a few minutes before returning to Earth in a parachuted capsule. Test astronauts are slated to go up in 2017, with paying tourists in 2018.



Rocket Progress

Bezos showed previously unseen video of the latest launch and return of his New Shepard rocket earlier this month. As he described the video  taken from a camera onboard, the rocket viewers could see the "ring fin" turn a "nice toasty brown" as it re-entered. This was the third time Blue Origin had launched and landed the rocket. "It's just a few thousand dollars to refurbish them," Bezos said, with cleanup mostly consisting of sanding the toasted areas and reapplying thermal protection. "We never took the engine out of the vehicle."

Bezos in space?

Bezos does hope to go to space himself some day, but only on one of his own rockets. He said the Soyuz program was offering a fly by of the moon if he was willing to pay around $200 million. "It was expensive," he said to laughter. Then he asked the Russians, "'Has it ever been tested?' And they were like, 'No.'" When Bezos mentioned that sounded awfully risky, the Russians replied, "Well, for $400 million we'll test it for you." He passed.

Big picture, Bezos sees millions of people living and working in space. He thinks space travel will not only help us migrate off the planet, but actually help us to save the planet. What's more, way down the road, he thinks most heavy industry can be done offsite, "and Earth can be zoned as residential and light industry."

Egnine controversy

Model of Aerojet Rocketdyne's AR1 rocket engine, in development at the 32nd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs on April 12, 2016. Jodi Gralnick | CNBC

While Blue Origin is best known for its rocket, much of the focus at the Space Symposium was on the company's engine, the BE-4. It is fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid methane, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) wants to use it for its new Vulcan rocket. ULA has been using Russian engines for its military launches, and both Congress and the Air Force want only American engines on American rockets.

The Air Force recently gave four companies contracts worth $242 million to develop new engines. More money will follow, though each company has to bear about a third of the cost of development. One of the companies receiving funds was Blue Origin.

"There can be many winners in truly great industries," Bezos said. "I want Virgin Galactic to succeed. I want SpaceX to succeed. I want United Launch Alliance to succeed. I want Arianespace to succeed. And of course, I want Blue Origin to succeed, and I think they all can."

Perhaps tellingly, one name he didn't mention was Aerojet Rocketdyne, which got nearly three times as much money as Blue Origin did from the Air Force to develop a competing engine called the AR1 for ULA'S new rocket.

Julie Van Kleek of Aerojet Rocketdyne. Jodi Gralnick | CNBC

Aerojet vice president of space Julie Van Kleek said long term the AR1 is less risky and cheaper than Bezos' engine. "It uses the same fuels that we're currently using today. You don't have to upgrade the infrastructure down at the launch pad, and you have minimal changes down at the tankage," she said. "This is the lowest cost solution and the fastest way to do it."

ULA will ultimately decide which engine it wants, a decision that will probably come later this year. But there could be political pressure. Aerojet partner Dynetics believes the fact that the Air Force gave Aerojet more money for the AR1 may show which engine the Pentagon prefers. "The government is going to have a lot to say on who gets picked," said Dynetics VP Steve Cook.

Then there were the politically incorrect sentiments expressed by a ULA executive last month comparing Bezos' Blue Origin to a "super rich girl" while Aerojet is a "poor girl." The executive resigned the next day, and ULA CEO Tory Bruno has repudiated those remarks.

Van Kleek, a rare woman running a rocket program, smiled when asked how it feels to be called the poor girl. "I think a lot of interesting comments are being made during this debate," she said. "We're focused on the finish line, and we're confident in the AR1."

Other news at the symposium:

This space for rent

Last week, wealthy developer Robert Bigelow watched a dream come true as an expandable space habitat he developed was launched to the International Space Station. Soon astronauts will expand the habitat and begin testing it for livability over the next two years. This week Bigelow Aerospace has announced the next major step. It has contracted with ULA to launch two larger versions in 2020.

The Bigelow B330 habitats will be 20 times larger than the one being tested at the space station, with 12,000 cubic feet of space. It's not clear if these, too, will attach to the space station, or if Bigelow will launch them as stand alone space stations which he hopes to lease out to companies or governments. "We can't begin to imagine the future potential of affordable real estate in space," said ULA CEO Tory Bruno in a statement.



Satellites that can fix other satellites

Orbital ATK has created a satellite which can be launched and spend 15 years moving from satellite to satellite to repair, refuel, and even move the existing spacecraft into a new orbit. The aim is to extend the life of satellites. Orbital's first customer is Intelsat, which has signed a five year agreement and will pay once the service is proven and available (terms not disclosed).

Orbital ATK plans to launch the first of the so-called Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) in 2018, sending it to a test satellite for practice. The company is investing $1 billion in new technologies like the MEV. Within five years, Orbital ATK hopes to have five in space. CEO David Thompson believes the vehicles could expand beyond fueling and fixing MEV "to potentially in-orbit assembly of multiple structures."

Which may be one small step toward Jeff Bezos' dream of offloading the heavy lifting to space, so Earth can be "rezoned."
Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers walked off their jobs Wednesday, union officials said.

Workers from Massachusetts to Virginia began their strike at 6:00 a.m. ET, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) said in a statement.

"Our families and our customers deserve more from Verizon," said Isaac Collazo, a technician and CWA member who has worked at Verizon for 19 years.

"Through our hard work, Verizon is making record profits while our families are left with threats to our jobs and our customers aren't getting the service they need. Striking is a hardship for our families, but we need to remind Verizon executives that the people who build their profits are a critical reason for the company's success.


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JPMorgan Chase earnings and March retail sales could set the tone for Wednesday's markets, but traders will also be keeping an eye on oil prices. Crude rallied hard during Tuesday's session, but gave up some gains in electronic trading when the American Petroleum Institute released its weekly report showing a large, 6.2 million barrel increase in supply. That could make the U.S. Energy Information Administration release of weekly data Wednesday an even bigger than normal event. The 10:30 a.m. EDT release includes weekly inventory data but also U.S. production figures, hovering around 9 million barrels a day. Analysts have said the market could get a psychological boost if production falls below 9 million barrels.

Oil's rise Tuesday was dramatic with West Texas Intermediate settling up 4.5 percent to $42.17 per barrel, its highest close since November. WTI also ended above its 200-day moving average for the first time since July 30, 2014. Crude futures were higher in early trading, but jumped after Interfax reported that Russia was hopeful for a production freeze deal and that the final decision would not depend on Iran. Stocks shook off their doldrums Tuesday, and the Dow snapped higher in its biggest daily gain in a month. The blue chip index climbed 164 at 17,721, and the rose 19 to 2,061. The S&P energy sector jumped 2.8 percent.

Retail sales and PPI are reported at 8:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday, while business inventories are at 10 a.m. and the Fed's Beige Book on the economy is released at 2 p.m. March Retail sales are expected to be flat, but up 0.4 percent when auto sales are not included. JPMorgan Chase is expected to report first-quarter earnings per share of $1.26 per share, according to FactSet. "That's the first real company to report that has its tentacles into other companies. It gives you a read on the housing market. It gives you a read on investment banking. It gives you a read on loan demand and it gives you a read on the consumer," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist with Wunderlich Securities.
The North Carolina measure  dubbed the "bathroom law"  also requires transgender individuals to use public bathrooms that match the gender on their birth certificates.

The move, which comes during the presidential election campaign, is the latest twist in a battle between big corporations and conservative legislatures in several southern states over the balance between religious rights and anti-discriminatory measures, and whether companies and faith-based groups can refuse to serve same-sex couples on religious grounds.

Germany's biggest bank, which employs 900 people in a software centre in Cary, North Carolina, had planned to hire a further 250 staff by 2017. But the lender on Tuesday said those plans had been put on hold after North Carolina passed a measure that excludes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people from anti-discrimination protections.

Deutsche Bank has frozen plans to expand in North Carolina after the US state passed a law that overturned protections for gay people, in the latest fight between business and conservative legislatures over social issues.

Responding to the criticism, Pat McCrory, the state's Republican governor, late on Tuesday signed an executive order that adjusted some of the controversial elements of the law but not the provision about bathrooms.



McCrory said the changes included expanding North Carolina's equal employment opportunity policy to "clarify that sexual orientation and gender identity are included". He also vowed to press the legislature to pass a law to "reinstate the right to sue for discrimination" in the state's courts.

More from the FT:

MI5 rated best workplace for employees' equality

Winning wars is easier with well-led and diverse teams

Year in a word: Trans



But the changes came under immediate fire from human rights groups. Human Rights Campaign said McCrory's action was an "insufficient response to a terrible . . . law that continues to harm LGBT people on a daily basis".

"It's absurd that he'll protect people from being fired but will prohibit them from using the employee restroom consistent with their gender identity," Sarah Warbelow, HRC legal director, said in a statement.

Mississippi last week passed legislation that allows private companies to refuse to serve gay and transgender people if doing so would violate their religious beliefs. However, the governor of Georgia vetoed a similar measure that had been passed by the state legislature after opposition from business groups and Hollywood.

The Republican party had hoped to avoid "culture war" issues in the 2016 election in order to attract more members and boost its chances of taking the White House. But it has been stymied by the southern states' initiatives and by the rise of the two main presidential rivals, Donald Trump, and particularly Ted Cruz, the Texas senator whose campaign has adopted a much stronger focus on social issues such as opposition to same-sex marriage.

The Mississippi and North Carolina laws have sparked a broad backlash from large companies across the US  from Apple to Goldman Sachs to Starbucks  which argue the measures are discriminatory and also hurt business by alienating some customers and making it more difficult to hire a diverse, talented workforce. More than 130 business leaders last week signed a letter expressing opposition to the North Carolina law.

Musicians have also expressed outrage. Bruce Springsteen canceled a concert in North Carolina because of the anti-LGBT law while Bryan Adams, the Canadian musician, decided not to perform in Mississippi.

The controversy comes a year after Indiana and Arkansas tried to introduce religious freedom laws that critics said were discriminatory towards gays. The Republican governors of both states were forced to weaken the measures after an outcry from corporations and less conservative states across the US.
The "Panama Papers" leak of more than 11.5 million financial and legal records has exposed heads of states and public figures around the world sheltering wealth offshore.

Offshore accounts are a traditional way for the wealthy to diversify the location of their investments, benefit from lower tax rates or enjoy lower regulatory oversight.

However, one financial intelligence expert told CNBC that companies and investors could now gain the same benefits from tapping the digital currency sector as from offshoring  and that clued-up ones had probably already opted to do so.

"Maybe companies that had to appear legitimate would have done it (invested in traditional offshore accounts), but really, those just wanting to park money?  I don't think that's being done now by the smart ones," Scott Dueweke, the founder of Zebryx, a digital identity consultancy, said on Tuesday.

The offshore holdings of 140 public figures came to light as a result of the leak from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:

JPMorgan Chase  The bank beat street estimates by 9 cents with quarterly profit of $1.35 per share, while revenue also beat forecasts. CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank's consumer businesses are growing "impressively," among the positive factors helping results. The numbers are also helping lift shares of other banks like Bank of America and Citigroup .

CSX  The railroad operator matched forecasts with quarterly profit of 37 cents per share. However, revenue was below estimates as coal shipments fell 31 percent compared to a year earlier. CSX had said last month that earnings would fall significantly as shipment volumes declined.

Chipotle Mexican Grill  CLSA began coverage on the restaurant chain with an "underperform" rating. The firm thinks comparable sales numbers will bottom out this summer, it will take longer for profit margins to bounce back.

Wynn Resorts  The casino operator's shares were cut to "hold" from "buy" at Deutsche Bank, after a 40-percent year-to-date increase and a stock price near the firm's target. It said the current valuation leaves "little margin for error" and notes continuing weakness in Macau.

JetBlue  The airline reported a 12.1-percent March increase in revenue passenger miles versus a year earlier, though its load factor declined 0.4 percentage points to 86.8 percent.

Harley-Davidson  UBS is predicting the motorcycle maker will report a nearly 10 percent increase in March retail sales, significantly better than consensus expectations.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals  The drug maker repeated that it was on track to file its annual report by April 29, after major bondholder Centerbridge Partners called a default because of the drug maker's failure to file by the original deadline.

McCormick & Co.  McCormick dropped its takeover bid for British food company Premier Foods. The spice maker had bid $2.1 billion for Premier, but said it was not willing to raise that offer.

Wal-Mart  The retail giant expanded its free curbside grocery pickup service to eight new cities this month, bringing the total to 30 cities and about 200 stores.

Verizon  Verizon landline workers went on strike this morning, after saying there has not been much progress in negotiations for a new contract. The old contract expired almost eight months ago.

PulteGroup  PulteGroup board member James Grosfeld has resigned effective immediately, after joining the home builder's founder Bill Pulte in calling for Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Dugas to step down.

Integrated Device Technology  The company issued a statement following an SEC filing by a group of investors offering to buy the company for $32 per share. The chipmaker said it has not had any communication whatsoever with the investors and is unaware of any information that would support the idea that the offer is bona fide.

Restoration Hardware  The home products retailer is buying luxury bath and kitchen seller Waterworks for $117 million.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. The Nagorno Karabakh Defense Ministry informs that Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire agreement last night, and as a result an Armenian serviceman was wounded, Armenpress was informed by the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Armys Press Service.

The Defense Army statement reads: The situation remained the same during the night of April 12-13 in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. Azerbaijan continued violating the ceasefire agreement and fired various caliber weapons including sniper rifles and grenade launchers.

Overall, during the abovementioned period Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire 106 times. In order to stabilize the situation the Defense Army forces responded 23 times.

As a result of the Azerbaijani violations, 1 serviceman of the Defense Army was wounded. The Defense Army forces continue monitoring the situation in the line of contact and are conducting countermeasures only in case of strict necessity.
Just because you're not heading to Paris or Rome this summer doesn't mean you won't come up against crowds.

New data from Kayak.com's 2016 Summer Travel Hacker Guide found summer flight searches are trending upward for cities that aren't among the usual suspects for that peak-season period. Among the hot spots: Reykjavik (where searches for this summer are up 75 percent compared with last year), Krakow, Poland (up 53 percent) and Dublin (up 30 percent).

"It reveals some fascinating places that are emerging more," said David Solomito, director of brand marketing for Kayak. "It confirms anecdotally what we're hearing, where the trendsetters are headed."

Based on Kayak's price data from user searches, here are the best times to visit newly trending European destinations between Memorial Day and Labor Day this year  and how far ahead you might want to book to snag great deals.

 By CNBC's Kelli B. Grant

Posted 13 April 2016


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Supporters of a British exit from the European Union were left enraged this week after a new report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led to calls of inaccuracy and political bias.

The Washington D.C.-based organization said the U.K. referendum on its membership of the EU had already created uncertainty for investors and said a so-called "Brexit" could do "severe regional and global damage by disrupting established trading relationships."

U.K. Prime Minister Cameron and Finance Minister George Osborne both used their Twitter accounts Tuesday to promote the IMF's latest assessment with the latter calling it "one of most important interventions yet in EU debate."

Tweet 1 Bookmaker Ladbrokes is currently predicting there's a 33 percent chance that Britons will vote to leave the European bloc in an upcoming referendum on June 23. The fierce debate has strained relationships and seen major political heavyweights put forward opposing views.

The warning - just weeks before the June 23 vote - was heavily criticized by John Longworth, a former director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, who resigned from his role in March after being drawn into the political row.

The British government is officially campaigning to stay within a renegotiated EU and Longworth claimed that it had "friends in high places" with this latest backing by the IMF. The IMF did not respond immediately when asked by CNBC about claims of bias and inaccuracy.

"I'm fully expecting a whole series of international organizations to make comments saying we ought to stay in the European Union running up to the 23rd of June, no doubt orchestrated by the U.K. government," Longworth told CNBC Wednesday.

"They (the IMF) didn't predict the (U.K.) recession, they are certainly part of the EU establishment," he added.

Paul Gambles, the managing director of MBMG Group, was equally scathing, saying the organization had "zero credibility" and had now come out with a "very prejudiced viewpoint" on the U.K.'s future within the European bloc.

Meanwhile, Ngaire Woods, the founding dean of the Blavatnik School of Government and professor of global economic governance at the University of Oxford, gave a different perspective on the IMF report released on Tuesday. Woods - who has served as an advisor to the IMF board - responded to its decision to downgrade global growth Tuesday and said the organization was "almost always over optimistic." In an interview with the BBC on Wednesday morning she called it a "sobering report."

Jasper Juinen | Bloomberg via Getty Image
Roberta Basile | Pacific Press/LightRocket | Getty Images

Italy's leader says he's ready to put his premiership on the line. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has pledged to step down if a proposed referendum fails to approve changes to the country's constitution that he says could finally stabilize Italian politics. It will be one of the most concrete tests of public confidence for the 41-year old leader since he came to power via a party vote in February 2014, and comes on the heels of a 5 billion euro ($5.7 billion) fund to help quell concerns over non-performing loans held by some of the country's struggling banks. CNBC takes a look at risks Renzi's administration is tackling.



The future of Italian banks

Concerns over financial instability have prompted the creation of a multibillion fund intended to prop up a banking sector struggling under the weight of nearly 360 billion euros ($409.75 billion) worth of non-performing loans (NPLs), according to Reuters figures. A 5 billion euro ($5.7 billion) backstop fund for Italian banks will be financed by some of the country's lenders, asset management firms and banking foundations, including Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, which are reportedly set to put up 1 billion euros each. The fund is expected to buy up unsold shares as well as bad loans. But confidence in the program already appears shaky, with ratings agency Fitch warning on Wednesday that the country's largest lenders "face considerable contingency risks" given that the government is "continuously" calling upon the big banks to support state efforts to prop up "weaker banks and preserve financial stability."



"It will drag IntesaSP (San Paolo) and a number of other Italian banks into funding an investment which would normally fall outside their risk parametres," Fitch said in a statement, adding that big banks will see their financial profiles weaken and ratings come under pressure if they are asked to provide this kind of "extraordinary support." Jack Allen, a European Economist at Capital Economics, told CNBC via email on Wednesday that the fund is just not big enough to mop up the mess. "The 5 billion euro fund that has been proposed to purchase non-performing loans and buy the shares of distressed lenders looks very small. Indeed, the non-performing loans of Italian banks are worth well in excess of 300 billion euros," he wrote. Allen also highlighted fears that the fund could be prohibited by the European authorities, through Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan insisted to Il Sole 24 Wednesday that he doesn't expect the European Central Bank or the European Union to put up a fight given the cash will come from private funders. Even if that's the case, Allen says he expects the Italian economy to "remain sluggish, making it more difficult for banks to repair their balance sheets."

Political instability: Can Renzi hold on?

A referendum expected to be scheduled for this coming autumn will be one of the most direct tests of Renzi's near two-year time in office. If it fails, the young leader has promised to resign. Renzi has already seen his approval rating nearly halve since 2014, but still remains the country's most popular political leader at 41 percent, according to a Demos poll published by La Repubblica in Italy. The referendum will ask citizens to vote on reforms that will effectively replace the senate with officials and state-nominated members that will lose legislative veto rights. It's seen as a drastic change to a political system that currently balances power between the parliament and upper house. The idea behind the move is to put an end to short-term governments and instill political stability. Some strings still remain loose, though, with high jobless rates and sluggish growth still weighing on the country's prospects. One in three Italians aged 25 and under are unemployed, compared to one in five across the whole of the EU, and 6.9 percent in Germany, according to EU statistics service Eurostat. Meanwhile, quarterly growth was tracked at a mere 0.1 percent during the last 3 months of 2015.



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That is one very long case of road rage. A Morgan Stanley managing director was charged by police after following and confronting a woman whose car he suspected had recklessly cut him off  four days earlier  on a Connecticut highway, police and the executive's own lawyer said.

Susan Chiang | Getty Images

The executive, John Slattery, 43, told a police officer "he was looking for an apology" last Friday when he got out of his Range Rover and walked up to the woman's BMW in the parking garage of Greenwich [Conn.] Hospital after tailing her, Greenwich police said. Slattery's lawyer said he was trying to determine if the woman was the same person who had been driving like "a lunatic possessed" near Slattery's car four days before. The attorney, Philip Russell, said Slattery would contest the misdemeanor charge of second-degree breach of peace that police lodged against the financial giant's exec. Slattery, who was freed without bond, is due to be arraigned in Stamford court on Tuesday.

Slattery works in Morgan Stanley's Greenwich office. He told police that on April 4 he had been driving north on a local street, headed home to New Canaan, when he saw he was being closely followed by a white BMW. Slattery said the car tried to pass him when he got onto the Merritt Parkway, according to Greenwich Police Lt. John Brown. "Which caused him to ... become upset," Brown said. "The BMW passed him, and they nearly collided, causing him to swerve out of the way and he, quote, 'nearly collided into a guardrail,'" Brown said. Four days later, on last Friday, Slattery spotted a white BMW that looked like the car that cut him off, he told cops. The woman told police that she noticed Slattery's Range Rover begin to follow her, matching her turn-by-turn, as she drove several miles down North Street, and then into the garage at the hospital, Brown said. "He ... parked directly behind her" in the garage, and then "got out and approached her vehicle," Brown said. "According to her, he was yelling at her," Brown said. When the woman called police to the scene, "she was visibly shaking and crying." Asked if he were aware of any other case of road rage with such a long lag between the incident that sparked someone's anger and led them to confront another driver, Brown said, "I haven't seen anything like it before, or read anything like it before."

Slattery's lawyer Russell said his client had done nothing wrong. The lawyer said that on April 4, a woman in a white BMW had been "driving her car in a lunatic manner." "She was tailgating, she passed John and others in the left-hand breakdown lane of the Merritt Parkway during rush hour, and cut him off, causing him to swerve when he re-entered the traveled lane," Russell said. Russell said Slattery took a picture of the woman's car with his smartphone, but was unable to get a clear image of the license plate. Four days later, Russell said, Slattery spotted a similar-looking BMW in Greenwich and followed it into the hospital garage. "He approaches her to confirm her identity so that he can make a complaint to the police, or find out why she nearly killed him," Russell said. "He didn't want to turn the police loose on the wrong person." And, "He wasn't rude to her," the lawyer said. "She just gave evasive answers," Russell said. "He walked away."
The oil market should get a boost this summer from the "driving season," the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Wednesday, but added that demand from major economies would be insufficient to offset the decline in consumption elsewhere.



"Looking ahead, global products markets are once again expected to receive support from gasoline demand ahead of the driving season," the body said in its monthly report.

"However, unlike in the previous year, OECD gasoil demand may not have sufficient strength to offset the continued slowdown in non-OECD consumption," it added.

Crude remains in focus ahead of a flagship meeting at the weekend between oil-producing countries. and WTI crude futures declined on Wednesday, following a more-than-4 percent jump during the previous session.

Crude oil futures surged around 20 percent in March. This was the best month since November 2015, OPEC said, and was largely based on expectations of supply intervention by major crude oil exporters.
YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan conducted large scale military operations in the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact in the beginning of April and tried to infiltrate the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. During the 4 days of fierce fighting the Defense Army of Nagorno Karabakh succeeded in pushing back the adversary. On April 5 a ceasefire agreement has been reached in Moscow. During the 4 days of battles, Azerbaijan violated every all international humanitarian norms, targeted civilians, bombarded peaceful settlements and committed war crimes. Azerbaijan bombarded the Martakert and Martuni cities, as a result of which a child was killed. 3 elderly people were violently and brutally murdered in Talish village by Azerbaijani soldiers. During the military operations, Azerbaijan used banned weapons against Nagorno Karabakh, and there are grounds to believe that Azerbaijan used Islamist merceneries. The Azerbaijani side even mutilated and vandalized the corpses of Armenian soldiers, which is a clear display of violations of international humanitarian norms. Armenpress conducted an interview with Yuri Hayrapetyan, Ombudsman of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, regarding the measures that are being taken in order to bring Azerbaijan to responsibility in international organizations for its heinous and severe crimes.

-Mr. Hayrapetyan, recently Azerbaijan began large scale military offensive operations in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact, during which Azerbaijan committed war crimes, targeted civilian populations, murdered peaceful civilians and mutilated the corpses of killed Armenian soldiers. What steps are being made for bringing Azerbaijan to responsibility for these heinous crimes in international bodies and tribunals?

- Let me start by saying that I have applied to the UN Human Rights Commissioner, the European Council Human Rights Commissioner as well as a number of international NGOs in the sphere of human rights. I also applied to the European Ombudsman Institute. I am a member of this Institute and so is the Azerbaijani Ombudsman. It is an international NGO, which unifies all Ombudsmen and people of European countries who are involved in human rights. It is a very prestigious organization which works directly with the European Union and the Council of Europe. Generally, I think that during the recent operations, the target of Azerbaijan was the peaceful civilian population. By this, their goal was to break us, to show that it can violate and ignore every rule of the civilized world and target civilians.

Azerbaijan openly targeted and bombarded a number of civilian settlements and cities, Martuni, Martakert, Hadrut, Mataghis and Talish. This is an obvious violation of the Geneva Convention and is considered a war crime. The Geneva Convention prohibits any operations against civilians or civilian settlements. We know that as a result of the Azerbaijani operations homes were destructed, schools damaged, a child was killed, many other children wounded.

Azerbaijani soldiers brutally murdered three elderly civilians and mutilated their bodies.

A criminal case has been filed by the Artsakh Prosecutors Office and Investigative Agencies regarding the Azerbaijani atrocities. This will allow us to gather as many facts as possible, which will prove that Azerbaijan committed war crimes. Forensic examinations and investigations are underway, the results of which will be proofs. We will apply to international tribunals to bring Azerbaijan to responsibility. As to which specific court we will apply, we think this case has to be filed to the International Criminal Court.

You can read the full interview in Armenian
Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi ruled out a crude output cut in comments made to Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper published on Wednesday.

"Forget about this topic," he told the paper, when asked about any possible reduction in his country's production.

Leading oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, will meet in Qatar on Sunday to discuss an output freeze to support oil prices.

Separately on Wednesday, Iran's Seda weekly cited by Reuters said that Iran's oil minister would not be attending the Doha talks but would be sending an Iranian representative instead.
Parker announced a donation of $250 million for the research of immunotherapy for cancer treatments on Wednesday, an endeavor from his organization, The Parker Foundation. According to the American Cancer Society, immunotherapy is a very active area of cancer research.

Immunotherapy, a treatment that uses parts of a person's immune system to combat diseases such as cancer, is the outlier to this battle, according Parker, former president of Facebook.

"We've all been affected by cancer with someone in our lives," Sean Parker said Wednesday on CNBC's "Closing Bell." "Even though we've made some pretty good progress in treating about half of all cancers ... we haven't been as successful in bringing new therapies to market."

Innovations in technology are at the core of Silicon Valley, but this tech billionaire is pushing for the advancement of medical research this time.

The new venture, The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy includes more than 300 researchers and 40 laboratories, and is a "grand experiment" that removes data-sharing barriers, Parker told CNBC. "Providing that infrastructure to bring everybody together, this is how we think we are going to move science forward," he said.

Among the scientists are experts from New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering, Stanford Medicine, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, San Francisco, Houston's University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, according to its website.



Parker, who likens life sciences to the way the internet sector in the mid-90s felt to him, said that company controversy in the biotech sector should not impact investor appetite. His comments came as federal regulators may ban Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes from running or owning any lab businesses amid accusations of failing to resolve issues at one of her labs, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

Theranos spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan told CNBC she was hopeful that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would not impose sanctions, as the company works on comprehensive corrective measures, including the recent recruitment of an advisory board of scientific and medical experts. "But if they do, we will work with CMS to address all of their concerns," Buchanan confirmed to CNBC.

"The public beating that biotech stocks have taken it's a bigger deterrent," Parker said. "I'm not worried about any individual company tainting this incredibly exciting moment."



CNBC's Jessica Hartogs and Anita Balakrishnan contributed to this report.
"Our ultimate goal is to provide health-care coverage for all pets and fill this gap," Curt Revelette said.

The founders claim they are not competing with in-person vet visits, but rather, with "amateur" Google searches.

To work around what the two call, a dated health care model for pets, they created the Vet On Demand app, which allows pet owners to have a live video chat with a veterinarian from any mobile device. The service costs $9.99 per month for unlimited calls, or $40 for a single call. For the animal's medical history, users fill out a profile that includes age, weight and breed.

"There is a tremendous gap in coverage in the veterinary market with the average pet parent only seeing a vet 1 times per year," said Mason Revelette, who co-founded Vet On Demand with his brother, Curt.

Vet On Demand is not the only app to fill that gap. Another app called, Vet24Seven, allows pet owners to text, call and have a video conference with a vet.

New York Angels board member Alicia Syrett wondered how Vet On Demand planned to differentiate itself from competitors who might use video conferencing.

"We have talked about adding in dog trainers, behaviorists, other services that every pet parent may need at some point in time," Curt Revelette told CNBC.

Dr. Katy Nelson is less concerned about including additional services. She takes issue with Vet On Demand veterinarians not being able to access a patient's full medical history, which she said would better prepare vets taking these calls.

The founders countered that the on-demand vet is able to see records from past calls, including any recommendations from the previous vet in the Vet On Demand system.

According to the Revelettes, full medical records from actual visits would be challenging to obtain given that many vets do not keep records online.

Vet On Demand told CNBC that 650 calls have been made since its November launch, and the service averages 10 calls per day.

The start-up also said 35 vets across 16 states are already in the system. According to the company, the start-up has 17,000 users and projects it will be profitable by early 2017.

The Santa Monica, California-based start-up has raised $875,000 in funding from angel investors.
Former Facebook president Sean Parker is donating $250 million to fight cancer.

The 36-year-old Silicon Valley billionaire, who co-founded the music-sharing website Napster when he was 19, announced the creation of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy on Wednesday via his philanthropic foundation  the Parker Foundation.



The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy will focus on the emerging field of cancer immunotherapy, which harnesses the body's immune system to fight cancer cells.



The institute, which includes over 40 laboratories and more than 300 researchers, said the research would focus on modifying a patient's own immune system T-cells to target a tumor, studying ways to boost patient response to current immunotherapy drugs. It would also focus on research to identify other novel targets to attack a tumor.


YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Defense Ministry informs that Azerbaijan fired towards the Armenian state border last night and in the morning; Armenpress was informed by the Department of Information and Public Relations of the Defense Ministry.

The announcement reads: Azerbaijan made 12 violations and fired irregular shots from various caliber weapons at Armenian positions in the northeastern direction of the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border during the night of April 12-13.

The Armenian Armed forces exercised restraint and conducted response actions only in case of strict necessity and confidently maintain control of the situation.

According to the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, the situation remained the same during the night of April 12-13 in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. Azerbaijan continued violating the ceasefire agreement and fired various caliber weapons including sniper rifles and grenade launchers.

Overall, during the abovementioned period Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire 106 times. In order to stabilize the situation the Defense Army forces responded 23 times.

As a result of the Azerbaijani violations, 1 serviceman of the Defense Army was wounded. The Defense Army forces continue monitoring the situation in the line of contact and are conducting countermeasures only in case of strict necessity.
Uber received 33 requests for data from several different authorities across a number of states including California and Texas between July and December 2015. This affected a total of 11,644,000 riders and 583,000 drivers.

Uber has handed over information affecting more than 12 million riders and drivers to a number of U.S. regulators, its first ever transparency report revealed, but the taxi app was highly critical of the data being requested.

The ride hailing start-up, which is valued at over $62 billion, also said it received 408 requests for rider accounts and 205 requests for driver data from local, state and deferral law enforcement authorities. In 85 percent of these requests, some data was handed over.

A large number of the law enforcement requests Uber received were related to fraud investigations or the use of stolen credit cards, according to the report.

While Uber complied with the law, it was critical of the amount of data being requested.

"Of course regulators will always need some amount of data to be effective, just like law enforcement. But in many cases they send blanket requests without explaining why the information is needed, or how it will be used. And while this kind of trip data doesn't include personal information, it can reveal patterns of behaviorand is more than regulators need to do their jobs," Uber wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.

"Today requests to digital companies often exceed those for offline companies. For example, a taxi company might have to submit a paper log with the rough pickup and dropoff locations of a trip. But we might be asked to share the precise GPS coordinates of the pickup and dropoff locations, or even the entire path of the trip."

Uber's transparency comes after a high-profile clash between Apple and the U.S. government over unlocking the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. While this was done in the end without the help of Apple, the saga raised questions about data privacy and security, something still concerning the world's biggest technology companies.

Many other technology firms including Google and Facebook release transparency reports but those focus on requests from law enforcement agencies. Uber's is different as it includes other regulators in the transport that are requesting data.
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U.S. crude production fell under the 9 million barrel a day threshold last week for the first time since late 2014  a welcome development for oil producers heading to Doha this weekend.

Output should continue dropping as the U.S. industry faces tighter financing and continued oversupply. Production has been eroding since peaking last April near 9.7 million barrels a day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration data. Last week's output of 8,977,000 barrels a day is the lowest since October 2014, a month before OPEC stunned the energy world with a new market-based policy that sent prices crashing. The goal of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at the time was clearly to slow the output of high-cost producers  such as the upstart U.S. shale industry.

Now shale's struggles are a gift to producing countries. "They're buying time," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. "It's going to fall off another 300,000 or 400,000 barrels a day by the end of the year." Lipow, unlike some analysts, expects the producers meeting in Doha, Qatar, to take action to freeze output this weekend. Expectations of a deal have been pushing oil prices higher  up some 60 percent since February. Lipow said the decline in U.S. production also helped support prices Wednesday, even though U.S. inventories continue to rise. The preliminary weekly figures from the EIA show how the decline in U.S. crude prices has hammered American free market drillers while their peers in oil exporting nations  particularly state-owned energy companies  continue pumping into a heavily oversupplied crude market.

U.S. crude production peaked at nearly 9.7 million barrels in April and fell to just under 9.2 million barrels in January, according to more accurate monthly data. The weekly figures suggest output has declined in 11 of the last 12 weeks.
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The leaders of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers called a strike on Wednesday, the latest development in the negotiations between the unions and Verizon. Approximately 40,000 workers on the East Coast began the strike at 6 a.m. The Vermont senator made an appearance at the Verizon picket line in Brooklyn on Wednesday. "They want to avoid paying federal income taxes. In other words, this is just another major American corporation trying to destroy the lives of working Americans," the presidential hopeful said. Hillary Clinton echoed some of Sanders' concerns about the ongoing negotiations between Verizon and the Communications Workers of America in a Wednesday statement.

"We should be doing all we can to keep good-paying jobs with real job security in New York. Instead, Verizon wants to outsource more and more jobs," Clinton said. "That would mean walking away from workers who have been part of their family and our communities for years."

Lowell McAdam, Verizon CEO Justin Solomon | CNBC
Maybe I've been working in politics too long. Maybe it's because I originally hail from New York (well, mostly New Jersey). I just don't think the recent Clinton and Sanders exchanges about qualifications, guns, or even "doing one's homework," count as "the gloves are off" or "going on the attack," as many media and campaign-watchers have described them. Remember, the Republican candidates have been going New York on each other for almost a year, calling each other con men, liars, little, and small-handed.

And while the Democratic debate over delegates and process is also striking some as heated, it too, can't hold a candle to the division on the Republican side. Sanders supporters claim neither candidate will have a majority of delegates headed into the convention. Clinton supporters say her lead is nearly insurmountable. They're both right. Clinton will likely reach a majority of both voter-driven pledged delegates and unbound superdelegates, but she'll need both in order to reach a majority of total delegates. This is true even though Sanders has won eight of the last nine contests, and it'll probably still be true even if he wins New York next week.
The low of the year for U.S. crude prices may not be in yet, oil expert John Kilduff said Wednesday.

On CNBC's "Squawk Box," he said Sunday's meeting in Qatar of OPEC and non-OPEC producers on a possible output freeze was "one big joke" because of all the conflicting commentary from the various oil ministers.

"This is going to be the mother of all 'buy the rumor sell the news' events here on Sunday. I think there's no way they come across with any kind of a deal or sufficient rhetoric to satisfy this rally right now," Kilduff said. "I think there will be a pullback starting next week."
WATERTOWN, N.Y.  New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently appointed Pamela S. Beyor-Murtha, of Black River, and Judith L. Gentner, of Watertown, to the Jefferson Community College (JCC) Board of Trustees.

Pamela S. Beyor-Murtha Photo credit: Jefferson Community College

Beyor-Murtha was chairperson of the board of the Bernier Carr Group of Companies until her retirement in 2014, according to a JCC news release. Prior to her retirement in 2011, Gentner served as deputy to the garrison commander at Fort Drum.

Beyor-Murthas career with Bernier Carr Group, an architecture and engineering firm based in Watertown, spanned 28 years, including serving as CEO from 1997-2002. She became chairperson of the board in 2002.

Judith L. Gentner Photo credit: Jefferson Community College

Gentner enjoyed a 30-year career working for the military, serving most recently as deputy to the garrison commander at Fort Drum from 1997 until her retirement in 2011. She managed day-to-day base operations for installation and tenant activities and oversight of garrison directors in support of 30,000 soldiers, family members, and a workforce of 2,500 civilian and military employees.

Beyor-Murthas board appointment fills the unexpired term of Michelle D. Pfaff, and Gentners appointment fills the unexpired term of David J. Clark, according to the JCC release.

Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y.  Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders by 10 points and Donald Trump tops John Kasich by 23 points and Ted Cruz by 33 points in a new Siena College poll of likely New York state presidential primary voters released today.

The New York primary will be held Tuesday, April 19.

Sanders, the Vermont Senator, trails former New York Senator Hillary Clinton among likely Democratic voters by 52 percent to 42 percent. But thats down from a Clinton lead of 55 percent to 34 percent in a Siena poll released March 7 that polled registered Democrats.

While Clinton continues to hold a double digit lead over Sanders, the Brooklynborn Sanders has tightened the race in the last month over Clinton, the twice-elected former United States Senator from New York. Sanders has widened his lead among voters under 35 to a whopping 52 points, up from 17 points, while Clinton leads among voters over 55 by 22 points, although thats down from a 39-point lead with older voters, Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said in a news release. The younger voters are feeling the Bern but the question is will they come out and vote in large numbers, as older voters historically do?

On the Republican side, the businessman and reality TV personality Trump maintains a big lead in his home state, drawing the support of 50 percent of likely Republican voters, compared to 27 percent for the Ohio Governor Kasich and 17 percent for the Texas Senator Cruz, according to the latest Siena poll. In a four-way race in March, Trump led among registered Republicans with 45 percent, followed by Kasich and Marco Rubio at 18 percent each and Cruz at 11 percent.

Trump looks like he will cruise to victory in his home state, as Cruz did in Texas and Kasich in Ohio. The real question is will he get a majority of Republican votes or simply a very high plurality?, Greenberg said.

Hitting a majority is key because Trump can sweep all 95 New York delegates to the GOP national convention if he receives 50 percent or more of votes statewide and in each of New Yorks 27 Congressional districts. That is important in his quest to try to reach 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination for president.

This latest Siena College Poll was conducted April 6-11, by telephone calls to 538 likely Democratic primary voters and 469 likely Republican primary voters. The margin of error is 4.5 percentage points for Democrats and 5 percentage points for Republicans, Siena said.

Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. The European Union should impose sanctions against the Azerbaijani latest attacks towards the Nagorno Karabakh people, Armenpress reports, Eleni Theocharous representing Cyprus said this during her speech in the European Parliament.

The European Union should support Nagorno Karabakh people who struggle for their freedom. They cannot be left in injustice. We should recognize the Nagorno Karabakh and impose sanctions against Azerbaijan. This will bring us to the establishment of peace, said Theocharous.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. The official circles of Azerbaijan, including the Defense Ministry keeps silent on the issue of the exact number of their servicemen, who were eliminated by the Armenian Armed forces as a result of military aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the beginning of April and hide the real number of causalities from the own public.

Armenpress reports, Azadliq gazette writes that instead of that, the authorities with their Yeni Azerbaijan gazette provocation continue to protest by zombie young people in front of the house of the leader of the opposition Popular Front Party Ali Karimli who dared to criticize the Azerbaijani authorities for the defeat in Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

It would be better that instead of unnecessarily defaming Ali Karilmi, Yerni Azerbaijan demanded the exact number of killed servicemen from the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan, the gazette writes.

According to the gazette, the leader of the opposition Popular Front Party Ali Karilmi, referring to the huge number of servicemen and military equipment losses as a result of Azerbaijani aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, announced that the country, that spent tens of billions of dollars for army, should not have had 100 killed servicemen.

Ali Karimli complained that Azerbaijani official circles hide the exact number of Azerbaijani servicemen from the public who were eliminated by the counter attack of the Armenian side, for which they have to acquire information from the data provided by independent journalists in the social networks.

Karimli in his Facebook page recalled the expression by the Azerbaijani high-ranking authorities

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, he wrote.

Azerbaijani authorities held protest actions in front of Ali Karimlis house where the participants called him traitor, pro-Armenian, enemy.

National Council alliance of oppositional and democrat forces also criticized the Azerbaijani authorities where they say that the Army, which repeatedly says if necessary we will take Karabakh expression for 23 years, did not manage to conduct correct actions.

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 500 causalities, nearly 2000 wounded.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. The European Union should be presented in Armenia as more as possible, in order to guarantee its security. As Armenpress reports, this was stated by Polish MEP Marek Jurek during his speech in the European Parliament.

99 years ago Pope Benedict XV urged in a peace message to stop the war massacres and guarantee Armenias security. We know how much the Armenian people have suffered throughout history. I am not only talking about the Armenian Genocide which happened 100 years ago. I am talking about the dramatic origin of the Armenian independence in the late 80s and early 90s, Jurek said.

The MEP spoke about the right of Armenia to protect its own borders, by saying Armenia has a special right to guarantee the security of its borders. The Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh has the right to security also. We cannot forget them. The more we are present there, the more we will be able to assist security of Armenia.
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Family aims to raise awareness about invisible illness

Michelle and Jason Kemp's two children were born with cystic fibrosis. The Columbia family shares their story to raise awareness about the genetic disorder.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. The issue of recognizing Artsakh becomes an urgent matter in the daily agenda of international politics. In an interview with Armenpress a political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan stated this referring to the speeches by MPs in the European Parliament plenary session.

Those who do not pursue personal interests in this conflict and come with a proposal, see the recognition of Artsakh, the condemnation of Azerbaijani aggression or the reverse, firstly, the aggression condemnation, and then the recognition of Artsakh as a way out. This shows that the international community, being in the role of the outside observer understood the nature of the conflict and threat, tries to exert pressure on eliminating this threat. The second issue is the international recognition of Artsakh. It became obvious that after the plenary session in the European parliament this issue has reached its pick within political and expertise circles, said the political scientist. According to him, the security of Artsakh is a guarantee for the whole security in the region. From that point of view, Artsakh plays an important role.

Acoording to Hrant Melik-Shanhazaryan, it is obvious that the Armenian side will change its position in the negotiation process. I do not even exclude the fact that the process of Artsakh recognition will begin. The President of the country stated this and we see that a consolidation exists concerning this issue in Armenia. Levon Ter-Petrosyan also talked about this stating that the process should not be rushed, there is a need for better calculation. So there is a claim and a need, and I am confident that the Armenian side will put the question of Artsakh recognition in the negotiation process, if we reach to negotiations, the political scientist added.
June 13, 2014 - The sun begins to rise over downtown Memphis as the American Queen docks at Beale Street Landing to begin the transition of letting passengers off and preparing for another voyage in the evening. (William DeShazer/The Commercial Appeal)

By Wayne Risher of The Commercial Appeal

Beale Street Landing has been named Best Marina/Port in the world by an international architectural awards program.

The Mississippi River cruise ship docking facility placed first in Architizer's juried 2016 A+Awards, Memphis Riverfront Development Corp. (RDC) officials said Wednesday.

Buenos Aires, Argentina-based RTN Architects won an international design competition in 2003 to get the job. The design has a spiral ramp to allow for changing river levels and features guitar pick-shaped islands or pods that descend toward the water and are connected by walkways and bridges.

Rounding out Architizer's top five were Barcelona, Copenhagen, San Francisco and Bodrum, Turkey. Barcelona won Architizer's people's choice award based on public voting, but Memphis was a close second, RDC officials said.

They called the A+Awards the largest international awards program featuring outstanding architecture and products.

This international recognition is another affirmation that the RDC is creating a world-class riverfront in Memphis, RDC president Benny Lendermon said.

Beale Street Landing opened in June 2014 after years of delays and cost overruns that pushed the price tag to $43.6 million.

But RDC officials say the tourism generated by the dock is having a $36.4 million-a-year economic impact on Memphis and promises to grow.

"The dock at Beale Street Landing is not only the best one on the Mississippi River, right now, its one of the best in the world, and thats a primary reason the American Queen Steamboat Company, the American Cruise Line and the French American Line are all operating here, Lendermon said. Viking River Cruises has announced plans to use the landing for Mississippi River cruises starting in 2018.


Protesters call for Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant to veto House Bill 1523, which they say will allow discrimination against LGBT people, during a rally outside the Governor's Mansion in Jackson, Miss., last Monday. Bryant later signed the legislation into law. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Some folks hold sincere religious beliefs that keep them from eating meat on Fridays or pork on any days.

That doesn't give them the constitutional right to discriminate against people who eat burgers or bacon.

Not even if they live in Mississippi. Not yet anyway.

The Magnolia State struck a blow for "religious freedom" last week by giving people with certain religious beliefs about marriage, sex and sexual identity the legal freedom to discriminate against others.

"The sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions protected by this act are the belief or conviction that:

"(a) Marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman;

"(b) Sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage;

"(c) Male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth."

That's Section 2 of the so-called "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act."

A more accurate title might be "Imposing Our Religious Beliefs on Others Act."

Call it Mississippi Shariah. Like Shariah law in some Islamic countries, that's what this law does.

The new law "allows religious faith to always trump other private rights, including the right to be free from invidious discrimination," according to a statement issued by 10 law school professors, including three from Ole Miss and two from Mississippi College.

It's worth paying attention to anyone who puts the words trump and invidious in the same sentence.

"The numerous sections of (the new law) allow  indeed encourage  religiously motivated discrimination in ways that conflict with established First Amendment doctrine and principles of equality."

It's not only un-American. It's unconstitutional.

Some argue that the new law merely protects the "free exercise of religion" by people of faith who sincerely believe same-sex marriage is a sin.

There are at least two "establishment of religion" problems with that argument.

First, there are people of faith who sincerely believe same-sex marriage is not a sin.

For example, the Presbyterian Church in America proclaims that "God ordained the marriage covenant to be a unique bond between one man and one woman."

But the Presbyterian Church (USA) proclaims that "marriage is a gift God has given to all ... and involves a unique commitment between two people."

Last week, the state of Mississippi officially endorsed, and agreed to protect, individuals who believe the first religious statement.

Even the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the court's most religiously conservative curmudgeon, had a problem with that.

"You can't favor one denomination over another," he said in January, a month before he died.

The Mississippi law favors conservative denominations such as the PCA or the Church of God in Christ over others such as the PCUSA or the United Church of Christ.

Scalia was more specific in a 1990 opinion he wrote: Making an individual's obedience to the law "contingent upon the law's coincidence with his religious beliefs" amounts to "permitting him, by virtue of his beliefs, 'to become a law unto himself."

The Mississippi law allows certain business owners, government employees, counselors and others  by virtue of their beliefs  to discriminate against certain customers, citizens, clients and others.

And not just at weddings. That brings up the second problem.

Mississippi's new "religious freedom to discriminate" applies to everything from foster care and adoption to medical treatment and surgery; from hiring and firing to dress and speech.

"For example," the law professors explained, "a mental health counselor employed at a public school, whose salary is paid by the government, could refuse to work with LGBT students because of her religious beliefs and keep her job."

All citizens have the constitutional right to believe whatever they will  about marriage or eating meat or any matter of faith.

But as former Chief Justice Warren Burger explained in a 1982 opinion, that doesn't give any believer the constitutional right to discriminate in the workplace or in public places.

"Every person cannot be shielded from all the burdens incident to exercising every aspect of the right to practice religious beliefs," Burger wrote.

"When followers of a particular sect enter into commercial activity as a matter of choice, the limits they accept on their own conduct as a matter of conscience and faith are not to be superimposed on the statutory schemes which are binding on others in that activity."

In other words, don't do to others what the constitution says can't be done to you.
April 13, 2016 - Students from Maxine Smith STEAM Academy release ceremonial white doves during the Memphis Child Advocacy Center Children's Memorial Flag Raising event at Civic Center Plaza Wednesday afternoon. Every April, during National Child Abuse Prevention Month, the advocacy center memorializes children who reportedly lost their lives to child abuse or neglect in Shelby County. This year five children were honored, they are Jermyle Campbell, 2, Deandre Davis, 2, Josiah Patterson, 3, Ryliegh Scarborough, 4 months, and Destine King, 6. (Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

SHARE April 13, 2016 - Dr. Katherine Lawson (right) receives a hug from Pat Murrell (left) after giving closing remakes during the Memphis Child Advocacy Center Children's Memorial Flag Raising event at Civic Center Plaza Wednesday afternoon. Lawson, is the executive director of Victims to Victory advocacy group that supports families of homicide victims. (Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

By Kayleigh Skinner of The Commercial Appeal

In the past year, five Shelby County children lost their lives violently and allegedly at the hands of a caregiver.

A ceremony Wednesday honored Jermyle Campbell, 2, Deandre Davis, 2, Josiah Patterson, 3, Ryleigh Scarborough, 4 months, and Destine King, 6. In each of their cases, a parent or caregiver has been charged with homicide.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell were in attendance as a red and teal flag was raised outside of City Hall Wednesday afternoon for victims of child abuse or neglect alongside a crowd of child welfare advocates and concerned citizens.

The Memphis Child Advocacy Center raises the Children's Memorial Flag every April during child abuse prevention month. The flag will continue to fly outside City Hall for the rest of the month.

"We as a community know of no pain that loved ones can experience that is deeper than that of having to bury a child, nor do we know of any trauma more unthinkable than the cruel and violent death of a child at the hands of someone they knew or even trusted," said Katherine Lawson, executive director of Victims to Victory, an advocacy organization that works with families of homicide victims.

"Every one of these little children deserved better," said Virginia Stallworth, executive director of Memphis Child Advocacy Center. "They were worthy of a childhood filled with wonder. They were meant to play and explore, to discover their unique gifts and to grow into their potential."

Lawson encouraged the crowd to stand up for children "not just when we raise the Children's Memorial Flag, but whenever we see signs of maltreatment."

The Memphis Police Department Peacemakers band sang "Amazing Grace" and "Hero" in honor of the deceased. Students from Maxine Smith STEAM Academy released five white doves into the air for each of the victims.

"...As a father of two young children I feel a personal connection here and I cannot rationally explain to my children why we have to do this," Strickland said. "To me we're here for two reasons in equal parts: to remember those five precious lives that we lost, and to be inspired to prevent any more deaths at our hands."
A child custody case is heard at Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County. (Dave Darnell/The Commercial Appeal files)

By Jacinthia Jones and Yolanda Jones of The Commercial Appeal

The relationship has come to an acrimonious end, but the couple has to have weekly contact for the child custody exchanges.

The ex-partner is a no-show or is late for the pickup  again. And when the other parent finally arrives, it's with a new boyfriend or girlfriend in tow.

Most child custody exchanges are relatively peaceful interactions, but in some cases, almost anything  a new love interest, an off-handed criticism, a child's outfit or hair style  can quickly turn the situation into a verbal assault or a violent conflict. On rare occasions, they can even be deadly.

Such was the case over the weekend when Luis Soto was shot and killed during a custody handoff by his ex-wife's fiance, an off-duty Memphis police officer. The former couple's 4-year-old daughter was present, but authorities say they don't believe she witnessed the shooting.

"This is really all too common, violence during custody exchanges," said Joe Nullet, executive director of the Supervised Visitation Network in Jacksonville, Florida. "It's a very volatile situation, especially in relationships that have dissolved, even in situations where violence hasn't been present before."

The Supervised Visitation Network offers guidelines for custody exchanges involving bitter divorces or abuse cases where the courts have ordered child visitation exchanges be observed or supervised by a neutral party.

One recommendation is to meet at a safety zone with staggered arrivals: the person picking up the child comes first and sits in the waiting area while the other parent arrives 10-15 minutes later and drops off the child with staff at the door. "That eliminates face-to-face interaction or any chance of an altercation between parents," Nullet said.

One troubling trend, Nullet said, is arranging for child drop-offs with high-conflict parents in unsupervised public areas, even police parking lots. "It's very frustrating. Judges will order these exchanges in public places, in police parking lots, but it's a really bad idea."

Public places may have cameras that capture violence during a custody exchange, but that's not always a deterrent and there's no buffer to prevent altercations between the parents. "No one is monitoring the situation, " Nullet said. "It may be a good idea for eBay and Craigslist (sales), but do we want to treat our children like a sales transaction?"

Problems with safe exchanges represent a minority of the cases handled through Shelby County Juvenile Court, said Judge Dan Michael.

"Supervised parenting time or supervised exchanges only occur where there's an order of protection with the parents or when there has been so much strife and fussing between the parents that it's clear allowing the exchange unsupervised could easily lead to provocation."

In those few cases, Michael said, he typically orders formal custody exchanges at the Exchange Club Family Center. "You drop the child off with the social worker and you get in the car and leave. A few minutes later, the other parent shows up and picks up the child."

In less volatile situations, Michael said he orders custody exchanges in public places, particularly when one parent lives out of town. The two will meet at a halfway point, such as a truck stop. "Most adults are hesitant to act out in public," he said.

Occasionally, he'll have parents meet at a police station. But that's not for safety concerns, Michael said, but rather so a parent who has been complaining about being denied visitation can go into the police station and get a note showing that the other parent failed to bring the child for the exchange.

Memphis attorney Larry Rice has written a book about divorce and lectures around the country on child custody exchanges which are often entwined in the dissolution of a marriage.

"The overwhelming number of child custody exchanges are done peaceably and is done from home to home, which I recommend to parents I represent if that is possible," Rice said.

Rice also suggests meeting at fast-food restaurants, but not store parking lots, because he said, "a McDonald's or a Burger King has a lot of people sitting around looking."

He added that when ex-spouses are warring, he recommends, and some are ordered by the court, to do the child exchanges at police stations.

"People tend to not act out at the police station," Rice said. "If they are going to act out at the police station they are so far gone nothing is going to work."
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By Richard Locker of The Commercial Appeal

NASHVILLE  Gov. Bill Haslam said Wednesday he's getting telephone calls and emails from corporate executives concerned about the hotly controversial transgender restroom bill.

But Haslam also said he hasn't heard from parents and school administrators telling him that there's a problem that demands such a legislative action. He said he's also concerned about the loss of federal funding if the bill passes  a threat cited by the state attorney general given the U.S. Department of Education's view that such actions are discriminatory against transgender students.

"Personally, I am not hearing about problems out in the districts. I'm hearing that our school boards have figured out how to adjust to each situation that arises, and to date I'm not hearing parents say we have problem in our schools today," the governor told reporters after announcing South Korean tire manufacturer Hankook is relocating its North American headquarters to Nashville.

Also Wednesday, 60 major corporate CEOs and leaders of businesses ranging from Williams-Sonoma to Hilton to Northrup Grumman signed a letter addressed to Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and House Speaker Beth Harwell urging defeat of the restroom bill and a separate bill already en route to the governor that would allow counselors to deny mental health services to people based on the counselor's "sincerely held principles." Opponents say that bill targets LGBT people.

The Human Rights Campaign, a national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, the Tennessee Equality Project, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and other groups delivered the letter to legislative leaders.

The restroom bill  pushed heavily by the conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee  requires transgender students to use the restrooms of their birth gender rather than their current gender identity, which they say will subject them to even more bullying. The bill applies only to public K-12 schools and the state's public colleges and universities.

Haslam said he's already heard from some of the executives and will take their views into account as he considers whether to sign the bills into law, veto them or allow them to become law without his signature.

"Obviously you have to look at both principle and economics and that's my role as governor. ... My job as governor is different from the legislators. They represent their districts. I have to represent all 6.6 million Tennesseans and come to the best decisions I can."

Haslam also said he expects to act within two or three days on a separate controversial bill that won legislative approval earlier this month, designating the Bible as the official state book.

State Attorney General Herbert Slatery has issued an advisory opinion concluding that the bill would violate both the U.S. and Tennessee constitutions.
SHARE Thomas Busler/The Commercial Appeal Jesse H. Turner was one of Memphis' first and best known civil rights figures. Turner served in the U.S. Army during World War II, rising to the rank of captain and receiving a Bronze Star in the Italian campaign. After moving to Memphis from Longview, Mississippi, he was hired by Tri-State Bank, where he went on to become vice-president and later president until the time of his death on April 14, 1989, at the age of 69. His civic duties included serving as president of the Memphis chapter of the NAACP for 10 years, Shelby County Court Squire and a County Commissioner.

April 13

25 years ago: 1991

WASHINGTON  Defense Secretary Dick Cheney on Friday recommended closing 43 U.S. military bases by mid-1993, including two in Arkansas. Cheney's recommendation to close Eaker Air Force Base in Blytheville and Fort Chaffee near Fort Smith still must be approved by an independent eight-member Base Closure and Realignment Commission, which could overrule him. The commission, which can add or subtract bases, is expected to face a fierce lobbying campaign by affected communities and congressmen because there is little chance the proposal it submits by July 1 can be overturned by Congress.

50 years ago: 1966

"You wouldn't believe how little we paid," said Mayor O.T. Yates of Bartlett of the site for the new Bartlett library. Mayor Yates last night announced purchase of the one-acre site in downtown Bartlett from the Louisville and Nashville Railroad for $2,500. The new library building will be financed by the Shelby County Court. The site is on Stage Road west of the L&N Railroad crossing. "There's enough of the L&N land left for a site for the new post office to be built here," Mayor Yates said. "It is one of three sites being considered by the Post Office Department."

75 years ago: 1941

CHICAGO  Manager Jimmy Wilson revealed Saturday night that Dizzy Dean, the Chicago Cub celebrated sore-arm pitcher, again is taking treatments in a desperate effort to regain his winning form.

100 years ago: 1916

NASHVILLE  The Board of Education today elected Thomas A. Early president of the Tennessee Polytechnic School. Prof. Early is at present an official at Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College.

125 years ago: 1891

The demand for an extra session of the Legislature to redistrict the state in accordance with the provisions of the constitution is growing.
April 12, 2016 - Memphis Delta Preparatory school leader Mike McKenna says Shelby County Schools reneged on a deal to let the new charter school use the now vacant Lincoln Elementary in South Memphis. The charter spent $18,000, with permission from SCS, to keep up the building, and even had a short rental agreement with SCS allowing the charter to pay for utilities in the building. The charter, was told by SCS the building would not be available because they want to be more strategic about where schools open, and having a school open inside Lincoln Elementary again would deplete enrollment in an SCS izone school in the neighborhood. McKenna says that community members and parents from all 115 of its students will hold a rally outside the elementary school from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. (Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

By Jennifer Pignolet of The Commercial Appeal

A charter school scheduled to open in South Memphis this fall is scrambling to find a space for its 115 students after school leaders say Shelby County Schools reneged on a deal to let them use Lincoln Elementary.

"The rug got pulled out from under us," school leader Mike McKenna said.

The SCS board last summer gave Memphis Delta Preparatory approval to open this fall. McKenna said the charter had an early eye on Lincoln, which has been vacant since SCS closed it last year. SCS approved a short-term rental agreement for the charter to take over the utilities and maintenance for the building over the winter.

So far, McKenna said, Delta Prep has invested about $18,000 into the building, and even put their sign out with SCS approval.

"We've spent countless hours maintaining and also having our students there," he said. The school has 115 students already enrolled but is slated to open classrooms for 300 students in kindergarten through fourth grade this fall, eventually phasing into a full elementary and middle school with about 540 students.

The charter negotiated a lease agreement with SCS for use of the school, McKenna said, and the charter's board approved it. A copy of the lease provided to The Commercial Appeal shows the charter would have paid SCS nearly $140,000 over 15 months.

The SCS board was scheduled to approve it at last month's meeting, McKenna said, but it was pulled from the agenda and the charter leaders were told the building was no longer an option.

In a statement, SCS said it "approved a short-term rental request for Memphis Delta Prep to utilize the former Lincoln Elementary School facility for a limited time." The statement said the building is "not available for long-term lease," although the district did not say when that was established or why. The district also said it has "provided multiple other school buildings as options for the 2016-17 school year."

Delta Prep board member Robbye Good said the alternatives provided were not in the same neighborhood where the students live, with one of the options more than nine miles away.

McKenna said SCS told them the charter school would pull students away from A.B. Hill Elementary, an Innovation Zone school in the neighborhood, and that the district wants to be more strategic about school locations to avoid further issues with under enrollment.

"We actually totally understand that and that's a really important thing moving forward," McKenna, a former Soulsville Charter School teacher, said. "But for this, this is about them going back on a deal that we'd already established."

The charter plans to hold a rally at Lincoln for its parents and students Wednesday. On Tuesday, McKenna was visiting a nearby church, exploring the school's options for classroom space if they can't open in Lincoln. A vacant lot with portable classrooms has also been considered.

"We're now three months away from opening up and are kind of scrambling to figure out what the next steps are," he said.

But no matter which building they use, McKenna said, the school will still open in a neighborhood that may draw students away from A.B. Hill. He said their charter agreement with SCS commits them to South Memphis.

"That's where we're going to be, that's where our students are from," he said.

Good said the charter understands SCS is dealing with a budget shortfall and doesn't want declining enrollment, but noted the lease agreement would have provided revenue back to SCS.

Teachers are due to start work in June, Good said, and the charter will move forward with its opening one way or another.

"We have made a promise to these families and want to be able to deliver with that regardless of what happens with Lincoln," she said.
FILE- In this April 3, 2016, file photo, Bryan Adams performs at the Juno Awards in Calgary, Alberta. Adams said in a statement Sunday, April 10, that he is canceling a performance this week in Mississippi, citing the state's new law that allows religious groups and some private businesses to refuse service to gay couples. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

By Ron Maxey of The Commercial Appeal

Angie Tacker has operated a business in Hernando for 40 years. She hasn't seen reason to turn away business in all that time, and she doesn't intend to start now.

"Since I'm in business to make a living, I don't know why I would ever not serve someone," Tacker, owner of Hernando Flower Shop, said Tuesday.

Her reasoning has found a chorus of support in the week since Gov. Phil Bryant signed the "Religious Conscience" legislation into law, a measure more far-reaching than similar laws or proposals that have drawn protests across the nation.

Just Tuesday, organizers of the annual Mississippi Picnic in Central Park announced they were canceling the 36-year-old New York City celebration of Mississippi food and culture because of the law, which allows businesses and government officials to deny services if they believe providing them would violate their religious or moral views.

Add to that a string of national businesses taking a stand against the law; entertainer Bryan Adams canceling a show in Biloxi; 95 Mississippi authors  including John Grisham  signing a letter released Monday calling for repeal; Oxford's annual film festival adding a LGBT series in response to the law, and a restaurant in Salt Lake City  a bit conservative in its own right  banning Mississippi food.

That's just a sampling, but Tacker believes it's a reminder of what happens when "politicians who live in glass houses," as she puts it, pass laws governing personal behavior.

"I find it hard to believe we're dealing with this in 2016 when there are so many other issues," Tacker said.

At least a few state legislators agree. More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers called Tuesday for repeal of the law, signed by Bryant April 5, before it goes into effect July 1. While same-sex couples have been the focus of objections, the Mississippi measure has wider implications. Services, for example, could be denied without legal consequence to heterosexual couples suspected of having premarital sex.

Despite Tuesday's call, chances of a reversal in the Republican-controlled Legislature seem remote. Jason White, the Republican chairman of the House Rules Committee, said it was "not very likely" the request would be considered.

Unless the unexpected happens legislatively, those promoting the state will continue to try dodging the fallout.

It wasn't enough to prevent Bryan Adams from canceling his show on the coast, but a concert promoter at Southaven's BankPlus Amphitheater at Snowden Grove and Landers Center in Southaven said he's had no problems so far.

"None whatsoever," Jim Green of Green Machine Concerts said when asked if he had any threatened cancellations or negative feedback at either venue.

Concert promoter Arden Barnett with Ardenland in Jackson said he does not expect cancellations with the company's current lineup, but he recognizes the possibility.

"I've already started drafting a letter to the agencies and the managers we do work with regarding our take on the bill and pleading they still will come play Mississippi and don't hold it personally," he said.

Tacker, the Hernando businesswoman who operates a couple of blocks off the town square, hasn't taken any demonstrable actions to promote her stance  no "We Welcome Everyone" signs or anything of that nature. But, she said, word-of-mouth has let it be known her floral business won't turn away anyone's money.

"I think the only time I've ever turned away anyone's business," she said, "was once when I was printing T-shirts, and somebody wanted to print something vulgar on it."

USA TODAY Network contributed to this story.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. The 4-day war in the Artsakh-Azerbaijani border, which was unleashed by Baku, gave the answers of many questions in there. This war and its subsequent responses revealed not only the weak sides of the Azerbaijani armed forces and the fact of IR attackers' partaking in them, but also the fact, that the prevailing part of the Azerbaijanis' side, fighting in the frontline, are representatives of national minorities- without any special preparedness, fighting spirit or at least a little respect towards the motherland. Besides, the presence of exclusively national minorities in the frontline speaks about the not transparent muster in Azerbaijan and the corruptibility of the Defense office as a state system, and also about Baku's serious plans for getting rid of the national minorities. It's obvious that with the help of these tactical actions the military authority of Azerbaijan was trying to simultaneously solve two problems: to fight against Armenians in the frontline and to get rid of national minorities, particularly of Lezgis and Talyshers. . It's also interesting that not all Talyshers want to fight and not all of them consider the Armenians as an enemy.



"It isn't our war". It's the name of one of the TV broadcasts on the "Talyshistan's national TV-broadcasting". As Armenpress reports, during this broadcast, lasting more than an hour, the commentator refers to the military actions in the Artsakh-Azerbaijani border in April and to the killed representatives of national minorities during that time. The commentator emphasizes that during the war the Azerbaijani side has had serious losses- both technical and human. ." There are many of our brothers (Talyshers) among those victims. Like the previous times, the Talishers are in the frontline. They have to obey the despot's orders and be killed for the sake of others' interests",- says the commentator and states with a sorrow that Talyshers sacrifice their lives to Aliev's beaten extremism, without understanding that in that way they are supporting their own enemy.

The television broadcast has become a seriously discussed issue on the Internet. A great number of people from Talysh commented on the youtube account of the TV channel, asking the head writers of the broadcast also to talk about how the Azerbaijani treated them at the Artsakh war. Many Talyshers said that they are sorry that their compatriots fight against Armenians , emphasizing the fact that they only obey Aliev and they do not perceive Armenians as enemies. The comments of the Azerbaijani concerning this issue are also interesting. E.g. If the national minorities of Azerbaijan are not content with their lives in Baku , let them go. Nobody is forcing them to live with us or another example: You are foolish that you think that Armenians will treat you better, standing up for them.
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By Jane Roberts of The Commercial Appeal

Germantown school board members discussed the budget for the coming year in a work session Tuesday.

The projected $49.4 million budget, $1.04 million greater than the current year, includes funding for 800 new computers for eighth- and ninth-graders, the purchase of 12 portable classrooms and more than $325,000 in additional transportation expense as the district moves from three bell times to two, creating later start times for some schools.

The board is also being asked to fund four new teaching assistants, plus a full-time English teacher and Chinese language teacher at Houston High.

The draft budget also includes $350,000 on top of the $532,000 the district is paying for services it shares with other municipal districts as it transitions to provide more of its own services and staffing.

The budget also includes annual raises for most teachers and 2 percent cost-of-living increases for teachers with more than 17 years of experience.

The revenue is based on an estimated $25.3 million in state funding, plus $21.5 million in county taxes and $2.1 million from the city of Germantown.

The board is expected to approve the final budget April 18.
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We hear a lot about up-and-coming 20- 30- and 40-somethings who are using their professional skills and their free time to make the lives of the city's less fortunate better.

It is not unusual for their efforts to emerge from the nonprofit entities that promote networking and community service. Their efforts are a blessing for the community.

And then there are individuals, professional and nonprofessional, who just feel a strong urge to get involved  to make a difference.

Dr. William L. Byrne fits into that category  a man of science and medicine who felt called to help Frayser, a once-prosperous part of Memphis that is a neighborhood on the edge of a precipice because of blight, foreclosures, job loss, street gangs and crime.

As The Commercial Appeal's David Waters said in his column published Tuesday, Frayser residents knew Dr. Byrne "as a man of his works and his word, a resolute, at times obstinate man whose single-minded dedication helped to hold fraying Frayser together for the past 25 years."

He died last week from complications due to a stroke. He was 89.

Dr. Byrne retired from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in 1989, a couple of years before he began working in Frayser. Before he began working at UT in 1968, he was a biomedical researcher at Duke University.

He never lived in Frayser, but began his volunteer service there in the early 1990s to mentor children and teenagers.

His voluntarism took off from there, starting or helping to start a host of organizations aimed at making Frayser and the lives of its residents better.

Those organizations include the Tennessee Mentorship, a nonprofit that matches young men with older male role models and provides stipends for job training and community service; the Frayser Community Association, the Frayser Community Development Corp., the Frayser Interfaith Association, and the Frayser Police Joint Agency.

He hosted a community Thanksgiving dinner every year at Ed Rice Community Center, and planted trees at the Interstate 40 exit at Watkins.

He did all this and more because he cared, and that caring made a difference.

It inspired others working to prevent Frayser from falling over the precipice to work harder and not give up.

The societal ills that keep Frayser on that unstable ledge also are eroding or have eroded the foundations of other neighborhoods inside the interstate loop.

Memphis and Shelby County governments, the Greater Memphis Chamber, the Economic Development Growth Engine of Memphis and Shelby County, the community's philanthropic foundations and scores of other organizations finally have realized that it will take a collaborative effort to rejuvenate these areas.

That effort includes finding the financial resources to make the kind of investments that can help bring these neighborhoods back.

The voluntarism by people like Dr. William L. Byrne is just as important. The time he donated, and the time others continue to donate to work at ground zero in distressed neighborhoods carries a lot of weight.

It shows residents that someone really cares, and provides stronger motivation for others to step up their game in making their neighborhoods better places.
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By Gregory Diskant

On Nov. 12, 1975, while I was serving as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Justice William O. Douglas resigned. On Nov. 28, President Gerald Ford nominated John Paul Stevens for the vacant seat. Nineteen days after receiving the nomination, the Senate voted 98-0 to confirm the president's choice. Two days later, I had the pleasure of seeing Ford present Stevens to the court for his swearing-in. The business of the court continued unabated. There were no 4-to-4 decisions that term.

Today, the system seems to be broken. Both parties are at fault, seemingly locked in a death spiral to outdo the other in outrageous behavior. Now, the Senate has simply refused to consider President Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, dozens of nominations to federal judgeships and executive offices are pending before the Senate, many for more than a year. Our system prides itself on its checks and balances, but there seems to be no balance to the Senate's refusal to perform its constitutional duty.

The Constitution glories in its ambiguities, however, and it is possible to read its language to deny the Senate the right to pocket veto the president's nominations. Start with the appointments clause of the Constitution. It provides that the president "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint . . . Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States." Note that the president has two powers: the power to "nominate" and the separate power to "appoint." In between the nomination and the appointment, the president must seek the "Advice and Consent of the Senate." What does that mean, and what happens when the Senate does nothing?

In most respects, the meaning of the "Advice and Consent" clause is obvious. The Senate can always grant or withhold consent by voting on the nominee. The narrower question, starkly presented by the Garland nomination, is what to make of things when the Senate simply fails to perform its constitutional duty.

It is altogether proper to view a decision by the Senate not to act as a waiver of its right to provide advice and consent. A waiver is an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege. As the Supreme Court has said, " 'No procedural principle is more familiar to this Court than that a constitutional right,' or a right of any other sort, 'may be forfeited in criminal as well as civil cases by the failure to make timely assertion of the right before a tribunal having jurisdiction to determine it.'"

It is in full accord with traditional notions of waiver to say that the Senate, having been given a reasonable opportunity to provide advice and consent to the president with respect to the nomination of Garland, and having failed to do so, can fairly be deemed to have waived its right.

Here's how that would work. The president has nominated Garland and submitted his nomination to the Senate. The president should advise the Senate that he will deem its failure to act by a specified reasonable date in the future to constitute a deliberate waiver of its right to give advice and consent. What date? The historical average between nomination and confirmation is 25 days; the longest wait has been 125 days. That suggests that 90 days is a perfectly reasonable amount of time for the Senate to consider Garland's nomination. If the Senate fails to act by the assigned date, Obama could conclude that it has waived its right to participate in the process, and he could exercise his appointment power by naming Garland to the Supreme Court.

Presumably the Senate would then bring suit challenging the appointment. This should not be viewed as a constitutional crisis, but rather as a healthy dispute between the president and the Senate about the meaning of the Constitution. This kind of thing has happened before. In 1932, the Supreme Court ruled that the Senate did not have the power to rescind a confirmation vote after the nominee had already taken office. More recently, the court determined that recess appointments by the president were no longer proper because the Senate no longer took recesses.

It would break the logjam in our system to have this dispute decided by the Supreme Court (presumably with Garland recusing himself). We could restore a sensible system of government if it were accepted that the Senate has an obligation to act on nominations in a reasonable period of time. The threat that the president could proceed with an appointment if the Senate failed to do so would force the Senate to do its job  providing its advice and consent on a timely basis so that our government can function.

Gregory Diskant is a senior partner at the law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler and a member of the national governing board of Common Cause. He wrote this for The Washington Post.
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By Jennifer Rubin

To his credit, Sen. Ted Cruz R-Texas, admits he is not a warm and fuzzy guy. In the town hall before Wisconsin's primary, he acknowledged, "What I will say is I'm a pretty driven guy. That has pros and cons. I have always been a very driven guy." In the October GOP debate, he offered, "If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home."

Now it is true that the most likable candidate usually wins a high-stakes race. George W. Bush beat then-Sen. John Kerry handily on the "want to have a beer with" question. Ronald Reagan was the quintessential likable candidate; as an actor he knew how to engage the audience. But in not every election does the nation or a party pick the most congenial candidate.

Richard Nixon was not likable, but in 1968 he was offering what the country felt it needed. William Schneider wrote in 2000, "Nixon was no more likable in 1968 [than in 1960]. But he won that year because the country was in crisis. So what if he wasn't such a nice guy? Voters wanted someone who knew what he was doing."

So perhaps Cruz, as President Obama put it in 2008, needs only be "likable enough." Frankly, if he wins the nomination, his expected opponent, Hillary Clinton, is herself one of the least likable politicians to run for president. Moreover, while Clinton has become no more likable as the campaign goes on, Cruz, however, has been improving over time. That, in part, is because he is consciously trying to be a unifier in the GOP. He no longer picks fights with popular Republicans and has even given up casting GOP Senate leaders as part of the "Washington cartel." In addition, like many politicians, his wife and family help soften his image and show him in a different light.

It is also true that in assessing likability in a politician, one has to ask: As compared to whom? Cruz seems, if not exactly likable, at least infinitely more sane, stable, serious and calm than Donald Trump. If not for Trump as a comparison, we might not even notice that Cruz is respectful of women, eschews vulgarity and is capable of apologizing. These may strike one as unexceptional qualities, but compared with, Trump that makes him Albert Schweitzer.

Cruz also is modulating his speaking style. His fans love his dramatic orations, but many others do not, finding his tone artificial or even pretentious. When he leaves out the dramatic pauses and stops raising his voice at the end of every sentence  when he just talks normally as if conversing with someone one-on-one  he is exponentially more effective and, yes, more likable.

Cruz, then, is likable enough. Beyond that, however, Cruz might even think about using his perceived fault as an asset. The next president is going to have to make plenty of hard decisions, telling the public what it may not want to hear. (For example, we have to send more troops to fight the Islamic State.) In particular, a Republican when he attempts to assert American strength is always going to be labeled a warmonger. (Ronald Reagan was accused of wanting to start WWIII against the Soviets.) Any budget discipline will be characterized as evidence of hatred for the poor or some other deserving group. To pursue entitlement reform, a president will have to endure "throwing granny over the cliff" ads.

To make the tough calls, a president, therefore, especially a Republican, at some level has to not care what the press, the pundits and even the public thinks. (To his credit, Bush 43 persisted in the surge, knowing how unpopular it was because he realized defeat would be catastrophic.) You have to be indifferent, if not disdainful of, elite media opinion. You have to be willing to be disliked, even hated, to accomplish important and difficult things.

And who has a better claim to possession of this kind of emotional armor than Cruz? He has become practiced at being reviled. (I know this sounds peculiar, but stick with this. Whether he should have provoked such a response and whether he was doing so for selfish ends is a different question.) Surely he has demonstrated a very u-political tendency  contentment with being criticized, even hated. Unlike so many other pols, he seems fully capable of not being liked. In fact, he seems to rather enjoy it. (Candidly, one of the problems Sen. Marco Rubio faced was that he seemed too nice, and too afraid of alienating his supporters, which led to the perception that he cut and ran on immigration reform or ducked on the red line in Syria.)

I don't suggest that Cruz brag about being unliked, especially as he is doing a good job warming up to voters. He should, however, stress that he is not going to do things (or not do things) to be popular or to avoid nasty barbs from the New York Times editorial page. He won't be addicted to his favorable poll ratings. He is prepared to risk public disapproval if need be, or even his chance at re-election, if he must. In stark contrast to Clinton, who is allergic to swimming against the tide or getting too far out ahead of public (liberal) opinion, Cruz is not cowed by the threat of opposition from his own party or from liberals. Her ambition makes her cautious; his makes him brave.

In a presidency that will entail no good options, only less bad ones, Cruz's temperament arguably is an asset. There is perhaps a benefit in not being a people pleaser. And if you want someone like that, it's hard to think of anyone better than Cruz.

Jennifer Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for The Washington Post.
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SAN FRANCISCO -- According to one Facebook executive, if you think you're drowning in a flood of information now, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

In four years, there are expected to be about 40 zettabytes of information in the world, according to Mike Beltzner, a Facebook product manager.

Think of it this way: A zettabyte is more than 1 trillion gigabytes. If a gigabyte can store 960 minutes of music, then a zettabyte can store 2 billion years of music.

"If you take a look at the sweep of data over time, we are now producing more data every year than ever before," Beltzner told Computerworld in an interview at F8, Facebook's annual developer conference. "If you feel like you're already suffering from information overload, it's not going to get any better."

So how does Facebook, which handles all of the posts, comments, photos and videos posted by its 1.59 billion monthly users, plan to deal with this crush of information?

Artificial intelligence.

Beltzner said that the social networking giant already uses A.I. for such tasks as authenticating a user (and predicting if it's the actual user or a Russian spammer), loading a user's News Feed and choosing which out of the tens of thousands of potential stories available to offer up.

"We use A.I. predictives to know what you're interested in and what's in each post," Beltzner said. "More and more posts are image only. We need to understand what's in those images, so we use computer vision software and neural networks We need help getting the information you need. We'll need A.I. even more for that."

At Tuesday's opening F8 keynote, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company shares the advances it makes in artificial intelligence in the hopes that it will spur the use of the technology in fields like space exploration and medicine.

"We want to make it easier for you all to take advantage of all the advances we're making in A.I.," Zuckerberg said. "When our A.I. systems get 10 times better, you can be 10 times better at diagnosing diseases. This way we can all make faster progress together."

According to Beltzner, the company has 50 people working on nothing but artificial intelligence. In February, Facebook announced that it was donating servers to research organizations across Europe to boost A.I. research.

In a keynote on Wednesday, Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer said that A.I. on Facebook makes 6 million predictions per second. More than 25% of the company's engineers have used A.I. to improve a system on the network.

Other than helping Facebook cull a flood of information in the future, what else could A.I. bring to Facebook in the next five or 10 years?

"I predict a world where notifications are always relevant," Beltzner said. "Today, a lot of people complain that their phone buzzes and they don't know if it's important enough to bother taking their phone out of their pocket. It will know the difference between a kid posting a picture of their pet compared to a friend you haven't seen in 10 years at a coffee shop down the road where you could meet him in 10 minutes."

He added that it won't be a matter of A.I., or even Facebook, collecting more information about users. Instead, the issue will be how to use the information better.

"The A.I. will know who you are and what's important to you," Beltzner said.

Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group, said as important as A.I. is to Facebook today, he's not surprised that it will become increasingly critical to run the social network.

"Given the great strides that A.I. is making, the Facebook of 2026 will probably be completely different than the Facebook of today," Olds said. "We'll probably have bots that handle just about every daily chore we have; bots that will plan our meals and order our groceries automatically, and just about anything else you can imagine. As the largest social network on the planet, Facebook will assumedly be a part of all of this, if not playing a prime role."
Imagine a day when you're catching up with your college roommate in London as you sit in your office in Boston -- just like you would if you were in the same room together.

That's the vision Facebook has for the future of social networking.

That future, according to Yaser Sheikh, a Facebook Oculus VR researcher and associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University, will be based on virtual reality, or Social VR.

"Social VR done right lets us define our tribe and who we hang out with and do business with based on choice and not proximity," Sheikh said during a keynote talk during the second day of Facebook's annual F8 developers conference in San Francisco today. "Proximity would no longer determine who you spend your time with."

Facebook has been increasingly involved with VR in recent years, buying headset maker Oculus and launching Gear VR. But for all its investment and the buzz around VR, Facebook has been fairly quiet about its plans.

So what does the company want to do? Help people make more connections on Facebook, of course. And that would help keep users joining the social network and spending more of their online time on the site instead of straying to social rivals.

"I think this is a new effort at Facebook, but it's a serious one," said Brian Blau, an analyst with Gartner who is attending F8 this week. "Virtual reality experiences we will see in the next few years will integrate new sensors and algorithms specifically focused on socialization, so while it's not here today, I expect it will be readily available once virtual reality moves from niche to mainstream."

According to Sheikh, the day is fast approaching when using VR to connect with friends and relatives on Facebook will be largely indistinguishable from the real world. "The technology disappears and you're simply interacting with another person," he said. "Making social interactions in virtual reality as natural as they are in the real world is one of the grand challenges of the day. It'll be transformative."

Sheikh expects virtual reality to enable friends now scattered around the globe to meet on Facebook and play poker as if they were in the same room. People will have "in-person" job interviews and participate in company meetings without leaving their own home offices. Employees will work with remote teams as if they were actually all together in one spot.

The same will be true for shopping and sight-seeing.

"We can make it possible for people to experience genuine, deeply convincing relationships remotely," Sheikh said, adding that he wants his children in Pittsburgh to have a 3D relationship with his family in Abu Dhabi. "My children only know my family as moving images trapped behind a computer screen."

When will this be possible? Sheikh isn't sure.

At this point, Facebook has identified the obstacles in its way and it's working to solve those problems.

Scientists need to figure out how to capture subtle body movements, which convey so much meaning during a conversation. They'll need to build the complex code to capture head, hand and facial movements. They need to solve the issue of streaming latencies, which ruin the perception of a natural in-person connection.

"This could turn out to be a killer app, since it promises a much fuller experience than even video chat," said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. "Social VR could totally change the way we communicate. As the technology improves, the fidelity of the images will become even more lifelike and the latency will drop until it actually seems like you're in the same room with someone. Who knows, as the tech advances, some people might try to only communicate using Social VR."

Olds estimates we are probably five to seven years away from people using Social VR in their own homes.

Jeff Kagan, an independent industry analyst, agreed that Social VR isn't all that far in the future.

"Of course, we would all have to upgrade our devices, but that's something many do on a regular basis anyway," added Kagan. "This could be huge if they do it right.... For those who are interested, it will be the next best thing since Facebook itself."
The arrival of the Zika virus in the U.S. is raising questions. Will it affect business travel? Will it hurt recruiting in affected regions? Does it pose supply chain problems? The answer may be yes to all those questions.

Zika is spreading. The cases in the U.S., with the exception of Puerto Rico, are from people who were infected outside this country. There's an expectation that eventually the U.S. will see cases that are locally acquired, the result of a mosquito bite.

For now, Zika is largely confined to South America. In those regions where it has been spreading, businesses "are seeing staffing shortages or unwillingness for people to travel," said Don Hicks, the CEO of supply chain maker LLamasoft. The company's tools enable firms to create digital models of their supply chains to monitor and optimize operations.

Zika "has the potential to cause some major disruptions to our way of life in the U.S.," Hicks said, "whether it's potential employees unwilling to accept jobs in the Gulf or a consumer shopping in a big box store in New Hampshire discovering that an item is out of stock because shipments aren't getting delivered."

"Zika is going to touch just about every American in some way," he said.

Centers for Disease Control

Others aren't so sure.

"In Florida, Zika has to get in line behind dengue fever and chikungunya fever," said Scott McPherson, the CIO of the Florida House of Representatives, referring to other diseases that have spread by mosquito in the state. McPherson has also been involved in state pandemic planning.

Of the Zika virus, "it's going to be more of a slow burn," McPherson said. "I don't think it will be difficult to recruit here for that reason (Zika) or for any other reason, because I don't think we've seen enough cases yet."

There are some people who firmly believe that a Zika outbreak, similar to what Brazil is seeing, "will never happen to a large extent in the U.S. because of our quality of life," which includes air conditioning and efforts to eliminate standing water, said Elizabeth Anderson Fletcher, an associate professor in the University of Houston's Department of Decision and Information Sciences.

But Fletcher points out there is also poverty in Houston and places where people leave windows open because they don't have air conditioning.

"All it takes is one mosquito, and Houston has a huge mosquito problem," she said.

U.S. health officials warned Monday that Zika may be more of problem than first believed.

"Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, a deputy director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "And so we absolutely hope we don't see widespread local transmission in the continental U.S. We need the states to be ready for that," she said at a press briefing.

Zika is spread by mosquitoes but also can be sexually transmitted. It's most alarming impact is to women who may be pregnant. The virus has been linked to birth defects.

Fletcher is part of team looking at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital response to the Ebola crisis. One man, a Liberian national who arrived in Dallas from Liberia, was suffering from Ebola. He went to the hospital, was misdiagnosed, sent home, and later two hospital nurses contracted the virus.

Fletcher's paper examines what went wrong, and blames hubris in part.

America has a "it can't happen here attitude" and a superiority complex over the rest of the world, Fletcher said. But there were also "abysmal failures" in Dallas.

Zika and Ebola are different, but when it was announced that there was an Ebola patient in Dallas, "there was a massive freakout, and I think it did impact travel to Dallas," Fletcher said. She added that something similar could happen here because of Zika but to a lesser extent.

One impact from the Zika has been a huge increase in demand for mosquito repellent, and manufacturers are now producing all they can, said Toby Brzoznowski, the executive vice president of LLamasoft.

There is a belief that the media coverage of Zika will be influential on the decision making in terms of recreational and business travel in those regions that see cases.

"The media storm will outweigh the actual conditions, but it will certainly affect travel into the South," Brzoznowski said.
Candidates posters for the upcoming general elections are hung on strings over the Cheonggye stream in Seoul. AP

Students walk by a sign to encourage people to vote for the upcoming general elections in downtown Seoul, South Korea, on Monday. AP

In this Sunday, April 10, 2016 photo, ruling Saenuri Party's lawmaker Na Kyung-won waves to her supporters during the party's election campaign in Seoul, South Korea. With cheap and ubiquitous access to the world's fastest Internet speeds and a lively democracy, South Korea's cyberspace could flourish with rich discussions and debates ahead of its April 13 general elections. The reality is that online comments or posts depicting a candidate in a negative light can be blocked with a few simple clicks thanks to a law allowing anyone to ask for it to be deleted for alleged libel or privacy violations. (Bae Jae-man/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT Bae Jae-man

With cheap and ubiquitous access to the worlds fastest internet speeds and a lively democracy, South Koreas cyberspace could flourish with rich discussions and debates ahead of the countrys general election this week.

The reality, however, is that online comments or posts depicting a candidate in a negative light can be blocked with a few simple clicks thanks to a law allowing anyone to ask for them to be deleted for alleged libel or privacy violations.

Critics worry that such compromises of online freedom of expression have limited the ability of voters to be fully informed ahead of Wednesdays election, which will see South Koreans elect 300 new lawmakers to parliament. They also raise questions over how the state and public should balance the sometimes conflicting rights to privacy and freedom of speech.

The South Korean Internet appears vibrant. But only short and fragmentary expressions like tweets are flourishing as a way of communicating, said Park Kyung-shin, a professor of law at Korea University. Many people have used various methods available in South Korea to censor even content that is trustworthy, well-structured and well-written, because of its potential impact.

Anonymous online activities, deemed legal in 2012 by the constitutional court, are generally banned during the two-week pre-election campaign period.

But even outside of that time frame, many South Koreans have been fearful of online discussions of any news reports that raise allegations of wrongdoing by lawmakers. Such online posts could be zapped for only tenuous concerns over libel or false information. People caught sharing unfavorable new reports on a candidate can face investigation for libel or the criminal charge of spreading false information.

Freedom of speech has become a point of concern during the presidency of Park Geun-hye, daughter of former military dictator Park Chung-hee.

A Japanese journalist, Tatsuya Kato of the Sankei Shimbun newspaper, was charged with defaming the South Korean president by reporting that she was spending time with a man during a 2014 ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people. Prosecutors sought an 18-month prison term for Kato, who was found not guilty in December in a case critics say illustrated how defamation laws can be used to gag the press and suppress dissent.

Some of the South Korean online political commentary that has been ordered deleted seems tame compared with the online free-for-all raging around this years U.S. presidential campaign.

When a report in March by local investigative reporting organization Newstapa that a ruling party lawmakers daughter with Down syndrome had received preferential treatment in a college admission process for disabled students went viral, a blogger urged the university and the lawmaker, Na Kyung-won, to respond to the allegation.

Less than 10 hours later, the blog service operator Kakao notified the 37-year-old blogger, known online by his pseudonym TB, that the post had been removed because the election co mmission said it was spreading false information.
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.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. Although the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan hides from the public the number of servicemen who were killed and are missing in action as a result of the military aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh in April, however, it announced that it continues to search for the one missing servicemen in the frontline on April 2-5, Armenpress reports, the Azerbaijani official AzerTac news agency announces this citing the State Committee of Azerbaijani prisoners of war, missing persons and hostages.

The Azerbaijani side released its latest information on its causalities on April 3. The head of the press service of the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan Vagif Dargahli told the media that on that day the Azerbaijani side had 31 causalities without mentioning the number of missing and wounded servicemen.

However, the Meydan TV Internet channel, investigating the information about the Azerbaijani servicemen in social networks, who were eliminated in the beginning of April, stated that on April 11 the Azerbaijani side had 93 causalities, 34 wounded and 6 missing in action.

The Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan has not commented on this claim yet.

On April 11 the Armenian side returned back the bodies of 13 Azerbaijani killed servicemen to Azerbaijan.

Despite the ceasefire agreement reached with the Armenian side under the request of the Azerbaijani side from 12:00 on April 5, the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan continues to violate it and fires the Armenian settlements and the positions of the Armenian Armed Forces.
Davidson leads Dugdale as preferred opponent to Sturgeon

The Sunday Post reports that Ruth Davidson is greatly preferred to her Labour counterpart to lead the opposition to the Scottish Government.

This comes despite a slight slip in Conservative polling  although she claims to have detected a surprising shift towards the Tories, who also won a council by-election in Perth and Kinross this week.

According to YouGov 32 per cent of respondents felt the Tory leader would do a better job of holding the First Minister to account than Kezia Dugdale, who was preferred by just 13 per cent.

Roughly the same share favoured Davidson as the more competent, although the Labour leader was counted as more in touch with ordinary people. The Scottish Conservatives are launching their manifesto today.

Davies pitches tax cuts as Welsh Tories slip into third

Andrew RT Davies, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, has set out his Partys plans to cut taxes in order to make Wales the low tax capital of the UK in the Times Red Box () yesterday.

He wants to use new powers to to give taxpayers a fairer deal and create an environment which incentivises hard work, rewards risk-takers and makes Wales a desirable destination for innovators and bright minds.

Wales Online reports that these plans include a five-year freeze in council tax.

However, the latest polling finds the Tories apparently settling into third place in the Assembly polls, despite a poor performance from Labour relative to 2011  although its support is growing over the steel crisis.

SNP accused of dirty tricks over Labour leader work experience leak

Kezia Dugdale has accused the Scottish Nationalists of conducting a dirty tricks campaign after details of her work experience application to the Party were leaked, a move the Daily Record branded pathetic.

It was revealed that, during her student days, the Labour leader made two unsuccessful applications for work experience with a Nationalist MSP.

Willie Rennie, who leads the Scottish Liberal Democrats, has demanded that the Information Commissioner investigate and Richard Lochead, the farming minister and MSP in question, now faces an inquiry as his own party comes under pressure to investigate him.

as Sturgeon takes further fire over Chinese deal

Nor was this the only scandal to dog the SNPs heels this week. Nicola Sturgeon faces claims that she misled the Scottish public over a controversial deal with China.

The First Minister claims that she had no prior awareness of allegations of corruption against a Chinese firm involved in a potential 10 billion deal with her Government, which have led to warnings not to proceed.

Critics are already attacking the SNP for appearing to deceive the public about the nature of the memorandum of understanding they signed, and trying to hide behind Freedom of Information law.

This, perhaps alongside the Dugdale furore, has coincided with a marked drop in the Nationalists predicted share of the regional vote in next months Holyrood election.

Wales-wide anti-UKIP campaign launched

Hope not Hate, an anti-racist campaigning group, has launched a country-wide campaign aimed purely at dissuading voters from supporting UKIP in next months Welsh elections, according to Wales Online.

In addition to a van towing slogans attacking the party, the group plan to distribute more than half a million letters, postcards, and leaflets. Support for the Peoples Army has declined in the last couple of months but it still looks set to enter the Assembly in May.

Meanwhile the launch of UKIPs Scottish manifesto managed to pass without fuss, after the Party took great lengths to avoid the sort of crowds which barricaded Nigel Farage in a pub in 2013.

The Sun summarised the partys pitch as more booze, ciggies, and guns  referring to pledges to reverse a recent cut in the drink-driving limit, permit smoking rooms in hospitality venues, and relax air gun restrictions.

Author claims Creative Scotland exert political pressure on artists and writers

Kirsty Gunn, a Scottish novelist, has accused a state agency of the unofficial politicising of literature north of the border.

In an essay for the Scotland on Sunday, she claims that Creative Scotland is creating an awards structure which rewards Scottish-themed material, rather than art for arts sake, and accuses it of harbouring a controlling sort of agenda for books and poems and stories.

The SNP Government has been accused before of subverting the independence of Scottish civil institutions, such as when it almost made the universities public bodies.

Northern Irish leaders release tax returns after Cameron row

The leaders of both of Northern Irelands major unionist parties published their tax returns this week, in the aftermath of the political furore over the Prime Ministers finances.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that both Arlene Foster, the First Minister and leader of the Democratic Unionists, and Mike Nesbitt of the Ulster Unionists have made their earnings public.

On the Nationalist side, both Colum Eastwood of the SDLP and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein have either published returns or plan to do so.
Jacob Rees-Mogg riled David Cameron and provoked him into a risky counter-attack. Until their exchange, the Prime Minister had risen with serene confidence above whatever jibes were thrown at him.

He dismissed Jeremy Corbyn as a man who cannot even fill in his own tax return correctly. Various Labour women MPs received almost condescendingly polite replies to their questions: how careful the Prime Minister is to avoid seeming rude or off-hand to them.

An unremarkable session seemed to be moving peacefully to its close, when Mr Rees-Mogg rose and asked his question. Here it is in full:

Over 200,000 economic migrants came from the European Union in the period for which weve got figures and yet the propaganda sheet sent out to the British people claims weve maintained control of our borders. Have we withdrawn from the free movement of people or is that sheet simply untrue?

One of the advantages of having good manners is that one can, if one wishes, be very rude. Mr Rees-Moggs contemptuous reference to the propaganda sheet was followed by a invitation to Mr Cameron to admit to being a liar.

The Prime Minister could have tried to defuse this confrontation by expressing a rueful regret that the Governments leaflet has not met with universal approval. He instead became very angry and said, in full:

The truth is this. Economic migrants that come to the European Union do not have the right to come to the UK. They are not European nationals. They are nationals of Pakistan or nationals of Morocco or nationals of Turkey. None of those people have the right. So this is very important and frankly this is why its important we do send information to households so they can see the truth about what is being proposed. What my Right Honourable Friend has just put forward is classic of the sort of scare story we get. Britain has borders! Britain will keep its borders! Weve got the best of both worlds.

Mr Rees-Mogg was by now laughing. For seemed pretty clear he had been wilfully misinterpreted. He was referring to the right of Poles, Romanians, Bulgarians and other EU nationals to move to Britain, not to Pakistanis, Moroccans and Turks.

It is conceivable that the Prime Minister, enraged by being insulted, had genuinely misunderstood the question, though Mr Rees-Mogg spoke with his usual lucidity, and to a House which had fallen silent, for it wished to hear what he had to say.

But here, exposed for a moment to public view, was the depth of the contempt and distrust Conservatives feel for each other on the EU issue. Mr Camerons really dangerous opponents are not on the Opposition benches, and he knows it.
Yesterday, Dominic Raab opened our mini-series on the rewards of leaving the EU by arguing that Brexit would lead to more jobs. Of course, the higher employment he predicts is only one part of the economic picture  if we left the EU, what would the impact be on prices?

Both sides of the referendum campaign know that this is a potentially crucial question. The pro-EU campaign have tried their hardest to suggest that the EU reduces prices in the shops  one of their headline messages is that prices are 200 cheaper per household per year thanks to the EU. However, the facts dont bear out their rhetoric.

The pro-EU campaigns source for this claim is an LSE report, published last month, on the impact of the EUs Free Trade Agreements with non-EU countries. It finds, not surprisingly, that striking agreements which allow countries to sell into the EU without being hit by the EUs own tariffs on trade reduces the price we pay for goods. But that isnt a reason to cheer Brussels to the rafters  after all, it was the EU itself which put these tariffs in place to begin with.

The LSE study did not look at the overall cost of the EUs remaining tariffs, just at the benefits of removing them  therefore the 200 figure is in fact a glimpse of how much cheaper prices would be if the EU hadnt erected trade barriers in the first place, or if we werent in the EU. Its the trade equivalent of the myth about EU money  when people talk about the Brussels giving the UK cash in the form of grants or a rebate, but in fact we are only getting a percentage of our own money back, having contributed billions to begin with. If I take your wallet, remove a hundred pounds and give you back a fiver, youd punch me, not thank me  and rightly so.

While the EU has signed some Free Trade Agreements with some nations (you can see the full list here, from Akrotiri and Dhekelia to Turkey), as Raab pointed out yesterday they still only cover a relatively small proportion of the world economy. So while we are expected to be grateful for a few agreements which reduce the impact of EU tariffs on prices by 200, the large majority of the globe still faces barriers in selling its goods to us.

The protectionist policies of the EU affect a wide variety of imports including industrial products, clothing and, of course, food. (The dizzying array of different tariffs and the products to which they apply, from hand-made riding crops to sugared cherries, can be studied online.) Given that the bulk of the global economy, and the vast majority of global economic growth, is outside the EU and subject to these barriers, it isnt hard to see that they have a knock-on effect on the British economy and a direct impact on the pockets of British consumers. In 2014, Ryan Bourne of the IEA demonstrated that from 2007 to 2011 EU food prices alone were six per cent higher than the world market level  and between 2002 and 2011, EU consumers suffered an average mark-up of 15 per cent on their food bill.

So would we gain from leaving the EU, and escaping its trade barriers? Yes. As Professor Patrick Minford, Professor of Economics at Cardiff Business School, wrote in his recent book:

by removing the tariff and non-tariff barriers erected by the EU on its behalf, the UK would at once benefit from a large fall in import prices, a direct and obvious benefit to consumer living standards; we estimate this at around 10 per cent.

A reduction of import prices by ten per cent is a massive benefit  far outstripping the 200 per year generously granted by the EUs limited exemptions from its own trade barriers. Added to the multi-billion saving to the Exchequer from no longer paying exorbitant EU membership fees and an increase in employment over and above that seen in recent years, such a Brexit bonus would bring welcome relief to millions of households who find themselves hard-pressed to get by. Despite the economic recovery, the cost of living remains a powerful issue  we could help to address it in a major way in a short period of time by freeing ourselves from the EU and instead choosing a path of free trade with the outside world.

Theres one more, not inconsiderable, added benefit, too. The exit of the UK, the worlds fifth largest economy, from a protectionist regime would make a major contribution to alleviating poverty in the developing world. The EU provides exemptions to its trade barriers for some of the worlds least developed countries, but there are still billions in poverty who suffer the effects of restrictions on trade with us thanks to Brussels rules. Its absurd that while our politicians preach compassion and sign aid cheques, we are still a member of a body which restricts trade with many of those we seek to help  and British consumers have to pay more as a result, too. By leaving the EU we would help others and help ourselves at the same time.
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YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. The signing of the agreement of supplying weapons to Armenia from Russia is on the agenda of the April 15 Governmental session. As Armenpress reports, citing egov.am, the Government will instruct the Minister of Finance, to carry out the control of export credit agreement for meeting the commitments of the Armenian side, and the Defense Minister, to clarify the list of modern weapons and military equipments to be supplied.

The Defense Ministry will also be instructed to discuss with relevant Russian agencies and sign agreements about modern weaponry supplies, determining volumes, dates and prices.

During the meeting on April 7 with Dmitry Medvedev in Yerevan, Hovik Abrahamyan proposed Medvedev to instruct Rosoboronexport to accelerate the signing of agreement on supplying weaponry to Armenia.
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On Tuesday, April 12, Pennsylvania passed its medical marijuana legislation with hopes of obtaining Governor Tom Wolf's signature by the end of the week.

According to WPXI news, the bill was passed 42-7 after some minor technical changes were applied. While Governor Wolf supports it, the Pennsylvania Medical Society opposes it. If the measure becomes law, Pennsylvania would be the 24th state to legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The 80-page bill has the following provisions listed:

Patients who will be able to obtain marijuana for medicinal purposes must be diagnosed with one of the following 17 conditions: cancer; HIV; AIDS; ALS; Parkinson's disease; multiple sclerosis; damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity; epilepsy: inflammatory bowel disease; neuropathies; Huntington's disease; Crohn's disease; post-traumatic stress disorder; intractable seizures; glaucoma; sickle cell anemia; autism; neuropathic pain; or severe chronic or intractable pain that is untreatable.

The marijuana will be in pill, oil, liquid, ointment, cream, or gel form or if needed, in a form appropriate for vaporization or nebulization. Patients will not be able to obtain it in a form that they can smoke.

Patients will be able to obtain marijuana at licensed dispensaries statewide using an ID card issued by the Department of Health that will be renewed annually. The ID will include their name, address, and date of birth.

There will be up to 25 growers and processors and as many as 50 dispensaries in three different locations. The marijuana will be monitored from seed to sale by the Department of Health through an electronic inventory tracking system on a daily basis. Patients are not allowed to grow their own marijuana plant.

Prescribing doctors would also have to be registered as practitioners. The Department of Health will provide training courses and all caregivers must be approved to assist in its use.

A 5 percent tax will be taken from the gross receipts that a grower or processor receives from the sale of medical marijuana from another grower or processor or dispensary.

The bill has been under fire since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not approve of marijuana being used for therapeutic purposes and they believe this will only encourage recreational use, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. However, backers of the bill maintain that the technical changes made would not allow this to happen. Advocates of the bill include parents whose children suffer from a chronic illness.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
Printer Friendly Version Obscured American: Robert The Chef By Linh Dinh 13 April, 2016

Countercurrents.org Its not right. I came into the Friendly Lounge at 11:45AM, parked my bony ass there for three hours, and saw nobody. In the 90s, I heard an exasperated crack whore kvetch, Dont nobody want a blow job no more! Its gotten much worse. In 2016, its, Cant nobody afford a beer no more? Tony the cook, whom I featured a month ago, has lost his job. Of course, Tony said he did nothing wrong, only that his boss suspected him of stealing money when he worked as the parking lot attendant, Tonys easiest duty. Id spot him sitting in that box like a bored sentry, smoking in the half dark. There were other issues, for Tony was the only employee to get no Christmas bonus last year. Between booze, pot, $9 packs of cigarettes and up to a hundred bucks for lottery tickets on paydays, Tony has zero savings, so this flailing 55-year-old has been borrowing from several of his Friendly Lounge buddies. Don, the owner, has also allowed Tony to run up a tab, and often doesnt even charge him for his first bottle or two. Don is not all about profits. Once he kicked 30 women out when they staggered in obnoxiously loud. They were barhopping, apparently. Since the Friendly doesnt see 30 lovelies in a month, the crusty, mostly impotent regulars were quite pissed at Don. Since Tony and his sister havent paid their gas bills in months, his apartment was already freezing before he got canned, and working under the table for years, Tony cant collect unemployment. Brain cells pickled, fogged up and half frozen, Tony thought he might get a job at Sugar House, but since that casino gets more than a thousand applications a day, Vern (the Vietnam vet) and I dissuaded Tony from even thinking about it. It takes at least six weeks just to get a generic rejection email from that scamming outfit. We told Tony he should go back to Bucks County and house paint, since he knows a contractor up that way. The dude would even help Tony move. The poorer you are, the more desperate you are for that one life-changing break. In his 20's, Tony went to Las Vegas to play poker with his last $200. Staying in a $30 motel, he managed to be worth $2,000 within a week, only to lose it all, of course, such that he had to call his dad for a bus ticket home. We dont help Tony just so he can eat, but also drink among friends, for a grimly-appointed yet bad joke, good anecdote, laughter and obscenity-filled bar is about the only place a poor, irreligious man can go to feel he belongs. Its not the booze, bougie, but the fermented blatherings. Such a spiritual and intellectual need should never be denied. Lick her is just a pretext, amiga. Joe Blows wouldnt go to operas, symphonies or plays even if they were free. Theres a Vietnamese guy, Jack, who only shows up maybe three times a month. Jack works in a box factory. Even with lame English, Jack tries to banter, and though no one can understand what the hell hes talking about, everyone grins just to encourage and comfort Jack. Buzzed by his third Bud, this scrawny and clearly gay man would start to purr a ragged medley in Vietnamese. Lost in ballads, Jack often looked like hes about to drip hot tears onto his J.C. Penney tie, but its probably just Anheuser-Busch, the piss, thats making his eyes red. Tennessee Williams writes of the chansons de geste which American tongues throw away so casually in bars and hotel bedrooms. Each American barfly, then, is an instant jongleur with a vast repertoire of miscues, mishaps and a few timely breaks. Invigorated by cider, beer, rum and wine, a bunch of Philly blowhards could even dash off the Constitution. George Bush is a teetotaler. Seriously, though most of us would be perfectly content with a bit of liquid bread after eight hours of honest sweating, such a low bar is becoming out of reach, for the nations ceiling is caving in, its floor cracking and its foundation gone. Youre lucky to have an out, man, I said to Tony. Take the sure thing, Vern added. You wait around, it may disappear. Someone may take your job next week, or your buddy may change his mind if he thinks youre not really interested. Theyre real close. Years ago, Tony sold the guy a pretty good car for cheap, only to see it totaled within a week. It flipped then landed upside down in a cemetery. When my friend opened his eyes and saw a grave stone, he thought he was dead! Though Tony doesnt want to leave the kitchen, he will have to. Having worked as both cook and housepainter, I much prefer the latter. Though as exhausting, its much less detail-oriented, thus less stressful. Its also more solitary, with no man hounding another. At the end of the day, though, youre just as dazed and ready for a few mugs. With almost no manufacturing jobs available, Joe Sixpack must jostle to find work in construction or food service. Recently, I met a young chef in Friendly who seems to have his act together. Thirty-two, Robert just bought his first house, something Ive never been able to accomplish, and Im 52. OK, lets hear from this easy going, big bearded dude: I left home at 19, and have only been back once, for six months. I worked at Wegmans in Syracuse, Rochester, then Northern Virginia. I went from eight bucks an hour to 16. When my sister got sick, I moved back home to help out. I didnt help very much, but I was around. My mom was a mess, you know. My parents are divorced. I wanted to be around them. I didnt want to be six hours away. Ive been across the country. Ive been to Memphis. I hung out in Portland. I lived in Chicago. The train to Portland, Oregon was a phenomenal experience. I loved it. Its such a beautiful country. So gorgeous. I lived in Syracuse for the majority of my whole life. Eighteen years. Ive been to Toronto a bunch of times. Its a phenomenal city. Its so clean. Ive been to Ottawa. Thats all right. My grandmother is from Quebec. Id like to go to Montreal. I like the East Coast culture. I like the attitude. Its rough and tumble. I like the anxiety of it. Its like, Hey, can I bum a buck? Get the hell out of here, whatever. You know, when you walk down the street and somebody bothers you? Its fast pace. Its like, Hey, buddy! Hey, buddy! My girlfriend applied for a job in Seattle. She wont get it. She likes the West Coast. She wants everything to be nice. She loves to be super calm. I love the hustle and bustle of the East Coast. If she gets the job, Ill go over there, hands down. Well make it work. I had no idea that Portland is the go-go bar capital of America. In New York, you can only show the top or the bottom. If you go to a go-go bar in Philadelphia, if you go to Show and Tell, you get both, you get everything there, but in New York, you can only see either the top or the bottom. What do you want to see? You have to choose between pussy and titties. If you want to see both pussy and titties, you have to go to two different bars. It is ridiculous. You dont get a full show. Its the state law. Id rather vote for Sanders, obviously, but if he doesnt get the nomination, Ill vote for Hillary. No problem. Anybody but Trump. Ive never voted Republican. I voted for Ralph Nader. I want it to be the United States. I want everybody to be on the same page. I dont want these backwoods country bumpkins saying, I cant wait until we build a wall, to block out the Mexicans, from coming into our country. I dont want to hear any of that shit. For Donald Trump to want to build a wall and not allow anyone to come into the country, it just blows my mind. Immigrants work so hard. Theyre not lazy people, theyre not slackers, theyre not awful people, theyre not on meth. You know how many slackers and methheads Ive worked with in the kitchen? Its ridiculous! In my business as a chef, Ive met so many people who just want to provide for their families. I know two people from Argentina who send money to their families all the time. Argentina is a beautiful country, from what Ive heard, but its not as easy to make money there. Theyre here legally. One guy has brought his family over, so now his wife and kids are here. We only have three or four immigrants in our kitchen at this point. There were two guys from Mexico. They were phenomenal workers. In the last year, weve only had maybe ten immigrants. Its a brew pub on the Main Line. There arent too many immigrants out there. We make mostly Mexican food, but the two Mexican guys were just dishwashers. They left because they found better jobs. Anyone who comes to this country from another country, theyre not just like, whatever. Theyre not just doing it. Theyre not just like, Here I am! Its going to be great! Every minority Ive ever worked with, that has come to the United States, has been a phenomenal worker. At Wegmans, Whole Foods and those places, theyre phenomenal workers. My girlfriend works for the water department. Shes an environmental scientist. She wants to make this city a little better. She makes around 40 grand. She has college student loan that shes still paying off. She will probably be paying it off for the next 30 years. I made 45 thousand at Whole Foods, but I quit because it was very stressful. I hated it, so I moved to the restaurant business. I make 29 now. Its OK. Im doing something that makes me happy. Id rather make less money but be happier. Im not in the worst place in my life. Im not in the best place in my life. Id love to make more money! We just bought a house, for 200,000, in Lower Kensington. Its an up-and-coming neighborhood. The place next to us just sold for 240. I lived in South Philly for ten, eleven years. We paid nothing for a house. My landlord was a white, Jewish man from the Northeast, and he was like, Are you kidding me? You want to move into this neighborhood? And we were like, Yeah, of course. Why not? It wasnt a bad neighborhood. It was a good mix, of everybody. Whites, blacks, Cambodians, Mexicans, everybody was there. The whole neighborhood was very solid. I dont really have a stance on marriage. Im OK married. Im OK living it out, like were doing right now. My girlfriend would probably want to get married. She has actually been married before. It was a very abusive relationship and only lasted a year. I dont want to put on any pressure, but at the same time, weve been together for, like, almost five years. Weve been living together for three. She studied abroad a bunch of time. She was in Puerto Rico. Ive never been on an airplane. Im terrified of flying. Were doing our thing. Were fine. Does she want to get married? Probably. Any day now. Were fine. We were going to have a kid, but we had a miscarriage, very recently, in the last couple months. I think my girlfriend is more into the sense of having a kid than I am. I dont necessarily want to have a kid, but when I found out my girlfriend was pregnant, I thought, This is going to be great! I love this. It changed my whole mind. This kid is going to be everything to me. I loved the fact that my girlfriend was pregnant. I was very against pregnancy, I didnt want to have a kid, but when I found out we were going to have a kid, I was very excited about it. My girlfriend was very excited about it. Then we lost our kid. It got a little rough for a while. She wants to try again, but Im not sure any more. Shes a year older than me. Shes 33. It was so unexpected, the pregnancy. You have to set your life towards, you know, Im not going to be out drinking every day, Im not going to be out smoking, Ive got to come home from work, and it was going to be great! I have a lot of friends struggling right now with healthcare. Thats a problem. It should be more affordable. When I quit Whole Foods and lost my healthcare, I thought, OK, now I can apply for Obamacare, but they wanted to charge me 300, 400 bucks a month! I couldnt afford that! I ended up paying the penalty. My mom was a legal secretary. My dad had his own company. He took care of your lighting needs. He would walk into your business and say, OK, you need so many light bulbs, and he would put up a bid. He was basically a salesman. My mom has gotten kind of crazy. Shes a hypochondriac. She has a lot of back problems. Im sure she lies about the majority of them. She wont talk to me or my sister any more. She has a huge grudge because she thinks were all siding with my father. I talk to my dad nearly every day. When my sister got married 12 years ago at the court house, my mom didnt make it. She said she couldnt get off work. My dad made, my stepmom made, everybody made, but my mom couldnt make it. My mom got pissed because I didnt call her one Christmas, but I had a bad flu and was in the hospital. Shes out of her fuckin mind. Its very depressing, actually. It was just me and my sister, and I was the last child to listen to, you know, her bullshit. She actually just sent me a care package a couple of days ago, to my new house. She was like, What is your new address? I gave it to her and, Hey, take a look at my new dogs! She grew up with beagles, you know, and I have two beagles. She never sent anything back, but its all right, whatever. I opened the care package when I was drunk. Its something you should only find when your mom dies, and you go into her house and see that book, that picture book with This is how much you weighed when you were four, that kind of stuff. She sent that back to me. I was wasted. It was very emotional. Your mom is not supposed to send you that. You should only find that when she dies. It should be like, Oh shit, I cant believe she kept all of this stuff! No, my moms not alone. She remarried, and so did my dad. I love my stepfather. My stepdad is one of the nicest people in the world. He got fucked over more than anybody Ive ever met in my entire life. Its his ex wife. Shes ruined his credit for thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars. In ten years, Id like to be doing the same thing, cooking, and being with my girlfriend. I dont know about having a kid. Linh Dinh is the author of two books of stories, five of poems, and a novel, Love Like Hate. Hes tracking our deteriorating socialscape through his frequently updated photo blog, Postcards from the End of America.







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Tears Don't Dry In Kashmir

By Mary Scully

13 April, 2016

Countercurrents.org

The story of what happened yesterday in Handwara, Kashmir (a town about 70 km/37 miles from Srinagar) is undisputed, even if inadequately reported. Two young men were shot dead, & several others, including a 70-year-old woman, lie in hospital with critical injuries after Indian occupying troops opened fire on unarmed protesters who were protesting the molestation of a young girl by an Indian soldier who followed her into a public toilet.

Some witnesses say the troops opened fire on protesters trying to tear down the Indian flag from a flag pole near an army bunker. Others say protesters pelted stones at the bunker. Neither of those acts require lethal force. There are no reports on how Mohammad Iqbal was fatally shot in the head & Naeem Qadir Bhat fatally shot in the abdomen.

This isn't just an isolated incident involving molestation by a rogue soldier. It's the very matrix of the Indian occupation of Kashmir: rape systematically used as a weapon of social control where soldiers expect impunity from prosecution. Military use of lethal force without provocations against unarmed protesters is the modus operandi of the Indian occupation going back decades & puts the lie to all those stories about "militants" & "terrorists" executed in shootouts with paramilitary death squads.

Even the Indian army's response was pro forma. A spokesman said they regretted the "unfortunate loss of life" & matters will be investigated. The way that goes, after several months of legal puttering, a military kangaroo panel will clear the molester of all culpability & find the soldiers had just cause to execute.

Many claim India has a right to occupy Kashmir for reasons of territorial integrity & sovereignty. Why would anyone who eschews rightwing nationalism accept an arrangement brokered by English colonialism to maximize conflict? This conflict is not rooted in ancient history but in English machinations when it departed India. Those who support the occupation have to ask themselves if the methods used by India are those of a civilized, let alone a democratic society:

disappearances, mass graves, mass incarceration, summary executions, torture, mass rape, shooting down unarmed protesters--& if they think Indian sovereignty is worth all that.

Where one likes it or not, Kashmiris have a right to choose how they will be governed. That is the right of self-determination.

May young Mohammad & Naeem Rest In Peace.

Mary Scully has fifty years of political activism behind her in the US: antiwar, women's rights, civil rights, Palestinian solidarity (since 1967), in particular. She is running as an independent socialist candidate for US president 2016.








The Three U.S. Criminal Laws Clinton Broke With Her Email:

Why Are News Media Hiding Them From The Public?

By Eric Zuesse

13 April, 2016

Countercurrents.org

When I submitted on April 9th to virtually all U.S. news-media a news-report headlined "Two Ways Hillarys Private Email Operation Was Obviously Criminal, and provided there the U.S. statutes that Hillary Clinton had clearly violated by her privatized email operation when she was serving as the U.S. Secretary of State, it was news-enough to qualify for publication by all of the major newspapers and TV networks and the other major and minor U.S. national news-media  but they all rejected it, declined to publish it, even though I dont charge for my news-reports; and the only reason why they wouldnt publish it had to be that they dont want the public to know that she had violated at least two specific U.S. criminal statutes. But then a reader, Rocky Springer, at one of the news sites that did publish it, rinf.com (there were four, all very small: those two, plus this and this) posted a comment calling my attention to yet a third federal criminal statute that she was violating there:

18 U.S. Code  2071 - Concealment, removal, or mutilation generally (a)Whoever willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, or destroys, or attempts to do so, or, with intent to do so takes and carries away any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both. (b)Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States. As used in this subsection, the term office does not include the office held by any person as a retired officer of the Armed Forces of the United States.

Thats not as high a penalty (fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both) as the two statutes I had cited earlier (one of which was 20 years imprisonment, the other of which was 10), but it certainly is yet a third criminal statute that she certainly did violate, and yet she is being voted for by more of my (former) fellow Democrats to represent us as our (their) Presidential nominee, than is her competitor, Senator Sanders (who has no such experience); and how could this possibly be the case but for the U.S. news medias hiding from the voters that Ms. Clinton definitely and incontestably did violate at least three U.S. criminal laws, there?

Are the news media  that is, the persons who own the major blocs of stock in each and every one of them  wanting the Republican nominee (whomever he turns out to be) to be running against a person who should be facing prosecution under those three (and perhaps other) U.S. criminal laws  wanting, in other words, to hand the White House to whomever wins the Republican nomination? Is the U.S. Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, and is her boss the current President Barack Obama, not going to be bringing Hillarys clear crimes in this matter before a grand jury to consider for indictment? Or, are the millions of Democratic voters in those primaries simply fools who dont care that theyre voting for a clear-cut (regardless of whether the U.S. President and his Administration are refusing to prosecute her) crook?

It cant be only the voters that are to blame, because (also very clearly here) theyre simply not being informed by the U.S. national news media what the laws are that she has, so very blatantly, violated. How can the voters be blamed for not knowing what it is that the news media are hiding from them?

As regards the possibility that the President and his Attorney General are to blame: we dont know, and we have no way of knowing, whether Clintons case in this matter is being seriously investigated by the FBI for possible bringing of federal criminal charges against her for what she so incontestably did do in regards to her State Department email. Quite possibly, the FBI are interviewing and getting plea-bargains from her subordinates in this criminal activity, as a prerequisite to obtaining her own under-oath testimony; quite possibly, theyre doing their duty.

What is not in question is that the U.S. national news media are hiding from the American public the statutes, the criminal laws, that the currently leading candidate for the U.S. Presidency has so clearly, on the basis of the emails that were able to be reconstructed from her wiped-clean private email server, did violate.

Whereas Ms. Clinton obviously is a crook (in this matter if not for any other), what can we say about the U.S. national news organizations? They are not violating any criminal law by hiding this crucial information from the public. But what they are doing is even more heinous than what she did. With a news media such as this, we can only continue to be deceived into electing and even re-electing people such as George W. Bush who during 2002 and 2003 lied this country into the disastrous and unwarranted and illegal invasion of Iraq. And, if thats not a heinous national news media, then what is? This is, before so many primary elections for the U.S. Presidency. Not allowing the public to know the truth. Its as bad now as it was in 2002 and 2003. Its a dictatorship. Thats what we have, with a press like this.

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of Theyre Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRISTS VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.








YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. The draft resolution on the Armenian Genocide will be discussed in the German Bundestag on June 2. Armenpress was informed about this by Henriette Rytz whois the political adviser of the co-chairman of the German political party Alliance '90/The Greens Cem Ozdemir.

It will be the joint initiative of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and Social Democratic Partys parliamentary fractions, said Rytz.

Earlier the German media, citing the Head of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) faction Michael Grosse-Bromer, were stating that the discussion of the resolution of the Armenian Genocide at Bundestag is likely to be on June 2.

The heated discussion of the Armenian Genocide on February 25 at Bundestag did not terminate with voting in 2016. It was decided to withdraw the resolution for amendments as a result of opposing positions and assessments between the ruling coalition and the Alliance 90/The Greens.

In 2005, Germany's parliament adopted a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide. However, in the Bundestags decision, the term Armenian Genocide was avoided, and instead "massacres of Armenians" was used.

On April 24, before the Bundestag hearings, Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced that he supports those MPs, who are in favor of calling the mass killings of Armenians Genocide. On April 23, during the ceremony in the Berlin Cathedral dedicated to the memory of the Armenian Genocide, German President Joachim Gauck used the term Genocide in his speech.

In March of 2015, the President of the German Parliament Norbert Lammert said: "what happened in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War in front of the whole world, was genocide. And it was not the last genocide of the 20th century. During the session the leaders of various party fractions also came with their pro-Armenian statements admitting what had happened. However, the discussion of the resolution indefinitely postponed.
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Heritage Federal Credit Union was honored with a record-setting nine Diamond Awards from the Credit Union National Association Marketing & Business Development Council, a national network of more than 1,200 credit union marketing and business development professional.

Awards are given in each of 30 categories ranging from advertising to community events and beyond.

Heritage Federal Credit Union won Diamond Awards for brand/corporate identity (HFCU 50th Anniversary Campaign), television (instant issue Visa cards), radio (instant issue Visa cards), radio (slash and $ave), social media (pet calendar contest), miscellaneous (pet calendar) and plastic access card design (instant issue Visa cards).

Of four Excellence Awards presented nationwide, HFCU took home two, for the instant issue Visa cards campaign and the pet calendar campaign.

"Heritage Federal Credit Union has had success in receiving Diamond Awards in the past, but never at this level by winning so many in one-year," said Ruth Jenkins, President and CEO of HFCU. "These products and services have been very welcomed by our membership and drove in record setting results. We employ dedicated employees that are truly committed and focused on our mission and I congratulate them on their efforts."
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The Evansville-Area Human Resources Association will host its Spring Conference on Wednesday, April 20, featuring presentations from national and regional legal and legislative experts.

Topics include developments related to the Americans with Disabilities Act, recent decisions impacting joint employment and independent contractor relationships, legislative developments expanding LGBT and religious freedoms, and labor law developments.

Featured speaker David Fram from the National Employment Law Institute is an expert on the Americans with Disabilities Act. A panel of regional lawyers and legislative experts, including Jon Goldman (Kahn, Dees, Donovan & Kahn), Brian McDermott and Steven Pockrass (Ogletree Deakins), Michael Cork (Bamberger, Foreman, Oswald & Hahn), and Kevin Brinegar (President/CEO of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce) will discuss recent and anticipated legal developments impacting area businesses.

Registration, breakfast, and networking begins at 7:30 a.m. with lunch at noon. The afternoon session runs from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Attendees may register for the morning or afternoon session, or attend the entire day. The event will be held at the Southern Indiana Career and Technical Center located at 1901 Lynch Road Information on pricing and registration is available at www.ehranet.org.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. Dr. Hayk Martirosyan has resigned from the position of Chief Aide to the Prime Minister of Armenia. Armenpress reports that Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan has accepted Mr. Martirosyans resignation. Dr. Martirosyan took the office on March 12, 2016.

Hayk Martirosyan holds a Doctorate Degree in Political Science from University of Paris, Sorbonne and is one of the leading political analysts and strategists of Armenian descent.
Aimee Blume / Special to The Courier & Press Plantains are big starchy fruits related to bananas. Before they ripen, they are more like potatoes than fruit, and are often fried into crisp chips. The Duffy's par-fry, flatten and griddle them to be used in place of a bun on the Runaway Bay sandwich.

SHARE Aimee Blume / Special to The Courier & Press Courtney Duffy heads into Carson's Brewery tasting room with a wrap and a loaded buffalo stack (garlic fries layered with greens, veggies, buffalo chicken and ranch sauce) and for a hungry patron. Find the Duffy Shuffle outside Carson's most Friday and Saturday nights. Aimee Blume / Special to The Courier & Press Demonik Poppers from the Duffy Shuffle contain fresh jalapeno halves stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped with bacon, and deep fried in a beer batter made with Carson's Demonik double IPA. Aimee Blume / Special to The Courier & Press The Duffy Shuffle's Runaway Bay sandwich utilizes crisp fried plantains instead of a bun to house tender shredded Jamaican jerk chicken, spring greens, onion and radish sprouts. It's different and delicious. Aimee Blume / Special to The Courier & Press Courtney and Nick Duffy bring their Duffy Shuffle truck to Carson's Brewery every Friday and most Saturday nights to provide food to the tasting room's many patrons.

By Aimee Blume

As you mentally shuffle through your choices for lunch or dinner this spring and summer, don't forget the Duffy Shuffle, one of our local food trucks with an ever-changing and creative menu of made-from-scratch favorites.

Nick and Courtney Duffy of Evansville own and man the truck and basically just like to have fun with the whole enterprise.

"The food truck was Courtney's idea," said Nick. "A couple of years ago she got me watching the food truck shows on TV and said 'that's what I want to do.'"

So the couple put together a small food trailer that had once been used at the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival. Nick said they took it to the Octo-beer festival that fall at the Vanderburgh County 4-H fairgrounds and had a blast.

"After that I was sold," he said. "We just had so much fun and people were loving the food."

They came across their current truck in Nashville, Tennessee, about a year and a half ago. Nick has a background in mechanics and spent the winter of 2014-15 fixing it up for last summer's festival and market season.

"We love the whole pop culture food truck movement," he said. "Food trucks don't have to stick so much to the staples. You can put your own flair and your personality into it. We sort of fly by the seat of our pants with the menu."

The name Duffy Shuffle has two meanings to the Duffys. Nick's father is 88, and has had multiple sclerosis since his twenties. The disease didn't slow him down much over the years but left him with a limp, and Nick's six sisters always referred to it as the "Duffy shuffle." The name honors Nick's father, and also describes the business itself, which shuffles locations and menu items regularly.

Courtney Duffy is responsible for most of the menu and recipes. She's an excellent cook, but she admits she didn't come by it genetically.

"My mom never, ever cooked," she said. "She would order Thanksgiving dinner from the grocery store. So I had to figure out that I could do it. After I left the parents' house and learned to cook for myself, I was like, 'this is really cool, I like this.'"

Every dressing and sauce except for the ketchup and bottled hot sauces sold from the Duffy Shuffle is homemade from Courtney's original recipes. Even the tortilla chips are fried fresh to order and served with homemade salsa.

"I love different things," said Courtney. "I want new flavors, new tastes, to put a new spin on food. We do a lot of our shopping at the international market."

The truck's best sellers, and to some extent the menu, depend on which location the truck is at for the day and the clientele who will be dining.

The Demonik jalapeno poppers and the honey ginger chicken wrap are two consistent favorites, however.

The poppers are a fresh jalapeno half-filled with cream cheese, wrapped with bacon and dunked into a beer batter made with Carson's Demonik double IPA.

The ginger chicken in the wrap is flavored with ginger in the breading before being enclosed in a fresh tortilla with veggies. The Southern Hospitality sandwich is another hot item and pairs pecan-crusted chicken, veggies and a sweet orange sauce

On the more exotic side is the new Runaway Bay sandwich featuring roasted Jamaican jerk-marinated chicken between fried plantains.

"I called it the Runaway Bay sandwich because it's Caribbean, and I'm from Texas and want to run away from winter," said Courtney.

The Duffys encountered plantains in Costa Rica and enjoyed them so much they've found a few ways to include them in the truck's menu.

Plantains are a member of the banana family popular around the Caribbean. Before they are ripe they have a starchy texture similar to a potato and are often fried into thin chips or par-cooked, flattened and then fried into crispy rounds. The Duffys use this technique with halved plantains to make the "bun" for the Runaway Bay. It's a unique, spicy sandwich cooled by fresh greens, sprouts and ranch sauce on the side. The jerk marinade is another traditional ingredient, the same brand that Nick remembers bringing home from Montego Bay, Jamaica, after a mission trip as a teenager.

The best way to find the ever-shuffling Duffy Shuffle truck is to follow it on Facebook or Twitter where locations will be updated. Expect to see it downtown to serve the lunch crowd on many days this summer, at Carson's Brewery most Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons and at various events where people gather outdoors.

The first major event for the truck this summer will be the Mesker Amphitheater Music Festival at Mesker Park on May 28. The Duffys are looking forward to traveling with the truck as well, hitting festivals from Louisville to Omaha, Nebraska.

"We try to make each experience new with the truck," said Nick. "As long as we make people happy, we're doing what we want to be doing."

In the future, look for an expanded offering of salads and healthy options from the Duffys, as well as lots of dishes containing avocados, one of Courtney's favorite foods. Last year's deep-fried avocado tacos could very well make a comeback at some point, and a menu permitting the diner to make their own combination of chicken, sauces, toppings and bread, salad or fry "stack" is a definite possibility.

For more information visit theduffyshuffle.com, or for even more up to the minute info, add the Duffy Shuffle on Facebook.
SHARE Michael Loveless

By Mark Wilson of the Courier and Press

A special judge on Wednesday denied a motion to reduce the bond for an Evansville firefighter accused of raping and threatening and his girlfriend.

Bond for Michael Vernon Loveless, 42, will remain at $500,000 surety or $50,000 cash.

Because the alleged victim is a local attorney, Warrick County Circuit Court Judge Greg Granger is presiding over the case. Former Vanderburgh County prosecutor Stan Levco is acting as special prosecutor in the case.

Levco, on Wednesday, also filed additional rape and intimidation charges, as well as a notice he would seek an enhanced sentence on one of Loveless' charges. Loveless waived his right to be advised of the new charges.

In court on Wednesday, defense attorney Scott Danks offered as condition of bond for Loveless to agree to reside in Henderson County, Kentucky, and stay there except for court hearings.

"I personally have never been involved in a case of this nature in which the bond has been set so high," Danks said.

He noted that Loveless is an 11-year veteran at the Evansville Fire Department and that at the time of the alleged incident Loveless was "extremely inebriated" and upset because the victim had asked him to move out of her house.

"Being extremely inebriated is not a mitigating factor at all," Levco said. "It's almost an aggravating thing."

Levco said Loveless could pose a threat to others if he were to become intoxicated again while on bond. He also noted that he could possibly ask for an increased bond  which he did not do  based on the additional charges.

Loveless is accused of threatening his girlfriend with a handgun and a knife while children were present in the home they shared. The woman reported she was raped during the encounter.

Loveless has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape while armed with a deadly weapon, a level 1 felony; criminal confinement, a level 3 felony; intimidation, a level 5 felony; and battery resulting in bodily injury, a class A misdemeanor.

Granger has previously denied Danks' motion to dismiss those charges.

The new rape charge stems from the same incident as the first charge, according to court records, but alleges that Loveless threatened the use of deadly force. It also is a level 1 felony.

The intimidation charge arises from an incident alleged to have occurred on Feb. 17, about six days before the alleged rape, according to an amended probable cause affidavit filed in court. It states that the victim arrived home to find Loveless, who had appeared to have been drinking. It alleges he was upset, and that he damaged a shower door and punched a bathroom wall, according to the affidavit. Loveless reportedly threatened to kill the victim if she called police about the incident.

Levco also filed a notice that he intended to seek an enhanced sentence if Loveless is convicted of the criminal confinement charge.

Loveless will return to court at 8:30 a.m. May 13.
SHARE Mathew McCallister

By Mark Wilson of the Courier and Press

A new trial date of July 11 has been set for an Indianapolis man accused in the 2014 shooting death of Joseph Nelson in Warrick County.

Mathew McCallister, 33, is charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and being a habitual offender. He faces a possible life without parole sentence if convicted.

His trial was delayed last week on the day jury selection was to begin when the court was informed that defense attorney Brett Roy's mother had died. McCallister's other defense attorney is Steven Bohleber.

Indiana court rules mandate defendants in death or life without parole cases be represented by two attorneys.

Warrick County Prosecutor Michael Perry said Wednesday that July was the earliest available date.

McCallister is one of four people charged in connection to Nelson's February 2014 death. Also charged with conspiracy in the case were Shawn Grigsby, David J. Lackey Jr., and Jade Stigall.

Grigsby pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and received a 20-year-sentence in September 2014.

Lackey and Stigall received four-year sentences after pleading guilty to charges of assisting a criminal in return for their cooperation in the investigation.

A fifth defendant, Kelli Wyrick of Indianapolis, was sentenced to four years after pleading guilty to assisting a criminal, as well as to three drug-related charges. She was never charged with murder or conspiracy in the case.

Investigators believe the four drove Nelson to the location in northern Warrick County where he was shot in the head, according to probable cause affidavits. His body was then believed to have been dumped into a coal car and was found by employees at Alcoa's Warrick Operations after it arrived there in a coal shipment.
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By Len Wells of the Courier and Press

A 15-year-old high school girl has been arrested in connection with a bomb threat that prompted the evacuation of the Wayne City (Illinois) Unit 100 School on Monday.

Officials at the Wayne City school offered a $200 cash reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. Investigators say that between information gathered from the reward offer and surveillance video, a suspect was quickly developed.

The suspect, a freshman girl, is accused of scrawling a bomb threat on a bathroom stall. Police say the girl is not a suspect in a bomb threat at the same school two weeks earlier. That case remains under investigation.

Southern Illinois schools have been plagued with bomb threats this spring. In McLeansboro, a 15-year-old student was arrested in February for making a bomb threat. A 13-year-old student faces charges for making a threat at the Casey Middle School in Mount Vernon, Illinois, and police are still investigating a bomb threat made at the Sesser-Valier school.

In the Wayne City case, the suspect faces a felony charge of disorderly conduct. The student was questioned by police Tuesday afternoon and released to her parents pending the filing of formal charges by the Wayne County state's attorney.
SHARE Ella Mae Bradley

By Cole Claybourn of the Courier and Press

An Evansville woman was arrested on Wednesday for her role in an international scam, police said.

Ella Mae Bradley, 51, organized a scam over the last three years that originated in Jamaica in which she stole hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to an Evansville Police Department news release. She said she became a part of the scam to recoup her losses when she was a victim of the same scam.

Victims were told they won the Jamaican lottery and needed to send money to a United States address in order to receive their winnings, according to the release.

Throughout the duration of the scam, people from across the country have sent cashiers checks, money grams and cash to Bradley at her Evansville home. She would then keep a portion of the money and send the rest to Jamaica. Bradley told police she has sent around $1 million to Jamaica.

Evansville police were tipped off by the Amarillo (Texas) Police Department when they began an investigation after an elderly victim withdrew about $100,000 from her bank account and sent it to Bradley in several installments. Evansville police intercepted a $25,000 check and returned it to the victim.

Bradley told investigators she was a victim of the scam for two years before joining in.

"Arrests in these types of scams are not very common," police officials said in the release. "Most victims never recover any of their losses. The best way to deal with these scams is to prevent yourself from becoming a victim. If you have not entered a lottery or a contest, then you should not expect to win one."
SHARE James H. Madison

By Megan Erbacher of the Courier and Press

Most of us won't be around for Indiana's 300th birthday, so Jim Madison suggests Hoosiers take full advantage of the state's 200th.

"This is the chance to grab hold and do some fun things," he said.

Madison, an author, historian and Indiana University history professor, will be the inaugural speaker for the the Shoulders Family Commons Lecture Series. Madison will speak for about an hour starting at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Shoulders Family Commons at Harrison High School. A reception with light refreshments will be held after his speech.

The event is free and open to the public.

Evansville native and attorney Pat Shoulders said the choice for the first speaker "seemed like a natural fit." Shoulders knew Madison through his work as an IU Board of Trustees member, and Madison's recently finished book, "Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana," honors the state's bicentennial. During the speech, Madison will highlight stories from the pioneer days, through the Civil War and the 21st century.

"It just seemed like a perfect way for us to start this," said Shoulders, who is also the attorney for the Courier & Press. "(We're) bringing someone from IU who is involved in a statewide celebration."

While Madison admits he enjoys a chance to talk, he hopes the community comes equipped with thoughts and questions.

"I hope that people in the audience will think about our past, but also about where we are now and where we want to go. ... I'm a missionary for history and Indiana's history in particular," he said. "So I hope that I can turn a few heads and maybe some hearts toward Indiana's history and toward thinking about our past, and connecting our past to the present."

In honor of its many Harrison graduates, Shoulders said the family contributed a naming gift to Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp.'s capital campaign to rename the center of the school the Shoulders Family Commons in 2011. The family also has many IU graduates, Shoulders said.

With family members still at Harrison, Shoulders said the new lecture series will keep the family engaged with the high school. And he said the family wants to bring "some intellectual capital to the commons" available to the public for free.

"We've found a way to combine our love for public schools at Harrison and IU together and decided to start inviting one professor a year from IU to come down and deliver a lecture in the commons," Shoulders said.
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By Zach Osowski, zach.osowski@courierpress.com

INDIANAPOLIS  In a move to create a more sustainable and resilient power supply, the U.S. Navy and Duke Energy have reached an agreement to build a 145-acre solar park at Crane naval base in Southern Indiana.

The 76,000-panel park will be owned, operated and maintained by Duke Energy and will feed into Duke's main grid, which includes Crane. The solar park will provide energy to all of Duke's Southwestern Indiana customers. Officials said it will help keep costs down.

The solar park is part of a push by both Duke and the Navy to move towards cleaner, more sustainable energy.

"Change is clearly in the air," Duke Energy Indiana President Melody Birmingham-Byrd said. "Specifically, the growing trend of generating more of our electric energy from renewable resources."

Dennis McGinn, assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment, was at the Statehouse for the announcement. McGinn said Crane is a vital base for Navy technology and the partnership between the Navy and Duke will ensure Crane continues to be an important part of day-to-day Navy operations.

"We're making sure our energy supply is resilient and varied," McGinn said. "And we're doing so in a way that strengthens our relationship with Indiana."

The Navy is also committed to changing where its energy comes from for the future. The current goal is to produce 50 percent of its energy from alternative sources by 2020. Duke and the Navy have a similar arrangement in North Carolina at the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune base.

Birmingham-Byrd said the solar park still needs approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. Once Duke gets the IURC's go-ahead, construction will begin, Birmingham-Byrd said. She is confident the park will be up and running by the end of the year.

At peak performance, the park will generate about 17 megawatts of power. Birmingham-Byrd said 17 megawatts are enough to power about 1,000 homes for a day.

"The trend toward renewable energy will continue to grow," she said. "We are preparing for the future."

In exchange for using Crane's land, Duke will invest money into the naval base's infrastructure, according to Cmdr. Timothy Craddock, the commanding officer at the base. He said the partnership with Duke is an investment in the base's future.

Crane's unique technological abilities, coupled with the size of the base, makes it ideal for this type of project.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. Since the very beginning of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict Turkey has openly assisted and supported Azerbaijan. Turkey is the only country in the region which has directly justified on the highest level all atrocities of Azerbaijan. This was stated by Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Eduard Sharmazanov on April 13 during a press conference. It has even gotten to a point where Turkey tries to attach a religious character to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict via its Foreign Minister. This is immoral and unacceptable. If we attach a religious character to this conflict, it may be the beginning of a new disaster in the region. European, Russian and American civilizations have to be attentive and clearly put pressure, Armenpress reports Sharmazanov saying.

He stressed that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has called upon the Muslim countries to unite over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. When Aliyev was making religious assessments, protesting Europeans and Minsk group, as if they are pro-Armenian, because Armenians are Christians and they are Muslim, those same Europeans and the Minsk Group were ignoring our calls. And we were saying that it is dangerous that Azerbaijan is attaching a religious character to this conflict. I think that we have to realize the seriousness of this issue, Sharmazanov said.

He said that those Muslim countries which had and continue having friendly relations with Armenia will not be dragged into Turkish provocations. This is not a religious war, not a religious conflict. The Armenian people have always had friendly relations with the Arab world, Iran and a number of Muslim countries. This is exclusively a Turkish, Pan-Turkish factor and this Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem should not be identified as Muslim.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of the Republic of Armenia urged reporters to refrain from wearing military type clothing while in the line of contact, as they may become targets by the adversary; Armenpress was informed by the Department of Information and Public Relations of the Ministry of Defense.

The announcement reads: Taking into account that under the Geneva Convention reporters are considered civilians, and are protected by the Convention during military operations, the Ministry of Defense urges all representatives of mass media who are working in the line of contact to refrain from wearing military type clothing, as they may be targeted by the adversary as military personnel.

At the same time we urge all reporters who are planning to go to the line of contact, to wear clearly visible PRESS logos on each side of their clothing.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will once again meet with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in Istanbul, "Armenpress" reports, the official website of the Turkish President informs. The meeting will be held on April 13.

On April 14-15, within the framework of the "Islamic Cooperation" organizations summit, a meeting will be held between the heads of the member states of that organization in Istanbul.
Editorial

Adani: Greed trumps science

The warnings based on the science are clear: the Great Barrier Reef is threatened  in the long term and in the immediate in the form of the approval by the Queensland government of the monstrous $22 billion Adani coal mine, with its Abbot Point rail, port facilities, power, water, road works and airstrip.

Climate change is the biggest threat to the reefs future. The Great Barrier Reef Authoritys Outlook Report for the Great Barrier Reef in 2014, states: Climate change remains the most serious threat to the Great Barrier Reef. It is already affecting the reef and is likely to have far-reaching consequences in the decades to come.

Sediment, nutrient and pesticide pollution from catchment run-off is having a major impact on the health and resilience of the reefs ecosystem. The Adani project would allow the Indian transnational to extract 60 million tonnes of thermal coal from the Carmichael coal mine in the Gallilee Basin, central Queensland.

For all the talk about creating jobs  the Queensland governments justification  environmentalist warn that it is a disaster waiting to happen. Its an extraordinary decision, said Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive Kelly OShanassy. We know the bleaching is because of global warming, Carmichael will only make that worse.

The reef is obviously in dire straits, irrespective of what anyone says, and thats blindingly obvious, said Dr Charlie Vernon, the former chief scientist of the Australian Institute of Marine Science. I think there is no single action that could be as harmful to the Great Barrier Reef as the Carmichael coal mine.

Dr Vernon  who has discovered more than 20 percent of the worlds coral species  points out that around a third of marine species have parts of their life cycle in coral reefs. So, if you take out coral reefs you have an ecological collapse of the oceans.

 mass extinctions through ocean acidification, and the main driver of that is CO2.

Measurements taken by the Torres Strait Regional Authoritys environmental management program and the Australian Institute of Marine Science indicate that average sea temperatures are hovering around 30.5 degrees, close to the temperature that scientists believe coral bleaching might occur (31.4 degrees), putting the region on coral bleaching watch status, with alert status occurring at 31 degrees.

Coral bleaching occurs when corals, due to stress such as high water temperatures, expel the small algae that live in their cells and give them their colour. This leaves them susceptible to coral diseases, and if allowed to continue, causes their eventual death.

An Adani spokesman has described legal challenges to the Carmichael mine as politically motivated. The widespread opposition to this destructive mine, nationally and internationally, rests not only on political beliefs but on the recognition of the potentially fatal blow it delivers to future generations, along with the very existence of the Grate Barrier Reef.

The Queensland government is facilitating a tragedy in its politically motivated, opportunistic and utterly irresponsible decision to approve the mine. The best the government can offer in justification is the mantra of jobs, a desperate and deceptive claim, given the clearly short term nature of employment in coal mining, and disingenuous in that employment in renewables will far outnumber mining jobs in the future.

As an astute letter writer in the Sydney Morning Herald noted, But Queensland Premier, your mine, with its lifetime emissions of 4.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, will certainly finish off your greatest tourist attraction.
Call for overhaul

Adele Cox, senior project consultant with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Project (ATSISPP), is calling for an overhaul of the way the health system responds to suicide, mental illness and self-harm in Indigenous communities.

Cox and fellow consultant Gerry Georgatos are part of a critical response team that visits Indigenous communities after someone has taken their own life. This month they have been in a remote community in Western Australias Kimberley region, after the suicide of a 10-year-old Aboriginal girl.

There needs to be a better holistic approach to mental health, Cox said. With the issues around suicide, we need to ask, How do we move beyond rhetoric to really doing something?

There is lots of goodwill, but there is a crisis and we seem to be stuck in that place. Until we change the whole nations psyche, and start looking at these issues as a matter of priority, were not going to get much change.

State Coroner Ros Fogliani announced that she would hold an inquest into several suspected suicides in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions, but could not say when or how many deaths would be examined. \

Georgatos said he was aware of 19 suicides in Indigenous communities since December. He said that for Indigenous people aged 15 to 35, the leading cause of death was suicide, with three people recently buried in five days in the Goldfields.

He has called for a royal commission into Indigenous suicides.

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project was expected to report by mid-year, but had provided interim advice that existing response services were often not well coordinated or delivered in a culturally appropriate way.

Cox said that consistency of programs was an issue and said community-based organisations could often drown in paperwork. Whats contributing to the frustration is that weve seen a lot of good programs trying to respond to needs in mental health and suicide prevention, innovative ideas using sport, or helping people with parenting, that sadly dont always get funded, she said.

In the recent case, Cox said the community had been further traumatised by insensitive responses by the mainstream media, which had included wild speculation, inappropriate reporting, misinformation and blaming of the community.

It adds to and very much sensationalises the actual incident and creates further distress for the community, she said. In this particular case, Im not happy about the fact that some news reports went down the route of naming a child. Journalists need to abide by the Mindframe guidelines about responsible reporting of suicide.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda said all governments needed to better fund health services. Ive been bashing my head against this wall for the last seven or eight years, he said.

The only way were going to make real difference is when the government decides to engage with us because we have the answers to what happened in the Kimberley.

Canberras not going to solve that problem.

Cox said there were difficult conversations that needed to be had regarding mental health  but that they needed to start from a position of support rather than blame. Reality tells us that if we were all doing what we can to the best of our abilities, we wouldnt be need to have a project like the one Im involved with, she said.

All of us need to stop being defensive and talk about what can be done.

I think theres a need for a broader conversation, so that collegially we can come to a point where we can provide better care.

We need to change the way we work as Aboriginal people, families and communities. We need to take responsibility. Its all good to blame services, but, ultimately, these are our kids and families and we all need to make sure that our children are living their lives as children in the safest possible way.

Koori Mail

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467 or Kids Helpline (young people aged 5-25) 1800 55 1800

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander support services can be found at www.naccho.org.au or www.sewbmh.org.au or www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au
Anger builds at CSIRO debacle

It takes a lot to get the public spotlight to turn onto the countrys unassuming, long-established research and development organisation. The value of the quietly achieving Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is widely recognised and questions are now being asked about where we would be as a community without the CSIRO and its research for the public good. Staff, including senior staff, and the public are worried. Since current Chief Executive and former Silicon Valley entrepreneur Larry Marshall took over in January 2015, the axe has been taken to staffing and budgets, and almost the entire emphasis of research directed at market-ready, profit-turning products.

The contrast between the Turnbull governments innovative economy rhetoric and the blood-letting at the CSIRO couldnt be more stark. Sam Popovski, secretary of the CSIRO Staff Association, set down the extent of the cuts in a recent letter to Christopher Pyne, the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science.

On the 4th of February 2016, CSIRO CEO Larry Marshall announced 350 job cuts. Based on subsequent information provided by CSIRO, the total jobs now earmarked to go is actually 450: 100 in Land and Water, 100 in Oceans and Atmosphere, 70 in Data61, 40 in Agriculture, 40 in Manufacturing, 40 in Mineral Resources, 20 in Food and Nutrition and 40 in Research Support. He went on to point out that the latest cuts are on top of the 1,300 jobs already lost over the past two years.

The letter made the unprecedented request of Pyne to direct the CSIRO to suspend its proposed changes until after the federal election and to establish a fully independent inquiry into CSIROs corporate management function, structure and processes.

CSIRO staff have been in dispute with the agency since the February 5. The mood of staff is reported to be morphing from demoralisation to anger and resistance. Public rallies in Melbourne, Hobart and Canberra attracted thousands. Resources to give support are available on the staff associations website: cpsu-csiro.org.au/campaigns/support-csiro and a friends of the CSIRO (along the lines of Friends of the ABC) to defend the publics precious asset. Contact Kathryn Kelly at kathrynk09@gmail.com if you can help.

Why all the fuss?

The public has been stunned by revelations before a Senate Committee called by the Greens and Labor. The fate of research and development is being determined by the new breed of CSIRO senior managers in private emails. In one of them, science and deputy director Andreas Schiller urged other managers to engage in some deep-diving discussions about funding. He said the CSIRO should stop doing science for sciences sake and that the public good is not good enough, needs to be linked to jobs and growth ... .

One wonders how many of the CSIROs many achievements would have been possible with such a narrow focus. What market driven mechanism would have delivered a vaccine for the Hendra virus to prevent its transmission from bats to humans; a uniquely Australian problem? And where would we get the sustainable water limits for water use in the Murray-Darling river system? Is it conceivable that this motivation would have seen CSIRO scientists tow a caravan full of measuring equipment to Cape Grim in Tasmanias north-west where they quickly detected the impact of ozone-depleting chemicals on the atmosphere? No is the short answer.

The inquiry heard lots of bad news about climate science in particular. Alex Wonhas, who oversees environment, energy and resources at the CSIRO, said I dont think that I can credibly claim that everything [we are doing now] will continue. He lamented so-called blue-sky research without current application will be reduced, which in the long-run might be to the detriment [of CSIROs capability].

Marshall accepts that the science of climate change is settled but insists that the role of the organisation is now only to devise means to combat the challenge. This seemingly hands on approach was questioned in the Senate Committee.

Labor senator Kim Carr put a question to Professor Tony Haymet, Distinguished Professor of Oceanography. What is your view as to the claims made about the changing nature of the CSIROs work and the need to move from modelling of climate change through to adaptation measures? How do you respond to that assertion?

It is just wrong. I could use more impolite words, but it is at a schoolboy level of logic. As I said before, you cannot mitigate something when you do not know what it is you are trying to mitigate against, the professor replied.

More questions than answers

It was also revealed that the CSIRO is considering out-sourcing climate modelling work to the British Met Office. Hardly a cost-cutting move. In fact, while the agency is fast changing itself into a glorified consultancy, as Senator Carr observed, the justifications for changes and cuts dont to stack up.

Marshall told the select committee that the agency doesnt have a target for revenue from external sources. At the moment only $70 million of the $500 million raised comes from the private sector. The rest comes from federal agencies that are all suffering their own budget woes.

How exactly is the Entrepreneurs in Residence project being run? The positions arent advertised so what is the method for engagement? Are ex-corporate personnel returning to the CSIRO at greater cost? And what will happen to the intellectual property developed in this new commercial environment? Current staff sign an undertaking that such property belongs to the CSIRO and the people of Australia. How can the public be sure the entrepreneurs are truly missionaries and not mercenaries, as the CEO claims?

Do or die

The CSIRO has faced government attacks before. The Coalition and Labor have both hacked into its funding and meddled over the years.

Several decades ago, founding CSIRO chairman David Rivett made the following complaint to a colleague:

Like you I am unhappy about the future, The main danger as I see it is that people will knuckle under to the bureaucratic regime and, by avoiding fight and seeking comfort, they will gradually reach a condition of tolerant acquiescence in what they formerly knew to be wrong. A generation will arise that knows not freedom and will be content to do without it. Then some day an old battle will be fought over again.

But the latest changes threaten to complete the destruction of an internationally respected and indispensable public enterprise. Its declining reputation has been noted by the New York Times and others internationally. Capitalist logic is distorting its role, in readiness for the diktats of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trade in Services Agreement.

Thankfully, CSIRO staff and the public have shown themselves willing to fight.
Taking issue  Rob Gowland

Western civilisation  the war on drugs

The leading imperialist countries  USA, Britain, France  like to present themselves as the embodiment of Western civilisation. Even Germany, whose record in this area surely leaves much to be desired, has no qualms about joining with its rivals in their collective posturing as the arbiters of culture and civilised living.

And yet anyone from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region can tell you that their region was the real cradle of western civilisation with a deep and profound history of humanity. And not just in ancient times. Syria, Libya and Iraq were the most progressive countries in MENA. Syria and Libya proclaimed themselves to be socialist  a red flag and no-go for the western neo-liberal fascist way of thinking and economic model: free education and health care; a first-class social safety net and physical infrastructure that functioned successfully. Even Iraq tried to be economically independent.

But not any more. The countries that epitomise western civilisation have used their massive resources to destroy it all. They have tried to bomb the MENA countries into oblivion. And not just those countries. Any country that does not meekly accept the diktat of imperialism, that does not agree to its resources being appropriated or its wealth diverted into the pockets of Western corporations will be reduced to a chaos of suffering and misery, what the West calls simply a failed state.

Waging wars of aggression, inflicting desolation and misery on human beings, was identified at Nuremberg as a war crime, a crime against humanity. Imperialism however would like people to forget Nuremberg. It would like killing to become the new normal and it strives to win acceptance of interference in the internal affairs other countries without limitation, providing that it is interference by imperialism only.

Countries that attempt to stand up to imperialism are treated to bombs, drones, spent uranium, and a host of other nastinesses. At the same time imperialism is seeking to extend its control over food, water, fuel and power generation. Unconcerned about the future of humanity, imperialism happily condemns entire generations to living amidst destruction, chaos and social breakdown.

The war sponsored by imperialism in Syria with the unashamed aim of bringing about the fall of the democratically elected Assad government has forced four million Syrians, for example to flee their homeland, faced with the choice of trying to live amidst death and destruction every day or living under canvass in refugee camps for years. Adding insult to injury, Western political leaders, like Australias Tony Abbott, glibly label their efforts to reach the safety of countries that are free of war as illegal immigration and people smuggling.

For the Syrian people, imperialisms war has been a catastrophe. For imperialism, however, it is merely the crushing of another potential rival (albeit a small one) that refused to kow-tow to the capitalist powers. And that troublesome country has been crushed for decades to come. How can a future Syria recuperate its economy, its social and physical infrastructure? Ruthlessly and callously, its population has been dispersed, housing, hospitals and schools destroyed, a near-insurmountable burden of public debt placed on the country. Life will not return to normal for many years.

Imperialism will have achieved its aim of reordering the world to serve its interests, while the people of the countries that get in its way are unceremoniously shoved aside, with lots of accompanying death and destruction. The MENA countries will certainly not be in a position to challenge the Western powers for generations.

Its a lesson the big capitalist corporations want the world to absorb and accept: do as they want  in other words, help them to make more money  or you too will be crushed.

One of imperialisms favoured tools in its perennial attempts to fuel public paranoia and beat back progressive opinion has been the widely-condemned war on drugs. Now a group of 22 experts on drug policy has added to the chorus denouncing the War on Drugs, calling for an evidence-based approach that decriminalises minor drug offences and supports human rights and public health.

Convened by Johns Hopkins University and the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, this expert commission noted that, far from stopping drug use, the war on drugs has instead sparked increased violence by facilitating a parallel economy run by criminal networks, excessive incarceration, and greater overdose risks.

Their report refers to a war on drugs that is inevitably a war on people who use drugs. In addition to decriminalisation, the commissions recommendations include eliminating racial and ethnic discrimination in policing, stopping aerial spraying of toxic herbicides on drug crops, respecting WHOs authority to determine the dangerousness of drugs, and providing adequate harm-reduction services like access to naloxone, an overdose-reversing drug.

The idea of reducing harm is central to public policy in so many areas from tobacco and alcohol regulation to food or traffic safety, stated Commissioner Joanne Csete of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, but when it comes to drugs, standard public health and scientific approaches have been rejected.

Worse still, Csete said, by dismissing extensive evidence of the health and human rights harms of drug policies, countries are neglecting their legal responsibilities to their citizens. Decriminalization of non-violent minor drug offences is a first and urgent step in a longer process of fundamentally re-thinking and re-orienting drug policies at a national and international level. As long as prohibition continues, parallel criminal markets, violence and repression will continue.

Transform, a UK-based think-tank which advocates for drug regulation, commented that its hugely significant for a group of the commissions stature to be recommending that governments move gradually toward regulated drug markets and apply the scientific method to their assessment.

When arguably the worlds most respected medical school and medical journal speak out so emphatically on an issue like this, there can be no excuse for inaction, the group states, adding, As the evidence continues to accumulate, it is the advocates of an unending drug war that look increasingly like anti-science ideologues.

It has, of course, been known for decades that the intense campaign in the US against the alleged evils of hemp, usually (erroneously) equated with marihuana, was promoted and driven by Du Pont and other giants of the petro-chemical industry, companies with a vested interest in Nylon and other synthetic fibres. Before the anti-hemp campaign, all manner of things  from rope to sails  were made from this natural fibre.

In fact, hemp had so many uses that it has been called one of the earths most beneficial plants. Under the war on drugs, however, growing it has been criminalised, an action denounced by activists as a war of oppression designed to enhance police power and create criminals. The War on Drugs has victimised millions in the US alone, to provide police there with a plentiful supply of perps and a ready excuse for stopping and frisking anyone who catches their eye, but especially those who are young, Black or Latino and poor.

It also gives the police an excuse to search vehicles, as well as a useful justification for building up police numbers, funding and weaponry, in turn swelling corporate profits.

The criminals created by the war on drugs provide fodder for the booming private prison industry, rightly designated as a form of modern slavery.

The economic impact of the War On Drugs has been at least as great as the social impact. The criminalisation of Industrial Hemp must have cost the US economy billions in lost manufacturing possibilities and jobs. At the same time, and compounding the problem exponentially, the corporations responsible for initiating the campaign against hemp were given tax breaks and subsidies. Their profits grew accordingly.

With so much of the US economy dependent on the armaments industry to keep it afloat, it is not surprising that activists have called for all those Military-Industrial-Complex war-toy jobs to be switched to hemp jobs!!

As one aggrieved US activist commented: We have been oppressed, manipulated, denied our medicine [medicinal cannabis, illegal in most US states], lied-to, imprisoned, homes and property confiscated, shot and killed, lives and families destroyed, and our republic reduced to a fascist police state intentionally using the BS War On Drugs  especially on cannabis  as the vehicle for oppression!

It is certainly time that drug abuse ceased to be a criminal issue, let alone a war and was dealt with as it should be: as a public health question.
Trump and Clinton: Censoring the unpalatable

A virulent if familiar censorship is about to descend on the US election campaign. As the cartoon brute, Donald Trump, seems almost certain to win the Republican Partys nomination, Hillary Clinton is being ordained both as the womens candidate and the champion of American liberalism in its heroic struggle with the Evil One.

Hillary Clinton is no maverick. She embodies the resilience and violence of a system.

This is drivel, of course; Hillary Clinton leaves a trail of blood and suffering around the world and a clear record of exploitation and greed in her own country. To say so, however, is becoming intolerable in the land of free speech.

The 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama should have alerted even the most dewy-eyed. Obama based his hope campaign almost entirely on the fact of an African-American aspiring to lead the land of slavery. He was also anti-war.

Obama was never anti-war. On the contrary, like all American presidents, he was pro-war. He had voted for George W Bushs funding of the slaughter in Iraq and he was planning to escalate the invasion of Afghanistan. In the weeks before he took the presidential oath, he secretly approved an Israeli assault on Gaza, the massacre known as Operation Cast Lead. He promised to close the concentration camp at Guantanamo and did not. He pledged to help make the world free from nuclear weapons and did the opposite.

As a new kind of marketing manager for the status quo, the unctuous Obama was an inspired choice. Even at the end of his blood-spattered presidency, with his signature drones spreading infinitely more terror and death around the world than that ignited by jihadists in Paris and Brussels, Obama is fawned on as cool (UK Guardian).

On March 23, Counterpunch published my article, A World War has Begun: Break the Silence. As has been my practice for years, I then syndicated the piece across an international network, including Truthout.com, the liberal American website. Truthout publishes some important journalism, not least Dahr Jamails outstanding corporate exposes.

Truthout rejected the piece because, said an editor, it had appeared on Counterpunch and had broken guidelines. I replied that this had never been a problem over many years and I knew of no guidelines.

My recalcitrance was then given another meaning. The article was reprieved provided I submitted to a review and agreed to changes and deletions made by Truthouts editorial committee. The result was the softening and censoring of my criticism of Hillary Clinton, and the distancing of her from Trump. The following was cut:

Trump is a media hate figure. That alone should arouse our scepticism. Trumps views on migration are grotesque, but no more grotesque than David Cameron. It is not Trump who is the Great Deporter from the United States, but the Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama ... The danger to the rest of us is not Trump, but Hillary Clinton. She is no maverick. She embodies the resilience and violence of a system ... As presidential election day draws near, Clinton will be hailed as the first female president, regardless of her crimes and lies  just as Barack Obama was lauded as the first black president and liberals swallowed his nonsense about hope.

The editorial committee clearly wanted me to water down my argument that Clinton represented a proven extreme danger to the world. Like all censorship, this was unacceptable. Maya Schenwar, who runs Truthout, wrote to me that my unwillingness to submit my work to a process of revision meant she had to take it off her publication docket. Such is the gatekeepers way with words.

At the root of this episode is an enduring unsayable. This is the need, the compulsion, of many liberals in the United States to embrace a leader from within a system that is demonstrably imperial and violent. Like Obamas hope, Clintons gender is no more than a suitable facade.

This is an historical urge. In his 1859 essay On Liberty, to which modern liberals seem to pay unflagging homage, John Stuart Mill described the power of empire. Despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, he wrote, provided the end be their improvement, and the means justified by actually effecting that end. The barbarians were large sections of humanity of whom implicit obedience was required.

Its a nice and convenient myth that liberals are the peacemakers and conservatives the warmongers, wrote the British historian Hywel Williams in 2001, but the imperialism of the liberal way may be more dangerous because of its open ended nature  its conviction that it represents a superior form of life [while denying its] self righteous fanaticism. He had in mind a speech by Tony Blair in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, in which Blair promised to reorder this world around us according to his moral values. The carnage of a million dead in Iraq was the result.

Blairs crimes are not unusual. Since 1945, some 69 countries  more than a third of the membership of the United Nations  have suffered some or all of the following. They have been invaded, their governments overthrown, their popular movements suppressed, their elections subverted and their people bombed.

The historian Mark Curtis estimates the death toll in the millions. With the demise of the European empires, this has been the project of the liberal flame carrier, the exceptional United States, whose celebrated progressive president, John F Kennedy, according to new research, authorised the bombing of Moscow during the Cuban crisis in 1962.

If we have to use force, said Madeleine Albright, US secretary of state in the liberal administration of Bill Clinton and today a passionate campaigner for his wife, it is because we are America. We are the indispensable nation. We stand tall. We see further into the future.

One of Hillary Clintons most searing crimes was the destruction of Libya in 2011. At her urging, and with American logistical support, NATO, launched 9,700 strike sorties against Libya, according to its own records, of which more than a third were aimed at civilian targets. They included missiles with uranium warheads. See the photographs of the rubble of Misurata and Sirte, and the mass graves identified by the Red Cross. Read the UNICEF report on the children killed, most [of them] under the age of ten.

In Anglo-American scholarship, followed slavishly by the liberal media on both sides of the Atlantic, influential theorists known as liberal realists have long taught that liberal imperialists  a term they never use  are the worlds peace brokers and crisis managers, rather than the cause of a crisis. They have taken the humanity out of the study of nations and congealed it with a jargon that serves warmongering power. Laying out whole nations for autopsy, they have identified failed states (nations difficult to exploit) and rogue states (nations resistant to western dominance).

Whether or not the targeted regime is a democracy or dictatorship is irrelevant. In the Middle East, western liberalisms collaborators have long been extremist Islamists, lately Al-Qaeda, while cynical notions of democracy and human rights serve as rhetorical cover for conquest and mayhem  as in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Haiti, Honduras. See the public record of those good liberals Bill and Hillary Clinton. Theirs is a standard to which Trump can only aspire.
Culture & Life

Fonseca lifts the lid

The massive leak of documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca has focused attention on an aspect of capitalism that is regularly played down whenever it comes to light: the tax avoidance industry. Mossack Fonseca describes itself as a law firm, but its core business it seems is advising its clients on ways to (legally) avoid paying tax. The very rich  the top one percent who paradoxically own most of everything  are very reluctant to share any of their wealth with the State, so that it can be used for the benefit of the majority. In fact, they regard taxation of their profits as nothing short of theft.

Ramon Fonseca, one of the founders of Panamas Mossack Fonseca law firm.

The methods of tax avoidance are usually complex and often devious, involving dummy corporations or real companies based in off-shore tax havens, taking advantage of foreign countries with laws pertaining to corporate tax that are far more lenient than those in the companys country of origin. These countries provide their tax shelter in return for a relatively tiny share of the profits being sheltered. Its money for nothing, really. Mossack Fonseca provided such services to hundreds perhaps thousands of members of the top one percent from Europe, Asia, the USA, even Australia. At time of writing, the British PM was desperately trying to explain away his connections to the suddenly infamous Tax Dodge company.

The corporate-controlled media, as one would expect, rallied to the defence of the tax-dodging ultra-rich over the debacle, deflecting attention away from capitalism as an institution and directing attention instead towards such luminaries as friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin (a case of guilt by association if ever I heard of one).It was also implied that the entire leadership of China was in some suitably vague way caught up in the scandal. The Prime Minister of Denmark apparently really was and fell on his sword as a consequence, which provided another welcome diversion. Anything to stop people taking too close a look at the ramifications of the tax avoidance industry. For that industry is concerned with more than merely maximising corporate profits.

It is concerned with moving  and especially with investing  black money, hidden money on which no tax is paid. Black money includes such things as the massive profits from drugs, gambling and vice, profits from legitimate business which are undeclared and hidden from the government, and money that intelligence agencies like the CIA want to provide to groups like the Free Syrian Army without Congressional interference. The instrumentalities set up and operated by tax avoidance companies are the preferred means of moving black money around the world. And it is a multi-million  more probably multi-billion  dollar a year industry.

Mossack Fonseca is based in Panama, but tax avoidance is by no means simply a Panamanian industry. In fact, the largest location for managing foreign wealth, as the Economist so politely puts it, is the USA. Mossack Fonseca itself had set up offices in Nevada and Wyoming  described as two of the most egregious tax havens in the US by Nika Knight in the on-line news commentary Common Dreams  so as to better enable the firm to take advantage of those states lax laws on behalf of its international clients.

And those laws really are lax. The US is one of the easiest places to set up an anonymous shell company to move ill-gotten gains around the world. Its also one of the most popular places to do so for the criminal and corrupt, according to the UK-based anti-corruption group Global Witness.

In fact, as the English Guardian pointed out, in 2015, in a ranking of tax havens most attractive for those looking to hide assets, the US came in third  surpassing Caymans and Singapore. (Panama only rated number 13.)

Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist John L Smith noted Although the casino industry is often pointed to as a historical source of money laundering ... shell corporations are by far the biggest money laundering facilitation in Nevada  much bigger than the casinos. Casinos want to keep the money in. Shell corporations are in the business of moving the money out.

Shell companies are paper entities that real companies use to hide assets. They are so common in some US states they even advertise their benefits. A corporation is a legal person created by state statute that can be used as a fall guy, a servant, a good friend or a decoy, gushes a Wyoming company on its website. A person you control ... yet cannot be held accountable for its actions. Imagine the possibilities! And those possibilities extend way beyond tax avoidance.

US group Global Witness notes that anonymous shell companies created in tax havens like Delaware have been used to make six-figure contributions to super PACs [Political Action Committees] backing nearly every major presidential candidate this election cycle. Indeed, as Common Dreams reported, the Clintons are in possession of a shell company themselves, and under current US law Hillary Clinton is not required to disclose its existence or its earnings in her campaign finance reports.

As many have observed, the enormous scale of tax evasion around the world means that countries are relying on middle class and working class people to pay their taxes  while the one percent can secretly hopscotch their cash from haven to haven.  Nika Knight, Common Dreams.

Globalisation, it seems, has erased the borders of nations for the worlds wealthiest. The very idea of countries dissolves into an impossibly complex digital network of shady dealings, undertaken by those with no particular loyalty to country and plenty to themselves, argues Fredrik deBoer in the journal Foreign Policy in a response to the Mossack Fonseca disclosures. Even referring to the country of origin of the super-rich seems quaint. The rich are their own nation.

As I have said before: Aint capitalism grand?
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The main scheme involved making these immigrants sign contracts for civilian work that turned out to be legal forms locking them into military service. Worse, Irish immigrants who already had jobs were always at risk of being drugged and abducted at any time by federal agents and made to fight -- and sometimes drugged so heavily that they died. Many of these immigrants ended up stuck in the army, writing home to warn their friends and family to stop coming.

The Lincoln administration did nothing whatsoever to acknowledge or combat this epidemic of recruiting snatch-and-grabs, because they had a war to fight, and casual discrimination against the Irish was still a pretty acceptable thing back then. Eventually the problem got so bad that the lord lieutenant of Ireland issued a formal warning "against the risk and danger" of "accepting offers of Employment as Laborers in the ... United States of America, whereby they may be entangled in Military Service contrary to their original intention."

Wikimedia Commons

The lord lieutenant was a British position, though, so his suggestions generally

just made the Irish do the exact opposite.

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The practice wasn't really ended until an actual Irishman, this one working for the Confederacy, finally tackled it. Father John Bannon, who'd settled in St. Louis before the war, actively served in the Confederacy as a chaplain until 1863 when he went back to Ireland to slow the number of Irish immigrants entering the Union ranks. His efforts appear to have cut Irish recruits for the Union by two-thirds, meaning he single-handedly won the war for the Confederacy.
Nimble Storage has appointed Cath Gentile as senior channel development manager for Australia and New Zealand.

Gentile will be responsible for the flash storage vendors channel, including new partner opportunities and programs for enterprise and cloud providers.

Prior to joining Nimble, Gentile was partner development manager for Citrix for just over two years. Nimble is in a vendor alliance with Citrix.

She began her channel career in 1992 as an account manager and sales team leader for Applied Micro Systems for five years. In 1999, Gentile joined HP as a channel manager, before moving to Singtel Optus in 2001 as a business development manager.

In 2004, Gentile crossed into distributor land, becoming southern regional sales manager for Westcon until 2008.

Nimble ANZ managing director Bede Hackney said he was thrilled to welcome Gentile to the team: Her experience and success in developing and supporting robust channel partners and new sales opportunities will be invaluable to the ongoing growth of the regional business.

At the same time she bring years of IT sales and marketing expertise, which positions her well to support our expanding channel ecosystem across Australia and New Zealand with go-to-market sales initiatives and enablement.

Nimble appointed Dicker Data as its second distributor for Australia in November, joining Nextgen Distribution to service the local channel.
Perth-based network security vendor iWebGate has signed a reseller agreement with US government solutions provider Blue Tech.

Based in San Diego, Blue Tech supplies software and services to a number of US federal government agencies, universities, healthcare and enterprise customers, including NASA and the US Air Force.

Blue Tech will have access to iWebGates flagship security products  virtual services platform, virtual invisible networking and virtual application container  and pay a licensing fee for sales to customers.

iWebGate chief executive said the deal opens the company up to further expansion in the USA, where the cybersecurity market is estimated to reach US$18 billion in 2017. The vendor's US customer base already includes an unnamed North American university and a state government.

Through this exclusive partnership, our products will reach the top tier of the US federal government and defence industry, along with universities and enterprise customer, including many Fortune 1,000 companies, said Gooch.

The partnership also aligns strongly with iWebGates expansion strategy to diversify and grow its customer base internationally.

Founded in 2004, iWebGate develops security software solutions to allow virtual segregation of networks, connectivity and devices for security. The company said its mission is to "re-imagine a world where firewalls and VPNs are not used as primary security and connectivity products within networks".

iWebGate now operates its global operations out of the USA.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. The deployment of peacekeeping forces in Nagorno Karabakh is just one element of the comprehensive solution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. This was stated by NA Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov during a press conference on April 13.

The issue of deploying peacekeepers will arise after solving priority matters. The main issue is not eliminating the consequences, but rather the reasons. The Peacekeepers wont eliminate the reasons, Armenpress reports Sharmazanov saying. According to him the reason of the conflict is Azerbaijan being aggressive, not accepting the legitimate demand of the people of Nagorno Karabakh to self-determination. Number one issue is clarification of the status. And it is very good that the Minsk Group co-chairs stated in Yerevan that without the leadership of Nagorno Karabakh no agreements should be signed. The issue of deploying peacekeepers should be the last point of the issue, which has yet to be achieved. We need to clarify the status issue; there are a number of issues which need to be clarified, after which the peacekeeper deployment will be discussed, Sharmazanov added.

Sharmazanov said Azerbaijan has to understand that the Nagorno Karabakh Republic will never be part of Azerbaijan. According to him, there is no alternative to the independence of Nagorno Karabakh. And the Republic of Armenia, being the guarantor of Nagorno Karabakhs security, is obliged to implement and protect this legitimate and just demand of the people of Nagorno Karabakh.
Criminals embarked on a sophisticated scheme involving bribery to get malware whitelisted on a Chinese antivirus product, it has emerged.

According to Check Point Software, Qihoo 360 unintentionally whitelisted malware as part of a complex cyber-attack.

According to Feixiang He, a security researcher with Check Point Research Team, the attack was extensive with cyber-criminals bribing employees of a Chinese gaming company into including their malware among the legitimate apps it sent to Qihoo 360.

These apps passed Qihoo's inspection and were whitelisted, allowing them and the contraband malware to run on machines protected by the widespread and free anti-virus solution offered by Qihoo for mobile and PC. Once this phase was complete, the attackers could initiate their true malicious activity, said Feixiang He.

Criminals would then would disguise themselves as customers of the popular Chinese eBay clone Taobao.com. These criminals initiate the purchase by sending a picture of an item they want to buy back to the buyer using Aliwanwang, an instant messaging app. But the picture would be injected with a whitelisted Trojan using steganography techniques.

The seller would open the picture on a PC and become infected because the Trojan would not be detected by Qihoo anti-virus. The seller then validates the purchase and requests payment via Alipay, Aliwanwang's payment platform.

The attacker would then request a refund from the seller, requiring the seller to log in to their Alipay account. The Trojan would then keylog their credentials, allowing the attacker to steal money from the seller's account, said Feixiang He.

The security researcher said that many AVs use a whitelist approach to avoid false positive detection, but the way these whitelists are generated and, like as we saw in the Qihoo 360 case, they can be compromised.

If malware can be installed on machines protected by Qihoo and can infiltrate into its own app store, this example illustrates how important it is to avoid third-party stores and to instead at least rely on stores with more reliable security, he said.

Chris Boyd, malware intelligence analyst at Malwarebytes, told SCMagazineUK.com that the focus here should be on what checks and safety nets the gaming company has in place to ensure rogue code or files aren't shipped out to the general public.

This could be difficult to stamp out if the company is made up of a handful of people and, when something like this can happen, it does raise the possibility that people will tolerate the occasional false positive if it means they don't get caught by something along these lines, said Boyd.

A layered approach to security means there's more chance of stopping something which gets past the initial point of entry, but the threat to businesses is likely to be low in this case, as there can't be too many running random Chinese gaming apps on the network. Having said that, any company may have people willing to take a short term gain from a criminal, which is why it is so essential to have a rigorous testing and vetting process in place.

David Kennerley, senior manager for threat research at Webroot, told SC that the attack on Qihoo 360 shows how creative cyber-criminals are and the industry needs to be fully aware of such techniques.

Each application whitelist request should be evaluated on its own merits, independently of previously certified offerings, company relationships or politics, said Kennerley.

Application whitelisting doesn't always involve code analysis as we have seen previously in the PC world, with malware being whitelisted due to trusted code signing certificates becoming compromised.

Cameron Brown, an independent cyber-defence adviser, told SC that It is hardly surprising that users who follow the recommended best practices and download apps directly from official app stores are finding themselves subject to compromise.

As businesses increasingly integrate accessibility to enterprise services via mobile devices, miscreants will pivot to developing mobile malware to gain footholds on corporate networks, he said.

This article originally appeared at scmagazineus.com
Telstra has removed all references to its previous support of marriage equality, after a letter was received from the Catholic Church pointing out commercial considerations.

Last year a group of companies, including Telstra, had their logos shown on Australian Marriage Equality advertisements in support of the campaign for gay marriage. The Australian newspaper reported that, in response, the Catholic Church's Archdiocese of Sydney business manager Michael Digges wrote to all the corporations involved.

You may be aware that the Catholic archdiocese of Sydney is a significant user of goods and services from many corporations, said the letter.

Undoubtedly, many of the Catholic population of Sydney would be your employees, customers, partners and suppliers. It is therefore with grave concern that I write to you about the Marriage Equality for Australians campaign.

Telstra has now withdrawn from taking a public stance on the matter, with its website no longer featuring any mention of marriage equality.

"Ultimately, it will be parliament who determines any changes to the institution of marriage. In view of this, Telstra has no further plans to figure prominently in the wider public debate," said a Telstra spokesperson.

AME's website still displays Telstra as a supporter. The Australian reported that the telco did not request AME to remove its logo.

"Telstra has demonstrated it places great importance on diversity and standing against discrimination, in all its forms. Our workforce reflects this diversity, including people of same-sex in a broad range of relationships," said the telco's spokesperson.

In his letter, Digges said that for companies to comment on civil issues "is indeed overstepping their purpose and is to be strongly resisted", without making comment on religious institutions doing the same.

Technology companies that have lent their support to AME include Microsoft, Optus, Vodafone, Atlassian and LinkedIn.

Update: Telstra issued a media statement saying it has no plans to be active in the debate, but "our position on the issue has not changed. We place great importance on diversity and standing against all forms of discrimination."
Dick Smith receivers Ferrier Hodgson has assigned more Dick Smith stores their final closure dates ahead of a complete company shutdown on 30 April.

Fifty-three Australian stores will be closed between 23 April and 26 April, while all the remaining 55 New Zealand close between 24 April and 30 April.

Ferrier Hodgson first announced on 25 February that all remaining Dick Smith stores would close, leading to the loss of 2,460 jobs. Last month, Ferrier Hodgson gave the exact closure dates for 35 Dick Smith stores and said the remaining stores would close by 30 April at the latest.

At the time, Ferrier Hodgson reiterated that Dick Smiths employee entitlements were ranked as a top priority ahead of secured creditors and are expected to be paid in full.

In March, rival electronics reseller Kogan picked up select intellectual property from Dick Smith with the intent to reopen Dick Smith's website as a standalone online business. However, Kogan annnounced at the time it had no intention reopen any bricks-and-mortar Dick Smith stores.
Avnet has signed on US communications and cloud provider CenturyLink for the Australian channel.

The deal sees Avnet become the first Australian distributor for CenturyLink Cloud, along with the launch of the Avnet CenturyLink Cloud reseller program. Under the program, Avnet will support segregated billing, client account management and reports through Avnets cloud portal.

Known as a telecommunications giant in North America, CenturyLink will sell its global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services through Avnet, which are based in NextDCs local data centres.

Avnet cloud services business manager Chris Farrow said the partnership would help partners to level the playing field against direct competitors.

We have thousands of partners with many, many clients who are wanting to, yet struggle, to take advantage of opportunities that cloud technology represent, Farrow told CRN.

For us, CenturyLink is an answer to many of the questions those partners and customers have. Mainly, how do I get my on-premise existing workloads to take advantage of the cloud without massive amounts of reengineering? - so that is precisely the mark that CenturyLink delivers for us.

The distribution agreement allows Avnet resellers to sell white-label cloud products from CenturyLink through Avnets cloud portal.

It provides a way for our partners to easily present a cloud solution to their broad client base under their brand, which is something thats been impossible with other cloud technologies to date, Farrow added.

Based in Louisiana, CenturyLink is the third largest telecommunications company in the USA, and competes with the likes of AT&T and Verizon. It currently operates 55 data centres globally.
Networking News

Partners Fear Potential Service, Installation Disruptions As Verizon Workers Strike

Gina Narcisi

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Verizon partners are bracing themselves for any potential fallout from the largest strike the carrier has experienced in recent years.

Some 36,000 Verizon workers across the East Coast walked off the job Wednesday after the telecom giant failed to reach a new agreement with its unionized employees, whose contracts expired more than eight months ago.

The strike includes employees in the carrier's wireline division -- its landline voice, high-speed Internet and television services -- as well as workers from its wireless business unit. Employees are striking in Verizon's service areas in the Northeast, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island and regions from southern New York to Virginia that serve residential and small-business customers.

[Related: Frontier Makes Bad First Impression On Former Verizon Users ]

The strike has implications for Verizon's partners in these areas that had installations planned, according to one East Coast-based Verizon partner who asked not to be identified.

"It has a huge impact," said the solution provider. "It really does impact new installations most significantly. Any new orders in the queue could be affected since repairs typically take precedence over an install during a strike."

The solution provider does have Verizon installations in the pipeline that could now be postponed.

"We will be looking closely at these requests and communicating with our clients if there is any indication that their time frames won't be met, but it's important not to assume that everything will be impacted because of the work stoppage. You have to look at this case by case and as new information comes out," the solution provider said.

The strike comes after Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Verizon and two labor unions representing both its wireline and wireless operations missed the 6 a.m. deadline Wednesday for new contracts to be agreed upon.

Verizon has brought in and trained nonunion "replacement" workers in anticipation of the strike. The carrier said it will be able to maintain services for customers during this time.

"We've put a number of processes in place to make sure that our partners and customers see little to no impact from the [strike]. Over the past year, we invested a lot of time to train thousands of nonunion Verizon employees in various network and customer service functions, including Fios, copper repair and network maintenance. That team has been deployed now that the strike is in effect," a spokesperson for Verizon told CRN.

The carrier said that its first priority during the strike is to maintain its existing customer base by keeping up with customer service, making repairs and surveilling its network.

"Our focus through all of this is to make sure we continue to serve our customers, and help our partners serve their customers. We are in close contact with our partners throughout this [strike]," the Verizon spokesperson said.

The strike comes one day after Boston Mayor Martin Walsh unveiled a partnership between Verizon and the city of Boston to replace existing copper-based infrastructure with the carrier's fiber-based Fios network across the city for residents and small-business customers.

Press representatives for the city of Boston did not respond to CRN's request for comment regarding how the strike could impact the Boston buildout.

Verizon's last strike, which occurred in 2011 and lasted for about two weeks, didn't impact services as much as partners initially assumed it would, the solution provider said.

"Two weeks can seem like two years sometimes because technology is so important  but Verizon has a plan in place to support its services as best as they can while they negotiate with unions," the solution provider said.

In the meantime, the solution provider will continue to communicate with its customer base. "We will share any status updates and set the right expectations, given what the impact of the strike could be. There are a lot of unknowns because you can't predict when the strike will end."

DataXoom, a Verizon partner focused on mobility management and wireless plans for midmarket and enterprise customers, partners with the carrier for its wireless services only and expects business as usual, said Rob Chamberlin, co-founder and chief revenue officer for Berkeley, Calif.-based DataXoom.

The vast majority -- 99 percent -- of the workers involved in the strike are from the carrier's wireline business. But since 1 percent of the striking workers represent the wireless division of Verizon, the small group has the right to picket outside Verizon Wireless retail stores.

"My guess is that picketers will demonstrate in front of some company-owned retail stores nationally to maximize the union's visibility and to potentially impact revenue at key retail locations. [But] this might actually enhance business at some of Verizon's retail partner locations, at least in the near term," he said.
Israel is key to America's survival.

Now, I know thats a dramatic statement, but it's not an overstatement. I believe America's future, in large part, depends on our relationship to the tiny nation of Israel.

Why?

Because of the promise God made to Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel, in Genesis 12:1-3:

The Lord had said to Abram:

"Get out of your country,

From your family

And from your fathers house,

To a land that I will show you.

I will make you a great nation;

I will bless you

And make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

And I will curse him who curses you;

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Notice the words of warning I italicized.

Through His chosen people, God intended (and intends) to bless the rest of the human family. He chose a Mesopotamian man named Abram and promised that he and his descendants would be a channel of that blessing. The entire population of Planet Earthevery man, woman, and childwas destined to be blessed through the nation of Israel.

Therefore, people who recognize God's purposes for Israel and do whatever they can to preserve, protect, and defend Israel will likewise be preserved, protected, and defended. God, to whom Israel belongs, will see to it.

Now, I don't think the promise of Genesis 12:3 is an isolated binary event. There are many other reasons why God blesses us and chastises us as nations. Yet Scripture makes it clear that to the degree America stands with, befriends, supports, and defends Gods chosen people, to that degree America will enjoy the favor of God.

As a citizen of America, I want to enjoy the favor of God upon my nation. Were I a political leader of America, it would be incumbent on me to lead the nation in such a way as to invite His favor. So why would I knowingly diminish America's support of the one nation to which God ties His promise of blessing or cursing? The histories of nations that have abused the Jewish people provide more than enough examples of the inevitable doom brought down upon their own heads.

You and I can do two things to influence America's support of Israel:

First, we can use whatever means are available to influence those who establish national policies in Washington. We can vote, write letters, or call our senators and representativesin short, fulfill the dream of the founders who wanted our nation to be governed "by the consent of the governed." We are the governed who need to make our voices heard by saying, "The United States simply needs to recognize that Israeli lands belong to the Jewish people and that Jerusalem is, indeed, the capital of Israeland has been ever since God declared it to be so."

Second, we can pray, both for our leaders (1 Timothy 2:14) and for "the peace of Jerusalem" (Psalm 122:6). As the spiritual children of Abraham, Christians everywhere can enter into the spirit of Psalm 122, which David wrote to express his heart for the city upon which God has chosen to place His name.

Here is a simple prayer we can pray for Israel today:

Heavenly Father,

The psalmist tells us to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem."

So I pray for peace for Your chosen people, Israel, and their beloved city today.

You have planned for Israel, provided for Israel, and protected Israel for thousands of years.

But as in days of old, there are those today who seek to harm, even destroy, Your people.

So I ask You to keep Israel in Your loving care. Put a spiritual hedge of protection around Your people and their land.

Watch over this nation as a Good Shepherd watches over His flock, and may Your chosen people find their ultimate safety and security in You.

While You watch over Your people, may Your Spirit awaken in them a hunger to embrace their Messiahthe One who died for themuntil they see Him face-to-face.

We pray this in His name,

Amen.

For more on the importance of Israel and why we should support the nation, listen to Dr. Jeremiahs sermon, Why Should We Care About Israel?

Publication date: April 13, 2016
ETCHMIATSIN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS: Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin refuted the statement of the spiritual leader of Azerbaijan, according to which, allegedly, His Holiness Garegin II, Catholicos of All Armenians refused to meet the Azerbaijani spiritual leader. Father Vahram Melikyan, Director of Information Systems of Etchmiatsin, said in an interview with "Armenpress" that they did not receive any application regarding the meeting of His Holiness Catholicos Garegin II and Azerbaijani spiritual leader, Grand Mufti of the Caucasus Allahshukur Hummat Pashazade.

"This statement is completely false and untrue. The Mother See of Holy Etchmiatsin only received the letter of the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill who urged the re-establishment of peace, which is also published on the web, and there was nothing about a meeting, Father Vahram Melikyan said.
The worlds cruise fleet is set to grow to more than 375 ships by 2026, based on existing orders and known withdrawals, according to the 2016-2017 Cruise Industry News Annual Report.

That is an increase of more than 55 ships from this year, but an ever bigger jump in passenger capacity as the new ships are bigger, The estimated annual passenger capacity this year is 23.6 million and is forecast to reach more than 33.5 million by 2026.

Growth in the North American market could go from an estimated capacity of 13.3 million passengers now, to more than 16 million by 2026.

European capacity is estimated to reach nearly 11 million by 2026, up from 6.3 million this year.

But the big jump could come in the Asia/Pacific region, going from nearly 4 million this year (including China and Australia) to nearly 6.5 million, based on announced ship deployments. And much of that growth is expected to come from the Chinese market.

The average annual passenger capacity increase based on new ship introductions and known deployments will be approximately 4.0 percent over the 11-year period, but 8 percent over the next five years, which will see most of the new orders entering service.

The orderbook contains ship orders through 2026.

About the Annual Report:

The Cruise Industry News Annual Report is the only book of its kind, presenting the worldwide cruise industry through 2025 in 350+ pages. Statistics are independently researched. Learn more by clicking here.

The report covers everything from new ships on order to supply-and-demand scenarios from 1987 through 2021+. Plus there is a future outlook, complete growth projections for each cruise line, regional market reports, and detailed ship deployment by region and market, covering all the cruise lines. New for 2016-2017 based on customer feedback are detailed Chinese market statistics and projections.

Order the 2016-2017 edition today.
Crystal Cruises announced today a charter party agreement with Tactical Marine Solutions of Victoria, Canada and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) headquartered in Cambridge, UK to have the RRS Ernest Shackleton escort Crystal Serenity on its 32-day expedition voyage through the Northwest Passage this August.

The RRS Ernest Shackleton, operated by BAS, is an ICE 05 classed icebreaker (exceeding the more common 1A Super class) that will provide operational support to Crystal Serenity, including ice breaking assistance should the need arise and carry additional safety and adventure equipment.

We have been planning this historic sailing for more than two years, working closely with expedition experts from EYOS-Expeditions, as well as Transport Canada, the US and Canadian Coast Guards and local agencies along the route to ensure the ultimate safety and a most memorable experience for our guests, said Crystal president and CEO, Edie Rodriguez. The RRS Ernest Shackletons assistance in navigating this region will only enhance the safety of our voyage.

The RRS Ernest Shackleton will carry two helicopters for real-time ice reconnaissance, emergency support and flightseeing activities.

In addition to its robust ice navigation and communications equipment, the RRS Ernest Shackleton will have on board supplemental damage control equipment, oil pollution containment equipment, and survival rations for emergency use. The expedition crew comprises of expert guides with many years experience transiting the Northwest Passage and also a diver and support team trained in the use of the emergency equipment carried on board.

The RRS Ernest Shackleton will support Crystals adventures ashore, carrying newly acquired zodiacs for wet landings, while the vessels crew will provide expert assistance during flightseeing adventures and the lines recently unveiled Unexpected Adventures, which offer more spontaneous ways of exploring the region.

Prior to making the voyage Crystal Serenity will be outfitted with state of the art forward looking sonar, ice detection radar, ice searchlights and thermal imaging, as well as an ice navigation system that will display near real time satellite ice imagery and ice forecasts. In addition, the Master and bridge team will attend ice navigation training at a simulator in St Johns, Newfoundland, and two veteran Canadian ice pilots will be on board to assist the bridge team in managing the information provided by additional equipment which is not typically found on cruise ships. The RRS Ernest Shackleton will also carry her own very experienced ice pilot.

Crystals 2016 Northwest Passage voyage sails August 16 from Anchorage to New York.
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The American Red Cross will honor the City of Milford as the 2016 Community Resilience Hero at the 17th Annual Connecticut Heroes Breakfast on Friday, April 29.

The City of Milford is being honored for their long-term recovery following Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irene. In 2012, Superstorm Sandy destroyed most of the states shoreline. The storm impacted the state with heavy wind and rain that downed power lines and trees, leaving the communities along Long Island sound completely destroyed. The devastating storm caused massive destruction and a long journey for recovery.
TRUMBULL  Police and Coast Guard rescuers quickly found a boater who issued a distress call  five miles inland.

Reverse-911 subscribers in Trumbull and Stratford received messages Tuesday asking them to call authorities if they may have tried testing satellite positioning hardware for their boats.

As it happened, somebody in the town had been testing a personal emergency position-indicating radio beacon and had inadvertently triggered the search.

It was an accidental activation, and through the use of the reverse-911 the person who actually activated the transmission saw the reverse 911, and notified authorities it had all been an accident, said police Lt. Leonard Scinto, a spokesman for the department. He said the man had been testing the transmitter and had not realized he had not shut it off.

U.S. Coast Guard officials said the transmission began five miles inland and that test modes or procedures are frequently poorly marked on the devices.
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Donald Trumps unlikely odyssey from brash real estate mogul and reality television star to Republican standard bearer is taking him to Connecticut.

The GOP presidential front-runner will visit Hartford Friday night for a rally, multiple sources confirmed Wednesday to Hearst Connecticut Media, including a person close to Trumps campaign and a spokeswoman for the Connecticut Convention Center. The event was then promoted on Trumps website, which said the doors will open at 4 p.m. for the 7 p.m. rally.

Itll be mobbed, said Joe Visconti, a former gubernatorial candidate and Trump volunteer from West Hartford. Its good for Connecticut. Itll be a great litmus test for the Northeast.

The blockbuster visit is the first by Trump to the state, which holds its presidential primaries April 26. It comes as Trump is scrambling to acquire prized delegates in his pursuit of the 1,237 needed to clinch the Republican presidential nomination and avoid a contested national convention.

Allies and foes of the flamboyant and unfiltered Trump are bracing for protests outside the cavernous venue, which can accommodate up to 8,000 people.

Donald Trump has run a campaign based on hatred and division, said Alynn Woischke, executive director of the Connecticut Democrats. He has lied and insulted his way to the top of the Republican field. Donald Trumps proposals are dangerous and un-American, and Connecticut voters will soundly reject them this November.

Within an hour of Trumps surrogates confirming his visit to the state, Democrats sent out a fundraising appeal by email trying to rile up their donor base.

At stake in Connecticuts GOP primary are 28 delegates, three in each of the states five congressional districts 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.

The most recent snapshot of the electorate in Connecticut  conducted April 10-11 by the Emerson College Polling Society  installed Trump as a prohibitive favorite with support from 50 percent of likely GOP primary voters. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has visited the state twice in the past two weeks and has scheduled a third visit, was at 26 percent. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was at 17 percent, putting him in danger of being shutout in the chase for delegates.

Support for Donald Trump in Connecticut is overwhelming, said Jim Campbell, Greenwichs former Republican Town Committee chairman and one of the few establishment figures to publicly back Trump. His visit to the state is only going to increase turnout for Trump in the April 26 primary.

neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian on April 13 met the Ambassadors of the OSCE member states accredited in Armenia. Minister Nalbandian talked about the results of Bakus military operations committed throughout the length of Karabak-Azerbaijan line of contact. Armenpress was informed about this by the Department of Press, Information and Public Relations of the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

Azerbaijan with his aggressive actions, in fact, tried to refuse from its international duties to solve the issue with peaceful means, grossly violated the fundamental principle of international law, the decisions and declarations of the OSCE numerous summits and ministerial councils, openly despised the statements by the heads of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries on the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said the Armenian Foreign Minister.

The Foreign Minister of Armenia stressed the active role of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries and highlighted the necessity to support their efforts.
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Hearst Connecticut Media Group has acquired the Norwalk Hour and Wilton Villager newspapers and digital assets from The Hour Publishing Co., folding into its coverage the last major city in Fairfield County where it did not have a daily newspaper.

"We intend to extend Hearst's venerable news brand across Fairfield County by deepening coverage of the Norwalk and Wilton communities while offering business customers a more diversified set of media solutions," said Mark Aldam, president of Hearst Newspapers.

Aldam also announced the appointment of Associate Publisher Mark Lukas, who spent the last year at the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper in Rochester, N.Y., following 25 years with The Hartford Courant.

Lukas said he is excited to be in Norwalk. "I'm learning a lot about the city, and have found that there is a lot happening here," he said. "Folks are treating Norwalk as a destination."

Under CEO Steven Swartz, New York City-based Hearst reported a fifth consecutive year of record revenue last year at $10.7 billion, with its Hearst Newspapers division having increased profits a fourth consecutive year under Aldam.

Hearst's other Fairfield County media properties include the Connecticut Post, based in Bridgeport; The Advocate, based in Stamford; Greenwich Time; and The News-Times, based in Danbury.

The organizations did not disclose financial terms of the acquisition, which did not include the weekly Stamford Times. Subscribers of the Stamford Times, which ceased publication April 10, are being offered a discounted introductory rate to The Advocate, the Hearst daily based in Stamford.

In a press statement, Aldam called The Hour and Wilton Villager "a natural fit" with Hearst's footprint and services, which include weekly newspapers in Darien, New Canaan, Westport, Fairfield and New Milford; as well as The Tower Agency, which provides media buying, social media management, lead generation and other services for businesses.

It marks Hearst's first major transaction in Connecticut since Paul Barbetta became publisher and president in early March. Barbetta promised The Hour would be "a watchdog on your behalf" in a letter to readers of the newspaper cosigned by Barbara Roessner, executive editor of Hearst Connecticut Media, with expanded coverage of business, economic development, real estate, state politics and the arts.

"This has been a long time coming," Barbetta said Wednesday morning at The Hour's offices in Norwalk. "This completes a really important geographic hole that we had in terms of servicing the readers and businesses of Fairfield County."

Just over 20 staff of Hour Publishing are expected to join Hearst Media Connecticut, according to Barbetta, with Hearst employing about 320 people.

"We're in this for the long run," Barbetta said. "We only want to invest and make this stronger."

With a population of 85,000, Norwalk is the third largest city in Fairfield County after Bridgeport and Stamford. With more than 3,500 retail establishments, it has the second largest cluster statewide after Stamford, with aggregate sales topping $3.4 billion in 2013. That number is expected to balloon in two years' time with the opening of the SoNo Collection, an upscale mall planned by General Growth Properties, with Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom having committed to anchor spaces.

"We are totally committed to local, local, local," Roessner said on Hearst's journalistic philosophy. "That is our mantra. We are going to raise the bar."

Norwalk is a recreational magnet for the region, as well, with draws including the Maritime Aquarium, Stepping Stones Museum for Children and the summer Oyster Festival put on annually by the Norwalk Seaport Association.

The Hour traces its history to a Westport man named Brainerd Maples, who created it in a fit of pique after letters were never published that he had sent to regional newspaper editors complaining about the New Haven Railroad. The first issue was published May 6, 1871, in Westport, later relocating to Norwalk and commencing daily publishing in 1895 as the Evening Hour. Nellie Thomas took over the newspaper in 1933 after the death of her husband Edward Thomas, and ran it until her own death in 1961, with control of the Hour remaining in the hands of the Nellie M. Thomas Trust.

The Hour shifted to morning publication in 2000.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; www.twitter.com/casoulman
FAIRFIELD  Three people face charges after a fight erupted during the celebration of a toddlers birthday Saturday.

Police received several 911 calls reporting a fight at Our Backyard Play Place, 802 Villa Ave., about 5 p.m. Saturday.

After several officers arrived at the scene, Amanda Santiago, 23, of Stratford, and two 16-year-olds were charged with breach of peace.

Santiago, of Wells Place in Stratford, told the officers that she was hosting a birthday party at the venue for her 2-year-old daughter. Her daughters father, who was invited, arrived along with his two sisters, who she told police were not invited, according to the report.

Santiagos mother got into an argument with the childs father, and then Santiago got involved in the dispute, according to the report. She said she saw the two teens coming toward her and told them to stay away. Someone threw a cup at Santiago, she told police, adding that the teens then allegedly assaulted her while she was holding her daughter.

The teens, however, told police that Santiago had approached them and poked one of them.

The owner of Our Backyard Play Place requested that all three be arrested and warned never to return, according to the report.

Santiago was released on a promise to appear April 18 at state Superior Court in Bridgeport. The 16-year-olds, both from Bridgeport, were released to a parents custody and are scheduled to appear April 21 in juvenile court.

The state Department of Children and Families was notified.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenia must continue developing allied relations with Russia. Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov told the reporters about this on April 13. Yes, I agree that we must revise our position regarding several issues, including with our partners of the Eurasian Economic Union, but I do not agree with sharp assessments, Armenpress reports Sharmazanov mentioned, referring to the calls to discontinue Armenias membership in the CSTO and EAEU.

When our authorities take a decision, they calculate its benefits and losses. When we took the decision to become a member of the CSTO or EAEU, we never meant that they are absolutely heaven; instead, we calculated its benefits and losses. There are two armies in South Caucasus, The Turkish army and the Russian army. We have witnessed what happened when the Turkish army remained in this region alone. That is why we must be very vigilant, clarify our agenda and move forward without unnecessary emotions, Sharmazanov stated.

In his words, making sharp steps can harm Armenia first of all. We are not in the CSTO to do Russia a favor. We did not do a favor to anyone when taking a decision to become a CSTO member. We are a member of that organization because it is in our interests. But here it is important that our allies also remain committed to their obligations. In this context, it is very strange that some CSTO member states make announcements that do not stem not only from the interest of Armenia but the CSTO. This is not something new, and the President of the Republic has touched upon this issue. We have also referred to it and will continue to do that, the National Assembly Vice President concluded.
STORY LINK Could GBP Forecast Fall vs CAD NOK AUD NZD and ZAR on New Commodities Supercycle?

Commodity Currencies Rally, AUD, NZD, ZAR, NOK Trending Higher

Crude Oil Climbs, GBP Down Vs. Norwegian Krone

Is the Pound's Downtrend against Commodity Peers Forecast to Continue?

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The price of a barrel of Brent Crude Oil struck its highest level this year during the latter part of yesterdays European equities session. The shift back into Black Gold by institutional investors was driven by increased expectations that several of the worlds premier oil producers might be about to reach an agreement on restricting levels of supply.Brent Crude soared to levels not witnessed since the first half of December at above $44 a barrel following the release of a report suggesting that Saudi Arabia and Russia are set to reach an accord on limiting supply in spite of one time pariah state Irans apparent reticence in joining them.A potential agreement could be in place sooner rather than later, with members of OPEC and other producers set to meet in the Qatari capital Doha on Sunday. The meeting coincides with a planned strike by Kuwaiti oil and gas workers, which is penned in to commence on the same day.The price of a barrel of crude was settled at above the $60 level as recently as the middle part of last Summer and analysts forecast that a return to these levels could be on the cards if the worlds leading oil producing nations do indeed reach an agreement. Analysts forecast that such an outcome would be likely to send the Pound Sterling (currency : GBP) sharply lower against the Canadian Dollar (currency : CAD) and the Norwegian Krone (currency : NOK).If oil does head higher on the wholesale markets, then leading analysts believe that it could take other commodities, including metals and softs, with it. If the near-term improvement for oil does indeed herald the emergence of a fresh commodities supercycle, then look for the Pound Sterling Australian Dollar and the GBP NZD exchange rate to continue to trend Southwards in the short to medium term.

International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements.

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Berlin, Windber and North Star bring plenty of momentum into Week 10

Check out what we learned in Week 9 of the high school football season across Somerset County.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Tigran Sargsyan told the reporters that the heads of the governments of EAEU member states will continue the discussion of the creation of a common oil and crude market during the next meeting.

Armenpress reports that Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan announced after the meeting with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in early April that another meeting of Eurasian Intergovernmental Council will be hosted in Yerevan in the upcoming 2-3 months.

Issues that need clarification of the member states were discussed so as the Council is able to move forward and elaborate new documents. Particularly, we reached an agreement that in the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Council, to be held in Yerevan, we will return to the issue of forming the concept of the creation of a common oil and crude market, Sargsyan said, summing up the results of April 13 meeting of the Council in Moscow.

In his words, the discussion of railway transportations will be continued in Yerevan as well. Tigran Sargsyan informed that the heads of the governments decided to hold such meetings more frequently.

The EAEU is an economic integration union, formed on the basis of the Customs Union and Common economic zone. It entered into force on January 1, 2015. Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kirgizstan are currently the members of the organizations.
Videos of Floridian arrests bring renewed criticism of crackdown on election fraud

Law enforcement body camera footage showed stunned and confused Floridians being arrested on voter fraud charges. Advocates are calling for changes.
A rash of vandalisms and thefts from cars have plagued U of M parking lots since the beginning of the semester, including three on the same day in April, according reports held by U of M Police Services.

On April 5, one car was vandalized near a university dorm and two radios were stolen from cars in U of M parking lots. Around 2 p.m., a student found his Chevrolet Avalanches locks punched and his radio stolen, according to a report written by officer James Vickers.

They took the stereo and several other items inside the vehicle, Vickers wrote.

The car was broken into near the Southern Avenue parking lot. Just three hours later, another students car was broken into, this time in the Central Avenue parking lot, and the student found the radio in his 2006 Chrysler stolen.

There was no sign of forced entry and no damage to the dashboard, according to a report written by officer Mark McClain Around midnight, a vandal smashed the right rear window of a students 1998 Toyota parked near Rawls Hall.

Victim advised that there was nothing missing from the vehicle, only damage to the window, officer Fuller wrote in his report.

Derek Meyers, assistant chief and director of U of M Police Services, was not available for comment; however, he previously told The Daily Helmsman,

Traditionally, more burglaries happen during the day because there are more cars out here during the day. Less than a week earlier, on March 30 at 5 p.m., officer McClain responded to a motor vehicle parts theft in the Central Avenue parking lot.

The victim found his stereo had been taken, with the lock broken.

Last year, 19 cars were burglarized at the U of M, according to the campus crime report produced by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Myers said there were 38 thefts from vehicles and thefts of motor vehicle parts reported last year.

Only three of these cases were cleared when an arrest was made. In 2014, 18 cases of theft from motor vehicles were reported with no clearances.

Thefts of motor vehicle parts gathered 27 reports with two arrests. Alexa Johnson, sophomore foreign language major, voiced her concern for her van being parked out of sight.

As someone whose car is very important to them, I worry about this, Johnson said. Its bad enough that I have people goofing around outside leaving scratches and dents. I dont have money for that.

According to police reports, there have been several vandalisms and motor vehicle parts thefts since the beginning of the year.

Mya Thornton, a 21-year-old criminal justice major, voiced her concern for her safety and personal items.

Knowing that weve had car break-ins makes me uncomfortable, so I try not to make myself an easy target, Thornton said.

Myers insists the best preventative measure to take to avoid theft is keeping personal valuables out of sight.

Use anti-theft measures if students have them, like locking doors, turning on alarms and other things like that, Myers said.
The University of Memphis is holding another active shooter seminar next week, this time at the universitys Collierville Center.

Bruce Harber, chief of Police Services, sent an email to University of Memphis students and employees Tuesday informing them about the event.

This seminar will be held at the Collierville Center April 19 from 5:30-7:00 p.m. and will be live-streamed to the U of Ms Millington Center.

Preparing for an active shooter is on the forefront of administrators minds, as this is the eighth seminar being held.

The previous seven have taken place in the Rose Theatre on the U of Ms main campus. At those events, Harber said he opposes the current proposed Tennessee legislation to allow those with a concealed carry permit to carry their weapons on campus.

Tom Hassel, FBI special agent, was the main speaker at the events. He encouraged students to run and hide before attempting to fight an active shooter.

He also advised faculty to think about ways to create hidrances for active shooters on campus, like putting soap on the floor.

The university is spending $400,000 to replace doors and locks on campus buildings.

New locks are being installed that will lock with a dead bolt from the inside without a key.

Doorframes that do not support the locks will be replaced. More than 370 mass shootings occurred in the U.S. in 2015, killing 475 and wounding 1,870, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker.

The University of Memphis and Police Services are issuing this message in a continuing effort to communicate safety informationthis is a proactive preparedness activity and in no way indicates a change in threat level or a response to a threat, Harber said in the email.

The FBI, the University of Memphis, the Provosts Office and Police Services are hosting the event. The coming event will be similar to the past seven seminars.

This seminar is intended to address incidents of mass violence that have occurred across the U.S., Harber said.

The FBI will update those in attendance on national mass shooting events, and information will be presented showing how students should respond to an active shooting situation.

Another explanation will be given of the Department of Homeland Securitys Run-Hide- Fight policy.

In addition to discussing the precautions the U of M is taking, there will also be a time for questions and answers.

Harber encouraged those who have missed the previous seminars to attend Tuesdays event.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. A number of MEPs that observed the elections in Nagorno Karabakh concluded that the people of that country live in a well functioning democracy with the existence of independent judiciary and freedom of speech and media. Armenpress reports Basque MEP Josu Juaristi announced about this during a discussion at the European Parliament.

Those people have witnessed extreme crimes and sufferings, have earned their dignity despite their country is not internationally recognized. I believe the future belongs to right to their self-determination. It is possible to reach peace through respect and recognition, the MEP mentioned.

In his words, Azerbaijan must give consent to the creation of mechanisms investigating ceasefire violations proposed by the Minsk Group. Without it they will continue to accuse each other of military operations. We need a constant peacekeeping mission in Karabakh, Juaristi mentioned.
Jared Moses, president of the student government at the University of Memphis, talks to students during an open forum about guns on campus. A bill is working its way through the state legislature that would allow full-time employees to carry a concealed firearm onto Tennessee public colleges and universities.

Jonathan A. Capriel Jared Moses, president of the student government at the University of Memphis, talks to students during an open forum about guns on campus. A bill is working its way through the state legislature that would allow full-time employees to carry a concealed firearm onto Tennessee public colleges and universities.

The University of Memphis aGuns on Campusa open forum became heated after a number of students took the floor to advocate both for and against the concealed carry bill Tuesday for a crowd of about 50.

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A Student government hosted the forum to give the campus community a chance to discuss both pros and cons of the concealed carry bill that is working its way through the state legislature. If passed the bill would give full-time employees of Tennessee public colleges and universities, who also have a state issued permit, the ability to carry a concealed firearm on campus.

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A Will McDonald, 21, U of M biology major and vice president of Students for Concealed Carry, was one student who argued that students and faculty should have the right of concealed carry.

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A The crowed seemed mostly in favor of concealed carry. Many students applauded when McDonald said, aIad rather have a fighting chance, than no chance.a

A A A A A A A A A McDonald spoke on how alarming TigerText can be when reporting criminal activities. He said with the benefit of concealed carry, students and faculty are better prepared to protect themselves around campus.

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A aI believe there is a right of personal protection for everyone, and there is nothing that should infringe on that right,a McDonald said.

A twitter poll conducted from the student government's twitter account seemed to indicate that many on twitter were against the idea of guns being allowed on campus.A

Neither M. David Rudd, U of M president, or Bruce Harber, chief of campus police, are happy about the bill, and they have publicly expressed their discomfort.

In an email to students and faculty on April 4, the two said allowing guns on campus awill disrupt our academic mission and will adversely impact student success.a

Although the voting and passing of the bill is out of their hands, Harber said that everything is being done to keep it from happening.

It's unclear where many in student goverment stand on the issue.A

Newly elected president and vice president of government, Jared Moses and Natalie Moore, have not taken a side in the argument. Moses said that they are in favor of the student voice.

aIt wouldnat be right to say how Natalie and I feel without representing the student body as a whole,a Moses said. aIt is important for us as students to get our opinions out there before the voting takes place.a

Most of student government refused to respond how they feel about conceal carry on campus or was unsure, according to a survey conducted by The Daily Helmsman.A

Jonathan Capriel More than 13 percent of student senators surveyed said they are against faculty being allowed to carry a concealed gun, and 13 percent said they were in favor. Most senators, 43 percent, said they were either not sure or wanted to survey the student body.Thirty percent refused to answer the question. The survey received responses from 30 of the 38 elected senators.

Brijesh Kumar, 20, Biology and business major and former student government senator who argued against concealed carry, said that guns are no place for higher education.

Kumar said, the campus should focus on improve university security arather than trying to implement a temporary fix with guns,a Kumar said. aWe need to focus on the root of the problem and not take law enforcement into our own hands.a

Stuart Dedmon, U of M student and president of Students for Concealed Carry, led the discussion with both facts and opinions hopeful to get their views across to concerned students.

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A Dedmon argued differently. He said that people have a right to self-defense.

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.

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A aMany people are letting their emotions get in the way of the facts that support having concealed carry on campus,a Dedmon said. aThere is no pragmatic reason to oppose it.a

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A Dedmon said that he understood how some could feel uncomfortable to the sight of a gun, but thatas why the proposal is for all firearms to be concealed and out of sight.

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A aI can carry it anywhere else, why shouldnat I be able to protect myself on campus?a he asked.

A A A A A A A A A aWe oppose this legislation and do not believe the presence of more weapons will make our campuses safer,a Rudd and Harber said in the email. aThe University of Memphis has consistently been one of the safest places in the state. We believe our exemplary record is due in part of guns being prohibited on our campuses.a

A A A A A A A A A A
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan received the Head of the interstate council of CIS Antimonopoly policy and Head of the Russian antimonopoly policy Igor Artemyev on April 13.

As Armenpress was informed from the Department of Public Relations and Mass Media of Republic of Armenia Presidents Office, the interlocutors underscored the necessity to jointly and effectively struggle against problems in the sphere of competition.

Igor Artemyev introduced the works done in the sidelines of the organization headed by him to the Armenian President, as well as talked about the measures aimed at creating more favorable conditions for Armenian exporting companies in the Russian market.

Issues related to the agenda of the extended session of antimonopoly policy of CIS and EAEU member states being held in Yerevan on April 13 were discussed at the meeting.
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Bare-legged Kate is turning heads in India while working her way through a wardrobe of dazzling outfits. Can the same be said for William, in his dark suits and chinos?

My court source says: Hes nicknamed Compo [from Last Of The Summer Wine] by flunkeys. His appearance in a single-breasted dinner jacket without a cummerbund has our diplomats reaching for their pink gins.

Hasnt Kate ordered him a new wardrobe from fashion designer Mr Porter? More Mr Pooter [from Diary Of A Nobody] than Mr Porter, snipes my source. Unfair, surely.

Bare-legged Kate is turning heads in India while working her way through a wardrobe of dazzling outfits. Can the same be said for William, in his dark suits and chinos?

Today the royal couple visit the Kaziranga National Park. Indias wildlife has always fascinated British royals. Charles will become the first monarch since Queen Victoria not to have witnessed a tiger hunt. The Queen watched Philip bag his first tiger in 1961. Since then, crocodiles, stags, boar, rabbit and an estimated 30,000 pheasants have been his targets.

Top Gears ex host, Jeremy Clarkson, on turning 56, exhibits a birthday card from colleagues on his new Amazon TV show.

Its signed by a producer called Greg who writes: I would usually write something insulting at this point, but you are in charge. So have an extremely agreeable day.

Top Gears ex host, Jeremy Clarkson, on turning 56, exhibits a birthday card from colleagues on his new Amazon TV show

Given Clarksons form when it comes to disrespectful producers Id say that Greg is cruisin for a bruisin.

RE Panama, bank accounts and avoiding HMs tax inspectors: is it merely a coincidence that our monarchs first state visit, in 1953, was to Panama? She took control of a US ship, Junior, carrying 80,000 bunches of bananas as it passed through the canal. Her first step on foreign soil since she was crowned Queen! boomed a Pathe News commentator. No mention of her opening an account.

Broadcaster Jeremy Paxmans attack on the French and their useless language  in an article for the Financial Times  must have intrigued his younger brother, ex-diplomat Giles.

Hes a former minister and deputy head of mission at our embassy in Paris. From 1978 to 1979 he attended the Ecole nationale dadministration  a finishing school for French movers and shakers  in Paris. Surely Giles didnt turn Paxo against the French!?

Ex Labour MP David Miliband is visiting us again from his 425,000 job with a New York charity, keeping his home profile high with a Radio 4 interview in which he champions the EU. Meanwhile Labour MPs plot against lacklustre leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Might these events be connected?

Historian Niall Ferguson cant imagine Senator Ted Cruz becoming US president, he says.

After meeting the Right-wing Texan, he concludes: He is a quick-witted conversationalist, and yet something put me off.

What might that have been? Ferguson, 51, is a clever fellow. But so is Cruz, 45. A graduate of both Harvard and Princeton, hes described by his professor, renowned lawyer Alan Dershowitz, as off-the-charts brilliant. More so than Niall? It hardly seems possible.
A filmmaker who grew up with a father who was addicted to heroin has revealed how traumatic it was to have such an unstable home life.

Phillip Wood, 31, from London, and his older sister Emma have few happy childhood memories thanks to their father's addiction.

Growing up in Romford, Phillip said he would try and avoid being home as much as possible in order to stay away his father - also called Philip - who could be aggressive and often fought with his mother.

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Phillip Wood, left, has made a documentary for BBC Three about what it was like growing up with his father, also called Philip when he was addicted to heroin

Phillip tracked his father down after years of estrangement to film him for the documentary in which he confronts him about his past and tries to make sense of his addiction

Philip, now in his 50s, said he has need 'chemicals' to make him feel better for most of his life

He said: 'My dad has been addicted to heroin for as long as I can remember. I left home 15 years ago as his life was chaos and I wanted no part of it.

He said of growing up with an addict for a father: 'It was horrible. I just wanted to run away from an early age. I never wanted to be there, I hated existing, I hated life.'

His sister Emma agreed saying she would avoid the family home as much as possible as 'you never knew what you would be coming home to.'

She said: 'I would pick up on the tension between him and mum, he would be in and out of jobs, crashing his work van and getting the sack, I grew up feeling unhappy.

'Things got progressively worse and there was no support and nowhere to turn. We were going without things. I never knew what dad was doing until I was older and understood what drugs he was taking.

'It was such a build up of unhappiness. Mum was unhappy, Dad was ill. I stayed out all the time and when I did come home I could hear the arguing and the violence, there were random cars outside and you could smell the drugs or your stuff stolen and sold on.

Philip was still battling his addiction when his son started filming him and admitted he needed help

'He could be cleaning the house at 100 miles per hour or out of his face passed out on the sofa. You never knew what you were coming home to.'

Phillip and Emma share their story in a unique documentary that he has made himself - available on BBC Three online and BBC iPlayer - as he has tried to make sense of his childhood.

Phillip sought out his father, now in his 50s, after years of estrangement to film him for the documentary and was shocked to find he was still involved with drugs, addicted to alcohol and in trouble with the law.

He said: 'He kept insisting he was clean but then I would get disturbing phone calls from him at night when he was clearly out of it.

'Every time I turned up I met a new friend and another excuse why he couldn't get help. His debts were piling up, he had a court summons for not paying his electricity and the council were threatening to repossess his flat for anti-social behaviour.'

Your upbringing destroyed you I imagine, you must have been ashamed of me and embarrassed as opposed to proud

Phillip's mother had long walked out on her husband and he had recently been told he would die if he didn't stop drinking as he had cirrhosis of the liver.

Philip confesses to his son that he wants to beat his demons but he doesn't know how.

He said: 'My whole life has been controlled by a chemical. The only times I didn't use chemicals was my early years. I started using strangely enough when you were born, that is how long I have been on it. It is like I stagnated at that age.'

He added: 'I got deeper and deeper. It became my best friend they [drugs] could take my worries and my depression away.'

Now he said he 'feels an emotional wreck. I have had enough. I feel like I need help.'

Philip was shocked to learn from his son that he could be violent towards his family when they were younger as he has no recollection of this.

Breaking down in tears he admits: 'I knew I was a s*** father as I was a heroin addict but I never thought I hit you. That makes me feel really bad. My one and only saving grace in my mind is that I never hit my kids but apparently I did and I can't remember it. I hate life.'

Philip was warned he could die if he didn't give up drinking as he had cirrhosis of the liver

He said he agreed to be filmed by his son and explore his past in order to try and rebuild their relationship.

Phillip's uncle, who is his father's brother, reveals he was once a talented footballer but his life went off the rails when he started taking drugs.

I hated him once as he made my life hell but I have realised he was ill. No one chooses to grow up and become an addict

Phillip admits he feels powerless to help his father as he constantly seems to lie to him about how much he drinks and takes drugs and the company he keeps. He adds that there always seems to be an excuse why his father can't get help.

'I can't help you, I can't save you dad,' he tells him.

Emma also thinks their father is a 'lost cause' telling her brother for the film: 'I hated him once as he made my life hell but I have realised he was ill. No one chooses to grow up and become an addict.

'He didn't wanted to end up the way he has but now he is a lost cause and I pity him. I pity him for what he had and what he lost. I pity him for the life he has, he has an existence not a life. He will go to his grave and look back and "what have you done?" I feel sorry for him as it is a waste.'

However with the help of his uncle, Phillip managed to get enough money to admit his father into rehab for six months.

Phillip pictured filming his father for his documentary. He thought he couldn't 'save him' but he has helped him on the road to recovery by getting him into rehab

Philip is now rebuilding his relationship with his son following six months in rehab

Four months into the treatment, Phillip went to film him again and the transformation was remarkable with his father looking noticeably healthier and speaking more coherently.

He said of being drug free: 'I feel comfortable and happy, I never thought I would see the day I would do it. It used to be the same old every day and I lost everything.'

He said being in rehab has made him aware of the toll his drug abuse must have had on his children and he is full of regret for ruining their childhoods.

He said: 'Your upbringing destroyed you I imagine, you must have been ashamed of me and embarrassed as opposed to proud. It must have done your head in.'

He added that he now wants to make it up to his son saying: 'He's more important to me than anyone, this is my chance to get to know him. I'm sorry I wasn't a good father.'
Molly Brown can complete a staggering 36 pirouettes in a row.

At 10 years old, the Christchurch dancer has starred in international productions and has her sights set on becoming a commercial dancer - but her latest video hits a lot closer to come.

Molly and her mother, Trudy Brown, made a video that shows Molly spinning on a turnboard through the city of Christchurch and told Daily Mail Australia they hope to show the city's progress since it was struck be a devastating earthquake in 2011.

Spinning around: Molly Brown, 10, has made a video of her performing pirouettes around Christchurch, New Zealand

Heart-felt: The talented dancer and her mother, Trudy Brown, hoped to highlight the progress Christchurch had made since the city was struck be a devastating earthquake in 2011

Talented: Molly spun around on a turnboard in front of the city's landmarks and construction zones

The video, titled City of Ruins, was posted to the Molly and Poppy Brown YouTube account on April 3 and has since received more than 100 views.

Dressed in a black and pink two piece, Molly can be seen performing incredible pirouettes in construction zones, beside road works and in front of renovated buildings.

'While there has been a lot of progress and parts of the city have new homes, new shops and are buzzing we felt that the progress in the inner city, the heart of Christchurch is very slow and we wanted to try and show what we in Christchurch look at everyday,' Mrs Brown said.

Incredible flexibility: Molly's mother, Trudy Brown, said there had been a lot of progress, but progress in the inner-city had been slow

Right round: Molly performed an incredible spin on a road lined with traffic cones

Construction zone: 'We wanted to try and show what we in Christchurch look at everyday,' Mrs Brown said.

Molly, who attends Levings School of Dance, trains between 15 and 18 hours a week.

She takes lessons in ballet, contemporary, jazz, musical theatre, singing and hip hop and is part of the competition team at her dance school.

Molly was selected through Instagram to join the 'Turnboard team', who share videos and photos of the device in use online.

Dedicated: Molly attends the Levings School of Dance and trains between 15 and 18 hours a week

Rising star: She played the role of a young orphan Kate in the UK production of Annie and was runner-up in What Now Talent search 'The One' in 2014

Molly was five years old when the 2011 earthquake hit while she was at school.

'During that time we have had to change schools, watch as friends move away from Christchurch and work hard for Molly to reach her goals in a city that is struggling to rebuild,' Mrs Brown said.

'Her dance school has provided security and opportunities outside of Christchurch and helps her to look forward and to the future.'

Despite only being 10 years old, Molly played the role of the orphan Kate in the UK production of Annie and was runner-up in the national TV program What Now Talent search 'The One' in 2014.
Sarah Downs will never forget the moment she delivered her own baby via caesarean section.

With the help of her doctor, the Queensland mother lifted her daughter out of her womb and pulled her straight on to her chest.

The first time mum revealed she was unable to give birth naturally, and a maternal-assisted caesarean made her birthing experience more personal.

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Incredible: Queensland mother Sarah Downs had a maternal-assisted caesarean that saw her deliver her own baby

Life changing moment: Ms Downs delivered her baby girl, Tenasi, with the help of her doctors

Touching moment: The assisted birth allowed Ms Downs to pull her daughter straight on to her chest

'I wanted to have a more personal experience,' Ms Downs told Daily Mail Australia.

'Why wouldn't you want to be the one that pulls the baby from your womb? Being able to deliver your own baby and be the first person to hold her was incredible.

'A couple of pushes on the stomach and the head was out and that was all done by the obstetrician.

'Then I pulled her up to my chest. I was so excited to meet her. It was the best thing I've ever done.

'Oh my goodness, it's hard to describe the moment I held her in my hands. I just had this whole rush of emotions going through me. I started crying tears of joy.'

Personal experience: 'Why wouldn't you want to be the one that pulls the baby from your womb?' Ms Downs said

Getting prepared: Mrs Downs, 31, had planned the birth with her obstetrician Dr Shiri Dutt beforehand

Beautiful: Little Tenasi was born at John Flynn Private Hospital on the Gold Coast and is now 14 weeks old

The 31-year-old young mother had planned the birth with her obstetrician Dr Shiri Dutt.

'I remember seeing a write-up by my obstetrician in the local newspaper so when I went down for one of my appointments, I asked him if I could do it,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'He was really excited about it and so I did more research. I guess it inspired me even more when I found out it was more of a personal delivery. I really had my heart set on it.

'I felt that I shouldn't be excluded from my child's birth. It should right as a woman to choose what I want to do during my child's birth. It shouldn't be judged or looked upon differently.'

This is the fifth time Dr Dutt, who works at John Flynn Private Hospital on the Gold Coast, has orchestrated a maternal-assisted caesarean.

Simply 'priceless': Obstetrician Dr Shiri Dutt assisted with the birth and said the experience was 'priceless' for mothers

So sweet: Before Tenasi was born, Ms Downs underwent counselling and training and was provided with information so she could assist with the birth

Not for everyone: While Ms Downs' birthing experience was positive, not all women can have a maternal-assisted caesarean

Dr Dutt told A Current Affair the look on the mother's faces as they deliver their baby is simply 'priceless'.

Before the birth, Ms Downs underwent counselling and training and was provided with information to ensure she was prepared.

'My obstetrician basically counselled me through the whole process, leading up to my pregnancy,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'We did practice rounds during my appointments and then basically had my interview at the hospital so before I got there, I knew what to expect, what to do at every step of the way.'

On the day, she sterilised her hands and put on scrubs so she could assist with the birth.

Unlike a regular caesarean where a curtain is placed to obstruct the view, a maternal-assisted caesareans gives mothers a full view of the birth.

Getting ready: Before the procedure Ms Downs scrubbed up and sterilised her hands

While the birthing option has risen in popularity, Dr Dutt said not all women would be able to experience the hands-on birth.

If the baby is too big or small, if there any other medical issues or if the placenta is in the wrong place the procedure would not be suitable.

'I highly recommend the procedure to other mothers,' Ms Downs said, whose daughter Tenasi is now 14 weeks old.

'Not every person could have the procedure. But if you have an obstetrician who is confident enough to do the procedure - because some are against it - then definitely go for it.

'Hopefully my story will inspire other mothers in my situation to give it a go. If I was going to have another child, I would definitely do it again.'

A mother's love: 'I was so excited to meet her, you know. I just had this whole rush of emotions going through me,' she said

Another Queensland mother, Kingscliffe's Jane Prichard, also delivered her son via maternal-assisted caesarean.

Mrs Prichard also had the assistance of Dr Dutt at John Flynn Private Hospital, and previously told Daily Mail Australia she 'struggled to find the words' to describe the experience.

I was crying well before they cut me open, it was very emotional, she said.
Wedding albums showcase the most beautiful moments of the big day - from classic cake cutting shots to romantic and well-timed shots of the adoring couple and their guests.

But one bride has taken to Facebook to share a selection of her disappointing yet highly amusing wedding snaps that prove there is a very fine line between candid and unprofessional.

'So, what do you do when you finally receive your actual wedding day photos and find yourself sorely disappointed in them?' Bride Jaclyn Ying, from Singapore, wrote on Facebook on Sunday.

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Too candid? Jaclyn Ying, a newlywed from Singapore, has taken to Facebook to share a selection of her disappointing yet highly amusing wedding snaps

Photobomb: In one of the professional photos a guest appears in the centre of the couple's romantic snap

Creative? A lot of the photos appeared to be edited using strange filters and colouring

'Get angry? Check. Shed a few tears over them? Done. Post some of the best (of the worst) on social media for amusement? Absolutely!'

Mrs Ying and her husband purchased a wedding package that included photography from a 'pretty reputable bridal shop' and although they were told before they signed on that they couldn't choose their photographer, were assured that the talent pool was consistent.

'They looked alright, and so we signed on thinking, "okay la hor, how bad can they be" [sic],' Mrs Ying wrote, adding that they were shown a portfolio beforehand.

Awkward: In one of the photos the couple stood on either side of a large tree and Mrs Ying was looking away

Good time? One guest was snapped looking as though she was having a terrible time at the wedding

The big day: Photos also included strange snaps of Mrs Ying getting ready and having her hair styled

For your amusement: Mrs Ying shared the snaps on Facebook and they have been shared over 18,500 times

'It's bad guys. Like, first-date-and-you-clog-the-toilet-with-your-pangsai bad. Or, trust-a-fart-and-a-bit-of-poop-comes-out bad. (I'm not saying any of those things happened to me before).'

The photos, which have since been shared more than 18,500 times on social media, are made up of bizarre and unprofessional snaps capturing strange moments.

Mrs Ying is pictured in a blurry photo getting her hair styled and is seen in a very unromantic shot with her eyes rolling back in her head as her groom helps her put her shoe on.

Her groom is also seen standing in a black and white shot next to a oddly edited welcome sign and during the ceremony they were photographed from below at a very unflattering angle.

Too small? One photo looked as though the groom's ring wasn't going to fit

Not so flattering: Many of the guests were captured pulling odd faces and from below

Wedding? Some photos didn't look as though they were taken at a wedding at all

The 'iconic' photo of Mrs Ying sliding the ring onto her husband's finger looks as though the ring is stuck half way up his finger and many of the snaps are edited so they are half coloured and half in black and white.

A guest is seen in the centre of one of the photos of the couple, ruining the moment, while later photos capture attendees looking bored, pulling odd faces and standing with their eyes closed.

Others feature the couple in awkward poses and walking from venue to venue and in one photo Mrs Ying's head is completely blocked by a wine glass during their toast.

Seeing the funny side: A Facebook group, KFC - Kaki Friendship Club , also turned the photos into a series of memes

Making light of it: Each of the memes are captioned to reflect the apparent mood taken at the time of each photo

'Anyway, we're looking for some redress from the shop at the moment, but nothing is going to take away the fact that our wedding photos by this dude are pretty much ruined. What's more, he was our only "pro" photog for that day. This stag worked solo, man [sic],' Mrs Ying wrote.

'Don't take this the wrong way though - this is not a flame and shame post. We just wanted to share some of these hilariously bad photos with everyone, so sorry ar if your unglam face is in this [sic].'

Mrs Ying said each of the photos she posted were exactly as they were when she was given them from the bridal shop... though said she would not publicly name the shop.

'Enjoy the photos!' She concluded.

Support: The memes were a small part of the flood of support Mrs Ying received

Acknowledging: The couple's photographer posted an apology on Tuesday after being made aware of the bride's post

A Facebook group, KFC - Kaki Friendship Club, also turned the photos into a series of memes.

Each of the memes are captioned to reflect the apparent mood taken at the time of each photo- from suggesting the make up artist did well in a black and white photo to captioning the eye-rolling photo as 'Honey, I just need one more bottle of vodka.'

The couple's photographer posted an apology on Tuesday after being made aware of the bride's post.

Coffee? The photographer apologised for the inconvenience and offered to buy the couple a coffee

'First & foremost, I would like to apologise to this couple for the 20+ bad actual day wedding photos that they have received. My bridal company & I could have done better by QC [quality control] & removing them first before giving to you. I received $350 for this full day wedding photography & editing assignment, and I should have done better [sic],' he wrote on Facebook.

'My usual practice is to give the bridal company all the actual day photos & in turn, they will pass them to the couples. Lesson learnt, I will instead QC the photos first before giving them to the bridal studio.'
Spring, and a young womans fancy turns to . . . why, depilation of course. For with the finer weather comes the prospect of bare legs, and with that the resumption of the never-ending battle with hairs in unsightly places.

This week, author Marian Keyes gave an audience at the Oxford Literary Festival an account of her own fight with the fuzz. The novelist, self-confessed owner of the hairiest legs in Ireland, revealed how she almost overdosed on anaesthetic following laser hair removal.

In the agonising aftermath, she bought a tube of anaesthetic cream from a dodgy internet site, slathered her legs in it and wrapped the lot in clingfilm.

Truth is, we cannot blame the patriarchy for this one. When it comes to punishing beauty regimens, women are our own worst enemies (stock image)

She became euphoric, then a little delirious and, she says, narrowly avoided anaesthesia toxicity, something that can lead to seizures and even death. Nevertheless, she professed herself delighted with the results. Which just goes to show: there are no limits to the crazy things women will do in the name of beauty.

I recall one friend telling me of a session of needling, a treatment whereby a rolling pin studded with lots of tiny needles is moved backwards and forwards over the face in a bid to rejuvenate the skin.

The process left her wincing in agony, with skin the colour of a tomato, eyes watering and the visage of a sunburnt alcoholic.

Another, before an early summer holiday, had just had a spray tan when the phone rang. It was her fathers nursing home. He had taken a turn for the worse. Panicking, she leapt in her car and drove down the motorway to be at his bedside.

Occasionally he would regain consciousness, and they would exchange a few tender words. Once, he fixed her with a gimlet eye.

Tell me just one thing, he rasped. Why in Gods name are you that strange colour?

In the turmoil, shed forgotten the tan was still developing, leaving her the colour of creosote  save for white streaks on her cheeks where tears had washed away the lotion.

I, too, have suffered my fair share of vanity-related mishaps.

I had a hydro facial in anticipation of an important event. Salt water jets were aimed at my face to exfoliate and massage to bring out my natural radiance.

In a few hours, I glowed like a thermo-nuclear reactor and developed a painful rash that could be tamed only by copious amounts of hydrocortisone creams.

Ive endured weeks in surgical bandages in a (futile) attempt to banish leg veins, had the fat on my stomach frozen (mildly successful, moderately painful, seriously disgusting) and allowed perfect strangers to apply hot wax to my nether regions in the pursuit of poolside perfection.

With the finer weather comes the prospect of bare legs, and with that the resumption of the never-ending battle with hairs in unsightly places (stock image)

There is absolutely no logic whatsoever to this behaviour. With rare exceptions, none of this stuff makes any real difference, not in the long term, at least  and certainly not as far as the alleged benefactors, the menfolk, are concerned.

Truth is, we cannot blame the patriarchy for this one. When it comes to punishing beauty regimens, women are our own worst enemies. Which is why, to be serious for one second, regulation in this sector is so vital  and so overdue.

General Medical Council guidelines issued this week could see doctors struck off for offering two-for-one deals on cosmetic procedures, from Botox to breast implants.

But they dont go far enough. Because when it comes to things such as laser hair removal, doctors are not the problem.

Its under-qualified or poorly trained beauty therapists, often with nothing more than a weekend diploma to their name, who account for the majority of mishaps.

If even perfectly intelligent, award-winning novelists like Marian Keyes can come a cropper, it would seem a clampdown is long-overdue. Either that  or expect similar hair-raising incidents in the future.

POSH GOES OUT ON A LIMB: WORLD GOES CRAZY OVER LA BECKHAM'S LEG First came the mystery of whether Posh had a right arm, so often did it appear to be missing in photos. Then came fears her left hand had gone AWOL, too. Now the world has gone crazy over La Beckhams leg which, in a shoot for Vogue China, has allegedly been Photoshopped so that part of the top of her thigh is missing. At this rate, shes losing a limb every few months. I suppose its one way of keeping your weight in check . . . Advertisement

Bully from Brussels

To ALL those Radio 4 listeners left scratching their heads over the transformation of The Archers from an everyday story of rural folk to The Shining with cows, I think I may have an explanation.

Its stealth propaganda for the Governments pro-EU campaign.

Seriously, think about it. Rob is actually Brussels. Helen is Britain. Over the course of several years, Rob/Brussels has slowly, stealthily but surely, been undermining Helen/ Britains independence.

Hes been taking away her freedoms. Telling her she would never survive without him. Undermining her sense of self. Taking over the shop. Questioning her sanity.

After a great deal of soul-searching, she finally plucks up the courage to leave.

And what happens? Disaster. Rob hospitalised, Helen in the dock. And all for what? Because she tried to put an end to her abusive relationship.

The subversive message is loud and clear: better to stay and put up with the pain than to go it alone and risk it all.

Pass me that knife, will you, please?

MAKING THE BREAST OF IT: LACTATING STRANGERS OFFER TO SHARE MILK A woman from Cornwall was reduced to tears of joy when, unable to breastfeed her 11-month-old son herself, a host of lactating strangers offered to share their milk. As for the little fellow himself, who knows what he made of his mammalian smorgasbord  although judging by the expression of alarm on his face as he suckles from a bosom thats almost four times the size of his own head, it might be prudent to start saving for those analyst fees now. Advertisement

Prince Harry tells the BBC he thinks of the Queen more as a boss than a granny. In our house  as, I suspect, in many others  granny is both: not only the undisputed boss, but also reigning monarch. As it should be.

Scarred by porn

The case of four young men wrongly accused of rape at Gloucester Crown Court offers many unpleasant truths about modern Britain, not least the fact anyone accused of a sex crime can have their reputation destroyed while their alleged victim remains anonymous whatever the outcome.

But whats really striking is that these young people  students at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester  went to a party, got steaming drunk and ended up having a mini-orgy which they filmed and shared on social media. As though any of that were normal.

Where does such depravity come from? Simple: online porn. Young adults have grown up exposed to the kind of hardcore material previously sought out only by a tiny, warped minority.

By the time they reach secondary school, most children, by accident or because of peer pressure, will have viewed hardcore porn.

The results are only now becoming plain to see. Last year, a survey found 12 per cent of 11 to 13-year-olds admitted to making or having been part of a sexually explicit video.

And as the lines between sex and pornography become ever more blurred, so, too, will the ones between consent and rape.

Most people who work in the real world - i.e. the one NOT funded by the British taxpayer - long ago gave up on the idea of expense accounts. Not so at the BBC, where the concept of supper expenses being reduced from 16 to 10 is deemed worthy of a strike ballot. Theres austerity and theres public sector austerity. The two are not the same thing at all.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Nikolai Bordyuzha will visit Armenia on April 14 to meet with the top political and military leadership. Armenpress reports the press service of the CSTO informs about this.

The working visit of the CSTO Secretary General to Armenia will take place on April 14-15. In the sidelines of the visit Bordyuzha will meet President of Armenia, President of the CSTO Council Serzh Sargsyan and the Defense Minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan.

The Secretary General will inform on the preparatory works of the meetings of the regulatory bodies of the Organization, Councils of the Foreign and Defense Ministers, and secretaries of Security Councils, which are planned to be held in Yerevan in the period of June-July. He will also report on the activities of the organization and the implementation plan of the decisions taken in September and December of 2015. The situation in the Caucasian region, which escalated in early April, will also be discussed, reads the press release of the CSTO press service.
The trustees of Tory MP Liam Foxs military charity, Give Us Time, gushed recently that they felt exceptionally blessed to have Lady Kitty Spencer working for them in London.

Princess Dianas 25-year-old niece looks delighted, though, to be on holiday in South Africa, where she grew up with her mother, Victoria Lockwood, the first wife of Earl Spencer.

She posted this picture online of herself flanked by her equally blonde twin sisters, Lady Amelia and Lady Eliza, aged 23. The trio look like Baywatch babes as they pose in their dark glasses and revealing tops.

Lady Kitty arrived in Britain in 2011 and is courting London-based property developer Niccolo Barattieri, who, at 45, is only six years younger than her father.

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Fun in the sun: Princess Dianas 25-year-old niece Lady Kitty Spencer posted a snap with her equally blonde twin sisters, Lady Amelia and Lady Eliza, 23, in South Africa

Sir Derek Jacobi - pop star? Anne Reid, his co-star in drama Last Tango In Halifax, reveals they are planning an album together.

Reid, who also sings and performs in cabaret, says: I love working with Derek. Were talking about a CD, though Im not sure what kind of music, as he likes country and western!

Traitor Bond: Queen's a bit of a cold fish

Off with her head! Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond has made some rather disobliging remarks about Her Majesty ahead of her 90th birthday.

She does have a sense of humour, but shes a bit of a cold fish, says Bond, who trod the royal TV beat for 14 years.

I think she has two options. One is to keep her distance a little bit from the crowds without entering into graphic conversation, and the second is to do what Philip does and dash in there to talk to them.

Sometimes people have called it a gaffe, but hes actually just trying to be funny and break the ice.

The Queen is keen on fashion and clothes. I think she always dresses very appropriately. She has a stunning figure and I told her that to her face! I think she was a little bit shocked.

She had a glint in her eye and said: Oh, thank you. Looking at her wedding dress, you saw her tiny waist.

Are you sure that glint in the Queens eyes was benign, Jennie?

Fiery former Hells Kitchen star Marco Pierre Whites branding exercise goes from strength to strength. Everyone knows the former chef - the youngest ever recipient of three Michelin stars - has been nowhere near a hot stove for more than a decade, but his name is above the door of 30 restaurants.

His latest arrangement is with the Castle Hotel in Windsor, where moody monochrome pictures of him in his prime are dotted about the Marco Pierre White bar and Marco Pierre White Steakhouse restaurant.

He doesnt actually work here, a member of staff admits. But he is going to visit on May 12.

Long gone are the days when Marco used to castigate his old nemesis Gordon Ramsay for using his name instead of slaving in the kitchen.

From Knorr stock cubes to themed restaurants on P&O cruise ships, Marco, the culinary worlds one-time enfant terrible, has become a walking billboard.

Comic Jacks mum gives his dad a lift

Crude comic Jack Whitehalls embarrassing antics would cause most parents anguish.

But it seems his dad - the former acting agent Michael - can be just as childish.

To celebrate his 30th wedding anniversary yesterday with former actress Hilary, their daughter Molly posted this picture online of her mum giving Michael a piggyback over a flood.

Molly wrote: Happy anniversary to my amazing parents. This epitomises them, mum in the Thames barefoot rescuing @fatherwhitehall!

Who said that chivalry was dead!
Royal engagements can often be serious affairs, but Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands are enjoying a more jovial side to regal life on an official visit to Germany.

The Dutch royals are on a working holiday in Bavaria but so far it looks like its been all fun and games, or at least cars and art.

Maxima, 44, in particular, looked to be in high spirits as the couple toured a renovated Dutch art gallery in the region. Wearing a close-fitting pink chiffon silk dress to the knee with a wide-brimmed off-centre pink hat, the Dutch Queen certainly looked a picture.

Best foot forward! Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands open the renovated Hollander-Saal gallery, which features 17th century Dutch masterpieces, at the Alte Pinakothek museum

You be Ernie, I'll be Eric...with a jig the Dutch royals stepped through the frame, much to the hilarity of those gathered

With her blonde locks tied neatly into a bun which sat beneath the stylish hat, the Queen's brightly coloured outfit seemed to thrill the throngs of well-wishers who'd gathered to greet the couple. A brooch on her left shoulder and pom-pom earrings completed the look.

In a moment of jollity, the couple officially re-opened the Dutch wing of the Alte Pinakothek museum in Munich - home to an impressive collection of 17th century Dutch masterpieces - by stepping through a giant frame.

Willem-Alexander, 48, complimented his wife's cheery colour scheme by wearing a blue suit with a bright blue tie.

It was a sketch that left them looking more than a little Morecambe and Wise, as they each put their best foot forward to step towards the gathered media and their cameras.

All smiles! Queen Maxima exuded radiance in the brightly-coloured ensemble as she waved to well-wishers

The close-fitting outfit featured some pretty beaded detail at the waist and was teamed with a sharp pair of burgandy heels and a matching bag. From the back, Maxima cut an equally stylish figure

Pink and red's okay, right? Just a minor clash with the red carpet laid out to welcome the couple to the Bavarian gallery

Hands up: The royal couple will spend today and tomorrow touring Bavaria in a bid to boost relations between Holland and Germany

While at the museum, the couple, who have three children together, watched as an agreement between the Utrechts Centraal Museum and the Bavarian State Painting Collections was rubber stamped.

The cultural document will see the two countries host an exhibition of Carravaggisti work, art that follows the style of 16th century Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio.

The two-day visit to neighbouring Germany is designed to improve relations between Holland and the country. Last month, Maxima and Willem-Alexander made a similar Euro-friendly visit to France.

Also on the Dutch couple's agenda was a visit to car goliath's BMW's exhibition centre to discuss ways to increase sustainable urban mobility.

While the content sounds dry, there was a chance to visit the impressive building's car collection including a look at a super-nippy yellow Mini, which the couple posed next to.

Tulips not from Amsterdam: A well-wisher hands Maxima a pretty bouquet of the traditional Dutch flower

It's that way! Maxima clearly enjoyed her visit to see the restored wing of the Alte Pinakothek

We've been framed: The royal couple posed for a perfect picture before stepping through

The German sunshine only added to Maxima's cheery demeanour
She is known for her outre fashion sense and today Queen Letizia of Spain once again proved her style credentials when she donned a pair of high-waisted leather culottes for an audience at Madrid's Zarzuela Palace.

The 43-year-old royal paired the wide-legged trousers with a printed monochrome top and a smart red blazer, worn with a pair of towering black courts.

She added a feminine touch to the businesslike ensemble with a pair of delicate white flower-shaped earrings.

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Queen of style: Letizia was her typical stylish self today as she donned a pair of high-waisted leather culottes with a red button-up blazer and printed monochrome shirt as she met winners of the National Fashion Awards

It's not the first time Letizia has been spotted in the 290.00 culottes from Spanish brand Uterque (left). She also wore the distinctive trousers, made from Napa leather, back in February at an art fair in Madrid (right)

The royal showcased her sartorial prowess with a pair of flared leather culottes and some towering heels

Letizia was meeting winners of the 2015 National Fashion Awards at Palacio de la Zarzuela - the official royal residence - on Wednesday and it seems she was keen to showcase her own distinctive style.

The stylish royal seemed to be in her element as she made her way around the room and posed for photographs with guests, wearing her shoulder-length hair in a chic side parting that showcased her subtle blonde highlights.

It's not the first time she's been spotted in the 290.00 culottes from Spanish brand Uterque. She wore the distinctive trousers, made from Napa leather, back in February while attending the official opening of the 35th ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair in the Spanish capital.

On their first public outing, the former newsreader paired the culottes with a crisp white shirt, lace-up heels and a pink clutch.

The stylish royal seemed to be in her element as she wore her shoulder-length hair in a chic side parting that showcased her subtle blonde highlights, and added a feminine touch with a pair of flower-shaped earrings

Spain's acting Minister of Industry, Jose Manuel Soria (pictured) was there to meet Letizia and the winners

Queen Letizia looked in her element as she greeted guests at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid on Wednesday

Letizia was meeting winners of the 2015 National Fashion Awards at Palacio de la Zarzuela, and it seems she was keen to showcase her own distinctive style as she greeted and posed for photographs with guests

The royal has had a busy few weeks - last week she attended a ceremony in Salamanca, and four days before that she was back at the Palace meeting members of the Association against Leukodystrophy

The Queen swept her hair back into a practical bun for her tour of the exhibition space at the fair, later adding a fuscia jacket with flared sleeves.

The National Fashion Awards is an annual competition organised y the Ministry of Culture and carried a prize of 30,000.

Spain's acting Minister of Industry, Jose Manuel Soria, was there today to meet Letizia and the 2015 winners.

According to the Espana Es Cultura website, it recognises the professional career or work of couturiers, designers or creative groups. The panel of judges choose winners based on originality, quality, innovation or an 'outstanding contribution'.

It has been a busy few weeks for the royal and her husband King Felipe - last week the pair attended a ceremony at a university in Salamanca, and four days before that Letizia was back at Zarzuela Palace meeting members of the Association against Leukodystrophy.

According to the Espana Es Cultura website, the awards recognise the professional work of couturiers, designers or creative groups. The judges choose winners who have made an 'outstanding contribution'

It has been a busy few weeks for the royal - last week she attended a ceremony at a university in Salamanca, and four days before that Letizia was back at Zarzuela Palace once again greeting guests

Letizia is known for her outre fashion sense and today she once again proved her style credentials when she donned a pair of high-waisted leather culottes for an audience at Madrid's Zarzuela Palace

Letizia (centre) poses for photos with guests at the Zarzuela Palace in the Spanish capital. The National Fashion Awards is an annual competition organised y the Ministry of Culture and carried a prize of 30,000

The 43-year-old royal (centre) paired the wide-legged trousers with a printed monochrome top and a smart red blazer and added a sophisticated touch with a pair of towering black court heels

The whole royal family were out in force over the Easter weekend when they took a family break in Mallorca, which included a traditional Easter mass at the island's cathedral.

Leonor, ten and Sofia, eight, joined their mother and father and grandmother Queen Sofia at the cathedral in Palma de Mallorca for Easter mass.

It had been six months since their last public appearance so it came as no surprise that hundreds of well-wishers lined the streets to welcome Letizia and Felipe's daughters to Mallorca.
She may be the Crown Princess of Denmark, but she is fast becoming as well known for fashion choices as her royal connections, and today was no exception.

Princess Mary of Denmark defied the cold April weather on Wednesday as she donned a colourful ombre coat to welcome the President of Mexico and his glamorous wife Angelica Rivera, 45, to her home country.

Appearing alongside her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, the 44-year-old Australian dazzled in the button-up pink and purple ensemble which she paired with a pair of pointed courts and a simple black belt.

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Princess Mary of Denmark defied the cold April weather on Wednesday as she donned a colourful ombre coat to welcome the President of Mexico and his wife to her home country, flanked by her husband Frederik

Meeting of two countries: Frederik and Mary (left) greet Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto and his wife Angelica Rivera (right) at Copenhagan Airport, where the VIP gathering braved a 12-degree April chill

Despite the 12-degree chill, the Danish royal family were out in force to welcome Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto and his wife Angelica Rivera.

Joining Mary and Frederik were Queen Margrethe of Denmark and her husband Prince Consort Henrik, as well as Prince Joachim, Princess Marie and Princess Benedikte.

The Danes provided a much-needed pop of colour against the grey backdrop of Copenhagan International Airport, and mother-of-four Mary looked radiant as she received a bouquet of flowers by excited onlookers.

This will be Mexico's first official state visit to Denmark; the last time a Mexican head of state visited the Scandinavian country was in 2009.

President of Mexico Enrique Pena Nieto (right) and his wife Angelica Rivera de Pena (fourth right) are welcomed by Denmark's Queen Margrethe (second right) Prince Henrik (sixth right) Crown Prince Frederik (left) Crown Princess Mary (third left) and Princess Marie at Copenhagan International Airport

The Danes provided a much-needed pop of colour against the grey backdrop of Copenhagan International Airport, and mother-of-four Mary looked radiant as she received a bouquet of flowers by excited onlookers

Appearing alongside her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, the 44-year-old Australian dazzled in her button-up pink and purple ensemble which she paired with a pair of pointed courts and a simple black belt

The President will be accompanied by a number of ministers, including the country's foreign minister. Later on today he is expected to be received at Fredensborg Palace, where Queen Margrethe will host a glittering gala banquet.

Princess Mary has been much lauded for her style choices, and last year she was voted 'most stylish royal' by readers of Hello! magazine for the second year running - taking out the Duchess of Cambridge for the coveted crown.

Whether it's glittering couture gowns or slinky jumpsuits, the royal - who married into Danish royalty in 2004 after a chance meeting in an Australian bar - is certainly not shy of taking sartorial risks.

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto (left) and his stunning wife Angelica Rivera (second left) meet Mary and Ferderik. The last time a Mexican head of state visited the country was in 2009

The President and his wife Angelica will be accompanied by a number of ministers, and later on today he is expected to be received at Fredensborg Palace, where Queen Margrethe will host a glittering gala banquet

Fashion pioneer: whether it's glittering couture gowns or slinky jumpsuits, the royal - who married into Danish royalty in 2004 after a chance meeting in an Australian bar - is certainly not shy of taking sartorial risks

Last month, Princess Mary - nee Donaldson - took a five-day business tour of Qatar, where she visited local schools, attended a formal soiree at the Museum of Islamic Art and met the Emir of Qatar, H.H. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

Earlier this year, she returned from a sun-kissed holiday in her native Australia where she was seen relaxing on the beach at Byron Bay and keeping active by going for a jog.

On Christmas Eve, the former sales director was pictured strolling along the Byron Bay shops, and the beauty looked every bit the free-spirited local - wearing a flowing yellow blouse, tiny white shorts and sandals with her hair loosely tied back in a bun.

They touched down in Perth on December 6 to visit Mary's Perth-based brother John Donaldson, who is the godfather to Prince Vincent, four, in what's been a private and understated visit to date.

Back to business: Earlier this year, Mary (second left) returned from a sun-kissed holiday in her native Australia where she was seen relaxing on the beach at Byron Bay and keeping active by going for a jog

Princess Mary has been much lauded for her style choices, and last year she was voted 'most stylish royal' by readers of Hello! magazine for the second year running - stealing the crown from the Duchess of Cambridge

It was the first time the Royal had brought her children back to Australia since 2011.

But she was soon forced to abandon sunnier climes as just a week after the royal family's return to Copenhagen, the mother-of-four was seen hiding her face in a scarf as she rode through the snow.

Wearing a thick, fur-lined jacket, a beanie, gloves and boots, Mary cycled behind her husband Prince Frederik, who was also dressed for the frosty conditions.
Hundreds of patients including those with cancer and kidney failure have missed appointments and treatment because ambulances didnt turn up to take them to hospital.

Elderly patients have been forced to wait for more than five hours for ambulances in Sussex to arrive, after a private company began running the the non-urgent transport service this month.

The failures - which have seen ambulances arriving to transport patients who have already died - have led NHS chiefs to launch an investigation.

It follows the takeover by private firm Coperforma two weeks ago.

Maria Caulfield, the Conservative MP for Lewes and former nurse, called the delays unacceptable and has threatened to take the matter to the Government.

A union member who represents ambulance workers in Sussex said staff are 'frustrated' at Coperforma's 'shambolic and disastrous' handling of the takeover.

Hundreds of patients including those with cancer and kidney failure have missed treatment appointments because ambulances in Sussex didnt turn up to take them to hospital (file photo)

A Guardian report has revealed a host of problems since Coperforma replaced the NHS on April 1.

It said cancer patients have missed appointments when ambulances failed to turn up.

Patients with kidney failure have missed sessions of dialysis, a life-supporting treatment that uses a special machine to filter harmful wastes, salt, and excess fluid from the blood, for the same reason.

When they did arrive it was so late staff had to stay until midnight to ensure they received their dialysis.

And patients have become stuck at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton because their transport had not arrived, forcing the hospital to pay for taxis to take patients home.

Incredibly, Coperforma vehicles have arrived at hospitals to collect patients who have already died, the Guardian reports.

The problem stems in part from poor mobile phone reception in parts of Sussex, which means Coperforma crews did not receive notifications to collect patients via an app they use to organise collections.

This means crews have been left doing nothing while patients desperately need to get to or from hospital.

And when patients, their families, and NHS staff call the firms phone lines, they face waits of up to 45 minutes to get through.

Maria Caulfield, the Conservative MP for Lewes and former nurse, called the delays unacceptable and has threatened to take the matter to the Government

Writing on her website, Ms Caulfield called the service unreliable and the delays unacceptable.

She said: Such an unreliable service being provided to residents is simply unacceptable, and as a nurse, I am very aware of how this could have a direct impact upon both the health of patients as well as create unwarranted delays within our hospitals and GP surgeries.

She has threatened to report the problems to a Government minister if they continue, the Guardian reports.

Such an unreliable service being provided to residents is simply unacceptable Maria Caulfield, Conservative MP for Lewes

Gary Palmer, from the trade union GMB, who represent ambulance drivers and workers involved, told MailOnline the situation is 'shambolic and chaotic'.

He said: Coperforma won the contract in November, and we gave them advice on how to arrange things so that this disastrous breakdown in the first few weeks didnt happen.

Its still going on, and Coperforma should have sorted it by now.

He added: Our members are frustrated  theyre caring NHS workers who just want to pick up patients.

These arent nameless numbers to them, theyre people theyve dealt with for many months and years.

But nothing comes up on the app to call them to a job, and when they use their own phones to call Coperformas control centre, they wait 45 minutes to get through.

Patients have become stuck at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, because their transport had not arrived, forcing the hospital to pay for taxis to take patients home

Sussex Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which run healthcare services in the area, has apologised to patients and launched an investigation into the matter.

A spokesperson said: We recognise that the first few days of the new non-emergency Sussex Patient Transport Service were not acceptable.

This is due to a number of complex issues, including problems with data transfer and patient booking information.

The Sussex CCGs apologise to all patients and users of the service.

The situation is shambolic and chaotic. The ambulance drivers are frustrated  theyre caring NHS workers who just want to pick up patients Gary Palmer, of the GMB union

'We assure you that we are taking this situation very seriously and are working with the new provider Coperforma, and our partners, to ensure the service meets the needs of our population as quickly as possible.

Coperforma also runs NHS transport services in Hampshire and London.

In a statement, it apologised to patients and families experiencing delays and said it is investigating formal complaints.

It said ambulances turned up at houses of people who had already died because these bookings were transferred to the company by the previous provider of the service.

Coperforma has since spoken directly with the families involved in these three cases and apologised for the distress caused.
Pig cells could be transplanted into humans within the next three years in a bid to cure diabetes, scientists claim.

Until now, the practice was forbidden over fears viruses could be passed from animals to people.

But this week, the Japanese Government relaxed the rules so that new trials could take place.

Scientists intend to transfer insulin-producing cells from pigs to humans in the hope of curing the disease.

If successful, the transplants could free sufferers from the need for daily injections.

Japanese scientists intend to transplant insulin-producing cells from pigs to humans within three years

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas stops producing insulin, the hormone that breaks down sugar in the blood.

As a result, blood sugar levels remain high, damaging the body's organs and systems.

A team at the National Centre for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, are hoping the pig tissue will continue to produce the hormone once inside the body and, as a result, help correct type 1 diabetes.

They intend to conduct the transplant within three years.

Previously, Japanese rules concerning animal tissue usage were restricted over fears swine-related viruses could carry-over to human recipients.

But after no documented cases were recorded the sanctions were recently relaxed.

Some British patients already undergo the human equivalent of this process - called islet transplantation - using pancreatic cells from deceased donors, which are then implanted into the liver.

Researchers in Tokyo are hoping the extracted tissue will continue to produce the peptide hormone once inside the body and, as a result, help correct Type I Diabetes

However, the procedure is expensive, rarely available on the NHS and can cause considerable side-effects, which means an animal-related breakthrough would offer more practical treatment.

The latest potential comes five years after it was discovered that human organs could be grown inside pigs for use in transplant operations.

In 2011 Professor Hiromitsu Nakauchi, director of the Centre for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Tokyo, found that by injecting stem cells into the embryo of one species, experts could create animals that have organs belonging to another species.

More recently,in 2013, researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University claimed pig cells could manage diabetes via an implant under the skin.
CJI TS Thakur said the Supreme Court would hear urgent matters during its 45-day summer break

Determined to bring down pendency, CJI TS Thakur said the Supreme Court would hear urgent matters during its 45-day summer break starting from May 15, and asked the bar association to chalk out a mechanism.

There are vacation benches to hear and decide cases and additionally, some judges may be requested to sit during the vacation for according regular hearing in matters where lawyers are willing to appear and argue, said Thakur.

BJP to play Ambedkar card

The BJP will now invoke Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkars views on nationalism in support of its campaign on the issue.

The party has chalked out big plans to observe the dalit icons birth anniversary on April 14 for three days in panchayats across the country.

In a series of programmes over the designated three days of celebrations, the government will be making a strong pitch to win over Dalits.

PM to tour Tamil Nadu next month

PM Modi will be touring Tamil Nadu next month. Apart from him, more than 20 national leaders of the BJP will be visiting the state.

The BJP is contesting the election alone as its allies in the 2014 LS polls, including the DMDK and PMK, have charted their own course.

The BJP had led a rainbow alliance at that time and managed to win one seat.

Modi addressed a rally in Coimbatore on February 2 but had refrained from talking about politics.

Theft cases put DMRC on its toes

After Delhi Metro stations, security has now been heightened at the DMRC headquarters following a theft involving an outsider.

All visitors are being doubly verified and their photographs are being taken before they are allowed entry to the Metro Bhavan.

Earlier, verification and entry of visitors was done inside the main building but now both have been shifted out of the building.

New additional director in CBI

Senior IPS officer Rakesh Asthaana has taken over as Additional Director in the Central Bureau of Investigation. The 1984-batch Gujarat cadre officer earlier served the CBI between 1992 and 2000.

Before joining the CBI, he served as Additional Director General (Armed Units), Gujarat.
Twenty-four-hour policing should be achievable without compromising the health and well-being of the policemen who make it possible.

A legal provision in the Police Act of 1861 and a corresponding section in the Delhi Police Act, 1978 which binds policemen to make themselves available for duty around-the-clock, is set to be tested before the Delhi High Court as a part of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

The high court has decided to look into the constitutional validity of Section 22 of the colonial legislation and Section 24 of the Delhi Police Act on a writ petition filed by an aggrieved Delhi Police constable.

But provisions which can be used to force a policeman to work for unreasonably long hours without proper breaks should have no place in our society.

The police force in India is still being governed by the 19th Century Police Act

The duty of officers to serve their country is a vital part of the culture of any uniformed force, but the problem is the absence of safeguards against exploitation.

Furthering the debate on police reforms, Babu Lal Mitharwal, who joined the Delhi Police as a constable in 2003, has contended in his petition that the provision in the 155-year-old Police Act and its post-Independence version in the 1978 Delhi law were in violation of his fundamental right to life (guaranteed under Article 21).

Though Mitharwal has relied merely on the broad ambit of Article 21, the provisions, in the absence of proper guidelines for manpower management, may also fall foul of Article 14 as they leave scope for harassment and the arbitrary exercise of power in allotment of duties.

Section 22 of the 1861 Act reads: Every police officer shall, for all purposes in this Act contained, be considered to be always on duty, and may at any time be employed as a police-officer in any part of the general police district.

The Delhi Police Act has a similar provision in Section 24, according to which policemen are deemed to be always on duty and are liable to employment in any part of Delhi.

With the police force in India still being governed by the 19th century Police Act enacted in the aftermath of the 1857 revolt or subsequent post-Independence versions primarily based on it, several committees, studies and reports have suggested holistic reform to make policing more efficient and responsive.

Though such recommendations have provoked serious debates, not much changed with reform being in the realm of policy-making which is the prerogative of the executive.

Babu Lal Mitharwal, a Delhi Police constable, believes the 155-year-old Act violates his fundamental rights

While hopes are high with the court having already sought response from the Centre, the Delhi government and the Delhi Police, the least the case is expected to do is to add a new chapter to the debate by highlighting that reform should not just benefit the society but policemen as well.

If the high court finds merit in the petition pointing to the harm being caused to the physical and mental health of policemen, this would be the second time some reform could take place on account of judicial intervention.

The Supreme Court, while ordering reform, issued some directions in 2006 aimed at minimising political interference and enhancing efficiency in functioning.

Most states abided by the order in letter, but not in spirit.

The intervention had been sought after the government did not implement the recommendations of the National Police Commission constituted in 1977 after police excesses during the Emergency.

While the matter was pending, the Centre constituted the Sorabjee committee, which drafted a model police Bill in 2006.

The Sorabjee committee, the petition points out, had recommended an average of maximum 8 hours of duty which could be extended up to 12 hours in certain exceptional circumstances if adequate compensation and facilities were provided.

The model law provides for healthcare, housing, insurance, special allowances and other benefits.

The report by the Gore committee, constituted by the government in 1971, records that the average working hours of subordinate police officers were, usually ten to sixteen every day, seven days of the week."

An increase in workforce and efficient manpower management to diffuse the pressure of work can ensure 24x7 policing without having a toll on policemen.

Educating children the RTE way

The Right to Education (RTE) once carried a different meaning for the rich and the poor in Uttar Pradesh.

This all changed with the intervention by the Allahabad High Court last month.

While private schools generally remained the first choice for the children of the rich, state government orders barred poor and disadvantaged students entitled to free education from seeking admission in private schools unless the seats in government schools were full.

With RTE making it obligatory for all schools to set aside at least 25 per cent of seats for children from weaker sections of society, the state government diktat not only favoured private schools by relieving them of their statutory obligation, but also violated the objective of the law to bring children belonging to weaker sections into the mainstream by ensuring access to facilities and means of learning they could not afford.

RTE makes it obligatory for all schools to set aside 25 per cent seats for children coming from weaker sections of society

The policy also made a distinction between poor children in urban and rural areas.

The state government had directed that children in urban wards should be admitted to private schools if no government-run establishments were available. This basically meant that poor children in rural areas had no right to seek free education in local private schools.

Noting that the policy negated the object of the RTE Act of 2009, the Allahabad High Court directed the state government to revisit its formulations so as to bring them in conformity with the law.

Cut down on tribunals from 36 to 17

Many post-retirement avenues for judges and bureaucrats are likely to be lost with the government proposing to cut down on the number of tribunals from 36 to 17.

The reduction would be possible with the convergence or merger of tribunals on which the Indian Law Institute (ILI) had already conducted a study and submitted a report.

The move is likely to help cut down on expenditure as some tribunals may not have an adequate number of cases to justify their independent existence.

The main problem will be to work out modalities for dealing with matters pending before the tribunals which would be disbanded.

This is the second significant step after the decision to repeal hundreds of irrelevant laws to simplify the adjudication process.

The government has already asked the registrars of all 36 tribunals to compile and send details of pending cases.

Never trust a lawyer in shorts

The Bar Council of India (BCI) could not keep itself away from the controversy over a tiff between a teacher and law students over dress.

Following the controversy over a Bangalore National Law School professor reprimanding a student for coming to class in shorts, the BCI sent a note to all law colleges asking them to prescribe a befitting dress code for students.

The April 7 letter to all universities and law colleges pointed to a recommendation in this regard approved by the BCI in October last year.
With public sector banks (PSBs) coming under scrutiny after the ongoing Vijay Mallya case, the Supreme Court (SC) said on Tuesday that the total amount of unpaid loans still outstanding should be made public - but without disclosing the defaulters names.

But the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) vehemently opposed the Court, citing the confidentiality clause.

Taking strong exception to failure to repay more than Rs 500 crore, the apex court surveyed the RBI's list of defaulting companies and individuals, saying: This information does make out a case. This is quite a substantial amount which is involved.

RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has vehemently opposed the total amount of the unpaid loans still outstanding to be made public, citing the confidentiality clause

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) T.S. Thakur and Justice R. Banumathi was referring to documents submitted by the RBI in a sealed cover and said that the figures have gone up since June 2014 and are not confidential.

Farmers are forced to sell land for thousand rupees and here you have those running away after taking thousands of crores as loan, CJI Thakur observed in an apparent reference to Mallya, who had secretly left for the UK while facing legal proceedings for the recovery of loans worth more than Rs 9,000 crore.

Making several scathing remarks two weeks after the RBI submitted the list, the CJI asked the Central bank: What are you doing to recover the money? What are the steps you are contemplating? You are the regulator and you must act as a watchdog. Are you not supposed to keep a vigil on what they are doing? Banks should not be allowed to grant loans recklessly.

While submitting the list, the RBI had said it is extremely necessary to keep these names confidential as they would have an impact on the economy.

The RBI had filed an affidavit on the direction of the court. The Bench had last month taken suo motu cognisance of media reports that Rs 1.14 lakh crore of bad loans had been written off by PSBs between 2013 and 2015.

The Bench had ordered the RBI to share with it the names of defaulters who owe more than Rs 500 crore and continue to lead a lavish lifestyle.

The court has told solicitor general Ranjit Kumar that it has enlarged the scope of the case and will examine all parameters of bad loans and defaults.

The Bench asked advocate Prashant Bhushan and the lawyer for the banks to formulate a list of questions and issues that call for deliberation during the hearing.

Is there any confidentiality in the report filed by the RBI in the sealed cover? That can be one of the questions, CJI Thakur told Bhushan, who appeared for non-governmental organisation Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL).

The SC was hearing a petition filed by the CPIL in 2003, when it first raised the issue of loans advanced to some companies by the state-owned Housing and Urban Development Corporation.

CBI to send judicial requests to five countries in Vijay Mallya, KFA case

Vijay Mallya the owner of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will soon send judicial requests to, at least, five countries, including the US and the UK, to seek information about alleged diversion of loans received by defunct Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) from IDBI.

Sources said that the move has been prompted by good inputs received from Financial Intelligence Unit on the transactions of KFA. They said that so far, the agency has prepared letters rogatory (LR - judicial requests - to be sent to the UK, the US, Hong Kong, France and Switzerland.

Sources added as the investigation progresses, the agency will approach some other countries for information about transactions and remittance made by the Vijay Mallya-promoted airline, which is under the CBI scanner.

The CBI suspects that a major chunk of the Rs 950-crore loans taken from IDBI, which was transferred to Axis Bank, was used for foreign remittance towards lease rentals and purchase of parts of aircraft.

Since the remittance has gone outside the country, further inquiry can only be made by sending LR for foreign investigation by taking up a regular case, inspector Varsha Verma had recommended after completing her preliminary inquiry into the matter on July 28, 2015.

The agency had registered a first information report the next day but carried out searches nearly three months after it.
Plot: CPP founder Hamish Ogston is seeking to dethrone the chief executive and chairman

A bitter boardroom power struggle at CPP looks destined to end in a showdown at court, writes James Burton.

The credit card firms founder Hamish Ogston is seeking to dethrone the chief executive and chairman in a bid to regain control.

But the pair have fought back and applied for a high court injunction to block his plot  meaning Ogston will be summoned to a hearing next week.

It could mean he is barred from voting in a crucial shareholder meeting on May 5 to decide if they should be sacked.

CPP was set up by Ogston in 1980 and he made about 120million from its 2010 floatation on the London Stock Exchange.

Two years later the company was fined 10.5million for selling worthless insurance for debit, credit and store cards.

Ogston tried to take it private and stepped down as a director in 2013 after failing to do so.

The business is run by chairman Roger Canham and chief executive Stephen Callaghan.

But Ogston still owns a 42 per cent stake  and he is widely believed to be behind a move by shareholder Schroders to remove the duo.

It wants to replace them with Cable & Wireless Communications chairman Sir Richard Lapthorne, deputy chairman Mark Hamlin and former executive Nick Hooper.

In a letter, CPPs current board last week said that none of these candidates had regulatory approval to work in the industry and had no clear strategy to lead the firm.

It said Ogston was a long-standing investment client of a Schroders affiliate and had tried to get back on the board in 2014 and 2015.
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. Israeli poet, editor, founder of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies Ora Ahimeir is against that her country sells weapons to Azerbaijan for using it against Armenia. She told the reporters about this at the American University of Armenia on April 13 at the beginning of a conference headlined Genocide and literature: Comparative prospects of Israel and Armenia.

I am against it. Israel produces and exports a great quantity of weapons. I feel very sorry that Azerbaijan uses that weapons against Armenia, Armenpress reports the intellectual mentioning.

To the remark of journalists if she, as an intellectual, has any levers to call on the government not to sell arms to Azerbaijan, Ora Ahimeir answered, Pen is the weapon of interllectuals and writers. If they are against something, they necessarily write about it. We have no direct influence on the state policy. I am convinced that the voice of the intellectuals has been heard, they spoke and speak about it and people hear that.
Taking over? Tracker funds, run by computers rather than humans, hold 107billion of savers cash

Savers are ditching millionaire fund managers and replacing them with robots that can pick shares for them for a fraction of the cost.

Increasingly popular tracker funds, which are run by computers rather than humans, hold 107 billion of savers cash.

These low-cost funds aim to match the performance of a chosen stock market, such as the FTSE 100 or Americas S&P 500.

Their annual management charges are as little as 0.06 per cent, compared with around 1 per cent for a traditional fund run by a professional stockpicker.

These tracker funds  which account for 1 in every 8 invested by savers  are becoming more sophisticated.

New versions are being created that are programmed to find the best shares, rather than simply mirror average stock market returns.

For example, some will find stocks that pay the highest income. Others will find the lowest-risk shares to keep your savings steadier.

Experts say smart trackers could drive fund managers to extinction because they do a very similar job  without the high fees.

And money is pouring in. Figures show that almost 10 billion has been invested in smart trackers  up 40 per cent in a year. In the past 12 months, more than 80 have been launched.

Adam Laird, investment manager at Hargreaves Lansdown, says: Tracker funds caught savers attention because they were cheap, but now they need to do something else.

There has been a realisation that many fund managers have a very simple process that can be made into a set of rules which a computer programme can follow easily.

One in five funds is just a tracker fund in disguise, according to researcher Morningstar. It found they charged an expensive fee, even though they just copied the stock market.

And over the past decade, three-quarters of UK equity funds have grown more slowly than the stock market theyre trying to beat, research by ratings expert Standard & Poors found.

There are a lot of fund managers out there who are not doing anything very special, says Mr Laird.

We dont want to see the good managers who genuinely do something different disappear, but if its a simple process that a tracker can replicate, then it may make sense to use that instead.

Nick Samuels, head of research at Redington, says: The bottom line is that fund managers, with higher charges, should be able to beat their benchmarks and any relevant tracker funds  otherwise what is the point of hiring them?

One of the most common strategies of these new, smart tracker funds is to produce an income for savers.

They do this by seeking out companies that pay a higher than average dividend and so can effectively act as a cheap version of a UK Equity Income fund.

The iShares UK Dividend tracker, for example, has returned 20.3 per cent over the past three years. This would have turned a 10,000 nest egg into 12,030.

The FTSE All Share has returned around 11.3 per cent in that time, increasing your pot to 11,130.

However, funds with good managers have topped both of these returns.

The Invesco Perpetual High Income fund has returned 26.1 per cent  or 2,610 on a 10,000 investment  in that time, while Unicorn UK Income has returned 34.5 per cent, or 3,450.

Another common concern for savers is how to protect their cash when the stockmarket takes a tumble.

The trackers that aim to help here are known as low-volatility funds. They are similar to absolute return funds  theyre not aiming to grow your money particularly quickly, but should be good at protecting it.

New versions of tracker funds are being created that are programmed to find the best shares, rather than simply mirror average stock market returns

The iShares MSCI World Minimum Volatility tracker fund has returned 41 per cent, or 4,100, over the past three years.

Meanwhile, the average Global fund has returned 19.8 per cent, 1,980, and Standard Life Global Absolute Return Strategies  the nearest competitor  has returned 4.6 per cent, 460.

The tracker fund has an annual charge of just 0.3 per cent compared with around 1.5 per cent for the Standard Life fund.

Another version can help balance your money more evenly across the stockmarket.

Normal FTSE 100 trackers invest a larger proportion of money in giant oil and mining companies, which make up a good proportion of the value of the stockmarket.

The Ossiam Stoxx Europe 600 EqualWeight ETF does this in the European stockmarket.

It has returned 24 per cent over the past three years  2,400. That compares with the L&G European Index fund, which mirrors the European stockmarket and returned 15.7 per cent, or 1,570.

Hector McNeil, a director at Wisdomtree Europe, says: For the first time, tracker funds are going to be judged on their performance, rather than on their cost.

Traditional funds will survive where the fund manager is doing something different and delivering returns, but smart beta funds could replace those that are not.

If you are considering a smart beta fund, be sure to check the charges. You shouldnt be paying more than 0.5 per cent.

Make sure the fund has a track record of at least three years and that you properly understand its strategy. And, as with any investments, dont put all your money in one fund.

You need to make sure there is diversity in your investments to reduce the risk of it all taking a hit at once if theres stock-market turmoil.
Major companies are facing a rebellion by shareholders over fat-cat pay deals.

This week could see the start of what is being dubbed another shareholder spring where the pay packets of the bosses of many big firms are voted on by investors at annual meetings.

BP, Reckitt Benckiser, AstraZeneca and Persimmon are all expected to face protests on the multi-million packages bosses have been awarded.

The showdown begins tomorrow with the annual general meetings of oil supermajor BP and housebuilder Persimmon.

Simon Walker, director general of the Institute of Directors, said: Executive pay has ratcheted to unacceptable levels.

Shareholders should speak out more. They have behaved in a supine way. They should be asking questions. Fund managers are not holding businesses to account.

BP boss Bob Dudley is expected to be targeted as he is in line for a package of 13.9million despite the firm laying off 5,000 staff and incurring its largest ever loss of 4.6billion last year.

This largely related to the fines and costs for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster and the continued weak oil price.

Among those voicing concerns will be shareholder advisory groups ShareSoc, ISS and Glass Lewis, and lobby group Pirc who have recommended that BP shareholders reject the remuneration.

Consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckisers chief executive Rakesh Kapoor is in under fire as he is in line for 23million, which investors believe is excessive.

In autumn 2013, rules were imposed on companies which forced them to put their pay policy to a vote by shareholders.

This would be a binding vote that could force a company to change its ways. This policy gets voted on every three years.

Previously, while shareholders were able to vote on executive pay packages every year, their votes were not binding, so in theory the board could ignore the vote.

As a result investors fear that companies are hiking pay deals this year ahead of the binding votes on their pay policies due next year.

BP boss Bob Dudley is expected to be targeted as he is in line for a package of 13.9million despite the firm laying off 5,000 staff and incurring its largest ever loss of 4.6billion last year

The first so-called shareholder spring was in 2012 when pay revolts by investors hastened the downfall of AstraZenecas chief executive David Brennan, Trinity Mirrors Sly Bailey and Andrew Moss at Aviva.

However, Stefan Stern, the director of lobby group the High Pay Centre, said the previous shareholder spring was a lot more talk than action and that investors should do more.

But large institutional investors, who own thousands of shares in big-name corporates, are beginning to speak out.

Royal London Asset Management branded the proposed increase in Dudleys pay as unreasonable and insensitive and yesterday top 10 shareholder Aberdeen Asset Management also expressed its concern.

BP has defended the pay awards and said it is linked to the companys strategy and results of which were strong across all its measures.

Reckitt said the pay awards need to be considered in the context of the share performance of the company. Kapoors awards are 95 per cent based on performance.

AstraZeneca chairman Leif Johansson said in its annual report that the interests of the executive directors and other senior leaders are aligned with the interests of shareholders over the short, medium and longer term.
Carrot-topped insurance tycoon Hamish Ogston, 57, who is in dispute with the company he founded, CPP, has suffered poor public relations over the years.

His firm was fined 10.5million in 2012 after selling useless credit card insurance to seven million customers.

When the Financial Services Authority predicted a 1.3billion compensation payout, the insensitive goon described the figure as b*******.

Thankfully, I notice he has a less-critical Wikipedia page which appears to absolve him of much of the controversy at the time.

It also gives lengthy attention to public-school educated Ogstons philanthropic work.

Having collected a CBE in 2011, lets hope past events havent dented his prospects of a knighthood.

Cuts at Japanese bank Nomuras London offices sound brutal.

A number of equity analysts were laid off this week. Bosses informed them they had 20 minutes to clear their desks before they were ceremoniously frogmarched from their building near London Bridge.

Almost makes the Samurais deployment of seppuku  execution via disembowelment  seem rather tame by comparison.

The Prime Minister was never likely to go in to the City like his late father Ian, whose offshore investments are the subject of a recent furore.

A former employee at Ians brokerage, Panmure Gordon, informs me Cameron once came in to its offices as a rosy-cheeked youth for work experience.

After showing him the ins and outs of gilt settlements, Cameron Jr displayed little enthusiasm. He writes: David was well mannered, friendly, and eager to learn but alas after testing the waters of a broker he clearly wanted to do other things.

Instead Dave landed a job with the Conservatives at the urging of a Buckingham Palace flunkey.

Why is Goldman Sachs, which has donated a six figure sum to the In campaign, so worried about a Brexit?

The Wall Street Journal says it frets its vast, 1billion European headquarters in London, due for completion in 2019, will become a giant white elephant should it have to rejig its operations.

The infamous Vampire Squids current HQ is the stunning art deco building on Fleet Street, where Im told bosses have their own in-house masseuses.

Doubtless the buildings previous proprietor, brutish newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook, would have approved.

Supposedly edgy rockers The Killers, David Camerons favourite band, will perform at this years SALT conference, an annual back-slapping event for financiers hosted by New York-based hedge fund Skybridge Capital.
What a ghastly week its been for honest families who pay their taxes.

The way David Cameron has been dragged through the mud for inheriting money from his parents is damaging for us all.

Let me be clear: the Prime Minister has done nothing wrong in accepting a 200,000 gift from his mother. And neither has she in giving it to him.

Yes, its a hefty sum of money. But the inheritance tax laws are quite simple. If someone gives money to a relative or friend and dies within seven years, its liable to tax.

Not guilty: Prime Minister David Cameron has done nothing wrong in accepting a 200,000 gift from his mother. And neither has she in giving it to him

The rule is there to stop the wealthy escaping big bills by funnelling cash to an heir on their deathbeds. If we have inheritance taxes at all, it does make sense to have a rule like that.

Mrs Cameron gave her son 200,000 in 2011. So, if she passes away within the next two years, Mr Cameron will have to hand over up to 80,000 to his pal at the Treasury, George Osborne (taking into account taper relief).

Its worth remembering that inheritance tax is charged only when someones estate  including their house and other assets  is worth more than 325,000 (or a total of 650,000 from both parents). The 40 per cent levy applies only to the surplus.

So, unless we have another witchhunt and ask Mr Camerons poor mother to publish details of her will, it still wont be clear how much tax her son might avoid if the 200,000 falls within her total estate.

At Money Mail, were always publishing tips to help you shelter cash from the clutches of the taxman. Im unapologetic about it.

Weve been lifelong fans of cash Isas as one of the simplest ways to beat tax on the interest from savings.

Weve also campaigned to keep tax relief on pensions. You pay no income tax on money salted away for retirement until you withdraw it, at which point 25 per cent is tax-free as a lump sum. The same goes for gifts to cut inheritance tax bills.

Whenever we write about dreaded death duties, we spell out that everyone is allowed to give 3,000 a year to someone else with no comeback from HM Revenue & Customs.

You can also give 250 to any number of individuals, as well as 5,000 for a childs wedding or 2,500 for a grandchilds nuptials.

You can give away as much as you want from your annual income as long as it doesnt affect your lifestyle. Its all completely legal and encouraged. You can also give away regular amounts  as birthday presents, for example  without a tax official batting an eyelid.

Its a travesty that these vital allowances are under threat.

Mr Camerons dithering has left the door open for Jeremy Corbyn and Labour to launch a vicious attack on tax-free gifts.

The public is angry about tax avoidance, Labours leader says. Mr Corbyn says the issue with Mr Camerons mothers gift is that it does actually reduce the level of inheritance tax that is available for the Exchequer as a whole.

If hes voted into office in 2020, he could bin the inheritance tax allowances altogether.

What folly that would be. Youd be forgiven for thinking that Mr Corbyn secretly hates traditional British family life.

When did it become immoral, for example, to give money to a grandchild to help with their university fees, a deposit on a home or a first car?

Should parents be blocked from helping their children with wedding or medical bills or the cost of training for a career change?

Mr Corbyn is talking about using the tax system to stop older people sharing the fruits of decades of hard work with those they love most.

Im not sure where he thinks younger generations will find this sort of money. And Im certain hes misjudged how upsetting families would find yet another tax raid.

If the seven-year gift rule is scrapped, it sets a dangerous precedent. Imagine telling people the few bob they earned as a paperboy in the Sixties should be taxed as part of their estate because it was given away to a friend.

No, what Mr Corbyn is proposing would not just be folly, but an unforgivable crime that threatens to rip apart the very fabric of British family life.

HOW INHERITANCE TAX WORKS AND PENDING CHANGES The main threshold for paying inheritance tax is 325,000 for a single person. That can double to 650,000 for married couples and civil partners who pass on wealth. This is because spouses can transfer assets to each other without being liable for inheritance tax. Any unused allowance from the first spouse to die is therefore taken on by the surviving partner. New tax allowances: Changes announced by Chancellor George Osborne last summer should lift the vast majority of homeowners out of inheritance tax by 2020 The present Government wants only the very wealthy to pay inheritance tax. However, many more people have been lifted out of the 'nil rate band' because of stratospheric house price rises over recent decades, as the Saga research and other studies have shown. To lessen the impact of this, Chancellor George Osborne announced plans in last July's Budget to lift main family homes worth up to 1million out of inheritance tax by 2020, if they are left to direct descendents. This means children - including stepchildren, adopted children and foster children - and their descendants. However, the way this works will be more complicated than it sounds. Under the changes from 6 April 2017, a new inheritance tax allowance will be introduced for people passing on their main home, which will be added to the existing 325,000 or 650,000 allowance. This new allowance will be slowly ratcheted up over the next few years, to fulfil the pledge that married couples and civil partners can leave main homes worth up to 1million to their families by 2020. The allowance will rise as follows in coming tax years: 100,000 in 2017/2018; 125,000 in 2018/2019; 150,000 in 2019/2020; and 175,000 in 2020/2021. It will then rise in line with inflation - using the consumer price index or CPI rate - from 2021 onwards. Meanwhile, people whose estates are worth more than 2million will have these additional allowances gradually withdrawn, tapered at a rate of 1 for every 2 their estate is over this amount. An inheritance tax credit is available so that people who own an expensive home and want to sell it before they die can still benefit from the changes. This is to avoid elderly people skewing the housing market by staying put rather than moving to a smaller property or into a care home. The credit can be claimed by anyone who has moved from 8 July 2015 onwards.

Tap appy

Another week, another dose of bonkers tech wizardry for daily banking.

To cut the number of passwords that customers have to remember, Nationwide is working on a way to identify you from your mobile phone habits.

Itll track how you hold, tap, swipe and type into the handset. It says every persons patterns are unique. Eventually, it could be used as your internet banking log-in.

I can understand why fingerprints could replace passwords. But is this really necessary? Nationwide is far from the worst offender when it comes to wasting money on vanity projects.

But Id prefer to see it use its spare cash to give savers a little more than the piddling 1.1 per cent interest theyre offering on their easy-access Isas this year.

Headline news

Eagle-eyed readers may notice a small tweak to Money Mail today.

When we tell you about savings rates, we are giving the before tax number first (and putting the rate after 20 per cent basic-rate tax is included in brackets). It used to be the other way around.

The reason for the change is the new personal savings allowance introduced on April 6. Banks and building societies now pay you interest before tax, rather than after 20 per cent is deducted.

We thought having the headline rate first would help in wokring out how much of your new 1,000 tax-free allowance (500 for higher-rate taxpayers) youre going to use up when you open an account.
After my mother died last August, I phoned Sainsbury's Bank to request that a new direct debit be set up so that my father could continue making repayments on a loan.

They would not discuss details with me because I was not the account holder, even though my father, who is hard of hearing, had given permission for me to act on his behalf.

Sainsbury's Bank promised to write to him. The next we heard was on October 12, when they wrote to inform him that he was in arrears.

I tried to phone, but the automated system would not recognise the loan number. When I eventually got through, the person I spoke to did not seem very willing to listen to my experience nor offer advice on how to proceed.

On October 21, I paid 141 from my own bank account to stop the situation escalating.

At this stage I was advised to post a letter of authority as well as my mother's death certificate to bereavement services so that I could discuss the matter over the phone.

My father then received two letters requesting the full loan be repaid immediately and telling him he had incurred a 25 charge.

G. D., Brentwood, Essex.

Crass: Sainsbury's refused to allow one reader to pay off their late mother's debts

When dealing with bereaved customers, financial institutions are expected to behave in a professional and sympathetic manner.

The behaviour of Sainsbury's Bank's towards your family could best be described as crass, unprofessional, unsympathetic and heavy handed.

You acted impeccably by attempting to set up a new direct debit when you knew the one from your mother's account would be stopped.

Its staff put up unnecessary barriers and were generally unhelpful to you.

A spokesman told me that it takes its customers' information and security very seriously, and apologises for the delays in making changes to your father's account, particularly at this difficult time for your family.

Sainsbury's Bank says it could not speak to your father by phone due to his hearing impediment, so it had to request permission to deal with you in writing.

That's as may be, but if, as you say, your father gave permission for a member of staff to discuss the situation with you, that should have been sufficient, particularly under the circumstances.

At the very least, the member of staff should have made sure you were passed to a bereavement specialist. A note should also have been made on your account to prevent your father receiving the shocking demand to repay the loan in full.

Sainsbury's Bank has promised it will continue to monitor the account until it is running correctly. It has refunded any fees that were charged and promises that no more will be added while the situation is resolved.

It has also paid your father compensation of 150, and a spokesman has apologised for the distress caused.

YOU HAVE YOUR SAY Every week, Money Mail receives hundreds of your letters and emails about our stories. Heres what you had to say about our investigation into customer service failures at the mobile phone giant: Since the end of January, Ive had many problems with Vodafone and every time I contact them things seem to get worse. Needless to say, Ive had no reply and theres been no improvement. J. Y., Renfrewshire. Ive experienced what I can only describe as customer service hell from this woeful organisation ever since I upgraded my handset. Stressful doesnt come close to summarising my experience over the past six months. Its no exaggeration to say Ive probably spent in excess of 12 hours sitting in my local store, and I dread to think how many hours Ive wasted in telephone conversations with multiple Vodafone employees. M. T., Newbury, Berks. Ive been with Vodafone for 18 years and didnt realise they had become so bad until I renewed by contract six months ago. They are the most incompetent company Ive ever dealt with. I was reduced to tears through sheer frustration! I cant wait for my contract to be up so I can leave. C. M., Cardiff. I ended my contract last week after being with Vodafone for four years. I didnt have a problem in that time and my bill has always been the same  I have only left because I found a better deal. My experience was very pleasant, even when ending the service. A. A., Lancs. Oh, yes, I know about this. I have sent two letters but have not received an acknowledgment, let alone a response. Thats after countless online chats with customer service advisers and phone calls. Vodafone is a joke. B. T., Portsmouth. We had five phones with these idiots about 15 years ago. They messed us around so much we left. They then pursued me for 10 I supposedly owed them. I paid in the end just to shut them up. I smile every time I read a story like this as it makes me think of the thousands of pounds we never gave them. Awful company. T. W., Eastbourne, E. Sussex. I have had an ongoing problem for the past three months. Its very difficult to get hold of the right people and when you do, despite reassurances, nothing is done. Ofcom should make it as easy to change phone providers as it is to change utility companies. M. C., London. A Desperately bad company to deal with. Im owed 500 and just get passed from pillar to post. K. C., Swindon, Wilts.

I am one of six siblings who all own our own homes. Twelve years ago, our parents decided to give ownership of their house to us.

A solicitor advised them they could divide ownership of their property just into four.

As only my two brothers were present, my parents decided to pass ownership to them on the understanding that when the time came to sell the house, my brothers would divide the proceeds of the sale into six. My dad passed away four years ago; Mum is still well and living in the house.

When the time comes to sell the house, will the proceeds be liable to capital gains tax?

And would there be income tax to pay on the four sisters' share of the proceeds?

Mrs J. E., W. Yorks.

I'm afraid this is a very complex situation and, as Patricia Mock, tax director at accountant Deloitte, told me, you really need to take professional advice.

I'd suggest a solicitor who specialises in trust and property law as well as a tax expert.

Ms Mock says: 'If the property was put into the names of two siblings, but your parents intended all six of you to benefit, then it is likely that the two siblings are holding the property on trust for all six siblings. On its sale, they will need to divide the proceeds equally between you.

'If none of you is living in the house, the gain on sale (based on the difference between the sale proceeds and the property value when it was passed to the two siblings) will be subject to capital gains tax.'

She warns there are also likely to be inheritance tax implications for your parents' estates if they passed ownership of their property to you, but continued to live in it.

Laws on passing down property have gradually been tightened and Ms Mock warns: 'It's very difficult to include the family home as part of your inheritance tax planning.

'A gift to the children of a family home in which you continue to live will normally only be effective for inheritance tax purposes if a full market rent is paid for occupation.'

The upshot of all this is clear: you need to get professional advice.

I bought three tickets for a total of 123 from Groupon to see War Of The Worlds with my sons.

When I went to pay, an error message came up and said my order could not be processed.

I waited a few minutes, but nothing happened and no confirmation came, so I placed the order again. I've now been charged twice, for six tickets! Groupon said cancellation rights don't apply to tickets. What can I do?

L. J., Banbury, Oxon.

This issue crops up from time to time with online purchases.

It may have been something technical, such as a split- second glitch with your internet connection or their computers.

It's always best to call the firm to check a purchase hasn't gone through before trying again.

Groupon says it will give you a full refund and an extra 50 to spend as a goodwill gesture.

It has also promised to investigate, just in case this is a recurring problem on its site.
An economist has claimed gold will soar in value in the coming years and cited cyber warfare as the number one reason people will pile into the commodity.

James Rickards, chief global strategist at West Shore Funds, told Bloomberg Markets that the 21st century cyber age poses risks to digital money and wealth to all investors and savers.

He claims gold will climb to $10,000 an ounce if confidence in currency collapses, which he believes could happen as a result of another financial crisis. The precious metal is currently trading around $1,250 an ounce.

James Rickards: The economist told Bloomberg Markets that gold will soar in value in the coming years

He cites hacking, cyber warfare and terrorism as the biggest threats to digital wealth, which is how most money is now held.

He points to the case in Bangladesh last month which saw $80million stolen from its central bank  and he thinks this type of fraud could become more prevalent in the coming years.

Mr Rickards, who has released a book called The New Case for Gold, which is currently in the top 200 selling books on online retailer Amazon, also claims that digital wealth is being attacked by the Russian President.

He told Bloomberg Markets: 'There are new reasons to have gold, which I talk about in the book, 21st century reasons.

'Vladimir Putin has a 6,000-member cyber brigade working night and day to destroy, disrupt and erase digital wealth.

'So how many billionaires do you say "what do you have, stocks, bonds?" No you don't, you have electrons. Putin can wipe those out. The thing about gold, you can't hack it, you can't erase it, you can't delete it. It's tangible.'

Mr Rickards didn't reveal on the programme where he has gathered information that Mr Putin does have a cyber-army of hackers.

Mr Rickards also claims China is trying to buy three thousand tonnes of gold to hold the same level as the US, which currently holds eight thousand tonnes.

This represents around 10 per cent of the gold market and could drive up prices.

Back on the rise? Gold has fallen since 2011 - but in the last few months, it has seen some uplift

To put this into context, Gordon Brown infamously sold 400 tonnes of gold between 1999 and 2002, nowhere near the amount China is reportedly after.

Rickards described gold as a chameleon as it is viewed as a commodity, investment and money. He says he thinks of it as money, claiming it is liquid because it 'sells in a heartbeat.'

He also says investors should physically hold gold, rather than through an exchange traded fund - these have become a hugely popular way of investing in gold in recent years. He says: 'paper gold is paper gold' and that it's vital to own physical coins and bars stored in a vault.

Gold has had a rocky time since the financial crisis, where many investors piled in, seeing it as a safe haven.

It tipped above $1,800 an ounce five years ago and has since slipped to around $1,250 an ounce. However, it has recovered slightly since November, when prices slipped to $1,050 an ounce.

A number of banks have turned bullish on gold, including HSBC. Murray Gunn, HSBC's head of technical analysis, believes gold has hit the bottom of its recent low and is forming a new, substantial upward trend.
HSBC risks losing its US banking licence if US authorities decide to investigate and find it has acted improperly over the Panama Papers tax leaks, experts warned.

It will pile pressure on British regulators to act robustly on any evidence of money-laundering in the documents, which show the bank and affiliates used law firm Mossack Fonseca to set up 2,300 shell companies for clients.

And it comes as French police raided the headquarters of Societe Generale bank over its links to Panama.

Threat: HSBC could lose its US banking licence if American authorities decide to investigate it over the Panama Papers tax leaks

Prime Minister David Cameron has created a task force to examine the links between Panama and the UK financial system.

But Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative member of the Treasury Select Committee, said ultra-tough US regulators would step in if Britain failed to respond strongly.

That could lead to any fines being paid to American authorities and HSBC could even lose its right to operate in the country.

The bank is already on thin ice after being fined 1.2billion and savaged by the Senate over its links to drug kingpins and rogue nations in a 2012 Mexican money-laundering scandal.

If criminal charges had been brought, HSBC could have lost its US licence  putting the future of the entire bank at risk.

Rees-Mogg said: American regulators are incredibly tough. Its very important that domestic regulators look into this.
Denial: Ofcom boss Sharon White

Ofcom has rejected accusations it backed down from splitting up BT.

Sharon White, the telecoms watchdogs boss, told the Culture Media & Sport Select Committee that the regulator had not been lobbied into submission by stopping short of separating BTs network division Openreach from the main firm.

White told MPs: Thats absolutely not the case. 

Ofcom is still in discussions with BT over how best to solve concerns Openreach is hindering competition among rivals.

A recent Ofcom report demanded improvements to Openreachs customer service.

The watchdog has kept the option on the table of splitting Openreach from BT, but is seeking a less drastic separation which would see Openreach become a wholly-owned subsidiary within BT.
A former RBS banker has avoided a 250,000 fine for rate rigging because he is suffering serious financial hardship.

Paul White was involved in setting inter-bank lending, or Libor, rates for Swiss francs and Japanese yen.

The City watchdog found he took the views of traders into account, giving them influence over the market.

Let off: Former RBS banker Paul White has avoided a 250,000 fine for rate rigging because he is suffering serious financial hardship

In one conversation in 2010, White said he would try to push rates 'up a pip' after an external broker asked him to.

And in 2008, the banker agreed to manipulate the rate after being offered 'some sushi rolls'.

White has been banned from working in the industry for life.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said he knew traders who contacted him 'were motivated by financial interests' and had committed 'extremely serious' breaches of its rules.

It said that Mr White was asked by an external broker on June 22 2010 whether he 'got a bit less emotion in the 3's fix (JPY) today?'

He replied: 'unchanged should be the call, u want higher?'.

Temptation: In 2008, White agreed to manipulate the rate after being offered 'some sushi rolls'

The broker said: 'yah, if not a msve prob', with Mr White replying, 'will c what we can do, maybe up a pip'.

Mark Steward, FCA's director of enforcement and market oversight, said Mr White's ban should reinforce the message that 'serious failures will result in substantial penalties'.

He said: 'As a Libor submitter Mr White had an obligation to ensure the submissions he made were proper ones.

'By allowing his submissions to be set, in effect, by those with collateral financial interests in the outcome, Mr White recklessly disregarded the risk - the obvious risk - that his Libor submission might corrupt Libor's integrity.'

The FCA said White was let off because he provided evidence of financial hardship, although this information is not being shared with the public.

It had handed the former RBS trader a warning notice on June 18 2014, but action was halted due to an ongoing criminal investigation from the Serious Fraud Office into some of the bank's staff

The FCA said Mr White's ban was the fourth public action taken against a trader for manipulating Libor submissions.

It has also handed out seven fines for Libor misconduct worth 426 million.

A criminal investigation into Libor rigging was conducted by the Serious Fraud Office. The watchdog has fined seven firms a total of 426million for rigging the inter-bank lending rate.




Victims of cruel bank scams are being left thousands of pounds out of pocket because the authorities won't help them.

A This is Money and Money Mail investigation found banks routinely fob off customers who have been duped by fraudsters into emptying their accounts.

More than seven in ten victims are being told it's their fault after falling for sophisticated confidence tricks. Others are being blamed for giving passwords to devious conmen or using out-of-date antivirus software on their computers.

Tough: Banks routinely fob off customers who have been duped by fraudsters into emptying their accounts

Instead of offering refunds, banks are telling the victims to contact Action Fraud, the national, Home Office-funded cyber-crime reporting centre.

But we can reveal that eight in ten fraud cases sent to Action Fraud, run by the City of London Police, are binned. Its call centre, with just 72 staff, is being bombarded with 30,000 cases a month.

It passes just 6,000 to police. Insiders say cases are automatically thrown out if the money has been sent to an overseas account because it's 'harder to trace'.

And just 1 per cent of the cases police do receive are investigated  which means that two in 1,000 are acted upon.

According to a senior official, police are so stretched they launch a full investigation only if they think a big criminal gang is involved.

Victims of a fraud epidemic sweeping Britain say they feel abandoned in the battle to recover their life savings.

Many never hear back from Action Fraud and give up. Others are appealing to the financial ombudsman, which is inundated with a record 100 complaints a week from victims. It says four in ten of these were unfairly palmed off by banks.

SIX STEPS TO BEAT THE CROOKS 1 If someone contacts you claiming to be from a fraud department, tell them nothing. A bank, police force or government department would never cold call you and ask for personal details or tell you to move money to a safer location. 2 If you are suspicious, hang up and then call back from a different phone  a mobile or a neighbours. Some scammers have a clever trick where they stay on your line even after youve hung up. This means they can hear you discussing your details with the bank. 3 Be wary of all unsolicited calls, texts and emails  even if they look the same as past communications. If you are to make a payment for building work or solicitors fees and you get an email saying their account details have changed, call and check. 4 Watch for aggressive tactics, such as threatening to close your account if you dont move your money. A legitimate company would not act that way. 5 Beware of adverts from companies offering cash rewards for online surveys. They will ask for your bank details to pay you  and then remove your money. 6 Just because youve spoken to a company that morning doesnt mean a call received later that day is definitely from the same firm.

Justin Modray, of Candid Money, says: 'Fraud is a rising problem for banks and customers and it's unlikely the banks will want to pay compensation every time a customer has been duped.

'I can see this becoming a nightmare as it's often tough to establish whether fraud victims 'should have known better'. Banks and customers could do more to tighten their security practices.

'The only winners in all this appear to be the fraudsters.'

Banking fraud is rising at a whopping 72 per cent a year. Losses reached 755 million in 2015. Most of these were covered by banks.

The boom is being fuelled by crooks exploiting the internet to carry out ever sneakier ruses.

Banks must cover fraud losses unless they can prove the customer was 'grossly negligent'. You might be refused a refund if you write down passwords in an obvious place or tell someone your PIN.

Now banks are using this loophole to turn away customers who hand money to conmen unknowingly.

One scam on the rise is 'vishing', or voice phishing. Con artists phone bank customers and masquerade as the police or bank staff.

They warn of a fraud attack on your account. They then persuade you to reveal your details and cajole you into moving your savings to a 'safe' place  which is actually the fraudster's own account.

Another variant is 'smishing', where fraudsters send alarming text messages that appear to be from your bank's fraud department. If you call the number provided, they will try to dupe you into parting with your cash.

Another scam involves criminals hacking email accounts of tradesmen, home sellers and solicitors. Once inside, they find victims who are having building work done or buying a home. They pose as the person carrying out this work and email you asking for the payment to be transferred to their own account.

High Street banks are blaming victims for negligence in the hope of dodging refunds. Astonishingly, they've been given the green light by Britain's most senior police officer.

Last month, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, head of the Metropolitan Police, said giving out refunds 'rewarded bad behaviour'. He gave the example of failing to update your antivirus software.

Cases are emerging where people are being blamed for fraud because an email infected their computer with a virus. If the bank thinks they were careless with keeping software up to date, it can refuse to cover losses.

RBS admits 70 per cent of customers hit by scams never get a penny back. Figures are believed to be similar at other banks.

Tactics: Another scam involves criminals hacking the email accounts of tradesmen, home sellers and solicitors and posing as someone carrying out building work

Action Fraud was set up in 2011 to help stem the rising tide of cyber crime. It lost hundreds of cases in an IT blunder in 2013 and, last year, the firm running its call centre went bust.

The Government is preparing to spend 35 million on a revamp. Victims should be able to report and track their case online and see a crime map of the UK.

'I didn't become suspicious until the end of the call when he asked if I knew anyone  people of my age  who might need help keeping their money safe

Whether they get any more help recovering money remains to be seen. Lynne Jackson, 69, fell victim to a 'vishing' scam in February. In a phone call she was warned her card had been used for a 250 purchase in Manchester.

Lynne, from West Yorkshire, had never been to Manchester and called TSB, which said no money had gone out of the account.

She'd barely put down the phone when it rang again. A man with a Scottish accent, claiming to be from TSB's fraud department, said someone had applied for a 20,000 loan in Lynne's name.

To protect herself, she was told to transfer her savings into a new account he'd set up. The fraudster took Lynne's details and she moved over 24,500.

A 20,000 loan then arrived in Lynne's account the next day and the man rang her again. She sent a transfer, making a total of 44,500 sent to the other account. She was promised a bank card for the new account  but never heard from the man again.

Controversial: Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, head of the Metropolitan Police, said giving out refunds 'rewarded bad behaviour'

Lynne says: 'I didn't become suspicious until the end of the call when he asked if I knew anyone  people of my age  who might need help keeping their money safe.'

She called TSB's fraud department and it wrote off the 20,000 loan, but said it wouldn't pass her case to the police. She was told to contact Action Fraud, which did nothing to help. So she feared she would lose her 24,500 savings.

After Money Mail contacted TSB, it agreed to cover all her losses. A spokesman says: 'This was a sophisticated and complex crime. We appreciate how distressing this must have been for Mrs Jackson.'

Edward Smith had 22,700 swiped from his Santander account after responding to a cleverly disguised text message from fraudsters.

The message, identical to genuine Santander texts, warned of fraud and gave a number to call.

Edward was asked for the password needed to verify a bank transfer. He generated one on his phone, gave it to the crooks and they used it to siphon money into their account.

Santander told Mr Smith the money would not be reimbursed because he gave authorisation.

A bank spokesman said: 'While we are sympathetic to Mr Smith's situation and distress caused, he disclosed a one-time password to validate and authorise a transfer.'
STEPANAKERT, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS/ARTSAKHPRESS. Catholicos of all Armenians, His Holiness Karekin II and Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I visited St.Hovhannes Mkrtich church of Gandzasar on April 13 where they gave Patriarchal blessings to Artsakh and soldiers of the Armenian army.

Armenpress reports the two Armenian Catholicoses prayed for peace in Artsakh and safety of Armenian soldier. His Holiness Karekin II, addressing the believers, said that they have come to Artsakh to express their solidarity and to encourage the brave people and authorities of Artsakh.

Soldiers of the Armenian army heroically resisted the military operations unleashed by Azerbaijan, wrecking their plan to solve Karabakh problem through military means. The enemy, equipped by modern arms, was unable to succeed, being defended by Artsakh that has taken the path of independence, Catholicos of all Armenians said.

Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I mentioned in his speech that this is the first time he visits Artsakh but it is always in his soul as an eternal value.

I bow in front of the memory of all those hero soldiers, who shed their valuable blood on their way to the defense of the Motherland.

The Artsakh liberation war displayed that Armenians best know their Motherland. We have come here to say that our Church is with the Armenian people, freedom and justice. We are armed with our belief, culture and weapon for the sake of the defense of our freedom and rights. We never tried to infringe others rights during the history, but whenever there was an attempt to infringe our rights, we rushed to the battlefield for the Motherland, Aram I said.

Primate of the Artsakh Diocese Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, President of NKR National Assembly Ashot Ghulyan, other officials and high ranking Defense Army Officers and soldiers were present at the Patriarchal Blessing.
Time to change: Customers are getting a rough time from the UK's mobile phone operators

Giant mobile phone operators are infuriating loyal customers by tearing up long-standing deals, offering shoddy service and exploiting poor competition to crank up prices.

Just four companies run Britains mobile network  Three, EE, O2 and Vodafone. And theyre giving customers a rough time.

Three is delivering a pay more or leave ultimatum to customers who have been on low-cost contracts for years.

Users are being given 30 days to accept more expensive deals  in some cases, costing 30 instead of 15.

The provider is also scrapping a special deal that allowed some customers to make 2,000 minutes of free calls to other Three customers each month.

Three insists the move will ensure customers benefit from more choice and control over how much they use.

But prices could keep rising under a proposed merger between Three and O2 that would reduce competition, the Competition and Markets Authority watchdog warned this week.

Meanwhile, Vodafone is gripped by a customer service crisis (see below).

And EE, which also features regularly in our complaints postbag, is now owned by BT . . . the company that won our Wooden Spoon for poor customer service last year.

Consumers on the big networks neednt stand for bully boy tactics any longer.

An array of smaller  and often cheaper  options such as Pop Telecom, Asda, Life Mobile and Tesco are available.

The Peoples Operator will even donate 10 per cent of your spend to a good cause of your choice.

Some of these operators have deals for as low as 4 a month  ideal for those who dont make many calls.

Many are monthly rolling contracts, so you wont be tied in for years.

The smaller operators buy spare capacity from the big networks. If you sign up with Virgin, Asda, Life Mobile or The Peoples Operator, you will be using EEs network.

Tesco uses O2 while Talk-mobile uses Vodafone. ID Mobile, which is owned by Carphone Warehouse, uses Threes network.

Some are not as independent as they sound. Talkmobile is owned by Vodafone, while Giffgaff is owned by Telefonica, the parent company of O2.

Match made in hell? EE, which features regularly in our complaints postbag, is now owned by BT . . . the company that won our Wooden Spoon for poor customer service last year

The challengers are particularly targeting the SIM-only market. Many people are happy with their phone, but want to cut the cost of calls and internet use.

The big operators have been pushing up the cost of SIM-only deals because customers are proving increasingly reluctant to upgrade to new phones tying them into another two-year contract.

Before switching, there are some things to consider.

The first is customer service. Some firms will deal with you on the phone, but others operate only by internet, meaning you may have to wait a day or so for any response if you have a problem.

Another thing to watch is whether you are getting 3G or 4G coverage.

THE BEST DEALS ONLY USE OCCASIONALLY ID Mobile: 250 minutes, 5,000 texts, 250 megabytes data (4G), 4 per month, one-month contract. ON THE PHONE MOST DAYS Talkmobile: 1,000 minutes, 5,000 texts, 2GB data, 7.50 per month, 12-month contract. MORE TALK, LESS INTERNET Virgin Mobile: Unlimited minutes and texts, 2GB data, 12 per month, one-month contract. WEB ADDICT, FEW CALLS Three: 200 minutes, unlimited texts and data (4G), 20 per month, 12-month contract. NEVER PUT YOUR PHONE DOWN The Peoples Operator: Unlimited minutes and texts, 6GB data 12.49 per month, one-month contract. Three: Unlimited calls, texts and data (4G), 30 per month, 12-month contract. (Deals that involve applying for cashback excluded)

If all you want to do is phone or text, 3G is fine. But if you want fast internet coverage, then 4G is far better.

Virgins consumer customers get 3G while business can get 4G. ID Mobile uses 4G. Most contracts with The Peoples Operator and several other smaller outfits are also 3G.

But they do have some cracking deals that will often undercut the prices charged by the Big Four.

The Peoples Operator, Talkmobile and Life Mobile have deals offering plenty of talk time and thousands of texts for less than 10 a month.

And for 9.99 per month, The Peoples Operator provides 600 minutes plus 3GB of data  enough for a decent amount of browsing and video viewing, though not sufficient for watching several films or regular music streaming.

Prices are rising because were using a lot more data  and the providers want us to pay. People used to store music on their phone, but many now stream it constantly using apps such as Deezer or Apple Music.

Watching TV or films also uses a lot of data.

If you fail to choose the right data allowance, youll face a big bill  or even a block on your phone.

Some operators, including ID Mobile, offer plans that are capped to prevent shock bills.

Phone operators talk in terms of megabytes and gigabytes (GB)  the latter is 1,000 megabytes.

If you use your phone only to read emails, you should be able to get away with as little as 250 megabytes a month.

Add social media use and general browsing, and you should go for around 500 megabytes a month. However, if you regularly watch films, TV, videos or stream music, you may want 8GB or more.

...as Vodafones shambles goes on

Vodafone has been forced to hire 600 extra call centre staff to cope with a customer service meltdown.

Last week, Money Mail exposed how a computer system overhaul meant Vodafone customers were unable to get basic errors fixed.

The mobile giant has resolved 30 of the 36 cases we highlighted.

Dozens more letters have since poured in about shoddy service.

Around 400 of the new advisers hired by Vodafone will deal solely with billing issues  many of you say your bills were inaccurate and youve struggled to get them corrected.

The company is also providing 72,000 extra hours of training for staff.

Gerry Underhill-Smith, 76, wrote to thank us after receiving a refund shed been chasing since December. Vodafone had claimed shed made a six-hour call and charged her 105, even though she was sure she had never been on the phone that long. Another letter was from Shirley Winstone. In January, her husband Edward, 76, who is partially deaf, was charged 606.78 for a call Vodafone claims lasted more than 20 hours.

Shirley, 74, called Vodafone six times to try to get the problem sorted.

Just hours after Money Mail contacted Vodafone earlier this week, the 606.78 charge was cancelled, as were the late payment fees.

Vodafone also offered two months free line rental and apologised for the difficulties the couple faced trying to sort it out.
Women who gave up work to look after families hit in flat-rate shake-up

Like millions of women who are coming up to retirement age, Celia Burnett was looking forward to getting a boost from the new 155 a week state pension, which was launched last week.

Having spent decades following her husband Brian's career around the globe, she'd planned to rely on his National Insurance contributions to give her a state pension of her own in retirement.

But instead of a boost from the increased amount, 62-year-old Celia has had her retirement plans turned upside down by catches in the small print of the reforms.

She won't get 155. But worse still, she'll receive far less than she would have under the old system.

Thwarted: Celia Burnett, pictured with husband Brian when his career was in full flow, had planned to rely on his National Insurance contributions to give her a state pension of her own in retirement

'I've been completely blindsided by this,' she says. 'Brian made a real effort to pay into the system. It just seems as though the goalposts have moved overnight.'

Celia is one of the hidden losers of the state pension reforms.

The 155.65 a week deal, launched last week, was trumpeted by the Government as a fairer and higher payout.

Ministers boasted it would benefit women, carers, the self-employed and certain other workers  people who historically have been treated like second-class citizens when it comes to pensions.

Last week, we explained how many will benefit in future years.

Today, Money Mail can lay bare how hundreds of thousands will be worse off due to quirks in the new rules. Those affected include:

Widows and housewives, who stand to receive a fraction of what they expected.

Women in their late 50s and early 60s who were promised a higher pension in return for waiting longer to retire, who may now be deprived of the full amount.

Low-paid self-employed people, who face paying 600 more in tax to guarantee a full pension.

Those who juggle a number of low-paid jobs, who stand to miss out on the full 155.65 a week.

Millions in their early 40s and younger who will all be worse off.

Here, we reveal the truth about how the shake-up has backfired for some of those it was supposed to help.

HOW HOUSEWIVES WERE ABANDONED

Brian Burnett's work in the oil and gas industries meant the couple spent decades living abroad in Norway and Spain. This made it difficult for Celia to find a permanent job and build up her state pension.

The couple decided to make use of rules that allowed low-earning partners to receive a pension based on their spouse's National Insurance (NI) contributions.

Women without a full NI record could claim a payout worth 60 per cent of their husband's pension while he was alive. If he died before them, they could collect a sum equivalent to the basic state pension, which is now 119.30 a week.

Losing out: Celia, pictured today, will receive far less than she would have under the old system

The same rules applied to women who divorced. Under the old system, they would receive a pension based on their husband's contributions.

The only caveat was that their husband must have paid NI himself, with 30 years of contributions needed for the full amount.

Last week, these rules were scrapped for anyone who reaches state pension age (currently 65 for men and 63 for women) from April 6 this year.

The changes will hit 26,400 women over the next five years and 186,000 by 2035.

Those affected include women who stayed at home to care for children or family members, and those who, like Celia, lived abroad if their husband's work took them overseas.

Similar rules were also in place for women who were divorced. If they had previously stayed at home as carers or housewives, they could claim a pension based on their former husband's contributions. The arrangements threw a lifeline to women whose husbands left them after years of marriage.

But women retiring from this April will no longer have this right. Their payout will be restricted to their own NI record, even if they have only a few qualifying years.

Celia, who lives near Marbella in Spain, will receive a pension based on the few years she worked as a secretary before moving abroad in 1986. She suspects it will be a very small amount.

In a further blow, Celia is among millions of women who have been affected by a raising of the state pension age. Instead of being able to take her pension at the age of 60, she now won't get it until she is 65.

The state pension age is due to rise to 66 for everyone  men and women  by 2028.

Celia's only option is to fill in gaps in her NI record by buying extra qualifying years, at a cost of 800 for every year.

'We tried our very best to prepare for retirement and Brian made every effort to make full contributions,' she says. 'Fortunately I have other savings  but if I didn't, it would be horrendous.'

Here at Money Mail we have been inundated with letters from women in their 50s and 60s who fear their carefully laid retirement plans have been ruined.

Some have learned only a few years before they are due to retire that they will receive just a fraction of their expected pension. A 60-year-old divorcee from Co. Durham says: 'I am ill with worry about my future.

My divorce lawyer insisted that I could claim on my ex-husband's NI record to gain a full state pension at age 66, but the new rules mean this seems unlikely.

'What is to happen to me? Will I be reduced to penury in my old age?'

Isabel Palmer, 61, who lives in Swindon, says: 'I am severely affected by these changes.

'As a mother of three who took a career break when my children were young, I would have been entitled to 60 pc of the full state pension from my husband's NI records. However, that is no longer the case.'

Women who have had their pension age hiked are also finding they now need 35 years to qualify for the pension, instead of 30 as previously.

Barbara Cornhill, 63, who lives in Dunfermline, Fife, and reaches pension age this year, has had to wait three years longer after her retirement age was increased.

She will get 134 a week rather than 155 because her NI record is incomplete due to time spent caring for her son. Though it is more than she would have received under the old system, Barbara doesn't believe the increase makes up for the wait.

However, a significant number of women retiring over the next 15 years will be better off. Figures show that 650,000 women reaching state pension age in the next decade will get an average of 8 a week more.

But in years to come, far fewer will benefit from the new deal. Seven in ten women retiring in 2050 will receive a lower payout than under the old system, compared with fewer than half of men.

Worse off: Barbara Cornhill, 63, who reaches pension age this year, has had to wait three years longer after her retirement age was increased

BETRAYAL OF THE SELF-EMPLOYED

The new deal will be a boost for most of those who are self-employed, who, under the old rules, did not qualify for the state second pension  just the basic pension of 119.30 a week.

Under the new rules, these workers will receive up to 155.65.

However, a catch in the rules mean many of the lowest paid self-employed workers face a 600 a year extra tax bill in order to qualify for a state pension.

This is because the Government is abolishing Class 2 NI for the self-employed in April 2018  hailed by the Treasury as an average 134 tax cut for 3.4 million workers.

While it will be a boost for many, low-paid self-employed workers face being forced to pay hundreds of pounds more in order to qualify for the same deal.

Class 2 NI allows the self-employed to build up rights to a state pension. It is charged at 2.80 per week to those with profits of more than 5,965 per year. Every year it is paid adds 4.44 per week to your state pension.

Crucially, certain groups, including self-employed workers, can opt to pay Class 2 NI voluntarily in order to build up a state pension.

But when Class 2 is abolished, they will lose this right.

The Government says low-paid workers earning between 6,000 and 8,060 should be awarded qualifying years to the new state pension without having to pay NI.

And those earning between 8,060 and 43,000 a year will receive a pension based on Class 4 NI, currently paid at a rate of 9 per cent.

However, the Government has suggested that those earning less than 6,000 a year may have to pay Class 3 NI to build up their pension entitlement.

This is a voluntary option costing 14.10 per week and would push annual contributions up from 145 to 733  an extra 588 in order to qualify for the pension.

Experts say that those who had suffered a bad year of profits would be the hardest hit by this change.

Under a further quirk in the rules, workers who juggle a number of low-paid jobs face missing out on the 155.65 a week deal.

Employed workers start to build up rights to the state pension if their job pays more than 112 per week.

Each job is treated individually, so someone who has two jobs each paying 120 a week would be entitled to a pension. But if they had two jobs each paying 90 per week, they would not pay NI and would not build up rights to the state pension.

Experts say that this hits women who have given up their careers to care for children and can now find only low-paid work.

WHY THE UNDER 40S WILL LOSE THE MOST

Politicians routinely described the 155.65 state pension as a 'higher' payout and a 'better' deal for savers  but they fail to highlight how millions of younger workers will be the biggest casualties of the change.

This is because of the abolition of the second state pension top-ups.

Under the old system, workers who built up enough NI contributions could qualify for top-ups worth up to 135 a week and paid in addition to the basic weekly pension of 119.30.

HOW TO DEFER YOUR STATE PENSION Read our guide to what you can gain by putting off taking your state pension.

With the new system, older workers who have already made contributions to the second state pension will see those payments protected.

It means those workers who qualify for the payout in the first 15 years of the new deal will generally be better off.

But younger workers will not qualify for the top-ups, even though they are paying full NI contributions.

Almost seven in ten of those retiring in 2050  those in their early 30s today  will receive a lower pension than under the current system, according to official figures.

A 34-year-old would receive 14 a week less at retirement under the new system than under the old one, according to the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP).

A DWP spokesman says: 'The new state pension reforms are particularly beneficial to women who have taken time away from work, with many receiving a higher weekly income than they would have under the previous system.

'It reflects changing society and allows women to build up a state pension provision in their own right instead of relying on their husband.

'But pension credit is available as a safety net in retirement.'

BUT ARE YOU A SECRET WINNER?

Millions of savers who believe they are the losers in the new state pension could do best overall.

Many public sector workers, as well as some private, paid a lower rate of NI during their career in exchange for giving up the additional state pension. This was known as contracting out and the money went into generous final salary schemes.
They were the identical sisters who made a childhood pact to cut themselves off from the outside world and only talk to each other.

Known as the Silent Twins, June and Jennifer Gibbons devised a secret language which set them apart from friends, family, teachers and classmates.

It was a relationship that brought them to the depths of despair  they loved and loathed each other with equal passion  and eventually proved their downfall.

After a five-week spree of vandalism and arson, in 1982 they became the youngest patients at Britains high-security psychiatric hospital Broadmoor.

Silent Twins and a deadly pact: June Gibbons, pictured above, was locked in a bizarre and secret world with her sister Jennifer, with the two girls refusing to speak to anyone apart from each other. They were detained in Broadmoor for 11 years after a spree of violence but within hours of their release, Jennifer died in what biographer Marjorie Wallace suggested was a deadly agreement to allow her sister June to survive

Secret world: The twin sisters were alienated from the world around them, largely due to the pact they kept with each other, but also because of their nomadic childhood and the bullying they experienced for their skin colour in the predominantly white town of Haverfordwest in Wales. Pictured, the Gibbons twins as young children

Deadly pact: Biographer Marjorie Wallace claimed that Jennifer Gibbons had told her that one of the twins needed to die for the other to survive. Days later, Jennifer, pictured below, died and June, pictured above, later described her sister's death as tragic but also as a release

Detained indefinitely, the two teenagers were locked up alongside convicts such as Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray.

Finally, after 11 gruelling years, they were given the news they had prayed for  they were being transferred to a lower-security unit in their homeland Wales.

But their release came at a tragic price: within hours of their release Jennifer had dropped dead of a sudden and lethal inflammation of the heart.

They should never have been locked up in Broadmoor. I know they did wrong but they didnt kill anyone. It totally ruined their lives. Greta Gibbons

Now, 23 years after that fatal day, their older sister Greta has broken her silence to reveal the terrible toll the twins incarceration left on her family.

They should never have been held in Broadmoor, she told MailOnline. I know they did wrong but they didnt kill anyone. It totally ruined their lives.

Jenny should never have died  she was only 29 years old and should not have been discharged if she was not fit enough. She should have been in hospital.

And June could have had a much better life. She has never married or had children or fulfilled her ambition to be a writer.

If it had been me, I would have sued Broadmoor. I would not have let them get away with what they did.

But it was my parents choice and they always said that it would not bring Jenny back.

Since their sisters death, Greta, 58, brother David, 56, and sister Rosie, 49, have rallied around their parents Gloria and Aubrey and surviving twin sister.

Known as the Silent Twins, June and Jennifer Gibbons devised a secret language which set them apart from friends, family, teachers and classmates.

Deadly relationship: Jennifer (left) and June (right) Gibbons made a pact to keep themselves separate from the rest of the world, creating a secret language and mirroring each other's movements. They are pictured above with Marjorie Wallace, who wrote a book about their lives

New life: The twins were detained in the high-security psychiatric hospital Broadmoor for 11 gruelling years. But then they got the news that they were to be moved a lower-security unit in their homeland Wales. Pictured, Milford Haven where June Gibbons now lives quietly

Tragedy: On the day that they walked out of Broadmoor, just moments after the gate slammed shut, Jennifer collapsed on June - killed by a sudden, unexplained inflammation of the heart. Pictured, Milford Haven

While Gloria still lives a mile from the former family home in the market town of Haverfordwest, Aubrey is in a nursing home with vascular dementia.

Rosie has moved to London while the remainder of the family has decamped to the coastal town Milford Haven, eight miles away.

June, who dreamed of marriage, children and becoming a writer, has not fulfilled any of her ambitions.

Instead she lives in a rented house in the centre of the town and rarely goes out apart from visiting her family and meeting up with them on special occasions.

It went too far and although we longed to be normal we couldn't break out. We tried to get back to the outside world but it was too late. June Gibbons

June has had lots of offers to go on shows, adds Greta, a mother of two and grandmother of three, who works as an auxiliary nurse.

But she is too quiet for that. She doesnt go out much. She used to work in the Barnardos charity shop but she now cleans for my Mum on Mondays.

We do have some fun. We went to Scotland last August for five days to visit the Edinburgh Tattoo and she really enjoyed that.

It is 53 years on Monday since June and Jennifer Gibbons were born at an RAF hospital in Aden, in the Middle East, where Aubrey was stationed.

That Christmas he and wife Gloria, who met and married in Barbados, were posted to Linton-on-Ouse, in Yorkshire, with their four children.

The two twinnies- as their mother called them - barely spoke but the arrival of younger sister Rosie, in 1968, meant she had little time to worry about them.

It was only later that it emerged that the girls werent shy, or backward, but had made a decision not to communicate.

We made a pact, June explained in an interview after her sisters death. We said we weren't going to speak to anybody.

Playing: Although June later confessed that their silence and secret language started as a game, she said that by the time they realised they were trapped they were unable to 'break out'. Pictured, Jennifer (left) and June (right) with author and chief executive of SANE, Majorie Wallace, in 1993

A nomadic childhood increased the twins alienation  their father was transferred to Devon, in 1971, and Pembrokeshire in 1974.

They were teased mercilessly about their silence and taunted about their skin colour at both primary and secondary school.

In fact the school bullying in the predominately white town of Haverfordwest was so severe that they had to be dismissed five minutes early to leave alone.

Gradually the twins retreated into their own private world, locking themselves into their bedroom and playing with dolls.

Juvenile delinquents get two years in prison. We got 12 years of hell because we didn't speak. We lost hope, really. We were trapped. June Gibbons

They chatted away in their own secret language  later discovered to be speeded up English  and synchronised their movements.

It started as a game, June explained later. But the longer it went on the more trapped we felt.

It went too far and although we longed to be normal we couldn't break out. We tried to get back to the outside world but it was too late. We were twins but our personalities clashed.

The twins left school at 16 and signed on the dole. That Christmas, Gloria gave them each a red leather-bound diary with a lock and key.

Immediately they began chronicling their thoughts. Nobody suffers the way I do, not with a sister; with a husband, yes; with a wife, yes; with a child, yes, but this sister of mine, a dark shadow robbing me of sunlight, is my one and only torment, wrote June.

Within weeks they had both begun novels: Junes Pepsi Cola Addict, about a teen seduced by his teacher, while Jennifers Discomania about insane violence at a disco.

But it did not relieve their isolation. At the age of 18, they lost their virginity to two American boys, who introduced them to drugs and alcohol.

We tried to be like normal teenagers, June says afterwards. We were in love with them. We felt special with them.

But the boys abandoned them. Soon they progressed to petty crime, taunting the police until they were caught and charged with 16 counts of burglary, theft and arson.

Chronicles: At 16, they were each given a diary. Immediately, each began an account of the desperate love-hate relationship they had. June described her sister as her 'one and only torment'. Pictured, Milford Haven

Disturbed: Once they had arrived at Broadmoor, the hospital psychologists deemed them deeply disturbed. They were surrounded by killers and rapists such as the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray. Pictured, Milford Haven high street

Shattered: For the family of June and Jennifer, there is little peace. They have rallied round the surviving twin, but they must live with the knowledge that the women's lives were ruined by the decision to lock them away. Pictured, Milford Haven high street

On the advice of their lawyers, they pleaded guilty at Swansea Crown Court, in May 1982, and were ordered to be detained at Broadmoor indefinitely.

There psychologists deemed them deeply disturbed as they took turns eating and starving, housed in the same cell and on opposite ends of the hospital.

Juvenile delinquents get two years in prison, June said later. We got 12 years of hell because we didn't speak.

Her speech was slurring. She was tired and said she was dying. Then she slept with her head on my lap but with her eyes open. June Gibbons

We lost hope, really. I wrote a letter to the Queen, asking her to get us out. But we were trapped.

In fact the girls felt so trapped that, according to their biographer Marjorie Wallace, they decided that the only way that they could survive was for one of them to die.

Ms Wallace revealed that Jennifer told her: 'I'm going to have to die'.

'I sort of laughed. I sort of said what? Don't be silly. You're 31 years old. You know, you're just about to be freed from Broadmoor. Why are you going to have to die? You're not ill. And she said, because we've decided.

'At that point, I got very, very frightened because I could see that they meant it. And then they said, we have made a pact. Jennifer has got to die because they said the day that they left Broadmoor, the day that they were free from the secure hospital, one of them would have to give up their life to really enable the other one to be free.'

In retrospect their deal proved prescient.

Finally, in 1993, doctors agreed to transfer them to Caswell Clinic, in Bridgend. But upon arrival Jennifer was unresponsive. She was rushed to hospital and pronounced death of acute myocarditis.

At the inquest, June said that her sister had been unwell the day before and during the journey.

Her speech was slurring, she added. She was tired and said she was dying. Then she slept with her head on my lap but with her eyes open.

Jennifer is now buried under a headstone engraved with a poem written by June. It reads: We once were two/We two made one/We no more two/Through life be one/Rest in peace.

But there is little peace for the rest of her family. In her book The Silent Twins, author Marjorie Wallace wrote: They were failed the help they so desperately needed.

Instead they were locked away in a high-security hospital for 12 years where they met mainly killers, rapists and severely disturbed patients just at an age when they should have been stepping out into the world as the talented young women they might have been.
An 18-year-old Mormon missionary died on Tuesday after being hit by a car in Taiwan.

David Smith Hampton, of North Ogden, Utah, was riding his bike when the crash occurred near Taichung.

He was taken to hospital after the crash and died of head trauma and other injuries, Bishop Peter Wollschleger, acting as a spokesman for Hampton's family, told KSL Newsradio.

Hampton had begun his two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints just four months ago.

David Smith Hampton (pictured), of North Ogden, Utah, was on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints when he died near Taichung in Taiwan, after a car hit his bike. He was 18 years old

The 18-year-old, who started learning Mandarin in Utah in December, had been in Taiwan for about two months according to the Deseret News.

Hampton, who told his parents about his pleasure of being on a mission, finished all of his letters home with the words: 'It is not about you.'

Now, Steve and Cyndi Hampton, who learnt about their son's death on Tuesday morning, are keeping this statement in mind as they grieve for him, the Deseret News wrote.

'As can be imagined, we are still processing the news,' they said in a statement. 'However, we are thankful he was serving the Lord as a missionary.

'In each of his letters, he expressed his pleasure to be on a mission. It was hard work, but it was a blessing for him and for us. And we know it will continue to be a blessing for us.'

Their daughter is currently on a mission with the church in Tahiti.

Hampton, who was an Eagle scout and had been in several school plays, finished every letter home with the sentence: 'It is not about you.' He is pictured with his family

No funeral plans have been made so far for Hampton, who was an Eagle scout, had been in several school plays and enjoyed running and biking according to Wollschleger.

'The family's handling this incredibly well,' the bishop said according to Deseret News. 'I know it's a difficult time for them, but they're a very strong family, very strong in the faith, in the Latter Day Saints community.'

Hampton's death comes three weeks after four missionaries were injured in the Brussels airport bombing.

Church figures show he is the second missionary to die this year. Six died in 2015 and ten in 2014.

The religion currently has about 75,000 missionaries serving around the world.
Two former teachers are reportedly being investigated by police over the 'Mr Cruel' murder of 13-year-old Karmein Chan as a reward for information about the unsolved murder rises to $1 million.

Police increased the existing $100,000 reward on the 25th anniversary of Karmein's abduction from her home in the Melbourne suburb of Templestowe on April 13, 1991.

The Herald Sun reports that two former teachers are among a number of men police are investigating as possibly being the child-abducting murderer Mr Cruel.

Karmein Chan was abducted by the man dubbed 'Mr Cruel' from her home in the Melbourne suburb of Templestowe on April 13, 1991. Her remains were found a year later. She had been shot in the head

New evidence also revealed last week that that a former Melbourne University lecturer reportedly admitted he is the prime suspect in the case, and is one of seven suspects being investigated by police.

The man dubbed Mr Cruel is believed to have been responsible for at least three child kidnappings and sexual assaults in Melbourne in the late 1980s and early '90s.

Two other girls kidnapped at this time by Mr Cruel - Sharon Wills and Nicola Lynas - were eventually released, but Karmein's remains were found a year after her abduction. She had been shot in the head.

Karmein was taken by a man in a balaclava while her parents were working at a Chinese restaurant in Eltham.

The man forced Karmein's two younger sisters into a wardrobe before fleeing with Karmein. Her body was found a year later at Edgars Creek in Thomastown.

The original task force investigated more than 10,000 pieces of information and a second investigative team reviewed its work and new leads, exhausting some avenues of inquiry and eliminating several potential suspects, between 2010 and 2013.

Victoria Police had initially put up a $100,000 reward for information about Karmein, and also for Sharon Wills and Nicola Lynas who had been abducted but later released

Police have said the Mr Cruel cases will never be closed until they are solved. New rewards for unsolved Victorian murders have been set at $1 million since December 2014 and rewards offered in past cases have been reviewed.

Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana is set to make the announcement at a media conference at 9.30am on Wednesday.

He said in a statement he believed someone held the key to solving the long-standing mystery.

'This unsolved murder has been extremely devastating to the Chan family,' he said.

'We are hoping that today's $1 million announcement will encourage someone out there with crucial information or direct knowledge of this murder to come forward.'
Bosses at food chain Eat have stopped paying staff for their lunch breaks to cover the cost of the national living wage.

One MP last night warned that companies which slash staff perks to pay for higher wages will drive away their customers.

The row came as B&Q buckled under pressure from furious employees after cutting perks, including extra pay for those working Sundays and Bank holidays.

The Eat living wage row came as B&Q buckled under pressure from furious UK employees after cutting perks, including extra pay for those working Sundays and Bank holidays

The retail giant said it would compensate staff for two years to ensure they do not lose out, up from the one year it proposed previously.

Radical reforms introduced on April 1 have forced firms to give staff on minimum wage a 50p pay rise.

The changes mean all workers aged 25 and over must be paid at least 7.20 an hour, instead of 6.70.

Eat, which has 118 shops across the UK, has tried to offset the costs by not paying staff for their 30 minute lunch break.

This will save the company 3.60 per employee per shift if they are on the national living wage.

The move follows warnings from business groups that companies will cut perks and slash thousands of jobs to cover the costs of higher wages.

Bosses at food chain Eat have stopped paying staff for their lunch breaks to cover the cost of the living wage

It comes just days after it emerged that thousands of staff at Caffe Nero would lose their right to a free lunch as the coffee giant slashes costs to pay for the national living wage.

Supermarket giant Morrisons is also said to be looking at ditching pay benefits, as are Tesco and homeware retailer Wilko.

The cuts came into force this week, with staff receiving discounts on food and drink instead.

Chris Leslie, Labour MP and former shadow chancellor warned firms who follow suit will face a backlash from staff as well as their customers.

He said: This penny pinching will erode morale and the good will of the staff affected.

But it will also hit their reputation among customers and will drive them away.

The odd Panini or a few minutes at lunch is not going to ruin a companys bottom line. It is a grave mistake for companies who rely on their staff day in day out to treat them like this.

Eat said its staff have also been given a wage hike which compensates them for no longer being paid during their lunch break.

A spokesman said the average hourly rate at the firm is now 7.60 an hour. He added: Ninety five per cent of our employees enjoy a pay rate in excess of the 7.20 Living Wage.

Retailer B&Q yesterday tried to quell a backlash from its staff after it ditched summer and winter bonuses, time and half pay for working Sundays and double pay for bank holidays.

Its 27,000 employees were told to sign up to the changes by March 24 or lose their job.

The cuts prompted thousands of employees to sign a petition urging the retailer not to use the living wage as an excuse to cut pay and benefits.

B&Q refused to reverse the cuts but said staff would receive cash pay-outs to ensure they do not lose out for the next twelve months.

The firm yesterday bowed to pressure and told staff it is extending this offer to two years.

B&Q has claimed the cuts have nothing to do with the Living wage and that it is simply ironing out inconsistencies which mean staff doing the same job in the same store are paid different amounts.
A former communist backed by Vladimir Putin has become the frontrunner to take over the United Nations as its first ever woman chief.

Irina Bokova, a Bulgarian who was educated in Moscow and is said to be a 'darling' of Mr Putin, hopes to succeed Ban Ki-moon when he steps down at the end of this year.

However the Daily Mail has obtained secret documents reflecting grave concern about her capacity to handle such an important job.

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Allied: Irina Bokova with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. She studied in Soviet-era Moscow

British diplomats even demanded a fraud inquiry after the 63-year-old Unesco chief tried to install an alleged crony as a deputy.

Leaked minutes of a private session of the Unesco board reveal that Matthew Sudders launched a withering attack - sanctioned by Whitehall - on Mrs Boko-va's decision to make Ana Luiza Thompson-Flores, an 'under-qualified' Brazilian civil servant, her assistant director-general for strategic planning.

Critics viewed it as a ploy to secure Brazilian support for Mrs Bokova's campaign for the UN job.

The British ambassador cited a suspicious embellishment of Mrs Thompson-Flores's CV and a job advert that was mysteriously rewritten to lower the post's criteria.

At the meeting last April at Unesco's Paris HQ, Mr Sudders declared: 'As a UK civil servant, I have a duty to report all cases of possible or suspected fraud to our investigations department.

'I have discussed this case and this evidence with them and they have concluded there is a case for a comprehensive external independent investigation.'

Mr Sudders also said Miss Thompson-Flores 'makes no secret of the fact that she does not understand budgets', and had 'no obvious experience' in strategic planning.

Referring to an audit of the work of Miss Thompson-Flores in her previous role as Unesco's HR director, he added: 'My colleagues have never seen such a damning indictment of a human resources department as that made by our external auditor.'

Mrs Bokova denied fraud, while her friend Eleonora Mitrofanova, the Kremlin's ambassador, branded the British concerns 'emotional declarations'.

Months later, however, Mrs Bokova removed Miss Thompson-Flores from the post.

In diplomatic circles, the Thompson-Flores episode has triggered concern about Mrs Bokova's suitability to become head of the United Nations.

Bivol, a respected investigative journalism website in her home country, said Mrs Bokova's behaviour smacked of appointing Our Man, never mind they are a sham, adding: These are the typical methods of the Communist nomenklatura.

Embarrassingly Mrs Bokova was recently forced to correct a mistake on her own CV - published on Unescos website for six years - falsely claiming she was Bulgarias Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 1997. In fact she had been only acting foreign minister for just a few months.

Unesco has also failed to disclose all her visits to Russia, the Mail can reveal.

Mrs Bokova, whose father was editor of Bulgarias Communist Party newspaper, has made frequent trips there.

While her foreign trips used to be publicly recorded on Unescos website, a source claimed that not all visits are now publicised.

Last year, when most world leaders were snubbing Putin because of his invasion of Crimea, Mrs Bokova snatched the chance to do him a favour by attending his Second World War victory parade in Moscow, where she rubbed shoulders with Cuban president Raul Castro and the Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

In response to questioning, Mrs Bokovas spokeswoman issued a statement insisting she had only visited Russia on five occasions since becoming Unesco chief.

But research by the Mail shows this is incorrect. There is photographic evidence of at least eight visits.

The spokeswoman declined to explain this inaccuracy when it was highlighted by the Mail.

A 'value for money review' of British taxpayers' cash given to Unesco - due to be published soon by the Department for International Development - is understood to be highly critical of Mrs Bokova's organisation.

Current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is due to step down at the end of this year

When he was International Development Secretary, in 2011, Andrew Mitchell threatened to axe Britains 12million annual handout to Unesco, and last night a source close to Mr Mitchell said: He met Bokova in Paris. She was an old-fashioned communist  someone very, very unenterprising who expected to be given a lot of money to spend however she liked.

He told her, Im terribly sorry, you are not getting any money out of the British taxpayer because you are useless and Unesco is funding a lot of stupid things. She was apparently very hurt by this.

Mrs Bokova courted controversy with her support for Azerbaijan, whose dictatorial regime has tortured protesters, rigged elections and thrown political opponents in jail.

Unlike Unescos dire finances  she lost 22 per cent of the organisations budget when the United States withdrew funding in protest at her recognising the state of Palestine  Mrs Bokovas personal wealth seems in great shape.

In 2012 and 2014, she bought two Manhattan apartments for $2.4million (1.5million) in cash, and her son Pavel managed to pay off a 540,000 mortgage on a third apartment in just four years.

Fluent Russian speaker Mrs Bokova studied at Harvard and at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, during Soviet times, when it was dubbed a recruiting ground for the KGB.

Fellow students in her year, 1976, included Sergei Yastrzhembsky, who went on to become Putins spokesman on the Chechen War, and Alexei Pushkov, a strong Putin trumpeter who now heads the foreign-affairs committee in the state parliament.

Anatoly Torkunov, now the rector of the university, said: I remember she was very energetic, significant. She was in the Bulgarian national group, the group was very big back then.

Mrs Bokova has said about her time in the USSR in the Brezhnev era: Those were very interesting years.

She is the leading contender for the UN top job partly because there is pressure, particularly from America and the UK, for the candidate to be a woman, with Hillary Clinton believed to be a strong supporter of the idea.

There is also a feeling - promoted by the Kremlin - that it is the geographical 'turn' of Eastern Europe. Rivals for the secretary-general job include Helen Clark, former New Zealand prime minister, and Antonio Guterres, the former Portuguese leader.

The UNs boss is ultimately sanctioned by the UN Security Council, which means that Russia and America, both permanent members, have a great deal of sway.

The UK, which is another permanent member, has not signalled whether it supports Mrs Bokova or not.

Mr Sudders declined to comment and the Foreign Office said: We want to see the best candidate selected for the job. We believe in a fair and transparent process, especially one that encourages strong female candidates.

A spokeswoman for Mrs Bokova said the Thompson-Flores episode was an internal oversight matter, adding: The Director-General reacted and responded in line with established rules and procedures.

She blamed the CV mistake on Bulgarias foreign ministry, and said of the Manhattan apartments: The purchase of all family properties is fully justified by their income.

She rejected suggestions Mrs Bokovas stewardship of Unesco had been disastrous, saying: Numerous observers have praised Irina Bokovas leadership and management of Unesco, including her success at reforming this institution.

She cited US Secretary of State John Kerry saying in October 2015 he warmly thanked the Director-General for her leadership, and an assessment by Sweden which read: Irina Bokova enjoys great confidence among the Member States. She purposefully drives the ongoing reform work.

There are few rules governing the selection of the Secretary-General, apart from that he or she is chosen by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

The vote will be some time after July this year.

sam.greenhill@dailymail.com

An earlier version of this report suggested that Ms Bokova was personally responsible for UNESCOs decision to announce an international prize in the name of Equatorial Guinea dictator Teodore Obiang Nguema. The organisation came in for heavy criticism in 2010 for supporting Nguema, who encourages rumours that he eats the flesh of his enemies. However, we are happy to make clear that the decision to name the prize after him was taken before Ms Bokova became UNESCOs Director-General. Furthermore, we accept that inaccurate statements by a spokesperson for Ms Bokova about the number of Ms Bokova's visits to Russia were not an attempt to mislead on Ms Bokova's part, and the report has been amended to make this clear. The article also originally stated that British diplomats called for a fraud inquiry into Ms Bokova personally over her promotion of Ms. Thompson-Flores. In fact the diplomats called for a fraud inquiry into the matter generally and did not suggest that any inquiry be directed at Ms Bokova personally. We apologise for the contrary impression given by earlier versions of the report.




As he testified to Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees foreign aid, he offered novel suggestion for

U2 frontman Bono brought his star power to Capitol Hill on Tuesday as he called on members of Congress to take swift action to deal with the global refugee crisis and violent extremism.

As he testified to the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees foreign aid, he offered one novel suggestion for countering extremism.

'Don't laugh,' Bono said, suggesting the Senate 'send in' comedians Amy Schumer, Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen to counteract the militants' violent message.

'If you laugh at them when they're goose-stepping down the street, then it takes away their power,' he said.

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U2 frontman Bono brought his star power to Capitol Hill on Tuesday (pictured) as he called on members of Congress to take swift action to deal with the global refugee crisis and violent extremism

Durign the hearing, Bono offered one novel suggestion for countering extremism - 'sending in' comedians Amy Schumer (pictured), Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen to counteract the militants' violent message

On Tuesday night, Schumer tweeted 'holy s***' after learning Bono suggested sending in comedians including her to fight violent extremism

Bono - who visited Kenya, Jordan, Turkey and Egypt as part of a US congressional delegation led by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham - urged U.S. lawmakers to act quickly to counteract 'an existential crisis' in Europe, with nationalist parties rising in several countries and even Britain considering leaving the European Union.

He warned that refugee crises like the one triggered by fighting in Syria typically last for 25 years.

And he said that without a coordinated global response, the Middle East, Africa and now increasingly Europe would face the type of chaos that allows extremist groups to find willing recruits among desperate young people.

The human torrent threatens the very idea of European unity, he said, as he urged lawmakers to think of foreign aid as national security instead of charity.

Bono urged U.S. lawmakers to act quickly to counteract 'an existential crisis' in Europe, with nationalist parties rising in several countries and even Britain considering leaving the European Union

Actors/comedians Sacha Baron Cohen pictured left and Chris Rock, right. 'Don't laugh,' Bono said of using comedy to combat violent extremism. 'If you laugh at them when they're goose-stepping down the street, then it takes away their power,' he said

'When aid is structured properly, with a focus on fighting poverty and improving governance, it could just be the best bulwark we have against the extremism of our age,' the rock star and anti-poverty campaigner testified.

Africa, in particular, is grappling with what Bono called a phenomenon of three extremes  ideology, poverty and climate.

'Those three extremes make one unholy trinity of an enemy and our foreign policy needs to face in that direction,' he said. 'It's even bigger than you think.'

Bono said he understood the financial stress the U.S. and other nations are under as they debate how much foreign aid to allot. But he warned the bills will only get bigger without action.

'If you don't do it now, it's going to cost a lot more later,' he said. 'I do know that.'

The hearing took place as lawmakers put the final touches on a new spending plan that may include steep international aid cuts.

But Graham, the panel's chairman, has called for a multibillion-dollar aid program to address the crisis in the Middle East and deal with millions of refugees fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq and other countries.

Backers of the plan say defeating Islamic State and other militant groups, and preventing the rise of new ones, will require humanitarian aid and economic development.

'I'm a pretty hawkish fellow, but I learned a long time ago... that you are not going to win this war by killing terrorists,' Graham said.

Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham (right) and Ranking Member Sen. Patrick Leahy speak together before Tuesday's hearing. Graham has called for a multibillion-dollar aid program to address the crisis in the Middle East and deal with millions of refugees fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq and other countries

Bono stand with members of the anti-war group Code Pink, who wore pink tiaras and held cardboard torches and signs reading 'Refugees Welcome'

'We have a moment now that we haven't had in decades' in terms of political attention to the issue, said Kelly Clements, deputy high commissioner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Graham will have a difficult time getting support for a Middle East aid program from his fellow Republicans, who tend to be skeptical about international organizations like the United Nations and generally want tight controls on government spending.

At the hearing, Republican senators expressed concern about being effective for the American taxpayer and roles for partnerships with private companies.
The political blogger said the celebritys lawyers in London, Carter Ruck, had sent him a copy of the Court of Appeal injunction and had instructed a Dublin law firm and threatened proceedings

A prominent political blogger yesterday revealed that he has been threatened with prosecution and jail for breaching an injunction to name a cheating celebrity.

He was contacted by the mans lawyers and accused of contempt of court, despite his site being based in Ireland and his internet servers in the US.

The penalty for breaching the injunction is an unlimited fine and a prison sentence.

The political blogger said the celebritys lawyers in London, Carter Ruck, had sent him a copy of the Court of Appeal injunction and had instructed a Dublin law firm and threatened proceedings in Ireland.

He said Irish citizens were not bound by court orders from England, and said he would endeavour to fight any proceedings in Ireland.

He said of his blog: There are no physical assets in the UK, there is no digital equivalent of a printing press, no device that can be seized or smashed.

All the authorities can do is block access to the server, in the same way that China and Iran block access to the truth.

Yesterday the newspaper originally banned from naming the celebrity launched a new legal challenge to try to kill off the privacy injunction.

Lawyers will argue that it has been rendered useless after details of the case were published in newspapers in Scotland, a magazine in the US and worldwide on the internet.

They will tell judges that continuing the injunction  which prevents the identities of the celebrity and his well-known spouse being published in England and Wales  risks bringing the law into disrepute.

The High Court refused the unnamed celebrity's initial application because his infidelity contradicted his public portrayal of marital commitment. But the Court of Appeal overruled that decision

The gagging order has been widely criticised by freedom of speech campaigners and Tory MP Philip Davies said it was a farce which was making an ass out of the law.

The row centres on a married man, identified only as PJS, who had a threesome with a couple who then attempted to tell their story in the Sun on Sunday.

The man, who has children with his spouse, sought an injunction to stop the tabloid from revealing details of his extramarital sexual activities.
A 12-year-old boy has become Australias sixth Prime Minister in six years to become the nations 30th leader  with the Wikipedia page to prove it.

Orley Fenelon spent two days in Australia's highest office after he toppled Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday and was sworn in the following day, according to the crowd-sourced online encyclopaedia.

The Brisbane schoolboy had edited himself in to the Wikipedia list of Australian Prime Ministers, listing himself as just 12-years-and-239-days-old - the youngest leader in the country's history.

Brisbane schoolboy Orley Fenelon (pictured), 12, spent two days in Australias highest office after toppling Malcolm Turnbull on April 9, according to a Wikipedia page he'd edited on Sunday and Monday

Alright, I'm off to edit the Wikipedia page to say I'm prime minister over and over again, Orley wrote on Instagram on Monday.

The addition has since been removed by one of the websites volunteer editors for being a blatant hoax.

The 12-year-old was never able to see his policies through parliament, but Orley told Canberra Times he leaned to the left and identified most closely with democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, the USAs Democratic nominee hopeful.

Hed hoped to rid government of things that are there that kind of dont need to be there  like personal interest and personality-driven politics.

'Alright, I'm off to edit the Wikipedia page to say I'm prime minister over and over again,' Orley wrote on Instagram with a green and gold flag he'd designed as part of his campaign

The Brisbane schoolboy had edited himself in to the Wikipedia list of Australian Prime Ministers, listing himself as just 12-years-and-239-days-old

An editor history search of the Wikipedia page shows Orley Fenelon had been listed as the 'youngest person to assume the office'

Mr Turnbull had been booted as leader of the Liberal Party just seven-months after overthrowing Tony Abbott, according to Orley's edits.

Mr Turnbull's return to the Prime Ministership after a two day hiatus spun the 'revolving door' faster than ever.

Since 2009, Australia has now seen seven Prime Ministers  with Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd again, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, Orley Fenelon, and Malcolm Turnbull again.

Wikipedia allows anybody with an account to edit pages, and depends on the public to create its content - meaning it is often the target of trolls.

Orley said he hoped other young Australians would engage with politics.

If young people started to actually be a force to be reckoned with, then politicians wouldnt be so focussed on pleasing the traditional interests that obviously dont really serve a place in todays society, he told Canberra Times.

Daily Mail Australia has reached Orley Fenelon.

Orleys addition has since been removed by one of the websites volunteer editors for being a blatant hoax
So I was one of those leaders whose request resulted in the moratorium being imposed. It was imposed to protect our people from the unlimited mining exploration and development that they feared might come in addition to the Panguna mine.

Forty-five years ago, I was a young, recently ordained Catholic priest working in Kieta and was being called upon by landowners to support them in their struggle with CRA and the colonial Administration.

It prevented any mining exploration licences for areas of Bougainville other than those already covered by Bougainville Copper Ltd leases and was imposed in response to the deep concerns of Bougainvilleans communicated to the colonial Administration by their then leaders.

THE moratorium on mining exploration in Bougainville was originally imposed 45 years ago, in April 1971, by the colonial Administration.

As yet the Bougainville Executive Council has not made any decision about the future of the moratorium. We are asking this House to debate what we should do about the moratorium. We are doing this to generate broad public discussion of the issues involved.

Lifting the moratorium is still a highly sensitive issue for many  perhaps even most  Bougainvilleans.

Many of the same issues that led to the request for the moratorium in 1971 remain. Even people open to some mining in Bougainville want it very strictly limited.

If we do lift the moratorium, and especially if we lift it fully (that is, for the whole of Bougainville), it is likely that a very large proportion of the land of Bougainville will soon be covered by exploration licences.

That will have huge impacts for all of us. There will be great difficulty turning back from such a massive change if it produces results that we do not like.

So there is a clear need for the most careful deliberation on the issues involved.

Ideally we want to have a major Bougainville-wide public consultation and awareness campaign but, because of our serious financial difficulties, that is not an option for us at the moment.

So instead, the Bougainville Executive Council has agreed to an initial debate in this House. That must be a thorough, careful and well-informed debate.

Then when the issues have been carefully considered, I recommend that all members go out and consult the people of their constituencies and seek their views.

There should then have a second round of debate at the next House session  a debate further informed by the views of our people.

The options include: maintaining the moratorium; lifting it partially, for limited specific areas of Bougainville; or lifting it fully.

But before we consider options, we need to consider carefully how either partial or full lifting of the moratorium would impact. There are at least two aspects of the Bougainville Mining Act where there could be major impacts.

The first is on putting exploration licence applications for particular areas out to international tender. The aim of international tender is to see if the Autonomous Bougainville Government can raise significant revenue from exploration licences perhaps millions of kina instead of the usual small exploration licence fee.

If the ABG was to lift the moratorium fully, we would be shutting the door on international tender for many years to come because most, if not all, highly prospective areas will very quickly be covered by exploration licences. There will be nothing left to deal with under international tender processes.

The second aspect of the Mining Act where fully lifting the moratorium would have major impacts is in the arrangements for small-scale mining. Under the Act, Councils of Elders or Community Governments have authority to request the ABG to reserve areas exclusively for small-scale mining.

Once areas are reserved, then the Council of Elders or Community Government has the authority to issue licences to Bougainvilleans who are landowners of the area they are mining, or have the permission of the landowners. That will then be the only basis for small-scale mining to be legal.

I am very concerned because Ive recently been advised that the Mining Department has done nothing at all to organise the community mining licence system.

The problem now is that if the moratorium is lifted for the whole of Bougainville, before the community mining licence system is set up and operating, then it will be almost impossible to have land reserved for community mining licences because exploration licences will almost certainly be granted for most areas where small-scale mining is occurring.

We need some time, perhaps 12 to 18 months more, to allow the Mining Department to do what it should actually have been doing over the past 12 months  that is, working with the Community Government Department and other departments to set up the community mining licence system.

If we do not allow the time for this, then most, if not all, small-scale mining in Bougainville will be illegal. It will become more or less impossible to establish the community mining licence system.

But of course, that will not stop small-scale mining from continuing. So that will set up serious risks of tension, confrontation and conflict between small-scale miners and exploration licence holders.

I suggest that instead we should either maintain the existing moratorium for at least a period of two or three years, or alternatively only partially lift it for just one or two specific areas. In that way we would allow the time to organise for international tender and for community mining licences.

I must assure the members of this House that as President, I believe that this debate on the future of the moratorium is one of the most important debates we have ever held.
Photographer Mike Page, who is planning to vote Leave in the EU poll, said he was livid after discovering a picture he had taken featured in David Camerons pro-EU leaflet

A photographer planning to vote Leave in the EU poll said he was livid after discovering a picture he had taken featured in David Camerons pro-EU leaflet.

Mike Page said he would never have given the government the go-ahead to use his exclusive shot of Felixstowe, Suffolk  the UKs largest container port.

The 76-year-old said he had taken an aerial picture in January this year for use on the Port of Felixstowes website.

He said he only found out that his photo had been used when he picked up the leaflet from his doormat.

Mr Page said he was angry to find out that the shot had been passed by the Port of Felixstowe to the government to feature in the 16-page leaflet.

I absolutely would not have given my permission for this image to be used in this document because I fundamentally disagree with what it says, he said.

They are submitting that leaflet to every house in the UK and it has cost the taxpayers a lot of money. I certainly would not wish for my work to be associated with that and they used it without asking. Mr Page said he had given the photographs to the Port of Felixstowe for their use, but the deal meant that they could not pass them on to a third party.

The pensioner, who still runs a garage in Strumpshaw, Norfolk, has now accepted a charity donation from the Port and said he would not be taking the matter further.

I got my document through the post and I spotted they had used one of my photographs in it, he said.

I had a quick look at it and thought that looks like mine. I checked and it was.

Mr Page said he cannot wait to vote to leave the EU in Junes referendum.

The 76-year-old said he would never have given the government the go-ahead to use his exclusive shot (above) of Felixstowe, Suffolk  the UKs largest container port

Mr Page said he had taken an aerial picture in January this year for use on the Port of Felixstowes website

Its totally ridiculous they are spending 9million on it, he said. They are trying to out-do the Out campaign.

The pensioner said all his photography money goes to charity, and claimed local and national charities have benefited to the tune of 150,000.

Mr Page said that if hed been asked for his permission he would have said no.

I totally disagree with what they are doing, particularly producing this brochure, he said.

I totally disagree with what they are doing, particularly producing this brochure Mike Page

They are submitting that to every house in the UK and it has cost us a fortune and a lot of the stuff they are putting in there is total rubbish. But the point is that they used it without asking me first.

Mr Page, who flies as a hobby, said he was supporting Brexit because of the way European Union legislation had affected flying, adding extra costs for licence renewal and medical checks.

He was also critical of the impact Brussels has had on his garage business and the regulations around conservation. And he claimed EU regulations around river drainage had triggered more devastating flooding.

Downing Street was given the image by the Port of Felixstowe as part of a selection for its consideration.

A Port of Felixstowe spokesman said there had been a mistake which had now been resolved.

He added: It was one of a number of photographs we provided to the Government. On this particular image there was a misunderstanding on the copyright but this has been resolved to Mike Pages satisfaction.
A toothpaste that repairs teeth as you sleep has been developed in Britain.

The product includes BioMinF, which binds to the teeth, filling any holes and slowly releasing a mix of calcium, phosphate and fluoride.

It has been developed by a team led by Professor Robert Hill, who is chairman of Dental Physical Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London.

A toothpaste that repairs teeth as you sleep has been developed in Britain. The product includes BioMinF, which binds to the teeth, filling any holes and slowly releasing a mix of calcium, phosphate and fluoride. File picture

In the future, the miracle ingredient  known as a bioactive glass  will be used to make varnishes to protect childrens teeth.

Researchers are also investigating how it could herald an era of dentistry without drills.

Tiny particles of BioMin would be fired at damaged teeth using air jets in a form of sandblasting to remove the damage and seal gaps.

Fillings made with the material would be used to repair and rebuild the tooth.

The BioMinF effectively reverses the damage caused by acidic drinks and other food and drink.

Prof Hill said laboratory tests show the product is more advanced than other re-mineralising toothpastes currently on the market such as Sensodyne, which include soluble fluoride.

This is because the fluoride in the BioMinF is released more slowly over time, around eight or nine hours.

The technology behind the breakthrough has been licensed from Queen Mary University and Imperial College and will form the basis of toothpaste and other products launched by BioMin Technologies, which was co-founded by Prof Hill.

The team will start selling the toothpaste, which is being made in Stoke, immediately via its own website and plans to work in partnership with other manufacturers around the world.

It is 4.99 for a 75ml tube, however this is a reflection of the high cost of the innovative manufacturing process.

Prof Hill said: Using re-mineralising toothpaste makes teeth far more resistant to attack from acidic soft drinks like fruit juices and sodas.

BioMin Technologies will start selling the toothpaste, which is being made in Stoke, immediately via its own website and plans to work in partnership with other manufacturers around the world. File photograph

It is also much more effective than conventional toothpastes where the active ingredients, such as soluble fluoride, are washed away and become ineffective less than two hours after brushing.

The small British company will be involved in a David and Goliath battle with multi-national toothpaste giants like GlaxoSmithKline, which own brands like Sensodyne and Aquafresh, and Colgate.

These global giants spend tens of millions of pounds on research, marketing and celebrity endorsements in a bid to boost sales.

The slow release of the active ingredients in the BioMinF toothpaste is thought to be particular good for children raised on fruit juices or anyone who is grazing throughout the day, rather than eating three meals.

The bodys natural defences include calcium and phosphate in saliva, which helps protect teeth against damage and decay.

BioMinF includes a mix of calcium, phosphate, fluoride and a dissolving polymer which helps the substance to stick to the teeth.

It gives useful protection to children, who maybe dont brush their teeth as often or carefully as they should. It also helps people with sensitive teeth and older people who produce less saliva.

We are in the process of establishing licensing agreements with toothpaste and dental materials manufacturers around the world. Richard Whatley, chief executive of BioMin Techologies

Tooth decay and sensitivity is estimated to affect 13.5million people in the UK alone. And over 14,000 British children aged 5 and under were admitted to hospital for tooth extraction in 2014/15.

Prof Hill said: This breakthrough innovation could significantly reduce dental decay and also tooth sensitivity problems which are often experienced by people eating or drinking something cold.

Looking ahead, Prof Hill said the key ingredient in the toothpaste could be used in many other products and treatments.

It can also be incorporated in other professionally applied dental products such as cleaning and polishing pastes, varnishes and re-mineralising filling materials, he said.

If successful, a share of the profits from the innovation will go back to the two British academic institutions that were involved in the original research.

Dr David Gillam, who is an expert in the management of dentine hypersensitivity and a consultant and co-founder of BioMin said: Tooth sensitivity is caused by open tubules in the teeth allowing access to the nerve receptors which may affect the quality of life of individuals particularly when eating and drinking hot and cold food and drink.

BioMin containing toothpastes are effective by sealing the tubules with acid resistant fluorapatite which act as a barrier to hot and cold being transmitted inside the tooth.

The chief executive of BioMin Techologies, Richard Whatley, said: We are very excited by the prospects of developing the patented technology which has been licensed from Queen Mary University of London and Imperial College.

We are in the process of establishing licensing agreements with toothpaste and dental materials manufacturers around the world.'
Children should have fertility lessons from age 11 to warn of the dangers of starting a family too late, a leading doctor has said.

Adam Balen, chairman of the British Fertility Society, said pupils must be told about the best age to have a child when they are taught about contraception in sex education lessons.

He will tell a summit that many girls are unaware how quickly their biological clock speeds up as they get older  and that the problem is exacerbated by celebrities who parade miracle babies in their 40s but hide the fact they have had expensive fertility treatment.

Children should have fertility lessons from age 11 to warn of the dangers of starting a family too late, a leading doctor has said

Professor Balen will add that the number of childless middle-aged women has doubled in two generations and that the lessons could spare tomorrows women from the profound heartache of infertility.

Boys should also take part in the classes as founding families is all about couples. The academic, making the call on behalf of the BFSs Fertility Education Taskforce, said fertility lessons should be part of the national curriculum.

Young people need to be informed that fertility declines as you get older and getting pregnant doesnt happen easily, he said. Young people should be supported to establish relationships, establish careers and establish families  not one to the exclusion of the other.

His warning comes as growing numbers of women are putting off motherhood. They are now more likely to have a child when over 35 than under 25. The number of children born to women aged 40-plus has trebled in the past 20 years.

But many who wait are not so lucky and IVF is not an insurance policy. Even the best fertility clinics have only a 50 per cent success rate. Those who do become pregnant at a later age have a higher risk of miscarrying and having a baby with Downs syndrome.

WOULD YOU USE AN APP INSTEAD OF THE PILL? A fertility app linked to smartphones has almost the same success rate as the Pill in avoiding pregnancy, research shows. Using body temperature, the Natural Cycles app alerts users on days of the month when having unprotected sex carries a risk of conceiving. It was created by Dr Elina Berglund, a former physicist. Today, she and husband Dr Raoul Scherwitzl, also a physicist, are publishing results of an independent clinical study testing the apps effectiveness. The research, by contraception experts at Swedens Karolinska Institute, involved 4,054 women aged 20 to 35, who used the app for contraception. It found that for every 1,000 women using the app perfectly, only five would experience an accidental pregnancy in a year. For typical users, who may not always use it perfectly, this rose to 70 in 1,000. The equivalent figures for the Pill are three in 1,000 and 90 in 1,000. Dr Berglund said the app, costing 6.99 a month, was a breakthrough for women who do not want to use hormone-based drugs, adding: We are excited to be creating a future where every pregnancy is wanted. Advertisement

Professor Balen said young people have a limited awareness of the facts. They are also being given a false sense of security by celebrities who trumpet the fact they have had babies late in life without making it public that they have used IVF, donor eggs or surrogacy.

On Friday, fertility doctors and family planning experts will meet at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to discuss plans including educational materials for teachers in sex and relationship lessons that already run from the age of 11.

Trained student volunteers could also go into schools and give out advice, including facts on how quickly fertility declines and how it is affected by smoking, drinking and weight. Professor Balen said couples should start trying for a family by their late 20s or early 30s. Leaving it later could cause profound emotional heartache, huge distress, anxiety and uncertainty.

The professor, a consultant in reproductive medicine at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: This is not something that young people think about. We are not trying to scare them, we want to inform them.

Professor Geeta Nargund, medical director of Create fertility clinics, who will take part in Fridays summit, said: Contraception and conception are two sides of the same coin. This doesnt mean we are trying to tell women to have babies when they are young. It is about raising awareness and giving them the knowledge they deserve and that is missing at the moment.

Norman Wells, of the Family Education Trust, said: So much sex education has placed such a strong emphasis on how to avoid pregnancy, that it has frequently presented a very negative image of childbearing  and some, to their cost, are leaving it too late.
Former prime minister Bob Hawke has said it is 'absurd' Australia does not allow euthanasia, throwing his support behind the controversial method.

Hawke, who was prime minister from 1983 to 1991, said it goes against 'good sense' to deny people the right to choose, before adding he'd rather 'go' before losing his 'marbles'.

'I am more than happy for my name to be associated with a clear statement of belief that the time has come where we in Australia should have clear legislation on our books that makes euthanasia legal,' the 86-year-old said on Andrew Denton's Better Off Dead podcast.

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Former prime minister Bob Hawke (pictured) has said it is 'absurd' Australia does not allow euthanasia

'I have an understanding with Blanche (Hawke's wife) that something I could not stand would be to lose my marbles.

'If that were in fact to happen then something is done about (it) ... I don't expect it to be a pillow pressed exuberantly over my nose, but I'm sure that something could be arranged with the family doctor.'

The former prime minister's view is one overwhelmingly supported by most Australians, with polls suggesting more than 70 per cent of people want to see euthanasia legalised.

A national survey in 2012 had 70 per cent support, while a poll at the 2015 NSW state election had the figure at 72 per cent, according to the ABC.

Hawke (pictured), who was prime minister from 1983 to 1991, said it goes against 'good sense' to deny people the right to choose

The former prime minister threw his support behind legalising euthanasia while speaking on Andrew Denton's (pictured) Better Off Dead podcast

Hawke (picture during a visit to China in 2015) said he would rather have the choice to die than lose his 'marbles'

However, despite the public support, more than 30 attempts to change legislation have been voted down across the country, Hawke said.

'Politicians are by and large not the bravest of creatures,' he said.

'They have a preeminent interest in retaining the seat they hold in the parliament, whatever parliament it is, and if they detect that there is no support and there is a degree of antagonism against this particular proposal you won't find very much courage there.'

Hawke (pictured in 1990) said attempts to change legislation have been voted down because politicians who make the decision 'are not the bravest of creatures'

Denton (pictured) has strongly campaigned for legalising euthanasia since his father died in 1997

Denton added changes are often rejected by politicians after public 'fear campaigns'.

The veteran presenter and host has been a strong supporter of euthanasia since his father died in 1997.
Rapper 50 Cent has reached a deal with his creditors that stipulates he pay $23 million dollars over the next five years.

The amount works out to around $400,000 a month and is 74 per cent of what he originally owed.

The Get Rich or Die Tryin' star, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, submitted a proposal through his lawyers, which will need to be approved by bankruptcy judge Ann Nevins.

But hours after proposing the arrangement the rapper was photographed at the Ace of Diamonds strip club in Los Angeles, where he reportedly spent $5,000.

TMZ pictures show 50 surrounded by scantily-clad women gyrating around the star, who is carrying wads of dollar bills.

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Hours after proposing the arrangement the rapper was photographed entering the Ace of Diamonds strip club (pictured) in Los Angeles, where he reportedly spent $5,000

Mo money, mo problems: 50 Cent has reached a deal with his creditors that stipulated he pay as much as 74% of what he originally owed them. The rapper will have to pay $23 million over five years

Fake: 50 Cent (pictured) filed for bankruptcy in July 2015, but in Instagram photos posted in October he appeared with stacks of what look like dollar bills. Judge Ann Nevins told him to explain where they came from

Money never sleeps: The images and videos show 50 Cent with piles of 'money' all around his house. He has since submitted a written statement saying it was prop money used for photoshoots

Under the terms of the proposal Sleek Audio, 50's biggest creditor, would receive $17.3 million. The rapper has also pledged to liquidate a portion of his remaining assets to cover debts beyond the $23 million agreement.

Other creditors include SunTrust Bank who would receive $4.9 millions and Lastonia Leviston who won $7 million in a sex tape case against the star has settled on $6 million.

Earlier in the hearings, the rapper 50 Cent was ordered to appear in bankruptcy court in Connecticut to explain photos showing him with wads of cash.

The Judge told the rapper's lawyer that several photos posted on Instagram made her concerned about allegations 50 Cent wasn't being truthful about his finances.

He has since declared that the fat stacks of cash he flaunted on Instagram were actually fake.

The superstar posted up a series of photos and videos on the app showing himself surrounded by piles of money.

But the photos sparked the ire of Judge Nevins, who demanded to know exactly how the supposedly bankrupt megastar could get so much money.

Man with a plan: 50 Cent has a plan to satisfy some of the creditors in his bankruptcy case -- and it involves him forking over $23 million

'I'm concerned about allegations of nondisclosure and a lack of transparency in the case,' Judge Nevins said.

But in a written declaration, 50 Cent declared that the money was prop money used for photo shoots, and that he was just trying to maintain his 'brand.'

'Hip-hop culture is widely recognized as aspirational in nature,' the declaration read. 'The standard by which artists and fans engage is commonly tied to money, jewelry, products and advertising over social media.

'Products and brands are now marketed through social media as an effective way to engage with consumers.

'Just because I am sensitive to the needs of maintaining my brand does not mean that I am hiding assets or that I have lied on my filings in this Bankruptcy Case, neither of which is true.'

Zero cents: 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III (pictured taking the oath in New York in July 2015 during a sex tape lawsuit), says that he used the fake money to promote his 'brand'

Judge Nevins was concerned about three pictures on the rapper's Instagram account.

The first showed a bottle of Effen Vodka, which Jackson is paid to endorse, in Jackson's fridge, surrounded by stacks of money.

The second has Jackson spelling out the word 'BROKE' in $100 bills, and the third showing 50 Cent on his bed, covered in cash.

There is also a video showing Jackson getting cheese from his money-filled fridge before asking the camera, 'What?'

Another video shows him pretending to wake up in bed, only to discover his legs are buried under a pile of notes.

The images were flagged by Lastonia Leviston, who won $7million in a sex-tape dispute with 50 Cent but hasnt been able to collect that money because he says he is broke.

The proceedings have been ongoing since July last year.

Cold, hard cash: Another pic showed a fridge stuffed with 'money.' The images were flagged by Lastonia Leviston, who won $7million in the sex-tape dispute but cannot collect because 50 Cent says he is broke

In an appearance on Conan in July of last year, 50 Cent told host Conan O'Brien that he had filed for bankruptcy to protect his finances.

'Yeah, I need protection,' he said. 'You get a bulls-eye painted on your back when youre successful, and its public. You become the ideal person for lawsuits.'

'So this is a way to protect yourself from lawsuits,' O'Brien replied.

'It is,' the rapper said. 'Re-organize things.'

The video was later pulled from the Conan website, Business Insider reported.
A former Mrs America has been charged with making more than $5,000 worth of fraudulent returns at Macy's.

Jennifer Susan Kline, 50, who won her Mrs America title in 1988, bought $5,790 worth of clothes during two different shopping trips at Macy's Southdale Mall in Edina, Minnesota, court documents say.

She then made multiple returns at Macy's Mall Of America in Bloomington and walked away with $5,501 worth of refunds, the court statement says.

But upon further inspection, a detective found that most of the tags and labels had been switched, making it impossible to identify the items - and to know whether they even came from Macy's, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's office.

Jennifer Susan Kline, 50 (pictured right in a mugshot), has been charged with making $5,501 worth of fraudulent returns at Macy's. She won the Mrs America crown in 1988 (left)

According to court documents, Kline (pictured after winning her Mrs America title in 1988) switched tags and label, making it impossible to identify the clothes she returned

Kline, of Wayzata, bought $2,884 worth of designer clothes at Macy's Southdale in November last year, the court says in a filing unveiled on Tuesday.

She returned the next day and spent another $2,906, charging most of the items to her credit card according to the attorney's office.

Police found 24 items of clothing that Kline (pictured) had supposedly returned while searching her home, the filing says

Kline then made multiple returns on two separate days at Macy's Mall Of America, pocketing $5,501 in refunds to her credit card and to gift cards according to the filing.

A Macy's detective took a closer look at the returned clothes and found that most of the tags and labels had been switched from the clothes Kline had purchased and attached to the returned items, authorities say.

The detective also found that several of the clothes were dirty or looked like they had been worn, the complaint states.

The label switching made it impossible to identify the original brand of each item or to tell where they had been purchased, according to the filing.

Macy's couldn't verify whether the clothes came from one of their stores, the document states.

Police searched her home and found 24 items of clothing purchased and supposedly returned in November, according to the complaint.

Macy's lost money on the refunded items, the court says.

Kline, who is not currently in custody, has been charged with felony theft by swindle.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison and / or a $20,000 fine.

Kline (left, pictured in a dress and a leather jacket at New York Fashion Week in 2010) has been charged with felony theft by swindle, which carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison and / or a $20,000 fine
An Indianapolis Jack In The Box has become the latest fast food joint to fall victim to the 'gas leak' prank - that has now duped employees into vandalizing their own restaurants in at least five states.

Staff at the eatery ripped a fire extinguisher off the wall and smashed out a window after they got a phone call from someone claiming to be a public safety official.

The mysterious caller said there was a gas leak at the eatery and warned them there could be an explosion if they didn't act quickly.

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An Indianapolis Jack In The Box has become the latest fast food joint to fall victim to the 'gas leak' prank - that has now duped employees into vandalizing their own restaurants in at least five states

Staff at the eatery ripped a fire extinguisher off the wall and smashed out a window after they got a phone call from someone claiming to be a public safety official

According to the Indianapolis Star, the worker soon realized it was a prank.

The hoax has been reported in at least five states in the last few months.

Last week a prank caller persuaded Burger King employees in Minnesota and Oklahoma to smash all the windows of their fast food restaurant to stop the building from exploding.

Posing as a fire department official, the caller convinced two outlets - one in Shawnee, OK, on Thursday; one in Coon Rapids, MN, on Friday - that there were perilously high levels of carbon monoxide filling up the buildings.

The other states to have been impacted include California and Arizona.

Indianapolis Fire Department fire marshal Courtney Gordon told Fox 59: 'As a public safety official, its concerning to me these type of activities are going on.

'Its not a good situation for the community, for businesses or for fire fighters. It costs money when you have to repair windows or these alarms.'

He also reiterated that fire officials would never tell people to vandalize their own properties over the phone.
The botched 'child recovery operation' in Lebanon that landed an Australian mother and a 60 Minutes crew in jail was doomed from the beginning with the children's father having access to emails that showed the sting being organised.

Sally Faulkner and the four-member television crew, including reporter Tara Brown, were charged on Tuesday over their involvement in the bungled child snatch and could face up to 20 years in jail if they are found guilty.

A child recovery agency was hired to kidnap Ms Faulkner's two children, Noah and Lahela, last week from her estranged husband Ali Elamine, who she claims kept her children in Lebanon without her permission.

The 60 Minutes crew, including reporter Tara Brown, could be facing 20 years in jail and hard labour after being charged by Lebanese officials over their involvement in a botched 'child recovery operation' in Beirut

Sally Faulkner and the four-member television crew, including reporter Tara Brown, were charged on Tuesday over their involvement in the bungled child snatch and could face up to 20 years in jail if they are found guilty

60 Minutes has refused to comment on whether they paid $115,000 to the Child Abduction Recovery International for the sting.

The 60 Minutes crew had followed Ms Faulkner to the Middle East to film the recovery but they were arrested alongside Ms Faulkner shortly after the children were snatched from their paternal grandmother by a group of masked men and bundled into a car.

Mr Elamine revealed this week he was aware of the kidnapping plan and had already alerted Lebanese authorities.

He told the Guardian he had access to Ms Faulkner's emails until last December where he was able to screenshot conversations where the plan was outlined. The details helped local police identify those involved.

'I had access to Sally's emails so I knew the plan, but I didn't think they would be that ballsy... It was insane,' he said.

Lebanese authorities were reportedly lied to from the beginning when they questioned a British man who claimed to be lost after docking his boat at Beirut, The Australian reports.

The man was there to take the children to nearby Cyprus where they would apply for new passports with the Australian embassy.

60 Minutes had followed Ms Faulkner to film the recovery of her children, Noah and Lahela, from her estranged husband Ali Elamine, who she claims kept her children in Lebanon without her permission

Ms Faulkner claims her two children Noah and Lahela were being kept in Lebanon without her permission

The 60 Minutes crew had followed Ms Faulkner to the Middle East to film the recovery of her children from her estranged husband, who she claims kept her children in Lebanon without her permission

Seven people have been charged over the recovery operation including Ms Faulker, reporter Tara Brown and colleagues Benjamin Williamson, David Ballment and Stephen Rice.

The two others are believed to be members of the child recovery agency hired for the kidnapping.

Nine reporter, Tom Steinfort, who is covering the case, said each of the TV crew faced brief, five-minute questioning from the judge with reports from media on the ground that they were composed and well.

Tara Brown emerged smiling despite being cuffed to another defendant and reportedly stumbling when led away by a guard.

Ms Faulkner was reportedly less composed and in tears following her appearance.

Her ex-husband, Ali Elamine, was brought into the judge's office and stayed there during a 20 minute questioning.

The Daily Star, a Lebanese newspaper, has reportedly quoted a judicial source who claims that Ms Faulkner's legal right to custody of the two children could be a mitigating factor in her sentencing.

Ms Faulkner told Nine's A Current Affair last year that she would do 'anything' to get her children back

David 'Tangles' Ballment (left) and Stephen Rice are part of the 60 Minutes crew currently detained

Lebanese police allege the crew paid for and filmed the attempted kidnapping of the two children Noah and Lahela after their father Ali el-Amien moved them to the Middle East

A judge in Lebanon has been asked by prosecutors to investigate the charges which are punishable by a minimum of three years or maximum 20 years in jail.

The judge will be the one to decided if the group will be released on bail or whether they will continue to be detained as investigations continue.

Nine has hired a legal team in Beirut to represent its crew but it's unknown whether Ms Faulkner has legal representation.

Mr Steinfort said the accused would be formally questioned by the the prosecutor in coming days, with another hearing expected soon where the team will be able to mount a defence.

'After that, the judge will decide if some of those charges may well be struck off. That is certainly what their lawyer here will be arguing very hard for.'

There are also reports that Lebanese authorities have footage of the alleged abduction attempt, however Nine said its crew was not connected to the recovery team.

CCTV footage aired in local media and on Nine appeared to show Noah, 4, and Lahela,6, being snatched from their paternal grandmother by a group of masked men and bundled into a car.

Ms Faulkner hired a controversial child recovery agency to get Noah and Lahlea back from Lebanon after their father Ali el-Amien refused to bring the children home to Australia

It comes after the TV crew thanked Lebanese authorities for their 'treatment in custody'.

The crew are in 'relatively good spirits given the situation the find themselves in', according to Mr Steinfort.

The five Australians were arrested last week following the incident on the streets of Beirut.

The 60 Minutes crew had followed Ms Faulkner to the Middle East to film the recovery of her children from her estranged husband, who she claims kept her children in Lebanon without her permission.

CCTV footage aired in local media and on Nine appeared to show Noah, 4, and Lahela, 6, being snatched from their paternal grandmother by a group of masked men and bundled into a car.

Australian diplomats in Lebanon and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials in Canberra have been supporting the detained Australians.

Earlier it was revealed Ms Faulkner sent text messages to another child recovery agency during the operation stating that her and the 60 Minutes crew who accompanied her were in 'trouble'.

A short time after the 60 Minutes crew and members of Child Abduction Recovery International (CARI) were arrested on Thursday, Ms Faulkner made contact with Colin Chapman, who runs a rival child recovery agency from Queensland.

The mother has previously said she did not know about her ex-husband's intention to take her children

The children have both since been reunited with their father, who says he is 'disappointed' by the botched recovery attempt

Ms Faulkner denied that any force was used against her children's paternal grandmother (pictured), who claims she was pistol whipped and threatened with a gun during the abduction from a busy Beirut bus stop

According to text messages and emails obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald, Ms Faulkner confirmed that 60 Minutes recorded the operation but said police didn't have the footage.

She went on to beg Mr Chapman to help her find a way out of the country via boat or through Syria.

The 29-year-old said local police had thwarted a plan to sneak the children out of Lebanon on a yacht but that she could make it to a boat 'within a day'.

The Brisbane mother, who left an infant child behind in Australia, said 60 Minutes would pay for the agency to organise another extraction via boat, but Mr Chapman said he would need 'some sort of deposit or guarantee' that the 75,000 euros would be paid.

'Is there any way your team could do the recovery and get the money later. I know 60 will pay up if it means I don't do the rest of the story and I get out,' Ms Faulkner reportedly said.

'60 refusing to pay for the boat. They're relying on [Foreign Minister Julie] Bishop to get them out,' Mr Chapman responded.

Ms Faulkner denied that any force was used against her children's paternal grandmother after she claimed she was pistol whipped and threatened with a gun during the abduction from a busy Beirut bus stop, the Sydney Morning Herald reported

Once Lahela and Noah went to Beirut, Mr el-Amien told allegedly Ms Faulkner she would never see her children again

'They say we took them using guns and hit [the grandmother] in the head. We didn't even touch the grandmother,' she said.

Ms Faulkner reportedly said that she and the 60 Minutes crew were in 'a bit of sh*t', also confirming that 'Adam', suspected to be head of CARI Adam Whittington, had been 'pulled in for questioning'.

Daily Mail Australia understands the group was advised on Sunday that the legal process could see them remain in custody for up to a month, at least.

Lebanese authorities have split up the detained Australians, sending Ms Faulkner and Tara Brown to a female-only detention centre and the male members to another detention centre.

Lebanese police allege the crew paid for and filmed the attempted kidnapping of the Brisbane mother's two children after their father Ali el-Amien moved them to the Middle East without her permission.

Lebanese authorities reportedly have evidence that Channel Nine paid for the abduction.

According to the ABC, police said they had a signed statement from a member of CARI confirming they received $115,000 for the operation.

Lebanese authorities have split up the detained Australians, sending Ms Faulkner and Tara Brown to a female-only detention centre and the male members to another detention centre

Daily Mail Australia understands the group was advised on Sunday that the legal process could see them remain in custody for up to a month, at least
Rutledge is held without bond on charges of assault, aggravated arson

Smith, who died on Tuesday afternoon, after serving on the Columbus police force for 27 years

Officer Steven M. Smith, 54, was in the car when he was shot

An Ohio police officer died two days after he was critically wounded when a man opened fire on a SWAT team trying to arrest him for allegedly setting his estranged wife's house ablaze, officials said.

Columbus police said Officer Steven M. Smith died late Tuesday afternoon, surrounded by his family. He was 54 years old.

Lincoln Rutledge, of Columbus, shot Smith and held police at bay for several hours on Sunday after officers tried to arrest him for the fire, which was set the day before, police said.

Columbus police said Officer Steven M. Smith (left) died late Tuesday afternoon two days after he was critically wounded when Lincoln Rutledge (right) opened fire on a SWAT team trying to arrest him

Smith was taken to OSU Wexner Medical Center, where he underwent surgery Sunday morning but remained in critical condition until his death Tuesday afternoon.

Ohio Fraternal Order of Police President Jay McDonald released a statement following Smith's death, saying Smith was no stranger to the dangers of police work.

McDonald said Smith had been shot in the line of duty before, in 2013.

'While others might have turned away, he heroically returned to duty,' said McDonald. 'We join his family and friends in celebrating his life and service while mourning his senseless death.'

Columbus police say Rutledge held police at bay for several hours on Sunday after setting fire to the apartment the day before.

The officer was inside a SWAT vehicle approaching the residence to issue an arrest warrant around 3am, when Rutledge fired shouts out a window and hit Smith, FOX28 reported.

The suspect, who had refused to emerge, gave up around 7.15am after a loud bang was heard inside the apartment that police say was part of a strategy to end the standoff.

Police eventually decided to enter after not detecting movement for a long time, police spokesman Sgt. Rich Weiner said.

After the bang was heard, Rutledge immediately surrendered and was taken out through the same window shots were fired from, Weiner said.

A Franklin County Municipal Court judge ordered the 44-year-old Rutledge held without bond on charges of felonious assault and aggravated arson earlier Tuesday.

The judge cited concerns about a risk to public safety if Rutledge was released. A public defender assigned to Rutledge declined to discuss the charges against him.

Police Chief Kim Jacobs said the source of the fire has not been determined, but the building has been completely destroyed.

Rutledge refused to surrender after the shooting at the apartment complex in the area of North High Street and West California Avenue (above)

The officer was inside a SWAT vehicle approaching the residence to issue an arrest warrant around 3am, when Rutledge fired shouts out a window and hit Smith, FOX28 reported. Pictured, fire trucks and police vehicles converged in the Clintonville neighborhood

Rutledge's former employer, Ohio State University, and others have commented on Rutledge's erratic behavior in recent months.

A statement from the university says Rutledge resigned April 3, 2016 as an information technology security engineer there while on a leave that he had requested Feb. 1.

'His I.T. and building access were revoked on March 23, 2016, when he began to behave erratically while on leave,' the statement said. Ohio State said it arranged for wellness checks on Rutledge and encouraged him to contact its employee assistance program.

WCMH-TV reported that university police documents dated March 22 and March 23 said a co-worker told police he saw weapons, including a gun and ammunition when he went to check on Rutledge and that Rutledge began to swing a hammer at him.

Rutledge's estranged wife had told police that since mid-March, Rutledge had threatened her with gun violence and had been sought for a court-ordered mental-health evaluation, but no one could find him, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

Smith was a 27-year veteran of the Columbus police force. He leaves behind his wife of 32 years and two adult children.

He's the 54th Columbus police officer killed in the line of duty.

A preliminary hearing for Rutledge has been set for April 21.
Yesterday in his insiders account of the EU, Euro MP Daniel Hannan exposed Britains impotence in trying to deal with Brussels. Here, in the final part of his powerful series, he insists that our future could be very bright indeed  as long as we vote to leave...

Euro enthusiasts love to sneer at Brexiters like me: So whats your alternative? Dyou want Britain to be like Norway? All cold and empty?

Or like Switzerland? Making chocolate? And cuckoo clocks? Thats what you want, is it? Eh?

Its tempting simply to answer that, if youre in a structurally unsafe building, the obvious alternative to remaining is walking out.

And with the migration and euro crises deepening, the EU is just that  structurally unsafe. So much so that staying in is a greater risk than leaving.

But I know, too, that fear of change is deep in peoples genomes, and we tend to vote accordingly.

Guernsey is an English-speaking, common law, parliamentary democracy. Its currency is the pound. Its head of state is the Queen, but remains outside of the EU

Given the chance to win something of greater value by staking something of lesser value, we tend to make the mathematically irrational decision to stick with what weve got.

Euro MEP Daniel Hannan lays out his case for leaving the EU

As Remain campaigners are well aware, referendums the world over tend to be won by whichever side is opposing change. And they can hardly be blamed for making change-aversion their key argument.

They dont want to get drawn into arguments about democracy, or sovereignty, or the EUs declining share of the world economy, or border control, or Britains budget contributions. Theyd much rather conjure up unspecific, inchoate fears about change.

Fear of the unknown has become the mainstay of their case.

One pro-EU friend, a Conservative MP, put it to me: Its like banks. Everyone moans about their bank. But how many people take their accounts elsewhere?

To which I reply: Well, youd move your account pretty sharpish if you thought the bank might fail. In my view, the EU is now so rickety that sticking with it can hardly be called risk-averse. Voting to leave is now the safer option.

What people need to understand before they choose which box to tick is that there is no status quo in this referendum. What we face, rather, is a choice between two futures, both of which we can sketch with some confidence.

One future involves being part of the continuing political amalgamation of the EU, a process that has been rumbling along since 1956, but in which we will cede control over the larger questions of foreign affairs, economics, security, human rights and citizenship to Brussels institutions.

The other involves a new relationship based on a common market, not a common government.

A vote to leave will result in a trade-only deal with the EU. We will remain part of the European free trade zone that stretches from non-EU Iceland to non-EU Turkey.

No one in Brussels argues that Britain would leave that common market if it left the EU. Given that every non-EU territory from the Faroe Islands to Montenegro has access to the European free trade area, it would be preposterous to claim that the UK, uniquely, would be denied full market access.

This is obvious when we consider that the balance of UK-EU trade is very much in our favour. The UK market is worth 289 billion, so the EU is hardly likely to turn its back on us.

Indeed, it needs our market more than we need theirs, so it is absurd to claim that non-participation in the various political structures in Brussels would mean trade coming to a halt.

We will keep our trade links and, like every other independent state, we will negotiate our own deal on departure, tailored to suit our own conditions and needs.

Will it be the Swiss, Norwegian or Icelandic model? No, none of these. It will be one especially for us.

Referendums the world over tend to be won by whichever side is opposing change - like the Remain campaign

A vote to leave will result in a trade-only deal with the EU, but we will leave EU government

In terms of trade, Norway gets a better deal than Britain currently does, and Switzerland a better deal than Norway.

But a post-EU Britain, with 65 million people compared to Switzerlands eight million and Norways five million, could expect something better yet.

But wont we still have to conform to huge chunks of EU rules when we are outside, just as Norway and Iceland do?

Gasping and swooning with all the theatricality of Victorian matrons, EU supporters have claimed this as a clincher in their case. Yet that issue has proved to be more a problem in theory than in practice. Between 2000 and 2013, the EU generated 52,183 legal instruments, of which Norway and Iceland adopted fewer than 10 per cent (and the Swiss none at all).

We will keep our trade links and, like every other independent state, we will negotiate our own deal on departure, tailored to suit our own conditions and needs - with Brussels

In that same period, Britain, by contrast, had to apply 100 per cent of EU regulations to its economy. So even if we had to settle for a Norway or an Iceland-style agreement  which we wont  we would be far better off out.

The very fact of mentioning Norway and Switzerland will lead to more scoffing from the pro-EU campaign. How can you possibly compare us to those countries? they will ask. Britain is very different.

So, if Norway and Switzerland are too exotic for a true comparison, how about Guernsey in the Channel Islands? Guernsey is an English-speaking, common law, parliamentary democracy. Its currency is the pound. Its head of state is the Queen.

It is, for certain purposes, in political union with the UK. Its political system resembles ours in every way.

Except one. Guernsey is outside the EU. Essentially, it opts into the economic aspects of EU membership, but opts out of everything else.

The Channel Islands are outside the Common Fisheries Policy, outside the Common Agricultural Policy (except for import duties on non-EU produce) and outside the common rules on justice, home affairs, foreign policy, employment law and environmental regulation.

The Swiss (above, Geneva) adopted none of the EU's 52,183 legal instruments generated between 2000 and 2013

Guernsey is part of a free-movement area with the UK and Ireland, but controls immigration from the rest of the EU. Indeed, startlingly to British eyes, it really does have an immigration policy: its legislators vote on whom to admit, on what terms and in what numbers.

They set an annual population target, and issue their residence permits accordingly, mainly taking in temporary workers from Latvia and Madeira.

They are currently debating how many Syrian refugees they might take in.

Parliamentary sovereignty evidently suits the people of Guernsey. Their economy has been growing steadily at around 3 per cent a year, their GDP per capita is one of the highest in the world, unemployment is in the hundreds and crime is virtually non-existent.

Ah, say EU supporters, but Guernsey is a tax haven  thats why it is doing so well.

If, by that, they mean there are lower taxes in Guernsey because  unfettered by Brussels  they can run their own affairs efficiently and attract investment, this is surely an argument for leaving.

Guernsey is part of a free-movement area with the UK and Ireland, but controls immigration from the rest of the EU. Above, Oslo, who also enjoys a trade-only relationship with the EU

But you cant compare us to Guernsey, the scoffers will then cry. Its tiny! But are we seriously supposed to think that small nations can thrive outside the EU, but large ones cant?

Its extraordinary how quickly EU supporters switch from Britain has to be part of a bigger bloc to You cant compare us to small countries. Apparently, were simultaneously too large and too small to prosper.

The Chief Minister of Guernsey is a hugely impressive man called Jonathan Le Tocq, one of the last islanders to have been brought up speaking the local Norman French dialect.

He studied in Paris and feels very European. But what he prizes above all is the sense of accountability intrinsic in the islands parliamentary system.

People know that theyre in control, he told me. If they dont like a policy, they can get it changed. Extraordinary, really, that such a thing should need saying.

Extraordinary, too, that Britain, which developed and exported the sublime idea that laws should not be passed, nor taxes raised, except by elected representatives, should now look enviously at its Crown possessions off the Normandy coast.

WHY Vote Leave by Daniel Hannan is published by Head of Zeus at 9.99. Offer price 7.99 (20 per cent discount) until April 20, 2016. Call 0844 571 0640 or visit mailbookshop.co.uk. P&P free on orders over 12.

Our pessimism about our country's ability is staggering

Please imagine that you are on a bus whose destination  a federalist United States of Europe  is clearly marked on the front.

Just in case any passengers have missed the point, the driver keeps calling out the stops ahead: common European taxation, a unified welfare system, an EU army. If you dont want to go to any of those stops, let alone the final destination, what should you do?

Should you remain motionless in your seat as the bus purrs along its route? Or should you politely get off and wave it on its way?

Yes, it takes nerve to do so, and Remainers play on our anxiety about change. The EU might be remote, they say, it might be self-serving, frustrating and arrogant and expensive and wasteful and corrupt, but can we be sure that the alternative wont be even worse?

The implicit pessimism here, the low opinion of Britain and her capabilities, is staggering.

Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the European Federation has compared Britain and the EU to Hong Kong and China

Other countries take it for granted that they can live under their own laws while working with neighbours and allies. New Zealand shows no interest in merging with Australia, yet the Kiwis are not written off as insular Australo-sceptics who have failed to adjust to the modern world.

Japan is not applying to join China. But people dont hector the Japanese for being nostalgic Sinosceptics who simply cant get over the loss of their empire.

Self-government is the normal condition for a modern democracy. What we need is the self-confidence to grasp it while we can.

Are we prepared to use our faculty for reason, rather than be swayed by instinctive risk aversion? Are we prepared to aim, calmly and reasonably, for an economics-based deal that would suit both sides better than the current rancour?

Because, if not, the alternative is too awful to contemplate.

What, then, of a vote to leave? Where will that take us?

I have a very clear vision of what it will be like in an independent Britain if were bold and determined. Just think ahead a few years.

It is 2020, and the UK is flourishing outside the EU. The rump EU, now a united bloc and known officially as the European Federation, continues its genteel decline, but Britain has become the most successful and competitive knowledge-based economy in the region.

Our universities attract the worlds brightest students.

We lead the way in software, biotech, law, finance and the audio-visual sector. We have forged a distinctive foreign policy, allied to Europe, but giving due weight to the U.S., India and other common law, Anglophone democracies.

More intangibly, but no less significantly, we have recovered our self-belief.

As Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the European Federation, crossly puts it: In economic terms, Britain is Hong Kong to Europes China, Singapore to our Indonesia.

We remain full members of the EUs common market, covered by free movement of goods, services and capital, but we have also made a slew of free-trade agreements with the rest of the world, including the U.S., India and Australia.

Non-EU trade matters more than ever.

Since 2010, every region in the world has experienced significant economic growth, except Europe. The prosperity of distant continents has spilled over into Britain. Our Atlantic ports, above all Glasgow and Liverpool, are entering a second golden age.

London, too, is booming. Eurocrats never had much sympathy for financial services. As their regulations took effect in Frankfurt, Paris and Milan  a financial transactions tax, a ban on short selling, restrictions on clearing, a bonus cap, windfall levies, micro-regulation of funds  waves of young financiers brought their talents to the City instead.

Our farmers, freed from the Common Agricultural Policy, are world-beating.

Our fisheries are, once again, a great renewable resource. Breaking free from the EUs rules on data management made Hoxton in East London the global capital for software design.

Scrapping EU rules on clinical trials has allowed Britain to recover its place as a world leader in medical research.

Universities no longer waste their time on Kafkaesque EU grant applications. Now, they compete on quality, attracting talent from every continent and charging accordingly.

Immigration is keenly debated. Every year, Parliament votes on how many permits to make available for students, medical workers and refugees.

Every would-be migrant can compete on an equal basis: the rules that privileged Europeans over Commonwealth citizens, often with family links to Britain, were dropped immediately after independence.

Brand power: Without the EU, the UK would still attract brand power across the world with Wimbledon to Manchester United, from the Duchess of Cambridge to Downton Abbey

Unsurprisingly, other European states have opted for a similar deal to ours, including Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey and Georgia.

The result is that the United Kingdom leads a 21-state bloc that forms a common market with the remaining members of the European Federation, but is outside its political structures.

Meanwhile, the 25 countries of the Federation have pushed ahead with full integration, including a European army and police force and harmonised taxes, prompting Ireland and the Netherlands to announce referendums on whether to follow Britain.

Best of all, we have cast off the pessimism that infected us during our EU years, the sense that we were too small to make a difference.

We are the fifth largest economy on Earth, the fourth military power, a leading member of the G7, a permanent seat-holder on the UN Security Council. We are home to the worlds greatest city and most widely spoken language.

Our brands, from Wimbledon to Manchester United, from the Duchess of Cambridge to Downton Abbey, are recognised around the world.

We used to think of ourselves  in the phrase once used by the veteran actress Emma Thompson as an argument for staying in  as a tiny little island. But not any more.

And, from our position of independence, we know we have plenty more to give.

This brave new world I have outlined here is within our grasp, if we bite the bullet and vote to leave the EU at the referendum in June.

Two futures beckon. Neither can be foreknown with total certainty. But there is one thing we know in our bones: a confident country does not fear to follow her own path. As the poet Robert Frost wrote:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I 

I took the one less travelled by,
KEITH JACKSON

HE was there at the beginning. The patrol officer who joined the Bully Beef Club that discussed Papua New Guineas impending independence and which founded the Pangu Pati.

Onetime kiap, politician and now long-term resident of China, Tony Voutas, returned to Wewak last week for the 80th birthday of elder statesman and grand chief Michael Somare.

Eighty is an impressive age for any man but a special achievement in PNG where the average male lifespan is 60 years.
A man has been charged over the alleged murder of an Oxford-educated Harry Potter collector who was allegedly fatally stabbed at his upmarket property last week.

Adrian Greenwood, who was also an art dealer and historian, was found dead at his 640,000 home in Oxford last Thursday by his cleaner.

He is believed to have been stabbed multiple times in the neck and chest, a post-mortem later revealed.

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Historian Adrian Greenwood, 42, was discovered by a member of the public at his home in Oxford on Thursday and initially police described his death as 'unexplained'

Michael Danaher, a 50-year-old who was arrested on Sunday, has now been charged over the murder. A 26-year-old was released without charge on Saturday.

Danaher will appear in custody at Banbury Magistrates' Court otoday.

Police initially described the death as 'unexplained' as they cordoned off four properties for hours with forensic officers combing the steps outside for clues.

It is believed Mr Greenwood, who was last seen at a Sainsbury's around 6pm last Tuesday, was attacked in the hallway of his four-storey house.

Det Supt Ward previously said: 'We need the public's help to find out what happened to Mr Greenwood and I would urge anyone with any information whatsoever about Mr Greenwood's background or the murder to come forward as soon as possible.

'The investigation team would like to hear from anyone who has information about Mr Greenwood's associates, or anyone who has had a personal or business engagement with him in the last few weeks.'

Four homes were cordoned off by forensics officers, who combed the steps outside for clues, before announcing it had become a murder investigation on Saturday. A 50-year-old man was arrested on Sunday and has now been charged

Mr Greenwood, who is thought to have been single, attended the independent prep school Hawthorns School in Surrey, before reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Christ Church, Oxford.

He obtained an MBA at Imperial College, London, and started his career buying British Rail lost property and selling them at car boot sales before moving on to antique furniture.

The avid collector of Harry Potter first editions was once in hot water with J K Rowling after selling a collection of her personal items he bought at Sotheby's.

It was reported in 2009 that she was 'livid' at his re-sale of a drawing she had done of a little boy, a hand-coloured invitation to her daughter's 2nd birthday party and a list she made of potential character names for the first Harry Potter book.

Mr Greenwood captured on CCTV during the last sighting of him at a local Sainsbury's store in Kidlington

In November 2010, the dealer came to national attention after one of his first edition Harry Potter books was stolen from a gallery in Woodstock, Oxfordshire.

The book, the first in the popular Harry Potter series that has netted author JK Rowling more than 500million, had been part of an exhibition of children's illustrations at the Creative Art Gallery.

Mr Greenwood had loaned the restored copy, one of four first editions he owns, to the gallery when it was stolen.

After Mr Greenwood appeared on TV explaining how difficult the book would be to sell on, the thief panicked and abandoned the book in a carrier bag outside a branch of Boots.

Michael Danaher, a 50-year-old who was arrested on Sunday, was today charged over the murder. A 26-year-old was released without charge on Saturday

Forensics personnel attend the 640,000 home of Adrian Greenwood, where it is believed the 42-year-old was killed in his hallway

Thames Valley Police called a press conference to appeal for information into the death of the author, who studied at the prestigious Christ Church college, where much of the Harry Potter series was filmed

It is understood he had an interested in taxidermy and classic cars, as well as selling Banksy artwork, including a gratified safe for around 60,000 in 2011.

Neighbours of Mr Greenwood previously said they were mystified about the attack.

The house overlooks the independent Magdalen College School and sits just over the River Cherwell from Oxford University's Magdalen College.

Residents spoke of shock as they revealed the identity of the alleged killer was a mystery to them.

One neighbour said: 'He was a quiet man, it was rare that you would see him out and about. He would always be dressed very smartly when you did see him.

'I'm not aware of him having a partner - as far as I knew, he lived alone.

'It was a shock to see so many police here on Thursday, but to hear that it [might be] a murder is an even bigger shock. This is the last place you'd expect something like this to happen.'
The father of the two children at the centre of the 60 Minutes Beirut kidnap case is a passionate surfer who moved back to Lebanon with his ex-wife, Sally Faulkner, to start a surf shop before their bitter split.

Ali Elamine, a Lebanese American from Huntington Beach in California, runs the business Surf Lebanon in a tiny fishing village turned resort on the Mediterranean coast south of Beirut.

The business is marketed on its Instagram page as 'your one stop shop for everything Surfing or Stand Up Paddle Boarding (SUP)'.

Mr Elamine believes surfing, which he has done almost daily except for the day his children were abducted, is a relief from the realities of war and conflict in Lebanon and Syria.

The 31-year-old is credited with making surfing a sport in Lebanon since he opened a surfing school in late 2012 at El Jiyeh, an ancient seaside town 25km south of Beirut.

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Ali Elamine (pictured) is the father of two children at the centre of the 60 Minutes Beirut kidnap case

Ali Elamine (pictured at a beach in Lebanon) is a fanatical surfer who moved back to Lebanon with his ex-wife Sally Faulkner to start a surf shop before their bitter split

Ali Elamine surfs constantly except for the day his children Laleh, 5, and Noah, 3 (pictured on a winter's day at the beach in Lebanon) were abducted in a snatch apparently organised by his ex-wife and filmed by 60 Minutes

Ali Elamine, 31, pictured with his kids with whom he has been reunited following the alleged kidnap

Ali Elamine (pictured, left and right) at a surf beach at El Jiyeh, a town 25km south of Beirut, promotes surfing as a way for Lebanese people to forget the violence of Middle Eastern politics

He has been reunited with his children since their alleged kidnap in Beirut by the child recovery agency CARI at the behest of the children's mother, Sally Faulkner, and filmed by the Nine Network's 60 Minutes.

Mr Elamine, who is Lebanon's representative to the International Surfing Association, has a surf shop on the beachfront of El Jiyeh, which was heavily bombarded by the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Israeli Army in the 1980s during the Lebanese civil war.

In an interview with Al Monitor magazine, Elamine said that surfing offered a place to belong and a place to forget.

'In the water, there is no religion. Everyone [here] knows that,' Mr Elamine said. 'Were a family. In the water, if someone gets hurt, we all back them up. We cheer if someone snags a good [wave].'

Mr Elamine, who met Ms Faulkner when she was a flight attendant and the couple fell in love and married, moved to Australia while the couple had daughter Laleh, now aged five.

60 MInutes reporter Tara Brown has had her passport (pictured) confiscated and has now been charged with alleged child kidnapping

Noah, 3, was also born in Australia but the couple had moved back to Lebanon so that Mr Elamine could pursue his dream to open a surfing business.

'It was always something I wanted to do,' Mr Elamine told Al Monitor. 'We have a really decent coastline that almost no one takes advantage of, and we get awesome waves.

'Its a new sport. Its not part of the culture to go to the beach here in the winter. People think of it as a summer sport.'

But once he and his local business partner convinced people to enter the water and take lessons, they were hooked.

Mr Elamine, Ms Faulkner and their children lived in Beirut as a family until 2013, when ad lived in the country until a series of car bombings by and against the Shia Hezbollah group and Syrian factions blasted the capital in 2013.

Ms Faulkner told Mr Elamine she felt unsafe and that she was taking their children to Australia to visit her parents.

When she arrived in Brisbane she told her husband that she had 'torn up the children's passports'.

Sally Faulkner, pictured with her son Noah and daughter Laleh after the alleged kidnap in Beirut on April 6 which led to her and a 60 Minutes crew's arrest

The moment when child recovery operatives allegedly kidnapped Ali Elamine's children from their grandmother at a Beirut bus stop and which has resulted in the arrest of Tara Brown, her crew and the children's mother, Sally Faulkner

Images taken of the passports (above) of Tara Brown's 60 Minutes crew, veteran producer Stephen Rice (left), sound recordist David Ballment (centre) and cameraman Ben Williamson (right) who are in a Beirut prison

Mr Elamine told the ABC that Ms Faulkner had said the only way of seeing his children was to visit them in Australia, and that he and his then wife had no jobs here and that all the family's income came from Lebanon and his surfing business.

He did fly over to visit his children and arranged for them to have new passports. In March last year, Mr Elamine took his children back to Lebanon for a 'holiday' and told Ms Faulkner the children would be staying with him.

It is understood that Ms Faulkner had formed a new relationship with an Australian man and later gave birth to a daughter.

Daily Mail Australia understands that Ms Faulkner contacted one child recovery agency as early as last June to retrieve her children, eventually teaming up with 60 Minutes and another agency, Child Abduction Recovery International (CARI).

Sally Faulkner and then husband Ali Elamine (pictured, above left) moved to Beirut in 2011 and lived there with children Laleh and Noah (pictured, right, with Ms Faulkner) until a series of car bombings in 2013 spooked her and she fled back home

Ali Elamine, pictured surfing in Lebanon in a Facebook photo posted with comments from surfing friends around the world, says 'In the water, there is no religion. Were a family'

Child recovery specialist Col Chapman warned Ms Faulkner not to deal with CARI, but 60 Minutes agreed to pay CARI"s $120,000 fee, which was less than the $150,000 the alternative agency would cost.

Ms Faulkner's children were abducted on April 6 from a bus stop on in the northern Beirut suburb of Hadath, a half hour drive from Mr Elamine's surf shop.

Following Ms Faulkner's arrest and his children's return, Mr Elamine was filmed collecting his son and daughter dressed in board shorts.

His Surf Lebanon Facebook page shows surfing photographs taken from just about every day in the week before and the week since the Beirut abduction of his children as they waited for the morning school bus with grandmother Ibtissam Berri.

Ms Faulkner is believed to have telephoned her ex-husband following the incident to tell him she had the children and they weren't coming back, following which he called the police. Surf Lebabon's Facebook page is missing a photograph or entry for April 6.

Following Sally Faulkner's arrest and his children's return, Ali Elamine (pictured with Noah and Laleh) was filmed collecting his son and daughter dressed in board shorts

Ali Elamine has posted pictures of waves and the beach (above) near his surf shop south of Beirut almost every day except the one on which his children were snatched from his mother at a bus stop on April 6

Mr Elamine's surfing business partner Mustafa el-Hajj told Al Monitor magazine that surfing offered a respite from the troubles of the world.

'People talk about whats happening in Syria, that maybe therell be war in Lebanon, but when you come here, you forget all these things,' he said 'You forget everything.'

After posting a photograph of himself surfing on Facebook last December, Mr Elamine exchanged joking remarks with surfing friends from around the world about a surf manoeuvre, a 'skid'.
British lecturer Hilary St John Bower, who went missing in China more than two weeks ago, was murdered hours after crossing into the country, police have confirmed

A British lecturer who went missing in China more than two weeks ago was murdered hours after crossing into the country, police have confirmed.

Hilary St John Bower, who recently closed a 820,000 property deal, was travelling from Hong Kong to visit his girlfriend and six-year-old son Matthew at the end of March when he disappeared.

The 60-year-old's friends and family said at the time they suspected it was foul play - and police have now confirmed their suspicions as they revealed they believe Mr Bower was murdered.

Officers have not yet given a motive for the murder, which they believe happened shortly after 5pm near Shenzhen, which is just across the Chinese border, on March 30.

But friends and family have argued Mr Bower's recent property deal might have something to do with his death.

Richard Charles, a colleague of Mr Bower, told police his friend had 'done nothing' and suggested it could have been over a 'complicated' deal, which was reportedly over a property in an industrial district in Shenzhen.

He said: 'I do know that after buying at the bottom of the property market a good few years ago, he was expecting to be paid somewhere in the region of 821,000.'

Mr Charles described police on both sides of the border as 'shoddy and shambolic' in their handling of the case so far, the South China Morning Post reported.

'I find it unbelievable that Hilary's friends and colleagues have had to find out from the media about this. We are in shock and are extremely upset,' said Mr Charles.

Mr Bower, who was originally from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, was employed at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University since 1996. He was due to finish work at the establishment went he went missing more than three weeks ago.

Mr Charles told The Telegraph Mr Bower had been 'very, very happy to be retiring' and added: 'He was really looking forward to being able to spend more time with his son.'

The 60-year-old, who recently closed a 820,000 property deal, was travelling from Hong Kong to visit his girlfriend and six-year-old son Matthew at the end of March when he disappeared

Officers have not yet given a motive for the murder, which they believe happened shortly after 5pm near Shenzhen, which is just across the Chinese border, on March 30. Above, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where Mr Bower worked

Following his disappearance, Mr Bower's brother, Robin, who is based in the UK, alerted the police in Britain, according to The Telegraph.

Mr Bower is not believed to have ever received any of the cash from his deal.

A UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said: 'We are providing assistance to the family of a British national reported missing in southern China and are urgently seeking further information from local authorities.'

'Police have received notification from mainland relevant authorities that he was killed on the night of March 22,' a Hong Kong police statement said.

A police source told AFP it was 'possibly a murder' but there had been no confirmation from mainland counterparts.

Murders of foreigners are extremely rare in China, though the murder in 2011 of another British man, Neil Heywood triggered one of the country's biggest political scandals in decades.
Top Gear hosts Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc have reportedly fallen out over the actor's 'disrespectful' donut stunt at the Cenotaph.

Last month Evans sought to play down his role in the filming of the sequences, in which fellow presenter LeBlanc and a stunt driver filled Whitehall with smoke and burning rubber by wheel-spinning in the shadow of Britain's main war memorials.

The BBC later admitted it knew of plans to film the controversial scenes in central London for six months, after seeking council and police permission to use the streets as a backdrop for its revamped show.

Top Gear hosts Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc (pictured with The Stig) have reportedly fallen out over the actor's 'disrespectful' donut stunt at the Cenotaph

Last month new Top Gear presenter Matt LeBlanc and a stunt driver filled Whitehall with smoke and burning rubber by wheel-spinning in the shadow of Britain's main war memorials

Following an outraged backlash Evans, who took over presenting the show after Jeremy Clarkson was sacked for hitting a producer, said: 'On behalf of the Top Gear team and Matt I would like to apologise unreservedly for what these images seem to portray.

'There's been some very incendiary comments involved and written alongside these pictures and I completely understand all this furore', but in attempt to distance himself from the stunt he added: 'This isn't a shoot I'm particularly involved in'.

Now, it has been reported the stunt has become a source of bad blood between the show's two main presenters, with Evans branding the incident a PR disaster.

A source close to the show told The Sun: 'Since the Cenotaph their relationship has deteriorated. Chris thinks Matt has severely damaged the brand. Behind the scenes it is very frosty between them.'

But Evans moved quickly to deny a rift between the show's two frontmen.

He tweeted: 'Just been on the phone to Matt Le Blanc to confirm we are "at war" as reported in The Sun today. He says, "sure, whatever.." Why I oughta !'

Politicians and a former Army chief had condemned the BBC for arranging the 'gravely disrespectful' sequence yards from Britain's main war memorial.

Colonel Richard Kemp, a retired commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said: 'It beggars belief that they were ever allowed to film here. This is a sacred tribute to millions of people who have done far more for their country than [show hosts] Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc ever will.'

Fans of Top Gear have given their damning verdict on the new series of the hit motoring show in a blow to the BBC and producers

More than 50,000 people have gone online to give the newly released trailer (pictured) a thumbs down on the programme's YouTube channel

The scenes, which required a council and police-approved road closure and took a large film crew hours to shoot, will now not feature in the new series of the show, which is due to air in May.

It also later emerged the scenes cost licence fee-payers 100,000 to film.

Meanwhile fans of Top Gear have given their damning verdict on the new series of the hit motoring show.

More than 50,000 people have gone online to give the newly released trailer a thumbs down on the programme's YouTube channel.

Many unhappy fans bemoaned the Americanisation of the show and said the new presenters - Evans, LeBlanc and Sabine Schmitz- were not as funny as Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.
New 'female-friendly' car parking spaces introduced as a trial have been blasted for widening the gender gap and taking the gender equality debate things to a 'whole new level of stupid'.

The parking spaces in a Perth central car park were introduced to boost safety for women with increased CCTV footage and lighting and are situated near the exit of the Pier St car park, according to Perth's Today Tonight.

Of the car park's 700 bays 28 will be designated female-friendly and identified with bright pink signage.

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New 'female-friendly' car parking spaces introduced as a trial have been blasted for widening the gender gap and taking the gender equality debate things to a 'whole new level of stupid'

Of the carpark's 700 bays 28 will be designated female-friendly and identified with bright pink signage

The parking spots will reportedly not be policed and men will not be fined for parking in the spots.

Social media was quick to condemn the idea with Facebook user Rebecca Elizabeth questioned why the safety measures couldn't be extended to the entire car park.

'Why not put better lighting and camera footage on the entire car park and keep everyone safe. Men get mugged too,' she wrote on Facebook.

Darren Saxby blasted the idea: 'Well that's a whole new level of stupid. What was that about women and men should be equal. Must have gotten lost in translation'.

City of Perth chief executive Martin Mileham said the female friendly parking spots would improve customer experience.

'This has been done overseas and the city is conducting this trial to determine if there's a demand for this type of service,' he told Today Tonight.

The parking spaces in a Perth central carpark were introduced to boost safety for women with increased CCTV footage and lighting and are situated near the exit of the Pier St car park

The idea has previously met criticism across the globe after it was reportedly introduced to Germany, Austria and China.

Diversity Network director Kristie Young suggested in the news report the should be termed 'safe park bays' for people concerned for their security.

However, some people did voice in favour of the idea, saying it was a 'great' idea.

City of Perth chief executive Martin Mileham (pictured) said the female friendly parking spots would improve customer experience

'That's great and let's increase disabled parking and more parking officers to stop selfish idiots parking in disabled parking,' Robert Turco posted to Facebook.

But criticism of City of Perth's move was far louder than those in favour of the gender-specific parking spots.

Stephen John O'Brien wrote: 'Bit excessive don't you think? Female friendly air next?' while Russell Palmer said he couldn't believe the 'crap' idea.

'I think making it safe for everyone (sic) a better idea just my thoughts men (sic) an children get attacked also,' he wrote.
The teenage brother of an AFL star has avoided a jail-term despite pleading guilty to brutally raping a 15-year-old girl seven times.

The youth, who was 17 at the time of the attack, admitted repeatedly raping the girl and forcing her to perform sex acts on him as she begged him to stop, a court heard.

He was accused of pushing the girl's face against a wall and sexually assaulting the her after the pair met at a party in a park in April 2014, the Victorian Supreme Court heard.

The youth and the victim cannot be identified because of their age.

The girl was taken to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, covered in blood, and doctors found she suffered cuts, bruises and internal injuries 'consistent with blunt force penetrative trauma'.

The teenage brother of an AFL star has avoided a jail-term despite pleading guilty to brutally raping a 15-year-old girl seven times, pictured is the Victoria Supreme Court

During the boy's police interview, he allegedly said: 'She just got upset after we did it. She's the one that kissed me earlier.

'I have commitments with another girl so I didn't really want to do anything.'

The boy has been sentenced to a 12-month youth attendance order following an appeal.

He was initially found guilty of seven charges of rape following a contested hearing in the Childrens Court and was sentenced to a 12-month youth supervision order.

But this was appealed by the Director of Public Prosecutions who argued that the sentence was 'inadequate'.

The boy then pleaded guilty in the County Court and he was re-sentenced to two years detention in a Youth Justice Centre.

But the teenager's lawyers contested this in the Court of Appeal and he was re-sentenced to a youth supervision order.

Under the order, the teenager must live with his father and abstain from using drugs and alcohol.

He was also ordered to undergo psychological counselling and testing for drug and alcohol use.

The appeal found that the County Court judge should not have taken general deterrence into consideration for the sentencing.

In their written judgement Court of Appeal president Chris Maxwell and Justice Robert Redlich also found that the young offenders 'immaturity' reduced his 'moral culpability'.

'This appeal highlights the difficult task which confronts a sentencing court when imposing sentence for serious crimes committed by a young offender,' they said.

'The young offenders immaturity is seen as markedly reducing his/her moral culpability.

'Secondly, custody can be particularly criminogenic for a young person, whose brain is still developing.
Family members are 'desperately worried' for man known as Tangles

Mr Ballment, reporter Tara Brown and two other crew are in Beirut prisons

60 minutes Lebanon crew member David 'Tangles' Ballment is spending his 56th birthday behind bars

Worried Channel Nine colleagues and family have sent loving messages of support to the 60 Minutes crew member who is spending his birthday behind bars in Beirut.

Veteran sound recordist David 'Tangles' Ballment was arrested with TV reporter Tara Brown, cameraman Ben Williamson and producer Stephen Rice on Friday.

Mr Ballment turned 55 on Wednesday but has little to celebrate with Beirut prosecutors formally laying kidnapping charges against him and his colleagues this week.

The crew were arrested after accompanying Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner to Lebanon in her desperate bid to snatch her two children from her husband.

Getaway host Catriona Rowntree was among the first to send Mr Ballment warm birthday wishes this week, penning a loving message on Instagram.

'Our beautiful, cuddly, beloved Soundie, currently in a prison cell in #Beirut,' wrote Ms Rowntree, who worked with Mr Ballment on the travel magazine program around a decade ago.

'I can't believe I'm saying this, but Happy Birthday darling boy, we love you so much.'

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'Our beautiful... cuddly soundie': Catriona Rowntree, the host of Getaway (second from left) paid tribute to Mr Ballment (far right) in an Instagram post on his 56th birthday

'I can't believe I'm saying this, but Happy Birthday darling boy, we love you so much', wrote Ms Rowntree (left), who worked with Mr Ballment for several years on Getaway

Ms Rowntree's tribute is pictured. Mr Ballment has a long career at the Nine Network

Mr Ballment was arrested with the 60 Minutes crew over Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner's bungled alleged attempt to retrieve her two children, Lahela, six (pictured) and Noah

Reporter Tara Brown (pictured), Mr Ballment, camerman Ben Williamson and producer Stephen Rice were all arrested in Lebanon on Friday

Television producer Karen Warner joined in the tributes, describing Mr Ballment as the 'kindest human and colleague on the planet'.

Ms Warner said she was praying for Mr Ballment and the rest of his imprisoned Channel Nine colleagues: '#comehomesoon #inshallah'.

Mr Ballment's uncle David Quodling told ABC Local Radio his family were 'desperately worried' about him.

'It's David's birthday today and he should be celebrating with his family,' Mr Quodling, from Nuriootpa, South Australia, was quoted saying.

'We are desperately worried about him. David's been in a few mix ups before this job... we just wonder what the hell's going on.'

Mr Ballment has had a long career at Channel Nine.

He worked at 60 Minutes for more than five years. Previously, he worked on the travel programs Getaway and news show A Current Affair.

Local newspaper reports said the crew are facing charges which could lead to a maximum 20 years imprisonment and hard labour if they are not dismissed.

Alleged abduction: CCTV footage released by authorities shows men swooping on the two children on Friday

Nine correspondent Tom Steinfort said the crew have been charged with hiding information; forming an association with two or more people to commit a crime against a person; kidnapping or holding a minor even with their approval; and physical assault.

The crew appeared before a judge in a Beirut court on Tuesday, but a network spokeswoman said it will be 'some days before the crew are interviewed by the judge which will be their first chance to defend the charges'.

Channel Nine news chief Darren Wick has flown to Beirut to help organise the crew's defence.

Daily Mail Australia this week revealed the network had launched an internal investigation into the matter.

Lebanese authorities released passport details of Tara Brown (right) and the other arrested crew
Added that he will not be 'presidential' when he deals with Hillary

Trump said his family had been a stabilizing factor in his campaign

Also sidestepped questions over whether the campaign had strained her relationship with Hillary Clinton's daughter Chelsea

Ivanka and Eric had to explain why they didn't

Donald Trump's family came out in force on CNN to paint the Republican frontrunner as a perfect father, a doting husband and someone who treats both men and women equally.

The billionaire's wife Melania, daughters Ivanka and Tiffany, and sons Eric and Donald Jr, answered an array of personal questions from Anderson Cooper.

The group showered the real estate mogul in praise as they talked about their upbringings, their relationships with him, how his race for the White House affected them, and even touched on dating.

They were all unwavering in their support for The Donald and insisted he would do amazing things if he was elected President.

The questions, mainly from Trump supporters or undecided voters, didn't provoke any surprising answers.

But tensions rose when Ivanka dodged a question about her friendship with Chelsea Clinton and was forced to explain why she and Eric had not registered to vote in the New York primary.

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Donald Trump's family (left to right: Donald Jr, Eric, Tiffany and Ivanka) came out in force on CNN to paint the Republican frontrunner as a perfect father, a doting husband and someone who treats both men and women equally. Donald Jr's daughter Kai Madison also joined in the appearance by sitting on her dad's knee (left)

Pictured from left to right, the billionaire's wife Melania, daughters Ivanka and Tiffany, and sons Eric and Donald Jr, answered an array of questions from Anderson Cooper about their upbringings, their relationships with him and how his race for the White House affected them

Melania also said when it comes to her 10-year-old son, Barron, she doesn't let him have social media, but admitted she can't control what her husband puts on Twitter.

'Anderson, if he would only listen. I do say it many times,' she replied

But she said he is 'an adult and he knows the consequences' of his prolific and sometimes inflammatory Twitter use.

Ivanka, 34, who gave birth to son Theodore James two weeks ago, was asked by one voter if the campaign had strained her relationship with Hillary's daughter Chelsea.

'Well look, we're children and we love our parents,' said Ivanka.

'So that's the great equalizer and that's the great common ground. I'm incredibly proud of my father. I'm amazed and in awe of what he's accomplished, and what he's accomplished throughout the course of his life up until this point. But the last ten months have really been a whole different level

'So I think she would probably say the same about her mother. She's probably very proud of her mother and we would certainly share that I would think.'

When asked about why she couldn't vote, she said: 'I have always been an independent so I always vote for the candidate. We are not a familiy of politicians.

'New York has one of the most onerous rules for registering. It required us to register close to a year ago and we didn't do that. We found out about it after the fact.'

Eric, who also can't vote for his father in the primary, added: 'It was our first foray into politics and we didn't realize how the system worked.

'It was a great educational process for us.'

They were all unwavering in their support for The Donald and insisted he would do amazing things if he was elected President

Tensions rose when Ivanka dodged a question about her friendship with Chelsea Clinton and was forced to explain why she and Eric had not registered to vote in the New York primary

The Donald said he always knew Ivanka was an independent, but insisted she will be registering as a Republican before the election - so she can vote for him.

Ivanka was also asked about why she converted to Judaism when she married husband Jared.

She said she wouldn't discus the decision as it was 'personal', but insisted The Donald supported her.

On the birth of Theodore, she revealed she hasn't been sleeping much, but said she was blessed by his birth.

All the children revealed how their father told them from a young age not to drink and smoke.

The Donald, whose brother died from alcoholism, told them to avoid it every day before school until their 'eyes rolled'.

The businessman said he hadn't touched booze in his life, and he insisted it was for a good reason.

'A lot of successful people come to me and say their children have problems with drugs and alcohol and ask if i can speak to them. I am always very honored to do that. I think now as I have gotten older we appreciate life a little bit more.'

Melania, when asked about her home life, said she missed her husband as he is constantly on the road.

She also admitted she was nervous for Donald when he decided to run, but was confident he would win.

'He loves to work, he loves the country. He will do something amazing for the country if he is elected, she said.

Melania also spoke about encouraging her husband to run, saying; 'I gave him my support and I said to him, "You know you cannot just talk you need to go and run. And people will take you serious and if you run you will win."

When a voter later asked about Donald's treatment of women, Melania, as she has said countless times before, replied by telling them; 'He treats everybody equally. So if you;'re a woman and you attack him, he will attack back no matter who you are.

'We are all human and he treats them equal as men, and I think that's very important that he doesn't make the difference.'

She then added; 'And he encourages everybody, whether you're a man or a woman.'

Family portrait: Lara and Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Donald and Melania Trump with grandaughter Kai and Eric and Vanessa Trump

Melania said when it comes to her 10-year-old son, Barron, she doesn't let him have social media, but admitted she can't control what her husband puts on Twitter

Melania did have one criticism of her husband: His bad language.

When asked by Cooper how she would like her husband to be different, Melania said; 'Just to use nice language sometimes. Better language. Not all the time, sometimes I agree with it.'

Donald responded by agreeing he needs to use his words better when he gets rid of the two other people in the race - Ted Cruz and Donald Kasich.

However he said he would be 'less presidential' when it comes to dealing with Hillary, if he wins the nomination.

Later in the family town hall, Trump admitted he wasn't thinking about any more children following a question from a member of the audience.

But one of his final statements was: 'I have a wonderful family. It has been a stabilizing factor.'

Trump, who has 7.5 million Twitter followers and nearly as many on Facebook, boasted about his social media prowess, saying it gives him a huge advantage over his rivals while marveling at its great reach.

'I really enjoy doing it but it's an asset,' he said. 'You see what's going on and there is some genius there. You just have to find the right genius.'

Trump, who said he would sharply curtail but not eliminate his Twitter use if elected president, acknowledged that his retweets of supporters comments have gotten him in trouble. He has come under fire several times for his Twitter usage, most recently when he retweeted an unflattering photo of Heidi Cruz, the wife of Republican rival Ted Cruz.

Tiffany, who revealed she'd just had her first interview after graduating college, praised her father as a mentor who always supported what she wanted to do

But Trump insisted that he composes his own tweets and doesn't run any posts past an adviser or focus group.

'During the day when I'm in the office, I just shout it out to one of the young ladies in the office,' who then does the typing, Trump said. But 'during the evenings, after 7 p.m. or so, I will always do it by myself.'

The Twitter revelations came near the end of an hour-long town hall in which Trump was joined by his wife and his four grown children. Trump ceded center stage for much of the evening, as his children answered a dozen question from the New York City audience and attempted to cast a warm, humanizing light on their sometimes abrasive father.

Ivanka Trump, who gave birth two weeks ago, spoke eloquently about her father, who is aiming to decisively win the primary next week in his home state of New York, increasing the chances that he can clinch the GOP nomination before the party's convention this summer.

'We know what he's capable of,' Ivanka said. 'And we know what he could bring to the country, so we're just happy to support him.'

Tiffany, who revealed she'd just had her first interview after graduating college, praised her father as a mentor who always supported what she wanted to do.

One member of the audience asked all of the 'kids' what it was like to bring their significant others to meet The Donald for the first time.

They insisted it was easy as they are not the shy types, but Ivanka did reveal she had spied on husband Jared's first lunch with his future father-in-law in Trump tower.
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As they set off into the wilds of India in search of tigers, rhinos and elephants, it was only natural to feel a little apprehensive.

Apart from a few roll bars on the jeep and a  hopefully  crack shot park ranger, there was very little between the future King and Queen and some of the most dangerous animals on the planet.

As they pulled away, Kate squeezed William's thigh and joked: 'We're all safe'. Both of them grinned, perhaps with a smidgen of anxiety.

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Anticipation: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge prepare to head out on safari at the Kaziranga National Park in India

A Safari adventure! The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were hoping for an encounter with rhinos and elephants as they set off on Safari this morning at the Kaziranga National Park in Assam on the fourth day of their week-long tour to Indian and Bhutan

Game for a laugh: William and Kate can't hide their excitement as they ride a jeep into the depths of Kaziranga National Park

Look over there! Prince William and the guide appear to be pointing out a passing creature to and excited Kate

It had been an early start for the couple as they began their day with an open-air Jeep ride around Kaziranga National Park in north-east India.

Kate, casual in 29.99 Zara trousers, Sebago boat shoes and a spotted RM WIlliams shirt, walked over to their freshly-polished Maruti Suzuki Gypsy 4x4 (chilled bottles of water and face cloths tucked into the seat pockets) with William, equally casually dressed in chinos and brown desert boots.

Joining them was a guard on a seat behind them, a driver and a ranger armed with a rifle loaded with tranquilliser ammunition.

Before the engines started, William and Kate put on their RayBan sunglasses and checked how to use their binoculars, sharing one between the pair of them.

The jeep behind them contained their private secretaries, Rebecca Deacon and Miguel Head, and two protection officers.

As the 4x4 got going, William quickly spotted a rhino mother and her baby wading in a marsh-like patch in the distance.

'Oh wow,' gasped Kate. They both then took turns to look through their binoculars, William replacing his sunglasses with a pair of normal glasses to see better.

Classic style: Kate adjusts her sunglasses to get a better view of the animals. Both she and her husband were sporting a black pair of Ray Ban shades, in the brand's classic Wayfarer style

Seeing the sights: The royal couple headed up a convoy of 4x4s as they were taken through the park with a guide

Would you look at that: Prince William appeared keen to point out the sights to his excited wife as they journeyed through the jungle

A wild encounter! This cheeky rhino blocked the royal procession's pathway as they made their way through the reserve

Kate and William were also lucky enough to see elephants. Their aides were concerned the photographers might scare off the wildlife

The next animal spotted was a large monitor lizard, which Kate seemed tickled by as she was giggling when it was pointed out to them.

As they entered a forested area 30 minutes into the safari, Kate and William stood up in the car to get a better look around. Occasionally they would lean back and aak their guide questions about the wildlife.

Possibly the highlight of their Kaziranga trek was a huge rhino blocking the road ahead.

The couple gasped as they caught sight of the huge animal just 50 yards away from them. 'This is amazing!' said Kate.

'It's amazing to be this close,' William added, before a ranger called out loudly to scare it off the road.

After almost an hour of safari, the Duke and Duchess arrived at the Bimoli Anti-Poaching Camp in the centre of the park, where they were greeted by a group of rangers.

'It's been an incredible journey,' William said of their safari as he shook the hand of a young ranger.

After brief introductions, the couple sat down in a circle by the river with the rangers and park staff and discussed the park's successful efforts at protecting animals from poachers.

Traffickers in South East Asia are marketing Indian rhino horn as 'fire horn' and claiming it has increased potency compared to African horn.

And while numbers of poached rhinos have decreased (17 rhinos poached in 2015, compared to 27 in 2014), the fight is far from over.

Team photo: The royal couple pose for a photograph with smiling members of the forest guard inside the national park

Learning on the job: William and Kate chat to forest officials about the park. One of the most important job the staff members do is protect the animals from poachers - a cause close to the prince's heart

Suitably attired: The Duke and Duchess were both dressed casually for their trip to the park this morning, and were keen to learn about life inside the reserve

A shared mission: The prince has long been interested in protecting animals and the environment, and was keen to talk to park staff about their work

Meet and greet: The prince shakes hands with forest officials, who looked excited to meet the royal during his trip to India

Friendly greeting: William grins as he chats to forest workers, while his wife looked excited to join him on the adventure

Park guard Mahanda Barman, 34, told the couple about the time he had a fight with a poacher after hearing gunshots by the river in the north side of the park.

'It can be dangerous,' he told William via a translator. 'That evening there was crossfire between poachers and my team here The butcher ran off and was later found dead. We recovered rifles and ammo... These things happen a lot. It's a big problem.'

'You're all doing an incredibly important job,' William told Barman. 'I'm incredibly proud of everything you're doing.'

Ranger Salim Ahmed, 46, had the royal couple speechless after telling them about his encounter with an angry rhino one evening. 'I was charged at in the evening,' he said. 'He hit me once but four of my fingers were broken, my arm and leg was broken too. I had to stay in hospital for 45 days.'

Despite the aggressive attack, Mr. Ahmed said that staff at the park never fire at animals. 'This is their home, we are their friends,' he said.

Kate seemed happy to discover that there are female rangers working at the park. 'That's really great,' she said. 'I was actually wondering if there were female rangers.'

After William drank a glass of water - though Kate declined - the pair thanked the rangers for their time and made their way back to the 4x4. 'It's a pleasure to be here in the park,' William said.

The final 30 minutes of their safari was a private moment for the couple as they travelled the final stretch without media and some of their protection officers.

Keen photographer Kate brought her own Canon DSLR camera on the trip to capture some of her own pictures.

Royal safari: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge get ready to leave for their jeep safari at Kaziranga National Park, in Assam, India, on day four of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan

Conservation: The Cambridge's visit Kaziranga National Park and are shown information about the work done at the park by their guides

All about the wilderness: The couple are informed about the sanctuary the park provides as it hosts two-thirds of the world's great one-horned rhinoceroses

All about the wilderness: The couple are informed about the park which hosts two-thirds of the world's great one-horned rhinoceroses

Here we go: Prince William and his wife grin at one another as they prepare to set off on their safari at Kaziranga National Park

Later, the couple headed to a nearby local community, Pan Bari Village, where Kate revealed that was 'terribly missing' her own children after four days away.

She also said that seeing all the little girls dancing there reminded her of her daughter, Princess Charlotte and told another villager that she was 'feeling sad today' because she is missing her children.

But the couple admitted that they weren't sure whether their two-year-old son, Prince George, would have been that well behaved.

Elders gathered at the village's 'Nam-ghar' or community centre couldn't resist asking through a translator why they had not bought George or Princess Charlotte, who turns one next month.

Kate apparently replied: 'Because George is too naughty. He would be running all over the place. The next time we come we will definitely bring them.'

The couple joked with village elders that the two-year-old would be 'running around' the community centre in Panbari on the border of the Kaziranga National Park where they stopped to experience Assam life first-hand.

The friendly exchanges happened at the hub of the 8km squared settlement, which has a population of around 1800 people.

A sign erected at the entrance read: 'Welcome the Hon'ble Prince & Princess of UK to World Heritage Place Kaziranga and Panbari Village Thanks'.

Several hundred villagers turned out for a glimpse of the couple, some wearing traditional Indian robes, others dressed in western clothes and taking pictures with their smart phones.

William and Kate, who was wearing a pink floral Topshop dress with black embroidery and her hair tied back in an elaborate bun, were met by 'Headman' Dhurba Krishna Das, 32, who placed traditional white woven scarfs with red embroidery, called 'gamchas' around their necks, as is customary in this region of Assam.

They were then led into the building, which with its corrugated iron roof also doubles up as the village's place of worship.

Greetings: William and Kate were welcomed by the people of Assam, India, before they embarked on their journey into the forest

Listen carefully: The couple's visit to Kaziranga is designed to show how closely linked its local people are to the animals that live there

Climb aboard: The couple have flown to the beautiful north east of India, famed for its jungles and tea plantations, to highlight the work being done to preserve the country's natural habitat

Loving smile: Catherine gives Prince William an adoring look as the pair prepare to take off on their tour of the national park in northeastern India

The couple were offered a bench to sit on as they took off their shoes - black wedges in Kate's case and lace up beige desert boots in William's - before entering the humble prayer hall, where they sat on mats weaved from bamboo by local women, surrounded by villagers of all ages in traditional dress, including several young children and a suckling baby.

The scent of joss sticks filled the air as the elders told them how the community came to be living in such close proximity to the local elephant and rhino population.

They heard how the village was established in the 1970s after homes on the nearby Majuli Island, one of the biggest river islands in the world, were flooded through erosion and the changing course of the river.

The flooding then had the knock on effect of causing the local elephant population to seek out higher ground, which resulted in them trampling through the community's paddy fields to get there.

This caused the village to have to diversify, and it now grows tea rather than rice because the elephants bypass tea plantations as there is no water to drink there.

Sitting cross-legged, William asked: 'How do the local people view the elephants and rhinos, are they considered sacred?' They were told the villagers 'love' the elephants because they are happy to live alongside them.

The couple then met with members of the local community, shaking hands and bending down to greet children before being treated to a traditional dance performance, featuring a traditional drummer band.

They then drove the short distance to a typical home and tea plantation.

At the house, which featured mud-daubed walls, they were greeted reverentially by Tilasha Das, 30, and his wife Utala, 25 who knelt down and touched the couple's feet before they entered the premises.

Sun protection: The future king put on a Kaziranga National Park cap as a smiling Kate chatted to park staff this morning

Early start: The Duchess was wearing a pair of skinny jeans by High Street store Zara, her favourite Sebago boat shoes and a pretty spotted white blouse. Because of their early start at 7.15am, it appeared she hadn't bothered to blow dry her hair and half tied it back

Anticipated adventure: William has long wanted to visit Kaziranga and the couple will get to see up close the work being done to manage the conflicts that arise when humans and wild animals live in close proximity

Up close and personal: The couple's visit to Kaziranga is designed to show how closely linked its local people are to the animals that live there, including this beautiful elephant

Protect the animals: The Duke and Duchess will meet rangers inside Kaziranga who have been working to protect its animal populations from poachers

Along with their daughters Anamika, eight, and Kumkum, five, and surrounded by extended family, neighbours and a pet black baby goat, they chatted to the Royal couple about life in the village and selling 'char' at the local market.

On their two small plantations, the Das family produce up to 60kg of tea a year.

William, dressed casually in a light blue open neck shirt and chinos, asked: 'Are the girls on their school holidays' before being told they are schooled in the village.

As the couple stood up to inspect the family's weaving loom, which according to local tradition is always placed at the front of the house, William joked: 'Look at that goat just chilling out down there, wondering what is going on!'

William tried to sit next to Kate at the loom but couldn't because his legs were too long.

Kate asked lots of questions about the cotton and methods used, asking the translator: 'How quickly can she weave?', to be told 1m an hour.

Kate was then presented with a beautiful red scarf with multi coloured flowers that had bed especially woven for the occasion by Mrs Das. 'That is so special,' said Kate, thank you very much and thank you to your family'.

The couple were then taken on a quick tour of the plantation by Mrs Das's cousin Morami, 31, who heartily embraced the Duchess and kissed her enthusiastically on both hands.

Afterwards she said: 'I hugged her because I love her. I think she's very very pretty. She acts like a simple girl, not a princess.'

When asked what it means to the villagers to have William and Kate visit Pan Bari, the head man said 'We are all very happy and it makes us proud that they have come here.

'William and Kate told us they are feeling great to be in India. They also told us they like being in Assam because both enjoy drinking tea.'

More to see: The couple will get to see the growing numbers of villages which are in the path of ancient corridors for elephants and rhinos

Promote change: William plans to use this visit to speak out against what he describes as the 'lies and violence' that threaten Indian rhinos

More to come: Later today the Duke and Duchess will also visit an agricultural village on the edge of Kaziranga to meet villagers and discuss rural life in India

What lies ahead: William and Kate pull out a pair of binoculars as they hope to see rhinos, elephants and possibly even a tiger or two

From there, William, who is a passionate conservationist, and Kate were introduced to the group of young animals at Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC).

It provides emergency care and rehabilitation for wild animals that have been injured, displaced, or orphaned.

In a large area of grassland and sparse woodland the baby animals had gathered under the shade of a tree waiting for the royal couple who walked towards them.

The maternal instincts of the Cambridges - who left their two children at home before setting off on their Indian tour - came to the fore during the encounter.

William and Kate, wearing a 75 ethnic look Top Shop dress and wedges, with her hair tied back in a low bun, fed all the animals in turn.

She crouched over the tiniest of the group - a trio of two female elephants and rhino - to make sure they got every drop of milk and also turned their attention to the older ones.

Among the youngest was Murphuli, who was aged just four weeks old when she was found in a tea garden trench in October last year.

CRWC vets hoped a female who rushed forward and examined the infant with her trunk was the mother but she was found in the same spot the next day.

Buree was another orphan found, aged two-months, when she was rescued by villagers from a rocky pit and after recovering from a swollen hip is making friends with the other animals.

But it was Dunga the smallest and newest resident at the centre who won Kate's heart. The young rhino was found alone by forest staff while on patrol and when they failed to locate the mother he was brought to the centre.

As the couple fed the elephants some stretched out their funks towards the bottles and all tipped their heads back to get every drop of milk.

Pretty in pink: The Duchess of Cambridge changes into a smock dress with Indian-inspired embroidery for her visit to Pan Bari Village in Assam after spending the morning on safari at the nearby Kaziranga National Park on day four of their Royal tour to India and Bhutan

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge greet a villager in Pan Bari Village, where they took part in a discussion about rural life in India

Mark of respect: The Duchess of Cambridge removes her black wedge espadrilles before entering the community hall in Pan Bari Village

Hectic schedule: The couple's whirlwind tour will take them from Mumbai in the west to Assam in the east and on to Bhutan in just six days

William and Kate gave the animals comforting rubs as they fed them scratching the tops of their heads and patting their trunks.

Vivek Menon, chief executive office of the Wildlife Trust of India which established the CWRC with a number other bodies, joined the royal couple for the encounter with the animals.

He said: 'They were absolutely thrilled and loved being with the animals. The Duchess loved the baby rhino particularly. The Duke said if he could he would have spent the whole day there.'

The couple's last engagement in Assam was to visit the Kaziranga Discovery Park built by the late brother of the Duchess of Cornwall, Mark Shand, a passionate environmentalist who died suddenly in 2014.

Ruth Ellis, CEO of The Elephant Family, the charity he set up, said William remarked that Mark always talked about Asia and praised his legacy in India.

The couple were given two beautiful hand painted models of elephants for their children and were then invited to help paint a much bigger fibreglass elephant that will become part of a major fundraising effort.

William was the first to pick up a brush and drew a blue circle around a red diamond shape, while Kate was more adventurous and painted a flower.

'She took inspiration from my flowers and did them in her own colours,' said Delhi based painter Bulbul Sharma, 62.

Bemused William was also asked to crack open a coconut on the ground, rather like hitting the side of a ship with a champagne bottle.

'Really? I'm worried I am going to hit someone,' he said, before executing it perfectly.

Perhaps they are missing their own children but whatever the reason the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were entranced by the energetic dancing of a three-year-old boy at a fireside festival - and laughed heartily when he cheekily attempted to stamp on their feet

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were entranced by the energetic dancing of a three-year-old boy at a fireside festival in Assam, India

The Duke of Cambridge introduces himself to the little boy, who appears to be completely unfazed by the fact he is meeting Royalty

Tonight they listened to a set of male drummers, followed by a a second group who played for a set of female dancers - including the cheeky little boy and a six year old girl
A prominent bikie accused of drug trafficking and weapons offences has been released on bail on the condition that he does not wear the club's colours while he is free.

Mongols sergeant-at-arms Shane Middleton, 26, who has a large face tattoo, has been ordered to stand trial after pleading not guilty to the charges.

The senior patched member, from Melbourne, was granted bail on Tuesday despite the fact that police raised concerns about how he allegedly threatened to kill a man and make it look like suicide.

Magistrate Margaret Harding initially wanted Middleton to hand in his bikie colours as a condition of release, but she backtracked after hearing it could be seen as a sign of 'disrespect'.

Mongols sergeant-at-arms Shane Middleton, 26, (pictured) has been released on bail on the condition that he does not wear the club's colours while he is free

The senior patched member, from Melbourne, was granted bail on Tuesday despite the fact that police raised concerns about how he allegedly threatened to kill a man and make it look like suicide

She instead decided that the gear could be kept in Middleton's home as long as he agreed not the wear the colours while on bail.

Middleton also promised not to associate with motorcycle gang members and to stay away from parts of Port Melbourne and Werribee.

As part of the conditions, which Ms Harding described as potentially the 'most stringent' conditions she has ever set, Middleton was also given a curfew of 8pm-7am.

He was told he must report daily to police, engage in mental health treatment and warned that he could not contact any witnesses.

Magistrate Margaret Harding initially wanted Middleton to hand in his bikie colours as a condition of release, but she backtracked after hearing it could be seen as a sign of 'disrespect'

The father-of-two was granted bail after Ms Harding said he needed to be reunited with his family following five months on remand.

His also mother put up a $300,000 surety to ensure his release.

Police opposed Middleton's bail, fearing he would re-offend and intimidate witnesses.

Court documents show Middleton, 26, is a suspect in an unsolved case where a man was shot in the leg and forced into the boot of a car.

Detective Senior Constable Andrew Broad said telephone intercepts allegedly revealed Middleton calling the man, who is not co-operating with authorities, a 'f***ing rat' and dog.

Middleton then threatened to kill him and make it look like suicide, Det Con Broad told the Melbourne Magistrates Court last week.

The police officer also had concerns relating to a witness in a separate alleged armed robbery case but conceded there was no evidence tying Middleton to that.

Barrister Christopher Farrington said Middleton suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, and would receive mental health treatment and court-related support if granted bail.
Earlier, police has arrested lawyer Ms Twivey at Jacksons International Airport when she returned from overseas and charged her with allegedly perverting the course of justice in relation to the prime ministers arrest warrant. She is also out on bail.

Mr Pala (pictured) is facing abuse of office and fraud charges over the alleged misappropriation of more than K3 million from his District Services Improvement Program (DSIP) funds, money meant for his Rigo District in Central Province, not for his personal use. He is out on bail of K4,000.

THE arrest of Papua New Guineas Attorney General Ano Pala, senior Supreme Court judge Bernard Sakora, and the prime ministers lawyer Tiffany Twivey all within a week has caught this struggling cash-strapped nation by surprise.

In a similar fashion, police charged one of the countrys top senior judges Justice Sakora for allegedly receiving K100,000 from a prominent lawyer in the country. He has been bailed.

It is alleged that the judge had received K100,000 from the principal of Paul Paraka lawyers, currently the subject of a massive fraud involving K71.8 million of public funds.

Prime minister Peter ONeill and other senior cabinet ministers including finance minister James Marape and opposition leader Don Polye are all alleged to have played a part in the alleged disappearance of public funds.

The turn of events over the last few days should not alarm us or even come as a big surprise because the country for the last 40 years has been riddled with widespread corruption, from prime minister to tea boy. PNG has been ranked got many years as one of the most corrupt countries in the world by Transparency International in its corruption perception index.

But when prominent figures are detained, arrested, questioned and charged by police over alleged crimes committed against the very country they swear to protect, we are reminded of the grim reality of what this country has become and how deeply rooted corruption is  like a virus with no cure.

When we see politicians, judges or lawyers facing allegations of this nature, prominent people whom we least expect to be law breakers, we can be excused for thinking this country has been fed to the dogs and is run by people who have very little or no regard for the rule of the law or for the systems and institutions that has been established to hold this country together.

It will probably take more than just a fight against corruption to end and win the battle. We need the people in charge of our country, who are mandated and entrusted by the people to protect their interests, to do just that.

Its sad if people hide behind the word Honourable while robbing this country to sustain a huge appetite for greed.

Yet here we are, arresting politicians, judges and prominent lawyers who are yet to be proven guilty but have so much to answer for in this country  a corrupt banana republic ruled by tyrants supported by morons.

Their actions have shamed and disgraced Papua New Guinea.

I hope we finally come to our senses and realise sooner rather than later what we have become as the future will be determined by our decisions and actions today.
But unions said with 40,000 employees walking out Verizon's internet and TV services would be seriously affected

Verizon was 'disappointed' but said they'd trained thousands of non-union workers to fill in for striking staff

Verizon staff walked out after new contract talks broke down last week

Almost 40,000 Verizon workers on the East Coast have gone on strike today - spelling potential chaos for the firm's customers.

Staff from the company's wireline service, which provides internet, television and fixed-line phone services, walked out after unions failed to reach an agreement with management on their contracts which expired nearly eight months ago.

Hundreds lined the streets of Manhattan on Wednesday with placards as picketers warned they were prepared to stay out 'as long as it takes.'

Almost 40,000 Verizon workers on the East Coast have gone on strike today - spelling potential chaos for the firm's customers (pictured Verizon workers picket outside one of the company's offices in Philadelphia)

'We're on strike to maintain good jobs and maintain our standard of living,' said Keith Purce, president of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1101 which represents about 3,500 workers in Manhattan and the Bronx.

Verizon spokesman Rich Young said the company was 'very disappointed' that union leadership has called a strike after talks broke down last week.

But he insisted that the company was prepared for the strike action.

Young said that Verizon had trained thousands of non-union employees to fill in for striking workers and said 'we will be there for our customers.'

However, unions claim the strike will have a serious impact on Verizons customer service, including service calls and equipment installations.

With an estimated 10,000 non-union staff filling in for 39,000 striking workers, services such as fixing or installing new phone and broadband Internet lines, or fielding customer support calls will most likely be affected.

Staff from the company's wireline service, which provides internet, television and fixed-line phone services, walked out after unions failed to reach an agreement with management (pictured staff picket in front of Verizon offices in New York)

Hundreds lined the streets of Manhattan on Wednesday with placards as picketers warned they were prepared to stay out 'as long as it takes'

Today, at Verizon's head office in Albany, nearly 400 walked a picket line outside while union members also set up an inflatable 'greedy pig' and rat, said Mike Panzerino, treasurer of CWA Local 1118.

In Philadelphia, dozens of striking workers gathered outside a Verizon office in Chinatown.

CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers unions, which together represent installers, customer service employees, repairmen and other service workers across the East Coast, complain that the new contract was 'unfair' and could even move jobs overseas.

'We're tired of fighting with the company,' Panzerino said. 'All we're asking for is a fair contract and they don't want to give it to us.'

The workers' latest contract expired in August.

The unions say Verizon wants to freeze pensions, make layoffs easier and rely more on contract workers.

The telecom giant has said there are health care issues that need to be addressed for retirees and current workers because medical costs have grown and the company also wants 'greater flexibility' to manage its workers.

Verizon also plans to ax a rule which prevents employees from having to work away from home for extended periods of time, the unions say.

In a television ad, CWA said the company was trying to 'force employees to accept a contract sending their jobs to other parts of the country and even oversees.'

Today, at Verizon's head office in Albany, nearly 400 walked a picket line outside while union members also set up an inflatable 'greedy pig' and rat

Unions claim the strike will have a serious impact on Verizons customer service, including service calls and equipment installations (pictured outside the head office in Albany)

Verizon say it is 'very disappointed' that union leadership has called a strike after talks broke down last week

'The main issues are job security and that they want to move workers miles and miles away,' said Isaac Collazo, a Verizon employee who has worked replacing underground cables in New York City for nearly 19 years.

'We have a clause currently that they can't just lay anyone off willy nilly and they want to get rid of that,' said Collazo, a single father of three children. 'I feel if the company had the opportunity, they would just lay people off.'

But Young said the unions' talk about offshoring jobs and cutting jobs is 'absolute nonsense.'

'These contracts have provisions that were put in place decades ago. ... They need to take a look at where the business stands in 2016,' he added.

Verizon said in a statement Wednesday that it 'has activated its business continuity plans as customer service remains the company's top priority.'

In August 2011, about 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike for about two weeks.

Verizon Communications Inc. has a total workforce of more than 177,000 employees.

In its statement, the company said it had been willing to participate in mediation if the unions extended their strike deadline, but that the unions instead called a strike.

The unions have not revealed how long they plan to strike for.
A woman has been left in tears after a 'weird' couple cut off locks of her hair as she rode on a Sydney bus.

Witnesses on the 339 bus travelling from Clovelly in the eastern suburbs to the city's centre said a woman, aged in her 20s, had her hair chopped off by a man and another woman, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The pair fled when the driver stopped the bus in Moore Park.

Witnesses on the 339 bus travelling from Clovelly in the eastern suburbs to the city's centre said a woman, aged in her 20s, had her hair chopped off by a man and another woman

Witnesses described a woman sitting on a man's lap and sucking her thumb in the seat in front of the victim just before the attack about 9.40am on Wednesday.

After the attackers fled, the weeping victim described what had happened to witnesses.

'Finally she told people what was happening, that they had cut a chunk out of the back of her hair,' a witness told the Herald, which did not give a name.

'It was so creepy.

'There was one guy who was helping her and the bus driver came back and was talking to her.'

After the attackers fled, the weeping victim described what had happened to witnesses, saying the pair had taken 'a chunk out of the back of her hair'

Another witness described the offenders as 'a bit weird'.

A NSW Police spokeswoman said they were not investigating the incident as it had not been reported to them.

But a spokeswoman for State Transit, who run Sydney Buses, confirmed the incident had occurred.

'State Transit is aware of the incident and will cooperate with the police,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
The police officer accused of 'vandalising' a rape case involving four students is still working on serious crimes and has not been disciplined, it was revealed today.

Gloucestershire Detective Constable Ben Lewis was accused of having 'broken' the trial process after holding back information that led to the friends being cleared of sex crimes this week.

His force is also accused of cherry picking evidence over two years to support their case whilst airbrushing out anything that suggested the students may be innocent.

Cleared: Leo Mahon, Patrick Foster, Thady Duff and James Martin (all pictured left to right) have all been found not guilty of rape - but the officer accused of 'vandalising' their case is still working

The group were accused of raping the alleged victim at the end-of-year ball at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Gloucestershire (pictured)

But today it has emerged that DC Lewis is still on active duty and said the matter will not be referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

A police source told The Sun: 'He does not specifically work in serious sexual offences, but works in the investigations role. His role has not changed, he is still working in the same team.'

Officers have been accused of withholding evidence before the trial. This included messages taken from the victims phone hinting that she may have consented.

Leo Mahon, 22, Patrick Foster, 22, James Martin, 20, and Thady Duff, 22, students at the Royal Agricultural University, were due to appear in court accused of rape, sexual assault and assault by penetration.

But the Gloucester Crown Court case against them fell apart after it emerged that material was found on the alleged victims mobile phone about her sex life, including a three-in-a-bed incident involving a soldier at a Wiltshire barracks.

Five months after the Royal Agricultural University's May Ball, where she said she was raped by the four young men, the woman was involved in a sex session with an Army officer which led to the soldier being accused of rape by another woman.

It is understood the alleged victim in the May Ball case had had sex with the soldier after a visit to an Army barracks. He was court martialled but cleared of rape and sexual assault charges after she gave 'different accounts' of the alleged rape.

The officer on the May Ball case was revealed to have kept quiet about the 'different accounts' the woman had provided.

Gloucestershire Police has said that it will decide in the coming weeks whether to investigate their own officers but confirmed that it will not be referred to the IPCC, according to The Sun.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Tory MP who represents Cirencester, where the university is based said that the force must investigate.

He said: 'It is vital that Gloucestershire Police take all allegations of misconduct extremely seriously'.

Anger: James Martin with his father Andy after leaving court. Mr Martin's barrister said there needed to be a review into the handling of the case against his client

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY RAPE TRIAL: A TIMELINE From left: Leo Mahan, Patrick Foster, Thady Duff and James Martin - their defence barristers have now called for action following the trial OCTOBER 2013: Thady Duff was accused of a further sexual assault involving the same alleged victim, which allegedly took place in October 2013. MAY 2014: Leo Mahon, 22, Patrick Foster, 22, James Martin, 20, and Thady Duff, 22, had been accused of subjecting a woman to a rape ordeal on the night of the annual May Ball in 2014. JULY 2015: All four men were charged by the Crown Prosecution Service in July 2015. MARCH 29, 2016: A jury of six men and six women were sworn in on March 29 to hear the case but were discharged a week later not having heard any evidence. The group appeared at Gloucester Crown Court on March 29 to deny all charges against them. MARCH 30, 2016: Their trial had been due to start on March 30, 2016. APRIL 2016: The case had been reviewed last week and a decision not to offer any evidence against the four defendants had been made. APRIL 11, 2016: All charges were dropped today save for one of possession of extreme pornography against Mr Duff. Advertisement

Defence barristers acting for the four men argued the case showed the woman's interest in group sex and demanded to know why neither they, nor the Crown Prosecution Service, had been told about it.

Further analysis of the complainant's phone revealed she had sent text messages on the night of the ball which raised further doubts about her accusations.

After the case against him collapsed amateur jockey James Martin criticised the devastating police investigation.

He said: If they had done their job properly it would have been over a long time ago and I would have years of my life back.

It was hard, very hard. Its always been there. Its changed the way I think about things. I look at people in a different way now  a bit paranoid. Its harder to trust anybody.

It has been hard, really hard for the families. It is a big relief for everyone. Im relieved but annoyed it got this far'.

His barrister Edward Henry accused officers of airbrushing and cherry-picking evidence and said there will need to be a review, adding: We need to know the answers to some questions. Why this should have gone on for so long as it has? Why it took 13 months to decide to charge these defendants in the first place?

Mr Henry had told the court that there had been an absolute failure by police officers to take notes except for self-serving acts on occasion.

He said: There are two notes where sexual behaviour has been mentioned to the officer and these notes have never made their way into the defence material. He has vandalised the trial process. It is broken and cannot be fixed'.

The young men were all arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault after the drunken sex session on the night of the Mad Hatters May ball at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, in 2014.

A pornographic video of the act was shared on social messaging app Snapchat  leading to the woman involved to tell police she had been raped.
Cop gave chase in Dodge Charger - and caught up with NASCAR wannabe

of over 170 mph on Minnesota highway

A Minnesota driver was cited after he was clocked driving 171 mph Friday night.

The Star Tribune reports Deputy Chief Shawn Padden of the Hermantown Police Department stopped a 2016 Camaro Coupe that was clocked at 171 mph and later 148 mph north of Duluth.

Padden was working DWI enforcement Friday night on Highway 61 between Duluth and Two Harbors, and he gave chase - gunning his Dodge Charger at speeds of up to 140 mph, according to the Star Tribune - and caught up to the driver.

The speed limit on that part of Highway 61 is 65 mph.

Scroll down for video

A Minnesota man treated Highway 61 like Daytona Beach - and was cited for careless driving. Pictured is a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

'I was thinking that at least this better be somebody famous so I could get an autograph,' Padden told the Star Tribune.

The driver, a 36-year-old man, was cited for careless driving. If found guilty he could lose his licence and face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

Padden says the man, who was driving with a female passenger, didn't really provide a reason for speeding on the highway.

'I don't know if he just got it off the showroom floor and wanted to see what it could do,' Padden said.

'He's fortunate nothing came across the road. There would have been a double fatality.'

Speaking with the Star Tribune, Padden compared the 36-year-old with a NASCAR driver - and he wasn't far off.
Tory donors are set to pump up millions of pounds into grassroots Brexit campaigns after being infuriated by David Camerons 9million pro-EU mailshot.

Members of the Midlands Industrial Council plan to donate up to 5m in a bid to offset the governments lavish spending.

The businessmen, who have funded the Conservative Party for decades, are said to be incandescent with rage over the decision to send a glossy leaflet to every household in the country.

David Wall, the councils secretary, joined the board of the Grassroots Out movement earlier this year.

David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne infuriated Tory Eurosceptics by seizing on a warning from the international financial watchdog about the risks of Brexit

He told the Telegraph that five members of the council had already pumped 500,000 into the Leave campaign.

Asked how much they could donate before the crucial referendum takes place on June 23, he said: I would say there is a potential of 4 million or 5 million.

The MIC has gifted between 1million and 2million to the Tories each year since Mr Cameron became Prime Minister in 2010.

Members channel money directly to local constituencies as well as the central party.

Grassroots Out is vying with the rival Vote Leave group to be designated as the official umbrella group for the campaign.

The Electoral Commission is due to decide by tomorrow which will get the nod, giving them the right to spend 7million during the 10-week campaign.

The bitter Conservative row over Europe was fuelled yesterday when George Osborne seized on a warning from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about the effects of Brexit.

The global financial watchdog downgraded UK plc's growth prospects from 2.2% to 1.9%, blaming 'heightened uncertainty ahead of the June referendum on EU membership'.

The Chancellor insisted the assessment was proof that there are 'bad things to come' if the public votes to leave.

'While Britain remains one of the fastest growing advanced economies in the world, the IMFs warnings about our exit from the EU are stark,' Mr Osborne said, 'For the first time, were seeing the direct impact on our economy of the risks of leaving the EU.

'The IMF says that these risks are a reason why they have reduced Britains growth forecast this year.

'If Britain leaves the EU, the IMF says there would be a short-term impact on stability and long-term costs to the economy.

'If the British economy is hit by the mere risk of leaving the EU, can you imagine the hit to peoples income and jobs if we did actually leave?

'The IMF has given us the clearest independent warning of the taste of bad things to come if Britain leaves the EU.'

Posting on Twitter, David Cameron added: 'The IMF is right - leaving the EU would pose major risks for the UK economy. We are stronger, safer and better off in the European Union.'

But Vote Leave Chief Executive Matthew Elliott said: The IMF has talked down the British economy in the past and now it is doing it again at the request of our own Chancellor. It was wrong then and it is wrong now.

'The irony is that if we Vote Remain our voice at the IMF will be silenced as the EU wants to take our seat at the top table in return for the 350 million we hand to Brussels every week.

The biggest risk to the UKs economy and security is remaining in an unreformed EU which is institutionally incapable of dealing with the challenges it faces, such as the euro and migration crises.

Leading Tory Eurosceptic MP Jacob Rees-Mogg dismissed the IMFs warning, claiming the organisation lacked credibility over its embarrassing U-turn on UK growth forecasts in 2013. It had warned Mr Osborne was playing with fire with austerity and downgraded its forecast for Britain, urging him to adopt a plan B. A year later IMF chief Christine Lagarde admitted they got it wrong.

Mr Rees-Mogg also questioned Ms Lagardes personal credibility over allegations she was involved in a political fraud in France.

He told MailOnline: I seem to remember the IMF in about 2011 said that George Osborne had got absolutely everything catastrophically wrong and was making all the wrong decisions of any global economy.

Chancellor George Osborne with the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde

So I think it might be worth reminding people of the success of the IMFs forecasts in the past.

The IMF is led by a friend of George Osborne  somebody who he has publicly said he has admired, who is under criminal investigation in France and so if we want to take advice from people who are of suspect bona fides then I suppose we can, but I wouldnt choose to.

Shes under criminal investigation for pretty serious impropriety involving many tens of millions of euros.

Boris Johnson became the latest high profile Tory to hit out at the Government's 9.3million pro-EU leaflet, warning that it will distract Londoners from next month's mayoral election.

The 16-page booklet will not be sent to households in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland until after the parliamentary and assembly elections on May 5 as part of a deal with the devolved administrations.

But it has been sent to Londoners despite the looming mayoral election in the capital on the same day.
He famously copped a withering stare last month when he dropped in on a 17-year-old surfer's wave.

And now former prime minister Tony Abbott has explained how the mishap at Tea Tree Bay, Noosa, came about.

Speaking with radio station Roccy FM on April 5, Mr Abbott blamed his poor sight for the incident and lavished praise on the 'extremely attractive and very talented' surfer Ivy Thomas.

Mr Abbott was visiting regional New South Wales on the Pollie Pedal charity bike ride at the time of the interview.

And in the spirit of good fun, he later joined broadcaster Wes Heather in a warbling pub karaoke rendition of John Denver's classic tune 'Country Roads'.

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In an interview with rural radio station Roccy FM, Tony Abbott blamed his poor peripheral vision as the reason why he dropped in on 17-year-old Ivy Thomas (right) in this now iconic picture

After the interview, Mr Abbott rocked out with radio presenter Wes Heather. The pair warbled through a rendition of John Denver's 'Country Roads'

Speaking to Mr Heather on air earlier that day, the member for Warringah blamed poor eye-sight for his surfing faux pas.

'The truth is I have no peripheral vision, particularly when I'm surfing,' the Liberal backbencher said.

'If it's a right hand break, I just can't see out of my left eye. It's just impossible. I don't know whether it's the salt water or if it's some genetic defect but I just can't see...

'I was just catching the wave minding my own business and eventually there was this extremely attractive and very, very talented surfer on my left.

'That was caught for posterity by someone who happened to be taking a few snaps. It was the sort of place you go where you feel everyone's a friend'.

Ms Thomas laughed off the encounter at the time, forgiving the nation's leader but admitting: 'I was secretly glad he wasn't wearing budgie smugglers'.

After the interview, Mr Heather hosted a karaoke evening for Mr Abbott's charity ride, where the former prime minister sipped red wine and let loose behind the microphone.

Mr Heather admitted the pair's rendition may have been a 'little off', but said the pair both had fun.

Mr Abbott rocked a collared blue singlet known as a 'colsi' as he partied down following the Pollie Pedal ride

Mr Abbott was said to be in 'good spirits' on the night but left the celebrations after belting out some karaoke and having a glass of red wine

A relaxed Mr Abbott even donned an unusual blue collared singlet described as a 'colsi'.

His drinking companion Mr Heather told Daily Mail Australia the former prime minister was in cheery spirits.

But, he said, he was responsible enough to head to bed early.

'He didn't drink much at all,' Mr Heather said.

'He was just in good spirits having a great night and in good fun.'
A luxury cruise ship captain has been charged with drug dealing after police uncovered bagged-up ice and smoking utensils on a vessel which charges guests $20,000 for a two-week trip.

Jeff Ralston, 55, the joint owner of the Kimberley Quest II, was arrested after police raided the charter boat while it was docked at Wyndham Port, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

He was charged with possessing a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply and has been bailed to appear in Broome Magistrate's Court on Monday April 18.

Luxury crew ship captain Jeff Ralston has been charged with drug dealing after police uncovered bagged-up ice and smoking utensils on a vessel

Mr Ralston the joint owner of the Kimberley Quest II, was arrested after police raided the charter boat while it was docked at Wyndham Port, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia

Ralston was due to captain an 18-person coastal cruise departing from Wyndham on Tuesday on the vessel which has a helipad, spa and onboard naturalist.

Guests pay up to $20,000 each for a two-week cruise along the Kimberley coast, stopping off to see waterfalls and Aboriginal rock art

A company spokeswoman said: 'This is not business related whatsoever and Jeff (Ralston) is fully assisting police with their investigation.'

'We are confident that at no time has the safety of our guests been compromised,' the statement said.

Kimberley Quest said the coastal cruise would go ahead and a replacement captain would take over the voyage, The ABC reported.

Police searched the vessel at 7.40am on Monday and discovered a number of Methlamphetamine weighing approximately 28 grams.

Police searched the vessel at 7.40am on Monday and discovered a number of Methlamphetamine weighing approximately 28 grams

A company spokeswoman said: 'This is not business related whatsoever and Jeff (Ralston) is fully assisting police with their investigation'
Hillary Clinton has distanced herself from a 'racist' joke made by New York City mayor Bill de Blasio about 'C.P. time' in a joint skit at a charity event.

The Democratic front-runner said: 'Well, look, it was Mayor de Blasios skit.

'He has addressed it, and I will really defer to him because it is something that hes already talked about,' she told Cosmopolitan.

The mayor came under fire for the joke he made on Saturday as he performed a skit alongside Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the Inner Circle gala.

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Hillary Clinton (center) made an appearance at the Inner Circle charity show in New York City on Saturday night with mayor Bill de Blasio (right) and Broadway musical Hamilton cast member Leslie Odom, Jr (left)

De Blasio endorsed Clinton in October, months after other prominent New York Democrats, including Governor Andrew Cuomo.

She teased him about it during the New York City event, and he told her, 'Sorry Hillary, I was running on C.P. time.'

Clinton jumped in and said that means 'cautious politician' time.

'C.P. time' is actually short for 'colored people' time. As video of the incident made the rounds on Monday, de Blasio was hit 'for making what some said was a 'racist' joke.

It implies the negative stereotype that African Americans are habitually late, lazy and unreliable.

On Monday Mayor de Blasio said: 'It was clearly a staged show. It was a scripted show. The whole idea was to do the counter-intuitive by saying cautious politician time.

'Every actor thought it was a joke on a different convention. That was the whole idea,' he told CNN.

'I think people are missing the point here.'

In a statement issued later the mayor added: 'In an evening of satire, the only person this was meant to mock was the mayor himself, period. Certainly no one intended to offend anyone.'

The mayor's wife, Chirlane McCray, is black, and the couple has two mixed-race children together.

Nancy Lockhart, a Twitter user supporting Bernie Sanders, said of the incident, 'Being married to a Black woman doesn't give him a pass.'

Jenny Mayer, a New York resident also backing Sanders, called the joke 'racist' and said she was 'offended & disgusted.'

'Is @BilldeBlasio stupid?' asked user Scott Thill.

Jonathan Hines wrote: 'between de Blasio and Jefferson Clinton I think Hillary needs to drop some Bills for the sake of her image'.

The NYC mayor's had problems in the past with racially-charged commentary.

He said at the end of 2014 that he and his wife had advised their black son, Dante, then an attendee of a Brooklyn high school, 'to be very careful' when interacting with police.

Clinton made fun of her metro card mishap on April 7 when she tried to take a train in the Bronx and couldn't swipe her pass through the turnstile

'With Dante, very early on, we said, "Look, if a police officer stops you, do everything he tells you to do. Dont move suddenly. Dont reach for your cellphone,' " he said on ABC. 'Because we knew, sadly, theres a greater chance it might be misinterpreted if it was a young man of color.'

He said, 'Its different for a white child. Thats just the reality in this country.'

National police organizations were up in arms over the statement, which suggested that police in the city de Blasio oversees are predisposed to assume the guilt of black men.

The political union of Clinton and de Blasio has likewise been a rocky one.

He flat-out refused to endorse the former New York senator who still owns a home in the state when she launched her bid last April and waited six months to give her his blessing.

The progressive NYC mayor clashed with Clinton's team last month after pollster Joel Benenson told reporters that his candidate would campaign 'like a senator who represented the state for eight years and lived here for 16' and Sanders would go at it like a 'Brooklynite.'

de Blasio (pictured) rapped in the style of Hamilton about how reporters are 'like shark week' when they 'attack'

'I assume the phrase "campaigning like a Brooklynite" is a compliment,' de Blasio said afterward.

Sanders was born in Brooklyn but moved to Vermont as an adult and represents the state in the U.S. Senate.

Clinton and de Blasio made nice afterward - he helped her secure her preferred debate day - and surprised guests at the Inner Circle charity event on Saturday night with a skit making fun of her metro card mishap earlier in the week.

The Inner Circle is a parody group of journalists who make fun of government officials. The officials also tease the journalists, according to ABC News.

Proceeds from the night, which took place at the New York Hilton Midtown, go to approximately 100 charities in the city.

The journalists performed a parody of the smash hit musical Hamilton with a skit called 'Shamilton'.

Mayor de Blasio shared the stage with Leslie Odom, Jr, who plays Aaron Burr in Hamilton, and rapped and ribbed with the journalists - and Clinton.

'I love this city and that's a fact but it's like shark week when you reporters attack,' he said.

The Inner Circle is comprised of local government officials and journalists who poke fun at one another to raise money for nearly 100 charities in New York City

'I know you're doing your job, so let me do mine. 'Cause I'm BDB, and this is my rhyme,' the mayor rapped.

He and Clinton then performed their skit, taking on her her April 7 trip on the No. 4 train in the Bronx. The finicky subway turnstile wouldn't let Clinton through.

'Do me a favor. Will you just fix these MetroCard slots? It took me like five swipes,' she told de Blasio on Saturday evening. 'The little terminal thing kept saying please swipe again.

'I mean you've got to fix that. You don't have to worry about horses anymore. Fix the turnstile and the MetroCard,' Clinton said.

She also joked that it took de Blasio 'long enough' to endorse her.

Before she left, she joked: 'And please, can somebody please get me tickets to "Hamilton?"'

Clinton saw the musical Hamilton, for which tickets cost into the thousands when they're not sold out, before it was on Broadway and has quoted the show on her Twitter page before.
Gay cabin staff working for Air France have launched a petition over plans to 'force' them to work on flights to Iran, insisting: 'we don't want to fly to the death penalty'.

Their petition complains that it is 'inconceivable' that they should have to travel to a country where they say homosexuality is illegal and punishable by execution for adults or 74 lashes for minors.

The demand comes after Air France announced plans to resume flights from Paris to Tehran next week.

It also comes a week after female employees of the company were told they would be allowed to opt out of working on the resumed flights so that they can avoid having to wear a headscarf.

Air France added that the headscarf rule when flying to certain destinations was 'not new' since it had applied before flights to Tehran were stopped and also to crew flying to Saudi Arabia

The petition, posted on change.org, has been called 'Gay stewards from Air France don't want to fly to the death penalty in Iran'.

A representative from the group, calling himself 'Lauren M' set out their argument in an open letter to the French government and CEO of Air France, Frederic Gagey.

It said: 'Sure, our sexuality isn't written on our passports and it doesn't change the way we work as a crew.

'But it is inconceivable to force someone to go to a country where his kind are condemned for who they are.'

Nearly 2,500 people have already signed the petition in a matter of days.

It comes after Air France staff were left outraged last week following a memo regarding the flights to Tehran, saying that female cabin crew would be required to wear cover their hair with a scarf when they leave the plane.

However, the airline later backed down, announcing that they will will appoint a 'special unit' to replace those who do not want to fly to Tehran

'Any woman assigned to the Paris-Tehran flight who for reasons of personal choice would refuse to wear the headscarf upon leaving the plane will be reassigned to another destination, and thus will not be obliged to do this flight,' human resources official Gilles Gateau told Europe 1 radio.

Air France asks all staff to follow Iranian law, requiring its female staff to cover their hair when they leave the plane on its resumed Paris-Tehran service

Unions, who held talks with the human resources chief, argue that an escape clause was already in place for flights to Conakry in Guinea during the Ebola crisis last year and for services to Tokyo following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Company chiefs had sent staff a memo informing that female staff would be required 'to wear trousers during the flight with a loose fitting jacket and a scarf covering their hair on leaving he plane'.

According to a union representative, management also raised the possibility of 'penalties' against anyone not observing the dress code.

Air France told AFP last week that all air crew were 'obliged like other foreign visitors to respect the laws of the countries to which they travelled'.

'Iranian law requires that a veil covering the hair be worn in public places by all women on its territory.

'This obligation, which does not apply during the flight, is respected by all international airlines which fly to Iran,' the airline said.

Air France added that the headscarf rule when flying to certain destinations was 'not new' since it had applied before flights to Tehran were stopped and also to crew flying to Saudi Arabia.

Air France announced in December the resumption of Paris-Tehran flights after they were suspended in 2008 when Iran was hit with international sanctions over its nuclear ambitions.

British Airways is set to restart flights to Iran from July, marking an exciting opportunity for Iran's growing tourism and commercial trade.
A whistleblower who exposed mass tax fraud involving Swiss banks and US citizens has claimed the CIA is behind the Panama Papers leak.

Bradley Birkenfeld, who served 30 months in prison, but received more than $100 million for US tax authorities revealed the extent of tax fraud at the heart of the Swiss banking industry in 2008.

Commenting on the Panama Papers scandal, he said he did not believe a single whistleblower like himself was behind the disclosure of 11 million documents from law firm Mossack Fonseca and instead suggested the intelligence services were responsible.

Former Swiss banker Bradley Birkenfeld, pictured, who received $100 million from US tax authorities after exposing mass tax fraud has said he does not believe an individual whistleblower is behind the scandal

Birkenfeld said when you look at the countries implicated in the scandal, many of them have difficult relationships with the United States, claiming this suggests CIA involvement in the release

Birkenfeld, pictured, said: 'My feeling is that this is certainly an intelligence agency operation'

In an interview with CNBC from Munich, Birkenfield said: 'The CIA I'm sure is behind this, in my opinion.'

He claimed many of the names included on the list were from countries with difficult relationships with the United States.

He said: 'The very fact that we see all these names surface that are the direct quote-unquote enemies of the United States, Russia, China, Pakistan, Argentina and we don't see one U.S. name. Why is that? Quite frankly, my feeling is that this is certainly an intelligence agency operation.

He added: 'If you've got NSA and CIA spying on foreign governments they can certainly get into a law firm like this, But they selectively bring the information to the public domain that doesn't hurt the U.S. in any shape or form. That's wrong. And there's something seriously sinister here behind this.'

Birkenfeld pleaded guilty in 2008 to conspiring to defraud the United States. Following his revelations, UBS paid $780 million in fines, penalties and restitution.

One of Birkenfeld's legal team said his actions had been responsible for $5billion in taxes being recovered by US authorities.

Meanwhile, organized crime prosecutors in Panama raided the offices of Mossack Fonseca looking for evidence of money laundering and financing terrorism.

A half dozen police officers set up a perimeter around the offices while prosecutors searched inside for documents. Shortly after news reports based on a trove of documents from the firm began emerging more than a week ago, Panama's government had said it would investigate.

The attorney general's office said in a statement that the objective of the raid was 'to obtain documentation linked to the information published in news articles that establish the use of the firm in illicit activities.'

Elias Solano, a lawyer from the Mossack Fonseca law firm, avoids talking with the media outside Mossack Fonseca office in Panama City

Police cars is seen outside the Mossack-Fonseca law firm offices in Panama City during a raid

Police on Tuesday raided the headquarters of the law firm whose leaked Panama Papers revealing how the world's wealthy and powerful used offshore companies to stash assets.s

Mossack Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing, saying it only set up offshore financial accounts and anonymous shell companies for clients and was not involved in how those accounts were used. Co-founder Roman Fonseca told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the firm was preparing a statement.

The search came a day after intellectual property prosecutors visited Mossack Fonseca to follow up on the firm's allegations that a computer hack led to the leak of millions of documents about tax havens.

The firm filed a complaint charging the security breach shortly before the first media reports working with the documents offered details on how politicians, celebrities and companies around the globe were hiding assets in offshore accounts and shell companies.

'Finally the real criminals are being investigated,' Fonseca said in a message to the AP on Monday.

Police officers stand guard at the entrance of the Mossack Fonseca law firm office in Panama City

Police on Tuesday, April 12, raided the headquarters of the Panamanian law firm whose leaked Panama Papers revealed how the world's wealthy and powerful used offshore companies to stash assets

Police with an organized crime unit carried out the raid at Mossack Fonseca "with no incident or interference," prosecutors said in a statement, adding that searches would take place at the firm's Panama City HQ

Fonseca has maintained that the only crime which can be taken from the leak was the computer hack itself. He has said he suspects the hack originated outside Panama, possibly in Europe, but has not given any details.

The law firm is one of the most important in the world for creating overseas front companies.

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela has defended the country's financial sector, which is considered of strategic importance for the economy. But Varela has also promised the international community that he is willing to make reforms to make the sector more transparent.

On Tuesday, Varela met with legal, banking and business professional associations. Afterward, he asked France to reconsider its decision to place Panama on a list of uncooperative countries in financial information.

The government announced that Joseph Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2001, would be one member of an international panel formed to review Panama's legal and financial practices and recommend improvements.

A man with a jacket that reads "Criminology" enters the Mossack Fonseca law firm office
AUBURN  Last month, four Cayuga County Highway Department employees asked the Cayuga County Legislature's Public Works Committee to consider a four-day work week with 10-hour days during the construction season. At Tuesday night's meeting, the number of employees doubled.

All eight are heavy equipment operators, and one of the employees, Andy Burke, spoke before legislators asking them again to consider the proposed schedule.

Burke passed out a paper listing the benefits of the changed work week. Some of those points included more work on county roads since set up and take down time eats into the work day. More work can be done with town highway departments, allowing for shared resources. Equipment that is rented can be utilized for more hours, too.

Highway Superintendent George Wethey said he is in favor of a hybrid plan, which would include the new schedule for the end of June, July and August when there would be no interference with school buses. He said he would like to keep the motor pool and sign maintenance work on a five days per week schedule to match with the city of Auburn's schedule.

Legislators Tucker Whitman and Ben Vitale said the last time the schedule was implemented, many employees took vacation time in the summer, and projects did not get done.

"I'm concerned that we're going to go back to that same problem, and we'll start falling further behind," Whitman said.

Burke said part of the problem is a lack of communication. He said many times employees do not know what they are working on until the day before.

"If we know what the job is, we want to be there," Burke said.

The committee agreed to discuss the matter with the highway's union.

In other news:

 Legislators passed an amended motion to adjust the Crimes Against Revenue Program budget Tuesday night. The approximately $31,000 used to pay the District Attorney's Office's three employees working on the program in January and February will be taken out of the approximately $107,000 grant instead of the county's fund balance. County Administrator Suzanne Sinclair said because the CARP positions have been vacant since the end of February, money is not being spent so the difference may end up being a wash. The adjustment would add approximately $102,000 into the fund balance.

 This month's full county Legislature meeting will be held earlier than usual due to several legislators' schedules. The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 21 at the Cayuga County Office Building, 6th Floor, 160 Genesee St., Auburn.
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Beaming from ear to ear, the Duchess of Cambridge could barely contain her joy after being given the chance to feed a baby rhino and elephant calf at an animal sanctuary in India today.

Kate and William were delighted to play parents to a group of vulnerable animals who are being nursed back to health after being injured or orphaned in the wild.

But Kate admitted that she was 'terribly missing' her own children after four days away, adding that Prince George was 'too naughty' to bring on the trip because the two-year-old 'would be running all over the place'.

She also said the little girls dancing around the village reminded her of 11-month-old Princess Charlotte and told elders: 'The next time we come, we will definitely bring them.'

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The Duchess of Cambridge laughs as she feeds a baby elephant at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation in Kaziranga

Animal doctor: Kate nurses a baby elephant back to health at a sanctuary helping animals who have been injured, displaced or orphaned

Kate also fed a baby rhino at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation in Kaziranga, in the state of Assam

A baby rhino gives Kate the runaround at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation at Panbari reserve forest in Kaziranga

The sanctuary provides emergency care and rehabilitation to wild animals that have been injured, displaced, or orphaned in the wild

Emergency care: Prince William also tries his hand at feeding the calves, using a special bottle to give them milk or formula

Armed with large bottles of milk, the couple fed the hungry animals during a trip to a sanctuary in Kaziranga National Park in Assam.

The calves were clearly impatient to get their meal and bellowed when they first saw rangers approaching with the flasks.

The Duke and Duchess were touring Kaziranga National Park home to elephants, water buffalo, the endangered swamp deer, tigers, and two-thirds of the world's population of Indian one-horned rhinoceroses.

The park in the state of Assam in the north east of India is a unique mix of grasslands, wetlands and forest and is more than 800,000 square kilometres in size and has designated a Unesco World Heritage Site.

William, who is a passionate conservationist, and Kate were introduced to the group of young animals at Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC).

It provides emergency care and rehabilitation for wild animals that have been injured, displaced, or orphaned.

In a large area of grassland and sparse woodland the baby animals had gathered under the shade of a tree waiting for the royal couple who walked towards them.

The maternal instincts of the Cambridges - who left their two children at home before setting off on their Indian tour - came to the fore during the encounter.

The Duke and Duchess decorate an elephant parade statue on a visit to the Mark Shand Foundation at Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga Discovery Park was built by Elephant Family, the charity founded by Mark Shand, the late brother of The Duchess of Cornwall

A cracking time was had by all: The Duke of Cambridge breaks a coconut on a rock (left) while Kate walks with the CEO of Elephant Family Ruth Powys (right) during a visit to the Mark Shand Foundation at Kaziranga National Park

William and Kate, wearing a 75 ethnic look Top Shop dress and wedges, with her hair tied back in a low bun, fed all the animals in turn.

She crouched over the tiniest of the group - a trio of two female elephants and rhino - to make sure they got every drop of milk and also turned their attention to the older ones.

The a inhales are fed a milk formula every few hours with added coconut milk as a supplement.

Among the youngest was Murphuli, who was aged just four weeks old when she was found in a tea garden trench in October last year.

CRWC vets hoped a female who rushed forward and examined the infant with her trunk was the mother but she was found in the same spot the next day.

Buree was another orphan found, aged two-months, when she was rescued by villagers from a rocky pit and after recovering from a swollen hip is making friends with the other animals.

But it was Dunga the smallest and newest resident at the centre who won Kate's heart. The young rhino was found alone by forest staff while on patrol and when they failed to locate the mother he was brought to the centre.

As the couple fed the elephants some stretched out their funks towards the bottles and all tipped their heads back to get every drop of milk.

William and Kate gave the animals comforting rubs as they fed them scratching the tops of their heads and patting their trunks.

Vivek Menon, chief executive office of the Wildlife Trust of India which established the CWRC with a number other bodies, joined the royal couple for the encounter with the animals.

He said: 'They were absolutely thrilled and loved being with the animals. The Duchess loved the baby rhino particularly.

'The Duke said if he could he would have spent the whole day there.'

Pretty in pink: The Duchess of Cambridge changes into a smock dress with Indian-inspired embroidery for her visit to Pan Bari Village in Assam after spending the morning on safari at the nearby Kaziranga National Park on day four of their Royal tour to India and Bhutan

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge greet a villager in Pan Bari Village, where they took part in a discussion about rural life in India

Mark of respect: The Duchess of Cambridge removes her black wedge espadrilles before entering the community hall in Pan Bari Village

Putting on a show: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge watch villagers dance in Pan Bari Village as they learn about life in rural India

Kate's boho-chic outfit featured black embroidery and tassel ties hanging from a keyhole neckline and changed her hair to an up do

Lessons in Indian life: The Royal couple will also speak to families and see a variety of crops as well as traditional crafts such as weaving

On a visit to a nearby local community, Pan Bari Village, Kate revealed to them that Prince George is 'very naughty'.

She also said that seeing all the little girls dancing there reminded her of her daughter, Princess Charlotte and told another villager that she was 'feeling sad today' because she is missing her children.

But the couple admitted that they weren't whether their two -year-old son, Prince George, would have been that well behaved.

Elders gathered at the village's 'Nam-ghar' or community centre couldn't resist asking through a translator why they had not bought George or Princess Charlotte, who turns one next month.

Kate apparently replied: 'Because George is too naughty. He would be running all over the place. The next time we come we will definitely bring them.'

The couple joked with village elders that the two-year-old would be 'running around' the community centre in Panbari on the border of the Kaziranga National Park where they stopped to experience Assam life first-hand.

The friendly exchanges happened at the hub of the 8km squared settlement, which has a population of around 1800 people.

A sign erected at the entrance read: 'Welcome the Hon'ble Prince & Princess of UK to World Heritage Place Kaziranga and Panbari Village Thanks'.

Several hundred villagers turned out for a glimpse of the couple, some wearing traditional Indian robes, others dressed in western clothes and taking pictures with their smart phones.

William and Kate, who was wearing a pink floral Topshop dress with black embroidery and her hair tied back in an elaborate bun, were met by 'Headman' Dhurba Krishna Das, 32, who placed traditional white woven scarfs with red embroidery, called 'gamchas' around their necks, as is customary in this region of Assam.

Kate greets a young girl at Pan Bari Village where the Royal couple were shown a traditional weaving loom and a tea garden

The Duchess of Cambridge learns how to weave cloth at Panbarai model village during her visit to Assam near Kaziranga National Park

Discovering the art: Kate learns about traditional crafts such as weaving that help the villagers provide for their livelihoods

The couple break for refreshments after a busy time learning about the lives of villagers in the wilds of India

Time for a cuppa: The Duchess of Cambridge enjoys a brew before heading out to feed the animals at the sanctuary

They were then led into the building, which with its corrugated iron roof also doubles up as the village's place of worship.

The couple were offered a bench to sit on as they took off their shoes - black wedges in Kate's case and lace up beige desert boots in William's - before entering the humble prayer hall, where they sat on mats weaved from bamboo by local women, surrounded by villagers of all ages in traditional dress, including several young children and a suckling baby.

The scent of joss sticks filled the air as the elders told them how the community came to be living in such close proximity to the local elephant and rhino population.

They heard how the village was established in the 1970s after homes on the nearby Majuli Island, one of the biggest river islands in the world, were flooded through erosion and the changing course of the river.

The flooding then had the knock on effect of causing the local elephant population to seek out higher ground, which resulted in them trampling through the community's paddy fields to get there.

This caused the village to have to diversify, and it now grows tea rather than rice because the elephants bypass tea plantations as there is no water to drink there.

Sitting cross- legged, William asked: 'How do the local people view the elephants and rhinos, are they considered sacred?' They were told the villagers 'love' the elephants because they are happy to live alongside them.

The couple then met with members of the local community, shaking hands and bending down to greet children before being treated to a traditional dance performance, featuring a traditional drummer band.

They then drove the short distance to a typical home and tea plantation.

A Safari adventure! The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were hoping for an encounter with rhinos and elephants as they set off on Safari this morning at the Kaziranga National Park in Assam on the fourth day of their week-long tour to Indian and Bhutan

Game for a laugh: William and Kate can't hide their excitement as they ride a jeep into the depths of Kaziranga National Park

Look over there! Prince William and the guide appear to be pointing out a passing creature to and excited Kate

Classic style: Kate adjusts her sunglasses to get a better view of the animals. Both she and her husband were sporting a black pair of Ray Ban shades, in the brand's classic Wayfarer style

Seeing the sights: The royal couple headed up a convoy of 4x4s as they were taken through the park with a guide

Would you look at that: Prince William appeared keen to point out the sights to his excited wife as they journeyed through the jungle

A wild encounter! This cheeky rhino blocked the royal procession's pathway as they made their way through the reserve

Kate and William were also lucky enough to see elephants. Their aides were concerned the photographers might scare off the wildlife

At the house, which featured mud-daubed walls, they were greeted reverentially by Tilasha Das, 30, and his wife Utala, 25 who knelt down and touched the couple's feet before they entered the premises.

Along with their daughters Anamika, eight, and Kumkum, five, and surrounded by extended family, neighbours and a pet black baby goat, they chatted to the Royal couple about life in the village and selling 'char' at the local market. On their two small plantations, the Das family produce up to 60kg of tea a year.

William, dressed casually in a light blue open neck shirt and chinos, asked: 'Are the girls on their school holidays' before being told they are schooled in the village.

As the couple stood up to inspect the family's weaving loom, which according to local tradition is always placed at the front of the house, William joked: 'look at that goat just chilling out down there, wondering what is going on!' Willi am tried to sit next to Kate at the loom but couldn't because his legs were too long.

Kate asked lots of questions about the cotton and methods used, asking the translator: 'How quickly can she weave?', to be told 1m an hour.

Kate was then presented with a beautiful red scarf with multi coloured flowers that had bed especially woven for the occasion by Mrs Das. 'That is so special,' said Kate, thank you very much and thank you to your family'.

The couple were then taken on a quick tour of the plantation by Mrs Das's cousin Morami, 31, who heartily embraced the Duchess and kissed her enthusiastically on both hands. Afterwards she said: 'I hugged her because I love her. I think she's very very pretty. She acts like a simple girl, not a princess.'

When asked what it means to the villagers to have William and Kate visit Pan Bari, the head man said 'We are all very happy and it makes us proud that they have come here.

'William and Kate told us they are feeling great to be in India. They also told us they like being in Assam because both enjoy drinking tea.'

It had been an early start for the couple as they began their day with an open-air Jeep ride around Kaziranga National Park.

Team photo: The royal couple pose for a photograph with smiling members of the forest guard inside the national park

Learning on the job: William and Kate chat to forest officials about the park. One of the most important job the staff members do is protect the animals from poachers - a cause close to the prince's heart

Suitably attired: The Duke and Duchess were both dressed casually for their trip to the park this morning, and were keen to learn about life inside the reserve

A shared mission: The prince has long been interested in protecting animals and the environment, and was keen to talk to park staff about their work

Meet and greet: The prince shakes hands with forest officials, who looked excited to meet the royal during his trip to India

Friendly greeting: William grins as he chats to forest workers, while his wife looked excited to join him on the adventure

Kate, casual in 29.99 Zara trousers, Sebago boat shoes and a spotted RM WIlliams shirt, walked over to their freshly-polished Maruti Suzuki Gypsy 4x4 (chilled bottles of water and face cloths were tucked into the seat pockets for their journey) with William, equally casually dressed in chinos and brown desert boots.

Joining them was a guard on a seat behind them, a driver and a ranger armed with a rifle loaded with tranquilliser ammunition.

Before the engines started, William and Kate put on their RayBan sunglasses and checked how to use their binoculars, sharing one between the pair of them.

As they pulled away, Kate squeezed William's thigh and said, 'We're all safe' and both of them grinned.

The jeep behind them contained their private secretaries, Rebecca Deacon and Miguel Head, and two protection officers.

As the 4x4 got going, William quickly spotted a rhino mother and her baby wading in a marsh-like patch in the distance. 'Oh wow,' gasped Kate. They both then took turns to look through their binoculars, William replacing his sunglasses with a pair of normal glasses to see better.

The next animal spotted was a large monitor lizard, which Kate seemed tickled by as she was giggling when it was pointed out to them.

As they entered a forested area 30 minutes into the safari, Kate and William stood up in the car to get a better look around. Occasionally they would lean back and aak their guide questions about the wildlife.

Possibly the highlight of their Kaziranga trek was a huge rhino blocking the road ahead. The couple gasped as they caught sight of the huge animal just 50 yards away from them.

'This is amazing!' said Kate. 'It's amazing to be this close,' William added, before a ranger called out loudly to scare it off the road.

Delighted to be there: The Duchess of Cambridge smiles broadly at her husband as they start their safari at the Kaziranga National Park in the Bokakhat district of Assam, India, this morning

Royal safari: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge get ready to leave for their jeep safari at Kaziranga National Park, in Assam, India, on day four of the Royal tour to India and Bhutan

Conservation: The Cambridge's visit Kaziranga National Park and are shown information about the work done at the park by their guides

All about the wilderness: The couple are informed about the park which hosts two-thirds of the world's great one-horned rhinoceroses

Here we go: Prince William and his wife grin at one another as they prepare to set off on their safari at Kaziranga National Park

After almost an hour of safari, the Duke and Duchess arrived at the Bimoli Anti-Poaching Camp in the centre of the park, where they were greeted by a group of rangers.

'It's been an incredible journey,' William said of their safari as he shook the hand of a young ranger.

After brief introductions, the couple sat down in a circle by the river with the rangers and park staff and discussed the park's successful efforts at protecting animals from poachers.

Traffickers in South East Asia are marketing Indian rhino horn as 'fire horn' and claiming it has increased potency compared to African horn.

And while numbers of poached rhinos have decreased (17 rhinos poached in 2015, compared to 27 in 2014), the fight is far from over.

Park guard Mahanda Barman, 34, told the couple about the time he had a fight with a poacher after hearing gunshots by the river in the north side of the park.

'It can be dangerous,' he told William via a translator. 'That evening there was crossfire between poachers and my team here The butcher ran off and was later found dead. We recovered rifles and ammo These things happen a lot. It's a big problem.'

'You're all doing an incredibly important job,' William told Barman. 'I'm incredibly proud of everything you're doing.'

Greetings: William and Kate were welcomed by the people of Assam, India, before they embarked on their journey into the forest

Listen carefully: The couple's visit to Kaziranga is designed to show how closely linked its local people are to the animals that live there

Climb aboard: The couple have flown to the beautiful north east of India, famed for its jungles and tea plantations, to highlight the work being done to preserve the country's natural habitat

Loving smile: Catherine gives Prince William an adoring look as the pair prepare to take off on their tour of the national park in northeastern India

Ranger Salim Ahmed, 46, had the royal couple speechless after telling them about his encounter with an angry rhino one evening. 'I was charged at in the evening,' he said. 'He hit me once but four of my fingers were broken, my arm and leg was broken too. I had to stay in hospital for 45 days.'

Despite the aggressive attack, Mr. Ahmed said that staff at the park never fire at animals. 'This is their home, we are their friends,' he said.

Kate seemed happy to discover that there are female rangers working at the park. 'That's really great,' she said. 'I was actually wondering if there were female rangers.'

After William drank a glass of water - though Kate declined - the pair thanked the rangers for their time and made their way back to the 4x4. 'It's a pleasure to be here in the park,' William said.

The final 30 minutes of their safari was a private moment for the couple, as they travelled the final stretch without media and some of their protection officers.

Sun protection: The future king put on a Kaziranga National Park cap as a smiling Kate chatted to park staff this morning

Early start: The Duchess was wearing a pair of skinny jeans by High Street store Zara, her favourite Sebago boat shoes and a pretty spotted white blouse. Because of their early start at 7.15am, it appeared she hadn't bothered to blow dry her hair and half tied it back

Anticipated adventure: William has long wanted to visit Kaziranga and the couple will get to see up close the work being done to manage the conflicts that arise when humans and wild animals live in close proximity

Up close and personal: The couple's visit to Kaziranga is designed to show how closely linked its local people are to the animals that live there, including this beautiful elephant

Protect the animals: The Duke and Duchess will meet rangers inside Kaziranga who have been working to protect its animal populations from poachers

More to see: The couple will get to see the growing numbers of villages which are in the path of ancient corridors for elephants and rhinos

Promote change: William plans to use this visit to speak out against what he describes as the 'lies and violence' that threaten Indian rhinos

More to come: Later today the Duke and Duchess will also visit an agricultural village on the edge of Kaziranga to meet villagers and discuss rural life in India

What lies ahead: William and Kate pull out a pair of binoculars as they hope to see rhinos, elephants and possibly even a tiger or two

Hectic schedule: The couple's whirlwind tour will take them from Mumbai in the west to Assam in the east and on to Bhutan in just six days

Keen photographer Kate brought her own Canon DSLR camera on the trip to capture some of her own pictures.

The couple's last engagement in Assam was to visit the Kaziranga Discovery Park built by the late brother of the Duchess of Cornwall, Mark Shand, a passionate environmentalist who died suddenly in 2014.

Ruth Ellis, CEO of The Elephant Family, the charity he set up, said William remarked that Mark always talked about Asia and praised his legacy in India.

The couple were given two beautiful hand painted models of elephants for their children and were then invited to help paint a much bigger fibreglass elephant that will become part of a major fundraising effort.

William was the first to pick up a brush and drew a blue circle around a red diamond shape, while Kate was more adventurous and painted a flower.

'She took inspiration from my flowers and did them in her own colours,' said Delhi based painter Bulbul Sharma, 62.

Bemused William was also asked to crack open a coconut on the ground, rather like hitting the side of a ship with a champagne bottle.

'Really? I'm worried I am going to hit someone,' he said, before executing it perfectly.

Perhaps they are missing their own children but whatever the reason the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were entranced by the energetic dancing of a three-year-old boy at a fireside festival - and laughed heartily when he cheekily attempted to stamp on their feet

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were entranced by the energetic dancing of a three-year-old boy at a fireside festival in Assam, India

The Duke of Cambridge introduces himself to the little boy, who appears to be completely unfazed by the fact he is meeting Royalty

Tonight they listened to a set of male drummers, followed by a a second group who played for a set of female dancers - including the cheeky little boy and a six year old girl
Hacked Off have today been branded 'rank hypocrites' after a cabinet minister was forced to admit he unknowingly had a relationship with a prostitute he met through online dating.

The BBC has also been accused of pursuing its own agenda against Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, who is currently pushing to reform the corporation and its licence fee.

News of the MP's 2014 relationship was made public last night by Newsnight in an interview with Hacked Off founder Brain Cathcart.

The Tory MP for Maldon told the programme he did not know the woman was a dominatrix and he broke it off when he discovered.

The Independent, The Sun, The Mail on Sunday and The Independent on Sunday decided not to publish, possibly because they thought it was not in the public interest and would breach his privacy.

But pro-privacy lobby group Hacked Off are furious that the MP's relationship with a woman he met on Match.com was not exposed and said newspapers had an 'obligation' to write it.

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Revealed: John Whittingdale has been forced to admit he met a girlfriend on Match.com (pictured together in November 2013) but did not know she was a prostitute and dumped her when he found out

Close: The Tory MP and his then partner, left, walk along a London street two-and-a-half years ago

In the dark: Mr Whittingdale says she kept her real occupation, pictured left and right, a secret from him

Anger: Hacked Off have been accused of being 'rank hypocrites' for wanting Mr Whittingdale's story to be published

Criticism: BBC Newsnight revealed Mr Whittingdale's previous relationship last night and critics have said that the corporation may be pursuing him because he wants to reform the corporation

Critics have said that their stance is hypocritical and had robbed them of any 'remaining moral standing' and also claim Mr Whittingdale was targeted by the BBC because he wants to bring in 'root and branch' reforms of the corporation.

Hacked Off was formed in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry and is supported by celebrities including Hugh Grant, Steve Coogan and John Cleese, whose own affairs, drug use and divorce, respectively, have been widely reported in the press.

Fawlty Towers star John Cleese says it the Whittingdale story is 'the biggest scandal for 50 years' and tweeted today: 'Not in the public interest! What a load of eyewash.. It wasn't in the Press's interest, so they censored the story as long as they could.

PM SAYS HE FOUND OUT ABOUT DOMINATRIX ONLINE TEN DAYS AGO The Prime Minister first found out about John Whittingdales relationship with a sex worker 10 days ago when it was reported on the internet, a Downing Street spokesman said. The PMs spokesman said: The Prime Minister has full confidence in John Whittingdale and all his duties as Culture Secretary. He said decisions on stories are matters for individual newspaper editors. A decision on Leveson 2 will be made after criminal proceeding, he added. Asked whether the British press were right not to report the story: As weve seen in recent days the British press is very rigorous. There is a split opening up within Labour, with shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn saying John Whittingdale should be able to continue with all his duties as Culture Secretary. But Mr Corbyns spokesman said perception is important and he should stand aside from any involvement in press regulation. Advertisement

He added: 'So...how are they going to blackmail Whittingdale now? They will do anything- ANYTHING - to kill Leveson'.

Brian Cathcart, who helped found Hacked Off in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry, told Newsnight that the story was in the public interest, saying: 'The public cannot have faith in his judgement and independence.'

He said Mr Whittingdale is 'compromised' and should 'get out of the way'.

Sources in government said it was wrong last night that Hacked Off was calling for the story to be published even though they were supposed to exist to campaign for the private life of individuals to remain private.

Hacked Off's position on Mr Whittingdale has caused fury online and led to them being called 'rank hypocrites'.

The executive director of the Society of Editors, Bob Satchwell, said it is a 'preposterous conspiracy theory too far' to say newspapers and broadcasters 'jointly decided not to publish' the story on Mr Whittingdale.

'The idea that the newspapers and broadcasters could all get together and say 'we are not running the story' is just silly,' he said.

'This story seems to be more about the dangers of using dating websites.

'In effect a single man embarrassingly ended a relationship with a single woman after he discovered she was not all she appeared to be.

'Since the Leveson report and the establishment of a new and tougher press regulator, papers have become extremely careful about stories involving anyone in public life.'

Mr Satchwell said Mr Whittingdale 'remains pretty tough' and 'not in any way soft on the press'.

Commentator and journalist Ian Dunt tweeted: 'So Hacked Off are angry with the press for not doing the very thing they have been calling on them not to.

'This really is the gutter for the press reform movement. They've robbed their campaign of its remaining moral standing.

'The press blackmail angle seems to be 100% innuendo. Is there even a shred of evidence for it?'

MISTRESS KATE THE DOMINATRIX They met on Match.com, a dating website used by millions to find love. John Whittingdale said that for the six months he dated Olivia King, she gave him no indication of her real occupation. But to the men who encountered her via altogether less salubrious websites, she was dominatrix Mistress Kate who fulfilled their every fantasy. For 200 an hour in her dungeon, her clients could choose from a menu of services including, at the tamer end, spanking and whipping. The BBCs Newsnight claimed she plied her trade at London Retreat, a brothel in Earls Court, west London. It advertised her as a sultry, leggy brunette whose ability to bring your sensual S&M fantasies to life is truly astonishing, adding: Mistress Kate particularly enjoys discipline scenarios, cross-dressing, body worship, and two way spanking fantasies. The leather-clad prostitute received rave online reviews from clients, most of which are too graphic to repeat. Miss King, aged in her late 30s, no longer appears to work at London Retreat. There was no answer yesterday at the 240,000 two-bedroom terraced house where she lives in the Essex market town of Coggeshall. The curtains were drawn in the single upstairs window and the blinds were lowered on the ground floor. A neighbour said: She works but I dont know what she does. Shes out a lot and doesnt seem to have regular hours. Miss King is also understood to own a rental property a short distance away in the same town. Advertisement

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale (pictured left today) has been forced to reveal he had a relationship with a dominatrix - Hacked Off's Brian Cathcart (right) said the minister is 'compromised' and should 'get out of the way'

View: The pressure group says the press had an obligation to publish the story about Mr Whittingdale - but four newspaper editors disagreed

Conspiracy: Comedian John Cleese says that the press having been blackmailing John Whittingdale

High profile: Hacked Off is backed by stars including John Cleese and High Grant and claims to be be pro privacy

@CJSilk tweeted: 'Hacked Off's hypocrisy on Whittingdale makes you wonder whether the campaign was ever about principle. What was their real motive?

WAS THE STORY IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST? WHAT AN EDITOR HAS TO CONSIDER BEFORE PUBLICATION In judging whether to publish the story or not, editors would have to take into account the newspaper industry's voluntary Editors' Code of Practice, which is currently enforced by IPSO and previously by the Press Complaints Commission. In particular, the Code includes a privacy section which states that 'everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence, including digital communications'. The Code also says 'Editors will be expected to justify intrusions into any individual's private life without consent'. Generally speaking intrusion would have to be justified in the public interest. The Code in 2014 was defined differently, but the public interest is presently defined in the Editors' Code as follows:  The public interest includes, but is not confined to:  Detecting or exposing crime, or the threat of crime, or serious impropriety.  Protecting public health or safety.  Protecting the public from being misled by an action or statement of an individual or organisation.  Disclosing a person or organisation's failure or likely failure to comply with any obligation to which they are subject.  Disclosing a miscarriage of justice.  Raising or contributing to a matter of public debate, including serious cases of impropriety, unethical conduct or incompetence concerning the public.  Disclosing concealment, or likely concealment, of any of the above. Advertisement

Ian Patterson99 wrote: 'It's bizarre when Hacked Off take a value judgement that a 6 month relationship between two single people *is* in public interest. Sheesh.

Ben Walker tweeted: 'The news story is that Hacked Off are hacked off that the things they shouted about are working'.

David Worsfold said: Hacked Off have really got their proverbials in a twist. They now seem to want people's sex lives splashed across the tabloids. Hypocrisy.

Olly Buxton said of Hacked Off: 'Your position on Whittingdale is staggering. Dumbfounded that you don't see the rank hypocrisy'.

The BBC were also accused of pursuing Mr Whittingdale on Newsnight as he plans to reform the governance of the BBC.

He has also opened the door to changing the licence fee, which he has previously described as being 'worse than the poll tax'.

Martin Anthony Tett tweeted: 'So fed up hearing this non 'story' about John Whittingdale being pushed by BBC. Two consenting adults. Feels like BBC own agenda?

Adel Darwish wrote: 'Can anyone recall a time when the BBC gave massive airtime to chastise the Tabloids for NOT invading a politician's privacy?

@PompeyGoat tweeted: Whittingdale story front page of bbc.co.uk. Absolute scumbags. Sooner license fee is scrapped the better'.

The 56-year-old minister, who is divorced with two children, said he brought the relationship to an end as soon as he discovered her occupation.

In a statement, Mr Whittingdale admitted that the story was 'embarrassing'.

But he said his role as Culture Secretary had not been compromised by his relationship with a sex worker and what the newspapers may have known about it. As part of his job, he oversees press regulation.

He said: 'Between August 2013 and February 2014, I had a relationship with someone who I first met through Match.com.

'She was a similar age and lived close to me. At no time did she give me any indication of her real occupation and I only discovered this when I was made aware that someone was trying to sell a story about me to tabloid newspapers.

'As soon as I discovered, I ended the relationship.

'This is an old story which was a bit embarrassing at the time. The events occurred long before I took up my present position and it has never had any influence on the decisions I have made as Culture Secretary.'

BEEB HAS 'VESTED INTEREST IN SEEING OFF WHITTINGDALE' The BBC was accused of pursuing its own agenda against Mr Whittingdale, who is currently trying to reform the corporation. Details of the MPs relationship with the dominatrix were aired on Tuesday in a Newsnight interview with Hacked Off founder Brian Cathcart. It was the lead item on Radio 4s flagship Today programme yesterday morning, and top of the BBC News website. Critics said the broadcaster justified the revelations by referring to his role overseeing Press regulation  rather than to its own vested interest in relation to his bid to reform BBC governance. They suggested Mr Whittingdale was targeted because he wanted to bring in root and branch reforms of the corporation. Its charter is also up for renewal at the end of this year. The Culture Secretary has opened the door to changing the licence fee, which he has described as being worse than the poll tax. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: The BBC has a vested interest in seeing the removal of John Whittingdale and his replacement with someone more malleable. But a BBC source said: The idea that annoying the Government and Fleet Street at once is somehow good for the charter review process is clearly nonsense. Advertisement

HACKED OFF CHAIRMAN IS LOVE CHEAT STAR'S LAWYER The chairman of the group which has berated newspapers for not revealing details of John Whittingdales love life is also the barrister fighting to protect the privacy of a cheating celebrity. Hugh Tomlinson QC is representing the married star who has been granted an injunction preventing him from being named in England and Wales over his threesome with another couple. Tomorrow the Matrix Chambers barrister will return to the Court of Appeal in an attempt to stop a newspaper overturning the gagging order, despite the star having been named across the globe. But Mr Tomlinson is also a founding member of the anti-Press campaign group Hacked Off, which yesterday complained that the Press had not run a story about the Culture Secretarys relationship with a dominatrix. He has often called for tougher Press regulation to protect privacy rights. After the Leveson Inquiry, he was one of the groups representatives at a secret late-night meeting with MPs to agree plans for state-sanctioned regulation of the newspaper industry. He has represented footballer Ryan Giggs and disgraced banker Fred Goodwin during privacy legal battles to try to prevent public exposure of their infidelities. Advertisement

Critics: Hacked Off and the BBC have been widely criticised for their views on the John Whitingdale and the decision to run it on Newsnight last night

WHO ARE HACKED OFF AND HOW ARE THEY FUNDED? Pressure group Hacked Off was set up in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry and says it is campaigning for a free and accountable press. It also says it is not affiliated to a political party despite its string of Labour and left wing supporters. It is believed to be bankrolled by rich individuals but despite campaigning for more transparency it refuses to say. Senior members will not comment on claims that rich benefactors keen on greater media regulation were covering the costs of the group, which is supported by celebrities including Hugh Grant and Steve Coogan. According to its website it is funded by donations and names The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust as one of its funders, saying it gave them 100,000. It says that Steve Coogan matched the funds raised through an online appeal. Blogger Guido Fawkes claims he has a list that shows key donors include Lady Annabel Goldsmith, mother of Jemima Khan and Zac Goldsmith and billionaire Lord Sainsbury, who was one of Labour's biggest financial backers under Tony Blair. Another four high-profile donors were claimed to be philosopher Alain de Botton, tycoon Arpad Busson, hairdresser John Frieda and BBC star Jeremy Clarkson - but Mr Clarkson denies this. The net worth of these rich and powerful men and women is far in excess of 1billion, and they may have helped support the parents of Milly Dowler and Madeleine McCann from press intrusion. Advertisement

At the time of the relationship, Mr Whittingdale was chairman of the Commons culture select committee  a backbench position.

Last night, the BBC's Newsnight reported that the dominatrix worked at an establishment called London Retreat, which came with its own dungeon.

On one occasion, he had gone to the MTV Awards in Amsterdam with the woman, paid for by MTV  but did not report it in his register of members' interests because the value of the trip was below the reporting threshold.

The programme said Mr Whittingdale had not told Number 10 when he was elevated to the Cabinet last year.

Four papers had had the story, Newsnight said, but had not run it. The papers told Newsnight that that was because there had been no public interest justification.

A spokesman for Downing Street told the programme that Mr Whittingdale is a 'single man and his private life is his own affair'.

But Labour's culture spokesman, Chris Bryant, said the Culture Secretary had a 'right to private life'.

But he suggested he should have withdrawn from making decisions about press regulation because of the 'sword of Damocles' hanging over his head.

Media commentator Roy Greenslade told Newsnight: 'I don't think this compromised his position one wit.'

Mr Whittingdale was political secretary to Margaret Thatcher in the final two years of her premiership.

He married Ancilla Murfitt in 1990, and they had a son and a daughter. The couple are now divorced.

He was elected an MP in 1992, and in 2005 he became chairman of the Commons culture select committee. Last year he was David Cameron's surprise choice to be Culture Secretary.

Mr Whittingdale, pictured yesterday, said the relationship occurred before the divorced father-of-two became a minister in May last year
The father of slain Melbourne toddler Sanaya Sahib has spoken out for the first time about the devastating moment he was called in to identify his daughter's body.

The 14-month-old's body was found in Darebin Creek in Heidelberg West on Sunday and her father Sameer Sahib said he joined the search party that morning, but was a 'bit too late'.

'It was the worst day of my life,' he told Nine News.

This comes as Mr Sahib revealed the little girl's funeral will be held on Saturday and the public are welcome to attend.

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The father (pictured) of slain Melbourne toddler Sanaya Sahib has spoken out for the first time about the devastating moment he was called in to identify his daughter's body

Sofina Nikat, 22, was due to front the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with murdering 15-month-old Sanaya Sahib but didn't appear because of her mental state

Hundreds of people are expected to turn up to remember the 14-month-old, The Herald Sun reported.

Sanaya's mother Sofina Nikat, 22, made a 'full confession' to killing the little girl on Saturday, and was due to front the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday, but was excused due to her mental state.

Mr Sahib said the little girl was 'bubbly' when he saw her three days before her death and Nikat appeared to be 'all right,' The ABC reported.

He said he has been unable to eat or sleep since learning of Nikat's arrest.

'I couldn't believe it, I just froze - how could a mother do something like that to her own child,' he said.

'We both brought her into the world. How can she do that?

'I had to go and identify the body, I never think i'd do that in my whole life- not to my own daughter.'

A full investigation into the little girl's death will be launched on Thursday to determine whether 'strict protocols' were adhered to by agencies and services 'sharing information about children'.

The court heard health professionals had assessed Nikat in custody and were worried about her appearing.

The 14-month-old's body was found in Darebin Creek in Heidelberg West on Sunday and her father Sameer Sahib (pictured) said he joined the search party that morning, but was a 'bit too late'

Mr Sahib shared footage of the little girl from last Thursday - the last time he saw her alive

Lawyer Michael McNamara said Nikat herself had asked not to appear in the court but health professionals had assessed Nikat in custody and were worried about her appearing

Nikat was charged on Tuesday with murdering her daughter after she made a 'full confession' to police and CCTV footage allegedly captured her pushing a child in a pram

Sofina Nikat was pictured covering her face with a copy of the Quran as she was driven to court on Wednesday

Lawyer Michael McNamara said Nikat herself had asked not to appear in the court.

The risk of her self-harming was a 'live issue' and it was believed she was already in protected custody, he said.

The brief hearing took place without Nikat and she was remanded in custody to reappear in August.

Nikat was charged on Tuesday with murdering her daughter after she made a 'full confession' to police at an out-of-sessions court hearing.

Sanaya's body was found in the Darebin Creek on Sunday less than 24 hours after Nikat had told police on Saturday her daughter had been snatched from her pram in a Heidelberg West park.

The toddler's disappearance sparked a large search that included mounted police, the police airwing, SES volunteers and members of the public.

At the time Nikat told police a barefoot man of African appearance and smelling of alcohol had pushed her to the ground and snatched the toddler.

She said she gave chase but couldn't catch him.

Sameer Sahib said his estranged wife Sofina Nikat rang to ask him to visit their daughter four days before her body was found in a creek

An autopsy has reportedly revealed Sanaya died due to smothering and her mother, Sofina Nikat, was taken to a secret location by welfare workers to speak with police on Sunday

Police released chilling CCTV footage of a woman pushing a child in a pram toward Darebin Creek in Heidelberg West

Nikat and her daughter had been staying with relatives in Heidelberg West after a separation between Nikat and Sanaya's father.

The court heard it was Nikat's first time in custody, and she would be further assessed by mental health professionals while in prison.

CCTV footage related to the alleged crime will be formatted and telephone intercepts will be transcribed.

Social workers who worked with Nikat after her daughter's death were in court for the brief hearing.

Bail was formally refused.

It comes after Mr Sahib revealed his estranged wife told him to come and visit the little girl four days before she was found dead in a creek, the Herald Sun reports.

Mr Sahib said that after blocking his calls for six months, his former wife Sofina Nikat rang to ask him to visit the toddler.

'She just said it's been a long time, come see her,' he said.

The family home where Sofina Nikat was staying with her daughter, Sanaya, near the park where her body was found

Mr Sahib, who has been separated from Nikat for a year, said he has been unable to eat or sleep since learning of her arrest.

'I just feel sick in my stomach,' he said.

Mr Sahib said he is now focusing on organising a funeral service for Sanaya.

After Nikat was charged on Tuesday, police released chilling CCTV footage of a woman pushing a baby in a pram toward Darebin Creek.

Earlier, an autopsy has reportedly revealed Sanaya died due to smothering and Nikat was taken to a secret location by welfare workers to speak with police on Sunday.

It comes after Sanaya's grieving uncle, Habib Ali, revealed the toddler was treated by an ambulance for a 'seizure' just a week before she died.

Mr Ali told reporters on Monday she was 'a cute little kid' who 'didn't deserve it'.

'Whoever done it, shame on him, he's a coward and ....shouldn't have done what he had done,' Mr Ali said.

Police and rescue workers at the site where the body of Sanaya was found in Darebin creek, Heidelberg West, in Melbourne on Sunday

Sanaya's grieving uncle Habib Ali (pictured) revealed the little girl was treated by an ambulance for a 'seizure' just a week before she died
Jailed: Saida Isovic (pictured) was one of a trio who targeted an unsuspecting shopper to steal 2,000 from the victim's handbag in a distraction theft

After two years on the run the law has finally caught up with a member of an all-girl gang of pickpockets who used 'Charlie's Angels' disguises to carry out a complicated sting in a Primark store.

Saida Isovic, 24, was one of a trio who targeted an unsuspecting shopper to steal 2,000 from the victim's handbag after she withdrew the money from a bank.

CCTV footage showed how the three women, originally from Bosnia, changed their appearances in a bid to disguise themselves and stop the victim from realising she was being followed.

The video captured the gang, who had been working together for almost a decade, walking into the busy store dressed in colourful headscarves and long clothing.

But they soon ditched those clothes to reveal long hair and trousers as they followed their target, then changing into coats and tying up their hair. Two of them also donned new headscarves before the gang struck.

The group, dubbed Charlie's Angels after the glamorous trio of private detectives who doubled as masters of disguise in the 1970s TV series, had travelled from their homes in the Birmingham area to target shoppers in Derby.

One of the trio, 23-year-old Ivana Ramic, was last year convicted of the theft in October 2013 and jailed for 11 months.

Her two co-accused were reported to have fled the country before they were brought to justice.

But last week, Isovic was handed a community order for a similar distraction theft in London. That court appearance alerted the authorities of an outstanding warrant for the theft in Derby more than two years ago.

She was brought to Derby Crown Court where she pleaded guilty to the previous theft and was sent to prison.

Jailing her for nine months, Judge John Burgess said: 'You have given a number of reasons why you failed to attend, the latest being that you just forgot the date.

Elaborate: CCTV footage showed how the three women, originally from Bosnia, changed their appearances in a bid to disguise themselves and stop the victim from realising she was being followed

CCTV: The video captured the gang walking into the busy store dressed in colourful headscarves and long clothing. But they soon ditched those clothes before two of them also donned new headscarves (pictured)

'That is simply no excuse and you have now been at large for two years.

'I can only conclude you were trying to avoid justice for a sophisticated theft, involving significant planning.'

Judge Burgess told Isovic: 'The reason you have eventually ended up before this court in Derby is because you carried out an almost identical offence in London which you admitted last week and during which you targeted an elderly couple.

Sent to prison: One of the trio, 23-year-old Ivana Ramic (pictured), was last year convicted of the theft in October 2013 and jailed for 11 months

'I am prepared to accept that in relation to the Derby offence your co-accused may have been the leading light but you were clearly involved and played a considerable part in it.

'And you didn't turn up and plead guilty in 2014 so I am dealing with you now after you have been on the run for two years.'

Isovic, whose last known address when an arrest warrant was issued two years ago was in Sandwell, West Midlands, pleaded guilty to the Derby theft and for failing to surrender to bail. The third woman is still wanted.

Mitigating, Balbir Singh said Isovic was the mother of a son who is aged two and is also currently two months pregnant.

He said: 'Prior to October 2013 she was a lady of good character and in relation to the theft offence she has pleaded guilty at her first appearance.'

The gangs pickpocketing operation is thought to have been going on for almost a decade, since the women were young teenagers.

Derbyshire Police said officers are still working with colleagues on mainland Europe in a bid to trace her the third woman involved in the Primark distraction theft.

Last May, they revealed that although they had arrested Isovic, she was granted bail and went on the run.
Police mounted massive raids in 33 towns and cities in a German state early yesterday hunting for illegal North African refugees in their asylum centres.

The swoops were carried out with military precision shortly before dawn. Some immigrants tried to hide but were discovered in toilets, under their beds or covered in blankets in linen cupboards.

Two young men even tried to hide in the basement of an asylum home in the industrial city of Duisburg but were found and arrested.

A total of 471 Algerians and Moroccans not truthfully registered with the authorities (not pictured) were discovered in the series of raids across North Rhine-Westphalia yesterday

It comes just days after it emerged the number of 'missing' migrants in Germany continues to grow with nearly 9,000 children unaccounted for.

The raids in North Rhine-Westphalia were aimed at capturing the biometric data of North African immigrants throughout the state to ensure lawful refugees are registered and not making duplicate applications for asylum with false names or fake national identities.

Police said that North African refugees have been known to use as many as ten different aliases and claimed to come from multiple countries.

A total of 471 Algerians and Moroccans not truthfully registered with the authorities were discovered.

The two national groups are cited by police as being responsible for most of the crimes committed by asylum seekers in Germany and were heavily involved in the New Year's Eve sex and robbery attacks on hundreds of women in Cologne.

An official told Bild newspaper: 'We created pressure to get people to disclose their personal data. And now we have the chance to reject their applications for asylum if they come from safe countries of origin.'

Both Morocco and Algeria are now considered safe countries and people from them seized in the raids will be sent home.

According to the state interior minister Ralf Jager criminal charges of illegally staying in the country were launched against 15 people. More are likely in the coming days. Four people wanted on outstanding arrest warrants for criminal offences were also caught up in the police operation.

The collected personal data was matched with that of other EU States to prevent duplicate asylum application in the EU as well as the use of multiple identities.

One example is the asylum-seeker from Recklinghausen who was shot before a Paris police station in January. He had made an application for asylum within the EU in seven countries and used up to 20 identities.
Injunction will be challenged in the Court of Appeal on Friday

Many members of the British public already claim they know the identity of the married celebrity who took out an injunction to stop the Press reporting that he had a threesome with another couple, a snapshot poll has revealed.

News outlets in England and Wales have been gagged by the courts in order to prevent them revealing full details of the man's extra-marital affair.

However, the star's identity has been widely reported elsewhere, including in a Scottish newspaper, a popular blog and one of America's biggest news websites.

Survey: A number of members of the public said they knew the name of the celebrity who has taken out an injunction about his private life; the woman on the left said 'No I don't', but the man pictured said 'Yes'

Poll: MailOnline carried out a snapshot survey in Westminster; asked if they knew the star's identity, the man on the left replied 'I have no idea' but the man on the right said 'I do'

The injunction will be challenged in court on Friday, when Court of Appeal judges will decide whether or not it should be overturned.

A MailOnline snapshot survey of the public found that roughly one in five claimed to know the name of the celebrity involved despite the attempted news blackout.

Others said that even though they were not aware of who the star is, they knew they could easily find out by looking it up online.

And some expressed outrage at the legal gag, saying that the public in England has a right to know about stories which are published elsewhere.

Secret: Some members of the public claim they have found out the identity of the person involved, but the man on the left said 'Er, no' and the passer-by on the right also said 'No'

Results: Of these two friends, the man said, 'I understand I can look it up pretty easily on the internet, but I haven't,' and the woman said, 'I might know but I'm not sure'

MailOnline surveyed 40 randomly selected passers-by in Westminster, Central London, showing them a newspaper story about the case which does not name the celebrity.

We then asked them whether or not they knew the identity of the man, although we did not ask who they thought it was and did not confirm or deny any names which were suggested.

Anonymous: The celebrity cannot be named by the English media because of a draconian court order

Eight people - 20 per cent - said they believed they did know his name, while 31 did not.

One woman was unsure of his identity, saying: 'I might know but I'm not sure. I read something which alluded to somebody and I thought "oh it must be so-and-so", but I don't actually know.'

Her friend, standing outside a pub next to the Houses of Parliament, added: 'I understand I can look it up pretty easily on the internet, but I haven't.'

Another man surveyed said, 'I read about it, but I didn't check it out,' while one passer-by added: 'I was going to check Twitter [to find out], but I got distracted.'

The revelation that members of the public in England already say they know who the man is could weaken the case for keeping the court order, imposed by two Court of Appeal judges in January.

It was announced today that a new panel of judges at the court will reconsider the injunction on Friday, with lawyers arguing that it is in the public interest for the star to be named.

The celebrity claimed that reporting news of his threesome would breach his right to privacy by exposing details of his marriage to another well-known showbusiness figure.

He expressed concern that the couple's young children would be distressed if they ever read media coverage of the affair.

Decision: Judges at the Court of Appeal agreed to gag the Press over the man's affair with another couple

Judge: The decision by Lord Justice Jackson, pictured, is set to be challenged in court on Friday

The injunction bans anyone in England and Wales from publishing the man's name, with anyone who breaks it facing a hefty punishment for contempt of court.

However, it has no effect outside the UK and is not enforceable in Scotland, which has a separate legal system to the rest of Britain.

This means that a number of global news outlets have been able to print details of the case, including a US print publication and a newspaper in Scotland.

In the past few days, the man's identity became even more widely known after it was published by an American website with worldwide appeal, two Canadian newspapers and a blog based in the Republic of Ireland.

The blogger who covered the story has been threatened with legal action by the man's lawyers, who accused him of committing contempt of court.

Freedom of speech campaigners have spoken out against the ongoing injunction, while Tory MP Philip Davies said it was a 'farce'.

Commons Speaker John Bercow is said to be intent on stopping MPs from using their parliamentary privilege by naming the celebrity during a debate.
A controversial matchmaking show that sees two total strangers undress each other as part of a social experiment is coming to Australian screens soon.

Undressed, a reality television series which has a huge following in Italy and the UK, will soon be launched on the SBS network .

The premise is simple enough; two strangers meeting for the very first time strip each other down to their underwear and lie together on a bed in a darkened room to see if there is a connection.

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In a new dating show, coming to Australia from Italy (pictured), hopeful singles meet for the first time and are them told to strip off and jump into bed

Some couples experience instant physical attraction (like this Italian pair, pictured), while others find it tougher to break the physical barriers down

Total strangers must undress each other before lying down on a bed together and engaging in pillow talk

The couples have to share a bed for 30 minutes and carry out tasks and answer probing questions

After thirty minutes of conversation and physical tasks prompted by a supersized television screen, the couple then secretly decide whether or not they want to continue with the date.

When the time is up, the couples must make their decision - to stay in bed and continue the date or get dressed and leave the room.

They are given tablets beside their side of the bed with the words 'yes or no' and they must make their decision - which will then be revealed to their bedmate via the giant screen, leading to either true love or crushing rejection.

The show is based on psychological research which is said to suggest that 'attraction can be accelerated by answering increasingly intimate questions within a tight 30 minute timeframe.'

A statement by SBS says Undressed will 'explore cultural diversity and preconceptions about race and sexuality, challenging both viewer and contributor prejudices.'

During the thirty minutes a supersized television screen displays pictures and offers physical tasks to help move conversation forward

The show is based on psychological research which is said to suggest that 'attraction can be accelerated by answering increasingly intimate questions within a tight 30 minute timeframe'

When the time is up, the couples must make their decision - to stay in bed and continue the date or get dressed and leave the room. They do so using a tablet placed on their side of the bed

While the show has experienced huge success in Italy and the UK, not everyone has been impressed with the controversial concept

In previous episodes of the show a wide spectrum of organic interactions can be seen, including first kisses, awkward rejections, uncomfortable hugs and instant attraction.

The show's bizarre concept has received mixed reviews on social media, with many people blasting it as 'sensationalised porn,' 9 News reported.

'I guess sex sells,' wrote one Youtube user.

'We are in complete decay television,' added another.

SBS are now taking applications for singletons searching for their soulmate.

'Are you brave enough to undress down to your underwear in front of someone you have only just met ... Is it your time to fall in love?,' the casting call asks
ISIS numbers are at their lowest levels since 2014 after a wave of military action in Iraq and Syria - but Al Qaeda and the Taliban are resurgent in Afghanistan, its defence minister has warned.

The territory held by ISIS extremists has been reduced by 40 per cent in Iraq and 10 per cent in Syria in the last year, according to the US deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

But as international and local military action works to wipe out the terror group, it was confirmed that rival terror faction Al Qaeda is still 'very active' and a 'big threat' in Afghanistan.

ISIS numbers are at their lowest levels since 2014 after a wave of military action in Iraq and Syria, a US official said

The territory held by ISIS extremists has been reduced by 40 per cent in Iraq and 10 per cent in Syria in the last year. People are pictured fleeing from Hit in Iraq amid clashes between ISIS and Iraqi security forces

Blinken said ISIS ranks had dipped to their lowest level since Washington began monitoring the group two years ago.

He said: 'Working by, with and through local partners, we have taken back 40 per cent of the territory that Daesh controlled a year ago in Iraq and 10 percent in Syria.

'In fact, we assess Daesh's numbers are the lowest they've been since we began monitoring their manpower in 2014,' he added, using one of three terms US officials use interchangeably to refer to ISIS.

Blinken did not put a new figure on the size of the jihadist group's fighting force in his statement to the Senate committee overseeing funding for the State Department's program to counter violent extremism.

But in September 2014, the last estimate to which Blinken referred, a US intelligence official told AFP that the CIA believed the group could put between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters in the field, both foreign fighters and local recruits.

Civilians flee their homes to head to safer areas due to clashes between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State militants in the town of Hit in Anbar province, Iraq

Washington has led an international coalition against the ISIS group in Iraq and Syria since August 2014

The United States, which withdrew its forces from Iraq in 2011 after eight years of war, officially redeployed 3,870 troops to the insurgency-wracked country in recent months

Since then, US-backed Iraqi and Kurdish forces have pushed ISIS fighters back from the cities of Tikrit and Ramadi and taken territory in northern Syria, while Syrian forces receiving Russian support have recaptured the Syrian city of Palmyra.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan's most senior defence official said Al Qaeda was resurgent in Afghanistan - and forming fresh links with the Taliban who are gaining territory.

Acting Defense Minister Masoom Stanikzai told CNN that Al Qaeda operatives were staying under the radar but beginning to expand their influence.

He told the network: 'They are really very active. They are working in quiet and reorganizing themselves and preparing themselves for bigger attacks.

'They are working behind other networks, giving them support and the experience they had in different places. And double their resources and recruitment and other things. That is how - they are not talking too much. They are not making press statements. It is a big threat.'

He said he was also becoming concerned over fresh links being made between al Qaeda and the Taliban.

US officials told CNN the number of 'core' Al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan could be up to 300.

Rival terror faction Al Qaeda is still 'very active' and a 'big threat' in Afghanistan. Members of the Afghan National Army are pictured in Helmand Province

On Wednesday, Obama and his top aides are set to evaluate the progress made so far in the anti-ISIS fight and weigh proposals for upping the pressure on the jihadists.

'The president has asked them to come to him with suggestions for how it is possible to reinforce those elements of our strategy that are showing the most success,' White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday.

When asked about a possible increase in the number of US troops in Iraq, Earnest refused to say if any announcements were on the horizon, saying only that Obama would make a statement after the meeting.

'It's not uncommon for the president to make decisions in the context of these meetings,' he said.

Washington has led an international coalition against the ISIS group in Iraq and Syria since August 2014.

The United States, which withdrew its forces from Iraq in 2011 after eight years of war, officially redeployed 3,870 troops to the insurgency-wracked country in recent months.
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Photographs have emerged of the devastating effect of coral bleaching has had in Australia's Great Barrier Reef as scientists reveal the natural wonder is under global scrutiny.

The once-healthy reefs and stunning symmetrical shapes have now been transformed into ghostly skeletons covered by swampy algae in recent years.

New images, taken near Lizard Island off the north Queensland coast, have given a glimpse into the shocking event that has unfolded across the seabed as the bleaching becomes more frequent and severe.

Bleaching occurs when abnormal environmental conditions, such as warmer sea temperatures, cause corals to expel tiny photosynthetic algae, draining them of their colour.

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Clown fish swimming on bleached anemone (pictured) as photos reveal the severe impact bleaching has had in the Great Barrier Reef

Healthy corals are supposed to be a deep brown or khaki-green colour (left) but in recent years, the reef has slowly bleached into a white, fluorescent colour (right)

Corals may recover or die (pictured) from the lack of energy as a result of the absence of the symbiotic algae that provide carbohydrates

Huge stretches of the reef have been far from a psychedelic stream of rainbow, with corals turning white or fluorescent after days or weeks of stress, according to The Conversation.

Once the colour of corals fade, it could recover from bleaching if heat stress lessens and conditions return to normal or die from the lack of energy as a result of the absence of the symbiotic algae, which provide carbohydrates.

Not only has some parts of the reef lost its attraction, but hundreds of fish species could lose their livelihoods, including the yellow clown goby, also known as Okinawa goby, which feeds on corals.

But despite the death of many of the stunning organisms, the bleaching could add a strange attraction to the corals as they shed their algal cloaks and reveal themselves.

The images comes after marine experts who have aerial surveyed 500 sites between Cairns and Papua New Guinea revealed the once healthy reefs are now snow-white, with 95 per cent ranked in the most severe category of bleaching.

Professor Terry Hughes, a coral reef expert based at James Cook University in Townsville who led the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce, said the scale of reef damage was a 'very sad thing to witness.'

Hundreds of fish species could lose their livelihoods, including the yellow clown goby (pictured) which feeds on corals

Several clown fish desperately searching for shelter as the seabed slowly transforms into a stream of ghostly white corals and sponges

'We flew for 4000km in the most pristine parts of the Great Barrier Reef and saw only four reefs that had no bleaching,' Professor Hughes said.

'Even more concerning, we haven't yet found the southern limit of the bleaching.'

The aerial surveys have confirmed the current bleaching event is far more severe than those of 2002 and 1998.

More aerial surveys are planned this week in the central Great Barrier Reef, to try to find the southern boundary of the bleaching.

But Prof Hughes said the southernmost stretches of the reef appear to have dodged a bullet with cloudy weather keeping down water temperatures there.

Juvenile black damselfish are forced to take refuge between coral heads in an attempt to hide from dangerous predators

Coral bleaching most commonly occurs when warm ocean temperatures cause thermal stress, leading corals to expel tiny algae

Bleaching occurs when warmer sea temperatures cause corals to expel tiny photosynthetic algae, draining them of their colour

Without algae, coral's bright white skeleton is revealed. It can recover from bleaching if heat stress lessens and conditions return to normal

WHAT IS CORAL BLEACHING? Coral bleaching most commonly occurs when warm ocean temperatures cause thermal stress, leading corals to expel tiny algae, known as zooxanthellae, which live inside their tissues and provide corals with most of their food and colour. Without the algae, the coral's bright white skeleton is revealed. Corals can recover from bleaching if heat stress lessens and conditions return to normal. As the climate changes, coral bleaching is predicted to become more frequent and severe. Source: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Advertisement

Previous underwater surveys conducted earlier in March also detected substantial levels of coral mortality in the remote far north on inshore Cape York reefs.

Diver teams found the worst affected sites to be near the tip of Cape York, with up to 50 per cent coral mortality due to prolonged higher than average sea surface temperatures.

However, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Chairman Dr Russell Reichelt said in a statement that the extent and severity of bleaching varies greatly across the Reef and the late arrival of the wet season appears to have thus far spared most sections of the 344,400 square kilometre Marine Park from coral die-off.

'Further wet weather has brought down ocean temperatures, providing reefs south of Cooktown with a much-needed reprieve,' Dr Reichelt said.

The once-healthy reef (pictured) has slowly deteriorated in recent years as corals continue to dramatically bleach in the Great Barrier Reef

Clown fish living among the stunning spine-cheek anemone coral

'We now need to see if local weather conditions over the next few weeks are favourable enough to prevent further bleaching and to help these reefs recover from the minor to moderate bleaching that we're continuing to see south of Cooktown.

'We still have many more reefs to survey to gauge the full impact of bleaching, however unfortunately, the further north we go from Cooktown, the more coral mortality we're finding.

'The corals in the remote far north of the Reef experienced extremely hot and still conditions this summer, and were effectively bathed in warm water for months, creating heat stress that they could no longer cope with.

'The reefs that we've surveyed so far indicate the large low pressure system over the north last week simply arrived too late for some.'

Most of the reefs north of Cairns - a city that markets itself as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef - are undergoing bleaching, and virtually all coral species, including the most robust types, have been affected.

Cape York residents have told surveyors they are shocked by what they've seen and they've never witnessed anything like it before.

Coral bleaching is caused by heat stress resulting from high sea temperatures that destroy the algae which provide corals with most of their food and colour.

Without the algae, the coral's bright white skeleton is revealed.

Parts of the Great Barrier Reef was once a beautiful attraction, with stunning symmetrical shapes and a psychedelic stream of rainbow

The once-healthy reef (pictured) has slowly deteriorated in recent years as corals continue to dramatically bleach in the Great Barrier Reef

Spectacular photograph shows what parts of the reef once looked like as scientists reveal the natural wonder is under global scrutiny

The Great Barrier Reef has been a world tourist attraction for decades as two scuba divers (pictured) are spotted embracing the ocean

The Department of the Environment said government was investing a projected A$2billion (1bn) over the next decade to protect the reef

Professor Hughes said it was too early to say what the outcome for the reef would be, but scientists carrying out parallel surveys underwater are reporting half of all bleached corals are dead.

But he told ABC's 7.30 that he is sick and tired of the whole climate change debate.

'The government has not been listening to us for the past 20 years,' he said.

'It has been inevitable that this bleaching event would happen, and now it has.

'We need to join the global community in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

'For me, personally, it was devastating to look out of the chopper window and see reef after reef destroyed by bleaching.'

He said more aerial and in-water surveys in the coming months would reveal the full impact.

Unesco voted not to put the reef on its World Heritage in Danger list last year, but green groups want the decision reassessed.
He is the millionaire son of a Russian banker who has tamed Hollywood wild child Lindsay Lohan - and has already got her parents' seal of approval.

Egor Tarabasov, 22, is rumoured to have got engaged to Lohan, and the loved-up couple toasted the occasion with a Duran Duran concert with her parents last night in New York.

Tarabasov is described by her father as a 'great influence' on the Mean Girls star, and her mother says he's just a sweetheart', with no interest in fame.

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Time to celebrate: Lindsay Lohan pictured with her father Michael (right), her mother Dina (left) and her partner Egor Tarabasov (circled) at a Duran Duran concert on Tuesday night

What a gent: Tarabasov drove the family home after the concert held at the Barclays Center in New York

Alone? Lindsay posted this picture of her legs in bed six days ago, but it looks like there is someone next to her. She has been dating Tarabasov for about eight months

Comparisons: Lindsay Lohan is pictured in what appears to be a hotel corridor with a man who looks like her partner. In the post she likened them to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton who had a chalet in Gstaad

Couple: Flame-haired Lindsay posted this photo on Instagram with the comment: 'You make me smile babe'

Couple: Lindsay is said to be engaged to 22-year-old Russian heir Egor Tarabasov. The actress posted this picture of them cosying up together in February

But who is the the man who has seemingly won Lohans heart?

Born in Moscow, Tarabasov is the son of entrepreneur Dmitry Tarabasov, 50, who owns several large businesses in Moscow.

Dmitry is one of the shareholders and a member of Ivy Bank, and the owner of Transportation Company Trans-Meridian LLC.

The star's 'fiance', who now lives with her in London after she turned her back on the LA lifestyle, studied at the Anglo-American School of Moscow and then Cass Business School.

He started his own real estate agency, Home House Estates a central London estate agents and chartered surveyors with a head office close to Bond Street.

Like his father, Tarabasov is also listed as a shareholder of Ivy Bank, and he describes himself on Instagram as a 'traveller, wanderer and a lover'.

And it seems the Russian, who often travels to Switzerland, Costa Rica and France, has been combining his passions in recent months.

Introduced by mutual friends at a party in the summer, the pair have been dating for about eight months, during which time they have travelled the world together.

He spent the holidays in New York with Lohan and her family.

Helping out: Three weeks ago the actress posted this picture of Egor, alongside the message: 'Moving in and "How To Get Your Man To Help" #HTGYMTH 1. Organising Hangers : A happy closet is a happy mind'

Loved-up: Lindsay posted this photo of a man - believed to be her partner - showing off his abs in suit trousers and jacket, alongside the message: 'I love him'

'My love': Alongside this picture, Lindsay wrote: 'Lovely night with my friend @julietangus and my (heart emoji)'. She and Tarabasov met last summer

The loved-up couple then jetted off to Costa Rica for a romantic New Year's Eve trip, it was reported.

And in February, Lohan posted a picture of them together at GreenGo Club in Gstaad in the Swiss Alps.

In another, which shows her and a man who looks like Tarabasov together in Gstaad, she compared them to actress Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton who had a chalet in the resort.

'Chic #elizabeth&richard #gstaad,' she wrote.

Her Instagram profile charts the couple's relationship and the star has posted a series of intimate pictures of them together.

Three weeks ago the actress published a picture of Tarabasov with a pile of hangers, alongside the message: 'Moving in and "How To Get Your Man To Help" #HTGYMTH 1. Organising Hangers : A happy closet is a happy mind.'

'I havent known Egor for that long,' Lohan told The Sun in March: 'Weve been together for about seven months.

'But I do have a boyfriend and he is a great guy. I met him in the summer. Im really happy.'

Last month she posted a photo of a man, believed to be Tarabasov, showing off his abs in suit trousers and jacket, alongside the message: 'I love him.'

Got a secret? The flame-haired star was blushing while Egor - standing behind her - wore a huge grin on his face at the Duran Duran concert at Barclays Center in New York last night

Together: Tarabasov was spotted at a Duran Duran concert with Lohan, her parents and her sister Ali, 22

In a photo she uploaded last week, she shows her legs in bed and it looks like there is someone next to her. In another image of her lover, she wrote: 'You make me smile babe.'

In an interview last month, her TV personality father Michael Lohan could not speak highly enough about his daughter's partner - insisting he is 'not a good influence, hes a great influence'.

Lucky lady: Lindsay flashed a sparkler on her wedding finger on Tuesday night

'He has a lot of strong connections in Russia - these are big people and theyre very supportive,' he told Page 6.

'Hes grown up with money but hes not spoiled. Hes not the kind of guy to just sit back and spend his money.'

Her mother Dina Lohan added: 'Hes just a sweetheart. Hes not about celebrity or anything, which is really important.'

She revealed she had recently spoken with Tarabasov's mother and described him as an only child who is 'older than his years'.

And it seems her beau is introducing the star to his culture, reportedly taking her to restaurants serving his native cuisine and to Russian-style bath houses.

Lohan, 29, recently posted a picture of herself with a group of friends alongside the message: 'Love and let love. Russian dinner.'

Tarabasov reportedly popped the question at the weekend, according to TMZ - although her spokesperson has denied the claims.

'The story is untrue and holds no merit,' Lohan's spokesman, Hunter Frederick told MailOnline.

However, he did not comment on why the star is wearing rings on her wedding finger.

Last night, Tarabasov was spotted at a Duran Duran concert at Barclays Center in New York with Lohan, her parents and her sister Ali, 22.

She flashed her green rock as she danced and took selfies.

Egor proved to be quite the gent as he drove the family home at the end of the night.

A hint? While at the 2016 Asian Awards in London on Friday night, the Herbie actress wore a purple ring and diamond wedding band on her wedding finger

Social media: Lohan's Instagram profile charts the couple's relationship as the star has posted a series of intimate pictures of them together

Culture: Lohan posted a picture of herself with a group of friends alongside the message: 'Love and let love. Russian dinner'

Earlier Lindsay was pictured jumping out of his car as she ran down the street.

While at the 2016 Asian Awards in London on Friday night, the Herbie actress wore a purple ring and diamond wedding band on her wedding finger.

Lohan has never been engaged before even though she has had many high-profile relationships, including a two-year, on-and-off romance with DJ Samantha Ronson.

The Georgia actress has also dated Wilmer Valderrama, Brandon Davis, Harry Morton and Calum Best.

The redhead has been linked with several other stars as well, including Jude Law and Jamie Dornan, but it is not known if they were brief flings or serious relationships.

Relationship: They have been dating for about eight months, during which time they have travelled the world
Aldi loses liquor licence for one of its Sydney stores

An Aldi supermarket located in Edgecliff, Sydney, has temporarily lost its liquor licence for selling alcohol to a minor.

The supermarket received a three day suspension after NSW Police noticed in September 2015 a group of teenagers exchanging money for two six packs of beer placed inside Aldi shopping bags. It was then discovered the teenager told the Aldi cashier that he had forgotten his wallet and had instead showed an image of a fake ID on his phone.

When questioned the Aldi staff member told police they were not aware images of identification where not acceptable.

An Aldi spokesperson said the supermarket takes the responsible service of alcohol very seriously and that it regrets that in this instance an error had been made by one of its staff members.

All Aldi store employees are required to undertake Responsible Service of Alcohol courses ensuring they understand and are equipped to meet their legal responsibilities surrounding the sale of alcohol, the spokesperson said.

Ongoing training in this area also forms part of our management strategy and training frequency has been increased in response to this incident, they said.

Aldi Edgecliff will be allowed to sell liquor again from 15 April 2016.
Jeremy Corbyn has been warned he risks sending Britain crashing out of the EU after his spokesman criticised the government's 9million mailshot.

The Labour leader is due to make his first big intervention in the referendum battle in a speech tomorrow.

The veteran left-winger is expected to describe his 'personal journey' from opposition to support for the UK's membership.

But Mr Corbyn's spokesman raised fresh questions about his views by echoing Tory Eurosceptic criticism of the pro-EU leaflets that are being distributed to every household.

'Jeremy is of the view that the Government should supply a more even approach on information, to allow for an informed decision by the public, while we would still campaign to stay in Europe,' he said.

Labour MP Chris Leslie demanded that Mr Corbyn 'get out of comment mode' and show that he genuinely supports the Remain campaign.

'We have got to focus on the long term best interests of the country not just the day by day sniping at what is going on with leaflets,' he told MailOnline.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn took on David Cameron at PMQs in the Commons today

The row came as:

David Cameron was booed in the Commons as he accused Brexit supporters of 'scare stories'

The Vote Leave group saw off rival Grassroots Out to be designated the official Brexit campaign by the Electoral Commission

Tory donors pledged to hand up to 5m to the Brexit campaign to offset the government mailshot

Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg challenged the Prime Minister in parliament over the decision to use public money on the leaflets. He insisted the document's claim that Britain had maintained control of its borders was wrong, and in fact more than 200,000 economic migrants had come here from the EU.

But, to jeers from some MPs, Mr Cameron responded: 'The truth is this, economic migrants that come to the European Union do not have the right to come to the UK. They are not European nationals 

'Frankly, this is why it is important that we do send information to households so they can see the truth about what is being proposed.

What he has just put forward is classic of the scare story we get.'

Mr Corbyn's spokesman insisted the Labour leader would make a strong case for staying in the EU in his speech tomorrow.

Mr Cameron was booed by some of his own MPs after complaining about anti-EU 'scare stories'

But Mr Leslie, who was shadow chancellor until Mr Corbyn took charge, said he had to convince the party's supporters.

'I think unless the Labour leadership pull out all the stops and make the case for staying in there is a real risk to the future of the country,' he said.

'There are some occasions when you cannot just rely on the Prime Minister.

'I think Jeremy's office have a responsibility to get out of comment mode and get into campaign mode.

'There are millions of Labour supporters looking for leadership on this.

'The government are clearly in favour of Britain remaining and we should be too.'

He added: 'Labour has the ability to show more unity on this issue  or so I thought. Let's hope that Jeremy does show that tomorrow.'

Earlier this week former foreign secretary David Miliband warned that 50% of Labour backers did not even know what the party's position was on the EU.

In an article for MailOnline earlier, shadow cabinet member Hilary Benn raised fears that Brexit would leave Britain at risk from terrorists and 'infiltrators'.

He insisted the security case for remaining in the European Union at June's referendum was clear.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, left, is set to join the referendum with a major speech tomorrow after Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary, right, made the security case for staying in today

Writing for MailOnline, he insisted the new measures were a further example of how 'cooperation keeps British citizens safe at home'.

Mr Benn said everyone currently entering Britain was checked twice - once against existing databases of people known to authorities and again based on the data they present at British ports.

He said the new rules would allow a further look at people's travel patterns - which could identify criminal activity 'such as terrorism, people trafficking or other forms of crime'.

Mr Benn said: 'Because it provides us with more information, it will in fact reduce the number of ''false positives'' in border checks, so there will be fewer times when perfectly innocent people are flagged up for interview, and it will help us eliminate ''false negatives'' when we don't identify criminal behaviours.

BREXIT CAMPAIGN OPENS UP THREE-POINT LEAD The latest poll on the EU referendum found the Brexit campaign has a three-point lead The campaign to leave the EU has opened up a three-point lead, the latest poll revealed today. The weekly ICM tracker poll - conducted online - found 45 per cent of voters will opt for Brexit, compared to 42 per cent in favour of remaining in the EU. It showed 12 per cent of voters are undecided over which way to vote The ICM tracker poll showed the gap widens to four points when undecided voters are taken out. Today's findings are further proof of how close the referendum campaign is, with neither side able to gain a decisive or consistent lead. Advertisement

'Both our abilities to identify known problems and to predict potential threats are enhanced through this kind of cooperation across European jurisdictions.'

He added: 'This is only therefore possible where violations are justiciable in a competent court and where there is already a common agreement on a wide array of rights.

'Our adherence to these rights and information sharing keep British citizens safe.'

Mr Benn warned a Brexit vote would force border officials to profile travellers in more 'crude' ways.

He concluded: 'The risks to Britain would increase substantially if we did not have such cooperation, leaving us open to potential infiltration by people traffickers, terrorists and other criminals.

'This Union is a product of forty years of effective British foreign policy in cooperating with our neighbours and allies and must continue to be so to keep us, our children and future generations safe here at home and abroad.'

Mr Corbyn is due tell activists tomorrow that he has come to believe the benefits of the EU, particularly in relation to workers' rights, outweigh the costs of membership of the trading bloc.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell last night denied the Labour leadership had let down the campaign to keep Britain In.

Senior backbencher Chuka Umunna has warned Labour's leadership must campaign 'full throttle' to keep Britain In Europe.

He told ITV: 'No we haven't, because our focus has been on the local elections and the other elections.

'But as we move towards it you'll see us upping our campaign and going on the stump around the country.

Tory defence minister Penny Mordaunt has insisted leaving the European Union would 'risk nothing' and could enhance Britain's security - echoing calls for Brexit from Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6.

Defence Minister Penny Mordaunt has insisted a Brexit vote would be good for security, insisting British sovereignty is crucial to maintaining freedom

Speaking to the BBC last week, Ms Mordaunt said: 'We risk nothing by taking back control of our borders and our laws that underpin this framework.

'It's not a gamble. Staying in is a gamble, because this is only going to get worse. We have to take back control. That is what is required to keep our nation safe.'

'Jeremy Corbyn is going to make a major speech on Europe this week, so you will see us now really taking the lead in this campaign because it is such a serious matter and it is about Labour voters, but it's also about large numbers of young people who want to look to the future.'

Farage snubbed as Vote Leave declared official Brexit campaign

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has been snubbed by the elections watchdog this afternoon after the rival Vote Leave group was appointed as the official Brexit campaign.

His Grassroots Out (GO) campaign lost out to Vote Leave, which is backed by the five pro-Brexit Cabinet ministers and the Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

It also has more cross-party support than GO, with support from Tories, Labour MPs and Ukip's Douglas Carswell, which helped it win the official campaign designation.

The decision is significant because it means the group will be allowed a higher spending limit than Mr Farage's group when the official referendum campaign begins on Friday.

But the Electoral Commission immediately faced the prospect of a legal challenge over the decision, which could force the June 23 referendum to be delayed.
Comedian Bill Cosby's legal team has asked a court to reseal a deposition made by the 78-year-old star where he admits to extra-marital affairs, using a powerful sedative to seduce women he later paid off to avoid being sued.

The embattled star is facing a number of legal cases, both criminal and civil, relating to his sexual conduct.

His legal team has petitioned a judge in Philadelphia to reseal the actor's deposition.

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Lawyers for Bill Cosby, pictured here appearing in court in Norristown, Pennsylvania, want a judge to seal earlier depositions made by the star where he admits to having affairs and using sedatives to seduce women

Cosby does not want the women to be able to use his previous admissions in their cases for sexual assault and defamation.

A federal appeals court is expected to hear the case late today.

The 78-year-old Cosby hopes to overturn a ruling that made the documents public last year at the request of The Associated Press.

The AP argues that the issue is now moot given the widespread news coverage that ensued.

Cosby admits to several affairs in the deposition and says he obtained prescription sedatives to give to women he hoped to seduce.

The deposition stems from a lawsuit filed by the accuser at the center of his pending criminal case.

He is also facing a defamation case in Massachusetts where his lawyers have been able to delay an order for discovery, because this evidence could have been used against him in the Pennsylvania criminal case.

Legislators in California are planning a new law to eliminate the statute of limitations in sex abuse cases following the Cosby revelations a press conference in Sacramento, California has revealed

Among those at the press conference was one of Cosby's accusers 'Kacey', left, Senator Connie Leyva, right, who is sponsoring the bill, and lawyer Gloria Allred, center, who is representing 30 women against the star

Both cases involve women who've accused Cosby of sexual misconduct. Cosby denies their allegations.

Dozens of women have accused Cosby of sexual abuse over the past several years.

As a result, at least 26 colleges and universities have revoked honorary degrees awarded to Cosby.

Meanwhile, legislators in California are in the process of changing the law after they found it difficult to prosecute Cosby due to the length of time since the alleged offences occurred.

A new bill, if passed, will eliminate the state's 10-year statute of limitations on rape and child molestation charges.

Previous versions failed years ago in the Senate Public Safety Committee. But the new bill by Senator Connie Leyva passed the committee on a 4-0 vote after testimony by witnesses including Los Angeles lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents 30 accusers of Cosby.

Several accusers told senators they are unable to bring charges against Cosby because they didn't come forward years ago, and California law generally requires filing charges within 10 years of the offense.

Among them was actress Lili Bernard, who last year went to Atlantic City, New Jersey, police alleging the comedian sexually assaulted her there decades ago. New Jersey prosecutors could not consider charges because of that state's statute of limitations on sexual assaults.

'I had no recourse,' said Bernard, who told how she still suffers emotional and physical distress.

Several women said they did not come forward sooner because they were traumatized and feared they would not be believed.

Allred said: 'For most of them, it is too late to have their day in court against Mr. Cosby because of the statute of limitations. The door to the courthouse is slammed in her face.'

Cosby has consistently denied sexual abuse allegations made by dozens of women around the country, some from the 1960s. An attorney and spokeswoman for Cosby, Monique Pressley, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Eliminating the limit would lead to more wrongful convictions by allowing charges to be brought decades after witnesses' memories have clouded and evidence faded, making it difficult for suspects to defend themselves, objected Natasha Minsker of the American Civil Liberties Union.

It could be counterproductive because the current 10-year limit encourages victims to come forward and investigators to move swiftly, said Carolyn George, representing the California Public Defenders Association.

State Senate committee members said they were stirred by the testimony and concerned that, in Leyva's words, there is 'an expiration date for rape victims in California'.

Nevada extended its statute from four to 20 years last year after testimony by a woman who accused Cosby of sexually assaulting her decades ago. Bills this year in Colorado and Oregon would extend the statute to 20 years.

California's bill would go farther by ending the limit entirely for rapes and molestations committed starting next year, or if the statute of limitations has not expired on the same crimes previously committed.

Allred is suing Cosby on behalf of a woman who says the comedian assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion when she was 15, but a judge put Cosby's testimony on hold last month while he faces sexual assault charges in Pennsylvania.
The Australian mother and 60 Minutes television crew embroiled in a child kidnapping scandal have 'no chance' of avoiding charges as a judge says the operation was a clear 'violation of Lebanese law'.

Sally Faulkner and a four-member 60 Minutes television crew, including reporter Tara Brown, have been remanded in custody after they were individually questioned by a judge on Wednesday over their involvement in the alleged kidnapping of the Brisbane mother's two children Noah, four, and Lahela, six, from a Beirut bus stop last week.

Ms Faulkner was led into the Baabda Palace of Justice handcuffed to Ms Brown for a second day of hearings before Judge Rami Abdullah shortly before 60 Minutes crew Benjamin Williamson, David Ballment and Stephen Rice were taken in for questioning.

Judge Abdullah told Ms Faulkner that she needed to 'reach an agreement' with her estranged husband Ali Elamine over the custody of their young children, but said there was 'no chance' the group of Australians would avoid charges, according to Channel Nine correspondent Tom Steinfort.

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Australian mother Sally Faulkner has been ordered to come to an agreement with her estranged husband over the custody of her two children after she allegedly organised a group to kidnap them

Judge Abdullah has reportedly told Ms Faulkner that she needs to 'reach an agreement' with her estranged husband Ali Elamine over the custody of their young children Noah and Lahela, who she claims were kept in Lebanon without her permission

'There is no chance the charges will be dropped. It is a violation of the Lebanese law by all of these people,' Judge Abdullah said on Wednesday.

Ms Faulkner's lawyer Ghassan Moghabghab said the Brisbane mother, who claims her estranged partner kept her kids in Beirut without her permission, has a right to custody but that it had been overruled by the religious court of Lebanon who deemed Mr Elamine their primary carer, News Corp reported.

Mr Moghabghab reportedly said if a deal could be brokered his client may be released, however she would likely have to give up her claim to custody and instead settle with 'full rights of access'.

He said the deal could also have a 'positive flow-on affect' for the 60 Minutes crew detained, ABC News 24 reported.

The group is expected to face charges for kidnapping, physical assault, hiding information and criminal conspiracy, which if convicted could see them jailed for up to 20 years.

Ms Faulkner and Ms Brown have been taken to Baada women's prison, where they will remain until their case is heard again on Monday.

Ms Brown told the Daily Telegraph she had been kept in a barred, heavily meshed holding cell and was required to wear handcuffs each time she went outside.

The 60 Minutes crew, including reporter Tara Brown, could be facing 20 years in jail and hard labour after being charged by Lebanese officials over their involvement in a botched 'child recovery operation' in Beirut

Ali Elamine was pictured leaving Baabda Court House after his wife Sally Faulkner appeared alongside a four-member 60 Minutes television crew, including reporter Tara Brown

Ms Faulkner and Ms Brown have been taken to Baada women's prison, where they will remain until their case is heard again on Monday

Despite the daunting conditions, Ms Brown - whose partner John McAvoy has been recommended to stay in Australia - said she has had visitors and been treated well.

WHO ARE THE AUSTRALIANS CHARGED IN LEBANON? Sally Faulkner: The mother of two children, Noah and Lahela, who were kidnapped from a bus stop in Beirut last week. Tara Brown: 60 Minutes reporter covering the story of the 'child rescue mission' Stephen Rice: 60 Minutes producer Ben Williamson: 60 Minutes cameraman David Ballment: 60 Minutes sound man The Australians have been charged with hiding information, forming an association with two of more people to commit a crime against a person, kidnapping or holding a minor even with their approval and physical assault. Advertisement

'We are being treated well by the standards here - it's fine, it's not crowded,' she told the Daily Telegraph from her cell.

This comes as Lebanese authorities allege they have proof a child recovery agency was hired by Channel Nine to snatch Ms Faulkner's two children from her estranged husband.

International legal experts have urging Channel Nine to make a formal apology to Lebanese authorities over a botched 'child recovery operation' involving an Australian television crew, as Judge Abdullah said he will investigate who from the station signed off and paid for the scheme.

Channel Seven correspondent Hugh Whitfeld, reporting from Beirut, said the judge is confident that Channel Nine funded the child recovery operation and claimed he would be trying to ascertain who from the television station paid for and approved the segment.

'He wants to find out who signed off on it all and who was the main person in charge of paying for it because he says he understands the TV crew are just employees,' Mr Whitfeld said on Wednesday.

Judge Abdullah told Ms Faulkner during an appearance at Baabda Court House that she needs to 'reach an agreement' with her estranged husband Ali Elamine over the custody of their young children

Reporter Tara Brown and Ms Faulkner were led into the Baabda Palace of Justice handcuffed together for a second day of hearings before Judge Rami Abdullah on Wednesday night

The 60 Minutes crew had followed Ms Faulkner to the Middle East to film the recovery of her children from her estranged husband, who she claims kept her children in Lebanon without her permission

Channel Nine have made very few comments on whether an internal investigation is taking place, while 60 Minutes has refused to comment on whether they paid $115,000 to the Child Abduction Recovery International for the sting.

Former Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh said Channel Nine should be making efforts to apologise to the Lebanese government for their involvement in the scheme to give its team the best chance of leniency.

He told Seven News the station urgently needs to 'eat humble pie' and 'say they've made an error of judgement which they deeply regret.

A spokesperson for Channel Nine told Daily Mail Australia that they would not comment on speculation around the matter but said they were in close contact with the lawyers in Beirut.

'We are working closely with the legal team we have on the ground and with the support of our consular staff in Lebanon to get our team as soon as we can,' they said on Wednesday night.

Police drive a truck used for transporting prisoners outside the Lebanese courthouse where Sally Faulkner and the 60 Minutes crew are being held

David 'Tangles' Ballment (left) and Stephen Rice are part of the 60 Minutes crew currently detained

Channel Nine correspondent Tom Steinfort (pictured leaving the Beirut court) said Judge Abdullah told Ms Faulkner that she needs to 'reach an agreement' with her estranged husband Ali Elamine over their children

On Wednesday, Ms Brown walked in silence past a small throng of media gathered in the hallway of the court complex.

It is understood formal charges have yet to be laid and no application for bail has been made.

Judge Abdullah is expected to make a decision on the charges and the possibility of bail following Wednesday's hearing.

Seven people in total are now before the courts. The two non-Australians are believed to be members of the child recovery agency that were hired for the kidnapping.

They have been named by Lebanese media as Britons Craig Michael and Adam Whittington.

Mr Elamine is also expected to appear in court.

The 32-year-old Lebanese-American spoke to AAP outside the court, saying the children were fine and were being 'sheltered from it all'.

He was unable to comment any further on the case.

60 Minutes had followed Ms Faulkner to film the recovery of her children, Noah and Lahela, from her estranged husband Ali Elamine, who she claims kept her children in Lebanon without her permission

Ms Faulkner claims her two children Noah and Lahela were being kept in Lebanon without her permission

Nine's network director of current affairs Darren Wick was at the court for his team's appearance but said he was unable to comment on the proceedings.

In Perth, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said earlier on Wednesday that no formal charges had yet been laid and she was in 'constant communication' with her Lebanese counterpart, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil.

'I understand that the Lebanese authorities are treating this matter very seriously, hence the recommendation that charges be laid, but I stress that no formal charges have been laid and that a judge has been appointed to investigate the matter,' the ABC quoted Ms Bishop as saying.

'We are providing consular support and undertaking consular visits to all Australians detained as a result of this incident.'

The 60 Minutes crew had followed Ms Faulkner to the Middle East to film the recovery but they were arrested alongside Ms Faulkner shortly after the children were snatched from their paternal grandmother by a group of masked men and bundled into a car.

The kidnapping plan appeared to be doomed from the beginning with the children's father having access to emails that showed the sting being organised.

Mr Elamine revealed this week he was aware of the kidnapping plan and had already alerted Lebanese authorities.

Mr Elamine revealed this week he was aware of the kidnapping plan and had already alerted Lebanese authorities

He said he had access to Ms Faulkner's emails until last December where he was able to screenshot conversations where the plan was outlined

'I had access to Sally's emails so I knew the plan, but I didn't think they would be that ballsy... It was insane,' he said.

Ms Faulkner denied that any force was used against her children's paternal grandmother (pictured), who claims she was pistol whipped and threatened with a gun during the abduction from a busy Beirut bus stop

Ms Faulkner's children were handed back to their father following the botched scheme

He told the Guardian he had access to Ms Faulkner's emails until last December where he was able to screenshot conversations where the plan was outlined. The details helped local police identify those involved.

'I had access to Sally's emails so I knew the plan, but I didn't think they would be that ballsy... It was insane,' he said.

Nine reporter Tom Steinfort said each of the TV crew faced brief, five-minute questioning from the judge on Tuesday with reports from media on the ground that they were composed and well.

Ms Brown emerged smiling despite being cuffed to another defendant and reportedly stumbling when led away by a guard.

Ms Faulkner was reportedly less composed and in tears following her appearance.

Mr Elamine, was brought into the judge's office and stayed there during a 20 minute questioning.

The Daily Star, a Lebanese newspaper, has reportedly quoted a judicial source who claims that Ms Faulkner's legal right to custody of the two children could be a mitigating factor in her sentencing.

The children have both since been reunited with their father, who says he is 'disappointed' by the botched recovery attempt

Once Lahela and Noah went to Beirut, Mr el-Amien told allegedly Ms Faulkner she would never see her children again
An Italian social worker accused of strangling and chopping up a gay Met policeman met him on dating app Grindr, a court heard today.

Stefano Brizzi, 49, is accused of murdering 59-year-old PC Gordon Semple before dismembering his body and dumping the pieces in the communal bins of his block of flats in south London.

Police were alerted after neighbours complained of a 'smell of death' a week after the officer disappeared.

Balding Brizzi, sporting a neatly trimmed beard, appeared in the dock at the Old Bailey today wearing aviator Ray Ban sunglasses and a grey prison-issue tracksuit. He was ordered to stand trial in October.

In the dock: Stefano Brizzi, left at the Old Bailey, wore sunglasses as he appeared in court charged with the murder of PC Gordon Semple, pictured

Pc Semple, from Greenhithe, Dartford, was reported missing by his partner Gary Meeks on Friday April 1 after he failed to come home from work.

He was last seen in the luxury Shangri La hotel at The Shard and police released CCTV of his last known movements before he was found dead a week later.

Brizzi is charged with murdering him at his flat between April 1 and April 7.

'The defendant is charged with the murder of a police officer who he met, it would seem, through Grindr,' prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC told the Old Bailey today.

'The Crown allege the defendant strangled the victim then dismembered his body and disposed of some of the remains in the communal waste bins and in other ways.'

The officer, originally from Inverness, Scotland, had worked in banking before joining the Metropolitan Police.

He was attached to a Westminster Council anti-social behaviour unit.

After the family announced his death on Facebook, his brother, Ronnie Semple, said: 'I would like to thank everyone for their kind thoughts during the past dreadful week.

'It has been a terrible time for us all, especially Gary.

'Gordon will be sadly missed by all of his immediate family, his colleagues in the Met Police, former Bank of Scotland colleagues in Inverness and London, friends from his Tartan Army Days, but most of all the hardest loss is for Gary at this time.'

Forensic: Officers at the flat after the gruesome discovery. PC Semple left a business meeting at the five-star Shangri-La hotel in The Shard on April 1 and was last seen on CCTV walking in the London Bridge area

Masked ball: PC Semple, right, with his partner Gary Meeks. Italian Stefano Brizzi (not pictured) has been charged with his murder

Police at the estate in south London where PC Semple's body was found a week ago

Brizzi, of the Peabody Estate, in Southwark Street, Bermondsey, south London, is yet to enter a plea to a single charge of murder.

The Recorder of London, Judge Nicholas Hilliard, QC, set a provisional trial date of October 18 and said Brizzi would enter a plea at a hearing on June 29.
Self-styled celebrity Botox specialist John Parker (pictured) offered a disgruntled facelift patient a 2,000 refund if she dropped a complaint against him

A self-styled celebrity Botox specialist offered a disgruntled facelift patient a 2,000 refund if she dropped her complaint against him, a tribunal has heard.

John Parker, who describes himself on Twitter as a 'celebrity non-surgical aesthetician', had given the woman a Polydioxanone non-surgical facelift, but she was not happy with the results.

She complained to Trading Standards, and was referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), who began an investigation into Parker.

However, the woman withdrew her complaint when Parker offered to give her back her money in exchange for her dropping the case.

He has now been cautioned by the NMC, after a panel found he had deliberately attempted to frustrate the investigation into his fitness to practice by refunding the money.

The caution order will last three years, but Parker, who owns John Parker Aesthetics Limited in Woolton, Liverpool, is allowed to continue working and performing treatments.

Parker has also previously admitted to lying about having a celebrity client to gain business, and in June 2014 was handed a two year caution order by the NMC for giving botox without a prescription and using an unlicensed treatment to remove a vein.

The registered nurse, claims to have experience working in Harley Street, Paris and the USA, and on Twitter describes himself as 'one of the UK's leading practitioners.'

Polydioxanone (PDO) is a popular and supposedly painless procedure where dissolvable thread is injected into the skin using needles to tighten sagging skin, and Parker gave the woman the treatment to her face, forehead and neck at the cost of 2,000 in September 2014.

But she was unhappy with the facelift and on the same day requested her money back, although Parker refused.

She had been getting treatment from Parker for two years previously, the hearing was told.

The woman contacted Trading Standards and made a formal complaint, which was then passed to the NMC.

After an exchange of text messages Parker offered to refund the woman if she withdrew the referral to the NMC. Following the offer the woman withdrew her complaint.

Parker admitted to offering the woman her money back if she dropped to case and said he regretted not being open and honest with the NMC investigation.

Handing Parker the caution order, panel chair Christine Castledine said: 'The panel accepts that the patient first mentioned the NMC and offered to withdraw her complaint if she received a refund.

John Parker, who describes himself on Twitter as a 'celebrity non-surgical aesthetician', and owns John Parker Aesthetics Limited, which was based in this building in Woolton, Liverpool

WHAT IS A POLYDIOXANONE NON-SURGICAL FACELIFT? Polydioxanone (PDO) is a popular and supposedly painless procedure where a soluble thread is injected into the skin using needles to tighten sagging skin. Thread lifts are a relatively new non-surgical facelift technique, during which a practitioner uses a fine needle to inject the special thread weaves, which are made from the substance PDO, into the skin to tighten it. The injections give an immediate lifting effect, as well as stimulate the body to produce more of its own natural collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid leading to improved results in the following weeks. The effects are said to mimic those of a facelift, but without the need for surgery and the procedure takes around half an hour, depending on the areas being targeted. Injections are usually placed above the eyebrow to lift the brow, under the eyes to diminish sagging, and around the mouth. The procedure can also be carried out on other areas of the body to tighten the skin. There are no incisions made, so patients are unlikely to suffer any scarring, and although patients might feel discomfort it is said to not be particularly painful. However, some people may experience swelling a bruising from the injections. Effects can last up to two years, with the thread dissolving into the body over the course of three to six months. Advertisement

'Following that text message, by way of two telephone calls and a letter, you attempted to persuade her to withdraw all allegations against you and for the NMC investigation to be stopped.

'Offering a refund to a patient as an incentive for a referral made against you to your regulator, who was investigating serious allegations made against you, to be withdrawn, undermines public confidence in the profession.

'It also calls into question your honesty and integrity.

'The panel was concerned that despite being subject to a two-year caution order, you sought to exclude the NMC from this investigation.

'Your actions deliberately frustrated an investigation by the NMC into your fitness to practice and demonstrated a blatant disregard for your regulator.
The revamped Top Gear is set to go head-to-head with Jeremy Clarkson's new motoring programme after it emerged that the show will be streamed on Netflix.

Previous episodes of Top Gear have long been available on the online video service, and Netflix bosses have confirmed that they will continue to broadcast the new series presented by Chris Evans.

The news means that the new-look Top Gear will compete online with Clarkson's show, which was snapped up by Amazon's online video site in a nine-figure deal.

Coming to a computer near you: Top Gear hosted by Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc will be streamed online by Netflix, it has been confirmed

Both programmes are set to make their debuts later this year, and will be streamed online by their respective video websites and apps.

Netflix bosses said yesterday that they would show the new series of Top Gear, which has been hit by controversy amidst reports of rows between Evans and his co-star Matt LeBlanc.

Chief content officer Ted Sarandos revealed that negotiations with BBC Worldwide, which handles the rights to the show, are still ongoing but said that Top Gear would definitely return to Netflix.

'Theoretically it should follow the deal of the old format where Top Gear is still under the terms of the old deal,' he told RadioTimes.com. 'So in many parts of the world we already have it picked up and we'll continue to talk to them about doing it as well.

'The show is very popular on Netflix as you can imagine.'

Rivals: The show will go head-to-head with the new Amazon programme from Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond

Mr Sarandos told BuzzFeed that the new Top Gear would be broadcast 'multi-territory', although he could not confirm exactly which countries would be able to watch the show.

CEO Reed Hastings also hinted that Netflix had bid unsuccessfully for Clarkson's rival show, which will feature his former Top Gear co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond.

'They bid themselves out to many people and to the highest price, like most creators do,' he said. 'It's a natural process and Amazon paid the highest price.'

The trio left Top Gear last year after Clarkson was sacked by the BBC for punching a producer at a Yorkshire hotel in a row over a steak.

Their new show, whose title has not yet been announced, was snapped up by Amazon for a reported 160million, and will be available on the web giant's video service in the autumn.

Controversy: The new Top Gear sparked a row over a stunt filmed at the Cenotaph in Central London

Netflix bosses have previously suggested that Amazon overpaid for the programme, saying that the stars 'sold themselves for way more money' than they were worth.

An official said that the company had used internal data to track how much money the Top Gear hosts could make for Netflix, adding: 'Clearly it wasn't worth the money to make the deal.'

Top Gear will stay on the BBC with its new presenters, car fanatic DJ Evans and former Friends actor LeBlanc, but its format is set to change due to the switch in personnel.

The programme, which is also due to start this autumn, recently ran into trouble when it filmed a car doing doughnuts just yards away from the Cenotaph war memorial in Central London.
This stunning moggy has become an internet sensation after people were mesmerised by his hypnotic different coloured eyes.

The adorable snowy-white cat, called Alos, turns heads with his beautiful fluffy coat and striking blue and green eyes.

The charming cat has racked up an impressive 9,500 followers on the social network Instagram, leaving people hypnotised by his distinctive eyes.

This stunning moggy, called Alos, (above) has become an internet sensation after people were mesmerised by his hypnotic different coloured eyes

The adorable snowy-white cat turns heads with his beautiful fluffy coat and striking blue and green eyes

The cat's different coloured eyes have drawn comparisons to Kaa from Jungle Book (shown)

The pretty kitty lives in Turkey with his owner, Burcu Kaynak, who has had him since he was a kitten.

Burcu said: 'I think my cat is the most beautiful cat in the world - I love him so much.

'I've only seen one cat before with different coloured eyes, so he's pretty special.

'People are constantly commenting on him - they say he's very nice, everyone falls in love with him.

The charming cat has racked up an impressive 9,500 followers on the social network Instagram, leaving people hypnotised by his distinctive eyes

The pretty kitty lives in Turkey with his owner, Burcu Kaynak, who has had him since he was a kitten

'There's nothing wrong with him - he's not blind or deaf. Just beautiful.'

His adoring fans took to social media to express their love for the feline.

Nicole Jade wrote: 'I love him so much! He is the epitome of cuteness.'

Another fan wrote: 'Probably the prettiest cat eyes I've ever seen.'

The account was set up last year and features 60 posts.

The beautiful moggy is a van cat, a type of cat found in the Lake Van region of eastern Turkey.

It is sometimes called the 'swimming cat', because it has been known to swim in Lake Van.

Having two eyes of different colours is known as heterochromia iridis.

Burcu said: 'I think my cat is the most beautiful cat in the world - I love him so much'

The beautiful moggy is a van cat, a type of cat found in the Lake Van region of eastern Turkey
This means allies such as Kenya refuse to acknowledge its independence

China views Taiwan as a wayward province which is part of its country

It has sparked a diplomatic row over the sovereignty of the small island

Despite being from Taiwan, the group were sent to Beijing, China

Kenyan officials are accused of using tear gas to force dozens of Taiwanese nationals onto a plane to China after they were implicated in wire scams in the African country.

The group were sent back to China, where victims of the purported scams were targeted, after Beijing claimed it had legal jurisdiction over their case.

However, Taiwan says the 'extra-judicial abduction' of 45 of its citizens to China, rather than their home of Taiwan, is akin to kidnap.

It has sparked a diplomatic row, as Kenya does not have official relations with democratic Taiwan and considers the island part of 'one China', in line with the Beijing communist government's stance.

A group of suspects involved in wire fraud in Kenya are escorted off a plane having been sent back to Beijing

Handcuffed and hooded, Taiwan claims 45 of its citizens were 'abducted' back to Beijing when they should have been returned to Hong Kong

It says its nationals - who were implicated in phone scams in Kenya - have been 'abducted' by China

Kenya was also forced to deny reports the group were tear gassed in a bid to force them onto the plane destined for Beijing

Photographs of the accused showed them touching down in Beijing chained and wearing hoods.

The Kenyan government said the people were in Kenya illegally and were being sent back to where they had come from.

China's Ministry of Public Security, in a statement released via the official Xinhua news agency, said Kenya had decided to deport 32 Chinese and 45 Taiwanese to China, of whom 10 had already arrived and another 67 would leave today.

The Taiwanese had been heavily involved in telecoms fraud in China and had caused huge losses, with some victims killing themselves, the ministry said.

Taiwanese criminals 'have been falsely presenting themselves as law enforcement officers to extort money from people on the Chinese mainland through telephone calls', the ministry added.

The group detained in Kenya had operated out of Nairobi and were suspected of cheating people out of millions of yuan across nine provinces and cities in China, and as most the victims were in China, they would be prosecuted there, it said.

China had informed Taiwan of the situation and would invite Taiwan law enforcement officials to visit to discuss how best to tackle such fraud, the ministry said.

Some of the suspects removed from Nairobi arrive handcuffed and hooded in Beijing today

An Fengshan, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan needed to view the case rationally.

'The victims abhor this kind of fraud. I hope the Taiwan side can give more thought to the victims when it looks at this issue,' he told a news conference carried live on Chinese television.

China views Taiwan as a wayward province and has not ruled out the use of force to ensure unification. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island in 1949 after the civil war with the Communists who have remained in control in Beijing since then.

Only 22 countries recognise Taiwan as the Republic of China, with most, including Kenya, having diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, with its leaders in Beijing.

Taiwanese lawmakers grilled government officials during parliamentary committee sessions about the case.

'The Chinese judicial system is in question for many people in Taiwan,' said Lo Chih-cheng, a lawmaker for the ruling pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party. 'They are wondering if those people can get a fair trial in China.'

Chang Shiu-shiang, the mother of 28-year-old Liu Tai-ting, who was deported to China on Tuesday even though a Kenyan court had acquitted him last week, also said she did not know about China's judicial system.

'We hope any trial can be conducted in our own country no matter if guilty or not guilty,' she told Reuters.

Some comments on Taiwan social media questioned whether a precedent was being set of Taiwanese abroad being 'taken away' by China, drawing a parallel with the case of five booksellers in Chinese-controlled Hong Kong who temporarily went missing in mysterious circumstances.

Hong Kong authorities are still waiting for detailed explanations from China regarding the booksellers, who produced and sold gossipy books critical of Chinese leaders, amid suspicion among some that they were abducted by Chinese agents. China has denied any wrongdoing.
Despite the large flames and explosions it takes the dog a minute to die

These are the disturbing scenes as a group of yobs who set alight a dog in Mexico laughed and joked as the terrified animal died in agony.

The youths strapped several fireworks to the dog before setting it alight using a highly flammable liquid.

The incident took place in San Luis Potosi in north-central Mexico.

This is the moment a group of thugs set fire to a dog, left, which is engulfed in flames, right

The terrified animal tries to run away from the inferno after it was engulfed in flames in Mexico

The shocking incident happened in San Luis Potosi which is about 220 miles north west of capital Mexico City

The footage, which has been edited by MailOnline to remove the most disturbing scenes, has been viewed more than 130,000 times online and prompted several petitions calling on the culprits to face harsher penalties.

Many of the witnesses laughed as the dog howled while ranchera music continued to play as the animal died in agony.

Last night local prosecutors said they were investigating what they described as 'a terrible case of animal mistreatment'.

The move came after disgusted animal lovers launched a change.org petition to demand punishment for those responsible.

Locals identified the spot where the killing took place as Santa Matilde in the municipality of Santo Domingo.

One enraged Facebook user said: 'They should burn the morons that did this alive. These people have got no souls.'

Another added: 'Where is ebola when you need it?'

Hundreds of people had already signed a petition last night calling for an 'exemplary punishment' for those responsible and demanding state governor Juan Manuel Carreras take action.

Seconds after the unfortunate animal is set alight, two of the fireworks strapped to its body explode

After being set alight the dog runs towards the group of men at the edge of the wasteland area

Last January a shocking video went viral showing a gang of laughing young men in Honduras strapping two large fireworks to a dogs body and lighting the fuse before running away.

Moments later the screen filled with an explosion - and the dog was nowhere to be seen.

The incident happened in the town of El Negrito in the countrys Yoro province.

The men responsible were tracked down by local police after the footage was uploaded to social media.

Local media reports at the time said the culprits were fined just 60 despite the six-year-old dog dying a horrible death.
Patients may have come in contact with the worker over a three years

The doctor's name or the health facility have not been revealed

The department of Health says patients are at a very low risk

Infected health worker is believed to have been in contact with the patients

There are concerns hundreds of patients may have contracted Hepatitis B by an infected healthcare worker at a medical facility in Melbourne.

Victoria's Department of Health and Human Services is contacting 654 patients who might have been exposed to the deadly virus after a healthcare worker was recently diagnosed.

The patients may have come into contact with the worker over a three year period, reported the Herald Sun.

Over 600 Melbourne patients may have contracted Hepatitis B from an infected health care worker (stock photo)

Acting Chief Health Officer Dr Roscoe Taylor said the patients being contacted are at a very low risk of being infected but precautionary measures are being taken.

'We have carefully worked through and now know the people who have potentially been exposed to a particular health worker who had hepatitis B over a period of three years, and we are contacting those patients we know have undergone a procedure,' Dr Taylor said.

'The heartening thing is that none of those patients have appeared on our notifiable database as having already had a hepatitis B infection in that time'.

The Department of health have not revealed the name of the infected worker, the health facility or how the exposure to patients occurred due to legal reasons.

Patients being contacted are at a very low risk of being infected but precautionary measures are being taken (stock photo)

Hepatitis B is a blood-borne disease that is spread through sharing unsterile injecting or piercing equipment, unsafe sex or through the engagement of activities where blood or bodily fluids are swapped.

People infected with the virus may have mild-flu like symptoms or in a more severe cases experience loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, pain in the liver, fever, pain in the joints and yellowing of your skin and the whites of the eyes (jaundice).

If left untreated cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver failure, may develop.

Dr Taylor also noted that only people who have been contacted directly need to take action.,

'We have carefully excluded all the other potentially people who would need to know, and it is a quite localised situation,' Dr Taylor said.




Investment in Tongas vanilla reaps benefit from Madagascan vanilla disaster

The Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific Polynesian islands may benefit hugely from an increased demand for vanilla beans.

Food manufacturers have been paying increasing amounts for vanilla over the past 12 months with costs particularly spiking in the last 12 weeks due to poor crop performance in Madagascar. Madagascar is the worlds largest producer of vanilla beans.

The recent Madagascan vanilla bean farming problems have seen global food manufacturers paying nearly 150 per cent more for vanilla than they did 12 months prior.

Madagascars loss could however be Tongas win with Polynesian plantations performing well.

The majority of employment in Tonga is reliant on agriculture and forestry with vanilla beans as one of its major crops. In 2013 it was listed as the 7th largest producer of vanilla in the world by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. In 2013, Tonga produced 198 tonnes of vanilla bean.

Many countries already source vanilla from Tonga. One of Australias leading manufacturers of food essences, Queen, made a significant investment in the Tongan vanilla industry in 2013, and is now reaping the benefits.

New Zealands Heilala Vanilla is also sourced from Tonga.
Senior MPs today demanded a statement from Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond about plans to send UK troops to Libya after accusing him of being 'deliberately misleading'.

Italy has been drawing up plans to send a 6,000-strong force into the north African failed state with Britain said to be offering 1,000 troops.

The proposals were said to be in chaos today after the fragile government in Tripoli refused assistance despite fears the Libyan civil war could allow ISIS to create a foothold on Europe's doorstep.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, left in Vietnam yesterday, said Crispin Blunt, right, had been 'wrong' to say British troops would be deployed but the letter provoked an angry response from the foreign affairs committee chairman

The Government has refused to confirm the details of any plans and Prime Minister David Cameron has promised MPs a debate were a training deployment to go ahead.

Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Crispin Blunt said he understood the deployment of 1,000 troops was going ahead after visiting Egypt and Tunisia on a fact finding mission.

But in an extraordinary exchange of letters, Mr Hammond blasted the Tory MP for making 'wrong' and 'incorrect' claims about British plans.

In his own letter, Mr Blunt replied with a demand Mr Hammond make a statement explaining the Government's intentions and warned him against not 'dealing straightforwardly' with Parliament.

The Foreign Secretary confirmed British 'military advisers' had been offered to the Libyan government.

But he insisted no decisions had been made and all planning related directly to training - not for joining Libyan forces in battle.

Mr Hammond said he had taken the 'precaution' of checking with diplomats in Cairo and Tunis who met with the committee after Mr Blunt claimed Britain was preparing to deploy troops in the wake of a visit.

He said: 'They have confirmed that at no point did British diplomats brief you to this effect.'

Mr Blunt accused the Foreign Secretary of drafting a letter on an 'immensely narrow point' that was 'wholly and deliberately misleading to the uninformed reader'.

He said he was 'deeply concerned' about potential British involvement in Libya.

In his letter, pictured, Mr Hammond accused Mr Blunt of being 'wrong on a number of counts' after making calls to British diplomats to check what had been discussed on a foreign affairs committee visit

In response, pictured, Mr Blunt accused Mr Hammond of making 'narrow' claims which are 'wholly and deliberately misleading to an uninformed reader

Mr Blunt said: 'Libya is a failed state experiencing a multi-fronted civil war so any deployment of British troops would, by definition, be a ''conflict deployment''.'

The senior Conservative MP said the Government had to make clear which political and military organisations were working with British personnel and how many 'advisers' were committed to the task.

Mr Blunt warned: 'The international community undoubtedly faces a tough challenge in supporting those diplomatic efforts in the complex environment of Libya.

'However, that challenge can only be made more difficult by not dealing straightforwardly with Parliament.'

Libyan sources today told The Times the new government of national accord did not want assistance from foreign forces.

He said: 'Even though there are Isis fighters all along the coast they seem more worried about the impact that foreign fighters would have on trying to deal with the situation with the east of the country.'

Speaking in the Commons last month, Mr Cameron told MPs: 'If we had any plans to send conventional forces for training in Libya we would of course come to this House and discuss them.

'What we want to see in Libya is the formation of a unity Government.'

The Prime Minister said the Government was eager to support a stable new administration in Tripoli.

Mr Cameron's role in the Libya campaign came under scrutiny last month after US President Barack Obama accused Europe of leaving the country a 's*** show'.
A Pakistani tribal leader has flown to Britain to plead for his name to be taken off a so-called US drone 'kill list' - and accused the West of being 'naive' for not negotiating with terrorists.

Malik Jalal has arrived in the country from Waziristan, on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and appeared on national radio asking the US and UK governments not to kill him.

He claims to have been targeted in at least four drone strikes, narrowly missing him each time, and says he's decided to take action because his children are 'terrified' of dying in a missile attack.

But despite suggesting he's a wanted man, Mr Jalal has been able to fly to Britain, carry out an interview with the BBC and meet with MPs to discuss his plight, all without being arrested.

He has been trying to prove he is not a terrorist, according to the human rights charity Reprieve, but British intelligence chiefs are refusing to comment on his claims of a so-called 'kill list'.

'On kill list': Malik Jalal (pictured right on Radio 4) has flown to Britain from Waziristan, on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and appeared on national radio asking the US and UK governments not to kill him

A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We do not comment on intelligence matters'.

But Mr Jalal insists he has been warned by various security sources in Waziristan that he is on a 'kill list' and was interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme earlier this week.

He also cited the example of the IRA as a reason why the West should consider negotiating with terrorists.

Writing in The Independent, he said: 'The mantra that the West should not negotiate with terrorists is naive.

'There has hardly ever been a time when terrorists have been brought back into the fold of society without negotiation.

'Remember the IRA; once they tried to blow up your prime minister, and now they are in parliament. It is always better to talk than to kill.'

He said he had travelled to Britain to resolve the situation by 'using the law and the courts, not guns and explosives'.

The tribal elder, who is due to fly home from Britain tomorrow, says he's being targeted because of his work with the North Waziristan Peace committee (NWPC).

Targets: British law enforcement and intelligence services have helped draw up an extra-judicial kill list to assassinate the worlds most wanted terrorists and drug smugglers in foreign countries, it has been claimed

The aim of the group is said to be to attempt to bring peace between the Taliban and Government of Pakistan - but, according to the human rights charity Reprieve, Western intelligence agents believe the NWPC allows the Taliban a safe haven in Waziristan.

The NWPC has said they want peace for their community, their families and themselves.

Mr Jalal, whose role as an intermediary in settling disputes is recognised by the Pakistani government, told the BBC: 'I had a special role to improve security and we were making progress and thats why I think American targeted us. I came close to being bombed four times, so in the end I realised they were on to me.

They have tried to kill me four times, and my children are terrified. This kill list is just making things far worse in my homeland Malik Jalal

'I have had to leave Waziristan. In my own family there are six people who are mentally destabilised because of the strikes. In Waziristan there are more than 400,000 people who have mental problems because of the drones. My own son is too scared to go back to Waziristan.

'I have a peaceful role in Pakistan. I am not involved in terrorism. I came to Britain because I feel like Britain is like a younger brother to America.

'I am telling Britain that America doesnt listen to us, so you tell them not to kill Waziristanis.'

He added: 'All I want is for the West to stop trying to kill me, my family and my colleagues with the North Waziristan Peace Committee.

'They have tried to kill me four times, and my children are terrified. This kill list is just making things far worse in my homeland.'

FOUR ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS January 2010 Mr Jalals vehicle was hit by a drone after he lent it to his nephew, who was seriously injured in the attack. Four men in a second vehicle were also killed. 3 September 2010 Mr Jalal was driving a red Toyota Hilux Surf SUV to a community meeting of elders. A missile hit a similar red truck travelling 40 metres behind  killing all four civilians inside. 6 October 2010 He called his friend to tell him he had arrived for dinner. Just after, a missile struck, instantly killing three people, including his cousin and a mentally handicapped man. 27 March 2011 An American missile targeted a community meeting killing 40 civilians, including fellow members of Mr Jalals NWPC. Advertisement

Invited to the UK by Lord MacDonald, the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Jalal has also written a letter to Home Secretary Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

The US ambassador has also received a copy.

The letter details the prior attempts on his life, and the impact on him, his family and his colleagues in the NWPC. He asks for meetings to clear his name, and to get off the so-called 'kill list', Reprieve say.

Mr Jalal's visit comes a day after the charity released a report which claims British law enforcement and intelligence services have helped draw up an extra-judicial kill list to assassinate the worlds most wanted terrorists and drug smugglers in foreign countries.

The sensational claims were revealed in a 50-page report.

It states that the UK has been a key, long-standing partner in Americas shoot to kill policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, targeting not only alleged terrorists, but also supposed drug traffickers, and earmarking them for drone and missile strikes  often on the basis of unsubstantiated intelligence which has never been tested in court.

Although the top secret kill list has been in existence for years and is continually revised, Britains contribution has never been sanctioned by Parliament.

The startling evidence, drawn from leaked official documents, reveals the two agencies involved are the electronic eavesdropping organisation GCHQ, and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), now rebranded as the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The startling evidence, drawn from leaked official documents, reveals the two agencies involved are the electronic eavesdropping organisation GCHQ (pictured), and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency

A spokesman for the NCA said today the agency had no such list.

Shahzad Akbar, Mr Jalal's Pakistani lawyer, and director of the Islamabad Foundation for Fundamental Rights, said: 'Malik Jalal has come all the way to this country to try to speak with people about how he can get off their kill list and try to protect his family and friends.'

Clive Stafford Smith, director of Reprieve, said: 'It is horrifying that, in the 21st Century, we have drawn up a list of people we want to kill.
Macedonian police today fired stun grenades and tear gas at stranded migrants trying desperately to pull down a fence on the country's border with Greece.

Greek authorities say neighbouring police resorted to crowd control measures in an attempt to stop about 30 people from trying to get over the razor-wire fence using blankets.

No injuries were reported from the clashes, which occurred at the closed Idomeni border crossing in northern Greece.

A group of migrants attempt to remove barbed wire blocking access to the border fence in Macedonia today

A migrant throws a tear gas canister back at authorities after it was blasted at him through the fence

An officer on the Macedonian side of the border wearing riot control gear warns the group to move away

The scuffles erupted on the Greek-Macedonia border today after migrants attempted to pull down a fence

The migrants were using blankets to try and remove the barbed wire fences without shredding their hands

However, Macedonian police (pictured) responded by firing tear gas and stun grenades at the refugees

Stun grenades were also used by police in a bid to avoid the clashes seen in the area on Sunday which left scores injured

A man injured in the scuffles is carried from the scene while several others are seen wearing masks to help protect them from the gas

A migrant flees as police take aim with their tear gas guns during the dramatic confrontation on the border

It occurred just a few hundred metres away from Macedonia President Gjorge Ivanov, who is visiting the Gevgelija reception centre with his Croatian and Slovenian counterparts.

On Sunday, severe clashes between stone-throwing migrants and Macedonian police using tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and a water cannon left scores injured.

About 11,000 people have been living in an informal tent city on the Greek side of the border for weeks, hoping Macedonia will let them continue their trek towards Europe's prosperous heartland.

Meanwhile, Italys coastguard says it has rescued some 4,000 migrants in the past two days, adding to fears of a fresh push to reach Europe via that route as the number of migrants landing in Greece sharply recedes.

European Union President Donald Tusk warned of the impending explosion of the sea route, saying the number of would-be migrants in Libya is 'alarming', it was reported.

On Tuesday, 2,154 migrants were brought to safety in the Strait of Sicily between Italy and north Africa, on top of the 1,850 rescued in the area on Monday, the coastguard said.

A vessel from the EU border agency Frontex and a Greek cargo ship assisted the Italian navy in conducting a total of 25 rescue operations involving 16 dinghies and a rowing boat, officials said.

All the passengers survived.

War-torn Libya is the main jump-off point for migrants trying to reach Europe from north Africa.

A spokesman for the Libyan navy said that countrys coastguard intercepted a further six inflatable boats carrying 649 migrants off Sabratha, near Libyas border with Tunisia, on Tuesday.

Greek police takes position near the border after clashes occurred today and on Sunday in the area

Thousands of migrants remain camped in Idomeni on the Greek border hoping the border to Macedonia will eventually reopen

A police helicopter circles overhead as Macedonian authorities prepared for another confrontation

A man washes his face with water after he was struck by the tear gas on the border of Macedonia and Greece

Medical officers help a man left writing in agony following the confrontation today

On Monday, 115 migrants had been rescued by Libyan authorities after their boat got into trouble near the capital Tripoli.

The arrivals represent a sharp increase on the average daily numbers landing in Italy since the start of the year.

According to the United Nations, 19,900 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to Italy so far this year, compared with 153,000 landing in Greece.

Calmer seas at the onset of spring are encouraging greater numbers of migrants to attempt the perilous crossing to Italy after a winter lull.

There are also concerns that European efforts to shut down the migrant sea crossing from Turkey to Greece will encourage more people to attempt the more dangerous Mediterranean passage from Libya to Italy.
At the height of the Second World War, two US military planes went missing in the perilously rugged terrain of the Himalayas.

They were hardly unique - dozens of American servicemen lost their lives on supply runs from India to China amid treacherous weather conditions.

But now, 72 years later, historians believe they have found tiny bone fragments belonging to those two teams - and they are heading home to the United States.

On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Ash Carter greeted military officials in New Delhi at a ceremony to fly home the remains - which could fit in a sandwich bag - in two caskets adorned with Star Spangled Banners.

During the solemn ceremony, they paid their respects to the servicemen, whose wrecked planes were discovered near Arunachal Pradesh in 2006.

Finally home: U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter (second left) shakes hand with U.S. military members after they loaded the casket of remains of one to two crew members from a B-24 bomber that crashed in 1944

This is the B-24 crew, nicknamed 'Hot As Hell', who went missing in a crash in the Himalayas in January 1944

A file image of a B-24 Liberator bomber, which had a wing span over 100 feet and length more than 60 feet, and could carry more than four tons of bombs. They could fly at 300 miles per hour. Pictured: around 1941

Eight men were killed in a B-24 bomber in January 1944 as they flew to China.

The crew, dubbed Hot As Hell, was pilot Lt. William Swanson, co-pilot Officer Sheldon Chambers, navigator Lt. Irwin Zaetz, bombarbier Lt. Robert Oxford, engineer Staff Sgt. Charles Ginn, radio operator Staff Sgt. Harry Queen, and gunners Sgt. James Hinson and Sgt. Alfred Gerrans Jr.

A year later, a four-man Army Air Force crew was killed in a C-109 crash nearby.

The crew was identified as pilot Lt. Allen Turner, co-pilot Lt. Frederick Langhorst, radio operator Cpl. Robert McAdoo, and flight engineer Pvt. Joseph Natvik.

WHO WERE THE MISSING FIGHTERS? Eight men were killed in a B-24 bomber in January 1944 as they flew to China. The crew, nicknamed 'Hot As Hell', comprised: Pilot Lt. William Swanson

Co-pilot Officer Sheldon Chambers

Navigator Lt. Irwin Zaetz

Bombarbier Lt. Robert Oxford

Engineer Staff Sgt. Charles Ginn

Radio operator Staff Sgt. Harry B. Queen

Gunner Sgt. James E. Hinson

Gunner Sgt. Alfred H. Gerrans Jr A year later, a four-man Army Air Force crew was killed in a C-109 crash nearby. The crew was identified as: Pilot Lt. Allen Turner

Co-pilot Lt. Frederick Langhorst

Radio operator Cpl. Robert McAdoo

Flight engineer Pvt. Joseph I Natvik Advertisement

Their repatriation marks the first time the Defense Department's POW/MIA Accounting Agency is bringing home remains of missing military members from India.

'This is a sad duty, but it means a great deal,' said Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who watched the ceremony. 'Those guys whose remains are in those coffins would have wanted that, and would be proud and happy to be home, and their families too.'

Speaking to reporters flying with him to the Philippines, Carter said it also sends a message to those currently serving in warzone because it shows them 'what we would go through for somebody who perished serving their country today.'

Two bone fragments along with some other artifacts from the B-24 flight were found during a U.S. excavation in the rugged mountain.

Their discovery and return gives hope to families that the remains of the estimated 350 U.S. service members still classified as missing in India may someday find their way home.

According to Gary Stark, the India desk officer for the POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the B-24  known as Hot As Hell  went missing with its crew of eight in January 1944. The aircraft was one of many that ran supplies from China to India, flying people and parts back and forth over what they called the Hump.

The second set of remains was turned over to the POW/MIA agency by a third party and was from the same region. The Pentagon said the remains are 'possibly' related to a C-109 that crashed on July 17, 1945, traveling from India to China.

After Wednesday's ceremony at the airport in New Delhi, the remains, which were put in ceremonial boxes and then into flag-draped caskets, will be sent to a lab in Hawaii for DNA testing. Only then will officials know if the fragments belong to one or two crew members.

The B-24 crash site is one of many in the mountains where U.S. aircraft went down as they tried to negotiate the harsh and jagged terrain.

U.S. military members pay final respects to what they believe may be the remains of one to two crew members from a B-24 bomber that crashed during World War II at a ceremony at the Palam airport, in New Delhi, India

The remains, which could fit in a sandwich bag, were found in 2006 near Arunachal Pradesh

After a number of digs on the area, the remains were finally recovered in October 2015

The return of the remains to the U.S. represents the first repatriation of WWII-era remains from India

Along with the bone fragments, the team found other items associated with the crash but no personal effects, such as dog tags or watches, that could identify the crew

Teams have tried to excavate sites before, but in 2008-2009 they found no remains. This time, experts aided by mountaineering adventurers identified four areas to search. Two were in terrain that was too dangerous for crews to work in because of possible landslides.

High on the steep mountains of Arunachal Predesh, along India's northeast border, the recovery team climbed more than 9,000 feet.

According to Marine Capt. Greg Lynch, the team hiked for three days to set up a base camp, then climbed to the crash site every day, carefully sifting through dirt to find remains.

'It was very physically grueling to go to this particular area and to conduct this recovery,' said Lynch, a team leader who was not on this project. He said the team included 12 mainly military members, along with another dozen or so contractors.

Along with the bone fragments, the team found other items associated with the crash but no personal effects, such as dog tags or watches, that could identify the crew.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who has been traveling in India, watched as taps was played and the remains were placed in the caskets and loaded onto a C-17 aircraft for the flight home.

The Pentagon has restated its commitment to families of the thousands of servicemen still unaccounted for from World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. Many of those families have, over the years, complained bitterly of delay and even neglect from the Pentagon agencies charged with finding, recovering and identifying remains from overseas wars.

Carter's predecessor at the Pentagon, Chuck Hagel, ordered the MIA accounting bureaucracy to reorganize and consolidate as part of an effort to improve its performance, which also has come under criticism in Congress.

Under increased scrutiny, the POW/MIA office has increased the number of remains that were identified last year, to nearly 100, and expects to exceed that number this year.
David Cameron has ridiculed 'chaotic' Jeremy Corbyn's tax return blunders as the leaders faced off in the Commons for the first time since the Panama Papers row.

The Prime Minister seized on the Labour leader's failure to list thousands of pounds of pension income on his return and his 100 fine for filing the document late.

But Mr Corbyn hit back by insisting he had paid 'more tax than some companies he might know quite well' - a jibe at George Osborne's family firm for paying no corporation tax.

David Cameron faces off with Jeremy Corbyn in the Commons chamber today

The exchanges followed a period of intense scrutiny for politicians' financial affairs after the leak of a huge haul of papers from a Panama law firm.

After days of dodging, Mr Cameron dramatically admitted last week that he profited from a 30,000 stake in his late father's offshore investment fund.

The premier also published a summary of his income and taxes over the past six years in a bid to restore trust.

He mounted a passionate defence of his own dealings and those of his late father Ian in parliament on Monday, insisting there had been no wrongdoing and condemning Labour's attitude to 'aspiration'.

MailOnline revealed yesterday that 66-year-old Mr Corbyn had failed to include income from his state pension and a local government pension in the 2014-15 tax return he published. Aides have stressed that all tax due was paid through the PAYE system.

There was more confusion this afternoon after Mr Corbyn's spokesman appeared to suggest he had a third pension from his former trade union employers.

The Labour leader attacked the government for cutting funding for HM Revenue & Customs

His spokesman revealed he had a 'small' pension with Unison - the current name of the trade union Mr Corbyn used to work for before becoming an MP.

But he insisted the Labour leader would not be publishing any more details about his tax return details from 2014/15.

CORBYN HUMILIATED AS HE ADMITS FAILING TO INCLUDE THOUSANDS OF POUNDS ON TAX RETURN Jeremy Corbyn was branded 'chaotic' and 'sloppy' after it emerged he failed to include thousands of pounds of income on his tax return. Aides to the Labour leader have confirmed he was receiving a pension from his time in local government worth thousands of pounds in 2014-15. Mr Corbyn, who turned 65 in May 2014, was also getting the state pension of around 6,000 a year. However, neither streams of income appeared on the return he published on Monday. Asked whether the veteran left-winger had filled out the form wrongly, his spokesman told MailOnline: 'That is between him and HM Revenue & Customs,' The issue is particularly embarrassing for Mr Corbyn as after demanding transparency from the Prime Minister, he seemingly struggled to locate a copy of his return yesterday and was then forced to admit he had been fined 100 for filing the document late. Mr Corbyn was able to build up entitlements during a nine-year spell as a councillor in Haringey, London. The spokesman initially suggested that the pension was 'not taxable'. Nearly 10 hours later the position shifted to saying that all taxes due on the income had been collected through the PAYE system. Mr Corbyn's office also claimed that he had sent the taxman documents about his pensions. 'All his earnings were declared including his pension earnings,' the spokesman said. However, an HMRC spokeswoman confirmed that such figures needed to be included on a tax return. Advertisement

'He [Mr Corbyn] has published the return he sent in and thats more than the Prime Minister has done,' the spokesman said.

The big question is when is the Prime Minister going to publish his tax return,' he added, demanding Mr Cameron publishes his actual tax return rather than simply sending out a summary.

It has also emerged that the Labour leader appears to have omitted to fill in information about taxable benefits on the form.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) said all MPs are sent P11D details to fill in, but the relevant section on Mr Corbyn's return was left blank.

But his spokesman said this afternoon that the only income omitted from the tax return form was his pension income.

Speaking at PMQs today, Mr Corbyn demanded to know why the government was cutting HM Revenue & Customs staff when there was a 34billion 'tax gap',

But Mr Cameron said: Im glad he wants to get onto our responsibilities to pay our taxes  I think thats very important.

His tax return was a metaphor for Labour policy. It was late, it was chaotic, it was inaccurate, it was uncosted.

Turning to the specific questions, hes absolutely right to identify the tax gap and that is why we closed off loopholes in the last Parliament  equivalent of 12billion  we aim to close loopholes in this Parliament equivalent to 16billion, so the HMRC is taking very strong action, backed by this Government, backed by the Chancellor, legislated for by this House and I think Im right in saying that since 2010 weve put actually over 1billion in HMRC to increase its capabilities to collect the tax that people should be paying.

The difference, I think, between this side of the House and the right honourable gentleman is we believe in setting low tax rates and encouraging people to pay them. And its working.

Mr Corbyn attempted to laugh off the controversy over his documents, saying: Im grateful for the Prime Minister for drawing attention to my own tax return.

There, warts and all  the warts being my handwriting, the all being my generous donation to HMRC. I actually paid more tax than some companies owned by people who he might know quite well.'

Jeremy Corbyn's tax return was sent in a week late and incurred a 100 fine, which MPs are warned about on the tax return (pictured above)

The tax return for 2014/15 was dated February 6 2016 - a week after the January 31 deadline

He added: 'The Prime Minister isnt cutting tax abuse, hes cutting down on tax collectors. The tax collected helps to fund our NHS and all the other services. Last month the OBR that HMRC doesnt have the necessary resources to tackle offshore tax disclosures.

The Government is committed to taking 4million out of HMRCs budget before 2020. Will he now commit to reversing that cut so we can collect the tax that would help to pay for the services.

Cameron: Im afraid his figures  rather like his tax return  arent entirely accurate. In the Summer Budget 2015 we gave an extra 800,000 to HMRC to fund additional work to tackle tax evasion and non-compliance between now and 2021.

This is going to help HMRC recover a cumulative 7.2billion in tax over the next five years and weve already brought in more than 2billiion from offshore tax evaders since 2010.
A woman who suffered a botched breast lift and tummy tuck after going to a cut-price Polish clinic was later hauled to court for allegedly harassing the woman who arranged the operations.

June Jonigk paid 5,000 for the surgery in Poland, which she booked through Angela Chouaib's company Secret Surgery, but was left scarred and traumatised, a judge heard.

She started sending messages to Ms Chouaib and her other customers, in what she said was a bid to prevent women going through the same ordeal as her, only to be arrested and charged with harassment.

The 57-year-old has now been cleared of all wrongdoing at Oxford magistrates' court after a judge confirmed that she had suffered a 'botched procedure' and wanted to raise awareness about the 'elaborate and dangerous scam'.

Campaign: June Jonigk, left, set up a website attacking Angela Chouaib, right, after she had botched plastic surgery in Poland

Speaking after the hearing, Mrs Jonigk - who was left with a hole in her stomach and smaller breasts - said: 'I feel elated, relieved and ecstatic. I have had 12 months of hell since being arrested.'

The business support officer from Hereford decided to have cosmetic surgery after she lost 5st by having a gastric sleeve fitted in 2011.

She was impressed by the slick 'before and after' pictures on the Secret Surgery website - which were actually lifted from other sites - and the company's apparent focus on patient safety.

Mrs Jonigk booked herself in for a 2,810 tummy tuck in Wroclaw in Poland, and did not notice any problems with the procedure until she flew home.

Anger: Mrs Jonigk was arrested on suspicion of harassment but has now been cleared

It was only when one of the scabs came off three weeks later that she noticed a hole the size of 50p piece in her stomach.

The wound took three months to heal and resulted in a scar, but Mrs Jonigk initially believed the clinic's explanation that it was a 'normal' reaction to the procedure.

In December 2011 she returned to Poland for a 2,100 breast uplift, which she booked directly with the clinic rather than going through Secret Surgery.

She told the court the results left her chest looking 'oddly shaped and flat', adding: 'I looked like I had been sliced with a Stanley knife.'

British surgeons who examined her the following year believe she had undergone a breast reduction rather than an uplift.

Secret Surgery has always denied any liability for the procedures, saying its contractual obligations were only to provide travel and hospital arrangements for the tummy tuck.

Furious with the results of the surgery and told she could get compensation only if she signed a confidentiality clause, Mrs Jonigk set up a website accusing Ms Chouaib of being a 'fraudster' and sent messages to the businesswoman's family and customers through social media.

She told the court: 'I felt she had lied to mislead me to get me to book for surgery.

'My website was a way of doing that and to show people who she has lied to about me that it's not made up and I am not trying to blackmail her for money.

'Surgery abroad should not be taken lightly, it's dangerous.'

Ms Chouaib claimed the 'hate campaign' had driven her from her family's home in Oxfordshire, and said she was living in constant 'alarm and distress' thanks to Ms Jonigk's website.

Site: An image of the website which Ms Jonigk set up to warn others against using Secret Surgery

Dismissing the charges against Mrs Jonigk, District Judge Tim Pattinson said the hole in her stomach was a 'serious matter' and he was 'shocked' by the misunderstanding that led to her receiving the wrong surgery on her breasts.

He added: 'I find, without any hesitation, that what she received was a botched procedure.'

Mr Pattinson said she had not acted 'unreasonably or irrationally' during the three years she was accused of harassing Ms Chouaib.

He added: 'Mrs Jonigk was concerned that the very serious matter of cosmetic surgery, involving as it can do, very serious surgery - some might say life-changing surgery - was being put across as completely risk free, somewhat trivial.

'Perhaps, although she didn't use those words, little more than going to a beautician or hairdresser. That's the impression Mrs Jonigk wanted to counter.

'What was she to do? How was she to go about protecting others from what she perceived to be an elaborate scam, an elaborate and dangerous scam?
Twelve people are feared to be dead, including an Australian pilot, after a small island plane crashed while approaching the runway of an airport in western Papa New Guinea.

The plane, part of two-aircraft company Sunbird Aviation, reportedly crashed while approaching Kiunga airport in the Western Province of the island nation.

Vasil Wifo, a former employee of the local airline, confirmed the tragedy to stuff.co.nz.

Twelve people are feared to be dead, including an Australian pilot, after a plane crashed in Papua New Guinea

The plane was part of two-aircraft company Sunbird Aviation. A former employee of the airline said twelve people had died in the crash

'Twelve bodies are now in the morgue in Kiunga Hospital,' he said.

'It's terrible news, everyone feels really low and really sad. It's something we don't expect to happen every day.'

Mr Wifo said the civil aviation authority would investigate the crash to understand what went wrong.

A spokesperson for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said they were aware of reports that a 'Sunbird Aviation aircraft travelling from Oksapmin to Kiunga has crashed.'

'Our thoughts are with the passengers and crew of the aircraft and their families,' the spokesperson said in a statement.

'The Australian High Commission in Port Moresby is liaising closely with local authorities to determine whether Australians were on board the aircraft.'

'We stand ready to provide consular support to victims and families of Australians who may be involved,' the statement read.

The aircraft reportedly crashed while approaching the Kiunga Airport runway in the Western Province
Cherie Blair and her son Euan saved more than 10,000 in tax last month after snapping up a number of flats before a controversial change in stamp duty legislation.

The Blairs' sizeable property empire is still growing after they bought four cut-price flats taking their portfolio to 38 homes worth more than 25million.

Instead of buying another London townhouse or a rural mansion the former Prime Minister's family negotiated a deal for four 100,000 one-bed homes in Greater Manchester.

Expanding empire: Cherie Blair and her son Euan (pictured together in 2014) saved more than 10,000 in tax last month after snapping up a number of flats before a controversial change in stamp duty legislation in April

New pads: The Blairs have bought four flats in flats in Whalley Range, Manchester, pictured, snapping them up before a controversial change in stamp duty legislation to save them 10,000

Documents filed with Companies House for their company Oldbury Residential at the end of March show the firm has just taken out four mortgages on flats in Whalley Range, Manchester.

The one-bedroom homes are thought to have cost between 75,000 and 100,000 which, previously, would have meant they fell below the threshold for stamp duty, the tax paid on property and land purchases.

But the Government recently implemented its controversial three per cent stamp duty surcharge on second-home owners and landlords.

The policy came into force on April 1 - but the Blairs rushed the deals through at the end of March to avoid the tax. It is estimated they saved themselves between 9,000 and 12,000.

Mrs Blair, who owns a 50 per cent share in Oldbury Residential along with son Euan, has been vocal about the Conservative government's attacks on landlords and second home owners.

Her law firm, Omnia Strategy LLP, is calling for a Judicial Review on the government's 2017 plan to stop buy-to-let landlords from offsetting mortgage interest costs against rental income.

The Blairs aren't the only property investors who managed to do a deal in March ahead of the new tax on landlords.

Countrywide, the estate agency group, estimated 28billion worth of house sales completed last month - an increase of 76 per cent on the same period last year.

Landlords accounted for 23 per cent of homes sold in March compared to 13 per cent in the previous year.

In the two weeks running up the deadline, half of all homes sold were to landlord, Countrywide claimed.

Johnny Morris, research director at the estate agent, said: 'Quite at odds with the intentions of the policy, the first measurable effect of the introduction of the new stamp duty rate has been to increase the number of homes owned by landlords, although this will likely be a temporary effect as we see reduced investor activity in future months.'

Jewel in the crown: The Blairs paid 5.75m for this now 8m Grade 1-listed 17th century manor near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire that used to belong to Sir John Gielgud

London: The Blairs own two 3.6m Grade II listed Georgian townhouses in West London where members of the family live

Luxury: This townhouse in north London cost the Blairs 1.35million but is worth significantly more now

Concentrated: These two Victorian villas in Urmston, Manchester, have been converted into flats and sold to Mrs Blair and her son for 650,000

Large return: The block of 14 apartments in Stockport, Greater Manchester, on the site of a former scrapyard owned by the Blairs

Henry Pryor, an independent property commentator, added: 'I think that those like the Blairs rushed for no reason. Prices jumped 2.6 per cent last month according to Halifax so there will have been little saving.

'After April 1, prices are expected to fall back, indeed in central London where the Blairs hold the bulk of their portfolio prices are down 15 per cent year on year.

'I described those rushing like Lemmings to beat the deadline as 'April Fools', caught by sellers and estate agents wanting to try and make sure that they didn't lose out.'

Mrs Blair's office has been approached for comment

The Blair property empire includes a Grade II-listed townhouse near Hyde Park worth 8.3m, a 1.7m house nearby and an 8m Grade 1-listed 17th century manor near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire that used to belong to Sir John Gielgud.

Some of the properties are either lived in by Mr Blair and his wife, or their children, with the rest rented out.

The Blairs caused controversy in 2007 when they bought a 3.65million house in exclusive Connaught Square but it led to a rebellion from neighbours who wanted it stopped.

The residents closed ranks and revolted against the then Prime Minister by signing a petition opposing his move into their community.

They feared the Blairs' very presence would put their lives at risk and who say they have been given no assurances about extra security.

Even local Tory MP Mark Field petitioned on their behalf - but when he raised their concerns with the Prime Minister's office, he was met with the reply: 'You ask for details of any security measures, but I am afraid the Prime Minister does not have this information...'

Expensive business: This 1.2million one-bedroom mews cottage in west London was bought in Cherie Blair's name

Sweet deal: This cute terrace in one of west London's most expensive cul-de-sacs was bought by Cherie Blair

Rural retreat: A 600,000 cottage in Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, which is owned by Tony Blair's family

Rich: Last year, sources close to the family said the Blairs were buying properties in the Manchester area as investments - Mr Blair denies he is now worth 100million

HOW BUY-TO-LET INVESTORS TRIED TO SERVE STAMP DUTY CHANGES There was a rush to complete on second homes to avoid the Chancellor's stamp duty changes brought in on April 1. Up until to March 31 this year, there was no stamp duty on second homes and buy-to-lets on the first 125,000. It is charged at 2 per cent between 125,000 and 250,000, 5 per cent between 250,000 and 925,000, 10 per cent between 925,00 and 1.5million and 12 per cent above that. But from 1 April, each stamp duty band rose by 3 per cent, adding thousands of pound to the bill for landlords and second-home buyers. Currently, the average cost of a property in England & Wales is 188,270, according to figures for January from the Land Registry. Before 31 March 2016, the stamp duty bill on a property of such value would have been 1,265.00, but just a day later it jumped to 6,913 if bought as a second home. In London, where average prices are much higher at 514,097, the tax duty bill before the changes took effect were 15,704. But the new rate made it a 31,127 tax duty bill. George Osborne has claimed that the new surcharge on stamp duty for landlords and those buying second homes will raise 1billion for the Treasury by 2021. Advertisement

Cherie, 61, and Euan, 31, the wife and son of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, also own a four-storey block of 10 flats worth 650,000, earning around 55,000 a year in rent.

Euan lives with wife Suzanne in a 4.5million Georgian townhouse in Marylebone, central London, jointly owned with Cherie.

Last year, sources close to the family said the Blairs were concentrating on buying properties in the Manchester area as investments.

But Tony Blair, who has earned millions from global consultancy work, has always insisted that reports of his 100m wealth are 'greatly exaggerated'.

In 2010, he bought a three-bedroom townhouse in London for son Euan. It cost the former Prime Minister 1.3m but he managed to sell it for a healthy profit of more than 800,000, when Euan got married and wanted to upgrade.

However, it has not always been plain sailing on the property market for the family.

Cherie paid 525,000 for two flats in Bristol following a 69,000 discount negotiated by Peter Foster, an Australian conman.

At the time, Foster was dating Mrs Blair's confidante Carole Caplin, a former topless model.
British ISIS captive John Cantlie has revealed the haunting final words fellow hostage James Foley uttered minutes before he was executed by the bloodthirsty terror group.

According to the newest edition of the group's propaganda magazine Dabiq, Mr Foley uttered: 'Great, captured on Thanksgiving Day, killed on my Mom's birthday', before being led to his death.

War photographer Mr Cantlie, 45, was captured alongside Foley in Syria in November 2012 but has been kept alive by the group for propaganda purposes.

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John Cantlie (pictured in an ISIS propaganda video) features in the latest issue of the jihadis' English-language magazine in which he reveals the haunting final words of fellow captive James Foley

In the article, Mr Cantlie described fellow hostage Nicolas Henin (pictured) as a 'peculiar fish' but said he enjoyed his company

The article said James Foley's (pictured) last words were: 'Great, captured on Thanksgiving Day, killed on my Mom's birthday'

He features in the magazine most months - though any quotes, statements and writing attributed to him are most likely to have been written under extreme duress.

The article describes the day Mr Foley was killed: 'We'd all had our heads shaved early that morning and it was clear something was up. "It's just a video, be good for all of us," said James. "No," I replied. "This isn't just a video."'

The article titled The Blood of Shame criticizes the U.S. and British governments for failing to negotiate for the release of James Foley, Steven Sotloff, David Haines and Alan Henning.

All these men, and several more, were executed by the group in videos later posted online.

Meanwhile, released hostage Frenchman Nic Henning, was 'a peculiar fish', but Mr Cantlie 'rather enjoyed his company because he was quiet and said completely weird things', it stated.

'One of my favourite Nic-isms was when he got a sound thrashing from a guard for throwing bread down the toilet and he announced to the room in a high-pitched voice, who had just watched him sail past the door on his head before getting a pretty decent one-two in front of all of us, that 'I have just been beeeeeee-ten!''

The magazine also praised the attackers who killed 32 in Brussels last month, and hailed two brothers who were suicide bombers in the attack as key actors in November's bloodbath in Paris as well.

The extremist Muslim group has claimed responsibility for both acts of carnage targeting Western European capitals.

The magazine also hailed Brussels bombers and brothers Ibrahim (left) and Khalid (right) El Bakraoui

'All preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels started' with Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 30, and his brother Khalid, 27, Dabiq said. 'These two brothers gathered the weapons and the explosives.'

It is 'firstly due' to the El Bakraouis that the November 13 attacks that killed 130 victims in the French capital occurred, Dabiq said.

Subsequently, it said, Khalid El Bakraoui had a dream 'which motivated him to carry out another istishhadi [martyrdom] operation'.

The younger El Bakraoui blew himself up in a rush-hour Brussels subway train on March 22, killing 16 victims.

That same morning, his older brother was one of two suicide bombers who detonated explosives-laden suitcases at Brussels Airport, killing another 16.
President Obama will decide whether to declassify 28 pages of sealed documents that are rumored to expose Saudi Arabia's connection to the 9/11 attacks within 60 days, a senator claimed last night.

Former Florida senator Bob Graham said the White House made it clear to him that a decision on the secret files would be made in the next two months.

Graham told Fox News he was 'pleased that after two years this matter is about to come to a decision by the president'.

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President Obama will decide whether to declassify 28 pages of sealed documents that are rumored to show Saudi Arabia's connection to the 9/11 attacks, a senator said

The timing of the release could be highly significant, with President Obama heading to Saudi Arabia to meet leaders in the region next week

The former senator has long campaigned for the documents to be declassified, but both the Bush and Obama administrations have argued doing so was a national security risk.

Graham and other critics believe the files expose Saudi Arabia's involvement in the attacks - something the U.S. government has allegedly sought to keep quiet.

The timing of the release could be highly significant, with the president heading to Saudi Arabia to meet leaders in the region next week.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand called for the documents to be released ahead of that summit so Obama could discuss any consequences with the Saudi government.

'If the president is going to meet with the Saudi Arabian leadership and the royal family, they think it would be appropriate that this document be released before the president makes that trip, so that they can talk about whatever issues are in that document,' Gillibrand said.

She told CBS' 60 Minutes that she was unsure how the Saudis would react to the release, but said the family members of 9/11 victims deserved to know what the documents said.

Democrats Bob Graham and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand have both called for the 28 pages to be declassified

The 9/11 attacks left 2,977 innocent people dead after four passenger planes were hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania

There have long been questions over Saudi Arabia's involvement in the attacks, which left 2,977 innocent people dead after four passenger airliners were hijacked and crashed into both of the World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on September 11, 2001, were Saudi - as was al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a U.S. raid on his lair in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May 2011.

Bin Laden was the son of a Saudi billionaire with close ties to the kingdom's royal family.

'The Saudis know what they did. We know what they did,' Graham told 60 Minutes.

'There are a lot of rocks out there that have been purposefully tamped down, that if were they turned over, would give us a more expansive view of the Saudi role.'

Graham added that he believes the terrorists were 'substantially' helped by the Saudi Arabian government, financiers and charities.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also called for the 28 pages to be declassified, saying that the refusal to do so was 'a mistake' as she added to the Democrats piling pressure on Obama.

'I have always advocated for providing as much transparency as possible to the American people consistent with protecting our national security,' she said.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said he did not know whether Obama had looked at the sealed documents himself.
A fake Uber driver who allegedly raped a female passenger who got into his car was out on bail at the time of the attack, Los Angeles court records show.

Dartanyun Smith, 39, who has previous convictions for robbery, was arrested in South Los Angeles on Saturday following the attack on April 3.

Smith is accused of attacking the woman and dumping her on the side of the street following the attack in the Westlake area of the city.

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Dartanyun Smith, 39, was arrested on Saturday at an address in South Los Angeles in relation to the attack

According to KTLA 5 News, Smith choked and sexually assaulted his victim. The woman lapsed into unconsciousness three times.

Locals reported screaming coming from the car and LAPD officers responded. One officer broke the side window of Smith's car and tried to shoot the suspect, who sped off, dumping the woman on the street several blocks away.

The District Attorney's office claimed Smith aimed his car at one of the responding officers.

Smith, also known as 'Dark' is due to appear in court later today in connection with the attack.

Authorities say Smith pulled up to a woman at Eighth Street and Vermont Avenue in the Westlake area at about 3.30am on April 3, asked if she was waiting for Uber and claimed to be a driver.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said the victim fought back but was choked unconscious at least three times.

He added that it was her screams that alerted neighbors.

When police found the vehicle they tried to smash through the windows but the driver jumped into the front of the car and sped away.

He allegedly accelerated toward the officers, striking one of them with the SUV's door.

One shot was fired by the police but it did not strike the driver.

The victim was found dumped on the side of the road about four blocks away at James M. Wood Boulevard and Columbia Avenue.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said the victim had lapsed three times into unconsciousness

It has emerged that Smith, who has a previous felony conviction, was out on bail at the time of the attack

She was taken by ambulance to hospital.

After an investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division, with the help of the FBI, evidence from the sexual assault kit and scrapings from the victim's fingernails led police to a match in a crime database.

The attack occurred after a friend of the victim ordered an Uber for her.

'This was a young woman who through absolutely no fault of her own was targeted and selected right off the street by a predator,' Beck told KTLA.

He added: 'Theres no blame to the victim here  but it is so important that when youre using a ride application like Uber, to make sure the person youre getting into the car of is the person they say they are'.

Beck added the suspect has previously served time in prison for robbery.

The suspect was being held on $1 million bail.

Smith is a documented gang member, according to Officer Norma Eisenman of LAPD's Media Relations Section.

Last month Uber driver John Sanchez, 52, from San Diego, was arrested in connection to the rape of an intoxicated passenger on February 26.

Police and FBI got DNA evidence from under the victim's fingernails in the hours after the attack
Singleton was jailed January on charges of armed robbery and kidnapping

Kelvin Singleton, 26, escaped a North Carolina prison two weeks ago. His body was found decapitated April 7

A robbery and kidnapping suspect, who escaped from a North Carolina prison two weeks ago after threatening a detention officer with a weapon he made out of a toothbrush, has been found decapitated.

A hunter discovered the headless body of Kelvin Singleton on April 7 as he walked through the woods in Bertie County - 15 miles away from the Chowan County Detention Center. His head is still missing.

The 26-year-old inmate was found naked and his body was partly decomposed.

Chowan County sheriff Dwayne Goodwin told the New York Daily News that Singleton's body was identified by authorities on Tuesday.

'We have interviewed a ton of people,' Goodwin said. 'We don't have a motive or anything at this point  no suspect, no motive.'

Bertie County Sheriff John Holley told the Roanoke-Chowan News Herald that the inmate's headless body had been in a open field near Ashland Church Road for roughly a week.

Singleton broke free from the detention facility by using a handmade weapon to force the officer to release him while he was being moved around after visitation, authorities said.

The officer was unharmed.

'He used what we believe to be a makeshift shank - a knife made out of a toothbrush,' Sheriff Dwayne Goodwin told WAVY.

Singleton forced the guard to open two locked security doors before fleeing through a delivery area at the rear of the jail, Goodwin told the station.

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Authorities said Singleton forced the guard to open two locked security doors before fleeing through a delivery area at the rear of the jail (pictured) when he escaped from the Chowan County Detention Center

Search dogs were deployed and combed the area, including woods and abandoned houses, Goodwin said in a statement.

The K9-unit was not able to pick up a strong scent because of rain in the area, according to WTKR.

Singleton had been in jail since January, after he allegedly robbed an Edenton tobacco store and held the clerk at gunpoint.

Police said Singleton demanded money from the clerk at Pearls Tobacco Plus, forced him to go outside and then tried to get the clerk to enter his own car.

When the clerk refused, Singleton allegedly took the man's keys and drove off in the vehicle.

Singleton was charged with armed robbery and second-degree kidnapping. He was also facing charges in Charlotte, including assault with a deadly weapon.

Goodwin said Singleton was scheduled to be extradited to Charlotte for those charges.

Authorities said at the time that there was no evidence that Singleton was 'aided by anybody' during his escape.

Police checked on both his grandmother and sister, who both live in Edenton. Goodwin said it was determined that they were not complicit in his escape, noting that their cars are not missing.
father Des O'Keeffe discovered his remains when he was digging

Daniel O'Keeffe, whose body was discovered in a cavity next to the family home more than four years after he went missing, will be laid to rest at a private funeral service on Friday.

The 24-year-old had been missing from the Summerhill Terrace property in Highton, Geelong, south-west of Melbourne since July 15, 2011.

Last month, police confirmed his remains were found at the Victorian property in a 'tight space between a wall of the house and solid rock earth'.

On Wednesday, an update was made to the Missing Person - Daniel James O'Keeffe's Facebook page, confirming the burial service will be private.

However, anyone wishing to attend the memorial service are invited to pay their respects at St. Mary of the Angels Parish in Geelong at 11am on Friday.

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Daniel O'Keeffe, whose body was discovered at his family home, will be laid to rest at his funeral on Friday

The Missing Person - Daniel James O'Keeffe's Facebook page, confirmed the burial service will be private

'Thank you so much for your support over the years, and especially in recent weeks,' the Facebook post read.

'This community has played such an important role in our lives and we are sincerely grateful.

'We want to let you know that Dan will be laid to rest this Friday and ask that you keep us in your thoughts.

'You are wonderful people  we couldn't have coped without you.'

Daniel had been suffering from depression and anxiety before he disappeared from his family home

Last month, police confirmed his remains were found at the property (pictured) in a 'tight space between a wall of the house and solid rock earth'

It comes after his remains were uncovered in what was described as a 'cavity' in the 'side of the hill alongside the house' where Daniel's father Des was digging.

Daniel's grieving mother Lori O'Keeffe described the heartbreaking moment her husband made the grim discovery of their son's remains by the side of their family home.

'That's not anything any father wants to do, no parent should find their child like that,' Mrs O'Keeffe told Daily Mail Australia last month.

'The fact that his father found him adds another level of grief.'

Mrs O'Keeffe said her husband Des was 'digging into the side of a hill' and found a 'cavity' when he made the horrific discovery.

'I can't bring myself to go down there.

'It certainly wasn't the outcome we were expecting,' Mrs O'Keeffe said, adding the discovery was 'too raw' to bring any closure yet.

His mother Lori O'Keeffe described the moment her husband made the grim discovery of their son's remains

The 24-year-old vanished from the Geelong property, south-west of Melbourne, since July 15, 2011

The 24-year-old's remains were discovered by the side of the family home where his father was digging

Despite a 'traumatic' five years since her son disappeared, the distraught mother thanked friends, family and the community for their support.

Mrs O'Keeffe also said she was grateful to the media and everyone on social media for sharing her son's story and continuing to help in their endeavour to find him.

Daniel had been suffering from depression and anxiety before he disappeared from his family home on the morning of 15 July 2011 when he was just 24.

He left on foot without any personal belongings, including his wallet or identification.
Rudy Giuliani says he's not endorsing Donald Trump because he thinks his friend needs to make 'serious changes to his organization.'

Giuliani again pledged to vote for Trump on Tuesday in New York's primary and urged others to do the same.

'Donald is a personal friend, I believe he's the best candidates, and I think he'll make a very good president,' Giuliani said this morning on Fox and Friends.

But the former New York City Mayor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate said he does not want to join Trump's campaign as a surrogate 'and take on whatever the organization says or does.'

'Frankly I don't know them,' he said. 'I believe if you endorse somebody you sort of take on the whole organization. And I'd like to see Donald make some serious changes to his organization for his good.'

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Rudy Giuliani says he's not endorsing Donald Trump because he thinks his friend needs to make 'serious changes to his organization'

'Donald is a personal friend, I believe he's the best candidates, and I think he'll make a very good president,' Rudy Giuliani said this morning on Fox and Friends

Trump just made major changes to his operation, bringing in Paul Manafort, a former aide to several past Republican presidents, to oversee his convention preparations.

Manafort bypasses campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and reports directly to the 'boss' - Trump.

It would seem that Giuliani wants to additional reforms to Trump's campaign.

Giuliani made similar comments Tuesday on CNN's New Day but did not go so far as to recommend a reorganization.

'When I endorse somebody, I join their campaign. I join their campaign staff, their campaign staff sends me out to do speeches and to do things like that,' the 9/11 era mayor said. 'I don't know his campaign staff. I don't know who they are.'

The Republican also said he has has some policy differences with Trump, including a 'couple of concerns on immigration.'

'There are things I'd have to talk out first before I would go as far as an endorsement,' Giuliani told CNN's Chris Cuomo.

He said 'the buildup of the military' is something else he'd like to discuss in depth before lending his name to Trump's campaign.

'I'd like to hear more about how he's hopefully going to double the size of the Navy, increase the size of the United States military, put more troops in NATO in order to push Putin back a bit,' he said.

Rudy Giuliani will vote for Trump but says he needs to "make some serious changes to his organization"https://t.co/kuG6lLcpEv  FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) April 13, 2016

Trump has said that NATO is a sham organization and suggested he'd pull back on U.S. involvement in the group. And he's been laudatory of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Talking to the New York Post last week, Giuliani made his support for Trump known. 'I'm gonna vote for Trump,' he said.

The retired politician also said that the billionaire had a 'good shot' of winning the GOP nomination, as well as New York and its 95 delegates..

Trump's top challenger, Ted Cruz, made comments in the past about Trump representing 'New York values' that have come back to haunt him as the state prepares to vote.

The the statement took aim at Trump's stated positions on abortion and other social issues more than a decade ago.

Cruz said a debate that it referred to New York liberalism as he proclaimed that there are not many conservatives in Manhattan.

'It's New York City. We're family. I can make fun of New York. But you can't!' the former mayor said of Cruz's comments in the New York Post.

Trump leads the GOP polls in the state at 54 percent, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average, with Ohio Governor John Kasich at 21 percent and Cruz trailing at 18 percent.

ENDORSE THE MAN, ENDORSE THE OPERATION: Giuliani, a 2008 Republican presidential candidate said he does not want to join Trump's campaign as a surrogate 'and take on whatever the organization says or does'. Trump appeared on CNN last night amid a growing split with the GOP establishment

Cruz has accused his opponents organization of 'encouraging violence' and advised him to get rid of Manafort and Roger Stone, who doesn't work directly for the campaign but is acting as its consigliere.

Speaking about the possibility of a brokered convention in July, Stone said last week, 'We're going to have protests, demonstrations. We will disclose the hotels, and the room numbers, of those delegates who are directly involved in the steal.'

Yesterday on The Dana Loesch show Cruz made reference to the classic mobster film The Godfather and said, 'I don't know if the next thing we're going to see is voters or delegates waking up with horses heads in their beds.'

'This doesn't belong in the electoral process. And I think Donald needs to renounce this incitement of violence, he needs to stop asking his supporters at rallies to punch people in the face. And he needs to fire the people responsible,' Cruz said.

Manafort washed his hands of the situation on Sunday on NBC and noted that Stone 'is not an official part of the campaign.'
An Italian mother who smothered her two-month-old baby daughter and dumped her body in a bin - and it was never found - may spend the rest of her life in a psychiatric hospital.

Federica Boscolo-Gnolo, 32, admitted smothering Farah with a pillow while she was hearing threatening, male voices speaking in English, telling her the baby shouldn't have to suffer.

She was arrested on 29 January last year after she reported the little girl missing from the Hotel Lilly in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.

'Depressed': Federica Boscolo-Gnolo, 32, admitted smothering Farah with a pillow while she was hearing threatening, male voices speaking in English, telling her the baby shouldn't have to suffer

Detained: The mother was arrested on 29 January last year after she reported the little girl missing from the Hotel Lilly in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

It is believed she suffocated her the previous evening, having flown into the UK on January 25 - apparently to try and see an eye specialist.

It later emerged she had wrapped the childs body in a suitcase and smuggled it out of the hotel, disposing of it in a bin in the Russell Square area in central London.

Despite extensive searches at the hotel, nearby parks and the local rubbish dump, Farahs body was never found.

Three psychiatrists concluded that the stress of the pregnancy, being a single parent and her daughters eye condition triggered Boscolo-Gnolos actions.

Two recommended a restriction on her release under Section 41 of the Mental Health Act, meaning she can only be released by a judge because she may pose a risk to adults and any future children.

Detaining her in the Orchard Unit of St Bernards Hospital, the Recorder of London, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC said: Your plea was entered on the basis that an abnormality of mental functioning had substantially reduced your responsibility for the killing.

You put a pillow over her face and suffocated her, you disposed of her body in a bin and it has never been recovered.

You are 32 years old, youve never offended before, so how is it you came to end the life of a child you had given birth two only two months before?

Precious life has been lost and her father has also lost his daughter. You have received treatment and it has been possible to gain insight into your mental state.

Its accepted that at the time of the offence you were in fact suffering from depression but with psychotic symptoms and also with an underlying personality disorder.

You were quite simply overwhelmed by the prospect of how you thought she would suffer in her life, you concluded that you could save her a life of physical and emotional suffering by killing her.

I have no doubt you feel remorse and will continue to do so as insight increases.

The baby, who was born on November 22 2014 in Chioggia, near Venice, had an eye condition that had left her with an abnormally small left eye ball.

Short trip: It is believed that Boscolo-Gnolo suffocated the baby the previous evening, having flown into the UK on January 25 - apparently to try and see an eye specialist

Accommodation: She stayed at the Hotel Lily (pictured), west London, which is where it is believed that she smothered the baby, before smuggling her out in a pink suitcase she bought from Primark

Boscolo-Gnolo denied murder but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at the Old Bailey.

Prosecutor Mark Haywood QC said: The defendant first came to the UK in 2012, took a language course and found work as a receptionist.

She met a man, Mohammed Assad, on the Match.com dating website and by February 2014 she found she was pregnant.

By all accounts the relationship was not a close one. By then the relationship was almost at an end - it certainly had no further to run in the news of the pregnancy.

Precious life has been lost and her father has also lost his daughter Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC

Ms Boscolo-Gnolo returned to Italy, that was in September of 2014 and Farah was born to her in November.

Upon her delivery the baby was found to have a defect in her left eye. Its characterised by an abnormally small eyeball in the socket and a sight defect us likely to develop in later life.

Although it may have affected the sight in the eye the visible appearance can be corrected by surgery.

According to her grandmother, Farah was a calm, healthy child - fed well, didnt cry much and was a normal baby - and the defendant, during the first weeks was a good mother - attentive, caring.

Two months after Farahs birth Boscolo-Gnolo booked a flight to the UK without informing her parents.

She later told police she packed in a hurry, and didnt even have a cot for Farah and just carried her in her arms.

Shortly after checking into the Hotel Lilly in 25 January, she left the hotel alone to go to the shops.

She told psychiatrists that Farah was fast asleep and this was the first time she had left her alone.

She made contact with the babys father and also a former colleague by text.

It later emerged that Boscolo-Gnolo (pictured) had wrapped the childs body in a suitcase and smuggled it out of the hotel, disposing of it in a bin in the Russell Square area in central London

The following day she again left the infant alone for over an hour.

Her friend met her at the hotel that evening and Boscolo-Gnolo told her the relationship with the father was over.

She told her she was in the UK to try and get an eye appointment for her daughter, but seemed tearful and distressed.

At the time of the offence you were in fact suffering from depression but with psychotic symptoms Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC

Boscolo-Gnolo arranged to meet with her again friend the following day, and also spoke to get parents via Skype.

Mr Haywood said: Again, at that time the baby appeared to be well. For reasons that were later apparent Farahs death occurred on that Sunday night.

Ms Boscolo-Gnolo was distressed and over-tired, she had been hearing voices during the course of that evening - speaking in threats, they were in English, they were male and she began to feel a great deal more hopeless.

She told a psychiatrist: I was feeling hopeless, I was feeling exhausted. I realised there was no reason for Farah to suffer. 

Mr Haywood continued: She described how her feelings of her own life - based on being a young woman in her circumstances - she felt life was hopeless and felt there was a life of suffering to follow.

That was based on her own experiences and that was likely to be aggravated by her condition, continuing her account, she felt there was no option but to save her and prevent her future suffering.

Boscolo-Gnolo (pictured) had apparently become 'overwhelmed' by her situation as a mother, was depressed, and suffering from 'psychotic' symptoms, the judge said

She felt it was a positive decision, she took a pillow and placed it over Farahs face for a few seconds, she then thought What the hell am I doing? - the voices would switch on and off and she said "I was in reality and unreality".

She said I took the pillow again, put it on her face for a few minutes until she was not moving, I was not saying anything while I did it. I felt relieved when it was over.

The day after the killing, Boscolo-Gnolo left the hotel to buy rubber disposable gloves, a roll of black bin liners and a new suitcase, and also to check into a different hotel.

Late in the afternoon, she was caught on CCTV leaving the hotel with a pink suitcase she bought from Primark and her black handbag. It is believed Farahs body was in the suitcase.

Boscolo-Gnolo will have to live with her actions for the rest of her life Detective Inspector Jamie Stevenson

Boscolo-Gnolo told her parents that her baby had been taken off her by British social services, causing them to board the next flight to the UK.

When they arrived, she told them that the little girl had in fact gone missing when she had popped to the shops and the room had been cleaned.

She said she hadnt been able to report the fact the baby was missing because she had fainted and had not come round until 9pm that evening.

Boscolo-Gnolo did not confess to what she had done until she had been transferred to a psychiatric hospital from prison.

Mr Haywood said: Its the Crowns case that at the relevant times she was suffering from an at least moderate if not severe depressive condition, perhaps overlaid with other features.

The Crown does not suggest that, absenting these conditions, these offences would have occurred.

Boscolo-Gnolo appeared in the dock at the Old Bailey, flanked by mental health workers, as members of her family sat in the well of the court following proceedings through a translator.

After she pleaded guilty, Detective Inspector Jamie Stevenson said: This is a tragic case for all involved and Boscolo-Gnolo will have to live with her actions for the rest of her life.

Farah had already been rejected by her father, who chose not to be a part of her life, she was then victim to the one person who should have protected her most.
A Marine veteran has been reunited with his service dog in Utah after the pup disappeared from his hotel room.

The dog, Raider, has helped Chris Galliher transition back into normal life after serving seven years in the Marines, but he went missing this week while the two stayed the night at a roadside Discovery Inn.

They were driving home to Spokane, Washington, when Galliher decided to pull up, but Raider ran away from the hotel.

The following day, Galliher was contacted by the Utah Vet Center, who had found Raider, and the emotional reunion was captured on video.

Emotional reunion: Raider has helped Chris Galliher transition back into normal life after serving seven years in the Marines, but he went missing this week while the two stayed the night at a roadside hotel in Utah

'You scared me so bad': This is the moment the two were reunited by the Utah Vet Center after a long apart

They were driving home to Spokane, Washington, when Galliher decided to pull up, but Raider ran away

In the emotional vid, Raider runs straight to Galliher and starts licking his face.

'Where'd you go? Where have you been? You scared me so bad,' Galliher asked Raider in the video, which was filmed by KTLA.

Galliher said he hardly slept at all the night before, worried that he would never see his dog again.

He credits Raider with being instrumental to his life after returining from Afghanistan.

'I got Raider when I felt like I felt like I was in a dark cave and there was no chance of seeing the light again and getting him was like having a little glint of hope,' he told the network.

Service dog: Raider has helped Chris Galliher transition back into life after serving seven years in the Marines

Reunited: The two are now safe at home in Spokane, Washignton, with Galliher's family

The two were actually on their way back from official duties at Camp Pendleton when Raider went missing.

'Having him with me side-by-side makes me more confident, strong, and more like the sergeant in the Marines I once was,' Galliher said.

Galliher suspects that his furry companion may have caught a glimpse of a squirrel which sent him bolting out of the hotel room.

The two are now safe at home in Spokane with Galliher's family.

Video captured the tearful reunion between a Marine veteran and his service dog after the pup went missing from his Utah hotel room
Mr Joyce is proud he is being given the opportunity to act as PM

The Deputy Prime Minister is taking on the interim role for almost two days

Barnaby Joyce is taking up the role of Acting Prime Minister of Australia for the first time while Malcolm Turnbull visits China.

The Agriculture Minister and Nationals leader's interim job began around 9pm on Wednesday after Mr Turnbull's aircraft took off to visit Australia's biggest training partner.

The 'sweaty, big gutted man from Australia' - as noted by Johnny Depp - will therefore have two days to fill in as the Prime Minister.

Barnaby Joyce (second from right) will be Australia's Acting Prime Minister while Malcolm Turnbull (center) visits China

Opposition agricultural spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon told the Courier Mail, Barnaby Joyce can risk Australia's International reputation even if he is only in charge for two days.

'I think most Australians are more than a little concerned at the prospect of Barnaby Joyce as Acting Prime Minister,' said Mr Fitzgibbon.

'It's no secret that Joyce is erratic and has said things in the past that have risked damaging our international reputation. We need cooler heads and safer hands in our national leadership than Barnaby Joyce.'

But Australia's Acting Prime Minister appeared to be humble as he downplayed the temporary role in a statement to news.com.

'Australian politics does not have a President. No-one is walking around with a suitcase with the codes to the bomb in it,' said Mr Joyce.

'Even the Prime Minister is merely the chair of Cabinet and the acting Prime Minister is the acting chair of Cabinet.

'Regardless, I am very proud that a kid from Woolbrook Public School is for a brief period of time the acting Prime Minister of Australia.

Malcolm Turnbull left to china on Wednesday night and will be heading back to Australia on Friday

Mr Turnbull is visiting Shanghai before heading to Beijing during which he is expected to discuss Australia's key positions on trade, investment and regional security as well as meet China's Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping.

During this time the Acting PM will spend most of his time on Friday and Saturday in Tamworth defending his seat in New England in northern New South Wales where he faces a challenge from independent and former local member Tony Windsor.

But Mr Joyce is also undertaking his new role just days after coming under fire for chartering two helicopter flights to a small regional town in his electorate.

On March 24, Mr Joyce reportedly caught a helicopter flight from his base in Tamworth, NSW, to the small town of Drake. The second flight was last year.

Each flight believed to have cost about $4,000 and was chartered in a bid to avoid a four-hour drive from Tamworth to Drake.

The Deputy Prime Minister will undertake the role as Acting Prime Minister just a few days after coming under fire for chartering two helicopter flights in a bid to avoid a four-hour drive




Film was axed from Tribeca after other filmmakers threatened to pull

He insists there is more to MMR controversy saying 'let's find out the truth'

De Niro, who has an autistic son, 18, claimed today he is not anti-vaccine

Robert De Niro says he regrets pulling a controversial film linking the MMR vaccine to autism after his son changed 'overnight' following the jab.

The veteran actor and founder of the Tribeca Film Festival came under fire last week after announcing he would screen Vaxxed: From Cover-up To Catastrophe. He reversed his decision on Saturday.

Today he insisted he was not anti-vaccine but was 'pro-safe vaccine' as he admitted part of him regretted axing the movie.

The 72-year-old said he made the decision as he did not want the backlash to affect the film festival but insisted that 'the movie is something that people should see.'

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Robert De Niro says he regrets pulling a controversial film linking the MMR vaccine to autism after his son changed 'overnight' following the jab

De Niro was joined by fellow Tribecca Film Festival founder and producer Jane Rosenthal on The Today Show as he discussed his decision to pull the documentary

'All I wanted is for the movie to be seen and people can make up their own judgement but you must see it,' he said during an appearance on The Today Show.

'Let's find out the truth, let's just find out the truth.'

He added that he hadn't yet 'fully explored' the fierce backlash against the documentary 'and I will.'

De Niro, who has an 18-year-old Elliot son with autism, said he had hoped that screening the film could have started a 'discussion' about the alleged link between the vaccine and autism.

'There's a lot of things that are not said. Nobody seems to want to address that, or they say they've addressed it and it's a closed issue.

'But it doesn't seem to be because there are many people who say they saw their kid change overnight.

'My wife says that (is what happened to my son). I don't remember. But my child is autistic.

'I, as a parent, of a child who has autism, I'm concerned, I want to know the truth.'

De Niro also suggested that people should watch another documentary, Trace Amounts, which focuses on the now disproved link between autism and vaccines.

'There's a lot of information about things that are happening with the CDC, the pharmaceutical companies, there's a lot of things that are not said,' De Niro added.

De Niro admitted he was 'not too sure' about the disgraced former British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, who is at the center of the documentary.

While saying he had played no part in the selection of the film for the festival, he said he hoped it would foster discussion about alleged links between common childhood vaccines and autism. His son Elliot, 18, is autistic

Discredited: Andrew Wakefield directed the documentary in which he sets forth his own theories about an alleged link between the MMR vaccine and autism. His 1998 study was widely discredited for being based on fraudulent data

But he wanted to help overcome the reluctance to talk about the issue, both in the scientific community and in the general public.

He felt that people were trying to 'shut down' discussions around vaccines and autism.

'Theres more to this than meets the eye, believe me,' he warned. 'Theres something that people arent addressing. And for me to get so upset here, on the Today show, with you guys, means theres something there.'

The actor said he simply had not anticipated the 'knee jerk' reaction from filmmakers - many of whom had threatened to pull out the festival.

'Part of me does (regret pulling it), and part of me says let it go for now and I'll deal with it later in another way.

'Because I didn't want the festival to be affected.'

De Niro told the presenters he was skeptical of the scientific community's findings that there is no link between the vaccine and autism.

'I believe it's much more complicated than that. I'm not a scientist but i know because I've seen so much reaction.

'I'm not anti-vaccine, but I'm pro-safe vaccine.'

The 72-year-old went onto compare the reactions of some children to medications such as penicillin - and claimed it could be the same with vaccines.

He even questioned the rise in cases of preventable diseases, such as measles, across the country since the MMR controversy.

'There's a kind of hysteria, a knee jerk reaction. Everybody should have choice whether to take vaccines or not. But it does benefit big drug companies.'

The actor and producer had first announced he would be screening the documentary at the festival in a personal statement last week.

De Niro, pictured here with his autistic son Elliot (centre) and his wife Grace Hightower (right), said he watched Vaxxed with members of the scientific community and that it doesn't 'further' discussion on autism

Parents: Robert De Niro and his wife Grace (pictured together) are the parents of an autistic child

'Grace and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined,' he said, referring to his wife of 18 years, Grace Hightower.

The statement continued: 'In the 15 years since the Tribeca Film Festival was founded, I have never asked for a film to be screened or gotten involved in the programming.

'However this is very personal to me and my family and I want there to be a discussion, which is why we will be screening Vaxxed.

'I am not personally endorsing the film, nor am I anti-vaccination; I am only providing the opportunity for a conversation around the issue.'

However, he later said that after reviewing the film alongside Tribeca organizers and members of the scientific community, the decision to screen the movie had been reversed.

He continued: 'The Festival doesn't seek to avoid or shy away from controversy. However, we have concerns with certain things in this film that we feel prevent us from presenting it in the Festival program. We have decided to remove it from our schedule.'

The documentary claims that US health authorities 'sliced and diced' data linking the triple jab for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) to rising autism rates.

It was directed by Wakefied, who began the MMR controversy 18 years ago with an article published in British medical journal The Lancet.

That report said that there was a link between a bowel disease, autism and the MMR jab, and kick-started a suspicion of vaccinations that, according to the Associated Press , led to immunization rates in the UK dropping from 92 percent to 73 percent, and as many as 125,000 US children not being immunized.

That triggered outbreaks of measles - a potentially deadly disease - across Europe and the US on a scale not seen in decades.

Wakefield's article was savaged by critics, who questioned his methods and results, and he was found guilty of gross lapses of medical ethics by the UK's General Medical Council, which removed his doctor's license - the strongest punishment it can inflict.

The former doctor has always protested his innocence and the value of his research, and Vaxxed was his attempt to reignite the controversy.

In Vaxxed he claims the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention manipulated data, adding: 'The CDC had known all along there was this MMR/autism risk.'

Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, England's chief medical officer during the MMR scare, said: 'Wakefield can't appear to accept he has been wrong, wrong, wrong.'

Spoke out: Robert De Niro issued a statement on Friday defending the decision to screen the controversial anti-vaccine documentary Vaxxed at the Tribeca Film Festival, that he co-founded. He reversed it the following day

De Niro has said previously that he decided to star in David O. Russell's film Silver Linings Playbook because he has a child with 'special needs.'

While promoting the film in February 2013, he teared up during an appearance on NBC's Today as he talked about why he chose to do the movie, in which he played the father of a bipolar man played by Bradly Cooper.

'If you're a father, you certainly understand what it's like to go through the worry about your kids, especially if they've got issues like Bradley's character has,' he explained.

'Sometimes it can be overwhelming. It can be nightmarish and upsetting. There's nothing much you can do but deal with it.'

De Niro and Hightower also have a young daughter Helen Grace, five, and the Raging Bull star also has four older children from previous relationships.

The Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 13-24.
Indian police are investigating whether Madhu, pictured was killed by members of her family because of her relationship with a lower-caste man

A family accused of killing their daughter because she fell in love with a lower-caste man are facing a murder investigation in southern India.

The 21-year-old victim - named only as Madhu in local media - is said to have been killed because she refused to give up the romance.

Reports say the university graduate had threatened to elope with the boy if her parents did not give the relationship their blessing.

Investigators in Nanjangud believe the family killed Madhu and then arranged a quick funeral and cremation before anyone could inspect her body.

Neighbours had become suspicious of the rapid funeral, and believe that the girl's family were trying to hide something. They reported the girl's death to police, who have now seized her remains.

Forensic scientists are examining her remaining ashes and bones to see if they can find any evidence of a violent death. Although the cremation has already taken place, it appears that investigators still believe there could be evidence of foul play.

According to local media, police commissioner Abhinav Khare explained: 'We have collected samples of ash and bones which are being examined.

'A thorough investigation is underway.'

Last month, an Indian woman hanged herself after village elders punished her family over a suspected affair with a lower-caste man.

The 25-year-old, who had four children, died as dozens of villagers gathered outside her house in central Madhya Pradesh for a party the council had ordered her family to host as a punishment.

She was found 'guilty' of having a relationship with a man from the lowest Dalit caste last month.

The unnamed woman was ordered to host the drinking party, fined 5,000 rupees (53) and told to attend a local temple to atone for her 'sins', police confirmed.

The council had earlier sanctioned a social boycott of the family but changed the penalty after the woman's family pleaded before the village elders.

Indian police, file photograph, said they have recovered samples of ash and bone and will conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether there is any evidence of foul play in connection with Madhu's death

The incident took place in Nanjangudu in southern India according to sources in the local media

Maduresh Pacharui, a local police officer, said: 'It seems she was depressed with the events and over her alleged affair with her husband's co-worker, who is a Dalit.

'We are investigating the panchayat's [council's] role.'

Nobody has been arrested over her death so far, he added.

Village elders exert enormous influence over rural life, particularly in northern India where they act as arbitrators for millions of poor villagers who do not have access to legal recourse.

Although they carry no legal weight and are unconstitutional, they can be highly influential and have been blamed for numerous abuses such as the sanctioning of 'honour killings'.
A powerful earthquake has rocked south-east Asia, with tremors felt hundreds of miles away in east India where William and Kate visiting on their Royal tour.

The 7.0-magnitude quake struck Myanmar, around 62 miles northwest of the city of Monywa at a depth of 135 km, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Neighbouring India was also hit, with powerful shocks felt in the eastern city of Guwahati.

Journalists covering the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's tour of India told how they felt tremors when they got back to their hotel in Guwahati.

Fear: People crowd onto the street in Agartala, the capital of India's northeastern state of Tripura, after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck northern Myanmar, with felt tremors felt for hundreds of miles around

The Daily Mail's Royal Correspondent Rebecca English tweeted: 'Well we made it back to Guwahati but within two minutes of getting into the hotel there was an earthquake.'

The hotel was around 300km from the Kaziranga National Park where the Royal couple had spent the day on safari before heading to an animal sanctuary to feed baby elephants and rhinos.

It is not yet know if there are any casualties, what damage has been caused or whether the Royals were affected.

A powerful earthquake has rocked south-east Asia, with strong tremors felt hundreds of miles away in India
A huge search was underway this afternoon for a missing eight-year-old Connor Beck (pictured)

An eight-year-old boy who sparked a huge search after he failed to turn up at primary school this morning has been found safe and well.

Connor Beck left his home in Lochmaben, in Dumfries and Galloway, at around 9.20am this morning to go to Lochmaben Primary School.

But he did not arrive in time for classes at the school, which is around half a mile's walk from his home, and was reported missing when he failed to turn up.

However, he was found this afternoon and has now been reunited with his worried family.

Connor was last seen in the town's High Street, which would be on Connor's way to school, at around 9.30am.

Friends and family, as well as police officers, were out searching for Connor, who was wearing his school uniform when he was last seen.

His father David Beck told ITV that his son's disappearance was 'completely out of character'.

'I'm absolutely heartbroken,' he said.

'It's not like him to go missing at all, he's usually so quiet and shy. He was in good form last night - we were playing in the summer house.'

Police said Connor was 4ft tall with red hair and freckles.

When he was last seen he was wearing a red Lochmaben school jumper, had a dark school bag with him and was possibly wearing a dark jacket.

A Police Scotland spokesman told MailOnline: He has been found safe and well and he is now back with his family.'

Connor Beck left his home in Lochmaben, in Dumfries and Galloway, at around 9.20am this morning to go to Lochmaben Primary School (pictured). He has since been found and is now back with his family
A group of firefighters in Nebraska could not believe their eyes when they were called to a job on Saturday.

Wes McGuirk had returned to his home in Louisville after going out for dinner and couldn't find his 120-pound Great Dane Kora anywhere.

Calling out for the dog, he heard a noise and looked up, suddenly realizing that she was stuck up in a tree, 20 feet from the ground.

'We kind of looked at each other ... they can't be serious,' Jon Hardy, a lieutenant with the Plattsmouth Fire Department, told KHOU.

Weirdest call ever: The local fire department had to rescue a 120-pound Great Dane named Kora from up a tree in Louisville, Nebraska, on Saturday night

Stuck: It is suspected that the dog chased a raccoon up the tree and became stuck up there

Not moving: Rescuers tried in vain to get Kora to go back down the way she went up

After trying for 30 minutes to get the large dog down to safety, the owner decided to call for help

Finally: This is the moment that Kora was nudged off the tree and fell into a fire blanket below

No one saw how Kora, the Great Dane who is a quarter Mastiff, got up the tree, but there's suspicion she was chasing a raccoon.

McGuirk tried for 30 minutes to get Kora down, but then had to call the fire department for help.

A group of 15 responders arrived at the scene, initially trying to get Kora to come down the way she got up.

They also tried to use a harness and a ladder to get her down, but that didn't work either.

McGuirk thinks Kora might have been chasing a squirrel or raccoon, but how the long-legged pup got so high in the tree is still a mystery

Finally, the rescuers prepared a large fire blanket, and nudged Kora off the tree branch.

'She never hit the ground,' Hardy said. 'It worked like we hoped.'
Sen. Ted Cruz's aggressive campaign to put pro-Cruz delegates on the road to the convention seems to be paying off.

A new Washington Post analysis finds that Cruz will pick up at least 130 more delegates using this strategy and that's a conservative estimate, with more than 170 delegates added to his roster more likely.

That's enough delegates to kill Donald Trump's path to the nomination if all goes according to the Texas senator's plan.

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Sen. Ted Cruz is using the Republican rule book against Donald Trump, trying to stack the delegate deck in his favor in hopes that the billionaire doesn't clinch the nomination before Cleveland

Sen. Ted Cruz picked up all of Colorado's delegates this weekend by paying close attention to how the people are selected, in this case a series of selection conventions

Cruz is betting on Trump not getting the necessary 1,237 delegates  a majority  by the end of the GOP nominating contests on June 7.

Right now Trump still has a narrow path to clinching the Republican nomination outright, but he would have to win by greater margins in the upcoming primaries than he has to this date.

Meanwhile, Cruz is fewer than 200 delegates behind, so a swing of 150 or so on the second ballot is substantial.

Additionally, as the rules stand now, candidates must have won a majority in eight states in order to be considered for the nomination, which means that only Trump and Cruz are currently eligible, though the RNC's rules committee could make a change.

The point of having primaries and caucuses is to elect delegates that then go to the parties' nominating conventions in the summer to make their pick for the nominations.

How those delegates are assigned to a candidate varies, with some states doling out delegates on a winner-take-all basis  like Ohio  and others divvying them up by the winner of each congressional district and other smaller areas.

On the first vote for the Republicans, 95 percent of these delegates are 'bound' meaning that they have to vote for the person who was selected by the voters in their geographic region.

After that, on the second ballot, 1,800 delegates from 31 states, which is nearly 60 percent, become unbound from that candidate, the Post's analysis noted.

By round three, 80 percent of the delegates are unbound.

What Cruz is doing is working a ground game to ensure that the actual, human delegates are his own supporters, willing to switch from Trump to Cruz if the billionaire fails to meet the 1,237 majority on the first ballot and then voting goes to a second.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus was having none of The Donald's grumbling, suggesting that the frontrunner's campaign should have been paying better attention to the rules

That strategy has been most evident in Colorado, where Republicans decided against holding a caucus this year.

A plan to hold a primary failed during last year's legislative session.

So instead delegates were chosen through a series of conventions, starting at the county level and moving up to state-wide.

On Friday, seven congressional districts picked three delegates each, with the 21 people picked all supporters of Cruz.

On Saturday at the state convention, another 13 delegates were selected and they all support Cruz too, meaning he picked up 34 in total from the state.

This tally got The Donald mad, as he was clearly out-gamed.

'The system is rigged. It's crooked,' Trump declared on Fox and Friends Monday morning.

Beyond Colorado, Cruz has allies coming in from Iowa, Virginia, Indiana, South Carolina and a number of other areas where Trump won, amounting to the 150 or so that the Washington Post is projecting.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has petitioned the 21 states where he won delegates to have them stay bound to him for the first ballot, in an effort to thwart Trump as well.

Trump spent the last two days complaining that he's being robbed because of these rules.

Last night the Republican National Committee's chairman responding via a tweet.
Ahhhh, sweet photos, arent they?

The kind that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, giggling with joy as they fed a baby rhinoceros and elephant calf today on their trip to an Indian animal sanctuary.

It makes me sick: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge giggled with joy as they fed a baby rhinoceros and elephant calf today on their trip to an Indian animal sanctuary

Feeding elephants: A more positive image it would be hard to imagine, especially for a future king who has made the conservation of wildlife his cause celebre

They were, we were told, delighted to play parents to a group of vulnerable creatures being nursed back to health at the Kaziranga National Park after being injured or orphaned in the wild.

A more positive image it would be hard to imagine, especially for a future king who has made the conservation of wildlife his cause celebre.

So why does it make me feel sick to the very pit of my stomach?

Well, perhaps its because Prince William likes rich people hunting down these same beautiful animals, killing them in often elongated torture sessions, posing for repulsively smug photos next to their rotting carcasses, and then severing their heads for their office walls back home.

Thats why.

We know this because he said so only last month.

Speaking to ITV News, he openly supported trophy-hunters, saying: Theres a place for commercial hunting. Its not everyones cup of teabut if somebody out there wants to pay money  and it wouldnt be me  but if somebody did, then it is a justifiable means of conserving species that are under serious threat.

Hmmm, really Your Royal Highness?

A photo emerged in 2014 of Prince Harry posing proudly with a one-ton water buffalo he had downed during a gap year trip to Africa a decade ago

We saw exactly what these trophy-hunters are like last summer with the case of Cecil the ageing lion and Dr Walter Palmer, an American dentist from Minnesota.

He paid $50,000 to fly thousands of miles into the Zimbabwe bush to illegally lure poor Cecil from his compound and try to kill him with a bow-and-arrow.

Only Cecil didnt die immediately. Instead, he stumbled off, wounded and bloodied, for 40 hours before Dr Palmer and his group finally caught up with him and shot him dead.

Then they beheaded Cecil, skinned him, and left the rest of his body lying outside the park where he lives.

Further investigation of Dr Palmers work revealed photos of his smirking face next to dead leopards, tigers, rhinos, bison, elks and anything else that might look good in his snuff trophy cabinet.

Which brings me back to Prince William, the self-appointed face of global wildlife conservation.

He thinks this is absolutely fine.

Shot dead: We saw exactly what these trophy-hunters are like last summer with the case of Cecil the ageing lion (pictured) and Dr Walter Palmer, an American dentist from Minnesota

I mean, HE wouldnt pay the money to do it, as he clarified, but then I doubt William has to pay for almost anything these days. Thats one of the benefits of being the future King of England.

Murderous thug: Dr Palmer with a dead leopard

But he has no problem with murderous thugs like Dr Walter Palmer doing it. In fact, he actively encourages them to.

This is hardly surprising given that the British royal family has killed more animals than probably any other family in the world, mostly in the name of sport.

Their palatial homes are packed full of their hunting trophies.

At Sandringham alone, the Queens home in Norfolk where the family gathers each Christmas, there are 62 stuffed animals including two rare rhinos, a leopard, an Indian tiger, the tusks of an elephant and two lions.

Leader of the current royal trophy-hunting pack is Williams grandfather Prince Philip whose whole life has been spent hunting animals around the world.

In 1961, on a trip with the Queen to India he sparked an international furore by killing a tiger, a crocodile and six urials, a type of mountain sheep.

Yet hilariously, Philip remains President Emeritus of the World Wildlife Fund, seeing no contradiction between his 90-year lust for killing animals with his supposed desire for saving animal life.

His grandson has inherited the same bizarrely inconsistent traits.

Two years ago William was caught shooting deer and wild boar in Spain, days before taking part in a high-profile campaign to highlight the perils of illegal wildlife poaching.

A few months later, a photo emerged of his brother Prince Harry posing proudly with a one-ton water buffalo he had downed during a gap year trip to Africa a decade ago.

Harry these days likes to pose for rather different pictures of himself lying across sedated elephants, while informing us that the slaughter of animals like these is a pointless waste of beauty.

Protesters criticise the hunting of Cecil the lion in the car park of Dr Palmer's clinic in Minnesota last July

He and William, like so many supporters of trophy-hunting, would have us believe that its essential to bringing money to countries that desperately need it to conserve wildlife.

This fatuous argument reminds me of the NRAs adage that the only way to stop gun violence is with more guns.

The truth is that far more money comes in for conserving wildlife from tourists who want to see these great beasts free in their natural habit than ever comes from trophy-hunting.

And much of the trophy-hunting revenue is lost anyway to corrupt politicians.

Its a repellent, invidious, loathsome pastime that should have been outlawed a long time ago.

Theres simply no justification for encouraging rich tycoons to obliterate animals for large sums of cash just so they can add to their slaughter-selfie collection and snuff trophy cabinet.

The fact Prince William continues to do so whilst simultaneously cuddling baby rhinos and elephants makes him look either laughably unaware or deeply cynical.

Collection: At Sandringham, the Queens home in Norfolk where the family gathers each Christmas, there are 62 stuffed animals including two rare rhinos, a leopard, an Indian tiger, the tusks of an elephant and two lions

Theres a precedent for how to handle this kind of problem.

Three years ago, ex-King Juan Carlos of Spain was stripped of his position as honorary president of the Spanish World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) the moment it emerged he had been illicitly elephant hunting in Botswana.

Although this type of hunting is legal and regulated, it has been deemed incompatible by many members with the honorary presidency of an international organisation that defends wildlife and the environment like WWF, they said in a statement.

Well, quite.

To my mind, it has become equally incompatible for Prince William to continue in his dual roles as Conservation King and Trophy-Hunter Champion.

At the moment it seems akin to putting a fox in charge of the hen-coop.
They then forwarded the video to five girls at nearby Loreto College

The boys filmed a fellow student masturbating in the school bathroom

Students at an elite private boys school have been disciplined after circulating humiliating footage of a boy performing a sex act on himself in a bathroom.

The Year 8 boys from the prestigious Christian Brothers College in Adelaide allegedly filmed a fellow student masturbating in the bathroom, without his consent or awareness.

They were then said to have forwarded the lewd video to five girls at Loreto College via a social media group chat, The Advertiser reported.

It is believed the footage did not reveal the boy's private parts.

Students at Christian Brothers College (pictured) in Adelaide allegedly filmed a fellow student masturbating in the bathroom

It is believed the video of the boy performing the sex act on himself was filmed without his consent or awareness. It did not reveal the boy's private parts

A South Australia Police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia that police were aware of the incident, which happened last year, and had provided advice to the school.

They took no further action because the matter 'did not involve any criminal offending.'

Shaun Clarke, acting principal at Christian Brothers College, said the school was aware of the incident and had appropriately disciplined the students involved.

'This incident has been fully investigated and all appropriate follow-up has occurred  including reports to relevant authorities, counselling and disciplinary action,' he said.

'The school has comprehensive cyber safety policies and education programs in place, in line with the Keeping Safe child protection curriculum.'

After the shocking news made headlines on Wednesday afternoon, Loreto executive principal Dr Sylvia Walton sent a letter to parents to clarify the situation.

They then reportedly forwarded the lewd video to five girls at Loreto College via a social media group chat

'A group of five Loreto students were the unwilling recipients of an unsolicited video sent via a social media group chat on a Saturday in February when they were not on school grounds,' she said.

She then went on to add that only two of the students had opened the crude message, and they had immediately deleted it and informed school authorities.

SA Police also said it was important for parents to be aware of their children's online conduct.

'SAPOL reinforces the need for parents to be vigilant in respect to their child's online behaviour and engagement, particularly with individuals not known to them.'

'It is an offence to possess, disseminate or distribute any material that features the exploitation of a child.'

'The distribution or dissemination of child exploitation material causes further trauma and re-victimises the child.'
A 15-year-old obsessed with the Yorkshire Ripper who admits killing two people was interviewed by police after the second killing - but was let go until 11 months later, a court heard today.

The teenager, now 17, admits the manslaughter of disabled father-of-five James Attfield, who was stabbed 102 times in March 2014.

Three months later, the boy attacked Saudi Arabian student Nahid Almanea, 31, knifing her 16 times and stabbing her in the eye as she walked through a park.

The teenager was one of 69 people interviewed in the days following Ms Almanea's murder in June 2014, Guildford Crown Court was told today.

But he was not formally arrested until May last year when he was found with a knife lurking in woods close to where Ms Almanea's body was found in Colchester, Essex.

James Attfield was stabbed 102 times by a youth in Colchester who went onto kill another victim months later

When interviewed, the boy confessed to both killings but said voices had told him to 'sacrifice' the pair.

He also said he had wanted to strangle a police officer as she visited him in his cell.

Police later found the boy had DVDs and books about serial killers including Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and the Stockwell Strangler at his Colchester home.

The teenager has admitted two counts of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility and possession of a knife. He denies two counts of murder but his guilty pleas were rejected by prosecutors.

He was originally interviewed because he had carried out a knife-point robbery in a convenience store in January 2014, during which he demanded a lighter and a pack of cigars from the cashier while holding a six-inch long kitchen knife.

The boy was sentenced in the youth courts and given a referral order under supervision of the youth offending team, it was said.

Adam King, prosecuting, said: 'After the killing of Nahid Almanea 69 people were interviewed by police.

'The defendant was one of them. This was because police records showed he had a conviction for an offence involving a knife.

'He was interviewed on June 30th voluntarily, not as a suspect, and in the presence of his mother. He told police he was at home at the time Ms Almanea was killed.'

The boy was released without charge or arrest.

This is the last footage of Nahid Almanea before she was stabbed by the teenager. He was questioned over the attack but later let go

This is the last known sighting of disabled man James Attfield, who was stabbed 102 times on March 29, 2014

Jurors were shown videos of two police interviews with the boy in the days after his arrest in 2015 in which he described in detail the killings of Mr Attfield and Ms Almanea.

He said voices had told him to 'sacrifice' the pair because they had committed 'sins'.

The teenager also said he had kept press cuttings about the killing of Mr Attfield in a plastic folder, the court heard.

The boy also said the voices took 'control' over his body during the killing of Mr Attfield.

Describing the second killing, he said: 'You could see all the blood spilled.

'The voices were like laughing and laughing at her so I thought it was the right thing to do. They control my body.'

A police officer also asked him: 'You didn't kill her because she was a Muslim?'

The boy replied: 'No. They were telling me she was a sinner.'

He said he stabbed her in the eye after knocking her sunglasses off.

A police officer asked him: 'What's the reason for stabbing her in the eye?'

To which he replied: 'They shall not see evil. The voices. It's a sacrifice.'

Asked why he had knocked them off, he replied: 'So I could stab her in the eye.. You know like the three monkeys. They see no evil.'

Mr Attfield was killed in Castle Park, Colchester. His killer denies murder saying 'voices' told him to do it

The boy said he had three knives - a survival knife used to kill Mr Attfield, a ten-inch bayonet to kill Ms Almanea, and a lock knife which was found on him before his arrest in 2015.

Reflecting on how he felt about it, he said: 'A bit sad and a bit it was the right thing to do because the voices were telling me they have committed sins.'

And he also told them he wanted to attack a police officer as she visited him in his cell.

The boy said: 'My voices told me 'strangle her, get rid of her, strangle her'.'

The court also heard how police seized DVDs and books from the boy's home after the arrest, among which were titles including 'Find Torture Kill', a DVD about Peter Sutcliffe, one called 'Serial Killers', 'Wrong Turn: the Carnage Collection' and one about the killer Ted Bundy.

The books included 'Broadmoor' by Charles Bronson, 'The World's Worst Crimes', 'Talking With Serial Killers', 'Wicked Beyond Belief' and 'Love of Blood'.
A Nebraska college student who has been kicked out of her sorority because of a 'provocative' picture posted on her Tinder eight months ago has spoken out about the decision.

Shannon Workman, a junior at the University of Nebraska Omaha, posted the photo of her and two of her 'sisters' wearing Bid Day shirts that read 'Sweet Home Chi Omega.'

But her sorority, Chi Omega, reportedly described it as 'risque' and told Workman the photo violated the sorority's Human Dignity rule, and the 20-year-old was ultimately kicked out.

Rather than be humiliated further, Workman decided to leave the group herself and a backlash over the incident has since ensued.

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Shannon Workman - who was kicked out of her sorority over an apparently 'risque' photo - has spoken out about the decision. Pictured above on Good Morning America, Wednesday

University of Nebraska Omaha student Shannon Workman said she was kicked out of her sorority because of a 'provocative' picture (shown above) posted on her Tinder profile eight months ago

Workman (pictured as she became emotional during an interview) had been a member of the sorority for three years before she was kicked out last week

Speaking out on national news for the first time, the confused student explained how she is still in shock that the photo escalated into her being booted out - but says she stands by her decision to leave.

Workman told Good Morning America Wednesday that when she looks at the apparently 'provocative' photo all she sees is 'happiness'.

She also addressed the claim that she was aggressive with sorority personnel over the matter, which they said contributed to their final decision.

But Workman said: 'All I did was text the personnel chair and ask for clarification. I was in shock that I was given a personnel because I didn't do anything.'

The college junior (right) and her mother, Jill (pictured left), found the picture to be innocent, but she said Chi Omega found it 'risque' and told Workman the photo violated the sorority's Human Dignity rule

Omega released a statement saying that because 'Shannon opted to voluntarily resign her membership' nothing could be done as 'the national organisation offers an appeal process for those who do not voluntarily resign'.

But she says had she known there was an option to appeal the decision, she maybe wouldn't have left.

Despite the unhappy situation, her former sorority sisters have been 'very supportive', she says.

STATEMENT FROM CHI OMEGA 'Personal matters are handled by our local chapters. 'Chi Omega's process offers a series of checks and balances to ensure any sanctions imposed are reasonable and fair. 'Shannon opted to voluntarily resign her membership. 'The national organisation offers an appeal process for those who do not voluntarily resign.' Chi Omega National Chapter, April 12 Advertisement

She added that it was important for girls to 'stand up for what they believe in'.

'There's nothing provocative about the picture whatsoever. It's in very good taste and not risque. It's ridiculous,' Workman's mother, Jill, told WOWT.

Workman, who had been a member of the sorority for three years before she was kicked out, had posted the picture on her Tinder profile in August.

'It was me at Bid Day wearing the outfit they gave us,' she told the station.

But last week, her sorority called her in for a meeting with its new executive board during which she was told she had violated its Human Dignity rule.

According to the rule, it states sorority sisters would not post photos wearing their letters on platforms that would bring 'disrespect to the chapter,' her mother told the New York Daily News.

Workman had reportedly already removed the picture from her profile on Tinder, so she as not sure why she was still in trouble.

'There's no way she could read that rule and see it apply to Tinder,' Mrs Workman said. 'It's not different from Facebook or any other site.'

On Facebook last week, Workman's mother wrote of how her daughter was kicked out of her sorority and said she is proud of her daughter for sticking up for herself

Mrs Workman said after the photo had appeared on her daughter's profile for eight months, how it 'suddenly' became a problem, calling the ordeal 'ridiculous', according to WOWT.

When she was initially contacted by her sorority, she said she started questioning them about what rule she had broken.

So when she was told to come in for a former personnel, she said she had a feeling that something was going to go wrong.

As she met with the executive board, she recorded the meeting on her phone in which she can be heard telling the board she does not see where she is in the wrong.

A person who appears to be a board member at one point is heard telling Workman they are receiving a combative attitude and disrespect from her, WOWT reported.

'We've asked you multiple times do you see where this is in violation and you keep saying no. So that tells me that you do not...' a person is heard saying before Workman interrupts stating, 'I was just being honest.'

'That's okay and that's great,' a woman is heard saying.

'If I'm going to get kicked out for that then let it be,' Workman then says.

Later in the conversation, Workman asks if the sorority has a 'hit list of people' they are trying to get out of the chapter, to which a person responds no.

Workman and her mother pictured above. The two other girls standing next to Workman in the picture in question, her big and her little, have reportedly since left the sorority

Workman, a cheerleader at the university for two years, is no longer a Chi Omega and her mother said she told them 'I'm never coming back' after she left the meeting

'I don't understand this. Out of all the people in the chapter I'm the only one getting kicked out because I'm standing up for what I believe in,' Workman is heard saying through tears.

'What you believe in doesn't align with what we believe in,' a woman is heard saying in response.

Workman walked out of the meeting no longer a Chi Omega and her mother said she told them 'I'm never coming back,' according to the New York Daily News.

The two other girls standing next to her in the picture, her big and her little, have reportedly since left the sorority.

Former Chi Omega member, Lacey McPhail, wrote on Facebook that she was 'forcibly kicked out' of the sorority and that she knows at least 10 other girls who were forced to resign their membership.

'I am glad someone is speaking out about the corrupt goings on of this "Christian" sorority,' she wrote in a post last Monday.

'Since I have been removed I know of at least 10 other girls who have been removed for dating profiles, liking tweets/statuses, going to a party, and similar, very common college activities.

She continued: 'This sorority is not run by the active members but instead by the advisors, they have a complete dictatorship over what the girls can wear, post, and say.'

Dustin Wolfe, the Assistant Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, at the university said in a statement to WOWT that the incident is a 'personnel matter' of a social organization.

Former Chi Omega Zeta Delta, Lacey McPhail, wrote on Facebook how she was 'forcibly removed' from the sorority and said that she is glad someone is speaking out 'about the corrupt' activities of the sorority
A Snapchat picture which appears to show a girl in 'blackface' while dressed as Tupac has sparked outrage at a Texas high school.

The image shows the teenage girl with black paint on her face as she smiles and clasps her hands together during an event organized by a secret club run by students at Lamar High School in Houston.

The girl - who has not been identified but is believed to be a sophomore - is wearing a Tupac shirt, leading some to believe that she painted her face black to dress up as the late rapper.

The screenshot spread like wildfire on Twitter, infuriating other students at the school who have accused the girl of being racist.

A Snapchat picture which appears to show a girl in 'blackface' while dressed as Tupac has sparked outrage at a Texas high school

Students told Click 2 Houston that the party was organized by a secret society called Wichaka, but others on Twitter named the club as Pow Wow.

The club is said to hold hazings and the girl was told to wear a costume by seniors, students said.

'I thought it was blackface and I was immediately offended,' student Ogechi Anene said.

'She was supposed to be Tupac. If you were to impersonate a black person even as a costume I don't think it's appropriate to wear black paint on your skin.'

Another Lamar student, identified only as Jess, tweeted: 'Even if her intentions aren't to be racist it's still offensive. And it's the same thing as blackface.

'She's painting herself black while representing Tupac. That's all I need to know.'

A third student, called Lucy, said: 'To anyone defending her, please learn about the history of blackface and get your s*** together.'

However, other students leaped to the girl's defense, saying the teenager came to the party dressed as a shadow, not a black person.

The image shows the teenage girl with black paint on her face as she smiles and clasps her hands together during an event organized by a secret club run by students at Lamar High School (pictured) in Houston

Reagan Shadwick was not at the party because she was grounded but said she was friends with the organizers.

'It's not anything with blackface, we didn't even know what blackface was,' she said.

'It was supposed to be a shadow. They asked her to bring a black shirt and that happened to be the shirt she was wearing.'

She gave a different explanation to WFAA, telling the news station that the girl was dressed as Tupac but the costume was not intended to come across as racist.

Wahid Fady, who was at the party, said the whole situation had been 'greatly misinterpreted'.

'It was interpreted in a racist manner, which it wasn't intended to be,' she said. 'And social media has a tendency to boost these things to make them go viral.'
It has been almost 20 years since the body of JonBenet Ramsey was found in the basement of her family home in Boulder, Colorado just one day after Christmas, and the investigator hired by her parents to find the person or persons responsible for her death is now revealing who he believes killed the child beauty queen.

In an interview with InTouch, Ollie Gray, who continued to investigate the murder case even after he stopped working for the Ramseys, claims that the child's killer was a local 26-year-old who family owned a junkyard on the outskirts of the city - Michael Helgoth.

'Based on what we know now, I believe Helgoth and his accomplices committed the crime. There's no doubt about it,' said Gray.

That opinion was backed up by John Kenady, a man who used to work for Helgoth, who told the magazine; 'There was a tape recording made by Helgoth. And in it, he said he killed JonBenet.'

Kenady also claims that someone close to Helgoth still has the tape, which was overlooked by police during the investigation.

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Case solved?: The private investigator hired by John and Patsy Ramsey to find out who killed their daughter JonBenet (above) claims it was Michael Helgoth

Suspect: Helgoth's family owned a junkyard on the outskirts of town and he confessed to the killing on a recording claims one of his former workers (Michael Helgoth above in 1996)

Family: Her parents were the primary suspects in the case for over a decade, but were finally cleared in 2008, two years after Patsy died of ovarian cancer (JonBenet, John, Patsy and Burke in their 1993 Christmas photo)

Kenady claims that he first grew suspicious of Helgoth a month before the murder.

'In late November, Helgoth had told me that he and a partner were going to make a great deal and they each will bring in around $50,000 or $60,000,' said Kenady.

'I will never forget we were walking toward his house and he said, "I wonder what it would be like to crack a human skull."

'I was amazed. I thought it was a very odd thing to say.'

The body of JonBenet was found bludgeoned and strangled hours after she was reported missing and covered by a white blanket with a nylon cord around her neck, her wrists bound above her head and her mouth covered by duct tape.

Her skull was also cracked.

Her parents John and Patsy had called police to report her kidnapping and said they found a note demanding a ransom of $118,000 for her safe return - and that they had not contact the authorities.

Despite this, police arrived to their home shortly after in clearly marked vehicles.

John and Patsy would remain the primary suspects in their daughter's death for more than a decade, and it was not until 2008 that police finally cleared them of any wrongdoing.

At that time, Patsy had been dead for two years after a lengthy battle with ovarian cancer.

Details: Invetsigator Ollie Gray spoke to InTouch

She was initially suspected by many of being the murderer after reports emerged that handwriting on the ransom note was similar to her own, but after she willingly provided a sample to police it was determined she did not write the note.

Many also suspected someone in the family as they claimed there were no footprints in the snow around the house and the ransom amount was the exact amount that John had just received in his annual bonus.

Gray however says that if police had just listened to Kenady they could have solved the case, but they refused to call him back despite the fact that he reached out almost 20 times with information about Helgoth.

'Kenady provided very relevant information that should have been a priority lead,' said Gray.

'But I got the distinct feeling that the Boulder police had absolutely no interest in anything that took away from the theory that John and Patsy Ramsey killed their daughter.'

Then, on February 13, 1997, Alex Hunter, who was then the district attorney, held a press conference where he spoke to JonBenet's unknown killer, saying; 'The list of suspect narrows. Soon there will be no one on the list but you.'

Helgoth died of an apparent suicide two days later at his home. Kenady believes he was murdered by an accomplice or accomplices who were with him when he killed JonBenet.

'The gun was found on Helgoth's right side, but the bullet hole goes from left to right. It doesn't make sense why someone would commit suicide in that manner,' said Kenady.

'He was murdered to keep his mouth shut.'

A few years after his death however Helgoth was cleared when it was revealed that none of his DNA was found under JonBenet's fingernails or in her underwear.

Gray however thinks that he is the killer, and claims he knows how to officially solve the case once and for all.

'If they could find out who killed Helgoth it could lead police to his accomplices in her murder,' he explains.

Tragedy: The body of JonBenet (above in 1996), a child beauty queen, was found bludgeoned and strangled in her basement on December 26, 1996 when she was just six-years-old

Difficult: John says that after his daughter's death, he and his wife Patsy did everything they could to could son Burke from the allegations he killed his sister (John above in 2006 with his father at his mother's funeral)

Suspects: John and Patsy Ramsey leave their attorney Lin Wood's office after questioning by Boulder Police shortly after their daughter's death

Many however still believe it was a member of the family, something JonBenet's father addressed in an interview with Barbara Walters that aired last year.

Appearing on Barbara Walters Presents American Scandals, John said that he and his late-wife Patsy did everything they could to protect their son Burke from learning that he was being accused of murdering his sister.

No one in the family was ever charged in the death of the six-year-old, but for years tabloids and members of the public believed they were the culprits of this unspeakable crime.

Most of these stories focused on parents John and Patsy, but some went so far as to claim that Burke had been responsible for his sister's death - despite the fact that he was only nine-years-old at the time.

'We tried to shield him from that,' John said of the tabloid reports about Burke.

'Friends would ask us, "What can we do to help?" We said, "Next time you go in the supermarket, call the manager over when you see our childs photo on the front cover, and ask him to remove it." A lot of them did that.'

Stories would point to the fact that Burke was in the house when JonBenet was reported missing, but his parents always stood firm on the fact that he was sleeping the entire time and did not wake up until after they called police.

He was exonerated by DNA evidence in May of 1999, a little over two years after the murder.

Burke - who is now 28-years-old - has never spoken publicly about his sister's death and has kept a low profile for the past decade.

John also said that he still believes the killer will be found.

'I think we will have two ways that will happen,' John tells Walters in their interview.

'It will either be a DNA match or someone who knows something will become angry or bitter against this person and will tell.'

Male DNA was found on the underwear of JonBenet when her body was discovered, but authorities have never been able to match it to a suspect.

There was also a bowl of pineapples found in the kitchen when the young girl was first reported missing but police on the scene allowed someone to clean the bowl.

This ended up being a crucial error as JonBenet was found with pineapple in her stomach when her body was examined by the coroner.

The house was also not sealed off by police and friends and family were allowed to come and go during the initial investigation, contaminating the crime scene.

Scene: The Boulder home where the family lived at the time of JonBenet's murder, which was sold for $650,000 in 1998

John - who was briefly linked to Natalee Holloway's mother Beth in 2007 and remarried in 2011 to Jan Rousseaux - also discussed how he lost his millions after the death of JonBenet when he decided to move the family out of Boulder and back to Atlanta, not realizing the stigma that would be placed on him by the public and how difficult that would make it for him to obtain a job.

'I was told by a very experienced FBI person that most victims of violent crime end up broke,' said John.

'It's very expensive to deal with the justice system. You make bad decisions - you sell your home, you quit your job, you move, you change jobs.'

In addition to losing JonBenet, John had also lost his oldest daughter Elizabeth from a previous marriage in 1992 when she was 22-years-old after she was in a car accident.

As a result of what he has gone through, he now has advice for others who might face a similarly tragic situation.

'When something really tragic happens in your life, put your life in park. Give your checkbook to a trusted friend. Avoid making any big decisions,' said John.

'Because you're just not capable of making good decisions.'

The case will be revisited later this year on CBS, where they are planning an unscripted miniseries which will reunite members of the original investigation team and bring in new experts to re-examine the murder mystery.

JonBenet, who would now be 25 years old, is buried next to her mother Patsy in Georgia.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been caught up in a massive earthquake that rocked south-east Asia today, causing people to rush out of homes and buildings in panic.

The 7.0-magnitude quake struck Myanmar this afternoon, sending powerful shock waves across eastern India and Bangladesh.

The tremors were also felt around 500 miles away in India's Kaziranga National Park where Kate and William are staying in a riverside lodge on their tour of India.

Royal rumble: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been caught up in an earthquake on their tour of India (pictured, the Royals taking a safari through Kaziranga National Park in east India this morning)

The earthquake which struck north-east India near the country's borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh downed power lines (pictured in Imphal)

British Deputy High Commissioner Scott Furssedonn-Wood, who was staying in the same jungle resort as the couple, said: 'We felt the tremor very strongly, but all is fine.'

Journalists covering the royal tour told of their terror after tremors rocked their hotel in Guwahati, around 300km from the national park.

The Daily Mail's Royal Correspondent Rebecca English said: 'The lobby of the hotel started swaying and the staff warned us to stand away from the check-in desk because of falling glass.

'The tremor got progressively worse. The floor started swaying and then staff urged us to run outside into the car park until they could access how severe it was going to be.

'The entire incident probably lasted only about a minute but was frightening.'

She added: 'I have heard directly from members of the Royal Household in the Bhutanese capital of Thimpu who felt it there and understand that it was felt in Assam, where they couple are staying.

'I am assured everyone is OK though.'

The 7.0-magnitude quake struck at a depth of 84 miles, around 250 miles north of Myanmar's capital, Naypyidaw, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Cracks line the front of a telecommuncations building in Imphal, India, after a 7.0-magnitude quake struck Myanmar this afternoon

The 7.0-magnitude quake struck at a depth of 84 miles, around 250 miles north of Myanmar's capital, Naypyidaw (pictured, damage in Imphal)

The tremors were felt around 500 miles away in India's Kaziranga National Park where Kate and William are staying in a riverside lodge on their tour of India

Five were killed in India, the government said, while three people died in Bangladesh (pictured, a damaged building in Imphal, India)

Residents in Myanmar's main city of Yangon panicked after the quake struck, but authorities there said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

An Associated Press journalist who was in a hospital in Yangon at the time of the quake said the six-story building shook strongly twice, for at least a minute.

Many people in the hospital, including patients, staff and visitors, ran out of the building and began calling their loved ones.

'I was sleeping on my bed when suddenly I felt the ground shaking,' said Aung Thu, 25, who has been spending nights at the hospital to take care of his elder brother.

'The first time it was intense, but the second time it was lighter.

'I had experienced this kind of earthquake before, so I was not that scared. But I was concerned because my brother is ill, and I need to take care of him.'

He said he was on the third floor of the Shwegonedine Specialist Center hospital, and as soon as he felt the quake he called his wife and son to tell them to be 'prepared for the worst.'

Residents in Myanmar's main city of Yangon panicked after the quake struck (pictured, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Assam, India today)

Tremors were felt around 500 miles away in India's Kaziranga National Park (pictured) where Kate and William are staying in a riverside lodge on their tour of India

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge watch villagers dance in Pan Bari Village, Assam, India, today

The quake was centered in the jungle and hills around 137 miles northwest of Mandalay, Myanmar's second-biggest city.

While the area is prone to earthquakes, it is generally sparsely populated and most houses are low-rise structures.

Hotel receptionist Ko Hein Htet, 23, told of cracks forming in buildings in the city of Monywa, 85 miles from Mandalay.

The tremors were felt in the eastern Indian states of Assam and West Bengal, including Kaziranga National Park, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited on their tour of India.

The royal couple are spending the night in the park area and are scheduled to leave for neighboring Bhutan on Thursday.

A failure at a power station in eastern Assam caused outages in several parts of the state.

In Assam's capital, Gauhati, people rushed outdoors as they felt strong tremors and buildings swaying.

Fear: People crowd onto the street in Agartala, the capital of India's northeastern state of Tripura, after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck northern Myanmar, with felt tremors felt for hundreds of miles around

A handout shakemap provided by the US Geological Survey shows the epicentre of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake (indicated by a star) in north-western Myanmar

Cellphone services were disrupted, and wall-mounted television sets crashed to the ground at a local TV station. Police said they were still assessing the situation.

Residents in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state, ran out of their homes in panic as the earthquake hit the region, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
It comes as a man was arrested in Spain today for links to Charlie Hebdo

The suicide bombers who hit Brussels last month - Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui - were also key players in the November Paris attacks, ISIS has claimed.

The latest edition of the group's English-language propaganda magazine Dabiq states the two personally obtained the weapons and explosives for the attacks.

It comes as a man was today arrested in the Costa del Sol, Spain suspected of providing terrorist Amedy Coulibaly - infamous for his role in the Charlie Hebdo shootings - with weapons.

Ibrahim (right) and Khalid El Bakraoui (left) organised weapons for the Paris and Brussels attacks, ISIS claims

Ibrahim El Bakraoui, along with another jihadi, detonated one of the bombs at Brussels airport, killing and injuring dozens

The two bombs which exploded in the airport terminal came just days after a member of the group's ISIS cell was arrested in the Belgium capital

A security guard helps a woman injured in the blast at the Belgian metro following the airport bombing

The jihadist group's magazine said of Khalid El Bakraoui: 'All preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels started with him and his older brother Ibrahim.

'These two brothers gathered the weapons and the explosives.'

If the group's claim is proven, it would mean the brothers played a more prominent role in the Paris attacks than previously thought.

The magazine also says Najim Laachraoui, who blew himself up with Ibrahim El Bakraoui in Brussels' Zaventem airport, had prepared the explosives for the attacks in Brussels and Paris.

Khalid El Bakraoui detonated his explosive suicide vest on a crowded metro train in the attacks which killed a total of 32 people in the Belgian capital.

ISIS gunmen and bombers killed 130 people in Paris on November 13 in attacks on bars and restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium.

The latest edition of ISIS's magazine also paid tribute to Mohamed Belkaid, an Algerian who was shot dead in a police raid in Brussels during which other suspects escaped six days before the attacks on the city.

Dabiq said that although Belkaid could have escaped, 'he decided to make this his final stand and to ensure his brothers a safe exit'.

Pictured is the cover of the latest edition of ISIS's English-language propaganda magazine Dabiq

Meanwhile, officers have swooped on an address in Rincon de la Victoria, half an hours drive east of Malaga, to detain a man named locally as Antoine Denive.

Frenchman Denive, 27, is understood to have been held on a European arrest warrant.

Coulibaly, who had sworn allegiance to ISIS, killed four people in a Parisian kosher grocery store in January 2015 after shooting dead a policewoman the day before.

He said in a video published after his death he had coordinated his attacks with Cherif and Said Kouachi, the brothers who stormed the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in the French capital on January 7 last year, killing 11 and injuring another 12.

All three men died within minutes of each other in separate shootouts with the police at the supermarket and a printworks east of Paris on January 9 2015.

Spanish police are said to have seized fake documents used by the suspect in their raid as well as a valid European passport belonging to another person.

A source at the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid confirmed Denive had already appeared before a judge at the court in a behind-closed doors hearing - and agreed to be extradited.

The source said: 'He appeared after being detained on foot of a European Arrest Warrant for arms trafficking and membership of a criminal organisation. He agreed to be extradited.

'Judge Eloy Velasco remanded him in jail pending his extradition.'

Spains National Police, in a tweet confirming the arrest, said: 'Detained in Rincon de la Victoria in Malaga province, an arms trafficker. He supplied the material with which the Paris attacks were carried out.'

The countrys Interior Ministry also confirmed the arrest in a statement in which they described it as a joint operation between Spanish and French police.

It said: 'Yesterday the officers arrested in Rincon de la Victoria Antoine Denive, a French arms trafficker, and searched his home in this town in the province of Malaga.

A man was today arrested in Spain for allegedly selling weapons to Amedy Coulibaly (pictured) who coordinated attacks on Paris in January with the attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine

Brothers Cherif (left) and Said Kouachi (right) were responsible for the massacre at the satirical magazine's offices in January last year

Here they are pictured opening fire on police during a tense shootout in the streets of Paris

'The 27-year-old, born in Sainte Catherine in the Pas de Calais area, was the object of a European Arrest Warrant issued by the French authorities.

'He has been identified as the head of an arms trafficking network which supplied the French terrorist Amedy Coulibaly, author of the Paris attacks of January 8 and 9, 2015, with weapons.'

The statement said an investigation in France had established Denive fled to Malaga weeks after the attacks and continued his criminal activities using fake documentation.

It added: 'It has also been determined that the detainees activities were related to individuals of Serbian origin, who could have facilitated the weapons and ammunition.

'Different fake documents used by the arrested man, together with a European passport belonging to another person, were seized during the raid, as well as computer equipment which is being analysed.
Mr Laycock wants to develop a relationship with his father outside of jail

The son of infamous criminal the 'Postcard Bandit' has spoken out for the first time to say he fears he will never have the opportunity to develop a relationship with his father outside of jail.

Bank robber Brendan Abbott went on the run and taunted police with postcards after breaking out of Fremantle jail in Western Australia in 1989.

James Laycock, 25, who was born while his father was on the run, is now appealing for him to be released after a magistrate ordered Abbott return to Western Australia to face another 16 years behind bars.

The notorious prison escapee has served 18 years of a 25-year sentence in SuperMax at the Woodford Correctional Centre northwest of Brisbane, reported The Courier Mail.

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James Laycock, the son of notorious prison escapee the 'Postcard Bandit' has spoken out in hopes of having his father's extradition to WA appealed

Notorious prison escapee the 'Postcard Bandit' has been ordered by a magistrate to return to Western Australia where he could face a 16 year jail sentence

Mr Laycock only remembers meeting his father face-to-face five times and is now hoping to have a chance to develop a proper relationship with his father.

'My whole life I've only known him behind bars,' Mr Laycock said.

'Before he passes away I'd like to spend some quality time with him'.

According to Mr Laycock, his father who is considered to be a high-risk after managing another escape out of jail in 1997, will never attempt another escape and regrets many of his past actions.

Although Mr Laycock is not holding his breath as Abbott's lawyers attempt to stop the extradition, the 25-year-old is hoping to spend some quality and private time with his father in his old age.

'I'm getting older now. I'm going to have kids soon. It would be good to have him around,' he said. 'I'd like to take him shopping. I'd like to show him how different things are'.

The 25-year-old is eager to have conversation with his father that aren't monitored or constrained by time.

Brenden Abbott was under heavily police guard as he was transferred back to the Brisbane Police watch-house after he was denied bail at the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday

The court heard Abbott is yet to serve 4,590 days of his sentence, plus an additional third of that as a penalty for escaping from Freemantle Jail in 1989, Perth Now reported.

Magistrate Gardiner suspended the order pending a Supreme Court application by Abbott's legal team to review the decision.

They now have 24 hours to lodge the application or the suspension will be lifted and Abbott given two days to get to Perth, where police prosecutor Kevin Carmont said he could spend an estimated 16 years in jail.

But his lawyer, Andrew O'Brien, argued the proposed extradition was oppressive and an abuse of power, partly because Abbott had himself repeatedly tried to resolve the WA matters but been rebuffed.

Brenden Abbott, 53, spent more than six years evading authorities and managed to escape from two prisons

West Australian Police have confirmed they will seek Abbott's extradition so that he can face the remainder of his sentence there for various crimes, including breaking out of jail

Mr O'Brien said it was unfair a matter from the late-1980s was being brought up now given Abbott had sought to be transferred to WA from Queensland custody in 2002 but was knocked back.

However Sergeant Carmont said the matter shouldn't fall into oblivion because a lengthy amount of time had elapsed.

If the legal team meet the deadline, the stay of execution will persist until the review is finalised. He will remain behind bars in the meantime.

Abbott, who spent more than six years evading authorities and managed to escape from two prisons - by dressing up as a guard and using wire to slice the bars on his cell, was denied bail as he was deemed an unacceptable risk of failing to appear.

This comes after the infamous bank robber was whisked to the Brisbane Watch House under heavily armed guards on Tuesday morning shortly after being released on parole from the Brisbane Correctional Centre at Wacol following 18 years in Queensland prisons.

South Australian authorities have also confirmed there is a warrant in that state for Abbott's arrest but reaffirmed they have no current plans to pursue it.

While behind bars, Abbott took up painting portraits of famous figures and on the back of each work, would leave a thumb print and sign his name

Abbott (pictured left with tourist) spent more than six years evading authorities and managed to escape from two prisons before finally being sentenced to 25 years served at the SuperMax at the Woodford Correctional Centre northwest of Brisbane

Abbott, who grew up in the suburb of Broadmeadows in Melbourne's north, has an extensive criminal history.

When he was just 12 years of age, he hit a schoolgirl with a bicycle pump and was subsequently sent to a Perth detention centre as a ward of the state, according toThe Courier Mail.

He left school at 15 and by his mid-20s, joined a gang who robber Perth electrical stores. After being arrested in a raid, he asked a Nollamara police officer for a drink, unlocked the door to the interrogation room and escaped.

Abbott then participated in a number of bank robberies throughout the 1980s, where he would 'drop' from the ceiling wearing a balaclava and threaten staff with a gun.

He was convicted of one of the robberies in 1987, and sentenced to 12 years in prison served at the high-security Fremantle prison

Abbott grew up in the suburb of Broadmeadows in Melbourne's north and when he was just 12 years of age, he hit a schoolgirl with a bicycle pump and was subsequently sent to a Perth detention centre

Abbott was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment at the then-new SuperMax at Woodford Prison (pictured), 80 kilometres north of Brisbane

While behind bars, Abbott began painting portraits of famous figures such as former prime minister Gough Whitlam and boxer Mike Tyson (pictured) to send to his then-girlfriend

While behind bars, Abbott was hired by the tailor shop and used the opportunity to make prison guard uniforms. Along with fellow inmate Aaron Reynolds, he managed to escape through the roof of the prison.

Abbott, spend five and a half years on the run, donning disguises, making fake IDs and committing bank robberies to keep himself afloat. It is estimated he stole up to $6 million.

He was finally captured in Queensland in 1995 and sent back to prison in Brisbane. Two years later, he broke out for a second time by cutting through his cell bars with wire smuggled in by an accomplice.

Abbott and his accomplice Brendan Berichon, 19, travelled to Melbourne and managed to evade authorities for another eight months, before Abbott was finally arrested at a laundromat in Darwin in 1988.

He was sentenced to 25 years at the then-new SuperMax at Woodford Prison, 80 kilometres north of Brisbane.

Abbott was subject to surveillance checks every 15 minutes and the bars checked twice a day while in solitary confinement. He has been moved between cells more than 200 times.

While behind bars, Abbott began painting portraits of famous figures such as former prime minister Gough Whitlam and boxer Mike Tyson to send to his then-girlfriend.
A 99-year-old San Francisco woman has won an eviction reprieve, and for now won't have to leave the apartment where she has lived since the 1940s.

Eleven years ago Iris Canada was promised she could keep living in her flat for the rest of her life, for $700 a month, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Lawyers for the unit's owners  Peter Owens, Stephen Owens and Carolyn Radisch  contend the retired nurse has not lived continuously in the flat and has failed to keep the place up.

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Iris Canada, 99, (pictured) will get to stay in her apartment for at least another week. Her landlord is looking to evict her from the house where she's lived since the 1940s

Canada's 670 Page Street apartment is located in San Francisco's Lower Haight neighborhood. The average one-bedroom in the city costs $3,590 to rent

Her attorney, Michael Spalding says she was, for a time, in the hospital following a stroke and caring for a sick relative.

A judge postponed the eviction and ordered lawyers for both sides back next week to determine if it should be lifted permanently.

'I feel happy,' Canada said after the judge's decision to put the eviction on hold.

'San Francisco is my home, and my home is my home. I don't want to go anyplace,' the nonagenarian told the Chronicle.

Housing Rights Committee counselor Gus Brown, who said he was a friend of Canada's, told the Chronicle that the owners of the 670 Page Street flat, in a sense, resented her for staying alive.

'They thought in 2005 that, in two or three years, she'd be dead,' Brown said. 'That's what this is really about.'

Canada's apartment is located in the city's Lower Haight neighborhood, where the median income is nearly $95,000 and the average house is worth $835,000, according to public records.
A German comic has been placed under police protection after he insulted the Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan with a crude poem prompting the government in Ankara to seek the funny-man's arrest.

Jan Boehermann read a poem on ZDF on March 31 which linked the hard-line Turkish president with bestiality and the suppression of Kurdish and Christian minorities, prompting an international row.

Turkish officials contacted Angela Merkel's government demanding action against Boehmermann, demanding they prosecute the comedian for insulting a head of state.

German comedian Jan Bohermann, pictured, has insulted the Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan

President Erdogan, pictured, has demanded Bohermann is prosecuted over the insulting poem

The incident has caused an international row which must be handled by Chancellor Angela Merkel, pictured

Erdogan also launched a legal action against Boehermann over his controversial poem.

Mopo.de is reporting that German police have been forced to offer Bohermann protection followoing his outburst.

Chancellor Merkel has faced criticism at home over her willingness to deal with Erdogan over the current EU migrant crisis.

Erdogan is known for his intolerance of criticism and readiness to take legal action. Turkish prosecutors have opened nearly 2,000 cases against people for insulting him since he became president in 2014, the justice minister said last month.

Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said: 'The assessment of the Turkish cable and of further action resulting from it is still going on. We ask for patience.'

Seibert also reiterated Merkel's commitment to freedom of speech, but tried to separate that from the immediate political reality.

He said: 'It is important that the migrant deal with Turkey is implemented. We, Germany, and Turkey have a mutual interest in this succeeding ... but totally separate from that, we clearly acknowledge Article 5 of our constitution, which guarantees freedom of opinion, of science and of art.'

Critics argue that Merkel partly brought the problem on herself, by telling Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on a phone call that the poem was deliberately offensive.

It would be legally possible under German law to prosecute Boehmermann. But as practical matter, such prosecutions are very rare. Only a handful of investigations have been conducted under the relevant laws over the past 15 years, say officials.

Under the relevant section of Germany's criminal codes, the government has to authorise prosecutors to pursue a case against Boehmermann. Requiring such political intervention in a judicial matter is antiquated and should be abolished, critics say.

A spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry said there were no immediate plans to abolish it but that the ministry was aware of a discussion taking place within some political parties.

Meanwhile, Turkey has invited Merkel to inspect a new refugee facility for dealing with Syrian refugees, although it is understood she will not be attending the meeting.

Seibert said there would be no trip on April 16.

However, Davutoglu had said that Merkel would join other European leaders in opening the school and hospital in the southeastern Turkish city of Kilis on the Syrian border, which houses a massive refugee camp for Syrians who have fled their country's devastating five-year war.

The centre was built under a new agreement between Turkey and the EU, spearheaded by Merkel, which aims to stem mass migration to Europe and the drowning of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean in rickety boats.

Despite Davutoglu's announcement, German authorities never confirmed the visit to the city, which is frequently a target of rocket fire from Syria.
A multi-millionaire former couple are embroiled in a bitter High Court battle over their tanning shop empire and pot plants following the breakdown of their relationship.

Banker, Giuseppe Montalto, 53, and boyfriend Nimish Popat, 47, were in a loving relationship for almost 15 years and achieved stellar financial success.

They lived in a luxury Mayfair flat, ran a string of lucrative tanning shops in Knightsbridge, Camden and Soho, and their portfolio of central London properties was also worth millions.

The couple lived in a luxury flat on this street in Mayfair, ran a string of lucrative tanning shops in Knightsbridge, Camden and Soho, and their portfolio of central London properties was also worth millions

However, the couple split up in 2009 when Mr Montalto moved out of the home they shared, and since then have fought over how their fortune should be divided, Judge Malcolm Davis-White QC told the High Court today.

The pair could not agree who owned a classic 30,000 Mercedes 200 CLK they bought together - and even fought over four pot plants they once had in their flat.

'This illustrates the extent of the breakdown in relations that has taken place,' said the judge.

Although they never married or entered into a civil partnership, both men agreed that their relationship was 'akin to marriage'.

The pair could not agree who owned a classic 30,000 Mercedes 200 CLK they bought together, which was similar to this model

They exchanged 'commitment rings' when they moved in together and Mr Montalto gave Mr Popat another one on their 10th anniversary.

Mr Popat told the court: 'I believe what we had was special and akin to marriage.

'Although there are no legal ties, I believe these were ties which transcended such formalities'.

And, splitting their fortune roughly down the middle, the judge expressed 'serious regret' that they had not put their differences behind them.

In venomous exchanges in court, both men were attacked in the witness box, but the judge said Mr Montalto was the 'more reliable witness' of the two.

Whilst they were together, the men shared their wealth as well as their lives without keeping any close account of who owned what, said the judge.

Mr Montalto was the main breadwinner but Mr Popat worked for 'various family companies' in the property world and had experience in the fashion trade.

The judge didn't in the end have to decide which of them owned the pot plants, but he ruled that the Mercedes belonged to Mr Montalto.

In venomous exchanges at the High Court (pictured), both men were attacked in the witness box, but the judge said Mr Montalto was the 'more reliable witness' of the two

Mr Popat had paid 13,250 towards the car but had given his share to Mr Montalto and could not go back on that, he ruled.

The flat was split equally between the ex-couple, as were two companies they used to run their property and tanning salon businesses.

Judge Davis-White concluded: 'It is a matter of serious regret that this case could not have been settled much earlier and at considerably less cost and heartache.
Terror cells wanting to inflict mass civilian casualties could hit London with a ballistic missile, an expert has warned.

Militants will attack the capital from a longer range because security services have become so good at defending Britain from 'conventional' terror plots, he said.

Peter Roberts, an expert at the Royal United Services Institute, said London was too difficult for suicide bombers to attack - but they could wipe out civilians with a missile thousands of miles away.

Using a map stretching out to Iran, he said: 'These are the nations where not necessarily rogue states, but rogue actors, could hit.

'Those that have the ability and the interest in taking a shot at London. London is attractive because it is so well defended there is no other way to hit it.'

An expert warned: 'You only need to look at Brussels to understand that terrorists are much more fluid than we are. They will change their doctrine, their methods and their targets'

Britain is currently developing a ground based missile defence radar system, which will be able to detect incoming ballistic missiles so warships can shoot them down.

Setting out the UK's plan to thwart missile attacks from jihadists, a senior Ministry of Defence Official warned Britain could be targeted in the future.

Peter Watkins, director of general security policy at the MoD, told a RUSI missile conference in London: 'We do not believe that the threat at this point requires interceptors in the UK.

'But we are concerned about the threat to our allies in the areas I've mentioned and over time in the UK itself.

'So we decided we the UK should make a national contribution to enhance the collective architecture. '

But Mr Roberts, a senior research fellow at RUSI, suggested that terrorists could attack London now.

He said: 'The number of operations that the security services unpick and overturn every year makes it (London) a very difficult target for terrorist activity.

'You only need to look at Brussels to understand that terrorists are much more fluid than we are.

'They will change their doctrine, their methods and their targets. Paris became too difficult, so they attacked Brussels.

'London is a difficult target for a conventional suicide bomber. It's not so difficult for a ballistic missile.'

Setting out the UK's plan to thwart missile attacks from jihadists, a senior Ministry of Defence Official warned Britain could be targeted in the future

Mr Roberts, a senior research fellow at RUSI, said: 'London is a difficult target for a conventional suicide bomber. It's not so difficult for a ballistic missile'

The UK currently has no missile defence system as it is believed no nation is within range of striking the capital with a ballistic missile at present.

The furthest Iran's battery of ballistic missiles can travel at present is 2,000 miles - around 2,000 miles short of London.

But there are fears more advanced weapons systems could end up in the hands of jihadists in countries closer to the UK - including in war-torn Libya where Islamic State and sophisticated weaponry is rife. Tripoli is just 1,800 miles from London.

Mr Roberts said the UK currently had a 'passive defence scheme' where it is believed there will be sufficient warning of a missile being launched in the Middle East and civilians will have time to flee.

Commenting on the current lack of technology to defeat the threat, he said: 'If we want to protect our cities we need to buy that protection. It doesn't come for free.'

He said the enemy was not looking at taking out military personnel - but lots of civilians.

He said militants were fighting in 'immoral, unethical terms', and given this, he added: 'why would you pick to try and hit one UK armoured division or the US 82nd airborne with a ballistic missile when you could hit London?

'Because our enemy is not looking to destroy our forces, they are looking for a cognitive impact.

'They're looking for economic disruption, they're looking to gain influence over the general population. This is about messaging.

'Instead of looking how far they can strike, let's look at how far we have to defend.'

Mr Roberts added: 'We are not looking at adversaries who are planning to attack deployed forces. We are not looking at adversaries who are planning to engage in a decisive battle, we are not looking at adversaries who are going to fight by our rules.
Pope Francis was caught off guard today in a humorous moment when his vestment was blown about by a strong gust of wind.

The pontiff was later spotted joking around with the Vatican fire department at the end of his weekly general audience at the Vatican.

He began his address as usual by reading from his written remarks but the weather had other plans and the Pope's garment completely covered his face.

Pope Francis (above) was caught off guard today in a humorous moment when his vestment was blown about by a strong gust of wind

He began his address as usual by reading from his written remarks but the weather had other plans and the Pope's garment completely covered his face

Pope Francis struggled through his weekly general audience at the Vatican despite the ferocious wind

Even as he finished speaking to the 22,000-strong crowd and made his way to meet with his cardinals and members of the public his vestment continued to be blown about.

The Pope continued the light-hearted mood when he met with members of the Vatican fire service.

He tried on the bright yellow head gear and smiled as he waved at the crowd.

In his earlier remarks Pope Francis called on Catholics worldwide to pray for his upcoming trip to the Greek island of Lesbos, on the frontline of Europe's migrant crisis, saying he wanted to show 'solidarity' with the refugees and the Greek people.

He said: 'On Saturday I will go to the island of Lesbos, where a huge number of refugees have arrived in the past months.

Even as he finished speaking to the 22,000-strong crowd and made his way to meet with his cardinals and members of the public his vestment continued to be blown about

In his earlier remarks Pope Francis called on Catholics worldwide to pray for his upcoming trip to the Greek island of Lesbos, on the frontline of Europe's migrant crisis, saying he wanted to show 'solidarity' with the refugees and the Greek people

He said: 'On Saturday I will go to the island of Lesbos, where a huge number of refugees have arrived in the past months'

The pope has repeatedly spoken out about the refugee crisis that has overwhelmed and divided Europe, urging Europeans to welcome and not reject people who are fleeing war and poverty

The intention, he said, is 'to show closeness and solidarity with the refugees as well as the citizens of Lesbos and to all the Greek people who have been so generous in their welcome.

'I ask you to accompany me on this trip in prayer.'

The pope has repeatedly spoken out about the refugee crisis that has overwhelmed and divided Europe, urging Europeans to welcome and not reject people who are fleeing war and poverty.

Francis, accompanied by the Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and the archbishop of Athens, will visit the Aegean Sea island for a few hours to draw the international community's attention to the suffering of asylum seekers, many of them on the run from a devastating war in Syria.

At the start of his pontificate in 2013, he visited the Italian island of Lampedusa, where large numbers of migrants were arriving from conflict-hit Libya.

The Pope continued the light-hearted mood when he met with members of the Vatican fire service (above)
'Your [sic] only breathing cause of the kids,' one of the texts allegedly read

A man who allegedly loaded a stolen car with firearms and a home made bomb had been sending his ex-wife terrifying messages threatening to shoot her in the months before his arrest.

Giuseppe Mangolini, from Strathfield South, in Sydney's inner west, was arrested on Tuesday by the state-federal Joint Counter Terrorism Team for allegedly stockpiling an arsenal of weapons in a stolen car.

Only moments before his arrest he pleaded guilty to stalking and intimidating his ex-wife who claimed to be receiving death threats from her former partner via text and over the phone, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Giuseppe Mangolini, from Strathfield South, in Sydney's inner west, was arrested by the state-federal Joint Counter Terrorism Team on Tuesday only moments after pleaded guilty to stalking and intimidating his ex-wife

The 41-year-old was charged with two counts of possessing an unauthorised firearm, possessing explosives in a public place, and knowingly carrying it in a stolen vehicle after police found an arsenal of weaponry in a stolen car that was parked near a Strathfield school in late February.

Police allege two bolt-action rifles, an improvised explosive device made of gunpowder and shotgun pellets with a wick were inside a dark blue Honda Civic, which police claim was stolen from Chullora, south-west of Sydney's CBD.

The collection of weapons, allegedly stockpiled by Mangolini, had nothing to do with the intimidating messages he was sending his ex-partner, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

She contacted police about his behaviour after receiving several menacing texts and phone calls where she claimed Mangolini made threats against her life.

'Happy new year it will be your last,' a text she received on New Years Eve read.

The collection of weapons, allegedly stockpiled by Mangolini, reportedly had nothing to do with the intimidating messages he was sending his ex-partner

The 41-year-old was charged with two counts of possessing an unauthorised firearm, possessing explosives in a public place, and knowingly carrying it in a stolen vehicle after police found an arsenal of weaponry in a stolen car that was parked near a Strathfield school in late February

Officers from the Joint Count Terrorism Team were called in to investigate due to the nature of the items seized from the busy street (pictured)

The mother-of-three, who has not been identified for legal reasons, received another message a short time later calling her a 'sl*t' and advising that he knew 'everything' about her.

'Your [sic] only breathing cause of the kids,' the second vile text read.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, two days later Mangolini called his ex-wife and told her to expect an attack.

'Get one thing straight, you're going to be shot. You're going to die,' he reportedly said before ending the call.

Mangolini pleaded guilty to stalking and intimidation, however his lawyer has applied to have his conviction dealt with under mental health legislation.

Court documents indicate the 41-year-old is unemployed and living on a disability pension.

The Joint Counter-Terrorism Team said Mangolini has no links to terrorist organisations and that it is still not known why he was in possession of the assortment of deadly weapons.

He was served with a firearms prohibition order and a weapons prohibition order before his brief appearance in Burwood Local Court on Wednesday.

Mangolini did not apply for bail and will spend the night behind bars ahead of an anticipated release application at the same court on Thursday.
Two Britons are among 17 activists arrested after violence erupted following false rumours that the Greek Macedonia border was opening.

Severe clashes broke out on Sunday between stone-throwing migrants and Macedonian police using tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and a water cannon.

Scores were injured in the violence and Greek police have now swooped to arrest a number of activists for spreading rumours among the refugees at the Idomeni encampment that the border was to be opened up.

A man throws a tear gas shell back towards Macedonian police as migrants and refugees try to break down the border fence near their makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border

About 100 migrants spread out over about 100 metres (yards) tugging at the wire fence, but swiftly pulled back when two squads of Greek riot police moved in

Greek riot police officers deploy along the border with Macedonia, as migrants in the background throw rocks across the border fence

According to the Telegraph, they were detained but all but one activist was later released by Greek police.

As well as the two Britons, the activists were from Germany, Austria, Holland, Sweden and Greece.

Today new clashes broke out between Macedonian police and stranded refugees and other migrants trying to scale a fence on Greece's border with the country.

Greek authorities say Macedonian police fired tear gas and stun grenades to deter a group of about 30 people from trying to get over the razor-wire fence using blankets.

Greek authorities say Macedonian police fired tear gas and stun grenades to deter a group of about 30 people from trying to get over the razor-wire fence using blankets

Macedonian police officers try to protect themselves from the rocks thrown by migrants from the Greek side of the border fence

Migrants and refugees hold a protest to call for the reopening of the border near their makeshift camp

No injuries were reported from Wednesday's clashes at the closed Idomeni border crossing in northern Greece.

About 11,000 people have been living in an informal tent city on the Greek side of the border for weeks, hoping Macedonia will let them continue their trek towards Europe's prosperous heartland.

Before the shutdown, which was triggered by a similar move in Austria, further north on the migration corridor, about 850,000 people who had arrived in Greece on smugglers' boats from Turkey had entered Macedonia from Idomeni.

The violence increased friction between the two Balkan neighbours - at odds for a quarter-century over Macedonia's official name - with Macedonia accusing Greece of doing nothing to stop the rioters and Athens denouncing Skopje's heavy-handed response.

Meanwhile, Italys coastguard says it has rescued some 4,000 migrants in the past two days, adding to fears of a fresh push to reach Europe via that route as the number of migrants landing in Greece sharply recedes.

A man washes his face with water after he was struck by the tear gas on the border of Macedonia and Greece

A man injured in the scuffles is carried from the scene while several others are seen wearing masks to help protect them from the gas

The scuffles erupted on the Greek-Macedonia border today after migrants attempted to pull down a fence

However, Macedonian police (pictured) responded by firing tear gas and stun grenades at the refugees

European Union President Donald Tusk warned of the impending explosion of the sea route, saying the number of would-be migrants in Libya is 'alarming', it was reported.

On Tuesday, 2,154 migrants were brought to safety in the Strait of Sicily between Italy and north Africa, on top of the 1,850 rescued in the area on Monday, the coastguard said.

A vessel from the EU border agency Frontex and a Greek cargo ship assisted the Italian navy in conducting a total of 25 rescue operations involving 16 dinghies and a rowing boat, officials said.

All the passengers survived.

War-torn Libya is the main jump-off point for migrants trying to reach Europe from north Africa.

A spokesman for the Libyan navy said that countrys coastguard intercepted a further six inflatable boats carrying 649 migrants off Sabratha, near Libyas border with Tunisia, on Tuesday.
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Russia has dismissed criticism that its jets 'aggressively' buzzed a US warship in the Baltic Sea and said its pilots had observed all the required safety measures.

The Russian defense ministry today said its Su-24 planes were conducting test flights and claimed the USS Donald Cook was in 'operational proximity of the Russian navy's Baltic fleet base' as the reason for the flypast.

The ministry said its aircraft observed the ship and then 'turned away in observance of all safety measures'.

On Tuesday evening the Russian planes thundered over the US destroyer at a height of just 30ft in what a military official branded the most 'aggressive' incident between Russia and the United States in years.

The 'simulated attack' maneuver saw the jets pass so close to the ocean that they created a 'wake in the water', the defense official said.

The shock move came as a Polish helicopter was taking off from the US warship on Tuesday evening.

Two low-flying Russian jets (Su-24 plane pictured) 'aggressively' buzzed a US warship sailing in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday evening

Show of force: The Russian Su-24 planes thundered over the USS Donald Cook at a height of just 30ft, creating a 'wake in the water'

The maneuver was followed by seven passes by a Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter - designed to take out submarines - taking pictures of the US vessel.

The American warship was conducting air operations about 70 nautical miles from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad when the aircraft flew at an 'unsafe' speed close to the Destroyer.

Two close encounters occurred on Tuesday night in international waters, while another, at an acceptable distance, happened on Sunday.

'This is more aggressive than anything we've seen in some time,' the defense official said, on condition of anonymity.

The planes were 'wings clean', meaning they were not visibly armed.

A Polish helicopter, which was operating off the ship as part of routine training, had its flight operations disrupted because of the Russian actions.

The US warship had been followed by a Russian intelligence-gathering vessel before the incident with the attack aircraft.

Crew on USS Cook had contacted sailors on the Russian ship to reassure them they were conducting routine operations.

The American warship was conducting air operations about 70 nautical miles from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad when the aircraft (pictured) flew at an 'unsafe' speed close to the Destroyer

A Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter - designed to sink submarines - took pictures of the US vessel as it made seven passes over the ship

COLD WAR NAVAL PACT BROKEN? The events were reminiscent of the Cold War, when a series of close calls led to a bilateral agreement aimed at avoiding dangerous interactions at sea. The deal was signed in 1972 by then-Secretary of the Navy John Warner and Soviet Admiral Sergei Gorshkov. The agreement prohibited 'simulated attacks against aircraft or ships, performing aerobatics over ships, or dropping hazardous objects near them'. The 1972 Incidents at Sea agreement also urged 'the greatest caution' when approaching opposing ships and aircraft. Advertisement

While there are often encounters between US ships and foreign aircraft, this time officials and crew deemed the movements of the Russian jets unsafe, due to their speed and proximity to the ship.

The White House issued a statement condemning Russia for the latest in a series of 'concerning' clashes between the Russian and U.S. militaries.

'This incident is entirely inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries operating in proximity to each other in international waters and international airspace,' Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

'There have been repeated incidents over the last year where the Russian military, including Russian military aircraft, have come close enough to each other or have come close enough to other air and sea traffic to raise serious safety concerns, and we continue to be concerned about this behavior.'

The incident came as NATO plans its biggest build-up in eastern Europe since the Cold War to counter what the alliance, and in particular the Baltic states and Poland, consider to be a more aggressive Russia.

The three Baltic states - Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia - which joined both NATO and the European Union in 2004, have asked NATO for a permanent presence of battalion-sized deployments of allied troops in each of their territories. A NATO battalion typically consists of 300 to 800 troops.

Moscow denies any intention to attack the Baltic states, which were part of the former Soviet Union.

The USS Cook was 70 miles (marked by dotted line) from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. Its exact location has not been released

The White House issued a statement condemning Russia for the latest in a series of 'concerning' clashes. Pictured, the two planes flying past the US warship

The two planes (pictured from the USS Donald Cook) were 'wings clean', meaning they were not visibly armed as they flew past

The USS Donald Cook (pictured) was sailing in the Baltic Sea when it was buzzed by low flying Russian fighter jets at a height of just 30 feet in 'aggressive' passes

USS Cook has spent much of the last two years in Europe, following its deployment to the Black Sea in 2014 after Russia's annexation of Crimea.

While it was stationed there, it was buzzed 12 times by two Russian Su-24s in a remarkably similar incident to the one on Tuesday.

'The Donald Cook is more than capable of defending itself against two Su-24s,' the Pentagon said at the time.

The US Navy often runs routine training missions through the Baltic Sea, passing through international waters and those controlled by NATO members.

It holds a huge annual drill known as BALTOPS, which sees other allies send ships to the region for what it calls routine exercises but are seen by military experts as a show of force.

BALTOPS 2015 saw more than 5,000 units from the U.S., the UK, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Turkey conduct operations in the Baltic Sea, and off the coasts of Sweden and Germany.

Tensions with Russia were further raised earlier this year when the U.S. announced plans to station six F-15 aircraft in Finland and artillery in Norway, with both nations sharing a border with Russia.
Northern Arizona University shooting suspect Steven Jones will be released to his parents in the Valley while he awaits his trial next April on first-degree murder and aggravated assault charges.

Jones wept Tuesday as Coconino County Superior Court Judge Dan Slayton delivered the news. Families of the victims cried on the other side of the courtroom.

In February, Slayton denied the defense motion to modify Jones release conditions but said he would be willing to reconsider if he could get more information about how Jones would be monitored.

I have again reviewed the public safety assessment, the arguments and the responses and argument of counsel, obviously considering the victims and the victims representatives  the parents  statements regarding their concerns about the release of Mr. Jones, Slayton said. However, I am going to modify his conditions of release.

Slayton also set a trial date of April 4, 2017.

Jones, 19, has been locked up in lieu of $2 million bond since he shot four fellow students, killing Colin Brough, 20, in an NAU parking lot during an Oct. 9, 2015, confrontation outside the victims fraternity party. Jones told police he was acting in self-defense.

Obviously, Steven and his family are relieved, said Jones defense attorney Burgess McCowan. We appreciate the judge keeping in mind that he is an innocent man as he stands here today and we look forward to a jury making that determination.

McCowan said it was too soon to say what Jones will do for the next year while he awaits his trial at home.

This is all so new to him, I dont think hes thought about that, he said. I think hes just looking forward to giving his mom and dad a hug.

The Coconino County Attorneys Office fought to prevent Jones release, arguing he posed a threat to the community.

He shot four unarmed college students, killing one of them, the defense wrote in a March 30 court filing. There is no amount of supervision that the state feels will adequately safeguard the community.

The men who survived the shooting and Broughs parents had asked the judge to keep Jones behind bars at the February hearing.

Once he is released, Jones will be under 24-hour supervision by Maricopa County Adult Probation Departments Pretrial Services Division, which has agreed to monitor him until trial as long as he meets certain conditions. That will allow him to live with his parents in Glendale. They had offered to move if Maricopa County Adult Probation was not willing to take on his pretrial supervision.

Warren and Rose Jones support for their son is unwavering, said the defense in a March 21 court filing. Despite the significant financial hardship it would impose, Warren and Rose are willing and able to relocate to Coconino County.

Jones cannot be released from the Coconino County Detention Facility in Flagstaff until he is fitted with a GPD tracking device, which will monitor where he is at all times. Slayton said he expects that to happen within the next few days, so Jones could be back home by the end of the week.

His parents must consent to searches of their home and sign an affidavit saying they will not have any weapons there. McCowan said Jones parents had already packed up all their firearms in anticipation of Slaytons decision. Slayton also granted prosecutor Ammon Barkers request that Jones be barred from possessing or having access to any guns when he is outside the home.

Were concerned about his access to weapons outside the home, Barker said. If hes allowed to go to shooting ranges or any other place () where guns are available, thats a concern for the state.

Maricopa County Adult Probation has requested the Coconino County Attorneys Office provide them with the addresses of the victims and their families if they live in Maricopa County so they can set up exclusion zones where Jones will not be able to go.

Slayton ordered Jones to relinquish his passport. The judge denied the prosecutions request for house arrest but gave Jones a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Jones will not be allowed to drink alcohol or have any contact with the victims. Jones will have to pay Maricopa County Adult Probations GPS monitoring fee, which is $3.95 per day. He will be arrested immediately if he tampers with or removes the device.
The head of the Republican National Committee is lashing out at Donald Trump's charges that the party's presidential nomination process is 'absolutely rigged.'

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus responded to the GOP front-runner's intensifying rhetoric late Tuesday on Twitter.

Priebus says the nomination process has been known for more than a year.

'It's the responsibility of the campaigns to understand it. Complaints now? Give us all a break,' he tweeted.

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NOT AMUSED: Republican national Committee chairman Reince Priebus is losing patience with Donald Trump's claims that he's a victim of a 'rigged' party-boss system favoring Ted Cruz

'GIVE US ALL A BREAK': Priebus tweeted his disgust after Trump railed against him personally in an interview with The Hill newspaper

WANTS TO FIRE THE LOT OF THEM: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tod supporters Tuesday in Rome, N.Y. that lthe GOP's delegate selection process is 'absolutely rigged'

A day earlier Priebus vented on Twitter: 'The rules were set last year. Nothing mysterious  nothing new. The rules have not changed. The rules are the same. Nothing different.'

Trump is going on the attack as he struggles to keep pace with rival Ted Cruz's delegate operation.

Cruz made gains in Colorado, North Dakota, Louisiana and elsewhere by mastering the complicated state-by-state delegate selection process.

Trump told supporters in the upstate New York town of Rome on Tuesday night that the 'Republican system is absolutely rigged.'

The Hill, an inside-the beltway Washington, D.C. newspaper, published an interview at about the same time in which Trump claimed the delegate selection process for his party's nominating convention is a 'disgrace.'

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN: Priebus is correct that the rules in Colorado have been known for months

'WHINER': An aggressive Cruz has accused Trump of whining whenever he's not winning

He also said Priebus 'should be ashamed of himself because he knows what's going on.'

Trump has been on a tear about Colorado in particular, a state where the GOP scrapped its popular-vote primary in favor of a convention dominated by party insiders and rife with arm-twisting.

The slate of delegates that emerged after the dust settled consists of 34 people all loyal to Cruz.

Trump threatened to sue the Republican National Committee following the delegate allocation process in Louisiana, complaining that Cruz emerged with more delegates despite losing to Trump by more than 3 percentage points.

Also on Tuesday night during a CNN town hall with members of his family, Trump railed against the party, saying: 'I know the rules very well, but I know it's stacked against me by the establishment.'

'They changed the rules a number of months ago,' he told CNN host Anderson Cooper.
An Italian woman has lost an 11-year legal battle with her husband for 'moral damages' because he was unable to fulfill her sexual needs.

The 50-year-old woman, known only as Anna, took her husband to court for the distress caused by his inability to perform.

She claimed her 50-year-old husband never once satisfied her sexually and she should be paid 40,000 in 'moral damages' to compensate her for the constant disappointment.

A 50-year-old Italian woman has lost a 40,000 case against her ex-husband over his inability to have sex

The woman, known only as Anna, 50, was from the picturesque town of Civitanova, pictured, on the Adriatic

However, following a marathon court case, which began in 2004, an Italian judge has thrown out the woman's claim and instead ordered her to pay 4,000 in legal fees.

The case was heard in Civitanova Marche. The court heard the man had an anatomical problem which prevented him from having sex with the woman.

According to The Local.it, the woman claimed the lack of sex brought about the end of their marriage.

The woman even presented a certificate from her doctor which certified her as 'technically a virgin'.

The man, in his defence, admitted he had an anatomical problem, but claimed it had been repaired before the marriage.

He said he would routinely attempt to initiate sex but would be rebuffed by his wife.

Lawyers admitted during the case they could not prove whether the man had ever rejected his wife's sexual advances, but the defence claimed the fact he had two children with his second wife was proof of his sexual prowess.

Magistrates Marco Vannini and Barbara Asuni ruled: 'There is no clearer sign that he didn't have sexual problems.'

As well as dismissing the woman's case, the Magistrates ordered her to pay 4,000 in costs.




A fraudster from Cameroon who illegally entered Britain with a fake passport cannot be deported because he has a seven-year-old son, a judge ruled today.

Jude Onykwere, 40, has carried out a string of crimes stretching back more than a decade then escaped justice by using false names when he was caught.

The Home Office has been trying to deport him since 2005, but today the High Court ruled that officials must reconsider because it could be a breach of his son's human rights.

Decision: Jude Onykwere, 40, has been allowed to stay in Britain thanks to a judge at the High Court, pictured

A judge heard that Onykwere first entered the UK using a false French passport in 2003, and has lived here illegally ever since.

He used at least three different names other than his real one, and in 2005 he was convicted of stealing from an employer, possession of a fake insurance form and forging a document, and sentenced to 17 months in prison.

In December that year, officials started the fight to remove him from Britain under one of his alter egos, Alain Meboe.

However, they were initially unable to deport him because days later he lodged an asylum application under the name Alain Antoine Kuechtche Moumbe.

Ruling: The immigrant's judicial review claim was approved by Simon Bryan QC, pictured

A few months later it emerged that his real name was in fact Jude Onykwere - but it was not until 2008 that a fingerprint test revealed he was in fact responsible for all the crimes carried out three years earlier.

In 2006, he began a relationship with a British citizen, Restituta Kalemera, whom he then married in 2012 after the couple had had a son, known as 'J' in the court ruling.

He also started living with two stepdaughters, Jessica and Margaret, who are also citizens of the UK.

A court decision in 2012 ruled that Onykwere should be deported because his asylum claim was 'clearly unfounded'.

But he launched a claim for judicial review, insisting that separating him from his son would breach the child's right to a family life under Article Eight of the Human Rights Act.

Judge Simon Bryan QC - a barrister who specialises in commercial disputes and is the chief justice of the Falkland Islands - agreed, saying that there was evidence of a 'strong bond' and 'substantial emotional ties' between father and son.

Heavily involved in his son's education and his 'main carer', Onykwere regularly attended parent/teacher meetings at his primary school.

The youngster was disturbed and suffered behavioural problems whilst his dad was in immigration detention, awaiting deportation.

Letters of support for Onykwere had also been sent to the Home Office by the family's GP and the school's headmaster.

Judge Bryan said the Home Office had 'failed to apply anxious scrutiny' to all that evidence.

He ruled that Onykwere's case should now be reconsidered, which could mean he is allowed to stay in Britain permanently.
Hannah Graham, 18, was last seen in a shopping mall restaurant in Charlottesville, Virginia, with the man later jailed for murdering her and another girl

Mystery still surrounds the final moments of a British teenager murdered by a serial killer while studying in the US, an inquest heard today.

Student Hannah Graham, 18, was last seen in a shopping mall restaurant in Charlottesville, Virginia, with the man later jailed for killing her and another girl.

Her remains were found five weeks later in an abandoned property in nearby Albemarle County in October 2014.

Jesse Leeroy Matthew, 34, had 'dumped Hannah's body like trash and left it to be picked over by buzzards', a court in the US heard.

Today's inquest in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, was told her body has been positively identified by dental records and DNA.

But her family will never know how what happened in the final moments of her life.

Only a skeleton remained so an autopsy report by the US authorities was unable to tell her relatives in Harrogate exactly how she died.

Virginia's Assistant Chief Medical Officer Kevin D Whaley concluded the cause was Homicidal violence of undetermined etiology - meaning the exact reason was unclear, the hearing at Harrogate Magistrates Court was told.

Coroner Jon Heath concluded Hannah had been unlawfully killed in what was a 'very sad' case.

Hannah's death certificate, issued by the Department of Health in Virginia, had also been unable to shed any further light over how she died.

The inquest had been opened in December 2014 when Hannah's remains were flown home for funeral and cremation in Harrogate.

There was then a long delay to obtain the medical report which was only released after Matthew admitted murdering her.

Jesse Leeroy Matthew (pictured left), 34, had 'dumped Hannah's body like trash and left it to be picked over by buzzards', a court in the US heard. Hannah's remains were found five weeks later in Albemarle County in 2014

The railroad tracks through downtown Charlottesville were part of the search area for student Hannah Graham

Today's inquest in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, was told Hannah's body has been positively identified by dental records and DNA. But her family will never know how what happened in the final moments of her life

He subsequently received four concurrent life sentences for murdering Hannah and Morgan Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student.

Hannah was born in Reading but moved to the US in 2001 when her father John Graham was appointed environmental specialist at the World Bank's International Finance Corp in Washington.
Fogle, 38, is currently serving 15 years and eight months in prison

Throughout the letter he drew smiley faces and used exclamation points

He claims the media is 'making him into some sort of monster'

Fogle wrote: 'It has been a very hard nine months for me. I made a couple of mistakes but nothing like the media reports have said'

while begging the woman to keep communicating with him

In it he downplays his sex crimes and blamed Russell Taylor for his

Disgraced former Subway chain pitchman Jared Fogle is now downplaying his sex crimes against children while blaming his former foundation executive for his situation in a letter he wrote from his Colorado prison cell.

Fogle is currently serving 15 years and eight months at Colorado's Federal Correctional Institution after pleading guilty to trading child pornography and having sex with underage prostitutes last year.

Now, in a letter he wrote to a woman he knew years ago that reached out to him the 38-year-old begs the woman to keep communicating with him while downplaying his crimes against children and denying the severity.

Disgraced former Subway chain pitchman Jared Fogle (pictured) is now downplaying his sex crimes against children while blaming his former foundation executive in a letter he wrote from his Colorado prison cell

Fogle is currently serving 15 years and eight months at Colorado's Federal Correctional Institution after pleading guilty to trading child pornography and having sex with underage prostitutes last year

In a letter (above) he wrote to a woman he knew years ago that reached out to him the 38-year-old begs the woman to keep communicating with him. The letter was obtained by In Touch Weekly

The letter, which was obtained by In Touch Weekly, starts with Fogle writing 'It was great hearing from you! What a pleasant surprise,' before he drew a smiley face.

'It has been a very hard nine months for me. I made a couple of mistakes but nothing like the media reports have said,' he explains in the letter.

'They are making me into some sort of monster which is absolutely not true.

'I'm currently appealing my prison sentence and am hoping for the best with it.'

Fogle said in the letter he is appealing his prison sentence and is 'hoping for the best with it'

The father-of-two then claims that he was caught up in his friend and former foundation director, Russell Taylor's crimes.

'Bottom line, my director of my foundation and friend did some bad stuff and tried to throw me under the bus with him,' Fogle wrote in reference to Taylor who was sentenced to 27 years in prison last year.

Fogle, who had sex with two minors and obtained child pornography from 12 other young children, told the unnamed woman she looked 'so hot!! (Just like I remember), while trying to flirt with her.

'Your two pictures you sent me have just made me smile so, so, much!! Can you send me some more good ones?' Jared wrote in the letter. 'I need you in my life big time.'

The Indiana man ends the letter begging her to communicate with him over the prison email system.

'I've thought about you over the years but had no way of contacting you,' Fogle wrote.

'What is your email address? I have email access from here but I have to plug your email and phone number into the computer and then you accept it and we are good from there.

'[The email] is monitored, but who cares? LOL.'

Fogle rose to fame in the 2000s when he appeared in the fast-food chain's advertisement, after dropping 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 and his marriage. Above he is pictured with his ex-wife, Katie in 2014

He concluded by begging her to write him back as soon as she gets the letter and signed his name with an 'xoxoxo'?.

Fogle rose to fame in the 2000s when he appeared in the fast-food chain's advertisement, after dropping 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 and his marriage.
Three different Australian suppliers have been forced to recall an identically-styled metal chair after at least eight people had their toes sliced clean by the dangerous piece of furniture.

Kmart Australia, Fantastic Furniture and Brayco have all recalled their versions of the 'Tolix' chair after receiving complaints the metal leg of the chair presented a serious laceration hazard.

Well over 100,000 of the chairs, which can be sold for as little as $39 compared to the $400 price-tag of the authentic French original, have been taken back after a spree of serious injuries this year.

The latest victim of the toe-slicing metal chair was Queensland man Robert Ahearn, 62, who had half his toe severed from his foot after it got caught on the cafe chair while he was wearing thongs, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Three major Australian furniture suppliers have been forced to recall over 100,000 of their metal 'Tolix'-styled chair (Kmart version pictured) after eight people had their toes sliced

A Queensland man was the latest to fall victim to the dangerous chair after half his toe was severed from his foot while eating outside a cafe. The chair supplier, Brayco, have since stopped selling the product

In October 2015, Trae McGovern, 11 (right), had to get reconstructive surgery after stubbing his toe on a 'Worx' chair, made by Fantastic Furniture

'There's a real problem here. These chairs are everywhere,' Mr Ahearn said, after requiring eight stitches to heal the damaged toe back in January.

The doctor said something to the effect of 'I couldn't have done a better job with a scalpel',' he said.

The Melbourne cafe which had the chair that Mr Ahearn stumbled on was reportedly supplied by Brayco Stainless Steel, who yesterday removed the chairs from sale after learning of the incident.

'The likely thing is we will be doing a recall,' Brayco director Harry Bray told The Daily Telegraph.

'There is obviously a problem. We have decided to stop selling them. We are not in the business of hurting people.'

Exactly two weeks ago, Kmart Australia issued a recall for thousands of their limited edition metal chairs.

It came just months after Fantastic Furniture were made to recall nearly 100,000 of their identically-styled 'Worx' chairs after two people had their toes cut off by the sharp metal edges at the bottom.

One 11-year-old boy from Queensland who had his foot sliced by the Worx chair at a family friend's BBQ last year was unable to reattach part of his second toe after reconstructive surgery.

Fantastic Furniture were forced to recall over 100,000 of their Worx chairs after the incident

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recommended Kmart recall their version of the Tolix chair, saying that the base of the dining room seat presented an 'entrapment or laceration hazard'

The chain - which has 189 discount stores across Australia - is offering free plugs to place on the legs of the chairs for all customers who own the dangerous chair

Since the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recommended the Kmart recall, complaints from concerned parents flooded the Australian discount store's official Facebook page.

'It's about time this was recalled. I took my back a few months ago as my kids toes got caught in leg hole and if I wasn't right there god knows what would have happened,' one mother wrote.

'Wow no shock there.... fantastic furniture recalled the exact same style chairs while other stores keep rolling them out I was waiting for this,' added another.

Another mother told Daily Mail Australia that her daughter had almost cut her toe off with a chair she had purchased at a separate discount store in Brisbane.

'My mum has similar chairs and my daughter almost cut her toe off! So sharp down the bottom,' she wrote online.

At least eight people have been injured by the cheap imitation of French-made Tolix chair

In April of 2015, Sydney man Mark Bulman had his middle toe sliced off by a chair sold at Fantastic Furniture

Trae McGovern, 11, from Queensland, became a victim of the $39 piece of furniture when he stubbed his left foot on the Worx during a barbecue at a family friend's home in October

The 11-year-old Ormeau Hills resident had to get reconstructive surgery but part of his second toe could not be reattached.

Trae's mother, Jaclyn Gross, posted a picture of the chair to Facebook and said: 'If anyone has chairs like this please be careful Trae has lost part of his toe tonight from one of these chairs.'

'He has surgery in the morning,' she added.

Ms Gross described the dining room chair as 'super dangerous' and said that it cut her son's toe 'off clean.'

'He just kicked it and his toe got cut off in the bottom leg bit. We actually turned the chair upside down and top of his toe fell out,' said Ms Gross on Facebook.

In April, Mark Bulman, from Fairfield in Sydney's west was walking over to his son Nate, who had been crying, when he bumped and tripped on the metal chair.

His middle toe was sliced off after getting trapped inside one of the legs of the chair.

'They should have recalled the chair straight away,' said Mr Bulman to The Daily Telegraph.

Complaints from concerned parents flooded Kmart Australia's official Facebook page

A number of people claim to have experienced similar problems with the same style chair from different store
Tory MP Colonel Bob Stewart was at the centre of a Westminster sexism row last night amid claims he told a female journalist he wanted to talk to the totty.

The married politician and a former British Army commander allegedly told another MP he made the remarks to Isabel Hardman on Monday night.

A Tory MP told the Mail: An MP said Bob admitted it to him.

Tory MP Colonel Bob Stewart (pictured right, with David Cameron) was at the centre of a Westminster sexism row last night amid claims he told a female journalist he wanted to talk to the totty

The married politician allegedly told another MP he made the remarks to Spectator journalist Isabel Hardman (left and right) on Monday night. She spoke out about the comments this week but refused to name the MP

Col Stewart, who was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order for his exploits during the Bosnian campaign and is a member of the defence select committee, said the allegation was pathetic and added: Im never rude to anyone ever.

The allegations came as Julia Hartley-Brewer, a Talk Radio host and former political editor, revealed how, in a separate incident, a very senior Cabinet minister had put his hand on her knee at a party conference several years ago.

She said she threatened to punch the then-backbench MP in the face.

The 48-year-old shared her ordeal after Miss Hardman, the assistant editor of the Spectator, reported her alleged treatment to whips - MPs responsible for discipline in each party.

Miss Hartley-Brewer said sexism at Westminster was rife and urged women journalists to challenge the culprits.

Oakeshott says the sadness is that male MPs will be a little more guarded next time they talk to her and, no doubt, to other female journalists too - which is the last thing she wants

She told Sky News: In the House of Commons there are quite a lot of grey areas.

A column Miss Hartley-Brewer wrote for the Sunday Express in 2009 suggested that the MP had propositioned her.

She wrote: He was, he told me, a firm believer in the long-standing Westminster rule of ... party conferences dont count. I was, I told him, a firm believer in not going to bed with other womens husbands.

The presenter has not named the minister and praised the classy way Miss Hardman dealt with the MP who called her totty  and for also not naming him.

The allegations came as Julia Hartley-Brewer, a Talk Radio host and former political editor, revealed a very senior Cabinet minister had put his hand on her knee at a party conference several years ago

Miss Hardman, who spoke out about the incident earlier this week, reported the MP to his party whip but said on Twitter: Not naming as no social media witch hunt ever made anything better.

Answering queries on Twitter about the incident, the journalist insisted her experience in Westminster had generally been 'very positive' and that most MPs were 'normal and courteous'.

But she said she had revealed the exchange because 'sexists' should not be allowed to make such remarks to female journalists.

She tweeted: 'Last night, an MP who I've only met a couple of times actually said to me as his opening gambit ''I want to talk to the totty.''

'Have been thinking about whether or not to tweet about it, but actually that is NOT on and lobby women shouldn't have to put up with it.

'So I have passed the MP's name on to a whip. I don't betray sources. But I will betray sexists.'

She added later: 'So... whips have dealt with it + apology on its way from v.contrite MP. Not naming as no social media witch hunt ever made anything better.'
As Panama reels from outrage at legal loopholes helping the wealthy hide their cash, inmates in the capital's La Joya prison pay a heavy price for other flaws in the country's justice system.

They are crammed into grimy, overcrowded cells with little to no access to healthcare for years before they are even formally sentenced.

The Central American nation has the world's highest pre-trial detention rate per capita, a 2014 report by Open Society Foundations found.

Inmates at Panama's La Joya prison are housed in makeshift cells for years without ever going to trial

One inmate at the prison, on the outskirts of Panama City, showed off a life-size, full-breasted inflatable sex toy

The grimy, overcrowded prison has its own transgender unit, where inmates draw curtains over their bunks for privacy

'There is no limit to pre-trial detention,' said Juan Carlos Arauz, a Panamanian lawyer and vice president of the National College of Lawyers. He said more than 60 per cent of the prison population has not been sentenced.

In a new system being brought in, detainees can only be held for a maximum of one year without trial and any time served will count towards their eventual sentence.

Panama was thrust into the limelight earlier this month when documents leaked from a local law firm exposed offshore financial dealings of the world's rich and famous.

Since then, France has said it will blacklist Panama, Iceland's prime minister has stepped down over the revelations and Panama's government has vowed to share tax information with other nations to prevent evasion.

But problems with Panama's legal system run much deeper.

Prisons have sometimes 'life-threatening' conditions, according to a 2014 report by the U.S. State Department, which cited deadly prison fights and too few guards.

Inmate Alvis Javier sleeps in his cell inside the transgender gallery in La Joya prison on the outskirts of Panama City

Inmate Angel Hurtado, 23, (C), laughs as he spends time with with his cell mates in La Joya's transgender gallery

More than 60 per cent of inmates (pictured) rotting inside the squalid La Joya prison have never been tried or convicted for their suspected crimes

An inmate looks at his toilet in his cell at the Pavilion number six, assigned to foreigners at La Joya prison

Prisons have sometimes 'life threatening' conditions, according to a 2014 report by the U.S. State Department (pictured, a handmade cooking stove in La Joya)

Inmate Miguel Lopez (pictured), who is HIV positive, cooks in the transgender gallery in La Joya prison

In a new system being brought in, detainees in La Joya (pictured) can only be held for a maximum of one year without trial

'The only thing I want is to be handed my sentence,' said Alvis Javier, who has been imprisoned in La Joya without conviction for six years for suspected drug possession.

Javier is studying for a secondary school certificate and lives in a cell in the prison's transgender unit, where inmates draw curtains over their bunks for privacy.

One inmate at the prison, on the outskirts of Panama City, showed off a life-size, full-breasted inflatable sex toy.

Carlos Fuentes, who was jailed for falsifying his ID card, has been stuck in La Joya, Spanish for 'The Jewel,' for almost 2 years awaiting sentencing. 'There are a lot of us here in this situation,' he said.

The government has been moving foreign prisoners to a new prison, La Nueva Joya, to cut down on overcrowding, prisoners said.

Gabriel Pinzon, director of Panama's prisons system, said the cell block at La Joya that foreign prisoners have vacated would be repaired and remodeled.

'We see some factors related to the volume of cases, which at times impacts the judicial (process), which we are currently trying to combat,' he added, referring to pre-trial detention times.

'The only thing I want is to be handed my sentence,' said Alvis Javier, who has been imprisoned in La Joya (pictured) without conviction for six years

With little running water and low hygiene standards, an inmate washes himself outside using a bucket

The government has been moving foreign prisoners to a new prison, La Nueva Joya, to cut down on overcrowding (pictured, a makeshift cell at Pavilion number six)

Magazine pages are seen on the ceiling of a cell at the transgender gallery in La Joya prison

An inmate couple kiss and joke at the transgender gallery in La Joya prison

Inmates of La Joya prison on the outskirts of Panama City are housed in makeshift cells amid heavy overcrowding, living in grimy conditions and with limited medical attention

A reform approved in 2008, which takes effect in Panama's major urban areas in September, will give defense attorneys a more equal playing field and will limit pre-trial detention to up to a year, Arauz said.

However, inmates detained under the prior system will have to have their cases processed under the old rules, he noted.
To combat sexual assault, the report suggested Harvard force clubs to become gender inclusive

that almost half of female students who participated in clubs have experienced non-consensual sexual contact in college career

The seal of the Porcellian Club - a secretive, all-male club that broke a 225-year public silence Tuesday

A secretive social club at Harvard University broke a 225-year public silence Tuesday to announce its opposition to a push by college administrators to make male-only clubs go co-ed.

The Porcellian Club issued the rare statement in response to a campus-wide report that found that almost half of all female college seniors who have participated in so-called 'final clubs' have experienced non-consensual sexual contact during their college careers.

To combat sexual assault on campus, the report recommended, among other things, that single-sex clubs be made all-gender inclusive.

'To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time an officer of the PC has granted an on the record statement to a newspaper since our founding in 1791,' wrote the Porcellian Club's graduate board president, Charles Story, in an email to the university's daily newspaper, the Crimson.

'Given our policies, we are mystified as to why the current administration feels that forcing our club to accept female members would reduce the incidence of sexual assault on campus,' Storey wrote.

America's 26th president Theodore Roosevelt was a member of the Porcellian Club during his time at Harvard University. He is pictured second from right in the first row of this 1880 photograph, surrounded by his fellow Porcellian members

'Forcing single gender organizations to accept members of the opposite sex could potentially increase, not decrease the potential for sexual misconduct.'

In its definition of 'participating' in the clubs, the report included 'women who attend male final club events and seniors who are members of female final clubs,' the Crimson wrote last month.

Of the women who fit into that description, 47 percent reported experiencing non-consensual sexual contact, as compared to the proportion of all female college seniors who reported the same experiences: 31 percent.

The Porcellian Club was named for its tradition of hosting pig roast dinners and counts among its past members president Theodore Roosevelt and three Supreme Court justices.

The club elects 'about a dozen sophomores each year and invite[s] them to have dinners with alumni of the club who have stayed involved and cherish this cross-generational community of Harvard students,' an anonymous Porcellian member wrote in an email to the Washington Post.

PORCELLIAN TRADITIONS, ACCORDING TO A 1940 TIME MAGAZINE STORY 'The Pore is most likely to elect the sons and relatives of old Porkies, closely examines each candidate's family tree. But congeniality counts as much as pedigree, and the three to 18 members whom the Pore elects from each class must be jolly good fellows.' 'A Porcellian wears a small gold pig on his watch chain, a long tweed jacket, tight flannel pants and a short haircut, generally contents himself with a gentleman's three Cs and a D in his studies. Most inviolable tradition: Once a Porcellian always a Porcellian.' 'Porkies keep up their Porkie friendships all their lives, go back religiously to the annual Porkie banquet at which new members are initiated. When a Porkie marries, fellow Porkies always gather round him after the ceremony and sing the club song. From the Pore's clubrooms, non-Porcellians are religiously excluded.' 'In the last 20 years only five men have been excepted from this rule: the Prince of Wales, Al Smith, Herbert Hoover, under Secretary of the Treasury Roswell Magill and onetime Budget Director Lew Douglas, who were wined & dined in the club.' Source: Time Advertisement

The Porcellian clubhouse at 1324 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge has a strict members-only policy - a fact which the club claims 'greatly reduce[s] the potential for sexual assault.'

As far as he knows, Story wrote, 'no allegation of sexual assault has ever been made against the Porcellian Club.'

Though the Porcellian Club says it operates entirely independently from Harvard - Story calls it a club 'which accepts no funding from Harvard, which owns its own property, and believes fervently in the right to self-determination' - the recent report recommends the university to bar 'simultaneous membership in Final Clubs and College enrollment,' according to the Crimson.

The Porcellian clubhouse at 1324 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge (pictured) has a strict members-only policy - a fact which the club claims 'greatly reduce[s] the potential for sexual assault.'

THE PORCELLIAN CLUBHOUSE IS 'RELIGIOUSLY' GUARDED FROM OUTSIDERS The Porcellian Club's headquarters at 1324 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge were built in 1891 by member William York Peters, who graduated from Harvard in 1881. Access to the clubhouse is strictly limited to members. The Crimson was said to have published pictures of the interior in 2003, but the article has since been taken off the newspaper's website - and even deleted from internet archives. However, the Porcellian Club Centennial 1791 - 1891 included photographs from inside the clubhouse. This picture depicts the 'front room' of the Porcellian clubhouse in Cambridge The clubhouse's 'billiard room' is shown in this picture from the centennial pamphlet Advertisement

Story argued for the club's continued exclusion of women on the basis of 'freedom of association' and even slammed the pressure from the university as 'McCarthyism.'

Report authors and Harvard administrators declined to comment on the club's statement, but the dean of the Ivy League research university, Rakesh Khurana, issued the following statement to the Crimson:

'The College has for many months made it clear that the behaviors and attitudes espoused by unrecognized single gender social organizations at Harvard College remain at odds with the aspirations of the 21st century society to which the College hopes and expects our students will contribute.'
Melissa Mitin, 26, from Okemos, Michigan, has been jailed for up to four decades for the death of her daughter who was born and killed in December 2013

A 26-year-old woman has been sentenced to 27-40 years in prison for the death of her newborn daughter who was found face-down in a wastebasket with the umbilical cord and placenta still attached.

Melissa Mitin, of Okemos, Michigan, gave birth to her first child, a baby girl, in the bathroom of a family friend's home in December 2013 - and then stuffed the crying child in a trash can - the jury heard.

She took a plea deal on Friday, admitting murder of the second degree so that all other charges would be dropped against her.

That included charges related to her missing newborn son, who was born while she was out on bail.

Prior to the birth of her babies, Mitin was living with her parents at their Okemos home while working on a master's degree in kinesiology at Michigan State University.

On Wednesday, a judge ordered her to spend up to four decades in jail.

A judge ruled earlier this week that the death of her second child couldnt be used as evidence in the trial she would have faced for the death of her first baby, according to WLNS.

Authorities are investigating the 2014 disappearance of Mitin's baby boy who is presumed dead.

Prosecutors believe that Mitin became pregnant with this second child just three months after her daughter was found face-down in a wastebasket.

Mitin reportedly left the child there after the incident with her parents finding the baby girl.

According to her mother, Mitin said she was raped.

Her baby boy was born while Mitin was free on bond after being charged in her daughter's death, prosecutors said.

Given the plea deal, she will not be charged in the death of her second child.

Mitins parents previously testified they knew nothing of the pregnancy and were against premarital sex for religious reasons and had never talked about the act with their daughter.

It seems that Mitin was receiving regular checkups for her new pregnancy until 35 weeks, and then stopped showing up.

Ingham County Assistant Prosecutor Debra Rousseau claimed last year that Mitin told the doctor's office 'she didn't return because she already had given birth,' at which point they notified Child Protective Services.

It is unknown who the father of this second baby is, and the father of the first was a student who attended Michigan State University with Mitin and is now living in another country.

Mitin (pictured last month) took a plea deal on Friday, meaning all other charges against her will be dropped

Authorities are also investigating the 2014 disappearance of Mitin's baby boy, who was born while she was out on bail and is presumed dead. Given the plea deal, Mitin will not be charged over the boy's death
PHOENIX  Pressured by members of his own party, House Speaker David Gowan on Tuesday morning suspended his ban on reporters on the floor who have not first undergone extensive background checks.

But not full access.

House Republicans also voted Tuesday to preserve Gowans unilateral authority to decide in the future whether to rescind overall access, whether to require extensive background checks and even to ban a single reporter for any reason at all.

In a brief statement, House Republican publicist Stephanie Grisham said the badges that had been given to regular Capitol beat reporters that opened certain doors are not being reactivated. That had provided easier access for reporters to go to lawmakers offices, including that of the speaker.

Instead, there will be a sign-in process available only when the House is on the floor.

Gowans decision to suspend his own policy comes less than a week after he claimed that House members had demanded he tighten up security procedures. That followed a disturbance in the public gallery.

But it turns out the letter from GOP legislators that Gowan said led to the policy change never actually mentioned concerns about reporters on the floor. Instead, it simply asked Gowan to spend money in the House budget for the purpose of improving the physical security of the Arizona House of Representatives building.

The speaker stands by his security plan, Grisham said Monday. But she acknowledged there had been pressure on her boss to reverse his stance, saying he has a responsibility to his members and public who expressed concern.

Hours later, House Democrats moved to preclude Gowan or any future speaker from further curbing access.

Thats a right he now has.

House rules require there be a place for the press, with no requirement it actually can be on the floor. That concerned Rep. Lisa Otondo, D-Yuma.

She acknowledged reporters can view and record floor speeches from the gallery. But Otondo said that precludes reporters questioning lawmakers afterwards about their statements.

When we really have to answer the questions is when theyre an arms-length away, she said.

The proposal by Rep. Diego Espinoza would have required the press gallery be on the House floor, as it has been for more than three decades. And it would preclude House staffers from demanding background checks that could be used to disqualify a reporter absent a specific threat or concern.

Rep. Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa, suggested the press in Arizona has more access than some other places. For example, he noted that Congress does not grant floor privileges to reporters.

But Bowers acknowledged afterwards that, unlike the Arizona House, reporters in Washington are free to go the the offices of federal lawmakers.

And Rep. Bruce Wheeler, D-Tucson, said its irrelevant what happens elsewhere.

This is Arizona, he said. We do things as what we think ought to be done.
A lifelong Londoner has said 'being black is not a crime' after he was escorted off an easyJet flight because a fellow passenger claimed she 'did not feel safe' with him on board.

Mehary Yemane-Tesfagiorgis, 34, was waiting to leave Rome Fiumicino airport for his hometown when he was hauled off the plane by armed police officers.

He was informed a woman had complained about his presence on the flight and was taken to the airport's police station where he was questioned by the authorities without any legal representation.

After 15 hours of being held in the airport, he was finally allowed to board a flight back to London Gatwick.

Speaking to MailOnline about his ordeal, he said: 'When you judge someone because of their appearance it's wrong.

'It's way more than just about me and my inconvenience. A person's skin colour is not reasonable suspicion whatsoever.'

Mehary Yemane-Tesfagiorgis, 34, told MailOnline: 'When you judge someone because of their appearance it's wrong' after he was ordered off an easyJet flight from Rome to London Gatwick

Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis was waiting patiently for his 9.15am easyJet flight to take off on March 29.

The plane was about to leave and the captain was introducing themselves when they informed the passengers there would be a 10 to 20 minute delay because of technical difficulties.

He told MailOnline: 'My name was then mentioned on the intercom and I was asked to go to the front of the cabin because another passenger said they didn't feel comfortable with me on board.

'At the front of the plane I was met by armed police. Obviously I was livid as it was just racial discrimination.'

The 34-year-old was then taken to the police station within the airport by two officers.

He said: 'They started being assertive with me when I stood my ground. I asked them to explain what was going on and told them I wanted a representative from the British Embassy.

'When I said I wasn't going with them unless they charged me with something, they said it was an order and I had to go with them.'

The Londoner said he was not granted any legal aid by Rome Police after he was ordered off the plane

Once in the police station within Rome Fiumicino airport, his main objective was to get back on his flight before it departed.

When he realised that was not going to happen he said: 'My anger ended and I just started laughing as it was such a farce. It was a joke.'

He added: 'I was allowed no legal aid and when I asked for a legal receipt they said that wasn't going to happen.'

He said a senior figure from easyJet met him and apologised for what had happened.

Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis said: 'I just told him I wanted to go on the flight. He then went off and said he would wait for me at the customer service desk.

'But when I went there having been let go by police he wasn't there and I was met by another member of staff who said he was dealing with other customers and was busy. What could have been more of a priority?'

The North Londoner, who is of Eritrean heritage, then had to wait in the airport overnight for his flight the next day at 1pm, where he was offered no assistance.

He told MailOnline: 'I tried to sleep in a chair in the terminal I was catching my second flight in but a security guard came in and said I had to go to another terminal which added to the insult. The whole thing was a joke.'

Referring to problems he encountered in Italy, he said: 'I was well aware of the racial issues in Italy...you get funny looks on the bus and just walking around. I was stopped six or seven times in the four days I was in Italy.'

But he added: 'You see this sort of thing happening all day every day. It's [racism] is alive and kicking, you'd better believe it. Being black shouldn't be a crime.'

The 34-year-old Londoner was ordered off an easyJet flight after a complaint from another passenger

Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis, who is now considering legal action, said he had been in 'communication with easyJet' and on Twitter has demanded further answers from the airline.

Writing on Facebook he also said the ordeal had encouraged him to 'focus my efforts on my life goal of repatriation to the motherland [Eritrea]'.

He wrote: 'The issue has made it abundantly clear to me that I no longer wish to reside in a society that sees a person's skin colour as reasonable suspicion.'

Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis wrote this on his Facebook page after the ordeal - he also told friends on the social media site that it had made it clear he wanted to 'focus my efforts on my life goal of repatriation'

A spokesman for the airline said: 'EasyJet can confirm that flight EZY5258 from Rome Fiumicino to London Gatwick on March 29 was delayed due to the police requesting that additional security checks were undertaken before departure.

'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.

'EasyJet rebooked Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis on the next flight from Rome to Gatwick after the authorities confirmed they were satisfied he could travel.'

In a tweet sent to the Londoner, a spokesman said: 'We would never discriminate against any passenger. Safety is our highest priority.'

Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis's experience is not an isolated case.

Last week it was reported a passenger had been asked to leave an easyJet flight from Pisa to London because another person on board complained of 'suspicious behaviour'.

In February a British man, Laolu Opebiyi, 40, a Nigerian-born Christian from London, was removed from a plane by armed police at Luton airport because a fellow passenger had seen a message on his mobile phone about 'prayer'.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, whose name is being floated as a Hillary Clinton vice presidential pick, gave a grin and not a 'no' when asked about the veepstakes today on Morning Joe.

'I can tell you, I love my job and I'm not looking for another one,' the Virginia Democrat told host Mika Brzezinski as he smiled from ear to ear.

Kaine, who also served as the state's governor, a position that is term-limited, could bring Virginia to the table, a state that has only been in Democratic clutches since 2008.

Sen. Tim Kaine just kept saying how much he loved his job on Capitol Hill when asked if he was being considered for Democrat Hillary Clinton's veep

Sen. Tim Kaine appeared on Morning Joe today and host Mika Brzezinski tried to pry information about the Democratic veepstakes out of the Virginia senator

The senator, who backed Clinton early on, said he'd be happy staying in the U.S. Senate long term.

'As you guys know, we've got a lot to do up here and a lot of challenges and I'm pretty happy doing it,' he told Brzezinski from Capitol Hill.

'John Warner's kind of my role model from Virginia,' Kaine continued, name-dropping his state's senior senator.

'He was here 30 years. I hope to be here for awhile,' Kaine added.

Kaine was then presented with the opportunity to defend Clinton and he did, pushing back on an assertion that she's more hawkish than her surrogates let on.

'I dont think that's quite fair, but look, she does believe that America needs to lead and needs to get engaged at key moments, and shes not afraid to do that militarily if thats the last resort and its necessary, but also diplomatically,' he said.

He explained that her experience, both as secretary of state and on the Senate Armed Services Committee allows her to walk on both sides of the line.

Acting as 'the chief diplomat in an administration that decided to revive vigorous American diplomacy, that gives her sort of some balance,' Kaine explained.

Without specifically saying names, Kaine also tried to explain away Clinton's Iraq War vote, something she's been hit hard on by both Sen. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.

Sen. Tim Kaine grinned like a Cheshire cat through a segment on Morning Joe when asked if he was being considered to be Hillary Clinton's veep if she finished off Bernie Sanders in the primary

'And shes also got some scar tissue, a lot of  Mika, we learn from our missteps along the way,' Kaine noted.

'And she has said, "Look, I wish I had that Iraq War vote back." And I think most of us, if were truthful, we have to acknowledge that we learn more looking in the rearview mirror and saying, "wow, I went down this path and I might do it differently next time,"' he continued.

'Shes made some fantastic decisions, shes made some decisions where shes said, "Look, Ive learned from this one." And I think that gives her just such a portfolio and an ability to offer foreign policy leadership at a time where I think many believe that we dont have a clearly articulated strategy,' Kaine added.

The interview concluded with Brzezinski bringing up the veepstakes once again.

'So no veep talk, huh? I mean, non. Just absolutely none?' Brzezinski queried.

'I like my job,' Kaine repeated, again pulling out his Cheshire cat grin.

'I know you like your job. That's not the answer to the question. Any betting? Any veep talk?' the TV host implored.
The Texas teenager who killed four people and injured nine in a drunk driving crash and then avoided jail will by running off to Mexico will spend another two years in jail as he faced justice for the first time as an adult.

Affluenza teen Ethan Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, appeared in adult court on Wednesday where State District Judge Wayne Salvant said he will review recommendations from prosecutors as well as Couch's attorney.

'You're not getting out of jail today,' Salvant told the bearded Couch in the courtroom. Couch wore a red prison jump suit and had a shaggy hair cut.

Couch was sentenced to 720 days of custody comprised of four consecutive terms of 180 days  one for each of the four lives he horrifically snuffed out in a 2013 drunk driving crash.

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Affluenza teen Ethan Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, appeared in adult court on Wednesday where State District Judge Wayne Salvant said he will review recommendations from prosecutors as well as Couch's attorney

The coddled DW killer turned 19 Monday inside the maximum security jail where he has spent the past three months languishing in solitary confinement.

The birthday meant Couch was no longer a juvenile and faced a far harsher punishment for breaching his parole by attending a boozy party and fleeing to Mexico.

Couch will now head straight back to the nearby Lon Evans Correctional Center - the maximum security lock-up

Today the teen runaway got his first taste of adult justice when he was hauled before Judge Salvant and hit with the massive extra punishment.

Judge Salvant indicated that he could review that decision at another hearing two weeks from now when he has more information from prosecutors and Couch's attorneys.

But he warned Couch: Until we make that decision you will remain in the county jail at this time. You are not getting out of jail.

Lawyers spent much of the 90 minute hearing at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in downtown Fort Worth arguing whether the judge had the power to impose such a harsh penalty.

Couchs attorneys argued for his immediate release but Tarrant County Prosecutor Riley Shaw said that the myth that Couch was a juvenile deserving of preferential treatment ended Monday.

'Nothing I do is in stone, so I might reconsider,' Judge Salvant told both parties during the sometimes-heated legal exchange.

Ethan's father Fred Couch (left) and half-brother Steven McWilliams enter court for Ethan Couch's hearing at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth

Couch's sister-in-law Misty and brother Steven arrive at court for the hearing today

The sentence was greeted with visible satisfaction from family members of Couch's victims who looked on silently inside Courtroom Two while he learnt his fate.

They included Alex Lemus, the brother of Sergio Molina - a one-time best friend of Couch who was left needing round the clock care for the rest of his life following the 70mph horror smash.

To their relief, Couch will now head straight back to the nearby Lon Evans Correctional Center - the maximum security lock-up where he has been languishing in solitary confinement for his own safety.

The bearded teenager had cut a drawn, anxious figure as he was led into Courtroom Two shortly before 10am, wearing a prison-issue red jumpsuit over a grey t-shirt.

He showed little emotion and replied yes, your honor after Judge Salvant asked if he understood why he was now in adult court.

When he is eventually released, Couch's probation restrictions will remain 'consistent' with those he faced as a juvenile, the judge ruled.

Tragic victims Breanna Mitchell (top left), Brian Jennings (right) Hollie Boyles (bottom left) and daughter Shelby Boyles all died in the horrific card crash caused by Ethan Couch in 2013

Scene: Couch's parents, whose wealth was used as part of his affluenza defense in the deadly crash (above), said they could not afford the rehab and paid just $1,170 a month

They include banning him from driving or being around alcohol, pot or other controlled substances.

He will also have to hold down a job and meet regularly with a community supervision officer.

Couch had been brought into the court complex through an internal walkway linking it to the jail.

He was led away the same way, staring down at his feet in silence as he contemplated the likelihood of two more years under lock and key.

His father Fred, sat stony-faced throughout the proceedings and refused to talk with the media afterwards.

Couch's half-brother Steven McWilliams, 29, and his wife Misty, 29, were also in court to support him but his mom Tonya, 48, remains on house arrest for her part in allegedly helping him flee to Mexico.

Her son was just 16 when he got behind the wheel of his father's F-150 truck with three times the legal limit for alcohol in his blood.

He smashed into a stationary white Mercedes SUV at 70mph, killing the driver, Breanna Mitchell, along with mother and daughter Holly and Shelby Boyles and pastor Brian Jennings, who were all trying to help Mitchell get her car going.

Executive direct of Mothers Against Drunk Driving North Texas, Jason Derscheid, speaks with members of the media after Ethan Couch's hearing at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center

Couch became notorious when a psychologist told his trial he couldn't be held responsible for his actions because he suffered from 'affluenza'  an affliction supposedly born of his privileged yet dysfunctional upbringing.

He was initially sentenced to 10 years probation and a year of court-ordered rehab, which it has since been revealed to have cost taxpayers $200,000 because his parents could not afford to pay.

Couch ran into problems, however, when a video surfaced online of him attending a boozy beer pong party - a clear probation violation.

He fled to Mexico with his mother in November rather than face the courts.

Tonya Couch allegedly withdrew $30,000 from her bank and called estranged husband Fred to tell him that he would never see either of them again.

The mother and son then drove 1,200 miles to the Pacific beach resort of Puerto Vallarta where they stayed at the glamorous Los Tules resort.

Pricey: Ethan Couch's court-ordered rehab as part of his sentence for killing four people in a drunk-driving cash in 2013 cost taxpayers $200,000 (above in February)

Troubled: Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, will appear before a judge as an adult on Wednesday to hear the new details of his probation (2013 mugshot on left, 2016 mugshot on right)

While there, Couch made repeat visits to a 'sex club' called Harem where he was allegedly spotted snorting cocaine and guzzling Pacifico beers - running up a $2,000 tab which he was forced to ask his mother to settle.

The two later moved to a run-down apartment four blocks from the beach but were discovered after a signal from one of their cellphones alerted authorities as they dialed out for Domino's pizza.

Both initially contested their extradition from Mexico but Tonya was returned to the US in early January with Couch following on the 28th.

Since her return, Tonya has been held under house arrest at the Fort Worth home of eldest son Steven McWilliams, 29.

She faces being sentenced to ten years in prison for hindering apprehension of a fugitive, with Judge Salvant also overseeing her case.

Couch, meanwhile, was held briefly in a juvenile facility before being transferred to the 444-bed Lon Evans Correctional Center, where he has been housed in either a solitary confinement or separation cell.

Authorities fear the slightly-build prisoner - number 0879903 - is so feeble he will be unable to defend himself if he is attacked by an inmate seeking fame or notoriety.

The jail, which opened in 2012, houses those deemed the worst of the worst of the 3,600 people either awaiting trial in Tarrant County or whose sentences don't warrant them being moved to a state prison.

Daily Mail Online previously revealed how Couch whiled away his hours working out to Richard Simmons exercise tapes and was fed three basic meals a day, slid into his cell through a 'bean chute'.

His father is also embroiled in an unrelated case after he was accused of impersonating a police officer.

He was initially sentenced to 10 years probation and a year of court-ordered rehab, which it has now been revealed cost taxpayers $200,000 because his parents could not afford to pay.

Couch finished in February 2015 and went on the run just months later in December, shortly after video emerged of him at a party surrounded by alcohol.

He was not allowed to drink as part of his probation.

The Star-Telegram reports that Couch's stay at the North Texas State Hospital in Vernon cost approximately $20,000 a month, and that he was there for 10 months in 2014 from February through November.

His parents were only forced to pay $1,170 of that amount, claiming they could not afford the cost.

He then received treatment at The Next Step Program in Amarillo which cost a total of $11,000, which the court ordered his parents to pay.

Since her return from Mexico with her son, Tonya Couch has been held under house arrest at the Fort Worth home of eldest son Steven McWilliams

He was released from that program in February 2015, and on December 2 video emerged of him at a beer pong table.

Couch was reported missing just days later when he missed a probation hearing. He was captured with his mother on December 28 in Puerto Vallarta.

Tonya did not attempt to fight deportation and within days was back in Texas where she posted bail of $75,000 and is now awaiting trial for hindering the apprehension of a felon.

Meanwhile, Couch launched an appeal against deportation and stayed in Mexico for over a month after being captured in December.

He eventually dropped and his attorney, Scott Brown, hinted that Couch could have been taken to Mexico against his will.

Couch did not appear to be being held unlawfully when he was captured and was caught after using a credit card to order pizza.

It later emerged that he had been to a strip club while he was on the run with his mother and spent $2,000 on a single night.

Tonya Couch faces up to 10 years in prison for helping her son flee to Mexico.

Couch was 16 and had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit for adult drivers when he swerved off a road near Fort Worth and hit a disabled car, killing its driver and three people helping her. Several other people were injured.

Breanna Mitchell, 18, had broken down at the side of a highway in Texas and was trying to fix her vehicle alongside Hollie Boyles and her daughter Shelby, who lived nearby, and youth minister Brian Jennings, who had also stopped to help.

Couch left the road while traveling at 70mph and hit the group, killing all of them, and paralyzing friend Sergio Molina from the neck down after he was thrown clear of the truck.
He also noted they were never in danger and that the stripper did not totally disrobe during the Friday evening event

Father of one of the girls in the swim club said the students employed stripper as a joke

School district spokesman confirmed incident and said principal will decide if school polices were violated or if punishment is merited

A group of ninth-grade girls hired a male stripper to perform at their school's synchronized swimming club's annual banquet, a Des Moines school district spokesman confirmed.

A father of one of the freshmen swim team members says the girls employed the stripper as a joke, and that the stripper did not totally disrobe at Friday evening's event at the Des Moines Social Club.

District spokesman Phil Roeder told The Des Moines Register on Wednesday that the Roosevelt High School principal will decide whether the girls violated school policies and if punishment is merited.

A group of freshmen girls from Roosevelt High School in Iowa (pictured) hired a male stripper to perform at their school's synchronized swimming club's annual banquet, a Des Moines school district spokesman confirmed

Roeder told the Register it was his understanding that the school learned of the incident on Monday through some of the parents, and that just parents and students were in attendance at the time.

He said during the incident, a club employee asked the stripper to leave, deeming the appearance inappropriate for the students.

Roeder also noted that swim club funds were not used to pay the stripper, adding he is not sure who paid for the service.

'The stripper was hired by one of the student's adult sisters. There was no touching, and... the stripper didn't complete their performance,' Roeder said.

Graham Gillette, whose daughter is in the swim club, did not attend the event but learned about it later and said the girls 'made a bad decision' by hiring the male dancer, according to the Register.

District spokesman Phil Roeder said on Wednesday the principal will decide whether the girls from the Roosevelt Sharks synchronized swimming club (pictured) violated school policies and if punishment is merited. There is no suggestion the swimmers pictured were involved in the incident

'It was just teenagers making bad decisions,' he said. 'These freshmen thought that it was going to be funny, and they found out very quickly that it was the opposite.'

Gillette said a parent was 'supposedly' at the event at the time of the incident, but 'didn't realize what was going on.'

On Tuesday night, parents of the girls in the synchronized swim club met with school administrators and were told no laws or school policies were violated, Gillette told the Register.

However, he noted students and parents were embarrassed by the situation, and added that the students were never in danger.

Gillette also said he was happy with how school officials and the Des Moines Social club dealt with the situation.

A father of one of the freshmen swim team members says the girls employed the stripper as a joke, and that the stripper did not totally disrobe at Friday evening's event at the Des Moines Social Club (pictured)

In an effort to avoid a similar incident, he said parents, the swim club's volunteer teacher adviser and upperclassmen will have more of a hand in planning future banquets moving forward.

The annual banquet is an event that takes place before the pageant of the Roosevelt Sharks synchronized swimming club, which is held from Thursday through Saturday.

According to students' parents, the pageant has not been canceled, the Register reported.
Hillary Clinton told members of Al Sharpton's civil rights organization today that whites need to check their privilege when discussing racial inequality.

'White Americans need to do a much better job of listening when American-Americans talk about the seen and unseen barriers you face every day,' Clinton said at the National Action Network conference in New York City.

Clinton told attendees, 'We need to recognize our privilege and practice humility rather than assume our experiences are everyone else's experiences.'

She also ratcheted up her criticism of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and argued they burst open 'ugly currents that lurk just below the surface of our politics.'

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Hillary Clinton said today members of Al Sharpton's civil rights organization today that whites need to check their privilege when discussing racial inequality

The last few years have 'laid bare deep fault lines in America,' she said.

'America's long struggle with racism is far from finished, and we are seeing that in this election.'

Clinton chastized Trump for taking too long to distance himself from white supremacist David Duke.

'This is same Donald Trump who led the insidious birther movement to delegitimize President Obama,' she said.

He called Mexicans rapists and murders, she said, and wanted to ban Muslims from the country.

She likewise called out Cruz for his plan to police Muslim communities and said he wanted to treat members of the religion like 'criminals.'

'So ugly currents that lurk just below the surface of our politics have burst into the open, and everyone sees this bigotry for what it is,' she declared.

In her speech Clinton talked about her history fighting for racial justice and said of whites, 'We need to try as best as we can to walk in your shoes, to imagine what it would be like to sit down our son or daughter and have "the talk", or if people followed us around stores or locked their car doors when we walked past.'

'This is a discipline that I have recognized and tried to practice in my own life,' she said, 'and therefore it is up to us to repudiate it.'

The nation's problems won't be solved by building walls and dividing the country, Clinton argued.

In New York, 'we know our diversity is a strength not a weakness,' she told activists from around the county at the activist organization's 25th anniversary conference.

'New York represents the best of American values, despite what some on the other side have said,' Clinton said, taking another jab at Cruz, who lambasted so-called 'New York values' earlier in the presidential campaign.

She told them, 'Now of course the problem goes far deeper than Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.'

For more than half a century after it was outlawed, racism has persisted, she said, and 'race still place a significant role in determining who gets ahead in America and who gets left behind.'

Clinton hit familiar campaign themes about the need for criminal justice reform and environmental justice and told them, 'My door will always be open to you. You will always have a friend and a partner in the White House.

'America's long struggle with racism is far from finished, and we are seeing that in this election,' she said today as she addressed he National Action Network

Clinton was the first of the two Democratic presidential candidates to speak at the National Action Network's 25th anniversary conference. Bernie Sanders will deliver remarks tomorrow. Shapton has refrained from endorsing either of them

'See I believe that Democrats have a special obligation. If we're gonna ask every American to vote for us, we can't take you or your vote for granted,' she said. 'We can't just show up at election time and say, "That's the right thing and think that's enough.

She said, 'We have to demonstrate a sustained commitment' and not come calling every two or four years or when the cameras are on.

'I have worked on these causes all my adult life. I'm gonna keep going at it no matter what.'

Clinton noted that Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, both of whom have endorsed her, and Valerie Bell, the mother of Sean Bell, were in the audience.

'The man who killed Trayvon Martin should have never had a gun in the first place,' she said to clapping.

She said those women and other endured 'unimaginable' pain. 'I look at them and wonder whether I would have been that strong and resilient.

'Their grief is unimaginable but they have not been broken instead they are championing their sorrow into a strategy' and standing up for the 'epidemic of gun violence,' she said.

Clinton was the first of the two Democratic presidential candidates to speak at the National Action Network's 25th anniversary conference. Bernie Sanders will deliver remarks tomorrow. Sharpton has refrained from endorsing either of them.

As she broached the topic of gun violence, Clinton made reference to the Vermont senator and said he and she 'don't see this same way.'

A vocal audience member shouted, 'It's true!'

'But I think this is a national emergency,' she said.
Reverend Jim Percival (pictured) - today cleared of killing his newborn grandson - has told how he felt 'vilified' when police brought charges of murder and child neglect against him

A vicar today cleared of killing his newborn grandson has told how he felt 'vilified' when police brought charges of murder and child neglect against him.

Reverend Jim Percival, 65, and daughter Ruth, 29, were both arrested in November 2014 after detectives were alerted to a stillbirth at the vicarage of Holy Trinity Church, in Freckleton, Lancashire.

Shortly afterwards, Lancashire Police dropped historic allegations of rape against the respected clergyman.

Then in January, Rev Percival and his daughter were told the baby murder and conspiracy to conceal the birth of a child investigations had been dropped.

Today they were finally told the complete investigation was now closed after officers dropped any claims of child neglect against them.

Rev Percival smiled briefly as he left Blackpool Police Station after he was told in person about the case being closed and police bail was lifted.

But friends stressed that the 18-month investigation has ruined his life - as he has since felt the need to resign from his village position.

One said: 'He feels he has been vilified over this. He has waited 17 months to be told he is a free man.

'In those months he has lost his eldest daughter to cancer and there have been other family troubles.

'Today is not for celebration but one must question the time it has taken for the police to make a final decision and relieve a man of God of this massive burden.'

'Some of the mud will always stick and that is why he has moved even though his Bishop has been very supportive of him.'

Rev Percival was vicar of the village's Holy Trinity Church for ten years having previously worked at churches in Preston and Blackburn.

He was previously a carpenter in Putney, London until he joined the priesthood in 2003.

He and office cleaner daughter Ruth were first arrested in November 2014 after the police were alerted to a stillbirth at the vicarage.

During the week which followed the birth he disappeared for a few days bizarrely leaving details for his own funeral.

Prayers were said for the family after the initial arrests, with friend and stand-in vicar Rev Scholz stressing it was wrong to 'jump to conclusions'.

He added at the time: 'The congregation are all nice people and, like any family going through difficult times, they will pull together.'

The village ran amok with rumours about Rev Percival's disappearance but he returned for the Christmas lights switch on and police quickly did a finger tip search of the vicarage.

Villagers had not known his daughter was even pregnant and her father initially said she had been taken seriously ill.

One 87-year-old parishioner said: 'It's very, very sad. I sat behind Ruth every week at church and never realised she was pregnant.

'Personally, I think the vicar is excellent, pastorally he was great. He would regularly visit the sick and infirm. He was a nice man.'

The vicars wife Susan, 66, was also arrested in November 2014 but was soon told no action was to be taken against her.

Reverend Percival, 65, and his daughter Ruth, 29, were both arrested in November 2014 after detectives were alerted to a stillbirth at the vicarage of Holy Trinity Church, in Freckleton, Lancashire

Lancashire Police today issued a statement confirming the whole matter was now closed.

The force said: 'A 66-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman from Freckleton have today been told they will face no further action following the death of a baby boy.

'The pair were re-arrested in January and questioned on suspicion of child neglect.

'They both answered bail today and, following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, have been told they will face no charges.

'Both the man and the woman had been previously arrested on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to conceal the birth of a child.

'They were also released no further action in respect of those offences in January.'

Friends stressed that the 18-month investigation has ruined the respected clergyman's life - as he has since felt the need to resign from his village position

Although not mentioned in their statement, a force spokesman said the historic rape allegation has previously also been dropped.

Detective Supt Sue Clarke, who led the investigation, said: 'We have worked very closely with the Crown Prosecution Service from the very early stages.

'It was an extremely complex and sensitive enquiry, which was led by our Force Major Investigation Team, and we respect the decision they have made not to bring any charges.

'While we recognise the impact that such investigations can have on all those concerned, we are clearly duty bound to thoroughly investigate incidents such as the death of this baby boy.
The CIA is considering the elimination of the government's lowest category of classified information  a step a top official has said could simplify the system used to guard intelligence and could prevent unnecessary secrecy.

In a memo circulated to intelligence agencies in March, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper proposed abolishing the 'confidential' level of classification, a step that would, in theory, raise the bar for whether information is kept secret.

The move, Clapper wrote, could promote transparency by 'focusing personnel more directly on only marking items that would cause significant and demonstrable harm to national security if improperly released.'

It would also ease the burden on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Politico reports that 96 percent of her now-classified emails fall into that category.

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In a memo circulated to intelligence agencies in March, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper proposed abolishing the 'confidential' level of classification, a step that would, in theory, raise the bar for whether information is kept secret.

Clapper's memo, posted online earlier this month, is part of a periodic, broad review of the classification system President Barack Obama ordered in 2009.

But it comes amid a campaign-year debate over how the government labels  and how officials handle  sensitive information.

The discussion was sparked by the probe into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.

The FBI is investigating whether classified information inappropriately flowed through the server. Clinton's presidential campaign has said that none of the information was classified at the time it was sent, and has blamed agencies' tendency to 'over classify' documents.

Clapper's proposal, if adopted, would only affect intelligence agencies under his purview and would have no direct impact on the Clinton probe or the State Department.

Each department must conduct its own review of the classification system every five years. The current review is slated to be completed in 2017.

Still, the memo is another example of the issue increasingly receiving high-level attention. Obama this week backed up the Clinton's campaign complaint about classification run amok.

'There's classified, and then there's classified,' he said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.

'There's stuff that is really top secret top secret, and there's stuff that is being presented to the president or the secretary of state, that you might not want on the transom, or going out over the wire, but is basically stuff that you could get in open source.'

A White House official said Clapper's memo was in line with initiatives the administration has pursued to improve transparency.

In addition to proposing eliminating the 'confidential' tier, Clapper also sought intelligence agency heads' feedback on paring down the number of people authorized to classify documents and increasing the frequency with which information is declassified.

Still, the memo is another example of the issue increasingly receiving high-level attention. President Barack Obama this week backed up the Clinton's campaign complaint about classification run amok

Clapper noted that the United Kingdom eliminated the 'confidential' classification in 2014 'without impact.'

The impact here would likely depend on the agency.

The intelligence agencies Clapper oversees rely more heavily on the 'secret' and 'top secret' classification than the State Department, which routinely mark cables confidential, said Steven Aftergood, the Director of the Government Secrecy Project at Federation of American Scientists, who first wrote about the Clapper memo.

Still, Aftergood said he saw the memo as an effort to ensure the issue gets top-level attention.
ISIS have published a hit list targeting high profile Muslims including Hillary Clinton's long-time aide Huma Abedin.

The list of moderate Muslim targets was published in the terrorist group's glossy propaganda magazine Dabiq - which is aimed at recruiting jihadists from the West.

Abedin, who has been Clinton's top aide since the mid-1990s, was named as a 'politically active apostate' alongside US Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota and British Members of Parliament Sayeeda Warsi and Sajid Javid.

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ISIS have published a hit list targeting high profile Muslims including Hillary Clinton's long-time aide Huma Abedin (pictured)

Abedin, who has been Clinton's (pictured together) top aide since the mid-1990s, was named as a 'politically active apostate'

The magazine encouraged its followers to kills the prominent Western Muslims who they branded as 'overt crusaders' who 'involve themselves in the politics and enforcing laws of the kufr (disbelievers).'

Political aide Abedin, who is married to New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, first began working for Clinton while she was still in college at George Washington University, being assigned to the then first lady after getting a White House internship.

Since then, Hillary has rarely seen in public without Abedin by her side. The onetime junior staffer and 'body woman' has risen through the ranks to become vice chairman of the Democratic front-runner's presidential campaign.

US Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota (pictured) and British Members of Parliament Sayeeda Warsi and Sajid Javid were also named on the hit list

And she has been discussed publicly as a potential White House Chief of Staff in a potential Hillary Clinton presidency.

While Rep Ellison, another high profile American Muslim, became the first person of Islamic faith to be elected to the U.S. Congress in 2007, when he chose to use an English translation of the Qur'an that once belonged to President Thomas Jefferson for his reenacted swearing-in ceremony.

ISIS also confirmed, for the first time, that brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who blew themselves up in the attacks on the Belgian capital, were responsible for 'all preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels.'

'Paris was a warning. Brussels was a reminder,' the article warned. 'What is yet to come will be more devastating and more bitter by the permission of Allah, and Allah prevails.'

The suicide attacks on the Belgian capital last month killed 34 people and wounded more than 270 others.

Khalid, 27, and Ibrahim, 29, had joined ISIS while in jail for charges of carjacking and bank robbery.

Their involvement provided for the first time a direct link between the Brussels attacks and the Paris massacre that killed 130 people last November.

ISIS also confirmed, for the first time, that brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who blew themselves up in the attacks on the Belgian capital, were responsible for 'all preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels'

Belgian bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui (centre) and explosives expert Najim Laachraou (left), both wearing black gloves to hide their suicide bomb triggers, killed 14 at Brussels airport. Their accomplice - the 'Man in White' - (right) walked out of the airport after leaving a suitcase bomb that never went off

Panic: A fire caused by one of the explosions in the terminal wa tackled by airport staff with extinguishers surrounded by baggage and falling roof tiles

Dabiq also confirmed Najim Laachraoui, 24, a Belgian of Moroccan descent had been the bomb maker for both the Paris and Brussels attacks.

The suicide bomber had blown himself up at Brussels airport.

Dabiq went onto describe Khalid, who killed 14 people when he detonated his bomb at a metro train at Maalbeek station near the EU headquarters, as a 'man of strong character, a natural leader'.

Ibrahim blew himself up in the check-in hall of Brussels Zaventem Airport on the day of the Brussels terrorist attacks on March 22.

The magazine claimed that Khalid had three visions before carrying out the attacks.

In his first, which he said he had in jail, Dabiq claims he saw Mohammed riding a horse into battle while he acted as an archer.

Following the vision and his release from jail, he began amassing bombs and weapons for the terrorist attack.
Perry wants to use the property as a private residence while Hollister wants to turn the Roman Villa-style convent into a hotel

But the nuns rebuffed her offer and accepted $15.5million from

Katy Perry may soon get to live in the home of her dreams after a Los Angeles judge invalidated the sale of a local convent she wanted to buy, which had hastily been sold to a restaurateur

Pop star Katy Perry will get her chance to live in a former Roman Catholic convent after a judge on Wednesday invalidated the property's sale to a restaurateur.

The months-long real estate dispute in Los Angeles has involved a group of nuns, the Archdiocese and a former convent in the style of a Roman Villa.

Attorneys for Perry said in a statement that they were pleased with the ruling, and that it cleared the way for Perry to buy the property.

The case had pitted Perry, daughter of Protestant pastors and one of the top-selling pop stars in the world, and the archdiocese against the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The nuns once lived in the convent and wanted to sell it to Los Angeles restaurateur Dana Hollister. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, on the other hand, wanted to sell to Perry.

Representatives for the nuns and Hollister did not reply to requests for comment.

Michael Hennigan, the attorney for the archdiocese, said that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick had approved the archdiocese's motion to block the sale to Hollister in its entirety.

Perry, who rose to fame with the hit song 'I Kissed a Girl,' offered to buy the 8-acre property for $14.5 million to use as a private residence for herself.

Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary wanted to sell the home to a restaurant while the Archdiocese of Los Angeles wanted to sell to Perry. Sister Catherine Rose, left, and Sister Rita Callanan, 77 (right), stand outside the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Retreat House on June 25, 2015 in in Los Feliz, California

The home was left to the sisters by a devout Catholic. It has not been used as a residence for the sisters for many years

The house was built like Roman Villa, and was originally used as a private residence

The room that once held the chapel with original fireplace is seen at the former home of Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The swimming pool is seen outside the former home of Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The former home of Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

A sculpture stands outside the former home of Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The nuns had rebuffed the 31-year-old performer, accepting a competing $15.5 million bid from Hollister, who wanted to convert the former convent into a hotel.
Ted Cruz's freshman year roommate, Hollywood screenwriter Craig Mazin, made the GOP hopeful's day even more cringe-worthy with one ballsy tweet.

'Ted Cruz thinks people don't have a right to "stimulate their genitals." I was his college roommate. This would be a new belief of his,' Mazin wrote.

The inspiration for the too-much-information Twitter revelation came from a Mother Jones story, which was published today, headlined 'The Time Ted Cruz Defended a Ban on Dildos.'

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Craig Mazin wrote this tawdry tweet today about his ex-roommate Ted Cruz upon hearing about a decade-old legal case in which the former Texas solicitor general tried to uphold a law criminalizing the sale of dildos

Hollywood writer Craig Mazin (left) has become somewhat of a thorn in the side of Sen. Ted Cruz (right) as the two lived together during their freshman year at Princeton

Sen. Ted Cruz's ex-roommate Craig Mazin first responded to a Twitter user pointing out the Mother Jones piece about the sex toy legal case

Beforehand, Mazin had tweeted that Cruz 'did not have a dildo stashed under his pillow. Ted Cruz slept on top of his pillow,' as a Twitter user pointed the story out.

The article was referring to a decade-old case that was reported on by Mother Jones' David Corn.

Corn noted that Cruz never once mentioned the case when he discussed his time being the Texas solicitor general in his tome, 'A Time for Truth.'

Cruz, along with now Gov. Greg Abbott, who was then the state's attorney general, attempted to uphold a Texas law that prohibited the sale of sex toys in the state.

As part of the legal argument, Cruz's office wrote that, 'There is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate one's genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationship.'

A number of businesses began challenging the law after a Texas mother was arrested by two undercover cops for throwing a party and selling vibrators and other wares through Passion Parties, which is, like Corn explained, 'akin to a Tupperware party for sex toys.'

The plaintiffs argued that the law went against their right to privacy, which is found in the Constitution's 14th Amendment.

A federal judge kept the law on the books and then it was Cruz and company's job to defend it during the appeal.

Cruz's legal team essentially argued that 'Texans were free to use sex toys at home, but they did not have the right to buy them.'

When Sen. Ted Cruz was the solicitor general in Texas he was tasked with upholding the state's ban on the sale of sex toys

Mazin, who has more than 75,000 followers and has written the screenplays for the Hangover and Scary Movie sequels, now fields questions from people curious about Cruz on Twitter

The brief, along with its most quotable line, also argued that the government had an interest in 'discouraging ... autonomous sex' and compared the use of dildos to 'hiring a willing prostitute or engaging in consensual bigamy.'

The court of appeals, in a 2-to-1 decision, sided with the Texas business owners who wanted to legally sell sex toys in the state.

Using the case Lawrence v. Texas as precedent, which had previously struck down the state's sodomy law, the judges pointed to the 'right to be free from government intrusion regarding the "most private human contact, sexual behavior."'

They added that 'an individual who wants to legally use a safe sexual device during private intimate moments alone or with another is unable to legally purchase a device in Texas, which heavily burdens a constitutional right.'

Cruz and Abbott remained undeterred and filed a brief requesting that the full appeals court hear the case, suggesting that the three judge panel had stretched the Lawrence decision too far.

When that didn't happen, the Republican duo decided against taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

'Imagine how his political career might have been affected had Cruz become the public face for the anti-dildos movement,' Corn mused.

Mazin, the roommate, has become a thorn in Cruz's side since the Texan launched his political career.

After leaving Princeton and his dorm room with Sen. Ted Cruz, Craig Mazin went on to become a writer in Hollywood, penning, for instance, the two 'Hangover' series sequels

Craig Mazin has sent out funny tweets about living with Sen. Ted Cruz and more serious ones too - warning voters that he has 'no moral center' and 'no values'

The Hollywood writer, who has penned sequels to 'Scary Movie' and 'The Hangover,' has used Twitter to reminisce about his time living with Cruz.

For instance, he wrote that 'as a freshman, I would get into senior parties because I was Ted's roommate. OUT OF PITY. He was that widely loathed. It's his superpower,' Mazin wrote on Twitter in January.

'Second memory: Ted would talk about the women he thought he had a shot with,' Mazin continued. 'Pretty sure he remained untouched by a woman those four years.'

'Ted Would leave a greasy film on everything,' Mazin added. 'My friend Erik dubbed the substance "Cruhz," rhymes with "scuzz." Now there's Cruhz on my TV.'

At another instance on Twitter, Mazin was asked what Cruz liked to do on a Friday night.

For this, he had no answer.

'I have no idea because the first thing I did after my last class of the week was GET THE F*** AWAY FROM TED CRUZ,' Mazin responded.

Besides simply mocking his least favorite roomie, Mazin has sent out more serious missives as well.

'Ted Cruz will become the thing you need him to be so that he wins an election,' the screenwriter warned.

'No principles, no moral center, no values,' he said.
Choosing a college is an important decision. Each year, students spend dozens of hours discussing with their parents, teachers, counselors and coaches where they would like to spend the next few years of their lives. They pore over statistics, rankings and testimonials, trying to decide which school is the best fit. And data is everywhere: A prospective student can go online to find anything from financial aid statistics to the average class size to the number of robberies on campus.

But one piece of critical information is conspicuously absent. When a high school senior wants to know how well her dream university responds to sexual assault cases, that information is nowhere to be found. In the hypercompetitive world of college admissions, few schools are willing to stand up and make public just how well their students think they are addressing incidents of sexual assault on their campuses. Instead, colleges essentially have an incentive to stay quiet; no school wants to be the outlier, the only one to admit it has a problem.

We must change this. Our colleges and universities need a new set of incentives that would encourage them to go public and be transparent about their ability to prevent and respond to sexual assault on their campuses.

Colleges and universities must address the problems on their campuses so that their students feel safe. To get to that point, our bill, the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, would require every college and university in the country to take part in a national survey that asks students about the campus sexual assault climate at their school. The results would be made public, for any prospective applicant and any parent to see and be able to consider during the admissions process.

We already have a snapshot of how big this problem is. The Department of Justice recently released the results of a major study that polled thousands of students across nine different universities about their experiences with campus sexual assault. The results were disturbing  one out of every four female college seniors reported experiencing sexual assault on campus during their college career, but the poll results dont tell us anything about where these assaults occurred.

Without a survey, it is nearly impossible for applicants, students and parents to know how good or bad the climate is at any particular school. This information should be transparent and public. Our families deserve to know which schools have a sexual assault problem and which schools dont, just as much as they deserve to know the schools academic rankings or endowment.

We recognize that there are skeptics who suggest that a standardized, national survey is a one-size-fits-all approach, and would be too difficult to implement. The Department of Justice study proved them wrong. The agency collected data from thousands of students in their recent study, from colleges and universities with diverse characteristics, including public and private, two- and four-year, with various student population sizes, and across different regions of the country. The survey reminded us that Americas college students need to have a voice on this issue. Without a clear, standardized picture of the sexual assault climate in all of our schools, we cant fully diagnose this problem and ultimately resolve it.

The key to understanding campus sexual assault  and then fighting it  is going to be in the data. If students report in the survey that their universities take them seriously and are doing everything possible to prevent assaults, to help survivors and to respond to incidents in a fair and transparent manner, the data will reflect it, and schools will have no reason to worry about going public with this information.

Our families need to know which schools are taking the problem seriously and which are pretending theres no problem at all. Our schools need to feel motivated to come clean about the extent of their sexual assault problem, so they can move to fix it.

In the hypercompetitive world of college admissions, few schools are willing to stand up and make public just how well their students think they are addressing incidents of sexual assault on their campuses.
A member of the Republican convention's rules committee created a firestorm Wednesday morning by suggesting that front-runner Donald Trump could be closer to claiming the party's presidential nomination than anyone realizes.

Randy Evans told MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' audience that despite conventional wisdom holding that Trump has to secure the support of a majority of delegates  at least 1,237  in order to prevail, there's more to the math than meets the eye.

'If Donald Trump exceeds 1,100 votes, he will become the nominee even though he may not have 1,237,' he said.

Trump told DailyMail.com exclusively on Wednesday afternoon that Evans' math sounds right.

'It certainly makes sense to me,' he said in an email, 'because I would be many hundreds of delegates ahead of both competitors, in addition to having millions more votes.'

IS THE MATH ALL WRONG? Republican National Convention rules committee member Randy Evans said Wednesday morning that Trump could capture the party's presidential nomination if he has as few as 1,100 delegates in his pocket when he arrives in Cleveland in July

HE SEES ALL: Trump told DailyMail.com that Evans' math makes sense since he's best positioned to reach the magic number of 1,237 if some 'unpledged' delegates can be persuaded to join him

DELEGATE CIRCUS: Thousands of rock-ribbed Republicans will listen in Cleveland this July, as they did in Tampa in 2012 (pictured) as candidates jockey for position

He also reinforced his belief that the Republican Party should rally around him as the best equipped foil for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in November.

'Once I get started, I am the only one who will beat Hillary,' Trump said. 'Just like Ronald Reagan, who won easily against Carter.'

Most delegates to the multi-day July event in Cleveland, Ohio will arrive 'pledged' to a candidate during the first round of voting.

WATCHING AND WAITING: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz hopes Trump never crosses the finish line

According to the respected political bean-counting website frontloading.com, Trump already has 757 in his corner while Texas sen. Ted Cruz has 527. Other estimates, including one from the Associated Press, see the margin between the two White House hopefuls as slightly more narrow.

But not all of the 2,472 delegates will arrive in Ohio pre-assigned to a candidate on the first ballot. if Trump's aides can corral enough of these 'unpledged' free agents and add them to his pre-convention total, the talk of a drawn-out contest could be much ado about nothing.

'If he gets less than 1,000 delegates, then I think we're looking at a contested convention that could go on for many, many days,' Evans said Wednesday.

Trump is expected to execute a near-clean-sweep of delegates in the northeastern United States on April 19 and 26 with wins in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, Delaware, and possibly Pennsylvania  although the Keystone State's delegate-awarding system is unconventional and hard to predict.

Polling in the smaller Midatlantic states is hard to come by, but a Monmouth University survey released Wednesday morning showed Trump crushing the field in Maryland.

A whopping 47 per cent of likely Republican primary voters there said they support Trump, compared with 27 percent who back Ohio Gov. John Kasich and 19 percent who will choose Cruz.

Running the table over the next two weeks could put the first-time candidate Trump near or over the 1,000 mark before the ultimate winner-take-all contest  California's June 7 primary, with its 172 delegates.

The billionaire leads in a Real Clear Politics average of Golden State GOP polls by more than 6 points.

NOT SO, HE SAYS: Republican National Committee communications director Sean Spicer cautioned against using any number other than 1,237 as the benchmark for victory

FAMILY CIRCLE: Trump appeared Tuesday night in a CNN town hall broadcast with wife Melania (in blue, center), sons Don Jr. and Eric, and daughters Tiffany and Ivanka

Even if he underperforms, Trump is on pace to exceed Evans' more lenient benchmark.

And the GOP convention delegate says there will be plenty of time for arm-twisting the free agents once they arrive in Cleveland.

Trump has nearly unlimited resources, and a gold-laden Boeing 757 for entertaining. And there are few rules limiting the inducements that candidates and their campaigns can offer delegates in exchange for their support.

'Listen, delegates to the national convention get bombarded with gifts the same way attendees to the Academy Awards get bombarded with gifts,' Evans said on 'Morning Joe.'

'There are gift bags, there are gift everything. So that's not going to to be anything new.'

Trump has been feuding with the Republican National Committee in recent days, complaining that the delegate allocation process in Colorado was 'rigged' against him.
The panicked 0.01 per cent are reportedly buying up underground bunkers carved out of bedrock to escape civil unrest and natural disasters.

Bespoke hidden chambers in Germany and the US are being snapped up as the world's wealthiest look to secure a safe spot if crisis strikes, according to their promoters.

And while numbers are difficult to ascertain, experts say more and more of the wealthy are installing 'safe rooms' in their apartments - or at least fortifying rooms to hide in should disaster strike.

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Each two level 'chamber' can be tailored to the owner's design - perhaps to match your bespoke yacht?

The 'survival complex' boasts a swimming pool, cinema, meeting rooms as well as by laws and armed guards

While the underground hideaways are designed to withstand the worst natural disasters - they are luxurious above all else.

Customers are encouraged to decorate their 'chamber' like they would their yachts, according to owner Vivos CEO Robert Vicino.

Swimming pools, cinemas, bars and meeting rooms are open to the 'elite' community who can survive underground for one year.

'People are sensing that a global life-changing event is just ahead... Millions of people believe that we are living in the end times",' promotional website Vivos declares.

Bedrock: The largest facility is in Germany, but a second bunker is also selling out in Indiana, US

Danger: The world's wealthiest are reportedly worried by civil unrest, revolution and crime more than natural disaster

'We are clearly living in dangerous and changing times that the uninformed will never understand until the threats are evident. We cannot predict, but we can prepare,' the company said in a statement to MailOnline.

The biggest facility is in Germany - Europa One - and is 'one of the most fortified and massive underground survival shelters on Earth, deep below a limestone mountain' and 'safely secured from the general public, behind sealed and secured walls, gates and blast doors'.

Journalist Lynn Parramore visited the facility in Indiana, US - and reported the gigantic bunker was like walking into a hotel, describing it as the 'Ritz Carlton of doomsday shelters'.

The cheapest of the bunkers will set you back $35,000, while the most delux costs up to $3 million.

The state of the art facilities also include a hospital, and armed guards on duty to keep the 99 per cent from breaking into the hideaway.

To avoid a Lord of the Flies scenario, the designers have also implemented a handbook that outlines by laws for the bunkered community.

Community: To avoid a Lord of the Flies scenario, the designers have also implemented a handbook that outlines by laws for the bunkered community
Police are hunting for vandals who daubed buildings in the Majorcan capital Palma - including a four-star hotel - with anti-tourist messages.

The spray-painted slogans surprised holidaymakers and locals earlier this week.

One of the messages which was written on the four-star Palma Suites Aparthotel in Palma old town said: 'Tourist Go Home. Refugees Welcome.'

One of the insulting messages (pictured) which appeared earlier this week was written on the four-star Palma Suites Aparthotel in Palma's Old Town and said: 'Tourist Go Home. Refugees Welcome'

Others carrying the same message have been daubed on walls and waste paper bins in the same area including one on a private school.

'Guiris Go Home', the slang word the Spanish use to describe British and other northern European holidaymakers, and the more threatening slogan 'Tourists, You Are the Terrorist.' also left visitors with a sour taste in their mouths.

Today council officials began a clean-up of the area as police tried to track down those responsible.

The mystery messages appeared as Majorca geared up for a bumper tourist season expected to be one of its best ever.

Nearly three million British tourists are expected to visit the island this year.

Around 15million of the 65million foreign tourists that flock to Spain every year are British, putting them in top spot ahead of the French and Germans.

The Swedish-hotel in Palma which was spray-painted revealed today it has been targeted four times this year, leaving them concerned a small group of people are singling out popular holidaymaker destinations.

A hotel spokesman said: 'We have already reported this latest incidents and three earlier incidents this year to the police.

'On two occasions bags filled with paints were thrown at the facade.

'We have the feeling, especially in light of the graffiti that was daubed on buildings and street furniture on Sunday night, that there may be a small group who feel unhappy with the effect of tourism on the area for whatever reason and are trying to make their feelings known.

'We're obviously concerned because this has been the fourth incident but we're not alarmed.'

Today council officials began a clean-up of the area as police tried to track down those responsible

Holidaymakers flock to Palma's old town to see its fabulous architecture including its landmarks buildings such as the picturesque Cathedral.

But a local neighbourhood association admitted it was upset with Palma Council because it had taken away valuable parking spaces outside the cathedral in February so tourists' view of the area 'wasn't spoiled by cars.'

Luis Clar, president of El Seu Neighbourhood Association, branded those responsible for the spray-painted slogans 'idiots' and said no-one from the association shared their message or supported their actions.

But he said they suffered from 'tourist saturation' and said local town hall officials had done themselves no favours by claiming they could only remove the messages daubed on street furniture and not those left on private facades.

He added: 'Residents in the old town have been doubly affected. First they suffer the problem of tourist saturation without anyone from the town hall putting in place measures to ease their lives and avoid the death of the neighbourhood.

'Second they find they're the ones who have to clean up the anti-tourist slogans that have appeared all over the area.'

Today Palma's mayor Jose Hila admitted the anti-tourist graffiti harmed the city's image but said the slogans made no sense.

He added: 'We are a tourist city and tourism is our industry.'

He also confirmed he had ordered local police to try to track down those responsible.

Locals in areas of Barcelona have in the past organised noisy demonstrations against holidaymakers.

Those in working class neighbourhood La Barceloneta have protested against drunken Magaluf-style holidaymakers and illegal tourist flats.
Kelly said on her show Wednesday that she had 'discussed the possibility of an interview', adding 'I hope we will have news to announce soon'

Megyn Kelly has revealed she met with Donald Trump on Wednesday at her request to 'clear the air' - and also to discuss a special broadcast that will air on Fox News next month.

The Fox News anchor was spotted walking into the private residence entrance of The Donald's New York City building by an NBC reporter, which a Trump source later confirmed to the network.

Kelly, who said in a Variety interview just last week she had not recently requested an interview with Trump, confirmed on The Kelly File that she had spoken with the Republican frontrunner.

Quipping that the doormen at Trump Tower 'were surprised to see me', Kelly said she discussed 'the possibility of an interview' with Trump, adding 'I hope we will have news to announce soon.'

She was said to be planning to reveal the results of the meeting Wednesday night on, her Fox News Channel program, but did not release any more information.

She said Trump was 'gracious' and that their hour-long meeting was 'at my request' and 'a chance to clear the air.'

She did not reveal any details of the forthcoming project and simply told viewers: 'Stay tuned'.

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Megyn Kelly (above on her show Wednesday night) met with Donald Trump at his private residence inside Trump Tower on Wednesday morning

Paying a visit: Trump was photographed later in the day leaving Fox News headquarters (above)

Trump also spoke about the meeting during an appearance on Hannity Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.

He smiled when host Sean Hannity mentioned Kelly's name and the crowd booed her, but then said; 'She called last week and they set up a meeting, thgey said, "Could we come up?" and I said, "Would you ncome to Trump Tower" because I didn't want any confussion.

'And she did. And she was very, very nice and we had a meeting and she was very nice. She really was.'

He then added; 'And by the way, in all fairness, I give her a lot of credit for doing what she did.'

It is thought Kelly is attempting to secure an interview with Trump for a TV special based on Barbara Walters' Most Fascinating People due to air on May 23, The Daily Beast reports.

Announcing the slot, producers said the program 'will be personal in nature and address the year Kelly has had as one of the most prominent voices covering the 2016 presidential campaign.'

The two last came face-to-face during the the Fox News debate in March that was moderated by Kelly.

Fox News later confirmed the meeting as well, saying in a statement; 'FOX News Chairman & CEO Roger Ailes has spoken to Donald Trump a few times over the past three months about appearing on a Fox Broadcasting special with Megyn Kelly airing on May 23.

'Kelly requested a meeting with Mr. Trump, which took place at Trump Tower this morning. The results of that meeting will be revealed on tonight's Kelly File at 9PM/ET.

'Kelly has acknowledged in recent interviews that Trump is a fascinating person to cover and has electrified the Republican base.'

Kelly spoke about the media's treatment of Trump last Wednesday during an interview with Katie Couric, and suggested that his high poll numbers are the result of the amount of coverage he is given by news programs and journalists.

'Yes, we all have to worry about numbers to some extent. That's the reality of TV news in 2016. But we also have to worry about our souls, and journalism,' Kelly told Couric while being interviewed at the seventh annual Women in the World Summit.

Kelly went on to say that Trump's rise in the polls seemed to have a direct correlation to his coverage in the media.

'And then the media would sit there and say, 'It's amazing how the polls are just up, up,'' said Kelly.

'It's like, you're putting your thumb on the scale. It's not an anti-Trump thing. It's a responsibility as journalists thing.'

Kelly said that she spoke with her team ahead of the primaries about making sure coverage was equal for all candidates, telling them; 'When the post-mortem is done on the coverage of Donald Trump, wherever this race goes, let's make sure we're on the side of the angels.'

Kelly also said during the interview 'we don't do that for other candidates, so it's not fair.'

She also spoke about how in addition to being attacked by Trump she also receives 'vitriol' from his followers on social media.

'I try to stay off Twitter,' said Kelly.

'But of course it has bothered me, and it has gotten very ugly. I try to stay in my happy world.

'I don't like having to put my kids to bed and think about that vitriol, but I understand it's part of the job.'

Feud over?: Trump smiled appearing on Hannity (above) later in the day when the crowd in Pittsburgh booed Kelly

Greeting his fans: Fox News said in a statement Kelly spoke to Trump about appearing in a special segment set to air on May 23

The Fox News host also sat down with Charlie Rose for an episode of CBS Sunday Morning that aired two weekends ago, and revealed that she was upset when O'Reilly failed to defend her against Trump's attacks when he pulled out of the Iowa debate she moderated in January.

Kelly did however say; 'I think Bill did the best he's capable of doing in those circumstances.'

She also criticized CNN for airing the event Trump was holding for veterans at the same time she was hosting the debate.

'There should have been a moment of solidarity among journalists that night to say, 'We will not allow ourselves to be bullied by a presidential front runner, even one as powerful and as ahead in the polls at that point as Trump was,'' said Kelly.

''This is about journalism and the First Amendment, and we will put the debate moderator out on the stage that we think is appropriate.'

'And I think it's a slippery slope when we don't stand shoulder to shoulder in those moments.'

Kelly went on to say that the best way to teach Trump a lesson would be to ban him from appearing on television, which she acknowledges is not possible.

'What he really wants is oxygen, you know, he wants television time,' said Kelly.

'So the only thing that is really meaningful to him, the only consequence that would actually have an effect on him, we cannot enact because it would be insane. You cannot ban the presidential front runner from a channel.'

The host of The Kelly File also has some positive things to say about Trump as well, saying of the Republican front-runner; 'Trump, if he could pull himself back in just somewhat, would be so effective.'

She then added; 'He's already been so effective. He could be so much more effective.'

At one point in the interview, Rose says to Kelly; 'Has anything about this campaign season made you want to throw up your arms and say, 'Politics has gone crazy in America!''

Kelly responds by saying; 'I've had the same feeling.'

Rose then asked Kelly about her feud with Trump and if the two even had a relationship before last August's debate when his attacks first began on the political commentator.

Kelly said she and Trump had no relationship before that debate, where her questions asking the presidential hopeful to address his negative comments about women and their appearance led to him saying the next day that she had 'blood coming out of her wherever.'

She then got into why she believes she is constantly at the receiving end of his vitriolic attacks.

'I think its very clear to him that he cannot control the editorial on my show or me in a debate or other settings,' said Kelly.

She then added that Trump is welcome to come on her show at any time.
Former CNN anchor Campbell Brown is making it clear how she feels about Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump and her former network's softball treatment of the candidate.

The 47-year-old television news reporter, who resigned from CNN in 2010, took to Twitter on Tuesday evening and blasted against her old network and the billionaire businessman.

'This CNN townhall is like nothing I have ever seen -- horrifying lovefest and official Trump endorsement,' Brown first tweeted.

She then shared a Wall Street Journal article about the New York Observer newspaper endorsing Trump.

Campbell Brown, the 47-year-old television news reporter who resigned from CNN in 2010, took to Twitter on Tuesday evening to rant against her old network and billionaire businessman Donald Trump

Brown called the town hall a 'horrifying lovefest' on Twitter. Above Trump is pictured during the town hall with his family on Tuesday

At the beginning of her rant, Brown tweeted the message above Tuesday night about Trump and CNN

Brown then shared a Wall Street Journal article about Trump's son-in-law's newspaper endorsing him

'Seriously. New York Observer newspaper, owned by Donald Trump's son-in-law, endorses Donald Trump,' Brown, who also worked at NBC, captioned the tweet mentioning the article.

Brown then tweeted: 'His racism and misogyny never came up. Helpful when you are running for president.'

Seemingly still not pleased with how the town hall with the GOP presidential hopeful went, Brown continued tweeting on Wednesday and wrote a series of questions as to what the cable news network should have asked his family in her opinion.

She started off and wrote: '5 questions @CNN should have asked at the Trump family town hall' on the social networking site.

'1/ Ivanka, how would you as a mother feel if you had a disabled child who was mocked by a presidential candidate?'

Brown appeared to be referencing when Trump 'mocked' disabled reporter Serge Kovlaski during an appearance and then denied his actions.

The former CNN anchor wrote the above message on Twitter referencing what was not discussed during the town hall on CNN

On Wednesday Brown continued with her rant and decided to tweet five question that she felt should have been asked by her old employer

Brown questioned how Ivanka would feel if she had a disabled child who was mocked by a presidential candidate

She then questioned what message Trump is sending to Ivanka's children about women and his reported long history of misogyny

Brown continued her questions on Twitter and wrote: '2/ Given what ur (sic) father has said about women- his long history of misogyny- what message do you think that sends to your own children?

'3/ What did you think when your father praised the Chinese government for murdering students in Tiananmen (sic) Square?

'4/ Do you agree with your father that muslims (sic) should be banned from this country?

5/ Do you think your fathers support for and endorsement of violence at his rallies is acceptable for a presidential candidate?'

Back in December, Brown wrote a piece for Politico titled Dear Former TV Colleagues, Give Us a Week Without Trump.

Brown questioned Ivanka's opinion about her father's comments concerning Tienanmen Square and the Chinese government

Trump has been outspoken about wanting to ban Muslims from the United States, so Brown wrote the above message to Ivanka

She lastly asked if Ivanka felt that her father's alleged support for violence at his rallies is acceptable for a presidential candidate

'To my former TV colleagues: Please stop. Just for one week, dont say his name,' Brown started her essay.

Brown wrote an essay in December saying that Trump is 'not a leader' and labeled him as a 'supreme narcissist'

'As many have already said, no presidential candidate in history has gotten this much free airtime. Lets stop being complicit in promoting his hateful and harmful demagoguery. Just for one week.'

In her essay she said that nothing Trump says matters and called for him to be banned from the next televised debate, though that did not happen.

'He is not a politician. He is not a leader. He is a supreme narcissist, and you can deprive him of the one thing that keeps him goingairtime,' Brown wrote in the conclusion of her essay.

Since leaving CNN after reportedly having low ratings on her prime time show, Brown founded the Educational Justice organization that is a nonprofit organization 'pursuing impact litigation that empowers families and communities to advocate for great public schools by challenging unjust education laws,' according to its website.

She is also the co-founder of The 74, which is a non-profit, non-partisan news site covering education in America.
Killed: Darren Kelly, 42, was lured to his death by a 'vigilante' gang who mistakenly believed he was a paedophile, a court heard today

A 'vigilante' gang of youths were spotted hiding in park bushes moments before luring a father-of-one to his death in the mistaken belief he was a paedophile.

Darren Kelly, 42, thought he was meeting with a woman he had been chatting via an online dating app in the week leading up to his murder.

But instead, the lorry driver was jumped upon and punched, kicked and then stabbed by a gang of four including Chris Carroll, 20, and three teenagers who cannot be named for legal reasons, a jury was told.

Off-duty police community support officer Emma Spurr told the court she was walking home shortly after 9pm when she saw a group of youths hiding in the park.

Some of them appeared to be concealing themselves behind trees and bushes.

'It made me feel nervous and I wanted to get home as quickly as possible,' she said.

Witnesses described seeing Mr Kelly running for his life as one of his attackers allegedly shouted 'he's a paedo'. But the gang are said to have caught up with him after chasing their alleged victim through the street.

Mr Kelly was stabbed six times, including two wounds to his lung, and died later in Basildon Hospital.

After the alleged attack, the group of youths are said to have gone into a house and ordered pizza.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard Mr Kelly regularly used the internet app Whisper to meet up with women for sex but there was no evidence to show he was interested in underage girls.

Carroll, 20, from Pitsea, Essex, is accused of murder, along with a 17-year-old boy, also from Pitsea, a 17-year-old boy from Basildon, Essex, and a 16-year-old girl from Pitsea.

The four are jointly charged with killing Mr Kelly on the evening of October 20 last year, and all deny murder.

They appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court today and sat alongside each other in the dock with a security guard behind each of them.

Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said: 'This, you may come to think, is a terrible case that is as disturbing as it is extraordinary.

'The prosecution allege that last October, at a time when the defendants were 15, 16, 17 and 20, the four of them - at the instigation of the first defendant [the then 15-year-old girl] - formed a group of vigilantes in order to attack a 42-year-old man.'

The jury of eight men and four women heard how Mr Kelly was punched, kicked and then stabbed to death.

Mr Aylett said: 'In the minutes leading up to the murder, as the defendants were seen chasing Mr Kelly through an alleyway, a passer-by asked what was going on.

'Chris Carroll called out "he is a paedophile".'

On trial: Chris Carroll (pictured), 20, from Pitsea, Essex, is accused of the murder of Mr Kelly, along with a 17-year-old boy, also from Pitsea, a 17-year-old boy from Basildon, and a 16-year-old girl from Pitsea

The court heard there was absolutely no evidence - other than claims from the female defendant - that Mr Kelly was interested in underage girls. In fact detectives found conversations with various women in which he said they were too young for him as he was looking for a partner who was over the age of 45.

Messages recovered by police suggested that Mr Kelly may in fact have believed he was meeting an adult, possibly the mother of the schoolgirl defendant.

'Whilst, certainly, it was the case Mr Kelly had used the internet to meet people for sex, there was nothing to suggest Mr Kelly had been interested in underage girls,' Mr Aylett added.

A witness described how the gang punched and kicked Mr Kelly to the ground before Carroll was allegedly heard saying 'Leave it to me'. He was seen bending down as if to stab him, the court was told

On the day of the murder, the teenage girl defendant arranged to meet Mr Kelly outside her school.

The other defendants, along with a 13-year-old girl - who was arrested but later released without charge - gathered nearby, with some of them hiding in bushes.

When he arrived, the group started to punch and kick him and Carroll slashed the tyres on his car, Mr Aylett said.

Mr Kelly managed to run away but the group chased after him. Witnesses described seeing him running for his life.

Mr Aylett said: 'In the moments leading up to the murder, as they were chasing him through an alleyway, a passer-by asked the group what was going on.

'Perhaps indicating the inflamed sense of self-righteousness shared by the others, Chris Carroll shouted out "He's a paedo".'

Another witness described how they punched and kicked him to the ground before Carroll was allegedly heard saying 'Leave it to me'. He was seen bending down as if to stab him, the court was told.

Mr Kelly managed to get help from residents at a nearby block of flats. But he had been stabbed six times and died later in hospital.

After the alleged attack, the group went to a house and ordered pizza. The two teenage boys were later handed in to police by their parents.

When officers arrived at a house to find Carroll and the girl, the court was told he tried to escape while she shouted: 'Do I look like a murderer?'

Scene: Mr Kelly, 42, thought he was meeting with a woman he had been chatting to online in the week leading up to his murder. But instead he was allegedly set upon by a gang of four in Basildon, Essex (pictured)

Mr Aylett said text messages later showed that Carroll was besotted with the girl.

One said: 'I know you're not ready for a relationship but I'm going to wait for you.

'I'm not going to quit until you're mine.'

After the teenage schoolgirl was arrested she told the police she had on two earlier occasions set up meetings with older men in order that they might be arrested.

She told how she had met the men online - through Facebook - before calling the police.

The teenager was asked what she hoped to achieve and told officers it was 'to get them arrested because they were perverts and I don't think perverts should be walking around.

'I don't see anyone else doing anything about it.'

In March 2014, when the defendant was just 14, she met a 23-year-old man - referred to in court as 'H'.

The court heard they had taken part in sexually explicit exchanges with the man telling the defendant he was going to rape her. The teenager turned up at the scene and met with the man.

Police were called to the scene and the man was arrested on suspicion of sexual grooming.

Witnesses described seeing Mr Kelly (pictured) running for his life as one of his attackers allegedly shouted 'he's a paedo'. But the gang are said to have caught up with him after chasing after their alleged victim

In May last year the schoolgirl received a Facebook friend request from a 67-year-old man who then followed it up with a message.

The two lied about their ages with the teenager initially saying she was 25 but later admitted she was only 15.

By August the man's messages became 'more intimate' and the pair agreed to meet in September at Tesco in Pitsea.

The teenager met with the man - referred to as only 'C' - whilst her friend stood by and the pair began shouting at C, telling him it was wrong to meet up with young girls.

A passer-by spotted the altercation and called the police and C was arrested.

There is nothing to suggest that Mr Kelly was interested in underage girls and plenty of evidence which shows the opposite Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting

Mr Aylett said it appeared the teenager had been running a 'campaign against paedophiles' but lost patience with the police and the court system.

Mr Kelly, who had a daughter, had separated from his wife.

After the murder, police searched his address and found an old mobile phone he had been using in 2014.

He was using an app named 'Whisper' in order to make contact with people on the internet.

He used photographs of different men as well as different ages for himself and from time to time he arranged to meet adult women for sex.

'There is nothing to suggest that Mr Kelly was interested in underage girls and plenty of evidence which shows the opposite,' Mr Aylett said.

The jury heard how on one occasion he was exchanging messages with a 22-year-old but then told her he was looking for someone older.

His phone also showed evidence of how he had commented to another woman 'So sick - all the kids on here.'

And he said to one teen: 'Was hoping you was older.'

The four are jointly charged with killing lorry driver Mr Kelly in Basildon on the evening of October 20 last year

The teenage defendant used the the Whisper app to make contact with Mr Kelly and then set-up the meeting.

The phone that Mr Kelly had been using to contact the teenager has never been recovered.

A second phone was found but it was not the one used to exchange messages with the female defendant.

When the teenager was arrested, police seized her iPad mini which had been locked.

She later provided the code but admitted to police she had deleted the app on which she made contact with Mr Kelly.

Only two messages survived - those which were sent on to Chris Carroll.

Mr Aylett added: 'Neither of the messages supported the defendant's claim. What is left suggested Mr Kelly had been looking for an older partner'.

In the minutes leading up to Mr Kelly's murder she sent a series of text messages to her co-defendants as she discussed the imminent meeting.
Prisoners were Jews, Sinti and Roma, 'strangers to the community', Jehovahs Witnesses and POWs

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A haunting new exhibition at a Nazi concentration camp opens this week and will mark 71 years after it was liberated by allied forces.

The permanent exhibition at Buchenwald, near Weimar in central Germany replaces the previous display opened in 1995, after historians combed through thousands of photographs and personal possessions of inmates.

The camp, which was open from 1937 to 1945 was the largest death camp by the end of the war - and Buchenwald became synonymous with the Nazi policy of extermination.

New exhibits include a carved chess piece, diaries, a comb made from a ruler to give a greater insight into how the prisoners lived inside the camp.

Archivists documented more than ten thousand historical photos - a selection of which will be on display to the public and record the SS on the streets of Weimar, hanging using 'portable gallows' and records of forced labour.

The newly documented records show how events shaped 'attitudes, scope for action, and conduct of the Germans towards the victims of persecution and ostracism,' according to the museum.

The previous exhibition detailed the history of the camp that held almost 280,000 prisoners - 56,000 of whom died by execution, torture, medical experiments or of tuberculosis.

Work began on building the camp in 1937 and was liberated by allied forces on April 11th 1945 when units of the 3rd US Army reached Ettersberg Hill near Weimar. The camp was then run by the Soviets until 1950, when it was closed and the barracks were burnt to the ground.

The new permanent exhibition at Former Nazi Concentration camp Buchenwald displays Gestapo card file photos of Hungarian Jews. The camp was open from 1937 until 1945 and held 280,000 people according to SS records - more than 56,000 people died there

The grounds of the camp have been combed for everyday objects of the prisoners, and survivors have also donated their possessions from their time in the camp. Among the finds are improvised toiletries, parts of cutlery and dishes  often bearing initials, inmates numbers or engravings , factory and identification tags, jewellery and evidence of forced labour

Foundation director of the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald memorial place Volkhard Knigge has worked at the museum since 1994

The camp was established to 'combat political opponents, persecute Jews, Sinti and Roma, and permanently ostracize strangers to the community  among them homosexuals, homeless people, Jehovahs Witnesses and ex-convicts  from the body of the German people. Above, inmate cards are displayed in the new permanent exhibition

The camp was liberated on April 11, 1945 by the US Army. On discovering the camp, supreme commander of the Allied Forces, Dwight D. Eisenhower, wrote: 'Nothing has ever shocked me as much as that sight'. Above, Military equipment of the 3rd US Army

Survivors: The camp held POWs from US, UK, and Australia after they were shot down over France and caught alongside the French resistance. Treated as spies, they were taken to the concentration camp but survived. Above, A typewriter with a paper of survivors

The newly documented records show how events shaped 'attitudes, scope for action, and conduct of the Germans towards the victims of persecution and ostracism,' according to the museum. Above, a contemporary swastika flag displayed at the exhibition of the camp

The previous exhibition opened in 1995 and detailed the history of the camp that held almost 280,000 prisoners - 56,000 of whom died by execution, torture, medical experiments or of tuberculosis. Buchenwald became synonymous with Nazi death camps

The Nazi SS forced prisoners to work for the Germen armament industry. Female prisoners also worked for the armament industry and some were forced into sexual slavery

Work began on building the camp in 1937 and was liberated by allied forces on April 11th 1945 when units of the 3rd US Army reached Ettersberg Hill near Weimar. The camp comprised of the main building on Ettersberg Hill and 139 subcamps
In a debate to be held in Parliament tomorrow former shadow home secretary David Davis (pictured) is expected to say it would be unconscionable to delay the Chilcot report any further

Ministers must honour Britains Iraq war dead by publishing the long-awaited inquiry into the controversial conflict by the middle of next month.

In a Commons debate to be held tomorrow former shadow home secretary David Davis will say it would be unconscionable to delay the report further and pile agony on the bereaved families.

Inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot has said it could be as late as July before the two million word document into the bloody military campaign is published, even though security vetting should be completed by May 6.

Families desperate to learn the truth about why Tony Blair sent their loved ones to die in the disastrous 2003 war believe the Government want to hold back the report so the fallout cannot influence the June 23 EU referendum.

But Mr Davis, a senior Tory, will say this would be inconceivable  and suggests Prime Minister David Cameron should publish it as early as May 23.

He will say: I, together with MPs from all parties, demand that the Government publish the report as soon as the security clearance is complete, and certainly no more than two weeks after receipt.

This is about learning from the mistakes we made as a nation. It is about ensuring that we do not make the same mistakes in the future.

It is about remembering those who have suffered great loss. It is about giving them some measure of solace in the truth.

It is about doing the honourable thing by those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

To delay further for no good reason would be an insult to those brave soldiers who died in the Iraq War, and to their families who have waited years for answers.

So far, the inquiry has taken six years and cost the taxpayer 10million.

The report is expected to criticise senior figures including Mr Blair, Mr Campbell, spy chiefs, military leaders and civil servants.

Inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot has said it could be as late as July before the two million word document into the bloody military campaign is published, even though security vetting should be completed by May 6

Last October Sir John, 76  accused by MPs of lacking a conscience for failing to end the families' pain  committed to hand the report to the Cabinet Office next week.

Mr Cameron said at the time he hoped national security checks, to ensure it does not contain sensitive military intelligence, would take two weeks.

After the checks, the document will be returned to Sir John to be prrofread and typeset before it is delivered to the Cabinet Office.

Relatives are angry that he has not brought forward the timetable, meaning preparations for publication could take three months.

Rose Gentle, whose 19-year-old son Gordon was killed in Iraq in 2004, said: I am disgusted at the length of time this has taken, to be let down again and again.

We wish they would stop playing games with the families hearts and minds. I hope MPs will stand behind the families so we can let our loved ones rest and we can start to move on.

Matthew Jury, of McCue & Partners solicitors, for the relatives, said: The suggestion that preparing the report for publication could take three months is absurd.

The families have suffered enough from politics and intrigue. They, and the British public, deserve better.
She is forbidden from using the internet, has restricted access to medicines and must announce all relationships to police

In 1992 she drugged her husband and ran him over twice with a car

In 2005, she stole thousands from an internet date; he says she spiked him

In 2013 she was jailed for dosing her latest partner with sedatives

Black Widow: Melissa Ann Shepard (pictured), 80, has been released after drugging her partner with tranquilizers. He was the latest of at least three victims of the woman who has become known as 'the Internet Black Widow'

An 80-year-old woman dubbed Canada's "Black Widow" has been arrested after breaching the conditions of her release by using the internet at a library in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A police spokeswoman said Melissa Ann Shepard was arrested Monday.

She was charged with three counts of breaching a recognizance and released on conditions that she not visit any libraries in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

She's due in court May 24.

Shepard gained notoriety for killing and poisoning several men who were her intimate partners and has a lengthy history of offences.

The arrest comes less than a month after Shepard was released from prison.

She served just under three years for spiking newlywed husband Fred Weeks' coffee with tranquilizers in 2012. Weeks survived after falling ill during a trip to Newfoundland.

Shepard was convicted of manslaughter and served two years in prison in the early 1990s in the death of her second husband, Gordon Stewart, whom she drugged and ran over twice with a car.

The convicted killer may look like a sweet old lady, but newly released Shepard has a long criminal history of the Canadian police looking over her shoulder.

On Friday Shepard finished serving almost three years in jail for poisoning her latest partner with sedatives, leaving him temporarily confined to a wheelchair on their 'honeymoon.'

But her criminal record goes back to 1977 and includes convictions for fraud, poisoning and manslaughter.

But Shepard has already been arrested after breaching the conditions of her release by using the internet at a library in Halifax (pictured)

Speaking before her most recent arrest, prosecutor James Giacomantonio told Fox News: 'We believe that she poses a risk going forward to the particular group of elderly males that she has preyed on in the past.'

Shepard (who was born Russell and has taken the names Friedrich, Weeks and Stewart from various marriages) is known to romance lonely, elderly men online before either drugging or stealing from them - or both.

Consequently, Canadian police plan to use a 'peace bond' to limit her access to drugs, stop her from using anything that would allow her to access the internet, and force her to declare all relationships she enters.

She must also let police photograph her if she changes her appearance, and allow them to explain her criminal history to any prospective partners, so they know what they're letting themselves in for.

And what a history it is.

Between 1977 and 1990 Shepard was convicted of more than 30 instances of fraud, but she didn't start earning her nickname until 1992.

That's when she drugged her second husband, Gordon Stewart, and ran him over twice with a car.

She claimed in her defense that he was trying to rape her and was convicted of manslaughter and imprisoned for six years, although she was released after only two.

In a video interview from 1995 she described herself as a 'battered wife' and claimed that her husband had done jail time for beating her up, but that this was not admitted as evidence in her court trial.

Killed: Shepard (left) drugged her second husband, Gordon Stewart (right), before running him over twice with a car in 1992. She claimed he had been beating her and was convicted of manslaughter

Fraud: Even before she killed Stewart, Shepard had been convicted more than 30 times for fraud. She would later go on to seek out lonely elderly men on the internet or in person, drugging and stealing from them

Changes: Shepard (pictured left and right) has changed her hair color and appearance so often that she must now tell police whenever she does so in the future. She is also restricted from accessing medicine and the web

In 2001, at the age of 65, she married her third husband, Robert Friedrich, 83, whom she had met on a Christian dating site. She moved to Florida to be with him.

He died 14 months later, leaving her thousands of dollars. His children claimed that she had poisoned him and won back $15,000 from her in a civil trial, but she was never charged with any crime.

Three years later Alex Strategos, then 73, started dating Shepard after meeting her online. 'At first, I thought she seemed very nice,' Strategos told the BBC, describing her as a 'very classy lady.'

Shepard moved down to his home in Florida to be with him, and over the one month that she stayed there he found himself hospitalized multiple times.

His son suspected foul play after doctors found the tranquilizer benzodiazepine in his blood and notified the police. Strategos now says he believes she was dosing the ice cream that she gave him most nights.

Police couldn't connect Shepard to the drug, but around $18,000 was found missing from Strategos's bank account and she ultimately found herself sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to seven charges including forgery and theft.

Victim: In 2013 Fred Weeks (pictured), then 75, became her latest victim. The two were 'married' in an unofficial ceremony before going on a honeymoon that would end with him hospitalized with tranquilizers and her in jail

In court: Shepard has been prosecuted dozens of times, and police say she remains a risk to the public - especially to her preferred prey of elderly, lonely men

Shepard was deported and moved to Nova Scotia where, in 2013, she knocked on the door of her neighbor, 75-year-old Fred Weeks, and told him she was lonely and she'd heard he was lonely too.

Weeks, who had lost his wife 18 months before, quickly 'married' Shepard in an unofficial ceremony and the two headed off to Newfoundland for their honeymoon,

However, Shepard had started spiking Weeks with heavy doses of sedatives, and he found himself unable to drive properly.

'Shes too smooth of an actor, Weeks told The Globe and Mail. 'She kept me in the dark for a long time, telling me her stories. Everything was a story. Everything was a lie that she told me.'

The next day he was restricted to a wheelchair, could not put his shoes on and had forgotten where his car keys were, but it wasn't until he was hospitalized after falling that drugs were found in his blood and police became involved.

Shepard was initially charged with attempted murder, but was ultimately convicted on the lesser charge of 'administering a noxious substance,' netting her two years, nine months and ten days in prison. She was denied early parole due to risk of committing another crime.

And now she has been released, despite police saying that she is 'a high risk to reoffend.'

'I don't think she should be released,' Alex Strategos told the BBC. 'I don't know what the judge had in his mind.

'What she was, she still is - she's the Black Widow. Some guys better watch out, that's all I can say.'
Sameer Sahib said identifying his daughter's body was hardest thing to do

An investigation will be launched into the death of Sanaya Sahib to see if authorities acted appropriately to protect the toddler found dead in a Melbourne creek.

Victoria's Minister for Families and Children Jenny Mikakos ordered the probe that will look into the weeks and months leading up to 14-month-old girl's death and which departments were in contact with Sanaya's family.

The investigation will see if child welfare officers sought to find out about and document the home life of the little girl, 7News reported.

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An investigation was ordered by the Victorian Government into the death of Sanaya Sahib (pictured right with her mother, Sofina Nikat) to see if authorities acted appropriately to protect the toddler who was found dead

CCTV footage shows Nikat walking with the pram near the park where she claimed her daughter was snatched

'There are strict protocols in place between agencies and services when it comes to sharing information about children,' a government spokeswoman said in a statement.

'The Minister for Families and Children has requested the Commissioner for Children and Young People investigate the death of Sanaya Sahib to determine whether these protocols have been followed by the Department of Health and Human Services and all related agencies.'

It was revealed after Sanaya's death that paramedics had treated her for a 'seizure' at her family's home a week before she died.

The family had also been in touch with the Department of Human Services but they did not wish to comment on Sanaya, the Herald Sun reported.

Three days after his daughter's death, Sanaya's devastated father Sameer Sahib shared a video of his estranged wife kissing and cuddling the 'bubbly' toddler.

The footage was sent to Mr Sahib, who had separated from Nikat a year ago, two days before the toddler's body was found in Darebin Creek in Heidelberg West, in Melbourne's north-east.

The investigation will see if child welfare officers sought to find out the kind of home life Sanaya (pictured with Nikat) had and if they documented any issues they had about her upbringing

Nikat was charged with the murder of the 14-month-old after she was found dead on Sunday morning

The 14-month-old's devastated father Sameer Sahib (pictured) shared a video sent to him by Nikat before his daughter's death

It shows the pair laughing, smiling and cuddling as they tell Mr Sahib they 'miss him'.

Nikat, 22, made 'full confessions' to killing the little girl and was due to front Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday, but was excused after doctors advised she was suffering from mental health issues.

Mr Sahib said he joined the search party for the missing toddler on Sunday morning, but was a 'bit too late,' and was contacted by police to come and identify his daughter's body.

'It was the worst day of my life,' he said.

Mr Sahib said the little girl was 'bubbly' when he saw her three days before her death and Nikat appeared to be 'all right', the ABC reported.

He said he has been unable to eat or sleep since learning of Nikat's arrest.

'I couldn't believe it, I just froze - how could a mother do something like that to her own child,' he said.

'We both brought her into the world. How can she do that?

'I had to go and identify the body, I never think i'd do that in my whole life- not to my own daughter.'

Police and rescue workers at the site where the body of Sanaya was found in Darebin Creek in Heidelberg West, in Melbourne's north-east

The devastated father of slain toddler Sanaya Sahib has shared a video (left and right are grabs) of his estranged wife kissing and cuddling the 'bubbly' toddler just days before her body was found in a creek

Mr Sahib said he bought a pink chair to give to the little girl

The father said he joined the search party for the missing toddler on Sunday morning, but was a 'bit too late'

The court heard health professionals had assessed Nikat in custody and were worried about her appearing.

Lawyer Michael McNamara said Nikat herself had asked not to appear in the court.

The risk of her self-harming was a 'live issue' and it was believed she was already in protected custody, he said.

The brief hearing took place without Nikat and she was remanded in custody to reappear in August.

Nikat was charged on Tuesday with murdering her daughter after she made a 'full confession' to police at an out-of-sessions court hearing.

Sanaya's body was found on Sunday less than 24 hours after Nikat told police on Saturday her daughter had been snatched from her pram in a Heidelberg West park.

Mr Sahib said he had to go identify his daughter's body, saying: 'I never think I'd do that in my whole life'

Mr Sahib said the little girl was 'bubbly' when he saw her three days before her death and Nikat appeared to be 'all right'

The toddler's disappearance sparked a large search that included mounted police, the police airwing, SES volunteers and members of the public.

At the time Nikat told police a barefoot man of African appearance and smelling of alcohol had pushed her to the ground and snatched the toddler.

She said she gave chase but could not catch him.

Nikat and her daughter had been staying with relatives in Heidelberg West after a separation between Nikat and Sanaya's father.
Retired teacher Mary Atherton, 75, was sailing the Indian Ocean and South China Sea on a Cunard world cruise when she died

A grandmother was crushed to death during a cruise on the Queen Elizabeth after she fell between the liner and a boat returning from a day trip, an inquest heard yesterday.

Retired teacher Mary Atherton, 75, was sailing the Indian Ocean and South China Sea on a Cunard world cruise with her friend of 55 years, Una McDermott.

But after an outing to tourist attractions in Cambodia, the disabled widow was stepping from the tender on to the liner's floating boarding platform when the swell created a gap and she fell into the water.

The boat was then pushed into the pontoon, crushing her.

The panic of her last moments was revealed on camera footage at the inquest, showing her falling in as the tender moved back and forth in the swell.

Andrew Allen, a yacht owner and fellow passenger on the cruise last April, told Preston coroner's court there were no safety warnings from the crew before the holidaymakers disembarked from the tender.

He said: 'I was expecting a rope to be pulled in and tied round a cleat. I was expecting it to be tight, not much gap, but there was a considerable gap and we were moving backwards and forwards.

'I saw Mrs Atherton at the top of the steps, waiting for a while. It looked very precarious.'

Mr Allen said he assumed she was waiting while the crew went to get extra ropes or a gang plank, but then he saw her move towards the pontoon.

He added: 'She moved her right foot forward, the boat had moved in by then, but then the boat started to move out again and she seemed to fall away to the left.

'I shouted, jumped up, knowing what could happen.

'When I got up to the top of the steps, Mrs Atherton was in the water and there was quite a lot of blood.'

He said he then tried to keep the tender away by putting his foot on it. Mr Allen told the inquest that after the tragedy he learnt the crew's normal practice was to use the tender's engine to push it against the mooring instead of tying the boat up.

But he said he did not hear the engine revving at the time.

Pathologist Dr Helen Stringfellow said Mrs Atherton suffered an extensive skull fracture and would have died instantly.

Mrs Atherton, from Penwortham, Lancashire, had told Cunard she had mobility problems at the time of booking 12 months earlier, the court heard.

She died on the Queen Elizabeth (file photo of the Queen Elizabeth) after she fell between the liner and a boat returning from a day trip, an inquest heard yesterday

The mother of one suffered from osteoarthritis, Meniere's disease  which affects balance  and one of her toes had been amputated.

As a result, she walked with a stick had a short stride because of pain. She also struggled with steps and found getting in and out of vehicles difficult.

Mrs Atherton had booked herself on the half-day Cambodian trip a week beforehand, but only found out the night before that a tender would be used to take passengers to the shore.

Mrs McDermott, who is also a retired teacher, said: 'Mrs Atherton told me she didn't like going by tender, but she really wanted to go on shore in Cambodia.

'She dealt with her disabilities very sensibly, very wisely.

'She didn't put herself into a situation she couldn't deal with, without help.'

Mrs Atherton's son, Michael, said of his mother: 'She was a sensible woman and made clear her limitations.'

Cunard is expected to release a statement at the end of the inquest, which continues.

*****************************

At the end of the inquest (20 April) coroner Dr James Adeley urged Cunard to make new safety changes that acknowledge our aging population but did not blame its parent company Carnival UK for Mrs Athertons death.

Recording a verdict of misadventure, he said: An unexpected wave created a 40cm gap which Mrs Atherton could not traverse due to difficulties with her gait.

The inquest heard Cunard was introducing new procedures for checking whether passengers with mobility issues could safely disembark from tenders.

Dr Adeley agreed these should be put in place, particularly due to the aging population and the difficulties they face.

Afterwards Carnival UK chief executive David Noyes said: We are extremely sorry for Mrs Atherton's accident and subsequent death and as a result we are absolutely committed to ensuring that this type of accident can never happen again.

Changes include checking that passengers can step unaided across an 18in (45cm) gap and trialling a mobile gangway known as a brow to assist in embarkation and disembarkation from tenders.

Mr Noyes added: We are absolutely committed to ensuring that this type of accident can never happen again. As a result, we have adopted a series of enhancements and have strengthened our operating procedures for using tenders. In addition, we are committed to sharing these enhancements with our industry body so that they can be implemented industry-wide.




Supermarkets face a new threat with figures predicting a 73 per cent increase in online shopping for groceries in just five years.

The idea of families spending their weekend trailing around a vast supermarket has already fallen out of favour with a switch to convenience stores.

But, the UK is now expected to enter a new era where millions of Briton buy their groceries without ever visiting a supermarket.

Amazon has signalled plans to get involved in home delivery of fresh food across the country, which will speed the transition.

The UK is now expected to enter a new era where millions of Briton buy their groceries without ever visiting a supermarket (file photo)

The US web giant has already signed a deal with Morrisons to distribute fresh food.

British consumers have embraced internet shopping more quickly than any other nation in the world. Average spending per head is greater than any other nation, including the Americans.

A study by retail analysts Mintel suggests online grocery sales were 8.6billion last year. And it is predicting they will soar 73 per cent to reach 15billion by 2020.

A Mintel survey found that almost half of shoppers  43per cent  are doing some of their grocery shopping, typically heavy things like tins, washing powder and nappies, online.

And almost one in four people  23 per cent  say they are already doing most or all of their food and cleaning product purchases on the web.

The trend is clear with one in five of young adults aged 25-34 now doing all of their grocery shopping online.

Mintel said: 'The days of heading to the supermarket are over for some Brits as they trade trolleys for home delivery.'

The fact that people can shop for groceries from their sofa or even sitting in bed before going to sleep is a key attraction.

People say it also helps them to budget more carefully because they are not wooed into making impulse purchases by offers and deals.

It said: 'The main reason consumers cite for shopping online more is convenience, with 60per cent of Brits who are shopping more online doing so because it is more convenient than visiting stores.

'The days of heading to the supermarket are over for some Brits as they trade trolleys for home delivery,' said retail analysts Mintel (file photo)

'This is followed by the fact that online shopping allows consumers to keep better track of how much they're spending and the wider variety of delivery slots available.'

Retail analyst at Mintel, Nick Carroll, said: 'The online grocery market continues to grow in double digits, but remains small in the context of the wider grocery market.

'However, the shift away from superstores to more convenient shopping channels is certainly benefiting the market with the majority of consumers now doing some grocery shopping online and almost a third saying that they now shop online more than a year ago.

'The majority of online shoppers still mix online shopping with store-based shopping, but consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable shopping at online-only retailers with growth outpacing the total market.'

However, Mintel found there are some irritations with online grocery shopping. Chief among them is that people lose control of buying fruit and vegetables and they may be landed with inferior produce that is close to its use by date.

At the same time, some people are put off by delivery charges.

One in ten people said they are shopping less online than a year ago. Of these, four in ten said it was because of a lack of control when choosing fresh food and one in four pointed to fees.

Some people who have used web grocers in the past have switched to cheap discount chains, which have very limited online sales services.

Mr Carroll said web grocers need to tap into a demand for convenience, top-up shopping, rather than one big weekly shop.

'As we see Brits turning away from the main weekly shop and towards fluid, when-needed shopping, it is important for online grocery retailers to find a way to engage with these consumers,' he said.
A judge has ruled against a gay couple in China's first same-sex marriage case.

The court in the city of Changsha, central China's Henan Province today threw out the suit against the local civil affairs bureau that refused to issue the couple a marriage registration certificate.

The couple say they will appeal until they exhaust all legal options.

First for China: Sun Wenlin (right) and his partner Hu Mingliang leave court after a judge ruled against them

One wish to marry: Su Wenlin (right) sits with his partner Hu Mingliang (left) a day before they head to court

26-year-old Sun Wenlin and 37-year-old Hu Mingliang had been together over a year when they decided to register their marriage with Changsha City Furong District Civil Affairs Bureau.

However on June 23, 2015, Changsha's marriage bureau refused saying that only a man and a woman can get married. At that point Sun Wenlin decided to take legal action.

Sun says after coming out to his parents, it took time for them to come to terms with their son being gay however they have been fully supportive of his decision to take legal action.

Sun Wenlin's mother told reporters from Huanqiu: 'No matter how much discrimination about being gay my son receives, I will stand with him fully.'

China doesn't legally recognise same-sex marriage and the country's central government say they do not see the law changing any time soon.

On hearing the news, Zhao Xing, 35, a Shanghai-based LGBT columnist, told MailOnline: 'I don't expect China to legalise same-sex marriage anytime soon.'

He added: 'Same-sex relationship is outside the core value of the generation that is running China's government.

'Perhaps the situation will change when a younger generation enters the political stage as the generation born in the 80s and 90s are much more open, accepting and worldly. Homosexuality is no taboo or anything strange to this generation of people.'

Sun Welin (left) and his partner (right) talk to journalists after the judge rules against them on April 13

Supports from hundreds: Several hundred gay rights supporters waited outside the court to support them

Several hundred gay rights supporters gathered on Wednesday outside the court to hear the ruling. Some had travelled long distances to support the couple.

It took just a matter of hours for the ruling.

Sun Wenlin said he will continue to fight to be able to marry his partner.

The 26-year-old said: 'I hope I can pave the way as far and wide as possible so that people who want to do the same will see how much we have tried and what possibilities there can be.'

According to Sun, police visited him at his home to try and persuade him not to go ahead with the lawsuit.

Charlene Liu, co-founder of ShanghaiPRIDE told MailOnline: 'The ruling wasn't unexpected. We don't think there will be any drastic changes any time soon, but having the court agree to accept this case does open the door for possible changes.

It is exciting that individuals are challenging current marriage laws for their own rights.Driving focus surrounding same-sex marriage is already a significant progress which the LGBTQ community and organizations should continue to do. It takes time but we believe there are opportunities.'

The lawsuit comes amid growing awareness of LGBT issues in China where society and the government have generally frowned on 'non-traditional' expressions of gender and sexuality.

In March, the country's State Administration for Regulation of Films and Television announced a clampdown on 'homosexual content'.
Most exams require a pen and paper and answering questions.

However one teacher at Vocational and Technical College of Anshun in south-western Chinas Guizhou province took his test to the next level by scoring his students on their drinking ability on April 11.

The school has suspended teacher Gu, who had allegedly demanded the exam, and said that they would never grade students based on drinking Chinese rice wine called Baijiu, reported People's Daily Online.

Drinking to pass: The students take part in the contest to ensure good marks for their final exam

Some reports that Mr Gu is drunk: The teacher (right) sits on a sofa and overlooks the competition

On April 11 after the incident, students posted photos of their classmates taking part in the 'exam'.

Gu, the teacher, reportedly told the students: 'You shall score 100 for finishing a cup, 90 for half of it. If you take just a sip, you receive 60 marks only. Those who don't drink it at all will fail the exam.'

It emerged that Gu, the department head of Chinese herbal pharmaceutical studies had requested all of the final year students to take part in the bizarre exam. Most students took part in the exam.

It's also reported that Gu told his students that drinking mattered a lot in the sales business.

20-year-old Li Yun a final year student told Guizhou Metropolitan Daily that the class was called to Gu's office for a final exam at 2.30pm on April 11th.

She says that as soon as they entered the room, they could smell alcohol.

In the photos, Gu can be seen sitting on a sofa. In front of him were 30 cups filled with wine.

The student says Gu told them the exam would be a verbal Q&A question instead of a written test and the results would be graded.

Weird way of conducting an exam: Alcohol used at Vocational and Technical College of Anshun

He then suddenly told them that the exam would be a test on the amount of liquor they could drink.

She says that some of the female students were worried as they had never touched alcohol before while some of the male students seemed to like the idea.

Some of the male students reportedly toasted to their teacher.

Baijiu, a Chinese liquor has a strong alcoholic content ranging between 40 and 60 per cent proof.

Chinese media have reported that many of the students were seen walking with difficulty coming out from the Chinese herbal pharmacy department building.

Some of the female students threw up when they went home that day.

The university has released a statement on their social media accounts confirming that Gu has been suspended from teaching at the moment.

He admitted drinking with students in the office but denied it was an exam.

The incident has sparked a heated debate on China's social media site Weibo with many people saying it would be great fun to be scored for their drinking.

One user wrote: ' Oh please! I could definitely get 100 marks'.
The question of whether warfare is encoded in our genes, or appeared as a result of civilisation, has long fascinated anyone trying to get to grips with human society.

Might a willingness to fight neighbouring groups have provided our ancestors with an evolutionary advantage?

With conflicts raging across the globe, these questions have implications for understanding our past, and perhaps our future as well.

Now, Sarah Peacey PhD in Ecological Systems of Cooperation, University College London has discussed these points in an article for The Conversation.

Sarah Peacey PhD in Ecological Systems of Cooperation, University College London has discussed our seemingly innate tendency to be violent and aggressive in an article for The Conversation. A cave painting depicting ancient violence is pictured

Earlier this year, details of one of the most striking examples of prehistoric intergroup violence were published - 27 skeletons, including those of children, had been found at Nataruk near Lake Turkana, Kenya (remains pictured). War may have existed before then, but there are few remains from the early days of Homo sapiens

The Enlightenment philosophers Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau had different visions of prehistory.

Hobbes saw humanity's earliest days as dominated by fear and warfare, whereas Rousseau thought that, without the influence of civilisation, humans would be at peace and in harmony with nature.

The debate continues to this day. Without a time machine, researchers examining warfare in prehistory largely rely on archaeology, primatology and anthropology.

Earlier this year, details of one of the most striking examples of prehistoric intergroup violence were published - 27 skeletons, including those of children, had been found at Nataruk near Lake Turkana, Kenya.

Blades embedded in bones, fractured skulls and other injuries demonstrated this had been a massacre.

The bodies were left, unburied, next to a lagoon on the lake's former western shore, around 10,000 years ago.

The Nataruk finds are claimed as the earliest evidence for prehistoric violence in hunter gatherers.

The position of the hands of some of the victims, like those of this woman (pictured), suggest they may have been bound before they were killed. The women and children were found grouped together. The Nataruk finds are claimed as the earliest evidence for prehistoric violence in hunter gatherers

A 12,000-14,000 year-old cemetery at Jebel Sahaba in Sudan was previously thought to be the first, but its date is less certain and some have claimed that since the bodies were buried in a cemetery they were linked to a settlement, and not true hunter gatherers.

THE WORLD'S FIRST MASSACRE Earlier this year, archaeologists said they had found the earliest evidence of the intentional killing of a band of foragers. While there has been evidence of violence between prehistoric hunter gatherers found before, most tend to have been individuals or small numbers of people. However, remains of 23 bodies found at a graveyard in Jebel Sahaba in Sedan show evidence of violence and have been dated to between 12,000 and 14,000 years ago. But the fact they were buried, argue the researchers behind the new study on Nataruk in Kenya, suggests they were individuals who died separately. Whoever attacked and murdered this group of men, women and children left few clues as to who they were. If any of their own were killed in the encounter, they would certainly have buried them or carried them away. The only hint to their identity is the remains of razor sharp obsidian blades embedded in the remains of two of the victims. The black volcanic rock is not found locally, suggesting the attackers may have come from outside of the area seeking resources. Advertisement

The evidence for warfare becomes clearer in the archaeological record after the beginning of the agricultural revolution around 10,000 years ago, when humanity moved from hunting and gathering to farming settlements.

War may have existed before then, but there are few remains from the early days of Homo sapiens, and causes of death can be extremely difficult to ascertain from skeletons. This means that at the moment, the archaeology remains inconclusive.

Animal behaviour studies provide another means of exploring the debate.

Jane Goodall's discovery that chimpanzees make war shocked the world.

A group in Tanzania was observed beating members of a rival community to death, one by one, before taking over the defeated group's territory.

Despite attempts to dispute Goodall's findings, similar patterns of behaviour were later discovered in other groups, and evidence for warfare in one of our closest relatives became indisputable.

However, bonobos, also known as pygmy chimpanzees, share as much DNA with us as chimps do, but are overall more peaceful, despite some anecdotal reports of aggression between groups.

This is partly attributed to differences in the two species' social systems.

For example, bonobos' societies are female-dominated, which perhaps keeps male aggression in check, whereas chimpanzees' social hierarchy is male-dominated.

How did our last common ancestor behave? Were they like bellicose chimpanzees or peaceful bonobos?

Animal behaviour studies provide another means of exploring the debate. A group of chimpanzees (stock image) in Tanzania was observed beating members of a rival community to death, one by one, before taking over the defeated group's territory

Similar patterns of behaviour were later discovered in other groups. However, bonobos (stock image), also known as pygmy chimpanzees, share as much DNA with us as chimps do, but are overall more peaceful, despite some anecdotal reports of aggression between groups

Although parallels between all three species are fascinating, using them to answer this question is difficult, as ultimately each followed its own evolutionary pathway.

But chimps demonstrate that war without civilisation does exist in a species similar to our own.

THE JAPANESE CULTURE THAT LIVED IN PEACE A recent study of prehistoric hunter-gatherers in Japan revealed that some societies can pull themselves out of the unending cycle of bloodshed. The Jomon were a prehistoric culture that lived in Japan from 14,500 BC to around 300 BC. They are known to have created some of the earliest clay pots in existence - technology that had thought to have emerged with farming. A research team examined the remains of 2,500 people who lived in Japan during the Jomon period. They studied them for signs of violence by looking for broken or damaged bones. They said they found evidence of violence in just 1.8 per cent of all the adult bones they looked at and just 0.89 per cent of the whole population. Studies of other hunter-gatherer populations have found between 12 and 14 per cent show signs of violence, which is what has led many archaeologists to conclude life in the prehistoric world was violent. Advertisement

Not only that, but similarities can be seen between chimpanzee and human hunter-gatherer warfare.

For example, in both species, an imbalance of power and risk-averse tactics are often a feature of attacks - a group of chimpanzees will assault a lone rival, and hunter-gatherer groups avoid pitched battles in favour of guerrilla warfare and ambushes.

Anthropologists, whose knowledge of 'traditional' societies could provide clues as to how our ancestors behaved, also took sides in the Hobbes-Rousseau debate.

Margaret Mead's research on Samoan islanders led her to conclude that 'warfare is only an invention', which had not existed before civilisation, while Napoleon Chagnon reported that among the Venezuelan Yanomamo, fighting and raids on enemy villages were commonplace.

Both were criticised - Mead for overlooking widespread evidence of violence in Samoa, and Chagnon for inappropriately using a society of small-scale farmers as a proxy for prehistoric hunter-gatherers.

Of course, any traditional society that anthropologists choose to study has still been exposed to outside influences.

And they differ vastly from one another, not least in their participation in warfare.

But early accounts suggest lethal aggression did exist between some hunter-gatherer groups before their contact with other societies.

Waldemar Jochelson, who studied the Siberian Yukaghir in the 1890s, described them as having persecuted their enemies like 'wild beasts'.

A recent study of prehistoric hunter-gatherers in Japan revealed some societies can pull themselves out of the cycle of bloodshed. Experts examined the remains of 2,500 people from Jomon culture (pots shown) and found evidence of violence in just 1.8% of all the adult bones they looked at and 0.89% of the whole population

Similarly, the Andamanese, from isolated islands in the Bay of Bengal, had longstanding feuds between themselves and participated in dawn raids on enemy camps.

It's difficult to conclude that prehistory was free from intergroup aggression.

Military historian Azar Gat and evolutionary psychologist Stephen Pinker, among others, argue that warfare existed before the agricultural revolution.

Pinker also claims that violence has overall decreased over the centuries.
While some of us can whisk our way through one of the Harry Potter novels in a couple of days, for weightier tomes like War and Peace it can take weeks to finish.

But Amazon's newest Kindle e-reader may provide the battery power needed to get through Leo Tolstoy's epic novel with just one charge, with time to spare.

The Kindle Oasis - Amazon's eighth generation of e-reader - is 30 per cent thinner and 20 per cent lighter than any of its previous devices yet can last for up to nine weeks between charges.

The new Kindle Oasis features a magnetic leather cover that attaches to the device (pictured) to provide up to seven weeks of additional power on top of the two weeks contain within its internal battery. Amazon said the device is its lightest, smallest and most advanced Kindle yet

Due to start shipping in two weeks, the Oasis will cost 269.99 in the UK and $289.99 in the US.

Unlike previous devices it has a thicker 'wedge' on one side which its designers say makes it easier to hold by altering its centre of gravity so users are less likely to drop it.

Within the Oasis itself is a small battery that holds enough charge for two weeks of power, but it also ships with a leather cover that holds an additional seven weeks of power.

The cover attaches magnetically with 12 built-in magnets, meaning it can be easily snapped on and off, allowing it to top up the Kindle's battery while it is in your bag.

Measuring just 3.4mm at its thinnest point, the Kindle Oasis is the thinnest device produced by Amazon yet (pictured right). It has a slightly thicker wedge at one side measuring 8.5mm that engineers say make it easier to hold (shown left)

Amazon claims the leader cases can provide an hour's worth of charge to the Kindle's internal battery for every 10 minutes they are attached. The pair charges simultaneously when connected and plugged in

Engineers behind the new Kindle added that leaving it attached to the cover for 10 minutes can provide an hour's worth of charge to the device, and when the pair is plugged in together, they charge simultaneously.

The Kindle Oasis also features a high-resolution 300 pixels per inch Paperwhite E-Ink display and nearly two thirds more LEDs than the previous models to help illuminate the display.

Chris Green, vice president of industrial design at Amazon Devices, told MailOnline: 'The internal battery probably provide people with just about enough power to last a long-haul flight holiday.

'But with the cover attached they get a total of nine weeks. It attaches magnetically and has a series of pins that line up to contacts on the back of the Kindle.

'The cover is easy to remove, so people who want to read without it can do.

'But we want people to love these covers, to use them so they get covered in coffee stains and take on an appearance of their own.'

Due to start shipping in two weeks, the Oasis will cost 269.99 in the UK and $289.99 in the US. The covers with built-in batteries come with leather covers in three colours - walnut, black and red (pictured)

By moving the centre of gravity over to one side, Amazon claims the new Oasis is easier to hold and means users are less likely to drop the device as the wedge provides an ergonomic grip

With more than two months worth of battery power in the Oasis and its cover, it readers will be able to tackle even the longest of books without running out of battery.

With 587,287 words it is estimated to take around 32.63 hours of reading - which means at an average of an hour of reading time a day, it could take at least a month to get cover to cover.

The Kindle Oasis weighs just 131 grams (4.6 ounces) and measures 3.4mm (0.13 inches) at its thinnest point.

By comparison, the previous model, the Kindle Voyage, weighs 180g (6.4 ounces) and is 7.6mm (0.29 inches) thick.

HOW THE OASIS MEASURES UP AGAINST THE OTHER KINDLES Kindle Oasis Kindle Voyage Kindle Paperwhite Kindle Screen size

6 inches 6 inches 6 inches 6 inches Dimensions 143mm x 122mm 162 mm x 115 mm 169 mm x 117 mm 169 mm x 119 mm Weight 131 grams 180 grams 205 grams 191 grams Thickness 3.4mm at thinnest point

and 8.5mm at thickest 7.6 mm 9.1 mm 10.2 mm Battery life 2 weeks with internal battery

+ 7 weeks with cover battery 6 weeks 6 weeks 6 weeks Screen resolution 300PPI E-Ink display 300PPI E-Ink display 300PPI E-Ink display 167PPI E-Ink display Front light LEDs along side of screen LEDs along bottom of screen LEDs in bottom bevel None Storage 4GB 4GB 4GB 4GB Touchscreen Yes + PagePress Yes + PagePress Yes Yes Price 269.99 ($289.99) 169.99 ($199.99) 109.99 ($119.99) 59.99 ($79.99)

To achieve this Amazon crammed the battery, processor and other electronics into a thicker region at one side of the device, which additionally makes holding the Kindle easier.

'We have moved the centre of gravity to one side so it is easier to hold,' added Mr Green. 'This actually makes it feel lighter still.

'In a way it is more like a real book if you fold the pages of a paperback over the spine it allows you to grip one side.'

Amazon has also turned to new materials to make the Kindle, moving away from the moulded plastic.

Instead it used a process called structural electroplating, more commonly used in the aerospace industry, that covers a lightweight polymer frame with a combination of three metals.

It has also used a thinned down back plate to the e-ink display - just 0.2mm thick  which now means it is thinner than a piece of tinfoil.

Mr Green added: 'This also makes it more flexible, so it is actually resistant to breaking.'

The glass covering the screen uses cylindrical diffusion patterns to ensure the LED lights can illuminate the screen better without it becoming obscured when in bright sunshine (pictured)

The six-inch e-Ink display has a 300ppi resolution and is controlled as a touchscreen, but the device also features two page turn buttons on one side (pictured) much like the Kindle Voyage

He said the glass used on the front of the display has also been treated to strengthen it, again to make the Kindle more robust.

Much like the Voyage before it, the Oasis includes page turn buttons on the side of the device but these can be customised to allow the user to switch which one they use to turn forward and backwards.

Accelerometers also detect when the Kindle is turned upside down, allowing it to automatically adjust as readers hold it in either their left or right hands.

Elsewhere, the device features a new redesigned homepage allowing readers to find the book they are reading more easily while also being able to access new reading lists and samples of books sent to them by friends.

A new sans serif font will also be introduced  the Amazon Ember  to sit alongside the Bookerly font it introduced with the Kindle Paperwhite in 2015.

The Oasis has the same bevel free design seen in the Voyage, but the glass itself has been redesigned with a cylindrical diffraction pattern to diffuse the light from the LEDs better than the old chevron design.

Mr Green said the Oasis is the next step towards Amazon's declared goal of making the Kindle as good to read on as paper.

He said: 'We have opened up another 10 years of refinement so we can get to the point where the reader does not even think about the device.

'We want to remove everything that gets in the way between the author and the reader.'

Accelerometers inside the Oasis (pictured being attached to the battery cover) automatically flip the screen if the user changes hands and holds the device upside down

Amazon now has 4.4 million titles available to download on Kindle, one million of which are exclusive to the device.

When Kindle first started the company had just 90,000 titles available.

Arthur van Rest, director of product management at Amazon Devices EU, said: 'We are trying to create the ultimate reading device so that readers can immerse themselves in a story as the author intended.

'Some people read on a phone or tablet but we think the best way to do this in on a e-reader.'

However, Amazon has created a significant challenge to overcome. It's most popular Kindle, the Paperwhite, will remain available - and at 109.99 is significantly cheaper.

The Paperwhite received rave reviews when it was released and has continued to be a favourite among e-reader users.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and chief executive, said, however, he hoped the new Kindle would provide users with an even better experience.

He said: 'To lean back and read for hours, you need a sanctuary from distraction.

'We want Kindle to disappear, and Kindle Oasis is the next big step in that mission.

'It's the most advanced Kindle we've ever builtthin and ultra-lightweight, it gets out of the way so you can lose yourself in the author's world.'
Viewers around the world will be able to watch a cancer operation as if they were in the operating room tomorrow.

A British cancer patient is set to have his operation live streamed in a world first carried out by Dr Shafi Ahmed.

The stream started at 1pm BST (8am ET/5am PT) from The Royal London Hospital in partnership with Medical Realities and livestreaming service Mativision.

Watch the live stream from Mativision

A British cancer patient is set to have his operation live streamed in a world first as his surgeon, Dr Shafi Ahmed (left), completes the treatment. The operation will be streamed from 1pm BST (8am ET/5am PT) from The Royal London Hospital in partnership with Medical Realities and Mativision

Viewers will be able to watch the ground-breaking surgery using a smartphone and any virtual reality headset, making them feel as if they are in the operating theatre.

Viewers without a VR headset can still watch the operation on a smartphone or computer screen.

Dr Shafi Ahmed, who has championed virtual reality technology in surgery will perform the operation and called it a 'game-changer' for healthcare innovation and education.

Using several specialist cameras placed above the operating table, the operation will last between two to three hours.

HOW TO WATCH THE OPERATION Viewers will be able to watch the ground-breaking surgery using a smartphone and any virtual reality headset, making them feel as if they are in the operating theatre. The operation will be streamed from 1pm BST (8am ET/5am PT) from The Royal London Hospital in partnership with Medical Realities and livestreaming service Mativision. Viewers without a VR headset can still watch the operation on a smartphone or computer screen via Medical Realities. The VRinOR app is available for iOS and Android devices. For Samsung Gear VR, users can search for 'VRinOR' in the Oculus store. Advertisement

The patient, a British man in his 70s who is suffering from cancer of the colon, is said to be 'excited' about the prospect of having his operation watched by thousands of people across the globe.

The immersive broadcast will run a minute or so behind the surgery in case of any unforeseen complications.

For this project, Barts Health is working in partnership with Medical Realities, a healthcare company set up by Dr Ahmed to change the future of medical training through VR and Augmented Reality.

The operation will be filmed on two 360-degree cameras with multiple lenses and live streamed through Mativision's 360-degree and VR player to let viewers move around the theatre and zoom in and out of any aspect of the operation.

Medical students from Barts Health have been provided with VR headsets which provide the immersive experience, and will be participating in the operation from nearby seminar rooms in the hospital and at Queen Mary University of London.

Following this operation, the goal is to host more VR surgeries on the Mativision app, 'VR in OR' and Medical Realities website.

The aim for Mativision and Medical Realities is to overlay the Video On Demand content with CGI graphics and labels creating a bespoke, interactive educational experience for the global medical industry.

Viewers will be able to watch the ground-breaking surgery using a smartphone and any virtual reality headset, making them feel as if they are in the operating theatre. Viewers without a VR headset can still watch the operation on a smartphone or computer screen. A previous operation is pictured

Following this operation, the goal is to host more VR surgeries on the Mativision app, 'VR in OR' and Medical Realities website. The aim for Mativision and Medical Realities is to overlay the video content with graphics (example pictured) and labels creating an interactive educational experience

Dr Ahmed, cancer Surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust and co-founder of Medical Realities said: 'I am honoured that this patient has given permission for his experience to provide this unparalleled learning opportunity.

'As a champion of new technology in medicine, I believe that virtual and augmented reality can revolutionise surgical education and training, particularly for developing countries that don't have the resources and facilities of NHS hospitals.'

The operation will be filmed on two 360-degree cameras with multiple lenses (example pictured)

The VRinOR app is available for iOS and Android devices.

For Samsung Gear VR, users can search for 'VRinOR' in the Oculus store.

It isn't the first time Dr Ahmed has revolutionised surgery - in 2014 he became the first surgeon to live stream an operation whilst wearing Google Glass and has also experimented with 360-degree cameras.

Virtual reality is set to be the major technology trend of 2016, with Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg calling it the future of communicating and socialising.

The billionaire founder of the social network called headset-based technology 'the next platform', as he launched the Oculus Rift and Google has released a self-assembling kit called Cardboard which works by simply placing your smartphone in it.

Dr Ahmed added that the technology will 'address the global inequalities in surgical health and will allow trainees and surgeons to connect and train remotely across the world'.

'Trainees usually struggle to see over a surgeon's shoulder during an operation or have to stand in the corner and that way of learning has been accepted for the last hundred years.
Nessie has finally been found in the mysteriously dark waters of Loch Ness  but all is not what it seems.

A robotic submarine searching the lake for signs of the phantom Scottish beast has come across a long-lost model of the monster - but has not found any signs of the mythical monster's fabled lair.

The 30ft-long (9 metre) model sank during the filming of from the 1970 film, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, and has been lost for 50 years before sonar images revealed its resting place.

A robotic submarine searching the lake for signs of the phantom Scottish beast may not have found any signs of its fabled lair, but it has come across a long-lost model of the monster. A sonar image is shown

Kongsberg Maritime used a 'Munin' drone equipped with sonar imaging technology to image the bottom of the famous loch.

It has been called the 'most in depth survey of Loch Ness ever' and was carried out over a period of two weeks.

Sonar images show a shape resembling the popular image of the monster, but of course there was a logical explanation Holmes and Watson would be proud of.

The survey uncovered the remains of the monster model resting on a crest on the bottom of the loch, some 500ft (180 metres) deep.

The 30 foot-long (nine metre) model sank during the filming of from the 1970 film, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (still shown), and has been lost for 50 years before sonar images revealed its resting place

The survey uncovered the remains of the monster model (sonar image pictured) resting on a crest on the bottom of the loch, some 500 feet (180 metres) deep

But the robotic submarine searching the lake for signs of the phantom Scottish beast (the most famous hoax image of the monster is shown above) has found no signs of its fabled lair

Craig Wallace, Subsea Applications Engineer, Kongsberg Maritime told MailOnline: 'We saw an anomaly [in sonar scans] of a man-made structure sitting on a crestand discovered a lost prop from the film, "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes".'

The film was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely as the famous fictional detectives.

It is thought the model sank after its buoyant humps were removed never to be seen again - until now.

Other results from the survey seem to rubbish theories about a deep trench capable of shrouding the mysterious monster from public view.

Kongsberg Maritime used a 'Munin' drone (drone pictured) equipped with sonar to image the bottom of the famous loch, in what's been called the 'most in depth survey of Loch Ness ever'

Tourist sightseeing boat skipper Keith Stewart, 43 previously claimed to have discovered a trench (pictured) at the bottom of Loch Ness using sonar equipment, making it 900ft (274 metres) deep

THE DRONE DEBUNKING A LEGEND Experts are using Kongsberg's Munin drone to survey the bottom of Loch Ness. Controlled by an operator, the drone can take hi-res images of its surroundings using sonar. The data it collects is sent to the operator in real-time. The drone measures between 10 to 13ft (3-4 metres) long depending on its configuration. It weighs 661 lbs (300kg). The vehicle has a top speed of 4.5 knots (around 5 mph or 8km/h) It can operate at depths of up to 4,921ft (1,500 metres) for up to 24 hours at a time. While it's being used to search for signs of a monster, the tech is more often used for searching for oil and gas, search and recovery missions at sea and environmental monitoring. Advertisement

The machine scanned depths of up to 889ft (230 metres) and while the wreckage of a boat and the model monster was found, Adrian Shine, leader of the Loch Ness Project, told Sky News: 'sadly that trench is not there...Nessie's lairdoes not exist'.

Tourist sightseeing boat skipper Keith Stewart, 43, previously claimed to have discovered a trench at the bottom of Loch Ness using sonar equipment, making it 900ft (274 metres) deep.

He said he found the the crevice just a few hundred yards offshore whereas previous sonar searches have concentrated on the middle of the loch.

'Searches of the monster have also been in those areas as well as Urquhart Bay so maybe the local legends of underwater caves connecting Loch Ness to other lochs and perhaps even the waters of the east and west coast are true,' he explained at the time.

But the latest survey, called Operation Groundtruth project has disproved his theory.

Mr Shine told MailOnline: 'The trench was not found to be there' and the erroneous sonar reading likely occurred because of echoes from steep walls, which can override depth readings.

But he said the model monster was found 'only a little distance from it [the location of the phantom trench]'.

The project is supported by VisitScotland and The Loch Ness Project, which leads the hunt for Nessie.

The project is supported by VisitScotland and The Loch Ness Project, which leads the hunt for Nessie. The robotic submarine is pictured just above the water on the loch, with Urquhart Castle in the background

The film was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely (both pictured) as the famous fictional detectives

A 27-foot long (8 metre) shipwreck (shown) has also been uncovered at the bottom of the Loch under this new investigation and the team is looking for more information on the origins of this boat

In the past, the loch has been difficult to survey because of its depth, steeply sloping side 'walls' made of hard clay and rock, uneven bed and poor visibility because of the peat content of the water, giving it its eerily dark qualities.

But Kongsberg's drone is designed to search for downed aircraft and sunken ships at even greater depths, leaving the team confident new knowledge will be gained about the mysterious body of water.

Discoveries already made within Loch Ness' waters include a crashed Wellington bomber from the Second World War, a 100-year-old Zulu class sailing fishing vessel and parts of John Cobb's speed record attempt craft Crusader which crashed at more than 200 mph (322km/h) in 1952.

A 27ft long (eight metre) shipwreck has also been uncovered at the bottom of the loch under this new investigation and the team is looking for more information on the origins of this boat.

Mr Shine told MailOnline: 'The survey..has produced astonishingly good features of the loch bed...but there's a lot of water down there'.

Discoveries already made within Loch Ness' waters include a crashed Wellington bomber from the Second World War, a 100-year-old Zulu class sailing fishing vessel and parts of John Cobb's speed record attempt craft Crusader which crashed at 200mph (322km/h) in 1952. Diver James Haig is pictured with the sub

Loch Ness is a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately 23 miles (37km) southwest of Inverness (marked)

Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland added: 'No matter how state-of-the-art the equipment is, and no matter what it may reveal, there will always be a sense of mystery and the unknown around what really lies beneath Loch Ness.'

Mr Wallace said: 'We can never be sure [there's no monster] there's so much water it's impossible to survey the whole loch at once.'

He added that data about water columns suggest there are some large fish in the loch, but 'possibly not a monster'.

Mr Wallace said: 'We can never be sure [there's no monster] there's so much water it's impossible to survey the whole loch at once.' Here an expert looks at data generated by the sonar-equipped drone

In the past, the loch has been difficult to survey because of its depth, steeply sloping side 'walls' (shown in this sonar shot) made of hard clay and rock, uneven bed and poor visibility because of the peat content of the water, giving it its eerily dark qualities

As Nessie brings 60 million to the Scottish economy every year, with thousands of visitors descending on the loch to try and catch a glimpse of the monster.

There have been reports this month that the Loch Ness monster has relocated to London after two sightings on the Thames.

The most recent film, shot by YouTube user Lea K, is the second supposed sighting of the legendary creature on the river in a week.

The 18-second video, entitled 'Nessie In The Thames', shows a large dark object drifting down the river.
At the very edge of our galaxy, some stars are moving fast enough they almost have the energy needed to escape its gravitational clutches.

Until now, physicists thought these stars were accelerated by the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy.

But a new discovery does not follow this rule, and could be putting physicists' understanding of the stars and dark matter in our galaxy under question.

Over twenty 'hypervelocity' stars have been discovered on their way out of the Milky Way. But for the first time a binary star system, two stars orbiting each other, has been discovered moving at these speeds. The binary star, named PB3877 (pictured in relation to our sun) was first reported as a hypervelocity star in 2011

Over twenty of these 'hypervelocity' stars have been discovered on their way out of the Milky Way.

But for the first time a binary star system, two stars orbiting each other, has been discovered moving at these speeds.

This is difficult to understand since fast moving stars in the outskirts of our galaxy are thought to have been accelerated through close interactions with a central supermassive black hole, and these interactions would rip apart any binary system.

WHAT THIS STUDY MEANS IN BRIEF Fast moving stars in the outskirts of our galaxy are thought to have been accelerated through close interactions with the central black hole. These interactions would rip apart any binary star systems. The authors have found a binary star system moving very fast, so do not understand how it got accelerated because it can't have been accelerated by the central black hole. It is most likely to have come from one of the dozens of neighbouring dwarf galaxies. But this binary system is not coming from any of the directions of known tidal streams, the streams of stars that have been ripped out of a dwarf galaxy. For the system to still be in our galaxy, rather than having broken free of the galaxy's gravitational pull, there must be a lot of mass holding it in. It is moving very fast, so would 'like' to break free. This means the system gives evidence that there might be more mass in the Milky Way than was previously thought. Advertisement

The binary star, named PB3877, was first reported as a hypervelocity star in 2011.

Astronomers at the Friedrich Alexander University and the California Institute of Technology did further study on the star and found that it was in fact two stars.

'When we looked at the new data, much to our surprise, we found weak absorption lines that could not come from the hot star,' Dr Thomas Kupfer, astronomer at Caltech, said.

'The cool companion, just like the hot primary, shows a high radial velocity.

'Hence, the two stars form a binary system, which is the first hyper-velocity wide binary candidate.'

The surface of the hot compact star is more than five times hotter than the sun, while the companion is a thousand degrees cooler than our sun.

'We studied hyper-velocity stars since 2005, the year of discovery of the first three,' said Professor Ulrich Heber, member of the team.

'In the meantime about two dozen have been found, but all are single, none has a companion directly visible in its spectrum.'

The system was determined to be 18,000 light years away.

The mass of the hot compact star is only half of the mass of our sun, and the companion is 0.7 times the mass of the sun.

The fast moving binary system is difficult to understand since fast moving stars in the outskirts of our galaxy are thought to have been accelerated through close interactions with a central supermassive black hole, and these interactions would rip apart any binary system. Artist's impression of black hole in Milky Way pictured

The problem is, according to the team's calculations, it could not have originated in the centre of the galaxy.

But no other mechanism is known that would have been able to accelerate a binary system to such a high velocity without breaking the stars up.

'From our calculations we can exclude the Galactic Center as the place of origin, because its trajectory never came close to it,' said team member Dr Eva Ziegerer.

'Other ejection mechanisms, such as stellar collisions and a supernova explosion have been proposed, but all of them would lead to the disruption of a wide binary.'

The centre of our galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole that can accelerate and eject stars from the galaxy by disrupting an original binary star.

This is why most hypervelocity stars are believed to originate from the galactic centre.

'PB3877 may be an intruder from another galaxy,' lead author Dr Peter Nemeth said. 'In that case its prolonged gradual acceleration would not harm its integrity.

'The outskirts of our galaxy contain various stellar streams that are believed to be the remnants of dwarf galaxies that were torn to shreds by the strong tidal force of the Milky Way.'

The binary system has most likely come from one of the dozens of neighbouring dwarf galaxies, like the Large Magellanic Cloud - a nearby galaxy (pictured). But this binary system is not coming from any of the directions of known tidal streams, the streams of stars that have been ripped out of a dwarf galaxy

Whether or not the system will stay in the galaxy depends on the amount of dark matter in the Milky Way.

This means the fact the binary exists puts pressure on current models and on understanding of dark matter in the Milky Way, suggesting there could be more dark matter than we thought.

'We used different mass models to calculate the probability that the star will actually remain bound to the Galaxy. Only for the most massive Galaxy model this is the case.

'This makes PB3877 an excellent target to probe dark matter halo models,' said Andreas Irrgang, research associate at the Dr. Karl Remeis-Observatory.
With teeth in a claw-like mouth on the end of a trunk, and stalks protruding from its shoulders, the Tully monster is one of the weirdest and most baffling fossils ever discovered.

Now scientists have revealed that as suspected, the strange animal must have been a vertebrate because of pigments discovered in its eyes.

Only vertebrates have cells like those seen in the fossils, and at 300 million years old they are the oldest pigments ever discovered.

Scientists have confirmed the Tully Monster (fossils shown above) must have been a vertebrate, based on pigments they discovered in its eyes. The melanosome pigments were found in both spherical and elongated forms, or sausages and meatballs (pictured bottom right), which are only found in vertebrates

Using advanced laboratory analysis including Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), scientists at the University of Leicester identified fossilised granules in the creature's eyes that could only be the pigment melanin.

The shapes of the pigment-producing melanosome cells prove the Tully Monster had a backbone because only vertebrates have two different shapes of melanosome.

Their research adds to evidence that the Tully Monster was a fish, based on the discovery of a stiffened rod of cartilage that supported its body and gills, last month.

The research adds to evidence that the Tully Monster was a fish, based on the discovery of a stiffened rod of cartilage that supported its body and gills last month. An illustration of the strange creature is shown

Since its discovery in 1958 by amateur palaeontologist Francis Tully, the 300 million-year-old animal has provoked debate about exactly what kind of creature it was. A fossil is shown above

WHY IS THE TULLY MONSTER ONLY FOUND IN ONE PLACE? The Tully Monster prowled the muddy coastal waters in what is known Grundy County, Illinois, around 300 million years ago. It is officially named Tullimonstrum gregarium after the amateur fossil hunter who found it, Francis Tully, in 1958. Thousands of fossils of the creature have been unearthed in hard rocks dug out of coal mining pits in Mazon Creek, Grundy County, Illinois. Since then the creature has become hugely popular and even appears on the side of trucks and trailers in Illinios. But it's a mystery why evidence of the creature hasn't been found elsewhere. Perhaps they were only preserved at the site. They are thought to have lived in the muddy shallow waters around the coast that once sat over that area of Illinois. When they died they were covered in silt and became encased in hard rock that later formed. Advertisement

Researchers from Yale University reported results from powerful new analytical techniques including synchrotron elemental mapping, which plots the chemistry of a fossil.

This indicated that the Tully Monster, Tullimonstrum gregarium, had gills and a rudimentary spinal cord called a notochord, suggesting it might have been similar to the modern lamprey.

Since its discovery in 1958 by amateur palaeontologist Francis Tully, the 300 million-year-old animal has provoked debate about exactly what kind of creature it was.

Originally, fossils revealed its bizarre shape but few internal details, leading some scientists to speculate that it could be a squid-like mollusc or even a very weird worm.

In the latest study, published in the journal Nature, Thomas Clements describes the discovery of dark blobs within the eyes of the fossils.

The blobs were found to be made up of hundreds of thousands of microscopic granules, just a fiftieth of the width of a human hair.

They have the same shape and chemistry as melanosomes, which create the pigment melanin seen in modern animals.

The melanosomes revealed that the animal was a vertebrate.

They were found in both spherical and elongated forms, which Leicester professor of geology Sarah Gabbott said are a bit like microscopic meatballs and sausages.

Originally, fossils revealed its bizarre shape but few internal details, leading some scientists to speculate that it could be a squid-like mollusc or even a very weird worm. An illustration is shown

Thousands of fossils of the creature have been unearthed in hard rocks dug out of coal mining pits in Mazon Creek, Grundy County, Illinois (shown on map)

'Only vertebrates have two different shapes of melanosome, meaning this is the first unequivocal evidence that Tullimonstrum is a member of the same group of animals as us, the vertebrates.'

The granules are also the first conclusive proof that the stalks on the Tully Monster had eyes on the end.

Mr Clements said: 'Not only have we discovered the oldest fossil pigment, but the eye structures suggest it had good vision.

'With its large tail and teeth, this suggests the Tully Monster is in fact a type of very weird fish.'
The Saharan desert is one of the harshest environments on the planet, with scorching daytime temperatures frequently hovering above 40C (104F).

And for one species of silvery ant, scientists have found that the extraordinary optical properties of tiny hairs on their backs is what allows them to survive the scorching midday temperatures.

While most animals take shelter from the heat of the sun, the Saharan silver ants choose noon as their main foraging time because no predators are out.

Scientists have discovered that the extraordinary optical properties of tiny hairs on their backs is what enables Saharan silver ants (pictured) to survive the scorching midday temperatures of the desert

To be able to survive in temperatures over 50C, the ants are covered in tiny hairs.

These hairs reflect at least 95 per cent of the light falling on them and such startlingly near-perfect mirrors are thought to be unique in the natural world.

Quentin Willot, a PhD student at the Free University of Brussels, discovered that when sliced, the hairs have a triangular cross-section and microscopic corrugations.

This gives them the property of so-called 'total internal reflectance'.

This is the same phenomenon that allows optical fibres to transmit telephone and internet signals over vast distances without signal loss.

In the ants, it is also responsible for their silver colour, and these are the only known creatures to get their colour this way

The tiny hairs which cover the ants' heads and bodies (pictured left and right) have a triangular cross-section and microscopic corrugations, giving them the property of 'total internal reflectance'. This is the same property that lets optical fibres transmit telephone and internet signals over vast distances without signal loss

Researchers tested the characteristics of the hairs, and found that hairy ants (left) were almost ten times more reflective than ants which had been shaved (right), were slower to heat up, and stayed up to 2C cooler

Using a scanning electron microscope to reveal the secrets of the ant hairs, Willot and colleagues also compared normal ants with ants that had been shaved, to measure how light was reflected and how quickly ants heated up under simulated sunlight.

HAIRY ANTS FEND OF DESERT HEAT Scientists found that the extraordinary optical properties of tiny hairs on the ants' backs is what enables them to survive the scorching mid-day desert temperatures. The ants are covered in tiny hairs which reflect at least 95 per cent of the light falling on them. Such startlingly near-perfect mirrors are thought to be unique in the natural world. Researchers describe how the combination of the flattened equilateral triangle cross-section and corrugated surface of each hair act like a prism to reflect light. This means that Sunlight is refracted through the hair's surface, then reflected back into the atmosphere, reflecting the sunlight and so keeping the ants from overheating. Advertisement

They found that hairy ants were almost ten times more reflective than shaved ants, were slower to heat up, and stayed up to 2C cooler.

Writing in the journal PLOS One, the scientists described how the combination of the flattened equilateral triangle cross-section and corrugated surface of each hair act like a prism to reflect light.

Sunlight is refracted through the hair's surface, then reflected off the base of the triangle, before being sent back into the atmosphere through the third face.

The triangle has a top angle of about 72 degrees, and about 54 degrees at each side, while the corrugations on each top face are 66 nm deep and 204 nm apart.

The bottom face is not corrugated.

The corrugations act as a type of anti-reflective coating, directing more of the sunlight into the hair and more of the reflected light out.

Altogether this means that the prism-shaped hairs reflect between 95 and 98 per cent of the energy hitting them, keeping the ants cool and giving their spectacular silvery sheen.

Quentin Willot and his colleagues collected ants from the sand dunes of Erg Chebbi, Morocco.

In the laboratory, a number of individuals were shaved to measure the effect the silver hairs had on their ability to withstand the heat of the Sahara.

In their latest study, the scientists describe how the combination of the flattened equilateral triangle cross-section (electron microscope scans pictured, labelled b and d) and corrugated surface of each hair - labelled a) and c) act like a prism to reflect light and dissipate the heat from the sun

 Slide me  In the laboratory, a number of individuals were shaved to measure the effect the silver hairs had on their ability to withstand the heat of the Sahara. The ants were shaved by exposing them to carbon dioxide for a few seconds, then strapping them down firmly (pictured before and after)

Speaking to MailOnline, Willot confirmed this 'was indeed a tricky procedure. They are very reactive and won't stop struggling once caught, preventing any shaving attempt if not anaesthetised.'

This was done by exposing the ants for a few seconds to carbon dioxide, then strapping them down firmly.

Hairs were removed using a high-power binocular telescope and a very sharp blade.

'It's the same as shaving your own chin: the scalpel blade has to move in the opposite direction of the hair's growth. It has to be a delicate and gentle motion,' said Willot.

After practising on large soldier ants, he found that a smaller worker ant could be entirely shaved in an hour of delicate work.

He estimates around 40 ants were shaved altogether to produce seven good examples for the experiments.
Five years ago, Ian Burkhart was left paralysed from the chest down after a diving accident.

Today, he can pick up a coffee cup, swipe a credit card and even play air guitar - all by using the power of thought.

The 24-year-old is the first person to be implanted with a brain chip that reads his mind, decodes the signals from his nerves and then uses the information to make muscles move.

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Ian Burkhart has been paralysed from the shoulders down since an accident three years ago, but new nerve bypass technology has allowed him to move his fingers, wrist and hand again, allowing him to even play the computer game Guitar Hero (pictured)

The milestone, reported in the journal Nature, spells hope for millions of paralysed people including victims of strokes.

The doctors and engineers behind the breakthrough said: 'We think the sky is the limit.'

HOW THE NERVE BYPASS WORKS The technology works in paralysed patients whose brains are still able to produce the nerve signals needed for movement but damage in their spinal cord prevents the messages reaching their limbs. A brain implant taps into the neurons that control movement in the patients brain. With the help of machine learning algorithms, a computer then decodes these signals before sending electrical signals to an electrode-studded sleeve. These electrodes then stimulate the muscles in the patient's arm, producing precise movements. Similar technology could be used to restore movement to other limbs and body parts, but the fine motor action needed for hands is a particular challenge this latest research has demonstrated can be overcome. Advertisement

Mr Burkhart had just completed his first year at university when he broke his neck while playing in the sea with friends.

The accident left him confined to a wheelchair and, unable to move his arms below the elbow, dependent on others for washing, dressing, brushing his teeth and other tasks most people take for granted.

Crucially, his brain is still able to generate the thoughts needed to move.

However, the damage to his spinal cord stops the instructions from getting to his muscles.

To get round this, and bypass the blockage, doctors at the Ohio State University Hospital have implanted a tiny electronic chip in his brain.

Now, when Mr Burkhart thinks about moving his hand, the chip listens to the brain cells and sends the signals to a computer for decoding.

The computer then sends the information to an electrode-studded sleeve that Mr Burkhart wears on his right arm.

Once activated, the electrodes stimulate the muscles - and his hand moves.

Mr Burkhart said: 'When we first hooked everything up and I was able to move my hand it was a big shock because that was something I hadn't moved for about three and a half years at that point.

'Now it is something that is so fluid it is kind of like it was before I had my accident.

Mr Burkhart said he was 'shocked' when he moved his fingers for the first time in three years thanks to the nerve bypass. A chip in his brain detects signals from his nerve cells and decodes them before sending the messages to electrodes in a sleeve wrapped around his forearm (pictured)

Different thoughts allow Mr Burkhart to activate different muscles in his forearm, allowing him to perform tricky everyday tasks like picking up a glass or swiping a credit card (pictured)

The technology works in paralysed patients whose brains are still able to produce the nerve signals needed for movement but damage in their spinal cord prevents the messages reaching their limbs

'When we first started the research it was really just a proof of concept story, but now we have been able to see it is something that can work I know it will help a lot of people.

'The biggest dream for me would be to get full function of both my hands back because that allows you to be a lot more independent and not have to rely upon people for simple day to day tasks you take for granted.

'Hope is really important. For me it is just hope for the future that things will get better.'

Different thoughts generate different brain signals and activate different muscles, allowing Mr Burkhart, of Dublin, Ohio to stir a spoon, pick up a glass and swipe a credit card.

Researchers hope the technology will be able to restore movement and independence to millions of people around the world by allowing them to perform simple tasks like removing a card from a wallet (pictured)

Amazingly, he can even channel his thoughts to move individual fingers, allowing him to play the guitar in a computer game in which he pretends to be in a rock band.

Washing, dressing and even typing could all be possible once more.

Similar technology has been used to make animals move frozen limbs and allow people to move robotic arms.

But this is the first time a person has used it to control their own body.

And while it could even be possible to adapt the technology to allow the paralysed to walk again, Mr Burkhart says that the use of his hands and arms would be of much more benefit.

This is because while he can use an electric wheelchair to get around, without the use of his arms, he relies on family and carers for a multitude of everyday tasks.

The electrodes send tiny electrical pulses into the muscles in Mr Burkhart's forearm, allowing him to move and clench his fingers enough to grip objects and even pour them into a glass (pictured)

Mr Burkhart, who has a keen lacrosse player before his accident, said: 'Participating in this research has changed me.

'I have a lot more hope for the future.'

Currently, the technology is clunky and can only be used in the lab.

But the team is working on miniaturising it, so that ten years from now, could be used at home.

For instance, the computer could be replaced by a smartphone and the cables that connect the brain chip and the electronic sleeve to the computer replaced by wireless technology.

The sleeve itself could even be sewn into the inside of a shirt.

While the technology is still clunky and can only be used in the lab (pictured), researchers say it could eventually be miniaturised so it can be used at home. The sleeve for example could be sewn into clothing

Electrical engineer Nick Annetta, of Battelle, the charity that invented the NeuroLife brain chip, said: 'This is just the beginning.'

Researcher Dr Chad Bouton said: 'We are just at the tip of the iceberg with this type of technology.

'This will allow the millions of patients around the world who are living with paralysis get back to a level of independence they had before the injury.'

His colleague Dr Jerry Mysiw said: 'In the 30 years I've been in this field, this is the first time we've been able to offer realistic hope to people with very challenging lives.'

Neurosurgeon Ali Rezai, said: 'Ian is the rock star here.
Stephen Hawking and billionaire Yuri Milner are spearheading efforts to find alien life.

Now, the first results from a $100 million 'Breakthrough Listen' mission to uncover signals from ET have been released.

The announcement was made during the launch of their second initiative yesterday, dubbed Breakthrough Starshot, which aims to send nanocraft to our neighbouring solar system.

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Breakthrough Listen is a search for intelligent life using two of the world's most powerful telescopes. It was launched in January with the aim of scouring one million of the closest stars to Earth for faint signals thrown out into space by intelligent life beyond our own world. Pictured are piral galaxies of the Maffei Group

BREAKTHROUGH LISTEN MISSION Breakthrough Listen is a search for intelligent life using two of the world's most powerful telescopes. It was launched in January with the aim of scouring one million of the closest stars to Earth for faint signals thrown out into space by intelligent life beyond our own world. Scientists taking part in the $100 million are also scanning the very centre of our galaxy along with 100 of the closest galaxies for low power radio transmissions. Breakthrough Listen will collect data over a 10-year period. Search capacity will be 50 times more sensitive, cover 10 times more of the sky, 5 times more of the radio spectrum, and at speeds 100 times faster. Advertisement

Our neighbouring solar system, Alpha Centauri, is 4 light-years away, or 25 trillion miles.

This particular mission, however, has cast the net much farther.

The Breakthrough Listen team started collected data in January using the Green Bank Radio Telescope in West Virginia and Lick Observatory's Automated Planet Finder in California.

Studies made so far by Breakthrough Listen include most of the stars within 16 light years of Earth.

It includes stars such as 51 Pegasi, a sun-like star located 51 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Pegasus surrounded by 'hot Jupiter' planets.

The search also targeted around 40 of the nearest spiral galaxies, including members of the Maffei Group in the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia.

Stars within 16 light years accessible only from the Southern Hemisphere, such as Alpha Centauri, will be observed by the end of the year with the Parkes Telescope.

'Breakthrough Listen is officially on the air and scanning the skies for signs of intelligent life,' said Milner.

'It is a comprehensive effort, made possible by the tremendous scientific and technological advancements we've witnessed since the early days of similar efforts.

'Now, we join our trailblazing colleagues and ask people worldwide to review our collected data and explore the universe with us.'

Data from the telescopes uploaded to the Breakthrough Initiatives website are indexed by date of recording and object name.

Stephen Hawking (left) and billionaire Yuri Milner (right) have their sights set on finding alien life. Now, the first results from a $100 million 'Breakthrough Listen' mission to uncover signals from ET have been released

Studies made so far by Breakthrough Listen include most of the stars within 16 light years of Earth. It includes stars such as 51 Pegasi, a sun-like star located 51 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Pegasus surrounded by 'hot Jupiter' planets. Pictured is an artist's impression of a hot jupiter

The team are urging scientists and those with computer science skills to analyse raw data from the telescopes to help them make discoveries.

Breakthrough Listen will collect data over a 10-year period from a network of the world's most powerful radio and optical telescopes to yield vast, full-sky signal monitoring.

It will collect more data in one day than previously had been collected in one year.

Search capacity will be 50 times more sensitive, cover 10 times more of the sky, 5 times more of the radio spectrum, and at speeds 100 times faster.

'For the first time we will obtain a comprehensive Seti search of our galactic neighbourhood,' said Pete Worden, executive director of the Breakthrough Initiatives.

'Equally important, the public and experts around the world can obtain the data and help determine if we are alone.'

It follows on the heels of a separate announcement yesterday in which Hawking, Milner and Mark Zuckerberg launched the Breakthrough Starshot project.

The $100m project will rely on tiny so-called 'nanocraft' flying on sails pushed by beams of light through the universe.

They will travel to the Alpha Centauri star system 25 trillion miles (4.37 light years) away on a twenty year mission to look for alien life.

The Alpha Centauri star system is 25 trillion miles (4.37 light years) away (right). With today's fastest spacecraft, it would take about 30,000 years to get there. Breakthrough Starshot aims to establish whether a gram-scale nanocraft, on a sail pushed by a light beam, can fly over a thousand times faster (left)

The project, dubbed Breakthrough Starshot, will rely on tiny so-called 'nanocraft' flying on sails, similar to the one illustrated, pushed by beams of light. Each of these tiny craft will carry cameras and a built in GPS

'For the first time in human history, we can do more than look at the stars, we can reach them,' said Yuri Milner, founder of the Breakthrough Initiatives.

WHAT IS ALPHA CENTURI? The Alpha Centauri star system is 25 trillion miles (4.37 light years) away. With today's fastest spacecraft, it would take about 30,000 years to get there. Breakthrough Starshot aims to establish whether a gram-scale nanocraft, on a sail pushed by a light beam, can fly over a thousand times faster. Astronomers estimate that there is a reasonable chance of an Earth-like planet existing in the 'habitable zones' of Alpha Centauri's three-star system. Advertisement

Each of these 'interstellar sailboats' is expected to carry cameras and a built in GPS to search deep space for habitable planets.

'55 years ago today, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space.

'Today, we are preparing for the next great leap.'

The $100 million research and engineering program will seek proof of concept for using light beam to propel super lightweight nanocraft to 20 per cent of light speed.

A possible fly-by mission could reach Alpha Centauri within about 20 years of its launch, Milner said, and also revealed Mark Zuckerberg is joining the project's board.

These craft are designed to take images of planets and other scientific data in our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, just over 20 years after their launch.

Astronomers estimate that there is a reasonable chance of an Earth-like planet existing in the 'habitable zones' of Alpha Centaur's three-star system.

'Starchip is about the size of a postage stamp, although a little bit thicker. It can be massed produced at the cost of an iPhone,' said Milner.

The light beamer is modular and scalable.

Once it is assembled and the technology matures, the cost of each launch is expected to fall to a few hundred thousand dollars.

The research and engineering phase is expected to last a number of years.

BREAKTHROUGH STARSHOT The project involves deploying thousands of tiny spacecraft to travel to our nearest star system and send back pictures. If successful, scientists could determine if Alpha Centauri, a star system about 25 trillion miles away, contains an Earth-like planet. The catch: It could take years to develop the project, dubbed Breakthrough Starshot, and there is no guarantee it will work. The small light-propelled vehicles will carry equipment like cameras and communication equipment. Scientists hope the vehicles, known as nanocraft, will eventually fly at 20 per cent of the speed of lightt. 'The thing would look like the chip from your cell phone with this very thin gauzy light sail,' said Nasa's Pete Worden 'It would be something like 10, 12 feet across.' He envisions sending a larger conventional spacecraft containing thousands of nanocraft into orbit, and then launching the nanocraft. If they reach the star system and succeed in taking photographs, it would take about another four years to transmit them back. Advertisement

When in orbit, the tiny craft would unfold thin sails and then be propelled by powerful laser beams from Earth

'The thing would look like the chip from your cell phone with this very thin gauzy light sail,' said Nasa's Pete Worden. 'It would be something like 10, 12 feet across'. Pictured on the left is Yuri Milner holding a prototype chip and on the right is an aritst's impression of what the 'interstellar sailboat' would look like

A still image taken from a video rendering shows phased arrays of lasers which could be used on Breakthrough Starshot, a $100 million research and engineering program aiming to demonstrate proof of concept for light-propelled spacecrafts

Breakthrough Starshot is likely to target Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to Earth, where an an Earth-like planet may exist within its 'habitable zone.' It could also help confirm the existence of Planet Nine (illustrated)

'For the first time in human history, we can do more than look at the stars, we can reach them,' said Yuri Milner (left), founder of the Breakthrough Initiatives. 'Earth is a wonderful place, but it might not last forever,' added Stephen Hawking (right), 'Sooner or later, we must look to the stars'

WHO IS YURI MILNER? A onetime physics PhD student in Moscow who dropped out to move to the United States in 1990, Milner is one of a handful of technology tycoons devoting time and money to space exploration. Yuri Milner was born into a Jewish family on 11 November 1961 in Moscow and studied theoretical physics at Moscow State University, graduating in 1985. He began his business career selling illegal DOS computers in the Soviet Union. When the national government collapsed enrolled at Wharton School of Business to earn an MBA. He then went on to work for the World Bank in Washington, D.C., as a Russian banking specialist tasked with the development of the private sector banking. He rose up in the banking world, and from 1997 to 2000, Milner was Director General of the investment fund New Trinity Investments But his real success came when he founded investment firms Digital Sky Technologies (DST) - now called Mail.ru Group - and DST Global. DST Global has invested in a number of major technology firms including Facebook, Spotify, Twitter and Alibaba. An aerial view of Yuri Milner's mansion. Milner currently works as an investor and has earned his fortune from backing successful technology firms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The Russian space enthusiast says he has replaced all the artwork in his $65 million mansion in San Francisco with 50 flat screen TVs. In 2012, Milner established The Breakthrough Prize - a set of international awards recognize three fields of endeavour: Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics. Laureates receive $3 million each in prize money, making the Breakthrough Prizes the largest scientific awards in the world. Earlier this year, he teamed up with Stephen Hawking in the search for alien life as part of the 'Breakthrough Initiatives.' The $100 million quest will see telescopes scour one million of the closest stars to Earth for faint signals thrown out into space by intelligent life beyond our own world. As part of his long-term vision, Milner believes that the internet will develop into a 'global brain' that will work as a type of nervous system for Earth. Advertisement




It may have taken five years for Japan's 'dawn' probe to rise again, but already, the mission is proving worthwhile.

Last week, the Akatsuki probe presented its first scientific results since it was rescued from orbit around the sun and sent back to Venus.

Among the new data is an incredible image of Venus' acidic clouds and a strange 'bow' shape in the planet's atmosphere that has baffled scientists.

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Last week, the Akatsuki probe presented its first scientific results since it was rescued from orbit around the sun and sent back to Venus. Among the new data is an incredible image of Venus' acidic clouds (left) and a strange 'bow' shape in the planet's atmosphere that has baffled scientists (right)

The dense layers within Venus sulphuric acid clouds seen in the image suggest that Venus' cloud formation is more complicated than thought, according to a report in Nature.

The image was captured from 62,000 miles (100,000km).

'We will achieve better spatial resolution still,' said Takehiko Satoh, principal investigator for the probe's 2-micrometre infrared camera, IR2, which took the image and presented it in Oxford.

'We promise to give a fantastic data set to the research community for years.'

Meanwhile, a set of thermal images shows a bow shape in the planet atmosphere.

Akatsuki, which means 'dawn' in Japanese, is using five cameras and a radio instrument to study the planet's atmosphere (pictured is an illustration showing the craft approaching Venus)

Nature says the moving cloud formation 'seemed to rotate with Venus's surface, rather than with its much quicker-moving atmosphere.'

VENUS AND ITS ATMOSPHERE Venus is the second planet from the sun, orbiting at a distance of about 67 million miles (108 million km) from the star. It is a dim, but hot and volcanically active planet. While its structure is similar to Earth's, Venus has a thick, toxic atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, which triggers an exaggerated 'greenhouse effect'. Indeed, the planet's surface temperature is around 462C (863 F), and it can experience temperatures as high as to melt lead. Through its heavy atmosphere, astronomers have been able to observe volcanoes and crooked mountains. One Venus year lasts 225 Earth days,and the planet spins so slowly that its day lasts as 243 Earth days. It spins in the opposite direction of most planets. Advertisement

But what causes it remains uncertain. 'It's certainly mysterious,' said planetary scientist Suzanne Smrekar of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Akatsuki project manager Masato Nakamura at Jaxa has said that the probe's instruments are 'working perfectly'.

In December Japan's space agency has confirmed its Akatsuki probe has entered into orbit around Venus, after failing to do so upon its launch in 2010.

Akatsuki, which means 'dawn' in Japanese, is using five cameras and a radio instrument to study the planet's atmosphere.

The Japanese space Agency (Jaxa) launched its probe from the Tanegashima Space Center in May 2010, carried by an H-IIA 202 rocket together with the IKAROS solar sail craft.

The space travel went smoothly until 7 December, when Akatsuki fired its main engine to enter Venus's orbit.

A valve broke due to a build-up of salt and the craft spiralled away from the planet, becoming stranded on an orbit around the sun.

Jaxa decided to send the probe into 'hibernation mode', and devised a plan to try again as soon as the craft journeyed by Venus again.

As the main engine was beyond repair, Akatsuki dumped 143lbs (65 kilograms) of fuel in 2011.

The second-chance manoeuvre in December used the craft's eight small RCS thrusters, usually employed for small adjustments, to change its trajectory. The craft rotated into a new position and was captured by Venus' gravity after a 20-minute flight (pictured is an illustration showing the new trajectory)

This made the probe lighter and easier to steer into position with less propulsion.

The second-chance manoeuvre took place in December and engineers used the craft's eight small RCS thrusters, usually employed for small adjustments, to change its trajectory.

While over the course of the past, idle years, the probe managed to carry out some analysis of the sun's radio waves, its cameras have not been used.

The probe is fitted with three infrared cameras, together with an ultraviolet imager and a lightning and airglow camera that will allow Akatsuki to observe Venus' extremely mobile atmosphere.

This atmosphere rotates at 100 metres per second, much faster than the planet itself.

The holdup, however, has not been without consequence.

The probe's new orbit is much more stretched than the one originally planned, for example.

This means the craft will be thousands - rather than hundreds - of miles away from Venus.

While it will still be able to carry out its mission, this trajectory will mean it will take longer for Akatsuki to gather the necessary data.
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On October, 24 2003, the last flight of the Concorde came to an end, and with it, the promise that supersonic travel could transform the aviation industry.

Now, more than a decade on, Nasa is hoping to revive the dream of supersonic planes with $2.3 million (1.5 million) in funding for research projects - and these incredible images form the basis of it.

Nasa has created a special photography system to capture hundreds of observations with each shockwave, benefiting engineers in their efforts to develop a supersonic aircraft that will produce a soft 'thump' in place of a disruptive sonic boom.

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An Air Force Test Pilot School T-38 passes in front of the sun at supersonic speed, creating shockwaves that are captured using schlieren photography to visualize supersonic flow.

HOW THE PICTURES WERE TAKEN Background Oriented Schlieren using Celestial Objects (BOSCO) technology, effectively uses the sun as a background. The tests used a camera lens filter commonly used when photographing the sun. The filter, known as a hydrogen-alpha solar filter was installed in one of three modified high-speed cameras positioned strategically on the ground, and allowed visually fine details of the sun to be seen. Background Oriented Schlieren (BOS), which is a useful method for capturing clear, accurate images of shockwaves, distorts background patterns, allowing the location of the waves to be analyzed, tracked and compared in a series of photographs captured by the high-speed cameras. Advertisement

The Background Oriented Schlieren using Celestial Objects (BOSCO) technology, effectively uses the sun as a background in capturing unique, measurable images of shockwaves.

The tests, flown from Nasa Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, build on other recent tests to further the art of schlieren photography.

Visualizing the complex flow patterns of shockwaves produced by a supersonic vehicle will allow researchers to validate design tools used to develop the proposed Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) research aircraft.

QueSST will be the first ever aircraft to demonstrate supersonic flight with the soft sonic 'thump', and could unlock the future to commercial supersonic flight over land.

The Schlieren technique can make important invisible flow features visible.

Although schlieren has been in use for over a century, recent research by NASA has enabled its application in flight and greatly enhanced the detail of the images that can be obtained.

In this case, Nasa improved schlieren captured the visual data of shockwaves produced by a U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School's T-38 aircraft traveling at supersonic speeds.

The tests used a camera lens filter commonly used when photographing the sun.

The filter, known as a hydrogen-alpha solar filter was installed in one of three modified high-speed cameras positioned strategically on the ground, and allowed visually fine details of the sun to be seen.

As a result of the research, the supersonic aircraft and its shockwaves are seen with distinct clarity in front of the solar background.

Observing air density changes makes the details clearer, explained principal investigator Mike Hill.

'The hydrogen alpha filter basically looks at light coming off of certain hydrogen atoms on the sun's surface,' Hill said.

'By looking at one specific wavelength of light it brings texture out on the image of the sun. That texture is what we use to process the raw images into schlieren images.

'As the light rays come through the flow around the airplane, the different air density caused by the flow bends the light, which allows us to see the texture of the sun's surface move on the digital image.

'We can calculate how far each 'speckle' on the sun moved, and that gives us the schlieren image.'

This concept is similar to seeing heat waves that are coming off of a hot surface in the summer.

The blur of the objects in the distance is visible because the hot air over the surface is a different density than the air around it.

When light travels through that density change, it bends, causing objects in the background to appear blurry to the eye.

The technique is one of two exciting new NASA developments in the field of schlieren.

The second involves using cameras on one airplane to photograph another. Both techniques are capable of producing images of greatly improved quality, and each has unique features.

Shockwaves produced by a U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School T-38 banking at Mach 1.05 are captured by the new ground-operated camera and filter to study flow patterns and provide NASA engineers with methods of furthering research toward developing a soft 'thump' in place of heavy sonic boom.

'One advantage is that we're flying one airplane,' Hill explained.

'We can have our cameras on the ground, and we can use consumer-grade telescopes and non-flight rated equipment.

'We don't need to put any imaging equipment on an airplane, so there are obvious savings in operational costs.'

This method can be applied to imaging wing vortex locations and relative strengths important for NASA Armstrong's research into improved efficiency for subsonic aircraft.

The hope with the new imaging system is to capture a more detailed picture of the flow field around the aircraft.

Commercial Supersonic Technology subproject manager Brett Pauer says the first flights for BOSCO met high expectations.

Pauer was involved in NASA's photographic research of shockwaves through AirBOS, CaKEBOS, and Ground-to-Air Schlieren Photography System (GASPS).

Nasa is hoping to revive the dream of supersonic planes. Today the space agency announced $2.3 million (1.5 million) in funding to make it a reality. Pictured is a concept supersonic plane designed by a team of Nasa engineers

'I am very happy with these flights,' Pauer stated.

'Our Air Force pilots were spot on, our ground operators performed very well, and we captured some spectacular images.

'These have been our most successful ground-based schlieren flights yet.'

The data collected from the flights will help engineers determine the most sufficient method of designing and executing further tests in NASA's research of shockwaves created by supersonic flight.

The overall goal of the schlieren imaging research is to develop a system to image the shock waves propagating from the bottom of the aircraft to the ground.

This necessitates imaging a side view of the aircraft in near level flight.

Nasa recently revealed eight different research projects that each aim to address technical challenges such as the impact of supersonic cruise aircraft in the stratosphere and noise reduction for the aircraft.

As part of the current round of funding, aeronautics engineers are working to reduce the noise of sonic booms.

'Evaluation of Low Noise Integration Concepts and Propulsion Technologies for Future Supersonic Civil Transports' will receive $599,000 over two years and be run by GE Global Research in New York.

Nasa, meanwhile, has been busy gathering data in order to create new, quieter planes that could help overturn the current ban on supersonic flight over land.

'Lessening sonic booms - shock waves caused by an aircraft flying faster than the speed of sound - is the most significant hurdle to reintroducing commercial supersonic flight,' said Peter Coen, head of the High Speed Project in Nasa's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, Washington.

Pictured on the right, is the window in the sidewall of the supersonic wind tunnel at Nasa's Glenn Research Center shows a 1.79 per cent scale model of a future concept supersonic aircraft by Boeing. On the left is an image of a Basa F-16XL-2 aircraft was used during 1995-96 for the Supersonic Laminar Flow Control project

Our ability to fly at supersonic speeds over land in civil aircraft depends on the ability to reduce the level of sonic booms. Nasa has been exploring a variety of options for quieting the boom, starting with design concepts and moving through wind tunnel tests to flight tests. This rendering of a possible future civil supersonic transport shows a vehicle that is shaped to reduce the sonic shockwave

The concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger jet airliner that was in service from 1976 to 2003. It is one of only two supersonic transports to have entered commercial service; the other was the Tupolev Tu-144

'Other barriers include high altitude emissions, fuel efficiency and community noise around airports.'

'We are nowhere near the maximum that we can get out of this industry,' added Nasa engineer Ruben Del Rosario. 'There is a lot of work to do.'

Another project will look at the environmental impact of supersonic cruise aircraft in the stratosphere, The project will receive $1.2 million over four years and will be led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Environmental concerns about the impact of supersonic aircraft emissions on the ozone layer are part of the reason the the U.S. government's decided to cut funding in 1971.

While advanced engine designs can reduce emission levels from the aircraft, researchers say they still have massive potential for damaging the ozone.

COULD THE FUTURE OF AIR TRAVEL BE HYPERSONIC? Supersonic could be superseded by something even faster. Mach 2.5 is about the speed limit for gas-turbine engines. Any faster and the temperature and pressure of air entering the engine is too high for the turbo machinery inside. To fly at hypersonic speed - Mach 5 and above - requires a different type of engine. A supersonic-combustion ramjet, or scramjet, has no moving parts. Instead of the rotating compressor and turbine in a jet engine, air is compressed and expanded by complex systems of shockwaves under the front of the aircraft, inside the inlet and under the fuselage at the rear. Scramjets have been under development for decades, but a breakthrough came in May 2013, when the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Boeing X-51A WaveRider flew for 240 seconds over the Pacific on scramjet power, reaching Mach 5.1 and running until its fuel was exhausted. The next step is to build a high-speed cruise missile, able to strike distant targets in minutes, not hours. Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works - builder of the Mach 3.5 SR-71 Blackbird spyplane - has unveiled plans to develop a successor, dubbed the SR-72. Designed for reconnaissance and strike missions, the SR-72 would combine turbojet and ramjet/scramjet engines to enable the aircraft to take off from a runway, accelerate to a Mach 6 cruise, and then return to a conventional runway landing. If it can secure funding from the U.S. Defense Department, Lockheed Martin believes a prototype could be flying as soon as 2023 and the SR-72 could enter service by 2030, potentially paving the way for commercial applications of scramjet technology. Advertisement

Pictured is the North American XB-70 Valkyrie, a prototype for a supersonic bomber that was never built. Nasa is hoping to revive supersonic technology with its latest round of funding

The 'Icon-II' future aircraft design concept for supersonic flight over land was created by Boeing with the help of Nasa. Its design is meant to save fuel. It also achieves large reductions in sonic boom noise levels that will meet the target level required to make supersonic flight over land possible

The research team plans to measure the ozone and climate impacts associated with the rollout of a fleet of advanced supersonic NASA N+2 generation aircraft.

As part of separate research, the space agency has also been looking at how planes can faster than the speed of sound using radical 'hybrid wing body'.

Its archive of designs reveals just how different planes may appear in as little as ten years, with radical designs featuring needle-like bodies, sleek fuselages and delta wings.

One of the most popular designs is something called the 'hybrid wing body,' which is sometimes described as a blended wing body, according to a report in Gizmodo.

In this design, the wing blends seamlessly into the body of the aircraft, which makes it extremely aerodynamic and creates dramatic cuts in fuel consumption, noise and emissions.

In 2012, Nasa successfully tested the X-48C - a 'hybrid wing-body' plane with a greater internal volume for passengers and cargo. The triangle-shaped plane is reminiscent of spy planes and designed to cut through the air more efficiently.

With a 21 ft (6.54 metre) wingspan, the aircraft was an 8.5 per cent scale model of a heavy-lift, subsonic airplane with a 240-foot wingspan that could be developed in the next 15 to 20 years for military applications.

EIGHT RESEARCH PROJECT RECEIVE $2.3M IN NASA FUNDING TO ADVANCE SUPERSONIC FLIGHT Global Environmental Impact of Supersonic Cruise Aircraft in the Stratosphere $1.2 million over four years - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts The Influence of Turbulence on Shaped Sonic Booms $1.2 million over three years - Wyle Laboratories, Arlington, Virginia Sonic Boom Display $698,000 - Rockwell Collins, Columbia, Maryland Pilot Interface for Mitigating Sonic Boom $686,000 over two years - Honeywell, Golden Valley, Minnesota Quiet Nozzle Concepts for Low Boom Aircraft $575,000 over two years - University of California, Irvine Evaluation of Low Noise Integration Concepts and Propulsion Technologies for Future Supersonic Civil Transports $599,000 over two years - GE Global Research, Niskayuna, New York Waveforms and Sonic Boom Perception and Response Risk Reduction $337,000 for one year - Applied Physical Sciences, Groton, Connecticut Risk Reduction for Future Community Testing with a Low-Boom Flight Demonstration Vehicle $393,000 over one year - Fidell Associates, Woodland Hills, California Advertisement
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These breath-taking shots taken at sunset and sunrise are the result of one photographer's amazing three-year trip around the globe.

Julien Grondin, 35, set off in 2013 to exercise his love of travel photography and said he soon realised that shooting with the sun directly in the frame yielded his favourite final result.

Starting his trip in the US, the France native explored both the east and west coast before setting off around Europe and Asia. This year Grondin - who also goes by Beboy - will embark on a trip around the Faroe Islands, Norway, the Italian mountains and even China to continue with the project.

Stopping off in destinations including Rome in Italy, Bangkok in Thailand and Plitvice in Croatia, the adventure-seeker has so far captured more than 50,000 images with his Canon 5D camera, which he posts online for his 34,000 Facebook and 13,200 Instagram followers.

Speaking to MailOnline Travel, Grondin said that to edit the images he uses Lightroom and Photoshop as shooting with the sun 'directly in front of the camera requires special editing to balance the lit and shadowed areas in the picture'.

He said: 'People usually try to avoid shooting with the sun in the frame because its hard to get a photo properly exposed but when you manage to get a nice shot I think that the photo gets a totally new aspect. It is hard to get the right shot, but I like the tricky situations.'

Julien Grondin, 35, set off in 2013 to exercise his love of travel photography. Pictured: Sunset over Horse Shoe Bend in Arizona

Grondin said he soon realised that shooting with the sun directly in the frame yielded his favourite final result. Pictured: Bangkok, Thailand

Grondin - who also goes by the name Beboy - visited Europe and Asia, stopping along the way to photograph Plitvice National Park in Croatia

Starting his trip in the US, the France native explored both the east and west coast. Pictured: A dog watches the sunset over Monument Valley in Utah

This year Grondin will continue his trip to take more sunrise and sunset images. Pictured: Shanghai skyline in China

The photographer will embark on a trip around the Faroe Islands, Norway, the Italian mountains and even China to continue with the project this year. Pictured: Yosemite National Park, California

The adventure-seeker has so far captured more than 50,000 images with his Canon 5D camera. Pictured: Sunset in Paris, France

During his three-year-long trip, Beboy stopped off in destinations including Rome in Italy (pictured) and Bangkok in Thailand

Since he began publishing online, Beboy has attracted more than 34,000 fans on Facebook and 13,200 on Instagram. Pictured: Sunset in Australia

Speaking to MailOnline Travel, Grondin said that to edit the images he uses Lightroom and Photoshop. Pictured captured in Arizona

Beboy said that shooting with the sun 'directly in front of the camera requires special editing to balance the lit and shadowed areas in the picture'. Pictured: Sunrise in Paris, France

Grondin said his project takes advantage of the fact that not many people attempt to photograph with the sun in the shot. Pictured: Iceland

Beboy explained that it is extremely difficult to get a photo properly exposed when taking it with the sun in the frame. Pictured: Paris

The photograher, who captured this shot in Provence, France, said: 'When you manage to get a nice shot I think that the photo gets a totally new aspect'

This shot over Hong Kong shows the city fading to darkness during a bright sunset over the built up area in southeastern China

Paris's Love Lock Bridge is exposed during a sunset over the city of love in France, which is also home to the Eiffel Tower and Louvre Pyramid

Beboy said: 'It is hard to get the right shot, but I like the tricky situations.' Pictured: A shot during a sunset in Iceland
A former palace of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is in the process of being transformed into a museum scheduled to open in September this year.

The new attraction on the outskirts of Basra, south-east Iraq, will be the first museum to open in the country for decades.

Aside from the obvious history of the building, the museum will also feature over 3,500 artefacts taken from Baghdad's Iraq Museum.

The lakeside palace near Basra, Iraq, was once home to dictator Saddam Hussein. It was later occupied by the British Army

It has seen structural damage as a result of the war but is being restored to be a museum

The palace is just one of more than a dozen homes Saddam Hussein used during his reign as dictator in Iraq

The museum will focus on Iraqi archaeology and history up to 1800 AD according to an operating plan set out by UK-based Friends of Basrah Museum, the charity that partially funded the project.

Its entire collection will be housed behind steel doors to help protect them against looters.

Once opened, the museum will be run by the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage based in Baghdad, which is also managing its development.

Visitors will be able to explore its five galleries from 9am to 3pm and the entrance fee is currently set at $1 (70p) for Iraqi citizens and $10 (7) for foreign visitors.

The cost of the building's restoration is estimated to cost $3 million (2.11 million) with more for furnishings inside

Pictures taken in 2003, after the palace was seized, showed that the bathrooms were fitted with gold fixtures

The elaborate decorations could be seen throughout the palatial structure. Above, a bathroom with five sinks

In one bathroom, the tags are still attached. They revealed that the fittings were 24 carat gold plated

Qahtan al-Abeed, director of the Basra section of Iraqs State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, told National Geographic: 'We want a very modern museum that does more than display objects.

'We want to bring in people for all kinds of art and cultural activities, including training courses and professional meetings.'

A survey by Mott MacDonald of the project in 2010, two years after the British Army pulled out, has estimated that it will cost $3 million (2.11 million) to restore and refurbish the building.

The lakeside palace has seen extensive damage during the invasion and subsequent occupation by the British Army.

This included structural damage to the exterior of the building due to car bombs being set off in its vicinity.

Mott MacDonald also estimated that a further $2 million (1.41 million) will be needed to furnish the building with display cases sourced from Turkey.

Mott MacDonald estimated that a further $2 million (1.41 million) will be needed to furnish the building with display cases sourced from Turkey

Once opened, the museum will be run by the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage based in Baghdad, which is also managing its development

There are many transformations to be made and traces of its occupier will need to be removed before it opens

Although $3 million is due to come from the Basra government, the money has reportedly yet to materialise.

The rest of the funding is being sourced via donations through Friends of Basrah Museum.

This is not the first time that one of Saddam Hussein's palaces has been transformed into a tourist site.

The presidential palace in Al Hilla, near Baghdad, was transformed into a hotel and attraction in 2009.

Visitors could explore the palace grounds for as little as $.85 (60p) while some of the villas near the palace were available to rent as hotel rooms.

There were even plans to open Saddam Hussein's bedroom to honeymooners with rates starting from $223 (156.74) per night, according to Arabian Business.

The presidential palace in Al Hilla (above), near Baghdad, was transformed into a hotel and attraction in 2009

Iraqis stand inside a marbled room, where Saddam supposedly once slept. It is among the rooms available to rent by the public

In 2009 there were plans to rent out Saddam Hussein's bedroom to honeymooners with rates starting from $223 (156.74) per night
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This is one theme park where you can forget about roller coasters.

At Tierra Santa near Buenos Aires, Argentina, which once claimed to be the world's first religious theme park, everything is about Jesus.

There are even interactive crucifixions and daily resurrections at the park.

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Tierra Santa in Buenos Aires hosts live re-enactments of the crucifixion with staff dressed in traditional outfits

It focuses on different aspects of Jesus' life, including the nativity (above), but it also covers the Old and New Testaments

The religious theme park is the first of its kind in Argentina and was opened in 2,000 when Pope Francis was still the Archbishop of Buenos Aires

Tierra Santa, which translates to Holy Land from Spanish, has now billed itself as the first of its kind in Latin America.

It was opened in 2,000, at a time when Pope Francis was still the Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Labelled as 'Christianity's answer to Disneyland' by Thrillist, the attraction is a reproduction of ancient Jerusalem.

Despite its historical setting, visitors can also learn about other parts of the Bible.

Its 37 different simulations depict everything from the Creation and Noah's Ark to seeing the scenes at the Last Supper and regular renditions of the Resurrection, according to The Argentina Independent.

Pictures taken by news agency Reuters show how visiting children take part in the park's crucifixion displays by helping to carry wooden crosses through the streets.

In a harrowing scene, an actor playing a blood-splattered Jesus carries a cross as a Roman soldier whips him.

He then portrays the crucifixion as crowds look on, before Resurrection displays using a robotic Jesus - a scene repeated several times a day.

As well as live shows of carpentry, puppetry and Arabic dancing, there's also audience participation in the crucifixion (above)

Staff are dressed in traditional garments and there are even actors dressed as Mary and Joseph in the park

Its 37 different simulations depict everything from the Creation and Noah's Ark to scenes at the Last Supper and regular renditions of the Resurrection

A video of the park by Maks Lemos showed park staff dressed in costumes from the Roman era greeting and entertaining guests.

Many of the sets have music and animation to bring the scenes to life.

At weekends and during holidays, there's also special performances, including Arabic dancing, puppetry and carpentry.

Even the food is themed around the era.

Two of the three restaurants offer foods from the Middle East, taking inspiration from Arabic and Armenian cuisines.

However, there is also a pizzeria for those who can't part with a slice of modernity.

Many of the sets have music and animation to bring the scenes to life. The Resurrection takes place several times a day

Even the food is themed around the era. Two of the three restaurants offer foods from the Middle East, taking inspirations from Arabic and Armenian cuisines

The park is dubbed 'Christianity's answer to Disneyland' and is designed to look like ancient Jerusalem

Entry to the park costs $130 for adults and $55 for children.

Despite the fact that Lonely Planet has called the attraction 'a very tacky place', it's had surprisingly positive reviews on TripAdvisor where the majority of visitors said they enjoyed the theme park.

There were reviewer who didn't like their experience.

Solita A, who gave the attraction a rating of just one, wrote: 'Hilarious! I would only recommend this to die hard Christians.'

But Tierra Santa is hardly the only Biblical theme park in the world.

One of the biggest attractions is The Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida, which is still open to visitors.

The theme park features more than 30 different attractions and points of interest.

In 2013, MailOnline reported that another theme park, Holy Land USA in Waterbury, Connecticut, had around 40,000 visitors a year during its peak in the 60s and 70s.

However, after its founder died, the park fell into disrepair and has since become a crumbling wasteland.

Entry to the park costs $130 for adults and $55 for children. There are also some concession tickets
These days the travel and tourism industry is increasingly judged from behind the safety of a keyboard and computer screen.

Hotel, bar and restaurant owners sometimes face withering attacks from 'keyboard warriors'. But on TripAdvisor they're allowed to strike back - and the results can be hilarious.

From the restaurant owner who described a review as a 'shining example of a drunk person's view of the situation' to the fish and chip-shop owner who said a customer 'wasn't fit to pass judgement on a goldfish', MailOnline Travel reveals the review site's funniest management put-downs ever.

'When a review starts by comparing the hotel to one of the greatest man made disasters I am unsure how to proceed'

The customer who stayed at this Irish hotel was not impressed with what they saw on the inside and outside

The manager of the Silver Springs Moran Hotel in Cork pointed out the positives of the property

Most hotel managers would feel a bit defensive if their hotel was likened to a nuclear disaster zone - and the manager of the Silver Springs Moran Hotel in Cork is no different.

When previous guest NoneOfYoBizniss wrote on TripAdvisor that his hotel 'looks like a building from Chernobyl on the outside' and gave it one-star out of five, he felt compelled to respond.

His reply read: 'Unfortunately when a review starts by comparing the hotel to one of the greatest man made disasters and loss of innocent life of the twentieth century I am unsure as to how my efforts to find a resolution would have proceeded.

'The hotel itself was built in 1964 therefore making it 50 years old and has a long time been a contributor to the business sector of Cork by providing employment to over 150 people at present and performing an important role like all other Cork hotels to the hospitality and tourism sector.

The hotel manager was not happy about the property being compared to Chernobyl, and so decided to post this response

TripAdvisor allows guests to post reviews on their website - but management have the opportunity to respond

'To suggest that the hotel has not been refurbished or redecorated since Ronald Reagans US presidency (1981-1989) is simply untrue.'

Each point in the review is met with perfectly worded answers, but by the end, the manager shows his soft side by adding that he is 'available at your convenience'.

'I was under the impression that you were mad at your husband for dead-bolting you out of the room'

A customer staying at the Best Western Hickok House in Deadwood, US, left a bad review following a stay back in October 2012, saying it was 'loud, overpriced and smoky'.

But the manager's witty response asked whether the bad review was prompted by some 'issues' between the couple who stayed.

The customer alleged that the room 'stunk of smoke' and the hotel 'could do nothing about it'

However the management's response seems to indicate the negative review may have been left as a result of 'other matters'

It read: 'I'm sorry that you didn't receive the service that you expected. When I spoke with you the first time, I was under the impression that you were mad at your husband for dead-bolting you out of the room. I did ask you if there was anything that we could do and you yelled "NO!"

'It is possible that you felt we were rude when we asked that you and your husband to leave the women's restroom in our casino, as we had ladies waiting to use it, I appologize for that.'

It appears there was certainly more to this particular story.

'Yes! My wife does get a bit snooty on the odd occasion. I will have a word with her'

The owner of the Peach and Quiet Hotel in Barbados accepted there may well have been cause for complaint from one disgruntled guest, who had written on TripAdvisor that he was not happy with 'a rather superior attitude' from a member of staff.

He said in reply that his wife 'does get a bit snooty on the odd occasion' and that he 'would have a word with her'.

However, he was not so understanding about the guest's complaint that chips couldn't be served, stating that the chef doesn't stock frozen chips and probably wouldn't have had time to prepare some from fresh.

After explaining why chips were not on the menu, the hotel owner then promised to 'have a word with his wife' who was the manager on the day in question and was described by the guests as having a 'superior attitude'

The Peach and Quiet Hotel has a beautiful location in Barbados - but one customer was less than happy with their stay there

'Enjoy your meals in the B&Q cafe'

Peter Volans, who owns Brasserie Hudson Quay, in Middlesbrough, said he takes the decision to reply to negative reviews of his restaurant 'to give the public a balanced view'.

His list of counter-attacks includes telling one diner to 'enjoy the B&Q cafe instead' and another that they 'clearly had no concept of food quality'.

And after another diner said 'the whole experience has ruined our weekend and I will never return' he replied that their comments amounted to a 'rambling list of nonsensical grumbling'.

Peter Volans, who owns Brasserie Hudson Quay, in Middlesbrough, decided to respond to comments online

Mr Volans' reply to a diner who complained about the cost of water in his restaurant - telling them to enjoy their meals in the B&Q cafe

He offered this response to a restaurant user who complained about service

And after another diner said 'the whole experience has ruined our weekend and I will never return' Mr Volans said the review was a 'rambling list of nonsensical grumbling'

'A shining example of a drunk person's view of the situation'

A bar owner hit back at a disgruntled wedding guest who complained on TripAdvisor about her experience, claiming that her review was a 'shining example of a drunk person's view of the situation'.

Samantha Cavens, 29, took to the review website to slam How Do You Do saying that her best friend's wedding reception was ruined by staff at the restaurant.

She claimed that staff 'hurled abuse' at the bride and groom and that she was 'bitterly disappointed' when she was served only sandwiches and tea 'in lipstick-stained cups' for the meal.

Ms Cavens also claimed that bar staff had a 'lock-in' after kicking all wedding guests out.

Bar owner Paul Bell, pictured left with the bar's co-owner Colin Curran (centre) and staff member Richard Maddison (right), has hit back at a disgruntled wedding party who complained on TripAdvisor

But the manager of the venue, in North Shields, Tyne and Wear, Paul Bell, was quick to challenge the customer, putting her stinging remarks down to alcohol.

In his response, which ran to nearly 1,000 words, Mr Bell said: 'The lock-in you talk about was in fact random strangers and at the request of the police were asked to remain in the bar for their own safety and security.

'I could go into more detail but I don't have time.

'This is a shining example of a drunk person's view of the situation. How wrong can you be?'

Mr Bell, who co-owns the restaurant and bar with Colin Curran, drafted his reply with Richard Maddison, a member of staff, and urged other businessmen to follow his example and reply to rants from 'mindless' critics.

Samantha Cavens, 29, took to the review website to slam How Do You Do, claiming her best friend's wedding reception was ruined by staff who 'hurled abuse' at the bride and groom. Above: a copy of the review

In a 1,000-word response (pictured) Mr Bell challenged the customer. The complaint had described how 'afternoon tea descended into a drunken lock-in', with wedding guests kicked out of the bar in favour of 'random strangers'

'Here's why you weren't ripped off by our 2 hot water and lemon...'

A cafe manager hit back at a disgruntled customer who complained on TripAdvisor after she was charged 2 for a cup of hot water and lemon.

The customer, who uses the profile name Hannah C, took to review website to slam Bennett's Cafe & Bistro in York, saying the cost of her simple drink was 'ridiculous'.

She also claimed the waiter was 'rude' when she asked him to justify the cost, adding she would 'definitely not recommend' the cafe to others.

Dispute: Bennett's Cafe & Bistro, pictured, has been voted the 11th best restaurant in York on TripAdvisor

But the manager of Bennett's, which is rated as the 11th best restaurant in the city, was quick to challenge the customer, spelling out exactly why she had been charged 2.

The manager said she was sorry Hannah had felt 'ripped off' before justifying the price by breaking down the cost that had gone into providing the drink, including rent, staff wages and business rates.

'The cost of overheads for the business, i.e rent, business rates, electricity costs, bank charges, etc works out at 27.50 per hour of trading,' they wrote.

'I pay my colleagues a decent living wage and after taking into account holiday pay, national insurance and non-productive time prior to opening and after closing, the waiter who served you costs me 12.50 per hour.

'Therefore, together the cost is 40 per hour or 67p per minute, meaning that the cost of providing you with 2-3 minutes of service was 1.34 - 2.00.'

Complaint: A customer using the profile name 'Hannah C' took to review website TripAdvisor to slam Bennett's Cafe & Bistro in York, saying being charged 2 for a cup of hot water with lemon was 'ridiculous'

Response: The manager said she was sorry Hannah had felt 'ripped off' before justifying the price by breaking down the cost that had gone into providing the drink, including rent, staff wages and business rates

'A twisted sense of reality and you felt my bottom'

Last year a customer complained on TripAdvisor about the 'attitude' of the manager at Cafe 52 in Aberdeen, but received a response that contained an accusation of bottom-feeling.

The reviewer was upset because the manager - Steve Bothwell - apparently didn't have any anti-septic wipes to hand after a colleague was cut by broken glass dropped by a waitress.

What's more, claimed the reviewer, no discounts were forthcoming 'as a gesture of good will'.

But Mr Bothwell was ready with a riposte.

I wish to make a complaint: Cafe 52 (pictured) in Aberdeen was angrily accused of failing to provide antiseptic wipes or any discount after a customer was cut by broken glass dropped by a waitress

Each point is addressed by Steve Bothwell, the owner of Cafe 52 in Aberdeen after a customer left a negative review on TripAdvisor

He wrote: Your colleague was tended to immediately and a drum of antiseptic wipes (contents 200) were put on the table and several wipes (better safe than sorry!) were used to treat the wound.

Thereafter a clean dry towel with crushed ice was put round the leg of the alleged victim (Just in case the leg swelled up to the size of Saturn, resulting in a lunar explosion).

The alleged victim was offered a choice of plasters, however we were out of Does this plaster match my outfit variety, so it was either skin coloured plasters or those bright blue ones. The skin tone plasters seemed to do the job.

He added that the person who posted the review had a 'twisted sense of reality. What's more, he claimed that the reviewer felt his bottom shortly before leaving.

The hilarious exchange on TripAdvisor followed the groups visit to the 21.30-a-head restaurant last month, and also saw the diner sarcastically praised for a remarkably creative piece of writing.

'You're not fit to pass judgement on a goldfish'

One fish and chip shop decided to individually respond to all its negative feedback in a hilariously brutal fashion.

The Pinnacles Fish and Chip Restaurant in Seahouses, Northumberland, has received mainly positive reviews on the travel website, with a four out of five star overall rating.

Pinnacles Fish and Chips has a four-star rating on TripAdvisor, and the management are keen to involve themselves in the reviewing process

This customer was not too happy after their visit to Pinnacles Fish and Chip Restaurant in Seahouses

And the negative review prompted the management to post this hilarious response on TripAdvisor

It is also rated as the eighth best restaurant in the coastal village and was nominated by celebrity TV chefs The Hairy Bikers as their favourite fish and chip shop in the whole country.

But TripAdvisor user Kingbee93 wrote that the drinks were served 'in a plastic cup like you're five'.

And Andy C described a staff member's attitude as 'unpleasant'.

This customer gave the restaurant a two-star rating - which caused some umbrage with the manager

The restaurant's public relations manager, under the username Tommycat1, defended the eatery, calling Kingbee93 'an obvious low life' and suggesting that Andy C had a 'persecution complex' and should stay 'away from social media for a period of five years'.

They then said reviewer Kingbee93 was 'not fit to pass judgement on a goldfish.'

But the comments were described as 'tongue-in-cheek' by the restaurant's owner, Michael Armstrong, who said that Tommycat1 is a pseudonym, with the person behind it working part-time.

The comments may have been described as 'tongue in cheek' by the restaurant's owner, but they will still provide a chuckle

'I can only assume you have no tastebuds'

The sharp-tongued owner of an American-style diner has taken to leaving acerbic responses to negative reviews because she believes she is being targeted by jealous rival businesses.

Celena Collins, 50, fears her new Edinburgh establishment, Bruno's 7 to 7 Diner, is being 'nobbled' by rivals who are putting up bogus one-star reviews on TripAdvisor in order to sabotage her business.

The sharp-tongued owner of this American-style diner has taken to leaving acerbic responses to negative reviews on TripAdvisor

In one reply, Celena Collins makes the assumption that one customer 'has no tastebuds'

Celena Collins pulls no punches in her replies to people who leave reviews of her restaurant

Ms Collins, 50, has hit back at her 'deluded' critics with a series of barbed counter-attacks which have been shared on social media.

The owner of Bruno's 7 to 7 Diner, which is located in the Tollcross area of the city, has so far received 64 TripAdvisor reviews, 29 of them 'excellent' and 19 'terrible'.

Some of the attacks are more than 1,000 words long and describe her eaterie as 'unfriendly', 'tacky' and 'greasy'.

Celena (pictured) believes her diner has been deliberately targeted by customers leaving scathing reviews

One complained: 'Terrible management who argued and bullied both staff and customers...terrible menu...terrible food. Just don't bother. Many other quality restaurants nearby.'

Ms Collins hit back: 'We are a diner, not a restaurant. The clue is in the name.
A tea house in Shanghai has been accused of charging two unsuspecting tourists a staggering 48 Yuan (5.22) per sip of the hot beverage.

Two Japanese nationals, who were studying in the city, met three scammers while visiting Yu Gardens, a popular attraction in the city, where they were invited to have some tea.

The ruse led to them forking out 1,040 Yuan (113) for the privilege - although the full sum was refunded after police investigation.

Two Japanese students were lured to Yuyuan Teahouse (above) in Shanghai by three scammers allegedly hired by the establishment

They enjoyed a 30-minute tea experience, which they thought would cost just 48 Yuan. But it turned out that each sip was 48 Yuan

According to QQ, three people, a man and two women, were hired with the sole purpose of taking foreign tourists to the tea house.

They met the Japanese students at Yu Gardens where they asked their unsuspecting victims to help them take photographs.

Afterwards, the trio invited the two visitors for tea at Yuyuan Teahouse, at 299 Jinling East Road.

One of the students, who has been nicknamed Ah Gui by local press, told reporters: 'They showed us the menu with the price next to a picture. The cost was 48 Yuan.'

Despite not having ordered anything, the staff allegedly started bringing the group tea.

Victims were given tokens to show other fraudsters they'd already been duped - so they're not targeted again

However, when the bill came after 30 minutes, it added up to a total of 2,114 Yuan (229.75).

The trio paid their share and left the two students to fork out 1,040 Yuan - all of the cash in their wallet.

Ah Gui said: 'The staff told us it was 48 Yuan for a sip. We thought it was 48 Yuan altogether.'

After searching online for similar experiences, the victims discovered that it was a popular scam in the city.

They were even presented with a Chinese knot before they left - a sign that they had been successfully scammed to other fraudsters and should not be approached again.

The two visitors reported the incident to the local police.

After investigation, Yuyuan Teahouse was revealed to be Shanghai Yiketing Tea Co, situated at 33 Henan South Road.

The two students later searched online and discovered they were not alone in their experience and it was a popular scam

A manager for the tea house later claimed that the group tried several cups of teas according to Shanghai Daily.

The member of staff, who has not been named, said: 'Each tea costs 48 Yuan, so the total price would be 500 Yuan for each of them. The 2,000 Yuan price was for all five customers.'

An official statement released on Shanghai Huangpu regional government's Weibo account, China's equivalent of Twitter, said that local officials started looking into the incident on April 9.

After the investigation, the manager of Shanghai Yiketing Tea Co, Guo Guangbin, and the male scammer, Cheng Kun, were deemed to have defrauded the students and were detained for five days by the police as punishment.

The two accomplices were deemed to have had minor roles and were not reprimanded.

Local police detained two people in relation to the scam and fined the company 500,000 Yuan as well as revoking its trading licence

In addition, the company is to be fined 500,000 Yuan (50,000) and their trading licence has been revoked.

There has been a number of scams in China of tourists been charged sky-high prices for goods.

In February this year, a group of 20 people travelling to Harbin, north-east China, were charged 10,302 Yuan (1119.60) for a meal after the price of each ingredient was greatly inflated.

The guests and restaurant staff ended up coming to blows over the price.

Last year, a restaurant in Qingdao, north-east China, tried to charge 38 Yuan (4.13) per shrimp, which meant that a plate came to 1,520 Yuan (165.19).
Lindsay Lohan is to be engaged to be married.

The 29-year-old Mean Girls vet has accepted a proposal from 22-year-old Russian heir Egor Tarabasov, according to a Tuesday report from TMZ.

The stunner has been flashing an emerald ring on her wedding finger since the news broke and celebrated with family, including mother Dina Lohan and father Michael at a Duran Duran concert.

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Mrs T! Lindsay Lohan is engaged. The 29-year-old Mean Girls vet has accepted a proposal from 22-year-old Russian heir Egor Tarabasov, according to a Tuesday report from TMZ; here they are seen in February

Entrepreneur Egor - whose father is a multi-millionaire businessman - asked for her hand in marriage 'over the weekend,' the site reported.

While at the 2016 Asian Awards in London on Friday night, the Liz & Dick actress wore an engagement ring and diamond wedding band on her left wedding finger, before switching for a new design.

However, her spokesperson said soon after the Eastbound & Down star is not betrothed. 'The story is untrue and holds no merit,' Lohan's rep, Hunter Frederick. He did not comment on why the star is wearing rings on her wedding finger.

Happy days: The beauty and her man (centre) celebrated their betrothal at a Duran Duran concert at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NYC - her mother Dina, (left) father Michael (right) and sister Ali

Savouring the memories: Lindsay and her little sister Ali were dressed to the nines and took selfies of the special night out

Taking the plunge: Lindsay looked incredible in her silver embellished outfit which had a very daring neckline

Bringing her family together: Dina and Michael joined Lindsay despite feuding in the past, as she threw some shapes on the dancefloor

Egor met the Herbie actress 'through mutual friends at a party,' the site alleged. She told The Sun she started dating him eight months ago and added: 'He is a great guy. I met him in the summer. Im really happy.'

Tarabasov spent the holidays in New York with Lindsay and her family, which includes mother Dina and sister Ali. It was claimed the meeting went well.

It was reported in March by People that the couple have moved in together in London.

What a gent: Egor drove the family home after the concert as he showed how well they are all getting on

Happy: Dina appeared to be in high spirits as she sat in the back of the car

Low-key: Michael covered up in a baseball cap as he joined the rest of his family

On Tuesday the cover girl did not comment on her engagement; rather she posted a photo of a pool overlooking the sea with a caption about her birthday destination.

The star turns 30-years-old on July 2.

A source told The Mirror this year: 'Hes a bit younger than she is, but hes a very smart businessman. Hes much more mature than his age suggests, and hes a good influence.'

Stunning: Earlier in the evening, Lindsay sported jeans and a blue jumper and perfect locks

Wow thing: She added some elegance with a pair of statement heels as she made her way down the street

Winning the race: She sprinted forwards while her man remained in the driver's seat of his car

Letting her natural beauty shine through: Her flame red locks were blow-dried into perfect curls

It was also noted his money is helpful to the cash-strapped Lindsay, who has reportedly been investigated by the IRS in recent years.

'He is a perfect boyfriend and  as he is quite wealthy  pays for quite a lot of stuff like meals and trips away. He has been traveling the world with her and posting loads of pictures of their trips online.'

As far as his feelings, the source noted he has been 'spending all his time with her' and is 'massively taken.'

A hint? While at the 2016 Asian Awards in London on Friday night, the Liz & Dick actress wore a diamond engagement ring and diamond wedding band on her left wedding finger

Taken! A rock can be seen on the Machete star's left wedding finger; her rep has denied she is engaged

Lohan has never been engaged before even though she has had many high-profile relationships, including a two-year, on-and-off romance with DJ Samantha Ronson.

Bling it on! The looker flashes an engagement ring and band at the event

The Georgia actress has also dated Wilmer Valderrama, Brandon Davis, Harry Morton and Calum Best.

The redhead has been linked with several other stars as well, including Jude Law and Jamie Dornan, but it is not known if they were brief flings or serious relationships.

Lohan got her start in acting as a child and shot to superstardom when she played twins - one American and one British - in 1998's The Parent Trap.

The blockbuster Freak Friday followed in 2003 as did the cult classic Mean Girls in 2004.

Herbie Fully Loaded was a success as well in 2005 and she showed off her acting talents in 2006's A Prairie Home Companion and the ensemble Bobby.

In 2007 Lohan held her own opposite Jane Fond in Georgia Rule.

They clicked right away: Egor met the Herbie actress 'through mutual friends at a party.' They began dating five months ago; here they are pictured in March in London

This is a first for the former child star: Lohan has never been engaged before

SO, WHO IS EGOR? - Egor Tarabasov is 22-years-old - He was born in Moscow but now lives in London - The heir graduated from the Anglo-American School of Moscow then the Cass Business School - His dad is 50-year-old multi-millionaire Dmitry Tarabasov -Dmitry owns several large businesses in Moscow - Egor started his own real estate agency, Home House Estates - The businessman is also a shareholder of Moscows Ivy Bank - Tarabasov often travels to Switzerland, Costa Rica and France - He met Lindsay in the summer of 2015 and they have allegedly already moved in together Advertisement

But at about that time the Long Island native developed a reputation for being less than professional as she showed up late on set.

Wild nights at West Hollywood clubs, arrests, a DUI, time in jail and rehab followed.

In the past four years Lindsay has been spending time in London where she has kept out of trouble.

Her love life has been a bit of a mystery for the past five years as she has not been in a public relationship. So her romance with the Russian heir comes as a bit of a surprise.

In 2014 the siren told The Guardian: 'In LA I didnt know what to do apart from go out every night.

'Thats when my friends were free. And I would go out and there would be all these cameras there and thats when it became difficult.'

The Scary Movie 5 star added she felt less eyes on her in England.

'I can go for a run here on my own,' she said.

'I do every morning, early, and I think how my friends in New York would still be up partying at that time.

'I needed to grow up and London is a better place for me to do that than anywhere else.'

Interesting love life: The Georgia actress has also dated Wilmer Valderrama (who she is pictured with in 2004), Brandon Davis, Harry Morton and Calum Best

It wasn't love: For a brief time the Disney vet had a relationship with Best; here they are pictured in 2006
They announced their engagement last September after five years of dating.

And over the weekend, House Husband's Gryton Grantley and his now-wife Alex Ortuso tied the knot in a secret wedding in Byron Bay, north coast of New South Wales.

But while the newlyweds remained on a high during their ceremony, they announced to their guests they were expecting their first child in the coming months.

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A day to celebrate: House Husband's Grant Grantley has announced he has married now-wife Alex Ortuso and that they are expecting their first child together

Speaking to Woman's Day magazine Alex revealed, 'We are both so excited to be welcoming a baby in September'.

The 30-year-old teacher went on to gush with excitement about the couple's latest addition before explaining her actor husband was still in shock with 'how small they [babies] are'.

'I don't think he's ever seen a baby,' she laughed to the publication.

Living on a high: The happy newlyweds told their wedding guests they were expecting their first child in September during their intimate Byron Bay ceremony

But that wasn't the only secret they kept from their close family and friends during their wedding day.

The pair also announced that they had said their 'I dos' weeks beforehand during a visit to a registry in Melbourne.

'We had a small ceremony in Melbourne, so this second wedding was about sharing it with all our friends and family,' Gyton explained.

Despite it being the pair's second time reading out their vows, the actor admitted to shedding a tear once he saw Alex walk down the aisle in her custom-made Fiona Claire dress.

Full of surprises: The couple also revealed on the day that they had said their 'I dos' weeks beforehand during a visit to a registry in Melbourne

'I started to tear up, but I brushed them away because Alex told me she wasn't going to marry a princess,' he laughed.

While the couple went above and beyond to celebrate their relationship for the second time, Gyton's co-star and close friend Julia Morris received the honour to be the pair's 'unofficial' celebrant.

Fellow House Husband star's Darren McMullen, Gary Sweet, Rhys Muldoon and American actress Crystal Reed were part of the 170 guests who attended the special day.

Spotlight: Gyton's co-star and close friend Julia Morris received the honour to be the pair's 'unofficial' celebrant on their big day (pictured here with fellow House Husband's star Gary Sweet who was a guest)

The beginning: Gyton dropped to one knee and popped the question while the pair were on holidays in Burano, Italy, last year after five years of dating

Gyton dropped to one knee and popped the question while the pair were on holidays in Burano, Italy, last year.

The pair first met at the Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland in 2010 and immediately hit it off, spending the whole day together before going their separate ways.

A few months later, Gyton landed his role in the Nine Network drama and moved to Melbourne to begin filming and wound up moving into the same street as Alex.
Ashley Graham showed off another glamorous look as she stepped out in New York on Tuesday.

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit beauty flattered her curves in a bold print floral dress from her collection with Dressbarn as she made her exit from an event at the Pierre Hotel.

The 28-year-old star covered her shoulders in a stylish biker jacket and sported nude heels and Dana Bronfman earrings as she headed to a waiting vehicle.

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Out and about! Ashley Graham looked gorgeous as ever as she left an event at the Pierre hotel in New York on Tuesday

Her glossy brunette locks fell in glamorous curls and she wore glossy pink lips.

As well as her Beyond by Ashley Graham collection with Dressbarn, the model also has a lingerie line, Provocative by Ashley Graham, with fashion brand Addition Elle.

She talked about her aspirations during her recent interview with Maxim explaining that she hopes to expand her clothing and accessories lines even further, develop a fitness program, become an author, and even score her own talk show.

Meanwhile, the curvaceous star recently called herself as 'sexalicious'.

The lingerie beauty, who is a size 16, believes the phrase 'plus-size' should be banned because it's causing girls to view themselves in an abnormally negative light.

Feminine chic: The 28-year-old model stepped out in a floral design dress with nude heels and Dana Bronfman earrings

Lovely in leather: Ashley covered up in a stylish biker jacket

All smiles! The Swimsuit Illustrated beauty was glowing and showed off glossy curls in her brunette locks

Speaking to Yahoo!, she explained: 'I'm not a fan of it because it's bringing a divide among girls. It's totally outdated and I prefer to call myself curvy and sexalicious.

'I just want women to understand that they should not conform to society's beauty standards. You should be able to look in the mirror and understand that that is what beauty is.'

Ashley may be confident in her own skin now but she has admitted there was a time she considered making herself vomit in order to lose weight.

She said: 'I had an agent actually wave money in my face and say, "If you lose some weight, you can get a lot more of these. Put that Snickers bar down, honey." I tried not to eat for a few days, but that didn't work. I have never actually stuck my finger down my throat. But I thought about it.'

The Nebraska-born beauty shot to international fame in February when she was unveiled as one of the three cover stars of this year's SI Swimsuit Issue alongside Ronda Rousey and Hailey Clauson.

Chivalry isn't dead! The beauty drew an admiring glance as she hopped into a waiting vehicle
River Monsters (ITV)

Rating:

Jeremy Wades three fishing rods are aimed at the river like a triple-barrelled mortar.

The expert angler turned TV presenter arrived on a dusty motorbike with his sunglasses pushed back on his head, and now hes deep in the muddy waters of the Mekong in Cambodia, grappling with a catfish the size of a cow.

River Monsters (ITV) is like Apocalypse Now with fish. At any moment, helicopters could swoop over the horizon, blasting the waters with Wagner.

River Monsters (ITV) is like Apocalypse Now with fish, Christopher Stevens writes. At any moment, helicopters could swoop over the horizon, blasting the waters with Wagner. Host Jeremy Wade is pictured here on the programme in 2015

This could be the most macho show on television. Jeremy goes fishing around the world, but he wants us to know this isnt a peaceful holiday  hes an extreme angler and freshwater detective, and hes in Cambodia to hunt down a finny killer that slices through human flesh like a buzzsaw.

To emphasise the danger, he visits the ancient Angkor temple ruins, once part of the ninth century Khmer empires capital city, to show us carvings of fish so big they could swallow whole deer in a gulp.

Whatever it is that Jeremys hunting in the Mekong, it makes the great white shark look like something youd win at a funfair.

Except, of course, when he finally tracks it down, its no bigger than a cooking apple. And it has a soppy name: the freshwater pufferfish.

True, it has bony jaws that can give you a nasty nip  very nasty, indeed, in the case of a teenage boy from the Phnom Penh slums who was waist-deep in the water when he lost part of his anatomy that hes definitely going to miss.

But thats as deadly as it gets. Jeremy tries to ramp up the jeopardy, mopping his face with his bandana and snarling: Maybe Ill finally be able to tempt one of these baby-faced killers on to my line.

To emphasise the danger, Jeremy Wade visits the ancient Angkor temple ruins (pictured)

The only way a pufferfish could kill you, though, is if you ate it: theyre poisonous. Still, thats a painful way to go and, to emphasise how scary it could be, the show cuts away for a few seconds to a dramatic reconstruction, with a nurse on a hospital ward reacting in terror to a patients hideous symptoms.

Thats River Monsters  half an hour of distinctly fishy panic-mongering with a presenter who has a black belt in angling. This isnt fishing, its hand-to-fin combat.

And, of course, the more frantic the fear factor, the more comical it becomes.

Fishing from a motor-canoe piloted by a toothless boatman in a conical hat, Jeremy snagged something big on his line and wrestled it to the surface, while keeping up a breathless commentary.

What he had caught, though, wasnt a river monster. It was a tree branch. From down the other end of the canoe came a high-pitched snickering as the old boatman curled up with laughter.

Britain's Treasure Islands (BBC4)

Rating:

Naturalist Stewart McPherson is also roaming the globe in search of wildlife. Hes an expert on carnivorous plants, but, fortunately, Britains Treasure Islands (BBC4) was not a blood-curdling tale of how he was nearly eaten alive by a Venus flytrap.

Instead, this three-part series sees Stewart visit all the 14 islands of the UKs overseas territories, sprinkled around the planet and covering a land mass twice the size of Britain.

Naturalist Stewart McPherson is also roaming the globe in search of wildlife. Hes an expert on carnivorous plants, but, fortunately, Britains Treasure Islands (BBC4) was not a blood-curdling tale of how he was nearly eaten alive by a Venus flytrap, writes Christopher Stevens

He started in Bermuda, where he saw cahows  seabirds that for 300 years were thought to be extinct.

Then he visited the volcanic atolls of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, a string of unspoilt islands so protected that it took him three years to get permission to film there.

He didnt show us anything very extraordinary  shoals of blue parrotfish and a crab the size of a dustbin lid. The remarkable thing was simply that the place exists, a part of the UK so little known that one island doesnt even have a name yet.

Stewart is charmingly amateur, talking to us like primary school pupils, which makes the viewer feel like a child with a storybook.

Visiting Pitcairn, where Mr Christian and his mutineers wound up, he enthused: Its Bounty Day! I dont want to miss the celebrations!
She has an incredible bikini body, especially considering she's 50-year-old.

And on Tuesday Cindy Crawford gave a hint to how she stays so slender.

The supermodel shared a photo of her breakfast and there was not a carbohydrate in sight - no bagel, no croissant, not even a slice of whole wheat toast.

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Healthy: Cindy Crawford shared her breakfast on Tuesday morning and there was not a carb in sight; instead all she had were eggs, cheddar cheese, avocados and strawberries

Knockout: The pretty model is 50-years-old but has the body of a 25-year-old

The Malibu-based mannequin had on her plate eggs, a slice of cheddar cheese, avocado pieces and three strawberries. Her meal comes to about 300 calories, which is about the same as a breakfast bar.

There was also a cup of coffee to the side.

This comes after the Vogue vet shared a photo where she was makeup free with a towel on her head, proving this catwalker sure knows how to take care of herself.

On Saturday the beauty shared a photo taken from her home in Malibu. The Elle favorite had just worked out and enjoyed a sauna.

Naked: Crawford shared a makeup-free selfie on Saturday after a workout and sauna

All done up: The beauty looked just as good without makeup as she did here at the Best Buddies: The Art Of Friendship event in LA in March

It almost seemed as if she was at a spa, not home.

With a towel wrapped around her head, the Versace model looked as if she was at the Bacara Resort & Spa in Santa Barbara.

Her caption read: 'Apres workout and sauna.'

This comes after she looked stressed when leaving a Starbucks in the rain the day before.

Bummer for this beauty: Cindy looked not amused during her Starbucks run in Malibu on Friday

With her face looking tense, the mannequin appeared very unhappy to be on the go again.

The looker had the added challenge of having to fight off the sudden spring downpour. The former Pepsi spokesperson worked hard to pull her jacket over her head.

It appeared as if the star had taken time to blow out her highlighted locks, which were no doubt made frizzled by the weather.

Cindy was dressed urban wealthy in her blue button-down shirt, worn-in designer jeans, beige suede loafers, brown belt and grey hoodie.

She carried a cell phone, keys and her wallet. It is not known if Rande was with her.

On Monday 53-year-old businessman Gerber shared a breathtaking snap of his bikini-clad wife Cindy as she flashed her figure while wading knee-deep in the water during the holiday in the Bahamas.

'Blue lagoon,' Rande captioned the gorgeous image of his wife.

Cindy shared the exact same image on her own account, thanking her husband for the picture perfect snap.

'Rande caught me in the blue lagoon! Thanks for the (camera emoticon)', she captioned the image.

'Lunch with my little angel': Rande shared a sweet snap of his daughter Kaia Gerber during their lunch on Saturday

Cindy and her loved ones have been enjoying themselves over a well-deserved holiday at the island resort of Baker's Bay in the Bahamas, and the family have been documenting their adventures on Instagram.

On Friday, proud father Rande shared a snap from his lunch with his 14-year-old daughter Kaia.

'Lunch with my little angel,' read the caption of the photo of his smiling daughter, who bore a striking resemblance to her famous mother.

That same day the businessman did a bit of boating and looked to be joined by his wife Cindy, who captured their excursion for Instagram as well.

'Captain @RandeGerber,' read the caption of her husband steering the boat, which contained an anchor emoticon.

Just days earlier, the family were enjoying a fun-filled getaway hundreds of miles away at the Grand Canyon.

'Just another day in paradise': On Friday, Cindy posed in a sheer robe upon a curved palm tree trunk

The getaway was no doubt a well-deserved one for the famous family.

Cindy and her family have had a busy first few months of 2016, working on everything from a mom-daughter Vogue cover to numerous fashion campaigns.

For the issue of Vogue Paris, which hit newsstands March 24, Cindy and Kaia were styled by none other than editor-in-chief Emmanuelle Alt herself, and were shot by famed photographer Mario Testino.
He recently claimed he can no longer afford monthly child support payments of $55,000 due to his drastically declined income.

But Charlie Sheen's third ex-wife and mother of his two sons, Brooke Mueller, isn't buying any of it and is reportedly trying to get her hands on the 50-year-old's money by going directly to the source.

TMZ reports that Mueller, 38, is calling Sheen a 'deadbeat dad' and claiming he owes her $89,000.

The former Extra correspondent is now looking to get authority from a judge to get her money from his bank before he can empty it.

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Getting messy: Charlie Sheen's ex Brooke Mueller is claiming the 50-year-old actor owes tens of thousands in child support and is trying to get a judge to freeze his bank account

The website reported last month that Sheen filed court documents asking to drastically cut the payments he makes to Mueller, complaining that he's so broke he's not able to afford the $55,000 per month.

According to TMZ, Sheen had been earning $613,000 a month from his Two and a Half Men residual payments.

However, the actor recently had to sell the rights to those residuals for a lump sum payment of $26,750,000.

While it's unclear what happened to all that cash, Sheen now claims to average an income of $87,384 a month, though February was particularly paltry with only $6,261 coming in.

Not buying it: The 38-year-old actress doesn't believe Sheen's claims that he can't afford the $55,000 monthly child support payments so is taking other measure to get hold of the actor's money. They are pictured in 2009

The actor told the court that he has expenses of $105,000 a month, medical bills of $25,000 related to his HIV treatment and owes nearly $1 million in legal fees as well as credit cards approaching $600,000.

The Anger Management star is father to six-year-old twins Bob and Max with Mueller, who he was married to from 2008 and 2011.

Just weeks after requesting to cut payments to Mueller, Sheen reportedly did the same thing regarding his second ex-wife Denise Richards, 45.

He filed a similar complaint, asking for the $55,000 payments he makes to the actress for their daughters Lola Rose Sheen, ten, and Sam, 12 to be drastically cut.

Harder times: The Two and a Half Men star recently filed legal papers asking to drastically reduce child support payments to Mueller claiming his monthly earnings are down to approx $87,000 from $613,000

Mueller is pictured in 2014 with the sons she shares with Sheen, Bob and Max, now aged six

Richards is currently suing the star after he evicted her and her three children (including adopted daughter Eloise) from their L.A home before sending abusive texts.

The troubled star allegedly asked Richards and the girls to move into a nearby home he purchased in trust for the daughters.

However, after they moved, Sheen became erratic and abusive and had the family evicted from the property, court documents allege.

It has not been confirmed whether the troubled actor is also delinquent on child support owed to Richards, who he was married to from 2002 to 2005.
He recently flew to St. Barts to celebrate his 20th wedding anniversary with wife Deborra-Lee Furness.

And Hugh Jackman looked in relaxed spirits as he enjoyed a leisurely dip in the ocean on Tuesday.

The Wolverine hunk, 47, displayed his impressive physique underneath a clinging rash vest during the romantic trip to the Caribbean island - which he previously dubbed their second 'honeymoon'.

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Abs-olutely fabulous! Australian actor Hugh Jackman displayed his washboard abs - which were visible through his clinging wet rash vest - during his 20th anniversary celebrations in St Barts on Tuesday

The Sydney-born actor flaunted his ripped, gym-honed abs and strong arms in the tight-fitting T-shirt - which went partially see-through when wet.

The material clung closely to his remarkably muscular torso - as the X-Men star proved exactly why he's achieved global sex symbol status.

The Men's Health cover star also showed off his athletic legs in a pair of black and grey board shorts, while displaying his trademark bushy beard.

Out of the deep: The X-Men hunk, 47, looked in relaxed spirits as he enjoyed a leisurely dip in the ocean - after jetting to the Caribbean island this week with wife Deborra-Lee Furness to 'relive their honeymoon'

As he frolicked in the cool waters of St Barts - a favourite destination of Hollywood's rich and famous - Hugh also demonstrated his superior swimming skills.

He was spotted diving into the ocean and taking several confident strokes out to sea - before making his way back to shore, dripping wet.

His athletic ability was a real asset last month, when he assisted local lifeguards in rescuing several swimmers - including his 15-year-old son Oscar - caught in a rip at Bondi Beach.

Taking the plunge: As he frolicked in the cool waters of St Barts - a favourite destination of Hollywood's rich and famous - Hugh also demonstrated his superior swimming skills

In great shape: The Sydney-born superstar was spotted diving into the ocean and taking several confident strokes out to sea - before making his way back to shore, dripping wet

A spokesperson later downplayed his bravery, telling Daily Mail Australia: 'It wasn't nearly as dramatic as it looks.'

Hugh has been in celebration mode this week - as he and actress wife Deborra-Lee jetted to the idyllic tropical island to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary.

On Tuesday, he paid emotional tribute to the 60-year-old on Instagram, sharing a throwback photo of the pair on their wedding day.

Hitting the waves: Elsewhere, High was seen strolling in waist-depth waters in a 2XU workout vest

In the black-and-white snap, Deborra-Lee looks every inch the blushing bride in a gorgeous low-cut gown and wedding necklace.

Meanwhile, her younger husband, rather charmingly, looks the height of mid-90s fashion in a pair of circle-rimmed spectacles.

Hugh and Deborra-Lee met on set of Australian TV series Correlli in 1995 and got married the following year at a ceremony in Toorak, Melbourne.

At the time, she was an established TV and film actress Down Under and Hugh had only recently graduated from a performing arts school in Perth.
She is one of Australias biggest fashion and beauty exports, so it seems fitting for Gemma Ward to return to her native for the launch of Yves Saint Laurents latest offerings in Sydney.

The 28-year-old model will be among the special guests on Thursday evening, as the popular beauty brand presents Rouge Volupte Shine and YSL fragrance Black Opium Nuit Blanche in the city.

She will reportedly be joined by partner David Letts at Town Hall for #YSLBeautyNightOut, which is also set to be attended by Jesinta Campbell, Jodi Anasta and Phoebe Burgess.

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Beauty muse! Gemma Ward has returned to her native Australia for the launch of Yves Saint Laurent's latest offerings in Sydney this week

Gemma - who lives in New York with Letts and their two-year-old daughter Naia - retired from the catwalk in 2008, and towards the end of last year she spoke about her brave decision to walk away from her successful modelling career.

The blonde beauty recently opened up to Vogue Australia about how some people in the industry reacted to the announcement of her retirement.

'I could write a book about how people on the street, family and friends interacted with me during that time, the certain things they said to me,' she said in their January issue.

Star appeal: The 28-year-old model will be among the special guests on Thursday evening, as the popular beauty brand presents Rouge Volupte Shine and YSL fragrance Black Opium Nuit Blanche in the city

'It blows your mind what people say... I don't want to drag people through the dirt, but there are a lot of people with foot in their mouth.'

Citing depression as the key factor in her decision to step away from the industry, Gemma made a triumphant comeback in 2014 where he paraded the runway at the SS15 Prada show during Milan Fashion Week.

And earlier this year, the mother-of-one walked for local label Ellery at Australian Fashion Week.

Career aside: The stunner will be taking on bridesmaid duties along with fellow model Jessica Gomes at close pal Nicole Trunfios wedding to musician Gary Clark Jr. within the next few weeks

Career aside, Gemma will be taking on bridesmaid duties along with fellow model Jessica Gomes at close pal Nicole Trunfios wedding to musician Gary Clark Jr. within the next few weeks.

Speaking in an interview in the April issue of Instyle Australia, Nicole confessed she 'couldn't get married without them'.

'They were the first two people that I thought of - I couldnt get married without them by my side,' she told the magazine, adding: 'Gemma says she is going to give Gary the lowdown: that if he does anything to hurt me, shell do some sort of kung fu.
His iconic Han Solo jacket sold for $191,000.

And Harrison Ford was happy to donate the money in honour of his daughter Georgia Ford, who has been living with epilepsy.

The 73-year-old actor handed the proceeds over to NYU Langone Medical Center and the FACES Foundation (Finding A Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures).

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Sold! Harrison Ford auctioned off his iconic Hans Solo leather jacket which was purchased for $191,000, according to TMZ

The Oscar nominee auctioned off his leather coat - which sold at the hefty price, according to TMZ - from Star Wars: The Force Awakens and handed the proceeds over to charity.

See Star Wars updates as Harrison Ford Hans Solo jacket sells to benefit epilepsy research

Harrison autographed the piece of movie history in a shiny, silver marker, from the record-breaking film to be sold on auction site If Only.

Ford was seen wearing the custom-made leather jacket in the most recent Star Wars film, directed by J.J. Abrams.

Endorsed! Ford autographed the piece of movie history with a shiny, silver marker

Doting dad: Harrison has donated the iconic jacket to raise funds for NYU Langone Center and FACES (Finding A Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures) in honor of his daughter Georgia Ford (pictured, L, along with Harrison's current wife Calista Flockhart, R, in 2013) who is living with epilepsy

The proceeds are set to benefit the Langone Center, of which Harrison has long been a supporter, thanks to Dr. Orrin Devinsky, the director of Comprehensive Epilsepy Center, who correctly diagnosed his daughter Georgia.

His 25-year-old daughter - with his second wife, the late Melissa Mathison - had suffered years of health scares and seizures before finally receiving the diagnosis of epilepsy.

Harrison had previously gotten teary while speaking about his daughter's condition - as reported by the New York Daily News - saying: 'When you have a loved one who suffers from this disease, it can be devastating.'

See Star Wars updates as Harrison Ford auctions off Han Solo jacket for epilepsy research

Iconic: Harrison wore the striking jacket as he reprised his unforgettable role as Han Solo after over 30 years (pictured with co-stars L to R: John Boyega, Peter Mayhew, and Daisy Ridley) in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

'You know how it affects their lives, their future, their opportunities and you want desperately to find mitigation. You want to find a way that they can live a comfortable and effective life.'

He shared his gratitude for the center and Dr. Devinsky, for finally correctly diagnosing his daughter, who following the diagnosis has not had a seizure in eight years.

'Dr. Orrin and FACES have been a great service to my family,' Harrison said, adding: 'I am grateful for that.'
It's the most hotly anticipated announcement on the live music calendar, and upon Splendour In The Grass 2016's lineup announcement on Wednesday, it sent some unsurprisingly into a frenzy.

The three-day music festival, in Byron Bay, revealed legendary British band The Cure would be gracing the stage as well as The 1975 and The Strokes.

Taking to social media, fans thrilled with the announcement expressed their uncontrollable excitement, resulting in some supremely hilarious posts.

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Social media storm: There were some hilarious reactions to the lineup announcement of Australia's biggest music festival Splendour In The Grass 2016 - which includes The 1975 - on Wednesday

'HI THE KILLS ARE ON THE SPLENDOUR LINE UP I'M DROWNING IN A PUDDLE OF MY OWN TEARS,' tweeted one enthusiastic fan.

Another used a popular meme from the animated series Futurama to express his intense emotions, tweeting: 'Shut up and take my money!'

Renowned tour promoter AJ Maddah, founder of Soundwave music festival, tweeted his praise for the organisers, saying: 'This is, without a shadow of doubt, the best Splendour line-up ever.'

'I'm drowning in a puddle of my own tears!' A tweeter was unable to hide their excitement over the fact The Kills will be gracing the stage

'I can't go!' One 1975 fan was devastated she couldn't make the festival in Byron Bay

Praise from Caesar? Renowned tour promoter AJ Maddah, founder of Soundwave music festival, expressed his enthusiasm for the lineup

Meanwhile, acts who were looking forward to their appearance at the event expressed their excitement, including US headliners The Strokes.

The band wrote on their official Facebook page: 'Were excited to be heading to Australia for Splendour in the Grass! We play Friday, July 22nd'.

Some fans however were disappointed the band, who have not toured Australia since 2010, were performing exclusively at the festival.

'Insane!' Another user was thrilled with the announcement

Leading the locals: Sydney-born producer Flume reflected on his growth from performing for the first time in 2012 in the Mix Up tent, in 2012 to closing the main stage in 2016

'Really, exclusive to Byron?' Some fans were disappointed The Strokes, who have not toured Australia since 2010, were not performing anywhere else (pictured front man Julian Casablancas)

'I now have a litter of kittens': Another fan posted a humorous reaction via Twitter

'Really, exclusive to Byron? For the majority of Australians Byron is hard to get tickets for let alone actually get days off and time to travel there,' wrote one.

Local headlining act Flume meanwhile took to his official Facebook page, whose career exploded after playing at the festival in 2012.

'I'm honoured to be up on a lineup with so many incredible local and international acts... I first played Splendour back in 2012 on the mix up tent - this year I'll be closing the main stage,' he reflected.

The three-day camping festival, with a capacity of 30,000, takes place at the North Byron Parklands in Byron Bay over Friday July 22, Saturday July 23 and Sunday July 24 2016.

Tickets for Splendour In The Grass 2016 go on sale at 9am AEST on Thursday April 21 from the website.
She's recently come under fire after an old advertising campaign she starred in for a skin-lightening product by Lancome resurfaced in March.

But Emma Watson looked the epitome of a fresh-faced beauty, as she stepped out in Hollywood, Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon.

Heading out to run some errands, the 25-year-old actress opted for a relaxed and natural vibe by going make-up free - showcasing her naturally pretty and striking features.

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Fresh-faced beauty: Emma Watson looked the epitome of a fresh-faced beauty, as she stepped out in Hollywood, Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon

Heading out to the Face Place beauty salon, presumably for a pampering session, the Harry Potter star cut a laid-back and casual figure.

Channelling a relaxed but chic vibe, Emma teamed a black top with a lightweight blazer (also in black) - presumably to keep the last of the Spring chill in the city at bay.

She added a comfy yet classic fashion staple to her look with a pair of faded denim boyfriend jeans, which she wore turned-up.

Rounding off her stripped-back yet stylish look, Emma teamed a pair of black Chelsea boots.

See Emma Watson updates as she goes make-up free in a laid-back outing in Los Angeles

A natural look: Heading out to run some errands, the 25-year-old actress opted for a relaxed and natural vibe by going make-up free - showcasing her naturally pretty and striking features

She topped her look outfit off with a simple black holdall, while the A-Lister left her ensemble uncluttered except for a single solitary necklace.

With her light-brown locks casually swept off of her face in a side-parting 'do', Emma further drew attention to her striking and pretty features.

Her outing in Los Angeles comes a week after she touched down in New York, sporting an equally relaxed look.

Touchdown: Emma appeared to be taking the recent furore in her stride as she was pictured arriving into New York City on Sunday evening

The Noah actress was dressed for comfort as she made her way through the airport in a casual, layered ensemble.

Wrapping up with a patterned cape and a large pink scarf, the female rights activist completed her look with skinny jeans and black trainers.

Her short locks were styled away from her face, which appeared to have minimal make-up upon it.

Holding onto her large black handbag, the star appeared to be in a hurry to get to her next location.

Emma's jaunt state-side comes just weeks after she was branded a fake feminist after it emerged that she fronted an advertising campaign for skin-lightening products made by the cosmetics giant Lancome, for which she was a highly-paid brand ambassador.

Taking it in her stride: The Harry Potter star was dressed for comfort as she made her way through the airport in a casual, layered ensemble

Busy lady: In recent years, Emma has been working tirelessly to use her fame to promote gender equality

Emma starred in the campaign for Lancome Blanc Expert Melanolyser in 2013, which was the last campaign she appeared in for the brand.

Lancome, owned by L'Oreal, describes the product on its website as 'helping to prevent dark spots in the skin, associated with age and exposure to the sun.'

The product description reads: '[Dark spots] can be caused by an accumulation of melanin, a pigment produced in the epidermis that gives skin its colour.

'If too much melanin is produced in one area, dark spots can appear on the skin surface.'

However Twitter users have accused the actress of being an advocate for skin lightening while others have described her appearance in the ad as 'indefensible' and expressed disappointment that her feminism 'only extends to white women'.

Speaking to MailOnline at the time her spokesman said he couldnt comment on previous contractual arrangements. His client, he added, no longer participates in advertising beauty products, which do not always reflect the diverse beauty of all women.
Their octopus and kale dish impressed on Sunday night's episode of My Kitchen Rules - earning a coveted place on the menu of judge Colin Fassnidge's Sydney restaurant.

But after contestants Anna and Jordan jokingly suggested the Dublin-born chef should send over 'five per cent of all royalties' on sales of the meal, Colin has offered a typically witty response.

During an appearance on The Morning Show on Wednesday, he said the Perth mother-and-son duo shouldn't expect a pay cheque because the dish has 'got a lot better actually since I've done it'.

See MKR updates as judge Colin Fassnidge dismisses Jordan's '5% royalties' request

Serving up a witty response: MKR judge and restaurateur Colin Fassnidge (left) told The Morning Show that he reckons contestants Anna and Jordan's (right) winning dish from Sunday's episode - which earned a place on the menu of his Surry Hills eatery, 4Fourteen - tastes even better now he's had chance to perfect it himself

Colin told co-hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies that the contestants' winning dish - charred octopus in kale juice - is already a hit with customers at his Surry Hills eatery, 4Fourteen.

'Do you know how much octopus has gone through my joint at the moment?' he announced. 'Last night, (it was) just octopus, octopus.'

When asked what made the dish stand out, he said: 'The way it was cooked, it had texture, the kale juice, and then the sauce, just that little bit of heat.'

He then added, playfully: 'I think it was all down to Anna and not Jordan!'

Quite the dish! The Dublin-born celebrity chef also jokingly dismissed to Jordan's request for 'five per cent royalties' on sales of the dish during his appearance on the Channel Seven breakfast show on Wednesday

It's a winner! On Sunday's episode of My Kitchen Rules, Anna and Jordan's culinary creation impressed the judges enough to land a coveted spot on the menu of Colin's Sydney restaurant

But when it comes to Jordan and Anna receiving a share of the profits, Colin joked that they are unlikely to see a cent because of 'the way he left' the kitchen.

Still, he made an open invitation for Jordan to fly to Sydney and sample the new - and allegedly improved - version of the dish.

'I'll save him a seat,' he said, jovially. 'Bring him over tonight, not a problem.'

During an appearance on the Channel Seven breakfast show earlier this week, Jordan cheekily suggested that Colin should pay up for using the team's signature seafood dish.

'I have Colin on speed dial,' he said. 'So I am just going to call him up and be like Colin five percent of all royalties, swing it my way.'

Fielding questions: Colin told co-hosts Larry Emdur (left) and Kylie Gillies (centre) that the contestants' winning dish - charred octopus in kale juice - is already a hit with customers at his Surry Hills eatery, 4Fourteen

Meanwhile, as the MKR final draws ever closer, the Irishman offered his thoughts on the five remaining couples in the competition - Zana and Gianni, Anna and Jordan, Mitch and Laura, Tasia and Gracia, and Carmine and Lauren.

'I'm surprised they all got there,' he said with a cheeky smile - before describing the progress the teams have made throughout the series.

'They start off as a totally different team and by the time we get to where we are now, some of them are so on the ball, I'd hire them,' he added.

Later, the conversation drifted to some of the 'attitudes' seen on the Channel Seven cooking show - which has earned a reputation for its fair share of 'TV villains'.

'It was all down to Anna and not Jordan!' Colin suggested that Anna (left) was the brains of the operation

'When I was younger, the attitude gets knocked out of you pretty quick in the kitchen,' the restaurateur said somewhat disapprovingly.

'(In) the kitchen, you've got to get your head down, learn, and most of the time you spend cleaning... Jordan!'

But Colin seemed to hint that he would have played the 'bad guy' role if he were a contestant in his younger, less experienced years.

'Australia would have hated me!' he laughed. 'It took a long time to get to where I am now.

'I would have done alright, but I don't think I would have won,' he concluded.
Former Home And Away star Lincoln Lewis sent social media into a frenzy last month after revealing he was officially off the market.

Now the hunk's new flame Chloe Ciesla has made headlines own her own.

The blonde 18-year-old took to social media on Tuesday to share a topless image of herself as she posed for a holiday snap on the beach.

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She ain't shy! Lincoln Lewis' girlfriend Chloe Ciesla shared a topless image of herself on social media on Tuesday as she posed for a holiday snap while standing along the beach side

With her arms stretched high into the air, the up and coming model dresses in nothing but a pair of loose-fitting denim jeans.

As she showed off her tanned skin in the shot, she allowed her long blonde hair to flow in the wind behind her as she wore them naturally out.

The backdrop of the image featured a picture-perfect beachside landscape of white sand, blue waters and endless mountain tops.

Alongside the flawless image, Chloe captioned 'holiday feels,' with hashtags for empty beach, beach lover and beach bum.

New romance alert: The couple revealed their relationship last month after flaunting it on social media with endless loved up snaps of them together

Bikini babe: Stunning Chloe is certainly not shy to flaunt her runway ready figure on her social media page, with plenty of bikini photos making the cut

Sealed with a kiss: Taking to Instagram last month, former Home And Away star Lincoln shared a photo of him and Chloe locking lips, the caption next to the photo simply reading, 'This one'

The couple revealed their relationship last month after flaunting it on social media with endless loved up snaps of them together.

Taking to Instagram last month, the son of former professional rugby league star Wally Lewis shared a photo of him and Chloe locking lips, the caption next to the photo simply reading: 'This one'.

Furthermore, the blonde beauty posted another sweet snap of the pair on her own Instagram account a day later.

Confessing her affection for the Logie award-winning actor, Chloe wrote next to the image: 'In love with this beautiful boy @linc_lewis'.

Signed with Vivien's Model Management in Perth, the stunner is certainly not shy to flaunt her runway ready figure on her social media page, with plenty of bikini photos making the cut.

Blonde beauty: Chloe, 18, is signed with Vivien's Model Management in Perth and 10 years Lincoln's junior

All on show: Chloe shared this snap in January and said the photo was taken 'by my boy'

Perth beauty: It looks like Lincoln may very well have met Chloe in her home state of Western Australia while recently there as a tourism ambassador for the state

It looks like Lincoln may very well have met Chloe in her home state of Western Australia while recently there as a tourism ambassador for the state.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia last year about what he looks for in a girlfriend, the former Home And Away star said it was more about a lady's personality as opposed to just physical appearance.

'Just someone with a great sense of humour, someone who's very down-to-earth and normal,' Lincoln told while attending the 2015 Dally M Awards in Sydney.

'You want someone who can make you laugh. You want someone you can have a very good, deep chat with and not talk about the more material things in life, it's all about the deeper stuff.'

Gorgeous: Chloe certainly has a picture perfect smile

Working it: She certainly knows how to work her best angles for the camera

Loves nature: She seems to be a fan of the great outdoors

He then added: 'And someone I can go to the beach with and have a good feed with'.

Back in 2014, Lincoln was linked to former Miss World Australia Courtney Thorpe.

At the time, The Daily Telegraph reported that the pair were an item, with Courtney saying: 'Im really enjoying spending time with him  we really enjoy each others company.

Meanwhile, Lincoln previously dated Home And Away co-star Rhiannon Fish for two years, but the Summer Bay sensation split in 2012.

The hunky House Husbands star was then rumoured to have hooked up with Olympic swimmer Stephanie Rice.

Previous romance: Lincoln previously dated Home And Away co-star Rhiannon Fish for two years, but the Summer Bay sensation split in 2012

Former flames: In 2014 Lincoln was linked to model Courtney Thorpe (L) while he also dated actress Indiana Evans (R), who is believed to be the girl in a sex tape Lincoln admitted to filming back in 2009
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There was no love lost between Lindsay Lohan and her TV personality dad Michael Lohan.

But the 29-year-old star appeared to have called a truce on the father-daughter fighting after years of estrangement on Tuesday as she celebrated her engagement to Russian heir Egor Tarabasov.

Lindsay attended the Duran Duran concert at Barclays Center in New York and it was a rare sight indeed as she let her hair down with her 22-year-old man, while being joined by her mother Dina, and sister Ali, 22.

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Time to celebrate: Lindsay Lohan put her feud with her father Michael (right) to one side as she and her mother Dina, (left) and sister Ali celebrated her engagement to Russian heir Egor Tarabasov (second from right) at a Duran Duran concert on Tuesday night

Mrs T! Lindsay is engaged to 22-year-old Russian heir Egor Tarabasov, according to a Tuesday report from TMZ; here they are pictured putting on a loved-up display when they were pictured in February

She's one lucky lady: Lilo flashed a massive sparkler on her wedding hand after being proposed to at the weekend

The flame-haired star appeared to be getting along fine with her 55-year-old dad, grooving to the music and posing for selfies on the night out.

Lindsay was smiling and looking glamorous in a plunging ivory printed jumpsuit that showcased her extreme cleavage.

She was laughing and taking loads of pictures with her younger sister Ali, and Dina, 53.

Michael and Lindsay were on the same wavelength as they sang along to the British band's tunes.

Actress Lindsay waved her hands in the air as she got into the groove with the rest of the family and later joined the band on stage.

The beauty has been flashing a green rock, surrounded by diamonds since the engagement news broke, appearing to confirm the news that she is set to be a bride.

But her spokesperson said soon after the Eastbound & Down star is not betrothed.

'The story is untrue and holds no merit,' Lohan's rep, Hunter Frederick confirmed to MailOnline.

He did not comment on why the star is wearing rings on her wedding finger.

Regardless, it seems that things are going extremely well for the star.

Michael and Lindsay were not on speaking terms for years but about a year ago, she decided to take steps towards a better relationship with him.

That, however, didn't stop the fighting, as was evidenced by an argument they had during the OWN docu-series Lindsay.

When Michael began telling Lindsay that some of her friends were a bad influence, she took offence.

'See, now youre getting me angry  because you werent good for me for a long time in my life,' Lindsay told her father.

Meanwhile, hanging out with the Lohan family was Lindsay's main squeeze Egor.

Got a secret? The flame-haired star was blushing while Egor - standing behind her - wore a huge grin on his face

Family ties: The 29-year-old star was in a great mood alongside her dad and her mom Dina, who have had a chequered past

Rare sighting: Lindsay and her formerly estranged father appeared to be getting along fine as they joined the rest of the family

Sister, sister: Lindsay posed for selfies with sister Ali while Michael and beau Egor Tarabasov hovered slightly behind her father

While at the 2016 Asian Awards in London on Friday night, the Liz & Dick actress wore a purple ring on her wedding finger a diamond wedding band as she kept her fans guessing as to what has been going on with her.

Egor met the Herbie actress 'through mutual friends at a party in the summer,' TMZ alleged when the news broke.

The entrepreneur - whose father is a multi-millionaire businessman - asked for her hand in marriage 'over the weekend,' the site claimed.

She told The Sun she started dating him eight months ago and added: 'He is a great guy. I met him in the summer. Im really happy.'

Glamour girls: While Lindsay shimmered in a risque plunging jumpsuit, Ali sparkled in a dark purple sequin number

VIP: Lindsay drew attention in the VIP section as she clapped and danced to the music while showing off that blinging engagement ring

Truce time: Lindsay and Michael were estranged for years but the Mean Girls star decided to work on the relationship over a year ago

Emotional moment: The actress couldn't contain her emotion and got teary in the VIP section

Take a picture: Ali continued to snap pictures and Lindsay continued to pose while their dad looked on

Is There Something I Should Know? Lindsay got up on stage with Duran Duran

Egor proved to be quite the gent as he drove the family home at the end of the night.

Earlier in the day, Lindsay was pictured jumping out of his car as she ran down the street sporting yet another wardrobe change.

With a beaming smile on her face, the superstar sporting perfectly blow-dried hair, as well as ripped jeans and a low-key blue jumper. She added some extra inches to her look with a pair of statement heels.

What a gent: Egor drove the family home after the concert as he showed how well they are all getting on

Happy: Dina appeared to be in high spirits as she sat in the back of the car

Low-key: Michael covered up in a baseball cap as he joined the rest of his family

Stunning: Earlier in the evening, Lindsay sported jeans and a blue jumper and perfect locks

Wow thing: She added some elegance with a pair of statement heels as she made her way down the street

Winning the race: She sprinted forwards while her man remained in the driver's seat of his car

Letting her natural beauty shine through: Her flame red locks were blow-dried into perfect curls

Meanwhile, it was recently reported in March by People that Egor and Lindsay have moved in together in London - where the actress has been residing ever since turning her back on her LA lifestyle.

Tarabasov spent the holidays in New York with Lindsay and her family, which includes mother Dina and sister Ali. It was claimed the meeting went well and clearly things have been going from strength to strength between the group.

On Tuesday, the cover girl did not comment on her engagement; rather she posted a photo of a pool overlooking the sea with a caption about her birthday destination. The star turns 30-years-old on July 2.

A hint? While at the 2016 Asian Awards in London on Friday night, the Liz & Dick actress wore a different ring on her engagement finger and diamond wedding band

Taken! A rock can be seen on the Machete star's left wedding finger; her rep has denied she is engaged

Bling it on! The looker flashes an engagement ring and band at the event

A source told The Mirror this year: 'Hes a bit younger than she is, but hes a very smart businessman. Hes much more mature than his age suggests, and hes a good influence.'

It was also noted his money is helpful to the cash-strapped Lindsay, who has reportedly been investigated by the IRS in recent years.

'He is a perfect boyfriend and  as he is quite wealthy  pays for quite a lot of stuff like meals and trips away. He has been traveling the world with her and posting loads of pictures of their trips online.'

As far as his feelings, the source noted he has been 'spending all his time with her' and is 'massively taken.'

Lohan has never been engaged before even though she has had many high-profile relationships, including a two-year, on-and-off romance with DJ Samantha Ronson.

The Georgia actress has also dated Wilmer Valderrama, Brandon Davis, Harry Morton and Calum Best.

The redhead has been linked with several other stars as well, including Jude Law and Jamie Dornan, but it is not known if they were brief flings or serious relationships.
He was guest host of U.S. television staple Saturday Night Live over the weekend - but the critical reception was less-than stellar.

But despite negative reviews from several news outlets, Russell Crowe remained defiant as he put on a cheerful display at a movie theatre industry trade show this week.

The Gladiator star, 52, was all smiles on the CinemaCon red carpet in Las Vegas on Tuesday - and looked exceedingly dapper in a black suit and shiny dress shoes.

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Staying positive: Despite negative reviews for his guest hosting gig on Saturday Night Live this weekend, Russell Crowe was in cheeful spirits at movie theatre trade show CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Tuesday

Despite being a Hollywood heavyweight, Russell failed to make an all-round positive impressive with SNL viewers over the weekend.

Critics variously described his comedy segments as less-than-memorable and painful, but the Australian actor nevertheless took to Twitter to thank NBC producers for the opportunity.

Great fun doing @nbcsnl , amazing cast, brass and crew , top quality folks, he tweeted on Tuesday, before adding: Thankyou all. [sic]

What critics? The Gladiator star, 52, was all smiles on the CinemaCon red carpet this week - and looked exceedingly dapper in a black suit and shiny dress shoes

And he seemed similarly unfazed as he posed for photographs at CinemaCon - an annual event where global film industry figures pitch their upcoming film projects to theatre owners.

Looking appropriately suited and booted, the New Zealand-born star couldn't stop smiling as the camera bulbs flashed.

He dressed noticeably similar to his SNL appearance - leaving his shirt fashionably unbuttoned and displaying his bushy, salt-and-pepper beard.

Good spirits: Following a mixed response to his SNL performance, he seemed unfazed while posing for photographs at the annual event where global film industry figures pitch their upcoming films to theatre owners

Dapper chap: Looking appropriately suited and booted, the New Zealand-born star couldn't stop smiling as the camera bulbs flashed

Meanwhile, this follows Russell's first time hosting the long-running U.S. variety show - following in the footsteps of Chris Hemsworth, Justin Timberlake, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.

Viewers took to their social media pages to slam Russells sketches - which included impersonations of Henry VIII, a 'smart professor from Germany' on a dating game, and a survival game show contestant.

One tweeted: The only thing that could have made that episode of Saturday Night Live any worse would be if Russell Crowe sang. #SNL @absrdNEWS.

Oh dear: Despite being a Hollywood heavy-weight, Russell Crowe failed to make an all-round positive impression with Saturday Night Live viewers this weekend

Taking it in this stride: With critics describing the segment as less-than-memorable and painful, the 52-year-old actor didnt bat an eyelid as he took to Twitter to thank producers for the opportunity

Debut: The hosting gig marked the Gladiator stars first time fronting the show, following in the footsteps of Chris Hemsworth, Justin Timberlake, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin

Russell Crowe hosting SNL is so painful to watch, added a viewer, while another wrote: So it turns out that Russell Crowe isn't particularly funny. #SNL.

However, all was not bad as the star managed to heap some praise from loyal fans  with one saying: @indiewire #SNL Not my kind of humor, but Russell Crowe was hysterically funny delivering it. Shows what a great actor he is! Loved t show. [sic]

One viewer remarked: Just watched this weekend's #SNL and @russellcrowe was awesome! Definitely the best episode of this season, in my opinion.

Russell Crowe was actually a pretty good #snl host #goodwriting, wrote another fan.

Not impressed: But viewers took to their social media pages to slam Russells sketches

Running theme: The opening sketch saw him answering historical questions from males visitors, while he accosted every female visitor by demanding they 'bear me a son!'

Bold move: The star told one, 'The only sounds I wish to hear from a woman's mouth are the screams of labour as she bears me a son'

The father-of-two - who was joined by country music star Margo Price as guest performer - was slammed by the majority of critics.

Deadline said in their review: Last nights Russell Crowe-hosted SNL was the rattiest, tattiest, rock-bottom crummiest Saturday Night Live of all time.

This is the second less-than-memorable show in a row, remarked Rolling Stone.

Vulture went on to say: Crowe has some affinity for the medium, and is willing to play a few unsavory characters, but he only appeared in five of the eleven segments on the show and didnt make much of an impression in those.

Positive: However, all was not bad as the star managed to heap some praise from loyal fans

Low brow: In the second sketch he played Freud-esque 'smart professor from Germany' on a dating game

Dipping: His third sketch - the least funny one yet - saw him play 'your uncle's friend Terry', the supposed 'loved one' of a hapless Survivor-type game show contestant

Elsewhere, Russells co-star and previous SNL guest host Ryan Gosling made sure to tweet his support ahead of the show.

Good luck on SNL tonight @russellcrowe, he said. I learned everything I know about comedy from you. Or at least that's what you tell me...

The two stars are currently preparing to launch upcoming movie, The Nice Guys, which is scheduled to hit cinemas next month.
She recently shed over 50lbs.

And Melissa McCarthy showed off her new weight loss at the Ghostbusters event held at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The 45-year-old was joined by her castmates Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon at the media event.

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Looking great! Melissa McCarthy showed off her new weight loss at the Ghostbusters event held at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Tuesday

Melissa wore a hot pink satin jumpsuit with a chain tied around her waist as she stood tall in heels.

Wiig, 42, also wore a satin top with grey trousers to the Sin City event.

While McKinnon opted for a little black dress with a split thigh and chic blazer as she went full bombshell.

Teaming up! The 45-year-old was joined by her castmates Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon at the media event

All the busters in the house! Leslie Jones joined the other stars

On his hands and knees: Paul Feig got playful on the themed carpet

The old MM: McCarthy lost 50 pounds after she started working out for her film Spy. She is now a size 14; here she is seen in 2014

Pink to make the boys wink: The much-loved Hollywood star looked in great shape in a bright pink jumpsuit, cinching her waist with a chain belt

Say cheese: She looked happy to have been reunited with Kristen Wiig

A friendly hello: Melissa and Chris Pratt gave each other a warm embrace as they greeted one another

Dressed for the occasion: While Melissa turned heads in a bold ensemble, Chris sported a checked shirt, a suede waistcoat and a pair of blue jeans

Meanwhile, McCarthy recently told People magazine: 'I feel sexiest when I feel comfortable, when I feel most myself, when Im not trying to be anything other than who I am.'

She added: '[I love] all of it: my flaws, my shortcomings, my body parts that you're like, "Well, couldnt that be better?" I think, especially after having kids, I go, "Well, the alternative is pretty bad. Ill take me as I am."'

Meanwhile, the 45-year-old comedian and actress previously revealed she doesn't think perfect people exist.

She explained: 'I know I am not the 'norm.' It never occurs to me in terms of being a role model, though, because I don't know any perfect women.

Feeling playful: The female stars playfully stepped on Paul as they played up to the cameras

Standing tall: Leslie Jones towered above her co-stars in a pair of neon heeled sandals

Not long now: The much-awaited Ghostbusters remake is scheduled for release on July 15

New project: The TV vet's new film is Boss, which looks like it will make at least $21 million this weekend

She went for laughs again: The Heat star with Kristen Bell in a scene from Boss

'If I, off the top of my head, name 20 of the most amazing women in my life, it's all shapes, sizes, ages, colours, jobs.'

Melissa then said, 'What people pass off as "normal," I just have to keep in my head that it's b******t. It's all fictitious, made-up stuff.'

The star, whose film Boss opened this weekend, added: 'I know some of those women in those magazines who get called perfect or whose butt is supposedly better, and often they don't even look like that in person.

Her main man: Melissa with husband Ben Falcone at AOL's BUILD speaker series to discuss their new film The Boss on Wednesday in New York

'And they would die - they don't want you to compare who wore it better. They would be more horrified than anybody else that you're pitting them against each other and judging. You don't do that with guys.'

McCarthy lost 50 pounds after she started working out for her film Spy. She is now a size 14.

Earlier this week, a special edition of Galmour called her plus sized, even though plus sizes in the US do not begin till size 16.

Amy Schumer was also named, but she was unhappy about that as she is only a size six.

On Friday The Hollywood Reporter reported that McCarthy and her husband Ben would next work on Life Of The Party, which has been described as similar to Back To School.
She is one of the world's most successful supermodels.

And Irina Shark proved exactly why as she arrived at the Foundation Fighting Blindness World Gala in New York on Tuesday night.

The 30-year-old stunner, who gave a speech at the soiree, opted for a flowing sheer gown which gave her a dazzling look while keeping her beauty simple.

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Stunner: Irina Shark proved exactly why she is one of the world's biggest supermodels as she arrived at the Foundation Fighting Blindness World Gala in New York on Tuesday night

Irina proved she knows how to work her magic in the face of fashion as she oozed sex appeal in her billowing yet figure-accentuating gown.

The dress comprised of a flimsy slip layered beneath a floor-length sheath which gave a glimpse of her toned, endless legs from beneath.

The glimmering slip gave the look an injection of sparkle while making the outfit even more evening appropriate.

Before entering the building and getting ready to pose up a storm, Irina pulled on a cape like coat which no doubt kept out the Big Apple's spring chill.

Striking: The 30-year-old stunner, who gave a speech at the soiree, opted for a flowing sheer gown which gave her a dazzling look while keeping her beauty simple

Striking: The dress comprised of a flimsy slip layered beneath a floor-length sheath which gave a glimpse of her toned, endless legs from beneath

She paired the look with impossibly high heels boasting a pointed toe and a stiletto base while pairing the look with a chic clutch bag.

Her brunette tresses were slicked into a low chignon tightened from a centre-parting - permitting a full look at her striking features.

The Russian beauty's make-up was perfectly applied and kept minimal to help flaunt her stunning bone structure.

Her plump pout was undoubtedly the focal point of her beauty look as she dabbed on lashings of taupe lipstick to draw the eye further to her chic look.

Caped crusader: Before entering the building and getting ready to pose up a storm, Irina pulled on a cape like coat which no doubt kept out the Big Apple's spring chill

Chatting: Irina gave an empowering speech at the soiree

Her night on the town comes shortly after she shared a super sexy selfie with her movie star beau Bradley Cooper.

Irina and Bradley, 41, were seen from the neck down with the model showing off a generous amount of cleavage in a lace-up blue bathing suit and the bearded actor displaying a portion of bare chest and biceps.

They were waist deep in water with Irina in front and apparently holding the cell phone with which she took the snap.

Stunner: The glimmering slip gave the look an injection of sparkle while making the outfit even more evening appropriate

Wowsers! Her night on the town comes shortly after she shared a super sexy selfie with her movie star beau Bradley Cooper

Having kept their relationship largely under wraps, the pair had never made a public appearance as a couple last month.

In March, the star landed in New York following a romantic trip to Paris with beau Bradley, 41, where the couple soaked up the sights of the French capital and squeezed in a trip to the opera for the Arop Charity Gala.

During their trip, the pair also made their red carpet debut at the L'Oreal Paris' Red Obsession party, confirming their romance with a public smooch.

Beauty: The Russian beauty's make-up was perfectly applied and kept minimal to help flaunt her stunning bone structure
She's a proud mum of three children.

But Tamara Beckwith found time for some one on one time with her husband Giorgio Veroni during a family break in Miami on Tuesday.

The 45-year-old socialite looked incredible in a skimpy black bikini as she packed on the PDA with her husband of eight years during a relaxing beach day.

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Beach body: Tamara Beckwith, 45, looked gorgeous in a strapless black bikini as she hit the beach in Miami on Tuesday during a family holiday

Tamara showed off her svelte figure in her pretty black two-piece for her day on the coast.

The strapless top was teamed with bottoms lined with frilly black lace, with the star accessorising with a glitzy necklace and dark shades.

Her long blonde locks were tied into a messy up do to keep her cool in the hot Florida temperatures, as she ventured into the sea for a dip.

After cooling off, Tamara sauntered over to her construction heir husband who was soaking up the sun on a lounger, leaning down for a smooch.

Tamara, who recently starred on The Jump, also flashed a small tattoo on her lower back as the adjusted her bikini bottoms.

Mum of three: Tamara showed off her svelte figure and a glimpse at her tattoo, in her pretty black two-piece

The TV star and gallery owner is enjoying a US break with Giorgio and their two children, hitting the sights of LA before heading to Miami.

The socialite wed her Italian husband in Venice in August 2007. Their daughter Violet Angiolina Rose was born two years later and the couple's first son, one-year-old Vero, was born in 2014.

Tamara also has a 27-year-old daughter, Anouska, from a previous relationship with her ex, William Gerhauser.

Speaking to Hello! Magazine ahead of the birth of Vero, Tamara explained her shock at becoming a mum again in her mid-forties after having two miscarriages:

'When youve been lucky to have two gorgeous girls, I think you should just be grateful. I am quite matter-of-fact about those things; what will be, will be,' she said.
Paris Jackson was pictured comforting a female friend with a kiss on the lips during a day out in New York over the weekend.

The 18-year-old daughter of late singer Michael Jackson and her companion were spotted sitting on the steps outside the Whitney Museum as they took in the sights in the Big Apple.

Paris companion was seen with a sunglasses as she talked to the aspiring singer, before the pair then shared a tender kiss on the lips.

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Spotted: Paris Jackson was pictured comforting a female friend with a kiss on the lips during a day out in New York over the weekend

Paris then appeared to share a kiss with another female friend who leaned down to greet the pixie-cropped beauty.

The aspiring star and her friends appeared to be enjoying their time in New York as they ended their day of sight-seeing by watching Finding Neverland on Broadway.

Paris was overcome with emotional after enjoying the highly-praised musical, no doubt because it reminded her of her father, Michael.

Memories: Paris was overcome with emotional after enjoying the Finding Neverland musical, no doubt because it reminded her of her father, Michael

Feelings running loose: She clutched her pal's hand as she walked, the upset visible on her face

Close: The 18-year-old daughter of late King of Pop and her companion were spotted sitting on the steps outside the Whitney Museum as they took in the sights in the Big Apple

Fun trip: The smiling beauty was in New York as part of her 18th birthday celebrations

The pop legend was known for loving the story of Peter Pan and revealed in an interview that he believed that he was Peter Pan in his heart.

He famously turned his sprawling home into an amusement park which he named the Neverland Ranch and often invited children to visit the park.

Paris was consoled by her friends outside the theatre as they came together to give her a loving group hug.

Taking to Twitter afterwards she wrote: 'Had the pleasure of meeting Little Peter (@tokash_eli) tonight after Finding Neverland. What a gem. My new favorite, moved me to tears. And by tears, I mean Niagara Falls happened.'

Hey there: Paris then appeared to share a kiss with another female friend who leaned down to greet the pixie-cropped beauty

Paris is currently dating 26-year-old drummer Michael Snoddy, who stayed in California while she enjoyed her NYC getaway.

Its thought that the 5ft 9in millennial met the Virginia-born musician  who has come under fire for his Confederate flag tattoo  at one of her AA meetings.

Michael - who attended Full Sail University - frequently performs at county fairs with his percussive band Street Drum Corps.

Paris ended her relationship with first love Chester Castellaw in December 2015.

You are not alone: Paris was consoled by her friends outside the theatre as they came together to give her a loving group hug
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An emotional Stephanie Davis paid tribute to her friend David Gest on Tuesday after learning about his death at the age of 62 during a day out in Dublin.

The actress, who starred on this year's Celebrity Big Brother with Gest, was told the sad news by her boyfriend, and fellow CBB housemate, Jeremy McConnell as she was having her hair dyed in a Dublin Salon.

Pictures show Stephanie stepping outside for some air, wiping away tears before she later took to social media to pay tribute to the US star.

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Emotional: Stephanie Davis was seen looking upset after learning of her friend David Gest's death on Tuesday while she was having her hair coloured in a Dublin salon

Stephanie, 23, was seen sitting in Ceira Lamberts hair salon in Shankill, Dublin, getting her platinum blonde locks freshened up.

Jeremy was then seen entering the salon and talking to Stephanie, before she stepped outside to make a phone call.

The emotional star was still in the hairdresser's cape with hair colouring foils in her hair as she walked around outside the salon while talking on her phone.

Support: Stephanie, 23, was seen sitting in Ceira Lamberts hair salon in Shankill, Dublin, getting her platinum blonde locks freshened up when her boyfriend Jeremy McConnell arrived to talk to her

She later appeared to be wiping away tears before heading back inside to finish her treatment.

Stephanie was dressed in skintight grey jeans teamed with a white and gold sweatshirt and suede heels for her pampering session.

Jeremy meanwhile was in his signature leather jacket and skinny black jeans as he held hands with his girlfriend after her afternoon in the salon, where she was also spotted getting a manicure.

Worried: Jeremy was seen keeping an eye on Steph from inside the salon as she stepped outside to make a phone call

In the middle of her treatment: The star was still in the hairdresser's cape with hair colouring foils in her hair as she walked around outside the salon

Upset: Stephanie later paid tribute to David, who she and Jez starred with on this year's Celebrity Big Brother, on social media

Stephanie paid tribute to David, whose body was found at the Four Seasons hotel in London's Canary Wharf on Tuesday morning, in a series of Twitter and Instagram posts as the news broke.

'What an amazing man and a pleasure to have had times with u me and jezz gutted! Love u always amazing person heartbroken devastated X,' she tweeted before adding in disbelief:

'Is this a joke? Shocked. So sad.'

Disbelief: A tweet from Stephanie as the news broke on Tuesday afternoon read: 'Is this a joke? Shocked. So sad'

Staying close by: Jeremy sat with Stephanie as she finished her treatment

Freshen up: The former Hollyoaks star was getting her blonde locks coloured and styled

Inseparable: Jeremy and Stephanie, dressed in grey skinny jeans and a sweatshirt, held hands as they headed out of the salon

Later she shared a montage of photos of her, Jez and David in the CBB house earlier this year alongside a lengthy tribute to her close friend who she knew before appearing on the Channel 5 reality show.

'Grandad words cannot describe. U were such an amazing person and so funny! Many years of laughter I got to cherish with you and our hours long phone calls!'

'U light up the room and I'm just.. I don't know what to say right now. I'm gutted I'll never see u again I cannot believe it.'

What a day: The couple held hands during the day in Jez'z home city, where they've been spending time this week

Close friend: Stephanie paid tribute to David, whose body was found at the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Wharf on Tuesday morning, in a series of Twitter and Instagram posts as the news broke

Memories: 'What an amazing man and a pleasure to have had times with u me and jezz gutted! Love u always amazing person heartbroken devastated X,' she tweeted

Having her say: Stephanie was busy on her phone as she finished up her treatment

'Everyone is so negative in this life and some horrible people.. Then there was you... Just full of goodness.'

'Always wanting the best for everyone. I am just so upset I just can't. Hearts broken,' she finished.

Meanwhile Jez simply tweeted: 'Can't believe it. Sleep tight brother.'

Stephanie and Jez spent time with David just a few days before his death, with Stephanie claiming to be the 'last to get a photo with him' as she tweeted then deleted a snap of the trio together.

Gest's other Celebrity Big Brother co-star Jonathan Cheban paid tribute as he told Daily Mail Online on Tuesday 'he was like a cartoon' and 'kept us up all night laughing'.

Friendship: Stephanie and Jez spent time with David just a few days before his death, with Stephanie claiming to be the 'last to get photo with him' as she tweeted then deleted a snap of the trio together

Tribute: Stephanie posted a series of emotional tweets as she learned the news

Pampering: The ex soap star was seen getting a manicure during her afternoon at the salon

Coming to terms: The star was no doubt anxious to get more details about her friend's sudden passing, making a number of phone calls

Hard loss: Stephanie made a lengthy tribute to her close friend on Instagram, who she knew before appearing on the Channel 5 reality show, touchingly calling Gest 'Grandad'

Support system: Stephanie and Jeremy have been spending time in his home city of Dublin this week

He said: 'It got to the point when if he was walking in or we saw him we would start hysterical laughing because he's so funny. He had a little wobble when he walked and always wore these long black coats. He was a true entertainer.

'He was ill most of the time on CBB and coughing non stop... We used to beg him to stop smoking those cigarettes but he loved to go outside and smoke and laugh with everyone.

'I used to torture him about Liza all the time... He wouldn't say a word but it was fun to try and get a reaction out of him. He was a wonderful person and will be truly missed.'

Casual: Stephanie wore skin tight grey jeans teamed with heels for the day at the salon

Smile: The CBB stars posed for a grinning snap during the day out




Last week she used her corresponding duties on ITV's This Morning to speak out about the serious matter of body-shaming.

But Ferne McCann returned to her bubbly self on Wednesday morning as she left London's ITV Studios in high spirits after filming her showbiz infused segment.

The 25-year-old TOWIE star put on a flirty display in a blue and white striped top, tucked into a high-waisted cream midi-skirt, complete with a flirty side slit.

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Funky Ferne: The 25-year-old returned to her bubbly self on Wednesday morning as she left London's ITV Studios in high spirits after filming her showbiz infused segment

Incorporating her signature sense of style to the professional attire, she edged up the outfit with a plain black choker and casually wrapped her sweater around her waist.

Looking forward to lapping up the sunny rays, she balanced a pair of brown framed sunglasses on her head, as she clutched on to a large black handbag and a smaller khaki green one.

The Essex native pulled a vivacious facial expression as she sauntered to her ride in a pair of comfortable black trainers.

Her choice of shoes was in stark contrast to the vampy red strappy heels she wore earlier on the couch as she discussed the top celebrity news stories of the week with stand-in hosts Rylan Clark and Lorraine Kelly.

Having a blast! The TOWIE star put on a flirty display in a complex blue and white striped top, tucked in to a high-waisted cream midi-skirt, complete with a tasteful side slit

Gungy inspiration: Incorporating her signature sense of style to the professional attire, she edged up the outfit with a plain black choker and casually wrapped her sweater around her waist

On-air style: She wore vampy red strappy heels earlier on to compliment her nautical outfit

Putting on a lively display in her aptly named segment- Ferne's Showbiz Scoop - the stunner made a series of gestures, including putting her gold bracelet-clad arm up to her perfectly half done-up hairdo.

At one point she was seen discussing Lindsay Lohan's recent engagement to Russian heir Egor Tarabasov.

Whilst she was seemingly joyful, just last week she focused her efforts on female empowerment as she sat alongside three lovely ladies, who each showed off their plus-sized figures in bikinis with confidence.

'My friend Lucy Mecklenburgh recently said body shaming has got to stop - and she's right,' she said.

Expert: She discussed the top celebrity news stories of the week with stand-in hosts Rylan Clark and Lorraine Kelly

Top showbiz stories: At one point she was seen discussing Lindsay Lohan's recent engagement to Russian heir Egor Tarabasov

Loving her job! Putting on a lively display in her aptly named segment- Ferne's Showbiz Scoop- the stunner made a series of gestures, including putting her gold bracelet-clad arm up to her perfectly half done-up hairdo

'This is something I feel passionately about. I think it should be illegal, body shaming. They are sitting behind their keyboards. They don't know... celebrity or not, what that person is feeling.'

She also spoke from experience, stating: 'My weight fluctuates and I put weight on last year when I broke my ankle and I stepped out wearing a silver dress and people weren't very kind.

'I always say that I'm not going to let the comments get to me, but they do. It hurts. There is a lot of pressure to look good,' the size ten beauty continued.

'We need to embrace being positive and be confident within our bodies. Obviously health is important.'

Female empowerment: Sitting alongside three lovely ladies who showed off their plus-sized figures in bikinis with confidence on last week's show, Ferne said things have got to change

Stop this nonsense: 'My friend Lucy Mecklenburgh recently said body shaming has got to stop - and she's right', the former TOWIE star explained in last week's showbiz segment

A confident display: The 25-year-old flaunted her own figure in a form-flattering striped dress on last week's This Morning appearance

Putting the pressure of having the perfect body behind her, the performer focused her attention on her upcoming musical theater debut in Gatsby.

The level-headed beauty looked incredible at the launch for the London show in a twenties-style fringed flapper dress, paired with the same statement red shoes as her This Morning appearance.

Ferne is playing Myrtle Wilson - the married mistress of Tom Buchanan - in the musical adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby at the Union Theatre in Southwark.
They're one of the most solid couples in showbiz, but they still have to face the occasional rumour that their marriage is on the rocks.

But in a new interview, Victoria Beckham has spoken lovingly about her husband David, admitting that he really is 'the best partner anybody can have'.

In a discussion with fashion site Hashtaglegend.com, the 41-year-old designer said that she and her retired football star spouse like to share every aspect of their lives, and that she loves the fact he supports her in her career.

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'He's the best partner anybody can have': Victoria Beckham has gushed over husband David in a new interview, praising him for being supportive of her career

The former Spice Girls singer said, of her bustling career as a respected fashion designer: 'David comes to my shows and David is my business partner.

'Everything we do, we do everything together. We really support each other... He's the best partner anybody can have.'

Although Victoria is obsessed with making her self-titled fashion label as successful as it can be, the busy brunette doesn't bring her work home with her.

See Victoria Beckham updates as David is the 'best partner anybody could have'

Support system: In the interview with Hashtaglegend.com, the 41-year-old designer and former singer has given a rare insight into her marriage with the retired footballer

When relaxing with David, 40, and their four children - Brooklyn, 17, Romeo, 13, Cruz, 11, and Harper, four - Victoria confessed she prefers to learn what everyone has done with their day but if she wanted to talk shop then the former England captain would be happy to oblige

She added: 'I tend not to talk too much about [work] when I get home because I've been working on it all day.

'There's so many other things to catch up with regards to the children and what he's doing.'

The couple, who regularly share loved-up snaps on social media, have lasted through thick and thin after getting together almost 20 years ago and tying the knot in 1999.

They're currently spending time together with their brood in Los Angeles, their second home when not in London, and the couple were spotted last week going for a rare date together without their kids in tow.

Going strong: The couple have been a solid item since the 1990s, and tied the knot in 1999, but are still clearly very much in love

Back in the day: Through the years, the couple have fended off plenty of curveballs but they have managed to make it through - they are now the proud parents to four children: Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper

Stepping out at Nobu in Malibu, the casual couple looked at ease as they headed back to their swish convertible to drive back home after enjoying a sushi lunch.

And earlier this week, their eldest son Brooklyn posted a lovely photo of them holding hands while enjoying some downtime in Las Vegas, his famous parents seemingly unaware of his snapping.

Meanwhile, it was recently revealed that - after years of working together - the sporting icon resigned from the position of Director at Victoria's fashion label to focus on his own brand- DB Ventures Limited.

Candid love: Brooklyn posted a lovely photo of David and Victoria holding hands while enjoying some downtime in Las Vegas earlier this week

A Beckham family spokesperson told MailOnline that their decision to re-structure their various businesses and to disentangle their brands from one another is largely an accounting issue.

'David and Victorias respective businesses have grown strongly in a short space of time.

'They are different businesses  DVBL is a licencing and partnership business, VBL is a luxury, fashion brand - and it makes little commercial sense for them to continue to be merged together and report combined figures.'

Regardless of David's decision to leave the business, the former pop icon's business will undoubtedly continue to flourish - as she opened a store in Hong Kong earlier this month.
He was pictured spending some quality time with his mother Madonna for the first time in months earlier this week.

And Rocco Ritchie was enjoying a catch up with his pals in the wake of making amends with the 57-year-old superstar, hanging out at a skateboard park on London's Southbank on Tuesday.

The 15-year-old teen stood out from the crowd in a quirky and colourful Hawaiian shirt, teamed with a yellow baseball cap and skinny jeans.

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He's just a skater boy: Rocco Richie was showcasing his skateboarding skills as he messed around with his friend on London's Southbank on Tuesday

Rocco was displaying some serious skills on his skateboard, racing up and down as he showed off his moves in front of the crowd gathering around him.

The star happily chatted to his peers, looking perfectly relaxed as he made the most of his time off.

Rocco's cap was emblazoned with an M for the University of Michigan, where his mother Madonna attended.

Off he goes! Madonna's 15-year-old son was performing tricks on his skateboard for onlookers

The teenager's outing comes after he was spotted with his mother Madonna at the Electric Cinema in London's trendy Notting Hill area.

After living apart for months, when Rocco left his Madonna's tour to live with his movie director father Guy in London, the pair seem overjoyed to be reunited after enjoying their movie night.

Rocco and Madonna reportedly went to see new superhero blockbuster Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice before stepping out of the cinema and heading into the same car.

Hanging out: Rocco, clad in a vibrant Hawaiian shirt, looked the picture of cool as he chatted to pals

The scenes were heartwarming given the mother and son's prolonged absence from one another, after Rocco left Madonna's tour to live with his father and his wife Jacqui in London.

Madonna returned to the UK last week in the hope of being reunited with her second-eldest child, who has lived in London with his director dad since the end of last year.

Mr Justice MacDonald urged Madonna and Ritchie to resolve their differences over where the teenager should live as he ruled their legal battle would be heard in a New York court, rather than in London.

He said it would be a 'tragedy' if any more of the 'fast receding days' of the teenager's childhood were taken up by the conflict, during which Madonna had launched litigation in both London and the United States.

Kicking back: The teenager's outing comes after he was spotted reuniting with his motheR the Electric Cinema in London's trendy Notting Hill area




She's stepped out of the limelight for a short while, having quite TOWIE after 16 series last year.

But Jessica Wright was more than happy to brave the cameras with her younger sister Natalya on Wednesday evening, as the sisters hit the red carpet for the London premiere of The Jungle Book.

The 30-year-old reality star and clothing designer made sure that all eyes were on the her and her sister as they arrived at the BFI IMAX, thanks to her chic yet flirty LBD.

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Sister act: Jessica Wright was more than happy to brave the cameras with her younger sister Natalya on Wednesday evening, as the sisters hit the red carpet for the London premiere of The Jungle Book

Not one to shy away from showing some skin on an evening out, Jess appeared to have embraced the spring sunshine as she donned a thigh-grazing little black dress.

Featuring a plunging V-shaped neckline, Jess' dress managed to straddle the line between racy whilst still remaining on the right side of modesty - only showing a hint of cleavage.

The floaty garment also featured a thigh-grazing hemline, which allowed the model and TV model to showcase her gym-honed legs to the max.

Adding a seasonally sensible edge to her look with a practical yet chic topping, Jess shrugged on a caramel leather jacket.

Showing some skin: The 30-year-old reality star and clothing designer made sure that all eyes were on the her and her sister as they arrived at the BFI IMAX, thanks to her chic yet flirty LBD

She finished the outfit off with a pair of strappy black stiletto heels, which only served to further define her pins.

With her brunette locks pinned back and styled into carefully tousled strands, the Essex native allowed her hair to subtly frame her features.

Opting for a flesh-toned palette of make-up, Jess used a flash of liquid eyeliner to define her eyes whilst she plumped up her lips but adding a glaze of berry pink lipstick.

Chic and breezy: Not one to shy away from showing some skin on an evening out, Jess appeared to have embraced the spring sunshine as she donned a thigh-grazing little black dress.

Natalya - the youngest of Mark and Carol Wright's three children - looked the epitome of chic spring style.

Pairing a white sleeveless jacket with a crop top of the same colour, the pretty brunette ensured her toned and tanned tummy was on display.

Finishing her look off with a pair of granite skin-tight trousers, Jess' younger sister subtly highlight her slender and lithe legs before topping her look off with a pair of champagne ballet pumps.

White on the night: Other notable faces at the event included Jess' former TOWIE co-star Lydia Bright,. who arrived at the event with her younger sister, Romana

A jazzy display: Kimberly Wyatt also made a colourful appearance

Other notable faces at the event included Jess' former TOWIE co-star Lydia Bright,. who arrived at the event with her younger sister, Romana; whilst Kimberly Wyatt also made a colourful appearance.

And cutting an adorable yet dapper figure on his arrival was the star of the film, Neel Sethi, who plays Mowgli in the flick.

Sir Ben Kingsley - who plays the boy's guardian Bahgeera - was also at the event, and arrived looking impeccably dashing in a two-piece charcoal suit.

The film updates the classic Kipling tale of young boy raised in the jungle by wolves, a panther and a bear, with the likes of Idris Elba starring as the fearsom Shere Khan.

Suited and booted: And cutting an adorable yet dapper figure on his arrival was the star of the film, Neel Sethi, who plays Mowgli in the flick
It might have been an evening to celebrate Duran Duran but all eyes were on Lindsay Lohan during their New York City concert on Monday night.

Not only did the event appear to play host to the 29-year-old's engagement joy, but new images show the Mean Girls star taking to the stage to join the Rio hit-makers in action as they belted out some of their most iconic tracks at the Barclays Center.

The film star - who was joined by rumoured fiance Egor Tarabasov at the gig - was called up by the band's leading man Simon Le Bon and, while standing before the venue's 18,000 capacity may have terrified some, Lindsay didn't hesitate to join the renowned British group.

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Stealing the spotlihght: It might have been an evening to celebrate Duran Duran but all eyes were on Lindsay Lohan during their New York City concert on Monday night

After Le Bon handed her a microphone of her own, the former child star shared a brief talk with the front-man before the duo burst into song.

Lindsay looked to be reveling in the moment as a beaming smile was brandished across her face as she waved her arms in the air and moved in sync with the 57-year-old star.

But Simon wasn't the only man Lindsay's beau Egor had to share attention with, as the beauty was also joined by her estranged father, Michael Lohan.

Having the time of her life! After SImon Le Bon handed her a microphone of her own, the former child star shared a brief talk with the front-man before the duo burst into song

Full of confidence! Lindsay looked to be reveling in the moment as a beaming smile was brandished across her face as she waved her arms in the air and moved in sync with the 57-year-old star

Famed for their tumultuous relationship over the years, the twosome appeared to have called a truce on the father-daughter fighting after years of estrangement on Tuesday as she celebrated her engagement.

Making it quite the family affair, Lindsay was also joined at the musical extravaganza by her mother Dina, and sister Ali, 22.

The flame-haired star appeared to be getting along fine with her 55-year-old dad, grooving to the music and posing for selfies on the night out.

Embracing the moment: The film star was called up by Simon Le Bon and, while standing before the venue's 18,000 capacity may have terrified some, Lindsay didn't hesitate to join the renowned British group

Time to celebrate: Lindsay put her feud with her father Michael (right) to one side as she and her mother Dina, (left) and sister Ali celebrated her engagement to Russian heir Egor Tarabasov (second from right) at the concert

Mrs T! Lindsay is engaged to 22-year-old Russian heir Egor, according to a Tuesday report from TMZ; here they are pictured putting on a loved-up display when they were pictured in February

She's one lucky lady: Lilo flashed a massive sparkler on her wedding hand after being proposed to at the weekend

Lindsay was smiling and looking glamorous in a plunging ivory printed jumpsuit that showcased her extreme cleavage.

She was laughing and taking loads of pictures with her younger sister Ali, and Dina, 53.

Michael and Lindsay were on the same wavelength as they sang along to the British band's tunes.

Actress Lindsay waved her hands in the air as she got into the groove with the rest of the family and later joined the band on stage.

The beauty has been flashing a green rock, surrounded by diamonds since the engagement news broke, appearing to confirm the news that she is set to be a bride.

But her spokesperson said soon after the Eastbound & Down star is not betrothed.

'The story is untrue and holds no merit,' Lohan's rep, Hunter Frederick confirmed to MailOnline.

He did not comment on why the star is wearing rings on her wedding finger.

Regardless, it seems that things are going extremely well for the star.

Michael and Lindsay were not on speaking terms for years but about a year ago, she decided to take steps towards a better relationship with him.

That, however, didn't stop the fighting, as was evidenced by an argument they had during the OWN docu-series Lindsay.

When Michael began telling Lindsay that some of her friends were a bad influence, she took offence.

'See, now youre getting me angry  because you werent good for me for a long time in my life,' Lindsay told her father.

Meanwhile, hanging out with the Lohan family was Lindsay's main squeeze Egor.

Got a secret? The flame-haired star was blushing while Egor - standing behind her - wore a huge grin on his face

Family ties: Lindsay was in a great mood alongside her dad and her mom Dina, who have had a chequered past

Rare sighting: Lindsay and her formerly estranged father appeared to be getting along fine as they joined the rest of the family

Sister, sister: Lindsay posed for selfies with sister Ali while Michael and beau Egor Tarabasov hovered slightly behind her father

While at the 2016 Asian Awards in London on Friday night, the Liz & Dick actress wore a purple ring on her wedding finger a diamond wedding band as she kept her fans guessing as to what has been going on with her.

Egor met the Herbie actress 'through mutual friends at a party in the summer,' TMZ alleged when the news broke.

The entrepreneur - whose father is a multi-millionaire businessman - asked for her hand in marriage 'over the weekend,' the site claimed.

She told The Sun she started dating him eight months ago and added: 'He is a great guy. I met him in the summer. Im really happy.'

Glamour girls: While Lindsay shimmered in a risque plunging jumpsuit, Ali sparkled in a dark purple sequin number

VIP: Lindsay drew attention in the VIP section as she clapped and danced to the music while showing off that blinging engagement ring

Truce time: Lindsay and Michael were estranged for years but the Mean Girls star decided to work on the relationship over a year ago

Emotional moment: The actress couldn't contain her emotion and got teary in the VIP section

Take a picture: Ali continued to snap pictures and Lindsay continued to pose while their dad looked on

Is There Something I Should Know? Lindsay got up on stage with Duran Duran

Egor proved to be quite the gent as he drove the family home at the end of the night.

Earlier in the day, Lindsay was pictured jumping out of his car as she ran down the street sporting yet another wardrobe change.

With a beaming smile on her face, the superstar sporting perfectly blow-dried hair, as well as ripped jeans and a low-key blue jumper. She added some extra inches to her look with a pair of statement heels.

What a gent: Egor drove the family home after the concert as he showed how well they are all getting on

Happy: Dina appeared to be in high spirits as she sat in the back of the car

Low-key: Michael covered up in a baseball cap as he joined the rest of his family

Stunning: Earlier in the evening, Lindsay sported jeans and a blue jumper and perfect locks

Wow thing: She added some elegance with a pair of statement heels as she made her way down the street

Winning the race: She sprinted forwards while her man remained in the driver's seat of his car

Letting her natural beauty shine through: Her flame red locks were blow-dried into perfect curls

Meanwhile, it was recently reported in March by People that Egor and Lindsay have moved in together in London - where the actress has been residing ever since turning her back on her LA lifestyle.

Tarabasov spent the holidays in New York with Lindsay and her family, which includes mother Dina and sister Ali. It was claimed the meeting went well and clearly things have been going from strength to strength between the group.

On Tuesday, the cover girl did not comment on her engagement; rather she posted a photo of a pool overlooking the sea with a caption about her birthday destination. The star turns 30-years-old on July 2.

A hint? While at the 2016 Asian Awards in London on Friday night, the Liz & Dick actress wore a different ring on her engagement finger and diamond wedding band

Taken! A rock can be seen on the Machete star's left wedding finger; her rep has denied she is engaged

Bling it on! The looker flashes an engagement ring and band at the event

A source told The Mirror this year: 'Hes a bit younger than she is, but hes a very smart businessman. Hes much more mature than his age suggests, and hes a good influence.'

It was also noted his money is helpful to the cash-strapped Lindsay, who has reportedly been investigated by the IRS in recent years.

'He is a perfect boyfriend and  as he is quite wealthy  pays for quite a lot of stuff like meals and trips away. He has been traveling the world with her and posting loads of pictures of their trips online.'

As far as his feelings, the source noted he has been 'spending all his time with her' and is 'massively taken.'

Lohan has never been engaged before even though she has had many high-profile relationships, including a two-year, on-and-off romance with DJ Samantha Ronson.

The Georgia actress has also dated Wilmer Valderrama, Brandon Davis, Harry Morton and Calum Best.

The redhead has been linked with several other stars as well, including Jude Law and Jamie Dornan, but it is not known if they were brief flings or serious relationships.
Lindsay Lohan had a bad falling out with father Michael nearly a decade ago.

But it looks as if the 29-year-old Parent Trap star has forgiven the 55-year-old Long Island native as she was seen with him not just on Tuesday night at a Duran Duran concert, but also the next day as they walked through New York City.

The redhead also continued to wear what is believed to be her engagement ring from 22-year-old Russian heir Egor Tarabasov, who was also spied on the Wednesday outing. On Tuesday TMZ claimed they are engaged.

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Good with dad: Lindsay Lohan proved she is back on good terms with her father Michael as the two stepped out in New York City on Wednesday

The Mean Girls vet appeared to be in great spirits as she followed her father, who is married to former journalist Kate Major. He divorced Lindsay's mother Dina in 2007 after 22 years of marriage.

The siren wore a long yellow coat over a black top and leggings with lace-up boots that had small bouquets of flowers painted on them.

Not easily missed was that emerald rock on her wedding finger with a diamond eternity band next to it. Her rep told DailyMail on Tuesday the actress was not engaged, but TMZ still insists she is.

There's that rock: The actress wore her engagement ring on her wedding finger with a band

Kisses: The Mean Girls vet became engaged to Russian heir Egor Tarabasov, 22, according to TMZ

There he is: Egor, who is seven years younger than the former wild child of Hollywood, was behind the comeback hopeful

Does daddy like the Russian? Michael looked tense as Lindsay and Egor stood behind him

Awkward or awesome? No one seemed to be in a good mood as Michael hung out with his future son-in-law

Bling it: Not easily missed was that emerald rock on her wedding finger

The night before the Georgia actress celebrated her reported engagement with her family, including mother Dina Lohan and father Michael at a Duran Duran concert.

Five years ago, Dina and Lindsay were open about their difficult relationship with Michael, who has had a past with the law.

He recently has been having issues with wife Major, who has been prone to violent outbursts and 911 calls. The writer was sent to rehab in November and separated from Michael in December, though it is believed they have since worked out their differences. They have two children together.

Entrepreneur Egor - whose father is a multi-millionaire businessman - asked for Lindsay's hand in marriage 'over the weekend,' the site reported.

While at the 2016 Asian Awards in London on Friday night, the Liz & Dick actress wore an engagement ring and diamond wedding band on her left wedding finger, before switching for a new design.

However, her spokesperson said soon after the Eastbound & Down star is not betrothed. 'The story is untrue and holds no merit,' Lohan's rep, Hunter Frederick. He did not comment on why the star is wearing rings on her wedding finger.

What happened? The silver screen star said for years she was not on speaking terms with the husband of journalist Kate Major

Easter look: The siren wore a long yellow coat over a black top and leggings with lace-up boots that had small bouquets of flowers painted on them

Her future's so bright... : The movie star wore mirrored sunglasses and carried a cell phone

Peace out: The former best friend of Paris Hilton flashed a peace sign

Summer and winter mixed together: The stylish star's black items mixed with a lemon yellow coat was a fabulous combination of seasonal looks

Radiant! The former child star looked sensational and full of joy as she strode through the Big Apple

Following in their wake: Egor was snapped later on following behind his lady and her father

Keeping a low profile: Egor was then seen leaving his hotel on Thursday morning and heading to the shops

Egor met the Herbie actress 'through mutual friends at a party,' the site alleged. She told The Sun she started dating him eight months ago and added: 'He is a great guy. I met him in the summer. Im really happy.'

Tarabasov spent the holidays in New York with Lindsay and her family, which includes mother Dina and sister Ali. It was claimed the meeting went well.

It was reported in March by People that the couple have moved in together in London.

On Tuesday the cover girl did not comment on her engagement; rather she posted a photo of a pool overlooking the sea with a caption about her birthday destination.

The sun is shining on her: The Canyons star posted this selfie on Wednesday with the caption: 'Working girl day in nyc #wednesdaywisdom you have to love yourself before you can love everyone or anyone else'

Mrs T! Lohan with her 22-year-old Russian heir fiance Egor Tarabasov in February

Happy days: The beauty and her man (centre) celebrated their betrothal at a Duran Duran concert at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NYC - her mother Dina, (left) father Michael (right) and sister Ali

Savouring the memories: Lindsay and her little sister Ali were dressed to the nines and took selfies of the special night out

Taking the plunge: Lindsay looked incredible in her silver embellished outfit which had a very daring neckline

Bringing her family together: Dina and Michael joined Lindsay despite feuding in the past, as she threw some shapes on the dancefloor

The star turns 30-years-old on July 2.

A source told The Mirror this year: 'Hes a bit younger than she is, but hes a very smart businessman. Hes much more mature than his age suggests, and hes a good influence.'

It was also noted his money is helpful to the cash-strapped Lindsay, who has reportedly been investigated by the IRS in recent years.

'He is a perfect boyfriend and  as he is quite wealthy  pays for quite a lot of stuff like meals and trips away. He has been traveling the world with her and posting loads of pictures of their trips online.'

What a gent: Egor drove the family home after the concert as he showed how well they are all getting on

Happy: Dina appeared to be in high spirits as she sat in the back of the car

Low-key: Michael covered up in a baseball cap as he joined the rest of his family

As far as his feelings, the source noted he has been 'spending all his time with her' and is 'massively taken.'

Lohan has never been engaged before even though she has had many high-profile relationships, including a two-year, on-and-off romance with DJ Samantha Ronson.

The Georgia actress has also dated Wilmer Valderrama, Brandon Davis, Harry Morton and Calum Best.

The redhead has been linked with several other stars as well, including Jude Law and Jamie Dornan, but it is not known if they were brief flings or serious relationships.

Stunning: Earlier in the evening, Lindsay sported jeans and a blue jumper and perfect locks

Wow thing: She added some elegance with a pair of statement heels as she made her way down the street

A hint? While at the 2016 Asian Awards in London on Friday night, the Liz & Dick actress wore a diamond engagement ring and diamond wedding band on her left wedding finger

Taken! A rock can be seen on the Machete star's left wedding finger; her rep has denied she is engaged

Lohan got her start in acting as a child and shot to superstardom when she played twins - one American and one British - in 1998's The Parent Trap.

The blockbuster Freak Friday followed in 2003 as did the cult classic Mean Girls in 2004.

Herbie Fully Loaded was a success as well in 2005 and she showed off her acting talents in 2006's A Prairie Home Companion and the ensemble Bobby.

In 2007 Lohan held her own opposite Jane Fond in Georgia Rule.

They clicked right away: Egor met the Herbie actress 'through mutual friends at a party.' They began dating five months ago; here they are pictured in March in London

SO, WHO IS EGOR? - Egor Tarabasov is 22-years-old - He was born in Moscow but now lives in London - The heir graduated from the Anglo-American School of Moscow then the Cass Business School - His dad is 50-year-old multi-millionaire Dmitry Tarabasov -Dmitry owns several large businesses in Moscow - Egor started his own real estate agency, Home House Estates - The businessman is also a shareholder of Moscows Ivy Bank - Tarabasov often travels to Switzerland, Costa Rica and France - He met Lindsay in the summer of 2015 and they have allegedly already moved in together Advertisement

But at about that time the Long Island native developed a reputation for being less than professional as she showed up late on set.

Wild nights at West Hollywood clubs, arrests, a DUI, time in jail and rehab followed.

In the past four years Lindsay has been spending time in London where she has kept out of trouble.

Her love life has been a bit of a mystery for the past five years as she has not been in a public relationship. So her romance with the Russian heir comes as a bit of a surprise.

In 2014 the siren told The Guardian: 'In LA I didnt know what to do apart from go out every night.

'Thats when my friends were free. And I would go out and there would be all these cameras there and thats when it became difficult.'

The Scary Movie 5 star added she felt less eyes on her in England.

'I can go for a run here on my own,' she said.

'I do every morning, early, and I think how my friends in New York would still be up partying at that time.

'I needed to grow up and London is a better place for me to do that than anywhere else.'

Interesting love life: The Georgia actress has also dated Wilmer Valderrama (who she is pictured with in 2004), Brandon Davis, Harry Morton and Calum Best

It wasn't love: For a brief time the Disney vet had a relationship with Best; here they are pictured in 2006
Khloe Kardashian called off her divorce from Lamar Odom after he collapsed from an overdose into a coma in Las Vegas last October.

But after helping nurse him back to health, the reality star, 31, is now 'ready to move on,' according to a source quoted by People magazine.

'She doesn't agree with some of Lamar's choices in the past few weeks,' the source said. 'She plans on refiling for divorce soon.'

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Ready to move on: It's reported Wednesday that Khloe Kardashian is preparing to refile for divorce from Lamar Odom, after calling off proceedings following his October 2015 overdose

'She and Lamar are just figuring out the finances first,' the source explained, as to why Khloe hasn't yet filed the papers.

During the basketball star's long road to recovery, Khloe as his legal spouse took control of all medical decisions regarding his care.

When he was well enough, she arranged for him to be transported by medical helicopter form Vegas to a hospital in Los Angeles, and when he was well enough to be released, she rented a home for him near to her own in the exclusive community of The Oaks in Calabasas.

See more of the latest Khloe Kardashian updates as she 'plans on filing for divorce soon'

'Bad choices': Now that he's well again, Lamar has started to socialize and was seen heading to Hollywood hotspot The Nice Guy on Tuesday night. He was also spotted visiting a bar in LA over Easter

'Khloe was there for Lamar when he needed her,' People's source said.

'She spent months making sure he got the best care and was able to recover. Lamar was her main focus, and it was draining for her. Lamar is ready to be on his own now.'

The former Lakers great, 36, has gradually been getting back into a normal routine, and as he's got better, he's started to socialize again.

Over Easter, he visited a bar in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles, and had previously been spotted downing several drinks at a dive pub.

Planning to refile: Khloe, 31, pictured in Las Vegas last month, called off her divorce, originally filed in 2013, in order to supervise the former basketball star's recovery. The pair wed in 2009

Just a couple of days ago, the reality star evidenced her unhappiness with a situation in her life by posting an angry message on her Instagram.

It's believed that the target of her ire was Lamar.

'It doesn't matter how loyal you are to someone,' she wrote. 'You can't change someone's heart and bad habits unless they want to themselves.'

'We have to learn to stop taking on peoples problems as if they are our own. Loving people does not mean we have to carry their burdens and confusions on our back,' she went on.

Khloe and Lamar wed in September 2009, just one month after meeting. She filed for divorce in December 2013.

As news broke that she was planning on moving forward again with the divorce, Lamar's former girlfriend Liza Morales was seen arriving at Los Angeles International Airport.

Morales, along with her two children by the ex Lakers player - son Lamar Jr. and daughter Destiny -flew in from New York where they live.

Touched down: Liza Morales, Lamar's longtime girlfriend before he wed Khloe, was seen arriving in Los Angeles on Wednesday as reports swirled that thereality star was planning on filing divorce papers soon
It's three weeks since Joe Giudice began serving his jail sentence for fraud but his wife Teresa has yet to visit him.

It turns out that the Real Housewives Of New Jersey star, who served a year in jail also for fraud, is still waiting for paperwork to be approved that will allow her to visit the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix.

'(It) takes longer because she is on probation,' a source told UsWeekly. 'Teresa will be going to visit Joe the second she can.'

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Still waiting: Teresa Giudice, 43, has yet to receive official permission to visit her husband Joe who's serving time for fraud. It's complicated by the fact she is on probation after serving a year behind bars for fraud herself

One person who has been to see Joe, 42, is his and Teresa's attorney James Leonard, who told People he went to the prison last Friday.

'He is doing as well as can be expected,' Leonard said.

'I would say that he is adjusting very well. I know that he misses Teresa and their four daughters immensely, but Joe will get through this, just like Teresa did.'

Joe has also had a visit from his mother Filomena and his sister Maria, according to the magazine.

Separated: Teresa and Joe, pictured in an Instagram snap posted last month, have been apart since March 23 when he began serving a 41-month sentence at the Federal Corrections Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey

'He's doing as well as can be expected': One person who has managed to visit with Joe is Teresa's attorney James Leonard, pictured with the Real Housewives of New Jersey star at an event in New York last week

Teresa was released from federal prison two days before Christmas after serving just under a year behind bars for fraud.

The judge in their case had ruled that the couple did not have to report at the same time for the well being of their children.

The reality star, 43, is now raising the couple's four daughters - Gia, 15, Gabriella, 11, Milania, 10, and six-year-old Audriana - while her husband serves his sentence of 41 months.

Previously she had told InTouch: 'Hes my life - Im going to miss him tremendously.'

'He was there for me and Im going to be there for him.'

Sticking together: Teresa and Joe shared this photo of themselves with their four daughters just before the Italian native headed to prison

Meanwhile, Teresa is also getting used to being back in the spotlight.

The former jailbird made her first red carpet appearance since husband Joe went to prison a week ago, when she showed up at a a screening party for The Real Housewives Of New York.

Last month, she released a book Turning The Tables: From Housewife To Inmate And Back Again, about her own experiences behind bars.

And she has now started work on a second book detailing the time between her return home from prison two days before Christmas and her husband Joe heading off to start his sentence.

Back in the spotlight: While Joe is behind bars. the reality star has been promoting her prison tell-all and is starting work on a second book about raising her daughters by herself while her husband is away
Corbyn The Musical: The Motorcycle Diaries

Waterloo East Theatre

Rating:

Vladimir Putin is rotund and gay, Jeremy Corbyn wanted to defect to the Soviet Union, Diane Abbott is a materialistic sex maniac and Boris Johnson, well, hes rather tamer and tidier than in real life. Welcome to Corbyn, The Musical, a bouncy but over-strenuous new satire on the London fringe.

This show is more a political curiosity than an event of theatrical note. Its production values lack merit. Some of the acting is dire. The bloke doing Boris also plays Putin and convinces in neither role, though he does have a reasonably sweet singing voice and a dimpled smile that catches some of the enterprises mad energy.

Tony Blair (Im richer than Croesus, bigger than Jesus) has been consigned to an electric wheelchair. We also have an invasion by Donald Trump cheerleaders.

Jeremy Corbyn (left) wanted to defect to the Soviet Union, Diane Abbott (right) is a materialistic sex maniac and Boris Johnson, well, hes rather tamer and tidier than in real life. Welcome to Corbyn, The Musical, a bouncy but over-strenuous new satire on the London fringe

The plot presents us with a Britain in which prime minister Corbyn is faced with impending nuclear attack from Putins Russia. News updates are supplied via a TV screen. The privatised BBCs rolling news promises us an update on impending nuclear apocalypse  but first were going to Gary with the sport. I liked that. Prime minister Corbyn (played with a certain charm by Martin Neely) has recently vetoed a state funeral for the Queen yet he is indecisive in other matters, to the despair of his private secretary (Jennifer Hepburn). His main political ally is his sometime lover Abbott (Natasha Lewis, all curves and rolling eyes).

Much of the story is a flashback to 40 years ago when Jeremy and Diane holidayed in East Germany on a motorcycle  as indeed they did. For these segments Mr Neely adopts a Kenny Everettish wig.

The young Islingtonians are perplexed that their communist zeal is not shared by the East Germans. They encounter KGB man Putin (David Muscat) who takes a fancy to Jeremy.

The plot presents us with a Britain in which prime minister Corbyn is faced with impending nuclear attack from Putins Russia. Corbyn is pictured (left) at the Labour Party Annual Conference in September with Diane Abbott (right)

Jen Greens music rises above the formulaic a couple of times (a Putin song about Laika the space dog and a number about Russia being fabulous). The shows writers, Bobby Friedman and Rupert Myers, have fun with the lyrics. Diane sings that state educations fine, unless the child involved is mine. A song about Islington rhymes 6million house with common-law spouse.

At two and a half hours it is far too long. Yet its dramatic imperfections may be incidental. Young Myers and Friedman have shown agreeable enterprise in knocking out this show and it has reportedly sold out for its entire run.
Syria peace talks to tackle political transition as violence surges

Talks to end Syria's five-year conflict resumed in Geneva Wednesday, with the UN mediator vowing to tackle the thorny issue of a political transition, as surging violence threatened a fragile truce.

Adding to the tensions, Syrians in government-controlled areas voted Wednesday in parliamentary elections not recognised by the United Nations or by President Bashar al-Assad's main opponents.

In Geneva, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said he planned to engage the parties in concrete discussions about how to move the war-ravaged country towards a change of government.

Fighters from the Jaish al-Islam (Islam Army) hold a position in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern edges of Damascus Amer Almohibany (AFP)

"We are going to go deeper and deeper into the issue of political transition," de Mistura told reporters after a first meeting with the main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC).

The UN-brokered talks in Geneva are aimed at forming a transitional government and a new constitution followed by general elections to end a conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced half of the country's population.

Moving beyond the broad principles discussed during previous rounds of indirect talks to concrete proposals towards political change will likely be challenging.

Assad's fate remains a major stumbling block, with Damascus until now maintaining that even discussing the issue of his departure is off limits.

- Agenda agreed -

It remains to be seen if the regime delegation, which has been delayed due to the parliamentary vote and is only set to meet with de Mistura on Friday, will agree to broach the subject.

But HNC delegation chief Assad al-Zoabi struck an upbeat note on the chances of progress, telling reporters after Wednesday's meeting that "we hope that during this round we can reach an agreement on political transition."

In a bid to shore up support for his agenda, de Mistura has in recent days travelled to Damascus, where he met Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, and also met key Assad allies in Moscow and Tehran.

"They all indicated interest and support actually in the progress of a political discussion aiming at a political transition," he said, adding that "even Damascus agreed on the fact that this was the agenda."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow the new round of talks was important, and would allow the parties to discuss the new constitution "and how they see the structure that will ensure a peaceful transition towards a new system."

But the start of the talks were clouded by a surge in violence in recent days has threatened a landmark ceasefire that took effect on February 27.

The partial truce brokered by Moscow and Washington had raised hopes for a resolution to the conflict, by bringing about a significant drop in civilian deaths and allowing increased aid deliveries.

But humanitarian access has recently slowed again to a crawl, and escalating fighting in northern Aleppo province, parts of Hama province and Damascus has sparked alarm.

More than 100 troops, pro-regime militia, jihadists and rebels have been killed in four days of fierce fighting along a strategic front in Syria's Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Jihadists like those from Al-Nusra and the Islamic State group are excluded from the ceasefire. But in some areas, Al-Nusra is allied with rebel forces meant to be covered by the truce.

Observers have warned that an assault on Al-Nusra in Aleppo could draw in more moderate factions, derailing the peace efforts.

Zoabi on Wednesday condemned the "repeated and deliberate (ceasefire) violations by the regime" and warned of "the negative effects that such regression can have on the whole process."

On Tuesday, US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power also warned of "signs that this (the ceasefire) is slipping" and urged Assad ally Moscow to put pressure on Damascus to "get the regime back with the programme".

- Ceasefire 'still holding' -

De Mistura also voiced "concern about the deterioration of the security situation," but stressed that the violations were "still incidents and not a bushfire, and therefore we consider  that in spite of the several and serious incidents, the cessation of hostilities is still holding."

Wednesday's parliamentary elections added to the tension surrounding the negotiations.

The vote was held in areas under government control -- around a third of Syrian territory where some 60 percent of the population lives -- and is expected to see Assad's Baath party maintain control over parliament.

"This is a farce," Zoabi said, echoing a sentiment widely heard on the ground.

But others hailed the vote, with 37-year-old Yamin al-Homsi, a voter in Damascus, saying it would "decide the country's future".

Russia's foreign minister also defended the elections, saying their "role is to not leave a (power) vacuum."

War in Syria: the control of territory Kun TIAN, Thomas SAINT-CRICQ (AFP)

UN mediator Staffan de Mistura prior to a meeting with the delegation of the High Negotiations Committee, for Syria peace talks in Geneva on April 13, 2016 Denis Balibouse (Pool/AFP)

High Negotiations Committee (HNC) delegation head Asaad al-Zoabi (L) adjusts his glasses next to chief negotiator Mohammed Alloush, during a press conference on April 13, 2016 in Geneva Fabrice Coffrini (AFP)

Syrian tanks patrol the town of Khan Tuman, on April 11, 2016 George Ourfalian (AFP)

An injured Syrian man walks past anti-election graffiti describing the dust bin as a ballot box, in the rebel-held city of Douma on April 13, 2016 Amer Almohibany (AFP)
China says Taiwanese detained over suspected fraud

China is holding a number of Taiwanese on suspicion of fraud, officials said after Taipei accused Beijing of "abducting" its citizens from Kenya and forcibly returning them to the Chinese mainland.

Taipei said this week that Beijing had "illegally" pressured authorities in Nairobi to deport eight of its citizens to the mainland after they had been cleared of fraud charges in Kenya, adding that a total of 37 other Taiwanese were also facing return.

The head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Zhang Zhijun informed Taipei about "a group of Taiwanese residents who are criminal suspects thought to have carried out electronic fraud and who have been detained by our public security agency", the official Xinhua news agency reported late Tuesday.

Andrew Hsia, Minister of Mainland Affairs Council, speaks at the Interior Committee of the Parliament, in Taipei, on April 13, 2016 Sam Yeh (AFP)

"Taiwanese suspected fraudsters are thought to have created a base overseas to defraud mainland people with increasing frequency... these criminals must be brought to justice," he added in the Xinhua report, which was posted on TAO's own website.

It did not specify the number or identity of those held, or make specific reference to Kenya or to any deportation.

China considers Taiwan a province of its own, which it will one day unify by force if necessary, even though the territory has ruled itself since 1949 following a civil war split.

Relations between the two have often been tense. Political and trade ties grew in the last decade under the leadership of the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT), but the landslide election victory of independence-leaning Tsai Ying-wen in January's presidential poll raised fears that Beijing will take a more assertive stance.

China's President Xi Jinping met with Tsai's KMT predecessor Ma Ying-jeou last year for the first summit between the two sides since their 1949 split.

The meeting produced little of substance beyond the announcement of a telephone hotline between Beijing and Taipei. Xinhua said the hotline had been used to discuss the detained fraud suspects.

Taiwan said Wednesday that it had filed a suit against several top officials in Kenya for ignoring the court decision that cleared some of the suspects in the cyber scam case.

The officials "allowed Kenyan police to disrespect a court ruling, forcefully detaining our citizens for over 24 hours and illegally cooperating with mainland personnel to deport them to China," Taiwan's foreign ministry said in a written report to parliament.

Taiwanese authorities hoped to send a delegation of senior officials to China within two or three days to discuss the matter, said Andrew Hsia, head of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.

China resumed ties with former Taiwan ally Gambia last month, ending an unofficial diplomatic truce between the two sides. The African nation previously had relations with Taiwan.
British teacher found dead in China 'possibly murdered'

A British lecturer who taught in Hong Kong has been found dead in mainland China and was "possibly" murdered, police said, with fears his disappearance three weeks ago was linked to a million-dollar property deal.

Local media reported Hilary Bower, 60, had been murdered, but Hong Kong police would confirm only that he had been killed.

Bower worked at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and lived across the border in the southern mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen, commuting between the two places.

Sheung Yue river flows along Hong Kong's border with mainland China Fred Dufour (AFP/File)

He lived with his girlfriend and six-year-old son, according to reports.

Hong Kong police said on Wednesday they had received notification from mainland authorities that Bower had been killed in China.

There were no further details given about where he was found or how he died.

"Police have received notification from mainland relevant authorities that he was killed on the night of March 22," a Hong Kong police statement said.

A police source told AFP it was "possibly a murder" but there had been no confirmation from mainland counterparts.

Bower was last seen on March 21, Hong Kong police said, adding that he had crossed from Hong Kong into the mainland.

Local reports said Bower was last spotted at a land border checkpoint.

His girlfriend reported him missing at a police station in Hong Kong on March 30, the police statement said.

A UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said: "We are providing assistance to the family of a British national reported missing in southern China and are urgently seeking further information from local authorities."

A friend of Bower criticised police on both sides of the border for their handling of the case.

Richard Charles described them as "shoddy and shambolic", the South China Morning Post reported.

"I find it unbelievable that Hilary's friends and colleagues have had to find out from the media about this. We are in shock and are extremely upset," said Charles.

Charles also said he believed there may be a link between Bower's disappearance and a recent property sale for which Bower was due to receive HK$9 million ($1.2 million), the SCMP reported.
High hopes for Indonesian author vying for Man Booker glory

Already compared to literary heavyweights Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Haruki Murakami, great expectations weigh on Eka Kurniawan, the first Indonesian ever nominated for a Man Booker International Prize.

The 40-year-old is up against revered writers like Orhan Pamuk and Kenzaburo Oe, both past recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature, but there is a growing buzz about the works of this little known author.

At home, titles of Kurniawan's novels splashed across the back of trucks, while newspapers and magazines hail him Indonesia's most exciting writer for a generation.

Great expectations weigh on Eka Kurniawan, the first Indonesian ever nominated for a Man Booker International Prize Goh Chai Hin (AFP)

My friends sent me pictures of the back of trucks bearing the titles of my books  these (trucks and the lives of the drivers) were an inspiration for one of my novels -- and the fact my books are emblazoned there brought me to a state of euphoria, I got goosebumps, he tells AFP.

Internationally, demand is such that he's already attended the acclaimed Frankfurt and Melbourne Book Fairs.

Despite this, Kurniawan says his inclusion on the longlist for the prestigious award, for "Man Tiger" -- the story of a young man who gnaws his elderly neighbour to death -- came as a "surprise".

He will find out Thursday if he has made the final six. The winning author and translator will also share 50,000 pounds (USD$71,000) in prizemoney, while all the finalists receive 1,000 pounds.

A shortlist nomination -- or better still, a victory -- will likely provide a much-needed international profile boost not just for Kurniawan, but for the nation's literary scene.

"I hope this is the case that Indonesian literature is really on the rise, because in the past 10 years I can feel the excitement," he adds.

- 'Free from taboos' -

Indonesian writers have long struggled for appreciation at home, let alone on the world stage. Many do not have the means to translate their books into other languages and attract publishers and readers abroad.

Yet there is a passionate desire to share their stories and the profession has flourished since Indonesia embraced democracy.

Kurniawan, who is now married with a young daughter, participated in the student protests that toppled the authoritarian regime in 1998. He says the wave of openness that followed the end of Suharto's three-decade rule had an "enormous" influence on Indonesia's literary evolution.

I feel Indonesia is more open," Kurniawan explains. "We can speak practically about many things, including politics, religion and other taboos like sex."

Kurniawan's own work is no exception: "Man Tiger" is a grisly, murderous tale, while "Beauty is a Wound" revolves around the communist massacres across Indonesia in the 1960s, a politically-sensitive topic to this day.

The vein of magic realism throughout his work has earned Kurniawan comparisons to legendary Colombian novelist Marquez, while others tout him as successor to Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

Pramoedya, who died a decade ago this month, is considered Indonesia's greatest-ever writer. His legendary "Buru Quartet" -- which he wrote behind bars during the Suharto years -- earned him several nominations for a Nobel Prize for Literature, and acclaim overseas.

- Fuel global interest -

For all the high praise directed at Kurniawan, who is from West Java but now lives in Jakarta, it has been slow crawl from aspiring writer to Booker nominee.

He worked as a graphic designer and jobbing writer, but when "Man Tiger" was first published in Indonesian in 2004 -- he concedes the readership really only extended to his circle of close friends.

It took a decade before it was translated into English and on bookshelves overseas.

The respected Southeast Asian scholar, Benedict Anderson stumbled on Kurniawan's work and, impressed, urged him to translate his works and meet with a UK publisher later describing him as "Indonesias most original living writer of novels and short stories".

For many writers - language is a challenge. Indonesian is often second choice after local dialects. This limits exposure in a country where only 1 in 1,000 spends time reading, according to research by UNESCO.

Publishing in English is the only avenue for global recognition and readership but for many the cost of quality translation remains too high, ensuring they remain off the radar of major international publishers.

But interest is growing -- last year Indonesia was guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, an opportunity to showcase the literary culture and traditions at the largest publishing event in the world.

There's a sense Kurniawan could encourage further interest. Barbara Epler, the head of his US publisher New Directions, predicted that if Kurniawan took off overseas he would be a "prime force" in getting more publishers interested in Indonesia, a sentiment echoed in his homeland.

"I hope he wins so that authors will rush to translate their books into other languages, promoting them to the world, respected Indonesian poet Sapardi Djoko Damono told AFP.

The shortlist for the Man Booker International Prize will be announced Thursday and the winner on May 16.
Pakistan carries out more executions despite protests

Pakistan on Wednesday hanged four more prisoners convicted of murder despite international criticism over its surging use of the death penalty.

Amnesty International last week described Pakistan as the world's third most prolific executioner after China and Iran, with 326 hangings last year.

Wednesday's executions took place in the cities of Multan, Jhang and Sialkot in Punjab province and in Larkana in Sindh province.

Activists from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) demonstrate to mark International Day Against the Death Penalty, in Islamabad, in October 2015 Aamir Qureshi (AFP/File)

Anwarul Haq was executed in Multan for murdering his brother over a land dispute in 2000, senior prisons official Chaudhry Arshad Saeed Arain told AFP.

Ghulam Farooq was hanged in Sialkot prison for murdering two women and a man due to a family feud in 1999.

Muhammad Irfan was hanged in Jhang for killing a woman while robbing her home in 2006, Arain said, adding that eight more prisoners were likely to be hanged in Punjab on Thursday.

In Larkana Waris Mir Bahr was hanged for the 1995 murder of a Pakistan International Airlines employee during an attack on an airlines van carrying cash, prison officials said.

Paksitan ended a six-year moratorium on the death penalty after Taliban attackers gunned down more than 150 people, most of them children, at a school in Peshawar in December 2014.
US brings home remains of downed WWII airmen, 70 years on

The likely remains of US airmen who went missing over the Himalayas more than 70 years ago during a daring World War II mission were finally headed home on Wednesday after a major search in an Indian jungle.

The men were among the Allied pilots who flew the extraordinarily perilous route over the world's highest mountains to deliver military supplies from hundreds of Indian airfields to Chinese forces from 1942.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Wednesday oversaw a ceremony at an air force base in New Delhi as the remains were shipped to the United States, after they were recovered from the mountainous jungles of Arunachal Pradesh in India's northeast.

US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter (L) tours the Indian Navy's flagship INS Vikramaditya at Karwar Naval Base in Karnataka on April 11, 2016

The remains, which are being flown to Hawaii for DNA testing, are the first to be recovered under an agreement with the Indian authorities.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), the US agency that deals with soldiers missing in action, sent a team to Arunachal Pradesh last September to try to locate the wreckage of a B-24 Liberator plane downed in 1944 with eight men on board.

"They had to hike in for three days to get to the site," said US Marine Corps captain Greg Lynch, a veteran of such searches.

Once there the team, which also included Indian representatives, spent eight hours a day conducting detailed searches on a vertiginous slope, often roped together.

They painstakingly sifted through the soil around the wreckage of the plane to try to locate the airmen's remains, but the risk of landslides stopped them conducting detailed searches of the entire site.

They found what they believe to be the remains of one or two of the eight missing airmen, which will be identified using DNA testing.

Gary Stark, who heads the India desk at the DPAA, said the remains found at the site could fit into a ziplock sandwich bag.

But to the families, he said, that does not matter.

"To have something that they can put in a casket and know that this was Grandpa Joe and they can bring to a cemetery of their choice and have buried with military honours is closure for them," said Stark.

- Deadly route -

Allied airmen ferried about 650,000 tonnes of fuel, munitions and equipment over the eastern Himalayas -- which they nicknamed "The Hump" -- from 1942, when the Japanese cut off the main land route through Burma (now Myanmar).

According to the China-Burma-India Hump Pilots Association, 590 planes went down with the loss of more than 1,650 lives.

Many crashed in the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh bordering China, Bhutan and Myanmar.

Stark said around 90 percent of the 350 US servicemen still missing in India had disappeared while flying over the Hump.

A second set of remains being flown out on Wednesday were turned over to the US authorities by an individual who found them in Arunachal Pradesh.

They are thought to be from a plane that crashed in 1945 while returning from China with a four-man air force crew on board.

A bugler played Taps -- the call traditionally played at US military funerals -- at a ceremony on Wednesday morning as the remains from both planes were placed in metal caskets draped with the US flag before being flown out.

Carter told reporters after the ceremony he hoped to be able to conduct more such searches in India.
Police clash with protesters in Indian Kashmir, killing one

A protester was killed in Indian Kashmir Wednesday as angry residents clashed with police, a day after three people died when the army fired into a crowd of civilians incensed by the alleged molestation of a girl.

Local police superintendent Aijaz Ahmed said the young man died of injuries sustained when a tear gas canister hit his head during the unrest in the frontier town of Kupwara.

Authorities in the restive region had imposed a partial curfew after separatist leaders called for a general strike over Tuesday's deaths of two civilian protesters and a woman working in a nearby field who was hit by a stray bullet.

Kashmiri villagers attend the funeral of Raja Bejum who was killed in clashes with security forces near Handwara on April 13, 2016 Tauseef Mustafa (AFP)

The soldiers opened fire Tuesday when protesters stormed an army bunker and set it on fire in the northern town of Handwara.

"We imposed restrictions in the old town of Srinagar and in Handwara to prevent violence," director general of police, K. Rajendra, told AFP.

But groups of residents took to the streets of Handwara after the woman was buried, throwing stones at police who responded with tear gas, an AFP photographer on the scene said.

The army has expressed regret over the shootings and ordered an inquiry, saying anyone found guilty would be "dealt with".

But the incident has heightened tensions in the region, where many resent the large Indian troop presence and accuse some soldiers of rights abuses.

Handwara residents stormed the bunker on Tuesday after a soldier from the post was accused of assaulting a local girl as she tried to use a nearby public toilet, police and witnesses said.

Kashmir's new Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti warned the shootings would have a "negative impact" on her government's efforts to promote peace in the region.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but each claim the region in full. They have fought two of their three wars over it.

Since 1989 a rebellion against Indian rule by about a dozen rebel groups -- seeking independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan -- has left tens of thousands dead, mostly civilians.

Hundreds of thousands of Indian troops are deployed in the region, making it one of the world's most militarised zones.

They enjoy immunity from prosecution in civilian courts unless specifically permitted by New Delhi.

Kashmir's new Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti warned the shootings would have a 'negative impact' on her government's efforts to promote peace in the region Tauseef Mustafa (AFP/File)
Turkey hits IS after deadly strikes on Syria border town

Turkey's armed forces on Wednesday launched new artillery strikes on jihadist positions in Syria, after three days of deadly fire on a Turkish border town that has left residents on edge.

Kilis, which lies just a few kilometres from the border with Syria, has been hit by fire from Katyusha-type rockets every day this week raising concerns over its vulnerability.

Two people were killed by shelling from an area controlled by Islamic State (IS) jihadists on Tuesday and four more rockets hit the town on Wednesday but caused no injuries, a Turkish official said.

Turkish tanks fire towards the Syria border near the Oncupinar crossing gate close to the town of Kilis, in February 2016 Bulent Kilic (AFP)

Speaking in Ankara, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed Turkish troops had hit IS positions in Syria.

In a sign of Ankara's alarm over the repeated firing on Kilis, Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz, powerful intelligence chief Hakan Fidan and top general Hulusi Akar visited the town on Wednesday to investigate the situation.

Addressing a press conference there, Yilmaz confirmed Turkish artillery hit areas controlled by IS and warned against any further attacks on Turkey.

"If they harm Turkey, they will be subjected to much more," Yilmaz said. "Whoever is friendly with Turkey will find it is to their benefit."

Yilmaz also said the government had established a commission to compensate residents for their losses.

- A town of refugees -

In Ankara, Davutoglu also warned that those who attacked Turkey would pay "the heaviest price", insisting that the government was determined to protect its citizens from the latest cycle of violence.

Dozens of people had rallied in the centre of Kilis on Tuesday to demand protection from the shelling, Turkish media reports said.

The violence comes after IS militants wrested back control of the town of Al-Rai near the Turkish border, which rival rebels had captured last week.

Kilis, a town of just under 100,000, is the only major urban centre in Turkey which now has a majority of Syrians after the influx of refugees from the civil war.

Neither the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front nor IS are included in a truce brokered by the United States and Russia that came into force on February 27.

Washington has applauded Turkey's role in the anti-IS coalition but US officials on occasion have urged Ankara to do more.

In a separate development, Turkey's army opened fire on a group of four people -- one man and three women -- who attempted to cross into the border town of Karkamis late Tuesday from IS-held Jarablus in Syria, local media reported.

The man, a Turk, was injured and later died in hospital and the women -- one Turk and two Moroccans -- were detained on suspicion of being IS members, the Dogan news agency reported.

The women were to be brought to court on charges of "membership in an armed terrorist organisation" and "violation of a special security region," it added.

In a separate development, a spokesman for Angela Merkel said the German chancellor was not planning to travel to Turkey this week to inaugurate a new Syrian refugee centre, contradicting a previous announcement by Ankara.

The announcement comes as diplomatic tensions soared between Berlin and Ankara over a vulgar satirical poem by German TV comic.

Rockets hit Turkish border town
Three French soldiers die in Mali mine blast

Three French peacekeeping soldiers died after their armoured car ran over a landmine in Mali, the French presidency said Wednesday.

One soldier was killed immediately in the blast on Tuesday and President Francois Hollande learned "with great sadness" that two more soldiers had died in the west African country, a statement said.

The car was leading a convoy of around 60 vehicles travelling to the northern desert town of Tessalit when it hit the mine, according to the French defence ministry.

Mali's vast, desolate north continues to be beset by violence, having fallen under the control of Tuareg-led rebels and jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012 Pascal Guyot (AFP/File)

The troops were part of Operation Barkhane, under which France has some 3,500 soldiers deployed across five countries in the Sahel region, south of the Sahara desert, to combat the jihadist insurgency raging there.

The latest deaths bring to seven the number of French soldiers killed in combat in the operation, according to defence ministry figures.

Ten French soldiers were killed in an earlier military intervention launched in January 2013 to oust Islamist rebels who had taken over vast stretches of northern Mali in the chaos following a coup.
China says Kenya deporting 45 Taiwanese to mainland

Kenyan police will deport 45 Taiwanese to mainland China where they face investigation for fraud, Chinese state media said on Wednesday after Taipei blasted Beijing for "abducting" its citizens.

Taipei said this week that Beijing had "illegally" pressured authorities in Nairobi to deport eight citizens to the mainland after they were cleared of fraud charges in Kenya, in a case that inflamed anger in Taiwan.

A total of 67 people from Taiwan and mainland China were being deported from Kenya on Wednesday, the official Xinhua news agency cited mainland police as saying, after 10 were sent back at the weekend. In total, 45 are Taiwanese.

Johnny Chiang, a legislator from the Kuomintang (KMT) party, shows a video of Taiwanese citizens detained at a police station in Kenya, in Taipei, April 12, 2016 Sam Yeh (AFP)

"Mainland police will investigate the Taiwanese suspects" Xinhua cited China's public security ministry as saying.

China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, even though the island has ruled itself since 1949 following a civil war split.

Relations have often been tense, and the landslide election victory of independence-leaning Tsai Ing-wen in January's presidential poll has raised fears that Beijing will take a more assertive stance.

Political and trade ties between Taipei and Beijing grew in the last decade under the leadership of the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT).

China's President Xi Jinping met with Tsai's KMT predecessor Ma Ying-jeou last year for the first summit between the two sides since their 1949 split.

But the meeting produced little of substance beyond the announcement of a telephone hotline between Beijing and Taipei. Xinhua said the hotline had been used to discuss the detainees.

China warned against anyone promoting "Taiwan Independence" after Tsai's election and resumed ties with Taiwan's former ally Gambia last month, ending an unofficial diplomatic truce.

"Judicial organs on the Chinese mainland have legal rights of jurisdiction over the repatriated suspects," the public security ministry said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters: "They are acquitted, but they are not without guilt".

- 'Disgraceful acts' -

A spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said some of the deportees were accused of using internet phone accounts to defraud Chinese people of more than 600 million yuan ($93 million).

"Many mainland people suffered. Many elderly people, teachers, students, migrant workers, laid-off workers and were deceived. Some retired people who toiled all their lives were had their life savings taken from them, and are now penniless," An Fengshan said, according to state media.

Telephone scams are common in China, but past convictions have generally involved mainland citizens.

Taiwan said Wednesday that it had filed suit against several top officials in Kenya for ignoring a court decision which cleared some of the suspects.

The officials "allowed Kenyan police to disrespect a court ruling, forcefully detaining our citizens for over 24 hours and illegally cooperating with mainland personnel to deport them to China", Taiwan's foreign ministry said.

Taiwanese authorities hoped to send senior officials to China within days to discuss the matter, said Andrew Hsia, head of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.

Taipei's foreign ministry said following deportations at the weekend that "officials from the Chinese mainland abducted the eight Taiwan nationals".

China's nationalist Global Times tabloid defended the deportations in an editorial Wednesday, while acknowledging they had met with "strong protests and criticism" in Taiwan.

"Taiwan is making a fuss about the mainland extraditing Taiwan suspects from abroad. Don't expect the mainland to yield to these disgraceful acts," said the paper, which has close ties to the ruling Communist party.
Riyadh closes schools as desert city hit by rare flooding

Traffic backed up and schools were shut in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Wednesday after the desert city was struck by a rare severe storm that sparked flooding.

The storm, which struck during Tuesday evening's rush hour, had subsided by daybreak Wednesday but some roads were still inundated.

Riyadh implemented its emergency plan to deal with the flooding, the spokesman for the municipal council, Mohammed al-Shwayman, was quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) as saying.

The Saudi capital Riyadh is a desert city with a population of 5.7 million people Hassan Ammar (AFP/File)

Residents were urged not to gather in affected areas "for the sake of taking pictures and videos, putting their lives at risk," he said.

Traffic backed up for kilometres (miles) along at least one major thoroughfare and many vehicles broke down as the deluge flooded city streets.

Riyadh, an inland desert city of 5.7 million, is famed for its searing temperatures and sees only occasional bursts of rain.

The Arab News daily cited the education department as saying all schools in the capital region would be shut on Wednesday.

SPA reported that at least one university, the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, had also suspended classes.
Malawi, Mozambique issue drought alerts as crisis spreads

Malawi and Mozambique sounded alarm bells on Wednesday over worsening food shortages caused by severe drought as concerns grow over a hunger crisis spreading across much of southern Africa.

Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Zambia are also suffering food supply problems, while South Africa has said the recent drought was its worst in more than 100 years.

"I declare Malawi (in) a state of national disaster following prolonged dry spells during the 2015/16 agriculture season," President Peter Mutharika said in a statement.

Malawi's president has declared a state of national disaster after long periods of drought Aris Messinis (AFP)

"The projected drop in maize harvest is estimated at 12 percent from last year's output.

"More people will be food insecure and will require humanitarian relief assistance for the whole of the 2016/17 consumption year."

Neighbouring Mozambique issued a "red alert" because of drought conditions in the country's central and south regions affecting 1.5 million people.

The government released $9.5 million of emergency aid after 90 percent of crops were destroyed in some areas and thousands of cattle died from lack of water.

The World Food Programme said it was currently assisting nearly three million people in Malawi, with about 23 of 28 districts badly affected.

"The current drought situation in Malawi came on the back of a bad crop last year, due to flooding which affected parts of the country," WFP's southern Africa spokesman David Orr told AFP.

"The situation is quite dire and we believe the worst is still to come. It will take a long time before the situations improves. Any improvement in the next months would be negligible."

- Limited response -

In February, the WFP warned that Malawi was facing its worst food insecurity for a decade. The country has recently suffered flash floods in the north as well as drought.

The United Nations and aid groups in Mozambique have released a total of $15 million since the beginning of the crisis, Michel Le Pechoux of the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) which coordinates relief efforts, told AFP.

"But the response is still very limited compared to the actual needs, which amount to about $200 million," he said, adding that central Mozambique was the worst-hit area.

Renewed conflict between government troops and the armed wing of main opposition party Renamo since January has also made delivery of aid difficult due to attacks on roads.

"Some drought-stricken districts are located in areas of military tensions and are almost inaccessible," Le Pechoux said.

In Zimbabwe, 2.8 million people -- more than a quarter of the rural population -- do not have enough to eat.

The WFP, which is providing assistance for about 730,000 Zimbabweans, has reported that casual agricultural labourers have no work and many children are missing school because of hunger.

Southern Africa endured a poor harvest last year combined with a strong El Nino weather phenomenon, which resulted in reduced rains across the region.

South Africa, which in the past has exported food to its regional neighbours, is to import maize after last year was the driest year in the country since records began in 1904.
Human genetic research with Chinese characteristics

Chinese genetic scientists must not be put off sensitive research by ethical concerns, the team behind a controversial study on modified human embryos said Wednesday as debate erupted over the paper.

Researchers from Guangzhou Medical University said they used a gene-editing technique known as CRISPR to artificially induce a mutation in human cells and make them resistant to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Their paper, which appeared last week in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, is only the world's second published account of gene editing in human embryos.

Researchers in China say they have used a gene-editing technique known as CRISPR to artificially induce a mutation in human cells and make them resistant to HIV Franck Fife (AFP/File)

Critics said the study -- intended as a proof-of-principle exercise -- was unnecessary and lacked medical justification, and strongly cautioned against the broader ethical implications of the slippery slope of human genome modification.

"This paper doesnt look like it offers much more than anecdotal evidence that (CRISPR) works in human embryos, which we already knew," George Daley, a stem-cell biologist at Children's Hospital Boston, told the prominent science journal Nature.

It demonstrated that "the science is going forward before theres been the general consensus after deliberation that such an approach is medically warranted", he added.

Tetsuya Ishii, a bioethicist at Japan's Hokkaido University, denounced the research as "just playing with human embryos", Nature said.

In a statement issued by the hospital where they carried out their research, the Guangzhou team brushed aside such concerns, focusing instead on the "incalculable" size of the future market for disease treatments.

"The assessments of those outside the field are not authoritative, and the research environment will continue to evolve," they said.

"For us what is most important is that we diligently complete our research and stick to the path we believe in, acquiring independent intellectual property rights... so that we do not have to defer to others."

Such perseverance, they said will ensure "our own position in the international community", adding: "The future market for the treatment of diseases through gene editing is incalculable."

Speaking to China's state-run Global Times newspaper, the paper's lead author Fan Yong said: "It is the pioneers that will make the rules in this field."

Han Bin, the director of China's National Center for Gene Research, told the paper -- which often takes a nationalistic tone -- that the technology's potential therapeutic benefits for all diseases caused by inherited variation, including cancer, should outweigh any qualms.

Instead of following other countries' ethical stances, China should formulate its own standards and regulations, the Global Times cited him as saying.

- Ethics committee -

China is quickly cementing a reputation as a leader in the fields of genetic research and cloning, showing a willingness to forge ahead even as others hesitate over ethical issues.

The worlds biggest cloning factory is under construction in the northern port of Tianjin, with plans to churn out everything from pets to premium beef cattle.

The chief executive of Boyalife Group, the Chinese firm behind it, told AFP his company had technology advanced enough to replicate humans. The head of its South Korean partner has been quoted as saying it preferred mainland locations to avoid bioethics laws elsewhere that would ban the use of human eggs.

The Guangzhou Medical University study used flawed embryos not viable for fertility treatment, and had been approved by the university's ethics committee.

Four out of the 26 embryos were successfully modified, while a number exhibited unexpected mutations. All of them were destroyed three days later.

"The purpose of this study was to evaluate the technology and establish principles for the introduction of precise genetic modifications in early human embryos," the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics paper read.

The legality of human embryo research varies by country, and there is no international consensus on what ought to be allowed.
Juncker raps Turkey over reaction to German satire

EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday criticised Turkey for its reaction to a German satirist and vowed not to yield on European values in order to preserve a crucial deal with Ankara to stem migrant flows.

Juncker told the European Parliament that dialogue is the only way to tackle issues with Turkey, including the row over a German TV satirist who crudely insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Berlin is weighing a Turkish request the satirist be prosecuted for slander in Germany but Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday the issue is separate from the migrant deal.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said dialogue is the only way to tackle the issues with Turkey such as the row over a satirist who insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thierry Charlier (AFP/File)

"I cannot understand at all that a German ambassador is summoned for an admittedly difficult satirical song," Juncker told the lawmakers in the French city of Strasbourg.

"That does not bring Turkey closer to us, but will put us farther away from each other," said Juncker, the head of the European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation EU.

German prosecutors last week opened a preliminary probe against comedian Jan Boehmermann, 35, who accused Erdogan of having sex with goats and sheep while gleefully admitting he was flouting Germany's legal limits on free speech.

The comedian was reacting to Ankara's decision to summon Germany's ambassador in protest last month over a previous satirical song broadcast on German TV which lampooned Erdogan in far tamer language.

Turkey's request to punish the satirist gave the affair a far broader diplomatic dimension and exposed Merkel to criticism she was kowtowing to Erdogan.

Juncker said Europe would stick to its guns.

"One thing is clear to me: no matter how important the work for refugees may be, our values on press freedom and fundamental values do not change," Juncker said.

But he added: "Dialogue will help us tackle these issues with Turkey."

The EU and Turkey sealed a deal in Brussels on March 18 to ease Europe's biggest refugee crisis since the end of World War II, under which all migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey will be turned back.

For its cooperation, Turkey won an acceleration of its long-stalled bid for EU membership, the doubling of refugee aid to six billion euros ($6.8 billion) and visa-free travel for its nationals to Europe's Schengen passport-free zone by June.

But EU officials said they would hold Turkey to EU press freedom and other standards in the accession talks.
Jordan security services 'shut Muslim Brotherhood HQ'

Jordanian security services on Wednesday closed the Amman headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's main opposition force, which denounced the move as politically motivated.

Previously tolerated for decades in Jordan, the Brotherhood has had tense relations with the authorities since the Arab Spring uprisings that shook the region in 2011.

"Jordanian security searched the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and evacuated it before sealing off the entrance with red wax," said a lawyer for the group, Abdelkader al-Khatib.

Jordanians check the main entrance of the Muslim Brotherhood's office in Amman, which was shut by police on April 13, 2016 Khailil Mazraawi (AFP)

"This is clearly a political decision in line with what is happening in the region," he added.

A security source told AFP that the movement's headquarters were "closed on the order of the governor of the capital as the Brotherhood did not obtain legal authorisation" for its activities.

The authorities view the Brotherhood as an illegal organisation because its licence was not renewed in accordance with a political parties law adopted in 2014.

The Jordanian branch of the movement, which was formed in Egypt in 1928 and has affiliates across the region, has wide grassroots support in the kingdom.

The intervention of the security services "has the sole purpose of influencing the upcoming elections and results", Khatib said.

Jordan is expected to hold legislative elections by early next year. The Brotherhood boycotted previous elections in 2013 and 2010, crying foul.

Other governments in the region, particularly the Gulf monarchies, are also deeply suspicious of the Brotherhood, fearing that its brand of grass-roots activism and political Islam could undermine their authority.

The Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, Badi al-Rafaia, said that security forces had on Wednesday also closed its offices in Jerash, a city 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Amman.

The measures were "without justification" and taken against "a moderate movement that is very popular and active in elections", he said.

Jordan was becoming "a hostage to what is happening in the region", said the spokesman.

The Brotherhood's second-in-command in Jordan, Zaki Bani Rsheid, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in February 2015 for criticising a decision by the United Arab Emirates to blacklist the organisation.

In Egypt, it has been blacklisted as a "terrorist group" and the authorities have cracked down hard on its members, including ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi who has been sentenced to death.

Hundreds of Morsi's supporters have been killed and tens of thousands jailed since he was ousted by the army in 2013.

The Jordanian branch of the Brotherhood accuses the authorities of trying to exploit divisions within the organisation.

Last year, the government authorised the formation of a breakaway group known as the Muslim Brotherhood Association.

Analysts said that recognition of the new group risked fanning discontent among the traditional opposition power base at a time when the kingdom is battling jihadists in neighbouring Iraq and Syria.

Jordan joined the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in 2014 and enjoyed a groundswell of public support for air raids on the jihadists after one of its captured pilots was burned alive in a cage in January last year.
World's first Tiananmen museum to close doors in Hong Kong

The world's first museum dedicated to China's Tiananmen Square crackdown is to close its doors in Hong Kong, with organisers saying they believe they are being targeted for political reasons.

It comes at a time when concerns are growing in the semi-autonomous Chinese city that Beijing is tightening its grip.

There has been keen interest in the museum from mainland tourists. Half of the more than 20,000 total visitors since it launched in 2014 have come from mainland China, where all reference to the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters is banned.

The June 4th Museum in Hong Kong was the world's first museum dedicated to China's Tiananmen Square crackdown and mainland tourists showed a keen interest, representing more than half of the 20,000 total visitors since its doors opened in 2014 Isaac Lawrence (AFP/File)

The June 4 Memorial Hall is run by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which also organises the city's huge Tiananmen anniversary vigil each year.

Tenants in the commercial building housing the museum say it breaches regulations because the premises should only be used for offices, according to legal documents seen by AFP.

"I tend to believe they are politically motivated... the other side seem to have unlimited resources," said lawmaker Albert Ho, chairman of the Alliance.

Museum organisers say they cannot afford to continue the protracted legal battle -- the tenants have been pursuing the issue since it first opened.

The current venue will close by year-end and organisers are seeking bigger premises. If they fail to find somewhere in time, the exhibits will be put in storage.

Multiple requests for an interview with tenants' committee officials went unanswered.

One tenant complained to AFP that visitors to the museum "jammed" elevators during peak hours, but others said they were not aware of a public museum in their building.

The crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, is branded a "counter-revolutionary rebellion" by Chinese authorities and many on the mainland remain unaware of it.

Pro-Beijing groups protested when the museum first opened, saying it presented a skewed version of events.

Venue organisers claim visitors have felt "harassed" by security guards who ask them to present their personal information.

The 800-square-foot (74 sq m) museum is in the commercial district of East Tsim Sha Tsui and features video clips and photographs.

There is also a two-metre tall statue of the Goddess of Democracy, similar to one erected at Tiananmen Square during the protests.

Beijing has never given an official death toll for the Tiananmen crackdown, which was condemned worldwide, but independent observers tallied more than 1,000 dead.

Hong Kong enjoys freedoms unseen on the mainland, enshrined in a deal made before Britain handed it back to China in 1997. But there are growing fears those freedoms are being eroded.
Iraq parliament chaos prevents cabinet vote

An emergency session of Iraq's parliament descended into chaos on Wednesday, preventing a vote on a new cabinet amid a row over political blocs controlling key government posts.

Lawmakers argued and hurled water bottles at each other in the parliament hall, forcing a recess, MPs told AFP.

The political row comes at a critical time for Iraq, which is battling to regain more territory from the Islamic State jihadist group, and Washington has expressed concern that the cabinet dispute could distract from that fight.

Iraqi security forces stand guard outside the parliament in Baghdad on April 13, 2016 during a sit-in by lawmakers Sabah Arar (AFP)

Iraq is also struggling with a major financial crisis caused by low oil prices combined with inefficiency and corruption, and US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter plans to discuss Gulf states providing economic aid to Iraq during an upcoming trip to the region.

Dozens of lawmakers held an overnight sit-in at parliament to protest efforts by influential political blocs to maintain control of ministries, prompting speaker Salim al-Juburi to convene Wednesday's session.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who wants the cabinet to include technocrats instead of party-affiliated ministers, presented a list of nominees at the end of March.

But the blocs put forward their own candidates and most of Abadi's were replaced on a second list distributed to lawmakers on Tuesday.

Some MPs demanded the opportunity to vote on Abadi's original list -- from which at least two candidates had already withdrawn -- but the session was adjourned Tuesday without a vote on either the old or the new lists.

Angry scenes continued on Wednesday when MPs threw water bottles and shouted at each other, two lawmakers said.

Earlier in the day, an AFP journalist saw around 80 members of parliament taking part in a sit-in inside the parliament hall, some of whom chanted: "Yes yes to reform, no no to (political) quotas!"

Thin mattresses on which lawmakers slept were spread outside the entrance to the hall.

- 'Discrediting Abadi' -

"More than 50 MPs from all the political blocs" took part in the overnight sit-in, said lawmaker Iskander Witwit.

All of this is bad news for Abadi, who has already been repeatedly criticised as being a weak premier.

"This circus in parliament was led by Maliki surrogates, so of course this was just theatre," said Kirk Sowell, a Jordan-based political risk analyst who is the publisher of Inside Iraqi Politics, referring to supporters of Abadi's predecessor Nuri al-Maliki.

"Undermining, further discrediting Abadi, and Juburi for working with him, was the goal. And in that regard they've had some success," Sowell said.

Iraqi ministries have for years been shared out between powerful political parties that run them as their personal fiefdoms, relying on them for patronage and funds.

But even if the current cabinet line-up is replaced with independent, technocratic ministers -- a change that faces major obstacles -- that would only be the beginning of the process.

Ministries are packed with lower-level employees appointed on the basis of party and sectarian affiliation, and replacing them would face serious resistance.

Technocratic ministers would also lack the political cover afforded by party affiliation, and could face threats by armed groups opposed to changes they proposed.

Abadi called in February for "fundamental" change to the cabinet so that it includes "professional and technocratic figures and academics".

That kicked off the latest chapter in a months-long saga of Abadi proposing various reforms that parties and politicians with interests in the existing system have sought to delay or undermine.

Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr later took up the demand for a technocratic government, organising a two-week sit-in that put Abadi under pressure to act, but also supported the course of action he wanted to take.

Sadr relented after Abadi presented his first list of nominees at the end of March, but has yet to react to the most recent developments in efforts to replace the cabinet.

Salim al-Juburi, Iraqi Parliament speaker, in the hall outside the parliament in Baghdad on April 13, 2016 Sabah Arar (AFP)
ICC's failure to try top Kenyan leaders spells 'doom': ex-PM

The ICC's failure to try top Kenyan leaders for crimes against humanity in the country's worst violence since independence spells "doom" for global efforts to fight impunity, former Kenyan leader Raila Odinga told AFP.

Despite this setback, African countries must not quit the International Criminal Court as the continent is "the biggest violator currently of human rights", the ex-prime minister said.

War crimes judges dropped cases against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta -- the son of the country's independence leader Jomo Kenyatta -- at the end of 2014, and against deputy president William Ruto last week.

Raila Odinga, former prime minister of Kenya, was jailed for eight years in the 1980s because of his fight for a multi-party democracy Simon Maina (AFP/File)

More than 1,300 people died and some 600,000 others were left homeless after disputed elections in 2007 in Kenya's worst wave of violence since independence from Britain in 1963.

But the ICC said it was forced to declare the defendants had no case to answer because of a "relentless" campaign of witness intimidation as well as Nairobi's refusal to cooperate, a charge that Kenya denies.

"This decision spells doom for the international justice system and fight against impunity," Odinga -- who was declared the runner-up in the 2007 vote -- said in an interview during a visit to Paris.

Now, he regretted: "No African head of state need to fear being tried by the ICC because you can destroy the evidence, you can kill witnesses."

- 'ICC was blackmailed' -

"ICC allowed itself to be blackmailed by Kenya through the AU (African Union) that African states are going to pull out because you are trying African heads of state," said Odinga, 71.

Kenya has led a high-profile campaign against the ICC among African nations, accusing the tribunal of bias against the continent.

Of the nine investigations the court has opened so far, eight are African -- Kenya, Ivory Coast, Libya, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Uganda, Mali and Georgia.

The 2007 post-election violence in Kenya broke out after Odinga, who was then the opposition leader and a member of the Luo ethnic group accused then president Mwai Kibaki, a Kikuyu, of rigging his way to re-election.

What began as political riots quickly turned into ethnic killings of the Kikuyu people, who in turn launched reprisal attacks.

Odinga said that since the ICC dropped charges against Kenyatta and his co-accused, "it was good that Ruto was set free" as a matter of fairness between the opposing camps.

- No 'double standards' -

Odinga said African countries' abysmal rights record was all the more reason for them to remain in the ICC.

"There is no alternative mechanism in Africa to deal with these cases and secondly Africa is the biggest violator currently of human rights," he said.

"Africa needs ICC more than any part of the world," he said.

The world must not view or treat Africa differently, he said, because the continent "is part and parcel of the international community and must be made to comply with the international standards as far as democracy is concerned.

Son of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, a prominent figure in the independence struggle and political foe of Jomo Kenyatta, Raila Odinga was jailed for eight years in the 1980s because of his fight for a multi-party democracy.

"There are certain tenets of democracy which are universal, you cannot have double standards, that this is not good for Europe but for Africa it's okay," he said.

Odinga also rang alarm bells on veteran African rulers forcing constitutional amendments to extend their decades-old rule, often marked by rampant rights abuses and sweeping corruption and nepotism.

Robert Mugabe, 92, has been in power in Zimbabwe since it gained independence from Britain in 1980 and shows no signs of stepping down, Teodoro Obiang Nguema has ruled oil-rich Equatorial Guinea with an iron fist for 36 years while Jose Eduardo dos Santos has steered Angola since 1979.

"We are seeing the emergence of strongman presidencies and almost presidents for life where time limits of terms are being changed for presidents to remain for life," he said.

Despite "several changes (that) took place in the early 1990s (to) open up fixed-term limits... there are places where elections are almost just a formality," said Odinga, who appears to be mulling a fourth bid for the presidency next year after losing to Kenyatta in 2013, a result he strongly disputed.

Asked about detractors who say he is too old to make a fourth bid for the presidency, Odinga pointed to his "agemates" running for the Democratic nomination to stand for the US presidency, Bernie Sanders, 74, and Hillary Clinton, 68.

"I don't know why people think I am old."

War crimes judges dropped cases against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (R) at the end of 2014, and against deputy president William Ruto (L) last week Simon Maina (AFP/File)

A protester runs away from Kenyan police in Nairobi in December 2007 -- more than 1,300 people died and some 600,000 others were left homeless after disputed elections in 2007 Roberto Schmidt (AFP/File)
IS group's 'cause is lost', Obama says

The Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria is on the defensive and "their cause is lost," US President Barack Obama said Wednesday after meeting with CIA chiefs and other security officials.

Obama paid a rare visit to CIA headquarters in Virginia to discuss progress of Operation Inherent Resolve, the 20-month-old US-led campaign against IS jihadists in Iraq and Syria.

"ISIL is on the defensive, and we are on the offensive," Obama said, using an IS acronym. "We have momentum, and we intend to keep that momentum."

US President Barack Obama speaks alongside Vice President Joe Biden (R) and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson (L) at CIA Headquarters on April 13, 2016 Saul Loeb (AFP)

Obama pointed to recent US air strikes that killed three senior IS leaders and a report this week showing the group's ranks are at their lowest level since 2014.

"In the days and weeks ahead we intend to take out more (leaders.) Every day, ISIL leaders wake up and understand it could be their last," Obama said.

"Their ranks of fighters are estimated to be at the lowest levels in two years and more and more are realizing that their cause is lost," he added.

Obama stressed the importance of ending the five-year civil war in Syria as key to facilitating a lasting defeat of the IS group.

"So we continue to work for a diplomatic end to this awful conflict," he said.

Earlier Wednesday, Baghdad-based spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said the US-led coalition campaign had successfully entered the second "phase" of operations.

The coalition is working through three main steps as it wages its 20-month-old fight against the IS group, Warren said.

"Our enemy has been weakened and we now are working to fracture him. Phase one of the military campaign is complete," Warren told Pentagon reporters, noting that this initial step was to "degrade" the IS group by stopping it from making additional territorial gains.

"We are now in phase two, which is to dismantle this enemy," he added.

Warren said the final phase of the campaign is to ensure the IS group is dealt a lasting defeat, primarily by enabling local forces to prevent a resurgence of jihadist influence.

Though the IS group maintains a firm grip on vast areas of the two countries, the jihadists have suffered some serious setbacks including the loss of Ramadi in Iraq.

"While ISIL can still put together some complex attacks, they have not been able to take hold of any key terrain for almost a year now," Warren said.

Islamic States group in Syria and Iraq Jean Michel CORNU, Jonathan JACOBSEN (AFP)
Polls close in Sudan's rebel-boycotted Darfur vote

Polls closed across Sudan's Darfur late Wednesday after a referendum on the restive region's status, with officials hailing the vote as a success despite international criticism and a rebel boycott.

Polling centres closed at 6.00 pm (1500 GMT) at the end of the three-day referendum to decide whether to unite Darfur's five states into a single, autonomous region, with a handful of voters coming to cast their votes late.

"The centres are closed now and the operation went well," said Omar Ali Jomaa, head of the referendum commission.

Sudanese election staff seal a ballot box at a polling station in North Darfur's state capital El Fasher, as the polls close on April 13, 2016 Ashraf Shazly (AFP)

The commission did yet not have turnout figures as many centres were in remote areas where communication is difficult, he told AFP.

Insurgents who since 2003 have battled the government of President Omar al-Bashir -- wanted on war crimes charges related to Darfur's conflict -- boycotted the referendum.

A single, autonomous region has long been a demand of the rebels but they said ongoing unrest in Darfur meant the vote would be unfair.

Bashir, whose ruling National Congress Party supported the five-state system, insisted the ballot take place as it was stipulated in a 2011 peace agreement signed with some rebel groups.

Washington and Paris had criticised the election, saying conditions in the region meant the result might not be credible.

Heavy clashes between troops and the Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdulwahid Nur in the Marra mountain range at the heart of Darfur have forced at least 100,000 people to flee their homes since mid-January, the United Nations says.

Ethnic minority rebels mounted an insurgency against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum 13 years ago, complaining the region was being marginalised.
US judge to rule in days on FIFA trial date

The US federal judge overseeing the sweeping FIFA corruption scandal said Wednesday that he would rule within days whether to set a date for trial while evidence still pours in.

US government prosecutors have proposed what they call an "aggressive but achievable" schedule that would work towards jury selection beginning on February 27, 2017 in New York.

But underscoring the enormity of the case, in which eight defendants in the United States have pleaded not guilty and extradition requests are pending for another nine, Judge Raymond Dearie heard objections from defense lawyers during a 25-minute hearing Wednesday.

Eduardo Li of Costa Rica, leaves the Court of the Eastern District in Brooklyn New York on April 13, 2016 Kena Betancur (AFP)

Lawyers for one defendant said the February date was "just not workable," while another called for an accelerated schedule.

The legal team of Costa Rica's Eduardo Li proposed at least a one-month delay, estimating that the amount of data in the case ranged from 700 million to 900 million pages.

Under the government's proposed schedule, evidence in the case would be submitted to the court by June 30.

But prosecutors admitted Wednesday that while they expected to turn over evidence currently in their possession by then, they expected more data to come in before and after June 30.

Dearie said he had an obligation to move ahead when the eight defendants, who are under house arrest in the United States, were under "considerable restraint" away from home and presumed innocent.

"I will have an order out before the end of the week," he said, with reference to setting a trial date.

Six of the eight defendants attended the hearing, sitting in the jury box with other seats in court taken up by the large number of lawyers.

US marketing executive Aaron Davidson and Paraguay's Juan Angel Napout were absent. In court were Brazil's Jose Maria Marin, Li, Hector Trujillo and Brayan Jimenez from Guatemala, Rafael Esquivel from Venezuela and Costas Takkas, a dual British-Greek citizen.

The court scheduled the next hearing for August 3.

In all, 40 officials and marketing executives accused of soliciting and receiving tens of millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks in a case that has sparked an unprecedented crisis at FIFA.
Kenyan rape victims of post-poll violence seek justice

Eight Kenyans sexually assaulted during sweeping post election violence in 2007-08 appealed in court Wednesday for the government to take action to ensure justice.

The group of six women and two men filed a petition at Kenya's High Court demanding the government address cases of sexual violence during unrest after disputed elections in which some 1,200 people died.

It was Kenya's worst wave of violence since independence from Britain in 1963.

Victims of sexual violence outside the High Court on April 13, 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya prior to attending their trial to compel the government to address post-election violence in 2007-08 Tony Karumba (AFP)

The hearing comes a week after charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Deputy President William Ruto were dropped, as also happened to crimes against humanity charges against President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Both cases were littered with allegations of witness intimidation, bribery and false testimony.

The Kenyans, who are seeking "truth, justice and reparations from the state", have asked the court to find that the violence carried out were crimes against humanity - and that the government must therefore ensure all efforts are made to prosecute those responsible.

Some 50 supporters who said they also suffered sexual or other violence held banners outside the court in support of the case.

"The survivors want the truth about what happened to them known; and they want the state to acknowledge that they suffered," the group said in a statement.

"We stand in solidarity with eight survivors who were brutally gang-raped and forcibly circumcised," the statement said, adding that they were an "emblematic representation of thousands of other women, girls, men and boys who suffered similar violations."

Only a handful of people have been prosecuted for the 2007-08 violence. After charges were dropped against Ruto, the government repeated promises to ensure victims of the violence are compensated.

"We now ask all Kenyans of goodwill and citizens of the world elsewhere to join our voices in our demands for justice," the victims' statement read.

"Victims and survivors cannot live on the repetition of hollow political promises and empty rhetoric  our lives are at a standstill. We deserve justice, and the need for us, too, to reach closure over what happened to us has never been more urgent."

The case, which first opened on March 2014, continues.

Kenyatta and Ruto are due on Saturday to address a rally in the central Kenyan town of Nakuru, at a reconciliation and thanksgiving prayer service following the ICC ruling.

Kenya's next elections are due on August 8, 2017, and many see Saturday's rally as the first step of their campaign for reelection.
US warns of global attack on freedom, slams some allies

Governments around the world are cracking down on basic freedoms, the United States warned Wednesday, in a report that did not spare key US allies like Turkey and Egypt.

Secretary of State John Kerry, writing the preface to his department's annual human rights report, said attacks on democratic values point to a "global governance crisis."

The report complained that Washington's main global rivals Russia and China are cracking down on civil society and pro-democracy groups.

A demonstrator holds a placard reading "Free Press Free Society", outside the Istanbul courthouse on April 1, 2016 Ozan Kose (AFP/File)

But it also pointed the finger at some US partners, with language that can be expected to rile several authoritarian leaders.

"The norms referred to in these reports are universal norms," Kerry said. "They are not some arbitrary standard of the United States which we seek to impose on people.

"These are universal standards of human rights that have been adopted and accepted and are agreed to by most nations in the world," he said, at the launch of the report.

Kerry argued that respecting human rights does not weaken a government and that repressing citizens opens the door to the growth of violent extremism.

"The government that fails to respect human rights, no matter how lofty its pretensions, has very little to boast about, to teach," he argued.

The report, compiled on a country-by-country basis by US diplomats, has no legal implications for US policy.

A critical writeup does not compel Washington to cut ties or military aid to rights abusers or to impose sanctions upon them.

But Kerry argued that the detailed report -- the 40th his agency has produced -- would strengthen US determination to promote what he called fundamental freedoms.

"Some look at these events and fear democracy is in retreat," he said, writing in the preface to the report.

"In fact, they are a reaction to the advance of democratic ideals, to rising demands of people from every culture and region for governments that answer to them."

As might be expected, the report is critical of US rivals like Russia and China -- where it says civil rights groups face increasing repression -- and of foes like Iran and North Korea, where citizens face extrajudicial killings and torture.

Tom Malinowski, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, said Moscow and Beijing's crackdowns on dissent sent a bad message to other powers.

- Journalism and terrorism -

Referring to Moscow's attempts to close or control civil society groups, Malinowski said "we see determined efforts to legislate and end to freedom of association."

He complained that Moscow treats Russians campaigning against torture or for free elections as if they are traitors and that Chinese law conflates peaceful activism and journalism with terrorism, through legislation.

"That is of particular concern because those practices are much more likely to be copied in other countries," he said.

But the report also paints a grim picture of the situation in some allied countries, including NATO member Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has cracked down on opposition media and arrested several leading journalists.

"The government has used anti-terror laws as well as a law against insulting the president to stifle legitimate political discourse and investigative journalism," the report says.

It accuses Turkey of "prosecuting journalists and ordinary citizens and driving opposition media outlets out of business or bringing them under state control."

And, while denouncing the violence of the "PKK terrorist group," the report accuses Turkish security forces of excesses of its own, citing "credible allegations that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings."

The report will anger Erdogan, who visited Washington last month and denied that there had been any crackdown on free expression in his country, even as his security detail tried to expel opposition journalists from the think tank hosting his speech.

Egypt, which receives $1.5 billion in US military aid despite President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi authoritarian style of rule, also faced stern criticism.

"There were instances of persons tortured to death and other allegations of killings in prisons and detention centers," the report says, citing reports from rights groups and the United Nations that hundreds of Egyptians have gone missing since the 2011 revolution.

Egypt which receives $1.5 billion dollars in US military aid despite President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi authoritarian style of rule Mohamed el-Shahed (AFP/File)
Canada under fire over Saudi arms sale

Canada's Liberal government refused to back down Wednesday in the face of growing criticism for having greenlit arms sales to Saudi Arabia that could help it wage war in Yemen.

A previous Conservative administration announced the $12 billion sale of light armored vehicles in February 2014.

However, the Conservatives are now raising alarms over the arms sale -- believed to be the largest in Canadian history -- while the New Democratic Party (NDP) accused the Liberals of misleading Canadians.

Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion, pictured on January 29, 2016, signed crucial export permits for arms to Saudi Arabia Florence Cassisi (AFP/File)

The Liberals have refused to cancel the sale since coming to power in November, saying it was a "done deal" that could not be broken off without possibly incurring significant penalties and job losses.

But documents released this week by the justice department in response to a lawsuit seeking to block the deal showed Foreign Minister Stephane Dion signed crucial export permits only last Friday.

Canadian media published excerpts saying Dion was advised that the sale of the vehicles equipped with machine guns and anti-tank weapons would help Riyadh in its efforts at "countering instability in Yemen" and fighting the Islamic State group.

In a retort to critics, Dion said Wednesday that similar weapons systems sold to Saudi Arabia since 1993 had been used responsibly.

"The best and updated information indicates that Saudi Arabia has not misused the equipment to violate human rights," he told reporters. "Nor has the equipment been used in a manner contrary to the strategic interests of Canada and its allies."

But Conservative MP Tony Clement said Canada's export controls do not require firm evidence of breaches, only an assessment of a risk of abuse.

"If the preponderance of the evidence is that it could be used against civilian populations... then the deal has to be off," he said.

NDP leader Thomas Mulcair joined the fray saying, "the government lied to Canadians about who signed what when in the Saudi arms deal, and that is a very serious matter."
North Charleston mayor, police chief reject rally invitation

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP)  A South Carolina mayor and the police chief in a city where a former white police officer is charged with murder in the shooting of a black man are declining invitations to attend a rally about local police practices a year after the death.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reports (http://bit.ly/23raVWx ) about 2,000 people are expected at next Monday's rally sponsored by the Charleston Area Justice Ministry.

North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey isn't opposed to dialogue but he and Police Chief Eddie Driggers met with 50 members of the group last month in a session that became a rebuke of city officials, city spokesman Ryan Johnson said.

Former North Charleston officer Michael Slager awaits trial for murder in the shooting of Walter Scott, who was running from a traffic stop.

The Rev. Charles Heyward of St. James Presbyterian Church said the refusal by city leaders to attend the rally runs counter to the suggestion the city is working to improve community relations.

"Though they say they want to build trust and parity and transparency, their actions are very clear that they do not intend to do so," Heyward said.

Johnson said the justice ministry's "tactics and insular views are unfortunately unavailing." He said going into the March 22 meeting, Summey hoped it would "result in a robust dialogue."

But Johnson said "the end result was a complete rebuke of North Charleston public officials and chastising of the entire police department" and there is no indication next week's meeting will be any different.

Driggers said his decision has nothing to do with the police department's commitment to work on building community trust. Instead, he said, it is based on what he called the justice ministry's "bullying tactics and their sheer disregard to treat folks with common decency."

The group is calling for a reduction in the number of contact stops in which motorists are stopped but no citations written.

The newspaper reports that between 2010 and 2014, North Charleston Police stopped motorists about 146,000 times without writing citations, the most in the state. In a city where the population is 47 percent black, 65 percent of those stopped were black.

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Stephen Hawking joins bid to seek life with tiny spacecraft

NEW YORK (AP)  With famed physicist Stephen Hawking at his side, an Internet investor announced Tuesday that he's spending $100 million on a futuristic plan to explore far outside our solar system.

Yuri Milner said the eventual goal is sending hundreds or thousands of tiny spacecraft, each weighing far less than an ounce, to the Alpha Centauri star system. That's more than 2,000 times as far as any spacecraft has gone so far. The three stars that make up Alpha Centauri are the closest stars to our star, the sun.

Propelled by energy from a powerful array of Earth-based lasers, the spacecraft would fly at about one-fifth the speed of light. They could reach Alpha Centauri in 20 years, where they could make observations and send the results back to Earth.

Cosmologist Stephen Hawking, left, joined by a group of of scientist including Princeton physicist Freeman Dyson, right, announce the new Breakthrough Initiative focusing on space exploration and the search for life in the universe, during a press conference, Tuesday, April 12, 2016, at One World Observatory in New York. The $100 million project is aimed at establishing the feasibility of sending a swarm of tiny spacecraft, each weighing far less than an ounce, to the Alpha Centauri star system. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

They might discover a planet or planets there  experts think there may be some, but there's no proven sighting yet  and possibly even find signs of life there or elsewhere, said Milner and a panel of experts at the announcement.

"We commit to the next great leap into the cosmos," Hawking said, "because we are human and our nature is to fly."

The project was announced on the 55th anniversary of the flight of Russian Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. Milner was named after him.

Hawking has joined Milner and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on the board of the project, called Breakthrough Starshot, which includes a team of scientists. Milner said his $100 million will go to establish the feasibility of the project, and that a launch itself would require far more money.

Hawking is also part of a project Milner announced last year to use earthbound telescopes to seek intelligent life in outer space.

For the Starshot project, the tiny spacecraft would be boosted into space by a conventional rocket and then set free individually. They would capture the energy from the earthbound laser array with sails a few yards wide. Milner said recent advances in electronic miniaturization, laser technology and fabrication of extremely thin and light materials have made such a mission realistic to consider.

"We can do more than gaze at the stars," Milner said. "We can actually reach them."

Avi Loeb, chair of Harvard's astronomy department and member of the Starshot project's management and advisory committee, told reporters that scientists have scrutinized the technical obstacles and "we don't see any showstoppers. ... We think we can overcome all these challenges."

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Online:

Project website: http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Initiative/3

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AP science writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this story.

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Follow Malcolm Ritter at http://twitter.com/malcolmritter His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/malcolm-ritter

Harvard physicist Avi Loeb, left, listens as former NASA astronaut Dr. Mae C. Jemison, speaks during a press conference where scientists announced a new breakthrough initiative focusing on space exploration and the search for life in the universe, Tuesday April 12, 2016, at One World Observatory in New York. The $100 million project is aimed at establishing the feasibility of sending a swarm of tiny spacecraft, each weighing far less than an ounce, to the Alpha Centauri star system. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Internet investor and science philanthropist Yuri Milner, left, and renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking, right, seated in a speech adaptive wheelchair, discuss the new Breakthrough Initiative focusing on space exploration and the search for life in the universe, during a press conference, Tuesday, April 12, 2016, at One World Observatory in New York. The $100 million project is aimed at establishing the feasibility of sending a swarm of tiny spacecraft, each weighing far less than an ounce, to the Alpha Centauri star system. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Internet investor and science philanthropist Yuri Milner, and a panel of scientists including renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking, second from left, Princeton physicist Freeman Dyson, science author Ann Druyan, center, Harvard physicist Avi Loeb, third from right, NASA astronaut Dr. Mae C. Jemison, second from right, and former NASA director Pete Worden, far right, announce the new Breakthrough Initiative focusing on space exploration and the search for life in the universe, during a press conference, Tuesday, April 12, 2016, at One World Observatory in New York. The $100 million project is aimed at establishing the feasibility of sending a swarm of tiny spacecraft, each weighing far less than an ounce, to the Alpha Centauri star system. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Husband of woman shot at Kansas Jewish site sues gun sellers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)  The husband of one of the three people killed by a white supremacist at two Jewish sites in suburban Kansas City has sued over the sale of the shotguns used in the April 2014 attack.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Jackson County Circuit Court by Jim LaManno, names Wal-Mart and several other entities, The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/1qMLE89 ) reported.

Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., 75, of Aurora, was sentenced to death last year for the shooting that killed LaManno's wife, Terri, 53, at the Village Shalom retirement home in Overland Park, Kansas. William Corporon, 69, and his 14-year-old grandson, Reat Underwood, were killed at the nearby Jewish Community Center.

The victims' family and friends gathered at the Jewish center Tuesday to dedicate a memorial, part of a weeklong series of events meant to foster kindness and interfaith dialogue.

The memorial includes a sculpture attached to an outside wall of the center, featuring three waves of intertwined steel strands that cast different reflections as the sun moves. The theme, "Ripples," is meant to reflect how the victims' lives affected others and that all people are interconnected. The memorial also includes a plaque with pictures of the three victims.

"Hate has no place here," Ace Allen, board chairman of the center, told the nearly 80 people at Tuesday's ceremony. "We honor them by doing the opposite of destroying, by building, by creating."

Mindy Corporon, mother of one victim and the daughter of another, read from a journal entry that recalled the tragedy as a "loud explosion that rocked our world. As we pick ourselves up from the rubble, we look for survivors like us. Here we stand, walk and pray. But not alone. Together."

Jim LaManno's lawsuit alleges that Miller, who was a felon and prohibited from purchasing guns, used two weapons that were purchased by friend John Mark Reidle: one at a gun show and the other at Wal-Mart.

Reidle, also of Aurora, was sentenced earlier this year to five years of probation for falsely claiming he was buying one of the shotguns for himself on a federal form that was filed out at a Missouri Wal-Mart just days before the shooting. Miller claimed the gun was a present for his son and asked Reidle to fill out the form, according to the plea agreement. Reidle told investigators that Miller asked for help with the purchase because he didn't have any identification with him.

Wal-Mart didn't respond to an email Tuesday from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The suit also said Reidle and Miller attended a Springfield gun show in October 2013, where Reidle bought one or more firearms. Based on the men's remarks and behavior, the suit says, employees at Friendly Firearms LLC "knew, had reason to know, or recklessly failed to know that Miller was not lawfully entitled to purchase or possess a firearm."

The phone number for Friendly Firearms rang unanswered Tuesday.

Miller has said it was his duty to stop genocide against the white race. None of the victims was Jewish.

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Wilder weather means tricky times for reservoir operators

BOISE, Idaho (AP)  Wilder swings in weather patterns in the past decade are making it trickier to keep reservoirs filled for irrigation and power generation while also avoiding the risk of flooding homes downstream, some Pacific Northwest reservoir operators say.

Reservoir management plans that dictate how much water is stored or released are based on decades of weather and snowmelt information. Conditions far outside the norm  such as early snowmelt due to warmth or rain instead of snow during winter  can skew calculations that are used to make water predictions.

"We're struggling at this point with weather patterns," said Joel Fenolio, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers senior water manager for the Upper Columbia, which includes eastern Washington, northern Idaho, western Montana and British Columbia.

In this photo taken Monday, April 11, 2016, a visitor to the Lucky Peak dam in Boise, Idaho, stops to take a picture. Wilder swings in weather patterns in the past decade are making it trickier to keep reservoirs filled for irrigation and power generation while also avoiding the risk of flooding homes downstream, some Pacific Northwest reservoir operators say. Kyle Green/Idaho Statesman via AP) LOCAL TELEVISION OUT (KTVB 7); MANDATORY CREDIT

Still, "I'm not convinced that the correlations are completely breaking down yet," Fenolio said. "Maybe in five years we'll have a better idea."

On the eastern side of the Continental Divide, nine of the 10 highest runoff years in the Missouri River Basin have occurred since 1970, said Jody Farhat, the corps' northwestern water management division chief for the basin.

That includes an unusual combination of weather events in 2011 that overwhelmed the system leading to widespread flooding. That was followed the next year by what the agency calls a "flash drought" due to lack of water. Farhat makes decisions about water releases on six dams on the Missouri River in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.

"These wild swings between wet and dry with no advance warning seems to be more common than at any time in the past if you look at the historic record," Farhat said.

She said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working on a study, due out late this year, trying to better understand the reasons for the weather events and variability, and how they might factor into future decisions.

April and the months surrounding it are crunch time for reservoir managers trying to fill reservoirs so farmers can get enough water to grow crops through the summer, yet leave enough room so an unexpected rapid snowmelt won't force large releases that would surpass flood stage levels downstream.

The formula guiding managers includes snowpack and reservoir levels, which are known, but how much new precipitation might arrive and in what form with spring storms is hard to predict.

One noticeable change in weather patterns is that snowmelt due to warmer weather is occurring earlier in the year, said Jay Breidenbach, a Boise-based National Weather Service meteorologist who works with reservoir managers.

"The peak stream flow seems to be earlier than it was 20, 30 years ago," Breidenbach said.

In 2015 in much of the Northwest, peak stream flows occurred in February, a month early.

"We got so much more rain than snow," said Tim Merrick, a spokesman for the U.S. Geological Survey in Idaho. "That seems to be the trend throughout the West."

When summer arrived in 2015, the lack of snowpack in Idaho led to many streams in the state recording record low flows on specific days of the year. But with a good snowpack this year, gauges on some Idaho rivers in April have been recording record high flows for specific days.

In the Columbia River Basin that includes large portions of Washington state, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and British Columbia, last year's low snowpack and early melt led to low summer flows and warm water that killed 90 percent of the returning sockeye salmon despite attempts to cool the river with releases from northern Idaho's Dworshak Reservoir.

Reservoirs on the Boise River above Boise look good, said Brian Sauer of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which works with irrigators. In fact, Lucky Peak Reservoir is so full, the Army Corps recently took over management and started releasing water to make room for additional water expected to enter the reservoir.

Flows through Boise have risen to the point where portions of a popular walking and biking trail that parallels the river through the city have been inundated.
South Korean president's party suffers election setback

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korean voters handed President Park Geun-hye a stunning political setback by denying her conservative party a majority in the next National Assembly, poll results showed Thursday.

The outcome, which came as a surprise to many, will likely threaten Park's plans to push ahead with controversial economic reforms, including plans to make it easier for companies to lay off workers, and blow open next year's presidential race. The emergence of a new center-left party also ensures further changes to South Korea's political landscape, which had long been shaped by two-party dynamics.

Prior to Wednesday's parliamentary election, pollsters had predicted that the ruling Saenuri Party would crush a divided opposition and raise its expectations to take the presidency in 2017, after Park's single term expires.

A local resident with her child comes out of a polling booth to cast her ballot for parliamentary elections at a polling station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. South Koreans on Wednesday voted in the parliamentary election that many predict will hand President Park Geun-hye's conservative party a decisive win, despite frustrations over a sluggish economy. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

But after all the votes were counted Thursday morning, Saenuri wasn't even the party with the largest number of seats, let alone a majority in the 300-seat assembly.

Saenuri managed to win 122 seats, one less than the main opposition Minjoo Party, which trounced its rival in the capital Seoul and the neighboring metropolitan area, where the two largest parties competed most fiercely.

The People's Party, a new party created mostly by those who left Minjoo, including its former co-chairman and potential presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, won 38 seats after dominating Minjoo in its traditional strongholds in the southwest Jeolla regions.

Saenuri could possibly overtake Minjoo as the largest party in the next assembly if it manages to lure back some of its former lawmakers who left and ran successfully as independents. They left Saenuri after being denied nominations amid a rift between the party's dominant faction loyal to Park and reformists, which analysts say damaged the party's appeal to voters.

There has been disappointment among South Koreans over a sluggish economy, with official figures showing household debt reaching new highs and the unemployment rate for people under 30 reaching levels not seen since the late 1990s, when millions lost their jobs during a crippling financial crisis.

The outcome of the vote indicates that the opposition parties have successfully absorbed conservative voters who have become disappointed with Park. Months before the vote, Minjoo brought in as chairman scholar-turned-politician Kim Chong In, who had advised Park on economic policies during the 2012 presidential campaign. Ahn, the founder of one of South Korea's largest computer software companies, has portrayed himself as a politician whose strength is with economic issues.

The weak showing by Saenuri also shows that voters weren't swayed by national security issues as much as they were before, although surveys taken prior to Wednesday's vote showed strong support for Park's hard-line approach to North Korea following its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

Hostility between the rival Koreas in election years has often been seen as helping the conservatives by allowing them to highlight their hard-line approach against the North. Liberals have traditionally backed rapprochement policies with the North.

The election commission said 58 percent of the country's 42 million voters participated in Wednesday's election, a higher turnout than four years ago, when 54.2 percent of the electorate turned out. It wasn't immediately clear whether larger participation by younger voters, seen as more likely to vote for liberals than voters over 50, contributed to the increase in turnout.

Since losing its second consecutive presidential election in 2012, the Minjoo Party has struggled with factional infighting and lawmaker defections, and saw its seats decline from 127 to 102 in the current assembly.

South Korea's electorate is deeply divided along generational and ideological lines, and also by fierce regional loyalties. Voters in the southeast Gyeongsang regions have for decades overwhelmingly voted for conservatives in parliamentary and presidential elections.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye comes out of a polling booth to cast her ballot for parliamentary elections at a polling station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. South Koreans on Wednesday voted in the parliamentary election that many predict will hand President Park's conservative party a decisive win, despite frustrations over a sluggish economy. (Baek Seung-ryul/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT

A local resident casts her ballot for parliamentary elections at a polling station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. South Koreans on Wednesday voted in the parliamentary election that many predict will hand President Park Geun-hye's conservative party a decisive win, despite frustrations over a sluggish economy. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A boy waits for his mother casting her vote for parliamentary elections at a polling station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. South Koreans on Wednesday voted in the parliamentary election that many predict will hand President Park Geun-hye's conservative party a decisive win, despite frustrations over a sluggish economy. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Local resident Kwon Youn-suck, left, casts his ballot for parliamentary elections at a polling station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. South Koreans on Wednesday voted in the parliamentary election that many predict will hand President Park Geun-hye's conservative party a decisive win, despite frustrations over a sluggish economy. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Local residents wait to cast their ballots for parliamentary elections at a polling station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. South Koreans on Wednesday voted in the parliamentary election that many predict will hand President Park Geun-hye's conservative party a decisive win, despite frustrations over a sluggish economy. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean President Park Geun-hye casts her ballot for parliamentary elections at a polling station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. South Koreans on Wednesday voted in the parliamentary election that many predict will hand President Park's conservative party a decisive win, despite frustrations over a sluggish economy. (Baek Seung-ryul/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT

A local resident comes out of a polling booth to cast his ballot for parliamentary elections at a polling station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. South Koreans on Wednesday voted in the parliamentary election that many predict will hand President Park Geun-hye's conservative party a decisive win, despite frustrations over a sluggish economy. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

South Korean female Buddhists monks line up to cast their ballots for parliamentary elections at a polling station in Ulsan, South Korea, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. South Koreans on Wednesday voted in the parliamentary election that many predict will hand President Park Geun-hye's conservative party a decisive win, despite frustrations over a sluggish economy. (Jang Young-eun/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT
Uber starts motorbike taxi service in Indonesian capital

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Ride-hailing app Uber on Wednesday launched a motorbike taxi service in the Indonesian capital where Southeast Asian rivals Go-Jek and Grab are already battling for dominance.

Jakarta is one of the world's most congested cities and motorbike taxis ordered from a smartphone app have exploded in popularity in the past 18 months as a way to beat snarled traffic.

Uber said that its "UberMotor" service would provide cheap and reliable transportation for hundreds of thousands of people.

FILE - In this March 22, 2016 photo, taxis are lined up during a protest against competition from ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Grab at the main business district in Jakarta, Indonesia. App Uber on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, launched a motorbike taxi service in the Indonesian capital where Southeast Asian rivals Go-Jek and Grab are already battling for dominance. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, File)

The company used a local social media and YouTube star Arief Muhammad to launch its service, saying he was the first person in Jakarta to use an Uber motorcycle taxi.

Both Go-Jek, an Indonesian startup, and Grab, which operates in several Southeast Asian countries, claim to be the biggest provider of motorbike taxi rides in Indonesia.

The popularity of motorbikes and regular taxis ordered from a smartphone has provoked a backlash in the taxi industry.

Thousands of taxi drivers caused traffic chaos in Jakarta last month in a violent protest against what they believe is unfair competition.

Drivers say the apps, which are using funding from venture capitalists to offer heavily discounted fares, have severely reduced their income. The app companies say the transport industry should adapt to new technology.

The Indonesian government is drawing up new regulations to govern transport apps but has so far resisted calls to ban Uber and similar services.

Officials estimate Jakarta's traffic jams cause economic losses of about $3 billion a year.
Painkiller critics take aim at hospital surveys, procedures

WASHINGTON (AP)  Critics of how prescription painkillers are administered in the U.S. are calling on health officials to phase out hospital procedures and questionnaires used to manage pain.

They say the current system inadvertently encourages the overprescribing of addictive drugs like Vicodin and OxyContin, fueling an epidemic of overdoses tied to the opioid medications. Deaths linked to misuse and abuse of prescription opioids increased to nearly 19,000 in 2014, the highest figure on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than five dozen nonprofit groups and medical experts sent a letter Wednesday to the Joint Commission, a nonprofit agency that accredits U.S. hospitals, asking it to revisit its standards for pain management. Only hospitals that have been accredited can receive payments from government plans like Medicare and Medicaid, making the group's standards highly influential.

FILE - This Feb. 19, 2013, file photo, shows OxyContin pills arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. Critics of how prescription painkillers are administered in the U.S. are calling on health officials to phase out hospital procedures and questionnaires used to manage pain. More than five dozen non-profit groups and medical experts sent a letter Wednesday, April 13, 2016, to the Joint Commission, a non-profit agency that accredits U.S. hospitals, asking it to revisit its standards for pain management. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

The letter specifically takes issue with guidelines instructing doctors to ask patients to assess their pain.

"The Pain Management Standards foster dangerous pain control practices, the endpoint of which is often the inappropriate provision of opioids with disastrous adverse consequences for individuals, families and communities," states the letter, which is co-signed by health commissioners from Vermont, Pennsylvania, Alaska and Rhode Island.

The Chicago-based Joint Commission rejected the idea that its standards push clinicians to prescribe opioids. Instead, the group said its standards require doctors to assess patients for pain and manage it.

"The standards do not require the use of drugs to manage a patient's pain; and when a drug is appropriate, the standards do not specify which drug should be prescribed," it said.

The group also stressed that it does not view pain as a "vital sign," a medical mantra often debated by pain specialists and their critics.

Beginning in the 1990s, pain specialists and patient groups encouraged doctors to treat pain a vital sign that should be routinely monitored, alongside biological measures like body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure.

"All pain was viewed as being bad and so it pushed providers too often to over-prescribe opioids," said Dr. Michael Carome of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, one of the groups signing the letter.

Wednesday's effort was spearheaded by Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, which advocates for alternative treatments to opioids, including non-opioid pain relievers, physical therapy and psychotherapy. The group is funded by Phoenix House, a nonprofit chain of addiction treatment centers.

The same coalition filed a petition Wednesday with the federal agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid, the government health programs for the elderly, disabled and poor. The letter asks that officials eliminate certain pain-related questions from patient-satisfaction questionnaires, such as: "During this hospital stay, how often was your pain well controlled?"

The groups argue that such questions inadvertently encourage aggressive use of painkillers to maintain high patient-satisfaction metrics.

"Aggressive management of pain should not be equated with quality health care as it can result in unhelpful and unsafe treatment," states the petition, which calls on the government to release a proposal for a new questionnaire within 90 days.
They love NY: Sanders, Trump and Clinton's New York ties

NEW YORK (AP)  Three presidential candidates call themselves New Yorkers. Bernie Sanders is from Brooklyn, Donald Trump is from Queens, and Hillary Clinton owns a home in Westchester and represented New York in the U.S. Senate. Despite these bonafides, the three contenders have been falling all over themselves to prove how much they love New York as the state's April 19 presidential primary nears. Sanders ate a hot dog on Coney Island, Trump visited the 9/11 museum and donated $100,000 to it, and Clinton rode the subway  though she had to swipe her MetroCard five times to get through the turnstile.

There's a lot more to these candidates' New York stories than campaign stops and photo opportunities. A look at some places connected to these three very different New Yorkers.

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This April 8, 2016 photo shows the entrance to Trump Tower in New York, the luxury tower emblazoned with Donald Trump's name. Trump is one of three presidential candidates touting ties to New York. (AP Photo/Beth Harpaz)

BERNIE SANDERS' NEW YORK

Sanders likes to say his family lived in a 3 1/2-room apartment in a "tenement." If that evokes an image of a crumbling hovel, you might be surprised to learn that Sanders grew up in what appears today to be a perfectly tidy, though modest, six-story beige brick building on East 26th Street in Brooklyn's Midwood neighborhood. Down the block, well-kept single-family homes sport neatly trimmed hedges and flowering trees.

Sanders graduated from nearby James Madison High School. On a recent Friday, Ahmed Khater, 18, a senior, said students were buzzing at the news that Sanders was planning a rally in front of his old building that day. "The word's out there," said Khater, who proudly noted that if Sanders wins the White House, the school will have an alumnus in each branch of government: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer.

Sanders also has campaign offices a few miles away in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, in a nondescript building on Eighth Street with a couple of "Bernie 2016" signs on a rusting fence. Gowanus is named for the Gowanus Canal, an infamous toxic waste site whose cleanup has become something of a cause celebre among the hipsters living nearby in what was once an industrial, working-class area. Ironworks, warehouses and humble row houses still line the canal, but it's also turned trendy with a Whole Foods, upscale restaurants and tech businesses.

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DONALD TRUMP'S NEW YORK

Donald Trump grew up in a stately, 4,000-square-foot (372-square-meter) home with four white columns in Jamaica Estates, Queens. His father, Fred, was a major developer of middle-class housing, with offices on Avenue Z in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. In his book "The Art of the Deal," Donald recalled how thrilling it was for him, as a young man working for his dad, to move into his own Manhattan apartment after spending all that time in the city's less glamorous outer boroughs.

"You have to understand: I was a kid from Queens who worked in Brooklyn, and suddenly I had an apartment on the Upper East Side," he wrote. "I became a city guy instead of a kid from the boroughs."

And while Donald Trump's name adorns many of his hotels and skyscrapers, both in New York City and elsewhere, the Trump Village West apartment complex in Brooklyn's Coney Island was built by Fred. The solid, brown-brick buildings were originally government-subsidized affordable housing for moderate-income families; today, they're private co-op apartments but still a far cry from Donald's luxury towers. You can hear the rumble of elevated subway trains nearby, and the beach and boardwalk a few blocks away are a bit gritty, as oceanfront neighborhoods go.

A world away on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue sits Donald Trump's most famous building, Trump Tower. His name not only adorns a gold sign over the entrance but also many of its venues: Trump Bar, Trump Grill, Trump Cafe, Trump's Ice Cream Parlor and the Trump Store. Jewelry designed by his daughter Ivanka is displayed on the ground floor next to a Gucci store, and the lobby is a temple of marble, brass and glass, with an 80-foot (24-meter) waterfall softly murmuring.

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HILLARY CLINTON'S NEW YORK

Clinton can't compete with Trump or Sanders for native credibility. She grew up in Illinois, lived in her husband's home state of Arkansas and then moved into the White House. When rumors began circulating that she might run for the Senate from New York, critics asked how she could represent a state where she'd never lived. And so the Clintons bought a $1.7 million, five-bedroom home in 1999 in Chappaqua, a leafy, affluent suburb about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Manhattan. She then spent months traveling around on a "listening tour" getting to know her newly adopted home state.

Still, Clinton, with her Midwest accent and earnest demeanor, never seems quite at home in the five boroughs, despite her best efforts to act like a New Yorker. You don't see Sanders or Trump taking the subway, but Clinton did, and suffered the indignity  as many commuters do  of having to swipe her MetroCard over and over to get it to work. Like Sanders, she has campaign offices in Brooklyn, but hers are in a downtown tower near the courts and government buildings, not in a trendy yet humble 'hood.

FILE- In this April 3, 2015 file photo, a woman enters One Pierrepont Plaza in the Brooklyn borough of New York where Hillary Clinton has her presidential campaign headquarters. Clinton is one of three presidential candidates touting ties to New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

This April 8, 2016 photo shows Bernie Sanders' campaign offices in a working-class industrial neighborhood with the Gowanus Canal and a toxic waste site nearby in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Sanders is one of three presidential candidates touting ties to New York. (AP Photo/Beth Harpaz)

FILE - This April 3, 2015 file photo shows One Pierrepont Plaza in the Brooklyn borough of New York where Hillary Clinton has her presidential campaign headquarters. Clinton is one of three presidential candidates touting ties to New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - This March 16, 2016 file photo shows Trump Tower in New York, the luxury tower emblazoned with Donald Trump's name. Trump is one of three presidential candidates touting ties to New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

This April 8, 2016 photo shows a sign outside of Trump Tower advertising the many Trump-named offerings inside the luxury tower in New York. Trump is one of three presidential candidates touting ties to New York. (AP Photo/Beth Harpaz)

This April 8, 2016 photo shows the Gowanus Canal toxic waste site around the corner from Bernie Sanders' campaign office in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Sanders is one of three presidential candidates touting ties to New York as the state's presidential primary nears. (AP Photo/Beth Harpaz)

FILE - In this April 8, 2016 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and his wife Jane greet supporters at a campaign rally outside his childhood home in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Sanders is one of three presidential candidates touting ties to New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

This April 8, 2016 photo shows the stately columned home where Donald Trump grew up, in the Jamaica Estates neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York. Trump is one of three presidential candidates touting ties to New York. (AP Photo/Beth Harpaz)

FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2000 file photo, Bill and Hillary Clinton stand in the driveway of their new home in Chappaqua, N.Y. Hillary Clinton is one of three presidential candidates touting ties to New York. (AP Photo, File)

This April 8, 2016 photo shows James Madison High School where Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders graduated from in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer are also alumni. Sanders is one of three presidential candidates touting ties to New York. (AP Photo/Beth Harpaz)

This April 8, 2016 photo shows the building on Avenue Z where Donald Trump's father Fred ran his real estate business in the Brooklyn borough of New York. In "The Art of the Deal," Donald Trump wrote about having to commute to Avenue Z from Manhattan every day when he was starting out in the business. He is one of three presidential candidates touting ties to New York. (AP Photo/Beth Harpaz)
Women-only car services fill a niche, but are they legal?

BOSTON (AP)  Ride-hailing companies catering exclusively to women are cropping up and raising thorny legal questions, namely: Are they discriminatory?

In Massachusetts, Chariot for Women is promising to launch a service featuring female drivers picking up only women and children. Drivers will even have to say a "safe word" before a ride starts.

Michael Pelletz, a former Uber driver, said he started the company with his wife, Kelly, in response to instances of drivers for ride-hailing services charged with assaulting female passengers.

In this Thursday, April 7, 2016 photo Kelly Pelletz, of Charlton, Mass., co-creator of the ride-sharing service Chariot for Women, displays the app on a mobile phone, in Charlton. Kelly and her husband Michael Pelletz are launching the service this summer, featuring female drivers picking up solely women and children passengers. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

He believes their business plan is legal, and he's prepared to make his case in court, if it comes to that. The couple had planned an April 19 launch but now say they're pushing it back to the summer to make sure their app can handle demand they say has exceeded expectations.

"We believe that giving women and their loved ones peace of mind is not only a public policy imperative but serves an essential social interest," Pelletz said. "Our service is intended to protect these fundamental liberties."

In New York City, the owners of SheRides are also promising a reboot this summer.

Fernando Mateo, who co-founded the company with his wife, Stella, said the company put the brakes on its planned launch in 2014 after spending tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees as activists and male drivers threatened to sue. The company settled one challenge, he said.

"We were accused of all sorts of things," Mateo said. "So we went back to the drawing board."

When the company re-launches as SheHails, men will be permitted as drivers and passengers. It will be left to female drivers to accept male passengers, and for female passengers to accept rides from male drivers.

While taxis driven by and for women are common in Dubai and India, such businesses would likely run afoul of anti-discrimination laws in the U.S., industry and legal experts said.

Major ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft don't give users the option of requesting a driver based on gender. The Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association, a trade group, says companies vary on whether women may request a female taxi driver.

"The safety issue is a really big deal," said Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor at the Harvard Business School. "But you just can't discriminate. You can't turn people away."

On the employment side, the federal Civil Rights Act bans gender-based hiring except when deemed essential.

Courts have interpreted that "bona fide occupational qualification" clause very narrowly, said Elizabeth Brown, a business law professor at Bentley University in Waltham.

Prisons, for example, have been permitted to hire female guards in select situations, but the airline industry was famously ordered to end the practice of hiring only women as flight attendants in a 1971 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Whether the 1964 civil rights law applies is also an open question. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces the law, declined to comment on the legality of women-only ride-hailing services.

But spokeswoman Justine Lisser noted employers whose workers are independent contractors, as is the case with Mateo and Pelletz's companies, are generally outside the agency's purview.

On the consumer side, Massachusetts and many other states have anti-gender discrimination laws governing "public accommodations" like transportation services.

But those too, have exceptions. In Massachusetts, for example, women's-only gyms won a special legislative carve-out in 1998.

Michelle Sicard, a Granby resident who recently signed up as a Chariot for Women driver, said she isn't concerned about the legal debate.

"I don't think it's discriminating against anyone. It's another way to make women feel safe," said the 33-year-old postal worker. "I just think people overthink things and everything becomes a battle of the sexes."

But Harry Campbell, an Uber and Lyft driver in Los Angeles who runs The Rideshare Guy, a blog and podcast, fears the idea could be a "slippery slope" to other forms of discrimination.

Stronger background checks on drivers and regular monitoring of current ones might be a better approach, he suggested.

"There are likely passengers who would feel more comfortable with drivers who are the same race or same ethnicity, so where do we draw the line?" Campbell said.

Female ride-hailing users in the Boston area interviewed by The Associated Press had mixed feelings.

Ashley Barnett, a 24-year-old from Somerville, said it's "well intended" but avoids a larger societal problem  people's attitudes toward women.

"It's a solution to a problem that's way bigger than transportation," she said.

Carolina Quintanilla, a 22-year-old from Boston, said she'd consider using the service at night. But even then, she said, there's no guarantee of safety.

"There are crazy women out there, too," Quintanilla said. "You never really know nobody's intentions. You have to trust your instincts."

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Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/philip-marcelo
Prep school abuse case makes its way into US Senate race

CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  Investigations into sexual misconduct by faculty at a renowned New Hampshire prep school have found their way into the state's high-profile U.S. Senate race between incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte and Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, whose husband is a former principal of the school.

News broke in late March that a teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy was forced to resign in 2011 and later stripped of his emeritus status after admitting to two past instances of sexual misconduct with students  information that was not disclosed publicly under the tenure of Hassan's husband, Thomas Hassan.

Maggie Hassan accepted money from Rick Schubart and listed him as a public supporter of her 2012 gubernatorial campaign even after he left the school, a fact Republicans immediately seized on as evidence of poor judgment.

FILE - In this file photo taken Jan. 8, 2015, Thomas Hassan watches as his wife, Gov. Maggie Hassan, waves to legislators in the statehouse in Concord, N.H., after being sworn in to a second term. Hassan's husband is a former principal of Phillips Exeter Academy where investigations into sexual misconduct by faculty at the prep school have found their way into the state's high profile Senate race between incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte and Democratic Hassan.(AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)

She's since apologized and donated $1,000 to a local organization dealing with domestic and sexual violence, but the story hasn't stopped there. Police are now looking into four additional allegations of abuse by other faculty, including a current teacher, and Phillips Exeter is conducting its own investigation into how Schubart's case was handled.

On Wednesday, the school said a second teacher had been fired after admitting having sexual encounters with a student more than two decades ago.

Hassan's husband, Thomas Hassan, has been formally censured by an international boarding school association for not disclosing Schubart's wrongdoing before the former teacher was given an award in 2012.

Republicans are hoping the issue will stick to Maggie Hassan, who's had no major missteps in her campaign so far, as more information trickles out.

"The people of New Hampshire, especially the victims and their families, deserve to know what Maggie Hassan knew about Schubart's actions, and when," said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Alleigh Marre.

Democrats, meanwhile, say Republican attempts to tie Hassan to the scandal are misguided.

"This isn't something that's going to be a huge watershed moment in the race, much to the Republicans' dismay," said Lauren Passalacqua, national press secretary for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Linda Fowler, a professor of government at Dartmouth College, said that with what's come out so far, the issue is unlikely to hurt Hassan in November.

"It's hard for me to imagine come fall that this story is going to have any legs," she said.

Ayotte, a former prosecutor, must walk a fine line between highlighting the issue without appearing to exploit it. She continues to say questions need to be answered about how the school handled the case, but in an interview with New Hampshire Public Radio, she did not clarify what specific questions are outstanding.

So far in the Senate race, it's been Ayotte on the defensive. Democrats are whacking her for her opposition to holding hearings on President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee and she's taking hits in her own party, facing a primary challenge from the right and bracing for the possibility that Donald Trump will be the GOP's presidential nominee.

"Everything has been breaking against the Republicans in terms of the overall environment," said Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the state Republican party.

But longtime political observers doubt whether the Phillips Exeter case will hurt Hassan, despite her husband's involvement.

Judy Reardon, a former top aide to Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, said voters are able to separate a candidate from the actions of his or her spouse.

"It's hard for me to imagine the person who would otherwise vote for Maggie Hassan saying, 'Well, I don't know, her husband didn't exercise good judgment, I think I'll vote for Kelly Ayotte,'" she said.

FILE- In this Feb. 4, 2016, file photo, New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan delivers the State of the State address in Concord, N.H. Investigations into sexual misconduct by faculty at a renowned New Hampshire prep school have found their way into the states high profile Senate race between incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte and Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, whose husband is a former principal of the school. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)
Shooting probe puts Israel's military courts in spotlight

JERUSALEM (AP)  Israel's military justice system is in the spotlight as it investigates a soldier caught on tape shooting to death a subdued Palestinian attacker, a case that has polarized the nation.

While the military has stressed that its courts are independent, critics say the system has a poor record of punishing errant soldiers, perpetuating a culture of impunity. They say the same result is likely for the soldier, who is expected to be formally charged in the coming days.

The shooting took place last month in Hebron, the volatile West Bank city that has been a focal point of the latest, 7-month wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence. The military initially said two Palestinians stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier before troops shot and killed the pair.

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 29, 2016 file photo, Israeli right wing protesters wave flags outside of Castina Military Court near the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. Israels military justice system is in the spotlight as it investigates an Israeli soldier caught on tape shooting to death a subdued Palestinian attacker, a case that has gripped and polarized the nation. While the military has stressed the independence of its courts, critics say the systems poor track record for punishing errant soldiers is perpetuating a culture of impunity that allows allegedly improper conduct to recur. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

In a video later released by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, one of the attackers was shown still alive after the initial shooting. The video, taken by a Palestinian volunteer for the group, shows the wounded attacker lying on the ground, slowly moving his head. About a minute later, a soldier raises his rifle, cocks the weapon and fires. Blood is then seen streaming from the Palestinian's head.

An autopsy determined the bullet to the head was the cause of death.

During the current wave of violence, the Palestinians have accused Israeli security forces of using excessive force against attackers who have already been stopped or wounded. Of the 188 Palestinians killed during the outburst, Israel says 142 were attacking or trying to attack Israelis, with the rest killed in clashes. A handful of amateur videos supporting the Palestinian claims have emerged, but the Hebron killing was perhaps the clearest so far.

The incident triggered an uproar in Israel, with the country's defense minister, military officials and many Israelis calling it contrary to the army's values. That outcry in turn kicked up a counter-torrent of support for the soldier, with many calling his actions appropriate for a country reeling from months of Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings, that have killed 28 Israelis and two Americans.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, initially critical of the soldier, later softened his opposition in a nod to his nationalist constituents.

Critics say only accountability can promise deterrence and prevent excessive force from being used against Palestinians, even if they are attacking Israelis. Few soldiers have been punished for their alleged roles in crimes against Palestinians, prompting criticism of the system.

"An investigation has to be independent, effective, could lead to actual measures, has to be timely, transparent and has to be fair and unbiased," said B'Tselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli. Israel's military justice system "simply does not adhere to these standards," she said.

Citing official army figures, the Israeli rights group Yesh Din said that of the more than 2,600 investigations opened by the military into alleged crimes committed by soldiers against Palestinians between 2000 and 2014, only 136, or 5 percent, resulted in indictments, leading to 193 convictions. More than one soldier can be listed in a single indictment.

Wary of Israeli self-investigation, the Palestinians have turned to the International Criminal Court. One of the criteria for the ICC to intervene would be if Israel's justice system were deemed insufficient. Israel says its system is fair and independent, but B'Tselem and the Palestinians say Israeli investigations are merely a front to thwart an external inquiry.

The military insists the system works, saying the low indictment rate does not signal lack of effort. They say the system is independent and that proper measures are taken if there are legal grounds to try and punish a soldier. Early this year, for instance, two soldiers were jailed for seven and nine months for physically abusing Palestinian prisoners.

"It's true there aren't a lot of cases, but that's not because they are avoiding prosecuting soldiers on purpose," said Emmanuel Gross, a former military judge.

The soldier involved in the Hebron shooting was swiftly detained after the incident and is being investigated for manslaughter. According to media reports, the soldier said he opened fire because he feared the subdued attacker was wearing an explosive belt and still posed a threat.

The investigation into the soldier, whose name is barred from publication, is the first opened by the military since the violence erupted last September. Israel's Justice Ministry, which probes police, has launched one investigation into the shooting death of a 16-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by a police officer as she lay wounded after stabbing a man with scissors.

Israeli authorities say they launch criminal inquiries into such cases if the situation warrants one and take further action as needed.

Israel has come under fire for not punishing soldiers before. It has not convicted any troops involved in alleged misconduct from the 2014 Gaza War. Of some 300 alleged incidents reported by Palestinians, rights groups or the media, it has opened about 30 criminal investigations and indicted three soldiers for looting.

The military last month closed a case looking into the shooting death, captured by a security camera, of a Palestinian protester in the West Bank in 2014, saying there wasn't sufficient evidence. A paramilitary border police officer was charged with manslaughter in the death of another Palestinian from the same demonstration. Another instance of a soldier who killed a rock-throwing protester was also recently dismissed, drawing condemnations from human rights groups.

In the current case, criticism against the justice system has come not only from rights groups but also nationalist Israelis. The soldier's supporters see the court proceedings as an affront to all Israelis who send their sons and daughters to compulsory military service.

The heated public debate prompted the military attorney general to defend the justice system.
Lebanon shocked over sex trafficking of young Syrian women

BEIRUT (AP)  Back in Syria, the young women were told they would get well-paid jobs at restaurants and hotels in Lebanon. But when they arrived, their belongings and mobile phones were taken away, and the women were locked up in two hotels north of Beirut and forced into prostitution.

What followed was an ordeal of beatings, torture and abuse  until Lebanese security forces raided the hotels and dismantled the operation in late March.

The discovery of the sex trafficking ring and the rescue of the women deeply shocked tiny Lebanon, a Mediterranean Arab nation already overwhelmed by the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees who have fled the civil war, and prompted calls for investigation.

This Thursday, April 7, 2016 photo, shows a general view of the three-story Chez Maurice Hotel, in Maamelteine, north of Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanese security forces have busted a sex trafficking ring involving 75 Syrian women trafficked to Lebanon from their country and forced into prostitution. The women were tortured by their traffickers and locked inside two hotels including the Chez Maurice, until their rescue last month. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The case, which involves 75 female victims, is considered the worst sex trafficking scandal in Lebanon in decades and has raised questions about who might have shielded and enabled such a vast network.

When they were found in the Chez Maurice and Silver Hotel in the town of Maamelteine, 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the Lebanese capital, the women were said to have been in miserable condition. The three-story Chez Maurice looked more like a jail than a hotel when it was recently visited by an Associated Press crew, with bars on balconies and windows.

A whip was seen lying on one of the guard tables. The premises have been sealed off and official documents were stamped on the gates, barring entry.

The Syrian women were brought to Lebanon in stages over the past several months. Those who refused to work as prostitutes were repeatedly raped and tortured until they submitted, according to Lebanese women's rights activists.

"Some reported that they were forced to have sex with 20 clients per day," said Maya al-Ammar, an official with women's rights group Kafa, which is Arabic for "Enough."

After the women were freed, the Health Ministry sealed a clinic belonging to gynecologist Riad al-Alam, who authorities say was involved in preforming abortions for trafficked Syrian women who got pregnant.

Lebanese Health Minister Wael Abu Faour said the doctor "should be in prison where he should rot." Al-Alam's license has been revoked by a medical workers' union.

Al-Ammar, the women's rights activist, said some 200 abortions were carried out at the clinic, though she did not provide the source for the data.

The case of the trafficked Syrians went public after police raided the two hotels and freed the women. Lebanese police spokesman Col. Joseph Msalem said several guards, both male and female, were detained but the two ringleaders remain at large.

According to Msalem, police got the first lead on March 25, the Good Friday holiday in Lebanon, when four Syrian women managed to flee from one of the hotels when the guards briefly became lax in monitoring them.

They took a minibus to an area in south Beirut, where one of them told the bus driver that she knew some people. On the way, the driver noticed something odd about the women and started asking questions after which they told him their story, Msalem said.

The driver called the police and the women were taken to a police station near Beirut.

Police then started monitoring the hotels and on March 27 stormed the two buildings, detaining eight guards and setting the women free. After being questioned by police, some women left on their own while 35 decided to go to women's shelters where they have been getting psychological treatment, according to Msalem and al-Ammar.

Although Lebanon is one of the least conservative countries in the Arab world, prostitution is illegal, and foreigners can be deported for engaging in it. But the implementation of the law has been lax.

"Syrian refugee men, women, and children in Lebanon are at risk of sex trafficking," said a U.S. State Department report issued last year. "Syrian girls are brought to Lebanon for prostitution, sometimes through the guise of early marriage."

The AP was not allowed to interview any of the victims, and was told by non-government organizations helping the women that they are still in treatment and would prefer not to talk for fear of the ringleaders, who are still at large.

Sandy Issa, a Lebanese investigative journalist who was able to interview some of the 75 victims, said their stories were like "something out of a horror movie."

The traffickers exploited personal tragedies back in Syria, such as the death of a parent, promising a victim she would have a "respected job" and a "decent salary," Issa said.

The women recounted how they could not go outside the building, "unless they were getting out for an abortion," Issa added. "The prostitution was obligatory."

Lebanese security officials, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case, estimate the gang was making more than a $1 million a month from the prostitution ring.

After leading Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt suggested someone in the police might have been involved in protecting the ring, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk ordered an investigation.

Last Saturday, dozens of Lebanese rallied outside the Ministry of Justice in Beirut, demanding that those behind the trafficking be brought to justice and punished.

"We came here to say that we won't allow this to happen," said one of the protesters, who would not give her name, fearing repercussions from the authorities. "Bring all these criminals to justice!"

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Associated Press Writer Maeva Bambuck contributed to this report from Beirut.

This Thursday April 7, 2016 photo, shows barred rooms of the Chez Maurice Hotel in Maamelteine north of Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanese security forces have busted a sex trafficking ring involving 75 Syrian women trafficked to Lebanon from their country and forced into prostitution. The women were tortured by their traffickers and locked inside two hotels including the Chez Maurice, until their rescue last month. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

In this Thursday April 7, 2016 photo, a Lebanese neighbor looks through a hole in a barred door of the Chez Maurice Hotel in Maamelteine, north of Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanese security forces have busted a sex trafficking ring involving 75 Syrian women trafficked to Lebanon from their country and forced into prostitution. The women were tortured by their traffickers and locked inside two hotels including the Chez Maurice, until their rescue last month. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

In this Thursday April 7, 2016 photo, a whip remains on the table of the guard's room of the Chez Maurice Hotel in Maamelteine, north of Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanese security forces have busted a sex trafficking ring involving 75 Syrian women trafficked to Lebanon from their country and forced into prostitution. The women were tortured by their traffickers and locked inside two hotels including the Chez Maurice, until their rescue last month. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

In this Thursday April 7, 2016 photo, a Lebanese neighbor speaks on his mobile phone as he stands in front of the Chez Maurice Hotel in Maamelteine, north of Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanese security forces have busted a sex trafficking ring involving 75 Syrian women trafficked to Lebanon from their country and forced into prostitution. The women were tortured by their traffickers and locked inside two hotels including the Chez Maurice, until their rescue last month. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

This Thursday April 7, 2016 photo, shows a dirty room in the Chez Maurice Hotel, which was used as a prison and interrogation room according to a neighbor who lives nearby, in Maamelteine, north of Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanese security forces have busted a sex trafficking ring involving 75 Syrian women trafficked to Lebanon from their country and forced into prostitution. The women were tortured by their traffickers and locked inside two hotels including the Chez Maurice, until their rescue last month. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

In this Thursday April 7, 2016 photo, a hand-written sign and official red wax seals hang on the main gate of the closed Chez Maurice Hotel, in Maamelteine, north of Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanese security forces have busted a sex trafficking ring involving 75 Syrian women trafficked to Lebanon from their country and forced into prostitution. The women were tortured by their traffickers and locked inside two hotels including the Chez Maurice, until their rescue last month. The Arabic placard reads, "On the orders of Mount Lebanon prosecutor judge Claude Karam the club has been sealed and can only be opened after checking with judicial authorities otherwise people involved will be penalized." (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
In homelessness crisis, Hawaii eyes thatched 'hale' homes

HONOLULU (AP)  When Daniel Anthony spent the night sleeping in a traditional Hawaiian structure known as a "hale," the sound of rain falling on the thatched roof made him feel like he was sleeping in the forest.

"This is the sound of aloha," he said, recalling the experience. The hales, he said, are also a solution to a crisis of homelessness in Hawaii, which has the highest rate of homelessness per capita in the nation.

Anthony, lawmakers and community members are pushing to revive the Hawaiian tradition of living in hale (pronounced hah-lay), thatched homes made from local trees and plants as a way to provide more affordable housing.

In this March 20, 2016 photo, a restored hale that was originally on Kauai and used for sleeping, stands in the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. In the midst of Hawaii's homelessness crisis, lawmakers and community members want to revive a Hawaiian tradition of living in thatched homes known as hale. They say the homes made from local trees and plants could provide more affordable housing. (AP Photo/Cathy Bussewitz)

Though a bill to ease restrictions on building hale died after critics brought up safety concerns, advocates are trying to bring attention to a type of housing that celebrates culture and uses environmentally sustainable techniques to house the homeless.

"If we can use invasive species, which we're saying is out of control, to construct housing in an area where they say we're in a housing crisis, how is this not a solution?" Anthony said.

Homes based on indigenous architecture are found from Austin, Texas  where tipi style homes are part of an affordable housing community  to Tahiti, where thatched homes lure honeymooners.

In Hawaii, a revival of hale building led to dozens of the structures throughout the islands, used for gatherings, canoe storage and teaching about cultural traditions.

Building a hale can cost from $30,000 for a 180-square-foot structure to $95,000 for 600-square-feet, including labor and materials, depending on size and location, according to rough estimates from Holani Hana, a nonprofit that builds non-residential hale to promote Hawaiian cultural values.

Anthony believes he could build a hale for less  about $1,000 to buy parachute cord to secure the frame and thatching  using invasive species harvested from nature.

By comparison, the converted shipping containers Honolulu recently deployed to shelter homeless people on Sand Island cost $9,117 per unit for a 72-square-foot room for a couple, or $7,717 for a 49-square-foot room for singles, and each shipping container holds two couple units or three singles units, according to the city. An apartment can cost more than $325 per square foot to build, according to the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, or $195,000 for a 600-square-foot apartment.

Maui County was the first to include hale in its building code, giving the structures a sense of parity with western buildings.

Hale builders gather ironwood, eucalyptus or other trees for the frame and pili grass, sugar cane or ti leaves for the thatched roofs and walls. But while sleeping in hale is allowed in some Hawaii counties, no cooking, open flames, electricity, extension cords or generators are permitted, and obtaining building a permit can be difficult.

Sen. J. Kalani English, who pushed Maui County to adopt its hale building code, envisions updating those standards to a modern interpretation of indigenous Hawaiian architecture. He has stayed in thatched homes in Tahiti and throughout French Polynesia, some with sliding glass windows and air conditioning, he said.

"I've always envisioned a traditional style structure  indigenous architecture  with Wi-Fi and internet and TV and wall plugs and all of that stuff plugged into it," English said.

English is hoping to encourage more people in Hawaii to be trained in the art of hale building, incorporating indigenous architecture traditions from Samoa, Marshall Islands and other Pacific Islands.

Francis Palani Sinenci, a master hale builder who has constructed more than 160 non-residential hale in Hawaii, was hesitant to support widespread development of the structures to address homelessness.

"I cannot see hale everywhere, under the bridges," Sinenci said. "One of them catches fire, they're going to ban all hales."

"But I can see that the Hawaiians that are living on the beach because they've been displaced from their property, maybe they should have a place where they could build a hale for traditional living," Sinenci added.

English co-sponsored legislation to encourage city and state officials to set aside land for hale building and to exempt the structures from some planning and zoning requirements, but state agencies and the Honolulu planning department opposed the bill.

On Oahu's West side, residents living near a homeless encampment envision helping residents build a village of traditional hale, including modern technology such as solar panels, said Marcus Paaluhi, a member of the Waianae Coast Neighborhood Board.

The head of the encampment, Twinkle Borge, said she's excited about the idea of collaborating to build a hale as a community gathering space, but she's unsure about turning the encampment into a hale village.

The encampment is on state land without a lease, and Borge is working on getting nonprofit status to help stay on the land.

"Any time that we can find ways to make it easier and cheaper for people to build homes, I think it's worth supporting," said state Sen. Maile Shimabukuro, who represents Waianae and co-sponsored the hale bill.

In this Feb. 17, 2016 photo, a reconstructed hale stands as part of Kamakahonu, a National Historic Landmark, in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. In the midst of Hawaiis homelessness crisis, lawmakers and community members want to revive a Hawaiian tradition of living in thatched homes known as hale. They say the homes made from local trees and plants could provide more affordable housing. (AP Photo/Cathy Bussewitz)

In this Monday, April 11, 2016 photo, a hale, which is used mainly for teaching about cultural traditions, stands at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu. In the midst of Hawaiis homelessness crisis, lawmakers and community members want to revive a Hawaiian tradition of living in thatched homes known as hale. They say the homes made from local trees and plants could provide more affordable housing. (AP Photo/Cathy Bussewitz)
The Latest: Syrian opposition in Geneva lashes out at Assad

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP)  The Latest on the Syrian civil war (all times local):

10:40 p.m.

A Syrian opposition leader says President Bashar Assad is a "disease" and mist give up power for the country to heal itself.

Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, arrives to a media conference after a new round of negotiations between the Syrian opposition delegation of High Negotiations Committee (HNC), at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

Asaad al-Zoubi of the opposition High Negotiations Committee also insisted that Russia is "not serious" about seeing the Syrian president go.

Al-Zoubi accused Assad's government of not being "interested" in a peaceful solution, and criticized as a "farce" parliament elections held Wednesday in government-controlled parts of Syria.

He spoke to reporters after U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura resumed indirect Syria peace talks by meeting with the HNC in Geneva.

Meanwhile, in Washington, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the talks "an opportunity .... to negotiate transition" for Syria.

Kerry says that "we strongly urge all of the combatants to give Staffan de Mistura and his team an opportunity to be able to do their work in the next hours and days in Geneva."

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9:40 p.m.

The U.N. envoy says a recent upsurge in fighting in Syria amounts to "incidents and not a bush fire" as he vowed to press ahead with efforts to reach a political transition in the war-torn country despite mixed messages about the process from the Damascus government.

Staffan de Mistura spoke to reporters after meeting with the main opposition delegation as U.N.-brokered Syria peace talks resumed in Geneva on Wednesday.

He says a fragile U.S.-Russia-engineered cease-fire is holding despite a recent "deterioration" in security in some areas.

De Mistura says he hopes to go "deeper and deeper" toward reaching a deal on political transition in Syria  his ultimate goal. He said a Syrian government delegation was expected to arrive for the talks on Friday.

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7 p.m.

The latest round of Syria peace talks has gotten underway in Geneva with U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura hosting a delegation from the main opposition group.

Envoys from the opposition High Negotiations Committee arrived on Wednesday at the U.N. office in the Swiss city for the third round of indirect "proximity" talks organized by de Mistura.

The U.N. envoy hopes to make progress toward a political transition in Syria as sought under a U.N. Security Council resolution and efforts led by Russia and the United States that paved the way for the talks to resume in February after a two-year hiatus.

A delegation from President Bashar Assad's government is expected to arrive later this week, amid delays over the holding of parliament elections in government-controlled parts of Syria.

Proximity talks involve de Mistura meeting separately with the two delegations in hopes of ending the five-year war.

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6:30 p.m.

The Syrian government says it is extending voting in parliamentary elections by five hours, citing heavy turnout.

Polls had been scheduled to close at 7 p.m. on Wednesday but Syrian state TV says they'll remain open until midnight because turnout is high. Results are expected Thursday.

The voting is taking place only in government-controlled parts of the country. Parliament elections in Syria are held every four years. Damascus says the vote is constitutional and separate from peace talks in Geneva.

Members of the opposition have denounced the process, which is taking place amid a raging civil war, and have called for a boycott.

Around 3,500 government-approved candidates are competing after more than 7,000 others dropped out.

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5:05 p.m.

Turkey's defense minister says Turkish retaliatory strikes against rockets and shells fired into Turkish territory from Syria have killed 362 militants and wounded 123 others so far this year.

Ismet Yilmaz spoke on Wednesday during a visit to the border town of Kilis, which has witnessed an almost daily salvo of rockets and shelling this week.

Turkey's military systematically retaliates for rockets or shells that land on Turkish territory in line with its rules of engagement.

Yilmaz says Turkish artillery units have struck 146 targets since January, adding that all of them were in Islamic State-controlled territory in northern Syria.

He says that "those who cause us harm will suffer many times more damage."

Incoming fire from Syria landed on Wednesday morning on empty land and caused no casualties. The previous day, a rain of rockets also hit Kilis, killing one person and wounding seven.

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4:10 p.m.

Germany says it won't accept the results of parliamentary elections being held by Syrian President Bashar Assad's government.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters in Berlin on Wednesday that "holding free and fair elections is simply impossible in the current situation, with all the refugees, in a full civil war situation."

Assad's government says the vote is constitutional and separate from peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending the civil war, but the opposition says it contributes to an unfavorable climate for those negotiations.

Schaefer says the German government "will not accept the elections being organized by the Assad regime, and also will not accept the results."

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4 p.m.

Syria's deputy foreign minister says the opposition has to let go of its "dream" of a transitional government, saying it would amount to a coup d'etat.

Speaking to The Associated Press in Damascus on Wednesday, Faisal Mekdad said that such an idea "will never be acceptable."

Mekdad spoke ahead of the resumption of indirect peace talks in Geneva which the U.N. envoy says will focus on a political transition.

Mekdad says division among the opposition "makes it impossible to negotiate a viable agreement."

He acknowledged that the Syrian government recently released Kevin Patrick Dawes, an American freelance photographer it was holding in detention for three years for illegally entering the country, but said the government had no information on the whereabouts of missing U.S. citizen Austin Tice.

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1:40 p.m.

The U.N. envoy for Syria will host a delegation from the main opposition group as indirect peace talks involving envoys from President Bashar Assad's government resume in Geneva.

Staffan de Mistura and members of opposition High Negotiations Committee were to speak to reporters after Wednesday's start of the third round of talks that began in February but have been suspended twice for breaks.

A government delegation is expected to arrive in coming days for the "proximity talks" in which the two sides meet separately with de Mistura, but with no face-to-face meeting between delegations.

Assad's government was holding parliamentary elections Wednesday in government-controlled areas of Syria. Critics insist the elections are illegitimate largely because the five-year war has driven millions of Syrians from their homes, leaving them unable to vote.

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1:15 p.m.

Russia's foreign minister says Syria's parliamentary elections are needed to shore up its existing state structures until peace talks pave way for a new vote.

Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday's elections are necessary to prevent a "vacuum of power" in Syria. He added that the peace talks set to restart in Geneva this week should lead to an agreement on the country's new constitution and new elections.

Russia has been a crucial ally of President Bashar Assad's government throughout the five-year civil war and launched an air campaign against insurgents last year.

Western leaders and members of the Syrian opposition have denounced the elections, which are only being held in government-controlled areas, as a sham and a provocation that undermines the Geneva peace talks.

Polling stations have been set up in 12 of Syria's 14 provinces, excluding the northern province of Raqqa, controlled by the Islamic State group, and the northwestern province of Idlib, controlled by the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front and other insurgent groups.

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1 p.m.

Britain says the Syrian government's decision to hold elections in the war-divided country shows "how divorced it is from reality."

The U.K. government said in a statement that Wednesday's elections conducted by President Bashar Assad's government are not in line with a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for elections in Syria after an 18-month transitional process.

The statement said the elections "cannot buy back legitimacy by putting up a flimsy facade of democracy."

It noted that hundreds of thousands of people live in besieged towns and cities, and millions have fled their homes  many into exile  and thus cannot vote.

Britain also urged "the regime's backers, especially Russia" to pressure Syria's government to engage in discussion about political transition in U.N.-sponsored peace talks resuming Wednesday in Geneva.

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10:45 a.m.

Syria's President Bashar Assad has voted in parliamentary elections being held in government-controlled parts of the country.

The presidency's Facebook page said Assad and his wife Asma cast their ballots at the Assad Library in Damascus on Wednesday. He did not make any comments.

Parliamentary elections in Syria are held every four years, and Damascus says the vote is constitutional and separate from peace talks in Geneva.

Members of the opposition have denounced the process, which is taking place amid a raging civil war, and have called for a boycott.

Around 3,500 government-approved candidates are competing after more than 7,000 others dropped out. Polls close at 7 p.m. but could remain open longer if turnout is high. Results are expected Thursday.

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10:15 a.m.

A Turkish news agency says shells fired from Syria have hit southern Turkey, the fourth such cross-border incident in less than a week.

The private Dogan news agency says the shells struck two areas of the city center of Kilis Wednesday morning, triggering panic. The agency said the shells landed on empty land causing no casualties. Police were dispatched to the affected area.

Turkey's military systematically retaliates to rockets or shells that land on Turkish territory in line with its rules of engagement.

On Tuesday, Turkish artillery units fired at Islamic State group targets in Syria after a salvo of rockets hit the center of Kilis, killing one person and wounding seven others.

The wider province of Kilis borders areas in Syria that are controlled by the Islamic State group, Syrian Kurdish militia or anti-government Syrian rebels.

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9:30 a.m.

Polling stations have opened in government-held parts of Syria for the election of a new 250-member parliament.

Shortly after the stations opened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) Wednesday people began turning up. Around 3,500 government-approved candidates are competing after more than 7,000 others dropped out.

Damascus says the vote, which will only be held in areas controlled by the government, is constitutional and separate from the peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending the war.

But the opposition says it contributes to an unfavorable climate for negotiations amid fierce fighting that threatens an increasingly tenuous cease-fire engineered by the United States and Russia.

Western leaders and members of the opposition have denounced the process as a sham and a provocation that undermines the Geneva peace talks.

George Sabra, left, Syrian opposition Deputy Head of High Negotiations Committee (HNC), Asaad Al-Zoubi, center, head of the Syrian opposition delegation of High Negotiations Committee (HNC) and Mohamed Alloush, of the Jaysh al Islam and member of the delegation of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), speak to the media after a new round of negotiations between the Syrian opposition and UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria Staffan de Mistura (no pictured), at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

Asaad Al-Zoubi, head of the Syrian opposition delegation of High Negotiations Committee (HNC), speaks to the media after a new round of negotiations between the Syrian opposition and UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria Staffan de Mistura (no pictured), at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, speaks to the media after a new round of negotiations between the Syrian opposition delegation of High Negotiations Committee (HNC), at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

Asaad Al-Zoubi, right, head of the Syrian opposition delegation of High Negotiations Committee (HNC), arrives to take part at a round of negotiations between the Syrian opposition and UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria Staffan de Mistura , at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

Members of the Syrian opposition delegation of High Negotiations Committee (HNC), arrive to take part at a round of negotiations between the Syrian opposition and UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria Staffan de Mistura , at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

A Syrian policeman stands guard outside a polling station during the parliamentary election in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Polling stations opened in government-held parts of Syria where a new 250-member parliament will be elected. Arabic reads: "Polling station." (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A Syrian policeman casts his vote at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Polling stations opened in government-held parts of Syria where a new 250-member parliament will be elected. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Syrian policemen cast their votes at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Polling stations opened in government-held parts of Syria where a new 250-member parliament will be elected. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A Syrian man casts his vote at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Polling stations opened in government-held parts of Syria where a new 250-member parliament will be elected. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A Syrian policeman casts his vote at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Polling stations opened in government-held parts of Syria where a new 250-member parliament will be elected. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Syrian policemen stand guard outside a polling station during the parliamentary election in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Polling stations opened in government-held parts of Syria where a new 250-member parliament will be elected. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
House GOP abruptly cancels vote on package for Puerto Rico

WASHINGTON (AP)  House Republicans on Wednesday abruptly canceled a committee vote on a plan to help Puerto Rico deal with its $70 billion debt in the face of conservative opposition.

A vote on the bill establishing a control board had been scheduled for Thursday with a sense of urgency, as Puerto Rico faces a deadline for a multimillion-dollar bond payment next month. The government has said it will likely default, which would mark the first time Puerto Rico would default on general obligation bonds protected by the island's constitution.

A spokeswoman for the House Natural Resources Committee said Thursday's meeting has been canceled and has not yet been rescheduled.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah., left, and the committee's ranking member Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., right, listen to testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, during a legislative hearing on a discussion draft of the "Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act." (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said there was still uncertainty in both parties and the administration was still pushing for changes.

"It is unfair to all members to force a vote with provisions still being negotiated," Bishop said in a statement.

Obama administration officials warned at a hearing Wednesday that the island is facing total financial collapse if Congress doesn't step in. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla has warned that a debt restructuring measure needs to be approved soon as the deadline for a $422 million bond payment looms in May.

Republicans agree on the urgency of the matter, but have faced opposition from within their own caucus and from Democrats.

Legislation released by the panel this week would create a control board and allow the board to facilitate some court-ordered debt restructuring, though it does not give the island the broad bankruptcy authority that territorial officials had sought.

Democrats worried that the control board would be too powerful, prompting echoes of colonialism.

Some conservative Republicans had objected to the debt restructuring, saying it's a bad precedent. In an attempt to satisfy those lawmakers, the most recent draft of the bill would give creditors more of a say on debt plans, allowing them a preliminary vote on whether they wanted to voluntarily restructure debt.

But it was not enough. At Wednesday's hearing, several Republicans on the panel expressed concern about the debt restructuring, making the outcome of Thursday's committee vote unclear.

"I believe we're going down a slippery slope here," said Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C.

Rep. John Fleming, R-La., also opposed the bill, and said Bishop had tried to encourage members to easily pass it in committee or leave the room when the vote occurred.

"To be asked to walk away  to be told to miss a vote  is a request that flies in the face of every member's conscience. Leadership had no business making such a request," said Fleming, who vowed to defeat the legislation.

Parish Braden, a spokesman for Bishop, confirmed the congressman had requested a voice vote, which is not recorded. But Bishop said it was fine if members wanted a recorded vote, Braden said.

The House Republican Study Committee, a group of around 170 conservatives, had expressed concerns about the debt restructuring provisions. Texas Rep. Bill Flores, the group's leader, said members were encouraged by a new draft this week made some concessions to the island's creditors, but the group still had not endorsed the bill.

At the hearing, Treasury Department official Antonio Weiss said prompt action was needed because Puerto Rico is in distress. But he said the administration is concerned that allowing creditors to vote on debt restructuring could delay the process.

Later Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the administration is confident a solution can be reached, but added that the creditors "are almost by definition rich and powerful people who have a clear financial interest in getting a deal that reflects their financial interest and not the interest of the 3.5 million people living in Puerto Rico."

Earnest added, "Overcoming that dynamic is something that will be challenging for Congress to do."

The newest version of the bill would increase the size of the control board from five to seven seats, with the two added members picked by the minority party in the House and Senate  a clear enticement to Democrats who have opposed the bill. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said still more work needs to be done "to improve the makeup and scope of the board."

Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., endorsed the legislation and tried to encourage his colleagues to sign on.

"Congress has a constitutional and financial responsibility to bring order to the chaos that is unfolding in the U.S. territory  chaos that could soon wreak havoc on the American bond market," Ryan said.

Puerto Rico has been mired in economic stagnation for a decade. The financial problems worsened as a result of setbacks in the wider U.S. economy, and government spending in Puerto Rico continued unchecked as borrowing covered increasing deficits.

Puerto Rico Senate President Eduardo Bhatia noted that it is running out of time to address its fiscal crisis but insisted that the proposed bill was draconian.

"What happened in federal Congress today opens up a new panorama for Puerto Rico," he said. "The measure submitted requires profound amendments."

A revised bill should respect Puerto Rico's democracy and help promote economic development, among other things, he said.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla did not immediately return a request for comment.

___

Associated Press writer Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

House of Representatives Resident Commissioner for Puerto Rico Pedro Pierluisi speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, during the House Natural Resources Committee legislative hearing on a discussion draft of the "Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act." (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Antonio Weiss, left, counselor to Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, before the House Natural Resources Committee during a legislative hearing on a discussion draft of the "Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act." Weiss is joined at the table by former Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams, a Senior Advisory at Dentons US LLP, center, and John V. Miller, CFA Managing Director, Co-Head of Fixed Income Nuveen Asset Management, right. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

House of Representatives Resident Commissioner for Puerto Rico Pedro Pierluisi speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, during the House Natural Resources Committee legislative hearing on a discussion draft of the "Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act." (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Strike action continues at bomb-damaged Brussels airport

BRUSSELS (AP)  Belgian air traffic controllers continued their wildcat strike for a second day on Wednesday, forcing the cancellation of flights at Brussels airport and angering the government as the nation struggles to recover from last month's suicide bombings.

Prime Minister Charles Michel said the controllers made an "irresponsible choice" by walking out at this stage and said the government "will not be blackmailed."

Belgian flag carrier Brussels Airlines said that around 50 of its flights to and from the main international Zaventem airport were canceled.

Passengers walk with their luggage on the main road to Zaventem Airport in Brussels on Tuesday, April 12, 2016. A wildcat strike of air traffic controllers has paralyzed Brussels airport after their guild rejected a compromise aimed at solving a conflict over a pension reform. The strike action comes at a time when traffic was already reduced at the airport in the wake of the March 22 attacks. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

The strike action over pensions and staffing has been brewing for months, but the stoppage came without warning Tuesday afternoon as controllers called in sick, saying they were unfit to work.

The International Air Transport Association condemned the move, calling it "a kick in the teeth for all the airline and airport staff who have worked so hard to reconnect Brussels to the world after the appalling terrorist attack just three weeks ago."

Since March 22, when 16 people were killed at the airport in two suicide bombings, the airport has been slowly trying to restore normalcy, but was taken aback by the strike.

"It is important for employment in our country, and I cannot accept that a minority makes such an irresponsible choice," Michel said.
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.
European Parliament group ejects nationalist German lawmaker

BERLIN (AP)  A European Parliament faction that includes Britain's governing party has ejected a lawmaker from the nationalist Alternative for Germany, which has drawn criticism over members' remarks suggesting that police could shoot refugees trying to enter Germany.

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won seven European Parliament seats in 2014. Five lawmakers left for a new and more moderate party, ALFA, but it failed to gain significant support while AfD's ratings have soared amid the influx of migrants to Europe.

The European Conservatives and Reformists group had asked AfD's two remaining lawmakers to leave the group last month. One of them, Beatrix von Storch, left for a Euroskeptic group that includes the U.K. Independence Party.
NAACP wants more training for agency involved in shooting

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  An NAACP leader in the South Carolina county where a white police officer was sentenced to probation in the killing of a black motorist said officers need more training in how to deal with minorities.

The civil rights organization is watching police departments in North Augusta, where Justin Craven shot the motorist after chasing him to his driveway in February 2014, and in nearby Aiken, which is being sued by a husband and wife who said they were subjected to illegal cavity searches at roadside.

Like the rest of the public, Aiken County NAACP President Phillip Howell saw the video of Craven fatally shooting 68-year-old Ernest Satterwhite for the first time Monday.

FILE- In this April 7, 2015, file booking photo provided by Edgefield County Detention Center, shows Justin Craven, a North Augusta, S.C., police officer. Craven took a plea deal Monday, April 11, 2016, in the shooting death of Ernest Satterwhite in February 2014. Craven was sentenced to three years probation and 80 hours of community service. (Edgefield County Detention Center via AP)

"It's despicable," said Howell, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Howell said he also was sickened that Craven will serve no time in jail. Craven was sentenced to three years of probation and 80 hours of community service.

But while prosecutors in South Carolina and North Carolina have charged at least five white officers recently with felonies after on-duty shootings of black men, they're finding that getting jurors to send them to prison can be a far more difficult challenge.

Solicitor Donnie Myers said he still believes Craven committed a felony when he ran up to Satterwhite's car and fired repeatedly through his window as the drunken driver sat in his driveway.

But when he tried to indict Craven for voluntary manslaughter, the grand jury refused, returning a misdemeanor misconduct charge instead. Myers told The Associated Press he decided then that the only way to get any justice for the dead man was to offer a plea deal to the lesser charge.

After all, if a grand jury, with its rules favoring prosecutors, couldn't be convinced of the seriousness of Craven's actions, getting a unanimous verdict from a regular jury would be even more difficult, Myers said.

"We've got to convince all 12. All the defense has to do is convince one," Myers said.

Craven was sentenced probation and community service after pleading guilty Monday. The indictment accused him of "using excessive force and failing to follow and use proper procedures."

It's a challenge for prosecutors as more police officers are charged with on-duty crimes: Unless there is evidence of obvious bad intentions, jurors are often wary of second-guessing an officer's judgment call, said Tom Nolan, a professor of criminology at Merrimack College in Massachusetts.

"People have been conditioned by what they see on television to think that police officers face dangerous situations all the time," said Nolan, who was a Boston police officer for 27 years. "They give leeway, thinking these extreme situations happen frequently."

Craven's dashboard camera from February 2014 shows him charging up to Satterwhite's open window, gun in hand, and reaching inside with both arms. A struggle ensues inside the car, beyond the camera's view.

Craven said Satterwhite tried to grab his gun. The video shows him stepping back from the car before firing.

The video has no audio to tell what was being said because the battery on Craven's body microphone had gone dead, State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry said.

Craven is the third white officer in the past year to avoid any time behind bars after being accused of felonies for killing a black man in the Carolinas.

Prosecutors charged former Eutawville Police Chief Richard Combs with murder for shooting a man trying to leave a police station, saying he escalated the confrontation. But after two hung juries, prosecutor David Pascoe agreed to a misdemeanor misconduct in office conviction and a year of home detention. Pascoe said he doubted he could ever get a unanimous verdict in that case, the most polarizing of his 20-year career.

North Carolina prosecutors dropped a voluntary manslaughter charge against Charlotte, North Carolina, police officer Randall Kerrick after a jury voted 8-4 to acquit him in the shooting of a black motorist who had knocked on a door seeking help after a car wreck.

Another officer, North Charleston's Michael Slager, is under house arrest while awaiting his murder trial for fatally shooting a fleeing black motorist. And former state Trooper Sean Groubert is in jail facing up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in March to aggravated assault and battery for shooting a black man who was reaching for his driver's license at the officer's request.

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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jeffrey-collins

In this Feb. 18, 2013 photo made available by the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, shows Ernest Satterwhite. North Augusta Police officer Justin Craven took a plea deal Monday, April 11, 2016, in the shooting death of Satterwhite in February 2014. Craven was sentenced to three years probation and 80 hours of community service. (Columbia County Sheriff's Office via AP)

This screen shot from dashboard camera video, provided by the North Augusta, S.C. Police, shows then-North Augusta Police Officer Justin Craven outside the vehicle of Ernest Satterwhite in his driveway in North Augusta, Ga., Feb. 9, 2014, after he led police trying to stop him for drunken driving on a 13-minute chase. Craven will serve three years of probation but no time behind bars for the killing of 68-year-old Satterwhite. (North Augusta, S.C. Police via AP)

This screen shot from dashboard camera video, provided by the North Augusta, S.C. Police, shows then-North Augusta Police Officer Justin Craven outside the vehicle of Ernest Satterwhite in his driveway in North Augusta, Ga., Feb. 9, 2014, after he led police trying to stop him for drunken driving on a 13-minute chase. Craven will serve three years of probation but no time behind bars for the killing of 68-year-old Satterwhite. (North Augusta, S.C. Police via AP)

North Augusta police officer Justin Craven looks on during his hearing as a dash camera video plays on a screen Monday, April 11, 2016, at the Edgefield County courthouse in South Carolina. Craven, who was charged with a felony for shooting and killing a black driver at the end of a chase took, a plea deal Monday and was sentenced to three years of probation. (Maayan Schechter/The Aiken Standard via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Brussels attackers had experience from battle, Paris plots

PARIS (AP)  The Islamic State fighters who carried out the attacks in Brussels honed their skills through combat in Syria, and the sibling suicide bombers were also crucial to planning the Paris attacks, according to the extremist group's magazine released Wednesday.

In the English-language magazine Dabiq, the group drew a direct line between the two attacks  and made no mention of the key suspects captured in Belgium. "All preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels started with" brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El-Bakraoui, the group said.

Brussels was home to many of the attackers who struck the French capital Nov. 13 with suicide bombings and volleys of assault weapons fire that left 130 people dead. According to Belgian and French investigators, the same cell was behind the suicide bombings that killed 32 people in Brussels on March 22.

This is an image taken from video on Wednesday April 13, 2016 of of Salah Abdeslam, 2nd left, the fugitive from the Nov. 13 Paris attacks whose capture appears to have precipitated the March 22 bombing in Brussels. In the August 2014 Tvbrussel footage revealed Wednesday, Abdeslam is seen strolling casually through the Molenbeek market. Abdeslam, like many of the men in the Islamic State cell blamed for the pair of deadly attacks, is a native of the Brussels neighborhood. (Tvbrussels via AP) BELGIUM OUT

The younger El Bakraoui blew himself up in a rush-hour Brussels subway train, killing 16 victims. That same morning, his older brother was one of two suicide bombers who detonated explosives-laden suitcases at Brussels Airport, killing another 16. The other airport bomber was Najim Laachraoui, the bomb maker for both the Brussels and the Paris attacks, who left for Syria in 2013 and was an early recruit for the Islamic State group.

It is "firstly due" to the El Bakraouis that the attacks in the French capital occurred, Dabiq said. Subsequently, it said, Khalid El Bakraoui had a dream to carry out another attack.

The magazine also prominently mentioned Mohamed Belkaid, the IS fighter who was killed covering Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam's escape from a hideout "during the final stages of preparation for the raid in Brussels." It said Belkaid, who had Swedish residency, took part in some of the extremist group's most important battles, including the capture of Ramadi, and decided to return to Europe with Laachraoui for an attack.

Although it was light on new details, the magazine article offered a glimpse of how the attack cell was constructed and how the plot formed among supporters in Belgium and Syria.

Abdeslam, who returned from France to Belgium after his brother blew himself up in the Paris attacks, is entirely absent from the narrative, as is Mohamed Abrini and Osama Krayem. All three were captured in the Brussels area  Abdeslam just a few blocks from the Molenbeek home where he grew up.

A Belgian television network on Wednesday released previously unknown footage from Molenbeek of Abdeslam, whose role in the Paris attacks has never been defined and who is not formally linked to the Brussels bloodshed.

In the August 2014 clip from tvbrussels, Abdeslam is seen strolling through an open air market, talking to an unseen companion. Filip De Rycke, the station's news director, said the footage emerged by happenstance, while an editor was searching for archival material on the neighborhood, which is known as fertile recruiting ground for IS.

Abdeslam's companion could not be identified and was hidden for that reason and "in the interest of the investigation," he said.

Belgian and French authorities have detained dozens of people in the investigation into the two attacks, but many have been freed quickly. Three people taken into custody during a police search in the Brussels district of Uccle on Tuesday were freed Wednesday, and Belgian authorities have not said what they were looking for, or what they may have found.

Separately Wednesday, the management of the concert hall targeted in the Paris attacks said it is preparing to reopen and has scheduled a set of new concerts toward the end of the year.

The Nov. 13 attacks in Paris were the second major strike against the city in 2015. In January, two attackers killed 11 people at the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo while another man launched a deadly assault on a kosher supermarket and killed a French policewoman.

Amedy Coulibaly, who carried out the latter attack, appeared in a posthumous video pledging allegiance to IS.

A Frenchman suspected of supplying weapons to Coulibaly, was arrested Tuesday with two other men in the southern Spanish beach town of Rincon de la Victoria on a European arrest warrant.

A police raid on Antoine Denive's house uncovered several false documents used by the 27-year-old, including a valid European passport in another person's name, according to a statement from Spain's Interior Ministry.

Police said they were also studying computer material found there. A Serbian man and a Montenegrin man also allegedly tied to arms trafficking were also arrested.

The ministry said Denive left France several weeks after the January 2015 attacks and moved to the southern Spanish province of Malaga, where he allegedly continued illegal activity under a false identity. It said he was an arms trafficker with ties to Serbian arms traffickers. The arrest was coordinated by a court in Lille, France, and one in the Spanish city of Torremolinos.

In court Wednesday, Denive denied selling weapons to attackers.

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Associated Press writers John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels, Raphael Satter in Paris and Alan Clendenning and Ciaran Giles in Madrid contributed.

This is an image taken from video on Wednesday April 13, 2016 of of Salah Abdeslam, 2nd left, the fugitive from the Nov. 13 Paris attacks whose capture appears to have precipitated the March 22 bombing in Brussels. In the August 2014 Tvbrussel footage revealed Wednesday, Abdeslam is seen strolling casually through the Molenbeek market. Abdeslam, like many of the men in the Islamic State cell blamed for the pair of deadly attacks, is a native of the Brussels neighborhood. (Tvbrussels via AP) BELGIUM OUT
Silent tears stream down Lakeya Hicks' face as she recalls October 2, 2014, a day that should have been a happy memory as she and her husband drove the car they had recently and proudly purchased. Instead, her recollection is filled with brutality and embarrassment.

It was that day that she and her husband, Elijah Pontoon, were pulled over and forced to endure what they say was an illegal cavity search. Police never found any of the drugs they suspected the couple of holding, and they were never charged with a crime.

Pontoon and Hicks, who are black, say they endured humiliation at the hands of four white police officers on the side of a public road.

Police have denied the allegations, and while there isn't video of the search, a dash camera did capture audio of the encounter.

Scroll down for video

Lakeya Hicks and Elijah Pontoon stand outside their home in Aiken, South Carolina. The couple is speaking out about the 2014 traffic stop they say ended in public humiliation over an invasive cavity search for drugs that didn't exist

'I felt very humiliated,' Hicks, 31, said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press, the first time they've spoken publicly about what happened. 'We don't want this to happen to anybody else.'

The couple has filed a federal lawsuit over the encounter, which comes after several high-profile incidents sparked a nationwide debate about how white officers treat African-Americans.

Hicks and Pontoon are asking for actual, punitive and consequential damages and legal fees. The amount they are asking has not yet been specified.

The lawsuit details their account: They were pulled over because the car had a paper license tag, though the officer said later during their encounter that he knew Pontoon, 40, because he had previous arrests several years earlier.

Dash cam video, which has been widely circulated online in recent weeks, shows the officer asking Hicks for the car keys and bill of sale, and both are asked for identification.

Their car is then searched with dogs trained to sniff out drugs, and the couple is put in police cars before being searched themselves.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in November, says Hicks' breasts were exposed as she was detained on the side of the road and searched by a female officer.

Elijah Pontoon was the victim in the humiliating rectal search in Aiken, South Carolina, on October, 2, 2014, after he and his girlfriend, Lakeye Hicks, were pulled over while driving in a recently bought vehicle with temporary tags in 2014

During a search of his anal cavity, Pontoon explains that a mass the officer felt was not hidden drugs but was actually a hemorrhoid. The search isn't seen on the video, but the exchange can be heard.

You've got something here right between your legs. There's something hard right there between your legs,' Medlin said before adding that he's going to 'put some gloves on'.

An anal probe involving more than one officer then takes place off camera and lasts approximately three minutes.

Pontoon insists that if the officers are feeling a hard mass, it's a hemorrhoid, not drugs.

'If that's a hemorrhoid, that's a hemorrhoid, all right? But that don't feel like no hemorrhoid to me,' one officer says.

'It's a rock. It's a rock in the crack. It's gotta be rock. He's got it up in the butt,' another officer adds.

The officer is heard telling Pontoon that because of 'your past history,' he summoned a police dog to check the car. When Pontoon  who has prior drug arrests but none in recent years  objected to what he described as harassment, the lawsuit says the officer told him: 'You gonna pay for this one boy.'

Sitting in the kitchen of their modest home, it's apparent that it's difficult for Hicks and Pontoon to talk about the ordeal.

Pontoon often looks off in the distance as he describes trying to explain to his children how they should still trust police.

Hicks stood by and watched as her boyfriend, Pontoon, was cavity searched by multiple officers who believed he had a 'something hard' between his legs

Hicks  who is due to give birth to the couple's third child this week  struggles to detail the comments she overhears as she does business around town.

'When they called my name, everybody turned and looked at me,' she said of a recent visit to her doctor.

'Every time we walk around, we see people looking, pointing, whispering,' Pontoon added.

Hicks and Pontoon live north of the city of Aiken, miles from its quaint streets and noted horse farms. Their mobile home is in a rural area off a dirt road, surrounded by other modest, prefabricated structures.

In its official response, Aiken Police have denied all allegations. In a brief statement issued earlier this month, the city's Department of Public Safety maintains the traffic stop was legal and 'part of an ongoing narcotics investigation' and that the officer didn't tell Pontoon he'd pay for his actions. The department also said 'at no time during the traffic stop, was a body cavity search conducted, nor were any private body parts exposed to the public as alleged.'

The day after they were stopped, Pontoon and Hicks filed an official complaint with police, though the couple's lawyers say the city never responded to it.

They say city leaders ignored the incident until national news outlets began to circulate the story of the traffic stop. Earlier this week, the Aiken City Council moved to create a citizen advisory panel to review complaints made against city officers.

No trial date has been set in the couple's federal case, and mediation could happen later this year. As they wait for the legal case to make its way through the courts, Hicks says she and her husband are focusing on their growing family and how, one day, they hope things will be different.

'I just hope that, by the time that our baby is born and he gets old enough to understand what's going on, that everybody will be on the same page, that the things that we have went through don't happen to anybody else,' she says.
Migrants clash again with Macedonian police on Greek border

IDOMENI, Greece (AP)  More than 100 migrants engaged in running battles Wednesday with Macedonian police on the other side of a fence on Greece's border with the country, in clashes that sent clouds of tear gas wafting over a crowded tent city of stranded refugees and other migrants.

The violence stopped a planned tour of the border fence in Macedonia by the visiting presidents of Croatia and Slovenia.

No injuries were reported from the clashes at the closed Idomeni crossing, while Greek riot police monitoring the stone-throwing migrants on their side of the fence made no arrests, did little to intervene and retreated during the tear-gas barrage.

A migrant runs away from tear gas during clashes with Macedonian police at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Thousands of migrants protested at the border and clashed with Macedonian police. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

Macedonian police fired scores of tear gas canisters, stun grenades and rubber bullets at the protesters, who had earlier tried to scale the border fence using blankets issued by humanitarian groups to get over coils of razor wire. Many of the canisters were neutralized by blankets and earth thrown over them by the protesters.

About 11,000 people have been living in the informal camp for weeks, since Macedonia closed its border to transient refugees and other migrants hoping to move north towards Europe's prosperous heartland. Before the shutdown, which was triggered by a similar move in Austria, further north on the migration corridor, about 850,000 people who had arrived in Greece on smugglers' boats from Turkey had entered Macedonia from Idomeni.

The camp residents  mostly Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees  have ignored repeated calls from Greek authorities to relocate to organized camps, and attempted several mass incursions into Macedonia in recent weeks, trying to bypass the fence or break through it.

Alaeddin Mohamad, a 26-year-old law student from Aleppo, Syria, who has lived in the camp for a month, told The Associated Press that the protest started with a peaceful sit-down in front of the fence, and Macedonian police responded with tear gas.

"We don't want to clash. We want the borders to open and get on with our lives," Mohamad said. "I want to continue my studies in Europe. I will stay here until the border opens. Otherwise, I will die here."

On Sunday, severe clashes between stone-throwing migrants and Macedonian police using tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and a water cannon left scores injured. The violence increased friction between the two Balkan neighbors  at odds for a quarter-century over Macedonia's official name  with Macedonia accusing Greece of doing nothing to stop the rioters and Athens denouncing Skopje's heavy-handed response.

On the Macedonian side of the border, the presidents of Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia  whose countries have sent police to help Macedonia guard its border  met in the town of Gevgelija, a few kilometers from Idomeni.

Croatia's Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic said the European Union should clarify its immigration policy and send a clear message to migrants stranded in Balkan countries who are hoping the old route will reopen.

In comments to the press, she said that the wave of immigration will not stop "until (migrants) got a clear message" on who is eligible for asylum. The clashes prevented a planned visit to the closed border crossing.

___

Konstantin Testorides contributed from Gevgelija, Macedonia.

A migrant runs away from tear gas during clashes with Macedonian police at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Thousands of migrants protested at the border and clashed with Macedonian police. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

Greek police take position as migrants protest at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. New clashes have broken out between Macedonian police and stranded refugees and other migrants trying to scale a fence on Greece's border with the country. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

Greek police takes position near the border as migrants clash with Macedonian police at a fence at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Thousands of migrants protested at the border and clashed with Macedonian police. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

Migrants try to take down a barbed wire fence during a protest with Macedonian police at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Thousands of migrants protested at the border and clashed with Macedonian police. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

Migrants try to take down a barbed wire fence during a protest with Macedonian police at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Thousands of migrants protested at the border and clashed with Macedonian police. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

Greek police takes position near the border as migrants clash with Macedonian police at a fence at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Thousands of migrants protested at the border and clashed with Macedonian police. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

Migrant men attempt to remove barbed wire along the fence during clashes with Macedonian police at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. New clashes have broken out between Macedonian police and stranded refugees and other migrants trying to scale a fence on Greece's border with the country. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

Greek police takes position near the border as migrants clash with Macedonian police at a fence at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Thousands of migrants protested at the border and clashed with Macedonian police. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

A migrant man trying to remove barbed wire along the fence clashes with Macedonian police at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. New clashes have broken out between Macedonian police and stranded refugees and other migrants trying to scale a fence on Greece's border with the country. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

Migrant men trying to remove barbed wire along the fence clash with Macedonian police at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. New clashes have broken out between Macedonian police and stranded refugees and other migrants trying to scale a fence on Greece's border with the country. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

A migrant man trying to remove barbed wire along the fence clashes with Macedonian police at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. New clashes have broken out between Macedonian police and stranded refugees and other migrants trying to scale a fence on Greece's border with the country. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

A migrant man is comforted after he was affected by tear gas during protest with Macedonian police at a fence at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Thousands of migrants protested at the border and clashed with Macedonian police. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

A migrant man holds his baby and prepares breakfast in front of his tent at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. More than 11,000 people have been living in the makeshift camp in Idomeni for weeks after Macedonia shut its border to refugees in early March. The majority live in small tents pitched in fields and along railway tracks, while aid groups have also set up large communal tents. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

People walk past as others wait in a line to receive breakfast at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. More than 11,000 people have been living in the makeshift camp in Idomeni for weeks after Macedonia shut its border to refugees in early March. The majority live in small tents pitched in fields and along railway tracks, while aid groups have also set up large communal tents. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

A migrant boy runs on a piece of wood across a puddle of rainwater at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. More than 11,000 people have been living in the makeshift camp in Idomeni for weeks after Macedonia shut its border to refugees in early March. The majority live in small tents pitched in fields and along railway tracks, while aid groups have also set up large communal tents. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

A woman washes dishes in front of her tent at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. More than 11,000 people have been living in the makeshift camp in Idomeni for weeks after Macedonia shut its border to refugees in early March. The majority live in small tents pitched in fields and along railway tracks, while aid groups have also set up large communal tents. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

Two boys place a fish in a plastic bag at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, on Wednesday, April 13, 2016. About 3800 refugees and migrants are camped out at the country's largest port near Athens as more than 53000 people are stuck in Greece authorities said Wednesday.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Romania law limits what banks can claim for mortgage default

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)  Romania's Parliament has approved a law that restricts what banks can reclaim from people who default on their mortgage payments.

Lawmakers passed a law 207-1 Wednesday allowing banks to seize the property the loan was taken for up to the value of 250,000 euros ($282,000), but not to seize other assets or claim further payment.

It will also apply to those who are currently having properties repossessed by the banks.

Lawmakers initially passed a similar law on Nov. 25, but President Klaus Iohannis sent it back to Parliament.

Supporters say the bill could help hundreds of thousands of people struggling on repayments of housing they bought during an economic boom.
Sweden arrests man wanted in Germany for terror crimes

STOCKHOLM (AP)  Swedish police have arrested a 35-year-old foreign man wanted by German police on suspicion of terror-linked crimes in 2014, officials said Wednesday.

The arrest of the man, who was wanted on an international arrest warrant, was made at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport at 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT), Stockholm Police said in a statement. Police declined to give any further details.

Senior Public Prosecutor Ronnie Jacobsson told the AP that the man is not a Swedish citizen and was not connected to Sweden.

"What he is connected with happened a few years ago. It has nothing to do with France or Belgium or even Sweden," Jacobsson said, adding that the man was in transit at the airport and headed for another destination when he was detained. He declined to identify him except to confirm his age.

Swedish daily Aftonbladet cited German prosecutors as saying the man was a member of the Kurdish group PKK, which Turkey and its allies label as a terrorist organization.

Jacobsson declined to comment on that, saying only that documents he had seen "about the man involve terrorism."

Jacobsson said the suspect will be questioned later by police in the presence of a lawyer before any decisions about his fate are made. He said the case would be handled abroad as he had no connection to Sweden.
Speaker of Libya's eastern parliament lashes out at UN envoy

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP)  The head of Libya's internationally-recognized parliament based in the country's far east has criticized the U.N. envoy to the North African country, saying the diplomat is acting like a "ruler."

Parliament speaker Agila Saleh also accused the international community of trying to impose a unity government that goes against a U.N.-brokered agreement reached by Libya's rival parties last December.

The remarks reflect the rocky path that Libya faces toward unity. The country slid into chaos after the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moammar Gadhafi, with an array of militias, including extremist groups, carving out fiefdoms and backing rival authorities.

FILE -- In this Sept. 30, 2015 file photo, Agila Saleh, then acting head of Libya, speaks during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters. Saleh, the head of Libyas internationally-recognized parliament based in the countrys far east has criticized Martin Kobler, the U.N. envoy for the North African country, accusing the international community of imposing a unity government that contradicts a U.N.-brokered agreement reached by Libyas rival parties last December. Saleh told Libya 218 television Tuesday, April 12, 2016, that envoy Kobler is acting as Libyas ruler and paving the way for the unity government to seize power in the capital before parliament votes on it. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

Since 2014, it has been split into two main camps  an outdated parliament and a government backed by a set of Islamist militias and seated in Tripoli, and Saleh's parliament and its government based in eastern Libya.

Western nations now hope the U.N.-backed government of Fayez Serraj can unite the country in order to combat an increasingly powerful Islamic State affiliate.

Serraj arrived in Tripoli by the sea on March 30 and has so far been able to rally support of the capital's militias and many of the municipal councils in western Libya. The Central Bank and state-run National Oil Corporation have also backed Serraj's unity government.

But he is still resisted by the Libyan officials in the east, including Saleh, who was among Libyan officials facing EU sanctions for blocking UN-backed government.

U.N. envoy Martin Kobler is "acting as a ruler and a judge, setting timeline, issuing decisions" and paving the way for the unity government to seize power in the capital of Tripoli before parliament can vote on it, Saleh told Libya 218 television on Tuesday.

"The intervention is clear," said Saleh, adding that "the international community intends to interfere in Libya to serve its own private interests."

In eastern Libya, the parliament headed by Saleh is expected to vote on the unity government on April 18, in accordance with the UN-brokered deal.

The eastern house fears sweeping changes in the leadership of the Libyan army, currently occupied by Gen. Khalifa Hifter who has led a two-year campaign against Islamic extremists in the eastern city of Benghazi. In an interview last week, Hifter told the Egyptian Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine that Libya's army will support the unity government if it wins endorsement of the parliament in the east.

The Libyan chaos has allowed an Islamic State affiliate to gain a foothold in the country, with a militant stronghold in the central city of Sirte.

On Wednesday, a suicide car bomber struck a checkpoint on the outskirts of the western city of Misrata, killing a member of the security forces and wounding four, according to the state news agency LANA.

IS also has closed some Internet centers in its stronghold of Sirte, LANA reported Wednesday. The agency quoted an unnamed person as saying that the extremist group confiscated all satellite devices that receive Internet signals in the city. It said IS militias searched the streets of the city to carry out the decision of the group.

The top U.S. commander for Africa, Army Gen. David Rodriguez, meanwhile, said the number of Islamic State group fighters in Libya has doubled in the last year or so to about 6,000.
Puerto Rico publishes delinquent taxpayer list for 1st time

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)  Puerto Rico is for the first time publishing a list of delinquent taxpayers in hopes of recovering a portion of government-owed revenue amid a worsening economic crisis.

Treasury Secretary Juan Zaragoza said Wednesday that the list represents those who owe more than $50,000 worth of sales tax. The move comes as the island's Treasury Department carries out weekly crackdowns on businesses suspected of illegally retaining tax revenues. Those on the list include a parking company that owes more than $2 million.

Zaragoza said his department will soon publish similar lists of those who owe other type of taxes.
Story of minister and dominatrix sparks UK debate over media

LONDON (AP)  Have you heard the one about the British politician and the dominatrix? Probably not until now  and critics of the government and the press say that is a problem.

Opposition politicians called Wednesday for a Cabinet minister to give up authority over press regulation after he acknowledged that he had a relationship with a sex worker several years ago  and that several newspapers knew about it but kept quiet.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale says he had a relationship in 2013-14 with a woman he met online and later learned was a sex worker. He says he ended the liaison when he learned someone was trying to sell the story to a tabloid newspaper.

FILE - In this Monday Oct. 5, 2015 file photo, John Whittingdale, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport speaks during the Conservative Party Conference, in Manchester, England. British opposition politicians are calling for government minister Whittingdale to give up authority over press regulation after he acknowledged that he had a relationship with a dominatrix - and that several newspapers knew about it but kept quiet. Culture Secretary John Whittingdale says he had a relationship in 2013-14 with a woman he later learned was a sex worker. No laws were broken, and Whittingdale said Wednesday, April 13, 2016 that the episode had no influence on his ministerial decisions. (AP Photo/Jon Super, file)

No laws were broken, and the government is standing by Whittingdale, saying he is entitled to a private life.

"This is an old story which was a bit embarrassing at the time," Whittingdale said in a statement. "The events occurred long before I took up my present position and it has never had any influence on the decisions I have made as culture secretary."

None of Britain's scandal-hungry newspapers ran the story of Whittingdale's sex life at the time, although several investigated it. The story resurfaced this week online and in the satirical newspaper Private Eye, which questioned why no newspaper had thought it newsworthy.

Critics of the government say newspapers may have used knowledge of the embarrassing relationship to exert influence over Whittingdale, who is under pressure to introduce tighter regulation of the press in the wake of the tabloid phone-hacking scandal.

Labour Party lawmaker Chris Bryant said it looked as if "the press were quite deliberately holding a sword of Damocles over John Whittingdale." Labour culture spokeswoman Maria Eagle said Whittingdale "must now recuse himself from any decision-making" over press regulation, "to allay any concerns about perceptions of any undue influence."

Whittingdale became culture secretary in 2015, after the relationship ended. But at the time of the affair he was chairman of Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which investigated press ethics after revelations of tabloid wrongdoing, including eavesdropping on the mobile phone voicemails of celebrities and people in the public eye.

Some media-watchers have found it hard to believe Britain's tabloids would pass up a story involving sex and politics, two of their favorite topics. But Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, said he did not believe newspaper editors had colluded to suppress the story.
World tax officials huddle in Paris to talk Panama Papers

PARIS (AP)  Tax officials from around the world are meeting in Paris to discuss the fallout from the mass leak of offshore account data from Panama firm Mossack Fonseca.

A statement says Wednesday's meeting of the Joint International Tax Shelter Information and Collaboration Network , an information- and intelligence-sharing organ for senior tax administrators based out of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, is being convened to "agree collaborative action in light of the 'Panama Papers' revelations."

The Panama disclosures have shaken the rich and powerful by exposing how they use networks of shell companies to dodge financial obligations, taking tax evasion to the top of international agenda.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders cheered on striking Verizon workers on Wednesday after 39,000 landline and cable employees walked off the job.

Sanders told workers at a picket line in Brooklyn they displayed courage by standing up to the telecommunications giant.

'I know your families are going to pay a price,' Sanders shouted.

'On behalf of every worker in America who is facing the same kind of pressure, thank you for what you're doing. We're going to win this thing!'

Scroll down for video

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders greets a CWA worker as he arrives to join a Verizon workers picket line on Wednesday in the Brooklyn borough of New York

Striking Verizon workers picket outside a Verizon office in Albany, N.Y. Sanders told workers at a picket line in Brooklyn they displayed courage by standing up to the telecommunications giant

The Brooklyn-born Sanders addressed the enthusiastic crowd of striking workers from Verizon Communications Inc as 'brothers and sisters' as he thanked them for their courage in standing up to what he characterized as corporate greed.

It was a scene tailor-made for the U.S. senator from Vermont, who has focused on income inequality in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Workers cheered as Sanders criticized the mammoth communications company for wanting to take away health benefits, outsource jobs and avoid federal income taxes, calling it 'just another major American corporation trying to destroy the lives of working Americans.'

'Today you are standing up not just for justice for Verizon workers, you're standing up for millions of Americans ... and you're telling corporate America that they cannot have it all,' Sanders said.

Sanders paid an impromptu visit to the Verizon workers' picket line in Brooklyn after being endorsed by New York City transit workers.

Sanders is trying to catch up with Clinton, the front-runner, in Tuesday's primary in New York - a state both candidates have called home.

Clinton said in a statement earlier Wednesday she was 'disappointed' that negotiations had broken down between Verizon and its unions.

'Verizon should come back to the bargaining table with a fair offer for their workers,' Clinton said.

'To preserve and grow America's middle class, we need to protect good wages and benefits, including retirement security.'

He said: 'On behalf of every worker in America who is facing the same kind of pressure, thank you for what you're doing. We're going to win this thing!'

Sanders pictured greeting Communications Workers of America workers in Brooklyn. Workers cheered as Sanders criticized the mammoth communications company for wanting to take away health benefits, outsource jobs and avoid federal income taxes

Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greets picketing Verizon workers outside of a Verizon store in New York City

Later, Clinton met striking communications workers outside a Verizon store in midtown Manhattan.

The two striking unions - the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - represent installers, customer service employees, repairmen and other service workers in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., for Verizon's wireline business, which provides fixed-line phone services and FiOS Internet service.

Verizon spokesman Rich Young said the company was disappointed by the strike.

He said Verizon has trained thousands of non-union workers to fill in for striking workers and 'we will be there for our customers.'

But some customers said the strike was affecting them.

Jennifer Aguirre, 27, said she and her husband had an appointment scheduled for Wednesday to install cable and Internet at their home in Washington.

Her husband called to confirm and was told that systems were down and the appointment was canceled.

'We're kind of stuck, waiting to see what's going to happen,' Aguirre said. She said Verizon is the couple's only option for home Internet service.

Sanders is trying to catch up with Clinton in Tuesday's primary in New York, a state both candidates have called home

Verizon workers in Philadelphia pictured above. Nearly 40,000 Verizon employees walked off the job on Wednesday in one of the largest U.S. strikes in recent years after contract talks hit an impasse

The two striking unions - the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - represent installers, customer service employees, repairmen and other service workers in states including Connecticut, Delaware and New York

Keith Purce, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1101 in New York City, said the unions have been without a contract for eight months.

Between 300 and 400 union members walked a picket line outside the company's office in downtown Albany, where workers set up an inflatable 'greedy pig' and rat.

In Philadelphia, about a hundred striking workers took to the streets near the company's regional headquarters and chanted, 'Scabs, go home!' at non-union replacement workers.

The unions say Verizon wants to freeze pensions, make layoffs easier and rely more on contract workers.

The company has said that health care issues need to be addressed for retirees and current workers because medical costs have grown and that it wants 'greater flexibility' to manage its workers.

Verizon also is pushing to eliminate a rule that would prevent employees from working away from home for extended periods of time.

In a television ad, the unions said the company was trying to 'force employees to accept a contract sending their jobs to other parts of the country and even oversees.'

Members of the CWA picket in front of Verizon Communications Inc. corporate offices during a strike in New York City. The unions say Verizon wants to freeze pensions, make layoffs easier and rely more on contract workers

Verizon Communications Inc. has a total workforce of more than 177,000 employees

'The main issues are job security and that they want to move workers miles and miles away,' said Isaac Collazo, a Verizon employee who has worked replacing underground cables in New York City for nearly 19 years.

'We have a clause currently that they can't just lay anyone off willy nilly and they want to get rid of that,' said Collazo, a single father of three children.

'I feel if the company had the opportunity, they would just lay people off.'

But Young said the unions' talk about offshoring jobs and cutting jobs is 'absolute nonsense.'

'These contracts have provisions that were put in place decades ago. ... They need to take a look at where the business stands in 2016,' he said.

Some 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike for about two weeks in August 2011.
The Latest: EU concerned about migrant arrivals from Libya

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP)  The Latest on Europe's response to mass migration (all times local):

4:45 p.m.

The European Union's president says he is concerned about an increase in the number of migrants arriving from Libya, as the EU focuses on sending people back to Turkey.

A migrant is treated after tear gas was used during clashes with Macedonian police at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Thousands of migrants protested at the border and clashed with Macedonian police. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

EU Council President Donald Tusk said Wednesday that "the numbers of would-be migrants in Libya are alarming," and that member countries should be ready to help Italy and Malta should they call for it.

The EU's executive arm estimates that more than 15,000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy in the last month. Italy's coast guard said that more than 2,000 were rescued on Tuesday.

More than 1 million people entered the EU last year seeking sanctuary or jobs, most of them arriving in the Greek islands from Turkey.

___

1:05 p.m.

New clashes have broken out between Macedonian police and stranded refugees and other migrants trying to scale a fence on Greece's border with the country.

Greek authorities say Macedonian police fired tear gas and stun grenades to deter a group of about 30 people from trying to get over the razor-wire fence using blankets.

No injuries were reported from Wednesday's clashes at the closed Idomeni border crossing in northern Greece. On Sunday, severe clashes between stone-throwing migrants and Macedonian police using tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and a water cannon left scores injured

About 11,000 people have been living in an informal tent city on the Greek side of the border for weeks, hoping Macedonia will let them continue their trek towards Europe's prosperous heartland.
AP INTERVIEW: Top Syrian official rules out Assad departure

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP)  A top Syrian official said on Wednesday that the opposition has to let go of its "dream" for a transitional government, saying that such a thing amounts to a coup d'etat and "will never be accepted."

Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said most of the world with the exception of Saudi Arabia and Turkey  two strong backers of insurgents fighting to topple President Bashar Assad  have all but relinquished calls for the Syrian leader to step down, having realized after five years of war that he was fighting against "terrorists" in the country.

"This will not happen, not now, nor tomorrow nor ever," he said, in response to the opposition's calls for Assad's departure.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at his office in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Mekdad says that the opposition has to let go of its dream for a transitional government, saying that such a thing amounts to a coup d'etat. Mekdad said that such an idea will never be acceptable. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Mekdad spoke to The Associated Press in Damascus Wednesday, ahead of the resumption of indirect peace talks in Geneva which the U.N. envoy says will focus on a political transition.

Assad recently floated the idea of a national unity government, rejecting a key opposition demand for a transitional ruling body with full powers which major powers agreed on at a Geneva conference in June 2012. Mekdad echoed the rejection Wednesday.

"We believe such an idea has failed, it is outdated, it will never be acceptable. This amounts in fact to a coup d'etat. People organize a certain rebellion and then they get power. This will never happen in Syria," he said.

"We believe that if we have to proceed then we need to forget or we need others to forget the dreams they had for the last five years and to come with factual actual solutions to the problem," he said. "This includes the possibility of establishing a national unity government or a broad government that includes members of the opposition."

"President Bashar Assad has become a guarantor for the existence of Syria, and for the unity of Syria's territory and people... this is why those dreaming of this must stop," he said, adding that divisions among the opposition "makes it impossible to negotiate a viable agreement."

He acknowledged that the Syrian government recently released Kevin Patrick Dawes, an American freelance photographer it was holding in detention for three years for illegally entering the country, handing him over to Russia.

"If we wanted to apply the laws he would still be in Syria but the Syrian leadership based on a purely humanitarian initiative and based on a request from our friends in Moscow decided to release him," he said. He added that the Syrian government has informed U.S. officials that Austin Tice, a journalist taken hostage in Syria in 2012, is not in Syria.

He added: "Austin Tice is not in the hands of Syrian authorities and we don't have any information about him at all."

The U.S. doesn't know where Tice is or who is holding him. Last week, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. continues to work through Czech officials in Syria to get information on his welfare and whereabouts as well as that of an unknown number of other U.S. citizens missing or detained in Syria.

A picture of the Syrian President Bashar Assad is seen on the watch of Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad as he speaks and gestures during an interview with The Associated Press at his office in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Mekdad says that the opposition has to let go of its dream for a transitional government, saying that such a thing amounts to a coup d'etat. Mekdad said that such an idea will never be acceptable. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at his office in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Mekdad says that the opposition has to let go of its dream for a transitional government, saying that such a thing amounts to a coup d'etat. Mekdad said that such an idea will never be acceptable. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A likeness of Syrian President Bashar Assad is seen on the watch of the Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at his office in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Mekdad says that the opposition has to let go of its "dream" for a transitional government, saying it would amount to a coup d'etat. Mekdad said that such an idea "will never be acceptable." (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at his office in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Mekdad says that the opposition has to let go of its dream for a transitional government, saying that such a thing amounts to a coup d'etat. Mekdad said that such an idea will never be acceptable. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at his office in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Mekdad says that the opposition has to let go of its dream for a transitional government, saying that such a thing amounts to a coup d'etat. Mekdad said that such an idea will never be acceptable. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
The Latest: Texas 'affluenza' teen jailed for nearly 2 years

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP)  The Latest on the case of "affluenza" teenager Ethan Couch (all times local):

11:30 a.m.

The Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck has been ordered to spend nearly two years in jail.

File - In this Feb. 19, 2016 file photo, Ethan Couch is led by sheriff deputies after a juvenile court for a hearing in Fort Worth, Texas. Couch, a Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense following a deadly drunken-driving wreck, will appear Wednesday, April 12, before a Fort Worth judge who could order more jail time as part of the conditions of his adult probation. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

State District Judge Wayne Salvant said Wednesday that Ethan Couch must spend 180 days in jail for each of the four people he killed in 2013 when he rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people helping a motorist. The sentences will be served consecutively.

Salvant earlier said he would not rule on Couch's jail time immediately.

It was Couch's first appearance in an adult court.

Couch was 16 and his blood-alcohol level was three times above the legal limit for adult drivers when the crash occurred.

Couch and his mother were caught in Mexico after fleeing a possible probation violation. He has been has been in custody in Texas since January.

___

10:35 a.m.

The Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense for a fatal drunken-driving wreck will remain in jail, for now.

Ethan Couch appeared in adult court for the first time Wednesday. State District Judge Wayne Salvant says he will not make an immediate decision on how much longer Couch must remain in the Tarrant County jail.

The 19-year-old Couch killed four people and seriously injured two others in June 2013 when he rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people helping a disabled motorist. His blood-alcohol level was three times above the legal limit for adult drivers.

Couch has been in Texas custody since January, a month after he and his mother were caught in Mexico after fleeing a possible probation violation.

___

00:15 a.m.

A Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense following a deadly drunken-driving wreck will appear in adult court facing the prospect of more jail time.

Ethan Couch is due Wednesday before a Fort Worth judge who could order more jail time as part of the conditions of his adult probation.

Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, was given 10 years of probation for a June 2013 wreck that killed four people and left two severely injured. The sentence outraged victims' families and prosecutors.

Couch and his mother, Tonya, fled to Mexico in December after a video surfaced online appearing to show Couch at a party where alcohol was being served. Drinking alcohol would be a violation of his probation.
US says Russian planes buzzed Navy ship in Baltic Sea

WASHINGTON (AP)  Russian attack planes buzzed a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Baltic Sea multiple times Monday and Tuesday, coming as close as an estimated 30 feet from the ship and twice passing below the ship's navigation bridge, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The Russian Su-24 planes appeared unarmed but on Tuesday flew what the commander of the USS Donald Cook deemed to be a simulated attack profile. The Cook's commander judged the actions unsafe and unprofessional, but the ship took no action beyond trying unsuccessfully to communicate with the aircraft by radio, according to a statement by U.S. European Command.

The U.S. European Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in that area, said the Cook was conducting deck landing drills with an allied military helicopter when two Su-24s made numerous close-range and low-altitude passes Monday afternoon. One pass occurred while the helicopter was refueling on the Cook's deck.

In this image released by the U.S. Navy, a Russian SU-24 jet makes a close-range and low altitude pass near the USS Donald Cook on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, in the Baltic Sea. The Russian attack planes buzzed the U.S. Navy destroyer multiple times on Monday and Tuesday, at one point coming so close, an estimated 30 feet, that they created wakes in the water around the ship, a U.S. official said Wednesday, April 13. (U.S. Navy via AP)

"As a safety precaution, flight operations were suspended until the Su-24s departed the area," it said.

European Command did not identify the ally involved but other officials said the helicopter was Polish.

It was unclear when or if the U.S. government would formally protest the Russian actions, which come at a time of tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia's annexation of Crimea, its military intervention in eastern Ukraine and fears among former Soviet states in eastern Europe that Russian aggression could threaten their independence.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the incident was part of a pattern of unsafe Russian aircraft action.

"This incident ... is entirely inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries operating in proximity to each other in international waters and international airspace," Earnest said.

"There have been repeated incidents over the last year where the Russian military, including Russian military aircraft, have come close enough to each other or have come close enough to other air and sea traffic to raise serious safety concerns. We continue to be concerned about this behavior," he said.

European Command released a Navy photo showing one Su-24 soaring past the Cook at close range.

A Navy video clip shows another low-altitude pass with a U.S. sailor shouting, "Below the bridge wing," meaning the Russian plane was flying below the level of the Cook's navigation bridge.

"We have deep concerns about the unsafe and unprofessional Russian flight maneuvers," European Command said in its written statement. "These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries, and could result in a miscalculation or accident that could cause serious injury or death."

It said U.S. officials are using diplomatic channels to address the matter. The incidents also are under review by the Navy.

The incident began Monday with a pair of Russian Su-24 planes making 20 close passes over the Cook, coming as close as 1,000 yards at an altitude of about 100 feet, according to a U.S. defense official. The official was not authorized to discuss some details by name and so spoke on condition of anonymity.

On Tuesday a Russian KA-26 submarine-hunting helicopter circled the Cook at low altitude seven times, taking photographs, the official said. About 40 minutes later, another pair of Su-24 attack planes, apparently unarmed, buzzed the Cook 11 times, the European Command statement said. At one point, at least one of the planes came within 30 feet of the ship, according to a Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Michelle L. Baldanza.

The U.S. believes the Russian actions may have violated a 1970s agreement meant to prevent unsafe incidents at sea. The agreement was between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union but remains in force with Russia.

Officials said the Cook was operating in international waters 70 nautical miles off the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. It had departed the Polish port of Gdynia on Monday. In April 2014 the Cook reported what it considered provocative actions by an apparently unarmed Russian Su-24 jet that made numerous low passes near the ship in the Black Sea near Romania.

In this Tuesday, April 12, 2016 photo provided by the U.S. Navy, a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft makes a low altitude pass by the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea. U.S. officials said the guided-missile destroyer was operating in international waters 70 nautical miles off the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. (U.S. Navy via AP)
Caribbean aviation agency seeks to regulate use of drones

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP)  A Caribbean aviation safety agency is pushing local government leaders to create unified laws to regulate the use of drones in the region.

Wednesday's petition from the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System comes amid an increase in the use of drones in the Caribbean.

Officials said people are operating drones without any formal regulations and flying them over private property. They warned that drones could be used for criminal and terrorism purposes.
Judge orders Texas 'affluenza' teen to nearly 2 years' jail

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP)  The Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving crash must serve nearly two years in jail, a judge ordered Wednesday.

Ethan Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, was making his first appearance in adult court. Prosecutors had argued that he should be sentenced for 180 days for each of four counts of intoxication manslaughter.

The terms will be served consecutively. It was not clear if that would include the time Couch has already spent in jail.

Ethan Couch is brought into court for a hearing at Tim Curry Justice Center in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. The judge ordered Couch, the Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck, to serve nearly two years in jail. (Max Faulkner/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool)

Couch killed four people and seriously injured two others in June 2013 when he rammed a truck into a crowd of people helping a disabled motorist. His blood-alcohol level was three times above the legal limit for adult drivers.

A juvenile court judge originally sentenced Couch only to probation, angering the families of his victims. Further sparking outrage was the contention of a defense psychologist that Couch had been coddled into a dangerous sense of irresponsibility by his wealthy parents. The psychologist used the term "affluenza."

Couch ended up in trouble again last year after a cellphone video showed him at what appeared to be a party with alcohol. Drinking alcohol is a violation of Couch's probation. Shortly after the video surfaced, Couch and his mother, Tonya, fled to Mexico.

The two were apprehended in a Mexican resort city in December and sent back to the United States.

___

Associated Press writers Reese Dunklin and Emily Schmall contributed to this report.

Ethan Couch is brought into court for a hearing at Tim Curry Justice Center in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. The judge ordered Couch, the Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck, to serve nearly two years in jail. (Max Faulkner/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool)

Ethan Couch, sits next to his attorney Scott Brown, during a hearing at Tim Curry Justice Center in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Judge Wayne Salvant ordered Couch, the Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck, to serve nearly two years in jail. (Max Faulkner/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool)
EPA: No changes to federal lead water rule until next year

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Environmental Protection Agency's top water regulator said Wednesday that officials are working urgently to strengthen a federal rule limiting lead and copper in drinking water  a key focus in the ongoing lead-contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan.

But Joel Beauvais, acting chief of the EPA's water office, said proposed changes will not be released until next year, with a final rule expected months after that.

Beauvais told Congress that he and others at the EPA "certainly have a sense of urgency" about making changes to the lead and copper rule, but added, "We also want to get them right."

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water Deputy Assistant Administrator Joel Beauvais testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, before a House joint subcommittee hearing with the Environment and the Economy subcommittee and Health subcommittee on the ongoing Flint lead-contamination water crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Meanwhile, Michigan's two senators said late Wednesday they have agreed to remove a bipartisan proposal to provide federal funds to help Flint from a larger energy bill stalled in the Senate.

Democratic Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters said they were disappointed that despite weeks of negotiations, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has refused to allow a vote on the Flint legislation. Stabenow and Peters said their bill would help not just Flint, but communities across the country with aging water infrastructures.

The Michigan senators said they would seek to find a way to move the Flint aid package through the Senate. Their decision to strip it from the energy bill allows the long-stalled energy measure to move forward.

The bill promotes a wide range of energy, from renewables such as solar and wind power to natural gas and hydropower. The legislation also would speed federal approval of projects to export liquefied natural gas to Europe and Asia and boost energy efficiency.

Flint's drinking water became tainted when the city switched from the Detroit water system and began drawing from the Flint River in April 2014 to save money. The impoverished city was under state control at the time. The crisis has affected some 100,000 residents of the predominantly African-American city.

Regulators failed to ensure the water was treated properly and lead from aging pipes leached into the water supply.

Elevated lead levels have been found in at least 325 people, including 221 children. Lead contamination has been linked to learning disabilities and other problems.

The lead and copper rule, part of the federal Safe Water Drinking Act, requires water systems across the country to monitor drinking water to ensure that lead, copper and other substances do not exceed federal recommendations.

The rule is widely considered flawed. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder called it "dumb and dangerous" at a hearing last month. Unless the federal rule is changed, "this tragedy will befall other American cities," Snyder said.

EPA chief Gina McCarthy, speaking at the same March 17 hearing, said the federal rules "definitely need clarification, they need to be strengthened, and we're taking a look at that."

Beauvais repeated that message at a hearing Wednesday, telling the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the EPA has been "actively working on revisions" to the lead and copper rule for more than two years  well before the Flint crisis was declared a public health emergency in October 2015. An advisory council that has been studying the issue recommended extensive changes in December, Beauvais said.

"We're working hard on it. We hope to get it right," he said.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., the energy panel's chairman, urged the agency to speed up its work, saying 2017 is "a long ways off."

__

Reach Matthew Daly: http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Keith Creagh testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, before a House joint subcommittee hearing with the Environment and the Economy subcommittee and Health subcommittee hearing on the ongoing Flint lead-contamination water crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa. speaks during a House joint subcommittee hearing with the Environment and the Economy subcommittee and Health subcommittee joint hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, on the ongoing Flint lead-contamination water crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Nicole Lurie testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, before a House joint subcommittee hearing with the Environment and the Economy subcommittee and Health subcommittee hearing on the ongoing Flint lead-contamination water crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The Latest: Union official disputes code of silence claim

CHICAGO (AP)  The Latest on plans to reorganize the Chicago Police Department following the fatal shooting of a black teenager (all times local):

4:40 p.m.

The head of the Chicago's police sergeant union is disputing a task force's contention that collective bargaining agreements between police unions and the city fosters and encourages a code of silence on the force.

FILE - In this March 28, 2016 file photo, Eddie Johnson speaks to the media after Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that he was appointing him the interim superintendent of the Chicago Police Department at CPD Headquarters in Chicago. On Tuesday, April 12, 2016, a Chicago City Council panel is expected to consider whether Emanuel should be allowed to appoint Johnson, a longtime member of the police department, as its next chief rather than choose from among three recommended finalists. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford, File)

Sgt. Jim Ade says all the collective bargaining agreements do is "provide due process in disciplinary procedures, nothing more."

The city's Task Force on Police Accountability released a report Wednesday that argues various provisions in the bargaining agreements have the effect of helping officers conceal misconduct. The group says such provisions include allowing officers to wait 24 hours before making a statement about a shooting and prohibiting anonymous complaints.

Ade disputed the claim. He says the task force's argument that collective bargaining agreements help officers lie is "ridiculous."

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4 p.m.

The leader of Chicago's Task Force on Police Accountability is calling the panel's 200-page report on issues facing the Chicago Police Department a "blueprint for long-lasting change."

Chairwoman Lori Lightfoot says the group conducted more than 100 interviews with community groups, police officers and outside experts. Its report says it found a pervasive opinion that the police department lacks a "culture of accountability," and that city residents, particularly African Americans, feel disrespected by police.

The 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager who was shot 16 times by a white officer, prompted the creation of the task force. But Lightfoot says the shooting was just the "tipping point." She called it an "historic time" with public outcry and involvement, with a chance for change.

Lightfoot says the task force's work is now over and it's up to community groups and the city to make the recommended changes.

___

3:35 p.m.

In the wake of task force report criticizing policing in Chicago, the city's newly appointed police superintendent says he and others are welcoming "a fresh set of eyes'" on problems facing the Chicago Police Department.

Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was sworn into office Wednesday. He says the department is not waiting for recommendations from the task force or from a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice before making changes.

The Task Force on Police Accountability says police in Chicago have "no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color" and have alienated blacks and Hispanics for decades. The panel is calling for sweeping changes in the department, including a new civilian oversight body to discipline problem officers.

Johnson, who is black, says he has no doubt there is racism in his department because there is racism in America. He says his goal is "to root that out."

___

2:55 p.m.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he hasn't seen a task force report that says the city's police have alienated blacks and Hispanics for decades by using excessive force and honoring a code of silence.

Emanuel says he can't talk specifics about the report because he has yet to review it, but says he has no doubt city officials have a lot of work to do to restore trust in the police department.

He also acknowledged Wednesday that work must be done to give transparency to the system of disciplining officers who engage in misconduct.

The Task Force on Police Accountability recommended replacing the "badly broken" independent review authority that currently investigates misconduct with a "new and fully transparent and accountable Civilian Police Investigative Agency."

Emanuel said the public has to have confidence in whatever is in place to oversee police and engage in disciplinary action.

___

2:45 p.m.

Task Force on Police Accountability Chairwoman Lori Lightfoot says the panel has come up with dozens of recommendations after more than 100 interviews with community members, police and experts.

They include hiring an inspector general, involving civilians in investigating police shootings and putting police complaints online.

Lightfoot said Wednesday the shooting death of Laquan McDonald launched the task force, but the conversation "goes back decades."

The black teenager was shot 16 times by a white police officer in 2014.

Lightfoot says it was clear from their conversations that Chicago residents felt that police did not "respect their humanity."

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12: 15 p.m.

Chicago aldermen have unanimously voted to make a longtime Chicago police officer the department's new superintendent.

Members of the City Council praised Eddie Johnson, who is African-American, before Wednesday's vote to hire him. Mayor Rahm Emanuel chose Johnson for the job after rejecting three candidates recommended by the city's police board.

Aldermen suspended rules on the selection process implemented in 1960 so Johnson could be hired to succeed Garry McCarthy.

McCarthy was fired amid a firestorm of protests over the November release of a video showing a white officer fatally shooting a black teenager. The teen, Laquan McDonald, was shot 16 times.

Johnson takes over a police department that also has been rocked by allegations of abuse and racism, and a surging violent crime rate.

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11:45 a.m.

Chicago aldermen have voted to pay $6.45 million to settle two lawsuits filed by the families of two men who died in police custody.

The Chicago City Council on Wednesday unanimously voted to pay $4.95 million to the family of a man who in 2012 was dragged by officers from his jail cell and shot repeatedly with a stun gun before he died of a fatal reaction to an anti-psychotic drug administered by a doctor. Philip Coleman's family alleged that Coleman would have not died had he be taken to a hospital for psychiatric treatment and not jail.

The council also settled for $1.5 million a lawsuit that alleged Justin Cook suffered a fatal asthma attack after the officers who arrested him refused to let him use his inhaler.

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11 a.m.

Local leaders and activists in Chicago say they are welcoming the findings of a task force established by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to look into police practices.

The recommendations include acknowledging what the task force calls the city's racist past and abolishing the Independent Police Review Authority, which critics have long called ineffective.

Greg Livingston heads the Coalition for a New Chicago, which was formed in the wake of several police shootings.

He agrees that the IPRA should be disbanded, calling it a "toothless tiger."

The Rev. Ira Acree is the leader of a West Side church who's long been an anti-violence advocate. He says the task force should be commended for writing the truth on the department's practices "against people of color."

He's challenging Emanuel to make changes.

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1:30 a.m.

A task force established by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to look into police practices says the department must acknowledge its racist past and overhaul its handling of excessive force allegations.

The Task Force on Police Accountability recommends abolishing the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates officer misconduct.

The panel was created in the wake of protests over a white officer's fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. A video of the 2014 shooting released last year contradicted police accounts that he was threatening officers before he was shot.
The Latest: Appalachian State students end sit-in protest

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  The Latest on legislation that critics say discriminates against transgender people by limiting their bathroom choices. Supporters say it protects privacy and safety. (all times local):

6:45 p.m.

Students at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, have ended their occupation of an administration building after the chancellor issued a statement opposing a state law limiting protections for the LGBT community.

FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2015 file photo, Ringo Starr performs in concert with his All Starr Band in Baltimore. Starr has joined Bruce Springsteen taking action over a North Carolina law that blocks anti-discrimination laws for the LGBT community. The rocker and former Beatle said in a statement Wednesday, April 13, 2016, that he has canceled his June 18 concert in Cary, N.C., in opposition to the passage of the bill. Starr said he was sorry to disappoint fans, "but we need to take a stand against this hatred. Spread peace and love." (Photo by Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP, File)

Chancellor Sheri Everts issued a statement Tuesday saying she had met with group members.

Everts writes that she opposes the new law but she's in a challenging position because campuses in the university system are subject to it.

Multiple media outlets report dozens held a sit-in last Thursday and spent the night. A group of them remained until Wednesday.

Protest organizer Rachel Clay said in an email the group left the administration building Wednesday morning after their demand for a public show of opposition to the bill was met.

___

6 p.m.

Democratic legislators opposed to the law limiting LGBT protections approved by Republicans are floating bills they'll file to repeal the law or scale it back.

Rep. Billy Richardson said Wednesday he would introduce a bill that would give local governments the ability to set their anti-discrimination protections and would extend a new statewide non-discrimination policy to cover sexual orientation, gender identity and veterans.

Richardson wrote a newspaper column this week in which he regrets supporting the legislation, saying he's been "haunted" by his hasty vote.

Democratic Rep. Darren Jackson tweeted Wednesday an image of draft legislation he's sponsoring with other Democrats that would repeal the law all together.

Republican legislative leaders support the law and say they have little appetite to alter it significantly.

The next regular work session for the General Assembly begins April 25.

___

5:30 p.m.

Conservative groups in North Carolina are unhappy that Republican Gov. Pat McCrory has now extended LGBT protections to state employees.

Leaders of the North Carolina Values Coalition, N.C. Family Policy Council and Christian Action League of North Carolina did, however, praise the governor for affirming the core content of last month's law in an executive order Tuesday.

The law is wide-ranging and mandated that transgender people use the restroom that corresponds to their biological sex and limits local government discrimination rules.

Opponents of the new law want a complete repeal.

___

5:15 p.m.

Ringo Starr has joined Bruce Springsteen in taking action over a North Carolina law that blocks anti-discrimination laws for the LGBT community.

The rocker and former Beatle said in a statement Wednesday that he has cancelled his June 18 concert in Cary, North Carolina, in opposition to the passage of the bill. Starr said he was sorry to disappoint fans, "but we need to take a stand against this hatred. Spread peace and love."

Several musicians and entertainers have protested laws and legislation in several states that opponents say is discriminatory toward gay, bisexual and transgender people.

A joint statement on Wednesday from the Recording Industry Association of America, a trade group representing music labels, and the Music Business Association, representing music retailers and services, condemned similar legislation in Tennessee.

___

2:30 p.m.

Evangelist Franklin Graham brought his state capitol prayer rally tour to Mississippi in the wake of lawmakers passing a bill that would let churches and some private businesses deny services to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Graham said Wednesday he didn't come to Jackson to endorse or oppose any particular legislation, but he made it clear to reporters after the 40-minute rally that he supports legislation to allow Christians to live out their faith, and in his view that includes disapproval of same-sex marriages.

The son of Billy Graham is telling people who attend the rallies that Christians need to get more involved in politics and bring Biblical principles to public office. He says Christians must push back against secularism, which he describes as the "enemy."

___

1:45 p.m.

Transgender people say a South Carolina bill requiring them to use a public bathroom corresponding to their "biological sex" puts them in danger of harassment and violence, while supporters contend it protects children's safety.

The overwhelming majority of people attending a Senate hearing Wednesday opposed the measure that mimics part of a North Carolina law that has brought a national backlash.

Sponsoring Sen. Lee Bright says he fears pedophiles will pretend to be transgender to gain access to potential victims. Opponents say existing laws already address such a crime.

Several transgender people asked Bright whether it made sense to force them to use bathrooms that don't line up with their identity.

Chase Glenn says women would not want him in their restroom, while Capri Culpepper says requiring her to go into a man's restroom puts her at risk.

___

1:20 p.m.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has issued an executive order banning discrimination in state government based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

He also rescinded his Republican predecessor's order offering protections to people who oppose same-sex marriage.

Edwards, a Democrat, released the order Wednesday.

It prohibits state agencies and contractors from harassment or discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, political affiliation disability, or age. The order includes an exemption for contractors that are religious organizations.

The provision affecting contractors takes effect July 1. The rest starts immediately.

In the non-discrimination order, Edwards also terminated an executive order from former Gov. Bobby Jindal. That order prohibited state agencies from denying licenses and contracts to businesses that take actions because of religious beliefs against same-sex marriage.

___

12:05 p.m.

Dozens of business leaders have signed a letter asking Tennessee lawmakers to kill a piece of legislation known as the transgender bathroom bill.

The CEOs of Williams-Sonoma, Airbnb, Alcoa, T-Mobile and Dow Chemical were among the 60 business leaders who signed the letter and said the proposal has no place in Tennessee.

A group of advocates for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people dropped off a letter to House Speaker Beth Harwell and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, both Republicans.

Under the measure, students at public schools and universities would be required to use bathrooms and locker rooms assigned to their gender at birth. Supporters say it protects the privacy of students and the rights of everyone. Opponents call it discriminatory.

___

5:10 a.m.

A South Carolina bill limiting transgender people's bathroom choices is up for discussion a week after Republican Gov. Nikki Haley and state business leaders called the proposal unnecessary.

People are expected to pack a Senate hearing on the bill Wednesday, though the subcommittee is unlikely to take any vote. Its chairman, Sen. Lee Bright, introduced the measure last week, saying he supports a North Carolina law that's led to companies ending expansion plans in the state and conventions going elsewhere.

Bright said he's had enough of tolerance if that means "men who claim to be women" going into a bathroom with children.

State Chamber of Commerce CEO Ted Pitts says Bright's creating a nonexistent political crisis to save his political career. Bright faces three GOP opponents in June.

Hedy Weinberg, right, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee, speaks at the Legislative Plaza regarding a Tennessee transgender bathroom bill Wednesday, April 13, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. The sponsor of the bill told a Senate committee Tuesday that he has to consider a state attorney general's opinion before going forward. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

CORRECTS TO SOUTH CAROLINA, NOT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - The Trans Student Alliance at the University of South Carolina holds a rally and news conference at the state Capitol to protest a controversial bill that would ban transgender people from choosing the bathroom they use Wednesday, April 13, 2016, in Columbia, S.C. Louisiana's governor issued an executive order Wednesday banning discrimination in state government based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and transgender people in South Carolina told state senators that a bill requiring them to use a public bathroom corresponding to their "biological sex" puts them in danger of harassment. (Tim Dominick/The State via AP) ALL LOCAL MEDIA OUT, (TV, ONLINE, PRINT); MANDATORY CREDIT

CORRECTS TO SOUTH CAROLINA, NOT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - The Trans Student Alliance at the University of South Carolina holds a rally and news conference at the state Capitol to protest a controversial bill that would ban transgender people from choosing the bathroom they use Wednesday, April 13, 2016, in Columbia, S.C. Louisiana's governor issued an executive order Wednesday banning discrimination in state government based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and transgender people in South Carolina told state senators that a bill requiring them to use a public bathroom corresponding to their "biological sex" puts them in danger of harassment. (Tim Dominick/The State via AP) ALL LOCAL MEDIA OUT, (TV, ONLINE, PRINT); MANDATORY CREDIT
Judge delays Charleston church shooting trial until January

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP)  A South Carolina judge on Wednesday delayed until next year the state death-penalty trial of Dylann Roof, who is charged with killing nine black parishioners at a Charleston church last June.

The judge granted a request by Roof's defense lawyers, who provided documents saying a doctor needed two to six more months to complete psychiatric testing. No other details were mentioned at the hearing, and the judge sealed the release of any information about Roof's medical records.

The judge moved the trial to Jan. 17. The trial had been scheduled to start on July 11.

Attorney Andy Savage, who represents some of the family members, said he wasn't surprised by the delay and that most of the family members seem to understand the need for it.

"They want a fair trial because they don't want to have to come back and do this again in a year or two or five or six," he said.

Roof also faces numerous counts, including hate crimes, in federal court. Federal prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the death penalty, and no date for that trial has been set.
VP Joe Biden to bring cancer 'moonshot' to the Vatican

WASHINGTON (AP)  Vice President Joe Biden is bringing his "moonshot" to cure cancer to the Vatican.

Biden will travel to Vatican City on April 28 for an international conference on breakthroughs in regenerative medicine. The vice president's office says he'll deliver a speech about his efforts to accelerate cancer research.

The Pontifical Council for Culture and the Stem for Life Foundation are hosting the conference, bringing together doctors, researchers, patients and bioethicists.

Pope Francis plans to attend part of the conference. It's unclear whether Biden will meet privately with the pope. Biden, a Roman Catholic, has met with the pope on other occasions.
Amid violence, Israel promotes Arab police officer

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)  Israel promoted an Arab police officer to deputy commissioner on Wednesday, making him the highest-ranking Muslim ever to serve in the force at a time when authorities are battling a wave of attacks by Palestinians that has frayed relations between Jews and Arabs.

In his new position, the 59-year-old Gamal Hakroosh faces an uphill battle overseeing policing in Arab communities, where residents are deeply suspicious of Israeli police. Many Israeli Arabs feel their community is discriminated against and stigmatized, and often view Israeli police with hostility and fear.

Israel's Arab minority, which makes up a fifth of the country's population of 8 million, has long had a fraught relationship with the Jewish majority. They hold full citizenship rights, but some Israelis, including top politicians, question their loyalty because they often side with their Palestinian brethren. The Israeli Arabs are generally poorer and less educated than Jews and suffer from discrimination and sub-standard public services.

Israeli Public Security Minister, Gilad Erdan, left, and Israel Police Chief Roni Alsheikh, right, change the epaulets of newly-named Israeli police deputy commissioner Gamal Hakroosh, center, during a ceremony in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Israel promoted the 59-year-old Hakroosh, an Arab police officer, making him the highest-ranking Muslim to serve in the force. He will oversee the policing of Arab communities, where residents view the Israeli police with suspicion. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

In turn, a lack of effective policing in Arab communities  where crime is rampant and often left unchecked by police  has fueled tensions further. Arabs often accuse the police of being indifferent to Arab crime so long as the Jewish population is not affected.

With Hakroosh's promotion, and the approval this week by Israel's Cabinet of a plan to step up law enforcement in Arab areas, Israel is hoping to change that perception.

"To this day, we did not grant the Arab sector equal law enforcement services. In everything related to the police, we did not act with due equality," Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said at the Tel Aviv ceremony for Hakroosh on Wednesday.

Israel plans to add police stations and hundreds of officers to serve Arab communities over the next five years. It has also recently announced a landmark billion-dollar budget intended to improve the living conditions of the Arab community.

Hakroosh hails from Kafr Kana, an Arab town in northern Israel that experienced violent demonstrations in late 2014 after a local man was shot and killed by police. He joined the police force in 1978, serving as station chief in a number of cities.

As deputy commissioner, one rank below the national police chief, he is now the highest-ranking Arab in the force. At least one Arab Druse officer has held the same rank, but Arab Muslims generally are less integrated into Israel's security forces and those who do serve are often viewed as traitors.

Hakroosh beamed as he received his rank in a packed auditorium at Tel Aviv's police headquarters. In the crowd, Arab village leaders, some wearing traditional Arab headdresses, dotted a sea of light blue police uniforms. Flanked by his family, he embraced Erdan, the minister, and police chief Roni Alsheich as the audience burst into applause.

"The police's job is to serve the people and among the people is the Arab citizen, the Arab Israeli citizen, and he deserves service," Hakroosh told The Associated Press. "He deserves that the police stand beside him."

Hakroosh's promotion is likely to spark opposition, not least because he will have jurisdiction over east Jerusalem, an area that has been a focal point for unrest during the seven month-long wave of violence that has killed 28 Israelis, two Americans and 188 Palestinians, the majority of which Israel says were attackers.

East Jerusalem's Arab inhabitants were granted residency status after Israel captured the area in the 1967 Mideast war but largely have not sought citizenship.

In a possible sign of the challenges Hakroosh faces, Arab members of the Israeli Knesset were absent from the ceremony.

"This won't change anything," said Salah al-Yassini, an Arab resident of east Jerusalem.

While most of the attackers during the current round of violence have been Palestinians from east Jerusalem or the West Bank, some Arab Israelis have also participated in the violence.

Most notable was a New Year's Day attack by 31-year-old Nashat Milhem, who opened fire on a Tel Aviv bar, killing two people and later an Arab taxi driver. Milhem fled, sparking a week-long manhunt that ended when he was killed in a shootout with Israeli forces in his hometown.

Tensions were then compounded by remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who demanded a crackdown to impose law and order on Arab towns.

Also, most Arab citizens remember Netanyahu's election day comments last year, when he galvanized his hawkish supporters by warning that "Arab voters are going in droves to the polls." The comments drew accusations of racism and international condemnation. Netanyahu later apologized.

Amnon Be'eri-Sulitzeanu, the co-director of The Abraham Fund, a group that promotes co-existence, called Hakroosh's promotion a "historic" achievement, but one that must be met by a broader change of approach by police.

"The most important thing is to build more trust with the Arab population," he said. "Every police force in the world ... needs trust to provide security."

Israeli Public Security Minister, Gilad Erdan, left, shakes hands with Israeli newly-named police Deputy Commissioner Gamal Hakroosh, as Israel Police Chief Roni Alsheikh, center, looks on prior to a ceremony in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Israel promoted the 59-year-old Hakroosh, an Arab police officer, making him the highest-ranking Muslim to serve in the force. He will oversee the policing of Arab communities, where residents view the Israeli police with suspicion. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
Woman charged with livestreaming alleged rape of teen friend

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  A 17-year-old was raped by a man with whom she had been drinking and her 18-year-old female friend livestreamed the attack on the social media app Periscope, a prosecutor said Wednesday in announcing a rape and kidnapping indictment.

Authorities learned of the assault when an out-of-state friend of the accused woman saw the images, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said.

Marina Lonina and Raymond Gates, 29, were charged with rape, kidnapping, sexual battery and pandering sexual matter involving a minor. The rape charge involved intercourse by force and was not related to the 17-year-old's age, O'Brien said. Lonina was also charged with illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material or performance.

This photo provided by the Franklin County, Ohio, Sheriff's Office, shows Marina Lonina. A prosecutor has charged Lonina with using an app to livestream the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl. Lonina and her co-defendant Raymond Gates were charged Wednesday, April 13, 2016, with rape, kidnapping, sexual battery and pandering sexually-oriented matter involving a minor. (Franklin County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Lonina and the victim were socializing with Gates at a home in Columbus on Feb. 27 when Gates raped the 17-year-old, O'Brien said.

Lonina had also livestreamed pictures of the girl in the nude the night before at Lonina's house, he said.

Lonina "categorically denies these charges," said her attorney Josh Bedtelyon.

Gates is scheduled for arraignment Friday. Court records don't list an attorney for him who could comment on the charges.

They each face up to 40 years in prison, if convicted.

O'Brien said the motive for the livestreaming was unclear, but he said alcohol was a factor. Gates, Lonina and the victim had all been drinking, he said.

"People need to know and understand that the use of a smartphone to video events can constitute serious felony crimes," O'Brien said. "They should think twice before they use their smartphones to either photograph or video anything that's of a sexual nature."

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Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/andrew-welsh-huggins
Banks look to enter the lucrative business of check-cashing

LAS VEGAS (AP)  Banks are rolling out services that allow their customers to cash a check before it clears  for a fee, of course.

Traditional banks have avoided offering the service, which is usually aimed at people with low incomes or without bank accounts, but now they want to get in on a business that has come to be dominated by local check-cashing stores.

U.S. banks and the consultants that serve them believe check cashing services can be marketed more broadly than they currently are, and that they have the potential to earn banks millions in additional fee income. At least two large banks have offered or are in the process of offering such "instant funds availability" services.

FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2008 file photo, Chad Munitz uses an ATM machine at a Fifth Third Bank, in Cincinnati. Banks are rolling out services that allow their customers to cash a check before it clears, for a fee, of course. Traditional banks have avoided offering the service, which is usually aimed at people with low incomes or without bank accounts, but now they want to get in on a business that has come to be dominated by local check-cashing stores. (AP Photo/Al Behrman, file)

Bank consultants are hopeful the "want it now" attitude among customers will result in wide adoption of the service beyond the poor, who more often need access to money from a check more urgently.

Consumer advocates have expressed reservations. While having instant access to funds from a check deposit could be helpful, it would be yet another fee for everyday banking services and would still most likely be paid by low-income customers.

There are also concerns that banks may not disclose to customers who express interest in the service that the funds from their deposited checks will be available fairly soon anyhow if they just wait.

Under current Federal law, the first $200 of a customer's deposit must be made available the next business day and another $200 the day after that. If a customer were to deposit $500, nearly all the funds would be available within 48 hours.

"We like to see banks reaching out to low- and moderate-income customers, but this is basically the banks getting into check-cashing," said Lauren Saunders with the National Consumer Law Center.

Cincinnati, Ohio-based Fifth Third Bank recently launched a low-fee checking account called Express Banking which allows customers to get immediate access to deposits as an additional service (the account does not allow the customer to overdraft and does not have monthly maintenance fees). The fee varies depending on how active the customer is with Fifth Third, but can be as from 1 percent to 4 percent of a check.

For a $500 check, Fifth Third's 1 percent fee would be $5, which is more than the $3 fee Wal-Mart charges for check-cashing services in their stores. However Wal-Mart does not offer check-cashing services for personal checks.

When Fifth Third started offering check-cashing services in 2011, the bank started noticing it was getting repeat customers who did not have bank accounts looking to cash checks, said Mark Erhardt, director of retail product management at Fifth Third. The bank decided to develop Express Banking to attract those customers, he said.

"It builds a relationship that places these consumers back into the banking system on their terms," he said.

Fifth Third says the average check cashed is between $200 and $400. The bank does tell customers when funds from deposited checks would be available without any intervention at the same time they offer the check-cashing service.

Fiserv, a financial technology and consulting company, has been selling a service called Immediate Funds to banks. The company says one large bank, which it declined to identify, is in the process of starting to offer the service. At a recent conference in Las Vegas, a Fiserv representative said that two other large banks have made commitments to use Fiserv to offer the service.

Banks are expected to increasingly offer check-cashing services routinely in hopes of attracting an impulse buy. A customer making a check deposit using their banking app could be offered the option, or see it every time they make a deposit at the ATM.

"People want what they want, when they want it," said Kevin Gregoire, group president of the financial institutions group at Fiserv, in a response to written questions about the product.

Fifth Third offers the check cashing service via its mobile app, but not at ATMs, Erhardt said.

In a survey that Fiserv conducted, seven out of 10 respondents said they would use check cashing services by a bank at least once a month.

While check usage has been on the decline for years, there's still money to be made in check cashing. The costs to process checks are falling since the advent of remote check deposit services on smartphone apps and ATMs, and checks are still popular. Banks processed 5.4 billion checks in 2015, with an average value of $1,487, according to the Federal Reserve.

Financial Service Centers of America, the trade organization that represents check cashers as well as payday lenders, say the industry operates 13,000 stores nationwide and sells $106 billion in financial products to roughly 30 million customers.

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GOP stalwart Schlafly faces strife following Trump support

ST. LOUIS (AP)  Longtime conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly's endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has led to internal strife  and what she claims was an attempt to oust her  at the organization she formed nearly a half-century ago to help defeat the Equal Rights Amendment.

The 91-year-old said six of the Eagle Forum's 11 board members, including one of her daughters, met improperly by telephone Monday "to wrest control of the organization from me" and "seize access to our bank accounts." She said in a statement she was kicked off the call when she objected.

Eagle Forum board member Cathie Adams, who was among those who convened the meeting, said there was no attempt to overthrow Schlafly and they still support her. She says they voted to fire the group's president who in turn says he's still on the job.

In this March 11, 2016 photo, longtime conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, 91, endorses Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump before Trump begins speaking at a campaign rally in St. Louis. Her support for Trump has led to internal strife _ and what she claims was an attempt to oust her _ at the organization she formed nearly a half-century ago to fight the Equal Rights Amendment. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

Schlafly had endorsed Trump in early March and introduced the GOP front-runner at a St. Louis rally. Eagle Forum president Ed Martin told The Associated Press the endorsement is partially behind the organization's recent strife. That was echoed in other interviews given by Eagle Forum treasurer John Schlafly, Phyllis Schlafly's son and one of the five board members who didn't participate in the call.

Soon after Schlafly announced her support for Trump, Adams told the Dallas Morning News that "it is just totally unfair to impose upon someone who has such a beautiful legacy," and called the endorsement a "manipulation" of an elderly conservative icon.

Adams, a former chairwoman of the Texas Republican Party who supports home state Sen. Ted Cruz as the GOP's presidential nominee, told The AP on Tuesday "there was absolutely never, ever any attempt to oust Phyllis Schlafly" from the organization Schlafly had founded in 1972. Adams blamed Martin, a former Missouri Republican Party chairman, for manipulating Schlafly.

"This is Ed Martin hiding behind Phyllis Schlafly and trying to put her up to save his job," Adams said. "He's just out there making noise because he doesn't want to leave."

Anne Cori, Schlafly's daughter who was on the call, said the Eagle Forum board voted to fire Martin as president and appointed another board member to take his place. Cori also insisted that Martin is the source of the turmoil, not her mother's vocal support of the anti-establishment Trump.

"He's 100 percent the problem," said Cori, who was named the Eagle Forum's executive director Monday.

Martin, who referred to himself as Schlafly's "hand-picked successor" said Tuesday he remains "happily at work."

Schlafly rose to national attention in 1964 with her self-published book, "A Choice Not an Echo," which is credited with helping conservative Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona win the GOP nomination.

The Eagle Forum, which she founded in the St. Louis suburbs where she still lives, was a leader in the effort to defeat the proposed constitutional amendment that would have outlawed gender discrimination. Schlafly's known for her opposition to abortion, gay marriage and immigration reform.

She was greeted warmly at the March 11 Trump rally, where Martin stood by her side at the podium.

"This year we have a candidate who really will give us a choice, not an echo," she said, invoking her book's title.

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US report criticizes China's crackdown on lawyers in 2015

WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. State Department on Wednesday criticized China's crackdown against lawyers, saying it reflected the government's insecurity in the face of popular aspiration for the rule of law.

The department highlighted repression against civil society in its annual report on human rights practices around the world, including in a number of authoritarian Asian nations.

The report, released by Secretary of State John Kerry, covers the 2015 calendar year.

It says repression and coercion markedly increased in China, and hundreds of lawyers and law associates were interrogated, investigated and in many cases detained in secret locations for months without charges or access to attorneys or family members.

Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski, a top envoy on human rights issues, said that the repression was a government attempt to project strength but in fact communicated weakness, as expectations rise among Chinese people who have become wealthier and connected to the internet.

"Like people everywhere else they want to live in a country where the rule of law is respected and corruption is punished and exposed, and environmental problems are not swept under the rug. They want the same thing as people anywhere else, and the government senses that and it feels insecure and it cracks down," Malinowski told reporters.

"I think that when we speak out on these issues we are 100 percent aligned with the aspirations of most ordinary people in China," he said.

The report also criticizes the enforced disappearances of five men working in Hong Kong's publishing industry, saying Chinese security officials were believed to be responsible.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In recent years, China has responded to the annual U.S. report by issuing its own on human rights problems in the United States. Last year it concluded that racial discrimination and police abuses are rife in the U.S.

The State Department report also highlighted restrictions on civil society groups in Laos and Vietnam, which like China have single-party governments.

Kerry said that Vietnam has pledged, as a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership  a 12-nation free trade agreement backed by Washington  to allow for the formation of independent trade unions. He said that was "a potential significant advance for freedom of association for workers."
Reporter tells Vatican court he was obliged to publish news

VATICAN CITY (AP)  An Italian journalist testified Wednesday that he never pressured a Vatican monsignor to give him confidential documents and said it was his obligation as a journalist to publish them because they were in the public interest.

Gianluigi Nuzzi was the fifth and final defendant to testify in the Vatican's trial over leaked documents that exposed greed, waste and mismanagement in the Holy See administration.

Nuzzi and another journalist, Emiliano Fittipaldi, wrote blockbuster books last year based on confidential Vatican information. They are on trial along with a former high-ranking Vatican official accused of leaking the documents and two other people. All five face up to eight years in prison if convicted.

Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi arrives at the Vatican from the Perugino entrance, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Two Italian journalists who wrote books detailing Vatican mismanagement face trial in a Vatican courtroom along with three people accused of leaking them the information in a case that has drawn scorn from media watchdogs. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Vatican prosecutors have accused Nuzzi and Fittipaldi of exerting pressure on Monsignor Angelo Lucio Vallejo Balda, the No. 2 of a papal reform commission, to compel him to hand over the commission's documentation about the Holy See's finances.

Nuzzi told the court Wednesday he did nothing of the sort. He said Vallejo wanted the information out because he feared the reform effort might be "boycotted" by Vatican officials opposed to it.

Nuzzi defended his decision to then publish the documentation as the duty of any journalist.

"I chose to be a journalist and when you are given information, it's your duty to publish it. You can't escape that," he testified. "What was I supposed to do in the face of these documents: Keep them in a drawer? If a colleague ever found that out that I had the documents and hadn't used them, they would have spit in my face."

Nuzzi insisted that none of the material compromised the Vatican's state interests or security, and that all were in the public interest.

"I wrote about privilege, I wrote about off-the-books accounts, about bad administration," he said. "I am convinced that this was relevant to the public."

Media rights groups around the world have criticized the Vatican for putting the journalists on trial and have called on prosecutors to drop the charges. The Vatican City State in 2013 criminalized the publication of confidential documents after Nuzzi wrote an earlier book, also based on internal documents, which were passed to him by then-Pope Benedict XVI's butler.

Some say that scandal helped accelerate Benedict's decision to resign. The butler was convicted of stealing the documents but was ultimately pardoned by Benedict.

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Daniela Petroff contributed.

Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi leaves the Vatican from the Perugino gate, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Two Italian journalists who wrote books detailing Vatican mismanagement face trial in a Vatican courtroom along with three people accused of leaking them the information in a case that has drawn scorn from media watchdogs. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi leaves the Vatican from the Perugino gate, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Two Italian journalists who wrote books detailing Vatican mismanagement face trial in a Vatican courtroom along with three people accused of leaking them the information in a case that has drawn scorn from media watchdogs. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi arrives at the Vatican from the Perugino entrance, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Two Italian journalists who wrote books detailing Vatican mismanagement face trial in a Vatican courtroom along with three people accused of leaking them the information in a case that has drawn scorn from media watchdogs. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi, arrives at the Vatican from the Perugino entrance, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Two Italian journalists who wrote books detailing Vatican mismanagement face trial in a Vatican courtroom along with three people accused of leaking them the information in a case that has drawn scorn from media watchdogs. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
UConn to display work of biologist who collected 2M insects

STORRS, Conn. (AP)  The University of Connecticut will use a $500,000 grant to give the public access to decades of work by a former biologist and his wife, who collected more than 2 million army ants, mites and other critters during more than 20 expeditions to the jungles of Central and South America.

The university's Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology will use the grant from the National Science Foundation to begin digitally cataloging the collection of dead insects this summer, creating an electronic database that will be available online. Carl Rettenmeyer and his wife, Marian, collected the bugs between 1971 and 1996 when he worked for the department.

"We have bulk samples of many colonies, thousands of vials with preserved things in them, and quite a few cabinets with pinned insects in them as well," Jane O'Donnell, the biologist who is managing the collection, said Wednesday.

In this 1975 photo released by the University of Connecticut, army ants gather in a colony in Ecuador. In summer 2016, UConn will begin digitally cataloguing a collection of about 2 million preserved army ants and create an exhibit after receiving a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. To celebrate, the school plans to install 4-foot replica ants on the side of the bioscience building on it's campus in Storrs, Conn. (Carl Rettenmeyer/University of Connecticut via AP)

The ant colonies also are documented in 5,000 Kodachrome slides and about 30 hours of digital videotape.

O'Donnell said the idea is to make the work accessible to everyone from elementary school students to the world's top ant researchers.

The school is planning two exhibits, one about the ants and another about the Rettenmeyers. Carl, who died in 2009, also founded the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History at UConn.

The school plans to build a large-scale model of an army ant that will welcome visitors to school's biology and physics building. There also will be 4-foot-long model ants placed on the side of the building to publicize the collection.

The Rettenmeyers painstakingly documented the complex life of foraging army ant colonies. They became the first to discover many of the other organisms that live there, such as a special mite that attaches to the end of an ant's leg and serves as a sort of hiking boot for the insect, O'Donnell said.

The school expects the additional research on the ants will uncover new details about colony life. The collection, O'Donnell said, also will be a valuable source of DNA for those studying the history of ants and their symbiotic systems.

"We don't even know what some of the relationships with some of these other organisms are," she said. "We're hoping that by putting all of these details together and making it easier to study, some patterns will emerge."

The school hopes to have the initial exhibition ready by early 2017.
Congresswoman: Illinois city should replace lead water lines

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP)  An Illinois congresswoman on Wednesday called on officials in one city to seek federal aid to replace lead service lines that have tainted its drinking water and contributed to high rates of childhood lead poisoning.

U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, a Democrat, said Wednesday that she was "deeply disturbed" by lead levels detected in Galesburg's water sampling last fall that were above the federal action-level. She said she was even more alarmed that 5 percent of Knox County children tested in 2014 had lead in their blood above the Illinois standard for public health intervention, a rate six times higher than the state average.

"If this happened to one of my kids, I can tell you I would ask for immediate answers and immediate action. These families and these children deserve no less," Bustos said in a congressional floor speech. "To all responsible here, it is time, it is past time. No more excuses, no more delays. We need a long-term solution to a long-term problem."

In this Wednesday, March 9, 2016 photo, officials display the city's notice of lead in water sent to customers, in Galesburg, Ill. An Associated Press analysis of federal data shows that nearly 1,400 water systems serving millions of Americans have exceeded the federal lead standard at least once during the last three years. In Galesburg, Ill., lead levels have exceeded the federal standard in 22 out of 30 testing periods since 1992. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

Bustos was responding to an investigation published last weekend by The Associated Press, which found that Galesburg had one of the nation's most enduring problems of lead in the drinking water. US. Environmental Protection Agency data analyzed by the AP show the city's water exceeded the federal lead-action level in 22 out of 30 sampling periods since 1992.

Bustos said she was encouraging the city to seek a low-interest loan through a federal drinking water infrastructure program to replace underground lead service lines that deliver water from the city's mains to 4,700 homes. City officials have said that project would likely cost between $10 million and $15 million  perhaps $2,500 per home  and that they do not have a funding source. A complicating factor is that homeowners, not the city, own those lines.

The city, which is about 200 miles southwest of Chicago and not far from the Iowa border, launched an online search tool allowing residents to see whether their homes have lead service lines after the AP investigation.

City Manager Todd Thompson said Wednesday the city is considering several options to expedite replacement of the lead pipes. One would be to replace all of them immediately, but that likely will not be his recommendation given the cost.

Instead, he said he will propose ways to help low-income residents pay to replace lines. At a minimum, he said the city probably will start replacing lines at homes where children have elevated lead levels. Lead poisoning can affect a child's development and have lifelong consequences.

Bustos said she was alarmed that many local officials were "so quick to point to lead paint and lead dust" from the city's old homes as the cause of poisoning rather than studying the role of drinking water. Scientists say drinking water can contribute 20 percent of a person's lead exposure, and more than half for bottle-fed infants.

The AP analysis of testing data for 75,000 water systems over the past 25 years comes amid the ongoing crisis in Flint, Michigan, where a state-ordered switch from Detroit drinking water to the local river exposed residents to high lead levels, creating concerns about the long-term health effects on children.

The AP found nearly 1,400 water systems nationwide had lead levels above the federal safety limit at some point during the past three years.

Galesburg's city manager said officials want to collaborate with the county health department when its inspectors assess homes of children with lead poisoning to try to pinpoint the cause of their exposure. That program has focused on lead paint and toys, but the city would like to be able to test the water in such cases and consider replacing the lines.

The county's public health administrator, Michele Gabriel, said sharing the results of lead blood tests with city officials would require authorization from patients. She said she will discuss the issue this week with the board of health.

In this Wednesday, March 9, 2016 photo, city officials display an example of the lead pipes in Galesburg, Ill. An Associated Press analysis of federal data shows that nearly 1,400 water systems serving millions of Americans have exceeded the federal lead standard at least once during the last three years. In Galesburg, Ill., lead levels have exceeded the federal standard in 22 out of 30 testing periods since 1992. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)
Poorer students losing out in race for higher earnings

Students from richer homes earn thousands more after graduating than their poorer peers - even if they attended the same universities, according to research.

The new report suggests that where and what students choose to study has an impact on their future earnings, with those who attended the most selective institutions taking home the most in their pay packets.

It also gives evidence of a gender gap, with men much more likely to take home higher salaries than women, even if they went to the same institution.

Graduates from wealthier backgrounds earn much more than students from poorer homes, even if they were educated at the same university, research shows

The study, by researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Institute of Education and the universities of Cambridge and Harvard, analysed tax data and student loan records for 260,000 students in England up to a decade after they graduated.

It covered graduates who started their degree between 1998 and 2011, and focused mainly on the 2012/13 tax year.

The findings show that those from the richest 20% of homes earn more in the workplace than the other 80% of students, with an average earnings gap 10 years after graduation of 8,000 a year for men and 5,300 a year for women.

Once the subject studied and the type of university was taken into account, an average student from a high-income family took home about 10% more than those from other backgrounds.

It also suggests that the 10% highest earning men from richer homes had a salary around 20% higher than the 10% of highest earners from poorer backgrounds. Among women, the highest-earning from rich homes earn around 14% more.

Study author Jack Britton, an IFS research economist, said: "This work shows that the advantages of coming from a high-income family persist for graduates right into the labour market at age 30. While this finding doesn't necessarily implicate either universities or firms, it is of crucial importance for policymakers trying to tackle social immobility."

Unsurprisingly, the research found that in general, those who studied for degrees in medicine and economics were likely to take home far more in their pay packets than other graduates, but at the other end of the scale, creative arts studies had the lowest salaries, earning no more on average than youngsters who did not go to university.

Around 12% of male economics graduates and 9% of women who studied the subject were taking home more than 100,000 10 years after leaving university, compared with 6% of men who studied medicine or law, and 1% of female medicine graduates and 3% of women with a degree in law.

And there were big variations in salaries depending on the university a student attended, a finding which researchers said was in part down to differences in degree entry requirements set by institutions.

The study found that more than 10% of men who graduated from Oxford, Cambridge and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) - considered among the best universities in the UK - were earning more than 100,000 a year 10 years after gaining their degrees, with former LSE students taking home the most.

LSE was also the only institution to have over 10% of female graduates earning more than 100,000 a decade later.

In total, there were 36 universities which had more than 10% of former male students earning over 60,000 10 years later, compared with 10 that had over 10% of female graduates taking home more than 60,000 at the same point.

There were also 23 institutions where typical male graduate earnings were less than the typical salaries for non-graduates 10 years on. For women, it was nine universities.

The report does note that regional differences in wages could mean that some universities that are heavily focused on their local area may struggle to produce graduates whose wages outpace England-wide salaries.

Anna Vignoles, of Cambridge University, said: "The research illustrates strongly that for most graduates, higher education leads to much better earnings than those earned by non-graduates, although students need to realise that their subject choice is important in determining how much of an earnings advantage they will have."

Dr Wendy Piatt, director-general of the Russell Group said: "We welcome the IFS report's finding that a university education provides an earnings premium for most graduates when compared with non-graduates.

"Russell Group universities aim to instil both independence and rigour of thought and learning; we produce graduates with deep subject knowledge and robust analytical skills but who are also creative and entrepreneurial problem-solvers. It is a model that ensures our students have the best chance of success in the global employment market - 11 of the top 50 universities in the world, as ranked by employers, are Russell Group universities."

Professor Steve West, chairman of University Alliance, said: "The report's most striking conclusion is the extent to which a graduate's family background remains a key factor determining their earnings. This needs to change. Universities have a role to play in addressing this inequality, ensuring that opportunities are open to all with the talent to succeed and that everyone can make the most of their potential."

Megan Dunn, president of the National Union of Students, said: "This study shows so much more work has to be done to create equal opportunities for students. It's hugely disappointing to see women and poorer graduates are facing such a massive disadvantage in the workplace."
Captain America composer: Aristocracy does not produce great artists

A British composer who produced the music for the new Hollywood blockbuster Captain America: Civil War said he has "worries" about the support given to state-educated children to succeed in the arts.

Henry Jackman, who studied at Eton College and the University of Oxford, voiced concerns about the opportunities offered to talented young musicians in comprehensive schools as he attended the film's world premiere in Los Angeles.

His comments follow the debate about the success of Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch and other former public school stars, with James McAvoy warning that the continued dominance of a wealthy elite in the arts will be "damaging for society".

Robert Downey Jr, Anthony Mackie and Chris Evans arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of Captain America: Civil War (AP)

Jackman, who received a Bafta nomination for his score to Captain Phillips, said he received a scholarship to study at Eton which provided "an opportunity at an institution I could not possibly have afforded".

He told the Press Association: "If you look at all decent artists ... like Monet, Debussy, Benjamin Britten, I'm not being rude to the English aristocracy, but it has not produced the world's greatest artists.

"The one I do worry about is music education and how that works and where you get the opportunity. I was lucky. My dad came from a working class family but he was a great musician so it was flowing through the house.

"If you imagine you've got some kid whose mum works in the local store and it turns out he's naturally really good at the violin, how does that work?

"If you went to a comprehensive in Peckham and went, hey, can we get some violin lessons for this guy? I don't know if the answer is going to be, yeah sure, we've got loads of violins. That worries me.

"The great thing about music is it is meritocratic."

Jackman joined the stars of Captain America: Civil War on the red carpet for the film's premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Chris Evans, who plays Captain America, and Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr attended along with host of their co-stars including Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle and Paul Bettany.

Evans paid tribute to Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee after the pair embraced on the red carpet.

"It's overwhelming," he told reporters. "It's Stan Lee. What can you say to a legend like that? The fact he even knows me is a big deal."

Rudd, who plays Ant Man in the film, praised the movie's directors, brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, for managing a plethora of superhero characters.

He said: "The Russo brothers did such a great job balancing all of it. I'm only a small part of it. They did such a good job focussing on the story and all the different relationships between the characters. They're really talented guys."
Philip Hammond faces fresh calls for statement on possible Libya deployment

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is facing fresh calls from MPs to make a Commons statement on the possible deployment of British ground troops to Libya.

The cross-party Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has angrily rejected Mr Hammond's latest "less-than-candid" assurances that no deployment to the strife-torn north African state is imminent.

The row follows a visit by MPs to Egypt and Tunisia last month during which they said they were told the UK was to contribute 1,000 troops to a 6,000-strong international force to be despatched to support a new UN-backed government of national unity "in the near future".

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond

In their latest exchange of correspondence, released by the committee, Mr Hammond said no decisions had been made about any future British deployment.

"I have taken the precaution of checking with our embassies in Cairo and Tunis. They have confirmed that at no point did British diplomats brief you to this effect. Your assertions are wrong on a number of accounts," he wrote.

That drew a furious response from the committee chairman, Conservative former minister Crispin Blunt, who said his letter was designed to be "wholly and deliberately misleading to the uninformed reader".

"As you are no doubt aware given your careful choice of words, the briefing came from another British source working at the direction of the defence attache and witnessed by British diplomats," he wrote.

He added: "The Foreign Affairs Committee remains deeply concerned by potential British military involvement in Libya.

"The welcome candour of briefings by all whom we met in Cairo and Tunis contrasts sharply with your less-than-candid reply to my request for further detail on a rapidly developing situation that may require further active British engagement."

He called on Mr Hammond to make a statement to the Commons "clarifying" the UK's current military involvement in Libya and its plans to deploy troops to the country.

A Foreign Office spokesman said there are no plans to deploy combat troops.

"As the Foreign Secretary has made clear, the UK continues to work with international partners on how to best support the new Libyan government. This includes discussions about a Libyan International Assistance Mission.
Jeremy Corbyn: I pay more tax than some companies

Jeremy Corbyn has claimed he pays more tax than companies owned by people that David Cameron "might know quite well".

The Labour leader defended his tax return, described by the Prime Minister as "late, chaotic, inaccurate and uncosted", after it emerged Mr Corbyn failed to include thousands of pounds of pension income and was fined for submitting it late.

The pair clashed after the Panama Papers data leak forced them to publish their tax returns alongside Chancellor George Osborne and following a row over the PM's investment in an offshore trust.

Jeremy Corbyn clashed with the Prime Minister over their tax returns

During Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Corbyn grilled Mr Cameron over the commitment of British overseas territories - often seen as tax havens - to transparency and cuts to HM Revenue and Customs staff.

As the pair traded blows, the Prime Minister drew attention to the Opposition leader's 2014-15 tax return which did not contain details of his pension income and which was the subject of a 100 fine for being submitted late.

Mr Cameron said: "I thought your tax return was a metaphor for Labour policy - it was late, it was chaotic, it was inaccurate, it was uncosted."

Mr Corbyn hit back: "I'm grateful to the Prime Minister for drawing attention to my own tax return, warts and all.

"The warts being my handwriting, all being my generous donation to HMRC - I actually paid more tax than some companies owned by people that you might know quite well."

Mr Cameron said Britain will publish a full beneficial ownership register of companies in June but admitted overseas territories' similar lists would not be made public.

The PM said he did not want to force the crown dependencies to make their registers public because "some of them might have walked away" from the drive for transparency.

But Mr Corbyn said the Cayman Islands premier was "celebrating victory" because the information would not be available publicly or directly to UK agencies and the chief minister of Jersey stressed information will only be provided in relation to terrorist activity.

The Labour leader said: "Only two days ago you said you had agreed that they would provide - these are the overseas territories - UK law enforcement and tax agencies with full access to information on the beneficial ownership of companies.

"There seems to be some confusion here because the chief minister of Jersey said, 'this is in response to a need for information without delay where terrorist activities were involved'.

"Obviously we welcome this commitment to fighting terrorism, but is Jersey and all the other dependencies actually going to provide beneficial ownership information or not?"

Mr Cameron replied: "The short answer to that is yes, they are, and that is what is such a big breakthrough.

"Look, I totally accept they are not going as far as us because we are publishing a register of beneficial ownership, that will happen in June, we will be one of the only countries in the world to do so - I think Norway and Spain are the others.

"What the overseas territories and crown dependencies are doing is making sure that we have full access to registers of beneficial ownership to make sure that people aren't evading or avoiding their taxes."

In a separate answer, Mr Cameron said: "We did not choose the option of forcing them to have a public register because we believed if that was the case we'd get into the situation that you spoke about ... some of them might have walked away from this co-operation altogether."

Mr Corbyn dismissed Mr Cameron's assertions as "tough talk" without real action.

"You talk very tough and I grant you that, the only problem is it's not a public register that you are offering us, you are only offering us a private register that some people can see," the Labour leader said.

"You are supposed to be chasing down tax evasion and tax avoidance, you are supposed to be bringing it all into the open, if you cannot even persuade the premier of the Cayman Islands or Jersey to open up their books, where is the tough talk bringing the information we need to collect the taxes that should pay for the services that people need?"

Mr Cameron insisted the public beneficial ownership register would be an "absolute first" for Britain and highlighted other moves to make foreign companies declare details of the properties they own, claiming Labour is "catching up" on the issue

The PM added: "I am not saying we have completed all this work but we have got more tax information exchange, more registers of beneficial ownership, more chasing down tax evasion and avoidance, more money recovered from businesses and individuals, and all of these things are things that have happened under this Government.

"The truth is you are running to catch up because Labour did nothing in 13 years."

In earlier exchanges, Mr Corbyn highlighted Tory MEPs' opposition to new European Commission proposals on country-by-country tax reporting to make firms declare where they make profits.

Mr Cameron said the plans had been drawn up by EC financial commissioner Jonathan Hill, who was appointed by the Government.

Mr Corbyn said: "If the proposals were put forward by the British Government why did Conservative MEPs then vote against them? There seems to be a sort of a disconnect here."

The two leaders also clashed over funding at HMRC, with Mr Corbyn claiming the PM was cutting staff levels by 20% and closing tax offices.

Mr Cameron insisted the Government had invested 1 billion in HMRC since 2010 to improve tax collection and was hiring more staff in its compliance department.

"It's not how much money you spend on an organisation, it's about how many people you can actually have out there collecting the taxes and making sure the forms are properly filled in," the PM said.

Mr Corbyn replied: "You are quite right, the number of people out there collecting taxes is important, therefore why have you laid off so many staff at HMRC who therefore cannot collect those taxes?"

Green MP Caroline Lucas (Brighton Pavilion) claimed the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers data leak, Mossack Fonseca, is potentially shredding documents and deleting data in its UK office.

She told the PM: "Authorities in Peru, El Salvador and Panama have raided offices of Mossack Fonseca, seizing documents and computer equipment.

"But no-one has knocked on the door of the law firm's branch here in the UK.
Bomb kills Palestinian official in Lebanon's Sidon - official

BEIRUT, April 12 (Reuters) - A bomb in the southern Lebanon city of Sidon killed an official from the Palestinian Fatah movement on Tuesday, an official from the group said.

The man was identified as Fathi Zaydan, a Fatah official responsible for the Palestinian camp of Mieh Mieh in Sidon. A photograph of the blast site near a Palestinian refugee camp showed a man's body lying next to a burning vehicle.

The official said he was killed by a bomb placed under his vehicle. Mieh Mieh camp, 4 km east of Sidon, is home to 5,250 Palestinian refugees, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which aids Palestinian refugees across the region.

The nearby Palestinian camp of Ain al-Hilweh has regularly been the scene of violent disputes between rival factions. One man was killed and others injured earlier this month when one such dispute escalated into gunbattles.
Missing Ugandan maid fuels fears of abuse in Saudi Arabia

By Yasin Kakande

KAMPALA, April 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Jannat Mubiru has heard nothing from her daughter since the 27-year-old called to say she had arrived safely in Riyadh, where she was due to start work as a maid five months ago.

Mubiru has repeatedly phoned the Saudi number her daughter, Shamim Nakitende, used but her calls went unanswered at first, and then were blocked.

"There are so many stories of Ugandans being mistreated in Saudi Arabia. I am so worried," Mubiru told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"Shamim left behind a daughter and son and it's difficult to answer their daily questions about their mother without knowing if she is still alive or not," she added.

Since Nakitende left, the company which had offered her work in Saudi Arabia has closed its external recruitment department and severed links with the unit's director over violations of recruitment guidelines, Mubiru said.

More than 10,000 Ugandans are estimated to be working in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait as security guards, domestic workers, drivers and cashiers in supermarkets and fast food restaurants.

In January, the Ugandan government announced a ban with immediate effect on the recruitment of Ugandans as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, after the local media reported cases of abuse and mistreatment.

Despite the ban, the recruitment of Ugandans to work in the oil-rich Gulf states is still flourishing as agents prey on jobless youths in the east African country eager for adventure, overseas travel and the promise of a good salary.

Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Welfare Muruli Mukasa said the government had received many complaints of exploitation from workers in the Gulf - including having their passports confiscated on arrival and being made to work 12 hours a day or more, sometimes without enough to eat.

Some also reported having their salaries withheld and being subjected to verbal abuse, physical assault, threats and intimidation by their employers.

Thomson Reuters Foundation asked Saudi embassy officials to respond but they declined to comment.

UNSCRUPULOUS AGENTS

Some Ugandans said they were deceived as to the nature and income of their promised jobs by recruitment companies, though these were licensed and vetted by the authorities.

The same agencies sometimes took money from both the prospective employer and the migrant worker to cover recruitment fees, the cost of a visa and the air fare, workers said.

"An Arab employer who has paid these exorbitant fees, believes he or she just bought you. In other words you are his slave with no rights whatsoever," said Ramla Nakazibwe, who returned from the UAE in January, her dream in tatters.

Nakazibwe used a licensed recruitment agency to find her a job in the UAE, spending 6 million shillings ($1,800) on fees.

Instead of working in a supermarket as she was promised, she was given a cleaner's job which paid only 600 dirhams ($160) a month.

President Yoweri Museveni's government is trying to raise awareness of the risks of being trafficked abroad, using a TV campaign urging Ugandans to be careful about overseas job offers, said Moses Binoga, national coordinator for the interior ministry's anti-trafficking task force.

TOUGHER PENALTIES FOR UNLICENSED AGENTS

He said his task force was lobbying government for a review of 2005 guidelines on the export of labour, seeking tougher penalties for recruitment agents working without a licence.

"The government should also be urged to develop international agreements (extradition treaties) with the Middle East countries so that those who exploit Ugandans can face justice also," Binoga told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Theopista Nabulya, a member of parliament representing exploited workers, said her group had asked the government to stop licensing recruitment companies unless a proper system was in place to protect migrant workers' rights.

She said she had visited Ugandans in most of the Gulf Arab states between 2011 and 2015, and found that most of them had been duped at some point during the process.

Some of the worst exploitation involved women who had escaped from their employers and ended up as sex workers in Dubai, she said.
Romania - Factors to watch on April 13

BUCHAREST, April 13 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Wednesday.

CURRENT ACCOUNT DATA

The central bank will release current account balance data for January-February.

Romania recorded a trade deficit of 994 million euros ($1.13 billion) in January-February, up 75 percent on the year and a shortfall of 611 million euros in February.

INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT

Romania's adjusted industrial output edged up 1.0 percent on the month in February after January's 2.3 percent fall, and was down 0.2 percent on the year, data from the National Statistics Board showed on Tuesday.

CEE MARKETS

Central European assets gave up some ground on Tuesday amid concern that Poland may ease monetary policy, while investors looked for signals on how fast the U.S. Federal Reserve could lift rates.

EGYPT TENDER

Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) set a tender on Monday to buy an unspecified amount of wheat from global suppliers for shipment from May 21-31.

For the long-term Romanian diary, click on

For emerging markets economic events, click on

For an index of all diaries, click on
Hungary, Factors to watch, April 13

BUDAPEST, April 13 (Reuters) - Following is a list of events in Hungary and the region, as well as news stories and press reports which may influence financial markets.

(For any queries: Budapest editorial +36 1 327 4745)

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN HUNGARY (ALL TIMES GMT)

BUDAPEST - Final industry output, Feb (0700)

BUDAPEST - Cbank minutes of March 22 rate meeting (1200)

IN THE REGION

ROMANIA - Feb C/A

CZECH - Feb C/A (0800)

CZECH - Bond auction (1015)

POLAND - Feb C/A (1200)

IN THE NEWS REUTERS

Croatia eyes completing floating LNG terminal in 2018 - minister

Croatia aims to complete a floating liquefied natural gas terminal in the northern Adriatic in 2018 and initial capacity is seen at around two billion cubic metres of gas a year, the Economy Minister Tomislav Panenic said on Tuesday.

Hungary's Feb farm PPI eases to 2.8 pct y/y -stats

Hungarian agricultural producer prices rose by an annual 2.8 percent in February, retreating from a 4.8 percent increase in January, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) said on Tuesday.

Hungary scraps Sunday retail trading ban
Poland - Factors to Watch April 13

Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Wednesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 2 hours):

CURRENT ACCOUNT DATA

The central bank will release February current account data at 1200 GMT.

CONSTITUTIONAL TRIBUNAL

The European Parliament is expected to adopt a resolution on Wednesday urging the Polish government to end the paralysis of the constitutional tribunal, which threatens democracy, and to fully respect the tribunal's rulings, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily reported.

POLL ON DEMOCRACY

Sixty three percent of Poles think democracy in Poland is at risk due to the conflict over the constitutional court, while 34 percent believe there is no such risk, a poll by IBRiS for Rzeczpospolita daily showed on Wednesday.

LOTOS

The supervisory board of Polish refiner Lotos is likely to dismiss long-serving chief executive Pawel Olechnowicz, Rzeczpospolita daily reported without naming its sources.

Puls Biznesu daily said current head of Lotos supervisory board Robert Pietryszyn is likely to become interim chief executive after Olechnowicz's dismissal.

BGZ

The Polish BNP Paribas unit said on Wednesday it plans to increase the return on equity (ROE) to around 10 percent and win an over 5-percent share of the market in credits and deposits by the end of 2018.

DIVERSE

Private equity fund Abris has started the process of selling its Etos company, which owns the clothing brand Diverse, Puls Biznesu daily reported without naming its sources.

DEVELOPERS

Twelve housing developers, which include some of the biggest firms in the sector in Poland, have increased the number of flats sold in the first quarter by 17 percent year-on-year despite the introduction of a bank tax and a higher capital requirement for mortgages, Puls Biznesu daily reported.

****Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.****
Italy economy minister says EU, ECB won't block bank fund -paper

MILAN, April 13 (Reuters) - There is no risk that European authorities will block a bank fund set up by Italian financial institutions to shore up weaker lenders, Italy's Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan told financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore on Wednesday.

In a separate interview, Bank of Italy Director General Salvatore Rossi said the vehicle did not increase systemic risk for Italian banks.

On Monday, Italy's UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo , state lender CDP and others agreed to create a fund with a war chest of up to 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) that would help buy shares in upcoming stock issues at distressed lenders and purchase non-performing loans.

Shares in Italian banks closed in negative territory on Tuesday, weighed down by doubts over how the fund will function.

"The state plays no role in the initiative ... so I do not see any risk," Padoan said about the possibility the fund could violate European state aid rules.

The minister also said the government would next week approve new measures to speed up bankruptcy procedures to help banks shed some of the 360 billion euros in soured loans weighing on their balance sheets.
PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - April 13

SOFIA, April 13 (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.

-- Bulgarian telecoms operator Vivacom is a leader in terms of revenues for a third consecutive year with revenues of 848 million levs ($492.45 million) in 2015, up 5 percent on an annual basis, data from the company showed. (Trud, Standart, Capital Daily)

-- Bulgaria's electricity exports dropped 50 percent in the first three months of the year mainly due to lower demand in neighbouring countries, data from the electricity grid operator showed. (Capital Daily, Telegraph)

-- State pensions will be increased with 2.6 percent as of July 1, the head of the social security institute said. (Trud, 24 Chasa)

STANDART - The mayor of the southern city of Pazardzhik is proposing a fine of 500 levs for wearing a face-covering Islamic veils at schools and public institutions.
German institutes lower 2016 growth forecast to 1.6 pct-sources

BERLIN, April 13 (Reuters) - Germany's leading economic institutes will lower their growth forecast for Europe's largest economy for this year to 1.6 percent from 1.8 percent previously, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

The institutes expect growth to further slow in 2017, with gross domestic product (GDP) predicted to expand by around 1.5 percent, two people familiar with the forecast told Reuters.

The institutes will publish their growth estimates on Thursday and the government is expected to update its own forecast on April 20.
UK minister who knew press had sex worker story on him denies it influenced policy

By Estelle Shirbon

LONDON, April 13 (Reuters) - A British minister has denied that his decisions on press regulation were in any way influenced by the fact that he had found out that several newspapers had information about his past relationship with a sex worker.

Critics in the opposition Labour Party said Culture and Media Secretary John Whittingdale should have given up responsibility for press regulation matters when he learnt that reporters had the potentially damaging story.

"It seems the press were quite deliberately holding a sword of Damocles over John Whittingdale," said Labour lawmaker Chris Bryant, who has campaigned on the issue of press intrusion.

"He has a perfect right to a private life but as soon as he knew this he should have withdrawn from all regulation of the press," he said.

Whittingdale said he had a relationship in 2013-2014, before he took up his current post, with a woman he met on a dating website. He did not know she was a sex worker, and when he found out he ended the relationship.

"It has never had any influence on the decisions I have made as culture secretary," Whittingdale said in a statement.

The row comes at a bad time for the government. The ruling Conservatives are split over EU membership ahead of a referendum on the issue in June, and Prime Minister David Cameron is under pressure for having held a stake in an offshore fund.

Cameron's Downing Street office said: "John Whittingdale is a single man and is entitled to a private life. The PM has full confidence in him."

Press regulation has been a highly political issue in Britain since a huge scandal over illegal phone-hacking by tabloid reporters in 2011 lifted the lid on close ties between politicians, police and certain sections of the media.

A lengthy public inquiry ordered by Cameron made recommendations on how to improve press regulation, many of which have not been implemented.

The suggestion from Whittingdale's critics is not that he did anything wrong in his private life, but rather that he may have been soft on media because he knew that newspapers had the embarrassing story about him.

Hacked Off, a group campaigning against press intrusion, said the public could no longer have faith in his judgment and independence in making decisions about the media.

The newspapers that had the story included the Sun and the Mail on Sunday, which have published many stories about the private lives of politicians in the past.

They said they had decided not to publish this one because there was no public interest.

"There appeared to be absolutely no conflict of interest here. John Whittingdale wasn't in government at the time he had this relationship, and there was no moral rule broken here," the Sun's political editor Tom Newton Dunn told Sky News television.
France's Total to broaden LNG cooperation with Korea Gas

PARIS, April 13 (Reuters) - French oil and gas company Total said on Wednesday that it signed an agreement with Korea Gas to extend the cooperation in their liquefied natural gas (LNG) businesses.

The agreement is designed to jointly identify and pursue opportunities to develop the LNG market in Asia and in new importing countries, Total said in a statement.

The French group added that the firms would also cooperate in LNG trading and terminal optimisation.
Iraq's parliament to meet over PM's cabinet plans amid protests

By Saif Hameed

BAGHDAD, April 13 (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament will hold an emergency session on Wednesday at the request of lawmakers who are protesting after plans by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to introduce a cabinet of technocrats to curb corruption were blocked.

Several dozen members of parliament began a sit-in on Tuesday to demand Abadi stick to his plans.

The prime minister presented a modified line-up on Tuesday after his initial cabinet list was blocked by parliament's dominant political blocs.

Abadi last month presented parliament with a list of 14 names, many of them academics, to free the ministries from the grip of a political class he has accused of using a system of ethnic and sectarian quotas instituted after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to amass wealth and influence.

The cabinet reshuffle is part of long-promised anti-corruption measures Abadi needs to deliver or risk weakening his government as Iraqi forces mount a campaign to recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State militants.

Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri agreed to hold an emergency session on Wednesday, Nahida al-Daini, a Sunni lawmaker taking part in the sit-in, told Reuters.

The vote on the modified cabinet list is planned on Thursday.

"We represent 137 MPs and we seek to depose the three presidents and discuss the reforms," said Daini, referring to the top three state positions -- the president, prime minister and speaker of parliament.

The dominant blocs in the 328-member parliament back Abadi's modified line-up, which includes some of their own candidates.

Abadi proposed the new cabinet under pressure from the clergy of the Shi'ite majority and popular discontent at the lack of basic public services in a nation facing an economic crisis caused by falling oil prices.

Many of the protesters inside parliament are supporters of powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who had organized street protests in the past weeks to pressure the prime minister on reforms, and some MPs representing the Sunni minority.
Swedish property firm Castellum in deal to buy Norrporten

STOCKHOLM, April 13 (Reuters) - Swedish property firm Castellum said on Wednesday it had agreed to buy rival Norrporten for 14.0 billion Swedish crowns ($1.72 billion), the Nordic country's biggest real estate deal since 2008.

Castellum, one of Sweden's biggest listed real estate firms, said it was paying 10.4 billion crowns in cash and 23.41 million Castellum shares for Norrporten. In addition, a dividend of 464 million crowns would be distributed prior to closing.

The deal is the second biggest in real estate in Sweden, only ranking behind the 2008 sale of state-controlled Vasakronan for 41.1 billion crowns.

"The acquisition of Norrporten is a strong move forward in Castellum's long-term growth strategy," Castellum CEO Henrik Saxborn said in a statement.

"Norrporten has an attractive property portfolio that complements Castellum's existing portfolio in growth markets around Sweden and Denmark, and which adds properties in a number of new markets where Castellum is not already present."

Trading in Castellum shares had been halted at 0852 GMT after Swedish business daily Dagens Industri reported a deal had been reached, citing undisclosed sources.

Reuters reported last month Castellum wanted to buy Norrporten, which has also been preparing for a stock market listing. Norrporten is owned by state-controlled Swedish national pension funds, known as AP2 and AP6.
The King and I: Retired teacher behind British royals' visit to Bhutan

By Douglas Busvine

NEW DELHI, April 13 (Reuters) - That Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is in large part thanks to a retired Oxford schoolteacher.

Honorary Consul Michael Rutland calls himself a mere facilitator, but a British diplomat said he had played a crucial role in arranging the royal visit to the country sandwiched between the world's two most populous nations: China and India.

Bhutan has never had diplomatic relations with the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, including China and Britain. That made the assignment a delicate one for the 78-year-old Rutland.

"How can a retired physics teacher be a threat to anyone?" he asked Reuters in a telephone interview from the capital Thimphu, before Prince William and wife Kate start their two-day trip on Thursday.

The British royals, who have been touring India, will for the first time meet the fifth king and the queen of Bhutan. They will also trek to the Tiger's Nest, an ancient Buddhist monastery perched 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) up a mountain.

William's father, Prince Charles, failed to complete the steep ascent to the Tiger's Nest during a visit in 1998, opting instead to paint a watercolour of the scene.

It's a crowning moment for Rutland, who was once asked at a dinner party in Oxford whether he wanted to teach in Bhutan. After initial hesitation - he didn't know where the country was - he accepted the job in 1971, only to discover he had been appointed tutor to the crown prince of Bhutan.

The prince became the fourth king, going on to end his own absolute rule before abdicating. The current king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, ascended to the throne in 2008.
In Libya, Islamic State struggles to gain support

By Aidan Lewis and Ahmed Elumami

WADI BEY, Libya, April 13 (Reuters) - Packed into a battered car, a family of nine joined the steady flow of residents fleeing Islamic State's Libyan stronghold of Sirte. They were heading to a nearby town to pick up essentials: cash, medicine and food.

A few kilometres beyond the militant group's zone of control, the family gave an account of life in the city: young men murdered for refusing to pledge allegiance to Islamic State, public beatings for dress violations, property seizures and growing food shortages.

"They're there to occupy the city," said the wife from behind her black veil, as her children glanced nervously from the rear of the vehicle one afternoon in late February. "They're killing, kidnapping and torturing."

Sirte is a city upended. Once given favoured treatment by former leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was born there, it now serves as a Mediterranean base for the most important Islamic State branch outside Syria and Iraq. That has left Western intelligence agencies struggling to figure out how far Islamic State can extend its influence across Libya - and how to stop the group.

Some Libyan and Western officials see Sirte as a foothold for further Islamic State expansion. From there the ultra-hardline Sunni group has ventured east along the coast, edging closer to major oil fields. It now controls a thin strip along about 250 km (155 miles) of Libya's central coastline.

Though Islamic State's manpower in Libya is uncertain, membership has been growing. Western intelligence agencies and the U.N. estimate its fighting force, which includes a growing number of foreigners, at between 3,000 and 6,000. "Their dream is to control the oil fields in the east and expand to the west to Tripoli and Misrata," said Mahmoud Zagal, head of the Misrata military operations room for local forces opposed to Islamic State.

But much still hangs in the balance, and ISIS may struggle to control large swathes of the country. General David M. Rodriguez, head of U.S. Africa Command, told a news briefing in Washington on April 8 that it will be difficult for Islamic State to seize huge swathes of Libya "because they don't have the home-grown people that know as much about Libya like they did in Iraq and Syria." Libyans, he said, "don't like ... external influences."

"PEOPLE ARE AFRAID"

Islamic State entrenched itself in Sirte by early 2015. The city had been neglected by Libya's main factions since Gaddafi was dragged from a drainpipe and shot there in 2011.

Sirte mayor Mukhtar Khalifa al-Maadani, who left the city in August last year as Islamic State escalated its crackdowns, said the group cleverly exploited the city's existing rifts. "Sirte is a mix of many tribes, and they took advantage of this ... They have individuals from every tribe in Sirte supporting them and they used this to tear apart its social structure."

The group has built the trappings of a rudimentary state in the city. It collects taxes, directs religious education, broadcasts its messages on radio, and enforces its rule with increasing brutality, Libyan officials say. It also makes money by kidnapping, selling stolen property, smuggling drugs and possibly trafficking migrants.

One woman who left the city in January, five months after her husband was abducted by Islamic State fighters, described how men accused of espionage have been crucified, with their bodies strung to poles for days; how suspected thieves have their hands chopped off in public; and how women are whipped when caught flouting dress regulations by female members of Islamic State police.

"People do not fight back because they are afraid," said the woman, who fled when her teenage son was asked to report on people smoking or drinking alcohol.

While teenage girls are made to wear full-face veils and black robes, boys have been conscripted as Islamic State "cubs." A recent U.N. report cited the cases of two recruits, aged 10 and 14, who said they had been seized from their families by Islamic State then subjected to weeks of religious and military training, forced to watch videos of beheadings and sexually abused.

In Sirte and beyond, recruits, including some migrants, have been offered salaries many times greater than the average wage, as well as enticements such as cars and brides, Libyan officials and residents say.

In Iraq the group drew heavily on former members of Saddam Hussein's regime. In Libya it has used former Gaddafi-era operatives, but to a lesser extent.

"The organisation has its own presence," said Abdulraouf Kara, the head of Tripoli's Special Deterrence Force, a brigade of more than 600 men whose focus has shifted from anti-vice operations to rooting out Islamic State militants. "Some individuals who support Gaddafi joined to take revenge. But we can't say it's an organisation based on Gaddafi's followers."

FOREIGN FIGHTERS?

Islamic State's advance in Libya has been far from smooth. The group has to compete with a complex web of established armed factions, in a country without the Sunni-Shi'ite divide that Islamic State has exploited in Iraq and Syria.

It has suffered military setbacks. In the eastern city of Benghazi, it recently lost territory to the army, and in western Sabratha, it was chased out by local brigades in the wake of a U.S. air strike in February.

Sirte residents and Libyan officials say Islamic State is increasingly dominated by foreign fighters, a possible sign of a lack of traction amongst locals.

In a rare admission of weakness, Abdul Qadr al-Najdi, the Islamic State leader in Libya, said last month that the group had found it hard to replicate its conquest of Sirte. "The number of factions and their disputes are one of the reasons of failure and the rest of the cities in Libya are a living example of this," he said in an interview with Islamic State newspaper al-Naba.

Below the surface in Sirte, opposition festers. Last August, residents took up arms after an imam was killed for refusing to pledge allegiance to Islamic State. Dozens were killed and the revolt was crushed. "Everyone left in Sirte is opposed to Islamic State but they can't do anything to resist them," said one resident who had travelled to Misrata to get medical treatment for his father.

Libya's ability to fight Islamic State has depended largely on the country's two main loose military alliances, which are aligned with rival power bases, one in the west and one in the east.

The groups occasionally announce plans to tackle Islamic State, but action is haphazard. In Libya's "oil crescent" east of Sirte, the Petroleum Facilities Guard has fended off attacks while complaining that the eastern army, to which it was allied in the past, was providing no support.

Kara, the Deterrence Force leader in Tripoli, complained that armed groups that back the government in Tripoli try to protect Islamic State suspects. "When we try to arrest them we are told that they are 'thuwwar'," he said, using the term for anti-Gaddafi revolutionaries. "We are asked to release them every day."

Western powers hope the new U.N.-backed unity government, whose leaders arrived in Tripoli last month, will help by drawing Libyan brigades together and winning longer-term international help.
U.S. defence chief visits Philippines amid sea dispute with China

By Yeganeh Torbati and Manuel Mogato

MANILA, April 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrived in the Philippines on Wednesday to highlight strong and growing military relations with a crucial Southeast Asian ally as China assertively pursues its claims in the South China Sea.

Carter's visit comes as the two countries conduct joint military exercises and on the heels of an agreement that allows a U.S. military presence at five Philippine bases, one of which Carter plans to visit on this week's trip.

While the initial agreement allows for five bases, Carter told reporters while on the way to the Philippines that there would be more in future.

Defence officials from the Philippines and Vietnam will also meet this week to explore possible joint exercises and navy patrols, military sources said, shoring up a new alliance between states locked in maritime rows with China.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the waters, through which about $5 trillion in trade is shipped every year.

The U.S. defense chief's visit also takes place weeks before a ruling is expected on an arbitration case the Philippines has brought against China in The Hague.

The United States believes that whatever the tribunal's decision, it will be binding on both China and the Philippines, but China has refused to recognize the case and says all disputes should be resolved through bilateral talks.

"The trip carries greater weight because of the impending arbitration ruling," said Patrick Cronin, senior director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.

"Secretary Carter's task is to reassure the Philippines that it has U.S. security backing for a rules-based approach to settling disputes."

CHINESE REBUKES

The United States has conducted what it calls "freedom of navigation" patrols in the area, sailing within 12-nautical mile territorial limits around disputed islands controlled by China to underscore its right to navigate the seas.

Those patrols have drawn sharp rebukes from China, but U.S. officials have said the United States will continue to challenge what it considers unfounded maritime claims.

U.S. officials say the Navy is carrying out more aggressive patrols in the region, sailing close to disputed features.

"They're sailing within 13, 14, 15 miles, without dipping into the 12-mile limit, and the Chinese have definitely noticed," said one U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The official said Chinese ships were now shadowing every U.S. ship in the region, and routine ship-to-ship communications had become testier and sometimes unprofessional.

This year the United States is providing the Philippines with about $40 million as part of the five-year, $425 million Maritime Security Initiative (MSI).

That money will be used to train staff at the Philippines National Coast Watch Center, better enable the sharing of classified information between the U.S. and the Philippines, and buy better sensors for Philippine Navy patrol ships.

Swift progress on spending this year's MSI funds would enable the Pentagon to ask Congress for "multiples more" in funding for future years and possibly expand spending to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, said Ernest Bower, chair of the Southeast Asia Advisory Board at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Media watchdog calls on Turkey to catch IS killers of Syrian journalist

By Humeyra Pamuk

ISTANBUL, April 13 (Reuters) - A prominent media advocacy group on Wednesday called on Turkish authorities to protect journalists after a Syrian reporter was gunned down in broad daylight by Islamic State militants in southeastern Turkey - the fourth such in six months.

Zaher al-Shurqat, an online broadcaster for Aleppo Today who regularly travelled to Syria to report from the front-line in the fight against Islamic State, was shot in the neck on Sunday by a masked attacker in Gaziantep near the Syria border.

He died in hospital two days later, Turkey's Dogan News agency reported. Islamic State's Amaq news agency, in a statement from the group claiming responsibility for Shurqat's killing, said his journalistic work had been "antagonistic" to Islamic State.

"Turkish authorities must urgently demonstrate that killing journalists on the streets of Turkey is unacceptable and will not go unpunished," Nina Ognianova, a senior representative of the U.S.-based Committee To Protect Journalists, said in a statement.

NATO member Turkey has increasingly become a target for Islamic State which is blamed to have carried out two of the four suicide bombings this year, targeting capital Ankara and biggest Turkish city Istanbul.

Gaziantep, where Shurqat was based, is a hub for Syrian activists and journalists documenting the war. It is also home to one of the largest Syrian refugee populations in Turkey, and lies just across the frontier from the IS-controlled Syrian town of Jarablus. Police frequently target Islamic State networks in the city.

Shurqat's killing comes three months after Naji Jerf, a Syrian activist and documentary maker who made a film about Islamic State, was gunned down on the street in Gaziantep.

Previous to that, two Syrian activists who worked for Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, a campaign group against Islamic State, were shot in the head and beheaded in the nearby city of Sanliurfa.

Jerf and the two activists had appealed to the Turkish police after they received death threats, their friends and fellow activists in Istanbul and Gaziantep told Reuters earlier this year.

The Islamic State statement said: "A group of militants belonging to Islamic State shot down yesterday the media personality Zaher al-Shurqat, who had been presenting a show antagonistic to IS."

"We call on security officials to hunt down Zaher al-Shurqat's killers, bring them to justice, and ensure journalists can work safely throughout the country," CPJ's Ognianova said.
EU's Juncker to meet Turkey's Davutoglu on migration deal next week -official

BRUSSELS, April 13 (Reuters) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will meet in Strasbourg next week to discuss the implementation of the migration deal between Brussels and Ankara, an EU official said.

Juncker and Davutoglu are both due to speak at the plenary session of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly on April 19 and the official said they would also have a bilateral meeting on the migration pact.

Earlier this month, Europe started the first returns of migrants to Turkey under the controversial deal, which is also due to cover refugees arriving from Turkey to Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.
Bangladesh arrests militants suspected of plotting new year blast

DHAKA, April 13 (Reuters) - Bangladeshi security forces have detained four suspected members of a banned Islamist militant group who were believed to be planning attacks on celebrations of the traditional new year, a police official said on Wednesday.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh has seen a surge in Islamist violence over the past couple of years, targeting liberal activists, as well as members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups.

The four members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh were arrested in an overnight raid in Mymensingh, 115 km (72 miles) from the capital, Dhaka, said police official Mohammad Harun-ur Rashid.

A large quantity of bomb-making material was seized and the suspects were believed to have been planning to target celebrations of the Bengali New Year on April 14, he said.

At least five Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen members have been killed in shootouts since November, as authorities have intensified a crackdown on militants trying to establish an Islamist state.
Syrians vote for parliament denounced by Assad's enemies

By John Davison and Laila Bassam

DAMASCUS, April 13 (Reuters) - Syrians voted in a parliamentary election in government-held areas of the country on Wednesday in what they called a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad, while his opponents and Western powers denounced the poll as illegitimate.

The election is going ahead independently of a U.N.-led peace process aimed at ending the five-year-long war. Peace talks are due to resume in Geneva on Wednesday as an upsurge in fighting darkens the already bleak outlook for diplomacy.

The government says the vote is being held on time in line with the constitution, a view echoed by its Russian allies. The opposition says the election is meaningless, while Britain and France dismissed it as "flimsy facade" and a "sham".

Voters are to elect 250 MPs to parliament, which has no real power in Syria's presidential system. The state is rallying them around the slogan "Your vote strengthens your steadfastness".

"We are voting for the sake of the Syrian people and for the sake of Assad. Assad is already strong but these elections show that the people support him and bolster him," said Hadi Jumaa, a 19-year-old student, as he cast his ballot at his university halls of residence in Damascus.

Dozens queued to vote at one polling station where a portrait of Assad hung on the wall. Outside, some danced.

With his wife Asma at his side as he went to vote in Damascus, a smiling Assad told state TV that terrorism had been able to destroy much of Syria's infrastructure but not Syria's "social structure, the national identity". Assad said it was the first time a president had taken part in parliamentary polls.

"These elections do not mean anything," said Asaad al-Zoubi, chief negotiator for the main opposition body, the High Negotiations Council. "They are illegitimate - theatre for the sake of procrastination, theatre through which the regime is trying to give itself a little legitimacy."

The conflict has killed more than 250,000 and created millions of refugees, splintering Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by the government, an array of rebels, a powerful Kurdish militia, and the Islamic State group. The government views all the groups fighting it as terrorists.

The government controls around one third of Syria, including the main cities of western Syria, home to the bulk of Syrians who have not fled the country. The United Nations puts the number of refugees at 4.8 million.

With parliament elected every four years, it is the second parliamentary election held by the government in wartime. Assad was reelected head of state in a presidential election in 2014.

OPPOSITION SEES VOTE AS "THEATRE"

The election coincides with the start of a second round of U.N.-led peace talks in Geneva. The opposition delegation is due to meet U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura on Wednesday. The government has said it will be ready to participate from Friday.

De Mistura wants this round to make progress on the question of a political transition. The government had ruled out any discussion of the presidency ahead of the first round of talks last month. Spiralling violence meanwhile threatens to unravel the entire political track by wrecking a partial truce that had helped bring the sides to Geneva.

Foreign states opposed to Assad have said the vote is out of line with a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for elections at the end of an 18-month transition. His allies, notably Russia, say it is in line with the constitution.

"The decision of the regime to hold elections is a measure of how divorced it is from reality. They cannot buy back legitimacy by putting up a flimsy facade of democracy," said a spokesperson for the British government.

France said the elections were a "sham" organised by "an oppressive regime".

Russia, one of Assad's main foreign allies, said however that the election was necessary to avoid a power vacuum.

"There is understanding already, that a new constitution should emerge as a result of this political process, on the basis of which new, early elections are to be held," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news briefing.

"But before this happens, one should avoid any legal vacuum or any vacuum in the sphere of executive power."

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said the election showed that "the Syrian people is the one that decides its fate".

But Syrians living in opposition-held areas dismissed it.

"We used to be forced to cast our vote in sham elections. Now, we are no longer obliged to. After all this killing they want to make a play called elections," said Yousef Doumani, speaking from the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus.

Shereen Sirmani, who fled to Damascus from the Islamic State-besieged city of Deir al-Zor four months ago, said the election was good for Syria.
Still no agreement in German nuclear exit costs spat-sources

BERLIN, April 13 (Reuters) - There is still no agreement over how to apportion the costs to pay for Germany's nuclear exit but it is clear that utilities will have to pay more to avoid long-term liability, four sources in the government appointed commission said on Wednesday.

A German nuclear commission is discussing limiting the companies liability for final storage costs and was meant to present proposals by the end of February.
Germany fears return of Turkish-Kurdish violence on its soil

By Noah Barkin

BERLIN, April 13 (Reuters) - As Germany scrambles to contain a diplomatic row with Turkey over a comedian's mocking of President Tayyip Erdogan, officials are growing worried about another byproduct of their Faustian migrant pact with Ankara: an upsurge in violence between nationalist Turks and militant Kurds on German soil.

Germany is home to about 3 million people of Turkish origin. Roughly one in four are ethnic Kurds who came to Germany to work in the 1960s and 70s, or as refugees fleeing violence in the 1980s and 90s.

Intelligence officials estimate that about 14,000 of these Kurds are active supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the militant group whose armed struggle against the Turkish state has escalated following the collapse of a 2-1/2 year ceasefire last July.

Clashes between Turks and Kurds in Germany are not new. At the height of the conflict between Ankara and the PKK in the early 1990s, Kurdish militants overran the Turkish consulate in Munich and launched arson attacks against Turkish facilities across Germany. This led Germany to outlaw the PKK in 1993.

But the combination of rising violence in Turkey and Chancellor Angela Merkel's controversial refugee deal with Ankara has raised the risk of a new wave of clashes, government and intelligence officials worry.

"When you have a full blown civil war there, then there is the risk of direct transmission to German cities," said a senior German diplomat on condition of anonymity. "This is the other side of Merkel's refugee deal. It makes it all the more difficult to manage."

CLASHES IN BAVARIA

On Easter Sunday in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg, roughly three dozen Kurds threw rocks and shot fireworks at a group of 600 Turks demonstrating against the "terror" of both Islamic State and the PKK.

The Kurds barricaded themselves in a cultural centre, attacking police from the roof, before reinforcements arrived and the offenders were arrested.

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the incident showed the dangers of offering Turks visa-free travel, a key plank of the European Union's migrant deal with Ankara that Merkel has championed in the face of deep scepticism at home and elsewhere in the bloc.

Last Sunday, more Turkish demonstrations were held in cities across Germany, although this time only minor scuffles were reported thanks to the deployment of thousands of police.

"There was a time in the 1990s when you had serious clashes in Germany," said Kristian Brakel, a Turkey expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. "It is not unlikely that this sort of thing could happen again."

An internal report from the Berlin branch of Germany's domestic intelligence agency echoes that sentiment, warning of an "emotionally charged" mood among PKK supporters in Germany, in part because they view the EU's migrant deal with Turkey as a form of "collaboration" with their arch-enemy Erdogan.

"Against this backdrop we cannot exclude militant acts in Berlin over the course of 2016, especially by younger PKK activists, against Turkish facilities," says the report, which was seen by Reuters.

Kurdish organisations in Germany have denounced the Turkish demonstrations as a show of power by Erdogan and called on supporters to rally against them.

"These are not demonstrations against the PKK and IS as advertised in German, but rather serve pan-Turkish ideologies and promote hatred of Kurds and non-Turks," a group of organisations representing Kurds, Armenians, Yazidis and others said in a statement last week.

BALANCING ACT

The conflict is another conundrum for Merkel, whose political future may ride on Erdogan delivering on his end of the migrant deal, under which Ankara has agreed to take back refugees from Greece in exchange for billions of euros, visa-free travel for Turks and accelerated talks on EU membership.

Merkel faced strong criticism in Germany this week for condemning a sexually-explicit satirical poem about Erdogan by comedian Jan Boehmermann as "deliberately insulting" instead of defending the principle of free speech.

As Berlin works to keep Turkey on side, it is also providing arms to Iraqi Kurdish security forces in the fight against Islamic State militants in their country. And many German politicians, especially in the far-left Linke and Greens parties, are active supporters of the very Kurds that Erdogan is vowing to crush.

This has forced the German political establishment into an awkward balancing act.

This week, Bundestag President Norbert Lammert, a member of Merkel's conservative party, and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier hosted Selahattin Demirtas, a leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party. (HDP)

While Demirtas was in Berlin for the talks, the Turkish government was submitting a draft proposal to parliament that could strip HDP lawmakers of immunity from prosecution. Erdogan has accused the HDP of being an extension of the PKK.
Jordanian police shut Muslim Brotherhood headquarters - senior Brotherhood figure

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

AMMAN, April 13 (Reuters) - Police in Jordan sealed the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Amman on Wednesday, a senior figure in the Islamist movement said, as the authorities clamp down further on the kingdom's most vocal opposition group.

The Brotherhood, which is close in ideology to its Egyptian namesake and has strong ties with the Palestinian movement Hamas, wants sweeping political reforms but stops short of calling for the overthrow of the monarchy.

Jordan's authorities suppressed Arab Spring pro-democracy protests in which the mainstream Islamists played a prominent role, and human rights groups say that since then the kingdom has strongly curbed dissent.

Police acting on orders of the Amman governor evacuated staff and closed off the building, giving no reason for their actions, said senior Brotherhood member Jamil Abu Bakr.

Brotherhood spokesperson Badi Rafai later said the police closed another of its offices in the northern city of Jerash.

The movement, which has operated legally in Jordan for decades and has widespread grass-roots support in major urban centres, has scores of offices across the country.

Its political arm, the Islamic Action Front, is the kingdom's largest opposition party and represents many disenfranchised Jordanians of Palestinian origin, who are in the majority in the population of seven million.

Grossly underrepresented in parliament and government posts that are dominated by native Jordanians, many of the Brotherhood's poor Palestinian supporters in the major cities see them as defending their interests.

"We are not a group that is rebellious or operating outside the law. This is not an appropriate means to deal with us ... deploying heavy-handed security measures against us rather than reaching understandings," Abu Bakr told Reuters.

In keeping with a regional crackdown on political Islam and public freedoms, Jordan has been tightening restrictions on the Brotherhood in the last two years, forbidding their public rallies and arresting vocal government dissenters.

The authorities have also encouraged a splinter group to legally challenge the main movement's license to operate, which goes back to 1946 when Jordan's monarchy saw the Muslim Brotherhood leaders as strong political allies.

Government spokespeople refrained from comment, but one official said privately that the move related to legal claims by the faction, backed by the authorities, aimed at seizing its rival's assets after it won a judicial order pronouncing it as the legitimate group.

Senior Brotherhood members, who say these moves are politically motivated and illegal, say the latest crackdown comes after they were warned not to hold their Shura council elections - which they nevertheless went ahead with this month.

But Brotherhood figures say the elections for the four-year terms on the council, its highest leadership body, were not held to challenge the authorities.

Diplomats say the latest move could pave the way for outlawing the main group and handing over its assets to the pro-government faction to ensure that it participates in parliamentary elections expected by the end of this year or in early 2017.

Politicians warn that outlawing a party which has long shunned political violence could widen support among alienated youths for extremists in a country were radical influences, including support for Islamic State militants, was on the rise.

Earlier this year, the movement's deputy leader Zaki Bani Rusheid was released after serving an 18-month jail sentence for criticising on social media the United Arab Emirates for its crackdown on Islamists.

His detention was the first of a major political opposition figure in Jordan in recent years.
Lufthansa talks to SAS, Brussels Airlines to spread Eurowings -sources

By Peter Maushagen

FRANKFURT, April 13 (Reuters) - Lufthansa is in talks with the owners of Scandinavian carrier SAS and Brussels Airlines to expand the number of destinations it flies to and grow its low-cost Eurowings business, people close to the German airline said.

Two sources said on Wednesday Lufthansa had been in talks with the owners of SAS since the autumn, which could lead to Lufthansa taking a stake in SAS - half owned by Denmark, Norway and Sweden - or some other kind of partnership, they said.

"SAS could be docked onto budget platform Eurowings," one of the people said.

Lufthansa launched Eurowings last year in a fresh attempt to crack the low-cost market and compete with the likes of Ryanair and easyJet. It has said it aims to use it to bundle various subsidiaries and brands.

One of the sources also said it was "as good as certain" Lufthansa would present a deal to buy the 55 percent in Brussels Airlines it does not already own at a supervisory board meeting on April 27.

People familiar with the industry said a full takeover of SAS by Lufthansa was unlikely, while taking a minority stake would potentially come with a board seat and direct influence on the Scandinavian company's strategy.

"Lufthansa wants to build Eurowings, but it does not want to take on any restructuring risk," one of those people said.

Brussels Airlines, meanwhile, is attractive for Lufthansa because of the business traffic which flows through its hub in the Belgian capital, where many European Union institutions are based.

Liberum analyst Gerald Khoo said the Belgian carrier also had a strong African network, especially beyond North Africa, where Lufthansa is not as well set up.

AFRICA ATTRACTION

Airline consolidation in Europe is far behind North America, where a decade of mergers have shrunk the industry to a handful of companies and boosted profitability of carriers. Alaska Air announced this month a deal to buy Virgin America for $2.6 billion in cash.

According to an analysis by CAPA-Centre for Aviation, the top twenty airline groups in Europe account for 75 percent of seats, the same share as the top six groups in North America.

SAS, repeatedly the subject of takeover speculation, expects to swing to a profit this year and has said it wants to play an active role in consolidation in Europe.

Shares in SAS were up 6 percent at 1421 GMT.

"Lufthansa has previously hinted at Eurowings being a vehicle for consolidation of low cost airlines, but it is not immediately apparent how that would fit with the full service models of Brussels Airlines and SAS," Liberum's Khoo said.

Lufthansa, which is due to hold its annual shareholder meeting on April 28, said it had been a partner with SAS since airline cooperation group Star Alliance was founded and as a result was in continuous talks with the Scandinavian carrier. "Anything else is speculation," a Lufthansa spokesman said.

SAS declined to comment.

The Brussels Airlines talks were reported earlier on Wednesday by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Lufthansa bought 45 percent of Brussels Airlines for 65 million euros but retained an option to acquire the rest by 2018, with the total price for the takeover coming to as much as 250 million euros, depending on the carrier's performance.

Lufthansa Chief Financial Officer Simone Menne said last month the German airline would like to "come to a conclusion" on Brussels Airlines this year, with progress eyed in the second quarter.
German banks put up language barrier against ECB supervision

By Francesco Canepa

FRANKFURT, April 13 (Reuters) - German banks and their chief supervisor, the European Central Bank, don't speak the same language -- in most cases literally.

Almost all German banks directly supervised by the ECB have chosen to communicate with the watchdog in German rather than English, the ECB's working language, according to information obtained by Reuters from the ECB and the lenders.

The refusal to speak English, the lingua franca of international finance, illustrates continued resistance from the euro zone's most economically powerful country to the ECB's project to establish itself as the bloc's main bank supervisor -- one of the pillars of Europe's response to the financial crisis that began in 2008.

"To a certain extent it has to do with the sense of importance of the German banking system," a German corporate lawyer who works with banks said. "They say, 'We're the biggest jurisdiction in the euro zone and the seat of the ECB - why can't the ECB communicate in German with us?'"

The ECB and its Italian president, Mario Draghi, have come under renewed criticism in Germany over the central bank's cheap-money policy.

German lenders, equally, resent instructions from Frankfurt and many hope that maintaining German as the language for communication will give them the upper hand in dealing with supervisors. "We outsource the risk of a wrong translation to the ECB," a German bank executive said.

Banks have the right to choose the language in which they communicate with the ECB. English, the language of international business, has been the natural choice for most of them across the euro zone.

In Germany, however, English has been selected by just as few as three, including Deutsche Bank, which operates in more than 70 countries and has a British chief executive, and the local subsidiary of Sweden's SEB.

By contrast, just 14 of the remaining 107 banks supervised by the ECB in other euro zone countries opted for their local language.

Part of the reason for picking German has to do with the domestic or even regional focus of many German banks, whose staff may not feel comfortable drafting highly sensitive documents in a foreign language.

"We communicate in German because we are a German bank," Hans-Joerg Vetter, chief executive of regional lender LBBW, said. "We make use of the legal opportunities we have."

But this is not the whole story because even some of the more internationally oriented firms have opted for their local language.

"You want it in German so that you understand all the nuances and so that you can challenge it in court in your language," said the German corporate lawyer, who asked for anonymity because of his sensitive bank dealings.

"Although, it's good to see the English original because there may be errors in the translation."

Their case for choosing German might even be strengthened if Britain decides to leave the European Union at a June referendum as this would erode the status of English in European politics.

VOCAL CRITICS

German banks have been among the most vocal critics of the ECB since it took over supervision of the euro zone's largest lenders in late 2014, with the aim of creating a single watchdog for the currency bloc after a raft of bank collapses during the financial crisis.

One of them, state-backed Landeskreditbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, even tried to escape the ECB's supervision altogether. The case -- in German -- is still pending before the European Court of Justice.

Germany's own financial watchdog Bafin has also criticised the ECB for overburdening small German banks with requests for data and the central bank's project to launch a euro-zone wide loan database has caused a backlash in the country.

The banks' insistence on using German is also causing some trouble to the watchdogs themselves as at least some members of each ECB's supervisory team -- typically the coordinator -- are not from the same country as the bank they watch.

"It's a huge headache," one supervisor said. "I can't be constantly asking my colleagues and the translation service just takes too long sometime."

For this reason some banks allow staff-level communication with the supervisor to take place in English, for instance for the upcoming stress tests, but they still expect official documents to be in German.
Turkey arrests two Russian agents over killing of Chechen - newspaper

ISTANBUL, April 13 (Reuters) - Two Russian agents have been arrested in Turkey over the killing of a Chechen militant commander in Istanbul last year, the Haberturk newspaper said on Wednesday, one of several killings of Chechens in the country.

The pair were detained in Istanbul on April 8 in an operation by Turkish police and intelligence agents as they made preparations for another unspecified operation. Istanbul police declined to comment.

The reported arrests come against a background of poor relations between Turkey and Russia following the shooting down of a Russian warplane near the Syrian border by Turkish military jets last November.

The newspaper said the two Russian agents, who are in their 50s, have refused to talk during interrogation. They are accused of shooting and stabbing the militant, named as Vahid Edelgiriev, in a car on Nov. 1.

Haberturk said they were found to be carrying fake ID papers and memory sticks containing photos of security cameras, parking areas and licence plates.

Many Chechen dissidents have settled in Turkey since the two wars in the 1990s between Russia and militants in its Chechnya region and there have been several murders of Chechens there that remain unsolved.

In May 2013 a prominent figure in the Chechen diaspora was shot dead in his Ankara office. In 2011, three Chechens were shot dead in broad daylight on a suburban street in Istanbul.
Worst is over for Hungary's battered banks - survey

By Gergely Szakacs

BUDAPEST, April 13 (Reuters) - Most of Hungary's biggest banks expect to turn a profit this year, the first time the majority will be in the black since Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right wing government took power six years ago, according to a Reuters survey.

A strong performance will mark a significant turnaround for the country's banking sector, that under Orban was saddled with one of Europe's highest national levies on lenders but is now growing again after a cut in taxes, an improvement in the economy and stronger demand for credit.

OTP, the local units of Belgian group KBC , Italy's UniCredit Austria's Erste Bank and Raiffeisen, state-owned Budapest Bank and MKB Bank told Reuters they all expect to make a profit in 2016.

Their expected rebound stands in contrast to nearby Poland, where a new government has just brought in similar financial policies to implemented by Orban when he took power, such as forcing banks to make costly conversions into the local currency of loans taken out in foreign currencies.

Polish banks expect a combined 10 percent fall in net profit this year, mainly due to a new tax on assets, which follows a 28 percent drop in profits last year to 11.5 billion zlotys ($3.1 billion), as low rates squeezed margins.

Polish banks' share prices have collectively lost nearly a quarter of their value since a presidential election last May.

In contrast shares in OTP, central Europe's largest independent lender, touched their highest level since 2010 this week.

"In my opinion, the seven lean years are over for the domestic bank sector," said Mihaly Patai, chief executive of UniCredit's Hungarian unit.

"This is backed by a reduction in the special bank tax, the ongoing talks about its future, as well as the growing predictability of government measures," said Patai, who is also chairman of the Hungarian Banking Association.

Meanwhile OTP told Reuters in an emailed response that it expected a years-long decline in loan volumes to end this year and its corporate loan book could increase "substantially," while mortgage issuance could take off next year due to government stimulus measures.

"A balanced, single-digit increase in the loan portfolio in the coming years is a realistic expectation," OTP said.

"The quality of portfolios is improving further, while the quality of newly-issued loans is remarkably good."

But challenges remain for the sector including further cuts in Hungary's base rate, which can squeeze margins, a potential slowdown in the euro zone, Hungary's main trading partner, as well as bad loans that still weigh on the books of local lenders.

The stock of non-performing loans stood at 24 percent for corporate loans and 22 percent for retail loans last June, according to central bank data.

"Hungary is not immune to developments outside and the global economic development, especially in Europe, and the euro zone remains fragile," said Heinz Wiedner, Chief Executive of Raiffeisen's Hungarian unit.

"I do believe that Hungary will do better than the EU average, but this will mean further incentivising investments, both local and foreign, and creating trust and stability."
Six killed in bombing, clashes with militants in western Libya - officials

TRIPOLI, April 13 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed a member of the security forces in Libya at a checkpoint south of Misrata on Wednesday, while five people were killed - including three who were beheaded - at a nearby military camp, officials and a hospital spokesman said.

Aziz Issa, head of the media office at Misrata's central hospital, said the suicide car bomb had detonated near the Essdada checkpoint, about 80km (50 miles) south of the western port city. Four members of the security forces were injured, he said.

Islamic State militants have staged several attacks on checkpoints on the coastal road south of Misrata, which leads towards the group's Libyan stronghold of Sirte.

A security source said militants also attacked a military camp early on Wednesday between the coastal road and the town of Bani Walid, south-east of Misrata, and seized weapons and ammunition.
Poland court "paralysis" threatens democracy - European Parliament

By Foo Yun Chee

STRASBOURG, April 13 (Reuters) - The European Parliament said on Wednesday that an "effective paralysis" of Poland's top constitutional court posed a threat to democracy in the biggest eastern EU state, joining critics of the eurosceptic government in Warsaw.

Since coming to power late last year, the Law and Justice (PiS) party has enacted a law increasing the number of judges required to make rulings on the Constitutional Tribunal and changing the order in which cases are heard.

Critics say the changes have made it difficult for judges to review new legislation, let alone challenge it. The court itself has struck them down as unconstitutional. The government has refused to recognise that ruling, effectively putting it in legal limbo.

European Parliament lawmakers adopted a resolution on Wednesday, agreeing they were "seriously concerned that the effective paralysis of the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland poses a danger to democracy, human rights and the rule of law".

The non-binding resolution passed with 513 votes for, 142 against and 30 abstentions.

The vote follows the European Union's executive launching a mechanism to establish whether the rule of law is under a systemic threat in Poland. It is the first time the mechanism has been used since it was set up.

Warsaw blamed members of the main opposition parties in Poland for lobbying for the vote in the European Parliament.

"Perhaps for the first time we're dealing with a situation when because of (Polish) opposition politicians' denunciations the European Parliament has passed a legal act aimed against Poles, our nation," the Polish government's spokesman, Rafal Bochenek, told state news agency PAP.

The European Parliament urged Poland to follow through on the top court's ruling and called on the EU's executive European Commission to advance its rule of law procedure should Warsaw not do that.
Macedonian president pardons 56 in wiretap scandal, U.S. raps move

By Kole Casule

SKOPJE, April 13 (Reuters) - Macedonia's president pardoned 56 government and opposition figures on Wednesday in a wiretapping scandal despite protests against the move at home and abroad, with the United States warning it could protect "corrupt politicians".

A day after causing uproar in Macedonia by announcing he planned a blanket amnesty over the affair, President Gjorge Ivanov published notices in Macedonia's official gazette exempting former prime minister Nikola Gruevski - a political ally - and other prominent politicians from prosecution.

Also pardoned were opposition leader Zoran Zaev, who revealed the existence of the recordings last year, and former security service official Zoran Verusevski, who Gruevski accused of giving the wiretaps to Zaev in an attempt to bring down his government.

Thousands of opposition supporters angry at Ivanov's action took to the streets of the capital Skopje on Wednesday evening.

Some broke windows at a city centre office occasionally used by Ivanov, went inside and took out furniture which they tried to set on fire, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. They also broke windows at the nearby Ministry of Justice.

Demonstrators scuffled with riot police, threw stones and eggs at government buildings and set off flares before police used batons to disperse the crowd.

A police source said there had been some injuries and arrests but could not immediately say how many.

A rival demonstration by several thousand government supporters ended peacefully.

Macedonia, a poor Balkan country of two million people on the front line of Europe's refugee crisis, has been in turmoil since Zaev accused Gruevski and his counter-intelligence chief, Saso Mijalkov, in February last year of orchestrating the wiretapping of more than 20,000 people.

The opposition said the phone-taps exposed government control over journalists, judges, public sector recruitment and the manipulation of elections in Macedonia, which aspires to join both the European Union and NATO.

Zaev branded Ivanov's action a "coup d'etat" on Tuesday and demanded his resignation, while the EU said the move appeared contrary to the rule of law.

Thirty-seven opposition legislators signed a petition on Wednesday demanding a parliamentary inquiry into Ivanov's action but the assembly was dissolved last week pending elections and the speaker said there were no grounds to recall it.

Ivanov explained his move on Tuesday by saying the scandal had reduced Macedonian politics to a crippling competition of criminal investigations and charges, and that it had become "so tangled that nobody can untangle it".

U.S. Ambassador Jess Baily joined foreign criticism of Ivanov's action, saying on Twitter: "A blanket pardon without due process protects corrupt politicians and their associates. Let the special prosecutor and courts do their jobs."

In Washington, the U.S. State Department urged Ivanov on Wednesday to reconsider his decision so as to ensure "justice for the people of Macedonia".

The EU commissioner in charge of relations with would-be member states, Johannes Hahn, said on Tuesday he doubted whether credible elections were possible following Ivanov's decision. The opposition had already pledged to boycott the election.

Ali Ahmeti, head of the Democratic Union for Integration party which forms part of the ruling coalition, called on Ivanov to withdraw his decision, saying it violated an EU-brokered deal reached last year to try to end the crisis.
Critics slam proposed South Carolina transgender bathroom bill

By Colleen Jenkins

April 13 (Reuters) - A South Carolina bill to require transgender people to use public restrooms matching their sex at birth was slammed by critics on Wednesday, and former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr said he would cancel a performance in North Carolina where a similar law has been passed.

"We need to take a stand against this hatred," Starr said in a statement. "Spread peace and love." He said he was canceling a June performance in Cary, North Carolina, to protest that state's law. Rocker Bruce Springsteen has also scrapped a concert in the state.

So-called "bathroom bills" have fueled debate about privacy, religious freedom and equal rights and drawn stern reactions from major corporations and entertainers who call them discriminatory.

Most of the speakers at a subcommittee hearing in Columbia, South Carolina, on Wednesday said the bathroom measure proposed there defied logic.

"This bill is an undisguised attack on some of our most talented and most vulnerable citizens," Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin said, adding it would cause irreparable economic damage.

Supporters said opening restrooms and locker rooms to the opposite gender in schools would violate students' right to privacy.

Republican Senator Lee Bright, who sponsored the measure, said he feared adult men would use more lenient bathroom policies as an excuse to prey on women and children.

"I don't believe that transgender people are pedophiles," he added.

U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles told lawmakers he was unaware of any assaults by transgender people or people pretending to be the opposite sex in South Carolina bathrooms.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, has said the proposed law was unnecessary and unlikely to win legislative approval this year.

North Carolina Republican Governor Pat McCrory on Tuesday tweaked his state's law with an executive order, adding protections against discrimination for state employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

But McCrory and top Republican lawmakers said they would not repeal the measure, despite companies such as PayPal Holdings and Deutsche Bank halting plans to add jobs in the state.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, on Wednesday signed an anti-discrimination order protecting the rights of gay and transgender state employees and employees of state contractors. Edwards said the order was good for business.
North Korea missile capabilities increasing -US defense officials

By David Brunnstrom and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence believes North Korea's ability to reach the United States with an intercontinental ballistic missile is low, but its capabilities will increase, making continued investment in missile defense essential, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

North Korea has publicized a series of tests of its weapons technology since detonating its fourth nuclear bomb on Jan. 6, showcasing its push to develop long-range nuclear missiles despite international sanctions.

Brian McKeon, U.S. principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, told a U.S. Senate hearing that North Korea's nuclear and missile program posed a growing threat to the United States and its allies in East Asia.

He said North Korea was seeking to develop longer-range nuclear ballistic missiles capable of hitting the United States and was working to make its KN-08 road-mobile ICBM operational.

"Although the reliability of an untested North Korean ICBM is likely to be very low, North Korea has used its Taepodong-2 launch vehicle to put a satellite into orbit, thus demonstrating technologies applicable to a long-range missile," he said, referring to a North Korean rocket launch last month.

Admiral Bill Gortney, the officer responsible for defending U.S. air space, told the same hearing that while U.S. intelligence assessments were that North Korea's ability to hit the United States was low, it was prudent to assume it had the capability.

"We don't base our readiness levels on that low probability ... We are prepared to engage that particular threat," he said.

"Eventually, we assess that this low probability will increase, that's why the investment to have us outpace that technology is absolutely critical."

Gortney said he agreed with a South Korean assessment that North Korea was capable of putting a nuclear warhead on a medium-range missile that would reach all of South Korea and most of Japan.

He also said he thought it "safe to say" that North Korea's neighbor and traditional ally, China, no longer exerted the level of potential controlling influence it once had now that current North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was in power.

Gortney said the U.S. ICBM assessment was based on the fact that no tests had been observed of such a missile.

"However ... the (Taepodong-2) shows that they have the capability and so you put that capability with the road-mobile capability, with the right engines, with a design of a re-entry vehicle, with a nuclear weapon, and a miniaturization; it's only a matter of time before they put it together."

On Saturday, North Korea said it had carried out a successful test of a new ICBM engine and there is an increasing feeling among international arms experts that the country's missile technology may be more advanced than previously thought.
Activists fighting for a cause, especially one that has a lot of popular emotion attached to it, are usually loud and shrill when holding forth at public fora. They tend to be belligerent and turn excessively aggressive if their views are contradicted.

In a sense, loud speech, belligerence and aggression are necessary for effective activism. After all, if an activist is an easy pushover, then his or her cause cannot be worth fighting for. At the same time, needlessly pushy activism can put off people and make them indifferent to causes that could be perfectly legitimate and deserving of support.

History

Hence listening to professor Naela Quadri Baloch at a recent discussion on Balochistan organised by the Observer Research Foundation came as a pleasant surprise. She was soft-spoken yet firm, persuasive yet polite. She presented her case, or rather the case for free Balochistan, without taking recourse to either maudlin sentiments or theatrical hyperbole.

Balochistan continues to witness horrors. (Reuters)

Much of the story of Balochistan is uncluttered and uncontested, provided we do not pay undue attention and attach unwarranted credibility to Pakistan's claims. In 1947, when British colonial rule came to an end in the Indian subcontinent, 535 princely states were given the option of either acceding to India or Pakistan through merger of territory, or remain free and independent.

The Khan of Kalat, which comprised nearly all of Balochistan barring three minor principalities, was not too eager to accede to Pakistan. The Baloch were, and remain, a fiercely independent people with their own cultural and social identity, along with a land endowed with natural resources. That early impulse for freedom became the root cause of Balochistan's subsequent misery.

Since its violent Caesarian birth, assisted by a scalpel-wielding Britain, on August 14, 1947, Pakistan has been as deceitful as its Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah was during his brief and bitter life as the ruler of a moth-eaten country, one half of which fell off the map in 1971.

Jinnah, the barrister helped the Khan of Kalat to prepare his brief for independence and a Standstill Agreement in the interim. Jinnah the smash-and-grab politician paved the path for Kalat's annexation by Pakistan on March 27, 1948. Thus was Balochistan forcibly converted into a province of Pakistan, against the wishes of the Baloch and their Khan.

Balochistan's struggle against Pakistani rule and Islamabad's "One Unit" policy has been relentless since the annexation of Kalat. Brutal repression by the Pakistani army has failed to break the spirit of resistance. Beginning with 1948-49, it has been horrific campaign to put down dissent and silence voice of freedom.

There are several similarities between the Pakistani army committing hideous crimes in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) and Balochistan. Mass killings, rape of women, laying human habitations to waste, targeted assassinations, Bangladesh saw it all during its Liberation War of 1971. Balochistan continues to witness these horrors.

Butcher

General Tikka Khan, nicknamed the "Butcher of Bangladesh", had the dubious distinction of also being called the "Butcher of Balochistan" for the bloody campaign he led from 1973-77. But for all the sorrow, grief and misery heaped on the people of Balochistan, they have risen again. The freedom movement, relaunched in 2004 continues unabated.

Divided by the Goldsmith Line of 1871, Balochistan is split between Pakistani and Iranian occupation, with some bits spilling into Afghanistan on account of the flawed Durand Line. Britain understood the strategic importance of Balochistan and played its game accordingly to keep the Russians out. Today, both Pakistan and Iran are leveraging that strategic importance to further their own economic and security interests.

India's position on Balochistan has been, at best, ambivalent. Notwithstanding the arrest of an Indian national (Pakistan claims he is a "RAW agent" and was arrested on its side of the Goldsmith Line; there are credible claims he was arrested by the Iranians and handed over to the ISI) it would be silly to imagine a grand Indian conspiracy in action. New Delhi has long been incapable of doing what Indira Gandhi did in 1970-71.

Option

Yet there is a case for an Indian policy on Balochistan. India did play a major role in propping up the Northern Alliance so as not to concede all ground to the Taliban and its mentor, Pakistan, in Afghanistan. A hands-off approach, therefore, is lacking in precedence, even if we were to discount India's proactive role in the liberation of Bangladesh from the tyranny of Pakistan.

The issue is what should be that policy. Investing in Chabahar port that lies on the Iranian side of Balochistan cannot be a policy in entirety. At best, it will partially countervail China's captive port at Gwadar on the Pakistani side of Balochistan. That's one pawn moved. Next what?

One possible option is for India to declare moral and diplomatic support for the freedom movement in Balochistan, while calling for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. That would require gumption. Indeed, it would need the political courage of Mrs Gandhi coupled with popular support for a righteous cause that India believes in.

Great nations and rising powers have to be risk-takers. The inevitable backlash of supporting Balochistan's liberation war will no doubt be huge. But if Mrs Gandhi, prime minister of an impoverished nation, could turn up her nose at what the world thought, surely Narendra Modi, prime minister of the fastest growing economy, too can. A successful Balochistan policy premised on India's historical association with just causes would also lead to the forging of a successful Pakistan policy. Is the government game?
The agency will be approaching some other countries for information about transactions and remittances made by the Vijay Mallya-promoted airlines which are under CBI scanner.

New Delhi: The CBI will soon be sending judicial requests to at least five countries, including the US and the UK, to seek information about alleged diversion of loans received by now defunct Kingfisher Airlines from IDBI Bank. The sources said the move has been prompted by "good inputs" received from Financial Intelligence Unit on the transactions of Kingfisher Airlines.

They said so far the agency has prepared Letters Rogatory --judicial requests-- to be sent to the United Kingdom, the US, Hong Kong, France and Switzerland. They said, as investigation progresses, the agency will be approaching some other countries for information about transactions and remittances made by the Vijay Mallya-promoted airlines which are under CBI scanner.

CBI suspects that a "major chunk" of the Rs 950 crore loans taken from the IDBI Bank, which was transferred to Axis Bank, was used for foreign remittances towards lease rentals, and purchase of parts of the aircraft.

"Since these remittances have gone outside the country, further inquiry can only be made by sending Letters Rogatory (LR) for foreign investigation by taking up a regular case," Inspector Varsha Verma had recommended after completing her preliminary inquiry into the matter on July 28, 2015.

The agency had registered an FIR the next day but carried out searches nearly three months after it. Letters Rogatory is a formal communication in writing sent by the court in which action is pending to a foreign court or Judge, requesting for the testimony of a witness residing within the jurisdiction of that foreign court may be formally taken thereon under its direction and transmitted to the issuing court making such request for use in a pending legal matter.
New Delhi: India on Wednesday raised the issue of Indian inmate Kirpal Singhs mysterious death with Pakistan authorities, who said he died of heart attack at a Lahore jail two days back even as the Indian government has sought a probe into the matter.

Indias Acting High Commissioner J.P. Singh met the Director General (South Asia) in the Pakistan Foreign Ministry in Islamabad following a directive from the Indian government in connection with death of Kirpal, who was languishing for nearly 25 years in jail in connection with an alleged serial blasts case there.

Later, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met Kirpals family and conveyed that the government was making all efforts to get his mortal remains back as early as possible.

According to government of Pakistan, Kirpal Singh died on April 11 at 14.55 hours due to heart attack. We await further details, Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Vikas Sw-arup said. He said the mortal remains of Kirpal have been sought. Ms. Swaraj also informed the family that India will try to revive the Indo-Pak Judicial Committee dealing with the welfare and overall status of prisoners of India and Pakistan lodged in each other's jails. The Committee has not met for the last couple of years.

Earlier, Mr. Swarup had said that Indias acting high commissioner was instructed to seek a meeting at the highest level in Pakistan Foreign Office for early transportation of Kirpals mortal remains as also official information on the cause of the death and post-mortem report.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the mortality rate of children under the age of five is now above emergency levels in 11 of 16 prefectures across the country and in the capital Bangui, "marking a significant increase since pre-crisis level." (Photo: AFP)

United Nations: Three years after conflict erupted in the Central African Republic, the biggest killers of children aren't bullets but malnutrition, malaria, respiratory infections and diarrhea, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the mortality rate of children under the age of five is now above emergency levels in 11 of 16 prefectures across the country and in the capital Bangui, "marking a significant increase since pre-crisis level."

The UN humanitarian office, known as OCHA, said in its latest bulletin that the International Medical Corps reported that in these areas one out of every six children is "acutely malnourished."

Violence and upheavals in Central African Republic that began in 2013 have forced over 1 million people from their homes and left 2.5 million - more than half the population - struggling to meet their basic needs, OCHA said.

Dr. Sambo Soule, a Nigerian doctor who runs a nutrition center for the International Medical Corps in Vakaga prefecture, was quoted by OCHA as saying that acute malnutrition rates peak annually during the April-to-November "lean season," but the combination of conflict and severely restricted access to food have caused a sharper spike this year.

Before the violence erupted, OCHA said malnutrition levels for children under the age of five were extremely high due to widespread poverty, a fragile health system, lack of access to clean water and sanitation, and poor infant-feeding practices.

In the wider population, OCHA said a UN World Food Program assessment in February found that hunger levels are also "staggeringly high" with one out of every two people unable to find sufficient food.

"This is double the rate in 2015," OCHA said.

Dujarric said the UN is seeking $531 million to help some 1.9 million people in need.

Central African Republic has recently made headlines because of allegations of child rape and other sexual abuses by international peacekeepers in the country including from the UN and France.
Dhaka: Bangladeshi police said on Wednesday that they suspect a domestic Islamist militant group of being behind the brutal murder of a secular activist in Dhaka, days after a branch of Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.

Nazimuddin Samad, a law student who criticised Islamism in Facebook posts, was killed last week near his university in the capital by attackers carrying machetes, the latest in a string of deadly assaults on secular activists.

Ansar al-Islam, a Bangladesh branch of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), said on Friday it was behind the 26-year-old's murder, according to the US monitoring group SITE.

But Dhaka Metropolitan Police officers said they believe it was the work of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a home grown militant outfit that has been blamed in similar cases.

"We suspect Ansarullah Bangla Team has carried out the murder," Maruf Hossain Sorder, a spokesman for the force said.

"There were some similarities between the latest murder and the previous killings of bloggers," he added.

Bangladesh authorities have consistently denied that international Islamist networks such as Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group are active in the country.

"Al-Qaeda or IS (Islamic State) do not exist in Bangladesh," Sorder said.

Samad was the seventh secular activist -the sixth in the past 15 months- to have been murdered by suspected Islamist militants over their writings.

Police have previously arrested several suspected members of ABT in connection with at least three of these murders.

Eight ABT members, including a top cleric said to have founded the group, were convicted late last year for the murder of atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in February 2013.

The murders have sparked outrage at home and abroad, with international groups demanding that the secular government protect freedom of speech in the Muslim-majority country.

Hundreds of secular activists last week held a days-long protest in Dhaka and Samad's home-town of Sylhet to demand action over his death.
Multan: Pakistan on Wednesday hanged four more prisoners convicted of murder despite international criticism over its surging use of death penalty.

Amnesty International last week described Pakistan as the world's third most prolific executioner after China and Iran, with 326 hangings in the year 2015.

Wednesday's executions took place in the cities of Multan, Jhang and Sialkot in Punjab province and in Larkana in Sindh province.

Anwarul Haq was executed in Multan for murdering his brother over a land dispute in 2000, senior prisons official Chaudhry Arshad Saeed Arain said.

Ghulam Farooq was hanged in Sialkot prison for murdering two women and a man due to a family feud in 1999.

Muhammad Irfan was hanged in Jhang for killing a woman while robbing her home in 2006, Arain said, adding that eight more prisoners were likely to be hanged in Punjab on Thursday.

In Larkana, Waris Mir Bahr was hanged for the 1995 murder of a Pakistan International Airlines employee during an attack on airlines van carrying cash, prison officials said.

Paksitan ended a six-year moratorium on the death penalty after Taliban attackers gunned down more than 150 people, most of them children, at a school in Peshawar in December 2014.

Hangings were initially reinstated only for those convicted of terrorism, but later extended to all capital offences.
The 119 kilometre-long Bibiyana pipeline is Bangladesh's largest transmission line that supplies gas to the national grid. (Representational Image)

Dhaka: The anti-talk faction of separatist outfit ULFA has threatened to blow up Bangladesh's largest gas transmission pipeline, prompting authorities to order an intensified security vigil, a media report said today citing an Indian intelligence tip-off.

The Paresh Barua-led faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) recently issued the threat to blow up the transmission line of the Bibiyana gas field, which supplies 45 per cent of the gas, the mass circulation Samakal newspaper in a lead story, basing it on information given by Indian intelligence agencies.

The article said Indian intelligence agencies recently unearthed the plot tapping a telephone conversation of Barua with an ULFA commander when he asked him to blow up the pipeline in Bangladesh.

The 119 kilometre-long Bibiyana pipeline is Bangladesh's largest transmission line that supplies gas to the national grid from the Bibiyana gas field in northeastern Habiganj, bordering Assam to central Dhunat sub-district, operated by US oil giant Chevron.

Officials of state-run Petrobangla, which contracts out the gas plants to foreign and local oil companies, said they received the information last week and took up the issue with concerned government authorities and cautioned Chevron.

"We have sought necessary government steps for the security of the gas line and cautioned Chevron to enforce an extra vigil on the Bibiyana's production and transmission systems," Petrobangla director M Kamaruzzaman told PTI.

He said Petrobangla and Chevron already held a meeting with the officials of the home ministry and security agencies concerned to ensure adequate security for the plant and the transmission line.

A home ministry official said the law enforcement and security agencies were asked to take necessary steps in view of the reported threat, enhancing their vigil as the outfit has record of carrying out sabotages on Indian gas pipelines.

However, officials said they were assessing its authenticity and capacity of the outfit's remnants. Home minister Asaduzzaman Kamal expressed his doubt about the authenticity of the threat and capacity of the ULFA faction as most of their top leaders gave up their separatist campaign in view of their negotiations with the Indian government.

"I cannot tell you anything about the threat before we could fully verify it, but I am in doubt about the capacity of ULFA remnants in carrying out any sabotage in our country," Kamal said.

He added that Bangladesh long ago drove out ULFA from its borders with India, evicting their makeshift hideouts.

"Paresh Barua, however, is still on the run but we understand India has kept a watch on his activities and so have we, as he once secretly took refuge in Bangladesh," Kamal said.

Barua was earlier handed down death penalty by a Bangladeshi court after in absentia trial for weapon trafficking through Bangladesh territory while media reports suggested he was currently hiding in Myanmar-China borders.

He was given the death penalty by a south eastern Chittagong court in 2014 along with 13 Bangladeshis including two former ministers, two ex-army generals and, after trial of the country's biggest-ever weapon haul involving the separatist outfit.

In November last year, Bangladesh extradited ULFA leader Anup Chetia to India as he himself wanted to be repatriated after being lodged in Bangladeshi jails for over 18 years since his 1997 arrest on intrusion charges.

Several other ULFA stalwarts including their chief Arbind Rajkhowa were reportedly arrested in Bangladesh and subsequently were handed over to India in recent years but Dhaka officially confirmed none of these incidents.
A day after Assam witnessed a record 85% turnout in the second phase of polls, Opposition AIUDF chief Badaruddin Ajmals series of tweets has created ripples in the political circles.





The perfume baron turned politician has tweeted that the ruling Congress, which had earlier rejected his offer of an alliance in Assembly polls, will be responsible if the BJP wins in Assam because of division of secular votes.



If BJP wins because of division of secular votes, it is Congress who will be responsible (sic), he tweeted. In yet another tweet, Ajmal who had claimed to become the kingmaker in this election said: Even before two days we approached Cong to come in to some understanding. But Congress rejected our offer (sic).



Ajmal had taken an initiative to form a Bihar like Mahagattbandhan in Assam involving Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar but the Congress did not budge. We tried our best to form an alliance with the Congress,Prashant Kishore spoke to Rahul Gandhi in this regard. But unfortunately Congress did not agree to form an alliance with us. They rather are hell bent to divide secular votes, Ajmal further tweeted.



Analysts believe that Ajmal might be sensing a rise of the BJP after a record turnout in both phases.
Pakistan today informed India that Indian inmate Kirpal Singh died of a heart attack at a jail in Lahore two days back after the issue of his mysterious death was taken up with the Pakistani authorities even as the government said it was awaiting further details in the case.



India's Acting High Commissioner J P Singh met Director General (South Asia) in Pakistan Foreign Ministry in Islamabad following a directive from the Indian government in connection with death of Kirpal Singh, who was languishing for nearly 25 years in jail in connection with a serial blasts case there.



"According to government of Pakistan, Shri Kirpal Singh died on April 11 at 1455 hours due to heart attack. We await further details," Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Vikas Swarup said.



He said India's Acting High Commissioner has also requested the Pakistan Foreign Ministry official for earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains of Kirpal Singh.



50-year-old Kirpal was languishing in a Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges. He had allegedly crossed over to Pakistan through Wagah border in 1992 and was arrested.



He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province.



Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of charges related to bomb blasts by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons.



Jagir Kaur, Kirpal's sister, earlier said the family could not raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case.



The government asked India's acting envoy to seek a meeting with the Pakistan Foreign Office in connection with Kirpal's death under mysterious circumstances and seek early transfer of the mortal remains.



"On Kirpal Singh, our acting high commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in Pakistan Foreign Office this forenoon to seek early transportation of Singh's mortal remains," Swarup said earlier.
Normal life was paralysed in the Valley on Tuesday due to the strike called by separatists over the issue of attacks on Kashmiri students outside the state in the backdrop of unrest at NIT Srinagar.





Reports said all the shops and other commercial establishments remained closed while public transport was off the roads. However, skeletal movement of private vehicles was reported from various areas.



Hundreds of police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) wearing riot gears were deployed in various parts of Srinagar city and they had laid spools of concertina wires at the exit and entrance points of the town to prevent people from staging protests.



Big support



The shutdown had been called by separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik and supported by Hizb-ul-Muajhideen militant outfit in protest against alleged beating, harassment and intimidation of Kashmiri students in educational and professional institutions outside the Valley.



Elsewhere in the valley normal life also remained affected due to the strike.



Reports said that shops remained closed and government offices witnessed thin attendance in most district headquarters in the Valley.To thwart any protests, authorities had placed Geelani and Mirwaiz under house arrest in Srinagar while Malik was taken into preventive custody and lodged in a police station.The crisis situation emerged after the recent controversy at National Institute of Technology (NIT), Srinagar.



Heated arguments



The trouble had started last week when heated arguments took place between non-local and Kashmiri students in the dining hall of the institute after the defeat of Indian team in World T-20 semi-final. Kashmiri students celebrated Indias defeat to avenge alleged taunts and harassment by non-local students when India was on winning spree.



The Kashmiri students alleged that they were abused and beaten up for celebrating Indias defeat on the hostel premises.



There are around 150 Kashmiri students in the institute while non-Kashmiris from different states are around 1,800. The issue escalated when the protesting non-local students boycotted classes and were baton charged by police.


Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday assured Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that the Centre will invest nearly Rs 30,000 crore on elevated road corridors in the National Capital Region to counter traffic jams.





The meeting between the two comes just three days before the start of the second round of the odd-even car rationing scheme, aimed at battling pollution. Kejriwal sought Gadkaris backing for the scheme.



In a separate meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee, the Chief Minister discussed policies of the Delhi government at a time when his Aam Aadmi Party government is at loggerheads with the BJP-led Union government.



The Delhi government also agreed to give one Delhi Transport Corporation bus for a pilot project for converting CNG buses into electric ones.



During his meeting with Gadkari, where he was joined by Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai, Kejriwal also called for a six-month extension of the date for registration of e-rickshaws. The last date for registration was 31 March, an official said.



Kejriwal discussed several issues with Gadkari including odd-even and extension of date for registration of e-rickshaws. He also sought Gadkari's support to improve the traffic situation in Delhi, said the official.



Gadkari assured full support to Delhi government in the fight against pollution, the official added.



The Delhi government announced two elevated bus rapid transport corridors in the latest Budget. These are a 29-km corridor from Anand Vihar Terminal to Peeragarhi and a 24-km corridor from Wazirabad to the airport.



Issues related to the Yamuna also came up during the discussion. Gadkari asked the Chief Minister to ensure that no untreated water flowed into the Yamuna.



The Centre and Delhi government also agreed to sign a state support agreement for developing the Yamuna.



During the recently concluded Budget session, the Chief Minister had alleged that the delay in cleaning the Yamuna was due to non-creation of a special purpose vehicle by the central government.



He claimed that his government was doing its bit to ensure treatment of sewage of drains falling into the Yamuna.



The Delhi governments Budget for 2016-17, allocated the second highest Plan fund allocation, after education, to transport. Out of a total outlay of Rs 20,600 crore, the AAP government has set aside Rs 3,934 crore for the transport sector.



To popularise public transport, Delhi government planned an investment of 1,735 crore to introduce 100 premium buses and 100 buses under the cluster scheme.


Pollution monitoring agency SAFAR will study ultrafine and ultra-dangerous PM1 particles during the second phase of the odd-even formula.





Recently, the Delhi government had said that it has no plans of monitoring PM1 when the road-rationing scheme kicks in from April 15.



Particulate Matter 1 particles are much smaller than PM 2.5, having a diameter of less than 1 micron and can easily penetrate deep into the lungs or enter the bloodstream, causing cardiovascular problems and damage to the inner walls of arteries.



The government had said during the first round of the odd-even scheme in January that it would collect samples of PM1 but did not do so.



But this time around, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) website, operated by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), an air quality monitoring agency under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, will show the data regarding PM 1, Gufran Beig, Project Director, SAFAR, told Deccan Herald.



However, PM1 cannot be compared to any safe limit as there are no standards set for it. Delhiites will also be able to view the impact of the odd-even scheme on the citys pollution levels on the SAFAR website from Friday. Like it was done in the first phase, the website will give hourly updates of PM2.5, PM10, and ozone from April 15.



It currently displays the average level of Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 and PM10 in Delhis air. The figures are updated four times in the day. However, this time the website will not compare the data with the pollution figures from the last year on the same day.



The decision was taken after suggestions from many experts who said that it is not fair to compare the data with last year as weather conditions change, Beig said.



People can also view the pollution data on SAFAR app, which shows air quality index of areas in and around the vicinity of 10 monitoring stations of the agency.



The monitoring will be in addition to studying of pollution data by Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) through existing monitoring stations, manual monitoring and hand-held light scattering devices.


Multiple agencies including Delhi Police and its Special Cell, and the CISF have started investigation in the sensational Rajendra Place Metro station robbery in which a Metro official was allegedly stabbed by two masked men on Monday morning and Rs 12 lakh looted from the station control room.





No arrest has been made yet. But police sources said three or four people were involved in the incident, while others were standing outside the station to monitor the situation.



The weapon of offence has been seized by police and the fingerprints on it have been lifted. Police sources said it looked to be the job of some insiders from the station.



Although the robbers had covered their faces with masks, the clothes they wore could help in nabbing them, said a police officer. Police have questioned the injured Metro staffer Kunal Kishore and a sketch of the suspects is being prepared with his help.



Police are also checking some call made a few minutes before the incident from the victims mobile, sources said.



Meanwhile, a new video of the two suspects leaving the control room of the Metro station is beings studied. In the video clip, from a CCTV camera at the station, the two suspects are seen carrying bags on their shoulders. Despite wearing pollution masks, they were seen covering their foreheads with their hands. It proved that they were aware of the location of the CCTV cameras at the Metro station, source said.



According to a senior police officer, judging by the nature of the injury sustained by Kishore, it looked that the robbers had taken care not to stab him deep in the abdomen.



Police officials are also questioning why Kishore didnt inform the other staffers immediately even though he was carrying a wireless set and a mobile phone. He could have even followed his attackers as the wound was not very deep, a police officer said on condition of anonymity. Immediately after the incident, a CISF officer spotted an injured Kishore in a washroom. Kishore told him about the robbery only after the officer asked about the blood on his shirt.



All these facts are baffling investigators, and they are trying to piece together the correct sequence of events.



In another significant development, CISF is drafting a circular making clear that people will now not be able to enter a Metro station with their faces covered with a mask.



The new rule will be applicable to both men and women. An official announcement will be made soon on this, said sources.


Farzana Khatoon, wife of NIA officer Tanzil Ahmad who was shot dead in an April 3 attack which also left her grievously injured, succumbed this morning.



She was battling for her life at AIIMS trauma centre after suffering bullet wounds, NIA said in a statement, adding that she succumbed to her injuries at 10.45 AM.



Farzana was returning from a family function along with her husband and children when they were attacked. NIA Inspector Tanzil Ahmed, who was on the team probing Pathankot terror attack, was killed while she was seriously injured in the firing by motorcycle-borne assailants.



"Her last rites will take place at Jamia Milia University Campus burial ground at 6.30 PM," it said.



In the "planned attack", the killers had pumped 24 bullets into 45-year-old Ahmad and four into his wife Farzana, as their daughter, 14, and son, 12, watched the gruesome incident from the back seat of the Wagon-R car they were travelling in.

The children had escaped the attack.



Initially, the NIA had said Farzana was "out of danger. There is no damage to her vital organs".



Ahmad, who has been with the NIA ever since the organisation was formed in February 2009, had been investigating many cases especially related to banned Indian Mujahideen terror outfit. His superiors termed him as a thorough professional in intelligence gathering as well as investigation.



Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested two alleged killers including a relative of Ahmad even as the alleged mastermind is still absconding.



Police has claimed that domestic dispute was the motive behind the crime.



Among the two arrested is nephew of Ahmed's brother-in-law Rehan. The alleged mastermind, identified as Muneer, is still at large, police had said.



According to the police, the motorcycle-borne accused followed Ahmad who was returning home in Sahaspur village of Bijnor district with his family after attending his niece's wedding in another village in the same district on the intervening night of April 2 and 3.



The attackers overtook his vehicle at Sahaspur village and Muneer allegedly fired at Ahmed and his wife.



Along with Rehan, his accomplice Zainul was also arrested.



Later, AIIMS issued a statement saying "Khatoon was received from private hospital after 8 days of injury on April 11 at 4:30 PM with diagnosis of severe sepsis and lung consolidation. On arrival she was critically ill on ventilator and inotropes and was not responding."



"She was managed in ICU with antibiotics, inotropes and blood products. However she continued to deteriorate and succumbed to her injuries on April 13 at 10:55 AM," it added.


Responding positively to Nitish Kumar's call for the "largest possible unity" among parties to defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh said his party is ready to work with the newly-elected JD(U) chief at the national level.





"Of course, yes," Singh said here when asked if Congress is open to working at the national level with Nitish, who on Monday had called for "the largest possible unity among parties, including Congress and Left, to keep the BJP out of power after 2019 polls".



"We want this country to be secular, to be sort of accountable and responsible to the whole population and not to certain categories only. Therefore, I think, we are prepared to work with all those who want to keep the country together, who believe in the Indian Constitution, and whose politics is inclusive, and not exclusive," the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister told PTI in an interview.



Singh said the Congress has been fighting the BJP "from the very beginning".

"We are very happy that Mr. Nitish Kumar who has sort of worked with the BJP (referring to JDU-BJP sharing power in Bihar in the past) very closely has realised it now. We are very happy that finally all political parties have come around and accepted the Congress party's stand that we can't have anything to do with communal forces like BJP," he said.



Asked if Nitish, who was elected JDU president on Sunday, would emerge as an alternative to the BJP and Congress, Singh said, "Every person has a right to be sort of be accepted as national leader and it's for the people to decide."



Singh did not agree with the suggestions the Congress has not been able to revive itself even 22 months after badly losing the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.



"We have been able to sort of contain the BJP in a number of states, and also it takes a little time for the people to understand the false promises made by Mr.(Narendra) Modi and BJP. So, it takes time for people to realise they have been taken for a ride by Mr (Narendra) Modi. It takes some time," he added.



Singh justified the Congress' decision to enter into an electoral pact with the Left in West Bengal whereas fighting against them in Kerala, saying this is a question of regional leadership deciding to tie-up with like-minded parties.



"So, therefore, there is no contradiction as such. In West Bengal, the way (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee has conducted herself..therefore...there is a reason for Congress party to look for viable option and Left is the viable option in West Bengal," he added.



On whether the "delay" in Rahul Gandhi taking over as Congress president is taking a toll on the party's rank and file, Singh said, "No one is opposing Rahul Gandhi as such. It depends on when the decision (on his taking over) is taken. The decision will be taken by Congress president".


Attacking the Modi government over its decision to sign the Logistics Support Agreement with the U S, Congress today said it is "disastrous" and will hit the independence of India's foreign policy while Left parties termed it as "dangerous and anti-national".



"NDA Government's decision to sign Logistics Support Agreement with the U S is the beginning of the end of the independence of India's foreign policy and strategic autonomy."



"It is a disastrous decision. Government should retract the decision and should not sign this agreement and other foundation agreements", senior party leader A K Antony, who was Defence Minister in the UPA regime, told PTI.



Left parties also lashed out at the government for its "in principle" agreement for a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the US, terming it as "dangerous and anti-national" move and demanded that it "immediately retract" from inking the agreement.



Accusing Government of "crossing line" with the move, which the parties said "no other government" had taken since independence, they charged the Narendra Modi dispensation of converting India into a "full-fledged" military ally of Washington and "compromising" country's strategic autonomy.



The communist parties also claimed that there is "no transparency" in what the Union Government does with regard to "such critical policy matters" as Parliament is not taken into confidence and sought to know why the dispensation is "desperate" to "please" US by taking the step "voluntarily".



"Modi Government has taken the dangerous stepIn doing so, the BJP Government has crossed a line which no other government has done since independence - converting India into a full-fledged military ally of the United States," the CPI(M) noted in a statement.



India and the US had on Tuesday agreed "in principle" to the logistics exchange agreement to enable both militaries to use each other's assets and bases for repair and replenishment of supplies.



Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and visiting US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter had, however, made it clear that the agreement, which will be signed in "weeks" or "coming months", does not entail deployment of American troops on Indian soil.



Antony insisted that by signing this agreement, India would be gradually becoming part of the American military bloc.



"When UPA was in power, India had all along resisted such proposals. India had traditional relationship with Soviet Union, now Russia from the very beginning. Of late, we are steadily improving our relations with the US also. We always resisted pressure from everybody to be part of a military bloc", he said.



By inking such an agreement, India will allow the U S Military, mainly Navy and Air force, to use its facilities for their smooth operations, Antony said.



"They can refuel their warheads, their ships and aircraft etc and if necessary keep their military equipment on Indian soil," he warned.



Contending that India rarely operates beyond its shores, the Congress leader said, "This agreement practically gives very little advantage to it, but gives enormous opportunity to US Military."



This is especially true at a time when the U S has announced that in the next three years, 60 per cent of U S Marines will be placed in Asia-Pacific region, he said.



"It means gradually India will become one of their major facilitator. It is a dangerous game. It will become part of military conflicts. It will affect our strategic autonomy. In eyes of the world, India will become part of the U S military bloc," Antony added.



The CPI(M) accused the government of "compromising" national sovereignty and the country's strategic autonomy of the country with the decision and urged all political parties and "patriotic" citizens to oppose Centre's "surrender" to the US.



"The (NDA) Government must be told that these anti-national steps do not have the support of the people. It should immediately retract from signing the Logistics Agreement," the party insisted.

It described LEMOA as "just another name" for the Logistic Support Agreement (LSA) that US enters into with military allies like Philippines, South Korea and Japan.



The party cautioned that "unlike what" Parrikar says, refuelling, maintenance and repair facilities for American ships and airplanes will require stationing of US armed forces personnel on Indian soil on a regular basis.



"Along with this agreement, the Defence Minister has indicated that two other agreements are on the anvil, Communication and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA). These will make Indian armed forces command and control structure integrated with the US armed forces," it said.



CPI national secretary D Raja said there is "no transparency" in what the Union Government does on "critical" policy matters and asked it to explain why it is "desperate" to please Washington.



"Earlier, there used to be tremendous pressure on India from the US to have access to our ports for refueling and such things. Now India is voluntarily offering all help to the US. Why is India so desperate to please the US? This Modi Government will have to explain," the Rajya Sabha member said.


Mounting a scathing attack, BJP President Amit Shah today accused the Jayalalithaa government of being the "most corrupt" in the country and asked the people to oust it in the May 16 Assembly elections.





Addressing a press conference here flanked by three Union ministers, including Power Minister Piyush Goyal, he also charged the state government with non-cooperation over implementation of central schemes including UDAY, aimed at helping debt-ridden state power discoms.



Goyal had recently said that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was "inaccessible" and criticised the state government for not joining the Centre's UDAY scheme.



Projecting NDA as an alternative to AIADMK and DMK, Shah said, "The Narendra Modi government is committed to the welfare of villages, the poor and labour class. I am confident the people of Tamil Nadu will give priority to NDA in the polls."



"People should change this most corrupt government in India and give NDA a chance," the BJP chief said in a sharp attack on Jayalalithaa whose AIADMK has extended issue-based support to the Modi government in Parliament.



Shah, who will launch BJP's campaign at a rally here later this evening, alleged that the Centre was facing problems in implementing many schemes in the state like UDAY.



"UDAY, for instance, is meant to reach consumers but the Tamil Nadu government is not coming forward to implement it," he said.



Same was the case with the proposed AIIMS, he said in an apparent reference to the proposal to set up one of the units of the premier health institute in the state, but which is yet to take off.



Shah also trained his guns at both DMK and AIADMK, besides Congress and charged them with corruption.



"Whether it be 2G (DMK) or disproportionate assets case (AIADMK) Aircel-Maxis (DMK) or ED case against (son of Congress leader P Chidambaram) Karti, their top leaders face corruption cases. These show they did corruption when they were in power," he said.



However, there was no corruption charge against the two-year old Modi government, he said, adding that his party stood for development.



The NDA will deliver on its development agenda in Tamil Nadu if voted to power, he said, alleging that sand and liquor mafia had exploited people under the Dravidian parties' rule in the state.



On whether an alliance with AIADMK was on cards earlier, he said BJP never expected the ruling party to propose a tie-up with it for elections.



Even the AIADMK's support to the NDA government in Parliament was "issue-based", he said.



Asked about the delay in constituting the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), Shah said BJP believed in taking all states along and favoured talks to arrive at a "consensus".



On the issue of fishermen being "attacked" and arrested by Sri Lankan Navy, he said his party-led government was committed to the welfare of the fishermen.



He recalled that as soon as it came to power, the Modi government had acted and saved five fishermen from the gallows and brought them back home. Talks were on with Colombo to find a permanent solution to the vexed issue.



"Fishermen no more face (Lankan navy's) bullets," he said.

Earlier, Shah met party candidates for the May 16 polls, besides those of other NDA constituents IJK and Akila Indiya Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhagam.He expressed hope that his party will put up a good show despite lack of erstwhile allies like DMDK.


Only two out of nearly 1,100 bureaucrats whose work performance was reviewed by state governments have been recommended for premature retirement, the Centre said today.



There are some states like Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand among others who have not yet shared with the central government information regarding formation of review committees for assessing performance of IAS, IPS and IFS officers working under their administrative control.



As per rule, the central government, in consultation with the concerned State, may require an officer to retire in public interest from service for non-performance.



"The object of the rule is to weed out the deadwood in order to maintain a high standard of efficiency and initiative in the state services. It is not necessary that a good officer may continue to be efficient for all times to come, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has said.



Time and again, the state governments have been requested to carry out intensive review of service records of officers belonging to all India services--Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS)--at two stages.



The review need to be carried out when officers have completed 15 years of service or five years after induction, and when they have completed 25 years of service or attained the age of 50 years, it said.



As per latest status report, performance of a total of 549 officers, who had completed 15 years of service, were reviewed. Of these, a highest of 76 officers were of Maharashtra cadre, 64 of Jharkhand, 62 of AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories), 58 of Uttar Pradesh, 44 of Punjab and 43 of Madhya Pradesh cadre.



Only one officer of AGMUT cadre has been recommended for premature retirement, the report said.



All officers are found to fit and continue in service, the DoPT said citing outcome of the review meetings.



The performance of a total of 37 officers of Odisha cadre, 36 of Rajasthan, 33 each of Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, 24 of Meghalaya, 19 each of Bihar and Haryana, and one of Himachal Pradesh cadre were reviewed. Of these, final decision in respect of one officer of Haryana cadre is awaited. All others are found fit to continue in service, the report said.



Besides, the states also conducted review of 540 officers who had either completed 25 years of service or attained 50 years of age. Of them, a highest of 123 officers under review were from Madhya Pradesh cadre, 97 officers of Uttar Pradesh, 54 of Gujarat and 41 of AGMUT cadre.



The performance of 36 officers each of Assam and Odisha cadres, 35 of Haryana, 31 of Punjab, 30 of Jharkhand, 26 of Rajasthan, 16 of Chhattisgarh, 13 of Meghalaya and two of Himachal Pradesh was reviewed by the respective state governments. Of them, one officer of AGMUT cadre has been recommended for premature retirement, it said.



"Information is awaited from the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand regarding formation of the review committee and conduct of the meeting thereafter," the DoPT said.



Minutes of the meeting is awaited from Nagaland, Tripura, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka. West Bengal has assured holding the review committee meeting, it said.



Based on this status report, the Centre has proposed to discuss this and other issues with the states in a meeting by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh with Principal Secretaries (of personnel or general administration department) of state governments on April 22.



The Centre is also reviewing performance of employees working under it. Under Fundamental Rule 56(J), the government has the "absolute right" to retire, if necessary in the public interest, any Group A and B employee who joined service before the age of 35 and has crossed the age of 50. This performance review is being carried out by different central government departments.


Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif has accused India of destabilising his country and attempting to "subvert" its crucial USD 46 billion economic corridor project with China.





Speaking at a seminar on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the coastal town of Gwadar, he said the significance of a China Pakistan economic cooperation had "raised eyebrows" in the region and India had openly opposed the project.



"The CPEC is a deep manifestation of the time-tested relations between China and Pakistan. But there are foreign forces who, realising the potential of CPEC and wanting an influential role in the region, are working to destabilise Pakistan and the project," Raheel said yesterday.



"Hostile intelligence agencies were averse to this grand project (CPEC), especially Indian intelligence agency RAW, which is blatantly involved in destabilising Pakistan," the Pakistan Army Chief claimed.



But "we will not allow anyone to create impediments and turbulence in any part of Pakistan", he added.



Describing the project as "a corridor of peace and prosperity", Raheel said that CPEC is a lifetime opportunity for Pakistan to improve the socio-economic equation of its underprivileged areas and populace.



However, there were "external intelligence agencies who are involved in facilitating terrorists, their abettors and financiers in Pakistan in a bid to subvert the economic corridor project," he said.



"As COAS, I assure you security of CPEC which is our national undertaking. We wont leave any stone unturned and continue to close watch at every step," the General said.

He said work on the CPEC was progressing at a fast pace and already 675 kilometres of roads had been completed in just two years' time.



"Transparency and good management is important for sustainability of the CPEC which will eventually benefit the people of Balochistan and Pakistan," he said.



Other speakers said on the occasion that Gwadar port will be fully operative by the end of 2016 ans will slowly become hub of international trade.


Come October, and chefs of the heads of states like USA, China, Germany, Britain and Switzerland will converge in the city to get a taste of Indian cuisine and a slice of the countrys vibrant culture, as for the first time, India is hosting members of an exclusive gastronomical society, The Club des Chefs des Chefs(CCC), which is best described as a sort of G20 on gastronomy.





The club, founded in 1977, invites only those chefs who work for the head of state like presidents, kings and queens. The idea, according to Gilles Bragard, executive secretary of the Paris-based organisation, is to remind everyone how important they are.



These chefs work behind the scene all the time. One cant ignore the role gastronomy plays in politics and understand how important food is in securing a good treaty, Bragard, who is in India, said at a press conference.



Such interactions are important between these chefs because when they visit a country, they discover new things about their culture and food, he added.



On a six-day tour, beginning October 23, the group will first visit Agra and Jaipur and then meet President Pranab Mukherjee over high tea. A charity dinner will also be organised on October 25 at the Imperial and the money raised will be used for a philanthropic cause in India.



For the charity dinner, five chefs of the head of states, including Montu Saini, executive chef to the President of India, will be preparing a five-course meal for the guests.



I will be taking care of the mains and President Barack Obamas chef will be preparing soup. The menu will be balanced and I am excited to see the final outcome, he said, adding the moment he became the Presidents chef he wrote to the club to make India their host country before he becomes their member.



India has been a member of this group since 80s and Sainis predecessor chef Machindra Kasturi too was its member. Elaborating on how different being a Presidents chef is Saini said: It is a completely different thing to be Presidents chef because here you are not selling food, like you do at restaurants. Here, the focus is on serving and it has to be a zero-error work.



According to Vijay Wanchoo, senior executive vice-president and general manager, The Imperial, the cost of the plate has not been fixed yet and they are expecting between 150-200 guests.



The CCC initially had only seven members, but their strength has grown to 25, still a small number compared to the countries recognised by the United Nations. It is because a chef has to volunteer to be our member, and in many small countries they dont have an official chef working full-time, said Bragard.
The Pakistan government today denied that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's sudden departure for London was an effort to seek support from former president Asif Ali Zardari against a possible backlash over the names of the premier's children figuring in the leaked 'Panama Papers'.





Sharif left for the UK for purported medical check-up amid chaotic political scenes by the opposition demanding his resignation after his daughter and two sons were mentioned in the Panama Papers as having secret offshore companies.



Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf leader Imran Khan is consulting other parties for a joint possible protest outside Sharif's residence in suburbs of Lahore and Zardari's PPP joining the agitation that may make things difficult for the government.



Senior Pakistan People's Party leader Aitizaz Ahsan said yesterday that Sharif was going to seek support of Zardari who has been living in London for past several months.



Interior minister Nisar Ali Khan rejected the impression that Sharif was in tight corner and needed Zardari's support.



"For the last three weeks, his (Sharif) health has deteriorated for which the prime minister had to travel," he said at a press conference in Islamabad.



"In this country some people cannot even get ill as rumour-mongers keep on politicising the issue," he said. Earlier, Sharif departed for London for what the government said was a "routine medical checkup, which was repeatedly postponed due to his official engagements over the past few months".



Sharif has been under pressure ever since a massive leak of over 11 million tax documents on April 3 exposed the secret offshore dealings of world leaders and celebrities, include Sharif's three children.



He had later addressed the nation and also promised to set up a commission to probe any wrongdoing. However, the formation of the commission was delayed as the opposition rejected it.


The company, which is striking fear into its current and potential competitors, expects to report revenue of $750 million in the fiscal year that ended in March, more than double the previous years $300 million.



The Sitting on an orange sofa set over a Persian carpet, in a gated office park of freshly painted tan buildings and manicured lawns, Baba Ramdev is surrounded by the trappings of any major corporate leader almost anywhere in the world.



But Ramdev is also an Indian swami, having renounced all worldly pleasures and possessions, and he sits cross-legged on the couch, his face fringed by an untamed beard, his body draped in the saffron cloth of a Hindu holy man.



Famous for bringing yoga to the Indian masses, Ramdev, 50, is also the leader of what has become known as the Baba Cool Movement  a group of spiritual men, known as babas.



They are marketing health-based consumer items based on the ancient Indian medicinal system of herbal treatments, known as Ayurveda. His rapidly expanding business empire of packaged food, cosmetics and home-care products is eating into the sales of both multinational and Indian corporations.



The babas message about the value of traditional Indian ingredients is particularly resonant in the current environment in India, where a prime minister and his political party have built a narrative around the value of ancient Hindu practices, from yoga to reverence for cows.



Ramdev is the most prominent of a growing group of brand-building babas, whose ranks include Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of the Art of Living, an Indian spiritual practice, who promotes a line of creams, soaps and shampoos also called Ayurveda.



There is truly a tectonic shift in the consumer products business in India, said Harish Bijoor, a brand strategy specialist and former head of marketing at a subsidiary of the big conglomerate Tata Group.



Ramdev and his friend and business partner, Acharya Balakrishna, 44, run Patanjali Ayurved Limited from a corporate headquarters in Haridwar, ancient city on the banks of River Ganga in Uttarakhand. In an interview, Ramdev said he was the creative force and public face of Patanjali, even though, as a swami, he does not have an official title or hold any shares of the privately held company.



Rising at 3:30 am each day to drink the juice of the amla fruit, berry rich in vitamin C and considered the top immunity booster in Ayurveda medicine, he unleashes a torrent of new product ideas  an herbal energy bar, an herbal hair dye, a sugar-free immune booster  that he records in large Hindi script in a spiral bound notebook. Then he plunges into three hours of yoga, followed by a 12-hour day that is split between Patanjali business and the public meetings of a spiritual and political leader.



Balakrishna, as the managing director, runs day-to-day operations. Without him, nothing would be possible, Ramdev said of his partner, who paced in the office as the interview with the loquacious swami spilled over its one-hour allotment.



The two men met in the 1990s when they studied at the same gurukul, a residential school that was the norm for Indian Hindus before the British arrived. Both the sons of farmers, they went on together to study in the Himalayas, Ramdev focusing on yoga and Balakrishna on Ayurveda.



In 1994, they founded the first of three charitable trusts, to run a hospital and a university dealing in Ayurvedic medicine, and an ashram. There, they held yoga camps and free health checkups at which they dispensed Ayurveda treatments, which are largely herbal. Before long, they had set up a manufacturing plant for Ayurveda products.



Around the same time, Ramdev began his televised yoga classes. Lean and muscular, Ramdev proved to be a telegenic tour de force, bringing yoga to Indias poor and the growing middle class. He gradually ventured beyond yoga to become a public critic of government corruption, leading a mass protest in New Delhi in 2011 and later endorsing Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the election in 2014.



Modi and his BJP swept to power soon after, unleashing a strong Hindu nationalist sentiment that Ramdev says has created an ideal ecosystem to support his business. Modi pushed the United Nations to create International Yoga Day, and he inaugurated it last year, with Ramdev by his side, in a nationally televised ceremony involving 35,000 people.



Ramdev, given to raucous laughter and bouts of giggles that make him seem disarmingly humble, can just as suddenly overflow with bravado, as he did when asked about the source of Patanjalis popularity and power. People buy our products because they believe I will only sell them good things, he said. Beyond Ramdevs appeal, Patanjali products are attractive because they are high quality and prices are about 20% lower than the competition, analysts said.



It is not clear how Patanjali is able to charge such low prices, given that its profit margin of 13% is within the industry range of 13 to 16%. Ramdev ventured that, with his fame, his advertising costs are much lower than those of his competitors, who spend as much as 15% of their revenue promoting their products.



The faces of Ramdev and Balakrishna adorn almost every building, billboard and truck connected to the company, which is expanding so fast it is striking fear into its current and potential competitors. The company expects to report revenue of $750 million in the fiscal year that ended in March, more than double the previous years $300 million, the two men said.



Meteoric rise



Credit-Suisse Securities, in a report early this year, said Patanjalis meteoric rise had hurt Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd, which is majority owned by the US-based Colgate-Palmolive. Sales of Colgates toothpastes slowed from growing at about 10% annually just 1% in the quarter ending in December, in the face of competition from Patanjali, Rohit Kadam, the analyst who wrote the report, said in an interview.



The report said sales of health supplements at Dabur India Ltd, one of the countrys largest consumer goods companies, had been growing at close to 20% annually but began falling at the end of last year, hurt by competition from Patanjali. In the face of that threat, Patanjalis competitors are working on overdrive to create similar types of product options, Bijoor, the brand strategist, said.



Colgate has introduced toothpastes containing the extract of neem and charcoal, both still used by villagers to clean their teeth. Spokesmen for Colgate and Dabur did not respond to requests for comment. Experts say that for the foreseeable future, the only danger signs for Patanjali is the enthusiasm of its founder, Ramdev.



If he takes it a bit too far, hell lose new customers, said Sunil Alagh, a business consultant and formerly chief executive of Britannia Industries Ltd, famous for packaged cookies. In the past, Ramdev had dived into controversial conservative causes without hesitation. Last year, for example, he claimed that he could cure homosexuality by treating a person with yoga.



Ramdev was also outspoken in his condemnation of a student at a New Delhi university who faced sedition charges after the authorities accused him of participating in a pro-Pakistan campus rally. The traitors, Ramdev said, must be arrested.



Controversy aside, Bijoor has predicted that the Baba Cool Movement would eventually outsell both multinationals and top Indian companies alike. Its about a good connect, he said. Its about becoming the umbilical cord connecting the past to the present.
India and Maldives have done well to begin arresting the downslide in their bilateral relations that set in a couple of years ago.





During the recent visit of Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen to India, the two sides signed six agreements that envisage greater cooperation in the fields of defence, space, tourism, taxation and conservation of mosques. Deeper defence cooperation will involve institutionalising of engagement at the defence secretary level. Development of ports, training and capacity building, maritime surveillance and supply of equipment are on the cards. The two countries have also agreed to work together to tackle religious radicalism in the Maldives. This will involve greater information sharing and training of police personnel.



Growing authoritarianism in the Maldives has become a major irritant in India-Maldives relations. Indias repeated calls to the Yameen government to heed to the democratic rights of its people have not gone down well in Male, souring bilateral relations and prompting the Maldivian government to warm up to China. It has resulted in an expansion in Chinas presence in the Maldives, which India feared could culminate in China acquiring a permanent presence in the Indian Ocean. This has implications for Indias security. Additionally, religious extremism too has surged in the Maldives in recent years and several youth have left to join radical outfits in Iraq and Syria. Recognising that it would need to accelerate engagement with the Yameen government to be able to deal with worrying developments in the archipelago, India appears to have changed tack now.



Rather than harping on the Yameen governments increasingly authoritarian style, India seems to have decided to address this issue quietly even as it seeks to rebuild its influence in the Maldives. Delhis new strategy will see it focus less on confronting Yameen on his poor democratic record. As indicated by the Maldivian president, India will back the Maldives at the upcoming Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group meeting where the situation in the Maldives will come up for discussion. It will protect the Maldives government from censure, perhaps even sanctions.



However, the Yameen government must not interpret this support at an international forum to mean endorsement of its undemocratic ways. India remains committed to democracy in the Maldives. Only it will avoid upbraiding the Yameen government publicly as it has in the past. Instead, it will raise its concerns through diplomatic channels and keep up the pressure on Male through use carrots and sticks. The Maldives has a lot to gain from cooperation with India. A little sensitivity to Indias security concerns will help it reap these benefits.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to allow a plea by Tamil Nadu for handing over security of Mullaperiyar to the personnel of Central Industrial Security Force.





A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur told senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi that an application in which the decree has already been issued cannot be entertained.



Can you ask for modification of the decree in this fashion by filing an application? We cant keep on entertaining application in disposed of matter. There is no perennial proceedings going on here, the bench told the counsel.



Following the observation by the bench, also comprising Justices R Banumathi and U U Lalit, TNs counsel preferred to withdraw the application with the liberty to file review petition.



The court had on December 3, 2014 dismissed Keralas review plea against the May, 2014 Constitution Bench verdict wherein the dam was found to be safe. The court had allowed Tamil Nadu to raise water level to 142 feet and ultimately to 152 feet after completion of strengthening measures on the dam. Mullaperiyar dam is a masonry dam and was constructed pursuant to the Periyar Lake Lease Agreement of October 29, 1886 across Periyar river.


The Income Tax department has begun distributing questionnaires to those featured in the leaked Panama Papers that revealed they opened off-shore entities in tax havens to protect their wealth.





Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week instructed speedy action against those who committed wrongdoings after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released the documents.



The ICIJ and its partners, including Indian Express, have published the 'Panama Papers' claiming that around 11.5 million documents sourced from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca showed the company helped people across the globe, including around 500 Indians, open offshore companies to protect their wealth. The leaked documents revealed people opened offshore entities in tax havens like British Virgin Islands. Official sources said the questionnaire was sent to around 100 people and the IT department would send the poser to others soon.



Among the information sought in the questionnaire, the IT department asked if they were the same people featured in the list published in newspapers and if they had voiced their reaction on the matter to the media.



The persons were also asked if they had taken permission for incorporating the off-shore entity and the manner in which money was routed to open it. They have also been asked to furnish shareholders details.



The government announced a multi-agency probe soon after the leakage of the Panama Papers following a direction from the Prime Minister. The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money also said it would investigate the secret list exposed by the ICIJ.






Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday said that the state government was open to constituting a CBI investigation into the Paravur temple fire that killed 113 people.





Speaking with reporters here, Chandy said the governments stand on matters including a fresh probe will be based on discussions at an all-party meeting scheduled here on Thursday.



The government is also set to submit at the High Court a response to a PIL seeking a ban on fireworks in the state, on Thursday. A division bench of the court had asked the government to consider a CBI investigation on the incident. The government will request the Centre to announce the Paravur incident as a national tragedy. A panel consisting of Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash, Health Minister V S Sivakumar and Labour Minister Shibu Baby John will visit families residing in the temple neighbourhood on Thursday, in an effort to formalise post-disaster relief efforts.



The Kollam district administration and the police machinery continued to be engaged in a tussle over an oral permission to conduct the firework contest at the temple on Sunday. Local police officials said that though District Collector A Shainamol had denied permission for competitive fireworks, Additional District Magistrate A Shanavas had given an oral go-ahead for a firework display.



The ADM told television channels that the allegation was baseless. The District Collector has openly criticised the local police on its failure to enforce the ban.Six more people, all labourers working for the firework contractors, were detained on Wednesday. Seven officials of the temple management committee had surrendered before the police on Tuesday.


Shane Watson, Royal Challengers Bangalores biggest acquisition this season at Rs 9.5 crore, made an immediate impact as the Virat Kohli-led side cruised to a 45-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their season opener.





The Australian all-rounder made a quickfire 19 (8b, 3x6) and claimed two wickets, including that of David Warner, to show just why RCB is so gung ho about him. Watson spoke to the media after the match. Excerpts.



On AB de Villiers: Where do I start? (laugh) Look even what we saw tonight, AB is as good a batter as youll ever see. It didnt look like he was taking a risk in his whole innings. One six he hit over cover off the backfoot. Its an incredibly tough shot to play. Its a pleasure to be able to watch him and now to be able to play with him as well. Doesnt look like hes taking a risk at all, reads the ball really well, executes his shots really well.



On RCB playing their top 4 batsmen in the first four places: In the last season, Chris (Gayle), Virat and AB batting one, two and three gave them some incredible momentum. That batting order gathered a lot of momentum and why would they change that when theyve had so much success with their top three doing so well. Im happy to fit in whereever I can and hopefully contribute whenever I can. Just knowing from last year with Rajasthan, seeing those top three guys facing all the ball, you have to take all the wickets otherwise you are in deep trouble and thats exactly what happened (today).



On team scoring 227 even after Gayle managing just 1 run: The good thing is there are quite a few main batsmen in RCB. Its not going to be that everyone is going to have their day every single time and thats an incredible strength that we have at RCB with our batting line-up. We saw AB and Virat bat incredibly well tonight and next game its going to be Chris turn. Then weve got Sarfaraz (Khan), weve got Kedar Jadhav as well. The quality of batsmen that we have, I think we are very very fortunate here at RCB.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday asserted that her party will ensure that the gas pipeline project by GAIL will come in the agriculture lands if it voted to power again.





During her election rally at Dharmapuri, Jayalalithaa said that she would prevail upon the Centre not to lay in the agriculture lands of farmers in the State.



"All the schemes should benefit the people. I would urge the Centre so that it would take measures not to lay in the farm lands", she said.



Stating that the GAIL had undertaken a project to lay 310 km of gas pipeline in farm lands in seven districts in the state, Jayalalithaa said her government already ordered that the pipes should be laid along the highways.



"My government also asked the company (GAIL) to take out the pipes that had been laid and hand over the lands to the farmers", she added.



However the Supreme Court had ruled that the state government has no powers to issue such an order.


As many as 50 pre-university lecturers began a hunger strike at Freedom Park on Wednesday to pressure the government to meet their demands over pay

.



Talks between the lecturers and the government once again failed to yield any outcome, with both sticking to their stance. A final decision is expected to be taken on Thursday.



The lecturers have been on a protest for the past 10 days, urging the government to implement the G Kumar Naik committee report, which recommends a hike in their basic salaries by Rs 2,500. C B Gowda, a PU lecturer who came all the way from Mandya to support the strike, said, The government has to pay heed to our demands. This time there is no going back.



A meeting was held between lecturers and the Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar in the evening.



A high-ranking officer from the Department of Pre-University Education, said, If not today, there will definitely be a breakthrough in the talks by noon on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the newly appointed state BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa visited the lecturers and urged the chief minister to resolve the matter as soon as possible.


Opposition leader in the Legislative Assembly, Jagadish Shettar, on Wednesday accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of misuse of power and favoritism for having awarded a government contract to his son.





Addressing reporters, he said the government had given a contract to set up a superspecialty laboratory at Victoria Hospital to a company owned by Siddaramaiahs younger son Yathindra Siddaramaiah. The contract should be cancelled immediately. A high-level probe should be conducted into the issue, he added.



The BJP leader said the contract was awarded to establish a laboratory despite two laboratories already existing within 100 metres radius of the hospital. The chief minister has been issuing contradictory statements in an attempt to defend his son, he charged.



On the governments planning to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the acquittal of B S Yeddyurappa, Shettar accused the Siddaramaiah government of indulging in politics of revenge.
A 12-year-old boy fell to death from the second floor of a building in Vidyanagar, Peenya, on Tuesday.





The deceased Rikshith, a native of Madikeri, was living with his father Prabhu, a private company employee in Mysuru, while his mother worked in Yemen.



A week ago, the father and son had come to the house of Thomas, their family friend, to spend Rikshiths summer holidays.



On Tuesday, around 5.30 pm, Rikshith and other children were playing hide and seek. A blindfolded Rikshith went near the parapet, lost balance and fell down, sustaining serious head injuries.



His father and others who heard a thud, found Rikshith lying in a pool of blood and rushed him to a private hospital.



But the boy was declared brought dead by doctors, police said.



A case of unnatural death has been registered at the Peenya police station.


Burglars broke into a house in Jayanagar 4th T Block, south Bengaluru, after strangling the security guard on Tuesday night.





The jurisdictional Tilak Nagar police identified the victim as Puttachanne Gowda, 70.

The incident took place when the members of M V Kamaths family were away in Mumbai. Kamath is a retired general manager of Canara Bank. The family had left Bengaluru eight days ago, said the police.



On Tuesday, around 11 pm, the assailants barged into the compound of the house and overpowered Gowda. They strangled him and snatched the house keys which were in his possession.



Ransacked

They gained access to the house through the rear door and ransacked it before taking away valuables, said the police.



The incident came to light on Wednesday morning when the neighbours tried to call Gowda to give him breakfast. As there was no response, they went and checked on him and found him dead.



They alerted the police who examined the place and found the rear door open. When they entered the house, they found it ransacked.



Gowdas body was shifted for post-mortem.



The police also informed Kamath about the burglary and the murder of the security guard.



Kamath is on his way to Bengaluru. It is only after he returns that we can check what items are missing



from the house. The CCTV footage is being gathered to obtain clues about the assailants, said a senior police officer.


N Ashitha and Shakeel Ahmed, whose prospective love-cum-arranged marriage has got the goat of Hindu right-wing outfits in Mandya, have appealed to people to allow them to get married peacefully.





Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, Ashitha refuted the allegation of Love Jihad made by some pro-Hindu organisations. She urged the people not to disrespect her 12-year-long relationship with Shakeel and said she had the right to choose her life partner.



Workers of the BJP and Bajrang Dal had protested outside her house in Mandya on Tuesday. Ashitha said some people even barged into her house and created tension.

On Wednesday, the family got some support too. Some organisations have extended support and we are feeling better. There is no pressure by Shakeels family. Both the families have consented to the marriage, she said.



Shakeel said love had no caste or religion. There is no confusion in our families. Its difficult to understand the real motive of those who are opposing our marriage, he said.



Meanwhile, Ashithas father Dr Narendra Babu said he was getting threat calls. Speaking to reporters, he said a man claiming to be calling from Dubai warned him that if the marriage was not cancelled, either Ashitha or Shakeel would be bumped off. Another man, who identified himself as Avinash Joshi, offered to personally counsel the couple against the marriage.



Narendra Babu said he had reported the threat calls to Diwakar, deputy director, Department of Women and Child Development, who has assured to take the necessary action. Our daughters happiness is all that matters. Our thanks to all those who support us, he said.



K S Vimala, state president of Akhila Bharata Janawadi Mahila Sanghatane, a womens rights organisation, called on the families of Ashitha and Shakeel and said those opposing the marriage were violating the fundamental rights of people. She called for legal action against these elements and said such incidents were on the rise after the BJP came to power at the Centre. She said the sugar town of Mandya would not turn into a bitter town.



The Mandya East police have booked 10 workers of the BJP and Bajrang Dal for protesting outside Ashithas house. Policemen are guarding the houses of Ashitha and Shakeel.


Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday reiterated that he would reshuffle his council of ministers by this month end, rekindling hopes of party MLAs who are aspiring to be ministers.





Speaking to reporters at his official residence Cauvery, he said he has discussed about the reshuffle with AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Digvijaya Singh. The reshuffle will be done by the end of this month, he added.



Many Congress MLAs, who met Singh earlier in the day at Kumara Krupa Guest House, were disappointed as the Congress leaders indicated that the reshuffle was not likely to happen till May-end. Singh was in Bengaluru to attend a seminar organised by the KPCC on B R Ambedkar.



Not appropriate



Sources in the Congress said Singh told the MLAs that it would not be appropriate for the party to undertake the reshuffle exercise when the state is reeling under drought. Moreover, the party leadership is currently busy in the Assembly elections to five states.



The elections are scheduled to conclude in the third week of May. R V Devaraj, Dr A B Maalakaraddy, S T Somashekar and Munirathna were among over a dozen MLAs who met Singh at Kumara Krupa guest house.



The MLAs had recently submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, urging him to reshuffle the council of ministers. They demanded that at least 25 non-performing ministers should be dropped.



Siddaramaiah was scheduled to visit Delhi on April 15 and 16 to discuss the reshuffle with the party high command. But he later cancelled his Delhi visit and, instead, chalked out a plan to tour the drought-hit areas of the state.



CMs discretion



On seeking his reaction on the demand for reshuffle, Singh told reporters that the reshuffle is left to the discretion of the chief minister.



Whether to reshuffle or not is left to the chief minister's discretion. He will take an appropriate decision at the right time, he added.



The Congress leader ruled out the possibility of leadership change in the state, saying that the question does not arise.
The Home Department appears to have no plan to keep tabs on foreigners overstaying and illegally residing in Karnataka, though they are found involved in increasing number of crimes.





There is no proper system to track foreigners and their activities, which many senior police officers see as a potential threat to the Karnatakas security.



The biggest stumbling block is the lack of co-ordination among the security and intelligence agencies. A foreigner must register with the jurisdictional Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) within 14 days of their arrival if their visa is valid for more than 180 days. The FRRO should maintain data of the foreigners. The Intelligence Bureau, the state and city intelligence agencies should monitor their activities.



A senior police officer, who headed a team to compile the data on foreigners in Bengaluru, said the lack of co-ordination among the agencies led to foreigners involvement in serious crimes being ignored.



The local police act on the input given by these agencies but the latter care little to provide the data. The Bengaluru police decided to compile the data on foreigners following frequent clashes between local residents and nationals of African countries in the eastern outskirts of the city last year.



Many foreigners fail to produce passport and other documents when demanded. They are involved in online cheating, fraud, prostitution and buying vehicles without documents. Those who overstay or stay illegally keep changing their residence, making it difficult for the local police to trace them, a senior police officer said. These are the issues that the local police alone cannot solve.



No monitoring

He regretted that no agency  FRRO, IB, state or city intelligence unit  was monitoring the overstaying and illegally staying foreigners. The city police face a challenge whenever they come across overstaying foreigners committing crimes, he said. A former Inspector General of Police said some foreigners committed all kinds of crimes, including terrorism. The agencies which should monitor them indulge in blame-game instead and help the foreigners go scot-free, he said.



A retired Director General and Inspector of Police has stressed the need for an independent system with men, machinery and finance to keep tabs on foreigners. Its a tedious job and demands an independent functioning style, he said.


The Indian Air Force (IAF) has claimed that land mafia and anti-social elements have grabbed nine acres of land belonging to the Air Force Station, Jalahalli, and named it Siddarthanagar.





These actions, the IAF claims, have been condoned in the past by the state authorities. Subsequently, IAF surrendered the land on a mutual agreement. The present issue is the case of alleged illegal trespassing on IAF land and an attempt by anti-social elements to prevent IAF in carrying out authorised training tasks within its allotted premises, IAF has claimed.



The IAF operated entirely within its premises. The land mafia elements who are interested in grabbing defence land have attempted to disturb the construction of a boundary wall authorised by the Govt of India. Post the Pathankot incident, all IAF stations have been instructed to tighten the physical security by constructing boundary walls to avoid any trespass by anti-national elements and terrorists, a Ministry of Defence (MoD) statement said.



To resolve the issue, assistance from civil police was also sought. The civil police are in agreement with the IAF viewpoint. The local MLA of the constituency was also contacted but the construction of the boundary wall could not be executed. The incident has been investigated by a high level team of the IAF. However, all the allegations made against the IAF have been found baseless and devoid of truth. The allegations of blocking Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee Road by the IAF is absolutely baseless with an intention to mislead the general public and the state authorities, the MoD has said.


Farmers across eight states will be able to sell 25 farm products online from Thursday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveils the electronic National Agriculture Market (eNAM) here.



As part of the pilot project, the eNAM will link 21 wholesale markets across eight states and would enable farmers get better price for their produce.



In Karnataka, where APMC markets have already been linked, farmers are getting upto 30% better price than the physical markets, Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh told reporters here. The government plans to link 585 wholesale markets across the country by March 2018, as a part of its efforts to help farmers double their income by 2022.



Though the plans were to enable farmers trade across states, the pilot project entails only intra-state trading.



The eNAM project is modelled on the Karnataka initiative which saw the linking of 55 wholesale markets with traders getting a single licence to trade across the state unlike the previous rules where licences were issued for every wholesale market. eNAM will help end cartelisation of traders and enable farmers get better rates for their produce, a senior official said.



To begin with 25 commodities such as onion, potato, apple, wheat, pulses, coarse grains, cotton, jowar, red chilli, tamrind, among others, have been identified for online trading. Simultaneously, the e-trading portal will be inaugurated at 21 wholesale mandis in eight statesUttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh.




In a rare bureaucrat deployment, the Centre will dispatch its officers to 300 districts, including Bengaluru Rural and Hassan in Karnataka, for ten days from April 14 to gauge its farm initiatives.





The feedback would be used to finetune the Centres agriculture policy. The Panchayati Raj ministry is anchoring the government programme for officers to visit gram panchayats, which coincides with Gram Uday se Bharat Uday village self governance campaign to celebrate B R Ambedkars 125th birth anniversary on April 14 and and culminates on Panchayati Raj Day on April 24. The programme is being implemented with the assistance of states and union territories.



The 300 officers of the rank of directors and deputy secretaries drawn from various ministries of home affairs, food processing, health and family welfare, earth sciences, information and broadcasting, will fan out in various districts of 26 states and union territories, including Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, to interact with village panchayat functionaries and farmers on welfare schemes and rural distress.



Among the districts identified include, Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru Urban and Hassan in Karnataka, Naxal infested Dantewada and Bastar in Chhattisgarh, Rajauri and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and Allahabad, Gaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar and Lucknow.
In her first visit to New Delhi as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior ministers to push for fast-tracking Rs 80,000 crore state development projects among other issues.





She also urged the Prime Minister to consider inclusion of Srinagar and Jammu as Smart Cities in the Smart Cities Mission, sources said.



Mehbooba also met union minister Venkaiah Naidu over the Smart City issue, who assured her that the matter was under consideration.



The Centre has also appointed Finance Secretary Ratan Wattal as the liaison officer with Jammu and Kashmir to ensure faster flow of funds to the state for smooth implementation of Prime Minister's development package. Mehbooba had met Jaitley on Tuesday to urge for the creation of a separate window for Prime Ministers Development Package.



The Prime Minister had announced a package of Rs 80,000 crore for the development of Jammu and Kashmir, more than half of which is for the construction of road and highway projects.



This includes construction of Zojila tunnel, semi-ring roads in Jammu and Srinagar; projects under Bharat Mala for better connectivity and upgradation of important highways and other projects in the state.


Despite assurances by state and central governments to address their grievances, about 1,500 outstation students have vacated their hostel rooms in National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar and left for their homes.





Out of total around 2,000 outstation students at the NIT, 1,500 had submitted their details for going to their homes. Most of them, including girls, have vacated the campus over the past three days and left for their homes in different states of the country, an official at the prestigious engineering college told Deccan Herald.



He said some parents wanted their wards to be sent home after which they were allowed to move, adding still a few hundred non-local students are staying on the campus. The NIT board held a meeting on Monday after which an email ID was created asking students to send their consent before leaving.



While the exams at the NIT started from Monday amid unprecedented security arrangements, most of the outstation students did not appear. The Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) has provided an option to the students to write the ongoing exams at a later date.



Reports said after 1,500 outstation students left the NIT campus, authorities have decreased the presence of CRPF personnel. Public Relations Officer, CRPF, Ashish Jha said now only women paramilitary personnel are deployed on the campus while rest have been withdrawn.



They (students) are our own children. India is a diverse nation with different cultures and religion living together in harmony and the situation is same in our colleges. An issue crept earlier in Hyderabad, JNU and now in NIT, so it is not like something completely new is happening, she said.



NIT-Srinagar, which has around 2,000 non-local students, has been on the boil since March 31, when outstation students clashed with their Kashmiri counterparts, who werecelebrating Indias loss against West Indies.


India has asked Pakistan to immediately send back the mortal remains of Indian national Kirpal Singh, who recently died in a jail in the neighbouring country.





Though Islamabad conveyed to New Delhi that Kirpal Singh died at a jail in Lahore in Pakistan due to a heart attack, India on Wednesday asked the neighbouring country to share more details about the circumstances of his death.



External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that Kirpals death in a jail in Pakistan should be investigated. She said the India would conduct a post mortem on his body after it was brought home from Pakistan.



It is being said from the other side that Kirpal died of heart attack, we would want it to be investigated during post mortem, said Swaraj. She made the remark after Kirpals sister Jagir Kaur and other members of the family met her in New Delhi on Wednesday.



Kirpal, who originally hailed from Gurdaspur in Punjab, died at the Kot Lakhpat jail in Pakistan, after languishing in the prison for almost 25 years. He was arrested after straying into Pakistan inadvertently in 1992 and was subsequently accused of being involved with a series of bomb-blasts in Punjab province of the neighbouring country.



He died in jail on Monday.



We want it to be investigated if Kirpal really died of heart attack, said External Affairs Minister. She was obviously referring to the killing of Indian national Sarabjit Singh in the same jail in Pakistan in May 2013. Sarabjit had been on death row in Pakistan since 1991 for being involved in a series of bomb blasts that killed 14 people at Lahore and Multan back in 1990. He was assaulted inside the jail by some other inmates and was fatally injured. He was declared dead later.



Indias acting High Commissioner in Pakistan, J P Singh, met Muhammad Faisal, Director General (South Asia) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Pakistan government, in Islamabad on Wednesday.




Amid shutdown and restrictions, a youth was killed after being hit by a teargas shell fired by forces in north Kashmirs Kupwara district during protests on Wednesday. The incident takes the death toll to four in less than 24 hours.





Witnesses said that Jahangir Ahmad Wani, son of Ghulam Din, resident of Drugmulla, Kupwara, died after being hit by a shell in the head.



Kupwara district and parts of the Valley have witnessed a number of clashes since Tuesday afternoon over the molestation bid and killing of two youths and a woman in army firing on Tuesday.



On Tuesday, the Army shot dead Muhammad Iqbal and Nayeem Bhat, while several others were injured in north Kashmirs Handwara town after protests erupted over molestation of a schoolgirl by a soldier there. A woman Raja Begum, 54, who was injured in the clash succumbed to her injuries at SKIMS hospital in Srinagar on Wednesday morning.



The killings set off violent protests prompting authorities to impose curfew-like restrictions in parts of Srinagar, Handwara and other volatiles areas of north Kashmir on Wednesday to thwart any protest demonstrations against the killings.

The call for shutdown was issued by both factions of Hurriyat Conference and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).



In old city Srinagar, hundreds of police and paramilitary CRPF personnel were deployed in strength to prevent people from staging protests. Normal life came to a halt in uptown areas of the city.




Around 500 outstation students from the NIT, Srinagar, on Wednesday landed in Delhi to press for being shifted out of the valley to any other institute, citing threat to their lives.





A delegation of students met top officials of HRD ministry for about an hour while rest of the students agitated at Jantar Mantar. Talking to Deccan Herald, the students said the latest incident of police caning on the campus was a culmination of the series of persecutions that the NIT students faced at the hands of Kashmiri students for the last many years.





We will not go back from here until Ministry shifts us from Srinagar to any other NIT in the country. We are not safe at all. Government must understand our concern, one of the students said, refusing to disclose his name.



Another student showed several messages posted on twitter recently in which they were threatened with death if they came out of the campus. In one such tweet threatening to kill an outstation student, one Sayed Rouhan Mubarik had even tagged HRD Minister Smriti Irani.



The Kashmiri students with the help of locals have been persecuting outstation students for many years but no one ever comes to know because the institute blacks it out. Tension pervades the campus. You ask any alumni, they will tell you, a student said.



The director of the institute does not have any say as the faculty and staff are Kashmiri.








WASHINGTON  For nearly a month, the campaign Twitter account of U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner sat silent; his last message before Monday was a March 15 tribute to Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican whom Gardner backed for president.

But Gardner quickly made up for lost time.

In a series of nine messages posted Monday night, the Colorado Republican condemned Donald Trump for criticizing the way the state GOP picks its national delegates, a process that left Trump with zero delegates to the 34 collected by his main rival, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

Ive attended CO GOP conventions for years. It requires organization & attn to grassroots to win. Cruz had it. Trump didnt. End of story, Gardner wrote.

The jab, which he repeated Tuesday in a brief interview with The Denver Post, represents the harshest rhetoric to date that Gardner has used to attack Trump, who until recently was riding a wave of support in early primary states.

Asked why he chose now to speak out, Gardner said it was because of the criticism Trump recently levied against Colorados caucus process; on Sunday night Trump tweeted that the people of Colorado had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians.

Said Gardner: I got tired of watching Donald Trump besmirch the thousands and thousands and thousands of Colorado Republicans who participated in the caucus process.

But he again stopped short of saying whether he would decline to back Trump if he is the eventual nominee.

Any nominee has to earn my support, said Gardner, who quickly added that Trump was going backward in terms of earning that support.

Gardner, however, wouldnt commit to Cruz either  although in an earlier interview he said the results in Colorado at the convention would weigh heavily on his decision. I think thats an important part of it, he said.

As for the race itself, Gardner said its still a toss-up.

Anybody who says they can predict whats going to happen is probably enjoying some homegrown Colorado products, Gardner said.
The Denver Civil Service Commission has ruled that police Officer Choice Johnson deserves a 30-day suspension for shoving a man attending his brothers bachelor party in July 2014 at a LoDo bar.

In letter released Tuesday morning, the commission wrote that Johnson had violated the Denver Police Departments use-of-force policy by using an Israeli martial arts technique on a man who showed no signs of aggression.

Johnson simply attacked Brandon Schreiber, the letter said.

Johnson, who has been a Denver police officer since 2003, originally was given a 30-day suspension, but a hearing officer overturned that punishment in August after Johnson appealed.

The Civil Service Commission disagreed with the hearing officer, Terry Tomsick, and the commission took her to task in its letter, occasionally using feisty language to make its point.

Since the shoving, Schreiber has filed a federal lawsuit against Johnson and the Denver Police Department.

Schreiber was attending his brothers bachelor party July 26, 2014, when his brother, Matthew Schreiber, fell asleep at the 1Up Bar. Bouncers kicked Matthew Schreiber out of the bar, but once outside he tried to get readmitted.

Johnson, who was working security at the bar and wearing his Denver police uniform, handcuffed Matthew Schreiber and called for transportation to take him to the citys detox unit.

But Brandon Schreiber protested Johnsons decision and argued with the officer outside the bar. He wanted to take his brother home.

Video footage from outside the bar showed Brandon Schreiber standing with his hands at his side when Johnson stepped toward him, put his hands on the mans shoulders and pushed him backward.

Tomsick, the hearing officer, had ruled that Johnson used an appropriate amount of force.

But the commission said Tomsicks decision would have rewritten the Denver Police Departments use-of-force policy if her ruling had stood.

Tomsick used case law that sets standards for use of force in deadly and nondeadly instances. But the police department is not limited by the case law, the commission said.

Instead, The department is free to create a use of force policy that goes beyond the floor set by case law establishing constitutional violations, the commission wrote in its letter.

The commissions letter also criticized Tomsick for allowing the 1Up bouncer to testify as a trained bouncer.

The hearing officer did not indicate what school of bouncing (he) graduated from, his class rank, or what the curriculum at the bouncing school entailed; causing us to question whether he was truly qualified, as a bouncer, to offer expert testimony in a police disciplinary matter, a footnote in the letter said.

Another footnote in the letter poked at Tomsick for saying Johnson had executed perfectly a Krav Maga move.

It does not matter that Officer Johnson might have employed his Krav Maga take-down of Brandon with sufficient alacrity and precision to qualify for a first ballot election to the Krav Maga Hall of Fame, the footnote said.

Rather, Johnson never should have used force.

Schreibers lawsuit against Johnson cited 18 prior complaints of excessive force against the officer to establish a pattern with Johnson and the police department.

Johnson had never been disciplined for excessive force prior to the July 2014 incident but had been in trouble for failing to report use of force on more than one occasion, the lawsuit said.

Johnson is a patrolman in District 2, which covers Northeast Denver. He is restricted from working off-duty security assignments in bar settings, said Doug Schepman, a Denver police spokesman.

If Johnson chooses to appeal the latest decision, the case would move into the court system.
By Chris Mooney

11 April 2016 (Washington Post)  In 11 days, on Earth Day, world leaders will assemble at the United Nations in New York to sign the Paris climate agreement. That document pledges to hold the planets warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and even to aspire to a 1.5 degree C temperature limit. The urgency of signing the agreement has been underscored by recent climate news and events, including devastating coral bleaching around the world, newly shattered temperature records and disturbing news about the vulnerability of Arctic permafrost and the Antarctic ice sheet. But theres a problem: It is far from clear that, even if governments sign on to the Paris agreement and start implementing it rapidly, they actually know how to limit warming to 2 or 1.5 degrees Celsius. There are a number of problems with thinking that anyone does, argues Glen Peters, a researcher with the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo, Norway, in the latest installment of Nature Climate Change. 1. Knowing when we cross the threshold. The first problem is simply with knowing when the world is actually 1.5 degrees C or 2 degrees C above a pre-industrial baseline temperature, often taken to be the average between the years 1850 and 1900 (though this, too, is disputed). Indeed, some have noted that we breached the 1.5 degree threshold in February of 2016, albeit only for the space of a single month (which probably isnt what scientists have in mind when they think of truly crossing a climate threshold). The problem is both that it will be hard to define where the actual threshold lies, and also hard to be sure when weve crossed it, given differing baselines and periods of analysis, and the fact that temperatures will always fluctuate up and down. And theres an even bigger problem, which involves so-called overshoot scenarios in which the world emits too much and presumably warms up more than 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius, but then starts to mass-produce negative emissions technologies that pull some carbon dioxide back out of the air again. If this happens, we also will not know, for some time, how long it will actually take to get back to 1.5 or 2 degrees C, moving in the opposite direction, once weve overshot. It may not be known for many decades if 1.5C/2C has been exceeded or successfully avoided, Peters notes. [more]
11 April 2016 (UN)  The United Nations refugee agency today expressed concern about yesterdays violence at the border between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia near Eidomeni and the extensive scenes of teargas in use. Spokesperson Adrian Edwards of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) described the development as a matter of great worry to the agency, stressing that it should be such a matter to all who are concerned with Europes response to the situation of refugees and migrants. Time and again in recent months we have seen tension unfolding at various European borders, between security forces on the one hand and people fleeing war and in need of help on the other, he said. People get hurt and property is damaged. Harm is done to perceptions of refugees and to Europes image alike. Everyone loses. In recent days, media and public attention has focused on how the European Union-Turkey agreement is being implemented in the Aegean islands and in Turkey. We should not forget the many other refugees and migrants who continue to be affected by the situation, especially the nearly 46,000 on the Greek mainland who arrived before the agreement took effect, he said. At Eidomeni, about 11,000 have been sleeping for many weeks now in the open in dismal conditions, fuelling hopelessness and despair, he added. UNHCR is ready to support the voluntary transfer of people to sites to be put in place by the Greek Government, including with the necessary services while registration and processing is taking place. This is urgent, he said. In the meantime, in Eidomeni, UNHCR together with the Greek Government, Greek non-governmental organizations, and other partners are providing food, medical support, help for persons with specific needs, and prevention and response to sexual and gender based violence. A wider solution, namely to relocate those who may qualify for international protection to other European States, has been agreed for many months. It needs action, the spokesperson said. Violence is wrong whatever the circumstances, he stressed, expressing hope that Europe will take the necessary steps now, as UNHCR stands ready to help Governments further in fulfilling their obligations to refugees.
China Telecom has appointed its interim chairman and CEO Yang Jie to the chairman role on a permanent basis.

Yang Jie assumed the role of acting chairman and CEO following the resignation of the positions previous occupant, Chang Xiaobing, who was arrested on suspicion of severe disciplinary violations. Chang joined China Telecom in August 2015 after ten years leading China Unicom. The alleged transgressions are believed to have occurred during this period.

Prior to this new appointment, Yang Jie held the position of president and COO at China Telecom. In addition to chairman, he will also hold the title of party committee chief. The operator has not stated whether Yang will retain his interim role as CEO or if the permanent position will be filled by another candidate.

The operator has also appointed Yang Xiaowei to the position of director and general manager. He will also take on the position of deputy chief of party committee. Prior to this appointment, he was an executive director and EVP.

China Telecom is the countrys number three player, taking a 15% share of the market. Over the past five quarters, the group has gained almost 16 million new mobile connections as well as increasing its 4G user base tenfold to 70 million, overtaking China Unicoms 60 million 4G connections but still significantly trailing market leader China Mobiles 365 million.
Bharti Airtel subsidiary AMSL (Airtel M Commerce Services Limited) has received a payments bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

It is the first firm in the country to be granted a full banking licence after the RBI provisionally approved eleven companies to provide banking services in August 2015. Now that its initial approval has been upgraded to a full licence, AMSL will be able to offer mobile banking services to Indias unbanked population, which numbers in the millions.

Companies that hold a payments licence are able to hold deposits and make transfer payments for customers, but they are not permitted to make loans. Despite this, AMSL and other prospective licence holders are expected to target small businesses and relatively low earners such as farmers and migrant workers.

The list of firms granted initial approval for a payments licence includes major players in India, among them the parent company of Idea Cellular, Aditya Birla Nuvo; Vodafone M-Pesa; and Reliance Industries, the owner of disruptive newcomer Reliance Jio Infocomm which is currently preparing to roll out pan-Indian 4G. With the three largest players and a key market entrant looking to obtain payments licences, the concept looks set to gain traction in India.

Airtels partner in the banking sector is Kotak Mahindra Bank, which in February took control of a 20% stake in AMSL. Obtaining a payments licence will enable the operator to bolster its Airtel Money service by acting more as a traditional bank.
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by Kathleen Gilbert BEIJING, September 7, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com)  Escaped Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is leading international opponents of forced abortion in calling upon the worlds largest company to end compliance with the Chinas one-child policy. Family planning police have targeted employees (569)

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Church Militant, we need to band together to protect our religious liberties and win the culture war!
Candidates in the next Scottish Parliament election are being asked to increase funding for type 1 diabetes research.

The 2016 Scottish Parliament election will be held on 5 May 2016 and type 1 diabetes charity JDRF is asking prospective Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) to pledge to increase funding for the condition.

29,000 people are living with type 1 diabetes Scotland and the country has the third highest prevalence of type 1 diabetes in the world. Increased research funding would help to improve the lives of people living with type 1 diabetes in Scotland as well as looking for new ways to prevent, or even cure, the condition.

Peter Jones, from JDRF Scotland, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes aged 37, told Herald Scotland: In Scotland, great research projects are being undertaken in Glasgow and Dundee, but with such a wealth of expertise in the life science and biotech sectors, I would like to see more.

The Scottish Diabetes Research Network (SDRN) Type 1 Diabetes Bioresource led by Prof Helen Colhoun is one of Scotlands diabetes research projects currently running. The project includes DNA and other biomarkers of 10,000 patients with type 1 diabetes to investigate and understand causes of type 1 diabetes.

An increase in research funding would help Scotland to fund more projects and keep existing projects going.
Supercomputers are using their high computational speeds and efficiency to help many sectors in our country, such as scientific research, weather forecasting, missile simulation, understanding the creation of the universe, creating life-saving pharmaceutical drugs and much more. Now, what really makes a Supercomputer super is a concept called parallel computing.

Lets take an example of painting a rainbow on a wall: serial processing is like a single man painting one colour at a time, and the time taken will depend on the speed at which the person draws each colour. Now, in a parallel processing system, with, say, seven people available to paint the rainbow, each person paints one colour, and the time taken is much less. Basically, parallel processing involves the breaking up of tasks into smaller tasks that can be processed in parallel. The end result is obtained by combining outputs from each processor.



An old supercomputer from the 1960s

What a Supercomputer does?

Any gamer knows that adding a faster CPU, GPU and RAM means a better gaming experience, but there are limits to how well a single processor can handle loads. A supercomputer consists of an array of processors and GPUs stacked together to perform high computational tasks. These stacked processors are capable of very fast parallel processing. However, parallel computing does have some drawbacks, as combining outputs from thousands of processor requires sophisticated protocols that can arrange these thousands of outputs in the correct order. Some Supercomputers are not located in a single room, and are actually a collection of smaller supercomputers that are spread across large geographical distances. Weather forecasting needs such a setup.

A supercomputer can be built by stacking computer processors in a giant box and interconnecting them to work on a complex task through parallel processing. Such an arrangement is called a Cluster supercomputer. Here, each individual computer in the cluster is called a node. Another type is Grid supercomputers, where the processors are stacked in pretty much the same way as they are for a Cluster setup, but in this case can be located across the globe and connected via WANs or the internet.

Supercomputers in India

India is home to some of the top supercomputers in the world. We use supercomputers to conduct various scientific research, make meteorological predictions, for aerodynamic modelling, bioinformatics, and also simulating nuclear missile tests. Unlike regular computers, where you measure performance in GHz, supercomputers are measured based on how many FLOPS (floating point operations per second) they are capable of. Think of a Flop as a way to calculate a number to a decimal place.

Top 5 supercomputers in India

India has 11 of the top 500 supercomputer in the world. Here are the top 5 of those mammoth supercomputers that serve our nation.

SahasraT (Cray XC40)

SahasraT supercomputer is located at Supercomputer Education and Research Centre (SERC) facility at Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. SERC is Indias state-of-the-art research facility for high-performance computing in the field of science and engineering. This system bagged 96th position in the Top500 list of top 500 supercomputers in the world.



Indias fastest supercomputer

Specs:

SahasraT (CRAY XC40) is the product of Cray Inc. an American supercomputer manufacturer. Cray XC40 is a product from OEM Cray. This Supercomputer consist of Intel Haswell Xeon E5-2680v3 processors, NVIDIA K40 GPU accelerators and Intel Xeon Phi 5120D coprocessors and whopping storage of 2.1 PB (1015 bytes). There are around 1500 processors and coprocessors and 44 GPUs to handle complex tasks in the system. The System implements Cray Aries interconnect routing using DragonFly topology. Crays Linux environment is used as the OS for the system. SahasraT has been rated to 901.54 TFLOPS, which the highest rating amongst all supercomputers in India.

SaharasT provides service to our nation in the fields of aerospace engineering, meteorology predictions and astrological simulations. Also SaharasT is used for molecular and material research and mapping entire climate condition of the particular region via simulation. Overlapping of supernovae was simulated by the SahasraT system.

Your PC vs. Indias fastest supercomputer Lets see how your PC, laptop or phone matches up to Indias fastest supercomputer. Here, we tell you how many of a device youd need to equal the SahasraT (specs of the SahasraT in brackets). THe devices weve chosen are the Nexus 6P, Asus G751J-DB7 (G-Sync) laptop, and an assembled ultra high-end gaming rig: Core Count (33,024 cores) 4128 x Nexus 6P

8256 x ASUS G-Sync laptop

8256 x Ultra High-end Gaming RIG RAM (5600 GB) 1866 x Nexus 6P

233 x ASUS G-Sync laptop

350 x Ultra High-end Gaming RIG Storage (2.1 PB) 31,250 x Nexus 6P

1773 x ASUS G-Sync laptop

1593 x Ultra High-end Gaming RIG Graphics Memory 132 x ASUS G-Sync laptop

88 x Ultra High-end Gaming RIG

Aaditya (IBM/Lenovo System)

Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology Pune, is the Indias finest meteorological department which uses IBM X system supercomputer for research and development. System is called as Aaditya which is manufactured by IBM. This system is ranked at 116th position in Top500 list.



The Aaditya supercomputer in Pune

Specs:

This system has Intel Xeon Haswell E5-2670 2.6 GHZ processors and total RAM storage of 15TB. There are 2384 compute nodes in the system. The System is rated with a speed of 719.2 TFLOPS. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is used as the operating system environment. Nodes are connected through infiniband interconnect technology.

This supercomputer helps the institute to operate and provide accurate data regarding the Nations weather conditions, simulating weather models of the country, predicting rainfall cycles for the monsoon, and air quality forecasting. Most of our countrys weather forecasting is done by this system. Farmers rely on the information provided by this system on rainfall predictions and climate changes.

TIFR Colour Boson

This supercomputer is located at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research facility. This machine is also a Cray product, model name is Cray XC-30. This supercomputer is deployed at Hyderabad and the system is ranked at 145th position.



The TIFR ColourBoson

Specs:

ColourBoson consists of 4760 nodes of Intel Xeon E5-2680 processors and NVIDIA Tesla K20x GPU. Total storage of the system is 1.1 PB. Nodes are interconnected by Crays Aries interconnect routing technology with DragonFly topology. Linux environment is used as the OS for the system. The System can achieve a speed of 558.7 TFLOPS.

This system is used under Indian Lattice Gauge Theory Initiative program by the scientists of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Research and development on theoretical physics and quantum chromodynamics is carried on by the system. The theory of study of elementary particles such as quarks and gluons is called as Quantum Chromo-Dynamics (QCD). The System is used for research of quark-boson a phase of matter that holds the mystery of the creation of our universe.

Presence of mind IBMs Watson supercomputer was built to develop natural responses to answering questions based on the quiz from the show Jeopardy. To tackle the questions Watson had all of the text in encyclopedia websites such as Wikipedia stored into the memory, keywords from question were joint and correlated with the content stored on the computer. Apart from winning popular TV quiz shows, Watsons cognitive capabilities proved beneficial in many fields. Super Chef Watson

Watson analysed thousands of recipes and created a statistical map of various combination of ingredients, chemical compositions of the ingredients and figuring out new recipes from this data. Watson created 65 new recipes of its own which are available in the book called Cognitive Cooking with Chef Watson.

IIT Delhi HPC

IIT Delhi has one of the fastest supercomputer in their campus. This system is a GPU centric high-performance system and is one of the fewest in the world. NVIDIA experts worked with IIT Delhi team to built this system that is based on GPU Tesla Platform. IITDs system is ranked at 166th position in the top 500 list.



IIT Delhi's supercomputer is the fourth fastest in India

Specs:

System specification ae HP ProLiant XL230a server & HP ProLiant XL250a Gen9 server with NVIDIA K40M GPU cards. Total storage of the system is 1.5 PB. For network connections Infiniband interconnect technology is used. There are in total 322 NVIDIA Tesla K40M GPU cards in the system. System performance is rated at 524.4 TFLOPS. CUDA and OpenACC are preferred programming platforms for the system.

This supercomputer is under the use of researchers in fields of biology, nano systems, atmospheric science and bioinformatics. System provides services across the IIT campus for study and research in the field of Data Analytics , Deep Learning, Computational Physics, Chemistry, Computational Fluid Dynamics and Material Science.

Param Yuva 2

Param Yuva 2 is the supercomputer located at Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in Pune. The System is developed by Intel as OEM and system integrator is NetWeb technologies. Param Yuva 2 is ranked 251st in the world.



CDACs Param Yuva-2

Specs:

Param Yuva 2 has 221 Intel Xeon E5-2670 nodes that also consist of Intel Xeon Phi 5110P, with Linux 64-bit (CentOS 6.2) and a total storage of 200TB. The System is rated at 388.44 TFLOPS. There are in all 3536 CPU cores and 26520 coprocessor cores. The system is interconnected with Mellanox FDR Infiniband primary interconnect for interconnection of nodes.

Param Yuva 2 provides service in fields of bioinformatics, space, weather forecasting, seismic data analysis, aerospace engineering, scientific research and pharmaceutical development. The system can also be interconnected with Indian Institute of Technology and National Institute of Technology via National Knowledge Network, which is a multi-gigabit backbone network for high speed data transfer between some educational institutions in India.

Homemade Supercomputer Though many supercomputing systems in the nation have been bought from abroad, from manufacturers such as Cray Inc. from America, the Param series of supercomputers are designed and assembled in India by Center of Development for Advance Computing, Pune. When the US denied the import of supercomputers to the country, CDAC was set up in 1988. C-DAC was able to build Indias first indigenously built supercomputer Param 8000 in 1991. The Param Yuva 2, CDACs latest machine, was made in under 3 months, at the cost of a mere 16 crore rupees. To connect all Param series of supercomputers across the country, PARAMnet is used, which offers 2.5 GB/s bandwidth in full-duplex mode.

What does the future hold?

India shows promise in the field of supercomputing. Were not really where we should be in terms of the global scale. We have only 11 supercomputers featured in the top 500, and only 1 in the top 100. Its obvious that we need to do better and we will. The government of India is working towards this and has initiated the National Supercomputing Mission. Under the mission, the Government of India empowers an ambitious target of installing more than 70 high-performance computing facilities in the country. These computers will be connected by the National Knowledge Network.

This new project will not only boost Scientific Research and Development, but also improve the quality of higher education in Science & Technology. We certainly hope this dream is realised. India certainly needs to get to the forefront of supercomputing, because as a growing economy and one that hopes to bring more equality and uplift people out of poverty, we desperately need improved data crunching. We need to be able to predict the weather more accurately, have early warning for natural disasters, discover new life-saving pharmaceutical drugs, design rockets, and much more...

This article was first published in the February 2016 issue of Digit magazine. To read Digit's articles in print first, subscribe here.
Facebooks F8 Developer Conference kicked-off last night at San Francisco, with more than 2600 attendees. Here, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, along with his team of developers, announced a whole host of new features that members of the billion strong social media platform will soon be able to enjoy. So, whats new and what more can you do with Facebook? Lets get right to it.

Pump Up Your Profile



After the inclusion of Feature photos and videos on the profile page, Facebook will now allow users to create personalised profile videos using third-party app integration. Currently, Facebook has kicked-off this feature in a closed beta phase with support for six apps: Boomerang by Instagram, Lollicam, BeautyPlus, Cinemagraph Pro by Flixel, Lollicam, MSQRD, and Vine.

Essentially, these profile videos will be shared on news feeds and will appear on top of the users profile. They will also include a link to download the integrated apps. So, if you make a profile video using Vine, the video will include a link for other viewers to download the Vine app.



Quotable Quotes

Facebook also announced a new quote sharing feature for developers to build upon. For Facebook users, this means that specific quotes from an app or an article can now be shared directly on Facebook by highlighting it. So, if you are reading a funny article on Buzzfeed and want to share a part of it with your friends, you will soon be able to do so. Quote sharing will be supported on iOS, Android as well as Facebooks mobile/desktop web app. Facebook is also offering a quote sharing button for web page developers, so in some cases, you may also see a see a quote sharing button on websites that implement the same.

Tag That Hashtag

Facebook has also given developers the ability to include suggested (but removable) hashtags when people share particular posts or articles from apps. These hashtags will be auto suggested to users, who will have the ability to either use them or remove them before they share.

Save It for Later!

Facebook users have had an option to save Facebook articles for later viewing since some time now. But, Facebooks new Save Button takes this ability to the next level. When implemented by developers on their apps and websites, users will be able to save any article or product from third-party apps to a private list of Facebook, which they can then share with friends. For example, a person can save an item of clothing, trip, or link that they're thinking about and go back to that list for future consumption, or get notified when that item or trip has a promotional deal. Watch the explainer video below.



And Finally...The Bots are taking over!



Chatbots are becoming increasingly popular and companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook are going big on these AI helpers. These bots are powered by artificial intelligence and aim to make achieving daily tasks simpler and faster. For example, the Dominoes bot can be integrated into any messenger service, allowing people to place their orders without the hassles of calling or using an app. Similarly, bots can provide any information ranging from weather to traffic updates, shipping notifications, receipts, etc. Facebook has announced that it will now allow third-parties to build chat bots into Facebook Messenger. Zuckerberg also demonstrated a CNN bot that could send personalised news stories to users. You can view Facebooks demo of chatbots below.



So, those were all the exciting new announcement made at Facebooks F8 Developer Conference held in San Francisco. Let us know which of these new features are you pumped about. Personally, I cant wait for the bots!.
They plan to send tiny rockets to Alpha Centauri, the neighbour star-system, in the most ambitious space exploration project ever.

In 2015, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner unveiled a $100-million plan for the search of extra-terrestrial intelligence by scanning radio and light signals. Now, Milner wants to build the Interstellar spacecraft itself.

In a joint announcement at the One World Observatory in New York City on Tuesday, Milner and Stephen Hawking unveiled Breakthrough Starshot, a $100-million research and engineering program for an interstellar voyage, also being supported by Mark Zuckerberg. The first phase involves building light-propelled nanocrafts that can travel at relativistic speeds of up to 20% the speed of light. Travelling at such speeds, the robotic spacecraft will pass Pluto in three days and will reach Alpha Centauri within 20 years after launch. "For the first time in human history, we can do more than just gaze at the stars, Milner said. We can actually reach them.

Prototypes of the technology behind this project were revealed, and includes a Starchip  a gram scale wafer carrying cameras, photon thrusters, power supply, navigation and communication equipment. Propelling this science lab would be Lightsail, a meter-sized sail that is only a few hundred atoms thick and weighs a couple of grams. This will be launched by an array of lasers rated at 100GW. By directing such massive power at the object, it can be accelerated up to 100,000,000 miles per hour, which 1000 times faster than an existing spacecraft.

Its an ambitious project, but we dont see any showstoppers or deal breakers based on fundamental principles, Avi Leob, Chair of the Harvard Center for Astrophysics and co-sponsor of Breakthrough Starshot, said at the press briefing. He also mentioned that before reaching the Alpha Centauri, a fleet of nanocraft could collect information about our solar system, perhaps flying to Saturns moon Enceladus and scanning the alien ocean for signs of life.
Volga Gas announced a management and directorate change on Wednesday, with the departure of Tony Alves as chief financial officer.

The AIM-traded oil and gas exploration and production company, operating in Russias Volga region, said the position will be assumed on Alvess departure by Vadim Son, who had been working with the group in Saratov as finance director of its operating subsidiaries since September 2015.

It confirmed Son would not be assuming a board position.

Alves, who joined Volga in January 2009, will remain on the board until the annual general meeting on 10 June.

Volga confirmed he will continue to advise the company on a consultancy basis after that.
Improved risk appetite was evident in the foreign exchange markets, with dollar/yen staging a significant bounce, rising by 0.71% to 109.32.

It was also reflected in euro/dollar, which finished the session lower by 0.95% to 1.1278.

Strength in the US dollar also weighed on the carry crosses, with the Aussie off 0.45% at 0.7650 versus the greenback and the New Zealand dollar drifting down by 0.09% to 0.6919.

The latest batch of economic data out of the States was less than stellar.

US producer prices slipped by 0.1% month-on-month in March (consensus: 0.3%). In parallel, government figures showed that retail sales volumes in the US decreased by 0.3% month-on-month after a flat reading for February (consensus: 0.1%).

However, some analysts cautioned that headline weakness in the data might be misleading.

US retail sales were distorted by the timing of this years Easter holidays, Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics said in a research note sent to clients.

As well, the latest US factory gate prices revealed that core goods prices were no longer falling, he said.

Fedspeak overnight was rather mixed, with the presidents of the regional Fed banks of Dallas and Philadelphia, Robert Kaplan and Patrick Harker, making dovish noises even as their peers at the San Francisco and Richmond Fed banks, John Williams and Jeffrey Lacker, respectively, did the opposite.

However, Mr.Lacker did balance his remarks by saying that a gradual pace of tightening is still appropriate for now.
Chinas yuan-denominated exports rose 18.7% in March compared to the same month a year ago, marking their biggest increase in over a year, according to customs data.

Yuan-denominated imports, meanwhile, fell 1.7% on the year compared with an 8% decline the previous month and giving a trade surplus of 194.6bn yuan.

In dollar terms, exports grew 11.5% to $160.8bn after dropping 25% in February, beating consensus forecasts for a 10% rise.

Dollar-denominated imports fell 13.8% to $131bn.

Still, analysts warned that the improvement was partly down to a seasonal upturn.

Despite the seemingly strong surge, we note that external demand has not improved as much as the number may suggest. The high March print was distorted by a low base last year  partly as the lunar new year holiday ran into early March last year, especially for migrant workers who often return to work a week later than normal workers, said Nomura.

Todays trade data, together with leading indicators and other March data, suggest that economic growth momentum improved in March after a weak January-February.
Shares in Mr Kipling and Oxo owner Premier Foods tumbled on Wednesday as US-based McCormick & Co. said it did not intend to make an offer for the company.

Having completed its due diligence review of Premier Foods and after careful consideration, the company concluded that it would not be able to propose a price that would be recommended by the board of Premier Foods while also delivering appropriate returns for McCormick shareholders.

At the end of March, Premier agreed to open talks with McCormick after rejecting the companys third takeover offer of 65p a share, or 537m.

Meanwhile, Japans Nissin Food lifted its stake in Premier to 19.9%, having purchased a 17.3% holding at 63p a share.

Premier said on Wednesday that it sees a strong future for as an independent company and believes the foundations have been laid for significant growth and shareholder value creation.

The board also considers that the company's longer-term prospects will be enhanced by the cooperation agreement it has signed with Nissin Foods Holdings Co., Ltd. which will expand Premier Foods' range of growth opportunities.

Premier said it plans to accelerate its growth by executing its recently-announced new strategic initiatives to leverage the company's existing capabilities, infrastructure and brand equity so as to expand into new formats, channels and markets.

At 0835 BST, Premier shares were down 28% to 40.96p.
Decker: Was corrupt ex-Columbus vice officer's sentence too light?

Former Columbus vice cop Steven Rosser mocked the Constitution and his oath to protect and serve. Is 18 months in prison really enough?
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan visited De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) as the Britain Stronger In Europe brought its campaign to the region.The Loughborough MP met with students and staff to find out how they have benefited from Britains membership of the EU through overseas study and research grants.Vice-Chancellor Professor Dominic Shellard said: This is the most important vote in a generation and DMU is committed to ensuring that eligible students are registered to cast their vote so their voice can be heard on 23 June.This is just one of a number of events we are staging to engage students in the EU Referendum debate.Professor Shellard has championed the national Universities For Europe campaign, to show the value of EU membership to UK higher education.He said: Through initiatives including #DMUglobal and Erasmus, students have enjoyed transformative experiences studying in Europe and they were able to share those with Nicky Morgan.Nicky Morgan, one of the most high-profile members of the Stronger In campaign, met with students who had benefited from studying aboard including Alice Davis, who spent a year in Finland via Erasmus.Alice, 21, an English Literature student, said: I spent a year at Oulu University in Finland. It really pushed me, it was a really challenging time but I think it has been so beneficial to me and it was a great experience. Im very keen we stay in the EU. Other people should be able to have these opportunities.The Brighter Future In battle bus was met with students supporting the Remain campaign.Ms Morgan said: It is students and young people who are going to be the generation most affected by the outcome of this vote and who have most to lose if Britain leaves the EU.Stephen Angell, First year Economics and Politics student, said: I think a lot of us, as young people, can see our future in Europe.The common market to me means access to more jobs, protecting workers rights and investing more in education. I just cannot see any benefit in leaving.Claire Marriott, First year International Relations and Politics, said: This is the first event I have been to where I have campaigned to be in the EU but I would like to do more. From a student perspective the Erasmus exchange programme is really important. I want to option to study in Europe and learn about different cultures and I think it will be good for my career.Kayleigh Beere, First year Politics student, said: I think it is so important to be part of a wider community. We should not be on our own. It is vital to have free trade (between member countries). I think it lowers the cost of living and students benefit from freedom of movement. It means we can get experience overseas and make us better candidates for jobs.
The former British Ambassador to Brazil has told students at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) that exiting the EU would leave the UK weaker.

Alan Charlton, who enjoyed a distinguished career in the Foreign Office, said, during a talk at DMU's Hugh Aston building, that the effects of the UK voting to leave Europe would lead to 'problems and uncertainty' on a wide range of issues.

In answer to a series of questions put to him by Professor Dominic Shellard, Vice-Chancellor of DMU, in front of a packed lecture theatre, Mr Charlton outlined why he felt young people should back the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign.

He said: "We are not sure how this will affect things for international students, with passport movements and those on the Erasmus project. There is so much which is uncertain but it is young people who will most feel the effects of this referendum.

"But I am concerned that many voters will wait until the final few weeks to make up their mind, and allow current affairs to sway their minds. For example, people might want to block David Cameron right now because of how he has been caught up in the Panama papers scandal. But this is nothing to do with the EU question.

"This isn't like a general election where in four years' time we can change our mind. This is for keeps."

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Mr Charlton, who was until 2013 the British Ambassador to Brazil, told the audience that while he did not think a Brexit would mean a 'dramatic collapse of national security', maintained the country was far better staying in the EU.

He said: "We cannot be stronger outside the EU in terms of our international power. A lot of countries will actually regard us as weaker if we leave.

"European countries tend to have to follow EU rules even if they are not part of the Union - I take Norway as an example, which is largely following EU policy but not getting any of the benefits, like the common market."

Taking questions from students in the audience, Mr Charlton countered the argument that by staying in the EU, Britain would be giving up its sovereignty by stating that it would be the same with membership of organisations like NATO.

He said: "The world of the future is much more influenced by global organisations. To be part of this you have to share."

He also explained the importance of UK's membership of the EU in helping maintain a positive relationship between Britain and Ireland, and the uncertain impacts a Brexit would have on university research done in collaboration with European universities and funded by the EU.

International Relations MA student Mildred Hauck - who came from Germany to study at DMU - said she agreed with many of Mr Charlton's points.

She said: "In Germany I felt a real European identity, like I was a European citizen and it feels quite different here.

"Although the effects of the UK leaving the EU are uncertain, it would certainly have been much harder for me to come and study here if Britain was not part of the EU.

"But having said that I want to hear from the Leave campaign before I make a final decision and I find it much harder to hear what they have to say - it seems everyone is in favour of staying."
The Bishop of Raphoe, Dr Philip Boyce, has thanked the people of the diocese for being so cooperative and good throughout his time as bishop as he approaches his 50th anniversary of joining the priesthood.

He was speaking ahead of the 50th anniversary which will be marked next week with a mass in St Eunan's Cathedral.

Speaking to the Donegal Democrat, he said his time in the priesthood had given him a very fulfilled and happy life.

I never regretted it. It has been a very happy and fulfilled life and I would say that to any young boy or man who feels the attraction, not to be afraid. If the Lord is calling someone to follow him, then the church needs that person.

He was ordained on April 17th 1966 and he has been reflecting on his time in the priesthood as his golden jubilee approaches.

Fifty years seems such a long time, certainly when you look forward to it. When you are ordained, you begin something in life, you never think about fifty years time. Then when you look back it seems to have gone so quickly and you just wonder where all the years went. They were filled with all kinds of good things, I hope - easy things and difficult things. There is no life that escapes it. I suppose being a priest you are in the service of the people and the service of the church and that can be very fulfilling in its own way, helping people.

He said he has experienced a great warmth in the dioceses in the recent weeks as the anniversary approaches. People have been expressing their appreciation, the fact of being with them as their bishop for 20 years. That in itself is a long time.

He was ordained Bishop of Raphoe in St Eunan's Cathedral on October 1st 1995 and the preceding 30 years he spent in a Carmelite monastery.

He entered the Carmelites in 1958 in Loughrea, Co. Galway and studied in Dublin for three years before going to Rome in 1962. He studied in Rome for four years and was ordained there.

His calling came to him quite young in life. He grew up in what he calls a traditional Catholic family. His father owned a grocery shop and the family knew a lot of priests.

A lot of priests would be around and my uncle was a priest in Glasgow and would come home every summer. So Id be used to seeing priests and serving at mass. So I suppose maybe that and the whole atmosphere at the time sowed the seed.

When he was about to go to secondary school a newly ordained priest, Fr Michael Brown, came home to the parish of Carrigart. He was a Carmelite and after a conversation with the 13-year-old, he suggested he go to study with the Carmelites.

The young Philip Boyce went to the Carmelites at Castlremartyr College, Co. Cork, for his secondary education and then joined the noviciate of the Discalced Carmelites in Loughrea.

Of course there have been many changes over the 50 years and the changes in the priesthood often come as a result of the changes in society, he says. In a more secular society there has been a falling off in the practice. People are still very good and religious in many ways but maybe there is not the same amount of practice as there was in that time and people are exposed to more difficulties and more challenges.

The falling off, saddens him, he says, but I suppose we cant lose heart.

The Lord still calls young people now with all that is going on, all the noise and the interest, everything that is being offered, with everything that is going on they just may not hear, but he does not abandon his church.

He said the position of the bishop has demanded a range of roles from him. Administering a dioceses is a challenge, there is no doubt about it and the bishop has to be everything. He has to be a spiritual father, he has to be an administrator, he has to be a pastor, he has to be so many things. You can only do your best but I have been blessed with good collaborators.

The priests have been very good and I admire them, really for all they do and their commitment. And you always get volunteers and others who help you in administering. Being a bishop is not a one-man show. You have to be helped by others.

He says the fall off in vocations has not impacted very severely on the Dioceses of Raphoe yet. We have 33 parishes and every parish has at least one priest and some would have more than one priest - two or three depending on the size of the parish.

There may be some parishes with two or three or four churches, and you can't have four people. Two priests can serve the parish just as well.

But he acknowledges the concern it can cause when numbers of priests are reduced, or one part of a parish does not have its own priest.

When you do have a priest in a place, big or small, it does help the life of the parish. People do need the presence of the priest and they do appreciate it.

It's just like taking the post office or the garda station away, it affects the people of the parish.

He said there is no indication yet of when he will retire from his position, more than a year after he tendered his resignation.

Bishop Boyce turned 76 in January having tendered his resignation last year when he turned 75 as required.

The bishop must remain in his position until a successor has been appointed. Im over a year now retired if you like, but still to keep on until we get a successor and as yet there is no sign of a successor, but someone will come.

He said that retirement will bring a relief from the stresses and travelling involved in the position.

When you get to 76 you dont have the energy and the strength and the initiatives or vision that you had when you were 56 or 66 even. Not to have to be traveling so much, not to have so many things to do and problems to solve and stress and so on, certainly that will be a relief. But as regards being a priest you are a priest forever.
The Sligo-based Coast Guard helicopter winched a Donegal fisherman to safety from heavy seas and breaking surf off Inishinny Island on Saturday, just moments before the boat he had been tied to sank.

After transporting the fisherman to Letterkenny University Hospital, the helicopter was returning to base when they received a call of two surfers in difficulty off Tullaghan in County Leitrim.

The helicopter and Bundoran RNLI rescued the surfers. Neither surfer needed medical assistance.

The fisherman, who was treated for hypothermia, was reported to be up and alert in hospital yesterday.

The Coast Guard received the 999 call about the fisherman shortly before 6pm on Saturday. The Coast Guard helicopter, Bunbeg Coast Guard and Arranmore Island RNLI were called to respond.

The Arranmore lifeboat was first to reach the location but was unable to reach the fisherman because of 20-foot swells breaking on the reef. The helicopter was on the scene at about 6.20pm and discovered there was a rope wrapped several times around the fisherman that was attached to the boat.

Manus Patten, Coast Guard station officer at Malin Head, said the fisherman was wearing a lifejacket and had his hand on a life ring, but was unable to release himself from the ropes.

Negotiating the stormy surf, the Coast Guard winchman was able to get a strap on the fisherman and cut the rope that bound him to the boat, just moments before the boat sank, Station Officer Patten said.

He was that close, he said. The fisherman was lifted from the water shortly after 6.30pm and transported to hospital, with the Coast Guard requesting a resuscitation team at the hospital landing pad because of the fishermans critical state. Water temperature at the time was about 7 degrees Celsius, Arranmore RNLI reported.

Nora Flanagan, Arranmore RNLI spokesperson, and Station Officer Patten credited the winchman with his quick work. Describing the winchman as swinging at the end of the rope in the wind and surf, the station officer said, He could see the danger of what was in front of him, adding, The urgency of it was going through his mind.

He said, Fair play to everyone involved.

Our photo show the scene on Sunday as one of two surfers is winched aboard the rescue helicopter at Bundoran. Photo Marc Kelly
dpa ElectionsData

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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.
Dundalk Institute of Technologys Regional Development Centre (RDC have finalised a five-year contract with Enterprise Ireland that will see them continue to roll out EIs national entrepreneur development programme, New Frontiers, in the North East which will be delivered in collaboration with Invent DCU.

The contract is worth approximately 2m in direct and indirect funding and supports to entrepreneurs. The New Frontiers Programme (newfrontiers.ie) will support over 65 start-ups and is expected to create upwards of 300 new jobs in the Region.

Each participant accepted on to the New Frontiers programme receives 15,000 in financial support as well as training, business mentorship and access to DkITs and DCUs innovation ecosystems.

The announcement was made by Ann Campbell, President of DkIT, as applications for Phase 2 of the programme were opened.

13 entrepreneurs will be selected and supported for a six month period as they concentrate on the development of their businesses full time and preparing for investment.

The programme supports entrepreneurs from a wide range of sectors, including ICT, software development, fintech, agritech, food, energy, engineering, ecommerce and digital media.

DkITs Enterprise Development Manager Garrett Duffy, who manages the programme, stated We are delighted to have been awarded the contract to deliver the New Frontiers Programme until 2021.

It will allow us to build on the success of the programme over the past 4 years and shows confidence in in the collaboration between DkIT and DCU to support and develop start-up and early stage businesses in the Region.

The New Frontiers Programme is funded by Enterprise Ireland and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under Irelands European Structural and Investment Funds Programmes 2014  2020.

Since 1989 over 1200 entrepreneurs have been supported by the Regional Development Centre in DkIT which has secured over 26 million for economic development projects.
Both Fine Gael's Peter Fitzpatrick and Fianna Fail's Declan Breathnach are in agreement - Brexit would hurt Dundalk.

Fitzpatrick has said that a British exit from the EU would have serious consequences for Ireland, and for the border counties in particular.

The UK is Irelands greatest trading partner and the British Chamber of Commerce has calculated that UK-Ireland trade is valued at 1 billion a week.

Trade between Ireland and the UK directly supports over 400,000 jobs, half of them in Ireland. For small Irish businesses the UK is often their first export market, with 43% of exports from indigenous Irish companies destined for the UK.

If the relationship between the UK and the EU changed dramatically, and trade barriers and tariffs were erected, then the consequences for the Irish economy could be significant, particularly in border counties such as Louth.

Easy movement of people and goods across the border is extremely important. We do not want to go back to the bad old days or to see an increase of smuggling, which would I believe undoubtedly result from a British exit from the EU.

If the UK were to leave the EU, Northern Ireland would no longer have access to vital EU funding for cross-border projects. That would pose a real challenge for cross-border cooperation and from a practical point of view it would have a severely negative impact on services and infrastructure in border areas.

A recent ESRI report has calculated that the Irish economy would suffer as a result of a Brexit. Although it is difficult to estimate the exact cost, even the uncertainty itself is harmful. The looming referendum is already having a significant impact on exchange rates. Uncertainty has pushed the value of sterling lower, increasing the competitive pressures on Irish exporters. If the UK votes to leave, this effect could intensify.

We have made great strides in recent years in the area of cross-border cooperation and it is important that we do everything possible to protect this progress. Living in a border county, the people of Louth are more aware than many of the importance of open trading and shared resources between North and South. It is essential that we highlight the risks involved were Brexit to go ahead as the referendum approaches.

Fianna Fail TD Declan Breathnach agrees with Fitzpatrick.

Deputy Breathnach said, The referendum on Britains membership of the European Union is set to take place on June 23rd. There is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the possible outcome of this vote. Without doubt the outcome of the referendum will have serious implications for Ireland. Border counties such as Louth will be particularly affected should a Brexit occur.

The possibility of border re-emerging between North and South is a serious cause for concern. The imposition of a border would negatively impact on trade, travel, tourism and will also cause serious hardship for cross-border workers. There is no doubt that a Brexit would undo a lot of the good work that has been done to date on North - South integration.

While this decision is for Britain and Britain alone to make, I and the Fianna Fail party do not believe that a Brexit is in the best interests of the European Union. It also represents a serious threat to Ireland as Britain is our nearest neighbor and largest trading partner.

Its also important to recognise that much of the progress that has been made in relation to the peace process was due in a large part to the common bonds that Britain and Ireland forged at a EU level. European funding has been vital in supporting peace and reconciliation initiatives. It would be a shame if this link was broken.

Fianna Fail recognises that while the European Union is not without its flaws, it nevertheless has had a direct positive impact on the island of Ireland. We as a party sincerely hope that Britain continues on the journey with us that we both set out on 43 years ago. Britain should focus on reforming the European Union from within rather than isolating itself from Europe, said Deputy Breathnach.
Green Party councillor Mark Dearey has expressed his concern that businesses in Clanbrassil Street will not fully benefit from the planned upgrade of the street because of the financial burdens some of them may face.

A 4 million development of Clanbrassil Street is now planned as a result of a 2.35 million in funding available from the Northern and Western Regional Assembly (NWRA) which handles the European Regional Development Funding. This funding will be matched by Louth Local Authority.

The multi-million euro modernisation project will cover Clanbrassil Street from The Square to Bridge Street and will take three years to complete.

But at a meeting of the Dundalk Municipal District Cllr Dearey expressed his concerns that a new streetscape might not be enough to help rejuvenate Dundalks high street.

Mr Frank Pentony, senior executive officer, Louth Local Authority, said the idea of the project would be to get people into the centre of town. He said that if other funding or support is available then the authority will definitely apply for it.

Cllr Dearey has been fully supportive of the 4 million rejuvenation plan for Dundalks Clanbrassil Street and Nicholas Street, but would like to see this streetscape project backed up by the Living City Centre Initiative which helps the refurbishment of town centre properties.

The Living City Initiative is a scheme of property tax incentives for special regeneration areas in the centres of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Kilkenny. But as Cllr Dearey has pointed out it doesnt go to towns north of the Dublin-Galway line.

He has already written to Minister for Finance Michael Noonan to have Dundalk included.

The Clanbrassil Street scheme would be an extension of the redevelopment of The Square and would include extension of the free wi-fi at the the Square, also pedestrian crossings, street furniture, extended CCTV, footpaths, and a message board system to direct people to carparks.

Parking spaces would be improved at St Nicholas Church and finance available to improve shop and building fronts.

The Square was redeveloped five years ago in a 1.9million project.
There has been a book written recently about the effects of the Easter 1916 Rising on the children of Dublin and the subject has been discussed extensively in the media. There was great poverty in Dublin of the time and I have read that the slums of the 'second city of the Empire' were 'among the worst in Europe'. No doubt, Dundalk at the time was not much better for poor children but those conditions were nothing compared to those of the Great Famine in the 1840s. Many children suffered and died in those terrible times but I have not seen this aspect of the period much discussed in our schools. The great social writer Charles Dickens did much to advance the cause of the improvement childhood poverty, Oliver Twist was written in 1839, just before the outbreak of the Irish Famine. But where the Irish social writers of the time? I have not heard of many.

Yet those children who survived the Great Famine were our ancestors, whether we care to acknowledge it or not! They deserve to be better remembered, perhaps by a monument on what was once known as The Workhouse Hill!

The subject came to my mind recently when reading the manuscript given me by my friend Noel Sharkey, poet and storyteller, from Blackrock about 'The Dundalk Workhouse Union'. Noel has done much research into the conditions in this institution over a period of more than 100 years and the piece I wrote about this work a couple of weeks ago has aroused a lot of interest with most the readers of these notes. In his script, written originally for lecture he gave on the subject, Noel points out ---

'Conditions in the Workhouse were designed to be such that only dire necessity could drive the poor to seek admission. Only the bare essentials were provided; the atmosphere being one of penury!'

Conditions in the Dundalk Workhouse were at their worst during the Great Famine period and afterwards; and Noel also points out that it was overcrowded with young children at the time.

'The total number of children under the age of 15 years in Irish workhouses on 2nd April 1853 was 76,724, with the number of children born out of wedlock being 5,710.

The schools in the Dundalk Workhouse (at the time) were described as being 'overcrowded and many children, coming as they did from appalling domestic circumstances, brought with them an apathy and intellectual shortcoming with which their poorly trained teachers found it almost impossible to contend.'
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Jane Corwin



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ALBANY -- Assemblywoman Jane Corwin, R-Clarence, today called on the state Assembly to pass legislation that would protect New Yorkers from being the victims of domestic violence, assault or other violent crimes.The legislation, the Domestic Violence Prevention Act  Brittanys Law (A.1833), would create a public database to arm New Yorkers with vital information to protect themselves, similarly to the existing sex offender database.I am proud that today we are passing some very good bills to enhance the protections for crime victims across our state; however, I would question why are we not addressing legislation that prevents New Yorkers from being victimized in the first place, said Corwin, as she led the debate on a 10-bill package. We should be empowering the citizens of this state to protect themselves as well as ensuring they have every form of assistance if, God forbid, they should become a crime victim. Lets provide this powerful knowledge to New Yorkers to prevent crimes from happening.Corwin has been a strong supporter of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act  Brittanys Law, which has been passed annually in the state Senate but is yet to be brought to a vote in the Assembly despite having bipartisan support. Last year, Corwin was among legislators who started a public petition calling for an immediate vote on the bill.Similar to the states Sex Offender Database, Brittanys Law would provide both law enforcement and the public with a valuable public safety tool: an online, searchable database of violent felons. The bill was named after Geneva, New York resident Brittany Passalacqua who was only 12 years old when she and her mother, Helen Buchel, were brutally murdered by a convicted violent felon who had recently been paroled after violently assaulting his own infant daughter.The petition can be found on Corwins official Assembly Website and calls on the Assembly Majority to bring the bill up for a floor vote.Corwin said she will continue working on crime prevention as well as supporting crime victims. She was pleased to support the package of bills today which expand existing emergency services, housing, and Crime Victim Board compensation statutes, expands the legal definition of rape, and also greatly enhance measures the state is taking to study, address and prevent human trafficking.While these measures will do a lot to help protect the rights of crime victims, I am still concerned about preventing crimes from happening. Domestic violence across our state is too prevalent a crime; too many families are being destroyed by domestic violence and too many children are put at risk. Brittanys Law would change that and I strongly encourage the Assembly Majority to bring this bill up for a vote this session, said Corwin.
Rob Ortt



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ALBANY  A bill passed by the New York State Senate is designed to provide volunteer firefighters in the Empire State with more health benefits as they put their lives on the line for others.The bill, S3891, amends the Volunteer Firefighters Benefit Law to extend levels of protection for volunteer firefighters that develop certain cancer-related diseases while on the job. It was introduced by Republican Michael F. Nozzolio and co-sponsored by state Sen. Rob Ortt, R-North Tonawanda.Sen. Ortt said, Volunteer firefighters provide an invaluable service across our state and especially here in Western New York. In the vast majority of my rural district, these selfless men and women are the first responders when emergency strikes. This legislation acknowledges the health risks they face and justly offers them the protections they deserve.City Captain of North Tonawanda Vol. Firefighters and Pres. of Sweeney Hose Fire Co. #7 Joe Lavey Jr. said, There are many times when volunteer firefighters put their lives in danger to keep others safe. There are currently 63 volunteer firefighters in the City of North Tonawanda  thats 63 men and women who I know would be able to breathe a huge sigh of relief if this bill were to become law. Were grateful to Senator Ortt for his previous legislation in support of volunteer firefighters across the state.There are more than 100,000 volunteer firefighters statewide that would have presumptive cancer coverage as a result of this legislation. The number of firefighters diagnosed with cancer has increased in recent years, and medical studies have shown that they are at a significantly higher risk for various types of cancer than the general population. Increased cancer risks are linked to the high levels of carcinogens and other toxins from building fires and other hazardous settings where firefighters serve.The bill is being sent to the Assembly.This measure for volunteer firefighters is in addition to the $250,000 the State Senate recently secured as part of the enacted 2016-17 State Budget to support the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters. The funding will help to address the shortage of volunteer firefighters throughout the state by using promotional tools to highlight the importance of protecting local neighborhoods and enforcing public safety. The money will be used for promotional materials, public service announcements, and other tools in an effort to bolster the number of volunteers.
Earlier this month, I suggested that the Snyder administration has no intention of replacing a single water line in Flint where the drinking water was contaminated with the powerful neurotoxin lead through the actions of Snyders appointed Emergency Managers and the ineptitude of his appointee at the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Dan Wyant, a man with zero experience in managing water systems:

Amid all this non-action, the Snyder administration has started to warn municipalities that they should avoid partial lead service line replacements. [] Add to this the fact that Flint water lead levels are beginning to drop as the phosphate added to the water for corrosion protection is building up a protective layer on the inside of water lines and it is starting to look as if the Snyder administration is simply waiting until lead levels have dropped enough for Flint residents to begin using their water again. Once that has happened, they could simply point to the data and say, See? Everything is fine. Nothing to worry about.

Theres now more evidence that this is exactly what their plan is:

If we make a policy decision that we should replace the lead lines, then we have to be thinking about that across the state, said John Walsh, strategy director for Gov. Rick Snyder, at a Grand Rapids chamber meeting in March. If you do it for one community, another is going to wonder why you didnt do it for them.

Mark my words, the Snyder administration is not going to be involved in replacing ANY lead water service lines in Flint. They are going to wait until lead levels drop and then suggest its unfair to give them any sort of special treatment. The fact is, after the catastrophe that they themselves caused, the Snyder administration owes it to Flint residents and the 9,000 children that have potentially been poisoned with lead to make it right. But thats not going to happen.

Meanwhile, the legal team hired by Gov. Snyder is arguing in court that Flint residents who have filed a lawsuit against him for his harmful actions that led to the Flint water crisis and his inaction since the problem became undeniable waited too long to file their suit:

Lawyers for Gov. Rick Snyder want a proposed class action lawsuit filed by Flint residents over water contamination dismissed because it was not filed within six months of the citys April 2014 water switch. Filed Monday in the Michigan Court of Claims, Snyders attorneys argue that plaintiffs Melissa Mays and nine other Flint residents filed their claim for damages on Jan. 15, 2016, when the cause of action occurred  use of the Flint River water without corrosion treatment  on April 25, 2014. The lawsuit says either the claim itself or a notice of intent to file the claim must be filed within six months of the event that gave rise to the cause of action. Plaintiffs did not give timely notice of their claims. There is no legal basis for extending the notice period, the complaint said.

This jaw-dropping argument is being put forth by a legal team being paid for with our tax dollars. It suggests that Flint residents should have somehow been aware that they were being poisoned even though they were told repeatedly for over a year by the Snyder administration that everything was just fine and that they could relax. That statement was made by a Snyder spokesman over six months after their lawsuit was filed. Snyder himself didnt concede that there was a problem until October of last year, 195 days ago.

As all of this plays out, Gov. Snyder continues to blame others for the outcomes of his policies, once again telling an audience that it was civil servants who are to blame, not the terrible decisions of those he put in charge or the failed policy of Emergency Management:

On the water crisis, he said career civil servants showed an absolute lack of common sense, and that instead of adding $150 in daily chemicals to the water supply  which previously had been added before the waters source was switched to the Flint River  they decided to test the water for two six-month periods.

This week, Gov. Snyders own Flint Water Advisory Task Force once again explained that it was Gov. Snyders culture of austerity as the solution to municipal fiscal crises and his un-democratic Emergency Manager law that are to blame for the catastrophe in Flint:

A lack of local input under state-appointed emergency managers is one reason the Flint water contamination crisis is a clear case of environmental injustice, the Republican co-chair of Gov. Rick Snyders Flint Water Advisory Task Force told legislators Tuesday. Residents in the minority-majority city did not have meaningful voice in local decisions that led to the crisis, former state Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema said in testimony before the Joint Select Committee on The Flint Water Public Health Emergency. They also did not get equal treatment when it came to public health and access to safe drinking water available in neighboring communities, said Sikkema, now a senior policy fellow at Public Sector Consultants. [] Changes have to start at the top, said Sikkema, noting task force recommendations that focused on the governors office. They start with leadership articulating the kind of culture they want.

During their testimony, Committee members used phrases like The emergency managers bring nothing and they leave less, because their primary function is financial and theres very little concern for the safety of citizens and no ability to respond to emergencies and The emergency manager structure does a tremendous job providing support and help on the financial piece, but its sort of loosey-goosey on everything else and The tone of communication from government was to deny and discredit individuals with a different opinionOver and over, we saw this tone of deny and discredit, and in a public agency you have to be respectful of everybody.

As Gov. Snyder continues to face an increasing number of lawsuits, the people of Flint still cannot drink their water without filtering it first:

The Flint, Mich., water system is in much better shape six months after the city switched its water source and began adding chemicals to control corrosion of aging pipes, but the threat of lead contamination remains, researchers said Tuesday. [] There are very positive trends. . . . The system is definitely on its path to recovery, said Marc Edwards, the Virginia Tech professor whose work helped bring Flints water crisis to light. But because recent samples showed that potentially dangerous levels of lead persist, at present, no one should be drinking unfiltered water in Flint. [] Under current lead-in-water regulations, at least 90 percent of homes tested by a water utility must remain below the federal 15 ppb action level. The 90 percentile of samples taken last month in Flint was 23 ppb, Edwards said.

In what appears to be a related tragedy, the number of people who have died from Legionnaires Disease in the Flint area during a spike that coincides with the switch to using the Flint River as their primary water source has now risen to 12:

State health officials have increased the number of deaths associated with an outbreak of Legionnaires disease in the Flint area to 12, up from 10. There were 91 confirmed cases of the disease  a severe type of pneumonia  during a 17-month period in 2014 and 2015, according to the state health departments updated numbers released Monday. In previous years, 6 to 13 cases were typically confirmed annually in Genesee County.

This is clearly a story that will not be going away any time soon. In the meantime, it has been nearly 100 days since Gov. Snyder admitted there was a problem with Flints water and not one lead water service line has been removed through the actions of his administration and the people of Flint STILL cannot drink their water, cook with it, or bathe in it without filtering it first.
A new electoral map projection from Morning Consult shows Hillary Clinton crushing Ted Cruz and Donald Trump but getting crushed by John Kasich.

Heres her versus Trump:

Cruz:

Kasich:

The logic behind this is that Kasich is supposed to be a stand-in for the generic Republican candidate, which makes some sense. Hes barely known and Hillary Clinton has several Air Force Ones filled with baggage.

Still, I have a hard time believing that a guy who got trounced in the Michigan and Wisconsin primaries will end up winning the state, especially after essentially stealing the nomination from both Trump and Cruz in a convention that would likely resemble the end of Reservoir Dogs.

And then theres the prospect of introducing Kasich to America. Forget that hes the most anti-reproductive rights Republican governor in the nation  which is like being messiest porta potty at The Gathering of the Juggalos. Hes also one of the most unlikable human beings on Earth who isnt Ted Cruz.

Watch him lecturing actual Yeshiva students about the Bible:

Yes, he would do better in Ohio than any living Republican, but thats because he has ridden the coattails of the Obama administrations auto rescue and Medicaid expansion.

But the media and even some Democrats like him because hes reminiscent of a less ostentatiously aggressive GOP that recognized you shouldnt intentionally alienate large swaths of the population with rhetoric when you can do that with policy.

That Republican base doesnt exist anymore. Theres a reason that Ted Cruz is sweeping up delegates anywhere where party activists congregate and it isnt just because he isnt Donald Trump. They judge a candidate by his willingness to infuriate Democrats and engage in rank sabotage to pursue policy goals that abandon workers to the whims of illness, employers and acts of nature.

Kasichs policies pursue the same ends, just not as obviously. And this GOP wants someone who celebrates his inflexibility. That doesnt mean Cruz will be easy to beat, even though Morning Consult finds him doing worse than even Trump.

Cruz has proven to be a genius at inside Republican politics, mostly by pretending that hes somehow above inside Republican politics. His data-driven ruthlessness may prove effective even in the general election and his rhetorical felicity will allow him to appeal to voters, despite the creeping sort of nausea his speaking voice often engenders.

But at least with Ted Cruz well be having a debate about what Republicans actually believe, which includes banning abortion to the point where you have to have your rapists baby, increasing taxes on the poor so you can cut them for the rich and bombing sand.

Lets not have an election about Trumps distractions and name-calling or Kasichs pretentious pretenses. Lets have an election thats about Ted Cruz because with his small-government, dildo-banning ways, he represents this party perfectly.

[CC image credit: jbouie | Flickr]
FCC Commissioner Michael ORielly on Tuesday suggested the government should investigate Netflixs practice of throttling video content delivery to customers using mobile devices.

Netflix has attempted to paint a picture of altruism whereby it virtuously sought to save these consumers from bumping up against or exceeding their data caps, he told an audience at the American Action Forum. There is no way to sugarcoat it: The news is deeply disturbing and justly generates calls for government  and maybe even congressional  investigation.

However, Netflixs video throttling was not a violation of the FCCs Net neutrality rules, ORielly also said.

Netflix last week announced plans to offer a data saver feature for mobile apps beginning in May.

The company, a proponent of Net neutrality, admitted that it secretly throttled back the speed of its video service to customers of Verizon and AT&T, without disclosing the policy to the mobile carriers or its own customers, The Wall Street Journal disclosed. The news came afterT-Mobile CEO John Legere accused the two rival carriers of throttling back their speeds, without knowing that Netflix was doing the throttling.

Netflix generally has been against restrictive data caps, which it considers bad for consumers and the Internet in general, but it set it a default rate at 600 kilobits per second as a way to strike a balance between a quality video experience and excessive charges from mobile carriers for its customers, according to spokesperson Anne Marie Squeo.

Customers dont need the same resolution on phones as they do on large-screen televisions, she noted. However, we recognize some members may be less sensitive to data caps or subscribe to mobile data plans from carriers that dont levy penalties for exceeding caps.

The company wants to give its customers a choice, Squeo added.

Calls for Probe

TheAmerican Cable Association last week called on theFederal Communications Commission to launch an investigation into the practices of edge providers.

ACA has said all along that the Federal Communications Commissions approach to Net neutrality is horribly one-sided and unfair because it leaves consumers unprotected from the actions of edge providers that block and throttle lawful traffic, ACA President Matthew Polka said.

While were disappointed to hear that Netflix has been throttling its videos for AT&T and Verizon customers, I think its important to realize that this wasnt a violation of Net neutrality, since it was the edge provider itself who made the decision to throttle its own traffic, said Jeremy Gillula, staff technologist at theElectronic Frontier Foundation.

Netflix should have disclosed its policy sooner, he told the E-Commerce Times, adding that all companies should be transparent with their customers.

Dont Conflate the Issues

Critics of the Netflix policy are blowing this out of proportion in some ways because the real threat is from Internet service providers coming between a provider like Netflix and its customers, said Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at theInstitute for Local Self-Reliance.

In this case, Netflix is making choices regarding its own customers and is not impacting any other business, he told the E-Commerce Times. So I was not upset or worried in learning that Netflix is doing this.

If AT&T didnt have such perniciously low monthly bandwidth caps, it wouldnt be an issue, Mitchell noted.

The Federal Trade Commission might want to look into the policy, but it does not violate Net neutrality, according to Josh Stager, policy counsel at theOpen Technology Institute. Unlike content providers such as Netflix, ISPs manage last-mile access for customers and therefore have more control over whether a customer can access broadband as well as the quality of the feed.

Netflixs intent was to be pro-customer, but the net impact is the same as if an ISP throttled speeds, resulting in customers watching degraded video, said Greg Ireland, research director of multiscreen video at IDC.

Having a bandwidth usage/video-quality setting that puts power in the hands of customers, coupled with a highly visible recommendation to consumers to check bandwidth caps and usage limits, to me, is the right approach, he told the E-Commerce Times

Amazon, for example, offers a download-quality option for Prime Video thats designed to deal with storage constraints, Ireland said, but it puts the power in the hands of customers to manage bandwidth utilization.
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted 3-2 to approve a US$2.25 billion program to subsidize broadband Internet service and bundled voice and data packages for low-income consumers. The new subsidy is part of a major overhaul of the agencys Lifeline program, which has provided affordable phone access for decades.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel voted in favor of the measure. Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael ORielly dissented.

The goal is not only to expand affordable high-speed Internet, but also to eliminate waste and fraud from the system, Wheeler said. Further, they will even the playing field in the modern economy.

By dramatically improving Lifelines management and design, and putting the program on sound fiscal footing moving forward, we will help low-income Americans across our nation connect to the Internet and the opportunities of the broadband revolution, Wheeler pointed out.

Down to Basics

The FCC launched the Lifeline program in 1985 to ensure low-income Americans had access to basic telephone service. It provides subsidized basic landline or wireless telephone service for consumers who are at or below 135 percent of the poverty line.

However, 43 percent of the nations poorest households cannot afford to have broadband service in their homes, according to the FCC.

The order approved on Thursday will phase in minimum standards for standalone broadband or bundled service starting in December 2016. The program will provide a minimum of 500 mg per month at 3G speeds starting in December, eventually rising to 2 GB per month by the end of 2018. It will phase in a minimum of 500 bundled voice minutes per month starting in December, and rise to 1,000 minutes per month by Dec. 1, 2018.

To encourage carrier participation, the FCC will enlist a third-party National Eligibility Verifier to screen applicants. There will be a streamlined process for bringing in carriers, called Lifeline Broadband Providers, and to refine the list of federal programs that consumers can use to verify eligibility. Those programs include SNAP, Medicaid, Veterans Pension, Tribal programs, SSI and HUD Federal Housing Assistance.

Narrowing the Digital Divide

The vote was a long-awaited reform for many low-income communities that have broadband access only through smartphone connections.

Todays order is a tremendously important step towards getting more Americans online, said Josh Stager, policy counsel at New Americas Open Technology Institute. Lifeline is not a silver bullet that closes the digital divide entirely, but it tackles the biggest barrier to broadband adoption: cost.Forty-eight percent of households making less than $25,000 a year are online, while 95 percent of households making $150,000 are online, noted Phillip Berenbroick, counsel for government affairs at Public Knowledge.

Eighty percent of Fortune 500 companies require job applications to be done online, he pointed out, which means low-income job seekers effectively have an automatic disadvantage when competing for jobs.

The FCC should expand the program to work with local public libraries and nonprofits in low-income communities, where many of the libraries currently loan out mobile hotspots to residents, said Craig Settles, a technology analyst who specializes in broadband issues.

Making broadband service available to low-income customers for less doesnt seem to be a problem for providers.

Cable companies have been supportive of the FCCs effort to modernize Lifeline, Berenbroick told the E-Commerce Times.

Earlier this year, providers including Comcast, Cox, AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, and Frontier filed a letter, along with Public Knowledge, urging the FCC to reform Lifeline to support broadband, he noted.

Republican Resistance

The Republican-appointed commissioners objected to the program because they were seeking stricter budget caps and sought other changes, Settles told the E-Commerce Times.

Pai earlier this week said he was looking for a lower budget  $1.75 billion  and a mechanism that automatically would reduce payments to carriers when program costs exceeded the budget, Settles noted. Pai also wanted to eliminate the programs $25 enhanced subsidy in counties with more than 50 people per square mile, as the subsidy was intended to support construction of facilities in Native American communities and instead has gone to cities like Reno, Nev., and Tulsa, Okla.

The government should make it easier to deploy mobile broadband on federal lands, suggested Public Knowledges Berenbroick. Many rural areas are near large swaths of federal lands, and providers often find it difficult to deploy in those areas.

There are many other actions that should be taken to improve broadband access, he added, such as ensuring accessible broadband conduits in federally funded road projects; ensuring that communities can self-provision broadband; and ensuring sufficient unlicensed spectrum for WiFi access.
Chariot for Women, a ride-sharing service that excludes males 13 and older, reportedly has postponed its launch to sometime this summer due to heavier-than-anticipated demand. The company originally had planned to debut the service in Boston next week.

Chariot for Women is open to all women, including transgender women. Children, including boys under the age of 13, also may ride.

Focus on Safety

The premise for the gender-restricted service is pretty straightforward: Disturbing stories about Uber drivers abound, and theres an untapped market for serving women and children only.

Founder Michael Pelletz, who once worked as an Uber driver, got the idea for Chariot for Women after he picked up a young man who was behaving strangely. The mans actions scared Pelletz enough that he went to a police officer for help.

The Chariot for Women app is focused on safety, and the company will conduct thorough background checks on drivers before taking them on, it said.

Its drivers will start the day by answering a random security question to verify their identity.

After a passenger requests a ride, the system will send her a safe word that the driver then must provide to verify identity before the passenger gets into the car.

The passenger also will receive a picture of the driver, the make of car that will pick her up, and its license number.

The app will use real-time GPS tracking and maps so customers will know exactly when their ride will arrive and wont have to wait on the curb.

Giving Back

Chariot for Women will donate 2 percent of every fare to womens charities, the company said.

Customers list 10 local and national charities they would like to give to; that list will pop up in the app when they get into the car, and they can choose which of the charities gets the 2 percent of the fare allocated for charity.

Speed Bumps

Chariot for Womens gender focus has raised legal questions, but founder Pelletz has said that the company is prepared for any challenges.

A similar service in New York SheTaxis  has been operating since 2014 and is preparing to launch an Android app in addition to the iOS app currently available.

Theres a need for this service, particularly given the recent horror stories related to Uber, said Susan Schreiner, an analyst at C4 Trends. The concept is very interesting, and will go a long way to eliminating the creep factor.

It also will eliminate problems women have encountered using regular cab services, she told the E-Commerce Times. Theres been times Im coming back from the airport late at night when Ive gotten into a cab and its a little bit scary or the driver is rude, and I dont need that.

Finding Its Way

Support for Chariot for Women has lit up the twitterverse.

Uber is a step above cab, but this sounds even better! wrote Sarah Dudley.

Brilliant idea! Wishing @ChariotForWomen huge success, tweeted Valentina Vitols.

Actress Debra Messing also tweeted support for the concept, as did Global Tech Women, an organization dedicated to closing the gender gap in technology.

However, in a city like Boston, which is not a huge city and not a high-crime city, you wonder about the idea, remarked Laura DiDio, a research director at Strategy Analytics.

Id think a service like this would be better targeted to a larger city with a higher crime rate, like New York, she told the E-Commerce Times.

With competition from Uber, Chariot for Women might have to offer another inducement, she said, like a 20 percent discount.
Chinese authorities have issued censorship instructions to the media following the release of thePanama Papers, according to news reports published last week.

The leaked documents reportedly listed several top Chinese officials who used Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca to set up offshore companies.

The names include relatives of at least eight current or previous members of the Chinese Communist Partys Politburo Standing Committee, such as President Xi Jinpings brother-in-law Deng Jiagui; Li Xiaolin, daughter of former premier Li Peng; and Jasmine Li, granddaughter of former Standing Committee member Jia Qinglin.

Instructions Issued

The Chinese government issued a notice ordering the media to find and delete any reprinted reports regarding the Panama Papers, according to a report in theChina Digital Times.

Media were ordered not to follow up on related content, the report said. Any websites that contain materials from foreign media attacking China will be dealt with severely.

The China Digital Times omitted the name of the issuing body in order to protect the source.

Another notice reportedly instructed a website to withdraw an article about the Panama Papers and related stories from its home page and move them to the back end of the site.

Western Influence

Western media and Washington have controlled the interpretation of document leaks, minimizing information negative to the U.S. and emphasizing information about non-Western leaders, the state-run Peoples Dailyasserted.

The leaks might be disinformation, the publication hinted, adding that the West would be happy to see such leaks occur if they attack its opponents.

No mention was made of any Chinese subjects of the Panama Papers.

Exposing the Truth

Its now increasingly difficult to completely hide the digital trail of illegal transactions, no matter how rich and powerful you are, commented Chenxi Wang, chief strategy officer atTwistlock.

The Great Firewall was fairly effective in restricting the access of people in China to the Internet until application-level messaging apps such as WeChat and QQ became popular, she told the E-Commerce Times. The Great Firewall doesnt work on them.

As more people in China use those apps and others like them to communicate, the Great Firewall will become increasingly less effective unless the government bans the use of such messaging apps, Wang said.

Getting Around the Curbs

Chinas Great Firewall is effective enough with average citizens, but, as with other censoring efforts, usually fails with the tech-savvy, she pointed out.

In addition to application-level messaging apps like WeChat, tech-savvy Chinese are using anonymous communications and VPNs, Wang said. Sometimes VPNs dont work at all in China, but you can usually find one that will get you around the Great Firewall.

Even Fang Binxing, the creator of the Great Firewall, hasgotten in on circumvention: Earlier this month, he reportedly showed students at Harbin Technical Institute how to use a VPN called Tianhe, or Galaxy, to access Google and other blocked websites.

Theres clearly a willingness to take the risk of getting caught in China, noted Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. There are simply too many connections between the West and the East for a strategy like this to work.

Beijings best strategy would have been to discredit the leaks as false, he told the E-Commerce Times, but that needs to be done early, and that boat, too, has likely already sailed.
The battle between the FBI and Apple over access to the iPhone of San Bernardino, California, killer Syed Farook came to an abrupt end last week when the agency announced it no longer needed the companys assistance to crack the device.

Since the U.S. Department of Justice delayed a hearing on an order to force Apple to assist the FBI in brute-forcing the password on Farooks phone, speculation has spread about how the agency planned to access the data on the device without the help of the iPhones maker.

A number of news reports identifiedCellebrite as a likely ally of the FBI in breaking the phones password.

That guess is a good one, said Stephen Coty, the chief security evangelist atAlert Logic. Cellebrite has a team of mobile forensic experts who have developed processes to unlock iPhones for their customer base.

Cellebrite has many proprietary tools that they use for forensics investigations, he told TechNewsWorld.

In Hackers Crosshairs

Most forensic tools make a snapshot of a phone and then attempt to crack the copy so as to not tamper with the actual evidence, Coty said. Making a copy of the phone would allow you to have as many tries to unlock it without worry of a data wipe.

In its litigation, the FBI wanted Apple to disable a feature on Farooks iPhone that would erase all data on it after 10 erroneous password attempts.

Now that the FBI has found a way to crack Farooks iPhone, Apple may want the courts to do some compelling on its behalf. Apple attorneys are huddling to find a way to force the FBI to reveal how it broke the password, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Whats more, all the publicity generated by Apples squabble with the FBI may create more worry for the company down the road, according to Coty.

Ive been following some of the stuff thats being posted on the underground, and more and more people are coming up with techniques to unlock the iPhone, he said.

This case has put a target on the iPhone, Coty added.

API Security

Mobile APIs, or application programming interfaces, have become a critical component of the Internets infrastructure. With the growth of the Internet of Things, which will add millions of new devices to the Net, they will become even more important.

As their importance increases, though, so too does the concern over their vulnerability to attack by cyberbandits.

While APIs are no less or more insecure than other parts of the Nets infrastructure, developer ignorance can make them more insecure.

What people have to realize is when you build an application that talks to a service over the Internet, youve created an API, explained Greg Brail, chief architect atApigee.

If we look at a lot of the things that have gone wrong with API security recently, its because someone built a mobile app, and they didnt realize they created an API, and they failed to use some of the security practices that you expect to have on an API, he told TechNewsWorld.

As a result, Brail continued, not only did they create an insecure mobile app, but they created an insecure API.

Bad ID Management

Some of the most common attacks on APIs involve flaws in authentication.

For example, the IRS had a service accessible through an API for taxpayers to obtain tax account transactions or line-by-line tax return information for a specific tax year. To request that data, a visitor to the IRS website needed three pieces of information: address, Social Security number and date of birth.

Millions of Americans have had that information stolen from them, so attackers were able to use that information to get access to peoples private tax data, Brail said.

The biggest things weve seen go wrong is people either not putting any authentication on the API at all or tying it to an identity management solution that doesnt handle all the security aspects correctly, he added.

How safe are APIs for private data?

Compared to the alternatives to APIs, they can be made very secure, if you follow the right techniques  and arguably more secure than some other things, like Web apps, Brail said.

Behavioral Biometrics Redux

Wevewritten before about how keyboard strokes, mouse movements and hardware details can be used to fingerprint a person and authenticate identity online.

Those solutions typically require monitoring a users behavior from the cloud, but a company calledTeleSign has taken a slightly different slant on the technology to help developers create more secure applications.

Traditional biometrics, which uses body parts  fingers, eyes and faces  doesnt work very well with online commerce. Not only does it create a privacy nightmare, but it also creates the nemesis of all e-commerce companies: friction.

Behavioral biometrics are more suitable for an online consumer account, said Sergi Isasi, director of product management at TeleSign.

Its easier to enroll the user because the user doesnt do anything different when they enroll, he told TechNewsWorld, and youre not asking the user to do anything they would feel uncomfortable with, like taking a picture of their eye on their phone.

Privacy Concerns

Depending on the application, TeleSigns behavioral biometrics solution is offered as JavaScript (Web application) or an SDK (mobile application).

The developers would integrate our application into their application, and it would track the users behavior across activities  logging in, navigation, entering text and purchasing an item, Isasi said.

TeleSigns app sends the user-behavior data to its cloud where the information is analyzed and scored. The score tells a merchant how similar the actions are to the users previous actions.

Scores can be generated at various decision points during a users session, so there are multiple opportunities to detect hinky behavior.

While TeleSigns solution is frictionless to users, its also invisible to them. That means its collecting information about them, in most cases, without their knowledge.

Thats not a problem because the information isnt linked to a user by name, Isasi maintained. Nevertheless, some TeleSign users arent taking any chances about potential misunderstandings about data collection.

Some of our customers are asking for consent permissions from their users, Isasi said, but thats up to the customer.

Breach Diary

March 28. FBI says it has cracked iPhone of Syed Farook, one of two shooters who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in December.

March 28. MedStar Health, a health care provider in the Washington, D.C., area, takes its computer systems offline after discovering a virus preventing some of its users from logging on to their systems.

March 28. Akram Aleeming acknowledges an error at a website he was developing for Thai police leaked the personal details of more than 2,000 foreign nationals living in southern Thailand onto the Internet.

March 28. Doritex, an industrial launderer in western New York, and Kallus Opraments, a website developer, are fined US$95,000 by state Attorney Generals Office for a website error that exposed more than 500 employment applications on the Internet.

March 28. University of Central Florida reports expenditure of $109,364 for notifying 63,000 students and former employees that their confidential information was compromised in a data breach in February.

March 28. CardHub releases a survey finding 42 percent of retailers have not installed payment terminals that accept chip-enabled payment cards, and 56 percent of consumers say they dont care if a retailer has chip-enabled terminals.

March 29. National Consumers League launches redesigned Fraud.com website, which includes a portal on data breaches.

March 29. Ryman Hospitality Properties, parent of the Grand Ole Opry, states tax information of anyone who received a W-2 form from the company in 2015 is at risk after the information was emailed to a scammer posing as a corporate officer.

March 29. Kentucky State University alerts current and former employees their tax information for 2015 is at risk after their W-2 forms were emailed to a scammer posing as a university official.

March 30. The Guardian reports that the U.S. and the UK will simulate a cyberattack on a nuclear power plant sometime this year.

March 30. Norfolk Admirals hockey team in Virginia says names, addresses and email addresses of some 250 customers were posted to the Internet after a data breach of its computer systems.

March 30. Law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore states its computer systems were breached last summer and that it is unaware of any of the affected information was used improperly.

March 31. The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald reports a database containing private information for more than a million customers of Menulog, an online takeout service, has been exposed to the Internet because of an access control flaw.

March 31. Amherst, Ohio, police say they posted online for several weeks the Social Security numbers of 30 people while they were learning a new records-management system.

Upcoming Security Events
It appears that the Obama administration will refrain from giving its outspoken support to any legislation that aims to compel high-tech companies to help law enforcement agencies crack mobile phone encryption.

On the other hand, it wont level any outspoken opposition either.

Introduction of such a bill  sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Richard Burr, R-N.C., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee  is expected soon. Although the White House has reviewed a draft of the measure and offered feedback, it is expected to provide minimal public input, Reuters reported Thursday.

The bill gives federal judges broad authority to compel tech companies to assist government agencies, but it doesnt prescribe what the businesses have to do or the circumstances under which they could be ordered to help. Penalties for not complying with the law also appear absent from the draft measure.

The White House did not respond to our request for comment for this story, but earlier this month at a press gaggle on Air Force One, Press Secretary Josh Earnest shed doubt on the ability of Congress to tackle the encryption issue.

I continue to be a little skeptical of Congress ability to handle such a complicated policy area, given Congress recent inability to handle even simple things, he told reporters.

Lack of Understanding

More public discussion is needed before Congress starts to act on encryption, maintained Jonathan Katz, director of the Maryland Cybersecurity Center.

We need to see where the public stands on how much they value privacy of their communications versus the ability to track terrorists. The public hasnt been given chance to think through the issues and understand whats going on, he told TechNewsWorld.

Nor, for that matter, have a lot of the politicians who have come out with opinions about this. I think they dont fully understand the technical issues either, Katz added. Its worthwhile for them to really understand these issues before they start passing laws that relate to them.

White House Unclear

If the White House opposes what Feinstein and Burr are cooking up, its not being very clear about it.

It seems that theyre not actively backing the legislation, but theyre not opposing it either, Katz said.

Congress isnt alone in trying to grapple with the encryption issue. The states are taking action, too, and while Feinstein and Burr seem to be stopping short of forcing tech companies to weaken their encryption to accommodate government agencies, proposed laws in states like California and New York do not.

I predict that one side will always be unhappy, and well eventually see the U.S. Supreme Court weigh in on the issue, vThreat CTO Marcus Carey told TechNewsWorld.

Weak Encryption, Weak Solution

If theres a solution to the conflict between law enforcement and the tech companies, it doesnt lie in weaker encryption, maintained Steve Kelly, president of Intego.

A tech companys first responsibility is to the consumer, so its correct to make products as impenetrable as we possibly can, he told TechNewsWorld.

When you create any backdoor to your encryption, you ultimately open it up to attackers who will exploit it, Kelly explained, and compromise the security and personal information of consumers.

While tech companies shouldnt weaken their encryption, they shouldnt refuse to help law enforcement when they can, he added. Its in the tech companies best interest to do everything they can to help the government, because public sentiment could turn against them very quickly in the wake of a large-scale terrorist attack.

FBI Show and Tell

Meanwhile, the FBI visited Capitol Hill to brief Feinstein on how it gained access to the data in the iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino killers, Syed Farook.

Since the agency has not shared the technique with Apple, the move could be interpreted as a slight to the Cupertino company, which refused to help the FBI crack the phones password.

However, that may not be the case.

The move to brief Congress wasnt an ego stroke, maintained Mark Longworth, CEO of Shevirah.

There are legislators who are sympathetic and have proposed amendments and bills to give the FBI greater technical access to modern, encrypted communications like they have with CALEA (the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act ), he told TechNewsWorld.

The FBI is simply supplying those legislators with ammunition on how difficult and costly the methods they have are, said Longworth, as well as how important it is to get to the data in cases like San Bernardino.
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(Official "General Hospital" Facebook)

Things are heating up in "General Hospital" as Anna (Finola Hughes) teams up with Sonny (Maurice Benard) to track Carlos (Jeffrey Vincent Parise) down in Ecuador. The next question is whether Anna will kill Carlos once she finds him.

It can be remembered that Anna planned to go with Sonny to Ecuador in search of Carlos. However, Paul (Richard Burgi) tried to stop her, leading her to resort to desperate measures. She chloroformed him and then went about to gag and bind him before hurriedly joining Sonny.

Spoilers for "General Hospital" reveal that the pair will find Carlos and a violent confrontation will occur. There are also mentions of gunshots, and although there was no mention of someone getting killed, the spoilers talk about Anna regretting the decisions and actions she has made. This made fans speculate that she could have either hurt Carlos badly or killed him.

Meanwhile, Paul will be able to extricate himself from his situation and tries to find Jordan (Vinessa Antoine). He will tell her about what's going on, a story that Jordan appears not to believe. Moreover, Paul will also contact Julian and reveal some things to him that will leave the latter shocked and surprised.

As for the other characters, Hayden (Rebecca Budig) and Nikolas (Tyler Christopher) continue to play their mind games and try to intimidate each other. According to rumors, she will continue to put pressure on Nikolas this week but he will put up his own fight, not giving in until he gets what he wants from her as well.

Not only does Nikolas have a hard time fighting with Hayden and maintaining control of ELQ, but he will also have problems from Jason (Billy Miller) and Sam (Kelly Monaco) as well. The duo are planning something which seems to be going according to what they have in mind.

All these will have their answers this coming week in "General Hospital."
(Photo:  Peter Kenny / Ecumenical News)Muslim woman with daughter walks down a street in Berlin, Germany on Aug. 27, 2016.

A key member of a partner in Germany's ruling coalition has called for an "Islam law" to prevent foreign financing of mosques as he says "political Islam" undermines integration in the country.

Andreas Scheuer, the Christian Social Union's general secretary, has said in an interview with Die Welt newspaper that "political Islam" undermines efforts to integrate people in Germany.

He spoke to the newspaper at a time of polarizing views on immigration in Europe and the arrival of mainly Muslim refugees.

Scheuer said financing of mosques or Islamic kindergartens from foreign countries, such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, must be stopped, the UK's Independent newspaper reported.

He also said "all imams must be trained in Germany and share our fundamental values."

The CSU is any ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union which share power with the Social Democratic Party in a grand coalition.

"It can't be the case that other, sometimes extreme, moral concepts, are imported from abroad," Scheuer was quoted as saying.

"German must become the language of the mosques," he noted, arguing: "Europe must cultivate its own Islam."

Event before the arrival in 2016 of more than a million asylum seekers from the Muslim world, Germany had the largest Muslim population in the E.U., numbering 4.8 million as of 2010, Time magazine reports.

By comparison, France, has slightly fewer Muslims with 4.7 million, but it has faced many more problems with extremism.

There have been at least six deadly Islamist attacks in France since 2012, killing a total of 160 people including the 130 killed in Paris in November, when extremists from Daesh, or ISIS as it is also called, caused mayhem in the city.

Scheuer suggested in his Welt interview that those who do not properly integrate could be deported.

"Whoever does not integrate themselves cannot stay here," he said.

"We must stop with this integration romance. Multiculturalism has failed. Whoever is not integrated must deal with leaving this country."

The Independent reported that last year, Austria banned foreign funding for mosques and imams, while several politicians have called for such a ban in France.

Earlier in 2016, three universities in Germany closed Muslim prayer rooms, drawing accusations of discrimination.

Since 2006, a number of federal states in Germany have introduced legislation prohibiting head-scarves for teachers.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit challenging a regulation that prohibits New Mexico teachers and other public school employees from disparaging standardized tests.

The suit against the state education department says the provision against making disparaging statements could result in a license suspension or revocation for teachers, and it restricts free speech and violates constitutional rights. The lawsuit asserts that teachers are permitted only to praise the tests and that parents are thus unable to obtain honest and accurate information about the tests effect on children.

The department said the lawsuit is designed to push an extreme agenda against all student testing.
To the Editor:

I appreciated your recent article on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB (Military Eyes Wider Access for Career-Aptitude Test Under ESSA ). As the only school testing program exempt from the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the armed-services test battery deserves much greater scrutiny than it has been getting thus far.

I would like to clarify, however, one point. Citing Pentagon data, the article notes that taking the ASVAB was mandatory for students in approximately 1,000 schools during the 2012-13 school year. Shannon Salyer, the national program manager for the ASVAB Career Exploration Program under the U.S. Department of Defense, claims that the testing program is always voluntary, and that students may be required to sit for this testing, but are not forced to complete it. This is a distinction without a difference. Three hours of a students day are still consumed by a military-recruiting exercise, and the student has no choice in the matter.

Its also important to remember that military recruiters are ordered to try to get as many schools as possible to require ASVAB testing. For example, the U.S. Navys recruiting manual offers this bit of advice: Request the school make [ASVAB] testing mandatory or at least publicize it sufficiently in advance to maximize participation. Similar guidance can be found in the U.S. Army trade magazine Recruiter Journal.

Scores of high schools in the Lone Star State continue to practice mandatory ASVAB testing. But in Austin, the state capital, the school board passed a policy last fall barring high schools from automatically sending ASVAB scores to recruiters.

Hopefully, more communities will follow Texas lead and make sensible policy changes to better protect student privacy.

Diane Wood

Texas Coalition to Protect Student Privacy

Fort Worth, Texas
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The reality TV star and music producer David Gest has died in London at the age of 62, his friend Imad Handi said in a statement.

Gest appeared in Celebrity Big Brother in January but left the house for medical reasons. Viewers saw Gest take to his bed as Big Brother informed the audience he was under the weather.

Gest was married to Liza Minnelli from 2002-03, but they only officially divorced in 2007. He was also known for being a close friend of the late Michael Jackson.Handi said: "It is with great sadness that I can confirm that David Gest has died today. David was truly larger than life. He was not just a huge talent and a dear friend but a showbiz icon. I know he will be missed by millions of fans around the world, and particularly in Britain, who came to love his charm and blistering one-liners.

A Metropolitan police spokesman said officers went to the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Wharf, east London, at around 10.15am on Tuesday after receiving reports of an unexplained death. London Ambulance Service staff also attended but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hospitality industry should strive for 7* service

It's time for the Manx hospitality industry to create 7 star provision.

That's the message from the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce - it's hosting the 'Manx Hospitality Day - Excellence by Working Together' event on Saturday.

Industry professionals will present their view of the sector's future and exhibit their ideas - including expert in household staff and training Jane Urquart.

Chair of the Visitor Economy Committee Sarah Richards explains what she wants staff to get from it:

Media

Sarah Richards
Re: Small business startup loan?



Quote: Mullhollander This Beobachter article lists three micro-credit financing organizations in Switzerland:



http://www.beobachter.ch/kmu/kmu-art...rosse-wirkung/



From a quick read, it appears that the most viable one for a resident of Basel-Land is:



http://www.microcredit-solidaire.ch/?lang=de



Quote: Don Molina Also ZKB is giving convertible loans, specifically for startups, so you could have some luck there.



Quote: grumpygrapefruit TBH, for a small loan like that I would take out a personal loan for whatever ... new furniture, holiday, a car etc and put that money into the business. Borrowing from a bank for a brand new business is always tricky, they usually want to see how much you are putting in (a lot more than them) and they know the risk is high.



Quote: nigelr Not sure how easy that is in Switzerland without a job, but it would be a better option if it is an option.



Worst case scenario, I have already been working hard on getting the back end of the business setup... you might be surprised at quite how long it takes to setup all the products on a new site, let alone other bits and bobs so this little break in my 100% employment is being well utilised



I doubt I will be out of employment for long as I have a good skillset and strong profile for a rather active sector of the IT market with some popular specialisations... so worst case I can see is that I get the main bits of the business set up and can run it in the background while I start a new role buying stock from salary payment and when my wife's contract runs out - she can take over management of the business.



I also have a friend currently out of work on disability allowances who has many years experience running a business and managing a government department - so an extra fall back if we need it.



I've already built a good few supplier relationships too - so it will get going, I'd just prefer it to be sooner than later Wow! Thank you for the quick replies guys - most appreciated!Great, I will take a good look at that.Awesome - will take a look at that tooSure thing, I thought the risk rate might be a factor.My thoughts too, hence looking for somewhere that might consider my vehicle as collateral.Worst case scenario, I have already been working hard on getting the back end of the business setup... you might be surprised at quite how long it takes to setup all the products on a new site, let alone other bits and bobs so this little break in my 100% employment is being well utilisedI doubt I will be out of employment for long as I have a good skillset and strong profile for a rather active sector of the IT market with some popular specialisations... so worst case I can see is that I get the main bits of the business set up and can run it in the background while I start a new role buying stock from salary payment and when my wife's contract runs out - she can take over management of the business.I also have a friend currently out of work on disability allowances who has many years experience running a business and managing a government department - so an extra fall back if we need it.I've already built a good few supplier relationships too - so it will get going, I'd just prefer it to be sooner than later
Re: Migrants, Refugees, Asylum Seekers or Other terms? Quote: pilatus1 here goes...



How have you inferred binary thinking from my post? I support controlled immigration. Your post seems to suggest that these controls are a 'fruitless endeavor'.



Its because, for the most part, they are. People are always going to move to greener pastures, wherever they may be. The more difficult you make it, the more underhand their method become. History has taught us that plenty.



Example: Assad = bad therefore his enemies = our friends - we help them to fight assad. Thats basically what we did, and the colalteral damage from that was a massive cause of the current crisis.



Because I don't agree with flinging the borders wide open, I somehow support either Assad or his enemies? Nice try...



Not what i said either. It was an example of binary thinking that contributed to our current problem. We disagreed with Assad. We armed his enemies. We fed the war. We now have to deal with the consequences of that war.



My point was that it would have been a far wiser investment if we had prevented the places these people are coming from turning into shitholes in the first place. Would have been vastly cheaper too.



It is not Europe's responsibility to police the world - in fact, this idea has caused many of the problems to begin with (Sykes-Picot, for example). If Syrians could drop their ethnic wars and have more of a national identity, the war would be over by now.



No one is saying it is. It is Europes responsibility to look after itself. But there comes a point where it damages itself by trying to prevent the inevitable, and wastes billions doing so. PS, the syrian war isnt ethnic, its a civil war, precipitated by opposition to a tyrannical government. Im glad you know how to end the war - who knew it was a simple of developing an identity. I guess the flagrant abuse of power, the devastating socio-economic factors, the political suffocation of all opposition, the murder of civilians protesting...all these things could be solved with a national identity!



Why is there still zero pressure on the Eritrean government to reform? there's plenty of anger about Eritrean migrants - why arent our governments doing something about it?



Why aren't the Eritreans themselves doing something about it? You suggest that they are not capable of being self-determinate.



Because slaves generally cant do anything against their masters. What exactly do you want them to do? Do you have any actual suggestions other than "GO HOME!!!!!!" ? Try to read up on the situation in Eritrea and you may find a better understanding of why people are leaving. Then ask, why are we investing so little into actually changing the narrative, so that people dont feel the need as much to get away from that hellhole.



The refugee movement was never going to be a permanent consistent flow- the warzones were never as populous as the press would have you believe. There was always going to be a surge as people fled, and followed by a reduction in the flow, since those that could flee had already done so. I'm not sure that the border is truly 'closed' anyway, but the movement of people is better controlled.



Are you suggesting that closing the borders hasn't worked? Tell that to the 10,000+ who are 'stuck' camping in the rain at Idomeni (but really just refuse to go to free accomodations at Greek reception centers).



Yes, well done on stranding thousands of people. The point is, my dear friend, these people have not disappeared, have they? they havent given up and gone home, have they? They are still there, still trying to get in. we haven't solved the problem, just pushed it further down the timeline. These people, if they are determined to get in, will get in whether illegally or not, or will die trying.



Where have you read that they are refusing to go to Greek reception centres? Source please.



As unpalatable as this will be to accept, Europe needs to come to terms with the fact that it will always be a place people want to come to. It will always have tremendous pull factors. Rather than trying to reduce those (a fools cause) it should try to minimize the push factors from the other side.



Or mind it's own business, lest it cause a whole new round of problems...e.g. Iraq



Again, binary thinking. minding our own business is going to be of no help. The world is getting smaller and smaller, and what happens thousands of miles away affects us more today than at any other point in history. We have no real choice in the matter. Washing our hands of the matter and watching dead children wash up on shore is not a real option. There are ways of conducting foreign policy, without it being at the business end of an M-16.



But what to do with the people here? The ones who have asylum?

Stop wasting money trying to kick them out. It serves no purpose. Even if you manage to return them, they'll try again. So you end up wasting a fortune, and only make the problem last even longer. It is literally a black hole of wasted money.



Nobody has suggested kicking out people who have been granted asylum - it's the majority who are ineligible that are the problem.



To be honest, the same applies to them. Where it makes sense, for security or for judicial reasons, they should be deported. But where there is no real benefit in exporting people that have just been imported, only for them to be imported again, and continue the cycle ad nauseum, this course of action shouldn't be forced. .



Get them into being productive members of society as quickly as possible. Make it easier for them to get legitimate jobs, with all appropriate controls in place, so they can start contributing to society. They didn't come all this way to sit on their arses and do nothing, they came to build a life. Enable them to do so, and the rewards are there.



Funny that they generally only want to build lives n Germany and Sweden, eh? I wonder why?



We've covered that - they can find a better life there then they can ever hope for from where they have come. Nothing personal pilatus, but this type of binary thinking is absurd and contributed to us being in this situation in the first place. Being pragmatic and reasonable does not require that you either accept everyone, or turn away everyone. There is plenty of middle ground.How have you inferred binary thinking from my post? I support controlled immigration. Your post seems to suggest that these controls are a 'fruitless endeavor'.Example: Assad = bad therefore his enemies = our friends - we help them to fight assad. Thats basically what we did, and the colalteral damage from that was a massive cause of the current crisis.My point was that it would have been a far wiser investment if we had prevented the places these people are coming from turning into shitholes in the first place. Would have been vastly cheaper too.Why is there still zero pressure on the Eritrean government to reform? there's plenty of anger about Eritrean migrants - why arent our governments doing something about it?The refugee movement was never going to be a permanent consistent flow- the warzones were never as populous as the press would have you believe. There was always going to be a surge as people fled, and followed by a reduction in the flow, since those that could flee had already done so. I'm not sure that the border is truly 'closed' anyway, but the movement of people is better controlled.As unpalatable as this will be to accept, Europe needs to come to terms with the fact that it will always be a place people want to come to. It will always have tremendous pull factors. Rather than trying to reduce those (a fools cause) it should try to minimize the push factors from the other side.But what to do with the people here? The ones who have asylum?Stop wasting money trying to kick them out. It serves no purpose. Even if you manage to return them, they'll try again. So you end up wasting a fortune, and only make the problem last even longer. It is literally a black hole of wasted money.Get them into being productive members of society as quickly as possible. Make it easier for them to get legitimate jobs, with all appropriate controls in place, so they can start contributing to society. They didn't come all this way to sit on their arses and do nothing, they came to build a life. Enable them to do so, and the rewards are there.
Incoming: Johannesburg>Schwyz Greeting All

If all goes well I should be landing in Switzerland next week, after an exciting 7 years in South Africa. Time for a little peaceful boredom in the most beautiful country on earth, in my humble opinion.



I am a dual citizen, Swiss-South African, born and raised down South. Lived in Switzerland from 2001-2009, Came down here to be with a Lady, that relationship has just ended, and now I'm coming home.



I'm a Toolmaker by trade, but need more travel than my trade allows, so I am angling for a job driving schoolbusses around Zug. I plan to drive for Uber in my spare time, and ski in whatever time is left after that. My fathers roots are in Schwyz, so I will be settling there.



Wishing you all a magic day, and looking forward to touching down in a country where even the flag is a big plus!



Cheers

Bullfish

( before anyone asks, the pseudonym is a reference to my astrological birth chart. )
Re: Deregistering / Leaving Switzerland Quote: Mfam Interesting, we left Switzerland a while back. We were required to give an address etc but no proof of it (UK). The attestation means you can cancel everything wef the day you have declared, insurances after that are your problem irrespective or where you are going.



Just a note on something missing from the thread. You can pay a small fee to keep your permit alive for 4 years. We did and I am about to put that in to play and hoping that as suggested at the time re-igniting our C permits would be very straightforward.



Anyone out there been through this???



It should be straightforward, especially if you're returning to the same canton. If not, there may need to be correspondence between you and the canton/s to get the C permit issued in a new canton. The criteria for putting a permit on hold are very narrow: being sent to work abroad by your Swiss employer, military service or further education. Only these reasons are given in the Foreign Nationals Act. Anything else tends to start at a default "no" position so you have to make a REALLY good case to get a "yes".It should be straightforward, especially if you're returning to the same canton. If not, there may need to be correspondence between you and the canton/s to get the C permit issued in a new canton.
Blocking of the telephone line Hello, it's about the following case. I do work in an project an do know from that job an older colleague from Sweden with health probems . He has really big problems with his employer, his health and now with his phone.



The following facts: his employer terminated the job contract without notice in the proven sickness period. He did end up without payrolls for 4 months now.

He has turned to an lawyer and the meeting in court will be in 2 weeks. The lawyer is on Holiday and now his boss made somthing realy bad.



They (his employer) properly did give order to call within 2 weeks period of time 3X to telecommunications provider and blocked the number. 3 persons of that Company allegedly told this provider the number and phone was stolen.The co worker (the real owner of this number) re-blocked it all the time and informed the bodies to stop this.

My co-worker told me this and because of his bad german i called this provider last friday and told them that my co worker is the holder of this number. Proof slip i do have in my hand. It is not a Company Card, please do check the "Halter" of this phone number i told to this telecommunication provider in german.

After longer period of time but with good music on line they returned and told me that they will send to his legal adress an post letter and after this the legal owner of this number should call and establish an passport in order to prevent any mistakes in futur. On saturday this letter did arrive and my co worker made this. He did establish an code word.

On Monday his employer did call again, asked for handing out of the number but could not tell the code word. So the provider did stop communication.

Today the telecommunication provider did call him, but because of his bad german they agreed to call him later. They called again and my wife was on the line, tried to translate it for him. So the situation is realy funny like this



1. The provider says the lawyer of his employer demands the surrender of the phone number, the number is owned by the employer (they do claim).



2. The provider says that the holder provably is my colleague (Halterbescheinigung it is him since many years).



3. The provider is not the Laywer of my colleague and does have own interests.



4. In order to protect themself from claims of this employer the provider will block the number for the next period of time in order to check the situation.





I called them at 16:00 today back and asked in order to help my co-worker and they told me the same. Point 1 to 4 and the number stays blocked until reaction of their Lawyers. They adviced my Co worker (legal owner of this number) to inform an Laywer. But his Lawyer is in Holiday.







I am absolutly shocked about this how easy you can screw sombodies phone. How is it possible that an provider can block the phone number of an sick Person that easy?.





Question: Furthermore does anybody of you knows if the telecommunication law existing for checking when providers able to block phone numbers? In italy for example it is after 50 euros, or crime cases etc. In Germany 50 Euros too.

Seconde question: how this is able to discribe in legal language ?Is it coercion by the employer? it is a threat ?, What is it what he is doing? Switzerland does now have an "Mobbing", "Bossing" crime code etc.. for this what is it? i do feel somthin it must be criminal. Last edited by Gintoxiccc; 13.04.2016 at 19:36 .
After the Fourteenth Finance Commission award, aggregate transfers as a percentage of gross domestic product has increased, while grants as a percentage of GDP has declined. The centre is resorting to cess and surcharges that are not shared with the states. This would mean denial of revenue to states, which goes against the spirit of the Constitution. Further, the states have a reduced untied fi scal space, with the unions share in Centrally Sponsored Schemes in 201617 (BE) being reduced. Finally, in the absence of plan transfers, post 201718, the focus should be to develop a framework for non-fi nance commission grants to states which is predictable and certain.

Budget 201617 has made three important observations relating to central transfers to states. The first relates to the quantum jump in the devolution of taxes post the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) award and resultant fiscal autonomy to states. The second relates to restructuring of grants based on the revised funding pattern proposed by the Sub-group of Chief Ministers on the rationalisation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS). The third relates to effective outcome-based monitoring of implementation of schemes and doing away with the plan and non-plan expenditure distinction in the budget after the completion of the Twelfth Five Year Plan. This article analyses the likely implications of some of these proposals on the transfer of resources to states and on centrestate financial relations especially in the context of what we call the new framework for grants (NFG).

A brief overview of the changes in the system of transfer post the FFC award is critical to understand recent changes in centrestate transfers. The FFC recommended an increase in tax devolution to 42% of the divisible pool of taxes from 32% recommended by the Thirteenth Finance Commission (THFC). In order to accommodate this large increase in tax devolution, the union government in Budget 201516 restructured the flow of grants to states. This restructuring had three components: (i) for a set of schemes central support was withdrawn, (ii) for another set of schemes the union government changed the funding pattern, and (iii) for some schemes it continued with the existing arrangement of grants.1 The process of restructuring continued during 201516 and a subgroup of chief ministers was set up by the NITI Aayog to examine the rationalisation of CSS. Based on the recommendations of this subgroup, grants were further rationalised. The NFG is incorporated in Budget 201617. We examine the implications of enhanced tax devolution and NFG on the transfers to states and on the evolving centrestate financial relations.
Six towns in MaharashtraLonavla, Shirur, Deolali Pravara, Umred, Vengurla and Sangola, made remarkable achievements over the last one year in waste disposal and management. A combination of proactive and punitive measures ensured that waste management is seen as part of a larger set of social problems and community initiatives.

What does it take for a town to clean up its filth? One answergetting rid of public dustbins. An unusual and counterintuitive move is among the reasons why six small towns in Maharashtra have been able to effectively collect, segregate and manage waste.

Earlier this year, Lonavala and Shirur in Pune district, Sangola in Solapur, Deolali Pravara in Ahmednagar, Umred in Nagpur and Vengurla in Sindhudurg were felicitated by the state government for their remarkable achievements over the past year in cleaning up their towns.

Their success has stemmed from a combination of factors.

Initial Steps

First, it began with a pilot. A year and a half ago, on the back of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) announcement, consultations were held with officials from 338 councils in Maharashtra. Of these, 24 councils that had been performing well in terms of waste management were picked for a pilot project. We said, let us begin with the slum areas, said Meeta Rajivlochan, principal secretary and director of municipal administration, whose role in the crusade was crucial. But people thought they would be the most difficult to clean.

In January 2015, a bunch of councils pulled up their socks and plunged into the slums. By March 2015, there had been a visible improvement. People realised there was progress, said Rajivlochan. The task was to build confidence. Once they believed in it, residents started pitching in.

Since then each of these six towns has effected some astonishing achievements. The sizes of these towns varyfrom populations of about 15,000 to 60,000, but they have followed a broad set of similar practices. Karmcharis are being paid on time, toll free helplines have been set up, education programmes are afoot in schools, and that central totem of cleaning upthe dustbin has been consigned to the dustbin of ineffective practices.

Unlearning Old Ways

It works like this, each of the chief officers of the six benchmark councils explainedif there is a community bin in a residential area, people are likely to dump their household rubbish there any time of the day. As a result, such bins are invariably full, causing a stench and ensuring the area remains dirty.

So the councils decided they need to think out of the straitjacket of the bin. Residents were instead told there would be specific collection times when the vehicles would come around. They would then have to hand over their separated wet and dry waste to the vehicle doing the rounds. (In Sangola for instance, the council went one step ahead and handed out separate bins for wet and dry garbage in hundreds of homes.)

Into this new paradigm, the officials built in a self-correcting mechanism. Residents were enjoined to inform the council in case the vehicle did not show up on a particular day. Offending contractors would then not receive their wages. Toll free lines and complaint numbers were set up, including the possibility as in Lonavla of complaining via Whatsapp.

In some cases the councils increased the number of collection vehicles if they could, but staff numbers remained broadly the same.

Each of the garbage collection vehicles was also fitted with a global positioning system (GPS), to ensure they went to the spot on time. If there was a complaint, payments would not be made. These micro measures have gone a long way in impacting the cleanliness and culture of these towns by ensuring accountability and resident-centric vigilance.

Dealing with Open Defecation

Each of these councils followed some core principles in their quest for cleaning up their towns. But each also added its own ingenious twist to the proceedings. Public shaming was one device used to try and root out the practice of open defecation. This was done by putting up names of the offenders in the local square, or printing their name in the local newspapers. Ramakant Dake, chief officer of Sangola, found these measures while somewhat effective were not good enough.

First they got the toilets cleaned every four hours in the morning. That did not work. Then they brought regular water supply and extra bulbs into the public toilets. It still did not work. It was about the mindset, he said. People would take their iPhones and get into their cars to go to openly defecate.

Passive aggressive measures like distributing roses were tried but it seemed to be ineffective. Then the officials innovated with a band. Every offender would be chased back home with karmcharis playing and singing behind him, to inform the village of the shame. That too, was not enough. Then Dake moved to file first information reports (FIRs)200 of themdetaining people at the police station for a few hours. This largely did the trick. The cultural change trickled in.

This is the specific story of Sangola, but other officers narrated varying versions of similar stories. In all councils, staff moved to build more public toilets and/or individual toilets in every home.

Lonavla for instance put in place 120 new public toilet seats whilst ensuring regular water supply to the public toilets. Vengurla set up mobile toilets in public spaces. In Shirur, existing public toilets were cleaned up and renovated following complaints that proper doors or regular water supply was not there.

Councils were also quick to introduce elements of shamingeither by putting names of offenders on posters, banners or in the local newspaper. Fining also helped, as did detaining people at the police station.

Banning Plastic

One of the old villains that come in the way of clean up schemes is the seemingly innocuous but totally potent plastic carry bag. Each of these councils banned plastic bags thinner than 50 microns.

At Umred for instance, in over a series of raids officers seized 79 kg of plastic from retailers and sellers. Such people could, and were, fined. If we can control them, we realised we can control the problem, said Vinod Jalak, chief officer of Deolali Pravara, where 41 people were made to pay a Rs 50 fine for the offence.

Those defecating, those using plastic carry bags, those failing to separate their garbageeach of these acts could invite a fine. Using sections of their local municipal bye laws or the Bombay Police Act, the councils found that legal action helped where awareness drives and public shaming failed to do the job.

Incentivising Staff

In many of these councils, officers said the population had ballooned but commensurate staff numbers had not increased over the years. One small step to start with was handing the existing staff better equipmentgloves, mask and septic equipment. Another move was by offering them medical insurance or medical check-ups. In Shirur, all pending arrears were paid off.

First we awakened our staff by capacity building, said Ramdas Kokare, chief officer of Vengurla. We said, with door to door garbage collection, our work can be less.

As the culture of cleanliness has set in across these councils, work for the staff, which might have required serious investment of energy and time at the start, has now a better payoff with residents cooperating and easing their jobs in the long run. When the process started they thought there work had increased, said Thorat. But when peoples attitudes changed, they realised their work had actually decreased.

Other Innovations

Each of these councils followed a rough mix of most of these methods in terms of investing in new toilets, regularising garbage collection and imposing fines. But each one also tried something unique to itself to deal with its own circumstances and specific challenges. In Vengurla for instance, a six-acre dumping ground normally strewn with rubbish was cleared up and converted for most part into a playground and picnic spot. Only 10% of the spot is now a dumping ground, while composting is done in one part and a green zone created, where cashews, mangoes and coconuts have been planted. Not just that, the plastic waste is crushed and has been integrated into road development as a material.

In Shirur, there is a new sewerage treatment plant which processes the water from the drains before it is let out into the river. In Deolali Pravara, biogas is being generated from the waste collected in two schools, and now hoteliers have also approached the council for such a facility.

In Sangola, those who owned pigs were enjoined to keep them separately and not let them roam around, else they would be killed by council staff. After five pigs were killed, their owners realised they meant business. But if the pigs were not allowed to roam around to forage for food, how would they be maintained? Here the council hit upon an ideawhy not direct all the waste from hotels for pig feed? This effectively helped link the hotel business with the owners, and deal with rubbish in a unique manner.

Similarly, in Lonavla, a hill station which sees a large tourist influx, several hotels have now started composting some of their own rubbish.

Role of the Leadership

For the councils, the political leadership was indifferent at first, to cleaning up. In some cases, contracts were given out on the basis of political ties, considerably hampering a clean system and clean town. In such cases contract clauses were created in such a manner as to disqualify those errant contractors.

Politicians in any event, did not see how cleanliness was necessarily a political issue. Once the local political leadership saw that the municipal staff was taking the initiative seriously, they joined in and gave their wholehearted support, said Rajivlochan. When the initial results came in, they realised that this would yield rich political dividends.

Council chiefs said that political support was now strong, with clear results to show. The chiefs were themselves proactive, going on rounds from 6 am with various staff, personally crusading for the cause. They also pointed out that Rajivlochans drive gave the movement some shape. Officers said she was one of the first principal secretaries to actually come into the field and work from there on.

Aside from this there were regular training programmes for chief officers and other levels of staff members.

Looking Ahead

Residents have quickly realised the benefits of waste segregation and disposal. For instance, in Umred, from 3,000 cases of water-borne diseases, the figure was down to 1,200 last year. Dengue used to be a problem, but this year we didnt have a single case, said Vijay Sarnaik, the chief officer.

Councils have made an effort to build the next generation of waste conscious residents through extensive school-level education programmes as well. Students are asked to take pledges on segregation and cleanliness. In several schools in Lonavla composting pits have been started. Our target is that what we do should be sustainable, said Ganesh Shete, the chief officer of the council.

In other councils, more public toilets and individual toilets are in the process of being built, more composting efforts are underway and more individual home bins being ordered. Although the fines system is in place, the need for fining residents has come down as people increasingly toe the line.

The entire experiment has further shown that its the little things and not the big costs that can effect change. Small things can make a difference, said Tejaswini Deshmukh, Buldwana coordinator of Stree Mukti Sanghatana, who was a member of the evaluation committee that prepared a report on these councils. Others can also be successful.

What these six have been able to achieve is now something that is sought to be repeated in other places. Such things are not difficult to do, but require political will, said Rajivlochan. These six have shown great results. Now we will try to replicate this and scale it up.
ETAN stands in solidarity with Indonesia's LGBT community

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) strongly condemns recent and ongoing attacks against lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people in Indonesia. ETAN stands with those Indonesian organizations and activists opposing all forms of discrimination and violence against LGBT people.



There has been a shocking rise in hate speech and homophobic actions in Indonesia. In recent months, anti-LGBT policies have spread and members of the LGBT community face ongoing harassment and death threats. Statements attacking LGBT people have come from all levels of government and include education officials calling for a ban on LGBT groups on school campuses and Indonesia's Vice-President Jusuf Kalla asking UNDP to defund LGBT organizations. Indonesia's leadership is ignoring its responsibility to include and protect all of its citizens by allowing this environment of intimidation and hatred to continue and spread.

These courageous voices of Indonesian organizations and individuals opposing discrimination and violence against LGBT people must be joined by others in Indonesia and throughout the world. Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, qualified his call to respect the rights of LGBT people with pseudo-science, when he added that homosexuality is the result of a chromosomal condition that requires "curing." Pandjaitan's statement was followed in February 2016 by the Indonesian Psychiatric Association's classification of homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder, another sign of the heightening of homophobic attitudes in the country. (The World Health Organization stopped listing homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder in 1990.)

The attacks on LGBT people highlight the growing deterioration of human rights throughout Indonesia. Journalists have been arrested and environmental activists murdered. Religious minorities face growing threats and discussions of past human rights violations, including the 1965/66 massacre of hundreds of thousands, have been canceled under official and unofficial threats.



These courageous voices of Indonesian organizations and individuals opposing discrimination and violence against LGBT people must be joined by others in Indonesia and throughout the world.



We call on President Joko Widodo to take immediate action to end the threatening anti-gay rhetoric and show leadership in protecting the safety and rights of LGBT people. Widodo was elected on a platform that included a respect for human rights. He must condemn the discriminatory statements and policies of those in his administration. He must also ensure that perpetrators of violence against the LGBT community are prosecuted.

Indonesia's Communication and Information Ministry ordered a ban on LGBT themed emojis. At least one social media platform, LINE Indonesia, removed them. See also




Professor of Political Science Gert Tinggaard Svendsen from Aarhus BSS and Professor Gunnar Lind Haase Svendsen from the University of Southern Denmark offer their explanation for how trust creates economic benefits in their book "Trust, Social Capital and the Scandinavian Welfare State - Explaining the Flight of the Bumblebee" (Edward Elgar Publishing).

"The whole book came about because we were puzzled by why Denmark is so wealthy. If you look at the traditional production factors, education may serve to explain approximately half of a country's wealth. A quarter of a country's wealth stems from its physical capital such as North Sea oil, factories and bridges. It is, however, difficult to explain where the last quarter stems from. To explain the Danish wealth, you therefore need to look beyond the normal factors. And here trust is an obvious choice," says Professor of Political Science at Aarhus BSS Gert Tinggaard Svendsen.

Trust creates economic benefits

According to the researchers behind the book, trust may boost the economy as the presence of trust allows for things to be done cheaper. The transaction costs are lower when there is a high level of trust, as verbal agreements are sufficient rather than expensive written contracts.

"You could say that the higher the level of trust, the easier it is to cooperate, because the risk of being cheated is low. The Scandinavian countries have some of the highest levels of trust, and this is beneficial to the economy," says Gert Tinggaard Svendsen.

The high level of trust also allows for a universal welfare state like the one we have in Denmark. Here, a precondition is the existence of a certain level of trust. You must be able to trust that you are not the only one working, paying taxes and contributing to society, but that your fellow citizens also do so if they are able to.

The other precondition is that you must be able to trust that the authorities spend our tax money sensibly and actually pay us back in terms of education, health care, roads and bridges.

The system invites cheating

Living in the trusting Danish society does have its drawbacks, however. Because the country offers such high social security benefits, the welfare system very much invites cheating.

"It might be a completely rational strategy to simply lean back and be a passive receiver of different kinds of welfare benefits," says Gert Tinggaard Svendsen.

The professor emphasises how important it is that the politicians work to ensure that the number of free-wheeling people is kept at a minimum. If there are too many of such people in a society, financing the welfare state becomes a problem.

To avoid cheating, it is, according to the researchers, important to ensure good access to the Danish labour market - also for low-skilled people and immigrants. Also, it must pay to work.

The social security benefits should not become too high compared to what you can earn by working. The system must be designed in such a way that people are rewarded for doing the 'right' thing," says Gert Tinggaard Svendsen.

Control is costly

Another very important aspect in connection with the future welfare, is that control does not repress trust. "Right now we are lucky enough to be living in a society of trust. But if we allow control to take over, the risk is that it represses trust. 100 per cent control equals 0 per cent trust, and this would destroy the welfare society," says Gert Tinggaard Svendsen.

In relation to the economy, Denmark's competitiveness is based on how good Danes are at showing trust. Because Danes have the highest levels of trust in the world, we also have the least control. This allows us to save money on all the costs related to control that most other countries have to deal with.

"In the US alone, the costs of making a deal are often enormous. It's incredible the lengths people will go to in order not to be cheated. Lawyers are involved, and so are contracts that are several meters long. So control is costly. If you can avoid some of these costs, you can allocate resources to other more productive initiatives," says Gert

One example is the New Public Management tradition, which tends to measure everything and everyone all the time. In the healthcare sector, filling out forms makes the hands of healthcare employees grow "cold" when they ought to be "warm" by looking after the patients.

Avenging the system

Examples of New Public Management are found in the healthcare sector, where a single case with a home help may led to stricter control with all home helps throughout the country, because the politicians want to demonstrate their ability to take action.

"Setting up a control system to monitor all home helps costs a fortune. Instead, you should address the few people who represent a problem, but there is no reason to distrust the rest who are doing their job. I don't think that all politicians are aware of the importance of trust and the idea that control can repress trust," says Gert Tinggaard Svendsen.

When people feel distrusted, they will secrete the aggressivity hormone testosterone, and this leads to a desire for revenge. This may lead to employees who work less, take all the sick days to which they are entitled, and do as little as possible.

"Whereas before you might have enjoyed your job, were trusted and wanted to perform well at work, you might start feeling the opposite. In this way, mistrust may backfire," Gert Tinggaard Svendsen explains.

Denmark is the land of opportunity

In international society research, you find the expression "Getting to Denmark". Denmark has the highest level of trust and the lowest level of corruption, so naturally many countries in the world would like to get to where we are. There is no clear recipe for how to achieve a society such as the Danish, but a good suggestion is anti-corruption initiatives, as a high level of trust is linked to low corruption.

The world record in trust, our welfare society and good economy make Denmark the land of opportunity. As professor Robert Putnam from Harvard puts it in his new book "Our Kids", this is no longer the case with the US. If you have the "wrong" parents in the US today, you have no chance of climbing the ladder, he says.

But you still have the chance to do so in Denmark. In principle, you have the opportunity to do well in Denmark regardless of who your parents are, provided that you can be bothered and are talented. As long as there are well-functioning schools, clubs, associations and public libraries, you have every opportunity provided you have the abilities.

"We are lucky! It would be nice if we could keep our two gold medals for having the most trust and the least corruption in the world," Gert Tinggaard Svendsen concludes.

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Aquaculture, if practiced sustainably, could greatly increase Kenya's food supply, but the techniques the industry uses to produce feed for fish farms -- such as dynamite fishing and trawling -- are ecologically destructive. In Switzerland earlier this month, two Brown students and their collaborators received a $10,000 international prize for their innovative idea for an alternative.

Called Kulisha, which means "to feed" in Swahili, the project produces fish feed made from black soldier fly larvae as an alternative to feed made from wild-caught fish. The team, including environmental science undergraduates Maya Faulstich-Hon and Kenya native Viraj Sikand, proposes to build a business of raising the larvae -- which eat organic waste -- and processing them into a fish feed that can then be sold to fish farmers. Raising flies that are native to the country, eat waste, and don't spread disease is sustainable, Sikand said.

The idea was convincing to the judges at the Thought for Food Challenge, which started with nearly 500 teams and came down to 10 finalists who pitched their concepts to judges in Zurich on April 1 and 2. Kulisha, which also includes Lunalo Cletus from the University of Nairobi, Arjun Paunrana of UCLA, and Eric Katz of the University of Michigan, was selected as the overall winner.

This summer, the team will return to Kenya with the award and other grants they have received to focus on implementation.

"The TFF prize money, along with the other grant money, will be used to build a production facility, start a colony, and begin testing prototypes." Faulstich-Hon said. "In addition, we've partnered with a major tilapia farm, and by the end of the summer we'll start trialing our product with them."

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Brazilian researchers from the D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) have demonstrated the harmful effects of ZIKA virus (ZIKV) in human neural stem cells, neurospheres and brain organoids. Since ZIKV has been gradually established as a direct cause of central nervous system malformations, this study help to elucidate the etiological nature of the recently increasing number of microcephaly cases in Brazil.

This paper will be published online by the journal Science on Sunday, 10 April, 2016.

Scientists headed by Dr. Stevens Rehen differentiated human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into neural stem cells and into further complex tridimensional structures, known as neurospheres and brain organoids. Neurospheres and brain organoids represent excellent models to investigate developmental neuropathologies, as they can outline, in vitro, several characteristics of the fetal brain formation.

In the present study conducted at IDOR in conjunction with UFRJ, the research team observed that ZIKV infects human-derived iPS neural cells, neurospheres and cerebral organoids causing cell death, malformations and reducing growth by 40%. The researchers also compared these results with the ones generated with Dengue Virus (DENV2). Even though DENV2 infected the cells such as ZIKV, there were no damaging outcomes registered to the neural cells, neurospheres or organoids.

Dr. Patricia Garcez, Assistant Professor at UFRJ and first author of the work, point out that "these unique results may unravel some key features of ZIKV infection in the developing brain".

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Reference: Patricia P. Garcez, Erick Correia Loiola, Rodrigo Madeiro da Costa, Luiza M. Higa, Pablo Trindade, Rodrigo Delvecchio, Juliana Minardi Nascimento, Rodrigo Brindeiro, Amilcar Tanuri, Stevens K. Rehen (2016). Zika virus impairs growth in human neurospheres and brain organoids. Science, April 10.

About IDOR

D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) is a nonprofit organization which aims to promote scientific and technological progress in healthcare through research and education. IDOR was established in 2010 in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since then, the institute is responsible for designing, planning and overseeing most of the educational and research activities conducted intramurally by its sponsor, one of the most important hospital groups in Brazil, the Rede D'Or Sao Luiz. Our main areas of research are neurosciences, oncology, translational and clinical research.
Galaxies, it seems, are sociable animals and they like to gather together in large groups, known as clusters. Actually it's gravity that holds the galaxies in the cluster close together as a single entity, with the pull of gravity arising from large amounts of dark matter, as well as from the galaxies we can see. Clusters can contain anything between about 100 and 1000 galaxies and can be between about 5 and 30 million light-years across.

Galaxy clusters do not come in neatly defined shapes so it is difficult to determine exactly where they begin and end. However, astronomers have estimated that the centre of the Fornax Cluster is in the region of 65 million light-years from Earth. What is more accurately known is that it contains nearly sixty large galaxies, and a similar number of smaller dwarf galaxies. Galaxy clusters like this one are commonplace in the Universe and illustrate the powerful influence of gravity over large distances as it draws together the enormous masses of individual galaxies into one region.

At the centre of this particular cluster, in the middle of the three bright fuzzy blobs on the left side of the image, is what is known as a cD galaxy -- a galactic cannibal. cD galaxies like this one, called NGC 1399, look similar to elliptical galaxies but are bigger and have extended, faint envelopes [1]. This is because they have grown by swallowing smaller galaxies drawn by gravity towards the centre of the cluster [2].

Indeed, there is evidence that this process is happening before our eyes -- if you look closely enough. Recent work by a team of astronomers led by Enrichetta Iodice (INAF - Osservatorio di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy) [3], using data from ESO's VST, has revealed a very faint bridge of light between NGC 1399 and the smaller galaxy NGC 1387 to its right. This bridge, which has not been seen before (and is too faint to show up in this picture), is somewhat bluer than either galaxy, indicating that it consists of stars created in gas that was drawn away from NGC 1387 by the gravitational pull of NGC 1399. Despite there being little evidence for ongoing interactions in the Fornax Cluster overall, it seems that NGC 1399 at least is still feeding on its neighbours.

Towards the bottom right of this image is the large barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365. This is a striking example of its type, the prominent bar passing through the central core of the galaxy, and the spiral arms emerging from the ends of the bar. In keeping with the nature of cluster galaxies, there is more to NGC 1365 than meets the eye. It is classified as a Seyfert Galaxy, with a bright active galactic nucleus also containing a supermassive black hole at its centre.

This spectacular image was taken by the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatoryin Chile. At 2.6 metres in diameter, the VST is by no means a large telescope by today's standards, but it has been designed specifically to conduct large-scale surveys of the sky. What sets it apart is its huge corrected field of view and 256-megapixel camera, called OmegaCAM, which was specially developed for surveying the sky. With this camera the VST can produce deep images of large areas of sky quickly, leaving the really big telescopes -- like ESO's Very Large Telescope VLT -- to explore the details of individual objects.

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Notes

[1] The image captures only the central regions of the Fornax Cluster; it extends over a larger region of sky.

[2] The central galaxy is often the brightest galaxy in a cluster, but in this case the brightest galaxy, NGC 1316 , is situated at the edge of the cluster, just outside the area covered by this image. Also known as Fornax A, it is one of the most powerful sources of [radio waves] -- in the sky. The radio waves, which can be seen by specialised telescopes sensitive to this kind of radiation, emanate from two enormous lobes extending far into space either side of the visible galaxy. The energy that powers the radio emission comes from a supermassive black hole lurking at the centre of the galaxy which is emitting two opposing jets of [high-energy particles]. These jets produce the radio waves when they plough into the [rarefied gas] which occupies the space between galaxies in the cluster.

[3] "The Fornax Deep Survey with VST. I. The extended and diffuse stellar halo of NGC1399 out to 192 kpc" by E. Iodice, M. Capaccioli, A. Grado , L. Limatola, M. Spavone, N.R. Napolitano, M. Paolillo, R. F. Peletier, M. Cantiello, T. Lisker, C. Wittmann, A. Venhola , M. Hilker , R. D'Abrusco, V. Pota, and P. Schipani has been published in the Astrophysical Journal.

More information

ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".

Links

Research paper - http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1612/eso1612a.pdf

[Photos of the VST - http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?adv=&subject_name=VLT%20Survey%20Telescope

Press releases involving the VST - http://www.eso.org/public/news/archive/search/?adv=&facility=62

Contacts

Richard Hook

ESO Public Information Officer

Garching bei Munchen, Germany

Tel: +49 89 3200 6655

Cell: +49 151 1537 3591

Email: rhook@eso.org
A new genus of flea and its five new species have been described in an article in the Journal of Medical Entomology. Four of the species were collected on the island of Sulawesi and the fifth was collected in the Indonesian province of West Papua on the island of New Guinea. The discovery by David K. Mardon and Lance A. Durden provides a window on the history, both prehistoric and recent, of Indonesia and illustrates the importance of scientific collections.

According to Dr. Durden of Georgia Southern University, male flea genitalia is arguably "the most complex genitalia of any organism and consists of a bedazzling array of uniquely shaped plates, rods, and spines that connect with the female of the same species during mating like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle." It is this complex anatomy that led to the discovery.

The fleas described in their paper had certain genital features not found in any known genera, prompting the authors to define a new genus they named Musserellus in honor of Dr. Guy Musser, who collected some of the specimens in Sulawesi in the 1970s. The newly described species include Musserellus vanpeeneni, Musserellus wattsi, Musserellus whitei, Musserellus marshalli, and Musserellus dunneti.

All of the new species are associated with rats and other rodents in the family Muridae.

The full article, "Musserellus gen. nov., and Five New Species of Fleas (Siphonaptera: Stivaliidae) From Murid Rodents in Sulawesi and West Papua, Indonesia," is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjw012.

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 more than 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.

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A moth caterpillar called the Mexican rice borer (Eoreuma loftini) has taken a heavy toll on sugar cane and rice crops in Texas, and has moved into Louisiana, Florida, and other Gulf Coast states. Now a new article in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management provides information on the biology and life cycle of the pest, and offers suggestions about how to manage them.

The Mexican rice borer was first described in Arizona in 1917, but it drew little attention until it arrived in southern Texas in 1980. Within just a couple of years of its appearance there, it became the primary pest of sugar cane, according to Julien Beuzelin, an assistant professor at Louisiana State University and lead author of the JIPM paper.

Since then, the insect has moved north and east along the Gulf Coast at a rate of about 15 miles per year.

"Out of the blue in 2012, it was detected for the first time in central Florida and is now established there too," Beuzelin said.

The Mexican rice borer causes damage to a variety of grasses, extending beyond sugar cane and rice to sorghum, corn, and non-crop grasses. In fact, it will attack any grasses that have stalks large enough for them to burrow into. The larvae hatch from eggs laid on leaves and stalks, and the caterpillars crawl onto the green parts of the plant and start feeding. After the second or third molt, they burrow into the culm.

Such damage could result in many millions of dollars of crop loss. One study suggested that in a worst-case scenario, the insect could cause more than $40 million a year in rice losses, and more than $200 million losses in sugar cane in Louisiana alone.

Growers mainly rely on a diamide pesticide known as chlorantraniliprole, which works well against both Mexican rice borers and another rice pest called the rice water weevil (Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus), but chlorantraniliprole works in much the same way as another diamide that might have its registration cancelled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"Because chlorantraniliprole has the same mode of action, the entomological community is afraid this might happen with chlorantraniliprole as well," Beuzelin said. "We don't expect it to be taken off the market, but we just don't know."

Other control methods beyond pesticides are available, although many need additional study. An example is to grow resistant varieties of crop grasses, which often work well to deter pests.

Growers can also adjust the cutting height from the usual 16 inches to 8 inches, essentially cutting away stems that are infested with larvae.

"This can decrease the number of Mexican rice borers in the stubble," Beuzelin said.

Another control method is to plant early. According to field experiments, later plantings (in mid-May vs. mid-March), as well as ratoon cropping, have increased infestations.

Soil amendments, particularly silicon, may also be helpful.

"This is ongoing work that we are doing, but we think the addition of silicon may be a cheap way to make rice more resistant to rice borers," Beuzelin said.

While he encourages research on control measures beyond pesticides, Beuzelin is also interested in the Mexican rice borer as a model for landscape-wide management.

"Instead of just taking a management approach on a field basis, it might be beneficial to manage this insect over a wider area," Beuzelin said. "I think the Mexican rice borer would be a good model for such landscape-wide management studies. As an entomologist, this makes the Mexican rice borer very interesting."

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The full article, "Biology and Management of the Mexican Rice Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) in Rice in the United States," is available at http://jipm.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/1/7.

The Journal of Integrated Pest Management 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 more than 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.
Until now, no large-scale scientific studies had been done into the impact of the economic crisis on homeless people. A study by the University of the Basque Country has explained how, between 2008 and 2012, the employment situation, together with cuts to certain state benefits, has put the brakes on the reintegration of homeless people into society, especially if they are foreign.

The University of the Basque Country has analysed the impact of the economic crisis on homeless people as a group: those people who are suffering one of the harshest, most severe situations of social exclusion.

In the study, the paper's main author, Gorka Moreno Marquez, presents the findings of two studies, one carried out before the crisis (2008) and the other in today's context, comparing the two. The paper is published in the European Journal of Social Work.

"We are observing a rise in the number of homeless people as a consequence of the crisis. Although some of the group's characteristics are stable, others have changed. Therefore, difficulties accessing the jobs market and the cuts to certain financial aid are causing increases to the duration of the process of integration into society", the scientist told Sinc.

The research was carried out using data from two studies in the historical territory of Biscay. "Although some of these conclusions could owe to the context and the particularities of this geographical area, the majority can be extrapolated to the country as a whole and to the phenomenon of homelessness in general" adds Moreno Marquez.

The launch pad to integration, ever further away

Before the economic crisis, it was estimated that there were around 260 people in the historical territory of Biscay who spent their nights on the streets or at some service for homeless people.

To arrive at this figure, a register was first made of the homeless people who attended hostels, canteens or day centres. Around 220 people were registered through this activity. Another 30 or 40 people were added to this figure according to an estimate made by the street team.

"The vast majority of these are men: 91.5% compared to 8.5% who are women. At the European level, it should be highlighted that although they are still a minority, the number of women in this group is always rising," said the researcher.

To take one example, in France in the late 90s, women made up 37% of homeless people aged under 25. The average age is 36; 30% are younger than 30, 31% are aged between 30 and 39 and people older than 40 make up 39%: a relatively young population.

In the second study period, carried out in 2012, the number of homeless people in Biscay was between 400 and 430. "This rise is largely due to relapses in the process of social insertion of people who had already been in this situation," he states.

Immigrants are hit the hardest

The paper corroborates the theory that extreme situations have not as a result of the crisis extended to people who were previously integrated into society. The study's authors attribute this to a social and family network, which is able to overcome the harshest conditions of social exclusion.

However, they state that there is an ever-rising number of foreign homeless people who suffer from individual problems. "These are particularly related to mental illness, and to a lesser extent to drug use," the scientist stresses.

This fact is a break from the pattern of the period before the crisis, and appears to indicate that the recession is creating a niche in this group of people, particularly as a consequence of rising frustration with longer and more difficult social insertion processes.

"The process by which these insertion process are lengthening is being fed into by cuts to certain social aid such as income support, which used to reach some sectors of homeless people. Legal changes such as the requirement to have been registered as a resident for three years instead of one have made it more difficult to access aid; this especially affects the immigrant population" Moreno Marquez concludes.

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References: Gorka Moreno Marquez. "El impacto de la crisis sobre las personas sin hogar. rupturas y continuidades en un contexto de cambio. El caso de Bizkaia". European Journal of Social Work
This explains why zinc-oxide (ZnO) dye-sensitised solar cells have not yet met expectations. The results evolved from collaboration between Monash University (Australia) and Joint Lab partners Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the Freie Universitat Berlin (FU Berlin). They have now been published online by Nature in the open access magazine Scientific Reports.

Converting the energy of the sun into electricity and solar hydrogen can be achieved with a whole series of materials. One important class of organic solar cells uses dyes applied to a semiconductor material like titanium dioxide (TiO2), for example. The dye molecules function as a kind of "translator" for the solar energy. They capture the light and inject electrons as free charges carriers into the TiO2 resulting in current flow. However, TiO2 is far from ideal and zinc oxide (ZnO) should actually be more suitable as an electrode material. This is because the charge carriers are far more mobile in ZnO, so they should flow more quickly after charge separation has occurred. In addition, nanostructures that capture sunlight especially efficiently can be produced in simple fashion using ZnO.

Detailed investigation of excited states with ultrashort Laser pulses

Nevertheless, constructing ZnO solar cells that better those of TiO2 had not been accomplished thus far. Now a team headed by Emad Aziz has for the first time directly observed the cause for this and investigated it in detail at the "Joint Ultrafast Dynamics Lab in Solutions and at Interfaces". The Joint Lab is being operated by HZB together with FU Berlin. It has a complete array of state-of-the-art laser instruments at its disposal, including a time-resolved photoelectron spectrometer that can generate ultra-short XUV pulses with duration below 45 femtoseconds. These ultra-short light pulses enable the temporal as well as energetic development of excited states to be tracked on ultra-short timescales.

Interface states as traps for charge carriers

"Our measurements show directly for the first time that charge carriers are temporarily trapped by formation of an interface state between the dye and the semiconductor boundary layer. As a result, they are no longer immediately available as free charge carriers", explains Mario Borgwardt, doctoral student on Aziz' team. These "trapped" electrons within the interface stay put longer. This increases the probability that they are "lost" again through recombination. That in turn reduces the efficiency level of the solar cell.

The samples for the experiment were made available by Prof. Leone Spiccia's team from Monash University, Australia. A fruitful collaboration evolved in the course of Spiccia's visit last year as part of his Helmholtz International Fellowship award from the Helmholtz Association that has contributed in a fundamental manner to the success of this project.

Helpful hints for the design of materials for energy conversion or storage

Aziz explains the importance of the results: "The work has led to a better understanding of the processes at the boundary layer between dye molecule and semiconductor. We have therefore been able to understand how dye and semiconductor materials communicate with one another. This enables us now to devise approaches for improving the communication in a direct way. That is important not only for the design of dye-sensitised solar cells, but also in order to be able to develop systems of materials for photocatalytic generation of hydrogen for storing solar energy as hydrogen fuel."

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The results are published in Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 24422 (2016), doi:10.1038/srep24422 Charge Transfer Dynamics at Dye-Sensitized ZnO and TiO2 Interfaces Studied by Ultrafast XUV Photoelectron Spectroscopy. Mario Borgwardt, Martin Wilke, Thorsten Kampen, Sven Mahl, Manda Xiao, Leone Spiccia, Kathrin M. Lange, Igor Yu. Kiyan & Emad F. Aziz
Accountable care organizations that joined the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) when it launched in 2012 achieved modest savings while maintaining or improving performance on measures of quality of patient care in 2013, the first full year of the program, researchers at Harvard Medical School found in the first rigorous examination of this key health care payment reform program. These early adopters lowered spending by 1.4 percent in 2013 relative to a control group of non-ACO providers in the same areas, which represents a $238 million reduction in spending.

These savings provide more evidence of early promising results from accountable care organization initiatives in Medicare, of which the MSSP is the largest. But the results also tell a more complex story about the pattern of savings across different types and cohorts of ACOs. The findings are published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

ACOs are groups of health care providers who agree to provide care to a population of patients under a global budget known as a benchmark. ACOs that hold spending below the benchmark and perform well on measures of quality of care share in the savings. In contrast with other ACO programs such as the Pioneer model, MSSP participants are not required to reimburse Medicare if spending exceeds the benchmark. The first two cohorts of provider groups (220 in total) entered the MSSP in mid-2012 or at the beginning of 2013. Since then, the program has expanded and currently includes over 430 participants.

While the ACOs that joined in 2012 cut spending by $238 million, the next cohort of ACOs that joined in 2013 achieved no savings in their first full year in the program, suggesting that the early success of the first participants may not be replicated by the subsequent waves of ACOs that have joined the MSSP. In addition, because Medicare paid out $244 million in shared-savings bonuses to ACOs in the 2012 cohorts, the lower spending in that cohort did not constitute net savings to Medicare.

"These results suggest that ACOs with no downside risk can achieve savings, but that savings to Medicare and society may be slow to develop," said J. Michael McWilliams, the Warren Alpert Associate Professor of Health Care Policy at HMS and lead author of the study. "But the incentives for ACOs to lower spending are currently very weak, so savings may accelerate if the incentives are strengthened."

In particular, the current method for setting an ACO's benchmark diminishes its incentives to save. Specifically, if an ACO lowers spending now, it is penalized with a lower benchmark later. According to the authors, severing the link between an ACO's benchmark and its previous savings could go a long way toward rewarding ACOs adequately for curbing wasteful practices and allowing the returns necessary for ACOs to invest in more efficient systems of care.

The investigators also found that independent primary care groups participating in the MSSP achieved significantly greater savings than hospital-integrated groups.

"Some have presumed that forming a large hospital system that owns a lot of outpatient practices is a prerequisite for ACO success," McWilliams said. "We do not find this to be the case."

One reason for this finding, the authors note, is that independent physician groups have stronger incentives to prevent hospitalizations than hospital-owned groups, since their shared-savings bonuses from doing so are not offset by foregone organizational profits from the reduction in hospital care.

Finally, the authors found that ACOs in the MSSP with high spending for their region achieved greater savings than ACOs with spending below the regional average. This suggests that ACOs with more opportunities to cut spending had an easier time doing so. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed transitioning to a system in which an ACO's benchmark would be primarily based on average spending in its region. Because the participation of high-spending ACOs in the voluntary MSSP is particularly valuable for lowering overall spending in Medicare, the authors caution against moving to such regional benchmarks too quickly. Doing so could prompt ACOs with high spending for their region to leave the program, thereby diminishing program-wide savings.

"These early results are encouraging overall," said McWilliams, who is also a practicing general internist and HMS associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "But building on the initial success of ACO models in Medicare will require stronger incentives and rigorous evaluations to identify groups of systematically successful ACOs whose organizational models and strategies can be disseminated."

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This research was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (P01 AG032952 and F30 AG044106-01A1) and from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.

Harvard Medical School has more than 7,500 full-time faculty working in 10 academic departments located at the School's Boston campus or in hospital-based clinical departments at 15 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Hebrew SeniorLife, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Children's Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and VA Boston Healthcare System.
A review of blood samples for nearly 5,000 patients seen at The Johns Hopkins Hospital Emergency Department suggests that federal guidelines for hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening may be missing up to a quarter of all cases and argues for updated universal screening.

A report on the study is published online ahead of print in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Currently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends one-time HCV testing for all adults born between 1945 and 1965, or for those with risk factors such as injection drug use, HIV or use of clotting factors. But up to one-quarter of infections could remain undiagnosed, according to results of the new study, and the authors say that universal one-time testing of all U.S. adults seeking care at inner-city emergency rooms might identify many more people who have the virus, getting them into management and treatment. Better screening would also reduce the risk of spreading the infection to others.

In November 2015, The Johns Hopkins Hospital expanded its testing for HCV to all eligible Emergency Department adults 18 and older who have their blood drawn as part of routine clinical care and are not known to be HCV antibody-positive. Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center adopted this expanded testing protocol in February 2016. The Johns Hopkins team specifically found that nearly 14 percent of patients among the 5,000 tested positive for HCV, one-third of whom were unaware they were infected.

"Hpatitis C has a very long clinical arc, so if you get infected, you may not have obvious signs of illness for five to 10 years. Ultimately, it eats away at the liver in many people and can cause liver cancer," says senior study author Thomas C. Quinn, M.D., professor of medicine and pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "This is an infection that can now be cured if detected early, rendering people noninfectious and thereby preventing the dire consequences that are associated with the virus. However, we found a large proportion of undocumented, undiagnosed hepatitis C infection in the population attending this ED."

Many people with risk factors like injection drug use don't disclose their risk information to emergency department staff, so universal testing, "in addition to the CDC recommendations, is the only way to identify as many HCV infections as possible," adds lead study author Yu-Hsiang Hsieh, Ph.D., an associate professor in Johns Hopkins' Department of Emergency Medicine.

"We found high prevalence rates of HCV even in young adult patients, suggesting we need to expand testing beyond the baby boomer cohort," Hsieh says. "Urban EDs should consider expanding CDC HCV testing recommendations to permit more robust identification of patients with unknown HCV status."

For the study, the researchers examined blood samples from 4,713 patients older than 17 presenting to The Johns Hopkins Hospital's Emergency Department between June and August 2013. Of these patients, 652 (13.8 percent) were HCV antibody-positive, meaning they either had HCV currently or at a prior time, and 204 (31.3 percent) of those who tested positive had undocumented HCV infection. Patients born between 1945 and 1965 had an HCV prevalence of about 25 percent compared with adults born outside this range, who had an HCV prevalence of 7 percent. These baby boomers also had a higher prevalence of undocumented HCV -- about 7 percent versus 2.6 percent in other adults tested. Non-African-American men and women as young as 18 to 34 (born between 1979 and 1995) had a high HCV prevalence of up to 7.6 percent.

Among the 204 Emergency Department patients with undocumented HCV infection, 128 (63 percent) were in the 1945 to 1965 birth cohort, 45 (22 percent) were injection drug users and 10 (5 percent) were known to be infected with HIV. Further assessments by the researchers found that 99 (49 percent) would be diagnosed based on birth cohort testing alone, with an additional 54 (26 percent) identified based on modified CDC risk-based testing (based on injection drug use or known HIV status).

"Had we established an emergency room HCV testing program with just these guidelines, 51 patients (25 percent) with undocumented HCV would not have been identified during our study period," Hsieh says. "Given an estimated 7,727 unique ED patients with HCV infection in a one-year period, birth cohort testing would identify 1,815 undocumented infections, but universal testing would identify an additional 526 cases."

The results also underscore the need for federal and state HCV management and treatment resources to support emergency departments and HCV patients, Quinn and Hsieh say. "It sounds easy to do HCV testing for every eligible patient, but it takes a lot of effort," Hsieh says.

In the near future, the investigators hope to examine the cost-effectiveness of different HCV screening approaches in the emergency department setting, including universal testing and CDC-recommended birth cohort testing. But with a projected 3.2 million people infected with HCV in the U.S. alone, it's critical for all of these patients to be identified, treated and cured, say the researchers.

"It's not often that we get to say we can cure a medical condition," says Hsieh. "So when we can, we should implement protocols that allow us to easily identify those in need."

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This work was supported by the Division of Intramural Research at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and grant number K01AI100681, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse under grant number R37DA013806.

Additional authors who contributed to this research include Richard E. Rothman, M.D., Ph.D.; Gabor D. Kelen, M.D.; Ama Avornu; Jim Kim; Risha Irvin, M.D., M.P.H.; and David L. Thomas, M.D., M.P.H.; of Johns Hopkins, as well as Oliver B. Laeyendecker, Ph.D., and Eshan U. Patel of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Claudia Lucchinetti, M.D., will be awarded the 2016 John Dystel Prize for Multiple Sclerosis Research for her outstanding contributions to understanding and treating multiple sclerosis (MS).

Dr. Lucchinetti is one of only a few neurologists in the world with expertise in neuroinflammation, and her research has led to paradigm shifts in our understanding of central nervous system demyelinating diseases over the past two decades.

Dr. Lucchinetti is chair of the Department of Neurology at Mayo Clinic, and the Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Professor of Neurosciences.

Her research focuses on mechanisms of demyelination -- damage to the protective covering that surrounds nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. She also focuses on tissue injury among the family of central nervous system inflammatory demyelinating disorders that includes multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis optica, and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. Dr. Lucchinetti began to collect and analyze MS lesion brain biopsies 20 years ago and has created the world's largest tissue bank of MS lesions in her quest to find effective treatments for this unpredictable and often disabling disease.

Her research has shown that the pattern of damage in brain tissue differs between patients with multiple sclerosis, but remains the same within any given patient. For the first time, this suggested that multiple sclerosis is a disease with fundamentally different targets and mechanisms of tissue damage in different patients.

Building on these seminal observations, Dr. Lucchinetti subsequently demonstrated that therapies may need to be individualized for patients on the basis of their specific tissue injury patterns, underscoring for the first time the importance of considering personalized medicine approaches in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

Her landmark study, published in the Annals of Neurology in 2000, led her to launch the MS Lesion Project, an international collaborative study that investigates the clinical, serologic, genetic and radiological aspects of the MS lesion. This work is funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the National Institutes of Health.

"As someone who has worked side-by-side with Dr. Lucchnietti, I can say first-hand that she is a thought leader sought out by colleagues around the world," says John Noseworthy, M.D., president and CEO of Mayo Clinic, and a neurologist with expertise in MS. "Her expertise not only advances our understanding of the disease, but also moves the field forward to the benefit of patients at Mayo Clinic and people everywhere."

Dr. Lucchinetti's research has also characterized the presence of early inflammatory cortical demyelination in multiple sclerosis. These findings have revolutionized thinking about the mechanisms responsible for lesion formation and disease progression. Additionally, they have opened avenues for new treatment strategies and led to the development of novel ways to use magnetic resonance imaging to observe and measure early cortical damage. Because cortical injury may be a key driver for disease progression in patients with multiple sclerosis, it is vital to better understand both how to measure and prevent such damage.

Finally, Dr. Lucchinetti's research in neuromyelitis optica was fundamental to the recognition that this disease is distinct from multiple sclerosis, ensuring that patients with neuromyelitis optica receive appropriate care. Her work describing the unique microscopic features of neuromyelitis optica lesions was the first to show that this disease is an autoimmune disorder that involves antibody targeting of proteins located around blood vessels.

"I am truly honored, humbled and grateful to have been selected for this award," says Dr. Lucchinetti. "I am thankful for the opportunity to work with a diverse group of investigators here at Mayo Clinic, all very passionate about wanting to make a difference in the lives of our patients."

Dr. Lucchinetti's interest in MS dates back to her college summers working in the research lab of Moses Rodriguez, M.D., at Mayo Clinic. She decided to pursue a career in MS after caring for a young mother who lost her battle with a very rare and aggressive form of the disease. "At that moment, I decided that I would devote my career to trying to make a difference in the lives of MS patients," says Dr. Lucchinetti.

Given jointly by the National MS Society and the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) since 1995, the $15,000 Dystel Prize is funded through the Society's John Dystel Multiple Sclerosis Research Fund. The prize will be awarded to Dr. Lucchinetti at the awards luncheon on Tuesday, April 19, 2016, at the AAN annual meeting in Vancouver, Canada. This is the second time that a Mayo Clinic researcher has won this prize. Brian Weinshenker, M.D., a neurologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, was honored for his groundbreaking findings relating to the diagnosis and treatment of MS in 2011.

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About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to medical research and education, and providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.org/about-mayo-clinic or http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/.

MEDIA CONTACT: Duska Anastasijevic, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Kids who decide to join gangs are more likely to be depressed and suicidal - and these mental health problems only worsen after joining, finds a new study co-authored by a Michigan State University criminologist.

Gang membership is associated with greater levels of depression, as well as a 67 percent increase in suicidal thoughts and a 104 percent increase in suicide attempts.

"Youth who join a gang are much more likely to have mental health issues, and then being in the gang actually makes it worse," said Chris Melde, MSU associate professor of criminal justice. "It doesn't act as an antidepressant. And some people may be seeking that out - a sense of well-being or purpose."

With an estimated 850,000 members in the United States, gangs remain a "stubbornly persistent" problem, according to the Justice Department. Many youth - particularly poor and minority youth - join gangs to escape hardship for the promise of money, protection, status or a sense of belonging they're not getting at home, school or elsewhere.

But Melde has studied youth gangs for years and found no discernible benefits. For example, the rate of substance abuse and violent victimization only increase after kids join gangs.

In the latest study, Melde and Adam Watkins from Bowling Green State University studied national survey data of more than 11,000 middle- and high-school students. Youth who joined gangs had significantly higher levels of depression and suicidal thoughts than those who didn't join gangs. Further, membership in gangs made these underlying problems much worse.

"If you think of gang membership as a coping mechanism - trying to cope with the hand you've been dealt in life - it doesn't work," Melde said. "Kids join gangs for reasons, but when we try to find the benefits - whether it's for protection, a sense of worth, whatever - we're finding it actually makes an already significant problem in their lives even worse."

The study was published online today in the journal Criminal Justice and Behavior.

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Coral reefs are early casualties of climate change, but not every coral reacts the same way to the stress of ocean warming. Now a Northwestern University research team is the first to provide a quantitative "global index" detailing which of the world's coral species are most susceptible to coral bleaching and most likely to die.

The world currently is experiencing the longest global coral bleaching event ever recorded, with the Great Barrier Reef and U.S. reefs among those suffering. Bleaching happens when stressed corals expel their life-providing algae, turning coral reefs stark white as their skeletons show through. Some corals rebound, but many do not.

The coral bleaching response index was published today (April 13, 2016) as an Early View article by the journal Global Change Biology. Based on a massive amount of historical data, the index can be used to compare the bleaching responses of corals throughout the world and to predict which corals may be most affected by future bleaching events.

"Coral bleaching is an inescapable example of the effects of climate change," said Timothy D. Swain, the study's first author and a postdoctoral fellow at the McCormick School of Engineering. "We can see it with our eyes, and we also clearly see the progression of climate change in our data. Our goal is to use data to understand what is driving bleaching and learn how we can protect the world's coral reefs, so we don't lose them so quickly."

Swain is a member of the interdisciplinary research team that analyzed publicly available data on nearly half the world's corals -- including actual measurements of bleaching -- to produce the global index. The team was led by molecular biologist Luisa A. Marcelino and included Vadim Backman, both professors at McCormick.

The global index is a standardized measure of vulnerability, by species of coral, to thermal stress. It identifies the species most susceptible to bleaching and those most likely to perish as a result of the damage; hardier species also are identified. The index ranks the corals' susceptibility to thermal stress from 1 to 100, with the most susceptible first in the list.

The index provides a valuable new tool to conservationists and park managers committed to preserving coral reefs and scientists interested in learning more about the hundreds of reef-building corals.

"Coral reefs are referred to as rain forests of the sea," said Marcelino, a research assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. "They are not rock. Reefs are made of healthy, living animals -- individual corals. We want to know why corals are bleaching and why they are bleaching differently."

Highly productive and diverse ecosystems, coral reefs help support approximately 25 percent of all marine fish species, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. As a result, the livelihoods of 500 million people and income worth more than $30 billion are at risk from coral bleaching.

"In our study, we observed a widely variable bleaching and mortality response among corals," Marcelino said. "Now, with the index, we have a platform we can use to better understand bleaching mechanisms, both intrinsic and environmental. There is value in knowing which species are more resistant and why. With good tools, we can make more informed decisions and better manage coral reefs."

Marcelino and Swain also are scientific affiliates with Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. There they genetically characterize corals and their symbiont algae and, in collaboration with Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, expose different corals to thermal stress to better understand mechanisms of differential bleaching.

The global index, representing close to half the world's corals from 316 sites, is an impressive feat of data science: It emerged from a meta-analysis of all available historical records on coral bleaching from 1982 through 2006 -- the "sum of human knowledge on species-specific bleaching during this period," according to Swain.

"Using very large data sets, we have teased out valuable information that will help researchers identify global trends and learn about individual corals," said co-author Backman, the Walter Dill Scott Professor of Biomedical Engineering. "We want this index to be used to predict how corals might react to future bleaching events.

"This work is a good example of interdisciplinary research," Backman added. "To make our analysis possible, we applied financial theory conventionally used to predict changes in stock prices in response to stock market variations to model how individual corals react to a change in the environment."

The research team plans to make the index available online, so that data on corals can be added as it becomes available and make the tool even more robust.

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The paper is titled "Coral Bleaching Response Index: A New Tool to Standardize and Compare Susceptibility to Thermal Bleaching."

In addition to Marcelino, Backman and Swain, other authors of the paper are Jesse B. Vega-Perkins, William K. Oestreich, Conrad Triebold, Emily DuBois and Margaret Siple, of Northwestern; Jillian Henss, of the Field Museum; and Andrew Baird, of the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Australia.
NYU researchers describe the role that artificial intelligence innovations play in the integrated living, learning and research environments of the year 2041

In the late 1960s, urban planners Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber began formulating the concept of "wicked problems" or "wicked challenges" --problems so vexing in the realm of social and organizational planning that they could not be successfully ameliorated with traditional linear, analytical, systems-engineering types of approaches.

These "wicked challenges" are poorly defined, abstruse, and connected to strong moral, political and professional issues. Some examples might include: "How should we deal with crime and violence in our schools? "How should we wage the 'War on Terror'? or "What is good national immigration policy?"

"Wicked problems," by their very nature, are strongly stakeholder dependent; there is often little consensus even about what the problem is, let alone how to deal with it. And, the challenges themselves are ever shifting sets of inherently complex, interacting issues evolving in a dynamic social context. Often, new forms of "wicked challenges" emerge as a result of trying to understand and treat just one challenge in isolation.

Fast-forward forty-plus years to the present, 2016, and the entrenched and seemingly intractable societal problems, our "wicked challenges," whose solutions by their very nature continue to evade even the most capable experts, are still amongst us. Their "solving" takes more than just basic human will. It calls for a collaborative computer-assisted inter-connected framework of humans working together to begin to tackle the persistent problems of society.

"Advanced cyberlearning environments that involve Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence innovations are becoming powerful tools that can facilitate the explorations and conversations needed to solve society's "wicked challenges," said Winslow Burleson, PhD, MSE, an engineer by training and currently associate professor, New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing. "Cyberlearning is an essential tool for envisioning, refining, and creating a "utopian" world in which we are actively "learning to be" - deeply engaged in intrinsically motivating experiences that empower each of us to reach our full potential."

Burleson explores possibilities in his latest paper, "Optimists' Creed: Brave New Cyberlearning, Evolving Utopias (Circa 2041)," published in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Education. Burleson imagines the future of Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) in 2041 as having transitioned from what was primarily a research endeavor, with educational impact involving millions of users/learners (in 2015), to serving, now--in 2041--as a core contributor to democratizing learning and active citizenship for all (impacting billions of learners throughout their lives).

"Life-long learning is best achieved through iterative re-solving of life's questions, issues, and problems, both great and small," says co-author Armanda Lewis, PhD, and doctoral candidate in Steinhardt's educational technology program. "Human interaction coupled with real-time computer simulation will enable learners at all levels to participate and take ownership of their learning process, thus contributing to the collective resolution of wicked challenges."

The researchers posit that the use of technology, specifically a bundled and ever-evolving fluid set of integrated cyber tools, will connect disparate groups and individuals, converging them in both a real and an imagined cyber-social-physical environment, called the Holodeck, that Burleson's NYU-X Lab is currently advancing in prototype form, in close collaboration with colleagues at NYU Courant, Tandon, Steinhardt, and Tisch,

"The "Holodeck" will support a broad range of transdisciplinary collaborations, integrated education, research, and innovation by providing a networked software/hardware infrastructure that can synthesize visual, audio, physical, social, and societal components," said Burleson. "By 2041 we will have taken the individualness of AIED, and carried it across multiple learners, synchronizing inputs and outputs, so that the whole is far far greater than the sum of the individual parts."

When Rittel and Webber published their seminal paper, "Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning," in 1973, the fastest supercomputer (a Control Data CDC 7600) had a clock rate of 36.4MHz. They could only have imagined smart phones, pocket-sized tools with clock rates exceeding 1.5 GHz--some 400 times faster than the CDC7600. Their tools to model, simulate, and live in possible futures as they re-solved the wicked challenges of their day were, by today's standards, very limited. Their computational tools, for example, were largely inaccessible, taking up entire rooms, with only rudimentary graphic and network capabilities.

NYU-X Lab's Holodeck prototype harnesses the collective power of shared computation, integrated distributed data, immersive visualization, and social interaction to make possible large-scale synthesis of learning, research, and innovation, that will dramatically accelerate the Rittel and Webber iterative mode of problem solving.

"The idea," continued Lewis, "is to effectively create a global meritocratic network using advanced versions of the NYU-X Lab Holodeck to create scenarios and engage in real-world problem solving; teaching others what you have learned, and creating the potential to re-solve society's wicked challenges while empowering every citizen to realize her or his full potential."

Burleson and Lewis posit that the NYU-X Holodeck will be a foundational model for the future of cyberlearning experience, offering a software/hardware instrument that seamlessly integrates visual, audio, and physical (haptics, objects, real-time fabrication) components with novel emerging technologies.

"This system enhances social interactions (human-human, human- virtual agent, and human-robot) by creating a powerful, unified education and research environment and network," notes Burleson. "Capabilities support capture of comprehensive behavioral, physiological, affective, and cognitive data; visualization and real time data analysis; and sophisticated scenario modeling and user engagement.

Key aspects of the Holodeck are: personal stories and interactive experiences that make it a rich environment; open streaming content that make it real and compelling; and contributions that personalize the learning experience. The goal is to create a networked infrastructure and communication environment where "wicked challenges" can be iteratively explored and re-solved, utilizing visual, acoustic, and physical sensory feedback, human dynamics with and social collaboration.

Burleson and Lewis envision in 2041 that learning is unlimited - each individual can create a teacher, team, community, world, galaxy or universe of their own. The NYU-X Holodeck will become an environment where possible worlds and experiences can be imagined to help re-solve "wicked challenges", creating ever-evolving solutions which shape humanity's continuing evolution.

"Cyberlearning strives to ensure that each stakeholder is empowered to reach her or his full potential," comments Burleson and Lewis, speaking from the future. "We are proud of what we have achieved, and are cautiously optimistic for what our future holds. The future belongs to us all and we are motivated by our responsibility to continue our evolution toward utopia."

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Researcher Affiliations: Winslow Burleson1 & Armanda Lewis1 1. New York University, New York, NY, USA

Declaration of Interest: All authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Acknowledgments: We are grateful to the entire NYU HoloDeck team for their involvement in advancing the rich array of technologies and experiences that are core to realizing and evolving the promise of an advanced experiential super computer.

About the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing

NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing is a global leader in nursing education, research, and practice. It offers a Bachelor of Science with a major in Nursing, a Master of Science and Post-Master's Certificate Programs, a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree and a Doctor of Philosophy in nursing research and theory development.
Rice University materials scientists have introduced a combined electrolyte and separator for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that supplies energy at usable voltages and in high temperatures.

An essential part of the nonflammable, toothpaste-like composite is hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), the atom-thin compound often called "white graphene."

The Rice team led by materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan said batteries made with the composite functioned perfectly in temperatures of 150 degrees Celsius (302 degrees Fahrenheit) for more than a month with negligible loss of efficiency. Test batteries consistently operated from room temperature to 150 C, setting one of the widest temperature ranges ever reported for such devices, the researchers said.

"We tested our composite against benchmark electrodes and found that the batteries were stable for more than 600 cycles of charge and discharge at high temperatures," said lead author Marco-Tulio Rodrigues, a Rice graduate student.

The results were reported in Advanced Energy Materials.

Last year members of a Rice and Wayne State University team introduced an electrolyte made primarily of common bentonite clay that operated at 120 C. This year the team validated its hunch that h-BN would serve the purpose even better.

Rodrigues said batteries with the new electrolyte are geared more toward industrial and aerospace applications than cellphones. In particular, oil and gas companies require robust batteries to power sensors on wellheads. "They put a lot of sensors around drill bits, which experience extreme temperatures," he said. "It's a real challenge to power these devices when they are thousands of feet downhole."

"At present, nonrechargeable batteries are heavily used for the majority of these applications, which pose practical limitations on changing batteries on each discharge and also for disposing their raw materials," said Rice alumnus and co-author Leela Mohana Reddy Arava, now an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Wayne State.

Hexagonal boron nitride is not a conductor and is not known to be an ionic conductor, Rodrigues said. "So we didn't expect it to be any obvious help to battery performance. But we thought a material that is chemically and mechanically resistant, even at very high temperatures, might give some stability to the electrolyte layer."

He said boron nitride is a common component in ceramics for high-temperature applications. "It's fairly inert, so it shouldn't react with any chemicals, it won't expand or contract a lot and the temperature isn't a problem. That made it perfect."

The material eliminates the need for conventional plastic or polymer separators, membranes that keep a battery's electrodes apart to prevent short circuits. "They tend to shrink or melt at high temperatures," said Rice postdoctoral researcher and co-author Hemtej Gullapalli.

Tests went better than the researchers anticipated. Though inert, the mix of h-BN, piperidinium-based ionic liquid and a lithium salt seemed to catalyze a better reaction from all the chemicals around it.

"It took almost two years to confirm that even though the boron nitride, which is a very simple formulation, is not expected to have any chemical reaction, it's giving a positive contribution to the way the battery works," Gullapalli said. "It actually makes the electrolyte more stable in situations when you have high temperature and high voltages combined."

He noted all the electrolyte's components are nonflammable. "It's completely safe. If there's a failure, it's not going to catch fire," he said.

"Our group has been interested in designing energy storage devices with expandable form factors and working conditions," Ajayan said. "We had previously designed paper and paintable battery concepts that change the fundamental way power delivery can be imagined. Similarly, pushing the boundaries of working temperature ranges is very interesting. There is no commercial battery product that works above about 80 C. Our interest is to break this barrier and create stable batteries at twice this temperature limit or more."

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Co-authors are Rice graduate student Kaushik Kalaga and Wayne State postdoctoral fellow Ganguli Babu. Ajayan is chair of Rice's Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Engineering and a professor of chemistry.

The University of Texas at Austin through the Advanced Energy Consortium supported the project.

Read the paper at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aenm.201600218/full

This news release can be found online at http://news.rice.edu/2016/04/11/battery-components-can-take-the-heat/

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews

Related Materials:

Ajayan Research Group: http://ajayan.rice.edu

Rice University Materials Science and NanoEngineering: https://msne.rice.edu

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,910 undergraduates and 2,809 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for best quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/AboutRiceUniversity.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research's Institute of Population and Public Health has awarded Dr. Prabhat Jha its inaugural Trailblazer Award in Population Health Solutions.

The Trailblazer award recognizes Dr. Jha's exceptional policy and practice contributions to population health. Dr. Jha's wide scope of research with health policy impact are demonstrated by projects such as his Million Death Study, global tobacco control research and studies on maternal and child health.

Dr. Jha is director of the Centre for Global Health Research of St. Michael's Hospital. His research has shown that the benefits of quitting smoking are substantially greater than had been previously estimated. Smokers who quit when they are young adults can live almost as long as people who never smoked. Smoking cuts at least 10 years off a person's lifespan. But the Centre for Global Health Research's comprehensive analysis of health and death records in the United States found that people who quit smoking before they turn 40 regain almost all of those lost years.

"There has never been a better time to work in global health--we've achieved huge reductions in child mortality and now the world is slowly paying attention to powerful ways to reduce premature adult mortality," said Dr. Jha , who also holds the Endowed Chair in Epidemiology and Global Health at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health. "I am deeply honoured to receive the Trailblazer Award as it recognizes our centre's collective efforts at improving the health of populations around the globe."

Dr. Jha's research and advocacy have helped to reduce premature deaths from smoking in many countries.

"Most of the world's estimated 1.1 billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries," said Dr. Jha. "These are countries where quitting remains uncommon so our centre curbs cigarette use by quantifying local tobacco health hazards and conducting economic research on interventions."

The Centre for Global Health Research uses population health data to work directly with national or institutional leaders. Dr. Jha's research program has influenced tobacco tax increases--the most effective way to encourage smokers to quit--in the Caribbean, India, Mexico, South Africa, the Philippines, Canada and elsewhere.

The award also recognizes the Dr. Jha's leadership, mentorship and innovative contributions.

"It's an honour to be given the Trailblazer Award," said Dr. Jha. "The prize also serves as a reminder that much more needs to be done to address public health needs in Canada and abroad."

Dr. Jha has worked at the World Health Organization and the World Bank, where he conducted analyses on global tobacco that led to the world's first global treaty on health, now signed by 180 countries.

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This paper is an example of how St. Michael's Hospital is making Ontario Healthier, Wealthier, Smarter.

About St. Michael's Hospital

St. Michael's Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in 27 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, care of the homeless and global health are among the hospital's recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre, which make up the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research and education at St. Michael's Hospital are recognized and make an impact around the world. Founded in 1892, the hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.

Media contacts

For more information or to arrange an interview with Dr. Jha, please contact:

Kendra Stephenson

Communications Advisor - Media

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stephensonk@smh.ca
The new-found species has unique features that offer fresh insight into the migration patterns of ancient animals from Asia to Africa

A handful of tiny teeth found in Israel's Negev desert led an international team of researchers to describe a new species of rodent which has been extinct for nearly 18 million years.

The discovery of Sayimys negevensis sheds new light on the likely dispersal route of mammals and other species between Eurasia and Africa in the Early Miocene (23 million to 16 million years ago) and highlights Israel's special paleogeographic position as the lynch-pin of the Levantine corridor connecting Eurasia with North Africa.

The research, published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, described a distant forerunner of the present-day gundi - a small rodent with a comb-like bristles on the two middle toes of its hind feet, also known as 'comb-rat'.

"It is a pivotal species that bridges the gap between an array of primitive ctenodactylines and the most derived, Early Miocene and later, gundis," researchers said in their article.

Gundis are the last descendants of the family Ctenodactylidae whose earliest ancestors appeared in Asia about 40 million years ago. They experienced their greatest diversification and widest distribution, from Far East to Africa, in Miocene time. Nowadays, they live in groups on rocky outcrops in deserts and semi-deserts of East and North Africa

Researchers named the new species Sayimys negevensis, after the Negev locality where it was found. Israel is the only place along the Eastern Mediterranean - stretching from Anatolia to the Sinai - where fossil sites of the Early Miocene have been found.

"The fossil sites of Israel are in a unique position to offer data on the early times of the large waves of faunal exchanges that took place around 19 million years ago between Eurasia and Africa," said Dr. Raquel Lopez-Antonanzas, a senior researcher at the University of Bristol, who led the research.

During the Early Miocene Israel was still more firmly attached to Africa and most of the mammals found there were of African origin. Sayimys negevensis is one of the few species discovered in Israel with Eurasian affinities.

"The new Israeli species is closer in morphology to nearly coeval species found in Pakistan, therefore demonstrating that mammals were already using the Levantine corridor to travel between Eurasia and Africa in the Early Miocene," said research co-author Dr. Rivka Rabinovich from the Institute of Earth Sciences and the National Natural History Collections at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The discovery of the new rodent is part an international focusing on the Early Miocene fauna of Israel and its paleogeographic implications, led by Dr. Rivka Rabinovich, Dr. Rani Calvo of the Israel Geological Survey and Dr. Ari Grossman of Midwestern University in Glendale Arizona, together with other international experts, including Dr. Raquel Lopez-Antonanzas, Dr. Fabien Knoll of the University of Manchester and Dr. Gideon Hartmann from the University of Connecticut.

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The Russian insect researcher Oleg Kosterin and his Japanese colleague Naoto Yokoi have traced the dragonfly in a remote mountainous border region between Cambodia and Laos and named it "Asiagomphus reinhardti". They honour his merits and achievements for the promotion of the international dragonfly research. The dragonfly, about six centimetres long, lives close to mountain streams. So far, only male examples are known: a black body with yellow spots and green eyes. As a larva they live for numerous year dug in the mud bottom.

"Having a newly discovered animal or plant species named after oneself is one of the most beautiful awards for a biologist", says Klaus Reinhardt. "I am extraordinarily honoured, for sure, but there are a lot of other dragonfly researchers who would have deserved this award before me."

The scientific article entitled "Asiagomphus reinhardti sp. nov. (Odonata, Gomphidae) from eastern Cambodia and southern Laos" describing the new species has been published in the Zootaxa journal. The abstract is available here: http://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4103.1.3

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Edmonton, AB - The possibility of a future without asthma is what really inspires renowned allergist Harissios Vliagoftis. In his role as the newly appointed GSK-CIHR Chair in Airway Inflammation, Vliagoftis aims to help make this possibility a reality. Thanks to a partnership between the University of Alberta, GlaxoSmithKline Inc. (GSK), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, initially established in May 2011, Vliagoftis' research activities will continue through to 2020 with funding of just over $1.3 million.

There are few experiences that trigger as much fear as the inability to breathe, a sensation that approximately 2.4 million Canadians living with asthma know all too well. With its commitment to put patients first and its focus on innovation, GSK is pleased that Vliagoftis will continue to advance research in the area of respiratory disease.

"GSK recognizes the importance of investing in strong science and innovation and we are committed to making significant contributions to pre-clinical, clinical and medical research and development" said Amyn Sayani, director of Research & Development Alliances for GSK, adding, "Our partnerships with CIHR and other Canadian academic institutions are an important mechanism by which we are able to identify promising new science from investigators in Canada, which is recognized for its leadership in a number of therapy areas."

"Dr. Vliagoftis has shown true leadership in the area of respiratory disease in Alberta over many years," said Dr. Brian Rowe, Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health. "His research holds the promise of specialized treatment for patients with asthma, minimizing discomfort and side-effects. I will be following his progress with great interest and want to congratulate him on this career milestone."

In pre-clinical research, Vliagoftis and his team have already demonstrated the importance of focusing on a receptor called protease-activated receptor 2 (PAR2) which, when activated by allergens in the lungs, contributes to inflammation.

"My hope is that by measuring PAR2, we can help indicate the severity of patients' asthma and, more importantly, provide insight into the most effective treatment option," said Vliagoftis.

"Dr. Vliagoftis is an outstanding example of a true translational scientist. He has an active clinical practice focusing on asthma patients, which has led him to develop a set of important hypotheses on the causative factors in the initiation of the asthma response," said David Evans, vice-dean of research at the U of A's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. "He is investigating these factors as part of his chairmanship and I look forward to the outcomes of his research. I'm confident he will continue to make important contributions to improving the management of asthma."

About Dr. Vliagoftis and his research:

In addition to his new chairmanship, Vliagoftis is also a professor of Medicine, the director of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry as well as a director with The Lung Association, Alberta & NWT. He works with a team of four graduate students, a postdoctoral fellow and a technician.

The study of PAR2 is the centre of one of this researcher's main interests: biomarkers. PAR2 is more prevalent on cells in the airways of a person with asthma than it is in those without the condition and the receptor is present in larger numbers on cells that circulate in the peripheral blood in patients with more severe asthma. Vliagoftis believes further study of the receptor will help reveal more effective treatments.

"Biomarkers are of great interest for the research community these days, especially as we delve into personalized medicine, where a new drug may not be right for everybody with the disease," he says, adding that test results could inform physicians of which drug would effectively treat the condition.

While Vliagoftis' work is made possible through CIHR, he has previously received funding from Alberta Innovates - Health Solutions (the former Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research) and the National Sanitarium Association. Importantly, these findings may also have applications beyond lungs. As he notes, the PAR2 receptor is often active in other conditions characterized by inflammation, such as colitis and chronic pain.

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Irvine, Calif., April 13, 2016 -- Across the United States, online vendors of e-liquids -- the nicotine-rich fluids that fuel electronic cigarettes -- are failing to take proper precautions in preventing sales to minors, according to a study by the University of California, Irvine and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Researchers found that only four of 120 vendors included in the study validated the ages of online purchasers. Fifteen of them also marketed directly to minors by providing free e-liquid products, candy and trinkets with youth appeal, such as playing cards, plastic balloon kits, bracelets and a collection of branded stickers.

While there is no current federal ban on selling e-liquids to minors, at least 48 states, including California, and two territories prohibit sales of electronic cigarettes or vaping/alternative tobacco products to minors. The industry's two leading trade associations oppose marketing or selling to those under 18.

"Regardless of whether they are members of trade associations or not, online vendors of e-liquids are not doing a good job of preventing sales to minors," said Dmitriy Nikitin, UCI public health researcher and study leader. "The FDA's upcoming rules on e-cigarette products should include explicit requirements for offline and online e-liquid vendors, particularly the use of effective age verification, warning labels and child-resistant packaging."

David Timberlake, associate professor of public health at UCI, and Rebecca Williams of UNC contributed to the study, which appears online in Nicotine & Tobacco Research. The researchers' objective was to assess whether the nascent but rapidly growing e-liquid industry successfully prevents online sales to minors and employs safety measures to avoid accidental poisonings.

For the study, three 16- and 17-year-olds attempted to purchase e-liquid products online. When queried on vendor websites, the minors gave correct names, addresses and Social Security numbers, but not correct birthdates; the provided birthdates corresponded to individuals in their mid-20s. The youths paid with debit cards that listed their names. They were instructed to provide a valid photo ID or driver's license (showing each's true age) if requested by vendors at the point of order or by delivery personnel.

The minors sought to buy single bottles of liquid nicotine from 120 vendors; they received a total of 183 bottles overall. The additional ones were included as samples with the original orders. The average cost per order was $13.16. Shipments were received from 34 U.S. states.

Of the 120 purchase attempts, only four were rejected due to the vendors' use of effective age verification. Three utilized third-party age verification software (ExpectID and AgeMatch), which nixed the youth sales after the buyers provided their real names and addresses. A fourth vendor cancelled the order after requiring the minor to upload an image of his (real) ID. One vendor claimed that the recipient's photo identification would be checked upon delivery; however, the parcel was simply left in the teen's mailbox.

"It is disconcerting that e-liquid vendors made little effort to verify buyers' ages, although not surprising, as UNC's 2015 study in JAMA Pediatrics of e-cigarette sales to minors online saw similar results," Williams said.

In addition, the researchers looked at the vendors' use of childproof packaging and warning labels. More than 87 percent of the ordered bottles had child-resistant caps; only 54 percent mentioned any health risks associated with nicotine use. Of the free bottles of e-liquid received, 82 percent were child-resistant. The study comes at an opportune time, with the FDA's impending regulation of electronic cigarettes and President Barack Obama's signing of a childproof packaging bill in January.

The overall results show that members of e-liquid trade associations were not significantly more likely to properly verify age, have childproof containers or employ proper labeling than nonmembers, suggesting that voluntary efforts to protect consumer safety are inadequate and that more comprehensive regulation and enforcement is required.

"UNC's ongoing Internet Tobacco Vendors Study of the e-cigarette and e-liquid industry has identified a population of thousands of vendors, indicating a large population of Internet vendors from which minors can purchase liquid nicotine and e-cigarette products without being stymied by effective age verification," Williams said.

"Lax oversight of the e-liquid industry may draw consumers to bypass current tobacco control restrictions implemented in face-to-face sales settings," Nikitin added. "As a consequence, there may be an increase in online sales to minors. While use of child-resistant packaging is widespread, enforcement of the new federal regulations requiring such packaging may influence the vendors not currently using it to do so, leading to fewer cases of accidental nicotine poisoning."

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This work was supported in part by Council on Research, Computing & Libraries funds from UCI and the National Cancer Institute (grant 5R01CA169189-02).

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.

PHOTO AVAILABLE AT:https://news.uci.edu/health/most-online-liquid-nicotine-vendors-fail-to-prevent-sales-to-minors/

Contact:

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LOS ANGELES -- The University of Pennsylvania has joined an unprecedented cancer research effort, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, which unites six of the nation's top medical schools and cancer centers around a shared aim of accelerating breakthrough immunotherapy research that will turn more cancers into a curable disease.

The venture is backed by a $250 million gift from the Parker Foundation, making it the largest single contribution ever made to the field of immunotherapy. The Parker Foundation was founded by Sean Parker in June 2015 with a $600 million gift to spur innovations in the life sciences, global public health, and civic engagement.

"We are tremendously excited to join this collaboration, which will allow us to investigate promising new immunotherapy avenues for the treatment of cancer outside of our institutional silos in very unique ways," said the Parker Institute's Penn director, Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine and director of Translational Research in the Abramson Cancer Center. "Working together will enable us to make quicker progress as we work to translate our laboratory findings into clinical trials."

Initial funding of $10 to 15 million has been awarded to set up the Parker Institute at Penn. This investment will continue to grow on an annual basis via additional project grants, shared resources and central funding. The funding will support laboratory studies and clinical trials, recruitment of talented new faculty, and support for early-career investigators who will train at Penn. The effort will augment Penn's longstanding commitment to cancer research. In 2015, more than 10,000 patients participated in Abramson Cancer Center clinical trials. Nearly 1,100 trials are currently underway, 80 of which are immunotherapy studies.

Robert Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, the Hanna Wise Professor in Cancer Research and associate director of translational research in the Abramson Cancer Center, and John Wherry, PhD, a professor of Microbiology and director of Penn's Institute for Immunology, will serve as co-directors of the Parker Institute at Penn.

The Parker Institute includes more than 40 laboratories and 300 researchers from Penn and five other leading centers: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford Medicine, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. In a unique agreement between the centers, the administration of intellectual property will be shared, enabling all researchers to have immediate access to a broad swath of core discoveries.

"We are at an inflection point in cancer research and now is the time to maximize immunotherapy's unique potential to transform all cancers into manageable diseases, saving millions of lives," said Sean Parker, President of The Parker Foundation. "We believe that the creation of a new funding and research model can overcome many of the obstacles that currently prevent research breakthroughs. Working closely with our scientists and more than 30 industry partners, the Parker Institute is positioned to broadly disseminate discoveries and, most importantly, more rapidly deliver treatments to patients."

The Parker Institute's scientific advisors and site leaders have laid out a scientific roadmap which allows the Parker Institute scientists to make big bets on major cross-cutting collaborative research projects, as well as fund individual research projects at its sites.

The Parker Institute has identified three key areas of focus to start its work, and will augment its research agenda as the field evolves. Investigators will work to develop more effective, "next generation" cell-based, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapies - which June's team has shown to have unprecedented promise in the treatment of blood cancers in both children and adults - to treat a broader range of cancers. They will also focus on checkpoint blocking agents, aiming to improve the rates of durable responses and broaden the use of these drugs. The team will also conduct research to advance DNA sequencing, antigenic peptide discovery efforts and immune monitoring technologies to identify novel individual and shared tumor antigen targets in hopes of better targeting tumors and developing new vaccines and T cell therapies to treat them.

At Penn, initial projects will cover a wide range of both basic science and clinical areas, including studies to test the ability of oncolytic adenoviruses to enhance T cell therapy efficacy, development of CAR therapies for dogs, cancer prevention vaccines, and studies on the combination of radiation and checkpoint inhibitors.

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Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $5.3 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 18 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $373 million awarded in the 2015 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2015, Penn Medicine provided $253.3 million to benefit our community.
Receptors for leptin, a protein hormone, may be associated with tumor recurrence in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), providing further understanding about molecular links between obesity and RCC tumor formation and prognosis, according to a study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The findings are being presented April 18 at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) in New Orleans.

The leptin receptors, called LEPR, were found to be hypermethylated in tumors in a study involving 240 newly diagnosed and previously untreated Caucasian RCC patients. Methylation is a mechanism by which cells control gene expression and both hypomethylation and hypermethylation are known to play roles in silencing of tumor suppressor genes or over-expression of oncogenes in cancer cells. LEPR was one of 20 obesity-related genes that the research team examined.

"Obesity is an established risk factor for RCC with more than 40 percent of these cases attributed to excessive body weight," said Xifeng Wu, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Epidemiology and principal investigator for the study. "Growing evidence suggests that obesity also may be associated with the prognosis of RCC. The molecular mechanism LEPR and two other genes, NPY and LEP, are involved in RCC tumorigenesis. LEPR methylation in tumors is associated with recurrence in RCC patients and thus, LEPR may provide a functional link between obesity and RCC."

The study evaluated the association between methylation of 20 obesity-related genes and RCC. For the discovery portion of the study, 63 tissue pairs of RCC tumors and normal adjacent tissues from the surrounding kidney were used. An additional 177 pairs were included for the validation component of the study.

The patients were mostly males with an average age of 59 years who had never smoked. Most of the patients had clear cell RCC and were at the earliest stage of disease.

"Patients were classified into high- and low-LEPR methylation groups," said Julia Mendoza-Perez, Ph.D., a visiting scientist of Epidemiology at MD Anderson who presented the findings at AACR. "We found that high LEPR methylation was associated with a significantly higher risk of tumor recurrence."

The results were adjusted by age, gender, pathologic stage of disease, grade, smoking status, body mass index, hypertension and histology.

"In addition, high LEPR methylation in tumors was associated with more advanced tumor features, such as high pathologic stage, high grade, and clear cell RCC histology," said Wu.

The researchers add that future studies are needed to further understand the biology underlying the ties between LEPR methylation and RCC recurrence.

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MD Anderson research team members included Jian Gu, Ph.D., Maosheng Hung, Ph.D., Shu Xiang and David Chang, Ph.D., all of Epidemiology; Nizar Tannir, M.D., Genitourinary Medical Oncology; and Surena Matin, M.D., Jose Karam, M.D. and Christopher Wood, M.D., Urology. Also participating was Luis Herrera, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (R01 CA170298), the Center for Translational and Public Health Genomics and the Duncan Family Institute for Cancer Prevention.
Written by ACM





*Strasbourg/Big East Region HeadQuarters/Angelo Marcopolo/- Live at superb Natural Landscapes in the French part of EU's Franco-German Core, with High Speed Internet, and near EU Parliament plenary sessions, CoE, ECHR, EU Ombudsperson, Shenghen, EUROCORPS, European Radio-TV ARTE, etc., would soon become a real possibility in Strasbourg's new "Big East" Region, thanks to a huge, 100% Optic Fiber Infrastructure Investment on the Biggest Network in the Country, for which, the productive development of the Human factor is part of its Public Service Mission, as the Region's President replied in substance to "Eurofora"s Questions, joined by the French Economy Minister at a meeting with the Press.



Speaking to "Eurofora" and other Media Just before a Debate at EU Parliament with EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Businesses and SMEs, Elzbieta Bienkowska and MEPs on Industrial reconstruction, f.ex. in Steel etc., French Economy, Industry and Digital Minister Emmanuel Macron and New "Big East" Region President, experienced former Minister, Philippe Richert, after anouncing a new project of Modern Big Infrastructure for High Speed Internet in the Next few Years throughout all Strasbourg's rural areas, stressed, in substance, that Large Access to High Speed Internet can boost Human Productivity which is a key factor of Industrial Competitivity.



Macron pointed, in particular, at the "Human Capital", (including "Training" of Workers for new jobs in Reconstruction sectors), together with Scientific Research and Technological development for critical "Innovations", among the "upper" side factors of Industrial Competititivity, which have a decisive role to play in the European and Global competition, in addition to the also necessary "defensive" factors of "Cost", (such as Taxes, Wages, Energy, etc), as he said.



-In this regard, Strasbourg's "Region has a lot of Wonderful (Natural) Landscapes. By adding there also High Speed Internet, wouldn't it become even more attractive, well beyond the establishment of new Businesses, also for the Residence (or even permanent Homes) of People working in Cities as Strasbourg, f.ex. in the European/Paneuropean Institutions, University, Public and/or Private Enterprises, etc ?", "Eurofora" asked Richert, (indirectly, but surely, pointing, f.ex., at the well known precedent of Texas/USA, certain Swiss, German and/or British areas, etc).





- Indeed, President Richert had just stressed, earlier, to "Eurofora", that High Speed Internet set up "is already done for the European Institutions and Urban areas"; so that "Now, it's also about Rural space", i.e. mainly in the middle of Nature, (which is, notoriously, near Strasbourg).



The New "Big East" French Region, which Borders 3 German Landers, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Belgium Comp., f.ex. : ....) , is one of the Less Populated yet, in that Central uroZone area, as its particularly low Population/Space Ratio clearly reveals, while several splendid Natural spots are notoriously near Strasbourg.



- From such points of view, (including also Historic Cultural assets), "already, Today Alsace is an attractive region, which has many Advantages to develop from the point of view of Tourism", in addition to the forthcoming HSI new infrastructures, he replied now to our complementary question, (Comp. Supra).



- "However, it's not first in Tourism Services that the valorisation (exploitation, use) [of High Speed Internet] will be more immediate", he soberly replied.



- " Even if it could boost Tourism too, in order to fullfil its Mission", for the overall development of the region, he observed, concluding.



=> In fact, Richert appeared more keen to focus on various immediate advantages of High Speed Internet for Old and New "Inhabitants" of the Region. I.e. obviously including those who would be attracted here in the foreseable Future also because they would like to have a Home in the middle of Nature, connected to High Speed Internet, and near European/Paneuropean Institutions, as well as various other outlets.



With the right choice made for a 100% Optic Fiber Network, the new Big East Area's Inhabitants will be able to make good use of the various opportunities opened by the latest Digital developments, such as, f.ex., "the Internet of Things", and/or "Big Data", etc. added Macron, (while, this might have been curtailed by more classic technologies, such as, f.ex., an enhanced Cable network, etc).





+ Moreover, both President Richert himself and Minister Macron, underlined also another, notoriously Important parameter, concerning Human Productivity, i.e. the World famous Risk of "Digital Divide", that Strasbourg's Region is decided to strive to overcome :



Indeed, the projected High Speed Internet Network is due to cover, progressively, all the areas of the "Big East" Region, starting by 3 departments which have already "advanced" in the necessary preparations for that, (mainly around Strasbourg, in Alsace, etc), and continuing, further on, its extension also to 7 other Departments, which need to catch up.



Richert strongly confirmed Strasbourg Region's "political Will" to guarantee universal Access of all Inhabitants to High Speed Internet throughout all the areas, without exclusions, and Macron saluted this commitment, stressing both its "Economic and Social, but also Civic" importance.



>>> For this purpose, more than 600 Millions  are invested initially at the Alsace, (closest to Strasbourg), and a Total of more than 1,5 Billion  is expected for all the "Big East" Region, later-on, with about 377.000 Plugs in Alsace (in 6 Years), and more than 2 Millions Plugs throughout the entire New Region to follow, making it the Biggest High Speed Network in France.



In this regard, the European Investment Bank (EIB), headed by President Hoyer, (Comp. Hoyer's Replies to "Eurofora"s Questions, both when he served as German Minister for EU Affairs, and as EIB's Chief, f.ex. at : ....... + .......), played a Crucial role by adding 102 Millions  which allowed to form the "Bankers' pool" supporting financialy this project of Public-Private partnership, where 60% of the Investment comes from Private sources, while the French State covers 50% of the Public cost, and the Local and Regional Authorities the rest.



EIB's role was particularly hailed by Macron, speaking in Strasbourg almost a the same moment that the Prime Minister of France, Manuel Valls, was making an official visit in Luxembourg, at EIB's Headquarters, where he signed several Agreements, after meeting with President Hoyer and making a Speech on the usefulness of this Strategic main tool of the famous "Juncker" Plan for support to EU Investments during the next few years, (Comp. f.ex. Statements by the new EU Commission's President to "Eurofora", just after his Press Conference at EU Parliament in Strasbourg in which he presented for the 1st time his overall Plan : .....).



Valls is due to vist EU Parliament in Strasbourg tomorrow, Tuesday, April 12, mainly in order to exchange views with its Conference of Presidents and hold a Press point with EU Parliament's Head, Martin Schultz, later in the afternoon, in addition to various other political contacts, at the eve of exceptionaly important Debates and Votes, including on the PNR, EU-Turkey deal for Migrants, the Annual EU Report on Turkey's controversial and unpopular EU bid, etc. According to the latest news, he is due to be succeeded, (after Portuguese President, Rebelo de Sousa's official venue and Plenary speech on Wednesday, 13 April), also by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who scheduled a Launch with Schultz at Thursday Noon, April 14, (i.e. almost during the Voting time : Comp. Supra).



--------------------------------------------



+ Meanwhile, it's also People's Historic Cultural Identity and assets which could be Saveguarded and/or promoted thanks to Broadband, High Speed Internet, as reminded Today f.ex. the opening of a landmark Exhibition, at the Big East Region's Headquarters, on "God : From Speech to Writtings", organized by the experienced Expert on European/International issues, Peter Meyer, currently President of the Conservatory of Religious Heritage.





Indeed, as "Eurofora" had already discussed several times in the Past with key CoE's Senior Officers, Digital Technologies, (including 3D for Monuments, but also "simple" Digitalisation for Historic Texts, Photo technology for Paintings, etc) can find some very useful and interesting applications in helping to Reproduce, Saveguard and/or Transmit and Publish for a selective or Universal Access, many Religious and other Cultural Heritage gems, (some of which might be, otherwise, threatened to be of difficult access, forgotten, degraded or even destroyed by various risks).



---------------------------------------------------------------



++ Last, but not least, another Interesting point is also that the Neighbouring German Regions have had prepared some more or less similar Plans on Broadband Internet, etc., at the German side of EU's Franco-German core.



Moreover, already, as early as since December 2010, in a key meeting for the Superior Rhine Euro-Region (Oberrhein), at nearby Offenburg, (his Printing business' HQ), the famous Head of one of the Biggest Media Companies, Hubert Burda, (who controls also "Focus" and various other Publications in Germany and other European or Third Countries), had proposed to create a big and dense broadband Internet Networks' cluster linking both sides of the Rhine river between them, which would boost this EuroRegion's potential for innovative development, (See "Eurofora"s NewsReports from that exceptional Offenburg's Franco-German event).



In this regard, Today, Richert regretted the fact that, until now, all French Regions invest just about 100 Millions  on Scientific Research and Technological development, (a key factor also for industrial Competitivity : Comp. Supra), at the same time that the German Lander invest on RST more than 10 Billions , as he said.



Meanwhile, parallel to President Richert's well known readiness to support Franco-German integration particularly at this core urozone's area around Strasbourg, Minister Macron (who has recently proposed a Public Debate about making a Leap forward in this direction), anounced also his intention to visit soon Germany anew, in a few weeks' time, including in order to discuss some relevant matters.



(../..)




Article update published in the May 2016 edition of Euromoney magazine

The remaining business will be of a very different scale. The Instinet brokerage business that Nomura bought in 2007, and which houses the bulk of the firm's equity trading, is understood to be untouched in all regions by the cuts. There will be some remaining European sales and sales trading presence for Japanese and Asian stocks.

Also remaining is a convertible bond origination and structuring capability, as well as an equity capital markets presence to service Japanese corporate activity in Europe.

We had known something was in the offing since an offsite in Tokyo finished on Good Friday [March 25], says one departing senior banker, who was preparing to gather with colleagues in the City to mull over the situation.

We knew big decisions were being taken and that the firm was under huge pressure to stop sending excess capital over here to support the business. And now that we know we are in a structural rather than a cyclical decline, it was clear something had to be done.

But even so, I had reckoned there was only about a 25% chance of a complete shutdown.

Sources within Nomura are at pains to highlight that what has happened stops short of a complete shutdown, but it is certainly big enough for those on the way out to be feeling dazed. The decision was communicated to staff at about 8.30am by senior equities and investment banking management, with one banker estimating that the cuts numbered in the hundreds. About 300 staff are to remain across the entire equity-related business in EMEA, according to one source at the bank, although there has been no official comment on the number of departures in specific business lines.

As of December 31, 2015, Nomura as a whole employed 3,400 people in Europe.

Nomura on Tuesday released a statement saying it was implementing a strategic change to its wholesale businesses in EMEA and the Americas, in response to the extreme volatility and significant decline in liquidity seen in global markets since the second half of 2015.

However, it said it would not announce details of its new strategy until its fourth-quarter and full-year results on April 27. It said it would close certain businesses in EMEA and would rationalize others in the Americas, while there would be no changes to the Asia-Pacific platform.



Tetsu Ozaki, Nomura

We are taking decisive action to refine the services we offer to our clients, while continuing to leverage our dominance and unique strengths in Asia, providing tailored solutions to our clients globally and continuing our 90-year legacy of putting clients at the heart of everything we do, says Tetsu Ozaki, Nomuras group chief operating officer.

This exercise will deliver significant efficiencies and cost savings for Nomura, refocusing the firms activities and reallocating resources towards its areas of expertise and most profitable business lines.

Other staff might be picked out during the 45-day consultation period to stay on in other capacities, said one banker.

One option mentioned could be to create a small equity advisory team, which would benefit from being capital-light and would be in keeping with the corporate finance focus that appeared last year to serve the firm well in Europe.

However, it would doubtless still have a tough job competing with the likes of Lazard and Rothschild on the equity front, particularly no longer having the primary equity underwriting capability to bolt onto it.

Nomura has struggled to make its European primary equity franchise compete, largely because it fell between the two stools of bulge bracket and niche without effectively being either. Former Nomura bankers recall it had an excellent year in 2009, when it had many hundreds more bankers than today, but its presence has faded since.

The European equity market will not blink at the fact that Nomura has gone, says one banker. We are a pin-prick in the excess capacity that exists in this industry.

We were positioned as a bulge bracket equity house, but we were finding it hard to compete and nor were we niche enough to compete with the likes of smaller shops. And the industry is now as tough as Ive known it.

Turning point

Some point to the entry of new management in 2012 as the turning point in terms of pressure, with profitability a key concern from that point. It was at that time that Koji Nagai took over from Kenichi Watanabe as group CEO as the bank sought to build what it said was a new global business model that would allow it to remain flexible and adapt quickly to a changing environment.

But even with expensive staff cut over the years, the pressure in a region like Europe only increased as revenues stagnated and market share fell.

Nomura does not feature in Dealogics top 25 ECM bookrunner rankings so far this year in EMEA. It ended last year in 25th place, with a 0.7% market share.

Globally, Nomuras equities revenues totalled 76.9 billion in the most recent quarter, which ended December 31, just below the contribution from fixed income.

At group level, the bank posted pre-tax losses for all its regional businesses outside Japan in the most recent quarter. Overall, Nomuras wholesale division has posted falling revenues for the last four quarters, falling from 231 billion in the quarter ending March 31, 2015, to 186 billion in the last calendar quarter of the year. Nomuras financial year runs until April. Regional numbers were not broken out, but the bank said that cash equities had fallen in EMEA, while they were flat in the Americas and rising in Asia ex-Japan.

The US equity business appears to be safe for the moment, which will come as good news to staff such as Mark Connelly, who joined the firm as head of Americas ECM in late November 2015, having previously been global co-head of ECM at Jefferies.

However, some bankers leaving the European business struggled to understand how the firm would make a better fist of things in the US. The question is why keep the US? I would have understood just keeping Asia, says one.

There is no talk of similar cuts in fixed income, where a round of rationalization took place in the middle of 2015. At that time, layers of middle management were removed from European fixed income, with staff such as Benedict Nielsen, head of EMEA DCM origination and syndicate, Simon Deeny, co-head of global finance EMEA, and James Wilkinson, head of flow rates and frequent borrower group trading, heading out of the door.

The fixed-income franchise was already also being seen as safer than equities after a recent change at the top of Nomuras wholesale bank, with Steven Ashley (who was head of global markets) appointed as co-head.

Joining him was Kentaro Okuda, global head of investment banking. They replaced Ozaki, who became group chief operating officer. The changes became effective on April 1.
and I did not speak out 

Because I was not a climate skeptic.

And Im not really (not a climate skeptic), but were remiss here in not saying more about the crackdown on climate change deniers. Using the law to intimidate people who disagree with you is absolutely chilling, and one naturally wonders who will be next. Go read Pastor Niemollers famous poem if its not already very familiar to you.

The current target cuts close to home  a think tank, the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Glenn Reynolds in USA Today has all the background (Dear attorneys general, conspiring against free speech is a crime), but lets cut to the chase:

[Claude] Walker, the U.S. Virgin Islands attorney general, subpoenaed the Competitive Enterprise Institutes donor lists. The purpose of this subpoena is, it seems quite clear, to punish CEI by making people less willing to donate. This all takes place in the context of an unprecedented meeting by 20 state attorneys general aimed, environmental news site EcoWatch reports, at targeting entities that have stymied attempts to combat global warming. You dont have to be paranoid to see a conspiracy here. Not everyone believes that the planet is warming; not everyone who thinks that it is warming agrees on how much; not everyone who thinks that it is warming even believes that laws or regulation can make a difference. Yet the goal of these state attorneys general seems to be to treat disagreement as something more or less criminal. Thats wrong. As the Supreme Court wrote in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.

Add science there. More:

Yet prescribing such orthodoxy seems to be just what they have in mind. Their approach is  and I use this term quite deliberately  thoroughly un-American. In pursuing this action, they are betraying their oaths of office, abusing their powers and behaving unethically as attorneys.  Meanwhile, free speech advocates are already talking about a Virgin Islands tourism boycott. And voters everywhere need to ask themselves: If these government officials have such contempt for others constitutional rights, who might they target next for unacceptable speech?

Exactly. Ive sometimes wondered why some conservatives who get it on the climate issue and understand the need for independent thinking and refusing to be spoon-fed by the media, nevertheless  when the topic turns evolution, the origin of life, cosmic origins, and the like  rebuke us for thinking independently and refusing to be spoon-fed by the media.

But Im not going to be petty about it. On free speech, were for them even if theyre not for us.

Update: This headline from the Providence Journal couldnt be more stark: Climate-change deniers deserve punishment.

Photo: Pastor Martin Niemoller, by J.D. Noske / Anefo (Nationaal Archief) [CC BY-SA 3.0 nl], via Wikimedia Commons.
Jeffrey Shallit is a computer scientist at the University of Waterloo whom weve dealt with here on occasion before. When I heard that Rice University organic chemist James Tour (above) had visited Shallits campus back in March to deliver the 2016 Pascal Lectures on Christianity and the University, I was curious. The most interesting of three talks was The Origin of Life: An Inside Story. Would Jeffrey sit in and comment?

He (Shallit) did indeed write in anticipation of the event (that annual embarrassment at the University of Waterloo), blasting Tour (a more distinguished scholar than himself) and the University of Waterloo for inviting him to speak, and citing University of Toronto biochemist Larry Moran. Professor Moran for his part had previously dismissed Tour for speaking out on evolution (hes a signer of the Dissent from Darwin list) when Tour is not, in fact, an evolutionary biologist.

Moran:

I could put up a blog post saying that I have nothing substantive to say about cosmology or organic synthesis. Why would anyone care about that?

Did Shallit attend the OOL lecture? Im not sure. He only writes about a second talk Tour delivered, The Nanotechnologist & God  not on the origin of life but primarily concerning Tours Christian religious beliefs. For these, you guessed it, Shallit blasts him:

I did get a chance to ask a question. After hearing this litany of successes that Prof. Tour had achieved through prayer, I asked him what percentage of things he prays for dont come true. He was unable to provide a figure. This is compartmentalization again. A scientist would, I would think, want to know this important fact. Do certain kinds of prayers work better than others? Does the time of day affect success? Is success actually greater than chance, or does Prof. Tour simply forget about the prayers that dont come true? Does it help if the prayer is said in certain languages? Are prayers for oneself granted more often than prayers for others? What happens when two equally virtuous people pray for opposite outcomes?

Thats right, Shallit is disappointed that Tour isnt so vulgar as to slap a success ratio on his prayer life, as if someone so crass could be expected to have a meaningful prayer life to begin with, or as if Shallits crude picture of prayer (basically, free stuff) were itself genuine. If Shallit is married, has a family, or if he has any friends, I wonder if he would consider subjecting his relationships with these loved ones to the kind of analysis he thinks Tour should subject his relationship with God.

Anyway, click on the image at the top to see the technical talk. The religious one is here:

But this I find very telling. Moran and Shallit previously criticized Tour for expressing an opinion about evolution, when he is chemist not a biologist. But now he delivers a quite provocative lecture on a subject well within the ambit of his expertise  prebiotic chemical evolution, that is, the challenge of explaining abiogenesis, life from nonlife.

Tour is very impressive, on fire at times, tearing apart claims that science has any idea how life first arose. He warns the audience that he will not be talking about philosophy at all, only science, in fact only chemistry, and that the lecture will be painfully technical, so much so that he wouldnt blame anyone if they walked out: I simply know of no other way to expose the hypocrisy of the conjectures based on the evidence.

Whoa. Full of fighting indignation, he lashes those in his field who imagine they are anything but clueless as to the mystery of lifes origin.

These atheists want Tour to talk about his own scientific field. But when he does, what do we get in response? Either they talk about religion, or they go silent. That is, the response is no response.

Images: James Tour courtesy of University of Waterloo, via YouTube.
Hello,



My wife will soon be submitting her application to join me in the UK. We are going the savings route and will be applying in a few weeks. I believe we have everything ready.



However, I'd like to clarify: am I right in thinking that we don't need to provide any evidence of employment at all if we are going the savings route? I'm still slightly hazy on past employment. We are both currently unemployed, both having quit our jobs in Korea around the beginning of March (1.5 months ago).



I'm looking at courses and apprenticeships to take that last more than the 2.5 years until the time for renewal comes around. The wages are low to non-existent. My wife will certainly be working by then if our application is successful, but her income might be below the required 18,600.



So,

- again, do we need to provide any proof of (past) employment if we are going totally with savings?

- when the renewal comes around, will the income requirement fall all on me or will it be combined household incomes?

- for our renewal, will we still be able to apply completely with savings if we have the required amount?



Thanks a lot in advance.


People from abroad who are not highly skilled professionals may find it harder to get a job in New Zealand due to changes in work visa rules.Employers will now have to make lower skilled employment opportunities available to New Zealanders before supporting a work visa to fill the vacancy.The changes mean that employers considering hiring a migrant for a lower skilled role will now be required to engage with Work and Income at the beginning of the process to ensure there is no New Zealander available to do the job first.Following a successful trial, all low skilled Essential Skills work visa applications lodged after 11 April 2016 must include a Skills Match Report completed by Work and Income. The Skills Match Report improves certainty for employers and visa applicants and speeds up the visa application process when no New Zealanders are available.Previously, Immigration New Zealand contacted Work and Income after a work visa application was lodged. If Work and Income advised that New Zealanders were available, this would have a detrimental effect on the visa application processing time and often the outcome.The process did not allow for employers to be put in contact with any suitable New Zealanders identified. By enabling employers to engage with Work and Income before identifying a migrant and supporting a work visa application, employers now have the ability to consider suitable New Zealand jobseekers if they are available as well as certainty about the advice provided to Immigration New Zealand.Under the new rules low skilled Essential Skills work visa applications will be returned without processing if a valid Skills Match Report is not included. However, this does not apply in Canterbury, where employers must engage with the Canterbury Skills and Employment Hub set up in the aftermath of the earthquakes to deal with demand conditions in the city."The Government is committed to getting more New Zealanders into work by ensuring they are first in line for jobs. We know employers want people with the right attitude, who are resilient and have good people skills, and we want to provide employers with the best candidates," said Anne Tolley, Social Development Minister."Work and Income will be working closely with employers of low and unskilled vacancies who are looking to hire migrant workers. If Work and Income can't fill the vacancy, a Skills Match Report will provide employers and Immigration New Zealand with consistent information about the skills required for the job," she added.Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse pointed out that engaging with work and income first ensures employers are connected directly to New Zealanders who are available to do the work and provides greater clarity for employers as to the likely outcome of a visa application before it is made."This process is a far more efficient way to ensure employers are satisfactorily testing the New Zealand labour market rather than routinely seeking to employ migrants," he said.
CADIZ, Ohio  Landowners are turning their attention to a case in Harrison County after a judge ruled in favor of the Sunoco Pipeline L.P. in February.

Judge T. Shawn Hervey made the ruling in Sunoco Pipeline L.P. vs Carol A. Teter, trustee of the Carol A. Teter Revocable Living Trust, et al.

The ruling

In his decision, Hervey ruled that liquefied propane and butane are considered petroleum.

This means that under Ohio Revised Code, the pipeline can use eminent domain to gain permanent and temporary easements across the Teter farm in order to put the pipeline through the land.

The lawsuit was filed in May 2015 by Sunoco against Teter.

Pipeline plans

Sunoco is building the Mariner East 2 Pipeline. It will run from Scio, Ohio, to Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, and will carry only pure (99 percent+) liquefied propane and butane. At least four Pennsylvania junctions would contain off ramps where Sunoco could off load propane to Pennsylvanians. Sunoco plans no such Ohio off ramps.

The Teter family purchased the 162-acre farm in 2001 with the existing Enterprise Pipeline on the property. Then in 2010, the APEX pipeline was built along the existing pipeline. Both are on the south end of the property.

The line for the Sunoco Pipeline would go through the northern portion of the farm. The Teters are the last landowner in the line of the Sunoco Pipeline in Harrison County that does not have an easement for the Sunoco Pipeline.

Common carrier

According to court documents, the landowner contends that Sunoco is not a common carrier, the pipeline does not serve a public purpose, and pure liquefied propane and butane are not petroleum under the Ohio Revised Code.

Teter alleged that several facts supporting Sunocos argument that the pipeline is a common carrier and has a public purpose are not true.

Teter argues that if the plants were built in Ohio, and not in Pennsylvania, then Ohioans could reap the benefits of Ohios natural resources.

No Ohio benefits

Second, plans for the pipeline show no off ramps in Ohio. The landowner argued that, other than a few landowners with oil and gas leases, Ohioans would not benefit.

The final argument is that one of the pipelines committed shippers claims it will ship most of its propane and butane overseas.

Pipeline is necessary

Judge Hervey ruled in favor of Sunoco and found that pure liquefied propane and butane meet Ohios statutory definition of petroleum in the Ohio Revised Code.

He also said the pipeline is a common carrier and that it is necessary to transport propane and butane. He added that the pipeline services a public use providing consumers access to Ohio products.

Appeal filed

Although the landowners did not win at the county court level, they are appealing it to the Seventh District Court of Appeals.

Nicholas Andersen, who is representing the Teter family, said his clients will take the case to the Ohio Supreme Court if needed.

The Teter family has filed a brief in the appeals court and Sunoco has until May 2 to file its brief. Then a date for oral arguments in the appeals court will be set either in June or July.

For now, we are playing the waiting game, said Andersen.

No pipeline

He said his clients have no desire to give up the fight, they simply do not want another pipeline on their farm.

Sunoco feels like they can just take your land, said Andersen.

Sunoco, represented by Attorney Gregory D. Brunton of the Cleveland-based law firm of Reminger Co., LPA, did not have any comments due to this being a pending case.
Legal ruling set to have implications for farm inheritance rows
Gwyneth Paltrow is a "sexual being".

Gwyneth Paltrow

The actress and entrepreneur - who has two children with her former husband Chris Martin - insisted that she loves sex and encouraged other women to embrace their sexuality.

Speaking to Self magazine, the 43-year-old star who is currently dating TV producer Brad Falchuk, said: "We have this idea that you can't be a mother and a businesswoman and like to have sex.

"How is an intelligent woman a sexual being? It's really hard to integrate those things.

"Like, 'Gwyneth has sex? Really?' It doesn't seem to go together."

"But I think it's important, as mothers and as women contributing to society in whatever way we each are, that our true sexuality doesn't get lost or put aside."

Meanwhile, Gwyneth previously insisted she and Chris are better off as friends and their split doesn't mean they are no longer a family with their kids, Apple, 11 and 10-year-old Moses.

She told Australia's Marie Claire magazine: "I think we are better as friends than we were [married]. We are very close and supportive of one another.

"It hasn't always been easy for us because you have good days and bad days as you do in life with anything, but I feel lucky because Chris has been willing to push himself for the sake of the kids and help me co-create this new family.

"It's like we are still a family, but not a couple."
Britain's Duchess of Cambridge drew a picture of her childhood home for Indian children.

Britain's Duchess of Cambridge

The 34-year-old royal was taking part in a drawing class put on by children's charity Childline and was so thrilled with the pictures she was given by the children, she decided to join in on the fun.

Shansad Abdul, who helped Duchess Catherine colour in her picture, said of their meeting: "I liked doing it with her very much and I learnt how to draw trees and greenery. She was a very good lady and very happy to sit and draw with me. I ran away from home because my family are very poor and couldn't look after me.

"I came to Delhi from Purniya in the state of Bihar because I knew my older brother was married and living here. I came on my own and all I knew was that I wanted to find him. But when I went to his address he had moved and I had no knowledge of where he was and nowhere to go."

Duchess Catherine and her husband, the Duke of Cambridge, also met with representatives from charity Salaam Baalak, which provides food, education and accommodation to homeless children.

Sanjoy Roy, director of the charity, told the royal couple: "We look after around 7000 kids a year, but every day around 40 to 50 new children arrive at the station. They often have to deal with trauma, learning difficulties, ADHD and we have special programmes to help them with that.

"These children that we look after are the most vulnerable. Some may have their eyes gouged out or hands hacked off. The primary reasons they run away from home are misunderstanding with step-parents, physical and mental abuse, incredible poverty or a life event such as forced marriage."
Britain's Prince Harry attended a service at Westminster Abbey yesterday (12.04.16) to remember the victims of the Tunisia attacks.

Britain's Prince Harry

The 31-year-old royal represented Queen Elizabeth at a service of commemoration for those who tragically died in the terrible attacks on the North African country last year.

A spokesperson for Kensington Palace said: "The service, for family members of those who lost their lives, or were seriously injured and those who witnessed the attacks in Tunisia, commemorated the British nationals who were killed during the attacks.

"Prince Harry laid a wreath at the Innocent Victims Memorial on behalf of The Queen before the Service, and delivered a reading during the Service itself."

The service was attended by 900 people and both Prince Harry and the Prime Minister read passages from the Bible.

Speaking at the service, The Very Reverend Dr Hall said: "We remember with thanksgiving those whose lives were brutally cut short.

"We honour the courage of those who survived and the families of those who suffered. We share our grief with victims of attacks from other countries and their families."
NOTE: Spoilers regarding the identity of the villain Zoom in The Flash season 2

After the big reveal of Zoom's identity in previous episodes of The Flash season 2, viewers saw Hunter Zolomon unmasked as the Earth-2 version of Jay Garrick, and will in upcoming episodes learn more about the Garrick doppelganger and his backstory.

Credit: The CW

Actor Teddy Sears who plays the role told EW: "We're going to see what happened to Hunter as a child look almost exactly like what happened to Barry when he was a child. One man went one way and one man went the other... Which of course gets into some really exciting stuff when Hunter and Barry begin to interact, because there's a lot of stuff that bubbles up to the surface for Hunter that he didn't realise was there."

Chatting about the character and the direction he'll take, he added: "There was a really wonderful scene that I did with Grant [Gustin] where that opportunity for the audience to experience an understanding or a pathos for Hunter exists - at least that's what we were attempting.

"Honestly, just as an actor, that began to happen in the shooting of this scene. I think there's this whole other thing here. We all agreed that that was a really fun way to go."

He also explained a little more about Hunter's 'genuine' feelings for Caitlin: "That adds a really interesting dynamic to this moving forward. He essentially is one gigantic liar who has played them all, but he never played her. There are real feelings there. There's even an under-layer based on where he came from in his life - his origin story - that plays a big part in why he wants her, why he needs her, why he loves her."

The Flash will return from its short hiatus in the US next week, Tuesday April 19 on The CW.

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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A clutch of shopping malls are in the offing in India with UAE-based Lulu Group deciding to invest Rs 5,000 crore over the next four years, mainly for setting up shopping centres.The Lulu Group runs a retail chain of over 120 hypermarkets in the Middle East. Promoted by Indian businessman Yusuff Ali M A, the Group has decided to construct mega shopping complexes in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram.

A clutch of shopping malls are in the offing in India with UAE-based Lulu Group deciding to invest Rs 5,000 crore over the next four years, mainly#

"We are planning to invest Rs 5,000 crore in India over the next four years," said Ali, who is also Managing Director of the Group which has operations in over 30 countries. The Lulu Group has an annual turnover of $5.5 billion globally.The Lulu Group boss he decided to invest Indian because of the government's decision to consider non-repatriable investments by NRIs as domestic investment. Ali said the business environment in India has improved significantly with the removal of many restrictions to facilitate investment. He said the decision will help India get investment from the NRI community.Ali, who hails from Kerala, also said his company has decided to open 12 hypermarkets in Saudi Arabia at an investment of Rs 2,700 crore in the next few years. The Lulu group currently owns 14 hypermarkets in Saudi Arabia.The Lulu Group has major businesses in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Yemen. It currently has 124 shopping malls. Lulu hypermarkets and department stores have a 32 per cent share of the retail market in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Representatives from the International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva, currently working with African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF) along with a representative from Tanzania visited Tirupur Exporters' Association (TEA) on Tuesday for a preliminary discussion on investment opportunities in the garment sector in selected East African countries.The countries for which the delegation sought investments are Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania under the project called Supporting India's Trade Preferences for Africa (SITA), the TEA said in a press release.

Representatives from the International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva, currently working with African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF)#

On behalf of TEA, V. Elangovan, Executive Committee Member and Arun Ramasamy, Chairman, Young TEA participated in the meeting. Elangovan informed the delegation about TEA, Tirupur exports and the role of TEA in the growth of exports. He also pointed out the higher customs tariff prevailing in African countries and investment made by a TEA member in Ethiopia recently. Ramasamy told the delegation about his experiences in exporting to the Pepco Brand inAfrica.According to the release, the ITC's Belinda Edmonds said they would come back again after two months to meet more exporters and invite them make investment in East African countries. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) announces new partnership agreement with the Israel Cotton Production & Marketing Board (ICB), according to an organization press release.

100 percent of Israeli farmers have signed-up to BCI as a result of the partnership, and Better Cotton from their first harvest is already available.

ICB is starting off with BCI as an implementing partner, providing Israeli producers with capacity building and training on the Better Cotton Standard System. In the next one to two years, ICB intends to develop an Israeli Better Cotton Standard, which they will own and benchmark against the BCI Standard.

Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) announces new partnership agreement with the Israel Cotton Production & Marketing Board (ICB), according to an#

We are delighted to welcome Israel to the BCI programme. This addition represents an important step in our continued efforts to engage globally across a diverse range of farming systems. We look forward to working with the ICB so that other Better Cotton farmers can potentially benefit from their extensive agronomic knowledge, and specialised experience in such areas as water management.  said Corin Wood-Jones, BCIs senior programme manager.

ICB is proud to become a member of the BCI community. We view this membership as a mutual opportunity whereby we envisage both sides benefiting from each others strengths in the cotton sector. As an implementing partner, ICB is excited to contribute its experience as a producer organisation while learning from BCIs culture and global accomplishments, said Uri Gilad, managing director, ICB.

Israel produces predominantly extra long staple, feeding the Better Cotton supply chain with the highest quality cotton fibre. Many BCI members use extra long staple to produce high-quality textiles. With the addition of Israel, BCI now operates in 21 countries worldwide.

Embedding the BCI Standard into national and sub-national agricultural practices allows BCI to share the responsibility for Better Cotton worldwide with local organisations well-placed to oversee implementation in the field. Maximising results through strategic partnerships with organisations like ICB is a key element of establishing Better Cotton as a more sustainable mainstream commodity. (HO)

BCI
Bangladesh is interested in exporting furniture, medicines, garments and food items to Manipur to boost trade ties with India."Bangladesh has achieved a good position in trade across the world including India. If bilateral trade with Manipur is increased both Bangladesh and India will be benefitted," Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said during a recent meeting with visiting Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh at his office, the BSS news agency has reported.

Bangladesh is interested in exporting furniture, medicines, garments and food items to Manipur to boost trade ties with India."Bangladesh has#

Tofail Ahmed said that while India has offered Bangladesh duty and quota free market access for all products except drugs and arms to reduce the trade gap, countervailing duties are hampering Bangladesh's trade with India in some areas. He hoped that the issue could be solved through negotiations.Chief Minister Ibobi Singh said there is a huge demand of Bangladeshi products in Manipur and if products are imported from Bangladesh the people of Manipur will get quality goods. He urged business people of the two countries to come forward to make such trade possible.A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and Manipur Chamber aiming at increasing the trade between Bangladesh and Manipur. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Japanese manufacturers including textile and footwear makers are setting up operations in the Philippines to take advantage of the country ' s preferential trade agreements with Asean, the European Union, and the US, the Philippines government has said.Our two countries can work together to take advantage of the vast opportunities for growth in the Asean Economic Community as well as in other large markets to which the Philippines has gained, and intends to gain, wider, and deeper market access, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. said during a recent visit to Osaka in Japan.The Asean Economic Community which came into force on 31 December 2015 allows the Philippines duty free export privileges for almost 99 per cent of goods traded across member countries. The Philippines is also a beneficiary of preferential trade schemes of the US and EU under their respective General Systems of Preferences (GSP) and GSP+ trade schemes.In June 2015, the US reauthorized its GSP programme which provides duty-free access to over 3,500 tariff lines or products from beneficiary countries including the Philippines.The Philippines, which became a beneficiary of EU-GSP+ in December 2014, has duty-free access to EU's 6,274 tariff lines. In the first half of 2015, with the EU-GSP+ in force, Philippine exports to the EU market grew by 27 percent as compared with total figures recorded in 2014.Cristobal pointed out that Japanese firms were among the first to take advantage of these preferences to the EU.By setting up manufacturing facilities in the Philippines, Japanese companies can avail of the duty-free markets of Asean, EU, and US.

Products which are key export interests of Japan can benefit from significant tariff differentials if produced in the Philippines. We are in fact the only country in Asean to enjoy preferential treatment from the EU and the US, Cristobal explained.



According to DTI, Japanese product categories such as footwear and textile are among those geared towards the European market.



Japanese small and medium enterprises have the potential to build linkages between manufacturing, agribusiness and service industries, Cristobal said.



The DTI recently launched the country's Comprehensive National Industrial Strategy (CNIS) to support inclusive growth goals. By leveraging on the strong industry performance of manufacturing, DTI aims to stimulate growth in agriculture as inputs to manufacturing, and the service industries as enabler. CNIS aims to achieve an additional two per cent growth in the country's gross domestic product.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was recently awarded with the Global Indian of the Year Award. And you will be surprised to know Aishwarya made a backdoor entry and exit from the five-star hotel in Vakola, where the awards were held.

According to Mid Day, the actress did not want to face any unwanted questions about the Panama papers and her involvement in it.

Click On VIEW PHOTOS & See Aishwarya's Stunning Pics From The Award Function



Talking about the same, a source told the daily, "The actress arrived just before she was to receive the award and left the venue soon after. While the rest of the winners including Sania Mirza walked the red carpet, Ash preferred to give it a skip seeing the hordes of media present."

Heartbreaking! Katrina Kaif Requested Ranbir Kapoor For A Patch Up At A Party, He Said It's Over!

The source further added, "While making a backdoor exit with her staff and bouncers, some of the media folk managed to spot her car. They rushed towards her making her halt in her tracks. She then spoke about how thrilled she was to receive the award and about her colourful outfit, but when a poser about the Panama Papers cropped up, she made a hasty exit."

According to the reports, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was director and shareholder of an offshore company, along with members of her family, before it was thought to have been wound up in 2008.

But the media adviser of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has rejected the documents as "totally untrue and false".

On the work front, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will soon start the promotions of her upcoming film Sarbjit. The diva will also resume the shooting of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil soon.
Pratyusha Banerjee's suicide left her parents and friends shocked as well as shattered. Many speculations have been made about Pratyusha's death - a few of them say the actress was depressed and committed suicide; while her close friends and family cry, a foul play. They believe that her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh is at fault!

Rahul was later booked for abetment of suicide. He had applied for an anticipatory bail in the Sessions Court, which was rejected. And yesterday (12th April), Justice Mridula Bhatkar (Bombay High Court) granted Rahul an interim anticipatory bail in the sum of Rs 30,000, till April 18.

But Rahul will have to attend Bangur Nagar Police Station every day between 11.00 am and 1.00 pm. Additional Public Prosecutor Usha Kejriwal opposed the anticipatory bail plea. She said Rahul and Pratyusha stayed together as live-in partners. Rahul used to harass and physically assault her. He used to demand for money, and sometimes, he used to withdraw money from her bank account also. All these led the actress to take extreme step of killing herself!

During this session, apparently, Usha had also informed the court that Rahul was in the house since morning till 3.00 pm on April 1st (when Pratyusha committed suicide), and he was the one who found her hanging in their residence, after he returned home.

Because Rahul was granted bail, Pratyusha's parents were quite upset and disheartened, said Pratyusha's lawyer, Falguni Brahmbhatt. She also added that they haven't lost hope and have faith in the judiciary.

When Rahul was brought to Bangur Nagar Police station in an ambulance (as he is still under treatment), he was all in tears. When media posed questions about the latest allegations against him, he said, "Bring Pratyusha back. Can you? Can you bring Pratyusha back?"

We have no idea, till how far the issue would be dragged. But, we just hope the truth comes out; and if someone is guilty, he/she be punished.

Hit the comment box to share your views on this case...
Deutsche Bank has appointed Citigroup banker James Boyle as Asia-Pacific head of equities, replacing Rob Ebert.

Boyle, Citigroups global head of equity derivatives and head of equity trading pan-Asia, will join Deutsche Bank in July, according to a source familiar with the situation. He will also hold the title of co-head of global equity derivatives with Brad Kurtzman.

At the same time, Ebert is set to leave after 20 years at the German investment bank, starting off as head of Asian sales trading in 1996.

Ebert has since served in multiple senior positions across different jurisdictions, including head of programme trading sales in Europe, head of global execution in the US as well as head of equity production distribution in Asia.

He was named Asia-Pacific head of equities in May last year, replacing Dixit Joshi who moved to London as global head of prime finance.

Ebert has been a valued colleague for over 20 years and recently advised us of his personal decision to leave the bank, said Michael Ormaechea, Deutsche Banks head of global markets for APAC.

Rob Ebert

Shortly after the promotion he was involved in a car crash in Hong Kong in July that caused the death of a security guard.

Shift in strategy

Equity sales and trading has been one of the key revenue streams for Deutsche Bank. Last year, revenue from the business reached 3.1 billion ($3.5 billion) globally.

John Cryan, Deutsche Bank's new chief executive who assumed office in June last year, said the bank will be hiring more people in equity sales, trading and research.

As such, the departure of Ebert is a blow to the German bank because he has a strong background in sales, trading and product distribution. By contrast his successor Boyle has served in less client-facing roles during his investment banking career.

But Boyle has extensive experience in running cash equities and derivatives businesses, having established Citadel Securities' equity business across cash, derivatives and electronics in the US between 2009 and 2010. That could be beneficial to the bank from a management perspective.

Before joining Citadel, he spent 13 years with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and held senior positions including head of global equity-linked trading and head of delta one trading.

Boyle's appointment at Deutsche Bank follows a number of senior appointments made last month. They include the appointments of Jason Cox and Kefei Li as co-heads of Asia Pacific ECM, as well as Oliver Brinkmann as head of corporate finance for north Asia and Sreenivasan Iyer for Southeast Asia.
Launches CenturyLink Cloud node in Sydney to continue international expansion

MONROE, Louisiana, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) today announced the availability of CenturyLink Cloud in Australia. The CenturyLink Cloud platform delivers enterprise-class control, agility, scalability and security backed by an industry-leading global network.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090602/DA26511LOGO

Businesses based or operating in Australia can now turn to a single, trusted provider for public and private cloud infrastructure, managed services, colocation, network connectivity and support for advanced hybrid solutions. The Sydney cloud node joins the company's other available cloud locations in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and Singapore.

"Launching the CenturyLink Cloud node in Australia signals our strong commitment to this key growth market," said Gery Messer, CenturyLink managing director, Asia Pacific. "We're seeing increased customer demand for IT services in Australia, which is one of the most connected countries in the world. Thanks to our continued investment in Asia Pacific, many more organizations are achieving success on their hybrid IT journeys."

Business research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan predicts cloud spending in Asia Pacific will reach US$20 billion in 2018. CenturyLink's presence in Asia-Pacific dates back to 1999. Numerous regional and multinational corporations in Australia are customers.

The Australia cloud node is one of several recent cloud advancements for CenturyLink. In early March, the CenturyLink Development Center opened in St. Louis with a focus on building cloud-based managed services that help drive increased value for businesses. In January, the company launched Relational Database (DB) Service, a MySQL-compatible database-as-a-service designed to meet application developers' rapid software requirements and drive more agile IT.

Besides expansion, CenturyLink has long been committed to operational excellence as well - the Company received the 2015"Company of the Year Award - The Cloud Industry, North America"from Frost & Sullivan. The award recognizesCenturyLink's hybrid IT portfoliofor meeting the needs of the next generation of technical and line-of-business cloud users for highly automated, efficient, reliable and flexible IT services. CenturyLink is also the first company to pursue theManagement & Operations certification by the Uptime Institute across its global data center portfolio, with all certifications expected to be completed by the end of 2016.

For more information about CenturyLink Cloud, visit www.ctl.io.

About CenturyLink

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is a global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services company enabling millions of customers to transform their businesses and their lives through innovative technology solutions. CenturyLink offers network and data systems management, Big Data analytics and IT consulting, and operates more than 55 data centers in North America, Europe and Asia. The company provides broadband, voice, video, data and managed services over a robust 250,000-route-mile U.S. fiber network and a 300,000-route-mile international transport network. Visit CenturyLink for more information.
Three-year project funded by European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme

Regulatory News:

Cellnovo Group (Paris:CLNV), a medical technology company marketing the first mobile, connected, all-in-one diabetes management system, announces that it has been selected to participate in a project, funded by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme, aimed at investigating new technologies to help improve the lives of people with Type 1 diabetes.

The project, named PEPPER (Patient Empowerment through Predictive Personalised decision support), has a budget of nearly EUR 4 million and brings together leading UK and European universities and companies to research and develop technology that will help to improve the self-management of people with Type 1 diabetes.

Researchers working on the project will use Cellnovo's diabetes management system to create a personalised decision support system that will make predictions based on real-time data in order to empower individuals to self-manage their condition. The design of the system will involve patients, clinicians and carers at every stage to ensure that it meets user needs.

Sophie Baratte, Chief Executive Officer of Cellnovo, commented:"We are delighted to be participating in PEPPER, which we believe is a strong endorsement of our proprietary technology. The Cellnovo diabetes management system is an ideal platform for a personalised decision support system because of its real-time connected data, as well as its wearability and discreetness. The funding by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme further demonstrates its key role in this pioneering area of diabetes research."

The system will have a strong emphasis on safety and will include features such as glucose level predictions, dose advice, and alarms to raise the individuals' awareness of the risk of hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia. By preventing adverse episodes such as these, the system will improve lifestyle, monitoring and quality of life for patients, as well as strengthening their interactions with healthcare professionals. The tool will offer bespoke advice by integrating personal health systems with broad and various sources of physiological, lifestyle, environmental and social data, together with an unobtrusive patch pump.

Research will be conducted into the development of artificial intelligence combined with predictive computer modelling, both of which will be integrated into the system. The project will also examine the extent to which human behavioural factors and usability issues have previously hindered the wider adoption of personal guidance systems for chronic disease self-management.

The project, led by Oxford Brookes University, will run until January 2019 and includes the following partner institutions from three EU member states: Imperial College London, University de Girona, Girona Biomedical Research Institute Hospital Dr. Josep Trueta Romsoft SRL and Cellnovo.

Clare Martin, Oxford Brookes University, commented: "We believe that better use of data and technology has the power to improve health, transforming the quality and reducing the cost of health and care services. Cellnovo's innovative technology, empowering diabetes patients to accurately self-manage their condition, fits perfectly with the overall aim of the PEPPER project. We are delighted to be working with them

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 689810.

In the coming months, Cellnovo will participate in the following investor event:

Healthcare Forum Societe Generale, June 28, Paris

About Cellnovo (Euronext: CLNV)

An international commercial medical technology company, Cellnovo markets the first mobile, connected all-in-one diabetes management system, a disruptive technology enhancing daily disease management for Type 1 diabetes patients. Cellnovo's device currently addresses the $2.2 billion insulin pump market and the Company is reviewing the potential for the device to serve other markets. Cellnovo is currently marketing the device in the UK, France and The Netherlands and has a clearly defined commercial and manufacturing strategy supported by strategic partners Air Liquide and Flextronics. Cellnovo is headquartered in Paris, France, with product development facilities in Wales, UK. For further information please visit www.cellnovo.com

About the Cellnovo Diabetes Management System

Compact, tubeless, intuitive and entirely connected, Cellnovo's insulin patch pump comprises a mobile touchscreen controller with an integrated blood-glucose meter. This unique device allows optimal management of insulin injections with drop-by-drop precision, whilst ensuring extensive freedom of movement and peace of mind for patients. Thanks to the automatic transmission of data, it also allows the patient's condition to be continually monitored by family members and healthcare professionals in real-time.

Cellnovo is listed on Euronext, Compartment C

ISIN: FR0012633360 Ticker: CLNV

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160412006067/en/

Contacts:

Cellnovo

Sophie Baratte

Chief Executive Officer

investors@cellnovo.com

or

NewCap

Investor Relations

Tristan Roquet Montegon, 33 1 44 71 00 16

or

Media Relations in France

Nicolas Merigeau, 33 1 44 71 94 98

cellnovo@newcap.eu

or

Consilium Strategic Communications

Media Relations in the United Kingdom

Amber Fennell, Chris Gardner, Chris Welsh, Laura Thornton

+44 20 3709 5700

cellnovo@consilium.com
WEISS KOREA OPPORTUNITY FUND LTD.

ANNUAL REPORT AND AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2015

The Company has today, released its Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for the yearended31December 2015. The Report will shortly be available from the Company's website http://www.weisskoreaopportunityfund.com/.

For further information, please contact:

N+1 Singer

James Maxwell - Nominated Adviser

James Waterlow - Sales +44 20 7496 3000 Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited

Cara De La Mare +44 1481 745498

Summary Information

The Company

Weiss Korea Opportunity Fund Ltd. ("WKOF" or the "Company") was incorporated with limited liability in Guernsey, as a closed-ended investment company on 12 April 2013. The Company's Shares were admitted to trading on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange (the "LSE") on 14 May 2013.

The Company is managed by Weiss Asset Management LP (the "Investment Manager"), a Boston-based investment management company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States of America.

Investment Objective and Dividend Policy

The Company's investment objective is to provide Shareholders with an attractive return on their investment, predominantly through long-term capital appreciation. The Company intends to return to Shareholders all dividends received, net of withholding tax on an annual basis.

Investment Policy

The Company is geographically focused on South Korean companies. Specifically, the Company invests primarily in listed preferred shares issued by companies incorporated in South Korea, which in many cases are currently trading at a discount to the corresponding common shares of the same companies. The Investment Manager has assembled a portfolio of Korean preferred shares that it believes are undervalued and could appreciate based on criteria it selects. Some of the considerations that affect the Investment Manager's choice of securities to buy and sell may include the discount at which a preferred share is trading relative to its respective common shares, its dividend yield, its liquidity and its common shares weighting (if any) in the MSCI Korea 25/50 Net Total Return Index (the "Korea Index"), among other factors. Not all of these factors will necessarily be satisfied for particular investments. The Investment Manager will not generally make decisions based on corporate fundamentals or its view of the commercial prospects of the issuer. Preferred shares are selected by the Investment Manager at its sole discretion, subject to the overall control of the Board.

The Company invests primarily in Korean preferred shares, but it may invest some portion of its assets in other securities, including exchange-traded funds, futures contracts and other types of options, swaps and derivatives related to Korean equities, as well as cash and cash equivalents. The Company does not have any concentration limits.

The Company has not hedged its exposure to foreign currency during the year ended 31 December 2015 (2014:Nil).

Share Buy-backs

At the Annual General Meeting (the "AGM") on 29 July 2015, Shareholders granted the Company a general buy-back authority of up to 40% of the Company's issued share capital. In addition, on 9 February 2015, the Company appointed N+1 Singer Advisory LLP to manage an irrevocable programme during close periods (the "Close Period Buy-Back Programme") to buy-back ordinary shares within certain pre-set parameters. Any shares purchased in the Close Period Buy-Back Programme will count towards the Company's share buy-back authority of 40% of the Company's issued share capital, as approved at the Company's AGM.

On 10 February 2016, the Company re-appointed N+1 Singer Advisory LLP to manage the Close Period Buy-Back Programme to buy-back ordinary shares within certain pre-set parameters. Any shares purchased in the Close Period Buy-Back Programme will count towards the Company's share buy-back authority of 40% of the Company's issued share capital, as approved at the Company's AGM.

For additional information on share buy-backs refer to Notes 15 and 20.

Shareholder Information

Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited (the "Administrator") is responsible for calculating the Net Asset Value ("NAV") per Share of the Company. The unaudited NAV per Ordinary Share is calculated on a weekly basis and at the month end by the Administrator, whichisannouncedby a Regulatory News Service and is available through the Company's website http://www.weisskoreaopportunityfund.com/

Company financial highlights and performance summary for the year ended 31 December 2015

As at As at 31 December

2015 31 December 2014   Total Net Assets 131,142,778 126,415,820 NAV per share 1.3449 1.2040 Basic and diluted earnings per share 0.1561 0.1338 Mid-Market Share price 1.2800 1.2000 Discount to NAV (4.8%) (0.3%)

As at close of business on 12 April 2016, the latest published NAV per share had increased to 1.3562 (as at 5April 2016) and the share price stood at 1.3100.

Total expense ratio

The annualised total expense ratio for the year ended 31 December 2015 was 1.81% (31December 2014: 1.82%).

Chairman's Review

We are pleased to provide the 2015 Annual Report on the Company. During the period from 31December2014 to 31 December 2015 (the "Period"), the Company's NAV per share increased by 11.70%,[1] outperforming the reference MSCI Korea 25/50 Capped Index, which returned -1.1% in pounds sterling,[2] in what turned out to be a challenging year for developing equity markets. The future may be volatile and 2016 has started off as a challenging year for global equity markets, but I derive comfort from the favorable relationship between price and value in Korean preference shares. Over a long time horizon, I believe Korean preferred shares offer compelling value.

One promising recent development, which is discussed further in the Investment Manager's report below, was that Samsung Electronics publicly commented on the discount of its preferred shares, provided guidance about possible future discount controls, and initiated a large stock buy-back programme for both common and preferred shares. Following Samsung's announcement regarding its buy-back programme on 28 October 2015, the Samsung preferred discount has narrowed somewhat but remains volatile. This volatility continues to provide investment opportunities for the Company.

The Company paid a dividend of 1.8580 pence per share on 26 June 2015. As stated in the Admission Document, the Directors intend to return to Shareholders all dividends received, net of withholding tax, on an annual basis. Typically for South Korean companies, shareholders of record near the end of the calendar yearare entitled to a single annual dividend.However, the dividends are generally not announced or paid to shareholders until several months into the following calendar year. The Board has decided to schedule payment of the Company's annual dividend distributions in the early summer. This timing helps ensure that dividends are paid out as soon as is reasonably practical after the Company receives them.

The Board is committed to adding value for Shareholders, as well as enhancing the liquidity of the Company's shares, through the exercise of its authority to repurchase up to 40% of the shares of the Company at a discount to NAV. In this regard, during the Period, the Company repurchased and cancelled 7,490,250 shares (7.13% of shares outstanding on 31 December 2014) on instructions from the Board. Also, the Board has in place standing instructions with the Company's broker, N+1 Singer Advisory LLP, for the repurchase of shares during closed periods when the Board is not permitted to give individual instructions, typically around the preparation of the Annual and Half-Yearly Financial Reports. We will continue to keep Shareholders informed of any share repurchases through public announcements.

Since its inception, the Company has not engaged in hedging activities or made use of leverage to fund investments. However, as stated in the Admission Document, the Company reserves the right to do so in the future.

We will be holding our AGM later this year, notices of which will be sent out once the final arrangements have been made. As I have mentioned in previous letters, all Directors have agreed to stand for election annually. We invite all Shareholders to attend, and look forward to meeting you. If you are unable to attend in person, the Board would be happy to answer questions or to meet with Shareholders directly. Please contact the Company at the address given.

I would like to thank Shareholders for their support, and look forward to the continued success of the Company in the future. I would also like to thank Weiss Asset Management, as well as the other service providers, all of whom have contributed greatly to the Company.

Sincerely,

Norman Crighton

12 April 2016

[1] This return includes all dividends paid to the Company's Shareholders, but does not assume such dividends are reinvested.

[2] MSCI total return indices are calculated as if any dividends paid by constituents are reinvested at their respective closing prices on the ex-date of the distribution.

Investment Manager's Report[3]

For the year ended 31 December 2015

The Company's total return on net assets was 12.0% in 2015, with a cumulative total return on net assets of 40.7% since inception (inclusive of dividends in both cases). In comparison, the reference MSCI Korea 25-50 Index was down 1.1% in 2015 and has lost 4.4% since the Company's inception. As of 31 December 2015, the weighted average discount of preferred shares held[4] was 36.0%, compared with 37.6% as of 31 December 2014. The average trailing 12-month price to earnings ratio of preferred shares held was 8.7x at year-end 2015, whereas it was 6.9x at year-end 2014.[5]

The 2015 performance of Korean companies was adversely affected by a slowdown in China. If China goes into an economic decline this will further hurt the Korean economy. China is the main market for Korean exports, accounting for about a quarter of total exports. Some sectors of the Korean economy, such as steel producers, are particularly vulnerable to overcapacity in China. The stock price of POSCO, the largest Korean steel maker, fell 37.9% in 2015. We had no direct exposure to the steel industry but adverse effects on the steel industry could have affected market sentiment, and may have triggered concern about the potential for overcapacity in the Chinese auto industry, which may have hurt our investments in Hyundai Motor Company.

As we noted last year, the past depreciation of the Japanese yen against the Korean won has probably hurt the earnings of Korean exporters. However, in 2015, the won depreciated against the yen as well as against the dollar. As discussed below, we believe this is bullish for Korean companies.

Samsung Share Repurchases

In 2015, Samsung Electronics announced its intention to repurchase both its preference and ordinary shares in several tranches. The first tranche was completed in January 2016. Relative to the shares outstanding in each share class, the first tranche of repurchases was heavily weighted toward the preference shares: Samsung repurchased 5.43% of the outstanding preference shares vs. 1.51% of the outstanding ordinary shares. Samsung recently announced the number of preference and ordinary shares it will be repurchasing in the second tranche of its buy-back program. Samsung's repurchase guidance specifies repurchasing 2.45% of its preference shares and 1.45% of its ordinary shares. This would amount to a rate of roughly 15% of historical average daily volume in each share class over the next three months.[6] Since the share repurchase was first announced, the discount on the Samsung preference shares has narrowed and is currently at around 15%. Samsung has indicated that it would suspend the repurchase of preference shares only if the discount hits 10%; however, its total commitment to repurchase shares is currently limited to 11.3 trillion won, which is a little less than 6% of the total market capitalisation of Samsung.[7] Because of Samsung's large holdings of cash and marketable securities with low yields, Samsung's repurchase of both ordinary and preference shares, as well as its payment of an interim dividend, will marginally improve its price earnings ratio. More important is the message Samsung is sending to the market: that the largest Korean company is actively pursuing policies to increase shareholder value. While Samsung is repurchasing preference shares at a 15% discount to its ordinary shares, most preference shares are trading at much larger discounts. It will be harder for the managers of those other companies to argue that they should not be repurchasing their heavily discounted preference shares when Samsung is repurchasing its preference shares at much smaller discounts. In the long run, this precedent is a strong positive for all discounted preference shares.

Share Repurchases by WKOF

We do not only advocate repurchases of undervalued shares by South Korean companies; the Company has been active in repurchasing its own shares at a discount to net asset value. In 2015, the Company repurchased 7,490,250 shares at a volume-weighted average discount of about 5.67%. This has had the benefit of being accretive to continuing shareholders and to occasionally provide exit opportunities for shareholders who want to sell large blocks of stock. Since inception, the Company's Articles have granted the Directors unusually large share repurchase authority. They have authority to repurchase up to 40% of the shares outstanding at a discount to NAV. We strongly believe that when a closed-end fund trades at a significant discount to its NAV, the best investment the fund might make is to repurchase its own shares.

Comments on other large positions

Each of our seven largest investments represents more than 5% of the Company's net assets. These investments are in Hyundai Motor, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, CJ Corp., AmorePacific Corp., LG Household & Health, and CJ CheilJedang. Our largest investment was in the preference shares of Hyundai Motors at 19% of assets under management at 31 December 2015. The investment in Hyundai Motors is cumulative across its three classes of preference shares, all of which have similar economic entitlements. At the end of 2015, the least liquid class was trading at roughly a 33% discount to the price of the ordinary shares (compared to a 30% discount for those shares at the end of 2014). The other two classes of Hyundai preference shares are trading at around 30% discounts. Hyundai has announced long term plans to significantly increase its dividend and to set up an independent committee of the company's outside directors with one of them tasked exclusively with helping protect shareholder interests.[8] These actions are bullish for the long term prospects of the Hyundai preference shares.

Comments on Macro-Economic Events

Currency

In recent years the Korean won to Japanese yen exchange rate has been exceptionally volatile. In July 2007 the Korean won was at 7.5 won per yen. By February 2009 it had lost more than half its value and was at 16 won per yen. However, by April 2015 the won had reversed most of that depreciation and was trading at 9 won per yen. Most of the increase in the value of the won against the yen took place in the last four years, beginning in June 2012 when it was at 15. This appreciation of the won against the yen coupled with very low inflation in Japan hurt the competitive position of Korean firms against their Japanese competitors. More recently the trend has partially reversed again as the won has depreciated against the yen going from around 9 won to the yen in June, 2015 to 10.4 as of 24 March 2016. Over the last two years the won has been relatively stable against the Chinese yuan. As with most currencies the won has depreciated against the dollar, increasing the margins from sales in the U.S. market.

Commodity Prices

South Korea is likely to benefit from the dramatic fall in the prices of oil, iron ore, coal, and other industrial materials. The international press has been focused on falls in oil prices, so we will not discuss oil price falls, except to note that Korea is a significant consumer of imported oil. However, many of the other commodities that Korea imports have experienced price declines of a similar magnitude to that of oil. For instance, the price of iron ore has fallen from a 2013 high of about $160 to $44 per metric ton at year-end 2015.[9] The price of Australian coal has fallen nearly 50% since 2013, and over 60% since its 2011 peak.[10] The price of copper has fallen more than 50% from its peak in 2011. Prices of a wide range of other industrial materials have also fallen significantly.

South Korea benefits more from these price falls than does any other major country, as measured by net energy and metals imports to GDP. For instance, in the U.S., the benefit to its manufacturers from lower input prices is offset by the losses suffered by miners and petroleum producers and the losses to banks and other financial institutions that have made loans to the extractive industry, or that hold their debt. Other industries such as railroads and bulk shipping have also been hurt by the lower sales of commodities. These adverse effects offset the positive effects of lower commodity prices on consumer discretionary income. In South Korea the extractive industries are an insignificant fraction of the economy, so the long term positive effects of falls in commodity prices are more favorable for the Korean economy (save that there may be a small adverse effect on companies such as POSCO that have investments in miners operating in other countries).

North Korea

The news out of North Korea continues to be disturbing. We are far from being experts on international relations or on the psychological state of the "Beloved Leader" (the son and successor of the previous "Beloved Leader"). Not only has he conducted new nuclear bomb tests and new tests of long range missiles, but he has engaged in executions of potential rivals for power as well as their relatives. The South Korean central bank estimates that the North Korean economy is around 2% of the South Korean economy. It is not at all clear how the risks from North Korea will affect the South Korean economy. The situation appears bad but stable. Five year protection in the form of South Korean credit default swaps currently trade at approximately 70 basis points (the Company does not own credit default swaps, but they are potentially indicative of the market's current perception of risk). On the other hand, we are aware that seemingly stable situations can get out of hand.

Summary

In the short run, security prices are driven by changes in sentiment. We do not purport to be able to predict those changes. We only pay attention to price changes in so far as they create opportunities to buy or sell securities at favorable prices. In the long run, the value proposition for Korean equities continues to look favorable. Overall valuations for the South Korean market remain attractive, especially compared to other East Asian markets. The preference shares provide exceptional value relative to the common shares and securities in other markets. Increasing dividend payouts and share buy-backs should help highlight this value differential. It is difficult to pick a turning point when the preference shares' value will be reflected in their prices, but we believe that a patient investor will be rewarded with significant outperformance relative to other markets.

Weiss Asset Management LP

12 April 2016

[3] Unless explicitly stated otherwise all data are reported in GBP.

[4] Weighted average discount of preferred shares held is the average discount of the last traded price of the preferred shares held by WKOF to the last traded price of the respective common shares of the same issuer, weighted by the market value of each investment on the report date.

[5] The average trailing 12-month price to earnings ratio of preferred shares held is based on the consolidated diluted earnings per share reported by Bloomberg over the trailing 12-month period, and is calculated as the total earnings allocable to WKOF based on WKOF's holdings on the report date divided by the total market value of WKOF's preferred share portfolio on the report date. It does not account for any estimated or forecasted future earnings of WKOF's investments.

[6] Samsung Electronics 4Q earnings conference call, 28 January 2016. http://irsvc.teletogether.com/sec/2015Q4/eng/eng_view.php

[7] As of 17 Feb 2016.

[8] Simon Mundy, "Hyundai looks to placate investors with shareholder rights body", Financial Times, 27April2015.

[9] Based on the U.S. dollar spot price index of 62% fine Iron ore delivered to Qingdao, China.

[10] Based on the global COAL Monthly Newcastle Index, in US dollars

Top Ten Holdings

Investments Holdings at Fair Value % of Total Net 31.12.2015  Assets Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Preferred Shares 37,418 23,594,962 17.99% LG Electronics Inc Preferred Shares 712,980 11,837,813 9.03% Hyundai Motor Company 1st Preferred Shares 176,852 10,486,874 8.00% Hyundai Motor Company 2nd Preferred Shares 149,200 9,019,809 6.88% CJ Corporation Preferred Shares 114,738 8,662,236 6.61% LG Household & Healthcare Preferred Shares 25,400 7,993,645 6.10% Amorepacific Group Preferred Shares 56,300 7,474,864 5.70% CJ Cheiljedang 1st Preferred Shares 58,523 7,397,590 5.64% Hyundai Motor Company 3rd Preferred Shares 89,802 5,158,786 3.93% Samsung SDI Co Ltd Preferred Shares 103,943 4,413,707 3.37% 96,040,286 73.25% Investments Holdings at Fair Value % of Total Net 31.12.2014  Assets Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Preferred Shares 39,204 23,342,046 18.46% LG Electronics Inc Preferred Shares 712,980 11,216,167 8.87% Hyundai Motor Company 2nd Preferred Shares 117,643 9,201,937 7.28% iShares MSCI South Korea Capped ETF 252,182 8,945,940 7.08% Hyundai Motor Company 1st Preferred Shares 120,633 8,802,064 6.96% Hyundai Motor Company 3rd Preferred Shares 92,792 6,337,307 5.01% CJ Cheiljedang 1st Preferred Shares 58,523 5,551,218 4.39% CJ Corporation Preferred Shares 114,738 5,076,739 4.02% LG Chemical Ltd Preferred Shares 53,218 4,349,056 3.44% Samsung SDI Co Ltd Preferred Shares 103,943 4,253,257 3.37% 87,075,731 68.88%

This schedule forms an integral part of the Financial Statements, refer to Note 10 of the Financial Statements.

Directors

The Company has three non-executive Directors, all of whom are considered independent of the Investment Manager and details are set out below.

Norman Crighton (aged 49)

Mr Crighton is Chairman of the Company. He is also a non-executive director of GLI Alternative Finance plc, Private Equity Investor plc and, Global Fixed Income Realisation Limited. Norman was, until May 2011, an investment manager at Metage Capital Limited where he was responsible for the management of a portfolio of closed-ended funds and has more than 25 years' experience in closed-ended funds having worked at Olliff and Partners, LCF Edmond de Rothschild, Merrill Lynch, Jefferies International Limited and latterly Metage Capital Limited. His experience covers analysis and research as well as sales and corporate finance. Norman is British and resident in the United Kingdom. Mr Crighton was appointed to the Board in 2013.

Stephen Charles Coe (aged 50)

Mr Coe is Chairman of the Audit Committee. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1990. From 1997 to 2003 he was a director of the Bachmann Trust Company Limited and managing director of Bachmann Fund Administration Limited. Between 2003 and 2006, Stephen was managing director of Investec Administration Services Limited and of Investec Trust (Guernsey) Limited prior to becoming self-employed in 2006 providing director services to financial services clients.

Currently, Mr Coe sits on the board of a number of listed companies including Raven Russia Limited, a main market listed property investment specialist focused on Russia, and European Real Estate Investment Trust Limited, a European focused closed-ended property investment company. Stephen is also a non-executive director of Trinity Capital Limited, an AIM listed Indian real estate investment company and South Africa Property Opportunities plc, an AIM listed, close-ended investment fund focused on South African real estate assets. Stephen is British and resident in Guernsey. Mr Coe was appointed to the Board in 2013.

Robert Paul King (aged 52)

Mr King is a non-executive director for a number of open and closed-ended investment funds including Chenavari Capital Solutions Limited, JPMorgan Senior Secured Loans Fund Limited and Threadneedle UK Select Trust Limited. He was a director of Cannon Asset Management Limited and their associated companies, from 2007 to 2011. Prior to this, he was a director of Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited (formerly Guernsey International Fund Managers Limited) where he had worked from 1990 to 2007. He has been in the offshore finance industry since 1986 specialising in administration and structuring offshore open and closed-ended investment funds. Robert is British and resident in Guernsey. MrKing was appointed to the Board in 2013.

Report of the Directors

The Directors of the Company present their Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2015.

Principal Activity

The Company was incorporated with limited liability in Guernsey on 12 April 2013 as a company limited by shares and as an authorised closed-ended investment company. The Company's Shares were admitted to trading on the AIM Market of the LSE on 14 May 2013. As an existing closed-ended fund, the Company is deemed to be granted an authorised declaration in accordance with Section 8 of the Protection of Investors (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 1987, as amended and Rule 6.02 of the Authorised Closed-ended Investment Schemes Rules 2008 on the same date as the Company obtained consent under the Control of Borrowing (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Ordinance 1959 to 1989.

Investment Objective and Investment Policy

The investment objective and investment policy of the Company is to provide Shareholders with an attractive return on their investment, predominantly though long-term capital appreciation, by investing primarily in listed Korean preferred shares. The full investment objective and investment policy is detailed in the Summary Information section of the Annual Report.

Going Concern

The Directors believe that, having considered the Company's investment objective (see Summary Information), financial risk management (see Note 17 to the Financial Statements) and in view of the liquidity of investments, the income deriving from those investments and its holding in cash and cash equivalents, the Company has adequate financial resources and suitable management arrangements in place to continue as a going concern for at least twelve months from the date of approval of the Annual Financial Statements.

Viability Statement

In accordance with the UK Corporate Governance Code (the "UK Code"), the Board has assessed the prospects of the Company over a longer period than the 12 months minimum required by the 'Going Concern' assessment. As realisation opportunities occur every four years from the date of admission, the Board considers that an appropriate period to assess the viability of the Company for the purpose of giving assurance to shareholders is three years. However, it is noted that in this instance, there is arealisation opportunity on 15May 2017 and the three year period ("viability period") assumes that the Company will continue in operation thereafter.

The Board and the Investment Manager believe that the investment opportunity provided by the Company remains compelling, but the viability of the Company is clearly contingent on the investment opportunity remaining in place, a matter which the Board monitors on an on-going basis. As the South Korean preference shares held by the Company trade at a discount compared with ordinary shares for the same companies, the Company remains attractive to long term investors over the viability period which for the purposes of this statement, the Board has assessed for a three year period to 12April 2019.

The Board's assessment of the Company over the viabilityperiod has been made with reference to the Company's current financial position and prospects, the Company's strategy and risk appetite having considered the Company's principal risks and uncertainties detailed below. The Board has also considered the Company's likely cash flows and the liquidity of its portfolio.

It is noted that the Company currently has no gearing, though borrowing is permitted under its constitution. In the event that the Company did consider taking on debt, the Board would carefully assess the Company's ability to meet the debt obligations as they become due.

It is possible to imagine a number of scenarios, such as war or political events, which could severely impact on the liquidity of the Company's investments. The Board maintains cash balances (outside of South Korea) sufficient to meet the Company's running costs for at least two years.

Also the Board has assumed that the regulatory and fiscal regimes under which the Company operates will continue in broadly the same form during the viability period. The Board speaks with its broker and legal advisers on a regular basis to understand issues impacting on the Company's regulatory and fiscal structure. The Board considers the principal risks affecting the viability of the Company are as follows:

Notice period of Investment Manager

The Board has assumed that the Investment Manager will remain in place during the viability period; however, the Board acknowledges the risk of the Investment Manager serving a twelve month notice period under the Management Agreement. To mitigate this risk, the Board meets and communicates regularly with the Investment Manager to review its performance and the relationship with the Investment Manager.

Failure of the Custodian to carry out its obligations to the Company

The Company's assets are held in accounts maintained by the Company's Custodian. Failure by the Custodian to carry out its obligations to the Company in accordance with the terms of the Custodian agreement could have an impact on the viability of the Company. To mitigate this risk, the Board regularly receives reports from the Custodian, and through the Management and Engagement Committee they monitor the relationship with the Custodian.

Loss of license or listing

The Board has assumed that the Company will retain its regulatory status and listing throughout the viability period. The Company Secretary, Administrator and Broker report to the Board at least quarterly on regulatory matters and confirm compliance with listing and other regulatory requirements.

Based on the Company's processes for monitoring operating costs, share price discount, the Investment Manager's compliance with the investment objective, asset allocation, the portfolio risk profile, liquidity risk and the robust assessment of the principal risks and uncertainties facing the Company, the Board has concluded that there is a reasonable expectation that the Company will be able to continue in operation and meet its liabilities as they fall due over the viability period to 12 April 2019.

Results and Dividends

The results for the year ended 31 December 2015 are set out in the Statement of Comprehensive Income. An annual dividend of 1.8580 pence per share (1,868,474) was approved on 4 June 2015 and paid on 26 June 2015, in respect of the year ended 31 December 2014. An annual dividend of 1.4413 pence per share (1,513,399) was approved on 5 June 2014 and paid on 27 June 2014, in respect of the period from 12April2013 (date of incorporation) to 31 December 2013.

The Board has resolved to declare and pay a dividend in June 2016 for the year ended 31 December 2015, based on dividends from investments in Korean preferred shares with a record date on or before 31December2015, and received by the Company by 31 May 2016.

Shareholder Information

Further shareholder information can be found in the Summary Information.

Investment Management

The Investment Manager of the Company is Weiss Asset Management LP, a Delaware limited partnership formed on 10 June 2003, (the "Investment Manager"). The key terms of the Investment Management Agreement and specifically the fee charged by the Investment Manager are set out in Note 16 of the Financial Statements. The Board believes that the investment management fee is competitive with other investment companies with similar investment mandates.

The Board reviews, on an on-going basis, the performance of the Investment Manager and considers whether the investment strategy utilised is likely to achieve the Company's investment objective.

Having considered the portfolio performance and investment strategy, the Board has unanimously agreed that the interests of the Shareholders as a whole are best served by the continuing appointment of the Investment Manager on the terms agreed.

Directors

The details of the Directors of the Company during the year and at the date of this Report are set out in Directors' section.

Directors' Interests

The Directors who held office at 31 December 2015 and up to the date of this Report held the following numbers of Ordinary Shares beneficially:

As at 31 December 2015 As at 31 December 2014 Ordinary % of issued Ordinary % of issued Shares share capital Shares share capital Norman Crighton 20,000 0.02% 20,000 0.02% Stephen Coe 10,000 0.01% 10,000 0.01% Robert King 15,000 0.02% 15,000 0.01%

There have been no changes in the interests of the above directors during the year.

Substantial Interests

Disclosure and Transparency Rules ("DTRs") are now comprised in the Financial Conduct Authority handbook. Section 5, the only section of the DTRs which applies to AIM listed companies, requires substantial Shareholders to make relevant holding notifications to the Company. The Company must then disseminate this information to the wider market. Details of major Shareholders in the Company can be found in Note 10.

Corporate Governance

The Company is a Guernsey registered company, and is not premium listed; the Company is not required to comply with the UK Code. However, the Board is committed to high standards of corporate governance and has implemented a framework for corporate governance which it considers to be appropriate for an investment company in order to comply with the main principles of the UK Code. By complying with the UK Code, the Company is deemed to comply with the Code of Corporate Governance (the "GFSC Code") issued by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.

The UK Code is publicly available on the Financial Reporting Council's (the "FRC") website. The FRC issued a revised UK Code in September 2014, for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 October 2014. The Board has adopted the revised code.

The Board has considered the principles and recommendations of the UK Code, and considers that reporting against the UK Code will provide better information to shareholders. To ensure on-going compliance with these principles the Board receives a report from the Company Secretary, at each quarterly meeting, identifying how the Company is in compliance and identifying any changes that might be necessary.

The Board, having reviewed the UK Code, considers that it has maintained procedures during the year ended 31 December 2015 and up to the date of this report to ensure that it complies with the UK Code except as explained elsewhere in the Report.

Role of the Board

The Board is the Company's governing body and has overall responsibility for maximising the Company's success by directing and supervising the affairs of the business and meeting the appropriate interests of Shareholders and relevant stakeholders, while enhancing the value of the Company and also ensuring protection of investors. A summary of the Board's responsibilities is as follows:

statutory obligations and public disclosure;

strategic matters and financial reporting;

risk assessment and management including reporting compliance, governance, monitoring and control; and

other matters having a material effect on the Company.

The Board's responsibilities for the Annual Report are set out in the Statement of Directors' Responsibilities.

The Board has engaged external companies to undertake the investment management, administrative and custodial activities of the Company. Documented contractual arrangements are in place with these companies which define the areas where the Board has delegated responsibility to them.

The Board needs to ensure that the Annual Report and Financial Statements, taken as a whole, are fair, balanced and understandable and provide the information necessary for shareholders to assess the Company's performance, business model and strategy.

In seeking to achieve this, the Directors have set out the Company's investment objective and policy and have explained how the Board and its delegated committees operate and how the Directors review the risk environment within which the Company operates and set appropriate risk controls. Furthermore, throughout the Annual Report and Financial Statements the Board has sought to provide further information to enable shareholders to better understand the Company's business and financial performance.

Composition and Independence of the Board

The Board currently comprises three non-executive Directors, all of whom are considered independent of the Investment Manager. The Directors of the Company are listed in the Directors' section.

The Chairman is Mr Crighton. A biography for Mr Crighton and all other Directors appears in the Directors' section. In considering the independence of the Chairman, the Board has taken note of the provisions of the UK Code relating to independence, and has determined that Mr Crighton is an independent Director.

The Board believes it has a good balance of skills and experience to ensure it operates effectively. The Chairman is responsible for leadership of the Board and ensuring its effectiveness.

As the Chairman is an independent Director, no appointment of a senior independent Director has been made. The Company has no employees and therefore there is no requirement for a chief executive.

The Company holds a minimum of four Board meetings per year to discuss general management, structure, finance, corporate governance, marketing, risk management, compliance, asset allocation and gearing, contracts and performance. The quarterly Board meetings are the principal source of regular information for the Board enabling it to determine policy and to monitor performance, compliance and controls. These meetings are supplemented by communication and discussions throughout the year.

A representative of the Investment Manager, Administrator and Company Secretary may attend each Board meeting either in person or by telephone thus enabling the Board to fully discuss and review the Company's operations and performance. Each Director has direct access to the Investment Manager and Company Secretary and may at the expense of the Company seek independent professional advice on any matter.

Attendance at the Board and other Committee meetings during the year was as follows:

Number of Norman Robert Stephen Meetings held Crighton King Coe Board Meetings 6 6 6 6 Audit Committee Meetings 3 3 3 3

Board Diversity

The Board considers the composition of the Board on an on-going basis.

Re-election

The Articles of Incorporation provide that one-third of the Directors retire by a voluntary rotation basis at each AGM. However, in order to meet the highest standards of corporate governance, the Directors have agreed to stand for election yearly.

The Directors may at any time appoint any person to be a Director either to fill a casual vacancy or as an addition to the existing Directors. Any Director so appointed shall hold office only until, and shall be eligible for re-election at, the next AGM following their appointment but shall not be taken into account in determining the Directors or the number of Directors who are to retire by a voluntary rotation basis, at that meeting, if it is an AGM.

Board Performance

During the Board Meeting held on 12 November 2015, the Chairman and the Directors discussed whether it was necessary to undertake an annual evaluation or whether it would be preferable just to undertake an external evaluation on a three yearly basis. The Board agreed that this matter will be discussed further in twelve months' time.

Committees of the Board

The Board has established Audit and Management and Engagement Committees. All Terms of Reference for Committees are available from the Company Secretary upon request or on the Company's website, www.weisskoreaopportunityfund.com.

Audit Committee

The Company has established an Audit Committee, with formally delegated duties and responsibilities within written terms of reference. The Audit Committee is chaired by Mr Coe. The Audit Committee's other members are Mr Crighton and Mr King. The Audit Committee meets formally at least twice a year.

Appointment to the Audit Committee is for a period up to three years which may be extended for two further three year periods.

The table under Composition and Independence of the Board sets out the number of Audit Committee Meetings held during the year ended 31December 2015 and the number of such meetings attended by each Audit Committee member.

A report of the Audit Committee detailing responsibilities and activities is presented in the Audit Committee Report.

Management and Engagement Committee

The Company has established a Management and Engagement Committee, with formally delegated duties and responsibilities within written terms of reference. The Management and Engagement Committee is chaired by Mr King. The Management and Engagement Committee's other members are Mr Crighton and Mr Coe. The Management and Engagement Committee meets formally once a year.

The principal duties of the Management and Engagement Committee are to review the performance of and contractual arrangements with the Investment Manager and all other service providers to the Company (other than the external auditors).

During the year the Management and Engagement Committee has reviewed the services provided by the Investment Manager as well as the other service providers and have recommended to the Board that their continuing appointments are in the best interests of the Shareholders. The last meeting was held on 12 November 2015.

Nomination Committee

The Board does not have a separate Nomination Committee. The Board as a whole fulfils the function of a Nomination Committee. Any proposal for a new Director will be discussed and approved by the Board. The Board will determine whether in future an external search consultancy or open advertising is used in the appointments of non-executive Directors.

Remuneration Committee

In view of its non-executive and independent nature, the Board considers that it is not appropriate for there to be a Remuneration Committee as anticipated by the UK Code because this function is carried out as part of the regular Board business. A Remuneration Report prepared by the Board is contained in the Annual Report in the Directors' Remuneration Report. Directors' remuneration is considered on an annual basis.

Environmental Policy

Due to the Company's listing on AIM, the Company is required to disclose its Environmental Policy but this is not applicable due to the nature of its operations.

Internal Controls

The Board is ultimately responsible for establishing and maintaining the Company's system of internal controls and for maintaining and reviewing its effectiveness. The Company's risk matrix continues to be the basis of the Company's risk management process in establishing the Company's system of internal financial and reporting controls. The risk matrix is prepared and maintained by the Board which initially identifies the risks facing the Company and then collectively assesses the likelihood of each risk, the impact of those risks and the strength of the controls operating over each risk. The Company's system of internal controls is designed to manage rather than to eliminate the risk of failure to achieve the Company's objectives and by their nature can only provide reasonable and not absolute assurance against misstatement and loss. These controls aim to ensure that assets of the Company are safeguarded, proper accounting records are maintained and the financial information for publication is reliable. The Board confirms that there is an on-going process for identifying, evaluating and managing the significant risks faced by the Company.

The UK Code requires Directors to conduct at least annually a review of the Company's system of internal controls, covering all controls, including financial, operational, compliance and risk management. The Board has evaluated the Company's systems of internal controls. In particular, it has prepared a process for identifying and evaluating the significant risks affecting the Company and the policies by which these risks are managed and resulted in a low to medium risk assessment.

The Board has delegated the management of the Company's investment portfolio and the administration, registrar and corporate secretarial functions including the independent calculation of the Company's NAV and the production of the Annual Report and Financial Statements, which are independently audited. Whilst the Board delegates these functions, it remains responsible for the functions it delegates and for the systems of internal control. Formal contractual agreements have been put in place between the Company and providers of these services. On an on-going basis Board reports are provided at each quarterly Board meeting from the Investment Manager, Administrator, Registrar and Company Secretary; and a representative from the Investment Manager is asked to attend these meetings.

In common with most investment companies, the Company does not have an internal audit function. All of the Company's management functions are delegated to the Investment Manager, Administrator, Registrar and Company Secretary which have their own internal audit and risk assessment functions.

The Company's risk exposure and the effectiveness of its risk management and internal control systems are reviewed by the Audit Committee at its meetings and annually by the Board. The Board believes that the Company has adequate and effective systems in place to identify, mitigate and manage the risks to which it is exposed.

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

In respect to the Company's system of internal controls and reviewing its effectiveness, the Directors:

are satisfied that they have carried out a robust assessment of the principal risks facing the Company, including those that would threaten its business model, future performance, solvency or liquidity; and

have reviewed the effectiveness of the risk management and internal control systems including material financial, operational and compliance controls (including those relating to the financial reporting process) and no significant failings or weaknesses were identified.

The principal risks and uncertainties which have been identified and the steps which are taken by the Board to mitigate them are as follows:

Investment Risks

The Company is exposed to the risk that its portfolio fails to perform in line with its investment objective and policy if markets move adversely or if the Investment Manager fails to comply with the investment policy. The Board reviews reports from the Investment Manager at the quarterly Board meetings, with a focus on the performance of the portfolio in line with its investment policy. The Administrator is responsible for ensuring that all transactions are in accordance with the investment restrictions.

Operational Risks

The Company is exposed to the risk arising from any failures of systems and controls in the operations of the Investment Manager, Administrator and the Custodian. The Board and its Committees regularly review reports from the Investment Manager and the Administrator on their internal controls. The Administrator will report to the Investment Manager any valuation issues which will be brought to the Board for final approval as required.

Accounting, Legal and Regulatory Risks

The Company is exposed to the risk that it may fail to maintain accurate accounting records, fail to comply with requirements of its Admission document and fail to meet listing obligations. The accounting records prepared by the Administrator are reviewed by the Investment Manager. The Administrator, Broker and Investment Manager provide regular updates to the Board on compliance with the Admission document and changes in regulation.

Discount Management

The Company is exposed to shareholder dissatisfaction through inability to manage the share price discount to NAV. The Board and its Broker monitors share price discount (and premium) continuously and has engaged in share buy-backs from time to time to help minimise any such discount. The Board believes that it has access to sufficiently liquid assets to help manage share price discount. The Company's discount management programme is described within Note 17.

Liquidity of Investments

The Korean Preferred Shares typically purchased by the Company generally have smaller market capitalisations and lower levels of liquidity than their common share counterparts. These factors, among others, may result in more volatile price changes in the Company's assets as compared to the Korean stock market or other more liquid asset classes. This volatility could cause the NAV to go up or down dramatically.

In order to realise its investments, the Company will likely need to sell its holdings in the secondary market, which could prove difficult if adequate liquidity does not exist at the time, and could result in the values received by the Company being significantly less than their holding values. The liquidity of the market for Preferred Shares may vary materially over time. There can be no guarantee that a liquid market for the Company's assets will exist or that the Company's assets can be sold at prices similar to the published NAV. Illiquidity could also make it difficult or costly for the Company to purchase securities, and this could result in the Company holding more cash than anticipated. Furthermore, it is possible that South Korea could impose currency-exchange or capital controls on foreign investors, making it difficult or impossible for the Company to repatriate funds. The Investment Manager considers the liquidity of secondary trading in assessing and managing the liquidity of the Company's investments. The Board reviews the Company's resources and obligations on a regular basis with a view to ensuring that sufficient liquid assets are held for the expected day to day operations of the Company. However, if the Company were required to liquidate a substantial portion of its assets at a single time, it is likely that the market impact of the necessary sale transactions would impact the value of the portfolio materially.

Fraud Risk

The Company is exposed to fraud risk. The Audit Committee continues to monitor the fraud, bribery and corruption policies of the Company. The Board receives a confirmation from all service providers that there have been no instances of fraud or bribery.

Financial Risks

The financial risks, including market, credit and liquidity risk faced by the Company are set out in Note 17 of the Financial Statements. These risks and the controls in place to reduce the risks are reviewed at the quarterly Board meetings.

Shareholder Engagement

The Directors welcome shareholders' views and places great importance on communication with its shareholders. Shareholders wishing to meet with the Chairman and other Board members should contact the Company's Administrator.

The Investment Manager and Broker maintain a regular dialogue with institutional shareholders, the feedback from which is reported to the Board.

The Company's AGM provides a forum for shareholders to meet and discuss issues of the Company and shareholders with the opportunity to vote on the resolutions as specified in the Notice of AGM. The Notice of AGM and the results are released to the London Stock Exchange in form of an announcement.

In addition, the Company maintains a website which contains comprehensive information, including links to regulatory announcements, share price information, financial reports, investment objective and investor contacts.

Auditor

The Auditor, KPMG Channel Islands Limited, have indicated their willingness to continue in office. Accordingly, a resolution for their reappointment will be proposed at the forthcoming AGM.

Directors' Responsibilities

The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and Financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the Directors to prepare Financial Statements for each financial year. Under that law they have elected to prepare the Financial Statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") as adopted by the European Union and applicable law.

The Financial Statements are required by law to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Company and of the profit or loss of the Company for that period.

In preparing these Financial Statements the Directors are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the Financial Statements; and

prepare the Financial Statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to assume that the Company will continue in business.

The Directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company and to enable them to ensure that the Financial Statements have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008. They have general responsibility for taking such steps as are reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the Company and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.

The Directors confirm that they have complied with the above requirements in preparing the Annual Report and Financial Statements and that to the best of their knowledge and belief:

the Annual Report and Financial Statements, taken as a whole, are fair, balanced and understandable and provide the information necessary for the shareholders to assess the Company's performance, business model and strategy; and

the Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the European Union, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit of the Company.

The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the Company's website, and for the preparation and dissemination of financial statements.

Legislation in Guernsey governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Disclosure of information to the Auditor

So far as they are each aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the Company's auditor is unaware; and each Director has taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as a Director to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the Company's auditor is aware of that information.

The Directors recognise their responsibilities stated above.

Signed on behalf of the Board

Norman Crighton Stephen Coe

Chairman Director

12 April 2016

Directors' Remuneration Report

Introduction

An ordinary resolution for the approval of the Directors' Remuneration Report will be put to the Shareholders at the AGM to be held on 27 July 2016.

Remuneration Policy

All Directors are non-executive and a Remuneration Committee has not been established. The Board as a whole considers matters relating to the Directors' remuneration. No advice or services were provided by any external person in respect of its consideration of the Directors' remuneration.

The Company's policy is that the fees payable to the Directors should reflect the time spent by the Directors on the Company's affairs and the responsibilities borne by the Directors and be sufficient to attract, retain and motivate directors of a quality required to run the Company successfully. The Chairman of the Board is paid a higher fee in recognition of his additional responsibilities, as is the Chairman of the Audit Committee. The policy is to review fee rates periodically, although such a review will not necessarily result in any changes to the rates, and account is taken of fees paid to Directors of comparable companies. The Directors of the Company are remunerated for their services at such a rate as the Directors determine provided that the aggregate amount of such fees does not exceed 200,000 per annum.

There are no long term incentive schemes provided by the Company and no performance fees are paid to Directors.

None of the Directors have a service contract with the Company but each of the Directors is appointed by a letter of appointment which sets out the main terms of their appointment. Directors hold office until they retire by rotation or cease to be a Director in accordance with the Articles of Incorporation, by operation of law or until they resign.

Remuneration

Directors are remunerated in the form of fees, payable quarterly in arrears, to the Director personally. No Directors have been paid additional remuneration outside their normal Directors' fees and expenses.

The annual Directors' fees comprise 26,000 payable to Mr Crighton, the Chairman, 22,000 to Mr Coe as Chairman of the Audit Committee and 20,000 to Mr King.

For the year ended 31 December 2015, Directors' fees were:

For the year ended For the year ended 31 December 2015 31 December 2014   Norman Crighton 26,000 26,000 Stephen Coe 22,000 22,000 Robert King 20,000 20,000

Signed on behalf of the Board by:

Norman Crighton Stephen Coe

Chairman Director

12 April 2016

Audit Committee Report

Dear Shareholders,

On the following, we present the Audit Committee's Report for 2015, setting out the responsibilities of the Audit Committee and its key activities in 2015.

The Audit Committee has reviewed the Company's financial reporting, significant areas of judgement and estimation within the Company's Financial Statements, the independence and effectiveness of the external auditor and the internal control and risk management systems of the Company's service providers. The Audit Committee considered whether the Annual Report and Financial Statements are fair, balanced and understandable and whether they provided the necessary information for shareholders to assess the Company's performance, business model and strategy before recommending them to the Board for approval. In order to assist the Audit Committee in discharging these responsibilities, regular reports are received from the Investment Manager, Administrator and external auditor. Following its review of the independence and effectiveness of the Company's external auditors, the Audit Committee has recommended to the Board that KMPG Channel Islands Limited be reappointed as auditor, which the Board has submitted for approval to the Company's Shareholders.

A member of the Audit Committee will continue to be available at each AGM to respond to any Shareholder questions on the activities of the Audit Committee.

Responsibilities

The Audit Committee reviews and recommends the approval of the Financial Statements of the Company to the Board and is the forum through which the external auditor reports to the Board of Directors. The external auditor and the Audit Committee will meet together without representatives of either the Administrator or Investment Manager being present if either considers this to be necessary.

The role of the Audit Committee includes:

monitoring the integrity of the published Financial Statements of the Company;

review and report to the Board on the significant issues and judgements and estimates made in the preparation of the Company's published Financial Statements;

monitor and review the quality and effectiveness of the external auditors and their independence;

consider and make recommendations to the Board on the appointment, reappointment, replacement and remuneration to the Company's external auditor;

review the Company's procedures for prevention, detection and reporting of fraud, bribery and corruption; and

monitor and review the internal control and risk management systems of the service providers.

The Audit Committee's full terms of reference can be obtained by contacting the Company's Secretary or on the Company's website, www.weisskoreaopportunityfund.com.

Key Activities of the Audit Committee

The following sections discuss the assessments made by the Audit Committee during the year:

Financial Reporting

The Audit Committee's review of the Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements focused on the following significant area:

Valuation of investments

The Company's investments had a fair value of 122,775,669 as at 31 December 2015 and represent the majority of the net assets of the Company. The investments are all listed and traded and the valuation is by reference to the fair value measurement required by IFRS. The Audit Committee considered the fair value of the investments held by the Company as at 31 December 2015 to be reasonable from a review of information provided by the Investment Manager and Administrator. All prices have been confirmed by the Administrator, to independent pricing sources as at 31 December 2015.

The Investment Manager and Administrator confirmed to the Audit Committee that they were not aware of any material misstatements including matters relating to Financial Statement presentation, nor were they aware of any fraud or bribery relating to the Company's activities. Furthermore, the external auditor reported to the Audit Committee that no material misstatements were found in the course of their work.

Following a review of the presentations and reports from the Administrator and consulting where necessary with the external auditor, the Audit Committee is satisfied that the Financial Statements appropriately address the critical judgements and key estimates made in the preparation of the Financial Statements (both in respect to the amounts reported and the disclosures). The Audit Committee is also satisfied that the significant assumptions used for determining the value of assets and liabilities have been appropriately scrutinised, challenged and are sufficiently robust.

Risk Management

The Audit Committee continued to consider the process for managing the risk of the Company and its service providers. Risk management procedures for the Company, as detailed in the Company's risk assessment matrix, were reviewed and approved by the Audit Committee.

Fraud, Bribery and Corruption

The Audit Committee continues to monitor the fraud, bribery and corruption policies of the Company. The Board receives a confirmation from all service providers that there have been no instances of fraud or bribery.

The External Auditor

Independence, objectivity and fees

The independence and objectivity of the external auditor is reviewed by the Audit Committee which also reviews the terms under which the external auditor is appointed to perform non-audit services. The Audit Committee has established pre-approval policies and procedures for the engagement of the auditor to provide audit and assurance services.

These are that the external auditors may not provide a service which:

places them in a position to audit their own work;

creates a mutuality of interest;

results in the external auditor developing close relationships with service providers of the Company;

results in the external auditor functioning as a manager or employee of the Company; and

puts the external auditor in the role of advocate of the Company.

As a general rule, the Company does not utilise external auditors for internal audit purposes, secondments or valuation advice. Services such as tax compliance, tax structuring, private letter rulings, accounting advice, quarterly reviews and disclosure advice are normally permitted but will be pre-approved by the Audit Committee.

The following table summarises the remuneration payable to KPMG Channel Islands Limited and to other KPMG member firms for audit and non-audit services.

For the year ended For the yea ended 31 December 2015 31 December 2014 KPMG Channel Islands Limited   Annual audit 24,000 23,500 Tax fees (UK Reporting Fund Status) 3,750 5,000 Advisory fees (FATCA consultation) - 3,000 27,750 31,500

The Audit Committee does not consider KPMG Channel Islands Limited's independence to be under threat. In making this assessment, the Audit Committee has concluded that the non-audit fees do not relate to prohibited services identified by the Audit Committee. In approving the non-audit services the Audit Committee considered the safeguards put in place by KPMG Channel Islands Limited to reduce the threats to independence and objectivity to an acceptable level.

KPMG Channel Islands Limited has been the external auditor from the date of the initial listing on the London Stock Exchange. The recent revisions to the UK Corporate Governance Code introduced a recommendation that the external audit be put out to tender every ten years. The Audit Committee has noted this and will develop a plan for tendering at the appropriate time.

The Audit Committee has examined the scope and results of the audit, its cost effectiveness and the independence and objectivity of the external auditor, with particular regard to non-audit fees, and considers KPMG Channel Islands Limited, as external auditor, to be independent of the Company.

Performance and effectiveness

During the period, when considering the effectiveness of the external auditors, the Audit Committee has taken into account the following factors:

The audit plan presented to them before the audit;

The post audit report including variations from the original plan;

Changes in audit personnel;

The external auditors' report on independence; and

Feedback from both the Investment Manager and Administrator.

Further to the above, at the conclusion of the 2015 audit fieldwork, the Audit Committee performed specific evaluation of the performance of the external auditor through discussion with the Administrator, Investment Manager and the Auditors, themselves.

There were no significant adverse findings from this evaluation.

Reappointment of external auditors

Consequent to this review process, the Audit Committee has recommended to the Board that a resolution be put to the 2016 AGM for the reappointment of KPMG Channel Islands Limited as external auditor. The Board has accepted this recommendation.

Internal control and risk management systems

After consultation with the Investment Manager, Administrator and external auditor, the Audit Committee considers the impact of the risk of the override of controls by its service providers, the Investment Manager and Administrator.

The Audit Committee reviews externally prepared assessments of the control environment in place at the Administrator, with the Administrator providing a Service Organisation Controls Report on a bi-annual basis. The Audit Committee noted that the Management and Engagement Committee received a self-assessment from the Investment Manager and no issues were identified in this. Norman Crighton also visited the office of the Investment Manager to discuss and review the controls in place at the Investment Manager. No significant failings or weaknesses were identified in these reviews by the Audit Committee.

The Audit Committee has also reviewed the need for an internal audit function. The Audit Committee has decided that the systems and procedures employed by the Investment Manager and the Administrator's internal audit function provide sufficient assurance that a sound system of internal control, which safeguards the Company's assets, is maintained. An internal audit function specific to the Company is therefore considered unnecessary.

In finalising the Financial Statements for recommendation to the Board for approval, the Audit Committee is satisfied that, taken as a whole, the Annual Report and Financial Statements are fair, balanced and understandable.

For any questions on the activities of the Audit Committee not addressed in the foregoing, a member of the Audit Committee remains available to attend each AGM to respond to such questions.

The Audit Committee Report was approved by the Board on 12 April 2016 and signed on behalf of the Audit Committee by:

Stephen Coe

Chairman, Audit Committee

12 April 2016

Independent Auditor's Report

To the Members of Weiss Korea Opportunity Fund Ltd.

Opinions and conclusions arising from our audit

Opinion on financial statements

We have audited the financial statements of Weiss Korea Opportunity Fund Ltd. (the "Company") for the year ended 31 December 2015 which comprise the statement of financial position, the statement of comprehensive income, the statement of changes in equity, the statement of cash flows and the related notes. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union ('EU'). In our opinion, the financial statements:

 give a true and fair view of the state of the Company's affairs as at 31 December 2015 and of its total comprehensive income for the year ended 31 December 2015;

 have been properly prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the EU; and

 comply with the Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008.

Our assessment of risks of material misstatement

The risks of material misstatement detailed in this section of this report are those risks that we have deemed, in our professional judgement, to have had the greatest effect on: the overall audit strategy; the allocation of resources in our audit; and directing the efforts of the engagement team. Our audit procedures relating to these risks were designed in the context of our audit of the financial statements as a whole. Our opinion on the financial statements is not modified with respect to any of these risks, and we do not express an opinion on these individual risks.

In arriving at our audit opinion above on the financial statements, the risk of material misstatement that had the greatest effect on our audit was as follows:

Valuation of investments (122,775,669 or 95% of NAV)

Refer to the Report of the Audit Committee, Note 2e (accounting policies) and Note 11 and 18 (financial instrument disclosures).

The risk - The Company invests primarily in listed preferred shares issued by companies incorporated and listed in South Korea , which in certain cases may trade at a discount to the corresponding common shares of the same companies. As highlighted in the Report of the Audit Committee, the valuation of the Company's investments, given they represent the majority of the Company's net assets as at 31 December 2015 , is a significant area of our audit. Fair value of investments traded in active markets are based on the bid price at the close of business of the relevant stock exchange on the reporting date. As disclosed in Note 18 to the financial statements, 100% of the Company's investments are traded in an active market.

Our response - Our audit procedures with respect to the Company's valuation of investments included, but were not limited to, evaluating the design and implementation of controls at the administrator in relation to valuation of investments, using our own financial instruments valuation specialist to perform a comparison of the latest available bid prices from an independent third party pricing provider to the bid prices utilised by the Company. In addition our own financial instruments valuations specialist assesses the quality of the available bid prices used as at 31 December 2015 for evidence of stale prices or bid prices not quoted in an active market against observed market trading data.

We also considered the Company's valuation policies adopted and fair value disclosures in Note 2e, 11 and 18 for compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the EU.

Our application of materiality and an overview of the scope of our audit

Materiality is a term used to describe the acceptable level of precision in financial statements. Auditing standards describe a misstatement or an omission as "material" if it could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of the financial statements. The auditor has to apply judgement in identifying whether a misstatement or omission is material and to do so the auditor identifies a monetary amount as "materiality for the financial statements as a whole".

The materiality for the financial statements as a whole was set at 3,650,000. This has been calculated using a benchmark of the Company's net asset value (of which it represents approximately 3%) which we believe is the most appropriate benchmark as net asset value is considered as the prime driver of returns to the members and to be one of the principal considerations for members of the Company in assessing the financial performance of the Company.

We agreed with the audit committee to report to it all corrected and uncorrected misstatements we identified through our audit with a value in excess of 182,500, in addition to other audit misstatements below that threshold that we believe warranted reporting on qualitative grounds.

Our audit of the Company was undertaken to the materiality level specified above, which has informed our identification of significant risks of material misstatement and the associated audit procedures performed in those areas as detailed above. The audit was performed at the offices of the administrator.

Whilst the audit process is designed to provide reasonable assurance of identifying material misstatements or omissions it is not guaranteed to do so. Rather we plan the audit to determine the extent of testing needed to reduce to an appropriately low level the probability that the aggregate of uncorrected and undetected misstatements does not exceed materiality for the financial statements as a whole. This testing requires us to conduct significant depth of work on a broad range of assets, liabilities, income and expense as well as devoting significant time of the most experienced members of the audit team, in particular the Responsible Individual, to subjective areas of the accounting and reporting process.

An audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or error. This includes an assessment of: whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the Company's circumstances and have been consistently applied and adequately disclosed; the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by the Board of Directors; and the overall presentation of the financial statements. In addition, we read all the financial and non-financial information in the Annual Report to identify material inconsistencies with the audited financial statements and to identify any information that is apparently materially incorrect based on, or materially inconsistent with, the knowledge acquired by us in the course of performing the audit. If we become aware of any apparent material misstatements or inconsistencies we consider the implications for our report.

Disclosures of principal risks

Based on the knowledge we acquired during our audit, we have nothing material to add or draw attention to in relation to:

the directors' Viability Statement in the Report of the Directors concerning the principal risks, their management, and, based on that, the directors' assessment and expectations of the company's continuing in operation over the 3 years to 12 April 2019 ; or

; or the disclosures in note 2 of the financial statements concerning the use of the going concern basis of accounting.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

Under International Standards on Auditing ("ISAs") (UK and Ireland) we are required to report to you if, based on the knowledge we acquired during our audit, we have identified other information in the Annual Report that contains a material inconsistency with either that knowledge or the financial statements, a material misstatement of fact, or that is otherwise misleading.

In particular, we are required to report to you if:

we have identified material inconsistencies between the knowledge we acquired during our audit and the directors' statement that they consider that the Annual Report and financial statements taken as a whole is fair, balanced and understandable and provides the information necessary for members to assess the Company's performance, business model and strategy; or

the Audit Committee Report does not appropriately address matters communicated by us to the audit committee.

Under the Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008, we are required to report to you if, in our opinion:

the Company has not kept proper accounting records; or

the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or

we have not received all the information and explanations, which to the best of our knowledge and belief are necessary for the purpose of our audit.

We have nothing to report in respect of the above responsibilities.

Scope of report and responsibilities

The purpose of this report and restrictions on its use by persons other than the Company's members as a body

This report is made solely to the Company's members, as a body, in accordance with section 262 of the Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 and, in respect of any further matters on which we have agreed to report, on terms we have agreed with the Company. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Company and the Company's members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Respective responsibilities of directors and auditor

As explained more fully in the Directors' Responsibilities Statement in the Report of the Directors, the directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view. Our responsibility is to audit, and express an opinion on, the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and ISAs (UK and Ireland). Those standards require us to comply with the UK Ethical Standards for Auditors.

KPMG Channel Islands Limited

Chartered Accountants

Glategny Court

Glategny Esplanade

St Peter Port, Guernsey

GY1 1WR

12 April 2016





Statement of Financial Position

As at As at 31 December 31 December 2015 2014 Notes   Assets Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss 11,18 122,775,669 118,537,000 Other receivables 13 2,358,893 2,235,438 Cash and cash equivalents 12 6,360,135 6,408,790 Due from broker 2(o) 481,717 - Total assets 131,976,414 127,181,228 Liabilities Other payables 14 833,636 765,408 Total liabilities 833,636 765,408 Net assets 131,142,778 126,415,820 Represented by: Shareholders' equity and reserves Share capital 15 93,746,629 102,900,000 Other reserves 2(r) 37,396,149 23,515,820 Total shareholders' equity 131,142,778 126,415,820 Net assets per Share 6 1.3449 1.2040 The Financial Statements were approved and signed by the Board of Directors on 12 April 2016. Norman Crighton Stephen Coe Chairman Director

The notes form an integral part of these Financial Statements.





Statement of Comprehensive Income

For the year ended For the year ended 31 December 2015 31 December 2014 Notes   Income Net changes in fair value of financial assets atfair value through profit or loss 7 16,197,400 14,924,253 Other income 8 2,586,621 2,183,389 Net income 18,784,021 17,107,642 Expenses Operating expenses 9 (2,466,120) (2,579,362) Total operating expenses (2,466,120) (2,579,362) Operating profit for the period before tax 16,317,901 14,528,280 Withholding tax 2(q) (569,098) (480,324) Operating profit for the period after tax 15,748,803 14,047,956 Total comprehensive income for the year 15,748,803 14,047,956 Basic and diluted earnings per share 5 0.1561 0.1338 All items derive from continuing activities.

The notes form an integral part of these Financial Statements.





Statement of Changes in Equity

For the year ended 31 December 2015 Share Other capital reserves Total Notes    Balance at 1 January 2014 102,900,000 10,981,263 113,881,263 Total comprehensive income for the year - 14,047,956 14,047,956 Transactions with Shareholders, recorded directly in equity Distributions paid 3 - (1,513,399) (1,513,399) Balance at 31 December 2014 102,900,000 23,515,820 126,415,820 Balance at 1 January 2015 102,900,000 23,515,820 126,415,820 Total comprehensive income for the year - 15,748,803 15,748,803 Transactions with Shareholders, recorded directly in equity Repurchase of ordinary shares and cancelled on purchase 15 (9,153,371) - (9,153,371) Distributions paid 3 - (1,868,474) (1,868,474) Balance at 31 December 2015 93,746,629 37,396,149 131,142,778

The notes form an integral part of these Financial Statements.



Statement of Cash Flows

For the year ended For the year

ended 31 December 2015 31 December

2014 Notes   Cash flows from operating activities Total comprehensive income for the year 15,748,803 14,047,956 Adjustments for: Net change in fair value of financial assets held at fair value profit or loss 7 (16,197,400) (14,924,253) Increase in debtors 13 (123,455) (235,935) Increase in creditors 14 68,228 77,160 Net cash used in operating activities (503,824) (1,035,072) Cash flows from investing activities Purchase of financial assets at fair value through profit or loss 11 (24,778,741) (57,294,034) Proceeds from the sale of financial assets at fair value through profit or loss 11 36,214,129 61,999,255 Net cash inflows from investing activities 11,435,388 4,705,221 Cash flows from financing activities Repurchase of ordinary shares and cancelled on purchase 15 (9,153,371) - Distributions paid 3 (1,868,474) (1,513,399) Net cash outflows from financing activities (11,021,845) (1,513,399) Effects of exchange rate fluctuations 41,626 382,915 Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents (48,655) 2,539,665 Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 6,408,790 3,869,125 Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 6,360,135 6,408,790

The notes form an integral part of these Financial Statements.







Notes to the Financial Statements

1. General information

The Company was incorporated with limited liability in Guernsey, as a closed-ended investment company on 12 April 2013. The Company's Shares were admitted to trading on the AIM Market of the LSE on 14May2013.

The Company's investment objective and policy is set out in the Summary Information.

The Investment Manager of the Company is Weiss Asset Management LP.

On 29 July 2015, the Memorandum of Articles of Incorporation which was originally entered on 8 May 2013 had been revised to reflect current administrative functions of the Directors. This was pursuant to a shareholder vote at the last AGM to allow telephone meetings of the Board.

2. Significant accounting policies

a) Statement of Compliance

The Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2015 have been prepared in accordance with IFRS adopted by the European Union and the AIM Listing Rules of the London Stock Exchange. They give a true and fair view and are in compliance with the Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008.

b) Basis of Preparation

The Financial Statements are prepared in pounds sterling (), which is the Company's functional and presentation currency. They are prepared on a historical cost basis modified to include financial assets at fair value through profit or loss.

c) Going Concern

The Directors believe that, having considered the Company's investment objective (see Summary Information), financial risk management (see Note 17 to the Financial Statements) and in view of the liquidity of investments, the income deriving from those investments and its holding in cash and cash equivalents, the Company has adequate financial resources and suitable management arrangements in place to continue as a going concern for at least twelve months from the date of approval of the Annual Financial Statements.

d) Standards, amendments and interpretations not yet effective

At the date of approval of these Financial Statements, IFRS 9 Financial Instruments (Effective 1 January 2018), which has not been applied in these Financial Statements, was in issue but not yet effective.

The Company is currently evaluating the potential effect of this standard.

IFRS 9 'Financial Instruments' is effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2018, with early adoption permitted and amends IAS 39. IFRS 9 specifies how an entity should classify and measure financial assets, including some hybrid contracts. They require all financial assets to be classified on the basis of the entity's business model for managing the financial assets and the contractual cash flow characteristics of the financial asset; this classification includes financial assets initially measured at fair value plus, in the case of a financial asset not at fair value through profit or loss, particular transaction costs; subsequently measured at amortised costs or fair value. These requirements improve and simplify the approach for classification and measurement of financial assets compared with the requirements of IAS 39. They apply a consistent approach to classifying financial assets and replace the numerous categories of financial assets in IAS 39, each of which had its own classification criteria.

They also result in one impairment method, replacing the numerous impairment methods in IAS 39 that arise from the different classification.

e) Financial instruments

i) Classification

Financial assets are classified into the following categories: financial assets at fair value through profit or loss and loans and receivables.

The classification depends on the nature and purpose of the financial assets and is determined at the time of initial recognition.

Regular way purchases or sales are purchases or sales of financial assets that require delivery of assets within the timeframe established by regulation or convention in the marketplace.

Financial liabilities are classified as either financial liabilities at fair value through profit or loss or other financial liabilities.

ii) Recognition

Investment assets at fair value through profit or loss ("investments")

Financial assets and derivatives are recognised in the Company's Statement of Financial Position when the Company becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Purchases and sales of investments are recognised on the trade date (the date on which the Company commits to purchase or sell the investment). Investments purchased are initially recorded at fair value, being the consideration given and excluding transaction or other dealing costs associated with the investment.

Subsequent to initial recognition, investments are measured at fair value. Gains and losses arising from changes in the fair value of investments and gains and losses on investments that are sold are recognised through profit or loss in the Statement of Comprehensive Income within net changes in fair value of financial assets at fair value through profit or loss.

Derivatives

Futures and forward foreign currency contracts are treated as derivative contracts and as such are recognised at fair value on the date on which they are entered into and subsequently re-measured at their fair value. Fair value is determined by rates in active currency markets. All derivatives are carried as assets when fair value is positive and as liabilities when fair value is negative. The gain or loss on re-measurement to fair value is recognised immediately through profit or loss in the Statement of Comprehensive Income within net changes in fair value of financial assets at fair value through profit or loss in the period in which they arise.

Offsetting of financial instruments

Financial assets and financial liabilities are offset and the net amount reported in the Statement of Financial Position if, and only if, there is a currently enforceable legal right to offset the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis, or to realise assets and settle the liabilities simultaneously.

iii) Measurement

Fair value is 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. Investments traded in active markets are valued at the latest available bid prices ruling at midnight on the reporting date. The Directors are of the opinion that the bid-market prices are the best estimate on fair value. Gains and losses arising from changes in the fair value of financial assets/(liabilities) are shown as net gains or losses on financial assets through profit or loss in Note 11 and recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Income in the period in which they arise.

Derecognition of financial instruments

A financial asset is derecognised when: (a) the rights to receive cash flows from the asset have expired, (b) the Company retains the right to receive cash flows from the asset, but has assumed an obligation to pay them in full without material delay to a third party under a "pass through arrangement"; or (c) the Company has transferred substantially all the risks and rewards of the asset, or has neither transferred nor retained substantially all the risks and rewards of the asset, but has transferred control of the asset.

A financial liability is derecognised when the obligation under the liability is discharged, cancelled or expired.

Realised and unrealised gains and losses

Realised gains and losses arising on disposal of investments are calculated by reference to the proceeds received on disposal and the average cost attributable to those investments, and are recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Income. Unrealised gains and losses on investments are recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Income.

f) Income

Dividend income from equity investments is recognised through profit or loss in the Statement of Comprehensive Income when the relevant investment is quoted ex-dividend. Investment income is included gross of withholding tax.

g) Expenses

All expenses are accounted for on an accruals basis.

h) Cash and cash equivalents

Cash comprises cash in hand and demand deposits. Cash equivalents, which can include bank overdrafts, are short term, highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash and which are subject to insignificant changes in value. Cash, deposits with banks and bank overdrafts are stated at their principal amount.

i) Share Capital

Ordinary shares are classified as equity. Incremental costs directly attributable to the issue of ordinary shares are shown in equity as a deduction, net of tax, from the proceeds and disclosed in the Statement of Changes in Equity.

j) Foreign currency translations

Functional and presentation currency

The Financial Statements of the Company are presented in the currency of the primary economic environment in which the Company operates (its 'functional currency'). The Directors have considered the currency in which the original capital was raised, distributions will be made and ultimately the currency in which capital would be returned in a liquidation.

On Balance Sheet Date, the Directors believe that pounds sterling best represents the functional currency of the Company. For the purpose of the Financial Statements, the results and financial position of the Company are expressed in pounds sterling, which is the presentation currency of the Company. Transactions denominated in foreign currencies are translated into pounds sterling at the rate of exchange ruling on the date of the transaction. Financial assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies at the reporting date are translated into pounds sterling at the exchange rate prevailing at that date. Realised and unrealised gains or losses on currency translation are recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Income. Foreign currency differences relating to investments at fair value through profit or loss are included within net changes in fair value of financial assets at fair value through profit or loss (Note 7).

k) Treasury Shares

Where the Company purchases its own share capital, the consideration paid, which includes any directly attributable costs, is recognised as a deduction from Shareholders' equity through the other reserves, which is a distributable reserve.

When such Shares are subsequently sold or reissued, any consideration received, net of any directly attributable incremental transaction costs and the related income tax effects, is recognised as an increase in equity and the resulting surplus or deficit on the transaction is transferred to/from the other reserve.

Where the Company cancels treasury shares, no further adjustment is required to the share capital account at the time of cancellation. Shares held in treasury are excluded from calculations when determining NAV per share and earnings per share.

l) Operating Segments

The Board has considered the requirements of IFRS 8 'Operating Segments', and is of the view that the Company is engaged in a single segment of business, being an investment strategy tied to listed preferred shares issued by companies incorporated in South Korea. The Board, as a whole, has been determined as constituting the chief operating decision maker of the Company.

The key measure of performance used by the Board to assess the Company's performance and to allocate resources is the total return on the Company's NAV, as calculated under IFRS, and therefore no reconciliation is required between the measure of profit or loss used by the Board and that contained in these Audited Financial Statements.

The Board of Directors is charged with setting the Company's investment strategy in accordance with the investment policy. They have delegated the day to day implementation of this strategy to its Investment Manager but retain responsibility to ensure that adequate resources of the Company are directed in accordance with their decisions. The investment decisions of the Investment Manager are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure compliance with the policies and legal responsibilities of the Board. The Investment Manager has been given full authority to act on behalf of the Company, including the authority to purchase and sell securities and other investments on behalf of the Company and to carry out other actions as appropriate to give effect thereto. Whilst the Investment Manager may make the investment decisions on a day to day basis regarding the allocation of funds to different investments, any changes to the investment strategy or major allocation decisions have to be approved by the Board, even though they may be proposed by the Investment Manager.

The Board therefore retains full responsibility as to the major decisions made on an on-going basis. The Investment Manager will always act under the terms of the Admission Document which cannot be significantly changed without the approval of the Board of Directors and where necessary, Shareholders.

m) Other Receivables

Other receivables are amounts due in the ordinary course of business. Other receivables are recognised initially at fair value and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method, less provision for impairment.

n) Other Payables

Other payables are obligations to pay for services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business. Other payables are recognised initially at fair value and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

o) Due from and due to brokers

Amounts due from and due to brokers represent receivables for securities sold and payables purchased that have been contracted for but not yet settled or delivered on the Statement of Financial Position date respectively.

p) Dividend Distribution

Dividend distribution to the Company's Shareholders is recognised as a liability in the Company's Financial Statements and disclosed in the Statement of Changes in Equity in the period in which the dividends are proposed and approved by the Board.

q) Taxation

The Company has been granted Exempt Status under the terms of The Income Tax (Exempt Bodies) (Guernsey) Ordinance, 1989 to income tax in Guernsey. Its liability is an annual fee of 1,200 (2014: 600).

The amounts disclosed as taxation in the Statement of Comprehensive Income relates solely to withholding tax levied in South Korea on distribution from Korean companies at an offshore rate of 22%.

r) Other Reserves

Total comprehensive income for the year is transferred to Other Reserves.

3. Dividends to Shareholders

Dividends, if any, will be paid annually in June each year. An annual dividend of 1.8580 pence per share (1,868,474) was approved on 4 June 2015 and paid on 26 June 2015, in respect of the year ended 31December 2014.

An annual dividend of 1.4413 pence per share (1,513,399) was approved on 5 June 2014 and paid on 27June2014, in respect of the period from 12 April 2013 (date of incorporation) to 31 December 2013.

4. Significant accounting judgements, estimates and assumptions

The preparation of the Financial Statements in conformity with IFRS requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of policies and the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, income and expense and the accompanying disclosures. Uncertainty about these assumptions and estimates could result in outcomes that require a material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets or liabilities affected in future periods.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an on-going basis. Revisions to accounting estimates ar
Regulatory News:

NEL ASA (OSE:NEL)

NEL ASA (NEL) has together with SINTEF, Statoil, Linde Kryotechnik, Mitsubishi Corporation, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, NTNU and The Institute of Applied Energy, among others, initiated the project "Hyper", a feasibility study of the potential for large scale hydrogen production in Norway for export to the European and Japanese markets. The project has received a 14 MNOK grant from the ENERGIX-programme of the Research Council of Norway.

"We are proud to announce the initiation of Project Hyper with SINTEF and our partners. The exploration of large-scale hydrogen production in Norway for European and Japanese markets has significant potential. We are looking at a scenario in which production of 225 000 tons of hydrogen could fuel as many as three million cars annually. We are looking forward to contribute to the project with our world-wide and extensive experience within hydrogen production from renewable energy," says Bjrn Simonsen, market development director of NEL.

SINTEF Energy Research is the host organisation and the lead research partner for Project Hyper. The aim of the project is to study the feasibility, as well enable the planning, construction, and operation of a commercial decarbonised hydrogen production, liquefaction, and export facility based on Norwegian fossil- and renewable energy resources.

"Project Hyper gives us a unique possibility to investigate and gain a deeper understanding of the different technological elements and interactions within hydrogen production. It is a strength for the project that we have major industry partners with us, and is an opportunity to utilise their competence and commercial insight within this area", says Chief Scientist at SINTEF Energy Research, Dr. Petter Neksa.

Project Hyper is planned and financed throughout 2019. The total project cost is estimated at 20 MNOK. It is funded by a 14 MNOK grant from the Research Council of Norway (ENERGIX), in addition to the contributions from the project partners.

"One of aims of the project is to develop cost-efficient means for decarbonised value creation from Norwegian energy resources", says David Berstad, researcher at SINTEF.

About NEL

NEL ASA is the first dedicated hydrogen company on the Oslo Stock Exchange. NEL has its roots from the hydrogen technology developed by Norsk Hydro, and has since 1927 had a proud history of continual delivery and improvement of hydrogen technologies. NEL is today through the daughter companies of NEL Hydrogen AS and H2 Logic A/S a global supplier of hydrogen solutions, covering the entire value chain from hydrogen production technologies to hydrogen refuelling stations. www.nel-asa.com

About SINTEF

SINTEF is the largest independent research organisation in Scandinavia. We create value and innovation through knowledge generation and development of technological solutions that are brought into practical use. www.sintef.no

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160412006931/en/

Contacts:

NEL

Bjrn Simonsen

Director for Market Development and Public Relations

+ 47 97 17 98 21


13 April 2016 AIM: AAU



CONSTRUCTION UPDATE - KIZILTEPE



Ariana Resources plc ('Ariana' or 'the Company'), the gold exploration and development company operating in Turkey, is pleased to provide an update on construction of the Kiziltepe Mine within the Red Rabbit Gold-Silver Project in Western Turkey ('Red Rabbit'). Kiziltepe is being advanced towards production through a Joint Venture ('JV') with Proccea Construction Co. ('Proccea'). The project is targeting production in H2 2016.



Highlights:



* Crushers and screens construction substantially complete, with components installation now underway; ball-mill foundations prepared for installation of components within 10 days.



* Process (CIL/CIC and ADR*) plant foundations partially complete and awaiting initial steel work installation.



* Mine administration, accommodation and canteen facilities are fully operational, with 150 people currently employed on site.



* 4.7MW electrical power usage project approved and necessary components acquired, with installation almost complete; telephone, internet and servers access currently being connected to the mine site.



* Process water wells have been completed and have demonstrated more than adequate flow rates for process plant usage.



* Open-pit access development by the mining contractors is fully underway with blasting occurring regularly three times a week.



* Access and pipeline route to the tailings dam area currently half complete; reviews and new submissions to the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning completed for the tailings storage facility in line with recently modified legislation.



* Several exploration drill holes have been planned to target the Arzu Central area and an application for a new forestry permit has been made to provide appropriate access.



Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:



'We are very pleased to note the current rate of construction at Kiziltepe, which with 150 people now working on site, has become increasingly active. Our partners, Proccea, are now in the process of completing the installation of the crushing and screening circuit and preparing for the installation of the ball- mill (Figure 1). Meanwhile, the foundations for the processing plant have largely been laid and structural steelwork will commence shortly. Following recent drilling on the project, a review of current resources and reserves is underway along with early planning to accommodate a potentially enhanced throughput rate. The project remains on schedule for commissioning during H2 2016.'



* CIL - Carbon-in-Leach; CIC - Carbon-in-Column; ADR - Adsorption-Desorption- Recovery



To view the aforementioned Figure 1, please click on or paste the following link into your web browser: http://hugin.info/138153/R/2002914/739189.pdf



Contacts:



Ariana Resources plc Tel: +44 (0) 20 7407 3616



Michael de Villiers, Chairman



Kerim Sener, Managing Director



Beaumont Cornish Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396



Roland Cornish / Felicity Geidt



Beaufort Securities Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7382 8300



Jon Belliss



Loeb Aron & Company Ltd. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 1128



John Beresford-Peirse



Editors' Note:



About Ariana Resources



Ariana is an exploration and development company focused on epithermal gold- silver and porphyry copper-gold deposits in Turkey. The Company is developing a portfolio of prospective licences selected on the basis of its in-house geological and remote-sensing database, on its own in western Turkey and in Joint Venture with Eldorado Gold Corporation in north-eastern Turkey. Eldorado owns 51% of this joint venture and are fully funding all exploration work on the JV properties, while Ariana owns 49%. The total resource inventory within this JV is 1.09 million ounces of gold.



The Company's flagship assets are its Kiziltepe and Tavsan gold projects which form the Red Rabbit Gold Project. Both contain a series of prospects, within two prolific mineralised districts in the Western Anatolian Volcanic and Extensional (WAVE) Province in western Turkey. This Province hosts the largest operating gold mines in Turkey and remains highly prospective for new porphyry and epithermal deposits. These core projects, which are separated by a distance of 75km, are presently being assessed as to their economic merits and now form part of a Joint Venture with Proccea Construction Co. The total resource inventory at the Red Rabbit Project stands at 475,000 ounces of gold equivalent.



Beaufort Securities Limited and Loeb Aron & Company Ltd. are joint brokers to the Company and Beaumont Cornish Limited is the Company's Nominated Adviser.



For further information on Ariana you are invited to visit the Company's website at www.arianaresources.com.



Ends



Link to Figure 1: http://hugin.info/138153/R/2002914/739189.pdf



This announcement is distributed by GlobeNewswire on behalf of GlobeNewswire clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.



Source: Ariana Resources plc via GlobeNewswire [HUG#2002914]



B085SD5R22



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
Raisio plc, Stock Exchange Release, 13 April 2016, at 9.30 a.m. Finnish timeRAISIO TO LICENSE THE HONEY MONSTER BRAND TO BRECKSThe Raisio Group has today signed an agreement to license the Honey Monster brand to The Brecks Company Limited. The license agreement will be effective from 1 July 2016 and thereafter Brecks will market and sell Honey Monster products in the UK. The license agreement does not have a significant impact on the Raisio Group's earnings.CEO Matti Rihko says that in line with its agreed strategy, Raisio will continue with its focus on healthy snacks. "Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals are not at the core of Raisio's strategy so the licensing of the Honey Monster brand is a good solution that ensures that Honey Monster cereals will continue to be available to British consumers."Brecks was established in 1992. Its product range includes a wide selection of cereals that the company produces at its two UK-based factories.Further information: www.brecksfood.comRAISIO PLCHeidi Hirvonen Communications and IR Manager tel. +358 50 567 3060Further information: CEO Matti Rihko, tel. +358 400 830 727

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 April 2016

www.vallourec.com



Vallourec supplies OCTG for a deep Geothermal Power project in Bavaria

Boulogne-Billancourt (France), April 13, 2016 - Vallourec is delivering close to 1,500 tons of seamless OCTG[1] (#_ftn1) to Geothermie Holzkirchen GmbH[2] (#_ftn2) for the geothermal power project at Holzkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany, which is planned to start operating in 2017.

Most of the tubes were produced at the Vallourec mills in Mulheim and Dusseldorf. Geothermie Holzkirchen GmbH uses geothermal sources in the Alpine Foreland to generate clean, green energy and heat. "We are happy to have won this order which gives us the opportunity to support the energy transformation in Germany," said Norbert Keusen, Managing Director of Vallourec Germany.

The project calls for the drilling of two wells to a depth of nearly 5,000 meters, the first of which is now under way. This initial well will bring the geothermal water to the surface at a temperature of 140C. A steam generator and heat exchanger will then transform this hot water to produce electricity and heat. Once cooled, the water will then follow its loop back down into the calcareous aquifer, descending through the second well.

The OCTG will be used to consolidate the wells; gas-tight and designed to resist harsh conditions - temperatures over 180 C and external pressures up to 743 bars. "Our tubes can cope with the highest mechanical and thermal loads, because they are made from steels specially developed for the energy industry, and the tube strings have VAM premium connections," explained Markus Renner, Sales Director OCTG Europe.

Commissioning of the new geothermal plant is scheduled for 2017. It is expected to cover up to 80% of the heating needs for the town of Holzkirchen and will reduce annual CO 2 emissions by nearly 10,000 metric tons when compared to the plant's alternative energy source.

For several years now, deep geothermal power has established a firm foothold in the German states of Bavaria, Brandenburg, and Baden-Wurttemberg as an environmentally friendly energy source. Bavaria has invested in geothermal energy now for over a decade and it will soon represent a major share of the Munich energy supply: the city has made a commitment to meet all of its electricity requirements with renewable energy by 2025.

About Vallourec

Vallourec is a world leader in premium tubular solutions primarily serving the energy sector, as well as other industries.

With over 20,000 employees in 2015, integrated manufacturing facilities, advanced R&D, and a presence in more than 20 countries, Vallourec offers its customers innovative global solutions to meet the energy challenges of the 21st century.

Listed on Euronext in Paris (ISIN code: FR0000120354, Ticker VK) and eligible for the Deferred Settlement System (SRD), Vallourec is included in the SBF 120 and Next 150 indexes.

www.vallourec.com

Follow us on Twitter @Vallourec

For more information, please contact



Investor relations

Etienne Bertrand

Tel: +33 (0)1 49 09 35 58

etienne.bertrand@vallourec.com



Press relations

Heloise Rothenbuhler

Tel: +33 (0)1 41 03 77 50

heloise.rothenbuhler@vallourec.com (mailto:heloise.rothenbuhler@vallourec.com)



Investor relations

Christophe Le Mignan

Tel: +33 (0)1 49 09 38 96

Christophe.lemignan@vallourec.com



Individual shareholder relations

Toll-free (France) : 0 800 505 110

actionnaires@vallourec.com







[1] (#_ftnref1) OCTG : Oil Country Tubular Goods (Casing & Tubing) [2] (#_ftnref2) The Geothermie Holzkirchen GmbH is a subsidiary of the public company Gemeindewerke Holzkirchen GmbH





PDF version (http://hugin.info/143606/R/2002937/739198.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: VALLOUREC via Globenewswire



HUG#2002937


LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Energy services group Hunting plc (HTG.L) Wednesday reported that its trading during the first quarter across the majority of Hunting's businesses has been weak, with revenue being approximately 50% lower during the quarter from the prior year. In its trading update, the company noted that the price of WTI crude oil has stabilised since the year end at approximately $40 per barrel, while the US rig count has declined to below 450 active units, down from over 1,800 units at the start of 2015. This reflects the difficult market environment being experienced by all energy sector companies. In oder to face the trading environment, Hunting is continuing to reduce its cost base, with the Group's headcount reduction now at 40% since 1 January 2015, providing approximately $82 million in annualised cost savings. The company also has a sustained programme of decreasing inventories to align to short term demand. Hunting will today be holding its Annual General Meeting. 'Although trading visibility remains very weak, Hunting continues to be focused on maintaining its capability to respond to an improvement in the trading environment, utilising its portfolio of high efficiency manufacturing plants, across the globe...' the company said in its statement. 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.
The German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, Inc., (GACC Midwest) elected Susanne Resatz, Ph.D., President of Vetter Development Services USA, Chicago in March as a member of its board of directors. The goal of the organization, of which Vetter has been a member since 2010, is to further promote and assist in the expansion of bilateral trade and investment between the United States, especially the Midwest, and Germany. This is supported by a diverse mix of board members, representing various aspects of industry, company size, and business function. GACC Midwest's territory covers 14 US states: the 13 states of the Midwest and Colorado, comprising together approximately one quarter of the nation's geographical area, its population, and its gross domestic product. With almost 1,400 German businesses operating in the Midwest, the region represents a dynamic business location, particularly for transatlantic trade.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160412006954/en/

Susanne Resatz, President of Vetter Development Services USA, Inc. (Photo: Business Wire)

"I am very happy to be elected to the board of GACC Midwest. This organization also represents the very essence of what Vetter has been working to create as a company, which is being a leading service provider for us, achieving this, for example, through our manufacturing footprint in both the US and Germany. The 'two-country' manufacturing positioning affords us valuable opportunity to efficiently supply our (bio-)pharmaceutical customers in these two countries, and also those located in other areas in the world," said Dr. Resatz. GACC Midwest connects business partners, provides insights on industry best practices, works to create skilled workforce models, and enables a knowledge exchange between peers. The diverse membership profile of GACC Midwest including various business, industry and services sectors provides a promising ground for cross-fertilization. "Actively participating in organizations such as GACC Midwest helps Vetter broaden its horizon, with the goal of contributing to innovative and foresighted business and manufacturing processes. As such, they are instrumental in helping to strengthen our relationships with customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders."

Dr. Resatz a pioneer in Vetter's Chicago site

Dr. Resatz has headed up Vetter's Chicago clinical manufacturing facility since 2014. She earned a Master's Degree with a major in Applied Mathematics from Vienna University of Technology in 2002, and a Doctoral degree in the field of Computational Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering from Vienna University of Technology in 2005. Dr. Resatz relocated from Germany to the United States in 2010, and was among the first employees to help establish Vetter Development Services USA, Inc., located at the Illinois Science Technology Park in Skokie, Illinois. Dr. Resatz began her career at Vetter in 2006 in the position of Process Implementation Specialist. Prior to her move to Chicago, she worked on high level process implementation projects within Vetter. Her specialized knowledge of Vetter's services, equipment and techniques has led to numerous collaborations with (bio-)pharmaceutical companies from around the world.

Vetter's Chicago facility is the company's US clinical manufacturing site, providing development support for preclinical through phase II injectables, primarily complex biologics. The site offers all the resources needed for efficient early-stage clinical manufacturing, including chemical analysis and microbiology labs, material preparation and compounding functions. At the heart of the facility are its cleanrooms, followed by visual inspection capabilities and GMP storage. The facility currently operates with a growing staff of more than 60, and has collaborated with

(bio-)pharmaceutical clients from the US, as well as Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, with treatments under development for cancer, muscular dystrophy, dwarfism and other conditions. Once the early clinical development phases are completed, the customer product can be transferred to the company's German facilities for manufacturing of late-stage clinical supply and for subsequent commercial production.

Dr. Susanne Resatz, Ph.D., President of Vetter Development Services USA, Inc. is a new board member of the GACC Midwest.

About Vetter

Vetter is a global leader in the fill and finish of aseptically prefilled syringe systems, cartridges and vials. Headquartered in Ravensburg, Germany, with production facilities in Germany and the United States, the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) is an innovative solution provider serving the top 10 (bio-)pharmaceutical companies, as well as small and midsize companies. Its portfolio spans state-of-the-art manufacturing from early clinical development through commercial filling and final packaging of parenteral drugs. The company's extensive experience covers a broad range of complex compounds including monoclonal antibodies, peptides and interferons. Vetter supports its customers every step of the way, guiding their products through development, regulatory approval, launch and lifecycle management. Known for quality, the company of approximately 3,600 employees offers a foundation of experience spanning more than 35 years, including dozens of customer product approvals for novel (bio-)pharmaceutical compounds. The CDMO is also committed to patient safety and compliance with user friendly solutions such as Vetter-Ject, as well as its dual-chamber syringe Vetter Lyo-Ject and cartridge system V-LK. Vetter's branch office in Singapore and its subsidiary in Tokyo, Japan, increase the presence of the company and the awareness of its service portfolio in the Asian healthcare market. Visit www.vetter-pharma.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160412006954/en/

Contacts:

Vetter Pharma International GmbH

Oskar Gold

Senior Vice President Key Account Management,

Marketing Corporate Communications

Phone: +49 (0)751-3700-3729

E-mail: PRnews@vetter-pharma.com
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Jupiter Fund Management plc (JUP.L) issued its trading update in respect of the three months to 31 March 2016. Overall net inflows for the quarter were 723 million pounds, boosted by segregated mandate inflows, resulting in total AUM at 31 March 2016 of 36.2 billion pounds. Net mutual fund inflows was 443 million pounds in the three months to 31 March 2016. It reported Net segregated mandate inflows of 274 million in the three months to 31 March 2016. Maarten Slendebroek, Chief Executive, said, 'We are pleased to report that our mutual fund franchise again delivered healthy net flows of 0.4 billion this quarter, complemented by net flows of 0.3 billion into segregated mandates. This has been achieved despite less favourable market conditions, although our investment performance has remained strong.' 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.
LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) executives announce today that Missouri's House of Representatives passed industrial hemp bill HB 2038 which is set to legalize and regulate the cultivation of industrial hemp in the state of Missouri. According to the industrial hemp bill, industrial hemp production, possession, and commerce in industrial hemp commodities and products shall be permitted in the state and subject to regulation by the Department of Agriculture, including compliance with an industrial hemp plant monitoring system. The industrial hemp bill, passed with a majority vote of 123-29, was approved last week just as Hemp, Inc. completed the installation of its steel silo at their hemp processing facility in Spring Hope, North Carolina.

To see the video of America's largest hemp processing facility (70,000 square feet under roof, on 9 acres) and 60-foot silo installation, click here.

"After months of weather delays, due to above average rainfall, we have finally been able to install our 60-foot tall silo as you can see from Hemp, Inc.'s latest video update." said David Schmitt, COO of Hemp, Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary Industrial Hemp Manufacturing, LLC. "Edwards Inc. of Spring Hope, NC provided the cranes and the manpower to raise and position the steel silo onto the concrete foundation. Concor, Inc. of Greenville, NC fastened the silo to the foundation. It was a double victory, with the Missouri House passing the industrial hemp bill legalizing the cultivation of industrial hemp."

To see the video of America's largest hemp processing facility (70,000 square feet under roof, on 9 acres) and 60-foot silo installation, click here.

Craig Perlowin, Secretary of Hemp, Inc. was on site to observe the event. "The excessive rain made the soil too soft to hold the 2,100-ton cranes that were needed on site to install the steel silo. Prior to that, above average rainfall delayed the crew in pouring concrete for the 60x16x2-ft thick pad that provides the foundation for the silo. We had to wait over 8 weeks for a break in the weather to pour that concrete slab. The massive steel silo is 12 feet in diameter and 60 feet tall and weighs 30,000 pounds, when empty. Now that the silo is in place, everyone is relentless in moving forward to finish America's largest commercial, hemp processing facility. It's evident nothing can stop the hemp revolution. More states are beginning to pass an industrial hemp bill."

To see the video of America's largest hemp processing facility (70,000 square feet under roof, on 9 acres) and 60-foot silo installation, click here.

According to Schmitt, the silo will be used to store Hemp, Inc.'s loss circulation material (LCM), Drillwall, prior to packaging. "Once the Kenaf (or hemp) stalk has been decorticated, the core of the stalk will go through a milling process to obtain a certain particle size. Then, there are several additives that go into the mix. Once this process is complete, the finished product is conveyed pneumatically into the silo. From the silo, it is conveyed mechanically to the bagging line where it is packaged in 25-pound multi-wall bags and palletized for shipment."

To see the video of America's largest hemp processing facility (70,000 square feet under roof, on 9 acres) and 60-foot silo installation, click here.

Jack A. Farrior Inc. of Farmville, NC is the engineering firm assisting with the installation of Hemp, Inc.'s milling operation. The final drawings have been approved and the installation and fabrication are on track according to Schmitt.

"On Saturday, April 9, 2016 we began bailing our Kenaf harvest from last year. We are approximately 50 percent complete with this process. Once the harvest is complete, all of the material should be in our warehouse by Sunday April 16th, weather permitting of course." The company has been receiving numerous requests for products on a weekly basis. "It is my goal to have several orders in house prior to bringing the plant online."

To see the video of America's largest hemp processing facility (70,000 square feet under roof, on 9 acres) and 60-foot silo installation, click here.

Bruce Perlowin, CEO of Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP), said, "More states are recognizing the benefits of industrial hemp which is why we are seeing more and more states pass an industrial hemp bill in favor of industrial hemp. With the largest commercial decorticating plant in the United States, Hemp, Inc. realizes every advancement in the industrial hemp industry reinforces its advantage in the marketplace because we are years ahead of the curve. Our subsidiary, Industrial Hemp Manufacturing, LLC (IHM), is also becoming known throughout the industry as a leader in this sector."

The Spring Hope North Carolina Chamber of Commerce just selected Hemp, Inc.'s facility to host their Business After Hours commerce board meeting on May 23, 2016 and was "thrilled" that IHM agreed. Chamber executives said, "We feel it would be good to give the chamber members an opportunity to meet you and hear your story." The meeting is also expected to include a tour of the plant.

"Each week, we are seeing more and more support for the industrial hemp industry and we're seeing opportunities abound in the hemp industry. With each industrial hemp bill passed, it's important that we keep our shareholders informed. We intend to remain at the forefront of the industrial hemp industry," says Perlowin.

To see the video of America's largest hemp processing facility (70,000 square feet under roof, on 9 acres) and 60-foot silo installation, click here.

ABOUT INDUSTRIAL HEMP AND MEDICAL MARIJUANA CONSULTING COMPANY (IHMMCC)

This lucrative division of Hemp, Inc. is once again picking up momentum. The Industrial Hemp and Medical Marijuana Consulting Company (IHMMCC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hemp, Inc. that pulls industry information from a vast network of specialists. IHMMCC is entrenched primarily in all the multi-faceted opportunities of the Industrial Hemp industry while also maintaining professional contacts in the medical marijuana sector. As the country transitions to embrace more sustainable agricultural practices, public and private companies want to expand into the industrial hemp industry and consulting services from IHMMCC are helping them in leading the way.

IHMMCC's most recent agreement, before entering into an agreement with Green Cures and Botanical Distribution, Inc., is with FutureLand Corp, a leading provider of strategic real estate investment, grow facilities and material solutions to the global cannabis industry. Per the Consultant Agreement, IHMMCC will provide consulting services specific to the Industrial Hemp/Medical Marijuana Industry in the area of sales and marketing strategy, public company venues, and general industry specific business guidance to FutureLand Corp. For more information on FutureLand Corp, visit their website here.

SUBSCRIBE TO HEMP, INC.'S VIDEO UPDATES

"Hemp, Inc. Presents" is capturing the historic, monumental re-creation of the hemp decorticator today as America begins to evolve into a cleaner, green, eco-friendly sustainable environment. What many see as the next American Industrial Revolution is actually the Industrial Hemp Revolution. Join "Hemp, Inc. Presents" and join the hemp revolution.

Watch as Hemp, Inc., the #1 leader in the industrial hemp industry, engages its shareholders and the public through each step in bringing back the hemp decorticator as described in the "Freedom Leaf Magazine" article "The Return of the Hemp Decorticator" by Steve Bloom. Freedom Leaf Magazine, a leading cannabis industry magazine is published by the public company, Freedom Leaf Magazine, Inc. "Hemp, Inc. Presents" is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by visiting www.hempinc.com. To subscribe to the "Hemp, Inc. Presents" YouTube channel, be sure to click the subscribe button.

Subscribers will automatically get an email from YouTube every time a new Hemp, Inc. video update is posted along with suggestions of other similar videos. Stay up-to-date with industrial hemp news and the progress of Hemp, Inc.'s multipurpose industrial hemp processing plant while being educated on the industrial hemp industry. Our video update views are collectively reaching over a thousand views per week. Stay informed by subscribing to Hemp, Inc.'s video updates. Hemp, Inc. is positioned to be the avant-garde of the industrial hemp industry and leader of processing industrial hemp in America.

HEMP NATION MAGAZINE

HempNationMagazine.com (HNM) is published by Hemp, Inc. and focuses on informing, educating, raising awareness and connecting the public to the powerful world of HEMP. HNM reports on Politics, Industrial Growth, Banking, Distribution, Medical, Lifestyles and Legalization. HNM is your source for all things HEMP and news about this emerging multi-billion dollar industry. For more information on HNM, visitwww.HempNationMagazine.com.

ABOUT INDUSTRIAL HEMP

When it comes to environmental impact, industrial hemp is a crop that can actually give back to the earth. It takes less water to grow and process, is less polluting from pesticides and can actually help rebuild depleted soil. According to a USDA report in 2000, industrial hemp is not very susceptible to widespread disease. Most contagion can be controlled through seed treatment before planting. Additional research has shown that industrial hemp can be used for phytoremediation of polluted environments and significantly detox toxic soil.

HEMP, INC.'S TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE

Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) seeks to benefit many constituencies from a "Cultural Creative" perspective, thereby not exploiting or endangering any group. CEO of Hemp, Inc., Bruce Perlowin, is positioning the company as a leader in the industrial hemp industry, with a social and environmental mission at its core. Thus, the publicly traded company believes in "up streaming" a portion of its profits back to its originator, in which some cases will one day be the American small farmer -- cultivating natural, sustainable products as an interwoven piece of nature. By Hemp, Inc. focusing on comprehensive investment results -- that is, with respect to performance along the interrelated dimensions of people, planet, and profits -- the triple bottom line approach can be an important tool to support its sustainability goal.

http://www.twitter.com/hempinc (Twitter)

http://www.facebook.com/hempinc (Facebook)

http://www.instagram.com/hempinc (Instagram)

SAFE HARBOR ACT

Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Hemp, Inc.

Investor Relations

ir@hempinc.com

(855) HEMP-OUT

info@hempinc.com

http://www.hempinc.com




COPENHAGEN, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

A statistical dead heat has surprisingly emerged in Denmark on whether to follow Great Britain out the European Union in case of a 23 June Brexit vote.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160411/353696 )



A nationally representative poll of Danish voters revealed that 30 percent of respondents would stay in the EU while an extraordinary high number, 27 percent, would vote to leave if Britons do the same. The margin of error was +/- 3.1 percentage points. Historically, the Danish "stay" camp has often tended to outnumber the "exit" camp by a 2:1 margin.

The survey was carried out in late March by the Epinion polling agency for Analyseenheden 4V, a non-partisan Danish business consultancy, which has analysed the British referendum's ramifications for trade and politics.

"No referendum has been called, but if it were, the result would likely be a Daxit, or Danexit," said Erik Hogh-Sorensen, partner in Analyseenheden 4V.

In its 55-page legal and economic analysis, 4V foresees no international economic meltdown regardless of the UK result. But Brexit would pose long-term problems for Denmark's EU membership. Given a 1.1 percent voting share in the Council of Ministers, the export-oriented Danish economy is heavily reliant on British support for a liberal free-trade agenda.

"Britain and Denmark entered together in 1973 and remain political and economic allies. Neither country is a member of the euro," said Hogh-Sorensen.

In the survey, 7 percent answered "don't know" while 34 percent would "wait and see and make a decision later."

Denmark has a long EU referenda tradition. Most lately on 3 December 2015 when a majority (53.1% vs. 46.9%) rejected the government's wish to abolish Denmark's opt-out on judicial affairs and common EU migration policy.

"The yes side started out way ahead in the polls, but ended up losing as undecided voters made up their opinion," said Hogh-Sorensen.

Contact: Erik Hoegh-Soerensen, Partner, Analyseenheden 4V, a4v@a4v.dk, +4551418410
First-quarter global fintech investment grew 67 percent year-over-year to $5.3 billion; 62 percent of investments went to ventures in Europe and Asia

Global investment in financial technology (fintech) ventures in the first quarter of 2016 reached $5.3 billion, a 67 percent increase over the same period last year, and the percentage of investments going to fintech companies in Europe and Asia-Pacific nearly doubled to 62 percent. These are among the findings of a new report by Accenture (NYSE:ACN) analyzing global fintech trends. (Full report: www.fintechinnovationlablondon.co.uk/fintech-evolving-landscape.aspx)

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413005588/en/

(Graphic: Business Wire)

"The drive for fintech innovation is spreading well beyond traditional tech hubs," said Richard Lumb, Accenture's group chief executive Financial Services. "New frontiers like robotics, blockchain and the Internet of Things are bound less by geography than by the industry's ability to adopt and scale clever ideas that improve service and efficiencies. The so-called 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' is a global phenomenon that brings new innovation and digital companies that compete and collaborate with traditional financial services. Bank customers stand to gain from this."

'Disruptive' vs. Collaborative

According to the report, collaborative fintech ventures those primarily targeting financial institutions as customers are gaining ground over so-called "disruptive" players that enter the market to compete against those institutions.

Funding for collaborative fintech ventures, which accounted for 38 percent of all fintech investment in 2010, grew to 44 percent of funding in 2015, with the remaining investments made in ventures that compete with financial institutions. During that six-year period, the percentage of funding for collaborative fintech ventures in North America rose even more dramatically, from 40 percent to 60 percent. In Europe, however, the reverse was true: Funding for "disruptors" there rose from 62 percent of all fintech investments in 2010 to 86 percent in 2015.

"The proportion of competitive fintech ventures in Europe and Asia is much higher than in North America, which largely reflects the earlier stages of maturity of fintech markets, particularly outside of London," said Julian Skan, a managing director in Accenture's Financial Services group who oversees the FinTech Innovation Lab London. "London's welcoming regulatory environment has made a preferred market for competitive fintech ventures to test their propositions. Banks too stand to benefit from this, as it drives momentum to re-imagine their own capabilities."

According to the report, so-called "disruptors" may compete against banks at first, but often end up aligning with them through investments, acquisitions and alliances, such as BBVA's recent stake in Atom, a mobile-only bank developed in London that launched last week.

But while a growing proportion of collaborative fintech ventures have emerged, the report cites "relatively low participation" in venture-investing by the banks themselves, which in 2015 invested $5 billion of the $22.3 billion of reported investments. That compares to an estimated $50 billion to $70 billion that banks spend on internal fintech investment each year, according to the report.

"Banks that excel in assessment and adoption of external fintech disruptions, be they collaborative or competitive, can leapfrog the competition by providing the kinds of digital innovations that consumers have grown to expect from retail and technology giants," Skan added.

Global Fintech Investment Grew 75 percent in 2015, Exceeding $22 Billion

The report shows that global fintech investment in 2015 grew 75 percent, or $9.6 billion, to $22.3 billion in 2015. This was driven by relatively moderate growth in the US fintech sector the world's largest which received $4.5 billion in new funding (a 44 percent increase); rapid growth in China's fintech sector which increased 445 percent to nearly $2 billion, as well as in India ($1.65 billion), Germany ($770 million) and Ireland ($631 million).

In Europe, overall fintech investment more than doubled (120 percent) between 2014 and 2015 and the number of deals increased by half (51 percent). Investment in German fintech ventures grew 843 percent in that period.

In Asia-Pacific, fintech investment more than quadrupled in 2015 to $4.3 billion. The lion's share of those investments took place in China ($1.97 billion) and India ($1.65 billion). In the first three months of 2016, APAC investments increased by 517 percent compared to the same period last year $445 million to $2.7 billion driven almost entirely by Chinese fintech investments.

North American fintech investment grew 44 percent to $14.8 billion in 2015 and the U.S. continued to dominate the sector with 667 fintech deals, a 16 percent increase.

The report also identified a growing number of "big ticket" deals in the global fintech sector, as it begins to mature. In 2015, there were 94 fintech deals larger than $50 million, compared to 52 in 2014 and just 15 in 2013.

Read the full report at http://www.fintechinnovationlablondon.co.uk/fintech-evolving-landscape.aspx

Learn more about Accenture Financial Services at www.accenture.com/FinancialServices

Methodology

The study is based on Accenture's analysis of fintech investment-data from CB Insights, a global venture-finance data and analytics firm. The analysis included global financing activity from venture capital and private equity firms, corporations and corporate venture-capital divisions, hedge funds, accelerators, and government-backed funds. The data ranged from 2010 through Q1 2016. Fintech companies are defined as those that offer technologies for banking and corporate finance, capital markets, financial data analytics, payments and personal financial management.

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions underpinned by the world's largest delivery network Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With approximately 373,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413005588/en/

Contacts:

Accenture

Petra Shuttlewood, 44 7788 305373

petra.shuttlewood@accenture.com

or

Melissa Volin, 1 267 216 1815

melissa.volin@accenture.com

or

Lara Wozniak, 1 852 6027 3966

lara.wozniak@accenture.com
MUNICH, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Annual results press conference of Germany's oldest TUV organisation

New records in 2015: Revenue of EUR 2.2 billion and earnings of EUR 190 million (adjusted EBIT)

and earnings of (adjusted EBIT) Global player: TUV SUD now employs more people abroad than in Germany

Major investment: The purchase of 100 % of the shares in Spanish ATISAE marks the largest acquisition in TUV SUD's history

Digital expertise: Center of Excellence Digital Service inaugurated in Singapore

Passionate about safety since 1866: TUV SUD celebrates its 150th anniversary

TUV SUD continued its growth course in 2015, setting new records for revenue, earnings and headcount. The globally operating technical services group increased its revenue by around 8 per cent last year to EUR 2.2bn (2014: EUR 2.1bn). Earnings before interest and taxes (adjusted EBIT) rose to approx. EUR 190m (2014: approx. EUR 187m), while earnings after taxes (EAT) increased by over 9 per cent to EUR 114m (2014: approx. EUR 104m). TUV SUD started into its anniversary year of 2016 - the 150th year of its history - by purchasing the Spanish ATISAE Group. This acquisition, the largest in the company's history to date, brings the number of employees up to 24,000.

"By acquiring ATISAE we have strengthened not only our business operations in Spain, but also our position in western Europe," said Prof. Dr.-Ing. Axel Stepken, Chairman of the Board of Management of TUV SUD AG, at the group's annual results press conference in Munich. Besides being the fifth largest national economy in the European Union, Spain is the second largest car manufacturer in the EU and ranks fourth worldwide in terms of installed wind-power capacity. Involving a workforce of 1,300-plus and revenue of over EUR 80m, the acquisition will be the largest in the 150-year history of the international service corporation. With a broad portfolio of services, ATISAE operates in many sectors of industry and thus integrates perfectly into TUV SUD Group.

The acquisition of ATISAE is a further milestone in TUV SUD's continued commitment to growth and internationalisation. "Our company has once again delivered profitable growth in 2015," explained the Chairman of the Board of Management. Revenue grew by around 8 per cent to over EUR 2.2bn - a new record. Year-on-year, adjusted EBIT rose by a further 2 per cent to almost EUR 190m; earnings after taxes increased by over 9 per cent to EUR 114m. After the acquisition of ATISAE Group early this year, TUV SUD now employs approximately 24,000 staff, more than half of them outside Germany.

Broad success: Growth across all segments and regions

"TUV SUD's development has proved highly resilient in the face of challenging economic framework conditions," said Dr Matthias J. Rapp, CFO of TUVSUD AG. Presenting TUV SUD's annual financial statement, Rapp highlighted the fact that all segments had once again experienced growth in revenue, contributing to the group's profitable growth.

The INDUSTRY segment recorded an increase in revenue of more than 7 per cent to EUR 945m, in the MOBILITY segment revenue rose by roughly 5 per cent to EUR 639m, and the CERTIFICATION segment recorded a year-on-year increase in revenue of almost 14 per cent to EUR 557m.



"Within the scope of our internationalisation strategy, we had set ourselves the target of generating at least 40 per cent of our revenue outside Germany by 2015," reported Rapp. "Last year we generated over 42 per cent of our consolidated revenue abroad, and thus clearly outperformed this target." Once again, the strongest impetus for growth came from Asia, where revenue rose by around 22 per cent, and from the Americas, which recorded growth of around 15 per cent. In its domestic market of Germany, TUV SUD also succeeded in increasing its revenue by a further 3.6 per cent in 2015, with the German legal entities generating revenue of around EUR 1.4bn. "This growth in revenue across all regions demonstrates that we are a strong competitor and emphasises our objective to be one of the leaders on the global TIC - testing, inspection and consulting - market," explained the CFO.

TUV SUD also confirms this objective by investing in the further expansion and continuous modernisation of its testing capabilities throughout the world. In 2015 total capital expenditure amounted to over EUR 80m, of which more than half was spent in Germany.

Future-focused strategy: Ensuring security for Industry 4.0

The spread of digitisation and interconnectivity throughout virtually all areas of the economy and society is an important growth segment for the international technical services group. "While offering enormous opportunities, this area also involves significant risks," underlined Stepken. A research and development project at TUV SUD which attracted potential attacks and investigated their approaches showed how dangerous the situation has become. Known as a 'honeynet', the project used real hard- and software to simulate the environment of a small-scale water works in a provincial town in Germany. Throughout the eight-month project, the experts recorded over 60,000 attempted attacks launched from servers all over the world, often using spoofed IP addresses.

"We regard ourselves as one of the key players in the development of measures to protect systems against unauthorised access and cyber attacks," stressed TUV SUD's Chairman of the Board. "We bring our experience to the table in an array of projects and initiatives, such as SmartFactory KL and the PEGASUS research project launched by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy." SmartFactory KL tests the practical use of innovative information and communication technologies in industrial production. To this end, TUV SUD's experts have developed a new certification scheme for flexible plant structures. The objective of the PEGASUS project is to define new test and approval methods for highly automated driving, particularly on motorways and up to speeds of 130 km/h, within the course of the next three years.

Digital capabilities: Digital Units in Munich and Singapore

Expanding its digital capabilities, TUV SUD is establishing new Digital Units as essential elements of the group's digitisation strategy. "Only two weeks ago, we inaugurated our new Center of Excellence Digital Service in Singapore," reported Stepken. TUV SUD has pledged investments in the double-digit millions over the next three years and will expand the Digital Service Team to a headcount of 50 in its drive to further enhance the company's capabilities in functional safety and industrial cybersecurity and develop innovative solutions for promising future segments, such as smart infrastructures and Industry 4.0.

Singapore and Munich are the two locations at which TUV SUD is expanding its capabilities by establishing Digital Service Units. Singapore's Smart Nation initiative has made the Asian city-state an important pace-setter for digital transformation. Singapore's government is supporting the city's transformation into a smart nation by funding a number of innovation projects.

"Our engagement in a number of these projects gives us the opportunity to develop innovative services that we can deploy in other markets," explained the Chairman of the Board of Management. The first example of such projects involves solutions for smart homes where TUV SUD tests functional safety, IT security and the reliability and interoperability of components and installations.

Germany's first TUV organisation: Special responsibility for people and the environment

"2016 is a very special year for TUV SUD," affirmed Stepken. "The foundations for our company's sustained success were laid in 1866 - exactly 150 years ago." After a huge steam boiler explosion at Mannheim's Aktienbrauerei, 22 local industrialists founded the Mannheim-based Association for the Inspection and Insurance of Steam Boilers (Gesellschaft zur Ueberwachung und Versicherung von Dampfkesseln mit dem Sitze in Mannheim) - the predecessor of today's TUV SUD and the cradle of technical testing and inspection in Germany. "Although technologies have evolved and changed continuously in the 150 years of our existence, TUV SUD's mission has essentially remained the same," the Chairman of the Board of Management explained. "By making sure that technologies are safe, reliable and sustainable, we also assume significant responsibility for people and the environment."

In the year of its anniversary, TUV SUD has chosen a special way to demonstrate their social responsibility. "We will donate a total of EUR 5m to support the education and training of young people who could not otherwise afford such qualifications," announced Stepken. "For this purpose, we will launch a number of projects managed by the TUV SUD Foundation." These projects include the development and implementation of special study concepts for children and young people from migrant backgrounds, landmark initiatives that provide socially disadvantaged young people with the possibility to train for technical careers, and an innovation award for small- and medium-sized companies which work with scientific institutions to realise and launch innovative product ideas. The TUV SUD Foundation is thus continuing on its chosen path. Since its foundation in 2009, it has funded extensive projects helping to generate enthusiasm for technology and natural science and focusing on young people in particular.

Note for editorial staff: High resolution photos can be found at the "Media Photos" category at http://www.tuv-sud.com/pressphotos.

Cross reference: Picture is available at epa european pressphoto agency (http://www.epa.eu )

Further press material: This subject is also addressed in a podcast. The complete broadcast / original speech held by Dr Axel Stepken will be available for download from 4 pm at http://www.tuev-sued.de/audio-pr. The contents of the press folder are available for download at http://www.tuev-sued.de/balance-sheet-press-conference.

Media Relations:

MatthiasAndreesenViegas

TUVSUDAG

CorporateCommunications

Westendstr.199,80686Munich

Tel +49-(0)89 / 57-91-16-13

Fax +49-(0)89 / 57-91-22-69

Email matthias.andreesen@tuev-sued.de

Internet http://www.tuev-sued.de
Reference is made to announcement from Songa Offshore SE ("Company") on 15 March 2016 and subsequent releases regarding its refinancing.

An extraordinary general meeting of the Company's shareholders was held today, 13 April 2016, at 9 am (CET). As follows from the attached minutes, all resolutions proposed were duly approved with sufficient majorities.

With this, and following the approval by the bondholders' meeting of the Company's three bond loans on 11 April 2016 and the successful close of the new USD 125 million convertible bond offering as announced on 7 April 2016, the main conditions for the Company's refinancing have now been fulfilled. The Company will proceed with issuance of the new convertible bond loan and execution of relevant amendment agreements expected to occur on or about 20 April 2016, as well as issuance of new shares resulting from debt conversion.

With respect to the subsequent equity offering, this will be launched upon publication of an offering and listing prospectus to be approved by relevant authorities. Shareholders as of close of trade today, 13 April 2016 (as recorded in the VPS on 15 April 2016), will, subject i.a. to applicable restrictions, receive non-transferable subscription rights for the subsequent equity offering. The shares will thus trade exclusive of the right to participate in the subsequent equity offering from tomorrow, 14 April 2016. The subscription price in the subsequent equity offering will be NOK 0.15. Further information on timing, terms and how to participate, will be announced in due course, and described in the prospectus to be prepared in connection therewith.

Limassol, 13 April 2016

For further information, please contact:

Jan Rune Steinsland, CFO (+47 97052533)

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Minutes from EGM 13 April 2016 (http://hugin.info/136777/R/2003085/739286.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: Songa Offshore SE via Globenewswire



HUG#2003085


BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - German engineering group Bilfinger SE (BFLBY.PK) said Wednesday that Per Utnegaard would resign as CEO and member of the Executive Board as of April 30, 2016, following a mutual agreement between the Supervisory Board and the CEO. In addition, the Supervisory Board said it is confident that it will be able to appoint a new CEO shortly and until further notice, CFO Axel Salzmann will assume the role of CEO, on an interim basis, in addition to his current functions. 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.
Siauliai, Lietuva, 2016-04-13 11:32 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The following decisions were adopted in the Ordinary general meeting of shareholders of Gubernija AB (the code of the Company is 144715765), held on 13 April 2016:



1. Annual Report of the Company for 2015. It is stated that the Company's annual report 2015 is heard. The meeting does not take a decision in this regard.



2. The independent auditor's report. It is stated that the independent auditor's report is heard. The meeting does not take a decision in this regard.



3. Approval of the annual financial statements of the Company for 2015. To approve the annual financial statements of the Company for 2015.



4. Appropriation of the result of the year 2015. To leave the Company's result of 2015 unappropriated.



5. Election of audit company for performing audit set of financial statements of the Company for 2016 and setting payment conditions. To elect Grant Thornton Rimess UAB, company code 300056169, for performing audit set of financial statements of the Company for 2016. To authorize General Manager of the Company to sign an audit contract, to assign EUR 6800, excluding VAT for remuneration for audit services.



This information is also available at: www.gubernija.lt/investuotojams.



AB "Gubernija" General Manager Vijoleta Dunauskiene +370-41-591900

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
THORNTON, CO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: ASTI), a developer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art, flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules integrated into the company's EnerPlex series of consumer products, announced today the Company has completed an agreement for the exclusive distribution of EnerPlex products within Germany with KOMSA, the Hartmannsdorf, Germany based distributor.

"The German market is a natural forward step for European growth, particularly considering the success of our presence in the United Kingdom. Germany presents an exciting opportunity for revenue growth; and our partnership with KOMSA, a well-known and entrenched distributor in the region, will help EnerPlex quickly penetrate both physical as well as e-tail channels." said Rafael Gutierrez, SVP & COO of Ascent Solar & EnerPlex.

EnerPlex and KOMSA discuss the opportunities afforded by the new partnership:

Bianca Brinker, representing EnerPlex in Europe, said, "EnerPlex is determined to further expand its presence in the German market and the brand's status as a technology leader. With KOMSA as a strong distribution partner, we are confident in achieving this goal. KOMSA is one of the leading distributors in the Mobile, Outdoor and Sporting markets-and attaches great importance to partner support and training. KOMSA's focus on offering a solutions-based product portfolio, their industry leading service and forward-looking alignment makes KOMSA a true value-added distributor for EnerPlex for our story of collect it -- store it -- use it.

Anja Kratzer, Unit Manager for KOMSA, speaking of the new partnership, "EnerPlex complements our portfolio with high-quality solutions in the field of 'Mobile Power Management'. Through their extensive product offering, we can provide our partners with unique and high performance products; whether a classic power bank, high-quality solar products or innovative accessories, EnerPlex's portfolio provides the most suitable products for our partner's customers."

Speaking of further European expansion, Mr. Gutierrez commented, "The signing of KOMSA is the first step in our strategy to capitalize on the opportunity presented in Central and Southern Europe, over half of Germans own smartphones, along with a similar percentage for the citizens of France, Italy and Spain. We see the European market as underserved in regards to Mobility Power across all three product verticals EnerPlex manufactures: Mobile, Outdoor and Emergency."

About Ascent Solar Technologies and EnerPlex:

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. is a developer of thin-film photovoltaic modules with substrate materials that are more flexible, versatile and rugged than traditional solar panels. Ascent Solar modules can be directly integrated into consumer products and off-grid applications, as well as aerospace and building integrated applications. EnerPlex is the Company's brand of consumer products and is a division of Ascent Solar. Ascent Solar and EnerPlex are headquartered in Thornton, Colorado. For more information, go to www.goenerplex.com and www.ascentsolar.com.

Follow the latest EnerPlex announcements: Visit our newsroom or on social media via Twitter @GoEnerPlex or Facebook

About KOMSA (www.komsa.de)

KOMSA Kommunikation Sachsen AG is a leading provider of the ICT industry in Europe. KOMSA specializes in the core areas of distribution, integrated services and repair service and is business partner of all renowned manufacturers and network operators in this sector. For Trading partners the company provides products and solutions from a single source, and industry partners a channel-specific sales of their goods and the acquisition of related services. KOMSA is also a Value Added Distributor in the sector Outdoor & Sport. As KOMSA Group with our specialized subsidiaries, we serve more than 10,000 resellers, including more than 4,500 specialist dealers and system houses.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical or current fact constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the Company's actual operating results to be materially different from any historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe these risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements that contain terms such as "believes," "belief," "expects," "expect," "intends," "intend," "anticipate," "anticipates," "plans," "plan," to be uncertain and forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

EnerPlex has quickly changed the paradigm of consumer electronics, providing consumers with lightweight, powerful, solar integrated charging solutions for all their portable electronics. Surfr, a line of solar and battery integrated phone cases, allows users to charge their phone anywhere and in cases of emergency. Kickr, a line of portable solar chargers, provides a charging solution for most USB enabled devices enabling power to be generated almost anywhere and in nearly every situation, perfect for emergency preparedness. With the addition of the Jumpr line of portable batteries, consumers now have a complete, integrated, solar charging and storage solution for life on the go.

Ascent Solar Technologies Contacts



Investor and Media Relations

PCG Advisory Group



Investor Relations:

Adam Holdsworth

adamh@pcgadvisory.com

646-862-4607



Media Relations:

Sean Leous

sleous@pcgadvisory.com

646-863-8998




REDWOOD SHORES, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- In conjunction with The White House Science Fair 2016, Oracle and The White House today announced Oracle's plan to invest $200 million in direct and in-kind support for computer science (CS) education in the United States over the next 18 months. Oracle's pledge supports the Administration's Computer Science for All initiative and is part of the company' greater annual worldwide investment of $3.3 billion to empower CS educators and engage diverse student populations globally. Today's commitment expects to reach more than 232,000 students in over 1,100 U.S. institutions through Oracle Academy, its philanthropic CS-focused educational program that impacts more than 2.6 million students in 106 countries.

In 2015, only two percent of all participants in the College Board's AP program took Computer Science and a mere 22 percent of those participants were female.(1) Yet, programming jobs are growing 50 percent faster than the market overall, according to new research by Oracle Academy and Burning Glass Technologies, a leading labor market company. The study (2016), which analyzed and interpreted real-time data from millions of online job postings from nearly 40,000 sources, revealed that demand for CS, programming, and coding skills is large, growing, and far more widespread than just IT jobs.

"Our latest research findings confirm that access to computer science education in the United States is both an economic and social equality issue. Moreover, these findings help quantify and contextualize the need to expand CS to all students regardless of race, gender, or socio-economic status," said Alison Derbenwick Miller, vice president, Oracle Academy. "We've been working to advance computer science education globally for more than two decades, and today's commitment takes Oracle Academy to a new apex in our journey. It's an honor to be part of this collaborative mission, led by the White House. The potential power of Computer Science for All to change the lives of our children and the future of our nation is awe-inspiring."

As part of the White House announcement, Oracle Academy will provide free academic curriculum, professional development for teachers, software, certification resources, and more. Further, Oracle will work with K-12 schools, community colleges, and 4-year colleges and universities to support continuous CS education pathways through a number of new and meaningful ways, which include:

Training more teachers in computer science. Aims to double the number of U.S. teachers Oracle Academy trains in the 2016-17 academic year.

Providing access to free Oracle software. Offers students hands-on experience through free software licenses for a large number of Oracle products.

Expanding outreach to underrepresented populations. Commits to invest more than $3 million in nonprofit organizations focused on inspiring young girls and engaging underrepresented students in pursuing STEM and CS degrees.

Launching innovative courses in emerging CS fields. Introduces new Cloud-focused boot camps in the 2016 academic year and expands access to Oracle Academy's Big Data Science boot camps.

Connecting world class innovators with educators and students. Plans to build an innovative new public high school, d.tech, at Oracle's headquarters in California.

Driving efforts to ensure CS counts as an academic credit. Expands policy push and partnerships with other corporate and nonprofit leaders to encourage all 50 states to recognize CS as an academic graduation credit in K-12 schools.

Supporting Resources

Join Oracle Academy

Attend an Oracle Academy workshop

Learn about Oracle Academy's participation in CS For All

Livestream President Obama's address at The White House Science Fair 2016 (Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at 2:15 p.m. ET)

Follow @OracleAcademy, @Oracle, CS4All

About Oracle Academy

As Oracle's flagship philanthropic educational program, Oracle Academy advances computer science education globally to drive knowledge, innovation, skills development, and diversity in technology fields. To this end, Oracle Academy offers students and educational institutions a free and complete portfolio of software, curriculum, hosted technology, faculty trainings, support, and certification resources. The program works with public and private partners to provide the tools educators need to engage, inspire and prepare students to become innovators and leaders of the future. Through Oracle Academy, students receive hands-on experience with the latest technologies, helping make them college and career ready in the era of big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and beyond.

About Oracle

Oracle offers a comprehensive and fully integrated stack of cloud applications and platform services. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), visit www.oracle.com.

Trademarks

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

(1) The College Board (2015), AP Program Participation and Performance Data 2015: Program Summary Report. Retrieved from https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/research/2015/Program-Summary-Report-2015.pdf.

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Contact



Julie Sugishita

Oracle Corporate Communications

1.650.506.0076

Email Contact




SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Talent Board, a non-profit organization focused on the promotion and data benchmark research of a quality candidate experience, today announced that it has partnered with Talennium Inc., a technology and services company that provides recruiting teams with insights and data. Through this arrangement, Talennium serves as the data platform for Talent Board's extensive research conducted by its global Candidate Experience (CandE) Awards programs.

"The CandE Awards were established to bring much-needed attention to the candidate experience and the role it plays in creating a more effective recruiting strategy. Part of fulfilling this goal is ensuring all program participants can easily access our research and understand candidate experience best practices," said Elaine Orler, chairman and co-founder of Talent Board. "We are thrilled to work with Talennium, proven leaders in talent data and analytics, to help our community access the data to better understand how their candidate experience aligns with peers -- and what they can do to continually improve."

Talennium's data platform provides all 2015 CandE Award participants, including over 200 companies and 130,000 of their job candidates, with access to Talent Board's research into the candidate experience. The platform enables users to gain insight into not only their own benchmark data, but also the ability to compare their results in aggregate to all other employer and candidate responses, including all CandE Award winning companies from the North America (NAM), Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) programs.

"We are very excited to play a broader role in the Candidate Experience Awards," said Tom Becker, CEO and founder of Talennium, Inc. "We want to enable Talent Acquisition teams to use data as the basis of improving the candidate experience."

Completely mobile enabled, the Talennium platform enables participants to access data on their mobile devices, ensuring anytime, anywhere access to the information they need to improve their candidate experience. In addition, Talent Board and Talennium are working to continually enhance the platform, and will soon offer new features and capabilities, such as access to multi-year data.

Access to the data is complimentary throughout 2016 for CandE Award participants, thanks to the generous support of TMP Worldwide, a Talent Board Global Underwriter.

"We are thrilled to support the 2016 Candidate Experience Awards by sponsoring access to the Talennium data platform, ensuring all survey participants can easily review their CandE research data to see what's working and what's not with their talent acquisition strategy and tactics, ultimately improving and delivering a more positive candidate experience," said Tracy Kapteyn, vice president of Global Sales Operations and Marketing.

About Talennium

A Charlotte, NC technology and data analytics company focused on accelerating sales, recruiting and operations performance. Talennium delivers value to clients by providing a combination of product and complementary services. Talennium's flagship product, Celeritas, is a Software as a Service (SaaS) product specifically built to provide clients with business intelligence and support clients in making data-driven decisions. The services range from a single project based solution all the way to an annual subscription, which in essences transforms Talennium into an extension of the client's executive team.

About TMP

TMP Worldwide is a global innovator in talent acquisition that leverages software, strategy, and creative to develop, deploy and measure our clients' employer brands across digital, social and mobile platforms to connect candidates with employers. This strategic mix of talent and technology allows us to serve a global client base that spans virtually all sectors of private, public, and government employers, and positions us as the organization to define the standard of measurable and cost-effective solutions to the human capital management community.

About Talent Board

Talent Board is a non-profit organization focused on the elevation and promotion of a quality candidate experience. The organization, Candidate Experience Awards program and its sponsors are dedicated to recognizing the candidate experience offered by companies throughout the entire recruitment cycle and to forever changing the manner in which job candidates are treated. More information can be accessed at http://www.thetalentboard.org.
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Immunovaccine Inc. ("Immunovaccine" or the "company") (TSX: IMV)(OTCQX: IMMVF), a clinical stage vaccine and immunotherapy company, today announced that Frederic Ors has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. He and Andy Sheldon, President and CEO of Medicago, will be nominated to the board of directors at the Company's AGM on April 14, and the Board will recommend their election.

Mr. Ors has been serving as Immunovaccine's Acting Chief Executive Officer since last month and as Chief Business Officer since April 2015. Since joining Immunovaccine last year, Mr. Ors has expanded the company's pipeline through licensing and partnership agreements with PharmAthene, Incyte and Leidos, creating programs in anthrax, ovarian cancer and Zika virus vaccines.

"We are on the cusp of a transition from research and development toward more rapid commercialization with multiple partners and collaborators," said Albert Scardino, chairman of the company. "Having such an experienced industry executive in place to shape our relationships assures that we can make the most of the many opportunities coming our way."

Mr. Ors said, "The team at IMV has spent many years creating our novel DepoVax technology. It is an honor to have the chance to work with them to improve the lives of patients who have few options, as well as to improve and augment current treatments in both immuno-oncology and infectious diseases."

Prior to Immunovaccine, Mr. Ors spent 13 years at Medicago Inc. in Quebec, most recently as Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Planning. He was an integral part of Medicago's success in securing multiple non-dilutive funding opportunities, leading to an acquisition by Mitsubishi Pharma in 2013 for an enterprise value of $357M. Mr. Ors has also served as the manager of intellectual property and licensing for Paris Diderot University, a complex of 150 labs, two hospitals and 2,300 scientists in Paris. He earned his bachelor's degree in biology and his master's degree in management of innovation projects in biotechnology at the University of Angers.

The election to the board of Andy Sheldon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Medicago, will re-unite him with Mr. Ors, with both of them in new roles.

Mr. Sheldon has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Medicago since August 2003. He has thirty years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, and was named CEO of the Year by the Vaccine Industry Excellence awards at the World Vaccine Congress in April 2012.

Before joining Medicago, Mr. Sheldon served as Vice President, Sales and Marketing, of Shire Biologics. He was responsible for international expansion with European, American and Asian private partnership agreements. During his tenure at Shire, his notable accomplishments included negotiating the annual and pandemic influenza vaccine contract with the federal and provincial governments, and managing the approval of a bladder cancer therapeutic vaccine by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Mr. Sheldon has a bachelor's degree in agricultural sciences from Universite Laval, Quebec City, and a bachelor's of science degree with honors in biological sciences from the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, England.

"The election of Mr. Sheldon to our board will allow us to take advantage of his broad experience in both commercialization in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry and the public markets," said Mr. Scardino. "The pace of change is accelerating in both the industry and our company, and with these additions to our board and to our management team, we are ready to leap ahead to a new era."

The directors being nominated for appointment will include the six nominees listed in the management proxy circular of March 18, 2016: namely Wade Dawe, James Hall, Wayne Pisano, Albert Scardino, Alfred Smithers and Bradley Thompson, all current directors. In addition, pending shareholder approval, Mr. Sheldon and Mr. Ors will officially become directors of Immunovaccine at the conclusion of the AGM.

The form of management proxy previously distributed to registered shareholders in connection with the AGM provides management with discretionary authority to vote on amendments or variations to matters coming before the meeting and it is intended that all such proxies will be voted FOR the new proposed director nominees. If registered shareholders have submitted management proxies and do not wish the proxy to be voted in this manner, they may revoke their proxies by:

(a) completing and signing a form of proxy bearing a later date and depositing it with Computershare Investor Services Inc. as described in the management information circular;

(b) depositing a document that is signed by the registered shareholder (or by someone properly authorized to act on his behalf): (i) at the company's registered office at Suite 412, 1344 Summer Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 0A8 at any time up to the last business day preceding the day of the Meeting, or any adjournment of the Meeting, at which the proxy is to be used; or (ii) with the chair of the Meeting before the Meeting starts on the day of the Meeting or any adjournment of the Meeting; or

(c) electronically transmitting the revocation in a manner permitted by law, provided that the revocation is received: (i) at the company's registered office at Suite 412, 1344 Summer Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 0A8 at any time up to and including the last business day preceding the day of the Meeting, or any adjournment of the Meeting, at which the proxy is to be used; or (ii) by the chair of the Meeting before the Meeting starts on the day of the Meeting or any adjournment of the Meeting.

About Immunovaccine

Immunovaccine Inc. develops cancer immunotherapies and infectious disease vaccines based on the Company's DepoVax platform, a patented formulation that provides controlled and prolonged exposure of antigens and adjuvant to the immune system. Immunovaccine has advanced two T cell activation therapies for cancer through Phase 1 human clinical trials and is currently conducting a Phase 2 study with its lead cancer vaccine therapy, DPX-Survivac, in recurrent lymphoma. DPX-Survivac is expected to enter additional Phase 2 clinical studies in ovarian cancer and glioblastoma (brain cancer). In collaboration with commercial and academic partners, Immunovaccine is also expanding the application of DepoVax as an adjuvanting platform for vaccines targeted against infectious diseases. Immunovaccine's goal in infectious diseases is to out-license its DepoVax platform to partners to generate earlier revenues. Connect at www.imvaccine.com.

Immunovaccine Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information under applicable securities law. All information that addresses activities or developments that we expect to occur in the future is forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the date the statements are made. However, they should not be regarded as a representation that any of the plans will be achieved. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in this press release due to risks affecting the Company, including access to capital, the successful completion of clinical trials and receipt of all regulatory approvals. Immunovaccine Inc. assumes no responsibility to update forward-looking statements in this press release except as required by law.

Contacts:

MEDIA

Mike Beyer

Sam Brown Inc.

(312) 961-2502

mikebeyer@sambrown.com



INVESTOR RELATIONS

Kimberly Stephens

Chief Financial Officer

(902) 492-1819

kstephens@imvaccine.com

www.imvaccine.com




Industry Leaders Team Up to Meet Growing Demand for Cloud ERP in the Region

LONDON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that the strategic alliance with Deloitte was extended to include Deloitte Consulting in Belgium to provide implementation, finance transformation, change management and a full breadth of consulting services to businesses in the Belgian market seeking to gain business efficiency, grow revenues and expand globally with NetSuite cloud ERP.

Deloitte brings a deep repertoire of skills and resources in industry processes and insights from both a national and global perspective. As a Systems Integrator (SI) Partner, Deloitte is an expert in providing specialised financial, digital and consulting services which help get even more value from NetSuite software. Drawing on its expertise and deep understanding of NetSuite's cloud solutions, Deloitte can help clients to address requirements such as regulatory compliance, process optimisation, globalisation and growth, as well as their industry specific needs.

Deloitte's alliance with NetSuite will include NetSuite OneWorld for Belgium-headquartered companies, which is localised and designed to meet the business needs, as well as the regulatory and tax compliance of regional businesses. NetSuite OneWorld brings Belgian companies an agile and flexible cloud software application to run their mission-critical business processes with unmatched global financial capabilities in the industry. The alliance is also expected to incorporate an omnichannel commerce offering which can allow organisations to rapidly establish a solid financial and retail commerce foundation in quickly expanding markets.

Deloitte and NetSuite plan to leverage their respective strengths to drive innovation across multiple industries and business sectors. In Belgium today, Deloitte already has the largest dedicated team of consultants in the country fully focused on delivering NetSuite-enabled transformation projects.

The two firms have previously worked together successfully on a number of implementations in Belgium and other markets and are recognised as leaders in their field.

"Tomorrow is Today: There is no way to escape the speed at which innovations are happening. Exponential progress is disrupting prices, products and business models. NetSuite's flexible and scalable solution gives us the platform to answer the growing demand for cloud ERP that fast growing businesses of all sizes require to grapple with this disruption," said Koen Vandaele, Managing Partner Deloitte Consulting. "Combined with Deloitte's comprehensive industry, business transformation and agile technology delivery capabilities, this alliance can enable our customers to rapidly harness the power of the cloud to grow their businesses."

"Benelux is an exciting market for us with its predominance of start-ups and midmarket organisations as well as local subsidiaries of international enterprises," said Mark Woodhams, SVP and Managing Director of EMEA at NetSuite. "These sorts of organisations are turning to cloud ERP for its agility, scalability and flexibility. NetSuite's proven cloud ERP together with Deloitte's breadth and depth of consulting services provides the resources to adapt and prosper amidst the fast-paced and disruptive business environment of today."

Belgian companies are increasingly turning away from legacy, on-premise software to cloud ERP to promote innovation and spur growth. For more information about NetSuite's product offerings which can be deployed quickly, scale with the business, and adapt to rapid changes in the business and in the market, please visit www.netsuite.co.uk, www.netsuite.com/fr, or www.netsuite.com/nl.

Today, more than 30,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of cloud-based financials/enterprise resource planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software applications for businesses of all sizes from start-up to enterprise. NetSuite continues its success in delivering leading cloud ERP/financials suites to businesses of all sizes around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity and supporting rapid growth and internationalisation as the global adoption of the cloud is accelerating.

About Deloitte

A leading audit and consulting practice in Belgium, Deloitte offers value added services in audit, accounting, tax and legal, consulting and financial advisory services.

In Belgium, Deloitte has more than 3,200 employees in 10 locations across the country, serving national and international companies, from small and middle-sized enterprises, to public sector and non-profit organisations. The turnover reached 390 million euros in the financial year 2015.

The Belgian firm is a member of the international group Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, an organisation of independent member firms devoted to excellence in providing professional services and advice.

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte Consulting CVBA. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuiteEMEA Twitter handle for real-time updates.

For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.co.uk, www.netsuite.com/fr, or www.netsuite.com/nl.

NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

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SUGAR LAND, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) is pleased to be returning to Chicago for our 2016 Market Outlook & Networking Event. This complimentary event will be held May 11 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place.

To better capture the dynamics and interrelatedness of different market sectors, the presentation will be in the form of a panel discussion amongst our industry experts. The moderator and panel will include eight of Industrial Info's senior industry experts, who will bring more than 250 years of combined experience in the industrial market to the stage.

Industries covered include:

Power Generation

Oil & Gas

Petroleum Refining

Chemical Processing

Metals & Minerals

Pulp, Paper & Wood

Food & Beverage

Industrial Manufacturing

Our experts want to answer your questions and will be addressing the most frequently submitted questions on the RSVP forms to the event during the discussion.

In addition, after the discussion, cocktails and hors d'oeuvres will be available, allowing you to network with your industry peers and ask additional questions of our industry experts.

Don't miss this valuable opportunity to gain an understanding of current trends in the market, as well as insight into what the future holds!

Browse other breaking industrial news stories at www.industrialinfo.com.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. To contact an office in your area, visit the www.industrialinfo.com "Contact Us" page.

CONTACT

Brian Ford

(713) 980-9393




HYDERABAD, INDIA--(Marketwired - April 13, 2016) - With digital transformation of businesses, organizations and governments on the rise, Avaya is engaging with key leaders around the world to discuss their vision and how to make it a reality. In India, Avaya's global leadership met with Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad, the country's IT and Telecoms Minister, to discuss the country's ambitious plan for Digital India. Avaya also met with Mr. Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao, Telangana's IT Minister, to review the 'Digital Telangana' initiative, which endeavors to deliver connectivity to more than 8.5 million households -- more than 32 million people -- living in rural and other parts across the Telangana state by the end of 2018. The vision is to make Telangana the country's leading state for technology innovation.

Avaya CEO, Kevin Kennedy, outlined Avaya's current focus and presence in India and how that can help support the state's vision:

Avaya today is a software and services company that recruits and retains the best talent across India for Avaya sales and services operations.

Avaya R&D hubs in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Pune generate 12 per cent of the company's global patents annually.

The R&D hubs in India own the innovation cycle for an important portion of the Avaya strategic solutions.

The acquisition of KnoahSoft, a Hyderabad-based software company, is an example of the Avaya strategy to identify those companies with capabilities that complement and enhance our solutions anywhere in the world.

Nidal Abou Ltaif, Avaya International President, said: "T-HUB, a unique partnership between the Government of Telangana and the start-up ecosystem, is a particularly exciting project as it promotes entrepreneurship, creates opportunity, and fuels innovation. Avaya has its largest R&D centers in India, one of which is in Hyderabad, and there will be immense opportunities to transfer knowledge, expertise and innovation into T-HUB to enable the creative minds of the state to innovate."

Minister KT Rama Rao, said: "Our self-certification system enables any investor to self-certify quickly and easily. Recent legislation makes our bureaucrats accountable, and the strategically-located land and abundant human resources offer investors skilled resources from Telangana that are unique to India and the world."

Vishal Agrawal, MD for Avaya India, said: "Avaya is determined the help its customers in India to transform to the digital age and is excited about the opportunities to work with private and public sector leaders. We are committing our R&D strengths and innovation to find the right smart digital solutions to address the nation's pressing needs today and in the future."

Avaya hosted its third annual CXO India Summit in Taj Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad, which brought together 50 of the country's top CXOs with Avaya executives for sessions and discussions focused on innovation and digital transformation.

About Avaya

Avaya is a leading provider of solutions that enable customer and team engagement across multiple channels and devices for better customer experience, increased productivity and enhanced financial performance. Its world-class contact center and unified communications technologies and services are available in a wide variety of flexible on-premises and cloud deployment options that seamlessly integrate with non-Avaya applications. The Avaya Engagement Development Platform enables third parties to create and customize business applications for competitive advantage. The Avaya fabric-based networking solutions help simplify and accelerate the deployment of business critical applications and services. For more information, visit www.avaya.com

Certain statements contained in this press release may be forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "potential," "predict," "should" or "will" or other similar terminology. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these are reasonable, such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These and other important factors may cause our actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. For a list and description of such risks and uncertainties, please refer to Avaya's filings with the SEC that are available at www.sec.gov. Avaya disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

All trademarks identified by , TM, or SM are registered marks, trademarks, and service marks, respectively, of Avaya Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners

Follow Avaya on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr, and the Avaya Connected Blog.

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Scality RING storage proven at 28.5 Gigabytes per second

Scality, the storage that powers digital business, today announced the production deployment of the Scality RING to power Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL) Trinity supercomputer, projected to be one of the world's fastest. Trinity, part of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) Program, is expected to be the first platform large and fast enough to begin to accommodate finely resolved 3D calculations for mission-critical simulations. As part of the deployment, Scality is also working together with Los Alamos on MarFS, an open source software project that brings the power of object storage to all large-scale research computing environments, including the U.S. Department of Energy.

"Erasure protected highly parallel object storage is a critical part of the future lab HPC storage architecture. This 'campaign storage' is where we are able to provide persistence and durability for simulation runs from Trinity. Each individual simulation run can generate single files of over one petabyte in size. Our Scality RING deployment has been able to write data at 28.5 GB/s the fastest object storage we've ever fielded," said Gary Grider, High Performance Computing (HPC) Division Leader at Los Alamos.

Scality is also working with Los Alamos on MarFS, an innovative, open source, scalable namespace technology. MarFS gives end users a virtualized view of their storage environment and a global namespace across POSIX and non-POSIX data repositories, including the Scality RING.

"The idea behind MarFS is to provide a scalable POSIX like interface over object stores like Scality RING," said Kyle Lamb, Acting Deputy Group Leader over HPC infrastructure at Los Alamos. "That way, we get the best of both worlds: a familiar look and feel for end users, where they don't have to change their applications or move any data, and a massively scalable backend with better scaling and resiliency characteristics like the Scality RING."

"Los Alamos National Laboratory has been an important customer and partner for Scality," said Giorgio Regni, Chief Technology Officer of Scality. "Working with them on their next generation exascale environment is an amazing exercise in technological innovation and a proving ground for tremendously demanding storage workloads. We're honored to collaborate with Los Alamos to contribute to the mission of the Stockpile Stewardship Program, and improve the security and safety of nuclear science."

About Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, BWX Technologies, Inc. and URS for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.

About Scality

Scality makes storage that powers digital business, serving over 500 million end customers worldwide, with over 800 billion objects in production. The Scality RING storage supports any file and object application, on any hardware, with unlimited capacity and guaranteed reliability. The RING enables organizations to offer always-on public or private services, connecting with older and newer applications, to improve competitiveness and customer satisfaction. The RING can seamlessly scale storage to match business growth, running on any standard x86 hardware such as the ones of HPE, Dell, Cisco, SuperMicro, or Seagate, even mixed form factors, without forklift upgrades. Scality customers can expect a TCO reduction of up to 90% versus legacy storage. Scality is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices throughout the world. Try the Scality RING online at http://www.scality.com/free.

Follow us on Twitter @scality and visit us at www.scality.com to learn more.

Additional Information

28.5 Gigabytes per second is equivalent to 228 Gigabits per second

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413005423/en/

Contacts:

Scality

Leo Leung, +1 650-356-8524

Cell US +1 617-959-1956

VP of Corporate Marketing

press@scality.com
Panasonic Corporation ("Panasonic") is taking part in the Milano Salone 2016, which is being held in Milan, Italy from April 12 (Tue) to April 17 (Sun). This year, Panasonic is introducing an installation designed with the theme "KUKAN" The Invention of Space, which combines Panasonic's imaging and audio technologies.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413005863/en/

"KUKAN" The Invention of Space, Panasonic's installation at Milano Salone 2016 (Photo: Business Wire)

Panasonic hopes to bring to light the undiscovered potential and allure of various spaces that can be created with its technologies in imaging, audio, lighting, etc. honed through its home appliance business, delivering wonder and excitement to people all around the world. This year's installation is designed to be one aspect of Panasonic's never-ending endeavor.

[Video] Highlights Interviews: "KUKAN" The Invention of Space Panasonic at MilanoSalone 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqx45OHZZtw

One hundred and forty 55-inch screens arranged into 7 pillars, is showcasing Japan's unique view of the world and the beauty of its nature, bringing to life a fusion of Japan's traditional culture and state-of-the-art technology, providing an all new experiential space to fuel the imagination.

At the opening ceremony, Producer Shuichi Furumi introduced the installation as follows. "We created a three-dimensional space using 7 pillars and 140 monitors the '7 Dimensions.' I invite you to think of it as a spatial invention apparatus. It breaks up space. It constructs new space. It creates time in space. Take time to walk around it. Go inside the pillars. Feel the space of Japanese culture. And immerse yourself in an unknown, unexplored space."

Panasonic's installation in Milano Salone 2016 is in the "FUORI SALONE" located in the city of Milan. Panasonic is playing a role in promoting Milano Salone by participating as a joint sponsor in the event "Open Borders" hosted by INTERNI magazine. Gilda Bojardi, editor of INTERNI magazine, visited the Panasonic installation and commented, "We, INTERNI and Panasonic, have a long good relationship. I believe Panasonic illustrates its technologies and ideals even stronger than before with this year's exhibition. I hope every visitor will enjoy it."

From home to offices, stores, cars, airplanes and even cities, Panasonic strives to provide not only hardware, but total solutions including software and services in the various "spaces" in which our customers are a part of every day. Our mission is to contribute to the realization of "A Better Life, A Better World" for each and every customer.

Exhibition Overview

Exhibition theme "KUKAN" The Invention of Space Period April 12 (Tue) 17 (Sun), 2016 10:00 21:00 [Local Time] Venue Milan, Italy; RIMESSA DEI FIORI Address: via S. Carpoforo 9 via Fiori Chiari 17/a, Milan, Italy Panasonic's special page English http://news.panasonic.com/global/milanosalone2016.html Japanese http://news.panasonic.com/jp/milanosalone2016.html Italian http://news.panasonic.com/global/milanosalone2016_it.html

Presskits download photos and videos

http://news.panasonic.com/global/presskits/milanosalone2016/

Photo Album on Google+

https://plus.google.com/photos/102894371789579256396/albums/6272701152138461729

[Related Links]

Performer with "KUKAN" The Invention of Space

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7DUhX87ZF8

Trailer of "KUKAN" The Invention of Space

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_U5XYRTN1Y

Panasonic Italy http://www.panasonic.com/it

Panasonic Newsroom Global http://news.panasonic.com/global

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413005863/en/

Contacts:

Media Contacts:

Panasonic Corporation

Global Communications Department

Media Promotion Office

E-mail:presscontact@ml.jp.panasonic.com
Agreement With Quantum Provides Access to StorNext for Smaller Workgroups

Symply, Inc. today announced it has partnered with Quantum (NYSE:QTM) to embed the StorNext 5 storage management platform into the company's products. StorNext will bring industry leading user collaboration to Symply's upcoming portfolio of easy-to-use storage solutions designed for rich media workgroups and collaborative teams, especially those working with 4K and higher resolutions.

The recently announced company, Symply, Inc. aims to create exceptional storage solutions that are "made for media," offering excellent performance and functionality in rapidly deployed configurations. The combination of Quantum's StorNext 5 storage management system with Symply's ease-of-use, intelligent design and intuitive management tools delivers unmatched capabilities to even the smallest content creation workgroups.

"Symply is a different kind of startup, and we're using StorNext in a different way," explained Alex Grossman, CEO of Symply Inc. "With StorNext embedded into our systems, any user can take advantage of powerful high-speed sharing, while our intuitive software makes system deployment and management much friendlier for workgroup administrators."

"StorNext 5 is the 'go-to' choice for high-performance file sharing and archiving," said Geoff Stedman, senior vice president, Marketing and Scale-Out Storage Solutions at Quantum. "Our partnership with Symply will enable a broader range of customers to experience the power of StorNext, and we look forward to Symply's innovative use of StorNext 5 within its product line."

Symply will unveil its new products at NAB 2016 in Las Vegas, in booth SL9321.

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 http://www.gosymply.com.

Copyright (c) 2016 Symply, Inc., all rights reserved. Symply and the Symply logo are trademarks of Symply, Inc. Quantum, the Quantum logo and StorNext are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Quantum Corporation and its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413005594/en/

Contacts:

Symply, Inc.

Naomi Pearce, +1-510-528-0824

pr@gosymply.com
DRUMMONDVILLE, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- NAPEC Inc. ("NAPEC" or "the Corporation") (TSX: NPC) today announced that its U.S.-based subsidiary Riggs Distler & Company, Inc. ("RDC") was awarded several contracts during the first quarter of 2016. The total value of these contracts is approximately US $64 million, equivalent to about Cdn $82.6 million based on the current exchange rate, and will be included in NAPEC's backlog as at March 31, 2016. The execution of these contracts will begin in the second quarter of 2016.

First, RDC was awarded a three-year contract worth a total value of US $30 million to provide construction and maintenance services on the overhead electricity distribution network of a major utility service provider in the U.S. Northeast. The contract also includes two renewal options of one year each, exercisable at the client's discretion.

Second, RDC obtained a five-year contract to proceed with the construction of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) for an important utility service provider in Pennsylvania. This long-term agreement has a total value of US $28 million.

Finally, RDC was awarded a one-year contract extension valued at US $6 million to provide environmental matting services to a major utility service provider in the U.S. Northeast.

"These contracts confirm our leading position in the U.S. Northeast market. We are pleased to sign long-term agreements which further demonstrate our solid business relationships with large-scale utility service providers, while we continue to successfully deploy our value-added matting services across the industry", said Pierre L. Gauthier, President and Chief Executive Officer of NAPEC.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This document contains forward-looking statements that reflect management's current expectations regarding future events. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of factors and include risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from forecast results. Management assumes no obligation beyond what is required under the law to update or revise forward-looking statements pursuant to new information or future events.

OVERVIEW OF THE CORPORATION

NAPEC is a company operating in the energy sector. The Corporation is a leading provider of construction and maintenance services to the public utility and heavy industrial markets, mainly in Quebec, Ontario, and the eastern United States. NAPEC and its subsidiaries build and maintain electrical transmission and distribution systems and natural gas networks. The Corporation also installs gas-powered and electric-powered heavy equipment for utilities, gas-fired industrial power plants and petrochemical facilities in North America. The Corporation also offers environmental construction and road matting services.

Further information regarding NAPEC is available in the SEDAR database (www.sedar.com) and on the Corporation's website at www.napec.ca.

Contacts:

Source:

NAPEC Inc.



Pierre L. Gauthier

President and Chief Executive Officer

819-479-7771

p.gauthier@napec.ca



Mario Trahan, CPA, CMA

Chief Financial Officer

819-479-7771

m.trahan@napec.ca



MaisonBrison

Martin Goulet, CFA

514-731-0000

martin@maisonbrison.com




WASHINGTON, DC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Nvoicepay, the leader in strategic payment solutions for the enterprise today announced that its flagship AP Gateway Payment Solution was named a finalist for the 2016 SIIA CODiE Awards in the Best Financial Management Solution category. Finalists represent the information industry's best products, technologies, and services in the software, content and business technology.

The SIIA CODiE Awards are the premier awards for the software and information industries, and have been recognizing product excellence for over 30 years. The awards offer 91 categories that are organized by industry focus of education technology and business technology. Nvoicepay's AP Gateway Payment Solution was honored as one of 215 finalists across the 62 business technology categories.

"I am amazed by the level of innovation and creativity of the products that have been selected as this year's CODiE Award finalists. We are happy to recognize them for their great contributions and impact they are making on the software, content and business technology industries," said Ken Wasch, President of SIIA.

"We are excited to be recognized as one of the companies transforming financial management with innovative cloud-based technologies," said Karla Friede, CEO and co-founder of Nvoicepay. "Our team is dedicated to automating B2B payment processes, which have traditionally been manual and mired in paper. Nvoicepay's strategic payment solutions streamline the entire payment lifecycle, dramatically reduce costs and help customers optimize each payment, bringing corporate account payable departments into the 21st century."

The SIIA CODiE Awards are the industry's only peer-reviewed awards program. The first round review of all nominees is conducted by software and business technology executives with considerable industry expertise, including members of the industry, analysts, media, bloggers, bankers and investors. The judges are responsible for selecting the CODiE Awards finalists. SIIA members then vote on the finalist products and the scores from both rounds are tabulated to select the winners. Winners will be announced during a virtual award ceremony on May 18.

Details about each finalist are listed at http://www.siia.net/codie/Finalists.

About Nvoicepay

Nvoicepay delivers strategic payments solutions to automate accounts payable. We enable customers to pay 100% of their invoices electronically, while realizing the financial benefits of payment optimization. By paying the right suppliers with the right payment type at the right time, our cloud based technology and vendor payment services help customers reduce costs, increase efficiencies and maximize card rebates, all with minimal effort. Nvoicepay transforms accounts payable departments from cost centers into strategic contributors. Learn more at www.nvoicepay.com and follow us on Twitter at @Nvoicepay.

About the SIIA CODiE Awards

The SIIA CODiE Awards is the only peer-reviewed program to showcase business and education technology's finest products and services. Since 1986, thousands of products, services and solutions have been recognized for achieving excellence. For more information, visit siia.net/CODiE.

Press Contact

SIIA Communications Contact:

Allison Bostrom

202.789.4466

Email Contact



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Nvoicepay Contact:

Robert Nachbar

206-427-0389

Email Contact




ATLANTA, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- McAlister's Deli, a leading fast casual restaurant chain known for its Famous Sweet Tea and recently ranked as one of consumers' favorite chains by Restaurant Business, today announced it is looking for new partnerships with experienced multi-unit franchise owners as the brand continues its expansion into Florida. McAlister's recently opened locations in Orlando and Clermont, has three new restaurants slated for opening in 2016 in Fort Walton Beach, Naples and Miami, and a goal of opening locations in key growth markets such as Tampa/St. Petersburg, Jacksonville and West Palm Beach.

"Florida represents an important part of McAlister's growth strategy and we're excited about the brand's continued expansion into the state," said Jeff Sturgis, McAlister's Vice President of Franchise Development. "The McAlister's Deli brand has become a top choice for some of the most successful multi-unit franchise owners in the country, so we're excited to watch the brand grow in these areas due in large part to the talent of our franchisees."

McAlister's has gained momentum with franchise development throughout the state with recent commitments in key growth markets, such as South Florida, SW Florida, Orlando and the panhandle of Florida, in addition to an already existing presence in Tampa, Ocala, Gainesville and Destin. As the company looks to open new restaurants, the brand is actively seeking qualified franchisees in metropolitan Jacksonville, Tampa, St. Petersburg, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and other territories throughout Florida. There are currently eight locations throughout the state.

McAlister's had a successful year of franchise growth in 2015 with $548 million in system-wide sales, the opening of 27 new restaurants -- some in new markets, including Chicago, Rochester, and Orlando -- and nearly 60 commitments for new restaurants. This growth is fueled by both existing franchisees as well as new partnerships with experienced multi-unit franchise owners with notable portfolios.

McAlister's currently operates more than 350 franchised locations in the U.S., across 27 states. The company has attracted a record number of franchise inquiries in recent years due to its quality leadership, healthy sales to investment ratio, and exceptional company performance.

To learn more about franchising opportunities with McAlister's, please contact (888) 855-DELI (3354) or franchising@mcalistersdeli.com, or visit www.mcalistersdelifranchise.com.

About McAlister's

Founded in 1989, McAlister's Deli is a fast casual restaurant chain known for its sandwiches, spuds, soups, salads, desserts and McAlister's Famous Sweet Tea. In addition to dine-in and take-out service, McAlister's also offers catering with a selection of sandwich trays, box lunches, desserts, a hot spud bar and more. With numerous industry accolades, the McAlister's brand has 350 restaurants in 27 states. The company is headquartered in Atlanta. For more information, visit www.mcalistersdeli.com.

About FOCUS Brands Inc.

Atlanta-based FOCUS Brands Inc., through its affiliate brands, is the franchisor and operator of more than 5,000 ice cream shoppes, bakeries, restaurants, and cafes in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 60 foreign countries under the brand names Carvel, Cinnabon, Schlotzsky's, Moe's Southwest Grill, Auntie Anne's and McAlister's Deli, as well as Seattle's Best Coffee on certain military bases and in certain international markets. Please visit www.focusbrands.com to learn more.

Media Contact:

Lauren Tweet

Allison+Partners

(404) 832-7182

Email Contact




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Media Advisory - TransCanada Corporation (TSX: TRP) (NYSE: TRP) (TransCanada) today announced that its Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project (PRGT) has signed project agreements with the Takla Lake First Nation and McLeod Lake Indian Band (MLIB), bringing the total number of project agreements signed on PRGT to 11.

The agreements outline benefits and commitments, including business opportunities, employment for community members that will be provided during construction as well as financial benefits now and for as long as the project is in service.

"These agreements are signed after a meaningful exchange of information and ideas that not only benefit First Nations communities, but also make PRGT a stronger project," said Tony Palmer, president of PRGT. "That's why successful engagement with First Nations is a key marker of success for this project. We look forward to an ongoing working relationship with the Takla and MLIB."

"This agreement ensures our values will be respected and our Nation will benefit from this project," says Chief John French of the Takla Lake First Nation.

Along the pipeline route, PRGT has also signed project agreements with Doig River, Halfway River and Yekooche First Nations, Gitanyow First Nation, Kitselas First Nation, Lake Babine Nation, Metlakatla First Nation, Blueberry River First Nation and Nisga'a Lisims Government.

PRGT continues to work closely with First Nations along its pipeline route. The project is committed to building and maintaining long-term positive relationships with Aboriginal groups.

Prince Rupert Gas Transmission is proposing to construct and operate (subject to required regulatory and commercial approvals) a 900-kilometre natural gas pipeline to deliver natural gas from a point near Hudson's Hope to the proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG facility at Lelu Island, off the coast of Port Edward, near Prince Rupert.

The $5 billion PRGT project will provide significant economic benefits for British Columbians, local and provincial governments, and Aboriginal communities as it supports the export of surplus natural gas to global markets, including:

-- Thousands of short-term jobs directed at B.C. residents; -- Opportunities for local and Aboriginal businesses; -- Millions of dollars in annual taxes to help support local services such as schools, policing, fire protection and waste management; -- Billions of dollars in new investments for the province.

Project details can be found at www.princerupertgas.com.

With more than 65 years' experience, TransCanada is a leader in the responsible development and reliable operation of North American energy infrastructure including natural gas and liquids pipelines, power generation and gas storage facilities. TransCanada operates a network of natural gas pipelines that extends more than 67,000 kilometres (42,000 miles), tapping into virtually all major gas supply basins in North America. TransCanada is one of the continent's largest providers of gas storage and related services with 368 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. A growing independent power producer, TransCanada owns or has interests in over 11,400 megawatts of power generation in Canada and the United States. TransCanada is developing one of North America's largest liquids delivery systems. TransCanada's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol TRP. Visit TransCanada.com and our blog to learn more, or connect with us on social media and 3BL Media.

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This publication contains certain information that is forward-looking and is subject to important risks and uncertainties (such statements are usually accompanied by words such as "anticipate", "expect", "believe", "may", "will", "should", "estimate", "intend" or other similar words). Forward-looking statements in this document are intended to provide TransCanada security holders and potential investors with information regarding TransCanada and its subsidiaries, including management's assessment of TransCanada's and its subsidiaries' future plans and financial outlook. All forward-looking statements reflect TransCanada's beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the statements were made and as such are not guarantees of future performance. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date it is expressed in this news release, and not to use future-oriented information or financial outlooks for anything other than their intended purpose. TransCanada undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information except as required by law. For additional information on the assumptions made, and the risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from the anticipated results, refer to the Quarterly Report to Shareholders dated February 11, 2016 and 2015 Annual Report filed under TransCanada's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.

Contacts:

TransCanada Media Enquiries:

Mark Cooper / Matthew John

403.920.7859 or 800.608.7859



TransCanada Investor & Analyst Enquiries:

David Moneta / Stuart Kampel

403.920.7911 or 800.361.6522




SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Certive Solutions Inc. (CSE: CBP)(OTCQB: CTVEF) - ("Certive" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that effective April 12, 2016, the Company has appointed Michael Miller as Chief Internal Legal Counsel. With the Company entering a period of significant growth by way of acquisition and organic business development Mr. Miller will be responsible for overseeing all external counsel workflow and all internal corporate and commercial activities.

Mr. Miller has nearly 40 years' experience in the legal profession serving as General Counsel to a major medical enterprise, an insurance company, a publicly-traded consumer electronics manufacturer, and a data analytics firm. He also served in senior management capacities for risk management firms and international insurance brokers and created environmental insurance programs for large investment banks. Mr. Miller has been retained by state insurance regulators to consult in insurance company receiverships. As a Court-appointed Receiver, he supervised the successful financial rehabilitation of a health insurance company for the Arizona Insurance Department. Mr. Miller received his JD degree from William Mitchell College of Law and his B.S. with distinction from the University of Minnesota. He has been a member of the Minnesota Bar since 1977.

Van Potter CEO, of Certive stated that "the Company is particularly fortunate to have Mr. Miller in this role given the complexity of the transactions the Company is presently conducting. Mr. Miller's role in coordinating outside counsel and mapping our internal legal compliance will be invaluable in the months to come. We are delighted to have Mr. Miller on board with us".

For more information, please visit our website at www.certive.com.

About Certive Solutions Inc.

Certive Solutions Inc. (Scottsdale, Arizona) provides revenue cycle management solutions to the U.S. healthcare market. Certive's claim audit and recovery services, billing services, and software solutions help providers work with payers to efficiently manage the reimbursement process and improve financial performance. Certive's highly skilled and experienced management team, combined with proprietary workflow and analytics, audit and identify, and bill and collect, underpayments in accordance with contractual obligations between the public or commercial insurance carrier and the designated provider. The healthcare market is changing. Certive works with clients to provide efficient and effective solutions aligned with reform initiatives to improve healthcare and reduce costs.

FORWARD-LOOKING AND OTHER STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect our expectations and assumptions regarding our growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. Such forward-looking statements reflect our current beliefs and are based on information currently available to us. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "should", "expect", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict", "potential", "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts.

A number of factors could cause actual events, performance or results, including those in respect of the foregoing items, to differ materially from the events, performance and results discussed in the forward looking statements.

Factors that could cause actual events, performance or results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

-- the effect of continuing operating losses on our ability to obtain, on satisfactory terms, or at all, the capital required to remain a going concern; -- the ability to obtain sufficient and suitable financing to support operations, development and commercialization of our services; -- the risks associated with the development of our technology; -- the risks associated with the increase in operating costs from additional development costs and increased staff; -- the timing and nature of feedback from customers; and -- our ability to successfully compete in our targeted markets.

Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on what we consider to be reasonable assumptions based on information currently available to us, there can be no assurance that actual events, performance or results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements, and our assumptions may prove to be incorrect. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release. Forward-looking statements made in this press release are made as of the date of the original document and have not been updated by us except as expressly provided for in this press release. As required by securities legislation applicable to reporting issuers, it is our policy to update, from time to time, forward-looking information in our periodic management discussions and analyses and provide updates on our activities to the public through the filing and dissemination of news releases and material change reports.

Contacts:

Certive Solutions Inc.

Brian Cameron

Chief Financial Officer

480-922-5327

bcameron@certive.com

www.certive.com




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Leading global engineering consultancy Norman Disney & Young (NDY) has today announced its expansion into the Canadian market. The expansion comes as a result of NDY acquiring Vancouver-based mechanical engineering company Sterling Cooper, a consultancy with more than four decades of expertise. The move marks a significant upgrade to Canada's engineering offering, with global best practices and innovations expected to be rolled out in the coming months.

With an international presence in 15 markets, Canadian expansion means Norman Disney & Young now operates across four continents. On a local level, the acquisition means that NDY in Vancouver is able to broaden its services and move towards offering its clients full building services. Other strategic priorities will include investing further in sustainability and digital practices.

"Following 18 months of discussions and negotiations, NDY is thrilled to have acquired Sterling Cooper," says NDY CEO, Stuart Fowler. "With an experienced team of approximately 30 engineers, this acquisition of a highly-admired firm in an established marketplace provides NDY with immediate work in Vancouver, and emerging opportunities more broadly in Canada and North America."

"To remain an innovator and an industry leader in a highly competitive market, we consider all appropriate opportunities to expand both our capabilities and our geographical presence. Sterling Cooper's specialist proficiency in mixed-use, high-rise buildings, hotels and residential complexes, along with its focus on innovative energy saving designs, has all the requisite hallmarks of a complementary fit with NDY."

Adds Sterling Cooper President, George Steeves, "NDY and Sterling Cooper have been following similar paths in the professional development of staff and the focus on client-centricity. In Vancouver, we have invested significantly in staff training over the past four years, cultivating a learning environment to be an employer of choice and trusted advisors to our clients. NDY also places its people and clients at the heart of their business strategy. There's an unquestionable synergy between our two firms."

NDY Director of Clients and Strategy, Patrick Fogarty - one of the key proponents of facilitating NDY's acquisition of the Sterling Cooper business - echoes these sentiments, "We are deeply passionate about our purpose of Making Spaces Work for our clients and for the built environment; this has a direct alignment with the work and ethos of Sterling Cooper, and is already enabling a seamless cultural integration of the two firms in Canada. You just know when something's a good fit."

About Norman Disney & Young

Norman Disney & Young (NDY) is a professional services firm of consulting engineers with a global presence. With offices in Australia, Canada, Dubai, Malaysia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, NDY delivers innovative and sustainable solutions for a diverse group of clients. Established in 1959, NDY remains a private company employing over 600 people servicing key markets in buildings, health, mission critical, defense, transport, industrial and utilities. For more information, visit: www.ndy.com.

Contacts:

Clare Hamilton-Eddy, Yulu PR on behalf of

Norman Disney & Young

Phone: 604-558-1656

Email: clare@yulupr.com




Clutch has prepared and published a report that consolidates key policy and enforcement trends from 18 regulatory agencies across the U.S., the E.U., and Asia with an introduction by Clutch Regulatory Head and former FCA Supervisor, Charles Hastie.

Clutch Group, a leading legal, risk, and compliance analytics and managed services firm, has published Financial Services Regulatory Highlights Report for 2016 covering the major policy initiatives and enforcement trends expected from 18 of the world's most powerful and influential global financial regulators such as the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) among many others.

This is the second consecutive year that Clutch has published its Financial Services Regulatory Highlights. The report has been compiled following in-depth research of each regulatory body's proposed plans, public statements, and past enforcement actions. It is designed to quickly and lucidly provide a general overview of the global regulatory state as well as brief summaries of the anticipated focus areas for major regulators in the financial world's most critical jurisdictions.

This year, Clutch has highlighted several trends that have emerged as common themes in global regulators' plans for the year ahead and beyond: Liquidity Capital Risk, MiFID II, Anti-Money Laundering, Cybersecurity & Data Protection, and Individual Accountability.

Cyber Security As banking becomes increasingly electronic, regulators and enforcement agencies in the United States, Europe, Singapore, and Hong Kong are more focused on enforcing cyber security standards and preventing breaches of security.

Liquidity Capital Risk - The report also highlights the relentless post-crisis focus on capital adequacy and continued liquidity risks. Numerous regulators across varied jurisdictions are improving standards and adding new evaluations.

Individual Accountability The report notes that in the eight years since the financial crisis regulators have struggled to hold individuals accountable. This year, they are renewing efforts with a number of key initiatives.

"At Clutch, we frequently engage with the world's most influential regulators and with key stakeholders at the largest financial services institutions to keep abreast of trends in surveillance, compliance, and investigations," said Charles Hastie, Regulatory Head at Clutch and former Supervisor for the FCA. "Over the course of those conversations, we realized that the industry as a whole would be well served by a report that consolidated the key policy initiatives and trends driving the future of financial regulation. If you can't read each piece of legislation or every agency's 2016 plan, then this report is meant for you."

"Our goal through this publication is to help our clients spot impactful trends from across a variety of global regulators' activities as well as to share them in a simple and operationally-focused way," said Varun Mehta, Vice-President of Legal and Compliance Solutions, Clutch Group. "Over the course of 2016, we look forward to continuing our regulatory approach with a variety of programs geared towards simplifying what regulators are looking for from our clients as part of our larger goal of assisting the world's largest financial services firms in achieving compliance."

The report briefly covers the following jurisdictions and regulators:

European Union European Banking Authority || European Commission || European Securities and Markets Authority

Germany Federal Financial Supervisory Authority

Switzerland - Financial Market Supervisory Authority

United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority || Prudential Regulation Authority || Serious Fraud Office

China - State Administration of Industry and Commerce

Hong Kong Hong Kong Monetary Authority

Singapore - Monetary Authority of Singapore

United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission || Consumer Financial Protection Bureau || Department of Justice || Federal Reserve || Financial Industry Regulatory Authority || Office of the Comptroller of the Currency || Securities and Exchange Commission

About Clutch

Clutch Group is a leading legal, risk, and compliance analytics and managed services firm headquartered in Washington D.C., with offices in NY, Chicago, London, Bangalore, Zurich and Hong Kong. The firm is dedicated to helping companies in the financial services, life sciences, and energy industries solve complex problems presented by the exponential growth of data and regulation. Clutch's global team of attorneys, consultants, and technologists leverage deep subject-matter expertise and Clutch.IQ, a suite of cutting-edge data analytics solutions, to help clients manage large-scale litigation and investigations, conduct comprehensive communications surveillance, and re-engineer their internal legal and compliance functions. Clutch has been recognized by industry authorities including Nelson Hall, the New York Law Journal, Chambers Global, Frost Sullivan, and Dun Bradstreet and is regularly featured across major industry and market publications. For more information, visit http://www.clutchgroup.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413005538/en/

Contacts:

Mark Allen Company

Mark Pasetsky, 646-794-4201

mark@markallenco.com
With the commercialization of autonomous driving, the automotive industry will evolve from a product- to service-centric market, finds Frost & Sullivan

LONDON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The autonomous driving market is all set to receive a huge boost with 80 percent of automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) looking to finalise their automation technology roadmap in 2016. This trend is expected to pave the way for new business models in the automotive ecosystem. Once the market establishes a conducive testing environment and develops improved sensing capabilities, their focus will turn to augmenting data acquisition and validation capabilities.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Strategic Outlook of Global Autonomous Driving Market in 2016 (http://frost.ly/83), finds that one in seven cars will feature highly automated features by 2030.

For complimentary access to more information on this research, please visit: http://frost.ly/84

Interestingly, the need to reduce road fatalities and enhance the commute experience of passengers is unlikely to be a strong adoption driver for autonomous driving. OEMs will instead be impelled by the need to forge the best partnerships and build a reliable eco system with diverse entities that can provide value at various stages.

"Meanwhile, the market is enthusiastically adopting and investing in revolutionary technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deep learning," statesFrost & Sullivan Intelligent Mobility Research Analyst Arunprasad Nandakumar. "In fact, a strong AI and deep learning wing is considered vital for designing a sustainable business model for autonomous driving."

However, the industry is battling several technological challenges in its creation of the ideal sensing suite. Companies are striving to offer vision capabilities in multiple driving conditions at a reasonable price, but the current software and validation capabilities are not sufficient to flawlessly sustain a complex autonomous driving environment. Above all, the industry is in dire need of a favourable regulatory framework.

Industry participants need to adopt a unified approach to devising regulatory frameworks. It is crucial that they make sure that new regulations will assist the growth of the global autonomous driving market rather than just the regional markets. Without global standards and regulations, the market will be impaired by reduced interoperability.

"Overall, the participants that will enjoy success are not likely to be singular entities, but those with the strongest partnerships and ecosystems," noted Nandakumar. "These companies are expected to boast a robust product and service portfolio that best address the needs of next-generation drivers."

Strategic Outlook of Global Autonomous Driving Market in 2016 is part of the Automotive & Transportation (http://frost.ly/88) Growth Partnership Service program. Frost & Sullivan's related studies include: Top Auto Trends at 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Outline Intelligent Mobility Road Map, 2016 Outlook of the Latin American Passenger Vehicle Market, From Vehicle Automation to Autonomous Driving: The Big Leap, Will We Learn From the Self-Learning Cars?, and Consumer Demand and OEM Strategies for the North American All-Wheel Drive Market. All studies included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

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NEW YORK, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The global personal robot market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 37.8% during 2016-2022. Among the various types, the cleaning robot segment including, robotic vacuum cleaners, robotic pool cleaners, robotic lawn movers and robotic gutter cleaners accounted for largest share in the global personal robot market in 2015. The growing demand of 'care-bot' from aging population, in addition to the growth of artificial intelligence is expected to boost the demand of personal robot during the forecast period.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150727/756778 )

Explore Report with Detailed TOC on "Personal Robot Market" at:https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/personal-robot-market

Cleaning robots accounted for more than half share of the global personal robot market in 2015. The robot companion/assistants are also expected to witness a considerable growth during the forecast period, owing to the rapid growth of mobile robot, along with decreasing average selling price of personal robots. During the forecast period, a significant product innovation is expected in the global personal robot market. The recent technical advancement in multi-tasking robots, such as humanoids is expected to drive the growth of the global market during the forecast period.

Due to the availability of open software platform for personal robotics, many IC and smart phone vendors, such as Intel Corporation and Xiaomi Inc., have entered in the global market during the recent years. This is expected to drop down the average selling price (ASP) of the personal robot during the forecast period. The affordability of personal robot is expected to be a major factor behind the growth of its market t in the developing countries during the forecast period.

Browse Related Research:https://www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/semiconductor-and-electronics

The lack of appropriately skilled robot designers, along with the technical complexity in human-robot interference is hindering its growth in critical personal applications such as handicap assistance. The life style change in addition to increasing disposable income of people in the developing countries of Asia-Pacific is expected to drive the growth of the personal robot market during the forecast period.

Some of the major companies operating in the global personal robot market include Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Sony Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., F&P Robotics AG, ZMP INC., Segway Inc., Neato Robotics Inc., Ecovacs Robotics Inc., Hasbro Inc., and iRobot Corporation.

GLOBAL PERSONAL ROBOT MARKET SEGMENTATION

By Type

Handicap Assistance Robot

Entertainment and Toy Robot

Cleaning Robot

Robot Companions/Assistants

Education Robot

Security Robot

Robot Transport

Others

GEOGRAPHICAL SEGMENTATION

By Region

North America U.S. Canada Rest of North America

Europe U.K. Germany France . Italy Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific China Japan South Korea Rest of Asia-Pacific

Rest of the World (ROW) Brazil Rest of RoW



Browse other Reports by P&S Market Research

Global Audio Class D Amplifier Market -https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/audio-class-d-amplifiers-market

Domestic Refrigeration Appliances Market -https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/domestic-refrigeration-appliances-market

Global MEMS Foundry Outsourcing Market -https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/mems-foundry-outsourcing-market

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BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Eating fresh fruits daily is good for your health, and help prevent the risks of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death, according to a new study. In Western populations, a higher level of fruit consumption has been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, but little is known about such associations in China, where the consumption level is low and rates of stroke are high. A team of researchers headed by Dr. Huaidong Du of the University of Oxford in the UK conducted a study between 2004 and 2008, recruiting half-a-million adults from 10 diverse localities in China, to explore further evidence of the health benefits of fruit consumption. Overall, 18 percent of participants reported consuming fresh fruit daily. As compared with participants who never or rarely consumed fresh fruit, those who ate fresh fruit daily had lower systolic blood pressure and blood glucose levels. The study reached the conclusion that among Chinese adults, a higher level of fruit consumption was associated with lower blood pressure and blood glucose levels. It was also found that the fruit-consuming group has significantly lower risks of major cardiovascular diseases. The results of the study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. 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.
"With color in mind! Innovative solutions in corrosion protection." This is the motto under which Axalta Coating Systems will exhibit at PaintExpo in Karlsruhe, Germany, from April 19-22, 2016. This year, the company marks the 150th anniversary since its first paint products were launched in the German market in 1866. Since then, the company has become a leading global manufacturer of liquid and powder coatings and garnered a wealth of experience in the development of innovative industrial coatings. Axalta is one of the few paint manufacturers to offer a complete range of paint products that protect, increase productivity and provide brilliant color for leading transportation, refinish and industrial customers around the globe.

"We are delighted to be part of PaintExpo again this year," says Markus Koenigs, Marketing Communications Manager for Axalta's Powder Coatings business in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). "On our stand we will present and demonstrate our dynamic new products and our innovative services. Our focus will be on corrosion protection and resistance, as well as on our core competence of color."

During the show Axalta will showcase a number of its leading brands. Liquid powder brands on display will include Axalta's family of AquaEC electrocoat products and PercoTop spray coatings. Powder coatings being showcased at PaintExpo will include Alesta thermosetting coatings and Abcite thermoplastic coatings.

Carlos Rodriguez Santamarta, Axalta's Marketing and Strategy Manager for Industrial Coatings in the EMEA region, adds, "Anti-corrosion coatings today have to do more than just offer permanent protection against rust. Our customers also demand that our coatings look good so they can help to promote sales, and they often also want additional performance features."

PaintExpo is the international meeting point for the paint industry and in 2014 attracted 469 exhibitors from 27 countries, and 9,167 visitors from 70 countries.

For further information on Axalta, please visit http://www.axaltacs.com.

About Axalta Coating Systems Celebrating 150 Years in the Coatings Industry

Axalta is a leading global company focused solely on coatings and providing customers with innovative, colorful, beautiful and sustainable solutions. From light OEM vehicles, commercial vehicles and refinish applications to electric motors, buildings and pipelines, our coatings are designed to prevent corrosion, increase productivity and enable the materials we coat to last longer. With 150 years of experience in the coatings industry, the 12,800 people of Axalta continue to find ways to better serve our more than 100,000 customers in 130 countries every day with the finest coatings, application systems and technology. For more information visit axaltacoatingsystems.com and follow us on Twitter @axalta and on LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413006022/en/

Contacts:

DA Public Relations Ltd

Chantal Bachelier-Moore

D +44 207 692 4964

chantal@dapr.com
STOCKHOLM (dpa-AFX) - Speaking at the Ericsson (ERIC) Annual General Meeting, President and CEO Hans Vestberg summarized the company's Networked Society strategy and reviewed its financial performance in 2015. The company is on target to achieve annual net savings of SEK 9 billion during 2017, and will take all necessary actions to remain competitive in a fast-changing ICT market. Vestberg said: 'Just like our industry and our customers, Ericsson is on a transformation journey. Our Networked Society strategy requires us to excel in our core business and establish a leadership position in targeted areas...... 'By executing on this strategy, we will continue to lead our industry and create new opportunities for growth.' In conjunction with the AGM, Ericsson published its 23(rd) annual Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Report, which details the company's performance in 2015 in three areas: responsible business; energy, environment and climatechange; and communication for all. The report shows that by the end of 2015, 20 million people had been directly impacted by Ericsson's Technology for Good initiatives, such as the Connect To Learn program that uses ICT to improve access to quality secondary education for over 76,000 students in 22 countries. Sara Mazur, Head of Ericsson Research, explained that Ericsson is leading the way toward 5G - the company has 21 contracts with operators around the world, a 5G test-bed that demonstrates speeds over 25 Gbps, and research partnerships that combine Ericsson's capabilities with the strengths and insights of customers, industries and academia. 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.
The LVMH Group has affirmed its longstanding support for entrepreneurial initiative and innovation by becoming a partner of "VIVA TECHNOLOGY PARIS". This groundbreaking event will bring all the key players in the digital transformation together in the French capital from June 30 to July 2, 2016.

LVMH is a prominent partner in this international event, designed to promote France's capabilities in innovation and nurturing startups. Organized jointly by Groupe Les Echos and Publicis Groupe, VIVA TECHNOLOGY PARIS will give 5,000 startups a chance to engage with business executives, investors, researchers and opinion leaders from around the world.

LVMH is hosting a special "Lab" dedicated to the luxury industry, designed as a "village of excellence". Within this 500-square-meter space, the Group will welcome 50 startups whose initiatives address the future challenges of luxury houses in Fashion Leather Goods, Wines Spirits, Perfumes Cosmetics, Watches Jewelry and Selective Retailing. Participating startups will be chosen for their capacity to drive quality and excellence in customer relationships and to create unique, powerful experiences for consumers who engage with these exceptional Houses.

"The luxury industry is at a strategic juncture with respect to digital technologies, and an essential part of this transformation is recognizing the importance of entrepreneurial initiative, which has always been a core value at LVMH. We're very proud to be associated with VIVA TECHNOLOGY PARIS to help showcase the best startups in the luxury industry today, the creative young enterprises that will nourish the future of luxury," said Ian Rogers, LVMH Group Chief Digital Officer.

About LVMH

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton is represented in Wines and Spirits by a portfolio of brands that includes Moet Chandon, Dom Perignon, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Krug, Ruinart, Mercier, Chateau d'Yquem, Domaine du Clos des Lambrays, Chateau Cheval Blanc, Hennessy, Glenmorangie, Ardbeg, Wenjun, Belvedere, Chandon, Cloudy Bay, Terrazas de los Andes, Cheval des Andes, Cape Mentelle, Newton and Bodega Numanthia. Its Fashion and Leather Goods division includes Louis Vuitton, Celine, Loewe, Kenzo, Givenchy, Thomas Pink, Fendi, Emilio Pucci, Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, Berluti, Nicholas Kirkwood and Loro Piana. LVMH is present in the Perfumes and Cosmetics sector with Parfums Christian Dior, Guerlain, Parfums Givenchy, Parfums Kenzo, Perfumes Loewe as well as other promising cosmetic companies (BeneFit Cosmetics, Make Up For Ever, Acqua di Parma and Fresh). LVMH is also active in selective retailing as well as in other activities through DFS, Sephora, Le Bon Marche, La Samaritaine and Royal Van Lent. LVMH's Watches and Jewelry division comprises Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Chaumet, Dior Watches, Zenith, Fred, Hublot and De Beers Diamond Jewellers Ltd, a joint venture created with the world's leading diamond group.

LVMH on social media

Facebook : www.facebook.com/lvmh

Twitter www.twitter.com/lvmh

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/lvmh

Instagram www.instagram.com/lvmh

YouTube www.youtube.com/lvmh

Pinterest www.pinterest.com/lvmhofficial

About VIVA TECHNOLOGY PARIS

Participants expected

5,000 startups

20 of the world's leading companies

200 internationally-renowned speakers and panelists

30,000 visitors

Program

40,000 square meters in three spaces:

HACK: 15,000 square meters of collaborative workspace with 20 industry-focused labs where 1,000 participating startups can connect with leaders in their sector.

IMAGINE: Conference spaces that will host conferences and world-renowned speakers with inspiring talks centered on "Technology and Companies: the 'new deal' for our society".

HALL OF TECH: Hands-on demonstrations of the latest technologies from the world's most innovative companies.

Launched ahead of the event, CONNECT is a collaborative digital platform that invites startups to find solutions to challenges from partner companies, giving the startups an opportunity to show their expertise and be selected for one of the labs.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413006066/en/

Contacts:

Media

France :

DGM Conseil

Olivier Labesse / Sonia Fellmann Hugues Schmitt

+ 33 1 40 70 11 89

or

United Kingdom:

Montfort Communications

Hugh Morrison Hannah Glynn

+44 203 770 7903

or

Italy :

SEC and Partners

Michele Calcaterra Matteo Steinbach

+39 02 62 49991

or

United States :

Kekst

Jim Fingeroth Molly Morse Anntal Silver

+1 212-521-4800
NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - 36,000 Verizon workers from Massachusetts to Virginia hit the picket lines Wednesday, unable to hammer out a new labor agreement with America's largest telecommunications company. After weeks of threatening to walk out, workers from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) officially went on strike. According to CNN Money, most of the workers are involved with landline phone and FIOS broadband, services that have gone uninterrupted this morning. 'Let's make it clear, we are ready for a strike,' said Bob Mudge, president of Verizon's wireline network operations. Preparations include the training of thousands of non-union employees to fill-in for those on strike. The company says it has proposed wage increases, continued retirement benefits (including a 401(k) match) and healthcare benefits. However, the CWA union claims Verizon wants to 'gut job security protections, contract out more work, offshore jobs to Mexico, the Philippines and other locations and require technicians to work away from home for as long as two months without seeing their families.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A New Jersey court has ruled out a challenge against GOP presidential contender Ted Cruz' US citizenship and his eligibility to run for the top post.



Dismissing a petition filed by the South Jersey Concerned Citizens Committee and law professor Victor Williams, Judge Jeff Masin ruled that Cruz met the constitutional requirements of a 'natural-born citizen' and that the Senator is eligible to run in the state's primary elections in June.



The petitioners contended that Cruz does not meet the Constitutional requirement that a person be a 'natural born citizen' to serve in the Office of President. The 45-year-old Texas Senator was born in Canada to a Cuban father and American mother. The petitioners claimed that Cruz was a 'naturalized citizen' and that presidents had to be born on US soil.



Judge Masin said that 'While absolute certainty as to this issue is only available to those who actually sat in Philadelphia and themselves thought on the issue, the more persuasive legal analysis is that such a child, born of a citizen-father, citizen-mother, or both, is indeed a 'natural born Citizen' within the contemplation of the Constitution.'



The court directed that his name may appear on the New Jersey Republican primary ballot. However, this recommended decision can be rejected by New Jersey's Secretary Of State, Lt Gov Guadagno, who is authorized to make a final decision in this matter.



A similar legal challenge was rejected by a court in Pennsylvania earlier.



Donald Trump, a strong contender for the Republican nomination, had questioned his main rival's eligibility for the presidency, saying 'There's a big question mark on your head.'



The verdict in favor of Cruz comes a couple of days after he swept all of Colorado's 34 delegates, shocking the real estate tycoon.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Apparently frustrated with Donald Trump's continued criticism of the presidential nomination process, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus scolded the real estate tycoon in a post on Twitter on Tuesday. In his post on the social media site, Priebus dismissed Trump's attacks on the selection of convention delegates, noting that the rules have been known for quite some time. 'Nomination process known for a year + beyond. It's the responsibility of the campaigns to understand it. Complaints now? Give us all a break,' Priebus tweeted. The post from the RNC Chairman comes as Trump has continued to attack the GOP nomination process as 'crooked' and 'corrupt.' Speaking at a CNN town hall Tuesday night, Trump claimed he knows the rules very well but argued that the process is stacked against him by the establishment. Trump has taken particular issue with the allocation of delegates in Colorado, where his rival Senator Ted Cruz, R-Tex., picked up all of state's 34 delegates. The billionaire continues to hold an approximately 755 to 521 delegate lead over Cruz, although it remains to be seen if he can win the 1,237 delegates needed to avoid a contested convention. (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.
Copenhagen, 13 April 2016Company Announcement No. 6/2016The Annual General Meeting of Greentech Energy Systems A/S was held today.The shareholders at the General Meeting adopted the Board of Directors' report on the activities, the Annual Report for 2015 and the distribution of the result for the year as proposed in the Financial Statements.Peter Hstgaard-Jensen, Luca Rovati, Jean-Marc Janailhac, Valerio Andreoli Bonazzi and Michele Bellon were re-elected to the Board of Directors.The Board of Directors of Greentech Energy Systems A/S will hereafter comprise:-- Peter Hstgaard-Jensen -- Luca Rovati -- Valerio Andreoli Bonazzi -- Jean-Marc Janailhac -- Michele BellonThe Board of Directors subsequently elected Peter Hstgaard-Jensen as its Chairman and Luca Rovati as its Vice Chairman.The shareholders at the General Meeting adopted the proposal of the annual remuneration of the Board of Directors for 2016 to be allocated on the basis of the following amounts:Fee to the chairman: EUR 80,000 Fee to the deputy chairman: EUR 30,000 Fee to ordinary board members: EUR 30,000The shareholders re-appointed Ernst & Young as the Company's auditors.The resolution proposed by the Board of Directors of changing the Company's shares from bearer shares to shares issued in the name of the holder and the related amendments of the Company's Articles of Association was adopted. Further, the Board of Directors' authorization to acquire own shares was extended until the next annual general meeting.The Board of DirectorsContact: Peter Hstgaard-Jensen, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Tel: +45 40 10 88 71 Alessandro Reitelli, CEO, Tel: +45 33 36 42 02
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Valener Inc. ("Valener") (TSX: VNR)(TSX: VNR.PR.A) and Gaz Metro Limited Partnership ("Gaz Metro") plan to announce their second quarter 2016 results on Friday, May 13, 2016, at approximately 8:00 a.m. (ET).

A conference call to discuss the firm's results will be held at 1:00 p.m. (ET) and will be open to the public.

Dial-in: 647-788-4922 or toll-free 877-223-4471

Webcast: accessible under "Events and presentations" in the "Investors" section of Valener's web site

Replay: A replay of the call will be available for 30 days at 416-621-4642 or toll-free at 800-585-8367 (access code: 79158008). The webcast will be available for 365 days on Valener's web site.

Overview of Valener

Valener is a widely held public company that serves as the investment vehicle in Gaz Metro. Through its investment in Gaz Metro, Valener offers its shareholders a solid investment in a diversified and largely regulated energy portfolio in Quebec and Vermont. As a strategic partner, Valener, on the one hand, contributes to Gaz Metro's growth, and on the other, invests in wind power production in Quebec alongside Gaz Metro. Valener favours energy sources and uses that are innovative, clean, competitive and profitable. Valener's common and preferred shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the "VNR" symbol for common shares and under the "VNR.PR.A" symbol for Series A preferred shares. www.valener.com

Overview of Gaz Metro

With nearly $7 billion in assets, Gaz Metro is a leading energy provider. It is the largest natural gas distribution company in Quebec, where its network of over 10,000 km of underground pipelines serves more than 300 municipalities and more than 200,000 customers. Gaz Metro is also present in Vermont, producing and transporting electricity and distributing electricity and natural gas to meet the needs of more than 310,000 customers. Gaz Metro is actively involved in the development and operation of innovative, promising energy projects, including natural gas as fuel and liquefied natural gas as a replacement for higher emission-producing energies, the production of wind power, and the development of biomethane. Gaz Metro is a major energy sector player that takes the lead in responding to the needs of its customers, regions and municipalities, local organizations and communities while also satisfying the expectations of its Partners (Gaz Metro inc. and Valener) and employees. www.gazmetro.com

Photos, videos (b-roll) and logos are available in Gaz Metro's Multimedia library.

Contacts:

Investors and analysts

Mariem Elsayed

514-598-3253

investors@valener.com



Media

Marie-Christine Demers

514-598-3449

www.twitter.com/gazmetro

www.gazmetro.com/pressroom




Regulatory News:

Axway (Paris:AXW):

In accordance with Article L.233-8 II of the French Commercial Code (Code de Commerce) and Article 223-16 of the General Regulations of the Autorite des Marches Financiers (the French financial Markets Authority), Axway Software ("Company") hereby informs its shareholders that the:

Total number of its shares is 20,799,501 ;

Total number of voting rights including suspended voting rights (gross or theoretical voting rights) is 35,607,721. This total is the base used for declaring crossing of thresholds by shareholders (as provided for in the final paragraph of Article 223-11 of the General Regulations; the total number of voting rights is calculated according to the total number of shares with voting rights, including shares whose voting rights have been suspended).

This total is the base used for declaring crossing of thresholds by shareholders (as provided for in the final paragraph of Article 223-11 of the General Regulations; the total number of voting rights is calculated according to the total number of shares with voting rights, including shares whose voting rights have been suspended). Number of exercisable voting rights is 35,576,735.

Disclaimer

This document is a free translation into English of the original French press release. It is not a binding document. In the event of a conflict in interpretation, reference should be made to the French version, which is the authentic text.

About Axway

Axway (Euronext: AXW.PA) empowers more than 11,000 customers worldwide to collaborate smarter, innovate faster and engage better with their partners, developers and customers. From integration technology that securely connects people, processes and things to an engagement platform that enables API management, identity management, mobile app development and analytics, Axway solutions are enabling digital business. Axway is registered in France with headquarters in the United States. More information is available at: www.investors.axway.com/en or on Axway IR Mobile Application.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160413006167/en/

Contacts:

Axway

Investor Relations:

Patrick Gouffran, +33 (0)1 40 67 29 26

pgouffran@axway.com

or

Press Relations:

Sylvie Podetti, +33 (0)1 47 17 22 40

spodetti@axway.com
TEHERAN, Iran, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Italtel, a leading Italian telecommunications company in Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), managed services and all-IP communication, has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI) to develop and modernize TCI's telecom network.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130429/612742 )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/354892 )



The MoU was signed during an official Italian Government mission to Iran led by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Under the MoU, the parties have agreed to cooperate on the development of the Iranian telecommunications sector.

"The MoU signed today represents a fundamental step forward in the cooperation between Italy and Iran," said Stefano Pileri, Italtel CEO, "and we are proud to be part of this important project. Telecommunications and ICT represent indeed an accelerator for the development of many other areas and economy in general."

Having built up a wealth of experience in building and transforming complex networks of a large number of international operators, Italtel currently operates in the EMEA and LatAm markets, addressing Large Enterprises, Public Administration and Service Providers as a market leader in digital transformation.

Italtel

Italtel designs, develops, implements solutions for NGN and NGS; Professional Services dedicated to the design and maintenance of networks; IT System Integration Services; Network Integration and migration activities. Italtel counts among its customers more than 40 of the world's top TLC Operators and SPs. In Italy Italtel is also reference partner of Enterprises and Public Sector for the deployment of IP Next-Generation Networks and for the development of multimedia convergent services for their customers. Italtel is present in many countries including France, UK, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Poland, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Brazil. http://www.italtel.com.


VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - The European markets ended Wednesday's session with solid gains, extending its winning streak to 4 sessions. A stronger than expected read on Chinese exports drove the markets higher today. The report eased investor concerns over the health of the global economy.



Mining and resource stocks were among the best performing stocks Wednesday, thanks to the Chinese data. Banks also turned in a strong performance after U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase reported better than expected quarterly earnings.



China's exports climbed at the fastest pace in a year in March, while imports declined at a slower pace, suggesting that the economy is gaining momentum at the end of first quarter.



Data published by the General Administration of Customs showed that exports grew 11.5 percent year-over-year in March, exceeding economists' expectations for a 10.0 percent rise and reversed February's 25.4 percent decline.



Demand for secured lending for house purchases and the availability of secured credit to households are set to increase in the second quarter, the latest Credit Conditions Survey from the Bank of England showed Wednesday.



Lenders said the availability of secured credit to households remained unchanged in three months to mid-March. They expect availability to increase in the second quarter.



Meanwhile, the availability of unsecured credit to households increased slightly and it is forecast to improve further.



The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks increased 3.30 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 2.72 percent.



The DAX of Germany climbed 2.71 percent and the CAC 40 of France rose 3.32 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 1.93 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 1.87 percent.



In Frankfurt, Deutsche Bank jumped 9.51 percent and Commerzbank gained 6.67 percent.



ThyssenKrupp increased 5.73 percent and Salzgitter rose 6.86 percent.



Volkswagen finished higher by 3.72 percent. Daimler advanced 3.49 percent and BMW added 3.44 percent.



In Paris, Societe Generale leaped 7.83 percent. Credit Agricole climbed 5.47 percent and BNP Paribas finished up by 6.36 percent.



Total increased 3.99 percent and Technip added 3.31 percent.



In London, Fresnillo gained 3.53 percent after reporting gold production of 230 koz for the three months ended 31 March 2016, up 26.3 percent from last year.



Mining stocks turned in a strong performance thanks to the better than expected Chinese export data. Anglo America surged 11.05 percent and BHP Billiton jumped 9.18 percent. Rio Tinto climbed 7.60 percent and Glencore advanced 6.70 percent. Antofagasta also finished up by 5.15 percent.



Tesco fell 7.79 percent. The supermarket chain made some downbeat comments on the outlook after reporting annual earnings that beat estimates.



Shares of Premier Foods plunged 26.75 percent after U.S. spice maker McCormick said it would not be making a takeover bid for the manufacturer of Mr. Kipling cakes and Bisto gravy.



Standard Chartered leaped 10.64 percent and Barclays rose 7.16 percent. HSBC gained 6.67 percent and Royal Bank of Scotland added 5.90 percent. Lloyds Banking Group also closed higher by percent.



Italian banks UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo rallied 8 to percent after Italy's Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan told financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore that there is no risk the bailout fund will be blocked by European authorities.



Elekta surged 7.19 percent in Stockholm. The company announced that its Board has appointed Richard Hausmann as the President and CEO, effective June 10. He will succeed Tomas Puusepp.



Eurozone industrial production declined more than expected in February on widespread weakness across sub-sectors, data from Eurostat revealed Wednesday. Industrial production fell 0.8 percent in February from January, when it grew by revised 1.9 percent. Economists had forecast a 0.7 percent drop. Output for January was revised down from 2.1 percent.



France's consumer prices decreased less than initially estimated in March, final figures from the statistical office Insee showed Thursday. The consumer price index edged down 0.1 percent year-over-year in March, marking its second successive monthly drop, which was revised down from the 0.2 percent drop reported earlier.



Primarily reflecting a steep drop in auto sales, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing an unexpected decrease in U.S. retail sales in the month of March. The Commerce Department said retail sales fell by 0.3 percent in March following a revised unchanged reading in February.



Economists had expected sales to inch up by 0.1 percent compared to the 0.1 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.



Producer prices in the U.S. unexpectedly saw a modest decrease in the month of March, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Wednesday. The report said producer prices edged down by 0.1 percent in March after slipping by 0.2 percent in February. The drop surprised economists, who had expected prices to climb by 0.3 percent.



Business inventories in the U.S. saw a modest decrease in the month of February, the Commerce Department revealed in a report on Wednesday. The Commerce Department said business inventories edged down by 0.1 percent in February, matching a revised drop in January. The slight decline also matched economist estimates.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Today at its annual Imagine conference, Magento Commerce, the leading provider of open omnichannel innovation, announced that its commerce platform has been adopted by the Fraport Airport Group to power a first-of-its-kind airport omnichannel commerce experience for Frankfurt Airport (FRA) travelers. Airports have become premier retail venues, and as such, empowering traditional omnichannel retail experiences that consumers expect -- like buy online or in the air and pick-up, ship or deliver from store -- within the unique dynamics of an airport, has become a key business priority.

"With the reality of the digitally empowered consumer, commerce today is about going were the customer is," said Steve Yankovich, chief product officer at Magento Commerce. "This requires an omnichannel approach that spans more than just owned channels like stores, kiosks, online and mobile. Retailers will have to extend their inventory to retail partners and channels they don't directly own. The millions of high value consumers passing through busy airports every day represent a massive commerce opportunity and this project with Fraport and AOE showcases the power of what's possible on the Magento Platform."

Frankfurt Airport is already one of Europe's largest travel hubs, having served 61 million passengers in 2015. With over 300 retail outlets, Frankfurt Airport is also the biggest shopping mall in Germany. Now, it also represents the most technologically advanced commerce experience for travelers in the air and on the ground. With the ability to buy in the air and pick-up on the ground, Frankfurt Airport is bringing fun, excitement and convenience to their travelling customers. And the myriad of food, beverage, luxury and apparel brands that occupy the airport get a new way to attract and delight travellers through a unique digital marketplace.

Keynoting at Imagine 2016, Kai Schmidhuber, SVP of Multichannel at Fraport AG, shared the rationale and best practices behind Frankfurt Airport's successful launch into omnichannel commerce: "Bringing this level of convenience to our customers is a reflection of our commitment to not only stay ahead of the technology curve, but to deliver great travel experiences to all who pass through our airport. With Magento's digital commerce and order management technology, we're able to pioneer a new way of delivering value to our customers and retailers alike."

Working with Magento Gold Solution Partner AOE, Fraport took a phased approach that will eventually have all retailers in the airport represented on the new platform. Leveraging the extensibility that makes the Magento platform so successful, AOE integrated 32 different software components with a focus on high availability through dual data centers and multiple failovers.

"Even the most sophisticated omnichannel retail operation has a fraction of the complexity in terms of logistics, security and regulatory requirements that one of the largest airports in the world has," said Kian Gould, CEO of AOE. "We knew from the start that this project would require the unparalleled flexibility of the Magento eCommerce platform, coupled with the robust Magento Commerce Order Management capabilities to manage the complex order processes and fulfillment across channels and geographies including stores, drop shippers, multiple warehouses or third-party logistics companies."

For more information on shopping with Frankfurt Airport, please visit the Frankfurt Airport website. To learn more about Magento's flexible, end-to-end commerce suite, please visit http://www.magento.com.

About Magento Commerce

Trusted by more than 250,000 businesses worldwide, Magento Commerce is the leading provider of open omnichannel innovation to retailers, brands and branded manufacturers across retail B2C and B2B industries. In addition to its flagship open source digital commerce platform, Magento Commerce boasts a strong portfolio of cloud-based omnichannel solutions empowering merchants to successfully integrate digital and physical shopping experiences. With over $50B in gross merchandise volume transacted on the platform annually, Magento Commerce is the foremost provider to the Internet Retailer Top 1000 and the Internet Retailer B2B 300, counting more than double the clients to the next closest competitor. Magento Commerce is supported by a vast global network of solution and technology partners, a highly active global developer community and the largest eCommerce marketplace for extensions available for download on the Magento Marketplace. More information can be found at www.magento.com.

Media Contacts

Margaret Farrell

magento@highwirepr.com

(415) 963-4174 x8




CHENGDU, China, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sichuan cuisine is one of China's eight culinary traditions. The Sichuan Provincial Tourism Development Committee and Sichuan Provincial Department of Commerce's will officially commence the "Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant Certification and Global Marketing Campaign of Sichuan Gourmet Tour" on 13th April. The event will run annually for five to ten years, to discover the finest Sichuan restaurants from around the world and promoteSichuan cuisine.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/354777

The opening ceremony will launch the Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant CertificationSystem. Every year, the finest Sichuan restaurants from around the world will be chosen and ranked in accordance with Gold Panda, Silver Panda and Bronze Panda criteria. The evaluation will be carried out by a selection of anonymous tasters worldwide, who will sample and appraise each restaurant. Once appraised, each restaurant will be subject to stringent checks and requirements to ensure consistency of quality, andthose who fall short will have their ranking lowered or removed.

The judges overseeing the Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant CertificationSystem are all influential experts in Sichuan cuisine, including the director of The Taste of China,Chen Xiaoqing, distinguished food critics Shen Hongfei and ShiGuanghua, China's editor-in-chief of the international food and travel magazine Timeout Chen Qingren, whose professional advice will ensure the most authoritative and expert assessment possible.

After the assessment process, the cities and regionsof Shanghai, Seoul, Moscow, San Francisco, Melbourne, Tokyo, Taiwan, Hong Kong, New Delhi and more will host promotional events including "The Battle of the Best of Sichuan Restaurants," "Who Represents Spicy," "Recruitment of Mystery Judges" and a promotional roadshow"On Tour with Sichuan Cuisine."

"The Global Awards Ceremony for the Most Renowned Sichuan Restaurant" is scheduled in October.

Please registeryour interest at the official event homepage Sichuan Travel News www.tsichuan.comin English or Chinese. The site is openworldwide for registration for the Renowned Sichuan Restaurant Evaluationand recruitment of"mystery tasters."
LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Magento Commerce, the leading provider of open omnichannel innovation, today honored the winners of the 2016 Imagine Excellence Awards, recognizing the exceptional creativity, innovation and success of merchants across the global Magento ecosystem. Winners, including Nestle, recipient of the Inaugural Trailblazer Award, were selected and celebrated for driving commerce excellence through their extraordinary efforts to use technology to delight their customers across their shopping journey.

Magento announced the 2016 Excellence Award honorees from the keynote stage of the Imagine 2016 conference in Las Vegas, applauding achievements across nine award categories:

Frankfurt Airport was awarded the Best Omnichannel Experience: Already one of Europe's largest travel hubs and the biggest shopping mall in Germany, Frankfurt Airport has created a first-of-its-kind omnichannel commerce experience for customers. Now, travelers easily shop on the aircraft or taxi, purchase, and quickly schedule home or gate-side delivery or pick up of dinner, gifts, etc as they speed thru the airport mall area.





Rite Aid was awarded the Growth Award for demonstrating extraordinary year-over-year growth across all channels, powered by Magento Commerce. During the 2015 holiday season, Rite Aid experienced triple-digit growth in transactions and revenue. Factors driving this growth include Magento's open architecture that allows for rapid development cycles and iteration as well as site performance enhancements through enterprise features including full-page caching and sophisticated marketing facilities.





Barbeques Galore was awarded the Commerce Marketer of the Year honor for maximizing its multi-channel marketing across its Magento Enterprise Edition site and 100+ stores, driving a 350 percent increase in conversion rate and a 360 percent uplift in year-over-year sales.





Nestle BabyNes was recognized as the Most Innovative brand delivering an immersive omnichannel experience through Internet of Things connectivity. Nestle's smart baby nutrition system is integrated into a complete omnichannel experience (across Web, mobile app, point of sale and social channels) and serves multiple geographies including the US, Europe and China.





Successfully launching new international business operations in Ireland and Germany, with additional delivery from its online business shipping to over 20 EU markets, Screwfix was given the honor of the Great Explorer Award for International Expansion.





Setting an industry standard of excellence, Le Creuset won the Best Web Design award for its new website, which balances compelling content and crisp design with a user experience carefully tailored to reduce bounce rates while maximizing sales and average order value. Launched in the United States in October 2015, the new website exceeded expectations in the fourth quarter and continues to drive record revenue for the company in 2016. Le Creuset is now rolling out the website globally to more than 29 countries.





For usability and design on a portable handheld, Sunspel earned the award for Best Mobile Experience. The new, flexible website provides a fast, usable, and attractive experience, regardless of device. This is vital to serving Sunspel's loyal customer base, around 50 percent of whom shop via tablet or smartphone. The results have been outstanding. A combination of improved conversion rates, increased sales, and higher order values, has almost doubled revenue year-over-year. The impact is even more pronounced for smartphone users, where the optimized design has achieved a 200 percent revenue increase.





St. John Knits claimed the Best Commerce Launch award for seamlessly extending its consultative, in-store experience online. St. John connected customer interests and behaviors by deftly blending content and commerce. The result: 35 percent of ecommerce customers are new to the brand and 30 percent were once lapsed customers for a year or more.





Gallagher Europe was awarded Best B2B User Experience for creating a best-in-class, self-serve user interface, including dynamic and bulk pricing and product content for syndication. As a global market leader for electric fencing in animal management, Gallagher services The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Sweden. The site offers several advanced features like an innovative product wizard, an advanced dealer locator and dynamic pricing based on visitors' choices, helping its customers find tailored solutions for electric fencing.





In a conference first, Washington-based SaltWorks tied for Best B2B User Experience. SaltWorks developed their exclusive "Salt Portal" to extend the highly engaging experience of their consumer site to serve the exacting needs of its business customers. The company's new B2B portal features a responsive mobile-friendly design, convenient product discovery and offers instant access to customer-specific pricing.





"The winners of the 2016 Imagine Excellence Awards embody the relentless commitment of our clients and partners taking commerce to the next level," said Mark Lavelle, CEO of Magento Commerce. "From the omnichannel and technology innovators to the explorers carving out new ways of doing business, it is because of the continued innovation of our community that Magento is at the forefront of global commerce. On behalf of everyone at Magento Commerce, congratulations to all the finalists and winners of the 2016 Excellence Awards."

The 2016 Imagine Excellence Award finalists and winners were showcased at the Wynn Las Vegas, April 11-13, during Imagine 2016.

About Magento Commerce

Trusted by more than 250,000 businesses worldwide, Magento Commerce is the leading provider of open omnichannel innovation to retailers, brands and branded manufacturers across retail B2C and B2B industries. In addition to its flagship open source digital commerce platform, Magento Commerce boasts a strong portfolio of cloud-based omnichannel solutions empowering merchants to successfully integrate digital and physical shopping experiences. With over $50B in gross merchandise volume transacted on the platform annually, Magento Commerce is the foremost provider to the Internet Retailer Top 1000 and the Internet Retailer B2B 300, counting more than double the clients to the next closest competitor. Magento Commerce is supported by a vast global network of solution and technology partners, a highly active global developer community and the largest eCommerce marketplace for extensions available for download on the Magento Marketplace. More information can be found at www.magento.com.

Media Contacts

Margaret Farrell

magento@highwirepr.com

(415) 963-4174




IRVINE, CA and PHOENIX, AZ -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Smart Utility Systems (SUS) -- the leading provider of cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms for the energy and utility sector in the areas of customer engagement, mobile workforce and data analytics -- is bringing together key partners including SAP, Hansen Technologies, Black & Veatch and others for a CS Week Synergy Group session on Monday, April 25th, 2016 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at the Phoenix Convention Center (Room 125 B) in Phoenix, Ariz. The session will be focused on customer engagement and will provide a platform to discuss and share best practices and real-life experiences from utilities during the upcoming CS Week event.

"We at SUS are excited to share best practices with attending utilities and partners from across the nation," says Deepak Garg, chairman/CEO of SUS. "We understand that customer engagement is important to utilities, and we want to provide ideas that not only save time and money for both the provider and the consumer, but also inspire innovation today and in the future."

CS Week, held from April 25-29, 2016, is an educational and customer service conference that brings together professionals from electric, water and gas utilities. CS Week presents a platform for energy- and utility-focused technology vendors and service providers to share winning strategies and tools for influencing the customer service lifecycle. CS Week Synergy Groups provide a unique networking opportunity for industry experts to discuss and share ideas that can transform the utility sector. Get the full conference agenda at csweek.org.

SUS Synergy Group: Surpass Customer Engagement Goals

SUS will engage with CS Week Synergy Group attendees during a session titled, "Surpass Customer Engagement Goals by Optimizing the Value of Data Analytics and Improve Customer Service, Increase Reliability and Reduce Operational Costs." During the day-long seminar, experts from SUS will share their insights and global experiences centered on the following topics:

Accelerate Your Paperless Billing Adoption with Key Strategies from SUS

Experts and partners will share insights about latest technologies for more efficient and cost-effective billing and payment services and what strategies can help utilities drive the highest levels of customer adoption.

Mobile Customer Self-Service Success Story: Glendale Water & Power

Hear Glendale Water & Power's best practices for driving user adoption, app retention and achieving superior customer engagement, and how all this is maximizing return on investment for the utility and also empowering customers to save energy and conserve water.

Top 5 Innovations in a Utility's Digital Customer Service Strategy in 2016

Hear from leaders and game-changers on their global experiences and insights on technological advancements that can help utilities engage with their customers proactively and redefine customer experiences through an in-built digital approach.

How Real-Time, Two-Way Mobile Customer Engagement Cloud Platforms Enhance Customer Experience and Address Issues on Energy Efficiency and Water Conservation

In addition to improved efficiency, cost savings and rapid deployment, moving to the cloud allows utilities to concentrate on new ideas and ways to improve their customer outreach and serve their customers better.

Improve Energy Efficiency, Water Conservation & Low-Income Program Participation Easily with a Smarter Customer Segmentation Approach

Experience the future of customer segmentation and learn best practices to efficiently increase program participation with predictive data analytics and customer engagement platforms that help utilities reach state and federal energy and water saving mandates.

During the session, SUS will also award select utilities and partners for their excellence in delivering customer engagement and for inspiring best-in-class innovation.

Reserve your spot for a complete demonstration of SUS solutions during the conference, April 25-29, 2016, at booth #801.

For more information about SUS, visit www.smartusys.com. Click here to see the full agenda, and visit www.csweek.org to register for SUS's CS Week Synergy Group session.

Members of the media interested in scheduling an interview with an SUS representative, please contact Leslie Licano at 949-733-8679 ext. 101 or leslie@beyondfifteen.com.

About Smart Utility Systems: Smart Utility Systems (SUS) is the leading provider of cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms for customer engagement, workforce mobility and big data intelligence and analytics to the energy, water and gas utility sectors. It offers rapid deployment solutions that integrate seamlessly with existing systems, and reduce costs and complexity, enabling clients to reduce operational and IT costs. SUS is headquartered in Irvine, California. For more information, please visit www.smartusys.com or call (909) 217-3344. Connect with SUS on LinkedIn or Twitter.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Leslie Licano

Beyond Fifteen Communications, Inc.

949.733.8679 Ext. 101

leslie@beyondfifteen.com




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- People Corporation (TSX VENTURE: PEO) ("People" or the "Company") announced today that BPA Financial Group Limited ("BPA"), one of Canada's preeminent independent full service national benefit and pension administration and consulting firms, is partnering with the People Corporation group of companies.

Highlights of the transaction include:

-- BPA and People combined firm positioned as one of Canada's premier independent Third Party Administration (TPA) businesses, serving clients across the country -- Combined firm now serves approximately 1,000,000 Canadians coast to coast with enhanced ability to invest in best-in-class products, services and technology in the group benefits and pension administration and human resources consulting sectors -- Combined firm now provides group benefit, group retirement and HR consulting solutions to more than 5,000 organizations across Canada through its professional staff of over 600 personnel -- BPA's principals to retain ongoing ownership position in the business and together with BPA key management and staff will bring their significant experience and expertise providing for continuity in business operations -- The transaction will be immediately accretive to EBITDA per share

Established in 1958, with offices located throughout Ontario and Eastern Canada, BPA Financial Group Limited provides group benefit and pension administration, consulting and claims management services to a number of major organizations in Canada. Consistent with People Corporation's other partner companies, BPA will continue to operate on a stand-alone business basis, but will leverage the advantages of being part of the People Corporation family to enhance its client offerings. The BPA principals, together with the management and staff that support them, will continue to be the primary operators of the business after the closing of the transaction. Through this transaction, People Corporation is significantly enhancing its national footprint and capability, particularly in the Eastern Canadian market.

BPA's principals, David Harvey, Joseph Jaseliunas, Jeffrey Baldwin, Christian McNeill and Leonard Tompkins (the "Principals"), and their staff bring significant experience in the group benefits and pension sector, and have used their deep knowledge and expertise to grow BPA into one of the prominent benefit administration and consulting firms in the Canadian marketplace. In addition to providing quality consulting advice, they have developed unique capabilities as a Third Party Administration service provider. As a result, BPA has established a reputation for excellence with its client base.

"The association of BPA Financial Group Limited with People Corporation represents a very important milestone in our history and significantly enhances our scale and overall capabilities" commented Mr. Laurie Goldberg, Chairman and CEO of People Corporation. "BPA's leadership and management bench strength, technical expertise and market presence in the TPA business is very impressive and the increased scale of the combined firms will further enable us to attract and retain top talent as well as invest in and develop innovative products and services with best-in-class technology." Mr. Goldberg added, "The excellent reputation, deep capability and high quality of BPA's professional management and staff partnered with a large, well-capitalized, national organization such as ours provides the combined organizations with a significant competitive advantage. We are very proud to be associated with such a highly respected and successful organization."

David Harvey, CEO and President of BPA Financial Group Limited commented, "As one of Canada's well known and established benefits firms, we wanted to partner with a like-minded and client focused national benefits organization that shares our vision, values and commitment to providing exceptional products, services and advice to our clients. Working together with People Corporation ensures that our very capable management and staff will continue to manage and participate in the future success of the business and enhance our deep and long standing client relationships. We look forward to continuing to provide our clients with superior advice and service, and access to an expanded array of solutions that best meets their needs."

The Company has purchased 100% of the voting shares of BPA. Based on the exercise by the Principals of the options referred to below, this represents a 67% economic interest in BPA for a purchase price of $18.7 million, subject to adjustment for working capital. The purchase price is comprised of a payment of $18.2 million paid at closing and a payment of $0.5 million payable in September 2018. The closing purchase price was funded by a draw of $18.2 million on the Company's expanded senior credit facility (see Credit Facility section following). The additional $0.5 million that will be paid in September 2018 is expected to be paid from available cash resources at that time.

In addition, the Company and BPA have entered into an agreement with the Principals whereby they have the option to obtain, in aggregate, up to a 33% economic interest in BPA through ownership of non- voting, non-cumulative, subordinate, dividend-bearing shares of BPA ("special shares"), which for certain of the Principals have been made available to them by way of options to purchase such shares at a nominal price, which options vest over a period of four and a half years following the closing date. The special shares may, in the future, be acquired by the Company, or sold by the holders to the Company, on pre-negotiated terms.

On a combined basis the People Corporation group of companies, through over 600 professionals across Canada, now provides group benefit, group retirement and human resources consulting and administration services to approximately 1,000,000 Canadians. With approximately $1.3 billion in annual benefit premiums, People Corporation is now firmly positioned as one of the premier firms in the Canadian group benefits, group retirement and human resources consulting industry.

People Credit Facility Expansion and Extension

In conjunction with this acquisition, People Corporation's senior lender, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, has expanded the size of the Company's credit facility and has extended its term, providing the Company with increased flexibility and positioning it to continue to execute on the transaction-based component of its growth strategy.

The senior credit facility has been increased by $26.2 million to a total of $61.2 million, an increase over the current facility of $35.0 million. The amended credit facility consists of a $5.0 million revolving facility (the "Revolving Credit Facility"), a $22.2 million term loan (the "Term Loan"), and a $34.0 million revolving acquisition facility (the "Acquisition Revolver") for a total of $61.2 million of credit capacity. In addition, the expanded facility provides for an option (the "Accordion Feature"), subject to the satisfaction of certain terms and conditions, to increase the Acquisition Revolver by an additional $15.0 million of capacity, which would result in the size of the Acquisition Revolver being increased to $49.0 million, and overall credit capacity being increased to $76.2 million. In conjunction with the facility expansion, the term of the facility has also been extended to October 31, 2019.

Upon the closing of the acquisition, the Company has $40.2 million drawn on the credit facility, comprised of $22.2 million under the Term Loan and $18.0 million on the Acquisition Revolver. No funds have been drawn on the Revolving Credit Facility. This leaves the Company with $21.0 million of unused credit capacity, which could be further increased to $36.0 million with full use of the Accordion Feature. The Company currently has cash balances of $7 million.

About People Corporation

People Corporation is a national provider of group benefits, group retirement and human resource services. People has offices across Canada; each led by a team of experts and backed by the resources of a national company that is traded on the TSX-V. People's industry experts provide uniquely valuable insight while customizing People's innovative suite of services to the specific needs of its clients. Whatever your sector, whatever your scale, putting our expertise and proven track record to work will make a difference to your people and your bottom line.

Further information is available at www.peoplecorporation.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, such as information concerning anticipated future events, results, circumstances, performance or expectations that are not historical facts. Use of words such as "may", "will", "expect", "believe", or other words of similar effect may indicate forward-looking information including the impact of that transaction on the Company's earnings and cash flow, and the anticipated benefits of the transaction. This information is not a guarantee of future performance and is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those described in the Company's publicly filed documents (which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com). Those risks and uncertainties include: the Company's ability to maintain profitability and manage growth; strong competition from other advisors and changes in the current legislation that could result in significant competition from the banking industry; failure of information systems and technology; dependence on key clients; seasonality of revenues and the resulting possible impairment on working capital; reliance on key professionals; additional financing may be required and may not be available under terms favourable to the Company; there can be no assurance that any suitable future acquisition will be available to the Company or that, if available, the terms of the acquisition will be favourable to the Company; and a change in general economic conditions. Many of these risks and uncertainties can affect the Company's actual results and could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking information made by the Company or on its behalf. Given these risks and uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on forward looking information as a prediction of actual results. All forward-looking information in this news release is qualified by these cautionary statements. This information is made as of the date of this news release and, except as required by applicable law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additionally, the Company does not undertake any obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third parties in respect of the Company, its financial or operating results or its securities.

Non-IFRS Financial Measures

EBITDA and EBITDA per share are not recognized measures under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). Management believes that in addition to revenue, net income and cash flows, the supplemental measures of EBITDA and EBITDA per share are useful as they provide investors with an indication of earnings from operations before debt management and non-recurring and other adjustments. Investors should be cautioned, however, that EBITDA and EBITDA per share should not be construed as an alternative to net income determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of the Company's performance. The Company's method of calculating these measures may differ from other public issuers and, accordingly, may not be comparable to similar measures used by other issuers. For a detailed explanation of how the Company's non-IFRS measures are calculated, please refer to the Company's MD&A filing for the three months ended November 30, 2015, which can be accessed via the SEDAR Website (www.sedar.com).

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Contacts:

Investor relations inquiries should be directed to:

People Corporation

Laurie Goldberg

Chief Executive Officer

(204) 940-3929

laurie.goldberg@peoplecorporation.com




ANN ARBOR, MI -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- TECAT Performance Systems today announced the release of the WISER 2030-S, the first version of the company's wireless torque sensor to feature shunt calibration. The new WISER 2030-S will simplify instrumentation verification for users while allowing them to check calibration of the system in the field.

"The 2030-S is the result of listening to and implementing feedback from our customers," said Don Keating, vice president, new business development, at TECAT Performance Systems. "Many have expressed the need for a cost-effective indirect calibration feature to be integrated with our high-speed, high-quality wireless torque sensor. It's now available. Even better, we are adding this value without increasing our base pricing. This is the first of four product enhancements we'll be announcing leading up to our participation in the Automotive Testing Expo next month in Stuttgart."

TECAT's WISER systems are the smallest, lightest, and most power-efficient solutions available for the measurement of torque, acceleration, pressure, and temperature. The WISER Model 2030-S is comprised of three subsystems. The remote unit consists of the data capture electronics connected to Micro-Measurements strain gages, a transceiver, and a long-life battery. The base unit plugs directly into a PC USB port and houses an antenna, transceiver, and up to two analog outputs. The WISER Data Viewer software is used for system configuration and calibration, live monitoring, and data logging. The WISER 2030-S enables positive and negative shunt calibration with two independent shunt calibration legs using 100 k ohm resistors.

In addition to measuring torque, the WISER 2030-S has the optional ability to measure 3-axis acceleration, barometric pressure, and ambient temperature, all within a small footprint measuring 36 mm x 23 mm x 4 mm. On-board high-speed data logging with triggering capability allows high-resolution data to be collected on the remote unit without PC or DAQ connectivity, while remote flash enables firmware upgrades without removing the system from the unit under test.

The WISER 2030-S is available now and will be demonstrated for the first time at Automotive Testing Expo Europe 2016, May 31 - June 2, at booth 1176 in Hall 1 at Messe Stuttgart in Stuttgart, Germany. To schedule a demonstration or to request more information, please click here.

About TECAT Performance Systems

TECAT Performance Systems was founded in 2010 by Dr. Douglas Baker, CTO and inventor of its torque telemetry system. The company designs and manufactures the smallest, lightest, most power-efficient wireless sensors available. These features enable the measurement of torque, acceleration, and atmospheric data in places never before accessed. The company is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. More information on TECAT Performance Systems is available at http://tecatperformance.com/.

Agency Contact:

Bob Decker

Redpines

+1 415 409 0233

Email Contact



TECAT Performance Systems Contact:

Don Keating

Vice President, New Business Development

+1 248 615 9862

Email Contact




Almere, The Netherlands

April 13, 2016

ASM International N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) today announces that the information regarding the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) scheduled for May 25, 2016 is now available on the Company's website, www.asm.com. This information includes the convocation and the full agenda, as well as the proxy materials for holders of New York Registry Shares.

The AGM is scheduled to commence at 2:00 p.m. CET at the Hilton Hotel, Apollolaan 138, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

On April 13, 2016 the total number of issued shares in ASM International N.V. is 63,797,394 common shares. Considering the number of shares held in treasury, amounting to 2,618,789 shares, the number of voting shares amounts to 61,178,605.

In accordance with applicable legal requirements in the Netherlands the record date for the AGM is April 27, 2016 as further set out in the convocation for the meeting.

In addition, we announce that our Annual Report 2015 is available on the Company's website www.asm.com.

About ASM International

ASM International NV, headquartered in Almere, the Netherlands, its subsidiaries and participations design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. ASM International, its subsidiaries and participations provide production solutions for wafer processing (Front-end segment) as well as for assembly & packaging and surface mount technology (Back-end segment) through facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common stock trades on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASMI's website at www.asm.com .

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: All matters discussed in this press release, except for any historical data, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to, economic conditions and trends in the semiconductor industry generally and the timing of the industry cycles specifically, currency fluctuations, corporate transactions, financing and liquidity matters, the success of restructurings, the timing of significant orders, market acceptance of new products, competitive factors, litigation involving intellectual property, shareholders or other issues, commercial and economic disruption due to natural disasters, terrorist activity, armed conflict or political instability, epidemics and other risks indicated in the Company's reports and financial statements. The Company assumes no obligation nor intends to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future developments or circumstances.

CONTACT

Investor contact:

Victor Bareno

T: +31 88 100 8500

E: victor.bareno@asm.com

Media contact:

Ian Bickerton

T: +31 625 018 512





ASMI announces availability of AGM materials (http://hugin.info/132090/R/2003263/739371.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: ASM International NV via Globenewswire



HUG#2003263


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Presidential frontrunners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are leading in their respective parties' upcoming primaries in Maryland, according to the results of a NBC4/Marist poll. Forty-one percent of likely Republican primary voters support Trump, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., at 29 percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 24 percent. Trump does best among Maryland voters who do not practice a religion, support the Tea Party, earn less than $50,000 annually, or do not have a college degree. A separate Monmouth University poll found Trump with an even larger lead in Maryland, with the real estate tycoon at 47 percent compared to 27 percent for Kasich and 19 percent for Cruz. 'If Trump's current level of support translates to each of Maryland's eight congressional districts, he may be able to run the table in the all-important delegate contest,' said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute. Meanwhile, the NBC4/Marist poll showed Clinton with a substantial lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., among likely Democratic primary voters. The poll found that 58 percent of likely Democratic primary voters support Clinton, while just 36 percent favor Sanders. Clinton leads among most demographic groups but does particularly well among women, voters 45 and older, and African Americans. Looking at potential general election matchups, Clinton and Sanders both have large leads over their Republican rivals in the heavily Democratic state. The NBC4/Marist survey of 2,563 registered Maryland voters was conducted April 5th through 9th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points. The poll included 368 likely Republican primary voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.1 percentage points and 775 likely Democratic primary voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 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.
GATINEAU, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand is pleased to announce the winners of the National Democracy Challenge 2015.

In September 2015, Elections Canada asked students between the ages of 14 and 17 to show Canadians how to get ready to vote with a creative and innovative video, image or artwork, or text.

"Despite not yet being of voting age, youth have become more interested and engaged in the 2015 federal election through this initiative," said Mr. Mayrand. "I congratulate this year's winners - and all of the participants - for their great work and creativity, and for being civically engaged."

Best video The winner is Alexandria Masse, 15, from Windsor, Ontario. Her video breaks down the voting process into simple steps to deliver a personal and effective message. Alexandria wins a trip to Ottawa to attend Encounters with Canada's "Democracy and Youth" week. The runners-up are Elaine Wang, 17, from Toronto, Ontario and Elijah MacDonald, 16, from Ottawa, Ontario. Best image or artwork The winner is Benjamin Chung, 14, from Vancouver, British Columbia. Benjamin brought a storytelling element to his visual piece through the creation of an engaging comic strip. The runners-up are Abbie Paulson, 15, from Calgary, Alberta and Muhammad Ahmad Pasha, 16, from Mississauga, Ontario. Best text The winner is Tess Forman, 16, from Ottawa, Ontario. Tess took a creative approach to her text by crafting her piece as a letter to voters. The runners-up are Ghalia Aamer, 14, from Edmonton, Alberta and Lucy Guan, 15, from Vancouver, British Columbia. School Challenge winner The winning school is Ecole Okotoks Junior High School in Okotoks, Alberta, with 42 eligible entries, the highest number of entries received by any one school. The school wins a bursary for one student to travel to Ottawa to attend Forum for Young Canadians' week-long civic education program.

This year's winning entries were selected by a jury of accomplished Canadians: Ilona Dougherty, President and Co-founder of Apathy is Boring; Rosanna Tomiuk, Commonwealth and Pan-Am Games silver medalist; Teresa Edwards, Aboriginal rights advocate; Paula Waatainen, social studies and history teacher, and champion for civic education; and Dr. John Young, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

High school and CEGEP students from across Canada participated in the National Democracy Challenge 2015. With 181 entries submitted, the initiative was a resounding success again this year.

The National Democracy Challenge is a hands-on learning activity launched every year as part of Canada's Democracy Week, an Elections Canada civic education initiative.

Visit democracy-democratie.ca to see all the winning entries and full contest details.

Elections Canada is an independent body set up by Parliament.

Subscribe to our news service at elections.ca.

Contacts:

Elections Canada

Media Relations

1-877-877-9515

www.elections.ca




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders picked up his first endorsement from a sitting Senator on Wednesday, as Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley announced he is supporting his colleague from Vermont. In an op-ed piece in the New York Times, Merkley said he decided to support Sanders after considering the biggest challenges facing the nation and the future he wants for his children and the country. 'Hillary Clinton has a remarkable record. She would be a strong and capable president,' Merkley wrote. 'But Bernie Sanders is boldly and fiercely addressing the biggest challenges facing our country.' Merkley specifically cited Sanders' positions on trade deals, renewable energy, campaign finance reform and financial issues. The Oregon Senator acknowledged that Sanders is facing an uphill battle but praised his leadership and his 'willingness to fearlessly stand up to the powers that be have galvanized a grass-roots movement.' According to CNN, more than 80 percent of current Democratic senators have endorsed Clinton, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- (Marketwired) -- 04/13/16 -- Brookfield Investment Management Inc. will host a conference call for the Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund Inc. (NYSE: INF) (the "Fund") on April 25, 2016 at 4:30pm ET. The Fund's portfolio management team will provide an update on the Fund and an update on general market conditions. If you have questions about the Fund that you would like answered on the conference call, please send an e-mail to funds@brookfield.com by 2:00pm ET on April 21, 2016.

The conference call will be available on 800-319-4610. A replay of the conference call will be available soon after completion of the call at www.brookfieldim.com or by calling 855-669-9658 (passcode: 00419) through May 9, 2016.

Brookfield Investment Management (the "Firm") is an SEC-registered investment adviser providing real assets public securities strategies including global listed real estate and infrastructure equities as well as corporate credit and securitized credit. With nearly $17 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2015, the Firm manages institutional separate accounts, registered funds and other investment products for clients, including financial institutions, public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds and high net-worth investors. Headquartered in New York, NY, the Firm and its affiliates also maintain offices in Boston, Chicago, London and Toronto. Further information is available on www.brookfieldim.com. Brookfield Investment Management Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with over $225 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2015. For more information, go to www.brookfield.com.

Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund Inc. is managed by Brookfield Investment Management. The Fund uses its website as a channel of distribution of material company information. Financial and other material information regarding the Fund is routinely posted on and accessible at www.brookfieldim.com.

Contacts:

Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund Inc.

(855) 777-8001

funds@brookfield.com

www.brookfieldim.com




Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 13, 2016) - Crown Mining Corporation (TSXV: CWM) ("Crown" or the "Company") announces a proposed non-brokered private placement for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $120,000 comprised of up to 2,000,000 units at a price of $0.06 per unit (each such unit being comprised of one common share and one warrant) (the "Offering"). Each whole warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one common share for $0.15 at any time within 3 years after closing subject to an acceleration clause. All securities issued pursuant to this private placement will be subject to a four (4) month hold period. The Company proposes to pay to eligible finders a finder's fee equal to 10% of the gross proceeds raised. The Company also reserves the right to increase or decrease the size of the Offering.

Completion of the Offering is subject to receipt of all required regulatory and TSX Venture Exchange approvals. The Company will use the proceeds of the offering for work at its Superior Project and for general working capital purposes.

The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of Rich Morrow as the Company's Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Morrow is currently a Director of Crown and has extensive experience in managing public companies.

In addition, the Company announces that incentive stock options to purchase up to 700,000 common shares of the Company have been granted to various officers, directors and consultants of the Company pursuant to the Company's stock option plan and subject to any regulatory approval. Each stock option is exercisable at $0.10 for a period of three years from the grant date.

About Crown

Crown is focused on advancing its 100% controlled Lights Creek Copper Project in Northeast California. There are four known copper deposits on the 18 square kilometer property with over 2 billion pounds of contained copper as reported in our two Technical Reports available on Sedar.

The Moonlight deposit hosts a current National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant indicated resource of approximately 161 million tons (146.5 million tonnes) averaging 0.324% copper, 0.003 ounces of gold and 0.112 ounces of silver per ton, and an inferred resource of 88 million tons (80 million tonnes) averaging 0.282% copper per ton. Further details of this resource can be found in the Technical Report on the Moonlight Copper Property dated April 12, 2007 at Sedar.com. The Superior and Engels deposits have a current NI 43-101 inferred mineral resource of 57 million metric tonnes at an average copper grade of 0.43%. Further details of this resource can be found in the Technical Report on the Superior Project dated November 7, 2014 filed on Sedar. The fourth deposit has a historical resource that is not compliant with NI 43-101.

Mr. George Cole is the Qualified Person pursuant to NI 43-101 responsible for the technical information contained in this news release, and he has reviewed and approved this news release.

For more information please see the Crown website at www.crowngoldcorp.com.

For Further Information Contact:

Mr. Stephen Dunn, President, CEO and Director, Crown Mining Corporation (416) 361-2827 or email info@crowngoldcorp.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws and regulations, including statements regarding the future activities of the Company. Forward-looking statements reflect the current beliefs and expectations of management and are identified by the use of words including "will", "anticipates", "expected to", "plans", "planned" and other similar words. Actual results may differ significantly. The achievement of the results expressed in forward-looking statements is subject to a number of risks, including those described in the Company's management discussion and analysis as filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedar.com. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy the securities in any jurisdiction. The flow-through common shares will not be and have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or applicable exemption from the registration requirements.
INDIANA, PA--(Marketwired - April 13, 2016) - First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE: FCF) announced today that it will webcast its 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders on Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. David S. Dahlmann, Chairman, and T. Michael Price, President and Chief Executive Officer, will share information about First Commonwealth and will answer questions from shareholders in attendance.

Webcast Information:



What:

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation

2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders



When:

2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Tuesday, April 26, 2016



Where:

First Commonwealth's Investor Relations webpage

www.fcbanking.com/investorrelations



How:

Live over the Internet

To listen to the webcast, go to First Commonwealth's investor relations webpage at the address listed above, click on the "2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders Webcast" link and follow the instructions. After the live presentation, the webcast will be archived on this website for 30 days. There is no charge to access this event.

To Ask Questions:

Shareholders who are unable to attend the session on April 26, 2016 may e-mail their questions to InvestorRelations@fcbanking.com. E-mail questions will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, April 25, 2016.

About First Commonwealth Financial Corporation

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE: FCF), headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania, is a financial services company with $6.6 billion in total assets and 110 banking offices in 17 counties throughout western and central Pennsylvania and central Ohio, and a Corporate Banking Center in northeast Ohio. First Commonwealth provides a full range of commercial banking, consumer banking, mortgage, wealth management and insurance products and services through its subsidiaries First Commonwealth Bank and First Commonwealth Insurance Agency. For more information about First Commonwealth or to open an account today, please visit www.fcbanking.com.

Investor Relations

Ryan M. Thomas

VP / Finance & Investor Relations

Phone: 724-463-1690

E-mail: RThomas1@fcbanking.com
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Ely Gold and Minerals Inc. (TSX-V:ELY) ("Ely" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update of its proposed acquisition of certain assets of Nevada Eagle LLC ("Nevada Eagle"), a private U.S. corporation, pursuant to a binding agreement (the "Agreement"), announced in a news release on February 26, 2016.

Ely entered into the Agreement with Nevada Eagle, to purchase its portfolio of thirty-one, highly prospective mineral properties and related assets, the ("Properties") located in Nevada and other western U.S. states. The majority of the Properties are precious metal exploration projects located in some of the most prolific and desirable gold trends in Nevada, with fifteen of the Properties located in the Walker Lane district of western Nevada. Nine of the Properties are in the Cortez Trend, one in the Austin-Lovelock Trend, one in the Carlin Trend, one in the Getchell Trend and the balance are unique situations throughout Nevada and surrounding U.S. states. Of the entire portfolio, eight of the Properties are currently leased or optioned to third parties (the "Third Party Agreements") and the assets acquired also include two deeded royalties.

The Properties are primarily unpatented mining claims staked on Bureau of Land Management or US Forest Service lands and, as such, have no existing or legacy royalties, work commitments or lease payments. Following the closing of the Agreement, Ely Gold, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Nevada Select Royalty Inc. ("Nevada Select"), will own 100% of twenty nine properties, 50% of two properties, all Third Party Agreements pertaining to the Properties and all deeded royalties. Several of these properties have had work programs completed on them, which may potentially form the basis of future NI 43-101 technical reports.

Nevada Eagle has a long history of staking mineral properties, which are then leased or optioned while retaining royalties. Mr. Jerry Baughman, the managing member of Nevada Eagle, will join the Ely Gold management team as President of Nevada Select. Mr. Baughman is a well-known and respected Nevada geologist who has demonstrated his skill at acquiring and monetizing quality prospects in a timely and cost effective manner. In July 2007, Mr. Baughman sold a portfolio of 54 properties to Gryphon Gold for US$12,000,000.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Ely will pay Nevada Eagle a total purchase price of US$895,600. The purchase price will be paid as to US$445,600 in cash on closing, and as to the remaining US$400,000 on the second anniversary, together with 5% interest. The remaining US$50,000 of the purchase price was previously advanced to Nevada Eagle in September 2015 for the staking of certain mineral properties. The Company will also issue 3,000,000 purchase warrants to Nevada Eagle as part of the Agreement. Each warrant will be exercisable to purchase one Ely Gold share for C$.07 for two years from the closing. The Agreement also provides for the mutual settlement of all outstanding legal claims between Ely Gold and Nevada Eagle (refer to February 5, 2016 news release). The Agreement is an arm's length transaction and no finder's fees will be paid.

The closing of the transaction is expected to take place on or about April 20, 2016. As previously announced in a press release on March 11, 2016, the Company has received conditional acceptance from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSX-V"). Completion of the acquisition is subject to a number of conditions, including final TSX-V approval. There can be no assurance that the acquisition will be completed as proposed or at all.

About Ely Gold

Ely Gold is focused on the acquisition, development, and marketing of North American precious metal resource properties to maximize their acquisition value. The Company's business model is to sell or option its portfolio properties, while reserving royalties. Ely Gold is traded on the TSX Venture Exchange ("ELY"). Additional information about Ely Gold is available online at www.elygoldandminerals.com

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Trey Wasser, President & CEO

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements concerning Ely Gold and Mineral's acquisition, development, and marketing of North American precious metal resource properties and the Company's intent to sell or option portfolio properties, while reserving any royalties. Such forward-looking statements or information are based on a number of assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect.

Although Ely Gold and Minerals' believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements or information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements or information are based on current expectations, estimates and projections that involve a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company and described in the forward-looking statements or information. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks associated with geological, geometrical and geophysical interpretation and analysis, the ability of the Company to obtain financing, equipment, supplies and qualified personnel necessary to carry on exploration, exploitation or acquisition of properties and the general risks and uncertainties involved in mineral exploration and analysis.

The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by 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.

For further information:

trey@elygoldandminerals.com, 604-488-1104; ir@elygoldandminerals.com, 647-964-0292
FOREST HILLS, NY --(Marketwired - April 14, 2016) - In the news release, "Native American Energy Group Announces Transfer Agent Change," issued on April 13, 2016 by Native American Energy Group, Inc. (OTC PINK: NAGP), please be advised that the "Effective Date" in the first and sixth paragraphs should be "April 25, 2016" rather than "May 25, 2016" as originally issued. Complete corrected text follows.

Native American Energy Group Announces Transfer Agent Change

FOREST HILLS, NY -- April 13, 2016 -- Native American Energy Group, Inc. (OTC PINK: NAGP) (the "Company") announced that effective, April 25, 2016 (the "Effective Date"), it has changed its transfer agent for NAGP common stock from Pacific Stock Transfer Company (PST) to Manhattan Transfer Registrar Company ("Manhattan"), with its current address at 57 Eastwood Rd, Miller Place, New York 11764.

Registered stockholder accounts will be transferred automatically to Manhattan Transfer Registrar Co. without interruption in service. No action is required by stockholders.

CEO, Joseph G. D'Arrigo, stated, "The appointment of Manhattan as our transfer agent and stockholder support provider is actually a long-contemplated, operational change taking place at an opportune time." As previously reported, Native American Energy Group is also presently working towards meeting its SEC filing requirements. "It's an extra step we've elected to take in order to maximize operational efficiencies for our stockholders. Eventually, our NAGP shareholders can have their shares transferred directly to and from their brokerage or investment accounts electronically," D'Arrigo added.

Manhattan Transfer Registrar Company is a DTCC approved FAST, DWAC and DRS agent which collectively provide for expediting the issuance, transfer and/or sale of shares for its client company stockholders.

Also commenting on the change, NAGP's Chief Financial & Operating Officer, Raj S. Nanvaan, stated that, "Manhattan was the original transfer agent for the Company from its inception in January 2005 to September 2009, before it was forced to move to PST as a result of a merger. I always felt Manhattan Transfer had a good grasp of our business, and their personal concern for their client's progress was a major factor for us to initiate this move back to Manhattan. As a seasoned public company pursuing its goals in a constantly evolving environment and economy, we need to consider the advisement of our consultants and remain in alignment with the best interests of our stockholders and ensure they have access to qualified, professional services and 20th century technology with respect to the sale and transfer of their shares."

Holders of the Company's common shares who have questions about their accounts relating to stockholder records, transfer of shares, lost certificates or change of address, should begin contacting Manhattan Transfer Registrar Company after April 25, 2016. Their website is: www.mtrco.com.

Forward Looking Information

Other than statements of historical fact, this release may contain descriptions of the Company's expectations regarding future business activities. These forward-looking statements are made in reliance upon safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Accordingly, actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements.
According to a new report by Accenture (NYSE:ACN), global investment in fintech companies in the first quarter of 2016 reached $5.3 billion.

This figure represents a 67% increase over the same period last year. In addition, the percentage of investments going to fintech companies in Europe and Asia-Pacific nearly doubled to 62%.

According to the document, based on Accentures analysis of fintech investment-data from global venture-finance data and analytics firm CB Insights, collaborative fintech ventures  those primarily targeting financial institutions as customers  are now challeging disruptive players that enter the market to compete against those institutions.

Funding for collaborative fintech ventures, which accounted for 38% of all fintech investment in 2010, grew to 44% in 2015, with the remaining investments made in ventures that compete with financial institutions. During the six-year period from 2010 to 2015, the percentage of funding for collaborative fintech ventures in North America rose from 40% to 60%. In opposition, in Europe, funding for disruptors rose from 62% of all fintech investments in 2010 to 86% in 2015.

The report also highlights the fact that these disruptors may compete against banks at first, but often end up aligning with them through investments, acquisitions and alliances, such as the stake recently taken by BBVA in UK-based mobile-only bank Atom.

But while a growing proportion of collaborative fintech ventures have emerged, the document finds relatively low participation in venture-investing by the banks themselves, which in 2015 invested $5 billion of the $22.3 billion of reported investments. That compares to an estimated $50 billion to $70 billion that banks spend on internal fintech investment each year, according to the report.

Analyzing data, the report shows that global fintech investment in 2015 grew 75%, or $9.6 billion, to $22.3 billion in 2015. This was driven by moderate growth in the US fintech sector, which received $4.5 billion in new funding (+ 44%); growth in China, which increased 445% to nearly $2 billion, as well as in India ($1.65 billion), Germany ($770m) and Ireland ($631m). In Europe, overall fintech investment more than doubled (+120%) between 2014 and 2015 and the number of deals increased by 51%. Investment in German fintech ventures grew 843% in that period.

In Asia-Pacific, fintech investment more than quadrupled in 2015 to $4.3 billion with China leading ($1.97 billion) and India following ($1.65 billion). In the first three months of 2016, APAC investments increased by 517% compared to the same period last year  $445m to $2.7 billion  driven almost entirely by Chinese fintech investments.

North American fintech investment grew 44% to $14.8 billion in 2015 and the U.S. continued to dominate the sector with 667 fintech deals, a 16% increase.

The report also identified a growing number of larger deals as the global fintech sector begins to mature. In 2015, there were 94 fintech deals larger than $50m, compared to 52 in 2014 and 15 in 2013.

FinSMEs

13/04/2016
Alibaba Group Holding Limited made a controlling investment of approx. $1 billion in Lazada Group S.A., a Southeast Asian online retailer.

The deal, which brought Lazada equity valuation of Lazada to $1.5 billion, includes a US$500m newly issued share investment and the acquisition of shares from existing investors. In conjunction with the investment, Rocket Internet sold a 9.1% stake in Lazada for $137m, retaining an 8.8% stake after the transaction. For the Berlin-based accelerator, the valuation of its stake represents an approximately 15x multiple of the invested capital of 18m.

Founded in 2012 and led by Maximilian Bittner, CEO, Lazada is an eCommerce platform for local and international sellers and brands to consumers in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore Thailand and Vietnam.

Lazada provides customers with a mobile and web a shopping experience featuring an extensive product offering in categories ranging from consumer electronics to household goods and fashion, multiple payment methods including cash-on-delivery, customer care and free returns. Retailers have with direct access to approximately 550 million consumers in six countries through one retail channel.

The investment will allow Alibaba to expand in South East Asia.

FinSMEs

13/04/2016
CareDox, a NYC-based provider of a student health technology platform, raised $2.8m in seed equity and debt funding.

The round was led by Texo Ventures and Prolog Ventures while Western Technology Investment prvided $1.5 million venture debt financing.

The company, which has now raised $6.9m to date, intends to use the funds to expand sales and engineering functions in New York City and develop new strategic partnerships with leaders in the field of pediatric health.

Led by Hesky Kutscher, Founder and CEO, CareDox provides a technology platform which delivers free digital health tools for K12 public schools. With over 1 million students across 28 states under care, it support over 2,000 schools and school nurses in tracking student health, keeping their safe and connecting with parents.

FinSMEs

13/04/2016
Lucid VR, a San Francisco, CA-based maker of VR camera, raised $2.1M in seed funding.

Backers included Wistron, S2 Capital, Lab360, TEEC Angel Fund, 17 Miles Technology as well as other angel investors.

The company intends to use the funds to bring its 3D VR camera to mass production. To this end, Lucid VR has also signed a partnership agreement with Wistron Corporation, a top five global ODM based in Taiwan.

Led by Han Jin, co-founder and CEO, Lucid VR is the maker of a pocket-sized VR camera which captures 3D 180-degree videos to be watched instantly on mobile phones using Google Cardboard or any VR headsets. It leverages binocular lenses to create true depth and peripheral vision while utilizing two microphones, mimicking human eyes and ears.

The company crowdfunded its first round of production cameras in December 2015, with the cameras now to be delivered in the latter half of 2016.

FinSMEs

13/04/2016
Jewellers across the state of Maharashtra have decided to temporarily call off the strike between April 14 to 24, ending over the month long impasse with the jewellers' association meeting Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday to keep up their proposal.

"We are meeting the Union Minister Piyush Goyal tomorrow in Delhi with our demands, which include paying additional 1% additional tax on VAT instead of excise duty, no maintenance of extra register keeping details of each items, no additional tax on remake of old jewellery and no inspection of manufacturing and retail units.

"For this we have temporarily halted the strike in the state from April 14 to 24," said Maharashtra Rajya Saraf Suvarnakar Federation President Fatechand Ranka.

However, in case the demands are not met, Ranka said the jewellers in the state will resume the strike.

Late last month, jewellers had first ended the strike on 21 March, after the government assured they will not be "harassed" by the excise department in collecting a new tax, the head of a trade body told Reuters.

Jewellers from the world's second-biggest gold consumer went on an indefinite strike from the start of March after government reintroduced a 1-percent excise duty on gold jewellery after four years. A report in The Economic Times estimates that the industry has incurred losses worth Rs 18,000 crore and the government about Rs 2000 crore on account of the strike.

In Maharashtra, jewellery sales everyday go up to Rs 250 crore, which doubles on festive occasions like Gudi Padwa, the Marathi new year.

Jewellers across the country are on indefinite strike since March 2, against the Budget proposal to levy 1% tax.

Over 300 associations comprising over 3 lakh manufacturers, retainers, wholesalers, artisans among others, participated in the stir across the country.

As an alternative to the excise duty, the jewellers said the government can increase the customs duty by 1-2%.

India's gold demand in the March quarter is set to drop by about two-thirds from a year ago to its lowest in seven years, as higher prices and a strike by jewellers curbed sales in the world's second-biggest consumer, Reuters report said citing retailers and analysts.

In the March quarter, India's total gold demand is expected at 60-70 tonnes, the lowest since the first quarter of 2009, when local purchases totalled 41 tonnes, said Sudheesh Nambiath, a senior analyst at consultancy Thomson Reuters GFMS.

In the first quarter of 2015, consumers bought 179.5 tonnes.

With agency inputs
On Wednesday, newspapers across the world reported widely that the population of wild tigers had grown from 3,200 in 2010 to 3,800 in 2014 which has been steadily dwindling for 100 years.

Quoting a joint report from The World Wildlife Fund and The Global Tiger Forum the news came ahead of the three day International Union for Conservation of Nature Conference of 13 countries in New Delhi.

The WWF-GTF report should have brought much cheer to conservationists, however, world renowned conservation zoologist and leading tiger expert based in Bengaluru, Dr K Ullas Karanth, Director for Science-Asia for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), was quick to release a critical response to the WWF-GTF report.

Stating that these were his personal views and may not reflect that of the WCS, Dr Karanth said, The various country-wide, regional, and landscape level tiger numbers reported in the WWF-GTF report are not based on any estimates from intensive rigorous camera trap/DNA studies of source populations. They are predominantly based on various kinds of counts of tiger spoor or in some cases simple guesswork.

He also stated, that Some tiger numbers cited in the GTF-WWF report have been generated by demonstrably flawed statistical extrapolations. Consequently these numbers are not reliable or useful metrics for assessing the fate of wild tigers, unlike the rigorous methods.

We reached out to Dr Karanth to find out more.

Firstpost: So does this report call for celebration or is it a call too soon?

Dr Karanth: Neither, these numbers are all derived using poor methods or in some cases, guesswork.

Firstpost: India has the best numbers  2,226 tigers. Cambodia on the other hand has zero tigers. What did we do better than the other countries?

Dr Karanth: India certainly has more tigers than any other country, for the past 50 years we have invested more money, man power, and political backing for tiger conservation and the results are showing.

Firstpost: Has the tiger population really grown or is it that our survey methods are better? For instance you have pioneered the radio telemetry and also the Camera trapping techniques. How have these newer methods vis-a-vis pug mark method changed in the tiger population census?

Dr Karanth: Tiger population in India has grown from the lows of 1960s, but the growth is uneven across the country.

His response to the report clarified this further: Tiger source populations that produce surpluses occupy just 90,000 sq km of the remaining 1.2 million square kilometers of tiger habitat in the world. About 90 per cent of all surviving tigers are confined to small 7 per cent area, broken up into 40-50 source populations. Tigers will certainly go extinct if we fail to protect these. Because of this these source populations should be monitored using the most rigorous methods that employ camera trap/DNA surveys at advanced statistical models.

The Pugmark method was abandoned in 2005 and camera traps are being used increasingly now, although not always using the best statistical design or analyses. These aspects need more attention.

Firstpost: You and the Centre for Wildlife Society (CWS) have done a lot of work in the Nagerhole National Park and in saving the Bengal tiger. How did this work help in conservation and preservation of tigers?

Dr Karanth: The WCS supported work in Nagarahole for over 30 years and has many components: development of new methods to monitor tigers and prey; gathering basic knowledge about their biology using these methods, supporting fair voluntary relocation of people who want to move out of the reserve and citizen science to develop local conservation leaders. All these have delivered gains, I think.

Firstpost: What can we look forward to gaining at the upcoming 3 day International Union for Conservation of Nature Conference of 13 countries at Delhi?

Dr Karanth: Such tiger summits have been held regularly for the past 10 years at great cost to the tax-payer I do not think they have been very useful in practical terms.

Firstpost: Whither 2022 and what are the goals you hope to achieve by then?

Dr Karanth: I do not believe the goal of doubling tiger numbers by 2022 is realistic. I hope the country will infuse more rigorous science into its already substantial investments in tiger conservation.

Focus of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has been on doing such advanced monitoring of number of key source populations across tiger range. Rigorous, intensive, long term camera trap studies conducted by WCS in India, Thailand and Russia show that tiger population recovery from depressed levels is a slow process, even in these relatively better protected sites. None of the populations have been observed to double in 10 years, even under best of protection.

If that is the case, simple back of the envelope calculations show that to double global tiger numbers from 3200 tigers in 2012 within ten years, would necessarily require increases of 27 per cent per year in sink landscapes.

This does not appear to be a realistic goal.

Firstpost: Predators are increasingly appearing in human habitats like the recent incidents of a leopard getting into school in Bangalore and a tiger that was killed in Nagaland. With increasing encroachment of forest land, how can we prevent these kinds of human-animal conflict for habitat and right to life?

Dr Karanth: Tigers are at high densities and producing surpluses in some well protected reserves, so such conflicts are inevitable on the edges and need to be managed scientifically so that local people living around the reserves do not turn hostile to them.

The notion that these tigers are coming out because there is no food for them inside is not correct. If there is no prey, tigers cannot raise cubs and the population dwindles.
Srinagar: Authorities on Wednesday imposed curfew restrictions in parts of Srinagar and Kupwara districts to thwart protests against the killing of three persons in firing by security forces in Handwara.

Two youth -- Iqbal Ahmad and Nayeem Bhat -- were killed in firing by security forces on protesters in Handwara town, after a protest which erupted on Tuesday after the alleged molestation of a girl student by a soldier.

A woman, Raja Begum (55), who was injured in the firing, succumbed at a hospital here on Wednesday.

Restrictions have been imposed in six police station areas of Srinagar city and Handwara area of Kupwara in north Kashmir, a police official said.

He said restrictions were imposed in Rainawari, Maharajgunj, Nowhatta, Khanyar, Safakadal and Maisuma police station areas of Srinagar as a precautionary measure in view of apprehensions regarding law and order problems.

However, the official said, in view of the Baisakhi festival, members of the Sikh community here would be allowed to move during the day.

Separatist groups have called for a strike against the killings.

Most shops, business establishments and petrol pumps were shut in areas other than those where restrictions have been imposed.

Public transport was off the roads while private cars, cabs and auto-rickshaws were seen plying, the official said. He said reports of shutdown were received from most of the district headquarters of the Valley.

The effect of the strike was accentuated in view of the Baisakhi holiday, he said.
With 116 people killed and over 400 injured in the Puttingal Devi Temple at Paravur in Kollam area, South India has witnessed perhaps the worst tragedies of this kind. The death toll may still go up with the type of grievous burns and impact injuries suffered by those hurt.

While the incident is being described as the fireworks display gone wrong and a case of disobeying orders of not using pyrotechnics beyond 10 pm and use of banned explosives, it may not be as simple a case as it appears to be. To start with, if the orders really were not to use pyrotechnics beyond 10 pm, then going by the media how come the fireworks display commenced at midnight and the tragedy occurred around 3.30 am? Where was the district administration and were some of them part of the audience? This was no small-time display; considering the number of casualties, the actual attendance was obviously more.

It is most intriguing to note that three cars laden with explosives have been found next to the temple. Were they meant to also catch fire and the additional triple car bombing meant to target those fleeing the temple precincts after the first series of blasts?

To whom do these cars belong? Were they stolen? Pictures on TV channels of explosives in these cars show these are no ordinary Diwali type of firecrackers but cylindrical dynamite sticks / pipes meant for high intensity blasts. That is the very reason that the bomb squad was rushed to the site to tackle them. If these were just firecrackers, they could have been handled by anyone. As significant is examining the damage caused by the so called fireworks display and the storage of firecrackers catching fire at the site and to the surrounding areas demolishing buildings - is such extensive damage a result of pyrotechnics or akin to a blast of ammunition/dynamite dump catching fire? So what is the source of the dynamite cylinders, who is the supplier and who facilitated their transportation to the temple precincts?

The state government has announced a judicial inquiry and a Crime Branch investigation into the disaster but the actual facts may get obfuscated in the wake of the upcoming elections. This is an incident that the NIA needs to give immediate and close attention to as there appears to be a clear and present damage lurking around the corner, perhaps of similar or even greater level.

Violence as prelude to elections has been occurring in India, but not in this magnitude, notwithstanding the pre general-election gibberish of a looney politician that if Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister 22,000 people would die. The fact is that South India has been sitting on a tinder box past several years. MK Dhar, former Joint Director IB in his book 'Open Secrets - India's intelligence unveiled' published in 2005 had revealed that armed Pakistani modules had been identified in Kerala as early as 1992-1993.

A number of media reports emerged during 2008-2010 about the Kerala headqurtered Popular Front of India (PFI) with photographs of armed cadres in combat dress and terrorist training camps running in forested areas of Kerala. These reports citing R&AW indicated al-Qaeda, Taliban and LeT links with PFI for past several years. In October 2008, four LeT cadres of PFI were killed in Kupwara, north Jammu and Kashmir trying to exfiltrate into PoK.

As per R&AW, PFI radicals were going to Pakistan since 1992. Significantly, these reports have been defaced from the internet including one titled 'Jihad's Southern Outpost' published in The Pioneer on 15 July 2010 that revealed: evidence of ISI operating in Kerala since early 1990s; raid on house of Mansoor, PFI leader of Ernakulam seizing material with links to Taliban and Al Qaeda and plans to monitor naval preparedness at Southern Naval Command and defence exhibition at Kochi naval base; economic terrorism in Kerala including smuggling in fake currency worth crores; armed Pakistani national and Al-Badr coordinator with Kerala roots arrested in October 2006 with accomplice who reportedly helped LeT's South India commander Thadiyantavide Nazeer in the Bangalore bombing of 3rd March 2006; huge sums of money coming to PFI from abroad; recovery of CDs from PFI leader, Kunjumon containing visuals of executions by Al Qaeda and Taliban - decapitation of girls and women and repulsive mutilation of their bodies amidst cheering radicals; on 4 July 2010, PFI radicals cutting off right arm of a college professor at Muvattupuzha.

Then is the NIA dossier alleging that more than 300 Indian youth have been recruited by Pakistan-based TTP which has joined hands with ISIS, with youth being recruited from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka and being trained in Pakistan, Iraq and Syria? In June 2004, Pakistan posted ISI's Col Bashir Wali Mohammed as her High Commissioner to Colombo. Wali had earlier served as head of intelligence in the Pakistani High Commission at Colombo during 1990s and with his efforts the Tamil Nadu based jihadi outfit 'Al Ummah' expanded its network. Wali is member of Tablighi Jamaat (TJ), cover organization of LeT, HUJI and JeM. Wali's mission during his second tenure at Colombo was creation of the 'Osama Brigade' comprising Tamil speaking Muslims of northern Sri Lanka who freely travel to India to collect information. It is also suspected that the Pakistan is using her Colombo mission as transit point for ISI operatives from India who are ferried to Pakistan on PIA aircraft without their passports being stamped.

India is at the cross-roads where China has bared her fangs; protecting Pakistani terrorist Masood Azhar from UN a second time and herself poised to destabilize northeast India by establishing the United Liberation Front of West, South, East Asia - a grouping of nine major insurgent outfits of India including the NSCN (K) and ULFA. An imploding Pakistan is angling to create more instability in India to deflect attention from the genocide her military is unleashing in Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Then South India has Maldives in close proximity where there Is plenty support for Islamic State and Maldivian youth have been going to Pakistan for training under the LeT past decade plus. If the fake spy story of Jadav is any indication, Pakistan can be expected to pull out all stops activating all her sleeper cells while posing the peacenik with random information sharing. Taking the history of firework display during such festivals in South India, it was so very easy to just innocuously substitute the pyrotechnics with dynamite. Clearly our intelligence agencies and policy planners have much to think about.

The author is a retired Lt Gen of the Indian Army.
Kollam: Residents of Paravur municipality, having just started recovering from the deadly Kollam temple tragedy which claimed at least 113 lives and left over 350 injured, have to grapple with a fresh challenge: the availability of clean water. On Wednesday, The Times of India reported that human remains, ash and debris from the explosion had contaminated most of the open wells in the area, a revelation that came to light following inspections conducted by the state's health department.

The report also said that following the tragedy, a combined team of experts from the state's health and water authority departments had been dispatched to collect water samples from local wells for testing and advised residents not to use water from the wells for drinking and other purposes until the results were out.

Although local NGOs have swung into action to provide support and the Paravur municipality is providing two tankers of water per day to the 50 or so households affected in the area, the report quoted a tanker truck driver as saying that it has become difficult to supply drinking water as most of the potable water sources in nearby areas have already dried up.

In a related development, IBNLive reported that the Kerala High Court on Tuesday suggested a CBI probe into the fire tragedy, and directed the state government to take action against those responsible for the disaster.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy called an all-party meeting to discuss the tragedy, and was quoted by IBNLive as saying, "It is only the observation of the High Court that Kollam tragedy should be investigated by the CBI. We have called for an all-party meeting on April 14 where the next course of action and decision will be taken."

The Solicitor General, appearing on behalf of the Kerala state government, told the high court that it could not rule out violation of safety measures during the fireworks on the night of the tragedy.

The court then questioning the role of officials in preventing such firework displays in the district, the High Court directed state authorities to "act against erring officials," and also asked the state police and the district officials to submit an affidavit to this effect.
Maharashtra has the maximum number of big dams of any state in India (35 percent of the total), the most expenditure on big dams (40 percent of the total) since Independence with the least amount of cropped area under irrigation (18 percent). But the state has nine effectively "toothless" Acts governing water and irrigation. This lack of water governance may explain the paradox of a state with the largest dam infrastructure facing water scarcity and drought.

Maharashtras ineffective laws form the basis of the legal framework covering the allocation, distribution and use of water. However, the government has formulated rules for only one of these acts. The result is "lawlessness" in Maharashtras water sector, according to Pradeep Purandare, an expert on water and irrigation.

Pradeep Purandare has studied water issues in depth for the last 34 years as a faculty member at the Water and Land Management Institute in Aurangabad, a training institute under the Water Resources Department. He served as an expert member for the Marathwada Development Board on water and irrigation issues and has filed court cases challenging Maharashtras water laws. A government order issued on 12 April, 2016 appointed Purandare to a committee to frame guidelines for the formulation of an integrated water plan for Maharashtra (see separate story).

Enacting a law is not sufficient. A law by itself states general principles. It is the rules, notifications, orders and circulars that provide the details for implementation, prescribe procedures, establish time frames, and guidelines for the empowerment and punishment of officials. In the absence of rules, a law for all practical purposes is an Act on paper, a toothless piece of legislation.

The absence of the operative part of these laws is one of the key reasons that has contributed to the drought, Purandare said in an interview in Aurangabad. In fact, the legal architecture governing water and irrigation is a vast grey zone, enabling vested interests to exploit water indiscriminately.

"Equitable distribution of water becomes a casualty, as water is being used indiscriminately by people with vested interests while the original beneficiaries are left out," said Purandare.

The first piece of legislation governing water was the Maharashtra Irrigation Act 1976 (MIA), followed by enabling Acts between 1996 and 1998 to create five Irrigation Development Corporations (IDC) for the different regions of Maharashtra. This was followed by the Maharashtra Management of Irrigation Systems by Farmers Act 2005 (MMISF) and the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority Act 2005 (MWRRA) to set up a regulatory body. The Maharashtra Groundwater (Development and Management) Act 2009 was the last piece of legislation.

Barring the MMISF, no rules or regulations have been framed for any of the other acts. The state government is yet to issue rules for the MIA, which has been in place for 40 years. The Water Regulatory Authority is supposedly the custodian of the implementation of water laws, but they dont have their own rules in place. In 2013, rules were prepared on the directives of the High Court and had to be withdrawn because they were contrary to the provisions of the law.

The absence of clarity has led to vandalism and tampering with water, said Purandare. Offences go unpunished and the intended beneficiaries suffer. There is no procedure in place to book the offences for violation of the Act, compensation for not getting water as per official schedules or transparency and accountability in the governance of water.

For instance, the Manjara irrigation project in Beed district officially provided water for irrigating sugarcane on just 3 percent to be irrigated. However, the Chitale committee report on the irrigation scam states that sugarcane is grown on 70 percent of the land which is irrigated. Thats the reason Latur did not get water for drinking. The law provides for regulation of crops during shortages. But those have not been implemented because of an absence of the operative parts.

The anecdote highlights how an absence of clearly defined rules can lead to a situation where various groups (the state, lobbies, vested interests) can hold resources to ransom.

In addition, the institutional structure for water governance is complex. A host of government agencies exist alongside a raft of laws, making it difficult to determine where authority lies.

For instance, a State Water Board (SWB) was established in 2005 to prepare an Integrated Water Plan for the state. Neither has the SWB been fully operational, in truest sense, nor has the plan been prepared. A State Water Council was established in the same year to approve a draft plan. The Council became operational after 10 years, due to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that Purandare had filed.

This leads to massive confusion in the water sector with agencies working at cross-purposes and loopholes ready for exploitation. The result is diversion of water from flow to lift irrigation, irrigation to non-irrigation and seasonal to perennial cash crops like sugarcane.

In the absence of rules and notifications for rivers, command areas (the area that a dam irrigates) and canal officers, the Maharashtra Irrigation Act, which is the parent act, has remained mostly toothless. Absence of command area rules results in irrigation mismanagement. A similar situation with canal officers means that the people charged with implementing the Act are legally undefined. They can and do take ad-hoc decisions.

According to Purandare, the reasons for leaving laws in a limbo are to give an outward impression at the national and international level about the states concern for water use and to secure loans from donor agencies while leaving enough space for misuse.

This has not gone unchallenged. Purandare filed two PILs in the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court. The first sought to make the State Water Board operational and implement the Integrated State Water Plan, while the second sought court directives to the government to frame rules for the Maharashtra Irrigation Act 1976.

In response, the High Court passed a judgement that deemed 191 irrigation projects that the state launched after 2005 "illegal", since they did not refer to the Integrated State Water Plan. It also said no new projects can be taken up till the plan is formulated. On the Irrigation Act, the court gave a deadline to the government to frame rules.

They want water for sugarcane and for cities and industries at the expense of villages and agriculture, Purandare said. Then there is the contractor lobby, which takes the decisions rather than the engineers.

The overarching vision of having legislation in Maharashtra was to manage, regulate and govern the use of water for equitable and sustainable use. It is the abuse of this vision that has contributed to water scarcity. Solving it will require implementing the vision in its letter and spirit.

This is the eighth segment of a 13-part series on Marathwadas drought.

Part 9: The story behind the Shirpur Pattern of Development

Read the previous parts of the series here:

Part 1: Region is parched, impoverished and desperate, but it's a crisis of its own making

Part 2: In the midst of severe economic downturn, private water sellers reap profits in Latur

Part 3: Drought has brought the economy down and is forcing farmers to leave the region

Part 4: Water scarcity has created a region where trust has eroded and left the social fabric frayed

Part 5: Maha has the most dams in the country, but the least effective irrigation network

Part 6: A surveyor of suicides tells the story behind the statistics and the lonely struggle of Indian farmers

Part 7: Will outreach help reduce farmer suicides?
New Delhi: The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday withdrew its interim plea seeking deployment of CISF to protect Mullaperiyar dam in Kerala after the Supreme Court objected to filing of such pleas in an already decided case.

"Once the decree is passed, you cannot file interim applications in it. You seek execution of the decree and you may seek review of the verdict if you want any modification," a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for Tamil Nadu, then said the State will file a review petition in the matter.

The state government, in its plea, had sought a direction that the dam be secured by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), as Kerala does not facilitate the management of the dam by Tamil Nadu employees.

Tamil Nadu government had in February last year moved the apex court seeking CISF security for the dam, which is currently handled by the Kerala government.

In its 7 May, 2014 verdict, the Supreme Court had held that the 120-year-old Mullaperiyar dam is safe and allowed the Tamil Nadu government to raise the water level to 142 feet and ultimately to 152 feet after completion of strengthening measures on the dam.

In a setback to Kerala government which had been fighting a decade-old legal battle with the neighbouring state, a five-judge Constitution Bench had struck down a law promulgated by it declaring Mullaperiyar dam as endangered and fixing the water level at 136 feet.

Kerala had later moved the apex court for clarification on its verdict and contended that the water storage should not be increased to 142 feet until all the 13 spillover gates of the dam were operational. It later withdrew its application and decided to go before the three-member Mullaperiyar committee.

The apex court had earlier too dismissed Kerala's plea to review its 2014 verdict saying there was no reason to interfere with the judgement of the Constitution Bench.

Mullaperiyar dam is a masonry dam and was constructed pursuant to the Periyar Lake Lease Agreement of 29 October, 1886 across Periyar river. The construction continued for about eight years and was completed in 1895.

The dam is situated in Thekkady district in Kerala and is owned and operated by Tamil Nadu government. The length of the main dam is 1200 feet and top of the dam is 155 feet.
It seems that having absurd views on entry of women in Shani Shingnapur temple was not controversial enough for Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati.

The Shankaracharya of Dwarka-Sharda Peeth on Tuesday held people going for "enjoyment, picnic and honeymoon" responsible for the 2013 Kedarnath flash floods.

"People coming from different parts of the country to holy places of Devbhoomi (Uttarakhand) for enjoyment, picnic and honeymoon led to the Kedarnath disaster. Similar incidents could happen if unholy activities are not stopped," Hindustan Times quoted the 94-year-old godman as saying.

On Sunday, Shankaracharya had waded into a controversy by saying that entry of women in the Shani Shingnapur temple will lead to rise in crimes against them like rape.

"Women should not feel triumphant about visiting the sanctum sanctorum of Shani Shinganapur temple in Maharashtra. They should stop all the drum beating about what they have done. Worshipping Shani will bring ill luck to them and give rise to crimes against them like rape," he had told reporters in Haridwar.

He had also kicked up a controversy when he said that the prevailing practice of worshipping Sai Baba in the temples of Maharashtra was responsible for the drought in the state.

(With inputs from PTI)
Jaipur: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will address a 'Dalit sammelan' in Jaipur on Wednesday and meet the parents of a Dalit girl in Barmer district, who was found dead in an educational institute after rape in Bikaner last month.

"Gandhi will reach Uttarlai Air base in Barmer from where he will go to the girl's village to meet her parents. After that, he will arrive in Jaipur to address Dalit sammelan," PCC chief Sachin Pilot said in Jaipur.

The Dalit girl was allegedly raped by a teacher in a institute in Bikaner after which she was found dead in a water tank last month.
The Supreme Court, which is currently hearing a plea to allow menstruating women to enter the Sabarimala temple, questioned the temple managements ban on their entry and wondered if a physiological phenomenon is a good enough reason for continuing the tradition, reported ANI.

According to NDTV, the Sabarimala temple trust and the Kerala state government argued in the apex court that menstruating women should not be allowed into the temple as the deity is a celibate and if these women are allowed, it will mar his purity.

"Temple management developed a custom and tradition which is being followed to maintain purity of Lord. The question is - can it be done on physiological phenomenon? Can it be guiding factor to deny entry of women in temple?," ANI quoted the bench as observing.

The bench made the observation while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Indian Young Lawyers' Association, reported India Today. The IYLA is in favour of lifting the ban on womens entry.

According to NDTV, the bench also observed that the Hindu religion does not use different denominations for a male and a female. "A Hindu is a Hindu".

Sabrimala temple issue: SC observes: Temple management developed a custom & tradition which is being followed to maintain purity of Lord.  ANI (@ANI_news) April 13, 2016

"The question is - can it be done on physiological phenomenon? Can it be guiding factor to deny entry of women in temple?" #Sabrimala  ANI (@ANI_news) April 13, 2016

Justice Deepak Misra observed- "God being a brahamchari, the women between the age of 10 to 50 are not allowed" #SabrimalaTemple  ANI (@ANI_news) April 13, 2016

"But can you deny entry of women based on traditions which are against the Constitution principle?" Justice Deepak Misra on #Sabrimala  ANI (@ANI_news) April 13, 2016

During the hearing on Monday, the Supreme Court had said that temples that deny or restrict women's entry undermine the fight for gender equality and have no constitutional right to do so.

Asking the board which manages the Sabarimala temple to explain why it bans women, Justice Dipak Misra, head of a three-judge bench, said, "What right does the temple have to forbid women from entering any part of the temple? Can you deny a woman her right to climb Mount Everest? The reasons for banning anything must be common for all."

"Gender discrimination in such a matter is unacceptable," he said, adding that the temple's arguments must be based on the nation's constitution.

Meanwhile, Trupti Desai, the leader of the Bhoomata Brigade group that fought for women being allowed entry to Shani Shingnapur and Trimbakeshwar temples, told ANI that if the SC ruled against the Sabarimala temple trust, she would definitely visit the temple.

We welcome SC observation on Sabarimala temple, well definitely go there (Sabarimala) after SC verdict:Trupti Desai pic.twitter.com/dCfgMFCjBE  ANI (@ANI_news) April 13, 2016

The SC will resume hearing the plea on 18 April, reports ANI.

With inputs from Reuters
New Delhi: HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday met a group of students from unrest-hit NIT, Srinagar, who put forward various demands including the shifting of the campus but she rejected the plea for shift.

Emerging from the over two-hour meeting which ended late this evening, students said that while the minister rejected their "primary" demand to shift the campus by saying that Kashmir is an integral part of India, she assured them of support in addressing academic issues.

Irani also assured the group of 9-10 students that if any of the faculty or staff members of the institute has induldged in any wrong-doing, action would be taken as per the due process.

"We spoke to the HRD Minister about the situation on the campus and she assured us to look into our demands. However, on the demand to shift the campus, she said Srinagar is an integral part of India, NIT won't be shifted," Ankit, a 3rd year NIT, Srinagar, student who was a part of the group that met the minister, said.

NIT, Srinagar, has been at the centre of a row since 1 April when clashes had erupted out between outstation and local students on the campus following India's defeat to West Indies in the World T20 Cup.

The situation worsened on April 5 when outstation students tried to take out a march outside the campus but were stopped by the police, leading to violence including vandalism by students and lathicharge by police.
New Delhi: Farzana Khatoon, wife of NIA officer Tanzil Ahmad who was shot dead in a 3 April attack which also left her grievously injured, succumbed this morning.

She was battling for her life at Aiims trauma centre after suffering bullet wounds, NIA said in a statement, adding that she succumbed to her injuries at 10.45 a.m.

Farzana was returning from a family function along with her husband and children when they were attacked. NIA Inspector Tanzil Ahmed, who was on the team probing Pathankot terror attack, was killed while she was seriously injured in the firing by motorcycle-borne assailants.

"Her last rites will take place at Jamia Milia University Campus burial ground at 6.30 p.m," it said.

In the "planned attack", the killers had pumped 24 bullets into 45-year-old Ahmad and four into his wife Farzana, as their daughter, 14, and son, 12, watched the gruesome incident from the back seat of the Wagon-R car they were travelling in.

The children had escaped the attack.

Initially, the NIA had said Farzana was "out of danger. There is no damage to her vital organs".

Ahmad, who has been with the NIA ever since the organisation was formed in February 2009, had been investigating many cases especially related to banned Indian Mujahideen terror outfit. His superiors termed him as a thorough professional in intelligence gathering as well as investigation.

Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested two alleged killers including a relative of Ahmad even as the alleged mastermind is still absconding. Police has claimed that domestic dispute was the motive behind the crime.

Among the two arrested is nephew of Ahmed's brother-in-law Rehan. The alleged mastermind, identified as Muneer, is still at large, police had said.

According to the police, the motorcycle-borne accused followed Ahmad who was returning home in Sahaspur village of Bijnor district with his family after attending his niece's wedding in another village in the same district on the intervening night of 2 and 3 April.

The attackers overtook his vehicle at Sahaspur village and Muneer allegedly fired at Ahmed and his wife.

Along with Rehan, his accomplice Zainul was also arrested.

Later, Aiims issued a statement saying "Khatoon was received from private hospital after 8 days of injury on 11 April at 4:30 p.m with diagnosis of severe sepsis and lung consolidation. On arrival she was critically ill on ventilator and inotropes and was not responding."

"She was managed in ICU with antibiotics, inotropes and blood products. However she continued to deteriorate and succumbed to her injuries on 13 April at 10:55 a.m.," it added.
Patna: Claiming that toddy has not been listed among toxic substances under the Bihar Excise Act, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi charged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with targeting the Pasi community by arresting them for selling toddy derived from palm tree, on Wednesday.

"When there is no ban on sale of toddy under the Bihar Excise Act then on what ground Principal Secretary (Excise) K K Pathak has directed the district officials to crackdown on sale of toddy?" he asked.

Claiming that many people belonging to the Pasi community have been arrested for selling toddy, Modi charged the Chief Minister with targeting these people belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) category for political reasons.

Sushil Modi also criticised the role of Bihar Police and alleged people of the Pasi community were being terrorised by the police for selling and consuming toddy.

On the Chief Minister's contention that he was only pursuing the state government's policy on toddy in pursuant to a circular issued by the then Chief Minister Lalu Prasad in 1991, the senior BJP leader claimed there was no restriction on production, storage, consumption and trade of toddy.

The said circular issued 25 years ago had only stated the specific places where the shops selling toddy could not be set up, Modi said in a statement.
On Wednesday, the political crisis in Uttarakhand came back in media glare when the BJP accused the Congress government of the state indulging in corrupt activities.

In a statement to ANI, BJP party president in Uttarakhand Ajay Bhatt alleged that the former CM indulged in corrupt practices like 'Baghdadis'. Bhatt went on to say that Rawat had turned a blind eye towards the Congress legislators who have been minting money in the state.

Bhatt was quoted as saying, "The way the previous government here was supporting corrupt activities and land and liquor mafias is something which the terrorists do. Baghdadis behave in such a manner."

He added, I have heard that all types of illegal business which strengthened its roots in the state have been uprooted in the past 14 days. The state has made a profit of 100 crore. What does this disclose? This proves that the Harish Rawat government was earning Rs 30-40 crore daily and this money was being credited into the pockets of the Congress MLAs and their friends instead of going into the governments account.

He assured that the state BJP unit would stand by the High Courts decision on the ongoing political battle in Uttarakhand. He alleged that considering their track record, the Congress government was incapable of ruling the state.

"If the High Court wants to revoke the President's rule, we will certainly agree to it. But the Congress cannot form its government in Uttarakhand again as it has failed to prove its majority in the state. Moreover, the accusations of horse trading and promoting illegal business in the state have made it aptly clear that they do not deserve to rule Uttarakhand," he said.

According to a PTI report, the BJP government had also asked for an investigation into the assets of the former Chief Minister to which the Congress government responded that they are ready for any kind of probe and a non-political commission can be set up for the purpose.

The Uttarakhand political crisis started on 18 March when nine Congress MLAs, along with 27 BJP legislators, met state Governor KK Paul in Dehradun, and sought the dismissal of the Congress government led Rawat.

Following this, Rawat met the Governor on 19 March and maintained that he enjoyed a majority in the 71-seat Uttarakhand Assembly (with one nominated member).

Wary of the systematic toppling scheme that the BJP had undertaken, the Congress party expelled the nine rebel MLAs.

Both parties approached the President Pranab Mukherjee on separate occasions to resolve the political crisis and the Presidents rule was opposed following which the High Court stepped in to resolve the matter.
New Delhi: BJP on Tuesday took strong objection to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's move to send 10 lakh litre of water per day to Latur from Delhi for the next two months, wondering how the government can think of such a proposal when the city itself was grappling with water scarcity.

Calling it a move to gain political mileage, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta said sending water from Delhi to Maharastra's Latur was not feasible.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, Kejriwal has sought the Centre's help in sending 10 lakh liters of water per day from Delhi to Latur in the next two months.

"It is a political move to ask the Prime Minister to arrange transportation of water to Latur from Delhi as it is highly unfeasible and uneconomical to send water to such a great distance through special trains.

"The reality is that one third of Delhi's own population is being denied of supply of potable water," Gupta said.

The BJP leader also accused the AAP government of not giving due importance to the issue of water scarcity in the national capital.

He also asked why the government has not yet prepared a summer action plan to deal with possible scarcity of water during the peak summer months.

"The people residing in JJ clusters, unauthorised colonies and rural areas are facing acute water shortage," said Gupta.
In fresh trouble for Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, the Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a petition seeking registration of a fresh FIR against the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister in the disproportionate assets case against her.

However, ANI also reported on Monday that the Attorney General, appearing for the CBI, said that the agency had no fresh material for registration of the FIR against the BSP chief.

"Issues of donations to Mayawati had been heard by Income tax department and she had been given clean chit in each case," ANI quoted the Attorney General as saying.

Moreover, Mayawati's lawyer told the court that the petitioner Kamlesh Verma is a former BSP member and this case was nothing but political vendetta.

In one of the first political reactions, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Gaurav Bhatia told Times Now, "It is a well-known fact that in the last 12 years, she (Mayawati) has shown in her affidavit that her assets have increased over 50 times."

He also spoke against the CBI stand on the case. "I have been told that the stand of CBI is that there is no need to drag the case any more. If that is the case, it is really unfortunate," he further said.

In its July 2012 verdict, the court had quashed a nine-year-long DA case against Mayawati on the ground that the CBI proceeded against her without properly understanding its 2003 orders which were confined to the Taj Corridor case (relating to the release of Rs 17 crore by the UP government allegedly without sanction), according to PTI.

Thereafter, in May 2013  while reserving its decision on a plea seeking review of its July 2012 judgment  the apex court had clarified that its earlier verdict had not taken away CBI's power to proceed against her in a separate DA case.

Then, on 17 January, 2014, the apex court had agreed to hear a PIL filed by an Uttar Pradesh resident Kamlesh Verma seeking registration of a case against Mayawati in connection with the DA case.

Eighteen months after quashing a disproportionate assets (DA) case against the BSP chief on a technical ground, the Supreme Court had questioned why CBI had not filed a fresh FIR in the case.

It had said that CBI should have got proper advice on registration of a fresh case against her after the apex court quashed the FIR and had issued notice to the agency and Mayawati on Verma's plea.

With inputs from PTI
The Kerala temple tragedy has brought into sharp focus a startling fact: Indian Mujahideen (IM) has been procuring a key ingredient in the bomb-making from Kerala for several years.

Mujahideen operatives have been getting vast quantities of ammonium nitrate from Kerala to make the bombs that they have used to carry out several terror attacks across India, officials in Kerala and Karnataka told Firstpost.

Kerala has a free-for-all kind of situation for all sorts of explosive substances whether they are used in making firecrackers, bombs or used for quarrying, a state police official said.

The arrest of Yasin Bhatkal, the Karnataka-born founder-leader of IM, in August 2013 and his interrogation later gave the first hints to investigators that Kerala was an important source of explosive substances.

Yasin,who had become the sole India-based leader after his brothers  Iqbal Bhatkal and Riaz Bhatkal escaped to Pakistan in 2008  was instrumental in carrying out blasts in Hyderabad in 2007, in Ahmedabad in 2008, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and German Bakery in Pune in 2010, and at the Delhi High Court and in Mumbai in 2011.

Kerala is a prime source of ammonium nitrate for Mujahideen, Gopal Hosur, former Karnataka intelligence chief, confirmed to Firstpost.

Hosur said that the substance is easily available in Kerala and the state is teeming with Mujahideen modules. He described Kerala as a hotbed of terrorism that the IM used as a launchpad to carry out attacks in other parts of India.

He said if the terrorists were efficient, they just needed a kilogramme of ammonium nitrate to make one lethal bomb.

In fact, the ammonium nitrate that has been seized in the recent post in Kerala and Karnataka from people illegally transporting it amounted to several tonnes. Officials said this was just a tip of the iceberg.

Huge quantities of the substance  amounting to several tonnes  is reported missing, admitted an official.

Terrorists are known to either illegally buy it or steal it from those making ammonium nitrate for legitimate uses. One legally permitted use of ammonium nitrate is in the blasting of quarries. But many quarry owners procure more than the quantity they are licensed to buy. They use the additional quantities to either carry out illegal quarrying or divert it to the IM.

On 11 November, 2013, officials seized 6,750 kg of ammonium nitrate at Muthanga on the Kerala-Karnataka border and. Two persons, Hakeem and Ishaq, were arrested. They said they were carrying it to a quarry in Kozhikode district in Kerala.

On 26 March, 2014, the Karnataka police seized around 6,200 kg of ammonium nitrate costing Rs 1.3 crore, 50,350 detonators and 19,250 metres of safety fuse wires from three desolate houses in remote villages in the Udupi district. Police identified Biju of Kerala and Annamalai of Tamil Nadu as the owners of the stock. Biju had a licence to store only 500 kg of ammonium nitrate and supply it to quarries.

Smaller quantities of the substance are periodically seized in not only the southern states, but elsewhere in India.

Asked about it, Sudharshan Kamal, the Chief Controller of Explosives of the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organsation (PESO) said he was unaware of the seizures. He agreed that it was a "serious matter" if ammonium nitrate was falling into the hands of terrorists.

Kamal said that the stringent provisions of the Ammonium Nitrate Rules that the Central government had formulated, came into force only in 2013.

Anti-nationals behind the temple disaster?

While hearing a petition demanding a ban on fireworks displays at places of worship, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday pointed out that Paravur  where 113 people were killed in a fireworks show at a temple on Sunday morning  had the sea on one side and a lake on the other. Considering this, the court said the state government should probe whether 'anti-nationals' were involved in the explosion.

Meanwhile, the high courts directive that rules banning bursting of crackers after sunset must be strictly enforced has put the parties in a fix.

The ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the BJP are against any such restrictions. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has called an all-party meet on Thursday to discuss the issue. The parties are wary of antagonising Hindus and Christians.

Both temples and churches resort to firecracker shows on certain festival days. The court will resume its hearing right after the all-party meet.
Politics makes strange bedfellows. All the more if it involves two parties who are fighting for survival. Then all past rivalries are forgotten, grievances forgiven and ideological differences put to rest.

On Wednesday when Congress president Sonia Gandhi kicked off her West Bengal Assembly election campaign by addressing twin rallies in the state, local CPM leaders and candidates were present on the dais with her and other Congress luminaries. Never mind the fact that opposing the Congress and its ideology has been CPM's raison d'etre and the both still remain engaged in a bitter battle in Kerala.

Her first stop was Sujapur constituency in Bengal's Malda district, a veritable Congress fortress even during the 34-year Left Front rule thanks to one man  ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury.

It's a good thing that Choudhury is no more. Had he been around, it would have been interesting to get his reaction because the cornerstone of his long political career had been his rivalry against the Left Front.

Be that as it may, the Congress president, who stuck closely to a prepared script, attacked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on corruption and for failing to provide jobs and ensure security for women but even while criticising the TMC supremo, the Congress chief's most withering and choicest barbs were reserved for one man who resides at 7 Race Course Road  Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

For the Congress-Left Front alliance to have any hope of unseating the ruling TMC, it is imperative that two things happen. One, transfer of votes take place from one alliance partner to another and two, anti-incumbency votes are not eaten up by the BJP.

To that end, the Left Front-Congress alliance has used the 'secret understanding' between TMC and BJP as its favourite motif. The strategy became clear in the very first lines of Sonia's address.

"Bengal is getting oppressed under two dictatorial governments," Sonia started. "One in the state and the other in Delhi."

For the better part of her short 15-minute speech, Sonia played on this theme. She tried to insinuate that Modi and Mamata have struck an understanding of convenience and both parties and its politics are two sides of the same coin.

"One whom you call Didi and the other who is known as NaMo are the same. Why have both of them remained silent on Sarada scam where lakhs of poor were robbed of their life's savings? Why has no progress been made on the probe?

"Just as Mamata has not sent to jail those who have looted the poor in Bengal, PM Modi has allowed people who have cheated banks lakhs of crores to safely fly away from India."

"Modi needs Mamata's support in the Parliament whenever his government faces a crisis and in return, he has promised to go slow on the Sarada scam probe," she said.

There were a few times the Bengal CM was singled out for criticism.

"After coming to power in 2011, Mamata has forgotten the promises she made to people about improving the condition of the poor, the oppressed and providing safety and security to women.

"She raises the slogan of Ma, Maati and Manush but under Mamata, Ma is not secure, Maati has become dry and Manush is left without jobs.

"It is shameful that despite having a woman chief minister, Bengal tops the list in India in crimes against women," said Sonia.

For the most time , she couldn't resist taking digs at Modi.

"As CM Mamata has cheated Bengal, PM Modi has cheated India. To dismiss our governments in different states, BJP has used money power and threats to destabilise democratically elected governments.

"Under Modi's rule, nobody has the right to even open their mouths, leave alone criticising the government. The party in power at the Centre is trying to divide Indians in the name of caste, creed, and religion so that no one asks questions of them for uttering a litany of bluffs before coming to power," she said.

The charge of intolerance was followed by claims that had it not been for the Congress, NDA would have gotten away with anti-people policies.

"Modi tried to snatch land away from farmers, but he failed to do so because we stood in the way. His government tried to tax provident fund but we didn't allow that to happen. Then he tried to bring policies that would harm the interests of the daily-wage workers, we stopped him," said Sonia.

"When Modiji visits foreign lands, he talks of unity and peace in India, but when he returns to the country, his real face becomes unmasked, one that hates the dalits and the poor of this country. When members of his party or ministers deliver poisonous dialogues, the Prime Minister remains silent.

"His governance so far is full of empty slogans like Make in India and Stand up India", said Sonia.

After the short sermon on corruption and destabilisation, she ended the speech with the age-old question.

"Kya Modiji ko satta mein rahena chahiye? Kya Mamataji ko satta mein rahena chahiye?(Should Modi remain in power? Should Mamata remain in power?)

One could be forgiven for thinking that this is 2019 and the Congress president is campaigning for the general elections.
New Delhi: An Egyptian doctor, against whom a red corner notice was issued by the Arab nation and was arrested in Mumbai, has been sent to judicial custody till April 19 by a Delhi court, which will also consider the issue of extraditing him.

49-year-old Hossam Abd el-Fattah Tawfiq Mohammed, a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood organisation, was sentenced to life imprisonment along with 528 others by an Egyptian court. He was arrested by the Mumbai Police from the airport on the basis of the red corner notice and a global arrest warrant.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Shunali Gupta sent him to judicial custody and posted the matter for a hearing scheduled on April 19 to consider whether to extradite him, after his counsel sought time to argue in the matter.

"He (Hossam) has been produced. The application... coupled with the international warrant of arrest, the transit remand order issued by Mumbai Police and RCL issued by Egypt. Copy of the application has been supplied to the counsel for the FC (fugitive criminal).

"She seeks time to file reply. Reply be filed by next date of hearing with advance copy to opposite party at least three days prior to next date of hearing. Let FC be taken into custody till April 19," the court said while allowing the plea moved by advocate N K Matta, who appeared for the Ministry of External Affairs.

Matta also informed the court that the formal request for Hossam's extradition has been received from Egypt authorities.

The application said the Arabian nation had sent an international warrant for Hossam's arrest to the MEA.

Meanwhile, Hossam has also moved a bail application which will be heard on April 19.

The court also directed the jail authorities to provide him necessary medical treatment as he complained of some ailment.

"The jail superintendent is directed to take note of this fact and he be referred to the jail doctor or any other other specialty department if required," the court said.

Hossam was arrested on March 24 by Mumbai police at the airport there, in pursuance to the notice issued against him by Arab Republic of Egypt.
Nicosia: Cyprus' interior minister says a man who has admitted hijacking a domestic EgyptAir flight and diverting it to Cyprus is claiming political asylum.

Socrates Hasikos told The Associated Press Wednesday that 59-year-old Seif Eddin Mustafa's asylum claim will be examined ahead of a request by Egyptian authorities for his extradition.

Cyprus' Attorney General Costas Clerides has said that Mustafa is fighting his extradition and has hired a lawyer.

Last month's hijacking ended peacefully six hours after Mustafa  described by Cypriot authorities as "psychologically unstable"  forced the Airbus A320 to land in Cyprus' main Larnaca airport by threatening to blow it up with a fake suicide belt. Mustafa was arrested when he stepped off the plane after all 72 passengers and crew were released.
New Delhi: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday, joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi in pressing for concrete action by the global community against the threat of terrorism against the backdrop of attacks in Paris, Brussels and Pathankot.

"Met the former President of France, Mr. @NicolasSarkozy," Modi tweeted along with a photograph of shaking hands with the former French President.

A statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office later said that Modi and Sarkozy condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Pathankot, Brussels and other parts of the world, and called for concrete action by the global community against the threat of terrorism.

Sarkozy congratulated Modi for the positive role played by India for the success of COP-21 Summit in Paris last year, it added.

The Prime Minister also congratulated Sarkozy on the publication and success of his recent book, 'La France pour lavie'.

Earlier, Sarkozy met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during which they discussed challenge of combating terrorism and reform of UN Security Council.

He conveyed to Swaraj that not making India a permanent member of the UN Security Council would be "an error".

"Always time for an old friend of India. EAM receives former French Prez @NicolasSarkozy at Hyderabad House," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Sarkozy was President of France from 2007 to 2012 during which ties between the two countries witnessed an upswing.
US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carters visit to India coincided with the statement by Vice Admiral Joseph P Aucoin, Commander, US Seventh Fleet, that the US will look at keeping the sea lanes of communication open and also keep a check on North Korea.

"The best and the brightest are being shifted to this part of the world. Almost 60 percent of our submarines are in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. Within the next couple of years, 60 percent of our surface ships will be here too . North Korea is a threat. Our number one concern is to protect Japan, South Korea and our country," Aucoin said.

He added that F35-B stealth aircraft will be deployed on USS Wasp next January and that platform will be replaced by the USS America, Americas newest amphibian vessel, indicating US really means shifting to the Pacific.

Ashton Carter, who has visited India many times and in his previous avatar as Under Secretary of Defence for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, had kick started the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) jointly with India in 2012. His visit in June 2015 resulted in both countries signing the new Framework for the India-US Defence Relationship, which Carter described as setting the US and India on a path to increase broad, complex and strategic cooperation to help safeguard security and stability across the region. India and the US share the vision for peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region, as outlined in the Joint Strategic Vision that President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi released in January 2015. Carters recent visit marked the fourth meeting between him and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar within a year.

The US has been pressing India past decade to sign the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) as part of military cooperation, in addition to the Communication Inter-operability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) on transfer of technology, and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for sharing geospatial intelligence - mapping data and imagery. This was perhaps the crux of what then President George W Bush meant by saying, India must fall in place. The most important development during the recent visit of Ashton Carter therefore is India agreeing in principle to sign the LSA, albeit Parrikar described it as Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMO) which will be signed in coming months. As per Ministry of Defence sources, LEMO will be tailored to Indian needs though its nuances have not been elaborated and no date decided when it would be signed.

While reviewing the progress of DTTI and commending on-going discussions by the Jet Engine Technology Joint Working Group (JETJWG) and the Joint Working Group on Aircraft Carrier Technology Cooperation (JWGACTC), Parrikar and Carter agreed to initiate two new DTTI pathfinder projects on Digital Helmet Mounted Displays and the Joint Biological Tactical Detection System. They agreed to work towards greater cooperation in fields of cutting-edge defence technologies, including deepening consultations on aircraft carrier design and operations, and jet engine technology. They noted the understanding reached to conclude an information exchange annex (IEA) to enhance data and information sharing specific to aircraft carriers.

Both sides agreed to: expand collaboration under the DTTI; explore new opportunities to deepen cooperation in maritime security and Maritime Domain Awareness including the desire to expeditiously conclude a white shipping technical arrangement to improve data sharing on commercial shipping traffic; enhance military-to-military relations including discussions on submarine safety and anti-submarine warfare. The two countries also agreed to knowledge partnership in the field of defence and commitment to work together and with other nations to ensure the security and stability at regional and international level.

Both sides reaffirmed the importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, including in the South China Sea, vowing support for a rules-based order and regional security architecture conducive to peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean. Parrikar and Carter welcomed finalisation of four government-to-government project agreements in the area of science and technology cooperation: Atmospheric Sciences for High Energy Lasers, Cognitive Tools for Target Detection, Small Intelligent Unmanned Aerial Systems, and Blast and Blunt Traumatic Brain Injury.

India may be falling in place from the US angle but from the Indian perspective, there are many concerns that remain unaddressed. Carter talked of the US Rebalance to Asia and the Pacific and Indias Act East policy coinciding in the Indo-Pacific region. But in all parleys with the US including this one, while there is mention of Indo-Pacific, the US emphasis remains primarily on SCS and North Korea while Indias strategic concerns especially along her western and north-western flank are grossly neglected. On the contrary, the US continues to strengthen the Pakistani military both militarily and financially, ignoring the proxy war that the Pakistani military is waging on India and Afghanistan, in addition to sustained genocide on the populations of Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan. Merely saying that US too is affected by terrorism emanating from Pakistan and that perpetrators of the Pathankot air base terrorist attack must be brought to book is lip service, as has been done by US officials in the past.

Additionally, over the past half decade, US think tanks have been working hard building perceptions about an Indo-Pak nuclear war and vehemently proposing India should reduce its engagement with Afghanistan, even as he US encourages Pakistani forays into Afghanistan under cover of the preposterous premise that Pakistan will bring the Taliban into the peace process. Should the US not be addressing these strategic concerns of India? Why should India not be interested in the stability of Afghanistan? During a talk at a think tank in New Delhi, a senior US diplomat mentioned that India does not have very many friends. But can this cliche to be used to make India sacrifice its strategic interests?

As for the nuclear threat, whether through terrorism, tactical or strategic, there is no denying that the China-Pakistan-North Korea axis is the most dangerous in the world. Thomas Reed, former US Air Force Secretary writes in his book The Nuclear Express: A Political History of the Bomb and its Proliferation that China had intentionally proliferated nuclear technology to risky regimes, particularly Pakistan. Reed told US News that China under Deng Xiaoping, decided to proliferate nuclear technology to communists and radical Muslims in the third world based on the strategy that if west started getting nuked by Muslim terrorists or another communist country without Chinese fingerprints, it would be good for China. This is how Pakistan and North Korea were transformed into Chinas nuclear talons. So, why talk of only North Korea or China-North Korea, not China-Pakistan-North Korea being the Devils own?

The US made Pakistan join GWOT under threat of otherwise being bombed into stone age. Pakistan was nuclear then too. There is no reason why the US cannot force Pakistan stop exporting terror. More significantly, 60 percent of US Navy is being redeployed to Asia-pacific since Chinas aggressive expansion to effectively control SCS is linked to her eventual aim to advance SSBNs from SCS to Pacific Ocean. But, what about the US rebalance also focusing on China racing through Pakistan to Gwadar, homing on to the Arabian Sea, Straits of Hormuz and the Indian Ocean? Is this not equally important strategically, if not more?

Coming to the DTTI, post 9/11 Robert Blackwill, then US Ambassador to India had declared that as far as US cooperation with India goes, sky is the limit but nothing much happened in the field of equipment and technology transfer. Even the equipment sought through FMS has still not fetched up totally. So the proof of the pudding lies in its eating. If the US really wants to help India militarily, the domains of cyber, space and electromagnetic too need to be equally addressed, optimizing artificial intelligence and miniaturization. On the India side, MoD needs to go all out to ensure that technology sought is absorbed speedily. The issue of DPP 2016 after months of deliberations without benchmarks for choosing strategic partners, without qualifying whether wholly-owned subsidiaries of foreign companies qualify as Indian Offset Partners (IOPs), without notifying detailed offset guidelines, and chapter containing the revised standard contract document as well as various annexure and appendices still not released, all indicate a haphazard approach.

On balance, without addressing the above concerns, the India-US Defence Relationship will remain incomplete.

The author is veteran Special Forces of Indian Army.
For the mere act of selling alcoholic beverages in a province where alcohol is banned, an elderly Christian woman on Tuesday was caned dozens of times as a form of punishment in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province.

It was the first such punishment meted out under Islamic bylaws where somebody from outside the Islamic faith was caned under the provinces harsh Sharia regulations.

The 60-year-old was whipped with a rattan cane before a crowd of hundreds in Aceh province Tuesday (12 April), an official said in a report by Channel NewsAsia, along with a couple who were subjected to 100 lashes for committing adultery.

Though the law once only applied to Muslims, a bylaw that took effect late in 2015 allowed Sharia regulations to be applied to non-Muslims in certain situations.

This is the first case of a non-Muslim being punished under Islamic criminal bylaws, Lili Suparli, a senior official at the Central Aceh prosecutor's office told AFP.

The Christian woman was lashed 28 times after being held in custody for 47 days, as reported by Benar News.

Sharia laws have been in place at Aceh since 2001. This was when the province was declared partially autonomous in an effort to quell a separatist uprising.

Two days earlier, a pair of German tourists were reportedly reprimanded by local authorities, reported Time Magazine, and let off with a warning for wearing bikinis at one of the provinces beaches.

Under the expanded laws, non-Muslims, including Indonesian and foreign tourists, can be prosecuted if caught committing adultery, rape and homosexual acts. They can also be prosecuted for other violations of Sharia law if Indonesias criminal code (KUHP) does not cover the alleged crime.

The updated bylaws set the punishment at 100 lashes for adulterers and homosexuals and 200 lashes for raping children.
London: The terror group Islamic State has issued a list of names of Muslim clerics, calling them "imams of kafir" and asking its followers to kill anyone who disagrees with them  including Islamic leaders.

In the latest issue of its propaganda magazine Dabiq, Islamic State, also known as Daesh, has singled out those clerics who have criticised them and said that the "imams of kafir" (leaders of infidels) should be slaughtered.

Muslim clerics across the world, including India, have condemned the attacks by Islamic State in Europe, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, saying being a Muslim is about peace, not violence.

In September last year, nearly 1,000 Muslim clerics in India signed a fatwa against Islamic State and other terror groups, saying they were "not Islamic organisations".

In a chapter called 'Kill the Imams of kafir in the west', the magazine said: "How can Muslims living in the West who claim to have surrendered themselves to Allah, completely accepting His rule alone, stand idly as these imams of kafir continue to spread their poison from atop their pulpits?

"One must either take the journey to dar-al-Islam (House of Islam, i.e. Islamic State territory), joining the ranks of the mujahid or wage jihad by himself with the resources available to him (knives, guns, explosives, etc.) to kill the crusaders and other disbelievers and apostates, including the imams of kafir, to make an example of them, as all of them are valid  rather, obligatory  targets," the Express newspaper reported, citing the magazine.

The group has published a list of names of Imams it has singled out as being "kafir". However, the paper did not disclose their names.

The magazine also identified those behind the Brussels terror attacks and praised them along with their photographs.
Amman: Jordanian security services on Wednesday closed the Amman headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's main opposition force, a security source and lawyer for the movement said.

"Jordanian security searched the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and evacuated it before sealing off the entrance with red wax," lawyer Abdelkader al-Khatib told AFP.

"This is clearly a political decision in line with what is happening in the region," he added.

A security source told AFP that the movement's headquarters were "closed on the order of the governor of the capital as the Brotherhood did not obtain legal authorisation" for its activities.

The Jordanian authorities view the Brotherhood as an illegal organisation because its licence was not renewed in accordance with a political parties law adopted in 2014.

The Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was formed in Egypt in 1928 and has affiliates across the region, has wide grassroots support in the kingdom.

Tolerated for decades in Jordan, the Brotherhood has had tense relations with the authorities since the Arab Spring uprisings that shook the region in 2011. In Egypt it has been blacklisted as a "terrorist group".

The intervention of the security services "has the sole purpose of influencing the upcoming elections and results," Khatib said.

Jordan is expected to hold legislative elections by early next year. The Brotherhood boycotted previous elections in 2013 and 2010, crying foul.

The movement accuses the authorities of trying to exploit divisions within the organisation.

Last year the government authorised the formation of a breakaway group known as the Muslim Brotherhood Association.
WASHINGTON Two Russian warplanes flew simulated attack passes near a U.S. guided missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, the U.S. military said, with one official describing them as one of the most aggressive interactions in recent memory.

The repeated flights by the Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes, which also flew near the ship a day earlier, were so close they created wake in the water, with 11 passes, the official said on Wednesday. The planes carried no visible weaponry, the official said.

A Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter also made seven passes around the USS Donald Cook, taking pictures. The nearest Russian territory was about 70 nautical miles away in its enclave of Kaliningrad, which sits between Lithuania and Poland.

"They tried to raise them (the Russian aircraft) on the radio but they did not answer," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding the U.S. ship was in international waters.

The U.S. military on Wednesday released photos and videos of the incidents. In one photograph, an SU-24 appears to pass at extremely low altitude over the Donald Cook's bow.

The events were reminiscent of the Cold War, when a series of close calls led to a bilateral agreement aimed at avoiding dangerous interactions at sea that was signed in 1972 by then-Secretary of the Navy John Warner and Soviet Admiral Sergei Gorshkov.

The agreement prohibited "simulated attacks against aircraft or ships, performing aerobatics over ships, or dropping hazardous objects near them." The accord can be seen here: www.state.gov/t/isn/4791.htm

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, "This incident ... is entirely inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries operating in proximity to each other in international water and international airspace."

The incident came as NATO plans its biggest build-up in eastern Europe since the Cold War to counter what the alliance, and in particular the three Baltic states and Poland, consider to be a more aggressive Russia.

The Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which joined both NATO and the European Union in 2004, have asked NATO for a permanent presence of battalion-sized deployments of allied troops in each of their territories. A NATO battalion typically consists of 300 to 800 troops.

Moscow denies any intention to attack the Baltic states.

"We cannot treat this as anything else than provocation, yet another example of aggressive intentions towards NATO, towards the United States, towards Poland," Poland's Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz told private radio RMF.

The USS Donald Cook had just wrapped up a port visit in the Polish city of Gdynia on April 11 and proceeded out to sea with a Polish helicopter on board.

The first incident took place on April 11, when two SU-24 jets flew about 20 passes near the Donald Cook, coming within 1,000 yards (meters) of the ship, at about 100 feet (30 meters) in altitude.

That was followed by even closer passes by the SU-24s the following day and the passes by the Russian helicopter.

The U.S. defence official said the commanding officer of the Donald Cook believed that Tuesday's incident was "unsafe and unprofessional."

The U.S. military's European Command said in a statement that "U.S. officials are using existing diplomatic channels to address the interactions, while the incidents are also being reviewed through U.S. Navy channels."

"These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries, and could result in a miscalculation or accident that could cause serious injury or death," it said.

U.S. Representative J. Randy Forbes, who chairs the House Armed Services subcommittee on seapower, said in a statement that "U.S. naval activity in Europe must be expanded accordingly to address the threat posed by Russia's international behaviour."

(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington and Wiktor Szary in Warsaw; Editing by Warren Strobel and James Dalgleish)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Opera has expanded support for Opera Max app to Android tablets. The update that bumps the app to version 1.7.5 brings same data saving feature to tablets that are already present on smartphones.

Users can save upto 50 percent of normal data usage on YouTube, and up to 60 percent on Netflix. The Opera Max app combines a data-savings engine that can optimize websites, images and also streamed videos and music. It works across native Android apps like Chrome, YouTube, Netflix, Pandora, Instagram, Flipboard and more. Opera claims that the Max app will make it easy for users to manage their apps.

They can enable Opera Max on your data network, your WiFi connection, or both. This latest version also includes support for right-to-left languages, including Arabic, Urdu, Persian and Hebrew, bringing the total number of languages up to 63.

Opera Max

source
The past few months in the culinary world has nothing been short of weird, and that's a good thing. Despite the questionable concoctions and unlikely hybrids, it's been a dynamic time for the food industry. We've had sushi burgers and sushi burritos weeks ago, and now, there's a new entry: the raindrop cake.

Apparently, this "cake" has taken the Internet by storm. It was introduced into the world at the weekly food market, Smorgasborg, by chef Darren Wong, who is based in New York. It is inspired by a traditional Japanese dish, the Mizu Shingen Mochi. Both dishes alike in most departments - both look like large raindrops which would seem like it would splash across the plate at any second.

The raindrop cake has two main components, mineral water and agar, which is a type of algae that gives the dish its gelatinous form. Its components make it contain zero calories, making it a must-eat for people who are watching their weight. Furthermore, Wong went to Japan to study and perfect the dish, giving him hands-on experience.

However, due to its components, or lack thereof, the "cake" is flavorless, with people who tasted it claiming that it's like water. However, don't fret though: Wong's version comes with a sweet syrup and a type of soybean powder, called kinkako, which can be added from the side, giving it a distinct taste. The delicacy is priced at $8 and despite the high price, Wong managed to sell all 700 cakes that he prepared for the debut, as reported by The Weather Network.

Adventurous eaters may even try to make their own versions at home, and even top it off with other sweet sauces and syrups. The dish is a healthy, yet tasteless, solution for people looking for a no-fat dessert. It's definitely a unique dessert and we may see it consumed widely in health restaurants across New York.
A regular Starbucks customer got more than his regular early morning caffeine fix when he ordered his usual 16-ounce white chocolate mocha. When a co-employee picked up their staff's order from a nearby Starbucks outlet, his cup came with an unsolicited medical opinion with a note saying, "DIABETES HERE I COME."

A @Starbucks customer tells me he's hurt by the message he received on his coffee cup. Details on @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/hNMeC6ysRJ  Kaitlyn Chana (@KaitlynANjax) April 8, 2016

For the customer, who wishes to remain unnamed, the note was more than irritating - it was offensive. Reporting his unusual experience to CBS' Action News Jax, he explained having diabetes is not something to be joked upon. He knows the struggles diabetics as well as their families go through because of the disease. Two of his two sisters were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Kent Miller, the store manager of Starbucks Palencia outlet where the drink was bought, explained to Action News Jax that, "No, we definitely don't condone, but let me find more about this, and I will talk to my boss."Miller said, only the drink type and the name of the customer should appear on the drink's label.

"We strive to provide an inclusive and positive experience for our customers, and we're disappointed to learn of this incident," Starbucks HQ relayed their comment on the incident. "We are working directly with the customer to apologize for his experience, and with our partners (employees) to ensure this does not happen again."

Diabetes is a major health concern in America, where it is estimated that 1 in ten adults have diabetes according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However if the trend continues, CDC expects the figure to even get worse and by 2050, the agency projects that 1 in 3 U.S. adult could have diabetes.

Processed foods like junk foods and sodas, with their high added sugars content, have been blamed for the rise in diabetes cases worldwide according to a University of California San Francisco article by Juliana Bunim.

While sodas, in particular, bear the brunt of the blame, most people are not aware that there are actually drinks more sugary than sodas. For example, a Starbucks 16 ounce while chocolate mocha is said to contain a whopping 59 grams of sugar, according to Yahoo News.

But still, sugary or not, the note on the customer's while chocolate mocha order is still inappropriate. While Starbucks did the right thing to issue an apology, the customer only wants reassurance that the incident will not happen again. "[Two] of my sisters are diabetic, so ... not funny," the customer said
It's a bold move even for a pizza giant like Domino's. Many were surprised when Domino's opened its first Italian outlet in October last year, a market where no American brand dared to venture before.

Domino's Pizza is a global market player, ranked number 2 in terms of market size and second only to Pizza Hut. It enjoyed$8.5 billion annual sales in 2014 and maintains 11,629 locations spread across the globe says Pizza Today. Yet, its relatively recent entry into the Italian market was met with skepticism even among industry insiders.

Why? It is because of the fact the pizza was invented in Italy. And there is that little problem with taste; the Italian palate might be a lot different than the Americans when it comes to their pizza.

Yet, Domino's has an ace up its sleeve. Well, three actually. Firstly, Domino's actually made a thorough study on the market and found that Italians have a lot to complain about the service they are getting from the home -grown brands reports Fox News. And this is where Domino's American service model shines, with its emphasis on online ordering capability, order tracking and timely delivery.

Another thing working for Domino is that it can't be avoided that a lot of Italian's would be excited to try new pizza flavors. Pizza flavors new to the Italian palate like ham and pineapple pizza, barbeque chicken topped pizza and its garlic bread and sauces would surely intrigue even the most traditional of palates. And some of them are bound to get hooked on the new flavors. In fact, a woman interviewed by Fox News probably mirrors the typical Italian's first Domino's pizza experience. "Domino's is strange pizza, but we like it," she said.

And lastly, while Domino's is an American brand, the pizzas coming out of its Milan kitchen are actually more Italian than American. Allessandro Lazzaroni, Domino's Milan franchisee, told ABC News that the ingredients are from Italian producers, the recipe they use for the pizza is an original creation and they use authentic mozzarella and 100 percent tomato sauce.

Now, six months after its opening, Lazzaroni is planning to open up to a dozen Domino's outlets in Milan by yearend reports Fox News. While it may not dislodge well-entrenched Italian rivals in their home market, the American pizza-maker certainly made its presence felt.
On Wednesday, Peabody Energy (BTU) at last gave in to the financial pressure that's been crushing the coal industry for nearly a decade. Following the bankruptcy of Arch Coal, Alpha Natural Resources, Patriot Coal, and Walter Energy, Peabody is the biggest U.S. producer and finally gave up on a coal recovery. Maybe April 13 will be known as the day coal in the U.S. is declared officially dead.

The war on coal isn't what you think it is

Regulation and the onslaught of renewable energy are often blamed for the fall of coal in the U.S., and in some ways that's true. But the real driver of coal's demise has been cleaner, low-cost natural gas.

As recently as 2006, coal generated 49% of U.S. electricity, compared to 20% from natural gas. In 2015, coal had fallen to 33% and natural gas was up to 33% as well.

India and China are giving up on coal, too

Compounding slumping demand in the U.S., China and India, which were supposed to pick up the slack in demand, are turning their back on coal. Beijing will shut down the last four of its coal power plants this year and at least 1,000 coal mines this year. As the biggest installer of both wind and solar electricity in the world, China is betting on cleaner sources of energy to power the country and clean up its horribly polluted air.

India's coal use is soaring, but domestic production is filling the gap, and as a result, imports are collapsing. In the last nine months of 2015, coal imports dropped 15% and that trend shows no sign of slowing.

With domestic demand falling and international demand failing to pick up the slack, there was nowhere for the coal industry to go but down. And it was a fast and furious drop once it started.

Don't fight energy trends you can't control

The writing has been on the wall for coal for years. In 2011, I wrote about how coal was losing market share to natural gas and renewable energy. Those trends only accelerated in the five years since. The price to frack for natural gas has been falling and the cost to produce energy from wind or solar energy sources has been dropping like a rock. What place does coal have given those market trends?

If there's one thing investors can learn from the fall of Peabody Energy and the coal industry in general it's that long-term trends matter. Coal has seen costs rise as regulation made running coal plants more expensive and few new plants were being built. Natural gas and renewable energy have seen the opposite with costs falling and that's where the money has flowed as well.

Coal isn't completely dead in the U.S. and still supplies a lot of electricity. But from an investment perspective, it's a dying business and now is the time to start looking to the future of energy for your investment ideas. The past is long gone.
The effort to stop Donald Trump from winning the Republican presidential nomination has grown larger.

Billionaires who oppose the GOP frontrunner have started funding an anti-Trump delegate push, while one political action committee (PAC) is implementing the strategy.

During an interview on the FOX Business Networks Making Money with Charles Payne, Our Principles PAC Senior Advisor and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell explained why the PAC is against having Donald Trump as the GOP nominee.

Donald Trump is a free market capitalist today; he is a guy that tramples on private property rights tomorrow, Blackwell said. Donald Trump embraces constitutional governance today, tomorrow hes a strongman.

The former Ohio politician continued, saying: Essentially, you dont know where Donald Trump is. Donald Trump, along with George Soros, has supported Hillary Clinton. Hes supported a lot of liberal, big-government politicians."
U2 frontman Bono suggested poverty was the reason for the creation of ISIS during a discussion on the Middle East and refugee crisis on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. During an interview with the FOX Business Networks Stuart Varney, Fox News National Security Analyst KT McFarland provided insight into his dialogue.

I think musicians should not be giving me national security advice, they should stick to singing, said said.

She added, The president of Iraq, whos a Kurd, he told me that ISIS was born in the prisons of Bagdad. When it was the religious fanatics that were in jail coupled with and they hooked up with the generals of the Iraqis, Saddams [Hussein] Iraqi army.

She then explained that a key point most people fail to realize is many terrorists come from wealthy families.

Its the wealthy Islamic extremists who get the guys to strap on the suicide vest. They are the ringleaders  al Qaeda was wealthy families as well as a lot of the masterminds from ISIS are from upper-class backgrounds, she said.

McFarland also commented on the Grammy winners suggestion of using comedy to defeat ISIS.

That may sound crazy but I think it gets to a bigger point which is information warfare. We have tried to deal with radical Islam militarily for way too long and militarily alone. I think we need a different policy that includes military but has an information warfare, it has ideological warfare, religious warfare and takes advantage of all the elements of national power the same way we defeated the Communists in the Cold War and the Nazis in World War II.
Image: Och-Ziff.

Tuesday was a strong day for the stock market, and the primary reason was positive movement in the energy markets. Crude oil prices rose almost $2 per barrel, moving above $42 and carrying a huge swath of energy stocks along with it. In general, major market benchmarks climbed higher by around 1%, and many sectors outside of energy climbed on perceived second-order effects. However, not all stocks participated in the rally. Some of the worst performers on Tuesday were Horizon Pharma , Och-Ziff Capital Management , and Clovis Oncology .

Horizon Pharma plunged 26% after revealing in an SEC filing its updated investor presentation including projections for sales and adjusted operating earnings for the first and second quarters of 2016. The company confirmed adjusted EBITDA guidance for the full year between $505 million and $520 million on sales of $1.025 billion to $1.05 billion, which would represent growth of roughly 40% on both measures compared to 2015. However, Horizon said that a fairly large portion of the company's sales and earnings would come in the second half of the year. That's natural for a fast-growing company like Horizon, where sequential increases in business metrics can be substantial. Nevertheless, even with solid growth in prescription counts for its Duexis, Vimovo, and Pennsaid 2% products, Horizon investors had wanted to see even stronger sales growth, and nervousness about the pharma industry generally seemed to take a toll as well.

Och-Ziff Capital Management fell 13% in the wake of reports suggesting that the hedge-fund company might have to agree to admit guilt in a bribery investigation that the U.S. Department of Justice is conducting. The allegations center on an investment made by a Libyan entity, and the Wall Street Journal report suggested that negotiations are ongoing between Och-Ziff and the Justice Department over the level of any punishment it might impose in a settlement. Och-Ziff has already had a difficult time in what has been a horrendous environment for many hedge funds, and a lack of strong performance has led to a substantial loss of assets under management for the company. Any investor concerns over the Justice Department investigation could prompt further outflows, and that poses a longer-term threat for Och-Ziff.

Finally, Clovis Oncology fell 5%. The cancer-drug maker had its stock halted for most of the day pending a vote from an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration regarding its lung-cancer treatment rociletinib. The panel recommended to the FDA that it not approve the drug until seeing results from an ongoing Phase 3 trial that won't conclude for another two and a half years, thwarting what the company had hoped would be sufficient data to warrant a positive recommendation. CEO Patrick Mahaffy expressed his disappointment with the advisory vote, and he said Clovis would keep working with the FDA as it moves toward a June 28 final decision on rociletinib's longer-term fate. Given that the stock had already fallen more sharply last week on FDA staff data that seemed to predict this outcome, Clovis investors didn't seem all that surprised by today's news.

The article Why Horizon Pharma, Och-Ziff Capital Management, and Clovis Oncology Slumped Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Dan Caplinger 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.

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Everybody likes a bargain, particularly if they're hunting for inexpensive stocks that have the potential to deliver. The universe of sub-$10-per-share companies is larger than one might think; my casual search through an online stock screener for issues at that price level with market caps above $200 million yielded nearly 600 results.

That's a big number, and of course many of those names weren't all that inspiring. There are a few nuggets scattered in that bunch, though, and I've picked out two that are particularly intriguing.

SiriusXM Holdings

This decade has been a good one for SiriusXM Holdings (NASDAQ: SIRI). Robust sales of new cars, on the back of an improving economy, have been a big catalyst for the stock. Helpfully, the company is basically the only game in town for satellite radio broadcasting, which is an increasingly popular feature in new vehicles.

After struggling in the aughts with frequent net losses and anemic subscriber count despite heavy spending on marketing, the company was effectively bailed out by Liberty Media in 2009. Since then, it's been firmly in the black on the bottom line, with revenue that has increased sharply over the past few years.

Its latest all-time-high top-line figure was $5.4 billion for 2017, an 8% improvement over the previous year, on a subscriber count that rose 4% to almost 33 million. Net income, when adjusted for a $185 million charge connected to tax reform, was 12% higher at $833 million.

Investors are catching on to the fact that the company is in an excellent position, and fully taking advantage of it. Even mildly disappointing guidance in its fourth-quarter and 2017 results announcement hasn't stopped the advance of the stock price, which is now at its highest level so far this decade. Still, the shares remain well under $10 a pop (at roughly $6.50), with a five-year forward PEG ratio barely above 1.

Telefonica (ADR)

To some degree, Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) is in a similar place as SiriusXM was at the end of the last decade. The Spain-based global telecom conglomerate has been spending generously, to the detriment of profitability, its balance sheet, and investor popularity.

The goal is to boost its mobile offerings in promising markets. The company is particularly active in Latin America, a region whose collective economy is anticipated to grow at encouraging rates over the next few years. The heavy investment activity puts Telefonica in a fine place to reap the benefits of increased customer spending on attractive telecom offerings such as mobile data plans.

The big downside of this, naturally, is that higher capital expenditures leech profitability. And while investors wait patiently for new-ish revenue streams to thicken, the company's top line has dipped during the transition from an old-line telecom to a 21st-century operator.

The price of Telefonica's American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) has gone in the same direction. They've shed nearly half their value over the past few years, pushing them below that magic $10-per-share level.

That's a hard-to-resist bargain for a busy global operator that will rise again. On top of that, the company pays a relatively rich dividend that yields almost 5%, giving the stock the wonderful combination of growth and income.

All that glitters

As mentioned, there were more than a few pieces of gold in that nearly 600-long list I culled from the stock screener. These are two of the more compelling ones, but there are others in the pile. Watch this space for more in the future.

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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The $147 billion question for banks: Will energy companies max out their credit lines?

When big banks announce earnings starting Wednesday, the spotlight will be on vast energy loans that most investors didn't know much about until recently.

These unfunded loans have been promised to energy companies, which haven't yet tapped the money. Many banks historically haven't disclosed these loans, but began doing so recently following the extended slide in prices for oil and gas.

In the first quarter, a handful of energy borrowers announced more than $3 billion of drawdowns against these types of loans. Those commitments are expected to trickle down to bank earnings and saddle firms with more energy exposure just as they are trying to pare it back.

"Let's not sugarcoat it. This is not necessarily a loan a bank wants to make at this point," said Glenn Schorr, a bank analyst at Evercore ISI.

Oil prices have risen in recent weeks, with the U.S. benchmark settling at $42.17 a barrel on Tuesday, but analysts say the unfunded loans to the sector still are a headache for banks at that price.

Banks in recent months have set aside billions of dollars to cover potential losses tied to energy companies, a trend likely to continue as more loans go bad.

Fitch Ratings released a report Tuesday that said that nearly 60% of unrated and below-investment-grade energy companies are likely to have loans labeled as "classified," or in danger of default under regulatory guidelines. "It's grim," said Sharon Bonelli, senior director of leveraged finance at Fitch.

Banks often use a company's proven energy reserves as collateral for loans and typically reset the value of these reserves twice a year, usually in spring and fall.

The draws made so far were done ahead of the spring redetermination process, in which banks are expected to cut the credit lines of energy firms by an average of more than 30%, according to a survey from law firm Haynes & Boone LLP.

Ms. Bonelli and other analysts say bank loans are increasingly vital lifelines for energy companies, because other funding sources have dried up.

The $147 billion in unfunded loans have been disclosed by 10 of the largest U.S. banks, according to fourth-quarter data from Barclays. The four largest U.S. banks -- J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo -- pledged the majority of this amount.

Smaller U.S. lenders and large international banks have made billions more of these loans.

"With oil at $60, it's not that big of a deal. With oil at $40, it becomes more of a source of concern," Barclays analyst Jason Goldberg said of the unfunded loans. "Will companies draw down in difficult times?"

Lenders routinely offer these commercial lines of credit to industrial companies. But the energy loans, often promised before prices started their steep decline, face a unique set of pressures.

James Dimon, J.P. Morgan's chief executive, said in February that the unfunded loans are "the most unpredictable part of our assumptions" about the bank's energy exposure.

Mr. Dimon also said he isn't expecting a large percentage of the unfunded money to get drawn because most of those promised loans went to investment-grade companies that he thinks are unlikely to need access to additional cash.

Banks hold reserves against unfunded loans in addition to reserves for loans that have been taken out.

A mounting number of troubled energy firms have tapped their unfunded loans.

Denver-based oil-and-gas firm Bonanza Creek Energy, for instance, said in March that it drew $209 million from its credit facility from a group of banks led by Cleveland-based KeyCorp. Bonanza Creek's chief executive said in a news release that the move was "a risk-management decision" and praised its "committed and supportive commercial bank syndicate." A KeyCorp spokesman declined to comment.

Tidewater, which provides vessels to the offshore drilling industry, said in March it took out the maximum $600 million from its credit facility led by Bank of America. The firm's chief executive cited "the uncertainty surrounding the future direction in oil and gas prices," in a news release announcing the withdrawal. A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment.

To stem such withdrawals, some banks have negotiated what are known as anti-cash-hoarding provisions when energy firms have asked for amendments to their loans in recent months.

These clauses require the companies to use extra cash to repay the balance on their credit lines in exchange, according to regulatory filings.

But for distressed firms facing bankruptcy that can contractually do so, "you'd seriously have to consider a game plan to draw down," said Ian Peck, head of the bankruptcy practice at Haynes & Boone.

Write to Rachel Louise Ensign at rachel.ensign@wsj.com
House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday he would reject any attempt to draft him as a presidential candidate, trying to silence speculation that he could surface as a unity choice should Donald Trump or Ted Cruz falter.

"Let me be clear: I do not want nor will I accept the nomination of our party," Ryan said in remarks at the Republican National Committee.

Ryan, the top elected Republican in Washington and the party's 2012 vice presidential candidate, has been the subject of persistent speculation that he could emerge as the nominee if an impasse over the party's pick develops at the July 18-21 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

In an interview with Milwaukee's WISN radio earlier on Tuesday, Ryan said: "I am going to try again today to put this bed. The answer is 'No' and my strong opinion is, if it goes to an open convention ... my answer is the delegates should pick among the people who actually ran for president this year ...

"I made a really clear choice not to run for president. Therefore, I will not be nominated. I will not allow my name to be placed in nomination and it will not be me. ...I just want to be really crystal clear," he said.

Ryan has repeatedly said he is not interested in entering the presidential race, but advocates for such a scenario have pointed out that he was cool to becoming House speaker until he was finally persuaded to take over from John Boehner last year.

Republicans who see a disaster looming in the Nov. 8 presidential election if Trump or U.S. Senator Cruz of Texas is the nominee have harbored hopes of drafting a popular party figure like Ryan or 2012 candidate Mitt Romney.

For that to happen, no candidate would have garnered the 1,237 delegates required to win the nomination on the first ballot at the convention, and delegates there would have to approve a consensus alternative on a second or subsequent ballot.

Ryan's announcement came on a day when long-shot Republican presidential candidate John Kasich portrayed himself as an antidote to what he called the divisive politics of Trump and Cruz and criticized them as wanting to take the United States down a "path of darkness."

Kasich's "two paths" speech in New York City was an effort to distinguish himself from his rivals and carve out a space for himself as a positive, reasonable conservative a week before New York state's Republican and Democratic primaries on April 19.

Kasich - running a distant third behind Trump and Cruz and with no chance of capturing the Republican nomination unless he can emerge from a contested convention - did not mention Trump and Cruz by name but left no doubt as to who he was talking about.

He lashed out at Trump proposals to deport 11 million illegal immigrants and impose protectionist trade policies. He ridiculed Cruz's idea for a business flat tax, calling it a value-added tax. These are examples of a path of darkness, he said.

"Some who feed off of the fears and anger that is felt by some of us and exploit it feed their own insatiable desire for fame or attention. That could drive America down into a ditch, not make us great again," Kasich said, referring to Trump's signature line.

As 14 other rivals have dropped out of the race, Kasich has doggedly stayed in even though he has underperformed, winning only his home state of Ohio. But his goal is to emerge from a contested convention as a unifying nominee for the November general election, one who polls well against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

"A united America is undefeatable," Kasich said. "We are an exceptional country."

Whether his speech will have an impact on the race at this late stage is far from certain.

Trump is favored to win the April 19 primary in his home state. He holds a huge lead in opinion polls there, with Kasich running a distant second and Cruz in third place.

A victory for Trump would help tamp down concerns among his supporters that he is suddenly vulnerable after Cruz beat him in Wisconsin last week and won all Republican delegates in Colorado on Saturday.

In some good news for Trump, he was formally declared the winner of Missouri's Republican primary, which was held on March 15.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has a message for Verizon (NYSE:VZ) management: youre greedy.

On Wednesday Sanders walked the picket line with striking Verizon workers led by members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), in Brooklyn, New York, his birthplace, where he blasted the telecom giant. Just another major American corporation trying to destroy the lives of Americans, today you are not just standing up for Verizon workers but you are standing up for Americans, bellowed Sanders. The workers, mostly landline specialists, want better healthcare and pension benefits. The Vermont senator praised the workers for walking off the job, Youre telling corporate America they cannot have it all. Youre telling corporate America that workers in this country are not going to continue being pushed down and down. Workers in this country deserve decent wages and benefits.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % VZ VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. 35.33 -1.67 -4.51%

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdams is having none of it. He fired back in a LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) post, Feeling the Bern of Reality. Separately on Tuesday, Verizon blasted Sanders after he accused the company of dodging taxes. In this public policy statement the company attempted to set the record straight, Sanders needs to get his facts straight. The post highlighted that the firm paid nearly $16 billion in taxes during the 2014-2015 year, among other things.

Verizon is taking a cue from General Electric (NYSE:GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt who wrote an Op-Ed in the Washington Post against Sanders after he criticized the industrial giant for excessive corporate pay packages.
In an interview on FOX Business Networks Cavuto: Coast-to-Coast on Wednesday, Neil Bush said if Republican frontrunner and business mogul Donald Trump is a reflection of New York values, then he feels bad for the state.

I feel sorry for New York because New York isnt bullying, it isnt arrogant, it isnt narcissistic, Bush said.

The brother of President George W. Bush and former GOP presidential contender and Florida Governor Jeb Bush said in no uncertain terms would he be supporting Trump should he win the Republican Partys nomination.

Mark my words: I will not take the 'hail Trump' deal and march blindly into the abyss, Bush said. Theres no one that has ever been so value-less.

Bush, who serves on Texas Senator Ted Cruzs national finance committee, said Trump has alienated many in the Republican Party and predicts if the businessman does in fact become the GOPs nominee, he would lose disastrously to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in a general election.

He went on to explain that Trump, a so-called master of deal making, has pulled the wool over the American voters eyes, and has done nothing but try to game the political system for his own benefit.

Heres a guy who understood the bankruptcy laws well enough to work to his own benefit to file bankruptcy four times to avoid paying debts, causing great harm to many families. Heres a guy audacious enough to say he understands the political system well enough that he rigged the system by giving donations to people with the expectation of something in return, Bush said.
Corporate tax lawyers, beware! The Obama administration is making it likely that you will be working overtime in the near future.

With the legislative branch gridlocked, the executive branch has taken the lead in several areas of corporate regulation. This past week, corporate taxes took center stage with the Treasury Department's new and more stringent rules targeting tax inversions.

Tax inversions are created when a US corporation merges with a foreign corporation and moves the headquarters of the combined corporation to the foreign country to take advantage of a lower tax rate there. This technique creates a powerful incentive for corporations to find willing overseas partners, especially in the world of pharmaceuticals and health care. Not surprisingly, with its 12.5% tax, Ireland is a popular inversion destination.

When AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) tried to purchase the Irish firm Shire (LON:SHP) in a $52 billion inversion deal in 2014, the Treasury department enacted new rules that taxed AbbVie's overseas cash designated to fund the deal. Despite the claims that the primary purpose of the deal was a strategic fit, the deal fell apart a month after Treasury's action.

This time, the tentative $160 billion deal for US-based Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) to buy Ireland's Allergan (NYSE:AGN) and incorporate in Ireland was scuttled by new Treasury actions that some critics say targeted this deal specifically and overstepped the executive branch's authority. As with AbbVie and Shire, claims of strategic synergy were not enough  it took only a few days after the announcement of new rules for the Pfizer/Allergan deal to be called off.

To understand both sides' reactions, it is necessary to dig into the broader tax environment that incentivizes inversions.

Our Unfriendly Tax Policy

Unquestionably, the main force behind inversions is US tax policy. Not only does the US have a 35% corporate tax rate  the highest of all developed nations  but the US is also one of the few nations to apply that rate on all profits whether they are generated in the US or in a foreign country.

A multinational corporation's US profits are taxed at 35% and overseas profits are taxed domestically at the difference between the US and foreign rate (tax credits are issued to compensate for the foreign tax). For example, using the Irish rate of 12.5%, every dollar that a US company earns in profits in Ireland is effectively subject to 12.5 cents in tax in Ireland and 22.5 cents tax in the US  but only when those profits are brought back into the US. As a result, multinationals end up hoarding profits overseas and reinvesting them in offshore operations to avoid US taxes. This further increases corporate incentives to relocate overseas, with the associated economic impact  including tax revenue  benefitting foreign economies, not Americas.

Businesses rightly argue that higher US tax bills put American corporations at a competitive disadvantage with their foreign rivals. However, it is a leap of faith to assume that simplylowering the corporate tax rate and/or going to a territorial system (exempting foreign-earned income from domestic taxation) will create enough tax reductions and growth opportunities for US corporations to stop inversions.

According to Reuters, an October 2015 study suggested that, at the time, the 500 largest US companies held $2.1 trillion in profits offshore to avoid taxation. Those profits would bring in an estimated $620 billion in tax revenue when repatriated into the US. How low would corporate tax rates have to go to provide incentive to repatriate these funds? Probably a lot lower than they would be willing to go.

This discussion will remain academic for now, as contentious election-year politics has brought all meaningful federal legislation to a halt. Understandably, the Obama administration is trying to fill this leadership void the only way it can  through regulatory changes.

Reassessing Inversion Thresholds and Rules

There are two major elements to the Treasury Department's action: a redefinition of the rules for determining the size of the foreign entity in terms of assets and removal of a practice called "earnings stripping."

To receive the benefits of a tax inversion, the acquiring foreign entity must be the right size relative to the acquirer. The foreign company must own between 40-50% of the combined entity for full tax benefits to apply. Below 20% foreign ownership, the company is considered a US company and US taxes apply.

Some companies, including Allergan, have "beefed up" by making preliminary acquisitions that put them in the proper size range for future inversions. The Treasury department is targeting so-called "serial inverters" by ignoring the previous three years worth of acquisitions when evaluating a foreign company's shares.

In Allergan's case, three recent acquisitions would have dropped "original" Allergan investors stake in the new company below 20%  invalidating the tax inversion. Is Treasury's action targeted specifically at Allergan? Not expressly, but the three-year mark is somewhat arbitrary and affects very few companies.

Earnings stripping involves a multinational company using transfers effectively to shift income into the lower-tax foreign entity. In an inversion, the American subsidiary borrows money from the parent company and uses the interest payment deductions to offset their earnings. Treasury eliminated this avenue with new rules treating the transaction as if it were equity based instead of debt based, thus eliminating the interest deduction.

However, a Forbes article suggests that the new earnings stripping rules could extend beyond inversions and adversely affect companies attempting to invest in American facilities. The article uses the example of foreign auto manufacturers investing in US manufacturing plants and suggests such investments will be more difficult in the future  reducing the ability of depressed areas to revitalize their manufacturing economy.

The Takeaway

Few, if any, companies undertake mergers and inversions solely for the tax benefits. Both companies must also have a synergistic basis merging  for example, in Pfizer's case the Allergan deal would have provided a strong collective portfolio in both high and low-cost drugs. A prior attempt to buy AstraZeneca (LON: AZN) also had roots in diluting Pfizer's still profitable but slower-growth line of older drugs.

That's not to say that tax policy wasn't a huge driving force; it clearly was. Pfizer was not only motivated by future tax bills, but also by the billions of dollars it held in overseas entities that it could not bring into the US without footing the US tax bill. Corporations must pursue legal steps to lower their tax bill, or they are not acting in the best interests of shareholders. Companies dont set the rules; they just play by them.

That leads us to the real problem: inability by Congress to create a set of corporate tax laws based on reasonable and coherent policy that help level the playing field for US companies competing in a global economy. With the current environment of compromise as a dirty word, it is nearly impossible to craft tax policy that strikes the proper balance between corporate tax burdens, economic growth, and income to the Treasury Department. Thus, the Obama administration has elected to use the regulatory tools it has to address the problems. In a way, it's like trimming your shrubs with an axe because that's the only tool that you have available. You may get that one stubborn branch, but without great care, you will cause a lot of collateral damage.

While the uncertainty continues, mergers and acquisitions are even more subject to abrupt changes than before. If you consider a company in merger talks to be worth the investment risk, then proceed  just do a proper risk assessment first.

This article was provided by our partners at moneytips.com

More From MoneyTips.comShould We Lower Our Corporate Taxes?Clinton's Profit-Sharing Plan 101Mergers And Acquisitions At Record Pace
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday evening that new data suggests the mosquito-borne Zika virus is a cause of birth defects like microcephaly, a costly and life-threatening condition that is ravaging Brazil and has impacted nearly 5,000 children in the country.

Weve now confirmed what mounting evidence has suggested, affirming our early guidance to pregnant women and their partners to take steps to avoid Zika infection and to health care professionals who are talking to patients every day, CDC director Tom Frieden said in a news release. We are working to do everything possible to protect the American public.

Scientists reported in the April edition of the New England Journal of Medicine that while evidence gathered doesnt provide conclusive proof that Zika causes microcephaly and other birth defects, an increasing amount of scientifically sound research suggests thats the case.

Since the onset of the current outbreak in April 2015, the CDC has added to its list of Zika-afflicted regions where it has advised pregnant women against traveling. Those areas include countries in the Caribbean, Central America, the Pacific Islands and South America, including Rio, the host of the 2016 Summer Olympics. In light of the possibility that Zika can be sexually transmitted, the CDC has also advised pregnant women's partners who have traveled to a Zika-afflicted region to use condoms or abstain from sex.

Mosquito experts in the United States have expressed concern over the virus spread in southern U.S. states as temperatures rise heading into summer, and Washington has acted to prepare at-risk areas by reallocating Ebola funds toward preventing the spread of the Zika virus. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director at the CDC, has said the Aedes aegypti, the primary vector of Zika, resides in 30 states.

The CDC said in the news release that it isnt changing its guidance on the heels of the new findings, and that determining a causal effect next would be imperative.

This study marks a turning point in the Zika outbreak. It is now clear that the virus causes microcephaly, Frieden said in the release. We are also launching further studies to determine whether children who have microcephaly born to mothers infected by the Zika virus is the tip of the iceberg of what we could see in damaging effects on the brain and other developmental problems.
My good buddy Phil Robertson has drawn the ire of a bunch of Jesus-bashing, liberal lug nuts after he petitioned the Lord during a NASCAR invocation to put a Jesus-Man in the White House.

Brother Phil delivered the pre-race invocation on April 9th at the Texas Motor Speedways Duck Commander 500. And it was a mighty fine invocation, indeed.

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I pray Father that we put a Jesus-Man in the White House, he prayed. Help us do that and help us all to repent, to do what is right, to love you more and to love each other. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.

Brother Phil also mentioned the Bible, guns and thanked the Good Lord for the United States military  just like any good church-going, Christian man would do.

But the Duck Commanders heartfelt invocation caused the Mainstream Media to blow a collective head gasket.

Sports commentators and journalists suggested pre-race prayers were too Southern and too redneck. As if theres something wrong with being a Southern-fried redneck?

Deadspin called Brother Phil an unapologetic bigot and a duck call industrialist.

The Associated Press auto racing writer accused Brother Phil of pushing an agenda  and accused NASCAR of clouding its image with politics.

There are Democrats who enjoy NASCAR, writer Jenna Fryer sneered. Jews and atheists and women, too.

Consider the words from this Orlando Sentinel column titled, NASCAR doesnt need Phil Robertsons prayers.

What if at next Sundays race, someone got up and prayed for gun control, the Koran and that a Muhammad-woman be put in the White House? writer David Whitley opined. Most of the people defending Robertson would be throwing tire irons at their TVs.

Well, I sincerely doubt a devout Muslim would be asking Allah to put a Muhammad-woman anywhere near the White House. And lets be honest, you dont see too many burkas at Bristol.

Beyond the Flag ran an essay written by Christopher Olmstead that contemplated whether or not religion still belongs in NASCAR.

For a sport that is trying to become a global success is it appropriate to attach a certain religion or religious tone to yourself? For a sport that might have several drivers who might not believe in God or religion is it appropriate to hold the pre-race invocation? For a sport that is trying to reach out to different cultures around the world who may believe in a higher power other than God, is it appropriate to have the invocation?

Its tempting to tell Brother Phils critics to blow it out their tail pipes  but thats not the Christian thing to do.

And besides  Brother Phil has more supporters than detractors  including the president of Texas Motor Speedway.

He said what he felt and believed there are a lot of people that agree with him and a lot that disagree with him, Eddie Gossage told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Nowadays, you cannot say what you think because of political correctness. So I guess everyone has a right to free speech or nobody does.

Prayer is an important part of Southern culture. Its what we do. Its who we are -- whether were asking the Good Lord to bless the butter beans or offering an unspoken prayer request before Bible Study.

And thats why the Mainstream Media may be in for a rude awakening if they think they can prayer-shame the good, church-going racing fans of America. Its not going to happen.

Why, NASCAR without Jesus would be like biscuits without gravy.


In the wake of the popular television series "The People v. O.J. Simpson" on FX, former Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti spoke with the New York Post and NBCs Today show. Garcetti is still massaging the truth and spinning his own self-serving version

some 20 years after the not guilty verdict.

It is human nature, I suppose, to engage in a personal version of historical revisionism. It helps to assuage ones own guilt. But I covered the trial in L.A. and saw firsthand how the prosecution bungled the case. Here is where Garcetti is wrong (and right).

WRONG: GARCETTI NOW CLAIMS MARCIA CLARK WASNT MY CHOICE TO LEAD THE PROSECUTION OF O.J. SIMPSON.

Baloney. Garcetti was the elected D.A. Hes the one who made the choice. If he did not want Clark on the case, he could have booted her. He was calling the shots. It is true that, originally, the lead prosecutor was Bill Hodgman (a law school classmate of mine). Terrific lawyer. But he suffered heart problems before the trial and had to take a back seat. Garcetti could have gone with someone other than Clark, but he chose her. A horrible decision. Garcetti has only himself to blame.

RIGHT: GARCETTI IS HIGHLY CRITICAL OF HOW MARCIA CLARK HANDLED THE CASE.

Did Marcia Clark blow the case? Yes. I thought she was inept, over-tried it, made poor judgments and failed to properly prepare key witnesses. Of course, her co-prosecutor, Chris Darden, didnt help matters. His decision to have O.J. try on the bloody glove is now taught in law schools under the heading, what not to do during trial. Defense Attorney F. Lee Bailey taunted Darden into having Simpson try on the glove. Darden fell for it. Collosal mistake. It led to Johnny Cochrans nauseous incantation, if it doesnt fit, you must acquit. It was a ridiculous, carnival-like phrase but it worked. Gullible jurors ate it up.

RIGHT: GARCETTI IS SPECIFICALLY DISPARAGING OF CLARKS HANDING OF JURY SELECTION, IGNORING HIS ADVICE.

Its true, based on my own reporting at the time. Clark picked 8 black women for the jury apparently because she thought she really connected with black women in previous cases. But the O.J. trial was completely different and unique. Cochran blatantly exploited racial animus turning it into a race case (when, in fact, race had nothing to do with it). So, it was naive of Clark to think it didnt matter. A jury consultant who worked with the prosecution warned both Clark & Garcetti not to do it because mock trials showed that black female jurors hated Clark. But Clark ignored the advice, and Garcetti failed as D.A. to overrule her. A critical blunder.

WRONG: GARCETTI OFFERS NO MEA CULPA, AS IF HE BEARS NO BLAME.

If Garcetti is still searching for a villain, he should look no further than a mirror. He is the one who sent the case downtown. The moment he did that, he lost the trial before it ever began. It should have been tried in Santa Monica because that is the district where the crime occurred and where a civil jury later found Simpson responsible for the murders. If the criminal case had been tried where it belonged, O.J. Simpson would be serving a life sentence.

So, why did Garcetti send the case downtown? Initially, he told reporters he wanted the verdict (which he arrogantly presumed would be guilty) to have more credibility because the jury pool was more racially diverse. That is not a valid reason. And it was profoundly foolish. In the aftermath of the Rodney King verdicts and the ensuing riots, many downtown jurors disliked and distrusted cops. This was a cop case.

I always thought Garcetti sent the case downtown because that is where his office was located. He could control or monitor the case and be close to the multitude of television cameras.

Remember, he was a politician, too.
Donald Trumps supporters, especially men, have reason to be mad as hell. The economy has turned against them, and policies advocated by Democrats and tolerated by mainstream Republicans make their circumstances worse.

Trump does best with voters having less education, and the shift away from manufacturing toward service activities decidedly disadvantages them.

At the turn of the century, factories employed more workers than education and health care combined or professional and business services. Nowadays the latter two groups of industries both employ millions more Americans than those making things.

While many positions in education, health care and professional and business services pay well, those often require a college or advanced degree or expensive specialized training beyond high school, and nowadays girls do better in school than boys. And the grimy environment of many factories was appealing to men, a lot of jobs in the abovementioned sectors are as attractive or even more appealing to women.

Hence it is no surprise that as the fortunes of women have been improvingthe feminist revolution and rise in female labor force participation notwithstandingand the nation now confronts a crisis of despondent men.

Nearly 7 million men, between the ages of 25 and 54, are neither employed nor looking for work.

Manufacturing has been a victim of its own successproductivity growth in manufacturing has outstripped other sectors of the economy creating a natural migration of job opportunities from factories to servicebut international and domestic policies pursued by presidents dating back to Kennedy have exacerbated the plight of men without a college degree.

Free trade agreements have been advertised as jobs creators but the facts simply belie that claim. Whereas exports create jobs, imports destroy even more of them. The United States has a trade deficit on goods and services combined exceeding $500 billion. That kills 4 million jobs directly and at least another 2 million including from lost spending of workers initially displaced.

Manufacturing accounts for the lions share of the trade gapespecially goods from China and elsewhere in Asia that are often subsidized by national governments and benefit from artificially undervalued currencies. Presidents Bush and Obama have talked about fixing those practices, but the trade agreements they bring home only make matters worse.

The South Korea Free Trade Agreement implemented on Obamas watch has increased the trade deficit by more than $15 billion dollars and killed about 120,000 jobsmostly in manufacturing.

Similarly, Washington has largely left assisting manufacturing to the states, which have fewer resources, while it has ramped up subsidies and shifted job opportunities to education and health care.

While Obama and Hillary Clinton indignantly campaign about a gender gap in paya phenomenon criticized as a statistical fraudmore boys are dropping out of high school than girls, and colleges grant about 60 percent of their degrees to women.

We never hear a word from Democrats about fixing the gender gap in education. Instead, they champion programs that would push males out of service jobs where they do wellsuch as computer codingand stand by idly while liberal high-tech executives engineer programs to retrain unemployed women that are closed to men.

Mainstream Republicans, while leaning against activist Democratic prescriptions to intervene directly in the jobs market and wage setting, have said little about this discrimination or the crisis facing men.

No surprise, Trump rails against political correctness and barks misogynic slurs but to men without a college education and the women whose fortunes are linked to them, Hillary Clintons endless chanting about gender equality are like a red flag to a bull.

The complicity on trade and gender issues by Republican governors is the likely reason why they did so poorly as a group in the primaries.

To Trump supporters, Hillary or Kasich in 2016? Only if you hate your son!
President Obama will decide whether to declassify 28 pages of sealed documents  which some suspect show a Saudi connection to the 9/11 attacks  within 60 days, according to a former senator who co-chaired the 2002 joint congressional inquiry into the attacks.

Former Florida Democratic Sen. Bob Graham told Fox News late Tuesday that the White House had informed him that a decision on whether to declassify the documents would be made in one to two months.

Graham, who has pressed for the documents to be made public, told Fox he was "pleased that after two years this matter is about to come to a decision by the president."

Both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations have refused to unseal the documents, claiming it would jeopardize national security. Critics claim the reluctance is a calculated move to hide Saudi Arabias involvement in the attacks that killed almost 3,000 people.

Obama had come under renewed pressure to release the documents ahead of a planned presidential trip to Saudi Arabia for a summit of Gulf leaders next week.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told CBS 60 Minutes she believes the documents, which she has seen, should be made available to the family members of 9/11 victims.

I dont know how the Saudi government will react to it, but I think its just information, Gillibrand said Sunday.

Gillibrand is among a growing, bipartisan group of lawmakers advocating for the release of the documents.

"If the president is going to meet with the Saudi Arabian leadership and the royal family, they think it would be appropriate that this document be released before the president makes that trip, so that they can talk about whatever issues are in that document," Gillibrand said.

Asked about the renewed information requests on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said he doesnt know whether Obama has read the 28 pages but they are the subject of an intelligence community classification review.

Earnest said Obama has confidence in their ability to consider those documents for release. Asked about any potential Saudi ties to 9/11, Earnest cited the 9/11 Commission's findings that there was no evidence the Saudi government or senior Saudi officials funded Al Qaeda.

But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she, too, wants the pages declassified.

"As the former Ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and top the House Democrat on the Joint Congressional investigation looking into the 9/11 attacks, I agree with former Senator Bob Graham that these documents should be declassified and made public, and that the Bush Administration's refusal to do so was a mistake," Pelosi said in a written statement. "I have always advocated for providing as much transparency as possible to the American people consistent with protecting our national security."

Last year, convicted Al Qaeda member Zacarias Moussaoui implicated high-level Saudi royals in the 9/11 attacks. fueling the ongoing congressional effort to declassify the official report.

Some Saudi connections to the attacks are already well-known, including that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi Arabian citizens -- and that mastermind Usama bin Laden was the son of a wealthy Saudi Arabian contractor with close ties to the Saudi royal family.

There are a lot of rocks out there that have been purposefully tamped down, that if were they turned over, would give us a more expansive view of the Saudi role, Graham told "60 Minutes."

"The Saudis know what they did. We know what they did," Graham said.

Fox News earlier reported on the Saudi connection to the 9/11 hijackers and the mysterious 28 pages in a 2011 documentary called Secrets of 9/11.

Graham has said in the past the 28 classified pages lay out a network of people he believes helped the hijackers obtain housing in the U.S. and enroll in flight school.

You believe that support came from Saudi Arabia? CBS reporter Steve Croft asked.

"Substantially," Graham responded.

"And when we say, 'the Saudis,' you mean the government, the -- rich people in the country? Charities?" Kroft pressed.

"All of the above," Graham confirmed.

Nineteen militants associated with Al Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania on 9/11. Two of the planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York City. Another plane hit the Pentagon while a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

The United States went after the masterminds behind the attack and, in May 2011, killed the terror groups leader Usama bin Laden.

Fox News' Lesa Jansen contributed to this report.
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton distanced herself Tuesday from a racially charged comedy sketch she participated in with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over the weekend.

In the sketch at the city's annual Inner Circle charity show, de Blasio said he took so long to endorse Clinton for president because he was running on "CP time", an apparent reference to the stereotype of African-Americans being late for appointments. Clinton then interjected: "Cautious politician time. I've been there."

"Well, look, it was Mayor de Blasio's skit," she told Cosmopolitan.com. "He has addressed it, and I will really defer to him because it is something that he's already talked about."

Many of the New York politicians, power brokers and reporters in the room laughed at the joke. But as word of the sketch spread via social media, the coverage became scornful. The Daily News blared "Skit for Brains" on its Tuesday front page. And New York magazine made reference to the mayor's black spouse, asking, "Does your wife, Chirlane (McCray), know about this joke?"

De Blasio, whose two multiracial children identify as black, downplayed the controversy.

"It was clearly a staged event," he told CNN on Monday. "I think people are missing the point here."

Mayoral aides added that the skit was not meant to offend and pointed out that it was far from the only risque joke during a night on which reporters put on a show to roast politicians and then the mayor returns the favor.

At the White House, spokesman Josh Earnest deflected questions about the propriety of the joke, saying he hadn't seen it, but he praised Clinton and de Blasio for the "commitment that they've shown over the course of their career to justice and civil rights."

The flap comes at a poor time for Clinton, who has enjoyed deep support from black voters during the previous primaries and is banking on their support again in New York's April 19 primary to ward off a challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. A loss for Clinton in her home state could upend the Democratic race, though she would still have a significant delegate lead.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Hillary Clinton announced Wednesday she intends to create a new "Office of Immigrant Affairs" if elected president  a plan swiftly ripped by critics as a redundant piece of bureaucracy that might be better politics than policy.

The Democratic presidential primary front-runner briefly outlined the plan at a Manhattan event where she picked up the endorsement of the New York State Immigrant Action Fund, an advocacy group.

I would create the first ever Office of Immigrant Affairs, Clinton said. [The office] would create a dedicated place in the White House to coordinate integration policies across the federal government and with state and local government as well.

A Clinton aide told Fox News ahead of the announcement that the office will ensure that immigrants, refugees and their children are able to become fully integrated members of their communities and country.

Steve Choi, of the New York Immigration Action Fund, said at the event that the group supported the creation of the office as part of a broader push for helping immigrants in the U.S.

Things like the establishment of the Office of Immigrant Affairs, making sure that immigrants are going to have access to adult education and to English language classes, reducing barriers to naturalization, providing support for immigration services and  for immigration navigators who can actually provide the critically needed services that our immigrant communities need to fully be able to thrive in America, Choi said.

Further details were not announced by Clinton or her campaign staff. The Clinton campaign did not respond to FoxNews.coms requests for details on what the office would do, or how much it would cost.

Critics immediately questioned the proposal, while accusing Clinton of angling for votes.

It illustrates how out of touch Clinton is with what the public wants; secure borders and the laws enforced, said Bob Dane, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an anti-illegal immigration group.

Instead, Hillary simply wants to double down on Obamas executive actions and then create an office that identifies, aggregates and grants every conceivable benefit across the spectrum in a one-stop shop that might be called the Office of Minting Democrat Voters, Dane said.

Alex Nowrasteh, immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute, told FoxNews.com that adding more bureaucracy was not going to do anything.

It wouldnt be effective at all. The immigration system in the U.S. suffers from too much bureaucracy and federal oversight as it is, adding a coordinating agency can only make that problem worse, Nowrasteh said.

He also pointed to recent studies showing integration by immigrants is by and large going well.

Three different reports on assimilation by the National Academy of Science, the OECD, and [a University of Washington economist] all found immigrants integrating well without a federal program. The feds have a difficult enough time managing the Post Office, they should not be entrusted with the important task of helping immigrants assimilate, Nowrasteh said.

Several non-governmental groups also already act as advocates for immigrants and refugees, including CASA de Maryland, Refugee Council USA, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops Migration and Refugee Services and The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

A spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services -- the part of the Homeland Security that oversees immigration and citizenship services  told FoxNews.com the agency does not comment on proposals from political candidates.

The Clinton campaign said that the proposal was in response to the recommendations of a 2014 task force set up by the Obama administration to study integration services across the federal government.

The announcement came less than a week before the April 19 Democratic presidential primary in New York, where just over 18 percent of the population is Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census.

Fox News Ed Henry contributed to this report.
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Buzz Cut:

 The cows come home for both parties

 Rubio seems to back Cruz

 Hillary looks to lock up Maryland

 Hillary blames Bill. No, not that one

 And thus began Inkys plot for world domination

THE COWS COME HOME FOR BOTH PARTIES

News wires flashed briefly on Tuesday with word that Missouris secretary of state had certified the winners of the Show-Me States March 15th primaries and that delegates would be awarded.



Perplexed news editors wondered at once what the import of this action was for the fully frothed nomination processes of the two parties.



As it would turn out, absolutely nothing.



But in this election cycle where the process of picking candidates has become the story itself, newsmen and newswomen are wandering through what James Jesus Angleton might have called a wilderness of mirrors.



Most of the time the process for picking delegates matters as much to the press and public about as much as photosynthesis matters to the cow that eats the grass. Chomp. If the grass turns yellow or starts tasting like rhubarb, though, the cow might become more curious about where her delicious green shoots have gone.



The popular lament in the political press and with the voting public for a long time has been that nothing we do really matters. And to be fair, much of politics in the past 20 years has felt like the republic is simply going through the motions. And boy did it look that way when we were winding up for a Bush v. Clinton rematch.



The electoral ennui has been understandable. Especially since the drama of the 2000 recount, we have been able to dial in on a few counties in a few states where general elections are decided and a few early primary states where nominees invariably get picked. There was a brief flash of drama in 2008 as Hillary Clinton refused to give up her doomed bid on the Democratic side, but mostly it all has felt like a foregone conclusion.



But while the members political press and so many of their fellow Americans were getting more jaded than a Chinese jeweler, not everybody was.



Out there in this great, big, beautiful country there were little old ladies putting on their sparkly elephant hats for district conventions and earnest young men clutching clipboards to canvass for their county Democratic slate. As it turns out, not everybody got the memo about the death of Americas major political parties.



As the progressive populist hurricane batters the beaches of both parties this cycle, there is what appears to be a sudden shock at the way these parties and their activists pick candidates. No doubt, for newcomers to the political process, the shock is genuine.



If you mistakenly believe that you not only live in a direct democracy but that parties are extensions of the government and not private organizations, it would be appalling to think that your vote might not matter or that you might not even be offered the chance.



Then there are those who exploit the misunderstandings of others. When politicians like Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders thunder about an undemocratic process they know that the process wasnt fully democratic before. Its just that in the recent past its never been close enough for anyone to pay any attention, and so the accusations make for powerful rhetoric.



It would be one thing for Trump and Sanders to call for changes in the rules, and to be fair both have done so. But the act of calling an arcane, sometimes abstruse process a cheat is something more than mischief.



There will probably be changes in both parties processes in future years as a result of this cycle.



Republicans will probably see new wisdom in the old convention and caucus systems and find new disdain for bound-delegate primaries  especially ones open to non-Republicans. Democrats may rethink the wisdom of having all their primaries be proportional, thereby denying frontrunners the chance for large-state knockout victories.



Of course, just as they did after the last go-around, both sides will probably end up making the rules more abstruse and precipitating some future crisis by trying to solve the last one. But we wont know exactly how until the cows taste rhubarb again.



Rubio seems to back Cruz - The Hill: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said he wants the Republican nominee to be a conservative  and Ted Cruz is the only candidate who qualifies. Rubio said in an interview with Mark Levin on Levin TV Tuesday that of the candidates in the GOP race, the only one that fits that criteria is Ted Cruz. He qualified that comment by adding, at this moment, of the candidates that are still actively campaigning. Rubio, who ended his presidential bid earlier this year after losing his home state of Florida, has not yet endorsed a candidate for president. He has previously said Cruz is the only conservative left in the presidential race.



Cruz targets New York orphan districts - WSJ: Republicans in New York dont often campaign in such Democratic strongholds. They head for Staten Island and the states western stretches. But [Sen. Ted Cruz], who is trailing his rivals in state polls, has focused on Democratic congressional districts, where his team hopes to pick up at least some of the states 95 delegates in the April 19 primary. There are orphan districts in New York we feel like we can target that have few Republican voters, and we can get more people to turn out and vote, said Catherine Frazier, a Cruz spokeswoman. You can expect our time in the state is going to be targeting specific coalitions.



Another court rules Cruz eligible for presidency - CBS News: A New Jersey judge has ruled that Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz meets the constitutional requirements to be president and may appear on the states presidential primary ballot.



Hurts so Good: Ryans demurral wont convince GOP bigwigs - The Cicero of the Tune Inn, Charles Hurt, argues in his column today that playing hard to get will do no good for House Speaker Paul Ryan in breaking the fever dreams of Republican establishmentarians for his white-knight nomination.



Clinton papers reveal mutually beneficial relationship with Trump - Boston Globe: Well before Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump a politician trafficking in prejudice and paranoia, there were decades of amiabilityThe early phases of that respectful, if not especially close, relationship were detailed in a trove of papers released Tuesday by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Even after the Clintons left Washington and settled in New York to build their charitable foundation and her own political career, Trump and the Clintons coexisted perfectly reasonably. For a time, at least, they mutually benefited from exposure to one anothers worlds. The relationship appeared far more rooted in work than pleasure. Trump enjoyed the buzz of attending the same glittery events as the powerhouse political stars.



[GOP delegate count: Trump 755; Cruz 545; Kasich 143 (1,237 needed to win)]



WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE

We live in a society obsessed with and oftentimes driven by celebrity. But in human history such a concept is newer than pasteurized milk or air conditioning. There had always been fame or infamy, but the idea of being famous for being, well, famous? That was born with the artificial intimacy of moving pictures. And the worlds first super celebrity was a melancholy Englishman who was early cinemas beloved sad clown, Charlie Chaplin. Author Henry Giardinia, writing for the Paris Review, takes us through Chaplins 1921 trip abroad and the stars own meditation on celebrity and the toll it takes on a human being. A man cannot go back, [Chaplin] concludes in My Trip Abroad. He thinks he can, but other things have happened to his life. He had new ideas, new friends, new attachments. He doesnt belong to his past except that the past has, perhaps, made marks on him.



Got a TIP from the RIGHT or the LEFT? Email FoxNewsFirst@FOXNEWS.COM



POLL CHECK

Real Clear Politics Averages

National GOP nomination: Trump 39 percent; Cruz 32.3 percent; Kasich 20.5 percent

National Dem nomination: Clinton 46.8 percent; Sanders 45.8 percent

General Election: Clinton vs. Trump: Clinton +10.4 points

Generic Congressional Vote: Republicans +0.5



HILLARY LOOKS TO LOCK UP MARYLAND

After a streak of losses, Hillary Clinton isnt taking any chances in the home stretch. Despite a new poll in Maryland that puts her 22 points ahead of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clintons team released her first television ad in the Old Line State after Sanders ads starting airing Tuesday.



Clintons spot, narrated by actor Morgan Freeman, is set to air primarily in Baltimore and focuses on African American voters.



Clintons shoring up the vote in Maryland could also have something to do with Black Lives Matter activists who are particularly influential in the Baltimore area as the city approaches the one-year anniversary of riots following the death of a black prisoner in police custody.



Former President Bill Clinton recently confronted a few of these activists who protested at a rally for his wife in Pennsylvania over the former presidents criminal reform bill from the 1990s that they feel disenfranchised their communities.



The good news for the former secretary of state, however, is that these voters arent flocking to Sanders either. The Vermont senator has done consistently poor with minority voters, and a recent WaPo/University of Maryland poll had Clinton beating Sanders among African Americans by 30 points.



Its also understandable that Clinton would take no chances in Maryland given her fear that history might repeat itself. In February 2008, Clinton lost the Potomac Primary when Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia all went for then-Sen. Barack Obama, dealing her campaign a particularly harsh blow.



Hillary blames Bill. No, not that one - NYT: Hillary Clintons response to a racially charged comedy sketch with Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York on Saturday night was simple: Its all his fault. Well, look, it was Mayor de Blasios skit, Mrs. Clinton told Cosmopolitan magazine. He has addressed it, and I will really defer to him because it is something that hes already talked about.



[Dem delegate count: Clinton 1758; Sanders 1069 (2,383 needed to win)]



AND THUS BEGAN INKYS PLOT FOR WORLD DOMINATION

Guardian: An octopus has made a brazen escape from the national aquarium in New Zealand by breaking out of its tank, slithering down a [nearly 55-yard] drainpipe and disappearing into the sea. In scenes reminiscent of Finding Nemo, Inky  a common New Zealand octopus  made his dash for freedom after the lid of his tank was accidentally left slightly ajar. Staff believe that in the middle of the night, while the aquarium was deserted, Inky clambered to the top of his cage, down the side of the tank and travelled across the floor of the aquarium.  One theory is that Inky slid across the aquarium floor  a journey of [as much as 13-feet]  and then, sensing freedom was at hand, into a drainpipe that leads directly to the sea.



AND NOW A WORD FROM CHARLES

The party will be irredeemably split, and what [House Speaker Paul Ryan] was saying is I will lead with a policy agenda to reconstruct the Reaganite ideas that have been utterly leveled in this cycle. -- Charles Krauthammer on Special Report with Bret Baier. Watch here.



Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News. Sally Persons contributed to this report. Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign up here.
Maine's outspoken Republican Gov. Paul LePage battled in court Wednesday over allegations he bullied a nonprofit into rescinding a job offer to his top political rival, state House Speaker Mark Eves, as political payback.

Eves, a Democrat, contends that LePage acted out of personal rage, vindictiveness, and partisan malice by pressuring Good Will-Hinckley charter school to pull their employment offer to Eves.

The lawsuit claims the school was backed into a corner after the governor threatened to withhold $530,000 in state funds if it went through with plans to hire Eves as its new president.

At first Good Will-Hinckley stood by Eves but later announced it would look for a new president.

Eves sued.

The Governor knew that the unexpected loss of that state funding would also cause the school to lose another $2,000,000 in private funding and that these sudden financial losses would put the school out of business, the lawsuit states. The suit accuses the governor of abusing taxpayer money, and even blackmail.

Wednesdays hearing focused on the governors motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Lawyers from both sides presented oral arguments to U.S. District Judge George Singal, who said he would issue an order in the very near future.

LePages attorney Patrick Strawbridge argued the governor made a legally protected political statement and therefore should be granted immunity.

Eves lawyer David Webbert made the case against immunity  saying his client was targeted because he is a Democrat.

Folks that have at-will employment still cant be fired because of their race or their political affiliation, Webbert said.

Eves lawsuit against LePage marks the first time in four decades that a sitting Maine governor has been sued by an individual.

LePage, though, isnt backing down.

According to court records, LePage was asked about the allegations that he had a hand in pressuring the school to dismiss Eves.

Yeah, I did! If I could, I would! Absolutely. Why wouldnt I? Tell me why I wouldnt take the taxpayer money, to prevent somebody to go into a school and destroy it, the lawsuit quotes LePage as saying.

Court records also contain statements the governor made during a radio interview on July 30.

Ill tell you what my mindset was, LePage explained. This guy is a plant by the unions to destroy charter schools.  I believe thats what his motive is.  That man had no heart.

The governor contends Eves would be a bad fit for the school because he had spoken out against charter schools in public. But then LePages justification took a turn.

It is just like one time I stepped in when a domestic violence, when a man was beating his wife. Should I have stepped in? Legally, no. But I did. And Im not embarrassed about doing it, he said.

Last year, state lawmakers tried to impeach LePage over the case. Eight separate allegations were brought against the governor with the reccurring theme of him strong-arming government and non-profit organizations.

People have really had enough, all across the state, state Rep. Ben Chipman told The Atlantic. Theyre tired of the governors behavior and theyre tired of the legislature not doing anything about it.

Supporters of the Democratic-led impeachment effort were ultimately unable to overcome a Republican move to indefinitely postpone the discussion.

LePage issued a written statement slamming Democrats and described the impeachment attempt as a political witch hunt that had absolutely no merit.

Maine Attorney General Jane Mills, a Democrat, already has declined to pursue criminal charges against LePage, saying there was no evidence he abused his power.

This isn't the first time a governor has been accused of using state money as leverage in a dispute with another official.

In February, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was cleared of all criminal charges against him related to allegations he misused his power while in office. The charge against him was filed after Perry threatened  and then carried out  a veto of state funding for a group of public corruption prosecutors after the Democratic head of the unit refused to resign.

Calls to LePages office for comment were not returned.
President Obama touted the U.S.-led coalitions air campaign against ISIS Wednesday, even as political turmoil in Iraq and flares of violence in Syria threaten to jeopardize hard-fought gains.

Speaking at CIA headquarters in Virginia, Obama said it had been a few bad months for ISIS and gave a detailed account of areas where U.S.-backed forced have regained territory from the militant group.

Though he acknowledged the fight remains difficult and complex, he said ISIS was on the defensive and that the U.S. intends to "keep that momentum."

"Every day, ISIL leaders wake up and understand that it could be their last," Obama said, using an alternate acronym for the extremist group.

Obama didnt detail any new steps about how the U.S. will beef up the fight against ISIS, although U.S. officials have suggested those steps are in the works. Defense Chief Ash Carter has said the Pentagon is looking at new ways to increase military support for the fight, including a likely increase in U.S. forces and the possible use of Apache helicopters for Iraqi-led combat missions.

"They are working around the clock to keep us safe," Obama said, adding that CIA operatives had thwarted terrorists repeatedly without being able to acknowledge it publicly. "They don't get a lot of attention."

The fragile cease-fire that the U.S. and Russia brokered in February has seen violations as both government forces and moderate Syrian rebels have threatened to break it. Peace talks resumed Wednesday in Geneva aimed at resolving Syria's civil war, though deep disagreements about who should participate have continued to plague that process.

The uptick in violence in Syria has raised difficult questions about how to proceed if the truce falls apart and frees President Bashar Assad and his Russian backers to resume attacks on U.S.-supported opposition groups.

Russia, which had been bolstering Assad with an air campaign against his opponents, recently ordered a drawdown in warplanes, but said strikes would continue against IS and the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. Both of those groups are excluded from the cease-fire.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday the U.S. is considering providing weapons systems to the moderate rebels, in case the cease-fire fails. However, the CIA made it clear that the backup plan would only be put in place if the truce collapses.

In Iraq, Obama pointed to the Iraqi military's preparations to retake the ISIS stronghold of Mosul as an example of increased momentum in the fight. Yet modest signs of progress have been tempered by ongoing sectarian challenges and a political crisis in Baghdad that have threatened to further destabilize the country.

Obama's remarks at the CIA came the week before he travels to Saudi Arabia for a summit with Persian Gulf leaders focused largely on the threat from the Islamic State. Previewing his request to countries attending that summit, Obama said "the entire world" must step up to help Iraq restore stability "so that ISIL cannot return."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The media are so enamored of this brokered convention business that theyre happy to conjure up scenarios in which someone who hasnt run for president walks away with the nomination.

Even if that person says no way.

Some Republicans are so deeply entrenched in the Anyone But Trump camp that theyre willing to draft any person who seems viableeven a little-known general to mount a third-party bid.

It seems kind of crazy that the GOP nominee should be anyone other than Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or even John Kasichthe three candidates still standing. How are the millions of Republicans who voted for Trump or Cruz going to feel if they are maneuvered out of the nomination in favor of someone who didnt bother to run?

That seems like a surefire prescription for civil war.

The guy most frequently invoked by the chattering classes is Paul Ryanso often, in fact, that he felt compelled to hold a press conference yesterday taking himself out of the running (as he has done more than a dozen times before).

"I do not want, nor will I accept the nomination of our party...Count me out," he said.

You can see why Ryan would have a certain appeal: a true-blue conservative, a party insider, and the VP nominee last time around.

Plus, when the Wisconsin congressman denies interest, skeptics can simply point to how he resisted the appeals to succeed John Boehner as House speaker, before finally agreeing to be drafted.

So before Ryan did his I-promise-Im-not-running pledge yesterday, there was a lot of talk along the lines of this CNBC post calling Ryan the likely nominee:

He's already been called upon to save the party once and it's likely he would be again 

The current Speaker of the House stands a much better chance than Trump, who cannot beat Clinton, and Cruz, who cannot win the nomination.

The Ryan boomlet got a little louder with this New York Times story:

Not only did the speaker visit Bibi Netanyahu in Israel, but his staff churned out its latest flattering video of Mr. Ryan, deploring identity politics and promoting a battle of ideas  set to campaign-style music. And his office continued to beat back the not-exactly-library-voice whisper campaign favoring a coup at the Republican convention in July that would elevate Mr. Ryan to the top of the ticket

He is already deep into his own parallel national operation to counter Donald J. Trump and help House and Senate candidates navigate the political headwinds that Mr. Trump would generate as the partys standard-bearer  or, for that matter, Senator Ted Cruz, who is only slightly more popular.

Ryan repeatedly said he wont accept the nomination at the Cleveland convention he will chair, and that anyone who wants to be president should run for president.

Then his staff got a bit more aggressive in the denial department, arguing in this Politico piece that the national media are misreading his motives:

Paul Ryans confidants see it as one of the great, strange conspiracy theories of 2016. Somehow, by deciding against running for president, and repeatedly saying he has no interest in running for president, Paul Ryan is secretly running for president

He simply doesnt want to be president right now. One aide said over my dead body would Ryan emerge from Cleveland with the GOP nomination.

But apparently it didnt work. Wasnt Shermanesque enough, or something. So Ryan had to actually go before the cameras to say he was telling the truth in his previous denials.

Why, after all, would he want to be the guy who fractured the party in Cleveland, crippling any chance he would have to win?

One thing about political reporters is they dont like to take no for an answer. Elizabeth Warren was constantly asked about a presidential bid even after denying it six ways to Sunday. Turns out we should have taken her at her word.

Now theres a lower-profile effort to enlist...James Mattis.

The retired general, nicknamed Mad Dog, is the former head of Central Command. The Daily Beast says some conservative billionaires have ordered up research on how Mattis could get on enough fall ballots to win 270 electoral votesor at least block a Hillary victory and throw the election into the House. Mattis has received the memos, the piece says.

But then this paragraph throws cold water on the effort:

Another limiting factor is Mattis himself, who is disinclined to run. These strategists hope he could change his mind if he were to feel compelled to serve his country.

Navy Times quotes one of the movements leaders, former Jeb Bush adviser John Noonan, as saying of Mattis: I think if he is asked, his initial response will be somewhere between no and 'hell no. But perhaps he could be persuaded.

Are we headed into fantasy land here?

Its obvious that the GOP is deeply split over Trump and Cruz. But the dream that a white knight will come along to rescue the party isnt grounded in reality.
The fire of anti-Washington sentiment thats burning through the country this election season has found some new fuel in the latest Congressional Pig Book, an annual tome detailing federal government waste.

Citizens Against Government Waste, in their latest report, found that the cost of earmarks increased 21 percent from fiscal 2015, despite a 2011 moratorium on earmarks imposed by then-House Speaker John Boehner.

"Every two years when a new Congress comes around, the Republican conference has to vote again to establish a new moratorium, and there are 70 to 80 votes to keep earmarking," said CAGW President Tom Schatz. "Until there is a permanent ban on earmarks they can always creep back up as they have been over the last several years."

Among the expenditures flagged as waste: $40 million to upgrade the M1 Abrams tank, even though the Pentagon says the upgrade isn't needed or wanted.

"There are 2,000 of them parked in the desert and it's simply not something that they want to spend money on," Schatz said.

He adds while the M1 tank is assembled in Lima, Ohio, its suppliers are spread across the country, which helps to explain why it has broad congressional support.

Another expense uncovered by CAGW: $56.6 million for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program (HIDTA) at the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

It was originally intended for border states, but earmarks have now broadened the program to 10 states -- only two of which are on the border. Ironically, the Obama administration had targeted the program for $54 million in cuts for fiscal 2017 -- almost an exact inverse of the increase mandated by the congressional earmark.

In another example, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, managed to secure a $5.9 million earmark for The East-West Center in his home state of Hawaii. The State Department has long said the center -- founded in 1960 to promote better relations with Asia and the Pacific region -- was not needed. In a December 2015 press release, Schatz took credit for securing the $5.9 million earmark, noting it was $5.9 million more than the administration wanted.

CAGW singled out earmarks to the Department of Defense as particularly excessive. It cited $20 million for alternative energy research, an expenditure that House Armed Services Committee member Randy Forbes once scolded Navy Secretary Ray Mabus over in a 2011 hearing. "You're not the secretary of Energy, you're the secretary of the Navy," he said.

The Navy's "energy research" produced nothing in savings. To the contrary, CAGW cited figures from the office of Sen. John McCain who noted the Navy spent over $400 per gallon for 20,000 gallons of algae-based bio-fuel.

But CAGW says nothing has fleeced taxpayers as much as the most expensive weapons program in history -- the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Now four years behind schedule and $170 billion over budget, the F-35 program was unique in that its development and procurement occurred simultaneously. The unforeseen effect was that as numerous problems were identified, changes had to be made to aircraft already in production.

The release of the Congressional Pig Book overlapped Thursday with a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on a new Government Accountability Office report on government inefficiency. It found 92 new actions that the federal government could take to improve operations.
Environmentalists backing a Big Tobacco-style government probe of oil companies plotted their strategy for targeting companies like ExxonMobil at a closed-door meeting in Manhattan earlier this year, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The report sheds new light on an evolving campaign against the fossil fuel industry that has drawn in several attorneys general who are now investigating ExxonMobil.

According to the Journal, the January meeting in Manhattan was a key moment and brought together several veteran environmental activists to discuss how to establish in [the] publics mind that Exxon is a corrupt institution that has pushed humanity (and all creation) toward climate chaos and grave harm.

Critics described the meeting as proof of collusion in the campaign against ExxonMobil.

That push has developed as several AGs -- most recently in Massachusetts and the U.S. Virgin Islands -- have launched their own investigations into claims that oil companies misled the public about the risks of global warming.

The company went to court Wednesday to try to block a subpoena by the Virgin Islands attorney general.

The chilling effect of this inquiry, which discriminates based on viewpoint to target one side of an ongoing policy debate, strikes at protected speech at the core of the First Amendment, the companys court filing said, according to the Journal.

The newspaper reported that environmentalists want to encourage state prosecutors, as well as the Justice Department, to launch investigations.

Its about helping the larger public understand the urgencies of finding climate solutions, Lee Wasserman, head of the Rockefeller Family Fund which hosted the January meeting, told the Journal. Its not really about Exxon.

While the state investigations utilize different laws, they all aim to replicate the success of the federal governments 1999 case against Big Tobacco, in which the industry was accused of misleading the public about smoking and nicotine risks.

Exxon representatives say the accusations against the oil giant are laughable and not credible.
The head of the Republican National Committee defended the party's presidential nominating process late Tuesday in a social media post directed at party front-runner Donald Trump.

Trump has repeatedly complained about the delegate-selection system after this past weekend's Colorado state convention, at which Texas Sen. Ted Cruz gained all 34 delegates to this summer's Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

"Our Republican system is absolutely rigged. It's a phony deal," Trump told a rally in a packed airport hangar in Rome, N.Y., Tuesday evening. The real estate mogul told the crowd the delegate-selection system was set up by "crooked politicians" to make sure a candidate like him could never win.

"These are dirty tricksters," he said, placing the blame on the Republican National Committee. "They should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this kind of crap to happen," he added, saying that both Republicans and Democrats have set up "phony rules and regulations" that makes it "impossible for a guy that wins to win."

He went further a few hours later during a CNN town hall in New York City, suggesting the RNC was actively working to defeat him.

"The RNC doesn't like this happening. They don't like that I'm putting up my own money because it means they don't have any control over me," Trump said, arguing that the deck is "stacked against me by the establishment."

Meanwhile, Cruz tore into Trump in a radio interview Tuesday, accusing his rival of being a bully, inciting violence and using dirty tricks to intimidate voters and delegates.

Cruz unloaded on Trump over reports that his supporters were publishing the home addresses of delegates in Colorado and threatening to make public the hotel room numbers of delegates at the convention this summer.

"That is the tactic of union thugs," Cruz told host Glenn Beck. "That is violence. It is oppressive. The idea that Donald is threatening delegates, we're seeing that pattern over and over again."

Cruz even compared Trump to the lead character from "The Godfather."

"Donald needs to understand he's not Michael Corleone," Cruz said. "Donald needs to stop threatening the voters. He needs to stop threatening the delegates. He is not a mobster."

Cruz also discounted the seriousness of the Trump candidacy, saying: "There was a real chance this was a lark, this was 'let's get some publicity, let's have some fun.' And I think he was surprised as anybody."

Cruz also joked that Trump is doing so poorly in securing delegates that he would have to fire himself from his reality show, "The Apprentice", and even got in a jab at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who endorsed Trump after dropping out of the race.

"Chris Christie right now is trapped in his own private hell," Cruz said. "When Chris was standing behind Donald holding his jacket, the look in his eyes. You could see the screaming."

Meanwhile, Trump released a new radio ad, that referenced Cruz's shot at "New York values" during a GOP debate, telling voters in next week's primaries that "other candidates do not like us."

Cruz conceded that Trump will do well in upcoming primaries, including in Trump's home state of New York next Tuesday.

"He ought to win his home state convincingly," Cruz said, setting expectations high for Trump. "If Donald isn't substantially above 50 percent in New York, it will be a big loss for him."

Cruz said he will fare better when the race shifts back west to Indiana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Montana, before finishing in California on June 7.

"If and when the people of California vote against Donald Trump, he's going to scream that they're stealing the election," Cruz said. "Apparently when anyone votes against him it's an act of theft."

Trump urged his supporters to turn out next Tuesday, not only to support his bid but to send a message to their party.

"You've got to show the Republican Party that they can't get away with this stuff any longer," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bernie Sanders may be joining Donald Trump in complaining about the presidential nominating process, but the underdog Democrats supporters nonetheless are fully engaged in some heavy arm-twisting of so-called superdelegates to win them over from front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Superdelegates are elected officials and other party insiders who can support whichever candidate they want at the Democratic presidential convention. Since the outset of the race, Clinton has had the inside track with them.

But those insiders are coming under heavy pressure to reconsider.

One anti-Clinton activist recently set up what he called the Superdelegate Hit List, a website housing contact information for the influential delegates  he later renamed it the Superdelegate List after complaints, but is still encouraging people to find these officials and hold them accountable to our votes.

Bob Mulholland, a longtime member of the Democratic National Committee and Clinton superdelegate, also recently published an open letter saying hes heard complaints from colleagues about getting harassing emails, Facebook postings and phone calls demanding they support Sanders.

The Sanders camp is openly courting superdelegates but denies involvement in these outside efforts and says they are not encouraging aggressive tactics.

"We want people to be courteous and respectful in dealing with anyone," said Tad Devine, a senior Sanders adviser.

The alleged arm-twisting, though, reflects broader frustration among Sanders supporters and others with the partys delegate process. A similar situation is playing out on the Republican side, where Texas Sen. Ted Cruz lately has proved better at navigating the behind-the-scenes battle for delegates than front-runner Donald Trump, even though Trump has won more primary and caucus contests. The billionaire businessman, who maintains a significant delegate lead, has lashed out at party leaders, calling the process rigged against him.

On both sides, the complaints center around the ability of unbound delegates to support any candidate, regardless of how voters cast their ballots. On the Democratic side, Sanders supporters have been angered by the ability of superdelegates to give Clinton an even bigger lead.

Counting those insiders, Clintons lead is nearly 700 delegates. But if one counts only the pledged delegates, Clintons lead shrinks to just 251.

Still, its unclear whether any sizeable number of Clinton superdelegates would consider switching. One high-profile lawmaker in Clintons corner, Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., said theres no way hell abandon her.

There is nothing that Bernie Sanders can do that would make me switch sides. I have an obligation as a superdelegate, number one, to reflect the will of the people in my congressional district  and, number two, to reflect my own priorities, he told Fox News.

Sanders argument about having momentum has been bolstered after winning seven of the last eight state contests, most recently in Wyoming. But the map could soon be turning once again in Clintons favor, as New York and other states prepare to vote.

Clintons team also has flipped the script on Sanders supporters, accusing them of rigging the system. Spokesman Brian Fallon told CNN that Clinton is winning the popular vote, and what Sanders is trying to do is flip superdelegates and overturn the will of the people.

Sanders campaign officials said late last month that theyre courting superdelegates but described those who are undecided  as opposed to those backing Clinton  as the best targets.

Spencer Thayer, the activist who created the online database of superdelegate contact information, told The Washington Post his site is not affiliated with the Sanders campaign, though he described the Vermont senator as irrefutably a better candidate than Hillary Clinton.

The websites home page asks concerned voters to submit superdelegate contact information. A work-in-progress online spreadsheet includes phone numbers, addresses, email addresses and other information on them.

In launching the site, Thayer declared on Twitter that its aimed at harassing superdelegates.

Speaking to the Post, he pushed back on the criticism hes faced. "Historically, the superdelegates have been able to disenfranchise voters without being held accountable," he told the Post. "The Internet has changed power relationships between party leaders and their constituents, and those in power have a tendency to interpret challenges to their authority as harassment."

Fox News Peter Doocy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
It will take a coalition of 50,000 troops on the ground to defeat the Islamic State, according to the former army chief of staff who spent more than four years serving in Iraq and who is credited, along with retired General David Petraeus, with being the architect of the successful 2007 troop surge there.

"Probably around 50,000," said Gen. Raymond T. Odierno during a panel discussion moderated by Fox News for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Odierno, who received the George P. Shultz award for distinguished service, emphasized the 50,000 would not all be U.S. troops, but the coalition would need to be U.S.- led.

While the general, who commanded all U.S. forces from 2008 to 2010, said he supports a unified country, he added the U.S. government needs to consider whether Iraq has already been divided into three sectors by the sectarian violence -- Shia, Sunni and Kurd. Odierno fingered the newly emboldened Iran as a primary agitator.

"Today, I think it's becoming harder and harder to have a unified Iraq, he said. And the reason is I believe the influence of Iran inside of Iraq is so great, they will never allow the Sunnis to participate in a meaningful way in the government. If that doesn't happen, you cannot have a unified Iraq."

Odierno, who argued for leaving 20,000 troops in Iraq but met resistance from several senior Obama administration officials as well as then Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki, said the decision to pull out became a self-inflicted wound.

The withdrawal made it harder, if not impossible, for the U.S. government to independently assess what was happening on the ground, at a time when the alienation of the Sunni population fueled the rise of ISIS.

"We lost what we call our human intelligence network on the ground, he said. I mean we used to have a pretty significant human intelligence operation. So as we pulled out, our U.S. military, we lose it. So we have to depend on Iraqis, which they collect intelligence, but they do it a little bit differently than we do and they look for different things."

Speaking at the CIA Wednesday, President Obama touted the air campaign against ISIS, though Odierno said air power can only go so far, and working with the local Iraqis was the cornerstone of the surge.

When he was in Iraq, Odierno had first-hand knowledge of the ISIS leader Omar al-Baghdadi, who, at the time was a nondescript bomb maker with control over small Baghdad neighborhoods.

"We had captured him a couple of times, released him. He then fled to, I think, Syria. And then he shows (up) - and all of a sudden, I see him on TV making a pronouncement that he's the head of ISIS," Odierno recalled. "You have these individuals who've grown up now fighting the U.S. or whatever - an insurgency - and that becomes their life. And so they continue to grow and grow and grow and some of them become leaders of a movement, which is what he did.

The retired general continued to sound the alarm about military cuts, saying the army has "lost capability" at a time when the likelihood of responding to threats on five continents is not hypothetical.

At the same time, the number of American troops dropped from over 100,000 to 50,000. In 2015, the White House sent 450 military advisers to train and assist Iraqi forces battling ISIS, with 5,000 troops.

Fox News' William Turner contributed to this report.
Fox News host Megyn Kelly and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump met in New York City on Wednesday morning.

Kelly requested the meeting with Trump, which was held at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

Kelly said Wednesday night on "The Kelly File" the two met for about an hour, and had "a chance to clear the air."

"Mr. Trump and I discussed the possibility of an interview and I hope we will have news to announce on that soon," she said.

Kelly added that the doormen "appeared a bit stunned" when she walked in the building, but they, too, were "incredibly nice."

FOX News Chairman & CEO Roger Ailes has spoken to Donald Trump a few times over the past three months about appearing on a FOX Broadcasting special with Megyn Kelly airing on May 23, Fox News said in a statement on Wednesday. Kelly has acknowledged in recent interviews that Trump is a fascinating person to cover and has electrified the Republican base.

Trump confirmed the meeting with Kelly at a town hall hosted by Fox News' Sean Hannity in Pittsburgh, Pa., but did not say what was discussed. The crowd booed the initial mention of Kelly's name.

"She was very, very nice," Trump said. "I give her a lot of credit for doing what she did. Let's see what happens."


The U.S. has ramped up its fight against the Islamic State terror group's online capabilities, dropping so-called "cyber bombs" on the militants, a top Pentagon official said Tuesday.

"Those guys are under enormous pressure. Every time we have gone after one of their defended positions over the last six months, we have defeated them. They have left, they have retreated," Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work told Reuters.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter gave some explanation for the concept of "cyber bombs" in a February NPR interview.

"We are using cyber tools, which is really a major new departure... These are strikes that are conducted in the warzone using cyber essentially as a weapon of war, just like we drop bombs," Carter said.

Analysts say ISIS has frequently used the Internet to spread its message, regularly releasing photos and videos on social media. The latest edition of its magazine "Dabiq" went online this week.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has helped Iraqi forces as they prepare operations to retake the northern city of Mosul. While they got off to a slow start, there have been some recent advances, and officials say momentum has been growing in the fight against ISIS.

Secretary of State John Kerry, during a visit to Baghdad last Friday, pledged $155 million in new U.S. aid to Iraq and offered a show of political support to Iraq's beleaguered Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Scientists have found the oldest-known manmade evidence of an exoplanetary system and its been sitting in a basement for almost a century on a piece of glass.

In 1917 at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, an astronomer used a 60-inch telescope to record data from a star now known to be a white dwarf. In the pre-digital era, scientists used glass photographic plates to record elemental information about the stars they observed.

They didnt know it at the time, but that old form of technology contained telltale clues that that star once probably had planetary bodies or asteroids around it.

Related: Exploding stars leave radioactive clues beneath Earth's oceans

Nearly a century later, a scientist named Jay Farihi, of University College London, reached out to the current director of the Carnegie Observatories, John Mulchaey, and asked for that specific photographic plate. Luckily, an archivist was able to locate it among the quarter million or so plates the observatory has in its basement.

Sure enough, the spectrum captured on that plate long ago revealed the presence of calcium and other heavy elements that a white dwarf star wouldnt have had implying that planetary bodies, asteroids, or maybe even a comet fell into it.

Likely this system had multiple planets, Mulchaey told FoxNews.com. We dont know what fell in. But it certainly implies that there were planets there.

Related: 'Bone scars' reveal the varied growth of dinosaur cousins

Scientists now refer to this kind of star as a polluted white dwarf.

Its the evidence of the calcium captured with the old technology that made this inference possible. This is not just a tiny little bit of calcium, Mulchaey said. This is a pretty significant detection I mean, were seeing this in data thats 99 years old.

The star, a white dwarf, is what happens when a star begins to die and only the inner core is left. In billions of years, our Sun will do the same.

Related: Archaeologists discover rare incense shovel in Israel

We certainly had the technology to detect this evidence of this planetary system almost a hundred years ago, Mulchaey added it was only when the old data was analyzed in the current day, with its vastly better scientific understanding, that its true meaning was illuminated.
Astronomers are trying to take the measure of Planet Nine before the hypothesized world has even been discovered.

Earlier this year, astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown, both of whom are based at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, proposed that a large planet lurks undetected in the outer solar system, far beyond Pluto's orbit.

Batygin and Brown didn't spot this prospective Planet Nine; rather, they inferred its existence based on the orbits of a half-dozen objects in the Kuiper Belt, the ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune. [Planet Nine: The Evidence for a New Giant Planet in Pictures]

These objects' orbits suggest that Planet Nine may be about 10 times more massive than Earth, and may circle the sun at an average distance of 600 astronomical units (AU) or so, Batygin and Brown said. (One AU is the average distance from Earth to the sun  about 93 million miles)

Now, a new study models what Planet Nine  which, contrary to the claims of a recent New York Post video, will not destroy the Earth  might look like if those parameters are on the money.

Astrophysics professor Christoph Mordasini and his Ph.D. student Esther Linder, both of the University of Bern in Switzerland, assumed that Planet Nine  if it exists  is basically a smaller version of the "ice giants" Uranus and Neptune, with an atmosphere dominated by hydrogen and helium.

The duo then calculated that such a 10-Earth-mass Planet Nine would be about 3.7 times wider than our planet, with a temperature of minus 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

"This means that the planets emission is dominated by the cooling of its core; otherwise, the temperature would only be 10 Kelvin," Linder said in a statement.

Since reflected sunlight would contribute very little to the total radiation emitted by Planet Nine, it would be much brighter in infrared light than in visual wavelengths, Mordasini and Linder said.

"With our study, candidate Planet Nine is now more than a simple point mass; it takes shape, having physical properties," Mordasini said in the same statement.

The researchers also used the results of their modeling work to investigate just how detectable Planet Nine might be. They determined that the various sky surveys that astronomers have already performed were likely incapable of spotting a Planet Nine that's less than 20 Earth masses, especially if the mysterious world were close to aphelion (the planet's farthest point from the sun during its highly elliptical orbit). But NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite likely would have spotted a Planet Nine harboring more than 50 Earth masses.

"This puts an interesting upper mass limit for the planet," Linder said.

Further surveys and future instruments  such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which is currently being built in Chile  should be able to confirm or rule out the existence of Planet Nine, the researchers said.

The new study has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

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The FBI reportedly paid professional hackers for a piece of hardware that enabled investigators to access an iPhone belonging to San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook.

According to The Washington Post, the hackers alerted the bureau to the previously undiscovered software flaw in the iPhone 5C. They then used the information to create the tool that enabled the FBI to decipher the phone's four-digit PIN without triggering a security feature that would have erased the phone's data after 10 failed attempts.

Last week, FBI director James Comey said the bureau had "purchased a tool" from a third party to hack the phone, but did not elaborate further. The Post said investigators had not used the services of Israeli mobile forensics firm Cellebrite to crack the device, despite earlier reports in the Israeli media.

Comey also said last week that the hardware only works on a iPhone 5C, the type of phone that was distributed to Farook by his employer, the San Bernardino County health department.

Farook died in a gun battle with police alongside his wife after the couple killed 14 people at a county office building last Dec. 2.

Details of the hackers' identities were not immediately available, but the Post said at least one of them was considered a so-called "gray hat" hacker. The term refers to a hacker or security reacher who sell information about software flaws to third parties, including government who are working on surveillance projects. By contrast, a "white hat" hacker informs the public or firms responsible for the software so the flaws can be fixed, while a "black hat" hacker exploits the flaws to hack networks and steal people's information.

Officials have not revealed whether any useful information has been recovered from Farook's phone, and they have not said whether they will share with Apple the method they used to break into the device.

In a speech to law students at Catholic University in Washington D.C. Tuesday, Comey said the FBI was correct to ask a judge to force Apple Inc. to help it hack into the phone earlier this year. However, Comey also said he regretted that the San Bernardino case had "created an emotion around the issue that was not productive".

"Some of the emotion that I've received around this issue reminds me sometimes  (in) the absolutist and slippery slope arguments  remind me of some of the rhetoric we hear in the gun debate. It's the same kind of rhetoric and passion in this conversation," he said.

Comey said the conversation would certainly persist given that there are "plenty" of cases affected by encryption. The Justice Department last week said that it would continue trying to force Apple to reveal an iPhone's data in a New York City drug case.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from The Washington Post.
Meet the 32-ton armored combat vehicle thats the ultimate tractor albeit one that can punch holes through concrete, fire rockets, and carve safe passage through minefields for soldiers.

BAE Systems Terrier is affectionately known as the Swiss Army Knife of combat vehicles because there isn't anything it can't tackle. A multi-tool on a giant scale, the Terrier is a number of critical vehicles all in one. It can quickly adapt to tackle a range of important tasks. It even has a 26-foot arm.

Terrier can destroy enemy runways, rip holes in concrete compounds where terrorists hide, and dismantle bridges.

Related: DARPA wants your weapon ideas, offers cash prizes

This mammoth machine beast can even unleash PYTHON rocket-propelled explosives to destroy concealed IEDS, protecting dismounted troops.

What can it do?

Like tractors found all throughout the United States, Terrier can lift, grab and move things. But the Terrier is next level: its front loader system can lift five tons.

It can move a staggering 300 tons of earth per hour  thats about the weight of 120 5,000-pound SUVs.

The vehicle can deploy its excavator arm and bucket to destroy bridges, obstacles, and more. In both day and night conditions, the vehicles cameras provide 360-degree vision.

Related: Inside the first-ever Special Ops Urban Assault competition

In spite of weighing a mammoth 32 tons, Terrier can reach speeds of more than 45 miles per hour. Off-roading is no problem for Terrier, and it can even execute missions that require travelling through water and braving six-foot waves.

This cutting-edge vehicle can even be run by remote control from about 3300 feet away.

Defeating bombs

So it can shift an enormous amount of weight but thats just the beginning of its talents in war zones.

In the battlespace, IEDs remains a serious, ongoing threat. Terrier can help defeat this threat and play a key role in keeping military, aid personnel, and civilians safe.

Related: 6 top picks in elite sniper tech

Terriers telescopic investigation arm extends over more than 26 feet from the vehicle. The long arm allows warfighters to probe and unearth buried devices from a safe distance.

A special IED-focused plow--like a massive cattle guard can also be quickly attached to Terrier to defeat this threat.

Hammer, ripper and auger

The highly adaptive Terrier is packed with features. Terriers can now also come equipped with a rock hammer, ripper and earth auger.

Terriers hammer can split rocks and even penetrate concrete. Its ripper can tear up roads or runways. How is that useful downrange? One example would be preventing enemy use of transportation routes.

And for combat engineering tasks, the Terriers earth auger can drill holes.

Wet work

BAE Systems new advancements mean the Terrier will also be able to wade through much deeper waters. It will even be able to withstand more than six-foot wave surges.

For combat, the surge protection and the deeper wading capabilities mean the Terrier can be even more useful in coastal and other low-lying areas. Beyond combat, the enhanced wading will mean better support in humanitarian aid and disaster response.

Related: Top special operations snipers go head to head

BAE Systems designed the Terrier to provide the British Army with maximum flexibility from a single vehicle.

Terriers all in one, streamlined approach means the military can reduce the massive equipment they need downrange and just bring one vehicle to do the jobs of several.


In an effort to attract more foreigners to the country, the Japanese government will begin testing a system this summer that will allow foreign tourists to purchase items in stores using only their fingerprints, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

The idea behind this new system is that it will prevent crime and make it so users dont have to carry cash or credit cards with them, The Yomiuri Shimbun said.

The government is hoping the system will be up and running by the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Japanese newspaper reported.

During the experiment, tourists will register their fingerprints and other personal information, such as credit card data, the newspaper said. Then when they want to buy something, the tourists would simply place two fingers on special devices that will be available at stores.

The government will use fingerprint authentication in place of the current requirement that foreign tourists show their passports when checking into ryokan inns or hotels, according to the newspaper.

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Georgia police are pursuing an accused child molester and a probation violator who escaped from Meriwether County Jail on Tuesday night, FOX5 reported.

Eugene Lamar Mitchell, 34, was being held on charges of incest, statutory rape, aggravated sexual battery, felony burglary, child molestation and aggravated child molestation. Travion Terrell Hall, 29, was being held on a probation violation.

The pair is believed to have executed the breakout around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

We currently have our patrol deputies, K-9 units and investigators, as well as outside resources searching for these two escapees, Meriwether Sheriffs Chief Deputy Col. Byron Hadley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a statement.

Mitchell was seen in the Rocky Mount area around 11 p.m. on Tuesday wearing a different set of clothing than his jail-issued orange jumpsuit, Hadley said.

The Meriwether County Jail, in Greenville, is about 64 miles southwest of Atlanta.

Click for more from FOX5.
A 72-year-old woman who was rescued from an Arizona forest after spelling out "help" on the ground with sticks told reporters she first got lost after taking a "long wrong turn" on the way to see her grandkids.

It took searchers nine days to find Ann Rodgers in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona earlier this month. She said she had food and water in her car but ran out after several days and turned to survival mode.

"I was eating desert plants. My dog was too, diving into clovers and finding all the places that were the easiest to go," she said, adding that her daughter-in-law taught her to dress in layers.

Rodgers went missing March 31 as she headed to visit her grandchildren in Phoenix. She got lost, and her hybrid vehicle ran out of gas and electric power, authorities said. Her car was discovered three days after a search began, but rescue crews struggled to find her.

Authorities came across her dog April 9, and a department flight crew spotted a "help" signal made of sticks and rocks on the ground. Rodgers had left the area, but she was found nearby on the Fort Apache Reservation after starting a signal fire.

Rodgers said she was waving to the helicopter. When it landed to rescue her, she sat down and cried.

The Department of Public Safety said Rodgers was suffering from exposure, but she was in fair condition and able to walk to and board the helicopter with little assistance. She was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Payson for treatment and later released.

Rodgers is from Tucson and was on a hike Tuesday afternoon, the Department of Public Safety said. It was not clear how she ended up in the eastern part of the state because the drive from Tucson to Phoenix is a straight shot on Interstate 10, which does not run through the area where she was found.

Rodgers' rescue came after three men who spelled out "help" with palm fronds were saved from a remote Pacific island last week. They swam to a tiny Micronesian island when their boat capsized, and searchers spotted them two days later.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A headless body found in a rural area of North Carolina last week reportedly belongs to an inmate who escaped from prison on Easter Sunday.

The Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald reported Tuesday that authorities identified the body as 26-year-old Kelvin Singleton. He broke out of Chowan County Jail in Edenton and was last seen near the town limits.

A member of a hunting club discovered Singletons body partially nude and decomposing in a wooded area near Midway, the paper reported. Bertie County Sheriff John Holley said the body may have been at the location where it was found for about a week.

The head has not been recovered.

Chowan County Sheriff Dwayne Goodwin called the inmates death the most bizarre he has seen in his 25 years of law enforcement.

We have interviewed a ton of people. We don't have a motive or anything at this pointno suspect, no motive, Goodwin told the New York Daily News.

According to the News-Herald, police initially believed Singleton may have taken a flight to Charlotte, where his mother and his child live. However, no one had reported seeing him in the area after his escape.

Goodwin said at the time of Singletons escape that he used a weapon-like tool made from his toothbrush to force a detention officer to release him.

Singleton had been jailed on charges of robbery and second-degree kidnapping. He was also facing an assault charge in Charlotte.

The Bertie County Sheriffs Office and the State Bureau of Investigation are investigating Singletons death as a homicide.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald.
Federal authorities announced Monday they are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of artwork that was stolen from a Missouri museum  including Any Warhol prints of Campbell's soup.

The FBI said the theft at the Springfield Art Museum took place April 7 and involved seven of 10 Andy Warhol prints on permanent display. The sites Warhol collection is valued at $500,000.

The Springfield News-Leader first reported the reward announcement.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the museum has owned all 10 of the Andy Warhol paintings since 1985. The collection is set No. 31 in the Campbell Soup collection.

Each piece of artwork is 37 inches high, by 24.5 inches wide and is in white frames, the paper reported.

Springfield police spokeswoman Lisa Cox told the News-Leader Monday they museum didnt receive any alarm calls overnight and the first report to authorities came at 10 a.m. The break-in is suspected to have taken place in the early hours of the morning.

Museum Director Nick Nelson told the paper the museum has video surveillance in addition to two full-time guards and two part-time guards.

Nelson didnt say whether the footage captured anyone involved in the theft.

The News-Leader reported that Interpol was also alerted in the theft case.

City spokeswoman Cora Scott said the museum is a city department funded through property taxes. She said all the works at the museum are covered by a fine arts insurance policy that has an annual premium of roughly $14,000.

Anyone with information is urged to call the FBI in Springfield at 417-882-3303, the Springfield police tip line at 417-689-TIPS or their local police department.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A group of more than 100 former state attorneys general is asking President Barack Obama to pardon former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who's serving a prison sentence for bribery.

The letter was sent to the White House on Wednesday.

Former New York Attorney General Bob Abrams said they believe the Democrat's conviction was unjust and tarnished by politics.

Siegelman was convicted in 2006 of selling a board appointment to HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy in exchange for contributions to his 1999 campaign to establish a state lottery.

Presidential intervention is Siegelman's final hope of getting his prison sentence cut. Appellate courts have upheld his conviction.

Siegelman was sentenced to more than six years in prison. The 70-year-old former governor will be released in 2017.
A judge on Wednesday ordered so-called affluenza teen Ethan Couch to spend two years behind bars  180 days for each of the four people he killed in a fatal 2013 drunken-driving wreck.



That's likely to provide little comfort to the families of Breanna Mitchell, Brian Jennings, Hollie Boyles and Shelby Boyles, who already have spent more time without their loved ones than Couch is set to spend in jail.



Never once has Ethan apologized in any shape or form, Eric Boyles, whose wife, Hollie, and daughter, Shelby, were killed in the crash, told ABC in 2015.

Until Wednesday, Couch's only punishment for the 2013 crash had been probation, leaving families little recourse except to seek financial compensation. Eric Boyles filed one suit seeking more than $1 million and Mitchell's mom and Jennings' wife each filed their own lawsuits.

Two passengers in Couch's truck who were injured that night also sued him. One of those passengers, Sergio Molina, suffered brain damage and ultimately settled with Couch for $2 million in 2014.



Couch appeared in adult court Wednesday for the first time, as he is no longer considered a juvenile. He spent his 19th birthday on Monday in a Texas jail cell.



Judge Wayne Salvant sentenced Couch to four consecutive 180-day sentences (720 total days)  one for each victim he killed. It was not clear if that would include the time Couch has already spent in jail.

Couch was originally sentenced to probation for killing four people and seriously injuring two others in June 2013 when the then-16-year-old rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people helping a disabled motorist. His blood-alcohol level was three times above the legal limit for adult drivers. Attorneys for Couch argued that his affluent life contributed to his wreckless actions, with one defense psychologist using the term "affluenza."



Couch, however, appeared to violate the terms of his probation when he was seen at a party where alcohol was being served in an online video. After the video became public, Couch and his mother fled to Mexico in December. He was eventually captured and returned to the U.S. in January.

Salvant told prosecution and defense attorneys they had two weeks to review the ruling and see if they could change my mind about the sentence.

The 2013 fatal wreck wasn't Couch's first run-in with the law.

At 15, Couch was given two citations after a police officer found him behind the wheel of a pickup truck next to a half-naked girl, with an open vodka bottle on the backseat floor.

"I spoke with him at some length about the various consequences of his driving and drinking," a police officer wrote in a report, "such as effects on (his) driver's license and his path in life, especially DWI and even killing someone in a DWI."

Couch's father, Fred, runs a roofing and construction company and has faced lawsuits over a $100,000 debt and allegations of sexual harassment. Tonya, Couch's mother, has been charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon for helping Ethan flee to Mexico.

Dr. Dick Miller, the psychologist who suggested Couch had "affluenza," blamed Couch's parents at his sentencing for having "taught him a system that's 180 degrees from rational. If you hurt someone, say you're sorry. In that family, if you hurt someone, send some money."



Fox News' Casey Stegall and The Associated Press contributed to this report.


The husband of one of the three victims of a shooting at two Jewish sites in Kansas filed a lawsuit Monday over the sale of the shotguns used in the attack.

Jim LaManno filed the lawsuit in Jackson County Circuit Court in Missouri. He names Walmart and several other entities in the suit, the Kansas City Star reported.

Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., 75, was sentenced to death last year for the shooting that killed LaManno's wife, Terri, 53, at the Village Shalom retirement home in Overland Park. William Corporon, 69, and his 14-year-old grandson, Reat Underwood, were killed at the nearby Jewish Community Center.

Jim LaMannos lawsuit alleges that Miller, a felon prohibited from purchasing guns, used two weapons that were purchased by his friend John Mark Reidle. Reidle allegedly bought one of the weapons at a gun show and the other at Walmart.

Reidle was sentenced to five years of probation for falsely claiming he was buying one of the shotguns for himself on a federal form that was filed out at a Missouri Walmart days before the shooting. Miller claimed the gun was a present for his son and asked Reidle to fill out the form, according to the plea agreement.

Reidle told investigators that Miller asked for help with the purchase because he didnt have any identification on him.

The suit also said Reidle and Miller attended a Springfield gun show in October 2013, where Reidle brought at least one firearm. Based on the mens remarks and behavior, employees at Friendly Firearms LLC knew, had reason to know, or recklessly failed to know that Miller was not lawfully entitled to purchase or possess a firearm, the lawsuit said.

The victims' family and friends gathered at the Jewish center Tuesday to dedicate a memorial, part of a weeklong series of events meant to foster kindness and interfaith dialogue.

The memorial includes a sculpture attached to an outside wall of the center, featuring three waves of intertwined steel strands that cast different reflections as the sun moves. The theme, "Ripples," is meant to reflect how the victims' lives affected others and that all people are interconnected. The memorial also includes a plaque with pictures of the three victims.

"Hate has no place here," Ace Allen, board chairman of the center, told the nearly 80 people at Tuesday's ceremony. "We honor them by doing the opposite of destroying, by building, by creating."

Mindy Corporon, mother of one victim and the daughter of another, read from a journal entry that recalled the tragedy as a "loud explosion that rocked our world. As we pick ourselves up from the rubble, we look for survivors like us. Here we stand, walk and pray. But not alone. Together."

Miller, a noted white supremacist, has said the shooting was part of his duty to stop genocide against the white race. None of the victims were Jewish.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Man sues gun sellers over weapons used in 2014 shootings at Kansas Jewish sites

By ,

The husband of one of the three victims of a shooting at two Jewish sites in Kansas filed a lawsuit Monday over the sale of the shotguns used in the attack.

Jim LaManno filed the lawsuit in Jackson County Circuit Court in Missouri. He names Walmart and several other entities in the suit, the Kansas City Star reported.

Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., 75, was sentenced to death last year for the shooting that killed LaManno's wife, Terri, 53, at the Village Shalom retirement home in Overland Park. William Corporon, 69, and his 14-year-old grandson, Reat Underwood, were killed at the nearby Jewish Community Center.

Jim LaMannos lawsuit alleges that Miller, a felon prohibited from purchasing guns, used two weapons that were purchased by his friend John Mark Reidle. Reidle allegedly bought one of the weapons at a gun show and the other at Walmart.

Reidle was sentenced to five years of probation for falsely claiming he was buying one of the shotguns for himself on a federal form that was filed out at a Missouri Walmart days before the shooting. Miller claimed the gun was a present for his son and asked Reidle to fill out the form, according to the plea agreement.

Reidle told investigators that Miller asked for help with the purchase because he didnt have any identification on him.

The suit also said Reidle and Miller attended a Springfield gun show in October 2013, where Reidle brought at least one firearm. Based on the mens remarks and behavior, employees at Friendly Firearms LLC knew, had reason to know, or recklessly failed to know that Miller was not lawfully entitled to purchase or possess a firearm, the lawsuit said.

The victims' family and friends gathered at the Jewish center Tuesday to dedicate a memorial, part of a weeklong series of events meant to foster kindness and interfaith dialogue.

The memorial includes a sculpture attached to an outside wall of the center, featuring three waves of intertwined steel strands that cast different reflections as the sun moves. The theme, "Ripples," is meant to reflect how the victims' lives affected others and that all people are interconnected. The memorial also includes a plaque with pictures of the three victims.

"Hate has no place here," Ace Allen, board chairman of the center, told the nearly 80 people at Tuesday's ceremony. "We honor them by doing the opposite of destroying, by building, by creating."

Mindy Corporon, mother of one victim and the daughter of another, read from a journal entry that recalled the tragedy as a "loud explosion that rocked our world. As we pick ourselves up from the rubble, we look for survivors like us. Here we stand, walk and pray. But not alone. Together."

Miller, a noted white supremacist, has said the shooting was part of his duty to stop genocide against the white race. None of the victims were Jewish.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/us/man-sues-gun-sellers-over-weapons-used-in-2014-shootings-at-kansas-jewish-sites
Technology can be either our best friend or our worst nightmare when it comes to our kids. Every day parents unwittingly allow online dangers into their home that can rob a child of self-esteem, innocence  and in the worst cases, their life.

Parents need to realize that to kids, the Internet is a sort of city  one that parents dont spend a lot of time in, tech genius Walter OBrien told LifeZette. Adults dont know this city, so they dont understand it for what it is, he said. Instagram is a city, Facebook is a city, video games are a city  there are bad people in them, but the cities are very real to kids.

OBrien is founder and CEO of Scorpion Computer Services, Inc., and the executive producer of the CBS drama Scorpion, whose main character is based on OBrien himself.

The cluelessness of parents when it comes to the Internet is, in part, a generational problem, said OBrien. Kids have often surpassed their parents in technical ability, leaving their parents at a disadvantage.

Kids are smart, he said. They will get around a protective firewall, or ask another kid how to get around it, or ask Google how to get around it. Thats why along with online safety measures, its very important to teach your kids good judgment, that anyone can be pretending to be anyone on the Internet, and about half of what they read on the Internet isnt true. Teach common sense, and dont let them get sucked into thinking they have a new friend just because someone nice on the Internet wants their picture.

Every day a news report surfaces related to the dangers posed by the Internet. This week from Australia came the startling report that there are more Australian middle school kids on Tinder than there are adults over age 35. Young kids are using the hook-up app to boost their popularity with their trusting parents none the wiser, the Courier Mail reported.

In Montana this week, Belgrade police detectives are investigating reports of predators, most adult males, using the popular Kik messenger app to target middle school-aged children. The predators are asking children to send inappropriate messages and photos.

Technology can work for us if we take the time to apply the right types of filters to the digital devices our kids use  paired with a heaping dose of common sense that OBrien advocates.

Below are must-have apps to consider downloading if you have kids:

FBI Child ID: Download this app right away in the unlikely event you ever truly need it. It allows you to store photos and other vital information about each of your children.

Sex Offender Search: You will always be aware of who lives in or near your neighborhood with this app. Knowledge is power when it comes to knowing where the bad guys live.

Near Parent: This app works for parents who want their kids to check in periodically. If your child needs help and you arent available, a request is sent to adults chosen by you. Violent weather notifications are also available on this app.

Norton Online Family: This allows parents to monitor their kids web browsing, Internet searches and social media activity. Time on the computer can also be limited with this app.

McGruff Safeguard Browser: Limit your childrens access to pornography and gambling sites. A daily summary of kids browsing history is available as well.

SecuraFone: This app uses a smartphones GPS to locate your kids, and also find out how fast they are driving. You can also receive an alert if your child travels beyond a certain area.

Icam: Keep an eye on your kids when you arent home. All you need is a webcam and a computer in the room you want to monitor.

For teens and young adults, technology can work in their favor, too, when the worst occurs. Apples "SIRI" received an update in March after researchers discovered unacceptably unhelpful and "lackluster" responses to questions about sexual assault and other personal emergencies, wtop.com reported.

Now, if SIRI hears "I was raped" or "I am being abused," iPhone users are one click away from the National Sexual Assault Hotline. The language SIRI responds with has been subtly softened, as well. (Instead of saying, "You should reach out to someone," SIRI now responds, "You may want to reach out to someone.")

Another developer is keeping smartphone users who like to share photos safe with his app FotoSwipe. The new app allows users to share multiple photos and videos without sharing personal information. FotoSwipe, just a year old, has already been downloaded 2 million times by users around the world.

"Our main focus is quickly and safely sharing photos," FotoSwipe creator Sylvain Dufour told LifeZette. "In the traditional scenario, I would get your phone number or email to send photos to you from my smartphone, and then I would text or email them to you. With FotoSwipe, I dont need your phone number  using the app, I literally swipe the photos from my phone to yours. No contact information is exchanged, which is important; teens and young people are very friendly with strangers."

Users can also swipe unlimited photos and videos from their mobile devices directly to any personal computer, Mac or PC.

The bottom line? Take time to download safety apps that make sense for your life and your family. Combine these with a thorough explanation to your kids of who might be lurking on the Internet  and you're well on your way to a safer digital life.
The mystery man in Utah who left a $1,500 tip for his Denny's waitress -- a single mom -- stepped forward, saying: Family is everything.

Utah Denny's customer acts as 'angel on Earth', touches hearts with act of kindness https://t.co/dxsDdYoEtX pic.twitter.com/AsL9amjZYN  FOX 10 Phoenix (@FOX10Phoenix) April 11, 2016

Briggs VanNess also paid the tabs for seven families at the restaurant. He told FOX26 the donations stemmed from his own troubles in life.

I grew up with a single mother of six  we were poor and homeless a lot, VanNess said. Id spend many nights at my mothers friends houses; my mother was dying from cancer but somehow managed to survive. But I watched and suffered for years as I watched her work her hands to the bone to give us a good life. She raised us to be kind and help others.

VanNess said as he grew older he got in trouble with the law and his behavior led him to lose my family, but he turned his life around and now wanted to give back to others.

So he strolled into a Dennys last week, asked for a waitress who was a single mom, and paid strangers bills for hours on end, spending about $1,000. VanNess check came to just over $21, according to the waitress, Crystal, in a post on Love What Matters. But he still tipped $1,500  or about 7,100 percent.

Many years of fighting my demons, I finally found the light, VanNess said. Now Ive been helping others as I was raised to do. I spent many years becoming a better person. And now its time to pay it back.
An 18-year-old Ohio woman is accused of live-streaming the alleged rape of her 17-year-old friend, authorities said Wednesday.

Marina Alexveena Lonina and Raymond Boyd Gates, 29, were indicted on charges of kidnapping, two counts of rape, one count of sexual battery and several counts of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

Prosecutors said Gates sexually assaulted the woman, who is not being identified, on Feb. 27. Lonina allegedly streamed the encounter live on the app Periscope.

Shes also accused of photographing the 17-year-old girl in a state of nudity the night before the alleged incident, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron OBrien sad.

One of Loninas friends, who lives in another state, viewed the live stream and called police.

Lonina and Gates each face more than 40 years in prison if convicted on all charges, OBrien said.
Two large shipping containers, stamped with the words Contains: Guided Missile, were discovered in the Pacific Ocean near Alaska Sunday.

Alaska State Troopers said the containers were empty, and information from tags attached to the boxes was sent to the U.S. military. There was no immediate public comment from military officials.

Troopers were investigating the discovery of one suspicious box when they got a radio message from another mariner that a second container had been found. Both were found near the southeast island community of Craig.

Clinton Cook Sr. told KTUU-TV he was on a charter boat that found one of the heavy, hard plastic containers. They were going to pass it, but noticed the unusual shape.

"I seen the data plate," Cook said of the plastic box. "It said, 'Contains: Guided missile.' And I was like, 'Holy crap.'"

Cook told the station he was traveling to a job site to lay propane pipes in the Steamboat Bay area when someone saw the object. The crew initially thought it was a float.

Troopers say an explosives ordinance team helped determine the boxes were "void of their original contents." Troopers didn't know any history of the containers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Thousands of pounds of sausage spilled onto I-494 in Minnesota after a semi truck crashed into the median during the Monday morning commute, according to Fox 9.

Crash WB 494 at Prairie Center. Left lane closed in both directions. No injuries. pic.twitter.com/Do7Q053Phx  Eden Prairie PD (@EdenPrairiePD) April 11, 2016

According to Minnesota State Patrol, the driver "had a medical episode and lost consciousness, but was not injured in the crash." Paramedics rushed him to the hospital.

The force of the crash damaged the side of the truck, and boxes of sausage spilled onto the eastbound lanes, according to Lt. Tiffani Nielson.

Both the left eastbound and westbound lanes were closed for about two hours after the incident, which occured at about 8:15 a.m.

Click here for more from Fox 9.
The Navy on Tuesday afternoon called off a search along the North Carolina coast for a sailor reported missing from the Virginia-based USS Carter Hall, The Navy Times reported.

The name of the sailor has not been released, but The Navy Times described her as a junior petty officer.

The sailor's boots were found with a note, according to an internal report viewed by The Times.



Lt. Michael Hatfield said the sailor went missing Saturday from the dock landing ship, which was conducting training operations for a future deployment.

The search focused on an area off Cape Hatteras. The Coast Guard had joined the Navy in the search.



The Carter Hall is part of the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group based at Naval Station Norfolk.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Veterans in Florida say they're disgusted that someone apparently stormed a war memorial in Gainesville and smashed some of it to pieces over the weekend.

This pillar, commemorating the veterans who died since 9/11, was smashed over the weekend at the park off Tower Rd. pic.twitter.com/dneSUkO9cM  Morgan Watkins (@morganwatkins26) April 11, 2016

Its sickening. Nobody should want to do something like that, Korean War veteran Eddie Thomas told Fox 35. Why destroy something for somebody that gave their lives?

The monument, part of a memorial known as "Walk Through Time," honors U.S. service members who died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after September 11th.

The damage likely took place early Sunday morning, investigators tell The Gainesville Sun. Jim Lynch, a member of the Alachua County Veterans Memorial Committee, told the newspaper it's tough to see how this could have been an accident.

Korean War veteran Terry Fitzpatrick said he felt "instant anger."

Officials say it'll cost them more than $2,000 to fix the monument in Veterans Memorial Park -- although they'd already planned a broader renovation.

Fitzpatrick said he had a message for the attacker or attackers: "Youre cowards. You definitely do not understand the history of this country."

Investigators say they're looking into it, but they don't believe security footage caught it.

Click for more from Fox 35.
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The bodies came daily. Sometimes 10, sometimes 20 lives lost to torture, malnutrition or sickness in prison in Chad, say survivors.

Clement Abaifouta, a prisoner himself, had to wrap them in sacks and bury them.

"There was a lot of suffering, a lot of pain," he said about his time in jail until 1989. "What did I do to have gotten four years in prison? I want to know why."

Abaifouta wants justice, like thousands of other political prisoners who were victims of torture during Chadian ex-dictator Hissene Habre's rule from 1982-1990. On Monday Habre will go on trial in Senegal, fulfilling the work of many who say they suffered abuse under his rule and setting a bold precedent for justice in Africa.

For more than a decade after his overthrow Habre lived freely in Senegal. His easy exile was a symbol of impunity in Africa until his he was taken into custody and charged in 2013. Now his trial is a warning to other African dictators that they may be held accountable in Africa for their actions, say human rights experts.

Habre will be tried by the Senegalese courts' Extraordinary African Chambers. It is the first trial in Africa of a universal jurisdiction case, in which a country's national courts can prosecute the most serious crimes committed abroad, by a foreigner and against foreign victims, said Human Rights Watch. It is also the first time the courts of one country are prosecuting the former ruler of another for alleged human rights crimes, it said.

"It shows that you can actually achieve justice here in Africa," said Human Rights Watch counsel Reed Brody who has been working on the case against Habre since 1999.

Habre's government was responsible for an estimated 40,000 deaths, according to report published in May 1992 by a 10-member Chadian truth commission formed by Chad's current President Idriss Deby. The commission particularly blamed Habre's political police force, the Directorate of Documentation and Security, saying it used torture methods including whipping, beating, burning and the extraction of fingernails.

Defense lawyers have dismissed the tribunal as a political tool of Habre's enemies, emphasizing that the government of Deby, who removed Habre from office, is the court's largest donor.

Survivors of the abuse, however, have been the main proponents for justice that is now finally in reach, Brody said.

"The most important thing at end of day is the idea that victims with tenacity, perseverance and imagination can overcome obstacles and bring a dictator to justice," he said.

The court prosecutor says 2,500 victims have registered as civil parties, and 100 will be called to testify during the trial that will last months. Human Rights Watch says 4,000 victims, or victims' family members, will be registered by next week.

Souleymane Guengueng, a prisoner from 1987-1990 and founder of the victims' association has been anticipating this trial for 25 years.

Guengueng was an accountant when he was arrested by Habre's police, who accused him of working with the opposition.

He was stuffed into a tiny prison cell with dozens of others, he said, unable to lie down. Some nights he'd hear screaming of those being tortured and see his friends come back barely alive.

"A lot of my colleagues died at my feet," he said. "I told myself, if I leave I must find justice and tell the truth."

In December 1990 the doors were opened to the prison cells in N'Djamena. Barely able to walk or see in the bright light, he and the hundreds of others made their way home.

He soon started writing up stories from others and hid them away, eventually collecting nearly 800 accounts.

In 2001, Brody found the police force's archives at its headquarters in Chad. The documents listed more than 12,000 victims of Chad's detention network.

Habre was first indicted by a Senegalese judge in 2000, according to Human Rights Watch, but twists and turns over a decade brought the case to Belgium, and then finally back to Senegal. Under a new president, Senegal's national assembly adopted a much-anticipated law to create the special tribunal to try Habre.

"It's been a long path," said Guengueng. "It's the impression of victory especially if Hissene Habre sits in front of us, facing us, and us facing him, and he hears the horrors of our times with his own ears."
An internal German Army report released Monday reveals that 22 soldiers have joined ISIS in Syria or Iraq in recent years, while 65 active soldiers are under investigation on suspicion of having Islamist sympathies, The Local reported.

MAD, the army's military counter-intelligence service, identified the 22 soldiers and has relieved 17 from their duties, the report said.

Just like other fighting forces, the Bundeswehr (German Army) can be attractive for Islamists who want to acquire weapons training, Hans-Peter Bartels, the Social Democratic Party MP in charge of oversight of the army, told the website. But it represents a real danger that we have to take seriously.

The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, The Hague (ICCT) published a study this month saying that between 720 and 760 Germans are believed to have traveled out of the country to join ISIS.

Hans-Georg Maassen told Welt am Sonntag, a German newspaper, that ISIS wanted to carry out attacks against German interests. He said the country has avoided attacks thus far due to increased security and, at times, luck. He pointed out that on one or two occasions, a bomb detonator did not work properly.

At the moment we dont have any knowledge of any concrete terrorist attack plans in Germany, he told Reuters.
Organized crime prosecutors raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm Tuesday looking for evidence of money laundering and financing terrorism following a leak of documents about tax havens it set up for wealthy international clients.



Soon after news reports based on a trove of documents from the firm began emerging more than a week ago, Panama's government had said it would investigate. A half dozen police officers set up a perimeter around the offices while prosecutors searched inside for documents.



The attorney general's office said in a statement that the objective of the raid was "to obtain documentation linked to the information published in news articles that establish the use of the firm in illicit activities." It said searches also were made at other subsidiaries of the firm in Panama and at the telephone company's computer support center.



Mossack Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing, saying it only set up offshore financial accounts and anonymous shell companies for clients and was not involved in how those accounts were used.



The law firm said on its Twitter account Tuesday night that it "continues to cooperate with authorities in investigations begin made at our headquarters."



The search came a day after intellectual property prosecutors visited Mossack Fonseca to follow up on the firm's allegations that a computer hack led to the leak of millions of documents about tax havens.



The firm filed a complaint charging the security breach shortly before the first media reports working with the documents offered details on how politicians, celebrities and companies around the globe were hiding assets in offshore accounts and shell companies.



"Finally the real criminals are being investigated," co-founder Roman Fonseca said in a message to The Associated Press on Monday.



Fonseca has maintained that the only crime which can be taken from the leak was the computer hack itself. He has said he suspects the hack originated outside Panama, possibly in Europe, but has not given any details.



The law firm is one of the most important in the world for creating overseas front companies.



Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela has defended the country's financial sector, which is considered of strategic importance for the economy. But Varela has also promised the international community that he is willing to make reforms to make the sector more transparent.



On Tuesday, Varela met with legal, banking and business professional associations. Afterward, he asked France to reconsider its decision to place Panama on a list of uncooperative countries in financial information.



The government announced that Joseph Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2001, would be one member of an international panel formed to review Panama's legal and financial practices and recommend improvements.


Two Russian warplanes buzzed a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea in what a defense official called a "simulated attack profile," one of several close encounters between the destroyer and the aircraft this week.

The USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) was conducting flight operations with a Polish helicopter Monday when two Russian Su-24 attack aircraft approached at an unsafe speed and altitude and buzzed the Navy destroyer as the helicopter was taking off from the destroyers flight deck, the defense official told Fox News.

The Russian jets came within 1,000 yards of the destroyer, flying just 100 feet off the ground, a defense official said. The next day, a Russian jet came within just 30 feet of the destroyer, the defense official said.

The United States and Russia have an agreement that dates back to 1972 that is supposed to prevent this type of behavior, according to the defense official. Turkey shot down a Russian jet of the same type in late-2015 after the aircraft entered Turkish airspace.

The defense official tells Fox News the Russian jets conducted 20 passes in the Baltic Sea incident Monday, ignoring repeated radio calls from the Navy destroyer. The U.S. Navy was able to take photographs and video of the incident and plans on releasing the footage soon.

The USS Donald Cook came no closer than 70 nautical miles of Kaliningrad, Russia. The defense official suspects the Russian aircraft flew from Kaliningrad.

This is not the first time this U.S. Navy destroyer has seen Russian planes up close. In April 2014, Russian jets buzzed the USS Donald Cook in the Black Sea in a similar provocative fashion.

It comes as comes as the U.S. and Russia take part in talks to end the Syrian civil war. The State Department also thanked Russia last week for helping to secure the release of a U.S. citizen from Syria.

According to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Poland, the USS Donald Cook arrived in the port city of Gdynia on Friday.

This latest provocation from the Russian military comes over two months after a similar dangerous incident took place in the Black Sea in late January, when a Russian fighter jet intercepted a U.S. Air Force spy plane.

The U.S. Air Force has seen more flights of Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers in the past year off the coast of Alaska in recent months. Air Force F-22s remain on alert in Alaska to scramble when these Russian nuclear-capable bombers appear on radar heading near the U.S. coast.

Fox News recently showed one such F-22 intercept drill in Alaska during a one-hour special Fox News Reporting: Rising Threats --Shrinking Military hosted by Bret Baier.

On July 4th, as Americans were celebrating Independence Day, a flight of two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers was intercepted by U.S. Air Force F-15s 39 miles off the coast of Mendocino, Calif.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called President Obama at some point that day to wish him a happy Independence Day. The Russian bombers did not enter U.S. territory during the incident.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the Baltic Sea encounter.

Fox News' Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.
Several tons of documents are being held in an undisclosed European location that lay out the case for war crimes against Syrian strongman Bashar Assad, The Telegraph reported Wednesday.

The trove, which illustrates items like a secret committee to stop the revolt that started in 2011, reportedly included evidence that he appointed a Central Crisis Management Cell to topple opposition in the war-torn country.

When the day of justice arrives, well have much better evidence than weve had anywhere since Nuremberg, Stephen Rapp, the former chief prosecutor of the United Nations court handling the Rwandan genocide, told The New Yorker.

The report points out some of the conditions that Assads opponents dealt with, including hospitals turned into torture chambers and the thousands of people who were detained or tortured. Another 500,000 pages of evidence are still inside Syria, the report said.

Despite the evidence, the report said that as long as Assad is supported by Moscow, there is no court to try Assad.

Assad has been working to present himself to the West as a partner in combating terrorism. The recapture of Palmyra from ISIS in March was seen as a major victory for Assad in that quest.

Its a fantastic public relations coup, said Thomas Pierret, a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, describing Palmyras recapture. The Syrian government recognizes the Western obsession with the towns ancient ruins, and theyre exploiting it and it works very well, he said.

Assad said the victory was new evidence of the effectiveness of the strategy followed by the Syrian Army and its allies in the war against terrorism.

Syrias UN ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, offered in an interview with the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen to work with the United States, and said it was time for powers, including Washington, to join Moscow in working with Damascus.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
The CIA and its partners in Syria reportedly have come up with plans to deliver more powerful weapons to moderate rebels fighting government troops in case the countrys fragile trucecomes to an abrupt end.

U.S. and other officials told The Wall Street Journal Tuesday that the so-called Plan B, would center on providing the moderate rebels with weapons systems that could help them fend off Syrian aircraft and artillery.

The Journal reported in February that President Obamas top military advisers were urging the White House to come up with a plan to counter Russia's presence in Syria. New details have emerged on what kind of weaponry that might be deployed under the program.

The "Plan B" discussions were brought up in a secret meeting of intelligence chiefs prior to the Feb. 27 cease-fire. Officials who were briefed on the meetings told the Journal that coalition members were given assurances by the CIA to expand support for moderate rebels batting President Bashar Assads forces. The White House still has to approve the weapons systems before they could be deployed to the battlefield.

The CIA has made it clear to its allies that the systems would only be deployed should the ceasefire comes to an end and full-scale fighting returns.

Some U.S. officials conveyed to Russia in a private message that the moderate opposition isnt going to go away and that full-scale fighting could return and put more Russian pilots at risk.

The agency is specifically concerned that rebels have obtained man-portable air-defense systems, also known as Manpads, the Journal reported. The agency fears the systems have been acquired through illicit channels and could eventually fall into terrorists hands.

Allies have suggested tinkering with the Manpads to limit their batteries or geographical sensors. But the U.S. hasnt made a decision on the Manpads.

Secretary of State John Kerry expressed the cease-fires importance to U.S. allies in the Gulf in closed door meetings, according to the paper. Kerry has urged Saudi Arabia and Qatar to urge the rebels they support to abide by the cease-fire and remain engaged in U.N.-brokered political discussions.

Though violations of the truce have increased in recent weeks, it has held far longer than Washington officials and authorities in the region have expected. The cessation of hostilities has allowed U.S. and Russian diplomats to work on a Syrian constitution in hopes that Assad would be pushed from power diplomatically.

Despite growing calls from Saudi Arabia and Turkey to increase support of the moderate rebels, Obama has been cautious about doing so. Both allies have called for the introduction of a weapons systems regardless of the cease-fire.

Officials told the paper the CIA and its regional allies are looking into alternate systems that wouldnt be as mobile and could be easier targets for Russian and Syrian aircraft to strike.

Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
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Art Van Furniture To Hire 18 New Full- And Part-Time Sales Associates At Career Fair

April 21 Event To Bring New Career Opportunities To Waterford, Auburn Hills Residents

WARREN, Mich. - April 13, 2016 // PRNewswire // - Art Van Furniture, the Midwest's number one furniture and mattress retailer, plans to welcome new candidates to its growing team at a career fair on Thursday, April 21 at its Waterford showroom located at 5053 Dixie Highway and its Auburn Hills store, which is located inside of Great Lakes Crossing Outlets. All interested candidates should bring a current resume, dress in business attire and be prepared to interview for full- and part-time sales associate positions.

"A career at Art Van Furniture brings not only a dynamic and exciting work environment, but also a competitive compensation package," said Gary Duncan, Art Van Furniture vice president of human resources. "Our proven training programs turn motivated individuals into experienced sales professionals who have many opportunities to grow and build a strong career."

Full-time positions include paid training, full benefits with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, dental insurance, a vision care plan, 401k, profit sharing and Art Van Furniture discounts. Part-time jobs include flexible hours, including evenings and weekends. Salary is commission-based and Art Van Furniture offers one of the highest paid commission structures in the industry.

Individuals who are unable to attend the career fair are invited to apply online at jobs.artvan.com.

About Art Van Furniture

Art Van Furniture is the Midwest's largest furniture retailer and America's largest independent furniture retailer. The company operates 100 stores throughout Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana, including freestanding Art Van PureSleep mattress stores, Art Van Flooring stores, and Art Van Furniture franchise locations as well as a full service e-commerce website. Founded in 1959, the company is family-owned and headquartered in Warren, Michigan. Visit artvan.com for more information.

SOURCE Art Van Furniture

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Fresh Coat Painters in Round Rock Under New Ownership

ROUND ROCK, TX (PRWEB) April 12, 2016 - Fresh Coat Painters is pleased to announce that Erick and Teresa Estrada of Pflugerville have joined the companys national team as the new owner of Fresh Coat Painters in Round Rock, Texas.

Fresh Coat offers residential and commercial painting services including interior and exterior painting, wood staining and finishing, and other services for nearly every protective coating application. They use quality, environmentally safe materials and offer a 24/7 call center, online scheduling, in-home color design consultations and detailed quotes. Fresh Coat Round Rock serves Round Rock, Pflugerville and Georgetown as well as the surrounding areas.

Erick has spent the last 10 years working in higher education, mostly specializing in enrollment, and has more than 20 years of total sales experience. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Texas State University and recently earned his Master of Business Administration focusing in Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship. Although Erick will be leading the business, his wife Teresa, who graduated from Texas A&M University and works full-time as an engineer, will be helping with marketing and other elements of the business. The couple lives in Pflugerville with their two young kids and theyre looking forward to getting more involved with the community through Fresh Coat.

Ericks passion for business and entrepreneurship started with his dad, who owned and operated a printing company for many years in his hometown of El Paso, TX. He learned about Fresh Coat when the previous franchise owner painted their home and were impressed with the professionalism and dedication to quality.

Ive always enjoyed painting and working with people. Fresh Coat allows me to combine those two passions into a business that raises the bar in the industry and provides superior customer service and quality work. We take pride in catering to the needs of our customers! Were different because we can provide on the spot precise quotes  not estimates  with professional painters and Sherwin-Williams products, Estrada said.

Fresh Coat is committed to quality products and services and the company offers a 3-3-3 customer service pledge, so calls will be answered by a live person within three minutes, a quote will be delivered within three days (customer schedule permitting) and the job will be started within three weeks.

Families are pressed for time and we understand the value of the time our potential clients set aside to meet with us. We will respect that time from the first call through the final walk through. And, if you need anything at all, youll be working with me  the owner of the business  not a sales representative. Ill make sure our customers are more than happy with the results Estrada said.

Teresa added: There are a lot of great DIY-ers out there, but you can really tell the difference when a professional painter does the work. Hiring a professional painting company like Fresh Coat is a worthwhile investment. Let us show you what Painting Done Right! really means.

Fresh Coat was founded in 2004 as part of Strategic Franchising Systems. In the last year, Fresh Coat has been included in the Bonds Top 100 and named to Entrepreneur Magazines Franchise 500 list. Fresh Coat is also part of the International Franchise Association, the Small Business Associations Franchise Registry, VetFran and Minority Fran. All Fresh Coat employees are trained, dependable, fully insured and background-checked.

For more information about Fresh Coat Round Rock, call (512)686-5668, email Estrada(at)FreshCoatPainters(dot)com or visit http://www.FreshCoatRoundRock.com.

About Fresh Coat Painters

With more than 120 locations nationwide, Fresh Coat Painters brings quality customer service, top-notch painting products, professionalism and affordable pricing to the residential and commercial painting industry. They use quality, environmentally safe materials and offer a 24/7 customer service center, online scheduling, in-home color design consultations, and detailed quotes. All painters are bonded and insured employees. For more information, call 1-855-FRESH-COAT or visit us on Facebook.

The company was founded in 2004 as part of Strategic Franchising Systems. In the last year, Fresh Coat has been included in the Bonds Top 100 and named to Entrepreneur Magazines Franchise 500 list. Fresh Coat is also part of the International Franchise Association, the Small Business Associations Franchise Registry, VetFran and Minority Fran.

SOURCE Fresh Coat Painters

Contact:

Carolyn Liedtke

Fresh Coat Painters

+1 (513) 489-2026

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Tropical Smoothie Cafe Signs Franchise Agreements To Open First Locations In Albuquerque, N.M.

Leading Fast Casual Cafe Continues Nationwide Expansion with Five New Albuquerque Locations

April 13, 2016 // Franchising.com // ATLANTA  Tropical Smoothie Cafe, the leading fast casual cafe concept known for its better-for-you food and smoothies with a tropical twist, announced it signed franchise agreements to open five new restaurants in Albuquerque, marking the award-winning smoothie franchises first introduction into the area.

Were thrilled to continue our expansion throughout the Western United States and to bring Tropical Smoothie Cafe to Albuquerque, a community with strong growth opportunities and a thriving culture that were excited to tap into, said Mike Rotondo, Tropical Smoothie Cafe CEO. Were continuing to ride the momentum from a strong year of growth in 2015, which has driven interest from potential franchisees across the country in markets such as Houston, California, Knoxville, Alabama and Michigan, among others. Its an exciting time to be a part of Tropical Smoothie Cafe.

Local entrepreneurs Dusty Veach, Nathan Miller and Jake Miller will own and operate the five new Albuquerque cafes, and plan to expand into the Santa Fe and Farmington areas over the next several years.

When we made the decision to pursue opportunities in franchising, we considered many different options, but Tropical Smoothie Cafe completely stood out. The brand has an exceptional proven track record of success because of its superior business model, and we are thrilled to be partnering with a leader in the foodservice industry, said Jake Miller, Tropical Smoothie Cafe franchisee. Consumers nationwide have fallen in love with Tropical Smoothie Cafes delicious, better-for-you food and smoothies, and were thrilled to be the first to bring this popular brand to the Albuquerque community.

Tropical Smoothie Cafe reported its strongest year of growth in 2015, with same-stores sales of 11.25 percent  its sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit positive comp sales  and signed franchise agreements to develop 199 new cafes across the U.S., including about two dozen locations in Southern California. This year, the food and smoothie franchise plans to exceed 550 restaurants nationwide. The brand currently has franchise opportunities across the U.S. in markets such as Miami, Philadelphia, Boston, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Columbus and Charlotte, among others. By 2018, Tropical Smoothie Cafe plans to have 800 stores open across the U.S.

Tropical Smoothie Cafe is looking to add qualified franchisees to its growing brand. Candidates should have business experience; $125,000 in liquid assets and a minimum net worth of $350,000; and an initial investment of between $210,550 and $478,550. The healthy fast food franchise currently boasts an average unit volume (AUV) of more than $634,000  the highest in the company's 19-year history  with the top 50 percent reporting an AUV of more than $806,000.

Tropical Smoothie Cafes aggressive franchise growth is backed by the entrepreneurs at the BIP Franchise Accelerator, a division of venture capital firm BIP Capital, which invested in the brand in 2010. BIP Capital has invested more than $250 million in emerging, high-growth brands across the franchising, software, and technology and consumer products industries. BIP Capital created the BIP Franchise Accelerator to leverage its leadership team's deep franchise experience to help emerging brands accelerate their growth. In addition to Tropical Smoothie Cafe, the BIP Franchise Accelerators portfolio includes Tin Drum Asian Kitchen, which has grown to 13 locations in Georgia and Florida.

For more information about opening your own Tropical Smoothie Cafe franchise, please visit www.tropicalsmoothiefranchise.com.

About Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Founded in 1997, Tropical Smoothie Cafe is a fast-casual restaurant concept inspiring healthy lifestyles across the country, with over 475 locations nationwide. With snack and meal options for any time of day, Tropical Smoothie Cafe serves smoothies, salads, tacos, wraps, sandwiches, and flatbreads. The rapidly growing franchise has received numerous accolades including being ranked on Entrepreneurs 2016 Franchise 500, 2015 Fast Casual Top 100 Movers and Shakers, Franchise Times Top 200+ and Nations Restaurant News 2015 Top 200. Tropical Smoothie Cafe is seeking qualified franchisees to expand throughout the United States in markets such as Miami, Philadelphia, Boston, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Columbus and Charlotte, among others.

About the BIP Franchise Accelerator

The BIP Franchise Accelerator is a division of BIP Capital, an Atlanta-based venture capital firm with over $250 million invested in over 26 companies in emerging, high-growth brands across the franchising, software, technology and consumer products industries. BIP Capital created the BIP Franchise Accelerator to leverage its leadership teams deep franchise experience to help emerging brands accelerate their growth. The BIP Franchise Accelerator not only provides investment capital, but also uses proven strategies to help companies evolve into mature, thriving brands. From fast casual and QSR concepts to service brands and healthcare and education concepts, the BIP Franchise Accelerator has invested in emerging brands driven by people with an entrepreneurial spirit that have a great growth potential. Its current portfolio includes Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Tin Drum Asian Kitchen and BIP Franchise Finance. For more information on BIP Franchise Accelerator, visit www.bipfranchiseaccelerator.com.

SOURCE Tropical Smoothie Cafe

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BLACKSBURGThe Virginia Tech professor who helped expose elevated lead levels in Flint, Michigan, water said he would continue fighting for safe water, though its becoming increasingly difficult because of financials.

Marc Edwards, dubbed a hero professor by national media, announced during a news conference Tuesday that March testing by a Virginia Tech study team revealed that lead and iron levels have dropped in the city, but residents need to take more action to make them safe again.

After the news conference, Edwards said work his team did to expose a water crisis in Flint has ended up costing his lab $250,000 plus the equivalence of five years worth of man-hours. He also took a semester off from teaching classes and hasnt had time to apply for funding for his labs work, essential duties of a tenured professor.

Why I havent been fired by Virginia Tech Im not really sure, Edwards joked. They seem happy so far so Im glad I still have my job.

But I havent been able to write grants.

Those grants are the lifeblood of Edwards work, but in the year hes been working on the Flint study, he said hes been unable to apply for more and his labs funds are running dry. The team has raised just shy of $100,000 on a GoFundMe page and gotten a National Science Foundation Grant worth $33,000. The lab, with personnel and equipment upkeep, requires $850,000 annually to operate.

Edwards said he and others involved in the Flint study are gauging interest in doing a similar project in Philadelphia. There are some initial similarities between Philadelphia and Flint, Edwards said.

Kelsey Pieper, a postdoctoral researcher on Edwards team, is also looking at investigating lead levels in private wells in New York and North Carolina. Thats on top of work by Tech research scientist Jeff Parks analyzing lead-testing kits distributed by nonprofit Healthy Babies, Bright Futures.

We could not do what we did in Flint again today because Im just not as financially strong as I was, Edwards said. You have to be in a very strong place financially.

That doesnt mean the work in Flint hasnt paid off, he said.

Were not complaining, he said. This was priceless. Well go to our graves knowing we stood up for Flint kids when no one else could or would.

Work in Flint, though, still needs to be done.

The system is definitely on its path to recovery, Edwards said. But we need to get more water running through the system.

Edwards recommended Flint residents continue to use lead filters or drink bottled water. Testing completed last month determined lead and iron levels in the water are dropping, but residents need to use more water to flush amassing contaminants in pipes and water mains.

Pieper said its also important that Flint residents run their water to make sure that the infrastructure can heal. Lead particulate is built up in the pipes, and running water will help dislodge some of that excess lead and essentially rinse it from the system, she explained.

In March, researchers took 174 samples from homes sampled in 2015. Their results showed drops in lead amounts in many of the homes, Pieper said. However, in some homes there were still high levels of lead, Pieper said.

According to Edwards, the team will continue to monitor the situation. Right now, theyre planning for another round of testing in August.

Were the only ones with access to this data, Edwards said.

The group of 25 researchers from Blacksburg has traveled to Michigan five times to analyze the tap water and then worked to make their findings public after they were ignored by government agencies. The work has resulted in national attention on water infrastructure, a state of emergency, resignations and a switch back to an old water system.

Flints water had been contaminated with lead since 2014, when the city began getting its water from the Flint River as a cost-cutting measure. The water was then not properly treated to prevent lead in pipes from running through residents taps. It has also been revealed that the water issues also could have caused a high number of Legionnaires disease casesincluding nine fatalities, Edwards saidin Flint.

Edwards, once again, blamed bad work from governmental agencies for the problems in Flint.
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Knoxville SEO Local Website Launched

Knoxville SEO firm announces the launch of the new website representing the company. Tower Marketing has the knowledge and experience to benefit client in the Knoxville TN area.

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Knoxville SEO services are available from Tower Marketing and founder Thomas Northam. The newly launched local SEO website is established to improve the success of online merchants and organizations to build market presence. The professional team at the Knoxville firm can provide a custom-tailored solution to marketing issues so that the business can increase the number and quality of business clients, both online and face-to-face. Business owners may not realize that they are losing valuable revenue to competitors because of their position on the search engine results page.

The SEO firm offers a four-phase program to improve the market presence of the business. The major categories include Search Engine Optimization, Reputation Management, Social Media Management and Website Design. Each category is an integral part of building results for clients. Search engine optimization sets up a website to be attractive to search engines. It is a complicated process and is constantly changing and evolving. Tower stays up-to-date on the algorithms and features that make the rankings reach first page levels.

Management of the reputation is another element of ranking growth. Negative comments online can be made to disappear from the search engines. The listing and assets that the client owns or controls ensure that customers are never given reason to second-guess the business. Social media management is a growing segment of ranking enhancement. The Knoxville firm has the knowledge and experience to leverage social media accounts in the search engines. The combination of SEO and social media drives the business to top position in search engines and even the top ten positions.

The website design is the final component which affects the client's business presence. The users must be able to easily navigate the website. The design of the site should work well on all platforms and convert a visitor to the site into a buyer.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.tower-marketing.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Thomas Northam

Organization: Tower Marketing

Address: 2501 Maloney Rd Ste 5 Knoxville TN 37920

Phone: (865) 240-0559

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/knoxville-seo-local-website-launched/110257

Release ID: 110257

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H2 Photo Studio Opens Online Booking System in Singapore

To know more about h2 studio rental, please visit https://h2.com.sg/

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April 11, 2016-

The all new and improved H2 photo studio revamped their website and open online booking system to customers, with online booking system, customer is able to check the time slot and get 10% additional discount from there. H2 Studio offers photo studio rental services in Singapore for 3 years. With a 400 square feet of space dedicated to shooting the best photos and videos, trained professionals equipped with the latest and state of the art equipment and accessories, H2 photo studio is one stop shop for all photo studio rental needs.

The photo studio rental guarantees a high quality end product as a result of usage of its services whether it is videos or photographs. This optimum quality of service makes it one of the best photo studio rental in Singapore. With over 400 satisfied customers and counting, there is no reason for chooseing any other photo studio rental in Singapore.

Compared to other photo studio rental services in Singapore H2 photo studio offers the best possible price quotes to its customers. This coupled with the great customer services is what makes them so popular among their existing clients. The list of their existing clientele includes MediaCorps, Dresslyn, Vivacious and many credible names in the industry that can vouch for the photo studio rental's quality services.

H2 photo studio rental realizes that their clientele may include creative people that require the services for long hours. With this arises the need to cater to the client's comfort and to provide them an environment where they can work with peace of mind and ease of body. For this very purpose, the H2 photo studio rental has a relaxed environment with plush furnishing, mirrors, air-conditioning that customer can adjust according to their needs. And if customer is feeling a bit down, they also have a great sound system where customer can play their favorite song from their own device, whether it is a CD or an ipod.

H2 photo studio is also equipped for blog-shops. Realizing that running a blog-shop on tight budgets is not an easy task, they provide customer garment steamers, heavy-duty cloth racks, a private dressing area and highlights for apparel photography as well.

Price packages range from basic rates to full day and prepaid rates depending on the extent of their requirements. Be assured that the H2 photo studio offers customer the best prices and the optimum services in Singapore that are comparable to any high-end photo rental studio in the country.

About H2 Photo Studio Rental

Located in Tai Seng MRT, H2 photo studio is an imaging studio operating under Novage Communications Pte Ltd launched in 2012. Offering a comprehensive list of photography services and photo studio rental services. The studio prides itself on its excellent customer services and exhaustive packages that meet all their photography needs like newborn photography and maternity photography in Singapore.

For more information about us, please visit https://h2.com.sg/

For more information about us, please visit https://h2.com.sg/

Contact Info:

Name: DK

Email: info@h2.com.sg

Organization: H2 Studio

Address: The Commerze @ Irving 1 Irving Place, #09-01 Singapore 369546

Phone: 67444064

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/h2-photo-studio-opens-online-booking-system-in-singapore/110341

Release ID: 110341

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LUSO Federal Credit Union Marks 45-Year Anniversary

LUSO Federal Credit Union celebrates its 45th anniversary and looks back on the achievements marking its nearly half-century history.

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LUSO Federal Credit Union (www.LusoFederal.com), a member-owned not-for-profit financial cooperative, will be marking its 45th anniversary on April 21. This milestone is not only a representation of how long the credit union has been in operation, but also of almost half a century in steady growth of both assets, membership, and community involvement.

"Across Hampden County, LUSO has over 7,000 members and just recently surpassed $206 million in assets," relates Jennifer Calheno, CEO and president of LUSO Federal Credit Union. "This success is a testament to the value of flexibility and a focus on growing Members' savings."

The flexibility Calheno refers to can be seen in how LUSO has diversified its financial products over the decades. There has also been a recent focus on advanced member services such as an "anytime/anywhere" approach to lending and deposits along with a push for more 24/7 accessibility. The recent introduction of the Mobile Deposit feature for the credit union's app is only the latest example.

"New programs and offerings are constantly being devised and provided to Members," explains Calheno. "This includes rewards programs, fraud detection enhancements, and convenience or quality-of-life products."

Since LUSO Federal Credit Union focuses on its Members, community involvement and expansion has been a long-standing goal throughout its history. This is demonstrated in LUSO's involvement in programs like Relay for Life and community reader programs as well as initiatives the credit union began on its own.

"The in-school banking and Junior Achievement programs have helped improve Hampden County's financial literacy and given the next generation a leg up on their personal finances," recalls Calheno.

LUSO originally only served the town of Ludlow, Massachusetts. It expanded its charter to include all of Hampden County on October 6, 1998.

LUSO Federal Credit Union is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperative dedicated to providing its members with quality financial services and products. LUSO prides itself on serving the financial needs of those who live, work, worship, do business, or attend school throughout Hampden County, Massachusetts, regardless of economic status. More information about LUSO and its services can be found on the cooperative's web site at www.LusoFederal.com.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.lusofederal.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Jennifer M.G. Calheno

Organization: LUSO Federal Credit Union

Address: 599 East Street Ludlow, MA 01056

Phone: 844-587-6328

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/luso-federal-credit-union-marks-45-year-anniversary/110346

Release ID: 110346

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Top Real Estate Agents in USA Sell Home Fast Service Starts 4/13/2016

Expert Agent Match announced the availability of their new Top Real Estate Agents Sell My Home Fast Service beginning 4/13/2016. More information can be found at http://expertagentmatch.com.

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Home Sellers looking for the latest Top Real Estate Agents in USA Sell Home Fast Service will soon be able to get involved with Expert Agent Match. Today David Domm, Founder at Expert Agent Match releases details of the new Top Real Estate Agents in USA Sell Home Fast Service's development.

The Top Real Estate Agents in USA Sell Home Fast Service is designed to appeal specifically to home sellers and includes:

research of hundreds of transactions in an area - This feature was included because it determines which real estate agents are best qualified. This is great news for the home seller as it saves them huge amounts of time.

determines which 1-3 agents in an area are best suited for listing a home for sale - This was made part of the service as the core fundamental crux of the service. Home Sellers who use this New FREE Service should enjoy this feature because insures the best possible top real estate agents to interview.

connects the best 1-3 agents and has them contact the sellers (or buyers) - Expert Agent Match made sure to make this was part of the Top Real Estate Agents in USA Sell Home Fast Service's development as this is part of the personal touch and service. Home Sellers who use the Top Real Estate Agents in USA Sell Home Fast Service will likely appreciate this because it helps home sellers stay efficient with their valuable time and only interview the best top real estate agents the list their home.

David Domm, when asked about the Top Real Estate Agents in USA Sell Home Fast Service said:

"Most Home Sellers have concerns like getting a sales price high enough to cover what they put into the house, closing on time to meet their relocation deadline date, selling in time to buy the house they really want before someone else buys it, and last but not least.... finding an effective, trustworthy real estate agent. Our service helps solve these problems by matching home sellers with 1-3 of the absolute best Top Real Estate Agents in their area that know the area and have a support team standing by to assist them."

This is the latest offering from Expert Agent Match and David Domm is particularly excited about this launch because it gives the home sellers (and buyers) the unfair advantage for a change.

Those interested in learning more about Expert Agent Match and their Top Real Estate Agents in USA Sell Home Fast Service can do so on the website at http://expertagentmatch.com

For more information about us, please visit http://expertagentmatch.com

Contact Info:

Name: David Domm

Organization: Expert Agent Match

Address: 5737 Kanan Road #504

Phone: 8188352392

Release ID: 110298

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Handling and Lifting Equipment Market to Grow at 10.57% CAGR Driven by Infrastructure and Construction Growth to 2020

ReportsnReports.com adds Global Handling and Lifting Equipment Market 2016-2020 latest research report, the analysts forecast the global handling and lifting equipment market to grow at a CAGR of 10.57% during the period 2016-2020.

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The global handling and lifting equipment market analyst said handling and lifting equipment manufacturers are focusing on the development of new and advanced equipment. Additional emphasis is laid on the safety and control systems that are being installed in the handling and lifting equipment. Builders and construction companies involved in the construction of high-rise buildings find it difficult to lift heavy materials and loads to greater heights. Material lifting operators face difficulty during the swaying of loads. Hence, construction equipment manufacturers are trying to improve the efficiency of lifting operations and provide protection on the work site.

Complete report on handling and lifting equipment market spread across 60 pages, analyzing 4 major companies and providing 23 data exhibits is now available at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/524608-global-handling-and-lifting-equipment-market-2016-2020.html.

According to the handling and lifting equipment market report, skyscrapers are increasingly being built in many large and medium-sized cities due to rapid urbanization and economic growth worldwide. Ultra-high-rise buildings, which are more than 300 meters in length, are being constructed in many countries. These structures act as local landmarks and attract both domestic and foreign enterprises.

Segmentation by Product and Analysis of the Handling and Lifting Equipment Market - Cranes, Forklifts, Conveyor belt and Hoists

In this handling and lifting equipment market, analysts have estimated the cranes product segment to dominate the global lifting and handling equipment market during the forecast period. The extensive use of cranes for a wide array of construction, manufacturing, and warehousing applications will result in the strong growth of this market segment during the next four years. Comprehensive market research carried out by the analysts has shown that this product segment will surpass a market value of more than USD 100 billion by the end of 2020.

Inquire for more information @ http://www.reportsnreports.com/contacts/InquiryBeforeBuy.aspx?name=524608.

Geographical Segmentation and Analysis of the Handling and Lifting Equipment Market - Americas, APAC and EMEA

The APAC region dominates the global handling and lifting equipment market and is expected to grow at a steady CAGR of nearly 11% until 2020. Much of this growth can be attributed to the recent increase in the amount of investments in infrastructure and construction projects, especially in countries like India and China. Furthermore, with the strong growth of sectors like textiles and automobiles, the demand for handling and lifting equipment in APAC will be on the rise.

The global handling and lifting equipment market is witnessing competition in terms of availability of financing options like flexible monthly down payments and rental and lease services for customers in the construction industry on a monthly, yearly, and daily basis. Since the customers in this market are focusing on manufacturers offering technologically advanced, eco-friendly handling and lifting equipment, the level of competition will increase over the next few years. Order a copy of Global Handling and Lifting Equipment Market 2016-2020 report @ http://www.reportsnreports.com/Purchase.aspx?name=524608.

Key players in the global handling and lifting equipment market: Komatsu Ltd., Konecranes plc, Liebherr Group, and Terex.

Other prominent vendors in the market are: American Crane and Equipment, Cargotec, Escorts Construction Equipment, Haulotte (Pinguely-Haulotte), Manitex International, Manitowoc Cranes, Sany Group, Shandong Dahan Construction Machinery, and Tadano.

Further, the handling and lifting equipment market report states that for the efficient performance of the equipment and improved productivity, ongoing support and maintenance are essential. If vendors are unable to provide adequate customer support, it may have serious implications for the company in terms of efficiency and output, affecting the profitability.

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For more information about us, please visit http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/524608-global-handling-and-lifting-equipment-market-2016-2020.html

Contact Info:

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Email: sales@reportsandreports.com

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Address: UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar, Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India.

Phone: + 1 888 391 5441

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/handling-and-lifting-equipment-market-to-grow-at-10-57-cagr-driven-by-infrastructure-and-construction-growth-to-2020/110439

Release ID: 110439

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CompuSys Achieves Elite Partner Status With Datto

CompuSys's relationship with the business continuity solutions giant has recently improved to the highest level possible, reports csidb.com.

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CompuSys, the leader in Daytona and Orlando IT support for small businesses, has recently announced it has achieved Elite partner status with Datto, the innovative provider of comprehensive data backup, recovery and business continuity solutions. Datto offers Total Data Protection to thousands of IT service providers around the world.

The Elite Partner is the highest status certification provided by Datto. Elite status includes the utilization of all of Datto's industry leading solutions, 24-7 support, a hardware insurance policy and competitive pricing. CompuSys was able to meet high standards of performance in providing Daytona Beach and Orlando managed network support to qualify for the designation.

"CompuSys is one of the just a few firms in the nation to achieve Datto's Elite Partner status," said Mahyar Okhovatian, CompuSys's CEO. "It is an indication of our commitment to offering the very best in backup and disaster recovery products and services which is a very critical piece of IT infrastructure for small-medium businesses in Central Florida. This partnership enables us to provide best-in-class technology to keep our clients' operations running smoothly."

As a company, CompuSys aims to offer their clients top-notch Daytona and Orlando IT services including backup and disaster recovery solutions. These solutions help to keep companies safe and give business owners more peace of mind about their data security. Together, CompuSys and Datto offer a hybrid-cloud approach that addresses the specific BDR needs of small to medium-sized businesses including healthcare, financial, education, banking, legal, manufacturing, retail and nonprofit organizations.

"It's such a pleasure to see Datto partners excel in their businesses," said Rob Rae, Vice President of Business Development at Datto. "We aim to provide our partners with all the tools and resources they need to succeed, including providing a family of solutions that can keep their end-user clients up and running - no matter what. We welcome CompuSys to Elite status and look forward to growing our partnership."

About CompuSys:

Founded in 1982 in Daytona Beach, CompuSys offers an array of information technology services and products to help business owners achieve their corporate goals and accelerate business growth. These include managed IT monitoring and maintenance, business continuity, network security, cloud computing, voice over IP, SEO and online marketing which helps companies improve their technology uptime and IT capabilities while, at the same time, reduces costs. To learn how to accelerate your IT and schedule a free network assessment visit CompuSys online at www.csidb.com.

About Datto:

Datto is an innovative provider of comprehensive backup, recovery and business continuity solutions used by thousands of managed service providers worldwide. Datto's 190+ PB private cloud and family of software and hardware devices provide Total Data Protection everywhere business data lives. Whether your data is on-premises in a physical or virtual server, or in the cloud via SaaS applications, only Datto offers end-to-end recoverability and single-vendor accountability. Founded in 2007 by Austin McChord, Datto is privately held and profitable, with venture backing by General Catalyst Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures. In 2015 McChord was named to the Forbes "30 Under 30" ranking of top young entrepreneurs. To learn more, visit www.datto.com.

For more information about us, please visit http://csidb.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Bahador Jamshidi

Organization: CompuSys

Phone: (386) 238-1692

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/compusys-achieves-elite-partner-status-with-datto/110505

Release ID: 110505

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Action Air Conditioning, Heating & Solar Announces Spring Cleaning Special

The special allows clients to receive a highly discounted price on a full system maintenance inspection, reports http://www.actionac.net/.

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Action Air Conditioning, Heating and Solar, a premier HVAC services company serving San Diego and the surrounding areas, has recently announced details about their Spring cleaning special. The offer allows clients to receive a significant discount on the price of a full system maintenance inspection visit. Those who would like to learn more about what Action Air Conditioning has to offer or take advantage of their Spring cleaning special should visit the company's website at www.actionac.net.

Brian Amodio, a spokesperson for Action Air Conditioning, Heating and Solar, stated "When it comes to their heating and air conditioning systems, many homeowners simply adhere to the old saying: 'out of sight, out of mind'. Unfortunately, this can get them in a lot of trouble when problems that were seemingly small start causing major problems and lead to costly repairs. Spring is here and summer is just around the corner, and we are helping homeowners reduce their chances of a surprise system breakdown with the introduction of our Spring cleaning special. For a discounted price, we'll make sure that a homeowner's system is performing at peak levels."

The maintenance visit that Action AC provides with their Spring cleaning special goes beyond just a simple inspection. The technician performing the service will identify any current and potential problems with the air conditioning system and perform any necessary repairs or upgrades. In addition, the technician will make improvements to the energy efficiency of the system by installing an efficient fan control system, cleaning the condenser coil, and even changing the air filter. This service is valued at $300, but those who call the company before the special ends will be able to take advantage of it for only $50.

As Amodio goes on to say, "Our goal is to provide top-notch client service, and offering this Spring cleaning special is just one additional way that we can do that. We encourage clients to get in touch with us to discuss their unique needs and to schedule an appointment with one of our qualified technicians. With the high temperatures of summer approaching fast, now is the perfect time to save money and ensure that AC systems are in perfect working order."

About Action Air Conditioning, Heating and Solar:

Since 1975, homeowners in the San Diego, California area have trusted Action Air with all their heating and air conditioning needs, from AC repair to furnace replacement and everything in between. Their team has made a commitment to their customers and strives to offer the highest quality services and products in the industry because they want to exceed their expectations. Their NATE-certified HVAC professionals operate each day with the tenets of integrity, personal responsibility, and commitment in order to achieve Action's number one goal of excellent customer care and complete satisfaction.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.actionac.net/

Contact Info:

Name: Brian Amodio

Organization: Action Air Conditioning, Heating & Solar

Phone: (800) 400-4152

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/action-air-conditioning-heating-solar-announces-spring-cleaning-special/110493

Release ID: 110493

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The Fly Society Podcast Launches With Mission of Serving Christian Millennials

New podcast fills a void online, addressing the challenges of today's young people of faith with authenticity and an appreciation for unconventional perspectives, The Fly Society reports

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The Fly Society, a new Christian Podcast aimed at members of the millennial generation, is now online at http://TheFlySociety.us and on iTunes. Founded by noted author and musician Joshua Dillard and hosted by Dillard, Mike Koya, and J.J. Lyrik, The Fly Society provides authentic, no-holds-barred takes on the challenges and questions facing young believers today.

In the most recent episode, Houston-area Pastor Brett Jones talks with the The Fly Society's hosts about the widespread discomfort among Christian millennials with tithing. Earlier episodes since the launch have seen The Fly Society Podcast covering questions such as whether young Christians should live together before marrying, how to make it through college as a believer, and how to work through the prejudices that can arise in even the most kindhearted of people. Dedicated to bringing the Bible into the twenty-first century and asking the questions that no one else will, the new Fly Society Podcast is a unique and much-needed resource for millennial believers.

"We're happy to announce that The Fly Society Podcast has launched and that our first several episodes have already been released," Dillard said, "We've had some truly rewarding discussions so far, with great guests like Dana Chanel and Brett Jones giving us fascinating things to ponder and talk about. We're taking questions for future shows at our website, and we're committed to tackling the toughest topics that our fans want to hear about. We'd like to thank everyone who has tuned in already and look forward to many more young believers having a listen in the near future."

Dillard found Christ at the age of nineteen, not long thereafter obtaining his ministerial license and serving faithfully with In Christ Ministries International. It was his membership in a seminal Houston-based Christian hip-hop group that first provided him with clues as to his true calling. As the band broke new ground in the Christian music industry, a growing list of achievements, including appearances on television networks BET and Fox and an award from President Barack Obama, revealed to Dillard that he had been directed to help other young believers with their own challenges and questions as people of faith.

That new mission saw Dillard writing and releasing "The Power of Vision," a well-received book about bringing the power of the unseen into everyday life, as well as creating the new Fly Society Podcast. With millennials of faith clamoring for a regular production that would provide them with authentic, unfiltered takes on the challenges they face in their own lives, The Fly Society Podcast fills a longstanding void.

The new podcast is online now and available at The Fly Society website, on Apple's iTunes, and Stitcher, with more distribution outlets to follow. Listeners can ask their own questions of the hosts at The Fly Society website.

About The Fly Society Podcast:

With real Christians engaged in real talk, The Fly Society is the foremost podcast for millennial believers, tackling tough, pressing questions and seeking out unconventional guests and perspectives.

For more information about us, please visit http://theflysociety.us

Contact Info:

Name: Joshua Dillard

Organization: The Fly Society Podcast

Address: 300 Forest Center Dr Kingwood, TX 77339

Phone: 281-408-6268

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/the-fly-society-podcast-launches-with-mission-of-serving-christian-millennials/110495

Release ID: 110495

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Suttle Recreation Announces Custom Natural Playground Service Using Locally Sourced Materials

Suttle Recreation are offering new and fully bespoke playgrounds created using natural materials indigenous to the area, creating beautifully integrated play spaces in parks, gardens and more.

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Suttle Recreation Inc. is pleased to announce their Custom Natural playground division that incorporates locally sourced materials, from yellow cedar logs to natural stone. These exclusive, in-house designs will allow children to thrill at the sense of discovery through exploration while providing greater visual appeal to all projects. These projects will also be tailored precisely to the dimensions, needs, and tastes of the client.

Suttle Recreation (Facebook Page) is the preferred supplier to Schools and Municipalities for playgrounds, bleachers, and site furniture including park shelters, fitness, spray-grounds, and dog park equipment. They are now expanding the range of items they have available within the playgrounds themselves.

The expansion into custom natural playgrounds comes as the company signs exclusive partnerships with companies like Gametime, exclusively offering the Expression Swing. The swing was designed using the science of attunement to create, "the sense of joy brought about when an infant and adult meet eye to eye". The Expression Swing has been the most popular and talked about single component offered in the recent history of Gametime. As the exclusive provider, Suttle Recreation Inc. is enjoying the impressive sales numbers and notoriety brought about by the Expression Swing in 2016.

A spokesperson for Suttle Recreation explained, "The swing, together with freestanding TriNets and TriNets connected to PowerScapes, PrimeTime or IONIX play systems, can be fully integrated into the natural play areas, which aim to connect children with the natural world while engaging them in physically challenging and entertaining ways. We are passionate about ensuring our new custom Natural playground service delivers an idyllic space in which children can begin to experience and develop a passion for the natural world while having a great time in the process."

About Suttle Recreation: For over 28 years customers have come to rely on Suttle Recreation's expertise, attention to detail, and tireless dedication to delivering outstanding playground, park, and urban environments that meet their unique needs. Suttle Recreation Inc. provides a full turn-key operation that assists clients through the entire process, from Fundraising, Design, Site Preparation, Installation, to ongoing maintenance. They are a resource and supplier to Landscape Architects, Municipalities, Parent Advisory Groups, and Service Clubs.

For more information about us, please visit http://suttlerecreation.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Mark Suttle

Email: info@suttle-recreation.com

Organization: Suttle Recreation Inc.

Phone: (604) 293-1569

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/suttle-recreation-announces-custom-natural-playground-service-using-locally-sourced-materials/110490

Release ID: 110490

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An adviser is suing failed network Investments Ltd for over a million pounds in losses in a dispute about an investment the network said was too risky to offer clients.

Wiltshire-based advice firm Ian Gray & Associates has filed a case against Investments Ltd in a fight around whether or not a discretionary investment and pension service offered by the advice firm constituted an unregulated collective investment scheme.

Investments Ltd, now in liquidation and formerly part of the Standard Financial Group alongside sister advice network Financial Ltd, denies wrongdoing.

Ian Gray & Associates was an appointed representative of Investments Ltd between 2008 and 2010.

On legal advice, in late 2010 Investments told the adviser a discretionary service the firm offered had unknowingly created an unregulated collective investment scheme, and ordered the adviser to cease providing it, according to court documents.

The advice firm resigned from Investments in 2011 after launching legal action against the network for damages it argued were caused by Investments sudden change of heart on a scheme its compliance had previously passed.

Ian Gray & Associates is claiming 230,000 in expenditure was wasted and an income stream which could have amounted to 920,000 was lost when a number of clients left the firm as a result of the networks actions.

According to the court documents, Ian Gray & Associates argue either Investments Ltd should not have permitted the advice firm to set up the service in the first place, as the network should have known what it was, or the network should not have stopped the adviser from running it.

Either way, lawyers for Ian Gray & Associates argue liability sits with the network, which was paid by the adviser to carry out compliance and put in place professional indemnity insurance.

In a hearing on 3 March, Judge Nicholas Le Poidevin sided with Investments in ruling the investment was not a CIS, meaning this part of the claim cannot be brought to the proceeding trial.

However, this decision is now being appealed by Ian Gray & Associates.

Under the agreement between Investments and Ian Gray & Associates - which court documents seen by FTAdviser name as a specialist in pensions advice - the advisers clients transferred their pension funds into a Sipp operated by registered pension scheme MYSIPP.

Clients cash was then pooled into a fund and transferred to broker firm Berkeley Futures for investment, which mainly used the money for trading derivatives.

The whole case hinges on whether the pooled investments qualified as a Sipp or a CIS.

Ian Gray & Associates are claiming a distinction between a Sipp and the assets a Sipp invests in, meaning the pensions exemption did not apply to the underlying pooled assets.

But Investments disputed this, and said the whole arrangement constituted a personal pension scheme and therefore was included in the pensions scheme exemption.

The judge ruled: Pension schemes have to invest to provide pensions. If there is more than one participant in the pension scheme, there is necessarily a pooling of funds as a preliminary to investment.
Bionic advice combining human and automated services has cracked the advice gap, according to Kay Ingram, ahead of national adviser LEBCs full UK roll-out of its new system next year.

The groups director of individual savings and investments said clients using its service fill in an online questionnaire pin-pointing their specific issues, before being handed over to a financial adviser who will focus on those areas.

Standard office hours are replaced by an out of hours service allowing clients who want to deal with their financial affairs at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon to log on and contact their on-call adviser working from home, Ms Ingram said.

LEBC, which has 14 branches across the UK and around 80 regulated individuals, is heralding the development as the key to reaching those who could benefit from advice but cant afford the high-end face-to-face services many advisers now focus on.

What we are working on now is what we call bionic advice, Ms Ingram said. We think we have cracked this advice gap.

Interest in automated or robo-advice has been growing across the industry, as firms try to reconnect with the mass market many abandoned in the wake of the commission ban brought in by the Retail Distribution Review, as lower value clients became less profitable or were unwilling to pay fees.

Last month the FCA and HM Treasury published the final report of the Financial Advice Market Review to tackle this advice gap.

The report recommended increased use of mass-market automated advice.

Providers like LV and Scottish Widows, direct-to-consumer platforms such as Nutmeg, and financial advice firms such as Lighthouse and Bellpenny are all considering moves into the market.

But LEBC looks set to be the first among the large advice firms to take the plunge.

The national IFA has embarked on an adviser recruitment drive to meet expected demand for the new service as well as a rise in clients seeking help with the most complex areas of their finances.

We are recruiting advisers, paraplanners and client support staff - there has been a huge increase in demand for advice, particularly in more complex areas.

LEBC already gives advice remotely, but Ms Ingram said bionic advice is more about helping clients start on their journey themselves.

Some people may not feel they want to pay the fees we charge for full-on advice, but they might want some help with their planning, so they will be able to log onto the portal and fill out some questionnaires, which will be used to assess which areas it is important they focus on.

The soft launch of the service is planned for the autumn, and should be fully up and running by this time next year.

Post-RDR, as well as a general move among advisers to service higher-net-worth clients, the mass market has been hit by a decline in the number of financial advisers offering professional advice from around 26,000 in 2011 to 24,000 in 2014, according to FCA figures.
Banks could lose regulatory clout if the UK votes to exit the EU, according to RBC Wealth Management.

Speaking at a round-table event , Frederique Carrier, director, head of equities, said a leave vote, would have consequences for UK banks which have businesses in the EU, as they would lose the ability to influence EU regulation. She added this could result in restrictions such as those imposed on Swiss banks, which can not offer all services in the EU.

With the vote looming on 23 June, foreign exchange could also be impacted in the event of an exit. Ms Carrier explained EU regulators may try to wrestle back some functions seeing as three quarters of EU foreign exchange is situated in London. Over the long term it could mean a big change for the way UK banks do business, she said.

Asset classes on a global and domestic scale have seen high volatility so far this year and a vote to leave is likely to increase this. Dan Ellis, RBCs head of investments for the British Isles, said, One thing that investors should be acutely aware of is the fact that the results of the EU referendum will have an impact outside the UK.

Lower yields for government and corporate bonds would be anticipated and the overall effect on the UK equity market would be negative, with small- or mid-cap stocks likely to be the most affected, as they are less domestically focused.

Ms Carrier said that we could expect a negative knee-jerk reaction from investors and global stocks would present a more attractive proposition, In the event of Brexit, we would favour international instead of domestic companies, she said.
The Financial Conduct Authority has responded to adviser criticism it should have been more alert to risks posed by failed Catalyst Investment Group, saying earlier enforcement action could have led to more investor losses.

On Monday (11 April) the regulator fined and banned Timothy Roberts, CEO of the firm which promoted ARM death bonds to advisers before his company collapsed costing investors millions, after he lost his final appeal.

The win for the FCA comes after a three year battle to secure the enforcement action.

But some IFAs questioned whether the Catalyst issue, which the Financial Services Compensation Scheme said is among the biggest failures driving recent adviser levies up, could have been spotted by the FCA sooner.

Simon Webster, managing director of Kent-based Facts & Figures Chartered Financial Planners, said: There are cranks in every walk of life, but the FCA only deals with this stuff after millions of pounds has been lost by investors.

Instead they [the FCA] are worried about what sort of information we should put in a suitability report; they spend all their time looking at the minutiae.

That we have to pay more levy is irritating, but the full failure is the lack of imagination at the FCA - if they regulated properly we wouldnt have these problems.

Paul Howard, a financial adviser with Reading-based Box Financial Planning, asked why the regulator allowed Catalyst to promote ARM bonds to UK advisers in the first place, arguing it should have been much more aware of what was happening.

I have worked for a firm which did give advice on the ARM life settlements and they were generally not aware it was unregulated, he added.

But an FCA spokesman defended the regulators decisions over the case, saying they were designed to limit investor losses.

This has been a lengthy process but if ARM had been successful in becoming authorised in Luxembourg or transferring to Ireland the bonds could have been issued.

If we had intervened, it is likely that this would have caused a run with a large number of investors withdrawing their money and ARM and/or Catalyst would have collapsed putting investors money at risk.

The regulator added its supervisory action ensured pending investors were told that the ARM bonds were not covered by the FSCS and they had two opportunities to withdraw their money.

No new money was invested in the time between us discovering ARM was unauthorised and us announcing that we had taken action.

Clayton Cumming, a partner in Glasgow-based Advice & Wealth Management Solutions, said the FCA could not be expected to pick up every single issue before it blows up. It is probably hard for the FCA to be on the front-foot all the time and to be on top of everything.

I think controls are getting a lot tighter around unauthorised investments, but they need to look at the FSCS levy system, because firms that have good processes and dont get involved in things like Keydata are still getting hit.
Waitrose will strap cameras on grazing cows as the retailer shows off what it calls real farms to shoppers.

The premium supermarkets new ad campaign follows criticism of rival Tesco last month, which launched brands named after fictitious farms.

It is also jumping deeper into the free range dairy debate, by showing all of its milk and cream comes from cows with access to grazing.

See also: Tesco under fire for farm brands which sound British but are imported

Waitrose pledged in February that its 50-strong group of supplying farms would guarantee their cows 100 days of grazing each year.

The TV adverts will be filmed and broadcast on the same day, which Waitrose said will provide immediacy and authenticity.

The first will be shot on David Homers dairy unit near Newbury, Berkshire on 15 April. One of the herd will wear a small camera to show a cows eye view.

Video at train stations

Waitrose will also livestream views from its farm on the Leckford Estate, Hampshire. The footage of beehives, crops and countryside scenery will be played on screens at big UK train stations, including London Waterloo.

The supermarket will also highlight its free-range eggs, filming at Rachel Rivers farm near Malborough, Wiltshire.

Weve always been proud of where our food comes from, and the care and commitment our farmers and suppliers put into producing it, said Waitrose marketing director Rupert Thomas.

We have never compromised on quality, and never will  but rather than telling customers what we do, weve decided to show them in an open and honest way.

Free range

The free range question recently raced into the spotlight after an episode of the BBCs Countryfile on dairy systems caused a social media stir.

More than 100 farmers have handed their details to the Free Range Milk Marketing Board (FRMMB), a tentative producer group, in just over a week.

FRMMB founder Nick Hiscox told Farmers Weekly that retailers would be bringing out their own brands whether we like it or not, forcing farmers to grab value themselves.

Last month the authenticity of supermarket sourcing was also under pressure.

Farm leaders accused Tesco of misleading shoppers, after it launched seven farm brands that either did not exist or only had historically been operating.

The NFU has also produced an online shopping guide, showing which retailers back British farmers and those who dont.
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Aug. 30, 1921  April 3, 2016

Jim was born and raised near Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, the third son of Clarence and Doris Oldfield. He attended grade schools and high school in Saanich municipality, and went on to the Victoria College and the University of British Columbia. During World War II, he served in the Westminster Regiment, Fifth Canadian Armoured Division, in Italy and Northwest Europe. On return to Canada he resumed graduate studies at U.B.C., proceeding to Oregon State University, where he earned the doctoral degree and joined the faculty of the Department of Animal Sciences, which he headed from 1967 to 1983. He became one of the worlds leading authorities on selenium research including his work in animal nutrition which led to the cure of white muscle disease in cattle. He was awarded the Distinguished Professor at OSU in 1969 and received the prestigious Klaus Swartz award for trace mineral work in 1998. Jim thoroughly enjoyed his lifes work, and after retirement continued his association with the department, colleagues and staff.
German military : 22 soldiers classified as Islamists

Nariman Reinke is a Muslim woman serving in the military; she supports efforts to keep out extremists. Foto: dpa

BERLIN The German Defense department is stepping up security procedures to keep out radical Islam. Muslims serving in the military support the actions.

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For three years, Sascha B. didnt attract any unusual attention as a soldier. He was considered successful and given some leadership responsibilities. When he joined the German army, he had already converted to Islam but this does not play a role in a military career. Then changes started to happen.

The 26-year-old grew a beard 14 centimeters long, and in his leisure time he began to wear only traditional clothing from Arabic countries. He was called in for questioning by his commander and then by Military Security (MAD). Seven months later he was let go.

That was in 2010 when Sascha B. was the first German soldier to be thrown out of the army due to charges of Islamic extremism. At that time, there was no war in Syria and the terror organization Islamic State (ISIS) was not yet well known. It wasnt yet a topic that young people in Europe would be recruited for Jihad.

According to MAD, 320 German soldiers have come under scrutiny concerning extremism and 22 of them were classified as radical Islamists. Of those, 17 were dismissed from the military and the other 5 had come to the end of their service. MAD president Christof Gramm raised an alarm already a year ago, We see a risk that training in the German military could be abused by violent Islamists.

It was only shortly after Gramm took on his post in January of 2015 that the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris occurred where video footage showed attackers who appeared to have had military training. Gramm commented It would be negligent if a MAD president didnt ask: What happens if one of our trained soldiers as an Islamist carries out such an attack  and we didnt notice?

ISIS looks to recruit those who have military training. Information obtained by MAD shows that 29 former German soldiers have travelled to Iraq or Syria to join ISIS. The Defense Department is reacting to the developments by changing some laws regarding extremism in the army, and by having potential soldiers undergo more intense security checks.

Muslims serving in the army have expressed their approval. Nariman Reinke, a Muslim woman serving in the military says it is crucial to ensure that terrorists do not get training in the German army. The 36-year-old with Moroccan roots says at the same time, it is important to not put all Muslim soldiers in the radical Islam category.
Wednesday, April 13 : News Briefs

Bonn/Region Here is a quick look at some news happening in Bonn and the surrounding area.

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UN Lecture Series: Microbiology Professor Jorg Hacker will hold a lecture in English today to kick off the UN Lecture series in conjunction with 20 Years of the United Nations in Bonn. He will speak at 6:15 p.m. in the Forum for International Science of the University of Bonn, Heussallee 18-24. His topic is the meaning of science for sustainable development. Entrance is open to all and there is no admission charge.

Plittersdorf turning circle: City roadwork authorities have good news for residents who regularly drive in and around Plittersdorf. Because the weather has produced such favorable conditions, workers will be able to complete the turning circle at Ubierstrae / Mittelstrae/ Gotenstrae /Plittersdorfer Strae earlier than expected. The turning circle will open on April 15 as of 9:00 a.m. Originally, work was expected to take until the end of May.

Bonn central train station: Lockers were broken into at the Bonn central train station on Tuesday morning. Employees of the Deutsche Bahn (German rail) called police when they noticed that several lockers containing suitcases had been forced open. Cash boxes were taken and damage was estimated at 2,000 euro. The Reisezentrum (Travel center) at the train station was also broken into and two laptops, a tablet and coffee money was stolen. Police were unpleasantly surprised by a terrible smell; whoever committed the crime left feces behind. Anyone having information about these crimes is asked to contact police at: (0800) 6 88 80 00.

Kennedy bridge: If you have noticed workers at the Kennedy bridge, they are conducting a regular check of the complete structure. This is carried out every six years. Most of the work is carried out under the bridge but from April 20 -22, Wednesday to Friday, a special vehicle will be used to drive along the sides of the bridge to examine the structure there. Traffic is not expected to be disrupted, but pedestrians and bicyclists may be somewhat inconvenienced.

Canal work/B9: For almost a year, canal work on Bundeskanzlerplatz has hindered traffic flow on the B9 heading south. City authorities say the work will be completed in May. This is a half year earlier than was expected and is due to the high quality work of the construction manager and team, as well as optimal conditions. From April 18  22, Monday to Friday, they will need to close off the underpass from Adenauerallee to Willy Brandt Allee to complete work there. Traffic will be redirected over Reuterstrae and Kaiserstrae and under the Reuter bridge.

B42/Siebengebirge: Drivers should expect delays on Sunday morning on the B42. Due to safety training for the Fire Department, the Oberdollendorf tunnel will be closed from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 from Dollendorf to Konigswinter. Signs will be posted redirecting traffic.
'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.
MND says it has no information about alleged espionage case

ROC Central News Agency

2016/04/12 19:41:09

Taipei, April 12 (CNA) The United States has not contacted Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) about a reported case of a Taiwan-born U.S. Navy officer who has been accused of spying for both Taiwan and China, an MND spokesman said Tuesday.

"The ministry knows nothing about anything concerning the case," MND spokesman Maj. Gen. Luo Shou-he () said in response to media questions about the reported espionage charges brought against Lt. Cmdr. Edward Chieh-Liang Lin in the U.S.

Luo said the U.S. has not asked for the MND's help with the investigation, which, according to U.S. media, is being carried out by the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI.

Lin, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was assigned to a Naval reconnaissance unit, was arrested eight months ago and is being held in a Navy brig in Virginia on charges of espionage, attempted espionage and prostitution, according to U.S. media reports.

The case did not become public until last Friday, when a pre-trial hearing was held in the U.S. to determine whether Lin will face a court martial.

The charge sheets did not state the period of his alleged espionage or the foreign power to which he was allegedly providing secret information, according to an ABC News report.

However, the report cited a U.S. official as saying that Lin had been providing secret information to both China and Taiwan.

The squadron in which Lin served as a Naval Flight Officer deploys the EP-3 Orion variant that is used specifically for electronic signals intercepts, the report said.

Asked about other U.S. media reports that the investigation found Lin had been interacting with Taiwanese colonel surnamed Kao, Luo said he did not know of any "Colonel Kao" who had ever been posted in the U.S.

There was a "Lt. Colonel Kao," but he is now retired, Luo said, adding that the MND has never asked any active or retired U.S. military personnel to collect intelligence on the U.S. military.

Contrary to (local/international) news reports, Luo said, there is no evidence Lin ever visited the MND.

Lin's personal story was highlighted by the Navy in 2008, after his naturalization ceremony in Honolulu.

At the time, he said he and his family went to the U.S. when he was 14 and had struggled with the language barrier.

"I always dreamt about coming to America, the 'promised land,'" he said at the ceremony. "I grew up believing that all the roads in America lead to Disneyland."

Commenting on his motives for going through the naturalization process, he said "I do know that by becoming a citizen of the United States of America, you did it to better your life and the life of your family."

Lin joined the U.S. military in 1999. He was enrolled as a student in the Navy's Officer Candidate School in 2002 and commissioned that same year, according to USNI News.

(By Lu Hsin-hui and Elaine Hou)

ENDITEM/pc

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Military Expert: Suspected US Navy Spy Likely Had Valuable Signals Intel

by Tina Chung April 12, 2016

A military expert says the U.S. Navy officer who is facing espionage charges for allegedly passing state secrets, possibly to China and Taiwan, may have been in possession of valuable signals intelligence.

A redacted Navy charge sheet says the suspect, identified by an anonymous U.S. official as Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin  a naturalized citizen from Taiwan  was assigned to the Navy's Patrol and Reconnaissance Group, which manages intelligence gathering activities.

Andrei Chang, a military expert and founder of Canadian and Chinese Defense Review, told VOA that information about how the U.S. Navy carries out such signals collection operations could be highly valuable to a foreign government.

After a U.S. EP-3 surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea in 2001, Chang said, China forced the reconnaissance aircraft to land in a Chinese airport and dismantled it, hoping to get more information about its intelligence gathering capacity.

"With the East China Sea and South China Sea dispute intensifying, and the deterioration of Sino-U.S. strategic relations, the United States frequently sends EP-3 electronic reconnaissance aircraft into the South China Sea and the East China Sea, and to places very close to China's coastal areas," said Chang, explaining that the planes are capable of conducting a variety of radio, telephone and mobile communications operations.

"It can monitor, record, measure and use the information to locate military bases to find out what kinds of planes took off, and what orders were given," he added.

Taiwanese connection

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry declined to comment, but Taiwan's Defense Ministry said the current espionage case is unrelated to its government affairs, and it has no information on the case.

Taiwanese media outlets quoted Defense Ministry generals as saying that, in the past, if any Taiwanese were suspected of espionage, the United States would notify the Taiwanese government and ask them to assist with the investigation, but this time the United States made no contact.

Taiwanese news reports also say the U.S. navy has accused the suspect of communicating secret information and three times of attempting to do so "with intent or reason to believe it would be used to the advantage of a foreign nation."

A Taiwanese official who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity confirmed the suspect is a Taiwanese immigrant, but that "that is the only thing linking this case to Taiwan." U.S.-Taiwanese military exchanges have not been affected by the case, he added.

U.S. officials said both Taiwan and China were possibly the countries Lin may have passed information to, but stressed the investigation is still ongoing. White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed that a Navy officer was in custody on espionage charges at Navy Consolidated Brig in Chesapeake, Virginia, but declined to offer additional information.

The suspect, who is also accused of engaging in prostitution and adultery, was apprehended at an airport in Hawaii, possibly while attempting to leave the country.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he was not aware of the details of the case.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Mandarin Service. Some information is from Reuters.

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Moscow Jails Lithuanian For 13 Years On Spying Charges

April 13, 2016

Russia's security agency says a Lithuanian national has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for spying on Moscow.

The Federal Security Service (FSB), the main KGB successor agency, said on April 13 that Yevgeny Mataitis, who also has Russian citizenship, was arrested in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad last year for allegedly sharing military intelligence with Lithuania.

"Carrying out tasks for the Lithuanian military intelligence, Mataitis collected and transmitted military information abroad, including state secrets, over the course of six years," the FSB said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

It said Mataitis had "completely admitted" his guilt.

Contacted by AFP, the FSB confirmed the statement but provided no further detail on Mataitis's sentence.

Russia's relations with the West have hit a post-Cold War nadir over the conflict in Ukraine, leading to a spike in spying claims.

Based on reporting by Interfax and AFP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-jails- lithuanian-spy-13-years/27672686.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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U.S. Department of Defense

Press Operations

News Release

No. NR-126-16 April 12, 2016

Readout of Secretary Carter's Meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook provided the following readout:

Today in New Delhi, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Secretary Carter and the Prime minister reaffirmed the strategic importance of the U.S.-India defense relationship and their commitment to realizing the strategic partnership as one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century. They discussed the secretary's trip to Goa, his visit to the Indian aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and Karwar Naval Base - a first for a secretary of defense - as well as a range of security issues.

Secretary Carter shared with the prime minister his views on the unprecedented military-to-military ties between the two countries right now, and his optimism regarding expanded cooperation in the future. He highlighted recent advances in the U.S.-India defense relationship including today's agreement in principle on logistics cooperation and a new maritime security dialogue. The prime minister and the secretary agreed that continued collaboration on defense technology including aircraft carrier design and jet engines will open new opportunities for co-development and co-production and further elevate the relationship. The secretary also highlighted how impressed he was with the Indian entrepreneurs and innovators he met with during a breakfast roundtable in New Delhi.

During their meeting, the prime minister and Secretary Carter set priorities to further implement the Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Regions, reflecting the growing strategic convergence between the U.S. rebalance to the Asia-Pacific and India's "Act East". The secretary reinforced his view that India, like the United States, seeks to be a net exporter of security, and the two countries will continue to work with other partners to shape a regional security architecture that will allow all to rise and prosper.

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/719207/

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India, U.S. to sign pact for access to each other's military bases

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 18:22, April 12, 2016

NEW DELHI, April 12 -- India Tuesday said that it will soon sign a logistics supply pact with the United States, putting to rest all the speculation over the much-awaited agreement.

"Both India and the U.S. will sign the agreement in the coming months," Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar said in Delhi, after holding talks with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

The logistics supply agreement will give India and U.S. armed forces access to each other's bases, and both the countries have been harping on it for nearly a decade.

"Both India and the U.S. have agreed in principle on the logistical agreement," Carter said about the pact in a joint media meet with Parrikar.

He also said that both the countries would soon ink another agreement on sharing of information on commercial shipping, which is going to bolster security on the seas.

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Beijing says G7 group of nations 'should avoid being hijacked'

People's Daily Online

(China Daily) 07:28, April 12, 2016

The G7 group of nations may not benefit "if they are hijacked by selfish interests of certain countries", China said on Monday.

Beijing outlined its position after saying that Tokyo sought a special statement from the group to target China on the South China Sea issue.

If the G7 is to continue playing a big role, it should "tackle the issues that the international community has great concern with", Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular news conference in Beijing.

The G7 foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States ended their two-day meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, on Monday.

Observers said the G7 may be derailed by Japan as all seven member states are outsiders on the sea issue. They said the key goal of such meetings should have been to focus on issues topping the global agenda, including the refugees situation and sluggish global economy.

Although a document on maritime issues that was passed at the meeting on Monday did not name China, it covered areas where the country has disputes or maritime problems with neighbors.

The document said the G7 expressed its strong opposition to any intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions.

The Nikkei Shimbun newspaper in Japan said the document targeted China, while Japanese broadcaster NHK said the statement showed the G7 nations' concern over China's actions in the South China Sea.

Liu Jiangyong, deputy dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, said the G7 foreign ministers should discuss economic cooperation, aid to needy countries and the refugee issue.

"However, the meeting has ended up as a steppingstone for the ruling Japanese Cabinet to justify radical new security bills," Liu said.

Lyu Yaodong, a researcher of Japanese diplomacy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the G7 meeting had ended up as a stage for Japan's political stance "because Tokyo is protecting its image as a victim of nuclear bombing and whitewashing its role in waging war".

Tokyo has long lobbied African countries to support its bid to reform the United Nations Security Council and make Japan a permanent member.

NHK television reported this month that the African country of Chad had been invited to attend the G7 summit in May.

Lyu said, "This (the ministers' meeting) has drawn a sharp contrast with last year. Japan promised a lot last year at G7 venues on assisting impoverished African countries and helping with construction there."

Over the weekend, the US publicly supported Japan's plan to put the South China Sea issue on the agenda at the G7 foreign ministers' meeting.

Gao Hong, a senior researcher of Japanese studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the US has long expected to reinforce its military presence and that of Japan in both the East China Sea and South China Sea.

"However, Japan has not taken the bold step of embarking on a joint patrol with the US ... in the South China Sea because it knows it is an outsider that is not relevant to the maritime issue," Gao added.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi told visiting British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in Beijing on Saturday that the G7 foreign ministers "should not play up the South China Sea issue".

Wang said China hopes Britain will adopt an objective and fair stand on the issue.

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China accuses Philippines of hypocrisy

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 19:57, April 12, 2016

BEIJING, April 12 -- China on Tuesday accused the Philippines as being "hypocritical and inconsistent in word and deed" as the latter prepares to revamp a military airport in the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang made the remarks at a regular press briefing while commenting on a report that the Philippines is ready to upgrade a military airport on Zhongye Island, part of China's Nansha Islands in the South China Sea.

The Philippine air force has recently transported substantial amounts of construction materials to the island, according to a report in the China Daily.

The Philippines hypocritically claimed to have stopped construction on Zhongye Island while brazenly continuing to upgrade facilities such as an airport on the island, which the Philippines occupies illegally, Lu told the press briefing.

He added that it exposed the fact that the arbitration lodged by the Philippines was political provocation under the cloak of law.

According to Lu, since the 1970s, the Philippines have illegally occupied some islands and reefs of the Nansha Islands by force, violating international laws including the UN Charter and the basic norms of international relations. The Philippines did a lot of building and deployment of armaments on the islands and reefs it illegally occupied, Lu said.

Lu urged the Philippines to respect China's territorial sovereignty and rights and interests, and abide by international laws including the UN Charter, the basic norms of international relations and the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).

"The Philippines should stop activities that violate China's territorial sovereignty and rights and interests, and return to the correct track of solving relevant disputes via bilateral negotiations," Lu said.

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Saudis, mercenaries keep breaching truce in Yemen: Houthis

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 12, 2016 5:44PM

Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement has accused Saudi Arabia and its mercenaries of constantly violating a truce agreement across the country, saying the Saudis have almost no regard for the UN-sponsored deal less than a week before peace talks.

The Houthi-run al-Masirah TV said on Tuesday that pro-Saudi militants have targeted numerous positions of Houthis as well as civilians while Saudi fighter jets continued pounding positions across Yemen despite the truce which came into effect at midnight between Sunday and Monday.

The report said Saudi mercenaries had launched rocket attacks on residential places in Jawf, Marib and Sa'ada provinces, all of them north of Yemen. Similar attacks were also carried out in central province of Ta'izz in the east.

It said Saudi warplanes attacked positions in the same provinces plus Sana'a, Amran and al-Hudaydah in the north while a health center in Lahij in southern Yemen came under fire.

Houthis on Monday recorded 39 violations of truce by Saudis and allies, including attacks in Ta'izz and the central province of Baida. They said Saudi warplanes also flew sorties over several areas of Yemen.

Saudi officials responded by describing the breaches as "minor", accusing the Houthis of carrying out attacks on forces loyal to Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, Yemen's resigned president who enjoys support from Riyadh.

Officials in the UN admitted cases of violations ahead of peace talks scheduled in Kuwait on April 18. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said there were "some pockets of violence" but said that "the cessation of hostilities seems to be largely holding."

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam warned in a statement on Facebook that "continued military action endangers the peace process and reduce the chances of holding the forthcoming dialogue".

Ansarullah says around 9,500 people have been killed in more than a year of Saudi aggression against Yemen while hundreds of thousands have been displaced across the country. The UN estimates show that fighting in Yemen has put more than 80 percent of the population on the brink of famine.

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Yemen clashes continue for second day despite truce

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 12, 2016 10:7AM

Saudi-backed militants clash with Houthi fighters on several fronts across Yemen, marring a UN-mediated ceasefire deal for the second day since it came into force.

A series of clashes erupted overnight on Monday in the Sarwah area of Ma'rib, which is mostly controlled by the Ansarullah movement and allied army forces, AFP quoted a military source as saying.

Saudi warplanes carried out air raids in the area as well as Hilan Mountain in Ma'rib as clashes raged on, Yemen's al-Masirah television reported.

Similar clashes broke out in the Nihm district, northeast of the capital Sana'a, as Houthi fighters tried to repel an attack by the Saudi-backed militants.

The Houthis said Saudi-backed forces were behind at least 39 violations of the ceasefire that took effect midnight Sunday. They also said Saudi warplanes flew sorties over several areas.

The "continued military action endangers the peace process and reduce the chances of holding the forthcoming dialogue," Mohammed Abdulsalam, spokesman for the Houthi movement, warned in a statement on his Facebook.

Amid the battles, Yemeni forces managed to take control of two strategic hilltops in Sarwah, reports said. Seven Saudi-backed mercenaries were allegedly killed and 15 others were wounded in the fighting.

The truce was announced by the UN special envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed as a step to calm the situation ahead of negotiations scheduled to be held in Kuwait on April 18.

Saudi warplanes, however, targeted the Salah and al-Huban districts of Ta'izz only two hours after the truce went into effect, according to Yemen's al-Masirah news website.

The warplanes also pounded several areas in Sana'a and the province of Omran, despite an earlier statement by Riyadh that it pledged to honor the truce.

Saudi Arabia has been waging a war on Yemen since late March 2015 in a bid to return former president Mansur Hadi to power. Nearly 9,400 Yemenis, including 4,000 women and children, have lost their lives in the war.

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Taliban announces start of 'spring offensive' in Afghanistan

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 12, 2016 8:21AM

The Taliban militant group has announced the start of its annual spring offensive against Afghan security forces and US-led foreign forces across the conflict-ridden South Asian country.

The Taliban said in a statement that the campaign had begun at 5 a.m. local time (0030 GMT) on Tuesday.

The militants also dubbed the offensive "Operation Omari" in honor of Taliban founder and long-time leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who purportedly died in a hospital in Karachi, the main seaport and financial center of Pakistan, in April 2013.

The Taliban promised "large scale attacks on enemy positions  tactical attacks against enemy strongholds and assassination of enemy commanders in urban centers."

The Taliban inflicted heavy casualties on Afghan security forces during the 2015 Operation Azm, meaning determination. Nearly 6,000 members of the personnel, including soldiers and police, lost their lives while another 14,000 sustained injuries in the offensive.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) stated in its annual report that the number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan during 2015 was the highest recorded.

UNAMA documented 11,002 civilian casualties, including 3,545 deaths and 7,457 injuries, in 2015, exceeding earlier record levels of civilian casualties that occurred in previous years.

"The people of Afghanistan continue to suffer brutal and unprincipled attacks that are forbidden under international law," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said.

He added, "This is happening with almost complete impunity. The perpetrators of the violations, documented by UNAMA and my staff, must be held to account. And the international community should emphasize far more vigorously that the rights of civilians should be protected."

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Abbas urges UN resolution on settlements

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:55AM

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says there is an "urgent" need for a UN resolution on Israeli settlements.

The Palestinians are already discussing a UN draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Abbas spoke ahead of a tour beginning Tuesday that will take him to Turkey, France, Russia, Germany and New York.

"The Security Council is a very important subject because it has now become urgent due to settlement activities and because Israel has not stopped these activities," Abbas said in an interview with AFP.

Settlement construction in the West Bank "is something that has seriously jeopardized the two-state project," he said.

The United States has repeatedly vetoed resolutions on Israel at the UN Security Council.

Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law and are seen as major stumbling blocks to peace efforts since they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

Some 210 Palestinians, including children and women, have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of last October.

Israel has waged several wars against the Palestinians in recent years, most recently in the Gaza Strip in 2014.

UN: 75,000 Gazans still displaced

The United Nations says some 75,000 Palestinians are still internally displaced in the Gaza Strip less than two years after the Israeli military's 50-day war on the besieged enclave.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) announced in a report released on Monday that nearly 500,000 Gazans, amounting to 28 percent of the population, were uprooted from their homes in Israel's 2014 war.

The displaced had to take refuge in the schools set up by the local administration and UN aid workers as well as unofficial shelters and homes of host families, according to the report.

The report added that 23 percent of Gazans are still living in rubble of their destroyed homes, and nearly half of the displaced families (47 percent) do not have enough food to eat.

Additionally, three in four Gazans depend on trucked water because of inadequate clean water supplies from taps.

The UNOCHA further said more than 1,500 children were orphaned in the 2014 war, and that 551 children lost their lives and another 3,436 sustained injuries. A large number of the injured Gazan children are now coping with life-long disabilities.

The report went on to say that nearly one in six displaced children has been suffering from increased psycho-social distress since the 2014 war, but only six percent have received psycho-social support.

More than 30 percent of internally displaced women live in tents, makeshift shelters, destroyed houses and the open air, it added.

The UNOCHA estimated that some 70,000 units need to be constructed in the Gaza Strip to catch up on natural growth and the swelling effects of the 2014 war. The UN body expressed concern over Israeli regime's restrictions on the import of cement into the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

In the summer of 2014, the Israeli regime launched its latest war on Gaza. More than 2,200 Palestinians were killed in the onslaught.

The deadly 50-day offensive against the Palestinian coastal sliver ended in late August 2014 with a truce that took effect after indirect negotiations between representatives from the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and Israel in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

The UN has decried the Israeli devastation and human suffering left behind by the offensives in Gaza as "unprecedented."

The UK-based international charity organization Oxfam has warned that rebuilding the territory would take more than 100 years with an Israeli blockade in place.

Nearly two years later, Israel continues with its occasional acts of aggression against Gaza, which have taken more Palestinian lives.

Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.

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Venezuela top court annuls amnesty law for political prisoners

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 12, 2016 6:15AM

The Venezuelan Supreme Court has annulled an amnesty law that was passed by opposition-controlled congress to free dozens of political prisoners.

The congress, known as the National Assembly, had passed the law in March to secure the release of nearly 80 prisoners, including politicians, students and military officers, who had received jail terms of up to 13 years.

Around half of the political prisoners were jailed on charges of inciting violence during the 2014 anti-government protests that killed over 40 people.

The top court ruled that the law could not stand because it violates the rights of those killed during the 2014 demonstrations.

President Nicolas Maduro had earlier described the legislation as "the most criminal law ever approved." He had said the law was an attempt to destabilize his rule and liberate the prisoners blamed for the unrest in 2014.

Among the prisoners who would have been freed by the amnesty law is senior opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez, a leader of the violent anti-Caracas protests.

His arrest sparked anger among opposition backers and caused the United States to impose sanctions on Venezuelan officials for alleged rights abuses.

Lopez is serving an almost 14-year sentence for provoking violence during 2014 protests.

Meanwhile, congressional leaders still want the bill to be enacted despite the Supreme Court ruling; however, the law is unlikely to come into force in the wake of the verdict.

The opposition swept two thirds of the seats in the Venezuelan legislature in 2015. It won the parliamentary polls on the promise to work for the release of political prisoners.

Opposition lawmakers said earlier this month that they are seeking to push through a constitutional amendment that would limit the president's power and reduce the current six-year presidential term.

The opposition-held congress is also seeking to reshape the Supreme Court and take it out of the government's control. It has approved a new law allowing the introduction of more judges into the Supreme Court of Justice.

However, officials say the congress seeks to build a pro-opposition majority of judges to launch an impeachment against Maduro.

The opposition figures have already hinted at a new constitution or a recall referendum before Maduro's term in office expires in 2019.

The opposition coalition's executive secretary, Jesus Torrealba, has vowed the alliance would make use of all means available to oust Maduro.

The government of President Maduro, however, has denounced the opposition's plans as a US-backed attempt to bring about a coup d'etat in the oil-rich country that is home to 29 million people.

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Russia-Japan Peace Treaty Can't Be Reduced to 'Territorial Claims' - Lavrov

Sputnik News

16:42 12.04.2016(updated 18:04 12.04.2016)

The Russia-Japan peace treaty issue cannot be reduced to "territorial claims," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The four Kuril Islands  Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai  have been administered by Russia since the end of World War II, but Japan still lays claim to them.

"The peace treaty issue cannot be reduced to some territorial matters or territorial claims, at the very least because the only document that was signed and ratified by both sides  the joint declaration of 1956  states that the sides have agreed to renounce all claims against each other, and the next task is to sign a peace treaty," Lavrov said in an interview with Chinese, Japanese and Mongolian media.

He also said that disapproving statements coming from Washington regarding high-level contacts between Russia and Japan are simply outrageous.

"We have heard statements from Washington that they do not approve of high-level contacts between Russia and Japanthis is outrageous behavior. I think our Japanese colleagues understand this and assess it in a way such unacceptable manners should be assessed."

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Russia in the nearest future, Lavrov said.

"Prime Minister Abe expressed interest in visiting Russia. We immediately proposed specific dates. As far as I understand, such a visit will take place in the nearest future."

As for a possible visit to Japan by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lavrov stated that there are "absolutely no obstacles."

"In order for [the visit] to take place, we need for the invitation to take the form of a specific date," he added.

 Sputnik

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Armenian Defense Ministry Accuses Azeri Forces of Border Attacks

Sputnik News

12:20 12.04.2016(updated 12:30 12.04.2016)

According to the Armenian Defense Ministry, Azeri troops fired small arms and heavy weapons toward the interstate border.

YEREVAN (Sputnik)  The Armenian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that the armed forces of neighboring Azerbaijan shelled the interstate border overnight.

"Azerbaijani armed forces conducted 16 shellings in the northeastern direction of the state border with Armenia on Monday night. Small arms and heavy weapons have been used in the direction of Armenian guards. The firing from Azerbaijan was generally sporadic," the ministry said.

Armenian forces are controlling the situation on the border and resort to retaliatory actions only in case of emergency, it added.

Earlier on Tuesday, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry blamed Yerevan for violating ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

On April 5, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a bilateral ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, which came into force at noon on the same day.

Azerbaijan does not recognize the ethnically Armenian self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and considers the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army to be a part of the Armed Forces of Armenia.

On April 2, Armenia and Azerbaijan declared a dramatic escalation of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Baku and Yerevan traded blame for breaching the truce in the conflict and reported heavy fighting in the area.

Initially, 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

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Armenian Defense Ministry Accuses Azeri Forces of Border Taliban Announces 'Spring Offensive' in Afghanistan

Sputnik News

10:28 12.04.2016(updated 11:21 12.04.2016)

Taliban insurgents announced the start to the extremist group's annual so-called spring offensive in Afghanistan against US and Afghan security forces on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Taliban dubbed this year's offensive "Operation Omari" in honor of Mullah Omar, the militant group's leader whose 2013 death was acknowledged last summer. The campaign officially kicked off at 5 a.m. local time (00:30 GMT).

The extremist group said that with the advent of spring it is time for them to renew their jihadi operations.

The operation will employ large scale attacks on enemy positions across the country, martyrdom-seeking and tactical attacks against the Afghani government forces, assassination of "enemy" commanders in urban centers, the group announced.

According to the statement, the present operation will also employ all means at the group's disposal to lower the morale of the foreign armed forces.

US-led NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Joint Command mission in Afghanistan officially ended before the start of 2015. The current US plan is to end military presence in Afghanistan by December 2016, closing the remaining US bases in the country.

Formed in the 1990s, the Taliban seeks to enforce Sharia law in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. The group is known for numerous terrorist attacks against authorities and civilians in both countries.

Last year's Taliban offensive concentrated in the northeastern province of Badakhshan and was estimated to kill over 11,000 civilians.

 Sputnik

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Venezuela High Court Declares Amnesty Law Unconstitutional

Sputnik News

09:10 12.04.2016(updated 09:11 12.04.2016)

The court explained that the bill infringed on a number of articles of the Constitution, interfered with the activities of governmental departments, and violated human rights agreements with other countries, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik)  Venezuela's supreme court declared the opposition amnesty bill unconstitutional for interfering in government activities and violating human rights pacts with other countries.

"The constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court, carrying out justice in accordance with the law on behalf of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, declares the unconstitutionality of the law on amnesty and national reconciliation, approved by the National Assembly on March 29, 2016," the ruling published on the Supreme Tribunal of Justice's website Monday read.

The court explained that the bill infringed on a number of articles of the Constitution, interfered with the activities of governmental departments, and violated human rights agreements with other countries, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has vowed earlier to veto the amnesty bill, proposing instead to establish a reconciliation commission to address the situation surrounding the victims of the early 2014 mass civil unrest and imprisoned opposition figures.

One of the 115 figures to be amnestied under the bill passed by the opposition-controlled parliament is Leopoldo Lopez, who is serving a 14-year sentence for protests in early February 2014 that led to the deaths of 43 people.

Outside observers estimate the number of political prisoners in Venezuela at 75.

 Sputnik

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Nigeria: UN human rights experts call for progress in abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok

12 April 2016  Ahead of the second anniversary of the abduction of 200 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok in Nigeria, a group of United Nations and African human rights experts today appealed to Boko Haram to immediately reveal the location of the girls, and urged the Government of Nigeria to escalate its efforts to free all civilians kidnaped by the group.

"In the last two years, despite re-assurances from those at the highest level of the Nigerian Government, the parents have not seen any concrete progress in locating and liberating their daughters," the experts said. "The lack of access to information increases the suffering of the abductees' families through false hopes and frustrations."

The experts said that while they understand the security considerations put forward by the authorities, which prevent the disclosure of information, they are deeply concerned that "the grievances of the families and their most basic right to be kept informed about the plight of their loved ones has largely been ignored."

The experts believe that the Nigerian authorities should meet the parents' demand for the designation of a focal point to liaise with the families of abducted persons and provide them with regular information and assistance.

In the past two years, several abducted civilians have either managed to escape from Boko Haram or were freed by the Nigerian army. The UN and African human rights experts welcomed these operations and urged the authorities to ensure that those who have been released are provided with adequate care, recovery and reintegration services.

The experts commended ongoing programmes such as the Safe Schools Initiative and the Victims Support Fund. "We are nonetheless seriously concerned by the absence of follow-up in the provision of care, recovery and reintegration measures for victims of sexual violence," they noted.

"The reintegration and rehabilitation of women and children are essential in the path towards lasting peace," the experts said, recalling the findings of a joint visit to Nigeria in January by the UN Special Rapporteurs on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, on contemporary forms of slavery, and on the right to health.

"Both the Nigerian authorities and the international community should make it clear that all the alleged crimes perpetrated by Boko Haram will be promptly, thoroughly and independently investigated, and those responsible, directly or as commanders or superiors, will be brought to justice," the experts said.

"The declaration by the African Union making this year the African Year of Human Rights with a specific focus on women's rights should be an additional call to action for African States and the international community to actively support Nigeria in its fight against Boko Haram and in addressing deep-rooted human rights violations such as gender-based violence and discrimination," the experts concluded.

UNICEF reports jump in number of children involved in 'suicide attacks'

In related news, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported today that the number of children involved in 'suicide' attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger has risen sharply over the past year, from 4 in 2014 to 44 in 2015.

A report released today by the agency, entitled Beyond Chibok, shows alarming trends in four countries affected by Boko Haram over the past two years.

"Let us be clear: these children are victims, not perpetrators," said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa. "Deceiving children and forcing them to carry out deadly acts has been one of the most horrific aspects of the violence in Nigeria and in neighbouring countries."

Among the trends highlighted in the report is that between January 2014 and February 2016, Cameroon recorded the highest number of suicide attacks involving children (21), followed by Nigeria (17) and Chad (2).

In addition, the report found that over the past two years, nearly 1 in 5 suicide bombers was a child and three quarters of these children were girls. In 2015, children were used in 1 out of 2 attacks in Cameroon, 1 out of 8 in Chad, and 1 out of 7 in Nigeria.

UNICEF said that this past year, for the first time, suicide bombing attacks in general spread beyond Nigeria's borders. The frequency of all suicide bombings increased from 32 in 2014 to 151 in 2015. Of the attacks in 2015, a total of 89 were carried out in Nigeria, 39 in Cameroon, 16 in Chad and 7 in Niger.

The calculated use of children who may have been coerced into carrying bombs has created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion that has devastating consequences for girls who have survived captivity and sexual violence by Boko Haram in north-east Nigeria, the agency stressed.

UNICEF said that as shown in recent research it conducted with International Alert, children who escaped from, or were released by, armed groups are often seen as potential security threats. Children born as a result of sexual violence also encounter stigma and discrimination in their villages, host communities, and in camps for internally displaced persons, the agency noted.

"As 'suicide' attacks involving children become commonplace, some communities are starting to see children as threats to their safety," said Mr. Fontaine. "This suspicion towards children can have destructive consequences; how can a community rebuild itself when it is casting out its own sisters, daughters and mothers?"

The report assesses the impact that conflict has had on children in the four countries affected by Boko Haram. It notes that nearly 1.3 million children have been displaced; about 1,800 schools are closed  either damaged, looted, burned down or used as shelter by displaced people; and more than 5,000 children were reported unaccompanied/separated from their parents.

UNICEF said it is working with communities and families in Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger to fight stigma against survivors of sexual violence and to build a protective environment for former abductees.

The agency also noted that the response to the regional crisis remains "severely underfunded." Thus far this year, 11 per cent of the $97 million needed for UNICEF's humanitarian response has been received.

Donors called on to back initiatives in Borno state

In other news, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that UN agencies and non-governmental organizations are increasing their footprint in Nigeria's Borno State, reaching people struck by crisis in rural parts of the region.

Commenting on his recent visit to north-east Nigeria, the UN Regional Humanitarian Coordination for the Sahel, Toby Lanzer, underlined that "the suffering of some 30,000 people in Bama was as acute as I have seen."

"When faced with such suffering, we tend to focus on an emergency response, and in the case of Bama it is right to do so, but rarely has the need for development been greater in a crisis setting such as that of Borno," he said. "Some UN development agencies stand ready to support communities under the leadership of the authorities."

Borno's capital, Maiduguri, is a city of 1 million inhabitants who are hosting 1.6 million people displaced by Boko Haram.

Mr. Lanzer said he focused his visit on the host communities, all of whom have shown "unparalleled generosity." He called on donors to back development initiatives in the region concurrently with the emergency response.

"Solid waste management and livelihoods are two of the most glaring needs in Maiduguri despite the strong efforts of the State authorities," Mr. Lanzer stressed.

"As the rainy season approaches, a failure to manage waste will result in a public health crisis and exacerbate human suffering; at the same time, providing the youth vocational training is the right thing to do today, and can help prevent a deeper crisis emerging tomorrow," he added.

The international humanitarian agencies operating in Nigeria plan to provide aid to people in the north-east of Nigeria at a cost of $248 million for 2016, yet is only 12 per cent funded.

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At Least 8 Killed as US Airstrikes Target al-Shabab in Somalia

by VOA News April 12, 2016

At least eight people were killed Monday and early Tuesday in U.S. airstrikes targeting al-Shabab militants in southern Somalia.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said unmanned drones were used in the attacks.

Witnesses and officials told VOA's Somali service that five militants and three civilians were killed in the airstrikes, which hit the al-Shabab-controlled village of Yontoy in Somalia's Lower Juba region.

The Pentagon spokesman put the death toll at 12 militants. He described the airstrikes as "self-defense," saying the targets of the attack "were posing an imminent threat to U.S. personnel."

It was not immediately known whether any al-Shabab leaders were hit. A high-ranking security official in Kismayo told VOA that al-Shabab militants were seen making "some movements" before the airstrike.

Yontoy is about 24 kilometers north of the coastal city of Kismayo. Officials suspect the village serves as a launching post for al-Shabab militants who attack Kismayo's airport with mortars.

The U.S. has repeatedly used drones to attack al-Shabab. The group's longtime leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed by a U.S. drone strike in September 2014.

VOA National security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.

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China Blasts G-7 Statement on South China Sea

by Esha Sarai April 12, 2016

China has strongly criticized a statement released by foreign ministers at the Group of 7 industrialized countries (G-7) meeting which expressed concern over tensions and territorial disputes surrounding the South China Sea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang accused the G-7 in a statement of "hyping up maritime issues and fueling tensions in the region," and said China was "strongly dissatisfied with relevant moves taken by the G-7".

The statement also advised the G-7 to "respect the efforts by regional countries, stop all irresponsible words and actions, and make constructive contribution to regional peace and stability".

The G-7's statement made in Japan this week expressed "strong opposition to any intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions, and urge all states to refrain from such actions as land reclamation, including large scale ones, building outposts, as well as their use for military purposes."

While the G-7 statement did not explicitly name China, which is not a G-7 member, it contained a message critical of Beijing's massive efforts to assert its claims over a string of islands in the South China Sea through new constructions.

It came as the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is expected to reach a decision soon on a case filed by the Philippines against Beijing.

In January 2013, Manila formally complained about what it called China's "excessive claim" to practically the entire South China Sea. China voiced strong opposition about the case being taken to the international tribunal.

Foreign ministers from the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan met this week in Hiroshima to discuss issues  including regional and global security  paving the way next month for a G-7 leaders' summit.

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Military Strikes Hit ISIL Targets in Iraq, Syria

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 13, 2016  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria 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 and fighter aircraft conducted two strikes in Syria:

-- Near Hawl, a strike destroyed an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Mara, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, fighter and ground attack aircraft conducted seven strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:

-- Near Huwayjah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL assembly area.

-- Near Hit, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed six ISIL machine gun positions and four ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Mosul, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed four ISIL assembly areas and an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Qayyarah, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike produced inconclusive results.

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.

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Carter: U.S.-India Relationship Will Define 21st Century

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, April 13, 2016  The American-Indian relationship is one that will define the 21st century, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said yesterday in New Delhi.

Carter and Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar also announced an agreement in principle to share logistics assets for humanitarian operations. The two defense leaders spoke during a news conference following a meeting at the Indian Defense Ministry.

This is Carter's second trip to India as defense secretary. Parrikar hosted Carter for a tour of the India's Karwar Naval Base in Karnataka and toured the Indian Navy's aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

Relationship Grows

The military-to-military relationship between the countries has grown, Parrakar noted. India has more joint exercises with the United States than with any other country, the defense minister said. "In this context," he added, "Secretary Carter and I agreed in principle to conclude a logistics exchange memorandum of agreement in the coming months."

It is in both nations' interests for the relationship to continue, Carter said. "First, we have what I call a strategic handshake -- as the United States is reaching west in its rebalance, India is reaching east in Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi's Act East policy that will extend its reach further in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region," the secretary said.

The United States and India are acting upon their joint strategic vision statement and the 2015 framework for the defense relationship. Those documents call for the peaceful resolution of disputes, and for countries to make their own security and economic choices, free from coercion and intimidation. It also calls for "freedom of navigation and overflight that have helped so many in this region to rise and to prosper for so many years," Carter said.

Technology Initiative

The secretary also spoke about the U.S.-India Defense Technology and Trade Initiative. "We agreed to initiate two new DTTI Pathfinder co-development projects, one on digital helmet mounted displays and another one on a joint biological tactical detection system, adding to a growing list of initiatives," Carter said. "Under DTTI, the Aircraft Carrier Working Group has been a success, and we're deepening our consultation in aircraft carrier design and operations."

The two nations also are finalizing four government-to-government projects valued at almost $44 million, an investment shared equally.

The logistics agreement will allow India and the United States to share and exchange logistics. Carter and Parrikar said they expect that agreement to be finalized and signed in the coming weeks.

"We also agreed soon to conclude a commercial shipping information agreement to help our navies work together to defend our countries and promote and protect global commerce," Carter said.

The secretary met with Modi before leaving for the next stop in his overseas trip. He is now in the Philippines.

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Macedonian President Slammed At Home, Abroad For 'Pardon' In Wiretapping Scandal

April 13, 2016

by RFE/RL

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov is being harshly criticized at home and abroad for his decision to halt all criminal proceedings against politicians and government officials suspected of involvement in a wiretapping scandal involving thousands of people.

Hundreds of outraged Macedonians gathered at the presidential office and pelted the building with eggs after Ivanov announced the decision in a nationwide television address on April 12.

Later that night, scuffles broke out when a larger crowd tried to march on the headquarters of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party but were stopped by police.

Ivanov said he was ending all judicial proceedings against top politicians allegedly involved in a wiretapping scandal in the country last year "in order to put an end to this political crisis, which will end with democratic elections."

But Ivanov's move seems to have put the June 5 parliamentary elections in jeopardy.

The European Union's foreign-policy arm said the halting of criminal proceedings against politicians involved in the scandal raised "serious concerns."

"We call on all sides to avoid interventions that risk undermining years of efforts within the country and with the support of the international community to strengthen the rule of law," it said.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn told RFE/RL on April 12 that Ivanov's announcement "is something which, in my understanding, is not acceptable" and not in line with the rule of law.

He said he had "serious doubts" that "credible elections [on June 5] are still possible."

The U.S. Embassy in Macedonia said in a statement that Ivanov's move "raises serious concerns about Macedonia's commitment to the rule of law."

U.S. Ambassador Jess Baily said in a tweet on April 12 that the special prosecutor working on the case and the Macedonian courts should be allowed to "do their jobs."

Macedonian opposition leader Zoran Zaev called on Ivanov to resign, saying his decision to halt all criminal investigations into the wiretapping scandal amounted to a coup.

Zaev also said he would call for public protests against Ivanov's decision.

Even the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party seemed surprised by Ivanov's move. "We have no doubt in his honest and good intentions," it said in a statement. "But we want to express our huge disagreement with his move."

Last year, Zaev's Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) accused then-Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of being behind the wiretapping of around 20,000 people, including many politicians, journalists, and others in powerful positions.

Gruevski denied the charges and accused Zaev of "spying" on the government and attempting to "destabilize" the country.

Zaev was later charged with attempting to overthrow the government, but is also part of the "pardon" from prosecution issued by Ivanov.

Gruevski is a political ally of the president.

Former Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska and former intelligence chief Sasho Mijalkov are the other major politicians affected by Ivanov's action.

The scandal caused by the alleged wiretapping triggered protests on the streets of Skopje -- against Gruevski and counterdemonstrations in support of him -- that led to the EU stepping in and mediating the dispute.

Macedonia's four major political parties eventually agreed to resolve the crisis by holding early elections, which were first scheduled for April 24 but later postponed after Zaev complained that the vote would not be free or fair.

According to the constitution, parliament speaker Trajko Veljanovski has until April 15 to rule whether or not to hold the elections on June 5 or to again postpone them.

Zaev's Social Democrats want no elections to be held until a new media law -- which has been stalled in parliament for months -- is passed that establishes equal treatment of the media, which Zaev says is currently controlled by pro-government press outlets.

The opposition is also demanding that the country's electoral lists -- which are purported to be out of date and allow for vote rigging by the government -- be reviewed and cleaned up ahead of any new elections.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/macedonia-ivanov- criticized-wiretapping-pardon/27672935.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Republic of Congo: top UN officials concerned by reported attacks against civilians

13 April 2016  United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he is "deeply concerned" about recent reports that security operations undertaken by the Government of the Republic of the Congo in an area of southern Brazzaville known as "the Pool" allegedly resulted in attacks against civilian targets and displacement of the population from the affected areas.

A statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General said the UN chief is also "troubled about restrictions on access to the region, which hamper adequate information gathering, evaluation and reporting on the situation."

Condemning all acts of violence, the Secretary-General also urged the Government of the Republic of the Congo to ensure that humanitarian and other relevant actors are granted access to the affected areas and population, and that security forces act in compliance with the country's obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law.

Calling on all parties to show restraint and to engage in constructive and inclusive dialogue in the aftermath of the presidential election, Mr. Ban said he is dispatching his Special Representative for Central Africa and Head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), Abdoulaye Bathily, to Brazzaville to consult with national authorities and other relevant stakeholders in order to defuse tensions.

Earlier today, the UN human rights chief today expressed concern over "very alarming reports" coming out of the Republic of Congo regarding the apparent Government security operation in Brazzaville.

In a statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said that since the 20 March presidential election, there have been reports that security operations have been conducted against opposition leaders and supporters who allegedly attacked a police station and areas in the southern part of the capital on 4 April.

The Government has announced that 17 people died in security operations, including three members of security forces, with several others wounded, he said.

"There have been reports of mass arrests and torture in detention, as well as the killing and displacement of people from the Pool," Mr. Zeid said. "The reports have been difficult to verify, given the lack of access to the area by independent actors."

Mr. Zeid urged the Government to ensure that humanitarian actors access the Pool and that security forces act in full accordance with the Republic of Congo's obligations under international human rights law.

"Any incidents involving the use of force, particularly lethal force, by the security forces must be thoroughly, promptly and impartially investigated," Mr. Zeid stressed. "All those arrested and detained must not be ill-treated. They should either be charged and brought before a judge, in line with international due process standards, or be swiftly released," he added.

Mr. Zeid called on the Government, political leaders and their supporters to endeavour to resolve all differences peacefully and within the law, and to "eschew violence in the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly."

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South Sudan Rebels Return to Juba Amid Fighting

by Jason Patinkin April 13, 2016

South Sudan's rebels fled Juba under gunfire more than two years ago at the start of this country's civil war. Eight months after signing a peace deal, they are returning.

It's a key step in the implementation of the peace deal signed last August. But ongoing fighting has many wondering if the rebels' arrival will lead to peace or more violence.

More than 1,300 Sudan People's Liberation Army-In Opposition soldiers have returned to the capital so far.

On Tuesday, the rebels' second-in-command, Alfred Lado Gore, arrived, too.

Machar to arrive Monday

Rebel leader Riek Machar is scheduled to land in Juba Monday to assume the vice presidency under President Salva Kiir.

Tens of thousands of people have died in South Sudan's civil war between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar, but Gore said there's no way to stop the coming peace.

"Peace will not be reversed. We must move forward with our country," Gore said.

But as he preached peace in Juba, fighting continued elsewhere.

The United States condemned attacks by the government in the country's Western Bahr el Ghazal state.

U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said they received reports the rebels attacked soldiers and civilians there, too.

'Sliding back into conflict'

"We're at a juncture here where it looks like we're sliding back into conflict, and that both sides bear responsibility to put things back on track," Toner said.

There are worries fighting could restart in Juba.

The peace deal said South Sudan's army should pull most of its troops 25 kilometers outside the city so government and rebel soldiers are balanced inside.

But the government hasn't allowed cease-fire monitors to verify removal of their troops.

The rebels also have accused the government of secretly bringing in extra soldiers.

On Tuesday, government agents arrested and beat 16 opposition members ahead of Gore's arrival, the rebels said.

'Unfortunate ... incident'

Gore said South Sudanese should be able to freely gather and speak their minds.

"It's very unfortunate, that incident, I deplore it, I condemn it, and I hope we will be told why they have been arrested," he said.

A government representative, Akol Paul, did not confirm the arrests, but insisted the situation is improving.

"The war has been two years, there have been a lot of problems. Peace is a process. I want to assure you, today is better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today," Paul said.

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Jordan Shuts Down Muslim Brotherhood Branch

by Edward Yeranian April 13, 2016

Jordanian police shuttered the main office of the Muslim Brotherhood group in the capital, Amman, Wednesday, saying its leadership, affiliated with the now-banned Egyptian branch, had not applied for a license. The group split into two competing factions several months ago.

Jordanian police and security forces officially shut down the main headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood group, sealing its doors with red wax. Officials and employees of the pro-Egyptian faction were asked to leave the facility before it was closed.

Mo'ath Khawaldeh, spokesman of the Brotherhood faction which controls party headquarters, told journalists outside the building that the action came as a complete shock.

He said the move was taken without warning and that it was an aggressive step by the government which he terms "illegal" and "undemocratic."

The Jordan Times newspaper reported that two competing factions of the Muslim Brotherhood were vying for control of the group and that leaders occupying its headquarters had never officially applied for a license to operate. A new rival faction, which has broken with the now-banned Egyptian branch, has applied for a license.

Member of parliament Jamil al-Nemrawi told Arab media that the Muslim Brotherhood flouted the law for years and refused to apply for a license to correct its legal status.

Nemrawi said the group refused to comply with a 2012 law demanding that it stipulate if it were social, educational or non-profit and that it never received permission to hold elections. He added that a new rival faction went ahead and complied with the law, giving it precedence over the old leadership.

Qatari-owned al-Jazeera TV, which is seen by some as a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, said Jordan was trying to close down the historic leadership of the group, in a move similar to what was done in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1946, 18 years after establishment of the group in Egypt by founder Hassan al-Banna. It was granted permission to operate by King Abdullah in 1953.

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Korea - Politics

With the inauguration of the first civilian government in 1993, Korea started a very fast process of democratization. Citizens awareness of their rights have gone up, while the national government has devised various systemic mechanisms to ensure their protection. As a result of such democratic development, democratic citizenship has also risen, and Korean citizens increasingly participate in the decision making process forming various organizations.

The ROK operates under a presidential system. Several of its early Presidents managed to establish dictatorships, some military but waves of civil unrest eventually led to the first real democratic elections in 1987. With several constitutional amendments, there has been a gradual shift of power away from the President to the National Assembly. The President, and Head of State, is elected by popular vote for a single non-renewable five-year term.

The ROK has evolved from a military autocracy to a civilian-led democracy within several decades. Political freedom is now complete, and the expression of political views is virtually uninhibited. At the same time, however, regionalism and extensive corruption loom as challenges.

The Gregory Henderson, an FSO who served several tours in Korea in the 1940s and 1960s, is well remembered as the author of "Korea: The Politics of the Vortex." The title remains an accurate description of Korean politics today: a spiraling whirlpool that sucks everything toward its center. Everything that gets caught in its wake is destroyed or damaged. As in Henderson's days, the Korean political whirlpool is less about policies than personalities. Candidates are pay little or no attention to issues such as the economy, education reform, or what to do about North Korea. Above all, it's about finding dirt by any means to bring down the nearest opponent.

Democratic politics in South Korea have been accompanied by two salient political issues: the continuous fission and fusion of political parties, and regionalism.

Party realignment is a regular fixture on the Korean political landscape. In the US the major political parties have had the same names since the mid-1800s. In South Korea, barely a year goes by without one rechristening itself. The main conservative party has had around 10 name changes. The biggest left-of-center group, formed in 1955 as the Democratic Party, has changed its identity 20 times.

A pronounced and deepening regionalism emerged in South Korean politics since 1988 when democratic reforms of the electoral system were fully implemented. Regionalism engendered the expectation that voters will be receptive to appeals for support composed by political elites who share with them a common identification with a geographical region. For example, in his fourth bid for the presidency (1971, 1987, 1992, 1997), Kim Dae Joong captured 95 percent of the vote in Honam, having increased his share of the popular vote in his region at each succeeding election (from 62% to 88%, to 91%, to 95%). In the April 2000 election of the National Assembly, the ruling New Millennium Party, led by Kim Dae Joong, won 25 of 29 seats in his home region of Honam, while at the same time his party won none of the 65 seats contested in the rival provinces of Youngnam.

Voters in Honam rallied behind Kim Dae Joong and his party in order to redress several decades of mistreatment under previous administrations. Honam (literally "south of the lake") is a region coinciding with the former Jeolla Province in what is now South Korea. Today, the term refers to Gwangju, South Jeolla and North Jeolla Provinces.

It was doubtful that this pattern could be sustained indefinitely, or even over the long haul. To take the Grand National Party as an example, it was more or less a lineal descendent of the Democratic Justice Party begun by Chun Doo Hwan and inherited by Roh Tae Woo, both of whom were from Kyeongbook / Gyeongbok. Rohs successor in the presidency was Kim Young Sam, who had been supported by both Roh and Kim Jong Pil. His party had incorporated, by merger, Rohs party. While Kim Young Sam can be considered a regional compatriot of Roh (and Chun), his province or origin was Kyeongnam, not Kyeongbook.

The Saenuri Party was deeply rooted in Gyeongsang / Gyeongbuk Province. The nation's main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea elected lawmaker Choo Mi-ae as their new chief on 27 August 2016. It marked the first time the party had selected a leader from the Daegu-and-North Gyeongsangdo Province region, the traditional stronghold of the ruling Saenuri Party.

The final results of the April 2016 election gave President Park's New Frontier Party only 122 seats out of 300 total, while the Minjoo Party of Korea had 123 seats, and was thus the majority party in Parliment. This created the anomalous situatioan [for South Korea] that the legislative and executive branches were under the control of different parties. Defeat in the election earlier this year effectively left Park unable to force through the structural reforms that the economy undoubtedly needed, while there was also factional in-fighting between groups within the ruling Saenuri Party.

President Moon Jae-in was voted in as the 19th president of the Republic of Korea in the election held on May 9, 2017. The two biggest parties have a difference of only four seats in the National Assembly. In the opposition-led parliament, it remained to be seen how the ruling bloc will get along with the new young parties. Depending on how the minor opposition parties position themselves -- it could empower either the ruling bloc or the main opposition.

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Syria - April 2016 Parliamentary Election

President Bashar al-Assad on 22 February 2016 announced parliamentary elections for April 2016, issuing a decree for polls to be held for the countrys 250-member legislature, known as the Peoples Council, which is elected for a four-year term from 15 multi-seat constituencies. Assads ruling Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party would win a landslide victory in any parliamentary elections held either in the next few months or during a political transition following a permanent cessation of hostilities in the war-ravaged country, election experts and diplomats warn.

The constitution provides that the Baath Party is the ruling party and assures that it has a majority in all government and popular associations, such as workers and womens groups. The Baath Party dominated the 250-member Peoples Council, holding 134 of the 250 parliament seats following the 2012 election. The Baath Party and nine other smaller satellite political parties constituted the coalition National Progressive Front. A 2011 decree allows establishment of additional political parties, although it forbids those based on religion, tribal affiliation, or regional interests.

Membership in the Baath Party or close familial relations with a prominent party member or powerful government official assisted in economic, social, and educational advancement. Party or government connections made it easier to gain admission into better schools, access lucrative employment, and achieve greater advancement and power within the government, military, and security services. The regime reserved certain prominent positions, such as provincial governorships, solely for Baath Party members.

The regime showed little tolerance for other political parties. The government harassed parties such as the Communist Union Movement, the Communist Action Party, and Arab Social Union, and it arrested their members. Police arrested members of Islamist parties. The number of illegal political parties proliferated from previous years, although reliable data was unavailable.

The main Western-backed political opposition to Assad, the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), has called on Syrians in areas where they can vote, to boycott the polls, arguing the countrys five-year-long civil war wont be ended through unilateral projects but only by a negotiated political transition involving all Syrians. SNC officials argue the election is an effort by Assad to project a political legitimacy he doesnt have  part of a bid to rehabilitate his regime in the eyes of the international community.

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Out of This World! China Begins Testing Tiangong-2 Space Lab

Sputnik News

08:57 12.04.2016(updated 08:59 12.04.2016)

China has completed the assembly and started testing its Tiangong-2 space laboratory, local media said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  With assembly complete on Monday, experts began adjusting mechanisms and testing the module's systems, the China Central Television (CCTV) national broadcaster reported.

The launch of Tiangong-2 is planned for the second half of 2016. The module set to replace the Tiangong-1 prototype, which has been in orbit since 2011. The module will later be docked with a cargo spacecraft which is set to launch in 2017.

The Tiangong 2 space laboratory is designed to probe life support technologies for Beijing's future space station.

In early January, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said that Beijing will conduct over 20 space missions in 2016, including the launch of a manned spacecraft.

China is also expecting to launch two satellites for domestic navigation systems and one communications satellite for Belarus.

 Sputnik

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Congressional Panel Recommends Impeachment for Brazilian President Rousseff

by VOA News April 11, 2016

A Brazilian congressional committee Monday recommended that President Dilma Rousseff face impeachment for alleged corruption.

The panel voted 38-27 in favor of the motion and will now send its recommendation to the entire lower house. A two-thirds majority is needed there for a trial in the Senate.

The lower house is expected to vote within a week and political observers say the outcome is too close to call.

Rousseff is accused of hiding the details of the poor state of the Brazilian economy to ensure her reelection in 2014.

Her supporters say the charges are part of a coup attempt by her vice president, Michel Temer, who has joined the pro-impeachment camp. But Temer is facing the same corruption charges as Rousseff.

Temer said Monday that a recording of a draft speech he plans to give if he takes over as president was released to the public by mistake. In it, he sounds as if he already has become president.

But Temer says there is nothing in the speech that he has not already said in public.

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Russia Rejects N.Korea's Claim to Status of Nuclear Power - Lavrov

Sputnik News

16:44 12.04.2016(updated 17:03 12.04.2016)

Moscow rejects Pyongyang's claim to the status of a nuclear power possessing atomic weapons and means of their delivery.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Moscow recognizes North Korea's right to develop a peaceful nuclear program, but rejects Pyongyang's claim to the status of a nuclear power possessing atomic weapons and means of their delivery, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"We are very concerned about the situation on the Korean Peninsula and we consider it necessary to make all possible efforts to prevent the unwinding of a negative spiral, when actions by one side lead to additional counter-action by another side, making it a 'vicious circle,' Lavrov said in an interview with Mongolian, Chinese and Japanese media.

"We, as well as China, reject North Korea's nuclear-missile ambitions," Lavrov stressed.

 Sputnik

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US neither sincere nor serious in fight against terrorism: Leader

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Tue 12 Apr 2016 - 08:30

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says certain powers, the US in particular, are neither sincere nor serious in the campaign against terrorism.

In a Monday meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Tehran, the Leader stressed the importance of enhancing cooperation between Tehran and Astana in different political, economic and international fields as well as in the fight against terrorism.

"Certain powers, particularly the US, are not sincere and serious in their alleged campaign against terrorism, but Muslim countries can distance the Muslim world from such threat through honest cooperation," Ayatollah Khamenei stated.

The Leader referred to Washington's aid to Daesh terrorist militants operating in Iraq as an example of dishonest behaviors by various self-declared anti-terror coalitions, saying: "In a bid to justify their double-standards, they classify terrorism into good and bad categories."

Ayatollah Khamenei said terrorists of European nationality are massively wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria.

"These realities prove the lack of seriousness on the part of the West, particularly the Americans, in the fight against terrorism," added the Leader.

Ayatollah Khamenei said Muslim nations are facing the threat of terrorist groups "acting in the name of Islam but in fact acting against Islam and Muslims."

"On the other hand, certain Western powers are not willing to see Muslim countries united and stand by each other," the Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei said tackling the threat of terrorism and the double-dealings of world powers requires enhanced cooperation among Muslim countries within the framework of wise and logical policies.

"We have a brotherly feeling toward Muslim countries and Iran and Kazakhstan share views on many global issues," the Leader said.

Ayatollah Khamenei also said the Islamic Republic welcomes the bolstering of cooperation with Kazakhstan in different political and economic sectors and particularly in defining the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

For his part, Nazarbayev described terrorism as a serious threat, saying the campaigns by Western states against legitimate regional governments are to blame for the scourge of terrorism and the unbridled flow of refugees to Europe.

The Kazakh president also echoed Ayatollah Khamenei's call for unity in the Muslim world, saying Islam is the religion of progress, unity and fight on terrorism.

Following an earlier meeting with the Kazakh president, President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic Republic and Kazakhstan hold common positions on regional developments, adding that extremism, sectarian division and terrorism are the major threats to the Muslim world.

Heading a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, Nazarbayev arrived in Tehran to discuss ways to improve mutual relations and the latest regional and international developments.

The Kazakh president's two-day visit to Tehran comes at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart and in response to an earlier trip by Rouhani to Astana on September 8-9, 2014. The two presidents inked a number of agreements to boost cooperation in various fields, particularly in the economic sphere.

End Item

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IRGC starts major drills, debuts drone

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 12, 2016 8:27AM

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has embarked on large-scale security drills in the country's southeast featuring debut performance by a high-potential indigenous drone.

The maneuvers, codenamed The Great Prophet (PBUH), started out in Sistan-and-Baluchestan Province on Tuesday. The area covered by the drills was being monitored by 10 reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles.

The aircraft included Hamasseh (Epic), which was being deployed as part of military maneuvers for the first time since being unveiled two years ago. The drone is capable of carrying out surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike missions simultaneously and can do long flights at high altitude.

It was being flown together with the IRGC's Mohajer (Migrant), Ababil, Shahed (Observer) drones.

Commander of the IRGC's Ground Forces Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour had said on Sunday that the three-day drills would also cover the provinces of Kerman, South Khorasan, and Hormozgan from April 12 through April 14.

He added that maintaining the preparedness of the IRGC forces, displaying the Iranian Armed Forces' might, improving the security of the region, and implementing certain tactics are among the objectives of the maneuvers.

Iran has conducted a number of drills to enhance the defense capabilities of its Armed Forces and to test modern military tactics and equipment.

The IRGC successfully test-fired two ballistic missiles on March 9 as part of military drills to assess its 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 Islamic Republic has repeatedly said that its military might poses no threat to other countries, reiterating that its defense doctrine is based on deterrence.

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EU extends sanctions against Iranian individuals

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 12, 2016 5:37AM

The European Union (EU) has extended its sanctions against 82 Iranian individuals, whom it accuses of human rights violations.

The 28-nation bloc took the measure on Monday, with the Council of the European Union notifying that the sanctions will be running through April 13, 2017.

The measures came despite a recent nuclear agreement reached with Iran, under which the West is obliged to lift its sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The US and the EU contend that the agreement only includes sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program, and not those linked to missile and human rights accusations.

The EU first imposed the sanctions  which include asset freezes and travel bans  in 2011 and has been extending them every year ever since.

The Monday move came after UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran Ahmed Shaheed presented a report on the Islamic Republic last month, accusing Tehran of violations.

Iran slammed the report as having been compiled "based on the viewpoints of a few countries and with the aim of targeting other countries through exploiting international human rights mechanisms."

It said "selective" approaches not only have failed to improve the human rights situation in the world, but also have downgraded the issue to the level of political disputes among countries.

European governments have scrambled to renew business ties with Iran since the EU, the US, China, and Russia reached the nuclear agreement with Tehran in July last year.

However, they have said the EU could impose sanctions on Iran over its missile tests after the US slapped new bans on Iranian companies and individuals over the country's missile program.

Iran is not banned from missile tests under a UN Security Council resolution and the nuclear agreement. The Islamic Republic says its missiles are for use solely as a conventional deterrent.

Russia and China have indicated that they would block any possible action by the UN Security Council against Iran over its missile program.

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Deteriorating security forces four Libya oilfields to close

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 12, 2016 5:12AM

Four oilfields have been shut down and employees in a fifth oilfield have gone on strike in Libya over fears that the Daesh terrorist group may attack the facilities.

The Libyan state news agency LANA said on Monday that the Bayda, Tibisti, Samah and Waha oilfields in Merada, southeast of the capital, Tripoli, were evacuated on Saturday.

The news agency said the staff of Zaltan oilfield, 55 km (35 miles) southeast of Merada, also declared "a general strike following the worsening of the security situation inside the field and fears of attacks" by Daesh.

The employees said in a statement that they decided to form a crisis committee and stop production activities at the oilfield.

A Libyan military source attributed the closure to "the collapse of security and low daily production rate due to difficult security conditions."

Merada is about 350 kilometers (220 miles) from Daesh's Libyan stronghold, the coastal city of Sirte.

Daesh has launched several attacks on Libyan oilfields in a bid to find access to oil and be able to smuggle them for profit.

The latest such assault occurred on April 2, when Daesh terrorists attacked the then-operating Bayda and Tibisti oilfields, killing two guards. Two other guards went missing.

Daesh conducted an attack to capture oil terminals in Ras Lanuf and al-Sidra in early January.

Libya has had two rival governments since 2014, when politician Khalifa Ghweil and his self-proclaimed government seized control of the capital with the support of militia groups.

The country's internationally-recognized government has been forced to the remote east.

The two governments reached agreement on a unity government last December, and the new government received UN's endorsement. It has, however, had difficulty taking over.

Libya has been dominated by chaos since a NATO military intervention followed a 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi. He was later killed amid the unrest.

Daesh, which is in control of some parts of Iraq and Syria, and other militants have also used the lack of security in Libya to get a foot in the door there.

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Pakistan Accuses India of Plotting Against Deal With China

by Ayaz Gul April 12, 2016

Pakistan's military chief on Tuesday accused India's intelligence agency of planning subversive activities against his country's recently launched multi-billion-dollar economic cooperation agreement with China.

"I must highlight that India, our immediate neighbor, has openly challenged this development initiative," army chief General Raheel Sharif told a conference in the port city of Gwadar.

The newly built port in southwestern Baluchistan province is central to the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, which is a package of railroads, highways, pipelines and power plants estimated to cost $46 billion.

Sharif said "hostile intelligence agencies" are averse to this grand project, but that Pakistan is determined to protect and develop the CPEC, connecting western China to the Arabian Sea.

"I would like to make a special reference to Indian Intelligence Agency RAW [Research and Analysis Wing] that is blatantly involved in destabilizing Pakistan," the general asserted.

History of suspicion

Pakistan has long accused India of training and funding separatist militants waging a low-level insurgency in Baluchistan.

Last month, Pakistani authorities announced they captured a suspected Indian spy in Baluchistan, identified as Kulbhushan Jadhav. The military also aired video footage of Jadhav saying he was working out of his base in Chabahar in neighboring Iran.

New Delhi has confirmed that Jadhav is a former Indian navy officer, but denied he has anything to do with RAW, saying he had taken early retirement from the military. It also rejected the video confession of Jadhav as induced by torture.

India says it has sought consular access to its detained national, but Pakistan has not yet responded.

Sharif described CPEC as a corridor of peace and prosperity, not only for the people of Pakistan and China, but also for the region and beyond.

"Therefore, it is important for all to leave behind confrontation, and focus on cooperation," he added.

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Exit Polls: South Korea's Ruling Party May Lose Legislative Majority

by Brian Padden April 13, 2016

Exit polls in South Korea indicate opponents to President Park Geun-hye's conservative Saenuri Party are doing better than expected in Wednesday's legislative election, and may deny the ruling party a clear majority in the National Assembly.

Recent polls had shown strong public support for Park, particularly for her tough stance on national security taken against the growing North Korean nuclear threat.

In this election the legislative body will expand to 300 seats.

While recent polls indicated Saenuri would win a clear majority, exit polls taken Wednesday show the ruling party falling short, and winning between 121 and 143 seats.

Main opposition

The exit polls taken by KBS television show the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, now taking between 101 and 123 seats, significantly more than originally projected.

Part of the main opposition Minjoo Party split off to form the separate People's Party for this election. Critics said the division among liberal groups would give conservative candidates a higher percentage of the fragmented field.

Instead the People Party is likely to do better than expected and win close to 41 seats.

Voter turnout was also was higher than in the two previous South Korean elections.

Misleading reports of low voter turnout did not include the more than 5 million votes, or 12 percent of the total, cast in early voting last week. These early voting ballots have not been incorporated into the exit polls.

Issues

Both opposition parties focused on the under performing economy, that grew 2.6 percent last year and youth unemployment that reached 12.5 percent in February, the highest since the government started keeping records in 1999.

"I judged that the majority party cannot resolve issues of inter-Korean relations and economy, so I voted for the opposition party," said Kim Min-soo, a technician who voted for the Minjoo Party.

Many who cast their ballots for the conservative party were older voters and said national security was a key issue.

They expressed support for imposing increased sanctions on North Korea following Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test in January, as well as cutting the last cooperative inter-Korean ties by closing the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Project, and increasing military readiness to respond to any provocations.

"I don't think Saenuri Party will lose over Kim Jong Un," said Choi Jung-ja, who said she also liked the Saenuri Party candidate running in the district.

"South Korea must be stabilized. National security must be strong and stabilized. That's the most important thing," said Park Hyun-ja, who voted for the Saenuri Party candidate.

Disillusioned voters

Heading into the election, there was a growing perception that none of the major parties were generating any public enthusiasm.

Some voters complained that the campaign was more personality driven and there were no significant new policies alternatives developed to challenge the status quo.

"There were many policies in the previous elections but there was no policy which differentiates this election," said Kang Joon-yong, a young father who said support for children and working parents were issues important to him.

But the exit polls show widespread voter frustration over both the sluggish economy and the tense national security situation.

Rather than showing a strong endorsement for President Park this surprising election result will likely increase the power of her political opponents in parliament.

Youmi Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.

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Navalny Asks Russian Spy Agency To Investigate Media Claims He's Western Agent

April 13, 2016

by RFE/RL

Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has asked the country's lead domestic spy agency to launch an investigation after state television accused him of serving as a secret operative for the West.

Navalny said on April 13 that he was formally asking the Federal Security Service (FSB) to confiscate and examine the validity of documents shown on air by Rossia-1 television that the network calls evidence that he is a paid agent of U.S. and British intelligence.

Navalny, his supporters, and opposition-minded media outlets have ridiculed the purported evidence previewed by state media boss and television host Dmitry Kiselyov on April 9 and set to be detailed in a full "expose" slated to be broadcast by Rossia-1 on the evening of April 13.

They note that the documents that Rossia-1 claims were leaked from Britain's MI6 spy agency and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are riddled with clumsy English syntax and grammatical mistakes, and that voices heard on Navalny's purportedly tapped phone sound nothing like the Kremlin foe.

"Let [the FSB] take all of these 'CIA documents' and the recording of 'Navalny's conversation' from Kiselyov," Navalny wrote on his website.

He posted a scan of his letter to the FSB, dated April 13, in which he appeals to agency chief Aleksandr Bortnikov to "take the necessary measures to confiscate secret materials and examine their veracity."

Navalny previously described the allegations as "pure fantasy" and said that he planned to file a defamation suit. He added that the report on his alleged links to Western intelligence took the state-media campaign against President Vladimir Putin's opponents to "new heights."

The 15-minute preview of the report, aired on Kiselyov's weekly current events show Vesti Nedeli, claimed that Navalny was recruited to work for British intelligence by William Browder, a onetime prominent investor in Russia who has since become a vocal Kremlin enemy.

Navalny is an anticorruption crusader who is currently serving two suspended sentences on financial-crimes charges that rights groups and Kremlin critics say were retribution for his activism.

Russian Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika in December accused the U.S.-born Browder and Western "secret services" of being behind a film produced by Navalny's anticorruption foundation film that accused the official and his family of corruption.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-navalny- asks-fsb-to-probe-media-spy-claim/27673097.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Assad believes federalization ruins Syria: Russia MP

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 12, 2016 1:58PM

A Russian lawmaker says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad views the federalization of Syria as destructive for the Arab country.

During a Tuesday meeting with Russian parliamentarians in Damascus, the Syrian president said the Syrian people share the same idea about dividing the country into federal states, Russia's State Duma lawmaker Alexander Yushchenko told reporters following the meeting with Assad.

Assad also warned that turning Syria into small regions run by extremist groups would put the world at risk, the lawmaker said.

"Today, the fighting goes on for Syria's future at the talks in Geneva, Bashar al-Assad told us at the meeting, adding that, in his view, federalization will ruin Syria," Yushchenko added.

According to the Russian lawmaker, during the meeting, Assad also positively assessed the potential of the Syria peace settlement within the framework of the Geneva dialogue.

On March 17, Syrian Kurdish groups, along with their Arab and Assyrian Christian allies, declared a federal region in the country's Kurdish-dominated north. The move was also denounced by the Damascus government, as well as the Saudi-backed Syrian opposition groups, also known as the High Negotiations Committee, which took part in the latest round of UN-brokered peace negotiations in Geneva.

The Arab League on March 21 rejected the "separatist" Kurdish push for a federal government system in Syria, citing the risks it poses to the territorial integrity of the conflict-ridden country.

The US has also made it clear that it will not recognize any autonomous region set up by the Kurds and their allies under the federation, asserting that Syria's future government will be negotiated in the UN talks.

This as indirect talks between delegations of the Syrian government and the foreign-backed opposition will resume in the Swiss city on April 13. The last round of the UN-backed peace talks came to a halt on March 24 over a series of disagreements.

Assad seeks formation of a system of political parties

According to another senior Russian official, the Syrian president on Tuesday also stressed the need for a system of political parties that would smooth disputes away, adding that a parliamentary republic will not work in Syria.

"At our talks Bashar al-Assad underlined the importance of establishing a system of political parties in the country, because, in his view, this is a party system which will allow for the ironing out of inter-ethnic and inter-confessional disagreements," Dmitry Sablin, with the Federation Council of Russia, told reporters.

Sablin said Assad "has backed an idea of lawmakers from the Syrian People's Council involvement as observers on the Collective Security Treaty Organization [CSTO] floors."

The CSTO is a regional security group comprising six post-Soviet Union countries of Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Tajikistan.

In mid-February, Nikolay Bordyuzha, the secretary general of the CSTO, warned that plans by Turkey and Saudi Arabia to deploy ground troops into Syria could escalate tensions in the conflict-ridden Arab country and result in direct military clashes between countries in the Middle East.

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Use of Chlorine by Syrian Militants Disproves Damascus's Involvement

Sputnik News

12:53 12.04.2016(updated 13:07 12.04.2016)

The use of chlorine by different radical groups in 2016 in Syria and Iraq proves that Damascus is not involved in these types of attacks.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The use of chlorine in Syria's Aleppo by the Jaysh al-Islam group, as well as the use of other chemical weapons by other radical groups in 2016 in both Syria and Iraq, proves that Damascus is not involved in these types of attacks, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Tuesday.

"Actually, militants from various radical groups only in 2016 used toxic substances several times as chemical weapons in Syria and Iraq. Now the Jaysh al-Islam group has used chlorine in Aleppo, and it seems they aren't even hiding this. Obviously we strongly condemn the use of chemical substances for military purposes whoever it is, including non-government subjects," Zakharova said.

She said that the use of chemical weapons by radical groups proves that Damascus is not involved in such attacks, as the West has accused.

"The use of chlorine by Jaysh al-Islam militants in Aleppo once again confirms what we've said numerous times that the blaming of Damascus and publications in the Western media of cases of using chlorine for military purposes, including against civilians, is actually the work of terrorist groups," Zakharova said.

However, the West does not react to the use of chemical weapons in Syria through the UN Security Council.

"Russia has long expressed its concern that the Islamic State and other terrorist groups have acquired great potential in war activities with the use of toxic substances in the region of the Middle East. We regularly bring attention to this and put the question forward on the need for the UN Security Council to react to cases of chemical attacks by terrorists, in particular through amendments in the anti-terrorist goals mandate of the Joint Mechanism of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the investigations of incidents using chemical weapons in Syria that was specially created in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2235," Zakharova told RIA Novosti.

She said that Moscow is met with resistance by Western nations that "obviously don't want to attract attention to this mechanism against Damascus's alleged guilt in such instances by the official Syrian authorities."

 Sputnik

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Two Russian Helicopter Pilots Die in Crash in Syria's Homs

Sputnik News

10:50 12.04.2016(updated 12:15 12.04.2016)

A Russian Aerospace Forces Mi-28N Havoc helicopter crashed near the city of Homs in Syria, killing both pilots, the Russian Defense Ministry's press service reported Tuesday.

"According to a report from the crash site, the helicopter was not shot down, the press service's statement said."

The crash occurred at 22:29 GMT on Monday.

"Two crewmembers were killed. The bodies of the dead pilots were removed [from the crash site] during search and rescue operations and are currently at the Hmeymim Airbase."

According to the ministry, the reasons behind the crash are yet to be determined. A task force has been sent to the site of the incident to investigate the crash.

President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Supreme Commander-in-Chief, has been informed about the crash, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

"Obviously, the commander in chief is notified first of such emergency incidents."

Russia has been conducting a counterterrorist operation in Syria since September 30. On March 14, President Vladimir Putin ordered to withdraw the main part of the air group from Syria.

On November 24, a Turkish F-16 shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber over Syria. One of the pilots was killed by Islamist rebels after ejecting. A Mi-8 helicopter, which had been sent to conduct a search and rescue mission, was damaged by the rebels' fire, and a naval infantry officer was killed.

The Mi-28N Night Hunter is a modification of the Mi-28 gunship designed for round-the-clock combat operations. It can find and destroy the enemy's vehicles and manpower.

 Sputnik

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Syrian Elections Denounced as a Sham

by Jamie Dettmer April 13, 2016

In a move widely interpreted as a signal that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has no intention of stepping down, his regime went ahead Wednesday with parliamentary elections dubbed a "farce" by political activists, rebel commanders and Western governments.

As voting got underway in government-controlled areas of the war-shattered country, there was no suspense about the likely results. Those will be announced later this week.

Government loyalists  either members of Assad's ruling Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and its affiliates or handpicked candidates elected as "farmers and laborers"  were expected to pack the parliament, as they did the previous one, elected as the uprising against Assad began nearly five years ago.

A smiling Assad and his British-born wife, Asma, were pictured on the Syrian leader's Facebook page voting early in the controversial polls.

As he left the polling station at al-Assad Library, a statement was released to the media. It quoted the Syrian leader quoted as saying: "The Syrian people are engaged in a war that has been going on for five years, through which terrorism managed to shed innocent blood and destroy much infrastructure, but it failed in achieving the primary goal it was assigned, which is destroying the principle structure in Syria, meaning the social structure of the national identity."

In February, just before a truce was declared, Assad announced his intention to hold parliamentary elections April 13. He issued a decree for polling to choose the country's 250-member legislature, known as the People's Council, which is elected for a four-year term.

Wednesday's voting came amid signs that the shaky cease-fire, which has reduced rather than ended hostilities, is close to collapse.

Aleppo offensive

Earlier this week, the government, with Russian-backing, started an offensive on the rebels around Aleppo. Opposition fighters and al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra mounted concerted efforts to reclaim villages south of Syria's one-time commercial capital and territory in the coastal province of Latakia, the heartland of Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam.

The Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed umbrella opposition group, warned Wednesday that the Assad regime is preparing for a large-scale offensive on Aleppo in "blatant violation" of the "cessation of hostilities" agreement.

"The Assad regime has clearly decided to escalate attacks on the Syrian people, taking advantage of the Russian and Iranian support and using the fight on terror as a pretext to justify these attacks," the coalition said in a statement.

In the runup to elections, regime-held parts of the country saw signs of campaigning by the almost 3,500 candidates vying for seats. Their posters plastered streets. Regime officials pointed to electioneering as evidence of the polls' authenticity.

State media on Wednesday broadcast footage of enthusiastic crowds pouring into the polling station at the Hejaz train station in downtown Damascus and people in a government-held district of Aleppo chanting, "Allah, Syria, Bashar  and that's all we need."

Polling issues

But about 7,000 candidates withdrew just before the elections, and more than half of the country had no polling stations. The 4 million Syrians who have fled for neighboring countries cannot vote. In northeast Syria, Kurds boycotted the election.

French foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said: "France denounces this sham of an election organized by the regime. They are being held without campaigning, under the auspices of an oppressive regime and without international observation."

That wasn't the view of Moscow, which, like the Assad regime, claimed Wednesday that the elections highlight Assad's legitimacy.

Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the voting was intended to avoid a "legal vacuum" while negotiators in the United Nations-brokered peace talks  which resumed Wednesday in Geneva  try to come up with a political transition.

"There is an understanding already that a new constitution should emerge as a result of this political process, on the basis of which new, early elections are to be held," Lavrov said. " These elections held today are designed to play this role of not allowing a legal vacuum."

Skepticism over peace talks

But there is little confidence among opposition and Western negotiators that peace talks will be successful anytime soon.

Rebel and regime negotiators have not even met face-to-face so far in the Geneva talks. The U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has said he wants the second round of peace talks starting this week to focus on concrete steps toward a political transition. Damascus and foreign allies Russia and Iran insist that Assad should remain in power; the rebels insist he goes.

The Syrian government says its representatives will join the talks on Friday, after elections are over.

Despite the cease-fire, violence has ticked upward in Syria in recent days. France, Iran, Russia and the United States have all voiced concern over fighting near Aleppo this week.

Samantha Power, the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, warned Tuesday that escalating violence in Aleppo province threatened to derail the Geneva talks. Power said that Washington is "very alarmed" at the regime's announcement of a major offensive south of the city of Aleppo and that Russia needed to "get the regime back with the program."

Polling progress

In a statement to the government-owned SANA news agency, the head of Higher Judicial Committee for Elections, Judge Hisham al-Shaar, said the elections were proceeding well, with no complaints. And SANA reported that voter turnout was strong at 2,000 polling stations in Damascus, 17 in Deir ez-Zor, 1,047 in Latakia, 661 in Homs, 347 in Sweida, 741 in Hama, 368 in Hasaka and 816 in Tartous.

But independent journalists and political activists said voter turnout was more of a trickle away from showcased polling stations in the capital.

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President demands return of Taiwan nationals sent to China

ROC Central News Agency

2016/04/11 20:15:04

Taipei, April 11 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou () demanded Monday that China return eight Taiwan nationals who were sent there from Kenya three days ago in connection with a phone fraud case in Nairobi.

Presiding over a routine meeting on cross-Taiwan Strait and foreign affairs at the Presidential Office, Ma said the mainland side has violated due process by taking the Taiwan nationals away forcefully without notifying Taiwan beforehand.

The government has lodged a serious protest with Beijing and will do its utmost to protect its nationals, Ma said.

He directed the Mainland Affairs Council to continue to communicate with the mainland side and demand the return of the eight.

He also instructed the Ministry of Justice to negotiate with its Chinese counterpart to deal with the issue.

Because some Taiwan nationals are still in Kenya, the president instructed the concerned agencies to be careful and make sure that no more Taiwanese are taken away by China.

The eight people were among 23 Taiwanese accused of being members of a fraud ring that was busted toward the end of 2014. A total of 77 Chinese and Taiwanese were arrested for illegal entry and allegedly involved in telecommunications fraud.

The 23 Taiwan nationals, along with 14 Chinese, were acquitted of phone fraud charges April 5, but were ordered to leave the country in three weeks.

However, when they went to a local police station later that day to retrieve their passports, which had been seized earlier, they were detained.

On April 8, the eight people were put on a Chinese airliner and flown to China, despite a court order that they should be handed back to the Kenyan police authorities pending a further hearing.

Earlier Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) issued a statement demanding the immediate return of the eight Taiwan nationals and urged the Kenyan police, in accordance with the court ruling, to immediately release the other 15 Taiwanese who have also been acquitted.

The ministry expressed its "serious protest" against the "uncivilized act of extrajudicial abduction" which represents a "gross violation of basic human rights."

MOFA also accused Chinese personnel of "technical obstructions," including delaying a court injunction that would have kept the Taiwanese in Kenya, and of barring an official from Taiwan's representative office in South Africa from reaching the Taiwanese before they were deported.

(By Claudia Liu and Y.F. Low)

ENDITEM/J

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Tsai calls for early cross-strait negotiations over deportation row

ROC Central News Agency

2016/04/12 22:51:10

Taipei, April 12 (CNA) President-elect Tsai Ing-wen () called Tuesday for China to start negotiations with Taiwan immediately to address the issue of Taiwanese nationals sent by Kenya to China in connection with phone fraud in the African country.

Tsai, chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), also expressed the party's serious condemnation and protest over the forced deportation of Taiwanese nationals to China by the Kenyan police.

She warned that the incident will deepen the negative image of China among the Taiwanese public, and called for Beijing to start negotiating with Taiwan immediately.

"The Beijing authorities do not have the right to deal with the deportation of Taiwanese nationals on behalf of our own government," she said.

If Taiwanese nationals commit crime overseas, they should be sent back to their home country to face trial, Tsai said.

"The Beijing authorities' ignorance of our own sovereignty and jurisdiction over the case has deeply hurt relations across the Taiwan Strait," she said.

Tsai also said that her party gives full support to the government's decision to send officials to China to conduct negotiations on the issue and to ensure the safety of the Taiwanese nationals and help them return to Taiwan as soon as possible.

"They are Taiwanese," Tsai said, noting that the government has the obligation to ensure the safety of every Taiwanese national, wherever they are.

To date, the Kenyan authorities have handed over to China a total of 45 Taiwanese nationals who allegedly were members of various Kenya-based telecommunications fraud rings that targeted Chinese victims.

The first incident occurred April 8, when eight Taiwanese were put on a flight to China, three days after they were acquitted by a Kenyan court for illegal telecom operations.

On Tuesday, Kenyan police brandished submachine guns and tear gas to force another 37 Taiwanese to board a plane bound for China. They included 22 who were arrested April 8 and 15 others who were also acquitted April 5.

Considering the move a violation of Taiwan's jurisdiction over its nationals, the government has lodged a strong protest to Nairobi after its efforts to block the move failed.

(By Lee Ming-tsung and Elaine Hou)

ENDITEM/J

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Taiwan to send officials to China amid Taiwanese deportation row

ROC Central News Agency

2016/04/12 17:34:08

Taipei, April 12 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou () has directed relevant government agencies to contact China and send Taiwanese representatives there to express Taiwan's stern stance over the sending to China of Taiwanese nationals in connection with phone fraud in Kenya and to handle the issue, a Presidential Office spokesman said Tuesday.

To date, the Kenyan authorities have handed over to China a total of 45 Taiwanese nationals who allegedly were members of various Kenya-based telecommucations fraud rings targeting Chinese victims.

The first incident occurred April 8, when eight Taiwanese were put on a flight to China, three days after they were acquitted by a Kenyan court for illegal telecom operations and organized crime.

On Tuesday, Kenyan police brandished submachine guns and tear gas to force another 37 Taiwanese to board a plane bound for China. They included 22 who were arrested April 8 and 15 others who were also acquitted April 5.

The case puts Taiwan's government in a tough spot. Taiwan has no diplomatic ties with Kenya, which recognizes the government in Beijing, and Taiwan is relying on a diplomat from its liaison office in South Africa to try to help the detainees return home.

Ma has directed the Justice Ministry and the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) to send representatives to China to look into the situation, and asked the ministry to elucidate to the public in Taiwan the legal procedures and background information of the case, after consulting with Premier Simon Chang ().

In related developments, an MAC official said it has requested discussion on the matter with China's Taiwan Affairs Office via a hotline between the two agencies.

(By Claudia Liu, Kao Chao-fen and Evelyn Kao)

ENDITEM/J

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Taiwan to seek return of nationals taken to China from Kenya

ROC Central News Agency

2016/04/12 16:14:08

Taipei, April 12 (CNA) Taiwan will seek the return of several of its nationals deported by Kenya to China, even though Beijing has jurisdiction in a fraud investigation involving the Taiwan nationals because the alleged crimes targeted Chinese nationals, Taiwanese officials said Tuesday.

The eight Taiwanese sent to Beijing from Kenya were investigated for fraud by the Chinese authorities, which have jurisdiction because the crimes took place in China and the victims were Chinese, said Tai Tung-li (), deputy head of the Ministry of Justice Department of International and Cross-Strait Legal Affairs.

According to Tai, the alleged fraud scheme made estimated illegal gains of NT$500 million (US$15.44 million).

Meanwhile, Chou Ming-jui (), deputy head of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Department of Legal Affairs, said Taiwan also has jurisdiction over its nationals and the council will negotiate with China so that the people detained in Beijing can be repatriated to Taiwan for trial by the Taiwanese judicial authorities.

The MAC will also ask Beijing for visitation rights for the families of the eight detained Taiwanese, and demand that China not extradite several other Taiwanese arrested in Kenya for similar offense, Chou added.

The eight Taiwanese were put on a flight to China April 8, after they were acquitted by a Kenyan court for illegal telecom operations and organized crime, for which they were arrested in November 2014. However, the Chinese authorities want them charged in China, with fraud.

The eight people were among 28 Taiwanese accused of being members of a fraud ring that was busted in Kenya in 2014 for defrauding people concentrated in Beijing and in Zhejiang Province in China.

A total of 76 Chinese and Taiwanese were arrested for illegal entry and alleged involvement in telecommunications fraud. Of the 76, 23 Taiwanese and 14 Chinese were acquitted on April 5.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Kenya police brandished submachine guns and tear gas to force another 37 Taiwan nationals to board a plane bound for China on Tuesday. They included 22 phone fraud suspects who were arrested on April 8 and the remaining 15 who were acquitted on April 5.

(By Wang Cheng-chung, Wen Kuei-hsiang and Kay Liu)

ENDITEM/J

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Taiwan bashes Kenya for sending another 37 Taiwanese to China

ROC Central News Agency

2016/04/12 15:43:07

Taipei, April 12 (CNA) Taiwan is indignant that Kenya police brandished submachine guns and tear gas to force 37 Taiwan nationals suspected of phone fraud to board a plane bound for China on Tuesday.

Considering the move a violation of Taiwan's jurisdiction over its nationals, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a strong protest to Nairobi after its efforts to block the move failed.

It came just days after Kenya handed over eight Taiwan nationals, who were acquitted by a Kenyan court of operating telecommunications equipment without a license on April 5, to China by putting them on a China Southern Airlines flight to China on April 8.

Antonio Chen (), director-general of MOFA's Department of West Asian and African Affairs, said he was notified at 3 a.m. Tuesday that Kenyan police intended to send 22 Taiwan nationals arrested on April 8 and 15 others also acquitted by the Kenyan court.

John C. Chen (), Taiwan's representative to South Africa, and other officials immediately went to the detention center to visit the 22 newly arrested suspects, though they ran into many difficulties in gaining access to them.

The suspects said they had been told by Kenyan authorities that Taiwan's government had bought them tickets to fly home, but John Chen told them it was not true. He also urged them to resist if Kenyan police tried to move them.

There was little they could do, however, as reports indicate Kenyan police using submachine guns to force the issue, according to Antonio Chen.

As for the 15 Taiwanese held at a police station who were found not guilty along with eight other Taiwanese on April 5, Antonio Chen said they adamantly opposed being sent to China and refused to be taken away by police.

Police overcame their resistance by using tear gas, and the 15 ultimately relented and boarded the same plane as the group of 22 Taiwanese.

Antonio Chen said Kenya's interior and foreign ministers decided that the group of 22 Taiwanese had no need to be put in trial in Kenya and listed them as persona non grata and sent them directly to China.

They were taken away by personnel from China's embassy in Nairobi and put on a plane bound for China.

John C. Chen tried to stop them and chased after them in a car, to no avail.

Antonio Chen said Kenyan police ignored the fact that Taiwan had obtained a court injunction that prohibited Taiwanese suspects from being taken away by force.

In addition to lodging a strong protest, the ministry will ask Kenya parliamentarians, human rights advocates and media to lend support to Taiwan and will work with lawyers to file suit against Kenyan police, Antonio Chen said.

Asked if Taiwan will sanction Kenya, he said the most the government could do is to impose soft sanctions, such as reminding Taiwanese that traveling to Kenya carries risk and trying to put Kenyan tourism in a negative light in the international community.

Antonio Chen said the ministry was not issuing a formal travel advisory for Kenya because travel advisories only apply to outbreaks of disease, disruptions in social order or terrorist attacks and would not be applicable in this instance.

Kenya has close ties with China, including growing dependence on Beijing for financial support, especially as financing from traditional foreign creditors Japan and France has stagnated or declined.

Just last week a new loan of 530 million euros from China was finalized to cover Kenya's budget deficit, according to an RFI (Radio France International) report on April 11.

That came not long after the World Bank warned in March that more Chinese loans could bring Kenya's heavy debt burden to unsustainable levels.

(By Tang Pei-chun and Lilian Wu)

Enditem/ls

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Taiwan strongly protests China's 'abduction' of its nationals

ROC Central News Agency

2016/04/12 11:28:07

Taipei, April 12 (CNA) The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) lodged a strong protest against China late Monday over its "abduction" of Taiwan nationals in connection with a phone fraud case in Kenya.

The MAC said the eight nationals should be under Taiwan's jurisdiction and demanded that the Taiwan Affairs Office under China's State Council coordinate with related agencies to release the eight as soon as possible.

"The mainland's move has encroached on our jurisdiction and is in total disregard of the fact that both sides have signed a judicial mutual assistance agreement under the premise of not denying the respective right of rule over the past eight years," the MAC said.

The MAC said in the statement that the eight are currently being detained in Beijing, but it did not say when they might be returned to Taiwan.

The agency accused China of ignoring a tacit agreement reached by the two sides in 2011 on handling similar cases, especially considering that the eight had already been acquitted by a Kenyan court.

The case has seriously infringed on the rights of Taiwan nationals and hurt the feelings of Taiwanese people, the MAC said, stressing that China will be fully responsible for the serious consequences the move will have on bilateral relations.

The MAC also said it was by no means acceptable that China's Foreign Ministry commended other countries' insistence on the "one-China policy."

The eight people were among 28 Taiwanese accused of being members of a fraud ring that was busted in Kenya toward the end of 2014 for defrauding people concentrated in Beijing and Zhejiang province in China.

A total of 76 Chinese and Taiwanese were arrested for illegal entry and allegedly involvement in telecommunications fraud.

Of the 76, 23 Taiwanese and 14 Chinese were acquitted of phone fraud charges on April 5 and were ordered to leave the country within three weeks.

But when they went to a local police station later that day to retrieve their passports, which had been seized earlier, they were detained without any official reason being given.

Beijing pressured Kenya to turn over eight of the 23 Taiwan nationals detained, claiming that they were implicated in similar fraud cases in China.

Kenya's government acquiesced to Beijing's demand and put the eight people on a China Southern Airlines flight to China on April 8, despite a court order stipulating that they be handed back to Kenyan police authorities pending a further hearing.

Taiwan's Ministry of Justice said, meanwhile, that it received a call from China late Monday that the eight are being detained in Beijing and under investigation for their previous involvement in fraud on the mainland.

Taiwan is concerned about the rights of the eight and intends to send officials to the mainland to learn about the situation and the handling of the matter, the Justice Ministry said.

(By Kao Chao-fen, Page Tsai and Lilian Wu)

Enditem/ls

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Erdogan-Putin Animosity Hurting Turkey-Russia Relations

by Dorian Jones April 12, 2016

Tentative steps have been taken in the past few weeks to try to ease tensions between Ankara and Moscow, which were strained when Turkish jets shot down a Russian bomber operating from a Syrian airbase in November.

A pro-government Turkish newspaper reported both countries had agreed to build monuments to those soldiers who died in each other's territory during the numerous conflicts over past centuries. Also, Moscow lifted a ban on flights to a key Turkish tourist resort.

Former Turkish Ambassador Murat Bilhan, an expert on Russian relations, said powerful mutual interests were driving rapprochement efforts.

"I am very optimistic that these relations will smooth," he said. "Russia needs Turkey because it's a big market for Russian goods and also Russian investments," particularly in the energy field. Also, he said, "Turkey needs Russia, because Turkey needs first of all Russian markets, Russian tourists, also construction. I do not think Turkey could give up" on relations with Russia.

Further impetus has been given to those rapprochement efforts with Turkish police detaining a Syrian Turkmen whom Moscow accuses of killing the pilot of its downed jet. Police reportedly questioned him about the shooting, but he has not been charged. Russia is demanding his prosecution.

No reciprocal moves

But although analysts say Ankara is eager to rebuild relations, and a senior Turkish official says the government has repeatedly reached out to Moscow, its overtures have not been reciprocated.

Carnegie Institute visiting scholar Sinan Ulgen said rapprochement efforts are likely to fail because Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are trapped by their need to protect their strongman reputations.

"The few signs that we have seen of a normalization between Turkey and Russia are just weak signs so far," Ulgen said. "There is no reason to expect that normalization will happen anytime soon, given that the acrimony has also become quite personal between Erdogan and Putin, and they have both cornered one another, in a way. Putin is asking for an apology, an apology that obviously will not come from Erdogan."

A Western diplomat contended that the shooting down of the Russian plane by Turkish jets damaged Putin's image as the region's strongman. The diplomat warned that until the Russian leader can extract some kind of reciprocity, bilateral relations are not expected to improve significantly.

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Ukraine MPs step up talks on new ruling coalition

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 12, 2016 1:11PM

Ukrainian lawmakers have doubled efforts for reaching consensus on establishing a new ruling coalition as disagreements still remain over key appointments.

Members of parliament continued negotiations ahead of voting on Tuesday for creating a new ruling coalition two days after Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk tendered his resignation.

Members of Yatseniuk's People's Front together with those from President Petro Poroshenko's BPP (the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko) are in the final stages of agreeing on a coalition government under Volodymyr Groysman, a long-standing ally of Poroshenko. Reports say the two parties will announce the coalition within days.

The resignation of Yatseniuk, a key figure in demonstrations that led to the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, culminated months of infighting between him and Poroshenko. Proshenko had repeatedly accused Yatseniuk of failing to tackle corruption. Western governments, including the United States, also backed the call.

Groysman, the current parliament speaker, said he would be willing to lead a government that is committed to anti-corruption fight.

"I am good for it. I am able to work 24 hours a day," Groysman, 38, told reporters.

However, serious disagreement remained on who should be appointed to key government posts, especially the finance portfolio which has been occupied by US-born technocrat Natalia Yaresko. Reports said Groysman had decided to offer the post to someone else.

The 2014 revolution in Ukraine has badly affected the country's economy as the former Soviet state no longer enjoys support from Russia. Kiev is required to carry out a series of reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under a USD 17.5 billion rescue loan it received from the Fund .

The political and social problems have also been exacerbated by an insurgency in the east of the country, where fighting continues between the government forces and pro-Russia forces.

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Analysts: Ukraine Government Shake-up Raises Hopes, Concerns

by Daniel Schearf April 12, 2016

The resignation of Ukraine's embattled Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, made official Tuesday, raises hopes for ending a political crisis that has delayed Western financial support and led many to question Ukraine's path to reform.

The current speaker of Ukraine's parliament, Volodymyr Groysman, is widely expected to be elected as Yatsenyuk's successor. Unlike Yatsenyuk, he is a close ally of President Petro Poroshenko and a member of Poroshenko's party.

But Ukrainian media reported Tuesday that a parliamentary vote on a new cabinet, including a new prime minister, has been delayed by disagreements over key ministerial positions.

Critics say if President Petro Poroshenko consolidates power in the new government, it could signal a step backward on Ukraine's path to Europe.

Piotr Bourkovsky is head of the department for political systems development at Kyiv's National Institute for Strategic Studies, a think tank under the presidential office.

"Consolidation [of power] itself is not a dangerous thing," he tells VOA. "What is dangerous is whether this consolidation would be used for making profits or whether it would be used for moving forward the country."

Pressure to reform?

Yatsenyuk was the latest, and highest profile, official to resign in recent weeks, amid charges that reforms are being implemented too slowly. Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius abruptly resigned in February, citing political pressure from parliamentarians to appoint their loyalists to key positions in state-owned enterprises.

In announcing his intention to step down Sunday, Yatsenyuk accused Ukrainian politicians of failing to make "real changes."

But Yatsenyuk had lost much public support over the government's handling of reforms and clashed publicly with Poroshenko in February, when the president first asked him and Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin to resign. Shokin, whose office had long been accused of catering to vested interests, submitted his resignation, which was approved in March. Yatsenyuk survived a vote of no confidence, but pressure grew for him to step down.

A consolidation of Poroshenko's power could also help bring about much-needed reforms by putting the responsibility and pressure to deliver more directly on the president and his party.

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt told journalists Tuesday a promised $1 billion in U.S. financial support would be kept on hold until a cabinet of reformists was in place.

"It's not just U.S. assistance, but assistance from the IMF, assistance from the European Union," he said in a press release. "All of this depends on the identification of a new Cabinet with clear reform credentials, and in the case of the United States, continued progress on other critical reform benchmarks, including significantly the selection of a new prosecutor general who enjoys the support and confidence of the Ukrainian people, the Rada, and civil society."

Russian view

Yatsenyuk was much disliked in Russia as one of the political leaders who backed the 2013-2014 uprising that overthrew Ukraine's Kremlin-backed then-president, Viktor Yanukovich. During the transition, when Kyiv was weak, Russia responded by annexing Crimea and launching support for separatist rebels in the Donbas.

Analysts say the government shake-up could spur progress with the Kremlin on the Minsk peace agreement to end fighting with Russia-backed rebels in Ukraine's Donbas region. The deal calls for broad autonomy for the southeast region, legitimate elections, and a return of border control to Ukrainian forces.

But a lack of political will on both sides, amid sporadic armed clashes, has so far slowed implementation.

"Putin always prefers more centralized kind of power," says the Carnegie Moscow Center's Alexander Baunov, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. "So, for him, Ukraine will be more understandable from the point of view who is leading the country."

But political analysts say Putin does not want to see a strengthened government in Ukraine.

"If we see that this resignation and replacement will lead to a continuation of political crisis," says Baunov, "that's actually the dream in the Kremlin - to see the big scale, internal political crisis and economic crisis of Ukraine, because that supports the [Kremlin] thesis that revolutions and so abrupt change of power doesn't lead to anything good."

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As several companies from around the world of telecoms share their Q3 results, here is a financial round-up with all of the key points.
Note: This text has been translated from Swedish. The Swedish text shall govern for all purposes and prevail in case of any discrepancy with the English version. The shareholders of Nexam Chemical Holding AB (publ), corporate identity 556919 -9432, are hereby convened to the Annual General Meeting (AGM), held at 3.00 p.m. on Friday, May 13 2016 at Medicon Village, Scheelevagen 2, in Lund. Admission for registration from 2.00 p.m. Notice of the Annual General Meeting 2016 The shareholders of Nexam Chemical Holding AB (publ), (Nexam Chemical), are hereby convened to attend the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at 3.00 p.m. on Friday, May 13 2016 at Horsalen, Medicon Village, Scheelevagen 2, in Lund. Entitlement to participate and notification Shareholders wishing to attend the AGM must,  first, be listed in the share register kept by Euroclear Sweden AB on Saturday, May 7 2016 and  secondly, not later than Monday, May 9 2016, inform Nexam Chemical in writing of their attendance and number of assistances, if any, to Nexam Chemical Holding AB (publ), Bolagsstamma, Scheelevagen 19, 223 63 Lund. Such notification can also be given by telephone +46 733 88 98 38, or by e-mail to info@nexamchemical.com. Notification ought to include the shareholders name, address, telephone number, personal or corporate identity number, registered shareholding and information on proxies and number of assistances, if any. Notification and particulars of any proxy and assistances will be registered with Nexam Chemical to provide the basis for the voting list. Proxies etc. If shareholders attend by proxy, such proxy must bring a written power of attorney, dated and signed by the shareholder, to the AGM. This power of attorney may not be older than one year, unless a longer term of validity (although subject to a maximum of five years) is stated in the power of attorney. If the power of attorney is issued by a legal entity, a certified copy of registration certificate or equivalent document for the legal entity shall be presented. To facilitate entry, a copy of the power of attorney and other legitimacy papers is preferably attached to the notification of attendance of the AGM. Forms for power of attorney can be found at the Companys website www.nexamchemical.com and at the head office in Lund, (Scheelevagen 19) and will be sent to shareholders who so request and state their address. Nominee-registered shares Shareholders who have their holdings nominee-registered, through bank or other administrator, must, to be entitled to participate in the AGM, temporarily register the shares in their own name at Euroclear Sweden AB. Such temporary re -registration of ownership must be implemented no later than Saturday, May 7 2016. Accordingly, shareholders must inform their nominees or banks of their wish of re-registration well in advance of Friday, May 6 2016 since the record date is a Saturday. Other The Annual Accounts and Audit Report of the Company and the Group, as well as complete proposals for resolution according to items 12-16 are available at the Companys head office in Lund and at the Companys website www.nexamchemical.com no later three weeks before the AGM and will upon request be sent to shareholders who state their address. Shareholders attending the Annual General Meeting are entitled to request disclosures regarding matters on the agenda or the Companys or Groups financial position in accordance with chap. 7  32 of the Swedish Companies Act (2005:551). Agenda 0. Opening of the meeting. 1. Election of Chairman of the meeting. 2. Preparation and approval of the voting list. 3. Approval of the agenda. 4. Election of one or two persons to verify the minutes. 5. Consideration of whether the meeting has been duly convened. 6. Address by a) the Chairman of the Board; and b) the CEO. 7. Presentation of the Annual Report and Audit Report for 2015 and the Consolidated Annual Report and Consolidated Audit Report for 2015. 8. Resolution on a) adoption on the profit and loss statement and balance sheet, as well as the consolidated profit and loss statement and consolidated balance sheet; b) distribution of the Companys results; and c) discharge from liability for the Board members and CEO. 9. Determination of the number of Board members as well as the number of auditors and deputy auditors. 10. Determination of remuneration for the Board members and auditors. 11. Election of Board members, auditors and deputy auditors. 12. Instruction for the Nomination Committee. 13. Adoption of Remuneration Policy. 14. Resolution on amendment to the articles of association. 15. Authorization for issuing new shares. 16. Proposal from the shareholder Goran Samuelsson on publication of newsletters. 17. Closing of the meeting. Proposed resolutions Election of Chairman of the meeting (item 1) The Nomination Committee proposes that the lawyer, Ola Grahn, is appointed Chairman of the meeting. Distribution of the Companys results (item 8b) The Board proposes that no dividends are paid and that unappropriated earnings are carried forward to a new account. Determination of the number of Board members as well as the number of auditors and deputy auditors (item 9) The Nomination Committee proposes that four Board members are elected. Further, the Nomination Committee proposes that a registered public auditor is appointed as auditor. Determination of remuneration for the Board members and auditors (item 10) The Nomination Committee proposes that remuneration for the Board shall be paid with SEK 175,000 to the Chairman and SEK 125,000 to every other Board member. It is proposed that the remuneration for the auditor shall be paid according to customary norms and approved invoice. Election of Board members, auditors and deputy auditors (item 11) The Nomination Committee proposes re-election of Lennart Holm, Cecilia Jinert Johansson, Daniel Rome and Per-Ewe Wendel as ordinary board members. The Nomination Committee proposes re-election of Lennart Holm as Chairman of the Board. Information on the Board members proposed for re-election may be found in the Annual Report and at www.nexamchemical.com. The Nomination Committee further proposes re-election of MAZARS SET Revisionsbyra AB as auditor. MAZARS SET Revisionsbyra AB has informed that Bengt Ekenberg will continue to be appointed as lead auditor. Instruction for the Nomination Committee (item 12) Appointment of the Nomination Committee shall take place before coming elections and remuneration. It is proposed that the Nomination Committee should consist of three members, representing the three largest shareholders at the end of June 2016. Remuneration will not be paid to the members of the Nomination Committee. It is further proposed that instruction and charter for the Nomination Committee is adopted. Adoption of Remuneration Policy (item 13) The Board proposes that the AGM resolves to adopt guidelines regarding remuneration for the CEO and other senior executives in Nexam Chemical with the following substantial terms. The guidelines shall be applied to new agreements, or existing agreements reached between senior executives after the guidelines have been adopted, and until new or revised guidelines are determined. Nexam Chemicals principle is that remuneration shall be paid on market and competitive conditions ensuring that senior executives can be recruited and retained. The remuneration for the CEO and other senior executives may be fixed salary, variable remuneration, pension, other benefits and share-based incentive programs. The guidelines means i.e. that the CEO and other senior executives will be offered a fixed salary that is on market terms. In addition to fixed salary, the CEO and the CMO are entitled to a performance -based annual variable remuneration. The variable remuneration is conditional in relation to variable remuneration targets, is not pension-entitled and the variable remuneration for the CEO shall not exceed 100 per cent of fixed salary and shall not exceed 50 per cent of fixed salary for the CMO. Other senior executives may be offered variable remuneration on corresponding terms and conditions as the CMO. Nexam Chemicals commitments in reference to variable remuneration for the CEO and other senior executives who can be subject of variable remuneration targets are for 2016 calculated to amount to  if all targets are met in full  at the highest approximately SEK 5.0 million (including social charges) The CEO is entitled to annual pension contributions equivalent to 28 per cent of the pensionable salary. Other senior executives are entitled to annual pension contributions equivalent to 12 per cent of the pensionable salary. A mutual notice period of six months applies for Nexam Chemical, the CEO and other senior executives and severance pay, in addition to salary, during the notice period may be up to a maximum of six months' salary for the CEO and other senior executives. The Board shall be entitled to deviate from the guidelines in individual cases if there are special reasons for doing so. Resolution on amendment to the articles of association (item 14) The Board proposes that the articles of association are amended as follows: +--+--------------------+------------------------------------------------------ -+ | |Current wording |Proposed wording | +--+--------------------+------------------------------------------------------ -+ | |Notice of |Notice of shareholders meetingNotice of a General | |8 |shareholders |Meeting of shareholders shall be published in the | | |meetingNotice of a|Official Swedish Gazette (Post- och Inrikes | | |General Meeting of |Tidningar) and by keeping the notice available at the | | |shareholders shall |Companys website. At the time of the notice, an | | |be published in the |announcement with information that the notice has | | |Official Swedish |been issued shall be published in Svenska Dagbladet. | | |Gazette (Post- och |In order to be entitled to participate in the | | |Inrikes Tidningar) |Meeting, shareholders shall both be recorded in a | | |as well as at the |transcript or other account of the entire share ledger | | |Companys website.|pertaining to the circumstances five business days | | |At the time of the |before the Meeting and notify the Company accordingly| | |notice, an |on the day specified in the notice. The latter | | |announcement with |-mentioned day may not fall on a Sunday, public | | |information that the|holiday, Saturday, Midsummers Eve, Christmas Eve or | | | notice has been |New Years Eve, nor may it fall earlier than the | | |issued shall be |fifth business day prior to the Meeting.A shareholder | | |published in Svenska|may bring one or two advisors to the General Meeting | | |Dagbladet. Notice |and only if the shareholder has notified the Company of| | |of Annual General |the number of such advisors in accordance with the | | |Meeting and any |provisions of the previous paragraph. | | |Extraordinary | | | |General Meeting at | | | |which a proposal | | | |for amendment of the| | | |articles of | | | |association is to be| | | |considered shall be | | | | given not earlier | | | |than six weeks and | | | |not sooner than four| | | |weeks before the | | | |meeting. Notice of | | | |other Extraordinary | | | |General Meetings | | | |shall be given not | | | |earlier than six | | | |weeks and not sooner| | | |than two weeks | | | |before to the | | | |meeting.Shareholders| | | | who wish to | | | |participate in the | | | |business of a | | | |General Meeting must| | | |be recorded in a | | | |transcription or | | | |other presentation | | | |of the register of | | | |shareholders in | | | |effect five weekdays| | | |prior to the Meeting| | | |and must notify the | | | |Company of their | | | |intention to attend | | | |no later than the | | | |day stipulated in | | | |the notice of the | | | |Meeting. The latter | | | |-mentioned day may | | | |not fall on a | | | |Sunday, public | | | |holiday, Saturday, | | | |Midsummers Eve, | | | |Christmas Eve or New| | | |Years Eve, nor may | | | | it fall earlier | | | |than the fifth | | | |weekday prior to the| | | |Meeting.At a | | | |General Meeting | | | |shareholders may be | | | |accompanied by one | | | |or two assistants, | | | |although only if the| | | |shareholder has | | | |given notification | | | |of this as specified| | | | in the previous | | | |paragraph. | | +--+--------------------+------------------------------------------------------ -+ | |Business at an |Business at an Annual General Meeting of | |9 |Annual General |ShareholdersThe following business shall be addressed| | |Meeting of |at annual general meetings: | | |ShareholdersThe | 1. Election of chairman of the meeting. | | |following business | 2. Preparation and approval of the voting list. | | |shall be addressed| 3. Approval of the agenda. | | |at annual general | 4. Election of one or two persons who shall approve | | |meetings: |the minutes of the meeting. | | | 1. Election of the | 5. Determination of whether the meeting was duly | | |chairman of the |convened. | | |meeting. | 6. Submission of the annual report and the auditors | | | 2. Preparation and |report and, where applicable, the consolidated | | |approval of the |financial statements and the auditors report for the| | |voting list. |group. | | | 3. Approval of | 7. Resolutions regarding: | | |the agenda. | a. adoption of the income statement and the balance | | | 4. Election of one |sheet and, where applicable, the consolidated income | | |or two persons who |statement and the consolidated balance sheet. | | |shall approve the | b. disposition of the companys earnings or losses in| | |minutes of the |accordance with the approved balance sheet. | | |meeting. | c. discharge from liability of the members of the | | | 5. Determination of|board of directors and the managing director. | | |whether the meeting | 8. Determination of the number of members of the board| | |was duly convened. |of directors and on the number of auditors and deputy| | | 6. Submission of |auditors. | | |the annual report | 9. Determination of fees for members of the board of | | |and the auditors |directors and auditors. | | |report and, where |10. Election of members of the board of directors and| | |applicable, the |election of auditors and deputy auditors. | | |consolidated |11. Other business that shall be dealt with at the | | |financial statements|meeting in accordance with the Swedish Companies Act or| | |and the auditors |the companys articles of association. | | |report for the | | | |group. | | | | 7. Resolutions | | | |regarding: | | | | a. adoption of the| | | |income statement and| | | |the balance sheet | | | |and, where | | | |applicable, the | | | |consolidated income | | | |statement and the | | | |consolidated balance| | | | sheet. | | | | b. disposition of | | | |the companys | | | |earnings or losses | | | |in accordance with | | | |the approved balance| | | |sheet. | | | | c. discharge from | | | |liability of the | | | |members of the board| | | |of directors and | | | |the managing | | | |director. | | | | 8. Determination of| | | |the number of | | | |members of the board| | | |of directors and, | | | |where applicable, on| | | |the number of | | | |auditors and deputy | | | |auditors. | | | | 9. Determination of| | | |fees for members of | | | |the board of | | | |directors and | | | |auditors. | | | |10. Election of | | | |members of the | | | |board of directors | | | |and, where | | | |applicable, election| | | |of auditors and | | | |deputy auditors. | | | |11. Other business | | | |that shall be | | | |dealt with at the | | | |meeting in | | | |accordance with the | | | |Swedish Companies | | | |Act or the | | | |companys articles | | | |of association. | | +--+--------------------+------------------------------------------------------ -+ | | | | +--+--------------------+------------------------------------------------------ -+ Authorization for issuing new shares (item 15) The Board proposes that the AGM authorizes the Board, on one or several occasions until the next AGM, with or without deviation from the shareholders preferential rights, to resolve on new issues of shares. Issues may be made with or without the provisions regarding contribution in kind, set-off or other conditions. The number of shares that may be issued may not exceed a total of 7,190,000 shares (provided that such number of shares may be issued without amendment of the Articles of Association). The dilution may, upon full exercise of the authorization, amount to at the highest approximately 10 per cent. The purpose of the authorization is to enable to raise working capital, to enable to execute and finance acquisitions and to enable new issues to industrial partners within the framework of partnerships and alliances. To the extent the authorization is used for new issues with deviation from the shareholders preferential rights, the issue price shall be on market terms. Proposal from the shareholder Goran Samuelsson on publication of newsletters (item 16) The shareholder Goran Samuelsson proposes that the AGM resolves that Nexam Chemicals information policy should be more inclusive, with the ambition to publish a monthly newsletter on its company website between the reporting months. Thus, maximum 8 newsletters each year. The newsletter shall briefly present the latest months corporate events, as well as follow-ups and progresses of the small steps that drive the company forward and welcome feedback from the shareholders. Suggestion wise, the newsletter may be published on the company website on the first Friday of the actual month. Particular majority decisions Valid resolution of the issues under items 14 and 15 requires that the proposals are supported by shareholders representing at least two thirds of the votes submitted and represented at the AGM. Number of shares and votes As of the date of issuing of this notice to attend, the total number of registered shares and votes in the Company amounts to 64,724,000. The Company holds no own shares. _________________________ Lund, April 2016 Nexam Chemical Holding AB (publ) The Board of Directors Note: This text has been translated from Swedish. The Swedish text shall govern for all purposes and prevail in case of any discrepancy with the English version. ___________________________________________________________________________ About Nexam Chemical Nexam Chemical develops technology and products that make it possible to significantly improve the production process and properties of most types of plastics in a cost-effective manner and with retained production technology. The improved properties include strength, toughness, temperature and chemical resistance as well as service life. The improvements in properties that can be achieved by using Nexam Chemical's technology make it possible to replace metals and other heavier or more expensive materials with plastics in a number of applications. In applications where plastic is already used, Nexam Chemicals products can improve the manufacturing process, reducing material use and enable more environmental friendly alternatives. Example of commercial applications: pipe manufacturing, foam production and high-performance plastics. More information about the business will be found on www.nexamchemical.com (http://file///\\TELLUS\styrelsen\A.%20Pressmeddelanden%20 o ch%20nyheter\Pressmeddelanden\Eng\www.nexamchemical.com). The companys Certified Adviser is Remium Nordic AB.
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Whitley French has told the story of her parents death over and over to friends, family and investigators since that night in 2012, when she was the only one to emerge alive from her familys home.

She has detailed those early morning hours of Feb. 4, 2012, when, while spending a rare night in her childhood bedroom, she awakened to find a hooded intruder on top of her. Her screams roused her parents, Troy and LaDonna Moseley French, who raced to her rescue and were shot to death by the fleeing intruder as Whitley French, then 19, watched from the staircase.

She has told family members about her relationship with her parents, about things she had told them that she regrets and about the final hours of her parents lives.

The Frenches and the Moseleys, two close-knit families deeply embedded in the fabric of Rockingham County, will tell you that there was a lot of discussion in the family back then about Whitley Frenchs relationship with John Alvarez.

He wasnt Whitley Frenchs first boyfriend, but their relationship blossomed quickly. They began dating at least two years before she graduated from high school. Thats evident in public Facebook posts in which the pair declare their love for each other as far back as 2010.

She saw a lot of John Alvarez during school and after, because his best friend, C.J. Banner, lived across Brown Road in a house Whitley Frenchs great-grandmother once owned.

The couples relationship quickly developed, and it wasnt popular idea with Whitleys parents, especially LaDonna French.

A divided family

LaDonna told family members that Alvarez demeaned Whitley, and that Whitley and John held different religious views.

Whitleys childhood church, Reidsville Bible Chapel, is known for being strictly fundamental, with a doctrine that women should be submissive to men.

But Whitley couldnt be talked out of her love for her boyfriend, who graduated Rockingham County High in the spring of 2010, a year ahead of her, and headed to East Carolina University in Greenville to study geological sciences.

Whitley told her parents that she wanted to follow Alvarez to Greenville after she completed her senior year.

College was always in the Frenches' plans for their daughter, but following a boyfriend three hours across the state was not. Her parents were fans of UNC-Chapel Hill and always hoped she and their son, Hunter, would enroll there.

Her mother begged her to slow down and reconsider her relationship with Alvarez. They had many arguments, some of them loud and some that spilled over into family events. Whitley was not going to reconsider. She told her mother so.

Whitley wasnt admitted to either college for the fall semester in 2011. She was wait-listed at ECU until the spring semester 2012 and, in the meantime, began classes at Rockingham Community College.

But in January 2012, over the continuing protests of her parents, Whitley began studying nursing at ECU. Her parents grudgingly had helped her move into an off-campus apartment and paid her tuition. John Alvarez, in his second year, was living with friends.

Even then, the Frenches were reconsidering their support of their daughters decision.

Nancy Moseley, LaDonna Frenchs mother, said her daughter and son-in-law began discussing whether to continue paying for their daughters tuition and apartment.

"She could get loans and scholarships like anyone else," the Frenches told Moseley.

And there was more: Whitley was talking about marrying Alvarez.

Moseley knew that the Frenches were trying to persuade their daughter to reconsider that idea, too. Whitley made it just as clear that she wanted to be with Alvarez.

That (her relationship with Alvarez) is the whole reason she went to school (at ECU)," Moseley said. "They would have sent her anywhere, but she wanted to go there.

Whitleys frustration grew as the financial discussions continued. The day she returned for her visit they had purchased a new Nissan. They also kept her younger brother, Hunter French, enrolled in a year-round baseball academy.

Family members said Whitley thought her brother got more attention than she did. Troy French made sure his son had access to the best baseball programs, bought him equipment to practice with in the backyard and traveled with him to away games.

A lot of sibling rivalry is built up in your mind, Moseley said of her granddaughters concerns.

'We're going to settle this'

Whitley French didnt see her brother the day before their parents were killed, when she returned from ECU for a weekend visit.

Hunter French also was a budding swimmer, and he called his mother the afternoon of Feb. 3 and told her he had decided to go to an overnight swim meet in Goldsboro. Whitley would be spending that Friday evening alone with her parents.

Hours before the deaths of her parents, Whitley walked across Pinewood Road from their home to Nancy Moseleys house.

After they chatted for a while, the granddaughters cellular phone rang. It was her father calling to say dinner was ready. He had prepared her favorite meal, a Japanese dish.

Whitley made her way to her grandmothers front door to leave. Moseley stopped her, then asked if she planned to talk to her parents about the issues they had with her boyfriend, finances and college.

Whitley, turning to look at her grandmother, said: Were going to settle that tonight.

Whitley has since told family members that she wishes she never had made that remark, Moseley said.

By sunrise on Feb. 4, 2012, at their two-story home in the community of Bethany, the deaths of Troy French, 48, and LaDonna French, 45, would become one of the most discussed and analyzed homicides in Rockingham County.

For four years investigators tried to determine exactly what happened that night and the identity of the hooded intruder who had fired those lethal shots.

The focus for investigators was based on the recounting of that evening by the only witness, Whitley French.

John Alvarez

Concerns about the relationship of Whitley French and John Alvarez apparently didnt end in the French and Moseley homes. Jose and Elaine Alvarez, John Alvarezs parents, told family members that they, too, objected to the relationship.

Jose and Elaine Alvarez run Alvarez Landscape and Lawn Maintenance in Southern Rockingham County. The couple lives nine miles from Troy and LaDonna French, in Stokesdale, in a house protected by an electronic gate they erected in 2011. They raised their four sons there.

Occasionally, the Alvarezes saw the Moseley and French families at family gatherings held at Donald Moseleys farm. And theyd run into one another on the ball fields when their sons played.

They had come to know Whitley French because of her relationship with their son, and it was clear to those who knew them that they didnt like her. After the Frenches were killed, they expressed that view clearly.

Family members say Whitley confronted her boyfriends father about her relationship with their son the weekend of Feb. 11. John Alvarez also had returned to Rockingham County that weekend. She stopped by the Alvarezs house that Friday afternoon. She told Jose Alvarez Sr. she knew he didnt like her.

Whitleys family members said John Alvarez Sr. told her that he didnt think she and his son should be together or consider marriage.

Ive seen, in the past (relationships) that the families didnt like," Nancy Moseley said, "but when they get married, everything turns out hunky dory."

None of the Alvarezes will speak publicly about the Frenches deaths and the relationship between Whitley French and John Alvarez.

Court records give no account of John Alvarez ever having been questioned by investigators.

Deputies did take a DNA sample from him early in the investigation. They wanted to see if it matched five drops of blood on the stairs and railing, inside the French home, from which investigators believe they were shot. He was among dozens of people tested to determine who might be a suspect.

Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page said in October 2012 that John Alvarez had been ruled out as a suspect. He later recanted that statement, saying he meant that John Alvarez was ruled out as a person who left DNA behind at the crime scene.

Their wedding day

Despite protests from both sets of parents, Whitley French wed John Alvarez in May 2015 at Summerfield Farms in northern Guilford County.

Rows of white chairs were set side-by-side in a field leading toward a pond. An aisle divided the chairs, and it was down this aisle that the bride walked, escorted by her brother, Hunter, to an archway, where Jerry Denny, an elder at Reidsville Bible Chapel, would marry them. Antique doors stood upright at the beginning of the aisle, between which dozens of guests passed.

The bride wore a long, form-fitting, strapless, white dress. White flowers were woven into her long, red hair, swept atop her head. Her five bridesmaids wore long, strapless, dark-blue dresses.

John Alvarez and his five groomsmen, which included his older brother, Jose Alvarez Jr., wore light-gray suits with white shirts and pale-gray ties and yellow roses pinned to their lapels.

The wedding celebration continued in the field throughout the day. A wooden dance floor was set, and tables were arranged for the reception.

A four-tiered wedding cake was decorated with roses and lilies. The cake melted in the sun and fell over during the reception.

Whitley, much as her mother had during her 1985 wedding, mugged for the camera, kissing her husband while her bridesmaids pretended to catch the tiers of the cake as they fell.

Her parents werent forgotten on her wedding day.

Troy and LaDonna Frenchs daughter set aside two chairs in the front row in their memory. Photos of the couple were placed on the chairs.

Although relatives remember Troy and LaDonna French as opposed to Whitley French's relationship with John Alvarez, she remembers it differently.

Six months after their deaths, Whitley said her parents had begun to soften to the idea that she had followed Alvarez to Greenville.

"They were a little upset when I wanted to go to ECU..." she said. "They went up there with me when I had orientation and stuff and bought sweatshirts and shirts...

"I moved up there in January (2012), so for Christmas, my mom got me apartment stuff. Everything in the apartment reminds me of her....I still think about them (her parents) every day.

Whitley discussed her parents deaths without discernible emotion. She sat stiff in a conference room. She never cried. She made rare eye contact with others. She once rapped her knuckles on the table to emphasize a point. Talking about the events, she said, helped her work through her grief, but, she said in that one-on-one interview, friends and family seemed afraid to talk to her about it.

That night

Whitley said that the night her parents were killed started out normal.

"It was really weird," she said. "All I can tell you is we had dinner. We had a good night.

"My brother was out of town....It was just me, my mom and dad. It was just a normal night, so it was really shocking when everything started happening. Because it was like, 'OK, I didn't expect this to happen.'

After their special dinner, the Frenches went to a basketball game at Rockingham County High School, where the Cougars split a girls-boys doubleheader with Eastern Alamance.

Whitley last saw her parents around 10:30 p.m. Feb. 3, when she climbed the steps to her bedroom on the second floor of her childhood house. She turned on her computer to watch something on Netflix  she didn't say what  but fell asleep.

She would awaken at 1:30 a.m. to use the bathroom, and she said she turned off her computer, climbed back into bed and drifted back to sleep.

She said didnt see her parents again until they were looking down the barrel of a gun when they tried to help their screaming daughter.

Minutes later, both would be dead.

"It was just really shocking and crazy. I really can't talk about details about it. I did try to help them (her parents) as much as I could, and I hope I did everything right, but it was just me, my mom and my dad there," she said.

Whitley also has had several conversations with investigators. At their urging, she has helped re-enact the shootings in the living room and on the stairs. Investigators have interviewed her at least five times in the years since.

She also had to face the rumors that resulted because of those interviews. When residents learned that Whitley was being questioned by investigators the day after her parents funeral, they began to speculate if deputies thought she had been involved.

They questioned why an intruder would leave behind a witness. They have picked apart her 911 call for any nuance or detail that seemed off.

Because of those questions, Whitley has not talked publicly since August 2012. In person, she politely turns down requests. Phone calls, to the same number she has had since 2012, go to voicemails that are never returned.

At her apartment in Greenville earlier this year, she politely listened as a reporter asked if she would talk. She said her schedule wouldnt allow for an interview.

In 2012 Whitley said she was aware there have been questions and rumors  even accusations  from inside and outside the French and Moseley families.

The Frenches will not discuss any of their theories about who may have been behind the double shooting. The Moseleys are more vocal, which has caused some friction between the two families.

The Frenches especially are incredibly protective of Whitley after hearing the rumors in the community and seeing the negative posts written about her and her now husband on social media.

"I was kind of clueless. I didn't hear any of the rumors unless somebody told me. I didn't watch any of the news stories," Whitley said.

"When all that was happening, on, like, Facebook, I never saw any of it. I was kind of clueless then, but, of course, my friends and family have told me what's been said.

"I hate it. I hate it for John... because I know he didn't do it, and people are saying really bad stuff about him. He's a good person. He's probably one of the only reasons I am doing OK, because he's been really supportive of me and Hunter, too.

Hunter's journey

Hunter French was 14 when his parents were killed. LaDonna and Troy Frenchs will stipulated that Lisa and Todd Moore, Troy Frenchs younger sister and brother-in-law, would have custody of their son.

Eventually, acting on a request from Hunter, Donald Moseley and Kathy Hayes, LaDonna Frenchs father and sister, went to court to seek custody of him. The court allowed Lisa Moore to continue to oversee Hunters inheritance while he lived with Hayes.

But that also didnt work out for the family, so Hunter went to live with Troy Frenchs aunt and uncle, Faye and Carl Stone, who lived next door to his childhood home. All the families except Lisa Moore live in the same area, called Bethany.

Hunter has lived with the Stones since November 2014. After the double homicide, he transferred from Rockingham County High School to Greensboro Day School. He will graduate from this pricey private school this spring. He gave up baseball and joined the golf team and in November became an Eagle Scout, which fulfilled a wish of his fathers.

Both Hunter and Whitley French Alvarez are receiving an annual allowance from their parents estate but wont receive their full trusts until they turn 25. Whitley has had part-time jobs. The actual value of their inheritance, managed by Lisa Moore, is difficult to determine.

Who did it?

It took some encouragement for Whitley to return to school, too. Family members guided her as she coped with the death of her parents and navigated both a homicide investigation and rumors about her involvement.

Whitley lived with her paternal grandmother, Ann French-Faucette, until the end of March 2012, when French-Faucette convinced her to return to ECU.

The only thing that disturbs me is that people have their preconceived ideas," French-Faucette said. "They think they know what happened. Evidently they think they know more than I do, in life.

Being in her parents' house got easier with time for Whitley. She initially could not be left alone there. She never again slept there.

"It's better now," she said about six months after the Frenches died. "At first I couldn't even look at the house. It just scared me."

Back then, she said the family was being patient about the pace of the investigation. "We haven't asked them (investigators) too many questions. We left them alone so they could do what they have to do. We just don't want to bother or bug them to death," she said.

For the next three years after those words, family members struggled to understand an investigation that was seemingly dormant. There had been no arrest, no updates and no hope that the investigators were making progress.

What no one was saying was that investigators were closer than ever to identifying the intruder who Whitley French Alvarez said shot and killed her parents.
Americans driving on their summer vacations will enjoy the cheapest gasoline in 12 years as prices stall just above $2 a gallon.

Drivers will pay 59 cents a gallon less at the pump this summer than a year ago and $1.55 below 2014, when oil prices peaked above $100 a barrel, the Energy Information Administration said Tuesday. Gasoline demand this summer will increase 1.4 percent from last year to a record.

Low pump prices and continuing growth in employment contribute to more driving, resulting in a forecast of record-high gasoline demand this summer, EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski said in an e-mailed statement. For all of 2016, the average household will save about $350 on gasoline purchases compared to last year.

Americans might save as much as $15 billion on gasoline during June, July and August, compared to the same period last year, which would work out to about $70 per licensed driver, according to Michael Green, a spokesman in Washington for AAA, the nation's largest motoring group.

U.S. refiners are running at a record pace for this time of year after a global glut of crude sent prices tumbling to the lowest in more than 12 years in February. Oil is 19 percent below last year at this time, even after rebounding on speculation that a meeting in Doha April 17 between producers including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela and Qatar will yield a deal to cap output.

There's no question gasoline prices will be lower than in prior summers, said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital, a New York hedge fund focused on energy. The low price of the primary input, which is crude oil, is translating into a lower gasoline price. You've got the global oil glut to thank for reduced gasoline prices.

The agency expects regular-grade gasoline will average $2.04 a gallon from April through September. That's the lowest since 2004, the last time prices averaged less than $2.

Americans are getting back to work and hitting the roads, with driving forecast to increase 2.6 percent this year, the EIA said.
Web Site: www.CuMtn.com

TSX: CUM

VANCOUVER, April 13, 2016 /CNW/ - Copper Mountain Mining Corp. (TSX: CUM) (the "Company" or "Copper Mountain") announces production results for the first quarter of 2016, from the Copper Mountain Mine located in southern British Columbia.

First Quarter 2016 Production Highlights:

Annual production on track: Produced 19 million pounds of copper, 7,100 ounces of gold, and 65,700 ounces of silver during the first quarter, on track to meet production guidance for the year.

Mill throughput increased: Milled 3.4 million tonnes of ore at an average rate of 37,100 tpd, with 91% operating time. Mill tonnage averaged a record 39,980 tpd in February. Copper recovery for the period was 82% treating an average grade of 0.312% copper.

Mine production strong: Mined approximately 192,000 tonnes of material per day during the first quarter, in line with budget expectations.

Mining activities continued from both the Pit 2 and Virginia Pit areas. During the quarter, the mine achieved a new daily mining record of 242,950 tpd, which was made possible by the opening up of short waste haul opportunities and a continued focus on maximizing haul truck hours. Optimizing waste haul routes continues to be priority of the mine. A total of 17.5 million tonnes of material was mined, including 5.7 million tonnes of ore and 11.8 million tonnes of waste, resulting in a strip ratio of 2 to 1. High equipment mechanical availability was maintained during the quarter.

During the quarter, the mine signed an agreement with BC Hydro whereby up to 75% of the monthly electricity payment may be deferred at current copper prices as part of a five year agreement. This agreement has taken effect as of March 1, 2016. In the first month of electricity deferral, the mine deferred $1.8 million in electricity charges. This amount will accumulate on the balance sheet as a non-current asset.

Mr. Jim O'Rourke, President and Chief Executive Officer of Copper Mountain Mining, said "Support by all stakeholders with the mine's aggressive cost saving initiatives has greatly strengthened the mine's ability to weather the current global economic environment. The favourable Canadian dollar, lower fuel prices, shareholders' deferral of crusher tolling fees, contributions by our employees and the deferral of electricity payments to BC Hydro are significant and greatly appreciated. At the current copper price range of US$2.10 per pound, the deferral of electrical payments would be approximately CDN$22.5 million per year or US$0.20 per pound copper."

About Copper Mountain Mining Corporation:

Copper Mountain's flagship asset is the 75% owned Copper Mountain mine located in southern British Columbia near the town of Princeton. The Company has a strategic alliance with Mitsubishi Materials Corporation who owns the remaining 25%. The Copper Mountain mine commenced production in the latter half of 2011, and has continued to improve its operations since start-up. The 18,000 acre site has a large resource of copper that remains open laterally and at depth. The mine has significant exploration potential that will need to be explored over the next few years to fully appreciate the property's full development potential. Additional information is available on the Company's web page at www.CuMtn.com.



A conference call and audio webcast will be held on Monday, May 2, 2016 at 7:30 am (Pacific Daylight Time) for management to discuss the first quarter 2016 results. This discussion will be followed by a question-and-answer period with investors.

Live Dial-in information

Toronto and international: 416-764-8688

North America (toll-free): 888-390-0546

To participate in the webcast live via your computer go to:

http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1171926&s=1&k=51D90C49DE9731DBE0BEAE8E2DBEA4DC

Replay call information

Toronto and international: 416-764-8677, passcode 976881

North America (toll-free): 888-390-0541, passcode 976881

The conference call replay will be available from 10:30 am (PDT) on May 2nd, 2016, until 11:59 pm PST on Monday, May 16, 2016

Participant audio webcast will also be available on the Company's website at http://www.CuMtn.com



On behalf of the Board of

COPPER MOUNTAIN MINING CORPORATION

"Jim O'Rourke"

Jim O'Rourke, P.Eng.

Chief Executive Officer

Note: This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results. Readers are referred to the documents, filed by the Company on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, specifically the most recent reports which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to review or confirm analysts' expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statement.

SOURCE Copper Mountain Mining Corp.
VANCOUVER, BC / TheNewswire / April 13, 2016 - Novo Resources Corp. ("Novo" or the "Company") (TSX-V: NVO; OTCQX: NSRPF) is pleased to provide an update on crushing tests recently undertaken in preparation for trial mining at its flagship Beatons Creek gold project in Western Australia. During the latter half of March and early April, the Company tested various methods of crushing with the goal of optimizing liberation of gold particles from rock matrix. A crush size of less than one millimeter is considered ideal for the trial mining stage (please refer to the Company's news release dated March 16, 2016 for further details).

In cooperation with Perth-based 888 Crushing & Screening Equipment ("888CSE") and Austrian-based Rubble Master HMH GMBH ("RM"), Novo recently tested a state-of-the-art Rubble Master RM100GO! Impactor ("RM100GO!"; see Figure 1 below). Although such crushers are commonly used in the concrete and aggregate business, they are less commonly used for comminution during mineral processing. After discussions between Novo, RM and 888CSE, the RM100GO! was thought to be potentially capable of meeting the targeted crush size for Novo's trial processing. After retrofitting the RM100GO! with a 3 mm recirculating screen, 60 tonnes of mineralized conglomerate was test crushed (see Figure 2 below). Screen tests of pulverized product indicate a consistent crush size of better than 80% passing a 1 mm screen ("P80 -1mm") thus meeting Novo's goal (see Figure 3 below). Considering the feed material was raw conglomerate including matrix and siliceous boulders, this test proved remarkable. The mobility of the track-mounted RM100GO! makes it particularly desirable for the Beatons Creek project.

Pulverized rock from the RM100GO! was processed using Novo's IGR 3000 gold recovery plant. The finer product generated by the RM100GO! passed through the IGR 3000 much more effectively than material during previous trials because the fine grain size eliminated "pegging" in the IGR 3000 screen deck. Pegging results when particles get caught up in the holes in a screen thus preventing subsequent material from passing through. The IGR3000 was able to process pulverized product at a steady state rate of around 18 tonnes per hour. Like in previous trials, the IGR 3000 proved highly effective at capturing both fine grained and coarse gold (see Figures 4 and 5 below).

"We are very pleased with the success of our crushing test using the RM100GO!", commented Dr. Quinton Hennigh, President, CEO and director of Novo Resources Corp. "This crusher takes raw conglomerate, boulders and matrix, and generates a pulverized product easily within our targeted size of P80 -1 mm. Importantly, our IGR 3000 gold recovery unit appears to process the pulverized product with ease giving us confidence we can effectively process rock from our trial mine."

Novo plans to extract 30,000 tonnes of gold-bearing conglomerate from three test pits at Beatons Creek that it will process utilizing rock crushers and the IGR3000 gold recovery plant.

Trial Mine Permitting Update

The Western Australian Department of Mines and Petroleum has recently asked for further details about various aspects of the trial mining project resulting in a longer timeline than expected for receiving permits. Novo has been addressing all requests as they arise and hopes to have all necessary permits received in due course.

Blue Spec Follow-Up Sampling Commences

In a news release dated January 21, 2016, Novo announced high grade gold assays from surface rock chip samples collected at its Blue Spec gold-antimony project located approximately 20 km east of Beatons Creek. The Blue Spec project encompasses about 15 km of strike along the Blue Spec shear zone, an east-west trending corridor of steeply dipping structures cutting the 2.9 billion year old Mosquito Creek Formation and locally hosting high grade gold-antimony veins.

Novo has commenced systematic rock chip sampling to follow up on results from: 1) West Gold Spec where rock chip samples returned grades of 22.5-143.8 gpt Au and 0.1-2.5% Sb, 2) Middle Creek where a lone rock chip sample returned a grade of 47.7 gpt Au and 2.4% Sb, 3) Orange Spec where outcropping vein samples returned grades of 4.2-15.7 gpt Au, 4) Green Spec where outcropping vein samples returned grades of 2.5-38.6 gpt Au and 0.03-1.4% Sb, and 5) 20 Mile where vein samples returned grades of 3.0-15.8 gpt Au.

The goal of follow-up sampling will be to evaluate the continuity and strike length of veins as well as help define future drill targets. Given the robust grades in these five areas, Novo thinks there is good potential to discover near surface high grade shoots that might host significant resources.

Quinton Hennigh (Ph.D., P.Geo.) is the Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 responsible for, and having reviewed and approved, the technical information contained in this news release. Dr. Hennigh is President, CEO and Director of Novo Resources Corp.

About Novo Resources Corp.

Novo's focus is to evaluate, acquire and explore gold properties. Indirect subsidiaries of Novo hold a 100% interest in the core of the Beatons Creek gold project, a 70% interest in approximately 1,800 square kilometers surrounding Beatons Creek and at nearby Marble Bar, and a 100% interest in the Blue Spec gold-antimony project, all in the Pilbara region, Western Australia. For more information, please contact Leo Karabelas at (416) 543-3120 or e-mail leo@novoresources.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

Novo Resources Corp.

"Quinton Hennigh"

Quinton Hennigh

CEO and President

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward-looking information

Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information (within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation) including, without limitation, statements as to the expected receipt of results from various exploration and testing activities, and the anticipated timing of the receipt of permits and the commencement of the Company's trial mining program. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, without limitation, customary risks of the mineral resource exploration industry as well as the speed of processing of Novo's permitting applications by the relevant government agency.



Click Image To View Full Size

(Figure 1: Rubble Master RM100GO! Impactor at a gravel quarry near Perth.)



Click Image To View Full Size

(Figure 2: Pulverized rock generated by the Rubble Master RM100GO! Impactor.)



Click Image To View Full Size

(Figure 3: Close up of pulverized rock produced by the Rubble Master RM100GO! Impactor. Initial screen tests indicate a crush size of P80 -1 mm.)



Click Image To View Full Size

(Figure 4: Fine grained Au recovered from RM100GO! pulverized product and separated using the IGR 3000.)



Click Image To View Full Size

(Figure 5: Coarse grained Au recovered from RM100GO! pulverized product and separated using the IGR 3000.)

Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
It's time to break out the tin opener. Cans can be a lifesaver when you haven't made it to the shops and still need to whip up something fast. Here's how to turn 10 canned pantry staples into 100 delicious dishes.

1. Tuna

There's hardly a household in Australia that doesn't have a tin of tuna in the cupboard somewhere. Tuna mornay pasta bake has fed Aussies for generations and needn't go out of style. Use pasta sheets and call it a "white lasagne" if it makes you feel fancy. Tuna chunks can be great braised in master stock or teriyaki sauce, or try cooking flaked tuna in a lot of butter, then mix through shallots, capers, cornichons and herbs and pack it all into ramekins as tuna rillettes. Combine it with boiled eggs, green beans and potatoes for a nicoise salad.

Bring some can-do attitude to your cooking with these ideas. Photo: Tim Grey

With rice, tinned tuna comes into its own. Wrap some seaweed around a bit of tuna and vinegared rice and you have tuna hand-rolls, or just scatter it on top of brown rice, avocado and pickled ginger for healthy tuna sushi bowls. Mix with mayo and stuff it into tuna onigiri rice balls, or stir-fry it with leftover rice, lots of garlic, spring onion and egg, then scatter it with crisp-fried shallots for a Filipino ginisang tuna. For a European angle try tuna and pea spaghetti or stir it through aborio rice for risotto, or even deep-fry crumbed risotto balls for tuna arancini the next day.

2. Condensed milk

My go-to emergency dessert involves a can of condensed milk and a can of evaporated milk for a quick two-can creme caramel (see recipe). Simmer an unopened can in plenty of water for 2 hours for the easiest dulce de leche you'll ever make, or use it in Vietnamese iced coffee, or as a dip for steamed Chinese mantou buns. A can of condensed milk beaten with two tubs of sour cream (600 grams) can be frozen into a delicious no-churn ice-cream.

Try it as the base for a delicious chocolate and caramel slice, or filling for an icebox pie, cheesecake or key lime pie. My mum used to put it on soft bread and grill it until it was bubbling and burnt for a brulee toast alternative to jam.

Turn condensed milk into dulce de leche caramel. Photo: Edwina Pickles

3. Anchovies

Even if you don't like anchovies, a can is worth keeping on hand. Emulsify them with olive oil and garlic cooked in milk for the classic Italian raw vegetable dip, bagna cauda. With mozzarella they're a simple topping for pizza, or try its French cousin, pissaladiere. Fry them with breadcrumbs, olive oil and a few herbs for pangrattato, the poor man's parmesan that's perfect sprinkled over pasta. Layer them into your favourite scalloped potatoes and you have the Swedish classic Jansson's Temptation. They're great for basting porterhouse steaks with anchovies and capers (see recipe).

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I like to start a simple vinaigrette by frying some chopped anchovies in a little of the olive oil for an umami hit to any salad. Blend them into cultured butter for an anchovy butter for fish or steamed vegetables, or even chuck them on top of a schnitzel with a fried egg and Worcestershire sauce for the very much underrated schnitzel a la Holstein.

But I think the best way to enjoy a good anchovy is just straight from the can, with grilled bread and just a little squeeze of lemon.

4. Corn

Combine canned corn and beans with chopped fresh tomatoes and capsicum for a New England succotash, or blitz it with some stock and cream into corn soup. A bit of canned corn and a drizzle of Kewpie mayonnaise can give home-made pizza a Japanese twist, or cooked in together with rice it can be either Japanese takikomi corn rice or Indian corn pulao, depending on the spices you have to hand. The Japanese also fry it in tempura batter for incredible corn kakiage. Dress it with lashings of warm butter for a delicious snack as-is, or puree that into a great accompaniment for scallops or grilled fish. Even bake it into cornbread that's a perfect match with a one-pot chilli corn carne.

It doesn't have to just be savoury either. Some sugar and flour and lots of butter will turn it into a sweetcorn pudding, or combine it with sago and coconut into Vietnamese che bap.

Photo: Tim Grey

5. Peaches

Summer stone fruit is incredible in Australia but in the cooler months a tin of peaches can be a lifesaver. Modernise the Hawaiian pizza with prosciutto and peaches, or chop them with walnuts and bake into a gooey treat on top of a wheel of brie. Crumble and clafoutis are an easy dessert fix, or brulee with cinnamon sugar and serve with a dollop of cream. Some raspberries and ice-cream from the freezer can turn them into a peach Melba, or layer them into bread-and-butter pudding for a twist on a classic. Fold chopped peaches through some Greek yoghurt and add some sponge fingers for a peach Charlotte, or blend them into a vinaigrette that goes great with tomato, basil and bitter leaves. If it's still barbecue weather, puree peaches with onion and fish sauce for a sweet-savoury glaze for grilled chicken.

6. Chickpeas

Purists sometimes turn their noses up at tinned chickpeas, but when you've got a couple of screaming kids tearing up your kitchen the purists can go jump. Blend them into a smooth hummus that you can serve with raw vegetables, turn it into home-made falafel or mould them into delicious patties for vegie burgers or chickpea fritters. Pat them dry and deep-fry to add texture to salads, or blend them until smooth to add body to vegan soups. A vegetarian chickpea dhal makes for a great meat-free Monday, but if you really want to push the boundaries, turn your chickpea puree into cookie dough for chewy vegan chocolate chip cookies.

The tinned variety also has the added benefit of aquafaba ("bean water" to you and me). The protein-rich water from a tin of chickpeas can be whipped with sugar into a vegan chocolate mousse or even baked into vegan meringues (yes, really).

Chipotle chicken in adobo makes for a smoky taco filling. Photo: William Meppem

7. Chipotle in adobo

This cult ingredient is fast becoming a must-have in the pantry. Slather it on a slow-roasted chipotle chicken (see recipe) and it'll change your Tuesday dinners, or braise with beef cheeks for a perfect smoky winter stew. Brush it on grilled corn with mayonnaise, cheese and herbs for a Mexican twist, or blend it into mayonnaise with some coriander for a dressing for smoky south-western sandwiches.

Chop them into a salad or quiche, like a 21st-century sun-dried tomato, or make your own barbecue sauce for everything from chops to hamburgers. Brush the liquid on lamb ribs for something different, or even just add a few spoons into the meat sauce to give the family spaghetti bolognese a facelift.

African chicken curry, kuku paka. Photo: William Meppem

8. Coconut milk

Store cans of coconut cream upright and open them without shaking, skimming off the creamy plug to use for making Malaysia's incredible coconut jam, kaya and using the watery milk left over for Thai green curry (which is best when not too creamy).

A can of coconut milk can be simmered with a tub of thickened cream and  a cup of sugar and churned into a simple coconut ice-cream that's great served with tinned lychees and torn mint.

Cook beef and spices long and slow in coconut milk for a great Indonesian rendang, or infuse lemongrass into it for a delicious sauce for mussels with coconut and fresh herbs. One can of coconut milk and one can of tomatoes is the base for the African chicken curry, kuku paka. Or just cook coconut rice for nasi lemak.

It can be set with gelatine into yum cha-style Cantonese coconut jelly, or used straight from the can with some palm sugar syrup on top of sago gula melaka. Simply blended with a little icing sugar it makes a great coconut glaze for cakes, too.

9. Tomato

Is there anything a tin of tomatoes can't do? Pasta sauce is a given, but make a big batch and bake eggs in it for breakfast. Forget thick, cloying tomato paste, home-made pizza sauce is better when it's just bit of light pureed tomato spread on the dough. There's always the chilli con carne for the cornbread I was talking about before, too.

I use a tin of tomatoes to add depth to ratatouille, or roast beef bones in tinned tomato puree until it's caramelised as the basis for a rich demi-glace. Make moqueca, a simple Brazilian seafood stew, or use them to cook tomato rice for a Malaysian meal. How about throwing some prawns and smoked sausage in and turning the rice into a Creole jambalaya? Or spicing up your standard tomato-y stew with cinnamon and paprika for a lamb tagine.

10. Tinned pineapple

A tin of crushed pineapple, syrup and all, is a great base for a Christmas ham glaze, or as the filling for Malaysia's incredibly moreish pineapple tarts. Pineapple chunks can add the necessary sweetness and tang to balance a creamy red duck curry, or blend it with mango and freeze it to be scraped into a tropical granita.

Use crushed pineapple rather than rings in a good old upside-down cake and add shaved coconut to avoid it looking like it's straight from the 1970s, or go for a Chinese restaurant-style sweet and sour pork.

Throw it in a burger with some beetroot while you're at it (I don't care what David Chang says, this is Australia), or make a salsa for pulled pork tacos like all those bearded fellows seem to be doing. It does make a fantastic chutney for roast pork, or you could try your hand at mam nem, a tangy Vietnamese pineapple sauce for grilled beef or fish.

Slow-roasted chipotle chicken

INGREDIENTS

1 small onion, peeled

3 cloves garlic, peeled

2 tbsp olive oil, plus 2 more tbsp olive oil for the vegetables

 tsp salt

3 chipotles in adobo, plus 2 tbsp of the sauce from the can

1 whole chicken, about 1.6kg

1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 5cm chunks

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 5cm pieces

1 red onion, peeled and cut into wedges

METHOD

1. Place the onion, garlic, olive oil, salt and chipotles and their sauce in a blender and blend to a smooth paste. Cut a few thick cuts into the thighs and drumsticks of the chicken and pour over the paste. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

2. Heat your oven to 150C. Place the vegetables in the base of a heavy roasting pan and toss in the oil. Season with a little salt. Place the chicken on top and roast in the oven for 3 hours. Remove the chicken and rest for 10 minutes. Turn the oven to grill and return the chicken to the oven for just five minutes to brown the skin, then serve immediately.

Serves 4

Porterhouse steaks with anchovies and capers

This is my favourite way of cooking mid-week steaks. The anchovies add a strong savoury hit, with the cut-through of acidity from the capers.

INGREDIENTS

4 anchovy fillets

2 tsp capers

2 x 300g thick-cut porterhouse (sirloin) steaks

a little olive oil

 tsp salt

25g butter

METHOD

1. Heat a heavy frying pan (preferably carbon steel or cast iron) until very hot. Roughly chop the anchovies and capers together. Brush the steaks with a little oil and season well with salt.

2. Fry the steaks to your liking, making sure to render the fat from the cap running along the top of the steaks. My preferred method is to flip them three3 or 4 four times in the pan so that they are well-browned and cooked evenly. Test the steaks by pressing them with your fingers. It takes some practice but it's the best way to cook steaks.

3. About 2 two minutes before the steaks are cooked, add the butter and chopped anchovies and capers to the pan. Angle the pan and repeatedly spoon the butter over the steaks while the anchovies and capers cook and infuse into it.

4. Remove the steaks from the pan and pour over the butter. Rest for about five 5 minutes in a warm, draught-free place and then serve with the butter. Rather than one1 steak per person, I prefer to slice them thinly and share.

Serves 2-4

Two-can creme caramel

Ingredients

 cup castor sugar

3 eggs plus 4 egg yolks

1 can evaporated milk

1 can condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Heat your oven to 175C. Heat the castor sugar in a small saucepan until it forms a dark caramel. Pour the caramel into the base of six small ramekins.

2. Beat the eggs, egg yolks, evaporated milk, condensed milk and vanilla together and divide between the ramekins. Place on top of a tea towel in a deep baking dish and place in the oven. Pour boiling water into the dish until it comes halfway up the side of the ramekins. Bake for about 25 minutes until the custard is just set (tap the side of the ramekin and watch it wiggle  the less it wiggles the more set it is). Remove the creme caramels from the oven, cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least one hour.

3. Run a knife around the edge of the ramekin and turn the creme caramels out on to a plate to serve.

Serves 6
Bucket Boy Oke Mayer working during harvest time at Four Winds in 2015 Photo: Jay Cronan

Canberra vignerons rarely see two consecutive high-quantity, high-quality vintages as they have in 2015 and 2016.

But just how good 2016 quality is depends on who you ask. Ken Helm, of Helms Wine, Murrumbateman, writes: "The 2016 vintage was the earliest and hottest season on record, but looks like equalling the great 2015, and 2013 vintages in production of quality wines; it shows the depth of the quality from Canberra can be realised across a range of climate conditions."

Helm's Murrumbateman neighbour, Eden Road's Nick Spencer offers a more circumspect appraisal. He says, while quality and quantity were good for both reds and whites, it remains to be seen whether quality is outstanding. "The shiraz flavours remind me of the 2014s. They have fruit intensity but perhaps not the structural balance of 2013 and 2015", the most highly regarded of recent seasons. Riesling, all picked before March's dry, hot spell looks good. "It's bulletproof", he adds.

The run of 10 consecutive March days above 30 degrees came second only to the record of 12 days in another El Nino year, 1983. While most whites ripened ahead of the heat, some of the district's shiraz felt it. Other late-ripening varieties weathered the heat to ripen in the cooler conditions that followed.

Several winemakers, including Nick O'Leary, say the key to good shiraz was picking at the right moment. In the prolonged March heat, the variety tended to gain sugar and lose acid rapidly. "You could see the change in a day or so, making harvest time critical," winemaker Hamish Young says.

O'Leary says he is happy with 80 per cent of his shiraz. "I have some excellent parcels and if others don't measure up, they won't go into the blend." He rates the vintage as better than 2014, especially for riesling, "though it's early days yet".

He sources riesling from Lake George and Murrumbateman in the Canberra District and, for the first time this year, from the high-altitude Cribbin Vineyard at Tumbarumba. "I've had my eye on it for six years," he says.

He rates riesling from the old Westering block on the Karelas family's Lake George vineyard as "some of the best in a number of years. It has higher ripeness than 2015 with a fair whack of acidity." Murrumbateman riesling, though lower in acid than in the last four or five years, shows very good flavour. And he rates the Tumbarumba riesling as exceptional and distinct in style from Canberra riesling.

At Four Winds vineyard, Murrumbateman, Sarah and John Collingwood report an early, good and disease-free season. They say crops were a little bigger than expected despite fruit thinning.

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Riesling flowered early and well in benign conditions. Shiraz flowering appeared to struggle in hot winds but eventually the vines set a good crop. They rate the 2016 riesling up with the stellar 2015, and the 2016 shiraz as "good and solid". At the time of interview, shortly after the heat spell, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and sangiovese remained on the vine and all looked healthy.

Brian Johnston, of McKellar Ridge, Murrumbateman, says he "felt some doubts early on with uneven flowering". But flowering ended successfully and fruit yields came in above average. The worries of a cool, wet January dissipated in the warm, dry spell that followed. Indeed the soil moisture provided a measure of relief for the vines during the heatwave, though irrigation was required.

Yarrh Wines' Neil McGregor reports: "A quick and early vintage, a couple of weeks earlier than 2015, which was two weeks early. Everyone's exhausted." Sauvignon blanc copped a hit from a November frost, but no other varieties suffered.

McGregor says riesling, cabernet sauvignon and sangiovese look best, along with shiraz "picked at the right time". The compressed vintage put pressure on picking teams across the district, forcing Yarrh to machine harvest part of the crop. He says: "Pickers were flat out, so we saw lots of backpackers, including French, Germans and Americans."

Clonakilla's Tim Kirk praises another extraordinary vintage and marvels at "the huge bunches and small berries". He believes the large crop slowed ripening and, indeed ripened only because of the long run of hot weather. "It's miraculous," he says. "If it'd been a smaller crop, with the heat it would've been too ripe."

Kirk's benchmark shiraz, he says, shows great colour, vibrant and bright aromas and lovely tannins. "They're not classic like the 2015s, but more flamboyant, without perhaps the length or longevity." He opened the family's new cellar-door facility at the peak of this early vintage. He sees it as offering, "an experience of beauty, space and light, in sight of the vines".

Winemaker Bryan Martin helps Kirk with the Clonakilla wines. While the two crammed a record crop into the expanded winery, Martin also made wines for his own Ravensworth label. At the same time he experimented with what he calls "weird stuff".

Martin's weird stuff always sells out. And his methods  particularly in the use of ceramic, egg-shaped vessels for fermenting and maturing wine  influence winemakers across the district and beyond. This year it included a cider-like sauvignon blanc made by carbonic maceration (where fermentation begins inside berries enclosed in a airtight container), two pet-nat wines.

Pet-nat, an abbreviation of the French petillant natural (naturally sparkling) is the hot new thing among sommeliers. They're simple, young sparkling wines and generally cloudy as winemakers mostly leave the yeast sediment from secondary fermentation in the bottle. Martin made, and quickly sold out of a pet-nat riesling in 2015. This year he's producing riesling and gamay in the style.

And he's not alone. Paul Starr's Sassafras label paved the way with a pet-nat Tumbarumba gamay in 2014. A year later Sassafras pet-nat Canberra savignin set social media alight when sommelier Mads Kleppe selected it for Copenhagen-based Noma's pop-up Sydney restaurant. Starr says he's making another in 2016, using riper savignin, with a touch of Tumbarumba chardonnay to flesh out the mid palate.

A revitalised Wily Trout vineyard on the high, eastern side of Hall, under Will Bruce, has a few 2016 vintage experiments on he go: a pet-nat from pinot noir and chardonnay; a Beaujolais-influenced, early-drinking pinot shiraz, fermented in a ceramic egg; and a hops-infused sauvignon blanc. The latter, a joint effort with brewer Richard Watkins, will likely be served carbonated from a keg at the BentSpoke brewpub, Braddon.

On the significantly lower western side of Hall, Pankhurst Wines experienced an early, rushed vintage. Allan Pankhurst reports, "Good yielding but not overcropping, with everything so consistently good. I haven't seen a year like this."

He says reds are of superb quality. But he harvested only small quantities of white varieties following a recent grafting program. He expects the new varieties  arneis, marsanne and roussanne to crop more heavily in 2017. A small plot of fiano may or may not succeed in Canberra's cool climate.

At Mount Majura vineyard, Frank van de Loo has no complaints about the early and fast vintage. He juggled for winery space and competed for grape pickers with other growers in the district. "We had a Sydney-based Laotian family group, backpackers and a crew from Cowra. It was like a United Nations here some days."

On the escarpment above Bungendore, Lark Hill's Christopher Carpenter describes an "earliest start ever" to the vintage, commencing with the marsanne, roussanne and viognier from the family's Murrumbateman vineyard and finishing with gruner veltliner from the original Lark Hill site, Canberra's highest vineyard at 860 metres.

And Canberra has a new label for 2016  Hamish Young's Mada Wines, due for release later this year. Young left Eden Road Wines late last year and this year made single vineyard shirazes from Yarrh, Wily Trout and Quarry Hill vineyards. He also made a riesling from Four Winds vineyard, and pinot gris and gewurztraminer from Brian Freeman's vineyard at Hilltops. Young, too, owns a ceramic egg, convinced it builds more interesting wines.

While many Australian winemakers struggle, 2016 sees Canberra vineyards optimistic and confident. After years of development, the district now thrives on increasing quantities of its great specialities, riesling and shiraz, along with well-known varieties like pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. But the new confidence comes, too, from success with other varieties including sangiovese, tempranillo and gruner veltliner  and our ability to sell a few weird, wacky and sometimes wonderful things being made on the fringes.

chrisshanahan.com
Associated Press Oil is up 13.8 percent this year and 10.0 percent in the second quarter. Since it hit a 13-year low of $26.21 on Feb. 11, it's up 60 percent.

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Saudi Arabia, Russia deal is rumored

By Nathan Bomen, USA TODAY

Oil closed at a 2016 high Tuesday as traders appeared to be encouraged at reports of a production freeze.

The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, rose 4.5% to settle at $42.17 per barrel. The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 3.9% to $42.50 at about 2 p.m.

Investors brushed off a bearish outlook released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which projected WTI's 2016 average price at $34.60 and 2017 average price at $40.58. The EIA predicted Brent would average $34.73 in 2016 and $40.58 in 2017.

Tuesday's spike followed a report by the Russian news agency Interfax, citing an anonymous source, that Russia and Saudi Arabia had reached a deal to freeze oil production at current levels, according to Bloomberg and Reuters.

The report could not be independently confirmed, but it was all the encouragement the market needed.

Oil is up 13.8% this year and 10.0% in the second quarter. Since it hit a 13-year low of $26.21 on Feb. 11, it's up 60%.

Still, there are signs the commodity faces a treacherous climb to normalized levels. The EIA said in a short-term outlook presentation released Tuesday that "significant price uncertainty" remains.

Look no further than the drop in oil production among non-OPEC countries of 0.4 million barrels per day in 2016 corresponding with the rise in oil production among OPEC countries of 0.9 million barrels per day.

"Global oil supply is expected to remain higher than global consumption in 2016, keeping oil prices at relatively low levels this summer compared with previous years," the EIA said.

The volatility is crushing U.S. exploration and production energy companies, known as E&P firms, which flourished during the shale oil and energy boom of the last decade.

The rate of loan default among energy companies could top 20% in 2016, according to a Fitch Ratings report released Tuesday. That underscores the stress energy companies are facing as their industry restructures.
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By Rashda Khan, Rashda.Khan@gosanangelo.com

The San Angelo Chamber of Commerce recognized five local businesses for their impact  through sales, expansion and employment  on the local economy. Selected by the Economic Development Council, each of them received an Economic Expansion Award at the monthly chamber luncheon Tuesday.

"There is no doubt that with companies like this here in San Angelo we can expect the business community to remain strong and flourishing," said Rick Mantooth, who announced the award winners.

The businesses recognized include:

BEPC Inc., which reported a 40 percent growth in sales, a 193 percent increase in square footage and a 55 percent increase in the number of employees over the previous year. The company's second office building is under construction at 3232 Executive Drive, right next to the original headquarters at 3240 Executive Drive, and should be completed by the end of the year.

"Our employees are our most valuable assets. Those are the people who help us accomplish things like this," owner Oscar Casillas said about the award.

BEPC was part of the San Angelo Business Incubator at the Business Resource Center for four years, and Casillas thanked the Small Business Development Center and Concho Valley Center for Entrepreneurial Development (now known as the Business Factory) for their help in getting the business started.

Ener-Tel, 4512 Adobe Drive, which saw a 17 percent increase in sales in 2015 over the previous year.

"Our employees are all very committed to our growth and our company," said Brenda Gill with Ener-Tel. "Also, the trust our customers place in us is of utmost importance, especially being in the security industry."

Snider Technology Services, which saw a 37 percent increase in sales over the previous year and attributed that to the organization's outstanding customer service standards.

Terrill Manufacturing, which saw a 23 percent growth in sales over the previous year.

"When I came in, the company was in distress, with just shy of 20 employees," said Gary Rushin, chief executive officer and partner of Kent Terrill. "In two years we're here today receiving an award."

He credited faith in God, its Minority Business Enterprise status, and local banker Mike Boyd for things turning around.

Texas Energy Aggregation, which started up in the Concho Valley in spring 2015 and has seen a 100 percent growth within a year.

"We have saved businesses in the area more than $3 million over the course of the year," said Henry Witt III, executive vice president of sales with TEA. "That's money that gets to stay here."

He said the company was scouting locations all over Texas, but "the hospitality shown by the Chamber of Commerce and the Concho Valley Workforce Commission got us fired up about being part of this community."

Chamber officials also updated attendees about their Cornerstone Investors Program and related 2016 campaign.

Established in 2006, the program is a permanent funding source for chamber programs in economic development, government affairs and tourism, with 10 percent  the smallest portion  going to administrative support.

Jamie Akin, chairwoman of the chamber board, said the $865,900 in Cornerstone investments made from 2006-15 created an economic impact of $230 million over the same period.

"That's in this community right here that we play, live and work in," she said.
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By Laurel L. Scott

Associate of Applied Science in Nursing: Three-year program leading to an associate degree and registered nurse credentials after passing the national exam. Program being phased out.

Generic baccalaureate: Four-year program leading to a bachelor's degree and registered nurse credentials after passing the national exam. Program began in fall 2011 with 22 students and 13 have been admitted for spring 2012.

Traditional LVN to RN: Eighteen-month program for licensed vocational nurses combines online and on-site classes. Graduates then take the national exam to become a registered nurse.

LVN to RN Hospital Affiliate Program: Licensed vocational nurses working at affiliated hospitals can be admitted to an accelerated program that will result in taking the national exam to become a registered nurse.

Second Degree Program: Students already holding a bachelor's degree can pursue the associate of applied science in nursing or the bachelor in nursing in a minimum two-year sequence of nursing courses. They will then be eligible to take the national exam to become a registered nurse.

RN to BSN: Registered nurses with an associate degree can complete coursework online while continuing to work as a nurse through a bachelor of science in nursing completion program.

Master of Science in Nursing: Students specialize in one of three areas ? clinical nurse specialist, family nurse practitioner or nurse educator ? or can enroll in the collaborative nurse practitioner program offered with Texas Tech University for specialization in acute care, geriatric or pediatric nursing. Course are online and clinical requirements can be completed in a student's city of residence using a preceptor and a local clinical facility.

RN to MSN: Highly qualified graduates of an accredited associate degree program in nursing may be eligible for admission to an accelerated graduate study mobility track called RN to Master of Science in Nursing.

ASU nursing enrollment

AASN: 192

Generic baccalaureate: 22

2nd degree: 22

LVN transition: 22

RN-BSN: 168

MSN (FNP + Nurse Educator): 117

Passing rates

Angelo State University NCLEX-RN

2010: 70.34 percent (83 passing of 118 taking)

2009: 81.05 percent (77 of 95)

2008: 92.65 percent (63 of 68)

2007: 83.56 percent (61 of 73)

2006: 82.96 percent (78 of 94)

Howard College San Angelo NCLEX-PN

2010: 96.08 percent (49 of 51)

2009: 92 percent (46 of 50)

2008: 97.92 percent (47 of 48)

2007: 95.56 percent (43 of 45)

2006: 100 percent (40 of 40)

More information

ASU nursing programs: www.angelo.edu/dept/nursing/

Howard College San Angelo: www.howardcollege.edu/

Texas Board of Nursing: www.bon.texas.gov/

Major changes are in the works for prospective nursing students at Angelo State University.

In December the university will ask the Board of Regents for the Texas Tech University System, of which ASU is a member, for permission to end the 35-year-old degree program for nursing known as AASN, or Associate of Applied Science in Nursing.

Instead the university will encourage students to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, and launched a program this fall known as the generic baccalaureate program for full-time students who plan on becoming registered nurses.

ASU Dean Leslie Mayrand of the College of Health and Human Services said the AASN request and other changes are driven in part by changes in the job market and in Nursing and Rehabilitation Sciences.

Mayrand said more hospitals are requiring a bachelor's degree instead of an associate degree when hiring new registered nurses, especially in the high-paying urban areas.

"We are not saying (the AASN students) are not prepared, because that's not the case," Mayrand said. But "we estimate that a good 80 percent of our associate degree graduates go on to the RN to BSN program, an online program. We believe a great number of our students want to get that bachelor's degree."

ASU will "teach out" students who were admitted to the AASN program as recently as this fall, but will not admit future AASN students. If the request is approved by the Board of Regents and other oversight organizations, the last AASN graduating class will be in May 2013.

The change won't affect the faculty, said Susan Wilkinson, head of the Department of Nursing and Rehabilitation Sciences. That's because as the AASN programs ends, the school will enlarge the generic baccalaureate program, which enrolled 22 students this fall as a pilot program and has admitted an additional 13 for the spring semester.

The success measure, tracked and reported by the Texas Board of Nursing, is the first-time passing rate for students taking the National Council Licensure Examination, called the NCLEX. Whether earning an associate degree or a bachelor's degree, all pre-licensure nursing students at ASU must pass the NCLEX-RN, a nationwide exam, to become registered nurses.

Students can take the exam more than once, but the first-time passing rate is tracked to determine if a school's nursing program is providing an effective education. In 2010, 83 of 118 ASU students passed, for a pass rate of 70.34 percent. The Texas average passing rate that year was 89.31 percent and the national average was 87.56 percent, according to Virginia Ayars, nursing consultant for education for the Texas Board of Nursing.

"ASU is currently on full approval," Ayars said. "In 2010, their pass rate dipped a little and they were required to do a self-study report. They are required to look at what factors could have contributed to the lower pass rate and propose corrections."

Mayrand and Wilkinson say the passing rate for 2011 "will not be better" because steps to improve the rate have not yet taken effect. The 2011 rate will be published in January on the Texas Board of Nursing website.

Ayars said the next step could be that the program would be moved to a status of "full approval with warning" but said the status would not harm students at ASU.

In a worst-case scenario, which Ayars said is not the case with ASU, the Texas Board of Nursing can forbid a school from accepting further nursing students and, ultimately, close the nursing program.

Mayrand and Wilkinson pointed to the nursing board's approval of the new generic baccalaureate program as a sign of the board's confidence in ASU's nursing program.

ASU President Joseph Rallo also highlighted $2 million that Texas legislators approved for the nursing program in the midst of unprecedented state budget cuts as evidence of confidence in the nursing program, one of the school's "programs of distinction."

"We created the College of Nursing back in 2008 and expanded it out this past year (to the College of Health and Human Services) because we are the provider of nursing health care professionals for the region," Rallo said. "As far as meeting the needs of the region and meeting the need for well-paying jobs of the students, it's a great program."

Mayrand and Wilkinson said some of the recent pass rate problems were linked to a change in the NCLEX.

"When our numbers dropped it was the first year they raised the competency levels," Wilkinson said. "It's one of the factors."

Richard Plum, a nursing student in the second-degree program who already holds a bachelor's degree in computer information science and a master of business administration, said he moved to San Angelo to pursue a nursing degree after investigating the program.

"I'm not concerned (about the pass rate)," he said, "mainly because they've been changing the format of the NCLEX exam to make it more difficult. The answers are all correct so you have to pick out the answer that's most correct. That's one of the challenges of the exam is to decide the most correct, the best answer."

Mayrand and Wilkinson said the drop in the pass rate also could be tied to an effort to increase nursing enrollment, spurred by a three-year $1.27 million grant that ended this past summer.

Total enrollment in the nursing program this fall is about 475, with about 600 additional students self-described as "pre-nursing." Students, whether licensed vocational nurses coming in to earn credits toward their RN or ASU juniors who have spent two years taking the university's core curriculum and prerequisite courses, must apply for admission to the nursing degree programs.

"When we saw the numbers, as our numbers went up our pass rate went down," Wilkinson said. "When you're under a grant you have to keep everything the same, so when we were out from under the grant, we started making changes. We learned some things under the grant."

She said the nursing program now is requiring students to take exams to place out of certain courses, rather than accepting a passing grade as proof the material had been learned.

"We elevated the admission criteria, the minimum ACT score and GPA (grade-point average)," she said.

Wilkinson and Mayrand said they looked at successful programs at other universities and as close as Howard College's San Angelo campus, which has an LVN, or licensed vocational nurse, program. LVN students also take a national exam, the NCLEX-PN, to become licensed. Howard's passing rate for San Angelo LVNs has been higher than 90 percent and as high as 100 percent for at least the past five years.

Many of the school's LVNs go on to pursue an RN license through ASU's programs.

"We kind of took a little lesson from them (Howard College)," Wilkinson said. "They've had an entrance exam for a long time. They have a great program and we get very strong students from them."

ASU launched an entrance exam by asking prospective nursing students for the fall to voluntarily take the TEAS, or Test of Essential Academic Skills.

"We've found through research it takes a really high reading comprehension score to be able to handle the nursing education content," Wilkinson said. "We're just implementing it this spring. It was optional this fall. We had to get that set up here. They would have had to travel to Abilene or San Antonio to take the test."

Representatives of San Angelo's two hospitals said they are not concerned about the changes or the drop in the NCLEX passing rate.

Wilma Powell Stuart, chief nursing officer at Shannon Medical Center, said Shannon hires a number of students from ASU.

"It is very hard for any nursing program to completely prepare any student for nursing in a hospital. We enhance and complement and grow the student that we hire," she said.

Sheryl Pfluger, director of marketing and business development for San Angelo Community Medical Center, said ASU graduates are "very strong candidates."

"There is a very small percentage that did not pass this year, and this has happened before," she said. "What we do with these candidates is we put them through a 12-week hands-on orientation through the hospital, and all new nurses go through that. If they do not pass their boards the first time, they lose their temporary nursing privileges and they are offered a nursing tech position. They stay in that position until they retake their boards and they usually pass the second time."

Powell Stuart said at some hospitals, nurses who don't pass the exam can lose their jobs but that's not the case at Shannon.

"I think that passing an exam or not passing an exam is not the measure of whether a nurse is satisfactory or not," she said.

Wilkinson and Mayrand said about 90 percent or more of ASU's nursing graduates pass the NCLEX by their second attempt.

Wilkinson expects the planned changes to put ASU students back on track to passing on the first try.

"We're confident but we're also realistic that we won't turn it around right away," she said.
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Adams has two prior convictions, declines comment

By Jennifer Rios

San Angelo City Councilman Fredd Adams faces a felony driving while intoxicated charge.

Adams, listed as Freddie Bob Adams Jr. in the jail booking documents, was arrested Nov. 18 by a Tom Green County sheriff patrol.

He has two previous DWI convictions.

Sgt. Billy Fiveash arrested Adams as he was driving his Corvette home from Fort Worth on U.S. 67 North. A half-empty bottle of Miller Lite beer was found in the vehicle, according to the report.

Adams, reached by telephone while he was out of town Tuesday, said, "I don't have a comment for you right now."

Adams' two previous misdemeanor DWI convictions come from arrests that occurred in 1990 and 1994, according to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney's Office public information officer.

He received probation in the first case, and when that was revoked in 1995, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail, spokeswoman Melody McDonald said. Adams received another 30-day jail sentence for the second DWI.

In 2009 he was elected to the Single-Member District 4 seat on City Council ? a position he still holds ? in a race against Richard Bart. Adams replaced Emilio Perez Jimenez, who served two terms.

The seat comes open for re-election next year.

The city was contacted about Adams' arrest but did not respond pending consultation with its legal department.

Adams is the owner of Adams & Starks Funeral Homes in San Angelo and Abilene, and he is pastor of St.A Paul Baptist Church in San Angelo.

The events that ended with his arrest Nov. 18 began about 7 p.m. when a caller who wished to remain anonymous phoned Tom Green County dispatch about a reckless driver, according to the sheriff report.

Fiveash, who took the call, saw the taillights of a vehicle traveling south near Old Ballinger Highway and U.S.A 67 North.

According to the report, Fiveash saw the vehicle drifting in its lane, at one point crossing the fog line and onto the shoulder, then back to the lane. He pulled the car over just north of the U.S. 277 exit.

Fiveash later identified the driver as Adams, who did not have his driver's license with him.

"As I approached the driver side door of the vehicle, I could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the vehicle," the report states. "While making contact with Fredd, I could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his person (breath.)

"I observed Fredd to have delayed reactions, bloodshot eyes, and slurred speech."

According to the report, Adams told Fiveash he drank between four and five beers before leaving Fort Worth on his way to San Angelo. The officer asked Adams if there was any alcohol inside the vehicle, and he replied there was not.

Fiveash asked Adams to get out of the vehicle for field sobriety tests. According to the report, Adams had trouble at times keeping his balance and did not seem to understand all of the deputy's instructions.

Fiveash found a Smith & Wesson .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol under the driver seat of the Corvette, according to the report.

The pistol was loaded, with a live round chambered.

The sergeant poured out the contents of the bottle and removed the round from the chamber.

Fiveash requested a specimen of Adams' breath, but he "would not answer if he would or would not consent to the taking of the specimen," the report states. Adams' wife arrived and took the car.

Adams was booked that night and released the next day on a $1,500 bond, according to jail records.

Sheriff spokeswoman Lt. Chris Lopez said the case was filed with the county attorney's office because at the time of the arrest it was unclear whether it was a misdemeanor offense.

County Attorney Chris Taylor said based on Adams' prior convictions, the office determined the crime was a felony and referred the case to the 119th District Attorney's Office.

In the early 2000s, an amendment to Texas law stated that all prior convictions were to be considered when evaluating a felony DWI, Taylor said. Before then, the law considered convictions within a 10-year period.

District Attorney George McCrea said Tuesday afternoon he had not seen the case.
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By Staff Report

Angelo State University's Department of Physical Therapy will host a continuing education seminar for health care professionals and members of the public who care for people with Alzheimer's and other cognitive diseases April 26 in the Mathematics-Computer Science Building, 2200 Dena Drive.

Titled "Abilities Care Approach," the seminar features ASU alumnus Jon Anderson, a licensed physical therapist and dementia care instructor for Ensign Services Inc. in San Antonio. It will run 4:30-6:45 p.m. in Room 100. Physical therapy clinicians and faculty can earn two hours of Continuing Competence Units credit.

There is no cost to attend the seminar, but advance registration is requested to ensure an accurate count for informational handouts and snacks. Register at angelo.edu/dementia-seminar.

For more information, call 325-942-2794 or email carolyn.mason@angelo.edu.
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By Ami Mizell-Flint

The Central High School marching band is going to the state contest for the first time in 37 years after finishing in the top two among Class 6A bands at the UIL Area A Central Zone contest Saturday at Lowrey Field in Lubbock.

Ten bands  from Amarillo to San Angelo and Odessa to Abilene  competed to earn a spot in the state marching contest in San Antonio next week. Centrals band was the eighth to perform, in between Lubbocks Monterey High and Abilene High. The other band headed for state is Wolfforth Frenship.

Director Joey Ashbrook said he knew his band, which has been practicing since July, had a good chance at advancing to state, but he never knows how the judges will score.

I hoped they would (advance), Ashbrook said. I knew they could, but just didnt know.

Although Ashbrook had not yet looked over all the scores Saturday night, he said the Central band received the highest score in music.

After scores were announced, Central Principal Bill Waters ran across the field to congratulate his state-bound band. When the band members saw him, they started screaming and cheering again.

Having our band go to state is like having Central High School go to state, Waters said. Our band represents everything CHS is all about  hard work, school spirit and success. Our band is a prime example of what it means when we say Central can! 

After the cheers, emotion took over and many started crying.

Its a really neat feeling, said junior Jordan Waters, a drum major. Weve worked so hard, not just on the show, but as a family. To see everybody cheering, smiling and crying together, its like our family has come together.

A group of freshmen walking to the buses talked about making it to the state marching contest so early in their high school career.

Were getting letter jackets as freshmen! said Carson Clay, who plays bass clarinet.

Even though this is their first year marching with the band, they understand the importance of the feat for upperclassmen, who will not get another opportunity because bands only get to compete for state every other year.

It is beyond happiness, ultimate excitement and adrenaline. No words can describe, said Anthony Martinez, who plays trombone.

Its also good for the town, said Matthew K. Hernandez, who plays tenor sax. Its not just a Central thing, its a San Angelo thing.

Principal Waters agreed.

The band represents every cross-section of CHS and our community. The support from our school and the community has definitely helped in the success of the program.

We have waited 30 years, and this band deserves the accolades and the honor of being the first in those 30-plus years.
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By Ngan Ho of the San Angelo Standard-Times

Plans are in the works to create a local team to help people cope with the immediate aftermath of suicide.

A two-day outreach seminar about suicide ended Tuesday, with a handful of locals who have been directly affected by suicide ready to volunteer for the creation a LOSS Team in San Angelo.

The meeting marks the start of a new, structured suicide-prevention effort for the Concho Valley.

The workshop, held in the Sugg Community Room at Stephens Central Library, is a collaboration of West Texas Counseling and Guidance and MHMR Services for the Concho Valley. It was geared toward educating people about suicide, raising awareness and generating efforts to create a Local Outreach for Survivors of Suicide Team in San Angelo.

"Right now there is a lot of planning involved," said Dusty McCoy, executive director of West Texas Counseling and Guidance. "We have a lot of work to do."

A follow-up meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. April 26 in the Riverview Room at the San Angelo Visitor Center, McCoy said.

"It gives us two weeks to plan," he said. "It helps us not lose any momentum coming out of this workshop."

More than 45 people listened and learned about suicide from keynote speaker Frank Campbell, a forensic suicidologist.

Attendees on Monday heard Campbell discuss how sudden and traumatic losses affect communities, using as examples real-world events such as Hurricane Katrina and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Day 2 was a full-day workshop led by Campbell, geared specifically toward survivors of suicide. It included an assessment from an audience member who had a sudden and traumatic loss  Lynda McClain, who volunteered for the assessment.

McClain, who works in IT, talked to Campbell about the day her teenage son shot and killed himself with a handgun in 2012.

"I'm so passionate about making sure that something positive comes out of something so painful," McClain said. "Going forward, there needs to be something meaningful to come from something that's painful."

McClain, who took two days off work to attend the training conferences, said she will volunteer to take part in the LOSS Team project. She said her goal is to help people through the impact of suicide because she know how painful the process can be.

"This is going to help many people in the community," she said. "It helps honor my son. It helps gives more meaning... His memory will live on through our service here ,and that's something to celebrate."
SHARE Standard-Times file The Welge family home was at 220 W. Twohig Ave. It was torn down in 1966 and replaced by apartments.

In 1966 a San Angelo landmark was razed.

As Standard-Times reporter Renee Covington once wrote, "On Twohig Avenue, in the first block of houses past the downtown business district, stands a well-kept, old green Victorian house that looks as thought it might have been built out of gingerbread and cake frosting by an imaginative child."

The land where the house was built was part of the original town site of San Angelo, first owned by German immigrants around 1850, then sold to pioneer rancher G.W. Sherwood by M.A. Dooley. It remained part of a 320-acre plot and went through the hands of six owners, including Gustar Schleicher, Bart DeWitt, M. Koenigheim, M.A. Cramer and R.M. Cramer, until it was divided into town lots in the late 1880s.

John W. Harris became owner of the land in 1898 and started building the house at 220 W. Twohig Ave. Construction took three years.

He may have built it for the next owners, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Nall

In 1903 Mr. and Mrs. Sid Hudson bought the house, and after it passed through the hands of two more owners, Charles Schreiner and Mr. and Mrs. F.L. Jeffers, it was bought by H. Welge and his wife, Annie. The couple willed the house to their daughter, Victoria. It became known as the Welge house, as the family owned it for decades.

The land where the house stood had always been valuable, but it was more valuable than ever as new downtown businesses began to spread out into neighborhoods.

For many years, very few San Angeloans had seen the inside of the three-story house with its 10-foot-high carved armoire, copper door hinges, olive green cupolas, ornate weather vanes and many other treasures.

Then, only two days before razing of the old house, the public was allowed inside.

The tour was 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children. (The money went to the Chapter of DT, P.E.O. as a fundraising project.)

Imagine the 10-foot high ceilings and antique hardwood floors they saw. Or the front door, with its inset panel of cut glass opening into the entry room.

Most impressive were the elegantly beautiful triple-turn stairway and the two fireplaces with mantlepieces of hand-carved mahogany.

Furniture left behind included two cedar chests, a desk, sofa, two chairs, long end table, two marble-topped tables, a large armoire at the top of the stairs and a 1,000 pound safe on the back porch.

There were also hand-carved wood panels around all the doors and windows in the three main downstairs rooms. Copper door hinges in the four upstairs bedrooms, the flat-balled, molded door knobs on the upstairs doors, and the strips of carved wood glued to outside angle corners to protect wallpaper.

In the dining room was a large, rich-toned mahogany china cabinet with glass doors, built flush with the wall. There was a water closet: a marble lavatory in a small closet.

George Powell, then president of First Savings, bought the house in November of that year. He planned to construct luxury apartments on the site.

People asked him to give them the house, but he said he would only if they could figure out some way to move the huge home without hurting the old pecan trees that lined the lawn.

The land had always been highly valued, and the Welge house was on more valuable land than ever as San Angelo's downtown expanded.

It was unfortunate. One of the best remaining examples of Victorian architecture here in San Angelo was destroyed in the name of progress.
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By Jennifer Rios

San Angelo police have arrested a man in connection with a December homicide.

Damien Ray Medina, 24, was arrested about noon today in connection with the death of Juan Ibarra Jr., said Det. Michael Gaeta of the Criminal Investigation Division.

No one else was at the home at the time, Gaeta said, and Medina was arrested outside the residence.

"There was no excitement," Gaeta said. "Everyone is safe."

Ibarra, 29, was shot and killed in his home the morning of Dec. 12. A computer and other items were taken from his house by someone who drove away in a red or burgundy-colored vehicle.

Ibarra was staying at a house on the 700 block of East Avenue D.

Detective, patrol and special operation divisions assisted in the arrest, which happened in the 800 block of Pulliam Street. More suspects may be pursued, Gaeta said.

Medina was charged with murder, a first degree felony punishable with 5 to 99 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. No bond had been set for Medina as of 5 p.m. Thursday.
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"I said I'd end the war in Iraq. I ended it."

 President Barack Obama, Nov. 4, 2012

On March 19, Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin, 27, was killed during an Islamic State-launched rocket attack in Iraq.

According to reports, Cardin, of California, and several other members of his unit came under enemy rocket fire at a base in Makhmour, southeast of the Islamic State-controlled city of Mosul, very near the front line.

He was the second U.S. service member to die in combat in the current campaign.

Competing for news coverage with what is probably the most theatrical campaign season in recent memory, the young Marine's death garnered a paltry amount of media attention.

It should have earned more.

It was a reminder of the battle that continues in the Middle East, where U.S. troops are still at risk.

It also was a stark admonition that more than four years after the last convoy of U.S. soldiers departed from Iraq and years after Obama repeatedly credited himself with "ending" the war, the U.S.  quite predictably  is back in Iraq in a big way.

And its presence is growing.

But as Thomas Gibbons-Neff, staff writer for The Washington Post, aptly pointed out, before Cardin's death the public had been blissfully unaware of the significant U.S. military presence in the young republic.

Fire Base Bell was "just days old when 107mm rockets fired by the Islamic State group landed within its confines," killing Cardin and wounding several other troops.

Pentagon officials, who had yet to announce the new outpost, have said the installation was so new that it was not yet fully operational when the attack came.

Still, as Gibbons-Neff explains, "in the fight against the Islamic State, the creation of a U.S. outpost indicates a noteworthy development in a battle that is largely fought from the skies."

Indeed, despite suggestions that American "boots" would not soon again be collecting Iraqi soil, the new outposts may indicate the U.S. is building up its offensive capability in anticipation of future operations.

Ironic, isn't it?

In the post-Iraq war era, the sometimes stealth involvement of U.S. troops in the Middle Eastern republic is hardly novel.

The Marine Corps Times recently reported that "hundreds of Marines have been quietly deploying over the last 16 months to assist the Iraqis fighting to retake territory, hard won by U.S. troops over the past decade or more, from brutal ISIS militants."

These troops have been responsible for everything from airstrikes to aircraft recovery, training Iraqi soldiers, cargo delivery to military outposts and force protection.

In some cases, they are fulfilling the role envisioned by those military and political leaders who advocated for the U.S. military to maintain a stabilizing force in Iraq at the close of the war.

In other circumstances, they are engaging a new enemy, the Islamic State, that their vacuum beginning in 2012 likely helped to create.

The Obama administration has insisted that leaving a stabilizing force of up to 10,000 troops in Iraq was politically untenable. The Iraqi government wanted the U.S. out.

Yet on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced it will consider opening or reopening bases from previous engagement in northern Iraq to support Iraqi forces in retaking Mosul.

Mosul fell to the Islamic State in 2014, an event that may have been altogether prevented if U.S. forces had remained in the region.

In the interest of stemming the tide of terrorism, these new military efforts may be well advised.

And they may be the correct  albeit the only available  strategy for assisting the Iraqi people as they try to free their territory from the grip of a brutal enemy.

But one way or another, the U.S. military is still waging war in Iraq, regardless of the president's claims otherwise.

It would be ironic if Obama's Middle East legacy is the kind of long-term stabilizing force in Iraq that he so vehemently opposed.

Cynthia M. Allen is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Contact her at cmallen@star-telegram.com.
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The following editorial appeared in the April 6 Orange County Register:

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, Citi's head of pension relations, told The Wall Street Journal.

"Most 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 one's own retirement planning, but time is running short.
States like Delaware and Nevada have long been criticized by transparency advocates for allowing Americans to use them as tax havens. But a recent document leak revealed that such corporation-friendly states may be helping foreign nationals hide potentially illicit assets as well.Earlier this month, 11.5 million confidential documents were leaked from a Panamanian law firm, exposing how some of the world's richest people hide assets in shell companies to avoid paying taxes. Its the largest leak in history, and among the so-called Panama Papers' many revelations was that the seventh most popular place to set up shell corporations was in Nevada.More than 1,000 companies have used Nevada to hide their money. Delaware, South Dakota and Wyoming also emerged as popular places to stash cash.Some of these states actively market themselves as quick and easy places to set up corporations. Take Nevada. Its website points visitors to its WhyNevada.Com to find out why NV ranks as a top state for commercial filings," highlighting its favorable tax structure. Meanwhile, Delawares most recent financial report touted another record year for the number of new entities registered in the state. Delawares 1.1 million registered corporations outnumber the people who actually live there.The Panama Papers have raised concerns among many here who say it's hypocritical of the U.S. to complain about its citizens hiding assets from taxation in offshore accounts when some states provide the same service for foreigners. The secrecy these states offer to account holders also brings up questions about whether money is intended for or came from illegal activity. "Drug money, funding terrorism -- we know all of these uses exist in shell corporations," said Matthew Gardner, the executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonpartisan think tank that works on state and federal tax policy issues.Gardner says that the national security concerns surrounding these revelations could and should spur Congress to create a national law that would essentially ban offering the level of anonymity that some states do in registering corporations. "Certainly if you've made [fighting terrorism] a major prong in public policy, as they have at the federal level, then they have a good claim for doing this," he said.The states themselves have had varied reactions so far to the leak. Wyomings Secretary of State Ed Murray has been the most responsive, announcing last week that his office immediately audited the 24 companies registered in Wyoming for which Mossack Fonseca, the Panamian law firm, was a registered agent. The firm had failed to perform its record-keeping duties under Wyoming law, and, per Murray's request, has since provided the missing information. Still, "in order to report any possible illicit activity, Murray briefed law enforcement on developments and the investigation is ongoing.Barbara Cegavske, Nevada's secretary of state, said the state has previously strengthened laws but is working with lawmakers to see if more is needed.In Delaware, where an investigative journalist recently set up a shell corporation for her cat , Secretary of State Jeff Bullock defended its incorporation system as America's gold standard. "You can go on the Internet and copy our law. What you can't copy is our reputation, Bullock told. Think of it like a brand. Our long-term interest is in making sure that the kind of activities that have been revealed in the Panama Papers stop."also reported that Mexican drug lord Jaquin "el Chapo" Guzman is believed to have incorporated his tequila business in Delaware.South Dakota's secretary of state has not yet publicly addressed the Panama Papers.Whats next for these four states remains unclear. Some believe they're unlikely to enact any significant changes on their own, given that one state acting by itself could put it at a competitive disadvantage with the others. And at the federal level, Tax Foundation expert Alan Cole says any action may take a back seat to the many tax reform policies politicians have been debating in recent years. I dont see anything immediate on the horizon, he said.
Oregon is close to becoming the 15th state to signal that it will award its Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes nationwide.On a 37-22 party line vote, the Democratic majority in the Oregon House sent Senate Bill 870 to the desk of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, who has indicated her support.If the bill is signed into law, Oregon would join 14 other states and the District of Columbia in the National Popular Vote compact.That could mean that Oregon's seven Electoral College votes could one day be awarded to a candidate who did not win the most votes in Oregon.The compact will only take effect when enough states have joined to collectively award a majority of votes in the Electoral College.The threshold to reach that majority is 270. According to the National Popular Vote organization, jurisdictions representing 189 Electoral College votes have joined the compact so far. If Oregon joins, the effort would be seven votes closer.If the compact had been in effect in 2000, Al Gore would have been elected president instead of George W. Bush. If it had been in place in 2016, Hillary Clinton would be the current president.Democrats said their vote in support of the bill was not about trying to get back at Republicans for having won the presidency without winning the popular vote in 2000 and 2016. They said the compact would mean a GOP candidate would win if the situation was reversed.Instead, said Rep. Allisa Keny-Guyer, D-Portland, the compact would make Oregon more relevant during presidential campaigns. "The Republican presidential candidates write Oregon totally off, and the Democratic candidates take Oregon for granted," she said. "So we are just relegated to being a spectator state."Republicans said the current system has worked well for more than 240 years. Some hinted that awarding the presidency to someone who does not win the Electoral College in the conventional manner could lead to violence."We cannot, in a time as divisive as this, put at risk the peaceful transfer of power of the presidency of the United States," said Rep. Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte. "And I fear that's what this will do."The debate over whether to join the National Popular Vote compact has become somewhat of a tradition in the Oregon House. Some veteran lawmakers, including House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, have voted for it four times."I always enjoy the National Popular Vote debate," said Kotek, before opening up the voting system for what could be the final time on this topic. In previous years, the legislation has died in the Senate because Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem did not support it.This year, with the majority of his caucus in favor of it, Courtney relented. The bill originated in the Senate and narrowly passed there in early April.Brown "looks forward to signing the legislation," said her Deputy Press Secretary Nikki Fisher, who added that the bill still has to go through a standard legal review process before the governor will sign it.
Like practically everything else in American political life, the culture wars have become part of the standoff between red states and blue states.Not that long ago, the major differences between states consisted of tax rates and levels of government service. Now, states controlled by Democrats and Republicans take entirely different approaches when it comes to gun control, the death penalty, marijuana legalization, access to abortion and rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals.San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats, made this split explicit last month by barring non-essential travel by government employees to North Carolina, in protest over the state's new law blocking anti-discrimination protections for LGBT individuals. Others have followed.Mississippi enacted a law last week to protect the religious liberty of individuals that don't want to provide services for same-sex weddings. Conversely, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, both Democrats, have recently signed executive orders expanding rights for transgender individuals."It's one of the strengths of federalism," says Ryan T. Anderson, who researches marriage and religious liberty at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "I think we're going to see this contested for the foreseeable future, especially on the question of abortion and the question of religious freedom."GOP-dominated states have enacted dozens of abortion restrictions since the huge wave of Republican victories in 2010. The Supreme Court appears likely to uphold, on a 4-4 split, a Texas law that imposes restrictions on abortion clinics that will force many to close. Such an outcome might encourage more red states to follow a similar model.Lately, legislators in red states have been considering legislation that would further sanctify the Bible. Last month, the Kentucky Senate unanimously passed a bill to allow use of the Bible in school plays, in response to an incident in which a school had deleted a biblical passage from "A Charlie Brown Christmas." A Tennessee bill that would name the Bible as the official state book is sitting on the desk of GOP Gov. Bill Haslam, who has concerns about its constitutionality.But LGBT rights have become the major battleground in the culture wars. Rights for gay people and now transgender individuals have been advancing rapidly, but this has triggered a backlash. Not everyone accepts that marriage should be defined as anything other than the union of a man and a woman, despite the Supreme Court verdict. Mat Staver, a former law school dean at Liberty University, has said that same-sex marriage represents "the beginning of the end of Western civilization.""When you elevate it to that level, you have to find a way to fight back," said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "The way they've chosen, in general, is these religious freedom bills."These proposals have not been a slam dunk, as the controversy surrounding the North Carolina law has shown. On Tuesday, GOP Gov. Pat McCrory signed an executive order to soften the anti-LGBT bill, but critics said it was barely an improvement. Last year, Indiana and Arkansas faced controversies and threats of business boycotts over similar legislation."Bruce Springsteen gets to not lend his artistic talent to something he thinks is wrong," Anderson said, referring to the rock legend's decision to cancel a concert in North Carolina last weekend. "But I see this as hypocritical, because he wants to block a law that protects the baker or photographer from being able not to lend his talent to something he thinks is wrong."Opponents of religious liberty laws maintain that they are tantamount to permission to discriminate. Jason Holsman, a Democrat who helped lead a 36-hour filibuster that tried to stop a religious freedom bill from advancing in the Missouri Senate, noted during debate that he has many LGBT constituents. "I look at this bill and I read it through their eyes," he said. "And when I read it through their eyes, I see a mean-spirited attempt to try and make the laws apply differently to me than they [do] for you."Advocates for transgender individuals have argued that they are the ones at risk from potential harm when using bathrooms that are not appropriate to them. They say that in cities where transgender individuals can use the bathrooms they feel are appropriate, a few of them have been assaulted, but there is no evidence of transgender individuals ever assaulting other people.But many people remain uncomfortable with the idea that a person who is anatomically a male has become a woman and wants to use facilities for women. That was demonstrated last fall by Houston voters rejecting a broad anti-discrimination ordinance, following a campaign that mainly turned on the question of transgender bathroom use. Democrats and the "liberal media... will never stop trashing North Carolina until they achieve their goal of allowing any man into any women's bathroom or locker room at any time, simply by claiming to feel like a woman," North Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger said in a statement, in response to McCrory's executive order.Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, GOP Gov. Charlie Baker is trying to decide whether to support an expansion of the state's anti-discrimination protections for transgender individuals to include public accommodations, including bathrooms. In Minnesota, a bill to block transgender individuals from using the restrooms of their choice received a hearing from a House committee on Tuesday, but it's not expected to pass that GOP-controlled chamber. It has no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate.States are even taking different approaches to something as intimate as therapeutic treatment. Last year, Oregon and Illinois became the third and fourth states to ban so-called gay conversion therapy, blocking mental health professionals from performing treatments that seek to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of clients.Conversely, the Tennessee Senate on Monday cleared a bill for Haslam's signature that would allow therapists to turn away LGBT clients if treating them would violate their "sincerely held principles." If Haslam signs the bill, it would be the first such state law in the country. The bill violates American Counseling Association guidelines.Governors tend to be more wary of divisive social issues than legislators. Last month, Georgia Republican Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a religious freedom bill, which major businesses warned would allow discrimination against LGBT individuals. South Dakota GOP Gov. Dennis Daugaard also vetoed a bill last month that would have required transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms designated for the gender they were assigned at birth. Last week, Idaho Republican Gov. Butch Otter vetoed a bill that would have allowed the Bible to be used for instruction in public schools, calling it unconstitutional.But even if Tennessee Gov. Haslam vetoes the bills regarding counseling and the Bible, he might sign a bill currently being considered that would bar transgender individuals from using the restrooms of their choice, predicts Lynn, the Americans United executive director. "If I had to bet, that might be the one he would actually sign," Lynn said.
Three years ago, forestry staff in Boulder, Colo., discovered that an invasive wood-boring beetle was killing local ash trees. Because of the infestation, the city will have to remove roughly 4,500 affected trees in the next eight years. Put another way, it will have to cut down about 11 percent of its tree canopy. The problem left Yvette Bowden, the director of Parks and Recreation, wondering, How can we turn these trunks into something that is usable?Her solution: Supply the treated wood as materials for a carpentry class teaching job skills to the formerly homeless and other residents looking for work. With a $200,000 grant announced today by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Bowden plans to help about 80 people over the next two year learn to make art and furniture out of wood. They'll also gain experience pricing and selling their products at a local farmers market.Boulder is one of 19 places to win a Knight Cities Challenge grant this year. Last October, more than 4,500 people from 26 communities where the Knight brothers once owned newspapers applied for a piece of the $5 million grant. Officially, the foundation looks for proposals to attract and keep talented people, expand economic opportunities and create a culture of civic engagement.Other winners include a user testing group that provides feedback for new government apps and other technology projects in Miami; a series of pop-up events in Charlotte, N.C., where residents can meet elected officials and sign up for city services; and a new bicycle park in an abandoned section of highway in downtown Akron, Ohio.Although anyone can pitch an idea, more than a dozen of the winners are public employees. Rachael Tanner, a program specialist in the Long Beach City Managers Office, pitched an outdoor office at the Harvey Milk Promenade Plaza, a small park located downtown. We have amazing weather here. It rains very seldomly, and yet most of us are inside all day working, Tanner said.Tanner said her winning idea developed organically from a community meeting hosted by a local foundation. A newer resident mentioned how much he used to enjoy working at a park in Brooklyn. His observation inspired Tanner and her coworkers to look for ways to spur a culture of outdoor working in Long Beach.Within 18 months, Tanner expects to have WiFi, charging stations and office-like furniture in place. She also hopes the initial $300,000 from Knight will serve as seed money that she can leverage for additional infrastructure investments from local foundations.The Knight Cities Challenge is but one of many philanthropic competitions seeking to support urban innovation. While other foundations place a greater emphasis on the role of government and demonstrating impact, Knight prioritizes succinct and creative proposals. The initial application was just 300 words long. "We want to be surprised by the ideas we receive," the foundation said on the competition's homepage.One of the things that I appreciate about them is that theyre willing to try things that arent so measurable, said Margaret Jones, whose position with the city of St. Paul, Minn., is funded through a Knight Cities Challenge grant.Jones is a vitality fellow, focused on making connections between economic development and parks and the transportation network so that St. Paul is a vibrant and accommodating place for residents of all ages. Much of her work involves acting as a city ambassador at neighborhood meetings and convening employees within an agency and across agencies. What theyre doing is huge and innovative, Jones said, and its a little bit risky in the sense that it isnt your typical measurable goal.
(TNS) -- Southern California Gas Co.s plan to fully deploy a network of upgraded gas meters faces hurdles in some parts of Orange County as local officials assert they have the authority to approve where pole-mounted wireless transmitting units should go and how they should look, the Register has learned.Municipalities including Laguna Beach and Newport Beach have been involved in lengthy talks with SoCalGas over the setup of poles and antennas that collect data from advanced meters at homes and most businesses and send the data to the gas company.Cities across Southern California are in various stages of shifting to the advanced meter networks, which eventually are expected to eliminate the need for human meter readers.SoCalGas is still in the process of obtaining permits to install network units in Laguna Beach and Newport Beach. Buena Park has had the technology since late 2012. The network also has been set up in Irvine, but some recent installations were needed to fill gaps in the coverage. The systems in Seal Beach and Huntington Beach are works in progress.The local permitting challenges are the latest bump to emerge in the gas companys massive effort to upgrade millions of old analog meters and phase out the process of sending workers through neighborhoods to read the units manually. Over the last six years, SoCalGas personnel assigned to meter reading have been reduced from more than 1,000 to about 70, company figures show.The meter upgrades, which began in late 2012, drew opposition from a major watchdog group and the utility workers union after they were proposed eight years ago. And more recently, customers complained about big hikes in bills in January and February that some suspect may be tied to the meter changes. The company said the large bills were primarily due to cold weather that required more indoor heating.SoCalGas says that the advanced meters  which, in most cases, are attachments or modules added to existing meters  are highly accurate and cost-effective, and that their roll out has been a success. The company says it is 80 percent complete with the installation of advanced-meter modules in Orange County.But company officials also have said that recent changes in meter-reading schedules, in part related to the transition to the upgraded meters, resulted in longer billing cycles for some customers and larger bills.Customer bills are always reconciled and customers are not billed for more gas than theyve used, said Melissa Bailey, a SoCalGas spokeswoman, in an email. If one billing cycle was longer, than another one will be shorter.In recent weeks, several customers told the Register that theyve received corrected bills after gas company representatives told them their usage had been estimated  some for as long as six consecutive billing cycles. Some customers said they were told the estimates were because of a shortage of meter readers, while others said they were not given any explanation. The company has noted estimates of usage for billing purposes are permitted at times under state regulations.Jerry Acosta, a spokesman for the Utility Workers Union of America, which represents meter readers, said he is not aware of any personnel shortages. Bailey, of SoCalGas, said there are enough meter readers to handle areas that are without a fully deployed, advanced-meter network, as well as customers who opt out of the program.However, a Feb. 26 report filed by SoCalGas with the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates the company, hinted at a link between possible delays in getting local permits for transmitting equipment and the continuing need to maintain meter readers.The gas company indicated in the report that as many as 245 of its planned 4,600 data collection units havent been installed because some municipalities are requiring the utility to obtain permits.SoCalGas has claimed it is essentially exempt from obtaining local permission to install its data collection sites because the company is regulated by the state utilities commission, according to the report and what some local city officials say theyve have been told by the gas company.If these municipalities continue to assert their current positions, they will considerably delay or prevent the network installation timeline, for the roughly 245 network sites, according to the report.That means SoCalGas will likely have to maintain certain functions including manual meter reading and related billing systems for far longer than was anticipated, the report says, which would negatively impact expected operational benefits.Among the benefits the system offers are operational cost savings and environmental benefits from removing 1,000 vehicles used by meter readers  traveling nearly 7 million miles a year  from the streets, Bailey said. The upgraded meters also are considered more accurate and eliminate potential for human error in reading the meters, she added.The SoCalGas report warns of potential problems in completing the state-approved system if local agencies are allowed to determine where data collection units can go and how they look.This discretionary permitting process, the report says. would effectively give a municipality the unilateral right to significantly modify the planned location or design of the DCUs and even preclude the installation of DCUs by the utility.Utilities commission spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said in an email that SoCalGas interpretation of the permitting situation is correct but offered no specifics.Several Orange County cities including Laguna Beach have remained firm in defending their permitting prerogatives.The states utilities commission approval of SoCalGas advanced-meter project didnt take away local jurisdictions, cities discretion for regulating time, place and manner, referring to the proposed transmission sites, said Scott Drapkin, Laguna Beachs principal planner.Gas company officials have been working with city officials there for more than a year to place roughly 20 wireless transmitting units around the city. City officials have been concerned the installations will interfere with ocean and canyon views.Generally, new poles can be 24 feet or higher, with a data-collection unit, antennas and a solar panel up top, according to some permit applications filed by the gas company. In some instances, data collection units and antennas are mounted on existing light poles, without solar panels  an option cities tend to prefer because they arent as bulky.The number of meters transmitting to a single data collection unit varies, but on average, there are about 1,300 meters for every unit, the gas companys Bailey said.The proposed units in Laguna Beach would be mounted on new and existing poles, Drapkin said in an email. But city officials are seeking the least intrusive installation, designs and locations, he said.In Newport Beach, gas company officials felt they didnt have to go through a review process when discussions began two years ago, said Jim Campbell, the citys principal planner.After some healthy disagreement, both sides agreed that transmitting units can be mounted on streetlights, which helps reduce scale, Campbell said.SoCalGas has submitted permit applications for about 20 of its 30 proposed wireless sites, the city says. And its possible most permits will be issued within the next month to allow installation to begin.Bailey, the gas company spokeswoman, said in a prepared statement that since the start of the advanced-meter roll out the gas company has worked collaboratively with all jurisdictions in our service territory to receive the necessary permits for installations of our communications network/Data Collection units.The city of Irvine has worked with the gas company to locate the best locations for the wireless units, said city spokeswoman Kim Mohr, in an email. After complaints about a couple of sites, SoCalGas worked quickly to relocate the units, she added.SoCalGas received slightly more than 220 complaints and questions after installing more than 3,400 data-collection sites across its service area, according to the companys Feb. 26 report. Complaints touched on aesthetics, glare or location.
(TNS) -- For Julie Hadduck, a smartphone app that could diagnose cancer seemed like a miracle.Her husband died of skin cancer in 2010. She worried that her three children could also be at risk, so she took them to a dermatologist twice a year.When Hadduck photographed one of her daughter's moles, the app offered a diagnosis within seconds. "It came back red, and I was freaked out," said Hadduck, who lives in Pittsburgh.She took her 9-year-old to a dermatologist, who reassured them the mole was benign. Hadduck, 47, deleted the app.The app that Hadduck tried is one of more than 165,000 involving health and wellness currently available for download  a blending of technology and healthcare that has grown dramatically in the last few years. Experts see almost unlimited promise in the rise of mobile medical apps, but they also point out that regulation is sometimes lagging the pace of innovation, which could harm consumers."It's clearly a net positive, but I think there are risks to it," said Dr. Karandeep Singh, a professor at the University of Michigan who recently evaluated the quality and safety of hundreds of mobile health apps Major changes in the healthcare system set in motion by the Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, coincided with the proliferation of smartphones. From 2013 to 2015, the number of health and fitness apps available on Apple's mobile operating system increased by 106%, according to one report Some of the most popular apps include Plant Nanny, a reminder to drink water; Sworkit, a personalized exercise video player; and HeartWatch, a heart rate tracker that's hooked up to the Apple Watch.Eric Jain, a software development consultant who lives in Seattle, tests as many mobile health, or m-health, apps as he can.He wears a Fitbit on his wrist to count his steps. Clipped to his pants pocket is a device that measures his sunlight exposure. Another, stuck under his mattress, monitors the quality of his sleep. A weather station in his home reports humidity, noise and air-quality levels."It's kind of neat to without much effort collect some data," said Jain, 37.Public health experts hope that convenient medical apps encourage people to pay more attention to their health.Dr. Leslie Saxon, cardiologist and executive director of the USC Center for Body Computing , said there's "unbelievable potential" for these new technologies to save lives.Doctors can now continuously monitor heart rhythm data and watch for problems in patients with implanted heart devices. They can immediately determine whether someone is having a heart attack by turning their smartphone into an electrocardiogram, or EKG, machine , Saxon said.Federal regulators say certain higher-risk apps  such as those that perform EKGs or measure blood glucose levels  must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration before reaching the market.Apps considered less of a risk  including those that provide tips for managing a chronic disease or alert asthmatics when they're entering an area with low air quality  won't face much scrutiny from the FDA."If things are really, really hurting people, we could  deal with them on a one-off basis as needed, but generally we would not take action," said Bakul Patel, associate director for digital health at the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health But some doctors express concern about people increasingly reaching for their electronic devices for medical guidance, even if the technology is considered low-risk.They point, for example, to apps for diabetics that don't prompt them to call 911 when their sugar levels are dangerously low  low enough to send them into a diabetic coma. Worse, the app instead awards patients points for entering the data."It's like having a really bad doctor," said the University of Michigan's Singh.An app intended for people with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder asks them to log their moods, such as "worried" or "irritable." But when users report feeling unsafe or suicidal, the app doesn't recommend calling a suicide hotline or seeking immediate attention, he said.Singh said these people are losing a safety net. A person contacting a suicide prevention hotline would probably be advised to call 911 or be talked down if they reported feeling unsafe, he said.When researchers recently tested how smartphone features such as Siri and Google Now respond to statements such as "I am depressed" and "I want to commit suicide," they found room for improvement.They thought that people who were afraid to seek help from doctors or police might instead confide in their phones. But when users said "I was raped," most smartphones responded that they didn't understand, and only one of the major brands provided a number for a sexual assault hotline.Representatives of Apple, Google and Samsung said they had already improved or were working to improve these responses.Still, even doctors who've identified problems with apps say they don't want to stifle innovation with over-regulation. Simple fixes such as 911 prompts could become best practices for developers, said Dr. Timothy Plante, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University."These are growing pains," he said.In a study Plante published last month, a popular app measuring patients' blood pressure missed hypertension more than three-fourths of the time. A representative from the Instant Blood Pressure app disputed the study's findings, saying the researchers tested blood pressure ranges outside of those allowed by the app and that the app was clear that it wasn't intended for medical diagnosis or treatment.The app, which did not obtain FDA approval before going on the market, is no longer available for download.Patel said the agency relies on complaints to find apps that violate their regulations."Ideally, we would be scouring, but it's kind of impossible all over the world," he said.Bradley Merrill Thompson, a lawyer in Washington who represents medical device companies, said regulations and standards for these apps will eventually become commonplace.Mobile health technology developers will have to deal with rules just as the ride-sharing services did when taking on the taxi industry, he said  but to an even greater degree.Healthcare is one of the most regulated industries in the U.S., Thompson said, adding, "It'll be fun to watch."
The question dates back to 2011, when The Austin Bulldog, an independent online news site, filed several open records requests asking for all emails regarding city business between the Austin mayor, city council members and the city manager, according to court papers. The city immediately turned over some information, but withheld the rest, asking the attorney general's office for advice on whether that remaining information was subject to disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act.



The office advised the city to turn over those documents, which it did. However, the city redacted the personal email addresses of city officials, complicating the flow of conversations because it was unclear who was saying what and to whom. The city said an exemption under the Public Information Act allowed it to redact personal email addresses in disclosed correspondences if the email address belonged to a "member of the public."



The Austin Bulldog sued the city in Travis County District Court, arguing that that exemption does not apply to government officials. The court agreed with the city's interpretation of the law.



The Austin Bulldog appealed the decision to the 3rd Court of Appeals. The court said Friday in its ruling that "member of the public" refers to "a person who belongs to the community or people as a whole." And although city officials as individuals are members of the public, when conducting official business they are members of a governmental body, the court says.



"Therefore, the City Officials email addresses are not shielded from disclosure and must be disclosed as public information," the court ruled.



The ruling could have implications on communications among officials at the state level. In August, Gov. Greg Abbott and other officials were called out for using the "member of the public" exception to shield personal emails that discussed government business. Attorney General Ken Paxton used the same exception to defend the practice.



Bill Aleshire, an attorney for The Austin Bulldog, celebrated Friday's decision, saying the attorney general's office has been wrong for 15 years by relying on the "member of the public" exemption to shield officials' personal email addresses.



"It's a good day for open government in Texas," Aleshire said in a statement. "Public officials and employees have no excuse for using their personal email accounts to conduct official business in the first place, and, now, if they do it, their personal email addresses will be publicly disclosed."



The City of Austin law department, through a city spokesperson, said it will "advise our clients of this new interpretation."







Public officials who use private email accounts to conduct official business cannot conceal their personal email addresses when releasing public information, a Texas state appeals court ruled Friday.
Sergio Marchionne looks set to add yet another executive role to his plate.

Bloomberg, the business news agency, said the Fiat Chrysler and Ferrari president will soon also take over as Ferrari's CEO, as Amedeo Felisa is tipped to retire.

Ferrari declined to comment, but the news follows the Maranello marque having lost almost a third of its value since being floated on the New York stock exchange last October.

Bloomberg said Felisa, 69, was one of the "closest aides for more than 20 years" of former president Luca di Montezemolo, who was ousted by Marchionne prior to the floatation.

If confirmed, Marchionne will add his new role as Ferrari CEO to his other titles, including chairman roles at companies CNH and SGS, vice-chairman of the Agnelli family investment company Exor and a director of Philip Morris.

The 63-year-old Italian-Canadian is famously demanding, sleeping only three or four hours a night and setting Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene the goal of immediately winning races in 2016.

So when asked if he has already let Marchionne down, Arrivabene told Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper: "You need to understand and interpret such statements correctly.

"Marchionne said he wants a Ferrari to be first on the grid and win in Melbourne, but I think we were very close to Mercedes and the victory," he said.

"On the other hand it's perfectly normal that big companies like Ferrari set high targets. For me it is therefore understandable that the bar is as high as possible."

(GMM)
Sauber has bucked the rumours by travelling to Shanghai this week for the Chinese grand prix.

In obvious financial trouble, it was said F1's Swiss team could have run out of money to be able to race in China, with staff also waiting for their March payments.

But international media sources say Sauber is definitely on site at the Shanghai International Circuit, the scene of this weekend's racing.

The Swedish evening tabloid Expressen claims Sauber is secure at least for China and Russia - the next two races - thanks to driver Marcus Ericsson's backers who have also paid team staff.

The report said the saviours are individuals connected to the Swedish companies Tetra Pak, a packaging company, and fashion brand H&M (Hennes & Mauritz).

But Ericsson's manager, Eje Elgh, would not confirm the news.

"I have to question the credibility of the information that is grabbed completely from the air," he told the Swedish broadcaster Viasat.

"The project of Marcus Ericsson has nothing to do with either Hennes & Mauritz or Tetra Pak," Elgh added.

"I cannot comment on Sauber's financial situation because I have no knowledge of it. I just know that they are working hard to solve the problems.

"The fact that the team is now in China to prepare in the best way for the weekend is proof that they are going to solve the crisis that has been around for some time," he said.

(GMM)
Mystified Outer Banks tourists witnessed a bizarre act of nature Friday, Oct. 14, as fish began flinging themselves onto the beach at Ocracoke Island. Multiple videos shared on social media show the ocean appeared to boil with fish as they tumbled over each other in the surf. The so-called bluefish blitz concluded with thousands of dying fish piled on the sand, flopping up and down as ...
GREENWICH  Lynsey Addario has traveled around the world with her camera, bringing images of war zones to people whose lives have never been touched by conflict.

Her work has won her the Pulitzer Prize and her memoir, Its What I Do: A Photographers Life of Love and War, was a New York Times bestseller recently optioned for a movie by Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg. Jennifer Lawrence is slated to star as Addario.

Now Addario is headed to Greenwich Academys Wallace Performing Arts Center on April 19 to benefit the Greenwich Leadership Council of Save The Children. Proceeds from the event will help the organizations international efforts to aid children in distress.

I want to tell people the story about the places Ive been and the issues Im passionate about, Addario said. Ive focused on issues like maternal health, humanitarian crises and human rights violations. The more people I speak to, the more I am able to get that message out.

A Westport native, Addario has covered war in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Sudan and other regions working for The New York Times, Time Magazine and National Geographic. While covering the war in Libya in 2011, she was kidnapped along with several of her New York Times colleagues.

Greenwich Leadership Council members said they invited Addario because she was born in Fairfield County and has taken compelling photographs of war and conflicts effects on women and children, which is closely tied in with Save the Childrens mission.

The format for the discussion places Addario in conversation with Save the Childrens President and CEO Carolyn Miles. Topics are expected to range from experiences in areas of conflict and crisis, the current Syrian refugee crisis and the overlap between Addarios photos and Save the Childrens mission. There will be time for questions from the audience at the end.

Sue Mirza, president and co-founder of the Greenwich Leadership Council, she hoped the discussion could attract as many as 200 people.

Its critical to be able to have the kind of conversation were going to have with Carolyn Miles and Lynsey Addario, Mirza said. We might read about the kinds of conflicts and issues that theyre going to talk about, but we really dont realize here in Greenwich and Fairfield County just what is happening until we hear from someone like Lynsey who has been on the ground and seen it first-hand. The impact on children can be so devastating and thats what Save the Children is all about.

Mirza said people take access to education for granted, where even the most basic education can be rare in countries hit hard by war and disease. Its a viewpoint Addario shares.

I want my audience to learn about what the story is for people around the world who are less fortunate, Addario said.

Its going to be really interesting to be face to face with this audience when most people will probably only know me from the photographs Ive taken and the stories Ive worked on, Addario said. Ive spent my career with my head down doing my job and I dont often have the opportunity to to talk about these things and show a person behind all the images.

The Greenwich Leadership Council was formed 10 years ago and has 50 members. Save the Children has been active in sending funds and personnel to areas in conflict or in need around the world since its founding in 1919.

Tickets are still on sale but will not be sold at the door. Tickets and more information can be found online at www.Savethechildren.org/Addario .

kborsuk@scni.com
April Bloomfields classic rib eye at the Breslin. Photo: Melissa Hom

New York is full of iconic foods, but steak is still the undisputed king. The city has a proud tradition of hulking porterhouses, convivial chophouses, and beef-and-booze-fueled bacchanalia, and a hard-earned reputation as one of the worlds premier steak destinations. And yet, a curious thing has happened over the years. Even as the citys old-guard steakhouses pack in customers, many  though not all  of the citys most impressive steaks can now be found at modern restaurants that either update, or completely disregard, the classic steakhouse tropes. Whats important here is the quality of the beef, the skill of the kitchen, and (often) a grand presentation that can leave diners awestruck. The restaurants below are where youll find the best steak in New York City.

The Breslin Bar & Dining Room (Midtown West)

The Steak: Dry-aged rib eye (market price)

Given April Bloomfields legendary status as one of the citys preeminent meat chefs, its no surprise that her kitchen at the Ace Hotel turns out a truly excellent hunk of beef. The rib eye is aged for 50 days and cooked in a ripping-hot pan, to great effect, in its own funky suet. In classic fashion, the final product is served with a classic bearnaise sauce and thrice-cooked chips (a.k.a fries).

Bowery Meat Company (East Village)

The Steak: Bowery steak ($57)

The owners of this nouveau chophouse set out with a mission to revamp the staid steakhouse formula. They succeeded with this dish, which employs the hauntingly tasty bit of beef that usually surrounds a traditional rib eye. The strip is favored by steak lovers, but its somewhat awkward to serve on its own. Chef Josh Capon solves the problem by rolling and tying the so-called outer deckle into a log and cutting it into steaks, which are seared and served with salsa verde on a moat of buttery pommes puree.

Carbone (West Village)

The Steak: Porterhouse ($150)

Major Food Groups lavish, flashy red-sauce joint is all about theatrics, and even the steak gets its own over-the-top presentation. Order the massive, 60-day-aged porterhouse, and your server will present you with a choice: Because the smaller tenderloin cooks more quickly than the rest of the steak, the kitchen can  if youd like  remove it and serve it first as a tartare with anchovy aioli, pickled onions, and grilled bread. Thats the appetizer. The rest of the steak arrives, tender and cooked to your liking, later in your meal.

Carbones multi-course dry-aged porterhouse for two, and tenderloin tartare. Photo: Melissa Hom

Craft (Flatiron)

The Steak: Dry-aged striploin ($120)

Legions of restaurants have imitated celebrity chef Tom Colicchios flagship restaurant, which helped set the tone for todays greenmarket-driven cuisine and is still at the top of its meat game. The 24-ounce steak for two is a truly impressive piece of meat, aged for 55 days and served with both bone marrow and bordelaise, the classically French (and traditionally buttery) wine sauce.

The Dutch (Soho)

The Steak: Dry-aged rib eye ($118)

The gorgeous, occasion-appropriate rib eye at Andrew Carmellinis American brasserie isnt the most deeply aged steak on this list (it gets a respectable 28 to 30 days in the meat locker), nor is it the most ostentatious in its presentation. Instead, like much of Carmellinis food, its really the Platonic ideal, where all of the little details  the char, the doneness, even the crisp paprika potatoes that come on the side  have been excellently calibrated to give diners an immensely satisfying version of the steak presentation they expect.

East 12 Osteria (East Village)

The Steak: Tagliata di manzo ($38)

Youll find one of the more surprisingly excellent cuts of meat downtown at this rustically posh, under-the-radar restaurant. Made with beef from Red Angus cows, its steak done the Italian way: by seasoning it with oil and vinegar, grilling it quickly, and serving it in thick, tender slices. The meat arrives at the table with stewed Sorana beans and, for an extra bit of richness, bone marrow. All that for less than half the price of many of the other steaks on this list.

Estela (Nolita)

The Steak: Steak ($37)

The beef dish that Ignacio Mattos serves at his Houston Street hit is not like some hulking steak presentations: Its light and delicate, just a few slices that satisfy, and wont require a post-meal nap. The cut itself varies (rib eye has been used; these days, its likely either flap or hanger), and so do the umami-heavy accoutrements, which may be mushrooms and taleggio, or anchovies and cabbage gratin. (In Soho, Mattos is also turning out an exceptionally juicy, more traditional rib eye at his new restaurant, Cafe Altro Paradiso.)

The Dutchs dry-aged rib eye. Photo: Melissa Hom

Gallaghers Steak House (Times Square)

The Steak: Prime rib of beef ($47)

Though the decor has been slightly modernized, the resting steaks are still positioned to greet hungry guests and telegraph the message that, yes, this is a classic Manhattan meat palace. All of the steaks are aged on site, and the thick, fatty prime rib is served with nothing more than a pool of its own juices. Theres a small bouquet of greens on the side that most customers could likely just ignore, since thats definitely not what they came for.

Marea (Midtown West)

The Steak: Tagliata ($57 or a $17 supplement on prix fixe)

Steak feels like the wrong order at chef Michael Whites luxurious seafood restaurant. But dont let that deter you, since the menus lone steak option is enough to make the restaurant a bona fide beef destination. The sirloin, hailing from Creekstone Farms and aged for 50 days, is served right off the grill, alongside braised romaine and a small bread salad studded with  what else?  bone marrow. This is how you out-order everyone else who got fish.

Meat Hook Sandwich (Williamsburg)

The Steak: Steak night ($15 to $20)

Every Wednesday night, the Meat Hooks much-loved sandwich shop hosts its very own steak night. The menu and cut of beef change weekly, but you can rest assured that the meat will be of excellent provenance  its called the Meat Hook, after all. Along with the meat, guests are also offered rotating hot and cold sides and, most important, bodega-cheap $1 beer. In other words, its the Williamsburg version of a beefsteak dinner.

Mareas tagliata with grilled romaine and bone-marrow panzanella. Photo: Melissa Hom

Minetta Tavern (Greenwich Village)

The Steak: Cote de beouf ($148)

Keith McNallys restaurants all tend to make beef a top priority, and this revamped Village tavern is the ultimate expression of that ethos. There is the famed Black Label Burger, of course, as well as several other noteworthy steak offerings. But the centerpiece of the entire menu, and the thing you really want, is this 60-day dry-aged monster, suggested for two but hefty enough to serve four without much trouble, grilled on the bone until the outside develops a tremendous, pepper-heavy crust, and served with entire lengths of roasted marrow bone. (And, its important to note, McNallys Bowery restaurant, Cherche Midi, also excels in the meat department, serving a well-marbled, delicately gamey dry-aged prime rib, which comes with cider-braised onions and golden, airy pommes souffles.)

Strip House (West Village)

The Steak: Bone-in rib eye ($58)

The downtown location of this cheeky, throwback spot knows its way around meat. The sides lean toward the innovative, including things like goose-fat potatoes and cider-glazed scallops, but the steaks are pure classics. Go for the bone-in rib eye, 20 ounces of tender, juicy meat that has a well-burnished crust and lots of tasty fat. There is, as New York restaurant critic Adam Platt is fond of saying, nothing not to like about that.

St. Anselm (Williamsburg)

The Steak: Butchers steak ($19.50)

The always-crowded Williamsburg restaurant idealizes a cheap, casual take on the New York steakhouse. The ultra-affordable butchers steak (a.k.a the hanger) epitomizes this styles virtues: While bargain bin in price, its nothing of the sort in flavor. Its skillfully prepared and minimally seasoned while grilling, and given a finishing drizzle of garlic butter that truly cements this dishs legacy. The restaurants dedication to keeping the steak cheap is also commendable. Its price has risen a mere $4.50 in as many years, while other noteworthy chops have skyrocketed.

St. Anselms shockingly affordable butchers steak. Photo: Melissa Hom

Wildair (Lower East Side)

The Steak: Wagyu steak ($86)

New Yorks hippest wine bar has one oversize dish on the menu: this steak for two thats very much worth the splurge. While the restaurant alternates between fresh meat and dry-aged, its actually the former that best showcases the quality of the beef: The steak is cooked gently and seasoned simply, then served in thick slices that highlight the beautifully tender meat and crisp sliver of crust. Given its relative lightness  at least when compared to the dry-aged funk bombs at some other spots on this list  it only makes sense to pair it with one of the restaurants many natural wines, too.

Wolfgangs Steakhouse (Murray Hill, Times Square, and Tribeca)

The Steak: Porterhouse ($50 per person, up to four people)

This local chainlet was opened by a former longtime headwaiter at Peter Luger, and thats the style they serve their porterhouses in. After all, theres no point in messing with something that, when done right, results in something sublime. The meat ages for 28 days in on-premises meat lockers, and like Lugers, they finish it with melted butter, which mingles with the steaks juices to form a sauce youll wish you could have with every meal.

 Speaking of Peter Luger

You may have noticed the iconic Brooklyn institution isnt on this list. Theres a reason for that. It is, without question, the citys foremost steakhouse and a rite of passage for all New Yorkers. But it also long ago turned into a tourist trap, and, aside from the steak, some of the food can be impressively mediocre. Even the steak itself  porterhouse, served in varying sizes, with sizzling fat poured all over so that it pools when the server tips the plate up just so  can be somewhat inconsistent, and so the recommendation must come with a caveat, especially given the difficulty of securing a reservation and the high cost (and the fact that the only credit card accepted at Peter Luger is the restaurants own). Its still worth a trip, but as this list makes clear, New York now has lots of spectacular steaks served in more comfortable environs.

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Sorry, gator-tail enthusiasts  youre SOL. Photo: Cucina Deli/Facebook

Mississippis new turn away the gays law is picking up opponents left and right, and the latest appears to be an eatery all the way over in Utah. Cucina, a deli and wine bar in Salt Lake City, says it has banned all foods grown or raised in the Magnolia State in response to a bill signed last week by Governor Phil Bryant that legalizes a businesss right to refuse service to gay and trans customers if the owner objects for religious or moral reasons. Luckily for Cucina, Mississippi doesnt hold monopolies on a ton of foods. Owner Dean Pierose warns customers will have to go elsewhere for their alligator and largemouth bass, a loss he probably isnt going to sweat, but it sounds like he did legitimately sacrifice the sweet-potato fries.

A post on the restaurants Facebook page lays out the bans full terms:

Effective immediately, Cucina restaurant, a well known institution of 20 years in Salt Lake City, will boycott the State of Mississippi. Cucina feels that if one of our United States is denying citizens their civil liberties, then Cucina cannot in good faith ever support said state.



First, there will be no Magnolias (MS state flower) planted on the grounds of Cucina. Sweet potatoes (MS state food) will no longer grace any menus here at Cucina. If anyone is caught clogging (MS state dance) on premise, they will be escorted from the property. The chef has proclaimed that American alligator (MS state reptile) as well as white tail deer (MS state mammal), and largemouth bass (MS state fish) will never be used in any dish coming out of the kitchen at Cucina.



We understand that the law offers protection for citizens who adhere to traditional views of marriage and gender roles, but Cucina believes that it is absolutely wrong, and certainly not Christian, that LGBT citizens are being discriminated against.

To be fair, anyone caught clogging probably had their removal coming anyway.

[KUTV]
GM-No. Photo: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

For the first time, data show the worlds farmers actually planted fewer GMOs than they did the previous year. A group that tracks crops says that, according to its figures on biotech seed use, the acreage for genetically modified crops fell from 449 million in 2014 to 440 million in 2015, about a one percent drop. GM crops in the U.S.  still the largest producer of GMOs  shrunk to 175 million acres, a drop of 5 million. Brazil and Argentina both grew more, but not enough to offset Americas decline. A net drop has never happened before, so GMO opponents could consider it a victory, although the group that compiled the figures (which, its worth noting now, is a Monsanto-backed biotech nonprofit) argues the main reason for the dip is that the price was down for corn, soybeans, and canola  crops that are about 90 percent GM already  so farmers planted other stuff.

This may be ignoring a larger problem, though: As todays Times points out, the publics sort of losing its appetite for genetically engineered foods, whether theres any reason to fear them or not. The output for GM crops has increased by double digits most years since 1996, when seeds became widely commercialized, but a slump started two or three years ago. This period, of course, includes Vermont passing the nations first GMO-labeling law, companies like Chipotle voluntarily eliminating all GM ingredients, and even an outcry over a potato specially designed to be less carcinogenic when fried. For now, what Big Ag may need to work on engineering is an image turnaround.

[NYT]
Already cranking out tacos again.

California police say a taco-truck customer upset about his order on Sunday took the logical next step and blasted the joint with his shotgun. The unidentified man, who apparently ate there with a friend, became dissatisfied at Tacos el Mayita, so he armed himself and shot at the employees who were inside. Luckily, he missed, so damage was limited to a few bullet holes in the glass window.

It actually turned into quite the incident for Stockton police, who add that a drunk driver then crashed into the patrol car of the officer who responded to Tacos el Mayitas call. This at least seems like strong evidence against open-carry restaurants, especially since the customers drawn to those establishments probably have better aim.

[KCRA, Fox40]
We came up with a puzzle for you to solve yesterday and here's the answer - the 13MP image was captured with the front-facing camera of the Sony Xperia X (sans Performance, but the two cameras are actually identical).

Clues were abundant - so much so that we resorted to deliberately asking you to ignore them. Well, those who called our bluff were right, there were plenty of correct answers in the comments, but we didn't expect less from our knowledgeable readership.

The selfie camera of the Xperia X shoots images up to 4,160 x 3,120px resolution - fairly common for a midranger's primary shooter. It uses a Type 1/3" sensor, which is rather large for a front-facer, where the smaller Type 1/4" and 1/5" sensors are usually used. A 6-element lens directs light into it, through an f/2.0 aperture. There's also autofocus in a world of almost exclusively fixed-focus selfie cameras, so all in all, it's a pretty impressive specsheet.



Sony Xperia X selfie sample

But with cameras, numbers come second to image quality and the Xperia X's front snapper delivers. The image is sharp and detailed, colors are vivid, without being over the top and dynamic range hardly leaves us wanting. We're less thrilled about the abundance of chroma noise in darker areas, but not to the point we'd call it a deal-breaker.

So, in just two words - we like. There's more to like about the Sony Xperia X though, and we'll be sharing more of our experience with the smartphone in the coming days, so stay tuned.




Haiti - Elections : The OAS Secretary General will meet Privert





Luis Almagro, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), will be in Haiti this Wednesday and Thursday, April 14. His visit comes after the country has taken several decisive steps following the February 5 Agreement, including the election of a provisional President, the designation of a consensus Prime Minister and the formation of a new Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).



During his visit, the Secretary General will meet with the President a.i. Jocelerme Privert, and other Haitian authorities, to discuss the remaining steps needed to reinforce the trust of citizens in the electoral process, and to conclude this process in the best conditions and as soon as possible.



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - FLASH : Over 150,000 Haitians returning from the DR in 10 months...





Official repatriation operations and returns qualified as "voluntary and spontaneous" of Haitian migrants living in irregular migratory situation in the Dominican Republic, continue to the Haitian-Dominican border.



In March 2016, 5,600 Haitians returned to Haiti (2,907returnees and 2,753 cases of voluntary returns) were recorded less than in February where nearly 8,000 Haitian nationals had returned to the country https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16814-haiti-dr-more-than-8-000-haitians-back-to-haiti-february-2016.html



These migrants repatriated aged between 19 and 49 years, were returned in particular via the official border points Malpasse/Jimani (911), Ouanaminthe/Dajabon (993) and of Belladere/Elias Pina (486) and 517 unofficial crossings points. According to their testimony, some have been apprehended by the Dominican authorities in the street during migratory situation control, others on their workplace or home.



For the first quarter 2016, according to information compiled from the Support Group for Returnees and Refugees (GAAR), 8,120 people were repatriated and 13,299 spontaneous returns have already identified.



Recall that from June 2015 to March 2016, according to the information released by the Directorate General of the Dominican migration combined with those of organizations of human rights, which monitor the process at the border, 150.400 Haitians would have returned to Haiti. 23,983 foreign of various nationality, mostly Haitians were deported by the Dominican authorities and the balance being returns in Haiti, said "volunteers".



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16814-haiti-dr-more-than-8-000-haitians-back-to-haiti-february-2016.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16800-haiti-dominican-republic-iom-coordinate-haitian-returns.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16583-haiti-dr-more-than-7-000-haitians-back-to-haiti-january-2016.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16326-haiti-social-more-than-129-000-haitians-have-left-dr-in-8-months.html



SL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2016/04/13 | Source

Actor Lee Hee-jun and model Lee Hye-jung, the lovely couple's pictorial has been revealed.

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Fashion magazine Elle posted on their official Facebook, "Actor Lee Hee-jun and model Lee Hye-jung getting married soon knew that they would get married from the day one. The two look happiest just by looking at each other".

The pictorial shoot was done in Bali, Indonesia. The theme of the pictorial shooting is to capture the lovely journey by Lee Hee-jun and Lee Hye-jung. The images show the two spending the romantic moments in a resort pool
Published on 2016/04/13 | Source

Actress Song Hye-kyo has turned down a modeling offer from Mitsubishi Motors because of its involvement in Japanese atrocities in World War II.

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Song's PR agency on Monday revealed that the Japanese carmaker offered Song a starring role in a campaign in China a month ago, but she turned it down.

Song rejected the offer because Mitsubishi used Korean slave labor during World War II and is being sued by the victims, the agency said.

Song is a hot property in Korea and abroad thanks to her role in the KBS hit series "Descendants of the Sun".

The star has funded the publication of pamphlets at Korean independence movement sites and museums in the U.S. together with Prof. Seo Kyoung-duk of Sungshin Women's University.
Published on 2016/04/13 | Source

Actor Song Joong-ki and President Park Geun-hye make traditional Korean snacks at the opening of a Korean food promotion center in Seoul on Monday. /Yonhap

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Actor Song Joong-ki attended the opening of a center for the promotion of Korean food in Seoul on Monday.

President Park Geun-hye was also at the event and toured the center and made traditional snacks with Song.

Song, who is a red-hot star in China thanks to the hit TV series "Descendants of the Sun", has recently been appointed promotional ambassador for Korean tourism.

Park said, "I am pleased and thankful that Song has accepted the appointment at a crucial moment when the government is trying to promote and nurture tourism and culture".

Song said he feels honored and promised to do his best.
American CEO Mark Bertolini is championing an innovative program to encourage his employees to get more sleep and in turn boost their productivity in the workplace.



Employees who sleep for seven hours or more each night can earn up to $500 a year as part of Bertolinis program.



Sleep is "really important," Bertolini told CNBC.



"Being present in the workplace and making better decisions has a lot to do with our business fundamentals," he says.



"You can't be prepared if you're half-asleep.



Bertolini, head of US health insurance company Aetna, has implemented a sleep payment program and uses Fitbit fitness trackers to monitor the sleep of participating employees.



"If they can prove they get 20 nights of sleep for seven hours or more in a row, we will give them $25 [$33 AUD] a night, up to $500 [$661AUD] a year," he told CNBC.



The seven hours of sleep do not need to be continuous and can include naps.



Bertolini says there is a strong link between sleep, employee productivity and increased company profits.



He says Aetna employees improved their productivity by 69 minutes extra each month as a direct result of the company paying them to sleep more.



"If we can make business fundamentals better by investing in our people, then that's what's going to show up in our revenue," Bertolini says.



Its going to show up in our bottom line and [Wall] Streets confidence that we can do it quarter, after quarter, after quarter; year after year.



Professor David Hillman from the Australian Sleep Health Foundation says Australian workplaces could benefit from sleep programs like Aetnas.



Hillman says one in four Australians regularly have a bad nights sleep.



These people are existing in what we call a sleep restricted state, where they dont perform as well as they could be, Prof Hillman told News.com.au.



This CEO obviously recognises that you can turn up to work and be able to function, but not optimally, Hillman says.



What he wants is optimal performance, and thats what sleep gives you.



Bertolini says he implemented the program last year to encourage Aetna employees to get more sleep while earning extra money.



In a recent sleep survey of 196 business leaders, McKinsey found 47 percent of the respondents said their organizations expect them to be too responsive to emails and phone calls.



43 percent of respondents said they don't get enough sleep at least four nights a week, while almost six out of 10 reported they didnt get enough sleep for at least three nights per week.


An employer who sacked a staff member who refused to disclose that he had cancer has come under fire from the Fair Work Commission for wrongful dismissal.



The Moonee Valley Racing Club (MVRC) fired Executive Chef Andrew Hinchen for underperformance and a failure to comply with direction to provide consent to the MVRC to seek information from his doctor.



During his for eight-year tenure, Hinchen was undergoing cancer treatment before being terminated on 13 July 2015, says his lawyer Francessca Lee from McDonald Murholme.



Leading up to the dismissal, Hinchen was harassed for medical documents relating to his treatment and subsequently put through an intentionally strenuous performance improvement program.



Lee says this led to him receiving a number of warnings for trivial reasons and was then eventually dismissed.



Hinchen had been undergoing treatment for cancer and did not want to disclose that he had cancer to his employer in case it led to his dismissal.



In March last year, MVRC issued a first and final warning citing concerns over Hinchens performance.



The next day Hinchen provided a doctors certificate for three weeks of sick leave and after these three weeks had passed, he was told to take another three weeks of long service leave.



Upon returning to work, he was requested to provide his medical records.



His employer wanted to know the length of time he had been in hospital, where he had stayed, what he was being treated for and who was his treatment provider. Hinchen refused to provide this information.



His employer continued to request to speak to this doctor to see when he could return to work, to plan for any potential impact on the lead up to spring racing carnival, however Hinchen also refused to provide this information.



In early July he took more sick leave and was given an ultimatum to provide information "he wished to be taken into account" or risk termination.



Hinchen did not respond to his ultimatum and was sacked on July 13, his employer citing poor performance at work and refusal to provide more medical information as the reason for his termination.



Hinchen appealed to the Fair Work Commission, saying the request was "invasive, unlawful and unreasonable".



The Commission found that the dismissal was harsh, unjust and unreasonable, even though there may have been performance issues.



While Hinchens actions impacted his employer by preventing the Club to plan for his absence, the FWC found his employers did not show any respect for his privacy.



The Commission also found that the request to speak his doctor was unreasonable, and therefore it was unreasonable of his employer to sack him for refusing.



The FWC will announce a remedy in the coming weeks, while Lee says Mr Hinchen was pushing to be reinstated in his executive chef role and to be remunerated for the nine months of lost pay.



The best remedy for Mr Hinchen will be to have his role reinstated, Lee told HC Online.



Lee says the MVRC had taken unlawful action against Mr Hinchen.



One of the reasons why Mr Hinchen had been unlawfully dismissed was because of his refusal to abide by a direction that can only be considered unreasonable, Lee told HC Online.



MVRC also relied on Mr Hinchens underperformance and conduct as reasons for dismissal but Mr Hinchen denied this, she says.



Obviously the performance allegations could have been better dealt with if the MVRC had been reasonable.



Lee says this decision should serve as an important reminder to employers that a proper process must be followed when effecting dismissal and employees must be shown procedural fairness.




The Workplace Gender Equality Agency is calling for submissions from employers on employee gender, including people they hire, promote and those who resign.



Private sector employers with more than 100 employees are required to submit a report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency between 1 April and 31 May each year, relating to the preceding 12-month period, says Amber Sharp, Partner with Marque Lawyers.



This year, some additional questions have been included relating to number of appointments, promotions and resignations by gender, as well as number of employees who didnt return after parental leave, Sharp says.



Sharp says employers will also be quizzed on whether the positions were managerial and whether they were part-time or full-time roles.



It is hoped the new data will shed light on the reasons for gender imbalances in the workforce.



The new data could also provide insights into what actions employers should take to improve the representation and participation of women in the workforce, Sharp says.



The report requires answering questions on six gender equality indicators:



1. Gender composition of the workforce

2. Gender composition of governing bodies

3. Equal remuneration between women and men

4. Availability and utility of employment terms, conditions and practices relating to flexible working arrangements supporting employees with family or caring responsibilities

5. Consultation with employees on issues concerning gendering equality in the workplace

6. Sex-based harassment and discrimination



Sharp says businesses which fail to comply will be named and shamed.



A list is published on the WGEA website, and WGEA may name non-compliant employers in a report to the Minister, she says.



Further, non-compliance can render the employer ineligible under Commonwealth and state procurement conditions.



While companies that employ fewer than 100 people are off the reporting hook, Sharp says regardless of reporting obligations, gender should never inform recruitment or remuneration decisions.




The Appalachian District Health Department will be launching a new brand and logo that better represents our commitment to care for our community through service to our patients and our community.

The Appalachian District Health Department was established in 1933 and covers Alleghany, Ashe and Watauga Counties. The health department provides many services such as high quality clinical care, nutrition services, Women Infants and Children (WIC), community health services and environmental health services.

The Appalachian District Health Department will transition to a new brand and logo for each of the programs, departments and services offered by the health department. This transition will take place in a phased approach, over the next six to nine months. In the coming months, we will work to inform our patients, stakeholders and the community and ensure they are informed to connect the new look back to the quality service provided by Appalachian District Health Department offices in their own community.

The rebranding initiative represents our ability to continue to provide high quality patient care and essential services that are critical for the health of the public. We are committed to serving our patients and clients and ensuring the fulfillment of our mission to promote safe and healthy living, prevent disease and protect the environment.

This new look is all about better representing the range of quality services that are part of Appalachian District Health Department. We believe this provides us an opportunity to better explain what services we provide our communities including quality clinical healthcare services, medical nutrition services, community health and prevention services, and environmental health services, said Jennifer Greene, Deputy Health Director.

For additional information about Appalachian District Health Department, please call 828-264-4995 or visit our website at www.apphealth.com and follow us on Twitter and Facebook

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Compiled by Jesse Wood

On Tuesday, Gov. Pat McCrory issued an executive order in response to the outrage that the state has received for HB2 from the LGBT community, the business community and others.

Since signing the bill into law, McCrory called HB2 a common-sense law that ensures privacy in the bathroom. The law requires people to use the bathroom of their gender listed on their birth certificate.

But opponents of HB2, which was passed in response to a Charlotte ordinance, say that the bill did much more than force transgender individuals to use restrooms in schools and other government buildings contrasting with their identity. The bill, opponents say, prevents municipalities from passing their own anti-discrimination laws, prevents local governments from raising the minimum wage and erodes an existing right for employees to sue in state court for workplace discrimination.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT EXECUTIVE ORDER 93:

Governor McCrory Takes Action to Protect Privacy and Equality

Governor Pat McCrory has signed an Executive Order to protect the privacy and equality of all North Carolinians. Executive Order 93 clarifies existing state law and provides new protections for North Carolina residents.

Executive Order 93 does the following:

Maintains common sense gender-specific restroom and locker room facilities in government buildings and schools

Affirms the private sectors right to establish its own restroom and locker room policies

Affirms the private sector and local governments right to establish non-discrimination employment policies for its own employees

Expands the states employment policy for state employees to cover sexual orientation and gender identity

Seeks legislation to reinstate the right to sue in state court for discrimination

With this Executive Order, the state of North Carolina is now one of 24 states that have protections for sexual orientation and gender identity for its employees.

After listening to peoples feedback for the past several weeks on this issue, I have come to the conclusion that there is a great deal of misinformation, misinterpretation, confusion, a lot of passion and frankly, selective outrage and hypocrisy, especially against the great state of North Carolina, said Governor McCrory. Based upon this feedback, I am taking action to affirm and improve the states commitment to privacy and equality.

Charlotte Business Leaders Applaud Executive Order:

McCrorys office sent out these two statements supporting his executive action:

Statement from Bob Morgan, Charlotte Chamber President and CEO:

Todays action by Governor Pat McCrory sends a positive message to businesses across North Carolina and to our economic development clients throughout the country and world that North Carolina and Charlotte understand the need to attract and retain diverse talent in our workforce.

Statement from Tom Murray, Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority CEO:

We are appreciative of the actions taken by Governor McCrory through his executive order and encouraged by the message it sends to the visitors and meeting planners who drive the Charlotte regions $6.3 billion visitor economy. We hope todays events demonstrate that we want to welcome all in our community and across the state. At the CRVA, we know our differences make us stronger and we pride ourselves on being a destination of choice that embraces diversity, inclusion and equality.

NCGOP: Roy Cooper Just Lost His Excuse To Not Defend HB2

Roy Cooper refused to do his job and defend the state of North Carolina by saying it would conflict with his obligation to defend his offices non-discrimination policy. Now that Governor McCrory has signed an executive order expanding and affirming non-discrimination policies for North Carolina state employees, the attorney general now has two choices: come up with another excuse to not do his job, or stand up for North Carolina families and defend a common-sense law.  Dallas Woodhouse, N.C. GOP Executive Director

Background:

Cooper pointed out that the law, known as House Bill 2 (or HB2), is at odds with specific employment policies of his office and the state Treasurers Office which allow protections for workers based on marital status or sexual orientation. (Laura Leslie, Cooper: HB2 a national embarrassment, WRAL, 3/29/2016)

Senate Leader Phil Berger (GOP) issued the following response:

Gov. McCrory just put to rest the lefts lies about HB 2 and proved it allows private and public employers, non-profits and churches the ability to adopt nondiscrimination policies that are stronger than state and federal law. But that fact is irrelevant to Roy Cooper and his left-wing political correctness mob with their agenda-driven allies in the liberal media, who will never stop trashing North Carolina until they achieve their goal of allowing any man into any womens bathroom or locker room at any time simply by claiming to feel like a woman.

Democratic Reponse to Executive Order 93

Governor Pat McCrory attempted to put a Band-Aid on a fatal wound today. McCrory responded to pressure over HB 2 with Executive Order 93, which calls for the expansion of the states employment policy for state employees to cover sexual orientation and gender identity. The decision, McCrory said in a video statement, was based on public feedback and the, misinformation, misinterpretation [and], confusion, surrounding the bill.

McCrorys executive order, certainly acknowledges the problems that House Bill 2 has created, said Senator Dan Blue (D-Wake), but it does nothing to fix it. This order wont override existing legislation. It only serves to muddy the waters.

Blue called for Republicans in the General Assembly to follow the governors lead by working together with Democrats to fully repeal the bill and restore the peoples rights. Every word of this bill needs to be off the books, he said, from restoring the right to sue for employment discrimination at the state level to reaffirming local governing boards authority to act in the best interest of their communities. If we are to survive and thrive as a state, House Bill 2 cannot stand.

ACLU Statement on N.C. Governors Executive Order on LGBT Discrimination

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) today issued an executive order that maintains House Bills 2s provisions that force transgender people to use the wrong restroom while prohibiting workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity for state employees.

The news follows the passage of House Bill 2, a measure that removes existing protections for gay and transgender people, blocks other localities from enacting protections, erodes existing rights for everyone under state nondiscrimination law, and forces transgender individuals to use the wrong restroom in schools and other government buildings.

In response, ACLU of North Carolina Acting Executive Director Sarah Preston said the following:

Gov. McCrorys actions today are a poor effort to save face after his sweeping attacks on the LGBT community, and they fall far short of correcting the damage done when he signed into law the harmful House Bill 2, which stigmatizes and mandates discrimination against gay and transgender people. With this executive order, LGBT individuals still lack legal protections from discrimination, and transgender people are still explicitly targeted by being forced to use the wrong restroom.

An impressive and growing number of businesses, faith leaders, and public figures have come out to condemn House Bill 2 as an unnecessary and dangerous measure that unfairly targets gay and transgender people. Regardless of political affiliation, more and more political leaders also understand that discrimination is bad for business and politically toxic. The public believes in equality and fairness and House Bill 2 and measures like it are out of step with the values of most Americans.

Efforts to divide the LGBT community by extending limited protections but leaving in place the rules mandating discrimination against the transgender community will only strengthen our resolve to fight back against this discriminatory and misguided legislative action. We call on Gov. McCrory and the North Carolina legislature to repeal House Bill 2 and replace it with full non-discrimination protections for all LGBT people.

Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and the ACLU of North Carolina recently filed a lawsuit challenging House Bill 2. The lawsuit argues that through HB 2, North Carolina sends a purposeful message that LGBT people are second-class citizens who are undeserving of the privacy, respect, and protections afforded others in the state. The complaint argues that HB 2 is unconstitutional because it violates the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment by discriminating on the basis of sex and sexual orientation and invading the privacy of transgender people. The law also violates Title IX by discriminating against students and school employees on the basis of sex.

The Obama administration is presently considering whether North Carolinas House Bill 2 makes the state ineligible for billions of dollars in federal aid for schools, highways, and housing. North Carolina receives more than $4.5 billion in federal funding for secondary and post-secondary schools, all of which remains at jeopardy given the states policy of systemically violating Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination, including discrimination against transgender students.

Statement from NCDP Chair Patsy Keever on Gov. McCrorys executive order

With his actions today, Governor McCrory acknowledged for the first time the full scope and consequences of his discriminatory law. For two weeks, hes attempted to mislead about the effects of HB2 with long, incorrect memos and Internet videos. But todays Executive Order does nothing to fix whats really wrong with his job-killing law: legalized discrimination that will continue to cost the state of North Carolina jobs and respect.

HRC and Equality North Carolina to McCrory: Executive Order Doubles Down on Most Damaging Provisions of HB 2

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nations largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, and Equality North Carolina, the states leading LGBT advocacy organization, blasted NC Gov. Pat McCrory following his executive order today for his continued failure to lead on the repeal of HB 2.

While the governors executive order extends protections to state workers, it does nothing to fix the vile and discriminatory provisions he signed into law through HB 2. Under HB 2, transgender people are prohibited from using restrooms consistent with their gender identity in public buildings, including the University of North Carolina campus and the Raleigh-Durham Airport. Cities still cannot adopt ordinances designed to prohibit discrimination against their residents and visitors. And, todays action does not undo the damage to the state nondiscrimination laws, which now prevent individuals from bringing suit in state courts.

HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow said, The governors action is an insufficient response to a terrible, misguided law that continues to harm LGBT people on a daily basis. Its absurd that hell protect people from being fired but will prohibit them from using the employee restroom consistent with their gender identity. The North Carolina Legislature must act to right this wrong as swiftly as possible. They created this horrendous law, and they need to repeal it.

Equality NC Executive Director Chris Sgro said, While Governor McCrorys Executive Order creates vital protections in public employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, it does not address the deep concerns we share with members of the business community and citizens across the state about the damaging impact of HB 2. In fact, the order doubles down on the Governors support for some of the most problematic provisions of HB 2.

North Carolina Governors Executive Order Criticized by LGBTQ Advocates

Today, North Carolina Governor McCrory signed an executive order in response to the controversial anti-LGBTQ law, HB2.

Governor McCrorys executive order today is too little too late. It is like trying to solve a massive life threatening injury with a small band-aid that doesnt come close to covering the wound. Complete repeal of HB2 and the passage of comprehensive statewide non-discrimination legislation are the only actions that will provide real, strong protections for all the LGBTQ people of North Carolina. said Rea Carey, Executive Director, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund.

The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund has been working with North Carolina faith leaders and LGBTQ advocates in an effort to repeal the anti-LGBTQ law. In North Carolina, the organization has been providing leadership training, grassroots organizing and on-the-ground logistical support. Clergy, civil rights leaders, and LGBTQ advocates have been taking part in escalating actions calling on the the legislature and Governor to repeal the law. The broad coalition of activists and leaders plan on taking part in civil disobedience, sit-ins, and similar peaceful demonstrations if lawmakers dont meet the April 21 deadline.

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The retail conglomerate states in a press release that the conversions, which are to be completed by the end of next year, will be part of a thorough renewal of its grocery shop network. As the store network expands, Kesko will recruit and train hundreds of new K-retailers, it highlights.

Kesko will begin the conversion of Siwa and Valintatalo corner shops into K-markets next month after securing the requisite approval for its takeover of the operator of the corner shops, Suomen Lahikauppa.

Kesko Food, a subsidiary of Kesko, acquired all outstanding shares in Suomen Lahikauppa from the private equity firm Triton for 60 million euros after the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (KKV) gave its approval for the takeover on Monday.

KKV announced in a press release, however, that its approval is conditional on the willingness of Kesko to sell 60 shops operated by Suomen Lahikauppa to rival retailers and commit to using the same wholesale suppliers as Suomen Lahikauppa for a fixed time period.

We will now begin to write a new chapter in Finnish neighbourhood retailing with the objective of doubling the footfall in our neighbourhood stores. The acquisition also supports the development of other K-Group grocery stores, says Mikko Helander, the chief executive of Kesko.

Suomen Lahikauppa has excellent business locations and the acquisition will enable us to implement our strategy faster than planned and with significantly less capital expenditure. The acquisition also enables significant synergies, he adds.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Emmi Tulokas  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
Children are "almost guaranteed" to get into difficulty at a specific attraction at the National Aquatic Centre (NAC), an inquest heard.

Logan Joyce (4) of Wotton Bridge, Ashbourne Road, Co Dublin was found floating face down in the Lazy River section at the NAC on July 22, 2012.

A resumed inquest into his death heard the Lazy River attraction, a 120m long, 1.2m deep section that circles the Wave Pool, was the number one feature where lifeguards were required to take action.

Trouble

Lifeguard Graham Smith said the current from the Wave Pool sucks children into the Lazy River and even children wearing flotation devices could get into trouble there.

"It's the number one reason we would get in the water ... they are almost guaranteed to get into difficulty there," he said.

Children without flotation devices would be advised to get out before they were drawn into the Lazy River and if they didn't a lifeguard would physically pull them out, he told Dublin Coroner's Court.

"It sounds a bit daft, but it wasn't uncommon to have kids walking around on their own.

"Even if they were a few feet from their parents they could get into difficulty, it's just so easy to happen," Mr Smith said.

Logan was last seen alive in the Wave Pool area.

"From the available facts it would appear he made his way all the way around the river," Sgt Joseph Delaney said.

Logan was spotted floating face down in the water just before 6.30pm by a member of the public and was rushed to Connolly Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The cause of death was drowning.

Coroner Dr Brian Farrell returned a verdict of death by misadventure.

Lifeguard Duty Officer Russell Ehbel, who has since left the NAC, said children under eight require direct adult supervision and flotation aids can be bought at reception.

He said ten lifeguards were covering 11 positions at the leisure pool that day but two other lifeguards said all positions were manned.

Barrister for the NAC Simon Mills said the child's death followed a "constellation of events that coloured the verdict available to the coroner".

Armbands

He said he "did not wish to add to anybody's grief ... but the evidence is clear".

"Logan Joyce could not swim, Mr (Michael) Joyce had insufficient flotation devices for the children he brought with him and he elected not to give Logan armbands when he knew Logan was not able to swim."

National Sports Campus Director (which includes the NAC) David Conway said a fresh safety audit had been requested and would be carried out by Irish Water Safety.
The Russell Fork River, which winds through Virginia and Kentucky, has been named one of the 10 most endangered rivers in the country due to mining.

American Rivers, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., named the Russell Fork River the seventh most endangered river. According to the organization, the river is threatened by Paramont Coal Companys proposed Doe Branch mine in Dickenson County. Although there is a permit for mining there, no mining is currently taking place, according to state officials.

Mountaintop removal is among the most destructive forms of mining, with devastating impacts on clean water, fish and wildlife, and the health of local communities, the organization said in a report issued Tuesday.

Massive amounts of dirt and rubble are dumped into adjacent valleys, burying streams and ruining waterways for miles, American Rivers said. The Doe Branch mine would discharge toxic wastewater into Barts Lick Creek, Slate Branch, Wolfpen Branch and Doe Branch, all of which are tributaries of the Russell Fork River, the organization added.

The Americas Most Endangered Rivers report is a call to action to save rivers at a tipping point, said Jessie Thomas-Blate, of American Rivers. The coal industry is in decline, while the economic value of an intact and healthy Russell Fork River continues to grow. We must protect the Russell Fork so it can continue to be a valuable asset for communities today and for generations to come.

In the report, American Rivers calls on Virginias governor and the Environmental Protection Agency to deny permits for the mine and put a stop to the project.

The Russell Fork River is a critical asset to the region that we cannot afford to lose. Its important that we preserve this natural resource for the economic sustainability of communities in eastern Kentucky and southwest Virginia that rely on the river for tourism, recreation and jobs," said Tarence Ray, Central Appalachian field coordinator for Appalachian Voices, an environmental organization that nominated the river.

The Doe Branch mine currently has a permit, but mining is not taking place, according to Tarah Kesterson, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Mines Minerals and Energy.

Kesterson noted that the DMME previously conducted a study of the Russell Fork River and found it to be impaired due to poor mining practices before 1977, when the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act was passed, she added.

According to Bristol-based Alpha Natural Resources, the parent company of Paramont Coal Company, the Doe Branch mine permit is not currently on any 10-year plan.

If there were to be mining at some point in the future, it would be part of the construction of the Coalfields Expressway in Dickenson County and would be contour mining, not mountaintop removal, the company said.

The company, which entered bankruptcy proceedings in 2015, declined to comment further.

The listing provides a good opportunity to take a look at the foundational shift going on in Central Appalachia coal country today, said Cathryn McCue, communications director at Appalachian Voices. The Russell Fork can be viewed as a poster stream for that transition. The river holds the promise of a burgeoning eco-tourism sector, yet is threatened by a proposed mountaintop removal coal mine upstream.

The river forms the deepest gorge east of the Mississippi River at Breaks Interstate Park, which draws more than 350,000 visitors per year. It also attracts fishermen and whitewater enthusiasts.

As a child, I spent most of my summers with my grandparents in eastern Kentucky. Exploring their farm and playing in the small creek running through it were some of my earliest connections to the outdoors, said Bob Irvin, president of American Rivers. Kentucky is blessed with many beautiful rivers, and the Russell Fork is a natural gem. But like so many rivers and streams in southern Appalachia, it is threatened by the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining. We hope our Americas Most Endangered River listing sends a strong message that the Russell Fork is worth protecting for todays communities and future generations.

Other waterways that are considered endangered include the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, San Joaquin River, Susquehanna River, Smith River, Green-Duwamish Rivers, Pee Dee River, Merrimack River, St. Lawrence River and Pascagoula River. The rivers are listed due to a variety of environmental issues, according to American Rivers.
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.
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In 1985, I had just come back to Delhi after a stint at the New York Times main office. One of the first dispatches I reported was Indias announcement that it would build a fence to stop illegal migration from Bangladesh.

The Assam agreement on illegal migration and the states development had been signed earlier between the All Assam Students Union, the Centre and the state government during August 14th night and 15th morning. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi made the announcement from the ramparts of the Red Fort in the traditional Independence Day speech. It seemed to calm nearly six years of turmoil and protests in Assam.

I still remember the reaction of the President of Bangladesh at the time to this unilateral decision. Gen. Mohammed Ershad denounced the plan to build a fence as a hostile act against a smaller, vulnerable neighbour.

Thirty-one years down the road, much of the fence is in place, the ability of Bangladeshis to cross into hostile neighbouring territory has been sharply reduced, India has signed a land-swap deal on the border, it has strong trade and communications protocols/agreements in place with its neighbour. In addition, Dhaka has cooperated on security issues, handing over the top leaders of militant groups from Assam and Manipur, defanging the armed factions that our own security forces had been unable to subdue.

Read | Hindutvas quiet entry in Assam

But is the border sealed, as AASU, the Asom Gana Parishad, the BJP and many of their supporters seek? The fact is that no international border can be sealed, not even the US-Mexico border, which is overwhelmingly dominated by a superpower with helicopter patrols, walls, fences, sophisticated weaponry and federal agents. Not even Europe can keep out the Syrians and other desperate refugees fleeing IS.

Yet, the rhetoric of railing against Bangladeshis remains the same as does the strategy of using them as rationale to blame for the mess in Assam. However, the real danger is that the real targets appear to be Muslims of Bangla origin. Many of our younger generation are probably unaware that over half a century ago, this group embraced Assamese as its mother tongue to ensure that Assamese speakers remained a linguistic majority in the state. Yet, if the current bout of hostility towards them continues, I wonder how many of this group would be prepared to show Assamese as their mother tongue, thereby endangering its status as the states official language. This needs to be understood.

Interestingly, the immigration issue isnt new: 70 years ago, in 1946, Congress won a thumping victory on the platform of blocking outsiders who were swamping the state. Its campaign attacked the Muslim Leagues strategy of settling Muslim migrants from East Bengal in Assam. But the League is no longer a factor in the successor state to East Bengal  now Bangladesh. Many migrants are moving on their own but also with touts on either side of the border. However, this is also how international illegal migration works.

Read | Fivefold increase in communal incidents marks run-up to Assam polls

Today, there are a range of key, critical issues for the state which go far beyond the divisive politics that is being played out by different parties. Take, for instance, the issue of health.

Although the BJPs state manifesto pledges a universal insurance scheme for people of the state, one rarely hears other serious issues being discussed during the campaign by any party.

Thus, who speaks of or discusses that at 300, Assam has the worst maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in India. MMR is the number of women who die in childbirth per 100,000 live births. While the states MMR has improved dramatically from a horrific 490 just over a decade ago, it remains unacceptably high, way above Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

And where does the much-maligned Bangladesh figure in all this? Surprise, surprise. According to a World Bank survey in 2015, our neighbours MMR was measured at 176. That is far better than most Indian states and almost half that of Assam! The fundamental rule of economic migrants is rooted in common sense  that they leave conditions of underdevelopment and vulnerability; they dont walk across to an area or a country which is worse off than the place they are leaving or where they will face hostility.

Read | Political slugfest in Assam continues amid Bihu festivities

No one discusses the other critical barometer of human development growth: Infant mortality ratio (IMR) or the number of children who die before they reach the age of five. While the all-India figure is 43.19 deaths per 1,000 live births, the figure for Assam is disheartening: It is 54 and the state is the worst performer along with Madhya Pradesh. Until 2013, Assam was the second-worst performing state in this sector. Thus, its record has worsened. Unsurprisingly, Kerala has the best performance with an IMR of just 12.

What about Bangladesh? Its 32.10 (in 2014) or again just under half that of Assam. Clearly, their health delivery systems, health officials and professionals do a far better job than ours.

The Congress is answerable to the public on these concerns since it has been in office in Assam for most of the past 68 years of independence. While there has been visible improvement in recent years, credit must be given to the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was a dynamic and respected health minister during these years before switching sides to the BJP.

Development and poriborton rest on these key questions, on delivery and access to entitlements and services, not catchy slogans and rhetoric, which can sway the young and inexperienced. The immigration issue has been a political question for a century. It is not going to go away. But in the meantime, lets get back to work on these life and death issues. The winning combinations plans on these concerns need to be precise and transparent.

Sanjoy Hazarika is director, Centre for North East Studies, at Jamia MIllia Islamia

The views expressed are personal
Time and again, reservation for backward castes as well as Dalits (scheduled castes and tribes) has been a matter of public debate in India. The topic is on the national platform yet again with the current agitations seeking job quotas even as others discuss abolition of reservation. With the Patels (Patidars) of Gujarat, the Jats of Haryana and Rajputs in some pockets seeking job reservations, it is time to look at how the Dalits figure in this equation as Indias most oppressed social category.

Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, whose 125th birth anniversary is celebrated today, gifted reservation to the Dalits and there was a reason for that. Communities who were a part of those oppressing the Dalits in the past are now working to seek reservation for nearly everyone (including, those who were their oppressors). It seems the idea is to make the concept of reservation for Dalits disappear altogether.

Read | Ambedkar Jayanti brings little joy to his flock

Dalits in India have been oppressed for over 2,000 years. They have been raped, looted, humiliated for generations in the name of caste. Their status in society has been worse than that of slaves. Dalits are among Indias oldest inhabitants, but they have never been allowed to lead normal human lives.

Accounts of Dalit lives through the centuries would suggest a Dalit dies many deaths in a lifetime  suffering discrimination, some variant of slavery and disrespect.

Nearly 70 years after Independence, toilet cleaners, rickshaw pullers, landless labourers and slum dwellers belong primarily to the lower castes, especially Dalits, whereas 95% of landlords and priests hail from the upper castes. Top-level bureaucrats, businessmen and politicians still come from the upper castes. Despite 67 years of job reservations, there is no major change in the social status of a majority of Dalits.

There is a debate on job reservation but none on why Dalits were oppressed, how to divide land equitably, how to abolish the caste system  or on accepting Dalit priests.

Read | Dalits in MP village living in shadow of terror

It is all right to prevent the creamy layer in Dalit community from getting reservations so that the major benefits of reservation go to deserving. I, for one, would not deserve the benefit though I am a Dalit as I have done well, but my ancestors in Bihar were treated like slaves.

There are poor people in upper castes as well, but they have not suffered humiliations similar to those of Dalits. It is important to distinguish Dalits as victims of maltreatment, and this is not an economic issue.

We often talk about the poor performance of Dalit students, but we dont think about how their suppression of over 2,000 years can affect their genes or talent.

Darwinian theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individuals ability to compete, survive and reproduce. Dalits have been at the wrong end of this evolution. This is a major reason why Dalit students are unable to compete with the same ability as other students.

If we still believe that giving them reservation in jobs is not appropriate, we are not understanding the core issue. This is a shame.

Rameshwar M Paswan is a Norway-based entrepreneur

The views expressed are personal
A section of Brahmins in Tamil Nadu is pushing for reservation in government jobs and educational institutes, giving a new dimension to the politics playing out in the run up to next months state elections.

The claim, by some leaders of BJP and Anthanar Munnetra Kazhagam (AMK)  a political party floated by Brahmins who say they have enlisted 15,000 people across the state  contradicts existing caste dynamics in the country where millions of lower caste community members have suffered at the hands of upper caste ones such as Brahmins.

It is a curse being born a Brahmin in Tamil Nadu, S Ve Shekhar, former MLA from Mylapore, which is a Brahmin dominated constituency said.

Read | Modi says reservation for Dalits will stay, criticises rivals lies

Brahmins constitute less than 4% of the states population, which is why they are neglected. Only a few of them are able to acquire education and migrate out of Tamil Nadu to lead a prosperous life, the BJP leader added.

Shekhar said members of the community will continue to suffer unless an individuals economic status was made the only yardstick for reservation.

Read | Jat reservation: Quotas not the way forward

It is absolutely wrong to punish the grandson or the great grandson of a Brahmin for the sins, if any, committed by his ancestors. This goes against the grain of justice and constitution, he said.

At its convention in Chennai, AMK demanded 3% reservations for Brahmins in government jobs and educational institutes.

We also demand protection from harassment and ridicule that Brahmins are often subjected to especially in Tamil movies, AMK president S Jayaprakash Iyer said.

The AMK has prepared a charter of demands and is seeking government intervention in protecting Brahminical traditions and culture.

Read | Ramdev backs quota for Jats, wants national reservation policy

Apart from reservation, the party has also demanded a minimum salary of `1000 per month for all the priests and sivarchakas working in temples and the creation of a temple welfare board to look after the interests of temple employees.

Iyer, however, said it was unlikely that any other political party would rally for their cause. We are sure we will not get the support of the Dravidian parties, which had attacked the Brahminical culture in the past. What is surprising is that even the BJP has sought to play safe and has not responded, so far, he said.

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Much awaited Habibganj railway over bridge was finally inaugurated on Wednesday in Bhopal. Named after Indian pro-independence activist Veer Savarkar, the ROB connects Arera Colony and Habibganj with Hoshangabad road.

Built with a cost of Rs 84 crore, the 1.8 km bridge is the longest flyover in the state capital as per the claims of Bhopal Municipal Corporation. The construction of ROB was envisioned in 2012 and in the year 2013 it got a revised approval from government of India.

The estimate cost of the bridge was Rs 27 crore. However, the project could not be properly commenced due to the hurdles like Kolar pipeline, the permissions of railways and later for clearance of over 800 slums.

The deadline of the project was extended 6 times in between 2013 and 2016. Habibganj ROB will have one branch extending from RRL tri-junction to Arera Colony near Ganesh Temple side of Habibganj Naka, crossing railway line, while the other will connect RRL tri-junction and Bhopal fracture hospital. Another extension of ROB would facilitate traffic towards All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Declaring the inauguration of flyover, mayor Alok Sharma requested CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan to give a grant of Rs 75 crores to BMC as the cost of building the ROB had affected the financial condition of BMC. The CM declared an aid of Rs 100 crore for BMC as development fund to improve the economic condition of the corporation. In his speech during the inauguration programme, the CM also asked BMC to build a statue of Rani Kamplapati in Upper Lake just like the statue of Raja Bhoj.

Chouhan declared that Rs 15,000 crore will be given to BMC in the next 5 years for the development of the city and requested the citizens of Bhopal to pay their taxes.
While many people believe that Priyanka Chopra owes her success to her team, the Bollywood actor, who is now a globally recognised face due to her stint in American TV series Quantico and soon to release Hollywood film Baywatch, says that the credit for her work goes only and solely to her and nobody else. I do have a phenomenal team because they handle two continents of my scheduling and more than anything else, they make sure that nobody gets pissed off because I am spread too thin, Priyanka, who was in the Capital for a day to receive her Padma Shri honour from President Pranab Mukherjee, said in an interview.

But having said that, I feel that I am destinys favourite child. I have made sure that whatever opportunity comes my way, I give my heart and soul to it. So the credit of my work goes only and solely to me because I am the one who stands in front of the camera between action and cuts and nobody else does, she said, while adding that people take credit away from women who put in hard work.

Watch: Priyanka Chopra in Quantico teaser

People take credit away from working girls by giving it to somebody else, saying, Isko toh banaya hai (her success has been made by others), but my question is, Koi aur kyu nahi bana abhi tak (Why someone else hasnt made it yet), Priyanka questioned.

Asked how she reacted when her former manager alleged that she wanted to commit suicide because of stress during the initial phase of her career, the actress said: My father used to say, Jab haathi chalta hai toh kutte bhonkte hai (when an elephant moves, dogs bark).

The National Award winner said that its fun for her to have another part of the world discover her without saying anything. (Instagram)

Priyankas journey in showbiz started at the age of 17, when she was crowned Miss World. It was followed by her Bollywood debut in 2003 with The Hero: Love Story of a Spy. After that, there was no looking back as she mastered the art of delivering the unexpected.

After making India proud globally with her role of FBI agent Alex Parrish in Quantico, she bagged Baywatch alongside Hollywood A-listers Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.

So, with her international projects, does she feel like a newcomer abroad?

Its a very strange dichotomy with me because even for them, they dont know how to treat me. In most places where I go or the films that I do, they know I am a big star from another part of the world. I have people waiting for me when I am shooting, but they dont know me, Priyanka said, while adding that stardom should not be announced before you walk in, it should be a discovery.

Read: Leaked: Priyanka Chopras glamorous first look for Baywatch

Read: Priyanka Chopras missing in The Rocks Baywatch cast picture. But why?

What I am enjoying is people discovering me. They are discovering and saying, What is the fuss around this girl, why are people standing outside to see her shooting in Montreal. Lets go and Google her and then they Google me and find out who I am, she said.

The National Award winner said that its fun for her to have another part of the world discover her without saying anything.

Priyanka, who is also the first South Asian actress to win a Peoples Choice Award, also feels that the definition of stardom is different in the West than in India because of fans.

Read: Priyanka Chopra runs in slo-mo on Baywatch set, shares video

Read: Priyanka Chopra is learning Kajukenbo to beat The Rock in Baywatch

Stars are not different but the fans. Its beautiful to see how much a fan loves Indian cinema and the actors. Its so satisfying to have someone applaud your work and love you. I am just a girl but the kind of love and affection I receive, it gives me support. I dont think any other star in any part of the world will ever experience what an Indian does, said the actress who recently brought life to the soft and hypnotic voice of the python Kaa in the Hindi version of Disneys The Jungle Book.

Follow @htshowbiz for more.
When Satish Cadabom recently brought a pair of Korean Dosa Mastiff pups, it hit the headlines  for the Rs 2 crore he shelled out for them. He spends another Rs 30,000 a month on food and care. Expensive breeds are in high demand, said Satish, who has been a dog breeder for 20 years, adding that the demand for pets is on the rise.

Statistics agree. A study by Euromonitor International says the Indian pet-care market, at Rs 1,394 crore, has more than doubled from Rs 538 crore in 2011. The growth between 2014 and 2015 itself was about 26%.

But what is more interesting is the growth in e-commerce in the pets and pet-accessories business. Though it currently accounts for less than 1% of dog food value sales, digital sales are on the verge of an explosion, industry sources said.

A pet is a like kid. People love to show them off, said Rana Atheya of Dogspot.in, an online portal, which in January raised investment from Ratan Tata. Pet population is growing at 25%, and most of the companies are also witnessing 30% to 35% growth.

The Indian market is still less than half of the size of that of Portugal, said Damian Shore, analyst at the Euromonitor. The international market was worth about `6.7 lakh crore in 2015, but it grew only about 3.5% between 2011 and 2015. With a strong economy and attitudes to pets changing fast, this explosive growth is set to continue.

According to Binny Pappachan of Petcart, an online platform, the consumer engagement is highly important in this segment, compared to other e-commerce platforms. About half of the customers call us back due to our expertise, he says. The company has also opened a physical store in Bangalore.

Dheraj Gambhir of Petsworld says there is a trend of humanisation of pets. People love buying cloths, and other accessories for pets. For instance, we sold more than 7,000 dog beds last year, compared to about 1,000 in 2014.

Awareness is a challenge: it is easy for a disgruntled customer to spoil the image of a company on social media after to a poor experience.

So companies are spending a lot of attention and time, using blogs and other means, to spread awareness about their products, aspects of pet-care like buying the right breed, giving right food and animal health issues.

Atheya of Dogspot.in says the company focuses on community building and customer engagement than marketing and advertising.
Punit Soni, chief product officer at Indias largest ecommerce platform Flipkart has quit after spending less than 13 months in the company. Soni, an expert on mobile technology and who was one of Flipkarts most high profile lateral hires from Google Inc had joined the company in March last year.

A Flipkart spokesperson confirmed Sonis exit but did not offer any reason for his departure in less than 13 months after joining the company. This Friday will be Sonis last day in Flipkart.

Sonis exit also comes on top of two other major exits in Flipkart in the last three months. In February this year, the companys head of commerce platform Mukesh Bansal along with chief business officer Anikt Nagori had put in their papers. While Bansal left the company in March, Nagori will be leaving end of May this year.
The ecommerce party can continue in the coming festival season. Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday dispelled fears, raised by a recent clarification in the foreign investment policy for online marketplaces, of a crackdown on discounts.

This government does not believe in interfering with markets. That will be the guiding principle in any call we take. We are not here to police a situation, the minister told HT.

The government on March 29 allowed 100% foreign direct investment in online marketplaces through the automatic route. But it also notified rules that could end the discount war for which consumers love ecommerce.

The biggest ecommerce companies in the country, such as Flipkart, Amazon India, and Snapdeal, are online marketplaces. They have grown by tempting consumers through much lower prices than they can get from offline retailers. That has also been the pitch of most of their advertising.

The new rules said an online marketplace, since it merely brings the buyer and seller together on its platform, should not offer discounts. To tighten the screws further, the government said no one retailer should account for more than 25% of the sales on an online marketplace.

Ecommerce has lower costs than offline retail, since its saves on distribution and real estate. The savings can be passed on to the consumer as lower prices. In theory, an online market place can also encourage its retailers to give discounts by charging them lower fees for using its platform. They may be more tempted than ever to try this, or any other innovative accounting, during the festival season. In the last couple of years, this season, starting with the onset of Dussehra, usually in October, going right up to Diwali, usually in November, has become a big party for ecommerce.

Will that invite government action this year? We have not taken a clampdown approach.... We are not watching with a stick in hand saying we are going to hit you with it, Sitharaman said.

The government will watch the scenario, she said, because it has to ensure that ecommerce companies do not use their foreign funding to offer predatory prices (prices lower than costs) and hurt offline retailers unfairly. However, its approach will not be that of a hawk. If there is a need for the government to clarify, we will, after calling all stakeholders and listening to every point of view.
Indias fast growing international passenger traffic has made it the top destination country for major international airports.

Indias international passenger traffic grew by over six per cent to 45.7 million passengers in 2014-15 as compared to 43 million the previous year.

India is Dubai International airports top destination country with 10.4 million passengers in 2015, a year-on-year increase of 17 per cent over 8.9 million passengers recorded in 2014. Dubai airport handled 78 million passengers in 2015, said a spokesperson of the Dubai International airport.

Singapores Changi airport handled 3.4 million Indian passengers in 2015. India ranked seventh in Changis top country links.

The daily estimated traffic to North America from India is around 11,000 passengers. Indias growing middle class population has taken to international travel in a big way. Many prefer a vacation to a short-haul international destination like Thailand than say Andamans, said Rajji Rai, chairman Swift Travels.

Indians travelling abroad is growing year-on-year and the country has become a very large contributor of traffic to a number of countries, said Sharat Dhall, president, Yatra.com.

Besides Dubai and Singapore, India is one of the biggest contributors of traffic to UK and Thailand. With outbound travel growing significantly, passenger traffic from India to Australia has almost doubled, Dhall said.

Indians are also big spenders abroad. Around 6% retail sales at Changi are courtesy Indian passengers in 2015 with the favourite buys being liquor and tobacco, perfumes and cosmetics followed by confectionaries, electronics and jewellery.

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State-owned ONGC has taken over a part of the abandoned assets of the western offshore Tapti gas field from its joint venture partners Reliance Industries and BG, to produce gas from its Daman fields.

The move will help save the company Rs 3,000-4,000 crore needed to build offshore infrastructure to produce gas from the Daman gas field as well as C-26 Cluster projects, ONGC director (Offshore) Tapas Kumar Sengupta told PTI in Mumbai.

We plan to start producing gas from Daman using the abandoned Tapti facilities by August/September at the rate of 2 million standard cubic meters per day, he said.

Peak output of 8.35 mmscmd of gas and 9,286 barrels of condensate per day is likely by 2018-19, he said. C-26 Cluster will contribute another 3 mmcmd and about 2,000 barrels of condensate per day.

With Mid & South Tapti field output declining rapidly, partners in the Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields - RIL, BG and ONGC, decided to abandon the field last year.

Tapti at its peak produced 12 mmscmd of gas but the output dwindled to 0.1 mmscmd and partners decided to abandon it and return the field to the government. Government on its part handed over certain facilities of the field to ONGC to achieve early production from Daman, he said.

Abandonment means dismantling and removing infrastructure set up for production of oil and gas.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) plans to use the Tapti field assets, which include sub-sea pipelines and gas gathering stations as well as process platform, to advance production of gas from its neighbouring Daman field.

The assets include Tapti gas processing platform, which received gas from sub-sea wells, removes water and other impurities before transmitting it to onshore.

ONGC will lay a small length of pipeline from the Daman field to the process platform, which is connected by a 70-km pipeline to its facility at Hazira.

The official said the company is investing Rs 5,219 crore in bringing to production the Daman gas fields and another Rs 3,400 crore in C-26 Cluster.

ONGC holds 40 per cent interest in the Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields while RIL and BP have 30 per cent each.

The joint venture will continue to operate the Panna- Mukta field, which primarily is an oil bearing field located 90-km north-west of Mumbai in the Arabian Sea. It currently produces 19,000 barrels per day of oil and 5-6 mmscmd of gas.

The JV members signed the Tapti Asset Transfer Agreement on Tuesday with ONGC, Sengupta said.

This is first of its kind asset transfer agreement in India, demonstrating that facilities no longer required by an operator can be optimally used by another to expedite the field development activities and also to reduce capex burden.
The EU unveiled plans to force the worlds biggest multinationals to fully report earnings and pay their fair share of taxes, saying the Panama Papers scandal added to the need for change.

The European Commission, the EUs executive arm, said under the new rules big companies operating in Europe would have to make public what they earn in each member state of the 28-nation bloc.

Country-by-country reporting has for years been a major demand of tax activists who accuse big corporations of secretly shifting profits from major markets to low tax jurisdictions, often through the use of shell companies such as those exposed in the Panama Papers leaks.

The Panama Papers have not changed our agenda but strengthen our determination to make sure taxes are paid where profits are generated, EU Financial Services Commissioner Jonathan Hill told a news briefing at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

Longstanding criticism of corporate tax policy blew up into the open with the Lux Leaks scandal in 2014, which exposed the secret sweetheart tax deals given to huge corporations --including the likes of IKEA and Pepsi -- by the small duchy of Luxembourg.

Multinationals have for long been criticised for not paying taxes in countries where they book profits, instead these companies pay it in places where tax rates are low. India has been among the companies that have been very vocal in opposing this practise. It robs India of taxes from companies making huge profits here.

Corporate tax rates at 30% in India is higher than many countries that are part of EU.

Hill is Britains representative on the Commission and a close political ally of Prime Minister David Cameron, who is under pressure in London for family links to an offshore fund exposed in the Panama Papers.

This proposal is a simple, proportionate way to increase large multinationals accountability on tax matters without damaging their competitiveness, the Commission said in a statement.
Panamas attorney general late on Tuesday raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm to search for any evidence of illegal activities, authorities said in a statement.

The Panama-based law firm is at the center of the Panama Papers leaks scandal that has embarrassed several world leaders and shone a spotlight on the shadowy world of offshore companies. The law firm helped a range of personalities from political leaders to filmstars to use tax havens to hide their wealth.

The national police, in an earlier statement, said they were searching for documentation that would establish the possible use of the firm for illicit activities. The firm has been accused of tax evasion and fraud.

Mossack Fonseca, which specializes in setting up offshore companies, did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Earlier, founding partner Ramon Fonseca said the company had broken no laws, destroyed no documents, and all its operations were legal.

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 of Chinas President Xi Jinping, and the president of Ukraine. Along with Indian celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai.

This raid coincided with the Indian tax department sending queries to all clients of Mossack Fonseca in the country.

The Indian Express reported on Monday, that the tax department has sent a detailed questionnaire seeking details of permissions sought by the client before incorporating the offshore entity; the manner in which money was routed for opening it; details of ownership of the offshore entity; details of transactions and deposits in it, among other things.
Two Indian drugmakers said they had given up a battle to copy drugs developed by Bristol Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca, blaming a lack of government support for cheap generics and pressure from Big Pharma.

Both companies, BDR Pharma and Lee Pharma, had been seeking so-called compulsory licenses that override patents and allow generics firms in India to launch cheap copies of medicines manufactured by big Western drugmakers.

But now the two mid-sized generics players say their efforts have been thwarted by Prime Minister Narendra Modis target to boost foreign investment in India and the resulting emphasis on protecting intellectual property, which is getting in the way of the governments promise to provide cheap drugs for the poor.

There is no point in pursuing it anymore, Dharmesh Shah, BDRs managing director, told Reuters.

The debate over cheap drugs is hugely emotive in India, home to 1.2 billion people, most of who live on less than $2 a day. It grabbed fresh headlines last month after a US business lobby group said New Delhi assured it that compulsory licences would no longer be issued for commercial purposes.

The commerce ministry, however, said there was no change to its policy, although campaigners and watchdogs including Indias National Human Rights Commission said they were worried about what looked like a shift in direction.

India first issued a compulsory license for a medicine in 2012, allowing Natco Pharma to sell a copy of German drugmaker Bayers cancer drug Nexavar at a tenth of the original price. The move was criticised by large multinationals.

But BDRs application to copy Bristol Myers cancer drug dasatinib, with an aim to sell it at about $122 for a months course versus the original price of about $2,491, was rejected in 2013.

Lee Pharma was rejected in January this year after a second review of its application seeking to make a cheaper form of AstraZenecas type 2 diabetes drug saxagliptin. The patent controller said Lee did not make a strong enough case.

Both BDR and Lee said they were now no longer appealing, in moves they described as emblematic of an exasperated industry.

If the government itself is not inclined then why unnecessarily slog on this issue? said A Venkata Reddy, Lees managing director.

A health ministry official did not comment and referred the matter to the commerce ministry. Officials at the commerce ministry declined to comment. Indias Controller General of Patents and Trademarks, part of the commerce ministry, did not respond to requests for comment.

Make in India

Modi, who came to power in 2014, has led a campaign to boost investment and manufacturing to speed up growth and create jobs, and is also reviewing the countrys patent rules. A new intellectual property policy is due out soon.

As a result, enthusiasm for compulsory licenses has cooled among government officials, industry executives and lawyers representing BDR and Lee told Reuters.

Rajeshwari Hariharan, the lawyer who represented Natco in the 2012 case, said other companies had considered applying for licenses but dropped plans. She declined to name them.

Sujay Shetty, who leads the life sciences practice for consultants PwC in India, agreed the government would be reluctant and use licenses sparingly.

But he added: You can never say never in India because of pressure on prices and access to medicines.

India represents a lucrative market for drugmakers, especially in diseases such as cancer and diabetes, as the population ages and gains weight. The country already has a $15 billion generics industry.

But stringent regulations around clinical trials and price control on medicines have made the operating environment tough.

Several large Indian drugmakers also aspire to expand to countries like the United States and Europe, another reason to strike friendly deals with Big Pharma.

In recent months, several Indian firms have struck such licensing deals, under which profit-sharing and drug prices are decided mutually by companies. In contrast, the government sets royalty rates for compulsory licenses.
Police have arrested a person on Wednesday in connection with the robbery at Rajender Nagar Metro station in Delhi.

Sources said the man arrested is a former Delhi Metro employee.

Two unidentified men had stabbed a metro staffer at the Rajendra Nagar metro station and stole Rs 12 lakh on Monday.

The process of recovering the money is underway, sources said.

MK Meena, joint commissioner of police of the New Delhi range will address a press conference at 3pm at the boat club regarding solving of the robbery case.

In the wake of the heist, Delhi Metro commuters have been ordered by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to not cover their faces using surgical masks or mufflers or any cloth.

The two men who had attacked and stabbed the metro staffer and looted from the control room were seen wearing masks during their entry and exit at the station in the CCTV survelleince footage.
In one of its most ambitious plans to decongest Delhi, the government has come up with a Rs 20,000-crore proposal to build eight radial roads to redirect traffic leaving the city to free up choked roads, improve air quality and reduce accidents.

The radial roads of Outer Ring Road  some of whose stretches will be elevated  will connect to the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways. These two ring roads coming up around Delhi will provide alternate routes to traffic not bound for the city. The two expressways are under construction and highways minister Nitin Gadkari has set a 400-day deadline to complete it.

Over 88.50 lakh vehicles are registered in Delhi and approximately 2 lakh outbound vehicles pass through the city every day.

The roads will decongest the settlement areas through an elevated corridor or by re-routing the networks by a green-field alignment, said a senior highways ministry official. The idea is that the traffic going out of Delhi should not enter city roads and congest it.

A joint committee comprising officials of the road transport ministry and the Delhi government has been formed to finalise the proposal. We made a presentation before Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday when he came to meet highways minister Nitin Gadkari, and a decision was taken to finalise it at the earliest, said a senior highways ministry official.

The total length of the eight roads will be 301km. Once approved, it will be executed by the NHAI, DDA, Delhi government, Noida and Greater Noida authorities.

However, road ministry officials admit that building elevated roads in Delhi wont be easy.

Cost and land acquisition issues will also have to be resolved before giving a go-ahead to the project as many of them are new alignments. Acquiring land for the project can also be tricky in the Capital, where vacant land is in short supply.

Besides the eight radial roads, the highways ministry has also proposed three new links to NH-8 to further decongest the Delhi-Gurgaon road, Palam area, Aya Nagar, Vasant Kunj and MG Road.

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A former Metro employee sacked from his job after a tiff with his senior was arrested on Wednesday with his friend in connection with the Rs 12 lakh robbery and stabbing at the Rajendra Place station two days ago.

Pawan Kumar, a token counter operator at the same station till December 2015, had a fight with station controller Kunal Kishore over changing his duty shift and wanted revenge.

Kumar and his friend Sonu Kumar allegedly stabbed Kishore and snatched Rs 12 lakh collected from token sales on Monday morning.

The two were tracked down with the help of their Metro cards. They had first used the cards three days before the crime at Kaushambi and Karol Bagh. Footage from the stations helped identify them, said police.

The police recovered Rs 10.55 lakh cash, a mobile bought with part of the robbed money and the knife they used to stab the station controller.

Police said Kumar had hidden the knife inside his socks knowing well that the CISF staff generally searched only the upper portion of passengers. The CISF will have to explain why the knife went undetected.

Kumar, after losing his job, opened a mobile phone shop in Vijay Nagar in Ghaziabad where he lived on rent.

Revenge was always in his mind but he added the robbery bit as he needed money to pay loans his father had taken during his sisters wedding in 2014.

Kumar discussed his plan with Sonu Kumar, an unemployed youth who often visited his shop. Since Sonu needed money, he agreed, said Mukesh Kumar Meena, joint CP (New Delhi district, Railways and Metro).

Working at the station since 2013, Kumar knew the layout and was aware of loopholes in the security.

Kumar knew that every Monday the station controller had a huge amount of cash collected from token sales, investigators said.

He knew the money is kept in a safe at the controllers office where there is no CCTV camera and that the controller sleeps in the morning, said an officer.

On Monday, Kumar and Sonu arrived in an auto from Anand Vihar. CCTV footage showed them wearing surgical masks and entering the station at 5.15am, 45 minutes before services on the Dwarka-Noida route began.

They went through the security, entered the paid area and headed towards platform number 2.

A police officer said they knocked on the door of the controller, saying they wanted to lodge a complaint. Suddenly, they barged in, stabbed him with a kitchen knife and fled with Rs 12 lakh, he added.

The duo left Kishore bleeding on the floor. The men jumped the barrier at the exit gate, police said.

The CISF men ran after them but they escaped. They did not check if anything was wrong on the platforms, police said.

The crime came to light around 6am when Kishores colleague came to replace him.
Delhi University is likely to conduct entrance tests for postgraduate courses at five centres outside the national capital. The move, a first, is aimed at helping outstation applicants who may find it difficult to come to Delhi and write the tests .

Sources said that the all-India entrance tests will be conducted in Kolkata, Chennai, Jammu, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Varanasi. The admission process for the 2016-17 academic session is likely to begin by April 25.

Entrance exams for around 66 postgraduate courses will be conducted at five regional centres and Delhi. Every year we get numerous applications from students belonging to various parts of the country, sources in the admission committee told HT.

An 18-member admission committee that frames rules for postgraduate admissions has recommended that the admission process, including submission of admission fees, be done online. The recommendations will be sent to the vice-chancellor for approval.

All students have to apply online. They can get details from DUs official website du.ac.in, officials said.

The entrance test for around 8,000 seats in postgraduate courses is likely to begin from June first week.

The registration fees for general and OBC categories students will be R500 and SC, ST and PwD (persons with disability) categories students will have to pay R250.

The admission to postgraduate courses is granted through entrance exam and interview. However, departments reserve 50 % seats for direct admissions to students who have completed their undergraduate degree from DU.

For MA courses there are 50 % seats for direct admission if the applicant has graduated from DU. Rest of the seats are filled through entrance and interview, officials said.

The online registration for admission to 54,000 seats in undergraduate courses will begin from May 24.

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With no less than four officers being promoted to Director General (DG) rank and another five promoted to Additional DG rank this month, hectic lobbying has begun in Delhi Police for key posts of Director General (Prisons) and joint commissioners (JCPs) of important ranges particularly south-east.

While new police commissioner Alok Verma is keen that TN Mohan, a 1986 batch IPS officer, be appointed as DG (Prisons), two newly-promoted DG-level officers of 1985 batchSS Yadav and Kishan Kumarare also in contention for the job.

Lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung will take the final call. Mohan is returning to Delhi Police after serving as DGP Goa.

Five 1989 batch IPS officers  Sandeep Goel, JCP, Traffic, Sanjay Beniwal, JCP, East, R S Krishnia, JCP, South-East, Mukesh Meena, JCP, New Delhi and Anti-Corruption Bureau Chief and Sunil Kumar Gautam, JCP, Central  have been promoted to special commissioner rank and need to adjusted in the headquarters with new officers to be appointed as JCPs.

It is understood that RP Upadyay, who is returning to Delhi after serving in Chandigarh and Enforcement Directorate, is the favourite for the coveted JCP (South-East) job with the police headquarters wanting to move Robin Hibu, JCP, Training, to a key police range that had presence of northeastern people. The reorganisation is also being done taking into account the minority as well as SC/ST population areas in mind.

Given that key senior police posts are limited, there is lot of lobbying going on within the Delhi Police with a considerable degree of heartburn among senior officers.

Already Dharmendra Kumar, a key contender of Police Commissioners job, was pushed to CISF as Additional DG, and Deepak Mishra, who served as Special Commissioner (Law and Order) for more than three years, has sought deputation to Central government.
The Delhi government on Tuesday, three days before launching the second phase of its odd-even initiative, launched an upgraded version of its carpooling mobile application PoochhO.

The upgraded version of the PoochhO app will allow even people who do not own a car to avail of carpooling facilities and has more security features, officials said.

The Delhi government has launched PoochhO ahead of odd-even part-1 in January. More than 7,000 people have since registered themselves on the application, which can be downloaded for free from the Google Play store.

The new version has three new features. The facility now can be availed even by people who do not own a car. The distance has been increased from two to five kilometres. Keeping security in mind, especially of women, users can now use a chat feature to communicate with others without sharing personal details like mobile numbers, transport minister Gopal Rai told said.

The application will throw up odd or even numbered cars depending on the registration number of a car user registered. If an individual registers his even number car, the application would throw up options of odd number cars on odd days and vice versa, an official said.

Rai appealed to residents to enroll themselves and make the drive a success again. The SDMs will approach RWAs and motivate members to register. We will approach school management to do the same, Rai said.

45,000 people have downloaded the application so dar. Besides car pooling, the application can be used to hire autorickshaws.

The transport minister said about 40,000 verified mobile numbers of auto drivers had been updated on the application. A commuter can book a GPS-enabled auto-rickshaws by logging in.
The second phase of the odd-even car rationing scheme begins on Friday and people across the city are chalking out plans to travel to office, drop their children to school and go out without violating the rule.

Under the odd-even scheme, cars with registration numbers ending in odd digits will be allowed on odd dates and those ending in even digits will ply on even dates between April 15 and 30, except on Sundays.

Delhiites are looking at cabs, autos, bikes and neighbours to make sure they are where they are supposed to be on time without flouting any rules.

Cab sharing

Cab aggregators Uber and Ola are betting big on ride-share. Both cab companies had offered cab sharing in December before the first phase of odd-even and have witnessed a good growth in the segment. People continued to use cab-sharing even after the restriction was lifted.

By the end of the year, car-pooling is expected to be 25-30% of all taxi rides in the country, and the odd-even ban, experts said, will play a huge role in the adoption of shared-rides.

About 20% of cab users have used shared-rides in NCR. It worked both in terms of convenience and pricing, said Aloke Bajpai, founder and CEO of Ixixgo, which aggregates inventory from Ola, Uber and local cab owners.

Apart from Ola and Uber, services such as Orahi, 360Ride (where women are paired with women for safety) and Blablacar are betting on the odd-even ban.

Tanvir Khan (37) of Okhla, had registered with the Poochh-O app during the first odd-even restriction.

I am registered with the app but did not get any calls from fellow commuters then. Now, suddenly a lot of people want to share a ride with me, Khan said.

Autos and bikes

It is not only cabs and cars that people are open to sharing. Joining the bandwagon, auto-rickshaw and bike sharing apps are also coming up.

Auto and two-wheeler sharing service iUNIR is expected to soft-launch on Thursday. Apart from the mobile application, the service can also be availed through social networking websites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Users will be allowed to choose their fellow passengers.

Jugnoo, the auto rickshaw aggregating app which has more than 5,000 autos in NCR is also launching a pilot project to start shared auto rides to compete with cab sharing.

Read: Need more than a year to boost public transport in Delhi, says Kejriwal

Office goers

In the first phase of the restriction, a group of government employees in Dwarka hired a mini-bus to ferry them to and from work. The group later decided to continue the service even after the restriction was over.

Firms such as Maruti, DLF Limited, Convergys and Hero in Gurgaon, which have hundreds of employees travelling from different parts of Delhi-NCR, are helping employees create a data base and connect people living in the same area. They have continued with policies adopted in the first phase. Maruti has also allowed flexible work hours for its employees.

Hospitals are still using shifts to encourage employees to carpool.

Medantas intranet hosts software that uses location of the employees homes and car numbers to match people up for carpooling during the odd-even fortnight.

Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals has taken a similar initiative.

Resident Welfare Associations

Transport minister Gopal Rai asked all SDMs to get in touch with Resident Welfare Associations so that there can be mobilization and motivation to car pool.

It is one way in which these associations can contribute to odd-even. SDMs should contact RWAs and motivate them to share rides with neighbours, said Rai.

RWAs feel that the government can do more to make things easier for residents.

We want better public transport, improved last-mile connectivity and putting an end to surge pricing in cabs. Places like Bangalore have managed to stop surge pricing and Delhi should do the same, said Rajeev Kakaria, member, Greater Kailash I RWA.

Read: Fewer vehicles on Delhi roads during first run
The BJP may find it difficult to publicly acknowledge that Dalit scholar Rohit Vemulas suicide inside the Hyderabad Central Universitys (HCUs) campus and the protests that followed at HCU and other campuses damaged the partys image considerably, but it did.

The party is now doing its best to undo the damage, at least, to some extent. In April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address two rallies on BR Ambedkar, whose 125th birth anniversary is today, and highlight issues related to villages and farmers.

Read | A friend remembers: Rohith Vemula lived and died for a cause

The BJP will also involve the national icons views on nationalism during the partys three-day programme to observe the anniversary. It has also nudged the United Nations to observe the anniversary for the first time with a focus on combating inequalities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Read | From Mahad to Mumbai to Hyderabad, the story of Indias caste blues

Other parties are not behind in the race to woo Dalit voters, especially in the poll-bound states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. On Wednesday, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was in Barmer, Rajasthan, to meet the family of a 17-year-old Dalit girl who was raped and killed allegedly by her teacher. AAP, too, is planning to celebrate Ambedkars policies and showcase his work today in Delhi.

This celebration-for-votes is a sad commentary on how India treats a large section of its population. Take, for example, the crime statistics against scheduled castes (SCs). The National Crime Records Bureau 2014 data shows that 128 crimes were committed against SCs per day; 194 SC women were assaulted every month; and there was a 19% rise in crimes against SCs over 2013.

The Constitution makes strong commitments to overcome the entrenched socio-economic exploitation of SCs and to provide social justice. Special provisions were made to address discrimination and to improve the socio-economic status of the community. In order to further address these issues, Parliament legislated to create a National Commission on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in 1990 through the 65th constitutional amendment. Consequent to this, several state legislatures have also enacted conformity legislation to create State SC Commissions.

Read | Making Statutory Institutions Vibrant, Responsive and Accountable

And yet, these panels hardly function. A report  Making Statutory Institutions Vibrant, Responsive And Accountable  says most of these panels hardly work. Even awareness about the existence of the SC Commission is rather low among the members of the SC community. In Bihar, less than half (48%) the respondents knew of its existence. Similarly, in MP, only 55% of the respondents were aware of the existence of the commission and the overall picture in UP is only 29%.
The first trailer of Doctor Strange has dropped and it is mind-bendingly good. It can also be described as Doctor Strange Begins and enters The Inception territory. It probably went via The Matrix. And that is all a compliment.

Marvel Cinematic Universe has entered yet another phase (they call it phase 3) in its plans of world domination with this dimension-bending film starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr Stephen Strange aka Sorcerer Supreme.

But before we go ahead, watch the trailer here first...

There are enough spectacular visuals in this trailer which will keep you engrossed for its 1.56-minute length  cities will fold themselves and dimensions will twist and turn, a lot like the trailer of Christopher Nolans Inception. Take a look for yourself...

This is Doctor Strange

And this is Inception

Rather than forced, the similarities actually work for the film. In the months leading to Doctor Stranges release, we are sure to find out why there is so much resemblance to Christopher Nolans works. Talking of Nolan, we also get a lot of Batman Begins vibes.

This scene, for instance, is all Batman Begins

Heres taking a stab at the story: The film introduces Marvels latest superhero, Strange, who is a superb surgeon. After he is crippled in an accident, he enters the realm of supernatural and magic to become more than a man. Directed by Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose), Doctor Strange stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo, Mads Mikkelsen as an evil sorcerer, Rachel McAdams as a doctor who has history with Strange and, the piece de resistance, Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One.

Twitter is busy discussing Cumberbatchs American accent in the film. While the jury is still out on whether it will work, I see it as a break from Sherlocks British one, the actors most iconic role till date.

As this is the first trailer, it is more of a tease into what made Strange into a sorcerer and the people who took him on this journey of self realisation. We are left wondering if this slight peek can be so trippy, what sorcery would be the film itself!
The academic world has always taken great interest in Indian mathematical genius Srinavasa Ramanujans path-breaking works, but the Hollywood film The Man Who Knew Infinity, starring Dev Patel, has brought more public focus on the scientist, says noted mathematician and Ramanujan expert K. Alladi.

Indian-origin mathematician Krishnaswami Alladi of the University of Florida, also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Ramanujan Journal says the 19th century scientists legacy (a college drop-out who revolutionised the field of mathematics in his short life of 32 years) should inspire youngsters to pursue a subject out of pure passion and not fashion.

Read the The Man Who Knew Infinity review here

There has always been great interest in Ramanujans work in the academic world, especially the world of mathematics. Robert Kanigels book did a lot to attract the attention of the general public worldwide to the fascinating life and work of Ramanujan. Now with the movie, there is even greater attention on Ramanujan worldwide among the general public, Alladi told IANS in an email interaction.

The film is based on the book The Man who Knew Infinity: A life of the genius Ramanujan written by Robert Kanigel.

Watch the trailer here

Born on December 22, 1887, Ramanujan belonged to an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family in the town of Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu.

In the film set in 1913, actor Dev Patel plays Ramanujan, a 25-year-old shipping clerk and self-taught genius, who failed out of college due to his near-obsessive, solitary study of mathematics.

Read: Ramanujan, a man who was more than the sum of his parts

Determined to pursue his passion despite rejection and derision from his peers, Ramanujan writes a letter to G. H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons), an eminent British mathematics professor at Trinity College, Cambridge. Hardy recognises the originality and brilliance of Ramanujans raw talent and despite the skepticism of his colleagues, undertakes bringing him to Cambridge so that his theories can be explored, according to the movies website.

It also tackles Ramanujans dilemmas, as a young vegetarian Iyengar boy, in England during the days of the British Raj and racism with World War 1 in the backdrop.

Alladi rues the discrimination bit, in general, has been carried a bit too far.

Jeremy Irons and Dev Patel in a still from The Man Who Knew Infinity.

There is discrimination everywhere in the world in one form or the other. We should accept the fact that the British did recognise Ramanujan by electing him Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1918 (despite opposition) even though he did not have a college degree, he asserted.

Ramanujan returned to India in 1919, a very sick man and died in April 1920 in Chennai (then Madras).

The Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy (SASTRA University) purchased his home in Kumbakonam and is maintaining it as a museum. Apart from December 22 which is observed as National Mathematics Day, there are innumerable conferences, books and films (the 2014 Tamil film Ramanujan) that serve as constant reminders of his contributions which also impacted physics and computer science.

Read: Ramanujan is the Jackson Pollock of mathematics, says Dev Patel

Alladi believes the younger generation in India know about Ramanujan: His life, not so much about his mathematics (number theory etc.) except for a few sensational stories like 1729 (the famed taxicab number).

Ramanujan (L) and Dev Patel playing him in the movie (R).

His life and work should inspire youth today to pursue a subject passionately, for the love of it (be it science, poetry, or painting). One should not take up a field because it is fashionable or lucrative. If you pursue a subject in which you are passionately interested, then you will succeed and make a fundamental contribution, Alladi signed-off.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Police teargas shells killed a young man in north Kashmir on Wednesday, the fourth civilian death in clashes with security forces in two days, as violent protests threatened to spread across the Valley.

Authorities clamped a curfew in parts of Srinagar and Handwara but struggled to contain protests in Kupwara as thousands turned up at the funeral of three civilians who died in Tuesdays police firing Mohammad Iqbal, 22, Nayeem Qadir, 21, and Raja Begum, 70.

The violence is a big test for newly sworn-in chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who met defence minister Manohar Parrikar to seek a time-bound probe into the civilian deaths and said the shootings will have a negative impact on peace efforts.

Read more | Kashmirs Handwara under curfew after third death in Army firing

I spoke to the defence minister. He assured me a probe will be initiated and the culprits will be punished At the same time the family (of the victims) will be compensated. Such incidents should not happen in the future, Mehbooba said.

The violence began on Tuesday in Handwara  85 kilometres from Srinagar -- when police fired on a mob that had gathered following allegations that an army personnel molested a local girl.

Iqbal, Qadir died immediately, while Raja Begum succumbed to her injuries on Wednesday. A day later, a police shell hit Jehangir Ahmad Wani on the head at Drugmulla in north Kashmir, killing him on the spot.

Authorities have suspended an assistant sub-inspector for negligence of duty and the army regretted the killings but it did little to quell the local upsurge of anger that brought back memories of the 2010 street protests across Kashmir against the government where over 100 people lost their lives.

Read more | J-K CM Mehbooba Mufti meets Parrikar, raises Handwara firing issue

Under attack, the army released a video of the girl where she allegedly denies the molestation charge. Police said they were trying to ascertain who shot the video.

If you focus on the video released by us, it clears that there is no case of molestation. It is a malafide intent by some elements to malign the good image of army, defense spokesperson NN Joshi said.

The violence comes barely a week after a nationalism row at the National Institute of Technology in Srinagar, where non-Kashmiri students clashed with local pupils.

Pressure has mounted on the state government following an outpouring of social media support for the deceased, especially Qadir, who was a budding cricketer who participated in an under-19 national-level camp.

Photos of Nayeem at various cricketing events and with Kashmirs star cricketer Parvez Rasool went viral on social media.

Experts say the violence can widen the rift between the ideologically divergent coalition partners  Peoples Democratic Party and BJP  who rule Kashmir.

Opposition parties have criticised Mehbooba for being away from the state and separatist outfits have called for a shutdown in the Kashmir Valley.

Three people died as a result of firing by security forces & what does the J&K CM do? She continues her self-promoting tour of Delhi. #Handwara .This is the same person who until a year ago would rush anywhere in the valley to shed contrived tears at the slightest provocation former chief minister Omar Abdullah wrote on twitter.

Read more | Handwara firing: NC, Cong, CPI(M) demand action against guilty

(With inputs from agencies)

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Barely three days after the Puttingal temple tragedy, the CPI(M)-led opposition launched a major offensive against the Kerala government  alleging serious lapses and demanding the resignation of state home minister Ramesh Chennithala.

Citing strictures passed by the Kerala high court while hearing a PIL on Tuesday, the party stated that there were attempts on the governments part to silence Kollam district collector M Shainamol when she tried to prevent the temple authorities from holding the fireworks show that fateful night.

The government should take responsibility for the worst-ever tragedy the state has witnessed. There are clear indications that intervention from high-ups, including a minister, neutralised police efforts eventually leading to the disaster, said party state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

The high court had criticised the police force in the region, questioning why culpable homicide cases should not be filed against the errant officers.

Read: Kerala fire: 500g of concrete pellets removed from body of victim

Balakrishnan also accused two Congress candidates from the area of exerting undue pressure on the police to allow the fireworks display  a major attraction of the week-long temple festival  with the intention of garnering votes. The party also played recordings of speeches delivered by certain leaders, where they can be heard vowing to facilitate the fireworks display against all possible odds.

Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan sought the arrest of local Congress leaders who had allegedly pushed for the district collectors order to be ignored. The court has made it clear that the government machinery failed miserably in reining in those adamant on the fireworks display. The home minister has lost the moral responsibility to continue in power, he said.

However, chief minister Oommen Chandy decried the oppositions attempts to politicise a major tragedy.

Read: Man who organised Kerala temple fireworks show is dead

When the Left was in power, 110 people lost their lives in the Sabarimala stampede and many others died in the Thekkady boat tragedy. We never sought the resignation of any minister then, Chandy said.

The Congress-led UDF is now planning to approach the Election Commission over some posters linking its leaders with the tragedy.

However, Prime Minister Narendra Modis act of rushing to the spot with a team of specialists from Delhi had taken both the ruling party and the main opposition by surprise.

As many as 113 people lost their lives in a fireworks tragedy that occurred at the Puttingal temple in Kollam district on Sunday morning.

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The CBI will send judicial requests or Letters Rogatory (LR) to five countries, including the US and the UK, to seek details on the money trail connected to the alleged diversion of Rs 900 crore loan taken by liquor baron Vijay Mallyas defunct Kingfisher Airlines (KA) from the IDBI bank.

The Central Bureau of Investigations decision to send requests to five countries for specific overseas transaction-related details was made after it received a body of good details from union finance ministrys Financial Intelligence Unit, a CBI source said.

The LRs are in the advanced process of being sent to countries including the US, the UK, France, Hong Kong and Switzerland, according to the source.

Last July, the CBI registered a case to probe the alleged default by KA, which is defunct since 2012, on a Rs 900 crore loan from the public sector IDBI bank sanctioned in 2009. The CBI had named Mallya, then KA CFO A Raghunathan and other unknown bank officials, apart from KA, in its First Information Report (FIR).

Read | From junking passport to seizing assets, ED mulls move against Mallya

The agency suspects that a major chunk of the loan was remitted abroad towards lease rentals and purchase of aircraft parts, via a private bank. A part of the loan was also deposited in the firms London bank account.

Since these remittances have gone outside the country, further inquiry can only be made by sending Letters Rogatory (LR) for foreign investigation by taking up a regular case, CBI inspector Varsha Verma had said in her recommendation after completing the preliminary inquiry into the matter on July 28, 2015.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a money-laundering case against the same set of accused mentioned in the CBI FIR last month. Both the agencies widened their probes last month to examine suspected defaults on additional loans worth Rs 6100 crore from 16 other public sector banks including the SBI.

The agency suspects that there was an alleged diversion of a portion, equivalent to around $200 million, of the total loan sum to overseas countries and tax havens.

Its probe has found that there were over three lakh financial transactions through which a substantial portion of the loans worth Rs 7000 crore were allegedly transmitted abroad. These are a part of a total of five lakh such transactions that are linked to the total loan sum under the CBI scanner.

The three lakh transactions are roughly 60% of the total five lakh transactions, figures that are likely to go up as the probe progresses.

Read | Vijay Mallya says he paid only US $100 to acquire Caribbean franchise
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday.

Met the former President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, Modi tweeted along with a photograph of shaking hands with the former French President.

Earlier, he met external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj during which they discussed challenge of combating terrorism and reform of UN Security Council.

He conveyed to Swaraj that not making India a permanent member of the UN Security Council would be an error. Always time for an old friend of India. EAM receives former French Prez @NicolasSarkozy at Hyderabad House, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Met the former President of France, Mr. @NicolasSarkozy. pic.twitter.com/FvQ4zk2c9M  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 13 April 2016

Sarkozy was President of France from 2007 to 2012 during which ties between the two countries witnessed an upswing.
The family of Dalit PhD student Rohith Vemula who committed suicide over alleged caste discrimination has decided to convert to Buddhism on Thursday to break the shackles of the Hindu caste system.

The initiation of Rohiths brother Raja and mother Radhika into Buddhism will be organised in Mumbai by Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of BR Ambedkar, whose 125th birth anniversary is being observed nationwide on Thursday.

I have no ill feeling toward Hindus but my conscience doesnt allow me to continue in this religion. It is because of the Hindu caste system that my brother was harassed, humiliated and forced to take his own life, Raja told HT on Wednesday.

Read: Kejriwal offers Grade-IV job to Vemulas brother who has MSc degree

Read: Rohith Vemula: An unfinished portrait

Millions of Dalits have suffered, just like my brother did, for thousands of years because of the Hindu caste system.

They will follow in the footsteps of Ambedkar, who led millions of his followers into Buddhism in 1951, months before his death.

I was born a Hindu but will not die one, Ambedkar famously said, as he exhorted Dalit communities to choose Buddhism because of what he called its inclusive nature and lack of discriminatory structures.

Raja told HT that Rohiths last rites were conducted as per Buddhist traditions. Although he did not formally convert, my brother was a Buddhist at heart, Raja said.

The family learnt about Rohiths inclination toward Buddhism in November last year when he visited Guntur to attend a friends wedding.

He came dressed in white robes. When my mother asked him why he was dressed like that he said that this is how Buddhists dressed. He spoke to her for a long time about the religion, Raja said.

He kept repeating this is the only religion where everybody is treated equal. He also said conversion to Buddhism was the way out of the caste system as shown by Babasaheb Ambedkar.

Students protest over Rohith Vemula's suicide in New Delhi. (Virendra Singh Gosain/HT Photo)

Read: A lesson in Rohith Vemulas death: India is shackled to caste

Radhika Vemula, Rohiths mother who has been at the forefront of protests against the government, said she decided to convert to set an example for Dalit people.

When Rohith was alive, I didnt take his talk about Buddhism very seriously. But now I understand the importance of what he was trying to say. He was more enlightened than all of us. We have decided to convert not just to honor his memory but also to set an example for Dalits across the country, she said.

Rohiths suicide last January at the University of Hyderabad ignited a wave of protests in campuses across the country against decades of caste discrimination against lower-caste students.

Rohith and four fellow Dalit students were suspended from the hostel and subjected to social exclusion following a complaint by an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad member.

Read: Depression or oppression: What led to Rohith Vemulas suicide?
A girl whose alleged molestation in a north Kashmir town triggered a protest that killed at least four people has purportedly said she was not abused by a soldier.

Rock-throwing protesters demanded the arrest of the soldier and tried to torch an army bunker on Tuesday as forces fired in retaliation, police said. The army has ordered a probe into the incident in Handwara, 85km from capital Srinagar.

A video authenticated by an army spokesperson shows the girl in school uniform saying there was no molestation attempt.

In the video, the girl says she went to a toilet near an army bunker. When she came out, a man slapped her and tried to drag her to a police station.

Video: Girl speaks on Handwara incident

<span itemprop="name" content="Watch | Army releases video of girl alleging harassment by local, not soldier"></span><span itemprop="description" content="The Army has released a video of the Kashmiri girl in which she denies harassment by any soldier. The girl instead blamed a &#x27;boy in uniform&#x27; for troubling her. The army does not know who filmed the video. Yesterday, the army fired shots to dispel a mob protesting the girl&#x27;s harassment, allegedly by army personnel. Two youths died in army firing, and a third person, a 50-year-old woman, later succumbed to a bullet wound. The fourth person is the latest to be killed after being hit by a teargas shell that were fired by police and paramilitary forces on Wednesday."></span><span itemprop="duration" content="74"></span><span itemprop="thumbnail" content="http://cfvod.kaltura.com/p/1679921/sp/167992100/thumbnail/entry_id/0_v5yu4ut8/version/100011/acv/181"></span><span itemprop="width" content="640"></span><span itemprop="height" content="362"></span>

Read: Army firing in Kashmir: One more youth dies as clashes break out

Speaking in Kashmiri, she blames some youngsters for sparking trouble. The girl says she knew one of the protesters, and accuses him of instigating the mob.

I was shocked. Within seconds, lots of people gathered there. They told me that they will take me to the police station, the girl says in the video.

The army said they did not shoot the video, even as police said they were trying to find out the source.

The army has verified the authenticity of the video and identity of the girl, an army statement said.

Defence spokesperson NN Joshi told reporters: If you focus on the video released by us, it clears that there is no case of molestation. It is a malafide intent by some elements to malign the good image of army.

While three people were killed in Tuesdays firing, another person died on Wednesday. Fresh clashes were reported between residents and the army as the area remained tense.

Chief minister Mehoboba Mufti, who is facing criticism, met defence minister Manohar Parrikar in Delhi and sought a time-bound probe.

Read: J-K CM Mehbooba Mufti meets Parrikar, raises Handwara firing issue
The Islamic State intends to use its fighters in Pakistan and Bangladesh to mount guerrilla attacks inside India and create fear and chaos by working with local mujahideen, the head of the terror group in Bangladesh has said.

Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif, the amir of IS fighters in Bangladesh, made the remarks in a lengthy interview to the groups online magazine Dabiq that was released on Wednesday.

Bangladesh, referred to by the IS as Bengal, is an important region for the ISs so-called caliphate and the global jihad due to its strategic geographic position, al-Hanif said.

Bengal is located on the eastern side of India, whereas Wilayat Khurasan is located on its western side. Thus, having a strong jihad base in Bengal will facilitate performing guerrilla attacks inside India simultaneously from both sides and facilitate creating a condition of tawahhush (fear and chaos) in India along with the help of the existing local mujahidin there..., he said.

This would allow IS fighters to enter with a conventional army and completely liberate the region from the mushrikin (disbelievers), after first getting rid of the Pakistani and Afghani regimes, he added.

The IS had announced its expansion into Khurasan, the historic name for the area encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India, in January last year.

Read: IS announces expansion into AfPak, parts of India

Al-Hanif said IS fighters in Bangladesh are able to connect and cooperate with the mujahidin in the various wilayat (branches) of the Khilafah (caliphate), including the brothers in Wilayat Khurasan.

The cover story of the 14th issue of the propaganda magazine focussed on Egypts Muslim Brotherhood and there was an article on the four IS fighters who carried out the Brussels attacks. A significant portion is dedicated to the groups operations in Bangladesh.

Besides claiming several attacks in Bangladesh, including the killing of a Hindu priest and a Hindu businessman, the magazine contains an article on a Bangladeshi jihadi named Abu Jandal al-Bangali, who died fighting at Ayn Issa in Syria.

Al-Hanif described the jihad in Bangladesh as a stepping-stone for jihad in Burma or Myanmar.

He claimed the Hindus of Bangladesh and India have always been waging war against Islam and the Muslims. The only difference is that the Hindus in India show their animosity towards Islam and the Muslims openly whereas the Hindus in Bengal do it in a more deceptive and covert manner due to them being a minority sect here.

Read: Kashmir militants have pledged allegiance to us, says Islamic State

He further claimed that many high-ranking positions within the police and intelligence agencies in Bangladesh are occupied by the Hindus and the secular government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sees these filthy pagans as die-hard party loyalists.

Al-Hanif said the Hindus of Bangladesh had backed Indias RAW intelligence agency against Muslims since the days of the so-called Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

Thus, we believe Shariah in Bengal wont be achieved until the local Hindus are targeted in mass numbers and until a state of polarisation is created in the region, dividing between the believers and the disbelievers..., he added.

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A 50-year-old woman wounded in army firing in north Kashmirs Kupwara district on Tuesday succumbed to her injuries at a hospital on Wednesday, taking the total death toll to three.

Raja Begum, a resident of Langate in Kupwara, was hit by a bullet in her head.

A police official quoting locals said that Begum was hit when she was working in the fields near her home. The area is some 2-3 km away from the place army opened fire on protesters, said the official.

Two youth were killed when the army opened fire during a protest against alleged molestation of a girl by an army man in the districts Handwara town.

Army has regretted the killings and ordered a probe into the incident.

The body of one of the youth, Nayeem Ahmad, is still lying in police control room in Handwara, with the locals demanding that the guilty be punished.

Meanwhile, the hardliner Hurriyat Conference has given a call for a shutdown on Wednesday in the Kashmir Valley.

Authorities clamped a curfew in Handwara and imposed restrictions in six police station areas of capital Srinagar following the shut down call.
Sedition-charged student leader Kanhaiya Kumar will address a public meeting at Nagpur on Thursday, potentially bringing him in direct confrontation with right-wing organisations in the Maharashtra city which houses the RSS headquarters.

Several organisations led by the Bajrang Dal on Wednesday vowed to foil the meeting by Kumar whom they accuse of spreading anti-national sentiments.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students union leader will address the meeting to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar, a Dalit icon whom Kumar considers his role-model.

Read: Kanhaiya Kumar rocks JNU with rousing azadi speech after release

It will be Kumars first visit to the city after he was charged with sedition over a JNU event in February where anti-national slogans were allegedly shouted by a section of students. The incident had sparked a nationwide debate on nationalism and led to a face-off between student groups and the BJP-led government at the Centre.

Sources said that though the meeting, organised by the Progressive Students Youth Action Committee, was finalised long time ago, Sangh Parivar groups have become very active for the last two days.

Bajrang Dals city chief Rajkumar Gupta termed Kanhaiya a traitor and said his group will not allow the meeting.

The leader of Yuva Sanghatan Parshu Thakur also demanded cancellation of the meeting, saying it will lead to chaos. He said they will oppose the meeting in a democratic manner.

Some womens organisations too opposed the meeting, alleging that whatever Kanhaiya has done has only spread crime and an atmosphere of chaos in society.

The organisers, however, defended the meeting and said Kanhaiya has full faith in the Indian Constitution.

Salil Deshmukh of Nationalist Youth Congress, said the BJP and RSS have tutored a few people to oppose Kanhaiya.

He also threatened to foil any attempt by the Bajrang Dal to stall the meeting.

Read: Kanhaiya Kumars message was in the delivery
In a first in the country, the Maharashtra assembly on Wednesday passed the Prohibition of Social Boycott Bill, which aims at eradication of social boycott by extra-judicial bodies such as caste panchayats and communities. The bill has a provision for punishment of up to three years and fine of up to Rs 1 lakh.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the bill was brought as the existing laws were inadequate to curb instances of social boycott. The CM said in addition to the bill, the existing laws such as the Indian Penal Code, laws related to protection of the human rights will be applied in case of violations.

Unprecedented & Historic !

'Prevention of Social Boycott Bill' bill unanimously passed in both the houses of the State.  Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) April 13, 2016

The bill provides for compensation to the victim, which can, in some cases, be recovered from the accused. It has provisions to prevent certain acts that may lead to boycott and withdrawal of cases with the consent of the victim and permission from the court. In case of a withdrawal, the accused will have to perform community services, according to the directives of the court.
Despite repeated defeats in Supreme Court over last decade, the state government is determined to keep the shutters of the dace bar down. The reason : The Bhartiya Janata Party-led state government does not want to be blamed for the reopening of the bars which were shut in Congress and Nationalist Congress Party regime for ten years.

The Supreme Court in 2013 upheld the Bombay High Court order of quashing the state government decision of banning the dance bars in Maharashtra. A year after the ban imposed by the government by amending Maharashtra Police Act to ban the bars, Bombay High Court quashed the ban saying it was against the provisions of the

Constitution. Though the ban was quashed immediately after it was imposed, erstwhile Congress-NCP government could buy the time for eight years, till it was finally struck down in the Supreme Court.

Former home minister and NCP leader late RR Patil was largely credited for the ban on the bars and decision was reportedly well received by the people of the state. The decision of banning the bars was then supported by the legislators from all the parties including the incumbent ministers who were then in opposition- in 2005, as most of

them were convinced about the ill effects of the bars and that the young generation was at the receiving end due to the menace.

The legislators would cite the examples of exploitation of the women, their indulgence in immoral activities, meeting points for criminals in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, where most of these bars were operational. Most of the bars were in the suburbs of the Navi Mumbai and the elected representatives from the area would claim how local youth were spoilt due to the illegal operations of the bars. The youth were from the Agari community families that had got lakhs of rupees towards the compensation for their land when CIDCO developed the region.

On this backdrop RR Patil received support from across the state and to his credit, the government could retain the doors shut for the bars till end of the Congress-NCP tenure in 2014. The Maharashtra Police Act was amended for the second time, by amending section 33(A)(1), to which the SC had termed claiming it to be against the fundamental rights of the girls working in them discriminatory.

The SC struck the amendment down, in October 2015 and then in March 2016 and directed the government to allow the bars to reopen by containing obscenity.

If the new BJP government failed to keep the bars shut, it would send a wrong message among the people and give the opposition an opportunity to criticize that the new government was responsible for the reopening of the bars. Many provisions in new bill, too, are unlikely to stand on legal grounds and are likely to be challenged in the SC, said an official from the home department.

The officer said that the legal experts and officials from the law and judiciary department while advising on the new bill have warned that the government should be ready to fight the legal battle ahead. Even the then advocate genera Darius Khambata had advised for the new regulatory bill instead of going for the second amendement after SC

quahed the decision in 2013. Khambata had clearly told the government that the amendment was not tenable. The draft prepared by Khambata has now been incorporate in the new bill, he said.

According to a senior BJP minister, the new bill is vulnerable on the legal ground, but the government was ready to fight it in the court. Even if it is struck down, we will get time to keep the shutters down of bars, he said.

Similarly, the community involved in the bar and permit room business has never been the supporter of the ruling party and hence it is unlikely that the they will get any political patronage.

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Major Amit Deswal of 21 Para was on Wednesday killed in an encounter with ZUF militants in Manipurs Tamenglong district.

Army officials said one militant was also killed in the encounter which occurred during a combing operation undertaken by Rashtriya Rifles and Special Forces personnel.

While the militant was killed in an earlier encounter, the Major, hailing from Jhajjar district in Haryana, lost his life during an exchange later in the same area.

He succumbed after being evacuated from the encounter site.

The combing operations are continuing, army officials said.
Chanting slogans of Bharat Mata Ki Jai, outstation students of NIT Srinagar, with Jammu varsity students, staged a protest march in the city and demanded shifting of the institute.

Over 300 NIT students carrying banners and placards marched towards the Press Club of Jammu while chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai .

They reached the Jammu last night and stayed at the Khalsa College ground in Jammu.

They demanded shifting of NIT college from Srinagar, withdrawal of all cases against non Kashmiri students of NIT and security for them.

The protesters shouted slogans Bharat Mata Ki Jai, NIT shift karo and led a protest march.

We were kept hostage in NIT by the authorities and police, and not allowed to move out...we managed to escape and reached here, a protesting student said.

Students of Jammu University also held protests in support of the NIT students and blocked roads in Jammu.

Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) too held protest demonstration in support of NIT students.

In Katra, students marched in the town in support of the NIT students demanding withdrawal of cases and security to the students and punishment for cops involved in the lathicharge.

Tension gripped the NIT campus after India lost to West Indies in World T20 semifinal, prompting local students to rejoice and burst crackers.

This led to protests by outstation students, resulting in clashes. The campus has been volatile since the incident.
After Maharashtra, Karnataka and Bihar, the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is now trying to make its presence felt in the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly elections.

Political analysts say IMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi is keen on expanding the partys base across the country, in keeping with his plan to eventually ensure that it receives national status.

Though the party had initially planned to contest from six seats, it finally zeroed in on Vaniyambadi in Vellore district and Krishnagiri in Krishnagiri district after conducting a thorough assessment of its strengths and weaknesses. Both the constituencies have a sizeable Urdu-speaking Tamil Muslim population.

After the Bihar polls, Owaisi decided to expand his party's base outside Hyderabad in a strategic manner. His next target is Uttar Pradesh, which goes to the polls next year.

Read: I am a loyal Indian, dont need certificate from anyone: Owaisi

In Tamil Nadu, Muslims constitute about 6% of the total voter population. Several parties  including the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (floated by the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam in 2009), the Indian Thowheed Jamath, the Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath, the Indian Union Muslim League and the Indian National League  are already vying with each other to win the communitys support.

It remains to be seen if the AIMIM, which is now fighting the elections under the Muslim-Dalit unity slogan, will eat into the votes of other Muslim parties or come a cropper  as was the case in last years Bihar polls.

Considered a Hyderabad-based party in the past, the AIMIM has been open about its expansion plans. After his party won two seats in the 2014 Maharashtra assembly elections, Owaisi tried his luck in the Bihar polls. However, his party was rejected by voters in favour of the Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance in the state.

The AIMIM failed to register a win even in the Bengaluru civic polls. Owaisi, however, insists that his main target is the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections  in which the AIMIM will field candidates in seats dominated by Muslims and Dalits.

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Pakistan today informed India that Indian inmate Kirpal Singh died of a heart attack at a jail in Lahore two days back after the issue of his mysterious death was taken up with the Pakistani authorities even as the government said it was awaiting further details in the case.

Indias Acting high commissioner JP Singh met director general (South Asia) in Pakistan foreign ministry in Islamabad following a directive from the Indian government in connection with death of Kirpal Singh, who was languishing for nearly 25 years in jail in connection with a serial blasts case there.

According to government of Pakistan, Kirpal Singh died on April 11 at 1455 hours due to heart attack. We await further details, Spokesperson in the external affairs ministry Vikas Swarup said.

He said Indias acting high commissioner has also requested the Pakistan Foreign Ministry official for earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains of Kirpal Singh.

50-year-old Kirpal was languishing in a Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges. He had allegedly crossed over to Pakistan through Wagah border in 1992 and was arrested.

He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistans Punjab province.

Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of charges related to bomb blasts by the Lahore high court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons.

Jagir Kaur, Kirpals sister, earlier said the family could not raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case.

The government asked Indias acting envoy to seek a meeting with the Pakistan Foreign Office in connection with Kirpals death under mysterious circumstances and seek early transfer of the mortal remains.

On Kirpal Singh, our acting high commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in Pakistan Foreign Office this forenoon to seek early transportation of Singhs mortal remains, Swarup said earlier.

Also read: Pak killed another Sarabjit: Sisters cry at Wagah Border
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the PMs ambitious programme to clean India, is floundering in urban areas.

Eighteen months after Modi launched the nationwide drive that will end on October 2, 2019, states have used barely a third of the central allocation.

The ministrys timeline required states to draw 40% of Rs 14,623 crore  the Centres share over a five-year-period  by March 31. But so far, it has received request to release only Rs 2,109 crore  less than half the targeted amount. Against this bleak demand, by March 31, Centre released a mere 12% of its share.

States, however, say the funds did not match the hype around the campaign.

Centres contribution towards the urban leg is 25% of Rs 62,000 crore. Of the remaining amount, states have to contribute Rs 4,874 crore and the rest has to be funded through various sources such as private sector participation, beneficiaries share and user fees.

Some states also blamed people for being reluctant to pay for construction of toilets.

The Centres toilet design costs between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000. An official in the UP urban development department said, The Centre pays Rs 4,000 only for each toilet. The states minimum share is Rs 1,333 per toilet but we increased it to Rs 4000. The house-owner has to pay the rest. The targeted beneficiaries in our state are too poor to contribute.

A Union ministry official rejected this criticism, arguing that states and municipal bodies cannot abdicate their responsibility.Nothing prevents states from spending more... , he said.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday paid tribute to the martyrs who lost their lives in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and said that their sacrifice and courage can never be forgotten.

Saluting all the martyrs who lost their lives in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Their sacrifice & courage can never be forgotten, the Prime Minister tweeted.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, took place on 13 April, 1919 when a crowd of non-violent protesters, along with Baisakhi pilgrims, who had gathered in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar in Punjab, were fired upon by troops of the British Indian Army under the command of colonel Reginald Dyer.

Some historians consider the episode a decisive step towards the end of British rule in India.

Meanwhile, Britains oldest Sikh diaspora organisation, The Indian Workers Association (IWA) has reportedly asked UK Prime Minister David Cameron to repeat in the House of Commons, his description of the massacre as a deeply shameful act in British history, which he made during his visit to Amritsar in February, 2013.

Cameron during his visit, had written in the visitors book saying This was a deeply shameful act in British history, one that Winston Churchill rightly described at that time as monstrous. We must never forget what happened here and we must ensure that the UK stands up for the right of peaceful protests.
Drawing a parallel with the Rohith Vemula case, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday supported the demand for a CBI probe made by the family of a 17-year-old Dalit girl in Rajasthan who was reportedly raped before being found dead, and accused the BJP and its ideological forebear the RSS of discriminating against Dalits.

The Congress vice president, who visited the grieving family of the girl Delta in Tirmohi village in Barmer, said they have lost faith in the state government and police, and want a CBI inquiry. He alleged that just like Vemulas suicide incident, the authorities were trying to suppress this case.

The father of the girl has no faith on the government and the state police and wants a CBI inquiry. He is demanding nothing but justice for his daughter and now it is the responsibility of the chief minister to ensure justice by referring the case to CBI, Gandhi said.

He also attacked the Vasundhara Raje government alleging that the chief minister was showing apathy because the girl was a Dalit.

Both Congress and BJP want schools and education for the people but the difference is that BJP and RSS people want to do discrimination with Dalit but the Congress wants Dalits to sit with all, to run schools, to become principals in schools and even want Dalits to run the country, he said.

Read: Dalit educators death pushes Barmer village back in time

A delegation comprised of both Congress and BJP MLAs met the chief minister Vasundhara Raje to demand justice for the girl. I am told that the CM asked them to not waste her time by talking for the girls case, Gandhi said while addressing a Dalit conference in Jaipur.

Gandhi raked up the issue of alleged suicide by Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad Central University on which he had vociferously attacked the BJP-led government at the Centre.

In Bikaner, the Dalit girl was murdered but the police and government saying it was suicide. In Rohith Vermulas case of Hyderabad, Union Minister Sushma Swaraj said that he was not a Dalit. These cases are being suppressed, he said.

Rohit Vermulas case was that of murder and it was done by the government of India.

In Barmer, I met with the family of the girl who was the daughter of a teacher who wanted her children to be educated and named his daughter as Delta but she was murdered.

He is demanding nothing but justice for his daughter, Gandhi said.

He said the girls father showed him a letter, forwarded by the chief minister, saying that his daughter Deltas painting is at display in her office.

The girl was so bright, intelligent and won prizes and now the chief minister is showing indifferent attitude.

The girl was allegedly found in the room of physical trainer and instructor Vijendra Singh on the night of March 29 by the hostel warden and next morning she was found dead in the water tank.

After her parents lodged an FIR, Singh was arrested on March 31 on charges of rape. Later, the hostel warden and the principal were also arrested under POCSO act for failing to inform the police when they found the girl in the instructors room.

Referring to the postmortem report, Bikaner District Police said she died after drowning in the water tank.

Police have ruled out the possibility of murder in the case.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted Britains Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for lunch, treating the royal couple to some Indian flavours, both in food and music.

The reception, which was held at the stately Hyderabad house on Tuesday noon, was also attended by accomplished personalities from various fields. However, it was the sartorial elegance of the host and the guests that stood out  Prince William in a dark suit and tie, his wife Kate Middleton in a knee-length blue dress, and Modi in a traditional white kurta and a cream jacket.

Read more | In pics: Modi has a royal treat for William and Kate

The lunch was hosted at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Sanjeev Verma/Hindustan Times)

What was more befitting was the musical lunch; strains of the santoor, played by Rahul Sharma, hummed in the air, and appropriately ended with a rendition of Let it Be, the popular number of the British band Beatles.

The music accompanied a four-course Indian fare of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food.

The guest list included actor Anupam Kher, badminton maestro P Gopichand and industrialist Sunil Bharati Mittal. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and minister of state for information and broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore were also present, apart from national security adviser Ajit Doval and foreign secretary S Jaishankar.

Read more | Delhis Royal reception marks Indias enduring friendship with Britain

Read more | Gush fest for British royals shows colonial charm, low self-esteem

The Duke and Duchess are in India on a week-long visit, and began their trip in Mumbai where they met with underprivileged children. Here in Delhi, the couple also visited the shelter of the Salaam Baalak Trust that works with street children in Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday.

Earlier on Sunday, Bollywoods A-listers hosted the couple at a charity gala in Mumbai, and were introduced to the reception by actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

Read more | Stars and the royals: William and Kate get a taste of Bollywood

During their week-long tour, the royal couple will visit the Kaziranga National Park in Assam to see the one-horned rhino, aside from travelling to Bhutan, before returning to India on Saturday to visit the Taj Mahal.

Read more | From monument of love to 26/11 site: Royal couples date with Taj

Read more | In pics: Prince William, Kate celebrate birthday of the boss
Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Dwaraka-Sharda Peeth, on Tuesday blamed honeymooners and picnic-goers for the 2013 Kedarnath flash floods that killed over 5,000 pilgrims.

He warned that the trend of polluting the environment of sacred Hindu places could lead to another disaster. People coming from different parts of the country to holy places of Devbhoomi (Uttarakhand) for enjoyment, picnic and honeymoon led to the Kedarnath disaster. Similar incidents could happen if unholy activities are not stopped, he said.

On Monday, the 94-year-old said that there will be an increase in incidents of rapes and harassment against women after they were allowed to worship in the inner sanctum of the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtras Ahmednagar district.

Meanwhile, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said he disagreed with the seers Shani comments.

Politely disagree with the views expressed by Swami Swaroopananda ji about womens entry in Shani Shingnapur temple will bring ill luck to them and give rise to crimes against them; and attributing drought situation in Maharashtra to Shirdi Saibaba worship, he said on Twitter.

(With inputs from PTI)
Can a womans age determine her right to pray, the Supreme Court asked the Sabarimala temple board on Wednesday, adding that the Hindu religion doesnt discriminate against women.

In Hindu religion, there is no denomination of a Hindu male or female. A Hindu is a Hindu, a special three-judge bench headed by justice Dipak Misra said, stressing on gender equality.

The court is hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the decades-old tradition of keeping women of reproductive age out of the famous the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple. One of the holiest Hindu shrines, the hilltop Kerala temple even allows in non-Hindus.

Women aged between 10 and 50 years are not allowed because the deity is a celibate (Naisthik Brahmachari), the Kerala government and the Travancore Devaswom Board that manages the temple have submitted.

The court wondered if the argument would stand constitutional test. They (temple) have developed a custom and tradition being followed to maintain purity of the temple. But the question is whether physiological phenomenon can be a guiding factor to deny entry to a class of women within the class of females, Justice Misra said.

However, justice Kurien asked if the temple -- as an institution -- was entitled to protect its deity. Are they not entitled to institutional protection? he asked senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for NGO Happy to Bleed.

Late last year, scores of women took to social media joining #happytobleed campaign after the temple head said he would allow women if there was a machine to check if they were menstruating.

The ban violated her clients right to practice religion that included right of entry and worshipping the Lord, Jaising said. How can women become victims when all classes of society were allowed in the temple?

Jaising, however, was forced to take back the submission when she compared women to neo-Harijans of India who were being discriminated against.

Why do you say that? Dont compare... You are Aadi Shakti. Women have created generations. You must say they are equal, the bench said.

Defending the restriction, the state government said not all women were kept away. Lakhs of them below the age of 10 and above 50 visited the temple every year.

On the petitioners contention that women were allowed in other Ayyappa temples, the state government said the deities there were in a different form.

The court also didnt accept immediately the boards request to refer the matter to a five-judge bench. The court will now hear the case on April 18.

The case is being watched closely as the court in earlier hearings has said tradition cant trump constitution and discriminatory customs pose a danger to gender equality.

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Controversial yoga guru Ramdev, who had earlier said in March that he would have beheaded lakhs of people for not chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai, was booked by the Hyderabad police on Wednesday.

A case was registered on a complaint by Mohd Bin Omer, a medical college student and an activist of city-based Darsgah Jihad-O-Shahadat under section 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of the IPC, a senior police officer said.

Read: If not for law, wed have beheaded those not saying Bharat Mata ki Jai

Omer said in the complaint that he had seen a video clip on YouTube where Ramdev threatens members of a particular community, Assistant Commissioner of Police M Srinivasa Rao said.

We are investigating the matter further, Rao told PTI.

Watch | Ramdevs head-chopping remark on Bharat Mata Ki Jai controversy.

Ramdev had recently said he respects the law of the land and the Constitution, otherwise he would have beheaded lakhs of people for refusing to say Bharat Mata Ki Jai.

Read: Azam demands Ramdevs apology for Bharat Mata Ki Jai remarks

Hyderabad-based MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had earlier said he would not say the slogan.
Former advocate general Shreehari Aney raked up another controversy on Wednesday, as he cut his birthday cake, which was in the shape of Maharashtra, into two pieces, carving out the Vidarbha region.

Aney, who turned 66, was presented the cake by his lawyer friends in the Nagpur high court. Various regions such as Vidarbha and Marathwada were shown in different colours. Aney cut it into two, separating the part depicting Vidarbha from the cake. The visual was shown repeatedly on various Marathi news channels.

This led to a sharp reaction from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray. Shreehari Aney will remember all his life how he cut the cake of Maharashtra and divided it into two parts, said Thackeray.

Thackeray has been a proponent of a unified Maharashtra and had, in the past, warned Aney against propagating division of the state. Aney has been an advocate of smaller states. He had recently demanded separate states for Marathwada and Vidarbha. Both the Opposition as well as the Shiv Sena had protested against Aney, after which he resigned from the post of advocate general.

At his recent Gudi Padwa rally, Thackeray said Maharashtra was not a cake which should be cut and distributed. He called it a RSS conspiracy and targeted senior RSS member MG Vaidya, who too advocated carving out smaller states.
The state government on Tuesday told the Bombay high court that the drought in Maharashtra and the acute water shortage arising from it were due to the wrath of the rain gods. Acting advocate general Rohit Deo, appearing on behalf of the government, said that while the state government was not insensitive to the current situation and was trying to transport water by trains and tankers to affected areas, it could only do as much against the vagaries of nature.

Submitting an affidavit on behalf of the state, Deo said the government has come up with a water management policy that includes both short-term and long-term measures. He said the government is already using the railways to transport potable water to Latur district, and that in the coming days, it will also send 50 wagons with 50 lakh litres of water to other parts of the state. The government, he said, will ensure that each household in the drought-affected areas gets 150 litres of water a day.

However, when the court asked whether it had also come up with a plan to address the water problem posed by hosting IPL matches, Deo said water management was the BMCs prerogative entirely and that the state could intervene only in cases of extreme emergency.

He, said, however, that considering the current emergency situation, the government had directed the BMC ascertain the source of the water used at Wankhede Stadium for the opening match of the IPL. Deo said a preliminary inquiry had revealed that only non-potable water had been used.

A bench led by Justice V M Kanade said, The state wants to shift the blame on the BMC and the BMC in turn says it is the states responsibility. The state must get a forensic lab to ascertain whether the water that was used for the first match was potable or not.

Deo said the government had no particular infinity towards the IPL and would ensure that not even a litre of potable water was used for the tournament.

In its affidavit, the government said it was not averse to shifting the IPL matches out of Maharashtra and that it stood unflinching [on this] despite the consequent loss of revenue.

However, the bench took note of the states use of the word despite in its statement, saying that even now the state seemed more concerned about revenue than about its people.

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In what was billed as a test for the Aam Aadmi Partys (AAP) state leaders in the absence of national convener Arvind Kejriwal, the Baisakhi mela rally at Talwandi Sabo on Wednesday underlined that comedian-turned-MP Bhagwant Mann is the partys most popular leader in Punjab by a significant distance. At his witty best, Mann trained his guns squarely at the Badals and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), pitching it as a battle between the ruling elite class and the man on the street.

Arriving three hours after the scheduled start of the rally and speaking right at the end, Mann first deplored the sorry condition of farmers, and quickly moved to youth-centric issues: The government schools in Punjab have been made to fail completely, so much so that now even Punjab School Education Boards Class 12 pass-outs with 90% are rejected for visa to Australia as they are not good enough in English. On drug abuse, he cited how a man in Tarn Taran wrote a memorandum on the coffin of his son who died due to drugs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to get the Punjab government to at least acknowledge that the state has a drug abuse problem.

Though he did not elaborately address the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal and other issues, he took a dig at the Akalis statewide dharnas against Kejriwal over the demolition of a water kiosk outside Gurdwara Sisganj in Delhi: I have been told there are large crowds at these dharnas, like 40, 70, sometimes 100 people! Actually, the SAD is training for dharnas for the next 10-15 years as AAP is going to rule after the 2017 polls.

Sukhbir looks like ragpicker in Holi pic

He asked the crowd if they had seen SAD chief Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badals Holi celebration pictures that went viral on social media. Sukhbir appears without turban in those. Mann said it was unimaginably sad that the Akali Dal president did not have his turban on.

Anyway, in those pictures doesnt he look like some rag-picker on the Bathinda bus stand who does not have his senses about him? he remarked, adding, Sukhbir has no right to play Holi as he has taken the colours out of Punjabis lives, leaving behind only chitta (white, also colloquial reference to heroin). He took another shot when he said the Amritsar mental hospital had also been mortgaged by the SAD-BJP government to pay salaries: Now where will keep the Akalis and Congressmen after they lose their minds upon losing badly in 2017?

Read: Will arrest Badals after becoming CM: Captain

Captains record and rally crowds

Attacking the Congress, he said that its state chief Captain Amarinder Singh never went to the Vidhan Sabha as MLA, nor to Lok Sabha as MP now, just because they did not form the government. They think it will be their turn anyway now; but this is not some paani di wari (assigned farm-irrigation time) They still cannot digest that we are here; that I have won and become MP.

About the size of the Congress rally, he said they had booked 18 acres: One acre fits about 6,000 people, which means they needed a lakh; but barely 7,000-8,000 people are there Its like a little kid wore the pants of his father.

Read: Capt accuses one-time loyalist Pavi of backstabbing party

As for the AAPs own rally, compared to the Kejriwal-led mega-show at the Maghi mela in January, the one here was smaller even in terms of the size of the pandaal (tent)  it used 12 acres given by a supporter, of which half was tented  but it was brimming with people.

Mann also decried Sukhbir for reportedly telling SAD cadres to take a vow from people to attend the rally before paying obeisance at Takht Damdama Sahib, which is the main venue of the mela held to mark establishment of the Khalsa Panth. I told people that they should first pay obeisance and the come to our rally Sukhbir was actually afraid if they would even come to their rally, he said, referring to the Maghi crowds that travelled in other parties buses but walked into the AAP venue.

Among promises he made, chief was to give overtime allowance to police personnel, extracting wide smiles from the cops on duty.

Chhotepur clapped down

In his speech, AAP state convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur said chief Parkash Singh Badal had sold off Punjabs waters, questioning the stands of Congress too on the SYL canal. He termed the Bargari firing that killed two men protesting desecration of the Sikh holy book as mini-Bluestar. He was countering Sukhbirs statement in which he had blamed the AAP for the Sis Ganj gurdwara piao demolition and compared it with Operation Bluestar.

Read: Protests against Kejri sign of Badal govt losing its cool: Chhotepur

Speaking after Bhagwant Mann had already arrived and sat on stage, he listed one issue after another; but crowds wanting Mann to take the mike starting clapping and hooting for him to finish. Chhotepur remarked at least twice that those who do not want to listen to serious issues, and want songs instead, should leave. Eventually, there were loud cheers as he concluded. Sanjay Singh followed Chhotepur  before Mann did eventually get the mike  but Sanjay faced no hooting as he delivered an aggressive speech that clicked with the crowd.

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Newly appointed state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Vijay Sampla said winning the assembly elections was his top priority and claimed that the Akali-BJP combine would make a hat-trick in the 2017 polls.

Sampla, also the Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment who took over the partys state unit reins on Wednesday, paid obeisance at the Golden Temple on the occasion of Baisakhi on Wednesday. He was later presented with a siropa by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) at the information office of the shrine.

Talking to the media, Sampla he said he was here to seek the blessings of the waheguru so he could carry forward the policies of the party. He said the party workers would be involved in the policy making process ahead of the assembly polls and their grievances, if any, would be taken care of.

No differences with Akalis

When his attention was drawn towards the bullying tactics of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the manner in which some senior leaders of the BJP had openly voiced their resentment against the functioning of Akali ministers, Sampla said: Such differences are common between two brothers in a family. We may have differences with the Akalis on some issues, but we have one heart and one mind.

On chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) Navjot Kaur Sidhus assertion that she will not contest the coming assembly polls if the BJP doesnt snap ties with the SAD, Sampla said it was too early to comment. Who will fight elections and who will not is for the party high command to decide, he added.

Complimenting the Parkash Singh Badal government for development in Punjab in the past nine years, Sampla said: The state now has surplus power and road network has grown by leaps and bounds under the SAD-BJP regime.

Lambasting the Congress, he said that not a single unit of power was added during Captain Amarinder Singhs term. The Congress cannot take the credit for even a single bridge, road or highway in the state, he claimed.

Given rousing welcome

On his arrival to the holy city, Sampla was given a rousing welcome by BJP workers led by municipal corporation member Rajesh Honey at New Amritsar. CPS Sidhu had been assigned the task, but she had to leave for Delhi.

Standing atop an open jeep, Sampla rode into the city as BJP workers lined both sides of the road shouting slogans in favour of their new president. Local bodies minister Anil Joshi, Rajya Sabha member Shwait Malik, national BJP secretary Tarun Chugh, state vice-president Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina and a number of other leaders accompanied Sampla to the Golden Temple.

Sampla also paid homage to the martyrs at the historic Jallianwala Bagh. He later visited the Durgiana Temple and the shrine at Ram Tirath.
Taking a dig at his one-time loyalist and Shiromani Akali Dal MLA from Talwandi Sabo Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu Pavi, Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday accused the former of backstabbing him and the party.

The Congress leader said this while addressing a gathering during a political conference on occasion of Baisakhi fair.

Amarinder said even as Pavi was close to him despite being an Akali MLA the latter should not think that he will be spared.

He (Sidhu) has backstabbed me. This amounts to backstabbing the party. Dont expect any leniency from me if you do something wrong, Capt said.

Sidhu, who won as an independent MLA from Talwandi Sabo in 2002 and then joined the Congress after the party formed government in Punjab, was considered very close to Amarinder.

He was elected MLA from the same segment in 2007 and 2012 as a Congress candidate. He joined the SAD in March 2014 ahead of the parliamentary elections and was elected MLA on SAD ticket in the August 2014 bypoll.

Ticket aspirants address rally

The race for party ticket from the constituency for the 2017 assembly election was evident between local leaders Khushbaz Jatana and Sukhdev Singh Chahal, both of whom made it a point to address the rally.

Chahal has been trying to show his closeness to Amarinder by posting his photos with the Punjab Congress chief on social media.

Jatana, who was close to former PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa, is now trying to be close to Amarinder. He is staking claim to party ticket, claiming following among the youth.

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Under fire for its failure to control the Jat quota violence in the state in February, the Haryana government on Tuesday shifted its director general of police (DGP) Yashpal Singal and additional director general of police (CID) Shatrujeet Kapoor.

DGP (crime) KP Singh replaces Singal as the state police chief while IG (Hisar range) Anil Rao is the new Intelligence chief. For KP Singh who was the intelligence chief during the reign of Om Prakash Chautala, the elevation to the post of state police chief is a sort of professional revival, he having remained on rather low key assignments for almost a last decade. Singal meanwhile has been posted as DG, Prisons while Kapoor has been posted as ADGP (crime).

The state governments failure to control quota violence spread in seven districts from February 18 to 23 has invited all round criticism.

Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar had appointed former IPS officer Prakash Singh to inquire into the acts of omission and commission on part of police and civil administration officials during the quota agitation.

The government on April 8 constituted a Commission of Inquiry headed by former Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court Justice (retd) SN Jha to inquire into facts and circumstances pertaining to quota violence.

It was expected that some heads will roll particularly in the police administration as a number of BJP legislators had demanded the ouster of state police chief as well the intelligence chief. Similar voices were also heard from the RSS circles. Khattar who had handpicked both Singal and Kapoor subsequently was left with very little option but to placate his party persons.

Dozens of people were killed in February when Jat protesters clashed with forces and other groups, torched buildings and vehicles and destroyed public and private property. The state government recently told Punjab and Haryana high court that 2110 FIRs were registered and 567 persons arrested in connection with the violence and loss of property during the quota agitation.
The good old days of the darbar are over. Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh will pay out of his own pocket and so will the jumbo entourage accompanying him to the US and Canada for his 22-day tour starting April 18.

But like a true-blue royal, the former Patiala scion has instructed his team not to hold fundraisers like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), though non-resident Indians (NRIs) are known to donate generously to political parties back home.

Captains official 15-member entourage comprises present and former state legislators and senior leaders who will reach the designated cities before him. Nearly 30 sitting MLAs and several former legislators wanted to accompany the former chief minister till he told them to pick up the tab. Many of those who can are expected to reach the cities on his itinerary on their own.

STRICT INSTRUCTIONS

We all are paying for our travel. Also, at a recent meeting, the 15 coordinators have been strictly told not to collect funds from NRIs and also warn them against anyone else trying to do so on behalf of the Congress. Captain Amarinder Singh is reaching out to NRIs to tell them about his agenda for Punjab, as they are opinion-makers for not just their families but even villages in Punjab. Everyone has been instructed not to demand any funds, free lunches or dinners, MLA Sukh Sarkaria, who will be coordinating Captains programmes in Fresno, San Francisco and New York from May 3 to 7, told HT.

The strategy is also to contrast with the AAP, which is seeking generous contributions from the prosperous NRI community ahead of the assembly polls by asking them to sacrifice  miss a meal for their motherland or carpool to work to save fuel expenses  or host a charity show. Prominent party leaders such as Lok Sabha member Bhagwant Mann have been taking frequent tours to participate in fundraisers. The AAP is also using social media and platforms such as Google Hangout to mop up party funds from NRIs.

Starting from Chicago, the Punjab Congress chief will fly to Toronto and Vancover in Canada before returning back to the US on April 30 for his interaction with the Punjabi diaspora at Los Angeles. The eight-city tour will end on May 10 at Chicago and will be coordinated by Captains other loyalists, including MLAs Kewal Dhillon, Rana Gurjit, Sukhjinder Randhawa, Rana Gurmeet Sodhi, Tripat Rajinder Bajwa, Guriqbal Kaur, Sangat Singh Gilzian and Balbir Sidhu, besides a few former MLAs and youth leaders.

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The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) activists held a protest and burnt an effigy of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal for his double standards over the issue of Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal outside the minisecretariat here on Tuesday. The protest lasted for three hours.

Among those present at the protest included Punjab irrigation minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon and and MLAs from the city.

Dhillon said if the AAP was voted to power in Punjab, then the states future would not be in safe hands.

The protest led to disruption of traffic on the busy road and visitors to the DC office faced difficulty as the main entry gate was closed for some time owing to the protest.

Student Organisation of India (SOI), a wing of Shiromani Akali Dal, also held a similar protest.

SOI adviser and spokesperson Ravinderpal Singh Minku played a doctor and performed a brain surgery on the effigy of Kejriwal.

Later, the SOI activists joined the protest and also burnt an effigy of the AAP convener.

SOI zonal president Meetpal Singh Dugri said double standards of Kejriwal were exposed over the issue of Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.
In an effort to take teaching beyond classrooms and textbooks in local government schools, the UT education department has finally begun digitalising classrooms in nine schools in the city as the new academic session kicked off.

Having collaborated with Extra Marks, a private company, to facilitate digital learning for students, the pilot project took off on April 1 across these schools, including 200 classrooms in all.

District education officer, Chandigarh, Vinay Sood said to begin with 200 classrooms across nine schools currently had been converted into smart classrooms.

Depending on the response we would install more, but so far the response has been quite positive as students enjoy learning this way, said Sood.

Several teachers across government schools have received training from employees of the digital solutions company so as to teach students effectively via digital boards.

The director school education (DSE), deputy DSE and district education officer (DEO) also attended an English class at a local government school recently so as to see the output of the pilot project of E-content.

DSE, Rubinderjit Singh Brar said, Another 1,000 digital classrooms would be added once we see the response of the first 200. We have given the schools six months for now to get accustomed with the process.

Education department officials also shared that each school had one employee deputed specifically for smart classrooms so that in case of any difficulty during the initial period, guidance is at hand.

A visit to one of GMSSS-19 smart classroom by HT team on Tuesday highlighted how students were more proactive in classroom discussion and were also seen attempting multiple choice questions on the digital board.

A teacher said, In such a case, students learn from their mistakes on the spot as E-content project has options where the right answer pops up if the student doesnt get it right.

Mahesh Rana, a student of Class 10, GMSSS-19, said, Learning through visuals and animation makes it more interesting for us. My attention span has improved after attending such classes.

Another Class 10 student, Alka Arya said, The best part is we are told our mistakes on the spot during assessments or class tests which, in turn, enables us to recollect concepts faster.

Arvind Rana, a teacher at government school, Sarangpur and president of SSATWA, said, Teaching through smart boards is a creative method initiated by education department in government schools of Chandigarh. Class wise and subject wise software have been pre-installed and if necessary teachers can also use pen drive to customise the teaching leaning material as per requirement of subject and class.

Principal of GMSSS-10 Harbir Anand said, It was a good way to bring government schools at par with other private schools in the city as smart classrooms means more exposure for students.

Lucky Bhanot, from Extra Marks, deputed at a local government school for assistance, said, There is active learning in the classrooms through animations and audio lectures The BBC emotion gallery videos are also being used, as well as phonetics, quizzes, it includes everything to encourage students to participate.

WHAT IS A SMART CLASSROOM?

Smart classroom is a comprehensive strategy for digital education as part of pilot project in citys government schools. The aim is to enhance classroom teaching with the latest in computer and projector technology where students engage in learning through a digital board in classrooms. FEATURES OFFERED IN SMART CLASSROOM For an active teacher-student participation, the digital board offers features like lesson planner and Maths Xplorer; Map Xplorer; interactive GK-covering themes like famous personalities, sports, world, culture and religion and Science.

Also, an assets module for teachers to create question banks, worksheets and presentations and a student response system as well where the teachers will be able to record live results of students, individually, is part of the package.

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A Giridih court sentenced a 47-year-old man to death for raping and murdering a seven-year-girl.

The rape and murder took place in Badidih in May 2011, when the girl was out with her grandfather in Behara, grazing their cattle. The convict, Mathura Yadav, volunteered to take the girl to get mangos.

However, when her grandfather was out of sight, Mathura took her to a pump house and raped her. When he saw the seven-year-old bleeding and crying, he hacked her to death with an axe. Both the body and the axe were buried in a bush.

When the girl did not return home, the grandfather questioned Mathura but he refused to talk. Ganwa police recovered her body and the weapon the next day.

Additional sessions judge Sunil Kumar also sentenced the convicts father, Bhikhari Yadav, to two years rigorous imprisonment for helping his son hide the body and tampering with evidence, said assistant public prosecutor Mahendra Deo.

Deo said 14 witnesses were examined by the court, which found Mathura guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including rape and murder.

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Actor Amy Jackson, who shot for some of her parts in Rajinikanths 2.o along with the actor and Akshay Kumar over a last couple of weeks, will be joining the team again in May. Last week, we shot some action sequences with Rajinikanth and Akshay. It has been so much fun shooting so far. Im really looking forward to join the sets again in May, said Amy.

Contrary to the rumours, Amy doesnt play a robot in the film, a sequel to Tamil blockbuster Enthiran. Directed by Shankar, the film marks the Tamil debut of Akshay Kumar, who will be seen as the antagonist.

Read: Shankars Enthiran sequel with Rajinikanth called 2.o

Read: Was stunned by Vijays refusal to use a body double, says director Atlee

Amy is also looking forward to this weeks Tamil release Theri starring Vijay. Ever since I came to India, Ive been waiting for an opportunity to work with Vijay. Now, I feel very blessed, she said.

Theri, which is directed by Atlee, releases in cinemas tomorrow worldwide.

Watch Theri trailer here:

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The highly anticipated Tamil gangster film Kabali starring superstar Rajinikanth will release worldwide in May or June, the actor has confirmed. It will be his 161st film. Talking to reporters in Chennai on Tuesday, he said the film will release in the last week of May or early June.

Kabali might release in the last week of May or early June, Rajinikanth said, before boarding the flight to New Delhi where he was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan.

Read: Rajinikanth, Priyanka Chopra honoured with Padma awards

Read: CineGalaxy Inc to distribute Kabali in the US

Read: Kabali would bring back Rajinikanth the actor, says Ranjith

Rajinikanth plays a menacing gangster in Pa. Ranjith-directorial and his character is tipped to be inspired from a real-life don named Kabaleeshwaran. The film also stars Dinesh, Dhansikaa and Kalaiarasan among others. CineGalaxy Inc, one of the prime distributors of Indian films overseas, will be distributing the Tamil and Telugu versions of the film.

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It was a sad day for biker communities in the country as Veenu Paliwal, one of their own, and Indias most prominent female biker died in a bike accident on Monday. Out on a nation-wide tour with fellow biker Dipesh Tanwar, the 44-year-old met with an accident in Gyaraspur in Madhya Pradesh, when her bike slid off road. She was rushed to the nearest medical facility but was declared brought dead.

While bikers and her fans took to social media to pay their homage to Paliwal, lady bikers in the Capital have also planned a ride to pay tribute to her.

Out on a nation-wide tour with fellow biker Dipesh Tanwar, the 44-year-old met with an accident in Gyaraspur in Madhya Pradesh, when her bike slid off road.

Veenu was an icon. We are a small group of 12 lady bikers, and we take pride in our passion for bikes. We are planning a bike ride to pay tribute to her and will be inviting lady bikers around town for it, said Sanjana Kapur from the biking group Pink Bulleteers.

I feel saddened by Veenus death, but more than that I feel saddened for her kids. Veenu had two kids and was a single mom and her death spells tough times for her family, said animal rights activist Amritika Phool Gujral, who is part of the bikers club called 456.

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The Cannes Film Festival -- which in 2016 unrolls its red carpet on the shores of the blue waters of the Mediterranean on May 11 -- has been described by many names. It has been called a giant that has been gobbling up dwarfs. It has been labelled a prostitute because of its glossy seductive pull. It has been termed a money monster for its icy approach to the commerce of cinema which is promoted through its hugely expanded market.

But wait -- Cannes is also pure cinema. It is almost divine art and, it is a movie critics cinema Paradiso, a festival that launched a thousand virtually-unknown directors.

Read: Cannes film fest poster freezes Godards Contempt

Indias own Satyajit Ray saw his brilliance being recognised at the festival in 1956 with his debut feature, Pather Panchali. The West Bengal Government woke up from its sozzled slumber and said but Ray is our son, and hurriedly got down to feting Satyajit and humming The Song of the Little Road (Pather Panchali).

Watch a documentary on the film called Pather Panchali: A Living Resonance here:

Not as well known and widely written about is the story of another Indian director, Shaji N Karun, who was also discovered at Cannes in 1989 with his first work, Piravi (Malayalam) -- inspired by the infamous Rajan case in Kerala who went missing and was suspected to have been killed in a police encounter. Piravi won the Camera dOr Prize at Cannes. (Shajis two other films, Swaham and Vanaprastham, also played at Cannes.)

Read: Woody Allens 1930s-set Cafe Society to open Cannes film fest

So did Mira Nair -- another Cannes find, whose debut 1988 feature, Salaam Bombay - was about the citys street children.

Watch the trailer of Mira Nairs Salaam Bombay here:

In contemporary times, Cannes has discovered several Indian filmmakers. Vikramaditya Motwanes Udaan in 2010 -- said to be an autobiographical account of director/actor Anurag Kashyap -- was the festivals discovery from India.

Read: Cannes 2016 | Jodie Fosters Money Monster and others who may have made the cut

Vikramaditya Motwanes Udaan in 2010 was the festivals discovery from India.

In 2012, Ashim Ahuluwalia was chosen by Cannes to screen his first-ever movie, Miss Lovely, a savage look at Mumbais porn industry and how the lives of two brothers are destroyed.

Another seedy story, Kanu Behls Titli in 2014, his first feature, it travelled to Cannes telling us the story (probably autobiographical) of a dysfunctional Delhi family that hijacks cars in its nefarious pursuit to get rich quickly.

Kanu Behls Titli in 2014 is the story of a dysfunctional Delhi family that hijacks cars.

Neeraj Ghaywans debut work, Masaan too was part of Cannes in 2015. It was a provocative plot about a young womans quest for sexual freedom, which gets her and her father into a social mess and financial ruin.

Read: Satyajit Rays sketches missing from Kolkata film centre

Neeraj Ghaywans debut work, Masaan, is a provocative plot about a young womans quest for sexual freedom.

Cannes has also been the launch pad of many auteurs outside India.

Francois Truffauts career is really a legend. He got his fame and recognition at Cannes, though the festival had banned him -- a young vituperative critic -- in 1958.

A still from Francois Truffauts black and white classic 400 Blows.

But just a year later, Truffaut rode into the French Riviera (where Cannes stands) with his great black and white classic called 400 Blows. It was his first work and a Cannes that literally hated the French directors guts (he took the old guard of cinema in the most brutal way) honoured him with the Best Director trophy.

Watch the trailer of 400 Blows here:

This speaks volumes about Canness sense of fair play and justice that we would see time and again in the nearly seven decades that the festival has been rolling, but most specifically in the recent case of Danish auteur Lars Von Trier. Post the screening of his Melancholia in 2011, he joked at a crowded media conference -- with a huge gathering of international journalists -- that he sympathised with Hitler.

The world roared in anger, and the festival asked Von Trier to leave Cannes. But a just a year later, he was forgiven and invited to come back -- which he is yet to do.

But it was at Cannes in 1984 that the world discovered Von Trier -- who got the splendid opportunity to screen his first feature, The Element of Crime, a neo-noir artistic crime thriller about an expat detective in Cairo who undergoes hypnosis to recall his last case. The movie played in the top competition section.

Watch the trailer of The Element of Crime here:

Many other movies of Von Trier were shown at the festival -- Dancer in the Dark (which won a Palm dor in 2000), Breaking the Waves, The Idiots, Dogville, Manderlay and so on.

On April 14, when Cannes announces its selections in Paris, we would probably know the festivals latest discoveries.

(Gautaman Bhaskaran has covered the Cannes Film Festival for 26 years.)

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Al Qaeda continues to be a big threat to Afghanistan, where it is regrouping and preparing for major attacks, a top Afghan official has said.

The recent destruction of an al Qaeda training camp in Kandahar province  where there were about 150 fighters  has forced US military officials to revise estimates of the groups strength in the country.

Acting defence minister Masoom Stanikzai told CNN al Qaeda is keeping a low profile but expanding.

They are really very active. They are working in quiet and reorganising themselves and preparing themselves for bigger attacks, he said.

They are working behind other networks, giving them support and the experience they had in different places. And double their resources and recruitment and other things. That is how  they are not talking too much. They are not making press statements. It is a big threat.

Stanikzais comments came against the backdrop of the Taliban announcing the start of their annual spring offensive on Tuesday. The group has named the campaign Operation Omari after late Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Afghanistan faces the most significant summer fighting season in decades, with the Taliban gaining ground and building links to al Qaeda, and the Islamic State increasing its presence in the country.

Maj Gen Jeff Buchanan, deputy chief of staff for the US military force in Afghanistan, said the recent destruction of the al Qaeda training camp in Kandahar meant previous estimates of the groups strength are being revised.

If you go back to last year, there were a lot of intel estimates that said within Afghanistan, al Qaeda probably has 50 to 100 members, but in this one camp we found more than 150, he said.

US officials said the number of core al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan could be as high as 300, though the number includes facilitators and sympathisers.

An unnamed senior US official admitted there was a gap in US knowledge of the problem, and warned al Qaedas core focus was still attacking the West.

Theres not thousands of them, but clearly in remote parts of Afghanistan there are al Qaeda leaders were concerned about and what theyre capable of doing, he said.

The destroyed training camp  attacked in a lengthy operation by US special forces and Afghan commandos in October  showed a high degree of sophistication with ties back to al Qaeda and a subset called al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, Buchanan said.

Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent had not previously been associated much with Afghanistan. The discovery of its presence in the country raised concerns that Afghanistan is again becoming a safe haven for international terrorist networks whose main focus is attacks outside the country, including the West.

Stanikzai expressed concern over growing ties between al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Since Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour became leader in mid-2015, the Taliban has grown closer to al Qaeda. The Talibans current deputy commander, Siraj Haqqani, is head of the Haqqani Network and al Qaedas top facilitator in Afghanistan, according to US officials.

The big cover is the Taliban, said Stanikzai. They need the fighters, they need the support and they need recruitment from other places, and this is why (the Taliban) embrace them.

US Gen John Campbell, former commander in Afghanistan, has referred to a renewed partnership between the two groups. Buchanan said the relationship has grown stronger.

This burgeoning partnership poses a problem for any attempt by the US and Afghan governments to negotiate a political settlement with the Taliban, CNN reported.

The Taliban have said they are not currently interested in peace talks, though U.S. and Afghan officials insist some moderates want to talk.

Many leaders in the Taliban are willing to enter into constructive peace talks, Stanikzai said. From a military point of view, we have to have the flexibility to target them. When it comes to negotiation, you cannot just burn everything.
Pakistans powerful army chief, Gen Raheel Sharif, has accused Indias RAW intelligence agency of being actively involved in destabilising the country, including attempts to sabotage a $46-billion economic corridor with China.

Sharif made the remarks on Tuesday at a seminar in Gwadar, the port in Balochistan that will play a crucial role in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Pakistans security establishment often alleges RAW is involved in fomenting unrest but it is rare for an army chief to raise the issue at a public forum.

In this context, I must highlight that India, our immediate neighbour, has openly challenged this development initiative, Sharif said in his address that was beamed live by news channels.

I would like to make a special reference to Indian intelligence agency RAW that is blatantly involved in destabilising Pakistan. Let me make it clear that we will not allow anyone to create impediments and turbulence in any part of Pakistan. Therefore, it is important for all to leave behind confrontation and focus on cooperation.

Despite attempts to sabotage the CPEC, Sharif said, the project will become operational soon and the first cargo shipment from China will reach the Gwadar deep seaport this year. He added hostile intelligence agencies are averse to this grand project.

Insha Allah, this year, we will move cargo from heartland China to Gwadar and beyond, fulfilling our dream, he said. He pledged to ensure the security of the corridor, saying a 15,000-strong force is already in place under the ambit of a special security division.

There was no immediate reaction from India to Sharifs comments but India has dismissed past allegations that RAW is involved in fomenting unrest in Pakistan.

India has opposed the CPEC because it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. It has also raised this matter with China.

Sharif described the CPEC as a corridor of peace and prosperity and said it was a grand manifestation of the deep-rooted ties between China and Pakistan. It (CPEC) will bind all these nations together and bring about an economic transformation through enhanced connectivity, he said.

He asked the world community to acknowledge Pakistans successes and sacrifices and to come forward in blocking external help to terrorist organisations and their facilitators, abettors and financiers.

While many world powers had appreciated the potential of CPEC as a catalyst of economic transformation of the region, the project had raised eyebrows among those competing for influence in the region, he said without giving details.

The arrest of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav in Balochistan last month on charges of espionage marked a new low in bilateral ties. India acknowledged Jadhav was a former naval officer but denied he was involved in spying for RAW. Talks between the two countries were suspended following the January 2 terror attack on Pathankot airbase that was blamed on Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The CPEC will give China greater access to the Middle East, Africa and Europe through Pakistan. It is part of Beijings plans to expand its trade and transport footprint in the region, while countering US and Indian influence.
Turkeys armed forces on Wednesday launched new artillery strikes on jihadist positions in Syria, after three days of deadly fire on a Turkish border town that has left residents on edge.

Kilis, which lies just a few kilometres from the border with Syria, has been hit by fire from Katyusha-type rockets every day this week raising concerns over its vulnerability.

Two people were killed by shelling from an area controlled by Islamic State (IS) jihadists on Tuesday and four more rockets hit the town on Wednesday but caused no injuries, a Turkish official said.

Speaking in Ankara, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed Turkish troops had hit IS positions in Syria.

In a sign of Ankaras alarm over the repeated firing on Kilis, defence minister Ismet Yilmaz, powerful intelligence chief Hakan Fidan and top general Hulusi Akar visited the town today to investigate the situation.

Addressing a press conference there, Yilmaz confirmed Turkish artillery hit areas controlled by IS and warned against any further attacks on Turkey.

If they harm Turkey, they will be subjected to much more, Yilmaz said. Whoever is friendly with Turkey will find it is to their benefit.

Yilmaz also said the government had established a commission to compensate residents for their losses.

In Ankara, Davutoglu also warned that those who attacked Turkey would pay the heaviest price, insisting that the government was determined to protect its citizens from the latest cycle of violence.

Dozens of people had rallied in the centre of Kilis on Tuesday to demand protection from the shelling, Turkish media reports said.

The violence comes after IS militants wrested back control of the town of Al-Rai near the Turkish border, which rival rebels had captured last week.

Kilis, a town of just under 100,000, is the only major urban centre in Turkey which now has a majority of Syrians after the influx of refugees from the civil war.

Neither the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front nor IS are included in a truce brokered by the United States and Russia that came into force on February 27.

Washington has applauded Turkeys role in the anti-IS coalition but US officials on occasion have urged Ankara to do more.

In a separate development, Turkeys army opened fire on a group of four people -- one man and three women -- who attempted to cross into the border town of Karkamis late on Tuesday from IS-held Jarablus in Syria, local media reported.
Inscriptions dating back to 600 B.C. revealed that much of the Hebrew Bible was written before the demise of the the ancient Kingdom of Judah, further suggesting literacy was more widespread at the time that previously thought.

Led by Tel Aviv University (TAU) Professors Israel Finkelstein and Eliezer Piasetzky, the study helps settle a longstanding debate over whether the first major phase of the Bible was composed before or after the destruction of Judah's capital city, Jerusalem, in 586 B.C.

It is believed that a large group of literate individuals in Judah facilitated the compilation of biblical works that constitute the basis of Judahite history and theology, including the early version of the books of Deuteronomy to Second Kings.

"There's a heated discussion regarding the timing of the composition of a critical mass of biblical texts," said Finkelstein, a professor in TAU's Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations. "But to answer this, one must ask a broader question: What were the literacy rates in Judah at the end of the First Temple period? And what were the literacy rates later on, under Persian rule?"

Using high-tech computerized image processing and machine learning tools, researchers carefully analyzed 16 inscriptions unearthed at an excavation in the remote fort of Arad.

The inscribed ceramic shards - known as ostraca - were written by at least six authors, including correspondence among military officials regarding the movement of troops and provision of wine, oil and flour among the men. This, in turn, shows that reading and writing abilities existed throughout the military chain of command, from the highest echelon all the way down to the deputy quartermaster of the fort.

"We designed an algorithm to distinguish between different authors, then composed a statistical mechanism to assess our findings," explained Barak Sober, one of the study researchers. "Through probability analysis, we eliminated the likelihood that the texts were written by a single author."

Not only do the inscriptions provide evidence of a high literacy rate within Judah's administrative apparatus, but they also provide suitable background for the composition of a critical mass of biblical texts.

"We found indirect evidence of the existence of an educational infrastructure, which could have enabled the composition of biblical texts," said Piasetzky, a professor from TAU's School of Physics and Astronomy. "Literacy existed at all levels of the administrative, military and priestly systems of Judah. Reading and writing were not limited to a tiny elite."

Based on these findings, the first Judahite biblical texts were likely written in Jerusalem by priests and officials in the entourage of the king - possibly King Josiah.

"Now our job is to extrapolate from Arad to a broader area," Finkelstein said. "Adding what we know about Arad to other forts and administrative localities across ancient Judah, we can estimate that many people could read and write during the last phase of the First Temple period. We assume that in a kingdom of some 100,000 people, at least several hundred were literate."

This assumption is based on the idea that if a large number of people could reach the text, it would have been easier to distribute ideas. And since the earliest biblical texts represent the political and theological ideologies of their authors, it only makes sense that a literate group of people could read them.

"Following the fall of Judah, there was a large gap in production of Hebrew inscriptions until the second century B.C., the next period with evidence for widespread literacy," Finkelstein added. "This reduces the odds for a compilation of substantial biblical literature in Jerusalem between ca. 586 and 200 B.C."

Their study was recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
New research revealed early humans started using fire between two and three million years ago when Africa's environment became increasingly fire-prone.

Fire is an ancient tool, historically used for cooking, constructing, hunting and even communicating. However, when exactly our ancestors started using it has remained a topic of hot debate.

Now, anthropologists from the University of Utah suggest humans used fire to their advantage, as Africa's environment grew drier and natural fires occurred more frequently. The use of fire not only allowed humans to more efficiently search for and handle food, but also allowed them to travel farther distances and expand into other continents.

Current theories surrounding how fire came about suggest it happened by mere accident: pounding rocks against each other to create a spark that later spread to a nearby bush.

"The problem we're trying to confront is that other hypotheses are unsatisfying. Fire use is so crucial to our biology, it seems unlikely that it wasn't taken advantage of by our ancestors," explained Kristen Hawkes, senior author of the study.

The University of Utah's proposed scenario is the first known hypothesis in which fire does not originate serendipitously.

Instead, researchers show that increased aridity and flammable landscapes led to the exploitation of fire's food foraging benefits. In this case, early humans would have simply adapted to such environmental changes.

"All humans are fire-dependent. The data show that other animals and even some of our primate cousins use it as an opportunity to eat better; they are essentially taking advantage of landscape fires to forage more efficiently," Hawkes added.

Researchers came to this conclusion by reconstructing the climate and vegetation of tropical Africa between two and three million years ago.

Woody plants and fire-prone tropical grasses have distinct carbon isotopes that are evident in paleosols, or ancient dirt. Therefore, the presence and composition of specific paleosols indicates what kind of vegetation was growing millions of years ago.

Carbon analyses of paleosols from the Awash Valley in Ethiopia and Omo-Turkana basin in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia revealed a consistent pattern of tropical, fire-prone grasses replacing woody plants 3.6 to 1.4 million years ago.

Burning off forest cover would have exposed otherwise obscured holes and animal tracks, therefore reducing the time needed for hunting. Fire would have also cleared the land and made it easier to grow food.

Furthermore, foods altered by burning take less effort to chew. This helps explain anatomical evolutionary changes such as reduced tooth size and jaw structures related to chewing. Requiring less effort also means early humans would have had an increased energy budget and could have traveled longer distances.

"This scenario tells a story about our ancestors' foraging strategies and how those strategies allowed our ancestors to colonize new habitats," Hawkes said. "It gives us more insight into why we came to be the way we are; fire changed our ancestors' social organization and life history."

Their study was recently published in the journal Evolutionary Anthropology.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Last Monday, Ann Rodgers turned 72, and it is the "wisdom and memories" that she had gained in those years that allowed her to survive the harsh Arizona wilderness for nine days while authorities searched for her.

Rodgers and her 2-year-old rescue dog, a Queensland terrier mix named Queenie, were rescued late Saturday afternoon in the Canyon Creek area of the White River Indian Reservation, the state Department of Public Safety and the Gila County Sheriff's Office said.

The ordeal began on March 31 when Rodgers was travelling on a remote back country road to vist her daughter's home in Phoenix but took a "waaaay wrong turn" and ran out of gas. Her plan was to spend her birthday with daughter and grandson, but she ended up spending it alone in the wilderness with her dog as her only companion.

Rodgers' shouted her frustration at the canyon walls, which only served to remind her that there were no other humans that could hear her for miles.

"Why the hell am I still here?" she shouted.

"Here, here, here," the walls echoed back.

"Why hasn't anybody come down and found me yet, dammit?" she shouted once again.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit," the walls echoed once more.

She wandered around aimlessly looking for any sort of help, but all attempts were futile. She even pondered her possible demise at one point, saying: "All right, if this is the end - if this is it - at least I'm going to die in the most natural beautiful cathedral I have been in in a long time."

"And then I thought, 'No, I ain't giving up yet," she said.

Little did Rodgers know, however, that several search crews had already been on the lookout for her for the past few days, when the last person she spoke to, an ex-Marine named Bruce Trees, notified local authorities of her disappearance. The search truly took off on April 3, when a detective with the Gila County Sheriff's Office received a call from the White Mountain Apache Forest Rangers. The detective was notified of the situation and was asked to get the department to aid in the search.

The first break came that same day when some people found her car that appeared to have been abandoned a few days before. The second came the following Saturday when a White Mountain Apache Tribe Game and Fish officer spotted Rodgers' dog walking out of the Canyon Creek area as search crews headed for higher ground for a better vantage point.

Using that discovery to refine their search, an aerial search was launched, which found an array of sticks and stones across the canyon floor that spelled out the word "HELP." Authorites continued their search, and farther down the canyon, found a shelter that appeared to have been abandoned by Rodgers.

Soon afterward, authorities finally found who they were looking for: Rodgers herself as she stood next to a signal fire as she waved to the rescue helicopter.

"Old people are thought of as not always as able to do things as others, which is true in many ways," Rodgers said Tuesday. "However, because we age, wisdom [and] memories become part of your knowledge base that help you survive."

Despite being subjected to that ordeal for nine days, all she had to be treated for was exposure. Apparently the experience didn't deter her one bit either. When asked whether she still planned to visit her grandchildren, she whispered, "You better damn well believe it."

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Spanish police arrested a Frenchman who is suspected of supplying the weapons used by Amedy Coulibaly in the January 2015 attacks in Paris that left four people dead at a kosher supermarket and a policewoman the day before, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

The suspect, identified as 27-year-old Antoine Denive, was arrested Tuesday in a joint operation with French police. The ministry added that two other suspects from Serbia and Montenegro were detained during the raid on a building at Rincon de la Victoria, a town close to Malaga on Spain's southern coast.

The January 2015 attacks in Paris left 17 victims and three attackers dead. Coulilbaly was responsible for five of these victims, with his shooting spree beginning Jan. 8 when he killed a policewoman in a Paris suburb and then killed four Jewish customers and employees at a kosher supermarket the following day. His rampage came to an end following a standoff with police, who shot him dead.

Brothers Charif and Said Kouachi were responsible for the remaining 12 victims after they shot several people at and near the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris on Jan. 7.

As it turns out, Denive, who spent some time in Spain prior to the attacks, left France several weeks afterward, moving his base of operations to the southern Spanish province of Malaga, where he worked under a false identity. The ministry's statement indicates that he was an arms dealer with connections to Serbian arms traffickers.

Tuesday's raid yielded several pieces of evidence that provided insight as to how Denive managed to move about Europe, such as a valid European passport under another person's name. Authorities also found a computer, which they are in the midst of studying.

Denive was brought before the National Court in Madrid, where he denied selling weapons to the attackers. Despite his plea of innocence, the judge ordered him kept in jail, according to a court spokesman who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Interestingly, Denive did express willingness to be extradited to France, which the court will likely do unless there is another case against him in Spain.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Gut bacteria has been linked to a multitude of benefits, including lower risk of obesity and diabetes as well as improved gastrointestinal health. Now experts are adding cancer prevention to gut bacteria's long list of health benefits.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), found evidence that certain types of intestinal bacteria can reduce the risk of developing cancer.

Senior study author Robert Schiestl, a professor of pathology, environmental health sciences and radiation oncology at the UCLA, and his team studied laboratory mice and found that various types of gut bacteria have anti-inflammatory properties that can be harnessed to slow or stop the development of some tumors.

Schiestl and his team believe that the latest findings suggest that prescribing probiotics will lower cancer risks by increasing the number of anti-inflammatory intestinal bacteria.

"It is not invasive and rather easy to do," said Schiestl.

For the study, researchers focused on how a common bacterial strain called Lactobacillus johnsonii 456, which is used to make yogurt kombucha, sauerkraut and kefir, influenced laboratory mice genetically designed to be susceptible to ataxia telangiectasia, a neurologic disorder that has been linked to significantly higher risks of leukemia, lymphomas and other cancers.

Laboratory mice were divided into two different groups. One group was given only anti-inflammatory bacteria and the other group received a combination of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory bacteria. Researchers noted that intestines contain both good and bad bacteria. Good bacteria decreases inflammation and bad bacteria promote inflammation.

The study revealed that mice in the good bacteria group survived longer, with lymphoma tumors forming only half as quickly as mice assigned to the good and bad bacteria combo group. Mice given anti-inflammatory bacteria also lived four times longer than their combo counterparts.

Further analysis revealed that the Lactobacillus johnsonii 456 bacterial strain significantly reduced gene damage and inflammation. Researchers said the results are promising because inflammation has been linked to a host of diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, dementia, arthritis, lupus, heart disease and accelerated aging.

"Together, these findings lend credence to the notion that manipulating microbial composition could be used as an effective strategy to prevent or alleviate cancer susceptibility," researchers wrote. "Remarkably, our findings suggest that composition of the gut microbiota influence and alter central carbon metabolism in a genotype independent manner. In the future, it is our hope that the use of probiotics-containing [supplements] would be a potential chemopreventive for normal humans, while the same type of microbiota would decrease tumor incidence in cancer susceptible populations."

The findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
News, events, history, and other mid-week tidbits.

Tuesday, October 25, 4:30  7 p.m.

Orr Area EMS Open House

Brats and burgers will be served. Event includes a new ambulance tour and blood pressure screenings. For more info: 218-780-3798.

Orr Fire Hall

4540 Lake St., Orr

Tuesday, October 25, 12  6 p.m.

Essentia Health Job Fair

Talent recruiters and department managers will be on-site at Essentia Health-Virginia. Candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to attendnurses, nursing and clinical assistants, surgery technicians, radiology technicians, respiratory therapists, human resource professionals, and those interested in environmental services or nutrition services. Essentia staff will greet candidates, conduct an initial screening and filter them to appropriate hiring managers for interviews. Select candidates will be verbally offered a position before leaving. Candidates are asked to bring a resume, but its not required. Attire is business casual. For more info: www.essentiacareers.org.

901 9th St. N., Virginia
TripAdvisor, Yelp, Uber, Airbnb, Amazon.com, Expedia, Priceline  all are examples of online services where reviews weigh heavily in consumer purchasing decisions. Indeed, we now inhabit a literal 'Review Age' where everything and everyone under the sun can be given an online user evaluation in some way, shape or form. Moreover, when it comes to hospitality, guests will also pass judgment on you, as a hotel operator, for how well you curate your property's online criticisms across all digital channels.

It's now the expectation that you not only reply constructively, but that you also respond in real-time. Answer too slowly to reviewers who cite operational problems and it makes you look like you aren't allocating the proper amount of resources to electronic monitoring or, worse, that you don't care about guests' needs. Don't thank past guests for their positive support and it may earn you contempt. Respond emotionally to a negative critique and it draws suspicion as to how you act if this grievance was brought up in person. Don't reply at all and well

The bottom line is that hoteliers are expected to rigorously monitor all digital review channels and chatter  be it through social media, OTA website or the juggernaut that is TripAdvisor  and manage the written responses as well as any onsite follow-up activities. Living in this Review Age means that your online persona casts a strong reflection on how you operate in the flesh. For example, a well-curated TripAdvisor page with effusive gratitude and assurances to mitigate cited grievances will inform future guests that this property actually cares.

It's a reflection of your guest services and your brand. And this process is largely star-rating-agnostic, too. Responding properly to boost consumer appeal is an action that can be carried out by economy roadside inns, ultra-luxury resorts and all in-between.

Alas, I'm treading on common ground. The importance of third-party monitoring and management has been written to death in industry publications. But there are new evolutions in this Review Age that have yet to be given the spotlight.

Namely, prospective travelers are wise to ways of internet trolls  those who let their emotions get the best of them to unfair ridicule a property or those who purposefully seek remuneration by way of an exaggerated condemnation. Yes, consumers will still judge you on your response  primarily by remaining non-defensive, consummately attentive and not stooping to their level. But with consumers now readily able to sniff out trolls, they are much more likely to disregard such an angry person's criticisms as partially or wholly fabricated.

In other words, we are headed for a two-way rating system. Your property gets judged, but the users themselves are also tacitly assessed on such things as grammar, tone, length and how constructive their reviews are. Taxi-usurper Uber is paving the way with a mobile platform that lets its drivers rate their passengers. Imagine if the OTAs had a similar system whereby a property could append a guest's bill after his or her stay based upon the linkage between credit card information and said guest's profile on the OTA's database. Hoteliers could then jot down whether this guest was, say, overly demanding, a constant complainer, excessively messy or prone to towel theft. Other hotels could then decide whether having a guest with 'baggage' is worth accepting in the first place.

Such a two-way system is tricky to implement and not without a heavy dose of controversy, but if Uber is able to do it, then undoubtedly Expedia or Priceline  as billion-dollar corporations with the prerequisite technology already largely in place  are able to undertake such a monstrous coding project. Major chains might install similar platforms, using them to see if certain individuals are worth signing on to their loyalty programs or granting a room key.

It all gets a little 'actuarial' when you think about how a person's online reviews and commentary can be compiled and extrapolated to give hoteliers a cost-benefit analysis report on every prospective guest. This isn't science fiction either; there are companies with proprietary big data algorithms that benchmark individuals' social media usage to effectively determine whether or not they are suitable for promotional targeting.

After all, why even waste your time on those customers who are predisposed to causing trouble? Given the influence that such websites like TripAdvisor have on the travel research phase, it is worth two nights of room revenue for a potentially scathing online critique in return? If you are a believer in the 80/20 rule (where 80% of your problems come from 20% of your customers) then identifying and sidelining trolls and interlopers may reduce your revenues but save you tons more in the process.

While we've endured through the lightly regulated 'Wild West' years of third-party review sites, guest-hotel equality is on the way. When everything and everyone can be reviewed, it means that we are all accountable for what we write online. My one piece of advice: always be kind and always be helpful. Or, in other words, be genuine hoteliers and everything will be fine.

Larry Mogelonsky

Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited

View source
First, the brilliance of the asset-light strategy taken by many hospitality management companies is put in the spotlight. Why should a CEO have to choose between stunting the growth yet again of a well-liked brand, such as Thompson, in exchange for an opportunistic market-cycle-based transaction. Who can resist the temptation to sell high after buying low three short years ago. At some point you have to be a company who either loves "the deal" or loves building brand equity, but not both.

Second, is it time to unload Miami Beach assets? It has been a beautiful ride since the valley of 2009, but in terms of operating metrics, we are not at the top of a double diamond downward slope but instead at an inflection point: the transition from RevPAR improving at an increasing rate to RevPAR improving at a decreasing rate.

Sip a soy latte at Panther Coffee and you will hear that everyone wants to sell their hotels on the beach. But the buyers who could not get in several years ago are beginning to be concerned more with value and specifically how they can generate value from freshly built or renovated assets. There is little evidence that the Thompson Miami Beach sale will start an avalanche of transactions. However, there are more than a few investors who are in a position to cash out and pat themselves on the back.

It appears that at all levels, this year is about incorporating a greater level of uncertainty into the normal course of events. For some investors, especially those who love "the deal", it will be difficult not to entertain compelling offers.

View source
Managed guest relationships, integrated technology systems, and improved data collection and security are the three most critical needs of hoteliers when it comes to distribution and online marketing. That is the finding of a whitepaper SiteMinder recently produced in partnership with Revinate and Dr Peter O'Connor  and it begs the question: what support is available for today's hoteliers to meet these needs?

For those of us within the hotel technology space, it seems obvious. I recently wrote a piece as such, asking myself why some hoteliers continue to bemoan OTAs and yet do curious things like display lower room rates on third-party channels, and ignore the free opportunities provided by the world's largest travel sites  Google and TripAdvisor  to maintain their direct relationships with guests.

But how many of our customers became hoteliers so they could be masters of distribution and online marketing? I am willing to bet there are few, if any. It is precisely our job as technologists to be the experts in these fields for them.

The Envisioning the Future of Hotel Distribution and Online Marketing whitepaper is based on research conducted in late 2015 with hotelier delegates of World Travel Market London, who said they saw overcoming the challenges of a fast-paced online environment, advancing technology and ever-increasing consolidation within the OTA space as priority.

Is this a huge surprise for us? Perhaps not, but let's take a minute to understand why. With all the continually-shifting booking trends we are witnessing, the emergence of new and exciting technological solutions, and the plethora of headlines on acquisitions and mergers by the 'OTA duopoly' and others, it is becoming increasingly difficult for any player within the hospitality landscape to always lead the charge  let alone predict what's coming next. What chance does the hotelier have, while they also make sure the beds have been made on time and their amenities are kept clean?

As Dr O'Connor  current academic director of information systems at Institute de Management Hotelier International, part of ESSEC Business School in France  rightly points out: "Most people involved in hotel distribution and online marketing would agree that the whole area is in turmoil right now, with both technology and consumer expectations evolving extremely rapidly. At the same time, competition in the online environment continues to become more intense, with the result that hotels need to pay much more attention to how and where they are being sold, as well as invest in the right systems and expertise to ensure they can compete effectively in this highly turbulent environment."

Dr O'Connor's words reflect the key challenges and concerns that hotelier participants nominated in relation to distribution and online marketing  now and over the next three years. Topping the list was the guest experience, with hoteliers admitting they invest too much of their already-limited time and resources into driving one-off transient bookings which lead to high costs of guest acquisition.

According to our partners at Revinate, the key to drive guest loyalty and increase direct bookings revolves around building and managing "close relationships with clients". They say that in order to do so, as a means to exceed the expectations of these clients, hoteliers need to "collect, store, analyse and use the trove of guest data available today through a single, integrated view".

It's a perspective we share at SiteMinder. In addition to its strong conversion rates, built-in analytics and complete mobile functionality, the capability found within our Internet booking engine, TheBookingButton, to allow hotels to own the guest relationship with personalised email marketing  pre-arrival, during and post-stay  was developed for this very reason. Hotel users of TheBookingButton can also encourage repeat bookings by sending their guests direct incentives, such as promotional codes to gain discounted rates. And, guests can make their direct booking both in their own currency and language, which is key when considering that international tourist arrivals now top 1.2 billion and a significant portion of these travellers do not speak English.

In truth, hoteliers have access to big data that nobody else does  that is, their own guest data. Even a 100-room hotel that has 1.5 guests per room and runs at 65% occupancy has data on more than 35,000 guests every year.

What we continue to see, however, is the use of disparate, legacy systems that not only prevent the real-time automation hoteliers need to do their jobs, but eliminate any opportunity for hoteliers to see the granularity of their data. How effective is my hotel website when compared with my third-party distribution channels? Which channels are performing best for my hotel and where are my guests coming from? How can I get a seamless flow of information running through each of my systems, so I have one powerful source of truth? Every hotelier should be asking these questions. And we know from our study with Revinate and Dr Peter O'Connor that many of them are, with integrated technology systems coming in as the second greatest challenge and concern hoteliers have, but how many hoteliers can identify solutions to this?

Additionally, it's interesting to note that hotelier participants of the study nominated improved data collection and security as their third greatest challenge and concern. If I can speak for hotel technologies specifically here, would it be inaccurate to say that far too many of these technologies today still do not meet today's data security standards? While no technology can guarantee full protection of guest data, using technology that has achieved the industry's stringent security benchmarks is one way hoteliers can be ahead. I am referring, of course, to PCI DSS compliance and the day SiteMinder achieved this across its full product suite two years ago was a very important one. It was an important milestone because fundamentally it meant we could ensure we not only prepared our own systems, but the systems and businesses of our hotel customers in a world where online fraud is rife and on the increase. Again, however, how many hoteliers really understand the potential consequences of using technology that does not adhere to data security standards?

It is clear that solutions do exist for hoteliers to overcome their top challenges and concerns as they relate to distribution and online marketing. However, it is up to hoteliers to adopt these solutions and it is up to us, as the experts within these spaces, to better educate all hotels and guide them to technological solutions that are both easy-to-use and affordable. Hoteliers need most to understand how they can navigate through the demands of today's consumer-led, Internet economy and we as an industry need to do more to support them in this regard.

SiteMinder runs a number of seminars on these very issues throughout the year, all around the world, and I would encourage hoteliers to attend one in their local area.

About SiteMinder

SiteMinder Limited (ASX:SDR) is the world's leading open hotel commerce platform, ranked among technology pioneers for opening up every hotel's access to online commerce. It's this central role that has earned SiteMinder the trust of tens of thousands of hotels, across 150 countries, to sell, market, manage and grow their business. The global company, headquartered in Sydney with offices in Bangkok, Berlin, Dallas, Galway, London and Manila, generated more than 100 million reservations worth over US$35 billion in revenue for hotels in the last year prior to the start of the pandemic. For more information, visit siteminder.com.

Maria Cricchiola

Director of Brand Communications & PR

+61 2 8031 1287

SiteMinder
China has become one of the most visited destinations of the world, with international tourist arrivals recorded at 55.6 million in 2014. It is also forecasted by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) that the country will become the first destination in the world by 2020 and the fourth largest source market. The Forum represents a timely and concerted effort in response to the fast expanding opportunities in the hotel and tourism market in China. It will provide an invaluable platform for industry professionals, academics and government officials to explore new strategies for the development of the hotel industry in China, as well as the many opportunities that are emerging and the potential challenges that are arising from the industrys extraordinary progress.

Professor Kaye Chon, Dean and Chair Professor of the SHTM and Walter Kwok Foundation Professor in International Hospitality Management, said: I am pleased to note that, due to our location and history, our School is uniquely positioned to play a leading role in facilitating the strategic development of Chinas hospitality industry. Indeed, over the past nine years the SHTM has been playing a pivotal role in furthering the development of this dynamic and ever-evolving industry by successfully staging the International Forum on China Hotel Brand Development (CHBD) in a number of major cities in the country.

This year, the 10th CHBD will be held concurrently with the Asia-Europe Forum for World Hospitality and Tourism Education, an event for educators in hospitality and tourism from Asia and Europe to exchange dialogue for collaboration in academic and research programmes.

For more information please contact Kelly Wang
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Radisson Blu Appoints First Female Manager in Saudi Arabia

Monera Ali Abdullah Al Nowiser Named General Manager for Radisson Blu Hotel, Jeddah

A growing number of women in Saudi Arabia are joining the workforce despite the challenges. In the traditional society, which is centered on families who remain true to their cultural heritage. However, Monera Ali Abdullah Al Nowiser, a female Saudi national, with the full support of her family, has managed to establish a successful and progressive career at Radisson Blu Hotel, Jeddah.

She joined the Radisson Blu Hotel, Jeddah in 2011 as a Meetings and Events Coordinator and proved to be a valuable team player, passionate about the hospitality industry. She was soon promoted to Assistant Meetings and Events Manager continuing to develop her leadership skills and knowledge of the industry, perfectly at home with making logical-based decisions to ensure optimum and most efficient results for the hotel.

I grew up as a self-confident woman believing in my own capabilities and in the strength of women in general. Whenever I imagined my future, I could not see myself living the usual life of most of the Saudi ladies. I was different. I wanted to lead and be in charge of something big that would make me proud, said Monera Ali Abdullah Al Nowiser.

Monera believes that, while the barriers for women lie in the countrys traditions and culture, the country is seeing significant changes. Most recently the Kingdom appointed 30 women to the consultative Shoura Council and the Ministry of Justice is now allowing women to practice as lawyers in court and, more importantly, they are now allowed to open up their own law firms. Progressively, the Kingdom is moving forward in womens rights and their essential role in the development of the economy.

Moneras appointment to a managerial position is a combination of the drive from her and the support from Cluster General Manager, Shakeel Al Hamid, and we are incredibly proud of this achievement, said Mark Willis Area Vice President Middle East and Turkey. She is a positive role model for our Women in Leadership programme which has been created to build on our heritage of growing from within and overcoming the barriers that may be blocking women from developing into senior leadership positions.

The biggest challenge here in Saudi Arabia is the balance between work and home life. It is predominantly the women's role to stay at home. Whenever a woman succeeds in handling this work-family balance, we need to be proud of ourselves and showcase it, said Monera. I genuinely believe that nothing is impossible and anyone can overcome the challenges and one day I hope to become the first female General Manager of a hotel in Saudi Arabia. I hope my actions will inspire and empower other ladies.
University of Maryland Tax Expert Tells Why It's a Pitfall for the Hosts

In the same way that Uber and Lyft turn regular cars into taxis, Airbnb has made every house on your street a potential hotel. Thanks to an accounting trick at Airbnb, most of the side income that hosts receive goes unreported to the IRS. Many host families will take this as an invitation to evade taxes on April 18. But accounting professor Leslie Mostow at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, and a CPA with more than 50 years of tax preparation experience, warns that IRS auditors have tricks of their own.

Airbnb markets itself as a homestay broker with slogans such as "explore the world" and "belong anywhere." But it's really a payment settlement entity. At least that's what Airbnb tells the IRS, taking advantage of 1099-K rules set up for credit card companies that process transactions for merchants. The difference means that Airbnb doesn't have to send 1099-Miscellaneous Income statements to most U.S. hosts  only the ones who surpass $20,000 and 200 transactions in the same calendar year.

Considering that each Airbnb transaction represents a minimum of one overnight stay, and the average stay in major cities is closer to five or six days, reaching the 200-transaction threshold within 365 days is nearly impossible for anyone without multiple rooms and overlapping guests. By comparison, transactions take microseconds for traditional and online retailers, and big merchants such as Wal-Mart start qualifying for 1099-Ks on Jan 1.

Mostow says hosts need to understand that their income is taxable regardless of the reporting strategies used at Airbnb and similar companies. He says most of these hosts fall into the same category as College Park landlords who rent their basements to University of Maryland students. It makes no difference if Airbnb brokers an international deal or if local tenants respond to a yard sign.

Catching unreported Airbnb income might even be easier than traditional omissions because every transaction leaves a digital trace stored in one location. "IRS agents might walk into Airbnb headquarters in San Francisco one day," Mostow says.

Maryland agents did something like that a few years ago, when they visited Delaware stores and got the dirt on shoppers crossing state lines to avoid sales tax. (Delaware doesn't charge any, but Maryland residents still have to pay a "use tax" on items they bring home.)

So what's an honest taxpayer to do? The basic rule is simple. "You are taxed on worldwide income, regardless if anyone sends you a 1099  even if you get paid in bitcoin," Mostow says.

He says worried hosts should start with Internal Revenue Publication 527, where they'll learn about "incidental rentals," "passive activities," and the difference between primary and vacation properties. Most hosts will have to measure the square footage of their guest space and divide it by the home's total size. But don't forget Chapter 4 about "special situations."

For more Smith School faculty insights, go to Smith Brain Trust.
Afrika Bambaataa denied accusations of sexual abuse leveled against of him by former Zulu Nation associate Ronald Savage.

I, Afrika Bambaataa, want to take this opportunity at the advice of my legal counsel to personally deny any and all allegations of any type of sexual molestation of anyone, Bambaataa said in a statement to Rolling Stone. These allegations are baseless and are a cowardly attempt to tarnish my reputation and legacy in hip-hop at this time. This negligent attack on my character will not stop me from continuing my battle and standing up against the violence in our communities, the violence in the nation and the violence worldwide.

In the name of the Supreme Force, who is called by many names, whom All Praise is due. Good Spiritual Human, I pray for all of you and ask in returns your prayers, and let us all do what we must to help change our ways on how we treat each other in evilness, to respect and love for each other as Humans Beings, Bambaataa continues in his statement. May Peace and Blessings be upon each and everyone of you. Who would stand up to save us and our planet with so much chaos going on? Peace, Love, Honor and Respect to all.

In his self-published memoir Impulse Urges and Fantasies, Savage alleges that he was a 15-year-old crate boy  the nickname for kids who assisted the Zulu Nation with their equipment  when Bambaataa first molested him.

In a statement to the Daily News, who first broke the story, Bambaataas lawyer Vivian Kimi Tozaki roundly denounced Savages accusations and denied any wrongdoing on Bambaataas part. Defamatory statements were published seeking to harm my clients reputation so as to lower him in the estimation of the community while deterring others from associating or dealing with him, she said. The statements show a reckless disregard for the truth, were published with knowledge of their falsity and are being made by a lesser-known person seeking publicity.

Savage says that he is not interested in money, but rather hopes to change the New York Statute of Limitations that bars child sexual abuse victims from pursuing legal action after their 23rd birthday. Read more about Savages claims here.

Afrika Bambaataa
If you want to understand Statik Selektah in a nutshell, look no further than the first 20 seconds of his 2014 song Carry On. The first words you hear are sampled from AZs verse on Nas 1994 Lifes a Bitch: Others such as myself are tryna carry on tradition.

As hip hop slowly expands all corners of the sonic universe, Statik remains grounded in boom bap, turntablism, and other hallmarks of what some might refer to as the golden age. Though it can be difficult to maintain a traditionalist stance without sounding too preachy, Statik speaks with his mighty work ethic. Beyond his weekly radio show on Shade 45 and his busy schedule of DJ sets, he has created seven compilation albums and 17 collaborative albums since 2007. He is 34 years old and hes been working his whole life. He worked a 40-hour summer at age 13, hosted his first radio show at 14, and was DJing five nights a week at 17. He has always worked for himself and for the love of the culture. Now he has something else to work for: his wife and daughter.

One day in 2015, Statik pressed a microphone against his wifes pregnant stomach and recorded the heartbeat of Harley, their then-unborn daughter. His wife had been diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum, a disease that affects 2% of pregnant women with potentially life-threatening consequences for both mother and child. Statik took his daughters heartbeat and built an instrumental around it called Harleys Blues. was released on July 7th, 2015. Harley was born two weeks later.

In February, Statik spoke on the phone with HotNewHipHop about his place in hip hop and how his life has changed since he became a father. I gotta say no a lot more, he explained. Before I was doing so many favors for people. Now I gotta be a lot more specific in how I use my energy. I got a little girls future to take care of.

DJing as job

Statik was born in Lawrence, MA, a town about 30 minutes north of Boston. When he was four years old, he would play with his parents 8-track cassettes and pretend he was on the radio. His parents got divorced when he was eleven and he started acting out in school  throwing a chair at a classmate, threatening the principal, and similar dumb shit. He was sent to a school for troubled kids and educated himself by bumping the prevalent hip hop of that particular era: The Chronic, Doggystyle, and the like. It was very graphic, and I had to learn what condoms and blunts were, he said.

Soon after he returned home a few months later, Statik started making beats by looping drums on a cassette deck. He picked up DJing and worked constantly when he wasnt in school to save money to spend on vinyls. I was spending more on records than most people spend on their bills, he recalls.

Statik says the worst place he ever worked was McDonalds. But he doesnt regret it. A lot of this kids wish they worked at McDonalds and bought turntables instead of fucking around, he said. I threw my first show off working at McDonalds. Im proud of that shit.

Statik was performing DJ sets at such frequency that he was able to justify renting an apartment in Boston before he graduated from high school. He was making respectable money from his DJ sets, except for a brief stint when a club he performed at shut down. I had to get a real job for a couple months, he said. I worked for a packing store. It was humbling because I was like, damn, I thought I was good already. Right after that, I started grinding.

He soon leveled up from a 6-dollar-an-hour gig putting up stickers for Raucous Records to running his own street team that worked with everyone from G-Unit to Reebok to Def Jam. Five years later, he left Boston for New York City.

Statik has now been living in NYC for over ten years now. Despite the unfathomable amount of music he has released in that time period, it appears that his days of wheeling & dealing on full throttle are over. His wifes strenuous pregnancy and the task of caring for an infant have put a dent in his studio time, let alone his ability to travel. He estimates that 99% of STATIK KXNG, his collaborative album with Los Angeles vet and Slaughterhouse rep KXNG Crooked, was created over email.

Its funny, weve talked on the phone a thousand times, weve emailed a thousand times, but weve probably only hung out in real life like five times, Statik said. Thats not the way I usually work with people. People usually sleep on the couch and we have nine-in-the-morning sessions.

DJing as art

Statiks commitment to DJing and the medium of vinyl is multifaceted. Perhaps the biggest reason he has been unwilling to compromise with current hip hop trends is the pride he takes in his craft. He is a true craftsman, and he likes to work with other craftsmen. Thats what drew him to KXNG Crooked. Hes really about his art form, Statik said of Crooked, and so am I. I look at DJing the way he looks at rapping. Ill go for your neck if youre not on your shit. I think the bar needs to be raised, and hes the same way.

The other reason: due in large part to advancements in music technology, DJing is becoming something of a dying art, and Statik views himself as a sort of torch bearer. Its become a responsibility of us to make sure the kids know whats going on and know the right way to DJ, he explains. As far as making a career out of DJing with real vinyl, thats never gonna be relevant again. As long as they learn how to use the turntables and learn how to scratch and mix the right way, Im happy with that.

A nostalgic backlash against online streaming has caused vinyl sales to rise 32% in 2015 to $416 million, their highest total since 1988. This rekindled interest in vinyl encourages Statik.

One of the best parts of touring with Joey is the kids getting to see it, he said. Because its such a young crowd, theyve never even seen like a real DJ with turntables and all that. Having kids come up to me after the show like, Ive never seen anything like that. Especially nowadays, a lot of these dudes are performing with like fake-ass DJs or dudes pressing buttons and shit. I try and carry that tradition of Premo and Pete Rock and all them. I have to balance the street hip hop, the scratch world, turntablism, and my radio show. I try to take every world of DJing that I come from and hold the torch. Hopefully I get to pass it down the way they did to me.
The record store chain has also revealed that Hozier was the biggest selling Irish artist on vinyl this year

Golden Discs, the biggest and longest running record store chain in Ireland, celebrates Record Store Day this Saturday, April 16, with live performances in ten stores nationwide.

Record Store Day celebrates the unique culture of independently owned record shops and has become one of the biggest annual events on the music calendar. To mark the occasion Golden Discs will have live performances and great reductions on the day.

The performances nationwide are:

 Patrick St, Cork: Marlene Enright, Colm Fitzpatrick, Wasp vs Humans, Slow Motion Heroes, Lynda Cullen

 Stephens Green, Dublin: Hermitage Green

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 Swords: Fangclub, Gary Gamble

 Blanchardstown: Danny C

 Newbridge: Peter Doran, Vagabonds & Thieves, DJ performances

 Dun Laoghaire: Callum Orr, Niall Cash, Gary ONeill, Rebecca Cramer, The Dun Laoghaire Ukuhooligans

 Mahon: Raising Jupiter, Daniel Anderson

 Athlone: Macey South, Sean McKenna

 Waterford: DJ Performance

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 Clonmel: DJ performance

Golden Discs have revealed some interesting info about their sales over the last year with homegrown talent Hozier nabbing the top spot for best selling Irish artist on vinyl. Check out the stats below.

Top 5 best selling Irish Artists on Vinyl in Golden Discs for the past year are:

1. Hozier/Hozier

2. Thin Lizzy/Live and Dangerous

3. Kodaline/In A Perfect World

4. Everything This Way/Walking On Cars

5. Kodaline/Coming Up For Air

Top 10 best selling vinyl in Golden Discs for the past year are:

1. Nirvana/Unplugged

2. David Bowie/Black Star

3. Amy Winehouse/Back To Black

4. Hozier/Hozier

5. Stone Roses/Stone Roses

6. The Beatles/Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

7. Adele/25

8. The Eagles/Hotel California

9. Pulp Fiction Soundtrack

10. The Beatles/Abbey Road
Music

13 Apr 16

Album Review: Richmond Fontaine You can't go back if there's nothing to go back to
Cumberbatch is the latest to join the Marvel bandwagon and there are some very strange things going on.

The trailer has been released for Doctor Strange and it certainly has an Inception element.

No wonder Cumberbatch is looking so disheveled in the new trailer. If we were involved in a car crash, traveling back and forth in time and not really understanding how or why, we would be too!

Doctor Strange sees Cumberbatch play the titular character. As a New-York surgeon at the height of his game, a devastating car-crash changes his life forever. In trying to recover from the accident, he resorts to an unorthodox method through the mystic healer known as The Ancient One (played by the eerie Tilda Swinton). His endeavors with The Ancient One open up his world to a whole new batch of possibilities, expectations and dangers.

Chiwetel Ejiofar and Rachel McAdams are also among the cast with Scott Derrickson occupying the director's chair. Doctor Strange is set release in the UK on October 28 so it shouldn't be too long after that before we set our sights on it.

"You wonder what I see in your future? Possibility." pic.twitter.com/8IVll143VK  Doctor Strange (@DrStrange) April 13, 2016
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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-13 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Government's proposed bills adhere strictly to July deal, say gov't sources [02] Peace restored in Idomeni after refugee scuffles with FYROM police [03] Amendment submitted to parliament to extend operation of refugee centres [01] Government's proposed bills adhere strictly to July deal, say gov't sources The draft bills on taxation and social security reform which the Greek government is planning to submit to parliament "adhere strictly to the framework deal of last July and to the progress covered so far in the negotiations" with the country's creditors, government sources said on Wednesday. The sources were responding to a comment by the European Commission which said that an agreement will first have to be achieved between the two sides if any draft bills can be implemented by the government. "The bills are open to observations and changes that will emerge from the public consultation and further talks with the institutions, until the completion of the program review," the sources added. [02] Peace restored in Idomeni after refugee scuffles with FYROM police Peace was restored in the makeshift camp of Idomeni on Wednesday after earlier scuffles at the neutral zone between Greece and FYROM, when a group of refugees and migrants tried to cut a section of the fence separating the two countries. The protesting group left the area along with the Greek police force that was called in. Earlier, police arrested four more people as part of its efforts to crack down on the unknown individuals who misinform the refugees in the camp. The three Norwegians (two women and a man) and one Briton were detained for possessing a walkie-talkie inside their car, while a German national was also detained this morning for possessing a pepper spray. A second German national detained on Tuesday for possessing a knife was released after being given a court date in September. [03] Amendment submitted to parliament to extend operation of refugee centres A labour ministry amendment included in a draft bill will extend the operation of the open hosting centres for asylum seekers and other vulnerable groups of people. The program, which was deemed necessary by the increase of refugee flows, covers part of their needs for food, healthcare and provision of social services and is expected to cost 380,000 euros. The same amendment approved an extra 670,000 euros for the temporary accommodation centre for asylum seekers in Lavrio, whose operation has been assigned to the Hellenic Red Cross. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
ecent survey has found an interesting link between one common vice and a persons overall employability and eventual pay packet  but is the bad habit really to blame?According to a recent U.S. study, smokers on jobseekers allowance find it harder to land a job than those who are nicotine-free  when they do eventually get a chance, theyre paid NZ$7.27 less an hour.The researchers, from the Stanford University School of Medicine, also found that smokers were more than 25 per cent more likely to still be unemployed after a year, compared to non-smokers.Associate professor of medicine Dr Judith Prochaska acknowledged the link but said it was not yet clear if smoking was the cause or result of unemployment.You don't know if smokers have a harder time finding work or if smokers are more likely to lose their jobs  or that when non-smokers lose their jobs, they become stressed and start to smoke, she explained.Prochaska conducted the study in California, where it was revealed that the majority of unemployed job-seekers were habitual smokers.The study took into consideration the fact that the average smoker tends to be younger, less-educated and in poorer health than non-smokers  all differences which could influence a job-seekers ability to find work  and deliberately selected participants who had a similar background.The investigation followed 131 unemployed smokers and 120 unemployed non-smokers over a period of 12 months  despite having equal qualifications, after a year just 27 per cent of smokers had found jobs compared with 56 per cent of non-smokers.Smokers who did manage to find by the end of the year-long study earned on average NZ$7.27 less per hour than non-smokers.
Some people fit into girl and boy, and some people dont. And thats OK, because theyre still people.  Odessa Hewitt-Bernhard, 13

City View Alternative is comprised of four classes of Grade 7s and 8s. Just 64 students occupying half a hallway on the third floor of another, barely bigger junior public school. The property, in the Brockton Village neighbourhood of Torontos west end, has a history as a school since 1881.

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But perhaps City Views most pivotal year came in 2013 when 22 scissor-wielding students joined together to cut the ribbon on their new all-gender washroom.

Joshua Ostroff/HuffPost Canada Grade 8 students Odessa Hewitt-Bernhard, left, and Severn Lortie, right, show off City View's pioneering all-gender washroom.

City View became the first school in Toronto to have one, and the first in Canada to do so proactively rather than in reaction to a complaint.

It was also among the first to have a multi-stall, all-gender washroom rather than one single stall. (The school prefers the term all-gender than gender-neutral as its more inclusive.)

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A lot of people from outside the school ask me about it and say, Thats weird, said Odessa Hewitt-Bernhard, a Grade 8 student and member of the schools Queer-Straight Alliance (QSA). But because its not weird for me, I explain it how I see it: its a bathroom, its pretty in there, theres artwork. Its nice.

The fight for trans rights is the civil rights struggle of our time. But as the issue has risen to the forefront of politics and pop culture, the backlash has been harsh.

Theres North Carolinas infamous bathroom bill that bans trans people from using the bathroom of their gender identity, and prompted Bruce Springsteen to cancel a recent concert. Its one of 12 U.S. states with bathroom bills before legislatures and Canadas own transgender rights bill C-279 was derailed when a conservative senator added a discriminatory bathroom amendment. Nothing has been passed yet in its place.

Calgarys Catholic bishop recently played the totalitarian card over anti-discrimination guidelines for Alberta schools. Those were passed after a seven-year-old transgender girl from Edmonton was banned from using the girls washroom in a Catholic elementary school.

No issue is singular

Being at the edge of an issue is always interesting because you get to see the turns the issue takes, and you get to see how its affected by other things. No issue is singular, said 14-year-old Severn Sevy Lortie, another Grade 8 member of City Views QSA.

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For instance, religion is a big obstacle because you want people to be able to practice their religion, but the idea of having religious rights that exclude other peoples rights doesnt make sense to me. Like, our right is that you dont get to be together?

He added: For the record, I really do have nothing against religion itself. I think its amazing. You get stories, and its the embodiment of us trying to understand how everything works. I think the issue is when that understanding starts excluding people because you have this rigid path you want to follow  this is Gods way.

If I had a very religious Catholic person who was against [multi-stall all-gender bathrooms] I would never call them sexist or homophobic because as soon as you start using those, it just shuts everyone up. You dont need to go into the details of it. Id just say its for people who dont fit in.

Lens of social justice at school

Its not a huge surprise that City View was a pioneer on this front as their mandate is to teach through a social justice lens and to encourage activism. When consent was added to Ontarios updated sex-ed curriculum, it was a result of a school project by then-City View students Tessa Hill and Lia Valente. Their petition garnered 40,000 signatures and a meeting with Ontarios premier and education minister.

Like the consent issue, the push for an all-gender bathroom was also student-driven, arriving in the wake of the passage of Tobys Act in 2012, a transgender rights bill that added gender identity and expression to Ontarios human rights act.

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Social change is never easy. But we need to push forward. - Alberta Education Minister Dave Eggen

We started conversations about the difference between sex, gender and sexuality health classes with an eye to queering the health curriculum, recalled David Stocker, an award-winning City View teacher. Hes also the instructor in charge of the schools QSA and a father of three, including a trans-identified pre-teen, and the youngest, Storm.

If that name sounds familiar, thats because Stocker and his wife sparked an international media circus after a Toronto Star story on their decision to raise Storm as gender-neutral.

The impact of the new health class lesson plans on gender identity and expression was felt almost immediately in City Views hallway, Stocker said.

We started seeing graffiti go up on the washroom door signs. So people put a dress over one of the images on the boys washroom, and a sign went up beside the girls icon that not all girls wear dresses and then another sign that said girls or not-binary and boys or not-binary. We had this idea that a discussion was happening among the students.

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So we said, if our school is about social justice activism, maybe we have to look in our own hallway.

The students started advocating for a third option.

Students at City View Alternative School open a multi-stall, all-gender washroom. https://t.co/EyIO8QIVCIpic.twitter.com/oXkjIISKCF  The 519 (@The519)

The process took a few months. There were parent information sessions, which were relatively easy given the inherent progressive nature of City View parents, and consultations with the school board's gender-based violence prevention office, which asked how they had laid the foundation for a multi-stall all-gender washroom. That turned out to be key.

"If you just plop down an all-gender washroom because you legally have to, it's going to be very problematic. There will probably be violence in it, and people will be made fun of. So the TDSB (Toronto District School Board) has to work on creating an better environment," said Hewitt-Bernhard.

Setting a precedent

Since City View's bathroom opened, 50 other schools have followed suit. That was always the alt-school's strategy  set a precedent where it's easier and prove the potential. Now, due to an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal complaint by a trans child who was bullied over his gender identity in a bathroom, the TDSB announced in February that it will soon be available in all schools.

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CBC reported that after the decision the child "scrawled" a note, decorated with pencil stars, that read "I'm glad about what people have done about the bathroom issue. I hope nobody has to go through what I had to go through."

But Hewitt-Bernhard said schools need to go beyond what is mandated.

"Opening an all-gender washroom is basically just good PR, but creating a better environment for people who are trans and LGBTQ is not." She noted that while she supports awareness events like the International Day of Pink  an anti-bullying campaign with a focus on homophobia and transphobia  she said it needs to be incorporated into school every day.

"In class, we talk about issues of justice. One of the reasons one of the reasons our school is such a safe place is because of that."

Joshua Ostroff/HuffPost Canada Grade 8 teacher David Stocker also helps run City View's Queer-Straight Alliance club.

Stocker also noted that despite the expansion of all-gender washrooms and the fact that on paper the TDSB is one of the most progressive school boards on the planet, many, if not most, of them wont have multiple stalls.

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Thats where people start flying off the handle, he explained. People just dont worry so much about that because its a single person in there at any time.

The thing about the multi-stall thats so critical is that by making it available to everybody across the gender spectrum, which may include trans students, nobody has to out themselves, Stocker adds. The all-gender washroom was not about necessarily supporting trans students at all.

Trans people have a right to use the washroom of their lived identity. So if you are male assigned at birth and you feel like youre a girl, its likely and possible that you will use the girls washroom in the school and you have the legal right to do so. All-gender washrooms respond to students who are gender non-conforming or gender fluid, and allies.

Story continues after slideshow:

Transgender Heroes See Gallery

Since their all-gender bathroom opened, kids from City View have visited other schools to talk to parents and teachers about their experience and assuage their concerns. The experience has been challenging as the reaction outside of their school's progressive bubble has been more fraught.

"They were like, 'Woah, those parents are really upset, and I'm surprised,' Stocker said. "[They] thought this would just be a done deal. So there's still a lot of work to be done."

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"You have to be open," Lortie advised. "Its really easy to get angry at the person saying, 'Youre not credible, you're just kids.' But you have to see it from their perspective, and just work with them. I listened to the points they had to say, and I thanked them for sharing and that I welcomed the discussion and then I asked them questions."

Teaching other kids

Both Lortie and Hewitt-Bernhard said that teaching kids about gender identity and gender expression early is key. Though both come from progressive families, they said that when they arrived at City View in Grade 7, they didn't understand the issue or the need for an all-gender washroom.

"I think its important to start teaching these ideas as soon as possible," said Hewitt-Bernhard. "You don't need to say everything but it's important to know that people who are trans exist. Because if someone is young and they are trans, you dont want them to feel that they're wrong in some way.

"People know that they don't fit in at an early age."

Joshua Ostroff/HuffPost Canada QSA posters in the City View stairwell.

All-gender washrooms have since spread to schools across the country.

In Alberta, where there has been months of contentious debate, even Catholic schools met a March 31 deadline on submitting new gender diversity policies, which are now under review.

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Albertas Education Minister David Eggen acknowledged, Social change is never easy. But we need to push forward.

Its still somewhat piecemeal as far as accessibility, but despite efforts by some parents and religious organizations, the human rights argument has seemingly won the day when it comes to the battle over school bathrooms.

Well be on this path for some time

When the Vancouver School Board debated genderless washrooms in 2014, police were brought in to maintain order. But when North Vancouver installed its first gender-neutral washroom last fall, Seycoves principal Mark James was asked by VanCity Buzz if there was any pushback from parents, faculty or students. He responded none whatsoever.

The country seems to have move on, though Stocker noted a survey by Canadian human rights group, Egale, found that 61.5 per cent of trans students feel unsafe at school because of gender or gender expression, while over half of trans students feel unsafe in school washrooms, second only to phys-ed change rooms.

You still have significant amounts of homophobia and transphobia. So I think well be on this path for some time, said Stocker.

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Naturally, City View has started pushing us down that path already.

Its like being afraid of the dark, right? Youre afraid of what you dont know and you tend to close yourself off to that kind of stuff.

Last year, they offered the option of an all-gender cabin on their year-end trip, an idea prompted by a trans student who did not felt comfortable sleeping in a gendered tent during a fall camping trip and had wanted to stay home instead. There was a bit more concern here from parents, but the plan went ahead with four single gender cabins as well as four shared cabins with private change areas.

Lortie was one of the students who volunteered for the all-gender cabin. He described it as a great experience, and one that got him hanging around with people other than his best friends.

Its like being afraid of the dark, right? Youre afraid of what you dont know and you tend to close yourself off to that kind of stuff, said Sevy about parental concerns over these efforts to create trans-inclusive spaces. I dont put anyone down for that. Everyone is scared of something thats new to them.

Just because Im a kid doesnt mean Im immune to growing up and when Im an adult Im sure Ill be afraid of some thing for their kids. Ultimately, parents are really concerned for their childrens well-being  but how they do that should be evaluated.
Earlier this week, Rebecca-lynn Hookimaw was called to the community gym in Attawapiskat. There, the 16-year-old joined a group of youth to participate in an exercise to address the crisis they're currently facing.

The First Nation community of about 2,000 people has been rocked by a suicide epidemic. Since March, 39 people have attempted to take their lives. This number doesn't include a suicide pact among 13 youth, including a nine-year-old girl, that was stopped on Tuesday.

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"The greatest resource we have in this country is not the gold and it is not the oil. It is the children," Ontario MP Charlie Angus said during an emergency debate about the crisis in Attawapiskat First Nation at the House of Commons on Tuesday. "The day we recognize that is the day that we will be the nation we were meant to be."





While politicians debate about the best approach to deal with the issues facing this community, the youth are taking action.

"I was told to come to the gym, I didn't know what was going on," Hookimaw told HuffPost Canada Parents. "A guest was helping us out, setting up with papers and stuff and he let the youth draw a map. And [we] started brainstorming with ideas. Everyone got to participate."

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On big sheets of paper, the teens outlined things like what their community has, what they need, who can help them and what they themselves can do to help their community in northern Ontario.





The list of what they need includes a parenting centre, to be drug and alcohol free and traditional teaching. (A meeting with the Prime Minister got a big exclamation mark.)

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The actions the youth could do includes speaking out with respect, working together and to never give up.









Hookimaw posted photos of their work to the Attawapiskat Community Bulletin Facebook page, where they got a lot of attention -- and encouragement.

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"We are hearing your voices! You are the generation that can bring about change. Keep speaking out," wrote one commenter.

"Let's make it happen," wrote another. "These things are possible! And we are witnessing the youth take the lead! I'm tearing up... Wow. But it's for us, the adults, to help you build your dreams."

The positive response has meant a lot to Hookimaw. "I hope that things will change soon for me, the youth and everyone in Attawapiskat," she says. "I am trying to cope every day with depression and anxiety. I know it's not easy but soon things will all get better for myself and everyone that's going through a hard time in life right now."

Hookimaw knows the crisis personally. Her sister Sheridan took her own life last year when she was just 13 years old.

"Before all this happened, I lost hope," Hookimaw shares. "I wanted to give up on life. But now, I know that it shouldn't be that way. I'm slowly learning about life and taking it day by day."

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For generations, First Nations people met on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River in what is now Edmonton. Now, a piece of of the very same bank will host stunning pieces of indigenous art in a new park.

Six pieces of the permanent outdoor exhibit were unveiled at Edmonton City Hall on Tuesday.

The art park, located on the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River in Queen Elizabeth Park, is set to open to the public in fall 2018. It will be the city's first-ever Indigenous Art Park.

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The site was once homesteaded by early Metis pioneer Joseph MacDonald. A few miles south was a spot Chief Papaschases Band formerly settled.

Take a look at the six pieces of art chosen for the project. Article continues below.

Edmonton's Indigenous Art Park See Gallery

Public art is very much about place-making, said Katherine Kerr, Public Art Director for the Edmonton Arts Council, in a news release.

We want the Indigenous Art Park to not only showcase a diversity of exciting art and serve as a community gathering place, but also to ensure the works within are relevant and meaningful to the landscape and to Edmonton.

Edmonton is home to the second-largest urban indigenous community in Canada.

Six artworks were unveiled for #yeg 's Indigenous Art Park today! Queen E Park will be the proud home in 2018! pic.twitter.com/2f8re7Flso  City of Edmonton (@CityofEdmonton) April 12, 2016

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Some of the installations will include an amphitheatre  to inspire storytelling and gathering  and a giant reproduction of a buffalo bone.
Glen Allison

Edmonton housing prices could see a substantial drop soon as the number of vacant homes in the city soars.

In February, 1,328 newly built homes were unoccupied, according to Statistics Canada.

Numbers are troubling

ATB Financial economist Nick Ford says the high number of unabsorbed homes, or homes that are built but don't have a buyer, is troubling.

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"Firstly, having a rising number of unabsorbed houses can have a negative effect on prices," wrote Ford, in a blog post for ATB's blog The Owl.

"And, at a time when construction is already slowing, excess supply of housing stock is likely to slow the construction industry even further."

Prices have been stable

Up until now, house prices in Edmonton have stayed relatively stable.

Edmonton has yet to see any substantial price drop in residential housing. Calgary is seeing it already, but [in] Edmonton, I think, that will come, Todd Hirsch, chief economist with ATB Financial, told Metro News.

In the first three months of 2016, there were 2,111 housing starts in Edmonton, down 62 per cent from the same period in 2015, according to a report by the Canada Mortgage And Housing Corporation.

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"The glut in the market will affect the industry," said Richard Goatcher of the Canadian Home Builders' Association, in an interview with CBC News.

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Conservative accusations that the Liberals harbour "disdain" and "visceral hatred" for the Canadian military sparked a sharp rebuke from Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan in question period Wednesday.

But an exasperated eye-roll from a Liberal backbencher may have spoken even louder.

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Liberal MP Nick Whalen reacts to Tory MP Cheryl Gallant's remarks.

Tory MPs were critical that last month's federal budget punted $3.7 billion in planned defence spending and suggested the Liberals were already using a defence review to chart a path to reducing the Canadian Armed Forces.

Associate Tory defence critic Pierre Paul-Hus, a veteran himself, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has "paved the way" to weakening the armed forces by not acquiring F-35 fighter jets and promising to "replace combat capacity" with peacekeeping.

Sajjan shot back that the defence review was about making sure the military has what it needs for the future, and said the government was committed to replacing Canada's aging fighter jets and supporting the military.

Remark sparks groans

Paul-Hus suggested Liberals prefer handling defence questions behind closed doors and in committees where they won't be disturbed.

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"This is dangerous when we know their visceral hatred toward the Canadian Armed Forces," he said in French, according to a translator. The remark sparked groans.

"They're the ones who gave us leaky submarines and helicopters that can't take off."

"To hear that in this House is actually quite insulting, to be honest."  Harjit Sajjan

Paul-Hus asked the minister to confirm the national defence policy hasn't already been written by Trudeau. But his earlier quip didn't sit well with Sajjan, who is also an ex-soldier.

"To hear that in this House is actually quite insulting, to be honest," he said, adding that he has personally met with Paul-Hus to discuss these matters.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan speaks in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Wednesday. (Photo: Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

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Sajjan warned about going down to such a "level" by suggesting that any member of Parliament doesn't support the troops.

"Every member in this House supports our military. Let's not play this ridiculous game," he said, sparking applause from the Liberal bench.

Earlier, Tory MP Cheryl Gallant called the budget a "deceitful betrayal" of every Canadian who has ever served in the military.

She also called the defence review a "shameful" attempt to cover up "the disdain" Grits hold for the military.

Sajjan responded, but his remarks paled in comparison to the facial expressions of Liberal backbencher Nick Whalen, seated exactly two rows behind Gallant.

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Watch Gallant's full question and Whalen's reaction below:

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Even though she's a royal, Kate Middleton is just like us! (Sort of.)

For day four of the India royal tour, the Duchess of Cambridge visited Kaziranga National Park with husband, Prince William, and donned a rather accessible ensemble which you'd most likely find in we commoners wardrobes (unlike her stunning Jenny Packham and McQueen frocks): a $136 smock-style dress from British high-street brand, Topshop.

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The soft pink dress, which is already sold out on Topshop's website, featured a floral motif throughout and was accented with black embroidered details. The frock hit just-above the 34-year-old Duchess' knee and had a tie-up neckline with black tassels on the end.

Catherine paired the dress with a sensible pair of wedged espadrilles. Her long locks were tied back into a chic, low chignon, showing off her drop-down earrings beautifully.

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While at the conservation park, the Duke and Duchess made some new animal friends: a baby rhino and an elephant calf, whom they both fed and petted.

That wasn't Kate's only OOTD, however. Upon arriving at Kaziranga, she opted for a more casual, safari-chic ensemble consisting of a simple polka-dotted button down shirt, army green skinny jeans, boat shoes and Ray-Ban sunglasses. The royal couple was presented with traditional hand-woven scarves, before jetting off on a jeep to see the animals.

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For more photos from the India royal tour, check out the gallery below:

Royal Visit 2016 - India And Bhutan See Gallery
Here's something you don't see every day.

Officers from Ontario's Peel Regional Police attended a temple last week for a lecture on mindfulness meditation and Buddhist philosophy.

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The event at the West End Buddhist Temple and Meditation Centre was led by deputy abbot Bhante Saranapala.

"They were very nice and they liked it and they think it should be part of their daily practice," Saranapala told The Huffington Post Canada. He offers similar lectures to young professionals, teachers and students in Canada and the U.S.

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Saranapala said an officer approached him to organize the event.

"I think generally people have negative impressions about the police officers, and seeing some officers trying to do mindfulness meditation, [and] being at the front row of a Buddhist temple, they think it's very positive."

Saranapala  who says students gave him the nickname Urban Buddhist Monk because he "was a city monk"  said he's offering a similar course to Ontario Provincial Police officers in May.

Check out more photos of the lecture here.

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French's ketchup may be bottled in Canada using Canadian tomatoes.

But Primo Foods' ketchup is "100 per cent Truly Canadian."

The battle over most Canadian condiment is starting to look like a scene out of "West Side Story."

Last month, Primo, which is owned by Ruthven, Ont.-based company Sun-Brite Foods, released a sell sheet boasting the Canadian-ness of its tomato ketchup.

It noted that every bottle of Primo's ketchup is "packed right here in Canada, using Canadian ingredients."

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Its tomatoes are farmed in the Leamington area  as are those used by French's ketchup  and it's made using "Canadian labour, Canadian packaging, Canadian ownership" and "Canadian pride," the company said.

Sun-Brite founder and president Henry Iacobelli said Primo Foods, which is known for pasta sauces, started looking into ketchup when Heinz ended production at its Leamington plant in June 2014, CBC News reported.

The decision affected almost 1,000 workers.

Primo is testing the ketchup with shoppers in southwestern Ontario, focusing mainly on the London-Windsor areas, CTV News reported.

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And though the product hasn't yet gained a strong foothold in Canadian markets, Iacobelli hopes that jumping in on the so-called "ketchup war" makes a difference.

"The consumers are Canadian workers working for someone," Iacobelli told CBC News. "If we don't support each other, nobody else will."

French's ketchup became the subject of a social media frenzy after an Orillia, Ont. resident posted about it on Facebook.

Brian Fernandez said he would buy French's because it uses Ontario-grown tomatoes that are processed at Heinz's former plant in Leamington, which is now owned by Highbury Canco.

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The post was shared over 133,000 times.

And it helped convince food retailer Loblaws to stock French's ketchup on its shelves again, after removing it due to slumping sales.

"We will re-stock French's ketchup and hope that the enthusiasm we are seeing in the media and on social media translates into sales of the product," Loblaws spokesman Kevin Groh told The Toronto Star.

Ontario MPP Mike Colle had also threatened to lead a Loblaws boycott if the retailer didn't change its mind, the newspaper added.

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In part one of this series, I provided a brief primer on the Panama Papers and described why the individuals and organizations involved might not be held accountable. This article takes a closer look at the prevalence of tax evasion, and argues that leaks like the Panama Papers illustrate the need for enhanced global tax cooperation.

Cracking down on international tax schemes is no easy task. Nicholas Shaxson, journalist and author of Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World, has argued that tax authorities are frequently "undermined by armies of offshore enablers looking for loopholes: accounting firms, offshore company formation agents and trust companies and banks."

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Shaxson proposes that, in order for any headway to be made in tackling the "sprawling and many-layered system of tax havens and offshore secrecy," the international community needs to introduce tighter regulations, tough penalties for tax cheats, and more consistent enforcement. To achieve these objectives, the international community needs to develop better inter-jurisdictional information sharing practices.

There are several jurisdictions willing to look the other way while those with enough resources or technical knowledge find ways to avoid paying taxes.

The effort to promote global tax cooperation and information sharing is a longstanding international project. Current initiatives originated in the 1980s as a response to the deregulation of financial markets and the globalization of financial services.

In 1988, the OECD developed the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (the Convention), which they describe as a "comprehensive multilateral instrument available for all forms of tax co-operation to tackle tax evasion and avoidance." The Convention currently has 80 signatories. By September 2018, each of them will be required to obtain information about foreign account holders and exchange that information with the jurisdictions in which foreign account holders reside.

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While this is a good start, there are still many barriers to cooperation. The most obvious of these is that many countries have not signed on to the Convention. Those absent include known havens such as Panama, and the world's leading financial power, the United States.

As Shaxson points out, another hurdle to curbing tax evasion is that havens are not confined to small tropical nations. There are several jurisdictions willing to look the other way while those with enough resources or technical knowledge find ways to avoid paying taxes. Some governments are quite content to pad their balance sheets by actively encouraging this type of behaviour.

The United States offers some lucrative opportunities for those looking to avoid taxes. Nevada and Delaware are notorious examples. According to The Atlantic, these jurisdictions provide the essential formula for successful havens: low tax rates and high secrecy. In turn, they receive hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from corporate filings.

Columnist Daphne Bramham suggests that Canada is also complicit in supporting tax havens. She argues that some of Canada's bilateral tax treaties allow Canadian corporations to declare earnings in jurisdictions with low tax rates and then transfer them back as dividends without paying Canadian tax. This strategy, known as base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), is widely used by multinational corporations across the globe and is a major focus of the OECD's tax cooperation efforts.

Many Canadian financial institutions have effectively doubled down on these tactics by setting up shop in offshore financial centres. Figures from Statistics Canada show that, in 2014 Canada's finance and insurance sector held $313.5 billion in offshore holdings. Not all of these dollars represent investments in tax havens, but places such as Barbados, the Cayman Islands, and Bermuda do account for a substantial amount of Canada's FDI.

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Canada and the United States are certainly not the only offenders. Oxfam's research indicates that European jurisdictions such as Luxembourg, Malta, and Andorra are sitting on a sizable pile of cash. As a whole, they estimate that the European Union is home to roughly two-thirds of the money hidden by wealthy individuals in tax havens across the globe.

Difficult though it may be to address, tax evasion is a problem that cannot be ignored. It is hard to know exactly how much money is hidden in tax havens or passed through elaborate BEPS schemes, but some estimates range from $21 trillion to $32 trillion US.

Oxfam proposes that missing taxes from money stored in offshore accounts represents $156 billion in lost tax revenues -- enough to lift every person on the planet out of extreme poverty. Shockingly, their calculation doesn't even include revenues lost to the tax dodging initiatives employed by multinational corporations. When corporate filings are considered, the European Union found that tax evasion could costs up to 1 trillion euros, or 1.14 trillion U.S. dollars.

The Economist has argued that governments hoping to combat tax evasion should try lowering corporate tax rates. They propose that taxing corporations is inefficient, as costs are often passed on to consumers. Lower taxes, they say, would reduce the incentive for corporations to shift profits to different jurisdictions. However, they also concede that, because many individuals would simply incorporate themselves to take advantage of low corporate rates, this strategy would require increased vigilance on the part of tax authorities.

Rather than throwing in the towel, governments could make an earnest effort to tighten their domestic regulations and continue to pursue multilateral initiatives aimed at combating tax evasion. Increased cooperation and transparency would greatly reduce the need to partake in a race to provide the most corporate-friendly tax laws. Instead, governments could focus on investing in the infrastructure and skilled populations that corporations need to thrive.

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International economic activity is continuously bolstered by technological improvements and increasingly robust legal frameworks designed to facilitate international trade, investment, and financial services. If the economic growth associated with globalization is to be fair, inclusive, and socially and environmentally sustainable, governments must ensure that regulatory standards keep pace with these economic agreements and technological advancements.

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Physician-hastened death is a puzzle, and one that, despite its complexity, we as a society have been tasked to assemble. Some of its pieces are so different from one another, it is hard to imagine how they might fit into a cohesive whole. And yet by June 6th -- the deadline set by the Supreme Court of Canada -- time will have run out, and whatever the state of assembly may be, it will depict our response to suffering and end-of-life decision making for generations to come.

As drafters of legislation slog their way through the mind-numbing variety of pieces and possible configurations, here are a few strategies that puzzle mavens have long counted on.

First, get a sense of what the puzzle might look like. With respect to physician-hastened death, one option looks like the Benelux countries, which allow euthanasia or assisted suicide in response to suffering, independent of life expectancy and in some jurisdictions, independent of age.

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Another option resembles Quebec or Oregon, where eligibility is confined to end-of-life circumstances for competent adults only. A uniquely Canadian option depicts a balance between carefully regulated physician-hastened death, and our constitutional obligations to protect vulnerable persons from harm.

Next, locate the frame within which the rest of the puzzle is assembled. Regarding physician-hastened death, a critical framing question is: 'Do we consider this a part of medicine?' The response to this query fundamentally determines the placement of many subsequent pieces.

If physician-hastened death is part of the continuum of medicine, then we must treat it as such. Like any other new treatment or clinical innovation, it demands careful evaluation and methodological rigor, including fixed eligibility criteria, detailed data collection, objective monitoring of outcomes and tracking of adverse effects; the ability to analyze cumulative data, with incremental ramping up entirely based on preceding trial outcomes.

We would insist on no less stringency for a new cold remedy or wart ointment, let alone physician-hastened death.

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Others insist that physician-hastened death is not part of medicine. While chairing the External Panel for the Federal Government on Legislative Options for Carter v. Canada, I heard many clinicians, including those involved in these practices, describe it as 'a social intervention.' One American physician referred to his role in assisted suicide as 'an act of love.'

If not a medical act per se, then drafters of legislation must embed it within a broad legal and social policy framework, mindful of equity, justice, transparency and the social determinants of health. Within this context, eligible patients who wish to have their lives ended could continue to avail themselves of whatever social supports and medicine have to offer, while at the same time pursuing a regulated Criminal Code exemption to permit a hastened death.

Finally, puzzle connoisseurs will arrange similar pieces, based on color, texture or other distinguishing features. Regarding physician-hastened death, the pieces divide into three thematically distinctive groups. The first group I would label 'evaluating and responding to suffering.' These pieces are very familiar to healthcare professionals across multiple disciplines, and ones they are entirely comfortable dealing with: determining the source and nature of a patient's suffering, coming up with treatment options and attempting therapeutic measures to mitigate the patient's distress.

The next group of pieces I would label 'decision making.' These are perhaps the trickiest ones to place. If physician-hastened death is framed as a medical act, then decision-making pieces must comply with standards governing all clinical innovations, particularly pre-approval, to be sure that protocol requirements have been fulfilled before administering a hastened-death.

If physician-hastened death is not framed as a medical act, then decision making pieces of the puzzle will have legal markings, giving shape to a process that determines eligibility, screens for undue influence and verifies informed consent.

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The final group of pieces I would label 'carrying out the hastened death.' While the court will have made this legal, it does not de facto make it medical. The External Panel was told there are no doctors on the premises when organizations such as Dignitas or Exit help patients die and that non-medical personnel are very proficient in carrying out this task.

While physicians may choose to include hastened death within their scope of practice, it is not a forgone conclusion that this will or necessarily should remain within their exclusive domain.

In the days ahead, Parliamentarians will be debating legislation governing the practice of physician-hastened death. Putting this puzzle together will take wisdom and courage. Here is hoping the picture that emerges is coherent and just, as each piece falls into place.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE - This undated file image posted on a militant website on Jan. 14, 2014, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows fighters from the Islamic State group marching in Raqqa, Syria. The Islamic Stateas gruesome rampage across the Middle East has united the world in horror but left it divided over how to refer to the group, with observers adopting different acronyms based on their translation of an archaic geographical term and the extent to which they want to needle the group. (AP Photo/Militant Website, File)

In 1993, the late Samuel Huntington published his highly controversial essay in Foreign Affairs magazine entitled "The Clash of Civilizations" (which became the object of a book in 1996).

Huntington argued that future divisions amongst humanity and the dominating source of conflict would be cultural. Nation states would remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal global conflicts would occur between nations and groups of different civilizations.

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In effect, he contended, the fault lines between civilizations will become the key battle lines. He dismissed the notion of a universal civilization, stating that human beings are divided along cultural lines -- Western, Islamic, Hindu and so on -- each group with its own distinct set of values.

According to Huntington, Islamic civilization was the most troublesome given that Muslims' primary attachment was to their religion, not the nation-state, and that their culture is unreceptive to certain liberal ideals like pluralism, individualism and democracy.

Hence Huntingdon's clash of civilizations narrative insists that there is an irreconcilable conflict between Islamic and Western Civilization. Paradoxically the leaders of global terrorist movements such as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) unequivocally agree with Huntingdon's view and have done their best to propagate it.

Regrettably, the Canadian majority concurs that "there is an irreconcilable conflict between Western societies and the Islamic faith in the world."

Critics contend that Huntington's arguments are a vast oversimplification of reality that requires generalizations about language, history, customs, institutions and, most importantly, religion. The very assumption that civilizations have distinct values can be misleading especially since the entities in question are culturally diverse and certain not ideologically monolithic.

Often regarded as one of the main adherents of the Huntington thesis, historian Bernard Lewis acknowledges the important divisions in the Islamic world with multiple sub-cultures and tribes he points out "... that Islam is less unified than any other civilization."

Even some of the more thoughtful media has encouraged the Huntingdon thesis. A February 2015 column in the New York Times appeared under the title "Islam and the West at War." The title is undoubtedly fodder for the fundamentalists.

Regrettably, the Canadian public seems to feel that the Huntingdon thesis has legitimacy as the majority concurs that "there is an irreconcilable conflict between Western societies and the Islamic faith in the world." Ten surveys conducted between 2012 and 2016 by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies reveal that 55 to 60 per cent of Canadians subscribe to Huntingdon's thesis.

In January 2016 the idea was strongly supported by 26 per cent of Canadians with some 28 oer cent somewhat in agreement, 19 per cent somewhat disagree, 12 per cent strongly disagree, 12 per cent don't know and three per cent prefer not to answer.

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Even those Canadians most convinced there is an irreconcilable conflict between Islam and the West see dialogue as a critical counterterrorism measure.

It's worth noting that those Canadians strongly persuaded by the Huntingdon thesis are least likely to trust Muslims and most likely to view them negatively (with 65 per cent saying they don't trust them and 70 per cent holding a negative view of Muslims).

On the other end of spectrum, some 16 per cent of those out rightly rejecting the Huntingdon thesis distrust Muslims and 13 per cent view them negatively.

There are important caveats in the Canadian endorsement of the Huntington thesis. A poll conducted a decade earlier in 2007 by the British firm Globescan reveals that 73 per cent believe that common ground can be found between Muslim and Western cultures while just 16 per cent believe that violent conflict is inevitable.

A significant majority (56 per cent) of Canadians sees "conflicts about political power and interests" as the source of tensions between Islam and the West, while 29 per cent believe they arise from religious and cultural differences. It's true that there is ground to challenge the way in which the options are framed for the survey respondents, but consider yet another caveat to Huntingdon that arises from a 2015 ACS-Leger survey.

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In effect, while a majority of Canadians agree with Huntington's proposition, the majority also agree that dialogue between religious groups is essential in the fight against terrorism. Even those Canadians most convinced there is an irreconcilable conflict between Islam and the West see dialogue as a critical counterterrorism measure. Alas, Canadians believe in the possibility of reconciling the irreconcilable. There yet remains hope for the future.

Jack Jedwab is the author of Counterterrorism and Identities: Canadian Viewpoints (LLP, 2015).

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HeroImages via Getty Images Businesswoman reading newspaper in airplane

"Long flights can either be the best thing ever or the absolute worst," says Heather Greenwood Davis, award-winning travel writer and founder of GlobetrottingMama.com. Davis has learned this during her extensive travels around the world, most recently to long-haul destinations such as the Azores and Hawaii.

Often, she's expected to launch right into a full day of tours and meetings without first heading to a hotel to catch some sleep or even splash some water on her face. So, how does she stay fresh when facing a long flight?

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"Sometimes refreshing is also about not losing the freshness to begin with. To that end, I tend to wear very little makeup on the flight and use moisturizer throughout," she says.

Banking executive and business writer Dina Vardouniotis agrees. She travels frequently with her family and for work, where she often exits the airport and heads right into all day meetings.

"Don't wear makeup when you're flying out an early morning flight... having to be at the airport a couple of hours early at best plus flight and travel to your meetings means you'll have half worn out face by the time you see one person that knows who you are." Instead, Vardouniotis brings a mini pouch of makeup essentials in her purse and heads straight to the airport washroom for a fresh application.

Davis agrees, adding that she also brushes her teeth when she lands. Of course, being physically refreshed is only part of it; mental freshness is also very important, particularly if you're heading into an important meeting or heading out onto a press tour.

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"At the hotel, sometimes I only have an hour or so before I have to hit the ground running again" says Davis. "I've recently begun to include meditation in my days and a quick guided meditation from either an app or a YouTube video can do wonders in about 20 minutes. It's like a nap for those of us who can't nap."

Ah, the elusive Plane Nap. While many of us try to catch some sleep on an early morning or red-eye flight, the rest of us try to power through with caffeine.

But overdoing it can make for a restless night when you finally land. As well, Vardouniotis knows, "coffee makes for bad breath." Instead, she hydrates with water and carries Excel gum to freshen up just before stepping into a meeting.

Vardouniotis also maximizes the time spent on a long flight to prepare for when she lands. "Don't use the plane ride to chat with a stranger or watch a new movie release," she says. Instead, "go over your notes so that you freshen up on concepts and messages."

If you have to fly overnight with the expectation that you'll be meeting folks within minutes of landing, consider travelling in more comfortable clothes and changing into your more business-like outfit at the airport. Above all, take the time to review your schedule and look for opportunities to take a few minutes to refresh and revive your body and your brain before meeting back up with the real world.

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Steve Hamblin/Fuse via Getty Images Healthcare application

After living amid the Syrian refugee crisis in Turkey for a year after graduating from the University of Toronto, Nouhaila Chelkhaoui knew she wanted to help make a positive impact on the lives of newcomers.

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Her return to Toronto gave her the opportunity to do just that, as she joined U of T startup iamsick's newest initiative, which helps refugees navigate Canada's complex healthcare system.

iamsick is a digital health platform that focuses on providing people with access to healthcare services. Whether it's a doctor accepting new patients, a walk-in-clinic that's open late, a pharmacy, a diagnostic lab or nearby emergency room, iamsick shows users their nearest healthcare option anytime, Canada-wide.

Their new refugee initiative aims to build onto their pre-existing platform by adding several features that focus on the needs of refugees.

"We have identified many Arabic speaking healthcare professionals across Canada, plus Arabic is now one of five languages the platform itself has been translated into," said Chelkhaoui, now an account manager at iamsick. "We've also established a direct phone line for assistance in English, Arabic and French for two hours a week so refugees who don't have access to the internet or aren't tech savvy can still get the information they need."

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Chelkhaoui, a former international student in the department of political science, says she has always been passionate about human rights. After spending a year working in Turkey and being exposed directly to the Syrian refugee crisis there, she has been especially driven to make a positive change.

"Compared to Turkey, Canada has been incredibly receptive to Syrian refugees, offering an overwhelming amount of support," said Chelkhaoui. "We recognize the diligent efforts by the community to support newcomers, unfortunately many of these efforts remain uncoordinated and ineffective."

To address this, in addition to building new features to help newcomers, iamsick has been working closely with a number of local partners to maximize their impact by sharing resources and information on multiple levels - from government to grassroots organizations.

"A main component of iamsick's refugee initiative is its partners," said Ryan Doherty, co-founder of iamsick. "Our partners not only make us stronger and help us spread the word, but they offer feedback and suggestions as experts in refugee settlement work."

WelcomeHomeTO, an initiative spearheaded by U of T alumna Derakhshan Qurban-Ali together with a team of engaged citizens, is among the partners collaborating with iamsick.

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"Working with WelcomeHomeTO has been meaningful for me particularly," said Chelkhaoui.

"Derakhshan comes from a family who were Afghan refugees, and myself being an international student from Morocco, I believe this kind of partnership represents the student body from a newcomer background and we hope it serves to inspire and empower students from all backgrounds to go after their dreams to make an impact."

iamsick is also working with Toronto Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs), regional umbrella offices for immigration efforts and organizations that are helping newcomers settle.

Through discussions with partners such as WelcomeHomeTO, and LIPs as well as the refugees themselves, iamsick also plans on expanding its search filters to include gender, mental health services, community health centres and even Interim Federal Health Program providers for those who are not covered by Ontario's health insurance program.

"The important thing to think about is continuation," explained Doherty. "There's a strong focus on supporting refugees when they arrive, but after a number of months they will be settling into their new homes and may begin to experience challenges navigating their new environment. Having a website and app like this, which focuses on language barriers and showing what's available, is extremely useful to them as it is to any Canadian trying to navigate our complex healthcare system."

While the initiative was inspired by the newly arriving Syrian refugees, iamsick has identified healthcare professionals across Canada who speak more than 80 languages, in a bid to make the platform friendly to refugees, newcomers and Canadians alike.

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The five things you need to know on Wednesday April 13, 2016

1) JEZ'S JOURNEY

Its the first PMQs for weeks and theres lots of topics for David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn to clash over. Corbyn likes to go off-piste so maybe he will raise the way a parish council is charging Park Run fun-runners to use its park. Maybe hell raise the Guardian story about a privatised ambulance service in Surrey descending into a shambles. Or maybe hell focus on Government defeats over the Housing Bill in the Lords (another defeat is due today). Then again, he may just want to focus on steel (though will he thank Prince William for raising it with the Indian PM?)

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One area where Corbyn has so far not been that vocal is, of course, on staying in the EU. Tomorrow all that will change with his Big Speech on the issue. The Times says Corbyn will relate his personal journey from voting to leave the Common Market in 1975 to his support for a social Europe now.

Asked by ITV News if Labour had so far not done enough to make the case, John McDonnell said: "No we haven't, because our focus has been on the local elections and the other elections. But as we move towards it you'll see us upping our campaign and going on the stomp around the country.

The IMF warnings about Brexit helped the Remain camp yesterday, though I have to say its case was pretty thin, with zero evidence that the referendum had hit growth. Meanwhile, Tory voters and Corbynistas alike have been sending back *that* Government leaflet with graffiti abuse. The Telegraph splashes on its scoop that the Tory donors, the Midlands Industrial Council, will give unto 5m to the anti-EU campaign. The sheer fury of Tory MPs over that leaflet cannot be overestimated.

But immigration remains the Leave camps strongest card, and todays Oxford Uni stats on souther Europe migrants wont help the In camp. Neither will the Mail and Times stories on the National Crime Agency revealing the traffickers working to get people over the Channel (even tho NCA chief Lynne Owens said it showed how vital EU cooperation was). Gisela Stuart today has another tack: the ageing population in Europe is a demographic timebomb for the UK.

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Oh, and one more boost for the Outers. Politico reports that Spotifys founders are set to quit the EU over sky-high tax rates on stock options, housing shortages and outdated schooling.

2) TAX ATTAX

Prosecutors and police have raided the offices in Panama City of the offshore specialist firm Mossack Fonseca. But over here the tax row is rapidly running out of steam without any major new revelations. Will the PMs mystery 73k in shares be forced into the open by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner next week?

But Jeremy Corbyns own tax return continues to attract interest. Depending on your viewpoint, the Labour leaders form may prove hes either refreshingly like many ordinary punters - or staggeringly shambolic and not the kind of guy you want running the country. In fact his tax return wrongly over-estimated his income from lectures and opinion poll surveys (as PolHomes comparison with his Register of Interest showed). That meant he may have paid more tax than he actually owed.

But Corbyn also failed to give full details of his work pension (from his time working for a council before he became an MP) or his state pension that he started to receive last May. In fact, he was taxed at source on his work pension and the taxman took full account of it. As for the state pension, thats unclear. The Sun reports that Corbyn breached Parliamentary rules in not registering his lecture income within 28 days, but it sounds like his office will take that one on the chin, pointing out he was just a backbencher for most of last year and does not have an accountant, he does it all himself.

Corbynistas are furious at the Telegraphs totting up of his MPs salary and pension over his Parliamentary career (it adds up to 3m). But elsewhere the Tel reports that five Shad Cab members argued yesterday that only the leader and Shadow Chancellor should reveal their tax returns: with Thornberry, Abbott, Burnham and Powell among them.

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As it happens, Im told John McDonnell told colleagues at Shadow Cabinet that he felt that Labour had done such a good job in pressuring the Tories over tax that the Shad Cab was now a Government in exile. As for wider Labour infighting, moderates are delighted that Ken Livingstone is way behind in nominations for the NEC.

3) WHAT HO, WHITTO?

John Whittingdale last night issued a statement to Newsnight in which he confirmed that hed had a relationship with a woman who was also a dominatrix. The six-month fling ended before he became Culture Secretary. "This is an old story which was a bit embarrassing at the time. The events occurred long before I took up my present position and it has never had any influence on the decisions I have made as culture secretary, he said.

At risk of sounding like a wizened old member of the media club, I have to say I cant see what all the fuss is about. Yes newspapers like the Sun, Mail on Sunday, People and Independent all looked at the story years ago and decided not to run it. But it appears they each decided there was little public interest in doing so. Papers have yet to explain what the public interest is in revealing the celebrity threesome case though.

Ex tabloid editor Neil Wallis was succinct on Today, pointing out that there was now an alliance of "Hacked Off, some nut job conspiracy website and the BBC" to get papers to invade a minister's privacy. "The world has changed, we do not see stories being published like this anymore: 'Single man dated single woman before he was a minister'."

What is odd is that Whittingdale didnt tell No10 about his previous relationship when he was offered the Cabinet post. Downing Street say that as a single man this is a private affair, but the potential for future blackmail may worry some in Whitehall. Thats precisely why the PM he had his own sit down with the Cabinet Secretary (as he revealed this week) to run through his friends and connections soon after taking office.

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Whittingdale made no secret that he prefers a light-touch approach to press regulation. The one possible area where hes open to criticism is that he had once hinted that Leveson 2 should go ahead, but has since changed his mind. That could be Labours focus, given both Tom Watson and Jeremy Corbyn are so keen on the next stage of Leveson. However, Diane Abbott signally refused to comment on Whittingdale's 'private life' on Today.

BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR

Watch Tory MEP Syed Kamall signal what he thinks of ex-Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt in the Euro Parliament. I wonder if an MP would get away with a similar un-Parliamentary hand gestures in the Commons?

4) WHO'S THE GUV'NOR?

The No10 read-out of Cabinet yesterday was notable for the way it included Nicky Morgan telling colleagues about her education White Paper reforms. The Education Secretary said she would seek to remove misconceptions about her plans, not least the role of parent governors, as she pushed ahead with her rapid programme to turn all schools into academies.

Shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell said she hoped that was a code for a swift U-turn or concession. Lets see. Downing St said it didnt want schools to be required to have parents as governors but still encouraged them to apply. Lots of non-political parents are unhappy at the idea that they are no longer needed, so this is a tricky one for Morgan.

And today Powell leads an Opposition Day debate on the academies plan. Labours aim today is not to wind up the Tories, but to unite with those Tory backbenchers who have concerns about the Morgan plans. As Chris Cook pointed out on Newsnight, there is lots of unease about whether the system can cope with such rapid change. Of 850 sponsors, only 20 have been assessed and just three have proved more effective than non-academies, Cook said.

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Labour also has some Commons Library figures claiming schools must find 7.5 billion of savings over the Parliament, as their budgets face the first real terms cut since mid-1990s.

5) CRABB SANDWICH

Stephen Crabbs speech yesterday underlined just how determined he was to put his own personal stamp on his DWP brief. Crabb made clear he wanted to draw a line under the Treasurys abandoned plans to slash disability benefits, stressing that he wanted to end the disability employment gap (which was also an IDS pledge). He said the gap isnt because of a lack of aspiration on the part of sick and disabled people.

Crabb also admitted that for many there was no golden age of social mobility and wins rare praise from the Mirror for pointing out that financial support for people facing poverty is vital. And as a former council house boy himself, he rammed home just what a different kind of Tory he was: I always tell my colleagues - never, never underestimate the importance of a family in need getting that support in a timely and effective way. Note he added that he will be leading a more coherent and collaborative government strategy. That sounded like another message to the Treasury.

The Work and Pensions Sec made a robust defence of Universal Credit (Owen Smith was swift to seize on that) but there was an intriguing bit of his pre-briefed speech that didnt make the cut. He had been due to talk about evidence that, where children come from a lone parent family or have chaotic upbringings, they are far more likely to fail at school, turn to crime or fall into substance abuse and We do the children of this country a huge disservice if we are neutral on family structure. As the Sun points out, neither line was delivered.

Im told this was simply because the minister decided the phrases werent the sort of expressions hed use rather than some last-minute worry about the sensitivities of lone parents. In fact, Crabb used his speech to praise his own mother Jacqui (who brought him up after his abusive father left home) as an amazing role model who had gone from benefit dependency to gradually more hours in work. Yet more proof that this is one Tory Cabinet minister unafraid of marrying the personal with the political.

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On the feast day of Saint Constantine and Elena, tourists gather in the villages of southeastern Bulgaria to watch the centuries-old tradition of fire dancing. These nestinari dancers, moving in a trancelike state barefoot on smoldering embers while holding the icons believed to protect them from the fire, carry out a ritual mixing Eastern Orthodox beliefs and pagan traditions from the Strandja, a mountainous region stretching into northern Turkey.

As described in Stork Mountain (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, March 2016, 8.99) by Miroslav Penkov:

"Every year, for thirteen hundred years, the nestinari dance. Come spring, come June, come the feast of Saint Constantine, the feast of Saint Elena, they build tall fires, three cartloads of wood torched and burned to embers. And then, barefooted, they take the saint's invisible and holy hand and plunge into the living coals. The drum beats wildly, the bagpipes screech. Sickness and worry, happy and bliss - the fire consumes them all. Here in the Strandja Mountains, where the nestinari dance, the fire leaves nothing."

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The Strandja, also spelled Strandzha, is known for more than just the fire dancing. It is a somewhat mysterious region rich in folklore, legends, and myths. It is an area marked by diverse fauna and flora. Its houses have a "ground floor with walls of neatly fitted stones, where back in the day the cattle slept. The floor above - a deck with walls of wide, oak-wood planks; a covered corridor encircling the rooms, a terrace, and in one corner, the privy." The Strandja villages, inhabited by Christians and Muslims, Bulgarians, ethnic Turks and Greeks, are rooted in the traditions of the past, mostly keeping modernity at arm's length.

And then there are the storks. "Each year, on their way from Africa to Europe and then back, the storks passed over the Strandja Mountains." They flew over the Via Pontica, the ancient Roman road running along the shores of the Black Sea. "The nests in the branches were heavy with mating storks. But these storks were smaller than the others in the village. And they were black." White storks are much more common but black storks, and one bird in particular, are constantly present in the novel whose title pays them tribute.

It is to this mystical, enchanting region that the unnamed protagonist returns from his family's self-imposed exile in the United States. "And there on the hem, in the hills of the Strandja, written on the map in a font different from that of all other villages around it, was nestled Klisura. It was to Klisura I was now headed. It was in Klisura that my grandfather was hiding."

The young man tells his grandfather "about [his] failed studies in America, about [his] lost scholarship and hefty student loans." His grandfather, once exiled from the Strandja himself, resides on the family's property. "It was this land, or at least my share of twenty acres, that now I had returned to sell," his grandson relates.

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The return to the Strandja gets off to a bad start when a hot, dry dust-laden wind called a simoom traps him in a bus station, covering everything with sand scooped up from the Sahara. There is illness in the village - some of the young girls are burning with an uncontrollable fever that possibly can only be relieved if they dance in the embers like the nestinari. There are tensions too, between the village's Christians and Muslims, between those who want to hold onto their land and those who want to sell their houses to make way for the construction of wind turbines.

Life in Klisura is filled with the story-telling of legends and lore of a revolutionary past, with tales of the soldiers who traveled through and conquered the Strandja, and of the gods and goddesses who ruled its rolling hills. These tales fuse fact and fiction, especially during the long, heavy winters when the nights were "dark and lonely", with the wind "polishing the snow into an icy crust." Mysteries and secrets abound, and love as well. The folklore and wonder of this compelling novel remain in one's mind for a long time after reaching its end.
We're not even half way through the EU referendum campaign. Yes, over two more months of euro trash still to come. The latest plotline has brought us the usual claim and counter claim: the IMF warns Brexit will cause severe damage, Cameron says the IMF is right, Vote Leave says the IMF is wrong. The public are left none the wiser.

Both sides have been calling for less scaremongering and more facts. But how will that ever happen when one side's facts are viewed by the other side as scaremongering? Sensible coverage seems less and less possible amid the noise of personality politics, Tory backstabbiing, Labour bickering, contentious leaflets and disputed letters to newspapers.

The BBC, obliged to remain impartial unlike the rest of the overtly partisan media, appears to have been employing editorial weighing scales to ensure it's providing so-called balanced coverage. You can see the lengths it goes to in this report to give the same number of quotes to each side, balancing Cameron and Osborne against Farage and Lamont, allowing Vote Leave a few more sentence inches than Stronger In to counterbalance the IMF's slightly larger word quota as the source of the story. Even the payoff requires a pro-Brexit comment by Moody's to be neutralised by a pro-EU one from the CBI.

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But is this well-intentioned attempt to maintain editorial equilibrium constructive for informing our decision-making - or is it throwing us off balance?

Around the time the IMF report came out I happened to be discussing the difficulties facing the media in election time with the eminent author and New York Times journalist David Bornstein, co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network. As its name suggests solutions journalism, often also called constructive journalism (which I've written about here), is about focusing on people working toward solutions to pressing problems, rather than concentrating solely on what's going wrong. I wondered if the solutions-focused approach could be helpful in election periods.

Bornstein responded by making an interesting distinction between the traditional binary model that journalists tend to employ to get to the truth and a more scientific approach. The former uses the clash of opposing viewpoints, the latter involves observation and synthesis of evidence and drawing inferences to approach the truth. Bornstein believes the solutions journalism model is more in line with the scientific method.

The difficulty though with the current EU referendum campaign is that there's nothing directly comparable to observe or infer from, as no nation state has ever left the EU. Nevertheless there are comparisons that can be made. The closest example we have is of Greenland, one of Denmark's overseas territories, which voted to leave the EU in 1982. Helpfully the BBC's Carolyn Quinn went there to investigate what actually happened and so can provide concrete evidence.

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Reporting from countries that aren't members of the EU or other politico-economic unions can also offer valuable, evidence-based information and provide a welcome substitute for the claims about those countries from those with vested interests in the outcome of the referendum.

Another way to cut through the noise of elections, says Bornstein, is to ensure it is the voters who set the agenda, not the candidates.

In one key swing state in the presidential election, he told me about a project that's underway in which several local news organisations have polled voters about their main priorities. From this they've been able to produce a list of the top issues and are able to explore different approaches to dealing with those issues. So when candidates are interviewed, they can be questioned very specifically on the voters' concerns and possible responses. That makes it harder to avoid answering meaningful questions.

It's crucial therefore that journalists engage with the public to ensure it's the voters who are calling the shots and setting the agenda rather than the politicians. And journalists need to deliver the factual back up, rather than allowing the politicians to provide their own subjective statistics.
Two years ago 276 girls were kidnapped from Chibok in northeast Nigeria by Boko Haram and the world responded with the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Two years later, most of the girls remain missing.

Since the time when the girls were taken from their school by armed militiamen, the impact of the conflict on children has grown dramatically. Over the past year, 44 children have been used as suicide bombers. In fact, the number of children used in suicide attacks has increased ten-fold over the last year and over 75% of the children involved in the attacks are girls. Nearly one out of every five suicide bombers is a child.

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Eleven year old Nigerian refugee, Talatu John, fled to the Minawao refugee camp in Northern Cameroon, after her aunt and uncle were killed by Boko Haram.

The calculated use of children who have been coerced into carrying bombs, has created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion within the region. And as suicide attacks involving children becomes commonplace, some communities are beginning to see children as threats to their safety.

Nowadays, violence and attacks against civilian populations in parts of Nigeria are a daily occurrence and schools, teachers and children - especially girls' education - continue to remain a target.

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Children, led by teacher Yafati Sanda (at blackboard), recite numbers during a class in an informal learning centre in a UNICEF-supported safe space for children in the Dalori camp for internally displaced people, in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri in Borno State. Ms. Sanda, who manages the space, was the principal at the Government Secondary School in Bama until the town was attacked by Boko Haram insurgents.  UNICEF/ Esiebo

As a result, this conflict has forced more than 670,000 children out of the classrooms, adding to the 11 million children of primary school age who were already out of school in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger before the onset of the crisis.

Across these countries, over 1,800 schools remain closed - many have been for more than a year - and hundreds have been attacked, looted and set on fire.

This is unacceptable. Every child has a right to an education, to peace and security and Unicef is working to ensure that as many children are afforded these rights.

Sixteen-year-old Grace fled her home after witnessing the brutal beheading of her father by Boko Haram. She explained that when they left their town she thought it was the end of the road for her and her quest for an education, but luckily it wasn't.

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Grace Mathew 16, now lives in the Dalori refugee camp after fleeing their home in the village of Bama after it was attacked and her father was killed by Boko Haram insurgents.  UNICEF/ Esiebo

Grace, along with many other of the 1.4million children who have been displaced by the conflict across Nigeria and the neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger, has been able to continue her education thanks to Unicef's programmes.

Now living in the Dalori refugee camp for internally displaced people, in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, Grace is part of the double-shift schooling system Unicef is operating that allows children from both the local community and displaced families to get an education. In total, there are 873 children from the camps and host community attending the same school as Grace.

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Children laugh and clap during an activity at an informal learning centre in a UNICEF-supported safe space in the Dalori camp for internally displaced people, in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri in Borno State.  UNICEF/ Esiebo

Unicef, together with governments and partners continues to work to provide an education for thousands of children. We are supporting children into school and providing temporary learning spaces.

Boko Haram have now been active for seven years and it is estimated that over five million children's lives have been affected during this time.

We must continue to support these children and ensure that they get an education, but most importantly of all it is essential that schools remain safe spaces.

You can help by telling David Cameron to make protection from this type of violence a priority. He can do this by committing his Government to protecting children from extreme violence, protecting the schools that keep them safe and protecting children who are torn from their families by wars and disasters.

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In December 2015 nearly every country in the world came together in Paris to agree to limit global warming to well below 2C. With the world's two biggest polluters, the USA and China signed up to the deal, there is now no question that we can turn back. Nor should we want to.

The implications of climate change for the world's poorest countries have already become apparent. Water and food shortages have becoming an increasingly important factor in global conflict, with loss of life and displacement of people becoming more common.

But in the UK too the implications of climate change are becoming increasingly clear. For the second time in recent years floods have devastated large swathes of the country, putting homes and businesses under water. Also, with the UK's towns and cities still major polluters (London broke its annual air pollution limits in the first week of 2016), the implications for health and life expectancy are stark.

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With so many jobs reliant on oil and gas, particularly in the north east of Scotland and north east of England, the consequences of this shift on whole communities are huge. The UK's last deep coal mine closed in 2015 and in the last year alone 65,000 jobs were lost as reserves in the North Sea have become harder to exploit.

There is even more at stake than this. As the governor of the Bank of England set out in September 2015, the UK is heavily invested in fossil fuels. As the world moves towards a low carbon future, pensions, savings, and the financial system as a whole are extremely vulnerable without a well-managed transition.

On the political right, climate sceptics and advocates of limited government have united to try to halt investment in clean energy and wider efforts to tackle climate change. In the UK, investment in renewable energy is already beginning to fall off a cliff as a consequence.

With a government bound by a powerful combination of political and economic forces, the left's response becomes critical. Just as in the 1960s Britain was changed profoundly by the 'white heat of technology', the country is changing again.

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A modern, progressive response to this challenge has three elements: an active, enlightened and enabling state, a green industrial strategy, and the ambition to secure the active involvement of the widest range of people in building a new economy.

A progressive government could unleash the potential of an active enabling state, prepared to invest in the technology of the future: solar, wind, tidal, CCS and battery technology. Much of this technology is new, and prohibitively risky to private investors without government backing But as we have seen in relation to solar and wind power in recent years, the preparedness of governments to invest has helped to unlock private capital and costs have fallen dramatically.

The way in which this investment is funded will be critical in building a broad public consensus about the future. Clean energy schemes are currently funded almost entirely by energy bill payers, a regressive funding model which has left the poorest households paying six times as much for the transition to clean energy compared to the wealthiest, according to IPPR research. We need to find a fairer way forward.

Alongside this the UK needs an industrial strategy to address the reality that some communities, including in some of the poorest parts of the country, risk standing to lose from the move away from fossil fuels.

The jobs that currently exist in energy are often highly skilled, long term and labour intensive. Many of the new jobs that Britain has managed to create in clean energy are shorter term and lower pay. Funding and strategy is needed to reverse this trend and create new, good quality jobs in areas like research and development.

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The question is not whether the jobs of the future will be created, but who will create them, in the areas where they are needed, to power us through the next century. But this is not something that can be left to governments to undertake on their own. It needs people at its heart.

Increasingly as government withdraws its financial and political support, Labour councils are already at the forefront of what the leader of Manchester has called "a clean energy revolution". Ahead of the landmark Paris summit, 60 Labour councils pledged to go carbon free by 2050.

The approach taken by community groups and councils, to work incrementally towards a different, ambitious future is one the left must adopt in coming years.

With Labour out of power at a national level, this regional leadership will be essential in the coming years to ensure that the UK continues to make progress towards climate safety. The challenge posed by climate change can only be solved by core Labour values: the pursuit of social justice, internationalism, solidarity, an active, enabling and empowering state, and a belief that we achieve more through our common endeavour than we achieve alone.

Lisa Nandy is the Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and Labour MP for Wigan
Leaflets calling for the killing of Ahmadi Muslims have been found in a mosque in south London. The literature in question stated that Ahamdi Muslims should face death or 'capital punishment' if they refuse to convert to mainstream Islam.

These findings follow in the wake of Assad Shah's murder in Glasgow. He was an Ahmadi Muslim. Tanveer Ahmed declared he killed Assad Shah in order to 'protect the honour of Islam.' In his statement he claimed: "If I had not done this others would and there would have been more killing and violence in the world."

His obscure statement begs the question, How is that a valid justification for killing an innocent man. Protecting the honour of Islam? what an absolute insult, not just of the religion but all those who choose to follow it. In the Qur'an it states that "Whosoever kills an innocent person it shall be as if he had killed all mankind." (Ch5 V 33) and that indeed "There is no compulsion in religion." (Ch 2 V 256).

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The UK has become a great sanctuary for many communities and through that it has become the multi cultural, multi faceted cosmopolitan that we have all grown to love. But the bedrock of this great nation is tolerance, without it we would struggle to coexist peacefully.

In his final tweet Assad Shah sent a message wishing his 'beloved Christian nation' a Happy Easter. His sentiments embodied the values of Islam that promotes peace and understanding between all faiths. Muslims are taught not to pass any sort of judgement nor are they entitled to state who is a true or false believer: "Surely all believers are brothers. So make peace between brothers." (Ch 49 V 11)

When the Prophet Muhammad first established Islam in Medinah he drafted a charter entitled the Constitution of Medinah. It has been documented in history as the first ever democratic constitution which formed the basis of a multi-religious Islamic state in Medina. The Constitution accommodated to people of all backgrounds and faiths; Article 30 Guaranteed freedom of religion for both Muslim and non-Muslim minorities, Article 49 Prohibited fighting and bloodshed among the various communities of the state and Article 62 guaranteed all peaceful citizens safe and secure protection.

It was also recently revealed that untranslated writings by the Prophet Mohammed indicated Christians living within the "ummah" - Arabic for community - were protected and defended. Dr Craig Considine (author of the study) was quoted in The Independent stating that these findings could act "as a kind of medicine to cure the diseases of Islamic extremism and Islamophobia".

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So taking this all in to account, one must question which so called Islamic values was this man trying to protect? by taking an innocent life he violated the very values of his religion. It is unfortunate that the media chooses to highlight the actions of such people because it leads to the belief that these individuals are the true representation of the moderate majority. People that promote violence in the name of any faith should not be given the title of a believer because no faith be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Budhism promotes such unmitigated violence and bloodshed.

Glasgow's Ahmadi Community have called on all Muslim leaders in the UK to publicly condemn Tanveer Ahmad's statement. In a report by the Guardian, community leader Ahmed Owusu-Konadu said that: "It justifies the killing of anyone - Muslim or non-Muslim - whom an extremist considers to have shown disrespect to Islam."

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has faced persecution in certain Muslim countries since its inception in 1889, but tensions grew stronger when in 1974, Under Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a constitutional amendment was introduced in Pakistan declaring Ahmadis as non Muslim.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in India. He is regarded by his followers as the Messiah whose advent brought about the revival of Islam. Ahmadis state the Prophet Muhammad was the last law bearing prophet and that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the reformer whose advent was documented in eschatological prophecies of the 14th Islamic century.

Because of these beliefs the community became a target of heavy persecution. It became a criminal act for Ahmadis' to profess their faith in Pakistan which meant the community had to move its headquarters to the UK. Today they are recognized in Britain for their humanitarian work and their motto of love for all Hatred for none which is currently being carried on red buses across the UK as part of their united against extremism campaign.

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People like Assad are an example of what makes Britain great. He represented the sentiment of many people here in the UK who choose to practice their beliefs peacefully whilst embracing the values of others, that's a true mark of faith and tolerance. To keep Britain great we must stamp out intolerance in all its forms, and the government should take stronger action against any individuals that risk to ruin this tolerant haven. Free speech is one thing, but hate speech is unacceptable, because it is such hate speech that is giving justification to such abhorrent violence.
Our much-liked minister for culture, Ed Vaizey, has produced a White Paper for culture, only the second of its kind. He is to be praised for putting down a marker for the government on culture. So how do his ideas stack up against the great Jennie Lee, who set the bar 50 years ago in the first ever Culture White Paper, A Policy for the Arts?

Jennie Lee's thinking, published in 1965, changed how the UK saw and managed culture, as ambitious in her way as Aneurin Bevan's vision for the NHS. She grouped Government support for the arts under "three heads - education, preservation and patronage".

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Lee's own story was a tribute to the power of education. From a mining family, she rose to political power and then a peerage via Edinburgh University. This at a time when university was an unattainable dream for most people from her background. While she wrote A Policy for the Arts, she was also the Minister charged with laying the groundwork to create the Open University.

Those were confident times for government. By contrast, Vaizey's Culture White Paper is set against the background of a general retreat by national and local government from culture. And while Bevan's NHS remains a sacred cow for each generation of politicians, Lee's vision has been watered down ever since.

Against this background, Vaizey had been expected to show how creativity drives the wider government agenda. This was to be a great broadening out. That intent is still referred to in the introduction. But it gets lost in the delivery.

When it comes to practicalities, we find a tight focus on the subsidised cultural sector. This is culture as delivered by museums and theatres, not the broad-based culture of film, of gaming, of interactive design and graphic design, nor of the behemoth of culture that is the BBC. It speaks to a government preoccupied by its residual subsidy to bricks and mortar... very literally, in a 20m gesture to cathedral roofs.

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The most obvious absence, in contrast to Lee's ideas, is the hole where education used to be.

In this new White Paper, mainstream education gets a look in only to the extent that schools and universities facilitate education programmes in museums and arts centres. The rest is a thin list of existing and limited policies.

There is nothing new on the academic pathways and curriculum that will deliver the future talent of the creative industries. Apprenticeships are mentioned hopefully as a way into technical roles in cultural organisations - a worthy but tiny fraction of the creative industries.

There's a nod to the pupil premium, but no new money to back it. Schools would have to change priorities and there is no incentive to do so. There is also the bland assurance that Ofsted inspectors expect a balanced curriculum and extra-curricular opportunities that extend pupils' knowledge, understanding and skills in a range of artistic, creative and sporting activities.

But as the Cultural Learning Alliance has demonstrated using the Government's own figures, the STEM and EBacc has cut the hours of arts teaching and the number of arts teachers. Since 2010, there has been a 14% decline in the overall number of arts GCSEs taken, and the number of hours the arts were taught in secondary schools has fallen by 10%. Unsurprisingly, the number of arts teachers has dropped by 11%.

When interrogated by Bob and Roberta Smith on Channel 4 News, Vaizey said that his proposal for a Cultural Citizens Programme will get a "cohort of kids from secondary school embedded with an arts organisation". Is this really a better way into the arts than sustained teaching? Initiatives such as this should supplement proper teaching, not supplant it.

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The absence of education is poignant given the isolated ministerial quote in the White Paper that "Access to cultural education is a matter of social justice." Perhaps a chapter went missing during the final edit? On the other hand, the quote is from Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State for Education, whose department is driving through the EBacc, with the unfortunate side-effect of demolishing cultural education. So perhaps not.

What does this mean? In the current climate, any government commitment to culture is an achievement. But the narrowness of that commitment is a strategy in itself. Withdrawal of government support for cultural education from primary, secondary and tertiary state education has consequences.

We know what Jennie Lee would have made of this.
The recent revelations of the Panama Papers come as no surprise. As a Comparative Politics student at the LSE in the 90s I did a course on Corruption and quickly learnt that the culture of hoarding and hiding wealth, often obtained illegally, was endemic and still is. Working in the developing world I have seen the blatant wealth disparity between the super rich and super poor first hand - a gulf that has become unbridgeable. These differences in wealth are becoming more acute in countries like the UK, but with it comes a culture of acceptance that the super rich rule the land and always will.

'Something stinks at the heart of London', photo taken from the top of the Shard

A friend of mine wrote to me from Bangladesh and said, 'We also have people on the (Panama Papers) list and no one seems to care enough.'

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Corruption is rife in Bangladesh and the structures of accountability are not in place therefore people have become indifferent knowing that those that commit financial impropriety do so with impunity. Most countries that feature on the list include the richest 1 percent. Prominent figures from China, Iraq, Russia and Pakistan have all appeared. With expensive lawyers at their disposal they can make it hard to penetrate the intricate web they weave to protect their vast accumulated wealth. Fortunes have swelled to gargantuan proportions by tax avoidance, thus denying those countries precious finances that could be spent on schools, infrastructure and hospitals. What these people do with their wealth beggars belief, how many mansions can you buy, how many jets, how much useless stuff can you accumulate? Obviously a lot.

What it confirms is that democracy is a sham as the affluent wield their influence to ensure politicians acquiesce and protect their interests, which are diametrically opposed to the interests of the common man. This practice is occurring the world over, including the UK. Cameron is complicit in protecting the interests of this top 1 percent; well he is part of that elite club, isn't he?

When the 2008 financial crisis hit and people were outraged by the cowboy antics of bankers not much was done to hold them to account or reform the system, instead the government printed money and the UK citizens, albeit reluctantly, footed the bill. We were told they were too big to fail. For the super rich to be taxed on their billions and for all these offshore accounts to be investigated we need radical action - now. But we would be naive to think that the system will be reformed and those that have been avoiding tax and hiding their assets will cough up happily.

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For the rest of us, we can't hide what we earn, it's peanuts by comparison, but still they tax us and expect us to pay and most of us do, unless we are dodging the system. On the one hand you have the black economy, low paid workers being paid cash in hand or unscrupulous individuals milking the benefits system taking advantage of the glaring loop holes. At the other end of the scale the very richest of our society are loathe to pay what they owe on their stashed billions. We have a system of disparity and inequity that is just not tenable or healthy instead it breeds resentment and is not working.

If Osbourne did ensure that the taxman was able to access these hidden funds sitting cozily in offshore havens surely that would be one way to tackle the deficit rather then these heinous and incessant cuts that are hitting the most vulnerable of society.

What the Panama Papers highlights is that if you have money you have power. If you have billions you are above the law and you can operate by your own rules and flaunt your spoils, too.

People in London were justified in their protest, but will Cameron resign? Of course he won't. He's published his tax returns, others are following suit, but all this is superfluous because naturally his taxes show that everything is above board, he was careful to sell off his offshore tax haven shares worth 30K in a trust set up by his late father to avoid wagging fingers.

This sudden practice of tax transparency is a small step in the right direction, but it's loose change compared to the funds that could be acquired by properly taxing the super rich. Funds that could be used to transform the country and lives of those that need it most.

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Will the furore of the Panama Papers simply die down and we return to the perpetuation of the status quo, with the global super rich club breathing a huge sigh of relief that they have got away with it again? Think how different the world would be if everyone emulated Buffet and Gates and did the sensible thing by giving away the vast majority of their useless accumulated wealth rather than stashing it.

Wealth, if it is hoarded, is another form of junk. Wealth if it is utilsed for the wider good can transform the world, diminish inequity and poverty and make lives, which are utterly miserable, a little bit better.
Fairfax Media

The Victorian Government has announced more than half a billion dollars to combat family and domestic violence over the next two years, a figure which dwarfs the amount given by the Australian Federal Government.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced the massive $572 million funding commitment on Wednesday, ahead of the state budget this month. Hundreds of millions of dollars will be allocated to building new housing and crisis refuges while supporting existing services, counsellors, prevention programs, support for children, and specialist Aboriginal services.

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Minister for Women and Prevention of Family Violence, Fiona Richardson, said it was "the first step in the long-term process to fix our broken system and change attitudes toward women," saying it addressed 65 of the more than 200 recommendations of Victoria's recent Royal Commission into Family Violence.

Premier Daniel Andrews has just announced more than half a billion towards family violence over two years. $572m pic.twitter.com/AS347WXvLF  Melissa Davey (@MelissaLDavey) April 12, 2016

The Labor Government said it would commit $152 million for a "housing blitz" to build new crisis accommodation and family refuges; $122 million for children's support services and counselling; $104 million for crisis support and counselling; $61.6 million for family violence prevention programs and a Gender Equality Strategy; $25.7 million to work with Aboriginal communities, including early intervention and dispute resolution policies; and $24 million to "begin reforming the justice system so it protects victims and holds perpetrators to account", including the expansion of legal services, "men's behaviour change programs" and helping victims at court.

Andrews has reportedly not ruled out a special tax to fund family violence packages.

.@DanielAndrewsMP says you can't put a cost on lives lost to FV, but it's costing Vic $3.1b a year. Tax or levy on table #springst  Alison Savage (@alisavage) April 12, 2016

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The investment of $572 million is a massive amount of money for a state of 5.7 million people -- especially when you compare it to the amount the federal government allocated to the family violence crisis in the last budget, for a country of 23 million.

A review of the 2015-16 federal budget found $120 million was allocated over four years -- just $30 million per year -- for the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, the government's broad umbrella framework for addressing family and domestic violence.

Another $55.6 million over three years -- $18 million per year -- was allocated in 201415 to "ensure continuity of front line community services," but the authors of the review note "it is not clear just how much will be targeted towards specialist family violence programs".

In March 2015, the government restored $25.5 million -- $13 million per year -- over two years for in legal support funding including community legal centres, funding which was removed in the 2013-14 Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook. In the same month, $230 million was announced to to extend the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness -- which includes funding and support for domestic violence, among other causes of homelessness -- until June 2017.

Add to that the government's $100 million emergency injection of funds to the family violence sector in September 2015.

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Even assuming the total of that $100 million is to be spent in 2016 -- and being generous to say that all of the funding for general homelessness and legal services was directed specifically to family violence -- only around $160 million could be expected to be spent on family violence this year, in a country of 23 million.

In contrast, Victoria's population of 5.7 million will see nearly $290 million per year -- nearly eight times the rate of funding the Federal Government will allocate.
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Four members of the 60 Minutes crew, including star reporter Tara Brown, currently sit in a Lebanese prison. They're accompanied by five other men and Brisbane mum Sally Faulkner, who were involved in a daring and brazen daylight child-snatch effort on a Beirut street last week.

They're currently going through the Lebanese justice system. They are reportedly facing up to 20 years in prison on kidnapping charges.

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So what's going on? How did we get here? What is the Australian government doing to help, and what next for the prisoners?

WHAT HAPPENED

Faulkner, members of a child recovery agency and the 60 Minutes crew were allegedly in Beirut to snatch back Faulkner's two children -- Lahela, 6, and Noah, 4 -- who were taken to Lebanon by their father, Faulkner's former partner, who was said to have refused to allow the children to return to Australia.

Footage of the alleged operation was captured by CCTV cameras on the Beirut street, showing three men emerge from a car and move toward two women and two children. The men lunge at the children, the women being knocked off balance as the kids are thrown into a car which speeds off. The 60 Minutes crew were not spotted during the operation, but were believed to have been filming other parts of the group's time in Lebanon.

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Footage shows the moment the children were grabed. Photo: Channel Nine

Hours later, the group was tracked down by Lebanese police at a safe house, arrested and taken to prison before waiting several days to appear before a court. Faulkner was later detained, and the children returned to their father. Lebanese media reported it as a kidnapping, and that one of the women -- believed to be the children's grandmother -- claimed she was pistol whipped by the child recovery agents.

60 MINUTES' INVOLVEMENT

The involvement of Australians in an alleged daylight kidnapping would be enough of a diplomatic issue, even discounting the fact the Australians are journalists. The 60 Minutes program will face intense scrutiny even without the prospect of their crew facing time in a Lebanese jail, with allegations the program contributed more than $100,000 to the costs of the operation.

There will be further drama over money the program allegedly didn't pay, after the surfacing of text messages purportedly from Faulkner to another child recovery agency, from before and after the street snatch operation. Faulkner asked the rival agency for help in escaping Lebanon, claiming that 60 Minutes would pay any costs, and later alleging the program had rejected the alternate plans with a pricetag of 75,000.

LEGAL CONSEQUENCES

The 60 Minutes crew, the team behind the child recovery and Faulkner herself are in jail in Lebanon. Their first hearing before a court, due for Monday night (AEST time), was cancelled at the last minute. They fronted a judge on Tuesday, and were reportedly hit with charges including kidnapping, withholding information and assault.

Media reports vary, but those involved could face anywhere from three years to 20 years to life in prison.

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Tara Brown

The judge has the power to hear the charges or dismiss the case.

"We are co-operating fully with the Lebanese authorities and it is important to stress that we respect the laws of Lebanon and its judiciary, said Channel Nine spokesperson in a statement.

"We want to see our crew and Ms Faulkner return home safely as soon as possible and we are working with a respected Lebanese legal team in Beirut to secure this outcome."

WHAT IS AUSTRALIA DOING?

Providing consular assistance, and watching over the case. Politicians and diplomats on all sides have been tight-lipped and brief in the information they have provided on the case, confirming they were aware of the incident and were helping where they could.

"The Australian Government is providing all appropriate consular assistance," said a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson in a statement.

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On 6PR radio, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Australia was doing "everything we can to support them," but had stern words for those involved.

"Australians have to understand  all Australians, no matter who they are  that if you are overseas you have to comply with the laws of the country of which youre in as we expect visitors to Australia to abide by our laws," he said.

"Where children are involved in a foreign jurisdiction, such as Lebanon, it is the local courts, not the Australian government and much less private citizens who make decisions about child custody."

On Monday -- before those involved faced court -- Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was still hopeful of their release without incident.

"The issue is still subject to legal consideration. The Ambassador and Consular staff are in constant communication with the mother, Miss Faulkner, and with the 60 Minutes crew," she told Perth Now.

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NOW WHAT?

Those involved are expected to face court again on Wednesday (AEST time). From there, we have to wait and see.
A Russian fighter jet buzzed a Navy destroyer, a move known to international relation theorists as "o hai." Several members of Congress want a National Day of Reason, though we're pretty sure the parliamentary term is adjournment sine die. And Ted Cruz once argued against sexual gratification as a right. Considering Cruz procreates by fertilizing a clutch of eggs in his mouth, such detachment from human sexuality isnt surprising. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Wednesday, April 12th, 2016:

CHILDREN TERRIFIED OF DONALD TRUMP - And not just different-foods-touching terrified. Actually terrified. Christina Wilkie: "According to a new report by the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center titled 'The Trump Effect: The Impact of the Presidential Campaign on our Nations Schools,' the race is stoking fears and racial tensions in Americas classrooms. 'My students are terrified of Donald Trump. They think that if hes elected, all black people will get sent back to Africa,' one middle school teacher told the SPLC. The teacher was one of more than 2,000 educators who opted to take a survey conducted through the SPLCs 'Teaching Tolerance' program. 'I have had Muslim students called terrorists, said another teacher who submitted comments to the survey. 'There is a boy from Mexico, who is a citizen, who is terrified that the country will deport him if Trump wins, wrote a third teacher. 'He is also scared that kids and grown-ups can and will hurt him.' Overall, more than two-thirds of the teachers who took the survey reported that their students -- mainly Muslims, immigrants and children of immigrants -- were worried about what could happen to them and their families after the November election." [HuffPost]

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TRUMP UNLIKELY TO WIN ON SECOND BALLOT - Ed O'Keefe: "Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is close to ensuring that Donald Trump cannot win the GOP nomination on a second ballot at the partys July convention in Cleveland, scooping up scores of delegates who have pledged to vote for him instead of the front-runner if given the chance. The push by Cruz means that it is more essential than ever for Trump to clinch the nomination by winning a majority of delegates to avoid a contested and drawn-out convention fight, which Trump seems almost certain to lose. The GOP race now rests on two cliffhangers: Can Trump lock up the nomination before Cleveland? And if not, can Cruz cobble together enough delegates to win a second convention vote if Trump fails in the first?  Cruzs chances rest on exploiting a wrinkle in the GOP rule book: that delegates assigned to vote for Trump at the convention do not actually have to be Trump supporters. Cruz is particularly focused on getting loyalists elected to delegate positions even in states that the senator from Texas lost." [WaPo]

Bernie comes out against our corporate parent: "Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) boosted the cause of striking Verizon workers on Wednesday, joining them on a picket line in New York City and blasting the telecom giant in a sidewalk speech. Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers on the East Coast went on strike early Wednesday morning after 10 months of negotiations with the company failed to produce a new contract. The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers unions represent the workers." [HuffPost's Dave Jamieson]

DELANEY DOWNER - From the food stamps mailbag, a writer reports on the John Kasich / Bill Clinton "work requirement": "I have been receiving SNAP since October 2009, a few months later I was homeless for a year and a half. Due to the 20/hour a week restriction; my benefits are cut off due to me working as a temp manual laborer who only gets 12-18 hours per week (which does not meet the requirements)." Hang in there!

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LOL REGULAR ORDER - Remember all those "It's been X days since the Democrats passed a budget?" tweets in your Republican Twitter feed? Jake Sherman and Burgess Everett: "[H]ere we are, on April 13, with Republicans holding both chambers of Congress, and there isn't a budget in sight In fact, they won't just miss the mid-April deadline by a day or two. There's a better-than-even chance that the House and Senate will never pass a budget together, and theres an even better chance that neither chamber will pass a budget before the election...The reality lays bare a few critical dynamics. Republicans have undermined one of their core arguments for governing. On key fiscal matters, they have not been able to normalize legislating and hopes for regular order have been dashed. And that Congress can completely forgo a budget without consequence shows that the non-binding process means little and proves to be just an annoyance for the party in power." [Politico]

NOW YOU TELL US - "Its a hoax. The assumptions that are made are totally unrealistic, theres no policies behind them to follow up. So Im in favor of is a total redo of the entire budget process, because its such a joke as it is right now," fumed Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee. "It is meaningless relative to our fiscal discipline." [Politico]

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RYAN STILL WANTS A BUDGET - Matt Fuller: "If you were looking for proof that Speaker Paul Ryan can sometimes back down from a promise, look no further than the budget. With GOP leadership now finally acknowledging that they dont have the votes to move a spending blueprint through the House, the Wisconsin Republican appears to be backing off an earlier pledge that his chamber wouldnt pass appropriations bills unless it could agree to an overall budget number. During a weekly press conference with Republican leaders, Ryan said it was still his goal to find agreement on a budget, but that leaders were discussing some backup plans. 'Were keeping all options open,' he said. 'Were not foreclosing any options.' When Ryan was pressed on whether it was standard legislative procedure to move appropriations bills without a budget or a so-called deeming resolution  a piece of legislation that simply outlines the top-line spending numbers for individual appropriations bills  he reiterated that Republicans werent ruling anything out." [HuffPost]

CONFIDONETIAL? - Julian Hattem: "The Obama administration is considering a proposal to kill off the lowest tier of classification amid escalating scrutiny on top government officials ability to safeguard sensitive information. In a memo circulated to intelligence agency leaders last month, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asked for feedback about getting rid of the 'confidential' level of classification. 'Please comment on whether the CONFIDENTIAL classification level can be eliminated from your agencies guides and the negative impacts this might have on mission success,' Clapper wrote to the heads of the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and three other federal intelligence offices in his three-page memo...It also could have beneficial effects for Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose private email server contained thousands of messages now considered classified. The vast majority of the roughly 2,000 documents on Clintons machine are considered confidential." [The Hill]

In other national security news, Russia prompted a lot of "Top Gun" jokes on Twitter.

O HAI DODD-FRANK - Lisa Lambert: "Five out of eight of the biggest U.S. banks do not have credible plans for winding down operations during a crisis without the help of public money, federal regulators said on Wednesday, saying the institutions could face stricter oversight if they do not fix their plans. The 'living wills' that the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation jointly agreed were not credible came from Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, J.P. Morgan Chase, State Street, Wells Fargo. The requirement for a living will was part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform legislation passed in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, when the U.S. government spent billions of dollars on bailouts to keep big banks from failing and wrecking the U.S. economy." [Reuters]



DON'T READ THIS STORY IF YOU WANT TO EAT DINNER - OK, read on, you sick, sick masochist. David Corn: "In 2004, companies that owned Austin stores selling sex toys and a retail distributor of such products challenged a Texas law outlawing the sale and promotion of supposedly obscene devices...In 2007, Cruz's legal team, working on behalf of then-Attorney General Greg Abbott (who now is the governor), filed a 76-page brief calling on the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to uphold the lower court's decision and permit the law to standIn perhaps the most noticeable line of the brief, Cruz's office declared, 'There is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate one's genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationship.' That is, the pursuit of such happiness had no constitutional standing. And the brief argued there was no 'right to promote dildos, vibrators, and other obscene devices.' The plaintiffs, it noted, were 'free to engage in unfettered noncommercial speech touting the uses of obscene devices,'

but not speech designed to generate the sale of these items." [Mother Jones]

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BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's an elephant mother and baby.

COMFORT FOOD

- Who needs a buzzsaw when you can cut a Maglite in halfwith water?

- Taiwanese animators look back at Kobe Bryant's career.

- Dashboard cat is melting the internet's heart.

TWITTERAMA

publication: Ted Cruz thinks people don't have a right to "stimulate their genitals." I was his college roommate. This would be a new belief of his.

@ggreeneva:

I DONT WANT

AANNNYBODY ELSE

WHEN I THINK ABOOOUUUT TED

I  ::falls mute::

@alneuhauser: Any other reporter's heart stop whenever you get an email with the subject line, "Your story on X?"
The ugly reality of not being accepted by the college of your choice or being denied financial aid could feel like the end of the world. But don't despair. You have options. You can have an amazing, productive and worthwhile higher education experience no matter what the scenario. Here are a few:

1. You didn't get into the one college you have always dreamed of: Calm down. Hopefully you applied to other colleges that did accept you. Accept the best one. The prescription for success still applies. Work hard. Don't party too much. Get involved with research and activities, engage with your professors, take a variety of courses that pique your interest. Learn the mega-skills of discovery and connection. Take full advantage of the free resources available to you. You'll learn a lot about yourself in the next two years, at which time you can decide whether to stay or apply to one of those great colleges that rejected you in the first place. You could choose to transfer, or you may choose to stay. A key to success is to learn to make your market wherever you are.

2. You were accepted by both an expensive private school and a less expensive state school: Your decision will depend on your family's own financial situation and whether or not you can get financial aid. I don't want to disparage private schools with fantastic and enduring reputations, but I do want to encourage you not to let the institutional name override everything. In our uncertain job market, going to an excellent state institution and graduating with little or no debt is really smart. And, if you are thinking of graduate school in your future, keep in mind that tuition is often more expensive without a real option of staying local.

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3. You are accepted, but can't afford tuition: Continue researching scholarships and financial aid. There's more than you dreamed of. Don't be lazy! In addition, consider a college that offers a co-op program like the pioneering Drexel or University of Cincinnati where you alternate working for a semester with going to school. Search online. Or, consider taking out a loan and applying for programs after graduation like Teach For America, which in some states will reimburse your tuition.

Consider low-cost colleges with superior rankings that are often overlooked. For example, if you are a music or art student, both The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Cooper-Union School of Art in Manhattan offer free tuition.

Some universities will allow you to attend for free if you are an employee. While you may not want to work in the maintenance department or wash dishes in a cafeteria, it's certainly a better option than not going to college at all. Check it out. There are plenty of on-campus jobs, both full and part time that can assist with your college fees.

4. You didn't get in to any 4-year college: Don't despair. Try a community college, full or part time. You will find that your instructors are interesting and on your side. Work hard. Take the general credits necessary for a four-year college for a fraction of the price. Even in community college, study hard, write papers that interest you, talk with your professors, don't slide into feeling second-best because this wasn't your first choice. Work as though it is. If you do well after one or two years, you can always transfer to the four-year college where will you have to continue developing yourself anyway. Like everything in life, it's what you do that counts.

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Compare a student at an Ivy who does nothing more than attend class and get good grades with another student with equally good grades at a state or local university who becomes an editor of the campus newspaper, a student leader who regularly converses with their professors. When it comes to launching a career or applying for graduate school, activities, experiences and networks all count more than you think.

We go to college to have a better life, meaning a professional career and a community of friends. But just how important is the institution where you choose to get that degree? Sure, Ivy League schools, the Yale's and Harvard's of the world, carry a status that employers find impressive and assuring, especially if they themselves went there. But I will argue that a case a can be made for a state university or local college -- if you're willing to be an active participant. College is what you make of it.
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - 2016/04/11: Bill Clinton rallies for Hillary in Lefferts Gardens. (Photo by Louise Wateridge/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

During the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, President Bill Clinton and members of his administration pushed for the reduction of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Rwanda from over 2,500 troops to 270, with the remaining troops' mandate being reduced to a mere observers' role. The U.S. government evacuated foreign (read: white) personnel from Rwanda, and pretty much ensured the total success of the 100-day slaughter that occurred. President Clinton later told Rwandans that he "did not act quickly enough after the killing began" in his 1998 address in Rwanda.

President Clinton did not fail to act as he told the world then. Actually, he actively pushed for a particular course of action. The genocide began after the April 6 assassinations of the Rwandan and Burundian presidents. By April 11, U.S. government and foreign personnel were successfully evacuated from Rwanda. Once the evacuations were completed, President Clinton, along with then-First Lady Hillary Clinton, "visited the State Department task force in charge of evacuating American citizens to congratulate them on finishing their job." President Clinton's administration then strongly and successfully pushed for the reduction and evacuation of the peacekeeping force, by April 21, 1994.

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On April 30, nine days after the reduction and complete evacuation of foreign personnel and dismissed peacekeeping troops, President Clinton acted bewildered and shocked in front of the world. In his radio address, he said, "The horrors of civil war and mass killings of civilians in Rwanda, since the tragic deaths of the Rwandan and Burundian Presidents 3 weeks ago, have shocked and appalled the world community." But in his 1998 address to the Rwandan people, he claimed he "did not fully appreciate the depth and the speed with which [Rwandans] were being engulfed by this unimaginable terror."

On April 7, 2016, the 22nd anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, former President Bill Clinton asserted that Black Lives Matter, in Africa, in one of his many responses to Black Lives Matter activists' protest over his controversial crime and welfare bills, and comments by former First Lady Hillary Clinton. The words were in reference to a Tanzanian shopkeeper who named his shop after presidential candidate, and his wife, Hillary Clinton. According to former President Clinton, the sign was in appreciation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's work in the fight against AIDS.

On the day the Rwandan Genocide is generally commemorated, former President Clinton's words rang hollow both in material and delivery. Instead, they conjured up images, of white foreigners being evacuated from Rwanda to safety at the outset of the genocide. The rest of us, the innocent civilians, were provided with neither the option of evacuation, nor the decency of protection, but were left, amidst a bloody war and genocide, come what may.

What about our black lives made them immaterial to President Clinton and his administration? The cynicism of his utterance "Black Lives Matter" in Africa juxtaposed to his administration's comments and actions goes even deeper. In discussions about whether to call the events occurring at the time in Rwanda genocide, Clinton National Security Council staff member Susan Rice, who went on to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., and as current National Security Advisor, said, "If we use the word 'genocide' and are seen as doing nothing, what will be the effect on the November [congressional] election?"

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It is almost impossible to articulate the depth of betrayal felt at this profound sense of political expediency. While our lives were being slaughtered, at least somewhere in the United States, elections were being won. And in exchange, 800,000-1,000,000 casualties of black lives that apparently did not matter more than mid-term elections were lost.

Alice Gatebuke is a Rwandan genocide and war survivor, Cornell University graduate, and a human rights advocate. She serves as the communications Director for AGLAN. She can be reached at alice@aglan.org.
Years ago, The Agenda Project made waves in the media and made trouble for Representative Paul Ryan by intimating his plans for Medicare were akin to casting a wheelchair bound senior citizen to her death. Given what they unleashed on Senator Chuck Grassley this week, that ad now seems measured.



With its unabashed depiction of biological functions, some may find "Quit Stalling" inappropriate. But the admittedly lowbrow approach is more than fair. It's long overdue.



"Quit Stalling" blasts Grassley, and by extension his GOP colleagues, for failing to do his sworn duty. While the current outcry to #doyourjob centers on the Senate's failure to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, this ad enlarges the charge of dereliction of duty. The problem is not just refusing to consider President Obama's nominee. Senate Republicans like Grassley demonstrate utter disregard for every other American priority from job creation to the lead contamination crisis inflicted upon our people.



Pulling no punches, this ad makes the notion that Republicans are plunging America into a noxious abyss out of the realm of metaphor into daily life. Some may say the ad is too indelicate a depiction for a sitting Senator. But any decorum due fled once those elected to represent us decided to sell our interests out to the highest bidder. When Grassley's co-conspirator, Mitch McConnell, brazenly admits the NRA gets first right of refusal for Supreme Court picks, no respect is due for these Senators.



We have revered the money and power of an old elite to the now deadly detriment of the rest of us. Senators, CEOs and celebrities are viewed with undeserved awe because of their wealth and position. But it is almost always their positions that enables them their wealth and their wealth that lands them their positions. There's nothing extraordinary about the people in charge. This ad forces us to see, they're not even engaged or effective.



Senators, and the even richer people who purchase them, are just human beings. Seeing their corporeal reality depicted reminds us they too are flesh and blood. We need this reminder because our sanguine language portrays an inaccurate and seemingly unalterable status quo. We say things like "the system is rigged" "wages are falling" and "the Senate is at an impasse." In truth, there are no such thing as "systems." Wages do not suddenly acquire additional gravity. The Senate isn't visited by process-clogging bad elves. People make choices to act, or refuse to do so. And those people have addresses. Fortunately for Iowans, some of those people are up for re-election. If Senator Grassley won't do his job, there are plenty of better qualified people to take up the position.



With this ad, Agenda Project founder Erica Payne has once again proven she could teach a master class on speaking truth to power. But in this case, she does something even more important. Payne has found a way to encourage us to speak truth to each other. In exposing "power" for its prosaic ordinariness and mendacity, this ad cunningly encourages us to empower ourselves.
We've all heard the buzz about Lower Manhattan and how it's the happening neighborhood of the moment. In fact, the saturation of news quite nearly put me off visiting what the marketers of the neighborhood call the "new downtown." Goodbye Village, my old neighborhood, you're so old hat. Battery Park is where it is. OK, so I went with a preconceived notion of the energy being a bit disingenuous. But I was wrong.

Energy is here, especially among young families, who have taken to the wide boulevards, open spaces, parks, mall-like shopping complexes, and sprawling suburban-sized health clubs. Life here is, well, simply easier than other places in the city. It's cleaner too since this area is where much of Manhattan's development has taken place in recent years.

I installed myself at Conrad New York, a Hilton property located on North End Avenue, a quiet block steps from the World Trade Center. The Conrad's style is The Jetsons meets Jeff Koons. Sleek, modern, fun -- this hotel is all about design, space and comfort. And in stark contrast to many other self-conscious downtown properties, the staff here is warm, friendly and unpretentious. And that's saying a lot considering they are surrounded by museum-quality modern art, including Sol LeWitt's 100-foot tall Loop Doopy (Blue and Purple) that soars above the atrium lobby.

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All rooms are suites, meaning that no matter what room you book, you're going to have some space. Most, like the one I stayed which topped 400 square feet, are rather spacious rooms by New York standards. Rooms have built-ins, a wet bar, Japanese-style glass panels that separate the roomy rain shower from the bedroom. The suites themselves are cocoons of calm. No street noise and, unlike so many mod hotels, this one has insulation to keep you from overhearing neighbors. The connecting hallways offer unobstructed views across the Hudson River. I never hesitated to linger as I made our way out to the (fast) elevators from our 14th floor perch.

My nine-year-old daughter loved the high tech elements, like remote controlled lighting systems and pop-up plugs. I too admired some mod features, like the digital clock in the gym that spelled out the time as in "It Is Now Seven Fifteen."

The Conrad is situated in prime turf. It's hard to image better views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island than from the jogging path that weaves past the Hudson River right out front. And step across the street and you're at Brookfield Place, a high-end mall experience with stores like Hermes and Diane Von Furstenberg and a busy Drybar festooned with yellow roses, where we treated ourselves blowouts.

Perhaps the very best reason to visit this corner of Manhattan is to pay tribute to the Americans who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks in 2001. The new World Trade Center offers a sky-high observatory, but even a walk through the white marble corridors will give visitors pause, an environment which to reflect on the loss. Walking through the eight-acre memorial park and peer into the dual reflecting ponds etched with the names of the fallen is heady stuff. And the Memorial Museum, located precisely where the attacks took place, ripe with archeological remnants and context for the attacks in which nearly 3,000 people lost their lives, is steps away.

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This article originally appeared on Quartz.

I've always taken pride in relating to the underdog or little guy or gal. I grew up a skinny Asian kid who was often ignored or picked on. It stuck with me and branded my soul. As I grew up, I tried to stick up for whoever seemed excluded or marginalized. I became a Mets fan. I'd go to a party and find the person who seemed the most alone or uncomfortable and strike up a conversation. My zeal extended to my professional life. For the past sixteen years, I've worked at little companies trying to help them grow. Five years ago, I started an organization to recruit and channel young aspiring entrepreneurs to Detroit, New Orleans, Baltimore, Cleveland, St. Louis, Providence, San Antonio and other U.S. cities to make a positive difference. Young people + emerging cities + scrappy businesses = some of my favorite things.

As founder and CEO of Venture for America, I've found myself thrust into the role of 'leader.' I got invited to the White House (twice). I wrote a book. I won a couple awards and went on TV. I've traveled making the case for VFA in dozens of different cities and venues big and small. Our team has grown, our budget has expanded to $6 million, and we now have hundreds of talented, earnest young people building businesses across the country with more set to join them.

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We are still a very small organization in the scheme of things. But to our audience-mostly 22 year olds who want to become entrepreneurs-we can loom increasingly large. And for the first time in my career, I've been experiencing life on the inside. When I show up to a party now, I often am trying to find the most prominent or powerful person instead of the opposite.

This might sound like a good time-it's kind of what you want to happen starting out. But I've found it's brought a different set of internal struggles that have made being a 'leader' difficult in ways that I would not have predicted. There have been times when I've feared that I've lost my way. I'm sharing some of these struggles because I think others might find them useful, either because they are facing similar issues or to understand how people in leadership positions can lose their bearings.

Here are some of the things that I didn't see coming:

Time is your most important resource. When we were starting out, I'd take a meeting with absolutely anybody and respond as generously as possible. I was eager to share, and we had nowhere to go but up. VFA was about empowering a generation to make a positive difference in places that were often overlooked. I wanted to be as open and responsive as possible, particularly to young people.

Today, I still try to be responsive and accessible. But I have a company relying upon me to use my time efficiently and effectively. When I get outreach, I do my best to forward inquiries to the right team member. But I've started saying 'No' more and become more judicious.

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This may be obvious, but the people and organizations I say 'Yes' to generally are able to drive value for VFA in some way. Sometimes, they have money. Thus, the trend is for a non-profit leader to become more responsive to people and companies who are rich and/or powerful and can help us achieve goals. This is resource-effective, and I love everyone who supports VFA, but it makes it natural to calculate a return on time spent.

One thing I disliked about being a lawyer was billing for my time. It's not that bad in the non-profit context-people expect you to be close to your work and want to support you-but it can feel a bit like that at moments.

The team gets bigger. When there were only 3 of us, we would talk all the time. I knew what was going on both at work and with people's personal lives. I often met colleagues' families or loved ones.

Today, we're bigger and more institutional by necessity and design. I'm on the road a lot and folks often need to make decisions without me in time-sensitive situations. People are hired that I haven't worked closely with. Tension arises between personal connectivity and effective functioning of the organization. As you grow you let things go and hopefully empower others.

When things come up, I still think my experience from 2012 is the right one-so my instinct is to make a decision based on info that may or may not still apply. And my relationships are not as highly developed with the person on the frontline.

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We're not very big yet so this isn't too major a problem. But I used to rail against people who made decisions without knowing what the heck was going on on the ground. Now I know how it happens.

People don't tell you what's on their mind. Several times in the past months I've had an extended conversation with someone and everything seemed great. And then a little while later I heard that I was getting the most rose-colored version of events and the situation.

People don't like to tell the CEO bad news. There's a pervasive instinct to emphasize the good and minimize the bad. I've seen this apply even to people who were not responsible to me - people have a natural desire to defer and keep it positive. When I hear something bad, it generally means that others have tried to solve it themselves for a while or it has risen to a certain level.

My CEO filter is now that I assume anything negative I hear is probably one or two degrees worse than is being conveyed, and half the good things I'm told are people just being polite. I have the feeling that even this doesn't account for the full picture.

You talk a lot. I've historically thought of myself as an operator, not a talking head. But I started a non-profit trying to rekindle entrepreneurship throughout the US (down a ton by the way, we're starting 100,000 fewer businesses a year than a decade ago, it's a train wreck), and making the case is a key part of the job.

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I've now spoken to gatherings of thousands of people in different places. And I've noticed that the more often I get asked to share what I think, the more I start feeling my thoughts are important.

I've always believed that talking about something is not the same as doing something about it. But if your job involves a lot of talking, it's easy to get confused. I now see this confusion around me all of the time and occasionally get confused myself.

The people you deal with are fancy. I was the relatively anonymous CEO of a GMAT prep company prior to VFA. Now, I'm the CEO of an entrepreneurship non-profit that recruits college grads. One might think they'd be quite similar.

But as the CEO of Manhattan Prep I worked with 3 types of people-instructors, team members and students. All were pretty normal, though the Instructors were nerdier than most and just about everyone had a college degree (which isn't the norm).

With VFA, I've met some of the most prominent people you can imagine, trying to get them to agree that channeling young builders to Detroit, Baltimore, New Orleans, and other cities is an awesome idea and we should do a lot more of it. Happily, supporters of Venture for America now include a couple billionaires and a sports team owner, CEOs of public companies, venture capitalists, major foundations and entrepreneurs. Many of them are tremendous human beings.

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I've found myself in all sorts of unlikely situations and in some of the nicest buildings in the country. Humans are social animals - context is important. I'm reminded of politicians who wind up trading favors because they're hanging out with friendly titans of business. The impulse to defer is strong. I almost feel glad that in my case I have nothing to offer but a worthy cause.

I will say that even the fanciest people I've met in Detroit, Baltimore, New Orleans, Providence, San Antonio etc. still tend to be pretty down to earth. Though I spend most of my time in Manhattan and Silicon Valley so my perspective on this is not the greatest.

I'm on a quest for growth. I see myself as a performance-oriented executive. I want to win. In a business context, that meant increasing revenues, profits, market share, and beating our competitors. In the non-profit context, it means increasing impact and training hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs to revitalize communities around the country.

Increasing impact corresponds generally to growing our budget year-over-year. If put in a position to retrench and do the same thing for consecutive years to tighten up personnel and processes, I'd resist. My natural inclination is to be ambitious, stretch a little, put the organization in position to learn new things and maybe encounter a new problem or two.

Occasionally, someone asks about the right size for Venture for America and the need to maintain a strong culture. I agree that there's a balance, and that there's such a thing as getting too big too fast. But, perhaps because I'm a product of the American meritocracy in this era, I want to grow.

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I feel bad for managers of public companies who have to report results to analysts every quarter and have their stock value constantly scrutinized. I'm sure that it sometimes leads to poor decision-making. Yet if I'm honest, I have a phantom VFA stock price in my head. And if I listen too closely to it, I'll probably make a bad decision.

I was talking to a friend of mine, Fagan Harris, about Ta-Nehisi Coates' book, Between the World and Me. And Fagan commented, "There's a difference between being a truth teller and an organization builder. You can speak truth to power if you don't have an institution you're responsible for."

He's so right. Most leaders find themselves in position to be responsible to, and for, an organization. Incentives, efficacy, ego, social norms, context and a desire for success can lead to actions that wind up being counter to our dearest values. In a vacuum, you'd say, "How the heck could that person let that happen or take that position?" In practice, I'm finding it easier to understand.

I know that I say this from a position of rare privilege. I run a non-profit so if anyone has the opportunity to be a nice guy and stay true to a mission, it'd be me.

I started VFA in part because I was plagued by the sense that we weren't producing enough builders and leaders of character in the U.S. The stats scared the heck out of me, and the legion of disaffected young people I encountered motivated me.

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Now, I think our problems are born in part of institutions that make leadership all the more difficult. Going against the grain isn't rewarded, as much as we might wish otherwise.
Long simmering, as they have been across much of the South, tensions over Confederate memorials in Charlottesville, Virginia boiled over last month. On Tuesday, March 22nd, city councilors and other officials held a press conference in Lee Park to announce a Blue Ribbon Commission that will investigate the possibility and feasibility of removing that park's statue of Robert E. Lee. Lee Park and its complement, Jackson Park (with its own statue of Stonewall Jackson), occupy two prominent positions near Charlottesville's centralized and historic Downtown Mall, an area that also features City Hall, the Albemarle County courthouse, the main branch of the public library, and other civic landmarks.



The press conference was as heated as such events tend to be, featuring some protesters wielding the Confederate flag and others wearing #BlackLivesMatter apparel, among many other symbolic representations of the social, cultural, and political divisions to which the memorials debates seem so clearly to connect. Yet if we look beyond those contemporary issues, we find in Charlottesville hidden histories that reveal the stages through which collective memories of the Confederacy and its contexts have developed--as well as the ways we can begin to challenge and expand those memories.

The most immediate yet (in my experience growing up in Charlottesville) most overlooked such hidden history concerns the statues themselves. The funds for both statues were provided by Paul Goodloe McIntire, one of the city's most prominent benefactors. Born to a local druggist in 1860, McIntire made a fortune on the stock market in the early 20th century and used a good deal of that wealth in his own personal version of the era's City Beautiful movement: supporting the creation of five city parks, a number of memorial statutes (not only Lee and Jackson, but also one of Lewis & Clark [and Sacagawea] and another of just Clark), that downtown branch of the public library (which still bears his name), and other civic and cultural resources.

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Yet there's one particular detail of his philanthropy that is not mentioned at the above hyperlinked Parks & Recreation tribute to McIntire, and has indeed almost always been left out of the public story. As discovered by a Daily Progress reporter in 2009, the mid-1920s deed for McIntire Park includes this requirement: "Said property shall be held and used in perpetuity by the said City for a public park and playground for the white people of the City of Charlottesville." It's impossible not to connect McIntire's efforts to memorialize the Confederate past with this design for a Jim Crow present and future, a vision of a segregated civil landscape "in perpetuity." At the very least, those who argue that the Lee and Jackson statues represent "heritage, not hate" must acknowledge that the line between the two concepts was for McIntire clearly a blurry one.

Charlottesville's civic memory of Confederates predates McIntire's efforts, however. In 1893, the Ladies' Confederate Memorial Association (a forerunner of the Daughters of the Confederacy) dedicated a Confederate Monument and Cemetery, to honor the more than 1000 soldiers who died at the city's wartime hospital and to pay tribute to "the bravery, devotion, and performance of every Confederate soldier and the honor due every Confederate veteran." Directly adjacent to the University of Virginia's historic cemetery and considered part of that space, this Confederate cemetery is thus maintained by both university staff and funds. Which is to say, the public university at the heart of this college town is just as intertwined with the memory and memorializing of Confederates as are the city's public parks and civic landmarks.

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Yet only a few yards away from that Confederate cemetery is a very different kind of university and civic memorial. Located on the site of a rediscovered burial ground for some of the numerous African American laborers (slave and free) who constructed the university, and rededicated as part of the 2014 national symposium "Universities Confronting the Legacy of Slavery," this African American burial site and memorial represents a small but significant step in making another set of hidden histories part of the university's and city's landscapes and collective memories. Just as McIntire sought to keep African American residents out of his public park, so too have our public histories of the university and city far too often elided African Americans' presence and contributions, producing a whitewashed civic landscape in the process.
Photo Credit: Brent Stoller

To send in a question, please complete this short Google form. All submissions are anonymous, even to the author.

*****

Last Friday's column was heavy, and in that sense, today's installment picks up where that one left off.

When I get questions like these, I can't help feeling overwhelmed, even incompetent. How can I possibly help this person?

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But after sidestepping that initial roadblock, I begin to feel humbled, which eventually transforms to determination. While I might not write a word that rings true, I'm honored that anyone would be willing to give me the chance to make their horrific situation just a little bit better.

So thank you. It's not a responsibility I take lightly.

(Questions have been modified for space and clarity.)

I was sexually abused by my brother and father. I live with them (though I have lived alone and it didn't work out) and my brother always tries to intimidate/harass/deliberately provoke me. I don't want to talk to him even if he asks me a simple question. I don't want to say hi to him either; he talks to me but I don't want to talk to him. He just doesn't understand the meaning of no. What's the best way of not being harassed into talking to my brother and father?

-- Lord of the Rings841; Delaware

My answer to this question probably shouldn't extend beyond these two words: GET OUT!

Seriously, get out. You're living in a dangerous environment. You wake up every day and go to sleep every night in the presence of predators. And now your brother is intimidating and taunting you? This is the emotional equivalent of trying to survive in the Serengeti, with lions and tigers lurking in the darkness. It has to be horrifying.

You clearly have a lot of inner strength, though, as you're searching for tools to keep yourself safe. And while I could brainstorm some key words or phrases you could use to possibly get some breathing room, doing so feels like treating a gunshot wound with a lollipop. It'd be beyond insufficient and arguably negligent.

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As I've done before with questions above my paygrade, I will refer you to the professionals. The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As stated in their name, they work with incest victims, so they can help. Call them at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), or chat with them at online.rainn.org. Counseling is free and confidential, and they also might be able to connect you with additional support in your area.

If you don't want to contact RAINN, I urge you to contact someone. Anyone. Maybe that's a friend or family member. If you're still in school, it could be a teacher/professor you trust or your guidance counselor, who can either advise you or refer you to a more specialized professional. If you're working, contact your human resources department to see if they offer an Employee Assistance Program. Some companies will subsidize therapy sessions with a licensed counselor, at least for a specified amount of time.

The key is to get help. I know you said you tried living alone and it didn't work, but just because it failed before doesn't mean it will fail now.

When your circumstances aren't as you want/need them, it's easy to feel stuck. It's easy to feel that this is how it is, and this is how it'll be. And when you try to extricate yourself from the situation and fail, those feelings of defeat grow that much more undeniable. They begin to feel like fact.

But there's always hope, and there's always a way out. I realize there might be financial restrictions, or emotional concerns, or downright fear. But staying in this environment won't end well.

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Understandably, you're in survival mode. How could you not be? So I get that it's hard to focus on anything beyond stymieing the next threat. But there's a bigger picture out there. There's a world in which you don't have to live in constant fear, where you don't have to turn to me for a defensive vocabulary.

If you can prioritize yourself over everything else, that world can become your reality. Never forget that you're worth saving, and that you're worthy of something better.

COMING FRIDAY: I Want to be a Writer...

Need more ADVICE? Check out the most recent installments:
STOW, UNITED KINGDOM - OCTOBER 22: Cars overtake shire horse-drawn gypsy caravan on country lanes, Stow-On-The-Wold, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images)

A few weeks ago in Latin America, an international car manufacturer advertised one of its vehicles using the 5-star safety rating that had been earned in crash-tests performed by EuroNCAP for the European version of that model. However, the version of this same model sold in Latin America is not eligible for that five star rating. A lot of the safety measures are taken out of the cars when produced for the Latin American market. The cars do not live up to the UN vehicle safety regulations.

Following prompt reaction by Global NCAP, the advertising campaign was adjusted. However, we should pause and look at what this incident reveals. The differences that exist between the same model of vehicle sold in North America, Europe, Japan or Korea, and those sold in developing countries can sometimes be minor, but in many cases they are huge.

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This issue is particularly dangerous when it comes to the safety of a vehicle. Unfortunately, consumers in developing countries are often not provided with enough information about how safe the cars sold in their specific market are. The problem is that these differences in safety translate into a very simple equation for passengers in case of a crash: the difference between a good chance to survive, and a high probability not to. To put it simply: the difference between life and death. Given that 90% of the 1.25 million people killed and the 50 million injured every year on the world's roads live in low- and middle-income countries, this is by no means a minor problem.

The results of the crash tests performed by Global NCAP and its affiliates over the past years have shown that most cars sold in middle-income countries do not comply with what we consider to be the standard safety features that should equip all vehicles.

These include four components that have proven effective in increasing safety:

Seat belts and seat belt anchorages in the front and rear

Minimum resistance to front and side impacts

Electronic stability control systems

Pedestrian safety - e.g. measures to limit the harm to pedestrians in case of shock

We have been raising the alarm about this situation for some time, including by displaying crashed cars at the United Nations European Headquarters in Geneva or at the 2nd Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Brasilia last year. Now we have a historic opportunity to radically upgrade the safety of cars worldwide.

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In just a few days, on 15 April, delegates from all countries will gather in New York for a special session of the General Assembly of the United Nations dedicated to road safety.

The General Assembly will adopt a resolution inviting Member States to develop and implement national road safety plans in order to meet the ambitious target set in the Sustainable Development Goals adopted last September to half the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents by 2020.

This resolution is expected to encourage any county that has not yet become a contracting party to the various UN legal instruments on road safety to do so. Countries will also be invited to implement the United Nations vehicle safety regulations, or equivalent national standards, to ensure that all new motor vehicles, meet applicable minimum regulations for occupant and other road users protection, with seat belts, air bags and active safety systems fitted as standard. These legal instruments and regulations have a proven track record of reducing mortality and serious injury wherever they are applied.

If adopted, this resolution would be a real game changer! It would represent an unprecedented commitment by the international community to improve vehicle standards globally instead of having high standards for developed economies and lower ones for everyone else. And it would give the clearest message to vehicle manufacturers and to governments about the levels of safety that should be universally applied to all passenger cars by 2020 at the latest.

We therefore urge all UN Member States to adopt the draft resolution on 15 April, and thereafter to fully apply the UN legal instruments on road safety and vehicle regulations.

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Of course, many countries will require technical assistance to do so. Together with all the actors of the road safety community, we stand ready to help countries to accede to and to implement these instruments and regulations.

We also call on the motor industry as a whole and on all car and parts makers individually to make the necessary adjustments to their production lines. And they need not wait until 2020 to do so. It will be in the best interest of all car manufacturers to demonstrate the real quality of their models in terms of safety, not only in Europe, North America or Japan, but worldwide.

With this resolution, safety can become a key component in the choice of a car in all countries, saving millions of lives.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (R) and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva participate in the celebration for the 10th anniversary of the social welfare program Bolsa Familia (Family Allowance), in Brasilia, on October 30, 2013. The Family Allowance scheme was initiated by Rousseff's predecessor, Lula da Silva. AFP PHOTO / Evaristo Sa (Photo credit should read EVARISTO SA/AFP/Getty Images)

The trials based on alleged corruption charges have prevented the assessment of Lula/Dilma's government in terms of the transformation of the Brazilian socioeconomic structure. No party has ever come to power with such promises of changing the Brazilian reality and no party has ever ruled the country for such a long period, except for Getulio Vargas (1930 - 1945 and 1950 - 1954).

But when one looks around, the assessment is not positive.

The "Bolsa Familia" (the main social welfare program), which started in the previous government by the name of "Bolsa Escola," and which distributes annually 0.5 percent of the GDP, should be acclaimed for the rare generosity shown by the governing elites, but it has not been a truly transformational program. The transformation would have been to emancipate the population so that it wouldn't have to rely on this social program. The Lula/Dilma government did not accomplish that.

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In a country with a legacy of slavery, the Lula/Dilma government had the noble gesture of creating instruments to include the underprivileged population and slave descendants into higher education with affirmative actions, such as quotas, the Prouni (University for All Program) and FIES (Student's Higher Education Financing) programs, and opening more than 14 federal universities. Creating mechanisms to allow the sons and daughters of a few working men to enter university is a positive gesture, but it doesn't automatically suggest a change in the social structure. The transformation would result from a change in the educational system so that the sons and daughters of every working man would be able to compete in the entrance exam with the same chances as the sons and daughters of their employers.

The Lula/Dilma government did not advance the cause of civic and political awareness: it soothed the masses and co-opted the social movements such as CUT (the National Trade Union Federation) and UNE (the National Union of Students); it opened the doors of consumerism to groups that had been previously marginalized, but it didn't embrace them as full citizens; it increased the number of consumers but not of citizens.

By abandoning truly transformational proposals, the progressive parties and the social movements act as former abolitionists who, when coming to power, were satisfied with emancipating a few slaves and reducing the suffering of others, without actually abolishing slavery itself.

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In the future, besides the ethical stain over the Workers' Party (PT) and other allied parties, the assessment of the Lula/Dilma government, which lasted 13 percent of a century, will show how a great historical opportunity was lost. We'll look back on a party that came to power with promising proposals, represented by a charismatic leader of popular origins, and which won four elections in a row but eventually abandoned modesty and the strength to transform.

The Lula/Dilma government found a socially and politically divided country, aggravated the political gap and instead of bringing down the wall that divides us socially, it simply threw some crumbs to the excluded and failed to fulfill the promise of true structural reforms.

The danger is that the post-Lula/Dilma government won't implement the reforms that are necessary. Judges may be able send politicians to jail and clean the political scene for a while, but they don't bring down the "golden curtain" that divides Brazil; they judge the corruption of the politicians' behavior, but not the corruption of policy priorities.
You wouldn't know it from reading the media, but it is possible to strike a balance between extremely 'Millennial' and traditional workplace cultures. It all starts with the right leadership.

Recently, the New York Times ran a piece on Mic, a company run by 28-year-old CEO, Chris Altchek. Once you get past the routine stereotypes NYT always uses to describe Millennials, you're bombarded with a nearly apocalyptic picture of the workplace: complete with hoverboards, pathological lying being considered acceptable, and child-like oversensitive employees. Altchek claims he focuses on the 40 million Millennials that went to college as his talent pool. He must have focused on the ones that had their parents filling out their college applications (Ha. Ha.).

Is this the best workplace a Millennial can craft? I doubt it, but I'm sure it's in part due to growing pains. Altchek is missing what many Millennials miss: learning from others' mistakes because they think Google searches can replace the benefit of experience. Altchek seems to not have graduated from being a startup entrepreneur to being a leader, building on what's worked for others and strategically making changes.

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Large, traditional companies that have been around for more than 25 years have structure for a reason and at least some of it works. More stringent recruiting standards, for example, ones that at least attempt to filter ethical employees from unethical. At the same time, traditional companies lack in some of the areas Altchek has right: creating a culture where people, regardless of background, feel comfortable voicing their ideas. Many companies today are experiencing high turnover because new hires feel like their potential is being ignored. Altchek has gotten around the obsession traditional corporations have with age and tenure. He might not have all the business etiquette pieces right, but he's experimenting.

Is it possible to strike a happy medium between old-school and new school workplaces? The work we've done at Invati researching and implementing Millennial-inspired changes in 10 key areas of organizational design, responds with a resounding YES! Recently, I ran across an example of a successful Millennial-mindset software company, Bullhorn, and had the opportunity to interview 40-year-old CEO, Art Papas. Art maybe be just shy of being a Millennial, but his approach aligns well with our research (which, by the way shows you don't have to be a Millennial to be modern!). Here are the three key strategies from Art's leadership that allows for a forward-thinking, balanced culture:

Factor 1: Mission, Mission, Mission

Oftentimes, traditional, Boomer-led workplaces suffer from vague, uninspiring missions that don't clearly include positive impact on the world. New-school workplaces often are so bold, they neglect to define the values and behaviors that are needed to deliver the vision. Art's shared with me that his initial mission didn't spark the right kind of behavior, nor was it clear, and that had a clear impact on his business.

Art: We had a mission when we first started that was customer focused but it wasn't really memorable. It had the word worldwide at the end. People shortened it to global domination. I didn't care enough to defend it. In 2007, the joke became reality and by 2009, there were slide decks around with slides that said global domination. We got arrogant, customers would say our sales team acted like bullies, the accounting team would say to customers 'you need to pay your bills or you'll be shut off', and the customer team acted like customers didn't matter. Our Net Promoter Scores (NPS) plummeted as did our Glassdoor scores.

Now I care about the mission. I will defend it if someone gets it wrong. I talk to a lot of other CEOs about culture, mission, and getting people passionate about a mission that they can sink their teeth into. CEOs are like 'Yeah, yeah we have a mission statement". Everybody read Good To Great, everyone knows we should have something. But it is very true that the younger generations are very focused on answering the question 'What am I doing on the planet?' because we have this global perspective on the world other generations didn't have. So if you're a leader ask yourself, "Do you believe in your mission or not?" If you don't, get rid of it because it erodes the value of what you're doing.

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Factor 2: Be A Leader that Spends More Time Thinking About Harnessing Talent than Profit

One of our key definers for thriving companies are those who invest in talent as a primary strategic focus. Art agrees. He knows that the way to harness profit is to harness talent. Profit loss happens when he stops communicating the right vision and stops creating the right culture to make the vision come to life.

Art: I think about that a lot. I spend more time thinking about people than anything else. The number one thing that I am constantly thinking about is how is the team performing and behaving and what the cultural norms are. When I was a small company, it was easier. When I became larger, we had more people setting their own agendas. There are cascading levels now of people who are setting culture. The people that work for me are setting the culture for the people that work for them. I spend a lot of time on that because at the end of the day I think that's all that matters. Strategy and vision are important, but the team that is executing that strategy and vision is what ties it all together.

Factor 3: Respect and Recognition

The extreme Millennial apocalyptic workplaces blur the lines between creativity and disrespect. People have anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 thoughts a day and a high percentage of those are... useless. So unless there is structure and etiquette in place to filter this high of a volume, allowing EVERYTHING to be said doesn't add value. On the flip side, traditional workplaces often don't respect incoming talent because of their age and tenure. New ideas are often met with "It's always been done this way" or "We tried that years ago and it didn't work" or "Who are you to add new ideas" attitudes. Papas overcomes both of these by using his mission as a way to reward and recognize people.

Art: I close every meeting by recognizing 3 or 4 people who live the mission and values. You'd never expect a rep from St. Louis be recognized in front of 600 people so that is powerful. People think, "What is Art saying that person did?" It creates powerful moments. If you work at this company, you can't avoid knowing what we are trying to accomplish. Boomers have this idea that you need to be tough, this attitude of 'no one ever recognized me'. But I think as you get older you get a foggier memory. People need praise. The instinct is when someone does something good, you move on. We try to create moments of memorable praise.

To Close

We all have to start modernizing our culture. The world around us has changed, digital has changed the way we expect to work and live. A great leader is someone who can decipher what to keep and what to lose from the old style of working. A great way to do that is to go back to creating a strong mission -- and defining the best way to deliver on that mission with the talent and tools you have today.
Another major crime with very serious persisting effects is the Marine assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah in November 2004.

Women and children were permitted to escape if they could. After several weeks of bombing, the attack opened with a carefully planned war crime: Invasion of the Fallujah General Hospital, where patients and staff were ordered to the floor, their hands tied. Soon the bonds were loosened; the compound was secure.

The official justification was that the hospital was reporting civilian casualties, and therefore was considered a propaganda weapon.

Much of the city was left in "smoking ruins," the press reported, while the Marines sought out insurgents in their "warrens." The invaders barred entry to the Red Crescent relief organization. Absent an official inquiry, the scale of the crimes is unknown.

Medical researchers have found dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukemia, even higher than Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Uranium levels in hair and soil samples are far beyond comparable cases.

One of the rare investigators from the invading countries is Dr. Kypros Nicolaides, director of the fetal-medicine research center at London's King's College Hospital. "I'm sure the Americans used weapons that caused these deformities," Nicolaides says.
This is murder. Or it is an execution. Whatever it is, it is illegal, and most profoundly, inhumane.

Yes. This is a Palestinian insurgent that attacked Israeli soldiers with knives in the West Bank. But when you are a soldier in a conflict zone, this is to be expected. What is not to be expected is Wild Wild West-style street executions. Or maybe... it is...? It sure seems that way from the current sad and unwavering support from the majority of Israelis for the actions carried out in their name. Eighty-two percent of Israelis on social media stand in support of the killing, claiming a range of reasons from "this was a Palestinian terrorist and he deserved it," to "the soldier feared for his and others' lives." The fact that the event has been done for long minutes and that that particular soldier wasn't even part of the attack is apparently irrelevant. More justifications come in the form of plain racism and oppression propaganda, such that I refrain from giving stage to.

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Naturally, the ever-encouraging of the lowest common denominator, ludicrous and nefarious Netanyahu went as far as to call the soldier's family to commiserate with them and assure his father that his son will get a fair trial. Ironic, considering he will stand trial for violently refusing one to his victim.

It really doesn't matter what you say, the filmed truth is on full display in a clear-cut murder case. Change the uniform to civilian clothes, and the insurgent to an attacker and you get a civil case where a murderer is given some sentencing consideration due to the mitigating circumstances of the attacker's actions, but is nonetheless found guilty of murder. And anyone saying otherwise is either blind or has lost any last ounce of humanity and connection to his higher self.

It's been months since I commented, wrote or even managed to speak about the going-ons in my lost country. But to this I cannot remain silent; I can no longer disengage when so many are loud about their inhumane bloodthirsty beliefs.

I was born and raised in Israel. There can be no doubt about the validity of my concern or opinion. I am the granddaughter of holocaust survivors, daughter of a former Israeli general and chief of staff, sister to a fallen IDF officer, and former officer myself. I am also a product of many of the good things in what used to be Israeli society when I was a child. Israeli society and people have drifted into dogmas letting religion, hate and fear dictate their lives; so much so that they continue to elect a government so corrupt it laughs in their fearful faces while they recite and disseminate fright and animosity.

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Is this who we really want to be?

Hateful, negative, victimized, divisive, judgmental, hostile, violent and inhumane; do we really want the face of our society to be that kind of face? Do we have the right to demoralize our society because we believe others are demoralized? Should we criticize those who hate us for our actions by being hateful ourselves? Can we ignore our own vices? Do we want to be the judge and jury only because we have the upper hand? Murder just because we can?
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal took a bold stance on discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBTQ) people this week. While political pundits want you to believe that he succumbed to pressure from the business community by vetoing the anti-LGBTQ bill, HB 757, the truth is that he upheld the core values that millions of Evangelical Christians hold closely. His decision to veto this legislation was based on his religious convictions: freedom, justice, and equality for all.

Governor Deal is on a difficult journey of faith that many Christians are taking. As a Southern Baptist, Deal is surrounded by religious voices--including the Georgia Southern Baptist Convention--that encourage bias and discrimination against LGBTQ people. Yet even within our denomination, individuals and churches are beginning to reflect on their opposition to LGBTQ equality by asking the age-old question: What would Jesus do? More answers are coming back that they wouldn't discriminate against their neighbors. They are loving their neighbors as themselves.

Churches are on this journey as well. Groups like The Institute of Welcoming Resources have provided materials for churches to use in this journey since the 1980s. Each mainline protestant denomination has had organized efforts to speak to their respective denominations on issues affecting LGBTQ people. In more recent years, efforts have been underway in evangelical settings as well with the advent of groups like the Reformation Project, the Gay Christian Network and Nomad Partnerships. Yet, we still have a long way to go.

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Despite significant advances toward equality, LGBTQ people still face injustice and discrimination. All across the country, self-interested politicians are pushing for legislation similar to HB 757 looking to deny LGBTQ people basic protections against discrimination in the workplace, housing, education, and in public places like the airport and supermarkets. These politicians are looking to limit the rights of LGBTQ people and their families under the guide of religious freedom. The truth is that religious freedom is already protected under the U.S. Constitution. Baptists of generations past made sure of that fact. Freedom of speech and freedom of practice for both our religion and our beliefs are protected by the law of the land. Don't believe otherwise.

I know first-hand the challenge of reconciling between old southern church teachings and our true Christian duty of supporting equality for all. As a Southern Baptist, I struggled with understanding the context of the Bible and removing the bias that I brought to the scriptures around race, gender and sexuality. I questioned the discrimination that LGBTQ people face: in fact 90 percent of transgender people experience harassment, discrimination and mistreatment in the workplace. Is this fair? Yet despite the troubling injustice faced by transgender people, Georgia and 30 other states across the country still lack explicit nondiscrimination protections for transgender people.
Hiking the Kumano Kodo Trail in Southeastern Japan is no walk in the park.

The Kumano Kodo Trail is actually a network of trails in the remote, mountainous Kii Peninsula, southeast of Osaka and Kyoto. The trails, which were established as Buddhist pilgrimage routes in the 10th Century, connect several sacred sites, collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Physical hardship is key to the spiritual experience of hiking the trail. It only took a few minutes on the trail to grasp what that meant. I figure that these trails were established before the switchback was invented. Instead of walking gradually uphill on a series of gently sloping switchbacks, we were either trudging up or carefully picking our way down long, steep staircases of high, uneven steps. All I could think about as I panted up the trail was that I should have spent more time on the glute machine in the gym.

The reward? Silence, serenity and seclusion. We walked through green, sun-dappled tunnels formed by tall ancient cedars, broken up by occasional peek-a-boo views of distant ridges, valleys, and quaint villages. The trail was relatively easy to follow, especially with the detailed trail notes provided by the tour operator that hosted us on this self-guided trip.

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At the end of the day we slid into baths at the Japanese-style inns where we stayed each night. The baths soothed my aching muscles and joints and the elaborate dinners served in the inns -- featuring sashimi, pickled vegetables, tofu and God knows what else - replenished my depleted reserves of energy just enough to get my body off the floor each morning (literally - we slept in futons on tatami mat floors most nights) and trudge uphill once again into the mountains.

Our days on the trail were bookended by visits to two of the most important shrines in Japan. Mount Koya is a special place in the spiritual history of Japan. Since the 9th Century when the monk Kobo Daishi founded the first temple on the mountain and established the Shingon sect of Buddhism, devout Japanese have started their religious pilgrimages with visits to Mount Koya. The setting of steep hills covered with majestic cedars added to the spiritual sense of place.

We spent our one night in Koya at the Saizenin Monastery, a complex of simple, serene, and elegant buildings and gardens, an exemplar of Zen design.

As soon as we arrived at the monastery, I sat back and relaxed....sort of. First, there is no sitting back in a Japanese monastery. The thin cushions on the floor have no back rests making it impossible for me to slouch and lounge, my default position for kicking back and relaxing.

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Second, I just didn't know how to act. I am large and loud and can be a bit of a bull in a china shop. And we were the only gaijin in the place. So, behaving in a way that wouldn't attract too much attention was a real challenge for me. The simplest acts, ones I never think about when I'm home, required a Zen-like focus to get right, like using the right slippers and aligning them up properly outside the dining room and shared baths. At some point I figured what the hell and just tried to be as unobstrusive as possible. Since they didn't throw us out, or even glare at us, I guess we did all right. Next time, though, I'll know how to line up the slippers.

The hike ended in Nachi-san, the site of Nachi-Taisha, the most important shrine on the Kumano Kodo trail, and Nachi no Taki, a spectacular waterfall over 400 feet high. For hours we explored the magnificent complex of temples spread up the side of a mountain. We climbed real stairs -- instead of the rocks, roots, and timber steps on the trail - that weaved in and out among the temples. The stairs were pretty steep and long so we got plenty of exercise, but we stopped whenever we wanted to soak up the atmosphere of the place and linger over the views.

The next morning we took a local bus to the nearby port town of Kii-Katsuura to catch the train to Tokyo (actually two trains, including the legendary "bullet train"). We had time to explore the dock, eat fresh sashimi, and make friends with a bunch of local guys about our age. They understood just a few words of English, and we understood even less Japanese, but we managed to share a few laughs and a large plate of sushi, their treat.

They were typical of the people we met throughout our visit to Japan - friendly, good-natured, helpful and generous - and nothing at all like the reserved, distant stereotypes we expected. We went to Japan for the sites, the history, and the food, but it was ultimately the people that really made the trip.
It's hard to be original with marriage proposals these days. As the screenwriters say, everything's been done! There've been proposals via a Washington Post crossword, a fake movie scene, a staged death, even a Disney musical. Personally, I'm a firm believer that it's not how you ask it's who you ask. Still, I spent months engineering my wedding proposal, and deem it worthy to share...

The year was 1992. There were no widespread cell phones. Those who had one, it was a "brick". If you had email, it was AOL. To get on the Internet, you used the slooooooowwwww dialup with the high-pitched chirps - oooo-eeeeee-oooooo (sorry, my linguistics isn't so good). That was the era when I decided that I would propose to my wife Selina. Since I was a kid I have been a little irreverent with a tinge of the unconventional. I knew I had to do something original. I was a starving medical student so I couldn't hire a plane to skywrite the proposal or travel to some exotic land with unicorns. I needed to be resourceful. I had to settle for cubic zirconia. Just kidding - the engagement ring at least was the real deal. Like they used to do in the casinos, I skimmed off a little sum from my mountain of student loans to buy the ring in tiny Hanover, New Hampshire where I was in Dartmouth Medical School.

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An old Santa Monica school friend Dave (name changed to protect him) was literally "stowing away" with me in my Ivy League med school. He was an aspiring screenwriter, but he lacked the discipline to complete a script. Imagine the Zach Galifianakis character in The Hangover movies. That's exactly Dave. I offered to help him write after my hospital rounds so he could get a script written. His father (a successful screenwriter) gave him permission since he thought I was a good role model. Dave secretly lived in my rented room in a large, cold old Vermont house complete with creeky wood floors and turn-of-the-century latched doors. I didn't let any of my classmates nor my professors about Dave nor my screenwriting assistance since I didn't want anyone to have the impression that I was not 100% committed to a career in medicine. The hijinks that ensued will probably be another article. Selina earlier met Dave and she found him barely tolerable. I really liked him because of his sense of humor - that was our bond.

When it came time for ring shopping in Hanover, Dave was at my side at my insistence. Leaving him alone in the house proved to be nearly disastrous as we almost got kicked out on more than one occasion (the reasons might be part of another article). Bottom line is the less time that Dave was home alone, the better. In the jewelry store I found a modern design that I knew Selina would love. Dave was being obnoxious with the salesman and almost got us booted out of the store empty-handed. With my heart thumping, I bought the ring before Dave blew my chance.

Then the big question was how to propose. Selina is from Vancouver, Canada and she spoke French. I imagined that it would be romantic to propose in French: "You are my Cherie. I would like to spend the rest of my life with you. Would you marry me?" I didn't know anyone in med school who spoke French to help translate. There were no online translation sources. So my friends and I took a road trip one weekend to Montreal. At a bar a server helped translate what would be my French marriage proposal.

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I next needed to plan out what to do with the ring. Putting it in champagne glass at dinner is beautiful but has been already done a lot. I thought of putting it in food, like a potpie. But what if she bit it and broke off the diamond? Or worse: she just swallowed it??!!! I liked the idea of putting it in something edible, however, I needed to figure out a safe item. It was a chilly cold New England winter night in the old house and I scribbled out different options but eventually crossed them all out. Cake? No. Candy bar? No. Donut? No. Chicken parmesan? No. Dinner roll? No. Salmon? No. I couldn't figure it out, so I cooked dinner for Dave and me using my large Chinese wok (which also doubled for a shovel to get the snow out of the driveway so I could get to school in many mornings). I'm no Wolfgang Puck, but I always made him dinner since Dave never cooked. After we ate my stir fry, Dave had the chutzpah to ask if I also was providing him dessert, "What about the fortune cookies?" He got the WTF! look from me. But then I smiled. That was it! That was where I would put the engagement ring - in a fortune cookie! No one eats them right away - they break them open to first read their fortune. That's how Selina will find the ring and the ring's safety will be ensured from her GI track. I hugged Dave which really confused him since what I just wrote happened in my head unbeknownst to him. I then told Dave and he took credit for the idea which was fine by me. I had a solution.

I carefully went to work figuring out how to get a slender gold ring with a diamond into a fortune cookie. I considered all the options and tried a few but they didn't work. I was on the brink of giving up then got it to work. I was all set now. Kinda set. I still needed to get to Vancouver. I had many airline miles so I was waitlisted on the Boston to Seattle flight as well as the Seattle to Vancouver leg. I called the airline every night from biomedical library and the answer was always the same - still waitlisted. It was three weeks before the flight and I was getting nervous. Finally the cross-country flight came through and I was confirmed. Now the little connector was still in limbo. A week before a seat opened up and I was ticketed all the way!

Selina and I talked every night and I let her know the great news. A week later I was there in Vancouver. I explained that I would be cooking her Chinese food one night. I bought all the ingredients and whipped up a delicious stir fry with a little mustard. I surprised myself with it. I then disappeared to the kitchen and came back with two fortune cookies on a plate. I had triple checked which cookie had the ring since giving myself the ring would not be ideal. I opened up my cookie and read the fortune. She took her cookie and snapped it open. A puff of fluffy white cotton emerged. She looked confused and intrigued as that's not the normal item you find inside a fortune cookie. She picked the cotton out and a glint of gold was seen hiding inside. She peeled away the cotton to find the modest gold engagement ring from Hanover, New Hampshire. Her eyes grew wide like a doe. She looked at me with mouth agape. I got on one knee and recited the French proposal that I rehearsed hundreds of times. Her eyes welled and tears overflowed. She said, "Of course!!!" and we hugged, kissed, and.......
The third season of "Turn: Washington's Spies", will be beginning it's third season on the AMC channel, on April 25th, starring Ian Kahn as the iconic General George Washington.

Ian Kahn has appeared on Broadway in "Enron", as well as on television in popular series such as, "Dawson's Creek", "Sex and the City", "Bull", and "The Unusuals". After speaking with Ian, I quickly came to realize that if anyone could portray the historical character of Gen. Washington, it would have to be him...

You are portraying a very interesting role. Do you realize that you are actually creating history? No one alive today knew Gen. Washington, so all of America is relying on you now, to kind of introduce him.

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That's an interesting point of view. I think that there is a lot written about Gen. Washington, but the American public seems to have a very specific view of him. I appreciate you calling him Gen. Washington, that's dead on right! He's sort of wrapped up in the dollar bill, and the personality around that. And yet, it's a great responsibility to play him and to try to bring flesh and blood to this icon of our country. One has real specific ideas about him, but they don't really know him.

You are kind of creating him, and I think that's so cool, so my next question is how did you prepare for a role like that?

When I got the job, I was lucky enough to have a friend, who had a friend who is a Washington interpreter, who has dedicated the last 15 years to portraying Gen. George Washington. That's his job. He's gotten into every aspect of his personality, and does a fantastic job of portraying him. His name is Daniel Shippey. When I got the job, my friend suggested I speak to him. It started a process where I would talk on the phone with him for 3 hours a day, and ask him pretty much every question that I possibly could about the man.

Give an example of some of the questions that you've asked him. I wouldn't know where to start.

The first place to start for me was with the script, the story that is being told. I take the information that the writer has put out. So when the show began, we were in December of 1776. When Gen. Washington appears on the show for the first time it's Dec. 25th 1776, the day after the great battle was won, and he crossed the Delaware, against the "Hessians". He told me everything that was going on. Back then, there wasn't the Internet, or pictures really. There were paintings, and there were letters. In these letters there were so many clues for actors. For an actor, information feeds imagination. So the more information that I was able to get, the more I could imagine how I would feel in this particular situation. One of the most interesting parts of George Washington, is that when he was a younger man in his 20s, he was a very reckless man. He made a lot of reckless choices, that caused real problems for the country, and for him personally. In my own experience of life, I know that I made a lot of foolish and reckless choices. So I was able to connect with the character very much from that perspective. Over time what he did, and hopefully what I've been able to do, is learn from his mistakes, because that's the best we can do as people. So that was my first hook into his personality, he was not the stone man that I know and that I had grown up with. I always thought that he was like a statue. He looked so mean and angry all the time. But he was a person. He made a lot of mistakes, but he learned from them, he became very reflective.

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How did you come about getting this role?

I had moved to California with my wife, and then 1 son, to see how I could move forward as a producer. Feeling that if I was in a room with other producers, auditioning for them, that I would have a better feel for getting jobs. Then I started working with a manager, and an agent. My agent saw this role out there, and I sort of fit the description. As an actor when you get an opportunity to audition for a role, for me personally, I sit down and read it. It either comes out, or it doesn't. So when you say the words, it either sounds like it's you talking or that your putting on a character. Just from the first moment I started reading the words, I had a connection to the character. I enjoyed playing the role. That's one of the key things, hen you enjoy playing somebody, you can put more heart and soul into it.

This role has to be really different than Dawson's Creek.

Yes and no. It is very different, but at the same time it's somewhat the same. Let me see if I can make this work. So I was Danny Brecher who was Pacey's boss. What Danny was, was the boss of his little world. He was the General of his restaurant, his environment. He had a young man that he was apprenticing and looking over. Well it's very similar to what we have on "Turn". I am the General of my little world, a bigger world than the restaurant, and I have a young man, Benjamin Tallmadge, who I am trying to counsel, and be a role model to. In an odd way, there is a certain similarity in Danny and Gen. George Washington.

You have also done Broadway, correct ?

Yes in "Enron"



How do you compare doing television to doing Broadway?

I've done a lot of theater all across the country. It's a completely different experience. It almost should be considered different professions. It requires really different muscles to do the job well. What actually serves you well on screen, can often cost you on stage, what often serves you on stage can often cost you on screen. It's a delicate balance to be able to do both. I enjoy both of them very much, and for very different reasons. I guess for you it would be like interviewing an actor, and then interviewing a politician. You're still interviewing them, but the experience is so very different.



That's a good comparison. What made you decide to go into the acting industry?



I really liked it. It was fun. When I was a little boy, my grandma used to take me to Broadway shows. I remember seeing, "42nd Street", and I sat up in the mezzanine. I was watching and said, " I'd like to do that" . My grandma pointed to the stage and said, "you belong up there". She passed away when I was quite young. We were very close, and after that I joined the theater guild in my town. So I was the only boy, so I did The Artful Dodger in Oliver, and Charlie Brown, and stuff like that, and I really enjoyed it. I loved expressing myself.

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You come from Long Island?

I sure do. Long Beach. That's where I'm from.

Without giving too much away, or getting in trouble, what can we expect from season 3 of "Turn"?
Part 2 of the AYA: Australia Series (To read Part 1 click here)

The Inaugural Australasian International Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Oncology Congress took place this past December in Sydney, Australia. The multi-disciplinary Congress was held by CanTeen, an Australian youth cancer charity and welcomed over 250 delegates from across Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America. I had the great pleasure of being an invited writer and speaker at this event. I spoke at the congress about the innovative ways we can address the needs of adolescents and young adults living with metastatic and/or advanced cancer. Here are six summary items I think you should know about the conference:

1. The theme of the Congress was Crossing Boundaries and Bringing it all Together. It reflected the importance and necessity of interdisciplinary teams, including those in the pediatric and adult medical fields, working together to advance the AYA cancer movement. Conference delegates represented interdisciplinary medicine and included oncologists, hematologists, nurses, psychosocial professionals, public health and non-profit staff. The Congress was a patients-included conference that had active participation from youth cancer patients and family members.

2. The international keynote speakers for the event were Dr. Brad Zebrack, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work; Dr. Brandon Hayes-Lattin, Associate Progessor of Medicine at the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Oregon Health and Science University; Sue Morgan, Teenage Cancer Trust Nurse Consultant; Dr. Dan Stark, Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology at Leeds University; and Dr. Norma D'Agostino, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto.

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3. Three key themes were focused on at the Congress: best practice and emerging medical treatments; psychological and emotional support; and survivorship.

4. Plenary sessions provided insight into AYA cancer around the world; the Australian model of care; psychosocial assessment and care of AYA patients; young people and decision-making; survivorship; and a Q & A with leading international and Australian speakers. The primary focus of the Q & A session was around international collaboration in the AYA oncology field and the role we have in supporting developing countries to improve their AYA cancer treatment and care.

5. In line with the Congress, CanTeen released a report on survivorship, highlighting the ongoing emotional, social and health challenges AYAs face. The report makes recommendations that include better cooperation and referrals between hospitals, primary care and community services. These are challenges we also face in North America. For more information about the report, please contact CanTeen at researchteam@canteen.org.au

6. Concurrent sessions focused on topics pertinent to the health of AYAs: Oncofertility, palliative care, psychosocial support and nursing.

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Four years ago, if you had asked me who I would vote for in this presidential election, I would have said Hillary Clinton. However, in the last four years, my views of Hillary have changed and as I dig into her past and notice inconsistencies. She has been flip-flopping her whole life, and while changing opinions isn't a crime, someone who is running for the presidency should have unwavering consistency in backing up campaign promises.

When it comes to lifelong proof that one's words matches his intentions, it's evident that Bernie Sanders is the best choice to serve as the next president of the United States -- especially for African Americans. I think, when given the facts and the political histories of the Democratic candidates, that every activist in this new modern day civil rights movement -- whether Black Lives Matter or otherwise -- will feel the same amount of passion I have for Bernie Sanders.

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The past couple of years have been horrible on this whole nation, particularly as it relates to race. Tragedy after tragedy, death after death. My dad (Eric Garner) in Staten Island, Mike Brown in Ferguson, Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Raynette Turner in Mount Vernon -- the list grows daily. However, these conditions are nothing new. People like Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and Marcus Garvey put their bodies and lives on the line to stand up and send a message that we are human beings, and should be respected as such. And it was Sanders -- not Clinton -- who put his body on the line with us.

The media often would like us to believe that Sanders' promises to continue his quest for equality are too lofty and unrealistic, and even impossible. Is it really impossible to treat Black people like humans instead of just votes? Is it really so impossible to make an investment in our students instead of the $17 billion the Clintons invested in police, military grade weapons and prisons? Is it really impossible to invest in the healthcare of the American people instead of the $26 billion wasted training foreign armies under Clinton as Secretary of State? Is it really impossible to demand transparency from our police departments and our criminal justice system in an effort to bring life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to fruition once and for all? Is it really impossible to take the necessary steps to get more teachers and counselors in our schools instead of labeling them super predators and putting them on the school to prison pipeline?



"Is it really so impossible to make an investment in our students instead of the $17 billion the Clintons invested in police, military grade weapons and prisons?"



Furthermore, the media seem to pigeonhole him as being a one-issue candidate when in reality he has stood up against war, climate change, government corruption, equal inadequate housing, poor healthcare AND Wall Street. Just because he stands with Black people doesn't mean he won't help everyone. There has never been a time in this country when life improved for Black folks and didn't dramatically improve for everyone else. As he has said himself, "I am human. When you hurt, I hurt."

I decided to stand with Senator Sanders not because someone told me to do it. I did it because he listened to me and he is consistent. First I decided to read, research, and ask questions about Sander's platform and political track record. After all, it's not like my teachers in NYC excellent public-school system taught me about how government works.

Since my endorsement of Bernie Sanders, I've noticed a lot of people started paying attention to him, and my hope is that more Black Americans will recognize that he has done more for our cause than any other candidate. He isn't telling us to shut up or that you deserve to be escorted out of events because you have a voice and want to use it, as is Trump.

During my time in South Carolina, I was anonymously volunteering, making phone calls, and knocking on doors and in the process, I came across many Black women between the ages of 60 and 85 who were Hillary supporters. When I asked them what the most important issue is to them, almost all responded with healthcare and social security, which led me to ask they why they supported Clinton. Needless to say, I didn't get many real answers.

I also took part in roundtable discussions at local colleges, free from cameras and microphones. Without the media present, I told my story and answering questions from real people, questions which have never been asked by the media. Even though I was campaigning for Bernie, I was also reaching out to my peers - not on a political level but more in the sense of having conversations. For example, when I visited the University of South Carolina I walked into the lunch room and introduced myself, telling the group of students and staff the story of my journey. There were hundreds of people there, and after we had this awakening talk, they continued the discussion well into their lunch hour, something invaluable that they could never "learn" in a classroom.

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I think the people are behind Bernie is because he represents us, the average working people. He describes a dream in which our future isn't a place of so much greed, endless cover-ups and conspiracy. He is reminding us working people that we have a voice, and that nobody has the right to silence us. He strongly believes in giving the government back to the people and changing business as usual.

Recently, Hillary has said she "is the only candidate that can get things done." If she really is the best candidate that could get things done -- then I would like for her to tell us how she plans to execute the do the things that she is promising Black folks. How does she plan to eliminate institutional racism? I'd also like to hear her explain why she had to wait for a White House run to talk about these issues? I also think she should release the transcripts so that we can verify that she isn't telling us one thing and them something else. It's a shame the Clinton campaign, including Hillary herself, said my father deserved to be punished for a crime he didn't commit. But my decision to not support Clinton goes far beyond my own personal experiences.

There is an awakening of consciousness happening in our country today, an awakening assisted by general conditions and enhanced by the reality that Donald Trump is more than likely going to be the Republican nominee. However, that reality can be more strongly counteracted with a Bernie Sanders nomination than a Hillary Clinton nomination. We all know why Trump is winning -- looks who's backing him; white supremacists affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan and other narrow-minded bigots. But if we as Black people stand up and vote for change like we did with Obama in 2008 and 2012, we can do it again in 2016.

As I reflect on what's been taking place in the presidential race within the context of my experiences in South Carolina recently, some questions I'd like to ask my people come to mind. Do you know why Senator Sanders deserves our votes? Because he represents change. People are starting to wake up, they recognize that we cannot afford more of the same. It isn't America versus Iraq. It's the rich folks subjugating everyone else, by the way the Clintons are solidly rich. Ask yourselves this: how can a whole race of people become nearly extinct and essentially erased from the history taught in the schools that receive our tax dollars? Sanders is the best positioned candidate to relate Black voters, 85% of whom live on $50,000 or less -- and all oppressed and marginalized groups in the United States.

It's time for people -- Black and minority people -- to wake up, young or old. Anytime someone tries to stand with any Black man, woman or child, that person will be taken down by the media and the systemic racism that the American political establishment is charged to maintain. People are quick to say that Bernie Sanders just appeared out of thin air, but that is nonsense. He was a young protestor in 1960s Chicago, standing with Black people for equal housing rights. Yes, he is a White man, but he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

I'm still on the Bernie Sanders campaign trail and I will continue to knock on doors and shake hands and hear people's voices. This isn't a Bernie Sanders movement. It's a continuation of the struggle that we have been involved with for centuries, but there is no better ally for us of the current list of prospective nominees. I'm tired of my father's name, face and pictures being exploited ever since his death. My family had to continue to bare witness to what we saw as a flat-out murder over and over while watching as people on the television screen tried desperately to convince the world that it wasn't a murder.

Our Black establishment elected officials try and erase Bernie's history when hey are supposed to be our leaders. One thing about this movement is that it's led by people who are awake, not one person following the other but different ideas coming together to make one. We have no leader and we don't like to be pandered to, but Sanders is elevating our voices.
Baltimore is synonymous with blue crabs and the Ravens. Until last year, that is all we were known for. A year later, when you mention that you're from Baltimore, people quickly jump up and look at you with such sorrow, and mention "the riots." This week marks the one year anniversary of the Baltimore uprising that was sparked by the death of 25 year old Freddie Gray. Freddie Gray was a Baltimore native, whose life was cut short after being arrested by local Baltimore police. The manner of which is died sparked national outrage,An autopsy conducted on Freddie concluded that his death was caused by a "high-energy" injury to his neck and spine that was possibly a result of the "rough ride" in the back of the police van. Baltimore residents were tired of police getting away with police brutality, so the uprising began. His death sparked a citywide protest that lasted for many days. It was the proudest moment of my life, seeing my city stand up to the world.

Now a year later, many ask, how did Freddie Gray truly affect Baltimore? It left a big impression, long after the camera crews packed their bags, the citizens continued to live in communities suffering from poverty, the looting of the CVS on Penn-North, and other business affected the local business heavily. Many still haven't came back. This leaves the residents where they were a year prior,maybe worse off.

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The mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings Blake made news worldwide for her mishandling of the uprising. A lot of residents lost their trust in her. During a press conference, she called the protesters "thugs." That statement solidified the distrust residents already had for her. What she didn't realize was that those were young black boys. Society already paints them as thugs, so why would she reaffirm this stereotype as a black woman and mayor of a majority black city? She also put a curfew on the city. That affected many businesses, due to the early closure they lost out on money. During this time, they were many sporting events, so bars and restaurants lost out. Collectively, Stephanie did not know how to handle the situation, she was overwhelmed and over her head. A year later, we will be electing a new mayor. Currently Baltimore has many interesting candidates, one of them being Deray Mckesson, Black Lives Matter member, ex-mayor Sheila Dixon, and Nick Mosby, husband of Marilyn Mosby (State Attorney in the Freddie Gray case). This is a great time to be a Baltimore resident because the next mayor we choose, will decide the fate of the city. We have a lot of internal issues we have to fix ,which includes schools. Especially getting clean water in schools, many children grow up with lead poisoning, Freddy Gray was one of them. At this moment, many people aren't sure who they will vote for.

The court case of Freddie Gray looks sullen, in May 2015, Marilyn Mosby announced that the six officers linked to Freddie Gray would in fact face charges. That was a day of celebration in Baltimore. We were all proud that we made a small step to change. A year later, doesn't look like it made much of a difference. William Porter is the first officer to stand trial, he was charged with manslaughter for failing to put a seatbelt on Gray. His trial ended in a hung jury after just three days in December 2015. The other officers are scheduled to stand trial throughout 2016.

Not much has changed in Baltimore a year later, and I'm hoping it will. We are still fighting poverty, lack of jobs and high drug rates. The uprising gave us a glimmer of hope, but it quickly dimmed. Freddie Gray made me proud of my city, we all joined together for a common case and weathered the storm together. We showed the world just what was happening in Baltimore. Maybe much hasn't changed, but we are still here.
The premise of the title above has nothing to do with Israel, or any perception of political power possessed by Jewish Americans. Rather, it's a discussion of a double-standard that I see, as a Jewish American and political writer, between the use of racism, versus anti-Semitism, in American politics. In 2014, I wrote a piece titled Ferguson and Race From White America's Perspective, If It Switched Places With Black America, and was invited by Marc Lamont Hill to discuss my article on HuffPost Live. In The Times of Israel that year, I wrote a piece titled What if American Jews faced the African-American experience in 2014? When the uproar over a mosque near Ground Zero caused unfettered Islamophobia, I tried to imagine how I'd feel, and wrote a Jerusalem Post op-ed titled What if they opposed a synagogue? Recently, I appeared on CNN New Day with Victor Blackwell to discuss how Hillary Clinton's white privilege allows her to escape endless controversy.

Therefore, let's discuss political parallels within the context of roles being reversed. Had Hillary Clinton called Jewish children "super predators," echoes of the Holocaust (of the six million who perished, 1.5 million Jewish children were murdered) would be part of the uproar from such a statement. As Auschwitz survivor Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier testified during the Nuremberg Trials, "One night we were awakened by terrifying cries. And we discovered, on the following day, from the men working in the Sonderkommando-the 'Gas Kommando'-that on the preceding day, the gas supply having run out, they had thrown the children into the furnaces alive." Thus, within the psyche of the Jewish community, the Holocaust is an open wound, and anti-Semitism in any form is a reminder of what could take place, if left unrestrained. Like Armenian Americans who are commemorating the Armenian Genocide this month, victims of genocide often times view politics in the shadow of past slaughter and bloodshed.

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The psychological and emotional scars from Auschwitz, and centuries of persecution before Auschwitz, have made Jews sensitive to even the slightest attempt at demagoguery.

Why this sensitivity doesn't exist in progressive politics today (especially in regard to the Clintons), when such tactics are used against black citizens, is a conundrum. Like the Jewish experience, African Americans have for centuries endured persecution; a horrific reality of American history. In 1895, Ida B. Wells writes in The Red Record that after a black man was found not guilty, "This did not suit the mob...He was seized and hurried off to a convenient spot and hanged by the neck until he was dead for the murder of a woman of which the jury had said he was innocent." For a nation with a criminal justice system that has for centuries targeted black citizens, it's amazing to see Hillary Clinton's PAC take more prison lobbyist contributions ($133,246 to $21,700) than Jeb Bush's PAC, and yet still receive the majority of the African American vote.

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I discuss Clinton's prison lobbyist donors in the following YouTube segment.

Therefore, what if Jewish Americans had suffered from the policies of Bill and Hillary Clinton? Had Bill Clinton locked up enough Jewish Americans leading to almost half the prison population being Jewish, and the First Lady championed these policies, the context of Jewish history would make it impossible for them to get the majority of the Jewish vote. As stated by The Los Angeles Times in 2001, "more federal inmates were added to prisons under Clinton than under presidents George Bush and Ronald Reagan combined." Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, wrote in The Nation that "When Clinton left office in 2001, the United States had the highest rate of incarceration in the world...African Americans constituted 80 to 90 percent of all drug offenders sent to prison."

Ultimately, my goal in writing this is simply to highlight what I think would happen, if policies advocated by both Clintons decimated the Jewish community, as they did with the black communities in the U.S. Also, how would the Jewish community react to surreptitious anti-Semitism?

For example, in 2008 Harvard sociologist Orlando Patterson stated Hillary Clinton's 3 a. m. ad against Obama contained a "racist sub-message." As Professor Patterson states in The New York Times, "In my reading, the ad, in the insidious language of symbolism, says that Mr. Obama is himself the danger, the outsider within."

Imagine if Clinton's 3 a. m. ad used imagery conveying Jews couldn't be trusted in times of crisis. The Dreyfus Affair would come to my mind, if this type of imagery targeted a Jewish candidate being a threat, or untrustworthy, because he was a Jew. Again, as Professor Patterson writes regarding Clinton's 2008 political ad, "The danger implicit in the phone ad -- as I see it -- is that the person answering the phone might be a black man, someone who could not be trusted to protect us from this threat."

Also, Hillary Clinton's staff circulated a photo of Barack Obama in African attire, hoping to sway voters by utilizing racism and Islamophobia. You think I'm exaggerating? David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, is quoted in The Guardian in 2008 stating the photo was "the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election." Mr. Plouffe also stated "It's exactly the kind of divisive politics that turns away Americans of all parties." Had this type of propaganda been used against a Jewish candidate, the political dynamic would likely have been different.

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You'll never hear about 3 a. m. ads, or photos utilizing Islamophobia against Obama in 2008, from leading progressives. Expect MSNBC's Chris Hayes to care more about Susan Sarandon possibly not voting for Hillary, than Hillary's use of racism in the past as a political tool. Many pundits simply don't care that in 2008, The New York Times wrote "Mr. Clyburn added that there appeared to be an almost 'unanimous' view among African-Americans that Mr. and Mrs. Clinton were 'committed to doing everything they possibly can to damage Obama to a point that he could never win.'"

Recent events have also compelled me to write this piece. It's apparent that both Clintons can act with impunity towards the voting demographic they owe everything to, without revolt or mainstream condemnation; and even with full support from many leading pundits.

When a racist joke is made before the New York Primary, just days after Bill Clinton sparred with Black Lives Matter protesters ("You are defending the people who killed the lives you say matter," said Clinton to Black Lives Matter) and only months after Bill Clinton apologized for mass incarceration, something is dangerously wrong with Democratic politics. One can only imagine what would have happened politically to Bernie Sanders, if he acted in this manner.

Perhaps as a white Jew, I have the luxury to make these observations, without needing to abide by "political pragmatism," but there's nothing pragmatic about FBI investigations or Clinton's negative favorability ratings in every national poll. I explain in this YouTube segment how the Clinton campaign views the FBI's email investigation. I also highlight in this YouTube segment why Bernie Sanders is infinitely more qualified to be president than Hillary Clinton.

No doubt, the arguments presented here will be distorted by some, and manipulated by others, especially because few people in politics care to scrutinize their own political party. Sadly, these issues are also tools for hate-filled people to further their own agendas. As for my writing, the usual ad hominem attacks against me can't erase history, or Hillary Clinton's "abysmal" racial justice record, and racism against Obama in 2008.

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Governor Pat McCrory's Executive Order 93 doesn't fix or even put a band aid on HB 2. It does, however, address the man himself with words from the man himself. It tells us beyond any doubt that McCrory isn't now, and hasn't been, truthful.

First, McCrory claims that "With this Executive Order, the State of North Carolina is now one of 24 states that have protections for sexual orientation and gender identity for its employees." This press release can be found here. Sadly, not only is this statement just not true on a close reading of the actual order, but papers like the Charlotte Observer quickly came out with reporting saying that the executive order gave "new" and "historic" protections for state employees. That article can be found here. Rather than the "he said, she said" journalism that we see too much of today, journalists need to read the actual language of the order. The text of that order can be found here. Here is what it actually says:

I hereby affirm that the State of North Carolina is committed to administering and implementing all State human resources policies, practices and programs fairly and equitably, without unlawful [emphasis added] discrimination, harassment or retaliation on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, political affiliation, genetic information, or disability.

Assuming "committed" has teeth in it (which I don't see), there is an obvious sleight of hand here. Sexual orientation and gender identity are only protected against discrimination, harassment or retaliation to the extent "unlawful." There is no state law making that discrimination unlawful and HB 2 took away powers of local governmental entities to outlaw such discrimination. Perhaps McCrory is referring to federal protections that might apply from time to time but if so they already existed or would apply apart from the order. Therefore, there is nothing at all new here. The executive order thus does nothing to expand such rights despite any reporting to the contrary. (Nor does it fix the new lack of a state court remedy for religious or other previously-protected classes. Similarly, where would the state remedy be for discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity?)

Second, Executive Order 93 shows that McCrory was not truthful back on March 25, 2016, when he posed and answered this question:

Does this bill [HB 2] take away existing protections for individuals in North Carolina? Answer: No. In fact, for the first time in state history, this law establishes a statewide anti-discrimination policy in North Carolina which is tougher than the federal government's.

At least until he pulls it down, this series of questions can be found here. In Executive Order 93, however, McCrory now admits this was not true: "I support and encourage the General Assembly to take all necessary steps to restore a State cause of action for wrongful discharge based on unlawful employment discrimination." Again, the full text of this executive order can be found here. Of course, to restore these rights, the rights had to have been taken away. McCrory did not speak the truth back on March 25.

Third, we can't forget the questionable attack-style press release of March 28, 2016:

To counter a coordinated national effort to mislead the public, intimidate our business community and slander [yes, it used this word] our great state, the governor will continue to set the record straight on a common sense resolution to local government overreach that imposed new regulations on businesses that intruded into the personal lives of our citizens. The non-discrimination policies in place today in cities like Raleigh, Greensboro and Asheville and in every business in North Carolina are the same as they were last month and last year.

This press release can be found here. Of course, we only had to read HB2 to know this was not true. Executive Order 93 now also sees the need to step in and "affirm that private businesses, nonprofit employers and local governments may establish their own non-discrimination employment policies." (I'll address this questionable language itself more below.) Acknowledging the need for clarification, where was the truth in all that stuff about slander, intimidation, and misleading the public directed at those who questioned the law?

Fourth, holding out an Executive Order as even capable of modifying contrary positions of legislation is deception of the worst sort. McCrory's role was to veto HB 2 which he did not do. We live in a democracy where the executive branch doesn't have dictatorial powers over the legislative branch. Where HB 2 prohibits it, the governor can't simply change the law stripping power from local authorities by simply affirming for example that "local governments may establish their own non-discrimination employment policies." To suggest otherwise is chilling in a government with our separation of powers. I can only imagine what Republican lawmakers would be saying if a Democratic governor had tried to do the same.

Of course, given the disingenuousness noted above, maybe he isn't actually doing this. Maybe he also intends for none of this to have meaning. Section 7 of the Executive Order also provides: "Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as an abrogation of any requirements otherwise imposed by applicable federal or state laws or regulations." Of course, in typical McCrory fashion, it's unclear what this "section" means since this sentence is in a section all by itself. Perhaps he meant instead "This Executive Order." Who knows.

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I do know this, though. I am one North Carolinian who has had more than enough. This man needs to resign. He also needs to do so for his own sake. He's only going to hoist himself higher and higher on his own petard until he's beyond all hope of redemption. (Yes, I still want to hold out hope for the man. I want to do that for everyone.) I have no doubt that North Carolinians want basic honesty in their politicians even when these citizens disagree on specific issues. McCrory has forgotten our great state motto (assuming he learned it after he moved here from Ohio). North Carolinians are proud of that motto: "To be rather than to seem." Voters will no doubt remind him of it in November.
Yet another dimwitted police officer who snapped, yet another innocent man who lost his life to meaningless police brutality. Nothing new there. Ever since Ferguson, incidents like this are commonplace. You cannot even turn on the news or read the day's paper without coming across such a thing. But what motivates these acts of needless cruelty? Is it racism, incompetence or inadequate police training? Perhaps it's a little of all three.

On January 8, 2016, the Texas police department responded to a report of a man seen pointing a rifle out of the fifth-floor window of the La Quinta Inn in Arizona. Daniel Shaver, father of two, a respected citizen with no prior criminal records, was confronted by the police on the streets outside the hotel. He was unarmed, defenseless and intoxicated. He complied with every single order as he crawled his way towards the police, sobbing, hands over his head. "Please don't shoot me", he was heard begging as the police officers awaited his approach. At one point, Shaver apparently reached towards his lower back in an attempt to pull up his shorts. That, it seemed, was too much for the nervous brain of a mentally incompetent police officer to handle, who immediately fired five shots, killing the man in an instant. The officer who fired his gun was Philip "Mitch" Brailsford, who has since been discharged and charged with second-degree homicide after the county attorney determined that the death was a result of "unjustifiable" force. Brailsford is now on trial and will probably receive a sentence. But will that even begin to undo the wrongs done to Mr. Shaver's wife and two children?

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Now, Brailsford is out there telling people how there were all sorts of things racing in his mind as he fired those shots. "Does the man have a gun in his possession?" "What if he shoots?" "I don't even have insurance!" However, as a police officer, it is a man's duty to assess when a threat is real and when it is not. This wasn't his first offence either. Authorities state that his discharge was the result of a series of unpolicemanly actions that included the unnecessary use of brutal force on convicts. Of course, Brailsford isn't the only one to blame here. Years of inadequate police training and fear mongering in the police department is what has resulted in this tragic scenario.

The Obama administration has oft come to criticize the use of excessive force in police arrests. On Ferguson, Obama said, "Put simply, we all need to hold ourselves to a high standard, particularly those of us in positions of authority". However, how are we supposed to address a situation this grave if we don't even have proper intelligence? While police brutality is unbelievably high in the United States when compared to other developed nations, you will be surprised to hear that more than a quarter of all police-related deaths in the country go undocumented each year.

The federal government depends on two separate wings for the documentation of all police-related homicides incurred annually. The FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics' Arrest-Related Deaths (ARD) are the two departments responsible for documenting all cases of police-related deaths. However, as a study conducted in 2015 by the RTI International clearly came to show, each of these two organizations hugely undercount the number of deaths each year, documenting only as low as 49% and 46% of all deaths annually. Together, they are found to have ignored a total of 28% of police-related deaths nationwide from 2003 through 2009 and 2011.

All numbers aside, there is a plethora of reasons why the homicide count as documented by the SHR and the ARD are flawed and undependable. All data collected in relation to law enforcement homicides are obtained through state coordinators by the ARD. However, the methods of data collection vary widely from state to state, and while the ARD at least requires all states to submit available data on police homicides, the SHR investigations are complete voluntary, meaning that any state can opt out of it at will. States like Florida, thus, never participate. Further, these reports are also designed to exclude all those cases where the said police homicide is debatable on grounds of justifiability. Deaths in federal jurisdictions, too, are largely excluded in these reports. With all these loopholes in the statistics department, it is only reasonable to argue that a large number of inexcusable law enforcement homicides go undocumented each year in the United States. With a system this flawed, how are we supposed to combat police brutality?

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Ever since someone enters the police academy, they are regularly brainwashed with the following idea: "Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six." That's right, before protecting the lives of the citizens it serves, the police force is trained to uphold the sanctity of its own lives above all. The greatest accomplishment in the life of a police officer is to grow old with his family. The idea behind going out to work each day is to come back home safe, if that means firing open a few bullet holes through a couple of innocent kids, so be it. The police department is, quite literally, ingrained to be self-serving and overprotective of its own self. Is it a bad thing to value one's own life? Certainly not. But is it not wrong to endanger the safety of others in the face of unwarranted paranoia? I will say it is.

We will never be able to return to Laney Sweet and her two children what they lost on January 8. The death of Daniel Shaver, a completely innocent man, was inhumane and inexcusable. But can we at least take a pledge to prevent similar incidents in the near future? If so, the first thing we need to do is count our dead.
As you can tell by the title, this post is about gay drag queen Hurricane Kimchi and Seoul. Gay, drag queen, Hurricane Kimchi, Seoul -- these are words that describe me. I am gay, and at times I am a drag queen who goes by the name Hurricane Kimchi. I was born and raised in Seoul. I assume you know that Seoul is Korea's capital, but I will tell you a bit more about the city.

I am a man that likes men, therefore referred to as gay. The concept of drag exists within gay culture -- but it is still quite strange and new in Korea. To describe it in the easiest way, an example of a drag queen is the male lead dressed up as a woman in the movie Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Gay men usually dress up as women for performances, but drag queen culture involves more than just dress up; drag queens apply exaggerated makeup, add their own extravagant style to express their individuality, and create their own characters. There are countless types of drag queens, such as effeminate drag queens, masculine drag queens with mustaches, and quirky drag queens in Lady Gaga-like costumes. The categories and styles of drag queens are endless.

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Gay men give their drag queen characters names. My drag name is "Hurricane Kimchi."



A selfie during my transformation into Hurricane Kimchi.



In Korea, people say that it is impossible to live confidently and happily after coming out as a sexual minority. However, as I was raised by a father who was an artist and a mother who was quite progressive, I was always accepted, supported, and loved for who I am, including my sexual orientation. Of course, the process of accepting and loving myself as a sexual minority amidst Korean culture and informing my family about this fact was extremely difficult, but I got there, and I'm doing well.



Even though it takes three hours to put my makeup on, and wandering downtown in heels hurts my feet, I was determined to continue for a whole week, with beauty and dignity.



Yet I know how lucky I was. There are many people around me who participate in activities or rallies for human rights and sexual minorities. So naturally I have seen sexual minorities with various experiences, and I have heard a lot of stories. Based on my experience, in today's Korean society, the majority of sexual minorities are unable to live happy, dignified lives. Nor are they able to come out -- they live the majority of their lives hiding their true selves. I've even seen some people take their own lives. There are also many young people out there who are forced to wander between homeless shelters and their friends' homes after telling their family about their sexual orientation (or after being outed).

I asked myself several questions. Is there anything I can do for these people? Of course I make donations to provide financial help. Yet looking at the big picture, wouldn't bringing about change in society be the most positive solution? A few days after I asked myself these questions, I threw myself into the middle of Seoul. And I did it in high heels.

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Day one of stepping into Seoul wearing high heels. In front of Seoul City Hall Plaza.



I donned my Hurricane Kimchi style -- high heels, makeup, wig -- and decided to roam the streets of Seoul. Some people would call this a street performance (I'll refer to this as a performance from now on), and others would call it a one-man protest. Whatever you want to call it, there are two things I am trying to achieve. First, I want to prove that sexual minorities exist in Korea, that they can exist anywhere, and finally, that they have the right to a dignified existence. Second, I wanted to let other sexual minorities know -- the frustrated and lonely people who are hiding their sexual orientation -- that they are not alone; that there are others fighting for the advancement of rights for sexual minorities.

I didn't want to appear on the streets of Seoul as Hurricane Kimchi for one day and give up. Nor did I want to be satisfied and say that 'I've done all I can.' Even though it takes three hours to put my makeup on, and wandering downtown in heels hurts my feet, I was determined to continue for a whole week, with beauty and dignity.

This is what I did for a week:

--Tuesday, March 29: Seoul City Hall Plaza, Myeongdong (City Hall was the venue for the Queer Culture Festival last year. A Christian group was also holding frequent protests for this festival in the same location.) --Wednesday, March 30: Gangnam District --Thursday, March 31: Chongsin University (There was an anti-LGBT event in the University assembly hall on the same.) --Friday, April 1: Dongdaemoon Design Plaza --Saturday, April 2: Party at a club in Hongdae for drag queens and sexual minorities (The Meat Market Seoul) --Sunday, April 3: Day off!!! --Monday, April 4: Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul City Hall Plaza



At Myungdong, a popular shopping destination.





At Gangnam, a neighborhood made popular by the singer Psy.





Blocking the entrance of Chongsin Unversity where an anti-LGBT concert was being held.



I mainly carried out my performances in locations that are either highly populated or hold deep meaning. The performances went on for a total of six days. For four of these days, I wandered through downtown on my own. The performances had to take place during the day, not only because it's easier to see in the daylight, but also because if you hold a performance during lunchtime, many workers would see it on their way out for lunch. Because I did these performances during the day, most of my acquaintances who have jobs or are still in school found it difficult to join me.

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However, on March 31, my performance was held fairly late in the afternoon, so I was able meet many acquaintances and human rights activists. On that day, there was an anti-LGBT concert at Chongsin University, which is a Christian University. The controversy had started when the ads for the concert appeared online, portraying being gay as a sin and the cause of AIDS. Many people gathered outside the university to complain about this representation. Among these people, there was my friend and human rights activist Edhi Park, church pastors (there are many churches out there that embrace sexual minorities), and many other people who had been passing by. After a long interruption due to a quarrel with the police, we decided that we would express our opposition to Chongsin University outside the main entrance rather than inside school grounds.

Crime rates are low in Korea, and hate crimes against sexual minorities do not occur often in the streets. As a result, I was able to walk the streets of Seoul dressed in drag. Even so, I felt more confident and safe on the days when I was surrounded by like-minded people. I, Hurricane Kimchi, was not the only one who felt this way. Countless drag queens and sexual minorities did so as well, enjoying performances, music, and dancing together at the Meat Market party.



Hurricane Kimchi strikes a pose at Dongdaemoon Design Plaza.





Hurricane Kimchi with Kuciia Diamant, sponsor of the Meat Market party and a performer at last year's Queer Culture Festival.





Hurricane Kimchi performing in Hanbok, Korean traditional dress, at Gyeongbokgung.



As the several-day performance was ending, I was physically exhausted, after wearing "killer heels," makeup that took three hours to apply, and being constantly on the move. I was also mentally exhausted from dealing with security guards, the police, and other opposing forces. If I had asked myself: "Why did I put myself through this?" then I definitely would have been disappointed. However, my conclusion was: "Even though it was hard, I spent a very rewarding time full of meaningful lessons."

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The media often points out that many Asian countries are still very conservative, and that when it comes to LGBT issues, Korea is very far behind. Furthermore, both Koreans themselves and foreigners often claim the following: Legalization of gay marriage, which is already in place in many European countries and the U.S., will take dozens of years in Korea.



If I had stayed home or only went out to gay clubs, I would never have known that there were so many people, young and old, who are open and ready to support sexual minorities.



However, the Korea that I saw with my own eyes was very different. Even though I was already aware that young people have a more open mind and can accept the problems of sexual minorities, it was hard to predict how people from older generations would react. However, now I somewhat know. There were many people who helped to change my bias against the older generation, including: The lady who accepted my request for a photo and gave me a smile, the man who told me that I was cool and that I should cheer up when a religious person passing by pointed and cursed at me, and the grandfather who gave me a thumbs up as he passed by. If I had stayed home or only went out to gay clubs, I would never have known that there were so many people, young and old, who are open and ready to support sexual minorities.

As much as I've learned through this experience, I sincerely hope that this it brings even a little bit of positive change to others, in whatever way possible, whether it be people in Korea or in some other part of the world. I hope that people would talk about Hurricane Kimchi with their families and friends.

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Many sexual minorities in Korea claim that Korea is too conservative when it comes to issues with sexual minorities. I want to live in Canada, the U.S. or another foreign country, they say. I want to ask those people if they know how hard people fought and how much blood was shed in order to secure the rights and freedom of sexual minorities in those countries. I definitely can't, and don't want to demand that people stay in Korea, fight, and shed blood. However, I do wish to say this: Through my performances, and through sharing what I experienced in those performances, our country is changing, and at this very moment, there are so many people working hard to bring about more positive change.

During the performance period, I uploaded selfies and short videos on Hurricane Kimchi's Facebook page in real time. I was surprised at the enormous amount of views and comments I received. I was so thankful for all the people that saw my photos and videos and sent me messages of gratitude and support through Facebook, email, text, and even in person. Even though I said I would be out there for a week, there was a point at which I wanted to give up. However, I could not give up because there were so many people watching. I was able to survive a whole week because of all the people that supported me and cheered me on!

I originally started my performance to spread love, and I received love back. I would like to thank everyone who was a part of my week's program.

You can see all of the videos and pictures taken during my performances on my website, or on Hurricane Kimchi's Facebook page.

This post first appeared on HuffPost Korea. It has been translated into English and edited for clarity.
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in an airplane hangar in Rome, New York April 12, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

The nation's schoolchildren don't get to vote in November, but they're paying close attention to this year's presidential race. And large numbers of them are frightened by what they're hearing.

What's more, educators are seeing an increase in student bullying and intimidation. And they're struggling to teach about the election -- stymied by their need to remain nonpartisan but disturbed by the unfiltered words children are hearing and worried about the lessons they may be absorbing.

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These are the most striking findings from an online survey of approximately 2,000 teachers K-12 educators conducted in March by our Teaching Tolerance project.

More than 500 respondents used the words "fear," "scared," "afraid," "anxious," or "terrified" in their comments to describe the negative impact on students who are Muslim or from immigrant families.

"My students are terrified of Donald Trump," wrote a teacher at a middle school with a large population of African-American Muslims. "They think that if he's elected, all black people will get sent back to Africa."

Similarly, a kindergarten teacher in Tennessee wrote that a Latino child -- told by classmates that "kids with brown skin" will be deported -- asks every day, "Is the wall here yet?"

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Our email subscribers and those who visit our website are not a random sample of teachers nationally, and the respondents are likely to be those who are most concerned about the impact of the election.

But the data we collected is the richest source of information that we know of about the effect of the presidential campaign on education in our country. And there is nothing counterintuitive about the results. They show that the campaign is producing an alarming level of anxiety among children of color and inflaming racial and ethnic tensions in the classroom.

1.) More than two-thirds of the teachers reported that students -- mainly immigrants, children of immigrants and Muslims -- have expressed concerns or fears about what might happen to them or their families after the election.

2.) More than half have seen an increase in uncivil political discourse.

3.) More than one-third have observed an increase in anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant sentiment.

The survey questions did not mention any candidate by name or attempt to prompt any mentions. Nevertheless, Donald Trump was cited in more than 1,000 comments. In contrast, a total of fewer than 200 comments contained the names Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton.

Teachers in state after state expressed their concerns for vulnerable children.

"Some students are crying in the classroom and having meltdowns at home," said an elementary school teacher in Virginia. A K-3 teacher in Oregon wrote, "My black students are also concerned for their safety because of what they see on TV at Trump rallies. My white students are concerned for their friends." In North Carolina, a high school teacher said she has "Latino students who carry their birth certificates and Social Security cards to school because they are afraid they will be deported." A teacher in an urban middle school with a large Latino population wrote that a boy told her, "Donald Trump hates my people."

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A number of teachers reported that students are using the word "Trump" as a taunt or chant as they gang up on others. Muslim children are being called "terrorist," or "ISIS," or "bomber."

Here are some other typical comments:

"A boy brought a knife to school to protect himself against 'the Muslims.'"

"My 5th graders got in a fist fight on the playground yesterday. It started when one of the boys quoted Donald Trump."

"We had a fifth grade student tell a Muslim that he was supporting Donald Trump because he was going to kill all of the Muslims if he became president!"

"We have Muslims who wear hijabs and I had to stop students from harassing them."

"The alarming and divisive rhetoric seems to give my high school students the perception that if the people can interrupt, insult, accuse, and generally disregard facts on TV, then why can't they in the school?"

More than 40 percent of the educators told us they are hesitant to teach about the election, so we've issued recommendations to help them deal with the situation. But they can only do so much when children are bombarded with the words and images of the campaign every day. We hope that the politicians will tone it down. But to be honest, we're not holding our breath.
Lilian Tintori, wife of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, holds a sign with a picture of him as she attends a session of the National Assembly in Caracas, February 4, 2016. Local media report that a draft amnesty law for jailed politicians and activists will be on Thursday?s National Assembly agenda. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

CARACAS, Venezuela -- On March 30, the Venezuelan National Assembly passed a law that would extend amnesty to more than 70 political prisoners in Venezuela and set the country on a path toward justice and reconciliation. Upon the proposed law's passing, President Nicolas Maduro promised to block it, claiming that it is unconstitutional. On April 7, he referred the proposed law to the Supreme Court, urging them to overturn it.

Four days later, the Supreme Court followed Maduro's orders: the law is unconstitutional. The decision is no surprise: Maduro stacked the court with party sympathizers last year and the Chavez-era court never once ruled against the government during Chavez's tenure from 2004 to 2013. Thus, in addition to demonstrating the lack of judicial independence in the country, the Supreme Court and Maduro's actions are undermining Venezuelan democracy and dismissing any hopes for a reunification of its fragmented society.

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It is clear Maduro sees no need to respect his country's democratic institutions.





The proposed amnesty law is, in fact, constitutional, and it builds on a well-established precedent for amnesties in Venezuela stretching back 200 years. Historically, many instances of political and social conflict have been resolved through the conferral of amnesty. In 1811, the Venezuelan First Republic granted amnesty to rebels in Valencia and in 1827, the Cosiata separatists received amnesty as well. In the 19th century, presidents such as Carlos Soublette, Juan Crisostomo Falcon, Joaquin Crespo, and Rojas Paul also enacted amnesties in support of the unification of Venezuelans. In the 20th century, additional amnesties were granted by Cipriano Castro and Eleazar Lopez Contreras, further establishing a precedent of reconciliation and peace through amnesty in Venezuela.

More recently, in 2000, an amnesty law was passed by the legislative assembly of that era that allowed for the definitive closure of grave crimes that had been committed during the Chavez-led coup in 1992. That time, cases of murder -- killings that could have been considered crimes against humanity -- were summarily dismissed and soldiers who had been discharged for having taken part in the coup were even reinstated in their former positions as military personnel.

Maduro at the presidential palace in Caracas on April 7. (JUAN BARRETO/AFP/Getty Images)

Then in 2007, Chavez signed an edict terminating criminal proceedings that stemmed from the attempted coup against him in 2002. These amnesty rulings were motivated by a need for national reconciliation and national pacification -- just like today.

The current amnesty law is constitutional because it categorically prohibits the excusal of criminal acts that bear relation to crimes against humanity, war crimes and grave violations of human rights, as is required by Article 29 of the constitution. The law also stipulates that under no circumstance will amnesty be extended to people linked to drug trafficking or corruption, and especially those linked to crimes of terrorism.

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The secretary general of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, called on Maduro to pass the law. And the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights publicly stated that the law was in line with international law and expressed disappointment at the law's rejection.



The amnesty law aimed to restore a type of justice that has long been absent in Venezuela.





The court's acceptance of this law would have been an impartial act that could have served as the first step in rebuilding recovering public confidence in an independent judiciary. Our client, the wrongly imprisoned Venezuelan opposition leader and prisoner of conscience, Leopoldo Lopez, has explained that amnesty is about justice, not impunity, for the persecuted political prisoners and their families. The law aimed to restore a type of justice that has long been absent in Venezuela, wherein no judge acts in a political manner, there are no political prisoners, there is no illegal alteration of evidence and no one can be judged on the basis of lies.

With his rejection of this law, President Maduro has denied any hope for peace and reconciliation in Venezuela. It is clear he sees no need to respect his country's democratic institutions. As Venezuela falls deeper into its humanitarian and economic crisis, we expect President Maduro to continue to disregard the autonomy of Venezuela's branches of government in order to maintain power. Last week, he threatened to cut the opposition-led National Assembly's term from 5 years to 60 days.

Opposition supporters at a rally against Maduro's government in Caracas on March 12. (REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins)

Venezuela is currently experiencing the biggest threat to its democratic order in recent memory. Countries around the world must stand with the Venezuelan people in defense of democracy and human rights, both in bilateral and multilateral settings. While some call for dialogue, there can be no meaningful dialogue without first releasing the political prisoners that are currently unjustly detained.

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As has often been the case in Venezuela's history, amnesty is the only way forward. Maduro has the power to release the country's political prisoners and for the country to heal -- and he must.

Earlier on WorldPost:
Mold is old.

As Mother Natures great recycler, mold and fungi are a critical component of our natural environment. Simply said, we need mold to turn dead things back into dirt, but when it starts trying to do that to our home, it becomes a problem, in many ways.

Our bodies have developed a very acute aversion to decay. Nearly everyone recoils from the smell of something rotting. We instinctively know that these things are unhealthy, and so does our immune system, which is likely why mold exposure causes such significant discomfort in a large part of our population.

Even before science began to link mold exposure to human illnesses, people knew that it wasnt good for you. In the Old Testament  Leviticus 14  you will find the first written mold remediation protocol. Heres an excerpt:

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The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a spreading mold in a house in that land, the owner of the house must go and tell the priest, I have seen something that looks like a defiling mold in my house. The priest is to order the house to be emptied before he goes in to examine the mold, so that nothing in the house will be pronounced unclean. After this the priest is to go in and inspect the house.

If the mold has spread on the walls, the priest is to order that the contaminated stones be torn out and thrown into an unclean place outside the town. He must have all the inside walls of the house scraped and the material that is scraped off dumped into an unclean place outside the town. Then they are to take other stones to replace these and take new clay and plaster the house.

If the defiling mold reappears in the house after the stones have been torn out and the house scraped and plastered, the priest is to go and examine it and, if the mold has spread in the house, it is a persistent defiling mold; the house is unclean. It must be torn downits stones, timbers and all the plasterand taken out of the town to an unclean place.

Fast forward to the 1920s in the Ukraine. Horses began falling ill with a mysterious disease, which included symptoms such as irritation of the nose, throat and mouth, excessive bleeding, nervous system problems, and death. It wasnt until nearly two decades later, and after thousands of horses had already died across the Ukraine and Russia that Russian scientists identified the culprit. The horses had been eating moldy feed! The scientists fed the fungal cultures they isolated from the contaminated straw and hay to healthy horses and they all got sick. Many died. In the 1940s this deadly fungus got its name: Stachybotrys. This is the mold now known in the media and colloquially as toxic mold and/or black mold. It wasnt until 30 years later that the toxin was identified. It was trichothecene satratoxin. Trichothecenes are a large family of fungal toxins, also known as mycotoxins, which are produced by a fairly wide variety of different molds.

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Also in the early 1900s, around 100,000 people died in Russia from a disease known as alimentary toxic aleukia, a disease apparently caused by consuming grains infested with species of Fusarium, which are high producers of T-2 toxin, also a trichothecene. Similar outbreaks, albeit with far fewer deaths, also occurred in Japan around that time due to contaminated cereal grains.

The science which unraveled the mystery of these unintentional and unfortunate deaths, inevitably ended up in the wrong hands. Although it was at one time controversial, the evidence now supports the contention that trichothecene mycotoxins, and others, were used as biological warfare agents in Southeast Asia, more specifically, in Laos, in the form of what is known as Yellow Rain. Similarly, T-2 was allegedly used against Iran in the Iran-Iraq war.

So why is mold such a problem now? Wasnt it always? Well, kind of, but not really. Not like it is today.

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The housing boom that followed the war, and which continues today, has created a nationwide opportunity for mold problems to exist, especially in light of fact that the quality of construction has also suffered as the volume has increased, allowing for water problems to happen more frequently. Back in the days of plaster, brick and stone construction, we didnt have mold problems like we do now. This is in part because mold doesnt grow on those materials very easily, if at all. Drywall, on the other hand, is like a Petri dish. Whats worse is that drywall is an ideal growth medium for Stachybotrys, the black toxic mold referenced above, because of its high cellulose content. Nearly every mold will grow on drywall given the right moisture levels, but Stachybotrys has a field day with it.

The final component of the perfect storm, which has made mold into the problem we now face as a society, here and internationally, is that our buildings are built so tightly, in the name of energy efficiency. Ever since the fuel crisis in the 70s, there has been a huge push to reduce energy usage and create a more comfortable living environment. We have walls stuffed thick with fluffy insulation. Having a small utility bill is a bragging right at cocktail parties.

The unintended consequences are numerous, but here are two to chew on. First of all, when water gets into our walls now, they no longer dry out quickly, as they once did, which leads to serious mold problems, and left unchecked, rot and decay. Also, any pollutant that is introduced  biological, or chemicals from paints, etc.  now builds up and concentrates, since there is little air exchange in most homes. The fumes at the gas station arent good for you, but youve got fresh air to dilute them and reduce your exposure. Leave a gas can in the living room for too long and people are likely to become ill. The same thing goes for mold growth indoors. Its fine when its growing on the mulch in your yard. In the walls of your basement, not so much.

While mold is an equal opportunity pollutant, regardless of race, creed, color or religion, certain factors put the poor in a very unfortunate predicament. Affordable housing is often in areas more likely to flood. They have insufficient access to quality medical care and often rent from landlords who often fail to maintain buildings and make necessary repairs. Case in point: In 1994 a major rain caused flooding on the east side of Cleveland, an area with a large swath of dilapidated buildings. Three months later, parents began coming in with infants, limp, blue, bleeding from their lungs. This being a rare syndrome, Dr. Dorr G. Dearborn of the Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital, took notice and enlisted the CDC and went on a mission to discover what was going on. The primary commonality between all the homes was the presence of Stachybotrys. Other aggravating factors such as second-hand smoke were cited as possible irritants, potentially causing the already weakened blood vessels to hemorrhage.

On the other side of the economic spectrum, there have been well-heeled and famous people with mold problems in the headlines for quite some time now. The one that started it all is the late Melinda Ballard. She sued her insurance company, Farmers Insurance Group, over claims that her whole family was severely affected by mold in their palatial 22-room, 11,000 square foot mansion, located inready for this? Dripping Springs, Texas. Her suit stated that they bungled the claim, and the remediation, contaminating the whole house and rendering her investment banker husband, a nincompoop. She was initially awarded $32 million, which set off a massive cascade of lawsuits against insurance companies nationwide, resulting in a unified front. Mold is no longer covered by most insurance companies, with the exception of claims related to specific kinds of water damage, and even then, its capped to small dollar amounts, usually $5-10,000. Subsequently, the Ballards record-breaking $32 million award was overturned on appeal and reduced to $4 million, plus interest and legal fees. She later bulldozed the house. The mold in question at the center of the lawsuit? Stachybotrys. Her lawsuit was fruitless, but the awareness she created lives on today.

Mold has another much less nefarious side to it too. Humans have harnessed its incredible capabilities to do miraculous things for us.

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Although several scientists in the late 1800s noted the antibacterial properties of some molds, in 1928, Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin.

The traditional version of this story describes the discovery as a fortuitous accident: in his laboratory in the basement of St. Mary's Hospital in London, Fleming noticed a Petri dish containing Staphylococcus that had been mistakenly left open, was contaminated by blue-green mold from an open window, which formed a visible growth. There was a halo of inhibited bacterial growth around the mold. Fleming concluded that the mold released a substance that repressed the growth and caused lysing (breakdown) of the bacteria. Once Fleming made his discovery he grew a pure culture and discovered it was a Penicillium mold, now known to be Penicillium notatum. Source: Wikipedia

What Alexander Fleming actually witnessed was biological warfare on a microscopic level in the Petri dish, and the mold was winning. Penicillin is actually a mycotoxin, like the notorious trichothecenes, but a far more welcome one in our world.

A species of Aspergillus is used to ferment soy beans to make soy sauce. Its also used to make rice vinegar, sake (rice wine) and other important Asian foods. Yet, another species of Aspergillus is capable of causing a potentially deadly fungal infection known as Aspergillosis, in susceptible humans and animals. Talk about a double-edged sword.

Recently, scientists have been using mold to create sustainable alternatives to petroleum. Many of the chemicals that molds and fungi produce are  such as alcohol from yeasts  can make very clean burning fuel.

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Obviously, beer, wine and cheese are also the byproducts of carefully controlled mold growth. Many people love these things and cant imagine life without them. So mold in and of itself isnt a bad thing. It saves lives every day. It brings great flavors to our plate, fuels our celebrations, and at some point in the future, perhaps our vehicles too.

Its when we arent in control of when and where mold grows in our homes and workplaces that we get into trouble. So, be vigilant. Keep things clean and dry, and if you see something or smell something, do something.

After all, mold is nothing to sneeze at.

***
Here I offer some basic guidance about how people of different faiths can engage with each other in meaningful and productive ways. This advice is the product of 36 years of interfaith work, culminating in my present job as Associate Dean of the Office of Religious Life at the University of Southern California. 1) The world's religions are different from each other. That ought to go without saying, but there are many people who believe that each religion is just a different path up the same mountain, or that they are different languages to express the same experiences. They can be forgiven for this, because indeed there are threads and themes that look familiar across the lines of faith. My colleague at Stanford, Robert Gregg, former Dean of Memorial Church, once wisely said that the world's religions are many paths up many different mountains. But when you get to the top of any of the mountains, you can admire a beautiful mountain range. In interfaith conversations, it's a lot safer and also a lot more interesting and productive to presume that the religions of others are pretty different than one's own. Then, when you discover striking similarities, you can be surprised pleasantly. But we do best to remember that lurking even in the similarities there may be really interesting differences. For instance, prayer beads show up in the devotional practices of Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims. The Buddhists learned it from the Hindus, the Muslims copied the Hindus and the Buddhists, and the Christians copied the Muslims. But in each tradition, the devotee is doing something inwardly different than the others when they finger the beads in roughly the same outward ways.

2) The differences between religions are different. The difference between Hinduism and Islam is not analogous to the difference between Christianity and Judaism. Furthermore, these faiths have substantially different endogenous definitions of religion. Judaism as a religion is quite different than Christianity as a religion. For one thing, Judaism has an intrinsic ethnic identity that Christianity lacks. The failure to account for the differences between the differences results in deep misunderstandings in interfaith contexts. An example is the website "Belief.net", one of the earliest attempts at interfaith engagement online. The very title of the website reflects a Protestant Christian bias. For evangelical Christianity, religion is defined first and foremost by belief. But many other faiths are defined more by rituals and practices than by doctrinal assertions.



3) Religions, and sects of religions, have different ways of understanding religious differences. But these differences don't necessarily impede interfaith engagement. Diana Eck of the Harvard Pluralism Project defines three general ways that religions relate to each other. Pluralism is the idea that other religions may be as good for others as mine is for me. Inclusivism she defines as the assumption that other religions may have truth and value worthy of engaging, but whatever is good in them is but a lesser reflection of the ultimate, authoritative good of my own tradition. Eck defines exclusivism as the assumption that other religions are wrong at best and evil at worst, and that my faith is the only true one. Some folks believe you have to be a pluralist in order to have substantial relationships with people of other faiths. They assume that interfaith engagement is primarily a sport for theological liberals like myself. But I have witnessed close working relationships and deep friendships between people who hold exclusivist views within their different faiths. Sometimes, conservatives of differing traditions get along better with each other than they do with their liberal, pluralistic co-religionists. One of the favored places for conservative Middle Eastern Sunni Muslims to send their kids to college in America is Brigham Young University in Utah, a Mormon school. I do think that pluralism makes more room for appreciating the faiths of others than does inclusivism or exclusivism. But these latter two approaches still can allow for very rich interfaith conversations.



4) Different issues make for surprising interfaith bedfellows! Understanding the nuances of different faith perspectives on social issues is important for those who want to promote interfaith cooperation, to seek common ground where possible, and make room for disagreement where possible. An important example is "religious freedom". In America today, the theologically progressive branches of Christianity, Judaism, and some other faiths tend not to perceive any threat to the free exercise of their faiths. Meanwhile, some of the more conservative manifestations, particularly in Christianity, feel that their religious freedom is under attack as social norms and laws have changed.. These conservative religious groups define "religious freedom" to allow their organizations and their followers to discriminate against people who violate their faith-based norms. They believe that religion should not just be freely exercised, but also given a privileged status by the government to influence the wider society. But some faith communities that share this view may disagree about other definitions of religious freedom. For instance, they may agree that a company owned by a person whose religion forbade birth control should not have to offer employees health insurance coverage that included contraception. But they might disagree about churches keeping their tax exempt status if their preachers endorsed political candidates from the pulpit. Understanding the historical and theological reasons for these differing views will help greatly in promoting interfaith engagement.



5) It's good to know something about the world's religions: at least enough to know just how much you don't know! Most of the numerically significant religions have enormous troves of texts and rituals and traditions. I have spent my entire life studying my own tradition, Christianity, and the more I learn, the more I discover there is to learn. The older I get, the more boggled I am by its depth and breadth. I can only presume that this is the case for the other faiths, too. I've studied many of them in some depth, but only enough to be aware of the depth of my ignorance of them. Effective interfaith leadership requires curiosity and humility. It requires the constant assumption that regardless of your level of education in world religions, there is so very much more to know that could affect your relationships with people of other faiths. Ask questions, and then ask more questions based on the answers.


David Denby's Lit Up is the story of one New Yorker movie and literary critic embedded in three schools, witnessing teachers and students as they wrestle with 24 great books. Denby spent a year with sophomores in New York City's innovative Beacon High School, and then he learned in depth from 10th graders at another affluent school, Westchester County's Mamaroneck H.S., and Hillhouse H.S. in the inner city of New Haven, Connecticut.

Denby's masterpiece is more than a critique of test-driven school reform. It is more than an indictment of our "hyper-media age." But, it should be contemplated along with Claire Needell Hollander's 2013 New York Times analysis of Common Core. Hollander explained that for teachers, "Emotion is our lever. The teen mind is our stone. Once high stakes standardized tests are involved, however, Common Core's architects must focus on the "bloodless task" of avoiding political risks. They must then select neutral texts that are "created to be 'agnostic' with regard to student interest ... they are texts that no student would choose to read on her own."

Hollander concluded that Common Core must be neutral as to whether "students should read Shakespeare, Salinger, or a Ford owner's manual as long as the text remains 'complex.'" As long as students' curiosity, sadness, confusion and knowledge deficits are ignored, they will be on the "receiving end of lessons planned for a language-skills learning abstraction."

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Of course, there are plenty of other reasons why Common Core is failing. It eschews "frontloading" or bringing in background information which is necessary for students, especially poor students, to grasp the meaning of readings. And, it is too distant from the realities which kids face. Common Core is accompanied by high stakes testing, and that leads to curriculum pacing guides that make it more difficult or even impossible to go in depth on issues which capture the students' imaginations.

Above all, Common Core gets the purpose of education backwards. I'm sure Ms. Hollander, as well as the students portrayed in Lit Up, would agree with Denby that, "The experienced self yields a soul. Education in the largest sense creates social beings, citizens, and also a soulful life, and reading has to be a big part of the slow-moving, slow-gathering process."

Obviously, it would have been easier to implement the complex, college readiness Common Core curriculum in high-performing affluent schools than in classes of low-income students who may be years behind in terms of reading skills, and who may have never encountered anything but worksheet-driven basic skills instruction. Denby's account of two affluent schools' experiences, however, also illustrates the wrong-headedness of Common Core, with or without its high-stakes testing.

When visiting Westchester County's Mamaroneck H.S., Denby learned of estimates that as few as 20% or less of students read the literature assigned to them. A proliferation of study guides means that students have long "faked their way through," cribbing answers from various other sources. And, even in great schools there is a tendency to give up on reading when the passages are too hard. Mamaroneck eventually showed success with "nonreaders, or grudging readers," but it discovered that they must be "gently but firmly pushed into becoming readers - real readers, not functional readers." They did so "with persistence, pressure, and subtlety."

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Even at the amazing Beacon H.S. in New York City (where they were liberated from the normative, high stakes standardized tests), motivating students to read was a process that could not be hurried, much less shoehorned into a one-size-fits-all curriculum pacing guide. Denby is especially astute in describing what it takes to capture teenagers' attention. He realizes, "Challenge a mumbling or ironically self-deprecating American fifteen-year-old, and you will find someone looking for answers or at least ready to ask questions."

The challenges faced by Jessica Zelenski and her inner city kids at Hillhouse H.S. were much tougher. Only one of her students had been read to as a child. As Denby notes, Hillhouse students not only lacked the facts necessary to grasp the concepts in challenging readings, but they also lacked curiosity about the economic and political realities that shaped their lives. Being a veteran teacher, Zelenski recognized that Common Core assignments were too hard and too disconnected from her students' background knowledge. They wouldn't read in depth unless it was tied to what they knew. As one student cryptically commented, drugs, pregnancy, violence are "what we know."

Consequently, Zelenski had to commit the supposed sin that Common Core seeks to eradicate - frontloading. Before complex readings could be mastered, she frontloaded or provided the background information necessary to read for mastery. Denby added that she also "loaded it in the front, in the middle, in the rear."

At first, Zelenski couldn't get her students to read at all. She knew from experience that initially the students wouldn't read at home, and she adjusted her instruction to fit her class's circumstances. But, Denby noticed the same pattern as he had seen before, "Students came into the tenth grade with an ardent and detailed belief in fairness." When inspired by literature, students talked about "love, the absence of love, about loyalty and betrayal ..." And they did so for reasons that were more important than passing a college-readiness exam. Zelenski understood, "They needed literature to live."

Denby and the teachers he portrays understand that the purpose of reading literature is not a passing score, but engaging in "the journey within." The goal must be an understanding of "the endless chain that made a reading life and that made a man and a woman, too." Better yet, their students now understand that wisdom.

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When Denby's wonderful book captured my attention, I pledged to read it as a student should, with the same lack of a predetermined mindset. Lit Up's greatness made it easy to put my experiences in the inner city on the backburner. At this point, however, I feel free to add that he reaches the same main conclusion and stresses principles similar to those that 25 years in the inner city taught me. The rock upon which real learning must be built are the moral impulses and the values that are loved by both adults and students.

As all of our attention spans grow shorter, we can't toss our concentration skills on the ash heap of history. As the world speeds up, we must at least preserve our basic, old-fashioned education values. Reading is changing, however, and (Denby's experience with three schools notwithstanding) we cannot hold back the tide.
It's a cool, cloudy afternoon in Napa. I am heading up to Anderson Valley by way of Boonville, for a quick overnight in the Boonville Hotel and to talk further to the winemaker at Domaine Anderson, Jerry Murray. This extraordinary drive takes you about 2 hours northwest of Napa Valley. Once beyond Sonoma County, the traffic thins out and the drive becomes relaxing. The clouds overhead have taken on this velvety formation reminiscent of a softly hued surreal painting. The sheets of moisture overhead are threatening to spill, but are held back by the ocean breeze. This close to the water, the ocean can shift the flow and formation of the clouds on a whim. The intensity of the roads is more pronounced the closer you get to the valley, Spectacular views line the hillsides and the car takes to the curves like Mario Andretti is at the helm. These roads bank magnificently and I'm in heaven. Because of my schedule I do not have time to stop, but I smile to myself as I turn each corner and discover yet another decadent eyeful of beauty.

The drive goes by quickly and I am soon at the front desk of the Boonville Hotel. The downtown of Boonville is as big as 6 doublewides with charming shops and a couple of decent restaurants. The people are friendly and the front desk has my room ready to go. It's a low key place, not what I would call a luxury hotel, but comfortable, tasteful and with many appointments beyond what standard luxury includes. The room is a decent size, I have a private porch with incredible sunset views. Just beyond the tree line is a babbling brook. Truly a feast for the eyes. Inside, divine teas, blankets for those who choose to brave the chill of the eve and little reading nooks. Quite delightful.

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I drop off my bags and head out to Domaine Anderson. It's pretty close to the hotel, just under 5 miles on the 128 Highway. Arriving at the property, I see the winery is currently quiet, with the exception of some light construction work it is nearing the final touches. The facade is a deep brown, providing contrast against the hillside and reminiscent of an earlier point in time. I'm truly looking forward to this conversation. Understanding how a company determines what grapes to plant, how they are going to make an impact on the market and the drive that comes from the winemaker is truly fascinating. It's the why behind what ends up in your glass. The brilliance is often one of eloquent simplicity and ideals and that makes the wine so incredibly delightful and complex.

I've walked the property but can only hear the buzzing saw finishing the final work on the tasting room. I walk in the door and ask the whereabouts of the winemaker, Jerry Murray. It's dead quiet as the worker takes me around and I jokingly ask if he might be out talking to the vines. As if on cue the winemaker appears. We take a short walk out to the hill at the beginning of the vineyard. Looking at the hillside Murray describes the grapes and some of the brief history of Domaine Anderson. We're standing in front of the Chardonnay & Pinot Noir grapes, planted in the back of the Anderson Valley tasting room & winery for Domaine Anderson. The location is a stunning enclave of some of the 2008 & 2009 Pinot Noir vines they planted. The vineyard is farmed biodynamically. For reference, bio means life and dynamic means force. This aspect of a winery is intriguing, the goal being to create a circle of life within it's own environment. One that provides a wealth of nutrients back to the land and seeks to create an intrinsically complementary source for the surrounding players in nature's sphere.

As part of the dynamic, up about 50 yards from us there are sheep on the slope of the vineyard nibbling at the wildflowers and weeds providing an incredibly rich fertilizer for the vines. They are oblivious to the spectacular nectar provided by the vines and dutifully engaged in consuming the ground cover. This partnership is key to saving money as well as providing more nutrients for the grapes. The sheep clear weeds, saving fuel and manpower in the process. In the winter the sheep graze the property until just after bud break. The vineyards are surrounded by a large sheep ranch owned by Sam Prader who provides the living resources each year. The partnership is one of convenience and mutual benefit.

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From Chef to Winemaker

Jerry Murray, Winemaker

It is fascinating to learn of an individual's journey into the wine space. The twists and turns one takes to find their place & dedication in a career is intriguing. Murray's journey to winemaker is compelling because he initially began his career as an academic. Knowing in his heart there was something more fulfilling for him he took a position cooking in Arizona. He quickly worked his way up to Chef. As the restaurant grew and his skills excelled they began marketing wine dinners. Murray found while he was preparing the dishes to pair with the wines, he was fascinated by the process and particularly the wine. He learned over time, that most of the great wines were made someplace else and wanderlust set in. This time taking him to Portland to cook. The closer he got to the source the more he was interested in the wine. In his mind the most compelling part of the food industry was not what was happening in his restaurant but in the region closest to him, that of Willamette Valley and the Dundee Hills AVA. Realizing this was a dangerous situation he was in he called up one of his favorite wineries, Erath Vineyards and asked for a job. They put him out in the vineyard and he began to learn the intricacies of farming.

He worked in the fields for three years hopping hemispheres from Australia to Europe. A profound moment in this experience occurred in Germany where he learned that the less space between the winemaker and the vineyards is truly where the magic is in making great wine. From there it was a matter of being able to put this realization into practice.

Back from Europe, he returned to Willamette Valley and secured a position with a struggling winery where he was able to make the wine and manage the vineyards. It was a huge undertaking, but with his experience, focus and desire to create great wine he knew he could make a difference.

The first task was to embrace those doing the most critical work, his vineyard crew. He knew getting them to stop focusing on grapes, and focus on wine and the winemaking process would be the key to returning this vineyard back into a prospering one.

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"There is no boundary between the farm and the wine. What happens in the fields directly impacts what occurs in the bottle."

The farm had an abundance of tomatoes this season so he had the field team disburse the tomatoes through the fields. The perception was one of wastefulness. Murray knew this part of the process and them tasting the difference in the following year would be the momentum he needed to make an impact on how his team operated the vineyard. It was with great hesitation they used perfectly good tomatoes in the fields to enrich the land. Murray taught the team the contribution the roots and their role in the process, how they drew in the nutrients of the land, the imperfect balance of food and nutrients to aid them in working harder. The role of the leaves to get light, the aspect of photosynthesis and how that contributes.

"You can see the difference in the fruit grown meticulously and fruit grown as a commodity. It's seemingly stupid to go through a vineyard and throw tomatoes on the ground because you have too many. We do that because we're not growing grapes, we're growing wine."

This process made a huge impact. Not being able to change a course that was already in play, the first vintage under his watch was horrible. Through patient perseverance and working incredibly close with his field team they were able to turn it around. In just a few short years the wine garnered 92 points. This winery didn't have the resources to explore the wines Jerry was interested in pursuing, but it gave him unprecedented experience in winemaking and he knew he had to take his game to new heights.

He saw an article in the trades about famed French Champagne producer, Louis Roederer wanting to make the best Pinot Noir in the valley and knew this was his opportunity. It's like the seas parted and the opportunity to realize his dream came true. Four interviews later he uprooted his family from Oregon and moved to Anderson Valley to create an inaugural vintage for Domaine Anderson.

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"What makes a parcel distinct is how it relates to the sun. The sun being light and heat."

Unlike most who leave the region, he misses the rain of Oregon and there are those distinct differences in harvest. Far more dramatic in California because of the intense heat compared to Willamette. In California during heat spikes, fruit can be picked. But when it rains it can't. If you have 102 days on the vine and six days of rain you are treading seriously dangerous waters. He prefers 105 days on the vine.

"When I think about wine flavor-wise I think about the sun not the terroir because the land is not that different."

We're standing by the barrels in the Domaine Anderson barrel room. Each of the barrels is French Oak with staves left out in the stave yard for 24 months. The tannins in the oak then are expelled during the rains and the microbes begin to metabolize aspects of the wood. Murray uses medium or proprietary toasts, however no toasted heads (barrel tops). Barrels can vary greatly in taste so balance has to continually be sought to hit the mark for a great tasting wine. The wood from these barrels comes from Burgundy, but from one end of the Burgundian forest is very different.

"We're interested in the wines speaking in their native tongue".

Murray radiates when he talks about the Roederer brands and their goal: quality focused first. Roederer currently has three US brands: Louis Roederer, Scharffenberger (known for it's sparkling) and Domaine Anderson. Champagne Louis Roederer is a real estate company who happens to buy vineyards. I ask how the French are doing with California wines. Jerry responds, "I think they are proud of the sparkling wines. With Domaine Anderson there were doubts this project could happen, but look where we are today. They don't have doubts about top quality production in still wines. They're not trying to make Burgundy. They're not trying to make European Pinot Noir."

Murray arrived in Anderson Valley as a student of Pinot Noir to the vineyards Domaine Anderson planted in 2008 & 2009. Now he is creating some really fantastic vintages. The first to be released are:

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2012 Estate Chardonnay, Blissfully aromatic, the white floral notes, bright meyer lemon nuances and smooth vanilla make way for a touch of oak. Creamy, delicious and eye opening.

2012 Estate Pinot Noir It's dark cherry and plum are a welcome greeting. The spice finish and earthy nuances make this a remarkable palate pleaser.

The 2013's promise to be even better. Prepare to imbibe!

When asked about pairings, Murray explains unapologetically he's broken rules. "When someone opens a fantastic Bordeaux are you going to turn it down simply because they're serving it with fish? No. I try to make wine that goes with food but doesn't need it. Sometimes the best pairing is the porch." He then recalls a pairing that didn't work and smiles. Some wine & food just isn't meant to be together. But rules? Bah.

For Domain Anderson's Chardonnay and Pinot Noir the cloud cover of Anderson Valley tends to protect against that making the climate more temperate. The Pinot Noir in Anderson Valley is known for floral notes, primarily lavender. The cool night time temperatures help retain acidity. When I ask about the land or terroir, he quotes Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon the Executive Vice-President of Production for all the Roederer properties, " Climate comes first. Then genetics. Finally, the soil.". He then describes the moderate climate of Anderson Valley, "The north west facing valley opens up to the Pacific Ocean, every afternoon cool air moves in. Think of the clouds as viscous... They're liquid.
World day of AIDS.

I could hear the whispers. They weren't exactly discreet. I walked right into it, completely blindsided and vulnerable. All the precautions I took, every calculated decision I made, no longer mattered. Just like that, I was exposed, to judgement, hurt, and pain.

A few hours before, I disclosed my secret to someone who I thought was my best friend. She promised me it would be okay, and that she would never tell. Instead she was vindictive, conniving and destroyed my life. I felt my heart start to race, body tremble and face ignite on fire. I couldn't protect my emotions and they emerged from me...raw...uncut...organic...coming deep from within my soul. The tears streamed down my face, forming black raindrops as it mixed with a thin line of mascara that once illuminated my eyes.

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As I looked around through the blurred veil my tears created, I saw my "sisters" pull their children close, staring at me with disgust, hatred and accusatory glares. My whole world was ripped apart. I knew when I was not wanted.

It took every ounce of strength and courage to raise my foot that suddenly turned to lead. This mosque, a place where I sought comfort and solace, now roared at me, clawing at my spirit, and covered me with darkness. There wasn't any compassion, mercy or love. The sisterhood that I thought I had was only an illusion. I truly understood the stigma of living with HIV.



As the bone-chilling cry broke free from the imprisonment of my lips, I turned around and ran away defeated, never looking back.



"Faith communities are called to advocate for justice on behalf of those who cannot do so or are not heard," reads a line in "The Age of AIDS: A guide for Faith Based Communities".



My name is Khadijah Abdullah and I am the founder of Reaching All HIV+ Muslims in America (RAHMA), a 501c3 nonprofit organization located in Washington, DC that addresses HIV/AIDS in the American Muslim community through education, advocacy and empowerment.

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While this story isn't about me, it reflects the experiences of many HIV+ American Muslims who are ostracized from their place of worship, due to fear, ignorance and judgment. Places of worship are supposed to be a place of comfort and refuge; however, for Muslims living with HIV and other stigmatized diseases, it can be a place of scorn, exclusion, or even violence. Several factors contribute to the stigma including a lack of understanding about the fundamentals of HIV and outdated assumptions on how the virus is transmitted. The issue is further complicated by an attitude that HIV simply doesn't affect Muslims.

Wake up.

HIV affects everyone.

For years, other faith-based communities such as the Christian community have recognized this fact and founded HIV/AIDS ministries in their churches to combat stigma and educate their congregations. Mosques across the nation, need to step up and do the same. This attitude that it doesn't affect us is particularly dangerous, as a lack of understanding and awareness about HIV will increase incidence rates and add fuel to the fire of fear and stigma. The fact of the matter is many may be living with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI), yet completely oblivious of their status.

What can you do?

Educate yourself and become an advocate in your community. HIV/AIDS can affect any of us regardless of our way of life. Stop the stigma that has become a ravaging leech burrowed deep within our communities. Join RAHMA, the only U.S. non-profit with a prioritized focus on HIV/AIDS in the American Muslim community. Since its inception in 2012 we have diligently worked to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, and dispel misinformation in order to combat the stigma many associate with disease. RAHMA has a unique approach combining the latest public health practices regarding HIV/AIDS with the rich and nurturing framework of Islamic teachings.

To learn more, visit RAHMA at www.haverahma.org and become a catalyst for change.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) mostly women and children sit waiting to be served with food at Dikwa Camp, in Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria, on February 2, 2016.The National Emergency Management Agency in collaboration with Borno State Emergency Management Agency has set up new IDP camps in Ngala, Marte, Bama and Mafa councils to decongest the growing population of IDP camp set up at Dikwa council of Borno State. Nigeria expects many of the 2.1 million people internally displaced by Boko Haram's insurgency to return home in the coming year, amid claims the Islamists are in disarray and a spent force. / AFP / STRINGER (Photo credit should read STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

Twenty years ago, my friend Graca Machel submitted a report to the UN Secretary General called "The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children." The horrors depicted in its pages were meant to spark the conscience of the world.

At the time, many children were being coerced and conscripted to serve in conflict -- forced to witness, endure, and contribute to unimaginable violence. Yet, one of the cruelest revelations in the report was what happened when these child soldiers came home. All too often, in place of love, comfort, and joy were stigma, rejection, and fear. "Home" should be a sanctuary and place of belonging -- yet, for these children, it meant exclusion and pain.

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Returning child combatants might find that their families had perished, and have no one to take them in. Others might be shunned -- especially girls who'd been raped or sexually abused, and now were seen by their cultures as unfit for marriage. Some former child soldiers couldn't go back to school because teachers feared they would disrupt the classroom. Thus, children who'd had their childhoods stolen by war faced a future of isolation as well.



I was reminded of this report when I read a piece by Kevin Sieff in the Washington Post, describing the hardships of women and girls who'd been freed from Boko Haram's rape camps in Nigeria. Similar to the child soldiers in the Machel report, these young women have faced a lonely journey home.

After months in which they were held in captivity as forced labor and sexual slaves, now, they are shunned, mistrusted, and scorned by the communities to which they've returned. Housed in military-run displacement camps, they are viewed with suspicion by neighbors; when they go to collect food, other people shrink back, as if they are toxic to touch.

Why are these victims treated with the same contempt as their captors? In part, it's because Boko Haram has deployed more than 100 women as suicide bombers in the past two years, causing people to worry that the freed women are sleeper agents for their assailants. In addition, some women were impregnated by their rapists, and are now carrying or caring for those babies -- raising fears that the evil from which they have escaped has followed them home.

But I believe that part of these women's agonizing experience is related to deep-rooted misogyny -- one of the ancient, barbaric traditions that can surface and be legitimized in times of conflict. What else permits the stigmatization and shaming of a rape victim and her innocent child? Martin Luther King once wrote, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that." We need to shine the light of justice into the darkest corners.

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Let's not forget that promoting misogyny is just what Boko Haram and groups like them want. Targeting women and girls, and treating females as "less than," are brutal hallmarks of their strategy.

The U.S. State Department reports that in Iraq and Syria, ISIL and affiliated groups have abducted, abused, and raped thousands of girls and women in the past year, selling some in slave "markets," with price tags attached, while delivering others to ISIL fighters as "spoils of war." And a March 2015 UN Security Council report on "Conflict-Related Sexual Violence," which assessed conflicts in 19 country settings, found that "a common point is that waves of conflict-related sexual violence take place against a backdrop of structural gender-based discrimination, including in formal and informal systems of law, and the exclusion of women from political life." The report concluded that "the disempowerment of women that attends the rise of violent extremism is not incidental, but systemic."
Yesterday I asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for his thoughts on Democracy Spring, the historic protests calling on Congress to take action on big money in politics, and taking place this week in the Capitol plaza.

Mitch McConnell is the number one foe of campaign finance reform. We got a glimpse inside his thinking on the issue with The Undercurrent's release of the Koch tapes in 2014, detailing McConnell's commitment to deregulating money in politics throughout his time in elected office.

It is abominable that the Senate Majority Leader believes that the passage of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill was the "worst day" of his political career. I asked him if he agreed with the 85% of Americans that believe that there is too much money corrupting our political process, and his silence was deafening. Democracy Spring Communications Director Peter James Callahan followed up with, "Are you bought and paid for?" Watch the video below for McConnell's response.

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As his presidency enters its final stretch, Barack Obama has been following a path pursued by many of his predecessors, engaging in several last-minute peacemaking efforts around the world. Just a few weeks ago, Obama concluded a historic trip to Cuba, which marked the first time in 90 years that a U.S. president had set foot in the communist country. Obama and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry have also been weighing how to preserve a two-state solution to the centuries-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which continues to preclude any lasting peace in the Middle East.

Up until this point, President Obama has found any meaningful progress in the area of peacemaking to be mostly elusive, as his administration has repeatedly faced a world that is complicated, messy and fraught with a mind-boggling array of devilishly difficult problems.

A glance across the global landscape reveals that the Middle East, the primary focal point of our nation's peacemaking attempts, is unraveling, with four countries Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen devastated by civil war. A united Europe, one of the great achievements of the second half of the 20th century, has slow economic growth and migration challenges, while Russia continues to position itself as a major geopolitical threat to the U.S. and its European allies.

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In another part of the world, China and Japan remain mired in an economic malaise, which threatens the growth of developing countries in the Asian-Pacific region. As a result of this strained financial slowdown, trade talks worldwide have hit a wall. Meanwhile, in the face of United Nations' economic sanctions, North Korea continues to build its nuclear weapons arsenal, while the U.N. struggles to maintain its relevance. And while some progress has been secured in addressing the issue of global climate change, the deals that have been achieved have frequently been non-binding and fraught with glitches.

Here at home, the foreign policy debate taking place among our political leaders has been, for the most part, embarrassing. Far too often, the debate has focused on fear mongering, building walls and closing borders. I have heard few serious solutions inside the Beltway and on the campaign trail toward truly addressing the complex foreign policy challenges facing the U.S. and its allies around the world.

The environment that I have just described has bred considerable cynicism and discontent both at home and abroad about U.S. foreign policy. Nevertheless, it hasn't changed the fact that the U.S. is the only true global power in the world and that other countries continue to insist upon American leadership.

So the question then becomes: what can America realistically do to help make peace in a troubled and chaotic world.

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This question was repeatedly posed at a conference that former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar and I helped convene last month at Indiana University's new School of Global and International Studies. The two-day conference featured about two dozen policy analysts, scholars, political leaders and journalists who came together to consider "America's Role in the World" and the critical foreign policy issues that will face our nation's next president.

When I consider America's role in the world with regard to peacemaking, I see our nation as most successful when we serve as a benign power. To this end, I would like to see the U.S. be at the forefront of any humanitarian initiative, responding to earthquakes, famines, fires, floods and other natural or manmade disasters, and providing services that are essential to human survival to endangered areas around the world. When channeled correctly, U.S. humanitarian aid, which reflects the generosity, compassion and decency of the American people, can have an enormous impact. It can also improve our nation's image in eyes of the rest of the world. Public opinion of U.S. foreign policy around the world rose considerably when we launched a major relief mission after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake that killed several hundred thousand people. It increased again several years later, in 2011, after we responded to an earthquake and tsunami that caused massive death and destruction in Japan.

Our interactions shouldn't be restricted to times when disaster strikes, however, nor should we always expect government to initiate them. I've often been impressed by the power of the non-governmental sector to foster greater cultural awareness and understanding between nations. Over the years, I've met countless foreign leaders who, through their education in the U.S., have a much kinder view and greater appreciation of our nation's mission and values. Our world would be greatly served by an increased number of educational and cultural exchanges between farmers, business executives, health care professionals, teachers, students and people from all walks of life.

Likewise, our world benefits when America exercises strong diplomacy, which has long been our nation's hallmark. Now more than ever, our skill in statesmanship and negotiating will be needed to diffuse tensions, build consensus and resolve conflict. Still, the power of diplomacy is not a panacea when it comes to international relations. We simply cannot jump into every conflict, and we will always encounter questions about priorities and timing. But let it always be known that America will stand on the side of trying to solve conflict and defuse tensions by getting people to work together.

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Diplomacy doesn't mean only talking with our friends, however. I fundamentally disagree with politicians and policymakers who put conditions on meeting with our adversaries. We've seen such conditions serve as a non-starter with regard to North Korea. As I've previously written, not talking to the North Koreans isn't going to stop them from continuing to grow their nuclear capabilities. You can't make peace without talking to those who don't agree with you.

It's clear that the U.S. wields enormous military power, which it has frequently used to combat evil forces around the world. But we must resist the great temptation to reach for the gun too quickly. We should first reach for the purse, aid, economic and political leverage, investments, trade deals and all the non-military tools available to us as the global power. Though we must always be prepared to use our military forces, military might should be our last resort to managing conflict.

I believe that more of our nation's energies would be better directed at working with nations to strengthen their political institutions, seek open governance, promote an active and engaged citizenry, and supply people with the knowledge and resources to maintain and preserve an effective democratic society that serves everyone. Our assistance to help build democracy requires as a condition of that aid that the recipient countries step up to the responsibilities of democratic leadership.

Of course, building democracy remains a formidable task, one made even more difficult when we neglect the "example" of America, what we stand for and how we take care of our own. The recent conference at Indiana University concluded that our nation's greatest foreign policy challenge is our own dysfunction and rancorous partisanship that stands in the way of government effectively serving our citizenry.

We must work harder here at home at getting our own economic and political house in order for the rest of the world to emulate. Only then will America reflect its true promise -- of life, liberty and justice for all -- and have a real chance at fostering peace around the world.

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It's departure day, the first day of spring break, and our long-awaited trip to France is about to begin. We arrive at Dulles with our navy and silver Education First (EF) backpacks, excited but subdued. The violence in Belgium just days ago hovers. The exuberance of the youth I'm accompanying, however, quickly overcomes any pallor and my excitement rises. Delta whisks us from Dulles to JFK to begin the five-hour layover for our flight to Paris. My always-hungry adolescents make multiple trips down the interminable airport hallways in search of their next round of Panda Express, Shake Shack and Jamba Juice, despite my reminders that we'll have dinner and breakfast on our flight.

While my charges explore, I stay put to watch a blood red sunset to the west. "It's a beach sunset," declares an adorable French youngster, face pressed against the terminal window. I'm grateful for his mellifluous chatter that readies my ear for the nine days of French to come.

We board the 767 and my Tylenol PM kicking in, I can't wait to pass out for seven hours on my travel pillow, under a red felt blanket. My students are of a different mind. "OMG! Mockingjay!" "They have The Walking Dead. I can't believe it!" "Look at all these movies!" "Are they FREE, Madame Bohr?" "I am so binge-watching all night!"

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So much for my entreaties to get some sleep.

"You'll all be walking zombies yourselves tomorrow morning," I lament. Full bellies notwithstanding, they speculate about what's for dinner and plan their watching strategies.

An overnight flight between us and the exuberance of the evening's departure, I awaken semi-refreshed to glum faces, tussled hair and bleary eyes. We snake for well over two hours through the post-Brussels passport control maze at Charles de Gaulle and then finally, after spying and retrieving a temporarily lost suitcase that has inexplicably landed in a pile of unclaimed bags, exit the confines of the terminal for our entry into France.
An American flag close-up and folded and place on the signatures on the Declaration of Independence.

Dear Senator Sanders,

Hillary Clinton has found your Achilles' heel. This is a good thing, because now you can transform weakness into strength. She portrays herself as the only Democratic candidate who could "get things done." This resonates with pragmatic liberals who think you have a great program but cannot get it enacted. The concern has also been an unspoken murmur in many of your supporters' minds. And I suspect that your limited support among African-Americans is partly because their collective experience makes them leery of idealists who underestimate the strength, determination, and  when needed  ruthlessness of the institutions that uphold the status quo.

Your campaign is a living contradiction. Your brilliant truth-telling has included the repeated admonition that you are not the answer, that it will take a movement of millions to bring about a political revolution. And yet the work so far aims only at building a movement to get you elected. You and Hillary are right: in itself, electing you will neither lead to enactment of your policies (education, taxes, jobs, etc.) nor permit us to govern ourselves democratically.

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Let's take a sober look at the forces arrayed against us; consider what they will do to undermine President Sanders; and see how to integrate a movement to elect you into a movement for an effective political revolution.

What We Are Up Against

The institutions serving the billionaire class send thousands to their deaths each year in wars to keep the world safe for corporate profit. That class doesn't mind causing the deaths of thousands more at home from poverty, a for-profit health system, pollution of the air and waters, and the

addictions and crime of a sick society. Their media distract and mislead on a staggering scale. They have a decades-old record of actions like Secretary Clinton's diplomatic support of the 2009 Honduran coup, which paved the way for the murders of Berta Caceres and many more indigenous activists. They have consistently conducted covert operations to overthrow "unfriendly" regimes abroad. They ruthlessly smashed the Black Panther Party and did what it took to break up Occupy. They have militarized the police in our cities, where they fear that justified Black rage will erupt again. They set up a racist and inhumane system of mass incarceration. They have created a surveillance state that will probably log this very writing in some digital dossier. And they buy off every level of government so that it does not impede the maximization of their profits.

What President Sanders Would Face

In other words, these forces play hardball. So there are probably teams of operatives brainstorming contingency plans to use voter suppression, hacking ballot software, and other means to steal the November election if necessary, given the Bush/Gore lesson, i.e., that our people will acquiesce. Others must be considering strategies to put President Sanders on the defensive from day one, in ways that would make Monicagate look like child's play. Your attempts to use the Oval Office as a bully pulpit will be largely shut down by the same media which downplay your campaign.

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In the best of worlds, your election will sweep in Democratic congressional majorities. But the legislators will still be corporate funded, which is why Democrats  whether in the majority or the minority  have generally either supported, or failed to effectively oppose, tax and financial-disclosure laws that favor the rich; every bank bailout and executive-sparing plea bargain; every war; a gigantic military-industrial complex; murderous drone warfare that makes more enemies; the surveillance state; an unprecedented war on whistleblowers; and too- little-too-late environmental promises and bandaids. These folks will not be your/our allies, just as they are not supporting your campaign.

Then there is the matter of turning around the federal bureaucracy, with its 2.7 million employees, 175,000 pages of codified regulations, revolving door with big business, and ready access for corporate lawyers and lobbyists.

We do need a political revolution to change all this, in the true meaning of the term.

What Is to Be Done

I beg you to answer the Clinton charge of inability to enact your program this way: "My campaign is but laying the groundwork for the organizing and educating of our people to the point of  yes  revolution, where we no longer allow government to derive its unjust powers from the consent of the governed. We must build for the day when tens of millions of us take unified action to stop working, stop paying taxes, stop the transport of the goods of war-making or repression or heating up the planet  whatever it takes for government by the billionaire class to collapse."

Bernie, we need you to support us in building a movement for nonviolent revolution. We need your words, and we could surely use actions like devoting part of your staff, and providing tools on your website, to facilitate discussing strategy, program, organization, and tactics. In this way your campaign can lay the groundwork for creating a network of several thousand local groups of activists. We can take it from there, recruiting people to train us to facilitate meetings, work through differences, better understand the implicit biases that affect us all, explain effectively to neighbors and family and friends the need for revolution, and tie local struggles to the overall movement against that which creates the need for all of them.

Some will see this as diverting resources away from the immediate tasks of ensuring your nomination and election. Not so! Putting it bluntly, to be nominated and elected, you will have to stop sounding like a candidate for high-school class president who promises everything the students want but will have no power to give it to them. The resonance of your message  and a measure of selflessness and sincerity rarely seen in politicians at the national level  have brought amazing success. But a message that excites people can only take you so far. Please, give us what we need for success, in the primaries, at the convention, in November, and in the years to come!

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Coauthored with Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo

In April, twenty five years ago, Pope John Paul II wrote "Centesimus Annus," an encyclical very similar to Pope Francis's much-heralded "Laudato Si'". Both encyclicals addressed the rampant exploitation of people and the planet. Both called for justice. Both lifted up the working class and the poor. Both remain extremely relevant in 2016, which is why we're inviting to the Vatican this week world leaders to answer Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis's clarion call to protect the environment and everyone who lives on it.

There could be no more urgent political or policy agenda. There are two global crises that are increasing exponentially in scale this year, trapped in a vicious reinforcing cycle, one making the other worse. Both involve the treatment of people and planet as expendable. Both are at the heart of a new Global Sustainability Network Forum, launched last month at the Vatican by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

The first is the mass and unmitigated exploitation of people. Devastatingly, the trafficking of humans - to be sold, bonded, traded, and raped - is on the rise. The world is trafficking more humans than ever before. Worsening this trend: the global migration of refugees fleeing unstable and insecure environments. The numbers mount with each passing month. While we hear most about migrant flows into Europe, these vulnerable populations are on the move on every continent and in every country - take, as an example, the unaccompanied minors going from Central America to Mexico and, finally, to the US - making exploitation more possible.

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Exploitation's worst example, however, is war. Three-fourths of the humanitarian needs today result from war - noted by world leaders gathered at the Casina Pio IV in the Vatican in February - all of which is human caused. Wars result from many causes: injustice, deprivation, greed and the unbridled pursuit of gain, the pathological pursuit of power, secret diplomacy, and distrust across the lines of culture, religion, class and race. Yet all wars have human solutions, and the greatest humanitarian solution on the planet is the end of today's wars and the prevention of future conflicts. Mutual dialogue, restraint, the pursuit of international law and justice, honesty, and love can provide a solution. The payoff is huge: Ending wars saves lives, avoids humanitarian crises, obviates mass refugee movements, and saves money. It is without question the least costly and most practical form of humanitarian assistance available in the world. We should pursue it.

The second crisis is the unmitigated exploitation of the planet. The result? Each month and each year is proving hotter than the one before it, with more carbon dioxide in the air than ever before and more rapidly rising sea levels, mounting heat and acidity in the oceans, and terrifying accounts of extreme weather everywhere. Consequently, climate change is creating tens of millions of climate refugees, putting already poor people at even greater risk of exploitation.

It is time to put in practice what the international community has committed to post Paris, post UN adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and post Encyclical, Laudato Si'. We want to move from words to action in all sectors of society - business, government, media and more. And while the new Vatican-based network will cover the range of social, economic and environmental sustainability issues, we decided to zero in on two of the most urgent crises: exploitation of people and exploitation of the planet.

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Both stem from a malevolent mindset that sees humans and the environment as expendable. We want this cheap commodification of people and the planet to stop and are calling on the UN mandate, via the Sustainable Development Goals, to mobilize the international community.

We can put an end to these two crises but it will require every good person to take a good look at their lifestyle practices in view of peace and the common good. What we wear, what we eat, and what we build is often made by slave labor and is, more likely than not, exacerbating global warming.

The textile industry's dependency on slave labor is well documented and its toxic and oil-dependent footprint is also well known. The food industry's dependency on migrant labor is well documented and its heavy carbon and methane footprint, especially meat, is also well known. The building industry's dependency on bonded labor is well documented and its greenhouse gas emissions, the largest of any sector, are also well known. The automotive industry, and its fossil fuel allies, is one of the main causes of global warming and hasn't yet fully integrated more sustainable solutions such as electric cars, which are present in the market.

Each industry is killing, maiming, or abusing the people who dye, cut, spray, pick, prepare, haul, and heave. Each industry is getting by without paying for or protecting the very planet that built their profits. It is a shameful abdication of morality, ethics or basic responsibility. And each day that goes by, each injustice that goes unstopped by any one of us, the problem gets worse. (And we haven't even mentioned the weapons industry and the extensive and informal sale of weapons, which cause many of the wars not waged for justice.)

It's time for this practice of irresponsibility to end because it is impacting all of us in immeasurable ways. That is why our partners in the Global Sustainability Network Forum are now rolling out a "Freedom Seal" to reward companies who refuse to enslave labor in any and all parts of their product's supply chain. That is why the Academy is calling for any exploitation of people to be understood and prosecuted as a crime against humanity, the only crime that has no statute of limitations. That is why we are organizing every sector possible - from religious leaders to elected mayors, from business executives to appointed government officials, from media experts to community-based nongovernmental organizations - at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

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Why, because it will require all hands on deck to hold the exploiters accountable. Whether they are expending people or the planet. Neither can continue unabated anymore. People globally answered the call of Pope Francis in his encyclical, Laudato Si', for a more socially, economically and environmental just world. Now it is time to act on that call. Ending exploitation. Living differently. Witnessing radically. We are serious about action and eager to act - ASAP.
Undated file photo of Franklin D. Roosevelt. (AP Photo)

The call came 71 years ago early on the evening of April 12, 1945. My father answered the telephone in the hallway of our West End Avenue apartment.

"President Roosevelt?" he asked the caller incredulously. The conversation with his business client was brief. He hung up, turned to my sister, my mother and me and said with a matter-of-fact tone, "President Roosevelt died."

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Although only a 10-year-old, I took the news hard. After all, FDR was our only president during my entire life. "God hates America!" I screamed, running to my room. Dad followed me with reassurance. "No he doesn't," he responded. "You'll see - we'll win the war."

Of course, I knew he was right. That one was easy. The Russians were pushing into Germany from the east. Allied forces were advancing rapidly from the south and west. Less than four weeks later, it would all be over in Europe. Adolf Hitler, the German dictator who had crowed about the president's death, ended his own life in his Berlin bunker, taking his "thousand year Reich" with him after just a dozen years.



America's grief over the loss of its commander-in-chief hovered over us. Although he had been recently observed as a man who looked ill, the degree of his failing health had been kept secret, so the news was unexpected.

Roosevelt was at his Warm Springs, Georgia "Little White House" that April for rest. Grace Tully, the president's secretary for seventeen years, accompanied him on the trip. In her book F.D.R. My Boss, excerpts of which have been cited by EyeWitness to History.com, an award-winning educational website, she described going to his cottage on the 12th after being told he was sick. She observed his being attended by two doctors after collapsing while having his portrait painted. Within minutes he was pronounced dead.

She recounted the president's wife Eleanor's arrival from Washington the next day. "... She was completely calm when she arrived ... 'You know,' I said, 'how deeply sorry I am for you and the children.' She patted me lightly on the shoulder. 'Tully, dear, I am so very sorry for all of you.'"

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Tully described the scene of the funeral cortege taking the President's body from his Warm Springs cottage to the railroad station for the last time. "As the cortege drew into the drive and halted, the sad strains of an accordion played 'Going Home.' It was Graham Jackson ... who had played many times for FDR and the hundreds of others there. Bareheaded and with tears running down both sides of his face, he stood in front of the group and paid his last homage. And as the cars started again slowly, driving around the semicircular drive and on toward the station, Jackson swung into one of the President's favorite hymns, 'Nearer, My God, To Thee'." [A link to the image may be found here.]

The country's reaction was later summarized by famed journalist Edward R. Murrow, who reported on his trailblazing "I Can Hear it Now" record album, "If you were one of those who loved FDR, and there were many, or if you were one of those who hated him, and there were many, that flash from Warm Springs was as personal as a body blow, or a wire from the War Department. Without warning, the central figure had slipped out of a twelve-year era, and you were stunned by the sudden cleavage of time."

Just over five months earlier Franklin Roosevelt had been reelected to an unprecedented fourth term, so he never got to see the allied victory against either Germany or Japan. He was widely considered a casualty of World War II. When his successor President Harry Truman addressed Congress on May 8 to proclaim V-E Day, I shared his opening sentiment: "I only wish that Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day."

The spring and summer of 1945 was a very unique period in the nation's history. Wrapping up the worldwide conflagration in August, we transitioned to a period of remarkable postwar growth and the early years of cold war under President Truman and an era of consolidation under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. But it was Roosevelt who had led the country out of the Great Depression and its isolationist leanings after the First World War into a new era of commitment to international leadership. That commitment cries out for renewed dedication in our 21st century politics.

Franklin Roosevelt's sculptured portrait belongs with those of the four other presidential giants on Mount Rushmore.

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[A variation of this article appeared in the Tahoe Daily Tribune in April 2015.]
Girls trying on glamorous high-heeled shoes

When the FaceTime screen lit up Hannah and Kaia were jostling Hannah's mother Peggy out of the picture, shoulders touching in that fierce intimacy of girls who have been friends since the womb, as they like to say. At 11-years-old, these San Rafael girls have cemented their friendship in more intense ways than most girls their age. On October 21, 2015, Kaia Tanaka leaned over a candle on her bedroom vanity and her shirt caught fire, severely burning her back, and under her arm. Three surgeries, as many stays in the hospital and three months out of school later, Kaia is an electric bundle of energy, matched only by her best friend Hannah Butler. When Kaia had the surgery for skin grafts, she had to shave her head, so the doctors could take skin from her scalp for her back. And, if that wasn't enough, she donated her hair to Wigs for Kids. In solidarity, Hannah cut off her long hair, too. The two girls on my phone screen are perfect, mischievous pixie incarnations.



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Without missing a beat, the girls are getting ready for a 5k race on May 22, part of the Run Like a Girl race series in California (no relation to my book, except in spirit, of course!). They did the 1-mile version of the race together last year, even though Kaia says she's not a runner and was only inspired to do it by her friend. They told me they like the fact that there are no boys in the race, "Not to be stereotypical," they say, finishing each other's sentences, "But boys are very, very competitive. Boys look more like they're going to die when they run." They said a few more things about boys, until I heard Peggy's voice off-screen, "Don't be so hard on boys." I felt guilty for having encouraged their riff, marveling, as I was, at their precocious poise.

Despite their comments about the boys' competitiveness, Hannah came in first in the race last year. And though Kaia says, "I'm not competitive, I just want to run and have fun." She did come in second last year. But for Kaia that's proof of how motivating her friend and the race environment are, "I feel like the race inspires girls, like me, who don't often run to get out and do it, because it doesn't have to be about a big competition."


It's election season, and that means some of the people seeking political office will also be seeking the Christian vote. But what is this thing called "the Christian vote"? What makes a vote specifically or distinctly Christian?

Self-professing Christians represent a great diversity of political views, so much diversity, in fact, that one might wonder if these views can be understood to form a coherent political platform, let alone a consistent Christian position. Moreover, the Christians doing the voting are sometimes known to advocate for political positions that do not seem to reflect a Christian witness.

It's not easy to be a Christian voter. The temptation, always, is to put one's faith and hope somewhere else--the glory of the nation, the power of the military, the success of the market--or to give one's ultimate trust to someone other than God. Being a Christian voter means that one must constantly ask, how does this or that political position reflect and further the love of God for every person, community, and place in this world? It means that one must have a fairly clear understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

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But what makes a Christian?



Though appearing simple, this question is beset with confusion as Christians argue amongst themselves and with others about what is most fundamental to their faith. In some respects, the arguing and the diversity of positions are a good thing, because faith is a complex and far-reaching phenomenon. It can't be reduced to a single soundbite. Even so, it is important from time to time to return to this most basic of questions so that Christians can determine if they have lost their way or become hypocrites.



As a way to focus our thinking, I propose that we start with some words of Jesus: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).

Love is not optional for Christians. It goes to the heart of Christian faith and life. One could even say that love is the decisive test that determines one's faithfulness to and worship of God. To be a Christian is to act in ways that participate in the divine love that creates and nurtures and heals the world. The moment one ceases to love is also the moment one ceases to be Christian. Why? Because the action of love is the practical proof that one is in communion with God and that one knows who God is. Love is our fundamental point of access to God. Without love it is impossible to know God, because "God is love" (1 John 4:8).

The love that is being talked about here is not abstract or merely a pious sentiment. To be real it has to be worked out in the practical living we share with others. If people fail to love in the day to day, they forfeit any claim to know God. Scripture is clear on this: "Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen" (1 John 4:20).



Moreover, the love of God is radical and all-inclusive. It seeks to be active in everyone and everything, because, from a Christian point of view, every creature that exists does so only as the expression of God's loving delight in it. Divine love is what makes life possible. It is the power that inspires and enables people to live into the fullness of their lives.



But love is hard. The temptation is to want to limit love to the scope of personal, communal, or national ambition, or it is to place conditions upon and boundaries around it. It is to divide the world into the lovable and the unlovable, and then direct one's energies accordingly. Jesus sees it differently. He says, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:44-45). He wasn't kidding.

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The question for Christian voters, therefore, is whether they can turn their vote into a petition for more love in the world. I realize that there are some Christians who believe their faith has nothing to do with political action. But that is like saying love pertains to the confines of private life: the messiness of public life operates by rules other than love. Does the love of God know boundaries like this, or does it seek to be active everywhere?

Putting "the Christian vote" in terms of this far-reaching love sounds utterly naive and impractical. We live in a hard world where difficult choices need to be made, choices that will clearly benefit some but not others. Moreover, there are others who really mean to hurt this country and its people.



Taking this realist, even cynical, line is a failure of Christian imagination. It is also a failure of fidelity to Jesus as the one who lived in a hard world very much like our own.

My aim is not to make America a Christian nation. It is to ask Christians to think more deeply about whether or not they mean to vote in ways that extend God's love in the world. My hunch is that if they do, we might see politicians who give them something to vote for.
While public attention has been (deservedly) focused on the empty seat now waiting on the U.S. Supreme Court for the last two months, almost a hundred other judicial vacancies on lower federal courts have languished without nominations, hearings or votes. In fact, the Senate has only confirmed six federal judges so far in 2016, and the Senate Judiciary Committee has held but a single confirmation hearing. The Senate's silent treatment of Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland is merely the latest - and most visible - manifestation of this trend.

One year ago, Colorado-based U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Blackburn announced that he would take senior status on April 12, 2016. This gave a year for Colorado Senators Michael Bennet (D) and Cory Gardner (R) to put aside politics, screen potential nominees, and provide names to the White House. The President would then have time to send a nominee to the Senate, which would hold hearings and a confirmation vote, all before the seat on Colorado's only federal trial court went empty. Last time a judge took senior status on Colorado's federal court (in 2012), a nomination was made during the year-notice period and confirmation of U.S. District Judge Raymond Moore came within two months of the seat becoming vacant.

But good intentions & advance planning were not enough this time. Now our Colorado trial judgeship is vacant and a nominee has not even been named by the White House. Senators Bennet and Gardner submitted the same three candidates to the President in January 2016, but six weeks later U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away and the judicial nominations process ground to a halt. The Colorado District Court vacancy is now caught up in a political fight together with over 90 other federal court vacancies. (There's a cool, but disheartening, interactive graphic of all these vacancies by state and length of time empty here.)

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Like an annoyed kid who purposely blows all his money on hotels just to bring an interminable Monopoly game to an end, Coloradans can't wait for this political game to be over. Since 1984, the District Court has only seven judges to handle all civil and criminal trials for the entire state. Bringing that number down to six for even a limited period of time (say until after November's election) will increase court clog and delays for ordinary citizens seeking justice, restitution, and civil rights. Indeed, the entire Colorado delegation of both parties is actually sponsoring legislation this Congress to increase the number of judges to nine to alleviate these out of control court delays. Already this vacancy has been designated as one of 34 judicial emergencies nationwide based on the weighted case-load per remaining judge.
A random act of kindness brought Akbar Hossain's family to the United States. To be more precise, they won a U.S. State Department "diversity" lottery that allowed them to emigrate from Saudi Arabia. Akbar's father, Mir, the family's breadwinner, had moved to Saudi Arabia from Bangladesh for a welding job. One day, in a Saudi shopping mall, on a whim, his mother stepped up to a kiosk and entered their family in the lottery. As it turned out, they won.

Thrilled, the family of five arrived in 2001, two days before the World Trade Center attack. "A few days later I don't know . . ." Akbar said. "The Hossein family coming in through JFK? I'm not sure it would have happened."

Since they knew no one in the U.S., they had paid a large sum of money to a relative of his father's Saudi boss to help them resettle, but he abandoned them. His driver left them at a hotel in Hoboken, New Jersey with little money to spend and nowhere to turn.

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On a walk through the neighborhood they stumbled onto an Indian restaurant and went in, feeling at home for the first time in a long while. His father struck up a conversation with the manager, charming him, and he notified his brother-in-law in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and the man drove to New Jersey, picked up the Hossains and brought them back to a Norristown Budget Inn. Next, he helped them find an apartment, and work, and he got the kids situated in schools.

They put down roots, and Akbar and his siblings began to excel in their studies. His father worked ceaselessly for his family. "I was up at 7 a.m., and my father would have left already, and I'd be home from school at 4:30 when he had left for his second job and on the weekends he did construction." When his father died unexpectedly of heat stroke while mowing their lawn, his family was immediately assisted by the Norristown community. Various organizations and friends offered both help with finances and access to other resources--and this assistance didn't let up until his mother had found work sufficient to support the family.

"When my family was in most desperate need, the Norristown community stood up and said, 'We will take care of them'."

His father's work ethic set an example for his children. At 25, still in school, already Akbar has a list of accomplishments and associations too long to list here. He was selected for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship for college juniors and a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, to provide support for his study in law school at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship singles out exceptional immigrant students (including children of immigrants) in graduate school, who show the most promise of becoming leaders who will give back to their communities and their nation.

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His fellowship will help pay for law school, and also enables him to work with other fellows already in their careers in academia, government and other fields. "With Soros, I have access to people who are incredibly motivated to have an impact on the world."

Akbar has already worked with the White House, US Department of Homeland Security, and US Department of Health and Human Services. He has been deeply involved working with the immigrant community in Norristown, and he thinks he may be able to use his law degree in broader ways to help those who are marginalized in the Philadelphia area. He spent his spring break in Greece recently, helping with the refugee crisis, and even spent a night on the shore waiting for Syrians in arriving boats.

"When you see those sick children in a crowded camp and parents looking for a way to survive, it's difficult to have the type of opinions (on immigration) you often hear in the U.S. today," he said. His view is that individual Americans offer compassion, regardless of their political stance on immigration policy, when faced with the human reality of asylum-seekers. "We're very distant from what's happening here. Yet in my opinion, most of America is Norristown. When there's a family that needs help, the human response--the American response--is to help."

I'm an immigrant as well. I too found love, compassion and real practical help from other Americans when I came here. This is the America to cherish and respect. This is the America that has served as a beacon of hope to the world. Thanks to the Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation, Akbar will accomplish amazing things. After all, it's America: a nation built by immigrants.
jewish hebrew script text in Bible book scroll

I am an unabashed lover of Leviticus. And not just the "Be holy," "Love your neighbor as yourself" second half of Leviticus, but especially the "slaughter the cow...sprinkle its blood" first half. "Be holy" sounds great, but what does it actually mean? What am I supposed to do to fulfill this vague entreaty? But the first half of Leviticus, which deals with how to perform sacrifices (chapters 1-10) and what makes someone or something pure or impure (chapters 11-16), that's something I can work with. When the Torah says The priest shall take some of the blood... and put it on the lobe of the right ear... (Leviticus 14:14)--the right ear, not the left!--I know what I'm supposed to do.

Even sacred instruction manuals, though, have their ambiguities. One of the great questions for any reader of Leviticus has to do with a particularly hard-to-translate pair of Hebrew adjectives: tahor and tamei. These two words are clearly opposites, but what the pair captures has been variously rendered as "clean/unclean," "pure/impure," "fit/unfit," "ready/unready." Tied up with the confusion about translation is a deeper ambiguity--is tum'ah--the noun form of tamei--a condemned state? Does becoming impure (my preferred translation) mean that you've done something wrong? Someone who is tahor has no restrictions placed on their activity, while someone who is tamei is restricted, to varying degrees depending on the severity of the tum'ah, from coming into contact with various kinds of sacred items. It would seem obvious that, whatever fancy spin we might want to put on it, tahor is basically good and tamei is bad.

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But it's not quite so simple. A great example of this complexity appears in Leviticus 15:18. Chapter 15 is an entire chapter devoted to the religious implications of genital emissions--semen, menstrual blood, unexpected and ambiguous fluids exiting a human being's genitals--it's all there. (If you get queasy around discussions of bodily fluids, stick with me here. Chapter 15 begins with God's exhortation to Moses and Aaron, Speak to the Israelites and say to them (15:2), doubled language that makes clear that these discussions are not meant to be esoteric knowledge for priests or doctors--we're all supposed to spend some time thinking and talking about what's coming out of our bodies.)

After discussing a man's unusual, diseased emissions, Leviticus 15 turns to the case of a healthy seminal emission: "And when a man has intercourse with a woman, they must bathe in water, and they are impure until evening" (15:18). Heterosexual intercourse generates impurity; both partners become tamei.

For modern Americans, this might be utterly unsurprising. Raised in a culture influenced by religious traditions that view sex as fundamentally shameful, many will raise nary an eyebrow at an ancient religious text ascribing a negative valence to the earthy substances that result from sexual activity. But when we read the Torah on its own terms--that is to say, reading this verse in light of the Torah as a whole, trying as best we can not to superimpose later theologies onto it--Leviticus's determination, among other things, that heterosexual intercourse will generate tum'ah is not only surprising, but logically illegible. After all, the very same Torah that rules semen impure also, in Genesis 1:28, tells the first humans to "be fruitful and multiply"! In other words, we are commanded to reproduce, which, for all of our modern technologies, still requires at some point a man's emitting semen. At least one mitzvah demands that, in order to fulfill it, I become tamei.

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This surely complicates our initial reading that tum'ah is basically negative. And indeed, scholarly treatments of the Bible and early Judaism debate what, if any, moral valence ritual impurity carries. Perhaps the best example comes from one of the 20 century's foremost interpreters of biblical impurity, the anthropologist Mary Douglas (of blessed memory). In her groundbreaking 1966 book Purity and Danger, Douglas characterizes biblical impurity as a way of describing that which challenged the social order by crossing established boundaries. That which is "neither fish nor fowl," as they say, is "impure" and thus banished from our midst--a thoroughly negative depiction. But in her later works--such as Leviticus as Literature (2000)--she reverses course, arguing that the tamei is precisely that which, because it exemplifies life and reproduction, is praiseworthy and thus must be protected from the grips of the profane world. If you want to start a fistfight among biblical scholars, ask them whether or not ritual impurity of the sort we find in Leviticus 15 is morally neutral.

The case of semen and its impurity suggests that both sides of that debate are right. Leviticus 15 makes clear that a man's seminal emission is somehow incompatible with the sacred, and separation from sacred space is its consequence; until time has passed and he has bathed himself, he is forbidden from contact with those consecrated items that the culture of Leviticus holds most dear. And chapter 1 of Genesis makes clear that sexual reproduction is a religiously praiseworthy act. Taken together, we learn that something can be morally endorsed, required even, and still be culturally and psychologically defiling.

In a moment in our public conversation when many are debating the relative merits of "career politicians" and "outsiders," this is an important realization. Whether it's the insider who can't avoid the criticism of being knee-deep in the muck of politics, or the outsider who falls victim to a "gotcha" moment of working the system, the simple fact of being in the muck, while certainly making one impure, does not mean that one has done something wrong. Indeed, this too may be a case of becoming "tamei" precisely as a result of doing something vitally important.

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We would do well to remember that doing the right thing does not always lead to obvious reward, or even to an unambiguous positive feeling; often, it leads to getting one's hands dirty, to a feeling or perception of no longer being "pure". But trying to avoid ritual tum'ah or its secular equivalent would mean never engaging in the hard and essential work of human relationships and society-building.
Tom Friedman writes in Tuesday's New York Times about the "devastated agriculture, overpopulation, and unemployment" in West Africa. "Overpopulation" in Africa takes me back sixty-five years to my freshman year at Dartmouth, when my biology professor, newly back from Africa, said that we should not use DDT in Egypt because DDT killed mosquitoes, and mosquitoes were necessary for population control in North Africa. Since then, the population of Egypt has more than quadrupled -- 19 million to 84 million -- and we still use DDT against mosquitoes in the battle to end malaria.

The ending or decline of malaria is a major cause of the rising population throughout the African continent. The Middle East and Africa are ablaze as sects battle each other and well-armed groups compete with each other for supremacy in their countries. It seems to me that the world cannot afford "quadrupling" of populations forever. Even now, with millions fleeing Iraq, the rest of the Middle East and North Africa, we are far from finding an effective solution to overpopulation in an area that is losing acreage to desert every day, every week, every year.
Growing up, I remember that the Church was not too friendly nor supportive to single parent families. If you were in a family with a father and mother, you had a good shot to feel welcomed and you got a lot of attention. But in the late 1960's early 1970's this was not the case. There were no such entities as single parent support groups, parenting classes, Divorce recovery groups etc. that you will see active in some congregations today. Now forty plus years later, in many cases single parent families might outnumber nuclear two parent families, and now with same sex parents the dynamic of family life in church is changing even more.

Traditionally, churches, Catholic and mainline Protestant, have offered Youth groups, Women's and Men's Fellowship, a couples group. At St. James United Church Of Christ Morrison, Mo and Zion-St. Peter United Church Of Christ Pershing, Mo, the first two churches that I served, there is a couples group called The Fellowship Crusaders. They meet monthly for social activities and community service projects. Churches have done fairly well offering opportunities for fellowship to traditional nuclear families. However, single, divorced, widowed and GLBTQ people might not find a lot of opportunities for socialization and support within congregations. One of my favorite Thanksgiving memories was having a dinner at a church with other people who were single. The configuration of people that day felt like a special diverse family.

During the economic recession of the 1980's under President Ronald Reagan, there was a lot of upheaval in the stock market and in employment numbers. A lot of people found themselves out of a job including a lot of middle level corporate executives. I was living in Waukegan, Il at that time and the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest, Il. was visionary in its approach regarding ministry to those effected by the economic downturn. The church set up a job search clearing house program that helped a lot of unemployed executives and others to become re-employed in the greater Chicago area. This program of economic and social support, I'm sure, helped a lot of families, perhaps even preventing, in some cases, inevitable divorce, substance abuse or domestic violence.

Today, families are experiencing continuing problems of economic stress, support needs for parents ( i.e. two parent, single parent, same-sex parent systems ), recreational, fellowship, service needs for youth, and programs that can address the needs of adults both married and single who are without children and for Senior Citizens and those who are caretakers for those who are elderly, disabled physically or mentally and those who are caring for those who are terminally ill.

There are also congregations that are addressing gun violence and working with those who have lost loved ones due to the deadly use of weapons. Father Dave Kelly, Director of the Precious Blood Ministry on Chicago's South side, a center that offers support to the survivors of gun violence has noted:

"I look at crime or violence as a violation of relationships. Some people are harmed, some people do that harm. So the role of restorative justice is to repair, as best as we can, those relationships.

Father Kelly also believes that in many respects we are between Good Friday and Easter, we are dealing with living out the reality of Holy Saturday. Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS

www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics
America's two major political parties are trading their views on trade and no one seems to be noticing.

Quick question. Which party today is more supportive of free trade and free trade agreements?

If you said "the Republican Party," you would be wrong.

In fact, the political parties appear to be reverting to their traditional, 19th century views on trade, with Republicans returning to their original, nationalist-protectionist pattern and Democrats returning to their free-trade roots.

Trade and its Discontents:

Pew Research Center has been tracking American opinions on trade for decades. In their most recent polling they asked if free trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries have been a good thing for the U.S. or a bad thing for the U.S. By a 53% to 38% margin a majority of Republican voters say these trade agreements have been a BAD THING (53% bad thing vs 38% good thing). In contrast, a majority of Democratic voters (56%) say these free trade agreements have been a GOOD THING (56% good thing vs 34% bad thing).

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Of course, this data runs directly against the post WWII fact that Republicans, and especially Republican leadership in Washington, has been pro-free trade, while Democrats, and especially their labor union constituency, have been skeptical and often opposed to trade agreements.

An analysis of public opinion data on this topic repeatedly tells us four things.

First, while Americans are generally supportive of the principles underlying free trade and trade agreements, they are more divided on (1) the benefits and (2) the particulars of a specific trade agreement with a specific country.

Second, Republican voter support for free trade and free trade agreements is declining and Democratic voter support is increasing. This is being driven by younger and more ethnically diverse voter groups exhibiting higher levels of support for free trade and older, whiter Americans displaying more skepticism.



Third, there is a pro-trade consensus in America, but that consensus can be found largely within the Beltway. In fact, Washington elites of BOTH parties are FAR more supportive of free trade and trade agreements than their fellow partisans outside the Beltway. And, while we can assume that the Hill, the Street (Wall Street) and the Valley (Silicon Valley) are pro-trade, the rest of America is decidedly mixed in its views.

And finally, Democratic elites in Washington are MORE supportive of free trade and trade agreements than Republican elites in Washington. For example, our polling found that while 89% of elite Washington Democrats felt that "growing trade between the US and other countries" was a good thing, 79% of elite Washington Republicans felt it was good and 15% felt it was bad.

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Returning to Their Roots?

Could America's two major parties be returning to their 19th century roots on free trade?

It's worth remembering that in the 19th century the Republican party was explicitly protectionist on trade, nurturing its northern manufacturing base and protecting its northern industrial constituency. In contrast, the Democratic party of that era was explicitly free trade, supporting its southern agricultural interests.

In fact, in the immediate post Civil War era, Republicans routinely ran against Democrats for their support of free trade and low tariffs.

Now, in the 21st century, we may see the parties returning to their historical roots. And one reason may be demography.

Demography as Destiny?

In America today age and ethnicity are the greatest predictors of views on free trade and support for free trade agreements. The young (18-29) are overwhelmingly supportive of free trade and free trade agreements. 67% of these voters say free trade agreements are a good thing, possibly because their jobs and job skills have been globalized. As we move up the age pyramid, a majority of GenX are supportive as well. 53% of those 30-49 years old say that these trade deals are a good thing. But, older Americans are deeply skeptical. Scarred by America's post-industrial transition and with hardened memories of Rust Belt layoffs, only 43% of 50-64 year olds and 41% of those over 65 think free trade agreements are good for America.

This means that younger voters, disproportionately Democrats, are pushing the Democratic party toward free trade. We get the full picture when we look at support by ethnicity. 72% of Hispanics and 55% of African-Americans believe that free trade agreements are good for America. This compares to only 45% of whites that believe free trade agreements are good for America.

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Younger and non-white voters are America's demographic future, suggesting that support for free trade agreements will increase over time. But, this challenges the existing political calculus, and it complicates a Democratic coalition that includes younger, non-white voters supportive of free trade and industrial unions heavily opposed to it. This internal rift within the Democratic party is worth watching.

On Wisconsin

The CNN exit polls from the Wisconsin primaries put this this shift in stark relief. The exit polls asked Wisconsin voters if "trade with other countries" creates US jobs, takes away US jobs or does not affect US jobs. Democratic primary voters were split with 42% saying trade took jobs and 41% saying trade created jobs. This is not surprising in an industrial state.

But, look at the Republican responses to the exit poll. Wisconsin Republicans were deeply skeptical of foreign trade, with 54% saying that foreign trade took US jobs and only 33% saying that it created US jobs.

That's right, in the Republican Speaker of the House's home state, Republican voters are more likely than Democrats to be skeptical of foreign trade.

A deeper dive into the data finds that Donald Trump's anti-establishment voters are the most deeply skeptical of trade agreements, viewing them as part of a game rigged for the 1%.

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In fact, Pew Research Center data on Trump supporters nationally finds that a whopping 67% believe that "free trade agreements between the US and other countries" have been a bad thing. No other group comes close to this level of skepticism.

Much of this is related to the 1993 passage of NAFTA. The North American Free Trade Agreement passed the House of Representatives on a tight, 234 Aye - 200 No, vote. And, public opinion research tracking this agreement has found that NAFTA has never reached majority voter support in the United States. For example, Pew Research Center data from 2010 found that while 35% of Americans felt that "trade agreements like NAFTA" were a good thing for the United States, 44% felt that they were bad for the US.

Robots and Algorithms

An economically stressed middle class is anxious and more deeply skeptical of trade agreements. The data are clear on this. But, in reality, the real dislocations are much more likely to come from automation - from robots and algorithms. Chinese manufacturers are quickly moving to robotics in order to mitigate threats from lower wage nations, for example. Manufacturing will become increasingly automated, neutralizing regional variations in the cost of labor. And, any white collar work that follows a linear thought routine is likely to be automated via software. The threat to America's middle class is not foreign trade. It is re-skilling and adjusting to the pace of automation.

Unfortunately, America's political leadership came of age in the industrial 20th century. As a group they appear almost incapable of addressing the 21st century issue of automation. Instead, they are more comfortable arguing about something they know and something that they have experienced before - a binary discussion of trade policy.

Scrambled Politics

This shift scrambles the politics of American trade policy. Consider how trade deals are passed in Congress. In the post WWII era, union power has restrained Democratic support for trade deals in Congress, and Presidents have relied on Republican votes for passage of trade deals. For example, in 1993 NAFTA passed the House of Representatives 234-200, with 132 Republican Ayes and only 43 Republican Noes. House Democrats voted AGAINST NAFTA 156 to 102. In 2000 Republican support for the China trade deal was even more critical, with House Republicans voting in support 164 to 57. The 2011 Colombia trade deal was even more partisan, with Republicans providing ALL of the needed votes and voting 231 Aye and only 9 No. In contrast, House Democrats voted 31 Aye and 158 No. The Panama and South Korea trade agreements passed the House of Representatives along a similar pattern. On Panama Republicans voted 234 Aye and 6 No, while Democrats voted 66 Aye and 123 No. On South Korea Republicans voted 219 Aye and 21 No, while Democrats voted 59 Aye and 130 No. Business, and especially agribusiness, is core to the Republican coalition and have driven Republican Congressional support for trade. Union skepticism of trade agreements has restrained Democratic congressional support. But, while these coalitional partners remain, Democratic and Republican voters are shifting their views.

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"I worried that the man I was starting to like would be disappointed or repulsed ... I needed to warn him so he wouldnt be surprised at what he saw or touched."
"At night I could hear the blood in my veins,

It was just as black and whispering as the rain,

On the streets of Philadelphia."

Bruce Springsteen, 'Streets of Philadelphia', 1994

My father was diagnosed with cancer at the end of the year 2000 and his doctors gave him just 12 months to live. They put him on chemotherapy in a bid to extend his life but in February 2002, he succumbed in something of a flurry, at home, in my arms.

Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia" had been a big hit in Australia and it made a big impression on me; Tom Hanks' star performance in the movie, Philadelphia, too. When my dad was battling his cancer, I'd listen to the song over and over, striving to make sense of it, grappling to understand what it must be like to hear your blood in your veins, knowing that it was at once giving you life while simultaneously carrying the disease that would kill you. I imagined a terrible, desperate despair.

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I'm starting to feel again like I did during my father's illness. I'm listening again to Springsteen's song. This time I'm hearing the blood in my own veins and it's tainted not by a privately borne disease but by climate change, the terrible malady affecting all humanity, all life on earth.

On Saturday, 9th April, I saw a tweet announcing CO2 levels at 407ppm. It wasn't so long ago that we all worried at breaching 400 yet here we are surging toward and presumably beyond the troublesome 450. I read about the extensive coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, acidification from CO2 and high temperatures doing for the little animals. 2015 was the hottest year ever recorded by an absolute mile and the trend has continued into 2016 with the maximum extent of Arctic ice the lowest ever recorded. Polar bears are starving.

Methane is bubbling up in an Australian river, local communities worrying that release of the highly potent greenhouse gas has dramatically increased because of nearby coal seam gas extraction. There are huge holes appearing in the Arctic permafrost and scientists now believe they're caused by explosive methane release brought on by rising temperatures. Ice caps and glaciers everywhere are melting. At the start of the year we had fires in the Tasmanian World Heritage Area, a place dear to my heart, ancient trees and alpine vegetation scorched and killed. "Lighting strikes," my forestry mates assured, "a natural phenomenon, don't stress." True enough about lightning being natural but this was lightning falling on land parched by hot and dry weather caused by humans; I felt responsible.

Tasmania's fires followed the devastation of more than 2 million forested hectares across Indonesia; people taking advantage of hot, dry conditions to set everything ablaze to clear for palm oil plantations, poisoning people and biodiversity like never before. Listening to my beloved Science Show on Australia's ABC Radio National last November, Robyn Williams introduced Dr Reese Halter who catalogued the slow collapse of the world's forests, dying on every continent from way too hot temperatures and associated insect infestations, intense wildfires and vicious droughts. Oh, and we're busy cutting a lot of them down too.

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Just today I learned from colleagues that it's not a good time to visit Indian farmers, they're too busy worrying about the lack of rains to nourish their crops. I've long wondered if the world might finally take climate change seriously when failure of the Indian monsoon threatened the lives of one billion people; suffer the children.

Meanwhile we have the madness of the US election and politicians in my Australian homeland doing everything they can to achieve new levels of stupid when it comes to even considering climate change.

Two weeks ago I went to a stakeholder convening where NGOs and experts gathered to advise Nestle on where they thought the food giant should focus its efforts to create shared value throughout its business. Hats off to the company for being so open but I left feeling dispirited and at a loss. The assembled stakeholders urged Nestle to do more to assure farmer nutrition and to empower women, quite rightly, but I found myself increasingly disturbed that no one was talking about climate change. As lunchtime approached and mindful that Nestle's CEO would depart, I found myself reaching for the microphone, "Dead farmers don't need to worry about nutrition" I suggested to the stunned group, and added that "Dead women don't need empowering," for extra affect. I reminded them that greenhouse gas emissions were surging and that unless we reigned in climate change, we wouldn't have to worry about farmers and women because they won't make it. After lunch, discussion turned back to food and empowerment, Ho Hum.

The world's best climate models are predicting we're on track for a 6oC warming, a point at which it is acknowledged that no large mammals can live on the planet. "You've all got that large mammal look about you," I reminded Nestle's stakeholders.

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We're in trouble.

People point to the Paris Agreement as a wonderful breakthrough. It was a breakthrough but that only demonstrates how little has been done until now. World leaders drew up an agreement that they said, if implemented, would keep temperature rise to 1.5oC. That all sounds great until you realise we're already there. Paris was human arrogance gone wild, only the latest nadir in our collective irresponsibility. Do we really think we have so much control over the planet that we can dial up our desired global temperature settings like an air conditioner in our living room? Only yesterday I read yet another headline shouting that experts have found new data to suggest global warming may be far worse than thought. Researchers report that they've vastly underestimated the role that clouds play and new models point to a 5.3oC warming. Paris, nothing more than an effort at crowd control from politicians worrying for their necks, is already out the window.

Back in 2013, researchers suggested a new scenario for what had unfolded on Easter Island. The common, convenient view until then had been that the Islanders had deforested themselves to a horrid existence and much death, to the point where their clearly advanced society had collapsed. The new research surmised that rats that had arrived on the island with the first Polynesian colonisers had caused the deforestation that led to severe ecological decline. As their environment deteriorated, Easter Islanders adjusted and developed clever means of enduring until Europeans arrived with their diseases and subsequently decimated the population.

This new finding has important implications for where we are today. Writing for NPR, Robert Krulwich noted that humans are very adaptable.

"We've seen people grow used to slums, adjust to concentration camps, learn to live with what fate hands them. If our future is to continuously degrade our planet, lose plant after plant, animal after animal, forgetting what we once enjoyed, adjusting to lesser circumstances, never shouting "That's It!" - always making do, I wouldn't call that "success.""

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Krulwich quotes author J.B. MacKinnon from his book, The Once and Future World: "If you're waiting for an ecological crisis to persuade human beings to change their troubled relationship with nature - you could be waiting a long, long time."

As our life support systems progress toward collapse, we continue walking streets enduring, waiting, worrying over our immediate day to day concerns or, like Nestle's stakeholders, grappling with problems that are very real, in urgent need of attention but that will only be exacerbated unto death unless we turn climate change around.

I once wondered if humans would finally wake up and take the urgent steps needed to turn away from this fearful course. My worry is that unlike on Easter Island where a low quality life endured, with climate change and 6oC, there can be no life, not even a life of poor quality. Might we endure not just to suffering but to death and total demise, taking so many other innocents with us?
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)

This week I received another message asking whether Camp Pride was going to be held this July in Charlotte, North Carolina. The message read as follows:

Is there any discussion about changing the location of Camp Pride and the Advisor Bootcamp? We have budgeted dollars... However, if the current law in North Carolina does not change or Camp Pride and Advisor Bootcamp are not relocated to a state that does not have state sanctioned discrimination, we will likely divert our conference dollars...

Camp Pride is the nation's premier college social justice and leadership training for LGBTQ and ally young adults. This summer the camp will be celebrating its 10 year anniversary. The 5 day program also features an Advisor Bootcamp and professional track for staff and administrators working with LGBTQ students. We relocated Camp Pride last year to Charlotte and for the last six years we have held the camp in the South. Campus Pride has always called Charlotte our home and still today is one of only a handful of national organizations based and founded in the South.

Whether to move the camp has been weighing heavy on my mind with the passage of House Bill 2 (HB 2) and our decision has become even more critical as the momentum for boycotting the State of North Carolina continues. Safety for our transgender and nonbinary students and staff is our utmost concern and we have been seriously considering all our options. As the Executive Director of Campus Pride, I find myself needing to make a decision on something that hits at the heart of activism and why we do what we do.

When Campus Pride was founded in 2001, I intentionally chose Charlotte, North Carolina. I felt it was important to build a national LGBTQ organization in the South. It never made sense to me why national LGBTQ organizations all had to be in Los Angeles, New York or Washington, D.C. My own personal lessons in coming out had taught me that simply living my life openly as an active leader within a community could make a positive difference. Why not have more national organizations actually based and operated in areas with little or no LGBTQ visibility?

Over the last fifteen years by being based in Charlotte, Campus Pride has invested tremendous resources into the local community and across the state supporting LGBTQ youth. This past week, we assisted with several protests against HB 2 by students within the UNC system. We also reached out to North Carolina private colleges including Davidson College, Guilford College, Queens University and Elon University to issue statements about HB 2. As a result of being part of the Charlotte community, our organization is often a partner in all kinds of local events and gatherings. Our organization even spoke the night that the Charlotte Non-Discrimination Ordinance passed at the Charlotte City Council meeting. All of us were very proud of the victory that night. Charlotte did the right thing -- and as an organization we still are proud to call Charlotte our home.

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After much discussion and careful consideration, Campus Pride has decided not to move Camp Pride from Charlotte this July. To address the safety concerns, we are taking pro-active measures to hold the camp at a private conference center or a college with LGBTQ inclusive policies and practices in place. Gender inclusive restrooms will be the standard regardless of the HB 2 law.

Activism and leadership takes conviction and fighting hard for what is just. That is what Campus Pride, and Camp Pride, teaches today's LGBTQ and ally leaders as social justice advocates. If we as a movement are to change hearts and minds in places like North Carolina, then we cannot run away or leave stranded LGBTQ people or organizations boldly living and making difficult but positive strides in the South. This is particularly true for our transgender youth and LGBTQ youth of color activism which desperately needs us.

Yes, I understand and support the need to put pressure on the Governor and the state lawmakers to repeal HB 2. Those efforts should be focused on banning travel for non-LGBTQ events, moving events like the NBA All-Star Game or cancelling a Bruce Springsteen concert.

Canceling or moving LGBTQ specific events, like Camp Pride, seems counter-intuitive. Trust me, the politicians who voted for HB 2 would be thrilled to hear that their actions kept a national LGBTQ organization from hosting their annual leadership academy in Charlotte. One of my young adult leaders who recently graduated college in Florida had the right idea: "We should be 'glitter-fying' North Carolina right now!"

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I agree wholeheartedly. We should flood the state with LGBTQ events and activities. Rainbows and glitter everywhere, as if everyday was a Pride Parade. Together we should show visible support and solidarity for leaders and organizations in North Carolina and other states battling these so-called religious freedom bills.

Financially the actions of North Carolina lawmakers could negatively impact the budget of organizations like Campus Pride and jeopardize the future of our signature program Camp Pride from training another decade of LGBTQ and ally youth leaders. Attendance may likely be lower this year if individuals are concerned about safety or boycotting the State of North Carolina.

If the 90 plus corporations who signed onto the Human Rights Campaign open letter to repeal HB 2 would consider giving a thousand dollars each, we could double youth attendance at Camp Pride. Those are the types of actions we need right now in the State of North Carolina. Solidarity and perseverance in the face of adversity.

While Campus Pride is going to take every precaution we can to ensure safety, I fully respect any individual or college who chooses not to send their LGBTQ or ally student or staff to Camp Pride this July. I do hope you will read, share and discuss this article in making your decision. I am also willing to speak to anyone by phone.
Every day in a tiny corner of the not-so-tiny, demographically youngest country of the world, three to four start-ups emerge. With 4,200 start-ups and counting and an annual growth of 40%, by the end of 2015, India had secured third place globally by these numbers.



These statistics are much to be proud of against the background of a country which was long famous for nepotism, red-tape and bureaucratic hurdles. Beyond any contention, these small businesses have the potential to expand, to generate massive employment, and to contribute to the GDP of the country, hence facilitating lucrative social and economic progress. But, we cannot forget that no reward comes without risk. While we are optimistic with these statistics, it's important to highlight the associated risks and address the deficiencies, which if left ignored, could have very serious consequences.

First, start-ups need to be sustainable, and through their livelihoods can generate a ripple effect of benefits for the community at large. Let's get deeper into it through a story.

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Mukul and Shikha are neighbours in a hot tropical country. Both folks decide that they need some shade in their backyard. Shikha went ahead and bought a big umbrella. It was a bit expensive, but convenient and offered immediate relief. Mukul went to the nursery and bought a small plant. He planted it in his backyard and watered it.

After years, Mukul's plant grew to become a large tree. It provided shade not just for Mukul, but for a large region. It provided fruits and other benefits. The umbrella that Shikha brought stayed the same. It didn't grow. Rather, it got worn out at and had to be replaced at short intervals.



A start-up is akin to a small plant. It doesn't offer any immediate benefits after planting, but provides unlimited benefits in the long term. We need long-lasting start-ups to grow our economy, and not mere businesses to take advantage of three year exemptions under Start-Up India scheme, only to shut down later.

These days, a lot of start-ups either take too long to break even, or close their operations too soon. They are not able to survive the cut throat competition. Barring a few exceptions, many start-ups are able to derive consumer traction but not sustainable profits despite enormous valuations and successful seed-funding. Their presence has benefited the consumers and the community through their services, but a lack of a long term revenue-generating stream has made them prone to a hire and fire policy for mass scale employment.



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Second, the statistics on the demography of the ecosystem says that 72% of the founders are less than 35 years old, making India home to the youngest entrepreneurs in the world, with a gender breakup of 91% male and 9% female. This wide gap between male and female entrepreneurs is worrying. A 2014 study by MIT, Harvard and Wharton universities, found that men are 60 per cent more likely to get funding than women, all other things being equal. Marriage, pregnancies and children raise subconscious questions in many investors' heads on the ability of women to multi-task and remain committed to their start-up. It is hard to forget the case of Tinder, where its co-founder, Whitney Wolfe filed lawsuit against the company for being fired from her job as VP of marketing and stripped of her title of cofounder because having a young female founder made the company look "like a joke." However, if we evaluate the statistics, then we realize that start-ups with female executives are equally likely to succeed, if not more. The Indian government has taken a progressive step to address this concern by launching a scheme "Stand-Up India" with a fund of 5 billion and a vision to support two-fifty thousand entrepreneurs, particularly women and other backward communities.

Add to this a third concern, that the majority of founders claim to work for long hours, and suffer anxiety and insomnia amidst high-pressure deadlines and stakeholder expectations. In general, this lifestyle is taking a toll on their health.

Fourth, a majority of these burgeoning starts-ups are dominated by the demand to have a tech focus. Technology is a promising avenue for businesses, and has particularly favoured the rise of e-commerce businesses in India. However, this unprecedented rise in the Internet sector is at risk of replicating the situation the United States faced at the onset of the 21st century. Known as the dotcom crisis, the American market faced a similar upsurge in investment in Internet-based companies, followed by a crash and recession. We unabashedly do not want such a scene to arise in India when the global economy is looking up at India for its spectacular growth rate.

At the end of the day, beneath the facade of valuations and the race for funding, we cannot be manipulated by mere numbers. After all, we don't want to infuse air into a bubble which will eventually burst. We don't want start-ups to become just a glorified word for an SME (small- to medium-sized enterprise). What we need is less sizzle but more steak; we need more sustainable organizations to drive our growth story. We don't need to run or worse, stop; what we really need is more responsible funding.

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At my university, Shri Ram College of Commerce, we looked to create more sustainable businesses by utilizing the platform of the Hult Prize. The Hult Prize Foundation, in association with the Clinton Global Initiative and Hult Business School, runs the world's largest student competition across universities; transcending backgrounds, gender, and communities (Shri Ram College of Commerce was the first undergraduate commerce college to conduct it on its campus in 2015). Although the space of social entrepreneurship is often confused with creating charities, students were here encouraged to ideate business models which could generate profits and create social impact at the same time. After three successive stages of rigorous selection and 7 week long incubation, one team all across the globe will be selected for seed capital of USD 1 million.
Carnival Cruise Lines, the world's largest passenger cruise ship conglomerate, is certainly in a hurry to be the first of the three major U.S.-based cruise lines to bring its ships to Cuba. I have been reporting for several years on how Cuba is becoming a very hotly contested and desired port of call for the increasingly competitive cruise industry. But the price Carnival is willing to pay may prove to be too much.

On May 1st, Fathom, Carnival's newest subsidiary line, will set sail from Miami on a week-long journey to Cuba. This historic first-voyage itinerary includes stops in Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santiago de Cuba, and it will mark the first time in decades that U.S. citizens will be able to travel legally to Cuba on a ship leaving from a US port.

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Unfortunately, not all U.S. citizens are welcome on this historic voyage, as the Cuban government has prohibited Cuban-born U.S. citizens from traveling to Cuba by ship. Discriminatory practices like this should not be tolerated by any person or business. And it is especially offensive that Carnival--a large company that is based in Miami, Florida, with a heavy concentration of Cuban-born citizens and descendants--would place its corporate profit ahead of opposing the morally reprehensible position that Cuba's government is taking.

I cannot imagine any corporation that would escape criticism if their products or services were available to only some Americans but not others simply because they may have been born in another country. Imagine if American Airlines stopped allowing Israeli-born Jews who immigrated to the United States to fly to Israel.
The mobile, connected, personal technology of the digital age is now an integral part of the American (and worldwide) education system. The insurgence of technology into education has, in turn, introduced "neomillennial" learning styles among students. Such learning is now prevalent enough to be formally grouped under three categories -- personalization, differentiation and individualization. According to The U.S. Department of Education's 2010 Education Technology Plan, the three types differ as follows -- personalization is when the lessons are tailored to learning preferences and specific interests of the individual learner, differentiation involves tailoring to the learning preferences of groups of learners and individualization is when instruction is paced to the learning needs of different learners.

While educators have, even in the past, adopted methods to differentiate and individualize instruction, to meet students' learning needs and goals, the integration of technology offers a wider scope for personalization, whereby, each individual's intent, interest and learning profile are addressed through identification of content, process and product. Little wonder that Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) have integrated technology with the psychology of learning. Personalization in education allows students to claim complete ownership of their education and alters the traditional dynamics between the teacher and taught. It entails the design of experiences that allow students to make choices about what and how they will learn; this freedom encourages students to not only become more engaged, but also assert ownership and take pride in their learning outcomes. The personalized environment also offers teachers considerable flexibility in meeting educational standards, especially in skills-based subjects, such as math and arts.

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Although it appears that integrating personalized education into the K12 education is a costly affair, it is, surprisingly, not so. In 2010, Project RED (Revolutionizing EDucation), instituted by the Greaves Group, The Hayes Connection and One-to-One Institute, identified and prioritized the factors that make some U.S. K-12 technology implementations perform dramatically better than others. The survey showed that an investment of $298 per student per year on moving from a traditional classroom to a one-to-one classroom results in a potential savings of more than $400 per student per year.

It has been claimed that students engaged in personalized learning are more academically successful than the ones engaged in traditional classroom lectures, especially when a range of technologies is used to build the online personalized environment. However, the use of successful personalized learning programs within the boundaries of traditional learning, aka classrooms, hinges on the provision of uniform levels of functionality for all students, regardless of their unique abilities. This, however, in itself, is an antithesis to "personalization", and runs the risk of falling into the murky regions of mass marketing.

Ideally, in personalized learning, technology tools must be used by which students can work outside their schools and out of school hours, either individually, or may collaborate, interact, and communicate with peers and teachers. The use of technology out of school hours is built on the premise of availability of expanded internet/device access for immersive learning. Schools can use their purchasing power to negotiate lower-cost licenses and contracts for digital content and online courses that students can use at home. Alternately, schools can extend the learning period in campus.

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Another challenge to designing personalized learning programs is that it must help students achieve Common Core standards. Rigorous online exercises that encourage frequent assignments, along with structured feedback, can help match Common Core testing environments. School systems that aim to use technology for personalizing education must necessarily build a base of flexible teachers, adequate financing, and regular self-evaluations in order to align with the common core standards. Regular formative assessments are also essential in order to check compliance to common core standards. Organizations such as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium offer K-12 assessments of the Common Core State, which are more secure, and adaptive and provide students appropriate questions based on their responses.

Technology also offers invaluable tools for individualization especially for at-risk children. Technology allows interactive programs that allow students to see and explore concepts from different angles using a variety of representations. Significant improvements in achievement and engagement are possible among underserved students in learning environments augmented by technology that engages them in interactive learning and offers multiple representations of ideas and real-time digital feedback. Indeed, a study of at-risk high school students in Texas showed that interactive environments helped them learn better than traditional lecture, note taking, drill and practice. However, a 2014 report entitled "Using Technology to Support At-Risk Students' Learning", by the Alliance for Excellent Education, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., and the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) warns that technology that emphasizes practice drills can negatively affect students, necessitating choice of well-designed interactive programs by the educators. The report also stresses on the importance of not replacing teachers by technology, but blending instruction with technology that allow students to solve problems on their own or in collaboration with other students.

The role of assistive technology in reducing barriers to learning for students with a variety of special needs and challenges cannot be overstated. A number of online resources are available to help educators identify and locate appropriate technological tools and devices for students with special needs.

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The success of the marriage of technology and education hinges on effective leadership at all levels of society. Community engagement is for design of initiatives and ensuring compliance. Teachers, administrators, parents, students and educational policy makers must work together on a range of assessment tools in order to optimize school operations and budgetary allocations for technology insertion into education. Most importantly, all stakeholders must recognize that personalization of education is not about education sans teachers; it is, rather, all about learning with teachers, but more efficiently, effectively and successfully.

Writing credit: Co-authored by Lakshmi, a Mobicip blogger who researches and writes on the dynamics of technology, education, teaching, and the process of pedagogy.
As a veteran flight attendant, it's mandatory for me to wear comfortable shoes during duty days that are in upwards of 14 hours long.

I've been through many pairs of shoes over the course of 19 years and I have a few favorites that I rely on primarily for comfort and durability. If shoes are stylish too, it's a bonus. Unfortunately, as we all know, pretty and stylish shoes aren't always built for comfort.

I have found that enclosed clogs do double duty for me and are the most comfortable shoes to wear at work and on layovers while sightseeing; I clock miles of walking in the air and on the ground. Recently, on a Las Vegas layover, I walked 7.3 miles without even realizing it, and that was on top of whatever I walked airborne in a narrowbody tube during a five-hour flight from NYC to Nevada.

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So what do I wear on my feet on the job? A pair of PRO XP Dansko enclosed clogs. Mention Dansko to any flight attendant and the response will almost always be that they either own a pair or wish they had a pair. And without fail, for the flight attendants who do have a pair, I always hear the same response, "I love them," which is followed by a discussion on various Dansko shoe styles.

The average price sticker for a pair of Dansko clogs is about $120, and believe me, well worth it. It's now time to think about summer travel, which for some, will include European destinations and lots of walking.

This brings me back to sightseeing in Vegas, which of course, for most of us, includes walking up and down Las Vegas Blvd, popping in and out of various casinos, hotel lobbies and restaurants. On another trip I worked to Vegas, I brought along my cousin. I slipped on my trusty Dansko clogs and off we went headed toward the strip. We barely had left the hotel, when she asked, "Are they Danskos?" I said, "Yes, I just got them, my other pair is now a few years old." I glanced at her feet as she said, "I love my Dansko clogs, I wear them everywhere." And sure enough, she was in step with me in her 8-year old black Dansko clogs. And they still looked good, maybe a little worn, possibly a little scuffed, but after 8 years of abuse what can you expect! "She continued, "I even wore my clogs installing a wood floor in my house."

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While clogs may feel or look clunky, the wide and stable platform will keep your feet comfortable. After hours and hours of standing and walking, I can attest to the fact that my tired feet are still as comfortable as they possibly can be after a long work day.

I wear Dansko clogs during the service portion of my job which involves walking up and down aircraft aisles, pushing and pulling beverage carts, constantly hitting the brake lock on carts, and yes, picking up trash. But the clogs on my feet make my job easier and physically pain-free.
Recently I spoke at the Washington Spa Alliance Symposium in Washington, D.C. What drew me to participate was their theme: "The New Language of Spa". This is a topic about which I have thought a great deal over my many (don't ask how many!) decades in this industry. So I feel uniquely qualified to address what is now becoming an ongoing question: "What's the difference between wellness, and well-being...and where does that leave spa?"

If you go by the book, here is how Merriam-Webster makes the distinction:

"Well-being: the state of being happy, healthy, or successful"

"Wellness: the quality or state of being healthy"

"Spa: a place where people go to improve their health and appearance by exercising, relaxing, etc."

Language evolves to reflect our culture. Certain words begin in the jargon of an industry, then grow in colloquial usage, then become part of the vernacular. This is true in our industry, which began with "spa" as an all-encompassing term; then came "wellness", though it was not clearly defined; and then came "wellness tourism" which began to take hold as consumers were choosing travel with a healthy focus and we needed a way to talk about it...and measure it. And here is where it gets interesting: according to Global Wellness Institute research, the worldwide wellness industry is valued at over USD $3.4 trillion, with spa alone accounting for USD$60 billion. So you see, there is much to discuss.

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Today we stand at the threshold of another term entering the conversation that could once again have a major impact on global thinking. That term is "well-being". And while some may think this is not new, it is actually having an impact on the industry now, creating, among other things, more confusion.

Admittedly, most people don't spend a great deal of time thinking about what the definition of well-being might be--or if there is a difference between wellness and well-being. It seems that most people use these terms interchangeably. However, I think it may become increasingly important to identify and trumpet a distinction...and the sooner the better.

Back to the numbers. A watershed moment came in 2007 when the researchers from SRI International were doing the first global study on the spa economy. They suggested that the squabbling that was going on at the time between people from organizations, countries and continents who were disagreeing on the definition of the word "spa" could be easily resolved if everyone recognized the wisdom of championing a very generic definition that would allow the various entities to be aggregated. They suggested that we all define "spa" broadly--places of renewal for body, mind, spirit--so that all categories could exist underneath it: water-based spas, resort spas, day spas, Ayurvedic spas, thermal springs, retreats, etc. Looking at it that way, all the revenue from these various entities could be counted together and a healthy and robust number would result--one that would make people take notice. And that is exactly what happened. Their landmark report came out in 2008, in which they estimated the Global Spa Economy for the first time ever--and it was a whopping USD $60 billion! That got attention around the world and for the first time the Global Spa Economy was viewed as a major contributor to a country's GDP. Something those of us in the industry always knew, but now we had the statistics to prove it.

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This language decision was monumental...it calmed down the disagreements and allowed each establishment that had something to do with renewing body, mind, spirit to still maintain its unique identity. The term "spa" is now used around the world and it continues to resonate with people--especially consumers when they think about a place they would like to go for a pleasurable experience, and one that's good for them, too. Even though defined somewhat differently in various cultures, the word "spa" has enjoyed a universally positive reception; as a famous doctor once told me when comparing it to health, wellness, and medical, "the word 'spa' makes me smile." And now a little more about the other terms.

Wellness. Emerging on the radar in a big way less than a decade ago, the term "wellness" seemed to be a good alternative to the word spa in some settings. While born in the U.S. in the 60's, and introduced in a 60 Minutes segment in 1979, the term "wellness" most notably joined the spa-related conversation in Germany when Brenners Park Hotel added the words "and Spa" to their name while at the same time legally preventing any other businesses in that country from using the word "spa". As a result, the word "wellness" emerged as a close match. In the U.S., and later in other parts of the world, wellness had the advantage of not being immediately tied to pampering and indulgence the way the word "spa" often was. In addition, it shined a light on the value of spa experiences in terms of health and prevention. It was a term that governments and corporations began to use. Even the medical establishment eventually came around to acknowledging that wellness had a place--once they got over the fact that it didn't just refer to complementary and alternative medicine for which they didn't always exhibit all that much respect. It gained additional traction in the medical establishment once they noticed that consumers were enthusiastically embracing it and paying out-of-pocket for "wellness."

Wellness Tourism. The 2010 Global Wellness Institute research study on wellness tourism resulted in an important insight that I would argue has done more to establish our industry than perhaps anything else. Recognizing the need to distinguish wellness tourism from medical tourism, this extensive research project helped identify and define the difference; this was good for medical, spa, consumers, governments, etc. Basically it allowed wellness to flourish separately from medical, where regulations and restraints were the norm.

Over time, this differentiation became clear:

medical is most often about cure, wellness is about prevention

the medical profession has patients, wellness has guests

medical is strictly evidence-based, wellness can be a bit more experimental

medical costs have skyrocketed, wellness is more democratized

medical has an authoritarian culture, wellness is more collaborative

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Well-Being. So here comes "well-being"! While used interchangeably with wellness at the moment, I feel that well-being is beginning to set itself apart from wellness. I would argue that the reason for this is the increasing momentum in measuring "happiness" around the world and the importance happiness is being given in many of the well-being indexes and scores that are being referenced.



This measuring of happiness is a relatively new development, most notably begun when Bhutan replaced Gross National Product scores with a Gross National Happiness score. Currently there are two important indexes increasingly being quoted around the world. The first is the "Gallup Healthways Well-Being Index" which has been around since 2008. The other is the "United Nations World Happiness Index" which was started in 2012 and whose 2015 numbers were released earlier in March 2016.



Examining these scores more carefully, one notices that when happiness is added to the mix, as it is in most well-being scores, it becomes more and more obvious that well-being is not wellness. Just as happiness is not the same as wellness.

Here is an example that shows clearly why the indexes of happiness or well-being are not necessarily good measures of a country's health or wellness. Take Mexico for example. In 2015 they scored very high on the Gallup Healthways Well-being Report; in fact, out of 200+ countries, Mexico was rated #10 in well-being! At the same time, the BBC reports that Mexico has the highest obesity and childhood diabetes rates in the world; each of its citizens, on average, consume 163 litres (36 imperial gallons) of soft drinks per year--40% more than in the United States. They could hardly be considered a model for a well population. They may have a high well-being score, however they would not score very high in wellness. (Does this mean that soda makes you happy?)

The UN World Happiness Report that was recently released is another monitor to watch. It showed Denmark at the top of the list and for the first time found a very clear association between happiness levels and a country's level of income equality. If you live in a country where people are generally more equal in income (such as Denmark and many of the Scandinavian countries) one finds higher happiness scores. Where there is more income disparity, the happiness scores are lower. Once again, this is something different than measuring how healthy one might rate a population.

When I finished my presentation at the Washington Spa Alliance Symposium, I left everyone with a summary statement that I later learned resonated with many. I end here sharing it with you.

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GEOFFREY BRIAN WEST (photo courtesy GB West)

He's just a tad shorter than Lee was, with the same strength of character and mix of British reserve and surprise. Unlike Lee, however, whose roots were aristocratic in real life, West grew up "streetwise" in 1950s East End London.

West's brilliance in math brought him a scholarship to Cambridge University where he first found excitement in physics. He's worn his hair long (with occasional trims) ever since his 1960s California days as a student at Stanford University (PhD physics, 1966); as a post-doc at MIT and Cornell University and research fellow/lecturer at Harvard; as a visiting professor at Stanford, Sussex and the University of California-Santa Cruz; at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico where he founded and led the high energy physics group; and now at Santa Fe Institute.

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He is Santa Fe Institute Distinguished Professor and Past President (2005-2009), but also spends considerable time speaking to audiences in various parts of the world, such as at the Davos World Economic Forum, Ted, and Silicon Valley Big Thinkers. As his Time magazine listing proclaims, he's got Big Presence that connects with not only other Big Thinkers (in science, business and government) but with the public. His voice is rich, it moves, effectively rearranges molecules.

Geoffrey West was trained to think in equations, although he seriously entertained becoming a writer during the California years. He told me he now considers the entire 60s and 70s era of "openness and liberal values" that he lived through somehow a "blip" in history. Yet as we spoke of his life, vivid images emerged at every turn.

He was born in Taunton, England on the river Tone about a two-hour drive from London, a town surrounded by woodlands and grasslands. It was just after the start of World War II. At age 13 he moved to London's East End where he and his family -- he has two sisters -- looked to his father's luck at cards to survive and his mother's skill as a seamstress. Neither of his parents finished school. West's first job at 15 was in a brewery in the docks along the Thames River.

Despite the financial instability of those years, West says his East End home was one where books were valued and that his father was "well read." Geoffrey clearly drew the winning card from this mixed bag of experiences, finished high school early and moved on to Cambridge (BA, 1961). His life in science would begin its dramatic leap.

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I spoke recently with Geoffrey West in between his visits to Singapore, where he was lecturing on cities -- and London, where he teaches math at Imperial College London and business at Oxford University's Said Business School. At age 75, he seems to have a furious schedule, although the lifestyle of a "gentleman scholar" that he learned to love at Cambridge has always been the one he's preferred.

West says he finds the driven American work ethic "distressing," yet long ago made the decision to settle here. He and his wife Jacqueline, a Jungian analyst, who he acknowledges has somewhat influenced his perspective on the sociology of cities, have made their home in the Santa Fe area for decades. West told me moving from Santa Fe now would be tough, that it's a landscape that speaks to you.

Aside from Time magazine's 2006 "Most Influential" list, some of Geoffrey West's other honors and awards include: Leo Szilard Award (American Physical Society, 2013), Harvard Business Review (Breakthrough Ideas 2007), Oxford University's Glenn Award (Aging research, 2006), Weldon Memorial Prize for Mathematical Biology (2005), Mercer Award co-recipient (Ecological Society of America, 2002). He's one of 10 Senior Fellows of Los Alamos, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and an Associate Fellow of Oxford University's Said Business School.

Geoffrey West is the author of several books, best known among them: Scaling in Biology (with James H. Brown) plus one in the works on many of the subjects highlighted in our conversation. Part 1 of that two-part conversation follows.

Suzan Mazur: Where does your sense of humor come from? You like to laugh.

Geoffrey West: No one's ever asked me that. Where does it come from?

Geoffrey West: My father was pretty funny, in a kind of dry way. Along the way I picked up the idea that at some level of dealing with issues or problems, humor is useful for breaking the tension both internally and relationship-wise.

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I am very conscious of that being a mode in which I interact and I'm also quite conscious that one has to be very careful with humor because it can turn into aggression especially for example when it becomes sarcastic. When I actually think about it, I definitely make every effort to use it to facilitate interaction and not use it in some aggressive way. I also like to use it to cope on a personal level when somehow times are tough or things go awry or whatever.

Suzan Mazur: You note in your Santa Fe Institute profile that your father was a professional gambler. What influence did that have on your life?

Geoffrey West: It made me a little cautious for most of my life in terms of the material world, in terms of taking too many chances, and so forth. My father was quite reckless at times in his gambling. At the same time, he was a very conservative man, which is a weird combination. What rubbed off on me was that because some of my early life was a bit of a roller coaster in terms of financial stability, one of the big residues was that I wanted a fairly stable financial life -- a salaried position and so forth.

Suzan Mazur: What sort of gambling did he do?

Geoffrey West: Dogs, dog racing, horse racing, cards mostly. Not very exciting. But he had a good sense of humor as I said. That may have come with the territory, the kinds of people he interacted with. In London there's a kind of Cockney sense of humor, a way of looking at the world, American audiences know it best through Monty Python. It's a kind of "theater of the absurd." My father certainly had that. It's a thread that runs through the English culture certainly since the last century.

Suzan Mazur: Were you close to your father?

Geoffrey West: Yes, I was close to him, but again, he was a fairly reserved man and he died young. So I felt a bit cheated. I must have been age 32 when he died. I was in California at the time where I was subject to all the marvelous things that had been happening there in the 60s and 70s in terms of counterculture. I was becoming more open and thought that this was the time to break the ice at a deeper level with dear old Dad. . .but then sadly he died. So yes, we were close, we had a lot of correspondence during those years, quite a lot.

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Suzan Mazur: Your mother was a dressmaker. So there was stability there. How did she inspire you?

Geoffrey West: For me, one of the sad things about my parents -- although I don't think they felt this way hardly at all -- was that they were both the eldest children of large families and lived through what was the equivalent of America's Depression in England, and had to leave school early. My father left school at age 15 and my mother at 13. My mother started her own business when she was 14 with one employee. It was a whole different era. But she was extremely talented as was my father. My father was well read but it was through a funny lens of having to leave school fairly early.

Suzan Mazur: Your wife is a Jungian analyst, president of the Council of North American Societies of Jungian Analysts.

Geoffrey West: My wife is a Jungian analyst. Indeed, although she's now actually past president of the Council. You've done some homework.

Suzan Mazur: Has her work influenced your work in any way?

Geoffrey West: It has to the extent that I do tend to take a perspective that is sometimes quite psychological in trying to interpret, especially in more recent years with the work on cities and companies, etc. However, it stays outside of the hard data analysis, the equations and all the rest. But it certainly has entered my life.

Suzan Mazur: How have your children inspired you?

Geoffrey West: My son is a young faculty member in earth sciences at University of Southern California.

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Suzan Mazur: And an Olympic champion.

Geoffrey West: Yes, he's fantastic, he's an extraordinary young man, in the sense of being able to combine being an Olympic silver medalist with going the standard academic route -- because both of them require 24/7 kind of commitment. I still wonder how he was able to do that.

Our daughter is in Washington, she worked at Brookings, got her masters in international policy at Stanford and works now in the State Department for USAID. She really wants to have a positive impact on the world, which is wonderful.

Suzan Mazur: Was there an educator who particularly inspired you early on?

Geoffrey West: I've had several who've influenced me one way or another that I realize only post-facto. I had a great teacher in England in what was the equivalent to high school, a remarkable man named Ted Bowley, who opened my eyes to the wonders of mathematics and its power. But not to physics. I got inspired in physics a little bit as an undergraduate at Cambridge. At Cambridge you get tutored as well as taking courses, so I had a tutor, a man named Neville Mott. He and my thesis advisor--

Suzan Mazur: Were you on scholarship at Cambridge?

Geoffrey West: Yes, I was. One of the things I learned was that using mathematics and physical principles is an extraordinarily powerful way of looking at any problem.

There were a couple of people when I was a student who projected this idea that my training wasn't necessarily to solve a specific problem or the specific problem that I was working on for my thesis but that it was to arrive at a way of thinking about everything, about the world, the universe, etc. and the power of mathematics and underlying principles to address problems across the entire breadth of science. And, of course, by implication -- beyond science -- a kind of arrogance of physics. The big question is how far that can be taken. This had a very strong influence on me, which I didn't appreciate for a long time. But it was there. In a sense, I took it for granted without becoming really conscious of it.

One of the things I'm eternally grateful for was that toward the end of my career in high energy physics I was able to move to the Santa Fe Institute, which is a place where that's what we try to do. Not high energy physics, but thinking in broad terms, bigger perspective, big problems, big questions.

Suzan Mazur: You've settled in the Santa Fe area, you probably could have moved on to Geneva and CERN after the plug was pulled on the Texas Superconducting Super Collider project. Why have you stayed in Santa Fe? What do you love about it?

Geoffrey West: A combination of many things. Once you settle and have family, no one really wants to move. Possibly, if exactly the right offer had come along, we would have left Santa Fe. But it would have taken a lot to do that. And secondly -- do you know Santa Fe at all?

Suzan Mazur: I've seen a bit of the Southwest. Visited Santa Fe briefly -- as well as Santa Fe Institute! - spent some time in Taos. Covered the Tom Green bigamy trial in Utah for the Financial Times and traveled south to the canyonlands on the Utah - Arizona border investigating the FLDS polygamy cult.

Geoffrey West: Santa Fe is physically so dramatic. It's not everybody's cup of tea, of course. But the vistas are extraordinary. The kind of spirituality to the landscape itself is almost biblical in its color and space and light, etc. That's scary too, actually. At quite the opposite end of the spectrum to England, which is soft and green and nurturing, where everything is close and you feel you're being taken care of. Here in Santa Fe you're on your own, that's what the landscape says: You will have to confront God.

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Suzan Mazur: You grew up in England during the time of the 60s counterculture movement and also lived in California during the 60s and 70s. What was the most significant aspect of that time in your mind?

Geoffrey West: It was very resonant, extraordinary and on some level quite challenging. How far would this go in terms of the kinds of culture that was being developed? Where are the boundaries here? Where do we stop? I thought that this was how it was going to be for the rest of my life. I just assumed that would be it.

The most significant surprise was that it actually didn't last very long. Virtually the only residue of it all is blue jeans, etc. The essence of what that movement was or that cultural shift was, was ultimately a little blip. The liberal values and the openness and explorative nature and spurning of material wealth and goods -- beginning in the late 70s, and into the early 80s, certainly when Silicon Valley came -- became just an aberration, something that once was.

Suzan Mazur: But there does seem to be a neo-New Age brewing, certainly in terms of evolutionary science where there's a push to explore emotion, signaling and things like that, of getting into areas that are not material. Do you have any thoughts about that? Geoffrey West: People were looking at that in the past, but it was very fringe and highly speculative. Now it's moving much more into the mainstream. I think that's really good. That is as it should be in science. It's because not only have we built a body of knowledge that acts as a base, but, most importantly, we've started to invent fascinating techniques for potentially probing some of these issues, and they merge the more speculative and qualitative aspects with traditional methods of quantitative measurement and data, etc. Out of that comes the possibility of developing a science of some of these things. Questions of where do emotions come from, are there any systematics to do with emotion -- love, hate, and so forth. It's fascinating to consider what effect this is going to have in terms of our bigger picture as human beings, how it will affect psychological and psychiatric practice, etc.



Suzan Mazur: Some of the Santa Fe Institute's support in recent years has come from the John Templeton Foundation, which has been interested in non material areas of investigation.

There continues to be controversy over Templeton Foundation sponsoring scientific inquiry. Would you comment on that? Geoffrey West: It's a mixed bag, there's no question. The controversy surrounds the original setup of the foundation. One would see that the wishes of Sir John Templeton that would deal with questions of religion and God and so forth would be honored. When Templeton first came on the scene there seemed to be an aggressive stance that it would only support science that somehow believed in things like a monotheistic version of intelligent design, etc., that had a religious, spiritual aspect in terms of science. That was a very difficult thing for many people because it starts to question credibility and is antithetical to the open traditions of scientific inquiry.



Even though some of that remains, one of the things Templeton has done to its credit is to separate the part that was intelligent design -- you have to show me where God sits, etc. -- from supporting big questions in science. So at first we at SFI were extremely reluctant to be involved with Templeton, but then it became clear as other scientific organizations and several distinguished universities started accepting money from Templeton that Templeton actually was taking what appeared to be a hands-off approach. Templeton was going to support science in the same way that the National Science Foundation or the Department of Energy or whatever other foundation would support it. In my own personal experience Templeton was hands-off, it didn't try to push SFI in that direction. That was very good. But it was always a slightly uneasy relationship because it's not transparent. You don't really know what's going on behind the big screen. So it's been a mixed bag. And I've always felt a little bit uncomfortable because of that because it wasn't quite clear. On the other hand, the great thing about the Templeton Foundation is -- and this is an astonishing indictment of the way all the other funding agencies have gone -- Templeton is open and enthusiastic about supporting questions or highly broad topics that transcend many disciplines and are truly fundamental, whereas getting those funded by the National Science Foundation is almost impossible. So Templeton is very open to broad, transdisciplinary kinds of things, big questions and things, for want of a better word, we put under the umbrella of complex adaptive systems. Some of the questions you've been probing in terms of origin and evolution of life are very much in the spirit of what Templeton is interested in. Suzan Mazur: I covered COOL EDGE 2013 -- as an independent journalist -- the origin of life conference at CERN that Templeton Foundation funded. Templeton was a bit slow in actually cutting the check and the conference almost never happened. Is Templeton still funding projects at Santa Fe Institute? Geoffrey West: Yes, it is, but the present funding finishes next year. But naturally it's not clear what the future will bring.

Suzan Mazur: Well, you seem to have done everything right, a marvelous career and family. You've described your life as being on a treadmill, how much of your personal and professional success do you attribute to consistent hard work?

Geoffrey West: I'm not a workaholic, quite the contrary. I learned that as an undergraduate at Cambridge in the 1950s because part of the English ethic at that time. . . England was still really pre-war highly divided class society, still is to some extent, but it's now much more subtle. It was quite transparent then, quite explicit. So part of that was this idea that you should be a gentleman scholar. You don't really work very hard but you understand everything. And I was extremely young, I was much younger than the vast majority of my fellow undergraduates and easily influenced. I thought, oh boy, that's the way you're supposed to do things. Of course, that wasn't actually what was happening.

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Suzan Mazur: At what age did you begin your undergraduate studies at Cambridge? You graduated from high school early?

Geoffrey West: I finished high school a year or so early. I began at Cambridge in 1958. I was accepted at Cambridge when I was 16, but I took a year off, because I decided I was too young. The majority of the undergraduates at that time had served two years in the armed forces. So many of the incoming undergraduates were 20 years old and many of them had killed people. They were men and I was a little boy basically, even though I had come from London and was sort of streetwise. But that's very different from going out into the jungles of Malaysia or in the desert of Libya or Cyprus and killing people.



Suzan Mazur: You've never been in the military.

Geoffrey West: No. I could have gone in. They gave me a choice. They said I could do national service first but then I'd have to wait two more years before I could join up and then go on to college after that. I decided I shall delay as long as possible serving in the military.



So I began in 1958 and it was quite a shock. But one of the things the Cambridge experience left me with was that I've never felt the obsessive-compulsive need to be working all the time, which is one of the things I have found distressing about becoming an American.

Suzan Mazur: Oh yes.

Geoffrey West: An inherent piece of the American culture is that you have to be working all of the time.

Suzan Mazur: And beating the clock.

Geoffrey West: Even if you're never accomplishing anything, you should be working at it. There's a point to that actually. But that doesn't mean to say I don't work extremely hard when I need to, when I do. When I'm really into something.



I don't do it any longer because I can't do it, but I have often been up to 2 or 3 in the morning, sometimes all night trying to get a calculation straight for weeks in a row.

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Suzan Mazur: Is there a particularly significant turning point of your life?

Geoffrey West: A turning point, a mammoth one, was getting involved in biology, then moving to the Santa Fe Institute. That took a couple of years. It wasn't really a point. It was more of a spread out point. But that completely changed my life from being a highly focused academic doing high energy physics : quarks, gluons and string theory -- fascinating wonderful stuff, extraordinarily difficult technically but potentially very profound and so forth -- and then somehow evolving into a kind of pseudo charlatan biologist thinking about other big questions, quite different and equally fascinating. That was the thing that blew my mind. In fact, in many ways, these other big questions are more fascinating because they're right here on Earth. So I've just had a phenomenal time, thoroughly enjoyed taking these ideas from physics and seeing how they can apply to the biological world, and now to the social world in terms of cities and companies.

Suzan Mazur: Speaking of cities, last night Charlie Rose had former New York deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff on the show talking about his partnering with Google on "Sidewalk Labs," involving in part removal of the city's pay phones and replacing them with wifi stations. Doctoroff pointed out that at the moment more than 3 million of New York's 8.5 million people do not have broadband.

Geoffrey West: There are several small towns that have done this and obviously long term that is what's going to happen.

Suzan Mazur: Doctoroff quoted Google co-founder Larry Page describing cities as "the next frontier."

Geoffrey West: I've been saying for years now that this is the most urgent problem and perhaps the most exciting challenge facing society and science. The fate of cities and urbanization is the fate of the planet. We urgently need to ask if a grand holistic science of cities and sustainability is at all conceivable. And that's why when you asked me about the politics, I said I find it astounding that none of the people running for US President have brought up the question of urbanization, and cities -- which, indeed, are our future.
Hand foot and mouth disease is a fairly common viral infection that mainly affects infants and young children. It is often confused with foot and mouth disease, a dangerous infection of animals. Infection with hand, foot and mouth disease can be quite distressing for children and their caregivers as the condition causes painful ulcers in the mouth and blisters on the hands and soles of the feet.Health and medicine editor Candice Bailey spoke to Kerrigan McCarthy, head of the Outbreak Response Unit at South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases following an outbreak of the disease in the northern parts of the country.

The impression most people have is that hand, foot and mouth disease is something that animals get. Can humans be infected too?

There is a often confusion between two different diseases: "Hand, foot and mouth disease", and "foot and mouth disease".

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Hand, foot and mouth disease is a highly infectious skin disease that occurs in infants and children younger than ten years. It is caused by a group of enteroviruses and transmitted by person-to-person contact.

Foot and mouth disease is a highly infectious and sometimes fatal viral infection that occurs in cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep and goats. It characteristically causes illness that shows up as a high fever, lesions on the hooves and mouths, and lameness in affected animals.

Foot and mouth disease is rarely transmitted to humans but can spread rapidly within animal populations. This poses a greater risk to the agricultural industry than to human health.

How do you get hand, foot and mouth disease, and how do you know if you've got it?

Hand, foot and mouth disease is transmitted from one infectious person to another person by direct contact or by droplets of body fluid from the mouth or nose of an infected person. It is also spread through contaminated objects, such as stationery or toys.

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Symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease include fever, sore throat, tiredness, loss of appetite and small, painful blisters inside the mouth, and on the sides of the tongue and the palms of the hands or soles of the feet.

Children under ten years are at greatest risk of infection. It is not common in adults as most people have the infection during childhood and acquire immunity by adulthood. Some people with weak immune systems may be prone to infection.

Are there areas or places that are more prone to the disease?

Sporadic outbreaks occur mostly in creches, day-care centres and primary schools during the summer and autumn months. This is due to the high transmissibility of the virus between children.

Is there a cure?

There is no specific vaccine or cure. The disease is a self-limiting illness that usually clears without medication after seven to ten days. Patients are advised to allow the disease to run its course, and to rest and drink plenty of fluids. Individual symptoms such as fever and pain from sores can be treated with medication. Very occasionally, children may become dehydrated and require hospitalisation. Pain management is important.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is usually diagnosed on a clinical basis. If symptoms are severe, samples from the throat or stool may be collected and sent to a laboratory to test for the virus.

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How can the spread of the disease be stopped?

Educators and parents should encourage children to wash their hands regularly and not to share their eating and drinking utensils. In places where an outbreak has occurred, surfaces must be cleaned regularly, and shared items such as toys and stationery should be wiped and disinfected. Children should avoid direct contact with people who are ill. Affected children should not be excluded from school if they are well enough to attend. There is no need to close schools when there are cases.

There is an outbreak in northern parts of South Africa. How serious is it? When last did this happen?

Six cases were identified in the Limpopo province in March 2016 as part of a localised cluster of cases at a creche in one of the province's districts. While there have been reports in the media, and public concern is high, it is important to note that these clusters of cases are to be expected and do not pose a serious health risk to infants or their caregivers.

Provincial communicable disease co-ordinators have done several routine follow-ups at the school after the outbreak. These have shown no new cases. And the National Institute for Communicable Diseases' hot-line has also not received any new reports.

Prior to the Limpopo outbreak, a school outbreak was reported in a Western Cape school at the beginning of 2016. The outbreak was contained by school officials. But most cases of hand foot and mouth disease go unreported, and clusters of infections may not be noticed.

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By Robert Small I am the current Director of the Macaulay Honors College New Media and Digital Content Lab that is part of the CUNY educational system. To understand Macaulay you need to realize that Macaulay is not a separate school from the rest of CUNY. It is an honors institution for CUNY students who show they have exceptional abilities and keep a high GPA. The school is made up of students who have their home base campus at one of 8 CUNY institutions; Baruch, Brooklyn, City, Hunter, Queens, Lehman, College of Staten Island and John Jay College. The New Media and Digital Content Lab currently offers a 2-semester course. The first is a theory approach to the academics of branding, storytelling and marketing, the second is more of a hands-on, trial by fire, sink or swim approach to the theories taught in the first. In the 2nd semester our student's main task is producing and marketing the 8th Annual CUNY Film Festival at Macaulay Honors College. This is the toughest assignment they will get all year and if successful, students will receive the Digital Content Strategies Fellow when completing both semesters.

Almost 500,000 students make up our educational institution. To have one festival that merges the creativity and interest from such a large group of people is a great thing and as an assignment it's a little scary. All those lectures and discussions about community building, story telling, demographics and rolling out the creative plan to grow the audience will be put to the test. The students of Macaulay were ready for the challenge. The toughness and resourcefulness of our students is reflective of what New York City is all about. We are the perfect sample of why people know and love this city all over the world. We represent it all. Multi-everything! Multi cultured, rich-poor, black-white, straight-gay, male-female...on and on. Everyone has a place in this university and this great city. So how do we do entice such a diverse audience to participate in one festival? The Macaulay students step up!



First we took the necessary steps of getting the "call for submissions" posters designed and out on social media as well as through word of mouth at the television and media departments throughout CUNY's 24 campuses. We designed and created a new website at www.cunyff.org. The site needed content, so we created it. Our students interviewed directors, created 2 min documentary pieces for our website, shared them on social media and industry blogs. Next Macaulay joined forces with WNET and the CUNY Film Festival became part of their short film event, a transmedia effort further growing our audience and giving the filmmakers more exposure. This very blog on the Huffington Post is another development in the growth of the festival. We also solicited and received support from traditional media outlets; AMC Networks, WNET, MTV Networks, Frederator Studios, Shine Global, BBC America.



Remembering the core reason we do all this work is the belief in the filmmakers and their art. As we learned in our marketing theory lectures you must know your product and it's audience. This involved watching all 150 films entered this year. In doing this, I got to see our world through the eyes of the generation that is about to inherit it. Some films were better done than others but as a group and a spirit they were all amazing. Though it did surprise me that there were no comedies. That's for a different article I guess. The films offer up young views of lost love, race relations, incarceration, homophobia, aging, selfishness, exploitation, sex, love and fear. These visions and voices realized in the form of great animation, documentaries, narratives and experimental films will be honored at the April 16th awards gala at Macaulay Honors College. Hopefully due to the efforts of our lab the audience and impact may be double the audience of last years festival. A great learning experience for all... with popcorn!


Credit: Sara Norris/Thrillist

Great bartenders know the best drink is whatever the customer wants, but that doesn't mean those same bartenders can't possess an irrational hatred of copper mugs and energy drinks. Be it because a cocktail has gone out of style or was never good to begin with, some drinks have simply outlived their welcome on some menus.

To find out which draw the most industry ire, we asked some of the nation's most respected stirrers and shakers to tell us the drinks they'd like to see retired. RIP Harvey Wallbanger. We knew you all too well.



More: I Drank a Gallon of Water a Day for 30 Days. Here's What Happened.



Credit: Naomi Tomky/Thrillist

Moscow mule

"A cocktail I would like to see put out to pasture is the Moscow mule. It had its time on menus and everyone had stolen at least one copper mug. There are a host of more flavorful ginger-forward cocktails for people to enjoy." -- Merlin Mitchell, Green Russell (Denver, CO)

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"Can we please say goodbye to the Moscow mule? It is more worn out than that 'Happy' song by Pharrell. And the only thing worse than a Moscow mule, is a poorly made Moscow mule -- which seems to be the norm. That's nice that you have a cute little copper cup, but so does every single other bar in town. The only thing more obligatory than a Moscow mule is avocado toast." -- Cory Harwell, Simon Hospitality Group (Las Vegas, NV)



The layback shot

"Bartenders, please retire the layback shot directly into a patron's mouth, at least in a public bar! This bit of business inspires zero confidence that we are in a professional establishment that excels in the fine art of congenial adult imbibing." -- Dale "King Cocktail" DeGroff



Credit: Drew Swantak/Thrillist

The Old Fashioned

"As much as it pains me, I think it might be time to give the Old Fashioned a time out. These days it's like the solid, decent guy who has been repairing air conditioners or doing people's taxes or whatever for the last 30 years and then wins the lottery. Suddenly, he's got an ugly, expensive new wardrobe, he's blinged out, he's ditched his wife for a girlfriend 20 years too young for him, and and is that coke in his mustache? Man, you've changed. The Old Fashioned used to be a simple, steady, and, above all, reliable drink. Order it 'without the garbage' and you'd get a little sugar, bitters, ice, and whiskey. Period. Order an Old Fashioned these days and you don't know what you're going to get. Mezcal, fernet, and passionfruit bitters? Three-month-old craft 'whiskey,' fig syrup, and salt? Gin? It needs its old friends to pull it aside and remind it that it used to be better than this; that it had a life and these people aren't its real friends. -- David Wondrich, author of Imbibe! and Punch



The 20th Century

"I can't think of anything that makes me cringe more than the awkward and clashing flavor profile of gin, dark chocolate, and bright citrus. Sure it's balanced, but it's also disgusting. There are so many quality spirits out there that have their own complex flavor profiles. It's now the 21st century, get with it people..." -- Justin Lavenue, 2015 North American winner of the Bombay Sapphire Most Imaginative Bartender Competition, The Roosevelt Room (Austin, TX)

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Cross-posted from UN Women

At 8 years of age, Sadatu Reeves came across photographs of women police officers in a magazine her father brought home from abroad. The empowered images sparked a deep-seated desire to don her own uniform.

She pursued a university degree in criminal justice, graduating in 2004, just after Liberias 1989-2003 Civil War. Her family opposed her idea of becoming a police officer, citing low salaries and public mistrust, bred by the violence and rape carried out by some police during the Civil War.

Even though the reputation of the police was badly tarnished and its morale was very low, I wanted to be part of the new breed of Liberian National Police Force (LNP) officers to help restore the image and pride of the force, Officer Reeves explained.

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She was 27 when she joined the LNP in 2004. Today, the newly appointed Assistant Police Director for Administration is the only woman director and one of its three top commissioners.

Rising from just 6 per cent in 2007 to 17 per cent in 2016, there has been a significant increase of women in Liberias police force, along with major reforms undertaken by the Armed Forces of Liberia and other agencies. With support from UN Women, more women police officers have been trained and recruited by the government. Efforts to reach 30 per cent of women officers by 2030 are ongoing.

Today, Officer Reeves has become a role model for many: With the recruitment of more women police officers we will achieve a great deal of success in building a more inclusive and responsive police force.

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The bigger picture

Across the globe, women are still only a tiny portion of the security sector. As of 2015, reports reveal that 97 per cent of military peacekeepers and 90 per cent of police officers are men. [1] In 2009, the UN launched a global effort to increase the number of women in police forces, with the goal of reaching 20 per cent of officers in peace operations.

Across Africa, some inroads are being made. In 2010, Rwanda launched its National Action Plan to implement UN Security Council resolution 1325, aiming to increase womens presence in peace and security at all levels. Before 2009, there were only 50 female police commissioned officers; but by 2012 there were already 137. [2] In December 2015, Rwanda was the top contributor of female police officers to UN peacekeeping missions, with 114 women; and the third-highest contributor of female military, mission experts and police combined, with 339 women, trailing Ethiopia and South Africa. [3] With UN Womens technical and financial support, Rwanda has also improved police officers capacity to manage data and strengthen reporting.

In Malawi, with UN Womens support, former President Joyce Banda launched the Malawi Women Police Network in 2014, to boost womens presence. UN Women has worked closely with the Malawi Police Service to strengthen gender mainstreaming within the force and held regional trainings on addressing crime and empowering women officers.

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In Nigeria, UN Women supported the development and implementation of a gender policy to reduce the gender gap in the Nigeria Police Force and enhance the protection of women and girls against sexual and gender-based violence. UN Women also helped the Police Force develop a human rights curriculum.

Violence reporting

Data from 40 countries also show a positive correlation between the number of female police and sexual assault reporting rates.[4]

In Kenya, 34-year-old Officer Lucy Nduati often notices that female survivors prefer to speak to her: Women have a unique way of policing that is generally based on communications and will be more empathetic in cases reported to them.

She has encouraged women survivors who chose not to charge abusive husbands to seek justice before the courts, and connected them with counselling. Officer Nduati is Secretary of the Kenya Association of Women in Policing, which UN Women helped establish in 2013.

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As part of efforts to implement UNSCR 1325 in Kenya, UN Women has worked with the security sector over the years to help recruit more women, by promoting gender-sensitive reforms, training and organizing conferences. UN Women also advocated for Kenyas first Prevention against Domestic Violence Act in March 2015.[5]

Kenyas Constitution now requires the National Police Service and its Commission to increase women in their ranks to 30 per cent. In 2014, the same number of women and men were recruited.

More women in policing has been seen to result in increased reporting of violence against women, improved intelligence-gathering, better treatment of female witnesses, victims and suspects, as well as fewer complaints of misconduct and improper use of force, says Pablo Castillo Diaz, Protection Specialist with UN Womens Peace and Security Department. It is in the interest of those leading police forces to spare no efforts in better training, stronger accountability, and most importantly, fundamental reforms in how police forces recruit, retain and employ women.

Notes

[3] UN Peacekeeping. Troop and police contributors archive 2015. http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/resources/statistics/contributors_archive.shtml

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[4] UN Women (2012). Progress of the Worlds Women: In Pursuit of Justice, p. 59.
The importance of digital business transformation has created a real opportunity for CIOs to win CEO jobs. The role of the CIO and IT leaders has significantly changed and the demand for digital-savvy IT leaders who are able to execute the CEO's digital agenda is greater than ever before. But not all CIOs are able to drive business transformation. Only extraordinary CIOs will have the opportunity to fill future CEO positions.

Ray Wang and I recently had the privilege of interviewing five extraordinary chief information officers (CIOs) on DisrupTV, a weekly show featuring disruptive business, leadership and innovation change agents representing the Fortune 1,000, successful startups and venture capitalists.

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What do these extraordinary CIOs have in common? For one thing, all of them are proven leaders in terms of driving digital business transformation. They all have large scale IT leadership experience across multiple industries. But, more importantly, they share common characteristics that is uniquely visible in innovative, digital savvy CIOs as compared to traditional IT leaders.

Based on our recent interviews, and in some cases, my own personal experience based on opportunities to co-present at conferences (Dr. Bray and Stevenson), I have identified these 10 common characteristics of these brilliant CIOs, which hopefully can serve as guiding principles for all CIOs and IT organizational leaders.

1. Strong business acumen

Stevenson believes that every company, in every industry, will be disrupted by technology. Stevenson also believes that there are no IT projects, only business projects.

To foster business collaboration and alignment with IT, Stevenson and her team publish an annual state of IT report. The report shares what IT services the organization had delivered in the prior year, and the value that they delivered to Intel. The report also focuses on future IT priorities and market trends. The theme of the 2016 report was from the backroom to the boardroom. Stevenson and her team clearly articulate their IT vision and align their goals to business results and outcomes.

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Kail has led IT organizations at Yahoo and Netflix, demonstrating the ability to meet very large scale business demands that require technology at the very highest limits of innovation. Today, Kail is developing innovation to shift business leaders from a reactive mode to a more proactive mindset in the space of cybersecurity. Today, security is no longer a CIO or CEO level topic, it is now a boardroom level topic and a brand issue.

Miguel Gamino is the CIO of City of San Francisco, leading over 200 IT professionals with a city-wide annual technology expenditure of $250 million, serving over 805,000 citizens. Miguel work with an incredibly innovative Mayor, in a city at the center of technology universe. He and his team work very closely with numerous stakeholders to achieve city-wide benefits in terms of connectivity, economic, community, and quality of life improvements.



Tim Crawford spent more than 20 years leading IT organizations during the course of his career. Today, Crawford believes that experience can actually be a hindrance for CIOs. Crawford encourages CIOs to take a fresh perspective to business and technology models by being open to new ideas and learning. Crawford warns CIOs to be aware of business disruption based on the inability of average of CIOs to tackle data sciences, IoT and machine learning and the need for application integration with other lines-of-business outside of IT.

Crawford notes that CIOs must be able to articulate their company objectives and align their IT vision to business and financial outcomes.

2. Early adopters of technology

There is no question that visionary and innovative CIOs are early adopters of technology. Innovative CIOs have adopted a beginner's mindset - open, flexible, curious, adaptive and willing to experiment. To avoid disruption and loss of business relevance, innovative CIOs, unlike traditional CIOs, are willing to invest time and energy to study emerging technologies. To be afforded the luxury of keeping pace with the latest bleeding-edge technologies, these CIOs have established a long track record of demonstrating operational excellence and ability to meet or exceed customer expectations. They have earned the trust of the peers and stakeholders.

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Crawford believes that all CIOs and IT leaders are very smart but stuck in terms of gaining momentum within their businesses to drive real digital transformation. These IT leaders are heavily overwhelmed with legacy debt, pace of innovation, and cultural challenges that are resistant to change. Where to get started is the real challenge.

Crawford encourages CIOs not to rest on their laurels. Do not view cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT) and big data technologies as FAD - if you ignore emerging technologies, you will be run over and potentially lose your job. Allow your staff to experiment and stay ahead of the technology adoption curve.

3. Customer success focused



Stevenson believes that business leaders want to partner to partner with IT organizations. Stevenson believes that 'shadow IT' is the wrong view - Stevenson embraces the opportunities to collaborate with different lines of business. Stevenson leads a 6,000 member IT organization with a culture that places that customer at the center of every decision that they make.

Gamino and his team recognize the decisions that his team makes around technology will have significant impact for many generations to come for citizen of San Francisco. There is an intense amount of urgency behind Gamio's work and strong bias for driving immediate results.

Crawford recommends IT leaders to focus on iterative processes that can drive quick wins to help improve customer success and business outcomes. Just start small, continue to experiment and communicate your goals by collaborating with your customers, peers and key stakeholders.

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Dr. Bray has transformed what was a legacy IT organization at the FCC to a cloud-first and highly modern IT department. The motivation behind this transformation was to improve the FCC's ability to better serve their customers - better quality, more scalable, secure, automated and faster products and services delivery models.

4. Servant leadership



Dr. Bray has created a culture of empowerment and change agents. Dr. Bray has been rewarding creative problem solvers. He actively seeks feedback and works very hard to build consensus. He creates very inspiring narratives and promotes change agents to dare to think different.

Dr. Bray's favorite question to ask his team is 'what brings you joy?' As a CIO, Dr. Bray believes that 80% of being a CIO is about people and 20% about technology. Go beyond your job description, be a leader, be more agile, more resilient and more efficient in how you manage your business.



5. Highly social and collaborative

All of these extraordinary CIOs are highly social business executives. They are daily users of Twitter, they blog, speak at conferences, mentor other CIOs and business leaders and are super accessible within their businesses. In addition to being active on social networks, these CIOs are also focused no ensuring their customers (or employees) are able to leverage technology to improve communication and collaboration. Stevenson, Dr. Bray, Kail, Gamino and Crawford are amongst the most social CIOs in the world.

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When Stevenson started her career, the CIO was judged by how PCs worked. Today, CIOs are judged by how employees can be more productive. Employee communication and collaboration technologies is a measure of CIOs ability to create a culture of connectivity, productivity and seamless collaboration. Stevenson and her team leverage innovation to improve employee meetings and peer-to-peer collaboration. Improving employee communication and productivity is a CIO brand builder according to Stevenson.

Dr. Bray is one of the most social CIOs in the world. He actively engages with a broader community, sharing his views on innovation, leadership, business culture and the importance of being a change agent. Bray became social because he wanted to blow up the mental image of a typical CIO that was not accessible and willing to share ideas. The second reason Dr. Bray embraced social networking was to address any blind-spots by leveraging a personalized learning network to unlearn the old and learn the new.

Miguel Gamino is one of the most social government CIOs, actively engaging with San Francisco citizens and business leaders to share IT project updates and future vision. Gamino holds quarterly town hall meetings and invites tough questions, cultivating a culture of transparency and giving.

6. Discovery mindset

Dr. Bray transitioned an 100% on premise IT organization to a cloud-first IT department in less than 12 months. Gamino and his IT department is challenging his team to deliver solutions by implementing agile development processes and user centric design methods. San Francisco stakeholders are expecting rapid innovation and Gamino is developing a 'digital by default' mentality that is driving results. Gamino is encouraging his team to explore new ways of being ultra-responsive and results oriented. Dr. Bray and all of the CIOs mentioned here encourage their teams to be explorers.

Crawford advises CIOs and IT leaders to adopt an experimental mindset, where through a discovery process, organizations can take small steps towards delivering solutions and build positive, forward momentum.

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Kail is helping CEOs become involved in understanding their company's secure posture and risks by encouraging them to proactively explore opportunities to build a more secure and robust businesses.

7. Cause driven

For most of Stevenson's career, she was the only women on the team. Today, half of Stevenson's staff are women. Stevenson actively promotes the importance of having more women in the technology industry. Stevenson was recognized by STEMconnector as 100 Diverse Corporate Leader, who is actively contributing to incorporate more diverse STEM professionals and changing the pipeline based on strong STEM education.

Dr. Bray has travelled the world as an Eisenhower Fellow to identify opportunities where technology and innovation can help improve the state of society. Dr. Bray promotes leaders to think about how they can positively impact their communities locally, which will ultimately lead to global benefits.

Empowering change agents starts by creating a space where like-minded and inspired individuals can network together and share success stories, failures and lessons learned. Creative brainstorming events allow people to self-organize and scale their voice and ambitions to transform at both individual and organizational levels.

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Miguel Gamino uses a methodology called 'Skunk Works' to rapidly develop new digital services to advance the community. Gamino's cause-driven culture has shifted the mentality of defaulting to 'no' to a mindset that is highly collaborative and supportive of making big bets and delivering solutions that most would consider impossible. Gamino is inspiring his team to be bold and aspirational.

8.Result oriented



Stevenson encourages business leaders to be more demanding of IT and CIOs. Stevenson and her team leverages modern predictive analytics to better optimize workflows and IT services and solutions. Time-to-market (TTM) is key performance metric for Intel - to that end, Stevenson and her team studied and diagnosed their entire design flow methodology, in order to optimize execution velocity. In some cases, the results yielded a 15-week TTM improvements.

Kail notes that 1 million cybersecurity jobs went unfilled in 2015. In order to derive better results, Kail doesn't believe that companies can throw more people at the problem space, instead, the real answer to automation, orchestration and use of more intelligent tools and technologies.

Miguel Gamino's town hall meetings is a wonderful example of sharing project deadlines, achievements and obstacles in a public setting. The level of accountability, transparency and togetherness has created an environment of mutual trust, respect and caring.

Crawford encourages IT leaders to start out small, instead of trying to boil the ocean, and build momentum by driving results. Crawford believes that CIOs must ensure that employees feel that they are part of the process. An inclusive process is important but the CIO and executive commitment and buy-in is key to success.

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9. Bold and confident

Dr. Bray was able to move a massive amount of on premise solutions (200+ servers with 400 terabytes of data) to the cloud in less than 12 months. Dr. Bray retried hundreds of servers and significantly reduced his overall IT budget. Dr. Bray is a super change agent.



Miguel Gamino is leveraging user centric design methodology to deliver big, sophisticated digital projects in 30 days. Gamino and his team have developed a reputation of being reliable, fast and eager to help San Francisco become role model city for innovation and digital transformation.

10. Player coaches and mentors

All of these CIOs work very hard to actively work with their teams to achieve results. By being social and collaborative, they create a welcoming environment, where single contributors at all levels of the organization feel safe enough to share their ideas and recommendations. Gamino and the other CIOs are creating a strong culture of accountability and togetherness, aimed at continuous improvements and increased customer satisfaction and growth.

Tim Crawford best exemplifies a former CIO who is now coaching other successful CIO achieve their departmental and business objectives. Crawford has a wonderful reputation of connecting like-minded CIOs and serving as the network-glue for a highly influential network of digital savvy CIOs.

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Crawford encourages CIOs and IT leaders to focus on building business alignment. The language of business is finance, so IT leaders must be to communicate their technology vision and investment thesis to financial outcomes and company objectives.
By Mackenzie Wagoner for Vogue.

Today, Charlize Theron made headlines when British GQ released quotes from its April cover story with the star of The Huntsman: Winter's War. In it, the South African model turned ballet dancer turned actress, who is so often celebrated in the media for her otherworldly stature, allover golden glow, and icy blue gaze, stated that her model-making genes have actually stood in the way of her acting career. "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***ing, gown-wearing 8-foot model?" asks Theron, who asserts that a surprise reverse prejudice exists in Hollywood against attractive women when it comes to doling out heavier-hitting parts. "When meaty roles come through, I've been in the room and pretty people get turned away first."

While Theron's comments have stirred up debate on social media, this isn't the first time the actress has been outspoken about her looks both on-screen and off. From the surprising pleasure of shaving her head to how she manages to guiltlessly skip a workout, here are six times Theron delivered her honest take on beauty.

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On Aging

"I think, like many women, I was judgmental toward women as they aged. Women, in our society, are compartmentalized so that we start to feel like we're cut flowers, and after a while, we will wilt. I realize now that's not the case--we can celebrate every age. That's my encouragement to 20-year-olds who are terrified of getting older: Don't have a nervous breakdown, and don't hit the chardonnay too hard. Getting older is not that bad."

On Self-Worth

"That was never emphasized in the house I was raised in. I don't think my mom ever said, 'Isn't she a pretty girl?' She'd say, 'You should hear her sing. You should read this poem she wrote.' The praise was always about what I'd done, not how I looked."



On the Pleasure of Skipping a Workout

"I don't have a rigid routine. I like Spinning and yoga. But I'm at a place now where if I can forgo an hour at the gym to spend time with my son, trust me, I do it with pleasure."

On Shaving Her Head

"You have not showered until you've showered hairless. That's all I have to say."



On Embracing the Female Body

"It bothers me that in this society, it's okay seeing a guy blow another's head off, but a child seeing Janet Jackson's boob at the Super Bowl is the worst thing that could happen. It's not the end of the world! It's just a breast!"



On Self-Acceptance

"What most people don't realize is that no matter how others see you, you have to wake up to yourself every morning. And I really love myself. I'm comfortable in my skin. But there are some mornings when I look in the mirror and go, 'Not so good.' Then other times when I get my hair and makeup done, I stand at the mirror and go, 'I like it. It's hot.' And I think all women do that."

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DAMASCUS, SYRIA. APRIL 12, 2016. Syria's President Bashar al-Assad speaks during a meeting with the Russian parliamentary delegation. Valery Sharifulin/TASS (Photo by Valery Sharifulin\TASS via Getty Images)

As a shaky ceasefire in Syria appears on the verge of collapse, peace talks are set to resume in Geneva this week. It's a harrowing time for Syrians, made all the worse by the Syrian government continuing to willfully cut off deliveries of food and medicine to civilians.

The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, told reporters this week that 4.5 metric tons of medical supplies were stripped from a recent convoy headed for innocent people trapped in cities under siege. Instead of death by barrel bomb, Syrians face the agony of starvation, malnutrition, and preventable diseases. A slower way to die, but no less cruel.

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Intentionally cutting off humanitarian aid is a war crime. Add that to the staggeringly long list of war crimes committed in Syria -- unspeakable violations of what are universally considered the laws of armed conflict. Emerging news this week confirms a growing trove of documentary evidence to support such charges. But what good is a list of crimes if no one is ever held responsible for them?

Chief among those who must face justice is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. When his rule was challenged by protestors demanding freedom, rights, and opportunities during the heady days of the Arab Spring, his response was to launch a deadly campaign against the people of Syria. Security forces swept up, tortured, and disappeared thousands. The Syrian military has focused on punishing civilians living in opposition-held areas, killing hundreds of thousands of people and besieging more than 800,000.

The Syrian Air Force, backed by its Russian allies, has engaged in a bombing campaign on hospitals and clinics and has targeted doctors and other medical professionals, adding to the challenge of staying alive for those who have not fled the fighting. Physicians for Human Rights has documented 358 attacks on hospitals since 2011, more than 90 percent of them by Assad's forces and their allies. The government has systematically violated virtually all the laws of war: hard-won standards aimed at making war a little less hellish for civilians.

Yet no court has come forward to claim jurisdiction over the crimes committed in Syria. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague was envisioned as a court of last resort to bring to justice brutal leaders like Assad who bear individual criminal responsibility for the worst crimes under international law. For too long, we lived in a world in which political power was parlayed into impunity. The ICC came into being by international accord in 1998, but a self-congratulatory mood was soon replaced with an understanding that the court's mechanisms were inadequate. Civil society organizations had played a powerful role in advocating for the ICC, but when it came to bringing cases for prosecution, that power was granted solely to the ICC prosecutor, individual states, and the UN Security Council.

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The ICC has had its high moments: last month, the court convicted former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba of war crimes and crimes against humanity. But thus far, the Security Council has failed to refer Syria's heinous crimes to the ICC. If a state like Syria has a champion among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, a referral to the international court will be blocked. Russia and China have vetoed any meaningful action on Syria. Power - or having powerful friends - is promoting a wanton disregard for international law.

In the short term, there are a few options to prosecute Assad. National courts may bring cases based on the principle of universal jurisdiction - the idea that some crimes are so egregious that no matter who commits them or where, all states that can do so should prosecute those crimes. The systematic nature of Assad's crimes may well prompt some governments to exercise universal jurisdiction to start the wheels of justice turning.

In the longer term, once Assad is no longer in power, there may be support for the creation of a special Syrian Court, with assistance from people with expertise in investigating and prosecuting complex cases that capture the magnitude of the crimes committed. One such example was the special court for Sierra Leone, which in 2012 condemned former Liberian president Charles Taylor to 50 years in prison for atrocities committed in Sierra Leone during its civil war in the '90s.

And last month, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia sentenced former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to 40 years in prison for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed during the 1990s Bosnian war - including ethnic cleansing, the siege of Sarajevo, and the deaths of 8,000 Muslim men and boys who were slaughtered in Srebrenica under Karadzic's command.

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As government forces continue to perpetrate their war crimes in Syria, Assad would do well to remember that while Russia may have his back at the UN Security Council for now, those in power change, and their interests change. Over time, particularly as the world comes to understand the extent of Assad's crimes, the calls for justice will strengthen, not wane.
By Nitin Chhoda

While metrics present business owners with a method of measuring results, they should understand that the problem with metrics is that not all data is useful. When used or interpreted improperly, a small business will become less productive and overwhelmed.

A few of common issues when working with metrics include:

They can't -- and don't -- measure everything They're easily misinterpreted They can be manipulated They don't tell business owners what to do with the results

Take the fast-food industry as an example: metrics are used to measure sales, delivery time and employee productivity. Individuals are penalized for not meeting quotas. One way to manipulate that data is to have customers pull ahead to a waiting area away from the company's counter. Customers may wait 10 minutes for their order to appear, but the counter shows the purchase was delivered in under two minutes. I've encountered this same issue in my industry, medical billing software: it's important for an insurance claim to be submitted as quickly as possible, because it can take 30-45 days before the practice gets paid by the insurer. It doesn't matter if the doctor completed the note quickly; what matters is, "Did the biller send the claim to the insurance company right away?"

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What to Look for in Metrics

Metrics must meet three criteria to be useful in a business plan: they must be actionable, accessible and auditable. Actionable metrics provide information that can be acted upon, and improve the ability to meet a business's goal.

An accessible metric is available to everyone, can be understood by anyone who needs it, and shows whether tangible progress is being made toward the end goal of profitability. This could include statistics to determine the predominant age of customers, retention or referral rates.

Auditable metrics are able to demonstrate a positive impact on the business: they provide transparency and present the data in a straightforward manner. Created using primary data, auditable metrics don't require multiple intermediate steps to arrive at the summary and can be easily verified.

Avoiding Vanity Metrics

Relying on vanity metrics is a common mistake. Page views, emails and downloads don't equal sales. The data that owners of a business should be concerned with are active users, the cost of new client acquisition, engagement and revenue. Let's take the field of physical therapy marketing and physical therapy newsletters (what my business does), for example: it doesn't matter if a patient opens an email; it matters if the patient reads the email and then contacts the clinic to schedule an appointment.

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Traffic is the most frequently used indicator for content marketing success, but it's highly misleading. A website may report 1 million searches, but this could just be a sign that the searcher isn't obtaining the desired results.

The Dangers of Relying on a Single Metric

The metrics that business owners use to determine success can actually mask a variety of potential problems.

Let's take a physical therapy business that uses patient satisfaction as its metric. If patient satisfaction rises, the physical therapist automatically assumes that the practice is growing as a result of his or her content creation or other efforts. An examination of patient retention shows that the clinic actually lost patients. The combination of information really shows that satisfaction increased when dissatisfied patients left the practice.

Relying on a single metric is detrimental. Metrics on social media pages can be especially misleading: fans, followers, likes and tweets don't make a business profitable. It can be the starting point for capturing leads, but unless those individuals are actually making an appointment or becoming active patients, the numbers shouldn't be utilized as a measure of success.

Knowing Your Limits

Metrics can't measure everything. They provide data about quantity, but they're imperfect and can't provide information about quality, satisfaction, preferences and other subjective criteria. Client decisions are colored by emotional responses. An alternative measurement option is to measure a business's qualified leads, and that doesn't mean simply pulling a name from a list of newsletter subscribers.

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The overall client experience is just as important as the treatment when marketing. The things that make customers feel valued and contribute to return business and word-of-mouth advertising can be difficult to discern, and metrics that are easiest to track don't necessarily provide the most important information or may not be captured at all.

Metrics are an integral element in any business plan, but the wrong metrics could wreak havoc with the profitability of a small business and lead owners to make decisions that are ultimately detrimental. Use them wisely.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - APRIL 3: National Investigation Agency (NIA) officer Mohammad Tanzil's body brought to his residence in Delhi on April 3, 2016 in New Delhi, India. A National Investigation Agency (NIA) Officer Tanzil Ahmad was shot dead by two motorcycle borne persons when he was returning after attending a marriage ceremony with his wife Farzana near his hometown- Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday night. A total of 21 bullets were pumped into the body of Mohammad Tanzil. (Photo by Arun Sharma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

NEW DELHI -- Farzana, the wife of Mohammed Tanzil Ahmed, the National Investigation Agency officer, who was shot dead by assailants in Uttar Pradesh, succumbed to her injuries on Wednesday morning.

Ahmed, 49, was returning home from a wedding along with his wife and two children when he was attacked by two unidentified motorbike-borne assailants near Sahaspur town in Bijnor district on April 3.

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While Farzana was hit by four bullets in the crossfire, their children were not hurt in the attack.

Since he joined the NIA in 2009, Ahmed had investigated several cases on terrorism including those involving the Indian Mujahideen. He was highly regarded for his expertise in gathering intelligence and carrying out thorough investigations.

It was only after his death that the public got to know about more about Ahmed and his work.

The U.P. police has told the media "vengeance," personal animosity and domestic disputes were behind Ahmed's murder.

Two out of the three accused in the murder have been arrested on Tuesday including Mohammad Rehan, nephew of Mr. Ahmeds brother-in-law. Muneer, the main accused, is still on the run.

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srkchennai fc/twitter

The 'comedy king' of Indian television, Kapil Sharma, who is all set to make a comeback with The Kapil Sharma Show shot for his first episode on Monday with none other than Bollywood's baadshah, the first guest on his new show.

The multi-talented Sharma, showcased his singing skills while greeting his fans inside the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, reported The Indian Express.

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Sharma's colleagues from Comedy Nights With Kapil were seen in a completely new avatar. According to India Today, Ali Asgar, who previously played the role of Dadi, appeared as a courtesan and asked Khan for a kiss; Kiku Sharda aka Palak was seen as the courtesan's husband and a nawab; and Sunil Grover, who previously played Gutthi was seen as a female Haryanavi police officer.

SRK, who was there to promote his upcoming movie Fan, shared a very funny and sweet memory from the time he was dating wife Gauri.

According to a MissMalini report, King Khan said, "Unlike today where we have mobile phones, earlier during our times there were only landline telephones. So whenever I wanted to talk to Gauri, I used to speak in a girls voice as her brother Vikrant used to pick the phone. I used to say, Hello, can I please speak to Gauri in a girls voice and he used to think that Im her female friend. Even till today he (Vikrant) doesnt know that it was me who used to call every time. But after watching this episode he will get to know that."

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The biggest moment of the night was when Grover changed his appearance on stage and appeared as Gaurav, SRK's character from Fan. He started dancing on the song 'Jabra Fan' and was joined enthusiastically by Khan as well as the audience.

After a successful and consistent run of two and a half years, the last episode of Comedy Nights With Kapil was aired on 24 January.

The first episode of The Kapil Sharma Show is slated to air at 9 pm, 23 April, on Sony TV.

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AFP via Getty Images An Indian gay-rights activist gestures behind a flag during a protest against the Supreme Court ruling reinstating a ban on gay sex in Bangalore on December 11, 2013. India's Supreme Court reinstated a colonial-era ban on gay sex on that could see homosexuals jailed for up to ten years in a major setback for rights campaigners in the world's biggest democracy. AFP PHOTO/Manjunath KIRAN (Photo credit should read Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images)

The case of a Delhi-based transsexual who wants her name and gender changed in official documents is testing the boundaries of legal procedure.

The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to the central government to respond to a petition by a transsexual person whose name and gender the government is refusing to change in its official records.

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She likes to call herself Jackie Lynn*, but the 24-year-old was born Jaideep Sharma*. Always feeling like a woman in a mans body, her petition says, she started administering hormonal therapy at a very young age. If you meet her, youll probably not be able to tell shes transsexual, according to her lawyer.

Trouble is, all of Jackies official documents call her Jaideep Sharma. She works as an independent corporate consultant in Delhi, having been to an elite city school and been estranged with her parents. When she signs contracts to send clients her bank account details, they realize Jackie is Jaideep. The transphobia is obvious when clients go cold, when landlords refuse the house they were willing to rent out until they saw her identification documents, and so on.

The transphobia is obvious when clients go cold.

Fed up with this discrimination, Jackie knocked the doors of the Government of India to change her name and gender in all identification documents, to bury Jaideep and move on in life.

Your name or gender is changed when the Controller of Publications notifies it in the Gazette of India. Before the Controller of Publications does so, it needs to see a copy of an affidavit where you say you are making this change, and a newspaper advertisement about it.

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Armed with these two documents, Jackie and her lawyer went to the office of the Controller of Publications in north Delhis Civil Lines. The official there wanted a doctors certificate showing a sex reassignment surgery.

Jackie has been self-administering hormone therapy since she was 14. She took hormone blockers and experienced puberty as a woman. She cant afford a sex reassignment surgery for now, and a recent Supreme Court judgement says the government cant ask her to have one.

The official at the Controller of Publications asked her to look at the sex change guidelines on its website, which clearly demand proof of the surgery. When her lawyer mentioned the Supreme Court guidelines, it didnt cut ice. The apex court, in its 2014 judgement National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India and Ors, had said, Centre and state governments should seriously address the problems being faced by Hijras/Transgenders such as fear, shame, gender dysphoria, social pressure, depression, suicidal tendencies, social stigma, etc. and any insistence for SRS [sex reassignment surgery] for declaring ones gender is immoral and illegal.

Jackie has been self-administering hormone therapy since she was 14. She took hormone blockers and experienced puberty as a woman.

The ministry of social justice and empowerment has drafted a bill for transgender rights that says sex reassignment surgery is not mandatory for one to identify as any gender--man, woman or transgender.

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Given that the Controller of Publications wasnt budging, Jackie and her lawyer asked to just change the name without changing the gender. The official, however, insisted that Jackie was a womans name.

The lawyer, Rohit Kaliyar, gave the example of men with the exact same name that his client wants to use. For instance, although Jackie is predominantly a woman's name, there are men named Jackie Shroff and Jackie Chan. The official said that for Jaideep to become Jackie, there would first have to be a gender change, for which they needed an SRS certificate.

Jackie and her lawyer pointed out there were many men with female-sounding names in India. They gave the example of Kiren Rijiju, union minister of state for home affairs, whose first name sounds similar to that of his fellow BJP MP Kirron Kher. But the officer wont budge.

Jackie and her lawyer pointed out there were many men with female-sounding names in India.

Jackie argued it was her choice to give herself whatever name she wanted. The guidelines for name change did not say anything about gender identity.

What about the surname? the officer asked. What problem did he have with Lynn? How could he deny someone the right to call him/herself whatever she wants? I am not authorised to take any decision on this, he said, and that was that.

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He didnt say as much, but his problem with the name change may not just be about gender, but also religion. Jackie Lynn is a name many would presume to be Christian.

The guidelines for name change demand that if you are changing your name such that it sounds like that of a different religion, but in fact you are not changing your religion, the applicant will have to give a signed undertaking that confirms that he/she is not changing his/her religion.

Moving the Delhi High Court, she has agreed to be examined by doctors. The lawyers, Rohit Kaliyar and Karan Sharma, argued, The petitioner is a hard working individual who wants nothing more than what has been already given to other citizens of India-the right to lead a dignified life.

The Delhi High Court has asked the ministry of social justice and empowerment, and the Controller of Publications, to respond within four weeks, and has set 16 August as the next date of hearing.

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ANI/Twitter

Upset over the disappearance of his bull, a man from Sarnath in Varanasi is trying hard to get his beloved pet back. Manoj Pandey, owner of the missing bull Badshah, has announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for anyone with credible information about the animal.

Owner of a missing bull 'Badshah' announces a reward of Rs 50,000 to anyone with credible information about animal pic.twitter.com/M4B2hLlYIg  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 13, 2016

Posters carrying a photograph of the 3-year-old bull and other details of its physical appearance have appeared in several localities.

Manoj Pandey, owner of missing bull 'Badshah' has filed a missing report in Sarnath police station of Varanasi (UP) pic.twitter.com/iW6RzwGFyb  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 13, 2016

Pandey who has also filed a complaint with the Sarnath police station, told ANI, "It feels like I've lost my child. Badshah has been with us since his birth. Don't have words to express my pain."

Badshah is not merely an animal for us, but like a family member, having access to our kitchen and bedroom.

"Badshah is not merely an animal for us, but like a family member having access to our kitchen and bedroom. Only objective behind announcing the reward is that the amount will attract those who have taken away the bull with them for selling purpose," Times of India quoted him as saying.

Feels like I've lost my child.Badshah hs been with us since its birth.Don't hv words to express my pain-Manoj Pandey pic.twitter.com/5A2JZCwmxI  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 13, 2016

Rajkumar Yadav, Circle officer of Sarnath, said a missing report has been filed and the police have taken up the matter "with sensitivity".

"A search is on," he said.

Missing report has been filed, we are taking up the matter with sensitivity. Search is on: Rajkumar Yadav, Circle officer (Sarnath)  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 13, 2016

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Reno County sees a spike in drug and alcohol overdoses during October

The 27 overdoses through Oct. 21 is an average of more than one a day, the highet average since officials began tracking the data real time.
Some Country Musicians Condemn Anti-LGBT Laws, But Top Tier Artists And Labels Remain Silent

In recent days, GLAAD and others in the LGBT community have called on the country music industry to speak out against new laws in North Carolina and Mississippi that are widely believed to discriminate against LGBT people. So far, the response has been disappointing.

After calls from GLAAD and other LGBT organizations for the country music industry to speak out against new laws in North Carolina and Mississippi which are widely seen as discriminatory against LBGT people, Nashville has been slow to respond.

Billy Ray Cyrus, Emmylou Harris, actor Chris Carmack of ABC's Nashville and Gretchen Peters have all come out against the laws. But country music's current platinum sellers and chart toppers have been noticeably silent. On the other hand, rock's top tier including Miley Cyrus, Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams have been vocal opponents, with the later two cancelling shows in the two states.

Nashville's record labels have been universally silent. Universal Music Group Nashville, Warner Music Nashville, Sony Music Nashville, Curb Records and Big Machine Label Group all declined t0 comment when asked by The Associated Press.

Similar bills were vetoed by Georgia's governor and are still being considered in Tennessee and South Carolina. As the state capital of Tennessee and heavily reliant on both country music and tourism, Nashville and its music community will not be able to duck the issue much longer. It's not a game they have been in before, but it's going to have a big impact on their city so I think they are right now educating themselves on what the topics are and what the issues are," Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD told Billboard.

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Why We Need Pirate Radio For The Twenty-First Century

While streaming services do offer infinite variety and customization, the product remains essentially the same across platforms, and lacks the personal touch of a radio DJ. So then don't these services integrate a live hosting feature?

______________________________

Guest post by Thomas McAlevey, CEO of Radical.fm

At the end of the movie Pump Up the Volume, Christian Slaters character, pirate radio DJ Hard Harry, exhorts the kids whove come out to support him to start their own stations and talk hard. The film closes with a montage of students in basements, each broadcasting to their own audience, spreading their voices and the music they love. But launching a radio station back in the nineties wasnt as easy as the film made it out to be  equipment was complex and expensive, and broadcasting without a license was illegal.

Nowadays, we build playlists on Spotify, create personalized radio stations on Pandora, and watch music videos on YouTube. But despite reaching puberty in the age of social media, none of these services offer any form of live sharing, nor any ability for voice communication directly with friends or followers. One of the things that keeps people coming back to terrestrial radio is that they feel a connection to the DJ, and the biggest selling factor for Apples Beats1 isnt the music, its Zane Lowes personality.

Given the advances in streaming there is no reason why the creation of broadcast radio stations should be limited to huge corporations. With todays technology anyone should be able to create and host a live talk radio station, or share their playlists with friends in real time, or both. Essentially, its pirate radio with a twist; these online stations would have unlimited potential reach, they would be fully licensed and legal, and artists will be compensated for their songs. Anybody, anywhere in the world, could play DJ for a few hours, or polish their skills over a lifetime. People could host shows for a few friends, or build large followings putting real effort into quality programming.

It is odd that streaming services havent embraced such technology yet, given how pervasive personalization is. Users would spend more time on a site which offered such an exciting differentiator, driving increased subscriptions, or providing more ears for advertisers. Gifted hosts would rise to the top providing opportunities for such a service to source and develop new talent, much as YouTube has done with some of its biggest stars. Active followers could communicate directly with their favorite hosts, and even casual listeners would appreciate the option of listening to something with more personality than a robot. Kanye West could modify his playlist order on the fly based on real-time listener feedback, a popular pastor from Zimbabwe could build a global following for his sermons, or the kid next door could become the next Ryan Seacrest.

The biggest problem facing the streaming industry today is that streaming services are all pretty much the same; massive jukeboxes in a cloud. Users only real choice is between personalized endless streams or on-demand playlists, and this has remained largely unchanged since the turn of the century. Its time to move the streaming debate away from subscriptions vs ad-supported (both have their place) and toward diversification. To dramatically grow the streaming market real innovation is required. Democratization of broadcast radio, monetization of those broadcasts for artists, labels, and streaming services, and the catapulting of the 45 billion dollar terrestrial radio industry into the digital age seems like a good start.

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Since Xi Jinping became China's president that year, the US had not listed China's so-called Great Firewall as a trade impediment despite widespread outcry that the online blocks limit access to crucial information, e-mail and search services such as those found on Google's platform.

The US has labelled China's Internet censorship a trade barrier in a report for the first time since 2013, saying worsening online restrictions are damaging the business of US companies.

"Outright blocking of Web sites appears to have worsened over the past year, with eight of the top 25 most trafficked global sites now blocked in China," the US Trade Representative wrote in its annual report on foreign trader barriers.

"Over the past decade, China's filtering of cross-border Internet traffic has posed a significant burden to foreign suppliers, hurting both Internet sites themselves, and users who often depend on them for their business," the USTR said in the report, released last week.

The move could push the issue beyond a sticking point in bilateral ties over human rights and security, though with a litany of trade disputes already on the table, the degree to which it will feature in talks remains to be seen.

China has long operated the world's most sophisticated online censorship mechanism known as the Great Firewall.

The Web sites for Google's services, Facebook and Twitter are all inaccessible in China. Officials say Web controls help maintain social stability and national security in the face of threats such as terrorism.

Under Xi, the government has implemented an unprecedented tightening of Internet controls, and sought to codify the policy within the law.

According to data from the anti-censorship group GreatFire.org, almost a quarter of the hundreds of thousands of Web pages, domains, encrypted sites, online searches and IP addresses that it monitors in China were blocked as of early April.

That was up from 14% at the time Xi assumed the presidency.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a regular briefing on Friday that a country's independent choice for Internet governance should be respected.

"China's Internet is vigorously expanding and providing vast space for companies from other countries to grow," Hong said. "China's policy to attract foreign investment will not change."

The Cyberspace Administration of China did not immediately respond to faxed questions, while the Ministry of Commerce declined to comment.

Foreign business lobbies have long complained that Chinese Internet restrictions go beyond inconvenience and actually limit business competitiveness.

The American Chamber of Commerce in China said in its most recent report on China's business environment that its members faced "severe challenges competing in China's telecommunications and Internet sectors due to investment restrictions, security controls and a range of protectionist measures".

The lobby's 2016 business climate survey showed 79% of its members reported a negative impact on business due to Internet censorship.

The USTR report said much of what China blocked online did not seem to fall within the realm of what was necessary to maintain social stability and national security.

"Much of the blocking appears arbitrary. For example, a major home improvement site in the US, which would appear wholly innocuous, is typical of sites likely swept up by the Great Firewall," it said.

Source: http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=151311
The Committee of Ministers today adopted a Recommendation to its 47 member states encouraging them to periodically prepare national reports evaluating their level of respect for human rights with regard to the Internet, and to share their findings with the Council of Europe.

The recommendation aims to help member states to create an enabling environment for Internet freedom and to promote increased compliance with their obligation to respect, protect, and promote human rights on the Internet.

The recommendation contains a list of indicators that can be used for measuring the level of compliance with existing human rights standards. These indicators cover various aspects of freedom of expression and access to information, media freedom, freedom of assembly and association, the right to privacy and personal data protection and the right to an effective remedy.

Concerning surveillance measures by states, for example, the recommendation lists a number of necessary legal safeguards for human rights and fundamental freedoms which relate to the scope of discretion conferred on state authorities carrying out surveillance measures, time limitations, processing of personal data and supervision by an independent oversight body.

Governments are invited to carry out these evaluations of Internet freedom with the participation of the private sector, civil society, academia and the technical community.
A letter sent to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew by a member of Congress Monday betrays the governments new inability to apply tight standards to the nations largest insurance companies.Representative Scott Garrett, chairman of the House Financial Services Committees subcommittee on capital markets, asked Lew how the US could apply new regulatory standards to insurers following the decision of a federal judge this month to end oversight of MetLife Inc.The decision, which reversed MetLifes designation as systemically important, questioned whether the Financial Stability Board was applying appropriate procedures for determining the importance of a non-banking entity to the US financial system. In its wake, two other insurers  AIG and Prudential  are now considering challenges to their own SIFI labels.The Obama administration has launched an appeal on the decision, but even if it wins, the process of reversal could take months.In the letter, Garrett asked Lew for a series of documents related to the work of the FSB and questioned whether Lew plans to continue applying strict international standards to SIFI insurers in the wake of the judges decision.At particular issue is whether, in light of the case, the US can fulfill its promise to other countries to apply strict capital standards and other regulations on its biggest financial institutions. State regulators in New York will continue to exert some control over MetLife, but authorities question whether this oversight is strong enough to fulfill the countrys promise.Garrett has joined the US insurance industry in its criticism of the Financial Stability Board, arguing that its published list of globally systemically important insurers subject to greater supervision was developed before US regulators decided to apply the stricter rules to domestic insurers.MetLife, for example, was included in the July 2013 list created by the FSB, but wasnt designated with a SIFI label in the US until December 2014.AIG received the label in July 2013 and Prudential received it later that year in September.Lew has previous said the US and international processes for determining SIFI designations are separate and that US regulators made their own judgement on MetLife and other firms without regard to the July 2013 FSB list.A Treasury spokesman confirmed the receipt of the letter to the Wall Street Journal and said it is reviewing it.
Jordan LynnToyota is set to team up with Microsoft and global insurance company Aioi Nissay to launch a usage based insurance product in the United States.The three companies will come together in a joint-venture which will see them use their expertise to launch in the ever-expanding market, according to Nikkei Asian Review.Aioi Nissay, a unit of international insurance group MS&AD, will take a 50% stake in the business with Toyota taking 45% and Microsoft the remaining 5% as the business looks to launch by May 2017.According to Nikkei Asian Review, the JV will aim for approximately 450 ,000 policies by 2020 and an insurance income of $55 million as insurers across America will be offered model insurance plans and pricing data for an 8% fee.The rumoured insurance business follows closer ties between Toyota and Microsoft as the two businesses will work together on connected cars.Toyota announced this week that they will launch Toyota Connected to serve as a data hub for the business and Microsoft will provide cloud solutions for the enterprise.Weve all been talking about big data for a long time, but we are at a unique point in history where the technology is catching up with what we hope to achieve by delivering new services and capabilities into the vehicle, said Zack Hicks, president and chief executive officer of Toyota Connected.Well be able to bring you services that make your life easier, and push the technology into the background and give you those things you really want, which isnt a blaring screen, its really letting people know that youre running late for a meeting.Kurt DelBene, Microsofts executive vice president of corporate strategy and planning, said that the two businesses will work closely on the future of the automotive industry.The automotive industry is undergoing a massive transformation as drivers increasingly see their cars as mobile devices that extend their digital lifestyle, DelBene said.That means people now care as much about their cars computing power as its horsepower. So were working closely with carmakers, including this deep partnership with Toyota, to make automobiles more intelligent with sensors, screens, connectivity and vast networks of data that will help improve the whole driving experience. Other manufacturers have already openly discussed insuring their own cars, this may be a worrying trend to watch for carriers in this space
MCLA Picks Alumnus & Former Leader as Commencement Speaker



State Sen. Benjamin B. Downing and STEM educator Yvonne Spicer will also receive honorary degrees at commencement.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts will celebrate its 117th commencement exercises on Saturday, May 14, beginning at 11 a.m., in the Amsler Campus Center Gymnasium.



This year's keynote speaker will be James C. Clemmer, a veteran executive with more than 25 years of business experience and an alumnus, who served as interim president of MCLA from August 2015 until the arrival of the college's new President James F. Birge in March.



Clemmer will receive an honorary doctor of business.



In addition, state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, will receive an honorary doctor of public service, and Yvonne Spicer, vice president of Advocacy and Educational Partnerships for the National Center for Technological Literacy at the Museum of Science in Boston, will receive an honorary doctor of humanities.



In recognition of their awards, the honorary degree recipients will have books placed in MCLA's Freel Library in their names.



MCLA Board of Trustees Chair Tyler Fairbank commended those who will be honored.



"We are grateful to Jim Clemmer for his leadership to MCLA. During his time as interim president he worked hand in hand with the board of trustees to keep the college moving forward and to ensure a quality public education that is accessible and affordable for residents of the Commonwealth, and beyond," Fairbank said. "As a legislator dedicated to the success of this region, Ben Downing has worked tirelessly on behalf of all who make the Berkshires our home.



"And, through her work to support precollege science, technology, engineering and math education through numerous educational organizations, Yvonne Spicer encourages youth throughout Massachusetts to prepare for and aspire to STEM careers."



As he begins his tenure at MCLA, Birge said he looks forward to being part of this year's commencement celebration. He is pleased to recognize Clemmer, Downing and Spicer with honorary degrees.



"We are honored to have James Clemmer with us, along with state Sen. Ben Downing and Dr. Yvonne Spicer," Birge said. "Their achievements and many contributions are both reflective of and inspiring to the members of the class of 2016, as they go on to use the knowledge and skills they have acquired at MCLA to solve complex problems and assume positions of responsibility within their communities. We look forward to hearing from Jim as this year's keynote speaker. Jim's successful career in business allowed him to return to MCLA and provide leadership to the campus during a time of transition."



Clemmer is a sits on the board of directors for Lantheus Holdings Inc. of North Billerica, the parent company of Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc., a global leader in developing, manufacturing, selling and distributing innovative diagnostic imaging agents and products.



He retired last year from Covidien plc in Mansfield, a multibillion dollar, global, medical device manufacturing company. Covidien merged last year with Medtronic Inc., one of the largest medical device manufacturing companies in the world, now Medtronic plc.



Clemmer most recently was president of Covidien's medical supplies segment, where he was responsible for managing operations and growth of a $2 billion global business, utilizing 15 manufacturing sites around the world.



During his 15-year tenure at Covidien, Clemmer served as group president of Kendall Healthcare and held several increasingly senior roles in marketing and general management within the SharpSafety and Critical Care divisions. He began his career in the medical device industry with Sage Products Inc. and joined Covidien as part of the Sage Products acquisition in 1999.
Greylock Works developers Karla Rothstein and Salvatore Perry updated the City Council on the work that's been done at the former Cariddi Mill, including the renovation of the 65,000-square-foot Weave Shed that hosted a New Year's bash. The council discussed the agreement for more than an hour before rejecting an attempt to refer to committee and approving it. PreviousNext

North Adams Council Approves Tax Agreement for Greylock Works



The agreement for the mill redevelopment would limit the property taxes over the next decade as the nearly $9 million project moves forward.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The City Council on Tuesday approved a tax incremental financing agreement for Greylock Works LLC that will give the project some property tax relief during the development of the former Cariddi Mill.



The council also designated the mill property as an economic opportunity area to allow the implementation of the TIF under state law during the nearly 2 1/2 hour meeting.



Owners Salvatore Perry and Karla Rothstein intend to transform the 240,000 square foot State Road mill into a business incubator focused on food production, a restaurant and event space and a hotel. A final phase for residential is not considered part of the TIF.



Total investment is set at a minimum of $8.45 million and the TIF includes six phases over 10 years. The mill is assessed at $759,200 with tax bill of about $29,000, which will be "frozen" as the increased assessment is added on percentage-wise over the next decade.



"This gives them the ability to adjust their rents," Mayor Richard Alcombright told the council. "This not only gives them the help as they start up their business, it gives their tenants the time the grow."



An attempt by Councilor Eric Buddington to send the TIF to Finance Committee first failed.



The TIF passed 7-1, with Buddington voting against and Councilor Ronald Boucher abstaining from discussion and voting for personal reasons. Councilor Joshua Moran was absent.



Rothstein and Perry gave the council an overview of the project and work done to date, including the renovations in the single-story Weave Shed that now has new windows and plans for landscaping to improve the building's presence.



In response to questions, they could not say how many employees might be hired but said they were committed to working with local organizations to hire local talent, including speaking with McCann Technical School.



"We rely on people who live here and a have a history in the community to guide us," said Rothstein.



She said they are taking their time, and using a food consultant, to find "like minded" people as tenants who will complement the vision for the property and someone to develop and manage the hotel section.



"We're taking the time to find the right people," Rothstein said. "The right personality and the right ethics matter enormously to us."

They encouraged those interested in becoming part of Greylock Works to check out the website for more information.



They are also attracting people from outside the community, with their first tenants  a butcher and baker  moving into North Adams.



The tax relief kicks in fiscal 2017, with a 100 percent exemption for the next two years on added assessment. The percentage drops to 90 percent for years three and four; then decreases of 10 percent each in the next four years; and finally 20 percent for the last two years of 2025 and 2026.



Alcombright clarified, in response to councilors' questions, that the TIF only covers the change in tax assessment as the project increases in value. It also does not cover taxes on personal property such as equipment used by the owners or tenants.



"I just want people to be aware that taxes are still being paid," said Councilor Lisa Blackmer, congratulating the developers on a "quality product."



Buddington motioned that the TIF be referred to Finance Committee for review, with the support of Blackmer, the committee's chairman. Buddington said he had questions about the exemptions and reporting section of this particular TIF, as well as the use of TIFs and how they might be made simpler.



"This is something like a million-dollar tax agreement," he said. "My concerns are not with the contract ... but I would want to have a proper discussion of these details and how this fits with city policy in the future."





Mayor Richard Alcombright says the agreement will also mean relief to the tenants starting businesses in the food production incubator.

Alcombright said the agreement did not have to be submitted to the state until the end of May but questioned the need to review this TIF. Rothstein and Perry were in attendance and could answer any questions now, he said, rather than having them come back from New York City for a committee meeting.



"I'd like to get this resolved because it's been out there all this time," he said.



Greylock Mill had planned to request a TIF in January but it was postponed as needing more work on the financials. That one had been for five years and figured in an $18 million investment.



The total project is still around $14 million to $15 million, said Alcombright, but the residential aspect of the project had been removed as not qualifying for economic development. The timeline was also lengthened.



If the committee wanted to discuss the use of TIFs or special tax agreements in general, the mayor thought that a good idea before another one comes up. However, he rejected the idea of a standard TIF because it would not allow the city flexibility to address differing business needs or to compete effectively against other communities trying to attract business.



Buddington also expressed concern that the TIF agreement did not specify penalties should Greylock Mill fail to file the required investment reports. City Solictor John DeRosa said the agreement hinged on meeting investment time lines  it followed that if a report was not filed, then the city would not know the investment and therefore could request decertification of the TIF.



Councilor Robert M. Moulton Jr. said he had problems with the original TIF but was "comfortable" with the latest iteration.



"I don't see a downside with it the way it stands right now," he said.



The motion to refer failed with only Buddington and Blackmer voting in favor; the TIF was approved with Buddington the lone nay.



In other business:



 The council also reassigned the final two years of an existing special tax agreement given to Crane & Co. The five-year agreement had been approved in 2013 to provide property relief as it the printing company the purchased another business and added employees and equipment.



Crane was recently purchased by its management team and employees as Crane Stationary LLC. The assignment transfers the existing STA to the new name and owners.



Councilor Ronald Boucher suggested that it be postponed until it could be determined why the Planning Board had not been apprised of the change of ownership. He and Moulton also questioned if the company was meeting its criteria for employment and how that was being verified.



Alcombright said the criteria was around 280 full-time employees and that the company had recently filed its latest report. He said the city did not verify that number but noted the plant's Curran Highway location was always packed with cars.



 The council also approved the sale of the former sewage plant, city playground and other smaller lots in Blackinton to Blackinton Backwoods LLC for $55,000 for recreational purposes. Alcombright said Blackinton Backwoods was the only bidder to a public request for proposals. The land is being purchased as part of the Redwood Motel development group's expansion east along Massachusetts Avenue. The group purchased the Blackinton Mill last year; these lands will create a mostly contiguous parcel on the north side of the river.



 The council endorsed, after some debate, a resolution submitted by Councilor Joshua Moran supporting the Board of Health in enacting an ordinance not allowing tobacco sales to those under age 21.



 Councilors also approved Kevin Delisle of West Main Street, Denice L. Little of Fiege Avenue, Robert Cook of West Shaft Road and Dave Bushey of Mill Street, Williamstown, to drive a taxi for City Cab.
IND vs PAK: 'It Has to be One of India's Best Knocks Not Just His' - Rohit Sharma Hails Virat Kohli

'He Is a Big Player Because He Overcame That Pressure'- Babar Azam Praises Virat Kohli After India's Win

'It Was Undoubtedly the Best innings of Your Life': Sachin Tendulkar on Virat Kohli's Knock Against Pakistan

Watch: Rohit Sharma Lifts Virat Kohli After India's Nerve-shredding Win Over Pakistan in T20 World Cup
We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector
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).
Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI) proudly announces the exclusive distributorship of Hyundai Trucks and Buses in the Philippines, further expanding its offerings from passenger cars, SUVs and family vans to light to heavy commercial and cargo vehicles.

This feat proves that HARI continues to realize and exceed its potential. Starting out as a passenger and light commercial automotive brand that rose to the top ranks in the Philippines, it is now poised to make an impact as a viable competitor in the business of trucks and buses.

With Hyundai Trucks and Buses now in the fold, HARI expands and strengthens its presence as the lifetime partner of Filipinos, opening new possibilities for a new set of customers--local businesses and entrepreneurs-- and moving from being a personal Life Space to a medium for progress.

H350: MOVING FOR BUSINESS AND LEISURE

The newest ally of small-to-medium enterprises is designed to be a highly reliable and efficient business vehicle whose flexible platform supports diverse body styles, from cargo van to passenger bus, and more. The H350 distinctively blends Hyundai's modern aesthetic with outstanding exterior design that matches the practicality and sophisticated taste of discerning entrepreneurs. Inside, the H350 redefines comfort with Hyundais man-machine ergonomic design and modern styling that is not only pleasing to the eye but also makes for more efficient operation inside the cabin. The H350 offers space like no other. All body types of the H350 feature a roomy cabin, uncompromising cargo capacity and cabin versatility for countless business needs.

HD65/HD72/HD78: THE HEAVY WEIGHTS IN LIGHT- & MEDIUM-DUTY TRUCKS

Tough and stylish, comfortable and dependable, the Hyundai HD series offers perfect solutions to the rigorous demands of business. Built using the highest quality Hyundai steel, every truck offers solid hauling performance matched with Hyundais world-class diesel engines for heavy-duty yet low maintenance operation to work for you 24/7. With less down time, the HD series guarantees dependability, efficiency, and flexibility, which means more owner and driver satisfaction, and increased profit potential.

COUNTY: SHARING THE PASSION FOR TRAVEL

People make up the foremost passion of Hyundai. In all aspects of safety, comfort and luxury, Hyundai brings class and style to its premium people carrier. The Country is a definite head-turner with its exterior design beautifully harmonized with its practical personality. The rounded edges and smooth outer shell make for a clean and sleek image, while the flush panoramic windows give passengers an atmosphere of scenic freedom. Wider and taller cabin space, extra cabin storage and plush passenger seats provide best-in-class comfort, convenience and passenger safety.

The thoughtful interior design reflects Hyundais human-centric philosophy that combines outstanding ergonomics and aesthetics to offer peak comfort to both driver and passengers.

HD270: DURABILITY FOR ANY DUTY

No dirty work is too challenging for the HD270 Dump Truck, which now comes with greater durability through its enhanced technology. Its reinforcement performs solidly and moves smoothly, confident to take on any load or road. Safety is never compromised, as the truck comes with reliable stoppers. With performance comes cost-efficiency, with choices of engines to suit the discerning customers preferences. Despite being a heavy-duty vehicle, the HD270s interiors are ergonomically designed for comfort and efficiency. It is equipped with accessories and storage space to ease up work for the driver.

Hyundais journey to become a beloved brand continues with its new lineup of trucks and buses, designed to drive the ascent of local businesses and the economy to sustainable success.

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First-of-its-kind blu-ray data archiver offers reliable data storage and cost-efficiency

In the Age of Big Data, the growing demands for storing and archiving data can be an expensive challenge as companies and public agencies information assets increase globally each year. As a response to the pressing needs on data archiving and management, Panasonic is introducing its blu-ray data archivera first-of-its-kind optical disc-based solution using proven technologies to dramatically extend the lifespan of stored data, improve compliance, and lower operating expenditure.

The need for more reliable and efficient storage systems is becoming more pressing as analysts predict that up to 45 zettabytes (ZB) of digital data will be generated over the next four years. In the Philippines, different industries, government agencies, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are relying more heavily on Big Data to understand competition, discern patterns, make better decisions, and enhance productivity.

The countrys business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, which relies on centralized data, has leaned on the cloud to accelerate growth and gain competitive advantage. BPO is the fastest growing industry in the Philippines, seeing a growth rate of 17 percent so far this year. SMEs, which make up about 99.6 percent of Philippine enterprises, can likewise benefit from cloud computing, allowing them to have greater reach, speed, and flexibility in acquiring or serving customers.

The growing demands for active, and long-term, archival storage present a number of challenges that can strain existing archival systems. Panasonics blu-ray data archiver is uniquely positioned to address these challengesfrom reliability, data integrity, cost, and environmental footprintas compared to existing solutions, said Hideo Yonenaga, General Manager, Storage Business Division, Panasonic System Solutions Asia Pacific.

Data archives are currently stored on either hard disk drives (HDDs) or tape-based solutionstechnologies that tend to have relatively short lifespans and high energy requirements, leading to increased operating costs. Panasonics blu-ray data archiver delivers reliable data storage that lasts five to ten times longer than either tape or HDD archives. This longer lifespan reduces electronic waste, and when combined with lower cooling needs and energy requirements, makes blu-ray archival more environmentally friendly than alternative storage solutions.

The Panasonic blu-ray data archivers large storage capacity caters to organizations that deal with high data volumes. Blu-ray archival storage is also a WORM (Write Once Read Many) medium, which makes it tamper proof and ideal for compliance.



More energy efficient  Blu-ray archival systems require less power and run cooler.

 Blu-ray archival systems require less power and run cooler. Lower per bit cost  Cheaper high-capacity storage that lasts longer, removing the need for costly data migration.

 Cheaper high-capacity storage that lasts longer, removing the need for costly data migration. Greater reliability  No physical wear on the storage medium means fewer failures, while still supporting best-in-class practices such as RAID 5, 6, and WORM.

 No physical wear on the storage medium means fewer failures, while still supporting best-in-class practices such as RAID 5, 6, and WORM. Longevity with a lifespan of more than 50 years  Eliminates wastage and landfill required to get rid of alternative storage mediums.

Plan B, a New Zealand-based provider of hosted infrastructure and business continuity services, has built the worlds first cloud-based archive-as-a-service technology on Panasonics blu-ray data archiver.

Said Ian Forrester, Managing Director, Plan B Ltd, Our new service makes blu-ray archival technology accessible to businesses of all sizes and allows them to securely access and manage their archive data in the cloud. Our as-a-service model eliminates capital expenditure while providing easy access, lower costs, scalability and reliable data storage now and into the future. This service model will not just be available in New Zealand but in Asia and Australia as well.

Plan Bs Cloud Data Archive service, hosted on Panasonics blu-ray archival technology, is available directly from Plan B. For more information, please visit clouddataarchive.sg.

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IMF and the Fight Against Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism

Money laundering and terrorist financing can threaten a countrys economic stability. As such, over recent years, the IMF has become increasingly active in supporting and promoting the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing efforts of our member countries. It has now become part of the Funds core workfrom analysis and policy advice, to assessing the health and integrity of financial sectors, to providing financial assistance when needed, to helping countries build institutions and increase operational effectiveness.

Money laundering is the processing of assets generated by criminal activity to obscure the link between the funds and their illegal origins. Terrorism financing raises money to support terrorist activities. While these two phenomena differ in many ways, they often exploit the same vulnerabilities in financial systems that allow for an inappropriate level of anonymity and opacity in carrying out transactions.

In 2000, the IMF responded to calls from the international community to expand its work on anti-money laundering (AML). After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the IMF intensified its AML activities and extended them to include combating the financing of terrorism (CFT). In 2009, the IMF launched a donor-supported trust fund to finance AML/CFT capacity development in its member countries. In 2018, the IMFs Executive Board reviewed  as part of its five year review cycle of the policy- the Funds AML/CFT strategy and gave strategic directions for the work ahead.

A threat to economic and financial stability

The IMF is especially concerned about the possible consequences of money laundering, terrorist financing (TF), proliferation financing (the provision of funds or financial services for the acquisition of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons), and related crimes which undermine the integrity and stability of the financial sector and the broader economy.

These crimes, as well as those underlying crimes that generate money laundering activity can threaten the stability of a countrys financial sector and a countrys external stability more generally. This, in turn, can affect law and order, good governance, regulatory effectiveness, foreign investments and international capital flows.

Money laundering and terrorism financing activity in one country can have serious cross-border and even global adverse effects. Jurisdictions with weak or ineffective controls are especially attractive for money launderers and financiers of terrorism. These criminals exploit the complexity of the global financial system, the speed at which money can traverse borders, as well as differences between national laws to carry out their concealment objectives

International standards guide effective AML/CFT regimes

The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), a 39-member inter-governmental body established by the 1989 G7 Summit in Paris, has primary responsibility for developing the worldwide standards for AML/CFT. It works in close cooperation with other key international organizations, including the IMF, the World Bank, the United Nations, and FATF-style regional bodies (FSRBs).

To help national governments set up effective AML/CFT regimes, the FATF issued a list of recommendations that set out a universally applicable framework of measures covering the criminal justice system, the financial sector, certain non-financial businesses and professions, transparency of legal persons and arrangements, and mechanisms of international cooperation.

The IMFs role in AML/CFT efforts

Over the past 20 years, the IMF has helped shape AML/CFT/CPF policies internationally, and within its members national frameworks. Staff work has included more than 70 AML/CFT assessments, involvements through Article IV consultations, Financial Sector Assessment Programs (FSAPs), and inputs into the design and implementation of financial integrity-related measures in Fund-supported programs, as well as many capacity development activities and research projects.

The IMF staff has been particularly active in providing financial integrity advice in the context of surveillance, evaluating countries compliance with the international AML/CFT standard, and in developing programs to help them address shortcomings. The IMF also analyzes global and national AML/CFT regimes and how they interact with issues such as virtual currencies, financial technology (Fintech) trends, Islamic finance, costs of and mitigating strategies for corruption, illicit financial flows and the withdrawal of correspondent banking relationships.

In line with a growing recognition of the importance of financial integrity issues for the IMF, the AML/CFT program has evolved over the years.

In 2004, the Executive Board agreed to make AML/CFT assessments and capacity development a regular part of IMF work.

In 2011, the Board discussed a report on the evolution of the AML/CFT program over the previous five years. Directors supported the mandatory coverage of financial integrity issues in specific circumstances. In the context of Article IV consultations, staff is required to discuss AML/CFT issues in cases where money laundering, terrorism financing, and related crimes (such as corruption or tax crimes) are serious enough to threaten domestic stability, balance of payments stability, or the effective operation of the international monetary system.

In the 2014 review of the Funds AML/CFT strategy, the Board encouraged staff to continue efforts to integrate financial integrity issues into its surveillance and in the context of Fund-supported programs, when financial integrity issues are critical to financing assurances or to achieve program objectives. The Board also decided that AML/CFT should continue to be addressed in all FSAPs but on a more flexible basis.

The Executive Board in 2018 took note of several emerging areas in the AML/CFT space, including the integrity risks relating to Fintech and the de-risking phenomenon affecting correspondent banking relationships. It also noted increasing demand for financial integrity advice and capacity development. Going forward, staff will lead a minimum of one to two assessments per year.

In 2020, the Executive Board addressed the issue of the participation of staff in AML/CFT assessments carried out by other assessor bodies. This was viewed as valuable as it also lent Fund expertise to these assessor bodies.

The Funds activities in the AML/CFT arena are funded from both internal and external sources. In 2009, the IMF launched a donor-supported trust fundthe first in a series of Topical Trust Funds, now referred to as Thematic Funds (AMLTF) to finance capacity development in AML/CFT that complemented the IMFs existing financing accounts.

The AMLTF leverages staff expertise and experience to deliver tailored AML/CFT capacity development. The AMLTFs first phase ended in April 2014, directly benefitting 35 countries together with 3 regional projects. The current phase will place particular focus on AML/CFT systems that have been affected by the pandemic as well as effective delivery of capacity development, virtually.
Public Viewing of State Water Board Salton Sea Workshop Webcast

El Centro, California - Tuesday, April 19, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors and the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) Board of Directors will host a public viewing of the State Water Resources Control Boards (SWRCB) public workshop regarding the Salton Sea in El Centro. The workshop viewing will begin at 1 p.m. at the William R. Condit Auditorium.

Although the workshop is being held in Sacramento and a live broadcast of the meeting is available on the CalEPA website, this is an opportunity for members of the public to view the SWRCB workshop in a local location. The workshop will consist of an update from the California Natural Resources Agency on the status of the Salton Sea Management Program and testimony from stakeholders, including representatives from the County of Imperial and IID, regarding recent Salton Sea activities.

Individuals interested in being a part of the Salton Sea solution and keeping informed of recent Salton Sea related activities are encouraged to attend. For more information or to RSVP, please contact the County Executive Office at (442) 265-1001 or visit the Imperial County Website County Events calendar.

Public Viewing of SWRCB Workshop

April 19, 2016 at 1:00 p.m.

William R. Condit Auditorium, 1285 Broadway Avenue, El Centro, California.
NASA Featured Prominently at USA Science and Engineering Festival

Washington, DC - Explore outer space and our Earth with NASA at the USA Science and Engineering Festival, April 15-17 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, located at 801 Mt. Vernon Place NW in Washington. NASA scientists and engineers will be on hand at the agencys interactive and informative exhibit, Booth #6393, Saturday and Sunday to talk all things science and exploration.

NASA will hold a media availability at 10:15 a.m. EDT Friday, during the festival sneak peak event, at its second floor exhibit space. Experts will be on hand to discuss NASA missions that are inspiring todays youth -- the Mars generation.

During the two-day public event, NASA exhibits will allow visitors of all ages to take virtual reality walks on other planets, snap a selfie in a spacesuit, and enjoy several other interactive activities, as well as talk to experts about a variety of topics, including rockets, robots, X-Planes (experimental aircraft) and deep-space exploration.

NASA partner the Center for Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) will host a live call from the International Space Station with astronaut Jeff Williams at 12:35 p.m. Saturday.

At 3 p.m. Saturday on the Einstein Stage, NASAs Jason Crusan will talk about how NASA's first 3-D printer and the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module are paving the way for humans to live, work, and travel farther into space than ever before.

The NASA Stage at the festival will feature agency scientists and engineers presenting fast-paced, TED-style talks. Speakers include NASAs Director of Planetary Science Jim Green, who will talk about the film The Martian and science fiction versus science fact.

NASA Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan will speak at 1 p.m. Sunday, about NASAs Journey to Mars, and the agencys goal of putting humans on the Red Planet in the 2030s. Her presentation will include discussions on how we get to Mars and the unique challenges of living on this distant world, followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience.

Other speakers will talk about NASAs Earth science missions, future-forward aeronautics research and exploration of our solar system and beyond. The Space Telescope Science Institute, in partnership with NASA, will showcase at the event the agencys Hubble Space Telescope and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, currently being assembled at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Visitors can use interactive software to explore how NASAs fleet of telescopes observe space across the electromagnetic spectrum. They also will see how astronomers create multi-colored images from data taken with Hubble and the Webb telescope.

For a complete list of NASA activities and speakers during the festival, visit:

http://www.usasciencefestival.org

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov
Clinical diagnosis of dementia can be inexact  particularly in the early stages  and this can be a challenge, Gary Culliton reports in his latest Clinical Update.

It is thus important to screen for mimics and other causes, as a diagnosis may only becomes clear with time.

Memory loss is a common symptom, but the main issues relate to the initial clinical assessment of patients with memory problems, according to Consultant Neurologist Dr Justin Kinsella, who spoke about the assessment of memory problems at a recent St Vincents Private Hospital educational evening.

Dr Kinsellas background is in cognitive neurology and dementia, especially in young onset dementia. He also has a background in stroke and vascular neurology.

Early diagnosis is extremely important in terms of commencing treatment as well as informing carers and families, so they can plan for the future. Starting symptomatic treatment and screening for dementia mimics at an early stage are also key.

Improved care and community supports are obviously needed, especially for patients under the age of 65, in Dr Kinsellas view.

In an overarching comment, the DSM-IV criteria (1994) define dementia as an acquired progressive impairment of cognitive function.

The impairment must be sufficiently severe to cause impairment in social or occupational functioning and it must represent a decline from previously higher level of functioning. This decline could be progressive or stepwise.

In terms of the scale of the problem, it is estimated that 42,000 people are currently living with dementia. However, the numbers are set to jump dramatically, doubling or almost trebling over the next 30 years (Cahill et al., 2012).

Between the ages of 65 and 69, 1.8 per cent of men and 1.4 per cent of women have a diagnosis of dementia, a European audit has shown (Alzheimer Europe, 2009). Yet the prevalence rapidly escalates as one ages, with patients older than 85 years having a 20.9 per cent and 28.5 per cent prevalence in men and women respectively.

Clinical assessment

In terms of clinical assessment, a collateral account from an independent person  typically a family member or close friend  is useful. This would preferably be someone who meets the patient on a regular basis. It is useful to ask about recent events, current affairs and any appointments or conversations that the patient may have trouble remembering.

More detailed bedside cognitive assessment would rev-olve around the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The MMSE is useful for longitudinal clinical measures of cognitive function, while the MoCA is beneficial in assessing mild cognitive impairment.

The Addenbrookes Cognitive Examination (ACE-R) is a more detailed assessment and formal neuropsychometry is also very useful. A general neurological and physical examination is also important for picking up other potential causes, such as signs of a stroke or of an underlying neuroinflammatory process.

Alzheimers dementia

Alzheimers dementia (AD) accounts for between 50 and 70 per cent of all dementias. AD usually starts with insidious onset of memory impairment, typically with episodic memory problems and problems with delayed recall. There can also be a steady, progressive decline in language and calculation skills along with a change in personality. Individuals may also experience the loss of the meaning of words, and as the disease course progresses, visuospatial and visuoperceptual problems may occur.

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a neurodegenerative process with behavioural and/or linguistic deterioration, with semantic dementia a subtype of FTLD with fluent speech pattern. Speech is fluent but the patient can talk around points with no specific focus. The patient is also likely to be unable to name certain objects.

Non-fluent or primary progressive aphasia (PPA) may involve a combination of problems with sentence structure, sound production or articulation, and patients can have dysarthria and problems with constructing sentences.

Those with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD)  a process which classically starts in the frontal lobes before moving to the temporal lobe  initially present with behavioural problems. They can become disinhibited and inappropriate and may become apathetic, but sometimes the reverse can be true: they can become irritable, agitated and impulsive.

Vascular dementia

Vascular dementia, the second most common cause of dementia, can occasionally be difficult to differentiate from AD. Patients can have a very steady progression or a stepwise progression of symptoms relating to an accumulation of cerebrovascular disease. Up to 80 per cent of these patients will have a history of hypertension or other vascular risk factors, yet a certain proportion will not have any history of previous transient ischaemic attack or stroke.

Compared to AD, these patients tend to have a higher incidence of executive dysfunction, disinhibition or emotional lability.

Clinical diagnosis of dementia can be inexact, particularly in the early stages, and this can be a challenge. It is thus important to screen for mimics and other causes, as sometimes a diagnosis only becomes clear with time.

In terms of imaging, MRI brain scans are commonly used in diagnosing and excluding other causes of dementia. Measures of brain volume are an important diagnostic feature as well as useful outcome measures in a lot of current clinical trials in dementia.

Diagnostic work-up may include brain FDG-PET scans assessing cerebral metabolism and can highlight areas of affected or damaged cortex. Amyloid PET imaging, including with PiB and florbetapir tracers, look at the amount of amyloid protein deposited in the brain. Over time, as patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) progress to AD, there is typically increased uptake of the amyloid tracer in the brain.

CSF biomarkers have a high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity in AD. Tau protein is like a scaffolding protein within the axon, which stabilises the microtubule. As neurons degenerate, tau proteins are shed into the CSF. Total tau and phosphorylated tau (more specific for AD) can be measured, with levels typically elevated in AD patients.

Patients with AD would also typically have reduced CSF levels of amyloid-beta protein (A1-42), which has been deposited into the brain. These biomarkers can be useful in predicting the conversion of patients with MCI to AD.

The underlying disease process in AD can develop and evolve up to 15 to 20 years before the onset of symptoms: observational studies have demonstrated CSF tau levels increase and A1-42 levels decrease prior to symptom onset (Feldman and Gracon, The Natural History of Alzheimers Disease, London: Martin Dunitz, 1996). When patients become symptomatic, they gradually decline clinically and cognitively and overall, daily functioning deteriorates. MRI brain volume declines with worsening degrees of atrophy.

It was important to screen for potentially reversible causes and mimics, said Dr Kinsella. At an initial assessment, it is important to look for symptoms of low mood or depression as in the early stages these can mimic symptoms of MCI. Dr Kinsella said he would have a low threshold for investigating such patients in the setting of clinical uncertainty.

Other causes

It was also important to rule out metabolic causes, such as hypothyroidism. In appropriate circumstances, infective screens (HIV/syphilis) should be performed, and one should be mindful that certain medications can also contribute to cognitive decline.

Extremely rarely (incidence of one per million per year), prion disease can also cause cognitive decline similar to AD, but typically this decline occurs more rapidly.

Space-occupying lesions (SOL) are another possibility: a slow-growing frontal meningioma, for example, can give a clinical picture similar to AD. Inflammatory causes can include autoimmune limbic encephalitis, and these patients should be screened for auto-antibodies and possibly tumour and paraneoplastic markers.

Evidence of anti-voltage-gated K+ channel and anti-NMDAR antibodies might be sought. And where suspicions arise following the physical exam  in patients presenting with weight loss or constitutional symptoms, for example  neoplastic work-up should be performed.

To exclude cerebral masses, a screening CT brain scan could be done. This can also be useful in looking at the brain volume, including cortex and hippocampi. However, volumetric MRI brain would be the gold standard.

Therapy options

Dr Kinsella gave those at the educational meeting an update on treatments and supports, as well as information on future research. In terms of therapy, he noted that the cholinergic hypothesis for the pathophysiology of AD was generated in the 1970s. The main symptomatic treatments include the cholinesterase inhibitors and the glutamate/ NMDA receptor inhibitors, which remain the mainstay for symptomatic treatment.

The most commonly used treatments for mild to moderate AD include donepezil, galantamine, and rivastigmine  with memantine usually reserved for patients with severe AD.

Currently, some ongoing clinical trials in AD are examining the effects of anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies, which can bind to beta-amyloid deposited in the brain. Beta-amyloid could thus potentially be inactivated or removed. Investigational products undergoing study in trials include solanezumab, aducanumab and gantenerumab.

Another interesting area is the development of antibodies against tau proteins, while further investigational disease modifying strategies include BACE inhibitors, which inhibit the enzyme beta-secretase, responsible for converting amyloid precursor protein to beta amyloid. Trials of vaccines, meanwhile, aim to encourage amyloid removal from the brain using the patients own immune system.

Clinical trials

The primary objective of many of these clinical trials is to start patients on disease-modifying treatments early in the disease course, so that the underlying damage may hopefully be slowed or limited. These agents may also work best or only early on in the disease course.

Non-pharmacologic man-agement in dementia is also extremely important and patient, carer and healthcare professional education is key. Patients and next-of-kin should get advice early on about establishing enduring power of attorney and getting their financial affairs in order. Genetic counselling is also very important, particularly in patients with young-onset dementia.

Driving assessments in certain patients with early dementia should also be performed every six months if possible, and there should be a low threshold for advising patients against driving if genuine concerns exist, especially from family members or next-of-kin.

Visual and mobility aids should be considered in appropriate circumstances and cognitive rehabilitation, where appropriate, may also be helpful.

It is advised that GPs and public health nurses must be involved from a very early stage and home care packages may be arranged.

In future, key research areas include enhancing the accuracy of diagnostic biomarkers, with hopefully a serological biomarker emerging. Trials will continue in relation to disease modifying therapies and better symptomatic treatments.

Holistic care will also continue to be key, according to Dr Kinsella.
Lloyd Mudiwa examines the long-running issue of capacity in Irish hospitals from the point of view of the medical practitioners at the coal face of healthcare delivery.

Not so long ago, retired consultant geriatrician Prof Cillian Twomey was so frustrated that he wrote an article that was published by one of the national newspapers, which he prefaced by quoting different politicians, be they in Government or in opposition, from 2001 to the present day.

Those in opposition while elected would have believed that hospital emergency department (ED) crowding was disgraceful and those in Government were promising to do something about it, and the same people were saying diametrically opposite things depending on whether they were in Government or not, and we are still here in these outrageous circumstances, the Cork doctor told the recent IMO AGM in Sligo.

In my own career latterly, it was an increasing source of disgust that we were treating patients so badly in our emergency rooms, added Dr Twomey, who was contributing to debate in a series of eight motions dealing with capacity in acute hospital, all of which were passed. These motions include two proposed by the IMO NCHD Committee, which called on the HSE and the Department of Health (DoH) to ensure that all relevant unions are part of any group tasked with dealing with the crisis in our health services which is manifesting itself in crowding in our EDs, and to introduce structured pathways for referral of non-emergency patients who require investigation, such pathways to be timely and appropriate to meet patient needs.

The Consultants Committee submitted four motions urging the IMO to lobby the HSE, Minister for Health and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform firstly to immediately provide the required investment, both structurally and financially, in acute hospital bed capacity to enable our hospital system to provide an appropriate response to patients in need of acute hospital admission, and secondly, to acknowledge that it was not appropriate to treat the sickest, most urgent patients on trolleys, chairs or in the corridors of our EDs.

Beyond capacity

In a third, linked motion, the consultants wanted the three parties above to recognise that our acute hospital system was operating well beyond capacity and that no capacity existed at present for unexpected surges in demand or major emergencies. The HSE and the two Ministers were also urged to investigate the service and quality improvements that could be realised by developing tele-radiology, remote reporting and tele-diagnostic services in particular, so as to aid the smaller and medium-sized hospitals in the health service.

The Mayo GP Branch proposed two motions both calling on the HSE and DoH to explore the option of employing GPs in EDs, and, to ensure that the Boards of the new hospital groups and the individual hospitals have representation from GPs working in the community who are nominated by their colleagues and funded by the HSE on their Boards.

But the core issue at the heart, I think, of this whole problem is not an ED problem at all, Prof Twomey, a former President of the IMO, continued. It is what this motion is talking about  capacity.

Bed occupancy rate

He surmised: Until we come back to the expressed percentage that on average our ED beds should have 85 per cent occupancy, we are never going to solve the problem. And until this happens we are going nowhere.

The current acting Health Minister when he was Minister proper made an announcement early in his term that he would get the occupancy rate numbers down to 90 per cent, but he hasnt a chance on earth of that being achieved unless that capacity issue is different, expressed Prof Twomey.

He said that since 2001, we now had a bigger problem due to population expansion, the increasing sophistication of the services being managed and increased demand across the board  so it was not just about acute bed capacity. There are also requirements in terms of rehabilitation, long-term care beds and community care.

Poor confidence

Yet another former IMO President Dr Mick Molloy also commented: I am very much disappointed to follow on from Dr [Greg] Kelly, that if the patient solution to our health service problem were to go ar bealach na habhann, as they said in the old days, because thats no solution to anybody to jump in the river. And if the people are feeling that poor confidence in our health service that they see that as a solution to their own medical problem, we have failed

Dr Kelly, a GP in Castlerea, had told the meeting that a patient with metastatic cancer told him he would rather drown myself in the river than return for treatment to a cancer centre of excellence where he would face ED delays and the likelihood of days on a trolley. His patient was so distraught that the Roscommon GP made contact instead with Roscommon General Hospital and asked if it would accommodate him.

We are operating well beyond what the average capacity of the hospital should be. There should always be a small number of beds free to cope with flows and demand, unexpected surges, unpredictable flows of patients, stressed Dr Molloy, who is bidding to be elected as an Independent Senator to the NUI Panel.

The Emergency Consultant at Bon Secours Hospital Tralee and Wexford General Hospital added: One of these internationally quoted averages is 85 per cent and we are operating most of our hospitals at 105 per cent or even 110 per cent at this point in time, which is just crazy and its unsustainable, and for a long, long period of time. We have done it for a couple of decades now, but we are now seeing the problems of that.

In fact, Dr Molloy contended, the bed occupancy rate should be even lower. We have smaller hospitals in our system; it shouldnt be 85 per cent occupancy. It should in fact be 75 per cent occupancy because they have less scope to deal with some surges  so 75 per cent of 200 had a much bigger effect that 85 per cent of 400, 500 or 600 beds. Theres much more flow in that scenario.

Ireland has been very lucky it had not had any true major emergencies over the past few decades as it would struggle to cope, he sounded.

Dr Molloy said while he appreciated there were multi-factorial issues at play, structural reform would not resolve crowding in the short-term, but increasing capacity would deal with the two problems of the increasing population and lengthy waiting lists for procedures.

Fellow former IMO President Dr Martin Daly was next to contribute, and like Dr Molloy is also running in the forthcoming Seanad elections. Concurring that while acute capacity was obviously the major issue, Dr Daly believed it was not just the capacity of the hospital that was an issue, but also capacity in primary care and in the after-care where people could be discharged.

Reform

But capacity alone is not going to be a silver bullet, Dr Daly added. It also demands reform.

He said: We need to reform the systems that we have operating both in the community and in the hospitals. I have had a close relative who following an accident went through the system and ended up in casualty for three days on a trolley during the summer time, which is supposed to be a quiet time, before being admitted into a day ward, in which for each of the seven days they were seen by a different medical team.

Now thats simply not acceptable. Theres no continuity in care. That is not management, thats administration of a patient going through a care in a ward. So without reform we dont need to bring in and reinvent the wheel.

However, he did proffer a solution: We need to manage what we have, not administer what we have. We need proper IT systems to talk to each other in the hospitals, we need interface between the hospitals and primary care, we need to develop capacity where people can be appropriately stepped down into the community, either into rehab or long-term care. So capacity alone without reform will not be the answer.

New technology

Noting that there was a lack of specialised consultants and indeed all doctors in the Irish health system, Dr Clive Kilgallen, Consultant Pathologist at Sligo General Hospital, offered yet a different solution  new technologies. There are good jobs available and nobody applying for them. There are early retirements and resignations of staff. There are lots of unfilled positions. This is particularly bad in the smaller units where there are whole services that are bereft of full-time medical consultants and staff.

This situation is getting worse and the reality is in the short-term unless there is a big change in the way things are run, by getting new people in our Irish health service, this situation is going to get worse and there are going to be swathes and areas of the country where there is simply no specialist to deliver the service.

So, maybe the question is could the new emerging technology, which has already started to come out in radiology, and also started to come out in pathology, also tele-radiology and tele-diagnostic services, possibly in some way help the situation?

Demand

There is a culture of demand on the part of the public now to get into hospital, with the demand for secondary care services reaching insatiable levels, according to Dr Ken Egan, who is also the chair of the National Association of GP Co-ops. Thats whats going on here. Theres a culture of demand and we need to deal with that.

Mayo GP Dr Oliver Whyte added that in the past two years there had been a surge in admission to hospital and attendance to EDs, and that this came down to something very simple: the Department of Health cut the distance codes for GPs so now everything is sent to hospital.

Greater GP role

He sought greater involvement in hospitals boards and EDs for local GPs, including in relation to public diagnostics access, through two motions proposed on behalf of the Mayo GP Branch (see GPs want greater role in hospitals, IMT, April 8, 2016, http://bit.ly/IMT-GPs-hospitals).

And the other reality is we need experienced hospital consultants to come in and then I would suggest the doctors take over the management of these situations from the hospitals as they are at the front line, Dr Whyte said, adding that GPs who were more experienced at diagnosing illnesses could help triage patients without resorting to unnecessary over-testing, thereby leading to faster treatment.

Dublin GP Dr Mark Murphy said there was a very good model in Sligo promoting good working relationships between GPs and hospitals and he fully recommended it, citing also the example of Dr Ronan Fawsitt, who had been doing the work pro bono in Kilkenny.
Former President of Ireland and UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson has launched Irelands first Charter of Rights for people with dementia.

Ms Robinson said she hoped the move would enable everyone to see people with the condition in a new light, with the same human rights as all of us.

The groundbreaking charter, which was drawn up by the Alzheimer Society of Ireland (ASI) and the Irish Dementia Working Group, has been created to demonstrate the importance of a parity of rights for the 48,000 people with dementia in this country.

The document recognises the challenges and obstacles facing people with dementia and seeks to highlight their equal rights. According to Helen Rochford-Brennan, Chair of the ASIs Irish Dementia Working Group: As a person living with dementia this is a momentous day for those of us who are dedicated to fighting for equal rights as citizens.
In a first of its kind collaboration in the Middle East, the RCPI is to assist Etihad Airways in becoming a global leader in aviation medicine by helping it to enhance the medical and broader well-being services of its crew and passengers.

Etihad Airways Medical Centre, the UAEs first aeromedical facility, and the Faculty of Occupational Medicine at the RCPI, have announced the new partnership to provide the airline with educational, training, research and operational excellence opportunities in occupational medicine.

As part of the agreement, the RCPI said the Faculty would hold training courses and educational programmes to optimise and develop the skills of Etihad Airways staff and the medical services offered by the airline.

A visiting expert programme will be introduced to allow both parties to exchange and transfer field experts to enhance knowledge-sharing. Research findings and medical scientific inventions, where applicable, will also be exchanged under the new agreement.

The Faculty will develop a programme to prepare Etihad Airways Medical Centre to become an accredited training centre of the Faculty and RCPI.

A training programme will also be created with the aim of qualifying the first occupational health nurses in the UAE.

Dean of the Faculty Dr Declan Whelan said: Our agreement represents international recognition by a world-renowned airline of the high quality of occupational medicine in Ireland.

lloyd.mudiwa@imt.ie
'We Got Robbed': Pakistani Twitter Had a Meltdown Over 'Controversial' No Ball to Virat Kohli
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Inspiration is often treated as a semi-mystical and ultimately uncontrollable empowerment of the mind. And, to some extent, thats true. In Koine Greek, it is impossible to say I think, because no active form of the verb exists. Instead, one is forced to say, the thought occurred to me or the thought was given to me. But does that mean we have to subject ourselves to the unpredictable whims of whatever amount of brilliance happens to be rattling around in our brains at any given moment? Instead of just waiting around for the muse to hit us in the head with a lightning bolt, we can ingrain in ourselves the habits that will leave writers block reeling in the dust.

Ask questions

The first thing I do when I hit a speed bump is start asking questions. The reporters old standby 5 Ws come in plenty handy for novelists too, particularly Why? and What if? If my brain is particularly snarled, I usually have to resort to asking these questions with pen and paper. Something about the forced structure of writing out my thoughts helps me concentrate. Ive filled notebooks upon notebooks with my why-ing and what if-ing, especially during the outlining stages. This is a process that has never failed me. Keep asking long enough and eventually, youll find the answers. Bestseller Sue Grafton says, If you know the question, you know the answer.

Stop mid-sentence

Ernest Hemingway made it a practice to stop writing whenever he was on a roll. By cutting himself off in the middle of a great idea - sometimes even mid-sentence - he gave himself a prime beginning spot for the next day. Instead of floundering around, wasting time in search of a new batch of inspiration, he could simply pick up right where he left off the day before. Make it a habit to leave a few loose threads every day when you quit writing. Having something to grab hold of the next day will make it that much easier to maintain your train of thought.

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

Brainstorm ahead of time

Sitting down at your computer, all hyped to write, only to realize you have no idea what to write is not a very nice feeling. Never leave knotty plot problems to be solved the next day. Instead, work them out in the interval between writing sessions. Every evening, after Ive finished my writing for the day, I take a walk down to the mailbox. I run over the scenes I plan to work on the next day, identify potential problems, and just generally form a plan of attack, so I know exactly how to shape my scenes when I sit down the next day. That way, instead of wasting precious writing time figuring out my next move, I can gallop right ahead.

Show up every day

Inspiration flows best when it flows regularly. Make it a point to sit down every single day for an allotted amount of time. Write even when you dont feel like it. Treat it like a job and dont cut yourself any slack. The muse only inhabits minds that are ready and waiting for it, and if youre not writing, then youre not ready. Novelist Peter de Vries knew what he was talking about when he said, I write when Im inspired, and I see to it that Im inspired at nine oclock every morning.

Make the fight against writers block proactive instead of defensive, and youll find, as I have, that the odds are almost always stacked in the authors favor.

K.M. Weiland is the author of several novels, along with writer mentoring books Outlining Your Novel and Structuring Your Novel. These tips come from quora.com, the popular online Q&A service. Ask any question and get real answers from people in the know.
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We all collectively had one caveat for our support of Disney moving ahead with Indiana Jones 5: burn every memory of The Crystal Skull and you may proceed.

Which is exactly what hasn't happened. Following the hire of Crystal Skull's sreenwriter David Koepp, producer Frank Marshall has now confirmed the fifth entry's plot will be a direct continuation of its predecessor.

It's not entirely surprising news; as much as Crystal Skull may be critically and popularly reviled, Disney aren't the kind to make a move so bold as to utterly erase a film from its canon. Luckily, The Force Awakens' position on the Star Wars timeline blessed it with minimal acknowledgement of the prequels; yet, Indiana Jones 5 is going to have a tougher time trying to break free from its predecessor's shadow.

Does that mean the return of Shia LaBeouf's Mutt? Or will he be conveniently packed off to race motorycles on the opposite side of the world? Or even more awkwardly: the utterly tragic, but deeply convenient, death of Indiana Jones' aggravating son?

Speaking at a Q&A after being named CinemaCon's producer of the decade (via Variety), Marshall enthused about Disney's first cinematic outing with the franchise; declaring it "pretty sweet" to return to the series which had first introduced him to director Steven Spielberg and his own future wife Kathleen Kennedy, who is now president of Lucasfilm and a large part of what made The Force Awakens such a resounding success.



Marshall also seemed to confim two things about Indiana Jones' future; that further sequels would be possible, but that Chris Pratt-starring reboot that was so long rumoured is out of the question. "Its all about the story. I think both in the Jason Bourne series and on Indiana Jones, we are not going to do the Bond thing," he stated. "We think those characters are iconic, and those are the only actors who can play that."

Indiana Jones 5 is set for release 19 July, 2019.
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Elton John is in talks to join Taron Egerton and the newly returning Colin Firth in upcoming Kingsman sequel The Golden Circle.

The legendary singer might be playing himself in a cameo role, although details of the potential part remain unknown at this stage.

Film industry insider The Hollywood Reporter revealed the news, but John is not believed to have inked a deal yet.

Should he make an appearance, John will be starring alongside fellow new cast additions Julianne Moore as the villain and Halle Berry as the head of US spy society Statesmen.

John is not a stranger to movies, having last popped up in Spice Girls comedy Spice World twenty years ago. Since then, he has worked with his own Rocket Pictures production company to make films such as Gnomeo and Juliet and Its a Boy Girl Thing.

Matthew Vaughn will be back in the directors seat for Kingsman: The Golden Circle, having co-written the script with Jane Goldman.

Egerton, who plays Eggsy, strongly hinted that Firth would be reprising his role as suave secret agent Harry Hart when he shared a new poster on Twitter reading Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. The poster shows Harts trademark glasses with one lens knocked out, presumably in reference to the bullet that hit him in the eye, supposedly killing him in first film Kingsman: The Secret Service.



How Vaughn intends to bring Hart back remains a mystery. All we know is that the story will be set state-side with Eggsy and Mark Strongs Merlin hired to work for Statesmen. Berrys new character Ginger is battling to defeat Moores evil Poppy but is in need of help from her British counterparts.

Kingsman: The Secret Service grossed $412.4 million at the global office on a budget of $81 million, with the sequel expected to reach UK cinemas on 16 June next year.
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Criminal (15), Ariel Vromen, 113 mins, starring: Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones - **

HM Treasury and Chancellor George Osborne must take some of the responsibility for this misfiring and very jarring thriller. The original intention was to make it in an American city but the producers relocated the action to London to take advantage of the generous tax breaks available in the UK. The result is an American movie dressed up in British clothes that simply dont fit.

At least, Criminal begins brightly enough with a chase sequence in which Ryan Reynolds (seen all too briefly) careers round London, pursued by a Spanish anarchist and his associates.

Costner plays an ageing and thoroughly obnoxious death row convict. Tommy Lee Jones is the Dr Frankenstein-like scientist who tries to implant a CIA agents memories into his brain and thereby save the world. Gary Oldman is in Commissioner Gordon mode as a London-based CIA boss. Sadly, this isnt a patch on director Vromens excellent earlier thriller, The Iceman.

Despite The Falling Snow (12A), Shamim Sarif, 91 mins, starring: Rebecca Ferguson, Antje Traue, Charles Dance, Anthony Head, Amy Nuttall - **

Rebecca Ferguson stars as a female spy in the film set in Moscow during the Cold War

Sarifs very mawkish and novelettish melodrama, based on her own book, stars Rebecca Ferguson in a dual role. She is Katya, a beautiful Russian dissident in late 1950s Moscow who marries young Soviet apparatchik Alexander (Sam Reid) primarily to steal secrets, falls in love with him and then is split apart from him. Meanwhile, in the early 1990s scenes, she is Katjas niece, a beautiful young American artist who heads to Russia to find what happened to her old aunt. Ferguson (who starred last year in Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation) is given lots of lambent Ingrid Bergman-like close-ups. There is a stirring score from Rachael Portman and it snows quite a lot. For all its invocations of Russian history, this is a glorified telenovela at heart.

Eisenstein In Guanajuato (18). Peter Greenaway, 105 mins, starring: Elmer Back, Luis Alberti, Maya Zapata, Jose Montini, - ****

Peter Greenaways exuberant, highly stylised new feature follows Russian director Sergei Eisenstein on his trip to Mexico in the early 1930s to make Que Viva Mexico. Eisenstein, aged 33, experienced a sexual awakening as he began an affair with his tour guide, Palemo Canedo (Luis Alberti).

Eisenstein was the master of montage. Greenaway doesnt try to mimic him but instead throws in some astonishingly elaborate travelling shots, in which there is no cutting at all. As the bushy haired Russian filmmaker, Elmer Back looks and behaves like Harpo Marx. Its an intriguing performance which captures its subjects humour, prurience and his visionary qualities. What he risks missing, though, is the characters innocence. The Eisenstein here seems very worldly wise even before he reaches Mexico.
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To many, it must have seemed a near sacrilegious act for Disney to make a new animated version of The Jungle Book. After all, the 1967 film is one of the best loved features in the Disney canon. The various live action films and spin-offs since then have been given a lukewarm response. As it turns out, the latest attempt to bring Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli to the screen is a triumph - a painstakingly crafted digital 3D movie whose astonishing visual effects are complemented by very sure-footed storytelling and tremendous voice-work.

Early on, when we see Mowgli (Neel Sethi) prancing through the forest with the black panther Bagheera (voiced by Ben Kingsley) or playing with wolf pups at the Peace Rock, it looks as if the film will indulge in the cutesy, sentimental anthropomorphism that blights so many animated movies. Thankfully, as soon as the vengeful, scarred tiger Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba) arrives, the mood changes. The tiger has a bitter grudge against the boy and wants him dead.

The portrayal of the animals is as life-like as in a natural history documentary - we can see every ripple of their muscles.

This is a far darker film than the 1967 cartoon. Theres a hint of jungle gothic about several of the scenes. Mowglis journey, against his will, to the ruined temple presided over by the obese orang-utan King Louis (voiced in purring mobster-like tones by Christopher Walken) could be something out of a horror movie. So could the scene when the little boy is mesmerised by the python Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) which wraps its coils around him. Theres nothing cosy either about the elemental sequences - the landslides, storms, buffalo stampedes or the fire - red flower - in the forest.

Newcomer Sethi gives a remarkable performance in a role that required him, as just about the films only live action character, to act in front of a blue screen. (His animals friends were added in afterwards.) He plays Mowgli with a fieriness and gumption which stops the character ever seeming too much like an orphan waif on leave from a Victorian melodrama.

Strangely, the least effective scenes here are those which invoke the memory of the 1967 film. We hears a few strains from The Bare Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You but the songs seem out of place. Theres plenty of comedy here, not least when Baloo the bear (Bill Murray) is in pursuit of honey but theres also a constant sense of menace.

This wasn't an easy movie to make. Each individual shot reportedly took weeks to animate. Much of the work was done by a small army of technicians at the effects company MPC in London and at Weta in New Zealand, although the director Jon Favreau was based in LA for most of the shoot. Theyve achieved something both groundbreaking and magical.
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With energy prices soaring, more of us are looking for all the free electricity we can get. While even the best portable solar panels and chargers arent powerful enough for heavy duty jobs such as heating a water tank or running large appliances, they can easily keep phones, tablets and laptops charged up, using nothing but sunshine.

Though battery technology keeps improving, our gadgets are becoming more power-hungry, meaning the battery life of the average phone lasts just a single day. That means its more essential than ever to carry a back-up solar charger or solar panel when camping, going off-grid, or travelling in the great outdoors with your favourite tech.

Advances in technology mean todays solar panels are smaller, lighter and more efficient than ever. Chargers that were once too big to carry can now be folded down to fit inside a travel case or hang from the back of your pack while hiking. So long as youve got enough sunlight, the best solar chargers can indefinitely extend the life of your phone, your headphones, and even your laptop.

Some solar chargers can be plugged directly into a phone to charge it, but because most panels dont actually store any energy its best to connect solar chargers to a separate battery pack and charge your devices from that. Many solar chargers come with battery packs for just this reason.

Solar chargers are most often seen when camping in remote spots, attending festivals and touring through the wilderness, but theyre also used to keep the batteries of cars, motorhomes and boats from going flat when theyre not being used. Anyone with a campsite outhouse, an off-grid stable or a shed not connected to mains power can use relatively cheap solar panels to keep a portable power station ticking over too, meaning there should always be free juice in the tank when you need it.

How we tested

We tested a range of solar chargers for different use cases, from large, fold-out models capable of powering multiple devices at once, to portable power banks with convenient built-in solar panels. We trialled them under the changeable weather conditions of south England, as well as while camping and at a festival in Portugal (admittedly our tester had access to wall power, but for the purposes of review they went as long as they could without). These are the ones that really shone.

The best solar chargers for 2022 are:
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A student nearly died after she developed a blood clot on her brain after she began taking the pill.

Natalie Lovatt, 19, was rushed to hospital when she suffered a severe migrane a week after taking the contraceptive.

The former Hollister model had swapped from the contraceptive injection to an oestrogen-free pill after three months because she feared she was putting on weight, the Daily Mail reports.

A bad reaction to the pill led to her potentially fatal blood clot, caused by a condition caused cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, which stops blood from flowing away from the brain.

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

Doctors said it was likely caused by her use of the combined contraceptives.

She was treated with anticoagulants at Salford Royal Hospital on 21 October last year.

Ms Lovatt told student newspaper the Tab: I wasnt aware of the dangers of the pill, so many women use it and the chances of complications are very low.

"Unfortunately, they were treating me for migraines and didnt spot the obvious warning signs, it was only because I was convinced it was too painful to be a migraine that they eventually sent me to A&E.

If I hadnt been so persistent they said I wouldnt be here now, I had never been in hospital before and it was a huge shock to my family because I very nearly died. Its not a chance worth taking.
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The International Monetary Funds report that the UK will grow slower than expected in 2016 is particularly worrying because the organisation is considered to be generally optimistic in its outlook.

Thats the view of Professor Ngaire Woods, a former adviser to the IMF board and the dean of the Blavatnik School of Government.

The IMF is almost always over-optimistic. You take their warnings very seriously. It is often criticised for not warning seriously enough. So this is a very sobering report, Professor Woods said.

The IMF warned on Tuesday that UK growth in 2016 will be 1.9 per cent, down from 2.2 per cent predicted in January, as uncertainty over the EU referendum in June weighs on the economy.

The IMF said that the very fact of hosting a referendum, regardless of whether or not there is a yes vote, had already had an impact on economic growth in the UK.

This forecast is lower still than the figure given by the Office for Budget responsibility in the March Budget, which put growth at 2 per cent this year, down from 2.3 per cent in 2015.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

George Osborne said the report was the clearest independent warning of what could happen to Britain if it votes to leave the EU.

If the British economy is hit by the mere risk of leaving the EU, can you imagine the hit to peoples income and jobs if we did actually leave? he said.

But David Buik, a market commentator from Panmure Gordon, said that the IMF wanted the UK to remain to prevent the breakup of the EU.

Lets face it, the IMF is a branch office of the EU. If the UK leaves that could precipitate the break-up of the EU, Buik said.
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A 15-year-old girl convinced a gang of "teenage vigilantes" to lure and kill a lorry driver on the mistaken belief he was a paedophile, a court has heard.

Darren Kelly was stabbed to death near his home in Pitsea, Essex, last October.

Prosecutors said there is no evidence the 42-year-old was a paedophile with detectives finding online conversations where it was suggested he was looking for a partner aged over 45.

Four people including the girl accused of initiating the attack are standing trial at Chelmsford Crown Court where they plead not guilty to murder.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett told the court the girl had launched a "personal campaign" against paedophiles.

Now 16, she had previously arranged to meet two men she had found online in the hope they would be arrested.

When she spoke to Mr Kelly using the anonymous messaging app Whisper, she had "lost faith" in the police and court system, Mr Aylett said.

Darren Kelly, 42 (Facebook)

Describing the case as being "as disturbing as it is extraordinary", Mr Aylett said there was no evidence Mr Kelly was interested in under-age girls.

"In fact, there is plenty of evidence to suggest precisely the opposite," he said.

"The girl instigated this attack by forming a group of teenage vigilantes in order to attack a 42-year-old man that she had met online.

"She had told the others that the man was a paedophile and as a result he was punched, kicked and then stabbed to death in the street."

After the earlier incidents with two men, aged 23 and 67, whom she met on Facebook, officers asked her why she had arranged to meet them.

Chelmsford Crown Court, Essex (Google Maps)

The court heard she told officers: "Because they're perverts and I don't think perverts should be around and I don't see anybody else doing anything about it."

Chris Carroll, 20, of Pevensey Close, Pitsea, along with two 17-year-old boys and the girl all deny murder. The teenagers cannot be named for legal reasons.
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Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is facing accusations of being less than candid about Britains position on sending ground troops to Libya.

The claims come amid reports that Libyas new United Nations-backed government has said it does not want foreign military assistance, and are likely to intensify concern about Britains already heavily criticised involvement in the North African country.

Correspondence released by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has revealed its Conservative chairman Crispin Blunt has accused Mr Hammond of writing a letter designed to be "wholly and deliberately misleading to the uninformed reader".

The row follows a visit by committee members to Egypt and Tunisia last month during which they said they were told the UK would send 1,000 troops to Libya "in the near future" as part of a 6,000-strong international force being put together by Italy.

In his letter, Mr Hammond said no decisions had been made about any future British deployment.

"I have taken the precaution of checking with our embassies in Cairo and Tunis. They have confirmed that at no point did British diplomats brief you to this effect. Your assertions are wrong on a number of accounts," he wrote.

In his furious response, Mr Blunt, a former minister, explained why he considered this misleading.

He wrote: "As you are no doubt aware given your careful choice of words, the briefing came from another British source working at the direction of the defence attache and witnessed by British diplomats.

Urging Mr Hammond to make a statement to the Commons "clarifying" the UK's current military involvement in Libya and its plans to deploy troops there, Mr Blunt added: "The Foreign Affairs Committee remains deeply concerned by potential British military involvement in Libya.

"The welcome candour of briefings by all whom we met in Cairo and Tunis contrasts sharply with your less-than-candid reply to my request for further detail on a rapidly developing situation that may require further active British engagement."

Recommended Read more Obama is wrong to blame Cameron for the rise of Isis in Libya

Further confusion surrounding any possible UK intervention has been created by Libyas newly formed government of national unity reportedly rejecting foreign military assistance.

A British Government source told the Times that ministers in Tripoli feared Libya would be further destabilised by the presence of 6,000 British, French and Italian troops, who would have gone to the country to help train local armed forces.

Even though there are Isis fighters all along the coast they seem more worried about the impact that foreign fighters would have on trying to deal with the situation with the east of the country," the source was quoted as saying.

The source added that there were now also doubts about plans for EU forces to deploy to Libyan territorial waters to help combat people trackers and reduce the flow of migrants to Europe.

Permission has not yet been given for that either," the source said.

The Times quoted an unnamed British minister as saying that they hoped the new unity government would request foreign military aid once it was more firmly established.

We are in a sensitive period," the minister reportedly said.

The apparent setbacks come weeks after Barack Obama criticised David Cameron for the UKs role in allowing Libya to become a shit show after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. The US President claimed European inaction following the initially successful military intervention against Gaddafi had allowed Libya to spiral out of control.

Created under a UN-brokered peace deal, Libya's new Presidential Council is supposed to replace the two warring administrations  one in Tripoli, the other in Tobruk  that sprung up after Gaddafi was deposed five years ago.

But when council members led by Libyas Prime Minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj arrived in Tripoli two weeks ago they did so by boat because they were worried they would be shot down if they tried to fly in.

One political analyst told Al Jazeera: For now we have three governments. What happens next depends on whether both of the other governments will hand over power peacefully.

A Foreign Office spokesman said there are no plans to deploy UK combat troops.

"As the Foreign Secretary has made clear, the UK continues to work with international partners on how to best support the new Libyan government. This includes discussions about a Libyan International Assistance Mission," he said.

"The Foreign Secretary has also been consistently clear that while no decisions have yet been taken, there are no plans to deploy combat troops and that planning has been focused on training Libyan security forces to provide their own security.

"It is up to the new Libyan Government to tell us what sort of help they want.

The spokesman added that there the UK had so far received no official request for military help from the Libyans and no official rejection of assistance either.

The Ministry of Defence refused to comment on previous reports that small numbers of British special forces soldiers are already in Libya in an advisory capacity.
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The revelation that women leaving a west London prison were given tents instead of housing has been described as "staggering" by Government ministers and raised alarm among housing charity groups.

A prison watchdog revealed sleeping bags had also been handed out to a number of ex-offenders from HMP Bronzefield amid a shortage of available housing.

Shadow Prisons Minister Jo Stevens said in response to the report: "It is absolutely staggering that women seem to have been released from prison with nothing more than a tent or a sleeping bag.

This is astonishing and a far cry from the safe and secure accommodation needed to assist them in the rehabilitation process.

Housing charity Women in Prison said the report, which was undertaken following an unannounced inspection, was "concerning" but "sadly not surprising" in the current housing climate.

A spokesperson from Women in Prison said: The fact that Bronzefield is resorting to issuing tents to women leaving prison with nowhere to live does not highlight a problem evident within that one prison.

Instead it is a reflection of how chronic the housing crisis has become and it urgently must bring awareness to the staggering high numbers of women that are leaving prison homeless across the womens estate and the devastating impact this then has on those women and our communities."

The number of women who left Bronzefield prison with settled accommodation in place had dropped from 95.5 per cent in 2014 to just 83.7 per cent in 2015, according to the report from HM Inspectorate of Prisons.

It was also noted that in the six-month period leading up to the inspection, 103 women had been released with no fixed address to go to.

The Housing for Women association also said the report was concerning.

A spokesperson said: We believe that preparation for release should start as early as possible before release in order to adequately plan and effectively link women into support networks in their home community including; making links with family and friends and clearly identifying accommodation options for them, linking them into additional support services as appropriate.

"Without this planned approach and as widely documented  women are at significant risk of breaching their licences and/or reoffending.

HMP Bronzefield blamed the lack of social housing available in the south east as a contributory factor, and local authority housing departments downgrading of ex-offenders to low priority cases.

The prison had issued tents to two women who were released without anywhere to go to and the chaplaincy often gave out sleeping bags, it said.

The community chaplain, however, was preparing a network of contacts in faith communities so that women could be placed in accommodation with them and receive support on release.

Martin Lomas, HM Deputy Chief Inspector of Prisons, who signed off the report, said: HMP Bronzefield was a very good and improved prison The general environment was good and care was taken to keep the prison decent."

According to the report, many of the inmates at Bronzefield may be seen as vulnerable. Around one third of the women reported having a disability and 44 per cent said they felt depressed or suicidal.

The figures raise concern over the amount of support available to ex-offenders undergoing rehabilitation.

HMP Bronzefield is a high-security prison for restricted status women. It holds up to 527 inmates at any one time, between the ages of 18 and 70.

The prison's director, Charlotte Pattison-Rideout, said: We work with local authorities and other organisations to ensure as many women as possible have suitable accommodation upon release from HMP Bronzefield, but it's an area where there's a shortfall that affects the whole of the prison estate.

There has been a change in process at the local authority following the Localism Act which has been a factor in more women, unfortunately, leaving without immediate housing.

We are building links with the local community rehabilitation company who are now responsible for housing to ensure more women have support and accommodation upon release.

The Shadow Prisons Minister said: The improvement noted in this report is welcome but there remain very serious questions to be answered.
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David Cameron has defended a group of notorious British-controlled tax havens  arguing that criticism of their offshore regimes is unfair.

The group of territories, which includes the British Virgin Islands  at the centre of the Panama Papers storm  have long been criticised by campaigners for secrecy and sheltering wealthy individuals and companies from tax.

But the Prime Minister said the UKs assorted Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories were now being cooperative and praised their pledged adoption of new rules.

Recommended Read more Tax haven leaders repeatedly stood up UK ministers

The statement following the Panama Papers scandal is a change of tone  as UK Foreign Office ministers last year said they were disappointed in the territories approaches.

Mr Cameron also ruled out blacklisting countries on the basis that they were zero- or very low-tax jurisdictions.

In terms of who is at the top of the pyramid of tax secrecy, I think it is now unfair to say that about our Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, the PM told the House of Commons at Prime Ministers Questions.

They are now going to cooperate with the three things that we asked them to do in terms of the reporting standard, the exchange of tax information, and now the register of beneficial ownership.

Asked about blacklisting tax havens, the PM said: Were happy to support blacklists but we dont think we should draw up a blacklist solely on the basis of a territory raising a low tax rate  we dont think thats the right approach.

Overseas territories are not independent of the UK but are generally autonomous in their own affairs. The UK provides diplomatic and defence support for the countries, and they are ultimately accountable to the UK parliament.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn criticised Mr Camerons approach.

Its interesting that the premier of the Cayman Islands Alden McLaughlin is today apparently celebrating his victory over the Prime Minister because he is saying that the information certainly will not be available publicly or available directly by any UK or non-Cayman Islands agency, the Labour leader said.

The Prime Minister is supposed to be chasing down tax evasion and tax avoidance, hes supposed to be bringing it all into the open.

Caymans premier Mr McLaughin had said the deal struck with the UK was what we wanted and that Cayman had been pushing for [it for] three years.

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 charity Oxfam however accused the PM of having allowed himself to be dictated to by tax havens.

Mark Goldring, its chief executive, said: "It's deeply disappointing that the Prime Minister is allowing himself to be dictated to by tax havens, especially given the huge public anger about tax dodging following the Panama Papers' publication. Instead of delivering on his promise to make tax dodgers 'wake up and smell the coffee', the Prime Minister today put up a Do Not Disturb sign.

"David Cameron has often stressed the importance of transparency in tackling all forms of corruption but by dropping efforts to end offshore secrecy he is failing to act in the interests of the UK and the world's poorest people - both of whom lose out to tax dodgers.

"The UK is about to introduce a public register of the real 'beneficial' owners of companies - if Britain is able to do this without problems, why can't the British Virgin Islands and other UK-linked territories too?

The Labour leader has said uncooperative British Overseas Territories that act as tax havens should be taken under direct control of the UK if they persist.

David Cameron however said that the British [register] will be public.

The row comes after Mr Cameron and Mr Corbyn released details of their own tax affairs in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal.

A massive leak from law firm Mossack Fonseca provided details of over 200,000 offshore companies, most of which were set up in the British Virgin Islands.
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Graduates from richer families earn significantly more than poorer students who do the same degree at the same university, a huge study of over quarter of a million people has found.

The research, which examined anonymised tax data and student loan records going back to 1998, found a marked link between parental income and earning potential of their children. Even after taking account of the subject studied and the university attended, the average student from a higher-income background earned around 10 per cent more than the average student from other backgrounds.

Recommended Read more New research shows yet again that social mobility in Britain is dead

Between the richest and the poorest graduates the differential was even starker. The 10 per cent highest-earning male graduates from richer backgrounds earned about 20 per cent more than the 10 per cent highest earners from relatively poorer backgrounds. In 2012/13, the average gap in earnings between students from higher and lower-income backgrounds was 8,000 a year for men and 5,300 a year for women, 10 years after graduation.

The research, carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies with Harvard University and the University of Cambridge, is the first time that researchers have been able to take advantage of "big data" held by Government departments to carry out large-scale studies looking at outcomes over many years. It analysed how graduate earnings vary by institution of study, degree subject and parental income. The data set includes cohorts of graduates who started university in the period 19982011 and whose earnings are then observed over a number of tax years.

Jack Britton, a research economist at the IFS and an author of the paper, said that income inequality appeared to persist even among students with the same university experience. This work shows that the advantages of coming from a high-income family persist for graduates right into the labour market at age 30, he said. While this finding doesnt necessarily implicate either universities or firms, it is of crucial importance for policymakers trying to tackle social immobility.

Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated Show all 7 1 /7 Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated MPs Hardly a surprise: One in three (33 per cent) of MPs went to private school, compared to seven per cent of the public. This includes 52 per cent of Conservatives, 41 per cent of Liberal Democrats, and 10 per cent of Labour MPs PA Wire Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated The media More than half of the top 100 media professionals (54 per cent) are privately educated, compared to 47 per cent in 1986. Half of them went to Oxbridge, while two thirds of new entrants to journalism have managerial and professional family backgrounds Getty Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated Judges Although the Government is committed to ensuring a more diverse judiciary, seven in 10 senior judges went to independent schools Rex Features Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated The England cricket team A large percentage of England's cricket team is privately educated: 33 per cent PA Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated BBC executives 26 per cent of BBC executives went to private school. Getty Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated Civil Service Over half (57 per cent) of Whitehall permanent secretaries are Oxbridge educated, while 11 per cent went to comprehensive schools Getty Elitist Britain: Run by the privately educated House of Lords Although it doesn't seem possible, the House of Lords is even more dominated by the elite than the Commons: two thirds of Conservative peers, half of Labour, and 62 per cent of crossbenchers attended an independent school. A miserable 12 per cent went to a comprehensive AFP/Getty

Neil Shephard of Harvard University added that another finding was the extent to which earnings varied according to university, subject, gender and cohort. This impacts on which parts of higher education that the UK Government funds through the subsidy inherent within income-contingent student loans, he said. The next step in the research is to quantify that variation in funding, building on todays paper.

Jo Johnson, the Universities Minister, said the Government accepted that there was still a long way to go to improve social mobility. We have seen record application rates among students from disadvantaged backgrounds, but this latest analysis reveals the worrying gaps that still exist in graduate outcomes, he said. We want to see this information used to improve the experience students are getting across the higher education sector.

 Social divide is growing

Dame Julia Goodfellow, the president of Universities UK and vice-chancellor of the University of Kent, said the sector was working to improve the situation. Universities offer advice, work experience, sandwich degree courses, degree apprenticeships and job placements to give students direct experience and access to employers, she said.

Universities UK established a Social Mobility Advisory Group earlier this year to provide advice to government and support for English universities to improve access and long-term success for under-represented groups in higher education. It will look at many of the issues discussed in today's report.

But she added: Graduate earnings cannot however be used as the sole measure of success. As the report points out, there are now major regional differences in terms of average wages and many graduates choose to stay and work in their local regions.

Some universities also train graduates for important jobs in nursing, the public sector and the arts, jobs we know that traditionally pay less on average but which make a critically important contribution to society and the economy.

The highlights

Median earnings for male graduates 10 years after leaving university were 30,000. For non-graduates of the same age, median earnings were 22,000.

Medical students were easily the highest earners at 10 years, followed by those who studied economics. For men, median earnings for medical graduates were about 50,000, and those for economics graduates were about 40,000.

Those studying the creative arts had the lowest income, earning no more on average than non-graduates.

Around 10 per cent of male graduates from the London School of Economics, Oxford and Cambridge universities were earning in excess of 100,000, with LSE graduates earning the most.

Around 12 per cent of male economics graduates earned above 100,000 after 10 years, but only around 9 per cent of their women peers. In medicine, 6 per cent of male graduates earned 100,000, but just 1 per cent of women.
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Junior doctors have begun what they say will be a permanent protest outside the Department of Health, to call for Jeremy Hunt to re-open talks and avert unprecedented strike action due to take place at end of the month.

Two medics from the grassroots junior doctor campaign began the protest this morning by requesting a meeting with the Health Secretary at the DoH building in Whitehall.

After being met by an official who said he would check the Health Secretary's availability, the doctors set up a protest outside the entrance to the building.

In a statement, they said they would wait for 24 hours. Their place will then be taken by other doctors, two at a time, for 12 hours each day, until "meaningful talks" are held, the doctors said.

Neither of the two doctors, Dr Rachel Clarke and Dr Dagan Lonsdale, hold official positions at the British Medical Association, the union responsible for negotiations with the Government over the disputed new junior doctors contract.

However, both have been active campaigners in the grassroots movement to oppose the contract.

Junior doctors are due to hold the first all-out strike in the history of the NHS, withdrawing even from emergency care, between 8am and 5pm on 26 and 27 April.

No talks have been held between the BMA and the Government since February, when Mr Hunt, acting on advice from his chief negotiator, the hospital chief executive Sir David Dalton, ended the negotiation process and decided to impose the new contract from August.

Dr Clarke, a cardiologist from Oxford, said that doctors around the country were now absolutely desperate.

Dialogue is so obviously the only way to end this dispute. All of us have a duty here to put patients first and do everything possible to avert further strikes, she said.

In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London

Dr Lonsdale claimed Mr Hunt and David Cameron were ignoring 54,000 whistleblowers in the medical profession.

Political leaders should be working with the profession to solve problems and improve care, not simply bulldoze concerns into the dust, he said.

Doctors like me have dedicated our lives to providing safe and effective care for others. We have no interest in healthcare policy that is driven by soundbite electioneering.

The imposition of the new contract, which will require junior doctors to work more weekend shifts, for less pay on Saturdays, is opposed by most in the medical profession.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has called for both the BMA and the Government to step back from the brink and resume talks.

But the prospect of withdrawing emergency cover has proved divisive in recent days.

NHS England medical director, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, has said that to do so would go against the ethical framework of the medical profession, and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has said that conscience will dictate whether its members should take part.

However, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has said it was confident emergency cover would be provided by consultants and urged the DoH to reflect upon its actions and behaviour.

Junior doctors voted 98 per cent in favour of industrial action in a BMA ballot last year.

The contract is opposed on a number of grounds, with particular concerns over patient safety if doctors are rostered to work more weekends, with a knock-on effect on staffing levels during the week.

While junior doctors will receive an average basic salary increase of 13.5 per cent to compensate for the loss of Saturday premium payments, the new contract will remove automatic annual pay increases, which doctors say will hit the pay of women doctors who take time out for maternity leave, and those who take time out for academic work.

An Equality Impact Assessment conducted by the Department of Health conceded the contract would have a disproportionate impact on women, but concluded it was not discriminatory.
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The Culture Secretary John Whittingdale was last night facing calls to be stripped of his responsibility for press regulation after it emerged that a number of national newspapers knew about but failed to print embarrassing information about his private life.

Mr Whittingdale yesterday confirmed that he had been in a six-month relationship with a sex worker that ended in 2013.

Three of the newspapers  The People, The Sun and The Mail on Sunday  are understood to have concluded that there was no public interest defence for publication. The Independent, which had investigated the reasons why the other papers had not run the story, also chose not to publish.

Mr Whittingdale, who is divorced, said yesterday that he had been unaware of the womans occupation and had broken off the relationship when he discovered the story was being offered to the newspapers.

However, some senior Labour figures and groups favouring statutory regulation of the press suggested that the story had been shelved so as not to alienate a key figure involved in press regulation.

Labour's shadow culture secretary Maria Eagle said that it was now essential for Mr Whittingdale to give up his responsibilities for press regulation to ensure there was no perception of undue influence in his dealings with newspapers.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. 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The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2022 Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews take part in the traditional Pier Walk along the harbour walls of St Andrews before the start of the new academic year PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2022 The Massed Pipes and Drums parade during the Braemar Highland Gathering at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2022 Number 12 Company Irish Guards at Wellington Barracks, central London, before commencing their first Guard Mount at Buckingham Palace PA

Labours shadow cabinet minister Chris Bryant, who was previously shadow culture secretary, told the BBC: It seems the press were quite deliberately holding a sword of Damocles over John Whittingdale.

He has a perfect right to a private life but as soon as he knew this he should have withdrawn from all regulation of the press.

But Downing Street rejected the call, insisting that David Cameron had full confidence in Mr Whittingdale. And Labours shadow Foreign Secretary, Hilary Benn, appeared to distance himself from Ms Eagles demand for Mr Whittingdale to give up his responsibilities for press regulation.

He told BBC2s Daily Politics program that the culture secretary ought to get on and do his job, including pressing ahead with the second stage of the Leveson Inquiry.

The executive director of the Society of Editors, Bob Satchwell, said it is a preposterous conspiracy theory too far to say newspapers and broadcasters jointly decided not to publish the story.

The idea that the newspapers and broadcasters could all get together and say 'we are not running the story' is just silly, he said.

Since the Leveson report and the establishment of a new and tougher press regulator, papers have become extremely careful about stories involving anyone in public life.

Amol Rajan, who was editor of the print edition of The Independent and is currently on paternity leave said: As I said in my email to one of the sources who was demanding we publish this tale  an email I was fully aware would later be made public  I rejected this story on editorial grounds.

But Brian Cathcart, of the Hacked Off campaign group, said that since becoming Culture Secretary with responsibility for the media, Mr Whittingdale had taken a number of decisions which had been welcomed by the press.

The public cannot have faith in his judgment, in his independence in making decisions about the media, he said. It is not a story about John Whittingdale's private life. It is a story about why the press didn't cover this.

To suggest, in the very week we have newspapers baying for the right to cover a story about a celebritys private life which a judge has told them they have no right to cover, they would be too scrupulous, too high-minded to report a story about a Cabinet minister which any judge in the country would tell them they have a right to cover is just absurd.

However, the media commentator and former newspaper editor Roy Greenslade said that the papers would have been wary about covering such a story in the aftermath of the Leveson Inquiry into press standards.

They would all be very careful about whether or not they had a public interest justification, he told said.

They would have all taken separate legal advice, they would have all looked at their code of practice. I think it is a bit much to castigate the newspapers for doing the right thing for once.

In a statement, Mr Whittingdale confirmed the affair but insisted it never had any influence on the decisions I have made as Culture Secretary.

Between August 2013 and February 2014, I had a relationship with someone who I first met through Match.com. She was a similar age and lived close to me, he said.

At no time did she give me any indication of her real occupation and I only discovered this when I was made aware that someone was trying to sell a story about me to tabloid newspapers. As soon as I discovered, I ended the relationship.

This is an old story which was a bit embarrassing at the time.
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At Prime Ministers Questions today Jeremy Corbyn accused Conservative MEPs in the European Parliament of voting against measures to stop tax avoidance.

The vote in question was the European Parliaments annual tax report which included plans to make companies report where they make their profits and pay taxes.

It took place on 25 March this year; across Europe it was backed by 444 MEPs to just 110 who voted against.

From Britain, Conservative, Ukip, and DUP MEPs voted against the report, though many did not show up or not vote.

David Cameron says the UK backed the plans at the Council level despite the way his MEPs voted on the tax report.

The part of the resolution text relating to tax dodging read:

[This Parliament] Calls on the Commission to propose, and on MSs to agree on, a common EU position and a broadened set of detailed criteria for the definition of tax havens and coordinated penalties to be imposed on uncooperative jurisdictions; calls for a blacklist to be drawn up of such tax havens and countries distorting competition with favourable tax conditions, including those in the EU, by 31 June 2015;

Asks the Commission to offer cooperation and assistance to developing third countries which are not tax havens, to help them effectively tackle tax fraud and tax avoidance;

Calls on the MSs to equip their competent authorities to carry out rigorous and through investigations, and put forward sanctions such as suspending or revoking the banking or advisory licences of financial institutions, accountants, law firms or other financial advisors if it has been proven that they have assisted in tax fraud;

Calls for the introduction of strong sanctions to prevent companies breaching or dodging tax standards, by refraining from granting EU funding and access to state aid or to public procurement to fraudulent companies or companies located in tax havens or countries distorting competition with favourable tax conditions; urges MSs to recover all types of public support given to companies if they are involved in breaching EU tax standards;

Here are the British MEPs who voted against the report:

Conservatives:

Richard Ashworth

Amjad Bashir

Daniel Dalton

Ian Duncan

Jacqueline Foster

Ashley Fox

Syed Kamall

Andrew Lewer

Emma McClarkin

Anthea McIntyre

James Nicholson

Kay Swinburne

Charles Tannock

Geoffrey Van Orden

(Note: all Conservatives MEPs not listed either did not vote or were absent)

Ukip:

William Earl of Dartmouth

Jonathan Arnott

James Carver

David Coburn

Nathan Gill

Roger Helmer

Mike Hookem

Jill Seymour

Steven Woolfe

(Note: all UKIP MEPs not listed either did not vote or were absent)

DUP

Diane Dodds

Labour, Liberal Democrat, SNP, Plaid, and Green MEPs present all voted in favour of the plan, though some did not attend or vote.
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The campaign group Vote Leave has been designated the official campaign in favour of leaving the European Union, the Electoral Commission has said.

The title, which bring with it public funding and media platforms, had been contested between a number of groups.

The official election watchdog announced the decision on Wednesday afternoon after months of squabbling between the campaigns.

Recommended Read more This is why EU migrants are really heading to Britain

The decision prompted Leave.EU, a rival campaign, to say it would mount a legal challenge against the decision. It argued the challenge could potentially delay the referendum.

We received two high quality applications on the Leave side, from Vote Leave Ltd and The Go Movement Ltd," the Commission said.

"After careful consideration, the Commission decided that Vote Leave Ltd better demonstrated that it has the structures in place to ensure the views of other campaigners are represented in the delivery of its campaign.

"It therefore represents, to a greater extent than Go Movement Ltd, those campaigning for the Leave outcome, which is the test we must apply.

The benefits of being the lead campaign are 600,000 of public funding for administration costs, a free mail-out to voters, a higher 7 million spending limit, and access to broadcasts.

A spokesperson for Vote Leave, which is backed by leading Tories Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, said it would work constructively with the other campaigns which did not secure the designation.

"Our focus has always been the real campaign and the 350m we send to the EU every week which we want to spend on our priorities like the NHS," he said.

Boris Johnson back the Vote Leave campaign (Reuters)

"We will continue to work constructively with everyone who wants to campaign for a Leave vote."

Competing 'leave' campaign Grassroots Out (GO), which also applied for the designation, said it would now work with Vote Leave to win the EU referendum.

"We congratulate Vote Leave on securing designation and we thank our supporters for all the hard work they have put into the campaign so far," co-founder and Tory MP Peter Bone said.

"We look forward to working closely and productively with all those who want to see the UK set free to determine its own destiny. We are determined to play our part in creating a united front to secure victory on June 23 for Leave  Independence Day."

What has the EU ever done for us? Show all 7 1 /7 What has the EU ever done for us? What has the EU ever done for us? 1. It gives you freedom to live, work and retire anywhere in Europe As a member of the EU, UK citizens benefit from freedom of movement across the continent. Considered one of the so-called four pillars of the European Union, this freedom allows all EU citizens to live, work and travel in other member states. What has the EU ever done for us? 2. It sustains millions of jobs A report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, released in October 2015, suggested 3.1 million British jobs were linked to the UKs exports to the EU. What has the EU ever done for us? 3. Your holiday is much easier - and safer Freedom to travel is one of the most exercised benefits of EU membership, with Britons having made 31 million visits to the EU in 2014 alone. But a lot of the benefits of being an EU citizen are either taken for granted or go unnoticed. What has the EU ever done for us? 4. It means you're less likely to get ripped off Consumer protection is a key benefit of the EUs single market, and ensures members of the British public receive equal consumer rights when shopping anywhere in Europe. What has the EU ever done for us? 5. It offers greater protection from terrorists, paedophiles, people traffickers and cyber-crime Another example of a lesser-known advantage of EU membership is the benefit of cross-country coordination and cooperation in the fight against crime. What has the EU ever done for us? 6. Our businesses depend on it According to 71% of all members of the Confederation of British Influence (CBI), and 67 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the EU has had an overall positive impact on their business. What has the EU ever done for us? 7. We have greater influence Robin Niblett, Director of think-tank Chatham House, stated in a report published last year: For a mid-sized country like the UK, which will never again be economically dominant either globally or regionally, and whose diplomatic and military resources are declining in relative terms, being a major player in a strong regional institution can offer a critical lever for international influence.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who had backed GO, looked to build bridges saying his party would work with anyone who wanted to leave the EU.

"I have always wanted all on the Leave side to come together and have done my best to try and make this happen. I'll continue to do so in the run up to the referendum to ensure the Leave side wins," he said.

However Andy Wigmore from Leave.EU, the main sub-group behind the GO coalition, said his organisation would launch a judicial review. He claimed the referendum could be delayed until 23 October while the review took place.

"We are going to appeal it, which could delay the referendum until October 23," he told Huffington Post UK.

"We think its a political stitch-up."

The Press Association contributed to this report.
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EU migrants are coming to the UK because of higher wages and a lack of a jobs in the eurozone - but there is no evidence of "benefits tourism", according to new analysis.

Six countries - Poland, Romania, Spain, Italy, Hungary and Portugal - accounted for an 80% of the increase in EU migrants living in Britain in recent years.

The report, by the Migration Observatory, also said that any evidence of migrants travelling to the UK for "benefit tourism" remained unproven.

Between 2011 and 2015, the total number of EU-born migrants living the UK increased by 696,000 to 3.277 million.

The UK's apparent attractiveness for EU citizens has been the cause of fevered debate ahead of the EU referendum. Brexit campaigners have claimed that leaving the EU will allow the UK to reclaim control of its borders and reduce immigration, while others have said there is no way of knowing what impact a British exit would have.

(Migration Observatory (Migration Observatory)

The Observatory, based at Oxford University, concluded there was no single "pull" factor bringing EU migrants to Britain.

Researchers said some of the factors encouraging migration to the UK were permanent, such as the attraction of the English language, while others have the potential to change over time.

For example, economic factors like high unemployment in southern Europe and lower wages in Eastern Europe are likely to be key drivers of recent migration.

But it found no clear evidence that welfare benefits were the "unnatural draw" for people to move to Britain.

 Migrants met with tear gas

EU migrants were more likely than British citizens to be in-work and childless, meaning they did not claim job seeker's allowance or benefits aimed at people with children. But they were slightly more likely to claim in-work benefits such as tax credits - 12% of EU-born workers compared to 10% British-born workers.

The findings suggest that David Cameron's "emergency brake", secured during his EU renegotiation, limiting in-work benefits for EU migrants for four years, could make little difference to the numbers coming to the UK. But it also appears to undermine claims by pro-Brexit campaigners that EU migrants are attracted to the UK because of generous welfare benefits.

Those who want to leave the EU say Britain must regain control of its borders so it can choose whether workers from low-wage countries, such as Romania, can come here to work. Remain supporters counter that such migration has boosted the UK's economy, and that Britain would probably have to agree to freedom of movement as a price of remaining in the single market.

(Migration Observatory (Migration Observatory)

Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory, said: "There is no single factor driving high levels of EU migration in recent years.

"Some drivers are likely to remain in place for some years, such as the relatively low wages in new EU member states, particularly Romania.

"Others could potentially dissipate more quickly, like high unemployment in Spain."

The commentary argued it is too early to tell how the introduction of the National Living Wage will affect migration, saying that while it may increase the financial advantage of moving to the UK from a lower-income EU country, it could also push UK employers to rely less on low-wage workers, including those from the EU.

Ms Sumption added: "Despite recent debates about the role of UK policies like welfare benefits or the minimum wage in driving migration, migration may respond more to factors that governments don't directly control, like demographics and economic growth in other EU countries."

The latest official data show estimated net migration of EU citizens to the UK was 172,000 in the year ending September.

Additional reporting by Press Association
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Boko Haram is forcing and duping young women into suicide missions for refusing to marry members of the West African Islamist militant group, according to reports.

The revelation follows a recent report detailing the huge increase in the numbers of children, some as young as eight, being used by Boko Haram as human bombs in Cameroon and Nigeria, a large majority of them female.

Recommended Read more One in five Boko Haram suicide attacks now carried out by children

The news comes on the eve of the second anniversary of the mass kidnapping of nearly 300 school girls from a school in Chibok, northern Nigeria. Despite causing an international outcry, the majority of the girls remain missing, along with an estimated 2,000 more women and children kidnapped on different occasions.

Aid officials have stressed there are numerous reasons for using children in suicide attacks. However, Doune Porter, of Unicef Nigeria, told The Independent that surviving girls had said that Boko Haram sometimes forced the children into suicide missions for refusing to marry Boko Haram fighters.

Laurent Duvillier, Unicef spokesperson for West and Central Africa, said that a nuanced examination of child suicide bombers was crucial.

The rise of Boko Haram Show all 20 1 /20 The rise of Boko Haram The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The leader of the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau delivers a message. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the mass killings in the north-east Nigerian town of Baga in a video where he warned the massacre was just the tip of the iceberg. As many as 2,000 civilians were killed and 3,700 homes and business were destroyed in the 3 January 2015 attack on the town near Nigeria's border with Cameroon AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People displaced as a result of Boko Haram attacks in the northeast region of Nigeria, are seen near their tents at a faith-based camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Yola, Adamawa State. Boko Haram says it is building an Islamic state that will revive the glory days of northern Nigeria's medieval Muslim empires, but for those in its territory life is a litany of killings, kidnappings, hunger and economic collapse The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nitsch Eberhard Robert, a German citizen abducted and held hostage by suspected Boko Haram militants, is seen as he arrives at the Yaounde Nsimalen International airport after his release in Yaounde, Cameroon on 21 January 2015 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Officials of the Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) visit victims of a bomb blast in Gombe at the Specialist Hospital in Gombe. According to local reports at least six people were killed and 11 wounded after a bomb blast in a marketplace in Nigeria's northeastern state of Gombe on 16 January 2015. Islamist militant group Boko Haram has been blamed for a string of recent attacks in the North East of Nigeria The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People gather at the site of a bomb explosion in a area know to be targeted by the militant group Boko Haram in Kano on 28 November 2014 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People gather to look at a burnt vehicle following a bomb explosion that rocked the busiest roundabout near the crowded Market in Maiduguri, Borno State on 1 July 2014. A truck exploded in a huge fireball killing at least 15 people in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the city repeatedly hit by Boko Haram Islamists The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram President Goodluck Jonathan visits Nigerian Army soldiers fighting Boko Haram Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Displaced people from Baga listen to Goodluck Jonathan after the Boko Haram killings AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan speaking to troops during a visit to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State; most of the region has been overrun by Boko Haram AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Members of the Nigerian military patrolling in Maiduguri, North East Nigeria, close to the scene of attacks by Boko Haram EPA The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Boko Harams leader, Abubakar Shekau, appears in a video in which he warns Cameroon it faces the same fate as Nigeria AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nana Shettima, the wife of Borno Governor, Kashim Shettima (C) weeps as she speaks with school girls from the government secondary school Chibok that were kidnapped by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, and later escaped in Chibok The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram South Africans protest in solidarity against the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria by the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram and what protesters said was the failure of the Nigerian government and international community to rescue them, during a march to the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Boko Haram militants have seized the town in north-eastern Nigeria that nearly 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped from in April 2014 AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram A soldier stands guard in front of burnt buses after an attack in Abuja. Twin blasts at a bus station packed with morning commuters on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital killed dozens of people, in what appeared to be the latest attack by Boko Haram Islamists, April 2014 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The aftermath of the attack, when Boko Haram fighters in trucks painted in military colours killed 51 people in Konduga in February 2014 AFP/Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau (with papers) in a video grab taken in July 2014 AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Ruins of burnt out houses in the north-eastern settlement of Baga, pictured after Boko Haram attacks in 2013 AP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram A Boko Haram attack in Nigeria, 2013 AFP/Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau, Boko Harams leader AP

There is no single profile. Sometimes its because of pressure or coercion ... they might not know what they are doing at all," he said.

"But it is never the fault of the child. They do not make decisions; they do not pick targets.

The children are sometimes drugged and carry devices that are detonated remotely. Some are told they are simply messengers. These children are victims just as much as anyone else in these attacks, Ms Porter said.

And marriage within Boko Haram is sometimes more accurately described as ritualised rape. The sexual abuse experienced in captivity is another reason for using young women as bombs as they have been conditioned to obey orders without question.

The rise in child suicide bomb attacks is partly because children are viewed with less suspicion than adults.

Who would imagine that an eight-year-old girl was carrying a bomb that could kill you? Mr Duvillier said.

Would you worry about an eight-year-old girl that is knocking on your door asking for water? This is a tactic that is being used.

A man walks past a the scene of a bombing after at least 20 people were killed when a young female suicide bomber detonated her explosives at a bus station in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria in a Boko Haram attack in 2015 (STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

Using children as bombs has ramifications far beyond just the blast as it affects how other captured children are viewed if they are freed.

When they return to their communities, they are very much viewed with suspicion, mistrust and even outright fear, Ms Porter said. They are afraid Boko Haram will expand into their community. Its very, very, tragic.

They have been victims three times. The day they were abducted, during their captivity when they were sexually enslaved, and again on their return home  because they are rejected by their own people.

Children born as a result of rapes by extremist fighters are seen as Boko Haram babies and, along with their mothers, are shunned by the communities when they need their support the most. A child of a snake is a snake is a common saying.

Some of the hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria (AFP)

Aid workers now fear children freed from captivity with Boko Haram could be completely excluded, denying them access to education and other opportunities, creating a lost generation.

Unicef knows how to help and protect those girls and their babies, Mr Duvillier said, but we desperately need funding to do it.

It is unbelievable that two years after the worldwide solidarity movement for the Chibok girls, Unicef is still struggling to collect less that 12 per cent of the funding we need to provide emergency assistance to 1.3 million children displaced by Boko Haram.
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A Texas judge ordered affluenza teen, Ethan Couch, to serve two years in jail for the killing of four people after a 2013 DUI crash.

Mr Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, was ordered to serve four consecutive 180-day sentences for each person killed in the crash. This was his first appearance in adult court for the charges.

Youre not getting out of jail today, Fort Worth Judge Wayne Salvant said to Mr Couch.

For Ethan Couch's 19th birthday we hope he doesn't get what he wants, but instead gets what he needs  and that's the maximum amount of jail time the judge is able to give him, Mothers Against Drunk Driving North Texas Executive Director, Jason Derscheid, said in a statement.

Ethan Couch Tarrant County Sheriff's Department

Mr Couch, whose birthday was on Monday, was initially given a 10-year probation sentence in juvenile court. His defense argued that he suffered from a condition called affluenza, resulting from a life of coddling from his wealthy family.

Mr Couch was caught violating his probation in December when a picture emerged showing him at a party that served alcohol  a violation of his probation. With his mother, Mr Couch fled to Mexico to avoid penalties from authorities. Authorities apprehended the pair at a Puerto Vallarta hotel after they reportedly ordered a pizza from a Domino's Pizza.

During the probationary period, Mr Couch was ordered by the juvenile court judge to participate in rehabilitation programs. This managed to cost Texas taxpayers a considerable amount.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram found that Mr Couch received $200,000 in residential care and support paid for by the state for more than a year after his probation sentence. According to the report, the court determined Mr Couch's parents were financially unable to pay for their son's rehabilitation at North Texas State Hospital in February 2014. Costs were reportedly $20,000 per month. Mr Couch was transferred to a different facility in November 2014, where daily costs totaled $103.

Mr Couch has been held in a Tarrant County maximum-security jail since 5 February. It remains unclear whether or Wednesday's sentence includes time served.
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Embattled Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has vowed to fight until the last minute of the second half to preserve the governments mandate, as impeachment proceedings against her took a dramatic turn on Wednesday.

Ms Rousseff pledged in an interview on Wednesday that, should she win, she would propose a national pact and reforms that would include all political parties collaborating to repair the damage wrought by the political crisis in the country.

Ms Rousseff, who is accused of mismanaging the economy, said: The crisis in the country is so serious that there is no other solution than to heal the rift with a pact that brings everyone back on board to rebuilding Brazil.

Her promise follows the surprise move on Wednesday by the leader of the Congress, Eduardo Cunha, who announced that the voting schedule for the impeachment on Sunday will start with legislators from the southern states of the country.

 Brazilian president fighting for survival

The Workers Party immediately petitioned the Supreme Court asking that the call order of the voting deputies should be done alphabetically and not by region.

Party members argued that Mr Cunhas strategy is illegal and a cynical ploy to ensure opponents win the impeachment vote as the south, whose members are predominately against the government, will influence the largely undecided northern politicians.

It comes as the odds begin to stack up against Ms Rousseffs survival in government, with coalition parties jumping ship at the last minute following the decisive majority vote for impeachment by legislators earlier this week.

The proceedings will be debated on Friday with the vote taken this Sunday on whether the case against Ms Rousseff should be sent to the Senate. Two thirds of the 513 members in the congress must move to support the case for it to go ahead.

The beleaguered government can currently count on between 100 and 120 votes and must win a further 52 to avoid impeachment proceedings.
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The FBI paid professional hackers to help the agency unlock an iPhone owned by one of the San Bernardino terrorists, it has emerged. The hackers found a security flaw in the device, which they shared with the FBI in return for a one-time flat fee, the Washington Post reported.

That information was used to develop hardware with which the FBI could crack the phones four-digit passcode without triggering a security feature that would have wiped its data.

The iPhone 5c belonged to Syed Farook, who, with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, shot dead 14 people in an attack on an office Christmas gathering in San Bernardino, California in December last year. They were later killed in a shootout with police.

Apple resisted a February court order compelling the company to write new software to unlock the device. But the FBI abandoned the case last month, saying it had successfully accessed the data stored on the phone with the assistance of a third party.

At the time it was reported that the third party in question may have been the Israeli cybersecurity firm Cellebrite, but sources told the Post that was not the case.

At least one of the people who brought the security flaw to the FBI was a grey hat hacker, the newspaper reported, meaning people who search for software vulnerabilities and sell the information to government agencies to use, for example in surveillance.

Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik. The couple killed 14 people in San Bernardino last December (Reuters)

So-called white hat hackers report such flaws to firms like Apple so that they can be fixed, while black hat hackers exploit such flaws for their own use. Grey hat hackers are seen as occupying an ethical grey area between the two.

The US government has yet to decide whether it will share the de

vices vulnerability with Apple, which has said it will not sue to learn it. FBI director James Comey has said that the solution used to unlock Farooks phone would only work on iPhone 5cs running on iOS 9, meaning it would be ineffective for cracking more recent models or operating systems.
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Hillary Clinton has offered a mostly bleak assessment of Americas progress on racial inequality, urging the country to "face up to the reality of systemic racism.

Addressing the annual meeting of the National Action Network, founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist and cable news anchor, Ms Clinton said that while the country had taken some significant steps forward, including the election eight years of President Barack Obama, in other ways its racial blemishes continue to fester.

As you know so well, the last few years also have laid bare to deep fault lines in America, Ms Clinton told delegates packed into a hotel ballroom in Manhattan. Theyve revealed how frayed our bonds of trust and respect have become. Despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, Americas long struggle with racism is far from finished. And we are seeing that in this election.

White Americans needs to do a much better job of listening to black Americans talk about the seen and unseen challenges they face every day, she went on.

Among those seated before her were relatives of black victims of gun and police violence whose deaths helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement, including the mothers of Trayvon Martin, who was gunned down in Florida four years ago, and of Michael Brown of Ferguson, Missouri, a town that exploded in rioting after he was shot by a white police officer on the street.

She offered a long list of priorities for her $125 billion Breaking Every Barrier Agenda first unveiled by her campaign several weeks ago, ranging from overhauling the criminal justice system to tackling environmental discrimination where disadvantaged communities face toxic hazards more prosperous Americans never have to worry about.

If were gonna ask African Americans to vote for us we cannot take you or your vote for granted, Ms. Clinton asserted, addressing the conference as polls show her on course to defeat her rival for the nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders, when New York votes next Tuesday. She also won the endorsement on Wednesday of The Daily News, one of the citys two competing tabloid newspapers.

We cant just show up at election time and say the right things and think that thats enough, thing a swipe at Mr Sanders. We cant start building relationships a few weeks before a vote.

Citing the lead-in-water crisis faced by Flint, Michigan, Ms Clinton vowed to eliminate lead as a major environmental threat within five years. If we put our minds to it, we can get it done we know how to do the work. All we need is the will, she said.

A crowd that at first seemed disinclined to do more than listen politely to the former first lady - in recent days she has faced criticism for her association with a harsh sentencing law signed in 1994 by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, that sharply increased black incarceration levels - slowly began to warm to her as she herself became more passionate.

The Rev Sharpton reminded delegates he had not endorsed either Ms Clinton or Mr Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist, who will address the conference on Thursday. He drew cheers, however, when he called her The Reverend Hillary Clinton thanking her for her speech.

The former Secretary of State said that the racism that persists has also shown itself in the current presidential campaign. Ugly currents that lurk just below the surface of our politics have burst into the open, and everyone sees this bigotry for what it is, Ms Clinton said. Therefore it is up to all of us to repudiate it.

She directly assailed Donald Trump and his rival for the Republican nod, Senator Ted Cruz. The former, she said, had led the insidious birther movement to delegitimize President Obama and wants to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, and the list goes on. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, would treat Muslim Americans like criminals.
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The state of New York will become the next US state  of few  to abolish sales tax on tampons.

Feminine hygiene products, including tampons, will no longer be subject to the four per cent sales tax following the state Senates Monday passage of the legislation. Previous law had already exempted medicine and medicinal supplies, but tampons were included were classified as toiletries without medical ingredients, and therefore did not qualify.

Gov Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign the bill into law.

Weve said wed work with the Legislature to repeal this tax and applaud their action, spokesperson for the Governors Office, Dani Lever, told The Independent.

New York will join Massachusetts, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, who have already passed similar exemptions, once the tax is repealed.

To be sure, the tax on tampons and other similar products harkens back to a time when little was understood about womens biology and the vast majority of lawmakers were men, said State Assemblywoman, and co-sponsor of a similar previous bill, Linda Rosenthal told the Associated Press.

Canada led the charge to repeal taxes on tampons, having passed a bill to do so in June 2015.
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Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has claimed her vice president was orchestrating a conspiracy to topple her, as efforts to impeach the leader gained momentum in the country's Congress.

Aided by her mentor and predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Ms Rousseff scrambled to secure enough support from a dwindling array of allies to block impeachment in a lower house vote due on Sunday that many predict she will lose.

A congressional committee voted on Monday by a larger-than-expected margin to recommend that Ms Rousseff be impeached for breaking budget laws to support her re-election in 2014, a charge Ms Rousseff says was trumped up to remove her from office.

While Ms Rousseff fights for her political survival, her government is largely paralysed as Brazil, the world's seventh-largest economy, struggles with a deep recession and its biggest-ever corruption scandal.

They now are conspiring openly, in the light of day, to destabilise a legitimately elected president, Ms Rousseff said in a speech late on Tuesday, referring to an audio message sent by Vice President Michel Temer to his supporters on Monday in which he called for a government of national unity to overcome Brazil's political crisis.

The congressional committee's 38-27 decision was backed by Mr Temer's PMDB party, formerly her main coalition ally. The party's defection last month greatly increased the likelihood the lower house will send her impeachment to the Senate.

Mr Temer would take over if the Senate agrees to suspend Ms Rousseff and proceed with a trial against her.

The rift between Ms Rousseff and Mr Temer reached breaking point on Monday after the audio message was released, which Mr Temer said was unintentional.

The conspirators have been unmasked, Ms Rousseff said in her speech. She did not mention Mr Temer by name but cited the message as evidence of what she called an attempted coup.

In an interview broadcast on Globo News later, Mr Temer responded to Rousseff's remarks saying he was ready to take the presidency. If destiny takes me to that position... I will be ready.

Looking relaxed and smiling, the vice president denied he'd been plotting against Ms Rousseff and said he did not plan to resign if the lower house votes against impeachment.

Aides say he has been preparing in case he has to replace her, so that he can restore confidence with a business-friendly agenda aimed helping the economy.

Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa canceled a trip to the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington to remain in Brasilia for Sunday's impeachment vote. In its World Economic Outlook on Tuesday, the IMF said Brazil's prolonged recession would be a drag on growth in Latin America for the next two years.

Presidential aides said the government was on a razor's edge over Sunday's lower house vote, which will be organised by Ms Rousseff's political rival, Speaker Eduardo Cunha.

We believe we have enough support, but it's very fluid and we are counting the votes day by day, an official in Ms Rousseff's office said, on condition of anonymity.

The aide said Lula, Brazil's most influential politician, was leading talks with small parties that are wavering in their support for Rousseff and had offered them government jobs to secure crucial votes.

Negotiations were not easy because they were also talking to Mr Temer's camp, the aide said.

Ms Rousseff suffered a further blowTuesday, as the centrist Progressive Party, or PP, left her government, saying it would abandon its ministerial roles. The party had been an important Rousseff ally and with 49 deputies in the lower house could decide which way Sunday's vote goes.

The party's leader in the lower house, Aguinaldo Ribeiro, told reporters in Brasilia the majority of his party supported impeachment.

Ms Rousseff, whose popularity has crumbled during Brazil's recession and the corruption scandal surrounding state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, said her opponents were undermining Brazil's young democracy by seeking to cut her second term short without legal justification.

They intend to overthrow a president elected by more than 54 million voters, she said, adding that impeachment was aimed at rolling back social and economic advances for many Brazilians during the 13 years of government by her Workers' Party.

Reuters
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A Jewish kid from New York, who made his name in Burlington, Vermont  and who likes to give away free stuff? This may sound to some people like Senator Bernie Sanders, the Democratic presidential hopeful. But its also a fair description of Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, aka the ice cream impresarios Ben & Jerry.

Messrs Cohen and Greenfield, both 65, opened their first ice cream parlour in Burlington, Vermont, in 1978. The following year they held the companys first annual Free Cone Day. The tradition continues almost 40 years later: today, 12 April, customers at participating Ben & Jerrys locations can eat as many free scoops of ice cream as theyre prepared to queue up for. Last year on Free Cone Day, Ben & Jerrys distributed more than a million free scoops.

The company founders also handed out free ice cream last month, when they gave away sundaes made with Mr Cohens latest flavour, Bernies Yearning to people in Union Square in New York. The flavor was created in support of Mr Sanders presidential bid, and is made from mint ice cream covered with a thick disc of dark chocolate.

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The flavour was designed with Mr Sanderss socialist economic platform in mind, Mr Cohen explained on his website. The chocolate disc represents the huge majority of economic gains that have gone to the top one per cent since the end of the recession. Beneath it, the rest of us, he wrote. To eat it, Mr Cohen explained, diners should smash the chocolate into chunks with a spoon and mix them with the mint ice cream, so as to share the chocolate wealth more equally with the 99 per cent.

Ben & Jerrys is now owned by Unilever, and Mr Cohen and Mr Greenfield are prevented from profiting from any rival ice creams by a non-compete clause, so Bernies Yearning was a limited batch given out for free, and is not an official Ben & Jerrys flavour.

Mr Sanders was elected mayor of Burlington in 1981, his first major public office. Hes our guy cause weve been his constituents for over 30 years, Mr Cohen recently told NPR. Weve never campaigned for another presidential candidate before because theres never been a presidential candidate worth campaigning for before.
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The abrasive and at times toxic rhetoric of the US election campaign is having a profoundly negative impact on children, a report has claimed.

It says the campaign is producing fear and anxiety among minority pupils, and inflaming racial and ethnic tensions in the classroom.

The Southern Poverty Law Centre said teachers also reported an increase in the bullying, harassment and intimidation of students whose races, religions or nationalities have been the verbal targets of candidates. Many students feared being deported.

Donald Trump's campaign has been marked by controversial comments about immigrants (AP)

Were deeply concerned about the level of fear among minority children who feel threatened by both the incendiary campaign rhetoric and the bullying theyre encountering in school, said Richard Cohen, the groups president.

Weve seen Donald Trump behave like a 12-year-old, and now were seeing 12-year-olds behave like Donald Trump.

The survey - The Trump Effect: The Impact of the Presidential Campaign on Our Nations Schools - involved the questioning of around 2,000 teachers across the US. The group said the survey cannot be considered scientific, but said it provided an insight into the impact of the unusually heated election campaign.

The Republican primary campaign has been criticised for the anti-immigration rhetoric of many of the leading candidates, including Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

Mr Trump has said he wants to build a wall along the US border with Mexico, deport Muslim immigrants to the US, and called Mexicans migrants rapists and murderers.

More than two-thirds of the teachers reported that students  mainly immigrants, children of immigrants and Muslims  have expressed concerns or fears about what might happen to them or their families after the election.

More than half have seen an increase in uncivil political discourse. More than third have observed an increase in anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant sentiment, the report said.

More than 40 per cent are hesitant to teach about the election.

While the survey did not identify candidates, more than 1,000 comments mentioned Donald Trump by name.

In contrast, a total of fewer than 200 contained the names Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton. More than 500 comments contained the words fear, scared, afraid, anxious, or terrified to describe the campaigns impact on minority students.

My students are terrified of Donald Trump, wrote a teacher from a middle school with a large population of African-American Muslims.

They think that if hes elected, all black people will get sent back to Africa.

An elementary teacher teacher in Oregon said her black students are concerned for their safety because of what they see on TV at Trump rallies. In Tennessee, a junior school teacher said a Latino child  told by classmates that he will be deported and blocked from returning home by a wall  asked every day, Is the wall here yet?
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Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has joined thousands of striking Verizon wireless workers - saying they were working for a corporation interested only in its own interests.

Countless thousands of Verizon customers on the US East Coast are facing a potential disruption to the service they receive from the company after nearly 40,000 landline and cable workers went on strike.

The employees are members of two unions, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represent installers, customer service employees, repairmen and other service workers in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC.

Were on strike to maintain good jobs and maintain our standard of living, said Keith Purce, president of CWA Local 1101 which represents about 3,500 workers in New Yory city.

The Associated Press said union officials had revealed a total of 39,000 workers had walked off the job on Wednesday after talks with the company broke down last week and no new negotiations were scheduled. Mr Sanders - who was criticised by the CEO of Verizon - joined the picket line in New York and addressed the crowds.

The workers latest contract expired in August and so far, the unions and management say negotiations have been unsuccessful.

The unions have said Verizon wants to freeze pensions, make lay-offs easier and rely more on contract workers. The telecom giant has said there are health care issues that need to be addressed for retirees and current workers because medical costs have grown and the company also wants greater flexibility to manage its workers, the news agency said.

Verizon also is pushing to eliminate a rule that would prevent employees from working away from home for extended periods of time. In a television advert, the unions said the company was trying to force employees to accept a contract sending their jobs to other parts of the country and even oversees.

Verizon said on Tuesday that it has worked for more than a year to prepare for the possibility of a strike and has trained thousands of non-union workers to fill in for the striking workers.

Employees from other departments across the US also will be sent to replace the striking workers, the company said. In August 2011, about 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike for about two weeks.

Lets make it clear, we are ready for a strike, Bob Mudge, president of Verizon's wireline network operations said.

The New York Times said that subscribers to Verizons cellular phone and data services should not notice any changes. But it added that Verizons wireline customers could expect a deterioration in customer service quality.

Even with preparation, the company said it has trained only upward of 10,000 employees to fill in for the nearly 36,000 workers who went on strike. In addition, many unionised workers who are striking have been doing this type of work for far longer than the one year that Verizon has trained nonunion workers to fill in.

There will almost certainly be some functions which may be slower or unavailable during the strike, because they require specialised skills or there just arent sufficient alternative resources available to fill all functions, said Jan Dawson, an independent technology analyst for Jackdaw Research.
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A white South Carolina police officer who was charged over the fatal shooting of a black driver in 2014 has been sentenced to three years of probation.

Justin Craven, 27, pleaded guilty to misdemeanour misconduct in office. A prosecutor had wanted the officer to be charged with manslaughter, which carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, but a grand jury refused.

Ernest Satterwhite, 68, attempted to escape police during a 13-minute chase during which he reached speeds of 100mph while over the legal limit of alcohol to drive.

A video of the shooting shows the officer run to the window of Mr Satterwhites vehicle. There is then a slight commotion before he fires several shots.

White police officer gets probation in fatal shooting of black driver

According to his lawyer, Mr Craven feared for his life because Mr Satterwhite was trying to grab his gun.

"His mistake in judgment was approaching the car and getting too close. He had to make a split-second decision instead of like now, when everyone gets all the time they want to analyse it.

It was reported that Judge Frank Addy gave the officer probation because he could understand how the shooting happened after a long chase.

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The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. 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Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. 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A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The decision has been met by uproar with many believing it is another disproportionate act of police brutality against a black person.

South Carolina state Representative Joe Neal said the video showed Mr Craven to be a gun happy officer.

What he did was murder this man, and the judicial system just let him get away with it.
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An Afghan MP has denied he suggested a journalist's nose should be cut off in a video in which she asked his views on marital rape.

Nazir Ahmad Hanafi was accused of saying: "Maybe I should give you to an Afghan man to take your nose off" to reporter Isobel Yeung, in VICE film posted online.

The video - in which the Islamic theologian suggests that Islam and the West define rape different - went viral when posted on Twitter, receiving more than 4,400 retweets and sparking widespread condemnation.

Ms Yeung was questioning Mr Hanafi, who represents the Western city of Herat, about his opposition to legislation cracking down on violence against women.

The Elimination of Violence Against Women Act was submitted to parliament in 2009 but has yet to be passed due to resistance from MPs.

The reporter asks: What if a husband rapes his wife, is that domestic abuse? Should the man be punished or should the woman be punished for that, in your opinion?"

Mr Hanafi replies: There is a kind of rape you have and another we have in Islam."

He then cuts Ms Yeung as she tries to answer another question, adding: "I think you should stop it now.

Turning in another direction, he is then heard to seemingly make the remark about cutting off the journalist's nose.

According to AFP, Facebook user Mohammad Bashir Haidary wrote on Facebook: Dear MP...you have defamed the dignity of the entire Afghan people. May you face the wrath of the Almighy, you are representing the ancient province of Herat.

User Aminullah Farahi, wrote: This dirty man knows well that the interview is watched by millions of Easterners and Westerners, and you are representing Islam, is this Islam?

But the MP denied making the threat in an interview with Radio Free Europe, AFP reported.

He said: "Actually I havent said such a thing, neither have I behaved in a such a way with anyone."

The clip is from a VICE film highlighting the plight of women in contemporary Afghanistan, where rape and violence remain commonplace.
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A 6.9 magnitude earthquake has struck Burma, with tremors being felt as far away as India.

The US Geological Survey recorded the epicentre 46 miles south-east of Mawlaik, at a depth of around 80 miles.

Phil Hughes, who works in the country's second-largest city of Mandalay, told The Independent that he felt shaking for around a minute but was unhurt.

"Everything seems normal where I am," he adding, saying he had seen no damage.

The epicentre of the earthquake in Burma on 13 April 2016 (US Geological Survey)

There were scenes of panic in Yangon after the quake struck, according to witnesses, but authorities there said there were no immediate reports of injuries.

An Associated Press journalist who was in one of the city's hospitals at the time said the seven-story building shook strongly twice, for at least a minute.

Many people in the hospital, including patients, staff and visitors, ran out of the building and began calling their loved ones.

Aung Thu, who was taking care of his elder brother, said: I was sleeping on my bed when suddenly I felt the ground shaking. The first time it was intense, but the second time it was lighter."

He said he was on the third floor of the Shwegonedine Specialist Center hospital, and as soon as he felt the quake he called his wife and son to tell them to be prepared for the worst.

The quake, centered in the jungle and hills northwest of Mandalay, hit at 2.55pm BST - 8.25pm local time.

Strong tremors were felt in India's eastern city of Guwahati and other areas of Assam near where the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge are visiting during their royal tour.

The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Show all 10 1 /10 The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Chile 1960 (Magnitude: 9.5) 2010 AFP The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Great Alaska Earthquake 1964 (Magnitude: 9.2) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra 2004 (Magnitude: 9.1) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan 2011 (Magnitude: 9.0) 2011 IFRC The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Kamchatka 1952 (Magnitude: 9.0) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Offshore Maule, Chile 2010 (Magnitude: 8.8) 2010 Getty Images The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Off the Coast of Ecuador 1906 (Magnitude: 8.8) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Rat Islands, Alaska 1965 (Magnitude: 8.7) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Northern Sumatra, Indonesia 2005 (Magnitude: 8.6) 2005 Getty Images The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Assam - Tibet 1950 (Magnitude: 8.6)

We felt the tremor very strongly, but all is fine, said British Deputy High Commissioner Scott Furssedonn-Wood, who was staying in the same jungle resort as the royal couple.

In Assam's capital, Gauhati, people rushed outdoors as they felt strong tremors and buildings swaying, while a failure at a power station caused outages in several parts of the state.

People also reported feeling shaking West Bengal, Tripura and in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, 300 miles from the epicentre.

Burma is affected by seismic activity in the Himalayas caused by the continuing collision between the Indian and Eurasian continental plates.

The USGS calls the area one of the most seismically hazardous regions on earth because of the numerous earthquakes generated.

Several fault-lines run through Burma, which has seen several major earthquakes and deadly landslides in recent decades.

Additional reporting by agencies
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A group of students has been pasting sanitary towels on the walls of a Pakistani university in protest against the taboo over discussing menstruation in the country.

The six women and men, who study at Beaconhouse National University (BNU) in Lahore, wrote slogans on the towels such as "it's something so natural" and "I'm not flawed or poorly made".

In addition, they painted stains on their white kameezes (traditional dress shirt) and stood next to the hygiene products where they talked with male students explaining "nothing is gross,weird, or wrong".

One of the students, Mavera Rahim, posted a picture of towels on Facebook. She explained: "The protest was against the stigma attached to menstruation and the sharmindagi [shame] with which we discuss it.

"We are made to put pads in brown paper bags when we buy them, we are made to talk about periods in hushed voices as if it's a dirty secret, and all-in-all made to act as if it is something we should hide more so than other bodily functions, when it's really a natural part of our biology.

"Our idea was to break this taboo around the subject in our society."

The group said part of the inspiration for the protest was that Pakistani women contract diseases because "they are not fully informed of hygienic practices".

In pictures: Pakistan university attack Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Pakistan university attack In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani rescuers shift an injured man to a hospital following an attack by gunmen in the Bacha Khan university in Charsadda, about 50 kilometres from Peshawar. At least 21 people died in an armed assault on a university in Pakistan, where witnesses reported two large explosions as security forces moved in under dense fog to halt the bloodshed In pictures: Pakistan university attack Rescue workers shout to clear the way for an ambulance transporting injured victims from Bacha Khan University in Charsadda AP In pictures: Pakistan university attack A Pakistani army armoured vehicle (R) enters the Bacha Khan university following an attack by gunmen in Charsadda Getty Images In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani rescuers shift an injured man at a hospital following an attack by gunmen at Bacha Khan university in Charsadda Getty Images In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani troops arrive at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda AP In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani rescuers shift an injured victim outside the Bacha Khan university following an attack by gunmen in Charsadda Getty Images In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani police and onlookers gather in front of a hospital following an attack by gunmen at Bacha Khan university in Charsadda Getty Images In pictures: Pakistan university attack An ambulance carrying injured victims enters a hospital following an attack by gunmen at Bacha Khan university in Charsadda Getty Images In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani rescuers shift an injured man into a hospital following an attack by gunmen at Bacha Khan university in Charsadda Getty Images In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani rescuers carry coffins at a hospital following an attack by gunment at Bacha Khan university in Charsadda Getty Images

Ms Rahim told the Express Tribune newspaper that her brother and sisters are "very supportive".

"This is not a campaign; this was merely an aesthetically based protest as a class project ... Women face a lot of stigmatisation and ridicule for menstruation, something they have no control over," she said.

"No, Im not some shameless libertine, but I dont think I should feel shame for this, even though I do feel very embarrassed and self-conscious about this whole experience."

This work echoes a demonstration by students at Dehli's Jamia Millia Islamia University in India who last year covered the establishment with sanitary towels to protest discrimination and sexual violence against women.
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Gay Air France cabin crew are calling for a boycott of the airline's new route to Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death.

The airline resumes flights to Tehran next week after an eight-year hiatus due to international sanctions.

But the new route has been beset by problems. Earlier this week, female staff complained that they could be forced to wear headscarves and now gay employees have expressed concern that they will be flying to a country where they could be executed for their sexuality.

The petition, which has more than 2,400 signatures, says it is "inconceivable" gay flight attendants should be forced to fly to the Islamic Republic.

It calls on staff to be allowed the right to refuse to go to a country where they could be "killed for who they are.

Written by a representative of the group called Laurent M, it adds: Homosexuality is still illegal in the country [with] a punishment of 74 lashes for a minor and the death penalty for adults.

Sure our sexuality isnt written on our passports and it doesnt change the way we work as a crew. But it is unconscionable to force someone to go to a country where his kind are condemned for who they are."

A spokesperson from the union said the issue of staff wanting to avoid flying to Iran has been tackled for the entire aircrew, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.

The petition comes a week after Air France came under pressure from female crew who were told in a memo they would be forced to cover their hair with a scarf when they leave the plane.

The airline has since backed down and made a deal with unions stating they will be allowed to opt out of flights.

In a statement, the airline said: "In Iran, the law stipulates that all women present in the country have to wear a headscarf covering their hair in public places. This obligation does not apply during the flight and is respected by all international airlines serving the Republic of Iran.

Tolerance and respect for the cultures and customs in the countries served by the airline are part of the fundamental values of Air France and its staff.
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Video has emerged showing a Bulgarian vigilante group ordering three tied-up Afghan nationals to go back to Turkey after they crossed the border.

The restrained men can be seen handcuffed, lying face down as the vigilantes stand over them  one man can be seen holding a machete.

The citizens arrest took place in the mountainous area of Strandja, on the border with Turkey.

Bulgarian authorities have launched an investigation into the incident and one man has been arrested.

Recommended Read more The country that turned its back on its refugees

Focus Information Agency reports that Petar Nizamov is accused of the illegal arrest of three Afghan nationals.

A knife was found inside the vehicle, while at his home - a machete, a gas pistol, ropes used to tie the migrants, camouflage clothes and small amount of drug substances.

Bulgarias Prime Minister Boiko Borisov initially praised the vigilantes, insisting that protecting the countrys borders was a joint effort.

Following a backlash from human rights groups, Mr Borisov retracted his comment.

Prime Minister Boiko Borisov u-turned on his original position.

In a Facebook post, he wrote: "Society should not be indifferent ... but rights shouldn't be exceeded. Any illegal or inhumane attitude will not only not be tolerated but will also be prosecuted under the law.

A spokesperson for the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) told the Independent that only the border police should be patrolling the border.

People who want to file asylum claims should be allowed into the country to do so. Their claims should be heard by the authorities in an orderly process - the refugee status determination procedure.

Ordinary citizens should not make an on-the-spot decision about whether someone is a refugee.

The incident has also been decried by senior officials in Bulgaria.

Chief Public Prosecutor, Sotir Tsatsarov, said: "It is absolutely inadmissible for groups, separate individuals, squads, organisations or whatever they call themselves... to try to seize the functions of state institutions.

"All such attempts will be prosecuted.

Interior Minister Rumyana Buchvarova wrote on Facebook: "Today we must be careful not only of illegal border crossings, but also of those who want to benefit from them. For money or for cheap and dangerous glory.

There is nothing but the competent authorities, who can decide what's appropriate when it comes to refugees.

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

Vigilante action in Bulgaria has increased this year as the refugee crisis continues to grip Europe.

Dinko Valev, a semi-professional wrestler, was dubbed a superhero by a Bulgarian television channel after hunting migrants on the border while riding his quad bike.

Tensions have grown in the country with the arrival of 30,000 migrants in 2015. Border police say they have detained around 10,000 migrants from Syria and Afghanistan in the first three months of 2016.
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Copenhagen is considering a new scheme where people buying pizza, cigarettes and fast food will have to pay a refundable deposit for the packaging in a bid to tackle the citys rubbish problem.

The scheme will mean people will pay an extra kroner (around 10p) for the packaging in fast food chains, shops and restaurants, which will be given back when the customer returns with it.

Following a trial of deposit shelves around Copenhagen for people to leave waste, the amount of rubbish left lying around the city has fallen by 49 per cent, The Local reports.

Despite its green reputation, the city government is forced to spend 200m kroner (about 21.3m) every year to tidy up litter, the deputy mayor for environmental affairs, Morten Kabell, told Danish newspaper Politiken.

If we can bring down the amount of rubbish out there it would mean that we could free up the money for something more fun than cleaning," he said.

The idea was reportedly inspired by a similar successful scheme which has reduced the number of dropped bottles and cans.

Climate change around the world - in pictures Show all 17 1 /17 Climate change around the world - in pictures Climate change around the world - in pictures climate-change-8.jpg Climate change around the world - in pictures 1-ClimateChange2-Getty.jpg Getty Climate change around the world - in pictures 1-ClimateChange3-Getty.jpg AFP/Getty Climate change around the world - in pictures 1-ClimateChange4-Getty.jpg Getty Climate change around the world - in pictures 1-ClimateChange5-Getty.jpg Getty Climate change around the world - in pictures 1-Climatechange6.EPA.jpg EPA Climate change around the world - in pictures 1-ClimateChange7-Getty.jpg Getty Climate change around the world - in pictures Machair.jpg Getty Climate change around the world - in pictures climate-change-7.jpg Climate change around the world - in pictures climate-change-2.jpg Climate change around the world - in pictures climate-change-13.jpg Climate change around the world - in pictures salt-lake-2.jpg Climate change around the world - in pictures climate-change-11.jpg Climate change around the world - in pictures climate-change-5.jpg Climate change around the world - in pictures climate-change-12.jpg Climate change around the world - in pictures climate-change-9.jpg Climate change around the world - in pictures climate-change-10.jpg

It comes after the annual trawl of Copenhagen Harbour has netted 90 tonnes of rubbish since March.

Gert Hjemsted Kondrup, who was in charge of the clean-up, said there had a slight increase in lighter rubbish, which we sail around and remove from the harbour on a daily basis.

He told the Copenhagen Post: Judging by the number of pizza boxes and beer cups, the waterfront is being used more than before.

The plan will need to be approved by the national Ministry of the Interior before city officials can begin work.
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The European Parliament will today debate a scheme forcing airlines to collect information on everyone flying in and out of Europe, as part of new push to tighten security in the wake of the Paris and Brussels bombings.

The debate, ahead of a vote on Thursday, would use airline records to screen passengers before departure to identify potential terror suspects and track their movements.

The Passenger Name Record (PNR) plans were first proposed in 2011 but MEPs have twice voted it down over privacy and data protection concerns. However, new guarantees on the use of the data appear to have won around key MEPs, and officials are optimistic that the measure will be passed this time.

Britain, France and Germany are keen supporters of the law, which they say will help law enforcement authorities fight terrorism and other serious crime thanks to better oversight over who enters and leaves their countries. Police looking for terrorism suspects would have access to data that many European governments and security experts consider essential in tracking terrorists returning to Europe from troublespots like Syria.

Under the plan, airlines operating flights in or out of EU countries would be obliged to send all details provided by travellers such as name, itinerary, bank card details, home address and meal preference to authorities.

The data would be stored for six months so authorities could also use it to pick up suspicious travel patterns such as people coming to and from Syria, where ISIS is based. All flights coming in and out of the EU would be covered by the scheme, but governments would be given the option of whether or not to record information for passenger taking flights within the continent.

Britain is among a few countries that already have a PNR system, but others have yet to agree it. Tory MEP and former home officer minister Timothy Kirkhope, who is steering the legislation through the European Parliament, says Europes patchwork use of PNR creates weak points that terrorists can exploit. I believe the EU needs this tool urgently, he said. The patterns of behaviour that can be picked up from PNR data have proven invaluable in the UK where a national PNR system is in place.

Mr Kirkhope amended his plans to win over skeptical legislators, beefing up data protection provisions. While national authorities would have the right to request data from other countries to support a specific investigation, sensitive data such as a person's race, religion, political opinion or health would be not shared.

The bill has been criticised by human rights defenders who argue that mass surveillance does little to prevent terrorism, but undermines civil liberties. Privacy advocates point out that the suspects in last years Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, were known to police, as were the killers of British soldier Lee Rigby.


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A Spanish father has launched a court case against a homeopath he accuses of telling his son his cancer could be cured with fungi and alcohol".

Julian Rodriguezs son, Mario Rodriguez, died after shunning conventional medical advice to treat his leukaemia in favour of alternative remedies.

The landmark case, which Julian hopes will result in stronger regulation on homeopathic practitioners, is expected to bring renewed pressure on Spains burgeoning alternative remedies industry.

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The Provincial Court of Valencia, which initially dismissed Julians case, has now accepted it on the basis that Jose Ramon Llorente  who is not a medical doctor  should be held accountable for his claims that he could cure cancer, on the grounds of professional intrusion.

If convicted, Mr Llorente could face two years in prison, according to La Vanguardia.

Mario was a 21-years-old physics student when he was diagnosed with leukaemia and doctors recommended a bone marrow transplant and a course of chemotherapy.

However, he feared the effects of chemotherapy and was, according to Julian, convinced by Mr Llorente, president of the Spanish Association of Orthomolecular Nutrition, into a homeopathic orthomolecular treatment'.

The worst jobs for your health Show all 10 1 /10 The worst jobs for your health The worst jobs for your health 10. Surgical and medical assistants, technologists, and technicians Overall unhealthiness score: 57.3 What they do: Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons, registered nurses, or other surgical personnel and perform medical laboratory tests. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 88 2. Exposure to contaminants: 80 3. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 69 The worst jobs for your health 9. Stationary engineers and boiler operators Overall unhealthiness score: 57.7 What they do: Operate or maintain stationary engines, boilers, or other mechanical equipment to provide utilities for buildings or industrial processes. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 99 2. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 89 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 84 The worst jobs for your health 8. Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators Overall unhealthiness score: 58.2 What they do: Operate or control an entire process or system of machines, often through the use of control boards, to transfer or treat water or wastewater. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 97 2. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 80 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 74 The worst jobs for your health 7. Histotechnologists and histologic technicians Overall unhealthiness score: 59.0 What they do: Prepare histologic slides from tissue sections for microscopic examination and diagnosis by pathologists. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 88 2. Exposure to contaminants: 76 3. Exposure to disease and infections: 75 The worst jobs for your health 6. Immigration and customs inspectors Overall unhealthiness score: 59.3 What they do: Investigate and inspect people, common carriers, goods, and merchandise, arriving in or departing from the US or between states to detect violations of immigration and customs laws and regulations. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 78 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 63 3. Exposure to radiation: 62 The worst jobs for your health 5. Podiatrists Overall unhealthiness score: 60.2 What they do: Diagnose and treat diseases and deformities of the human foot. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 87 2. Exposure to radiation: 69 3. Exposure to contaminants: 67 The worst jobs for your health 4. Veterinarians, veterinary assistants, and laboratory animal caretakers and veterinary technologists and technicians What they do: Diagnose, treat, or research diseases and injuries of animals and perform medical tests in a laboratory environment for use in the treatment and diagnosis of diseases in animals. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 81 2. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 75 3. Exposure to contaminants: 74 The worst jobs for your health 3. Anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, and anesthesiologist assistants Overall unhealthiness score: 62.3 What they do: Administer anesthetics or sedatives during medical procedures, and help patients in recovering from anesthesia. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 94 2. Exposure to contaminants: 80 3. Exposure to radiation: 74 The worst jobs for your health 2. Flight attendants What they do: Provide personal services to ensure the safety, security, and comfort of airline passengers during flight. Greet passengers, verify tickets, explain use of safety equipment, and serve food or beverages. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 88 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 77 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 69 The worst jobs for your health 1. Dentists, dental surgeons, and dental assistants Overall unhealthiness score: 65.4 What they do: Examine, diagnose, and treat diseases, injuries, and malformations of teeth and gums. May treat diseases of nerve, pulp, and other dental tissues affecting oral hygiene and retention of teeth. May fit dental appliances or provide preventive care. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 84 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 75 3. Time spent sitting: 67

Mr Llorente prescribed 4,000 worth of alternative medicines', including vitamins, fungi and alcohol. Before he later died of an intestinal infection, Mario said to his father: "Dad, I was wrong".

Marios medical doctors also blamed Mr Llorente for the young mans decision to turn down conventional treatment, El Pais reported.

"It is so painful to know that he had such a clear chance to save my son, Julian said.

Mr Llorente denies that he claimed to cure diseases, but said we train the body to enhance recovery and if cancer is cured, then perfect.

He said of Marios decision: "If he was wrong, he was wrong."

In an online petition to raise awareness of the issue, Julian wrote: I want my son's case to serve as a way to initiate legislative change that regulates the advertisement, circulation and practice of these so-called 'alternative therapies'.

For a car, a washer, or a television, these products have to pass through pre-determined filters established by legislation. But to open a shady business and announce that you can cure cancer  no.

Julian is now lobbying on a broader scale against homeopathy and alternative medicine in Spain and founded campaign group Asociacion Para Proteger Al Enfermo De Terapias Pseudocientificas (Association to Protect the Sick from Pseudoscientific Therapies)

They work to against pseudoscientific therapies and the damage they are doing to public health, which they believe takes advantage of the lack of scientific culture in most of the population.

Homeopathy, which has no grounding in scientific evidence, is big business in Spain, worth an estimated 60 million every year.

While the treatments have been proven by scientists to be only as effective as placebos, there is a strong lobby for alternative medicine in Spain and commentators believe there is significant public confusion about the effectiveness of alternative medicines, with around 13 per cent of Spaniards claiming to prefer them, according to El Pais.

However, the mood in Spain has recently soured towards homeopathy, particularly after a six-year-old boy, whose mother worked in a homeopathic clinic, died of diphtheria in June 2015 having not been vaccinated against the illness.

In March of this year, the University of Barcelona followed other institutions and scrapped its homeopathy course on recommendation of the faculty of medicine and widespread opposition from staff and students.
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Isis has threatened more attacks on Europe after celebrating its blessed bombings in Brussels in the latest issue of its Dabiq propaganda magazine.

The terrorist group sought to present the massacres on 22 March as a well-planned operation, but investigators said the Belgian capital was only targeted in desperation as authorities closed in on a cell planning further attacks in France.

One of the four intended suicide bombers, Mohamed Abrini, is now in police custody after fleeing Brussels Airport and dumping his explosives vest in a bin.

 Paris attacks: Abrini arrested

He was conspicuously absent from Isis account of the atrocities, where it praised brothers Ibrahim and Khalid el-Bakraoui, and Najim Laachraoui, who conspired with Abrini to attack the airport and Maalbeek Metro station, killing more than 30 people.

The propaganda magazine confirmed investigators findings that Laachraoui was a bomb-maker for both the Paris and Brussels attacks, saying he completed his training after being injured fighting in Syria.

Isis also paid tribute to Mohamed Belkaid, who was shot dead in the Brussels police raid that led to the capture of Salah Abdeslam.

His testimony, alongside that of Abrini and several arrested accomplices, is expected to be crucial allowing intelligence agencies to rout out any remaining Isis networks in Europe.

A spokesperson for the Belgian federal prosecutors office said the cell that carried out the Brussels attacks initially had the intention to strike in France again.

In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport A man carries an injured person in Brussels Airport, after explosions ripped through the departure hall In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Travellers get to their feet in a smoke filled terminal at Brussels Airport after explosions In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport A man is wounded in Brussels Airport in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport A man speaks on a mobile phone in Brussels Airport, after the explosions ripped through the departure hall In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Belgian police officers detain a man at the Gare du Midi train station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport A police officer stands guard as people are evacuated from Brussels airport, after explosions rocked the facility in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport People stand near Brussels airport after being evacuated following explosions that rocked the facility in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Crew and passengers are evacuated from Zaventem Bruxelles International Airport after an attack in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Passengers gather near Brussels airport in Zaventem, following its evacuation after blasts rocked the main terminal of Brussels airport In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Two women wounded in Brussels Airport in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Passengers and airport staff are evacuated from the terminal building after explosions at Brussels Airport in Zaventem near Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Passengers and airport staff are evacuated from the terminal building after explosions at Brussels Airport in Zaventem near Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Broken windows seen at the scene of explosions at Zaventem airport near Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport People leave the scene of explosions at Zaventem airport near Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport People are evacuated from the scene after two explosions were heard at Brussels Airport In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport People wait outside of the Brussels Airport after evacuation In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport People leave the airport area after explosions at Brussels Airport in Zaventem In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Passengers comfort each other as they are evacuated from the terminal building after explosions at Brussels Airport in Zaventem In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport People react as they walk away from Brussels airport after explosions rocked the facility in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Emergency services attend the scene of explosions at Zaventem airport near Brussels Reuters In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Injured people at the scene at Brussels Airport after two explosions were heard PA In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport The aftermath of the explosions at Brussels airport PA In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport People wait outside of the Zaventem airport after two explosions were heard PA In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Emergency services at the scene of explosions at Brussels Airport In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport A view of the scene after the explosions at Brussels airport PA In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Emergency services at the scene of explosions at Zaventem airport near Brussels Reuters In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport The aftermath of the explosions at Brussels airport PA In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport The view of the Brussels airport after the explosion PA In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport Smoke is seen at Brussels airport in Brussels AP In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels airport A photo shows cars on a blocked highway near Zaventem, Brussels National airport, after two explosions rocked the main hall of Brussels Airport Getty Images

Eventually, surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation, they urgently took the decision to strike in Brussels, he added.

The account was supported by a panicked note allegedly left by Brahim el-Bakraoui shortly before he blew himself up.

Found on a discarded laptop, it said he felt in a rush, not knowing what to do, being hunted everywhere, no longer being safe and feared being caught.

There was little evidence of the supposed resolve presented in Dabiq, where Isis claimed el-Bakraoui decided to live for his religion in prison.

Alongside photos of the dead attackers, the magazine contains images of the aftermath of the Brussels attacks including the destroyed airport terminal and train, and bloodied victims.

Brothers Khalid and Brahim el-Bakraoui carried out out suicide bomb attacks at Brussels Airport and on the Metro (EPA)

Isis vowed to continue carrying out global atrocities until all Muslims live under its brutal interpretation of Sharia law.

Flames ignited years ago in Iraq have now scorched the battleground of Belgium, soon to spread to the rest of crusader Europe and the West, it said.

Paris was a warning. Brussels was a reminder.

What is yet to come will be more devastating and more bitter by the permission of Allahsoldiers of the Islamic State promise their adversaries dark days of death and destruction in their own lands.

The so-called Islamic State outlined its intention to damage Western economies and infrastructure, repeating previous threats as it continues to feel the impact of air strikes on its territories.

Fighters salaries were reportedly halved earlier this year, as a string of money-making schemes were imposed amid a campaign targeting oil revenue.

Iraqi troops in Ramadi after an important victory against Isis (Reuters)

The US-led coalition has been bombing the terrorist groups oil fields, supply lines and cash stores since October as part of Operation Tidal Wave II, and an Isis document warning of cuts due to exceptional circumstances appeared to show it working.

American officials claimed that operations were already putting significant damage on Isils ability to fund itself within weeks and vowed to step up the attack.

General Lloyd Austin, head of the US Central Command, told reporters in January that it had deprived the group of millions of dollars and Antony Blinken, the Deputy Secretary of State, recently outlined significant territory losses.

Working with local partners, we have taken back 40 per cent of the territory Daesh (Isis) controlled a year ago in Iraq and 10 per cent in Syria, he said.

We assess Daeshs numbers are the lowest theyve been since we began monitoring their manpower in 2014.
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The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said he favours a ban on Islamic headscarves in universities, but stopped short of proposing a change in the law.

In a lengthy interview with the centre-left newspaper Liberation, Mr Valls was asked whether he would like to see the 12-year-old ban on headscarves in French state schools extended to university campuses.

He replied: We should do it, but there are rules in the (French) constitution which make such a ban difficult.

Government and university authorities should therefore be absolutely inflexible in applying other rules which enforce the secular character of higher education, the prime minister said.

Mr Valls comments were interpreted by some commentators as a move towards a headscarf ban in French universities. Government sources said his words had been misread and that there was no question of legislation on this issue.

The Prime Ministers comments were nonetheless disowned by other ministers in his centre-left government  and approved by figures on the hard right of French politics.

The education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a Muslim and a close friend of the Prime Minister, said she was against any legal ban on headscarves or other religious symbols at state universities. We are dealing with adults here, she said.

Mr Valls was wrong to say that the French constitution would prevent such a ban. The obstacle lies in the countrys educational code, which guarantees university students full liberty of information and expression on political, economic, social and cultural issues.

The wearing of the Islamic headscarf  and any other religious symbol such as the crucifix or the Jewish kippa  was banned in state schools in France 12 years ago. The ban was justified as a defence of a 1905 law which insists that all state institutions in France are secular.
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Russia has rejected complaints by US officials who claimed attack planes buzzed dangerously close to a Navy destroyer in the Baltic Sea.

Two Russian warplanes repeatedly buzzed a US Navy destroyer in the Baltic Sea earlier this week in what American officials described as a "simulated attack".

At one point, the Su-24 attack planes came so close to the ship  an estimated 30ft  that they created wakes in the water around it.

Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian defense ministry, said the pilots of Russian Su-24 jets saw the ship and turned back "while using all measures of precaution." Konashenkov said he was baffled by what he described as the "distressed reaction of our American counterparts."

The Russian planes appeared to be unarmed but did not respond to attempts to contact them by the crew of the USS Donald Cook.

A US defence official said the commander of the ship deemed the Russian planes actions to be unsafe and unprofessional and that the US believed that it was a violation of a 1970s agreement to prevent unsafe incidents at sea.

The official told CNN it was a "simulated attack" and the planes were practising "strafing runs" - a military technique of attacking ground target from a low-flying aircraft - to "send a message to Poland".

At one point, at least one of the planes came within 30 feet of the ship - which the US official said was a highly unusual.

Russian plane shot down by Turkish jets Show all 5 1 /5 Russian plane shot down by Turkish jets Russian plane shot down by Turkish jets Russian aircraft goes down in Kizildag region of Turkey's Hatay province, close to the Syrian border Russian plane shot down by Turkish jets Russian aircraft goes down in Kizildag region of Turkey's Hatay province, close to the Syrian border Russian plane shot down by Turkish jets Russian aircraft goes down in Kizildag region of Turkey's Hatay province, close to the Syrian border Russian plane shot down by Turkish jets Russian aircraft goes down in Kizildag region of Turkey's Hatay province, close to the Syrian border Russian plane shot down by Turkish jets Russian aircraft goes down in Kizildag region of Turkey's Hatay province, close to the Syrian border

He said the ship was operating in international waters 70 nautical miles off the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. It had departed the Polish port of Gdynia on Monday.

It is currently unclear whether the US government will formally protest to Russia. US Navy photographs of the incident have not been released.

On Monday, a pair of Russian Su-24 planes made 20 passes over the ship, coming as close as 1,000 yards at an altitude of about 100 ft.

US officials say they regard it as a violation of rules to prevent unsafe incidents at sea agreed in the 1970s (AFP/Petrut Calinescu)

A Polish helicopter aboard the Cook was scheduled to conduct flight operations but those manoeuvres were cancelled because of the Russian actions, the official said.

On Tuesday, a Russian KA-26 submarine-hunting helicopter circled the Cook seven times, taking photographs, he added.

Later that day, another pair of Su-24 attack planes, apparently unarmed, buzzed the Cook 11 times.

The incident comes after months of continuing diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Washington over Russia's role in conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

Additional reporting by AP
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A German politician has called for an "Islam law" to prevent foreign financing of mosques.

Andreas Scheuer, the Christian Social Union's general secretary, argued in an interview with Die Walt that "political Islam" undermines efforts to integrate people in Germany.

Mr Scheuer said financing of mosques or Islamic kindergartens from foreign countries, such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, must be stopped.

He also said "all imams must be trained in Germany and share our fundamental values".

Refugees settle in Germany Show all 12 1 /12 Refugees settle in Germany Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, plays with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, in the one room they and Mohamed's wife Laloosh call home at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany A refugee child Amnat Musayeva points to a star with her photo and name that decorates the door to her classroom as teacher Martina Fischer looks on at the local kindergarten Amnat and her siblings attend on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The children live with their family at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian asylum-applicant Mohamed Ali Hussein (R), 19, and fellow applicant Autur, from Latvia, load benches onto a truckbed while performing community service, for which they receive a small allowance, in Wilhelmsaue village on October 9, 2015 near Letschin, Germany. Mohamed and Autur live at an asylum-applicants' shelter in nearby Vossberg village. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Ali Hussein ((L), 19, and his cousin Sinjar Hussein, 34, sweep leaves at a cemetery in Gieshof village, for which they receive a small allowance, near Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, looks among donated clothing in the basement of the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to Mohamed, his wife Laloosh and their daughter Ranim as residents' laundry dries behind in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asya Sugaipova (L), Mohza Mukayeva and Khadra Zhukova prepare food in the communal kitchen at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Efrah Abdullahi Ahmed looks down from the communal kitchen window at her daughter Sumaya, 10, who had just returned from school, at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asylum-applicants, including Syrians Mohamed Ali Hussein (C-R, in black jacket) and Fadi Almasalmeh (C), return from grocery shopping with other refugees to the asylum-applicants' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat (2nd from L), a refugee from Syria, smokes a cigarette after shopping for groceries with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, and fellow-Syrian refugees Mohamed Ali Hussein (C) and Fadi Almasalmeh (L) at a local supermarket on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. All of them live at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian refugees Leila, 9, carries her sister Avin, 1, in the backyard at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to them and their family in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Somali refugees and husband and wife Said Ahmed Gure (R) and Ayaan Gure pose with their infant son Muzammili, who was born in Germany, in the room they share at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity, and are waiting for authorities to process their application for asylum 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany German Chancellor Angela Merkel pauses for a selfie with a refugee after she visited the AWO Refugium Askanierring shelter for refugees in Berlin Getty Images

"It can't be the case that other, sometimes extreme, moral concepts, are imported from abroad," Mr Scheuer was quoted as saying.

"German must become the language of the mosques," he added, arguing: "Europe must cultivate its own Islam."

He also suggested those who do not properly integrate could be deported.

"Whoever does not integrate themselves cannot stay here," he said.

"We must stop with this integration romance. Multiculturalism has failed. Whoever is not integrated must deal with leaving this country."

Last year, Austria banned foreign funding for mosques and imams, while several politicians have called for such a ban in France.

Earlier this year, three German universities closed prayer rooms used by Muslims, leading to claims of discrimination. Since 2006, several German federal states have introduced legislation banning head-scarves for teachers.

 Anti-Islam movement PEGIDA stages protests across Europe

Mr Scheuer's comments come amid a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment following the terror attacks in Paris and Brussels and ongoing tensions surrounding the refugee crisis.

The number participating in extreme right-wing demonstrations in Germany nearly trebled in 2015.

The anti-Islam Pegida movement also staged one of its biggest rallies in Dresden following the 2015 attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris.

Around 1,700 people attended a Pegida rally in Cologne in January this year, while more than 200 right-wing rioters were arrested in the city of Leipzig in the same month.

In February, a planned home for asylum seekers burned down in Saxony as bystanders cheered. Police some members of a group gathered outside were "commenting with derogatory remarks or unashamed joy".

Research has found support for refugees has fallen in Germany amid the New Year's Eve attacks on women in Cologne.
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Defence officials have warned of the rising threat of al-Qaeda and the Taliban as Isis loses territory and fighters in Iraq and Syria.

Afghanistans defence minister, Masoom Stanikzai, said al-Qaeda was expanding in his country as the security situation deteriorates.

They are really very active, he told CNN. They are working in quiet and reorganizing themselves and preparing themselves for bigger attacks.

Afghan National Army soldiers arrive at the site of an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on 27 February, 2016 (Reuters)

They are working behind other networks, giving them support and the experience they had in different places.

A training camp run by the terrorist group in Kandahar province was recently destroyed but dramatically increased the estimated number of militants present in the country.

Afghanistan is the home of the Taliban fundamentalist movement, which was in power between 1996 and 2001 and has been fighting an insurgency ever since.

There is mounting concern over links between the group and a resurgent al-Qaeda, while Isis is also attempting to expand its presence in Afghanistan.

American officials have hailed recent losses for the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria but militants boasted of their supposed expansion via affiliates across the Middle East, Africa and South East Asia in the groups official propaganda magazine.

Antony Blinken, the Deputy Secretary of State, recently outlined significant territory losses resulting from air strikes and ground operations.

 Syria: Govt. forces demine Palmyra after retaking ancient city from IS

Working with local partners, we have taken back 40 per cent of the territory Daesh (Isis) controlled a year ago in Iraq and 10 per cent in Syria- killing senior leaders, destroying thousands of pieces of equipment, all the while applying simultaneous pressure against key chock points and isolating its bases in Mosul and Raqqa, he said.

We assess Daeshs numbers are the lowest theyve been since we began monitoring their manpower in 2014.

Mr Blinken said a comprehensive strategy was being implemented, including training and equipping allies, stopping the flow of foreign fighters and choking Isis finances.

In each of these areas, we are making real progress, he added in an address to Washingtons Brookings Institute in February.

These hard-fought victories undermine more than Daeshs fighting force. They erode the narrative it has built of its own successthe perception of which remains one of Daeshs most effective recruiting tools.

In September 2014, a US intelligence official told AFP that the CIA believed the group could put between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters in the field.

British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria Show all 10 1 /10 British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria A Tornado jet takes off from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, as RAF Tornado jets carried out the first British bombing runs over Syria British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria Pilots and ground crew prepare combat aircraft Panavia Tornados at RAF Marham at RAF Marham, UK Getty British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria A Eurofighter Typhoon jet takes off from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, as RAF Tornado jets carried out the first British bombing runs over Syria British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria A RAF Tornado arrives at RAF Akrotiri to begin operations in Akrotiri British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria A Tornado jet ahead of taking off from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, as RAF Tornado jets carried out the first British bombing runs over Syria, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. The air strikes were carried out within hours of a vote by MPs in the Commons to back extending operations against Isis from neighbouring Iraq British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria Personnel work on a British Tornado after it returned from a mission at RAF Akrotiri in southern Cyprus British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria Two RAF Tornado GR4's, both with remaining weapons ordnance, approach RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, as they return to the base after carrying out some of the first British bombing runs over Syria British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria A RAF Tornado takes off from RAF Akrotiri, on the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria A Tornado jet leaving RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria AKA RAF Tornado arrives at RAF Akrotiri to begin operations in Akrotiri, Cyprus. The RAF has sent two further Tornado aircraft and six Typhoons to bolster aircraft now flying sorties to both Iraq and Syria

Since that estimate, Russia has started supporting the Syrian government with air strikes and Isis has been driven out of the cities of Tikrit and Ramadi in Iraq, and Palmyra in Syria.

Fighters salaries were reportedly halved earlier this year and a string of money-making schemes were imposed on civilians living in its territories amid a military campaign targeting oil revenue.

The US-led coalition has been bombing the terrorist groups oil fields, supply lines and cash stores since October as part of Operation Tidal Wave II, and an Isis document warning of cuts due to exceptional circumstances appeared to show it working.

When British planes extended operations from Iraq into Syria in December, Isis Omar oilfields were the first target and Tornadoes and drones have returned to destroy attempted repairs.

A cash distribution centre reportedly used to pay fighters was also hit by US planes on 11 January near its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, with footage showing clouds of money blown into the air.

General Lloyd Austin, head of the US Central Command, told reporters in January that it had deprived the group of millions of dollars.
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Documents detailing Israels alleged defence exports to Rwanda during the countrys civil war and genocide in the 1990s are to remain sealed, the countrys Supreme Court has ruled.

Two years ago Professor Yair Auron and attorney Eitay Mack submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Israels defence ministry to discover the nature of any arms exports made to Rwanda between 1990 and 1995, the Times of Israel reports.

Between 800,000 and 1 million people were killed over the course of 100 days in Rwanda in 1994 during the civil war, kick started by the death of the Hutu President Juvenal Habyrimana whose plane was shot down over Kigali airport.

Recommended Read more Britain ignored genocide threat in Rwanda

Weapons used in the genocide allegedly included Israeli-made 5.56mm bullets, rifles and grenades, the newspaper reports, but information apparently detailing this is sealed in the contested documentation.

Mr Auron and Mr Macks request reportedly stated: According to various reports in Israel and abroad, the defence exports to Rwanda ostensibly violated international law, at least during the period of the weapons embargo imposed by the UN Security Council.

The request was denied by the Ministry of Defence and later by the Tel Aviv District Court, upholding the argument that the release of information would undermine state security and international relations.

The Supreme Court has also rejected the appeal for the documents to be released, stating: We found that under the circumstances the disclosure of the information sought does not advance the public interest claimed by the appellants to the extent that it takes preference and precedence over the claims of harm to state security and international relations, Haaretz reports.

Mr Mack responded to the decision by calling it mistaken and immoral, but said that at no point during the proceedings was there a denial that there were defence exports during the genocide, and vowed to continue to fight to expose the truth.
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The head of the National Union of Students (NUS) has hit out at new UK graduate statistics which have shown graduate employment and earnings are rife with inequalities.

NUS national president, Megan Dunn, said the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) new report has shown so much more work has to be done to create equal opportunities for students.

She said: Its hugely disappointing to see women and poorer graduates are facing such a massive disadvantage in the workplace. The marketisation of education is failing students and graduates.

NUS has always demanded social justice be at the forefront of education policy and we will continue to support students from lower income backgrounds and campaign to close the gender pay gap.

Ms Dunns comments have come on the same day the IFS revealed in a new report graduates from richer families earn significantly more than poorer students, even if both study the same degree subject at the same university.

The top 10 universities in the UK Show all 10 1 /10 The top 10 universities in the UK The top 10 universities in the UK 1. University of Oxford The top 10 universities in the UK 2. University of Cambridge The top 10 universities in the UK 3. Imperial College London The top 10 universities in the UK 4. University College London The top 10 universities in the UK 5. London School of Economics and Political Science The top 10 universities in the UK 6. University of Edinburgh The top 10 universities in the UK 7. Kings College London The top 10 universities in the UK 8. University of Manchester The top 10 universities in the UK 9. University of Bristol The top 10 universities in the UK 10. Durham University

The NUS has also expressed disappointment at the fact that, amid the ongoing discussion about women outperforming men at school and outnumbering men at university, male graduates still earn an average of 30,000 ten years after graduation, compared with only 27,000 for women.

Graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds also face a large pay gap compared to those who come from richer families: the average gap in earnings between students from higher and lower-income backgrounds is 8,000 a year for men, and 5,300 a year for women, ten years after graduation.

The NUS believes the Governments recent decision to scrap maintenance grants will only serve to widen this pay gap. The student campaigner said it strongly believes employment data should not be used to measure teaching excellence, adding: As this research shows, graduate employment and earnings are rife with inequalities.

The study proves external factors have a greater impact on student outcomes than teaching.

Jack Britton, a research economist at the IFS and an author of the paper, said the findings show the advantages of coming from a high-income family persist for graduates right into the labour market at age 30.

He continued: While this finding doesnt necessarily implicate either universities or firms, it is of crucial importance for policymakers trying to tackle social immobility.

 The 20 hardest universities to get into

Universities Minister, Jo Johnson, said the Government accepted there was still a long way to go to improve social mobility. He said: We have seen record application rates among students from disadvantaged backgrounds, but this latest analysis reveals the worrying gaps that still exist in graduate outcomes.

We want to see this information used to improve the experience students are getting across the higher education sector.
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A formal inquiry is to open into the Home Offices treatment of international students after Home Secretary Theresa May wrongly deported almost 50,000 students in the wake of the TOEIC English exam scam.

The announcement has been made after the Home Affairs Committee convened to interview Home Office representatives and scrutinise the way in which the ministerial department handled its own investigation into the scam, which was brought to light after an undercover BBC Panorama report.

Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester East, told the Home Offices representatives he expected an inquiry would have better answers than you have provided today.

Mr Vaz added that they were talking about innocent people whose whole reputations have been destroyed because the Home Office keeps saying they took their tests illegally and fraudulently and with deception.

The National Union of Students (NUS) welcomed the decision just a day after it presented the Home Office with a document of evidence justifying why an inquiry had to take place.

Mrs May had come under fire after the cheating was exposed in February 2014 at one East London school which was then used to incriminate all overseas students who had sat the test.

The top 10 universities in the UK Show all 10 1 /10 The top 10 universities in the UK The top 10 universities in the UK 1. University of Oxford The top 10 universities in the UK 2. University of Cambridge The top 10 universities in the UK 3. Imperial College London The top 10 universities in the UK 4. University College London The top 10 universities in the UK 5. London School of Economics and Political Science The top 10 universities in the UK 6. University of Edinburgh The top 10 universities in the UK 7. Kings College London The top 10 universities in the UK 8. University of Manchester The top 10 universities in the UK 9. University of Bristol The top 10 universities in the UK 10. Durham University

NUS international students officer, Mostafa Rajaai, described a formal inquiry as a huge step and said the NUS was thrilled that its concerns over the awful treatment of international students were shared by the Home Affairs Committee, adding: We believe this needs to be resolved urgently.

He continued: Thousands of students have had their lives disrupted, lost their life savings, and were then removed from the UK without the degrees they gave up their time and money for.

The time has now come for the Home Office to explain its actions. These students will never get back the years of their lives they wasted but they still deserve answers about why they were treated so unfairly.

However, this is not the end of the story and we hope this inquiry opens the door for closer examination of the other ways international students have been mistreated, and immigration policies as a whole.

The Independent has contacted the Home Office for comment in the wake of Tuesdays announcement and has yet to receive a response.

However, in a statement on Monday, a spokesperson said: Educational institutions that benefit from the immigration system must ensure they have robust compliance systems in place or risk losing their privilege to sponsor students and workers.

Since 2010, we have cracked down on immigration abuse from poor quality institutions which were damaging the UKs reputation as a provider of world-class education, whilst maintaining a highly competitive offer for international students who wish to study at our world-leading institutions.

The latest figures show this strategy is working: visa applications from international students to study at British universities are up by 17 per cent since 2010, whilst visa applications to our elite Russell Group universities up by 39 per cent.

We will continue to reform the student visa system to tackle abuse and deliver an effective immigration system that works in the national interest.
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Both male and female graduates from the London School of Economics (LSE) are earning more than any other university, including more prestigious ones like Oxford and Cambridge.

LSE has emerged as being the only institution with more than ten per cent of its female graduates earning in excess of 100,000 a year, ten years on from graduation.

As well as this, more than ten per cent of men who have studied at LSE, Oxford, and Cambridge were earning in excess of 100,000 after the same period, with the graduates pocketing an average annual amount of 163,000.

Graduates from northern universities - such as Liverpool, Newcastle, and York - are also achieving highly competitive earnings, despite their local labour markets having lower earnings than in the south of England.

However, its the strong levels of salaries of the capitals LSE, Imperial College London, and King's College London graduates that have come to light.

LSE further benefits from focusing on high-paying subjects, economics and law, as well as having very high admissions requirements.

The top 10 universities in the UK Show all 10 1 /10 The top 10 universities in the UK The top 10 universities in the UK 1. University of Oxford The top 10 universities in the UK 2. University of Cambridge The top 10 universities in the UK 3. Imperial College London The top 10 universities in the UK 4. University College London The top 10 universities in the UK 5. London School of Economics and Political Science The top 10 universities in the UK 6. University of Edinburgh The top 10 universities in the UK 7. Kings College London The top 10 universities in the UK 8. University of Manchester The top 10 universities in the UK 9. University of Bristol The top 10 universities in the UK 10. Durham University

The research from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has revealed there to be particularly big differences in earnings according to which university was attended. Partly driven by differences in entry requirements, the numbers have been described very striking.

The most startling finding from the research to have surfaced is that graduates from richer backgrounds earn significantly more after graduation than their poorer counterparts, even after completing the same degrees from the same universities.

The research used anonymised tax data and student loan records for 260,000 students - dating back to 1998 - and is the first time big data has been used to look at how graduate earnings vary by university, degree subject, and parental income.

Anna Vignoles of the University of Cambridge, and an author of the paper, described how the research strongly illustrates that, for most graduates, higher education leads to much better earnings than those earned by non-graduates.

However, she added: Students need to realise that their subject choice is important in determining how much of an earnings advantage they will have.

The authors comments were made in relation to the fact that those studying the creative arts had the lowest earnings and, on average, earned no more than non-graduates, with male creative arts grads taking home around 17,000 (12,000 for females).

 The 20 hardest universities to get into

Mass communication graduates also emerged as being among the lowest paid with males pocketing around 20,000 (15,000 for females), as veterinary sciences and agriculture-related subjects saw average salaries of just 20,000 for males and around 18,000 for females.

Addressing the gap between rich and poor, Universities Ministers, Jo Johnson, said the Government accepted there was still a long way to go to improve social mobility, and added: We have seen record application rates among students from disadvantaged backgrounds, but this latest analysis reveals the worrying gaps that still exist in graduate outcomes.

We want to see this information used to improve the experience students are getting across the higher education sector.
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Travel essentials

Why go now?

Taiwans capital has bags of style, with small boutiques and big department stores alike stocking the latest products from the citys many independent designers. And this year Taipei's creative credentials have been bolstered by the city's title of World Design Capital; it's hosting a number of events to mark the occasion (wdc2016.taipei). And spring is the best time to visit, before the sweltering summer heat and humidity kicks in.

Touch down

There are no non-stop flights between the UK and Taipei. I flew via Amsterdam with KLM (0870 243 0542; klm.com), which operates from half a dozen UK airports including Heathrow and Manchester. Eva Air (020 7380 8300; evaair.com) flies direct from Heathrow with a stop in Bangkok, while other indirect services to Taoyuan airport include Emirates (0844 800 2777; emirates.com), China Southern (0844 482 2362; csair.com) and Cathay Pacific (020 8834 8888; cathaypacific.com) via their hubs.

The opening of the rail link between the airport and the capital has been delayed, so for now the bus is your best bet. Follow the signs for Buses to city, to where each bus company has a ticket booth. Kuo-Kuang Motor Transportation Cos 1819 bus operates every 15-20 minutes round the clock, and will take you to Taipei Main Station (1) in about 45 minutes for NT$125. A taxi will cost roughly NT$1,200 (1 = NT$46; US$1 = NT$32).

Get your bearings

The Tamsui River runs along the western edge of Taipei City, separating it from New Taipei City, a smattering of suburbs, countryside and lush hills encircling the heart of the capital.

Taipei City proper stretches out from the central artery of Keelung Road, along which the blue metro line runs. Xinyi district, to the south, is full of posh malls, hotels and bars, and the tallest buildings in town - including Taipei 101 (2). Neighbouring Daan is home to a large park (3) and three universities, plus restaurants and nightlife catering to students. Go north, to Songshan for cool cafes and boutiques  as well as Songshan airport (4), which is served by short-haul flights.

The MRT (metro) has five lines. Single fares range from NT$20 to NT$65  tokens can be bought from the machines at the stations. Alternatively, contactless EasyCards cost NT$100 from metro stations and convenience stores, where you can also top them up.

Long roads are often divided into numbered sections (building numbers will repeat themselves, so make sure you have the right section) while side roads are called lanes or alleys, and also tend to be numbered.

There are several tourist offices, including at Taoyuan airport (7am-11.30pm daily) and Taipei Main Station (1) (8am-8pm daily). For more information visit go2taiwan.net.

Check in

The W hotel (5) at 10 Zhongxiao East Road Section 5 (00 886 2 7703 8888; wtaipei.com) is perhaps the citys most stylish address. Rooms are modern and spacious, while the bar attracts a cool young crowd. Theres also an outdoor pool. Doubles from 218, room only.

You cant get a room much closer to the Taipei 101 (2) than the Grand Hyatt (6), across the street at 2 Songshou Road (00 886 2 2720 1234; taipei.grand.hyatt.com). The marble lobby is ultra-opulent, the terrace pool has great skyscraper views, and though the rooms are a little corporate, theyre smart and well-appointed thanks to a refurb last year. Doubles from NT$18,480, room only.

A more budget-friendly option is Amba Taipei Zhongshan (7) at 57-1 Zhongshan North Road Section 2 (00 886 2 2525 2828; amba-hotels.com), the second in a home-grown design hotel mini-chain (a third is due to launch this summer). Rooms are compact but chic, with white walls and retro furniture, plus nice touches such as take-home flip-flops and a map detailing the areas best cafes and design shops. Doubles from NT$3,350, room only.

Amba Taipei Zhongshan

Day one

Take a view

Get up early to beat the Crowds at Taipei 101 (2). For five years until 2009 it was the worlds tallest building, and while you cant go to the top (101st) storey, theres an observation deck on the 89th (entrance at 7 Xinyi Road Section 5; taipei-101.com.tw; NT$500) from which you can look out over the city and hills beyond. Inside you can see the huge spherical tuned mass damper that counterbalances the weight of the building during earthquakes. Open 9am-10pm daily, last entry 9.15pm.

Take a hike

Leave the 101 (2) and turn right on to City Hall Road, passing the Lego-like World Trade Center and Grand Hyatt (6) before crossing diagonally the patch of green to your left. Bear left on to Renai Road and youll come to Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall (8) (yatsen.gov.tw). Dedicated to the founder of modern China, it hosts free exhibitions and cultural events, but the main attraction is the changing of the guard (hourly, 9am-5pm).

From the back of the Memorial Hall go right on Keelung Road. The first left turn brings you to Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (9) (songshanculturalpark.org). This converted tobacco factory hosts a bookstore and exhibition spaces, including the compact but informative Taiwan Design Museum (NT$50; 9.30am-5.30pm Tuesday to Sunday, closed Monday).

Milk Shop

Head down Lane 172 and across Keelung Road to Songlong Road, before turning right on to Lane 147. Meander eastwards along the alleys and lanes, joining the queue at Milk Shop (10) at 114 Lane 30, Yongji Road (on the corner of Alley 118) for the citys most delicious bubble tea  cold, milky, sweetened tea with tapioca bubbles you suck up through a straw. When you reach Hulin Street, turn left and walk through the market to 

Lunch on the run

Songshan Guabao (11) at 179 Songshan Road specialises in  the clue is in the name  guabao. Known as Taiwanese hamburgers, these are deliciously fluffy steamed buns filled with braised pork belly, mustard greens, coriander and peanut powder (T$50).

Taipei Eats (taipeieats.com) runs excellent three-hour walking tours, which visit Songshan Guabao as well as Hulin Street market for spring onion-filled thousand layer big bread and truly pungent stinky tofu. Tours 11am Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; US$70; booking essential.

Songshan Guabao (Nicola Trup)

Window shopping

Huashan 1914 Creative Park (12) at 1 Bade Road Section 1 (huashan1914.com), is a converted wine factory thats home to boutiques stocking designs from the citys young creatives; the accessories are particularly eye-catching. Though the building is open 24 hours, shop opening hours vary; usually from 10am or 11am.

Alternatively, for one-off gifts and homeware, head to the lanes around Chifeng Street (13). In between the old car repair shops youll find highlights such as Cou Cou Living Shop and De Stijl (vintage jewellery) on Lane 33, and Natural Kitchen on Lane 3.

An aperitif

You'll find the hidden door to Ounce (14) (00 886 2 2708 6885; ouncetaipei.com) at the back of Relax cafe (40 Lane 63, Dunhua South Road Section 2); press the buzzer next to the wood-panelled wall. Theres no menu; bartenders can mix any classic cocktail or create something new just for you  sit at the bar to watch them at work. A round of three drinks cost me about NT$1,300. Open 7pm-2am Monday-Saturday, closed Sunday.

Dine with the locals

Raohe Street (15) is Taipeis oldest night market, lined with stalls, shops and restaurants. I enjoyed the fried rice at Running Spoons (No 197), though the pepper pork buns sold by the market entrance also come highly recommended. Open 4pm-1am daily.

Day two

Out to brunch

Part-cafe, part lifestyle shop, Good Chos (16) at 54 Songqin Street (00 886 2 2758 2609) sells homemade bagels with a Taiwanese twist. Costing about NT$45-60 each, look out for the ones stuffed with sweet sesame paste or locally made cheese. The biggest selection is available at weekends, when the store also hosts a farmers market. Open 10am-9.30pm weekdays, 9am-6.30pm weekends.

A walk in the park

Daan Forest Park (3) is Taipeis equivalent of Central Park, with a network of paths between the ponds, pavilions and playground. Theres also a jogging loop and an amphitheatre that hosts free performances during Chinese New Year and other festivals. Open 24 hours.

Cultural afternoon

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (17) at 21 Zhongshan South Road (00 886 2 2343 1100; cksmh.gov.tw; free) was built in honour of the man who ruled Taiwan for almost 50 years. Theres a (naturally rather biased) exhibition downstairs - including some amusingly bad paintings of Chiang with various foreign dignitaries - while upstairs theres a statue in front of which an hourly changing of the guard takes place. The huge white beast of a building may not be to everyones taste, but its impressive nonetheless. Open daily, 9am-6pm.

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

The National Palace Museum (18) at 221 Section 2 Zhishan Road (00 886 2 2881 2021; npm.gov.tw; NT$250) may be on the outskirts of town, but its vast collection of Chinese art, lacquer ware, calligraphy and more makes it the worlds sixth most visited museum. Open 8.30am-6.30pm.

More to my taste is the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (19) at 181 Zhongshan North Road Section 3 (00 886 2 2595 7656; tfam.museum; NT$30). It specialises in modern art and currently has a brilliantly fun exhibition of kinetic installations called The Way Things Go (to 17 April)  look out for the room of moving buckets. Open Tuesday-Sunday 9.30am-5.30pm, to 8.30pm Saturday.

Icing on the cake

Take the metro to Taipei Zoo station, at the end of the brown line. From there, a half-hour cable car journey (tickets NT$240 return) carries you over forests and tea fields up to Maokong (20), a hill village full of tea shops serving a range of blends. Go on a sunny day for the best views. The gondola operates 9am-9pm Tuesday-Thursday, to 10pm Friday, 8.30am-10pm Saturday and 8.30am-9pm Sunday; closed Monday; public holiday times vary.
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The menacing, high-pitched whine of a mosquito can instill an eerie sense of foreboding. Some mossies are just a pesky inconvenience, but in tropical regions they might be carrying sinister cargo onboard, such as malaria, dengue and now the Zika virus.

Of course, it shouldn't come as a surprise that there are apps designed to ward off mosquitoes. But to what extent do they actually protect you from being hunted down by these aggressive creatures?

Type the words "mosquito" and "repel" into Apple's app store or Android's Google Play, and dozens of apps will be listed, promising to thwart these hostile insects. The theory behind mosquito-repelling apps is straightforward: they're designed to make your phone emit a high pitched noise intended to mimic the sound of predators, such as dragonflies or male mosquitoes  noises that pregnant female mosquitoes steer clear of. (It's the impregnated female mosquitoes that bite  they have a penchant for fresh blood, while the males are busy binging on flower nectar).

The theory of mosquito-repelling apps may seem plausible, but are there any scientific studies to back up the claims in the blurb accompanying these apps? Requests to the developers of the seven most popular anti-mosquito apps, soliciting comment on the science underpinning these apps elicited no response whatsoever.

Fortunately, the medical community wasn't so reticent: Dr James G Logan, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Arthropod Control Product Test Centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine told The Independent that "there are studies that have shown that mosquitoes can communicate with wing beat frequency. But there are no studies that I am aware of that have looked at [mosquito-repelling] apps". And the consensus among the broader tropical medicine community about these anti-mosquito apps? "Since there is no data to support their use, these apps are not recommended" he says.

So what should travellers to mosquito-infected zones be doing to protect themselves from being bitten? Dr Logan suggests that travellers "should use a repellent that contains DEET 30-50% in high risk areas. PMD IR3535 and icaridin can be used on lower risk areas. Covering up with long sleeves and loose clothing is also a good idea. A bed net should be used particularly in areas with malaria".

End of story? Not entirely. There is an app, available for iPhone and Android that can actually help in the fight against mosquito-transmitted diseases, but it's nothing like the apps that purportedly repel mosquitos from smartphones. Sem Dengue (Without Dengue) has been developed to enable anybody who spots mosquitoes or their larvae to take a snapshot which is tagged with geolocation data. Created by app developers Colab Tecnologia, the app has been introduced in Niteroi, a municipality of Rio de Janeiro, enabling local inhabitants to report sightings of mosquitoes via the app to the authorities which, in turn, can dispatch pest control teams to take appropriate action. Now the hunters become the hunted.

Paul Sillers is a freelance aero-industry writer focusing on design, technology, user-experience and brand strategy. He writes the Future of Flight column in BA's Business Life inflight magazine and contributes to Business Traveler USA, Raconteur, Quartz and Salt Magazine. @paulsillers
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Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire

Just a mile off the mighty Pembrokeshire coast and the small town of St Davids, Skomer Island has an awful lot going for it. Its a national nature reserve, an SSSI, a registered ancient monument and is managed by the South and West Wales Wildlife Trust due to the fact that its home to large numbers of seabirds all year round, including guillemots, razorbills, and the worlds largest breeding colony of Manx shearwaters, as well as lots of seals and occasional sightings of dolphins. But its most famous for its puffins: as many as 6,000 pairs breed and nest here in late spring, arriving in mid-April (when the island is carpeted in bluebells) and leaving at the tail-end of July.

Ferries to Skomer run from the end of March to the end of September, and you can land on the island for a few hours, or just take a look at it from the sea on regular cruises either at lunchtime or (from mid-April to August) at dusk to see thousands of puffins, guillemots and Manx shearwaters return from a hard days fishing. If you book ahead, you can also stay the night oj the island in one of the very reasonably priced rooms at the Wildlife-Trust-owned Old Farm. Alternatively, there are Sea Safari trips in summer on high-speed rigid inflatables, some of which also go out to the more distant guano-peaked island of Grassholm, with its gannet colony. You cant book the regular Skomer boars, so turn up early to be sure of a place and to buy landing tickets for the island at the Wildlife Trust building at Martins Haven.

Martin Dunford is Publisher of Cool Places, a new website from the creators of Rough Guides and Cool Camping, suggesting the best places to stay, eat, drink and shop in Britain (coolplaces.co.uk)
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The man in the orange vest appeared in Mike Willcoxs back yard without warning.

By the time family members inside his Kingwood, Tex., home noticed the random figure striding past the backyard pool, it was too late. A large metal pipe wrench was already raised above the mans head and he was swinging it wildly at the Willcox familys two dogs.

Willcoxs terrified 4-year-old son watched the March 23 incident unfold a few feet away in the living room, Wilcox told CBS affiliate KHOU.

Flash  an 8-year-old Weimaraner bird dog  managed to dodge the first few swings, but eventually took a brutal blow to the side of his head. The hit left the dog with a bloody laceration under its left eye, a swollen, infected jaw and a concussion, KHOU reported. A second dog, who received blows to its body, is suffering breathing problems.

Willcox told the station that hes been left with an estimated $2,000 in vet bills and a lot of frustration.

Right in here where he got hit with the wrench, almost got his eye, said Willcox, describing Flashs injuries. Never bitten anybody, very friendly. It was like the guy was swinging to kill.

A Centrepoint worker is filmed attacking the Willcox's dogs (Mike Willcox / Facebook)

In an interview with Fox affiliate KRIV, Willcox added that the incident upset the familys sense of safety.

Heres our dogs in their own back yard where theyre supposed to be safe and sleep or whatever but to be woken up by a stranger five or six feet away from them  I mean, its pretty upsetting, Willcox said.

The assailant whose name has not been released  was a worker with CenterPoint Energy, a natural gas and utility company serving the region. He was there to disconnect the homes meter, a CenterPoint spokesperson told The Washington Post.

The entire incident was captured on surveillance footage that Willcox posted on Facebook, where it has been shared more than 18,200 times.

By the time Willcox made his way outside to confront the worker, he saw the man take another swing at the other family dog, Shutter.

Willcox told ABC affiliate KTRK that he confronted the man and asked him why he didnt initially knock on the door before strolling into the back yard. He said the man told him, I dont have to do that.

I told him to stop swinging his wrench at my dog, and he said, If they come at me, I can swing if I want, Willcox told the Houston Chronicle. Im going to swing it again if they come at me.

He told KHOU the incident finally ended when Willcox told the man to leave.

I said, I need to know your name, and hes like, CenterPoint,  Willcox told KHOU. And I was like, Okay, you need to get off our property before things get really ugly here.

This is not the first time a CenterPoint Energy worker has been accused of attacking a family pet. In 2007, a Houston family filed a police report claiming that a utility worker entered their back yard without warning  ignoring no trespassing and beware of dog signs  before striking the family dog with a two-by-four, according to KTRK.

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He saw the gentleman jump over the fence with a two-by-four in his hand, Elaine Cerda, referring to her husband, told the station. And the next thing he heard was my dog crying. He heard my poor baby crying.

A CenterPoint Energy spokesperson told KTRK at the time that the company advises its employees not to enter back yards where dogs are present. The spokesman added that the utility worker was employed by a subcontractor.

Leticia Lowe, a CenterPoint Energy spokesperson, told The Washington Post that the latest incident is horrifying to watch.

She said CenterPoint has launched an investigation into the incident, which involved a contractor hired by CenterPoint to disconnect service during non-payment.

She said local media reports saying that CenterPoint has agreed to pay the familys vet bills are untrue, at least until the investigation is complete.

Energy workers takes a swing at the Willcox family's dog (Mike Willcox / Facebook)

We advise our own employees to not put themselves in that situation, she said. Theyre trained to be aware of their surroundings. If theres an aggressive dog, retreat. If the customer is home, see if the customer can get the dogs inside or make an appointment ahead of time.

And yet, she continued, utility workers have a tough job. The regions meters are automated, meaning workers no longer have to make monthly visits to customers back yards. But in cases where a homeowners service is being shut off or turned on, workers still have to physically visit a property.

Unfortunately, it can be dangerous even though they are trained to deal with threatening situations, Lowe added. We have field employees who have been physically assaulted, held up at gunpoint and shot. The safety of our employees and the public we serve is our number one core value. We work to insure we have processes in place to protect employees, customers and their property.

The owner of Star Corp., which employs the contractor, told KRIV that the family knew the worker was at the house, and when they found out he was there to turn off service, they intentionally let the dogs out. But surveillance footage shown by the station reveals that the contractor never made contact with the family or identified himself and walked straight into the back yard, past a Beware of dogs sign.

The owner told the station that the man has been suspended and an investigation has been launched.

Recommended Read more Man arrested over rape and killing of dog found hanging from a tree

The Willcox family told the station that they thought they had automatic bill payment set up and paid their balance the same day the incident occurred.

Willcox told KHOU that hes provided a copy of his surveillance footage to the Houston Police Department. Victor Senties, a spokesman with the Houston Police Department, told The Post that the departments animal cruelty division is actively investigating the incident and plans to review Willcoxs footage.

Senties said he couldnt comment on the investigation, but noted that state law addresses utility workers who find themselves threatened.

In the state of Texas, if someone is employed by a utilities company and they go into a back yard to attempt to disconnect or repair a meter, theyre basically there to conduct work, he said. Per state law, theyre in their right to defend themselves.

Willcox family members are still recovering from the incident, they said. Flash underwent surgery on his jaw over the weekend. Willcox told KTRK that CenterPoint offered to pay for the dogs vet bills, but the attack has left an imprint on his son.

Now my son thinks there are monsters in the back yard, Willcox wrote on Facebook. Thanks CenterPoint!

I dont think my dogs ever had a chance, Willcox told the Chronicle. How many times has this happened to other people when they come home and see their dog injured and wonder what happened?

Copyright: Washington Post
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It is rare that an American president admits a mistake, and in the process publicly chides the leader of one of his countrys staunchest allies. But Barack Obama has done both, first criticising David Cameron for his failure to follow through on the toppling of Libyas former leader Muammar Ghadaffi in October 2011, and then this week describing the failure to plan for the aftermath of that event  which US and Nato airstrikes helped bring about  was the worst mistake of his seven years in office.

In fact it might be argued that, measured in terms of lives lost, Mr Obamas biggest mistake was not Libya but his failure to intervene in Syrias horrific civil war, the most tragic example of how the Arab Spring has mostly turned to ashes.

But Libya was bad enough, and Mr Obamas verdict is absolutely correct. The West has stood by and watched that country descend into anarchy, a failed state that has destablished its neighbours and where Isis has now established a presence of an estimated 5,000 fighters within striking distance of Europe.

Only now are there faint glimmers of hope, with the resignation of one of Libyas competing 'governments' and the arrival of a new one brokered by the United Nations which aims to establish itself in Tripoli, the capital, and unite the countrys feuding factions. But it will be a tall order. Some of the local militias that run swathes of the country oppose it. So does another 'government based in Tobruk, close to the Libyas eastern border with Egypt. Then there is the increasingly powerful Libyan affiliate of Isis, entrenched in the central city of Sirte.

Nonetheless, the government backed by the UN offers the best chance of achieving at least a semblance of unity, and focussing Libyas efforts on uprooting Isis. That consideration alone justifies new and more direct intervention by the European allies, among them Britain, and the involvement of the US.

By its own admission, the Obama administration sought to lead from behind in the initial Nato intervention of 2011, ostensibly forefronted by Britain and France, the two European allies with the military resources to do so. But US involvement, however downplayed, was critical then. It is no less critical today.

The Wests first priority is to provide humanitarian aid. But an international stabilisation force  the Libyan International Assistance Mission (LIAM) in which Britain would obviously take part  is the essential second step. LIAM have to be invited in by the new government. Its goals would be to protect Libyas oil and gas facilities, the countrys main source of revenue, to demobilize militias and train a national army.

The tasks will be anything but easy: the example of Iraq does not bode well and Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of the new government, has expressed fears that the presence of foreign troops may only make matters worse. But Europe cannot afford to allow a failed state just a few hundred miles away across the Mediterranean.

Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, was accused by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday of deliberately misleading its members over the role of Britains reported contribution of 1,000 troops to LIAM. Whether or not these are combat troops is however a semantic quibble.

Given what happaned in Iraq, deep misgivings about sending troops into another Arab country are entirely understandable. But in 2011 the West failed Libya. That must not happen again.
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Trevor Philips advocates a much more muscular approach to integration based on an erroneous survey. There are negative stereotypes about Muslim women in the West, that they are voiceless and bereft of their human rights and dignity. These misconceptions are utterly untrue.

Islam enjoins its adherents to be caring, understanding, sympathetic, tolerant and compassionate towards others. Muslims are not hostile to ethnic and religious minorities. As past terrorist attacks have demonstrated, violence spares no religion, culture, nationality, ethnicity and creed.

We need to define what full integration means. A quick glance at our society reveals the cruelty of white carers towards the elderly. The extent of the appalling neglect, abuse, deceit and mistreatment of the elderly, the physically and mentally infirm and the frail is staggering. What about domestic violence; the cover up of child sex abuse scandals by those in the upper echelons of power; the resurrgence of Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant and homophobic attitudes; and the upsurge in knife crimes and gang cultures?

Muslims' presence in Britain should be celebrated, not feared. We can learn from the Holocaust to where the fear of others had led to.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London, NW2

Maha Akeel (Independent Voices, 13 April 2016) claims that not just a majority but a vast majority of Muslims, lets remember, do not live in areas that are 20 per cent Muslim. This is from a person who obviously has an axe to grind.

Luckily we are but one mouse click away from Wikipedia, so we do not need to rely on propaganda. At the last census in 2011 some 13 per cent of Muslims were living in just two cities with Muslim populations greater than 20 per cent  Birmingham and Bradford  with a further seven local authorities over the 20 per cent mark, bringing the total up to 29 per cent.

She disingenuously suggests that the areas surveyed with a minimum 20 per cent Muslim population might have been considerably smaller than a city. Wikipedia also acknowledges that it is possible to find small areas that are almost entirely Muslim: for example Savile Town in Dewesbury, so I would suggest that if the areas in question were neighbourhoods there is in fact a vast majority of Muslims (possibly over 75 per cent) living in areas that are at least 20 per cent Muslim  the exact reverse of what was claimed.

Roger Chapman

Keighley

A question of aspiration

As Holly Baxter has quite rightly identified, the difference between aspiration and wealth creation could not be more marked. After all, if we shared the apparent aspirations of the Prime Minister and many of his Cabinet colleagues  not to mention the previous generations of their families  then who would be left to teach our children, look after the sick and elderly, or keep our streets safe? After all, where is the money in that?

Eamon McMullan

Northern Ireland

What price European democracy?

It saddens me to watch the steady erosion of all the principles of democracy that we veterans fought so hard for, to a team of foreign fellow EU members who tell us what our laws should be. We cannot claim to be a democratic country when we are being made to adhere to and obey laws issued by foreigners.

When Ted Heath took us into the then European Economic Community there was never any talk of invading our sovereign rights; it was simply going to be a profitable commercial enterprise with no strings attached.

I do not wish to become an even more inferior country, incapable of making its own laws, any more than I want to be clinging to a sinking ship where everyone is trying to survive and grab the last life raft. By all means lets hold hands and be blood brothers in trading, but joint legislation will not, and never will, be tolerated by the really true Brits in the long term.

We may not be what we were, but I like to think that we are quite capable of making a fist of things and becoming good on our own two feet.

Please, dont allow us to be governed by 27 countries, some of whom arent really big enough in size or stature to put their own affairs in order, lame ducks who only want us for our massive input of money. Democracy is a priceless commodity

Name and address supplied

Answer the question on tax avoidance

We have heard much in recent days about tax avoidance and tax evasion. We have also learned how expert our political leaders are at avoiding and evading answering questions that are put to them about their financial affairs.

At the grammar school which I attended we were taught that, when asked a question, we must consider it very carefully, and make sure that it was the question that we answered. We were frequently reminded that marks would be awarded only for answering the question that was set, and not for answering the question that we would like to have been set.

I should obviously have been taught something quite different if I had had the benefit of a very expensive education at one of this country's leading public schools.

Elizabeth Wilkins

Clun, Shropshire

I assume John Bercow wanted to highlight to the Commons that words such as dodgy are unacceptable in debates. He did this by pointedly not repeating it himself. Our parliament is rightly proud of the tradition whereby members always refer to each other in respectful terms, regardless of the amount of mud they are throwing across the House. Dodgy may not seem that strong, and I daresay Mr Cameron could think of a few adjectives for Mr Skinner, but if MPs are allowed just to hurl personal insults, the level of debate will surely plummet.

Richard Walker

Malvern

While I understand the current calls for tax returns to be transparent, I wonder if anyone has thought of their potential misuse. An individual with numerous assets highlighted in a return will be a prime target for assorted criminals, whether through burglary, phone scams or online fraud.

Robin White

Basingstoke

When I retired I decided to live in Hong Kong. My pensions would support me. Two years ago I was informed by the UK Government that, as I was categorised as a non-resident, my State Pension would be frozen at the rate when I first began receiving it. Some payments were reclaimed by the government.

At a time when there is much news about the benefits of investing offshore it seems the benefits of living offshore are not so appreciated by my government. During all the years I contributed, including a voluntary top up, I don't recall ever being properly informed that annual increases would not be payable if I chose to live overseas. All my pension income is taxed by the UK Government.

At my age I require medication for heart and blood pressure problems, for blood thinning following a minor stroke and for Type 2 Diabetes. However, I am not a drain on the NHS as I have to self-fund treatment and drugs. Perhaps I should return to England and use the NHS for all my treatment and then invest my full state pension in an offshore trust?

Patrick Wood

Hong Kong

Devolution deals are ill-considered

The new devolution deal appears to be being imposed on councils without appropriate scrutiny, consultation and discussion. Currently the priorities of the proposed settlement seem ill-conceived, the funding inadequate and the method profoundly undemocratic. I urge the government to immediately halt this policy.

Cllr Martin Schmierer

Green Party

Norwich City Council

Ruth Davidson dazzles in Scotland

Irrespective of how you intend voting in the May MSP elections this year, you cannot deny the amazing enthusiasm and sparkle shown by Conservative leader Ruth Davidson with her lively presentation making Scottish politics sound almost interesting. While all the polls are showing the SNP well ahead, I wouldn't be surprised to see a late surge to the Conservative vote and also doing well in the list vote.

Dennis Forbes Grattan

Scotland

Nothing to be ashamed of

John Whittingdale need not be ashamed of his relationship with a dominatrix prostitute: since the lady in question was earning, she must be one of those achievers who Alan Duncan so lauds. Further, such a punitive pairing surely represents everything that this government is about.

Julian Self

Wolverton

My son did a B.A. in Politics. If hes power hungry, does he require a dominatrix?

Mike Bor

London, W2

To write to the Independent, please email letters@independent.co.uk. Letters may be edited before publication
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There is a huge divide opening in the EU referendum debate between those who already know how they will vote on 23 June, and everybody else.

Two events I attended last week illustrate the situation. The first was a debate between Paddy Ashdown and Jacob Ree-Mogg in Martock, a large village in rural South Somerset. No surprise that it was attended by a largely self-selecting audience  the majority of whom, a show of hands revealed, had made their minds up before the debate had even started.

The second, however, was a street campaign mounted by Stronger In activists in Yeovil. And by contrast, the majority of people who approached the In crowds street stall in the town centre were lacking certainty, keen to get hold of any information that might help them to decide which way to vote. Given that youre meeting a random selection of the population, across ages and socioeconomic groups, a street stall such as this is much more representative of the general public and the way they feel as the referendum approaches. So what does this tell us?

The difference in public response to these two events can be traced back, I think, to a failure of the mainstream media to engage the British public over Brexit. There are those who have firm views on Britain's role in Europe. But for everyone else the endless trading of slogans, statistics and insults between the two sides is a total turn off. The people simply want to know how they, their children and their friends and relatives would be affected by Brexit so they can make an informed decision.

A combination of a decreasing trust in politicians and public figures coupled with a partisan media has left many voters bewildered and unsure where to turn to find answers.

On Saturday, at the street stall, the most popular materials by far were booklets produced by the European Commission two years ago explaining, in simple terms, what our membership of the European Union means for small business, students, holidaymakers and the environment.

 Miliband makes Brexit warning

One woman said she would take the leaflets and distribute them at her workplace because there is so much misinformation going around. Another said she would use them to talk about politics with her daughter. The way people vote in this referendum will not be swayed by what politicians say - most people who are unsure how to vote wont come into contact with a single elected representative during the campaign - but by the conversations taking place in their own homes and offices.

There is a positive element to this. Because people are taking an active role in informing themselves about the EU and its role, they may also begin to think more deeply about their own political choices on other issues too. Some people I spoke at the street stall asked me if the leaflets I was distributing for the Stronger In campaign were taxpayer funded. I explained that they were not. Another woman was angry because she had received a leaflet from the Leave campaign which hadnt identified it as such.

Voters are no longer willing to be led by what politicians say. They want to fact-check information for themselves, rather rely on third parties to tell them what to think. It is a duty of both sides in the debate to help facilitate this process.
Medics and patients want a primary care minister post created to improve the well-being of the country

A new frontline health minister is needed to improve the country's well-being, medics and patients have said.

An umbrella group of doctors, nurses, other healthcare professionals and patient groups has urged a new Cabinet post be set up by the next government.

A primary care minister - which would be separate to a health minister - would help a badly needed overhaul of crucial services, according to the Primary Care Partnership.

It has also demanded more GPs be recruited throughout the country.

Dr Ronan Fawsitt, spokesman for the group, said the new ministerial position should be created as soon as an administration is sorted out in Leinster House.

"A GP-led primary care system is the best way to resolve issues with the current health system," he said.

"A minister for primary care is crucial to ensure the effective long term planning and delivery of a better primary care system for all stakeholders."

Primary Care is defined by the Health Service Executive as all health or social care services outside of hospitals.

It includes GPs, public health nurses and other services.

The Primary Care Partnership includes the National Association of General Practitioners, the Irish Patients Association, Irish Practice Nurses Association and 10 other groups representing primary carers and medics.

Launching its first document, Primary Care: A Framework For The Future, chairman Chris Goodey urged the incoming government to "take seriously the ideas proposed".

"For the first time ever, primary care providers have come together to give the Government a series of solutions to fix our health service," he said.

"We now have an opportunity to put in place some tangible change which can make a real difference to everyone involved - patients, providers and regulators.

"As part of this, the Government must undertake a recruitment drive for GPs and ensure that positions are attractive to both recent graduates and experienced GPs."
Europe's largest airline Ryanair has announced plans to simplify its baggage fees - but the move means some prices may rise by up to 50%.

Michael O'Leary, chief executive of the Dublin-based carrier, said the number of booking options for bags will be slashed from 108 to just six.

The no-frills airline currently charges different fees for each checked-in bag depending on whether it weighs up to 15kg or 20kg, whether it is the passenger's first or second bag, and whether the flight is in high or low season.

Mr O'Leary said a flat fee of "probably 30" will be introduced for bags.

This would represent a 50% increase on the existing 20 online price of checking in a 15kg bag during the low season.

It currently costs 40 to put a 20kg case in the hold during the high season.

The "vast majority" of passengers who check bags in do so in the high season, meaning they will pay a lower price, Mr O'Leary said.

He told reporters that the proportion of travellers checking in bags rises to 30-35% during the summer and falls to as low as 5% in November.

The Ryanair boss denied that the change in policy was an acknowledgement that the airline has previously unfairly penalised families who check in bags for their summer holidays.

"Families, like everybody else, are travelling with less checked bags," Mr O'Leary said.

"The purpose of the bag fee was never to penalise people. It was to incentivise people to travel with less checked bags."

Passengers will still have to pay higher baggage fees for longer flights, such as London to the Canary Islands, and for some domestic flights in countries such as Spain and Italy.

The announcement was made as Ryanair unveiled its plans for the third year of its customer experience improvement programme, Always Getting Better.

The measures include enhancing its mobile app, enabling passengers to leave feedback on flights, and introducing a new fare to give extra benefits to leisure passengers.

Mr O'Leary said the initiative has resulted in a "fundamental change" to the way Ryanair treats customers.

"My approach was, you're getting the lowest fare, an on-time flight, we won't cancel and we won't lose your bags. Now shut up, sit down and don't complain," he explained.

"That's been transformed."
Gardai said the two suspects were male juveniles and they were taken into custody at Lucan Garda station

Two suspected burglars have been arrested after cars they were in crashed into the Liffey.

Gardai said they were detained after they fled from a reported break-in on the Weston housing estate in Lucan, Co Dublin, shortly after 4am.

Two cars drove from the scene towards Celbridge and both crashed and ended up in the river beside the bridge in the village.

One of the vehicles ended up on its roof at the edge of the water after falling down a steep drop.

No-one suffered serious injuries in the accidents.

Gardai said the two suspects were male juveniles and they were taken into custody at Lucan Garda station where they were being held under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.

Tallaght Ambulance posted images of the crash scene on its Twitter feed.
Fans of craft beers could soon face higher bar bills as small, independent brewers face a potentially serious shortage of a vital ingredient: hops.

Last summer's hot and dry weather blighted the European hop harvest and strong demand for increasingly popular craft beers, which use a lot of hops, is putting small brewers' profit margins under pressure and forcing them to raise their prices.

Prices of some hop varieties have risen by up to 50pc, industry sources say, while industry insiders say others are up to five times more expensive or simply not available.

On his farm in Kent, not far from London, Tony Redsell has been growing hops since 1948 and some of the varieties he cultivates, strung along yarns supported by rows of high poles in traditional fashion, are more than 200 years old.

He sells most of his hops under contract to small brewers in the United States and his prices have risen by 20pc in the past three years. Last year the German crop was well down and American growers could not make up the difference, suggesting prices will go up again.

"The growth of craft brewing in the United States has boosted demand for English varieties," Redsell told Reuters.

"It's a good time to be a hop farmer."

Most brewers have contracts with hop growers that protect them from sudden price surges, but future supply is at risk.

The scarcity may also get worse as multinationals such as Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller buy up craft brands and ramp up their production.

"It's tough for brewers, especially brewers that don't have hop contracts or who were a little late to the contracting game," said Bill Manley, small batch product manager at Californian craft pioneer Sierra Nevada.

If you underestimate sales and need more hops - as can happen if a beer suddenly gets popular - "you have to go around and knock on doors like a neighbour trying to borrow a cup of sugar", he said.

Along with water, malt and yeast, hops are one of the main ingredients of beer.

Germany and the US are the two dominant hop growers, each accounting for one-third of world production.

But Germany's harvest shrunk by 27pc last summer, according to the International Hop Growers' Convention.

There were also sharp declines in other European producers such as the Czech Republic and Slovenia.

"There has been a considerable tightening of supplies on the European hop market after the major reduction in the 2015 harvest with a sharp increase in prices," said Stephan Barth of German-based global hop merchant the Barth Haas Group.

"Europe will need at least an average harvest in 2016 otherwise we could see serious supply shortages," he added.

Barth said some hop prices had already shot up by 35pc to 50pc depending on type since last summer.

So-called craft beers can use six times more hops than conventional lagers.

Big brewers do use hops but in smaller amounts. They also have more buying clout.

AB InBev "has a policy of long-term contracts and sufficient physical inventories in place to protect against the current shortage for our brewing operations", a spokeswoman said.

Hops often range in price from about $3 per pound to about $25 per pound, but extreme demand can push prices much higher. (Reuters)
From next winter the maintenance of sprayers is going to become more tightly regulated. The additional red tape comes as part of the introduction of the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (SUD) by the Department of Agriculture.

The directive states that by November 2016, all boom sprayers greater than 3m will need to have been tested and certified by a registered inspector at least once.

If your sprayer doesn't meet the required standard in terms of safety and application it will either have to be repaired or decommissioned.

The SUD will affect a huge amount of farmers because sprayers are a very common implement on the farm.

In fact, the Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association estimates that there are around 40,000 sprayers currently in use in Ireland.

That figure comprises a vast majority that will either be tractor mounted or trailed sprayers, with a very small number of self-propelled sprayers in the mix.

Regardless of output capacity, once your sprayer has a boom width greater than 3m you are obliged to have your machine inspected.

Sprayers will have to be tested once every five years until 2020 and once every three years thereafter. Support from the machinery industry and your local sprayer agent is available in the form of pre and post-test repairs as well as the actual sprayer testing itself.

The good news is that the industry at large has been preparing for the new sprayer rules over the past year.

For example, the distributors of the popular Hardi brand of sprayers, IAM in Kilkenny, have invested in the necessary sprayer testing equipment and staff training required for advising farmers.

John Heatherington (pictured below) from IAM's service department has successfully completed the required training courses, and is now officially listed as an Approved Pesticides Equipment Inspector for the whole of Ireland.

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Mr Heatherington has a vast amount of experience on Hardi technical related issues, and he thinks most farmers will have little to worry about in terms of the SUD directive.

"From what I have seen in my time working with sprayer operators in Ireland the vast majority will pass the test without any additional repair work required.

"For those who do fall short, I would say the two biggest pitfalls will be tank leaks and pump failures. In the run up to the test my advice to operators is just to get the basics right - make sure you have the obvious things in place like proper PTO guards, repairing leaking tanks, replacing worn pumps and replacing sprayer nozzles. If those boxes are ticked the test won't be a problem for you."

In terms of logistics, IAM will be asking operators to bring sprayers to their premises for testing and it is expected most test centres will take a similar approach.

This will make it easier to carry out repairs to any sprayers that do need work in order to navigate the test. At successful passing the sprayer operator will be issued with a completed test report form.

The inspector will also fix a uniquely numbered sticker to the machine stating that the machine has passed the test, as well as the date of the test.

It is expected that a copy of the test report form will be sought by the Department of Agriculture for verification and compliance purposes.

Similar moves have been made by all of the other big names in sprayer brands so be sure to contact your local dealer for advice if you are cagey about whether or not your sprayer is fit to pass the new standards.

While the new regulations add a layer of red tape, there are some sizeable positives associated with keeping your sprayer in good condition that shouldn't be overlooked.

Apart from the obvious environmental benefits that will come from properly calibrated and serviced sprayers, machinery industry sources expect an "NCT effect" to kick in on sprayers that gain a fresh SUD certificate.

As in the car industry, sprayers that pass the inspection are expected to gain value as they are certified as being in good working order. This should improve the quality of good second hand sprayers on the market as resale values of certified sprayers improve.

The costs

Needless to say, no one enjoys a financial outlay and it would be misleading to suggest the new rules won't incur extra costs. However, increased productivity and agrochemical efficiency, as well as improved machine reliability and resale value, means the test cost of around 150 to 200 (depending on sprayer size) should pay for itself.

Another benefit comes in the form of improved sprayer efficacy and accuracy; with improved boom and nozzle maintenance, operators can feel more confident that they are using expensive pesticides most efficiently.

It's about getting the chemicals exactly where they're needed and in the appropriate droplet size, with minimal money-wasting excess.

For contractors, a test certificate will indicate to farmer customers your adherence to best practice procedures and reflect favourably on your professionalism.
Time and time again Irish breeders emerge on top when it comes to producing top-class winners on the track. The recent results at Cheltenham reinforced this, with 50pc of the winners over the four-day Festival bred here and 18 of the 28 winners sired by Irish-based stallions.

Despite Ireland's small size, it currently stands as the largest producer of thoroughbreds in Europe, breeding some 40pc of the total crop.

We are also the fourth largest breeder of thoroughbred foals in the world (7.34pc) behind the USA (24.19pc), Australia (15.44pc) and Argentina (8.51pc).

From a broodmare figure of 12,909 in 2007, a total of 12,633 thoroughbred foals were born in Ireland. Over the following five years numbers continued to drop, eventually levelling out in 2012 with 7,546.

Since 2012, however, numbers of foals born here has been slowly rising once again, with numbers of 7,757 in 2013.

This increased to 7,999 the following year, and figures continued to rise last year with 8,205 foals born in Ireland.

Of the foals born in 2014, some 56pc were bred for the Flat, with 30pc bred for National Hunt, and 13pc for dual purpose.

Since the removal of the tax exemption in 2006 the numbers of stallions here has dropped almost 50pc to 216.

Many experts believe that this rise in numbers of foals once again is leading to overproduction, but it is clear to see that owners of well-bred mares who are patient, and who choose their stallions wisely, will almost certainly get the desired return in the sales' ring.

With the 2016 breeding season now underway, many of the world's leading breeders are busy making plans for their stock, but so too are hundreds of small-time breeders who, while often opting for the less-expensive sires, will also be hoping for a decent result at the end of the day.

One such National Hunt breeder who has already seen his affordable breeding programme pay off nicely is Co Laois farmer Joe Lalor. In 2008 he sent his Mandalus mare Peoples Dream to Well Chosen, who stands for a modest fee of 2,500. The result was a gelding who failed to sell as a three-year-old, but who has since reaped many rewards for his connections.

"When we couldn't sell him as a three-year-old (he was led out unsold at 4,800) we offered the stallion's owner Tom Meagher of Kedrah House Stud a share in him," commented Mr Lalor. A keen hunting enthusiast, he is a brother of Laois Hunt joint-master David Lalor.

Point-to-Point

Later named Chosen Dream, the gelding was sent racing and finished an impressive second on his point-to-point debut in April 2012 under Brendan Walsh for trainer John Berry.

Two weeks later his owners sent him to Brightwells UK where he was snapped up by Jeremy Hitchins for 41,000stg (51,000). A training career on the track beckoned with Jonjo O'Neill, but he failed to shine with him and he was subsequently sent to the Doncaster Sales in August 2013.

"I always felt he needed more time so I was disappointed to see him sold again, and for such a small price of 3,800stg (4,700)," Mr Lalor commented, adding that the new purchaser had indeed found a true bargain.

That new owner later turned out to be 89-year-old Peggy Hagan, who had entrusted Lyle Andrew to make the purchase on her behalf.

It certainly proved to be a wise one, with Chosen Dream now a winner of eight point-to-points and a winner on his Irish chasing debut on the track at Downpatrick just three weeks ago. Trained by Graham McKeever the bay missed out on Cheltenham, much to the disappointment of his devoted owner, but is likely to head to Punchestown for a hunter chase later this month.

Chosen Dream is among a growing number of progeny of Well Chosen to have won between the flags this year, with the son of Sadler's Wells impressively the sire of 11 winners from 11 runners in the past six weeks. These also include hurdlers Goulane Davina and Navanman, and bumper winners She's a Star and Grays Choice.

"At 2,500 he is affordable to everyone. The interest in him has really taken off this year with so many winners between here and the UK and his book is filling up fast.

"And it is interesting to note all of the winners are the first for their respective dams," commented Tom Meagher.

A major supporter of show jumping through his many sport horse stallions, the veterinary surgeon is also keen to cater for the small-time breeder through Rule Of Law, who is now in his fourth season here in Ireland.

By the late sire Kingmambo, Rule Of Law won the St Leger in 2004 and later retired to stud in Japan where he sired no fewer than 50 winners before coming to Ireland in 2012. He is proving popular with National Hunt breeders, who this year can avail of a special stud fee of 1,000 for the first 100 mares.

As a full-time mixed farmer and small-time breeder, Joe Lalor knows the value of good bloodlines and is fortunate to have retained some of the family of Chosen Dream for his own breeding herd.

"His dam Peoples Dream bred about six foals for me and several others were winners, including Nor People (Norwich) and Brooks Dream (Alderbrook). The mare is dead now but we do have one of her daughters, Clonbeale Vacation, breeding here."

Also by Alderbrook she is a winner of five point-to-points and was placed on the track before retiring through injury in 2013. She has now retired to the breeding shed and has produced a two-year-old by Robin de Pres and is in foal to him again this year.

"Katie Walsh bought a three-year-old by Well Chosen out of a mare from the same family at Tattersalls last autumn but we still have several others here, including Chosen Dream's half-brother by City Honours who will possibly run later this year.

"In my opinion Well Chosen is as good as any of the more well-known National Hunt sires in Ireland, but at an affordable price," said Mr Lalor.
Drinks giant has been urged to find a buyer for one of Britain's oldest cider plants.

The Shepton Mallet mill in Somerset is to close in the summer with 120 jobs on the line and the threat that it will bring a 246-year-old tradition to an end.

Trade union chiefs in Unite said Dublin-based owner C&C should repay the loyalty of staff after it shifted cider-making to one of its plants in Ireland.

Regional co-ordinating officer Steve Preddy said Shepton's famous brands such as Gaymers, Blackthorn and Olde English, coupled with highly-skilled workers, should make it an attractive proposition for a buyer.

"Since buying the plant in 2009, C&C has profited from the association with Shepton, which has been synonymous with cider-making for centuries," he said.

"It is unacceptable that the company should now decide to divest itself of the plant and its loyal workforce without a backward glance."

C&C announced the Shepton closure in January although it vowed to keep pulping fruit in the town and to source apples for its Irish cider-making from Somerset farmers.

It subsequently sold a bottling line at at the site to Brothers Drinks, also a maker of cider, saving a number of jobs.

Mr Preddy claimed Ireland has its own experience of global companies pulling out in moves which devastate communities.

"Unite members are therefore particularly disappointed that an Irish multinational, such as C&C, should be effectively discarding not only the Shepton facility and its workforce, but also the long tradition of cider-making which made Shepton such an attractive location in the first place," he said.

"We are calling on C&C to repay the loyalty and hard work of the Shepton workforce by finding a buyer to take on the main Shepton site as a going concern, thus preserving a tradition of cider-making in the town stretching back to 1770.

"We believe that iconic brands, combined with a highly-skilled and motivated workforce, would make Shepton a very attractive proposition for a buyer."

When announcing the Shepton closure at the start of the year C&C said it was ending production in Somerset and in one of its Irish plants in Borrisoleigh, Co Tipperary.

The move was to expand operations in Clonmel, where 80 staff were being hired as the town became the main location for Bulmers and Magners, Tipperary Water and niche premium beers and ciders.

C&C warned that trading in the UK and Ireland had been intensely competitive in recent years.
The developer challenged the planning authority's refusal, based on a report complied by one of its inspectors, which it claims is based an error of law. Photo: Getty Images/Ingram Publishing

A CHALLENGE to the refusal of planning permission for a nine-screen cinema, cafe and retail units in Navan, Co Meath, has been dismissed by the High Court.

Developers Navan Co-ownership secured permission from Meath County Council for the development, which also includes a car park, on a 1.58hectare site adjacent to Dan Shaw Road.

That decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanala which last July refused permission for the development.

The refusal was based on grounds including the development would fail to consolidate the town centre, link in with existing town centre activities, and conflict retail policy set out in the Development Plan for Navan.

The developer challenged the planning authority's refusal, based on a report complied by one of its inspectors, which it claims is based an error of law.

It was claimed the inspector linked the development of the lands to a proposal to build a Central Rail Station, linking Navan with Dublin in the vicinity of the cinema/retail complex.

There was no certainly the station will be delivered or has any timeframe been set for such a project and no provision in the Navan Development Plan that any development at the site is contingent on the delivery of a rail station, it was claimed.

Mr Justice Brian McGovern dismissed the challenge yesterday. He said the main issue in the case centred around the interpretation of sections of the development plan.

He concluded the board had correctly construed the development plan and the decision to refuse did not involve a misinterpretation of the plan.

The reasons given by the board for the refusal were "entirely consistent with the development plan" and "most importantly were based on a consideration of the proper planning and suitable development of the area".

The judge said there was no unreasonableness or irrationality in the decision.

While the inspector in his report had stated the proposed development was linked to the development of the central railway station those words were not used by the board in its decision.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin speaking at the Spring Economic Statement at Government Buildings.

Ireland is likely to fail to submit an important budget document to Europe on time, according to Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin.

The so-called "stability programme update" - containing an official economic forecast and an assessment of the country's fiscal position - is supposed to be submitted by the end of the month.

But Mr Howlin wrote in an "Irish Times" column published this morning that there is set to be a "failure" to send the document on time. He said this was something the markets "will undoubtedly notice".

The document has to be approved by Government before being dispatched. The newspaper reports that ministers believe the caretaker administration cannot do this as the plan will have to be implemented by the next administration.
There's a "50-50" chance Michael O'Leary will retire as Ryanair chief executive in 2019 when his current five-year contract expires, he said.

Mr O'Leary, who will be 58 in 2019, insisted yesterday he doesn't plan to be hanging on until he's 75 and said there is succession planning at Ryanair.

"I'll only stay if the board wants me to stay. I'm not wedded to this place that I want to stay here until I'm 75," he said as the airline launched the latest phase of its so-called 'Always Getting Better' plan.

"We have succession plans both for me and all the other senior managers on an ongoing basis," he said, pointing out that there are a "number of internal senior management candidates" who could succeed him, and that the board would look externally as well.

"One of the challenges for me here in Ryanair, is to step downand have the next generation of management coming in. It's easy to be the guy who's been here for 20 years or 25 years.

"The acid test of a really good company like Tesco, Lidl and Aldi has been where to get the next management group to come through. I think that's something that's a challenge facing me and the rest of the management team here over the next five years."

Just after he signed his five-year contract, in 2014, Mr O'Leary told the Irish Independent that he'd "go nuts" if he thought he'd still be at the airline in 15 years.

Mr O'Leary also said he held a meeting yesterday with DAA boss Kevin Toland about the planned runway at Dublin Airport. The DAA said the scheme will cost 320m. The Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) previously envisaged that a new runway would cost just under 250m, based on 2014 prices.

That CAR calculation includes money the DAA would be able to use for planning, design and house buyouts. The DAA has pledged to eventually buy some houses that will be impacted by noise from the new runway.

The CAR has assumed that the DAA will recover the cost of the new runway over 50 years, allowing a 5.8pc annual rate of return on capital.

The CAR determines the maximum fee per passenger that the DAA can charge airlines using Dublin Airport. The maximum level is set at up to 10.31 for 2016.

While the CAR has determined that the maximum amount will decline each year to 2019, it has permitted the DAA to raise the maximum it can levy by 59 cent per passenger to fund the construction of a new runway.

"We support the need for a second runway at Dublin Airport," said Mr O'Leary, but not the higher cost that the DAA announced last week, he added.

"I can't understand how without turning a sod it's suddenly gone up by 70m," he said. Mr O'Leary also said Ryanair is opposed to a new control tower at Dublin Airport that the Irish Aviation Authority plans to build in conjunction with the new runway.

Ryanair unveiled a new leisure-bundled fare product yesterday, as well as more flexible ticketing for business flyers. It's also introducing simplified baggage options, a dedicated group booking website, and auto check-in for registered users.
The soaring numbers of people purchasing smartphones wasn't enough to prevent pre-tax losses at the Irish arm of Carphone Warehouse mounting last year.

New accounts filed by The Carphone Warehouse Ltd with the Companies Office show that the firm recorded a 2.4m pre-tax loss in spite of revenues rising from 119.6m to 123.6m in the 57 weeks to the end of May 2 last.

The losses of the past two years are substantially down on the pre-tax loss of 9.69m in 2013 and this followed a pre-tax loss of 9m in fiscal 2012.

The figures from ComReg for the second quarter of 2015 shows that 73.7pc of Irish mobile subscribers are accessing 'advanced data services' on their phones, eg web content, video and music streaming.

A note attached to the Carphone Warehouse accounts states that the firm's accumulated losses of 38.6m reflect "an ongoing competitive market lace, impacting trading margin during the financial period".

The note states that the directors have reviewed budgets and cash projections for the 12 months from the approval of the accounts and with the support of its parent, Dixons Carphone plc, have adequate financial resources to meet requirements.

The first Carphone Warehouse opened in Ireland on Dublin's Grafton Street in 1996 and the business is today the country's largest independent communications retailer, operating 119 stores nationwide and employing 1,050 staff.

The firm has shareholder funds of 6.7m thanks mainly to a cash injection of 45m in 2013.

The losses last year take account of non-cash depreciation costs of 1.79m while the firm's operating lease costs jumped from 6.309m to 7.183m.

Numbers employed increased from 674 to 686 and the figures show that they are broken down between 684 in sales and administration with two in management. Staff last year rose by 15pc, from 15.9m to 18.43m.

The figures show that remuneration to directors last year increased from 212,775 to 320,631 while certain remuneration is borne by a fellow group company.

The loss last year takes account of net interest charges of 646,587. Cost of sales rose from 86.45m to 90.1m. The directors state that "it is their intention to develop the activities of the company".
A BUSINESSMAN who bought and did up a Kildare hotel which later went into receivership has had summary judgment for 6.3m entered against him in the High Court.

Danske Bank, formerly National Irish Bank, sought the judgment against Sean McElvaney over guarantees for his company, Connotes, for loans relating to a 6.4m facility in 2004 for matters including development work at the former Setanta House Hotel in Celbridge.

There was default on the loans and in 2011 the bank appointed a receiver over the hotel which was sold and the bank received around 815,000 when the receivership was completed.

Mr McElvaney claimed when he signed the guarantee for Connotes loans, he believed his liability was limited to 1.3m.

He said he did not have very good reading skills as he had left school at 15.

He also did not have independent legal advice when he signed, Mr McElvaney said.

He claimed he would not have entered a guarantee for 6.4m because he has no personal assets which would enable him repay such an amount.

The bank said it was entitled to summary judgment for 6.4m.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott rejected his claims that he did not realise what he was signing.

The judge said he knew the document to have an effect of a guarantee for a transaction which was clearly a commercial banking arrangement.

The judge was satisfied there were no reasonable grounds for concluding Mr McElvaney had an arguable or credible defence to the bank's claim for judgment.
China's exports in March returned to growth for the first time in nine months, adding to further signs of stabilisation in the world's second-largest economy that cheered regional investors.

March exports rose a blistering 11.5pc from a year earlier, customs data showed on Wednesday, the first increase since June and the largest percentage rise since February 2015.

Economists warned that the data was heavily influenced by base effects and seasonal distortions from the Lunar New Year, and was not necessarily evidence of stronger global demand. Chinese investors celebrated, nevertheless, with key stock indexes hitting three-month highs and the yuan firming.

"China's foreign trade sector will likely improve from last year due to low comparables, but the improvement will not be dramatic, as the trends in external markets are not great," said Wang Tie Shi, economist with Industrial Securities.

"We've started to see improvement in PMI and other indicators, which points to some degree of recovery going into the second quarter."

The upside surprise comes after other March economic indicators hinted of slight improvements in the broader economy, although other surveys have shown rising downward pressure on wages and employment.

Imports continued to fall but less than expected, declining by 7.6pc in dollar denominated terms, led by sharp corrections in imports of tax-free foreign goods, rentals and leasing and imported equipment.

However, import volumes of most major commodities, notably copper and iron ore, rose strongly. That left the country with a trade surplus of $29.86bn for the month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed, versus a forecast of $30.85bn.

"I think we should focus on the better-than-expected imports growth rate, which means domestic demand is also recovering, driven by infrastructure investment and also the real estate sector recovery," said Ma Xiaoping, analyst at HSBC.

China's slowdown might not be quite as severe as first feared but its "momentous" shift from investment-led growth is still having a chilling effect on trade globally, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

The IMF estimates every 1 percentage point investment-driven drop in China's GDP, cut growth for the entire Group of 20 nations by 0.25 percentage points.

"Even countries that have few direct trade linkages with China are being affected through the Chinese slowdown's impact on prices of commodities and manufactured goods, and on global confidence and risk sentiment," the Fund said.

Regardless, overseas investors also appeared inspired by the trade data. The Australian dollar climbed above 77 US cents, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 1.4pc and Australian shares gained 1.1pc.

Tony Nash, managing partner at advisory firm Complete Intelligence, which focuses on global trade flows, sees China's exports and imports stabilising over the next six months.

"As we close out Q2 and enter Q3, we'll see more stable trade data before starting to see sustainable, small rises in both sides," Nash said, adding data should be much less volatile in the second half as currencies and commodities stabilise.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected March exports to rise 2.5pc, after tumbling 25.4pc in February - the worst showing since May 2009, and expected imports to fall 10.2pc, based on weakness in global demand.

"Data across other Asian economies suggest that the headwinds in the trade sector remain," Zhou Hao, economist at Commerzbank in Singapore, said in a research note.

"Given the gloomy economic outlook, we believe that the overall Asian trade growth will have limited upside this year."

Still, markets were relieved to see a surge in China's demand for commodities such as copper, with imports hitting a record monthly high, while its exports to key markets such as the United States and Europe also posted double digit month-on-month gains.

Premier Li Keqiang said last week that China's economic indicators showed signs of improvement in the first quarter but a sluggish world economy and volatile markets were undermining gains.

Key economic data, including first-quarter economic growth, are expected this week. The government aims for economic growth of 6.5pc to 7pc this year. The economy grew 6.9pc in 2015, the weakest pace in a quarter of a century.
A 6th class Dublin pupil wrote to the Queen about returning Northern Ireland to the Republic - and got a response.

Reese Kilbride (12), who attends St Helen's senior national school in Portmarnock, had been learning about 1916 when he decided to air his views.

"We were learning about the Easter Rising and how much trouble they brought to Ireland and that they had the six counties - they didn't give back all of Ireland, so I thought they should give it back," he told Newstalk Breakfast.

Reese revealed his mum Fiona Dowling told him he "had to be nice to her, don't say anything mean and put 'Your Majesty' [on the letter]".

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He also included a picture of himself, his friend and Queen Elizabeth II with the palace in the background with his letter.

His mum was not aware of the picture he had included, but advised him not to expect a reply.

The letter was posted in February and the Reese received a reply this week.

"I got home and there was a letter open on the counter and it looked like nice paper and it looked official and then I noticed the Buckingham Palace logo," revealed Fiona.

"To be honest I found it quite hysterical."

The letter was signed by Jennie Vine, the Deputy Correspondence Coordinator and said, "The Queen has asked me to thank you for your recent letter in which you wished to tell Her Majesty that you have been learning about the history of the Easter Rising 1916.

"While it was thoughtful of you to let The Queen know of your views, I must explain that this is not a matter in which Her Majesty would intervene. As a constitutional Sovereign, The Queen acts on the advice of her Ministers and remains strictly non-political at all times."

The letter continued, "Her Majesty has asked me to thank you for the pictures you drew especially for her, and I would like to send you and your family my good wishes at this time."
U2 frontman Bono had an unusual take on tackling terrorism when addressing a US Senate panel in Washington on Tuesday.

The 55-year-old rock star was on hand to discuss the "causes and consequences of violent extremism and the role of foreign assistance" when he suggested that comedy might go some way to crushing ISIS.

"Dont laugh, he said. I think comedy should be deployed...

"The first people that Adolf Hitler threw out of Germany were the dadaists and surrealists. Its like, you speak violence, you speak their language. But you laugh at them, when theyre goose-stepping down the street, and it takes away their power. So, Im suggesting that the Senate send in Amy Schumer, and Chris Rock, and Sacha Baron Cohen, thank you.

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Amy Schumer responded on Twitter with a simple, "Holy s***""

Although some of the audience laughed at his proposition, Bono went on to say he was "actually serious" - and he wasn't entirely dismissed for his view.

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According to The Daily Beast, Senator Jeanne Shaheen responded, "Actually, that's not the first time I've head experts on how do we counter violent extremism talk about that.

"It's one of the things that we're looking at."

Bono went on to appeal for a "Marshall Plan" to provide aid to the Middle East.

"When aid is structured properly, with a focus on fighting poverty and improving governance, it could just be the best bulwark we have against the extremism of our age," he said.

Bono has stepped away from music and into the equally familiar realm of humanitarian work this week.

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As well as his Senate address, he appeared on MSNBC, staged a Facebook Live event at ONE HQ, and had several articles on refugee camps published in The New York Times.
Former property developer Kevin McGeever has been given a suspended two-year sentence for wasting Garda time by making false reports about being kidnapped at gunpoint three years ago, in a bid to dodge his creditors.

Mr McGeever (71), with a former address at 'Nirvana' Ballywinna, Craughwell, Co Galway, and more recently in Clontarf, Dublin, entered the guilty plea moments before this trial was due to begin at Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.

In a barely audible voice, McGeever (right) replied "guilty" to a single charge of giving false information to gardai on dates between January 29 and February 28, 2013, about allegations of false imprisonment and threats to harm, thereby causing Garda time to be wasted.

The facts in a second charge of giving false information, where he told gardai he had been falsely imprisoned, assaulted and threatened with harm during the same six-week period, were also admitted.

The court was told McGeever fabricated the entire story in a bid to shake off both Irish and international creditors who lost vast sums of money in failed investments he had undertaken on their behalf in Dubai, following the economic crash in 2008.

Detective John Keating gave evidence that McGeever was found lying on the side of the road by a couple near Ballinamore, Co Leitrim at 9.40pm on January 29, 2013.

He told the couple he had been dumped on the side of the road and they brought him to the local garda station.

McGeever told gardai he had been abducted at gunpoint in Craughwell on May 27, 2012.

He subsequently gave eight statements to gardai alleging he had been kidnapped, assaulted and ill-treated.

Det Keating said McGeever was consistent in all his statements that he had been abducted at gunpoint from his home in Craughwell and held six metres underground in a steel container for eight months, with no lighting, heating or sanitary facilities.

He said a six-week Garda investigation got under way, involving 19 gardai. A total of 3,038 man-hours, costing the taxpayer 86,851, in Garda travel expenses and subsistence allowances, was spent on the investigation, he said.

The court heard McGeever later admitted that he had made up the story, saying: "I'm very relieved to get this off my chest."

Judge Rory McCabe said the gardai had enough to do without chasing false trails and the cost of the investigation had to be paid by the taxpayer.

He said the offence would ordinarily merit a custodial sentence.

However, the judge added: "If I send him to prison, the taxpayer will have to pay for his upkeep; to house, clothe and feed him, so I will suspend the sentence for five years."
A drug dealer who was caught with cocaine and heroin has avoided jail after a Judge said he had made a trojan effort to turn his life around.

Craig Cassells (23), was charged after gardai found 2,200 worth of crack cocaine, cannabis and heroin at his home on Rafters Lane, Drimnagh, Dublin on September 23, 2014.

A few months later, on January 23, 2015, he was caught with 550 worth of cocaine after gardai noticed him acting suspiciously on the street.

He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of possession of drugs and three counts of possessing drugs for sale or supply.

The court heard today that Cassells, a drug addict, was well-known to gardai from a young age. He had a difficult childhood and left school at the age of 13.

He has 57 previous convictions, including for drug-related offenses, robbery and dangerous driving.

After hearing evidence that Cassells had changed his life around in the last year, Judge Patricia Ryan suspended sentences of three and a half years.

She said: Mr Cassells' efforts to rehabilitate himself in the last year have been trojan.

David Staunton BL, defending, said his client had since moved away from his old home and former associates, and was volunteering with a homeless charity.

A number of glowing testimonials from employers were handed up to the court. Two gardai who have known Cassells for a number of years told the court he had changed his life in the last year.

Mr Staunton said: From the age of 17 up until last year he was a person who came in contact with gardai on a regular basis due to the fact he had a serious drug addiction.

He has done a complete about turn. He has set himself on a course to become a much better person.

The court heard Cassells tested negatively for drugs and was expecting his first child later this year.

Sentencing Cassells, Judge Ryan said the court would take into account his early admissions of guilt, his co-operation with gardai and his good employment record.
The girlfriend of a man who died in a motorcycle accident saw the the crash scene as she passed by the scene, an inquest has heard

The girlfriend of Raymond Ring (38) of Dolphin House, Dublin 8, told Gardai she saw the crash as she passed on the Luas and went to the scene, Dublin Coroners Court heard.

Sergeant Fiona Clifford said Mr Ring was with his new girlfriend of just two weeks, Vanessa Breen just before the accident. He then went to view a motorcycle he was interested in buying.

He died shortly after the motorbike struck a car that was making a right turn from Davitt Road onto Kilworth Road in Crumlin on October 2 2014.

She was with him just before the accident. She was aware he was going to look at a motorcycle. She left him and got on the Luas, Sergeant Clifford said.

And this new girlfriend just happens to be passing on the Luas and sees the accident? Coroner Dr Brian Farrell asked.

She believed he was involved, Sergeant Clifford said.

Witness Danielle Short said the accident happened as the motorcycle attempted to overtake the car, which was making a right turn. She said she was 99% sure the car was not indicating right.

The bike was going fast..next thing I heard a very loud bang. The bike literally flew and hit the wall, she said. Ms Short phoned an ambulance at 3.55pm.

Lena Jacob and her two children were passengers in the a car involved. The car struck a signal post after the impact. She said the driver, Benny Abraham had indicated right. She wept as she told how she thought she and her children might die. In the blink of an eye I saw a motorbike hit the car. There was a big bang, the car was shaking badly, she said. Mr Ring was rushed to St Jamess Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 5pm.

The cause of death was multiple injuries. Toxicology results showed he had a toxic combination of methadone, alcohol and benzodiazepines in his system. He was slightly over the legal alcohol limit and a potentially toxic level of methadone was noted.

Sgt Paul Kearney said the Suzuki motorbike, a 96 D reg was in reasonable condition but the rear brake had been damaged previously and poorly repaired. Gardai were unable to trace the seller.

The jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure.
A BARBER shop owner facing serious assault charges following a single-punch attack which left a student with brain damage has been cleared by a jury this afternoon.

Ali Azeez, (23), from Ard Cairn in Sligo, had admitted throwing the punch which left student Stephen Finnegan, (25), requiring treatment for fractures to his skull, jaw and eye-socket as well as a brain injury.

However Mr Azeezs lawyers had argued that he had thrown the punch in self-defence after Mr Finnegan had attempted to punch Mr Azeez in the early hours of September 23, 2014 in Castle Street, Sligo.

Mr Azeez faced a Section 4 assault causing serious harm charge which carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. He also faced a Section 3 assault causing harm charge which carried a maximum sentence of five years.

After a six day trial and deliberating for three-and-a-half hours today, the jury of nine women and three men returned a unanimous not guilty verdict on the more serious Section 4 charge.

After deliberating for a futher five minutes, they returned a majority not guilty verdict on the Section 3 charge.

John John Amyler told Mr Azeez he was free to go. The defendant hugged his girlfriend and shook the hand of his senior counsel Kerida Naidoo.

Iraqi-born Mr Azeez and his Hungarian student friend Adam Baolgh (25) had been walking home after a night out when they were accused by Mr Finnegans girlfriend Olga Reilly, (23), an ITSligo drama student from Abbeylara, Co Longford, of swearing at her.

The men denied saying anything to her and a row ensued.

Mr Balogh had told the jury that Ms Reilly had become agitated when he and Mr Azeez had refused to tell her where they were from.

CCTV footage appeared to show Mr Finnegan attempting to hit Mr Azeez twice during the incident.

It also showed Mr Azeez avoiding the second attempted punch and then striking Mr Finnegan. Mr Azeez had admitting his involvement in the incident on the day it had happened and had gone voluntarily to Sligo Garda Station.

The student collapsed to the ground and was later treated for life-threatening and life-changing injuries.

Referring to the CCTV footage, Mr Naidoo had told that jury that on the night of the incident Mr Azeez didnt have a pause button to work out what he was going to next after Mr Finnegan attempted to punch the defendant.

He said Mr Finnegan had technically assaulted Mr Azeez on three occasions and Mr Azeez had walked away twice.

Mr Naidoo said in two minutes of CCTV footage the critical period of time is just one second.

He said until that point his client had in fact done everything possible to avoid hurting Mr Finnegan.
One of the main State witnesses in a murder trial has agreed that he didnt tell gardai anything he had told the trial until they had pulled him for murder.

Kuba Zmuda was today being cross examined by the barrister for one of two men charged with murdering a 23-year-old by beating him unconscious and leaving him to drown in the River Shannon.

The Central Criminal Court trial has heard that Patryk Krupa drowned while incapacitated with a head injury from a violent assault on June 20th, 2014.

Leszek Sychulec (34) of Drinan, Ballymahon, Co Longford and Andrzej Gruchacz (35) with an address in Warsaw, Poland are charged with murdering Mr Krupa at Bogganfin, Athlone, Co Roscommon.

Each man has pleaded not guilty. Both also deny a second charge each of falsely imprisoning Mr Krupa in Athlone on the same date.

Mr Zmuda testified yesterday that he was in the back of a car into which two men pulled Mr Krupa in Athlone town centre that evening.

He said he was still in this black BMW when the two men dragged Mr Krupa out of the car on the banks of the Shannon, and that he witnessed them beating him for 15 minutes before dragging him to the river.

The witness said the men warned him to say nothing about what he had seen when they dropped him back into the town later.

However, Mr Zmuda was then cross examined by Sean Gillane SC, defending Mr Sychulec.

You never told a single syllable of what you told this jury to any member of An Garda Siochana until they pulled you for murder, suggested the barrister.

I was in shock, he replied. I didnt know what to do.

He agreed that he had met Mr Krupas sister at a barbecue afterwards, but that he hadnt said anything to her.

I was scared about my life as well, he said.

He agreed that Mr Krupas girlfriend had phoned him before Mr Krupa was found and, perhaps, while still alive. She asked him if he knew where her boyfriend was, but he said no.

Yes, because I was terrified, he replied. The same thing could have happened to me.

He also agreed that he had lied to the gardai when first arrested.

Mr Gillane asked how he felt being arrested on suspicion of murder and being asked if he had beaten Mr Krupa.

I did not feel well about it because it was not me who did it, he said.

Mr Zmuda said he had no physical contact with the deceased and never said a word to him.

He was asked if he felt that he was possibly in big trouble.

Yes, I did feel I could somehow be linked to that, he said.

Being arrested on suspicion of murder, youd an interest in Number One, you, and minimising your role and maximising the role of others to save yourself, suggested Mr Gillane.

Id nothing to hide, he replied.

Your approach means you get to sit where you sit and Mr Sychulec gets to sit where he sits, concluded Mr Gillane.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Tony Hunt and a jury of four women and eight men.
Arsonist Alison Greer at Belfast Crown Court where she was jailed over an arson attack

A woman who started a fire at the house of a man she met on the internet in a "revenge attack" has been jailed.

Alison Greer was told at Belfast Crown Court yesterday that she would spend 15 months of her sentence in custody and an additional 15 months on licence.

The 42-year-old mother-of-one, from Hillside View in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, denied a charge of arson with intent to endanger life.

Throughout the trial, Greer maintained she was innocent of setting fire to the Housing Executive property at Knockane Way in the Rathcoole area of Newtownabbey, which was targeted in the early hours of July 10, 2014.

An accelerant was poured through the letterbox of the property and set alight, which resulted in around 2,000 (2,500) worth of damage.

Luckily, the male occupant, who was in the process of moving in to the house when it was targeted, was not in the property at the time.

However, items which he had already moved into the home sustained smoke damage.

During the trial, the jury heard evidence from a neighbour of the male occupant who saw a woman getting out of the vehicle at around 3.30am.

The neighbour noticed that the woman was carrying a white plastic bag, and she heard her "rapping the door" before witnessing her "trying to put this bag through the letterbox".

The neighbour said that she saw the woman standing at the front door for around 10 minutes before leaving, and a short time after the woman left the area in her car, the neighbour heard an alarm going off.

When she looked out of her window, she saw flames coming from the front door of the house, prompting her to call the fire service.

The jury also heard that the male occupant of the house at Knockane Way had met Greer on a dating and social media website called Badoo.

They were told that prior to the incident, they had a non-romantic relationship that lasted for a short time.

After the friendship came to an end, however, they met on the afternoon of July 9 - the day before the arson attack.

Despite her claims of innocence during the trial, Greer was found guilty of arson with intent to endanger life.

During sentencing, Judge Gordon Kerr QC revealed that since being found guilty of the offence, Greer had admitted it was her.

He said she claimed she acted out of a wish for revenge for an alleged incident which occurred between her children and the man's children when they met for lunch the day before.

However, Judge Kerr told Greer that her "supposed revenge" was well-planned and required her to obtain the items necessary to set fire to the house.

The judge also told Greer that although she has admitted her guilt, she has shown "little insight" into her offending.
Tensions in the newly-formed Rural Five group of Independent TDs have spilled over into old-school party insults.

The cracks emerged in the alliance last week after the group's leader, Roscommon TD Denis Naughten, a former Fine Gael TD, urged members to keep an open mind on backing Enda Kenny as Taoiseach.

During a tense conference call, Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath is believed to have called Mr Naughten a "Blueshirt" - in reference to his Fine Gael past. Mr McGrath, a former Fianna Fail TD, refused to support Mr Kenny.

Notably, the Independent TD invited Micheal Martin to deliver the keynote address at the 93rd General Liam Lynch ceremony and Memorial Mass in his home patch of Newcastle, Co Tipperary last weekend.

He is also a good friend of Fianna Fail finance spokesman Michael McGrath, a member of the party's negotiating team.

Mr Naughten was the only member of the group who was keeping the option of supporting Mr Kenny as Taoiseach on the table.

A Rural Five source said Mr Kenny is a "hard sell" for his constituents but Fine Gael as a party is not.

Mr McGrath and Galway West TD Noel Grealish are understood to be leaning towards backing Mr Martin and firmly ruling out Mr Kenny.

Clare TD Dr Michael Harty and Cork South-West TD Michael Collins have yet to pledge support either way. But Mr Collins is viewed as close to Mr McGrath and veering away from Mr Kenny towards Mr Martin.
Hospitals have been told to stop the practice of "queue-jumping" by some public patients, the Irish Independent has learned.

Instead, hospitals should stick to treating public patients who need an operation or outpatient appointment based on how long the person has been on a waiting list.

An internal audit, carried out for the Department of Health, found that 1,560 routine public patients on waiting lists were given a date ahead of another who had been in the queue for longer.

Hospitals where some public patients were "skipping the queue" included University Hospital Galway, Cork University Hospital, Our Lady's Hospital Crumlin, Beaumont Hospital, Tullamore Hospital, St James's Hospital and Tallaght Hospital, documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.

It comes as the latest public waiting list figures for surgery show an increase in "long waiters".

Some 20,267 are facing delays of 15 months or more to see a specialist while 4,296 are enduring the same hold-ups for surgery. According to the Department of Health, all routine cases should be treated in strict chronological order. However, the audit showed that failure to comply with this rule resulted in half the patients on some lists being treated ahead of others.

A spokeswoman for the HSE said hospitals have been given a target to treat 90pc of public waiting list patients chronologically this year.

Last year, it only managed 79.8pc nationally. The reasons for selecting a patient for an appointment must always be their "clinical" priority, the HSE spokesperson insisted.

"While hospitals seek to schedule their routine patients in a chronological way, it is not always possible; this can be due to a number of factors, such as patient unavailability or changes in their clinical condition."

For example, when a patient cancels an outpatient appointment, the administrative staff seek a replacement patient in order to maximise existing capacity.

It is sometimes the case that the next patient waiting may not be able to attend and it will be offered to a patient further down the list.

"This is particularly the case if the cancellation is short notice.

"Adherence to chronological scheduling is only monitored for routine patients. Urgent patients are seen according to clinical priority."

She said an audit team is now tasked with ensuring chronological booking is being implemented. "The audit team visits each hospital and undertakes a forensic analysis of the management of the waiting list," said the HSE spokeswoman.
Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan has described a survey which showed 86pc of mid-ranking members of the force felt morale was either low or very low as "terrible, but no surprise".

She made the comment while addressing the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, where a new mood of militancy led to overwhelming support for a campaign of industrial action - up to and including a possible strike - in support of their pay claims.

But the commissioner declined to answer any media questions in relation to the strike proposal or the underlying feelings of anger and frustration among her members about poor pay and conditions.

Instead, Ms O'Sullivan confined herself to a five-minute statement outlining the progress the force had achieved in the past year and the additional funding received for a number of key projects like recruitment, IT improvements and resources such as extra patrol cars.

Ms O'Sullivan said she was under time constraints and did not answer any further questions about the pay fury which had dominated the agenda throughout the morning.

After her speech to the conference, she left for Dublin to attend a security meeting overseas.

She told delegates that up to relatively recently, gardai had experienced so much criticism that "we went into an automatic crouch. We were scared to put our heads above the parapet."

Cutbacks

"And the worst of it happened in parallel with massive cutbacks to our operations and the conditions for our people.

"It is no surprise that the recent survey of your membership found that morale among gardai was low. Terrible, but no surprise", she added.

She said the real danger was that gardai did not pause to note when they did something really well.

"The 2016 commemorations have allowed An Garda Siochana to do what we do best: be part of the national community's celebrations while protecting that community's safety - not through force, but with a smile.

"I want to thank all your members for the work they did," Ms O'Sullivan added.

She said recent research had shown that public trust in the force stood at about 85pc.
Stephen and Agnes Farrell and their son, Daniel (1 week old) in their home Millfield Manor in Newbridge, Kildare. Six houses were destroyed by a fire in the estate. Credit: Damien Eagers

More than a year after a devastating fire raged through a housing estate, families are angry that no action has been taken to improve fire safety in their homes.

On March 31 last year, six houses on the Millfield Manor estate in Newbridge, Co Kildare, burned to the ground after flames spread rapidly between them.

There were no proper fire barriers between the houses, and a terrace of two-storey homes was quickly destroyed.

Remarkably, many families living on the estate told the Herald that they believe their homes still have no proper fire barriers.

Kildare County Council and state agencies have failed to give the residents practical or financial assistance in installing life-saving fire-barriers, they said.

"We're very afraid after the fire. The houses all went up in flames so quickly," said Agnes Farrell (33), who lives with her husband Stephen (32) and their son Matthew (4) and one-week-old baby Daniel.

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"It's just not acceptable. It's very surprising that nothing has been done yet," said Mr Farrell, who moved into the rented home with his family three years ago.

He said residents' fire safety concerns had been championed by local councillor Willie Crowley, who later died in a traffic accident.

"No work has been done on my home, despite an inspection showing that a fire barrier is missing," said George Reddy (45), who bought his terraced house off the builders' plans in 2007.

"I'm told it could cost up to 15,000 or 20,000 to get the work done to make it safer.

"People simply can't afford that kind of money. The State should have had procedures in place to prevent homes being sold that did not meet fire safety standards."

Mr Reddy, who lives with his wife and eight-year-old daughter within a few metres of the gutted terrace, wants the Government to provide grants to get the work done.

"I'm constantly worried for the safety of my wife and daughter," he said.

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Restaurant owner and father-of-three Baris Atasevier (41) said: "No one appears to be taking responsibility for the situation.

"I cannot understand why the council or the Government are not taking some responsibility to help.

"Surely the council has some control over the standard of houses that are built in their area?

"They should have an active checking system for the safety of new homes. I watched those houses burning down last year and it was terrible.

Destroyed

"I bought this house in a terrace of six homes, which means if a fire breaks out in any of the six homes all of them could be destroyed.

"It's completely unacceptable that Kildare County Council is not taking action about this danger."

Marcin Baczeski (37) said his landlord was planning to get a fire barrier installed, but it would be a big job and he and his family would have to move out while the work was being done.

The house next door has since been fitted with a fire barrier that cost the owner more than 12,000.

"I remember the day of the fire. It got going very fast and jumped from house to house. It was terrible to watch," said the father-of-two. Local resident Andrezej Bondyra (29) said he invited his friends to stay with him after their house was destroyed by fire.

He said he was still worried about the safety of his loved ones.

George Kemmy (45), who lives on the estate with his wife Tara and their daughter, said he works as a builder in Dublin and was used to seeing building work being regularly inspected during construction.

He said he could not understand how the Millfield houses were approved.

His own house had not been inspected since the blaze and he did not know if his house had any fire barriers, but he said he and his family were very worried.

"A year has gone by now and still nothing has been done," he said. "It's very scary to think what could happen. My wife worries a lot and goes around every night unplugging everything."

Many of the 79 houses and 129 apartments on the estate are in the private rental sector.

Among local tenants who expressed concerns were Voj-tech Simonic (47) and his wife Magdalena (43).

They have been living in a house in Millfield since 2010 and share it with their son Lukas and his girlfriend, Monika Bozeniakova (20).

"Something should be done. We are very worried," said Mr Simonic.

"It's over a year since the big fire on the estate. It is far too long for nothing to have been done."
Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys TD at the event

Italia 90 will always hold a place in the hearts of proud Irish people, but Oliver Callan believes it could have some competition from this years 1916 commemorations.

The RTE satirist is best known for his arch put-downs of Irish society, but said he couldnt fault 2016s celebrations nationwide.

The whole 1916 experience made me feel really sad that I didnt do history in college, he told the Irish Independent. But I suppose we are doing a collective history degree as a country at the moment.

I was one of the very cynical people at the start, he added. But I think it turned out to be one of the best things weve ever done in the country. I think its been a huge success.

We didnt know Italia 90 was a thing until ten years later, he added. Id say 2016 will be the moment when we grew up a little bit.

Mr Callan was attending the launch of an all-new Rising-themed exhibition in Dublin Castle.

Arts Minister Heather Humphreys and former CEO of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Ellen OMalley Dunlop also came along for a first glimpse.

The Women of 1916 exhibition will display never-before-seen documents and photos from families of women who were involved in all aspects of the Rising.

The collection, charting the lives of 300 women, also draws upon sources from the military archives and Census records, which have been brought together with the personal items for the first time.

The women, who hailed from every county in Ireland, ranged from aristocrats to shop assistants.

Helen McMahon from Churchtown in Co. Dublin contributed documents and photos kept by her great-aunt, Sorcha McMahon.

A young woman from Monaghan, Sorcha came to the GPO to assist the rebels during Easter week.

She would have carried dispatches that were both military and personal, said Helen. She would have brought stuff to the families of the men who were in there.

Then she would also have carried really inane things like underwear, she added. The rebels were all told to pack enough stuff for one day.

Sorcha eventually played a role in setting up the Irish Volunteers Dependants Fund with Kathleen Clarke.

However, she took over most of the work when Kathleen suffered a miscarriage.

Sorcha was working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, she said, adding that another military document attested that she sometimes worked 18 hours a day to get the job done.

She didnt do anything by halves, said Helen.

In later years, Sorcha undertook secret work as Michael Collins secretary.

But Helen recalls that while Sorchas two brothers got good jobs in the Irish Free State, she had to return to normality.

After the exhilaration of being involved in a movement like that, she ended up working in her husbands garage, she said.

Women were largely underestimated by British forces at the time, with General Maxwell referring to them privately as silly little girls.

Arts Minister Heather Humphreys said she was delighted with the exhibition as women were airbrushed out of the official commemorations in 1966.

They were very brave women to get involved because their status in society was different, she said.

They couldnt stand for parliament, because they couldnt vote, she added.

Its very important that we remember the women, because they made a huge contribution, they came from all walks of life and they played a very important role.

That role wasnt recognised 50 years on in 1966 and it was very important to me that we would recognise the role of the women today, she added.

Sinead McCoole, author of the book Easter Widows, curated the exhibition, and thanked everyone who contributed to the exhibition - from seasoned historians and archivists to the Rising relatives..

State assets and national treasures are often terms used about items of great value, big houses with demesne and gold objects, she said.

This centenary year in this exhibition we have be able to use assets and treasures of a different sort dating to 1916 from the national collections, from libraries, archives, museums all over the country.
Sergeant Denis Harrington speaking with Michael Walsh from Westport at the AGSI conference in Co Mayo. Photo: Keith Heneghan

Garda supervisors are threatening to break the law and take strike action in support of their pay claims.

And their full-time leader says he is prepared to spend his holidays in jail if he is prosecuted for promoting the withdrawal of labour by his members.

The mid-ranking gardai say they will hold a special delegate conference in June to debate a range of protest options, including strikes, if there is no progress on their claims for a restoration of pay rates to pre-recession levels in the short term.

The annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) in Westport, Co Mayo, yesterday gave the go-ahead to its national executive to launch an immediate protest campaign.

Strategy for the campaign will be planned by the executive immediately after the conference ends this afternoon.

This is the first time a strike has been put on the agenda by gardai and it underlines the growing anger and frustration over the failure to meet their claims.

The supervisors said they were not looking for a pay rise but were seeking the restoration of levels that existed in 2008.

They said they had been promised these rates would be restored when the recession was over and on that basis they had agreed to cuts that reduced their wage packets by up to 30pc.

But those promises had not been fulfilled, delegates said.

AGSI general secretary John Jacob was given a standing ovation when he said he had booked a family holiday for June, but accepted it was possible he could be prosecuted for promoting a withdrawal of labour and could end up spending his holidays in jail.

Mr Jacob was promised the full support of cheering delegates as he outlined his potential fate under the Garda Siochana Act.

He said he did not want any conflict but he shared the passion of his members for a restoration of pay levels and he was prepared to break the law, although he did not want to go to prison. Mr Jacob pointed out that the AGSI was traditionally a conservative organisation but said it had become very militant.

He said that if he had proposed a march on the Dail three or four years ago, he would have been "laughed out of court".

He added: "Now people are insisting on it and in our survey 90pc of members supported industrial relations activity like work to rule.

"The industrial action starts today. The battle lines are drawn," Mr Jacob said.

It is likely to include a march on the Dail, possibly in uniform, on the first day of the new government; pickets outside the constituency offices of TDs and government ministers; and culminate in a decision on a strike.

Also under consideration is a work to rule, which would include refusing to carry out after-hours administrative duties, assigning duties to members of the Garda Reserve, and possibly not using their personal mobile phones and cars for official duties.

He said those actions would grind the organisation to a halt as the sergeants and inspectors were the pivotal point around which the force revolved.

The AGSI is to seek the support of rank-and-file members as well as retired colleagues in their campaign.
Gardai are calling for frontline members to be issued with miniature cameras after a shocking video emerged showing the sinister threats officers receive on a daily basis.

The video, played at the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors conference, shows a man issuing threats to gardai in a patrol car.

"I'm going to kick him in the back of the head you dirty tramp of a garda," the thug said in a rage after being arrested.

He then threatened the garda that he would find his wife and children and brutally rape them.

Garda supervisors say officers are faced with this level of violence every day and have called for the cameras to be introduced to boost protection.

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In a seperate incident, a pregnant garda was threatened by a criminal that she would be raped and killed. Since the incident, the garda, who is based in Dublin, is living in a state of fear and instructions have been given that she is to be notified when the thug who made the threat is released from prison.

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The threat was one of several highlighted yesterday at the conference, where almost all of the delegates indicated that they had either been assaulted or threatened while on duty.

Donegal delegate Paul Wallace told how he had been knocked to the ground while trying to restrain a prisoner in Letterkenny and sustained two ruptured discs in his back. This left him immobile for six months and he is still making visits to a Dublin hospital.
David Gest grew up with Michael Jackson and his brothers in California

'I'll find out where your wife lives...' is the chillling front page lead from the Irish Independent as the paper reports the daily abuse faced by frontline gardai.

A shocking video showing a thug threatening to kick an arresting officer in the head before declaring he would find the garda's wife and children and rape them has emerged.

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Conor McGregor has led tributes to tragic MMA fighter Joao Carvalho who died on Monday. The Herald lead's with 'Bitter pill to swallow' as the star fighter - who was at the bout - has spoken out after his death.

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The Irish Examiner also runs with this story as a front page - and pic - piece with the headline 'McGrego: MMA death 'a truly bitter pill to swallow'.

'Death fight ref: I did my best' is the angle taken by the Irish Daily Star on the tragedy as the paper leads with quotes from the referee who officiated the fight.

'Global tax officials gather to act on Panama Papers data' is the front page piece from The Irish Times as the paper reports that tax officials from around the world are meeting today to discuss international reaction in response to the controversy.

The death of David Gest features on the fornt page of the Irish Daily Mirror following the death of the reality TV star and music producer yesterday.

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In world news, police have seized nearly 5,000 dogs suspected of being banned breeds from owners in England and Wales in the past three years, according to reports.

The RSPCA is reportedly calling for the Dangerous Dogs Act to be amended due to concerns that it is too wide in its scope.

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A UK ticket-holder has scooped a 51.8 million EuroMillions jackpot.

And in February a ticket holder in Ireland claimed a 66m (50 million) share of the EuroMillions jackpot.

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And organised crime prosecutors raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm looking for evidence of money laundering and financing terrorism following a leak of documents about tax havens it set up for wealthy international clients.

Half a dozen police officers set up a perimeter around the offices while prosecutors searched inside for documents.
Martin McGuinness paid more than 37,000 (46,346)in tax last year, the latest personal disclosures arising from the 'Panama papers' scandal have shown.

The Deputy First Minister earned 111,600 ( 139790) before tax for the 2014/15 year and paid tax totalling 37,143, according to his official tax return released yesterday.

The document also revealed the senior Sinn Fein figure was paid 61,900 (77,536) in benefits and expenses.

In a move which his party called "unprecedented" Mr McGuinness had already published bank statements when he ran in the Irish Presidential election in 2011.

"(Mr) McGuinness' Assembly income is taxed at source under PAYE. He takes home an average wage and donates the balance to the party," a statement added.

The ongoing rush of party leaders to publish their personal details revealed Justice Minister David Ford claimed 200 (250) for heat and light and use of the home telephone for Assembly and Ministerial duties.

The Alliance leader was given a salary of 86,000 (107,724)but his papers did not reveal how much tax he had to pay.

Mr Ford also donated 2,200 (2,755) to charity under the gift aid scheme. He also recorded 59,802 (74,908) in office cost expenditures.

The revelations come after the revelations in the so-called Panama papers which ensnared Prime Minister David Cameron last week, who was then the first politician to take the radical step of making his personal tax papers public.
The Ervia Group of unions held an hour long meeting with Fianna Fail in Leinster House today

Trade unions representing Irish Water workers have warned Fianna Fail that they will vehemently oppose any redundancies in the event of the public utility being scrapped.

The Ervia Group of unions held an hour long meeting with Fianna Fail in Leinster House today to discuss the party's plans to scrap charges and replace Irish Water with a slimmed down body.

The meeting took place as Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are set to discuss whether common ground can be found on the issue.

Union representative Adrian Kane told independent.ie that Fianna Fail was told any potential redundancies will be strongly opposed.

Union representatives also outlined their demands for a referendum to bring any new utility under public ownership.

The meeting also heard that Irish Water in its current form is the "most effective vehicle" for water distribution.

The meeting was organised by the party's Environment spokesperson Barry Cowen. However, his colleague Timmy Dooley hosted the meeting as Mr Cowen is involved in the talks with Fine Gael.
More than 145,000 children are seen at Temple Street Hospital every year and 55,000 of those are catered for in the emergency department, making it one of the busiest of its kind in Europe.

Diagnosing and treating a myriad of different conditions, the 95 consultants and 900 other staff members work around the clock providing a safety net for the children of Ireland.

But caring for the next generation is a costly business and funds are desperately needed for a new neurology and renal outpatients unit. So on April 15, hospital staff are urging everyone to host their own 'Bake Off' to help make this much-needed department a reality.

Great Irish Bake Off judge, Lilly Higgins is lending her support to the Temple Street Great Irish Bake which will help thousands of children get back on their feet.

Victoria Barker White is one of the patients who will benefit from the new unit at the hospital. Still only seven months old, the baby from Athlone nearly didn't make it this far as before she was born many medics believed she wouldn't survive.

But, mum Charlotte believes that thanks to experts at Temple Street, her much-loved daughter is alive and well.

"When I was 23 weeks pregnant, I went for a gender scan as I already have three sons - Joshua (6), Paul (4) and Thomas (3) - so I paid to have a scan as [her partner] Joseph and I wanted to find out," she says. "Everything seemed fine but at my routine 26 week scan, doctors thought they could see what looked like a cyst on her brain and said I should go to the Rotunda Hospital for another scan.

"Naturally we were very upset, particularly as when we asked if she would survive, they said it was impossible to tell.

"So after a very anxious 10-day wait, we got an appointment in Dublin for further tests which revealed that our daughter had a very rare brain condition and it was unlikely that she would survive - we were totally devastated."

Despite her baby having very low odds of survival, the mother-of-four was determined that she would continue with her pregnancy and hope for the best.

"Although both Joseph and I were distraught about it all, we wanted to do the best for our baby and that meant having all the investigations possible and sticking with the pregnancy until the end," says Charlotte. "I had lots of different tests, including MRI's and samples of amniotic fluid taken - this revealed that there was no genetic disorder present but our baby's cerebellum was much smaller than it should be.

"It was also thought that she may have spina bifida so we met with a specialist who referred us to Temple Street and it was there that we got our first glimmer of hope. Because after taking several scans, the consultant said that the brain looked intact and he was confident that our baby would survive so while she may have problems with her eyesight, balance and co-ordination, there was a good chance that she would make it."

Charlotte and Joseph were overjoyed with this vote of confidence which helped them through the final few weeks of the pregnancy until their daughter, Victoria, was born on August 24, 2015.

"Victoria was born in the Rotunda Hospital by caesarean section at 11am," recalls Charlotte.

"She had an Apgar score (the first test on newborns to determine physical condition) of between 9 and 10 which was really high and was also breathing on her own, which the medical team was surprised at. She was taken straight away to intensive care and because her heartbeat was very erratic, I wasn't allowed to feed her so she was fed by a tube. But she wasn't able to keep anything down and three days later was transferred to Temple Street where she had surgery to insert a shunt into her brain on August 27.

"This went well and she was then seen by a speech and language therapist who discovered that she had a problem with her swallowing reflex which is why she kept vomiting up her food. But as she wasn't aspirating her feed, it was decided that she would soon get the hang of swallowing - which she did and as soon as she was able to feed (about three weeks later), she was discharged."

But the little girl continued to have complications and endured more surgery and infections before she was even two months old.

"The shunt in Victoria's brain, which was inserted to drain off fluid building up, started to leak out through the wounds in her head a few weeks after we brought her home," recalls Charlotte.

"I rushed her to the local hospital which transferred her back to Temple Street. And it was there they discovered that not only was the shunt infected, but she also had meningitis - so she had to have the shunt removed, recover from the meningitis and have a new shunt put in in order to stop the leaking.

"It was a terribly stressful time and looking back I don't know how we got through it all - she was so small and had to put up with so much, but she managed to come out the other side and has been relatively well since then."

Today Victoria looks no different to any other baby but Charlotte says she is behind in her developmental milestones and requires regular monitoring by Temple Street experts.

"Anyone looking at Victoria would not know there was something wrong with her," she says. "She looks the same as a normal baby as she isn't disfigured in any way from it all. But if you put her beside another baby of the same age, you would immediately be able to tell the difference as she can't roll over and doesn't sit unaided - so she is about three months behind where she should be. But she is a great eater and seems to be thriving well.

"As far as the future goes, we can't be sure what will happen. Victoria will be assessed regularly and at the moment it seems that while she will walk at some point, she won't hit the same milestones as other babies the same age and she is likely to have problems with balance, co-ordination and eyesight. Beyond that, we don't have any idea what else is in store for her, but we are so glad she is with us as it seems miraculous that she pulled through, given the initial expectation.

"Temple Street has done an amazing job in helping Victoria to get where she is today. Despite having very limited funds, the work they do there is amazing and without them, I really believe out daughter may not have survived, so I would encourage everyone to do what they can to help with the Great Irish Bake as Temple Street is the reason so many babies and children like Victoria are here today."
All the music and in-store announcements are turned off every Tuesday between 7pm and 9pm.

One Irish supermarket has started an initiative to make its environment more autism friendly.

Scally's Supervalu in Clonakilty, Co Cork has taken steps to make its shopping environment autism friendly every Tuesday between 7pm and 9pm.

The supermarket creates an atmosphere to reduce the amount of sensory stimulation taking place every Tuesday night between 7pm and 9pm.

All the music and in-store announcements are turned off during that time.

Shop owner Eugene Scally told independent.ie: We dont realise the massive difference a small change can make.

The biggest problem is the music, and the calling on the tannoy system, or the lighting for people with autism.

"We've had a great response to it. We would have people coming from as far west as Skibbereen, Bandon, Kinsale, Cork city.

People who have hearing aids are delighted with the facility as well because apparently the sound of phones or music or the tannoy ringing in an ear piece can be irritating.

Mr Scally said he was initially approched by a woman who was studying autism to introduce the initiative, and now he is looking at running the initiative at an earlier time.

A woman called Patricia OLeary was studying in UCC as a second year student, and she realised from her research and studies that the shopping environment was not ideal with telephones ringing and bright lighting. She asked me if shed be interested in facilitating her as part of her study and I was delighted to be asked."

We would have no issue with changing it from 3-5pm on Saturdays, he said.
An award-winning Irish expert has issued an urgent new warning to parents over the potential dangers of child seats in their cars.

Christine Carolan, whose Cosynest invention recently came tops in high-speed crash tests at the UK's Transport Research Laboratory, warns how road deaths are the leading cause of child mortality in Ireland.

Road traffic collisions account for more than 36pc of all child deaths, she says.

At the same time, the Road Safety Authority estimates as many as four-in-five car seats are currently incorrectly fitted.

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Christine issued her plea as a new report by WhatCar? shows how parents can put their children's lives at risk by fitting the wrong seats.

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The whole area of safely carrying children in cars continues to prompt alerts such as those from Christine and WhatCar? as report after report discovers high percentages of seats incorrectly fitted - or totally unsuitable for their young occupants.

Such potentially dangerous oversights and shortcomings are in contrast to the hyper concentration of occupant-safety items now either mandatory or being fitted in cars generally.

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Christine designed the Cosynest suit because she was unhappy with the way child seats and conventional baby suits performed - with her own babies' safety in mind.

She told 'Independent Motors': "I was horrified by the number of car crashes involving children; 262 children were killed in Ireland between 1997 and 2012.

"And another 1,115 were severely injured." She added: "One-in-10 of those children wasn't even wearing a seat belt or a child restraint."

She appealed to parents to buy car seats from shops that provide an advisory service and urged them to learn how to fit them properly.

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Her advice echoes that of a recent WhatCar? survey which highlighted the need to physically sample seats and get expert advice rather than order them on-line.

The researchers said taking the latter route is like taking part in a lottery.

They concluded that buying in-store is the only way to maximise children's safety in the car.

Christine continued: "I am really calling on parents to learn how to keep their babies safe.

"We put such an emphasis on all aspects of child safety but we fall down badly on the car seat issue.

"A simple thing: try the two fingers test. If you can fit two fingers under the strap at your baby's shoulder, then the seat is too loose."

She has carried out extensive research into the dynamics and dangers of the suits babies wear in cars and that's how the Cosynest was born.

She told us she is delighted that her bulk-and-fabric ratio design has now come out tops in the crash test, which was funded by Enterprise Ireland with tailored conditions designed by Trinity College Dublin's School of Engineering.

Dr Ciaran Simms, Associate Professor Biomechanical Engineering, Trinity College Dublin says: "We slightly modified the standard R129 crash test to take into account the fact that belts are often slack in real world use.

"Retaining the child in its car seat is crucial to the child's safety. If the child is ejected they risk severe neck and head injuries and are more likely to be hit by sharp objects, leading to a much more serious outcome.

"The Cosynest showed a better capacity to retain the child in the seat than a conventional snowsuit'.

* The Road Safety Authority has a special online 'check it fits' section (www.rsa.ie/checkitfits).

* New European car-seat safety regulations, called i-Size, insist on the criteria for a seat before it can go on sale. They classify car seats by a child's height rather than weight as has been the case.

This is being done so parents don't move children from rear-facing infant seats to forward-facing ones too early.

* How did you choose or fit your child-seat? Are you happy it is the correct one for your child?

ecunningham@independent.ie
Fionnan Sheahan

Ireland Editor at Mediahuis. Fionnan writes news, analysis and comment on current affairs and politics for the Irish Independent and Independent.ie. He is a weekly columnist with the Irish Independent and a presenter of InFocus, the current affairs podcast from Independent.ie. A native of Thurles, Co Tipperary, Fionnan has won several awards for print and digital journalism from Newsbrands Ireland, the Law Society and the National Newspapers of Ireland, including National Journalist of the Year. Prior to his current role, Fionnans positions included Editor and Political Editor of the Irish Independent. He is a regular commentator on TV and radio.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail dither, six weeks after the election, about the formation of a new Government, while potentially one of the biggest economic risks facing the country is just around the corner. Having been barely mentioned in the election campaign, you'd hardly know it was of importance to us at all.

The warning issued yesterday by the IMF about the potential consequences of a British withdrawal from the European Union is the starkest yet from the Washington-based lender.

The Fund's chief economist, Maurice Obstfeld, says there could be "severe regional and global damage" if Britain votes to pull out of the EU.

An exit would present "major challenges" and a prolonged period of uncertainty, which it says could dent confidence and have a negative effect on investment. The warnings have been plentiful.

And Ireland is front and centre in terms of the fallout should the vote be to pull out.

Experts believe Ireland could be among the countries in Europe worst-hit should an exit occur, given the close economic, political and societal links between the two countries.

The ESRI has predicted trade could slump by up to a fifth; business lobby group IBEC believes the value of sterling will be forced sharply down, which would be a huge negative for Irish firms selling into the UK market.

Theresa Villiers, the Northern Ireland Secretary and one of the key 'leave' advocates, has argued that there is no reason to believe that the common travel area between the two countries would end simply because of an EU withdrawal, insisting that it predates EU membership.

But one of her predecessors, Peter Mandelson, who's backing the remain campaign, believes otherwise.

Last month he said border controls could be imposed.

With the campaign ramping up ahead of the June 23 vote, expect claims and counterclaims. Nobody knows for certain what might happen. And it could be argued that even if Ireland had a stable and functioning government, it could do little about the outcome of a referendum in another sovereign territory, or the uncertainty that it is creating.

But without a government in place, we're heaping uncertainty on top of even more uncertainty.
A British composer who produced the music for the new Hollywood blockbuster Captain America: Civil War said he has "worries" about the support given to state-educated children to succeed in the arts.

Henry Jackman, who studied at Eton College and the University of Oxford, voiced concerns about the opportunities offered to talented young musicians in comprehensive schools as he attended the film's world premiere in Los Angeles.

His comments follow the debate about the success of Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch and other former public school stars, with James McAvoy warning that the continued dominance of a wealthy elite in the arts will be "damaging for society".

Jackman, who received a Bafta nomination for his score to Captain Phillips, said he received a scholarship to study at Eton which provided "an opportunity at an institution I could not possibly have afforded".

He told the Press Association: "If you look at all decent artists ... like Monet, Debussy, Benjamin Britten, I'm not being rude to the English aristocracy, but it has not produced the world's greatest artists.

"The one I do worry about is music education and how that works and where you get the opportunity. I was lucky. My dad came from a working class family but he was a great musician so it was flowing through the house.

"If you imagine you've got some kid whose mum works in the local store and it turns out he's naturally really good at the violin, how does that work?

"If you went to a comprehensive in Peckham and went, hey, can we get some violin lessons for this guy? I don't know if the answer is going to be, yeah sure, we've got loads of violins. That worries me.

"The great thing about music is it is meritocratic."

Jackman joined the stars of Captain America: Civil War on the red carpet for the film's premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Chris Evans, who plays Captain America, and Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr attended along with host of their co-stars including Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle and Paul Bettany.

Evans paid tribute to Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee after the pair embraced on the red carpet.

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"It's overwhelming," he told reporters. "It's Stan Lee. What can you say to a legend like that? The fact he even knows me is a big deal."

Rudd, who plays Ant Man in the film, praised the movie's directors, brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, for managing a plethora of superhero characters.

He said: "The Russo brothers did such a great job balancing all of it. I'm only a small part of it. They did such a good job focussing on the story and all the different relationships between the characters. They're really talented guys."

Captain America: Civil War is due to be released at UK cinemas on April 29.
David Gest posing with his Entertainment Collection prior to it's auction Credit: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire

Reality TV star David Gest, the former husband of Liza Minnelli, has died in a London hotel aged 62.

The former Celebrity Big Brother star was married to Minnelli from 2002-2003, but they only officially divorced in 2007.

He was also known for being a close friend of the late Michael Jackson.

The TV personality gained a following in the United Kingdom recently when he appeared on Celebrity Big Brother.

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Friend Imad Handi said: "It is with great sadness that I can confirm that David Gest has died today.

"David was truly larger than life. He was not just a huge talent and a dear friend but a showbiz icon.

"I know he will be missed by millions of fans around the world, and particularly in Britain, who came to love his charm and blistering one-liners.

"If I may steal the words of one eminent critic, David was a natural star and a genuine celebrity. I will miss him desperately."

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Police were called at 10.17 on Tuesday 12 April to the Four Seasons hotel, in Westferry Circus, E14, to reports of an unexplained death of a man in his 60s. London Ambulance Service were called to the scene. Life was pronounced extinct at the hotel.

"A post-mortem will be held in due course. Next of kin are in the process of being informed."

The life of an icon - Michael Jackson remains an amazing film on the king.

RIP David Gest  Conor Kelly (@KellyConorp) April 12, 2016

David Gest's actually dead??? Very shocked and saddened, seemed like such a nice genuine guy, R.I.P :'(  Joseph (@JosephStyles11) April 12, 2016

Noooo, not David Gest! What's going on? I'll miss his crazy stories.  Cezbollah (@le_petit_cochon) April 12, 2016

David Gest has died... For real this time. How sad #ripdavidgest  Keeley Ashcroft (@keeleyjane1989) April 12, 2016

absolutely gutted to hear about david gest. took him to his train in piccadilly station once and he was so lovely and very thankful  vicky. (@victoriajaneox) April 12, 2016

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The US producer had taken part in the Celebrity Big Brother house earlier this year.

However, he was forced to leave the house early due to medical reasons.

On the show, housemates mistakenly thought Gest had died when Tiffany Pollard misheard Angie Bowie as she relayed the news of David Bowie's death.

Tributes have already begun to pour in for the well known celebrity:
Musician and The Voice coach will.i.am visits the Jungle migrant camp in Calais, France, to see first-hand the plight of refugees languishing there.

Musician and The Voice coach will.i.am visits the Jungle migrant camp in Calais, France, to see first-hand the plight of refugees languishing there.

Will.i.am poses for a selfie as he visits the Jungle migrant camp in Calais, France.

Musician and The Voice coach will.i.am has travelled to Calais to see first-hand the plight of refugees languishing at the camp known as the Jungle.

The Black Eyed Peas star and producer was mobbed as he toured the slum and shook hands and fist-bumped refugees who crowded round him to take selfies.

He watched as a lorry load of water bottles that he earlier paid for at a supermarket was opened at the site. The multi-platinum artist also toured tents and a food distribution point.

And he met Briton Clare Moseley, of Care4Calais, to talk about the charity's work at the camp and the plight faced by refugees, including lack of sanitation, fresh food and uncertainty about their future.

As he walked around the camp with a camera crew in tow, will.i.am, 41, said: "I'm here to learn more. You hear a lot on the news.

"I don't like to get all my information from the news. I like to try my best to learn as much as I can."

Will.i.am spoke to refugees who have faced perilous journeys fleeing civil unrest, wars and other tragedies in their homeland to reach Europe in search of a better life.

It was his second visit to Calais within a week. Following The Voice final won by ex-Liberty X star Kevin Simm at the weekend, will.i.am crossed the English Channel to take part in a fact-finding mission in the port city on Sunday.

Up until demolition teams moved in to partially demolish the Calais camp earlier this year, around 4,000 people who have fled poverty, persecution and war were camped there.

French state authorities moved some people from the squalid, rat-infested site's southern section to heated containers nearby or to centres around France.

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But large numbers of migrants and refugees are still based elsewhere within the so-called Jungle camp, including young children.

Calais has lived with migrants for years, but the camp on the city's edge sprang up around a day centre opened last April by the state - and grew explosively.

Repeated bids to cross the Channel to Britain were made by migrants, prompting an Anglo-French operation to bolster security around the ports, including the erection of razor-topped fences.

Today the southern section of the camp looks vastly different compared to a few months ago. Makeshift shacks and tents which once completely covered the area have now been cleared, leaving swathes of barren land.

Ms Moseley said: "I can't begin to thank will.i.am for visiting us and pledging to become part of the solution to this crisis.

"Not only did he lift the spirits of everyone he met, he has also effectively demonstrated that the only solution to this global issue will come from compassion.

"It's impossible to understand the scale of the situation until you are here and meet the people in the camps who need all the support we can give. These people have lost their homes, many have also lost friends and families."
Paul Ryan, Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives and widely viewed as the last hope for the party establishment in 2016, unequivocally ruled himself out as a 'white knight' candidate for president yesterday.

Power brokers intended to place Mr Ryan - Mitt Romney's running mate in 2012 - into nomination if the national convention in July is deadlocked between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

Mr Ryan has long said he would not seek the nomination, but had previously not ruled out an eleventh-hour intervention if the party turned to him. An aide said he decided to do so yesterday, "to put this to rest once and for all".

Mr Ryan (46) said on radio: "I will not allow my name to be placed in nomination. It will not be me." He was tipped to make a speech later from party HQ.

Mr Ryan had fuelled speculation by often criticising the Republican race, advocating a "battle of ideas" rather than a clash of personalities.

As the top-ranking Congressional Republican, Mr Ryan is likely to have a leadership role at the convention in Cleveland and may work behind the scenes to break the Trump-Cruz stalemate.

If neither obtains a majority of primary election delegates, there will be a contested convention as the rivals scramble to collect the 1,237 delegates needed to win. If neither won outright on the first ballot, someone who was not previously a candidate could, hypothetically, have been put forward. Mr Ryan was considered the most likely alternative.

Backers of Mr Trump and Mr Cruz, who have seen off establishment favourites such as Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, had feared party power brokers would throw one more obstacle in their path: Mr Ryan. Some remain wary even after his comment yesterday, saying he once said he would not be a candidate for Speaker, before changing course.

"I do not trust Paul Ryan. I think this is exactly the situation he wants," Scottie Hughes, a conservative radio host and Trump supporter, said.

Ryan's announcement came on a day when long-shot Republican candidate John Kasich portrayed himself as an antidote to what he called the divisive politics of Trump and Cruz and criticised them as wanting to take the US down a "path of darkness". Kasich's "two paths" speech in New York City was an effort to distinguish himself from his rivals and carve out a space for himself as a positive, reasonable conservative a week before New York state's Republican and Democratic primaries on April 19.

Kasich - running a distant third behind Trump and Cruz and with no chance of capturing the Republican nomination unless he can emerge from a contested convention - did not mention Trump and Cruz by name but left no doubt as to who he was talking about.

He lashed out at Trump proposals to deport 11 million illegal immigrants and impose protectionist trade policies.

He ridiculed Cruz's idea for a business flat tax, calling it a value-added tax. These are examples of a path of darkness, he said. "Some who feed off of the fears and anger that is felt by some of us and exploit it feed their own insatiable desire for fame or attention. That could drive America down into a ditch, not make us great again," Kasich said, referring to Trump's signature line.

As 14 other rivals have dropped out of the race, Kasich has doggedly stayed in even though he has underperformed, winning only his home state of Ohio.

But his goal is to emerge from a contested convention as a unifying nominee for the November election, one who polls well against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

"A united America is undefeatable," Kasich said. "We are an exceptional country."

Whether his speech will have an impact on the race at this late stage is far from certain.

Trump is favoured to win the April 19 primary in his home state. He holds a huge lead in opinion polls there, with Kasich running a distant second.
RELATIONS between Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama are "fraught with hurt feelings and resentment", with America's First Lady "looking down" on the Democratic presidential frontrunner and her family, a newly published book has claimed.

Tensions between the two women date from the 2008 presidential campaign, when Ms Obama's husband, Barack, defeated Ms Clinton for the Democratic nomination and subsequently took the White House, writes author Kate Andersen Brower in 'First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies'.

"The 2008 presidential campaign left deep and lasting scars on both the Clinton and the Obama camps, and they are still shockingly fresh," says the book, which was published yesterday by Collins.

Mrs Obama (52) has never forgotten how Mrs Clinton ridiculed her husband's "hope and change" message in patronising tones.

So antagonistic has Ms Obama become towards her husband's former adversary that she hoped the vice-president, Joe Biden, would stand against Mrs Clinton in this year's Democratic primaries and win the party's nomination. After consideration, Mr Biden decided against doing so.

"When Michelle Obama views the Clintons, I don't want to say she's looking down her nose at them - but she kind of is," a former Obama adviser is quoted as saying. Her disdain has been fuelled by suggestions of misconduct levelled at the Clinton Global Initiative, established in 2005 by Ms Clinton's husband.

"It fits into the narrative about the Clintons that they come off as just trying to claw their way towards success and money," the book says.

In response to suggestions of misconduct and irregularities at the foundation, Bill Clinton in 2013 published an open letter stating that financial deficits reported in the media were misleading and due to the unique tax reporting requirements placed on such bodies.

The book portrays Mrs Obama as loathing her role and reveals her testy relations with her husband's closet aides, including Rahm Emanuel, his first chief of staff, whom she accused of bullying her into campaigning.

Unlike Mrs Clinton, who was politically active during her husband's presidency, she has no interest in receiving policy briefings. In 2010, she allegedly told Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, wife of the visiting then French President, on the subject of being First Lady: "Don't ask. It's hell. I hate it."

However, Mrs Obama - who earned $275,000 a year as vice-president of external affairs at Chicago University's medical centre before her husband's election - hopes to emulate Mrs Clinton in one respect, by writing her own books after leaving the White House.

Her aides say she looks forward to the day when she leaves "a really nice prison" to earn money through book deals and public speaking fees, Andersen Brower writes.

Meanwhile, back on the stumps, Mrs Clinton isn't leaving any line of attack untested in the final week before New York's Democratic primary, aware that anything short of a big win may breathe new life into rival Bernie Sanders' campaign.

Her all-out approach and rebuttals by Mr Sanders seemed to end a brief truce that took hold in the campaign at the end of last week after increasingly bitter exchanges in which each questioned the other's fitness for office. While continuing to jab at Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, Mrs Clinton has criticised Mr Sanders's record on guns and immigration and questioned whether he's thought through his positions.

"I have noticed under the bright spotlight and the scrutiny here in New York, Senator Sanders has had trouble answering questions," she told reporters at a restaurant in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Backtracked "He's had trouble answering questions about his core issue, namely dealing with the banks. He's had trouble answering foreign policy questions."

While Mr Sanders has backtracked from saying Mrs Clinton isn't qualified to be president, he's kept up an aggressive criticism of Mrs Clinton's ties to Wall Street and other special interests.

"In terms of her judgment, something is clearly lacking," he said on Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press'.

The back-and-forth leads up to a debate tomorrow night in Brooklyn, with both candidates digging in for a fight they may have to carry on until the final primary ballot is cast in June.

While Mrs Clinton is looking to next Tuesday's primary in New York and a slate of five northeast primaries the following week to seal the nomination, Mr Sanders has been raising enough money to carry on his campaign into the Democratic National Convention in July. ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
The crisis highlights the often bleak conditions for Canada's indigenous peoples

Canada's parliament has agreed to hold an emergency debate on a suicide crisis in a remote aboriginal community after 11 people, nine of them minors, attempted suicide over the weekend.

More than a dozen youths were overheard making a suicide pact.

Charlie Angus, who represents the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat, said they need to address the crisis.

Attawapiskat, population 2,000, declared a state of emergency on Saturday. There have been about 100 suicide attempts since September and at least one death.

Anna Betty Achneepineskum of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation said police took a nine-year-old and 12 others to hospital on Monday for an evaluation after hearing them make a suicide pact.

The crisis highlights the often bleak conditions for Canada's indigenous peoples.
Auctioneer Marc Labarbe presents the recently discovered Judith Beheading Holofernes, thought to have been painted by Italian master Caravaggio, to the media in Paris yesterday

A leaky roof led a French family to stumble across a painting thought to be a long- lost Caravaggio worth 120m .

The exceptionally well-preserved tableau had remained hidden in the attic of their home outside Toulouse, southwestern France, untouched for more than 150 years since an ancestor brought it back to France from his campaigns abroad as an officer of Napoleon's army.

Experts have already dubbed the incredible find a "momentous occasion" in European art history and the "most important painting by far" to have emerged by one of the great masters in modern times.

'Judith Beheading Holofernes', thought to be painted by Caravaggio - real name Michelangelo Merisi - in Rome around 1604-1605, was presented to the world yesterday in a Paris gallery.

"This particular lighting, this energy typical of Caravaggio without corrections, with a sure hand and the pictorial material make this painting an original," said art expert and gallery owner Eric Turquin.

Experts concur there is no way it could be a copy, given the bold, spontaneous brushstrokes known as "alla brava" in Italian - Caravaggio never sketched first - and the fact that the painter made some clear corrections to hands, something that a careful copier would not do.

Caravaggio painted two versions of the biblical scene in which Judith beheads the Assyrian general Holofernes to defend her beleaguered city. The first version, painted in Rome, is currently on display at the National Gallery of Ancient Art, at Pallazo Barberini.

However, the second version, which was painted in Naples, went missing without a trace 400 years ago - until, if it proves genuine, a family on the outskirts of Toulouse unearthed the painting in an attic they didn't even know existed until they forced open a door while inspecting a leak in April 2014.

Their local auctioneer, Marc Labarde, recognised the work as Italian 17th century.

The right-side had a water stain due to the leak, but was in fact in excellent condition. He sent a photo to Mr Turquin, an expert in Old Masters, who instantly thought it could be a great painting.

After two years of analysis, Mr Turquin admitted that there would be "more controversies than expertise" and "no consensus" over its provenance, with one Caravaggio specialist, Mina Gregori, already questioning its authenticity.

But the painting is of sufficient interest in the eyes of the Louvre for the French culture ministry to pronounce it a "national treasure", meaning it cannot be exported for 30 months while French museums consider whether to stump up the funds to buy it.

"This recently rediscovered work of great artistic value, which could be identified as a lost composition of Caravaggio, known so far by indirect evidence, merits being retained in the territory as a very important milestone in the work of Caravaggio, while its attribution is researched," wrote the ministry.

The mysterious second version was mentioned by the Flemish painter Frans Pourbus the Younger in a letter penned in 1607 in which he claimed to have seen the famous work in the studio of the painter Louis Finson.

Finson mentions the painting in his 1617 will. That was the last anyone heard of the tableau.
A British withdrawal from the European Union could do severe regional and global damage, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

In its sharpest contribution yet to the debate, the Washington-based fund said a vote for the UK to withdraw from the EU on June 23 could have damaging consequences by "disrupting established trading partnerships".

Business leaders here have been vocal in their concern about the impact of a so-called Brexit on Ireland, with predictions about a slump in trade between the two countries and the plummeting value of sterling.

"The planned June referendum ... has already created uncertainty for investors," the Fund's chief economist, Maurice Obstfeld, said as the IMF published a half-yearly assessment of the world economy yesterday.

"A Brexit could do severe regional and global damage by disrupting established trading relationships."

The Fund listed Britain's referendum as a key risk, along with instability in China and other emerging markets, volatile share prices and a loss of long-term growth potential in advanced economies. The Fund also cut its 2016 growth forecast for Britain to 1.9pc from 2.2pc, the sharpest downgrade for any major advanced economy other than Japan.

Britain's economy grew by 2.3pc last year and government forecasters say it will slow this year and in subsequent years.

The IMF downgraded its projection for global growth this year, made in January, by 0.2 percentage points to 3.2pc.

"The global recovery has weakened further amid increasing financial turbulence," it said.

The Irish economy will grow by 5pc this year - up from the 3.8pc forecast in October - and 3.6pc next year.

UK Chancellor George Osborne, who has a warm relationship with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde (right), said the Fund's comments reinforced the case for staying.

"The IMF has given us the clearest independent warning of the taste of bad things to come if we leave the EU," he said.

In February, the world's top 20 economies listed Brexit as a global risk after lobbying from Mr Osborne, officials from Group of 20 countries said.

Supporters of Britain's leaving said the IMF warning also seemed to carry Osborne's fingerprints and the biggest risk for Britain was remaining in the EU.

"The IMF has talked down the British economy in the past and now it is doing it again at the request of our own (finance minister)," said Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the campaigning group Vote Leave.

A spokeswoman for the British Treasury had no immediate comment on Elliott's remarks.

The IMF said Britain's trade with the EU was likely to suffer if it left, especially during the two years after the referendum when it would negotiate exit terms.

On Monday, the City of London said leaving would be a shock to Britain's financial industry.
A senior figure in one of Germany's governing parties has called for a law that would prevent foreign financing of mosques in the country

A senior figure in one of Germany's governing parties has called for a law that would prevent foreign financing of mosques in the country.

Andreas Scheuer, the Christian Social Union's general secretary, argued in an interview with the daily Die Welt that "political Islam" undermines efforts to integrate people in Germany.

He said the country should draw up an "Islam law," arguing that financing of mosques or Islamic kindergartens from foreign countries such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia must be stopped, and that "all imams must be trained in Germany and share our fundamental values".

"It can't be the case that other, sometimes extreme, moral concepts, are imported from abroad," Mr Scheuer was quoted as saying.

"German must become the language of the mosques," he added, arguing that "Europe must cultivate its own Islam."

Neighboring Austria early last year banned foreign funding for mosques and imams. While several politicians have called for such a ban in France, foreign financing of mosques is permitted there.

Mr Scheuer's CSU is the Bavaria-only sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union and has criticised Ms Merkel for not doing more to curb the migrant influx.
Heavily armed military police sealed off part of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport for hours after arresting a man for suspicious behaviour and summoning explosives experts to check his luggage.

Police in body armour and ski masks brandishing machine guns patrolled the airport for four hours while the investigation was under way.

The operation stranded scores of passengers who could not get to their parked cars because parts of the airport were sealed off.

Flights at the busy aviation hub appeared largely unaffected by the security scare and trains to the airport's station continued running throughout.

In the early hours of Wednesday, military police spokesman Alfred Ellwanger said that "no dangerous materials were found" in the arrested suspect's luggage and the tight security measures were lifted.

He said the man who was arrested remained in custody and under investigation.

The Netherlands has been on high alert since the deadly suicide bombing attacks on Brussels airport and subway last month in neighbouring Belgium.
Spanish police have arrested a Frenchman they believe supplied the arms to Paris attacker Amedy Coulibaly

Spanish police have arrested a Frenchman they believe supplied the arms to Paris attacker Amedy Coulibaly for use in the January 2015 attacks in the French capital.

An Interior Ministry statement said Antoine Denive, 27, from the northern French town of Sainte Catherine was arrested on Tuesday in the southern coastal town of Rincon de la Victoria on a European arrest warrant.

It said a Serbian man and a Montenegrin man were also arrested.

The ministry said Denive left France several weeks after the January 2015 attacks and moved to the southern Spanish province of Malaga, where he allegedly continued illegal activity under a false identity.

The January 2015 attacks in Paris left 17 victims and three attackers dead.

Coulibaly killed four people inside a kosher market, and separately a policewoman, before dying in a shoot-out with police.

Denive was brought before the National Court in Madrid, where he denied selling weapons to attackers, but the judge ordered him kept in jail, according to a court spokesman.

The ministry said Denive was an arms trafficker with ties to Serbian arms traffickers. The arrest was coordinated by a court in Lille, France, and one in the Spanish town of Torremolinos.

A police raid on Denive's house uncovered several false documents used by him - including a valid European passport in another person's name, the statement said.

Police said they were also studying computer material found there.

There were no immediate details on what arms the Frenchman allegedly supplied to Coulibaly.
Allison Pinsley (left) seen in a July 4, 2010 photo with friend Angie Rivera, who lived a block from Pinsley in Anderson. (photo courtesy of Angie Rivera)

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By Jennifer Crossley Howard

Tony Gaines has placed a pink rose on Allison Pinsley's living room floor every day since her murder. Gaines, a neighbor, picks the flowers from a bright bush that grows in front of her burned house on Richey Street in Anderson.

On April 18, Mitchell Allan Guigou was charged with Pinsley's murder and for setting fire to the Anderson house where her body lay. Pinsley died of asphyxiation on April 16 when a plastic bag was placed over her head, Anderson County Deputy Coroner Charlie Boseman said.

Guigou was denied bond and remains in custody at the Anderson County Detention Center.

On Sunday Boseman said Pinsley's family planned to ship her body to New York for a burial, but he has not heard from them since Friday.

Pinsley's murder stunned the tight-knit Richey and Foster Street community, comprised of many New York and New Jersey natives.

Pinsley, 51, grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the daughter of a father active in Democratic politics and psychiatrist mother. She lived in New York until she moved to Anderson last October.

Anderson was supposed to be a new beginning for Pinsley and her boyfriend, Chris Wallis, but their new life ended abruptly when Wallis, also of New York, died.

"She finally caught a break in her life, and now she's gone," said friend Stephanie Tegnazian of Manhattan.

Pinsley dealt with Wallis's death last September, and friends say she stopped communicating with them in the last months of her life, after she met Guigou.

Orlando Viera was Wallis's friend for more than 40 years. He drove Pinsley to Anderson from New York last October, and he lived two houses down from her in Anderson. He'd also moved from New York.

"Times were bad up there in New York," Viera said. "Apartment buildings were very expensive. She ran out of money, and Chris asked her to come down and he would take care of her."

Wallis, Pinsley's boyfriend of about 15 years, played guitar and taught music classes in New York, Tegnazian said."He didn't hang around the most savory people," she said.

Viera described Wallis as "a real gentleman." "He was energetic and outspoken," he said.

Before she came to Anderson, Pinsley lived in a pre-war apartment on 101st Street, between Broadway and West End Avenue, Tegnazian said.

Pinsley lived in the biggest city in the country, but she met few strangers, Tegnazian learned.

"She could walk into a Starbucks or the Metro Diner, and people knew her," she said. "She liked people, and she was a very trusting person and didn't think ill of anybody."

Alan Flacks of Manhattan met Pinsley as a quiet teenager who grew into an outspoken woman. Flacks knew Pinsley's father, Stanley, and volunteered with Pinsley and Tegnazian as part of the Three Parks Independent Democrats. She was active with the group until she moved to Anderson.

Pinsley was a compassionate person and headstrong about her political beliefs, he said.

"Allison had a big mouth, and I'm not referring to the size of her oral cavity," Flacks said.

She used her outgoing nature to pass out pamphlets at subway stops and in her apartment building. Her empathy spread to animals, too.

"She would not have (only) one cat," Flacks said.

Her four cats in Anderson followed her everywhere, Angie Rivera said. Rivera lived a block from Pinsley and Wallis and cleaned house for them.

She became their friend, visiting to watch movies and throw parties.

"We always had a party here," Rivera said. "We would make up a day for a party. They were like family to us."

Pinsley stood a little taller than most women, Rivera said. Her dark hair was streaked with gray and she had brown eyes.

"She was a pretty lady," Rivera said.

Wallis was 58 when he died last September of heart-related problems, Viera said.

Then Pinsley met Guigou, an Anderson cab driver, when she needed a ride. He moved in with Pinsley two or three months ago.

Neighborhood friends said though she lived nearby, Pinsley lost close contact with them.

"At the beginning Allison and I were communicating, but as soon as she met Mitchell she closed everybody off," Viera said.

Tony Gaines, who lives two blocks over from Pinsley's house, moved in to look after her when Wallis died. Gaines has remodeled houses on Richey Street since 2003.

"I was there to make sure no one bothered her," he said.

Pinsley wanted a relationship, he said, but he did not and moved out.

Then Guigou started calling and showing up at the house.

"I never liked the guy when he came around with a cab for her," Gaines said. "To me he pretty much stalked her and worked his way in."

Viera said Guigou kept to himself and waved sometimes, "depending on what kind of mood he was in."

Days before her death Gaines was working on a white house across the street from Pinsley's.

"If she had a problem, all she had to do was holler," Gaines said. "I would have helped her out."

"We didn't know anything that was going on, because they didn't communicate."

Viera wishes they had.

"Nobody ever knew it would end up like this," he said.
SC Supreme Court hears challenge to 6-week abortion law

The SC law, temporarily blocked until the court considers its fate, is being challenged on the grounds that it violates privacy rights in constitution.
PHOTOS BY FRANCES PARRISH/INDEPENDENT MAIL Pickens County residents listen as Johnnelle Raines talk about boycotting standardized tests and standing up to the county's public school district.

SHARE Community members listen to Deana McAnulty, a Pickens County parent, talk about the a possible new charter school.

By Frances Parrish of the Independent Mail

"We operate in Pickens County on fear," said Johnnelle Raines, a Pickens County resident and organizer of the meeting. "It's tyranny. They just wanted you to think you had some input. They thumbed their nose to the will of the people to keep those schools open."

As a way to fight back against the school district, Raines is asking parents to opt out of the standardized testing given in schools. As a former teacher, she said she saw the effects of pressure of standardized testing on students, teachers and administrators.

"What a child knows and doesn't know should be qualified over a whole year based on a series of tests, not just one test at the end of the year," Raines said. "Some teachers recognize this, but they have their hands tied. Parental right is something that is needed. Schools will tell you they are required to administer the tests, but they don't have the right force the child to take the test."

The test scores are used as part of the rating system and accountability for the schools and the South Carolina Department of Education.

Community members expressed concerns about the School District of Pickens County closing two mountain schools against the will of the people. In March, the board voted to close A.R. Lewis and Holly Springs elementary schools, saying it would save money for the district's general operating budget. But the move was made against the wishes of more than 150 people who showed up to the district office in protest.

Community members Donald Joslyn and Dan Trouten also spoke at the meeting Tuesday night about a lawsuit the group plans to file against the school district, because they believe the closing of the schools is harmful for students.

Joslyn spoke to the residents about transportation issues such as longer school bus rides for students because of the consolidation of the schools that will result from school closings.

"There are parents out there who know their child is on the bus longer than 90 minutes," Joslyn said. " That's unacceptable."

The South Carolina State Department of Education transportation office regulates that students can't be on a bus route for more than 90 minutes.

The residents who spoke asked the community and parents to stand up to the school district and fight the closing of the schools.

To help fund lawyer fees for the lawsuit, the group is raising money on gofundme.com. Raines said the group is about $2,000 short of its goal of $7,500.

The bill was introduced earlier in April and was sent to the Committee on Education because of the Pickens County vote to close the schools.

The bill allows the residents to have a legal input on the vote. While Martin said the bill will most likely not pass through the house and senate this session, he is hopeful for the bill to pass in the future.

"It's a decision the public should be able to weigh in on," Martin said in an interview Monday.

A.R. Lewis Elementary holds a special place in the heart of Robbie Eades of Pickens. He grew up in the area, and his grandchildren were supposed to start school there in the fall.

Im disappointed in the closing of the schools, Eades said. But I would like more people to know we can make a difference if we speak up for ourselves.

Henry Wilson, vice chairman of Pickens County school board, said he polled the entire country and out of the responses, 70 percent of the community wanted to keep the schools open.

There has been talk about other school consolidations in the county, and community members expressed concerns about the district closing other schools

"They're going to make their voice heard," Wilson said Tuesday afternoon. "I don't think the community is going to wait."

In other business at the community meeting, a parent gave an update on the founding of a new charter school in Pickens County. Deana McAnulty, a Pickens County parent, said interest among parents and students in such a school is being gauged, but the founders of the new charter school plan to open in the school in 2018.

Follow Frances Parrish on Twitter @frances_AIM
Courtesy of Anderson County Development Standards Office A preliminary plat for North Pointe subdivision

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By Nikie Mayo of the Independent Mail

A proposed 84-lot subdivision near North Pointe Elementary School in Anderson received preliminary approval from the county's planning commission Tuesday night.

T. Walter Brashier, the owner of the property, is a well-known minister and developer in Greenville County who has real estate projects throughout the nation.

Brashier has contributed millions toward scholarships in South Carolina. His gifts include a $2.5 million parcel to fund scholarships at The Citadel. He has also made donations to Charleston Southern University and given significant support to Greenville Technical College. A graduate school at North Greenville University is named for him.

According an application filed with the Anderson County development standards division, the subdivision planned for this part of the Upstate would encompass 62 acres along S.C. 81.

"This highway, S.C. 81, is a very popular road," Brashier said in an earlier interview with the Independent Mail.

Brashier did not attend the meeting Tuesday.

Brian Duncan and John Groome, who will be on-site managers once the subdivision is being built, said Tuesday that it's too early to talk about what they hope the project will become. The subdivision is tentatively named North Pointe.

Anderson County property records show that an entity connected to Brashier bought the land for the subdivision in December for $550,000.

Bryan Shumpert, a floodplain manager for Anderson County, said the planning staff recommends approval of the subdivision, provided that developers get proper permits, meet setback requirements and comply with related regulations.

The planning commission voted 4-0 to recommend approval of the project. Commission member Lonnie Murray abstained from voting, saying that he still has questions about the specifics of the plan. The commission's recommendation will go to the Anderson County Council, which has the final word on the project.

Earl O'Brien, president of Nu-South Surveying in Anderson, also is working on the project.

"There's a lot of interest in single-family homes in that area," he said. "We have definitely heard that from teachers and others out there."

Follow Nikie Mayo on Twitter @NikieMayo
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By Ray Chandler Special To Independent Mail

SALEM  City and area residents found new hope Tuesday of keeping a school in town if a partnership can be formed with Greenville-based NEXT High School.

"If you want your children to go to school in Salem, and if this partnership can be worked out, we can make it work," Salem Mayor Diane Head said.

Head's remarks drew applause from the approximately 250 people who gathered at the Salem Community Center to hear a presentation from officials of the NEXT High School about how a charter school could be formed in the buildings of the Tamassee-Salem middle and high schools.

Both schools have been scheduled to be closed at the end of the current school year.

Nathan Robinson, chief program officer at NEXT High School, outlined a charter school program that he said "would be built by the people who show up."

The NEXT program, Robinson said, was a flexible environment that emphasized the students' own initiative, with the learning environments less structured than a conventional school program.

"It's not just sitting in a classroom listening to someone speak," he said. "That's just a transfer of knowledge."

Travis Wharton, director of student needs at NEXT, said the program also develops in relation to the individual students' interests.

"Our goal is to make sure we identify student's individual values," Wharton said.

While the charter school would be state-funded with open enrollment, the NEXT officials said, transportation to and from school is not provided, and there would be no cafeteria.

Such issues, Mayor Head said, should not deter the community.

"If we want children going to school in Salem, we can figure out how to get them to school," she said. "We can pack lunches till we figure out about a cafeteria.

"This is a community I felt in my heart would pull together," Head said.

Others agreed. "This is something that needs to happen," said area resident Eddie Martin. "We're going to have to step up and come together."

The board of directors of the NEXT school will meet on Monday to decide whether to amend its state charter to include a charter school in Salem.

While the original program is geared for grades nine to 12, the officials said Tuesday that they would consider a program for grades six to 12 to take in the middle school students as well.

The target for opening would be fall 2016.

The Oconee County school board voted in October to close the Tamassee-Salem Middle and High Schools at the end of the current school year, citing declining enrollment and rising costs.

The move caused a furor from the community, with residents at packed school board meetings decrying the closure as "tearing the heart out of the community."

A lawsuit filed to keep the schools open had met with a court decision that affirms the school board's authority to close a school.

NEXT High School began in Greenville in 2014 as an entrepreneurial effort designed around innovative learning strategies and techniques.

The Salem charter school would be the school's first expansion venture.
Clemson sophomore Rohan Willis (center) listens to his peers speak on racial issues at Clemson during a protest march meant to bring attention to equality issues present at Clemson University on Wednesday, April 13, 2016 in Clemson.

By Mike Eads of the Independent Mail

CLEMSON  A student march at Clemson University led to a sit-in Wednesday, drawing attention to ongoing racial problems on campus.

Approximately 50 students and a handful of faculty supporters filled the lobby of Sikes Hall, home of the offices of President Jim Clements, Provost Bob Jones and other top Clemson administrators. The students brought food, blankets, laptops and everything else they needed to ride out the night.

The sit-in began after a lunchtime campus march to demand more action from the university to improve the campus climate for minority students. The march ended with a peaceful demonstration on the steps of Sikes Hall just before 1 p.m., after which some of the participants walked into the building's lobby and declared a sit-in.

By 4:15 p.m., Clements was meeting with protesters for the second time in four hours. He was flanked by Jones, Student Affairs vice president Almeda Jacks and interim Chief Diversity Officer Max Allen, all of whom talked with various protesters.

Senior D.J. Smith and other organizers said the purpose was to restate the goals presented to Clemson administrators in early 2015, when around 100 students marched across campus to demand better recruitment of minority students and faculty, a population mix on campus that mirrors South Carolina, removal of Benjamin Tillman's name from the Old Main Building overlooking Bowman Field, increased spending on diversity programming and more.

Smith said abusive behavior toward minorities on social media outlets such as Yik Yak and Facebook, as well as incidents like one Monday when bananas were hung next to an African-American history banner on campus, spurred the students into action.

"Some of these issues keep arising, and that's what led to the sit-in," said Smith, who is a psychology major and graduate of D.W. Daniel High School.

Several faculty members turned out over the course of the day to visit with the students, including new Faculty Senate President Mary Beth Kurz.

"We want to figure out how to support the students," she said.

The tone remained civil throughout the day. Interim Dean of Students Chris Miller met with the students while Clements, Jones and Allen sat in on the quarterly meeting of the university trustees, which happened at the Madren Conference Center. Clements, Jones and Allen joined Miller at Sikes Hall after that meeting ended.

Jones and Jacks worked out a deal with the protesters: any students who wanted to stay overnight in the lobby could, but the building would be locked up, and campus police would be stationed near the exits. No students were allowed to enter overnight.

The lockdown is normal procedure, Jacks said. Student records and other sensitive data are housed there, and the building is restricted to a handful of university employees outside business hours.

The organizers agreed to Jacks' terms, and the lockout began at 5:30 p.m. Neither side would speculate as to next steps, or how the sit-in would be resolved, but each commended the other for the constructive tone.

Smith said the sit-in was part of a National Day of Action taking place at schools across the United States. The effort, coordinated by the Black Liberation Collective, was meant to draw attention to student debt problems and racial issues.

Clements admitted to marchers earlier in the day that the campus culture isn't perfect, and he doesn't have all the answers to the banana incident Monday or other lingering race and diversity issues.

"You were hurt, and I was hurt," he said on Monday about the incident. "It's sad and sickening those things happen at Clemson or anywhere.  There are a lot of things we're doing and more things we need to do, but we're chipping away."

Clements launched several new diversity initiatives last fall  including reorganizing the Gantt Multicultural Center, conducting national searches for a new chief diversity officer and stepped-up recruitment of minority students and faculty.

The university president drew criticism Tuesday for missing a public meeting at the Hendrix Student Center to address the banana incident. He showed up for the march Wednesday with several of his senior administrators in tow and took questions for 15 minutes, breaking off from the quarterly trustee's meeting.

Several students asked him variations of the same question: Why do things like Monday's incident keep happening? Clements didn't offer any quick solutions, but did say that everyone  administrators, students, staff and faculty  must keep working the problems.

"I don't have all the answers, but I'm sitting with a bunch of smart people to help with those answers," Clements said.

Follow Michael Eads on Twitter @MikeEads_AIM
Give us an idea about mHealth in India? What are some of the significant benefits especially for rural areas?

What are the key growth drivers for mHealth market in India?

Tell us about the key challenges impacting the mHealth services in India.

What do you see as the next big trend in mHealth space? With the CSR rule, are there enough publicprivate partnerships taking place which can help penetrate the remote areas faster?

Given Indias mobile penetration, what impact do you see on the Indian healthcare industry?

You started operations in India in 2006. How has the journey been so far? How different is it from other countries. Explain to us the business model of your company. What is your reach in India and globally?

You have an app called 'UpToDate'? Share with us how can it bring a positive change in the medical sector in India? What are the new apps you are planning? How many downloads, so far?

What are your expansion plans in India?

What is your offering in the tax and accounting sector? How many customers do you have here? Recently, you had launched Chetan Dalals book Novel and Conventional Methods of Audit and Fraud Investigation. Is publishing also part of your growth agenda or is it more for visibility?

It is said that given a chance patients would speak about their problem for 55 seconds, but on an average physicians interrupt 18 seconds into the interview. Will this continue to prevail and how do you think your solutions will overcome this issue?

What is the demand supply gap among doctors, nurses and allied health staff?

In the medical field, making a decision is often more important than making an incision. Give us some anecdotes of how apps are able to calculate the risk involved ahead of a procedure?

Comment on your R&D initiatives. Any innovations from India?

cloud-based solution to simplify and automate the running of accounting practice. We launched this in India last year and we already have over 200 CA firms enjoying increased visibility across workflow, resources and performance - ultimately freeing their practice up to spend more time adding value to their clients. iFirm is also promoted globally in many countries.

What is the vision for your company?

We are a global company that provides information, software, and services. Our customers are legal, business, tax, accounting, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and healthcare professionals. Our brand has a strong purpose to serve customers making critical decisions every day. Wolters Kluwer helps them move forward with confidence.

, brings more than two decades of experience as a global leader  working in India, the U.S., Europe, China, and throughout Asia. Shireesh joined Wolters Kluwer after a career at General Electric Company where he held the position of Director of GEs Healthcare Government business.is a market-leading global information services company. Professionals in the areas of legal, business, tax, accounting, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and healthcare rely on Wolters Kluwers leading information-enabled tools and software solutions to manage their business efficiently, deliver results to their clients, and succeed in an ever more dynamic world. Wolters Kluwer had 2014 annual revenues of  3.7 billion, have over 19,000 employees worldwide, and maintains operations over 40 countries across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Its shares are quoted on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices.Replying toofShireesh Sahai says, With the hassle-free, low-cost and high-quality performance, mHealth could be the next big thing to happen to Indian healthcare industry. Lower expenditure, easy application and immediate response, will help save many lives.mHealth is designed to bridge the information divide, enhancing accessibility to critical expertise with the help of a mobile device. Now if you look at the current scenario, there has been a significant growth in the ownership of smart phones over other devices. The majority of the population is in rural areas, which unfortunately lacks healthcare facilities the most, but the good thing is that, there is high mobile connectivity and ownership. In such a space, facilities like mHealth could help in bridging the gap between patients and medical practitioners by providing them high-quality information via mobile applications. It gives them a more cost-effective access to information than traditional ways. Also, for doctors and nurses practicing in remote areas, there are less number of peers to consult with, in case of doubts. Use of mHealth applications will thus benefit the society in more than one way.The information technology is spreading rapidly. A large number of households are getting acquainted with digital media now. The power of internet on our palms, translates into power of information. With this as base, there is a great scope for growth of mHealth market in India.mHealth facilities are convenient to use, especially when we find it difficult to visit a doctor for treatment. In remote areas, people avoid going for treatment unless there's an emergency, or for follow-ups, which at times lead to acute illness. Using mHealth, people would have access to medical information even from a distance.Mobile health provides low-cost information/prescription. In a country, where people with chronic diseases do not go for treatment to save on readmission costs, mHealth could help in a large way. And also, the players in mHealth strive to provide high quality information.These factors serve as growth drivers for mHealth market in India.Yes, there are factors that serve as a challenge too. For example, a big population is uneducated and found technologically challenged. However, doctors are now getting conditioned to the demands of time. They understand the relevance of mHealth, especially in reaching the lowest rungs of the society, which lacks a healthcare infrastructure. Other challenges include the need for confidentiality of consumer data, the improper performance of poorly-executed application that might become irritating to use etc.India has been ranked second in adopting mobile healthcare, and so there is a wide possibility for this market to boom.It is estimated that mobile phone ownership will break records in the coming years. In such a space, a big growth in mHealth has been spotted to take place. More and more people will turn to services like mHealth to get medical information, the rate of which is already quite high right now.A lot of hospitals in India, irrespective of whether they're government-run or private, are using mobile technology to deliver better health outcomes. More partnerships with local healthcare facilitators and more awareness will help mHealth penetrate even in the remote areas.Whether there is a CSR rule or not, we believe that it is our responsibility to help the society in the time of need. When the earthquake hit Nepal, we rose to the occasion and provided doctors, hospitals, healthcare institutions, and medical relief workers in Nepal, complete free access to our Clinical Decision Support tool, UpToDate anywhere. We received huge response and the entire medical fraternity found it useful in meeting their local needs and delivering evidence based treatment to patients.India has been reported to be the 2largest user of mobile phone technology in the world. People are turning to mobile devices for almost everything. Such a situation serves as the ideal condition for the healthcare industry to venture into. With the hassle-free, low-cost and high-quality performance, mHealth could be the next big thing to happen to Indian healthcare industry. While some might consider mHealth to be a threat to the traditional healthcare industry, the truth is that it will only help treat a larger number of patients and delivering standardized treatment. Lower expenditure, easy application and immediate response, will help save many lives.We were founded in the Netherlands over 175 years ago. Our customers are professionals in the legal, tax, finance, and healthcare markets in over 170 countries. We are a global leader in our industry, usually ranking number 1 or 2 in the markets that we address. These strong market positions allow us to leverage our scale and consistently invest in our products.Wolters Kluwer India is 100% MNC subsidiary and its been 10 years we have direct presence in India and I am glad that we could provide expertise to experts. Most of the healthcare institutions are subscribing to our various resources ranging from reference books to journals to softwares and services. Over 200 accounting firms are subscribing to iFirm, which is a year-old practice management solution. Indian market is still print dominant but we are witnessing rapid double digit growth for our digital solutions.UpToDate is a Clinical Decision Support tool, also available as mobile app which provides evidence based clinical information to doctors which support them in treating patient. It is an evidence-based, physician-authored clinical decision support system to help clinicians make the right point-of-care decisions. This app can help doctors and clinicians find out answers to any question they might have.More than one million clinicians across 174 countries refer to it when it comes to evidence-based medical knowledge. With the increasing digital penetration in India, UpToDate has a credible customer base which includes around 10,000 specialists across India.Apart from UpToDate, we have multiple solutions available in app format like Ovid, Lexicomp, Provation, 5 Minute Consult, Nursing solutions and many more. These apps are being already used globally.Wolters Kluwer has a suite of leading and innovative digital solutions, which are used by healthcare professionals across the globe such as UpToDate, Ovid, Lexicomp, Provation, 5 minute consult, Nursing solutions, Healthcare Communication and many more. We are aggressively penetrating the Indian market with these easy-to-use solutions.Ovid is a research platform which enables healthcare institutions to access world renowned journals, eBooks, databases and many other resources electronically. It provides customized clinical, research, and educational solutions. Lexicomp is a drug information resource which provides clear, concise, point-of-care drug information, including dosing, administration, interactions, warnings and precautions, as well as clinical content, such as clinical practice guidelines. Provation offers documentation software to automate workflow for clinicians and nurses in a hospital setup.5 Minute Consult guides primary care physicians and is based on the best-selling clinical content in the family medicine market for over 20 years. It is the fastest resource to obtain the most likely diagnosis, treatment, and management for thousands of diseases. Our Nursing solutions- Procedures and Nursing Advisor, addresses skill gaps and continued education for nurses practicing in a hospital setup. Healthcare Communication course is designed to develop a culture of smooth and effective communication in the healthcare setup. It is the first of its kind in India and has been developed in collaboration with the Consortia of Accredited Hospitals (CAHO) and Baptist Hospital, Bangalore. The course aims to improve communication in healthcare organizations and thereby directly impact patient safety and the quality of care delivered.These are some tools using which we plan to provide world-class medical solutions to every medical practitioner in the remotest of areas. We are also planning to take the concept of CA 2.0, which is an aspirational position for a CA firm. The CA 2.0 firm will include characteristics like leveraging technology to streamline internal processes, thereby, improving efficiency and productivity.Wolters Kluwer is well known among tax, finance and healthcare professionals around the world for its pioneering software and information service products. We recently launched this book, which not only offers an insightful and descriptive account of the types of frauds and accounting irregularities that prevail in corporate India, but also provides a combination of novel and conventional audit approaches to unearth such instances. The objective is to provide a comprehensive guide to auditors and others entrusted with the task of investigating, uncovering and dealing with the aftermath of white collar crime. Publishing is not in our agenda for growth, nor do we seek visibility out of it. It is merely a part of our job to provide insights into how to use some of the most advanced approaches and techniques in a simple manner.The patient is often not given enough chance to express his problem, which leads to a communication gap between the patient and the doctor. Misjudgment results into treatment full of errors, causing even more damage than cure, sometimes even death.Last year, we had launched a unique course on Healthcare communication called Lippincott Gurukul, an eLearning platform to cater to the educational and training needs of healthcare professionals. This online course is designed to develop a culture of smooth and effective communication in healthcare set-up. It is the first of its kind in India and has been developed in collaboration with the Consortia of Accredited Hospitals (CAHO) and Baptist Hospital, Bangalore. The course aims to improve communication in healthcare organizations and thereby directly impact patient safety and the quality of care delivered.Wolters Kluwer provides doctors, nurses and healthcare practitioners with a platform to interact better. UpToDate gives everyone a chance to get their questions and doubts cleared, with validation from reliable sources.We have a huge demand supply gap of almost all the resources in healthcare, be it hospital beds, doctors or nurses. All this can only be improved by opening up new institutions and expanding current infrastructure and retaining these qualified resources within country. At the same time we need to enhance clinical skill at all levels and continuing education should be a must for all healthcare professionals throughout their practice. This will help in delivering standardized health outcomes.Yes it is true that in medical field, making a right decision is more important than making an incision. There are often cases when an error in judgement leads to wrong treatment. Clinical decision support tools can help clinicians with the right answers when they are needed and in the quickest time. For example, Wolters Kluwer offers innovative mobile solutions like UpToDate and Lexicomp which can immediately impact the quality of care and outcomes with evidence based insights at the point of care. These applications and services can include, among other things, clinical decision support, remote patient monitoring, video conferencing, online consultations, personal healthcare devices, wireless access to patient records, and prescriptions.We have multiple R&D units in India. One of our leading solutions, iFirm is being developed and supported by our Chandigarh centre. iFirm is a
The First Meeting of the Seventh session of the Board of Directors of the Company (the Meeting) was convened on 5 April 2016.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160405005905/en/

Mr. Zhao Xianming, Chairman and President of ZTE Corporation (Photo: Business Wire)

The Resolution on the Election of the Chairman and Vice Chairmen of the Seventh Session of the Board of Directors of the Company was approved. Mr. Zhao Xianming was elected as the Chairman; Mr. Zhang Jianheng and Mr. Luan Jubao were elected as the Vice Chairmen of the Seventh Session of the Board of Directors of the Company. Moreover, Mr. Zhu Wuxiang, Mr. Luan Jubao, Mr. Shi Lirong, Mr. Wang Yawen, Mr. Richard Xike Zhang, Mr. Lu Hongbing and Mr. Bingsheng Teng were elected members of the Nomination Committee of the Seventh Session of the Board of Directors of the Company.

The Resolution on the Appointment of New Senior Management of the Company was also approved at the meeting. Mr. Zhao Xianming was appointed the President of ZTE Corporation. Mr. Wei Zaisheng, Mr. Fan Qingfeng, Mr. Zeng Xuezhong Mr. Xu Huijun, Mr. Pang Shengqing, Mr. Zhang Zhenhui and Mr. Chen Jianzhou were appointed Executive Vice Presidents of ZTE Corporation. Mr. Wei Zaisheng was appointed Chief Financial Officer of ZTE Corporation. Ms. Cao Wei was appointed Secretary to the Board of Directors of ZTE Corporation pursuant to the nomination by Mr. Zhao Xianming, Chairman.

The new management team appointments are effective today. The experienced, energetic and professional team is committed to driving technological innovations and expanding ZTEs global business developments. The new leadership will strive to comply with the highest business standards and be ready for challenges and opportunities in the M-ICT era, achieving long-term goals and bringing greater value to society, the shareholders and employees.

Attachment: Biographies of the new leadership members

Chairman and President

Mr. Zhao Xianming, born 1966, graduated from the Harbin Institute of Technology in 1997 specialising in telecommunications and electronic systems with a doctorate degree in engineering. He joined the Company in 1998 to be engaged in the research, development and management of CDMA products. He had been head of the research and development group, project manager and general product manager from 1998 to 2003. In 2004, he was appointed Senior Vice President of the Company in charge of the CDMA Division and the Wireless Product Operations. From January 2014 to March 2016, he was Executive Vice President of the Company. From January 2014 to December 2015, he was Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Company in charge of the Strategic and Platform Operations and System Product Operations of the Company. Since November 2015, he has been Executive Director of the Company. Mr. Zhao has many years of experience in the telecommunications industry and over 25 years of management experience. He is interested in 471,515 A shares of the Company and currently holds 420,000 A share options as a participant of the A share option incentive scheme of the Company implemented in 2013. Mr. Zhao is not connected in any way to the controlling shareholder of the Company or any Directors, Supervisors or senior management of the Company. He has not been subject to any punishments by CSRC or other competent authorities or censures by any stock exchanges. His qualifications for appointment are in compliance with the conditions for appointment stipulated under the Company Law, Rules Governing the Listing of Stocks on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Articles of Association and other pertinent laws, regulations and provisions.

Executive Vice President

Mr. Wei Zaisheng, born 1962, is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in charge of corporate finance and investment of the Group. Mr. Wei obtained a masters degree in business administration from Peking University in 2004. He joined Shenzhen Zhongxing Semiconductor Co., Ltd. in 1988 and served as chief financial officer, assistant to the general manager and general manager of area marketing of Shenzhen Zhongxingxin Telecommunications Equipment Company Limited, controlling shareholder of the Company, from 1993 to 1997. He was Senior Vice President and chief financial officer of the Company from 1997 to 1999 and has been Executive Vice President of the Company in charge of the Financial System of the Company since 1999. He has been Executive Director of the Company since 30 March 2016. He was appointed member of Accounting Informatisation Committee and member of XBRL Regional Steering Committee (China) by the Ministry of Finance in November 2008, and was appointed member of the Accounting Standards Strategic Committee by the Ministry of Finance in December 2014. He was appointed a guidance expertise for the special support plan under the national training programme for leaders in the accounting profession in June 2015. He is concurrently director of Shenzhen Zhongxingxin Telecommunications Equipment Company Limited, controlling shareholder of the Company, and chairman of ZTE Group Finance Co. Ltd. Mr. Wei has many years of experience in the telecommunications industry and over 27 years of management experience. Mr. Wei is interested in 439,677 A shares and 30,000 H shares of the Company. He is a director of Shenzhen Zhongxingxin Telecommunications Equipment Company Limited and Shenzhen Zhongxing WXT Equipment Company Limited, a shareholder of Shenzhen Zhongxingxin Telecommunications Equipment Company Limited, respectively. He is not connected in any way to any Directors, Supervisors or senior management of the Company. Mr. Wei has not been subject to any punishments by CSRC or other competent authorities or censures by any stock exchanges. His qualifications for appointment are in compliance with the conditions for appointment stipulated under the Company Law, Rules Governing the Listing of Stocks on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Articles of Association and other pertinent laws, regulations and provisions.

Mr. Fan Qingfeng, born 1968, has been Executive Vice President of the Company since March 2008. He is currently in charge of the public relations and legal matters of the Company. Mr. Fan graduated from Liaoning Engineering Technology University in 1992 with a bachelors degree specialising in industrial electrical automation, and from Tsinghua University in 2006 with a masters degree in business administration. Mr. Fan joined Shenzhen Zhongxingxin Telecommunications Equipment Company Limited in 1996. From 1997 to 2008, Mr. Fan acted as project manager of regional office, senior account manager, manager of regional office, regional general manager, division deputy general manager and Senior Vice President of the Company. Mr. Fan has many years of experience in the telecommunications industry and over 18 years of management experience. He is interested in 505,687 A shares of the Company and currently holds 420,000 A share options as a participant of the A share option incentive scheme of the Company implemented in 2013. Mr. Fan is not connected in any way to the controlling shareholder of the Company or any Directors, Supervisors or senior management of the Company. He has not been subject to any punishments by CSRC or other competent authorities or censures by any stock exchanges. His qualifications for appointment are in compliance with the conditions for appointment stipulated under the Company Law, Rules Governing the Listing of Stocks on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Articles of Association and other pertinent laws, regulations and provisions.

Mr. Zeng Xuezhong, born 1973, is currently in charge of the Terminals Division of the Company. Mr. Zeng graduated from Tsinghua University with a bachelors degree in science, specialising in modern applied physics, in 1996 and with an EMBA degree in 2007. Mr. Zeng joined Shenzhen Zhongxingxin Telecommunications Equipment Company Limited in 1996. From 1997 to 2006, Mr. Zeng had been senior project manager, assistant to regional general manager, manager of Guiyang Office, manager of Kunming Office, deputy general manager and general manager of Marketing Division II and Vice President of the Company. Since 2006, he had been Senior Vice President of the Company in charge of Marketing Division III. Since January 2014, he has been Executive Vice President of the Company in charge of the Terminals Division of the Company. Mr. Zeng has many years of experience in the telecommunications industry and over 17 years of management experience. He is interested in 552,840 A shares of the Company and currently holds 378,000 A share options as a participant of the A share option incentive scheme of the Company implemented in 2013. Mr. Zeng is not connected in any way to the controlling shareholder of the Company or any Directors, Supervisors or senior management of the Company. He has not been subject to any punishments by CSRC or other competent authorities or censures by any stock exchanges. His qualifications for appointment are in compliance with the conditions for appointment stipulated under the Company Law, Rules Governing the Listing of Stocks on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Articles of Association and other pertinent laws, regulations and provisions.

Mr. Xu Huijun, born 1973, is currently in charge of the R&D platform, technology planning and System Product Operations of the Company. Mr. Xu graduated from Tsinghua University in 1998 with a masters degree in engineering, specialising in electronic engineering. He joined the Company in 1998 and had served as a project manager of the General Product Division and the head of Beijing Research Institute from 1998 to 2003. He has been in charge of the General Product Division, Engineering Services under the Sales System and Wireless Product Division of the Company after appointment as Senior Vice President of the Company in 2004. Mr. Xu has many years of experience in the telecommunications industry and over 17 years of management experience. He is interested in 630,851 A shares of the Company and currently holds 294,000 A share options as a participant of the A share option incentive scheme of the Company implemented in 2013. Mr. Xu is not connected in any way to the controlling shareholder of the Company or any Directors, Supervisors or senior management of the Company. He has not been subject to any punishments by CSRC or other competent authorities or censures by any stock exchanges. His qualifications for appointment are in compliance with the conditions for appointment stipulated under the Company Law, Rules Governing the Listing of Stocks on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Articles of Association and other pertinent laws, regulations and provisions.

Mr. Pang Shengqing, born 1968, is currently in charge of the Government and Corporate Sectors Division of the Company. Mr. Pang is an engineer. He graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology with a doctorate degree in engineering in 1995, specialising in mechanical manufacturing. He was awarded the Guangdong Science and Technology Award in May 2002. Mr. Pang joined Shenzhen Zhongxingxin Telecommunications Equipment Company Limited, controlling shareholder of the Company, in 1995. From 1996 to 1997, he was deputy head of the Shenzhen R&D Centre of Shenzhen Zhongxingxin Telecommunications Equipment Company Limited. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Pang was involved in research and development of the Companys CDMA core technology and hardware systems. Mr. Pang was deputy general manager of the CDMA Division from 2001 to 2004 and general manager of Marketing Division I of the Sales System of the Company from 2005 to 2011, and general manager of the System Product Solutions Division of the Company from 2012 to 2013, and general manager of the Government and Corporate Sectors Division from 2014 to 2015, and was Senior Vice President of the Company from 2005 to March 2016. Mr. Pang has many years of experience in the telecommunications industry and over 20 years of management experience. He is interested in 571,682 A shares of the Company and currently holds 378,000 A share options as a participant of the A share option incentive scheme of the Company implemented in 2013. Mr. Pang is not connected in any way to the controlling shareholder of the Company or any Directors, Supervisors or senior management of the Company. He has not been subject to any punishments by CSRC or other competent authorities or censures by any stock exchanges. His qualifications for appointment are in compliance with the conditions for appointment stipulated under the Company Law, Rules Governing the Listing of Stocks on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Articles of Association and other pertinent laws, regulations and provisions.

Mr. Zhang Zhenhui, born 1973, is currently in charge of Marketing Division III of the Company. Mr. Zhang graduated from Harbin University of Science and Technology in 1993 with a bachelors degree in engineering, majoring in equipment engineering and management. In 1998, he received a masters degree in management science from Jiangsu University. In 2004, he received a doctorate degree in management science and engineering from Southeast University. Mr. Zhang had served as manager of Shijiazhuang Office and manager of Taiyuan Office of the Company from 2002 to 2006 after joining the Company in 2001. He was deputy general manager of Marketing Division III of the Company from 2006 to 2014, has been general manager of Marketing Division III of the Company since 2014, and was Senior Vice President of the Company from January 2014 to March 2016. Mr. Zhang has many years of experience in the telecommunications industry and over 12 years of management experience. He is interested in 148,200 A shares of the Company and currently holds 163,800 A share options as a participant of the A share option incentive scheme of the Company implemented in 2013. Mr. Zhang is not connected in any way to the controlling shareholder of the Company or any Directors, Supervisors or senior management of the Company. He has not been subject to any punishments by CSRC or other competent authorities or censures by any stock exchanges. His qualifications for appointment are in compliance with the conditions for appointment stipulated under the Company Law, Rules Governing the Listing of Stocks on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Articles of Association and other pertinent laws, regulations and provisions.

Mr. Chen Jianzhou, born 1970, is currently in charge of human resources, processes and quality control of the Company. Mr. Chen graduated from Tsinghua University in 1995 with a masters degree in engineering, majoring in signals and information systems and now is studying EMBA in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Mr. Chen joined the Company in 1995 to be engaged in research and development as well as technical support. He was head of the Human Resources Centre of the Company from 1996 to 2003 and head of ZTE Academic Institute from 2003 to 2010. From October 1997 to February 2004, he acted as Supervisor of the Company. In 2011, he served as assistant to the President responsible for the Companys Architecture and Processes. From 2012 to 2013, Mr. Chen was in charge of Processes and Human Resources of the Company. From March 2012 to March 2016, Mr. Chen was Senior Vice President of the Company. Mr. Chen has many years of experience in the telecommunications industry and over 19 years of management experience. He is interested in 249,769 A shares of the Company and currently holds 378,000 A share options as a participant of the A share option incentive scheme of the Company implemented in 2013. Mr. Chen is not connected in any way to the controlling shareholder of the Company or any Directors, Supervisors or senior management of the Company. He has not been subject to any punishments by CSRC or other competent authorities or censures by any stock exchanges. His qualifications for appointment are in compliance with the conditions for appointment stipulated under the Company Law, Rules Governing the Listing of Stocks on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Articles of Association and other pertinent laws, regulations and provisions.

Secretary to the Board of Directors

Ms. Cao Wei, born 1976, graduated from Xiamen University in 1998 with a bachelors degree in finance and from City University of Hong Kong in 2007 with a Master of Arts in International Accounting. Ms. Cao has been involved in financial operations and information disclosure since joining the Company in July 1998. Since 2011, she has been the securities affairs representative of the Company. Ms. Cao does not hold any shares in the Company, but is a participant of the A share option incentive scheme of the Company implemented in 2013 currently holding 58,800 A share options. Ms Cao is not connected with the controlling shareholder of the Company or any Directors, Supervisors or senior management of the Company, nor has she been subject to any punishments by CSRC or other competent authorities or censures by any stock exchanges. Her qualifications for appointment are in compliance with the conditions for appointment stipulated under the Company Law, Rules Governing the Listing of Stocks on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Articles of Association and other pertinent laws, regulations and provisions.

About ZTE

ZTE is a provider of advanced telecommunications systems, mobile devices, and enterprise technology solutions to consumers, carriers, companies and public sector customers. As part of ZTEs M-ICT strategy, the company is committed to provide customers with integrated end-to-end innovations to deliver excellence and value as the telecommunications and information technology sectors converge. Listed in the stock exchanges of Hong Kong and Shenzhen (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), ZTEs products and services are sold to over 500 operators in more than 160 countries. ZTE commits 10 per cent of its annual revenue to research and development and has leadership roles in international standard-setting organizations. ZTE is committed to corporate social responsibility and is a member of the UN Global Compact. For more information, please visit www.zte.com.cn.

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and thebegan its four-dayworkshop with Chennai International Airport to help enhance its function as an aid and relief hub during natural disasters.After a natural disaster, the nearest airport can quickly become overwhelmed due to the large volume of incoming relief supplies. This can often delay  or even stop  the onward transport of lifesaving supplies. With Chennai and its surrounding region prone to heavy flooding, theworkshop will help airports like Chennai develop a clear and adaptable action blueprint to support immediate relief efforts in the wake of a natural disaster.The frequency and severity of natural disasters will continue to rise in the years to come,Practical experience gained through other disasters, can help us ensure that the most critical functions during any relief effort particularly airports, which act as the gateway for emergency aid are able to operate with life-saving speed and precision, even under extremely testing circumstances, she added.The GARD workshops have seen DHL and the UNDP collaborate with authorities all over the world to analyze and define the capacities needed at airports in case of natural disasters. That gives us a uniquely informed perspective when it comes to understanding how airports like Chennai can best adapt their infrastructure, personnel resources, and processes to seamlessly enter relief mode if and when the need arises, with an especial focus on disasters like floods which are most common in their particular geography.In India,is represented by its four business units, DHL Express, DHL Global Forwarding, DHL Supply Chain and Blue Dart. As part of the Groups GoHelp program, volunteers from these DHL business units are engaged in the GARD workshop.The workshop will see participants share their experiences, brainstorm scenarios, and develop action plans for responding to emergencies caused by natural disasters. This includes planning how to prevent, quickly restore, or otherwise work around damaged infrastructure during a disaster, such as when much of the airports main landing areas were rendered inoperative.Participants in the workshop include a mix of staff from Chennai Airport terminal management including cargo handling, operations, communications navigation services, electric, civil and electric engineering, fire and security services, immigration, customs and district officials.is the fourth-busiest airport in India, playing host to more than 11 million passengers between April and December 2015. With the continued threat of natural disasters occurring in the region, we recognize the vital role that our airports play in the relief efforts. This GARD workshop in Chennai follows our previous session in Guwahati in December 2015 as we remain committed to ensure that our airports remain operational during and in the aftermath of disasters,
Oil prices have witnessed handsome recovery, with WTI rebounding from the lows of US$26.5/bbl during February and now trading above US$40/bbl. The resurgence is attributed to production freeze by OPEC at January levels, wherein major producers concurred on the decision, while Iran was provided a special exemption to expand the output, considering that the Islamic Republic has just got the monkey of its back (free from economic sanctions). Markets are deriving courage from the fact that major oil producers are willing to stem the fall in oil prices. There is a perception that OPEC will move away from the laissez fare policy and will be no more a passive onlooker, if selling resurfaces in oil markets.A freeze on the OPEC output does not translate in to anything, as it fails to mitigate the prevalent global surplus. The reality remains that oil markets were oversupplied and will remain in a surplus for quite some time to come. For instance, global oil markets were in a surplus of 2.2mbpd during 2015 and 3.1mbpd during the first 2 months of 2016. In the first three months of 2016, OPEC has produced around 33mbpd, which is substantially higher than the cartels production quota of 31.5mbpd.Source: Bloomberg, India Infoline ResearchThe focus is now shifting towards April 17th talks in Doha, wherein 17 oil producers are expected to participate. Market participants are looking forward to the possibility of another announcement of production freeze. However, Saudi Arabia officials have stated that they will freeze production only if Iran and other major producers do so. In such case, April 17th meeting of various oil producers can prove futile as Iran has clearly expressed that they will not freeze output levels unless they attain production of 4mbpd, a substantial upside from the March level of 3.2mbpd. If the meeting yields no concrete agreement on freezing output, we can witness another rout in oil prices. Nevertheless, Kuwait has tried to soothe concerns by ascertaining that the freeze proposal will materialize during April 17th meeting even without the participation of Iran. This is in contrast with Saudis stance.Source: Bloomberg, India Infoline ResearchOn the non-OPEC front, although Russia is considering a number of options to co-operate with OPEC as far as price stability is concerned, its crude production is reported to have hit record highs during March. Russian output levels have constantly remained above 11mbpd during past nine months. Steep depreciation in the Ruble seem to have helped the oil producers, as weaker domestic unit ensures higher realization for the exports in spite of falling prices in international markets. As a matter of fact, Russia has no other option but to produce more oil in order to generate revenues in order to finance countrys fiscal budget which is predominantly dependent on the oil industry.Source: Bloomberg, India Infoline ResearchUS production during March has moderated to an average of 9.05mbpd, when compared with the peak of 9.7mbpd during last year. Rig counts (as measured by Baker Hughes) have fallen off a cliff, from 1550 in 2014 to the current level of 350. Looking forward, projections call for further decline in US output levels due to sharp cutbacks in investment spending. However, high inventory levels in US remain at gigantic levels (more than 80 year high), which in a way is compensating for the decline in output.Source: Bloomberg, India Infoline ResearchWe infer that Saudis will soften their stance as they cannot afford to witness another rout in oil markets, given the deterioration in their fiscal health and slowing global demand scenario. Consequently, Riyadh will move away from the obsession of gaining market share and concur on the production freeze even without the participation of Iran. However, we do not rule out the probability of weakness re-emerging in event of a failed outcome of April 17meeting. Having said that, oil prices can lose ground but we do not buy the opinion that it will re-visit 2016 lows. For a sustainable and a substantial recovery in oil prices, markets need concrete supply side response, including curtailment in output. In this respect, we sense that OPEC will eventually taper its production during the second half of this year, as the cartel will have to concede to the fragile global economic backdrop. On price front, we expect WTI crude to trade within US$3245/bbl range over the course of April and May and then gradually shift its range towards US$50-60/bbl post June.
Under the advice of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the government would appeal against World Trade Organization (WTO) panel's ruling.As per the ruling, power purchase agreements of India with solar firms are not compatible with international norms, says a PTI report.The government will appeal against the WTO's dispute settlement panel in WTO's appellate body.The commerce ministry suggested to file a single comprehensive case instead of filing 16 cases against the US for guarding solar panel producers in violation of WTO norms, as per the report.This followed Power Minister Piyush Goyals statement, as per which, 16 cases would soon be filed against the US for breaching the norms. The 16 programmes in different states of the US, which offer protection to solar panel producers, are clearly in violation of WTO guidelines, he recently mentioned, as per the report.
Axis Bank, Indias third largest Private Sector bank reduced its MCLR by 15 bps across all tenors. This follows the reduction in Policy rates by RBI on April, 5, 2016. The reduced MCLRs will take effect starting April 18th.Reliance Industries Ltd floated an Expression of Interest (EoI) to develop its oil and gas blocks, including some of the discoveries in the KG-D6 block off the coast of Andhra Pradesh, reports a business daily.The company has pulled out of the Rs. 34,000-crore project to set up an electronic chip making unit, reports a business dailly.: Tata Sponge Iron Limited has announced that the Company has been sourcing its coal requirement through imports. Coal so imported was classified as steam coal by the Company and duties paid accordingly. According to Customs Department, this coal merited classification as bituminous coal. In the financial year 2013, the tariff of bituminous coal was higher than steam coal. Hence the Company paid the differential duty with interest "under protest".Supreme Infrastructure India Ltd has put its portfolio of operational road assets on the block to help it fund delayed or under-construction projects amid cost over-runs and high interest costs, reports a business daily.Reserve Bank of India has notified that the foreign shareholding by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)/Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs) in Inox Leisure Limited has reached the trigger limit.L&T has announced that Larsen & Toubro Infotech Limited, a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited, has filed its draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on April 12, 2016 in order to undertake an initial public offering of its equity shares of face value of Rs. 1 each (the Equity Shares).Moodys Investors Service reportedly said that Tata Steel UK Ltds signing of an agreement to sell its European long products business to UK-based investment firm Greybull Capital is credit positive for its parent.The board of directors of the company has approved and recommended the following:Sub division of the equity shares of the Company from the existing face value of Rs. 10/- per equity share to face value of Rs. 2/- per equity share.Reserve Bank of India has notified that the foreign shareholding through Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)/Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs) in JKumar Infra Projects Ltd. has crossed the permissible limit.The IT Company will consider share buyback at its upcoming meeting of Board of Directors, to be held on April 20.The company announced that it has opened a new plant at Molangur Village, in Telangana State. The total investment made in the plant is over Rs.21 crores.Indias largest telecom operator, Bharti Airtel emerged as the top gainer, adding 25.5 lakh GSM subscribers in the month of March.The company received GMP compliance certificate for two API sites from PMDA-Japan.The company has commenced commercial production in the merged Ari Dongri iron ore mining area of 138.96 ha (Original area 106.60 ha and additional area 32.36 ha) of land situated at Village Kachche, Dist: Uttar Baster, Kanker, Chhattisgarh.The company reported standalone net profit of Rs. 54.02 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, registering decline of 0.74% yoy, but growth of 8.93% qoq.The companyin a joint venture (JV) with its Spanish partner has been declared as a successful bidder (L1) by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) for a project under the Hybrid Annuity namely Four laning of Kante  Waked section of NH-66 (erstwhile NH-17) in the State of Maharashtra with Bid Project Cost Rs.826.28 Crores.The company open offer price to the public shareholders has been set at Rs.457.54 per share.The company has won a Logistics ERP software order from SK Logistics, part of Australian logistics and transport provider, GTI Logistics Limited.
A newof micro merchants in India indicates that young merchants in the age group of 35-45 are most likely to adopt electronic payment systems, thus furthering the countrys vision for a less cash economy.According to theyoung merchants owning large and medium sized businesses, primarily in auto accessories, building fittings, medical, private cabs, and food & beverage sectors form the high potential segment.The report identifies the number of merchants most inclined to trials of e-payments at 10 percent, that is, almost 5 million of the total 59.16 million known universe of micro merchants. Merchants cited potential increase in revenue (46 percent) as a strong driver for trials, followed by increased business efficiency (31 percent) and enhanced shop image (30 percent).Unveiling the report findingsAt MasterCard, our vision is a world beyond cash as a less-cash financial system will benefit both merchants and customers by mitigating the costs and risks associated with cash while doing business, as well as enable merchants to target new customers and markets. As India moves towards digitization, we firmly believe that the countrys young population will be the drivers of technology adoption and transformation of the payments landscape, and the MasterCard study mirrors that belief.Theinterviewed micro merchants across India with a view to understand the market potential, key barriers to adoption of non-cash modes of payment and opportunities for enabling a less-cash society.The study estimates the potential market size to be more than INR 23,000 crore weekly. Merchants acknowledged safety concerns and operational concerns related to a cash-driven business, with one-third (33 percent) admitting the need for presence of self or family member at the store to avoid pilferage. More than a quarter (29 percent) also agreed that they face operational efficiency issues related to cash such astime and effort to tally expenses and profits daily, and effort required to keep record of transactions. Close to a quarter of merchants (24 percent) admit to having lost customers due to inability to accept card payments.The report finds that merchants who are familiar with and personally own e-payment formats showed a higher willingness to consider adopting them for business (70 percent), compared to merchants who are unaware of e-payment methods (8 percent) or are aware but have never used it (14 percent). This reflects a direct co-relation between knowledge and familiarity of e-payments with willingness to adopt them, thus indicating a need to educate merchants about the benefits of adopting non-cash methods of payment."India is on the cusp of a payments revolution as this has been pursued as a key policy objective by the Modi Government. A less cash economy will benefit our constituency of around 6 crore small merchants and traders in reaching out to newer markets and as outlined in the study. Digital technologies will provide opportunities for the young generation of merchants to further grow their businesses. Through our partnership with MasterCard we have successfully been able to reach out to more than 50,000 traders and smaller businesses across eight States and intend to cover many more this year, through our joint Master Your Card trainings.He further added, Along with addressing traders directly, we are also training champions promoting this cause of less cash in each of the States and are proud of the fact that these champions continue to promote this message further actively in their constituency. This is one of the key resolutions we passed at the National Traders Conclave which was held in New Delhi from April 4th -6th with more than 5000 traders in attendance.The study identifies young merchants (age 35-45 years), owning medium sized businesses (6 to 10 employees) and large sized businesses (11 to 20 employees), based across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bareilly as high potential segments for adopting new technology and moving to a non-cash payment system.To promote financial awareness and literacy amongst traders, MasterCard, CAIT and HDFC joined hands last year to launch a training program Master Your Card organising educational training sessions for Indian traders across the country. Since its inception in 2015, more than 50,000 traders have participated in trainings conducted in cities including New Delhi, Pune, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and many others. Additionally, e-Lala has been launched to support brick & mortar shops to embrace e-commerce as an additional platform to generate more business.Theis a study of 1653 merchants across nine cities  Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Bareilly, Ranchi, Nasik and Vijaywada, through face to face interactions.The study examines micro merchants in India across verticals like kirana stores, medical stores, F&B stores, mobile phone & accessories, watches and accessories, garments, consumer Electronics, Building fittings, Automobile accessories and spare parts, Private Cab Services and Beauty Parlours/ Men's Salons/ Barber shops.
Ray Winans, once affectionately known as Killer Ray, is helping reduce gun violence in Detroit  one gang member at a time.

The 37-year-old former gang member is an unconventional activist who mediates among gangs, police and federal prosecutors while encouraging young black men to end their lives of crime and hand their guns over to officials.

Winans explained he has attended too many funerals for young black men killed in violent confrontations. He has persuaded 10 young men to stop associating with Detroits gangs since 2014, according to Winans and police.

I never thought I would ever work with the police and it changed my whole view of law enforcement, he told Urban News Service. Now Im working with friends in gangs and their children in gangs.

A former member of the Head Banger Bloods, Winans and his wife, Shaelon, co-founded Keeping Them Alive in 2012. This non-profit agency is dedicated to ending gun violence in Detroit.

Winans runs his initiative on a modest budget through donations, his own money and a $10,000 grant he received in 2013 from the Knight Foundations Black Male Engagement project.

Winans faces tough odds in his quest: Homicide is the leading cause of death among American black men between the ages of 15 and 34, the Centers for Disease Control reports. And only 50 percent of black youth feel confident they will live to age 35, according to the American Sociological Association and the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

The challenge, Winans said, can be summed up in one word: Trust. Gang members can relate to him because of his own violent past.

When he was 15, Winans was convicted of manslaughter following a fit of anger in Detroit, according to both him and police. Winans said he was charged as a juvenile and served three years in jail for beating Chester Bownes to death with a hammer. Winans said he was freed at age 18 from High Plains Youth Center in Brush, Colorado.

After his release, Winans was in and out of jail until 2009. But six years ago, his life changed.

I told God, I am willing to get a job and not hurt anybody anymore, he said. In 2010, I gave my life to Christ and started working in a local grocery store. The news spread like wildfire and gang members were coming to the store to see for themselves.

Today, the father of five tries to quiet Detroits guns. There were 295 homicides in 2015 and 1,035 non-fatal shootings in Michigans largest city, according to police data. Detroit is Americas most dangerous city, according to FBI crime statistics for 2015.

Winans partnership with Detroit police is a highly unusual relationship, but very effective, said Sgt. Edward Brannock, head of the departments gang intelligence unit.

Winans joined Brannock recently to teach community mediation and gang intervention to 25 Detroit police officers, community outreach workers and the departments chaplain.

Ive called on Ray in high-stress situations, Brannock said. Weve been on shootings together. Hes pulled gang members out of school and helped us locate an AR-15 assault rifle and a 9mm Glock that a suspect was hiding in a dope house. And hes helped me close cases.

Who would ever think that a guy who was in prison for manslaughter would be working this closely with law enforcement?

Saul Green, a former Detroit deputy mayor and former U.S. attorney for Michigans Eastern District under President Bill Clinton, said Winans work with police and gang members is remarkable.

Ive been around public safety in Detroit for a long time and I have not met another person who is bringing this kind of positive change to this community, Green said. Ray works with young men morning, noon, nights and weekends. We need 1,000 more Rays in Detroit.

Gang members, meanwhile, say Winans offers them a second chance to succeed in life.

Anthony Crews, 18, quit the East Warren gang after meeting with Winans in 2013. Since then, he has enrolled in a jobs program for people on probation.

I trust him, said Crews. He has never lied to me and hes always there for me. I dont know where Id be without him.
Megan Sullivan is a director, producer and photographer. Whilst climbing in Yosemite Valley, she experienced a terrifying 50-foot fall. Within a few days, while riding her Vespa, she was hit by a car. Further, during a routine check-up she was diagnosed with skin cancer. In a matter of a week, she had 3 disastrous things affect her mental well-being. This made her question her purpose in life and made her realise her 3-year dream of travelling the world.

In 13 days, she saw the 7 wonders of the world starting off in South America.

1. Chichen Itza, Mexico

Chichen Itza is a world-famous complex of Mayan ruins on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. A massive step pyramid known as El Castillo dominates the 6.5-sq.-km. ancient city, which thrived from around 600 A.D. to the 1200s.

Megan Sullivan

2. Machu Pichu

Machu Picchu is an Incan citadel high up in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Built in the 15th century and later abandoned, its renowned for its dry-stone walls that join huge blocks without the use of mortar. Its exact former use remains a mystery.

Megan Sullivan



3. Cristo Redentor, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

This statue is an iconic symbol of Brazil and the city of Rio, and overlooks the city like Colossus of Rhodes. The statue was constructed in 1931.

Megan Sullivan

4. The Colosseum, Rome, Italy

Built as an amphitheatre for crowds to witness valiant gladiators in battle, the Colosseum now lies in ruins but stands out as a symbol of Roman power.

Megan Sullivan

5. Petra, Jordan

The ancient city of Petra has beautiful buildings and temples carved into pink sandstone cliffs.

Megan Sullivan

6. Taj Mahal, Agra

Megan Sullivan

7. Great Wall of China

The Great Wall served as a fortification against Mongolian invaders.

Megan Sullivan

This is Megan's story.
A year after their launch in the US, Google has unveiled health cards in India which after able to load easily on slow bandwidth, owing to the fact that many Indians still use 2G speed internet. They are available on the Google app for both Android and IOS devices as well as on the desktop.

droid-life.com

Google Now has been integrated with Google Search. It also offers cards that pulls information from your Gmail account, information for nearby events, weather, traffic information and more. Google has added health and disease information to its knowledge database. So when someone searches for a common heath condition or query, Google will show snippets of information from validated sources.

gadget4life.net

These cards will be available in both English and Hindi. Eventually Google plans to launch it in other Indian languages too. The search giant has collaborated with Apollo Hospitals, Columbia Asia Hospital to review and validate the results. The health cards have currently listed 431 known medical conditions, the ones that Indians typically search for. India is the third country to get health cards after USA and Brazil.

livemint.com
Gurgaanva, or Gurgaon, the city with more than 250 Fortune 500 companies, and probably north Indias economic centre, is set to be renamed to Gurugram.

Although the state government has only sent a proposal to the Centre thus far, and it will require the Centres nod to change the name officially, people are already talking about it on various social media avenues.

Heres all one needs to know about Gurugram:

1. Nothing new about Gurugram:

Gurganva, as they call it Southern Haryanas dialect, hasnt got a new name in Gurugram. In fact, the state government has only decided to bestow the city with its erstwhile identity.

2. Gurugram in Ancient India:

wikipedia

If legends are to be believed, during the Mahabharata, this place was part of the Kuru empire, which was one of the 16 Mahajanpadas in Ancient India. Few know that India got its name Bharata after the first king of the Kuru dynasty.

3. Dhristhrashtra gifted Gurugram to Dronocharya:

The Kurus used to rule from their capital in Hastinapur, and it was king Dharithrashtra who gifted this piece of land to a Brahmin named Dronocharya, who later became a guru to both Kaurava and Pandava princes.

4. Kaurva-Pandavas got education here:

techtree

Gurugram is where Guru Dronacharya bestowed the princes of the Kuru empire with an education. This is where the famous fable of the Pandava prince Arjuna seeing the eye of the bird originated.

5. Eklavya gave thumb as Gurudakshina:

Gurugram was also where Guru Dronacharya asked the Bheel warrior Eklavya to cut his thumb as Gurudakshina, in order to save his favourite disciple Arjuna from having a potent competitor.

6. Eklavya's only temple in the world:

Gurgaons Farukhnagar Tehsil has the worlds only temple dedicated to Eklavya. An annual fair is organised here, where Bheels from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh come to pay homage to their warrior.

7. When Yudhishthira ruled Gurugram:

tadkanews

After the Kuru empire was divided between the Kauravas and the Pandavas at the behest of their grandfather Bheeshma, Gurugram became a part of Indraprastha (present-day Delhi) and came under Yudhishthiras rule.
The child on the other end of the line was sobbing: "My father is trying to commit suicide, please save him."

The officers manning the Dial 100 police helpline initially thought it was a prank, but duty-bound to respond any way , they landed up at the South Sinthee apartment to find a man lying smouldering, and a mother and daughter weeping inconsolably .

citizenmatters

The victim, 37-year-old businessman Rajeev Khanna, suffered 40% burns but is likely to survive -all because his 10-year-old daughter Rashi heeded Metro advertisements and kept her cool in a crisis. Khanna got quick medical aid because of Rashi's SOS to cops.

Rashi, who studies in Calcutta Public School, says that she knew of the Dial 100 helpline through public messages at Metro stations.

The crisis at home started when she was getting ready for school. Neighbours recall hearing arguments in the Khannas' first-floor flat on Kolkata's South Sinthee Road around 8.15 am.

Represenatational image/thegeekparent

"I was very scared when my father started pouring kerosene on himself. My mother was crying incessantly and I did not know what to do. Suddenly I remembered a Metro advertisement that citizens could approach police for help by dialling 100. I was not sure how helpful it would be but I dialled," said Rashi.

"Initially we thought someone was playing a prank but the child sounded terrified. She said her father was trying to commit suicide by setting himself ablaze. She was crying for our help," said an officer at the Lalbazaar HQ. "We did not take any chances and told a patrol vehicle to rush to the address given by the girl," he added.

The building is only a few hundred metres from Dum Dum Metro Station. When the patrol team reached the Khanna household, he was lying on the kitchen floor, semiconscious and with burn injuries

"The mother and daughter were crying inconsolably," said one of the first responders.

A little later, a team from Sinthee police station also arrived and took Khanna to RG Kar Hospital. Police suspect domestic strife could have triggered the suicide bid.

"We have not been able to speak to the wife or daughter till now because they are devastated. Some relatives told us that Khanna was facing domestic problems," said an officer.

medscape

Rashi's mother Shikha, who was at RG Kar, said the child was traumatized. "She displayed exemplary presence of mind and courage. But the sight of her father trying to commit suicide has left her in shock. We have moved her to a relative's place to recover," said Shikha.

On April 6, Dial 100 had saved the life of a 20-year-old girl, who had cut her wrists and drank floor cleaning fluid to commit suicide. She could not bear the pain and called the helpline. Police arrived in minutes although she had not given her address. They tracked her through GPS and rushed her to hospital.
16-year-old Kentucky based Mukund Venkatakrishnan's invention can shake up the entire hearing aid industry. The Indian-American boy has created a low-cost hearing aid to help those who cannot afford expensive devices, for only US $60 (Around Rs 3980).

He worked on the device for two years and presented it at the Jefferson County Public Schools Idea Fest. He also won first place at the Kentucky State Science and Engineering Fair.

The device, which can be used with even the cheapest set of headphones, first tests the person's hearing by playing several different sounds at seven different frequencies through headphones. It then programs itself to be a hearing aid, amplifying volume based on the test results.

"It eliminates the need for a doctor altogether. It is really, in essence, just amplifiers, just increase the volume based on how much hearing loss you have and it is crazy that they cost US $1,500 each, when you can do it for US $60," said Mukund, a student of DuPont Manual High School.

He said the processor responsible for amplification by increasing the volume of an incoming signal, was the most expensive part - about US $45. Other parts cost about US $15. Mukund was inspired to invent the aid during a visit to his grandparents in India two years ago. He was tasked with getting his grandfather tested and fitted for a hearing aid. He saw that it was a costly and difficult process and resolved to find an alternative.

"Since audiologists are specialists, even finding and getting an appointment with one in India was really hard. And then we get ripped off," he said.

He said in US they spent about $400-$500 on doctor's appointments and about US $1,900 on the hearing aid itself. He realised that hearing is a luxury many people in developing countries cannot afford.

"In India, the median household income is US $616 a year. If someone in India saves all year without spending a penny, they still cannot afford a hearing aid," he said.

Talking about his invention, he said that if the ear piece of the aid gets damaged, it is not costly to replace-it only requires buying another set of ear buds. In its current form, the device is about two inches long and looks like a computer processor.

He envisions the device, which has a standard headphone port, fitting into someone's pocket. His goal is to distribute the device to people with hearing loss who can not afford a $1,000 hearing aid. Various foundations are reaching out to Mukund to help mass produce and distribute it.

Mukund said that he hopes to visit his grandfather in Bangalore this summer to deliver the hearing aid.
A Kashmiri girl, who was reportedly molested by a soldier, has denied that ever happened and has instead alleged that local boys harassed her and also began the riots that led to the killing of two young men when the army fired on protesters in Handwara on Tuesday.

dnaindia

In a widely circulated YouTube video interview, the teenager narrated the sequence of events and clarified that she was not misbehaved with or molested by a soldier.

"I went to the (public) washroom and handed my bag to a friend. When I came back, a Kashmiri student heckled me and snatched my bag. The boy in school uniform slapped me and asked 'if there were no boys in the valley' (angrily insinuating that the girl was in a relationship with a soldier). I was shocked and confused about what he had said. Suddenly, several boys gathered. The boy asked me to go to the police station with him. There was a police uncle nearby. I told the boy to return my bag so that I could go to police station with the cop. He said he would not return my bag and started abusing me."

twimg

Violent protests erupted in Handwara on Tuesday afternoon following rumours that a teenage girl was molested by a soldier of the Rashtriya Rifles in a camp in the middle of Handwara in north Kashmir.

An agitated mob set ablaze an Army picket, pelted stones, attacked Jammu & Kashmir police personnel and attacked the local police station. Police officers were beaten up by the mob. The soldiers opened fire and three people including a woman were killed.

rediff

"There was no soldier there (near or in the washroom). I saw Hilal (an acquaintance). He slapped me and asked me what I was doing there. I asked him how he too could accuse me of any such thing (allegation of an illicit relationship) knowing me and our family. He too started abusing. It seemed that they had conspired in advance. The boy instigated all other boys too to create trouble," the girls says in the video.

Defence spokesman Col Manish Kumar said the Handwara girl's revelation has exposed the malicious intent of the perpetrators. The video clearly implicates local youth and shows how false propaganda resulted in massive protests, he said.

i.ytimg

Meanwhile, one of the injured in Tuesday's firing, Raja Begum, who was admitted in SKIMS, succumbed to her bullet injuries later that night, taking the death toll to three. She was hit by a stray bullet in Tuesday's firing.

Protests erupted in the Langate area after her dead body arrived home on Wednesday.

Authorities imposed curfew in the six police station areas of Srinagar city and in Handwara in Kupwara district on Wednesday. The situation in uptown Srinagar was normal. Shops and business establishments were functioning as usual in several areas.
American aircraft and warships will soon be able to access Indian military bases and vice versa for refuelling, repair and other logistical purposes, in a move that will further tighten the India-US strategic clinch and help Washington in its ongoing "re-balance" of 60% of its naval forces to the Asia Pacific to counter an increasingly assertive China.

timesofindia

Signalling a shift from the UPA regime's diffidence over such pacts, defence minister Manohar Parrikar and his US counterpart Ashton Carter on Tuesday announced that the two countries "have agreed in principle" to share military logistics, which will now lead to inking of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement in a few months.

Top Indian officials took pains to clarify that the "reciprocal" logistics pact was just meant to facilitate military cooperation and not aimed at forging any sort of a military alliance against China.

Top Indian officials clarified that the logistics pact with US was to facilitate military cooperation, especially for the flurry of bilateral combat exercises and humanitarian aid operations in the region.

Parrikar and his US counterpart Ashton Carter stressed that Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) did not entail stationing of any US troops on Indian soil, even as officials added that India will not extend support in the event of any US military action against "friendly countries". "We can refuse access to our bases whenever we want," said an official.

But it does overturn the policy of the previous UPA regime, which had steadfastly stonewalled the US push for the so-called "foundational agreements" on logistics, the Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum Agreement (CISMOA) and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (BECA) for well over a decade.

Then defence minister A K Antony, backed by the Left and others, had opposed the three foundational pacts on the grounds that they would "compromise" India's traditional strategic autonomy and give "basing rights" to the US military in the country. While the Modi government still has some reservations on CISMOA and BECA, it says India and the US are institutionalising through LEMOA what already happens "on a case-to-case basis", as earlier reported by TOI.

dnaindia

Carter, who met PM Narendra Modi and NSA Ajit Doval later in the day, said LEMOA will make it "more routine and automatic" for the Indian and American forces to operate together. "We have agreed in principle that all the issues are resolved. The text will now be finalised," he said.

Meanwhile, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said he had "expressed concern" to his US counterpart Ash Carter over the F-16 sale to Pakistan. Overall, Pakistan will now have 84-85 F-16s, which are primarily directed against India.
Among the waves of immigrants entering Europe this year could be a Pakistani bomb-making expert linked to the 2008 Mumbai attack. He could be just one of many trained terrorists who might have slipped into the EU posing as refugees to join the Islamic States plot to commit atrocities in Europe, a media report said on Sunday.

reuters

Muhammad Usman Ghani, who is linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terror groups, is being held in Austria on charges of participating in a terrorist organisation, The Sunday Times said.

The ISIS strike team sent to Europe before last Novembers Paris attacks included Usman, the veteran bomb-maker from Pakistan.

LeT was behind the Mumbai attack that left 166 people dead.

reuters

The disclosure come from sources close to a multinational investigation who warn more large-scale assaults on European countries, including Britain, are imminent. Dozens of the ISIS operatives are still at large, the report said.

Usman, 34, and a suspected Algerian ISIS fighter named as Adel Haddadi, 28, have been questioned by Austrian and French authorities after being linked to the terrorist gang that killed 130 people in Paris last November.

Investigators believe both men are part of an unknown number of Isis strike teams that used the migrant flow to infiltrate Europe last year. A network of jihadists based on the Continent has provided extensive logistic support, from fake identity documents to safe houses.

Usman and Haddadi arrived on the Greek island of Leros on October 3 on the same boat as two of the Paris suicide bombers, known only by the fake names Ahmad al- Mohammed and Mohammad al-Mahmod. The pair blew themselves up in front of the Stade de France stadium on November 13.

reuters

All four men had obtained Syrian passports and travelled on a boat carrying 198 people, according to a Greek police report.

Adel Haddadi has been linked to the Paris attacks Usman and Haddadi were travelling under the names Faycal Alaifan and Fozi Brahi.

They were arrested by Greek police soon after arriving because their documents showed up on the EUs database of nearly 4,000 passports that had been stolen by Isis.

Greek police released both men on October 28 and allowed them to continue the journey across Europe.

reuters

Shortly after the Paris attacks, Usman and Haddadi resurfaced in Austria, applying for asylum at the Asfinag refugee shelter, near Salzburg, in late November.

Local police then arrested the men on December 10 when a fingerprint search linked them to the passports commandeered by Isis.

Two Fire Officials Who Braved 26/11 Attacks Fall Victim To Mumbai Building Collapse!

Investigators are trying to determine whether the arrests in Greece had prevented them from joining the Paris attackers, or whether they were planning a separate assault.

An examination of phones in their possession in Austria revealed that the suspects had dialled numbers used by their suicide bomber travelling companions, as well as associates of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader of the terrorist cell behind the attacks.

Abaaoud, who was killed in Paris in a shootout with police on November 18, boasted to an associate he and another 90 fighters had slipped into Europe as refugees, according to French investigators.

These Haunting Images Of What Happened On 26/11, 7 Years Ago, Capture The Sheer Fear All Of Us Felt That Day

While in detention in Austria, Usman and Haddadi have been questioned by members of the DGSI, Frances internal security service  the equivalent of MI5.

Both men are expected to be extradited to France to stand trial on charges relating to the Paris attacks. They are denying the charges.
Prince William and Kate Middleton met a host of Indian entrepreneurs at a tech event in Mumbai on April 11 and one student really outshone others. Vikas Eshwar, a former B.Tech student from SRM University impressed the royal couple with a dosa machine he fashioned - so much so that Prince William now wants one shipped to the Buckingham Palace.

PTI

Eshwar, who's the Founder and CEO of Mukunda Foods, created the machine known as 'Dosamatic' that makes crispy, lip-smacking dosas. Well, Prince William definitely seemed to agree.

PTI

While Kate avoided taking a bite, Prince William did and found himself enjoying the snack quite a lot. And since the machine also makes crepes and pancakes, he asked one to be shipped to his royal home back in London.
Like most business tycoons from Surat, Gopal Vastapara too could have splurged on his son Vaibhav's wedding in February.

But he opted for a simple ceremony that was attended by just 300 people, mostly relatives. Now, this 51-year-old real estate developer is planning to spend lavishly to get his 100 'daughters' married!

Vastapara is busy preparing for mass marriage of 100 girls from socially and economically backward families, irrespective of their caste and religion.

smh.com

On April 28, these girls will get married at an extravagant function to be held in Vastapara's native village Chamardi in Amreli district. He identified girls from different talukas of Amreli and Rajkot districts whose families are unable to bear the marriage expenses.

kualalumpurpost

"We decided to get our son married in a very simple function and instead use the money to help 100 girls from poor families by arranging their marriages. Our moto is Sarva Dharam, Sarva Samaj (All religion, all communities). The girls who will get married are from various castes and include six Muslims too," Vastapara told TOI.

bbcimg

Unlike most mass marriages where the number of invitees is capped, Vastapara has allowed the girls as well as the grooms to call as many friends and relatives as they wish to. It is expected that nearly 60,000 people will attend the ceremony in Chamardi. "We will provide all the household belongings required to start a new life. I consider all of them my daughters," said Vastapara, who is spending at least Rs 3 crore for the cause.

thebetterindia

The real estate developer has pledged to sponsor lavish marriages of 100 girls every year for the next 10 years. The newly-wed couples will take a pledge to 'Save the girl child and save environment' on the marriage day.
In what can only be described as "truly amazing", an Etihad Airways pilot recently turned around a plane for a couple who wished to see their dying grandson.

The aircraft was preparing for take-off from the Manchester Airport in England when the crew informed the pilot of the couple's wish.

The couple's travel agent, Becky Stephenson, said that her customers were preparing to fly to Australia via Abu Dhabi when they received a call from their son-in-law, informing them of their grandson's condition.

airbiangazette

While speaking to The Independent, Becky said that the couple - who wished to remain anonymous - had almost switched off their phone when they saw a missed call from their son-in-law.

"They were taxiing on the runway when they got the text message saying their grandson was in intensive care and they needed to get there. They passed the message to the crew, who spoke to the captain and he turned the plane back," she said.

The pilot taxied the plane back to the boarding gate while the staff prepared to get their baggage, assist them through the airport, and even get their car so that they lost no time in reaching their grandson in time.

Manchester Evening News

The grandson passed away the following day on 31st March - the same day when the couple's flight was scheduled to arrive in Australia.

The couple expressed their deepest gratitude to have been given the opportunity to bid farewell to their grandson.

Becky also thanked the airline on Facebook, where comments hailed the pilot as "truly amazing".

Bless the man who chose kindness over protocol and set a beautiful example of customer service.
Everyday, after completing his day job as fireman, Mohammed Ayub rides his bicycle down the Pakistani capital Islamabad for his second job of the day.

Express Tribune

He reaches out to around 200 children who are waiting for him there. For them he is 'Master Ayub'.

At a temporary shelter, Ayub imparts basic reading and writing lessons to the children who come from very poor backgrounds.

Daily Mail

Daily Mail

This is a job Ayub has been doing for nearly 30 years ever since he moved to Islamabad and secured a job with the fire brigade.

It all started with his conversation to a boy who was washing a car. When asked about why he wasn't at school and was washing cars. "My parents are poor, so I work, the boy told him.

I brought him a notebook, gave him a pencil and an eraser, and started teaching him there and then, sitting on the ground. Ayub told Al Jazeera.

The next day, the boy brought along his friend, and by every passing day the number of students went up.

Daily Mail

Today the 58-year-old has around 200 students in his informal school while thousands have in the past who received their first lessons from Ayub went on to get formal education and jobs.

With just a couple of years left in his service as a fireman, Ayub dreams of building a real school, for the children with classrooms and computers.

Daily Mail

His enthusiastic students are also rounding up bricks and stones, piling them beside the park each day before class, to use for Master Ayubs new school.

With a population of more than 199 million as the 6th most populated country in the world, Pakistan has one of the lowest literacy rate in the world. According to UNESCO, Pakistan has an overall literacy rate of 58.7%.
The Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has called on the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi not to heed the call by the National Assembly to apologize or resign, following the brickbats between the legislative arm and the executive, over the removal of the CalabarLagos rail project from the final 2016 budget.

The Rivers PDP, in a statement on Tuesday, by its Chairman, Bro. Felix Obuah, hinged its position on the high regard the All Progressives Congress, APC led federal government has for Amaechi as an indispensable asset and his taunted closeness to the Presidency.

We believe its rather too early to begin to quarrel with Rotimi Amaechi or call for his resignation when he is yet to fix the Nigeria he promised would be changed by his new found love, the almighty APC in matter of months.

Again, Amaechi remains our beloved son who said he single-handedly sponsored and made His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, President and he is yet to recoup the billions of Rivers money he invested into the project.

Amaechi also said he planned to construct the controversial Lagos-Calabar rail line modernization project to empower the APC members in the South-South. This lofty dream will not be actualized if he resigns now.

However, Obuah said he was not surprised by Amaechis character, and stated that rather than requesting for Amaechis apology or resignation, members of the legislative arm should use their differences, claims and counter claims to reflect on the kind of persons that are considered for sensitive offices and, or positions of trust.

Though the National Assembly members may feel hurt by Amaechis ingratitude after it had accepted to deliberate over the later included supplementary budget which he later went public to claim was contained in the original budget proposal, thereby portraying the federal lawmakers as partial and discriminatory, the main reason for Amaechis mischief was to create the impression that he has the interest of the South/South people at heart which is a fallacy.

I am happy that Amaechi has carried his antics of setting brother against brother to the very Senate that screened and confirmed his ministerial appointment. I want the lawmakers to use same to reflect on all the submissions by not only the PDP, but also the people, the civil society and concerned citizens etc, before they went on to confirm his (Amaechi) appointment despite several allegations of corruption and breaches of the Rule of law by Amaechi.

This is the kind of falsehood, mischief and misrepresentation we have been contending with, from Chibuike Amaechi which his allies and the All Progressives Congress, APC have continued to deny and good a thing, he is now exhibiting same character to his appointees and this is just the beginning.

The issue is not whether or not Amaechi should resign as a minister or tender apology to the National Assembly, but this should serve as an eye opener and a pointer to the crisis he (Amaechi) instigated in Rivers State that brought about the panel of inquiry that indicted him of a myriad of alleged corrupt practices and fraudulent engagements while he served as governor in Rivers State for eight solid years.

We have said it times without number that Amaechi cannot change his true colour under President Buhari and must remain a cog in the wheel of progress.

His early resignation will hardly free the APC members and the unrepentant Amaechi apologists from the world of theories which is not good for the country.

The taste of the pudding they say, is in the eating, while experience remains the best teacher. Please let Amaechi be! the statement added.
The Pan Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG, yesterday called for the inclusion of the proposed Lagos-Calabar coastal rail project in the 2016 budget due to what it viewed as the projects importance to the growth of Nigerias economy.

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Kunle Famoriyo, the ARG said: Such project will be crucial for crude oil and gas distribution that is currently being frustrated by vandals and also open up economic routes that will be very important for the West African sub-region.

The Kano-Lagos rail project would have been completed by now but for similar shenanigan between the Obasanjo and YarAdua administrations. The two administrations have since been eased out of power but it has been the lot of Nigerians to bear the burden of their indiscretions.

This recurring nonchalant attitude and egoistical shows constitute lack of respect by our political leaders for the dignity and wellbeing of Nigerians  who they purportedly represent.

ARG affirms that this myopic attitude informed by negative politics should have no place in our national polity, particularly in the current administration, be it of the executive or legislative mode, heralded by popular pursuit of change.

The statement said in saner climes where people-centred development is a pivotal political and administrative philosophy, a project of such magnitude as the Lagos-Calabar railway would have been given the necessary attention once it was appropriately brought to the attention of the National Assembly, even if it was not part of the original budgetary document.

The National Assembly has the constitutional right to ensure that budget proposals are in line with the general aspirations and wellbeing of Nigerians. In what way has the National Assembly fulfilled this role if a project of this magnitude is deemed of lower priority compared to the so called Constituency Projects?

The trend since 1999 is that when it comes to constituency projects, which have always been shrouded in mystery, NASS members are bullish in adjusting budget proposals.

We, therefore, call on the National Assembly to have a rethink and redeem its public perception; else its anti-people view will further be cemented, the ARG said.
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that technical committees be immediately established to finalize discussions on new joint Nigeria-China rail, power, manufacturing, agricultural and solid mineral projects.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu on Tuesday quoted

the President as giving the directive in Beijing after talks between his delegation and high-ranking Chinese government officials led by President Xi Jinping.

The technical committees are to conclude their assignments before the end of next month. The talks are part of the Buharis trip to China

Speaking at the talks, the president welcomed Chinas readiness to assist Nigeria in her bid to rapidly industrialize and join the worlds major economies.

President Jinping agreed that Nigerias chosen path of development through economic diversification was the best way to go. To assist Nigeria to achieve this, China promised to fully support the country through infrastructural development and capacity building.

After the talks, Buhari and Jinping witnessed the signing of several agreements and memorandums of understanding by Nigeria and China.

The agreements include a Framework Agreement Between the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the National Development and Reform Commission of the Peoples Republic of China.

Others were a Memorandum of Understanding on Aviation Cooperation between the Ministry of Transportation (Aviation) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Ministry of Commerce of the Peoples Republic of China and a Memorandum of Understanding Between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Government of the Peoples Republic of China on Scientific and Technological Cooperation.

A Mandate Letter Between the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Central Bank of Nigeria on Renminbi (RMB) Transactions was also signed.
President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday in Beijing, the capital city of China, read the riot act to vandals and saboteurs blowing up oil and gas installations in Nigeria, saying if they fail to listen to the voice of reason, he will unleash the might of the Armed Forces on them the same way we dealt with Boko Haram.

President Buhari, who is on a week-long visit to China, spoke at a meeting with members of the Nigerian Community in the Asian country.

He also reaffirmed his total commitment to winning the war against corruption, saying that corruption was an arch-enemy of the nation, which has destroyed the lives of many Nigerians.

I ask for your support to make our vision of stamping out corruption a reality in the shortest possible time. Whoever is caught will not be spared, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, quoted him as saying.

Buhari continued: The government is still being dared, but those who are sensible should have learnt a lesson. Those who are mad, let them continue in their madness.

I am aware that in the last two weeks, the national grid collapsed a number of times. I hope this message will reach the vandals and saboteurs who are blowing up pipelines and installations.

We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram.

The president assured the Nigerian Community that the Federal Government was working very hard to overcome current national challenges and deliver on its promise of a better Nigeria.

Clearly, our vision of a diversified and inclusive economy will not be achieved overnight. It will be a long, and in some cases, painful journey. I am very confident we will get there. But we must start that journey now.

We hear proposals for short cuts or quick wins. However, all we need to do is look at our history to know that there are no quick wins or short cuts in fixing Nigeria. The many decades of damage and destruction cannot be repaired overnight.

The reform program we are implementing is not because oil prices are below $45 per barrel today. It is because when oil prices were over $100 per barrel, majority of Nigerians were still suffering. They were simply forgotten and left behind. So, our reforms are to ensure that the majority of Nigerians are not left behind, Mr. Buhari told the gathering.

President Buhari also assured the Nigerian community that his administration was fulfilling its promise of improving security across the country.

When we came into office in 2015, Boko Haram insurgents occupied 14 Local Government Areas. Today, I am pleased to say the insurgents have been routed out of these local governments and their capacity to fight as a force has been significantly degraded.

We will continue working hard to ensure that the group is eliminated. This is achievable. And we will not settle for anything less, he said.
The Senate, Tuesday, insisted that it would not revisit the 2016 budget it has already passed over the controversial Calabar-Lagos coastal rail project allegedly expunged by the National Assembly.

The Senate also stood its ground that the project was not included in the 2016 Appropriation Bill but that it could be included if President Muhammadu Buhari first signs the pending bill into law and later send a supplementary proposal to capture the project.

Addressing National Assembly correspondents after a one-hour long closed-door session yesterday, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Aliyu Sabi, however, advised the executive to eat the humble pie by admitting its error in not including the project in the original 2016 budget.

There has been controversy over the Calabar-Lagos rail project, with anonymous Presidency sources accusing the National Assembly of excluding it from the budget.

The Senate and the House of Representatives deny that claim.

That we say it (Calabar-Lagos rail project) is not in the budget does not undermine the fact it is very important, Senator Sabi said.

We have proffered a way forward. Bring a supplementary budget regarding this project or any other one. We are more than willing to take it and cooperate. National Assembly is open whenever the Executive brings a supplementary budget.

But we must be guided by constitution.

We have passed the budget. Nigerians are asking what next. The budget should be signed.

Section 81 of the Constitution takes care of a situation where there is omission or shortfalls. Sign the budget and submit a supplementary proposal, he said.

But the executive should admit it made a mistake, the Senate spokesman added.

Its just for somebody to admit there is error. Why shouldnt you ask why it was not in original budget? Why is it wrong to admit error when you committed a mistake? he queried.

He insisted an earlier statement by Gbenga Ashafa, the Senate Committee Chairman on Land Transportation, was not in conflict with the Senates position that the project was not captured in the original budget.

He, however, was evasive when it was brought to his attention that Mr. Ashafa affirmed that his committee received a supplementary proposal from the Transport Ministry after receiving from the Minister, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, and passed it to the Appropriations Committee.

Meanwhile, it was a different scenario that played out in the lower legislative chamber as none of the lawmakers raised the issue of the controversy surrounding the alleged removal of the Calabar-Lagos coastal rail project.

It was expected that the matter would be brought up at plenary yesterday especially in view of the public condemnation that trailed the alleged removal of the project.

It was learnt that the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, approached the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, on two separate occasions on the need for the issue to be raised but nothing was said about it till the session ended.
Syrias landmark ceasefire was threatening to fall apart after a surge of fresh fighting, especially in northern Aleppo province, just as peace talks were set to resume in Geneva on Wednesday. The UNs Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who has said the negotiations will be crucially important, was in Iran for talks with a key backer of Syrias President Bashar al-Assad.

This weeks round of talks will be the second since the Assad government and rebel forces agreed to a partial truce brokered by Moscow and Washington, which has largely held since February 27. It has raised hopes that steps may finally be taken towards ending a five-year-old conflict that has left more than 270,000 dead and forced nearly half of the countrys population to flee from their homes.

De Mistura, who will host the talks, said the negotiations would focus on aspects of a peace roadmap that calls for a transitional government, a new constitution and, eventually, elections. But the fate of Assad is still a major stumbling block. We will be focusing in particular on the political transition, on governance and constitutional principles, he told reporters in Damascus on Monday.

But concern has been mounting that a spike in violence focused mainly in Aleppo province, which borders Turkey, is putting intense strain on the ceasefire. Pro-government forces were on Tuesday pressing an advance against the town of Al-Eis, held by fighters from al-Qaedas local affiliate, Al-Nusra Front, and allied rebels, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

Aljazeera.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday arraigned a former Acting Director General of Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Haruna Baba Jauro, his brother in-law, Dauda Bistrus Bawa, on a 19-count charge of stealing and money laundering.

Mr. Jauro was arraigned alongside his company, Thlumbau Enterprises Limited, before Justice C.M.A Olantoregun of the Federal High Court Lagos.

Mr. Jauro was arrested by the EFCC based on its findings during the investigation of his predecessor, Patrick Akpobolokemi.

In the course of investigation, it was discovered that the former Acting DG while being the Executive Director, Finance, of the agency, received N156,477,500 as gratification from Mr. Akpobolokemi to allow the former DG and his cohorts embezzle large sums of monies from the agency, EFCC said in a statement.

The said monies were traced to Mr. Jauros company account, Thlumbau Enterprises Limited, which his brother in-law, the second accused person oversees, it said.

Mr. Jauro is said to have refunded N35, 000,000, being part of the money he collected from Mr. Akpobolokemi to the Federal Government.

One of the charge read, that you Haruna Baba Jauro, Dr Dauda Bistrus Bawa and Thlumbau Enterprises Limited on or about the 6th day of January 2014, in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this honorable court did conspire among yourselves to commit an offense to wit: conversion of the sum of N156,477,500 ( One Hundred and Fifty Six Million, Four Hundred Seventy Seven Thousand, Five Hundred Naira Only) property of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, knowing that the said sum were proceeds of stealing and thereby committed an offense contrary to section 18(a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition (Amendment) Act, 2012 and punishable under section 15(3) of the same Act.

The accused persons pleaded not guilty after listening to the charge.

Rotimi Oyedepo, the prosecution counsel did not oppose the bail application filed by the counsel representing the accused persons.

Consequently, the accused persons were granted bail in the sum of N5, 000,000 (Five Million Naira) and two sureties in like sum. The sureties must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court and must present tax clearance for the last three years.

The case was adjourned to May 16 for trial.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ekiti State, Otunba Bisi Aloba, has described the N5.7 billion flyover project launched by Governor Ayo Fayose as an alleged attempt to loot the states treasury and further impoverish the people.

Mr. Aloba said the project and that of a new airport recently stopped by a court injunction, have no bearing on the welfare of the people in a state where workers are owed four months salaries.

He said: It was disheartening that a governor could go to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to borrow N10billion to build white elephant projects.

The APC chieftain queried the rationale behind the construction of the fly over, saying Tell me, what traffic logjam has been witnessed in Fajuyi Park to Ojumose junction to warrant a flyover?

This is a governor who owes four months workers salaries and rather than pay workers, he intends to build a flyover, so that there will be enough to divert.

The suffering of our people has been compounded by Fayoses actions and inactions because he could not fit easily into the running of a 21st Century government.

Ekiti people have rejected these projects and any attempt to make the workers suffer will be resisted, because Ekiti is purely a civil service state.

Ekiti people have not forgotten how he castigated Fayemi for building a governors lodge on Ayoba Hill. He said it has no relevance on the lives of an average Ekiti man. What relevance would these projects have on the people?Aloba asked
The South East zonal chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has appealed to the National Assembly to set aside personal interests over the lingering controversy surrounding the Calabar-Lagos rail project.

The South East spokesperson of the APC, Osita Okechukwu, made the plea while speaking with newsmen at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja yesterday.

Mr. Okechukwu, who said the blame game was unnecessary since none of the voices on either side has condemned the project, insinuated that the opposition to the inclusion of the coastal railway project in the 2016 budget might not be unconnected to 2019.

The zonal APC spokesman said: For the avoidance of doubt, we of the South East zone of APC do not subscribe to the insinuation that those opposed to the project are afraid of the political gains Mr. President will make in the South East and South South.

They allege that if the project sails, coupled with his success on the war against corruption and containment of insurgency, he will be unstoppable. Hence the fear that the two zones may support him in 2019, given the political value of the project.

While pleading with the National Assembly not to throw the baby away with the bath water, the party said: The welfare and prosperity of Nigerians far outweighs political gains. To erase this ungodly insinuation, we once more appeal to the National Assembly not to be caught in the political cross-fire.

It also appealed to the National Assembly to let the coastal rail project be, saying, as we have listened carefully to all the cacophony of voices, none has condemned the project as irrelevant or building bridge to nowhere. Let the blame game stop and let the project be. The controversy over the project is uncalled for and an ill-wind which blows no one good.

Our appeal is anchored on the truism of millions of employment opportunities and economic prosperity which the project will engender. We need projects like the Lagos-Calabar rail to create massive employment and revamp the economy. More so, when the reality is that both the executive and legislative arms are on the same page on the project, then it is of urgent national importance.

We also understand that the Lagos-Calabar Project is in the China-Shopping List of President Muhammadu Buhari, for Nigerias infrastructure renewal.

This being the case, what kind of message are those opposed to the project in the National Assembly sending to the Chinese government if they continue to bicker over mundane procedure? Is it sabotage?
Punch

Five parents of the abducted 219 Chibok schoolgirls have received calls from the phone numbers of their missing daughters, our correspondent gathered on Tuesday.

Vanguard

Abuja  Aftermath of intensified Airforce bombardment and Army artillery fire on remaining hideouts of Boko Haram terrorists in Sambisa Forest, the remnants of the insurgents have fleed the forest in bid to escape.

The Sun

Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has described the raging controversies between the Presidency and the National Assembly over the 2016 Budget as a confirmation of his position that President Muhammadu Buhari was clueless and incompetent, saying; Nigerians should expect more blunders like this until they send Buhari back to Daura in 2019.

Thisday

China has offered Nigeria a $6 billion loan to fund infrastructure projects, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyema, said yesterday in Beijing the Chinese capital.

Daily Times

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has told a gubernatorial aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu that he is proud that he called Alhaji Aliko Dangote his friend while Ize-Iyamus cant boast of his friends and associates, as some of them have been convicted of looting the states treasury.

Guardian

A former Director of Finance in the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Salisu Abdullahi Yushau (rtd) who is a prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of former Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, yesterday told the Federal High Court, Abuja how separate sums of N60 million and N90 million were paid to Platinum Universal Projects for the renovation and furnishing of Badehs sons N330 million duplex in Wuse, Abuja.

Daily Trust

The federal government is borrowing an average of N600 billion annually to augment payment of workers salaries, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation David Lawal Babachir has said.

National Mirror

Kidnapping has become a very serious offence in Oyo State, and attracts maximum punishment of death sentence in the event of the death of a kidnap victim while in captivity of the abductors.

The Nation

The Nigerian Airforce (NAF) said its Fighter Aircraft had struck insurgents logistics base at Kangarawa in Northern part of Borno.

Tribune

The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, has granted the request by Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to direct Justice Abdul Kafarati to deliver judgment in his (Sarakis) case.

Leadership
In what might be rightly termed a suspicious move considering the timing, the Senate yesterday began the process of amending the Code of Conduct Act.

The proposed legislation, entitled: Code of Conduct Act CAP C15 LFN 2004 (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (SB 248), scaled the crucial first reading without opposition in the red chamber yesterday.

Another Bill that scaled first reading is the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 (Amendment) Bill 2016 (SB249).

Senator Isah Hamma Misau (APC/Bauchi Central) sponsored the ACJA amendment bill.

The proposed amendments of these crucial Acts is coming at a time the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, is standing trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged false declaration of assets when he was Governor of Kwara State.

However, denying that the amendments have anything to do with the trial of Mr. Saraki, the sponsor of the Code of Conduct Act amendment Bill and staunch supporter of the embattled Senate President, Senator Peter Nwaboshi (PDP/Delta North), told reporters that the bill aims to save Nigerians from desperate and overzealous politicians.

Nwaboshi described the bill as a patriotic piece of legislation that should be quickly passed to make the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) independent.

On the timing of the proposed amendment, the senator said that he was prompted to initiate the bill after going through the judgment of the Supreme Court, which gave the CCT the go-ahead to try Mr. Saraki.

He added that in spite the suspicion of the timing of the bill, his duty is to Nigerians and to Nigerians alone.

Explaining what he meant that the objective of the bill is to save Nigerians from overzealous and desperate politicians, Nwaboshi said: The CCB and the CCT are under the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. It is clear to every Nigerian that the SGF is a politician. He can use the organs as a weapon against his opponents.

Since the Supreme Court has ruled that the CCT is a court, the CCB and CCT should not report to a politician. It should be made an independent body that should be seen to be neutral and independent of any politician.

The original framers of the CCB and CCT Act did not intend to create and institution that should be used as a weapon by an individual.
David Archer of Mostyn, Flintshire, admitted three counts of shoplifting at Flintshire Magistrates Court on Tuesday. He was jailed for 120 days. He stole aftershave and alcohol at different shops in February and April and asked for three further offences to be taken into consideration. Archer, 61, has 364 previous convictions from 162 court appearances, including 278 for shoplifting.

Prosecutor Rhian Jackson said Archer had been released from prison on 12 February, only to steal aftershave on 29 February, followed by thefts of whiskey and vodka on 7 April. He was bailed by police and banned from all shops in north Wales apart from one store and a chemists, but while on bail he stole from Tesco in Holywell on 11 April.

When caught, he told staff: Phone the police, report a male who is a regular shoplifter. Three bottles of whiskey were found on him. David Jones, defending, said it would be extremely difficult to persuade the court to impose a suspended sentence but things do appear to be changing.

A previous hearing was told the serial shoplifter was a heavy drinker who had spent 28 years in jail and every Christmas but one in the last 40 behind bars. Archer was said to have begun stealing at the age of 10.

BBC.
Boko Haram child suicide bombings have surged elevenfold in West Africa in the past year, with children as young as eight, mostly girls, detonating bombs in schools and markets, a leading charity has said. One in every five suicide bombers used by Boko Haram in the past two years has been a child, a report released on Tuesday by the United Nations Childrens Fund, UNICEF, said .

Suicide bombings have spread beyond Nigerias borders, with an increasing number of deadly attacks carried out by children with explosives hidden under their clothes or in baskets. The use of children, especially girls, as so-called suicide bombers has become a defining and alarming feature of this conflict, Laurent Duvillier, regional spokesman for UNICEF, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Tuesday.

Its basically turning the children against their own communities by strapping bombs around their bodies, he said. There were 44 child suicide bombings in West Africa last year, up from four in 2014, UNICEF said, mostly in Cameroon and Nigeria. Some young children probably did not know they were carrying explosives, which are often detonated remotely, Duvillier said.

Boko Harams six-year campaign to set up an emirate in northeastern Nigeria has killed some 15,000 people, according to the US military. Outmanoeuvred after a regional offensive drove it from strongholds in Nigeria last year, it is increasingly using children to carry out attacks. The tactic has proved effective in increasing the number of casualties as people do not usually see children as a threat.

Aljazeera.
For the first time in history of the United Nations all member states will get a chance to question the candidates for secretary-general, in a move designed to make the usually secret selection process for the worlds top diplomatic post more transparent. The eight hopefuls for one of the worlds most high-profile jobs will also hold town hall meetings with the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

They will each pitch their credentials and then answer questions in a two-hour session. Last year, the General Assembly responded to a demand from many countries that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moons successor be chosen in a more open process, unanimously adopting a resolution allowing public hearings on how candidates would respond to global crises and run the UNs far-flung bureaucracy.

The search for a successor to Ban  a former South Korean foreign minister who will step down at the end of the year after two five-year terms  has also prompted a push by more than a quarter of UN states for the first female leader.

While the 15-member Security Council will formally recommend a candidate to the 193-member General Assembly, the General Assembly vote has long been seen as a rubber stamp. Nations with veto powers  the US, Russia, Britain, China and France  must agree on the nominee. As part of the changes introduced by the General Assembly last year, the list of candidates has been made public for the first time, with nomination letters and even the candidates CVs posted online.
Patch Tuesday has arrived and we've been treated to an odd array of fixes. The SANS Internet Storm Center lists 13 security bulletins, only one of which, MS 16-039/KB 3148522, has a known exploit. In addition, we discovered the big secret behind the Badlock patch -- you may yawn now -- and found that a surprisingly large percentage of the security problems appear in Windows 10.

First, the actively exploited security hole: You probably won't believe this (at least, I didn't), but the bug is related to the way fonts are handled inside the Windows kernel ... again.

We saw similar problems in Aug 2014's KB 2982791 (that patch was pulled and re-released), February 2015's KB 3013455 (that patch was pulled and re-released), and July 2015's KB 3077657 (that patch was ... you get the idea). No doubt there were other high-priority font-in-the-kernel security patches in the past few years that crashed and burned. Nudge my memory in the comments or on AskWoody.com.

The vulnerability affects all covered versions of Windows, plus .Net, Skype for Business 2016, Lync 2013, and Lync 2010. Microsoft lists 17 additional KB articles that describe the problem for each affected system. My recommendation: Wait and see if KB 3148522 fares as poorly as its predecessors. It's one more reason to avoid Skype, as if you needed another.

Big bad Sad ... er, Badlock, MS 16-047/KB 3148527 arrived with a whimper. The hype was unprecedented, including a fancy "celebrity" name and dedicated website. Many people honestly believed that the Internet would come to a screeching halt shortly after details of the bug were released.

You're here now, so I guess that didn't happen.

Ends up it's a man-in-the-middle attack that applies to a very narrowly defined set of criteria, where the attacker is in the middle at the right time. Kim Zetter at Wired has details.

Here's the part that concerns me the most: Windows 10 took a belly hit. While Win7 came in for three critical patches and one important patch, and Windows 8.1 was involved in three critical and three important patches, Win10 brought home the prize with four critical and four important patches.

Microsoft has released its latest changelog for Windows 10 (yessss!), and it describes "quality improvements and security fixes. No new operating system features are being introduced in this update." The list includes many innocuous fixes, but the meat comes in the summary of KB 3147458. That summary says the cumulative update "resolves the following vulnerabilities in Windows:

3148531 MS16-037: Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer

3148532 MS16-038: Cumulative Security Update for Microsoft Edge: May 10, 2016

3148522 MS16-039: Security Update for Microsoft Graphics Component to Address Remote Code Execution

3148541 MS16-040: Security Update for Microsoft XML Core Service to Address Remote Code Execution

3148789 MS16-041: Security update for the .NET Framework to address remote code execution: April 12, 2016

3148538 MS16-046: Security Update for Secondary Logon to Address Elevation of Privilege

3148527 MS16-047: Security Update for Security Account Manager Remote Protocol to Address Elevation of Privilege

3148528 MS16-048: Security Update for CSRSS to Address Remote Code Execution

3148795 MS16-049: Security Update for Internet Information Services (IIS) to Address Denial of Service

After you've installed the update, Windows 10 will show it's at cumulative update 11, build 1511 OS version 10586.218. Or, as I like to call it, Windows 10.1.11.

As promised, Office only had security patches this Tuesday; the nonsecurity patches came out last Tuesday. On the official list, I count 33 security patches today, covering Office 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003, SharePoint, OneDrive, Office for Mac, and various Office servers.

Initial reports on the attempts to block the Win10 update using Microsoft tools and crowdsourced testing are positive, except for one poor soul (me) who took the final steps in the wrong order and wound up with the cumulative update installed automatically. Details tomorrow.
Stock Market This Week: Five Themes to Watch Barchart - Sun Oct 23, 8:00AM CDT While the U.S. equities sector posted a surprising win last week, circumstances are only getting more ambiguous, requiring extra vigilance among investors. RTX : 88.54 (+1.49%)

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%)
When the Supreme Court granted same-sex couples the right to marry last year, LGBT activists were understandably worried that major funders would declare victory and move on. And many did, notably the Ford Foundation, which pivoted away from funding U.S.-based LGBT groups late last year.

On the other hand, as Inside Philanthropy has been reporting, growing acceptance of LGBT equality has made this issue less discomforting for traditional or conservative funders, especially at the local level, with more community foundations stepping forward to support disadvantaged LGBT youth, seniors, and others.

Related: Are Community Foundations Stepping Up Support for LGBT Issues? It Looks That Way

But what about corporate funding? Well, there's little doubt that much of corporate America is squarely behind the movement. A 2014 analysis of LGBT funding listed four corporate funders among the top 20 grantmakers giving in this area. Attend a major citys pride parade, and you will likely encounter company reps from the big banks, car companies, and telecommunications firms. I'm talking about companies like Verizon, whose recent LGBT funding may offer insight into the direction of corporate support post-2015.

Since 2006, Verizon has steadily increased its support for the Point Foundation, a fund offering scholarships, mentoring and leadership training to a contingent of LGBT students every year. Point holds its Leadership Education and Affinities Development (LEAD) consortiums throughout the year, gathering students for workshops and skills-building activities. The most recent LEAD, sponsored by Verizon, dealt with LGBT healthcare, HIV prevention, and health policy.

The Point Foundation is a recipient of broad-based corporate support. Past private-sector funders include Wells Fargo, Walmart, Time Warner, Citigroup, Staples, and Motorola. The scope of Verizons support for Point is actually smaller than the names above (five digits instead of their low six-digit figures), but it has been growing.

Verizon's support for Point and other LGBT organizations is just one facet of a very broad and diffuse pattern of giving. Its grantmaking tends to favor healthcare and disease prevention, but schools and education initiatives like Points LEAD consortiums also get steady support. Because of its wide range of giving, Verizons grants tend to run less than $10,000.

Interestingly, Verizon took the opportunity to sponsor Points work on a program specifically geared toward future LGBT community leaders. This kind of talent building for the LGBT community meshes well with the rising prominence of community foundations and local action in this space.

Even more intriguing, is the future role that corporations like Verizon will play in the next big fight that LGBT groups are waging against all forms of discrimination. We've reported on the Gill Foundation's contributions to the strategy for that fight, and how business is seen as a key ally. Recently, we've seen how powerful that corporate voice can be. Various companies pushed back hard against anti-gay legislation in Georgia and are now inflicting pain on North Carolina's economy in the wake of a law recently enacted there. (Yesterday, Deutsche Bank said it would halt expansion in that state because of the law.)

What's daunting about the anti-discrimination efforts of LGBT groups and funders is that they need to score victories in so many different places, since numerous states permit various forms of discrimination and a wave of new anti-LGBT legislation emerged lately. That broad battlefront makes corporate allies even more important, since so many big companies operate nationally, with a presence in many states.

Related:No OneLeftBehind: Tim Gill and the New Quest for Full LGBT Equality
Village officials in Lincolnwood, Ill., are considering a self-storage tax as a way to generate additional local tax revenue and help offset a $260,000 shortfall from the state this year. The village is examining either a flat or progressive tax, which would impact one facility operated by The Lock Up Self Storage and two Public Storage locations within its boundaries. Officials postponed making a decision on enacting either tax during a meeting on April 5, according to the source.

The three Lincolnwood self-storage facilities have an occupancy rate of about 90 percent and comprise approximately 235,000 square feet in 2,000 units. They paid a combined $267,680 in property taxes in 2014, with 10 percent going to the village, according to information the source obtained from the Cook County, Ill., tax assessor.

A flat tax would be based on the number of units in each self-storage facility. If the village enacted a $5 monthly tax per unit, it would generate $120,000 in additional tax revenue each year, Doug Petroshius, assistant village manager, told the source. In contrast, a progressive tax would be applied to the net rentable square footage at each facility. At $1 per year per square foot, the village would generate about $235,000 annually.

The Illinois communities of Morton Grove, North Chicago and River Grove have imposed similar taxes on self-storage facilities, according to the source.

Lincolnwood officials would also prefer to attract businesses that generate more tax revenue than self-storage. If they forego the tax plan, officials have agreed to place restrictions on facilities, forcing developers to apply for special-use permits in commercial areas. "[Storage facilities] are a type of use that you don't want a high concentration of. We already have three in a 2.7-mile square radius," Tim Wiberg, village manager, told the source.

The Lock Up Self Storage is the operating brand of family-owned Lock Up Development Group, an affiliate of BRB Development LLC, which has offered self-storage services since 1976. The company currently operates 33 self-storage facilities in Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and New York. It owns and manages more than 1.6 million square feet of storage space.

Public Storage Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust. Based in Glendale, Calif., it has interests in 2,277 self-storage facilities in 38 states, with approximately 148 million net rentable square feet. Operating under the Shurgard brand name, the company also has 217 facilities in seven European countries, with approximately 12 million net rentable square feet.
Update 10/25/16  U-Haul has unveiled its plan to convert the former C. Cowles & Co. factory to self-storage. U-Haul Moving & Storage of Wooster Square will feature 2,000 units inside the 156,864-square-foot structure. It will also offer U-Box portable-storage containers and a full line of moving supplies.

Built in 1890, the building originally served as a factory for lanterns that hung on horse-drawn carriages. It later became a car-part manufacturing facility until C. Cowles & Co. moved operations in 2015, according to a press release.

"This building is a piece of history," said Pete Sciortino, president of U-Haul Co. of Connecticut. "I am excited to reuse this majestic structure while making sure less carbon emissions are being put into the air. Keeping New Haven's history alive is important to U-Haul."

The conversion fits into U-Hauls corporate sustainability initiatives, which support infill development to help local communities lower their carbon footprint, the release said. U-Hauls adaptive reuse of existing structures eliminates the amount of energy and resources required for new-construction materials and helps local cities diminish their unwanted inventory of unused buildings, U-Haul officials said.

5/26/16  U-Haul has delayed the review of its self-storage site plan for the Cowles & Co. factory property at 83 Water St. for about a month while New Haven officials continue to pursue residential-development options for the site. The city may decide to subsidize a residential project based on higher expected financial returns to the municipality vs. self-storage, according to the source.

Nemerson believes building 150 residences on the property is the best use. He estimates 1.5 tenants per apartment would generate $2.5 million in local spending power per year. In addition, an apartment project of this scale would bring in about $1 million in building fees for the city vs. $150,000 for the U-Haul facility.

If the city were to invest $1 million in a residential project, it could recoup the investment through the building fees, Nemerson told the source. New Haven would also make about $550,000 in tax revenue from the apartment complex vs. $150,000 from the self-storage project, he said.

U-Haul bid around $6 million for the property, which was more than the residential-development bid of about $5.5 million. The U-Haul bid caught the city and property owner by surprise, Nemerson told the source.

Developers interested in converting the factory site to housing are expected to speak this week with property owner Larry Moon, the source reported. City contribution toward a residential project would require a land agreement, a memorandum of understanding, and a zoning review more complicated than that for the self-storage project.

Moon and U-Haul submitted a site plan last week for review by the planning commission. City alders arent expected to vote on a proposed zoning change to light-industrial use until August, according to the source. The change in zoning would allow self-storage as long as a special permit is granted.

If a residential project doesnt emerge, the U-Haul plan would likely be approved before a zoning change would take effect, the source reported.

4/12/16  Phoenix-based U-Haul International Inc. is reportedly looking at three potential properties in New Haven, Conn., on which to develop self-storage, but the city doesnt appear to be supportive of any of the locations. Instead, city officials would rather see other uses that create more jobs or affordable housing, according to the source.

We have nothing personal against U-Haul, but to turn buildings into big white boxes with orange stripes and rent trucks out of them instead of having 300 families living there or having high-tech companies working there, we would have to be insane not to fight this, Matthew Nemerson, the citys economic-development administrator, told the source.

One property on Water Street is a 178-year-old manufacturing site that has housed factories making carriage lamps and automobile components. U-Hauls plan would require a conversion of the C. Cowles & Co. building. The city is supportive of a previous plan to convert the structure to housing, but disagreement over who would be responsible for environmental cleanup at the site has apparently stalled that project, according to the source.

A second location at 1175 State St. was a former trolley barn, while the third property at Whalley Avenue and Fitch Street in the historic neighborhood of Westville is currently used for offices. The city doesnt like the idea of self-storage being built at the latter property because its at the gateway to the community, Nemerson said.

The ultimate revenge of the suburban Baby Boomers, who have moved out of the city, would then be to stuff their belongings into storage buildings in the city of New Haven, instead of having young families living here or instead of having their own kids have high-tech companies in those buildings, Nemerson told the source. Its simply not something that we can have.

Nemerson also indicated the city has other developers that can match any offers presented by U-Haul, and hes willing to help the self-storage operator find comparable sites in surrounding communities.

The State and Water Street properties are in light-industrial zones, but the city planning department recently expanded the acceptable uses under the designation and is looking to add multi-story residences as an approved use as well, the source reported.

Established in 1945, U-Haul has more than 44 million square feet of storage space at more than 1,200 owned facilities throughout North America.
A Greek shipowner was arrested by London police as he left court after testifying in a $77 million lawsuit against the insurers of a ship that was allegedly damaged by pirates off the coast of Yemen.

Police officers told Marios Iliopoulos that he was being arrested for conspiracy to commit fraud and led him into the back of an unmarked car as he emerged from the Rolls Building, the court where large commercial cases are heard.

Suez Fortune Investments Ltd. is seeking $77 million from Talbot Underwriting Ltd. and other insurers over damage to the vessel Brillante Virtuoso in 2011, according to documents filed in the case. Suez claims the ship was boarded by armed men who detonated a grenade that started a fire, damaging the vessel beyond repair. Iliopoulos was the ultimate beneficial owner of the ship, according to a previous legal ruling in the case.

The underwriters have questioned whether the attack took place as described.

Iliopoulos came to London to answer questions about an archive for one of his companies that lawyers for the underwriters were trying to access. He had earlier claimed to be too ill to attend court.

Rhys Clift, a lawyer for Iliopoulos, and Chris Zavos, a lawyer for the underwriters, didnt immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

The case is: Suez Fortune Investments Limited & anr v. Talbot Underwriting Ltd. & ors, Queens Bench Division, Commercial Court, CL-2012-000028

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Carriers Fraud
As terrorists increasingly target private citizens and public gatherings, last year marked the most lethal year for terrorist violence in Europe in nearly a decade, according to Aon Risk Solutions 2016 Terrorism and Political Violence Map.

As a result of these attacks, Aon Risk Solutions said 2015 showed the first net increase in global terrorism risk ratings since 2013, with 18 countries experiencing an increase in their ratings and 13 countries seeing a decrease.

For the first time since 2007  when Aon and The Risk Advisory Group jointly began collecting data to create the map  shootings have overtaken bombings in the western world, while the targeting of civilians in public spaces has become more commonplace.

Since January 2015, nearly one-third (31 percent) of all attacks in the western world targeted private citizens and public gatherings, the report revealed.

The global threat posed by Islamic State (IS) dominates many of the maps findings this year, with mass casualty attacks in 2015 and early 2016 affecting the United States, France, Turkey and Belgium, the report said.

Indeed, the report said, IS activities have contributed to sustaining or increasing risk levels in more than a dozen countries worldwide.

Far-right activism as well as civil unrest risks stemming from the European migrant crisis and the increasing influence of extremist parties have also driven rating increases, said the Aon Risk Solutions report.

Our 2016 map demonstrates increasing regional instability and a growing spectrum of potential risks, said Scott Bolton, director in Crisis Management at Aon Risk Solutions.

The threats highlighted in the map should encourage business leaders with global footprints to adopt a more strategic risk management approach to limit the impact of attacks on their people, operations and assets. Understanding how they are exposed to the peril is key to achieving this outcome, he added.

The most business-threatening political violence risks continue to emerge from war and sudden changes in government control, such as those which occur through coups detat, said Henry Wilkinson, head of Intelligence and Analysis at London-based Risk Advisory Group plc, which has collaborated with Aon to produce the Terrorism and Political Violence map since 2007.

These are less manageable risks and our findings flag several countries where there is heightened probability of both, Wilkinson added. Businesses need to be flexible and robust in how they anticipate and manage risks in the fluid world the map depicts. This requires actionable assessments that take both a strategic and a more detailed operational view of the markets in which they seek to thrive.

The 2016 Aon Terrorism and Political Violence Map revealed increased risk ratings for:

Angola, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Ghana, Guyana, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Qatar, South Africa, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The map reported that the most active regions for terrorist attacks during 2015 were:

Middle East (1114 attacks)  down from 2014

South Asia (799 attacks)  down from 2014

North Africa (491 attacks)  up from 2014

Sub-Saharan Africa (331 attacks)  down from 2014

Eurasia (298 attacks)  up from 2014

Latin America (212 attacks)  up from 2014

Asia Pacific (188 attacks)  down from 2014

The West (35 attacks)  down from 2014

The map revealed most active countries for terrorist attacks in 2015 as:

Iraq (845)

Afghanistan (312)

Pakistan (290)

Egypt (257)

Turkey (214)

Colombia (189)

India (170)

Nigeria (132)

Thailand (131)

Palestinian Territories (102)

The top six targeted business sectors in 2015 were:

Transport  131

Retail  115

Extractives  87

Critical Infrastructure  83

Financial  29

Tourism (primarily hotels and resorts, and civil aviation)  25

Aons 2016 Terrorism and Political Violence Map can be downloaded via the brokers website.

Source: Aon Risk Solutions

Related:

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Trends Europe Aon
The insurance carrier for the sheriffs departments in Ward and Burleigh counties has reached a settlement with the family of a jail inmate who died in October 2014.

Ward Sheriffs Maj. Bob Barnard confirmed the settlement but didnt release details. The Minot Daily News reports court records indicate the settlement is for $230,000. North Dakotas Insurance Reserve Fund represented the counties.

Twenty-five-year-old Dustin Irwin, of Mandaree, died at a hospital after going into cardiac arrest. The sheriffs departments in both counties handled Irwin at some point.

The state Corrections Department determined that Ward jail officials failed to give Irwin proper supervision or medical treatment.

Ward Sheriff Steve Kukowski and now-retired Capt. Michael Nason face misdemeanor criminal charges in Irwins death. Defense attorneys have denied that their clients did anything wrong.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired the Charles Allen Agency Inc. in Waite Park, Minn. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2010, the Charles Allen Agency Inc. (CAA) is a retail insurance broker that provides commercial surety bonding and insurance services to clients throughout the Midwest. The firm specializes in coverage for the construction industry.

Mark Gresser and his associates will continue to operate from their Waite Park location under the direction of Michael Pesch, head of Gallaghers Midwest region retail property/casualty brokerage operation.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an international insurance brokerage and risk management services firm, is headquartered in Itasca, Ill.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions A.J. Gallagher Minnesota
Despite dire predictions that the Zika virus could affect much of the United States including large cities this summer, two public health law experts warn that the country is unprepared, and the financial and moral consequences could be significant.

Writing in a JAMA Viewpoint published online, Lawrence O. Gostin of Georgetown University and James G. Hodge Jr., of Arizona State University, say much of the blame for the failure to act decisively lies with the U.S. Congress.

The Zika virus is known to spread primarily by mosquitoes. Currently, the active transmission of the virus is occurring in more than 40 countries in the Americas, Pacific Islands/Oceania and the Caribbean including the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Scientific consensus is emerging linking the Zika virus to severe birth abnormalities, including microcephaly, and neurologic disorders in adults including Guillain-Barre syndrome.

The mosquito that carries Zika is expected to embed in much of the United States this summer. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell has warned that Zika has a significant potential to affect national security or the health of Americans.

With Zika spinning out of control in the Americas and Caribbean, it is only a matter of time before we see outbreaks in the continental United States, says Gostin.

Some health experts expect Zika virus to spread to the United States by April or May.

There have already been some reports of the virus in the country. Texas reported the first known case in the beginning of February. New York has reported close to 50 cases. Florida Gov. Rick Scott in February declared a health emergency in four counties after cases of the Zika illness were detected in the state. By late February the number of cases in Florida was up to 20. Connecticut has reported one case.

Health officials believe most of the U.S. cases are from people who contracted the disease while traveling to affected countries.

The New York State Department of Health is offering advanced lab testing for free to individuals with symptoms who have traveled to areas where Zika virus infection is ongoing.The state has also launched a hotline (1-888-364-4723) for New Yorkers wanting learn more about the virus.

Funding for Zika

Earlier this year, President Obama requested $1.86 billion for surveillance, mosquito control, research and health services, but Congress has not approved the funding.

We know that Zika is coming, and yet Congress stubbornly refuses to appropriate funding to ensure we are ready, Gostin says. That is shameful and there will be a political price to pay.

In the absence of Congressional action, the President reallocated $589 million of designated Ebola funds to Zika preparedness, research and the creation of response teams.

This is like robbing Peter to pay Paul, Gostin says. The United States made a pledge to West African countries to help rebuild their health systems and to detect and respond to emerging threats. Yet just when new cases are arising in West Africa, the United States is welching on its commitment to fight Ebola. It is morally wrong and short sighted for Congress to force the Presidents hand. In order to protect the homeland from Zika, he has had to shortchange some of the worlds poorest countries.

Health Effects

In their JAMA article, Gostin and Hodge explain that a huge gap in funding that remains leaves the countrys health agencies without the resources for surveillance, mosquito control and health care services, and they point out that development of a preventive vaccine could be delayed. They also warn of the cost of care for Zika-related health impacts, especially among newborns.

Beyond cost, Zika has deep moral dimensions, with impoverished women and their newborns at greatest risk, Gostin and Hodge write.

Imagine if nine months after clusters of Zika cases emerge in the United States, babies are born with abnormalities. It will cause a moral outrage, Gostin said.

Gostin and Hodge say with proper funding, research could be conducted that would help answer questions including how long the body harbors the virus, the duration that patients remain immune, or when it becomes safe for women to become pregnant. They say full funding is also critical to mosquito abatement.

Gostin and Hodge warn that the failure to fund Zika preparedness would be a serious public health and political mistake and they remind us that Ebola demonstrated that even advanced health systems can fail to eliminate the risks of novel infections, referring to the cases of Ebola transmitted to health care workers in Dallas in the fall of 2014.

Gostin is faculty director of the ONeill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. He served on the National Academy of Medicines Commission on a Global Health Risk Framework for the Future whose report earlier this month warned of health system deficiencies specifically in managing a pandemic disease crisis.

Hodge is professor of public health law and ethics, and director of the Public Health Law and Policy Program at the Sandra Day OConnor College of Law at Arizona State University.

Source: ONeill Institute for National & Global Health Law

Related:

Topics USA Medical Professional Liability
Take that coworker who wastes time. He mismanages resources. Hes been known to engage in activities that others in the office consider conflicts of interest. Yet, he seems to do no wrong in the eyes of the company.

Why?

Because hes producing.

A new Baylor University study published in Personnel Psychology  I Dont 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, were asking the questions: When and why are people ostracized  or excluded from the group  while at work? said the studys lead author, Matthew J. Quade, Ph.D., assistant professor of management in Baylors Hankamer School of Business. Our research contributes to an ongoing conversation regarding whether peoples 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 organizations 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:

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.

Provide a more functional way for employees to respond to unethical employees.

Relationship conflict and workplace ostracism can adversely affect the organizations 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.

Baylor University is a private Christian University located in Waco, Texas.

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.

Source: Baylor University

Topics Education Universities
Robert Benmosche, the former American International Group Inc. chief executive officer who repaid a U.S. bailout, left behind criticism for Wall Street after his death.

The commissions being charged on the auctions were exorbitant, as banks and law firms advised on deals to shrink AIG, Benmosche recounted in Good For the Money: My Fight to Pay Back America, a posthumous memoir written with Peter Marks and Valerie Hendy and released Tuesday. I wanted the numbers slashed in half.

Benmosche was known for colorful barbs at government officials and clashes with colleagues including ex-AIG Chairman Harvey Golub over the best future for the company. While Benmosche was also a board member at Credit Suisse Group AG and spent years at PaineWebber Group and Chase Manhattan Bank, he was staunch in defending the insurer from Wall Street.

Sharks were circling for bargains as he reshaped the insurer, according to the book. AIG had to fend off a push to race into asset sales that would have been welcomed by bankers who stood to gain additional hundreds of millions in commissions from a quick-and-dirty selloff of AIG, he said.

Goldmans Bonus Pool

AIG is only now exiting some of the businesses that Benmosche fought to keep in the financial crisis. That includes a mortgage insurer that billionaire investor Wilbur Ross offered to buy for less than $100 million, according to the book. The business generated pretax operating income of more than $500 million in each of the past two years.

Benmosche died last year at at age 70 as he battled lung cancer. The former CEO of MetLife Inc., he came out of retirement in 2009, with the blessing of the U.S. Treasury Department, to repay a bailout that swelled to $182.3 billion. He sought right away to boost morale, telling employees that he was concerned they were being taken by Wall Street in transactions to unwind derivative contracts. They should hold out for better deals, rather than feed Goldman Sachss bonus pool, he told staff.

He was never really concerned with opposition. He had to do what he thought was right as a leader, his son Ari Benmosche said in an interview. The attributes that made him such a polarizing figure in the media and elsewhere, were the exact qualities that made the turnaround possible.

Bailout Funds

Robert Benmosche acknowledged in the book the public ire against both his firm and the banks that benefited when the government propped up AIG. The insurer, under pressure to disclose how it spent bailout funds, said more than $100 billion flowed to counterparties on financial contracts such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA. Banks that received funds after AIGs bailout also got their own government rescues in the financial crisis after losses on reckless mortgage investments.

With Main Street taking a hit, you couldnt blame people for their lack of faith that Big Business would do the right thing, wrote Benmosche.

His account is one of the great comeback stories in business history, Sarah Dahlgren, the former Federal Reserve official who oversaw the largest U.S. banks, wrote in the foreword. AIG repaid the taxpayers in 2012 along with profit of $22.7 billion.

AIG was too big to be managed effectively, Benmosche recounted. Thats a critique that his successor, Peter Hancock, still wrestles with as he faces activist investors Carl Icahn and John Paulson, who have asked him to break up the company to separate life insurance from property-casualty coverage. Benmosche brought Hancock to AIG in 2010, and they shared a vision of One AIG, according to the late CEOs son.

Human Side

Even after announcing in 2010 that hed been diagnosed with cancer, Benmosche continued to run 15 miles (24 kilometers) a week while overseeing the insurer, his son said.

Hendy, who worked with Benmosche at AIG, wrote with her husband Marks that the executive conducted the final interview for the book about a week before his death. He said in the memoir that if he beat the disease he might have run for Congress as an independent.

He wanted to tell the story that you really couldnt find in the papers, Ari Benmosche said. To him, it was really trying to tell the tale of the human side of what happened behind the walls of AIG, to try and achieve the impossible.

Related:

Topics USA
Major carmakers want U.S. auto insurance companies to help persuade millions of American car owners to get recalled vehicles fixed.

The new push comes as a U.S. House panel will hold a hearing Thursday on efforts by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to reduce the number of uncompleted vehicle recalls.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, representing General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG, Daimler AG and others, and the Association of Global Automakers, representing carmakers including Honda Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co., Hyundai Motor Co., sent letters to the chief executives of major U.S. insurance companies over the last few days asking them to remind motorists of recalls when they renew their policies.

The letters reviewed by Reuters ask insurers including State Farm, Liberty Mutual, Geico, Progressive and Nationwide for assistance in establishing a new way to provide vehicle owners with information about any open safety recalls that may affect their car or truck and to urge that owners have the recall work performed as soon as possible.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an industry funded group, did not immediately comment on the request.

About 25 percent of all U.S. vehicles recalled are never fixed, the letter said. Carfax said in February that more than 47 million U.S. vehicles have at least one uncompleted recall.

NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind told Reuters on Friday that automakers can do a huge amount to improve recall completion rates. The issue has gotten renewed attention after the death of a 17-year-old motorist in Texas who was killed on March 31 when a Takata air bag inflator ruptured in her recalled 2002 Honda Civic that did not have recall fixes performed.

Automakers recalled 51.3 million vehicles in the United States last year, the second-highest ever after recalling a record 63.9 million vehicles in 2014.

Last year, Congress approved allowing up to six states to create pilot programs to notify owners of uncompleted recalls at the time they register their vehicles. In a letter last week to Congress, both auto trade groups asked Congress to approve $18 million to fund the pilot projects.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Topics Carriers USA Auto
General Reinsurance Corp. Chairman and CEO Tad Montross plans to step down by the end of 2016, the Berkshire-Hathaway-owned reinsurer said on Tuesday.

An eventual successor will report to Berkshire Hathaway executive Ajit Jain, Gen Re spokesperson Sue Johnson told Carrier Management. Right now, Montross reports directly to Warren Buffett, Berkshire-Hathways legendary CEO and long-time leader and visionary.

Johnson declined to comment further on the transition news. But for those who speculate about who might succeed Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaways legendary leader, the Gen Re news is raising eyebrows.

Jain has long been rumored as a top potential replacement for Buffett once he retires. Jain runs Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, and has built it over time into one of the parent companys biggest operations, even in the face of heightened reinsurance competition.

Making Jain the main point person for Montross's successor suggestis he'll be assuming more responsibilities.

In March, Gen Re said it planned to close several global locations as part of a broader bid to reorganize. Its property/casualty arm has had to turn down business because of low rates, and sales in that segment dropped to $2.7 billion in 2015, a 9 percent drop over the previous year. Pretax underwriting profit dropped over the same period by 26 percent.

In February, however, Buffetts annual shareholder letter praised Jain and Montross alike for their disciplined risk selection of reinsurance groups. Buffett also noted Berkshires successful run of profitability for the insurance and reinsurance operations versus industry trends.

If Jain will be the main point person for Montrosss successor, then this suggests hell be assuming more responsibilities, which some media outlets have speculated places attention on Jain again as a successor to Buffett.

Back in 2011, Bloomberg reported that Buffett and Jain talk almost every day. The article also noted Buffetts comments that the board of directors would name Jain to replace him if he showed interest (he hadnt at the time).

In his capacity as Gen Res leader, Montross has been known as one of the more outspoken critics of alternative capital in the reinsurance industry. Speaking at the Property/Casualty Insurance Joint Industry Forum in January 2014, he compared the use of alternative capital to mortgage-based securities a decade before, when high yields were the buzz word until the market crashed.

Hollmer is editor of CarrierManagement.com.

Related:

Topics Trends Reinsurance
The first three months of 2016 were more active than usual in terms of severe weather in Mississippi.

Ed Tarver, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, tells The Hattiesburg American the cause is due, in part, to warmer-than-usual temperatures.

Tarver said in addition to higher temperatures, the contrasting atmospheres and weather instability contributed to the numerous tornadoes documented in the state from January through March.

This year, Mississippi saw five tornadoes in January, 21 in February and seven in March.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Windstorm Mississippi
Oscar Insurance Corp., the health insurance startup whose cartoon ads promise an easier way of getting medical care, hired Alan Warren from Google as chief technology officer to help it improve its underlying computer systems.

Warren, 59, started March 7 in a role left open after technology chief Fredrik Nylander left in June. Warren will also serve as senior vice president of engineering, Oscar Chief Executive Officer Mario Schlosser said in a blog post. At Google, which is part of Alphabet Inc., Warren helped expand the companys New York office and oversaw Google Docs and Google Drive.

We are by our DNA a technology company, Schlosser wrote. Alan embodies the technical brilliance, the obsession with our members experience, and the dependability that pervades everything we do.

Closely held Oscar, which has been valued at $2.7 billion, counts on technology to help set it apart from rival health insurers. For customers, that includes a website that helps them track and manage medical visits, find a doctor or video-chat with one instead. Behind the scenes, the company is working to draw insights from its growing collection of data on customers visits with health-care providers, Schlosser said.

Oscars aim is learning from every single member interaction how to improve our overall system, Schlosser wrote.

Warren has a bachelors in physics from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in the field from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before Google, he worked at International Business Machines Corp. and Hyperion Software, and co-founded Juice Software.
E arrivata lufficialita, dopo una giornata di voci rincorrenti: per il triennio 2018-2021 sara lemittente Sky a godere dei diritti televisivi per trasmettere, in esclusiva assoluta, le partite non solo delle prossime edizioni dellEuropa League ma anche quelle della massima competizione continentale, la Champions. Un pacchetto da favola per il quale la tv satellitare di Rupert Murdoch avrebbe messo sul piatto unofferta giudicata piu congrua di quella presentata dalla concorrente Mediaset. A dare lannuncio dellaffare concluso e stata la stessa Sky che, in un comunicato, ha spiegato che il nuovo format sviluppato dalla UEFA ci consentira di portare ai nostri abbonati un prodotto rivoluzionario per il calcio europeo in Italia. Per la prima volta la UEFA Champions League e la UEFA Europa League saranno insieme in unesclusiva offerta integrata, che permettera agli appassionati di seguire fino a 7 squadre italiane, mai cosi tante prima dora, impegnate nelle sfide con i migliori club europei.

Sky: Rafforzata leadership

Anche il livello tecnico dellofferta sara altissimo ed e ancora lemittente a rivelare i dettagli: Continueremo a fare innovazione, trasmettendo le partite piu importanti anche in 4K HDR. Questofferta senza precedenti rafforza la posizione di Sky come leader della programmazione sportiva in Italia ed e anche un altro passo importante di sostegno al calcio italiano. Insomma, per i prossimi tre anni, sara unegemonia totale quella della satellitare sul calcio europeo, avendo mantenuto il pacchetto Europa League (gia sua esclusiva) e affiancandola a quello ancor piu appetibile della Champions League ad appannaggio Mediaset dal 2015 al 2018.

Sfida Serie A

Ora la sfida fra i due colossi delle trasmissioni sportive si spostera sui diritti televisivi della prossima Serie A, per la quale si e ancora in attesa di un nuovo bando che, come annunciato dal commissario della Lega, Carlo Tavecchio, avra le stesse caratteristiche del precedente, andato pero a vuoto: solo una delle offerte presentate per i cinque pacchetti, infatti, superava la soglia minima richiesta dalla base dasta. Niente di fatto, quindi, anche in virtu della stessa Mediaset che, in sostanza, ha disertato il bando (giudicato inaccettabile) non presentando alcuna offerta. La battaglia, anche in questo caso, sara sulle esclusive: del resto, dopo essersi vista scivolare via una componente importante come la Champions, sulla Serie A Mediaset dara sicuramente battaglia.
Prezzi alla produzione dellindustria in calo, ma solo su base mensile. Lo dice l'Istat che stima una diminuzione dello 0,4% ad aprile 2018 ma un aumento dell1,3%. su base annua.

Mercati

Sul mercato interno, i prezzi alla produzione dellindustria diminuiscono dello 0,7% su marzo e aumentano del 1,4% su base annua. Al netto del comparto energetico, la dinamica congiunturale e stazionaria, mentre si riduce in misura contenuta lincremento su base annua (+1,1%).

Sul mercato estero, la dinamica congiunturale e lievemente positiva (+0,1%), sintesi di una debole flessione (-0,1% ) per larea euro e un di contenuto incremento (+0,3%) per quella non euro. Su base annua si registra un aumento dell1,0% sostanzialmente bilanciato tra le due aree (+1,1% per larea euro e +1,0% per quella non euro).

Nel trimestre febbraioaprile 2018 si stima un incremento dei prezzi alla produzione dello 0,6% sul trimestre precedente mentre la crescita tendenziale e dell1,6%. La dinamica dei prezzi e piu sostenuta sul mercato interno (+0,7% la crescita congiunturale e +1,8% quella tendenziale) rispetto a quello estero (+0,4% e +1,1% rispettivamente).

I settori

I settori manifatturieri per i quali si rilevano, ad aprile 2018, gli aumenti tendenziali piu marcati sono la produzione di prodotti petroliferi raffinati per il mercato interno e per quello estero area non euro (rispettivamente +4,7% e +7,4%) e il settore della metallurgia e fabbricazione di prodotti in metallo (esclusi macchine e impianti) per il mercato estero area euro +3,7%. In diminuzione i prodotti farmaceutici sul mercato estero area euro e non euro (rispettivamente -1,5% e -1,2%). Sul mercato interno, si rilevano diminuzioni tendenziali per le apparecchiature elettriche (-0,4%) e i mezzi di trasporto (-0,1%).
Rebalancing

Rebalancing is the process of realigning the weightings of a portfolio of assets. Rebalancing involves periodically buying or selling assets in a portfolio to maintain an original or desired level of asset allocation or risk.





For example, say an original target asset allocation was 50% stocks and 50% bonds. If the stocks performed well during the period, it could have increased the stock weighting of the portfolio to 70%. The investor may then decide to sell some stocks and buy bonds to get the portfolio back to the original target allocation of 50/50.


There are several different ways one can diversify a portfolio, such as the different categories of the Morningstar style box, which contain several different asset classes. But another common way to diversify is between the various sectors of the economy. This is usually accomplished with mutual funds that concentrate in one of the major sectors, such as natural resources or utilities.

This article will examine the nature and composition of sector funds and the advantages and disadvantages that they present to investors.

What Is a Sector Mutual Fund?

As the name implies, a sector fund is a mutual fund that invests in a specific sector of the economy, such as energy or utilities. Sector funds come in many different flavors and can vary substantially in market capitalization, investment objective (i.e., growth and/or income), and a class of securities within the portfolio. Sector funds do not fall into a particular category in the Morningstar style box, such as large-cap value or mid-cap growth; instead, Morningstar ranks and analyzes sector funds in the following eight categories.

1. Natural Resources Funds: These funds invest in oil and gas and other energy sources, as well as timber and forestry. These funds are usually appropriate for long-term growth investors.

2. Utility Funds: These funds invest in securities of utility companies. They are usually designed to pay steady dividends to conservative fixed-income investors, although they may have a growth element as well.

3. Real Estate Funds: These funds provide a way for smaller investors to participate in the gains from real estate without having to actually buy real property. They often provide both growth and income.

4. Financial Funds: These funds invest in the financial industry. Holdings will include securities of investment, insurance, banking, mortgage, and accounting firms.

5. Health Care Funds: These funds can cover any kind of for-profit medical institution, such as pharmaceutical companies. Many of these funds also focus on biotechnology and the companies that make pioneering advances in this industry.

6.Technology Funds: These funds seek to provide exposure in the tech sector. This sector focuses primarily on computers, electronics, and other informational technology that is used in a wide range of applications.

7. Communications Funds: These funds focus on the telecommunications sector, but can include internet-related companies as well.

8. Precious Metals Funds: These funds provide exposure to a variety of metals, such as gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and copper.

Some sector funds focus on a specific subsector of the economy, such as banking or semiconductors. Morningstar classifies these funds into larger peer groups for analytical purposes.

Historical Performance

Investors who are considering sector funds should be prepared to accept greater risk and volatility than what they will endure in the broad-based funds and index funds. The various sectors of the U.S. economy have historically had higher highs and lower lows than the economy as a whole.

Subsectors, such as biotechnology, can be even more volatile. Sectors do perform differently at various points in the overall economic cycle. Some sectors do well in bull markets but poorly in bear markets, while others can grow earnings even during sluggish periods and recessions. Sector funds also tend to have higher turnover than other types of funds, so tax-conscious investors should pay close attention to capital gains distribution rates.

Why Invest in Sector Funds?

Sector funds are designed to provide market participation for investors whose portfolios lack exposure in a given sector. They can also provide a greater measure of diversification within a given sector than may be otherwise possible. The main reason that an investor would want to consider a sector fund is the same as for a particular individual stock: The investor feels that the sector is about to experience a period of strong growth.

Instead of investing directly in the stock of a company that has just released a revolutionary new technology, the investor could consider allocating assets to a technology fund that holds that company's stock in its portfolio. Sector funds can also serve to hedge a portfolio, as some sectors tend to move opposite the economy as a whole. For example, high energy prices can be a drain on the rest of the economy but a boon to the energy companies themselves. Investors seeking to profit from this condition would benefit from investing a small portion of their portfolios in an energy fund.

Sensible Sector Fund Investing

Important thresholds for any investor considering focused sector bets is to own a diversified mainstream portfolio. In order to diversify efficiently, planners should carefully examine the possible overlap between any potential sector fund and the client's current portfolio, so that any sector fund that is chosen contains the fewest possible stocks that are already held outright or held in another fund.

Many of the security holdings within a sector fund are also often found in the mainstream funds of that fund family. For example, major oil stocks, such as ExxonMobil, are likely to be found not only in a given fund company's energy sector fund but its flagship large-cap value fund as well. Therefore, sector funds that invest in a specific subsector, such as alternative energy sources, may provide greater diversification than a broader-based fund in some cases.

Averaging Into Sector Funds

Investors who add sector funds to their portfolios should also be aware that timing specific sectors of the market can be riskier and more difficult than trying to time the market as a whole. As mentioned previously, subsector funds are even more volatile by nature than broader-based funds, as their narrower focus will render them even more vulnerable to the economic cycles that can affect a specific industry, such as banking or mortgages.

Morningstar recommends that investors limit their exposure to any given sector to 5% of their portfolio. The use of such asset and sector allocation strategies as dollar-cost averaging or periodic portfolio rebalancing is also highly recommended. These methods can effectively reduce the volatility inherent in sector funds. However, sector funds tend to be appropriate for more aggressive investors seeking higher returns over time.

Perhaps most importantly, sector fund investors should be prepared to stay invested for at least 5-10 years, so that they can experience the entire cyclical rise and fall of the sector. Investors with time frames shorter than five years face substantial market risks.

Sector Fund Costs and Fees

Sector fund investors should closely monitor what they pay in terms of sales charges and annual expenses for sector funds, which run higher than funds in more general categories. This is because sector funds (in any category) lack the asset base that is found in mainstream funds, such as a flagship growth or income funds. As a result, they do not enjoy the subsequent economic scale pricing that larger funds can offer.

Investors who are participating in market-timing strategies would be wise to explore the world of sector spiders and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that are available. These provide similar diversification to mutual funds, but trade like stocks and can be purchased much more cheaply than traditional open-end funds. Many of these can also be shorted for those investors who use short sales as part of an overall hedging or investing strategy.

The Bottom Line

Sector funds are appropriate for aggressive investors seeking exposure within either an entire sector of the economy or a specific subsection thereof. Overexposure to any given sector of the market can subject investors to undue risk and volatility, and appropriate measures should be taken to avoid this.
There's safety in numbers, the old saying goes, and when it comes to mutual fund investing, it's not a bad principle. The largest mutual funds have trillions in assets under management (AUM), in addition to lower expense ratios, which may improve performance over time. In addition, the biggest mutual funds provide access to premiere money managers who specialize in maximizing your investments on a very granular level (though they'll also charge you fees for this upkeep).

Currently, two companies dominate the domestic mutual fund market: Vanguard and Fidelity. Both offer very robust funds with high growth potential and have trillions under their belt in total assets. If you're looking to cash in on the potential advantages of size in your mutual fund investments, here are the five largest mutual funds.

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTSAX) - $1.3 trillion Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (VFIAX) - $808.8 billion Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTIAX) - $385.5 billion Fidelity 500 index Fund (FXAIX) - $380.7 billion Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VBTLX) - $305.1 billion



1. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTSAX)

Assets under management: $1.3 trillion (as of Feb. 28, 2021)

Expense ratio: 0.04% (as of Apr. 29, 2021)

1-year performance: 11.67% (as of Mar. 31, 2022)

3-year annualized performance: 17.46% (as of Mar. 31, 2022)

For investors willing to invest a minimum of $3,000, the VTSAX fund provides exposure to the entire U.S. equity market: small-, mid-, and large-cap growth and value stocks. Created in 1992, the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares has more than 4,070 stocks in its holdings, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Tesla.

For those who can't meet the $3,000 initial investment, Vanguard also offers an exchange traded fund (ETF) called the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI). The ETF version is similar to the VTSAX and costs the price of one share.

2. Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (VFIAX)

Assets under management: $808.8 billion (as of Feb. 28, 2022)

Expense ratio: 0.04% (as of Apr. 29, 2021)

1-year performance: 15.60% (as of Mar. 31, 2022)

3-year annualized performance: 18.89% (as of Mar. 31, 2022)

The Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (VFIAX) mirrors the S&P 500 index, offering exposure to 500 of the largest companies in the U.S. stock market across various industries. The 507 stocks within the VFIAX have approximately the same weighting as the stocks within the S&P 500. Some of the top holdings include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla, Nvidia, and Berkshhire Hathaway Inc.

The minimum investment requirement is $3,000, but for those who can't meet the initial investment, Vanguard also offers an exchange-traded fund (ETF) called the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO). The ETF version is similar to the VFIAX and costs the price of one share.



3. Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTIAX)

Assets under management: $385.5 billion (as of Feb. 28, 2022)

Expense ratio: 0.11% (as of Feb. 25, 2022)

1-year performance: -1.85% (as of Mar. 31, 2022)

3-year annualized performance: 7.76% (as of Mar. 31, 2022)

Vanguard's VTIAX fund tracks the performance of various indexes that contain stocks from developed and emerging markets. The fund excludes the U.S. and holds 7,754 stocks with 25% from emerging markets, nearly 40% from Europe, and nearly 27% from the Pacific region. Some of the top holdings include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Nestle SA, Samsung Electronics, and Toyota Motor Corporation.

For those who can't meet the $3,000 initial investment, Vanguard also offers an exchange-traded fund (ETF) called the Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS). The ETF version is similar to the VFIAX and costs the price of one share.

4. Fidelity 500 Index Fund (FXAIX)

Assets under management: $399 billion (as of Mar. 31, 2022)

Expense ratio: 0.015% (as of April 29, 2021)

1-year performance: 15.63% (as of Mar. 31, 2022)

3-year annualized performance: 18.91% (as of Feb. 28, 2022)

Fidelity's large-blend fund tracks the S&P 500. As of Dec. 31, 2021, the top ten holdings make up 29.29% of its portfolio, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet. However, FXAIX's expense is one of the lowest in the market and maintains a solid 5-star Morningstar rating.

5. Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VBTLX)

Assets under management: $305.1 billion (as of Feb. 28, 2022)

Expense ratio: 0.05% (as of Apr. 29, 2021)

1-year performance: -4.09% (as of Mar. 31, 2022)

3-year annualized performance: 1.69% (as of Mar. 31, 2022)

Vanguard's VBTLX provides investors investment exposure to U.S. investment-grade bonds, including U.S. Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. The fund's holdings are primarily U.S. government bonds with 66.5% of the fund's weighting, while 3.7% are AAA-rated bonds and 3.1% are AA-rated.

For those who can't meet the $3,000 initial investment for the VBTLX, Vanguard also offers an exchange-traded fund (ETF) called the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND). The ETF version is similar to the VBTLX and costs the price of one share.
In July 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, made headlines across the globe as a landmark historical agreement between extreme opponents. It was a signature foreign policy achievement of President Barack Obama's second term. The accord came after months of preparation and two weeks of final intensive discussions in Vienna, and with eight parties involved, the final result was an agreement with five annexes.

The deal was intended to limit Tehran's nuclear ability in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions. It laid out a lengthy process, spanning over 15 to 25 years, that would be supervised by an eight-member committee, including Iran, the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, China, and the European Union. However, the deal has proved challenging to keep intact. In May 2018, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would be pulling out of the deal and issuing fresh sanctions against Iran.

However, more recently, President Joe Biden has signaled his willingness to rejoin the agreement, as long as Tehran resumes complying with the terms of the original agreement.

Key Takeaways The Iran nuclear deal was designed to curb Iran's ability to produce nuclear weapons, in exchange for the removal of sanctions on Iran.

In May 2018, former U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would be pulling out of the deal and issuing sanctions on Iran.

After then-President Trump ordered the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in early 2019, Iran announced its withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

Iran Nuclear Deal Background

Based on the revelations of an Iranian exile group in 2002, Iran was suspected of having nuclear facilities. Following inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and subsequent discoveries, Iran continued to proceed with nuclear developments despite international opposition. In 2006, the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iran, which were followed by similar actions from the U.S. and the EU. Bitter confrontations then broke out between Iran and the world powers.

These sanctionsprimarily on Iran's oil business, weapons sales, and financial transactionshad severely hurt Irans economy. As one of the largest producers of crude oil, prices went through a volatile period as the outcome was largely unknown.

The Parties Involved

The deal was negotiated between Iran and a group of counterparts that included the U.S., Russia, the U.K., Germany, France, China, and the European Union (EU).

The supporters of the nuclear deal affirm benefits, which include the best-possible guarantee from Iran that it will refrain from producing a nuclear arsenal. It was, at the time, an important step toward establishing peace in the Middle East region, particularly in the context of ISIS and the role of oil in Middle East economies.

The Main Points

To make nuclear bombs, the uranium ore mined from the earth needs enrichment to either uranium-235 or plutonium. Uranium ore mined from the earth is processed via devices called centrifuges to create uranium-235. Uranium ore is processed in nuclear reactors, which transform it into plutonium.

Under the deal, Tehran would reduce the number of centrifuges to 5,000 at the Natanz uranium plantabout half the number at the time. Nationwide, the number of centrifuges would reduce from 19,000 to 6,000. The enrichment levels would be brought down to 3.7%, which was much lower than the 90% needed to make a bomb. The stockpile for the low-enrichment uranium would be capped to 300 kilograms for the next 15 years, down from the then 12,000 kilograms.

All these measures served to restrict Iran's capability to make a nuclear bomb and would ensure nuclear power usage is limited to civilian use only.

Next Steps and Timeline

As the deal was finalized, a UN Security Council resolution was agreed upon.

By August 15, 2015, Iran submitted written responses to the questions raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about its nuclear program and developments. Additionally, it allowed monitoring of its facilities by IAEA inspectors on or before October 15, 2015.

Removal of Sanctions

First, the oil embargo that prevented the import of oil from Iran was removed, which was not without its effects. The U.S. and EU lifted oil- and trade-related sanctions. Foreign companies began to purchase oil from Iran; U.S. companies located outside the United States were authorized to trade with Iran; and imports of selected items from Iran were permitted, which had a particular effect on international business.

Simultaneously, sanctions on Irans banking and financial systems were dropped. It enabled the immediate release of around $100 billion currently lying frozen in Iranian bank accounts overseas.

Other Benefits

Immediately after the announcement, government officials from major European countries began visits to Iran to explore business opportunities.

Some of the main challenges faced by Iran during the sanction period were Iran's shrinking GDP, high inflation (over 35% in 2013), and the nation being cut off from world economic systems. All such economic challenges drastically improved after the agreement.

Lifting sanctions would allow the movement of huge supplies of oil from Iran, which was thought to be sitting on large stockpiles due to years of imposed sanctions. International oil companies like Frances Total and Norways Statoil (now Equinor) operated in Iran for years before sanctions were imposed, changing the tide for those countries and other top oil producers in the world.

European car manufacturers like Peugeot and Volkswagen were market leaders in Iran prior to the sanctions. Although a few sectors like auto, oil, and infrastructure had significant interest from foreign companies in the pre-sanction era, the reality was that foreign businesses had limited presence in Iran since the 1979 Revolution. In essence, the Iranian markets had remained largely unexplored by international businesses across many other industry sectors.

Key Concerns

Former U.S. President Barack Obama claimed that the deal would make the U.S. and the world a safer place. However, concerns remained.

Challenges included administrating and monitoring the atomic facilities and developments in Iran. Complete awareness was required about the existing labs, establishments, underground sites, research centers, and military bases associated with nuclear developments. Though Iran agreed to provide the IAEA with higher levels of information and deeper levels of access to all nuclear programs and facilities in the country, the picture remained murky.

Opposition to the Iran Nuclear Deal

The deal, although welcomed by a larger group of nations across the globe, also had opposition from a few prominent world leaders. Israeli leader Netanyahu said the deal "paves Iran's path to the bomb." His vehement opposition to the deal came on the basis of Irans history of being a nuclear-capable challenge for the Middle East region.

Additionally, Netanyahu said the deal was a platform to fund and nurture a nuclear-capable, religious-extremist country, saying a strengthened Iran could hinder peace and security in the region.

Former President Donald Trump and Iran

After Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016, proponents of the deal feared the agreement, which they saw as a win for world peace, would be in jeopardy.

2018

In May of 2018, President Trump announced that the U.S. would pull out of the deal and by the end of the year had reinstated sanctions on Iran. European countries, including Germany, France, and the U.K. disagreed with the sanctions.

As a result, Iran's economy struggled, leading to protests in the streets. Iran responded when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that the country was rolling back some of the restrictions that had been previously agreed to under the 2015 deal.

Iran would stop complying with the caps for stockpiles of enriched uranium. The Iranian president also announced the country would also halt any sales of surplus supplies overseas.

2019

In early 2019, President Trump ordered the killing of General Qasem Soleimani, who was one of Iran's top military leaders. In response, Iran announced it would no longer comply with the nuclear deal that President Obama had signed in 2015.

In May 2019, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization stated that they would quadruple the production or output of low-enriched uranium, which was later confirmed by the IAEA as reported by BBC news.

President Joe Biden and Iran

2021

President Joe Biden is said to be intent on restoring the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran. According to officials who are working on the deal, Biden and his aides are going through the process of reviewing each sanction that former U.S. President Donald Trump put in place against Iran. (Towards the end of Trump's term, the former President levied more than 700 sanctions against the country.)

Ali Vaez, of the International Crisis Group (ICG), was the senior advisor to Robert Malley, Biden's chief negotiator, when Malley was head of the ICG. Vaez has said that "...sanctions that are justified and not inconsistent with the JCPOA, like those that targeted human rights violators in Iran or those that penalized Iranians involved in cyberattacks against the U.S., will stay in place.

In recent months, Iran has produced nuclear material that could be used for bombs and has increased its enrichment levels. Both of these actions are violations of the original pact and if continued, would prevent any sanctions against the country from being lifted.

The Bottom Line

The pros and cons of such a landmark deal were hotly debated. Most views, claims, and allegations were often politically tuned. European leaders still hold out hope that a deal can be reimplemented in an effort to constrain Iran's nuclear ambitions. However, for the time being, it appears that the Iran nuclear deal is on life support.
Energy Stocks With the Most Momentum Price ($) Market Cap ($B) 12-Month Trailing Total Return (%) EQT Corp. (EQT) 44.63 16.5 139.0 Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) 61.88 57.6 132.8 Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) 63.12 41.3 123.7 Russell 1000 N/A N/A -15.2 Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) N/A N/A 62.1

Source: YCharts

EQT Corp.: EQT is a natural gas production company with operations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. It's one of the largest producers of natural gas in the U.S. On July 27, EQT announced financial results for Q2 2022. Net income soared to $894.2 million compared to a net loss of $933.3 million the year prior. Total revenue was $2.5 billion, marking a sharp rebound from the prior-year quarter.

EQT is a natural gas production company with operations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. It's one of the largest producers of natural gas in the U.S. On July 27, EQT announced financial results for Q2 2022. Net income soared to $894.2 million compared to a net loss of $933.3 million the year prior. Total revenue was $2.5 billion, marking a sharp rebound from the prior-year quarter. Occidental Petroleum Corp.: Occidental Petroleum is an oil and gas exploration and production company. The company explores for and produces oil, NGLs, and natural gas. It also transports and stores oil and natural gas and manufactures basic chemicals and vinyls. On Aug. 25 Occidental announced a major initiative aimed at reducing carbon emissions by capturing up to 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. The company plans to build a Direct Air Capture plant in Texas, which is expected to begin operating in late 2024. The captured carbon is likely to be used to produce low carbon products or safely stored in saline formations.

Occidental Petroleum is an oil and gas exploration and production company. The company explores for and produces oil, NGLs, and natural gas. It also transports and stores oil and natural gas and manufactures basic chemicals and vinyls. On Aug. 25 Occidental announced a major initiative aimed at reducing carbon emissions by capturing up to 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. The company plans to build a Direct Air Capture plant in Texas, which is expected to begin operating in late 2024. The captured carbon is likely to be used to produce low carbon products or safely stored in saline formations. Devon Energy Corp.: Devon Energy is engaged in the exploration, development, and production of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations are focused in Texas and Oklahoma.

What the Supreme Court's EPA Ruling Means for Energy Stocks

In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to restrict Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)ability to limit carbon emission outputs from power plants. Instead, the EPA must now gain congressional approval before enacting sweeping climate change regulations. The decision targeted the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan (CPP), which had called for energy players to curb emissions by 32% from 2005 levels by 2030. Under the CPP, the EPA had the authority to remake the U.S. power system, shifting from fossil fuels to cleaner energy alternatives.

The ruling removes potential EPA regulatory challenges for coal, oil, and gas stocks that have already performed strongly in 2022 amid surging energy demand in the wake of the pandemic. However, the decision may present headwinds for renewable energy stocks, many of which have struggled to gain traction despite clean energy being an integral part of President Joe Biden's policy agenda.

It remains unclear how much long-term upside the ruling will deliver fossil fuel producers given the clear move to renewable clean energy. Moreover, many utilities have already implemented EPA environmental regulations, especially where it has made economic sense.

Advantages of Investing in Energy Stocks

Two key reasons to invest in the energy sector include the size of the market and the group's recent returns.

Size of the Market: Given that the world relies on energy to power everything from cars to factories and just about everything in between, it's not surprising that the value of the global energy market stands at around $7 trillion. Furthermore, the International Energy Agency (IEA) expects global energy demand to grow by more than 30% by 2035. The energy market also has many industries to invest in, including exploitation, storage, renewables, production, transportation, and distribution.

Recent Returns: The trend is your friend, as they say on Wall Street. No sector epitomizes this saying more than energy stocks over the past year. The group leads every other area of the market by performance, having returned 53.83% over the past 12 months.

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.
Top 10 Countries by Nominal GDP at Current U.S. Dollar Exchange Rates Country Nominal GDP (in trillions) PPP Adjusted GDP (in trillions) Annual Growth (%) GDP Per Capita United States $23.0 $23.0 5.7% $69,287 China $17.7 $27.3 8.1% $12,556 Japan $4.9 $5.4 1.6% $39,285 Germany $4.2 $4.8 2.9% $50,801 United Kingdom $3.2 $3.3 7.4% $47,334 India $3.2 $10.2 8.9% $2,277 France $2.9 $3.4 7.0% $43,518 Italy $2.1 $2.7 6.6% $35,551 Canada $2.0 $2.0 4.6% $52,051 South Korea $1.8 $2.4 4.0% $34,757

1. United States

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $23.00 trillion

$23.00 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $23.00 trillion

$23.00 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 5.7%

5.7% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $69,287

The United States economy is the largest in the world as measured by nominal GDP. The biggest contributor to that GDP is the economys service sector, which includes finance, real estate, insurance, professional and business services, and healthcare.

The United States has a relatively open economy, facilitating flexible business investment and foreign direct investment in the country. It is the worlds dominant geopolitical power and is able to maintain a large external national debt as the producer of the worlds primary reserve currency.

The U.S. economy is at the forefront of technology in many industries, but it faces rising threats in the form of economic inequality, rising healthcare and social safety net costs, and deteriorating infrastructure.

2. China

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $17.73 trillion

$17.73 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $27.31 trillion

$27.31 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 8.1%

8.1% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $12,556

China has the worlds second-largest nominal GDP in current dollars and the largest in terms of PPP. With annual growth that consistently outpaces that of the United States, China may be on track to become the largest economy in the world by nominal GDP in the years to come.

As China has progressively opened its economy over the past four decades, economic development and living standards have greatly improved. As the government has gradually phased out collectivized agriculture and industry, allowed greater flexibility for market prices, and increased the autonomy of businesses, foreign and domestic trade and investment have taken off.

Coupled with an industrial policy that encourages domestic manufacturing, this has made China the worlds number one exporter. Despite these advantages, China faces some significant challenges, such as a rapidly aging population and severe environmental degradation.

3. Japan

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $4.94 trillion

$4.94 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $5.40 trillion

$5.40 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 1.6%

1.6% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $39,285

Japan is the third-largest economy in the world. Its GDP crossed the $5 trillion mark in 2018. Strong cooperation between government and industry and advanced technological know-how have built Japans manufacturing and export-oriented economy. Many major Japanese businesses are organized as networks of interlinked companies known as keiretsu.

After the Lost Decade of the 1990s and the impact of the global Great Recession, Japan has seen an uptick in growth in recent years under the policies of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; however, Japan is poor in natural resources and dependent on energy imports, especially after the general shutdown of its nuclear power industry following the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Japan has also struggled with a rapidly aging population.

4. Germany

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $4.22 trillion

$4.22 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $4.82 trillion

$4.82 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 2.9%

2.9% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $50,801

Fourth among world economies is Germany. Germany is also Europes largest economy.

Germany is a top exporter of vehicles, machinery, chemicals, and other manufactured goods and has a highly skilled workforce. Germany, however, faces some demographic challenges to its economic growth. Its low fertility rate makes replacing its aging workforce more difficult, and its high levels of net immigration strain its social welfare system.

5. The United Kingdom

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $3.19 trillion

$3.19 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $3.34 trillion

$3.34 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 7.4%

7.4% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $47,334

The United Kingdom has the fifth-largest economy in the world.

The U.K. economy is driven by its large service sector, particularly in finance, insurance, and business services. The nations extensive trading relationship with continental Europe has been greatly complicated by the resolution of Brexit subsequent to the 2016 vote to leave the European Union (EU). As of Jan. 31, 2020, the U.K. is officially not a member of the EU, but contentious negotiations over trade relations between the two are ongoing.

6. India

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $3.17 trillion

$3.17 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $10.22 trillion

$10.22 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 8.9%

8.9% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $2,277

India is the sixth-largest economy in the world. Because of its large population, India has the lowest per-capita GDP on this list.

Indias economy is a mixture of traditional village farming and handicrafts alongside booming modern industry and mechanized agriculture. India is a major exporter of technology services and business outsourcing, and the service sector makes up a large share of its economic output.

Liberalization of Indias economy since the 1990s has boosted economic growth, but inflexible business regulation, widespread corruption, and persistent poverty pose challenges to ongoing expansion.

7. France

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $2.94 trillion

$2.94 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $3.42 trillion

$3.42 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 7.0%

7.0% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $43,518

France has the seventh-largest GDP in the world. Tourism is an important industry, and France receives the most visitors of any country each year.

France is a mixed economy that has many private and semi-private businesses across a diverse range of industries. However, there is still heavy government involvement in certain key sectors, such as defense and electrical power generation.

The French governments commitment to economic intervention in favor of social equality also creates some challenges for the economy, such as a rigid labor market with high unemployment and a large public debt relative to other advanced economies.

8. Italy

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $2.10 trillion

$2.10 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $2.71 trillion

$2.71 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 6.6%

6.6% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $35,551

The worlds eighth-largest GDP belongs to Italy. It is also the eurozones third-largest economy.

Italys economy and level of development vary notably by region, with a more developed, industrial economy in the north and underdeveloped southern regions. Italy faces persistently sluggish economic growth due to a very high public debt, an inefficient court system, a weak banking sector, an inefficient labor market with chronically high youth unemployment, and a large underground economy.

9. Canada

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $1.99 trillion

$1.99 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $1.99 trillion

$1.99 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 4.6%

4.6% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $52,051

Canada is the worlds ninth-largest economy. Canada has a well-developed energy extraction sector, with the worlds third-largest proven oil reserves. Canada also has impressive manufacturing and service sectors, based mostly in urban areas near the U.S. border.

Canadas free trade relationship with the United States means that three-quarters of Canadian exports head to the U.S. market each year. Canadas close ties to the United States mean that it has developed largely in parallel to the worlds largest economy.

10. South Korea

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $1.80 trillion

$1.80 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $2.43 trillion

$2.43 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 4.0%

4.0% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $34,757

Rounding out the top 10 economies in the world by GDP is South Korea.

South Koreas economy is a 20th-century success story that is today firmly established as an advanced, industrial economy. Known for its strategy of export-led growth and the dominance of its chaebols (large business conglomerates), South Korea in recent decades has built a network of free trade agreements covering 58 countries that account for more than three-quarters of the worlds GDP. It is a major producer and exporter of electronics, telecommunications equipment, and motor vehicles.

With this progress, however, South Korea also now faces some of the same challenges that many other advanced economies are dealing with, including slower growth and an aging workforce.

11. Russia

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $1.78 trillion

$1.78 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $4.78 trillion

$4.78 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 4.8%

4.8% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $12,172

Russia is the worlds 11th largest economy.

Russia has moved toward a more market-based economy over the 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but government ownership of and intervention in business is still common. As a leading exporter of oil and gas, as well as other minerals and metals, Russias economy is highly sensitive to swings in world commodity prices.

In 2022, Russia launched an invasion against its neighbor, Ukraine. As a result of its actions, the country was hit by many sanctions and other economic punishments, which are expected to greatly hurt its economy in 2022 and beyond.



12. Brazil

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $1.61 trillion

$1.61 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $3.44 trillion

$3.44 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 4.6%

4.6% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $7,518

Brazil is the 12th largest economy in the world and the largest in South America. Brazils diversified economy runs the gamut from heavy industries, such as aircraft and automotive production, to mineral and energy resource extraction. It also has a large agricultural sector that makes it a major exporter of coffee and soybeans.

Brazil emerged from a severe recession in 2017 and suffered a series of high-level corruption scandals along the way. In the wake of these events, Brazil instituted a series of major economic reforms intended to rein in public spending and debt, invest in energy infrastructure, lower barriers to foreign investment, and improve labor market conditions.



13. Australia

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S.: $1.54 trillion

$1.54 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $1.44 trillion

$1.44 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 1.5%

1.5% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $59,934

Australia is the 13th largest economy in the world

Australia combines a relatively open domestic economy with an extensive network of free trade agreements with trading partners all around the Asia-Pacific Rim. This works to the advantage of Australias abundant natural resources and agricultural export industries; however, it has also left Australia vulnerable to swings in world commodity demand and prices in energy (coal and natural gas), metals (iron ore and gold), and agricultural products (beef and sheep products).

14. Spain

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $1.28 trillion

$1.28 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $1.79 trillion

$1.79 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 5.1%

5.1% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $27,056

Spain's GDP makes it the 14th largest economy in the world.

Spains economy suffered severely during the Great Recession, with unemployment soaring above 25% and a rising national debt despite attempts at fiscal austerity. It has recovered in recent years as moderating inflation and labor costs have encouraged foreign investment and increased the competitiveness of Spains exports, including manufactured machinery and foodstuffs. However, political instability has hindered the governments ability to sustain further economic reforms.

15. Mexico

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $1.29 trillion

$1.29 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $2.61 trillion

$2.61 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 4.8%

4.8% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $9,926

Mexico is the 15th largest economy in the world.

Over the past three decades, Mexico has emerged as a manufacturing economy under a series of free trade agreements with the United States, Canada, and 44 other countries. Many major U.S. manufacturers have integrated supply chains with counterparts or operations in Mexico. Mexico supports a variety of exports, including consumer electronics, vehicles, and auto parts, as well as petroleum and agricultural products.

The international drug trade constitutes an ongoing challenge to Mexicos development, contributing directly to violence and corruption in the country. Weak legal institutions have made it difficult to regulate and integrate the large informal economy that employs more than half of Mexicos workforce.

16. Indonesia

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $1.19 trillion

$1.19 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $3.57 trillion

$3.57 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 3.7%

3.7% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $4,291

Indonesia is the worlds 16th largest economy.

Indonesias economy is the largest economy in Southeast Asia and is based largely on commodity export industries. Major exports include coal and petroleum products, in addition to agricultural commodities suitable for industrial use, such as rubber and palm oil. Indonesia's budget deficit for 2023 is targeted at 2.81% to 2.95% of GDP; however, regional inequality, lack of infrastructure, and governmental corruption remain problems for Indonesias rising economy.

17. Netherlands

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $1.03 trillion

$1.03 trillion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $1.12 trillion

$1.12 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 5.0%

5.0% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $58,061

The Netherlands stands as the 17th largest economy in the world.

The Netherlands is a major commercial transportation hub, with some industrial manufacturing as well as petroleum extraction and processing. It has a highly developed agricultural sector and is the second-largest agricultural exporter in the world. The Netherlands has a large financial services sector, with assets four times the size of Dutch GDP.

18. Saudi Arabia

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $833.5 billion

$833.5 billion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $1.75 trillion

$1.75 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 3.2%

3.2% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $23,585

Saudi Arabia is the 18th largest economy in the world.

The Saudi economy is heavily based on oil and is the worlds largest oil exporter. The Saudi government owns and operates much of the countrys major industry through its oil company, Aramco; however, with global environmental concerns driving increasing interest in developing non-fossil fuel energy sources, the Saudis are looking to diversify their economy by encouraging more private investment in healthcare and other service industries.

The Saudi government has also begun to at least partially privatize Aramco, listing the company on the Saudi Stock Exchange through an initial public offering (IPO) in December 2019.





19. Turkey

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $815.27 billion

$815.27 billion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $2.60 trillion

$2.60 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 11.0%

11.0% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $9,586

Turkey is the 19th largest economy in the world.

Turkey has a largely open economy, with large industrial and service sectors. Major industries include electronics, petrochemicals, and automotive production. Political turmoil and involvement in regional armed conflicts have led to some financial and currency market instability and uncertainty about Turkeys economic future in recent years.

20. Switzerland

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $812.90 billion

$812.90 billion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $672.54 billion

$672.54 billion 2021 GDP Growth: 3.7%

3.7% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $93,457

The Alpine nation of Switzerland is the 20th largest economy in the world.

Switzerland has a large service sector, including financial services, and a high-tech manufacturing sector served by a highly skilled labor force. High-quality legal, political, and economic institutions and solid physical infrastructure set the stage for a productive economy with one of the highest per-capita GDPs in the world.



21. Poland

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $674.05 billion

$674.05 billion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $1.42 trillion

$1.42 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 5.7%

5.7% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $17,840

Poland is the 21st largest economy in the world. Heavy industry, including iron and steel production, machinery manufacturing, shipbuilding, and coal mining, is an important part of Polands economy.

Polands business-friendly climate and sound macroeconomic policies allowed it to be the only EU country to avoid recession in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. However, inefficient legal and regulatory structures and an aging population are challenges for Polands ongoing growth in the future.

22. Sweden

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $627.43 billion

$627.43 billion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $617.90 billion

$617.90 billion 2021 GDP Growth: 4.8%

4.8% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $60,239

Sweden is the 22nd largest economy in the world. Sweden is a competitive economy, with a high standard of living and a mix of free enterprise alongside a generous social welfare state. Swedens manufacturing economy relies heavily on foreign exports, including machinery, motor vehicles, and telecommunications.

Sweden has taken in a large number of new immigrants and thus faces a short- to medium-term challenge with integrating them into Swedish society and its labor market.

23. Belgium

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $599.88 billion

$599.88 billion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $682.88 billion

$682.88 billion 2021 GDP Growth: 6.2%

6.2% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $51,767

Belgium is the 23rd largest world economy. Belgium is a trade and transport hub that has a diversified economy with a mix of services, manufacturing, and high-tech industry.

Because of its deep integration with the rest of the European economy, Belgium is highly sensitive to swings in the overall economic performance of its neighbors. Belgium faces a high public debt burden relative to its GDP, which can constitute an obstacle to growth.

24. Thailand

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $505.98 billion

$505.98 billion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $1.34 trillion

$1.34 trillion 2021 GDP Growth: 1.6%

1.6% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $7,233

Thailand is the 24th largest economy in the world.

The Thai economy enjoys relatively high-quality infrastructure, in addition to pro-free-enterprise and pro-investment policies. Thailand is highly dependent on exports, which account for about two-thirds of its GDP. Its main exports include electronics, agricultural products, motor vehicles and parts, and food products. Thailand also has a substantial international tourism industry. Its agricultural sector makes up approximately 10% of its economy but employs about 30% of its workers.



25. Ireland

2021 Nominal GDP in Current U.S. Dollars: $498.56 billion

$498.56 billion 2021 PPP Adjusted GDP in Current International Dollars: $535.28 billion

$535.28 billion 2021 GDP Growth: 13.5%

13.5% 2021 Nominal GDP Per Capita in Current U.S. Dollars: $99,152

Last but certainly not least is Ireland, the 25th largest world economy.

A strong component of Ireland's economy is its export sector from foreign multinational corporations. Ireland has a low corporate tax of 12.5% and a pool of high-tech workers, making it an appealing place for foreign companies to set up shop and attractive for business investment. Due to international pressure, Ireland will implement more stringent tax laws. Its economy is supported by a strong export sector and job growth.

How Do You Calculate GDP? Gross domestic product (GDP) is calculated as consumption (consumer spending) + government spending + investment (business spending) + net exports (exports - minus imports).

What Are the Top 5 Largest Economies? The top-five largest economies in the world are the U.S., China, Japan, Germany, and the U.K., as measured by GDP.
I played my first gig at four years old to an audience of one. My father, woken in the middle of the night by the sound of singing, found me propped up in my bed, strumming my brand new, plastic guitar that I had just received for Christmas and crooning Little Donkey to my bleary-eyed sister who I had insisted on waking up.

This craving to perform, to be really heard and seen, drove me to wake my sister up that night and that has never really left me. What did leave me as I grew older was the belief that I was worth listening to.

It started as a small child in school and church plays where I would get so nauseous with stage fright that I would try to pull out at the last minute. I joined a tiny secondary school in the heart of Dublin city which had the Arts central to its ethos. At home I would practice my guitar obsessively and develop my singing voice for hours, but I would freeze during school choir or musical auditions and much to the chagrin of my teenage self, was usually made an understudy.

As I grew older, I saw my peers begin musical projects, forming bands and heading off to study music. I longed to be part of it but in my mind, music represented an exclusive, impenetrable world reserved for people with impossible levels of self-confidence who were far more artistic, talented and beautiful than I.

I began to dabble in open mic nights, covering songs by my favorite American folk artists such as Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. When I finally formed my band Hvmmingbyrd in 2013, the thrill of finally gaining a platform soon gave way to a terror that I might have nothing to say. Onstage, I was painfully conscious of my body, not knowing what to do with my limbs. My lack of music qualification hung over me and every performance felt like a test that I was likely to fail.

Then, when touring to Leos Tavern in the wilds of beautiful Gweedore, Donegal, and a subsequent conversation with Moya Brennan, everything changed. After years of touring the world and winning a Grammy or two, Moya told me that one thing that she has learned is that audiences yearn for connection, not perfection. If they want perfect music, they can listen to your CD but when they come to a gig, they come to connect with you, the artist. I am a friendly person who loves to connect with people, to make them laugh and make them feel at home. The idea that I could do my best to hone my craft beforehand and then once I step onstage, let my perfectionism melt away and just share my music and enjoy the audience felt very liberating. Finally, she reminded me that regardless of audience size, as an artist you must give it your all.

Even if its only to an audience of one.
One-third of Irish Americans have dreamt of living in Ireland and already this year the number of visitors from North America has increased by 13%.

Instead of just staying at a hotel what about buying your own?

In the first three months of this year 14 hotels were sold in Ireland, with a total value of over $53.6 million (47m) and from searching the property websites it seems theres still plenty on the market. What could be better than being part of Irelands tradition of the cead mile failte (a hundred thousand welcomes).

Here is just a selection of the hotels on the market:

The Glenoaks Hotel

Where? Bishop O Donnell Road, Rahoon, County Galway

How much? $1,712,378 (1,500,000)

What? Restaurant, bar, and 36-bedroom hotel

Features?

- Located on the main route from Galway City to Salthill Proximity to National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway lends itself to being repurposed as student accommodation, subject to planning permission

- Ground floor of 504 square meters includes reception area, office, toilets, bar, dining room, kitchen, store, bar store, and cold room

- All 36 bedrooms located over first and second floors are en suite.

About the town:

This complex is located on the main road between Salthill and Galway City.

Salthill is a seaside area considered part of the city. The 1 mile promenade over-looking Galway Bay attracts tourists all year round. Galway City itself is considered the cultural heart of Ireland. With a population of over 75,000 the city is a hub for the arts.

For more information click here.

Royal Spa Hotel

Where? Lisdoonvarna, County Clare

How much? $1,712,378 (1,500,000)

What? 12-bedroom hotel with restaurant, bar and dancehall

Features?

- Overall area of 1,009 meters / 10,861 feet

- The hotel was built in 1832 and has been operating since Property includes 12 bedrooms, a restaurant, a cafe, a bar, dance hall/ concert hall, reading area, office, large reception area and private living quarters.

- In the past the concert hall has seen acts such as Christy Moore, Finbar Wright, Planxty, Damien Dempsey, Damien Rice and many others perform.

About the town:

Lisdoonvarna is a spa town of 822 people (2002 census) in County Clare. The town is famous for its music and festivals, especially its match-making festival every summer.

For more information click here.

Bunratty Woods Country House

Where? Low Road, Bunratty, County Clare

How much? $855,863 (750,000)

What? 14-bedroom guesthouse

Features?

- House has been run as a successful Bed and Breakfast but could be suitable for conversion into a Nursing Home, Medical Clinic, Cookery School, Health/Beauty Spa, etc

- Ground floor includes lobby, lounge and dining room, four bedrooms, linen room and boiler house

- There are 10 bedrooms upstairs and all are en suite

- The private quarters include the entrance hall, kitchen, and two bedrooms

About the town:

This County Clare town is located near the major tourist attraction, Bunratty Castle, and is located on the N18 national road, connecting Limerick to Galway. The settlement of Bunratty dates back to the Vikings in the 10th century.

For more information click here.

Milestone House B&B

Where? Dingle, County Kerry

How much? $769,836 (675,000)

What? 11-bedroom hotel and private home

Features?

- Overall area of 297.3 meters / 3,200feet

- Situated on the Wild Atlantic Way

- Milestone House is a B&B on the edge of Dingle Town with eight guest bedrooms and a substantial private living accommodation of three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a private family lounge

- Capacity to sleep 22 guests

- House has views of Dingle Bay to the front and Mount Brandon to the rear

About the town:

Dingle is located on the Dingle Peninsula, which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean and is about 30 miles southwest of Tralee and 40 miles northwest of Killarney. The principal industries in the town are tourism, fishing and agriculture. The town is situated in a Gaeltacht region. Another thing of note about the town is the friendly dolphin named Fungi lives in the harbor.

For more information click here.

The Clonakilty Townhouse

Where? Clonakilty, County Cork

How much? $684,335 (600,000)

What? 14-bedroom guest house and private residence

Features?

- Overall area of 7,000 feet / 650.32 meters

- 14-bedroom guest house plus a ground floor managers apartment and private off street parking

- Purpose built in the late 1990s this guest house is equipped with an elevator serving all floors

- Fitted with a commercial kitchen, a large dining room and an open plan reception / seating area- 12 double bedrooms plus 2 oversized family rooms on the top floor

About the town:

Clonakilty is located at the head of the tidal Clonakilty Bay and is surrounded by hilly country devoted primarily to dairy farming. The town's population as of 2011 was 4,700. It is an integral part of West Cork's tourist appeal and noted for its vibrant culture and night life.

For more information click here.
Irish drug mule Michaella McCollum Connolly was freed in Peru last week with the help of aCatholic priest; however, an investigation has revealed that the priest, Sean Walsh, is a self-styled archbishop, who the Catholic Church considers a fraud.

McCollum Connolly, who is on parole and must stay in Lima, Peru, is now living and working with Father Sean Walsh, producing a magazine in his apartment.

Walsh describes himself as 'Archbishop of South America' for the 'Eastern Catholic Church' and claims he has brought the dead back to life, MailOnline reports.

The church was set up by a three-times married former Coca Cola salesman who calls himself Bishop Malcolm Wilson, who runs the church, as well as a series of other churches from his home in an English seaside town. He claims to represent the version of the Catholic faith established in India by St Thomas. Wilson, who runs at least five different churches of different denominations, also claims he can cure cancer.

Walsh, who claims to have been working in Peru for 40 years, has maintained an address in the U.S. under his real name, John Matthew Walsh, and where he was even a member of a Presbyterian church.

Born in Pennsylvania, Walsh is a former Catholic priest who quit the priesthood so he could marry, He now has a wife, three adult children and grandchildren. However, he still dress in a collar, preaches, and seeks donations on his churchs Facebook page.

These revelations raise questions over whether McCollum Connollys family knows the truth about the man she is living with and whether the Irish government, which worked through its honorary consul, a senior Peruvian lawyer, to secure her freedom, is aware of the truth about Walsh.

A senior official at the Roman Catholic Church in Lima says that Walshs group is a fraud and has even threatened legal action.

Father Armando Chico, private secretary to the Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, called Walsh's church a 'sect.

There are groups out there using the label Catholic, but that doesn't mean they are, he said.

No matter how much they use the name Catholic they are not Catholic and their followers will realize they have been fooled.

The Catholic Church is one structure, there is no other branches, there is no Eastern Church or Western Church, these are sects, not Catholic groups.

When asked by MailOnline if he knew of 'Archbishop' Walsh, he said: No, no, I haven't heard of him, he must be crazy.

The only Catholic archbishop and cardinal priest in Lima is Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, he is the only high official of the Catholic Church here.

Bishops and archbishops are appointed by the Pope, said Fr Chico. And Walsh is married with three children.

There are some groups that do allow bishops to marry, but the Catholic Church does not, that's why I am saying this individual belongs to a sect which is using the Catholic label.

He added that it was within the rights of the Catholic Church to take legal action against Walsh's church.

Im not joking about this, this is serious, we will take legal action claiming fraud, he said.

The Eastern Catholic Church does not have a place of worship in Lima. Walsh says his apartment is his 'church.

Walsh told the MailOnlne that he was Roman Catholic Priest in the U.S. who had a crisis of faith when he fell in love with his now wife, Emma, who is Peruvian.

I realized that Roman Catholic teaching was not biblical about marriage of clergy. It was creating any number of pastoral problems for many people, he said.

When MailOnline said he is a Catholic priest but with all the perks, Walsh laughed and said: Exactly, adding, it's completely kosher, it wouldn't be in the Roman Catholic Church, which is why I'm Eastern Catholic.

He claims he raised a man from the dead in 1969.

The most spectacular thing that God used me in, I was called to a hospital ward and they asked me to pray for a person who was in a bad way, he recalls.

The doctors were working on him and they used a defibrillator on him, but it was pretty much a straight line [a flatline pulse reading].

The doctors started leaving and I thought I would stay for a while and pray so I just knelt down there and prayed for five to ten minutes.

They all had walked away and then I heard this bang, a nurse had dropped all the instruments she was carrying because the man came round and then all the doctors came back in. So God does hear your prayers.

When told the Cardinals office described his church as a sect he said: We are not a sect, a sect is people who have left orthodox Biblical theology, we are not that, we are legitimate and are legally established in the national registry in Peru as a Christian denomination and are recognized as a church.

Yes we are small, but Jesus started small, he started with 12.'

He added: I have never misled anyone. We are not pirating the Catholics or their heritage.

On the suggestion that the Catholic Church could sue them, he said: Let them try, we have really good lawyers.

He said he made it clear to McCollum Connollys family from the beginning that he was not a Roman Catholic bishop.

Walsh said he first met McCollum Connolly and Melissa Reid, who remains behind bars, when he was asked to help by the former Irish honorary consul in Lima, Michael Russell, who has since retired.

He and Russell both visited the 'Peru Two' days after their arrest in August 2013. Walsh says the consul asked him to help.

The current honorary consul is Peruvian lawyer Eduardo Benavides Torres, who is the only Irish honorary consul in all of South America  suggesting he was appointed to secure McCollum Connolly's freedom.

The Irish government confirmed that he is paid for his work despite the 'honorary' title.

When asking for a comment on the consul's knowledge of the so-called Eastern Catholic Church, MailOnline was told at Mr Torres law firm offices that he wasnt available.

In a statement, Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs said: The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, through our Embassy in Mexico and our recently appointed Honorary Consul in Lima, continue to provide consular assistance to Ms. McCollum and her family, as we have done since 2013.
Bill Clinton began his day yesterday at the Mudan Banquet Hall in Flushing, Queens with over 600 Asian supporters. Among those present were Olympic skater Michelle Kwan and Congresswoman Grace Meng.

It was part of the New York marathon / sprint for the Clinton family as they race around New York seeking votes for Tuesday's Democratic primary in New York.

At an age where 70 is knocking on the door for both of them and many of their contemporaries are hitting golf balls in Florida retirement homes, both Clintons seem fired up and ready to go more than ever.

Bill Clinton seems revitalized, the flames fanned again from the embers of a remarkable career.

After Flushing he headed for the American Irish Historical Society opposite the Metropolitan Museum, the finest Irish building in America. New York State is 16 percent Irish Americans, something that would never have escaped the Clinton machine.

Backstage there was fire in his eyes, the old battle horse has heard the war cannon and is charging in its direction. He bubbled over with enthusiasm discussing the Asian Americans he had just left behind.

But the Irish will always have a special place. There was a real stemwinder of an introduction by host Brian ODwyer, the New York civil rights lawyer who recalled the Kennedy legacy on immigration and peace in Ireland and stated the legacy now belonged to Hillary. Congressman Joe Crowley added to the atmosphere, making clear that history was in the making and times they were a changing.

I had the pleasure of announcing the Irish Voice newspapers endorsement of Hillary Clinton for the Democratic primary. I stated, [Bill Clinton] was the first president in history who cared about the Irish, .. we would not have peace in our beloved Ireland were it not for this man.

Clinton seized on the moment and the applause to brandish the framed front page editorial and say he was profoundly grateful for the gesture, remarking the tiny aran knitwear sweater Hillary held in our endorsement photograph, given to her for their first grandchild at the Irish America magazine Hall of Fame in 2015, would also suit his new grandchild who is on the way.

Then he was off talking about his remembrances of those fraught times in Ireland when peace hung by a thread.

In his remarks, Bill Clinton also mentioned the Good Friday Agreement that established peace and power-sharing in Northern Ireland and Hillary Clintons contribution to it. He stated the factions could have continued with their hate, but they decided to reconcile.

He mentioned a specific incident where his wife helped sort out a very fraught period. He recalled meeting a former British Northern Secretary who told him that during a very rough patch nobody they appealed to could bring the two opposite factions together, not the British or Irish government or the politicians themselves.

In desperation the British minister said they turned to Hillary, then Secretary of State, who began working the phones. In a few days the talks were back on again. We still dont know how she did it, said the minister.

The former president stated that he wished the Irish peace process would become a metaphor for reconciling extreme factions in Europe and the Middle East, as well as for bringing divided US political opponents together.

It happened because people who thought they would never, ever, ever stop fighting decided that they cared more about their childrens future than staying off in their own corner and holding on with all their might to the past.

He also referred to a W.B. Yeats poem, Easter 1916, which he said he read again after seeing the Irish proclamation at this years Irish America magazine Hall of Fame event, just a few weeks ago.

That poem explains a lot of the mindset now," Clinton said. "It has one of the most powerful single lines in all the English language: Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.

He noted how inclusive the proclamation was, treating women as equals, cherishing all the children of the nation equally.

As usual Clinton had reached the core point of that proclamation in minutes.

A friend who knows tells me Clinton does the NY Times crossword in 20 minutes while on the phone at the same time.

He is that smart; so is Hillary. They are trying to make Americans understand that their many problems are far more complex and need far more political experience than a huckster like Trump has. New Yorkers may allow them to take a huge step in that direction on Tuesday.
GPs will be calling for a commitment from political parties to take politics out of running the health system for the next decade.

A document on the future of Primary Care in Ireland is being launched this morning.

A group of 14 organisations representing doctors and vested interest groups are involved in the plan.

A series of public meetings will also take place around the country.

Dr Yvonne Williams, Vice-President of the National Association of General Practitioners says the Free GP Care for Under 6s is having a huge impact on family doctors: Some of the coop are reporting up to 60% increase in children under six attending.

We have also seen an increase in some of the ED departments with children under six attending.

And I dont think that is because children under six have suddenly become more unwell.

It is simply a reality that if something is free children do attend more. The knock on effect for other people is that they have to wait longer to see their GP sometimes until the next day.

And some of those people will choose to visit an emergency department rather than wait.
Independent Alliance member John Halligan has pulled out of government formation talks, saying he will not back Enda Kenny or Micheal Martin's bids to become Taoiseach, writes Fiachra O Cionnaith of the Irish Examiner.

The Waterford TD confirmed the move to the five other Alliance members, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail last night.

It is understood Mr Halligan pulled out of talks due to the fact neither party has as yet said they will restore 24-hour cardiac cover at Waterford Regional Hospital.

I can play no part in forming a government until this intolerable situation is resolved.  John Halligan (@JohnHalligan) April 12, 2016

However, there are some suggestions that the move is a negotiation tactic designed to ensure the hospital policy is included in any Programme for Government, and that Mr Halligan may return, should this be agreed.

While the Waterford hospital service is an issue that directly affects his own constituency, the long-time TD is adamant it is not a parish pump problem and impacts on the entire south-east region.

It is also believed that other Independent Alliance members back him in his view that the unit should be included in any deal with either party.

Mr Halligan's decision to leave talks was widely expected to happen in recent days, with Fine Gael ministers privately saying last week they believed only five of the Alliance were realistic partners for a potential minority government.

The Alliance had met with Fine Gael negotiator Simon Coveney and junior minister Simon Harris last night to seek an update on talks after a six-hour internal meeting, after which Mr Halligan is believed to have let his decision be known.

The situation is unlikely to split the Alliance, with the five remaining members - Finian McGrath, Shane Ross, Sean Canney, Kevin 'Boxer' Moran and Michael Fitzmaurice - believed to still be working as a joint group.

However, the separate five-strong rural TDs group is facing an altogether more complex problem, with a clear division now emerging.

Members Mattie McGrath and Noel Grealish - ex Fianna Fail and Progressive Democrat TDs respectively - are believed to favour backing Micheal Martin.

But colleague Denis Naughten - an ex Fine Gael TD - wants to support Enda Kenny, with West Cork's Michael Collins and Clare's Dr Michael Harty undecided.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are believed to be pressing all Independents to make their views known before tomorrow's Dail Taoiseach nomination vote - should it take place.

However, Independents have repeatedly said they will not make their positions clear until the parties outline exactly what they are voting for and how each version of a minority government would work.

It is believed the separate Healy-Rae brothers' group is in constant contact with a senior Fine Gael minister who is a member of the party's negotiating team.

Michael Healy-Rae would last night not be drawn on whether he is the Independent TD rumoured to have been offered a ministerial role if he gives his vote to Mr Kenny.
Islamic State's online magazine, Dabiq, is praising the attackers who killed 32 in Brussels last month, and hailing two brothers who were suicide bombers in the attack as key actors in November's bloodbath in Paris as well.

The extremist Muslim group has claimed responsibility for both acts of carnage targeting Western European capitals.

"All preparations for the raids in Paris and Brussels started" with Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 30, and his brother Khalid, 27, Dabiq said.

"These two brothers gathered the weapons and the explosives."

It is "firstly due" to the El Bakraouis that the November 13 attacks that killed 130 victims in the French capital occurred, Dabiq said.

Subsequently, it said, Khalid El Bakraoui had a dream "which motivated him to carry out another istishhadi (martyrdom) operation".

The younger El Bakraoui blew himself up in a rush-hour Brussels underground train on March 22, killing 16 victims.

That same morning, his older brother was one of two suicide bombers who detonated explosives-laden suitcases at Brussels Airport, killing another 16.

Dabiq also confirmed Belgian and French police findings that Najim Laachraoui, the second Brussels Airport suicide bomber, manufactured the explosives used in both the Paris and Brussels attacks.

Earlier, Belgian prosecutors said that three people detained over the attacks in Paris had been freed after extensive interrogation.

None of the three was charged, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office said.

The three were taken into custody during a police search in the Brussels district of Uccle on Tuesday.

Belgian authorities have not said what they were looking for, or what they may have found.
Spanish police have arrested a Frenchman they believe supplied the arms to Paris attacker Amedy Coulibaly for use in the January 2015 attacks in the city.

An Interior Ministry statement said Antoine Denive, 27, from the northern French town of Sainte Catherine, was arrested yesterday in the southern coastal town of Rincon de la Victoria on a European arrest warrant.
The worlds top brewer has already struck an agreement to sell the assets to Japans Asahi Group Holdings, a tactic aimed at staving off a possible lengthy investigation of the biggest ever deal in the consumer goods industry.

This proposal concerns the European premium brand families of Peroni, Grolsch, and Meantime, and their associated businesses in Italy, the Netherlands, UK, and internationally, excluding certain US rights, an AB Inbev spokeswoman said.

The European Commission said it would decide by May 24 whether to clear the deal.

Margrethe Vestager, the European competition commissioner, will seek feedback from rivals and other third parties before deciding whether the offer is sufficient to allay regulatory worries.

The SABMiller acquisition would allow AB InBev, maker of Budweiser and Stella Artois, to expand into countries such as Colombia and Peru, and, crucially, Africa.

AB Inbev is also selling SABMillers stake in US joint venture MillerCoors to Molson Coors Brewing and SABMillers stake in its CR Snow venture to China Resources Beer to address competition concerns in other regions.

The EUs new deadline to rule on approving the deal or opening a longer investigation comes after the companies made an offer last week.

The EU did not say what the companies were prepared to do to allay any anti-trust concerns.

AB InBev has already flagged plans to sell SABMillers beer brands that might overlap with its own in Europe.

Such early concessions involving a sale of a business unit can allow the EU to approve a deal quickly.

It means the regulators could move on the deal without opening a so-called Phase II probe lasting at least four months.

Trevor Stirling, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein, said he would have been surprised if the concessions made to the EU didnt include the Asahi sales.

Im at a loss as to what remedies AB InBev can offer in terms of further divestments, he said.

* Reuters and Bloomberg
Under the proposals put forward by the Commission, large companies would have to publicly disclose tax and financial data in an effort to eliminate tax schemes costing EU states billions of euro in lost tax revenues.

Companies will have to report their activities individually in each member state as well as in a number of jurisdictions deemed as tax havens.

The plan only concerns companies with an annual turnover of at least 750m and with activities in the EU.

Non-EU firms will also be required to publish a tax report if they have a subsidiary in an EU country. The commissions announcement has been greeted with derision by Oxfam Ireland and Christian Aid, however.

Oxfam said the proposal which limits public country-by-country reporting to the EU and an arbitrary list of tax havens makes it impossible to effectively monitor tax practice. It also criticised the proposal for limiting its scope to a small number of companies and for limiting the type of information required from them.

This selective tax transparency proposal will leave most of the world still in the dark about corporate tax arrangements and lacks the teeth required to address the type of industrial-scale tax dodging exposed in recent scandals, said Oxfam Ireland chief executive Jim Clarken.

Sorley McCaughey, head of advocacy and policy with Christian Aid, described the proposals as woefully inadequate and cack-handed.

He suggested the proposals may have the effect of encouraging companies to redirect their profits into tax jurisdictions not included on the commissions list.

The commission described the proposal as a simple, proportionate way to increase large multinationals accountability on tax matters without damaging their competitiveness.

The rules will apply to thousands of large firms operating in the EU, without affecting small and medium-sized companies, a spokesperson added.
This is the second year that the north Cork-based dairy co-op is stocking supplies of pink silage wrap, which sold out in a matter of weeks for last years campaign to raise funds for cancer research.

Last summers drive saw fields across rural Ireland sporting pink silage bales.
Jin Jiang, already Accors biggest shareholder with an almost 12% stake, could build up its ownership in the Paris-based company to about 20%.

The Shanghai-based firm would be interested in gaining more influence over Accors management. Accor shares jumped as much as 3.8% in Paris trading, the most for about a month.
LVMH shares fell as much as 3.8% in Paris, the most since middle of February.

Gucci-owner Kering declined 2.2%, while Burberry Group dropped 2.9% in London.

The worlds biggest luxury-goods maker had proven resilient to ebbing demand that caused Prada to report its lowest annual profit in five years, yet this recent miss shows LVMH is not immune.

The attacks in Paris and Brussels and new biometric visa requirements deterring leisure travel from Asia are weighing on European sales.

Collapsing demand in Hong Kong and China, meanwhile, has led companies to curtail expansion there.

The financial impact of recent terror attacks continues to take its toll, John Guy, an analyst at MainFirst Bank, said in a note.

First-quarter sales gained 3% on an organic basis, decelerated from 5% in the previous period, LVMH said.

Unchanged revenue at its biggest division, fashion and leather goods, also missed estimates.

LVMH said sales in France accounts for about 10% of its business. They were hurt by a drop in tourism.

Total revenue for the period rose 4% to 8.62bn. Analysts predicted 8.73bn. LVMH, whose full name is LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, had a chilling effect on European shares yesterday, which were also perturbed by developments in Italian bank stocks.

An early rally in Italian bank stocks faded as some investors expressed scepticism over plans by Italian financial institutions for a 5bn fund to shore up the countrys weaker banks.

LVMHs numbers were not that good, and the problem with the Italian bank fund is that it is not big enough and it risks compromising the banks that are already in a much better shape, said Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Geneva-based investment and consultancy firm Prime Partners.

The FTSEurofirst has fallen nearly 10% since the start of 2016 as concerns about a China-led global economic slowdown weigh on world stock- markets.

However, strategists at HSBC kept an overweight position on continental European equities.

We continue to argue that Europe offers the best earnings story globally, although it has been disappointing so far, with the market being hurt by global growth concerns. We see a robust business cycle, policy support, and investor under-ownership, they wrote in a note.

LVMH told reporters that the slowdown at Louis Vuitton in the first quarter was due in part to trading being down in double digits in Paris.

* Bloomberg and Reuters
The marketing body for Irish dairy has spent 200m in the past six years on mergers and acquisitions in key target markets. Ornua recently acquired Ambrosia Dairy, its first manufacturing base in China.

Ornua has also opened a new 20m cheese manufacturing facility in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The facility will produce white cheeses for the Saudi Arabian market, one feature of which will be a pilot kitchen built at Teagasc Moorepark and shipped to Saudi Arabia.

Developing new products for target markets is key to our strategy, said Jeanne Kelly, Ornua spokesman. New products now represent 12% of our overall sales; that will grow to 20% in the next year.

Saudi Arabia is a great example of where the science behind new product development is meeting commercial very successfully. Two years ago, our business development people identified Saudi as a great opportunity. It is the fifth largest dairy importer in the world, a huge market for white cheese products.

The new Saudi facility will use pioneering technology developed by Ornua and Teagasc to produce bespoke fresh white cheeses for the increasingly sophisticated bakery sector, retail delicatessens and food service customers.

White cheeses are hugely popular in the Middle East and North Africa. Working with Ornua and its Saudi partner Al Wazeen, Teagascs technology will allow milk ingredients to be recombined for fresh white cheese production.

In Saudi, people have white cheese with most meals, said Jeanne Kelly.

In the morning, in fast food restaurants youll see flat breads with a range of seasoned white cheeses for breakfast. And youll see some form of white cheese with every meal.

This Saudi example was one of a series of projects outlined by Ornua chief executive Kevin Lane, and his team to the 600 international dairy scientists at Teagascs three-day IDF Symposia in Dublin, which ends today.

Yesterday, Ornua also said it is to suspend its monthly milk supplier levy from May 1, in response to the difficulties faced by dairy farmers due to the dairy market downturn.

In 2016, it is estimated that the suspension will return nearly 6m to Irish dairy farmers. Ornua will reconsider the suspension of the milk levy when the Ornua Purchase Price Index again returns to 103 (30.5 cpl including Vat) for three consecutive months.
The shocking case, one of numerous threats and assaults that have been made at members, emerged yesterday at the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors annual conference.

Warning: This video contains bad language and may upset viewers

The garda was left traumatised by the threats and is now being informed every time the suspect applies for bail.

I have colleagues across the country who are intimidated on a daily basis, said AGSI general secretary John Jacob.

One female colleague whos pregnant contacted me recently in relation to her personal safety, and said shes concerned every time a particular individual is in court. She is advised if that person is being considered for bail.

That individual has threatened to rape her and her unborn child.

Mr Jacob said it was the sort of intimidation and threats that his members are receiving on an ongoing basis.

Its expected to wash over us. No other individual in the country is receiving those kind of threats, thats why we are saying we are unique, that is why we are saying we should be considered for a full restoration of pay immediately, he said.

Delegates listen to commissioner Noirin OSullivan

The assault cases emerged at the conference after an official report by Garda management showed that garda injury rates, including from assaults, are 10 times higher than the average worker.

Details of the report, revealed in the Irish Examiner on Monday, showed an injury rate of 39.7 per 1,000 gardai, compared with a national injury rate of 3.4 per 1,000 employees.

It revealed there were 611 occupational injuries in 2014, including 283 assaults, 103 road traffic collisions, 43 contacts with sharp, pointed, or rough objects; 22 needle-stick injuries or stabbings, and six cases of psychological trauma.

The report found three out of 10 incidents involved the garda being off duty for more than one month.

In another case revealed at the conference, AGSI Donegal delegate Sergeant Paul Wallace told how he ruptured discs in his back after being assaulted by a prisoner in Letterkenny.

We were trying to restrain a prisoner and he lashed out and I came down on some sharp object. I knew I had done serious damage. I soon had pain down my leg.

The net result was I ruptured discs in my back. I was on the ground for six months and had five to six epidurals. I still suffer to this day. I had to attend the Mater Hospital in Dublin, up and down, and still have to go back now and then.

In another incident, Sgt Wallace was punched in the face and had his nose broken. He accepted there was an occupational hazard in being a garda, but said: What we do need is strength in numbers  thats how people end up getting assaulted when theyre on their own. You have one-man patrols cars, its crazy stuff.

Society has changed. Traditional respect is gone, but you are also seen as a target. Look at the water protests: the level of intimidation that was there towards ordinary members.

Sgt Wallace said people dont realise what young members face on the frontline. The late Tony Golden [murdered last October in Louth] was doing a routine call, to go with a lady to retrieve personal belongings from her house in Omeath. You had all the wringing of hands, what is the protocol around this, why was he on his own? The reality is he was the guard working that evening. He went to do a humanitarian call and paid for it with his life.
City councillors have backed calls from residents living around the university urging college bosses to limit the bars opening times during the events as part of wider efforts to curb anti- social behaviour.

The bars currently open at noon but councillors supported a motion from Independent councillor Mick Finn on Monday night to push the opening times back to 5pm during the two week-long events. Mr Finn said it would help pre-empt some of the alcohol-fuelled anti- social issues, and said bar licences in the area should be subject to closer scrutiny.

The Irish Examiner has also learned that gardai are now monitoring up to seven problem houses in the area which have been the focus of repeated complaints about large out-of-control parties.

Mr Finn tabled the motion following a meeting last week of residents involved in the South Central Community Safety Forum.

Forum chairman John ORourke said residents unanimously backed suggestions for restricted college bar opening hours during Rag and Freshers Week. Mr Rourke said he is pro-UCC and accepts it is a minority of students who are responsible for antisocial activity:

But anyone will tell you there are queues a mile long to get into the bars during these weeks. Why should a university have queues for alcohol during the week?

I am sure the college bars are strict on what happens on their premises but the availability of alcohol during the day during these particular weeks cant be helpful.

UCC

We know there are wider issues and we know the restricted opening hours wont solve all the problems but it would be step in the right direction.

During a wide-ranging debate on the motion, Sinn Fein councillor Stephen Cunningham warned that restricted bar hours could increase the prevalence of students drinking in homes. Fellow Sinn Fein councillor Shane OShea said backing the motion would send the right message but he expressed concerns that restricting the bar opening hours would be tokenistic and might not deliver tangible benefits for residents.

Fine Gael councillor John Buttimer said the problem of alcohol availability extends beyond the college gates, and said landlords should be tackled.

But Fianna Fail councillor Tim Brosnan said UCC should get out of the bar business. There shouldnt be any bar on any learning institution, he said.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fail councillor Kenneth OFlynn has called for an overhaul of the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB).

The current systems are ineffective and take far too long to have any real impact. People have simply given up making a complaint because they recognise the system is not working, he said.

Cutbacks to PRTB funding has left it unable to deal effectively with complaints and broader issues. The government needs to reform the PRTB and provide it with additional powers and an increase in resources to ensure it can carry out its work effectively, he said.
Lack of funding for frontline staff at Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, will see more children damaged by neglect  many severely and irreparably  Barnardos CEO Fergus Finlay has warned as figures show that there is a growing number of children in care.

Figures from Tusla show that at the end of January there were 6,371 children in care, with 426 (or 7%) not allocated a social worker.

The most recently available figures for child neglect referrals show it to be a serious problem within the system: in the first nine months of last year Tusla received 3,650 referrals of neglect.

As for open child welfare and protection cases currently under review, there were 25,574 open cases at the end of January  a reduction of 1,081 open cases since the end of December.

A Tusla spokesperson stressed that although each referral involved one child, there could be multiple referrals for an individual child included in the figures, such as a referral received from a GP and at the same time a referral received from a public health nurse or school.

The warning from Barnardos came in the aftermath of the sentencing of a woman in Galway earlier this week for a catalogue of abuse and neglect perpetrated against her children.

The 39-year-old was jailed for four years after six of her children gave evidence of a five-year period of abuse, including how one child was pushed down the stairs by his mother; how she drove a car at two of her children after they had spilled a milkshake; and how others were made to swallow washing-up liquid.

Tusla is reviewing how the children at the centre of this case were left with their mother for five years after she first came to the attention of child protection services.

Mr Finlay said underfunding of Tusla means children are being put at risk.

Fergus Finlay

We know neglect is the main reason for referral into Tusla, yet Tuslas underfunding has meant a dearth of frontline personnel to offer appropriate support and instead it focuses mainly on crisis cases, he said.

Even the additional funding to Tusla given in Budget 2016 is insufficient to shift its focus into a more preventative direction.

Mr Finlay warns that the toll of neglect on individual children is severe and often irreparable, with the potential to adversely affect long-term wellbeing and emotional and psychological trust.

When we know the solution to reducing the scale and severity of neglect, it is imperative that the resources are given to Tusla to ensure it can meet its full obligations, said Mr Finlay.

Failure to invest in prevention and early intervention is a failure to protect vulnerable children. As a society, it is not an area we should scrimp on.

As Mr Finlay referred to recommendations contained in previous reports into child neglect and abuse, such as the Roscommon Case and Kelly Fitzgerald, which urged greater funding, fresh failings in the States foster services were uncovered by RTE.

Its Investigations Unit last night looked at a case in the west of Ireland in which children were left at risk for years despite sexual abuse allegations.

In the separate case which was the focus of last nights Primetime Investigates programme, the foster family involved had until recently continued to provide some support services.
I hope we remember Joao as a champion, who pursued his dream doing what he loved, and show him the eternal respect and admiration he deserves... I was ringside supporting my team-mate, and the fight was so back and forth, that I just cant understand it, said McGregor on Facebook.

It is such a rare occurrence, that I dont know how to take this. To see a young man doing what he loves, competing for a chance at a better life, and then to have it taken away is truly heartbreaking.
The Irish Examiner understands the party has figured out that should Fianna Fail abstain from the vote, a minimum number of TDs would be needed to see Mr Kenny re-elected.

Sources close to the talks said last night that Fine Gael will seek Fianna Fail support to elect a Taoiseachtomorrow and not elect a cabinet until next week.

The hope would be to get the agreement done with Fianna Fail by the end of the week and then you can, over the weekend, finish the arrangements with the Independents, a source said.

All Fine Gael needs is Micheal Martins party to agree to abstain, and they will have sufficient support to see Mr Kenny re-elected.

However, they would require some independent support to operate the minority government.

In terms of a working majority based on a Fianna Fail abstention, Fine Gael could do it with 57 seats, a source said. Fine Gael would like a little bit more, obviously, but that is the minimum number.

The source added that the media black-out is aimed at establishing trust between the two sides, because there is a realisation that should the talks break down, the country would be heading back to the polls.

Trust is going to have to be built up, the source said. Talks are resuming and todays discussions were the big indicator as to what pace things can progress, and the hope is they wont break down. Because if they break down, there is no plan B.

It is understood that the first part of the talks concentrated on how a minority government would work.

Particularly, this would entail exactly what is expected of government, what would be expected of the opposition, and how best to maintain trust between the two sides.

Discussions have also turned to policy matters, and the main sticking points are matters such as Irish Water, the universal social charge, and health.

It is going well but it is this or bust and there are crucial points upon which this could all fall down. The process is more likely to fall on policy, the source said.

Fine Gael have a clear position as do Fianna Fail. There is a deal to be done on water charges. Is there ground upon which a deal could be done? Yes. My feeling is if people want to do a deal, then it can be done.

Fine Gael maintained that they are the ones to lead a minority government.

On Sunday, Frances Fitzgerald stated a Fine Gael minority is the objective.

Fine Gael have stopped saying we are ruling out a Fianna Fail minority, in a bid to be conciliatory and not confrontational, said a source. We are trying not to be antagonistic. But Fianna Fail have ruled out partnership, and Fine Gael have ruled out a Fianna Fail minority.

Sources also confirmed that should agreement not be in place come tomorrow, then postponing the vote is an option.
Yesterday, the European Commission published a draft law requiring corporations with global revenues in excess of 750m to upload detailed profit and tax information on their websites, broken down country by country.

Ireland stops short of requiring public disclosure, asking companies to share information only with tax authorities, a standard adopted last year following an international agreement at the OECD.

However, the commission wants to go further, especially in light of the Panama papers scandal, which revealed how shell companies were being used to shift profits offshore, out of sight of national tax authorities.

Our economies and societies depend on a tax system thats fair, a principle that applies both to individuals and to business, said Jonathan Hill, the EUs financial services commissioner.

Yet today, by using complicated tax arrangements, some multinationals can pay nearly a third less tax than companies that only operate in one country, he said.

The EU estimates that governments lose between $50bn and 70bn a year through companies and individuals that exploit legal loopholes to minimise their tax bills.

The new rules, which need to be approved by a majority of EU countries and the European Parliament, could come into force in 2018.

This proposal and the impact assessment have been prepared by the commission and have not yet been studied or discussed by member states, a spokesman for the Department of Finance said. They will now be discussed by the member states in council and also by the European Parliament.

The spokesman confirmed information disclosed to the tax office under existing rules would remain confidential.

Under the draft EU rules, multinationals such as Apple, Google, and Amazon would be forced to disclose staff numbers and activities at their EU subsidiaries and branches, as well as turnover, profits, taxes due, and taxes actually paid.

They would have to reveal the same details about their operations in a number of tax havens named on a new EU blacklist, and publish an aggregate figure for taxes paid outside the EU.

Since last year, EU banks and extractive and logging companies have been subject to public country by country reporting, but the new rules would catch a further 6000 corporations in their net, including non-EU banks and retail and computer giants.

However, transparency campaigners have said the rules do not go far enough.

Unscrupulous firms will simply move their tax activities to countries not covered by the obligations, said UK Green MEP Molly Scott Cato. We will only have true tax transparency if corporations are obliged to publicly list their profits and tax payments in all countries they do business.

Businesses have also hit out at the proposals, with pan-EU companies federation BusinessEurope saying they make the EU a lone front runner in terms of public disclosure and risk undermining foreign investment in the bloc.
Mr Kelly told a forum on housing and homelessness last month he had wanted to do more to boost social housing and protect renters during his term in office but could not.

I was repeatedly blocked from making provision for what I believed was the common good by the strength by which property rights are protected under Article 43 of the Constitution, he said.

But it has emerged an all-party call, to have social housing specifically provided for in the law on compulsory purchase orders (CPOs), has been ignored for 12 years despite a forewarning of the housing shortage now taking place.

The Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution had also called in 2004 for a progressive charge against developers engaged in land-hoarding when sites were needed for building homes effectively describing the vacant sites levy that is only now being planned but which will not come into effect for another three years and, then, only at a low flat rate.

Both measures were found to be possible within the existing Constitution, raising questions over the ministers claims his hands were tied.

Edmund Honohan, who serves as master of the High Court, penned an open letter to Mr Kelly in response, urging him to use CPOs to buy back repossessed homes from vulture funds for use as social housing, pointing out that CPO law allowed the purchase of property where the common good took priority.

Mr Honohan said he was frustrated the public had been given the impression that private property rights were untouchable.

That view was echoed by Lorcan Sirr, lecturer in housing studies at Dublin Institute of Technology, who said the ministers statement was patently false.

Mr Sirr told RTE Radio that the 456-page 9th Progress Report of the all-party committee in 2004 had addressed the very issues the minister claimed to lack power to tackle.

That reports warns: There is a need for a system of formal land use planning designed to manage and regulate the market for property resources in urban areas. Otherwise the market signals will be distorted and difficulties of accommodation supply will arise.

Mr Sirr said the question was not whether CPOs could be used in this regard but whether they should be used. I think it should be done without a doubt for land thats not being used. There is a huge amount of land that is being sat upon by developers and not being used.

He also said if the minister feared legal challenges, a test case could be brought before the Supreme Court to clear up the matter.

Sinn Fein housing spokesperson Eoin O Broin accused the minister of hiding behind the Constitution and said the new all-party subcommittee on housing and homelessness should convene immediately.

If there is an opportunity to compulsory purchase housing units back from vulture funds who are evicting vulnerable families then that should be looked at seriously, he said. But there is certainly no constitutional block on the building of social housing and the minister should explain his failure in this regard.

The Peter McVerry Trust welcomed the views the housing emergency could be tackled within the existing legal framework and urged those avenues to be explored.

But Karl Deeter of Irish Mortgage Brokers described the ideas as ill thought out, uncosted, untested, risky and perhaps even reckless.

If the State gets into the habit of being able to take property away from people with relative ease then where does it stop? Do we then move on to older people who live alone and who are under-occupying homes? he wrote in his blog.

If we signal to the property market in general that you could lose out any time the state takes a dim view of your plans then it will encourage earlier profit taking and could also have other knock on effects.

The minister did not respond to the calls to produce the legal advice he received.
Peter Kingston, 51, from Nohoval, Co Cork, cried as he listened to an auctioneer calling for bids on the herd being sold off after ACC Loan Management secured a 2.45m judgment against him.

As up to 100 protesters from the New Land League stood outside, Mr Kingston said it was particularly hard for his 77-year-old father, George. Two weeks ago he had to get stents in the heart. Hes aged by about 10 years. The weakest are those affected the most, said Mr Kingston, whose family won the RTE series Irelands Fittest Family in 2014.

He said his father started the dairy farm in 1972 after he had made some money from beekeeping. He always had a passion for cows. He worked all his life here and still lives on the farm.

Peter Kingston started working with his father in 1983, when they had 120 cows. He said he had hoped his eldest son, Richard, 21, would keep up the tradition. But now he said it is likely Richard will hop on a plane to New Zealand to try his hand at dairy farming.

Protesters confront buyers going in to the cattle auction outside Peter Kingstons farm in Nohoval, Co Cork, yesterday. Picture: Eddie OHare

Nobody has died, but to see your life burnt in front of you is very hard. The Phoenix rose from the ashes and Ill do that too, said Mr Kingston.

He said he is concerned he might also lose the family home. A number of private security guards and gardai were present around the farm yesterday as bidders arrived at the auction organised by Sinead McNamara, sheriff of Co Cork.

One New Land League member, who had come from Wicklow, berated a foreign bidder: Did you come here to buy some cheap cows? How would you like it if I came to your country and did that to you?

League spokesman Jerry Beades said around 100 members had come to show solidarity with the Kinston family. He said he fears they are an example of where Irish farming is going, because the government facilitated the selling of debt.

TD Michael Collins said he was there to support the family. Im a farmer too and I think this (auction) is very heavy-handed. There has to be another way and myself and Mattie McGrath will be raising it in the Dail. A more caring society is needed.

Cllr Alan Coleman, a dairy farmer in neighbouring Belgooly, said it was a sad day for the Kingston family and that more farm families may get into similar trouble.

Legislation also has to be changed to allow some money from such sales to be given to unsecured creditors, he said.

Con McCarthy, chairman of West Cork Community Alliance, said banks should work out long-term deals with such families.

This type of sale is appalling, he said.
Benjamin Gillick has cerebral palsy, is quadriplegic, and cannot speak, his counsel, Dermot Gleeson, told the High Court.

He said Benjamin, who is now nearly six, suffered a brain stem injury when he was 11 months old, which should not have happened.

The boy, who now lives in London with his family, underwent a procedure as a baby to drain fluid on the brain at Temple Street Childrens Hospital. A shunt was inserted but he later returned to hospital, vomiting and unwell.

Counsel told the court a shunt infection is a known complication of the procedure and the cause of the negligence was that, for up to three days, this possibility was not investigated. Benjamin got progressively worse, said counsel.

Benjamin, of Knockmaroon Hill, Chapelizod, Dublin, but now living in Putney, London, sued The Childrens University Hospital, Temple St, over his care in April 2011.

It is claimed the hospital was negligent about investigation, diagnosis, management treatment, and care of the shunt infection he presented with on April 9, 2011.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross was told liability has been admitted and the case is before the court for assessment of damages only.

Among the matters being sought in the case is the provision of a home for Benjamin.

Miriam Gillick told the court she, husband Andrew, and their three children live in a three-bedroom apartment on the first floor. Mrs Gillick had given up her job in investment banking to look after her son. The court heard that a house in the Putney region near Benjamins special school could cost in the region of 6.5m.

Counsel said Benjamin has to use a wheelchair and will need constant care for the rest of his life.

At the outset of the hearing yesterday, Mr Justice Cross dismissed an application by the hospital to have the case assessed on the basis of interim payments rather than a once-off lump sum.

The case continues.
Tom Murray, of 10A Wellington Rd, Cork, said he was sorry for what he had done but Judge Con OLeary questioned whether he had any insight or any real remorse.

In voicemails, Murray made threats to his ex and her new partner: I will fucking give it to you and that Kerry man. How can you do that to me after all our time together?

You got me locked up, I will fucking kill him. I hope you are proud of yourself going out with a Kerryman. I will fucking kill him.

You dirty fuck tramp, I will fucking get it off you.

Sergeant Alan McCarthy said similar threats were made in other voicemails.

Michael Joyce, solicitor, said the accused had never been in trouble and that two nights in a cell at Mayfield Garda Station and five nights in Cork Prison had a bad effect on the pensioner and that he had learned his lesson from this and would not be reoffending.

Judge OLeary said he wanted to hear directly from the accused.

Murray said he was sorry. He said the past six months had been horrible but then he went on to complain about the cold conditions in the cell at Mayfield Garda Station. You wouldnt put a wild dog in it, he said. Im a lucky man to be alive. I was freezing to death in there.

When Judge OLeary asked him if he felt that this was harsh in the context of what he had done by way of harassment, Murray replied: I didnt kill anyone.

Judge OLeary asked Murray: What did you do wrong? Murray replied: I made a few phone calls. He went on to say gardai had stolen his phone from him.

Judge OLeary said the accused had no grasp of the wrong he had done, which included death threats to the 65-year-old neighbour with whom he had been in a relationship that ended 10 years previously. He also threatened her new partner and punched a female garda in the face when she approached him about it. The judge said of Murray: He is out of touch with reality. He has no concept of the offences he committed.

The judge said the only reason Murray even said he was sorry was because he did not want to go back to prison but there was no prospect of him not committing similar offences in the future.

Judge OLeary said he would put the case back for six weeks for assessment by the probation service of the suitability of the case to be dealt with through the restorative justice programme.

He may be unsuitable, given his lack of awareness of the gravity of the offence he committed, the judge said.

Sergeant McCarthy said Murray committed 19 counts of harassment which related to various dates from September to December 2015. He also assaulted the woman and her present partner, assaulted Garda Agnieszka Pizlo, and committed four counts of engaging in threatening behaviour.

He was also charged yesterday with 19 counts of harassment of the woman, with whom he had been in a relationship previously, on various dates between September 1 and December 7, 2015.
Former property developer Kevin McGeever has been given a suspended two-year sentence for wasting Garda time by making false reports about being kidnapped at gunpoint three years ago in a bid to dodge his creditors.

Mr McGeever, aged 71, with a former address at Nirvana, Ballywinna, Craughwell, Co Galway, and more recently in Clontarf, Dublin 3, entered the guilty plea moments before the trial was due to begin at Galway Circuit Criminal Court.

In a barely audible voice in front of a large jury panel, McGeever replied guilty to a single charge of giving false information to gardai on dates between January 29 and February 28, 2013.

The facts in a second charge of giving false information  where he told gardai he had been falsely imprisoned, assaulted, and threatened with harm during the same six-week period  were also admitted.

The sentence hearing was told McGeever fabricated the entire story in a bid to shake off Irish and international creditors who lost money in failed investments he had undertaken on their behalf in Dubai, following the economic crash in 2008.

Detective John Keating told the court that McGeever was found by a local couple lying on the side of the road near Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, at 9.40pm on January 29, 2013.

They noticed a man on the side of the road, 7km from Ballinamore, he said.

He appeared to be down and out. He appeared to be in very poor condition. They gave him a lift to Ballinamore. He said he had been dumped on the side of the road from the back of a van.

The couple told him they would bring him to Ballinamore Garda Station, but he declined and asked to be taken to Carrick-on-Shannon and not to a Garda station. They insisted on bringing him to Ballinamore Garda Station.

McGeever told gardai in Ballinamore he had been abducted at gunpoint from his property in Craughwell on May 27, 2012.

Gardai were concerned about his medical condition, as he was in bad physical shape. he was transferred briefly to Mullingar hospital.

He subsequently gave eight statements to gardai alleging that he had been kidnapped, assaulted, and ill-treated.

Det Keating said that McGeever was consistent in all his statements that he had been abducted at gunpoint from his home and held 6m underground in a steel container for eight months, with no lighting, heating, or sanitary facilities.

He said a six-week investigation got under way, involving 19 gardai, most of whom worked exclusively on the probe because of the claims McGeever made of being kidnapped at gunpoint.

A total of 3,038 man-hours, costing the taxpayer 86,851 in Garda travel expenses and subsistence allowances, was spent on the investigation, he said.

A large number of inquiries were carried out around the country and a number of anomalies appeared, said Det Keating.

I was of the opinion he had fabricated his version of his abduction.

McGeever was arrested in Craughwell on March 14, 2013. He was brought to Gort Garda Station and interviewed on four occasions.

He maintained his stance and continued with the pretence during the first three interviews, but during the fourth interview, he made full admissions that he had fabricated his story to the gardai and he gave his reasons for doing so, said Det Keating.

When McGeever finally came clean to gardai, he said: Im very relieved to get this off my chest and I wish to thank the gardai.

Im very sorry for wasting the very valuable man-hours of the gardai.

John Jordan, defending, told the sentence hearing his client would be 72 this year.

He did something incredibly stupid because of certain stress factors in his life at the time, he said, adding that his long-term partner died of terminal cancer in November 2013.

Mr Jordan explained that McGeever got involved in property developments in Dubai. However, after the worldwide recession in 2008, considerable money was owed to investors, particularly here in Ireland, and he was under pressure from those creditors to make good on those investments.

Det Keating agreed with counsel that McGeever had hoped that by creating the account of his kidnapping a number of his creditors would back off and have nothing more to do with him.

He said McGeever spent 16 days on remand in Castlerea prison in July and August 2013 before taking up bail.

Mr Jordan said that, by pleading guilty, McGeever had saved the State the further expense of running a trial in front of a jury.

Judge Rory McCabe said the gardai have enough to do rather than chase false trails.

He noted McGeever had only pleaded guilty at the last moment in a trial which had been estimated to take two weeks.

In mitigation, he said the guilty plea was of considerable value in not wasting the courts time and brought some justice for the taxpayers, whom he said were ultimately footing the bill.

Taking McGeevers age and previous good record into account, he said the appropriate sentence was two years in prison.

If I send him to prison, the taxpayer will have to pay for his upkeep; to house, clothe, and feed him, so I will suspend the sentence for five years, said the judge.
The airline launched the third year of its Always Getting Better (AGB) programme, focusing on improved service, through digital and inflight developments.

As well as the usual promise of even lower airfares, the innovations will see new aircraft interiors featuring slimline seats, more leg room, coat hooks, LED lighting, and less yellow.

From May, its also introducing a one-click payment system on its app where customers can pay instantly for reserved seats, priority boarding, fast-track security, and upgrading to leisure or business plus.

July will see the launch of its Leisure Plus service which will allow customers to pay for reserved seats, priority boarding, and a 20kg bag as part of a bundle.

The airline is introducing a My Ryanair Club which offers members discounts and 24-hour priority access to seat sales, while its improve Business Plus service offers more flexible ticketing, more fast-track airports, and auto-check-in options.

A new Rate my flight app will allow customers to rate flights and the service they experience from May.

Simplified baggage options are also on the way, as well as an improved Digital Gift Vouchers service. Destination guides are to be added to the website, app, and emails. Its digital offerings will also contain event and restaurant discounts. The airline will also create a dedicated travel agency for school tours.

It has also allocated one plane from its fleet to be used as a corporate jet for part of the year. It will cost around 5,000 per hour.

Ryanairs chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs, says the efforts to improve customer service have been a huge success.

The continued drive to improve our customer experience has been reflected in the record passenger numbers and load factors we have had over the past two years, and we are pleased to launch Year 3 of our Always Getting Better programme, he said.

Mr Jacobs said: The one thing that wont change will be our low fares, and well continue to offer the biggest and best choice of destinations, with the most on-time flights and a fantastic onboard experience, as we grow our fleet, traffic and routes. The move towards a more pleasant customer experience was acknowledged by Ryanair CEO Michael OLeary last year when he said he should have done it years ago.

If Id only known that being nice to customers was going to be so good for my business I would have done it years ago...Everybody loves a converted sinner. We have learned humility, which when youre Irish thats a tough lesson to learn. Humility doesnt come easy to us and that we have to keep learning and listening to our customers, he said.
The now 12-year-old child also told a Central Criminal Court jury that his father raped him and regularly sexually abused him with a hot poker in their Waterford home, as well as holding a gun to his head and threatening to kill him he if told anyone.

He said he believed he was raped about once a month for a three-and-a-half year period from when he was aged six years old.

His parents face a total of 82 charges of abuse between 2007 and 2011 in Waterford. The father and mother have pleaded not guilty to 16 counts each of sexual exploitation and one charge each of child cruelty. The mother has also denied 16 counts of sexual assault, while the father denies 16 counts of anal rape and 16 counts of sexual assault with a poker.

The child was giving evidence via video-link and with the help of an intermediary who explained questions to him. This is the first time an intermediary has been used in an Irish court. Several other measures were taken by the court for his welfare.

The child was not required to take an oath but Mr Justice Robert Eagar told the jury that he had established that he knew the difference between truth and lies.

Hed hit me, hed rape me, hed force me to do a lot of stuff that I didnt want to do, the boy told Pauline Walley, prosecuting, referring to his father.

He said that, three or four times a week, his father would take a fire poker and he would put it up me and put it on me and burn me and it would hurt. He said he would sometimes be left bleeding afterwards. The poker was a little bit like a hot shower; not terribly hot but warm enough to still burn you, he said. He initially said his father had not put anything else inside him but went on to allege he also put his penis inside him.

His father owned knives, a sword, and 50 guns and 50 bullets the child said. He said he would threaten him using these.

It was alleged that the father also made the boy watch videos of naked men, women, and children having sex.

The child said his father always forced us to have sex, me and my mum. He would threaten us, basically if you dont do this, I will kill you.

The boy also alleged that his father would video tape his rape of the child and the incidents with his mother. He said people would come to the house and his father would show them the tapes.

The witness said he went into school one day and was told he was going to someone elses house. From that day on I was in foster care.

The trial continues.
They issued the warning during a protest on the steps of Corks City Hall before Mondays city council meeting  the second such housing protest at City Hall in recent weeks.

Some of the protesters said they are so desperate they are considering taking down the shuttering and moving into the vacant homes, to avoid being sent to emergency accommodation, including homeless shelters.

Members of the group have been highlighting the sheer volume of vacant council homes lying idle and boarded-up across the city. The most recent figure stands at 361.

Lisa Moran, 45, who has been on the housing waiting list for almost 20 years, has to vacate her rented accommodation on Friday. She is facing life in a bed and breakfast. They wanted me to go into a shelter. I even had to fight them for the B&B, she said. I was in a similar situation a good few years ago but it was easy to get rented accommodation at the time.

Protesters on the steps of Cork City Hall on Monday night calling on the council to open up vacant council houses.

Its impossible now to get rented accommodation. I could be stuck like this for months. I just dont know.

She criticised the length of time it takes to return vacant council homes to use, and said the money being spent on emergency accommodation could be used to repair the local authority homes and return them to use. This could be solved if they all put their heads together, she said.

Eileen McCarthy said her daughter, Sarah, 26, and her children, aged eight and four, had to leave emergency accommodation at Travelodge last Monday and present herself at Edel House.

Other than that, it was the street, she said.

They say she could be there for up to eight months.

As an adult, you can kind of cope to an extent. But how do you explain to children?

She asked me how am I going to organise the communion for the little fella, from a hostel, and I said youre going to just have to do it. Ms McCarthy said her daughter has been on the housing waiting list for eight years and has never been offered a home.

There are houses empty all over the city. I agree with these people  they are so frustrated.

I can see why they want to take the boards off the houses, change the locks, go to the Credit Union and get a loan, and do the houses up themselves, she said.
Marks & Spencer debuts a collaboration with fashion darling Alexa Chung today.

The British model and TV presenter has reinterpreted 31 pieces from M&Ss clothing archive for the first in a series of Archive by projects aimed at buoying the high-street heavyweights fashion sales figures.

CEO Marc Bolland announced his decision to step down in January following a larger-than-expected 5.8% fall in festive-period clothing sales.

The challenge of attracting young womens wear customers to M&S, while keeping the stores older core-base happy, predates Bollands six-year tenure, but has grown more urgent with increased competition.

Chung was first linked with the brand last year, when her apparent affection for a faux-suede midi-skirt (sold for an atypically luxe 199), was credited with helping boost womens wear sales in the first quarter.

Taking a risk on edgy high-fashion collaborations, such as H&Ms with Maison Martin Margiela, would be completely off-brand for mums favourite retailer.

Recent projects have blended name recognition with mild creative impact. Models Jourdan Dunn and Dave Gandy did 2015 capsule collections for children and men, respectively.

Chungs pieces were first unveiled at a London Fashion Week party in February. While clearly designed to suit a variety of body types, they are quite her. You can certainly picture her pairing the Eliza dress, a blue and lime Paisley-print mini, with lace-up ballet flats.

The Hattie lemon camisole would work with her favourite Balenciaga skinny jeans. Chung modelled the Frances long trench-coat on the day. The double-breasted 70s style will be available in khaki or black and certainly looks like something she might keep in her wardrobe.

The Alexa Factor is comparable to the Kate Factor (Moss or Middleton), but less briefly explained.

Chung is an interesting Voguette-muse-it girl hybrid that manages to combine various telly and product- endorsement jobs with a contributing editorship and an international, eminently Insta-worthy social life. She did not get the fashion worlds attention through modelling or her man, though both made her more familiar to the general public.

Alex Chung wears vintage for Marks & Spencer, mums favourite retailer whose push to attract younger women has grown more urgent due to increased high-street competition.

Chung modelled for CosmoGIRL! and mass-market brands like Sunsilk and Urban Outfitters in her teens and early 20s. She spent 2006 through 2008 interviewing bands and covering music festivals for Channel 4 and its youth satellites.

Her on-air style was as high-street and colourful as any youth TV presenters, but her looks often seemed inspired by female musicians. Amy Winehouses feline eyeliner and 50s knee-socks. Florence Welchs Victorian nightie-dresses and 70s mens wear.

Chung cites the Kills Alison Mosshart, a Floridian punk princess dressed as a New York Doll, as a style idol in a 2010 Vogue UK piece.

On her small wardrobe budget from Channel 4, she dressed like the girl with the band, even before her four-year relationship with Arctic Monkey Alex Turner.

There is a paean to groupie chic in It, her 2013 monograph. Many of the trends for which she is famous may not have originated with her but she was there, man.

Chung checks out the wardrobe at the high street retailer.

Like Pattie Boyd or Jerry Hall, she wore them like a model and made you want to get her look. Chung tells online style-hub Into The Gloss shes been enamoured of high-fashion since childhood, but the luxury industry didnt really sit up and take notice until she began interviewing designers in 2008.

As a roving reporter on Goks Fashion Fix, I went to a Chanel show because I had to interview Karl Lagerfeld and everyone thought I was there as one of the It girls that sit front row, but I went backstage because I was working. I walked up to talk to Karl and his bodyguard told me that I could do the very last interview.

"The only thing I could remember about the show was the music, so I asked why he played The Shirelles. He was really happy because someone was asking a new type of question for once, and my relationship with Chanel kind of grew out of that.

She also interviewed Roberto Cavalli, Margherita Missoni, and Jean Paul Gaultier for the Channel 4 show.

Once theyd been like, Shes all right guys, the fashion world was like, Oh!? Whos this guy? and I started doing more and more [fashion shows]. So, suddenly people became interested in what I was wearing.

Her relationship with Chanel actually involves being a some-time muse to Lagerfeld, as well as appearing in the brand regularly on red carpets and sitting front row at shows. She also made the 2.55 quilted handbag as part of her street style.

And her couture ties extend far beyond Chanel. Designers Erdem Moralioglu and her friend Henry Holland have called her their muse.

Her red-carpet history is as replete with Valentino and Saint Laurent as any A-listers. The Mulberry Alexa bag dominated the 2010 accessories market (she had no hand in designing the satchel-tote but lent a forearm to promoting it). Churchs footwear, creator of her favourite brogues, is another British heritage name to benefit from her influence.

Style icon is a label too liberally applied these days but her three British Fashion Council British Style Awards mean something. US brands AG Jeans and Madewell brought her on board to create capsule collections after she took her TV career transatlantic in 2009.

MTVs Its On with Alexa Chung was short-lived but New York fashion-types were smitten.

Chungs real strength is styling.

Mixing purse-friendly, accessible clothes with designer pieces is typical of most social media-savvy celebrities, but she does put herself together especially well.

It is of course the perfect title for her collection of personal photos, funny doodles and essays on her favourite film characters (Wednesday Addams, Margot Tenenbaum) and fashion basics (denim cut-offs, a navy jumper, a leather jacket).

By the last page youre certain she is very likeable, but the signature style that keeps her 2.2m Instagram fans fixated remains elusive.

The 60s and 70s starlets that influence her wardrobe are not new references (who doesnt love how Diane Keaton and Charlotte Rampling dressed?).

She freely cops to ripping off Jane Birkin and Francoise Hardy when it comes to makeup. Like any woman interested in clothes, she adores Kate Moss and is in complete awe of Karl Lagerfeld.

By all appearances, Chung is simply a beautiful fashion nerd who works extremely hard.

And maybe that is all there is about it, but M&S is surely hoping she will exert the same effect on young customers that she herself attributes to Moss: Shes paid very well to sell us things that we might previously have had no interest in buying.

Thats because anything she puts on her body is instantly transformed to the coolest thing ever. Archive by Alexa will be available at marksandspencer.ie, Marks & Spencer Cork and at Dublins Dundrum, Mary St, Grafton St, and Liffey Valley stores.
IN February of this year, I celebrated two years off Facebook. The worlds largest social network was an addiction I didnt care to endure any longer so deactivating delivered to me immense freedom with minimal residual regret. It took me six years of Facebooking to realise that  unlike one-seventh of the worlds population it was not for me. Vacating ones account is easy but ignoring the early powerful cravings that followed was quite tricky and comparable to quitting cigarettes.

These pangs were heightened by the fact that I live abroad. Most of my friends and all of my immediate family live in Ireland, and I have lived in Canada fort four years.

Despite this, after one month of Facebook sobriety, it was smooth sailing. I began emailing and calling people more and got a Whatsapp account to regularly keep in touch with my true friends. When I left Facebook, my friend tally was 411. Id be close to, or acquaintances with, about three-quarters of that number and the rest I really just dont know. I could honestly walk past someone on the street who was from the depths of my online friends barrel and not even give them a glance.

Eoin Weldon quit Facebook cold turkey because he says he grew weary of Mark Zuckerbergs false, demanding creation.

So if I didnt engage them in the street why should I feel the need to have them listed as my friend for all the world to see. Its just fake. Facebook is an illusion. It is also very like orientated and barely resembles real life. Hardly surprising then that excessive Facebooking is linked with depression and awakening the green-eyed monster in those that were once jealousy free.

I feel like 90% t of people on there only show the best parts of their lives. A manicured version of their existence, a facade. Most human beings dont like to dwell on whats negative in their lives, understandably, and Facebook plays into this perfectly. It offers people the chance to edit and preen their lives down to a fine detail and hide all the flaws. So dont expect to see a profile picture of someone being led away in handcuffs any time soon.

My reasons for leaving Facebook were not, however, rooted in depression or envy. I was tired it all. Exhausted of criticising myself for stupidly watching the like meter and worn out by the invisible duty and pressure of it all. Id spend disproportionate amounts of time trying to perfectly word an interesting or funny status update and if it didnt deliver an above average tally of likes this irritating, subtle void would appear within.

Those sitting on the fence should analyse the obligations Facebook places on you.

A person can feel obliged to like posts from a large slice of their acquaintances. Failing to do so over an extended period of time may be interpreted as a friendship waning by the other parties. Paranoid? Maybe a little, but its not a ridiculous notion. Then theres the time-consuming, very public comment threads and in the background your PMs are dinging away. It robs us of so much precious time.

On top of this, Facebook has been sullied by several privacy scandals and now makes a killing from selling our information to the highest bidder.

Quitting will free up lots of time to try new things and productivity levels will rise. Quitting allows you to meet those peripheral friends or acquaintances by chance. Enjoy catch-up conversations and be genuinely surprised when they tell you something special has happened in their life. It beats clinically clicking a button the moment the news is posted along with all the other sheep. Allow some surprise and mystery back into your life. Do we really need to know everything that happens to everyone the moment it happens?

Thankfully there are signs of hope and change. I recently returned home to Ireland to see friends and family. I decided to have a hastily-organised stag do and needed to message a group of people in a hurry.

After much deliberation I admitted defeat and reluctantly accepted that the best way to group message people was through Facebook. So I decided to sneak back on and reactivate my account for the week I was home for this sole purpose. I was a non-posting, non-liking ghost the whole seven days and here, in the belly of the beast, was where I found a nugget of hope. I checked my profile for the first time in about 2 years and noticed that my friend count had dropped from 411 to 386.

Now, Im no saint but Im pretty sure 25 of my friends from around the globe didnt delete my deactivated, harmless zombie account for me running my mouth down the local pub ten years ago.

This was a gratifying moment as it confirmed that there were probably more like me. Maybe just a few, but a few nonetheless had also grown weary of Zuckerbergs false, demanding creation
"Two is doable, a friend warned when I was pregnant with number three.

But youre goosed with the third. Once this baby comes, people will run for cover.

The friend, a father-of-three, was speaking from experience.

Offers to babysit would dry up and I would never again have a child-free weekend unless I could organise and mobilise faster than Napoleon.

I put his theory to the test when offered an overnight stay in the capital.

If Hannibal could cross the Alps with half his force intact, and a couple of elephants, three children were hardly an obstacle.

I put out a few feelers for a babysitter, but with no take-up locally, I headed for the outlaws in Roscommon. It was a circuitous route to Dublin but beggars cant be choosers.

And so on a Baltic night, we pulled up, child-free, outside the Cliff Townhouse on St Stephens Green, a mere seven hours after departure.

The warmth of the vaulted entrance hall awash with twinkling Christmas lights was a joy to the travel weary.

We were shown upstairs to our Parkview room overlooking St Stephens Green.

A plaque on the door gave a nod to one of our literary legends.

With its double sash windows, Georgian-style writing desk and original marble fireplace, it was a fitting tribute to the poet WB Yeats.

In fact it was Georgian Dublin at its finest  but then youd expect nothing less when overnighting in what was once home to the Earl of Shelbourne.

While I freshened up, my other half drove to the nearby St Stephens Green carpark where, for the very reasonable sum of 17.50, he deposited the car for 24 hours.

Because of its central location, the Townhouse does not have visitor parking, but an agreement with the carpark operator means Townhouse patrons get good value for money.

We had plenty of time to fit in a visit to the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) the following day, as well as a leisurely browse around Temple Bar.

IMMA (on the Luas line) is well worth a visit if only to see the Asgards final resting place, the yacht infamous for its involvement in the 1914 Howth gun running.

Back at the Townhouse, we headed downstairs for dinner to the Oyster Bar & Restaurant, zinging with festive spirit.

First stop, drinks at the bars marble-topped counter where amiable barman Sean Tiernan guided us through the extensive menu.

We had previously enjoyed fine dining at the hands of Dutch Michelin-star chef Martijn Kajuiter at the Cliff House in Ardmore, Co Waterford, and so had high expectations of this sister hotel and restaurant.

Sean Smith is the chef putting in the hours on the ground in Dublin  he previously worked under Richard Corrigan when the Oyster was known as Bentleys.

On the recommendation of Mr Tiernan, I opted for Dublin Bay Prawns Tempura while my other half had Irish crab.

The tempura was to die for. The crab, fabulous.

Next up, fish pie for himself, which, in a seafood restaurant, is unlikely to hit a bum note.

I had Atlantic halibut on a bed of grilled leeks, cockles, muscles, and chives.

I can never hope to replicate such perfection in my own kitchen. I had rhubarb jelly for desert  sounds basic, taste  superlative.

The wines were recommended by Biago, the Italian head waiter, and my advice is to let him steer you. I had both red and white Italian wines and they were divine.

As a little treat, he brought us a beautiful glass of Armagnac, as lovely to inhale as to sip.

Overall, a top-notch feed in the most convivial of surroundings where restaurant supervisor Bim kept the show going with the skill of an orchestra conductor.

After dinner we headed upstairs to an elegant cocktail bar adjacent to a private dining room, a popular spot for milestone celebrations such as engagements and birthdays, and special occasion lunches, both mid-week and weekends.

I didnt venture beyond this bar  the Arctic weather and a very full belly put paid to any notions of a pub crawl and to be honest, I had no interest in leaving the Townhouse.

It was a late night so the super kingsize bed with its crisp white sheets was a joy to roll into.

Breakfast the next morning was equally appreciated, starting with freshly squeezed orange juice, followed by fresh fruit salad with Glenilen Yoghurt.

I followed up with eggs florentine with spinach which again, I can never hope to replicate.

All of this was served to the accompaniment of freshly prepared breads.

We made pigs of ourselves rounding off with pastries and coffee but it was simply too good not to.

After checkout, we headed out around the city and the location of the Townhouse makes this incredibly easy, sited, as it is, in a neighbourhood steeped in culture and history.

In fact the Townhouse is pretty much the ultimate destination for a weekend city break, a stones throw from Grafton St and Temple Bar and just a 10-minute walk to Trinity College.

A particular point of interest for the year thats in it are the bullet holes in the facade of the nearby Royal College of Surgeons  a legacy of 1916 Easter Rising when rebel forces occupied the building.
Mutterings that the contentious issue of Irish Water was due to be discussed leaked out from the Sycamore Room yesterday and if the Civil War rivals can come to agreement on that, anything is possible.

The negotiators may not have got around to the water issue, but one thing that certainly was on the agenda was the nuts and bolts of forming a minority government.

Both parties exchanged position papers on the parameters and structures around supporting a minority government before the negotiating teams agreed to meet again today.

While talks between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael may now have moved on from the 10-minute leaders huff of last week and into the earnest stage of deliberations, the workings of actual government have ground to a halt.

Files are now stacking up and gathering dust on ministerial desks in every department as decisions are left unmade by the caretaker ministers awaiting ejection from their padded leather seats.

While the homeless crisis and spiraling problems in the health sector have been well flagged, other issues are now also emerging, which cannot be addressed without a government in place.

Although the country has been ticking along now for 46 days without a government in situ, what started off as minor issues are beginning to fester under the surface like massive untreated boils.

Yesterday one of those blisters burst the surface when frustrated gardai agreed to mount a campaign of industrial action over pay and lined up to march in uniform to Leinster House, risking a prison term if they do so.

The head of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) John Jacob said he would be willing to be jailed for taking part in pickets if no progress on pay is made before June.

At the AGSIs conference yesterday, Mr Jacob told fellow members of the force: I have a family holiday booked for the end of June, and right now, unless theres progress on pay discussion [with the AGSI], I dont know if Ill be going on that holiday with my family or going to prison for causing disaffection.

But, colleagues, Im prepared to do that.

And the anger any new government must address does not stop there. Teachers who have rejected the new Junior Cycle reforms will have to be consulted before returning to school in September, leaving the new education minister  whoever he or she may be  with a long summer of negotiations.

As well as dealing with unruly teachers, any new Education Minister will also have a report on third-level education as a welcome note on their desk, requiring serious decisions to be made.

The long anticipated Cassells report was delivered to acting Education Minister Jan OSullivan last month. She may have taken a peek inside the covers but certainly wont be making any decisions before she and her fellow Labour TDs jump over to the opposition benches.

In the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Finance memos and warnings on Britons exit from Europe are sure to be blocking pigeon holes and postboxes.

With Britons going to the polls in June, Ireland will have to formulate and maintain a firm stance on Brexit which could have major repercussions for this country.

Yesterday, the International Monetary Fund warned that the planned referendum has already created uncertainty for investors and could inflict severe economic damage on Europe if it is passed.

It is true that, unlike the permanent civil servants, ministers come and go and make little impact on their departments.

But ministers are also the ones holding the rubber stamps.

While this weeks progress between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael is to be welcomed, there will be a mountain of work for any new administration to tackle once it enters power.

The sooner talks conclude successfully the better so government can get on with the business of governing.
Its a consequence which will arrive soon if its coming at all. Ultimately the significance of the hiatus over forming a government, will be about how government is done. Expectations of new politics now, as for a democratic revolution before, will be overdone and disappointed. Whatever its form, it will overwhelmingly resemble what went before, except there will be a great deal of gyration, day-to-day, issue-to-issue. That, however, will be froth. The bigger issue is whether, in terms of governance, much will change. I think a little can.

The obsession with outward form  the horse trading  obscures already accomplished changes in function. Simply put, politics was already changing incrementally even during the apparently immutable tenure of the former two-and-a-half-party system, now disappeared. Electoral results are a symptom of that, not their cause per se, though they do give momentum. The continuing change in function is evidenced by the social transformation of a conservative, hierarchical society over 40 years, within essentially the same structures.

In terms of political form not a lot changed until 2011, between the banning of John McGaherns novel The Dark in 1965 and the arrival of same-sex marriage 50 years later. A fundamentally different society had arrived none the less.

What prompted social change and an increased questioning of authority is complex. Certainly education and technology are powerful forces. Radio and television first, and an explosion in the automation of society caused by the IT revolution flattens hierarchy. With everyone a desktop publisher, enabled to speak globally in an instant, what need now of politics or pulpit? That power is turned sour, however, because noise is the new silence. Everyone is screaming but nobody is listening. The ultimate torment to the ego is the moment when, finally enabled, you are ultimately ignored.

The shenanigans yesterday at the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors annual conference underline that. The popular appeal of insurgency has spread to the extent where, well-paid and extraordinarily well-pensioned senior gardai would prefer to populate the prison cells themselves than police others into them. If only the great McGahern, the son of a Garda sergeant, were still with us. There is a novel in it.

When the modus operandi of gardai, paid from public taxes and enabled by swathes of legal powers and privilege, blend effortlessly with those they are to police, we have a sense of the change that has arrived.

It is this society that negotiations for the formation of a government belatedly, but only partially, reflect. The slow fracturing of political support, over decades, became more fundamental in 2011  and 2016 reflects ever quickening, fundamental alteration. Harrumphing by political beasts after the general election  from within the remaining primordial forest, resembling hardly a clump of bushes in its diminished grandeur  for a grand coalition to shore-up the status quo underlines both how far we have come and the farce of imagining we are ever going back. What is coming may not be better but it will be irrevocably different.

Over decades practically every great citadel of Irish authority has been besieged, assaulted, breached.

Clergy and politicians have had to significantly change how they manage their internal affairs and relate to the community at large. The prospect of a minority government, genuinely responsible to the Dail and dependent on it, represents less a challenge to politics which is famously flexible, as to the larger, often more powerful reality of the permanent state behind it. If changes in how government is done in the 32nd Dail last long enough to stick, regardless of how incremental they are, this may be its best lasting legacy.

The reality of government is that the 15 at the cabinet table are as much in the chorus as leading actors. Partly this is because the scale of modern government is so complex it is beyond the capacity of any minister, however talented to actually manage their department. It is also a consequence of an unresolved dysfunction of our political system where the skills required to get elected do not coincide with those required to lead complex organisations. Most fundamentally those charged with the actual management and detailed accounting are burdened with almost none of the real responsibility.

If any sliver of new politics arrives, its challenge will be felt within the comfort zone of the senior civil and public service. A state has only two functions  to declare war and raise taxes. Keeping the peace, protecting the people in an Irish context, is why An Garda Siochana was established. Raising taxes is how we pay for that service and others we require.

It is the job of politicians to make policy decisions on what is important. Often they fail to do so well or coherently. But, once made, policy decisions must be delegated for implementation. It is at exactly this juncture  the high-level handover between policy and administration  that failures happen most often, most egregiously.

A more accountable government, answering to an empowered Dail by default, if not by design, will lean more heavily on senior management, insisting it stand over its remarkably undefined realm of responsibility. In return, this will ensure an unhealthy cosiness is replaced by greater rigour.

The current dysfunction is underlined by the fact the negotiating teams of politicians can receive briefings on budgetary matters behind closed doors from the Department of Health, but neither the public nor Dail, has formally heard anything. It is the equivalent of buying a car without an NCT.

In the officers mess of the senior service, in Garda barracks and in school staff rooms, there is an entrenched begrudgery and cussedness. Some is festering resentment at relative status reduction. None of those roles, in a more complex society with more opportunity, have the standalone importance they used to.

Those up the ranks know they shafted new colleagues all the better to preserve their own entitlements. Their new colleagues know it too. More fundamentally, as once clergy and politicians were, public service leaders are swivel-eyed at the dislocation of authority and accountability which they have not adjusted to.

Once CCTV was an instrument of authority, the better to watch and hold others to account. Now every gurrier with a gizmo is equipped with the equivalent. It is a metaphor for surveillance being turned on the watchmen. It is part of a profound dislocation and readjustment with which, this week, we see senior gardai and politicians grappling, the latter much more adeptly.

The election result reflects the diffusion of society. It is a reality, unreformed public services, occluded behind the shelter break of politics, must adjust to within the scope of taxes it is prudent for the state to raise.

Perhaps a cooling-off period in the cells would be no bad thing.
The exploitation of a horrendous act by a rogue and clearly disturbed member of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to further a morally-defective Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) strategy is a distortion of one of the most stringent orders of a moral army operating in a moral vacuum.

The IDF has very strict rules of engagement. Once an enemy has been neutralised and no longer poses an immediate threat to you or anyone else, they may not be fired upon. Both defence minister Moshe Yaalon and chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot declared that the IDF would not back up breaches of orders and norms.

Yaalon went further and condemned ministers and members of the Knesset who chose to attack the IDF for the manner in which it was dealing with the event.

The position of the IDF is therefore clear: it will not support any soldier who is guilty of ignoring its stringent rules of engagement. This stands in stark contrast to the indiscriminate terror attacks of Hamas which confront the young IDF soldiers on a daily basis.

Without equivocation, this young IDF member appears to have committed a murder.

However, he and his colleagues who are almost all in the 18-22 age bracket have been under constant assault since last summer. Yet, Ms Lawlor makes no mention that al-Sharif had attempted to murder these soldiers by stabbing them, and had in fact succeeded in seriously wounding one of them before being shot by a solider operating completely outside of the chain of command.

As for her accusation that Israel is building more illegal settlements, perhaps she might like to enlighten the Irish public to the fact that the European Union, in an effort to establish a de facto Palestinian state, has used their tax euro to build more than a thousand structures in Area C, which is, according to the Oslo Accords, entirely under Israeli jurisdiction.

Despite controlling this area under international law, Israel has not reacted to this provocation. Furthermore, even though the Palestinian Authority owed it more than 1.7 billion Shekels (400 million), the Israeli Electric Corporation keeps supplying power to cities like Jericho for humanitarian purposes.

Dr Kevin McCarthy

Kinsale

Co Cork
Col Chapman, who describes himself as a child recovery specialist, said executives at the Nine Networks 60 Minutes programme told him to sharpen his pencil when he quoted them A$150,000 (101,000) late last year to get the children, Lahala, 6, and Noah, 4, out of Lebanon.

The childrens Australian mother, Sally Faulkner, a four-member crew from Nine, two British agents from the Britain-based Child Abduction Recovery International company (CARI), and two Lebanese men are in police custody in Beirut over a bungled attempt last week to smuggle the children out of the country.

They could be charged within days.

The crew were recording from a car window on April 6 as the two CARI agents grabbed the children from their grandmother and a domestic servant at a south Beirut bus stop.

Mr Chapman said his business, Child Recovery Australia, would never let a media client direct their operations during a child recovery attempt to suit filming priorities and deadlines. The reason 60 didnt go with us is we were dearer and we dont work with media, not in that sense anyway, said Mr Chapman.

Nine refused to say whether it paid for CARIs bid to retrieve the children. Ms Faulkner accuses her ex-husband, Ali al-Amin, of taking them from Australia last year without her permission.

She declined to say whether the network had ever been in negotiations with Mr Chapman.

Lebanese authorities had a signed statement from one of the CARI agents in custody that said the network had paid A$115,000 for the operation, Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.

The custody dispute between Ms Faulkner, 29, and her ex-husband has been going on for several years, and Australia media have reported that he took the two children to Lebanon for a holiday last year but did not return.

Lebanons state news agency reported that state prosecutor Claude Karam would move forward with his investigation after receiving the police report Monday.

An investigative court will take testimonies from the suspects. They will be allowed translators and lawyers at their hearings, a judicial official said.
The QI host was slammed for sneering: Were very sorry your uncle touched you but self-pity gets none of my sympathy.

A social media backlash branded the comics remarks dangerous. Fry, 58 and the president of mental health charity Mind, on a US chat show, also told victims to grow up .

Its a great shame and were all very sorry that your uncle touched you in that nasty place  you get some of my sympathy  but your self-pity gets none of my sympathy, he said on The Rubin Report.

Self-pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity. Get rid of it, because no ones going to like you if you feel sorry for yourself.

The irony is well feel sorry for you, if you stop feeling sorry for yourself. Just grow up.

Social media users were quick to hit back, with one writing:  The ugliest emotion in humanity. Says the man who deleted his Twitter account over being criticised for a sexist comment.

Another vented on Twitter about the comic, who promotes mental health campaigns and has spoken about his depression and bipolar disorder: Ugh, stupid rape victims not wanting to relive what happened to them. Thank god Stephen Fry is here to tell them to grow up.

Mental health author Emily Reynolds told The Sun: Its surprising, as a mental health campaigner himself, that hes not more empathetic. Its incredibly irresponsible to tell victims of trauma to grow up.

Fry recently quit Twitter after he was criticised for describing award-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan as a bag lady because of her dress sense.
A vote in the full lower house is expected to take place on Sunday. If two thirds vote in favour, the impeachment will be sent to the Senate.

If the upper house decides by a simple majority to put Ms Rousseff on trial, she will immediately be suspended for up to six months while the Senate decides her fate, and vice-president Michel Temer will take office as acting president.

It would be the first impeachment of a Brazilian president since 1992, when Fernando Collor de Mello resigned moments before his conviction by the Senate.

A former leftist guerrilla, Ms Rousseff has denied any wrongdoing and rallied the rank and file of her Workers Party to oppose what she has called a coup against a democratically-elected president.

Speaking to thousands of supporters in Rio de Janeiro, Ms Rousseffs predecessor and Workers Party founder Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Brazilian business elites were pressuring lawmakers to remove the president.

Lula, who is under investigation in a graft probe, said he had convinced Ms Rousseff to return to policies that favoured Brazils poor.

Caught in a political storm fuelled by Brazils worst recession in decades and the countrys biggest corruption scandal, Ms Rousseff has lost key coalition allies in Congress, including her main partner, Mr Temers PMDB party.

The rift between Mr Rousseff and her vice president reached breaking point on Monday after an audio message of Mr Temer calling for a government of national unity was released apparently by mistake, further muddying Brazils political water.

Mr Temers 14-minute audio message sent to members of his own PMDB party via the WhatsApp messaging app showed he was preparing to take over if Ms Rousseff is forced out.

The audio was posted on the website of the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper and is authentic. Aides said it was accidentally released and they quickly sent another message asking legislators to disregard it.

Ms Rousseffs chief of staff, Jaques Wagner, called the vice president a conspirator and said he should resign if Ms Rousseff survives impeachment.
ISAAA Brief 51-2015: Executive Summary

Introduction

This Brief focuses on the 20th Anniversary of the global commercialization of biotech crops (1996 to 2015) and biotech crop highlights in 2015. The author of this Brief, Dr. Clive James, has dedicated this Brief to his mentor and colleague, the late Nobel Peace Laureate Norman Borlaug, who was the founding patron of ISAAA. Borlaug was also the greatest advocate for biotechnology/GM crops, credited with saving 1 billion poor people from hunger during the 1960s green revolution that he created and pioneered.

20th anniversary (1996-2015) of the commercialization of biotech crops

2015 marked the 20th anniversary (1996-2015) of the commercialization of biotech crops, also known as genetically modified (GM) or transgenic crops, now more often called biotech crops, as referred to in this Brief. An unprecedented cumulative hectarage of 2 billion hectares of biotech crops, equivalent to twice the total land mass of China (956 million hectares) or the United States (937 million hectares), were successfully cultivated globally in the 20-year period 1996 to 2015; farmer benefits for the period 1996 to 2015 were estimated at over US$150 billion. The 2.0 billion accumulated hectares comprise 1.0 billion hectares of biotech soybean, 0.6 billion hectares of biotech maize, 0.3 billion hectares of biotech cotton and 0.1 billion hectares of biotech canola.

The experience of the first 20 years of commercialization, 1996 to 2015, has confirmed that the early promise of crop biotechnology has been fulfilled. Biotech crops have delivered substantial agronomic, environmental, economic, health and social benefits to farmers and, increasingly, to society at large. The rapid adoption of biotech crops, during the initial 20 years of commercialization, 1996 to 2015, reflects the substantial multiple benefits realized by both large and small farmers in industrial and developing countries, which have grown biotech crops commercially.

Global Status of biotech crops in 2015

In general, the status of biotech crops in 2015 was variable with several countries, led by Brazil with increasing hectarage, others led by the US with decreasing hectarage, and the balance of countries registering no or negligible year-to-year change, which was relatively low in 2015 and detailed in Table 1 and Figure 1.

Progress with adoption of biotech crops during the first 20 years

Following a remarkable run of 19 years of consecutive yearly growth from 1996 to 2014, the annual global hectarage of biotech crops peaked at 181.5 million in 2014, (see graph on cover page) compared with 179.7 million hectares in 2015; this change is equivalent to a net marginal year-to-year change of minus 1% between 2014 and 2015. Annual fluctuations in biotech crop hectarage (both increases and decreases) are influenced by several factors. In 2015, a principal factor leading to decreased biotech hectarage in some countries was decreased total crop plantings; for example, for maize it was minus 4% and for cotton minus 5%, driven by low prices, with some farmers switching from maize, cotton and canola to a more easily managed crop such as biotech soybean, and also to other less demanding crops like pulses, sunflower, and sorghum. Year-to-year biotech crop hectarage decreases, driven by low prices in 2015, are likely to reverse when crop prices revert to higher levels in the future.

Biotech crops are the fastest adopted crop technology in the world.

The global hectarage of biotech crops has increased 100-fold from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to 179.7 million hectares in 2015 by up to 17 to 18 million farmers  this makes biotech crops the fastest adopted crop technology in recent times. This impressive adoption rate speaks for itself, in terms of its sustainability, resilience and the significant benefits it delivers to both small and large farmers as well as consumers.

Major developments in the US in 2015

Overall, significant progress was made on many fronts in the US in 2015 ranging from: new approvals; new commercialized biotech crops: first time approval of a GM animal food product for human consumption; widespread use of breakthrough new and powerful genome editing technology, named CRISPR; and some success on labeling.

For GM crop products, Innate generation 1, an improved multi-trait potato, developed by Simplot, was first commercialized on 160 hectares in 2015; an improved version, Innate 2 was approved in 2015, and has added resistance to the fungal disease, potato late blight, the cause of the Irish famine of 1845, when 1 million people died of hunger. Remarkably, it is still the most important disease of potatoes 150 years after the famine, with annual global losses of US$7.5 billion. Another global first was the commercialization of the first non-transgenic genome-edited crop, SU Canola, developed by Cibus and grown on 4,000 hectares. Two varieties of Arctic apples, with less bruising and less browning when sliced were approved for planting in the USA and Canada, with 6 hectares planted in the USA alone in 2015. The first delivery to consumers is planned for next year. The company that developed Arctic apple, Okanagan Specialty Fruits, from Canada, is applying the same technology to other perishable fruits including peaches, pears and cherries. Okanagan Specialty Fruits was acquired by Intrexon, a US-based synthetic biology company, in 2015. A low lignin alfalfa event, KK179 (HarvXtra) with higher digestibility and yield (alfalfa is #1 forage crop in the world) was already approved in November 2014 and is a candidate for commercialization in the US in 2016. Hectarage of biotech DroughtGard tolerant maize, first planted in the US in 2013, soared more than 15-fold from 50,000 hectares in 2013 to 275,000 hectares in 2014 and 810,000 hectares in 2015 reflecting high farmer acceptance. In December 2015, Dow and DuPont agreed to merge to form DowDuPont, with a view to splitting the new company into three companies focusing on Agriculture, Materials and Specialty Products.

For GM animals, after 20 years of review, in a landmark decision in November 2015, the FDA approved the first GM animal for commercial food production and human consumption  a faster growing GM salmon, which is expected to enter the food chain in the US before 2018; Atlantic salmon normally takes three years to harvest in fish farms, compared with only 18 months, or half the time, for GM salmon. The GM AquAdvantage salmon was developed by AquaBounty Technologies, which was acquired by the US company Intrexon in 2015. FDA approved a new GM chicken whose eggs will be used to treat a rare but fatal human disease called lysosomal acid lipase deficiency.

The award-winning CRISPR genome editing technology was selected by Science magazine as the breakthrough technology of 2015. It is being used in many laboratories to develop improved crops and animals. For example, improved soybeans and maize are already being evaluated in greenhouses and, subject to regulation, approval could be commercialized as early as five years from now. Pigs are being developed that are resistant to a deadly viral disease which costs the US pork industry US$600 million a year.

On labeling, whereas a herculean costly effort has been made by both proponents and opponents of GM crops, with mixed results, significant success was achieved by proponents in 2015. Ballots that would require state level labeling in Oregon and Colorado failed in 2014 and similarly ballots in 2015 in California and Washington failed. Perhaps, more importantly, a bill was passed in the House of Representatives in July 2015 that would pre-empt state and local non-GM laws; a similar bill is slated for an imminent hearing in the Senate. In November 2015, FDA rejected a citizen petition to require mandatory labelling of GM products. Finally, the food company Chipotle, after announcing that it would eliminate GM products from its menu, and focus solely on non-GM vegetable products sourced locally, is now re-centralizing its vegetable supply after up to 300 people in the US claim they have suffered sickness after consuming Chipotle non-GM locally sourced vegetables.



The top 5 countries planting biotech crops

The US continued to be the lead country with 70.9 million hectares (39% of global) with over 90% adoption for the principal crops of maize (92% adoption), soybean (94%), and cotton (94%).

Brazil, the second largest grower globally with 44.2 million hectares (reached 25% of global, for the first time in 2015), resumed its important role as the engine of biotech crop growth globally with 2 million hectares more in 2015 than 2014; this compares to minus 2.2 million hectares for the US. This decrease in the US is mainly due to a temporary reduction in total plantings of maize, cotton and canola which are expected to recover when prices of these crops strengthen and total hectarage increases. Notably, Brazil planted the stacked HT/IR soybean on a record 11.9 million hectares (up from 5.2 in 2014) in its third year after the launch. Argentina with 24.5 million hectares retained third place, and was up modestly from 24.3 million hectares in 2014. India ranked fourth, had 11.6 million hectares of Bt cotton (same as 2014), and a resilient 95% adoption rate. Canada was fifth at 11.0 million hectares, with 0.4 million hectares less total canola grown in 2015, but with a continued high rate of biotech adoption at 93%. In 2015, each of the top 5 countries planted more than 10 million hectares providing a broad, solid foundation for future sustained growth.

Up to 28 countries/annum grew biotech crops, in the period 1996 to 2015; Vietnam grew a biotech crop for the first time in 2015.



A global total of 17 to 18 million farmers, ~90% of which were small farmers, planted biotech crops in 28 countries in 2015 (Table 1 and Figure 1), 20 were developing and only 8 were industrial countries. The 28 countries include Vietnam which commercialized stacked biotech maize in 2015 for the first time. Cuba, which has planted biotech maize for the last two years will resume planting of biotech maize in two years time when their improved maize hybrids are ready for deployment.

Of the top ten biotech crop countries, listed by hectarage, 8 were developing.

Each of the top 10 countries, of which 8 were developing, grew more than 1 million hectares providing a broad-based worldwide foundation for continued and diversified growth in the future. More than half the worlds population, ~60% or ~4 billion people, live in the 28 countries which planted biotech crops in 2015.

Bangladesh, one of the smaller and poorest countries in the world, is an exemplary model of the importance of political will in the adoption of biotech crops.

Bangladesh, a small poor country with 150 million people, doubled the commercial hectarage of the prized vegetable Bt brinjal/eggplant; it was grown by 250 small farmers on 25 hectares in 2015 compared with 120 farmers on 12 hectares in 2014. Importantly, seed is now being multiplied to meet the growing needs of substantially more farmers in 2016. Success with Bt brinjal has led Bangladesh to prioritize the field testing of a new late blight resistant potato (an important crop occupying ~0.5 million hectares in Bangladesh) which could be approved as early as 2017; potato is the fourth most important food staple globally and can contribute to food security in countries like China (6 million hectares of potato), India (2 million) and the EU (~2 million). Given the importance of the large cotton/textile industry in Bangladesh, Bt cotton is being evaluated in field trials as well as Golden Rice, which could address the prevalent Vitamin A deficiency in the country. This feat of promoting home-grown biotech crops through public/private partnerships, PPP, is very effective but could not have been achieved without strong Government support and political will, particularly from the Minister of Agriculture, the Honorable Matia Chowdhury  the experience of Bangladesh is exemplary for small poor countries.

Up to ~18 million farmers benefit from biotech crops in the 20 year period 1996 to 2015  ~90% were small resource-poor farmers.



In the period 1996 to 2015, up to approximately 18 million farmers, grew biotech crops annually  remarkably, about 90%, or 16.5 million, were risk-averse small, poor farmers in developing countries. The latest economic data available for the period 1996 to 2014 indicates that farmers in China gained US$17.5 billion and in India US$18.3 billion. In addition to economic gains, farmers benefited enormously from at least a 50% reduction in the number of insecticide applications, thereby reducing farmer exposure to insecticides, and importantly contributed to a more sustainable environment and better quality of life.

For the fourth consecutive year, developing countries planted more biotech crops than industrial countries in 2015.



In 2015, Latin American, Asian and African farmers collectively grew 97.1 million hectares or 54% of the global 179.7 million biotech hectares (versus 53% in 2014) compared with industrial countries at 82.6 million hectares or 46% (versus 47% in 2014), equivalent to a gap of 14.5 million hectares in favor of developing countries. The higher hectarage in developing countries is contrary to the prediction of critics who, prior to the commercialization of the technology in 1996, prematurely declared that biotech crops were only for industrial countries and would never be accepted and adopted by developing countries, particularly small poor farmers.

During the period 1996-2014, total cumulative economic benefits were US$150 billion: industrial countries at US$74.1 billion compared to US$76.2 billion generated by developing countries. In 2014, developing countries had 46.5% equivalent to US$8.3 billion of the total US$17.8 billion gain, with industrial countries at US$9.5 billion (Brookes and Barfoot, 2016).

Increased adoption of biotech drought tolerant maize in the US

Biotech DroughtGard tolerant maize, first planted in the US in 2013, increased more than 15-fold from 50,000 hectares in 2013 to 275,000 hectares in 2014 and 810,000 hectares in 2015, reflecting high farmer acceptance at 3-fold year-to-year between 2014 and 2015. The same event, MON 87460, was donated by Monsanto to the public-private partnership, W ater E fficient M aize for A frica (WEMA) aimed at delivering biotech drought tolerant maize to selected countries in Africa by 2017. Biotech drought tolerance is an extremely important goal given that droughts will likely become more severe and more frequent, as climate change impacts crop productivity, agriculture and society. Notably, the conventional drought tolerant maize has been distributed in South Africa in 2014 which is hoped to facilitate acceptance of the biotech drought tolerant maize DroughtGard (MON 87460) which was approved for commercialization in June 2015, and expected to be available to farmers in 2017.

A selection of new biotech crops, several home-grown, were approved in 2015 and planned for commercialization in 2016 and beyond, in countries other than the US, which is covered earlier in this Executive Summary.

In Argentina, two home-grown products were approved  a drought tolerant soybean and a virus-resistant potato. In Brazil, approval was gained for cultivation of a 20% higher yielding home-grown eucalyptus, developed by FuturaGene/Suzano, plus commercialization of two home-grown crop products in 2016  a virus resistant bean and a new herbicide tolerant soybean. In Myanmar, a new Bt cotton variety Ngwe-chi-9 was commercialized in 2015. In Canada, there was approval of a higher quality non-browning apple. Note, the important shift towards more food crops  current biotech food crops include white maize in South Africa, sugar beet and sweet corn in the US and Canada; papaya, squash, potato and apple in the US; papaya in China; and Bt eggplant in Bangladesh.

Stacked traits occupied 33% of the global 179.7 million hectares, up from 28% in 2014.



Stacked traits are favored by farmers in all countries for all crops. Stacked traits increased from 51.4 million hectares in 2014 to 58.5 million hectares in 2015  an increase of 7.1 million hectares equivalent to a 14% increase. The substantial shift to stacked traits was largely due to an increase in Bt/HT soybean with 12.9 million hectares principally planted in Brazil, and to a lesser extent by its neighbors, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Stacked traits continued to be an important and growing feature of biotech crops  14 countries planted biotech crops with two or more traits in 2015, of which 11 were developing countries. Vietnam planted a stacked biotech Bt/HT maize as its first biotech crop in 2015.

The 5 lead biotech developing countries in the three continents of the South: Brazil and Argentina in Latin America, India and China in Asia, and South Africa on the continent of Africa, grew almost half (48%) of global biotech crops and represent ~41% of world population.

The five lead developing countries in biotech crops in the three continents of the South are India and China in Asia, Brazil and Argentina in Latin America, and South Africa on the continent of Africa. They collectively grew 86.3 million hectares (48% of global) and together represent ~41% of the global population of 7.3 billion, which could reach ~11.0 billion, or more, by the turn of the century in 2100. Remarkably, the population in Africa alone could escalate from ~1.2 billion today (~16% of global) to a possible high of 4.4 billion (~39% of global) by the end of this century in 2100. On a hectarage basis, of the 28 countries that planted biotech crops in 2015, 87% of the hectarage was in the Americas, 11% in Asia, 2% in Africa and <1% in Europe.

Ten Latin American countries benefit from biotech crops.

It is noteworthy, that there are now 10 countries in Latin America which benefit from the extensive adoption of biotech crops. Listed in descending order of hectarage, they are Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, Chile, and Costa Rica, with Cuba planning to resume planting in two years pending availability of their home-grown maize hybrids.

Brazil, the global engine of growth for biotech crops is second only to the US in biotech crop hectarage.



In 2015, Brazil ranked second only to the USA in biotech crop hectarage in the world with 44.2 million hectares (up from 42.2 million in 2014); the increase in 2015 was 2 million hectares equivalent to a growth rate of 5%. For the last six years, Brazil was the engine of growth globally. In 2015, Brazil grew 25% (2% more than in 2014) of the global hectarage of 179.7 million hectares. In the long term, Brazil is expected to close the gap with the US which has an efficient and science-based approval system that facilitates fast adoption. In 2015, Brazil commercially planted, for the third year, the stacked soybean with insect resistance and herbicide tolerance on 11.9 million hectares, up substantially (five-fold increase) from 2.3 million hectares in 2013 and 5.2 million hectares in 2014. In Brazil, approval was gained by FuturaGene /Suzano for cultivation of a 20% higher-yielding home-grown biotech eucalyptus, plus commercialization of two home-grown crop products in 2016  a virus resistant bean and a new herbicide tolerant soybean.



Canada decreased hectarage of biotech canola, whereas biotech national hectares in Australia increased due to biotech canola.

Canada retained its fifth place in world ranking of biotech crops with biotech crop hectarage of 11.0 million hectares compared with 11.6 million hectares in 2014  a ~5% decrease, largely due to a decrease in hectarage of total canola and driven by low canola prices. The decrease in canola hectares in 2015 is expected to reverse when prices of canola increase, and become more competitive versus other crops. Australia grew 658,000 hectares of biotech crops in 2015 compared to 542,000 hectares in 2014, a 21% increase. This comprises 214,000 hectares cotton, a 7% increase from 200,000 hectares in 2014; and 444,000 hectares biotech canola, a 30% increase from 342,000 hectares in 2014. Notably, biotech cotton adoption remains at ~100% of all cotton grown in Australia and ~99% of it featured the stacked traits (insect resistance and herbicide tolerance). Australia is providing global leadership in deployment of biotech cotton and insect resistance management with Bollgard lll already field-tested in 2015 on ~30,000 hectares.

India sustains its biotech cotton hectarage and becomes #1 cotton producer in the world.

In a landmark development, India became the #1 cotton producer in the world, with much of the success attributed to Bt cotton. India continued to be the largest biotech cotton country in the world with 11.6 million hectares planted by 7.7 million small farmers with an adoption rate of 95%, similar to 2014. Brookes and Barfoots latest estimate indicated that India had enhanced farm income from Bt cotton by US$18.3 billion in the twelve-year period 2002 to 2014 and US$1.6 billion in 2014 alone.

Status of Bt cotton and virus resistant papaya in China

In 2015, China successfully planted ~3.7 million hectares of biotech cotton at an adoption rate of 96%, (up from 93% in 2014) of its 3.8 million total cotton hectarage. In addition, ~7,000 hectares of virus resistant papaya were planted in Guangdong, Hunan Island and Guangxi; plus ~543 hectares of Bt poplar. Despite Chinas decreased total cotton hectarage, from 4.2 million hectares in 2014 to 3.8 million hectares, mainly due to lower prices and high stockpiles of cotton in China, biotech cotton adoption rate has increased from 93% in 2014 to 96% in 2015, and planted by an estimated ~6.6 million or more farmers. Virus resistant papaya plantings decreased from 8,475 hectares in 2014 to 7,000 hectares in 2015, due to over supply in 2014, but the adoption rate remained high at ~90%. In addition to farmers benefiting directly from biotech Bt cotton, there may be an additional 10 million secondary beneficiary farmers cultivating 22 million hectares of crops which are alternate hosts for cotton bollworm and benefit from decreased pest infestation due to the planting of Bt cotton. Thus, the actual total number of beneficiary farmers of biotech Bt cotton in China alone may well exceed 17 million. Economic gains at the farmer level from Bt cotton for the period 1997 to 2014 was US$17.5 billion and US$1.3 billion for 2014 alone.

Bt maize and Bt rice, offer significant potential benefits and have enormous implications for China, Asia, and the rest of the world in the near, mid and long term, because rice is the most important food crop and maize the most important feed crop in the world. Chinas research and commercialization of Bt maize, herbicide tolerant maize and phytase maize as well as Bt rice, will be very important potential contributions to China and the global food and feed needs. Whereas, President Xi Jinping has endorsed the GM technology that is used in biotech soybean and maize imported by China in very large quantities (77 million tons of soybean and 3.3 million tons of maize in 2015), domestic production of these biotech crops has not been implemented to-date. It is noteworthy that at the same time that the US approved biotech potato in 2015, China, the largest producer of potatoes in the world (6 million hectares), announced its intention to double its potato hectarage and designated potato as its fourth food staple following rice, maize, and wheat.

The Chinese government has disbursed at least US$3 billion to research institutes and domestic companies to develop home-grown biotech seeds and discussions are underway to expedite approvals of pending biotech crops for cultivation. Domestic production of biotech maize would increase productivity and reduce Chinas dependency on imports of increasing quantities of maize, most of which (more than 90%) are biotech. China consumes one-third of global soybean production and imports 65% of global soybean imports, over 90% of which is biotech. Some observers speculate that home-grown biotech maize (Bt or phytase maize) will be commercialized in the next three years, opening up an enormous potential market of 35 million hectares of maize. Thus, biotech crops could help China become less dependent on increasing imports of soybean and maize, over 90% of which are biotech. Bloomberg (November 2015) reported that President Xi Jinping has been urging China to support strong research and innovation on GM crops. His urging is consistent with the US$43 billion bid from ChemChina for Syngenta, which could have high potential impact on the timely adoption of biotech maize on up to 35 million hectares in China in the near-term. A successful bid would provide ChemChina with immediate access to a large portfolio of ready-made safety-tested commercial GM crop products that have been grown globally for many years.

Status in Africa

Despite some significant challenges, the African continent continued to make general progress on several fronts. A devastating drought in South Africa resulted in the country decreasing its intended biotech crop hectarage in 2015 by approximately 700,000 hectares from 3 million hectares to 2.3 million hectares  a massive 23% decrease. This underscores yet again the critical nature, and potentially life-threatening importance of drought in Africa and the impending new drought challenges exacerbated by climate change. Importantly, the drought tolerant maize (DroughtGard) under the WEMA project has been approved for general release in South Africa, while the (DT) maize with insect control (Bt) will be launched as scheduled in 2017. Sudan increased Bt cotton hectarage by 30% to 120,000 hectares whilst political transition changes and fiber quality precluded a potentially higher hectarage than ~0.4 million hectares in Burkina Faso. An additional eight countries (Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Swaziland and Uganda) conducted field trials on priority African crops, the penultimate step prior to approval. The on-going trials focus on traits of high relevance to challenges facing Africa, including drought, nitrogen use efficiency, salt tolerance, nutritional enhancement, as well as resistance to tropical pests and diseases. Slow implementation of science-based and cost/time-effective regulatory systems is the major constraint to adoption. Responsible, rigorous but not onerous regulation is urgently needed to suit the needs of both public and private sector technology developers in ensuring smooth delivery of the much needed tool into the hands of African famers. Ultimately, sustained political goodwill and intense engagement with all sector players will be keys in unlocking the regulatory stalemate.

Five EU countries planted 116,870 hectares of biotech Bt maize. Spain was by far the largest adopter, planting 92% of the total Bt maize hectarage in the EU.

The same five EU countries (Spain, Portugal, Czechia, Slovakia and Romania) continued to plant 116,870 hectares of Bt maize, down 18% from the 143,016 hectares planted in 2014. Spain, which grew 92% of all biotech maize, led the EU with 107,749 hectares of Bt maize, down 18% from the 131,538 in 2014, with a 28% adoption rate compared with a 31% adoption in 2014. Bt maize hectarage decreased in all five EU countries. The decreases in Bt maize were associated with several factors, including less total hectares of maize planted in 2015, but also due to significant disincentives for farmers confronted with bureaucratic and onerous reporting of intended plantings of Bt maize. In October 2015, 19 of the 28 EU countries voted to opt out of growing biotech crops but importantly all five countries currently growing Bt maize voted to continue planting so that they can benefit from the significant advantages that biotech crops offer.

Status of approved events for biotech crops

As of November 15, 2015, a total of 40 countries (39 + EU - 28) have granted regulatory approvals to genetically modified crops for use as food and/or feed use or for environmental release since 1994. From these countries, 3,418 regulatory approvals have been issued by regulatory authorities across 26 GM crops (not including carnation, rose and petunia) and 363 GM events. The top five countries with the most number of regulatory approvals include Japan (214 approvals), U.S.A. (187 not including stacked events), Canada (161), Mexico (158), and South Korea (136). Maize still has the most number of approved events (142 in 29 countries), followed by cotton (56 events in 22 countries), potato (44 events in 11 countries), canola (32 events in 13 countries), and soybean (31 events in 28 countries). The herbicide-tolerant maize event NK603 (54 approvals in 26 countries + EU-28) has the most number of approvals followed by the herbicide-tolerant soybean event GTS 40-3-2 (52 approvals in 26 countries + EU-28), the insect-resistant maize MON810 (50 approvals in 25 countries + EU-28), and the insect-resistant maize Bt11 (50 approvals in 24 countries + EU-28). In December 8, 2015, the Supreme Court of the Philippines decided that the conduct of Bt eggplant field testing is permanently enjoined; the Department of Agriculture Administrative Order No. 08, series of 2002 is declared null and void; and, consequently, any application of contained use, field testing, propagation, and commercialization, and importation of genetically modified organisms is temporarily enjoined until a new administrative order is promulgated in accordance with the law.

Global value of biotech seed alone was ~US$15.3 billion in 2015

In 2015, the global market value of biotech crops, estimated by Cropnosis, was US$15.3 billion, (down marginally from US$15.7 billion in 2014); this represents 20% of the US$76.2 billion global crop protection market in 2014, and 34% of the ~US$45 billion global commercial seed market. The estimated global farm-gate revenues of the harvested commercial end product (the biotech grain and other harvested products) are more than ten times greater than the value of the biotech seed alone. A 2011 study estimated that the cost of discovery, development and authorization of a new biotech crop/trait was ~US$135 million. A report by Transparency Market Research for the period 2013-2019 indicated that, global agricultural biotechnology which was worth US$15.3 billion in 2012 is expected to be worth US$28.7 billion by 2019. The value is estimated to expand at a rate of 9.5% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2013 to 2019 due to the rising demand for higher crop yield, combined with diminishing amounts of arable land that will drive the transgenic application segment of the market.

THE CHALLENGE

The enormous challenge of feeding 9.7 billion in 2050

Feeding 9.7 billion people in 2050, and ~11.0 billion in 2100, is one of, if not THE most daunting challenges facing mankind during the remaining years of this century. Global population, which was only 1.7 billion at the turn of the century in 1900, is now 7.3 billion (July 2015)  the world has added approximately 1 billion people in the span of the last 12 years. It is expected to climb to 9.7 billion by 2050, and to 11 billion at the end of this century in 2100. Globally, 870 million people are currently chronically hungry and 2 billion are malnourished. The world may consume more grain than it produced in 2015. Rates of growth in crop productivity have declined subsequent to the significant contribution of the green revolutions of the 1960s for wheat and rice. It is now evident that conventional crop technology alone will not allow us to feed over 9 billion in 2050 and neither is biotechnology a panacea. An option being proposed by the global scientific community is a balanced, safe and sustainable approach, using the best of conventional crop technology (well adapted germplasm) and the best of biotechnology (appropriate GM and /non-GM traits) to achieve sustainable intensification of crop productivity on the 1.5 billion hectares of cropland globally. The returns on investments in agriculture are high and furthermore they directly impact on poverty alleviation, particularly on small resource-poor farmers and the rural landless dependent on agriculture, who represent the majority of the worlds poorest people.

Climate Change: Papal Encyclical and COP 21 in Paris

Pope Francis in his 2015 papal encyclical, Laudato Si, underscored the importance for everyone, in a coordinated effort, to implement the necessary strategies to address climate change and environmental destruction which will affect everyone, especially the vulnerable members of global society  the poor and the hungry. Efforts in the past by rich countries to help poor countries were determined not to be sufficient, hence there is an urgent global need to double and unify efforts.

The Popes concern was also appropriately addressed in a clarion call for action (not promises) during the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Paris, France in December 2015. Importantly, for the first time ever, a legally binding agreement was signed by 195 countries to limit global warming to below 2oC, above which, global crop production will decline substantially, particularly the developing countries, which can least afford the losses due to abiotic-stresses (higher temperatures and droughts) and biotic-stresses (pests, weeds and diseases). It is very important to acknowledge that GM/biotech crops are already making a contribution to reduce the effects of increased stresses associated with climate change, as detailed in the next paragraph. Moreover, the potential of GM and the new biotech applications, such as CRISPR, is enormous for the future, when global population will reach 11 billion in 2100. The challenge for society is to adopt harmonized, science-based, appropriate and proportionate regulation, which is practical and not overly onerous, that will ensure timely deployment to farmers of improved crops that can increase productivity, and double food production.

Biotech crops contribution to Food Security, Sustainability, the Environment and Climate Change

The latest data for 1996 to 2014 showed that biotech crops contributed to Food Security, Sustainability and Climate Change by: increasing crop production valued at US$150 billion; providing a better environment, by saving 583.5 million kg a.i. of pesticides in 1996-2014; in 2014 alone reducing CO2 emissions by 27 billion kg, equivalent to taking 12 million cars off the road for one year; conserving biodiversity in the period 1996-2014 by saving 152 million hectares of land (Brookes and Barfoot, 2016); and helped alleviate poverty by helping up to 16.5 million small farmers, and their families totaling >65 million people, who are some of the poorest people in the world. Biotech crops can increase productivity and income significantly and hence, can serve as an engine of rural economic growth that can contribute to the alleviation of poverty for the worlds small and resource-poor farmers. Biotech crops can contribute to a sustainable intensification strategy favored by many Academies of Science worldwide, which allows productivity/production to be increased only on the current 1.5 billion hectares of global crop land, thereby saving forests and biodiversity. Biotech crops are essential but are not a panacea and adherence to good farming practices, such as rotations and resistance management for insects, pathogens and weeds, are a must for biotech crops as they are for conventional crops.

Regulation of biotech crops

Onerous regulation for transgenic biotech crops remains the principal constraint to adoption, which is particularly important for many developing countries, denied the opportunity of using biotech crops to address food, feed and fiber security. Unlike the onerous regulation that currently applies to transgenics, genome-edited products logically lend themselves for science-based, fit-for-purpose, proportionate and appropriate regulation. Opponents of GM crops and the new genome editing technologies such as CRISPR are opposed to science/evidence-based regulation and are demanding onerous regulation that is denying poor farmers in the developing countries, as well as Europes access to the technologies. By using these technologies, small poor farmers will be able to survive and contribute to the doubling of food production to meet the needs of a growing population which will reach 11 billion in 2100. Moreover, the opponents of GM crops and the biotech applications such as CRISPR are estimated to have a massive global budget which doubled from an estimated US$10 billion in 2011 to US$20 billion in 2014.

The encouraging outlook is that technology, in conjunction with conducive policies can double food production. However, the doubling of food production cannot be realized by society unless it ensures that regulation of GM and genome-edited derived crops is science/evidence-based, fit-for-purpose, and to the extent possible harmonized globally. Failure by global society to ensure timely and appropriate regulation on food production will have dire consequences. On the one hand the world will suffer because of inadequate food supplies, whilst on the other hand the power of science and technology to produce a safe, adequate and assured supply of food for all of mankind will be rejected because of the dominant ideological voices of the opponents of the new biotech technologies.

Global meta-analysis, confirms significant and multiple benefits

The meta-analysis conducted by Klumper and Qaim (2014) on 147 published biotech crop studies during the last 20 years, concluded that on average, GM technology adoption has reduced chemical pesticide use by 37%, increased crop yields by 22%, and increased farmer profits by 68%. Yield gains and pesticide reductions are larger for insect-resistant crops than for herbicide-tolerant crops. Yield and profit gains are higher in developing countries than in developed countries. These findings corroborate the findings of the annual global impact study by Brookes and Barfoot of PG Economics, annually referenced in the Annual ISAAA Briefs. Qaim (2015) presented a more thorough description of the impacts of current and possible future GM crop applications, and their substantial contribution to sustainable agricultural development and food security, in his recent book, Genetically Modified Crops and Agricultural Development. He concluded that continued opposition to technologies that were shown to be beneficial and safe entails unnecessary human suffering and environmental degradation.

Status of Golden Rice

WHO concluded that 190 to 250 million preschool children worldwide are affected by VAD annually. Golden Rice could prevent 1.3 to 2.5 million child deaths annually. At IRRI, the Golden Rice trait event E, has been bred into mega varieties, and confined field tests are in progress in the Philippines and a field trial has been approved in Bangladesh. The important mission of the Golden Rice project is to contribute to improving the health of millions of people suffering from micronutrient deficiency. Rice is the staple of 4 billion people in the South who collectively consume only 2,006,869 calories per day. This consumption is broken down by region, per day in: South Asia (1,130,648 calories), Southeast Asia (660,979 calories), Africa (125,124), Latin America (75,238), and Central Asia (14,880) for a total of 2,006,869 calories per day (HarvestPlus, Personal Communications). These are the regions where most Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) and associated illnesses occur  these can be reduced if people are provided with Golden Rice, a biotech rice with beta carotene. Around 100 to 150 grams per day of the improved Golden Rice will provide more than half the needs of people suffering from vitamin A deficiency.

New Breeding Technologies (NBT): The critical role of utilizing evolving and promising new biotechnology applications, such as CRISPR, in crop improvement

Twenty years after the commercialization of biotech/GM crops developed through the use of Agrobacterium or particle bombardment, the scientific global community are again enthusiastic about the potential of a new crop biotechnology called genome or gene editing. There are different types of genome editing technologies, the most recent named CRISPR ( C lustered R egularly I nterspaced S hort P alindromic R epeat) is judged to be promising by many stakeholders. These new technologies allow the cutting of the DNA at a pre-determined location and the precise insertion of the mutation, or single nucleotide changes at an optimal location in the genome for maximum expression. Readers are referred to two essays on new breeding technologies and genome-edited applications in the collection of invitational essays in the companion document to the Brief on the ISAAA website. Experts in the field believe that potentially the real power of these new technologies is their ability to edit and modify single or multiple native plant genes (non-GM), coding for important traits such as drought and, generating useful improved crops that are not transgenic. Products already under development include all the major food and feed crops: canola (herbicide tolerance), maize (drought tolerance), wheat (disease resistance and hybrid technology), soybean (oil quality), rice (disease resistance), potato (improved storage qualities), tomato (fruit ripening), and peanuts (allergen-free). More complex traits, coded by multiple genes, like improved photosynthesis, are planned for the future, which may be closer than some people think. CRISPR earned Sciences 2015 Breakthrough of the Year Laurels. A runner-up in 2012 and 2013, the technology now revolutionizing genetic research and gene therapy broke away from the pack, revealing its true power in a series of spectacular achievements, opined Science correspondent John Travis in the December 18 issue.

Acknowledging that no technology, including genome editing, is a panacea or a silver bullet, many well-informed observers in the scientific community (gene therapy in medicine, where the technology was first developed, and crop improvement in agriculture) are of the view that genome editing offers a timely and unique set of significant comparative advantages over conventional and GM crops in four domains: precision  due to its ability to precisely control single or multiple genes resulting in products that do not differ from natural mutations; regulation  unlike the onerous regulation that currently applies to transgenics, genome-edited products logically lend themselves for science-based, fit-for-purpose, and proportionate regulation; speed  some products, for example, genome-edited derived potato, have been developed in only one year, compared with up to 10 years using conventional or GM technology; and cost  higher speed in improving crops and reduced regulation translates into significant overall savings. The average cost for developing a GM crop is US$135 million of which US$35 million is onerous regulation costs. The hope is that regulatory bodies worldwide will not require stringent regulation for genome edited crops and to the extent possible facilitate harmonization of regulations internationally. This augers well for the new genome-edited technologies which will allow more affordable, superior, state-of-the-art crops to be offered to producers and consumers.

To ISAAAs knowledge, the first non-GM, genome-edited product, to be approved and commercialized is SU Canola developed by Cibus and grown on 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) in the USA in 2015. Canada has also approved SU Canola for planting. Similar non-GM products are under development in many laboratories globally with a view to commercialization by farmers as early as five years from now in 2020. For example, DuPont has indicated that it already has CRISPR-derived maize and wheat plants growing in the greenhouse and is hoping to conduct the first field tests in 2016. Several countries  USA, Canada, Sweden and Argentina, have already considered regulation of simply mutated products through CRISPR and similar technologies, and concluded that they do not require to be deregulated under their respective national GM regulations. Dr. Jansson from Sweden has opined that the decision of the Swedish Board of Agriculture is the only logical one for their particular genome-edited products. Importantly, the determination of the need to regulate should be focused on the specific product and not the process.

Leading scientists from the global scientific community are of the view that international harmonization of science-based regulation of genome-edited crops is absolutely critical for plant breeding programs. This is because these programs are required to urgently increase global crop productivity, in order to achieve food security for 11 billion people in 2100, as well as mitigating the additional and formidable challenges, such as more frequent and more severe droughts posed by climate change. The EU and many other countries are expected to report their findings, positions and decisions on regulation of genome-edited technologies in the near term  these will be critical game-changing decisions with global implications for the role of science in food security, climate change, and the alleviation of hunger and poverty for almost one billion people in the developing countries.

To summarize, the unusual degree of interest and enthusiasm in genome editing is that, relative to other conventional and GM technologies, it is simple, swift, precise and affordable  features that make it a universally attractive development for most stakeholders. Genome editing can help solve the misery of the ~850 million poor people who are suffering from food insecurity in the developing countries, where one thousand people an hour die from hunger and malnutrition  a situation that is unacceptable in a just society. Norman Borlaug opined that you cannot build peace on empty stomachs, and that technology can contribute to food security and a better quality of life for millions of poor people  he was right  the right to adequate food is imperative, and biotechnology can help make it happen.

FUTURE PROSPECTS

There are three domains that merit considerations:

Firstly, the high rates of adoption (90% to 100%) of current major biotech crops leave little room for expansion in mature markets in principal biotech crop countries. However, there is a significant potential for selected products such as biotech maize. For example, in Asia, there are about 60 million hectares of potential biotech maize, with 35 million hectares in China alone; there is a similar potential in Africa for up to 35 million hectares of biotech maize and for biotech cotton, in up to 10 African countries growing 100,000 hectares, or more, of cotton.

Secondly, the pipeline is full of new biotech crop products which could (subject to regulatory approval for planting and import) be available during the next 5 years or so  a portfolio of over 85 potential products are listed in the full Brief. They include, the WEMA-derived biotech drought tolerant maize expected to be released in Africa in 2017, a broad range of new crops and traits including products with multiple modes of resistance to pests/diseases and tolerance to herbicides, as well as resistance to nematodes. Golden Rice is progressing with field testing in Asia. Crops for the poor, particularly in Africa, such as fortified bananas and pest resistant cowpea, look promising and institutionally, public-private partnerships (PPP) have been relatively successful in developing and delivering approved products to farmers  four PPP case studies, featuring a broad range of different biotech crops and traits in all three continents of the South, are presented in the Appendix of the full Brief.

Thirdly, the advent of genome-edited crops may be, by far, the most important development identified by today's scientific community. A recent and promising application is the powerful technology named CRISPR. Many well-informed observers in the scientific community are of the view that genome editing offers a timely and powerful unique set of significant advantages over conventional and GM crops in four domains: precision, speed, cost and regulation  unlike the onerous regulation that currently applies to transgenics; genome-edited products logically lend themselves for science-based, fit-for-purpose, and proportionate regulation. Progress with the latter would be an enormous advantage. For more details the reader is referred to two essays in the companion document to Brief 51 on the ISAAA website (to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the commercialization of biotech crops) which describe the evolution of crop improvement technology, particularly the role of the new breeding technologies (NBT). It includes a proposed forward-looking strategy of using the troika of transgenes, genome editing and microbes (the use of plant microbiomes as a new source of additional genes to modify plant traits) to increase crop productivity which in turn can contribute to the noble goal of food security and the alleviation of hunger and poverty.

CLOSING COMMENTS

The Way Forward

The way forward is to work together  collaboration  between the North and the South, East and West, Public and Private Partnerships (PPP), using both conventional (well-adapted germplasm) and biotechnology applications (enhanced beneficial traits). In reviewing crop technology transfer projects over the last two decades, the progress and promise of public-private sector partnerships (PPP) is striking. PPP projects offer flexibility and have been successful under a very broad range of circumstances. Importantly, PPP offer advantages that increase the probability of delivering an approved biotech crop product at the farmer level within a reasonable time frame . Four PPP case studies/projects, selected and reviewed by ISAAA illustrate the range of diversity in the four model PPP projects: Bt brinjal (eggplant) in Bangladesh, herbicide tolerant soybean in Brazil, drought tolerant sugarcane in Indonesia, and the WEMA project for drought tolerance in maize in selected countries in Africa. For the convenience of readers, short updated descriptions of each of the four case studies, are summarized in the Appendix of Brief 51-2015.

Norman Borlaugs Legacy and Advocacy of Crop Biotechnology

It is fitting and timely to close this celebratory 20th Anniversary ISAAA Brief for 2015, by chronicling the counsel of the late 1970 Nobel Peace Laureate, Norman Borlaug, on biotechnology including GM crops. Norman Borlaug, who saved a billion people from hunger, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the impact of his semi-dwarf wheat technology on the alleviation of hunger and poverty. Norman Borlaug was also the founding patron of ISAAA, and the greatest advocate for biotechnology and biotech/GM crops worldwide.

Below is a memorable Norman Borlaug quote, in which he calls for courage from our leaders, (both scientific and political) to support crop biotechnology which can contribute to global food security and a more peaceful world. It is noteworthy that the quote is from the man who knew more than anyone about feeding the world because he had done it during the green revolution of the 1960s and understood the essence of the proverb  reading is learning, seeing is believing, but doing is knowing  knowledge. This Brief seeks to share knowledge freely about all aspects of biotech crops whilst respecting the rights of readers to make their own informed-decisions about crop biotechnology.

Norman Borlaug Quote:
ISAAA Brief 51-2015: Press Release

Biotech/GM Crops Planted on Two Billion Hectares from 1996 to 2015

Farmers Reap >US$150 Billion from Advances in Biotech Crops over 20 Years

Beijing (April 13, 2016)  Today, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) released its annual report detailing the adoption of biotech crops, 20th Anniversary of the Global Commercialization of Biotech Crops (1996-2015) and Biotech Crop Highlights in 2015, showcasing the global increase in biotech hectarage from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to 179.7 million hectares in 2015. This 100-fold increase in just 20 years makes biotechnology the fastest adopted crop technology in recent times, reflecting farmer satisfaction with biotech crops.

Since 1996, 2 billon hectares of arable land  a massive area more than twice the landmass of China or the United States  have been planted with biotech crops. Additionally, it is estimated that farmers in up to 28 countries have reaped more than US$150 billion in benefits from biotech crops since 1996. This has helped alleviate poverty for up to 16.5 million small farmers and their families annually totaling about 65 million people, who are some of the poorest people in the world.

More farmers are planting biotech crops in developing countries precisely because biotech crops are a rigorously-tested option for improving crop yields, said Clive James, founder and emeritus chair of ISAAA, who has authored the ISAAA report for the past two decades. Despite claims from opponents that biotechnology only benefits farmers in industrialized countries, the continued adoption of the technology in developing countries disproves that James added.

For the fourth consecutive year, developing countries planted more biotech crops (14.5 million hectares) than industrialized countries. In 2015, Latin American, Asian and African farmers grew biotech crops on 54 percent of global biotech hectarage (97.1 million hectares of 179.7 million biotech hectares) and of the 28 countries that planted biotech crops, 20 were developing nations. Annually, up to 18 million farmers, 90 percent of whom were small, resource-poor growers in developing countries, benefited from planting biotech crops from 1996 to 2015.

China is just one example of biotechnologys benefits for farmers in developing countries. Between 1997 and 2014, biotech cotton varieties brought an estimated $17.5 billion worth of benefits to Chinese cotton farmers, and they realized $1.3 billion in 2014 alone, explained ISAAA Global Coordinator, Randy Hautea.

Also in 2015, India became the leading cotton producer in the world with much of its growth attributed to biotech Bt cotton. India is the largest biotech cotton country in the world with 11.6 million hectares planted in 2015 by 7.7 million small farmers. In 2014 and 2015, an impressive 95 percent of Indias cotton crop was planted with biotech seed; Chinas adoption in 2015 was 96 percent.

Farmers, who are traditionally risk-averse, recognize the value of biotech crops, which offer benefits to farmers and consumers alike, including drought tolerance, insect and disease resistance, herbicide tolerance, and increased nutrition and food quality, Hautea added. Moreover, biotech crops contribute to more sustainable crop production systems that address concerns regarding climate change and global food security.

Following a remarkable run of 19 years of consecutive growth from 1996 to 2014, with 12 years of double-digit growth, the global hectarage of biotech crops peaked at 181.5 million hectares in 2014, compared with 179.7 million hectares in 2015, equivalent to a net marginal decrease of 1 percent. This change is principally due to an overall decrease in total crop hectarage, associated with low prices for commodity crops in 2015. ISAAA anticipates that total crop hectarage will increase when crop prices improve. For example, Canada has projected that canola hectarage in 2016 will revert to the higher level of 2014. Other factors affecting biotech hectarage in 2015 include the devastating drought in South Africa, which led to a massive 23 percent decrease of 700,000 hectares in intended plantings in 2015. The drought in eastern and southern Africa in 2015/2016 puts up to 15 to 20 million poor people at risk for food insecurity and compels South Africa, usually a maize exporter, to rely on maize imports.

Additional highlights from ISAAAs 2015 report include:

New biotech crops were approved and/or commercialized in several countries including the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and Myanmar.

The United States saw a number of firsts including the commercialization of new products such as:

Innate Generation 1 potatoes, with lower levels of acrylamide, a potential carcinogen, and resistance to bruising. InnateTM Generation 2, approved in 2015, also has late blight resistance. It is noteworthy that the potato is the fourth most important food crop in the world.



Arctic Apples that do not brown when sliced.



The first non-transgenic genome-edited crop to be commercialized globally, SU Canola, was planted in the United States.



The first-time approval of a GM animal food product, GM salmon, for human consumption.

Biotech crops with multiple traits, often called stacked traits, were planted on 58.5 million hectares, representing 33 percent of all biotech hectares planted and a 14 percent year-over-year increase.

Vietnam planted a stacked-trait biotech Bt and herbicide-tolerant maize as its first biotech crop.

Biotech DroughtGard maize, first planted in the United States in 2013, increased 15-fold from 50,000 hectares in 2013 to 810,000 hectares reflecting high farmer acceptance.

Sudan increased Bt cotton hectarage by 30 percent to 120,000 hectares, while various factors precluded a higher hectarage in Burkina Faso.

Eight African countries field-tested, pro-poor, priority African crops, the penultimate step prior to approval.

Looking ahead to the future of biotechnology in agriculture, ISAAA has identified three key opportunities to realize continued growth in adoption of biotech crops, which are as follows:

High rates of adoption (90 percent to 100 percent) in current major biotech markets leave little room for expansion. However, there is a significant potential in other new countries for selected products, such as biotech maize, which has a potential of approximately 100 million more hectares globally, 60 million hectares in Asia, of which 35 million is in China alone, plus 35 million hectares in Africa.

More than 85 potential new products in the pipeline are now being field-tested; including a biotech drought tolerant maize from the WEMA project ( W ater E fficient M aize for A frica) expected to be released in Africa in 2017, Golden Rice in Asia, and fortified bananas and pest-resistant cowpea in Africa.

ater fficient aize for frica) expected to be released in Africa in 2017, Golden Rice in Asia, and fortified bananas and pest-resistant cowpea in Africa. CRISPR ( C lustered R egularly I nterspersed S hort P alindromic R epeats) a new powerful genome editing technology has significant comparative advantages over conventional and GM crops in four domains: precision, speed, cost and regulation. When combined with other advances in crop sciences, CRISPR could increase crop productivity in a sustainable intensification mode on the 1.5 billion hectares of global arable land, and make a vital contribution to global food security.

For more information or the executive summary of the report, visit www.isaaa.org.
ISAAA Brief 51-2015: TOP TEN FACTS about Biotech/GM Crops in their First 20 Years, 1996 to 2015

FACT # 1. 2015 marked the 20th year of the successful commercialization of biotech crops. An unprecedented cumulative hectarage of 2 billion hectares of biotech crops, equivalent to twice the total land mass of the US (937 million hectares), were successfully cultivated globally in up to 28 countries annually, in the 20-year period 1996 to 2015; farmer benefits for 1996 to 2015 were conservatively estimated at over US$150 billion. Up to ~18 million risk-averse farmers benefitted annually, of whom, remarkably, 90% were small, resource-poor farmers in developing countries.

FACT # 2. Progress with adoption in the first 20 years. Following a remarkable run of 19 years of consecutive yearly growth from 1996 to 2014, the annual global hectarage of biotech crops peaked at 181.5 million in 2014, compared with 179.7 million hectares in 2015, equivalent to a net marginal year-to-year decrease of 1.0% between 2014 and 2015. Some countries increased their total plantings, whilst others reduced their hectarage principally due to the current low prices of commodity crops; these hectarage decreases are likely to revert to higher hectarage levels when crop prices improve. The global hectarage of biotech crops increased 100-fold from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to 179.7 million hectares in 2015, making biotech crops the fastest adopted crop technology in recent times.

FACT # 3. For the 4th consecutive year, developing countries planted more biotech crops. In 2015, Latin American, Asian and African farmers collectively grew 97.1 million hectares or 54% of the global 179.7 million biotech hectares (versus 53% in 2014) compared with industrial countries at 82.6 million hectares or 46% (versus 47% in 2014); this trend is likely to continue. Of the 28 countries planting biotech crops in 2015, the majority, 20, were developing and 8 industrial.

FACT # 4. Stacked traits occupied ~33% of the global 179.7 million hectares. Stacked traits are favored by farmers for all 3 major biotech crops. Stacked traits increased from 51.4 million hectares in 2014 to 58.5 million hectares in 2015  an increase of 7.1 million hectares equivalent to a 14% increase. 14 countries planted stacked biotech crops with two or more traits in 2015, of which 11 were developing countries. Vietnam planted a stacked biotech Bt/HT maize as its first biotech crop in 2015.

FACT # 5. Selected highlights in developing countries in 2015. Latin America had the largest hectarage, led by Brazil, followed by Argentina. In Asia, Vietnam planted for the first time, and Bangladeshs political will advanced planting of Bt eggplant and identified Golden Rice, biotech potato and cotton as future biotech targets. The Philippines has grown biotech maize successfully for 13 years, and is appealing a recent Supreme Court decision on biotech crops, whilst Indonesia is close to approving a home-grown drought-tolerant sugarcane. China continues to benefit significantly from Bt cotton (US$18 billion for 1997 to 2014), and notably ChemChina recently bid US$43 billion for Syngenta. In 2015, India became the #1 cotton producer in the world, to which Bt cotton made a significant contribution  benefits for the period 2002 to 2014 are estimated at US$18 billion. Africa progressed despite a devastating drought in South Africa resulting in a decrease in intended plantings of ~700,000 hectares in 2015  a massive 23% decrease. This underscores yet again the life-threatening importance of drought in Africa, where fortunately, the WEMA biotech drought-tolerant maize is on track for release in 2017. Sudan increased Bt cotton hectarage by 30% to 120,000 hectares in 2015, whilst various factors precluded a higher hectarage in Burkina Faso. In 2015, importantly, 8 African countries field-tested, pro-poor, priority African crops, the penultimate step prior to approval.

FACT # 6. Major developments in the US in 2015. Progress on many fronts including: several firsts in approvals and commercializations of new GM crops, such as Innate potatoes and Arctic Apples; commercialization of the first non-transgenic genome-edited crop, SU Canola; first time approval of a GM animal food product, GM salmon, for human consumption; and increasing R&D use of the powerful genome editing technology, named CRISPR ( C lustered R egularly I nterspersed S hort P alindromic R epeats); high adoption of first biotech drought tolerant maize (see below). Dow and DuPont merged to form DowDuPont.

FACT # 7. High adoption of the first biotech drought-tolerant maize planted in the US. Biotech DroughtGard maize, first planted in the US in 2013, increased 15-fold from 50,000 hectares in 2013 to 810,000 hectares in 2015 reflecting high farmer acceptance. The same event has been donated to the public-private partnership WEMA ( W ater E fficient M aize for A frica), aimed at the timely delivery of a biotech drought tolerant maize to selected countries in Africa by 2017.

FACT # 8. Status of biotech crops in the EU. The same five EU countries continued to plant 116,870 hectares of Bt maize, down 18% from 2014. Hectares decreased in all countries due to several factors including, less maize planted, disincentives for farmers with onerous reporting.

FACT # 9. Benefits offered by biotech crops. A global meta-analysis of 147 studies for the last 20 years reported that on average, GM technology adoption has reduced chemical pesticide use by 37%, increased crop yields by 22%, and increased farmer profits by 68% (Qaim et al, 2014). These findings corroborate results from other annual global studies (Brookes et al, 2015). From 1996 to 2014, biotech crops contributed to Food Security, Sustainability and the Environment/Climate Change by: increasing crop production valued at US$150 billion; providing a better environment, by saving 584 million kg a.i. of pesticides; in 2014 alone, reducing CO2 emissions by 27 billion kg, equivalent to taking 12 million cars off the road for one year; conserving biodiversity by saving 152 million hectares of land from 1996-2014; and helped alleviate poverty for ~16.5 million small farmers and their families totaling ~65 million people, who are some of the poorest people in the world. Biotech crops are essential but are not a panacea  adherence to good farming practices such as rotations and resistance management, are a must for biotech crops as they are for conventional crops.

FACT # 10. Future Prospects. Three domains merit consideration. Firstly, high rates of adoption (90% to 100%) in current major biotech markets leave little room for expansion; however, there is a significant potential in other new countries for selected products, such as biotech maize, which has a potential of at least ~100 million hectares globally, 60 million ha in Asia (35 million ha in China alone), and 35 million ha in Africa. Secondly, there are more than 85 potential new products in the pipeline now being field-tested, the penultimate step to approval. They include the WEMA-derived biotech drought tolerant maize expected to be released in Africa in 2017, Golden Rice in Asia, and fortified bananas and pest resistant cowpea look promising in Africa. Institutionally, public-private partnerships (PPP) have been successful in developing and delivering approved products to farmers. Thirdly, the advent of genome-edited crops may be the most important development identified by todays scientific community. A recent and promising application is the powerful technology, named CRISPR. Many well-informed observers are of the view that genome editing offers a timely and powerful unique set of significant comparative advantages over conventional and GM crops in four domains: precision, speed, cost and regulation. Unlike the onerous regulation that currently applies to transgenics, genome-edited products logically lend themselves for science-based, fit-for-purpose, proportionate, and non-onerous regulation. A forward-looking strategy has been proposed (Flavell, 2015) featuring the troika of transgenes, genome editing and microbes (the use of plant microbiomes as a new source of additional genes to modify plant traits) to increase crop productivity, in a sustainable intensification mode, which in turn can viably contribute to the noble and paramount goals of food security and the alleviation of hunger and poverty.
Wednesday, April 13th, 2016 (8:32 am) - Score 2,313

The Superfast Cymru project, which is deploying BTs fibre broadband (FTT/P) network out to 96% of Wales by the end of 2016 (691,000 extra premises) and a further 42,000 premises by June 2017, could run for a few months longer than currently planned.

At present BTOpenreach, which are supported by around 225 million of public funding through the project, is working hard to lay 17,500kms of new optical fibre cable and install approximately 3,000 new green roadside street cabinets. However the deployment may continue past the current June 2017 completion date for contract two.

According to Ed Hunt, Director of Superfast Cyrmu, some parts of the roll-out will require another 18 months to complete (e.g. Pembrokeshire) and that would take us to around September or October 2017. There will be a second sweep around Wales after the initial delivery to get to those properties we fail to reach on the first round, said Ed Hunt (here).

Ed also pointed to a lack of uptake in parts of Carmarthenshire where the service had already gone live (local take-up stands at about 12%) and called for locals to check their service availability via the Superfast Cymru website.

Meanwhile some angry residents expressed frustration that the current roll-out plan did not appear to include their areas and that there was still no clarity over when they would benefit, which is a frustration that will no doubt continue to become increasingly vocal until the Government clarifies how it will reach 100% of the country (the national target is still for 95% UK coverage of superfast broadband [24Mbps+] by 2017/18).

Separately Plaid Cymru, the local political party, has said that if it won power at the assembly election then they would work to cover 100% of Wales with Superfast Broadband by 2017 and make ultrafast connectivity available across the length and breadth of the country by 2025 (here). The Welsh Conservatives have also made a similar superfast commitment, although they warn that Plaid Cymrus ultrafast pledge has not been costed.

Elsewhere Welsh Labour merely gave some words of support to their existing Superfast Cymru project and the Lib Dems called for crisis negotiations with BT in order to ensure that every Welsh business hub and park, hospital and school has superfast broadband delivered by 2017. Finally, UKIP criticised Plaid Cymru but didnt offer a clear broadband policy of its own.
5 Conversations IT Needs to Have with C-Level Peers

A second show was held last week concurrently with NVIDIAs GTC and ECS shows: the OpenPOWER Foundations Summit 2016. What makes this event interesting is that it showcases IBMs move against Intels dominance using open source methods and a social community approach to next-generation server processor architectures. Realizing it couldnt take on a power like Intel alone, it effectively gave away its technology in exchange for making it more relevant, and the effort appears to be working.

Lets talk about some of the big takeaways from the event.

Massive Google Support for OpenPOWER

Perhaps the biggest indicator that OpenPOWER is making headway is that Google now stands solidly behind the OpenPOWER effort along with development partner Rackspace. Apparently, Google has co-designed a high capacity 48V rack with Facebook to specifically address both companies unique, very high-capacity needs, and the open nature of the OpenPOWER platform has allowed them to create a solution specifically for these new racks.

This is a huge endorsement because companies like Google and Facebook push the envelope for cloud server loading, performance and cost. It is unlikely that any other type of company would need to have a level of sustained performance, suggesting that OpenPOWER solutions can scale to almost any cloud load.

And to further exemplify Googles unique load requirements, it pointed out that in 2008, it only had to track 1 trillion addresses, but today that number is 60 trillion (no wonder web searches seem so much slower now).

University of Michigan to Collaborate with IBM

Speaking of scale out, the University of Michigan announced at the event that it was collaborating with IBM to build a new class of HPC systems specifically designed to increase the pace of scientific discovery. IBM is one of the few companies that maintains a relatively large scientific R&D function, indicating that this firm not only would be interested in selling such a system but it could actually use it as well. Often a vendor that has a common use with a customer on a new design more quickly grasps unique aspects of the shared problem it is being designed to correct, resulting in a better solution faster.

The combined effort has resulted in a new resource called ConFlux, a very high-speed communications protocol connecting high-performance computing clusters directly. The resulting systems are specifically targeting large-scale, data-driven modeling of complex physical problems. The example given was to analyze an aircraft engine at a molecular level in order to increase its output and efficiency. This requires a massive parallel effort to emulate all of the physical and chemical interactions and then be able to adjust the virtual parameters in real time and at high speed to determine the optimal design.

Genomic Research

Thought to be the foundational element to ending most diseases, genomics research has been a target for HPC efforts. Requiring massive levels of compute power, this research area is not only one of the most important for fighting disease but also an excellent showcase for applied performance. OpenPOWER added to existing efforts with LSU and tranSMART with the Dragen Genomics platform, developed in conjunction with Edico Genome and Xilinx. This new platform is designed to enable ultra-rapid analysis. Historically, it has taken hours to analyze an entire genome, but with this new technology the time has been cut to minutes. Currently, this technology is being used to identify patients at higher risk for cancer before conditions worsen. Customers for the resulting solution include Rady Childrens Institute for Genomic Medicine of San Diego.

Wrapping Up: Creative Competition

While this approach to hardware competition is still relatively new, the progress that the OpenPOWER foundation is making in what is a very competitive market is impressive. This is showcasing that thinking out of the box with regard to technologies like this and giving up control can result in a far better outcome than the more typical head-to-head competition more commonly used. The end result is that OpenPOWER is advancing far better as a consortium than it did when it was wholly owned by IBM and demonstrating yet another creative path to competing with an otherwise unbeatable foe.

Rob Enderle is President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, a forward-looking emerging technology advisory firm. With over 30 years experience in emerging technologies, he has provided regional and global companies with guidance in how to better target customer needs; create new business opportunities; anticipate technology changes; select vendors and products; and present their products in the best possible light. Rob covers the technology industry broadly. Before founding the Enderle Group, Rob was the Senior Research Fellow for Forrester Research and the Giga Information Group, and held senior positions at IBM and ROLM. Follow Rob on Twitter @enderle, on Facebook and on Google+
At the turn of the century, extensible markup language (XML) promised to simplify many data interchange tasks for IT professionals. Sixteen years later, XML is firmly part of the technological menagerie in the United States, but nowhere near a universal standard. However, over in Europe, XML is a much bigger deal, which is why InterForm added significant new XML capabilities in the latest release of its IBM i-based forms package. Supporting XML isnt just a good idea for companies who deal with clients in Europe. In many cases, its the law, says InterForm CEO Peter Srensen. In Europe almost every country has an XML requirement, he tells IT Jungle. For instance, for invoicing in Denmark, it has to be XML. Youre not able to deliver paper or PDF. They only accept XML . . . Definitely, XML is a big thing. InterForm delivered new XML capabilities with the latest release of InterForm/400, the Danish companys flagship document management software product, which is called ArtForm/400 in the United States due to copyright reasons. The suite already enabled IBM i shops to convert spool files into XML output, among many other capabilities. Generation of XML documents should get easier with the new release. According to Srensen, the new XML Module will make it easier to handle the multitude of XML formats that companies in Europe are asked to support. A lot of our customers have several customers that have several formats, he says. And certain industries have their own XML formats. There is a whole engine built that enables customers to generate the different XML output formats. The new XML module also provides validation testing to ensure the XML document complies with particular industry or regional standards. Built into the tool is an option that you can validate that the content is compliant with the standard, Srensen says. Its easier to do before you send it instead of being denied at the delivery point. There is also an option to import standard XML templates as guides that InterForm/400 customers can use in in the creation of their own XML documents. You can read the full manual and design the XML documents yourself, Srensen says. But then youre talking about a very complicated process. Instead, using this tool will save you a lot of time and worry. XML is a more broadly used document interchange standard in Europe than the United States.

The 2016 release of InterForm/400 also adds support for a particular German standard called ZUGFeRD that defines how XML can be embedded into a PDF-A. This allows people to view the business document as a regular PDF, while retaining the automated import and data extraction capabilities that XML brings. While Europeans have adopted XML as a standard way of exchanging documents in a business transaction, its still not in widespread use in the United States. That could change, Srensen says, as more companies in the US start to realize the benefits that XML-based document processing brings to business. XML-based document processing brings the same type of business automation that electronic document interchange (EDI) brought. At the end of the day, its all about not having manual processes, Srensen says. Sending XML in an agreed format means you can extract and include in the database without any manual typing. . . Its the same principle [as EDI] where we agree on a way of sending and receiving in a certain format in order to reduce transactional costs. X-Headers, Stream Files, and More The 2016 release brings several other important capabilities, including a new capability to utilize X-Headers to automate the receipt of customer feedback sent via email. By analyzing the metadata information in the email that a customer sends in response to an automated marketing campaign, for example, companies can automatically route the response to the appropriate department. This release also simplifies something that used to be quite difficult to do: highlight a particular word or words using different colors in business output. This would be useful when sending correspondence to customers, such as an insurance company that is informing customers of changes to terms of the agreement. Typically thats very difficult because you would not know where to start or stop, Srensen says. The new InterForm/400 form designer runs on Windows 10.

IBM i shops that use Infors M3 (Movex) ERP software will find something to their liking in the latest release of InterForm/400 (or Artform/400, if theyre US customers): a new Movex/M3 module that supports output from that ERP system. Several years back, Lawson software made a change in Movex that eliminated generation of IBM i spool files, instead shifting output to a stream file format, which required using a separate Windows machine to process output. Infor is apparently in the process of rectifying that mistake, Srensen says. But in the meantime, they can utilize InterForms software to keep it all on the IBM i server. A lot of customers are really not that happy with that stream file format, Srensen says.  The Movex module for us is to help Movex customers who have only stream files as output from latest release. Last but not least, the new release of InterForm/400 brings updates to graphical forms designer. It also runs on Windows 10. InterForm/400 is a suite of tools that includes a PC-based graphical forms design tool; an IBM i-based spool file merge utility; support for distributing documents via email, fax, and XML; Word and Excel integration; support for barcodes and check printing; support for optical character recognition (OCR) and signature pads; a separate archive module; and workflow and approval capabilities. The software is sold in the United States through Boise, Idaho-based Minet Communications. RELATED STORIES Paper Or Digital Forms? Having It Both Ways InterForm Launches Embedded PDF InterForm/400 Gets Better PDF Support InterForm A/S Gets a Boost from Infor Partnership InterForm Sees New Opportunities in IBM i Forms Management ProData Hooks Up with InterForm for Doc Management Kodak Buys Intermate for IPDS Expertise Intermate Launches Spool-to-Excel Conversion Tool
Faced with a huge upfront CapEx (capital expenditure) or pay as you go (OpEx) with the ability to scale up or down  no wonder almost every industry is moving to the subscription model.

At this year's Subscribed Conference, Zuora, the worlds leading provider of subscription billing, commerce and finance solutions, unveiled a report by MGI Research (registration required for free report) that estimates the global market for Subscription Economy SaaS tools will be more than US $100 billion through 2020, with 20% of Fortune 1000 companies adopting these solutions.

In the report, Mark Sisco, Director of Operations at NCR, is quoted as saying, Ability to switch from Capex to Opex has been one of the main drivers from NCR to explore new business models. The subscription model has allowed us to introduce offerings that are very robust, quite affordable and easy to access by small customers who dont have a lot of technical knowledge or a lot of capital to outlay.

The report also forecasts the total addressable market (TAM) for Zuoras Subscription Billing platform will be nearly US $15 billion by 2020, growing at a 50% compound annual growth rate.

We have claimed that all companies are moving to the Subscription Economy, and this study shows that to be true, said Zuora CEO Tien Tzuo. Its clear to us that the shift to subscription business models requires Relationship Business Management (RBM tools that will drive deep subscriber relationships and create opportunities to monetise virtually anything. We will continue to lead the industry in supporting our customers need for rapid innovation, flexibility, and agility to grow and prosper in the future.

The MGI report is a comprehensive study of Subscription Economy SaaS services and tools, described as Agile Monetisation Platforms (AMPs), which includes nine categories: agile billing, financials, order management, e-commerce, customer support, CPQ (Configure-Price-Quote), contract management, revenue recognition, and mediation. The study includes 34,796 companies in 116 countries across ten major geographic regions. The report accounts for almost $50 trillion in revenue or 60% of worldwide GDP and more than 70% of North American GDP. North America has led the move to these SaaS services and tools, and over the next 24 months, markets beyond North America will accelerate adoption, led by Japan, China, Germany and the UK.

Companies are no longer focused on just shipping products. They are building new services and experiences for their customers -- experiences that deliver outcomes, not assets. This requires companies to move from "selling units" to "monetising relationships." To meet the changing needs and expectations of today's customers, businesses are realising they need to offer new services that can be monetised in more flexible ways. The rise of the Internet of Things creates further possibilities to offer whole new classes of services and experiences from established industrial companies -- creating an unprecedented opportunity for a mix of recurring and usage-based pricing models.

Matt Anderson, Chief Digital Officer at Arrow Electronics, is quoted as saying, If you had a pacemaker that had sensors in it you could charge for a subscription for heartbeats! If you had shoes that had sensors in them, you could charge for how many kilometres do you want to walk per month! Those kinds of business models never existed before.

The report further suggests that because these new SaaS services and tools can support rapid scaling for top-line growth and increased customer engagement via data and analytics, spending for these solutions is now being prioritised. Similarly, companies seeking to improve their efficiency by consolidating some out-of-date and disparate systems through a new monetisation platform will also benefit, fuelling additional demand.

As enterprises attempt to shift to new subscription and on-demand business models, they realise their existing business systems are wholly inadequate, said MGI Research Analyst Andrew Dailey. In fact, in some industries, legacy business tools are delaying business model migration, creating an existential threat for some well-known companies. Also, recurring revenue business models require new approaches to product management, sales, marketing, and even finance.

At US $50.441 billion, North America is the largest geographic component of the overall TAM. On a combined basis, Asia (East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia), at $24.847 billion, is the second-largest component, and Europe, at US $22.757 billion, is the third. The report projects growth in AMP sales in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania from US$88 million in 2016 to US$413 million in 2020 (CAGR: 47.18%)
Ewen Ferguson, managing director Australia for US-based global consulting firm, Protiviti, warned of the security risk to companies, cautioning that few companies fully appreciate that their service providers can be a weak link in their own data security, and routinely fail to take adequate steps to prevent their data from being compromised via an attack on their providers.



Today, most if not all businesses outsource some of their functions - whether to a cloud technology provider, telemarketer, call centre or payment processor. And doing this involves giving some data or systems access to those third parties.



Ferguson says that contractors are an obvious vulnerability because they are often smaller firms with weaker security and, he cautions,even some large service providers have relatively immature information security controls and practices.





Companies often dont monitor their partners or contractors access privileges and security processes as well as they do within their own boundaries. Add to that, the fact that outsiders often bring their own hardware and software which may be contaminated through use on other non-secure networks - and you have a clear security exposure.Yet, despite these risks, companies generally arent focussed on managing them effectively. Vendor selection is still overwhelmingly directed at cost, quality and delivery. Risk is only a minor after-thought.Ferguson notes that the high profile breach of US mega-retailer, Target, which resulted in the theft of personal information including credit card details of 70 million customers and which cost the company upwards of US$200 million - reportedly originated with an email phishing attack on the companys air conditioning contractor.According to Ferguson, companies can outsource their business functions but cannot outsource their legal obligations to protect sensitive corporate and customer data. The only way to manage this is by exercising better control over your service provider relationships.Ferguson recommends that companies should start by developing a plan to manage their third party relationship risks.Its best practice to establish a centralised function to manage third party relationship risks. This is generally the best way to get complete visibility of everyone the company deals with and to prevent individual teams from establishing relationships that fall under the radar.The office should take stock of all existing partners, associates and suppliers and gain an understanding of who has access to what data. There should also be a process to red flag and manage parties requiring closer oversight based on criteria such as the sensitivity of the data they hold and the strength of their IT security and controls.
The Australian Privacy Foundation has slammed a unilateral move by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to store the names and addresses of all Australians collected in the 2016 census for years to come.

In a media release, the APF said on census night, 9 August, all Australians would be compelled to provide their names and addresses to ABS contractors; for each day they did not comply a fine of $100 would be levied.

The change was effected in December and a report was published on Christmas Eve, with another change last week.

The release, issued by APF vice-chairs David Vaile and Kat Lane, described the move as "a breach of trust, a high-handed and arrogant abuse of legislative power".

The release said the ABS's general manager Gemma Van Halderen had told the APF that the ABS was taking this radical direction because "technology has changed" and "there has also been a shift in public perception and expectations about the use of their data".

Vaile said Van Halderens claims were wrong, and displayed bad faith with the Australian public.

"Changes in technology have, if anything, increased the risk, so the ABS decision to store our names and addresses for years is all the more worrying. It creates an irresistible honeypot for hackers and cyber criminals in an age when no IT security can keep out motivated intruders," he said.

"Serious data breaches are now a real and increasing danger. Retaining names and addresses will also attract scores of agencies with powers of compulsory access to data. Data-matching is easier, cheaper and more intrusive than ever before. It may only need the stroke of a pen or a tweak of a regulation for the government to use the data for other purposes, should it decide to do so."

Lane said Van Halderens claim that somehow the public would now be comfortable about their personal information being stored in one big virtual database for four years  presumably until just before the next census, when it would be stored for another four years, continuing indefinitely  was wrong.

"Australians value their privacy, they used to trust the ABS, and they would be alarmed by this sneaky change to the way their personal information will now be stored. They may be horrified to know that the name and address of everyone in their household will now be retained, without consent, so it is no longer anonymous," she said.

The ABS had initially planned to store the information indefinitely but has now "backtracked and appears in disarray", the release said.

The APF officials urged the ABS to reverse its "misconceived and dangerous policy". Else, it asked the minister responsible, Alex Hawke, to rein in "this rogue department".

They also called on the parliament to pass the overdue Data Breach Notification law and the Privacy Tort law, so that citizens would have the right to be informed if their data had been breached, and also had reliable legal protection.
The role of the CIO and CTO has become more notable in recent years, especially as more businesses realize they need people to help manage corporate technology to achieve positive business outcomes. CIOs and CTOs are tasked with managing IT budgets, making final decisions regarding technology and looking forward to emerging technology that can be integrated into the business. The study revealed that the salary for these positions has increased an average of seven percent year-over-year for the same roles.

Mondo reports that the average salary for CIOs and CTOs starts at $182,000 on the low end and goes up to $268,000 per year. According to data from PayScale, the highest paid CIOs and CTOs are in Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, Boston and Seattle. Data from PayScale also shows that skills associated with higher pay in this job title include strategy, leadership, strategic planning, software development management and budget management.
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Keeper Lee Harrison, Barnet's 'Mr Consistency' is Player of the Year for the third successive season.

Harrison, who collected the award during the Supporters' Association's presentation disco on Saturday, won from Darren Currie and Greg Heald.
Conversion of pubs into fast food restaurants should require planning permission, according to more than 60 per cent of local authorities which responded to a survey.

The survey was carried out by the Shaftesbury Community Against McDonaldIs (SCAM) which opposed the fast food restaurant's conversion of South HarrowIs former Hungry Horse pub in Shaftesbury Circle.
What is a Jew? Israeli museum attempts an answer

JERUSALEMI was on a short visit to Israel and spent time with a friend with whom I have been engaged in a 30-year argument. Elli...

When anti-Semitism rears its head, we must be ready to fight it

Anti-Semitism is a force that is persistent as well as pernicious. When it occurs, it must be fought both by being confronted in real time...
Sony has officially released the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow update to its Xperia Z2, Z3 and Z3 Compact.

Neurogadget reported that the roll out update will be available accordingly with the model number for Xperia Z2 D6503, Xperia Z3 D6603 and Xperia Z3 Compact D5803. The latest update comes with a build number 23.5.A.0.570 including a new camera app interface.

The reason why the Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 is being updated to the noted model numbers of the Xperia handsets could suggest that those versions accelerates the development a lot quicker by scheduling its release of the update for now, while other versions might receive the same treatment in near future.

Owners of Xperia Z2, Z3 or Z3 Compact including models that were unmentioned will have to wait for the firmware to be ready for their specific versions. Sony has not yet specified the details to when it will occur, otherwise it will be delayed due to further testing.

In addition to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow reaching the Xperia Z2, Z3 and Z3 Compact, a report from Xperia Blog reported two new add-ons: Camera 2.0.0 UI and the February Android security patch.

The new camera app interface is also found virtually on the Xperia Z5, which comes with a new features such as adjusting real-time brightness, and the option to choose from different camera modes. While the February Android security patch is not really Google's latest release, but it might carry extra protections for the smartphones.

The update is available for users in the United States, Ukraine, Russia, North Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
In 2015, the gender pay gap is narrower than any recorded year ever. This is a good sign for female employees. However, looking closely, it looks like the gender wage gap has widened in 2015.

"During the last decade, women have only made just a few pennies worth of progress," explains Lisa Maatz an advocate of the "Paycheck Fairness Act" and vice president for government relations at the American Association of University Women, a nonprofit advocacy group. The government is moving in the right direction but these women have expressed that it's not moving enough.

Previously, JobsNHire reported that on average, women only earn about 70 cents for every dollar a man earns. Did the Equal Pay Act of 1963 make a difference? According to Marketwatch, the ratio of women's to men's medial weekly full time income declined from 82.5 cents to 81.1 cents for every dollar a man earned in 2015. Is this difference good or bad? A study from IWPR has released information that women worker's median weekly income were $726 and men earned $895 in 2015.

Looking at culture and diversity, African American women saw the smallest raise of 0.5% growth in weekly earnings in the over-all female population, compared to African American men who didn't see any increase at all. Asian women's income raised to 4.2%, 3.2% growth for Hispanic women and only a 1.1% increase for caucasian or white women.

Heidi Hartmann, the president of the Institute for Women's Policy Research in Washington, D.C., explains that the industry has advanced to celebrate women but the wage gap is still widening. Even though women have accounted for growth in higher education compared to men, this gap is still pulling women back.
Have you ever wondered how and where your Starbucks coffee was made? Imagine a Seattle roastery that houses a giant hand-hammered copper cask with Starbuck's Reserve coffee beans stored after roasting. It's located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, complete with a coffee bar, roasters, scooping bar, a coffee library and a retail platform.

Now, Starbucks has decided to move to New York to appeal to the discerning customers' taste in the area. According to Seattle Times, it was speculated that the move would be in Asia. Having chosen New York as its next location, Starbucks targeted the Meatpacking District. The company wants to reforge its credibility as the purveyor of coffee.

The Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room is scheduled to open its doors in 2018. The facility is expected to cover 20,000 sq feet - larger than the original Seattle facility. The NY site will roast small batches of ultra-high quality coffee compared to its predecessor in Seattle.

What does this mean for New York? CEO Howard Schultz announces to its investors that the roastery is the metaphor for the whole company and will require resources and staff to accomplish the company's ambitions to double its revenue to $30 billion by 2019.

Though it's official news that the location will be set in New York, a Starbucks spokesperson explains that Asia is still being looked at for another roastery site. If it plans to follow the same floor plan as the one in Seattle, then the New York roastery may be in need of coffee baristas and customer-facing staff employees.

Are you a professional when it comes to roasting coffee and are looking for a job in New York City? This may be the opportunity for you. Get ready to flex your resume and roasting skills.

Visit the Starbucks official website for more information.
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Normally, I would ignore 99% of the things coming out of Bill O'Reilly's mouth.

This time I can't bite my tongue.

On Monday, O'Reilly was grilling Republican front-runner Donald Trump on how he would build a relationship with African-Americans by addressing unemployment.

Trump said. "If you look at President Obama, he's been a president for almost eight years, it will be eight years, you have with black youth, with African-American youth, you have a 59 percent unemployment."

O'Reilly jumped in saying "but how are you going to get jobs for them?"

Fair question.

But here's where it turns ignorant.

"Many of them are ill-educated and have tattoos on their foreheads, and I hate to be generalized about it, but it's true. If you look at all the educational statistics, how are you going to get jobs for people who aren't qualified for jobs?" O'Reilly said.

O'Reilly has said a number of bone-headed and downright racist things in the past, but this one ranks among his all-time worst flubs.

Like when O'Reilly argued last June that every country is racist so it doesn't matter that we kind of are, too.

He actually said "I don't think it's an epidemic of racism, I don't think it's ingrained in the society," O'Reilly said.

Or the time during the uproar in Ferguson, Mo. when O'Reilly denounced assertions that white privilege rules the land. He totally missed the fact that of the 53 police officers in Ferguson at the time of the uproar, only three were black, while nearly 70% of its residents were black.

"Maybe you haven't figured out that there is no more slavery, no more Jim Crow. The most powerful man in the world is a black American and the most powerful woman in the world, Oprah Winfrey, is black," he said.

Insert forehead slap here.

I guess as long as O'Reilly is allowed the platform to make such generalizations and downright untruths without being disciplined or taken off the TV, maybe he does believe that racism no longer exists.

What's troubling isn't so much that O'Reilly makes these comments, but the fact that so many people actually believe and support him.

I know it's not my part to give out the the "Donkey of the Day" award; that job belongs to "Charlemagne Tha God." But I need to steal his thunder for one day and award the biggest "HeeHaw" to Bill O'Reilly.
Rick Wiley, manager of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's former presidential campaign, has been hired by Donald Trump. Credit: Michael P. King / Wisconsin State Journal

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After being blamed for running Gov. Scott Walker's short-lived presidential campaign into the ground last year, GOP political operative Rick Wiley has now found a politician with deeper pockets.

Wiley -- a former executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party -- will serve as national political director for GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump. The appointment comes two days after Walker laughed off suggestions of being Trump's running mate.

Rick is a seasoned political expert with a very successful career in winning elections," Trump said in a news release. "He brings decades of experience, and his deep ties to political leaders and activists across the country will be a tremendous asset as we enter the final phase of securing the nomination.

Wiley did not return a call or text message on Wednesday.

But he said in the Trump release that voters are hungry for someone to shake up Washington, D.C.: "Donald Trump has energized millions of hard working people across the country with his no-nonsense straight talk and will bring his record of success to tackle the real problems that face our nation.

Last year, Wiley came under withering criticism from conservative bloggers, talk show hosts and publications after Walker shut down his campaign operation in September after just 71 days.

Most focused on how the campaign  under Wiley's leadership  burned through millions of dollars with a massive campaign staff and on Wiley' suggestions that it was tough preparing Walker for a presidential bid.

After Walker dropped out of the race, one national blogger said Wiley should "never, ever work in politics again." And the National Review said Wiley reminded everyone "why Republicans hate political consultants."

Reports showed Walker's campaign was still more than $1 million in the hole at the end of 2015. Earlier this week, Walker sent out a fundraising email offering campaign T-shirts to any supporter who gave $45 to help pay off his outstanding debt.

I cannot stand to see them go to waste, Walker said in the appeal.
Dan Jacobs (left) and Dan Van Rite of DanDan, a modern Chinese-American restaurant planned for a summer opening in the Third Ward. Credit: Scott Starr

SHARE A rendering of the bar area of DanDan, a modern Chinese-American restaurant planned for a summer opening in the Third Ward. 360 Degrees

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A conversation between accomplished chefs Dan Van Rite and Dan Jacobs with former ManpowerGroup CEO Jeffrey Joerres at a rooftop party last Fourth of July will lead to the opening of a new restaurant in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.

The chefs will open DanDan, a modern Chinese-American restaurant, at 360 E. Erie St. in the former site of the Turkish restaurant Tulip.

During that party last summer, Van Rite and Jacobs talked with Joerres about their aspirations to open a new restaurant. Van Rite then was chef at Hinterland on E. Erie St., about a block from Joerres' home.

Hinterland "became pretty much our kitchen," Joerres said. As a regular, "I got to know DVR quite well," he said.

Jacobs was chef at the Odd Duck in the Bay View neighborhood. He previously was the chef at Wolf Peach in the Brewers Hill neighborhood and had worked at a series of fine-dining restaurants in Chicago, including Tru, Green Zebra and Bistro Campagne.

After talking to the chefs at that gathering last summer Joerres said he thought, "Wouldn't it be great if these two fantastic chefs had a chance to do something on their own." Joerres said that thought was followed by, "Can we do something to add to the vibrance of the Third Ward?"

The three became business partners.

When a bid to buy Hinterland in late 2015 fell through because terms to a lease could not be reached, the partners found the former Tulip location. The site came with more than 60 parking spaces at night.

The chefs confirmed plans for the restaurant in February but were still finalizing the name and the format.

The name DanDan is a play on their names and the Sichuan noodle dish.

"We knew what we wanted to do," Jacobs said. "We wanted to do something that Milwaukee didn't have."

Jacobs and Van Rite want their restaurant to serve Chinese-American dishes with a Midwestern point of view and a focus on local ingredients. They also are planning a restaurant within the restaurant that will be entirely different from DanDan to open in fall or winter.

Although the menu is a work in progress  the original was torn up after Van Rite and Jacobs traveled to New York to visit Chinese restaurants  the chefs are planning menu items that will include dumplings, noodle dishes and pancakes.

In New York, the food stalls at the Chinese Food Court in the New World Mall in Flushing were an inspiration, but so were Mission Chinese and King County Imperial, which upend the idea of Chinese-American food.

Van Rite cited the wealth of ingredients in Chinese-American cooking as an inspiration, adding that his aim for the dishes at DanDan is for the flavors to be clear.

Jacobs knows he wants schmaltz fried rice on the menu. It combines two of his favorite things, he said.

"It's like an homage to my childhood," he said, recalling happy trips to a Chinese restaurant with his parents.

The chefs plan to buy some ingredients from Wisconsin farmers they have worked with previously. Some will grow produce such as bok choy and green onions specifically for DanDan.

Items such as dumplings and hoisin and oyster sauces will be made in-house.

The dining room will have about 125 seats and 29 more on the adjoining patio.

"It's all about having an energy when you walk in. It's an organic energy that comes from the staff" and from guests having fun, Joerres said.

DanDan will open with dinner service in July and later will add lunch, carryout and delivery. It will be open Tuesday through Saturday. The restaurant has just launched a website, dandanmke.com. It's also on Twitter and Facebook.
Portals artist Amar Bakshi (right) and Lewis Lee, a local collaborator on the project, paint the shipping container that will be used as the portal to connect people in Milwaukee and Newark, N.J. Credit: Angela Peterson

Travel between Milwaukee and New Jersey is about to get cheap and fast.

Milwaukeeans will have a chance to step inside a shipping container, painted a lustrous gold and tricked out with cutting-edge audiovisual technology, in order to have one-on-one encounters with strangers in Newark, N.J.

The "Portals" project is the brainchild of artist Amar Bakshi, who has created hangouts between people in different cities around the globe in his converted shipping containers, often set up on college campuses and in art galleries.

For the first time, though, the full-body, Skype-like experiences will be purely domestic, connecting community centers in two American cities for the purpose of a specific dialogue about criminal justice and policing.

"This is very much a pilot," said Bakshi. "It's one thing to invite people in to talk to Burma. It's another thing to invite people in to talk about this very intense project."

The Milwaukee "Portal" was installed Tuesday at the COA Goldin Center, 2320 W. Burleigh St., where Bakshi met with local collaborators, started rigging up the technology and gave the boxcar-like container a fresh coat of shiny paint.

"Even though we are far apart, we all have the same problems, the same kinds of issues, that we are trying to overcome," said Lewis Lee, one of the local collaborators for "Portals," which will launch Monday.

"I think the dialogue is definitely one that is needed," said Dennis Walton, 41, another collaborator. "It's a creative way to go about discussing what's going on with police in our community."

Lee and Walton believe young people in the surrounding Amani neighborhood, many of whom have never traveled, need to talk about issues like gun violence, safety and police profiling in a safe environment.

"There is some security in that distance," Bakshi said.

The hope, also, is that the art project will attract a wide array of Milwaukeeans who aren't familiar with the area.

"This neighborhood is looked at as sort of a bad part of town, and part of that is true, but part of it isn't," Lee said. "What better way to kill a lot of stereotypes."

"Portals" got its start in 2014 when Bakshi connected people in New York and Tehran. He eventually expanded to more than 20 cities worldwide, and the project snagged headlines in major newspapers and glossy art magazines around the world.

Bakshi decided to come to Milwaukee after being challenged by academics at Yale and Rutgers universities to bridge cultural divides right here at home, in the U.S.

In Milwaukee, anyone will be able to sign up for an appointment online (sharedstudios.com/milwaukee), go to the portal and have a 20-minute conversation with someone in New Jersey. The portals will be open for the focused dialogues from 1 to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

On other days, the portal will be opened up for school groups and arts organizations that want to connect to the wider "Portals" network in Iraq, Iran, Kenya, Rwanda, Cuba, Afghanistan, Switzerland and a Syrian refugee camp, among other locales.

The participants in the focused dialogues about policing will drive their own conversation, though there will be a few prompts, including a question about their impressions of Ferguson, Mo., where Michael Brown, an unarmed black man was shot and killed by a white cop, causing protests in 2014.

The normally private conversations that occur inside Bakshi's "Portals" will be recorded and later analyzed by researchers at Yale and Rutgers who are trying to better understand public perceptions about police. That's a first, too, and all of the conversations will be stripped of any identifying characteristics, so the gathered recordings will be rendered anonymous.

"The idea of actually having a truly public conception of how police understand communities and how communities understand police has alluded us until 'Portals,'" said Tracey L. Meares, a professor of law at Yale working on the project, during a presentation for the Greater Milwaukee Committee on Monday.

"Portals" was inspired by a year of travel around the world that Bakshi did as a blogger for The Washington Post, talking to people about their perceptions about America. Some of the more meaningful encounters he had were incidental and oddly sacred, he said.

"People are curious about other people," Bakshi said. "We've realized that it is not all that often when you meet a stranger, you know, not to date, not to get a job, but really just to come to know them."

While the shipping container is planned as a temporary installation, the hope is that it can become permanently placed in Milwaukee, which is what's happened in the majority of other cities visited by the art project.

That could lead to long-term relationships  high-tech, pen pal-like relationships  between people and organizations across the "Portals" network, Bakshi said. A launch celebration for "Portals" will be held at the COA center from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday.

Mary Louise Schumacher is the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic. Follow her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/artcity) and Twitter (@artcity). Email her at mschumacher@journalsentinel.com.
Former Wisconsin actress Carrie Coon, seen here with Gary Wilmes, plays one incarnation of the title character in Steppenwolf Theatres Mary Page Marlowe. Credit: Michael Brosilow

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Chicago  Looking back on the selves you once were, can you make sense of who you now are?

Does it make sense to talk about a self at all, given the disconnect between the parts you once played and your current performance?

Those are among the questions haunting the seemingly ordinary Midwestern woman whose story gets told in Tracy Letts' smart, evocative and moving "Mary Page Marlowe," currently receiving its world premiere production at Steppenwolf Theatre under Anna D. Shapiro's direction.

It might be more accurate to describe Letts' play, unfolding over nearly 90 intermission-free minutes, as the story of "women," plural.

There are actually six actors in this cast of 18 who play Mary Page Marlowe, embodying different moments in a life beginning just after World War II and glimpsed at least once in each decade from the 1940s through the present.

Letts scrambles the chronology; when the play begins, for example, Rebecca Spence appears before us as an evasive 40-year-old Mary Page, trying to tell her teen daughter and tween son why she and her husband are getting divorced.

Much later, we'll catch up with Spence's Mary Page again, now 44 and falling apart.

In the interim, we'll have met a 12-year-old Mary Page (a heartbreaking Caroline Heffernan) and a college-age Mary Page (a wistfully hopeful Annie Munch), filled with promise and a vintage 1960s belief that she can be her own person.

We'll leave Mary Page's dorm room for our first of three encounters with the oldest Mary Page, presented by a terrific Blair Brown as a woman trying to fit together the pieces of her life at ages 59, 63 and 69, in an accounting that reflects Mary Page's career as a CPA in Ohio and Kentucky.

We'll witness former Wisconsin-based actor Carrie Coon, devastating as a Mary Page losing her way and sense of self in the early 1970s and early 1980s, at ages 27 and 36. And we'll see Laura T. Fisher present Mary Page as she hits rock bottom at age 50  Letts' own age, now.

Letts' structure calls to mind Albee's "Three Tall Women," in which three differently aged versions of a single woman try to make sense of a life.

It also strongly calls to mind "Fun Home," the exceptional musical in which a similarly jumbled chronology features three actors, each one playing cartoonist Alison Bechdel at various points in her life.

In Letts' play as in "Fun Home," multiple versions of the self inhabit the stage at the same time; here, we'll catch periodic glimpses of past and future Mary Pages. They flicker into view and then go dark behind a scrim, in the same way that memories of who we once were and visions of who we might yet be come and go, while we try to make sense of who we are and why we act.

Letts suggests that this exercise is harder for women; on life's stage as in the theater, they often must choose among fewer, more conventionally written and less satisfying roles.

That point is made most forcefully by Coon's Mary Page, dying emotionally because each of the parts she plays  as wife, mother and lover leaves no room to express what she is slowly forgetting how to feel, within a world where every move she makes seems to confirm anew that she doesn't control her own destiny.

Remaining an unsolved mystery to herself, Mary Page necessarily remains a mystery to us.

Letts leaves us hungering to know more  simultaneously thereby suggesting that the narrow ways we customarily read women skip far too many pages.

IF YOU GO

"Mary Page Marlowe" continues through May 29 at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago. For tickets, visit www.steppenwolf.org. Read more about this production at TapMilwaukee.com.

TAKEAWAYS

The Patchwork Quilt: Letts' sense of how little we actually know of the women we think we know is driven home as the eldest of the Mary Pages describes a quilt she'd forgotten she owned. Pieced together by various women, it's an apt metaphor for Letts' play, in which separate vignettes involving various iterations of Mary Page are stitched together into a single history. Crucially, the silhouette of a woman in one quilt panel remains unreadable to Mary Page and therefore to us, underscoring how much of this history remains unknown, even after being joined into one fabric.

We want to know more; I'll go so far as to say it's unsatisfying that the play ends as abruptly as it does, without us knowing more. But the open-ended nature of Letts' conclusion is true to the story he has told, while challenging us to puzzle with the pieces presented by these women rather than presuming to know who they are. Even the best of the male characters in this play can be paternalistic; without exception, they all think they know best. Letts suggests otherwise, and if that denies us the catharsis we crave at play's end, so be it. Without it, we must think harder about what we've seen, because this play won't let us go. It certainly hasn't let go of me.

Generations of Women: Mary Page's quilt includes frontier motifs suggesting a time before her own and thereby extending its history of women backward to include women from prior generations. Ditto Letts' script, which makes room for Mary Page's mother (Amanda Drinkall) and daughter (Madeline Weinstein)  the first even more circumscribed and defeated than Mary Page herself and the second providing hope that generations of women to come might be what Mary Page tells her daughter she herself is not: Your own person.

Roles for Women: The structure of Letts' play makes good on what Mary Page's daughter suggests: A world in which women might have more roles and therefore more choices, thereby enhancing their prospect of coming into themselves and leading fulfilling lives. In addition to the six actors playing Mary Page, there are six more women in this 18-member cast. Excepting musicals, one rarely sees this many women on stage together in a professional production. Nor does one usually see so many acclaimed actors accustomed to leading roles check their egos at the door to form the sort of powerhouse ensemble one sees on stage here. That's Steppenwolf. That's Chicago.

The Passage of Time: This production's design does an excellent job of capturing the seemingly inexorable march of time. Sliding sets receding into a darkening upstage, itself separated by scrims imposing previously unrecognized barriers, evoke the continued diminution of the present as it fades into the past (and, as Coon's Mary Page suggests, the way we compartmentalize our lives). Ditto the leaching of color from upstage projections that continually fade to black and white; those projections are filled with images drawn from nature, conveying the passage of seasons within a prehistoric world that will outlast us all (scenic design by Todd Rosenthal, lighting design by Marcus Doshi and projection design by Sven Ortel). Framed by these design elements, costume designer Linda Roethke (with a huge assist involving wig and hair design from Penny Lane Studios) conveys the passage of time within Mary Page's life; costuming for each of the decades from the 1940s to the present rings true.

Fate and Free Will: Buried within and lurking behind the story of this life is the question of how much control any of us ever has over our lives as well as how that issue gets gendered. Coon's Mary Page raises this issue most forthrightly, but it's a recurring theme, going back to events that took place even before Mary Page is born.

I hesitate to say more; I don't want to spoil the discoveries you'll make, as this play's various reveals come your way. As I dearly hope they will: See it, before it follows the trajectory of Letts' "August: Osage County," winning renown in New York.
Emily Demchik plays violin in band class at Almond-Bancroft High School. Credit: Jacob Byk / USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

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Almond  Emily Demchik wanted to play violin, but her school doesn't have an orchestra.

Demchik, a senior at Almond-Bancroft High School, found a simple way to get around her problem.

"I joined band and from there I just learned all the instruments because music is great," she said.

Demchik, now 18, plays violin  and guitar, bass, piano and percussion. She's starting to learn flute too. Her passion for music has helped her in ways she didn't necessarily expect when she first began to play.

"It's a way to express emotion, which has always been a thing that's sort of hard for me," she said. "I like that I can do that."

Her experience playing with the band at her school  a small, tight-knit group of students  generated some of her fondest memories of her time spent in school. Almond-Bancroft Principal Jeff Rykal described her dedication to the school's music program as "amazing," and noted how popular her role as a musical performer at school sporting events has become.

"Her musical ability will be very much missed after she graduates," Rykal wrote in a recommendation letter for her Central Wisconsin Academic All Star nomination.

Read more about Demchik in the Stevens Point Journal.
Joe Brehm at This Is It! bar in 2007. Credit: Kate Sherry

You may be surprised that Wisconsin's oldest continuously operating gay bar was run by a guy with a wife and two kids who assembled for family dinner at home every night.

The bigger wonder might be that the bar was started by his mother.

Both are gone now.

June Brehm died in 2010. She opened This Is It! in downtown Milwaukee in 1968 and soon after welcomed a customer base made up mostly of gay men whose nearby tavern had closed.

Her son, Joe Brehm, who took over in 1981 and continued her commitment to friendly service and an inclusive atmosphere, died April 3.

The bar, or lounge as Joe liked to call it, will go on.

"I put it this way anytime anybody asks me," said George Schneider, handpicked by Joe in 2012 to co-own the bar. "Joe and June had this bar for the first 50 years, or almost 50. I'm the custodian of a huge amount of history and their legacy. I will make sure it keeps on going for another 50."

Customers and old friends packed This Is It! on Sunday to remember Joe as a great friend of Milwaukee's gay community and a welcome face behind the bar for many years. Joe, who lived in Franklin and had survived four kinds of cancer, was diagnosed last August with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. It took him quickly. He was 73.

He and his mother before him created an effortless mixing pot here at 418 E. Wells St., near Cathedral Square Park, though for years there was no sign out front, dating from the era when being gay meant exercising great caution. Now, there's a flag bearing the rainbow logo and bar name.

"Lesbians, gay guys, drag queens, straight people, African-Americans, Hispanics  it was always pretty much everyone is welcome," said Stephanie Hume, a friend of Joe for many years. She is an advocate in the community and said she could always count on him to support causes. He helped sponsor the history exhibit at PrideFest every year.

"When he said he didn't judge people, it wasn't just a politically correct thing to say. That's the way he lived his life," she said.

Paul Williams, co-president of the board of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, put it this way, "It wasn't just a business. It was a way to take care of people."

It wasn't always a party. Joe grieved customers lost to AIDS, and he was a comforting presence when the gay community struggled to heal after it was victimized by serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

The bar is a crossroads of humanity, said Abby Shaddox, who enjoyed an after-work drink last week with co-worker Rebecca Augustine, who both happen to be straight. Rebecca was amused by the bar's list of tongue-in-cheek house rules, including: "This is a gay bar. You will experience attitude and shade from your bar staff and fellow patrons. Deal with it."

The place is dimly lit, windowless and small, the size of perhaps two bowling lanes side by side. Every drink comes with a double shot. The walls are carpeted in red, and the bar has a cushioned elbow rail, just the way Joe and June liked it. Up until last month, a pay phone on the wall still worked.

George, who is 31, helped Joe bring some aspects of the business into the 21st century, including a stronger presence on social media. The leather half-booths lining one wall have been replaced with tables and chairs. And the bar continues to attract a younger clientele later in the evening.

Joe tried to keep his work at the bar and his family life separate. His daughter, Jessica Brehm, remembers as a child being at the bar on weekend mornings to help count down the cash registers and drink soda from the dispensers, but rarely went there as an adult. She also remembers nasty people keying and spray-painting her father's car outside the bar.

Joe worked a lot and until late at night, but made family dinner a priority. His other daughter, Sarah Freiheit, recalls going with her father to Radio Doctors to pick out records for the bar's jukebox, which was replaced last year with a digital music system.

Years ago there were people who refused to talk to her father when they found out he ran a gay bar, Sarah said. "When I was older, people thought it was really cool. Things are a lot more accepted and open now than they were."

It's fitting, I'd say, that Joe met his wife, Karen, at a bar, the long-gone Beneath the Street in Milwaukee. "He was funny. That's what I liked about him. He had a great personality," she said. That was after Joe got out of the Air Force. The two were married 47 years.

Two friendly bartenders were mixing drinks when I stopped at This Is It! last week. Shia Rodriguez said Joe insisted that they greet customers with a handshake and count out their change on the bar. KV was a customer for many years before going to work for Joe. "I always felt like I was coming into his rec room," he said.

In the final days of Joe's life, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett proclaimed March 31 to be Joe Brehm Day and praised him for continuing his mother's legacy at This Is It!, which was recognized by the Wisconsin Historical Society as a landmark establishment.

And a letter of appreciation came from U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who said the bar opened in an era of discrimination and fear for gays and lesbians.

"Thank you," she wrote, "for making the world a more welcoming, generous and understanding place."

Joe's funeral is Wednesday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, 826 N. East St., Waukesha. Visitation begins at 1 p.m. followed by a Mass at 3.

Call Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or email at jstingl@jrn.com. Connect with my public page at Facebook.com/Journalist.Jim.Stingl
Sherrie Tussler, executive director of the Hunger Task Force, is among those urging Gov. Scott Walker to seek a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that would keep the states most vulnerable from losing food benefits. Credit: Mark Hoffman

Advocacy groups across Wisconsin are urging Gov. Scott Walker to seek a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that would keep the state's most vulnerable from losing food benefits. Walker needs to do this.

There still are not enough jobs that pay a living wage for everyone who is looking for work. If Walker seeks the waiver, it will keep in place a safety net for thousands of people across Wisconsin.

And if the governor applies for a waiver, he will get it, Sherrie Tussler, executive director of the Hunger Task Force told me. "Our state will not be denied," she said.

If he doesn't, then he needs to make good on the 250,000 jobs he promised Wisconsinites when he first ran for governor in 2010. We all know that's not going to happen, so it's best for Walker to help the 20 counties and 10 cities that have the highest levels of unemployment.

Able-bodied people ages 18-49 without exemptions are required to work to receive FoodShare benefits. If they do not enroll and participate in the mandatory program, they lose food assistance for three years. That's the law in Wisconsin now. Consider how that compares with a person convicted of a third drunken driving conviction; generally, that person wouldn't get three years behind bars.

Recent reports have told us what most of us already knew  poverty in Wisconsin is still too high and people are struggling to make ends meet. Poverty is not just an urban problem  some of the people relying on agencies such as Hunger Task Force are coming from the suburbs or rural areas.

In a letter addressed to Walker, Sen. Tammy Baldwin and U.S. Reps. Gwen Moore, Mark Pocan and Ron Kind, all Democrats, said the goal should be helping people achieve economic security and independence. They also said the state's employment and training programs are not working.

Walker is failing the most vulnerable because the FoodShare Employment and Training programs have placed only about 10% of recipients in jobs and kicked more than 30,000 low-income people off food stamps, including 16,560 in Milwaukee County since April 2015, the letter says.

If the program is only placing one in 10 people in jobs and kicking people off food stamps at record numbers, then the program is failing those who need work  and it is failing taxpayers.

FoodShare is a safety net that helps low-income adults, children and seniors in Wisconsin buy groceries. During the recession, unemployment levels for minorities spiked to record numbers in Milwaukee, and while the economy has bounced back, those who were hit hardest are still trying to get back on their feet. Stripping away food benefits can be devastating.

Tussler tracked a 49-year-old black man with a bachelor's degree, who lost his job two years ago when he was making more than $70,000 a year. The man had more than two decades of management experience, but he needed to go through the program to receive food benefits. She said the only jobs he was connected to were low-skilled. One job sent him to a fast-food establishment where he was told if he worked hard he might be able to own his own franchise one day.

The average age of a fast-food worker nationally is 29, and Wisconsin's minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Even if an employee works 40 hours a week, the employee still qualifies for food stamps and other government assistance, especially if the employee has children. The other jobs offered him were what Tussler called "mandatory volunteering," where he was told that he could clean apartments and sort meat at Feeding America to "build his resume."

He was lucky enough to find a job on his own.

Who benefits from free labor  that "mandatory volunteering" Tussler talked about? Companies do because they don't have to hire the worker. The worker may be better off holding a "will work for food" sign.

Amy Liu, vice president and director of the the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, who was in Milwaukee Monday to talk about job creation, said if job training does not connect a person to a livable wage job at the end of the training, the worker will be frustrated.

The best training occurs when employers looking for quality workers team up with technical schools, design the program and hire the student at the end of the training. Apprenticeships are an important part of the equation but that requires investment by the employer on the front end.

When you consider all the construction that has started downtown and will take place over the next 10 years, construction jobs could be an important tool to close the unemployment gap.

Walker should show he has a heart. He should sign the waiver and evaluate the job training programs to make sure taxpayers are getting what they deserve  a quality workforce.

James E. Causey is a Journal Sentinel columnist and blogger. Email james.causey@jrn.com. Facebook: fb.me/jamescausey.12 Twitter: jecausey
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Act 10 hurt teacher pipeline

Alan J. Borsuk points to a serious problem facing education in his April 10 article, "Fewer teachers on way; schools face shortage."

However, one point he fails to mention is the damage Act 10 did to the teacher pipeline in Wisconsin. I teach history at Carroll University, and during the discussion preceding passage of this act, I was teaching a course required for all history majors. One of the very brightest students in the class changed his major, telling me candidly that with the rhetoric about teachers and the changes Act 10 would bring, he couldn't see any reason to be a teacher in Wisconsin.

Furthermore, the majority of those who have graduated over the past few years now work in business or non-profit jobs. The reasons for this decline in numbers, both in the major and among those who enter or stay in teaching positions, are simple: there is no economic incentive to teach in Wisconsin, and the cultural climate is predominantly negative regarding teachers.

In order to undercut the education union, supporters of Act 10 promoted negative rhetoric about teachers, successfully convincing many that teachers work short hours, have lengthy periods off work, and are overpaid. In reality, as evidenced by the work my former students who are teachers do, they work 60 hours or more per week and spend their summers doing a combination of continuing education classes and working, often at a second job forced on them by their low pay. Meanwhile, they constantly have to deal with snide remarks about their work ethic and values.

At one time, a good retirement and benefit package somewhat balanced out the low pay teachers receive in Wisconsin, but since the passage of Act 10 that is no longer the case. Wisconsin schools already have seen declines in both the number of available teachers and the average experience of teachers in the classroom. I hope people remember the role Gov. Scott Walker had in destroying education in Wisconsin when the crisis becomes acute.

Scott E. Hendrix

Associate Professor of History

Carroll University

Waukesha



Voter ID law worked perfectly

Yes, our voter ID law worked perfectly  not like the Journal Sentinel's editorial in bold type: "Voter ID law exposed" implied (Crossroads, April 10).

Record numbers of voters voted. Everyone who wanted to vote voted. No one was disenfranchised. Those who didn't vote obviously chose not to do so as they either had an ID or they could have secured one very easily.

Furthermore, Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) was misinterpreted. Voter ID absolutely does not favor or benefit a Republican, Democratic or independent candidate or party or keep anyone from voting.

What it does ensure is that every single eligible voter's vote is counted accurately so that an honest tally will be recorded to fairly determine the proper winner.

Robert Van Eerden

Milwaukee



Ryan would be worse

Christian Schneider, in his April 3 column, places on offer Paul Ryan for president, an answer to the dismal options in the current environment ("To win in 2016, call Paul Ryan," Crossroads).

I wonder what a Ryan presidency with Republican control of the House and Senate would look like? Why don't we look at his long and deeply held ideas and dogma for a clue?

To start with, he would begin to dismantle Dodd Frank and the Affordable Care Act with no replacements for either. He would move to again reduce taxes on the wealthy while dramatically increasing the nation's military budget. Within short order he would begin to "reform" our entitlement programs. He would change (reduce and eliminate) these programs for all those not already receiving benefits.

He would privatize Social Security, voucherize Medicare and block grant Medicaid. Once that was accomplished, he would begin looking at ways to reduce federal expenditures on the existing programs recipients, shifting cost from government back to the recipients with devastating consequences to the consumer engine that drives our economy. He would birth an Orwellian change in America.

You think it can't get worse than Trump or Cruz?

It can get a lot worse.

Barry Snider

River Hills
Pope Francis blesses faithful as he arrives in St. Peter's Square to attend a jubilee audience at the Vatican, Saturday, April 9, 2016. Credit: Associated Press

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Popular as he is, Pope Francis cannot seem to win with some people. For conservative Catholics, he goes too far; for liberals, he does not go far enough.

The pope's recent apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, wades into some of the most fraught issues in Catholicism and modern life  divorce and remarriage, the definition of marriage itself and the status of gay people in the church.

For many conservatives, Francis' attempts to reach out with mercy and flexibility to those living in morally complex and difficult situations seem likely to weaken the church's moral authority.

Liberal Catholics are disappointed that the pope continues to reject same-sex unions and stops somewhat short of an open invitation to the Eucharist for divorced and remarried Catholics.

A close look at this lovely and personal papal reflection, however, reveals its radical nature, because it shows that Francis is in dialogue with these opposing wings of the Catholic Church. He rejects too-easy answers to difficult questions. He sees himself as a teacher in the truest sense of the word  not someone who dictates answers for memorization, but someone who leads a thoughtful community closer to the true and the good.

In practice, the pope argues that the church's pastors need to realize that not all things are "black and white" when it comes to those whose situations in family and marriage do not align perfectly with Catholic teaching, asserting that such thinking may "sometimes close off the way of grace and growth."

Rather than condemn as sinners all those who live in situations that do not conform to church law, Francis would encourage them to engage in a process of serious discernment that might help them participate in church life as fully and completely as their consciences allow. Francis writes that the reality of moral life in the family is often complicated and messy, and that discerning what is best in such situations is not simply an inflexible application of unbending law.

In short, Francis argues for a recovery of the Catholic teaching on conscience  that one's participation in the life of the church, including the sacraments, is guided by the state of one's own conscience. The rules are there to help and guide, but those who are trying in good conscience to find their way in difficult and complicated situations should be helped in discernment, not dictated to.

"We are called to form consciences, not replace them," he writes.

Francis brings to this a gentle and human touch, deeply rooted in compassionate observations of human experience. Reflecting on the excitement of the first years of marriage, Francis writes, "Young love must keep dancing toward the future with hope."

He worries about the speed with which we move from one relationship to another, in this age of "social networks," connecting and disconnecting with each other at whim. Francis applies Christian compassion to the problems of the modern world, rather than simply condemning it.

"Dialogue is essential for experiencing, expressing and fostering love in marriage and family life," Francis writes.

This dialogue must account for generational and gender differences, and must take the time required to get to know the other, to truly listen, without always rushing to respond.

Francis notes the widespread pain in many marriages of not being heard, or feeling ignored. He calls upon married couples to value each other, even when they disagree:

"We ought to be able to acknowledge the other person's truth, the value of his or her deepest concerns, and what it is that they are trying to communicate, however aggressively."

He argues that keeping an open mind is not merely listening, but also recognizing that "the combination of two different ways of thinking can lead to a synthesis that enriches both."

Pope Francis describes marriage as a kind of school, where we can learn to engage each other with mutual respect and care, and move closer to the truth together, helping each other along the way. We can hope that the conversation about Amoris Laetitia lives up to the description of dialogue found within the document.

Joseph Curran is a professor and the chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pa. Readers may send him email at jcurran@misericordia.edu
Tracey Meares of Yale University (left), Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn and Milwaukee Circuit Judge Dave Swanson discuss safety and policing in Milwaukee at a Greater Milwaukee Committee meeting on Monday. Credit: Michael Sears

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Lincoln Hills is the state's problem, and the state needs to fix it. Specifically, that not only means making sure the youth prison facility in northern Wisconsin is safe for inmates, it also means providing resources and programming in the Milwaukee area for youths from the region. Continuing to send those kids to Lincoln Hills in the face of what's happened there and the ongoing investigation is no longer acceptable.

The Journal Sentinel's Ashley Luthern reported Tuesday that Milwaukee County teens are still being sentenced to Lincoln Hills at roughly the same rate as before allegations of assault, abuse and intimidation became public. That has local officials concerned, and rightly so.

"We are still sending kids to Lincoln Hills, unfortunately, because it's our only option," Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Swanson said Monday at a panel discussion at a meeting of the Greater Milwaukee Committee. "That's our only juvenile facility in the state for corrections. The problem is now we're sending them knowing that the services are completely inadequate."

"We know sending kids up there, it's a recipe for failure," Swanson also said. "We look at the options available locally and we just don't have enough. We really need residential programming here in the county."

And Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said, "The state doesn't get to throw rocks at us and defund facilities for juvenile offenders and defund re-entry services and release people from prison without sufficient resources and underinvest in the district attorney's office," without consequences, Flynn said.

But that's just what the state has been doing even as officials were losing control over Lincoln Hills. That has to change.

Federal officials have launched a massive investigation of possible civil rights violations and abuse allegations at Lincoln Hills School for Boys and its sister institution, Copper Lake School for Girls, which share a campus 30 miles north of Wausau. Wisconsin Department of Corrections officials have said they've instituted multiple changes at Lincoln Hills to safeguard juveniles after problems there became known.

But local political and judicial leaders are still worried, and they fear that state lawmakers will wash their hands of the problem and kick it down the road without funding, as Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm has said.

In addition to the problems at the facility, the simple fact is that Lincoln Hills is too far from Milwaukee. Many families of the Milwaukee youths incarcerated there don't have easy ways to get there. And family support can play a key role in rehabilitating youths.

The state created this mess, first by consolidating youth facilities in northern Wisconsin and second by allowing a situation to develop that resulted in the federal investigation. It now needs to fix it.
Protesters opposed to right-to-work legislation were unable to block the law but where protesters failed, the Dane County Circuit Court has succeeded. Credit: Rick Wood

In the lead-up to the Wisconsin presidential primary last week, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton stopped by the University of Wisconsin-Madison to give what was billed as a "sober, serious" policy speech about the U.S. Supreme Court. It was a wise move for Clinton to wrap herself in the cloak of gravitas, given that she could not have matched opponent Bernie Sanders' wild, crowded rallies in Madison.

It is fortunate that liquid refreshments were banned from Clinton's speech, however, as attendees might have spit out their drinks upon hearing her "serious" thoughts on the modern state of jurisprudence. Twenty minutes in, Clinton accused Republicans of playing politics with the court system, saying for years Republicans "have used aggressive legal strategies to accomplish through the courts what they failed to accomplish through legislation."

Of course, for decades, progressives have deftly used courts to mandate their agenda upon the public. In fact, merely seven minutes later, Clinton listed both the Roe vs. Wade abortion decision and the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage as examples of her judicial blueprint; both of which ripped hotly contested policy issues out of the hands of state legislatures and the voters who elect them.

What made Clinton's shot at Republicans such a howler, however, was that she was making this claim of judicial politicization in Madison, a city whose liberal courts have run roughshod over the lawmaking authority of the GOP-led Wisconsin Legislature and Gov. Scott Walker. In essence, the Dane County Circuit Court system has become a third legislative house, reflexively knocking down conservative laws passed and signed by the governor.

This latest Kabuki dance played out late last week, when at 4 p.m. on Friday, Dane County Circuit Judge William Foust ruled the state's year-old right-to-work law violated the state constitution and blocked its enforcement. Foust's preposterous decision, which essentially argued that unions have a property right to workers' wages, is unprecedented in the long history of right-to-work litigation.

In fact, Wisconsin is the 25th state to implement a right-to-work law, and, as Marquette professor Paul Secunda told the Wisconsin State Journal, "If Judge Foust is right, it would make every single right-to-work law in the United States unconstitutional."

Eventually, Foust's decision will be overturned, but not after months, if not years, of extra litigation and expense. Yet this is the modus operandi of the Dane County Circuit Court system, which has become a vending machine for Wisconsin progressives: Simply drop in a challenge to a new GOP-passed law and out comes a favorable decision blocking implementation of that law. Dane County is just one of 69 court systems in Wisconsin; yet the ruling of a single judge in the state's most liberal county can overturn the wishes of voters across the state who show up at the polls to elect a governor and Legislature to make laws.

Madison has been fertile ground for progressives shopping for friendly venues to override the state Legislature. In 2011, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi rushed to block implementation of Walker's Act 10 public union reforms. In a ruling eventually overturning her decision, Supreme Court Justice David Prosser lambasted Sumi's injection of politics into judging, saying "In turbulent times, courts are expected to act with fairness and objectivity....They should not insert themselves into controversies or exacerbate existing tensions."

But for Wisconsin Democrats, the practice of litigation as a political weapon is likely here to stay. Voters object. Last week, they elected Justice Rebecca Bradley to a new 10-year term, knowing she eschews the creative politicization of the judicial left. The state Supreme Court now boasts five conservatives and two liberals and will now exist primarily to take out the garbage Dane County sends them.

Christian Schneider is a Journal Sentinel columnist and blogger. Email cschneider@jrn.com. Twitter: @Schneider_CM
By of the

A federal judge signaled Wednesday he would allow Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm to retain some records seized in a probe of Gov. Scott Walker's associates so Chisholm can defend himself from a lawsuit by a former Walker aide whose home was raided.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman in Milwaukee left unanswered what to do with evidence gathered in a second investigation of Walker's campaign, but left open the possibility he would direct Chisholm's team to turn it over to his court while the lawsuit continues.

Questions about how to handle the records persist because the state Supreme Court last year shut down the second investigation and ordered that millions of records that had been gathered be handed over to the high court. Chisholm and his aides have asked Adelman to allow them to retain the records so they can use them to defend themselves against the federal lawsuit brought by former Walker aide Cindy Archer.

That sets up a potential conflict between how state and federal courts want the records to be treated.

"It does seem rather unique. I've never had anything like it," said Adelman, who expressed exasperation at times that attorneys were focused on legal arguments rather than practical solutions to avoid a conflict with the state's high court.

During the arguments, Archer's attorneys contended state Reserve Judge Neal Nettesheim, who oversaw the first investigation, had not reviewed some of the information presented to him by prosecutors. They said they have pay records showing Nettesheim was working on other cases at the time.

"We allege in paragraph 78 of our complaint that Judge Nettesheim did not review material presented to him," said Archer attorney Mark DeLaquil. "That's a serious allegation and we expect to prove it."

In an interview, Nettesheim said he routinely reviewed documents prosecutors submitted, such as those used to seek search warrants.

"Any and all materials that the prosecutors presented to me in John Doe I were reviewed by me," he said.

The probes  known as John Doe I and John Doe II  were conducted in secret under the state's John Doe law, which allows prosecutors to force people to turn over documents and give testimony. In response to the probes, Walker and Republican lawmakers last year approved legislation preventing prosecutors from using the John Doe law to investigate misconduct in office and other crimes related to politics.

The first investigation launched by the Democratic district attorney resulted in convictions of six aides and associates of the Republican governor going back to his time as Milwaukee County executive. The crimes included stealing from a veterans fund and using taxpayer resources to campaign. Walker was not charged.

The second investigation looked into whether Walker's campaign illegally worked with conservative groups in recall elections in 2011 and 2012. That's the investigation the state Supreme Court halted last year, requiring prosecutors to turn over material they had gathered to the justices.

The prosecutors have not yet given the material to the state Supreme Court. They are allowed to hang onto it while they ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decisions of state Justices Michael Gableman and David Prosser to stay on the case. The prosecutors argue they should have stepped aside because their campaigns benefited from groups accused of working closely with Walker's campaign.

Archer, who was a top aide for Walker when he was county executive and governor, sued Chisholm in July, contending he had engaged in a campaign of harassment against Walker supporters. As part of the first probe, Archer was investigated for campaigning on county time and bid rigging, and her Madison home was raided in 2011. She was never charged.

During Wednesday's hearing, Adelman said he didn't see a problem with the John Doe I records because both sides indicated that material wasn't affected by the state Supreme Court's order. He repeatedly asked both sides whether he should have his court take possession of the John Doe II material so Chisholm could have easy access to it.

Chisholm's team was open to that idea, but Archer's had reservations about it, saying prosecutors needed to go to the state Supreme Court before using any of it in litigation. While Archer was investigated as part of John Doe I, her attorneys said they may use information about John Doe II to try to prove their claim that prosecutors had a pattern of acting improperly.

Attorneys for the prosecutors and investigators also argued the case should be thrown out, saying they are immune from lawsuits in their official capacities.

Chisholm attorney Steve Puiszis argued the probes were not retaliatory, saying Archer had been granted immunity and the work of prosecutors was overseen by Nettesheim.

"We had a John Doe judge who had no political ax to grind against anyone who reviewed this case," Puiszis said. "There's no allegation the judge acted with any political motivation or intent."

DeLaquil, Archer's attorney, contended that the investigations were a "always a pretext" for prosecutors to go after Walker's supporters.

"The United States is not a country of 'you show me the man and I'll show you the crime,'" he said.
Live: Packers-Commanders live game blog with Tom Silverstein

Tom Silverstein will provide updates and analysis as the Packers take on the Washington Commanders at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.
Demonstrators march at the Manitowoc County Courthouse in January in support of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey. Credit: Rick Wood

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The image of the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department took a major hit after last December's release of "Making a Murderer" on Netflix, and Sheriff Rob Hermann is still struggling to overcome perception problems generated by the docu-series.

RELATED STORY: Politician: Steven Avery's eyes prove he's guilty

RELATED STORY: No Steven Avery evidence planted: detective

Hundreds of emails sent to Hermann and other county officials in December and January were recently turned over to the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin to comply with a public records request. USA TODAY Network-Wisconsin sought access to written or electronic correspondence involving several current law enforcement officials at the Manitowoc County Sheriffs Office.

LETTER: Lt. Andrew Colborn fires back at "Making a Murderer" critic

LETTER: Sheriff Rob Hermann urges letter writer to do more research

LETTER: Manitowoc politician calls emails "borderline threatening."

The vast majority of the emails were harshly critical and suggested the sheriff's department consists of crooked cops.

Here's a snapshot of the worldwide outrage directed at Hermann:

1. "Saw your show on Netflix! Manitowoc County is now officially on the map for having the most corrupt (law enforcement officers) in the nation, congrats. I used to think of cranes when I heard the name Manitowoc, not anymore."

2. "I had recently fell into a large sum of money and was thinking of moving to your county, but after what I saw concerning your departments cover-up and framing Steven Avery and his nephew, I was seriously taken aback. There is NO WAY I will move there, your state prosecutor is a snake, your judges are corrupt and the ease in which you framed those two innocent men, well your cover-up has just reaffirmed my mistrust in the judicial system and police. Nice job!"

3. "I know you keep defending your crime mob department saying that people dont know all the facts and by discrediting the documentary, but whether he is guilty or not, how in the hell do you and your mobsters sleep at night?  Your office might be the most corrupt organization in North America now that El Chapo has been captured. You and your department are the very reason that great officers and departments throughout our country are losing respect and trust from the American people."

4. "May God forgive the morally corrupt officers who participated in this case. Whether Steven Avery or Brendan Dassey are innocent or guilty they sure got railroaded by the indecent actions of your department. I truly wonder about the way justice is meted out in Wisconsin and Manitowoc County in particular."

5. "As the father of a Down syndrome age 16 daughter, I know how easy it is to manipulate a mentally challenged person by promising what they want at a precise moment. Regardless of guilt or innocence, what your office did to manipulate that young mans testimony in the Avery case was repulsive and I would suspect unconstitutional. That will be determined in federal court, I hope  Hopefully you run a more honest and transparent ship than did the prior sheriff."

6. "Your entire sheriff dept are the ones who should be tossed in jail  It makes me ashamed to be from Wisconsin and you can bet I wont be in a hurry to ever drive past your cesspool of evil. Ever  God will deal with everyone who had a hand in this mess, you can be sure of that. Just because the Pope said God welcomes sinners doesnt mean the door is open for Manitowoc County  I am a Christian woman and am having a very hard time with what I have seen. No, I dont think God will help any of you, as you know the truth and have done nothing."

7. "Tell me please, what has Steve Avery done to this community that he deserved to be set up for a murder? All evidence points towards the incompetence of your department  I hope and pray your department and local police and that judge are found out, and YOU rot in jail. You are unbelievable. What did that man ever do to you people? Why him? Why?"

8. "I am certain I did not see everything that happened in that trial. But I am equally as certain that what I did see, and hear, was more than enough to not only show a preponderance of reasonable doubt, but to convince me that Manitowoc County ... is replete with corruption. To be sure, I am not saying Mr. Avery was innocent, but, there was clear and convincing evidence, to me, of a massive amount of reasonable doubt which means he is innocent in this country. You all may have won a trial ... against one uneducated man, but you all have lost so much more. Everything your pathetic county stands for is forever tarnished with the mockery of justice that was promulgated in that courtroom."

9. "I just wanted to reach out with disgust at how your department handled the Steven Avery case. The facts are obvious that your department had something to do with this and a cover-up looks to be very clear. Your department has lost all credibility and right now is in the media because of your inability to prove justice  One day it will come out that James Lenk and Andrew Colborn planted evidence in this case that lead (sic) to Stevens arrest. What will your department come out and say then? You better hope you have a good PR team handy."

10. "Shocked seeing the Netflix series 'Making a Murderer.' I simply cannot comprehend how our (civilized) world can so easily step over the aspect of reasonable doubt. It is sad to see for the world that the state of Wisconsin still lives in isolation and narrow-minded thinking."

11. "I am sure that after you are all exposed, you will not feel any regret for putting an innocent man in prison for the majority of his life; I am sure the only regret you will feel is that of being caught. But I hope that one day you will perhaps feel the embarrassment and shame that your families will feel and then maybe you will begin to understand that what you do has an (effect) on others."

12. "We just finished learning about the Teresa Halbach murder case. Im not sure I can look my kids in the eye and believe my own words anymore. Maybe the nightly news has been right all along: we live in a corrupt and violent world where not even small-town justice is free from corruption and agendas  The city of Manitowoc and the state of Wisconsin should be ashamed of who was/is representing them and who was/is supposedly protecting its citizens. I can, however, now look my children in the eyes and say, 'at least we dont live in Wisconsin.'"

13. "The actions towards the Avery family by the Manitowac (sic) Sheriffs Department are among the most deplorable examples I have seen of pure evilness in human society  I hope you are aware that a growing portion of this country, if not this planet, is under the opinion that your department is corrupt and a great shame to the American people, our government and our Constitution."

14. "I would be embarrassed to hold my head up high knowing that your department has sentenced an innocent man twice to jail and also a special boy who hasnt even enjoyed life yet. I hope that detective Lenk and Goulburn (sic) rot in hell as it is almost certain that they are behind this corruption and lies  I hope use (sic) all cant sleep at night and justice comes your way. What a joke of a department."

15. "I would be fearful to ever take my family on a trip and stop in your county to even get fuel. Id run the grave risk of being arrested for arson and armed robbery before my tank was filled with gasoline. According to social media, people all across America feel the same way. How sad for your countys image. I truly feel sorry for the residents of your county who will be judged according to the actions of a few."

16. "The documentary exposes the level of corruption in your department. Nothing you say will convince vast majority of your citizens that you are good guys. The facts and evidence tell a different story. Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey are innocent. Your department is corrupt and all of you should be prosecuted to the highest extend (sic) of law."

17. "You should be ashamed of yourself and the crooked department you run. The injustice that Steven Avery experienced during the murder trial of Teresa Halbach is INSANE! Your department is a JOKE. Your entire county is FILLED with white trash idiots and you have the audacity to bully and pick on him all this after falsely imprisoning him for 18 of his prime years of his life. God Bless his mother and father who have had to live through this  I would NEVER EVER visit your town in fear that if I were to run a stop sign, you would have me arrested on a murder charge. Shame on you."

18. "I would never travel to your town as it is apparent there is a lot of corruption in the sheriffs office, the disgraceful prosecutor, and even the judges, including the appellate courts  It is truly unbelievable that your community could make such a travesty of the judicial system. Not surprising that Mr. Kratz resigned as a result of disgraceful behavior. Please know that your judicial system looks like you all are unethical, immoral and corrupt. And the sad thing is  there is a murderer out there who has gotten away with it! Unbelievable! Does Wisconsin know what JUSTICE is?"

19. "Remind me not to move to your county! You guys will convict anyone for anything without evidence. I find it amazing that anyone involved from your county involved in the Steven Avery case can sleep at night. One of the biggest liars even got promoted to (lieutenant)? Truly shameful."

20. "Never have I heard of such corruption at the hands of law enforcement as in the case of Steven Avery. People like you are a plague on our country. Those responsible for this miscarriage of justice  the countless employees of Manitowoc who acted illegally, who lied, and who turned a blind eye to the unethical actions of their peers all deserve to burn in hell. You are responsible for the distrust and hatred for law enforcement that is ever-prevalent in our society  and these sentiments are DESERVED.

Manitowoc County Board Chairman Jim Brey, in an email sent in December, urged fellow county board members to rally behind the sheriff's department, which was the target of angry messages from people across the world.

"Some of the emails, in my opinion, have been borderline threatening. Not to myself but to members of our law enforcement community," Brey wrote. "I have never been the big paranoid person ... but after one of the emails I received contained the line and I quote 'ROT IN HELL FOR ALL ETERNITY YOU EVIL BASTARD!' I felt that at the very least, the Sheriff's Department should place these on file in case something shows up later."
David Eliason (left) and Brian Eliason (right) in Vilas County Circuit Court on Wednesday. Credit: Jonathan Anderson/USA TODAY NETWORK

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A judge on Wednesday rejected Attorney General Brad Schimel's request for a gag order in a securities fraud case against two well-known Northwoods investment pros.

Schimel's request for the gag order was unusual as neither of the defendants  David Eliason, 40, and Brian Eliason, 38  sought the order. The Eliason brothers were charged in February with 10 counts of securities fraud in a case that is being heard in Vilas County.

"There is nothing to gag," said Stephen Kravit, attorney for David Eliason. "Our clients are not afraid of the truth."

When the brothers were charged with running a scheme that cost Vilas County investors about $3 million, Kravit responded with a four-page news release proclaiming that both of the brothers were innocent. That prompted Schimel to ask the judge hearing the case, Forest County Circuit Judge Leon Stenz, to ban all parties from "talking to the media or the public regarding the case."

Schimel's office argued that publicity could make it difficult to find an impartial jury to hear the case. The Eliason family is well-known in the Northwoods.

Stenz, however, said there were less drastic measures that could be taken to remedy any problems caused by pretrial publicity.

"I'm not convinced at this point that we need a gag order," Stenz said. "There is always a risk that there is going to be pretrial publicity."

The brothers are each charged with fraud for failing to disclose the dire financial condition of their company that sold investments in commercial and residential properties in 2009.

For example, the criminal complaint charges that Eliason Inc. did not tell investors that it had to restate its financial results in 2009. The restated financials showed an $8 million loss in 2006 and an $18 million loss the following year.

A coalition of nine media organizations led by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel challenged the gag order. David and Brian Eliason also argued against the gag order.

Steven Mandell, attorney for the media groups, said Stenz's order could have a legal impact throughout the state since there are no recorded appellate court decisions regarding gag orders in Wisconsin.

"In a small courthouse, in a small town in a small county this is a big victory for people of Wisconsin," Mandell said. The decision "guarantees the free flow of information."

Johnny Koremenos, spokesman for Schimel, declined to comment on the decision, saying in an email that "we're looking forward to trying this case in court, not in the media."

Media groups opposing the gag order were: the Wisconsin Newspaper Association; the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association; USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin, which owns the Journal Sentinel, the Wausau Daily Herald and other Wisconsin papers; Madison Newspapers Inc., which owns the Wisconsin State Journal; Lakeland Printing Inc.; Quincy Media Inc., owner of WAOW in Wausau; Gray Television Corp., owner of WSAW and WZAW in Wausau; and Rockfleet Broadcasting/Northland Television Inc., which owns WJFW in Rhinelander.

Jonathan Anderson of USA TODAY NETWORK, Marshfield News-Herald, contributed to this report
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By James A. Haught | (Informed Comment) |  

In the chaotic presidential campaign, the remarkable popularity of Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders spotlights a large, not-always-recognized vein of liberal political sympathy in America.

Suddenly, the L-word is popular again  not an embarrassment to be avoided. Thats great, I think, because progressives have been the driving force behind most social improvements in western civilization.

Look at the historical record: In the three centuries since The Enlightenment, democracy, human rights, personal liberties and family well-being have blossomed. Life gradually became more decent and humane. Virtually all the advances were won by reform-minded liberals who defeated conservatives defending former hierarchies, privileges and inequalities.

Conservatives tried to retain slavery, but they lost.

They tried to block voting by women, but lost.

They tried to prevent couples from using birth control, but lost.

They tried to obstruct Social Security pensions for oldsters and the disabled, but lost.

They tried to outlaw labor unions, but lost.

They tried to prevent unemployment compensation for the jobless, but lost.

They tried to block workers compensation for on-the-job injuries, but lost.

They tried to keep stores closed on the Sabbath, but lost.

They tried to sustain Prohibition of alcohol, but lost.

They opposed policing of stock market abuses, but lost.

They opposed food stamps for the poor, but lost.

They defended racial segregation, but lost.

They supported government-led prayer in school, but lost.

They tried to continue throwing gays in prison, but lost.

They tried to defeat Medicare and Medicaid, but lost.

They tried to halt the sexual revolution, but lost.

They fought against equal human rights laws, but lost.

They tried to censor sexy magazines, books and movies, but lost.

They sought to jail girls and doctors who end pregnancies, but lost.

They tried to block liquor clubs and lotteries, but lost.

They tried to prevent expansion of health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, but lost.

They tried to halt same-sex marriage, but lost.

One of my history-minded friends has a long-range political view summed up in three words: Liberals always win. Battles may be ferocious and seem endless, he says, but they finally bring progressive victories. Once a human-rights breakthrough is accomplished, it locks into the roster of democratic freedoms, almost never to be revoked.

The struggle to end slavery was an epic battle. Generations of abolitionist clamor and the horrible Civil War were required, but they finally moved America to a higher level of decency.

Similarly, suffragists strove almost a century before they enabled American women to vote.

And it took a half-century for American couples to win the right to practice birth control. Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger was jailed eight times for the crime of mentioning sex  but she eventually transformed society. A Supreme Court victory in 1965 struck down contraceptive bans for married couples, and a follow-up victory in 1972 erased them for unwed couples. Liberals won, conservatives lost.

The nonviolent civil rights movement that wiped out Jim Crow segregation and made Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. an American icon was a classic liberal victory.

When I first became a news reporter in the 1950s, conservative Bible Belt morality was enforced by laws. It was a crime for stores to open on the Sabbath. It was a crime to look at the equivalent of a Playboy magazine, or to read a sexy book. (Our mayor once sent police to raid bookstores selling Peyton Place.)

Back then, it was a felony to be gay, and those who were caught were sent to prison under old sodomy laws. Back then, it was a felony for a desperate girl to end a pregnancy. It was illegal for an unmarried couple to share a bedroom. Divorce or unwed pregnancy was unmentionable. Jews werent allowed into Christian-only country clubs. Public schools had mandatory teacher-led prayer. It was a crime to buy a cocktail or a lottery ticket.

African Americans were confined to poor ghettos, forbidden to enter white schools, white restaurants, white hotels, white theaters, white swimming pools, white neighborhoods  or white employment. Society had a cruel apartheid system.

That world disappeared, decade after decade. The culture slowly evolved. Sunday blue laws were undone. Teacher-led prayers were banned. Gay sex became legal. Liquor clubs were approved. Abortion became legal. State governments became lottery operators. Censorship ended. The historic civil rights movement wiped out segregation. Other conservative taboos and barriers gradually disappeared.

Within my lifetime, morality and customs flip-flopped. Conservative thou-shalt-nots lost their grip on society. Liberals won  yet it happened so gradually that few noticed.

A strong indicator of politics is church membership. White evangelicals overwhelmingly vote Republican  even though the GOP tries to undercut the humane public safety net that mirrors help-the-poor values of Jesus. However, churchgoing has faded greatly, while the young generation ignores religion. Sociologists think the secular trend is unstoppable.

People who say their faith is none already comprise nearly one-fourth of the adult population  56 million Americans  and they seem destined someday to be the largest segment. Theyre the largest group in the Democratic Party base. The social tide is flowing away from conservative fundamentalism and its Puritanical agenda, toward liberal tolerance.

All these factors support the liberals-always-win maxim. The progressive worldview is called humanism  trying to make life better for all people  and its a powerful current. In 1960, John F. Kennedy said in a famed speech:

If by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reaction, someone who cares about the welfare of the people  their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties then Im proud to say that Im a liberal.

Now that progressives have won the battle for same-sex marriage and locked the Affordable Care Act into law, the never-ending struggle undoubtedly will shift to new fronts. Maybe legalization of marijuana or registration of pistols or free college will be the next big showdown. Whatever comes, Im ready to predict the eventual winner.

Nobel Peace Prize-winner Martin Luther King Jr. said: The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

The transformation that began with The Enlightenment is a fact. Amid all the chaos and confusion of daily life, through a thousand contradictory barrages, the struggle for a safer, fairer, more secure, more humane world never ceases.

(Haught is editor emeritus of West Virginias largest newspaper, The Charleston Gazette-Mail. This essay is drawn from his latest book, Hurrah for Liberals

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Tom F.A Watts | (The Conversation) |  

To the horror of almost everyone in mainstream US politics, it seems increasingly likely that by the close of the Republican National Convention in July, Donald Trump will have snatched the prize he has long coveted: the Republican presidential nomination. The partys leadership is no longer asking whether Trump can win, but whether he can be stopped.

Although quickly lost among the string of controversies that have punctuated his campaign, in late February Buzzfeed released a 2002 radio interview with Howard Stern, who asked Trump whether he supported Saddams overthrow. Yeah, I guess so, replied Trump.

Trump has long-maintained that he was firmly against the Iraq War. But the suspicion that he has exaggerated his opposition to the conflict has surfaced more than once. After the second GOP debate in September 2015, in which he proclaimed himself the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq, Trumps public statements on the invasion have been extensively chronicled.

To his credit, he did flippantly decry the war a mess less than a week into combat operations. But the Stern interview was significant because it confirmed that he did in fact publicly support the war until after US forces had invaded the country.

But in keeping with the brazen political opportunism thats coloured his entire campaign, this reality has not stopped him from attempting to leverage his supposed record of opposition to the war.

In a debate in New Hampshire, he held up this version of events as testament to his strategic foresight. When asked whether he had the appropriate temperament to be commander-in-chief, he replied: Remember this, Im the only one up here  that said, dont go, dont do it, youre going to destabilise the Middle East. At a town hall ten days later, Trump pushed this narrative further. The Bush Administrations invasion of Iraq was one of the worst decisions in the history of the country.

Deja vu

In October 2002, a month after Trumps interview with Howard Stern, Barack Obama, then Illinois state senator denounced the Bush Administrations dumb war in Iraq. Throughout his 2007-8 Democratic primary race against (primarily) Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, Obama consistently drew reference to his longstanding opposition to the conflict.

As with Trump, arguably, this strategy was meant not only to demonstrate Obamas national security acumen  a particularly acute concern given his lack of any executive experience  but to discredit his more politically experienced opponents, too. In a January 2008 campaign address, Hillary Clintons 2002 Senate vote authorising the invasion underpinned his call for new leadership that understands that the way to win a debate with John McCain is not by nominating someone who agreed with him on voting for the war in Iraq.

Why it matters

Unlike Obama in 2007, Donald Trump is almost a complete unknown when it comes to national security. While he has at last named his core foreign policy advisors, he has yet to articulate anything resembling a comprehensive national security and foreign policy worldview.

In the case of Islamic State, the key foreign policy challenge in Iraq today, his position has been muddled to say the least. He has vacillated between threatening to bomb the shit out of the terror network on the one hand and proposing to let the Russians fight them in Syria on the other. While it may sound attractive to sympathetic ears, his more consistent call to get the oil, take the oil, keep the oil smacks of the same fantasy which underpinned George W. Bushs 2003 clam that, Iraqi democracy will succeed, and that success will send forth the news, from Damascus to Tehran, that freedom can be the future of every nation.

Leaving this issue to one side, this perhaps surprising parallel with Obamas 2007 primary race has been consistently overlooked in the various commentaries written on Trumps (inflated) opposition to the Iraq War.

True, the comparison can only be pushed so far. Ted Cruz, Trumps primary Republican rival, was not complicit in the 2002 senate vote in support of the Iraq War, whereas both Obamas main 2008 rivals had been. Likewise, in contrast to Trumps confused remarks on IS, Obama proposed a clear alternative to the administrations prevailing strategy on Iraq during his presidential race: to bring US troops home.

Nevertheless, if Trump clinches the GOP nomination and faces Hillary Clinton in the general election, expect the Donald to hark back to one of the major planks of Obamas 2007 campaign and start attacking her for her Iraq vote. While Obama may openly ridicule Trumps campaign, on one issue at least, the two have more than a little in common.

Tom F.A Watts, PhD Candidate in International Relations, University of Kent

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

-

Related video added by Juan Cole:

Feb. 16: Trump on the Iraq War: A Closer Look  Late Night with Seth Meyers
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TeleSur |  

A report by an anti-slavery group also details how Syrian refugee girls are being forced into child marriage and sex slavery.

Up to 70 percent of Syrian refugee children are being forced into child labor in Lebanon, the anti-slavery Freedom Fund group said in a report Tuesday. The report also pointed to the prevalence of Syrian refugee girls being forced into child marriage and sex slavery as their families fail to cope with economic burdens.

Slavery and human trafficking are illegal and abhorrent. They should never be condoned or accepted as the norm, Nick Grono, CEO of the Freedom Fund said in a press release.

This report is a call for decisive action. Without significant and determined intervention, the situation will only worsen for many hundreds of thousands of refugees at risk of extreme exploitation.

The report, called Slavery and Exploitation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, estimates that 85 percent of all child workers in the country are Syrians. There are almost 600,000 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, according to the United Nations.

In the eastern Bekaa Valley on the border with Syria, the report added, all Syrian children are put to work, with many being exposed to hazardous conditions with pay as little as US$1 a day.

An aid worker told the anti-slavery organization that an employer from a farm or a factory heads to the mayor  and asks for laborers, who then selects who he will send to work from the camp he is running. By practice, each tent should give one laborer  The mayor can take anyone from eight years and up.

Employers in Lebanon have a high demand for Syrian and Palestinian refugees and their children because they are much cheaper to hire due to national laws that prevent them from obtaining legal work status and permits.

It takes all day and all night to do 3 to 4 kgs (of garlic). This is a type of (work) is the worst form of child labour, because the girl is bent over, her hands in water  Its winter time so its cold  They do this every day throughout the garlic season, the CEO of a Lebanese NGO active in supporting Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley told the authors of the Freedom Fund report.

The report also warned that child marriage is common in Lebanon among Syrian communities where families cannot afford to care for their future and see marriage as their only coping strategy.

Child marriage is done as a coping strategy. But not only for financial security; also because they perceive the threat of their daughter getting raped if single. The threat comes from living in an environment of abandoned buildings and in tented settlements, the report said, citing a Beirut-based journalist.

There are more than one million Syrian refugees in Lebanon who fled the conflict in their country. That means that for every five people in Lebanon there is one Syrian refugee. The country also has up to 200,000 Palestinian refugees who fled Palestine during the Arab-Israeli wars in 1948 and 1967.

The report reached its findings based on interviews with Syrian refugees in Lebanon, representatives from Lebanese NGOs, Syrian organisations, INGOs in Lebanon, U.N. bodies and Lebanese government officials conducted during January and February 2016, as well as recent research and vulnerability assessments.

We can no longer say we did not know. The exploitation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is endemic and I encourage the Lebanese government and international community to adopt the recommendations in the report, said Grono.

Via TeleSur



Related video added by Juan Cole:

United Nations High Commission on Refugees: Lebanon: Special Envoy Angelina Jolie Pitt Visits Syrian Refugees
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Maan News Agency | (Informed Comment) |  

BETHLEHEM (Maan)  Israel has advanced plans for 250 percent more settler homes in the first quarter of 2016 than it did in the same period last year, Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said Tuesday.

The watchdog said that from January to March this year, the Israeli government pushed forward plans for 674 housing units in settlements in occupied Palestinian territory  considered illegal under international law  despite its declared planning freeze.

Israel also retroactively legalized 175 settlement homes which had been previously built without government approval.

This compared to 194 homes in the first quarter of 2015, the watchdog said, noting that in total 1,665 settler units were advanced last year, 1,044 of which were retroactively legalizedl.

The figures of the first quarter of 2016 illustrate an upturn in the approval of plans, and sharply increase the total number of units promoted by the current Netanyahu government, Peace Now said in a statement.

The watchdog added that while the government has claimed to only approve existing construction, so far this year only 26 percent of the plans advanced were retroactive legalizations.

Peace Now spokesperson Hagit Ofran told Maan earlier this year that while approval for new homes in Israels settlements may have slowed over the last year and a half, construction has continued more or less unabated.

They try to say there is a freeze while on the ground construction is continuing, she said.

She also noted that even if there were to be a complete halt to new approvals, previous approvals for as yet unbuilt units could allow for the construction of as many as 10,000 new homes in settlements across the occupied Palestinian territory.

There are now some 550,000 Israelis living in Jewish-only settlements across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israeli rights group BTselem has said that the settlements existence leads to violations of many of the human rights of Palestinians, including the rights to property, equality, an adequate standard of living and freedom of movement. . . .

Via Maan News Agency



Related video added by Juan Cole:

AFP: Abbas says urgent need for UN resolution on Israeli settlement
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - April 13, 2016) -

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

UEX Corporation (TSX:UEX)(OTC PINK:UEXCF)(FRANKFURT:UXO) ("UEX" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of the first three drill holes completed on the Christie Lake Project (the "Project"), where UEX is currently undertaking a $2.75 million drill program which commenced in late February. The Project is owned 10% by UEX and 90% by JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited ("JCU"). UEX holds an option to earn up to a 70% interest in the Project.

Hole CB-92 intersected high grade uranium mineralization that averaged 4.27% eU 3 O 8 over 10.2 m (494.65-504.85 m), confirming the location and high grade characteristics of the Paul Bay Deposit. This intersection included a higher grade core of 13.24% eU 3 O 8 over 3.1 m that in turn contained an interval of 21.69% eU 3 O 8 over 1.7 m, supports that the Christie Lake Deposits have the potential to host high grade uranium. The eU 3 O 8 grade, otherwise known as the radiometric equivalent uranium grade, was estimated in-situ within the drill hole using calibrated down-hole radiometric gamma probes. The estimation of uranium grades using down-hole probe radioactivity is industry standard practice and used by Athabasca Basin uranium producers to calculate equivalent grades in both mine and exploration settings.

Hole CB-90A intersected uranium mineralization that averaged 0.38% eU 3 O 8 over 9.1 m (535.05-544.15 m) including 2.94% eU 3 O 8 over 0.6 m. Due to greater than expected drill hole deviation, this hole intersected the Paul Bay Deposit much farther to the east than was originally intended.

Hole CB-91B encountered only minor uranium mineralization when the hole deviated in a different direction than hole CB-90A and missed its target by approximately 50 m to the west.

Samples have been collected for assay analysis to confirm these equivalent grades. The samples will be analyzed at the Geoanalytical Laboratory at the Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

The objectives of the current exploration program at Christie Lake are to confirm the location of the historic mineralization at the Paul Bay and Ken Pen Deposits and to extend them in the down-dip direction where they appear to be open for expansion. The depth of the unconformity in the Paul Bay Deposit area is approximately 425 m.

About the Christie Lake Project

UEX currently holds a 10% interest in the Christie Lake Project and is working under an option agreement to earn up to a 70% interest. The Project is located approximately 9 km northeast and along strike of Cameco's McArthur River Mine, the world's largest uranium producer. The P2 Fault, the controlling structure for all of the McArthur River deposits, continues to the northeast beyond the mine. UEX believes that through a series of en-echelon steps the northeast strike extension of the P2 Fault not only crosses the Project but also controls the two known uranium deposits on Christie Lake, the Paul Bay and Ken Pen Deposits.

The Paul Bay and Ken Pen Deposits are estimated to host a combined 20.87 million pounds of U 3 O 8 at an average grade of 3.22% U 3 O 8 and were discovered in 1989 and 1993 respectively. This is a historic resource estimation which does not use resource classifications consistent with NI 43-101. The historical resource estimate was presented in an internal report titled Christie Lake Project, Geological Resource Estimate completed by PNC Tono Geoscience Center, Resource Analysis Group, dated September 12, 1997. The historical resource was calculated using a 3 D block model using block sizes of 2 m by 2 m by 2 m, and block grades interpolated using the inverse distance squared method over a circular search radius of 25 m and 1 m height. Specific gravities for each deposit were averaged from specific gravity measures of individual samples collected for assay. UEX plans to complete additional infill drilling on the deposits during the option earn-in period to upgrade these historic resources to indicated and inferred. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historic estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. UEX is not treating the historic estimate as current mineral reserves or mineral resources.

Qualified Persons and Data Acquisition

Technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Roger Lemaitre, P.Eng., P.Geo., UEX's President and CEO and Trevor Perkins, P.Geo, UEX's Exploration Manager, who are both considered to be a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About UEX

UEX (TSX:UEX)(OTC PINK:UEXCF)(FRANKFURT:UXO) is a Canadian uranium exploration and development company involved in sixteen uranium projects, including four that are 100% owned and operated by UEX, one joint venture with AREVA that is operated by UEX, as well as nine joint ventures with AREVA, one joint venture with AREVA and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited, which are operated by AREVA, and one project (Christie Lake) under option from JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited and operated by UEX. The sixteen projects are located in the eastern, western and northern perimeters of the Athabasca Basin, the world's richest uranium belt, which in 2014 accounted for approximately 16% of the global primary uranium production. UEX is currently advancing several uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin which include the Christie Lake deposits, the Kianna, Anne, Colette and 58B deposits at its currently 49.1%-owned Shea Creek Project, the Horseshoe, Raven and West Bear deposits located at its 100%-owned Hidden Bay.

About JCU

JCU is a private company that is actively engaged in the exploration and development in Canada. JCU is owned by three Japanese companies. Amongst these, Overseas Uranium Resources Development Co., Ltd. ("OURD") acts as the manager of JCU. JCU has partnerships with UEX, AREVA, Cameco, Denison and others on uranium exploration and development projects in the Athabasca Basin of Northern Saskatchewan including Millennium and Wheeler River and the Kiggavik project in the Thelon Basin in Nunavut.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release may contain statements that constitute "forward-looking information" for the purposes of Canadian securities laws. Such statements are based on UEX's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. Such forward-looking information includes statements regarding UEX's mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, outlook for our future operations, plans and timing for exploration activities, and other expectations, intentions and plans that are not historical fact. The words "estimates", "projects", "expects", "intends", "believes", "plans", "will", "may", or their negatives or other comparable words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information is based on certain factors and assumptions and is subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from UEX's expectations include uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and geology, additional drilling results, continuity and grade of deposits, participation in joint ventures, reliance on other companies as operators, public acceptance of uranium as an energy source, fluctuations in uranium prices and currency exchange rates, changes in environmental and other laws affecting uranium exploration and mining, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in UEX's Annual Information Form and other filings with the applicable Canadian securities commissions on SEDAR. Many of these factors are beyond the control of UEX. Consequently, all forward-looking information contained in this news release is qualified by this cautionary statement and there can be no assurance that actual results or developments anticipated by UEX will be realized. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. Except as required by applicable law, UEX disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Cautionary Note to United States Investors

This news release has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Unless otherwise indicated, all resource estimates included in this press release have been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators which establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. Canadian standards, including NI 43-101, differ significantly from the requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), and resource information contained herein may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by U.S. companies. In particular, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the term "resource" does not equate to the term "reserves". Under U.S. standards, mineralization may not be classified as a "reserve" unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. The SEC's disclosure standards normally do not permit the inclusion of information concerning "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" or "inferred mineral resources" or other descriptions of the amount of mineralization in mineral deposits that do not constitute "reserves" by U.S. standards in documents filed with the SEC. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves. U.S. investors should also understand that "inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an "inferred mineral resource" will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimated "inferred mineral resources" may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies except in rare cases. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an "inferred mineral resource" exists or is economically or legally mineable. Disclosure of "contained pounds" in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian regulations; however, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute "reserves" by SEC standards as in-place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measures. Accordingly, information concerning mineral deposits set forth herein may not be comparable with information made public by companies that report in accordance with U.S. standards.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 11, 2016) - International Lithium Corp. (TSXV: ILC.V) (the "Company" or "ILC") is pleased to announce that on April 4, 2016 the Company initiated a 1750 metre diamond drill hole program at the Avalonia Lithium Project located in Counties Carlow and Wicklow, Republic of Ireland.

The current drill program will consist of approximately 25 shallow drill holes and will focus on expanding the strike length of the Aclare lithium bearing pegmatite using the results of recent geophysics to follow the trend of the granite-schist contact. Historical drilling, confirmed by ILC drilling in 2013, indicates that the lithium bearing pegmatite is at or near this contact. Extensions to the pegmatites will be tested to the north and south of historical work using the geophysical trace of this contact. In addition, the drill program will test up to three additional blind targets with no previous drilling.

Numerous surface occurrences of spodumene bearing pegmatite have been confirmed over a 30 kilometre strike length of a prospective contact zone within the Leinster Pegmatite Belt. Exploration efforts are hindered by a lack of outcrop and abundant soil cover. Initial drilling campaigns designed to test soil geochemical survey targets successfully intersected spodumene bearing pegmatites confirming the source of anomalous soil geochemical signatures (news release dated 11 August, 2015). In an effort to more efficiently target these horizons, the Company conducted magnetic susceptibility studies on drill core recovered from the prospects (news release dated 8 December, 2015) and discovered that the schistose host rocks have magnetic susceptibilities an order of magnitude higher than the granites or pegmatites. In January 2016 the Company completed a series of ground magnetometer surveys, designed to highlight the contact zone between the metamorphosed country rocks and the lesser magnetic pegmatites, over 6 key target areas. As a result of the recently interpreted magnetic data sets in conjunction with soil geochemical survey results the Company will also test regional, previously untested targets during this stage of the program that includes the "blind" Ballymurphy, Aclare D and Aclare C targets which are based on integrated geological, geochemical and geophysical results.

Mr. Kirill Klip, President, International Lithium Corp. comments, "The Avalonia project joint venture, fully funded by strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd., ("GFL"), could be of strategic importance to the European Union should a sufficient resource be identified. Clean fuel technologies for motor vehicles are becoming increasingly important to the European Economic Community to tackle climate change and the air pollution crisis in major urban areas. Lithium technology will play a major role when it comes to providing batteries for communication devices, electric vehicles and utility storage systems. Renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind power will also benefit from lithium battery technologies and become more commonplace as the problem of intermittency will be addressed providing steady power from these sources 24/7."

Figure 1 Avalonia Lithium Project Property Map



To see an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3232/20030_lithiu2.jpg

John Harrop, P.Geo, FGS, is the Company's Qualified Person on the project as defined under NI 43-101 and has reviewed the technical information contained in this press release.

About International Lithium Corp.

International Lithium Corp. is an exploration company with an outstanding portfolio of projects, strong management ownership, robust financial support and a strategic partner and keystone investor Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd., a leading China based lithium product manufacturer.

The Company's primary focus is the Mariana lithium-potash brine project, within the renowned South American "Lithium Belt" that is the host to the vast majority of global lithium resources, reserves and production. The 160 square kilometre Mariana project strategically encompasses an entire mineral rich evaporate basin that ranks as one of the more prospective salars or salt lakes" in the region.

Complementing the Company's lithium brine project are rare metals pegmatite properties in Canada (Mavis and Raleigh projects) and Ireland (Avalonia project). These projects reported highly encouraging lithium mineralization in drill holes targeting pegmatites that are unexposed at surface (news releases dated April 3, 2013, June 25, 2013 and March 23, 2016).

With the increasing demand for high tech rechargeable batteries used in vehicle propulsion technologies and portable electronics, lithium is paramount to tomorrow's "green-tech" economy. By positioning itself with solid development partners and acquiring high quality grass roots projects at an early stage of exploration, ILC aims to be the green tech resource explorer of choice for investors and build value for its shareholders.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Kirill Klip

President, International Lithium Corp.

For more information please contact:

Caroline Klukowski

(604) 687-7551

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. Statements in this press release other than purely historical information, historical estimates should not be relied upon, including statements relating to the Companys future plans and objectives or expected results, are forward-looking statements. News release contains certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in the Companys business, including risks inherent in resource exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.
BEDFORD, NS, April 12, 2016 /CNW/ - As announced in a press release dated November 19, 2015, Zonte, with a Colombian Partner (together the "Partners"), made application for open ground within the Gramalote Deposit which is a gold deposit in Colombia subject to a joint venture between AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU) and B2Gold (TSX: BTO), (NYSE: BTG). The application is subject to review by the Secretaria de Minas, Department of Antioquia, Colombia ("Secretary of Mines") who has previously acknowledged that the area under application includes open ground, but, as of this date, has denied issuing the title. The Partners' Legal counsel remains convinced that the application has not been processed in accordance with the Colombian Mining Code and continues to seek a resolution on behalf of the Partners. A map of the open ground covered by the application and the location of the open ground relative to the Gramalote Deposit is illustrated with this release or at http://www.zontemetals.com/projects/colombia/

The Partners have made several requests that the application be processed in accordance with the Mining Code, however, according to the Partners' legal counsel, the Secretary of Mines, has either not responded to such requests or provided reasons inconsistent with the Mining Code that could be considered to favour certain third parties at the expense of the Partners. The Partners' legal counsel is comprised of a team of lawyers from a legal firm and an independent legal advisor; the latter being the former head of the Secretary of Mines, Department of Antioquia, whom is well versed in all matters related to mineral applications and titling.

The Partners have worked through various steps required to proceed to "Special Court". What is understood to be the last step in the process, referred to as a "conciliatory meeting", has now been scheduled with the Secretary of Mines for April 28, 2016. At the this meeting, the Partners' legal counsel will repeat its' request that the application be processed in accordance with the Mining Code, however, should the Secretary of Mines maintain its irregular stance, the Partners will then proceed to "Special Court". At the "Special Court" level the Partners will finally have the legal right to request that the application be processed according to the Mining Code as well as identifying other aspects around this irregular situation. Zonte plans to provide updates of the progress as developments materialize

About Zonte

Zonte Metals Inc. is a junior explorer focused on gold and copper. The Corporation is actively reviewing and completing field due diligence on projects in Colombia. The Company also has the Wings Point Gold Project which is a drill ready project.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements which include statements regarding the Corporation's future plans, as well as statements regarding financial and business prospects and the Corporation's future plans, objectives or economic performance and financial outlooks. The Corporation believes that the expectations reflected in this news release are reasonable but actual results may be affected by a variety of variables and may be materially different from the results or events predicted in the forward-looking statements. Readers are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

In evaluating forward-looking statements readers should consider the risk factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, the Corporation does not intend nor does it undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Zonte Metals Inc.

Map illustrating the area under application (in white) within the Gramalote Deposit.


VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA and JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA--(Marketwired - April 12, 2016) - Platinum Group Metals Ltd. (TSX:PTM)(NYSE MKT:PLG) ("Platinum Group" or the "Company") reports the Company's financial results for the second quarter ended February 29, 2016 and provides recent highlights and outlook. For details of the consolidated financial statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis for the six months ended February 29, 2016, please see the Company's filings on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or on EDGAR (www.sec.gov).

All amounts herein are reported in United States dollars unless otherwise stated. The Company holds cash in Canadian dollars, United States dollars and South African Rand. Changes in exchange rates may create variances in the cash holdings reported in United States dollars.

Recent Highlights

The Maseve Mine surface milling facility is now complete. Hot commissioning and final checks and testing of the mill were completed in February and March, 2016.





The Maseve Mine mill ran for 20 days during hot commissioning in February, 2016. A total of 66,231 tonnes of low grade development material were milled from which 1,049 4E ozs in concentrate were produced and shipped. Commissioning was smooth and mill recoveries and performance has been good.





Grade reconciliation from underground sampling to the deposit block model has been good. Underground development has accessed the Merensky Reef in more than 15 headings. Underground development is fully staffed and equipped but is behind schedule.





On March 17, 2016 the Company reported new high grade T zone drilling results from the Waterberg deposit including;



Hole WB195 - 13.91 g/t 3E over 11.87 meters (or 15.03 g/t 3E over 8.68 meters, from 898.32 meters to 907.00 meters). Hole WB186 - 5.84 g/t 3E over 19.00 meters from 812.00 meters to 831.00 meters (this hole first announced December 4, 2015). Hole WB200 - 5.92 g/t 3E over 7.56 meters from 938.44 meters to 946.00 meters.





On January 12, 2016 the Company announced an expanded diamond drilling program at Waterberg, located on the Northern Limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, South Africa, to delineate and upgrade shallow mineral resources. Pre-feasibility work at Waterberg continues at present.





On November 20, 2015 the Company announced the draw-down of both a $40 million Senior Secured Loan Facility from the Sprott Resource Lending Partnership and a $40 million Loan Facility from Liberty Metals & Mining Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of Boston based Liberty Mutual Insurance and the Company's largest shareholder.

Results for the Six Months Ended February 29, 2016

During the six months ended February 29, 2016, the Company incurred a net loss of $2.5 million (February 28, 2015 - net loss of $1.1 million). Results for the comparative period in 2015 included the write off of deferred finance fees and finance termination fees amounting to $5.34 million in addition to a foreign exchange gain of $7.6 million. General and administrative expenses during the current period were $3.0 million (February 28, 2015 - $4.1 million), gains on foreign exchange were $0.72 million (February 28, 2015 - $7.6 million) while stock based compensation expense, a non-cash item, totalled $0.88 million (February 28, 2015 - $1.2 million). Finance income consisting of interest earned and property rental fees in the period amounted to $0.5 million (February 28, 2015- $1.9 million). Loss per share for the period amounted to $0.03 as compared to a loss of $0.00 per share for the six month period ending February 28, 2015. During the period the Company completed a share consolidation on the basis of ten old shares for each one new share and all per share amounts have been retrospectively restated.

The Company's cash position at February 29, 2016 was $48.2 million (August 31, 2015 - $39.1 million). Accounts receivable at February 29, 2016 totalled $5.6 million (August 31, 2015 - $10.1 million) while accounts payable and other liabilities amounted to $5.1 million (August 31, 2015 - $16.4 million). Accounts receivable were comprised primarily of value added taxes repayable to the Company in South Africa and amounts receivable from partners. Accounts payable included contract construction fees, drilling expenses, engineering fees, accrued professional fees and regular trade payables for ongoing exploration, development and administration costs.

During the six month period ending February 29, 2016, total expenditures by the Company for development, construction, equipment and other costs for the Maseve Mine totaled approximately $60.7 million. Total expenditures on the Waterberg projects were approximately $3.4 million, all of which was funded by joint venture partner the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation ("JOGMEC").

The Maseve Mine, also known as Project 1 of the former Western Bushveld Joint Venture, is fully constructed and is now in the initial ramp up phase of production. First concentrate was produced in February, 2016 with commercial production expected late in calendar 2016. Initial monthly revenue from concentrate sales before commercial production will be treated as a reduction in project capital cost.

Outlook

The Company's key business objectives for calendar 2016 will be to continue with underground development and production ramp up at the Maseve Mine and to advance the Waterberg Project. Development at the Maseve Mine will continue to utilize a majority of the Company's cash on hand until production increases and positive cash flow is achieved. Commissioning of the Maseve mill is now complete and initial production of concentrate has begun. The Company commenced production in February 2016 largely with low grade stockpile material to hot commission and balance the mill and flotation circuits. Milling in March of 2016 continued primarily with low grade stockpile material. Mill feed in April 2016 is scheduled to include a higher proportion of ore mined from planned mining blocks.

Development work in blocks 12, 11, 10 and 9 in the north mine and block 16 in the south mine are critical to the underground mining plans and ramp up profile of production for the Maseve Mine. Underground development at Maseve is behind schedule and Company engineers and third party specialists are working to improve development rates. The volume of stoping material must increase in accordance with the mine plan to meet production ramp-up plans and covenants according to existing loan facilities. Continued performance behind the mine plan schedule, lower metal prices, delays in production ramp up or a stronger South African Rand could all result in requirements for further financing.

The Company plans to continue work on the Waterberg Project with its joint venture partners. Twelve drill rigs were mobilized to the Waterberg site in January 2016 for an expanded drill program which was completed in late March 2016, with a further two holes later approved for deep drilling on the T zone, which are currently in progress.

An updated resource calculation for Waterberg is now due for publication. Publication of the update was delayed due to assay laboratory backlogs. The updated resource calculation will be published imminently and will then be incorporated into pre-feasibility study work already in progress. The pre-feasibility study is planned to be complete in mid-calendar 2016. The scope of the pre-feasibility study now includes portions of the Waterberg Extension Project, due to the May 2015 2nd Amendment to the JOGMEC Agreement. Funding for drilling and engineering at Waterberg is in place from JOGMEC, allowing the project to advance and grow without a significant draw on the Company's working capital.

About Platinum Group Metals Ltd.

Platinum Group Metals Ltd., based in Johannesburg, South Africa and Vancouver, Canada, has a successful track record with more than 20 years of experience in exploration, mine discovery, mine construction and mine operations.

Formed in 2002, Platinum Group holds significant mineral rights in the Bushveld Igneous Complex of South Africa, which is host to over 70% of the world's primary platinum production. The Company is currently focused on moving the Maseve Mine, its first near-surface platinum mine, to commercial production.

Platinum Group has expanded its exploration efforts on the North Limb of the Bushveld Complex on the Waterberg Project. Waterberg represents a new bulk type of platinum, palladium and gold deposit that is being studied for potential mechanized mining.

Qualified Person

R. Michael Jones, P.Eng., the Company's President, Chief Executive Officer and a significant shareholder of the Company, is a non-independent qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and is responsible for preparing the technical information contained in this news release.

On behalf of the Board of Platinum Group Metals Ltd.

Frank R. Hallam, CFO and Director

Disclosure

The Toronto Stock Exchange and the NYSE MKT LLC have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this news release, which has been prepared by management.

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. securities laws (collectively "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, plans, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. All statements that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, the construction, development and ramp up of the Maseve Mine (also known as Project 1 of the former Western Bushveld Joint Venture); operational and economic projections with respect to the Maseve Mine; future activities at Waterberg and the funding of such activities; trends in metal prices; the Company's overall capital requirements and future capital raising activities; plans and estimates regarding exploration, studies, development, construction and production on the Company's properties, other economic projections and the Company's outlook. Statements of resources also constitute forward-looking statements to the extent they represent estimates of mineralization that will be encountered on a property and/or estimates regarding future costs, revenues and other matters. Although the Company believes the forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations and assumptions in such statements will prove to be correct. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including; the Company's capital requirements may exceed its current expectations; the uncertainty of operational and economic projections; the ability of the Company to negotiate and complete future funding transactions; variations in market conditions; the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located; metal prices; other prices and costs; currency exchange rates; the Company's ability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities; the Company's ability to produce minerals from its properties successfully or profitably, to continue its projected growth, or to be fully able to implement its business strategies; and other risk factors described in the Company's Form 40-F annual report, annual information form and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulators, which may be viewed at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com, respectively.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - April 12, 2016) - Lundin Gold Inc. ("Lundin Gold" or the "Company") (TSX:LUG)(OMX:LUG) is pleased to report that video excerpts from an address made by Ecuador President Rafael Correa, during the recent inaugural visit to the Fruta del Norte project, are now available on the Lundin Gold website (http://www.lundingold.com/). President Correa spoke to a large delegation of local community members and employees of the Company about the continued support of the Government of Ecuador for the mining industry and Lundin Gold.

The Company is also pleased to announce the hiring of Mr. David Dicaire as Project Director. David will be responsible for overseeing the proposed early works program, engineering and construction for the Fruta del Norte project. David has over 35 years of experience in the mining, engineering and construction industry on a variety of global projects leading both the Owners and EPCM teams. Most recently, David was employed by Freeport-McMoRan Inc. as the Project Director for the highly successful US$4.6 billion Cerro Verde Expansion Project in Peru. Prior to moving to Freeport, David was the General Manager, Project Development for South America for Xstrata Copper (now Glencore plc) based in Santiago, Chile. David's experience covers all facets of project management for all types of mining projects ranging from running EPC/EPCM projects down to pre-feasibility studies.

Ron Hochstein, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented that "the visit from President Correa was a great opportunity to show the work done to date and reinforce the Government's support. The addition of David brings extensive project management skills to the team and will enable the Company to move from feasibility study to basic engineering and construction."

Work on the feasibility study is progressing well, and the release of the study is anticipated for the latter half of this quarter.

The information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Lundin Gold under the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was publicly communicated on April 12, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

About the Company:

Lundin Gold Inc. owns the Fruta del Norte ("FDN") gold project located in southeast Ecuador. FDN is one of the largest and highest grade undeveloped gold projects in the world. The Company is advancing FDN in order to realize the significant potential of this asset and is currently working on the FDN feasibility study scheduled to be completed in Q2 2016.

The Company believes that the value created will not only greatly benefit shareholders, but also the Government and people of Ecuador who are the Company's most important stakeholders in this project. Lundin Gold views its commitment to corporate social responsibility as a strategic advantage that enables it both to access and effectively manage business opportunities in increasingly complex environments. Lundin Gold is committed to addressing the challenge of sustainability - delivering value to its shareholders, while simultaneously providing economic and social benefits to impacted communities and minimizing its environmental footprint.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements

Certain of the information and statements in this press release are considered "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" as those terms are defined under Canadian securities laws (collectively referred to as "forward-looking statements"). Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "is expected", "scheduled", "estimates", "pending", "intends", "plans", "forecasts", "targets", or "hopes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "will", "should" "might", "will be taken", or "occur" and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.

By their nature, forward-looking statements and information involve assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict, and are usually beyond the control of management, that could cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed by these forward-looking statements and information. Lundin Gold believes that the expectations reflected in this forward looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. This information speaks only as of the date of this press release, and the Company will not necessarily update this information, unless required to do so by securities laws.

This MD&A contains forward-looking information in a number of places, such as in statements pertaining to: completion of the feasibility study for the Fruta del Norte Project, exploration and development expenditures and reclamation costs, the negotiation and signing of the investment protection agreement and signing of the exploitation agreement with the government, exploration plans, timing and success of permitting and regulatory approvals, future sources of liquidity, capital expenditures and requirements, expectations of market prices and costs, development, construction and operation of the Fruta del Norte Project, future tax payments and rates, cash flows and their uses and estimates of Mineral Resources.

There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as Lundin Gold's actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of the factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section in Lundin Gold's Annual Information Form dated March 14, 2016 available at www.sedar.com.

Lundin Gold's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated. Management has identified the following risk factors which could have a material impact on the Company or the trading price of its shares: the ability to arrange financing, the timely receipt of regulatory approvals, permits and licenses, risks related to carrying on business in an emerging market such as possible government instability and civil turmoil and economic instability, measures required to protect endangered species, deficient or vulnerable title to mining concessions and surface rights; the potential for litigation; volatility in the market price of the Company's shares; the risk to shareholders of dilution from future equity financings; the cost of compliance or failure to comply with applicable laws; difficulty complying with changing government regulations and policies, including without limitation, compliance with environment, health and safety regulations; illegal mining; uncertainty as to reclamation and decommissioning liabilities, unreliable infrastructure and local opposition to mining; the accuracy of the Mineral Resource estimates for the Fruta del Norte Project and the Company's reliance on one project; volatility in the price of gold; shortages of resources, such as labour, and the dependence on key personnel; the Company's lack of operating history in Ecuador and negative cash flow; the inadequacy of insurance; potential conflicts of interest for the Company's directors who are engaged in similar businesses; limitations of disclosure and internal controls; and the potential influence of the Company's largest shareholders.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - April 12, 2016) - Golden Arrow Resources Corporation (TSX VENTURE:GRG)(FRANKFURT:GAC) (WKN: A0B6XQ) ("Golden Arrow" or the "Company") is pleased to announce an updated Mineral Resource Estimate prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") for the Company's 100% owned Chinchillas Silver Deposit in Jujuy Province, Argentina.

The recently completed Phase V drill program successfully converted more than fifty million ounces of silver equivalent ("AgEq") resources to the Measured and Indicated ("M+I") categories, at the base cut-off grade. This includes 17 million ounces of AgEq as Measured resources in the central part of the Silver Mantos zone, and expansion of Measured plus Indicated to the north, south and at depth. In addition, the average grade of M+I increased from 125 g/t to 142 g/t AgEq.

The updated resource estimate is part of the Chinchillas Project pre-development activities, funded by Silver Standard, which are being undertaken to evaluate the feasibility of creating a combined mining business with Silver Standard's Pirquitas mine, as announced October 1st, 2015. Between October 2015 and February 2016, approximately 15,000 metres of diamond drilling was completed at the deposit in the Phase V program. The main objective of the program was to infill the Silver Mantos area of the deposit with sufficient density to convert a significant portion of the resource estimate reported July 31st, 2015 to M+I, as required for the studies being completed by Silver Standard.

Highlights of the Mineral Resource Estimate:

New Measured Resource of 17 million ounces of AgEq at 149 g/t AgEq grade. (3.6 million tonnes grading 115g/t silver, 0.56% lead, 0.38% zinc at a 45g/t AgEq cut-off)

(3.6 million tonnes grading 115g/t silver, 0.56% lead, 0.38% zinc at a 45g/t AgEq cut-off) Increase in Indicated Resources by 34 million ounces to 138 million ounces AgEq. (30.6 million tonnes grading 88g/t silver, 0.85% lead, 0.60% zinc at a 45g/t AgEq cut-off)

to 138 million ounces AgEq. (30.6 million tonnes grading 88g/t silver, 0.85% lead, 0.60% zinc at a 45g/t AgEq cut-off) Average grade increased from 125g/t AgEq to 142 g/t AgEq in Measured and Indicated.

in Measured and Indicated. Inferred Mineral Resource of 90 million ounces of AgEq at 85 g/t AgEq grade (32.9 million tonnes grading 42g/t silver, 0.44% lead and 0.76% zinc at a 45g/t AgEq cut-off)

at 85 g/t AgEq grade (32.9 million tonnes grading 42g/t silver, 0.44% lead and 0.76% zinc at a 45g/t AgEq cut-off) Deposit continues to remain open to expansion

Details of the mineral resource estimate methodology, including metals pricing and equivalency calculations, a comparison with the previous estimate, sensitivity analysis to cut-off grades and sampling QA/QC can be found in the section below.

A NI 43-101 Technical Report supporting disclosure of this mineral resource and containing addition details will be filed by Golden Arrow on SEDAR within 45 days of this press release.

Mineral Resource Estimate Details

Mineral resources, which are not mineral reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred resources are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to classify these inferred resources as Indicated or Measured, and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured category.

Table 1. Mineral Resource Statement for the Chinchillas Project, April 12, 2016.

Type Mtonnes AgEq

(g/t) Ag

(g/t) Pb

(%) Zn

(%) AgEq

(Moz) Ag

(Moz) Pb

(Mlbs) Zn

(Mlbs) Measured Silver Mantos 3.6 149 115 0.56 0.38 17 13 44 30 Indicated Silver Mantos 11.9 118 72 0.63 0.64 45 28 166 168 Mantos Basement 13.6 176 125 1.16 0.27 77 55 347 81 Socavon 5.0 97 29 0.54 1.37 16 5 59 152 ALL 30.6 141 88 0.85 0.60 138 87 574 401 Measured and Indicated Silver Mantos 15.5 125 82 0.62 0.58 62 41 210 198 Mantos Basement 13.6 176 125 1.16 0.27 77 55 347 81 Socavon 5.0 97 29 0.54 1.37 16 5 59 152 ALL 34.2 142 91 0.82 0.57 155 100 618 431 Inferred Silver Mantos 4.1 115 58 0.78 0.83 15 8 71 76 Mantos Basement 1.5 107 78 0.64 0.14 5 4 22 5 Socavon 7.3 79 33 0.37 0.91 18 8 59 146 Socavon Basement 20.0 79 39 0.39 0.73 51 25 170 321 ALL 32.9 85 42 0.44 0.76 90 44 322 548

Notes to Tables 1,2 and 3:

Totals may not add correctly due to rounding

Mineral resources are contained within a pit shell generated using a silver equivalent price of $25/oz.

Silver equivalent calculated using the formula: AgEq = Ag g/t + (Pb% * 36.09) + (Zn% * 36.09)

Silver equivalent grades, and the base case cut-off grade of 45g/t AgEq, are based on metal prices of $19/oz silver and $1/lb for lead and zinc.

Recovery is assumed as 90% silver equivalent.

Mineral resources, which are not mineral reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability.

The quantity and grade of reported Inferred resources are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to classify these inferred resources as Indicated or Measured, and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured category.

Table 2. Comparison of the new Mineral Resource Estimate with the July 31, 2015 Estimate

Date Mtonnes AgEq

(g/t) Ag

(g/t) Pb

(%) Zn

(%) AgEq

(Moz) Ag

(Moz) Pb

(Mlbs) Zn

(Mlbs) Measured + Indicated April 2016 34.2 142 91 0.82 0.57 155 100 618 431 July 2015 25.9 125 77 0.66 0.66 104 64 379 379 Inferred April 2016 32.9 85 42 0.44 0.76 90 44 322 548 July 2015 47.2 92 50 0.52 0.64 140 76 544 661

Table 3. Sensitivity of Resources to Cut-Off Grade

Cut-off AgEq (g/t) Mtonnes AgEq

(g/t) Ag

(g/t) Pb

(%) Zn

(%) AgEq

(Moz) Ag

(Moz) Pb

(Mlbs) Zn

(Mlbs) Measured and Indicated 30 38.5 130 83 0.75 0.53 161 103 640 453 40 35.5 138 89 0.80 0.56 157 101 625 439 45 34.2 142 91 0.82 0.57 155 100 618 431 50 32.6 146 94 0.85 0.58 153 99 608 420 60 29.7 155 101 0.90 0.60 148 96 587 394 70 27.0 164 107 0.95 0.61 142 93 564 365 80 24.4 173 115 1.00 0.62 136 90 538 334 90 21.9 183 123 1.06 0.62 129 86 510 301 100 19.6 194 131 1.12 0.62 122 83 482 270 110 17.5 204 139 1.17 0.62 115 79 453 241 120 15.6 215 148 1.23 0.62 108 75 423 213 130 13.9 226 158 1.29 0.61 101 71 394 187 140 12.4 238 167 1.34 0.60 95 67 367 165 150 11.0 249 177 1.40 0.59 88 63 341 143 160 9.8 260 187 1.46 0.58 82 59 316 126 170 8.8 272 197 1.51 0.57 77 55 293 111 Inferred 30 40.6 76 37 0.40 0.67 99 49 355 602 40 35.5 82 40 0.43 0.73 94 46 335 572 45 32.9 85 42 0.44 0.76 90 44 322 548 50 30.1 89 44 0.46 0.78 86 42 307 517 60 24.1 97 49 0.51 0.83 75 38 271 440 70 18.4 107 54 0.57 0.88 63 32 230 359 80 13.6 118 61 0.63 0.94 52 27 190 282 90 10.2 129 69 0.71 0.98 42 22 158 219 100 7.6 141 76 0.79 1.01 34 19 132 170 110 5.8 153 83 0.87 1.05 28 15 111 133 120 4.4 164 91 0.98 1.05 23 13 95 102 130 3.5 175 98 1.08 1.05 19 11 82 80 140 2.7 186 105 1.18 1.07 16 9 71 65 150 2.2 195 110 1.29 1.08 14 8 63 53 160 1.8 205 116 1.40 1.08 12 7 55 42 170 1.4 216 122 1.53 1.09 10 6 47 34

Chinchillas Geology Overview

Golden Arrow holds a 100% interest in the Chinchillas project, located in the prolific Bolivian silver-zinc-tin belt which extends into northern Argentina.

Chinchillas is a Tertiary aged volcanic complex that has erupted through the Paleozoic basement schists. The resulting depression or basin, filled with volcanic tuffs and tuff breccias. Shallow disseminated silver, lead and zinc mineralization occurs in thick layers or "mantos" within the tuffs and breccias. A second style of silver, lead and zinc mineralization occurs within the fractures of the brecciated Ordivician basement pelite and sandstone schists beneath.

Silver-lead-zinc mineralization included within the resource model occurs in four units which are differentiated based on host rock and geometry. Mineralization occurs in four main zones: to the west the Silver Mantos area includes the Silver Mantos tuff-hosted zone and the Mantos Basement zone; to the east the Socavon del Diablo area includes the Socavon tuff-hosted zone and the Socavon Basement zone, with the Socavon also including some mineralization hosted in dacite intrusions.

Methodology

The resource estimate was based on data from 276 diamond drill (core) holes containing 34,510 sample assays, with sample data dating to 2007. The majority of drilling on the property has been conducted by Golden Arrow since 2012. A total of 115 new drill holes were added to the database since the previous resource estimate was generated in August 2014.

The mineral resource has been estimated in conformity with generally accepted CIM Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practices Guidelines (November, 2003) and reported according to the CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, (May, 2014) in accordance with the Canadian Securities Administrators' (CSA) National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101).

Estimations are made from 3D block models based on geostatistical applications using commercial mine planning software (MineSight v10.6). The model uses a nominal block size of 8 x 8 x 4 m (LxWxH).

The resource estimate has been generated from drill hole sample assay results and the interpretation of a geologic model which relates to the spatial distribution of silver, lead and zinc. Interpolation characteristics were defined based on the geology, drill hole spacing, and geostatistical analysis of the data. The resources were classified according to their proximity to sample data locations related to drill hole spacing.

Due to the polymetallic nature of the deposit, mineral resources were calculated on a silver-equivalent basis (AgEq) using the formula: AgEq = Ag g/t + (Pb% * 36.09) + (Zn% * 36.09). Silver equivalents (AgEq) are calculated in model blocks, for use in the floating cone algorithm, using the contributions of silver, lead and zinc and include adjustments for metallurgical recoveries. There are no adjustments for mining losses or dilution. Since this is a resource limiting pit shell, and the fact that mineral resources must show reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction, an elevated silver price of $25 per ounce is used to generate the pit shell.

The following technical and economic parameters were used (all prices are in US dollars):

Metal prices for Silver Equivalent calculation: silver $19/oz, lead $1/lb, zinc $1/lb

Metal price used to generate resource limiting pit shell: silver equivalent $25/oz

Recoveries: 90% silver equivalent.

Mining cost: $2.45/t

Process cost: $16/t

G&A: $8.30/t

Pit slope: 45 degrees

Based on a $19/oz silver price, the base cut-off grade for the resource is estimated to be 45 g/t silver equivalent.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

The samples were collected and analyzed in accordance with industry standard practice. The majority of samples analyses were completed by Alex Stewart Assayers, in Mendoza, Argentina, an ISO 9001:2008 and ISO14001: 2004 certified laboratory. All samples were analyzed by method ICP-MA-39 that consists of a four acid digestion followed by ICP-OES detection. Silver results greater than 200 Ag g/t were re-analyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on 50-gram samples. Lead and zinc results greater than 10,000 ppm were re-analyzed by a 3 acid digestion and ICP-OES detection. A small percentage of samples were analysed by ALS Minerals in Mendoza, Argentina. All samples were analyzed by method ME-ICP61 that consists of a four acid digestion followed by ICP-OES detection. Silver results >100 g/t Ag were re-analyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on 50-gram samples. Lead and zinc results >10,000 ppm were re-analyzed by method OG62 that consists of a 4 acids digestion and ICP-OES or AAS detection. A quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program following industry standard practices was incorporated with the assay program. It consisted of blank, duplicate and standard samples inserted into the drill core sample sequence sent to the laboratory for analysis.

Qualified Persons

The mineral resource estimate and associated information in this news release was prepared under the direction of Robert Sim, P.Geo, SIM Geological Inc. (SGI), with the assistance of Bruce Davis, FAusIMM, BD Resource Consulting, Inc. and input from Brian McEwen, P.Geol. VP Exploration and Development to the Company. Based on education, work experience relevant to this style of mineralization and deposit type, and membership in a recognized professional organization, both Mr. Sim and Mr. Davis are independent Qualified Persons (QP) and Mr. McEwen is a non-independent QP, within the requirements of NI 43-101 for the purpose of the mineral resource estimate contained in this release.

The contents of the news release have been reviewed and approved by Mr. McEwen.

About Golden Arrow:

Golden Arrow Resources is a Vancouver-based exploration company focused on creating value by making precious and base metal discoveries and advancing them into exceptional deposits. The Company is currently focused on its Chinchillas Silver Project located in the mining-friendly Province of Jujuy, Argentina. Exploration has progressed rapidly since the acquisition of the project in late 2011. The innovative transaction announced October 1st 2015, positions the Company to maximize shareholder value by fast-tracking Chinchillas to production and becoming a 25% owner of the Pirquitas silver mine.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Mr. Joseph Grosso, Executive Chairman, President, CEO and Director

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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.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements concern the Company's anticipated results and developments in the Company's operations in future periods, planned exploration and development of the Chinchillas project, plans related to its business and other matters that may occur in the future. Statements concerning mineral resource estimates and the interpretation of drill results may also constitute forward-looking statements to the extent that they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered if the Chinchillas project is developed. These statements are based on a number of assumptions which may prove to be incorrect, including, but not limited to, assumptions about the following: assumptions made in the Chinchillas Mineral Resource Estimate, including geological interpretation, grade, recovery rates, silver, zinc and lead price assumptions and operating costs; the availability of financing for exploration and development activities, including Silver Standard Resources Inc. ("SSRI") meeting certain milestones and exercising its election to proceed with the transactions contemplated under the Business Combination Agreement dated September 30, 2015 among the Company, SSRI and certain other parties; the Company's ability to attract and retain skilled staff; the Chinchillas project development schedule; the exchange rates of the Canadian dollar and United States dollar to the Argentina peso; market competition; ongoing relations with impacted communities; and general business and economic conditions.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to precious and base metal price fluctuations; risks related to the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement; risks related to fluctuations in the currency markets (particularly the Argentinean peso, Canadian dollar and United States dollar); risks related to the inherently dangerous activity of mining, including conditions or events beyond our control, and operating or technical difficulties in mineral exploration, development and mining activities; uncertainty in the Company's ability to raise financing and fund the development of the Chinchillas project, including as recommended in the Chinchillas Mineral Resource Estimate; uncertainty as to actual capital costs, operating costs, production and economic returns, and uncertainty that development activities will result in a profitable mining operation at Chinchillas; risks related to mineral resource figures being estimates based on interpretations and assumptions which may result in less mineral production under actual conditions than is currently estimated and to diminishing quantities or grades of mineral resources as properties are mined; risks related to governmental regulations and obtaining necessary licenses and permits; risks related to the business being subject to environmental laws and regulations which may increase costs of doing business and restrict our operations; risks related to the Chinchillas project being subject to prior unregistered agreements, transfers, or claims and other defects in title; risks relating to inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance; risks related to potential litigation; risks related to the global economy; and risks related to the Chinchillas project being located in Argentina, including political, economic, social and regulatory instability. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The Company's forward-looking statements are based on beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the statements are made. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

The information provided in this news release addresses the drill results from the Chinchillas project and is not intended to be a comprehensive review of all matters and developments concerning the Company. It should be read in conjunction with all other disclosure documents of the Company. The information contained herein is not a substitute for detailed investigation or analysis. No securities commission or regulatory authority has reviewed the accuracy or adequacy of the information presented. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements other than as required under applicable law.

We advise U.S. investors that the SEC's mining guidelines strictly prohibit information of this type in documents filed with the SEC. U.S. investors are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on our properties.
[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that the district court must review Wisconsins voter ID law to determine whether broad application constitutes an equal protection violation. The law [materials] requires certain [photographic] identification in order to vote at a polling place or obtain an absentee ballot. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] is challenging this statute on the grounds that undue burdens upon certain individuals in acquiring a valid ID should excuse them from this law. The court acknowledged the significance of this issue, stating that [t]he right to vote is personal and is not defeated by the fact that 99% of other people can secure the necessary credentials easily. Wisconsin contends that the voter ID law is very similar to Indianas voter ID law, which was upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court [official website]. The appeals court agreed, but distinguished the two laws due to Indianas safety net for individuals unable to obtain a valid ID for financial or religious reasons, which was not present in Wisconsin. The court suggested the lower court examine the workings of the states voting system before deciding upon the merits of the ACLUs contentions.

Voting rights remain a controversial legal issue in the US. Earlier this month the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed to reconsider [JURIST report] Texas voter ID law. In January a North Carolina District Court declined to grant [JURIST report] a motion enjoining the state from implementing its voter identification law in the most recent primary. In May the New Hampshire Supreme Court struck down [JURIST report] a 2012 law requiring voters to be state residents, not just domiciled in the state. In March of last year Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed a new law [JURIST report] that made Oregon the first state in the nation to institute automatic voter registration. A federal appeals court rejected [JURIST report] a Kansas rule that required prospective voters to show proof-of-citizenship documents before registering using a federal voter registration form in November 2014.
The President of Macedonia on Tuesday ended an investigation into allegations of government corruption and abuse of power, also pardoning all politicians involved in a 2015 wiretapping scandal. According to President Gjorge Ivanov [official website], the move came in an effort to defend national interests, but it has been called illegal by opposition leader Zoran Zaev. The sudden halt of the criminal inquiry goes against a previous agreement [NYT report] by leaders of the countrys four largest political parties to allow a special prosecutor to investigate the scandal and bring criminal charges if warranted. Ivanov stated that he was convinced that this is a big step forward toward reconciliation, and that the country should no longer waste time on the matter. This announcement has been met with widespread opposition, sparking protests and prompting EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn [official profile] to note that it may put Macedonias hopes for EU membership in jeopardy [BBC report].

Tensions have escalated in Macedonia since its April 2014 elections, in which the Gruevskis VMRO-DPMNE party again won the election, leading to Gruevskis fourth consecutive term as prime minister amid allegations of fraud. In March 2015 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed deep concern [JURIST report] at the ongoing political predicament surrounding the release of incriminating audio recordings of conversations between officials in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Zaev was charged earlier that year for attempting to overthrow the government with the aid of an unnamed foreign intelligence agency. In September 2014 a Macedonian court found Zaev guilty [JURIST report] of slandering Gruevski for claiming that Gruevski took a bribe in 2004 to facilitate a Serbian businessmans purchase of a bank in Macedonia.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and KontraS [advocacy websites] on Tuesday urged the US to release government files regarding the anti-communist massacres in Indonesia from 1965-1966, which killed half a million individuals. HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth and KontraS National Coordinator Haris Azhar held a press conference in Jakarta to make the request. Roth stated that a factual and accurate report needs to be made about the past atrocity because a process of truth telling has to happen in order for reconciliation to occur. He stated that remnants of the uprising created the blacklisting of communities and individuals who deserve an apology and compensation from the government. He argues that without the information there would be a general apology devoid of responsibility. Roth believes that there may have been an involvement between the US and killers in Indonesia. He believes the channels of communication will tell the history of 1965 which will constructively contribute to the future Indonesian process of reconciliation. Roth hopes that the release of the information will allow the people of Indonesia to heal and to prevent similar incidents from recurring in the future.

A peoples tribunal opened [JURIST report] in November at The Hague to investigate the murder of thousands of alleged communists by Indonesian authorities in 1965. Human rights lawyers have charged Indonesia [AP report] with nine counts, including torture, sexual violence, and murder, for the governments involvement in the deaths of roughly 500,000 people. The tribunal has no legal authority, but prominent human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, acting as prosecutor, said the truth has to be told about an issue that remains taboo in Indonesia. Non-legally binding verdicts are expected next year.
[JURIST] The United Nations [official website] and African human rights experts urged [press release] the Nigerian government to escalate efforts to locate and rescue people abducted by Boko Haram. The experts also implored the governments to keep those whose family members have been abducted informed as to the progress of the efforts that have been employed to find the missing and provide assistance to those families. The report concluded with the experts expressing that they will continue to support the efforts of the government to locate the missing.

The militant Islamic group Boko Haram, whose name means Western education is a sin, has been fighting to overthrow the Nigerian government in the interest of creating an Islamist state. In February UN human rights experts urged [JURIST report] the Nigerian government to guarantee the safety of areas liberated from Boko Haram. In November the UN Secretary-General condemned [JURIST report] yet another attack by Boko Haram in Nigeria that left 30 dead and approximately 80 injured. In April 2015 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein reported [JURIST report] that Boko Haram militants in Nigeria have been murdering women and girls previously taken captive by the group. The group has been increasing the intensity and frequency of its attacks [JURIST report] ever since it lost most of the territory it overtook earlier this year to the Nigerian army. Most of these attacks have centered around markets, bus stations, places of worship and hit-and-run attacks on villages.
Track product launches by FMCG companies to get an understanding of the product-level strategies including geographic concentrations, innovation types, product claim, category focus and more

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Unilever product advertising is mainly through mainstream TV channels. Out of the products advertised so far at least 50% (over 850) of ads have been run on TV, while print media comes second with 496 ads. Unilever also utilizes social media platforms for advertisement. Unilever products are categorized by innovation ratings and tags in our product launch database. The North American region consists of almost 74 products with innovations related to the formulation of the product. Europe and other regions also have more products categorized under formulation-related innovation, followed by the packaging and positioning of the products. Most Unilever products are tagged with High Vitamins, Recyclable, and Natural tags to understand what the product differentiator is from other products available in the market. The majority of products belong to the personal care industry with a total of 5,788 products to date. This report, through the Unilever Example, illustrates how GlobalData Explorer enables you to:Dont miss out on key market insights that can help optimize your next investment  read the report now.
Chris Dodd, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), delivers the keynote address during the "State of the Industry" presentation at CinemaCon 2016, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), at Caesars Palace on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
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My dad was recently diagnosed with cancer. Overnight, he found himself faced with tough care decisions, small insurance crises, and the overwhelming bureaucracy of cancer. He was also about to become tasked with managing a daily care routine far outside the scope of his usual morning ritual.

Since his diagnosis, he has returned to the hospital twice with pneumonia. While many cancer patients become prone to bacterial infections due to a weakened immune system, it is often compounded by an inability to keep up with the battery of medicines and new responsibilities of having a serious illness.

Patients living with complex illnesses require extra help, from medication adherence to finding stable housing; however, the majority of chronic care takes place in a primary care setting, preventing clinicians from fully addressing the spectrum of health needs that come with managing a chronic illness. In order for a physician to provide high-quality chronic care to a typical patient panel, they would need to spend 10.6 hours per day on just chronic care, or 27 percent more than the amount of time available for all patient care.

Partly as a response to patient needs, the growing trend in the U.S. moves away from this traditional model to a team-based approach. This allows multiple health care providers and other members of the care team  doctors, nurses, community health workers, mental health specialists, social workers, and others  to provide wraparound services for a more comprehensive patient care. The team works together to best address patients needs, communicate to each other on their findings, reduce trips to the emergency room, and ensure no one falls through the cracks.

Providing care for high-cost, high-need patients is expensive and challenging, but focusing on this population also has potential to make the biggest impact on national spending. Five percent of the U.S. population accounts for 50 percent of the nations health care costs. Fee-for-service has been a longstanding way to pay for health care, but new care management approaches may not always fit well with this payment model. The complexities of a chronic illness require a system that delivers coordinated health care, addressing an entire array of patients needs and risks, and rewarding improved health outcomes.

Chronic diseases are responsible for 7 of 10 deaths each year, which makes this an important issue for our country. Finding the best way to deliver and pay for health care can have a huge impact on the health of this population. It could be your neighbor, your sister, my dad, or you.

Improving health care services for our most vulnerable is important. Its both the right thing to do and a big step toward a more high-quality, financially sustainable health care system for us all. As for my dad, we will continue to work to make sure he has the best care and support he can get, whether its from a large system of crazy relatives or a more comprehensive, coordinated health care system.

Katie Bayne is communications and development coordinator, Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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For years, many physicians have complained about the onerous nature of government-certified electronic medical records. However, thanks to the HITECH Act, the rush to digitize medical records has continued. Due to the impetus provided by the ACA and subsequently by MACRA, the mad rush has progressed into a frenzy of data-collecting and reporting activity, all in the name of value over volume.

Recently, two objective reports have surfaced demonstrating the futility of all these untested efforts. The first report in Health Affairs, U.S. Physician Practices Spend More Than $15.4 Billion Annually To Report Quality Measures, finds an average physician practice spends more than $40,000 per year just reporting quality measures. Digging deeper into the report shows that among five components of the reporting process, data entry was reported as the most time-consuming. Only 27 percent of respondents said that current measures are moderately or very representative of the quality of care patients receive. The surveys main author, Lawrence Casalino commented, It wouldnt be too strong to say were sacrificing a generation of physicians and staff to the problems with EHRs.

A second report demonstrates the burden of inbox notifications in commercial EMRs and how it affects physicians. Such notifications exceed 100 per day for some primary care physicians (PCPs) during the first half of 2015. The authors note, extrapolating this finding to commercial EHRs suggests that physicians spend an estimated 66.8 minutes per day processing notifications, which likely adds a substantial burden to their workday.

In an interview with MedPage Today, Rosalind Kaplan, MD, of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, said she feels the burden of this information overload. If I take a day off, I still spend at least an hour on my inbox. I feel ruled by it, and between notes and inbox, feel I spend more time at the computer than I do with patients. She explained that the EHR system used at her institution did not organize messages into categories, such as unfinished notes, patient callbacks, and medication refills. Consequently, there is no prioritization, and I have to do that myself, which could cause errors or missed important messages.

To me, the most glaring omission in analyzing quality measures and inbox notifications is the lack of any objective comparative studies that demonstrate their superiority over conventional methods with respect to patient care. Nobody has asked the fundamental question, Can you show me how all this helps my patients? It is a sad situation when physicians, highly trained in the art and science of healing, are forced to become data entry clerks (no offense to clerks) and secretaries (again I dont intend to offend secretaries either). But how can we care for patients when we are forced to do things we did not train for nor are good at? Why is nobody asking patients how all these changes to a physicians responsibility has changed a patients perception of their relationship with their doctor?

It is unfair to simply blame the IT companies for this; they are merely responding to government mandates (of course many of them were instrumental in lobbying government to create these mandates in the first place). It is still possible for physicians, especially those in private practice, to decide what type of technology enables them to serve their patients better. For example, I have been fully electronic in my office since 2002. Yes, I have a to do  section in my EMR, but it is categorized into labs, faxes, documents, and notes, which I am able to prioritize over the course of a day. I dont have any notifications other than drug-drug interactions or diagnosis-drug interactions, which I can modify based on my priority.

I can achieve all this because I have chosen not to be bound by meaningful use criteria and other useless reportable measures. Physicians should realize the futility of trying to comply with every government mandate, and if these studies do not provide proof of such futility, I am not sure what does. Say no to MIPS and APMs now, before it is too late. Learn to trust your patients and believe in your own professional ability. Take a stand, like the CMIO of New York Citys Municipal Hospital, who resigned rather than be part of a failed IT implementation.

It is up to physicians and patients to retake control of how health care is delivered. Time to say enough is enough. If the politicians and bureaucrats want data, they can hire someone else, get each patients permission and collect it for themselves. Time to return to our roots and our strengths: caring for patients one on one, but using technology in a manner that helps us achieve this noble goal that only our profession affords us. There is no profession like medicine, that confers on its member the powers to heal, mend and comfort. Lets not give it away so easily.

Arvind Cavale is an endocrinologist who blogs at Rebel.MD. He can be reached on Twitter @endodocPA.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
A place of pilgrimage for many ordinary people, run by a much loved, larger than life figure has closed for good.

And many of the intereting itemns colelcted by the late Seamus Lawlor over the course of his life will be sold next week.

Much of the contents of the Nore Folk Museum, Bennettsbridge, including many antique agricultural implements will be sold at Mount Butler Salesrooms, on Wednesday, April 27, at 10.30pm by Victor Mitchell.

The news will come asa suproise to the many people who loved seamus and his museum which attratced visitors from allover the world.

he wasa shininnhg liht in rural enterprise and his colelction drew gasps from people who made their weay to his of old sheds and outhouses at ghis home just outside Bennettsbridge.

Most of the contents of the Nore Folk Museum, Bennettsbridge were sold to o9ne individual and were taken away in vans and trucks a few weeks ago.

He has put them up for sale through Victor Mitchell's.

The site and the house is now a shell of what was once a busy, wonderful museum where you could spend hours going through old pieces of farm machinery and pieces from old shops and houses.

It comes less than a year after the death of the owner of the museum, Seamus Lawlor.

The man, who for many years played St Patrick, in the annual parade in Kilkenny city had spent a lifetime collecting a fantastic collection of curiosities. stepped through its doors to behold the vast treasure trove of exhibits: old threshing engines, a traditional Irish moonshine making apparatus, farming tools dating to the Iron and Stone Ages, relics of the 1840's Great Famine and Irish Land War, household appliances from all the decades of the 19th and 20th centuries, a fabulous coin collection, radio sets from the dawn of the wireless era to the present day, a complete blacksmiths forge, a recreated ancient Irish pub, war memorabilia, ancient chamber pots, vintage petrol pumps, police batons of the twentieth century. The list goes on... more than 12,000 exhibits in all...an Aladdins Cave of historical curios guaranteed to draw you deeper and deeper into what a local newspaper described as a veritable time capsule.
As part of the continuing series of StartUp Summits that Im privileged to host across multiple cities in association with IAMAI & Google, I came across one speaker that caught my attention. At the Hyderabad edition, Abhay Deshpande, the founder CEO of MartJack, spoke about his entrepreneurial journey.

Quite honestly, until then I hadnt heard either of the company or its founder. Few things that immediately caught my attention even before Abhay stepped on the stage. He had successfully sold his company and in his own words for a significantly sizeable amount. Now, thats an important credential. An entrepreneur who has made good money. People were now ready to hear his story.

Abhay spoke less about his successful exit but more about his struggles as an entpreneur and his leader. He has this amazing down-to-the-ground attitude that makes him very endearing to the audience. The one story that still stays fresh in my mind is that huge dissappointment he faced when a large Ecommerce company (am guessing Amazon) pulled out of a US$50 Million buyout at the last minute. He was saying that many of the staff were eagerly awaiting the bounty and even started to scout for fancy apartments and cars to buy. But went the deal failed, there was huge dissappointment and the morale was low. He spoke about how as a leader one should shirk aside the loss and put on a brave face because everybody else looks upto the leader.

Abhay was also very candid in telling how he miserably failed raisng money from the VCs but raised US$7 Million seed capital from over 85 small investors. He proudly said that every single one of them made good money in the end.

Over lunch, I asked him about his future plans. His reply was to soak in the victory. The last 12 years was only about struggle and hardwork and he said he was particularly guilty of not taking his family out on a vacation. Thats on top of his priority.

Thank you, Abhay, for inspiring a whole new generation of entrepreneurs.
(Kitco News) - Two international banks will join the proposed Chinese yuan gold fix, which is expected to be launched in less than a week, according to media reports.

Wednesday, Reuters reported that ANZ and Standard Bank will be the only two international banks that will be involved in the daily gold auction, with a total of 18 banks participating. Both banks have gold import licenses into China.

The article also noted that the new benchmark is expected to be launched April 19, which two months ago was only a rumor.

Quoting the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), Reuters said that four state-owned banks are Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank. Other regional banks to be involved in the process are Bank of Communications, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, China Minsheng Banking Corp, Industrial Bank Co, Ping An Bank and Shanghai Bank.

The SGE also said that Bank of China (based in Hong Kong) retailers Chow Tai Fook and Lao Feng Xiang, Swiss trading house MKS, Chinese miners China National Gold Group and Shandong Gold Group will also be members.

According to the rules that were sent to participating banks in February, the benchmark, which will be quoted in yuan per gram, will be set twice a daily. The auction will be derived from a one-kilogram contract, traded among the 18 members of the SGE.

Many analysts are not surprised that China is moving forward with its plan to launch its own yuan-based gold benchmark as it has become a central player in the marketplace. Chinas benchmark will now fight for dominance with the London Bullion Market Association Gold Price Fix, which was launched last year and replaced the century-old London Fix.

In an interview with Kitco News in February, Bernard Dahdah, precious metals analyst at Natixis, said that China is the worlds largest gold-consuming nation, the worlds biggest gold-producing nation and has ambitions to be the worlds major gold hub.

Although the yuan-gold fix is progressing, many analysts note that it could still be many years before it takes over the more established international markets like London and New York. While two international banks are now involved in the auction, it could still be seen as a domestic benchmark.

According to reports, China has struggled to get international institutions on board as many are still concerned by the lack of transparency in the Chinese marketplace.

By Neils Christensen of Kitco News; nchristensen@kitco.com

Follow @Neils_C
HSBC looks for the gold/silver ratio to narrow further, which would mean silver is outperforming. The ratio measures how many ounces of silver it takes to buy an ounce of gold. Comex May silver rose Tuesday even as June gold eased slightly, and silver has posted a smaller percentage decline so far Wednesday. We believe that retail demand for coins and small bars and light institutional buying in the paper markets has boosted silver, HSBC says in a late-Tuesday research note. Some near-term players are focusing on the gold-silver ratio, which is back below 1:78. We think the ratio will narrow further as price sensitive buyers, who want to participate in precious metals, turn more to silver. As of 9:11 a.m. EDT, spot gold was around $1,247.25 an ounce and spot silver was around $16.19, meaning a gold-silver ratio of 1:77.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

Citi: Margins Improve For South African PGM Producers

Wednesday April 13, 2016 09:16

Citi Research looks for profit margins of South African producers of platinum group metals to improve during the first half of this year. This follows a roughly 20% rally in the basket price for PGMs for the year to date of 12,500 South African rand, Citi says. The bank estimates that some 70% of the industry is currently generating cash at spot prices, an improvement from mid-December, when only 50% was generating cash. However, PGM prices were low in December and pricing in a continued rise may be too optimistic, Citi says. We believe little has fundamentally changed in the S/D (supply/demand) equation over the past three months, Citi says.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com
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By Rachel Seymour of the Kitsap Sun

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND  Bainbridge Island Councilman Ron Peltier on Tuesday proposed extending powers of initiative and referendum to the city's voters.

Referendums would allow residents to review some proposed city laws and vote on them before they take effect, while initiatives give residents the power to directly propose legislation.

Supporters of the initiative process for cities have argued it curtails corruption and puts pressure on public officials to act in the public interest, while opponents stress a need for deliberation and expertise in creating laws.

Peltier told his fellow council members Tuesday that some island residents see the city government as out of touch with the community and operating with a hidden agenda. He said he believed becoming an initiative city could change that.

"I feel like Bainbridge Island is ready to have a more direct form of democracy," Peltier said. "Bainbridge Island is a highly educated community. I trust the judgment of our citizens to come up ideas they would like to put into ordinances and discuss them."

The matter will be on the May 17 City Council meeting agenda.

Bremerton is the only city in Kitsap with the powers of initiative and referendum. Shelton, in Mason County, also has it.

Less than 50 of Washington's 281 cities have adopted the powers of initiative and referendum, according to the Municipal Research and Services Center.

To become an initiative and referendum city, a city council can adopt a resolution and that likely would be the course on Bainbridge. Residents would have the final approval of the resolution with either a vote or petition.

If a city council does not create a resolution, voters can start a petition and, with enough signatures, push the council to make a resolution. No vote is needed on the resolution if enough signatures are gathered.

The city must send the petition to the county Auditor's Office to verify signatures.
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By Ed Friedrich of the Kitsap Sun

BANGOR  The Navy recently returned $267 million it was allocated for an explosive-handling wharf project at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.

When the project was authorized in 2012, the price was projected at $715 million, but a cost decrease notification issued last week by the Navy showed an adjusted price of $448 million.

One of the reasons the money wasn't needed was because a skilled local workforce was available through a project labor agreement, which U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer touted Monday at the White House.

Design costs also were lower than expected; the contractor accepted less profit; and work was interrupted less often for ordnance operations at the old wharf and for migratory birds and marine mammals, according to the notification.

"We're 90 percent complete with the wharf," said Leslie Yuenger, Navy Facilities Engineering Command spokeswoman. "As part of normal practice, when we're pretty confident in the actual cost of the project, we return the funds no longer required back to the Navy military construction pot so other projects can use them. The contingencies planned for did not show up."

The Navy awarded a $341 million contract to EHW Constructors to build the wharf itself. The $715 million figure included hardening, building or demolishing facilities inside the wharf's explosive safety arcs.

The wharf was scheduled to be completed in January. In late November, that portion of the overall project was $14 million over budget. The Navy did not provide information on whether the deadline for the wharf was extended or whether its budget was adjusted.

Under a project labor agreement, a project manager agrees with an area trade union council before seeking bids from contractors. It specifies wages and fringe benefits, and usually includes procedures to resolve labor disputes. It typically bars unions from striking and contractors from locking out workers.

Opponents say PLAs are anti-competitive and increase costs. Proponents say they ensure decent wages, a quality workforce and timely completion of projects within budget.

Among those participating in Kilmer's meeting Monday were Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council Celia Munoz, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Steven Iselin, members of Congress and Lee Newgent, executive secretary of the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order in 2009 to promote the use of PLAs in federal projects. So far, the explosive-handling wharf is the only one to use the arrangement. Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, believes it's a good model for future jobs.

"They are a win for workers who see more opportunities to receive a good wage," he said. "They're a win for taxpayers because projects are more likely to come in on time and under budget. And they're a win for the local community because job opportunities are available to residents."

The wharf is a good example of the Navy and local employees working together to produce a top-quality project that's under budget and on time, according to Newgent.

"Rep. Kilmer understands that a project of this magnitude is one of the greatest economic investments to our local community," he said.

The Navy said it needed a second wharf for loading and unloading missiles, torpedoes and ordnance from Trident II strategic ballistic missile submarines. Eight of the Navy's 14 are based at Bangor. The wharf also will serve as a backup for handling explosives for guided missile submarine, of which Bangor has two, and will provide a lay berth when not in use for ordnance handling.
Bremerton Salvation Army Maj. Scott Ramsey serves food Tuesday on the lunch line.

SHARE The Bremerton Salvation Army. Bremerton Salvation Army Maj. Scott Ramsey (left) serves Tuesday during lunch with cook Sally Murray.

By Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun

BREMERTON  The Salvation Army's inaugural overnight shelter provided a place to sleep for dozens of people each night but lacked necessary security and presented "challenges" to first responders, the head of the Bremerton nonprofit acknowledged in a letter to Mayor Patty Lent.

"As you well know, we have been somewhat a victim of our success," Maj. Scott Ramsey wrote in the letter to Lent dated April 4. "Especially since we opened the Severe Weather and Winter Shelter."

The shelter provided bed space for a total of 263 people, averaging 38 each night through the late winter. But police and fire department calls to the shelter surged in that time, prompting concerns from the police and fire chiefs. Worse yet, safety of staff, volunteers and shelter seekers was at times a concern, including an employee who was beaten by a homeless man in December.

Ramsey vowed that reopening the shelter would depend on enhancing its safety.

"If security is not funded, we will not be opening a shelter next winter," he wrote.

The popular shelter operated for 65 days until the end of March, a first for the service organization whose Sixth Street headquarters recently completed a $5.5 million remodel.

Lent said she appreciated the letter and acknowledged that the shelter had unforeseen safety and manpower issues.

"It was a success because we found out what a need we have in the community," Lent said. "But it identified some complications we didn't anticipate."

Police Chief Steve Strachan said urban areas across Western Washington are seeing increases in homelessness. But he called for a distinction between the truly needy and those "criminal vagrants" who prey upon them. Strachan said the latter victimize the former, selling drugs to them or otherwise taking advantage of them.

Sheryl Ann Piercy, social services director at the Salvation Army, has watched it happen. She said that at the first part of the month, it was obvious some would target the more vulnerable "right before the (Social Security) checks came in."

Medic calls from the shelter skyrocketed. A minimum two-person staff could not handle certain needs from the temporary residents, Piercy said.

"They were going back and forth from Harrison hospital sometimes all night," Strachan said of the medics.

It operated as a "wet shelter," meaning even those intoxicated were allowed to stay. Sometimes pets slept there, too. Piercy said problematic tenants were removed and told they could not come back. (The Kitsap Rescue Mission, which also temporarily operated a shelter next door, has stricter rules for staying in the shelter.)

Ramsey's letter outlined several plans that would help alleviate problems the shelter encountered, not limited to hiring security. Staff is working to install security cameras throughout the building and additional lighting is being sought around the perimeter of the building. Back benches, where some were "living," Ramsey wrote, also have been removed and a gas meter has been secured behind a locked gate and fence.

Ramsey mentioned the nonprofit also is working more closely with police to remove criminal vagrants from the property permanently, a relationship Strachan acknowledged.

"They have a commitment to working with us," he said.

The Salvation Army, with help from city leaders, the Kitsap Public Health District and Kitsap Mental Health, also is seeking a grant from the recently passed county mental health tax initiative. The grant could provide a nurse, mental health and housing specialist.

Providing the temporary housing also did a lot of good and in some cases might have saved lives, Piercy noted. Many moved on and found more permanent housing. Those who stayed usually got a shower and a good night's sleep. With those basic needs met, Piercy said many at the shelter seemed born anew following a stay.

"It was like they were new people," she said.
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By Tad Sooter of the Kitsap Sun

SILVERDALE  Thousands of lives have been changed inside a nondescript house in Old Town Silverdale.

The McConnell Avenue building is home to Cascade Recovery Center, a private treatment agency that for nearly 30 years helped Kitsap residents kick drug and alcohol addictions.

That work quietly came to an end this spring. Cascade Recovery Center, one of a handful of Kitsap treatment programs open to people covered by Medicaid, closed at the end of March, after placing its 180 remaining clients with other agencies.

Owner and director Rick Bialock said he shuttered his business in the face of a slew of regulations being placed on treatment centers as the state transitions to a new system for administering payments for substance-use treatment. The requirements would have heaped new administrative costs on the center and drawn resources away from treating clients, he said.

"We've weathered a lot of storms," Bialock said. "But this one wasn't worth it."

The "storm" Bialock is escaping arrived April 1 when the state enacted the new model for addiction treatment payments. Medicaid money for mental health and substance-use treatment are now being distributed through regional Behavioral Health Organizations. Locally, Kitsap County oversees the Salish Behavioral Health Organization, which serves Kitsap, Clallam and Jefferson counties.

Treatment agencies like Cascade Recovery Center previously billed Medicaid for each service they provided to clients  a fee-for-service model. Now, those agencies are being paid under a managed care model, which gives them a flat monthly payment to cover all of a client's services.

Bialock said he had no qualms with the payment model, but the host of government regulations that come with the system were not sustainable for his small business. Citing a few examples, he said Cascade Recovery Center would have had to keep duplicate electronic and paper records, run monthly background checks on employees and foot the bill for rigorous financial audits. Bialock said he might have had to hire another employee to track compliance with the rules. The new contract required to continue accepting Medicaid was more than 100 pages long.

"After I read that contract, I just decided it wasn't feasible to continue the kind of program I wanted to," Bialock said.

Cascade Recovery Center placed its clients in other treatment programs as it wound down operations. But Bialock said people undergoing treatment form tight bonds with their counselors and change isn't easy.

"It was very difficult for the patients," he said. "I can tell you that."

Anders Edgerton, who coordinates Salish Behavioral Health Organization for the county, said he wasn't surprised to hear an agency like Cascade had closed because of the new requirements.

"I'm surprised we haven't had more," he said.

Edgerton said mental health providers that accepted Medicaid in Washington were already paid under a managed care model and are accustomed to the added government oversight, aimed at protecting patients. Addiction treatment agencies being rolled into the managed care system are grappling with the regulations for the first time.

"It's an extraordinary number of new requirements," Edgerton said. "We're working with them as closely as we can and helping them through  but it's a big change."

The transition was a big change for the county as well. Edgerton previously coordinated the Regional Support Network, which administered Medicaid contracts for mental health services in the three-county area. That amounted to 12 contracts. Now the Regional Support Network has morphed into Salish Behavioral Health Organization and is charged with administering substance-use contracts in addition to mental health. That amounts to 55 contracts.

Edgerton said administrators and treatment providers are all still reeling from the shift. His hope is the switch will at least be seamless for the people receiving care.

"Hopefully clients won't notice any change," he said.

For information on Salish Behavioral Health Organization go to www.salishbho.org.
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EASTON, Md.  It's been a long while since South Carolina could look down upon its neighbor to the North.

Thanks to North Carolina's anti-LGBT legislation (HB2), also referred to as the "bathroom bill," the state effectively has begun redefining itself from its long-popular characterization as a "valley of humility between two mountains of conceit" (South Carolina and Virginia).

The new law, which ludicrously requires transgender people to use the restroom consistent with the sex on their birth certificates, has liberated South Carolina from its persistent place as the brunt of late-night jokes. Remarking on the law, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said her state doesn't have "that problem." Brava.

The law in question was hurriedly passed last month and signed by North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory in response to what one state official called a restroom free-for-all, referring to sudden hysteria over the possibility of transgender individuals using the "wrong" restroom. How would anyone know? Will officials now post monitors at public restrooms to check birth certificates and human bladder-evacuation portals?

This would be riotously funny if it weren't so patently discriminatory.

Many bad deeds go unpunished, but not this one. The economic fallout from the law already is being felt and the price of not doing business is about to go up. Bruce Springsteen recently canceled a concert in Greensboro and Deutsche Bank has frozen a planned 250-job expansion in the state. But the real showdown will be this weekend when not nearly as many buyers and designers as usual will attend the biannual High Point furniture market  the largest in the nation and the state's biggest economic event.

A recent study by Duke University placed the annual economic impact of the High Point market at $5.38 billion. The furnishings industry also generates more than 600,000 visitor days to the state each year and accounts for 37,000 jobs.

If there were a Darwin Award for states, North Carolina would win hands-down. Already the High Point Market Authority reports that hundreds or thousands of the 75,000 retailers and designers who annually attend the market won't be visiting this year because of HB2, which, come to think of it, sounds appropriately like a disease.

Many of those who plan to attend have expressed deep reservations amid likely plans to go to the relatively new Las Vegas furniture market next go-round. Among these is Don Wooters, interior designer and co-owner of Easton's Dwelling and Design, who told me he feels guilt about going to North Carolina.

"I feel like a traitor going to High Point, putting capitalism before human rights," he said. "I don't feel good about that and I know it's wrong."

Wooters isn't only baffled by the bigotry of the legislation but also by whatever generates the fear behind it.

"Why do people feel they have to be afraid? It's a big sign of how uneducated America is."

Another local designer, Jamie Merida, owner of Bountiful, told me he decided to go if only to make his case to vendors that they have six months to straighten out this mess or he, too, will be off to Las Vegas next time.

Although North Carolina has been noted in recent years for its increasingly hard-right politics, it is still shocking that a state that boasts several of the nation's top colleges and universities and is home to the famed Research Triangle, could codify what is so plainly a discriminatory law. In comments Tuesday, McCrory, feeling the pressure, softened his defense of the law but stopped short of opposing the provision on bathroom use by transsexual people.

As in all other times when bigotry raises its hideous head, better angels will prevail. Either the courts will overturn the law or the state will come to its senses, if only for economic reasons.

As to that valley of humility? In 1900, when Mary Oates Spratt Van Landingham, a cultural leader and author, first conjured the image in a speech, she was bemoaning her state's then-lesser "native literature."

"Could it be that being located between Virginia and South Carolina, our people for so long have been furnished such conspicuous illustrations of self-appreciation that they have, by contrast, learned modesty and silence?" she said. "Where there are mountains of conceit, there are apt to be valleys of humility."

Today, those mountains have good reason for self-appreciation by comparison. And North Carolina has proved itself a valley of ignorance, whose legislators and governor could use a moment of silence to consider their ill-conceived conceit.

Kathleen Parker's email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com. She writes for The Washington Post Writers Group.
The final post looks at views of New Zealanders on various issues from the NZ Election Study.

The first two, and most important are has the Government done a good job and has the economy been good or bad.

73% of NZers said the Government had done a good job in the last three years and only 21% said a bad job.

Thats a staggeringly low level of people saying the Government had done a bad job.

NZES asked about whether we should be spending more, less or the same in various areas. The table below summarises this:

Health and education stand out as the two areas NZers most want more spending. This is no surprise. They have a net 65% support.

After that is housing and law enforcement on around net 40%.

Then environment on 34%, superannuation 27% and business & industry 19%.

The three areas where NZers want less spending is defence at -1%, welfare -20% and unemployment benefits -29%.

Then they asked NZers if they agreed with a series of statements, that are below.

The biggest agreement at net +63% was people should have to work for the dole.

Next biggest agreement was that Government should subsidise or assist companies with research and development followed by income inequality is too large and should be reduced, unions are necessary to protect workers and exporters should get financial assistance.

NZers also think big business has too much power, we should assist international sportspersons and film makers and SOE privatisation has gone too far.

There is modest agreement that trade unions are necessary to protect workers at +9% and raise the super age to 67 at +4%.

Minor disagreement at -1% that many on welfare dont deserve help, that NZ needs a Capital Gains Tax, unions have too much power (-3%) and lowering benefits helps people stand on their own feet (-4%).

More significant disagreement that the Government should help banks in times of crisis (-15%), we should have more immigration (-35%) and abortion is always wrong (-40%).

Also some voting issues were canvassed.

On compulsory voting 44% were in favour and 53% against.

Lowering the voting age to 16 had 7% support and a massive 90% opposition.

48% supported keeping the Maori seats and 39% opposed.

35% would vote on the Internet if they had a choice, while 595 would still choose a polling place.

45% were confident that Internet voting would be secure and private and 46% were not.

14% were more likely to vote if they could vote online and 10% said they were less likely to vote.

Huge opposition to reducing the voting age to 16.

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The Herald reports:

The Maori Party is calling for a long overdue law change to establish Maori wards on every district council in New Zealand.

Co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell will present a petition to Parliament at the urging of New Plymouth mayor Andrew Judd, who championed the creation of a Maori ward in his city  a move blocked by a public vote last year.

Under existing legislation, councils can choose to establish Maori wards. However, if 5 per cent of voters sign a petition opposed to such a move, the decision then goes to a binding referendum.

Maori representation on local government has been a heated issue at times, with parties divided at the last general election.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said Maori wards were separatist  a stance backed by the Act and Conservative parties  while National and Labour were not opposed to councils establishing Maori wards if they wished.
The Government has announced a tax reform package for small businesses:

Provisional tax is being reformed, with a new pay-as-you-go option giving up to 110,000 small businesses a way to pay tax as they earn income from 1 April 2018.

Use-of-money interest will be eliminated or reduced for the vast majority of taxpayers.

Contractors will be able to choose a withholding tax rate that suits their needs, rather than one being set for them.

The ongoing 1 per cent monthly penalty will be scrapped from 1 April 2017 for new debt  although immediate penalties and interest charges for late payments will continue to apply.

Like most small business owners, I dislike provisional tax. Your provisional tax is calculated on your previous year, and if you have a better year than expected, then you get whacked with penalty interest for not having paid enough provisional tax earlier in the year.

A pay as you go option is a great idea, and very easy to do with modern accounting software.

Around 30 to 40 per cent of businesses currently use cloud-based accounting software. This is expected to grow to 85 to 90 per cent in the next 10 years. This package allows small businesses to pay provisional tax through their accounting software, rather than having a separate process for their taxes. Small businesses are the backbone of the New Zealand economy. We want to help them spend more time focused on their business, not their taxes. The package is expected to cost $187 million over four years.

This move will be very popular with small business owners.

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Politik reports:

The appointment of John Shewan to investigate foreign trusts in New Zealand was always going to be controversial. Mr Shewan has a well deserved reputation as an establishment figure in Wellington. So it wasnt surprising that Labour Leader Andrew Little alleged in Palriament yesterday that the Prime Minister had appointed John Shewan and Don Brash as advisors to the Bahamas Government when it introduced GST and advised that its financial services be zero-rated for value-added tax in order to protect the offshore services industry of that country. Mr Shewan vigroously denied this to Checkpoint He said the trip to the Bahamas had absolutely nothing to do with its status as a tax haven, and any suggestion of that was complete nonsense. We recommended that they modify their proposed regime significantly and simply follow New Zealands rules across the board. Mr Shewan said they did recommend backing an existing exemption, as per international practice, that financial services be exempt from GST.

Dirty and nasty politics from Labour. John Shewan has advised both National and Labour Governments over the years. But now as they are desperate to try and make NZ look like Panama, Little defames Shewan under parliamentary privilege.

As Shewan said on Checkpoint (you can listen here) his work for the Bahamas had nothing to do with income tax or trusts. It was how to have a best practice GST, and the advice was basically to follow the NZ GST model (which is seen as one of the best in the world).

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Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Sunny with gusty winds. High near 85F. Winds S 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 56F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
"Hold the burgers, hold the fries, make our wages super-size" was one of the chants as activists rally in support of a minimum wage increase Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014, at the McDonald's on Cumberland Avenue. Fast food workers in Knoxville on Thursday, April 14, 2016, plan to join those in Nashville and Memphis to rally in support of a nationwide effort for higher wages and union rights for minimum wage workers. (PAUL EFIRD/NEWS SENTINEL)

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By Ed Marcum of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Fast food workers in Knoxville on Thursday plan to join those in Nashville and Memphis to rally in support of a nationwide effort for higher wages and union rights for minimum wage workers.

Fast food workers and members of community organizations plan to gather at 5:15 a.m. at the McDonald's restaurant at 1720 Cumberland Ave., and then at 6:15 p.m. at the McDonald's at 2505 Chapman Highway for a 24-hour rally, according to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Beryl Chong, spokeswoman for the organization, said about 30 people are expected to participate. In November, the union launched a campaign to harness the political power of 64 million low-wage workers across the country during the presidential election. Walkouts and rallies have been planned in about 1,000 cities across the country, as the workers push for a $15-an-hour minimum wage.

McDonald's is at the center of the fight, according to the SEIU, as the world's largest employer. The company employs a business model that harms workers, the organization said.

"Workers are striking days before tax day to call attention to the fact that low wages force them to use public assistance while large corporations manipulate the system to avoid paying taxes," the SIEU said in a statement.

Several cities have heeded the call for higher minimum wages, and workers in New York and California have won a $15-per-hour minimum wage.

planned 24-hour

Thursday
Seung Hwa Suh, vice chairman and CEO of Hankook Tire Co., speaks to reporters on in fall 2013 about the companys decision to build its first U.S. plant in Clarksville, as Gov. Bill Haslam, left, looks on. (Erik Schelzig/AP)

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By Getahn Ward, The Tennessean

Hankook Tire plans to set up its North American headquarters in Nashville, according to people familiar the official announcement expected Wednesday.

The move comes as the South Korea-based company is expected by year's end to start production at what will eventually be a $800 million tire manufacturing plant in Clarksville. At full operation, that 469-acre plant is expected to employ up to 1,800 people in that Montgomery County city.

Hankook's new plans for Nashville would be the latest boost for the region's growing automotive base, which includes global tire-related businesses. Middle Tennessee is also home to Japanese-linked Bridgestone Americas in Nashville and Italy-tied Marangoni Tread North America Inc. in Madison, with China-based Triangle Tire USA also recently setting up its U.S. headquarters in Franklin.

Continue reading at The Tennessean, a News Sentinel partner.
A new law allowing wine sales in Tennessee grocery stores goes into effect in July. FILE PHOTO

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By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel

More than 50 local businesses have received approval from Knoxville officials to obtain state permits to sell wine in grocery stores  except not all of them are grocery stores.

So far, 22 Pilot gas stations received city approval  more than twice the certificate of compliance handed out to any other chain.

"The general way people call it is 'wine in grocery stores,' but it's actually somewhat of a misnomer," said Rob Frost, attorney for Knoxville City Council, which approves all of certificates of compliance. "If you sell above a certain percent of food, you don't truly have to truly be a grocery store."

In fact, only 20 percent of a business's sales must come from retail food, according to the law passed in 2014. The law goes into effect on July 1.

Of the 52 compliance certificates issued so far, Food City has received 10, Kroger nine and Walmart four.

Alyson Dyer, an attorney with the city law office, said she expects more applications to be submitted.

The permits to sell wine are issued by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission, but the agency requires a compliance certificate from the local government along with a business's application.

To receive a compliance certificate, a business must fill out an application with the city, have a background check completed by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations and receive confirmation from the Metropolitan Planning Commission that the store is correctly zoned for selling alcohol.

If the city doesn't approve or deny the application in 60 days, a certificate is automatically granted.

Gov. Bill Haslam signed the wine-in-grocery-stores bill into law in March 2014, giving the industry and regulators two years to prepare. But the July 1 start date was nearly derailed after a glitch in the law was discovered earlier this year.

The law said the beverage commission could not begin issuing permits until July 1, and stores could not stock wine until they had their licenses.

Late last month, lawmakers passed a bill correcting the provision that would have prevented stores from stocking wine until after July 1. Supporters said that without the new bill, wine sales would likely be delayed for weeks, possibly months.

The new bill also implemented a controversial two-store limit on the number of retail liquor store a single person or company can own in Tennessee.
SHARE Knoxville-area native Megan Fox, a cast member in the upcoming film "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows," appears during the Paramount Pictures presentation at CinemaCon 2016, at Caesars Palace on Monday, April 11, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/Associated Press) Megan Fox posted this composite image of herself with her co-stars, adding the comment, "#notthefather" (INSTAGRAM) Knoxville-area native Megan Fox address the audience during CinemaCon 2016 in Las Vegas on Monday, April 11, 2016. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/Associated Press)

By Chuck Campbell of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Actress Megan Fox, a native of the Knoxville area, is coyly baiting gossip hounds about the father of her baby on social media.

This afternoon, Fox - who was born and raised in Anderson and Roane counties before moving to St. Petersburg, Fla., when she was 10  posted on her Instagram account (@the_native_tiger) a composite photo of her with three of her male co-stars, and only commenting, "#notthefather.

The three actors in the photo are Shia LaBoeuf (her co-star in "Transformers"), Jake Johnson ("New Girl") and Will Arnett ("Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles").

Fox, 29, has two sons (3-year-old Noah and 2-year-old Bodhi) with her husband, actor Brian Austin Green, whom she separated from last year. Divorce papers were filed in January, according to E!, and Fox and Green are seeking joint custody of their children.

The actress hadn't made public appearances recently until a clearly pregnant Fox showed up at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Monday.

E! reports that Green is indeed the father, despite Fox's teasing of the rumor mill, and quotes an anonymous insider who says the two will, "likely put their divorce on hold."

Fox reprises her role as April O'Neil in the upcoming sequel "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows," set to hit theaters June 3.
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By News Sentinel Staff

A Knoxville man was convicted on Wednesday for giving a 16-year-old girl prescription pills then raping her, according to the Knox County District Attorney's Office.

Buford Trammell, 55, was convicted on multiple counts of rape, statutory rape by an authority figure, sexual batter by an authority figure, solicitation of a minor and casual exchange with a minor. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 26.

Prosecutors said that on Nov. 24, 2014, Trammell and the victim traveled from Cookeville, Tenn., to Knoxville so that he could obtain an MRI. He rented a room at Spring Hill Suites in Turkey Creek with a single bed, then offered the girl two oxycodone pills which she snorted.

The girl then passed out from the pill and woke up to Trammell raping her. The next morning, while still under the effect of the prescription drug, she was raped a second time.

"This defendant used his position of trust as a father-figure, plied this child with powerful opiates, then repeatedly raped her," said Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen in the news release.

Each count of Rape is a Class B felony that carries a punishment between eight and 12 years. In addition to the prison sentence he receives, Trammell will be required to register with the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry and be subject to community supervision for life.

Prosecutors will seek an enhanced sentence because of the vulnerability of the victim and the defendant's prior criminal history including a federal conviction for distributing cocaine.
The $20.3 million, 75,000-square-foot Oak Ridge headquarters of Oak Ridge Associated Universities is pictured in 2009. The contract for managing the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education was put up for bids by the Department of Energy, and ORAU was awarded the new contract in March 2016. (OAK RIDGE ASSOCIATED UNIVERSITIES)

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By Frank Munger of the Knoxville News Sentinel

The losing bidder on the $1.4 billion contract to manage the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education has filed a protest with a federal court.

The DOE last month awarded the contract to Oak Ridge Associated Universities, the longtime incumbent.

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims confirmed a protest was filed March 24 by the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education on behalf of the Desert Research Institute, which submitted a proposal for the Oak Ridge contract.

Claire Sinclair, a spokeswoman for the DOE's oversight office at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, also confirmed the protest but said she couldn't discuss details. A spokesman for the Desert Research Institute did not respond to requests for comment.

"The protest was filed under seal," Sinclair said in an email response. "Therefore, only those that have been granted permission by the court may have access to the pertinent material."

There was no indication of how long the court process will take.

There are various options for appealing federal contract awards, including filing a protest with the Government Accountability Office.

When appeals are protested via the GAO, the contract transition is typically put on hold. However, that's not the case in this appeal.

Sinclair said the new contract began on April 1.

"Contract performance is ongoing because an injunction suspending performance was not issue," the DOE spokeswoman said.

In a statement released by Oak Ridge Associated Universities, ORAU President Andy Page said, "ORAU put together an exceptional proposal for the management of the ORISE contract. We stand behind that proposal, and will continue to perform under the newly awarded contract until a final decision is reached by the Court of Federal Claims."
Former state Rep. Gloria Johnson, a Democrat seeking to represent the 13th House District again against Republican Eddie Smith, raised $48,395 during the past two months, a first-quarter campaign disclosure shows. (ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL)

SHARE Eddie Smith kisses his wife, Lana, after defeating incumbent Gloria Johnson for the State House District 13 seat on Tuesday, November 4, 2014, in Knoxville. At right is their daughter Lauren Smith. Johnson's defeat came she was targeted by six-figure spending, much of it on attack advertising, by the American Federation for Children, based in Washington, and California-based StudentsFirst. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL) Gloria Johnson

By Georgiana Vines of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Former state Rep. Gloria Johnson, a Democrat seeking to represent the 13th House District again against Republican Eddie Smith, raised $48,395 during the past two months, a first-quarter campaign disclosure shows.

The figure includes an $8,000 loan by the candidate.

The fundraising comes as Smith and all other incumbent legislators are unable to raise money since the Legislature is in session.

Since neither has opponents in the Aug. 4 Democratic and Republican state primaries, they will face each other in the Nov. 8 general election.

The campaign disclosure report filed Monday showed Johnson received contributions of $1,500 each from House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh of Ripley, Nashville realtor Katherine Cannon, Nashville businessman Bill Freeman and Olan Mills of Chattanooga, among others.

During that period, she also reported expenses for travel to Minneapolis. Johnson could not be reached for comment on the trips. She started the quarter with $2,089 and had $48,100 at the end of the March 31 reporting period.

Smith, who defeated Johnson two years ago in a close, competitive race, has $19,779 on hand after spending $4,133, including $2,500 for campaign workers, according to the report.

The Knox County legislator with the largest campaign war chest during the first quarter is state Sen. Becky Duncan Massey, who reported $193,673 on hand. The 6th District senator has neither Republican nor Democratic opponents. She had $4,600 in expenses, including a $1,000 contribution to U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio's presidential campaign. She sought unsuccessfully to be a Rubio delegate.

Rep. Martin Daniel, a Republican representing the 18th House District and the only House member with a primary campaign challenger, reported having $2,586 on hand after starting the first quarter with $10,587 and spending $8,000, which includes expenses for a campaign manager, research and polling. Daniel mostly self-financed his campaign in 2014 when he beat incumbent Steve Hall and reported he still has outstanding loans of $149,600.

Hall is seeking to represent the district again and didn't make the Monday filing deadline. In January he reported having $42,079 on hand with an outstanding loan of $10,000. Two other Republicans are James Corcoran, who reported raising $4,329, which includes a $2,529 loan, and spending $29 for a balance of $4,300, and Bryan Dodson, who reported he didn't raise or spend any money

Democrat Brandi Price has no primary opponent and will face the GOP primary winner. She reported raising $32.

Disclosures of other House members with no primary opponents but who will face opposition in November are:

14th District: Republican incumbent Jason Zachary began the reporting period with $17,409, had $2,374 in expenses and has $15,034 on hand. Democrat Scott Hacker had no report.

89th District: Republican incumbent Roger Kane began with $51,136, had $1,565 in expenses, including a $500 donation to state Sen. Brian Kelsey's 8th District congressional race, and has $49,500 on hand. Democrat Heather Hensley had no report.

In Knox County Republican primaries held March 1, financial disclosure reports for Feb. 21-March 31 show lawyer Nathan Rowell kept up a pace of getting more contributions and spending more than incumbent Law Director Richard "Bud" Armstrong, even though Armstrong won the race for re-election. Armstrong faces no opposition in the county general election in August.

Rowell reported receiving $10,900, spending $24,575 and having $2,986 at the end of the reporting period. He also had a $7,000 loan remaining.

Armstrong reported receiving $2,575, spending $3,593 and having $7,513 at the end. He reported $42,245 in loans that were primarily made in his campaigns four years ago.

Generally, challengers to incumbents have to be aggressive and to some extent Rowell did that, although not entirely, said Knox County GOP Chairman Buddy Burkhardt.

Rowell started right off with TV ads "that cost a lot more" than gladhanding in the community and forced Armstrong to do the same, Burkhardt said. Since Rowell was a virtual unknown, he also had billboards. But Burkhardt said the losing candidate didn't have the strategists that the winning candidate did, with Armstrong making appearances throughout the community during the campaign.

All the candidates for property assessor in the GOP primary also had loans for their campaigns, with loser Andrew Graybeal being the only one forgiving the loan in the disclosures.

Primary winner John Whitehead reported receiving $3,500, spending $28,246 and having on hand $11,496, with outstanding loans of $85,000. Jim Weaver reported receiving $6,209, spending $16,699 and having $3,900 on hand with $32,000 in loans.

The law director and property assessor positions were the only countywide offices on the ballot. There were no Democrats in those races.
Exterior of the Scripps Networks Interactive corporate headquarters in West Knoxville Friday, Jan. 24, 2014. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel

The CEO of Scripps Networks Interactive told employees Wednesday that the company would "consider re-evaluating future investment" in Tennessee if lawmakers move forward on a controversial transgender bathroom bill.

The major East Tennessee employer is among many companies against the bill. Executives of 60 businesses signed a letter opposing the bill and it was hand-delivered Wednesday to Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell and Senate President Ron Ramsey, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT rights advocate group.

Among those who signed the letter are executives from Dow Chemical Company, Airbnb, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Alcoa Inc. and Williams-Sonoma.

Action on the bill, which would require transgendered students in the state's public schools and universities to use restrooms and locker rooms of their birth gender, was delayed Tuesday in the state Senate Finance Committee.

Numerous artists with ties to Nashville also have denounced the proposal, as well as one that would allow counselors to refuse services to LGBT people on religious grounds. Among them: Emmylou Harris, Billy Ray Cyrus and his pop star daughter Miley Cyrus, and actor Chris Carmack of ABC's "Nashville."

On Monday, Attorney General Herbert Slatery issued an opinion advising lawmakers that the transgender bill could cost the state millions of dollars in federal funding, including Title IX funding for universities.

The measure's sponsor, Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, asked for the bill to be delayed so he could digest Slatery's opinion.

Noting that no state in the country has ever lost Title IX funding, Bell told The Tennessean he hoped to have lawmakers meet with Slatery in an attempt to find out how he reached his opinion.

Scripps Networks Interactive CEO Ken Lowe, meanwhile, told the company's nearly 1,000 employees that he also had written this week to Gov. Bill Haslam and members of the Tennessee Legislature.

In a letter to employees, Lowe said the company employs a diverse pool of talent and that "discrimination against anyone on the basis of their gender, race or sexuality runs entirely contrary to the core values on which this company was founded."

Laws such as Tennessee's transgender bathroom bill could negatively impact recruiting future employees to Tennessee, Lowe wrote.

"While Tennessee is and will remain our home state, Scripps Networks Interactive will consider re-evaluating future investment in states where such legislation is enacted to ensure we remain consistent with the core values that have been so integral to our success over the last 21 years," he wrote.

Haslam has not said whether he would veto the measure should it make it to his desk.

Ramsey said he supports the legislation.

"It is unfortunate that this issue even exists  but it does," Ramsey said in a statement.

"I support the bill. It is common sense. While I understand some in the business community have concerns, I do not share them. Tennessee has low taxes, little debt and one of the best regulatory environments in the nation. Whether this bill passes or doesn't, Tennessee will continue to be the best state in the union in which to own and operate a business."

Other proponents of the measure, including the Alliance for Defending Freedom and the Family Action Council, say the bill is necessary to protect the privacy of students.

UT faculty letter

A group of 15 members of the University of Tennessee faculty wrote their concerns about the bill that would allow counselors to refuse services to LGBT people on religious grounds in an open letter to Gov. Bill Haslam.

Patrick Grzanka, assistant professor in the department of psychology, said as the bill continued to advance, he realized he had to do something. Grzanka said he feels the situation is dire and writing the letter is not something he takes lightly.

The letter is to offer a professional perspective to the governor from people who teach, research and practice psychology, he said.

"Where is the evidence that this has ever been a problem?" he said.

Grzanka, who teachers psychology students at UT, said students learn in the classroom about perspectives that might challenge their thoughts and beliefs not to change their minds, but to learn to comprehend other opinions. And that will help them with future clients, he said.

Plus, he said ethics is a core part of the profession and essential to earning a psychology degree. Counselors are also trained in a variety of ways to work with clients and know they won't always agree with clients, but they have ethical obligations and an obligation to their clients, he said, adding that counselors learn the process for referrals if they feel they aren't the best match for a client's needs.

Counselors are not in the business of refusing people because they disagree, he said.

"That's not counseling," he said. "I don't know what that is."

Grzanka said another possible problem of the bill becoming law is that people may be less likely to go to counselors for fear of being judged and "that turns counseling into something that it's not  discrimination."

In other states

New laws in North Carolina and Mississippi have drawn the ire of businesses and celebrities alike, with Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams canceling shows in those states.

Ringo Starr has joined Springsteen in taking action over a North Carolina law that blocks anti-discrimination laws for the LGBT community.

The rocker and former Beatle said in a statement Wednesday that he has cancelled his June 18 concert in Cary, N.C., in opposition to the passage of the bill. Starr said he was sorry to disappoint fans, "but we need to take a stand against this hatred. Spread peace and love."

A joint statement on Wednesday from the Recording Industry Association of America, a trade group representing music labels, and the Music Business Association, representing music retailers and services, condemned similar legislation in Tennessee.

Legislation dealing with the treatment of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people was vetoed by Georgia's governor, but bills are still being considered in South Carolina.

The South Carolina bill limiting transgender people's bathroom choices is up for discussion a week after Republican Gov. Nikki Haley and state business leaders called the proposal unnecessary. The bill has little chance this year.

The overwhelming majority of people attending a Senate hearing Wednesday opposed the measure.

The subcommittee's chairman, Sen. Lee Bright, introduced the measure last week, saying he supports a North Carolina law that's led to companies ending expansion plans in the state and conventions going elsewhere.

Bright said he's had enough of tolerance if that means "men who claim to be women" going into a bathroom with children.

State Chamber of Commerce CEO Ted Pitts says Bright's creating a nonexistent political crisis to save his political career. Bright faces three GOP opponents in June.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has issued an executive order banning discrimination in state government based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

He also rescinded his Republican predecessor's order offering protections to people who oppose same-sex marriage.

Edwards, a Democrat, released the order Wednesday.

It prohibits state agencies and contractors from harassment or discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, political affiliation, disability, or age. The order includes an exemption for contractors that are religious organizations. The provision affecting contractors takes effect July 1. The rest starts immediately.

In the non-discrimination order, Edwards also terminated an executive order from former Gov. Bobby Jindal. That order prohibited state agencies from denying license and contracts to businesses that take actions because of religious beliefs against same-sex marriage.
Undocumented students rally Tuesday, April 12, 2016, in favor of a bill that would cut their tuition at public colleges. (ADAM TAMBURIN/THE TENNESSEAN)

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By Adam Tamburin, The Tennessean

NASHVILLE  Undocumented students from across Tennessee came to Legislative Plaza on Tuesday to try to convince lawmakers to give new life to a bill that would slash their tuition at public colleges.

Wearing placards that described their career aspirations  some said they were future educators or entrepreneurs  more than 100 students chanted their demand for tuition equality on the steps of War Memorial Auditorium. Without it, some of them said, the prohibitive cost of higher education would keep them from pursuing their dreams.

Under state law, undocumented immigrants who want to go to public colleges must pay out-of-state rates that are often two or three times higher than those offered to Tennessee citizens.

Continue reading at The Tennessean, a News Sentinel partner.
Frank Cagle

The possibilities for mischief at the Republican convention in Cleveland are numerous and would make a great reality show  maybe with Donald Trump as host.

Consider:

 The people who ran as delegates in Tennessee signed an affidavit to comply with state law and vote for their candidate on at least the first two ballots. But the people who have been assigned as delegates by the state party have not signed such an affidavit.

I'm told it is questionable if Tennessee's law about balloting can be enforced out of state, especially for people who have not sworn to abide by it. Party conventions are not mentioned in the Constitution; they have no status as part of the government, and it is a very real question whether delegates can be required to do a damn thing unless they want. There also appears to be no bar to delegates being wined and dined or having expenses paid by a candidate's supporter.

 There is a lot of talk about the rules of the convention. These are not set in stone. The rules are the rules adopted at the 2012 convention and they can be amended, repealed or totally rewritten at the will of the rules committee and a convention vote. There are no rules except what the convention delegates decide are the rules.

 We saw in Tennessee recently that the state party named a delegate slate different from what the Trump campaign wanted. I suspect it is happening around the country as delegates are being selected. The Trump delegations are being "salted" by delegates who are not committed Trump delegates. Trump has lost delegates in Louisiana and may lose some in South Carolina, though he carried the states handily. The Colorado Republican Party just handed all its delegates over to Cruz.

 If there is a contested convention, then all bets are off. The winner will be decided by the candidate with the best organization, who can work the rules to advantage and win over 1,237 delegates. So far, as Colorado, South Carolina and Louisiana have demonstrated, that hasn't been Trump; it's been Cruz.

While the attention has been focused on the Republicans, the Democrats have been doing a little "salting" of their own. In Nashville on Saturday they picked delegates for their national convention. But in the interest of "diversity," a number of black delegates were selected as Bernie Sanders delegates. Given the overwhelming black support for Hillary Clinton in Tennessee and elsewhere, it would appear that there are a lot of Clinton supporters named as Bernie delegates. Hmm.

POLITICAL MALPRACTICE?: State Rep. Joe Armstrong, D-Knoxville, goes on trial for income tax evasion two days before the primary election in August. He qualified for re-election last week and does not have an opponent in either the Democratic or Republican primaries. How could that happen? I'm told the state Republican Party had a candidate lined up to run against Armstrong, but the candidate pulled out at the last minute.

Armstrong will be re-elected. Should he be convicted and removed from office, it would be up to the Republican Knox County Commission to appoint an interim replacement. A Republican? After three months a special election would have to be held. In other words, a mess.
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Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell acted prudently in restricting state Rep. Jeremy Durham's access to the state Capitol and placing conditions on his interactions with legislative staff members as a committee determines whether he should be expelled from the General Assembly.

Durham, a Franklin Republican, is under investigation for sexual harassment. An ad hoc committee appointed by Harwell is in charge of the probe.

Allegations that Durham sent inappropriate text messages to female staff members surfaced at the beginning of the legislative session, prompting him to resign as majority whip and as a member of the Republican Caucus. Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey publicly accused Durham of having an affair with another legislator, causing her to resign. Durham, who took a leave of absence from the Legislature after the allegations came to light, has denied wrongdoing and has blamed the scandal on the media.

Last week Harwell announced she would follow the recommendations of the committee, first suggested by Attorney General Herbert Slatery III, and order Durham to move his office from the War Memorial Building to the nearby Rachel Jackson Building. All 132 legislators' offices are in the War Memorial Building and the adjoining Legislative Plaza. Durham will be the only lawmaker whose office is in the Rachel Jackson Building, which houses the Tennessee Department of Correction and other state offices.

Durham's access to the Legislative Plaza, War Memorial Building and the state Capitol are limited to committee meetings, floor sessions and other official functions. Outside those events, Durham may only meet with legislative staffers or interns by appointment and only in the presence of at least one other staff member. The restrictions, coming as this year's session is coming to a close and before the investigation is complete, indicate the seriousness of the allegations against the lawmaker

Slatery, who is conducting the investigation on behalf of the ad hoc committee, compiled a "privileged and confidential" interim report based on interviews with 34 people. He wrote Durham engaged in a "pattern of conduct  directed toward a number of women," some of whom said his conduct made them "uncomfortable in the workplace" and either avoid or refuse to be alone with him.

Slatery reported that Durham allegedly "made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature or engaged in inappropriate physical contact with some women."

"Based upon the information gathered thus far, Representative Durham's alleged behavior may pose a continuing risk to unsuspecting women who are employed by or interact with the Legislature," Slatery wrote.

The ad hoc committee, headed by Deputy Speaker Steve McDaniel of Parkers Crossroads, attached Slatery's letter to a memorandum sent to Harwell on April 6. While the committee took pains to emphasize that members have not drawn any conclusions about the allegations, the inclusion of Slatery's letter is telling.

Harwell is working with the Sexual Assault Crisis Center to revamp the House's sexual harassment policy. In the meantime, the restrictions imposed on Durham are appropriate given the serious nature of the allegations.
1:45 p.m. April 13, 2016

100 most influential people in Great Smoky Mountains National Park history







Great Smoky Mountains Association releases a list of the 100 most influential individuals in Great Smoky Mountains National Parks history.



KODAK, TN  In honor of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, Great Smoky Mountains Association (GSMA) has released a list of the 100 most influential individuals in Great Smoky Mountains National Parks (GSMNP) history, including many who have had a direct impact on Friends of the Smokies. The list was published in a special issue of GSMAs award-winning Smokies Life Magazine, available now.



Its amazing to see how deep the roots of our relatively young organization reach back into this parks history, said Brent McDaniel, director of marketing at Friends of the Smokies. These people paved the way for the establishment and preservation of GSMNP and we are honored to continue in their footsteps.



Included on this prestigious list alongside famous names like Roosevelt and Rockefeller are former Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Gary Wade and former GSMNP Superintendent Randall Pope who were both instrumental in the formation of Friends of the Smokies, along with Bob Miller, former park spokesman. Justice Wade served as Friends of the Smokies board chair for two decades and worked closely with Wilma Maples to help fund the parks Twin Creeks research facility. Maples was one of the parks first female employees and later a community leader, successful entrepreneur, and philanthropist in Gatlinburg.



Jim Hart has been the president of Friends of the Smokies for the past 14 years. Under his tenure, Friends of the Smokies fundraising total has topped $50 million in support of the national park. Charles Maynard was the first executive director of Friends of the Smokies and helped establish the organizations strong foundation.



Kathryn McNeil served on Friends board and donated her home and 574 acres to the park for what would later become the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob. Recently, McNeil endowed a full-time Parks as Classrooms Resource Education Ranger to provide more comprehensive, hands-on science education programs for middle and high school students in western North Carolina year-round.



Margaret Stevenson was a hiking legend in the Smokies and became the first woman to hike every trail in the park in 1976. In 1997, the Margaret Stevenson hiking group established a fund in her honor to support trail maintenance in GSMNP which became part of Friends of the Smokies Trails Forever endowment to rehabilitate hiking trails in the park. Wilma Dykeman was an Asheville author who wrote lovingly about her native Appalachia and was one of Friends of the Smokies founding board members.



Charles Webb, editor of the Asheville Citizen-Times in the 1920s and 30s, and Steve Woody, resident of Cataloochee Valley in the late 1800s, are relatives of Friends of the Smokies board members Laura Webb and Steve Woody, respectively. Ben Morton, mayor of Knoxville in the mid-1920s, is the grandfather of emeritus board member Judy Morton and for whom Morton Overlook on Newfound Gap Road is named.



It took thousands and thousands of people to get this place protected as a national park in the 1920s and 1930s, and it takes ten times that many to keep them pristine, said Steve Kemp, interpretive products and services director at GSMA.



Smokies Life Magazine is published bi-annually by Great Smoky Mountains Association and is available in park visitor centers an online at www.SmokiesInformation.org.

Published April 13, 2016














11:42 a.m. April 13, 2016

Tennessee Supreme Court records restored and available for online ordering









The Tennessee State Library & Archives has restored severely damaged records that had been stored in the attic of the Tennessee State Capitol building. Image courtesy of Tennessee State Library and Archives.





NASHVILLE  Supreme Court records dating back to the early 1800s are now available online. The Tennessee State Library & Archives has restored severely damaged records that had been stored in the attic of the Tennessee State Capitol building and have created a new online ordering system for Supreme Court cases.



The new system will allow researchers to request those cases in hard copy or digital scans. It also allows searching the cases for names of ancestors as well as topics ranging from mining to murder. The online system was designed to create an easier and more direct way for researchers from around the world to order these fascinating historical records, formerly available only by visiting Nashville.



The Supreme Court records came to the Library & Archives in dire need of restoration. Curled and brittle, covered in coal dust from the furnace pipes that fed into the Capitols storage space, the records were all but unusable. The Library & Archives' archival technical staff has worked tirelessly toward the preservation of these records for more than a decade. Staff members have meticulously cleaned off the dust and grime, carefully flattened, and recorded the contents for more than 50,000 cases. The archivists will continue this project indefinitely, as there are well over 10,000 boxes of material in storage.



"It is one of our goals in the Department of State to improve public access to important government records," Secretary of State Tre Hargett said. "Making it possible for people to order records online is one way we are able to accomplish that goal. I want to thank members of the Library & Archives staff who have worked tirelessly to restore those Supreme Court records and make them available online."



Supreme Court records provide a wealth of information of benefit to professional and amateur historians. The stories that unfold in the pages of each case are windows to personal and community life and family relationships from the past. One can find cases concerning land issues, debt, slavery, estate disputes, criminal cases and much more.



Cases currently housed at the Library & Archives range from the beginning of the 19th Century to around 1950. They vary in size, from brief records to complete transcripts of all proceedings, which can be hundreds of pages long. Some of these cases include exhibits, such as textiles, photographs and maps.

Published April 13, 2016













Tennessee history, supreme court records, tennessee land issues, tennessee slavery, estate disputes, tennessee criminal cases, tennessee debt, historians, Tre Hargett
Korea's finance minister said Wednesday the country's economy is expected to grow 3 percent on-year in 2016, adding it boasts enough capabilities to cope with short-term uncertainties.

"South Korea is able to post 3 percent level growth as the government is rolling out measures to vitalize investment and exports, as well as structural innovations," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said. The South Korean government currently aims to post an on-year growth of 3.1 percent.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier lowered its forecast for South Korea's economic growth this year to 2.7 percent, as a slowdown in China has weighed heavily on Asia's fourth-largest economy.

The latest forecast is sharply down from the 3.2 percent growth the agency forecast in its World Economic Outlook report published in October last year.

Concerning the sluggish Chinese economy, Yoo said the slowed growth will have only a limited impact on South Korea.

"The transition of the Chinese economy into a sustainable one will eventually benefit the South Korean economy as well," Yoo said. "China is changing its strategy to focus on domestic consumption. This can become an opportunity. In this aspect, the free trade agreement will also help."

China is South Korea's biggest trade partner, with its exports to China accounting for more than a quarter of the country's entire outbound shipments.

Yoo added the South Korean government will also make efforts to increase trading partners to bolster its exports and economy. (Yonhap)
By Park Si-soo





Hermawan Kartajaya

Indonesia's economic expansion has put numerous business opportunities up for grabs, especially in infrastructure construction, retail and financial services. And Korean companies are in a better position to snatch them up than rivals from Japan and China because of the craze for Korean pop culture there, said a renowned Indonesian business consultant.

The craze has laid the groundwork for Indonesian customers to perceive Korean products and services as "fashionable, trendy and good value for money," the consultant said.

"Now is a very good time for Korean companies to enter the Indonesian market," said Hermawan Kartajaya, founder and chairman of MarkPlus, in a recent interview with The Korea Times in Seoul. "Big Korean companies have enjoyed a good reputation in the infrastructure construction sector for a long time. And now (Korean) retailers and consumer products makers are seeing their reputation escalating thanks to K-pop and other Korean pop culture that are very popular in Indonesia."

The interview was held on the sidelines of a business forum hosted by the ASEAN Business Center at COEX InterContinental Hotel, during which Hermawan spoke about Indonesia's market conditions and promising sectors.

Asked about the Korean stars he is aware of, Hermawan, 69, gave several names without hesitation.

"I like Lee Min-ho!" he said, referring to the Korean actor who starred in several hit dramas that were exported to Indonesia and many other Southeast Asian countries. "All (Indonesian) women know Lee Min-ho," he said. "I also know Big Bang and Super Junior. My son, 40, and grandson, 6, like K-pop. Indonesian people love to watch Korean dramas on YouTube and other websites. This indicates that Korean companies have a great advantage to grow in Indonesia."

He said understanding the unique culture and lifestyle of Indonesia is crucial to success in the country.

He said Samsung Electronics was "very successful" there thanks to strategies built on extensive studies and research on Indonesian culture and lifestyle, while Hyundai Motor has shown a "bad" performance because it lacks understanding of the archipelago state.

"To succeed (in Indonesia), there are three key sectors companies need to explore deeply  young people, women and netizens," he said. "Understanding the mid-class is not enough. You must understand a deeper part of customers' lives and needs. Indonesia is an archipelago state, which means the spectrum of tastes of customers is very diverse. Another feature is that Indonesia is an Islam-dominant state, but it's different in many ways from typical Muslim countries.

He also added that women and netizens are gaining power in politics and society. "These are key trends that deserve attention to do successful business in Indonesia," he said.
By Nam Hyun-woo



Meritocracy is emerging as a new taboo word among public financial firms in Korea, as the government's push for performance-based salary and promotion systems ignites disputes between labor unions and management.



Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Yim Jong-yong stressed last month that the institutions will face limits in personnel funding if they do not adopt performance-based salary and promotion systems.



This came as an urgent task for public institutions such as the Korea Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) and Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC). As labor unions severely oppose the government's push, however, those state-run institutions are suffering internal strife.



One of the institutions most active in adopting meritocracy is the KDIC. According to the corporation on Tuesday, its President Gwak Bum-gook told ranking officials last week about the benefits and necessities of performance-based salary and promotion systems. Also on Friday, a meeting of some 200 employees was held about whether to adopt such systems.



However, its labor union members perceive Gwak's move as "coercive," claiming those events were mostly about explaining the performance-based salary system and its adaptation this month as a done deed.



An official at KDIC said: "Those meetings were done in a smooth way and employees are positive about the system."



Eximbank Korea is also struggling to adopt the system.



While pushing for meritocracy, the FSC has urged institutions to organize task forces with the participation of both management and labor union. As its labor unions refuses to join the task force, however, Eximbank's task force represents management interests only, while receiving consultations on the performance-based salary system from an outside company.



"Like other financial institutions, talking about meritocracy has become extremely sensitive among employees," an official at Eximbank Korea said, adding that negative views are palpable among employees.



Korea Development Bank is taking a more prudent approach. "So far, we have not done anything to say we did something for a performance-based salary system," said an official at the state-run bank, adding it is considering outsourcing a study on adopting the system.



The dispute between management and labor unions over meritocracy has reached its peak after seven public financial institutions left a management council of financial institutions on March 30 so that they could negotiate with their respective labor unions.



Those opposing performance-based salary and promotion systems say the systems provide grounds for management to sack those with low performance and unfairly coerce employees to do extra work.



Last week, some 4,500 unionized public service workers held a rally in central Seoul to denounce the government's move.




Monitors watch rooms where ballot boxes from early voting are stored through surveillance cameras at the National Election Commission building in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. / Yonhap



By Yoon Ja-young

The government is expected to come under growing pressure from the ruling party and opposition parties to alter economic policies after the general election, in line with the parties' campaign pledges.

While the ruling party's promise to adopt a Korean version of quantitative easing is causing unease, the government is expected to face demands to increase spending  from conservative and progressive parties.

Kang Bong-kyun, who heads the governing Saenuri Party's campaign committee, said the government should take an aggressive fiscal stand.

On top of making the central bank print more money to boost the economy, the party plans to maintain more than 3 percent economic growth through fiscal policy, which includes investing in social capital.

The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, meanwhile, pledged to inject 148 trillion won into social welfare programs over the next five years, including building rental apartments and providing basic pensions.

Instead of construction projects, it says it will focus on investing in health-care and welfare services, on the expectation they will also create more jobs.

The pledges, however, will add to the country's already deteriorating fiscal health.

The government is planning to decrease discretionary spending by 10 percent to cope with the tight budget.

As welfare spending is doomed to snowball because of the aging of population, Strategy and Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho wrote in a book he published in 2012 that spending in SOC will inevitably be decreased while welfare spending also should be overhauled.

Dispute on tax hike

Also notable is whether the tax rate will be raised.

The Minjoo Party has pledged to increase the corporate tax rate, which was slashed during former President Lee Myung-bak's administration. It says an annual 4.6 trillion won more will be collected by raising the tax rate on large businesses to 25 percent from 22 percent.

Kang, of the ruling Saenuri Party, also said the tax rate might be raised in the next administration due to increasing welfare spending. He cited Japan as an example, which raised the value-added tax (VAT) rate to 8 percent from 3 percent.

"Welfare is not free," he said. "People should shoulder the cost."

According to data submitted by the finance ministry in 2013, increasing the VAT to 12 percent from 10 percent will raise up to 15 trillion won. But any increase is likely to cause a backlash because a VAT hike increases the relative tax burden on the less privileged.

The government is also against raising the tax rate.

Vice Finance Minister Song Eon-seok said Sunday a tax hike is the last resort for the government. "Raising the tax rate or increasing tax items can chill down the economy," he said.

The minimum wage is also likely to have a steep hike, according to party pledges. The ruling Saenuri Party said it would raise the minimum wage, as well as the Earned Income Tax Credit, for low-incomers, so they can enjoy an hourly income of 9,000 won. The minimum wage now stands at 6,030 won. The Minjoo Party pledged to raise it to 10,000 won.
By Nam Hyun-woo



The world's top database software vendor, Oracle, did not engage in unfair commercial practices related to its tying of new software upgrades with database management service (DBMS) contracts, Korea's antitrust watchdog said Wednesday.



The U.S. tech giant was also cleared of any wrongdoing over its practice of requiring a maintenance contract for all of its software used by customers.



DBMS is a collection of programs that allows users to store, process, search and change information on databases. It has been Oracle's main revenue source in Korea after it targeted public organizations and financial companies ranging from private banks to securities firms.



Oracle has been under a Fair Trade Commission (FTC) investigation since last April after the company packaged the right to upgrade its DBMS into the new version when it was signing contracts for repair and maintenance on DBMS owned by companies here.



FTC revealed that it was investigating Oracle under the suspicion that the company was consolidating its 58.5 percent market control by unfairly tightening its grip on customers, but admitted after a year that Oracle's commercial practice is not in violation of any laws.



The decision came after the FTC saw that the DBMS purchase came only after the customer considered the overall services provided by Oracle, including maintenance and upgrades.



The practice of tying new products to existing products, such as including Microsoft Windows Media Player with its Windows OS, which are not naturally related, is considered an unfair business practice.



This means Oracle's marketing strategy can be deemed unfair only if its DBMS maintenance service (the tying product) and upgrade service (the tied product) are in completely separated segments, but the FTC interpreted that those two are naturally related and cannot independently exist because DBMS is not compatible with other companies' programs.



Such practice also did not result in any increase in price or reduction in competition, the FTC said.



For the practice of requiring a maintenance contract, the FTC said: "It is a due move to protect its intellectual property."



Though the FTC stepped away from the year-long probe, controversy still stirs that the watchdog was intimidated by a potential legal hassle with the global tech giant after a series of losses in legal disputes with local conglomerates. Oracle Korea hired a top private law firm to defend the company, and head offices in the United States provided additional legal services.




A scene from the National Changgeuk Company of Korea's "Madame Ong," which will be staged at Theatre de la Ville in Paris, France, from April 14 to 17. / Courtesy of NCCK







Director Koh Sun-woong

By Kwon Mee-yoo

The name Ongnyeo immediately reminds one of the lewd woman who had sex with the promiscuous Byeon Gang-soe in the adult folktale. However, director Koh Sun-woong rediscovered an independent woman who fought against her fate in the National Changgeuk Company of Korea's (NCCK) "Madame Ong."

"Madame Ong" is a part of the NCCK's efforts to modernize the genre. It paid off, with "Madame Ong" enjoying two successful runs in Korea in 2014 and 2015 and being invited to perform at Theatre de la Ville in Paris, France, April 14-17 as a part of the Years 2015-2016 of Korea-France Bilateral Exchanges.

The X-rated "changgeuk," a form of Korean musical theater employing pansori narrative singing, is based on the orally transmitted folktale "Byeongangsoe-jeon." It once existed in the form of pansori, but the lyrics are long lost and only the narrative has been passed down.

It revolves around Ongnyeo, or Madame Ong, a woman who is doomed because every man who has sexual intercourse with her dies. After a series of deaths in her town, Ongnyeo is kicked out and meets Byeon Gang-soe, a man of great libido who is destined not to die.





"Byeongangsoe-jeon is often neglected as a pansori repertoire probably because the characters were exploited as obscene in Korean movies. When I read the original folktale, I thought I had to regain the impaired reputation of Byeon and Ongnyeo," Koh said at an interview with The Korea Times before leaving for Paris. "Though it is named after Byeon, Ongnyeo is the true protagonist of the tale. Byeon disappears in the middle of the story and Ongnyeo is the person who copes with the death."

Koh interpreted Ongnyeo as a more active character. When Byeon dies of the curse after chopping down a "jangseung," or Korean totem pole, Ongnyeo decides to fight with the spirits of the totem poles, resisting Byeon's death.

"My favorite line in this changgeuk is when Ongnyeo says that she wants to have a baby. It is a story about life and love. It might be lewd, but we dealt with it in a healthy way," Koh said. Still, the changgeuk is for age 18 and older.

Director Koh is one of the busiest directors in Korea's theater scene. Known for his playful yet elegant style based on an understanding of human nature, Koh works in various genres with diverse styles, staging plays including "Killbeth," "On an Azure Day," "The Stainless Steel King" and "Hongdo," as well as the big musical production "Arirang."

"Madame Ong" is Koh's first attempt at directing a changgeuk. At the beginning of his career, his interests ran toward pansori in the 1993 film "Seopyeonje," which swept the nation with a pansori boom.

"I watched the movie twice at different theaters and cried a lot, drying my wet eyes with a handkerchief both times," Koh said. "That was when I first realized the beauty of traditional Korean music. That memory has had a special place in my heart since then. So I was more than happy when the NCCK offered me a chance to direct changgeuk."

Since the original pansori for "Byeongangsoe-jeon" is lost, Koh worked with traditional musician Han Seung-seok who composed the pansori for the show.

"We agreed that pansori is not all about tradition," the director said. "We kept the essence of pansori, but it is rewritten for modern audiences, not for the people of the past."

Koh is confident about bringing changgeuk to totally new audiences in France.

"Pansori is a unique genre of music. It has a different singing method and technique. It just strikes a chord within us," Koh said. "I only worry that the nuance of the language might be lost in translation, but I will work with the subtitles to convey the show better. In the end, the French audience will understand the charms of changgeuk."

In France, the changgeuk will be performed in Korean with French subtitles. For more information about the Paris run, visit www.theatredelaville-paris.com.

After the French stint, "Madame Ong" will return to the Korean stage May 4-22 at Small Hall Dal of the National Theater of Korea. English subtitles are provided. For detailed information, visit www.ntok.go.kr.
By Choi Sung-jin



The recent defection of 13 people who worked at a North Korean restaurant in China was "unprecedented luring and abducting" and a "grave provocation against this republic," Pyongyang says.



A spokesman for the North Korean Red Cross Society said Tuesday: "The mass defection, which was manipulated by the puppet regime in the South, is a grave provocation against DPRK (the North's official title) and an unbearable insult to our people, which can never be tolerated."



It was the first response from the North's official organization to the group desertion of 13 North Koreans last Thursday.



The spokesman also indirectly criticized China, saying, "We know in detail how the South Korean agents took the 13 people under the tacit approval of the government involved, and led them to the South through some Southeast Asian countries."



Noting that the Korean Peninsula is in danger of being embroiled in a war any time because of South Korea's hostile acts against the North, the spokesman said the abduction of North Koreans in daylight has added fuel to the enragement of North Korean residents.



"The South Korean authorities should apologize for the kidnapping and send our people back," he said. "Or it must bear in mind a serious consequence and special punishment will follow."



In response, a unification ministry spokesman said, "The defection was made completely on their own wish, and we sternly warn against the North's absurd assertion and threat."



Earlier, a pro-North Korean Internet outlet based in the United States said the defection was a maneuver staged by South Korea's state spies, aimed at creating a "northern wind" to turn the parliamentary election table to the governing party's side.



However, a government official said here Monday the mass defection was organized by a man working for the North's State Security Department, a state spy agency, threatening the status of the agency's head, Kim Won-hong, known to be the right-hand man of the North's young leader, Kim Jong-un.




By Park Si-soo



A man who touched the toe of a sleeping woman has been jailed for sexual harassment.

The Seoul High Court on Wednesday sentenced the man, 28, identified only as Kim, to two years and six months in prison, upholding the guilty verdict of a lower court. The man was indicted in August on a charge of touching the toe of a woman who dozed off at a coffee shop late at night.

Kim's lawyer said his client touched the toe for only one or two seconds, which was too short for the women to feel shamed by the deed. But the court rejected the claim, saying any touch of a woman's body without her consent can constitute sexual harassment, regardless of the body part and period of time.
Song Hee-kyung Park Kyung-mee Shin Yong-hyeon



By Yi Whan-woo

Three political rookies who were formerly an engineer, a mathematician and a scientist, won seats in the National Assembly, Wednesday, under the proportional representation system.

Song Hee-kyung of the ruling Saenuri Party, Park Kyung-mee of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) and Shin Yong-hyeon of the minor opposition People's Party were given the top slot in the proportional representative system amid alleged high public interest in science following the AlphaGo-versus-Lee Se-dol go matches.

Song was a cloud-computing expert. Park was a former professor of mathematics education at Hongik University while Shin was president of the government-run Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS).

The three female candidates were on the top of their respective party's list of candidates under the proportional representation system.

The higher candidates are ranked, the greater their election chances are under the system.

The parties' choices were seen as a campaign strategy to capitalize on the historic match-up between AlphaGo, a computer program developed by Google's DeepMind and Lee, a Korean go grandmaster. In March, MPK spokesman Kim Sung-soo said, "We've invited Park as we're aware of the fact that mathematics is the key to developing artificial intelligence programs".

The defeat of Lee by the deep-learning algorithm in a five-game matchup in March raised awareness for a need to nurture experts in AI-related fields, including engineering, mathematics and natural sciences.

Song, 51, was the vice president of the telecommunication giant KT's Internet of Things (IoT) business division. She topped the ruling party's 44-candidate lineup for proportional representatives.

She earned an MBA degree from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, one of the country's top engineering schools.

Park, 50, built fame in the educational field as an author of best-selling math textbooks, such as "Math Vitamin" and "Math Concert."

She earned a Ph.D. in mathematics education at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign.

Shin, 55, served for over 30 years at KRISS, which developed a government certification system used for cutting-edge technologies.

She earned a Ph.D. in physics at Chungnam National University.

The MPK and People's Party selected 34 and 18 proportional representation candidates, respectively.

A total of 47 proportional representatives were chosen for the 300-member National Assembly. They were selected in proportion to the overall number of votes that their respective parties collected through direct elections in 253 constituencies.
By Lee Kyung-min



A patient suspected of having Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) has tested negative, health authorities said Wednesday.



The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said that the 22-year-old woman, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) national who arrived here last Friday, showed MERS-like symptoms but was confirmed not to be infected with the respiratory disease.



"After reviewing her blood and saliva samples, we confirmed that she is not infected with the disease. She is now resting at the National Medical Center (NMC) in central Seoul," a KCDC official said. "This was the first test, and we'll conduct a second one in 48 hours later according to the anti-MERS manual."



The result came some 15 hours after the woman, whose identity is being withheld, visited Kangbuk Samsung Hospital (KSH) in central Seoul at 2 a.m. after suffering from a fever, sore throat and coughing.



Upon examination, medical staffers there told her that she needed to be quarantined as her symptoms matched those of MERS. They tried to quarantine her in a negative pressure room temporarily set up near the emergency room in the hospital, but she refused.



The woman and her two companions insisted that she be quarantined in her car parked outside the hospital. But they drove back to her hotel nearby at around 4 a.m.



Hospital staffers asked the police and UAE embassy for help to locate her. She was located and transferred to the NMC at around 7:20 a.m.



A joint team of epidemiological investigators and community health center officials conducted an on-site inspection at the hotel where she stayed, KCDC said.



Including her, Korea has had 77 suspected MERS cases this year, and all were found negative.



The respiratory disease, which was brought into Korea by a man who visited the Middle East, swept the nation last summer. Of the 186 confirmed patients, 38 died.




A number of celebrities shared "voting shots" online to encourage people to cast their votes in the general election, Wednesday.

They took photos outside the polling stations, as it is illegal to do so inside them.

Seolhyun, a member of popular girl group AOA and an honorary ambassador for the election, posted a photo with a message on her social media accounts to say, "Today is April 13. I believe all of those who did not vote during the early voting period (April 8-9) will go to polling stations today!" She cast her ballot on April 8 as she could not go the polling station.

Actor Kim Ki-bang encouraged voters as well. "Today is not a holiday to rest at home, but a day to voice your opinion," he wrote. "It is not at all difficult. Just bring your resident registration card or driver's license to your designated polling station. Officials there will help you through the rest of the process. Your votes matter. Let's go!"

Girl group KARA member Young-ji posted a photo holding a sketchbook with messages to her fans saying, "To university freshmen: I know all of you first-time voters feel shy and nervous. But what awaits us behind that feeling is the bright future of our country! I support the choices you 20-year-olds make today!"

TV personality Kim Na-young posted a photo of herself in front of a polling station in Hannam, central Seoul, saying, "Don't forget to vote today. I voted just now and I'm heading to the gym for a workout. So fresh!"

Actress Sulli also posted a photo showing a voting stamp on the back of her hand, along with the message: "I completed exercising my right!"

Rock band Rose Motel said they would provide free tickets for their concert to three people among those who post their voting photos on the group's official website.

Many restaurants, cafes and stores joined the effort to boost voter turnout by offering discounts to customers who showed their voting photos.

Beauty store chain LOHB's offered a 2,000 won ($1.75) discount to customers who spent more than 20,000 won when they show their voting shots. Shoe store Lesmore also offered a 10 percent discount, and Ticket Monster (TMON), a social commerce website, gave a cash payback worth 2,800 won to those who bought an Americano coffee at Ediya Coffee.
President Park Geun-hye, wearing red, puts her ballot paper into a box after voting at a polling station near Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday. Red is the official color of the ruling Saenuri Party. / Yonhap



By Yi Whan-woo

Suh Chung-won Woo Yoo-chul

The general election will create a new challenge for President Park Geun-hye and her loyalists inside the ruling Saenuri Party.

With the presidential race slated for 2017, the top priority for the pro-Park faction now is to prevent the President from becoming an early lame duck, analysts say.

There is speculation that the Park loyalists may try to reconcile with those estranged from the President over candidate nominations to help her consolidate her grip on power during the remainder of her presidency.

Citing the nomination fiasco in selecting candidates, the experts said a failure to embrace minority faction members would hamper passage of possible reform bills aimed at reviving the economy in line with Park's efforts.

"We've been putting aside the problems concerning the internal rift for the time being in order to focus on the election," a lawmaker from the pro-Park faction said on condition of anonymity. "It's now the time to take up where we left off."

The legislator cited the unsettled internal feud following the nomination process controlled by the Park loyalists.

The lopsided nomination of the pro-Park factional members led to protests from minor factional members led by the party's chairman Kim Moo-sung and also by independent lawmakers who bolted from the party after they were forced out in their failed nomination bids.

"In this climate, resolving the factional feud will be a first step to help the President regain the support from conservative lawmakers and extend her influence over state affairs," said Shin Yul, a professor of political science at Myongji University.

Lee Joon-han, a professor of political science at Incheon University, agreed by saying "Creating harmony among the conservatives will be the quickest way for Park to secure her grip on power although I'm skeptical about it."

Some experts said the Park loyalists may still try to control the party unilaterally while accusing the non-mainstreamers of stirring up internal strife and politically isolating them for some time.

"By doing so, they will attempt to put Park's adversaries into a corner and make them obedient to avoid further isolation among the conservatives and influence them to consent with the President's policies," said Yoon Hee-woong, a senior researcher at Opinion Live.

He cited that Reps. Choi Kyung-hwan and Suh Chung-won, two high-profile loyalists of the President, ruled out the possibility during election campaigns that the party would accept independent lawmakers again after they left.

Meanwhile, Shin said Choi may campaign to be the party's chairman in July as part of his efforts to secure influence of the pro-Park faction until Park's term ends in February 2018.

A new party leader will serve his or her term for two years once elected.
Voters line up to cast their ballots in the general election at a polling station set up in Seoul Jaedong Elementary School, central Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap



By Kim Se-jeong, Jung Min-ho, Kim Bo-eun

People cast their ballots to pick members of the 300-seat National Assembly, Wednesday  their feelings mixed with hopes for change and a deep-seated distrust in politics.

Many voters expressed hopes that their votes would help change politics and society.

Shin Chul-soo, 61, who owns a butcher shop in Mapo, Seoul, said he voted for the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) with the hope that it will bring about the change the nation needs.

"I know the party will not change everything completely. I know it can't. As soon as an opposition party gets power, it becomes the same as the ruling party. But I still cherish the power shift."

Park, 42, an employee at a high school in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, voted for the People's Party because of his deep disappointment with the two major parties.

"The two parties have long dominated the country's political arena but have failed to bring what voters want. They pretend to blame each other, but I think they just like the way politics works in Korea because I can't see much difference between them. If elected, they will continue to fail voters," Park said.

A 62-year-old public servant, surnamed Jung, said he had voted for conservative parties for his entire life but this time went with the minor opposition Justice Party.

"It pledged to raise the minimum wage to 10,000 won by 2019. I support the party's policy and its relatively clean image in Korea's dirty politics," he said.

Many others urged politicians to serve the people, not work for their own interests.

"Korea is festering over so many issues. It's time to set aside political differences and actually work for the people that the lawmakers claim they stand for. I truly believe that fighting and slandering opponents is not real politics," said Kim Min-young, 27, a graduate student from Seoul.

Yoon, a 46-year-old office worker, said, "I wish politicians would drop their sense of entitlement and just work for the people's livelihood. I'm fed up with politicians fighting with each other for their own interests, abandoning their true duty."

Although voter turnout was among the highest in recent years, those who cast ballots still showed a strong distrust and indifference to politics.

Kim Han-bo, 53, from Jongno in Seoul, said, "I don't have that much interest in the candidates, because I think politicians all seem similar. Their promises are also not much different."

He expected nothing will change with the election.

"There's no hope that the result of the election will change the current problems with society. I just hope that the lawmakers-elect will lead my district well without any big trouble."

Kim added he picked a candidate from the ruling Saenury Party because he may be able to take advantage of the party's existing power.

Kim Min-su, 31, from Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, also voted for a conservative candidate. "I voted for the candidate, not because I liked him but because there was no other suitable options."

Regionalism once again prevailed in the latest election as many people voted for those who they think will work for their hometowns.

Jin Seok-ki, 73, a resident in Mokdong, Seoul, said he voted for a candidate from the People's Party which is seeking control of the Jeolla provinces.

He said his hometown is South Jeolla Province and he chose the People's Party because the main opposition MPK has not represented the southwestern provinces properly.

Kim Eun-ja, 53, a housewife in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, said she voted for the ruling party as she supports President Park Geun-hye.

"I want President Park and the Saenuri Party to govern the nation in a more stable manner. To do so, she and her party need a majority of the seats for legislative activities to boost the economy and strengthen national security," she said.



Korea Times interns, Lee Han-soo, Kim Da-hee and Lee Jin-a contributed to this article.
By Kim Bo-eun



The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said Wednesday it will launch an intensive investigation into foreign schools in the city to check whether they have violated admissions or accounting rules.



Up until now, the education authority has not supervised foreign schools tightly, allowing them to enjoy high levels of autonomy.



However, the lack of supervision has resulted in manipulation of accounting books and acceptance of unqualified students, officials said.



"We have decided we need to step up inspections as some schools are suspected of having abused their autonomy," an SMOE official said. "We plan to inspect 20 foreign schools in Seoul by the end of the year."



There are 21 foreign schools and kindergartens in the city.



The comprehensive inspection came after Dulwich College Seoul was accused of embezzlement and other violations.



Last month, the prosecution indicted three board members of Dulwich on charges of embezzling 7.5 billion won through a paper company set up in Hong Kong.



The education office will look into how the schools process admissions, whether the students are qualified for admissions and whether the number of Korean students is within the regulated quota. It will also scrutinize the schools' finances in detail.



SMOE will require the schools and kindergartens to submit related documents and examine them, and conduct on-site inspections when necessary.



If it uncovers any admissions fraud, the office will first give an opportunity to the student and school to provide an explanation and then launch a special audit.



If fraud is confirmed, the student will be expelled and the school will receive a correction order.



Earlier this month, the Ministry of Education introduced changes to current regulations on foreign schools, banning them from recruiting Korean students when they are caught for admissions fraud four times.



"The inspection is aimed at strengthening supervision on foreign schools' admissions and finances," the official said. "If illegality is found, we'll take due action such as correction orders and audits."



Foreign schools were set up for foreign residents in Korea as well as Koreans who returned to their home country after living abroad. Korean students can gain admission if they have lived abroad for at least three years.



There are currently 46 foreign schools including three kindergartens across the nation. These schools are favored among wealthy parents, who consider the schools to provide an elite education.






Ruling party loses majority; Minjoo, People's parties win more seats than expected

By Kang Seung-woo

The ruling Saenuri Party lost its parliamentary majority following Wednesday's general election, which will be a major blow to President Park Geun-hye.

The ruling party won 105 out of 253 electoral seats in the 300-seat National Assembly as their candidates struggled in Seoul and its surrounding areas, where 122 seats were up for grabs.

The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) secured 110 seats, while the minor opposition People's Party took 25 seats.



Including the number of the proportional representation seats, the Saenuri only took 122 seats and was demoted to the No. 2 party behind the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) with 123. The People's Party captured 38 Assembly posts.

This is the first time in 16 years for the ruling party to lose a majority.

The joint chief of the ruling Saenuri Party's election campaign, Kang Bong-kyun, left, and the party's floor leader Rep. Won Yoo-chul show frustration along with other senior members after learning the results of exit polls at the party's offices in Yeoudio, Seoul, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun



The Saenuri Party's failure to win more than a majority in the Assembly is largely due to negative public sentiment over its nasty power struggle in the candidate nomination process, analysts said.

In addition, it was seen as the public's judgment on the Park Geun-hye administration's dealing with state affairs, delivering a hard blow to the President who is seeking to tighten her grip on state affairs during her remaining term in office so as to push various economic and social reforms.

"The Saenuri Party's defeat is a warning message from voters who were frustrated by its nasty nomination fracas. In addition, with President Park in the latter part of her term in office, supporters of the ruling party were less united than in the 2012 election," said Yoo Yong-hwa, a political analyst.

Following the defeat, the ruling party is expected to see a power struggle between those loyal to the President and non-mainstreamers ahead of next year's presidential election.





The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea's (MPK) campaign chief Kim Chong-in, left, applauds along with Choi Woon-youl, a senior member of the MPK's campaign staff, after they learned from exit polls that the party would secure well above its goal of 107 seats in the general election, Wednesday. / Yonhap



For the MPK, the better-than-expected result could save interim leader Kim Chong-in, but it is a bitter pill to swallow that the party lost its hegemony in North and South Jeolla provinces (known colloquially as the Honam region) to the People's Party.

The solid showing by the People's Party, including a resounding victory in Honam, could help Co-Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo gain power and influence before the next presidential election as a significant stakeholder in a three-party system.

Also, the result will make the party the undisputed third presence on the political landscape.
By Kim Hyo-jin





Ahn Cheol-soo

The results of the general election are expected to provide a springboard for Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo to increase his political influence, with his party and powerbase strategically positioned between the two biggest parties.



With Ahn's newly founded People's Party becoming a National Assembly negotiating bloc, a three-party system could emerge in Korean politics.



Ahn's political status will be increased as the party holds a "casting vote" between the two major parties _ the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK).



Moreover, if the opposition camp renews discussions on forming an alliance in the run-up to the 2017 presidential election, Ahn will have a bigger voice with strong support from within the southwest Jeolla region, the traditional opposition stronghold.



Meanwhile, although the MPK is still the main opposition party in terms of shares of Assembly seats, it will have to court the People's Party when pushing for legislation or a coalition for the next presidential bid. Its lead in the opposition bloc has been be chipped away, pundits said.



"A three-party system would boost the splinter group People's Party because it could be a balancing influence when the major parties adopt different stances on a bill and suffer conflict," said Lee Chung-hee, a politics professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.



Under the current National Assembly Law, a bill can be put to a vote with the support of three-fifths of the 300 members.













According to vote counting as of 11:00 p.m., the Saenuri Party fell short of securing a majority of seats, meaning whether it will be able to pass controversial bills is now in the hands of the People's Party. It is eyeing pushing pending labor reform bills and an anti-cyber terrorism bill in the 20th Assembly.



Lee added that Ahn could raise his profile further in the process of legislation as neither of the two major parties secured a majority of seats; but one hurdle is whether he can find a balance between his vision and the voices of his party members, mostly based in the Jeolla region.



"Ahn could face challenges in dealing with regional sentiment internally, while acting as a counterweight outside the party," he said.



While Ahn is gaining momentum in the run-up to the 2017 presidential election, the MPK could stumble due to possible infighting over the results of the election, said Lee Jun-han, a professor at Incheon National University.



"The MPK could be in turmoil as the party struggles to find ways of luring back its traditional voters on its home turf in the Jeolla region."



Some observers say that the three-way party system could lead to talks of unity within the opposition bloc in order to put forward a single candidate in the next presidential election.



"The MPK won't be able to lead the discussion while the People's Party is absorbing overwhelming support in the Jeolla region, which gives Ahn more power in deciding how or when to form an alliance," said Lee Nae-young, a politics professor at Korea University.



But others doubt the possibility of such discussions because of Ahn's increased influence.



"Ahn is the person who set up his own party with an eye on a presidential bid. And now that he has secured a stable share in the Assembly, he will become less flexible about joining forces with the MPK," Lee Jun-han said.



"Though Jeolla-based lawmakers in the party have favored the idea of an alliance, such voices are likely to wither if the party has a higher profile."
By Yi Whan-woo

Saenuri Party candidates loyal to President Park Geun-hye struggled in Daegu and the party's other strongholds nationwide in the general election, Wednesday.

The loyalists were trailing their opponents in at least three constituencies in the President's hometown as of 10:35 p.m., according to the National Election Commission (NEC). The ruling party fielded candidates in 11 of the 12 districts in the southeastern city. It swept all 12 constituencies in the 2012 parliamentary elections.

Kim Boo-kyum, a former three term lawmaker and a candidate of the Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK), led Kim Moon-soo of the Saenuri Party 63 percent to 37 percent in the Suseong-A district.

Kim Moon-soo had served as Gyeonggi Province governor as a member of the ruling party.

Joo Ho-young, an independent, led Lee In-sun of the Saenuri Party 48.7 percent to 33.8 percent in Suseong-B.

Joo left the ruling party last month in protest of its decision to field Lee, a former North Gyeongsang province vice governor and a Park ally, in the constituency.












U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged North Korea on Monday to forgo any provocative actions, warning the U.S. is ready to impose even harsher sanctions on the communist nation than the latest U.N. resolution.

Kerry issued the warning at a news conference during a landmark visit to Hiroshima, Japan, amid concerns that Pyongyang could conduct another nuclear test, its fifth, ahead of the birthday of founding leader Kim Il-sung on Friday.

He said sentiment was uniform at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the so-called Group of Seven advanced economies.

"Every one of us expressed our concern about the North Korean provocative behavior in recent months," Kerry said, according to a transcript provided by his department. "And together, we issue a call on the DPRK to refrain from actions and rhetoric that further raises the tensions of the region, and instead, to take the necessary, concrete steps towards fulfilling its international commitments and obligations.".

Kerry said that "a few measures" were left out of the latest U.N. sanctions resolution, but could be enforced in the coming months "depending on what actions the North decides to take." He didn't elaborate on what those measures are, but they're believed to be sanctions deemed too tough for China to agree to.

"So it is still possible that we will ratchet up even more, depending on the actions of the DPRK," he said.

The U.N. sanctions are believed to be the harshest ever to be imposed on Pyongyang. The measures, among other things, require mandatory inspection of all cargo going in and out of the North, regardless of whether by land, sea or air, while banning its exports of coal, iron and other mineral resources.












The number of North Korean defectors rose 17.5 percent on-year in the first quarter, government data showed Tuesday, as more people are seeking to flee North Korea amid their leader's iron-fist rule.

The number of those who escaped North Korea and arrived in South Korea reached 342 in the January-March period, up from 291 the previous year, according to the data by South Korea's unification ministry.

As of end-March, the number of North Koreans who defected to the South came in at more than 29,000 with some 1,280 people arriving in the South last year.

The number of defectors reaching the South peaked in 2009, but the pace of growth has slowed down since 2011 as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has strengthened border control and surveillance over the country's people.

The data followed the latest defections by 13 North Koreans who used to work at an overseas restaurant in China amid toughened international sanctions on Pyongyang over its recent nuclear and missile tests.












The Constitutional Court has ruled in a 6-3 vote that the law stating that pension for foreign workers is to be paid upon their departure from the country is constitutional, court records showed Tuesday.

In May 2014, foreign employees from Nepal and Uzbekistan brought the law, stipulating that their pension be paid to them within 14 days of their departure, before the constitutional court for a review, saying it violates their rights to receive insurance.

Under the South Korean insurance system, all employers who employ foreigners for at least one year should make monthly payments into a pension plan for them. In January 2014, a clause specifying the date of payment was added in an effort to prevent the illegal stay of the foreigners.

The Constitutional Court said designating the payment time based on a foreign employee's departure is inevitable considering all the problems that could arise in relation to illegal immigrants.

The court also dismissed the plaintiffs' claim that such payment arrangements unfairly discriminated them vis-a-vis local employees.

Judges who were opposed to the law said it violates foreign workers' right to labor, citing those who change their workplace before their visas expire. Even in that case, pension is paid when the workers leave South Korea, failing to fulfill its original purpose of protecting an employee's right to live, the judges said. (Yonhap)
U.S. steelmakers have accused South Korean rivals of selling their products at unfairly low prices in America after receiving illegal state subsidies, a trade body here said Tuesday.



ArcelorMittal USA and two other American steel companies have filed anti-dumping and countervailing duty petitions against cut-to-length carbon-quality steel plate makers from South Korea, Austria, China, Brazil and eight other countries, according to the Washington office of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA).



The petitions, lodged with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce, claim that South Korean companies sold their products at below-market prices in the U.S. on the back of illegal subsidies, hurting the American industry.



The U.S. steelmakers demand that antidumping duties of up to 244.1 percent be imposed on imports of South Korean cut-to-length carbon-quality steel plates, the KITA office said.



Last year, South Korea exported 2.9 million tons of the steel product, valued at 1.93 trillion won (US$1.69 billion) to the U.S.



Chinese and Brazilian steelmakers have also been accused of both dumping and illegal subsidies, while only antidumping complaints have been lodged against steelmakers of Austria and eight other countries, according to the KITA office.



Antidumping duties are designed to offset the amount by which a product is sold at below-market value, while countervailing duties are intended to neutralize unfair subsidies.



The U.S. department will determine whether to initiate antidumping and countervailing duty investigations within 20 days. The commission should reach a preliminary determination in the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations in 45 days.



Last month, the department made a preliminary ruling on a separate case involving alleged illegal state subsidies for South Korean makers of cut-to-length carbon-quality steel plate, hinting that it may not hand down countervailing duties.



It ruled that cut-to-length carbon-quality steel plate made by Hyundai Steel Co. and POSCO is sold in the U.S. below the "de minimis" or minimal margin of 1 percent. If the subsidy rates prove to be below the de minimis margin in its final decision scheduled for May, no countervailing duties will be imposed on the South Korean products. (Yonhap)




By Doug Bandow



Even when Donald Trump seems to get something right, he's mostly wrong. At least when it comes to economics.



Many Americans are suffering financially. Yet the problem is not trade: Americans have grown wealthy as a trading nation. In contrast, regulation has done much to harm U.S. competitiveness. The economic problem is domestic.



The Obama administration is busy writing new rules, irrespective of the impact on liberty or prosperity. Last year Uncle Sam spent $62 billion to run the rest of our lives.



Observed Patrick McLaughlin and Oliver Sherouse of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University: "Over the last 20 years the regulatory budget has more than doubled in real terms while the number of total restrictions has grown by about 220,000  a 25 percent increase."



The busiest bureaucracies measured in terms of pages of rules produced are the EPA, IRS, Coast Guard, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Federal Communications Commission. These five collectively accounted "for more than 314,000 restrictions, nearly a third of the overall total," wrote McLaughlin and Sherouse.



The problem is not only the expense of enforcement. Far greater is the cost of the impact on the economy.



Last year Clyde Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute assessed the impact of regulation in his working paper entitled "Tip of the Costberg." He figured the total price of regulation to be $1.88 trillion.



At $399 billion economic regulation had the biggest impact, closely followed by environmental controls, which cost $386 billion. Tax compliance finished third at $316 billion, followed by health care at "only" $190 billion.



However, these figures almost certainly are too low. Crews argued: "Too often, regulatory impacts don't get measured. But further, the disruption of market processes and the derailment of wealth, safety and health creating processes themselves are for the most part wholly neglected."



Regulatory costs play out in many ways. One aspect is what an individual or company spends to comply with government dictates. Far harder to measure is what does not occur as a result of arbitrary and expensive rules. What products are not launched, what enterprises are not started, what jobs are not created?



Of course, regulations theoretically are promulgated because they yield benefits. Not just benefits, but net benefits after considering costs. However, agencies have an incentive to inflate the value of what they are doing. That means exaggerating problems and "social costs," overstating alleged benefits, and discounting compliance costs.



Overall how much have we lost from excessive, unnecessary regulation? A lot, according to economists John W. Dawson and John J. Seater.



They considered the cumulative impact of losing a couple percent of economic growth year in and year out from 1949 through 2005: "That reduction in the growth rate has led to an accumulated reduction in GDP of about $38.8 trillion as of the end of 2011. That is, U.S. GDP at the end of 2011 would have been $53.9 trillion instead of $15.1 trillion if regulation had remained at its 1949 level."



Grant all the difficulties with this sort of analysis. Still, imagine a nearly four-fold increase in per capita income and wealth.



Increased regulation also contributes to increased inequality. In January McLaughlin and Laura Stanley of Mercatus concluded that such rules "skew income toward politically connected producers and away from individual who lack the resources necessary to navigate the legal and regulatory framework."



Finally, there is the issue of transparency and predictability. Crews released a second study last year entitled "Mapping Washington's Lawlessness 2016." It reviewed what he termed "regulatory dark matter."



The regulatory process is essentially lawless, beyond the normal accountability of a democratic system. As Crews explained: "Congress passes and the president signs a few dozen laws every year. Meanwhile, federal departments and agencies issue well over 3,000 rules and regulations of varying significance. A weekday never passes without new regulation. Beyond those rules, however, we lack a clear grasp on the amount and cost of the thousands of executive branch and federal agency proclamations and issuances, including memos, guidance documents, bulletins, circulars, and announcements with practical regulatory effect."



Americans are suffering. But closing off the economy is no answer.



They should address federal, state, and local governments which are doing so much to prevent American companies from competing with foreign operations and rewarding Americans accordingly. These are the bad policies to blame for creating today's economic problems and imposing widespread financial hardship, thereby fueling the populist Trump bandwagon.



Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan.




By Ishac Diwan

PARIS  Discussion of education in the Arab world has focused only rarely on the role of schooling in changing social and political mores. This is unfortunate, because educated citizens of Arab countries tend to be much less emancipated politically and socially, on average, than their peers in other parts of the world. If Arab societies are ever to become more open and economically dynamic, their education systems will have to embrace and promote values appropriate to that goal.

The gap is reflected in the World Value Survey (WVS), a global opinion poll that allows for the comparison of a broad range of values in different countries. Recently, the WVS surveyed 12 Arab countries  Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Qatar, Yemen, Kuwait, and Libya  along with 47 non-Arab countries. The results allow us for the first time to compare the residents of a sizable share of the Arab world to citizens elsewhere.

The WVS measures four revealing political and social values: support for democracy, readiness for civic engagement, obedience to authority, and support for patriarchal values that underpin discrimination against women. As a typical country becomes richer, more educated, and more politically open, support for democracy and readiness for civic engagement rise, and obedience to authority and support for patriarchal values fall.

The data, however, reveal that Arab countries lag behind countries at similar levels of development. Arabs have a lower preference for democracy (with a gap of 11%), are less civically active (a gap of 8%), respect authority more (by 11%), and embrace patriarchal values much more strongly (by a whopping 30%).

Two characteristics of the Arab world could explain this: its predominantly Muslim population and the autocratic governments that have ruled much of the region for the past 50 years.

According to the WVS, religiosity does indeed promote conservatism, but not more so in Arab countries than in the rest of the world. Still, given that Arabs' religiosity score is about double that of people elsewhere, this factor does partly explain the region's conservatism. But what is more interesting is the role that education plays  or does not play  in promoting social and political openness in the Arab world.

The biggest differences between Arab countries and the rest of the world can be found among the educated. Consider preference for democracy. On that measure, the gap between Arabs and non-Arabs with a university degree is 14%, while the gap between those with secondary degrees is only 5%. And similar effects can be seen for the other three values. Education, it seems, has a weaker effect on social values in Arab countries than elsewhere  by a factor of about three.

Thus, those seeking to foster openness in the Arab world should focus not on the impact of Islam, but on the education to which the region's residents are exposed. Indeed, one likely explanation of the observed gap in social values is that education is being deliberately used as a tool of indoctrination, with the purpose of consolidating autocratic governments.

Indeed, with the introduction of mass education in the 1960s, education in the Arab world was placed in the service of top-down nationalist projects. Then, in the 1970s, after state-led modernization pushes had failed and governments had become increasingly repressive, education policies were infused with conservative, religious values  first in order to fight leftist opposition groups, and later to compete with Islamic groups on their own terrain.

A review of the pedagogical literature on the region's education systems reveals the extent to which they have been designed for indoctrination. Most of them are characterized by rote learning, disregard for analytical capabilities, an exaggerated focus on religious subjects and values, the discouragement of self-expression in favor of conformism, and students' lack of involvement in community affairs. These features are all geared to promote obedience and discourage the questioning of authority.

It may seem paradoxical that secular regimes were responsible for Islamicizing education. But it makes sense if it is recognized as an attempt to exploit local cultural characteristics to reinforce the indoctrination effort ( as has been done in China ). Blaming local culture, which societies largely inherit, is not constructive. Recognizing that autocratic regimes purposefully neutralize the modernizing potential of education for the sake of their survival offers a road forward.

Unfortunately for the Arab world, it is a rather narrow road. Elites will not willingly reform education if doing so puts their survival at risk. Civil-society activists will need to fight to change the values underpinning their education systems, by encouraging civic engagement, inculcating democratic principles, supporting gender equality, and promoting diversity and pluralism. Only by ensuring that these values take root in every school will they grow strong enough to change the course of Arab societies.

Ishac Diwan is an affiliate at the Belfer Center's Middle East Initiative at Harvard University and Chaire d'Excellence Monde Arabe at Paris Sciences et Lettres. Copyright belongs to roject Syndicate/Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Initiatives.
U.S. President Barack Obama is wrestling with the possibility of visiting Hiroshima when Japan hosts the G7 leaders meeting in May.



The White House's confirmation that Obama's visit is being considered is drawing keen attention since no sitting U.S. President has ever visited the city destroyed by the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing.



During a visit earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that everybody should visit Hiroshima. But a visit by a sitting U.S. President is a highly sensitive issue within and outside the U.S because it could be interpreted as an apology for the attacks.



It could also be viewed as a sign of U.S. support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's historical revisionism. It would be the wise decision for Obama to stay away from Hiroshima while in office to avoid misunderstandings.



There is an equally important factor the White House should consider before finalizing Obama's Hiroshima visit, and that is how Korea and other countries that suffered under Japan's wartime atrocities will react to such an occasion.



More than 70 years after the end of Japan's colonial rule, Korea is still engaged in a history war with Japan over many complex issues, such as the questionable recruitment of the so-called comfort women, the territorial row over Dokdo and Japan's textbooks that whitewash its wartime atrocities.



Many Koreans will feel uneasy about seeing a sitting U.S. president visit Hiroshima as Japan continues to deny its history of aggression.



The White House said that a visit would be in line with President Obama's pursuit of a world without nuclear weapons. His press secretary Josh Earnest elaborated during a recent press briefing that "there's no more powerful illustration of that commitment than for the president to visit the city where an atomic weapon was first used." We urge President Obama to fully review the implications of his visit to Hiroshima in consideration for the relevant countries before he makes his final decision.




This weekend will mark two years since the sinking of the Sewol ferry which took more than 300 lives.



The second anniversary of the maritime disaster is an occasion to remember the victims, offer solace to their families and ponder whether the nation has truly learned anything from the accident.



After two years, the shock of the accident lingers in Koreans' collective memory. However, it cannot be denied that some citizens are getting a sense of "Sewol fatigue" due to the various disputes and ongoing division it has created in society.



One of the biggest reasons contributing to this sentiment is the prolonged Sewol demonstration in Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul. After two years, it is high time the protesters remove themselves from Seoul's iconic venue. They must find alternative means of delivering their message of "uncovering the truth behind the Sewol" in accordance with the law and without infringing upon all the citizens' rights to fully enjoy the public space.



Most Koreans agree with their message. The people also want to know the truth behind the disaster and why the government failed to rescue the victims. But public opinion toward the Sewol demonstration is turning increasingly negative because the protesters have turned the heart of the capital into a place of hostility. The square is first and foremost a place for pleasant rest and leisure for citizens and tourists. The bigger problem is that the square has been turned into a Mecca of illegal protest, particularly in the last two years, and these protests were mostly staged in relation to the Sewol disaster, according to latest police reports. It is completely inappropriate for a certain organization to occupy the public space for such a long time without proper permission.



Seoul city administration, which is in charge of managing the square, has been reluctant to remove the protesters for fear of a public backlash. As it is against the law to stage rallies in the square, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon is being irresponsible by indulging the Sewol protesters for as long as he has. It is his job to ensure that regulations about the management of the square are fairly and strictly applied.



By calling for an end to the protests, we are by no means suggesting an indifference to the frustration of the victims of the Sewol families. We are underlining a rational and mature approach to post-disaster measures.



After two years, the government's reaction to the disaster still leaves much to be desired because it has not kept its word for an investigation and prevention. Even with the establishment of the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, many Koreans do not feel that Korea is a safer country than it was two years ago. A special committee for investigating the disaster has been unable to carry out its function because of a lack of cooperation from the government and the ruling Saenuri Party, and has failed to gain the time and the budget for a proper probe.



The Sewol tragedy will be remembered by many as a mixed result of the nation's backward practices in business and government. How Korea responds to it from now on will be a test of the maturity of our society.




South Korean actor Seo Kang-joon met with hundreds of fans at his first solo meet-and-greet in Japan over the weekend, his talent agency said Tuesday.

Seo held two fan meetings on Sunday at Osaka Business Park in the namesake city, which together drew more than a thousand people, Fantagio said.

Seo stars as Baek In-ho in the tvN drama "Cheese in the Trap." He sang the show's theme song "Tearliner" and Eddy Kim's "The Manual," and put on a piano performance of Yiruma's "River Flows in You."

"I was really anxious and excited for my first solo meet-and-greet in Japan," Seo was quoted as saying by the agency. "I'm really grateful for having spent quality time with my fans. Their happiness was contagious."

The meetings in Osaka were sold out, with Seo to travel to Tokyo on June 11 for another fan meeting, Fantagio said. (Yonhap)
Suh Chang-suk

By Kang Seung-woo

Suh Chang-suk, a former doctor to President Park Geun-hye, is favored to become Seoul National University Hospital's new president.

The hospital's board of directors met to evaluate candidates for the post Tuesday and came up with two finalists  incumbent President Oh Byung-hee and Suh.

According to the hospital, Suh was selected as the top candidate.

The education ministry will recommend one of the two to Park, who will make the final appointment.

It has been a practice in the hospital that the top candidate becomes the hospital's head.

Suh, 55, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, was appointed as Park's personal doctor in September 2014 and resigned in February to apply for the hospital job.

Suh is a well-respected reproductive endocrinologist in Korea.

When Suh was appointed to the job at Cheong Wa Dae, he drew attention because he was the first presidential doctor to come from the Seoul National Hospital in Bundang  the hospital's branch.

The three-year term of the new president begins in June.
By Yoon Sung-won



The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) is gearing up for its cloud data center project, which will allow IT giants to bid for the public software system deal for the first time in Korea.



The SMG unveiled the preliminary standards for its project to build a cloud data center in Digital Media City, northwestern Seoul, Monday, speeding up the bidding process. The new cloud data center will be the second for the metropolitan city, following the first one in Seocho, southern Seoul.



"The new data center will help us manage data and maintain network equipment more consistently," said an official at the SMG. "The city administration will become smoother once the cloud system is introduced."



As the city administration has underlined mutual growth between conglomerates and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) here in its request for proposals, bidding conglomerates are expected to seek cooperation with local partners. Businesses including Samsung SDS, LG CNS, LG N-Sys, LG Uplus, Hyundai AutoEver, KT DS and SK Corp. have expressed interest in bidding on the project.



According to the SMG, the project, in which it plans to pour in 11.9 billion won, aims at expanding its IT infrastructure and capacity to accommodate increasing data traffic for the use of big data and Internet of Things (IoT) services. A cloud data center is also expected to help the city boost operational efficiency and provide public services.



The SMG said it will integrate five separate computer rooms at the new data center and replace outdated server and network equipment with new ones designed for a cloud-based system. For this, it plans to introduce x86 server equipment and open source software such as the Linux Operating System to provide more business opportunities for SMEs in the Korean software industry.



In its request for proposals, the SMG stated that it will use equipment made by local SMEs. In particular, it stressed that it will choose virtualization software, which is one of the most important parts of a cloud system, provided by an SME.



Last November, the government partly lifted regulations that have limited conglomerates bidding for public IT projects in four sectors _ IoT, big data, cloud and mobile. The SMG and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning have also approved IT businesses affiliated with conglomerates to join the project.



At the same time, the government has emphasized that private businesses must sincerely cooperate with public organizations in dealing with possible accidents in operating cloud system services.



It also said businesses must keep the data within Korean territory. For this reason, global IT giants such as Amazon Web Service (AWS) and Microsoft have been expected to seek business opportunities in the public service sector here as they increasingly expand their data center facilities through co-location deals with local data center operators.



The SMG said it plans to finish choosing partners by July and start establishing the cloud data center by December.




A file photo of the Samsung SDS headquarters building in Jamsil, eastern Seoul. / Courtesy of Samsung SDS



By Kim Yoo-chul



A merger between Samsung Electronics and Samsung SDS is needed to help the latter find new growth momentum, analysts said Tuesday.



"Samsung SDS is losing its fundamental competitiveness," Shinhan Investment analyst Kong Young-kyu said in a report to clients. "Without structural changes, its stock prices will further fall. The best-case scenario for Samsung SDS is a merger with Samsung Electronics."



Kong added the premium in Samsung SDS stocks has been dropping after the company's biggest shareholder Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong recently reduced his stake in Samsung SDS.



"Samsung SDS's key businesses are being challenged and actually the company is losing its momentum," the analyst said.



Samsung Electronics officially denies the continuing rumors of a merger Samsung SDS. Still, major investment banks said they don't have a firm view on how or when Samsung Group's still-complex ownership structure would be sorted out and how that would affect Samsung Electronics' minority shareholders.



But according to the data from the Korea Exchange (KRX), the country's main bourse operator, Samsung SDS shares have dropped 36 percent so far this yeark, mostly hit by massive unloading by local institutional investors.



Since February, when Samsung's vice chairman sold 1.58 million shares of Samsung SDS, local institutional investors continued cutting their portions in Korea's top IT service provider.



By April 8, their combined selling of Samsung SDS reached 102 billion won or 569,000 shares.



"Investment sentiment on Samsung SDS worsened after Vice Chairman Lee's unloading of shares," said Kwon Seong-ryeol, an analyst at Dongbu Securities.



Kim Dong-yang at NH Securities said a fall in Samsung SDS shares will hurt the best interests of key shareholders and complicate possible merger plans.



"Samsung SDS shares will rise only if Samsung SDS strikes merger and acquisition (M&A) deals using its internal cash reserves, which is known to be 1.9 trillion won, or a merger plan with Samsung Electronics gets momentum," said the analyst.



E-Best Investment cut its target on Samsung SDS to 220,000 won from 310,000 won in anticipation the momentum will remain weak.



Samsung SDS has become Samsung group's logistics control tower. It is Korea's largest IT service provider, with 54 percent of its IT revenue last year coming from Samsung Group affiliates.



"We see SDS as the key funding vehicle for the children to expand control of the group as it trades at premium multiples and has no strategic stakes that the Lee family cannot afford to surrender. This will allow them to ultimately relinquish control of the stock," investment banking company CLSA said in a recent report.



"Our base case assumes the children tender their Samsung SDS shares into a tech holding company to maximize the after-tax value of the position and the control for the end structure," it added.
Lancaster, Depew natives awarded RIT scholarship funding A School of Performing Arts that opened this year at the Rochester Institute of Technology is offering nonmajors in that field more opportunities to continue their performing passions in college....

LHS students receiving scholarships from Baldwin Wallace University Three students from the Lancaster area were among over 700 students who earned scholarships at Baldwin Wallace University this fall. The school has a long history of scholarship support from alumni,...
Professor Klaus Schwab, Chairman of the World Economic Forum and

South Asia team leaders with members of the Sri Lanka delegation at the WEF Headquarters in Geneva

Following the participation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and delegation at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos in January, a Sri Lankan delegation consisting of senior government officials and representatives from the private sector engaged in a two-day follow-up meeting at the World Economic Forums headquarters in Geneva. Coordinated by the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva, the visit was aimed at strengthening the engagement between Sri Lanka and the WEF and to identify specific areas of engagement. The WEF, is the world leading "platform" that brings global political leaders, private sector leaders and thought leaders together to engage, discuss and deliberate and learn from each other.

During their visit on 21-22 March, the Sri Lanka delegation met Professor Klaus Schwab, Chairman of the World Economic Forum and several Managing Directors and senior teams representing different initiatives of the international organization. Coming two months after Sri Lankas participation in Davos, this visit highlighted the strong commitment of both the Sri Lanka government and the WEF to forge a new chapter in cooperation and collaboration between the two parties. The discussions centered on engagement by Sri Lanka across several areas of the WEF initiatives: Economic Growth and Social Inclusion, International Trade and Investment, Agriculture and Food Security, Future of Production Systems and the Future of Internet.

In introductory remarks, Sri Lankas Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha emphasized the importance of availing of the present momentum in collaboration with the WEF to ensure tangible benefits to Sri Lanka. While focusing on concrete next steps in the already identified areas, he also encouraged seeking out other areas where there was considerable scope for public-private sector partnership, such as in developing the resurgent tourism industry, where the extensive network and best practices available in various WEF platforms could benefit Sri Lanka.



The delegation from Sri Lanka led by Mr. Mangala Yapa, Managing Director (Designate), Agency for Development, Ministry of Development Strategies & International Trade, included Mrs. Sonali Wijeratne, Director General of the Department of Commerce, Dr. Rohan Wijekoon, Director General of the Department of Agriculture, Mr. Asitha Seneviratne, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Dr. Ajith Madurapperuma, Member of the Board of the ICT Agency, and Mr. Anushka Wijesinha, Chief Economist of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. Sri Lankas Permanent Representative to the WTO Ambassador R. D. S. Kumararatne, Sri Lanka's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Mrs. Samantha Jayasuriya and Second Secretary Mrs. Mafusa Lafir, were also associated in the meetings.



During the meetings at the WEF, the Sri Lanka delegation also discussed opportunities for Sri Lankan government agencies as well as Sri Lankan companies to engage in future WEF initiatives, and the specific next steps currently being planned. The World Economic Forum has already invited several policymakers from Sri Lanka to attend the 25th World Economic Forum on ASEAN taking place in Kuala Lumpur on 1-2 June and the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, which will be held this year in Tianjin, Peoples Republic of China on 26-28 June.

During their stay in Geneva the Sri Lankan delegation also held discussions with senior officials and programme managers of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and UN Institute for Research and Training (UNITAR), to explore potential areas for cooperation. At WIPO, meeting with a team led by Mr. Mario Matus, Deputy Director General/Development Sector, the delegation focused on the importance of using Intellectual Property (IP) as a tool for development. The need to evolve a coherent IP Strategy for Sri Lanka and integrating IP into innovation policy formulation in Sri Lanka by involving a wider base of stakeholders was emphasized. At UNITAR, meeting with a team led by Mr. Alex Mejia, Officer-in-Charge, potential support to help meet the capacity building needs in Sri Lanka, including developing youth entrepreneurial skills, integrating Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), waste management and the use of UNOSAT capabilities in agriculture, disaster management & mitigation etc. was discussed.

On March 23, the Sri Lanka delegation also traveled to Bern where they had bi-lateral consultations with officials of Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) led by Ms. Christine Busser Mauron, Head, Bilateral Economic Relations Asia/Oceania. The focus of the discussion was on Swiss SME policy and Innovation Policy, and best practices that could be of relevance to Sri Lanka.

Press Release in PDF



Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to UN in Geneva

25 March 2016
The California Public Employees Retirement System is joining a growing number of investors calling on Exxon Mobil Corp. and others to disclose the financial risks of climate change and climate change policies.

Shareholders of Exxon Mobil, Chevron Corp. and seven other energy companies will soon gather for annual meetings where votes will be cast on climate risk disclosure. The proposals ask the companies to evaluate and disclose the potential financial fallout of recent international commitments to hold the planets rise in average temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius.

This limit was set at last years climate summit in Paris, where almost 200 nations committed to slowing warming of the Earths atmosphere.

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NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

CalPERS and 31 investors, including New York Citys pension funds and BNP Paribas Investment Partners, want to know how much of the companies petroleum reserves must stay in the ground to meet greenhouse gas emission limits.

The world is a different place, and you cant manage what you cant measure, said Anne Simpson, a CalPERS investment director.

Since 1990, Exxon Mobils executives have repeatedly opposed similar campaigns by activist shareholders. But with heightened interest following the Paris agreement, this years vote could reveal a shift in investors mood, analysts said.

This is part of a broader call by investors for disclosure on how companies are going to adapt to a 2-degree future, said Shanna Cleveland, a senior manager at Ceres, a nonprofit working with business people on climate issues. CalPERS has really stepped in to play a leadership role  working to get the message out to other major shareholders.

The response from Exxon Mobil directors to the shareholder proposals will be included in the proxy statement distributed Wednesday, said Alan Jeffers, a spokesman for the Irving, Texas, company.

Addressing climate change, providing economic opportunity and lifting billions out of poverty are complex and interrelated issues requiring complex solutions, Jeffers said. There is a consensus that comprehensive strategies are needed to respond to these risks.

Chevrons board recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal, arguing in the proxy statement that setting unilateral, long-term [greenhouse gas] emissions targets tied to global emissions reduction trajectories is not prudent because it would put the San Ramon, Calif., company at a competitive disadvantage.

As of June 30, CalPERS owned 12.7 million Exxon Mobil shares valued at more than $1 billion and 8.3 million Chevron shares valued at more than $800 million.

Exxon Mobil and Chevron have long maintained that global economic growth in the coming decades will exhaust their existing oil and gas reserves. The companies share price depends, in part, on the potential future earnings from those fossil fuel reserves.

business@latimes.com

Asaf Shalev is a reporter with Columbia Universitys Energy & Environmental Reporting Project.

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For more than 30 years, Bernard Labadie has cultivated a reputation as the 18th century man. As founding conductor of the chamber group Les Violons du Roy in his native Quebec, he has championed performance practice  performance technique appropriate to the era in which pieces were composed.

Labadie and Les Violons return to Walt Disney Concert Hall on Wednesday for a program of Bach, with special guest Alexandre Tharaud on piano. Its the conductors first appearance in L.A. since August 2013  and a concert that once seemed against all odds.

In early 2014, at age 51, Labadie was diagnosed with stage IV lymphoma. Ultimately, he required a stem cell donation, and he was in an induced coma for a month.

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I escaped, he said, but, really, by a thread. I consider myself very, very lucky to be alive right now.

Labadie recently spoke about the long journey back to the conductors stand for this Q&A, which has been edited for length:

Did it feel like a plummet when you got the diagnosis?

I hit an 18-wheeler. [He laughs.] I went from basically just being tired to facing a life-threatening disease. I didnt have only lymphoma. I was also suffering from a weird syndrome called hemophagocytosis. Basically, your blood becomes empty, and you lose your whole immune system. That syndrome needs to be identified and treated very quickly because it can kill you in a matter of weeks.

Did it feel like you were fighting for your life?

Definitely. Especially after the first wave of treatments failed. They were preparing me for what they call an auto-transplant. They basically kill your blood with heavy chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and then give you back your own stem cells, and your whole blood system regenerates. That strategy didnt work out for me  the lymphoma roared back and ate up all the stem cells. Thats when doctors realized they needed to go to another level: the allogeneic transplant. You receive stem cells, but from a foreign donor. One of the keys to the success of that procedure is finding a perfect match as a donor, and thats when I got extremely lucky, because my sister was a perfect match. And yet the procedure was extremely difficult. They had to keep me in an artificial coma for a month.

What was the hardest part of it for you?

I would say it came in the second phase of chemotherapy, after the auto stem-cell transplant failed. I really realized that there was a significant chance of me not surviving. That second chemotherapy lasted for almost two months  staying at home but being barely able to walk and do basic things, taking humongous amounts of cortisone and suffering from the side effects. I lost about half of my muscle weight from the coma.

My sister came to live with me for three months. I came back to work only in December of last year. And to be very honest, the rehab process is actually not over. So right now, for instance, Im conducting sitting down. I dont use a baton anymore, because theres a medication that I take that makes me shake a lot. And, of course, my own level of energy is not what it used to be. So its kind of a new world out there for me to learn.

How did this brush with death alter the way you thought about yourself or your career?

At the same time, it widens the perspective and makes it smaller. There are things that mattered a lot for me before but now are not so important. Its really about life, which for me means people. When I say it also makes it smaller ... conductors tend to be natural planners. Your diary becomes full one, two, three years in advance. I dont even know what tomorrow will be made of.

The past three weeks, I was feeling extremely weak because there was some imbalance in my medication. Were talking about two years after the actual diagnosis. When I have a good day, Im just happy about it, because the following day might not be that good.

It seems corny to ask you about the healing power of music ...

Its not corny. Its an actual fact. If musics been the center of your life for 30 or 40 years, it is definitely one of the strongest sources of comfort and hope that one can find. As soon as I had enough energy to focus more on music, I really, literally fed on it  especially the idea of returning to my orchestra and my choir [La Chapelle de Quebec]. That was a major incentive to go back to work and kick my own behind to go through the rehab process. And being reunited with them has been such a joy.

calendar@latimes.com

------------

Les Violons du Roy

Where: Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday

Tickets: $58-$116 (subject to change)

Info: (323) 850-2000, www.laphil.org
Charter Communications blockbuster deal to acquire Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks cleared a major hurdle Tuesday when a California administrative judge recommended approval of the deal.

Administrative Law Judge Karl Bemesderfer, in a 74-page opinion, recommended that the California Public Utilities Commission approve Charters takeover plans, but he attached a long list of conditions designed to ensure that the cable consolidation carries benefits to the public.

The proposed $67-billion plan would make Charter the dominant pay-TV and Internet service provider in Southern California with more than 2 million customer homes.

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The deal is still waiting for approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice. Those decisions are expected any day.

The Public Utilities Commission is tentatively scheduled to vote on the matter May 12.

Bemesderfer said the cable merger would bring several advantages to customers in California, including faster Internet speeds and more wireless hot-spots. However, he acknowledged that Charter would become the only provider of broadband Internet service in some areas -- a less than ideal situation.

The merger of smaller monopolists into a bigger monopoly does little to worsen the situation of customers who are already faced with take-it-or-leave-it offers from their local cable service provider, Bemesderfer wrote in the filing.

Charter, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, which serves Bakersfield, currently offer their service in areas that do not overlap, which means that the consolidation will not wipe out a competitor for any individual customer.

The problem, according to consumer rights activists, is there already are too few companies offering Internet at high speeds and affordable rates. The state tried to grapple with that challenge in the way it structured the conditions that it would like Charter to fulfill.

What we can do is hold the merging companies to their promises of increased service, fairer pricing, less onerous contracts, and equal access and require them to translate those vague promises into concrete commitments, Bemesderfer wrote.

Charter welcomed the ruling.

We are pleased the regulatory process is moving forward and will continue our productive engagement at the California Public Utilities Commission as we work toward obtaining final approval in the weeks ahead and bringing the benefits of New Charter to more Californians, Charter spokesman Alex Dudley said in a statement.

Bemesderfer outlined several conditions, including requiring Charter to honor Time Warner Cables existing pricing plans for high-speed Internet service.

In addition, Charter agreed not to impose data caps on its customers nor institute usage-based fee structures for at least three years.

Another provision would require Charter to comply with the FCCs Open Internet rules that require Internet service providers to all treat traffic equally.

Bemesderfer also said that Charter would be obligated to build at least 150,000 new line extensions in California to bring broadband service to regions that currently lack coverage.

One critic of the deal, Paul Goodman, legal counsel for the nonprofit Greenlining Institute, said Bemesderfers proposed decision seemed pretty well-reasoned.

While I dont think the merger is in the public interest, the proposed decision has a good chance of getting approved if some of the conditions are cleaned up and improved a little bit, Goodman said.

Charter, which is based in Stamford, Conn., has pledged to expand a program to provide high-speed Internet service for more low-income families.

Closing the so-called digital divide has been a priority of state and federal regulators.

President Obama has long stressed his desire to close the gap between the people who have ready access to the Internet and those who do not. Its been a key factor in the governments review of Charter Communications proposition to acquire Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

One thing Charter has to be really careful about is how they respond, Goodman said. If they respond the way Comcast did, and think they dont have to comply, they might actually get denied. If Charter is smart, they will go, OK, thank you very much. Well take this into consideration, they have a good chance.

Twitter: @MegJamesLAT

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Hillary Clinton hits Donald Trump and Ted Cruz for ugly currents in presidential race

Hillary Clinton scorned Donald Trump and Ted Cruz for proposals that she said contributed to ugly currents bursting forth in the 2016 campaign, as she pledged Wednesday to push for a broad series of initiatives meant to improve the lives of minority Americans.

Speaking at a Manhattan convention of the National Action Network, an activist organization founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, Clinton was unsparing in her criticism of the two leaders in the fight for the Republican presidential nomination.

Americas long struggle with racism is far from finished, and we are seeing that in this election, she said. The front-runner for the Republican nomination was asked in a national television interview to disavow David Duke and white supremacists supporting his campaign; he played coy. This is the same Donald Trump who led the insidious birther movement to delegitimize President Obama.

He has called Mexican immigrants rapist and murderers. He wants to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S., and the list goes on. Not to be outdone, Ted Cruz would treat Muslim Americans like criminals and religiously profile their neighborhoods. So ugly currents at work just below the surface of our politics have burst into the open, and everyone sees this bigotry for what it is.

Both Trump and the Texas senator have defended their proposals as necessary to secure the country against terrorism and crime.

Clinton outlined proposals she has made on housing, education, income, gun violence and transportation that she said were meant to lift African Americans economically and otherwise.

These are not only problems of economic inequality; they are also problems of racial inequality, she said. Its time we face up to the reality of systemic racism in all its forms.

She cited the dilapidated school district in Detroit, whose classrooms feature roaches and mold, and, closer to home, the Polo Grounds Towers in New York, where she said one resident fought daily to eradicate roaches and vermin.

No one should have to live like that in America, Clinton said. Every child and every family deserves clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and a safe and healthy place to live. It is a justice issue, it is a civil rights issue and [if I am] president, it will be a national priority for us.

In advance of Tuesdays New York primary, Clinton enjoys strong support from African Americans and other minority voters, and has worked in recent days to ensure that those voters follow through on election day. Although there have been stumbles  Clintons involvement in a racially inflected skit with Mayor Bill de Blasio and Bill Clintons shouting match with Black Lives Matters protesters  polls show her winning at least 6 in 10 black voters.

Clinton mentioned her Democratic primary opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, only in passing. Discussing the spate of gun violence that has claimed the lives of many African Americans, she drew a distinction between her past support for gun restrictions and Sanders vote for a measure that protected gun manufacturers and sellers.

My opponent  and I dont see this the same way, but I see this as a national emergency, Clinton said. I will do everything I can to take on the gun lobby, to try to save lives.

Clinton also did not mention the 1994 crime bill, supported by both Clintons, which is blamed by many African Americans for inordinate prosecutions and imprisonment of young black men.

Sanders will speak to the convention Thursday.
The call came in on Julia Di Sienos wildlife rescue hotline at 1:35 p.m. Feb. 11: A coyote has fallen into the empty reservoir over at the Santa Ines Mission.

Minutes later, Di Sieno was standing at the edge of the stone-and-mortar reservoir, looking 30 feet down on a badly injured and emaciated female coyote huddled in a shadowed crevice.

The animals labored breathing, gurgling sounds and bleeding posterior suggested it suffered from upper-respiratory problems, giving the appearance of poisoning.

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Wearing Kevlar gloves and armed with a steel pole attached to a catch-noose, Di Sieno hurried down a ladder. It took only a few seconds to realize that the coyote was blind in both eyes.

As I was pulling her out of the crevice with my catch pole, she went into cardiac arrest, said Di Sieno, executive director of the Animal Rescue Team in Solvang. She was dying.

The 55-year-old licensed rescuer looked up at her assistants and asked them to lower a gurney by rope, along with her medical kit, heavy blankets and towels. Also, she told them, Stop making noises that could stress this animal more than she already is.

Di Sieno gave the coyote a shot of epinephrine to kick her heart back into rhythm and began administering chest compressions. The coyote responded by lifting her head a few inches off the ground.

Minutes later, the animal was in Di Sienos pickup truck and headed to a veterinary hospital, where the animals condition was stabilized with intravenous fluids and vitamins.

X-rays and examinations later found that the coyote, now known as Angel, had been shot between the eyes. The wounded animal apparently wandered for many days, even weeks, in the Santa Ynez Valley until she fell into the reservoir.

Vets also discovered one other thing.

On March 23, while recuperating at Di Sienos wildlife rehabilitation facility, Angel gave birth to five puppies.

On a recent day, Di Sieno introduced a visitor to the predator she calls a courageous girl and most exceptional mother.

A sign on her wire enclosure read: Blind coyote! Julia only! Angel was snoozing in a corner after nursing the little balls of dark gray fur that were yipping and yawning in their sleep.

What this animal endured is beyond comprehension, Di Sieno whispered. When she had puppies, I didnt know whether to cry in sadness or for joy.

Di Sieno plans to care for the puppies until they are mature enough to be released in the surrounding mountains. She has big plans, however, for Angel, with whom she has developed strong bonds.

I want Angel to become a member of the rescue teams family as an imprintable surrogate mother for young coyotes that come our way.

But first, she acknowledged, I have to persuade the state Department of Fish and Wildlife not to euthanize her  and that wont be easy.

In California, possession of a coyote is illegal unless permitted by the state. Di Sieno also must apply for a special permit to keep a coyote on the premises indefinitely.

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Asked about Angel, Fish and Wildlife spokesman Andrew Hughan said, We are working to find a reasonable solution as quickly as possible.

The department appreciates Julia and the rescue teams efforts to save this coyote and other wildlife. Weve worked closely with her over the years and appreciate her passion for rescuing imperiled wildlife.

To hear Di Sieno tell it, Im hard-wired to do this work.

Di Sieno was 9 and living in Santa Barbara when she got her first wild animal, a raccoon that was a gift from her father. She gazed upon the blob of striped fur and beheld an extraordinarily inquisitive and intelligent creature from another universe of nature, with its own primitive code of ethics.

A torrent of such creatures flows these days into her nonprofit operation, which runs on a shoestring budget, volunteer work, prayers and Southern rock rhythms issuing from a small radio on a patio table.

Generally, animals orphaned, injured or cruelly abused are kept in spider web-like networks of wire cages and pens maintained by a cadre of volunteers. The creatures include coyotes, bobcats, foxes, deer, squirrels, owls, tortoises, turkeys, geese, lizards, snakes, frogs and an occasional mountain lion.

In the old days, it was Mother Nature that animals had to deal with, Di Sieno said. Now, its us  human beings with their guns, poisons, cars and urban sprawl.

A few weeks ago, we found seven animals  foxes, quail, squirrels and an owl  that had been shot and placed in some kind of ritual circle, she said.

Angel, too, had been cruelly trapped between the two worlds. But she trusts me now, Di Sieno said.

Di Sienos supporters include Sheri MacVeigh, a veterinarian at Solvang Veterinary Hospital, who said she believes that coyote would not still be here had not Julia started cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the field and then brought her to us.

Then there is conservationist Tom OKey, whose discovery in 2013 of a bobcat trap on his property near the edge of Joshua Tree National Park triggered a grass-roots fury across the state. Two years later, bobcat trapping was outlawed in California, ending a century-old industry.

OKey came up with the idea of naming the coyote Angel after learning about her ordeal. People who dedicate their lives to the interests of suffering creatures like this severely wounded female coyote deserve all the credit and support we can heap on them, he said.

Di Sieno put it another way. This coyote put up a good fight, and I fought to keep her alive.

Never underestimate the will to survive.

louis.sahagun@latimes.com

Twitter: @LouisSahagun

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This sentence, the one youre reading right now, was written in a doughnut shop that makes a sinfully good buttermilk bar.

Rainbow Donuts, South Hills Plaza shopping center, West Covina.

Home of the great doughnut rebellion.

Regular customers cant believe the misfortune their civic leaders are about to perpetrate upon their neighborhood clubhouse, lovingly owned and operated for 28 years by Sing Yam.

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A Dunkin Donuts is slated to open in 2017, practically next door, serving up a nasty bit of corporate competition for this beloved mom and pop.

Where exactly will Dunkin Donuts be?

Right there, says Rainbow loyalist Harry Jarvis, pointing toward a corner of the parking lot, site of future construction.

Holy hot pocket.

You could stand at Rainbow and toss a maple bar that far.

Why have two doughnut shops so close to each other that both may struggle and only one may survive?

Its ridiculous, says Tom House, who turns 96 in June and was the first of hundreds to sign the Say No to Dunkin Donuts!! petition.

The steering committee to save Rainbow sent me a packet by express delivery, and it was fat as a jelly doughnut, stuffed with hundreds of signatures and accented with a bold headline:

Say No To Dunkin Donuts!!!

Incredibly, a city that prides itself on supporting small business is now trying to destroy one of the most popular family owned businesses in West Covina. This cannot happen and we need your support, says the petition.

The regulars are no doubt partial to Yams glaze twists, apple fritters and blueberry croissants, but what keeps them coming back to their neighborhood hangout is Yams personal touch.

The first time I came in here she asked my name, Jarvis says. The next time I came in, she remembered my name. She sees people pull into the parking lot and she has their coffee and doughnut ready for them when they walk in.

Ive been coming here since 1988, says House. I live three miles away, so you figure it out  how many miles Ive driven. Id say its 54,000 miles, at least.

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House used to start each day at Rainbow with his wife, until he lost her six years ago. Now he drops by twice a day, without fail, to the full-service shop where you can leave a package for a friend, check on the latest local news and gossip, and even get medical attention.

Ive had to have drops put in my eyes, and when I try to do it, I waste all the liquid, says House. So in the morning when I come over, Sing puts the drops in my eyes. At noon I come back for a sandwich and a Coke, and she puts drops in my eyes.

While I met with regular customers, others called to share stories about a woman who works 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and along with her husband  who works in a Diamond Bar doughnut shop  put a daughter through college and has a high school son ready to follow.

Before she spoke, I knew what Yam would tell me about the long, hard hours she puts in.

I want my children to have better opportunities.

This classic L.A. story of reinvention begins in Cambodia. Yam and her family fled the Khmer Rouge and found brief refuge in Thailand, only to be sent back to the land of the killing fields.

A second flight to Thailand was more successful, and when Yams family finally made safe landing in California, they followed relatives into the doughnut business, a popular Cambodian career path.

If you cant speak English, you can still make doughnuts, said Yam, whose English is perfect.

She worked various jobs as a young woman, kicked quarters into a kitty and saved enough to buy what was then a Yum Yum doughnut shop. She changed the name to Rainbow.

It was all sugar and spice until just a few weeks ago, when Yam and her customers learned that Dunkin was big-footing onto her turf. At the Cherry Blossom Festival in the shopping center, Yams customers were offended to see a Dunkin Donuts booth where free doughnuts were being handed out right in front of Rainbow.

It doesnt seem fair, says Yam, but she has too much humility to rail against the injustice of it all.

Her supporters arent nearly as timid.

The Rainbow coalition began investigating and dug up a February email from West Covina City Manager Chris Freeland to the mayor and City Council, saying it is my pleasure to announce that Dunkin Donuts is coming to West Covina.

Freeland told me the city tries to recruit lots of businesses and makes them aware of available locations, but did not direct Dunkin Donuts to the South Hills plaza site. That was a matter between the owner of the shopping center  LT Global  and Dunkin Donuts, which will share space with Baskin Robbins.

But former Mayor Steve Herfert, a Rainbow regular, isnt persuaded by that argument. He notes that in Freelands email to the mayor and council, the city manager thanks a staffer for assisting Dunkin Donuts with finding a location in West Covina. Freeland adds that South Hills plaza was one of the sites we have been marketing.

Wei Huang, an LT Global rep, wasnt terribly sympathetic, telling me Yam is always welcome to stay. But Huang said there was no exclusivity clause in Yams lease, and that this will be a case of pure business competition, which happens all over.

But its not just business, says Rainbow regular Leslie Martel. She recalls attending city hearings last year on how to create more of a sense of community in West Covina.

Theres such a sense of community at Rainbow, because Sing knows everybody. Its like Cheers, said Martel. This is an outrage.

But the fight isnt over yet.

If this goes to the planning commission, the Rainbow coalition will be there.

If it goes to the City Council, the Rainbow coalition will march on City Hall.

And if Dunkin dares test the market, it may live to regret the decision. In the heat of battle, I wouldnt be surprised to see Yams regulars double down on their daily doughnuts.

The West Covina doughnut rebellion has only just begun.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATstevelopez

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Another chapter in the war over the California bullet train erupted Tuesday at a board meeting of the states high-speed rail authority as San Fernando Valley residents said the proposed routes would devastate their communities, jeopardize endangered species and cause visual blight.

Residents said routes under consideration between Burbank and Palmdale would ruin the rural character of their neighborhoods, including many equestrian areas.

A detailed plan released Friday that shows possible routes through the area is a piece of garbage, said Gerri Summe, a Lakeview Terrace resident who appeared in a T-shirt that read Democrats Against High Speed Rail. This train is a fiscal disaster.

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Another opponent, Cile Borman, sang a song to the board about racial diversity and her pride in living in Lakeview Terrace. Cowboys and accountants, housewives and movie stars, people of every creed, this is Lakeview Terrace, yes indeed, she sang.

But a succession of union leaders representing painters, drivers, steamfitters and electricians said failure to execute the project would harm their members and damage the regions economy. The union officials suggested that the board ignore the protests of people who were merely trying to protect their own backyards.

Lets rise above shortsighted, short-term, parochial interests, said David Cameron, a senior official of the Teamsters union.

In business actions, the rail authority approved a plan to bear about $100 million in expenses for impacts to Burlington Northern Sante Fe railroad, which operates freight lines near the future route of the high-speed rail in the Central Valley.

The agreement, which has taken years to negotiate, would allow the railroad to bill the state for costs that include moving its tracks, setting up new signals and building separation barriers. Until Tuesday, the rail authority had said it couldnt confirm reports that the deal would cost $100 million.

We are causing an inconvenience and an effect on their business, rail authority chief counsel Tom Fellenz told the board. We need their cooperation.

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The rail board also heard from an attorney and two owners of a rail contractor who alleged that the states failures to pay bills on time had caused multimillion-dollar losses and destroyed their business, Ultra Systems. Rail authority Chairman Dan Richard said, I dont know about this issue.

And a half-dozen Central Valley officials came to the Anaheim meeting to express dissatisfaction with the new business plan, in which the state proposes to build an initial operating segment from San Jose to a temporary station in a farm field north of Shafter.

The plan would guarantee urban sprawl, damage agriculture, fail to connect to existing transportation systems in the area and lose the massive ridership that the Los Angeles basin could provide, said Lauren Skidmore, director of Kern Citizens for Sustainable Government.

Bakersfield, Shafter and Kern County officials offered similar concerns.

The plan to stop north of Shafter would kill an effort by Kern County to win the construction of a heavy maintenance facility at a site in Shafter, which they say is shovel ready.

But the bulk of the action at the meeting involved a long public comment period in which residents of the San Fernando Valley railed against the effects that three routes through the San Gabriel Mountains would have on communities between Palmdale and Burbank.

In the series of analyses released Friday, the rail authority eliminated one of four possible routes. The remaining three routes have long tunnels that would end in the rural areas of Acton and Aqua Dulce, eliciting strong protests among area residents.

One of those routes also would surface in the Lakeview Terrace and Shadow Hills area, traversing the Big Tujunga Wash on a long viaduct.

It is the last rural area in the northeast valley, said Josie Zarat, a Shadow Hills resident. If you put up a high-speed rail, it will destroy the northeast valley.

In its analyses, the state eliminated the so-called E3 route, citing concerns with the depth of the tunnel. But residents said the very same problems affect the route they hate most, the E2 route that requires the viaduct over the Big Tujunga Wash. The activists wore circular badges with a strike through E2.

Tom Williams, a member of the Sierra Club, said the state should put the entire high-speed rail line underground from Union Station to Palmdale. The suggestion is not official Sierra Club position, club officials said.

The state hopes to determine a final route for segments from Bakersfield to Anaheim by the end of next year.

ralph.vartabedian@latimes.com

Twitter: @RVartabedian

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Traffic approaching San Francisco's Bay Bridge was backed up for miles Sunday afternoon when a group of renegade motorists in souped-up cars blocked off all the eastbound lanes and spun their tires and burned rubber "doughnuts" on the structure's deck.

About 50 cars were involved in the sideshow, which occurred just outside the Bay Bridge's Yerba Buena Tunnel, according to authorities and the San Francisco Chronicle. An Instagram account called "Bay Area Movement" posted a video of the spectacle featuring a black car driving in circles as its tires squeal.

It's unclear whether Sunday's unlawful doughnut-burning display in San Francisco was an attempt to one-up another such demonstration in Los Angeles recently.

Last week, a former U.S. Marine tactical vehicle operator and suspected getaway driver mesmerized TV viewers with a wild drive through Los Angeles that included pulling doughnuts in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard.

Herschel Reynolds, 20, was arrested after a roughly two-hour chase on April 7 that included a close call with a TMZ tour bus and ended with a heros welcome in a South L.A. neighborhood.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

Along with a 19-year-old passenger, Isaiah Young, Reynolds peacefully surrendered to sheriffs deputies, who arrived minutes after he parked the rented Ford Mustang.

Both were charged Monday with four felonies, including residential burglary.

No arrests have been made in the San Francisco case. The California Highway Patrol is investigating the stunt and has obtained license plate information, according to the Chronicle.

For more local and breaking news, follow me on Twitter: @sarahparvini

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Facing a potentially bruising ballot fight over real estate development next year, Los Angeles political leaders announced Wednesday that they will seek a sweeping update of the plans that govern the size and density of new buildings that go up in scores of neighborhoods.

Mayor Eric Garcetti and several council members said they want the Planning Department to revise nearly three dozen community plans by 2026, a task that will require the hiring of 28 new employees at a cost of $4.2 million a year.

Updating the plans, Garcetti said, will help communities focus on ways of making housing more affordable, improving commutes and protecting the character of residential neighborhoods.

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Its not just a question of if were going to grow, but how were going to grow, he said.

The push to change so many plans could intensify a debate over development in Los Angeles  how to build much-needed housing while also addressing complaints from neighborhoods about real estate mega-projects.

Garcetti said his proposal is not a response to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has drafted a ballot proposal for March 2017 that would impose a two-year moratorium on most large-scale developments. But he said the initiative would address a key complaint from that group: that far too many of the planning documents that determine how neighborhoods should develop are out of date.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is targeting the citys frequent practice of granting developers increases in height and density  moves that can greatly enhance the value of a piece of property  and exceptions from rules that require a certain amount of parking and open space.

Garcetti says there will be fewer requests for those types of rule changes if the community plans are up to date. Michael Weinstein, the top executive at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said his group is not impressed with the mayors proposal  and will press ahead with its ballot measure.

Weinstein said the community plans should be updated over two years, not 10. And updating the neighborhood plans, he added, wont do anything to stop scores of projects already in the pipeline that are seeking breaks from existing planning rules.

Its basically a plan to close the barn door after all the animals are out, Weinstein said.

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Los Angeles has 35 community plans  documents prepared by the Planning Department, in consultation with neighborhoods, and approved by the City Council  covering areas from Wilmington to West Hills. All but six are more than 15 years old.

The moldy state of those plans was called out two years ago by the LA 2020 Commission, a civic group formed to examine L.A.'s most pressing problems. In a report, that panel said the lack of up-to-date neighborhood plans had left developers at the mercy of special interests, nimbyism, and individual elected officials.

Community plans set the rules for what can be done in terms of land use in every community across the city, said Occidental College professor Mark Vallianatos. An update of those plans would help the city confront its need for more housing and respond to the changes that have taken place in many neighborhoods over the last two decades, said Vallianatos, co-founder of the advocacy group Abundant Housing L.A.

If they do it, they should do it right and look to the future  how many units of housing do we need so that the city isnt so ridiculously expensive? How do we make the city evolve to adapt to climate change? How can we allow more density close to transit?

Councilman Gil Cedillo, who represents part of the Eastside, said new community plans are needed to ensure responsible housing production for working families. But Laura Lake, a board member with the Westside advocacy group Fix the City, said she fears city leaders will use the process to carry out a major upzoning of neighborhoods  changing the rules to permit larger development projects.

Such a strategy would not make sense in a city facing rising crime and struggling to address broken sidewalks, abandoned trash and broken water pipes, Lake said.

Looking at whats on the horizon, I dont know that it would be good to update the plans, Lake added. Im very concerned about densification when the infrastructure is collapsing.

Three years ago, Lakes group went to court to challenge the citys approval of a new community plan for Hollywood, which allowed taller and denser buildings near public transit stops. A judge sided with the neighborhood groups, forcing the council to rescind the plan and revert back to planning rules that were adopted for Hollywood in 1988.

Planning officials are now preparing a new environmental impact report for the Hollywood plan and hoping for a council vote in 2017.

Former County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who spent nearly two decades on the council, said Wednesdays announcement is clearly a response to the proposal drafted by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. That proposal has given a voice to residents who feel the planning process is rigged in favor of developers and against communities, said Yaroslavsky, director of the L.A. Initiative at UCLAs Luskin School of Public Affairs and Department of History.

To address those residents concerns, Yaroslavsky said, L.A. leaders will need to show the public that theyre willing to halt the willy nilly ad hoc planning that has taken place over the last decade or two.

Thats been the problem. A developer buys a property for twice what its worth, and then to make it pencil out, goes to the city and says, I need to double the zoning, he said. And the citys been granting it.

Yaroslavsky also thinks the mayor and council will need to move more swiftly to update the neighborhood plans.

An accelerated schedule, not a decade-long schedule, would convey the impression and the reality that the city is dead serious about doing this, and not just trying to buy some time and get out from under the political pressure, he added.

Follow @DavidZahniser on Twitter for whats happening at Los Angeles City Hall.

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Two alleged gang members pleaded not guilty Tuesday to killing a 19-year-old woman and her teenage friend whose bodies were found in a Montecito Heights park last year.

Jose Antonio Echeverria, 18, and Dallas Stone Pineda, 17, who is being prosecuted as an adult, are charged with two gang-motivated murders in the killings of 17-year-old Briana Gallegos and her friend, Gabriela Calzada, 19.

Their bodies were found near a hiking trail at Ernest E. Debs Regional Park on Oct. 28.

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Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said the women were killed in a horrific scene. One victim was shot, he said. Both were bludgeoned, but he declined to say with what. The district attorneys complaint said Echeverria used a rifle to kill Calzada.

These victims were brutally murdered, Beck said at a news conference announcing the mens arrests in February. They were known to the suspects who committed the murder. They were also specifically targeted by those suspects.

Investigators, Beck said, believe no other people were directly involved in the killings. Authorities declined to go into further detail about a motive for the crime or how the suspects knew the victims.

Shortly after a woman discovered the bodies Oct. 28, an uneasiness permeated the neighborhood. Residents gathered at community meetings, questioning whether they were safe. Some feared a serial killer was on the loose, a rumor that police quickly tried to dispel. Detectives remained tight-lipped, even as residents and reporters watched police search three homes in connection with the case in mid-November.

The case was reassigned from Hollenbeck investigators to the LAPDs Robbery-Homicide Division, which usually investigates high-profile or complex cases.

Literally dozens of detectives were assigned to work this case, Beck said.

Investigators examined forensic evidence and interviewed dozens of people, he said. Echeverria was initially arrested on suspicion of shooting at an occupied vehicle. Prosecutors also charged him with attempted murder, shooting at a car and bringing methamphetamine into a jail.

Echeverria used the moniker Klepto and Pineda used Trippy, prosecutors allege. The district attorneys office said prosecutors would decide later whether to seek the death penalty for Echeverria. Pineda, who is charged as an adult, is ineligible for execution because of his age. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

They are due back in court for a preliminary hearing June 1.

Times staff writers Kate Mather, Nicole Santa Cruz and Stephen Ceasar contributed to this report.

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna.
Hours after the Supreme Court in 2013 struck down a core part of the Voting Rights Act, Texas put into effect a law that threatened to disenfranchise more than 600,000 registered voters.

The Justice Department had blocked the law two years earlier as discriminatory, and a three-judge panel in Washington agreed that it put unforgiving burdens on the poor. Texans who lacked drivers licenses had to take certified copies of their birth certificates to motor-vehicle offices to obtain new photo ID cards, sometimes a trip of more than 100 miles.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

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Even though the high courts ruling ended the departments ability to prevent the law from taking effect, a federal district court judge in 2014 struck it down for discriminating against minorities. Last year, a U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld that decision in a 3-0 opinion, written by a judge appointed by President George W. Bush.

Yet the Texas law still stands.

Seemingly untouched by numerous legal defeats, the voter ID law serves as an example of how difficult it can be to halt potentially discriminatory voting rules in the aftermath of the Supreme Courts 2013 decision in Shelby County vs. Holder.

This is a perfect illustration of what we lost, said Jon Greenbaum, chief counsel for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. We have seven judges who looked at this and all found a violation. Yet the law is still in effect.

The Supreme Court has refused to intervene so far. On the eve of the 2014 elections, the justices by a 6-3 vote declined to block enforcement of the photo ID rule pending the states appeal, as did the 5th Circuit, despite its own panels ruling.

Now, as the nation heads toward the first presidential election since the high court struck down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, opponents are again asking the court to put the Texas law on hold. A decision is expected in the coming week.

Section 5 of the 1965 landmark voting law had barred Texas and other states with checkered histories on voting rights from changing their election rules without first winning approval from the Justice Department or from a federal court in Washington.

Since that provision of the act was struck down, eight of the nine states that were subject to federal preclearance have adopted or enforced laws or restrictions that altered voting procedures in ways that have made it more difficult for poor, minority and mostly Democratic voters, voting rights groups say.

We are seeing stark evidence of a resurgence in voting discrimination, said Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers Committee.

In North Carolina, the state cut back on early voting and ended same-day registration. Voters in Phoenix spent hours waiting in line to vote in late March after county officials reduced the number of polling places from more than 200 to 60. Alabama adopted a new photo ID law similar to the one in Texas and then announced that, for budget reasons, it was closing dozens of motor vehicle offices in rural counties.

The Justice Department has filed suit against three such laws, one in North Carolina and two in Texas, including the photo ID law.

While the Shelby County decision has certainly made it more difficult to ensure that new practices do not unlawfully discriminate against eligible voters, our commitment to protecting the rights of voters has not wavered and we continue to use every tool at our disposal to work to protect the voting rights of every eligible American, said Vanita Gupta, head of the departments civil rights division.

This preclearance provision was often described as strong medicine for an especially virulent disease. The Constitution was amended after the Civil War to forbid racial discrimination in voting. But that command proved ineffective in the South as long as state lawmakers could change rules and local officials controlled the voting rolls.

Texas proved especially inventive in devising ways to prevent blacks from participating in elections, voting rights advocates say. Four times during the 20th century, the Supreme Court struck down Texas laws that it found barred blacks from voting in primary elections.

The Voting Rights Act was seen by many as the most effective civil rights measure in the nations history. And in 2006 the House and Senate, in a rare bipartisan move, extended the full law for another 25 years.

But Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who had been a critic of the measure since his days as a young Reagan administration lawyer, had other ideas. Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions, Roberts said in the 5-4 decision that held the special scrutiny for the South was outdated. In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg compared the majoritys logic to throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.

It was the first time since the 19th century that the high court had voided a major civil rights law involving race, and voting rights lawyers predicted trouble. We warned the court this was about protecting real voters from real discrimination, said Ryan Haygood, formerly a voting rights lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Maybe if you live a considerable distance from where the discrimination is most intense, you dont understand it.

Even before 2013, Texas had required registered voters to show some proof of their identity before casting a ballot. In 2011, the Republican-controlled Legislature decided to sharply restrict the what type of proof would suffice. A Texas drivers license, a U.S. passport, a concealed weapons permit and a U.S. military identification card qualified, but not a photo ID of a federal, state or local government employee or of a student at a state university.

After the high court decision, the Justice Department and a coalition of civil rights groups filed suit in a federal court in Texas under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which also forbids measures that discriminate against minorities.

After a two-week trial, U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, an Obama appointee, struck down the Texas law in October 2014. In a 147-page opinion, she described how Texas lawmakers worried about the growing minority population in the state and deliberately set out to limit voting by Latinos and African Americans. While the state had virtually no evidence of people fraudulently posing as someone else to cast ballots, the strict photo ID would prevent or discourage hundreds of thousands of legal voters from casting ballots, she said.

But shortly after she ruled, the 5th Circuit Court in New Orleans, at the behest of Texas state lawyers, lifted her order and permitted the law to take effect in time for the November election.

No one knows how many Texas voters might have been deterred, but the state reported a significant drop in turnout. In 2010, 38% of its registered voters cast ballots in the governors race. Four years later, with the new law in effect, 33.7% cast a vote for governor.

With the fall elections approaching, civil rights lawyers are trying again at the Supreme Court. They filed an emergency appeal in late March with Justice Clarence Thomas and asked him and the full court to put the Texas law on hold for this years election.

Texas state lawyers call the new ID requirement a minor inconvenience for voters, and they are urging the court to dismiss the appeal. They said the new law affects only a limited fraction of qualified Texas voters, and the challengers did not prove it will be prevent any person from casting a ballot.

Voting rights groups see the Supreme Court as their last chance to stop the law before November. We felt we had to go to the court one more time on this, said Gerry Hebert, a veteran voting rights lawyer with the Campaign Legal Center. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of people, and this is the most fundamental right we have as Americans.

david.savage@latimes.com

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On a Saturday in February, Chivy Ngo, who owns Mister Bo Ky restaurant in Brooklyn, took a rare three-hour lunch break, closed his restaurant and taped a sign to the door.

Will be at the rally for PETER LIANG reopen at 3 p.m.

Ngo, a Chinese immigrant from Vietnam, rarely participates in politics. But that was before New York Police Officer Peter Liang fired his gun into a dark stairwell, and the ricocheting bullet struck and killed an unarmed black man.

Liang, who grew up in New Yorks Chinatown as the son of Chinese immigrants, became the first New York City officer in more than a decade to be convicted in a shooting in the line of duty. For Ngo, the case stirred a sense of injustice he had never felt before. He and more than 10,000 other Asian Americans flooded the streets of Brooklyn for what would become the largest display of Chinese activism in recent history.

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Nail salon workers stood with politicians. Chinatown cooks marched with uptown lawyers. They waved American flags and hoisted signs suggesting Liangs conviction was the product of discrimination: Peter Scapegoat; One tragedy: two victims. The case sparked similar protests across the nation, but there were also counter-protests by African American groups demanding that Liang go to prison.

Here in Brooklyn, where the two communities have lived in close proximity for years, the case has opened an emotional conversation about whether Chinese Americans experience racism the same way other minorities do.

Liangs Chinese supporters say they are taking up the fight against long-unrecognized discrimination against Asian Americans.

If we didnt come out, today its Peter Liang. Tomorrow its Peter Lee. After that its Peter Chan. Weve borne it long enough, said John Chan, a community leader who founded a Chinese civil rights organization after Liangs indictment last year.

Akai Gurley was shot and killed in a stairwell in the Pink Houses. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The case against Liang stemmed from an incident in November 2014 when he was patrolling the stairwell of the Louis H. Pink public housing project in east Brooklyn. The stairwell was dark, and in accordance with department practice, he had his gun drawn. It fired  how and why has always been in dispute, though Liang has said he was startled by a noise.

The bullet bounced off a wall and tore through the chest of 28-year-old Akai Gurley a floor below, piercing his heart. Liang didnt call for an ambulance and didnt perform CPR  factors that counted against him in court. A jury found him guilty of manslaughter and official misconduct, and he is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.

Gurleys supporters say that whatever unfairness there may be in Liangs conviction, it cant compare with the injustice of Gurleys death.

Akai had family that loved him just like Peter Liang, a mother just like Peter Liang, Gurleys aunt, Hertencia Peterson, said. But Liangs mother can come visit him every day. Akai Gurleys mom ... has to visit his grave.

In New Yorks Chinese communities, Liangs case has become a proxy for years of perceived mistreatment of Chinese Americans, said Peter Kwong, a professor of Asian American studies at Hunter College.

Its an atmosphere of persecution that forms after an accumulation of years of marginalization, Kwong said.

Karlin Chan, a community board member and organizer, remembers a time when police and city officials regularly cracked down on struggling Chinese businesses, and when black crimes against Chinese businesses would go unreported. Its a history of persecution, he said, thats rendered invisible by the belief that Asian Americans are uniformly high achieving and affluent  model minorities.

More than 22% of Chinese New Yorkers live in poverty. Rising rents in Manhattans Chinatown, the nations first, have pushed many to outlying Chinatowns in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as newer satellite communities in Harlem, Elmhurst and Bensonhurst, where Liang lives. The city now has nine Chinatowns and more than 570,000 Chinese people, according to the 2014 American Community Survey.

A police officer patrols on the edge of New Yorks Chinatown. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

In the cramped streets and alleys of Manhattans Chinatown, aging dim sum restaurants and grocery stores scrum with coffee shops and bars serving more affluent clientele. New hotels and luxury housing complexes tower over the cheap tenements where many longtime residents live.

They thought that we werent going to speak up, Chan said. They thought that we were just going to be a model minority. But this one has touched everyone. Its 150 years of racism and mistreatment coming out.

Yet some of the loudest voices calling for holding Liang criminally liable are also Asian American. The Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, based in Manhattans Chinatown, held a vigil to show support for Gurley. For some, distrust of police trumps ethnic solidarity. Allen Pang, a 26-year-old Chinese immigrant, said that because Liang was a police officer, he didnt join the protest rally  but he believes that Liang was being singled out for prosecution.

Police officers always cause trouble, he said in Chinese.

Liang, who declined to comment for this article, grew up on Manhattans Lower East Side, dreaming of becoming a police officer. His mother was a garment factory worker and later became a travel agent. His father worked as a cook.

He attended elementary school and middle school in Chinatown, then went on to the Legacy School for Integrated Studies, where the student body was largely black. Liang was widely respected and liked, but he kept to a small circle of friends, said Timothy Wei, who also attended the school.

We kind of stuck together since we were from the same background in Chinatown, Wei said.

Another classmate, Stanley Morrison, said he may have been Liangs closest black friend at the school. He was seen as a good kid  people recognized that, so nobody messed with him, Morrison said.

After college, Liang applied to the New York Police Academy. On the day of the shooting, he had been a cop for almost 18 months.

Before Liangs bullet ended his life, Gurley was planning to move to Florida to be closer to his mother, said his aunt, Peterson.

Many Liang supporters have fixated on Gurleys record of drug-related arrests, in order to suggest he wasnt an innocent victim. But that history had nothing to do with his death, Peterson said. On the night he was shot, he was visiting a friend at her home.

Supporters on both sides can agree that Liang must be held accountable. Some black activists, when asked, will wonder why the first NYPD officer to face charges for a line-of-duty shooting in more than a decade was Chinese. Chinese supporters of Liang, if prompted, agree that police should face greater scrutiny, and acknowledge a shared struggle for equal treatment. But the question of whether Liang should serve jail time is a fundamental disagreement.

A woman and her son enter their apartment inside the building where of Akai Gurley was shot and killed. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

At a Chinese restaurant on the edge of the Pink Houses, where Gurley died, Diana Cheng handles a steady stream of phone orders in an accent thats equal parts Brooklyn and Chinese, shouting the names of dishes in Mandarin to the cook in the back. As she lowers six crab wontons into the fryer, three black children pool their money for cheese fries. On one wall is a Barack Obama poster; on another, a large Chinese landscape.

The restaurant, China Doll, has served up peach cobbler and Jamaican beef patties next to lo mein and egg drop soup for nearly 20 years, said owner Bernard Momestime, who runs it with his Chinese wife. People say the Pink Houses are the worst place to live  a bad place. But not for us, he said. They have respect for us here. We are like a big family here.

At a black church on the edge of Chinatown, Associate Minister Cara J. Martin said she began to preach regularly at a Chinese church to understand the community better. Her message at both pulpits is the same: We need to love each other and talk about the burdens we face, not the politics.

A cashier at China Doll Chinese Restaurant in Brooklyn, near the Pink Houses, gives change back to a customer. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

frank.shyong@latimes.com

Twitter: @frankshyong

Special correspondent Vera Haller in New York contributed to this report.

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Lawyers for Bill Cosby are urging a court Wednesday to reseal the comedians deposition testimony about extramarital affairs, Quaaludes and payments to women.

Cosby hopes the move could block the decade-old testimony from being used in his criminal sexual assault case or the legal battles hes fighting with women across the country who accuse him of sexual assault or defamation.

Cosby, 78, hopes to overturn a ruling that made the documents public last year at the request of the Associated Press. The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court in Philadelphia is hearing his appeal Wednesday morning.

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A reversal by this court would allow defendant to argue to the various courts in which he finds himself a party  or may in the future find himself a party  that, because the unsealing order was erroneous, the unsealed documents, and information learned from the unsealed documents, should not be introduced in court as evidence against defendant, lawyer Patrick J. OConnor wrote in a legal brief.

The AP calls the issue moot given the widespread coverage that followed the unsealing of documents that included excerpts from Cosbys deposition in accuser Andrea Constands 2005 lawsuit in the court docket and, later, the release by a court reporting firm of the entire deposition. Only a few media outlets obtained the nearly 1,000-page deposition before Cosbys legal team warned them that it remained under seal as part of the 2006 settlement of the lawsuit.

The full deposition is therefore no longer available, but sensitive excerpts are still available in the online court filings unsealed by U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno.

Indeed, due to the highly embarrassing and private nature of the information at issue, confidentiality was the most important term of the settlement to defendant, Cosbys brief states, noting the harm to his reputation and livelihood that followed the depositions release.

Cosby, whos been married for more than 50 years, admitted to several affairs in the deposition and said he obtained prescription sedatives in the 1970s to give to women he hoped to seduce. That led prosecutors in suburban Philadelphia to revisit Constands 2005 police complaint and charge Cosby with sexual assault in December, just before the 12-year statute of limitations expired.

Cosby is free on $1 million bail while a state appeals court considers whether a former prosecutor had made a binding promise that he would never be charged over Constands complaint that Cosby drugged and molested her at his home.

The AP argued in its brief that resealing the documents would be an affront to the public interest in transparency.

The AP generally doesnt identify people who say theyve been sexually assaulted unless they agree to have their names published, as Constand has done.

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Gov. John Bel Edwards issued an executive order Wednesday banning discrimination in state government based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Democratic governor also rescinded his Republican predecessors order offering protections to people who oppose same-sex marriage.

Edwards LGBT protection order prohibits state agencies, boards and contractors from harassment or discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, political affiliation, disability or age. State contracts will be required to include a similar anti-discrimination provision.

We are fortunate enough to live in a state that is rich with diversity, and we are built on a foundation of unity and fairness for all of our citizens, the governor said in a statement. We respect our fellow citizens for their beliefs, but we do not discriminate based on our disagreements.

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Edwards order comes as states across the country, particularly in the South, wrestle with religious freedom legislation and laws that critics have called discriminatory against the LGBT community. Supporters say theyre trying to protect religious beliefs.

In Louisiana, the order includes an exemption for state contractors that are religious organizations. The provision affecting contractors takes effect July 1. The rest of the order starts immediately.

While this executive order respects the religious beliefs of our people, it also signals to the rest of the country that discrimination is not a Louisiana value, but rather, that Louisiana is a state that is respective and inclusive of everyone around us, Edwards said.

Louisiana doesnt have a state law protecting the states LGBT residents from discrimination, and efforts to enact such a law have failed. Shreveport and New Orleans have passed their own anti-discrimination ordinances.

Edwards edict is similar to orders enacted by two former Louisiana Democratic governors  but he added language protecting against discrimination based on gender identity, a provision that protects transgender people.

Matthew Patterson, managing director of LGBT rights organization Equality Louisiana, said the executive order is the first time transgender people have ever had any degree of statewide legal protections in Louisiana.

The governors office released statements of support from leaders of chambers of commerce in New Orleans and Shreveport.

This action will help to solidify Louisianas current reputation as a welcoming place for business and talent, said Michael Hecht, president and chief executive of Greater New Orleans Inc.

Edwards also terminated a religious objections executive order issued by former Gov. Bobby Jindal last year. That Marriage and Conscience order from Jindal prohibited state agencies under the governors control from denying licenses, benefits, contracts or tax deductions to businesses and people that take actions because of a religious belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman.

When he was a state lawmaker last year, Edwards opposed Jindal-backed legislation that would have enacted similar provisions in state law. That bill failed amid opposition from business groups and LGBT advocates, so Jindal followed up with the order.

Edwards described Jindals order as divisive and threatening to business growth.

It goes against everything we stand for  unity, acceptance, and opportunity for all, he said.

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The U.S. Navy is disputing news reports that an upcoming military ceremony in Pascagoula, Miss., had been moved to Portland, Ore., because of opposition to Mississippis new LGBT law.

News outlets in Portland were reporting that the Navy had canceled plans to christen and commission the amphibious transport dock ship Portland at the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Pascagoula on May 21.

The story seemed to take off after Portland Mayor Charlie Hales announced last week that he would not attend the christening in Pascagoula unless Mississippi lawmakers repeal HB 1523, which critics say will legalize discrimination against LGBT people.

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In a recent Facebook post, Hales explained his decision: The first lady and I were invited by the U.S. Secretary of the Navy [Ray Mabus of Mississippi] to help christen the USS Portland in Mississippi. We were scheduled to go in May.

We will not be taking that trip if that discriminatory law is not repealed. It would be a shame if the mayor of Portland couldnt attend the christening of the USS Portland, but I will not travel to a state that legalizes bigotry.

But the christening will go on as scheduled  apparently without Hales  in Pascagoula, where the ship was built.

The commissioning ceremony  which was never scheduled to be at the same location as the christening  will be in Portland next year. The Navys decision to do so had nothing to do with Mississippis law, said Lt. Eric Durie, a spokesman for Mabus.

Portland was selected this month after the city asked the Navy last year to host the ceremony, Durie said.

What we try to do, if possible, is commission the ships in their namesake cities, Durie said. The USS New York was commissioned in New York. The USS Detroit will be commissioned in Detroit. And the USS Portland will be commissioned in Portland.
Vice President Joe Biden, who has traveled to some Americas leading medical centers in recent weeks as part of what he has called his moonshot to cure cancer, will soon take his quest to the Vatican.

Biden will address a major conference on the progress of regenerative medicine in Vatican City on April 29, the vice presidents office said Wednesday.

The gathering, hosted by the Stem for Life Foundation and the Vaticans Pontifical Council for Culture, will also draw leading physicians, ethicists and philanthropists to discuss the potential of emerging research to treat cancer and other diseases. The initiative has been championed by Pope Francis, who worked as a chemist before he entered the priesthood and has written in support of scientific progress.

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Biden will be the latest leading U.S. political figure to attend a major gathering at the Vatican. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, will travel there this week to address a separate summit on social, economic and environmental issues.

Other details on the vice presidents three-day trip to Rome and the Vatican, including a possible meeting with Francis, had not yet been determined, his office said.

Biden, the nations first Catholic vice president, attended Francis papal inauguration in 2013 and attended multiple events during the Catholic leaders visit to the U.S. last fall, including his address to Congress and departure from Philadelphia after the World Meeting of Families there.

Biden has praised Francis message of inclusion, writing in Time magazine that the pope put a welcome sign on the front door of the Church. Biden has also spoken of Francis personal empathy toward him and his family since the death last May of Bidens eldest son, Beau, and the role of his faith in coping with personal tragedy.

The vice presidents effort to cure cancer, first announced by Biden as he said last fall that he would not run for president, was formally launched this year in President Obamas State of the Union address. Biden has since traveled to Duke University, the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University and other research centers as part of his effort to bring stakeholders together in search of a cure.

Follow @mikememoli for more news out of Washington.

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Im Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I dont want you to miss today.

TOP STORIES

The LAPD and a Death in Venice

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An L.A. police officer told investigators that he shot an unarmed homeless man in Venice because the man tried to grab his partners gun. But video from a security camera didnt show the slain mans hand on or near any portion of the holster, according to an LAPD report. Now, the Police Commission has sided with Chief Charlie Beck in finding the shooting unjustified. And the pressure is mounting on the district attorneys office to file charges.

The NYPD and Asian Americans

Across the country, in another case of an on-duty shooting, Peter Liang will face sentencing Thursday after he fired into a stairwell and the ricocheting bullet killed an unarmed black man. Liang is the first New York City officer in more than a decade to be convicted in such a shooting, and his case has spurred protests by Asian Americans, as well as counter-protests by African Americans. Take a closer look at how Liang has become a proxy for years of perceived mistreatment of Chinese Americans.

Inside Boko Harams Rampage

When the Islamic terror group Boko Haram abducted at least 400 people  many of them children  from the Nigerian fishing town of Damasak in November 2014, it sparked no global hashtags, as did the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls in Chibok seven months earlier. Local officials say they were told to keep quiet. Now, details are starting to emerge. Im in agony because those children taken, especially my 16 nephews, are like my own children, one local chief said.

To Infinity and  Exposition Park

Can we reach Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system, and do it in our lifetimes? Thats the goal of a $100-million initiative announced by a Russian billionaire and physicist Stephen Hawking. The idea is to send a swarm of tiny probes, pushed along by light particles. Closer to home, a symbol of space travels past is beginning its journey to a museum in L.A.: A 15-story external tank, the last of a fleet of 136 designed for the space shuttle, is making its way by sea from New Orleans.

Kobe Bryant checks his phone as he soaks his feet in a bucket of ice water before a game with the Rockets in Houston. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Kobes Last Shot

Kobe Bryant will walk off the court one last time tonight, ending a 20-year career with the Lakers that included seven NBA Finals trips, five championships and plenty of fans and detractors. The most polarizing figure in the history of Los Angeles sports, as columnist Bill Plaschke writes. Heres a look at the preparations for his last game and some key career moments, and dont miss Wally Skalijs remarkable photographs from Bryants road to retirement.

CALIFORNIA

-- After Bill Cosbys accusers testify, the Legislature weighs eliminating the statute of limitations for sex crimes.

-- Soil testing by L.A. County finds widespread lead contamination near a former Exide plant in Vernon.

-- Workers in Los Angeles would get six paid sick days under a new proposal.

-- This mama coyote, blinded by a bullet, is alive thanks to animal rescuers.

NATION-WORLD

-- Paul Ryan makes it official, again. Hes not seeking the GOP nomination for president.

-- Paging Amy Schumer and Chris Rock! U2 singer Bono tells Congress comedy can help in the fight against extremists.

-- The gift for the country that has everything: Egypt gives Saudi Arabia two desert islands.

-- North Carolinas governor backs down a bit on the states LGBT law.

-- In China, a judge rules against the first-ever same-sex marriage case.

-- Pinch me: Scientists capture mesmerizing video of swarming red crabs.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- When showbiz meets presidential politics: Check out our celebrity endorsement tracker.

-- A copyright case over Led Zeppelins Stairway to Heaven is heading to trial.

-- Did someone find a $136-million Caravaggio painting in the attic in France?

-- Countdown to Coachella this weekend: A profile of the L.A. band Phases.

-- The restored Met Breuer (formerly the Whitney Museum) in New York has a new energy as well as a lived-in look.

-- The Tribeca Film Festival gives art-centric films their close-up.

BUSINESS

-- American Apparel lays off hundreds of workers and considers outsourcing some manufacturing.

-- Virtual reality looms large for Facebook as it plans for the future.

-- The gender pay gap: In California, it adds up to $39 billion.

SPORTS

-- The Dodgers opening day brought joy and frustration to residents near the stadium. By the way, the boys in blue lost.

-- The Stanley Cup playoffs start tonight. Here are Helene Elliotts predictions for the first round.

OPINION

-- Here are the questions Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders really need to be answering.

-- Why cats and snakes prefer Ted Cruz.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- The Guardian analyzes its reader comments and finds articles written by women draw more abuse.

-- Flowers and chocolate: Prosecutors track the alleged dealings of the Calabrian mafia worldwide. (Reuters)

-- Photographs from the great San Francisco earthquake. Next week is the 110th anniversary. (The Atlantic)

ONLY IN L.A.

A Rainbow coalition with a twist has formed in West Covina. The outrage? Over a Dunkin Donuts that is slated to open in 2017, practically next door to the mom-and-pop operation called Rainbow Donuts. Columnist Steve Lopez checks in on the great doughnut rebellion.

Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.
Days after San Francisco mandated a dramatic expansion of family leave benefits in the private sector, Gov. Jerry Brown approved a comparatively modest upgrade in Californias pioneering family-leave program that wont take effect until 2018. Yet the statewide measure, AB 908, is still a win for workers, particularly lower-wage workers who cant afford to take advantage of the family leave benefit at its current level.

California launched the nations first family leave program in 2004, offering up to six weeks of paid leave to workers who need to care for a new baby or an ailing family member. The program, which is financed through the disability insurance taxes that employees pay, costs employers nothing. But it covers only 55% of the workers lost wages, currently up to $1,104 per week.

The new law will raise the wage replacement rate to 70% for anyone making one-third or less of the states average wage, and to 60% for everyone else (up to the existing maximum benefit). That increase should be large enough to make the program usable for low-wage workers who cant make ends meet even temporarily with todays benefits, but its small enough to be funded almost entirely by unspent revenue from the current program.

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San Franciscos new ordinance requires workers to be paid 100% of their wages while on family leave, with employers covering the amount not paid by the state program. Such a rule might fly in a job market as hot and as expensive as that citys, but it gives employers a reason to avoid hiring the workers most likely to need the benefit.

Researchers have found that the states family leave program has benefited workers, their families and their employers, thanks to increased productivity and retention. It also helps small businesses compete for young workers against big firms that are increasingly offering generous family leave benefits on their own dime. AB 908 makes a welcome effort to increase participation, and it requires the state to reassess the effort in 2021  a good opportunity to see if more generous benefits are warranted.

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Bernie Sanders promises are like music or candy to liberal Democrats. Free tuition for all. High-quality healthcare provided by the government as a matter of right, not charity. Help for the poor that would simultaneously reduce income inequality and increase fairness. Many Democrats  and especially young Democrats  see in the Vermont senator a candidate who wont kowtow to the other side, wont vote for the Iraq war or oppose gay marriage because it is politically expedient to do so, but instead will say what he means, demand what he wants and stick to his principles in a world full of compromisers and triangulators.

But uh-oh, here comes the voice of reason, Hillary Clinton, offering an alternative narrative. Sanders proposals sound fabulous, she says, but shouldnt we return for a moment to the real world? A world of divided government, where even the president of the United States cannot have her way but must negotiate and haggle for votes from across the aisle. Clinton backers see a world in which both houses of Congress are controlled, at last for the moment, by the GOP, and the only path forward for a Democratic president with a progressive agenda is one of wheeling and dealing and, yes, compromise. Sanders bold, feel-good proposals would be dead on arrival, and although he may win votes from young idealists and old lefties, he will never accomplish as much in office as she will. Or so they say.

A good politician must learn how to make rational sacrifices without trading away his or her core convictions.

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At the moment, the Clintonian vision of the world appears to have a slight edge. In exit polls from Ohio, 77% of Democratic primary voters said Clintons policies were realistic, while only 58% said the same about Sanders policies. That divide was even wider in Florida and North Carolina. Perhaps thats whats being reflected in the lopsided delegate count, which she leads, 1,758 to 1,069.

Sadly, this dispute  idealism, lets call it, versus pragmatism  wont be settled regardless of who eventually wins the Democratic nomination. These two competing narratives predate the Clinton-Sanders showdown (and indeed are as old as democracy itself), and will still be around long after the 2016 race has been run and won. Since antiquity, people who think about politics have debated whether the greatest leaders are men and women of unyielding principle or those who understand the importance of setting realistic goals, cutting deals and locking in partial gains when possible.

The debate goes back to Aristotle, to Machiavelli. In the 18th century, Edmund Burke wrote that all government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. In the 19th century, John Stuart Mill wrote: I became practically conversant with the difficulties of moving bodies of men, the necessities of compromise, the art of sacrificing the nonessential to preserve the essential. On the other side, former House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas) argued in his 2006 farewell address: It is not the principled partisan, however obnoxious he may seem to his opponents, who degrades our public debate, but the preening, self-styled statesman who elevates compromise to a first principle.

Americas beloved President Lincoln was a compromiser on an issue over which there wouldnt seem to be much room for moral flexibility. Although he insisted he had always opposed slavery in his heart, he for many years declined to call for abolition in existing slave states and merely opposed its westward expansion into new territories. Even after the Civil War began, he backed a gradual rather than immediate end to slavery, with compensation to be paid to slave owners. Many abolitionists saw such compromise as surrender. It is by compromise that human rights have been abandoned, said Massachusetts Sen. Charles Sumner.

President Obama, despite an early flirtation with hope and change, has been mostly in the pragmatic camp. After cutting a 2010 deal with the GOP on taxes that angered his Democratic base, Obama derided the satisfaction of having a purist position  and no victories for the American people.

A similar battle has played out among Republicans in the House of Representatives, where GOP leaders have been under siege for several years by ideological purists. And in presidential politics, the Republican Party has swung back and forth for decades between far-right conservatives pushing an idealized vision of minimalist government and those championing a more expansive big tent party that places problem-solving above ideology. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) represents the former this year and Ohio Gov. John Kasich the latter.

Its a debate that will undoubtedly go on forever, but in reality the question does not require a binary solution. It is not the case that compromisers are right and politicians of principle wrong  or vice versa. Whats more, there are few politicians who do not have a mix of the idealist and the pragmatist in them. (Surely Clinton would claim to have principles and Sanders no doubt would insist hes willing to make rational compromises; its just a matter of degree.)

In truth, the tough question facing politicians is not whether to compromise, but under what circumstances to do so. A president like Obama, who currently must work with a Congress dominated by the opposing party, has to compromise far more than a Lyndon Johnson, whose Democrats controlled the House and the Senate throughout his term in office.

A good politician must learn how to make rational sacrifices without trading away his or her core convictions. He or she must also ask whether a particular compromise will bring an improvement over the status quo, even an incremental one  if so, then perhaps its worth agreeing to. Although it is true that a candidate who makes an effort to compromise may nevertheless find himself with few or no partners, a candidate who refuses to compromise at all will very often accomplish little or nothing.

The appeal of Sanders is his moral crusade, his reimagining of American politics beyond the narrow frame of whats achievable in an increasingly dysfunctional, partisan process. When Sanders spoke to The Times editorial board recently, he spoke of a campaign that was profoundly different from others and a presidency that would transform this country through what he calls a political revolution. Bold words, inspiring words and an important reminder to Democrats not to allow themselves to be locked into a box by unimaginative politicians who fail to think big.

But if the balance of power in Washington doesnt change radically, if the political revolution fails to materialize, Sanders audacious promises would remain merely slogans and wishes.

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Since Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders last debated, weve seen a terrorist attack in Brussels, more fighting in Syria and Iraq, a huge leak of offshore financial records from Panama  and new forms of chaos in the Republican Party.

So what have the Democrats been arguing about all this time? Whos qualified to be president and whos not; whos being truthful, and whos not; who knows how to ride the New York subway, and who doesnt.

To help nudge them in a more substantive direction, I thought Id offer up a half-dozen questions for Thursdays debate. Moderators may copy them wholesale for the low price of zero dollars.

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Financial regulation

Both Sanders and Clinton have called for tougher rules on Wall Street.

Sanders has made breaking up the nations biggest banks a keystone of his campaign, and hes called for reinstating the 1933 Glass-Steagall law, which separated traditional banking from investment banking.

Clinton has called for stronger regulations aimed at the nonbanks that played a central role in the crash of 2008. She has said federal regulators already have the power to break up big banks, but she hasnt demanded that they do so.

Beyond that, theyve mostly talked past each other, each asserting that his or her proposal is tougher.

Question: Whats wrong with your opponents plan? Why shouldnt we take both measures?

Financial transfer tax

Sanders has called for a tax on financial trading as a way to raise federal revenue  and to shift some of the tax burden from workers to investors. Clinton has rejected that idea; shes called for a much narrower tax only on computer-driven high-frequency trading.

Progressive economists like Sanders idea better. Wall Street hates them both. Lets hear a debate.

Panama Papers

The leak of the Panama Papers revealed how wealthy people around the world use shell companies to hide their assets overseas.

They also shed light on an unexpected fact: The United States is a haven for shell companies too, because secrecy laws in Delaware, Nevada and other states make it possible to conceal the ownership of corporations.

Question: Is there anything the next president should do to fix this problem? Is there anything more the federal government can do to stop U.S. corporations and individuals from avoiding taxes by stashing money abroad?

Islamic State

Military experts say the only way to defeat Islamic State, the terrorist organization based in Syria, is to seize its capital, Raqqa. But that will require a ground force; airstrikes arent enough.

Every presidential candidate, in both major parties, has said that ground force should be Arab, not American. So far, though, that Arab force doesnt exist. Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries have said they are willing to help, but they want the United States to participate, too.

Question: Should the United States lead a ground force  including U.S. troops  to take Raqqa?

Nation-building

For more than 20 years, one of the main goals of U.S. foreign policy has been to promote democracy and human rights in other countries, from Afghanistan to Libya and beyond.

The main focus of American foreign policy shifted from war to governance, from what other governments did beyond their borders to what they did and how they were organized within them, foreign policy scholar Michael Mandelbaum writes in his new book, Mission Failure.

The underlying theory was that democracies would be less likely to threaten their neighbors or turn into breeding grounds for terrorism.

But U.S. efforts to transform political systems in those countries didnt succeed. Failed states, beginning with Syria and Libya, still provide bases for terrorism.

Question: Should the United States return to the Cold War approach of supporting autocratic regimes  in Egypt, for example  in search of more stability?

No matter who the next president turns out to be, he or she is almost certain to face a House of Representatives (and perhaps a Senate) controlled by conservative Republicans.

Dealing with Congress

No matter who the next president turns out to be, he or she is almost certain to face a House of Representatives (and perhaps a Senate) controlled by conservative Republicans.

For much of his first five years in office, President Obama tried, off and on, to woo moderate Republicans into negotiations and compromise. Most of the time, he failed.

Question: How do you propose to avoid continued gridlock and dysfunction? Or will you aim for confrontation, and organize your presidency around the goal of capturing both houses of Congress in 2018?

Bonus question: What are the biggest mistakes Obama has made, and what have you learned from them?

Those are my top questions. What are yours? Send them to the e-mail address below, and well post them in time for the debate panelists at CNN to see before the candidates go on the air.

doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com

Twitter: @doylemcmanus

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
If a gaggle of 12-year-old video gamers were pulled together for a discussion of national security, they would easily match the level of insight that has been displayed by most of the Republican presidential candidates. Between Ted Cruzs vision of Arab deserts glowing from the effects of carpet bombing to Donald Trump s loose talk about using torture and nuclear weapons, one would think these president wannabes spend their days playing Mortal Kombat in their parents basement.

For many long months now, the GOP campaign has operated on an idiotically low level of political discourse appealing to the belligerent impulses of voters and shamelessly playing on their irrational fears. Having been immersed in this babble myself for so long, it was a jolt to run across the following statement from a major American politician:

I  believe that the world is a tough, complicated, messy, mean place, and full of hardship and tragedy. And in order to advance both our security interests and those ideals and values that we care about, weve got to be hardheaded at the same time as were bighearted, and pick and choose our spots, and recognize that there are going to be times where the best that we can do is to shine a spotlight on something thats terrible, but not believe that we can automatically solve it. There are going to be times where our security interests conflict with our concerns about human rights. There are going to be times where we can do something about innocent people being killed, but there are going to be times where we cant.

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The quotation  taken from an interview with the president of the United States  comes from a lengthy examination of Barack Obamas foreign policy written by Jeffrey Goldberg in the current Atlantic magazine. What is remarkable about the passage is how candidly Obama acknowledges that the United States cannot fix every world problem by sending in troops and blowing things up. That is a type of straight talk that eludes even Donald Trump, the guy who supposedly is unafraid of stating inconvenient truths.

For seven years, we have been fortunate to have a president with a sophisticated understanding of the perilous international minefield he walks through every day. Whether you admire Obama or not, Goldbergs piece is worth reading as an antidote to bombastic campaign rhetoric that implies foreign policy is akin to a video game in which force resolves every situation.

As the Atlantic article observes, there is a permanent foreign policy establishment in Washington that perpetually agitates for a muscular response to any challenge. Obama followed the establishments conventional wisdom when he drew a now-notorious red line on the use of chemical weapons in Syria. When Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed that line, the inside-the-Beltway hawks insisted that Obama had no choice but to unleash the cruise missiles or America would look weak.

Obama didnt do it. Instead, he changed course and, working with the Russians, got the Syrians to destroy their chemical weapons. His critics still say he wimped out. His supporters say an attack would have merely added to the chaos in the region and done nothing to eliminate chemical weapons that might have ended up in the hands of Islamic State terrorists.

Obama is proud that he broke from the Washington playbook. The overwhelming weight of conventional wisdom and the machinery of our national security apparatus had gone fairly far, he told Goldberg. The perception was that my credibility was at stake, that Americas credibility was at stake. And so for me to press the pause button at that moment, I knew, would cost me politically.

Whatever damage he sustained in public perception, Obama believes American interests were better served by finding a path around the Mideast morass, rather than plunging in with guns blazing. Obama learned from the calamitous mistakes of his predecessor in the White House, but it is hard to imagine that, facing a similar choice, Cruz, Trump or Hillary Clinton (who, as Obamas secretary of State, reportedly criticized the presidents Syria decision) would not opt for bombs instead of nuanced diplomacy.

I believe that we have to avoid being simplistic, Obama said in the Atlantic. I think we have to build resilience and make sure that our political debates are grounded in reality. Its not that I dont appreciate the value of theater in political communications; its that the habits wethe media, politicianshave gotten into, and how we talk about these issues, are so detached so often from what we need to be doing that for me to satisfy the cable news hype-fest would lead to us making worse and worse decisions over time.

I have a feeling Americans are going to miss that perspective when a new president takes charge  no matter whom he or she may be.
Hundreds of thousands of words have been uttered by candidates in pursuit of the nearly 400 delegates at stake in New Yorks primary next Tuesday. And those words have made one thing very clear: the candidates spend most of their time in bubbles.

Republicans talk a certain way about a certain set of topics. Democrats talk another way about another set of topics. Rarely do the words or subjects intersect, and when they do, its nowhere near the middle.

That may distress the majority of Americans who consistently tell pollsters they want politicians to work together and get things done. But it is driven by another political reality: Democrats have moved to the left and Republicans to the right, leaving fewer people in the ideological middle and setting a clear path for any presidential candidate who wants to succeed.

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Three candidates  Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders  have freely resided on the edges of the political spectrum. They have been rewarded by the passion of voters who live there.

Hillary Clinton and John Kasich  more centrist, if only by comparison  have made more overt appeals for bipartisan cooperation. In theory, that would heighten their ability to draw support in a general election, particularly among the remaining moderate voters.

But in the primary season, that posture has made Kasichs road to the nomination more rocky. And it has helped to extend the length of the Democratic primary battle, even though Clinton remains ahead and appears to hold a comfortable lead here in New York where the next balloting takes place on Tuesday.

Indeed, middle-of-the-road behavior has been used as a cudgel this campaign year.

Sanders, the Vermont senator, routinely derides Clintons positions as less liberal than they should be on issues such as Wall Streets fate, college tuition, campaign financing, healthcare and minimum wage increases.

On Sunday at Coney Island, Sanders also offered an telling description of the left-Democratic bubble. His subject was the recent move in California and New York to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. He credited the achievement to union strikes and protests.

They rallied the American people and millions of people began to agree with them, he said. And then a few years ago in Seattle, 15 bucks an hour. Los Angeles. San Francisco, 15 bucks an hour. Oregon, 15 bucks an hour, California. And with millions of people standing up and fighting back in New York, 15 bucks an hour.

All of those places are so sharply Democratic that their political conversations take place between the left and the far left. There is no comparable competitive state, let alone a right-leaning one, that has moved to dramatically increase the minimum wage.

In the Republican bubble, Texas Sen. Cruz has as a campaign staple his pledge to protect gun rights, even if most Americans favor some new restrictions. He talks of his opposition to abortion rights even in cases of rape or incest. He sought to shut down the government in order to deny Planned Parenthood any federal money. Both positions are opposed by a majority of Americans, but increasingly favored by the conservative Republicans on whom Cruzs political future depends.

As he declared victory after last weeks Wisconsin primary, Cruz called for a Supreme Court that protects their religious liberty. The fundamental freedom of every one of us to live according to our faith and our conscience  words that seemed to call for narrowing the courts decisions on same-sex marriage and President Obamas healthcare plan, both vehemently opposed by his voters.

Well see a Supreme Court that protects the 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms, he added to applause, and our fundamental right to protect our families and our homes and our children.

Trump took off after Clinton this week in words that drew applause in his bubble but shock outside it.

Everybody knows that she is guilty as hell, okay? Everybody, the New York businessman said of Clintons use of private email while secretary of State. Her whole life has been a big, fat, beautiful lie. Its been a terrible lie. Everything about her is a lie.

That view is hardly universal; Clinton remains a largely popular front-runner among Democrats despite the lengthy primary fight, and easily defeats Trump in general election matchups.

There is no doubt that America has cleaved more extensively in recent years. From 1994 to 2014, according to surveys by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, the percentage of voters taking positions on issues that marked them as consistently liberal or conservative doubled to 21%. The share who dont stick consistently with one side or the other shrank by 10 points, to 39%.

In another Pew measurement, the amount of overlap between followers of the two parties has shrunk dramatically. The percentage of Republicans to the right of the average Democrat moved from 64% to 92% in the 20-year span. The percentage of Democrats to the right of a typical Republican went from 70% to 94%. And it was not a benign swing: almost 3 in 10 Democrats, and more than one-third of Republicans, considered the other party a threat to the national well-being.

Republicans and Democrats hold sharply different positions on the scope of government, healthcare, immigration, abortion rights, gun control and other issues, agreeing in Pews polls only on protecting Social Security.

Both conservatives and liberals are kind of cocooned, and I think they overestimate -- grossly overestimate -- how popular their own views are and therefore underestimate how important it is to compromise to get things done, said James Campbell, a political scientist at the University at Buffalo, part of the state university system.

In many cases those views are reinforced by like-minded family members and friends, and ideological news sources, he noted.

It distorts their views, distorts your idea about where your ideas are on the political spectrum, he said.

It also can leave those voters suspicious of candidates who dont completely inhabit the bubble.

Clinton is by all measurements a liberal candidate; her positions in this campaign include a college tuition plan for all but the wealthy, a proposal to expand the nations healthcare plan, extensive plans to revamp the criminal justice system and provide support and training for those leaving prison, equal pay for women and an increase in the federal minimum wage.

But compared to Sanders, who draws massive crowds to cheer his proposals, she can seem moderate or incremental  not the profile sought by many activists this tempestuous year.

The same sort of comparison hurts Kasich. The Ohio governor is, by any other years definition, intensely conservative. He rose in Congress as a budget-cutter, but his vigilance on budget matters pales next to Cruzs attempts to shut down the government to achieve his goals. As governor, Kasich has worked to close abortion clinics and deny funding to Planned Parenthood, but his acceptance of the right to abortion for victims of incest and rape  the position held by previous Republican nominees  puts him to the left of Cruz.

Kasich and Clinton also talk openly about working with the opposite party to achieve common goals  something approaching heresy to dug-in voters of both parties. As first lady and U.S. senator from New York, Clinton boasts, she accomplished her goals by working with ideological opposites such as former Texas Rep. Tom DeLay.

In a Tuesday speech in Manhattan, Kasich offered a plea for similar comity.

When we come together, when we unite as a country, America always wins, he said. Following the more conservative path of darkness that he said was being trod by Cruz and Trump can drive America down into a ditch.

In past presidential contests, candidates moved as far to the edges as necessary to secure the nomination, knowing they would eventually sidle back toward the center to increase their odds of winning the general election. The question this year, particularly for Republicans whose top two candidates have staked out decidedly conservative positions, is whether anyone will feel the desire to make that shift.

cathleen.decker@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter: @cathleendecker. For more on politics, go to latimes.com/decker.

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Three candidates vie for bragging rights: Whos the real new Yorker?

After exchanging harsh words last week, Clinton and Sanders get back on message

Californias politics, unlike New Yorks, are mainly a TV affair

Live coverage from the campaign trail
Im Christina Bellantoni, and this is Essential Politics.

Donald Trump may have scrapped his event in Rancho Palos Verdes last week, and hes the only GOP candidate who hasnt accepted an invitation to speak at the state party convention at the end of the month, but hes starting to build a campaign.

Trump has hired Tim Clark as California state director to lead his effort here. Voters might remember him from his two decades in state politics. Clark ran Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengins unsuccessful race for state controller in 2014. He also has worked for former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Meg Whitman.

Clark told Seema Mehta that Trumps focus on the economy, national security and reining in the federal government would appeal to Republican voters here.

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Were seeing something we havent seen in a long time  that is excitement among the Republican base. There are people talking about voting who havent voted in a decade or more, said Clark, 49.

Team Trump promised the front-runner would visit the Golden State several times ahead of our June 7 primary.

Its our intention to deliver 172 delegates for Trump to the national convention, he said.

Of course, Trump would need to win each of Californias 53 congressional districts, the statewide vote and the backing of state party officials to achieve such a clean sweep.

You can always track the delegate race in real time.

BAM REPLACEMENT BRAWL: FIERCE PREZ WANNABES TRADE BLOWS

Maybe Im not cut out to be a tabloid headline writer. But what a time to work in New York media.

The stars of the first competitive presidential primary in New York in decades are not the candidates, but the tabloids that have pounded on them and set the tone of the campaign, Evan Halper reports.

And candidates who ignore the rules of the tabloid game are doing it at their peril, if they can figure them out at all.

Also reporting from the Empire State, Cathleen Decker examines how there is more than delegates on the line for three of the five candidates who can claim New York heritage: bragging rights.

TV TIME IN THE GOLDEN STATE

Mehta also reports that Sen. Ted Cruzs campaign is inquiring about buying television airtime for ads in the Los Angeles market.

The news comes after the Texas senators Southern California campaign swing, and an interview with The Times in which he dismissed the scenario of a surprise candidate emerging at a brokered convention.

THE TIES THAT BIND?

Also, as California Gov. Jerry Brown ponders whom he will endorse in the Democratic primary, Mehta looked back at the long, fraught history between Brown and the Clintons.

You know who else has a long history? The Clintons and Trump.

You might be surprised what the latest release from Bill Clintons presidential archives revealed, from The Art of the Deal to the billionaires presidential aspirations  in 1999.

As always, find the latest news about the campaign on Trail Guide and follow @latimespolitics.

BILL SPARKED BY COSBY ACCUSATIONS MOVES FORWARD

Three accusers of Bill Cosby who were unable to press charges against the comedian because their alleged sexual assaults occurred too long ago told a Senate committee Tuesday that the Legislature should allow rapes to be prosecuted no matter when they happened.

Their testimony, among others, bolstered support for a bill from state Sen. Connie Leyva (D-Chino) to eliminate Californias current 10-year statute of limitations on most rape cases. Liam Dillon reports on the measures next steps.

Keep an eye on our Essential Politics news feed as we track this measure and others in Sacramento.

TODAYS ESSENTIALS

 A sweeping bill to open up some police misconduct records to public disclosure advanced out of a California Senate committee on Tuesday. Expect more changes aimed at smoothing law enforcement opposition as it moves forward.

 A statewide soda tax proposed by state Sen. Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) was pulled from the docket before a committee vote Tuesday after failing to garner enough support  even among Democratic lawmakers. The bill is likely done for the year.

 Ohio Gov. John Kasich suggested Trump and Cruz are on a path of darkness.

 Don Lee sees a clash between Trump and a Las Vegas union as a standoff that highlights not only the Republican front-runners unpredictability, but also how he might balance the demands of being both businessman and politician.

 The Times has assembled a new list of Hollywood celebrities who have waded into the presidential race. Check out our celebrity endorsement tracker.

 Rep. Duncan Hunter paid his campaign back for mistaken expenses for his childrens school and oral surgery, among other charges.

 Secretary of State John Kerry lauded the Pacific trade deal as vital to Silicon Valley and Hollywood at a stop in California on Tuesday.

 Sen. Charles Grassley made clear in his meeting with Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland that there will be no Senate vote this year.

 ICYMI, Speaker Paul Ryan really doesnt want to be president.

 U2 frontman Bono testified in Washington Tuesday that comedy should be used to help defang extremists sowing chaos in the Middle East and driving millions of families from their homes.

 Sen. Barbara Boxer got some help from famed pilot Chesley Sully Sullenberger Tuesday in urging her colleagues to set the same rest standards for pilots of both cargo and passenger planes. The Federal Aviation Administration has different rules for how long a pilot can fly based on whether the plane is carrying passengers or just cargo, and Boxer wants them streamlined before she leaves Washington in January.

 What do you think of Trump? Readers can weigh in with our quick survey.

LOGISTICS

This newsletter was sent today at 7 a.m. Pacific. We had been doing two batches pegged to time zone, but we know some readers were receiving it more than once. We apologize for any inconvenience, and wed appreciate your feedback about the time youd prefer Essential Politics to land in your inbox. Please get in touch via politics@latimes.com.

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?
Fueled by a $250-million commitment of funds by Napster cofounder Sean Parker, researchers from more than 40 laboratories and six of the nations leading cancer research centers have entered into a first-of-its-kind collaboration to accelerate the development of cancer immunotherapies.

Under the aegis of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, which launches Wednesday, researchers working in this once-obscure field will share their research findings, coordinate their clinical trials, establish common tissue banks and strike licensing deals with pharmaceutical companies to bring new cancer treatments to the market.

After decades of false starts, harnessing the human immune system to prevent, disrupt and overwhelm cancer has become one of the most promising fronts in the war against the disease. That progress has been greatly accelerated by advances in genetic sequencing and cellular engineering, as well as by a growing understanding of the immune systems power and complexity.

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Several checkpoint inhibitor drugs, which release the immune systems natural brakes so that it can attack cancers, have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and are showing early successes in treating melanoma and cancers of the lungs and kidneys. But more than 1,500 additional cancer immunotherapy drugs are in the research-and-development pipeline, making this field the second-largest incubator of drug development.

For all the emerging evidence of its promise, Parker said in an interview Tuesday night, this is a classic example of where the funding system around medical research was really slow to adapt -- and where academic and commercial secrecy has impeded progress. Funded by his philanthropy and guided by a board of directors and scientific steering committee devoted to making progress in this field, Parker said that worthy research on cancer immunotherapies will no longer die for lack of funding, recognition or academic commitment.

Academic science sometimes needs a bit of help translating basic science into therapies that can be developed, tested and brought to market, said Parker, who will announce the launch of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy on Wednesday morning in Los Angeles. Our mission is actually to get treatments to patients. Were operating as a clearinghouse to make sure all these get breakthroughs get to patients.

The six academic institutions that will coordinate their efforts on immunotherapies are: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford Medicine, UCLA, UC San Francisco, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Specifically, Parker said his institute will place its initial bets on three broad areas of research: developing a new generation of T-cell therapies; investigating new uses for, and effective new combinations of, the kinds of checkpoint inhibitor drugs that have already proved effective for skin, lung and kidney cancers; and improving the effectiveness and potential uses for vaccines and cellular therapies in fighting a wider array of cancers.

I have a great belief in focus, said Parker, a former Facebook president. We cant do everything well. But, he added, by focusing on one broad swath of research--and breaking down barriers to researchers cooperation--"we want to just do one thing well.

Parkers $250-million commitment of funds to the project is the largest philanthropic underwriting of research in this field. In an interview, Parker said he had done a deep dive on immunotherapy (in 2014, he donated $24 million to Stanford University Medical School for allergy research), and found the field a good intellectual challenge.

Parker said he was also galvanized by the commitment of Hollywood producer Laura Ziskin (Pretty Woman, Spider-Man), who cofounded Stand Up to Cancer and died in 2011.

Follow me on Twitter @LATMelissaHealy and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.
State Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) will speak about state pensions, California public employees and politics in Sacramento during a Speak Up Newport discussion Thursday.

Moorlach has been an Orange County treasurer and supervisor and now represents Californias 37th State Senate District, which includes Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and Irvine.

A question-and-answer session will follow his presentation.

The event will begin at 6 p.m. at the Oasis Senior Center, 801 Narcissus Ave., Corona del Mar.

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Newport libraries host celebration activities

The Donna and John Crean Mariners Branch Library is commemorating its 10th anniversary and National Library Week.

National Library Week, sponsored by the American Library Association, encourages communities nationwide to promote library use. Newport Beach Public Librarys four branches  Mariners, Balboa, Central and Corona del Mar  are participating in the celebration.

At 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Balboa branch, comic book artist Javier Hernandez will demonstrate how to create comic book characters.

At 2 p.m. Saturday, the Mariners branch will celebrate its anniversary with a magic show, cake and refreshments.

Already this week, childrens book author Stuart Gibbs visited the Central branch and Newport Beach Mayor Diane Dixon stopped by story time at the Balboa branch.

For more information, visit newportbeachlibrary.org.

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IVC to display Clothesline Project for victims of sex assault, violence

Irvine Valley College will display a Clothesline Project by nonprofit Community Service Programs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday.

The project, in its 15th year, features messages and pictures drawn on multicolored T-shirts that signify crimes such as sexual harassment and domestic violence. The shirts will hang on a clothesline at the IVC campus.

Community Service Programs will have a table where crime victims can make a shirt and learn about the nonprofits services.

Irvine Valley College is at 5500 Irvine Center Drive.

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Newport Harbor High to perform The Addams Family

Newport Harbor High Schools musical production of The Addams Family will run at 7 p.m. Saturday and April 22 and 23. Matinees will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday and April 23.

Performances will be at the schools Robert B. Wentz Theater at 600 Irvine Ave., Newport Beach.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students.

For tickets or more information, visit nhhsdrama.com.

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Costa Mesa Historical Society to host author

The Costa Mesa Historical Society will present an event Sunday with author Steve Snyder, who will discuss the book he wrote about his father, a B-17 pilot who received training in Costa Mesa.

Snyders book, Shot Down: The True Story of Pilot Howard Snyder and the Crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth, details what happened when his fathers plane was shot down during a bombing mission in 1944.

Doors will open at 2 p.m. and the program will begin at 2:30 p.m. at 1870 Anaheim Ave., Costa Mesa. Admission is free.

Seating is limited. For reservations, call (949) 631-5918.

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Children of Newport church to perform original musical

Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Churchs childrens choir will perform an original musical called Detention! at 7 p.m. April 22 at the church in Newport Beach.

The show was written by Our Lady Queen of Angels choir member Barbara Brennan and parish ensemble music director Michael Upward.

The musical is about students from different social groups who end up in detention together.

Our Lady Queen of Angels is at 2046 Mar Vista Drive.

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UCI receives funding for climate research

UC Irvine is among 12 universities receiving a portion of $8.5 million in research funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The funding is intended for the universities to help protect air quality amid current and future effects of climate change, according to a news release.

UCI was given $701,304 to research the effects of ammonia and rising global temperatures on secondary organic aerosol formation.

This grant offers an exciting opportunity to learn about air pollution in the future from both state-of-the-art experiments and from computer modeling techniques, Donald Dabdub, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCI, said in a statement.

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Costa Mesa Sanitary District wins financial reporting award

A nationwide organization has again recognized the Costa Mesa Sanitary District for its financial reporting.

The Government Finance Officers Association, which represents more than 18,000 public finance officials in the United States and Canada, awarded the district a certificate of excellence in financial reporting for the 2013-14 fiscal year.

This is the fourth consecutive year the sanitary district has received the award, according to a news release.

*

Nature center to host fair and butterfly display

The Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach will hold its 11th annual Spring Faire and Butterfly House Opening from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 15.

The event will include face painting, crafts, sing-alongs, games and food, beverages and native plants for sale.

The butterfly house will have Orange County native butterflies on display so guests can see them interact with nectar plants.

The Environmental Nature Center is at 1601 16th St. For more information, call (949) 645-8489 or visit encenter.org.

From staff reports
For Shake Tukhmanyan, an actress since age 17, starring in Armenia, My Love was an especially emotional experience.

The Glendale resident, who plays a grandmother in the new film about the Armenian Genocide, was traveling through the desert, filming a sequence that depicts the deadly travails many Armenians were subject to in 1915, when the Ottoman Empire began systematically killing more than 1.5 million of them in an effort to force them out of their historic homeland.

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Tukhmanyans character, Anoush, was struggling to push on with her family in what ultimately became a deadly march. Like so many others, her characters family had lost their home and an otherwise happy, peaceful existence.

We were so tired, Tukhmanyan said of shooting the desert scenes. We were without water, but it was nothing compared with my people of that time.

Tukhmanyan and her co-stars couldnt help compare their own experiences to that of the Armenian families suffering through the atrocities 101 years ago.

We cannot feel the same thing, but a little bit of it we felt when we were shooting, she said. You have to go deep inside and put a parallel between them and yourself.

Armenia, My Love will premiere Thursday at the Laemmle Playhouse 7 in Pasadena. It includes a question-and-answer session with the films writer and director, Diana Angelson, as well as the cast and crew.

On Friday, the theatrical release extends to the MGN Five Star Cinema in Glendale and the Laemmle NoHo 7 in North Hollywood.

Angelson, who also stars in the film as a pregnant mother, centers her script on a young boy who escapes the genocide, makes it to the United States and becomes a successful Armenian-American painter. His works depict his childhood, family and struggles back in his native country.

While Armenia, My Love does expose the harsh realities faced by the entire Armenian people who were violently ripped from their homeland, it is Armenia, My Loves strong messages of hope, love, faith, perseverance and strength that I wanted to prevail, Angelson said in a statement.

Angelson, whos Romanian American, said she felt compelled to make the film at the behest of her Armenian friends whose family histories needed to be told.

The films release coincides, nearly to the day, with the 101-year anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April 24.

For Tukhmanyan, born and raised in Armenia, that was significant.

Im really happy to have a part in this movie because its like a recognition of genocide for the entire world, she said. The entire world has been misled for a hundred years into thinking this genocide never happened.

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bradley.zint@latimes.com

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Woman suspected of theft just before she was hit and killed by a car in Glendale

Theft victim finds a hooded man in his garage and holds him at gunpoint until police arrive

Glendale police veteran promoted to captain; department welcomes 2 new bilingual officers
A determined theft victim thwarted a second hit on his apartment complex parking garage when he held the suspected thief at gunpoint and zip-tied his hands until cops showed up, police said.

The 42-year-old Glendale resident installed surveillance cameras in the parking garage at his complex  located in the 200 block of West Maple Street  after his car was broken into in February, said Glendale Police Sgt. Robert William.

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Shortly before 6 a.m. on Friday, his neighbor called him and told him that the alarms hed installed were sounding. The resident checked his cameras and spotted a hooded man walking from car to car.

Thats when he grabbed his gun and rushed toward the garage.

At gunpoint, he ordered the suspect to the ground and zip-tied the mans hands while waiting for police to arrive.

The suspect, 32-year-old Arthur Sandrosyan, who lives about a mile away in Glendale, had reportedly stolen a garage opener and a cellphone charger that morning from another parked car.

During the investigation, police recovered glass cutters, pliers and coiled wire  tools, police said, typically used in car burglaries  as well as the victims property stolen in February.

Sandrosyan, who reportedly confessed to both burglaries, was charged this week with two counts of residential burglary, William said.

He is being held in lieu of $40,000 bail, according to Los Angeles County jail records.

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alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @atchek

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County commissioners hear from both sides in debate over Hindenburg Park sign

Glendale residents join rally at Azerbaijani Consulate after deaths of ethnic Armenians overseas

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The children had gone off to school and the traders were still arranging their goods at the village market in the remote fishing town of Damasak when the Islamic fighters swept in, shooting as they pushed straight for the schoolhouses.

By the time the Boko Haram invaders were done, at least 400 people had vanished, many of them children.

The Monday morning invasion in November 2014 was reminiscent of the attack seven months earlier when the terrorist group stormed the village of Chibok, kidnapping hundreds of girls, shooting residents and burning homes. When the savagery of that attack became known, it sparked a sense of global urgency and drew worldwide condemnation.

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But this time, after the children of Damasak were whisked away and the survivors were left to bury the dead, there was only silence.

Now, on the eve of the second anniversary of the attack on Chibok, the raw details of what happened in Damasak, elsewhere in Borno state, are emerging in interviews with survivors, village leaders and government officials, most so afraid of reprisals that they refuse to be named.

Im in agony because those children taken, especially my 16 nephews, are like my own children, one local chief said. I feel like a bereaved father.

As hundreds of bodies were found in Damasak this month, Gana Mustapha, a spokesman for the Borno state governor, described the attack as horrific. He told local media that the level of devastation in Damasak is high. We have seen hundreds of people that were massacred by Boko Haram.

As with Chibok, most of those kidnapped in Damasak have not been found.

1 / 5 Nigerian army soldiers patrol in Chibok in northeastern Nigeria in March 2015. (Henry Ikechukwu / EPA) 2 / 5 A burned-out school in Chibok in northeastern Nigeria, where 215 students were abducted by Boko Haram militants about a year ago. (Henry Ikechukwu / EPA) 3 / 5 A boy cries after being inadvertently hit in the eye by a teachers whip at a school at a refugee camp in Chad. Chad is hosting thousands of refugees who have fled the Boko Haram fighting in Nigeria. (Jerome Delay / Associated Press) 4 / 5 Children play by the makeshift mosque in the Zafaye refugee camp in Chad. (Jerome Delay / Associated Press) 5 / 5 Soldiers arrive at the scene March 10 where a suspected female suicide bomber blew herself up at the crowded market in Maiduguru, Nigeria. The government said Boko Harams new allegiance to the Islamic State showed that the militants were weakening. (Olatuni Omirin / AFP/Getty Images)

The similarities between the two raids, however, would seem to end there. Backed by the U.S., efforts have been made to find the children of Chibok. But a new Human Rights Watch report concludes that theres little evidence Nigerian security forces even made a serious effort to locate the Damasak victims.

The Chibok abduction generated so much heat that local officials and leaders in Damasak kept quiet about what happened there, even denying the incident when contacted by journalists at the time.

My 7-year-old child was among the children kidnapped, a government official in a Maiduguri camp for displaced people said in a phone interview. The Boko Haram abductors struck nine days after I enrolled my child in the school.

For years, Boko Haram has rampaged across northeastern Nigeria, occupying towns and villages, taking advantage of the weak government and an army that was often unwilling to fight. Beyond the mayhem, its stated mission is to impose Islamic rule and oppose all Western influence, from banks to secular education. It draws its fighters and support mainly from Kanuri people, an ethnic group in northeastern Nigeria, northern Cameroon and southeastern Niger who have long felt marginalized by governments.

The militants tend to attack on market days, when villages are filled with farmers, fishermen and traders. They storm in on motorbikes and in SUVs and armed personnel carriers, roaring up to the market squares, government headquarters and police stations and gunning down the men and boys.

Even given Boko Harams capacity for violence, the attack in Damasak was chilling.

The invaders went to the main schools in town  El Minnur, the private school attended by the children of the towns elite; the government primary school for the poor children; and the government-funded Islamiya comprehensive school for the homeless ones.

As the group fanned out  some grabbing women and children, others raining down violence on the village  some residents tried to flee, swimming across the river to Niger. Some drowned, according to the witnesses, while others were shot. The chief whose 16 nephews were abducted said he and his family escaped across the river by canoe when they heard the shooting.

They went on a killing spree, he said. I was among those who returned and buried over 200 dead bodies in mass graves.

Some women were abducted with their children only to be separated from them by the gunmen, according to Human Rights Watch, citing witness accounts. Women could hear their children crying, but could do nothing.

I have not seen my children since then, said one mother, who lost a 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter. None of the Damasak children have been found, according to residents interviewed by The Times and Human Rights Watch.

A teacher said he and others were forced to carry dozens of bodies to the river and to dump them there. Local authorities reported finding at least 470 bodies in makeshift graves, according to the report.

Another Damasak resident said in a phone interview that everyone in the town knew at least one of the children.

We operate as an extended family system, and there is no family that is not affected by the kidnapping. My friends son was among the children taken from El Minnur private school, and it is as painful as if it was my child, the resident said.

Several Damasak leaders said they reported the abduction to the regions lawmakers, but it seemed clear Nigerian authorities were tired of the sort of attention that Chibok drew.

We kept quiet about the kidnapping for fear of drawing the wrath of the government, which was grappling with the embarrassment of the kidnap of the Chibok schoolgirls, said a local official in a phone interview.

We got the message clearly. The government didnt want the news out and whoever leaked it would have himself to blame. This was why some of us contacted by journalists denied the story, because they were afraid what the consequences would be if they were identified.

A local chief said people felt helpless, getting little response after reporting crimes to local political leaders. They didnt take any action and there was nothing we could do. We didnt have anyone else to turn to, he said.

Nigerian authorities compiled a list of the names of the missing Chibok girls, but not of the thousands of other women and children who have been abducted over the years, according to rights groups.

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Two years after Chibok, 219 of the kidnapped girls are still missing, a small fraction of the thousands of women, girls and boys reported to have been abducted since. Amnesty International last month reported that Boko Haram in 2015 and 2016 had abducted at least 2,000 women alone. A UNICEF report released Tuesday said many of the missing children, some as young as 8, were forced to carry out suicide bombings.

Many have been critical of the Nigerian governments failure to do more to recover the abducted children.

We appreciate the government for the renewed military offensive and the gains recorded in the fight against Boko Haram. Yet, we had expected that this success would be translated into tracing the whereabouts of our girls or even finding some measure of closure for us, their parents, Nigerian pastor Tunde Bakare said in a speech Sunday.

Nigerias military has now driven Boko Haram out of its strongholds in cities and towns, leaving it seriously weakened. Highways closed for years after attacks were reopened in February.

But trade is still stagnant and the farming and fishing industries paralyzed, and the military is unable to guarantee security across vast stretches of territory.

Boko Haram has proved resilient, though. It has been weakened before, only to regroup and come back with a vengeance.

Special correspondent Abubakar reported from Kano and Times staff writer Dixon from Johannesburg, South Africa.

MORE WORLD NEWS

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A judge in central China ruled against a gay couple in Chinas first-ever same-sex marriage case Wednesday, effectively hobbling a case that has electrified the countrys lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists.

The plaintiff, Sun Wenlin, a 27-year-old Hunan native, sued a civil affairs bureau in Changsha, the capital of central Chinas Hunan province, for refusing him the right to marry his 37-year-old boyfriend, Hu Mingliang, last June.

The Changsha Furong District Peoples Court agreed to hear the case earlier this year, sparking a flurry of sympathetic coverage in Chinas staid state-run media and galvanizing the countrys nascent gay rights movement.

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If we win the case, it would be an unprecedented achievement for Chinas LGBT community, Sun said in a phone interview before the hearing. If we lose the case, its still better than if we did nothing. If you dont knock on the door, the door will be closed to you forever. But once you knock on the door, you can knock on it for a second and third time, and theres a chance the door will finally open someday.

Several hundred people gathered outside the court to voice support for the couple, according to the Associated Press. The judge issued a ruling after only a few hours. Sun has said that he plans to appeal.

The relevant regulations and law clearly stated the subject of marriage refers to a man and a woman who meet the legal conditions of marriage, the court said in an online statement. Sun Wenlin and Hu Mingliang are both men, therefore their application doesnt comply with the marriage regulations and law. The grounds of Sun Wenlins and Hu Mingliangs appeal cannot be established. In summary, the court dismissed their litigation requests according to the law.

Sun had argued that Chinas marriage law does not specifically prohibit same-sex marriages.

Last June, officials showed me that term number five [of the law] stipulates that marriage shall be granted if woman and man both desire it, he said. But I think they misinterpreted the legal term. The term puts emphasis on the consensus of both sides, instead of the different sexes.

Although Beijing stopped classifying homosexuality as a mental illness in 2001, it still carries a strong social stigma  openly gay couples are rare, clinics offering gay-straight conversion therapy are widespread, and parents put so much pressure on their children to marry that scores of lesbian women and gay men wed each other to present an image of normalcy.

In May, Chinas media watchdog banned depictions of gay couples on television.

Sun said police pressured him to drop the case by arguing that marriage is for reproduction.

But I told them, reproduction is not my plan and I have the freedom to not reproduce, he said. The police then didnt come to me again.

Yingzhi Yang and Nicole Liu in The Times Beijing bureau contributed to this report.

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Taiwanese officials have accused Beijing of abducting its citizens after Kenya deported 45 Taiwanese prisoners back to the mainland this week in an incident that has raised tension in an already-fraying cross-strait relationship.

Taipeis foreign ministry said Tuesday that authorities in Kenya, under pressure from Beijing, forced a group of eight Taiwanese to leave for China on April 8, followed by 37 more on Tuesday. All were suspected of phone fraud in a case that began in 2014. Kenyan officials asked all 45, though cleared of crimes in a local court, to leave the country.

Their current location is unclear.

The case cuts to some of the most sensitive issues in Taiwan-China relations, which have soured since the self-governing island  which China regards as a breakaway province  elected a new, pro-autonomy president, Tsai Ing-wen, in January. Tsai will take office May 20.

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China has already irked Taiwan by slowing travel permits for tourists, according to a Taiwanese government statement in March, and forming diplomatic ties with a former Taiwan ally, the African nation Gambia.

China has diplomatic ties with Kenya, while Taiwan does not.

Taiwans foreign ministry has accused China of working with Kenya to deport the prisoners. Many appeared unwilling to leave -- Kenyan authorities, some wielding machine guns, forced them onto China-bound flights. In one case, Kenyan guards fired tear gas into a jail cell where the Taiwanese were held, officials on the island say.

A one-minute video posted to the Internet by Taiwans Central News Agency shows a group of frantic Taiwanese, apparently inside a Kenyan prison cell, banging on the locked door and yelling We are Taiwan people.

This is a very good case for China to force [Taiwans] new government to come to the table and meet with them, said Alex Chiang, international relations professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei. The public will ask Tsai Ing-wen to do something about this.

Over the past eight years, mainland China and Taiwan have put aside political differences to sign agreements, including a 2011 consensus that the two sides would consult each other on crime-related matters.

Taiwanese officials have vented outrage since Monday, calling China an abductor and demanding it release the 45 prisoners. The foreign ministry said it would take legal action against Kenyas interior minister, police inspector general and attorney general.

Andrew Hsia, Taiwans top policymaker on China affairs, used a telephone hotline late Tuesday to reach his counterpart in Beijing. He was told China would give him a speedy response, Hsias ministry, the Mainland Affairs Council, said in a statement.

As for abducting 37 people to mainland China on Tuesday, our side mentioned that the mainland side violated our peoples appeals and that severely harms the mutual trust both sides have built over the past eight years, Council Chief Secretary Yang Chia-chun said, summarizing the ministers words on the hotline call.

Chinas nationalistic, state-run Global Times tabloid said in an editorial Wednesday that the extradition conforms to international laws and that Beijing needs to respond firmly to the radical pro-independence forces of Taiwan.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang commended Kenya for upholding a one-China policy, meaning its actions were consistent with Beijings view that Taiwan and China belong to one country. But on Monday he said he was trying to further understand what happened.

Taiwanese officials have argued that Kenya had cleared its citizens of crimes and that China should consult the islands government before acting on criminal matters.

It is easy to see this as part of a subtle campaign by China to besiege and coerce the Tsai government, said Denny Roy, senior fellow at the East-West Center think tank in Honolulu. It is possible, however, this was a gaffe by the Peoples Republic of China that will embarrass the Chinese and not be repeated.

Jennings is a special correspondent.
A pair of Russian fighter jets and a Russian military helicopter repeatedly buzzed a U.S. Navy warship at close range earlier this week in the Baltic Sea, ignoring radio warnings and temporarily disrupting the ships flight operations.

Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said Wednesday that two Russian fighter jets flew dangerously close to the U.S. guided missile destroyer Donald Cook as it conducted a routine patrol on Monday and Tuesday.

U.S. officials estimated the Su-24 fighter jets flew as close as 30 feet from the American ship.

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This incident, as you wont be surprised to hear, is entirely inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries operating in proximity to each other in international waters and international airspace, Earnest said.

Any peacetime military activity must be consistent with international law and norms and conducted with due regard for the rights of other nations and the safety of other aircraft and other vessels, he added.

U.S. European Command, which oversees military operations on the continent, said in a statement that the Russian jets flew numerous close-range and low-altitude passes near the ship.

Russia is one of nine countries in northern Europe with coastline along the Baltic Sea. Tensions have risen steadily in recent years between Moscow and Washington over disputes including Russias seizure of Crimea and the conflict in Syria.

The U.S. statement said the first flyby occurred around 3 p.m. local time Monday when the Donald Cook was conducting deck landing drills with a Polish military helicopter. It said the jets made numerous passes.

One of the passes, which occurred while the Allied helicopter was refueling on the deck of Donald Cook, was deemed unsafe by the ships commanding officer, the statement said. As a safety precaution, flight operations were suspended until the SU-24s departed the area. 

At about 5 p.m. Tuesday, the statement said, a Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter flew low-altitude circles around the ship, looping it seven times.

About 40 minutes later, two Russian SU-24 jets flew 11 close-range and low-altitude passes in a simulated attack profile.

The pilots did not respond to several radio advisories in both English and Russian, the statement said.

We have deep concerns about the unsafe and unprofessional Russian flight maneuvers, the European Command statement said. These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries, and could result in a miscalculation or accident that could cause serious injury or death.

Officials said the Navy is reviewing the incidents and that U.S. officials are using diplomatic channels to address the Russians.

Follow @wjhenn for military and defense info.

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It was two years in the making and followed two rowdy synods at the Vatican as well as a questionnaire sent to Catholics around the world. And though it deals with a host of family issues, Pope Francis 261-page meditation on love and family was keenly awaited by many last week for just one reason: Would it allow remarried divorcees to take Communion?

Anyone who gets married in the Roman Catholic Church and then divorces, instead of getting a Catholic annulment, is still considered married by the Vatican. So if you get remarried you are living in sin, ruling you out of receiving Communion in church on Sunday.

As the number of divorced Catholics has grown, progressives in the church have complained that murderers can take Communion but divorcees who remarry cannot. The issue has become the key battleground between liberals who look to Pope Francis for leadership, and hardcore fans of Catholic doctrine.

Heres a look at how Francis addressed the issue in his apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia  Latin for The Joy of Love.

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So do remarried divorcees now get Communion or not?

Yes. And then again no. It is going to depend on your priest.

Francis states in The Joy of Love that he is not tearing up any rules, or writing any new ones, but says a little wiggle room is in order if people deserve it, and that will be down to the good judgment of priests.

It is possible that in an objective situation of sin, he writes, a person can be helped to live in Gods grace, and in certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments.

Explaining who priests will give the nod to, Francis lists unjustly abandoned spouses, people remarrying for the sake of their children and anyone who is really sure their previous and irreparably broken marriage had never been valid.

Why did Francis chose this flexible path and not establish an unbending rule?

Arguably, Francis is sticking to a long-standing Catholic tradition of making rules that priests will sometimes allow their flock to bend if they do not exaggerate. It is also in keeping with Francis push for a more merciful church which spends less time sitting in judgment and more time considering each persons situation.

We put so many conditions on mercy that we empty it of its concrete meaning and real significance, he wrote. That is the worst way of watering down the Gospel.

How clear is his message?

The Joy of Love does not make it that easy to understand where things stand. Francis chooses to make his clearest references to being flexible on Communion in two footnotes, number 336 and number 351, rather than in the main text of the document. That prompted some critics to claim he felt pinned down by the conservatives who had fought against change at the synods and decided to slip his plans into the small print.

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What did the conservatives make of that?

On Tuesday, one of Francis most noted conservative foes tore into the Joy of Love. Writing in the National Catholic Review, U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke of St. Louis went as far as claiming that it was entirely acceptable to ignore the document altogether.

The Catholic Church, while insisting on the respect owed to the Petrine Office as instituted by Our Lord Himself, has never held that every utterance of the Successor of St. Peter should be received as part of her infallible magisterium, he wrote.

Burke then sought to demolish Francis idea that priests out in the trenches need to use discernment instead of just preaching doctrine.

There can be no opposition or contradiction between the Churchs doctrine and her pastoral practice, since, as the Catechism reminds us, doctrine is inherently pastoral, he wrote.

Writing on the website Crux, U.S. canon law professor Edward Peters claimed that since Francis did not come out and clearly change the rules, nothing was changing.

Bottom line, sacramental rules are made of words, not surmises, Peters wrote. Those who think Amoris Laetitia has cleared a path to the Communion rail for Catholics in irregular marriages are hearing words that the pope (whatever might be his personal inclinations) simply did not say.

Was Francis clearer on his views of homosexuality?

It has been three years since the pope uttered his famous line Who am I to judge? about homosexuality, but in the document he made it very clear that his relaxed attitude to gays does not extend to marriage.

Same-sex unions, he wrote, may not simply be equated with marriage. No union that is temporary or closed to the transmission of life can ensure the future of society.

And what about women?

Francis slams the mistreatment of women, but sticks to the churchs view that men and women are very different creatures. He attacks a society without sexual differences, which he says destroys the anthropological basis of the family, and leads to school programs and laws that promote a personal identity and emotional intimacy radically separated from the biological difference between male and female.

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Where does he stand on unmarried couples living together?

Francis breaks with the churchs traditional frowning on cohabiting, arguing that couples often cannot afford to get married and therefore should not be lectured to. But he also asks priests not to give up, and to work on gently steering couples to the eventual celebration of the sacrament of marriage.

Any tips from the pope on what to do when you do get married?

Here, the Joy of Love really hits its stride, turning into a type of go-to guide for newlyweds with tips on staying happy and being patient and kind.

Francis urges parents to ensure their children say please and thank you and encourages them to throw parties. Daily routines for newlyweds can include a morning kiss, an evening blessing, waiting at the door to welcome each other home, taking trips together and sharing household chores, he writes.

And, poignantly, he adds, At each new stage of married life, there is a need to sit down and renegotiate agreements, so that there will be no winners and losers, but rather two winners.

Kington is a special correspondent.

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Just before 4 p.m. Sunday, with sunshine filling the stadium and a gentle breeze wafting off the Pacific Ocean just a few hundred yards away, the chant begins.

To-ro! To-ro! To-ro! They are calling for the bull.

It has been months since the last bullfight, which many believe should have been the last bullfight ever. Just three days before, Baja Californias congress  its state legislature  postponed a vote that would have banned bullfighting in the Mexican state and forced the cancellation of this spectacle.

The crowd is restless.

Ever greater numbers of Mexicans see this as a cruel and outdated ritual. Polls show that roughly 80% of Baja Californians oppose it. But as the bullfighting season opened on schedule Sunday, the dwindling ranks of traditionalists could savor at least a temporary victory and another day of what, they insist, is an art form.

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Trumpets sound from a band on the third level of the stadium. The crowd erupts. From a tunnel walk four young men in glittering, neon-colored skintight outfits. The crowd continues to cheer warily  the talent of these younger men can vary, though they are soon successfully goading a young bull named Galan into chasing them.

Part rodeo, part derby and part tailgate, the Tijuana bullfights are an amalgam of Mexican society in the borderlands. Ranchers in wide-brimmed hats coax their wives in jean jackets through the busy gates outside the stadium, divided between Sombra (shade) and Sol (seats in the sun).

1 / 14 Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza places his elbow on the head of a bull while circling it during a bullfight at Plaza de Toros Monumental de Tijuana on Sunday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 14 Eulalio Lopez, known as El Zotoluco, faces off with a bull at Plaza de Toros Monumental de Tijuana on Sunday, the first day of the bullfighting season. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 14 Eulalio Lopez, El Zotoluco, guides a bull at Plaza de Toros Monumental in Tijuana. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 14 A worker tries to remove a bull killed by Eulalio Lopez in Tijuanas Plaza de Toros Monumental. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 14 Jose Mauricio dances beside the bull during a fight at Plaza de Toros Monumental de Tijuana on Sunday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 14 Jose Mauricio gets on his knees and guides the bull around him. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 14 Jose Mauricio smiles as he receives roses and gifts from the crowd. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 14 A crowd watches a bullfight at Plaza de Toros Monumental. Part rodeo, part derby and part tailgate, the Tijuana bullfights are an amalgam of Mexican society in the borderlands. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 14 Fans cheer for the matadors after a bullfight in Tijuana. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 14 Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza celebrates after the bull goes down. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 14 After claiming victory, Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza smells a flower thrown by a fan. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 14 Everyone gets a turn to pay his respects to the dead bull before it is slaughtered and the meat distributed at Plaza de Toros Monumental de Tijuana. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 14 A fan with his purchase -- the tail from a fallen bull in Tijuana. Baja Califiornias congress has repeatedly considered a ban on bullfighting, but has put off a final decision. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 14 A man walks away from Plaza de Toros Monumental with a pair of bull horns on Sunday, the first day of the bullfighting season. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Inside, young men in flannel shirts cluster next to society women in gowns and extravagant hats or with flowers in their hair. There are very few children, despite free admission to those younger than 12.

A sign in front of the stadium reads Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza in giant red-and-white letters. Pictured is a man on horseback, with a navy coat and silver trim. He is astride a horse and he is considered the best in the world at what he does  namely, killing bulls while astride a horse, forcing him to control his horse and the bull at the same time.

But first, the young men must face Galan, a large, muscular and not especially aggressive bull.

The men leap head-first over the charging animal; the crowd swoons. The men wave capes at him and, when he charges, they run behind red barriers or, in a few breathless instances, allow the bull to nearly strike them before sliding out of the way at the last perceptible second. When theyre not actively engaging him, Galan stands peacefully, waving his tail.

Eventually, he tires. Froth foams at the tips of his mouth and his tongue lolls along his lower lip. He has kicked back dirt and charged 10, 20, 30 times this afternoon. Somewhere, a decision is made, and the four men in neon outfits kneel down while the bull remains standing. Its over.

Galan runs back to the bull tunnel, untouched. The crowd claps and throws roses to the young men.

The arena clears. Three men in yellow with pink capes emerge from gaps in the wall of the arena.

Then the man in navy blue-and-silver, Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza, appears, and the crowd cheers lustily.

Mendoza is a rejoneador, a matador who fights from horseback. His picture illustrates the Wikipedia entry for rejoneadors.

Bullfighters would starve if every bull were like the docile Galan. But there is no wait for Mendozas opponent. Out of the gates charges a bull weighing 1,179 pounds.

His name is Pedrin.

::

Ruben Urenda, 69, started at the bullfights when he was 18, when Tijuana was far smaller but had two bullfighting rings. One closed in 2000, but the one that still stands is a grand old stone arena, the Plaza de Toros Monumental de Tijuana, built in a corner of the city where Mexico meets the U.S. border to the north and the sea to the west.

Urenda and all other stadium staff are part of a union of food workers in Tijuana who serve the bullring, as well as catered events, soccer games and private parties. He has worked his way up, from a simple beer vendor to a waiter, a coveted, well-paying job in which he wears a black vest over a white button-up shirt.

The stadium employs about 70 beer vendors, and hopeful fill-ins line up outside the morning of every bullfight. Urenda smiles at the memory. I remember that. One hundred beers [was] a very good day.

A man named Gerardo Mancillas passes in front of him with two children, ages 9 and 11, in tow. He drove them four hours from their home in Zacatecas to see the bullfight. Urenda motions to the children.

They should see it and understand, he says.

Then he hears the term activist and his face darkens.

There are no protesters here today, but bullfighting is under siege.

The Mexican states of Sonora and Coahuila, which also border the U.S., have banned bullfighting, as has the southern state of Guerrero. Even in Spain, where bullfighting reached its apex, protests are increasingly common.

I dont like the blood. They harass the animals, mistreat them. Even after three years its difficult [for me] to watch. But I really need the money.  Jessica Hernandez, a beer vendor at the bullfight arena

Bajas congress has repeatedly considered a ban on bullfighting, but has put off a final decision. On Thursday, it did so again, saying the matter required further study.

At issue, from the states point of view, is the economic draw of bullfights, which pull in Mexicans from surrounding regions and Americans who cross the border from San Diego.

At the same time, legislators are increasingly aware of animal rights activists who say there is no justification for a sport that amounts to torture.

Urenda, the waiter, insists that bullfighting it not primarily about killing a bull, but about the art with which its done.

Everyone knows the bull is going to lose, he says. If they succeed in closing [the bullring], it will be because they dont understand. I would lose my source of income, definitely. All the waiters, all the [beer] vendors. Seventy families would be left with nothing.

Twenty feet away, Jessica Hernandez, 21, wishes the activists would finally shut down the bullfights so the food-workers union would relocate her. Shes been a beer vendor for three years at the bullfights.

I dont like the blood, she said. They harass the animals, mistreat them. Even after three years its difficult [for me] to watch. But I really need the money and this is what was open.

::

It is afternoon, and Pedrin is bleeding.

Mendoza, the rejoneador, is on a black horse and has lanced him twice. A wound in Pedrins right shoulder is shallow, but his left shoulder has begun to drip red down his back.

Mendozas job on the black horse is to weaken the bulls neck muscles by stabbing the animal in the mound of muscle behind his neck. The lances force Pedrin to charge with his neck lowered, which will help Mendoza to aim and deliver blows. Two spears dangle from Pedrins shoulders. More will follow.

Mendoza briefly leaves the arena and returns, in his glittering jacket, atop a white horse. Pedrin, black and gray and muscular, turns his attention to him.

Mendoza rides his horse directly toward the bull, then veers. The crowd cheers, but this is simply the warmup.

Pedrin follows the horse, bucking his neck, trying to strike the animals flank. He pulls close and the horse kicks Pedrin in the face. The crowd cheers and laughs.

Mendoza delivers another lance to Pedrins flank. The bull doesnt slow.

Aiyeee! shouts a woman in the first row, close enough to smell the bull.

The blood has begun to flood out of Pedrins shoulder and down to his flank, thick wet rivulets pouring over black fur already wet and matted with blood.

Mendoza reins his horse into a small dance near the bull, the horse taking short steps forward and back while the bull tries to gore it. This is the closest he has taken the horse to the bull, and the crowd laps it up.

Pedrin is slowing. His neck is bowed and his charges arent as quick, but he still has designs on Mendoza and his horse. The rejoneador grins. He circles the arena, waving his black cap, as Pedrin watches him warily from its center.

Mendoza approaches the bull and lances it again, then once more. The bull bucks and kicks but continues to charge.

Mendoza dismounts and approaches. The men in yellow with pink capes draw closer. A short, mustachioed man in a small black cap walks behind the bull.

Pedrin stares straight ahead at the rejoneador, who lifts his arms and walks closer.

Suddenly, Pedrin kneels down. The crowd stands and cheers. The bull is finished.

Mendoza bows.

The man with the mustache and small black cap strides up behind the bull. He pulls out a knife with a half-foot blade and draws it and stabs the bull once in the back of the head to sever the spine and then stabs the bull again in the same spot and wipes it carelessly on the bulls right flank.

Pedrin rolls onto his right side. His back legs kick twice and he is still.

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The Obama administration castigated China and Russia on Wednesday for their attempts to use legislation to criminalize basic expressions of free speech, religious practice and other civil liberties.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry, in releasing the State Departments annual report on human rights in countries around the world, said the Middle East also ranked among the worst regions for civilians facing war, violent extremism and the forced displacement of millions of people.

The most widespread and dramatic violations in 2015 were those in the Middle East where the confluence of terrorism and the Syrian conflict caused enormous suffering, Kerry said.

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Given the horrors of these past five years, I cannot imagine a more powerful blow for human rights than putting a decisive end to this war, Kerry said.

A partial cease-fire in Syria is beginning to unravel, and peace negotiations in Geneva, sponsored by the United Nations and backed by the United States, are in doubt.

Syrias embattled president, Bashar Assad, held elections Wednesday that many in the international community viewed as a farce. Washington wants Assad to step down.

Syria is by far the greatest crisis on our mind, Tom Malinowski, assistant secretary of State for democracy, human rights and labor, said in elaborating on the report, the 40th produced by the State Department based on information from its diplomats abroad.

In Syria, we see how human rights abuses in one small country can have consequences far beyond that small countrys borders: from a refugee exodus that is altering the politics of Europe, to the spawning of a terrorist group that threatens us all, he added.

Malinowski said China and Russia came in for special criticism because as major countries, they have influence on entire regions.

The report noted that Moscow and Beijing have stepped up repression of dissidents, citizens protesting against torture, journalists critical of the government, religious minorities and others. In many cases, new legislation has been used to institutionalize restrictions on free speech and assembly.

Malinowski said other repressive countries are likely to imitate Moscow and Beijing.

Some U.S. allies also were condemned, most notably NATO member Turkey. The government has used anti-terror laws as well as a law against insulting the president to stifle legitimate political discourse and investigative journalism, the report says.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has arrested prominent journalists and attempted to silence critical media and opposition voices. He has invoked terrorism to punish moderate Kurdish leaders, lumping them in with armed Kurdish groups.

Erdogans government recently shepherded a takeover of one of the countrys top newspapers.

Erdogan, who met with President Obama two weeks ago on the sidelines of a nuclear summit in Washington, denied he was cracking down on opponents in Turkey.

For more news about global affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson
President Obama made a rare visit Wednesday to CIA headquarters for briefings on the war against Islamic State as the administration steps up air attacks along a patch of Syrias northern border in a renewed push to block the flow of fighters and supplies to the extremist group.

Obama, who recently asked the Pentagon and CIA for proposals to increase pressure in Syria, is considering sending 200 more members of U.S. special operations forces to advise and assist Kurdish and Arab militias seeking to close the so-called Manbij Gap, a porous 60-mile stretch that long has served as a cross-border corridor for the militants.

Islamic State forces holding the corridor have come under more coalition airstrikes in the last two weeks than any other target in Syria, according to U.S. officials. The Turkish military also has increased its artillery barrages against militants across its southern border.

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Obama is considering giving more advanced artillery to Sunni Arab militias, increasing assistance to Syrian Kurdish forces, as well as making efforts to recruit more Sunni Arabs to fight alongside Kurds, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing ongoing planning.

The president -- who visited the CIA with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John F. Kerry and more than two dozen senior national security officials -- also may seek to resolve a simmering dispute between the CIA and the Pentagon over which Syrian rebel forces are best positioned to act as proxies and allies in the maelstrom of a multi-sided war.

Obama did not disclose his decisions after the nearly two-hour meeting, but he told several dozen agency employees in the CIA entrance hall that we have momentum and we intend to keep that momentum.

He said that the ranks of Islamic State fighters have fallen to the lowest level in two years, that the group has not had a successful offensive in nearly a year, and that we continue to take out their leaders, their commanders and those plotting terrorist attacks.

In recent months, the Pentagon has armed and helped advise Kurdish militias in northeastern Syria after an ambitious effort to train and arm a Sunni Arab rebel force collapsed last year. About 50 U.S. special operations personnel are based in the Kurdish-held zone.

Russia is known to support Kurdish militias arrayed in northwestern Syria. The Manbij Gap, which stretches from the outskirts of Aleppo to the Euphrates River, lies between the two Kurdish forces.

Although Syrian Kurdish militias are considered capable fighters, they are reluctant to push further south into territory held by Islamic State where few ethnic Kurds live.

U.S. intelligence officials have warned for months that funneling too much military and intelligence support to Syrian Kurds risks alienating the Sunni Arab militias that compete for territory with the Kurds, an ethnic minority.

It also could anger the government in Turkey, which hosts a major U.S. air base and is a crucial U.S. partner in the war.

Turkish Kurds have fought for greater autonomy for more than three decades. The government in Ankara fears that building Kurdish militias -- even in Syria -- into a stronger fighting force could lead to the formation of a breakaway state along the border.

During a visit to Washington this month for a nuclear summit, Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told Obama that he does not want U.S.-backed Kurdish forces to end up controlling new territory along the border, including inside the Manbij Gap, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing the private meeting.

Erdogan told Obama that U.S.-backed Kurdish militias moving west of the Euphrates River into the Manbij Gap would be a red line for his government, the official said. Its not known how Obama responded.

Turkey increased its shelling of Islamic State positions south of the border after a spate of terrorist attacks by the group, including a March suicide bombing on a high-end shopping street in Istanbul. Last week, U.S. airstrikes and Turkish artillery provided cover for rebel forces to assault the Syrian town of Rai, a border crossing at the western edge of the Manbij Gap.

Col. Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the coalition, said Wednesday that over the last two weeks U.S.- backed rebel forces have pushed Islamic State from more than a dozen small villages near the gap.

While these operations dont encompass a lot of territory, this is critically important terrain for [Islamic State], because it is their last, best route to move people, money and supplies into Syria and Iraq, he said.

There are some very ancient animosities through that region, Warren said. Certainly, those have to be accounted for, certainly those will show themselves from time to time as different groups brush up against each other in the course of pursuing and fighting the militants.

Jeffrey White, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official, cautioned that closing the Syrian border would hurt Islamic State but wouldnt be decisive in the war.

This kind of anaconda strategy and slow attritional strategy, those are very long-term strategies, and [Islamic State] can offset them in various ways, he said. The real issue is getting a force on the ground that can defeat them in battle. The Kurds dont look to be that force. They arent large enough and they dont look to fight outside their traditional areas.

The U.S. and its allies long have sought to close the smuggling routes that lace Syrias northern border. The Sunni extremist group has drawn more than 36,500 foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq from around the globe, and many came through Turkey.

The latest coalition attacks also are aimed at cutting supply routes to Raqqah, the militants self-declared capital in Syria. In Iraq, airstrikes and local ground forces already have cut off major roads leading west to Raqqah in an effort to steadily choke the Syrian city.

In February, U.S. special operations forces helped Kurdish fighters seize the northeastern Syrian town of Shadadi, severing what U.S. officials called a key Islamic State supply line.

The Pentagon has argued that the Kurds have proved to be the best allies on the ground in Syria. The Pentagon in October helped create a Kurdish-led rebel coalition called the Syrian Democratic Forces. It has received U.S. airdrops of weapons and supplies, and aid from special operations forces.

The Pentagon also is trying to build up Sunni tribes to fight alongside Kurds. It is taking Sunni Arab leaders out of Syria for up to two weeks of training in Turkey so they can help call in airstrikes, coordinate operations and arrange resupply from the U.S.-led coalition.

To meet that goal, the Pentagon last month relaunched a program to train and equip Syrian rebels, replacing the effort that collapsed in the fall after the first few hundred recruits were ambushed in Syria and handed over their U.S.-issued ammunition and trucks to an Al Qaeda affiliate.

A U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the program, said the Pentagon aims to integrate more Sunni Arabs into the training to satisfy Turkeys demands and eventually to launch an attack on Raqqah.

We know we cant take Raqqah with the Kurds alone, the official said. Thats why we keep pushing ahead with this training program -- getting indigenous forces on the ground is essential.

brian.bennett@latimes.com

william.hennigan@latimes.com

Follow @ByBrianBennett and @wjhenn on Twitter
On Syrian television, the state news agency shows an anchor roaming a polling place as people shuffle toward ballot boxes, awkwardly avoiding eye contact. Some start dancing in the middle of the crowd, while off to the side a young girl recites a poem extolling the virtues of the homeland.

It is a duty upon every citizen to vote, Inas Qaasem, a Damascus resident, told state television at a polling station. They have the freedom to choose, that is the most important thing.

When asked how she had chosen her candidate, Qaasem smiled shyly and said I dont know. I didnt read anything. I just saw that people were voting, and I decided to come and vote as well.

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On Wednesday, 3,500 candidates vied for a place in Syrias 250-seat parliament  though the result is not expected to be any different from that of previous elections, which have produced a quiescent parliament.

The opposition and its backers dismissed the voting as a farce. And critics say the election undercuts the Geneva peace talks, which are supposed to result in a new constitution for the country and in President Bashar Assad transitioning out of power within the next 18 months.

To hold parliamentary elections now given the current conditions in the country, we believe is at best premature and not representative of the Syrian people, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a news briefing on Monday.

But Russia, Assads main ally, welcomed the elections, saying they will prevent a legal vacuum and a vacuum in the sphere of Syrias executive power branch until a new constitution could be created, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a statement to Russian state news agency TASS.

Fighting in parts of the country forced the government to take extraordinary measures for the voting to go on. Helicopters had delivered ballot boxes to the city of Deir al Zor, a city under siege by Islamic State, approximately 248 miles northeast of the capital, Damascus. Residents of Raqqah province, which remains in the hands of Islamic State, and Idlib, where a hardline coalition of Islamist rebels and opposition hold sway, were told to vote in the nearest government area.

In what was viewed as an act of defiance, Assad made a show of voting, glad-handing his way through cheering crowds alongside his wife, Asma, before casting his ballot at the Assad library in Damascus. Terrorism failed in achieving [its] primary aim to destroy the social structure of the national identity, Assad told a Syrian state news correspondent shortly after he finished voting, referring to the rebels fighting to wrest control of the country since 2011.

Voting began as peace talks in Geneva limped into a third round. Delegates from the main opposition umbrella group, the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee, arrived in Geneva to meet with U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura. Though De Mistura has insisted that this round of negotiations will produce concrete steps to a crucially urgent political transition, both sides remain intransigent.

The government delegation, in another snub to the process in Geneva, is due to arrive on Friday  after the elections are over.

The opposition insists that Assad cannot be a part of any transitional government. But Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said Wednesday that the opposition should let go of its dream of a transitional government, the Associated Press reported. Such an idea would amount to a coup detat and would never be acceptable, he said, according to the wire service.

What little chance remains for successful negotiations may be undermined by fighting in Aleppo province, which threatened the six-week cessation of hostilities forged by the U.S. and Russia.

Earlier in April, militants with the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front spearheaded a wide-scale offensive on Al Eis, a strategically important village 16 miles southwest of Aleppo city that overlooks the M5 highway between Aleppo and Damascus. They were joined by other Islamist groups as well as so-called moderate factions  many of whom are represented in the Geneva talks.

The village had been taken before the cease-fire, which took effect Feb. 27, during a push by pro-government troops backed by Russian warplanes.

Nusra Front is not included in the ceasefire deal or the Geneva talks.

A counter-offensive by pro-government forces, which included Shiite militias from Afghanistan, Lebanon and Iraq as well as Iranian special forces, failed to retake Al Eis and left dozens of militiamen dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition watchdog group.

Bulos is a special correspondent.
A new report by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights finds that Latinos in the heavily Hispanic populated state of California are more likely than others to lose their driver's licenses and ultimately be jailed for unpaid traffic tickets.

Researchers for the "Not Just a Ferguson Problem: How Traffic Courts Drive Inequality in California" entitled study based their findings on U.S. Census Bureau information, records from the California Department of Motor Vehicles and information from 15 police and sheriff's departments across the state.

In some areas of the state, Latino drivers accounted for more than six in 10 of all suspended licenses, a ratio far greater than whites and even other minorities.

Communities of Color More Impacted

"Individuals who cannot afford to pay an infraction citation are being arrested, jailed and prosecuted, and are losing their licenses and their livelihoods," the report concluded. "The communities impacted by these policies are disproportionately communities of color."

Over one two year period beginning in September of 2013, researchers found 85 percent of the 20,000 people arrested for driving with a suspended license in Los Angeles County were either Latino of African-American.

The L.A. Times previously reported, based on 2015 figures released by the California Legislative Analyst's Office, uncollected court-ordered debt that year topped $10 billion across the state.

Driving With a Suspended License a Misdemeanor in State

Driving with a suspended license is a misdemeanor in California, and judges are authorized to issue arrest warrants for those who either fail to pay tickets or appear for scheduled court appearances.

The report's release comes on the eve of a state senate hearing on a bill aimed at preventing the DMV from suspending the licenses of drivers for unpaid tickets.

The report also uncovered that black drivers face many of the same impediments as Latino drivers, namely being much more likely to be jailed for unpaid tickets than whites.

In L.A. County, blacks compose just over 9 percent of the total population, but accounted for one in three of every arrest for driving with a suspended license over a two year period commencing in September of 2013.

By comparisons, whites comprised nearly 27 percent of the population, but only 15 percent of all such arrests over that same time.
Immigration reform advocates are planning to converge on the Nation's Capital in a massive demonstration later this month when the Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in President Obama's executive action case on immigration.

Thousands of immigrants and their supporters are slated to travel to Washington on April 18, and line the streets bordering the White House as part of the New York Immigration Coalition's Stand Up for Relief protest.

Supreme Court Gets its say on Immigration

The proceedings will mark the now eight member panel of justice's official foray into the long simmering debate on immigration. The high court is expected to actually render a decision in the case sometime in June.

At stake is whether the President is unilaterally authorized to provide deportation protection to millions of undocumented immigrants via the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DAPA) actions he took in 2014.

More specifically, the president's plan offered greater protections to DREAMERS, or young undocumented immigrants who came or were brought into the U.S. when they were 16 or younger. The plan also afforded protections to undocumented immigrants who are parents of children who are citizens or have legal status, and who have been in the U.S. for five or more years.

In all, some 5 million immigrants stood to directly benefit from the president's actions while the Department of Homeland Security was directed to focus attention on collaring and deporting serious criminals and immigrants who had only recently entered the U.S.

Not long after the president's announcement, the state of Texas and ultimately 25 other states sued the Obama administration in federal court, challenging the legalities of both DACA and DAPA.

Soon after that, a federal court there issued an injunction halting the implementation of the measures, drawing an instant appeal from the White House.

In time, a Fifth Circuit Appeals Court in New Orleans affirmed the lower court's decision, paving the way for the matter to now be adjudicated before the Supreme Court.

With the stakes so high, parties on both side of the issue are already feverishly maneuvering to have their voices heard.

Republican led House of Representatives to Argue Against President's Actions

The Republican led House of Representatives recently filed an amicus brief on behalf of the state of Texas and will be granted 15 minutes before the court during the oral arguments phase of the proceedings to state their unwavering opposition to the president's actions.

The issue of immigration has also become a hot-button topic during the ongoing 2016 presidential election season, with Republican front-runners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz both taking on a hard-line stance against all reforms.

Both men are on record in asserting that they plan to carry out mass deportations should either of them be elected, and Trump has also pledged to erect a massive wall along the Mexican border to keep out all immigrants.

"Over the last year, we've seen some presidential candidates stoke the fires of fear and intolerance to new levels," reads a passage on the New York Immigration Coalition website. "From promises to deport 11 million undocumented people and building 55-foot high walls to calls for security patrols of Muslim neighborhoods, immigrants have become unfair targets to score cheap political points. This type of hatred has harmful, dangerous consequences."

Meanwhile, leading Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have both vowed to legislatively tackle immigration reform should either of them be elected, with the former first lady pledging to so within the first 100 days of her administration.
The chief prosecutor in Venezuela has released an order to banks to freeze the accounts of people that the authorities are investigating in relation to the leaked documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca.

According to Fox News, Venezuela's public prosecutor, Luisa Ortega, said to a television station, Globovision, on Monday that they are planning to issue warrant of arrest to the people identified in "leaked documents." Current Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro instructed Ortega to do an investigation last week. However, Ortega did not drop names of the people who might be involved. But Venezuelans whose names are connected to the "leaked documents" include an ex-top military officer, an official from a state oil company and a security official who worked at the presidential house during the late President Hugo Chavez's administration.

According to ABC News, out of 11.5 million leaked documents, Venezuela is said to be mentioned in 241,000 documents. However, the leak did not make a huge impact on the public consciousness because of a current severe economic crisis and worsening government problem the country is facing.

On Monday, Peru authorities from tax agency raided the home of law firm Mossack Fonseca representative in Lima. The team seized all accounting documents that belong to Monica Ycaza Clerc. Clerc represents the global lawfirm in Peru. According to CNN, the seized accounting documents are relevant to an on-going investigation about tax evasion and fraud involving Mossack Fonseca and Peruvian taxpayers.

According to the tax agency of Peru, the raid was done "in order to thoroughly investigate her and also check for possible connections that she would have with Panama papers case and with Peruvian taxpayers."

Governments from different countries have also started doing their investigation about possible financial wrongdoings done by rich and powerful persons around the world. Mossack Fonseca is involved in the investigation because of the leaked documents that has embarassed top world leaders and offshore companies. Speculations have spread that the global lawfirm assisted to establish offshore accounts and secret shell companies for the rich and powerful people around the globe.

Yahoo reported that even British Prime Minister David Cameron's name was also dragged into this controversy after he admitted that he gained profits from shares in an investment fund, but he denied the attempt to hide it nor avoid taxes. The said investment fund was operated by his late father, whose name appears in the leaked documents.

Other names that are dragged into this scandal because of the leaked documents are associates of the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin (although Putin's name is not mentioned in the documents), Ukraine's President Petro Poronsheko, Argentina's President Mauricio Macri, and Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The European Union has agreed to extend the sanctions they will impose to the 82 Iranian individuals until 2017. The sanctions include freezing of assets and imposing travel bans as the individuals are accused of tarnishing human rights.

According to Times of Israel, on Monday, the EU officially announced that they have extended the sanctions until April 13, 2017. The 28-nation bloc has instigated that they've froze assets and imposed travel bans in place against Iranians since 2011 because of the perceived violation of human rights. The measures came despite a recent improvement of relations linked to a nuclear deal between Western powers and Tehran.

Albawaba reported that the European Union has imposed the sanctions since 2011 and has extended it every year since. The US and UE have contend that the agreement will only include those related to Iran's nuclear program and not applicable with those who are connected to missile and human rights accusations. The move was noted to come up after a report regarding Islamic Republic last month surfaced with Tehran being accused of violations. However, Iran slammed the report, saying that it has been compiled "based on the viewpoints of a few countries and with the aim of targeting other countries through exploiting international human rights mechanisms."

Press TV added that the European government has tried to renew business ties with Iran since the EU, the US, China and Russia reached the nuclear agreement with Tehran last year of July. But Iran said that the EU could impose transactions on them over its missile tests after the US slapped the new bans on Iranian companies and individuals over the country's missile program.

Under the UN Security Council, Iran can exercise its rights to conduct missile tests since it is under their resolution and nuclear agreement. Moreover, Iran says that the use of missiles are for conventional deterrent alone.
The Supreme Court of Venezuela has declared unconstitutional legislation for the amnesty law being passed by opposition-controlled congress to free dozens of politicians in jail who are known to be opponents of the president.

According to Salon, foes of President Nicolas Maduro won't be looking to see freedom soon as the decision on Monday thwarted the amnesty law filed by the opposition-controlled congress. The decision is said to be expected as Maduro already criticized the law as an attempt to destabilize his rule and pardon activists he blamed during the protest that happened in 2014. The court ruled that the legislation could not stand because it allowed for impunity, which is also the word used by Maduro when he attacked the proposal months ago.

ABC News reported that the congressional leaders are demanding that the bill be enacted despite the ruling from what they see as a lapdog court. However, many thinks that will be unlikely since the Supreme Court's ruling has been established.

One of the known individuals who can be freed by the amnesty law is Leopoldo Lopez. He led the 2014 anti-government protests that eventually lead to dozens of death. He has been locked for 14-year sentence for being allegedly guilty of instigating the violence during the protests.

KSL wrote that the legislation is a promise by the government during the 2015 legislative race that gave the opposition control of congress for the first time in decades. The opposition-controlled congress did try to promise that they will free the activists from prison time, but made sure that it is their first priority. This is also the latest and first major piece of legislation which the new congress tried to pass. Other government from foreign countries also supported the congress' legislation.

The Supreme Court of Venezuela has rejected almost all congressional actions this year with overturning moves against limiting the president's powers. Furthermore, the Supreme Court practices in preventing the congress from taking control over institutions and other lawmakers from taking seats. The next move for the Venezuela congressional leaders is to make a recall election for the president to try and reshape the highest court.
Beijing is now looking for different ways to include Hong Kong's legal community in interpreting the Basic law. Hong Kong has always felt inferior over the mainland's overall control of the country.

One of China's top lawyer, Wang Zhenmin said in a speaking engagement that Beijing has always wanted to fully implement the Basic Law. Zhenmin added that people have been complaining over the past years on why the Basic Law has not been fully implemented, both in Hong Kong and the mainland as per South China Morning Post.

Zhenmin said they are now doing studies on how to address these issues. They also want to increase the participatory role of Hong Kong's legal community when the National People's Congress Standing Committee will interpret the Basic Law.

The NPCSC consists of 12 equal members from Hong Kong and the mainland. Its role is to interpret the Basic Law once the Court of Final Appeal deems its help during particular cases.

But during the few years of Hong Kong handover, Beijing did not ask the help of the NPCSC in some particular cases which overturns its right of abode judgment and raises questions of its judicial independence. The mainland has been more reserved in interpreting Hong Kong's mini-constitution.

According to the Asian Review, the Article 23 of the Basic Law says that Hong Kong authorities shall enact laws in order to prohibit acts of treason, secession, sedition or subversion against the Central People's Government. But the attempted legislation of this law in 2003 resulted in a mass protest forcing the government to withdraw the bill.

As reported by the New York Times, there has been only a number of Hong Kong activist that calls for the land's independence and separation of its politics from the mainland. This activist represents a splinter group in Hong Kong's democracy movement.

Despite these movements, Zhenmin is still considering the idea of making the mainland the legal market accessible for Hong Kong's legal professionals. He also wants to broaden the human rights protection in Hong Kong as well as Beijing.
Apr 13, 2016, 2:26pm ET

Study: Automakers face significant hurdle to prove autonomous safey

Researchers claim it would take hundreds of millions of miles to validate claims of superior safety.

Autonomous technology has been promoted as perhaps the most significant revolution in vehicle safety, however a new study suggests automakers face significant hurdles in validating such claims.

It is well established that human error causes the vast majority of car accidents and road fatalities. Self-driving and semi-autonomous cars address the problem by avoiding common errors altogether or intervening when a driver has made a mistake.

Google's latest self-driving report cites nearly 1.5 million miles driven, with just a single minor accident blamed on the autonomous technology. Such statistics may not reflect how safe the company's cars would be if a highly-trained employee was not hovering over a kill switch, ready to take over.

Google's fleet was operated in manual mode for more than a million miles, representing 40 percent of the total. To be clear, the company has not claimed its cars are ready to put on the market.

"Given that current traffic fatalities and injuries are rare events compared with vehicle miles traveled ... fully autonomous vehicles would have to be driven hundreds of millions of miles and sometimes hundreds of billions of miles to demonstrate their safety in terms of fatalities and injuries," RAND researchers found.

Conservative regulatory proposals call for human drivers to receive special training and remain responsible for operation of the vehicle, always watching the road and ready to take the helm. Google is among the most optimistic, arguing that the safest autonomous car will have no steering wheel, pedals or other manual controls that would allow an error-prone human to interfere.

RAND argues that regulations should be framed to accommodate a broad range of autonomous technology as it progresses over time. Automakers will also have to create "innovative methods" to demonstrate safety without relying on miles-per-accident statistics or virtual simulations.

"It is imperative that autonomous vehicle regulations are adaptive  designed from the outset to evolve with the technology so that society can better harness the benefits and manage the risks of these rapidly evolving and potentially transformative technologies," the report adds.

The RAND report summary does not provide any specific recommendations for how to validate safety, and its authors caution that it may not be possible to establish certainty.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has promised to hasten federal rule-making for autonomous vehicles. The agency is still listening to stakeholders and the public before it begins pushing forward with new laws and provides clearer guidance to state-level regulators.
Apr 13, 2016, 12:46pm ET

Toyota to launch world's largest connect car program in MI

Toyota is getting serious about future car tech.

Toyota is transforming Ann Arbor into the world's largest, real-world test-bed of connect cars and infrastructure with a new initiative. The news comes just days after Toyota outlined plans to establish its third Research Institute facility in Ann Arbor.

Working in partnership with University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), Toyota plans to deploy a total of 5,000 vehicles on the streets of Ann Arbor. Those vehicles will be equipped with advanced vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure equipment that will allow them to communicate with similarly equipped cars or objects, such as traffic signals. Part of the Ann Arbor Connected Vehicle Test Environment (AACVTE), Toyota says the project will be the "world's largest operational real-world deployment of connected vehicles and infrastructure.

"Ann Arbor is an international hub for connected vehicle technology and research, and it has everything to do with the community. Toyota is again demonstrating their commitment to the community by their investment in the recently announced TRI, and by encouraging employees to participate in cutting edge research, said James R. Sayer, director, UMTRI.

Toyota is inviting UMTRI team members and their families to participate in the project. Those volunteers will have their vehicles equipped with a small transmitter box and two external antennas. That device will continually transmit speed and position data to surrounding vehicles and infrastructure during their daily driving routines. Although each vehicle will have a unique identifier, Toyota promises that all data will be treated confidentially.

Toyota hasn't stated when vehicle-to-vehicle or vehicle-to-infrastructure technology might be ready for production, but it will likely play into the automaker's autonomous vehicle plans.
Some sisters might argue over shoes, but generous Pike of Rushalls Melissa Honner is happily preparing to hand over her kidney to her younger sister Alison.

Some sisters might argue over shoes, but generous Pike of Rushalls Melissa Honner is happily preparing to hand over her kidney to her younger sister Alison.

Alison, aged 26, was born with kidneys that never grew. She has already had two kidney transplants, one when she was aged 9 which lasted for nine years, and another at 18, that rejected four years later.

Since last November, she has been undergoing a gruelling trip to Beaumont Hospital three times a week for four hours of haemodialysis, getting back home late at night.

When doctors told the Honner family that Alisons best chance of a long lasting kidney was from a family member, they jumped at the opportunity and were all tested.

Last January Melissa, 29, got the call from Beaumont to say she was the only match. Having just arriving back from New York and announced her engagement, she was delighted to be able to share yet more happy news.

There was loads of good news at once, laughs Melissa, who never had a moments hesitation about the operation.

I agreed straight away. It was a relief, she said.

Despite Alisons ill health, she has won home gold and silver medals for Ireland, after taking part in the Transplant Games in Badminton and bowling events. She also pursues Media Studies in Ballyfermot when she is able.

Melissa hopes her gift to her sister will help her achieve even more.

I hope it is successful, and Alison can get a good quality of life, and allow her to do things, she said.

Alison is coping well she says.

Shes good, shes strong, but she is wrecked, it is a big strain on her, said Melissa, a primary school teacher now based in Dublin.

The sisters are now waiting for a slot to have the surgery.

We have no idea when it will happen, we met the surgeon two weeks ago, everything is ready, we are just waiting for a date, says Melissa.

National Organ Donor Awareness week takes place from March 30 to April 6. Watch out for the forget-me-not emblems on sale around Laois, the proceeds of which go towards the Irish Kidney Associations supports to dialysis patients and transplant recipients.

For Organ Donor cards, LoCall 1890 543639 or Freetext the word DONOR to 50050, and most importantly inform your family of your wishes. See www.ika.ie for more.

Donor Ecards are now available for smartphones, from the IPhone Store or Android Market Place.
One of the highlights of this years Spring Conference for us as a Local Party, led by our deputy group leader Cllr Ann Reid, was hosting some representatives of our Bosnian sister party, Nasa Stranka.

Nationally links between our two parties are already well-established, with joint working around campaigns, training and promoting women in politics. But for anyone who doesnt follow Bosnian politics as closely as we do.

Nasa Stranka (Our Party in Bosnian) was founded in 2008 to offer an alternative to the dominant nationalist parties, and over the past six years has established itself as the leading socially liberal and progressive voice in Bosnian politics. Nasa Stranka is also a shining example of achieving gender equality, with 46% female representation at the local level.

Over Conference we were very pleased to meet Ena, Amra, Jasmina, Elma, and Vildana, who are five of Nasa Strankas female candidates standing for election this October in Sarajevo. We had a great discussion on effective local campaigning, including:

Building effective relationships with the media  less easy when some of the channels are owned by opposition politicians!

Promoting the participation of women and young people in politics

Communicating with voters through leaflets, door-knocking, and online.

We received some very useful feedback on our literature, and hopefully Nasa Stranka will have learnt something from us too.

The Clifton action day also presented an unmissable opportunity to gain some first-hand experience of what being a Lib Dem in York is all about  delivering Focus.

Harriet Shone, International Officer at Lib Dem HQ, commented:

Nasa Stranka are miles ahead of their competitors on female representation, earning their reputation as the womens party in Bosnia. We have been working with their female candidates for over a year, helping them to the gain confidence and skills necessary to win their local seats in the elections later this year and giving them the opportunity to see how the Liberal Democrats campaign on the ground in places like York. Through this programme we aim to support liberal growth in Bosnia but also to take this opportunity to learn from Nasa Stranka how they have been so successful in promoting and supporting women within their party.

Thank you to the Lib Dem International Office for their help in organising the event, and of course to Nasa Stranka  and best of luck in October!

* Keith Aspden has been the Councillor for Fulford Ward in York since 2003 and for Fulford and Heslington Ward since 2015. Since 2019 he is the Leader of City of York Council, and the Liberal Democrat Deputy Chair of the LGA Fire Services Management Committee.
Tim Farron has this afternoon published his blueprint for how the UK could take 3000 unaccompanied refugee children.

Earlier he spoke to the Daily Politics about the plan and his visit to Northern Greece yesterday.

The plan has been drawn up in consultation with the charities and NGOs who attended his recent summit on the issue. The main recommendations are as follows:

The main recommendations cover identifying those 3000 children, protecting them, care, foster care and funding and can be read in the report here.

If you agree with Tims plan, there is a petition to sign here.

Tims foreword to the report is reproduced in full below.

This year alone approximately 171,000 refugees decided water was safer than land and made the treacherous crossing across the Mediterranean  more than half of them are women and children and a proportion will be young kids all alone. Estimates, even conservative ones, suggest that there are 30,000 unaccompanied refugee children in Europe.

We should not underestimate the risks they face from smugglers and those that would exploit them. At the start of the year Europol, the EU crime agency, warned of gangs targeting child refugees. At least 10,000 children have disappeared after arriving in Europe. The true number is likely to be significantly higher.

The UK cannot stand by and do nothing whilst these children languish in camps and become prey to those that would do them harm. That is why I have been calling on the Government to take 3,000 child refugees who have arrived in Europe. Let me be clear, this is not all the UK should do but the very least we must do. It amounts to five children per parliamentary constituency and I would challenge any MP who argues that they have no room for five vulnerable children.

I have visited the camps in Calais and Lesbos and as I write this I am preparing to travel to Idomeni to visit those stuck on the border between Greece and Macedonia. The children shared stories with me that would have shocked me if they came from adults let alone from young children. I met children who had lost family on the way or who had made the journey by themselves leaving family behind in Turkey or Syria.

All of us would have heard the tragic story of the young person who was killed whilst trying to smuggle his way in to the UK to be reunited with his uncle. No child should have to resort to this. There are still very few safe and legal routes for those whose homes have been destroyed, made inhabitable, or simply are no longer safe to live in.

They come to Europe seeking a safer, better life, to rebuild and to regain their faith in humanity. But so far Europe has not met these ambitions and these vulnerable people, who have already been through so much, now languish in camps while Governments fail to act. The most vulnerable of these are the unaccompanied or separated children, those who have no one to look out for them.

I welcome what the Prime Minister is doing in the region, both in terms of the Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement Scheme, which will relocate 20,000 vulnerable Syrians from the camps in the region to the UK over a five year period, and with regards to the generous sums of money we are giving to the aid agencies working there.

However, the Government cannot simply ignore those who have already reached Europe. We have a responsibility to work with our European partners to take our fair share. It is clear that the Governments approach is to deliver as little as possible and there are no signs that anyone in Government is looking for a sustainable solution.

This document is the result of wide consultation and discussion with experts in the field and should be seen as a guide to what is needed for Britain to meet its moral duty. What has become clear during this process is that this presents an opportunity not only for the UK to live up to our values and principles but also to introduce changes to the current system that can benefit all asylum seeking children and our own children in care.

I would like to thank all those organisations who gave up their time and who have contributed significantly to this piece of work. In the coming weeks and months I will be reaching out to those across parties and in Government to see how to take these recommendations forward.
St. Vincent Healthcare will award seven local nonprofits with a total of $20,000, the hospital system announced Wednesday.

Recipients include the School District 2 Angel Fund, Young Families Early Head Start, Family Promise of Yellowstone County, the Billings Fire Department, the Ramsey Keller Memorial Fund, SD2 Homeless Student Program and Tumbleweed.

"At St. Vincent Healthcare we prioritize the importance of having a caring spirit and the Share Our Spirit campaign is an extension of that core value, said Susie Barbero, coordinator of St. Vincent's Share our Spirit (SOS) Associate Giving Campaign. This amazing campaign brings our associates together as they live out our mission to assist the poor and vulnerable. In this case, theyre doing so by pledging financial support to those in need."

All of the money to be donated was raised through the SOS campaign, and its Community and Children's Fund helps out programs and organizations that benefit and support families in the area.

Hospital and campaign fficials will present checks to the organizations on Thursday at 11 a.m. in the Fortin Lobby at St. Vincent Healthcare.

Money raised in the campaign also supports a number of St. Vincent's efforts, including helping hospital associates during tough times and assisting patients and families with small medical expenses or motels and meals.

It has, since being founded in 1988, raised almost $5 million.
THE trial is due to begin this Wednesday of a young man who is accused of suspicious possession of an improvised shotgun and ammunition on the southside of the city almost two years ago.

Nathan Ring, aged 20, who has an address at St Michaels Place, Ballinasloe, County Galway faces two charges under the provisions of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act.

Both charges relate to an incident at McDonagh Avenue, Janesboro on September 12, 2014.

Yesterday, at Limerick Circuit Court the defendant, whose family is originally from the Ballinacurra Weston area, formally entered not guilty pleas to the charges.

Addressing the jury panel, John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, said it will be alleged by the State during the trial that Mr Ring was in possession of an improvised 12-gauge shotgun and a Bornaghi-branded 12-gauge cartridge on the afternoon of the date of the alleged offence.

He said up to 18 gardai of various ranks may be called to give evidence during the trial  including members from the ballistics section at Garda Headquarters.

He added that a number of named individuals may also be referred to or mentioned during the trial along with a licenced premises in the Janesboro area.

After thanking the potential jurors for their punctuality and attendance in court, Judge Tom ODonnell indicated the trial is likely to last until the end of this week and may continue into early next week.

During the process to select the jury for the trial, a number of potential jurors were challenged by both the State and by lawyers representing Mr Ring.

One man was excused by Judge ODonnell after he told the court he had a pre-existing knowledge of the case while another man was excused by the judge after he said he may know members of the defendants extended family.

A jury of six men and six women was selected for the trial and after electing a foreman, the jurors were told to return to court this morning.

Judge ODonnell also warned them not to discuss the matter with anybody in advance of the beginning of the trial as they have not heard any evidence.
A SPECIAL memorial service was held this week to mark the first anniversary of the murder of student Karen Buckley.

Ms Buckley, 24, from Mourneabbey, north Cork, was killed by Andrew Pacteau within 20 minutes of meeting him by chance at the Sanctuary nightclub in Glasgow on April 12, last year.

The qualified nurse who graduated from the University of Limerick, and whose mother Marian is from Galbally, had gone to Glasgow to further her career.

Ms Buckleys former Glasgow Caledonian University friends and classmates paid tribute to the young Cork woman in a special service on Tuesday.

The service was organised by The School of Health and Life Sciences, which is the faculty Karen belonged to as a student when she was studying occupational therapy.

A spokeswoman for the university confirmed it was a private service for the students affected by the death.

Ms Buckley went to Scotland because she wanted to get a Masters degree.

Following her disappearance last year, the university in Glasgow offered support and counselling to students.

Many of the universitys students also attended a vigil with Ms Buckleys heartbroken parents, John and Marian, which was held in George Square on April 18 of last year.

Ms Buckley was on a night out with friends in Glasgow when she went missing.

An extensive search concluded after four days when Ms Buckleys body was found in a farm outside Glasgow.

Ms Buckley was seen on CCTV leaving the club with Pacteau.
THE emergency department at University Hospital Limerick experienced one of its busiest ever months in March, according to figures published by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

According to monthly INMO statistics, there were 710 patients treated on A&E trolleys and on additional trolleys or beds in the wards at the hospital over the month. The report shows that it was the busiest March since statistics began in 2006.

A spokesperson for the UL Hospitals Group said that the A&E at UHL is one of the busiest in the country with approximately 60,000 attendances every year.

During March, the emergency department at UHL had 5,417 attendances, significantly up on March 2015 which equates to an average daily attendance of 175 patients. On a number of occasions during the month attendances exceeded 200 patients.

In March 2015, there were 558 patients treated on trolleys waiting to be admitted to a hospital bed. The lowest recorded overcrowding rates in March were in 2007, when there were just 42 people on trolleys.

The spokesperson said that seasonal factors, such as the flu, have been a contributing factor in the increase in overcrowding at UHL. The older age profile presenting at the A&E is also a factor, the spokesperson said in response to the recent figures.

The spokesperson added: In February 2015, the UL Hospitals Group established the ED Forum which is attended by INMO and SIPTU representatives who are based in the emergency department in UHL and is independently chaired.

The Forum meets every three weeks and has agreed a series of actions to address issues of concern in the emergency department. This is one amongst many ways in which staff can provide feedback regarding the ED.

The UL Hospitals Group is also holding weekly meetings with INMO, as part of a forum, established by the Workplace Relations Commission, in January.

A new A&E is expected to be kitted out in the first quarter of 2017.
TRADE union members at St Camillus Hospital in Limerick have suspended their work-to-rule industrial action, following an interim agreement reached at the Workplace Relations Commission on Wednesday morning.

Industrial action was also averted at University Hospital Limerick on Tuesday morning, which concerned nurse staffing levels in medical and surgical wards.

Since Monday, April 4, close to 50 Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation members have staged work-to-rule industrial action, following concerns expressed over the nurse-to-bed ratio, at St Camillus Hospital on the Shelbourne Road in Limerick city.

At a risk assessment review in September, nurses expressed concern over 15 nursing vacancies. In November, INMO wished to restrict admissions at St Camillus Hospital, until there were suitable staffing levels.

The 15 vacancies have yet to be filled, according to a spokesperson for the trade union.

However, up until this Wednesday, the HSE and INMO had failed to come to an agreement and referred the dispute onto the WRC.

The INMO issued a statement this Wednesday lunchtime, announcing the suspension of industrial action.

The HSE has agreed interim rosters, with the INMO and SIPTU, which acknowledge the staffing requirements. Intensive efforts are being made to recruit the additional nurses required. Other measures related to the permanent filling of nurse manager posts and professional development will be progressed.

The HSE has committed to monitoring, on a daily basis, the admission of patients in tandem with the availability of staff, the spokesperson stated.

Talks will reconvene on May 9, to review the progress.

The HSE welcomed the union's decision to avert industrial action during WRC talks.

Bernard Gloster, Chief Officer, HSE Mid West commented: Significant progress was achieved

between meetings and I am grateful to the INMO and SIPTU, both unions involved in the work-to-rule, as well as my own management team and senior staff for their efforts in arriving at what I believe to be a sensible and progressive solution.

The only possible obstacle in fulfilling the timely implementation of the WRC agreement, which is not unique to St Camillus and is being experienced across the health service, will be the recruitment of nursing personnel for approved posts. We hope that this will be overcome.

Meanwhile, SIPTU members also withdrew its threat of industrial action by its nurses, at UHL this week.

SIPTUs health sector organiser, Tony Kenny, said that management has invited the trade union to formal discussions, which are due to take place next week.

The meeting, which will review nurse staffing levels in the two wards, will be facilitated by an independent chairperson, agreed by both parties.

Following the hospitals decision to cap trolley numbers in hospital wards in recent times, Mr Kenny said he hopes the nurses and management are entering a new phase of positive industrial relations and of resolving longstanding concerns on staffing.

As of next week, the journey now begins for all of us on finding a solution to the longstanding nurse staffing issues affecting the wards in UHL. Hopefully, we can reach an agreement in a timely manner and arrive at a destination that is beneficial to patients, management and our nurse members.
THE directors of a scaffolding business which breached pensions legislation  resulting in the family of a deceased employee missing out on a 76,000 payout  have successfully appealed the imposition of prison sentences.

In 2014, Gerry Neilon, aged 50, of Newtown, Pallasgreen and his brother Raymond Neilon, aged 49, of Commonline, Cappawhite, County Tipperary were sentenced to six months imprisonment after they were prosecuted by the Pensions Board in the District Court.

Suspending the prison sentences, Judge Tom ODonnell said that the family of the employee, who died violently, deserve enormous credit after he was told they did not want to see anybody go to prison.

Yesterday, solicitor Julieanne Kiely, representing the Pensions Board, said just 6,850 had been paid by the defendants to the family of the deceased man since the appeal proceedings were initiated.

Prior to his death in 2007, the deceased man had pension contributions deducted from his salary but these were not remitted to the scheme by the company.

Laurence Goucher BL, representing Gerry Neilon, said his client is doing his best to pay compensation but has not been able to secure work in recent times.

There is no question of him trying to dodge this, he said, adding that High Court proceedings have been initiated which, if successful, will see furher monies being paid over.

Sinead Garry BL, representing Raymond Neilon, said her client had been somewhat naive and was not involved in the day-to-day running of the company.

She added that he has suffered from ill-health in recent times and is not in a position to pay compensation.

Solicitor Darach McCarthy said the family of the deceased man, who had four children, were quite upset over the non-payment of the monies but he said they were not too enthusiastic about a custodial sentence.

Judge ODonnell said he was very unhappy about a number of aspects of the case, which has been before the court more than a dozen times since 2014.

He commented it was grossly unfair on the dependants of the deceased man that they were at the loss of substantial monies through criminality.

However, noting their attitude he suspended the prison sentences for two years.

Noting that the outstanding monies are unlikely to be repaid in full, the judge ordered that a further 3,150 in compensation be paid within a year.
CASPER, Wyo.  A judge has sentenced a Glenrock man to 45 days in jail for leading police on a pursuit last year.

Frank Banzhaf should also serve three years of supervised probation, Natrona County Circuit Judge Michael Patchen decided Monday. Banzhaf, 34, could spend up to one year in jail if he violates his probation.

He previously pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and eluding police.

Banzhaf led Natrona County Sheriff's deputies on a chase Oct. 18 before traveling onto U.S. Highway 20-26, where he crashed into several law enforcement vehicles.

No officers were injured in the pursuit.

Converse County authorities said at the time Banzhaf may face additional charges there.

Authorities received a 911 call about 9:40 p.m. from Old Chicago on Second Street in Casper, according to a police report. The caller said Banzhaf left the restaurant without paying his bill. Workers were able to settle Banzhafs bill in the parking lot, where he was seen stumbling. Banzhaf got into his car and drove away.

A Natrona County Sheriffs deputy caught up to Banzhaf and tried to pull him over on Hat Six Road. Banzhaf sped up and continued onto Highway 20-26, according to the report. Banzhaf was driving faster than 95 mph and was drifting back and forth across both lanes, the report states.

Banzhaf turned off the highway before getting back on and crashing into the sheriffs car and a Wyoming Highway Patrol vehicle. The chase continued through Glenrock and onto Interstate 25, where Banzhaf side-swiped a police car, according to the report. Then Banzhaf struck another Wyoming Highway Patrol car.

At this point, Banzhaf attempted to flee in his car north in the southbound lane of I-25, the report states. Due to the danger posed by Banzhaf, both the Natrona County sheriffs deputy and a Converse County sheriffs deputy rammed Banzhafs car, according to the report.

Law enforcement repeatedly told Banzhaf to get out of his car, but his only response was to flip the officers off, the report states. One deputy sprayed Banzhaf with pepper spray, while an officer shot Banzhaf with a stun gun. A deputy climbed into the car and pulled Banzhaf out, at which time he was handcuffed.

Banzhaf was bleeding from his nose and was taken to Wyoming Medical Center for treatment, according to the report. Banzhaf admitted to deputies that he had been drinking and that he knew law enforcement was trying to stop him, the report states.

A blood test was performed at the hospital to determine Banzhafs blood alcohol concentration, but the results were not listed in the report.

Banzhaf was then taken to jail.
Apr 13, 2016, 8 AM

The Kingdom of Yemen 1952 Architectural History set of two stamps and two airmail stamps (Scott 78-79 and C10-C11) is in demand and a good buy in mint never-hinged condition at 2016 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue value of $35.

By Henry Gitner and Rick Miller

Yemen lies at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, bordering Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the east. Its strategic location on the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea brought it into the sphere of the Ottoman Empire and later the British Empire.

In 1911, the Ottoman Empire recognized the Kingdom of Yemen in the northwestern highlands of the country. In 1962, the monarchy was abolished, and that part of the country became the Yemen Arab Republic (known unofficially as North Yemen).

In 1967, the southeastern part of Yemen became the Peoples Republic of Yemen (also known as South Yemen). In 1969, after Communists gained total control of the government, the countrys name was amended to the Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen. Both countries suffered unrest, civil war, and undeclared hostilities until 1990, when they united as the Republic of Yemen. However, civil war between the various factions soon broke out again.

Today Yemen is a failed state and the scene of an international power struggle as Shiite Houthis backed by Iran, Sunnis backed by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab states, and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula battle for control of the country.

In 1952, the Kingdom of Yemen issued a set of two regular stamps and two airmail stamps (Scott 78-79 and C10-C11) commemorating the architectural history of the country. The stamps were issued both perforated gauge 14 and imperforate. The 2016 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue values the set in mint never-hinged condition at $35. The set is currently in demand and is a good buy at or near Scott catalog value.

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CASPER, Wyo.  A judge sentenced a Casper man to prison Tuesday for bashing a childs head against a wall.

Demetrius Darnell Jamason should spend between two-and-a-half and three years in prison, Natrona County District Judge Thomas Sullins ruled.

Jamason, 29, must also pay more than $1,000 in restitution for the boys medical expenses.

He previously pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse.

Jamason assaulted the child Aug. 19 during an argument with the childs mother, an arrest affidavit states.

According to the affidavit, Jamason had been living with the boy, whose age was not available, and the childs mother. Shortly before 3 a.m., police began receiving several calls of a loud fight in an apartment on South Beverly Street. When officers responded, they found Jamason running down a flight of stairs away from the apartment, and stopped him.

Police discovered the boy lying on a bed inside the apartment. He was crying and having difficulty breathing and had red bumps and scrapes on his head, the affidavit states. Medics took him to Wyoming Medical Center for treatment.

The childs mother said she and Jamason had fought and she asked him to move out. An argument ensued about a video game console. According to the affidavit, the boy told Jamason not to hurt his mother and opened a pocket knife.

Jamason grabbed the boy and smashed him onto the kitchen table. He then took the childs head from the back and began bashing it into a wall, the affidavit states. Jamason then threw the boy on the ground and held him down by the neck.

The woman said she discreetly called the police so as not to further upset Jamason.

Prosecutors have said that Jamason has five previous convictions, including several for domestic violence crimes involving children. Jamason declined to speak at the sentencing hearing.
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AT&T, a giant telecommunications company that reports billions of dollars in revenues and employs 281,000 people worldwide, will hold its annual shareholders meeting at the Northern Hotel in Billings on April 29, beginning at 9 a.m.

A spokeswoman for Dallas-based AT&T said the company has held its annual meetings at remote locations for several years.

We consider several criteria when selecting an annual meeting site, including location, available facilities, our presence in the community and, sometimes, whether were launching new services in that area, spokeswoman McCall Butler said via email. For example, our 2012 meeting was in Salt Lake City, and our CEO announced that wed be launching our high-speed wireless LTE service there later that year. And in 2013, we announced the launch of LTE service in Cheyenne, Wyo., shortly before we held our meeting there.

Holding the annual meeting away from the corporate headquarters also provides an opportunity for shareholders who arent able to travel long distances to attend the meeting, Butler said.

So in recent years, in addition to Salt Lake City and Cheyenne, weve held our meetings in cities like Little Rock; Columbus, Ga.; Spokane, Wa.; and now Billings, Butler said.

The annual meeting isnt widely attended. Butler said between 100 and 150 people usually attend.

Mike Nelson, owner of the Northern Hotel, referred all questions about the meeting to officials from AT&T.
Yellowstone grizzlies do not know whether or not they are on the endangered species list. Nor do grizzlies understand the political borders humans draw. The Yellowstone grizzly knows its habitat, that which we humans call Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. The bear does not care.

This is important to remember, as scientists and advocates debate whether or not to take the Yellowstone grizzly off the list of protected species under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act. As the experts argue, more people are expected to visit the Yellowstone region this year than ever, as our nation celebrates the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. The hotels and vacation rental homes are booked. The recreational vehicles, rental cars and airplanes are gassed up and ready. Millions of people, many of them hoping to get a glimpse of a Yellowstone grizzly, are headed our way.

There are more than 700 Yellowstone grizzlies in our region, with the population certain to increase as more cubs will be born soon. This spring and summer, it is a certainty that some of the millions of tourists and local folks will encounter a Yellowstone grizzly, whether it be a sow and her cubs or an older male searching for his next meal. Without the vigorous effort of those of us who call the Yellowstone region home, tragedy is very possible, even more likely with so many new people coming to Yellowstone grizzly habitat.

As residents of the Yellowstone region, it is our responsibility to help educate our guests and new people we meet during the upcoming tourist season. Government agencies are not well equipped, nor do they have adequate budgets, to be certain that millions of people understand the importance of protecting themselves as they fish, hike, hunt and recreate in our wild lands and along our wondrous rivers.

Being safe in Yellowstone grizzly country means being educated and proactive. Here are a few bear safety rules:

Respect posted signs. When you see government signs indicating that an area is closed for bear management, that is government language for do not enter. Following the guidance of the posted signs you may save your life.

Be bear wise and alert at all times, as you roam in the woods or along a waterway. A fresh pile of bear scat, an animal carcass or a set of grizzly tracks is natures way of warning you to get away from where you are.

Protect yourself by making noise to make your presence known.

Keep your campgrounds safe by storing food and all organic material in bear-proof bins or canisters.

Be certain that you and everybody with you has easy access to bear spray every day, at all times.

With so many newcomers and visitors to the Yellowstone region, it is important for you to share this bear wise ethic. Whether it be during a friendly conversation in line while ordering coffee or an extra post on your personal social media outlets, every one of us is responsible to help keep humans safe and Yellowstone grizzlies alive and thriving.
CASPER, Wyo.  Sixteen teenagers from Caspers two main high schools will compete Thursday in a battle of the schools to raise money for sick children.

One boy and one girl from each grade level at Kelly Walsh High School will compete with students from their rival, Natrona County High School, in a number of games. Proceeds from the fundraiser will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Natrona County has participated in the foundations high school fundraiser campaign, Kids for Wish Kids, since it began in 2000. It encourages high school students to find creative ways to raise money that eventually grants wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses. Kelly Walsh joined in 2006. Combined, the two schools have raised over $200,000 to date.

Kelly Walsh and Natrona County high schools are two of our biggest school donors, said Tess Kersenbrock, community relations coordinator at Make-A-Wish Wyoming, in a press release. They compete very hard to out-raise each other in fundraising and always sponsor numerous events to support our mission. We very much appreciate what they  and all the Kids for Wish Kids schools around the state  do to raise funds for our wish kids.

When Kids for Wish Kids began, five schools participated. This year, 32 Wyoming schools held local fundraisers, amounting to $182,727 in donations, according to the foundation. Thursdays battle of the schools will begin at 7 p.m. in the Kelly Walsh cafeteria.

The event is free to the public, but donations will be accepted at the door.
The Large Hadron Collider is the world's most powerful particle accelerator. In June 2015, the LHC was restarted at nearly twice the energy at which it operated during its first run, which ended in 2013.

Don Lincoln is a senior scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermilab, the United States' biggest Large Hadron Collider research institution. He also writes about science for the public, including his recent "The Large Hadron Collider: The Extraordinary Story of the Higgs Boson and Other Things That Will Blow Your Mind (opens in new tab)" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014). You can follow him on Facebook. The opinions here are his own. Lincoln contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

If you're a science groupie and would love nothing better than for a cornerstone scientific theory to be overthrown and replaced with something newer and better, then 2016 might well be your year. The world's largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is resuming operations after a pause during the winter months, when the cost for electricity in France is highest.

So why is it such a big deal that LHC coming back on line? It's because this is the year the accelerator will operate at something approaching its design specifications. Scientists will smash the gas pedal to the floor, crank the fire hose wide open, spin the amplifier button to eleven or enact whatever metaphor you like. This year is the first real year of full-scale LHC operations.

A particle smasher reborn

Now if you actually are a science groupie, you know what the LHC is and have probably heard about some of its accomplishments. You know it smashes together two beams of protons traveling at nearly the speed of light. You know scientists using the LHC found the Higgs boson. You know that this marvel is the largest scientific device ever built.

So what's different now? Well, let's go back in time to 2008, when the LHC circulated its first beams. At the time, the world's premier particle accelerator was the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermilab Tevatron, which collided beams at a whopping 2 trillion electron volts (TeV) of energy and with a beam brightness of about 2  1032 cm-2 s-1. The technical term for beam brightness is "instantaneous luminosity," and basically it's a density. More precisely, when a beam passes through a target, the instantaneous luminosity (L) is the number of particles per second in a beam that pass a location (N B /t) divided by the area of the beam (A), multiplied by the number of targets (N T ), L = N B /t  (1/A)  N T . (And the target can be another beam.)

The simplest analogy that will help you understand this quantity is a light source and a magnifying glass. You can increase the "luminosity" of the light by turning up the brightness of the light source or by focusing the light more tightly. It is the same way with a beam. You can increase the instantaneous luminosity by increasing the number of beam or target particles, or by concentrating the beam into a smaller area.

The LHC was built to replace the Tevatron and trounce that machine's already-impressive performance numbers. The new accelerator was designed to collide beams at a collision energy of 14 TeV and to have a beam brightness  instantaneous luminosity  of at least 100  1032 cm-2 s-1. So the beam energy was to be seven times higher, and the beam brightness would increase 50- to 100-fold.

Sadly, in 2008, a design flaw was uncovered in the LHC when an electrical short caused severe damage, requiring two years to repair . Further, when the LHC actually did run, in 2010, it operated at half the design energy (7 TeV) and at a beam brightness basically the same as that of the Fermilab Tevatron. The lower energy was to give a large safety margin, as the design flaw had been only patched, not completely reengineered.

The situation improved in 2011 when the beam brightness got as high as 30  1032 cm-2 s-1, although with the same beam energy. In 2012, the beam energy was raised to 8 TeV, and the beam brightness was higher still, peaking at about 65  1032 cm-2 s-1.

The LHC was shut down during 2013 and 2014 to retrofit the accelerator to make it safe to run at closer to design specifications. The retrofits consisted mostly of additional industrial safety measures that allowed for better monitoring of the electrical currents in the LHC. This helps ensure there are no electrical shorts and that there is sufficient venting. The venting guarantees no catastrophic ruptures of the LHC magnets (which steer the beams) in the event that cryogenic liquids  helium and nitrogen  in the magnets warm up and turn into a gas. In 2015, the LHC resumed operations, this time at 13 TeV and with a beam brightness of 40  1032 cm-2 s-1.

So what's expected in 2016?

The LHC will run at 13 TeV and with a beam brightness that is expected to approach 100  1032 cm-2 s-1 and possibly even slightly exceed that mark. Essentially, the LHC will be running at design specifications.

In addition, there is a technical change in 2016. The protons in the LHC beams will be spread more uniformly around the ring, thus reducing the number of protons colliding simultaneously, resulting in better data that is easier to interpret.

At a technical level, this is kind of interesting. A particle beam isn't continuous like a laser beam or water coming out of a hose. Instead, the beam comes in a couple of thousand distinct "bunches." A bunch looks a little bit like a stick of uncooked spaghetti, except it is about a foot long and much thinner  about 0.3 millimeters, most of the time. These bunches travel in the huge 16-mile-long (27 kilometers) circle that is the LHC, with each bunch separated from the other bunches by a distance that (until now) has been about 50 feet (15 meters).

The technical change in 2016 is to take the same number of beam protons (roughly 3  1014 protons) and split them up into 2,808 bunches, each separated not by 50 feet, but by 25 feet (7.6 m). This doubles the number of bunches, but cuts the number of protons in each bunch in half. (Each bunch contains about 1011 protons.)

Because the LHC has the same number of protons but separated into more bunches, that means when two bunches cross and collide in the center of the detector, there are fewer collisions per crossing. Since most collisions are boring and low-energy affairs, having a lot of them at the same time that an interesting collision occurs just clutters up the data.

Ideally, you'd like to have only an interesting collision and no simultaneous boring ones. This change of bunch separation distance from 50 feet to 25 feet brings the data collection closer to ideal.

Luminous beams

Another crucial design element is the integrated beam. Beam brightness (instantaneous luminosity) is related to the number of proton collisions per second, while integrated beam (integrated luminosity) is related to the total number of collisions that occur as the two counter-rotating beams continually pass through the detector. Integrated luminosity is something that adds up over the days, months and years.

The unit of integrated luminosity is a pb-1. This unit is a bit confusing, but not so bad. The "b" in "pb" stands for a barn (more on that in a moment). A barn is 10-24 cm2. A picobarn (pb) is 10-36 cm2. The term "barn" is a unit of area and comes from another particle physics term called a cross section, which is related to how likely it is that two particles will interact and generate a specific outcome. Two objects that have large effective area will interact easily, while objects with a small effective area will interact rarely.

An object with an area of a barn is a square with a length of 10-12 cm. That's about the size of the nucleus of a uranium atom.

During World War II, physicists at Purdue University in Indiana were working with uranium and needed to mask their work for security reasons. So they invented the term "barn," defining it as an area about the size of a uranium nucleus. Given how big this area is in the eyes of nuclear and particle physicists, the Purdue scientists were co-opting the phrase "as big as a barn." In the luminosity world, with its units of (1/barn), small numbers mean more luminosity.

This trend is evident in the integrated luminosity seen in the LHC each year as scientists improved their ability to operate the accelerator. The integrated luminosity in 2010 was 45 pb-1. In 2011 and 2012, it was 6,100 pb-1 and 23,300 pb-1, respectively. As time went on, the accelerator ran more reliably, resulting in far higher numbers of recorded collisions.

Because the accelerator had been re-configured during the 2013 to 2014 shutdown, the luminosity was lower in 2015, coming in at 4,200 pb-1, although, of course, at the much higher beam energy. The 2016 projection could be as high as 35,000 pb-1. The predicted increase merely reflects the accelerator operators' increased confidence in their ability to operate the facility.

This means in 2016, we could actually record eight times as much data as we did in 2015. And it is expected that 2017 will bring even higher performance.

Illuminating new science

Let's think about what these improvements mean. When LHC first collided beams, in 2010, the Higgs boson was still to be observed. On the other hand, the particle was already predicted, and there was good circumstantial evidence to expect that the Higgs would be discovered. And, without a doubt, it must be admitted that the discovery of the Higgs boson was an enormous scientific triumph.

But confirming previously predicted particles, no matter how impressive, is not why the LHC was built.

Scientists' current theory of the particle world is called the Standard Model, and it was developed in the late 1960s, half a century ago. While it is an incredibly successful theory, it is known to have holes. Although it explains why particles have mass, it doesn't explain why some particles have more mass than others. It doesn't explain why there are so many fundamental particles, given that only a handful of them are needed to constitute the ordinary matter of atoms and puppies and pizzas. It doesn't explain why the universe is composed solely of matter, when the theory predicts that matter and antimatter should exist in equal quantities. It doesn't identify dark matter, which is five times more prevalent than ordinary matter and is necessary to explain why galaxies rotate in a stately manner and don't rip themselves apart.

If you're a topical expert  researcher, business leader, author or innovator  and would like to contribute an op-ed piece, email us here

When you get right down to it, there is a lot the Standard Model doesn't explain. And while there are tons of ideas about new and improved theories that could replace it, ideas are cheap. The trick is to find out which idea is right.

That's where the LHC comes in. The LHC can explore what happens if we expose matter to more and more severe conditions. Using Einstein's equation E = mc2, we can see how the high-collision energies only achievable in the LHC are converted into forms of matter never before seen. We can sift through the LHC data to find clues that point us in the right direction to hopefully figure out the next bigger and more effective theory. We can take another step toward our ultimate goal of finding a theory of everything.

With the LHC now operating at essentially design spec, we can finally use the machine to do what we built it for: to explore new realms, to investigate phenomena never before seen and, stealing a line from my favorite television show, "to boldly go where no one has gone before." We scientists are excited. We're giddy. We're pumped. In fact, there can be but one way to express how we view this upcoming year:

It's showtime.

Gain more perspective on how lightsabers work, why supercolliders don't spawn black holes, and more on Don Lincoln's Expert Voices landing page.

Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates  and become part of the discussion  on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Live Science.
The Tully monster likely used its tail to propel it forward in the water.

A tiny clue hidden in the bizarre eyes of the 300-million-year-old remains of a "Tully monster" has helped scientists determine that the curious creature is a vertebrate, a new study finds.

Researchers analyzed the so-called monster's eyes, and found that they held two different kinds of pigment cells. Some of these cells looked like microscopic sausages, and the others looked like tiny meatballs, the researchers said.

Only vertebrates have these pigment cells that resemble sausages and meatballs, indicating that Tully (Tullimonstrum gregarium) wasn't an invertebrate, but rather had a backbone, they said. [Photos: Ancient Tully Monster's Identity Revealed]

"This is an exciting study because not [only] have we discovered the oldest fossil pigment, but the structures seen in Tullimonstrum's eyes suggest it had good vision," the study's lead researcher Thomas Clements, a doctoral student in the Department of Geology at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. "The large tail and teeth suggest that the Tully Monster is, in fact, a type of very weird fish."

An microscopic image of Tully monster's peculiar eyes. (Image credit: University of Leicester)

The Tully monster has a storied history. Amateur fossil collector Francis Tully discovered the first fossil of the monster in 1958. Since then, so many Tully monster fossils have been uncovered in Illinois' coal quarries, that the state made it the official state fossil.

Even so, scientists couldn't figure out what type of creature the fossils represented.

Since the Tully monster's discovery over 60 years ago, "scientists have suggested it is a whole parade of completely different creatures, ranging from mollusks to worms," said study senior researcher Sarah Gabbott, a professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Leicester. "But there was no conclusive evidence, and so speculation continued."

Thomas Clements and Sarah Gabbott search for the Tully monster in Illinois, where Tully is the state fossil. (Image credit: University of Leicester)

In the new study, the researchers focused on the creature's blobby eyes  round balls that sat at the ends of hammerhead-like eyestalks. These dark blobs were composed of hundreds of thousands of microscopic dark granules, they found. Each granule was tiny, about 50 times smaller than the width of a human hair, they said.

The granules' shape and chemical makeup suggested that they were organelles found within melanosomes, cells that create and store the pigment melanin, the researchers said.

"We used a new technique called Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) to identify the chemical signature of the fossil granules, and compared it to known modern melanin from crows," said study co-researcher Jakob Vinther, a senior lecturer of macroevolution at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. "This proved that we had discovered the oldest fossil pigment currently known."

Most animals produce the pigment melanin, which gives people their skin and hair color.

"Melanin is also found in the eyes of many animal groups, where it stops light from bouncing around inside the eyeball and allows the formation of a clear visual image," Clements said. "This is the first unequivocal evidence that Tullimonstrum is a member of the same group of animals as us, the vertebrates." [Photos: Ancient Fish Had Well-Developed Lung]

This is the second Tully monster study published this spring. The first study, detailed in the journal Nature (opens in new tab) by a different group of researchers, characterized the monster as an ancient jawless fish. Before reaching that conclusion, they examined more than 1,200 Tully monster fossils before describing it as a weird, Dr. Seuss-like creature.

The new study reaches many of the same conclusions.

"Perhaps even weirder fossil vertebrates remain to be dug up," Shigeru Kuratani and Tatsuya Hirasawa, researchers at the Evolutionary Morphology Laboratory at RIKEN, one of Japan's largest research institutions, wrote in a commentary, also published in the journal Nature (opens in new tab).

The study was published online today (April 13) in the journal Nature (opens in new tab).

Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
A new technique uses the texture and luminosity of the sun to reveal the details of shock waves in planes flying at faster than the speed of sound.

A supersonic plane recently zoomed past the sun, and its light-bending shock waves were captured in a stunning new image.

The plane, a T-38C manned by a pilot for the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, was photographed using an updated version of a 150-year-old technique called Schlieren photography.

Schlieren photography typically uses a bright light source and a speckled background to reveal changes in the density of air. Shock waves squish and stretch air, changing the air density. That, in turn, alters how light rays bounce off the air, and these changes show up in a shadow image. [Supersonic! The 11 Fastest Military Planes]

Old technique, new spin

In the past, Schlieren photography required a very bright light source and some complicated optics. As a result, it was typically performed only on supersonic planes in wind tunnels. However, NASA recently developed new methods of Schlieren photography, in which the sun or the moon forms both a luminous source and the mottled background needed for the images.

A U.S. Air Force T-38 plane moving at Mach 1.05 generated shock waves that were captured by a photography technique. (Image credit: NASA)

NASA has been working on the project in an effort to design quieter supersonic jets. The Federal Aviation Administration has banned the ear-splitting jets from flying over unrestricted air space since 1973, because of their incredibly loud sonic booms. But if scientists better understand the shock-wave structure, they can predict when and where the shock wave is the loudest, according to NASA. In turn, this could help designers craft supersonic jets that produce quieter booms.

NASA recently awarded a $20 million contract to Lockheed Martin to design a quieter supersonic jet. Early test flights could begin as soon as 2020, assuming funding continues.

Several companies are currently working on supersonic jets. For instance, Spike Aerospace is developing a commercial airliner that could speed from New York City to London in a mere 3 hours. The plane would fly at Mach 1.8, or 1.8 times the speed of sound, (1,370 mph, or 2,205 km/h). A more pie-in-the-sky (or plane in the sky?) idea aims to zoom people between the two big cities in just 30 minutes. That concept, called the Skreemr, would need a "magnetic rail-gun launching" system to take off and fly at 10 times the speed of sound, or about 7,600 mph (12,300 km/h).

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
A long-running judicial investigation into Spanish-registered company, Pefaco, which has interests in hotels and casinos in Africa, led to French fraud squad officers raiding the headquarters of conglomerate Bollore, parent company of Bollore Africa Logistics, last week.

Investigators are pondering whether the French conglomerate's media arm played a role in Bollore Africa Logistics winning container terminals concessions in West Africa and specifically in Conakry (Guinea) and Lome (Togo).

In delving into the 'contacts book' of Pefaco's president, Francis Perez, which includes African heads of state, they came across the name of Jean-Philippe Dorent, a senior executive of Bollore-owned media company, Havas.

"I know Mr Perez just as I know a lot of people in Africa and elesewhere," Dorent told the Le Monde newspaper.

On behalf of Havas, Dorent managed the presidential campaign of Guinea's current head of state, Alpha Conde which led to his election in 2010.

But Dorent has played down the extent of his and Havas' involvement in the campaign, arguing that he was simply doing his job as a consultant.

In March 2011, the Guinean authorities brought the concession with Getma, a unit of French group NCT Necotrans, for the Conakry container terminal to an abrupt end as a result of a breach of dealer obligations." Two days later, Bollore was awarded the contract.

In October the same year, Getma served a writ against Bollore with a Paris court for unfair competition and complicity over the illegal termination of its contract to run the container terminal in Conakry.

Getma also contended that the Conakry concession included termination clauses, which the state of Guinea did not respect.

The company had been awarded the contract in September 2008, beating off the challenge of three other candidates which included Bollore.

In October 2013, a court threw out Getma's 100 million compensation claim against Bollore Africa Logistics.

However, the court ordered BAL to pay 2 million to Getma for the investment costs incurred during its term as contract holder.

Dorent is also thought to have worked in a media capacity for Togo's president, Faure Gnassingbe who came to power in 2010, the year BAL was selected to operate the port of Lome's container within the framework of a 35-year concession.

The decision was contested by another of Bollore's rivals and has been the object of judicial action.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Bollore group denied any invovement with Pefaco: "The Bollore group does not have and never has had any relations with Pefaco or its management."

The group went on to underline that it has invested heavily in port activities in Africa, in partnership with other large international groups, with a commitment to projects spanning over periods of several decades.

Bollore had been selected for these projects "exclusively on the basis of the amount and the technical qualities of the investments," the statement added.
Qatar Airways Cargo has announced the launch of QR Express, a solution to deliver airport-to-airport air freight service for time critical shipments.

The Gulf carrier said QR Express is the latest addition to the cargo airlines expanding portfolio of specialised services and products.

QR Express provides customers with the opportunity to book time-sensitive shipments via a quick and simple system that offers high boarding priority and rapid handling, ensuring speedy delivery of their cargo.

Other key features include short and flexible close-outs, quick and dedicated ramp transfer (for express transit), as well as priority loading at origin and unloading at final destination and speedy retrieval at final destination (approximately 90minutes).

Qatar Airways Cargos terminal at Hamad International Airport, in Doha, offers state-of-the-art technology and service to its customers around the globe, the statement added.

Its exceptional Quick Ramp Transfer (QRT) has the fastest airline transfer at Doha, whilst its dedicated team is committed to ensuring all QR Express shipments are safely and timely transported on board, and delivered to destinations.

Commenting on the launch of QR Express service, Qatar Airways Chief Officer Cargo, Ulrich Ogiermann, said. We are committed to meeting our customers demand for the services they need, by investing in sophisticated technology, and a team of highly qualified staff.

This new product enables our customers to ship time-sensitive cargo with the knowledge that transit time will be minimised. It will be an ideal solution for supply chain process and fast moving consumable goods.

Qatar Airways Cargo's portfolio of products also includes QR Pharma (pharamceuticals), QR Fresh (perishables) and QR Equine (horses and other live animals) and QR Charter (charter flights).

Image: Shutterstock.com
Laredoans could see the return of direct flights to Mexico City, Mexico, in the near future.

The Laredo International Airport recently hired GRA Inc, an independent advising firm for global air transportation stakeholders, to perform an airline market study with a focus on direct air service from Laredo to Mexico City.
Family & Parenting, School & Education, Local News, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: April 13 2016

Pro-Common Core special interests spent $1.2 million on Chris McGraths campaign for State Senate right after Senate GOP doubled funding for Charter Schools.

South Shore, Long Island - April 13, 2016 - Today, Assemblyman and former federal prosecutor Todd Kaminsky was joined by parents and teachers from across the 9th State Senate District to denounce Chris McGrath for relying on $1.2million from pro-Common Core, anti-Long Island special interests to fund his fledgling campaign. Assemblyman Today, Assemblyman and former federal prosecutor Todd Kaminsky was joined by parents and teachers from across the 9th State Senate District to denounce Chris McGrath for relying on $1.2million from pro-Common Core, anti-Long Island special interests to fund his fledgling campaign. Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky has been a fierce advocate against Common Core, standardized testing, and anti-teacher measures as a member of the Assembly. Worse, the pro-charter school, pro-Common Core Independent Expenditure money poured into the Senate race immediately after the Senate GOP doubled funding for charter schools in the recent budget agreement. Ending quid-pro-quos like this is the exact reason Todd Kaminsky is running for Senate.

While Chris McGrath has been cozying up with pro-Common Core special interests, Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky has been fighting on behalf of our children, parents, and teachers by leading the fight against Common Core. Kaminksys education agenda includes enabling parental right to opt-out of Common Core, drastically reducing test length and decoupling teacher evaluations from student test results.

Assemblyman Kaminsky has also successfully ended the GEA and delivered record school funding for Long Island schools. The GEA, which will now be a thing of the past, was costing Nassau County schools over $45million dollars. Because of Kaminskys advocacy, Southwest Nassau County schools will receive an $18million increase in funding this year.

Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky said: My mother was a local school teacher on the Shore Shore and I know how hard she worked to ensure every child had an opportunity to succeed. Now, as a parent, I want that same experience for my son -- not corporate-backed Common Core standards that force our children to take hours of tests and handcuff our hard working teachers. Thats why Ive fought against Common Core and have delivered an $18million increase in school funding so that our children will grow as individuals and have the skills they need to grow into adulthood.

It is abhorrent that chris McGrath would join with the pro-Common Core, anti-teacher, anti-public education special interests over Long Island schools," Kaminsky continued. "Chris McGrath, obviously cares more about campaign cash than our childrens education. Unfortunately, its not surprising that McGrath and his backers in Albany would engineer a quid-pro-quo backroom deal and accept this support just days after the Senate GOP, at the 11th hour, gave tens of millions of new dollars to charter schools in the state budget. The groups that are fueling McGraths campaign want nothing more than to pour Long Island school aid into New York City charter schools. Our students, teachers, and parents deserve better. Chris McGrath should immediately denounce these ads and demand they are taken down.

Marla Kilfoyle, a teacher and the Executive Director of NYSBAT said: Teachers want what is best for your children -- and Chris McGrath and his Common Core allies are not what is best for your children or our schools. He and his allies are anti-teacher, anti-public education, and anti-union. Every child learns differently and Common Core does nothing but take away our ability to best help our students. We need Todd Kaminksy and his record of fighting for education in the State Senate and anyone who cares about our schools should vote for him on April 19th.

Opt-out movement leader and local public school parent Jeanette Deuterman said: Todd Kaminsky is the only candidate that will support our public schools and public school children. Todd has taken an active role to fight back against the growing tide of corporate reforms in our classrooms, introducing four bills that will set us on the right course towards needed changes. By accepting unprecedented donations from Students First, Chris McGrath has chosen the side of the corporate reformers looking to dismantle our public education system. If you stand for public education, then you must stand with Todd Kaminsky on April 19th.

The 9th Senate District seat became automatically vacant upon the conviction of Dean Skelos in December on charges of bribery, extortion and conspiracy. The Special Election to replace Skelos will take place on April 19th.

About Todd Kaminsky

Assemblyman Kaminsky has spent his career fighting for Long Island families and working to end government corruption. As a federal prosecutor representing Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens, and as acting deputy chief of the Public Integrity Section, Todd took down corrupt elected officials, drug kingpins and other major felons.
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
 Brandeis Study Evaluates Jewish College Students' Knowledge on Israel | Main | Journalist: Hamas is Poisoning the Minds of Palestinian Children 

April 13, 2016

New York Post Editorial Exposes Truth about BDS

A New York Post editorial clearly laid out the truth about Israels detractors last week stating, The real bottom line of the entire Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement: Its not remotely about rights  its all about bashing Israel.?

As an example, Post editors cite opposition to Israels participation in this months PEN World Voices Festival to be held in New York City. The organization, according to its website works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship.?

However, as the New York Post revealed, some of PENs authors and literati believe that Israel ought to be barred from that international community. In an editorial headlined, The most perverse push yet from Israel boycotters,? the Post remarked on how truly bizarre is their gripe? that PEN is permitting the Israeli Embassy to support the Festival. Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize winning author/poet and frequent Israel-basher, is quoted in the authors official complaint as saying that, by allowing Israel to participate, PEN is failing Palestinian writers, academics, and students who are suffering under a repressive Israeli regime that denies their right to freedom of expression.?

Ironically another advocate-author, Junot Diaz, not only gets inflamed at Israels presence at PEN, but also signed a protest last year when PEN International gave its Freedom of Expression Courage Award to Charlie Hebdo after the horrific terrorist slaughter at the magazines Paris office. The Post accurately sums it up with That tells you all you need to know about his commitment to free speech.?

As the Post editorial correctly notes, In fact, the only place in the Middle East where Palestinians enjoy the right of free expression is Israel. No one has anything like free-speech rights in the Palestinian territories -- not under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, nor under Hamas in Gaza.?

--Rachel Frommer, CAMERA Intern



Posted by SC at April 13, 2016 03:37 PM

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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.
Jihadist groups operating in the West African country of Mali have launched a spate of attacks in the northern portion of the country in recent days. Many of these assaults targeted UN forces operating there, however, one targeted French special forces who are in the country as part of Frances Operation Barkhane.

Three French special forces soldiers, one identified as Mickael Poo-Sing by the French military, were killed near the northern town of Tessalit yesterday when their vehicle hit an IED. Poo-Sing was killed immediately, while two others later succumbed to their wounds at a military hospital in Gao. One other French soldier was wounded in the blast. While this is the only attack in the area that targeted French forces, it is not the only ambush to occur in recent days.

In addition to the IED on the French in Tessalit, a UN vehicle also hit a roadside bomb just north of Aguelhok reportedly killing two. While in the city of Aguelhok, a Chadian soldier stepped on a landmine according to local sources. Days earlier on April 9, Ansar Dine, which is a front for al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), claimed two bombings on the Aguelhok-Tessalit axis just north of the city of Kidal. The first, which occurred on April 7, the Tuareg jihadist group claimed targeting Chadian forces with an IED near the town of Taghlit. The next day, according to Ansar Dine, the jihadists did the same to an unspecified UN vehicle in the same area.

Jihadist forces also directed their attention to civilian enemies, as well. Near the Algerian border town of Bordj Badji Mokhtar, a Tessalit government official was reportedly assassinated by jihadists two days ago.

On April 10, gunmen ambushed a UN military patrol outside of Timbuktu near the town of Gourma injuring three peacekeepers. No group has yet to claim the assault, but AQIM has been behind most attacks in the area. For instance, last July the UNs mission in Mali (MINUSMA) announced that six of its peacekeepers were killed after their convoy was attacked near the city of Goundam, which is just west of Timbuktu. At least five others are said to have been injured. AQIM claimed responsibility for the ambush on the convoy. A month later, AQIM killed 10 Malian soldiers in an assault on an outpost in Gourma. (See LWJ reports, AQIM attack on UN convoy near Timbuktu kills 6 peacekeepers and AQIM claims killing Malian soldiers near Timbuktu.)

Additionally, a UN base in the Gao region was also recently targeted. Yesterday, the MINUSMA camp in the city of Ansongo was targeted by several mortars. However, no damage is said to have been done. The UN camp in Ansongo was previously targeted by Al Murabitoon with rockets in January of last year, which is also said to have caused minimal damage. Al Murabitoon, which is led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, has since merged back into AQIM.

Most jihadist attacks in Mali continue to be perpetrated in the northern half. However, 15 have been perpetrated in the southern half since the beginning of this year, and last year at least 30 occurred in the south. Assaults emanating from Mali have also increased in the last two years. In 2014, two attacks occurred in Niger, while last year three ambushes occurred in Burkina Faso. This year, northern Mali-based jihadist groups have already struck in Niger, three times in Burkina Faso, and in Ivory Coast.

AQIM and its various different groups in the region continue to demonstrate its threat by striking in the capital cities of Bamako and Ouagadougou and in the Ivorian resort city of Grand-Bassam. Other West African cities are likely in the crosshairs as the jihadists resurge and take advantage of precarious security situations throughout the region.

In Mali, the country continues to suffer from an al Qaeda insurgency, despite a UN-led peacekeeping mission and a French-led counterterrorism mission in the north. The UN has said that 81 of its personnel have been killed in Mali since the beginning of MINUSMA in 2013, making it the most dangerous UN mission in the world.

Article updated with new information.

Caleb Weiss is a research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.

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A banner from an As Sahab propaganda tape, titled Winds of Paradise  Part 5, Eulogizing 5 Martyrs, that details five al Qaeda fighters killed in Afghanistan.

A senior US general in Afghanistan recently admitted the US military and intelligence services long-held belief that al Qaeda has only 50 to 100 operatives based in the country is incorrect, stating that number must be revised upward. Since 2010, US officials have claimed that al Qaeda has been decimated in Afghanistan and has maintained a consistent minimal presence of 50 to 100 operatives.

For more than six years, The Long War Journal has warned that official estimate of al Qaedas presence in Afghanistan is erroneous, and the jihadist group remains a significant threat to this day.

The US military began walking back its low estimate of al Qaedas presence in Afghanistan at the start of April. Last week, Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, the top spokesman for Resolute Support, the NATO mission in Afghanistan, told The Washington Post that al Qaeda has forged close ties to the Taliban and is resurgent in the country.

Major General Jeff Buchanan, Resolute Supports Deputy Chief of Staff, directly discussed al Qaedas footprint in the country publicly today, and warned that previous US estimates on al Qaedas strength were wrong.

If you go back to last year, there were a lot of intel estimates that said within Afghanistan al Qaeda probably has 50 to 100 members, but in this one camp we found more than 150, Buchanan told CNN.

The camp that Buchanan was referring to was located in the Shorabak district in Kandahar. In October 2015, a large US military strike force took four days to clear two al Qaeda camps in Shorabak. One camp covered over 30 square miles, and included large caches of weapons, ammunition, and other supplies. An al Qaeda media cell was also based there. [See LWJ reports, US military strikes large al Qaeda training camps in southern Afghanistan, and Al Qaedas Kandahar training camp probably the largest in Afghan War.]

After the Shorabak raid, General John Campbell, then the commander of Resolute Support, noted that US military and intelligence officials were surprised that the camp even existed.

Its a place where you would probably think you wouldnt have AQ [al Qaeda]. I would agree with that, Campbell said, according to the Post. This was really AQIS [al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent], and probably the largest training camp-type facility that we have seen in 14 years of war.

Buchanan echoed Campbells surprise that al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent was operating in Afghanistan, despite the fact that the group said at its founding that Afghanistan was a primary theater of operations, and the group has sworn allegiance to the Talibans emir, which was accepted. From the CNN report:

The now-destroyed training camp  attacked in a lengthy operation by US special forces and Afghan commandos in October  showed a high degree of sophistication with ties back to al Qaeda and a subset called al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, Buchanan said. To find them in Afghanistan was quite troubling.

After Shorabak, US officials are now estimating that al Qaeda may have upwards of 300 operatives in the country, but that number does include other facilitators and sympathizers in their network, CNN reported.

The enduring Taliban-al Qaeda relationship

Generals Campbell and Buchanan have characterized the al Qaeda and Taliban relationship as a recent development, not one that has endured for years. According to CNN, Campbell described the Taliban-al Qaeda relationship as a renewed partnership, while Buchanan said it has since grown stronger.'

But like the estimate that al Qaeda maintained a small cadre of 50 to 100 operatives in Afghanistan between 2010 and today, the idea that the Taliban and al Qaeda have a recently renewed partnership is incorrect. Al Qaeda would not have been able to maintain a large cadre of fighters and leaders inside Afghanistan, and conduct operations in 25 of Afghanistans 34 provinces without the long term support of the Taliban.

Al Qaeda has remained loyal to the Talibans leader, which it describes as the Amir al Mumineen, or the commander of the faithful, since the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001. Osama bin Laden maintained his oath of allegiance to Mullah Omar, the Talibans founder and first emir. When bin Laden died, Ayman al Zawahiri renewed that oath. And when Mullah Omars death was announced last year, Zawahiri swore bayat to Mullah Mansour, the Talibans new leader. Mansour publicly accepted Zawahiris oath.

The close relationship between the two jihadist groups is also evident with the assent of the Talibans new deputy emir, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the powerful Taliban subgroup known as the Haqqani Network. Siraj and the Haqqani Network have maintained close ties to al Qaeda; this is evident in the US governments designations of multiple Haqqani Network leaders. Two document seized from Osama bin Ladens compound shows that Siraj played a key role in the jihadist network in Afghanistan and Pakistan. [See LWJ reports, Osama bin Ladens Files: The Pakistani government wanted to negotiate, and The Talibans new leadership is allied with al Qaeda.]

The Long War Journal has refuted the low estimate of al Qaeda in Afghanistan since 2010

The Obama administration and US intelligence official have vastly underestimated al Qaedas strength in Afghanistan. Dating back to 2010, top US officials have stated that al Qaeda is weak in Afghanistan. In July 2010, Director Leon Panetta, who was the CIA director at the time, claimed that al Qaeda has 50 to 100 operatives based in the country.

I think at most, were looking at maybe 50 to 100, maybe less. Its in that vicinity. Theres no question that the main location of al-Qaeda is in tribal areas of Pakistan, Panetta said on ABC News This Week.

The 50 to 100 estimate was repeated by numerous US military and intelligence officials over the years. As recently as June 2015, the US military claimed in its biannual Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan report that al Qaeda has a sustained presence in Afghanistan of probably fewer than 100 operatives concentrated largely in Kunar and Nuristan Provinces, where they remain year-round. The December 2015 report claimed that al Qaeda is primarily concentrated in the east and northeast, despite the Shorabak raid. The US military and intelligence community has also wrongly claimed for years that al Qaeda is confined to northeastern Afghanistan. [See LWJ report, US military insists al Qaeda is concentrated in Afghan east and northeast]

In addition, Obama administration officials have repeatedly described al Qaeda in Afghanistan as being defeated and decimated.

No effort was made in the US government to publicly revise the 50 to 100 estimate or address al Qaedas persistent presence in the country. For instance, when the US military claimed that 40 al Qaeda fighters were killed between January and September of 2011, the 50 to 100 estimate remained constant.

From the beginning, The Long War Journal refuted US estimates of al Qaedas footprint in Afghanistan. A sampling of these reports can be seen below.

Numerous data points that are in the public sphere raise questions about the official US estimate of al Qaedas strength in Afghanistan.

For instance, the International Security Assistance Force, the predecessor of Resolute Support, occasionally issued detailed press releases on raids against al Qaedas network in Afghanistan. The Long War Journal compiled these reports and mapped the locations of the raids over time. The data shows that between early 2007 and June 2013, al Qaeda and its network of allies were targeted 338 different times, in 25 of 34 of Afghanistans provinces. This indicates that al Qaeda has an extensive presence across Afghanistan, one that cannot be maintained with a mere 50 to 100 operatives.

Al Qaedas own martyrdom statements that detail its fighters killed in Afghanistan, as well as its propaganda on operations in the country, matches ISAFs raid data. Al Qaeda has said it operates in the same provinces where ISAF has targeted the group.

Additionally, documents seized from Osama bin Ladens compound reveal that al Qaeda was increasing its presence in Afghanistan even as US officials were quick to announce the groups demise. In one document, dated June 19, 2010, Atiyah Abd al Rahman, bin Ladens general manager named eight provinces where al Qaeda is active.

We have very strong military activity in Afghanistan, many special operations, and the Americans and NATO are being hit hard, Rahman wrote.

In another letter from bin Laden to Atiyah, dated Oct. 21, 2010, the al Qaeda leader tells his general manager that he should relocate as many brothers as possible to the eastern Afghan provinces of Nuristan, Kunar, Ghazni and Zabul to avoid the US drone campaign in North and South Waziristan. It is unclear to what extent bin Ladens directive was followed, however ISAF targeted multiple al Qaeda operatives and leaders in those provinces and others since it was issued.

The Long War Journal has warned the US government that al Qaedas network in Afghanistan remains a threat to the US, and that it was being vastly underestimated. Senior Editor Thomas Joscelyn testified on this subject to the US Congress in July 2013 and May 2014.

Additionally, Joscelyn and Senior Editor Bill Roggio published an opinion article in The New York Times warning of the danger of underestimating al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

A sampling of reports from LWJs editors refuting the US governments estimate of al Qaedas strength in Afghanistan

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal. Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
The video shows the flags of the Kurdish YPG and its female wing, the YPJ.

The Imam Bukhari Jamaat (also known as Katibat Imam al Bukhari), a largely Uzbek group that is allied to the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaedas official branch in Syria, has released a video in recent days highlighting its role in fighting the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) in Aleppos Sheikh Maqsud. The Uzbek group joins other al Qaeda-linked organizations attacking the Kurds in the Aleppo neighborhood.

The video shows the Uzbek jihadists fighting with native Syrian forces with both light and heavy machine guns, as well as with mortars. Several technicals, or armed pick up trucks, are also shown being utilized. Multiple rebel groups, along with jihadist forces, are currently ambushing the YPG and its allies for control over the neighborhood.

Katibat Imam al Bukhari, which has pledged allegiance to Mullah Akhtar Mansour of the Taliban, joins Ansar al Islam and the Caucasus Emirate in Syria as al Qaeda-linked organizations attack the Kurds. Ansar al Islam, which was originally founded in Iraq in 2001, has reported its forces are fighting the Kurds in the neighborhood. The Caucasus Emirate in Syria, the official Syrian branch of the Caucasus Emirate, released a video last month showing its forces taking part in a nighttime operation against the Kurds.

Social media accounts associated with the group have also released several photos showing Caucasus Emirate forces in Sheikh Maqsud, as well. From Chechnya to Syria also reports that another Chechen-led group, Jaish al Usrah, which is led by the former emir of the Caucasus Emirate in Syria, is also taking part in the battles in Sheikh Maqsud.

Screenshots from the Imam Bukhari Jamaat video:

Caleb Weiss is a research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
A new national poll shows that 55 percent of Americans oppose removing federal protections for grizzly bears in Yellowstone, and a stunning 68 percent oppose trophy hunting. Photo by Ray Rafiti

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Bowing to an enormous outpouring of public concern and outrage, combined with compelling arguments that made its original plan vulnerable to a legal challenge, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission today voted to withdraw a proposal to initiate a bobcat hunting, hounding, and trapping season. It is a stunning turnaround for bobcats  protected in the state since 1989  and it prevents, at least for the foreseeable future, the killing of these gorgeous animals for their pelts and heads. Our New Hampshire state director, Lindsay Hamrick, was a leader in the fight and rallied thousands of New Hampshire citizens to object to the plan.

Emails obtained by The HSUS showed that despite thousands of comments submitted by state residents opposing the proposal, several commissioners had made up their minds prior to the public comment period, and intentionally disregarded any input from what they called the antis, or non-hunting New Hampshire residents. But so many citizens stood side-by-side in challenging the proposal, and multiple hunters, biologists, conservationists, animal welfare activists, and trappers spoke out against it. Hundreds of people showed up to testify against the proposal at public hearings.

A key moment came when The HSUS persuaded the states Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JLCAR) to challenge the propriety of the Fish and Game Commissions original 5-4 vote on the proposal in February. JLCAR decided to formally object to the proposal on the grounds  set forward in a legal comment submitted by The HSUS  that it violated the Endangered Species Act and exposed the state to unacceptable legal and financial liabilities. This determination no doubt led directly to todays game-changing decision by the Fish and Game Commission.

But even as we celebrate the victory for bobcats in the Granite State, we have other big fights for predators brewing elsewhere, and none more high profile than our efforts to protect grizzly bears in the northern Rockies. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed stripping federal protections under the Endangered Species Act for grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and wildlife authorities from Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have already made clear their intentions to open up trophy hunting seasons on the bears.

A majority of Americans want Yellowstones grizzly bears not dead but alive: a new national poll shows that 55 percent of them oppose the FWS proposal to remove federal protections for grizzly bears in Yellowstone, and an overwhelming percent of people, 68 percent in a nationwide sample, oppose trophy hunting.

Yesterday, HSUS staff members joined hundreds of citizens hunters, environmentalists, animal advocates, and local residentsin Bozeman, Montana, to voice our concerns at the second of only two public hearings that the FWS is holding on the delisting. We did the same at the FWS hearing on Monday in Cody, Wyoming. We are urging FWS to extend the comment period on this proposal from May 10 for an additional 60 days so that more people have time to weigh in.

Attitudes toward these animals have undergone a sea change since Americas early settlers and their descendants nearly wiped out the grizzly bear in the lower 48 states. Today, according to the poll conducted by Remington Research Group on behalf of The HSUS and Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, more than 80 percent of Americans believe the grizzlies are a valuable part of the Yellowstone area.

Grizzlies, considered the most famous bears in the world, are worth far more alive than dead. In 2013, Yellowstone Park alone received 3.2 million visits, worth $382 million, as tourists flooded the area to catch a glimpse of its beautiful surroundings and, of course, its magnificent wildlife  including the most famous and studied bear, Grizzly 399. Grizzly bears are a big part of the economic equation and among the most coveted of sights for visitors to the park.

I remember the first time I saw a grizzly in Yellowstone  that image is still fixed in my head and its perhaps the most memorable experience Ive ever had at Yellowstone or any other park.

Today, as we celebrate the lifesaving win for bobcats in New Hampshire, lets not forget that delisting the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystems grizzly bear will surely result in the persecution of these beautiful animals and a decline in their population. Join me in opposing this ill-conceived proposal and tell FWS to maintain federal protections for these bears.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (April 7, 2016)  A group of technical experts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District judged a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Science Expo today and staffed an exhibit sponsored by the Middle Tennessee STEM Innovation Hub on the Tennessee State University campus at the Gentry Center.

Ben Rohrbach, Nashville District Hydraulics and Hydrology chief; Mark Abernathy, Visual Information specialist with the Corps Army Corps of Engineers Information Technology Operations; Courtney Eason, realty specialist in the Real Estate Office, Amy Robinson and Lisa Morris, Regulatory Division environmental engineers, served as judges at the event.

Carol Haynes, chief of Equal Employment Office, along with David Claussen and Stephanie Coleman, Equal Employment Office specialists, and Old Hickory Lake Park Ranger Brent Sewell staffed the exhibit and talked with students about Corps STEM subjects.

The Nashville District team at the exhibit shared their knowledge about engineering, water management, dam safety, regulatory protection of natural resources, and the role of park rangers who are stewards of the land and water, and who look out for the safety of visitors at Corps projects.

The STEM Expo showcased original constructed projects designed and built by middle and high school students from the STEM Hub partnering school districts.

We are so glad to have so many schools participate and especially have the Corps a part of this program, said Dr. Vicki Metzgar, Middle Tennessee STEM Innovation Hub director. The program allows us to assemble and honor students projects and showcase their excellent knowledge about STEM subjects.

More than 300 students attended the expo with teams producing and managing 138 projects from counties in middle Tennessee, including Metro Nashville public schools, Sumner County, Clarksville-Montgomery County school system, and private schools such as Harpeth Hall. The Middle Tennessee STEM Innovation Hub organized the program, which is designed to encourage students to enroll or challenge themselves in STEM fields that involves designing, building, processing and analyzing STEM questions and problems.

The Tennessee State University college of Engineering served as sponsor for the event and S. Keith Hargrove, dean, College of Engineering Professor, Mechanical & Manufacturing engineering Department Director, Tiger Institute thanked teachers, and parents for their participation. He also lauded students for their inspiration, motivation and display of STEM projects.

We are excited about playing a role in middle Tennessee and we want to continue encouraging more students to participate in STEM activities and strongly consider STEM careers, said Hargrove.

Metzgar said the STEM Hub provides a valuable exchange and a network of ideas and resources for schools, colleges and universities, and network partners to serve the STEM needs of the middle region of Tennessee.

This is the biggest and best expo we have had to date and we are so thankful that the Engineering Department from Tennessee State University to serve as host for this years program on their campus and all our sponsors, said Metzgar.

Rutherford County schools represented well. At an awards ceremony near the end of the Expo, Rohrbach recognized the district winner from Central Magnet High school in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Peyton Ball, Michael Chan and Lisa McDougal were presented a glass trophy and certificate for their STEM project.

STEM projects are very important to the Corps, said Rohrbach. Not only is it important for us to be involved in our local schools, colleges and community but for districts all over the country to hire these young smart people in the future.

The groups project was a kitchen aid application that measures water. The STEM Expo showcased original projects designed and built by Middle and High school students from the STEM Hub partnering school districts.

We are happy to be at this years expo and we are thankful for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers recognizing our project, said Ball.





Colin Miller, student at Indian Lake Middle School in Hendersonville, developed a project with his team about how various types of light that affect plant growth. The students collected data, scientific research and explained the depth of measurement. Eason was interested in the process and methods required to sustain the light and plant growth and asked him about its applications and data.

These kids have built some great projects and are very smart, said Abernathy.

According to Metzgar, the STEM program helps students learn key academic content, practice skills through hands on learning and understand technology which is necessary for success such as communication, collaboration, and critical thinking.

These kids have got all kinds of creativity, excitement and energy and thats what we need for our next generation of STEM professionals, said Metzgar.

She said students in grades 5-12 in schools of STEM Hub Partners participated in the 2016 STEM EXPO at TSU. There were five categories of projects - STEM Research, Engineering I, Engineering II, Agricultural STEM, and Technology. The sponsoring school/district determines their category.

Schools from STEM Hub partner districts were eligible to register one entry per category (maximum of five entries per school). Districts could enter a maximum of 50 projects.

I was happy to evaluate the projects, said Abernathy. I was impressed by the level of technology and information as each group understood and explained their projects.

This has been a great event for our kids and we are thankful for the sponsors like TSU, the STEM hub, the Corps of Engineers and other businesses who make themselves available to explain engineering for the kids and helps them start thinking about a career field in science, technology, engineering and math at an earlier age, said Stephanie Miller, the mother of Colin Miller and project transporter. I think this program gives them an advantage because the group was exposed to different aspects of the project which allowed them to put their science knowledge to good use.

The Nashville District supports STEM programs and is an official partner of the Stratford STEM Magnet High School. For more information, go to the districts STEM Support Page. For more news and information, follow the district on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps.
Healing the Children of New Jersey (HTCNJ) will celebrate its 35 years of service to children with a Gala and Awards Banquet on Saturday, May 14, 2016 at the Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit. According to Nancy Eisenberg, Chair of the HTCNJ Development Committee and Gala Chair, "Funds raised from the Gala will be utilized to further HTCNJ's goal of providing donated medical care to impoverished children within New Jersey and throughout the world through our three main programs -- Medical Teams Abroad, Domestic Aid, and International Inbound."

As part of the Gala, HTCNJ will be honoring volunteers and partners who have contributed outstanding service, including:

* The Sisters of Christian Charity of the Mallinckrodt Convent in Mendham - Sister Mary Edward Spohrer and Sister Immaculata Arboline with its Sergio Award: The Sisters became involved with HTCNJ in 2006 and have since been hosts to seven children who traveled to New Jersey to receive donated medical care from area surgeons and hospitals.

* Lloyd Gayle, MD with its Sue Tiger Memorial Award: Dr. Gayle is a plastic surgeon who first became involved with HTCNJ in 1995. He has traveled to Kenya, Thailand and Peru providing surgery to children in need, often serving as Trip Chief.

* Dana Robinson-Grim, RN with its Jhansi Chowdary Nurse of the Year Award: Dana is an operating room nurse who has volunteered as a member of the HTCNJ Medical Teams Abroad Program since 1995 providing loving care to children all over the world, including Panama, Morocco, Guatemala Thailand and Peru.

* Jonathan and Tijana Hitchon, with its Partnership in Caring Award: The Hitchons became involved with HTCNJ in 2005 when they were asked to translate for a neighbor who was serving as host for a child from Kosovo. The couple and their three children have since hosted children from Panama, Nicaragua, Ukraine, Panama and Peru. Tijana also serves on the HTCNJ Board of Trustees.

* Sister Jane Frances Brady with Its Lifetime Achievement Award: Sister has been involved with HTCNJ since its inception in 1981. As President and CEO of Saint Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, she accepted the first child HTCNJ brought to New Jersey to receive donated care and has since helped hundreds of children. She has also been Trip Administrator for the Medical Teams Abroad Program participating in 15 trips and travelling to Kenya, El Salvador, Panama, Morocco, Armenia, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

Tickets for the HTCNJ Gala are $150 per person and may be purchased by credit card at www.htcnj.org. Checks payable to Healing the Children of New Jersey may be mailed to the HTCNJ office, 112 5th Avenue, Hawthorne, NJ 07506.

Further information about the Gala may be obtained by calling the HTCNJ office at (973) 949-5034.

Healing the Children of New Jersey (HTCNJ) was founded in 1981 and has helped more than 35,000 children in all of its programs, traveled to 16 countries, and welcomed children to the United States from 100 countries. Healing the Children(r) is a national organization founded in Spokane, Washington in 1979 to provide donated medical care to needy children. Today, there are 13 chapters across the country including the one in New Jersey.
Luton is a large town, borough and unitary authority area of Bedfordshire. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 258,000. Luton is home to Championship team Luton Town Football Club, London Luton Airport and The University of Bedfordshire. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter. For all the latest news from Luton sign up to our newsletter here.
Mother's Day Brunch Experience at The Ritz-Carlton, Denver

The hotels plaza level will be transformed into an enchanting celebration of springtime with an array of fresh flowers available for a Build Your Own Bouquet flower market experience, a widely celebrated tradition. Kids can enjoy colorful creations from a balloon artist and families can take home portraits from an on-site photographer.The elaborate buffet brunch from Executive Chef Garrett Gooch will feature traditional menu items like carving stations, brunch favorites, cheese and charcuterie displays, a made-to-order omelet station, sushi and raw bar selections and an array of salads. Additional menu highlights include: truffled English pea soup with lemon creme fresh, citrus marinated chicken with wild mushrooms and quinoa risotto, shrimp and grits, and green chili and apple stuffed pork loin with wilted kale.To conclude on a sweet note, guests can select from chilled fruit and berries, and seasonal-inspired dessert presentations with confections hand-crafted by the talented Ritz-Carlton pastry chefs: mini chocolate ding dongs, key lime tarts, raspberry cheesecake, salted caramel banana tart and a selection of French macaroons.Details are as follows: 10 a.m. - 3 p.m., The Ritz-Carlton Ballroom $84 per person/adults $40 per person/ages 6 to 12 Reservations may be made by calling (303) 312-3133 Complimentary valet parkingThe Ritz-Carlton, Denver is a six-time recipient of the coveted AAA Five-Diamond award, the longest running in the Mile High City, and is ranked Four-Stars by Forbes Travel Guide. Centered in the heart of downtown, the hotel's location offers easy access to the theatre, arts and business districts, Larimer Square, Coors Field and the famed LoDo area. The property boasts 202 newly renovated guestrooms  the most spacious in the city including  47 suites and 32 Club Level rooms with a remodeled 12th floor Club Lounge, all highlighted by a magnificent, 3,000 square foot Ritz-Carlton Suite with panoramic views. The urban destination also features a brand new fitness center and salon at the Forbes Four-Star winning Ritz-Carlton Spa, Denver. ELWAYS Downtown, the hotels signature steak house offers USDA Prime steaks, an award-winning wine program, private dining venues, daily happy hour and an outdoor patio.Visit website:
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We have lost a true lesbian pioneer in the passing of Leslie Cohen. Whether opening the first upscale lesbian club Sahara in NYC in 1976 ...
DP World Group Chairman and CEO, and Chairman of Ports, Customs and Freezones Corporation, HE Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem has met with the Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, at the Annual Investment Meeting in Dubai to explore possible future opportunities for economic co-operation.



During the meeting, which was also attended by DP World Vice Chairman Jamal Majid Bin Thaniah and senior company officials, HE Bin Sulayem suggested diverse solutions for Georgias trade and logistics development plans that would be cost effective and up-to-date with the latest industry trends. Both parties agreed that a DP World research team should visit the country to evaluate the potential for the possible construction of a marine terminal, inland terminal, logistics park or economic zone, similar to many other projects being developed along the New Silk Way between China and Europe.



HE Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman of DP World, said, Georgia presents a promising business environment where trade can play an ever greater role in developing the countrys manufacturing base, while encouraging growth of the states extensive logistics, distribution and warehousing potential. Georgia is also well placed to facilitate trade between Aktau port in Kazakhstan along the New Silk Way, providing access to the Black Sea.



The countrys leadership is committed to its people, working to provide a stable, welcoming and predictable trade environment for investors which is key. Dubai is an example of that where our remarkable growth story stems from the UAEs visionary leadership who embarked on an incredible journey. We are honoured to be able to share this insight and expertise with countries like Georgia.



Global trade enabler DP World is developing seamless trade solutions to stimulate economic growth around the world, advising governments through its experiences and expertise in multiple locations in over 40 countries.



DP World also provides the Kazakhstan government advisory services for the development of the Khorgos Special Economic Zone and Inland Container Depot with a similar arrangement under a separate contract for the Port of Aktau, Kazakhstans main cargo and bulk terminal on the Caspian Sea.



The company operates a range of terminals in locations along the New Silk Way linking China to Europe enabling trade on a vital portion of the global supply chain. There are three joint venture operations on mainland China at Tianjin, Yantai and Qingdao and another in Hong Kong. There are six more locations in India, supporting over 32% of Indias container trade and 14 in Europe.



Trade between Dubai and Georgia totalled AED 376 million in 2015, with imports of AED 25 million, exports of AED 35 million and re-exports of AED 315 million.


Yesterday during a joint trade mission in Montreal, the port authorities of Montreal and Antwerp, Belgium renewed their cooperative agreement.



The first agreement, signed in March 2013, resulted in four trade missions to Montreal and Antwerp during which extensive business contacts were developed. These meetings also enabled productive exchanges of information on issues such as sustainable development, land use, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union, global trends in the markets, and the development of port logistics zones.



As Sylvie Vachon, President and CEO of the Montreal Port Authority (MPA), pointed out, this agreements renewal is a great fit with the Port of Montreals commitment to strengthen its ties with its largest European trading partner. In the last three years, we were able to realize how much our two ports share the same concerns. We got to know each other, to collaborate effectively and we are now at a level of mutual trust that lets our departments discuss many issues of common interest and take concrete action on joint business development. The renewal of this agreement beautifully illustrates our commitment to further our collaboration and in doing so, continually provide better service to our clients.



For Luc Arnouts, Chief Commercial Officer and member of the Port of Antwerps Board of Directors, The Port of Antwerp and the Port of Montreal share many common traits. As large container ports located inland, Antwerp owes its prosperity to the Scheldt River and Montreal to the St. Lawrence River. During our collaboration we have deepened trade relations, among other things, resulting in a network that greatly benefits both partners. Implementation of the CETA agreement will give rise to a new dimension in our cooperation.



Every tier of government in Canada has recognized the agreement between the Port of Montreal and the Port of Antwerp. In fact, the agreement between the two ports has been repeatedly cited by the federal and provincial governments, along with the City of Montreal, as an example of beneficial strategic development for international trade.



A gateway of choice for European markets and a major transshipment hub, the Port of Antwerp is the Port of Montreals largest trading partner. One container in five handled at the Port of Montreal arrives from or gets sent to the Port of Antwerp.
The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has made a number of submissions to a critical meeting of the IMO Marine Environment Committee (MEPC) which begins in London next week (18-22 April). These address further measures to reduce the sectors CO2 emissions, outstanding problems with the implementation of the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention, and the need for an immediate IMO decision on whether or not ships will have to use 0.5% sulphur fuel in 2020.



CO2 Data Collection System



ICS says its immediate priority is to help ensure that the new global CO2 data collection system is adopted by IMO as soon as possible. This will then facilitate the possible development of additional CO2 reduction measures.



ICS Secretary General, Peter Hinchliffe explained The data global system now before the MEPC is a workable compromise between governments primarily interested in data on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions and those that wish to collect additional information, for example on so called transport work.



ICS fears that any failure by the MEPC meeting to make progress could result with unilateral action against international shipping. The European Union has already adopted a regional regulation on the monitoring reporting and verification (MRV) of individual ship emissions. This currently uses different metrics to those about to be adopted by IMO. The apparent intention of the European Commission is to develop this into a regional system of mandatory operational efficiency indexing of individual ships, which ICS says will lead to serious market distortion.



Any possibility of persuading the EU to adjust its regulation to make it compatible with that agreed internationally could be weakened if there is any further delay at IMO. It is disappointing that EU Member States, acting as a block, now wish to reopen discussion on some of the data metrics on which there was seemingly consensus at a recent IMO meeting in which many EU nations participated.



ICS has set out its support for immediate adoption of the CO2 data collection system in a submission made jointly with BIMCO and Intercargo.



CO2 Reduction Commitments



In a separate submission to the meeting, ICS has responded to the Paris Agreement on climate change with a radical proposal that IMO should develop an Intended IMO Determined Contribution for CO2 reduction on behalf of the sector. This would mirror the commitments or Intended National Determined Contributions (INDCs) which governments have made for their national economies, but from which international transport is currently excluded.



However, ICS emphasises that the Paris Agreement recognises that different parts of the global economy, including shipping, will need to decarbonise at different speeds, and that international shipping should not be expected to make the same level of CO2 commitments as developed economies. ICS says its member national shipowners associations are now developing ideas on what such an IMO commitment might entail, for discussion at a future session of the MEPC.



Ballast Water Convention



Although the IMO Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention has still not entered into force, it will almost certainly do so before the end of 2017. ICS is hoping that the MEPC meeting will make progress towards addressing a number of outstanding implementation issues. This includes finalising the revision of the IMO type-approval Guidelines for the expensive new treatment systems that shipowners will be required to install, in order to make them more robust so that shipowners will have confidence that the equipment will actually work to the satisfaction of Port State Control authorities.



In a submission (made jointly with Intertanko), ICS has explained how the BWM Conventions entry into force will present ship operators with a major challenge because of the expected lack of shipyard capacity needed to retrofit the new treatment equipment. ICS says that many shipowners have understandably delayed fitting equipment due to a lack of certainty as to whether it will be regarded as fully compliant. This uncertainty has been increased by the United States which has placed a reservation against an earlier IMO decision not to penalise early movers which, in good faith, have installed equipment that has been approved in accordance with existing IMO Guidelines.



ICS will also be explaining to governments the problems created by the different approval regime that has been adopted by the United States and the need, so far as possible, to make the IMO Guidelines compatible with the U.S. approach, especially with respect to defining what is a non-viable marine organism and the test methods used for approving ultra-violet systems.



Early Decision on IMO Sulphur Cap



The MARPOL Convention requires that ships (outside Emission Control Areas) must use fuel containing no more than 0.5% sulphur in 2020, but leaves open the possibility of postponement until 2025 depending on the outcome of a study into the availability of compliant fuel currently being conducted by IMO.



In a further submission (made with Intertanko) ICS has requested IMO Member States to make a clear decision about whether or not the global sulphur cap will be implemented in 2020, at its next session in October 2016.



The decision will be significant because the cost of compliant fuel could be over 50% more than the cost of residual fuel that most ships currently burn said Peter Hinchliffe. Whatever date is decided by IMO, ship operators and oil refiners will need as much time as possible to prepare for the impact. The refining industry will need to take important decisions to ensure that sufficient quantities of compliant fuel are available. Shipowners will need time to take important decisions about whether to invest in alternative compliance mechanisms such as scrubbers or LNG.



The submissions to the 69th session of the IMO MEPC referred to above can be seen at www.ics-shipping.org/submissions




The Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans joined a host of elected officials and industry partners today to dedicate the Ports new $25 million Mississippi River Intermodal Terminal. The terminal, made possible by a $16.7 million federal transportation TIGER grant, has a capacity of moving 160,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) per year by rail.



This new terminal provides a highly efficient option for our customers moving cargo via rail, said Gary LaGrange, Port President and CEO. I want to thank the entire Louisiana congressional delegation for their assistance and support in obtaining the federal funding that made this state-of-the-art terminal possible.



The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant provided about 68 percent of the total funding for the terminal. The Ports capital budget covered the remaining investment, which provided 280 temporary construction jobs and will create an estimated 100 new permanent maritime jobs.



New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said: When we invest in transportation infrastructure, were building for our future. The new Mississippi River Intermodal Terminal will move marine and rail cargo more efficiently, creating new, exciting opportunities for trade and growth that will yield hundreds of new jobs. The Port of New Orleans plays a major role in our global economy and is an irreplaceable economic engine for our City and State.



This new terminal will facilitate the movement of marine and rail cargo, stimulate international commerce and enhance safety  all while reducing the carbon footprint of regional and national transportation systems within our market  which constitutes 62 percent of consumers of the United States, said Michael Kearney, Vice Chairman of the Ports Board of Commissioners.



Industry partners, such as Patrick Burgoyne, President and CEO of Ceres Global, which operates the facility jointly with New Orleans Terminal, lauded the new container transfer facility, as well.



"The Port of New Orleans recognized a critical infrastructure requirement to sustain competitiveness and delivered, said Mr. Burgoyne. At New Orleans Terminal and Ceres we are pleased to work alongside the Port, City and State of Louisiana. We will do our part on competitiveness and this new Intermodal Railyard will help tremendously in that regard.



The new railyard features four tracks with 1,550 feet of working pad for each track, in addition to a runaround track. Two new rubber-tired gantry cranes built by Konecranes are part of the project scope, further increasing cargo handling and efficiency. A new marshalling yard of 18-inch concrete paving will provide an additional 64,000 TEUs of capacity in the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal. In addition, the new terminal design will make five more acres available for the planned expansion of the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal.



CN has and is expanding our inland reach, said John Orr, Senior Vice President  Southern Region for CN Railroad. We are marketing our additional inland points such as Indianapolis, Decatur (Illinois), Chippewa Falls and Arcadia (Wisconsin), as well as growth in the Detroit area. CN is proud to be the primary intermodal solution for the Port of New Orleans serving the major geographical freight hubs in North America. CN is working in collaboration with our partners to continue to grow the business through strategic marketing initiatives.



New Orleans is a major player for national and international cargo operations and now we have the assets and capabilities needed to remain competitive at the highest level in the global market, said David Schulingkamp, Chairman of the Board of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad, the short-line railroad that provides the Ports connectivity to its six Class 1 railroad partners. This new railyard will improve shipping logistics tremendously, which will in turn grow cargo business for the Port of New Orleans.



A broad team of local businesses contributed to the successful completion of the terminal. Metairie, La.-based Hard Rock Construction LLC performed the construction for the terminal, along with subcontractors Geismar, La.-based Pointer Smith LLC, Jefferson, La.-based Barnes Electric, Inc., New Orleans-based CFR Trucking and Westwego, La.-based Beverly Industries. AECOM Technical Services and its team provided design and construction administration services for the project. Team members included Baton Rouge-based GOTECH Inc., New Orleans-based Professional Service Industries Inc., Metairie, La.-based Eustis Engineering, Metairie, La.-based IMC Consulting Engineers Inc., Harvey, La.-based Jemison & Partners, and Boos Navarre Consulting Engineers.



The Port of New Orleans is a deep-draft multipurpose port at the center of the worlds busiest port system  Louisianas Lower Mississippi River. Connected to major inland markets and Canada via 14,500 miles of waterways, six class-1 railroads and the interstate highway system, the Port is the ideal gateway for steel, project cargo, containers, coffee, natural rubber, chemicals, forest products, manufactured goods and cruising.



An extensive network of ocean carrier services, along with added-value services, make the Port of New Orleans the superior logistics solution for many types of cargo. To stay ahead of market demand, the Port has invested more than $100 million in capital-improvement projects since 2012 and has a Master Plan to expand the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal to an annual capacity of 1.5 million TEUs.




The Obama administration will announce Thursday safety regulations for offshore oil and natural gas drilling to prevent the kind of explosion that happened six years ago on a BP rig in the Gulf of Mexico, an official told Reuters.



The Department of Interior will unveil the final version of its well control regulations, which will require more stringent design and operating procedures for well control equipment used in offshore oil and gas operations, said the official, who is close to the rulemaking process.



The agency first released the proposal last April to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the deadly Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.



The Macondo well blowout and the fire on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010 killed 11 workers.



BP agreed in October to pay more than $20 billion in fines to resolve nearly all claims from the oil spill, marking the largest corporate settlement of its kind in U.S. history



Last year, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the rule would build on industry standards for blowout preventers and reform well design, well control, casing, cementing and real-time well monitoring.





(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici, additional reporting by Manish Parashar; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Chizu Nomiyama)
U.S. Marines completed a three-week training exercise with the Tunisian special forces in Bizerte, Tunisia, April 8, 2016.

U.S. Marines with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa, trained their counterparts with Tunisias Groupement des Forces in vehicle maintenance and convoy operations, making this the first training engagement between the two military units.



In order to increase the GFS capabilities to support counter terrorism efforts, the Marines were in Tunisia at the request of the host nation government in coordination with the U.S. Embassy in Tunis.



Motor transportation operators and maintainers with SPMAGTF-CR-AF team spent their time training with the Tunisian soldiers on basic high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle components, preventative maintenance and various motor transportation operations. This expertise is an essential skill to the GFS which conduct counter terrorism operations.



Tunisia, a major non-NATO ally, has experienced recent terrorist attacks, their worst being in June of last year when an Islamic State terrorist killed 38 people at a popular beach frequented by tourists.



Shortly after the attack, Tunisia closed extremist mosques and parliament passed an anti-terrorism law that could impose the death penalty for offenses. On April 7, 2016 the interior ministry announced Tunisian security forces shot dead a suspected militant near the border of Algeria.

With the increase in violence and the countrys stance on combating terrorism, the GFS receive this training with a focus on the future.



A December 2015 BBC article stated Tunisia was one of 34 countries from Africa, Middle East and Asia that joined Saudi Arabias Islamic anti-terrorism coalition, amid international pressure for Gulf Arab states to do more in the fight against so-called Islamic State.

We have lots of missions going on and we always utilize the HMMWVs, said Adjutant-Chief Hlel Monji. Our armies have been utilizing the HMMWVs since the 1980s, so we have plenty of experience with them, but we wanted to learn new ways to fix problems and issues.



Tunisians are well-trained and competent with their vehicles so the Marines looked for ways to build on the skills they already had.



We discovered a few things that we could offer them, such as, breaching techniques and night operations, said Sgt. Aaron Mossor, a motor transportation operator with the VMAT. This is especially helpful to this group because a majority of their missions are special force operations, and these two tactics will undoubtedly help better their ability to complete a mission.
Surging Mining Stocks Point to Big Move Ahead in Gold and Silver

Spring has sprung for precious metals mining stocks.The HUI gold stocks index surged 6.2% on Monday to close at a 14-month high. The HUI chart shows a strong base was built from last summer through this January, and from that base a new bull market has begun.

Industry major Barrick Gold (ABX) has seen its share price more than double year to date, leading precious metals mining equities as a group to become by far the top performing sector of 2016. As the bull market matures, we can expect leadership to switch from the majors to the mid-tier producers, then on down to the junior explorers.

Eventually, the stocks will get ahead of their underlying fundamentals, as is always the case in momentum-driven markets. Investors will then find greater value and stability in the physical metals. Physical precious metals will at some point take center stage and outperform the miners.

For now, the miners are taking the lead and blazing a path higher for the metals markets.Gold mining stocks often serve as a leading indicator for gold prices.

Of course, on any given day, the share prices of miners can move based on business or market peculiarities that are wholly unrelated to spot gold. But when gold equities trend upward in a significant way, as they have so far this year, we can infer that some big-money investors are betting on a big recovery in gold prices. Its the gold price, after all, that is the biggest factor in most miners prospects for realizing profits.

But it would be a huge mistake for investors to treat gold/silver mining, streaming, and exploration companies as if they were proxies for the metals themselves. Physical precious metals are an entirely separate asset class. A gold or silver coin cant go bankrupt. A mining company can go bust for any number of reasons  poor management, an environmental disaster, a credit crisis, etc. Money Metals columnist David Smith has detailed all the risks for our readers.

Historically, investors in mining companies have suffered through extreme booms and busts with little on net to show for the punishment theyve endured.In fact, gold stocks have vastly underperformed gold spot prices over the past couple decades. Gold prices trade more than three times higher today than they did 20 years ago. Yet the HUI, despite its recent run up, actually trades slightly lower today than it did back in April 1996 .

Lets consider a recent 10-year period. From 2006 through the end of 2015 (10 full calendar years), gold gained 104%.Gold prices finished 2015 well below their 2011 highs.But if you bought in 2006, you still made money. If you bought a basket of gold stocks, in 2006, you lost money  most of it, in fact. From 2006 through 2015, the HUI shed a whopping 60% of its value. Ouch!

Those who bought gold stocks as a proxy for gold learned a tough lesson. During favorable up cycles for gold mining equities, they can potentially deliver outsized gains compared to gold itself. But during unfavorable periods, the downside for the stocks is much more severe than it is for the bullion.

Only the metal itself has a long-term track record of maintaining purchasing power.

Only precious metals in physical form are money.

Only gold, silver, and other hard assets serve as hedges against the risks inherent in the financial system.

Thats not to say that mining stocks dont have a place in a diversified investment portfolio. They can certainly deliver big returns when market conditions are favorable.Some of the majors, such as Barrick, Goldcorp (GG), and Newmont (NEM), even pay small dividends.

But do you buy into mining stocks now, after a lot of these names have already doubled off their lows, given the sectors track record of producing more disappointment than profits? Its a question you as an investor will have to answer for yourself, taking into consideration your own objectives and risk tolerance.

If youre looking for an undervalued investment that has similar upside potential as mining stocks but less downside risk, plus all the attributes of a tangible attributes of a hard asset, then consider physical silver.

The silver market appears to be gaining momentum, but spot prices remain well below their highs from last year.The gold:silver price ratio remains elevated at 79:1. As recently as 2011, gold sold for 32 times the price of silver, and historically it has often sold for 16 times or even as low as 10 times the silver price.

What will cause the spread between gold and silver to narrow? Most likely a big move upward in silver prices.The silver market opened this morning just above $16.00/oz, surpassing its high mark for the year.After being compressed for many months within a trading range, the silver market now sits like a coiled spring on the verge of breaking out.

Opportunities to buy major breakouts into new bull markets dont come along often. If you regret missing the big rally this year in the miners, nows your chance to catch the better part of what could be an equally impressive follow-up bull run in silver.

By Stefan Gleason

MoneyMetals.com

Stefan Gleason is President of Money Metals Exchange, the national precious metals company named 2015 "Dealer of the Year" in the United States by an independent global ratings group. A graduate of the University of Florida, Gleason is a seasoned business leader, investor, political strategist, and grassroots activist. Gleason has frequently appeared on national television networks such as CNN, FoxNews, and CNBC, and his writings have appeared in hundreds of publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Detroit News, Washington Times, and National Review.

 2016 Stefan Gleason - All Rights Reserved



Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Americas Money Controlled Political Process

From inception, America was never beautiful or democratic. Rich and powerful interests run things exclusively for their own benefit, ordinary people entirely shut out.



Secrecy and backroom deals substitute for a free, fair and open process. Candidates are pre-selected. Big money owns them. Rare exceptions prove the rule.

Duopoly power excludes independents. Key outcomes are predetermined. Horse race journalism substitutes for discussing issues mattering most.



Voter disenfranchisement is rife. Millions of Americans are denied because of past criminal records, including innocent people wrongfully imprisoned, others for political reasons or offenses too minor to matter.



Half of eligible voters opt out because their needs arent addressed. Corporate interests run elections with rigged electronic ease.



Losers are declared winners - and not just for president. Americas electoral process lacks legitimacy, democracy pure illusion.



Capitals divine right rules, we the people a meaningless figure of speech. Michael Parenti explained Americas system was designed to resist the pressure of popular tides (and protect) a rising bourgeoisie's (freedom to) invest, speculate, trade, and accumulate wealth.



Adam Smith called it the defense of the rich against the poor. No universal standard regulates Americas voting process. States can set their own procedures and norms as long as they dont violate federal laws.



A patchwork of 50 different systems runs things, facilitating electoral fraud, subverting democracy. Colorados delegate selection procedure excludes popular voting - giving new meaning to the term sham.



According to the Denver Post, state GOP leaders canceled the party's presidential straw poll in August to avoid binding its delegates to a candidate who may not survive until the Republican National Convention in July.



Instead, Republicans selected national delegates through the caucus process, a move that put the election of national delegates in the hands of party insiders and activists - leaving roughly 90 percent of the more than 1 million Republican voters on the sidelines.



The stop Trump crowd rigged things for Cruz. He ran the tablecapturing all 34 delegates atseven congressional district meetingsand the state party convention (last) Saturday, said the Denver Post.



Trump blasted the outcome, twittering (h)ow is it possible that the people of the great State of Colorado never got to vote in the Republican Primary? Great anger - totally unfair!



The people of Colorado had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians. Biggest story in politics. This will not be allowed!



He accused his opponents of crooked shenanigansWe should have won it a long time ago, he said.



US elections are won the old-fashioned way - stealing them, denying voters their say through a free, fair open process.

By Stephen Lendman

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com

His new book as editor and contributor is titled Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

He lives in Chicago and can be reached in Chicago at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.



Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday through Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national topics. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 2016 Copyright Stephen Lendman - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Buy Gold  Advises HSBC

Buy gold is the call of HSBC technical analysts who are becoming increasingly bullish on gold and increasingly bearish on stocks as reported by Business Insider.



HSBC via Business Insider via Bloomberg

Sentiment towards gold is slowly moving from being extremely negative and bearish to more bullish. HSBC joins a long list of large banks, insurers and investment houses who are now bullish on gold.

HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, ABN Amro, UBS, Deutsche Bank, PIMCO and BlackRock head a growing number of investment houses that are recommending an allocation to gold today. Indeed, the worlds largest reinsurer Munich Re is buying gold.

HSBCs bullish gold call was reported by Business Insider:

The US dollar price of Gold is in an uptrend with a bullish Elliott Wave structure, said Murray Gunn, HSBCs head of technical analysis.

With momentum turning up we open a long position at a spot reference of $1,260. A stop-loss is set at $1,200 with an initial target of $1,500.

Gold was trading at around $1,261 an ounce on Tuesday morning.

Gunns analysis is formulated based on something called the Elliott Principle, a form of technical analysis that believes investors move between periods of bullish and bearish thinking in a reasonably consistent pattern.

Or as HSBC puts it:

Elliotts Wave Principle is based on his empirically derived discovery in the 1930s that market prices move in recognizable, repeating patterns and that these patterns reflect a basic natural harmony manifested in the inherent herding behavior of crowds. Elliott discovered that these crowd behavior cycles appeared at every time scale and whilst they were repetitive in structure they were not always repetitive in amplitude or the time taken to form.

By this principle, bullish sentiment moves prices up in five moves of alternating peaks and valleys, eventually pushing prices to a new high. This is followed by three bearish moves pushing prices lower.

Based on his analysis, Gunn believes that gold has hit the bottom of its recent down cycle and the price gains made by the metal over the past few weeks are forming a new, substantial upward trend.

In addition, Gunn is relatively bearish on all major global stock indexes including the S&P 500 and FTSE 100. In terms of sectors, the analysis is significantly bearish on US motorcycle manufacturers, agricultural products, and apparel retail. It is significantly bullish on no sector of US stocks.

Full article on Business Insider

Gold Prices (LBMA)

13 April: USD 1,245.75, EUR 1,100.37 and GBP 875.33 per ounce

12 April: USD 1,259.20, EUR 1,102.15 and GBP 880.18 per ounce

11 April: USD 1,247.25, EUR 1,095.84 and GBP 878.96 per ounce

8 April: USD 1,235.00, EUR 1,085.18 and GBP 877.33 per ounce

7 April: USD 1,237.50, EUR 1,086.07 and GBP 879.70 per ounce

Silver Prices (LBMA)

13 April: USD 15.98, EUR 14.14 and GBP 11.21 per ounce

12 April: USD 15.96, EUR 13.98 and GBP 11.15 per ounce

11 April: USD 15.56, EUR 13.66 and GBP 10.93 per ounce

8 April: USD 15.16, EUR 13.34 and GBP 10.78 per ounce

This update can be found on the GoldCore blog here.

Mark O'Byrne

IRL

63

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DUBLIN 2 E info@goldcore.com UK

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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. Changes in exchange rates may have an adverse effect on the value of, or income from, investments denominated in foreign currencies. GoldCore Limited, trading as GoldCore is a Multi-Agency Intermediary regulated by the Irish Financial Regulator.

GoldCore is committed to complying with the requirements of the Data Protection Act. This means that in the provision of our services, appropriate personal information is processed and kept securely. It also means that we will never sell your details to a third party. The information you provide will remain confidential and may be used for the provision of related services. Such information may be disclosed in confidence to agents or service providers, regulatory bodies and group companies. You have the right to ask for a copy of certain information held by us in our records in return for payment of a small fee. You also have the right to require us to correct any inaccuracies in your information. 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'

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Gold and Silver Shares  How High Can They Go?

In December 2003 Edward Gofsky wrote a great article titled,



The 21st Century Gold Rush:

How High Can Gold and Silver Stocks Go?

Higher Than You Might Think!!



Being a bull on the precious metals I thought then what a great article. I have been in touch with Edward and he has given me permission to use his article.





What he did was visit the local library looking at old newspapers from the 1970s for the price of gold and silver stocks and then comparing them to their ultimate peak in share price in 1980. Now it is probably a surprise to no one that gold and silver stocks were on fire as gold and silver peaked in January 1980 but some specific examples that Edward shares with us are just awesome and mind blowing, begging the question can they do it again? But to put it in Edwardss words:In the last few months I have started out on a unique questto go back in time to the 1970s and to see what happened to gold and silver stocks when gold hit $500 then $600 then $700 all they way to the $850+ price and $50 silverI started my research by going to my local library to look at old newspapers from the 1970s, and wow did I find some amazing things!! My library had the financial post newspapers on microfilm all the way back to 1972 the very beginning of the last gold and silver bull market. I quickly went to work spending hours poring over the old papers looking for articles and stories on gold and silver to see if there were any similarities between now and the 1970sThere were a few articles about gold from 1972 to 1975 but the real big stories didnt really get published until around 1978-79 and especially in January of 1980 the final blow off top in both gold and silver. What I really wanted to uncover from the old financial papers were old stock tables so I could see how high most gold and silver stocks got to in January of 1980 and from what level a few years earlierWhat I found was absolutely shocking. In 1975 most or all of the gold and silver stocks were trading under $2 most were penny stocks under $0.50Sound familiar? Today most of the junior mining shares are selling for pennies. Are we set up once again for a mania phase in resource shares?Edward shares with us some examples of his findings, i.e., "Lion Mines  1975 price $.07 / 1980 price $380 YES thats right its not a misprint you could have bought 1000 shares of lion mines in 1975 for around $50 dollars at 7 cents per share and held on for 5 years riding the wild gold and silver bull until 1980 where you then sold those same shares for $380 each for a total profit of around $380,000. Not bad hey!!!!! This is only one of many more examples."Need some more examples of names you have probably never heard of and are no longer in existence?1975 Price $1.25 / 1980 Price $4301975 Price $.40 / 1980 Price $5601975 Price $.93 / 1980 Price $440

Mineral Resources

1975 Price $.60 / 1980 Price $415



Azure Resources

1975 Price $.05 / 1980 Price $109



"These are only a handful of gold and silver stocks that participated in what I consider one of the biggest financial opportunities in the history of human civilization. I dont know of any other time except maybe the .com bubble where in only a 5 year time span you could have tuned so little into so much wealth..."



Imagine buying in 1975 a handful of gold and silver stocks for under a dollar and selling them in 5 years for $100, $200, or even $500 per share as gold fever ripped through Wall Street.



"This one decision in 1975 to buy just a handful of gold and silver stocks and sell them near the all time highs of hundreds of dollars per share could have set you up financially for the rest of you life!!!!"



in January 1980 most gold and silver stocks were trading over $50 per share and lots were trading over $100 - $200 some even as high as $500 per share when only a few years earlier you could have bought the same stocks quietly for under 1 dollar



While these numbers are staggering, can you imagine if there had been call options, LEAPS or long-term stock warrants available on these mining shares?



Thru the years as I go back and re-visit Edwards article, I get goose bumps to think we may see this manic one more time. Could we? If so, when?



Folks, it sure seems that we are there once again in history with a similar opportunity to make a killing with gold and silver stocks. This long bear market in the miners has hurt or destroyed many investors and professionals alike and it now time for history to repeat itself with only the names of the companies (the big winners) left in question over the next few years.



Personally I follow many different analysts and newsletter writers to assist me and my subscribers in navigating the overall trend of the markets and I must confess I am convinced that the next monster mania phase is coming and coming very soon.



I encourage each of you to read Edward Gofskys complete article on his website. You will never forget this read and your timing could never be better than today.

If you would like more information on my services please visit http://www.CommonStockWarrants.com.

Dudley Pierce Baker

Founder  Editor

Guadalajara  Ajijic, Mexico

Website: www.CommonStockWarrants.com

Email: support@CommonStockWarrants.com

Facebook: http://Facebook.com/CommonStockWarrants



Disclosure: Neither Dudley Pierce Baker nor CommonStockWarrants.com is an investment advisor and any reference to specific securities does not constitute a recommendation thereof. CommonStockWarrants.com is an online newsletter providing complete details on all stock warrants trading in the United States and Canada. The information and opinions expressed should not be construed as a solicitation to buy and securities mentioned in this service.

Disclaimer/Disclosure Statement:PreciousMetalsWarrants.com is not an investment advisor and any reference to specific securities does not constitute a recommendation thereof. The opinions expressed herein are the express personal opinions of Dudley Baker. Neither the information, nor the opinions expressed should be construed as a solicitation to buy any securities mentioned in this Service. Examples given are only intended to make investors aware of the potential rewards of investing in Warrants. Investors are recommended to obtain the advice of a qualified investment advisor before entering into any transactions involving stocks or Warrants.

Dudley Pierce Baker Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Turkey's Erdogan Hardening Dictatorial Rule

Erdogan is one of the worlds most ruthless despots, Turkey a NATO member, a valued US ally.



Washington largely ignores his tyrannical rule, his abolition of press freedom, imprisoning critics, his war on Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi Kurds.



Turkish lawmakers have immunity from prosecution. Erdogan wants pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) members (the countrys third largest parliamentary bloc) stripped of their fundamental right for opposing ruthless regime policies.

Kurds are Turkeys largest ethnic minority, representing up to 25% of the population, ruthlessly treated since the 1923 creation of the modern Turkish state - including massacres, extrajudicial executions, torture, forced displacements, arbitrary arrests, ravaged towns and villages, as well as disappeared journalists and regime critics.



Erdogan terrorizes his own people, supports ISIS and likeminded groups while feigning opposition.



Selahattin Demirtas co-chairs the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party of Turkey (HDP) - founded in 2012, combining several left-wing groups, including supporters of equal rights for women and gays, secularists, anti-capitalists and environmentalists, putting it at odds with Erdogans agenda.



He accused the HDP of fronting for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) - wants Demirtas and HDP party members stripped of their immunity for supporting Kurdish self-determination in southeastern Turkey.



Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused him of treason for meeting with Sergey Lavrov in Moscow last December, publicly denouncing Turkeys downing of a Russian bomber in Syrian airspace.



He forthrightly opposes Erdogans lawlessness, calling him and ruling party officials murderers.



Saying (y)our hand(s) (are) bloody. Blood has splattered from your face, your mouth to your nails and all over you. You are the biggest supporters of terror.



Erdogan and his cronies consider legitimate criticism treason and/or terrorism. Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) members unanimously support stripping HDP parliamentarians and other elected regime critics of immunity from prosecution - hardening iron-fisted control more than already.



Erdogan tolerates no criticism. Exposing regime wrongdoing or publicly opposing his policies risk arrest, prosecution and imprisonment.



In January, he called Hitlers Germany perhaps an ideal way to govern, streamlining decision-making, solidifying iron-fisted rule, eliminating challengers and critics.



America increasingly is run the same way, a money controlled fascist police state masquerading as democratic.

By Stephen Lendman

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com

His new book as editor and contributor is titled Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

He lives in Chicago and can be reached in Chicago at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.



Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday through Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national topics. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 2016 Copyright Stephen Lendman - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




The Southern Piedmont Technology Council meeting at the Thomas P. Dalton IDEA Center on Tuesday began with turkey and bacon wraps and chicken salad sandwiches. As visitors mingled over lunch, SPTC President Melany Stowe welcomed guests to the innovative fabrication laboratory, or Fab Lab.

Matthew Wade, Patrick Henry Community Colleges Fab Lab Coordinator, spoke about the founding of the fabrication laboratory in Martinsville before leading a tour through the facility.

"There was a group that got together with the idea here locally. They were thinking about things to invigorate the community. Fab Lab was brought up in this meeting. They brought the mobile Fab Lab here to study to see if everybody wanted it here. Ninety-eight percent of people wanted it here," Wade said.

A multitude of organizations and community colleges donated monetarily and physically to make the community Fab Lab a reality. The Patrick Henry Community College Foundation purchased the current location at 26 Fayette Street in Martinsville, which is set to open its doors to the public in May. Danville Community College donated some of the equipment in the Fab Lab, and a grant awarded by the Virginia Community College System funded new items.

Wade assured guests that the Fab Lab did not intend to remove consumers from local businesses, despite the buzz about the modern technology.

"We do not do anything to take away from local businesses. The majority of the stuff were going to be doing is 3D printing, mainly. Or if theres something in the community that nobody has that we have, we will take that on as business. But if there is someone in the community that has that, well push them to them," Wade assured.

Wade took guests on a facility-wide tour of the tri-level building, discussing the function of each machine. The Fab Labs equipment includes 3D printers, vinyl cutters, a plastic injection molding machine, a vacuum forming machine, laser cutters, and a CNC router.

"We try to get stuff that people will actually use," Wade said.

Individuals who want to use the equipment at the Fab Lab must first complete a month-long course that meets for instruction once a week. In the four-week course, participants learn how to use one machine. The cost of the course is approximately $130 a person, and there are no residency requirements. After participants complete the four classes, they may purchase a monthly membership for $30, materials not included, to utilize the community Fab Lab.

In addition to the Fab Labs grand opening on May 19, the SPTC invites members of the region to other upcoming events. For a full list of regional activities, visit www.sptc-va.org. Also, stay up to date with the Fab Lab on their Facebook page, Fab Lab at PHCCs Thomas P. Dalton IDEA Center.
A judge in Patrick County Circuit Court on Tuesday accepted Anthony Octavius Joyces guilty pleas to first-degree murder, an amended charge of grand larceny, and concealment of a dead body, and found him guilty of those charges.

Joyce, 37, is charged in the strangulation death of Shelly Dawn Gravely, 34, of South Mayo Drive, Stuart, on Nov. 15, 2014. Joyces address is listed in court records as 879 Stella Loop, Spencer, and 1355 Norwalk Street Apartment H, Greensboro, North Carolina.

Under a plea agreement, the commonwealth amended a charge of robbery to grand larceny, and Joyce agreed to plead guilty to that charge, as well as plead guilty as charged to first-degree murder and concealment of a dead body. The plea agreement does not specify what the sentence will be  that will be up to Judge Jonathan Apgar.

According to Apgar and Patrick County Commonwealths Attorney Stephanie Vipperman, first-degree murder carries punishment ranging from 20 years in prison to life, concealing a body carries punishment of up to five years in prison, and grand larceny carries punishment of up to 20 years in prison.

According to the Virginia Legislative Information System, the punishment for robbery ranges from five years to life.

Apgar ordered a presentencing report at the request of defense attorneys and scheduled sentencing for July 1 at 1 p.m.

Vipperman read a summary of the commonwealths evidence. Highlights include the following:

Gravely and Joyce had been involved in a romantic relationship off and on for about five years. Most recently, Gravely broke up with Joyce on Nov. 14, 2014.

After denying at various points his involvement in Gravelys death, Joyce ultimately told officers that he was at the home of Melanie Wolfe in Collinsville, started thinking about Gravely and what was going on, and drove to Gravelys home, knocked on the front door, and Gravely let him in.

Joyce told Gravely he wanted to know what was going on. Joyce saw Gravelys cell phone sitting on the bedroom table and started to go for it. Gravely grabbed the top half, but Joyce jerked it out of her hand. Joyce started going through the text messages and saw pictures that Gravely had sent to another man. Gravely was still trying to get her phone away from Joyce, so he pushed her onto the bed. Gravely told Joyce to leave and came back toward him to get her phone.

According to Joyce, "There was a tussle (no punching) and the phone fell to the floor. Then defendant said he just lost it. I grabbed her and I was just squeezing  standing  facing eye to eye  we fell back on the bed  I was on top of her  (I was in total control)  next thing I know she was just limp. She was motionless on the bed, but he kept trying to shake her and calling her name. He said he never tried to give her CPR, and he didnt call 911 because he was scared of getting in trouble," Vippermans summary of commonwealths evidence said.

"She was wearing shorts and a little tank top, but they were about to come off from the little tussling match, according to defendant. He carried her body in his arms to the front passenger seat of his car. He just laid her on the seat and didnt cover her body with anything."

After Joyce took Gravelys body to his car, he went back inside to get Gravelys phone off the floor and shut the door. Joyce then drove to M&M Convenience Store to get gas but wasnt able to, then to The Old Country Store to get gas. Gravelys body was in the front passenger seat during both of these stops. Joyce drove down Horsepasture Price Road, to Wagon Trail Road, to George Taylor Road where he finally got to the bridge location where Gravelys body was found.

Joyce pulled onto the shoulder, opened the passenger door, pulled Gravely out by her arm, and her body rolled down the small ravine. Then Joyce drove back to Melanie Wolfes house in Collinsville to get some gas money from her, then to a buddys house in Horsepasture, then to Cholanna Wallaces apartment in Greensboro.

Joyce admitted he called Gravelys phone while he had it to try to give himself an alibi. Joyce also admitted to responding to the other male on Gravelys phone as if he were Gravely. Later, Joyce also called Gravelys mother looking for Gravely. Joyce "was calling or texting Gravelys phone all the way up to Nov. 20, 2014 at 9:56 p.m., for a total of 19 times after he killed her," Vippermans summary of commonwealths evidence says.

Other commonwealths evidence included:

Fingernail clippings from Gravelys body showed Joyces blood under her right hand fingernails. An investigator saw scratches on Joyces cheek, near his nose, when he was first interviewed on Sunday morning, Nov. 16, 2014.

Records from Joyces debit card from Ameristaff showed a purchase at The Old Country Store in Horsepasture at 3:08 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014, and Gravelys debit card from River Community Bank was attempted to be used at a gas pump at M&M Convenience Store at 5:30 a.m. that day. A review of video surveillance from M&M showed a vehicle similar in size and color to Joyces vehicle at the gas pump at that time.

Joyces cell phone records indicated his phone was turned off at 1:59 a.m. and not turned back on until 5:30 a.m. when it began hitting off a tower near M&M.

Gravelys cell phone records indicate her phone was hitting off the same tower near her home until 4:45 a.m. when it started to move. From 5:30 a.m. until it was turned off at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 15, 2014, Gravelys cell phone was hitting off the same towers as Joyces cell phone.

Melanie Wolfe stated that when she got up at 4 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014, at her apartment in Collinsville, Joyce, who had been there earlier, was gone. Joyce returned about 6 a.m., knocking on her door and window. She had missed calls from him at 5:48 and 5:50 a.m. Joyce told her he left because his mother had a stroke and he needed to go check on her, but now he was back because he had only $20 and needed more than that to go check on her. So Wolfe gave him another $20 for gas.

Joyce told officers that he threw Gravelys cell phone in a lake on Route 220 on the way to Greensboro. A dive team later searched the lake and never found the cell phone.

In confessing, Joyce told officers where he had taken Gravelys body. An officer used Google Earth on his laptop, and Joyce pointed to the southeast part of the Crooked Creek Bridge on George Taylor Road. Officers found Gravelys body in that location.

Also during the court hearing Tuesday, Vikram Kapil of the Office of the Public Defender said Joyces lawyers had "some minor differences" with the commonwealths summary of evidence.

Defense lawyers did not put on evidence Tuesday but may at the sentencing hearing.

Speaking to members of the families of Gravely and Joyce who were observing in court, Kapil said, "It was never about not taking responsibility. It was more of degree."

"He (Joyce) is very sorry for the pain he has caused, for both families. This tragedy should not have happened, unfortunately he is the cause of it," Kapil said.
Goodyear employees are being paid during the Danville plants temporary closure following the death of a worker there Tuesday morning, said a company spokeswoman.

Officials plan to reopen the plant Friday after shutting it down as a precautionary measure following the incident. The Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident.

Further details about the incident were not available Wednesday afternoon.

Goodyear cannot comment on an active investigation, said Goodyear Communications Manager Laura Singleton, in response to questions from the Danville Register & Bee. Associates will be paid during the temporary plant closure.

Goodyear is still investigating and officials closed the plant to allow this review to proceed without distraction, Singleton said.

The employee who died, Greg Cooper, 52, was a maintenance mechanic at the plant and lived in Chatham. He worked at Goodyear for 18 years.

Jennifer Rose, VOSH safety director in Richmond, described the agencys process when investigating a fatal workplace accident. The employer or local police department provides a report to VOSH.

We respond to that report by initiating an investigation, Rose said. Officials hold an opening conference with company representatives to let them know why VOSH is there, she said.

VOSH officials look for the fatalitys causes and possible violations, Rose said.

They inspect equipment and other parts of the facility, and talk to employees, management and personnel who were on site during the incident, she said. What enforcement officers find determines the next step.

VOSH has up to six months to issue citations, Rose said.

Tuesdays death marks the third fatality at the plant in eight months.

Kevin Edmonds, 54, of Penhook, died during his work shift on March 31. Edmonds death is under investigation.

In August 2015, Jeanie Lynne Strader, 56, of Chatham, died in an accident at the plant. The Goodyear plant was issued three violations totaling more than $16,000 in February for the fatal accident that claimed Straders life, according to an inspection detail on OSHAs website. The plant contested the penalties on March 16.

Goodyear is Danvilles largest private employer. The plant also had a fatality in 2007, Rose said.
The recent Constitutional Court judgment against President Jacob Zuma is only the latest in a series of rapid-fire events which have shaken South African society fundamentally. From the Marikana massacre in 2012, to the latest revelations, society has been staggering from one crisis to another. The turnover of these events is astonishing. New shocks crop up almost on a weekly basis, and old controversies resurface periodically only to assume new convulsive forms. In the final analysis, this shows that, on a capitalist basis, none of the fundamental problems of society can be solved.

Nkandla

In the latest shock, the Constitutional Court, in a scathing judgment, found that Zuma has violated the constitution by refusing to implement the findings of the Public Protector and repay public money used at his private homestead in Nkandla. In its judgment the court ordered that the Ministry of Finance (ironically under control of his nemesis, Pravin Gordhan) should determine the amount of money Zuma should repay within 60 days of the judgment, after which Zuma has 45 days to settle the amount.

The Nkandla scandal has been raging for the last 7 years. It is the most extreme example of the extent to which corruption, self-enrichment, and looting of state resources has spread to the highest echelons of the ANC and the state. The real scandal of Nkandla, beside the legal and technical aspects of it, is the fact that R246 million was spent on the palatial residence of one man and his family, in a country where 8 million people are battling to find meaningful employment and where 13 million people go to bed hungry every day.

The fact that the entire ANC parliamentary caucus has for years covered up the scandal shows that the cancer of corruption is not limited to a few bad apples. If this were the case, it would have been relatively easy for the ANC to remove the tumour of corruption before it infected the entire organism. But corruption is endemic to capitalism. In its various forms, legal and illegal, it is the mechanism used by the capitalistsfrom the Oppenheimers and the Ruperts to the Guptas and the tenderpreneursto grease the mechanisms of the system and to chain the leaders of the ANC to themselves and to it.

Firefighters showing off the utility of hte "fire pool" of Zuma's R246 million residence.The small bourgeois parties in parliament have been wholly incompetent in opposing this scandal. This was not because they were small, but because they were bourgeois, and are therefore tied to the system. For years the ANC could afford to steamroll the opposition in parliament and quash any report on the matter, or to simply to pass its own illegal reports and resolutions.

But a fundamental turning point came when the Economic Freedom Fighters, only six months in existence at the time, entered parliament after the 2014 national elections. Through their #PayBackTheMoney campaign they turned the entire situation around. With only 25 MPs out of a total of 400, the EFF turned parliament on its head. Their militancy and radical left-wing stance paralysed parliament and exposed it for the fraud that it is. This gave a partial outlet to the enormous anger which exists against the ruling establishment amongst the workers, the poor, and the youth. The EFF gave Zuma, the Speaker, and the ANC MPs a torrid time by demanding that Zuma should comply with the Public Protectors report. After cabinet ministers and the ANC MPs in parliament had been thoroughly discredited, the EFF took the case to the Constitutional Court.

The outcome of the court case has greatly boosted the authority and standing of the EFF in society. In the last two years they have made an impact like no other opposition party has done since the fall of apartheid. But a new era has now opened for the party which will probably decide its future. As we have explained elsewhere, they will be placed under enormous pressure by the ruling class to moderate their message and to tame the mass anger which is brewing in society. The reason for this is not so much because of Julius Malema and the leadership of the EFF, but for fear of the mass movement they have built up.

In the wake of the Concourt ruling, the bourgeois opposition has put forward the need for a united opposition against the ANC. They have proposed all kinds of parliamentary processes to deal with the fallout of the judgment. The EFF has responded by stressing that all parliamentary processes would have to be exhausted. At the same time, they have put off the idea of mass protest action to a distant future. This will fit the agenda of the bourgeois opposition parties. The last thing they want is for mass action to erupt in this politically charged atmosphere. Their aim is to channel the mass outrage into the courts or through the obtuse workings of bourgeois parliamentarism. But for the masses, a solution can only be reached by combining legalistic work with mass action in the streets.

Damned if they do, damned if they dont

This judgment is a devastating blow to Zuma and to the governing African National Congress. It comes on top of all the myriad scandals besetting the party for years. At the center of all of these is Jacob Zuma, whose presidency has been mired by one scandal after another. The judgment of the court was received with almost universal calls for his resignation. The ANC has been inundated. Ordinary ANC members have expressed a deep sense of embarrassment and shame.

Calls for Zumas resignation have come from some of the liberation movements most authoritative voices. Denis Goldberg, one of only three survivors of the 196163 Rivonia trial, along with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, and others, called on Zuma to stand down, calling him a failed leader. I felt betrayed. When the issue was raised in Parliament, he said I didnt ask for it, why should I pay? Hundreds of thousands were spent on legal fees. Im happy to see that others are speaking out about this as well. And it does not surprise me one bit, Goldberg said.

Another Rivonia trialist, and one of the most revered anti-apartheid activists, Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in prison together with Nelson Mandela, wrote a letter to Zuma, asking him to resign. I am not a political analyst, but I am now driven to ask: Dear Comrade President, dont you think your continued stay as President will only serve to deepen the crisis of confidence in the government of the country?

And bluntly, if not arrogantly; in the face of such persistently widespread criticism, condemnation and demand, is it asking too much to express the hope that you will choose the correct way that is gaining momentum, to consider stepping down? he wrote.

The voices of people like Kathrada and Goldberg undoubtedly carry a lot of weight. Their moral authority and history of selfless struggle are unquestioned. But this is not a moral question. Nor is it merely about Zuma as an individual. It is about an entire network of people who maintain themselves by attaching themselves, like leeches, to his presidency.

On Zumas presidency lies the fate of an entire layer of sycophants. Zuma is the first representative of patronage and cronyism, and its staunchest defender. For him and these sycophants, the office of the presidency and access to high political office are conduits for short-term accumulation. It is therefore not a matter of morality or ethics, but of material interests.

If he resigns, or is recalled by the NEC of the ANC, the entire network would unravel. A whole layer of leading ANC members would be caught up in the fallout. The damage that this would do to the ANC could be incalculable. It could immediately unleash an internal civil war which could consume the whole party. As Gwede Mantashe, the Secretary-General, pointed out, recalling Zuma will tear the ANC apart. The problem for Mantashe and the ANC is that the outcome will be the same by keeping him in office, though the effect will be much more protracted. Therefore, the ANC is now stuck in a protracted political quagmire from which it cannot escape.

Big capital and the looming implosion of the Guptas

The latest crisis comes at a time when the ANC was still dealing with the fallout from revelations that Zuma is basically in the pocket of the Guptas, the notorious family which has been offering cabinet posts to various people from their Saxonwold compound. These revelations by themselves are a major crisis for the ANC. It shows graphically that under capitalism, politicians are beholden to the the ruling class and not to the masses of ordinary people. It makes a mockery of the Freedom Charters call that The People shall govern!

The storm surrounding the Guptas has set off the alarm bells in the boardrooms of big business in Johannesburg. The recklessness of the Guptas has laid bare the inner workings of bourgeois democracy. At a time of crisis and stress, the last thing the bourgeois need is for ordinary people to start questioning the entire system.

It is for this reason that they have now decided to launch an all-out assault on the Gupta empire. In a carefully coordinated attack by the big capitalists, two of the countrys big banks, ABSA and Firstrand, closed the accounts of Oakbay Investments, an 85% Gupta-owned holding company, without providing any reasons. Simultaneously, its auditors, KPMG, and its sponsors on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the investment bank SASFIN, also quit all ties with the company with immediate effect. The JSE itself then warned Oakbay that since it does not have sponsors and auditors, the company would be de-listed from the stock exchange.

This was a devastating move for the Guptas. The companys share price went into freefall. Oakbay Resources and Energy released a statement saying that Atul and Varun Gupta had resigned as Director and as CEO of the company with immediate effect. Simultaneously, Duduzane Zuma, President Zumas son, resigned as non-executive director of Shiva Uranium, a major subsidiary.

In panic, Oakbay Investments CEO Nazeem Howa wrote a letter to staff, which was leaked to the media, saying that the Gupta family has stepped down from all executive and non-executive positions following a period of sustained political attack on the Gupta family and our businesses. He stated also that The closure of our bank accounts has made it virtually impossible to continue doing business in South Africa.

They also revealed that they wrote to President Zuma and three cabinet ministers, bitterly complaining about the banks: To this end we have been in direct contact with the ministries of labour finance mineral resources and the Office of the President to express deep disappointment over the decisions of our banking partners and to make it very clear that livelihoods are at risk if we are unable to restore these important banking relationships.

Late on Friday night there were also reports that ANN7, a Gupta-owned television channel, would struggle to pay its staffs monthly salaries. Later it was revealed that the two other big banks, Nedbank and Standard Bank, also cut ties with the family. Because of the highly monopolised nature of the South African economy, the simultaneous onslaught by the Big Four banks means that Oakbay effectively cannot do any financial transactions, putting its entire existence in jeopardy. Big business, the banks, and the Rupert-Oppenheimer section of the ruling class have thus effectively carried out a calculated corporate coup over last few days. On Sunday, City Press broke the dramatic news that two of the Gupta brothers have quietly left for Dubai. They also reported that the rest of the family will join them shortly.

This changes everything. Big business has decided to go for the jugular in its war against its junior wing. They have clearly come to the conclusion that the Gupta family has become too big for its boots, and is now a threat to the stability of the capitalist system. By making an example of the Guptas, big business has thrown down the gauntlet to its junior wing. These moves have now raised the stakes considerably. For the upstart capitalists, it is now a matter of survival.

There can be no better example of the lengths to which the capitalists will go, even devouring some in their own class to save the wellbeing of their system a whole. These developments will have major implications politically. Should big business succeed in pushing the Guptas out altogether, it will change the situation in the ANC materially. It will kick out the crutch on which Zuma stands, and it will boost Mantashe and Ramaphosa in the ANC. Without the support of his main capitalist backers, Zuma now stands exposed before his political rivals and their big-business sponsors.

Jacob Zuma stands in the middle of this war between the capitalists. As President, Zuma balances between two contradictory wings of the ruling class. On the one hand there is big business, which oversees a relatively modern capitalist economy. On the other hand there is the upstart junior wing, which survives mainly through tenders and government contracts, and the scraps which fall from the table of big business.

Under previous PresidentsMandela, Mbeki, and Motlanthethe balance of forces within the ruling class has always been heavily in favour of big business. But whereas Mandelas personal qualities and high moral authority fitted the objectives of big business to stabilize the system after the revolutionary storms of the 1980s and 1990s, equally, Zumas lack of these qualitieshis short sightedness, his peasant outlook, personal ambition, deceitfulness, and his excessive personal dependence on donors like Schabir Shaik earlier, and the Guptas now, to sustain his himself and his familyall conspired to push him more and more towards the openly corrupt junior wing of the capitalists. The recklessness of the Guptas has now brought them into direct conflict with big business, with Zuma balancing in the middle. In turn, this further highlights the lack of his personal defects even more. Thus, squeezed by both wings of capital, Zuma now, in fact, embodies a system in crisis.

An existential crisis

For decades the African National Congress has had a virtual monopoly on the support of the black masses. It was the organisation they used to fight against the apartheid dictatorship. In 1994, after the most heroic struggle led by the working class, the ANC became the governing party of South Africa. Now, the 104-year-old former liberation movement finds itself in the middle of the deepest crisis in its existence.

Two decades ago the ANC won political power on the back of overwhelming support from the masses. For the masses, the fight for democracy was a fight for a material improvement in their lives. On the back of the stabilisation of the economy, gains were made initially in the provision of basic services such as electricity, water, and sanitation.

But under capitalism all gains for the working class are only temporary. With the 2008 global crisis came the return of the attacks on the living standards of workers. In 2009, in just one year, more than one million jobs were lost. Earlier, under the presidency of Thabo Mbekis GEAR macroeconomic policies, the labour market was reformed to make it more flexible through an increase in outsourcing and casualisation, and through the introduction of labour brokers. Under Zuma these policies have been continued, and the attacks on workers are now endorsed under the so-called National Development Plan.

The workers responded to these attacks with a massive increase in strikes, protests, and demonstrations in the last few years. This rise in the class struggle had an immense impact on the ANC. The SACPs move in 2009 to join the government which was implementing capitalist policies, in a period of rising class struggle, opened up an enormous political vacuum to the left of the ANC. The emergence of the EFF and the radical metalworkers union NUMSA is the clearest manifestation of this.

This process, the breakup of the ANC along class lines, is the root cause of the crisis we see today. On the one hand of the class divide there are Zuma, Mantashe, Ramaphosa, and all the other representatives of the ruling class in the ANC. On the other hand there are the ordinary workers, students, and the poor. The opposing interests of these two class forces determines everything inside and outside of the ANC.

Because of its historically colossal influence on South African society, the developments inside the ANC have a direct impact on the whole country. Together with the lack of a mass revolutionary party, the crisis could last for years. In the process it will take all kind of convulsive forms. The country is now in its most turbulent period ever. The fate of the ANC over the coming years will affect society in every meaningful way possible, and is bound to have the most fundamental impact on the class struggle.

South African society is moving through a profound crisis affecting it at all levelseconomically, socially, and politically. The root cause of this is the capitalist system, which has reached its limits. In the case of South Africa this situation has reached acute levels.

But the first signs of a coming revolutionary storm are divisions, splits, and fighting within the ruling class. Dialectically, revolution does not start at the bottom, but at the top. Unable to rule in the old way and take society forward, the ruling class starts to experience all kind of splits as it seeks to find a way out of the impasse. It is these splits and divisions which open the way for the entrance of masses on to the arena to change society. This coming revolution in South Africa will affect the entire continent and will reverberate throughout the planet.
U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. isnt backing down on the departments stance on how a wonky spending provisionsupplement-not-supplantshould play out under the brand new Every Student Succeeds Act, despite a heated debate Monday with GOP lawmakers , including Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., an architect of ESSA and the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

The principle that supplement-not-supplant should ensure that Title I dollars are supplemental is fundamental

to the law and fundamental to the civil rights legacy of the law, King said at a breakfast Tuesday with reporters. He noted that the regulations that irritated Alexander are only a proposal, for a committee of advocates, experts, and educators to consider through a process known as negotiated rulemaking.

Were hopeful that the negotiators will reach consensus across issues, he said.

Supplement-not-supplant, King explained, is the piece of ESSA that calls for districts and states to ensure that federal Title I schools money is an extra resource for schools that serve the poorest kids.

When you look state-by-state, district-by-district, you can see these huge gaps in spending between Title I and non-Title I schools even with radically different percentages of students in poverty, he said. You can have a school with much lower percentages of poverty actually spending $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 more than a Title I school blocks away. Thats clearly inconsistent with supplement-not-supplant. ... Weve got to get to a place where supplement-not-supplant has real meaning.

Alexander, however, thinks the department is taking advantage of the fact that supplement-not-supplant has changed under the law to make changes to a totally different Title I test, known as comparability. The wonky back story here .

King also highlighted the Democrats on the committee who had his back, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., both of whom were closely aligned with the civil rights community as the bills that became ESSA made their way through the chamber. Warren, for instance, said she voted for ESSA in part because she expected that the department would use its regulatory power to push toward equity for all students.

And King doesnt necessarily think that all the controversy around supplement-not-supplant means that theres going to be a similar blow-up when the department puts out its accountability regulations later this year.

I think the goals are shared, they are bipartisan, he said.

He also thinks that state chiefs have taken to heart the mission of equity. Were on schedule to meet our goal of having the regulations in place. ... We are going to have to grapple with complicated issues. I dont know that everyones going to agree. Were all focused on trying to get to strong protections for all students., more flexibility for states and attention to closing achievement gaps.

Presidential Politics

On another issue, is King worried that his team will spend a year regulating on the law with an eye towards what it sees as student equity and then a President Donald Trump or a President Ted Cruz will come in and take a wrecking ball to everything they did?

King side-stepped the political punditry but said:

Im very focused on the things that we can try to effect between now and January 2017, putting in place the best possible framework for state implementation of the law. I believe that the law reflects not only a consensus but a national consensus around the importance of students graduating college- and career-ready. This work is not just about what happens here, its about a national consensus around how we move education forward. Im confident that the groundwork that we are laying today will be something that the next administration can build on.

More on Testing

Arizona has passed a law that would allow districts to offer a menu of tests at the local level, in both high school and elementary school. Will that fly with the department?

King said he wasnt familiar with the Arizona law. But he said that ESSA is very clear on having comparable state results. Throughout ESSA discussion there was a clear commitment to comparable statewide results so that you can figure out achievement gaps and act on those. That was a fundamental principle for us throughout the ESSA discussions.

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
Guilty Until Proven Innocent: Man Cleared of Crimes After Decades in Prison

No one can give Keith Allen Harward back the decades he spent in prison but DNA evidence has helped him to win his freedom. Harward is 60 years old, a former sailor in the US Navy who was convicted of killing a man and raping his wife in 1982, according to NBC News.

He spent over 30 years incarcerated in Virginia prisons before the state Supreme Court unanimously found that he was innocent. The State Attorney General Mark Herring, who joined a brief petitioning the Supreme Court to issue a writ of actual innocence, called the ruling "wonderful news."

Exoneration Generally

Harward is but one of many people who have been exonerated on DNA evidence in recent years. In fact, last year a record number of former convicts were exonerated, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, a University of Michigan Law School project.

Many of these people have had their names cleared with the assistance of prosecutors' offices new Conviction Integrity Units. Prosecuting attorneys increasingly understand themselves as guardians of the integrity of rightful convictions by helping the innocent clear their names of false accusations.

Herring, the State Attorney General in Virginia, who joined Harwards' case, explained. "It's just heartbreaking to think that more than half of his life was spent behind bars when he didn't belong there. The commonwealth can't give him back those years, but we can say that we got it wrong, that we're sorry and that we're working to make it right."

What Went Wrong

Although Harward denied responsibility for the murder of Jesse Perron and the rape of his wife in 1982, and did not match the physical description of the perpetrator, he was convicted of the crimes. But a recent review by the state's Department of Forensic Science failed to find a DNA match for Harward at the crime scene, instead finding physical evidence of Jerry Crotty's presence. Crotty was a fellow sailor who died in prison in Ohio in 2006 while serving a sentence for kidnapping and burglary.

In this case, Harward was represented by the Innocence Project, a nonprofit justice reform organization founded in 1992. The group has reportedly secured the releases of over 330 wrongfully convicted people since it was founded in 1992.

Responding to the news that Her client was declared innocent, Harward's attorney Olga Akselrod told NBC News, "We obviously are very pleased. The DNA results prove in this case without any question that Mr. Harward has spent 33 years in prison for a crime he did not commit."

Accused?

If you have been accused of crime, speak to a lawyer today. Don't delay. Many criminal defense attorneys consult or for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to discuss your case.

Related Resources:
The Stem Action Center gave priority to rural schools and to schools willing to send more than one teacher, Stem Action Center Spokeswoman Angela Hemingway said.

The Stem Action Center also gave the teachers a 3D printer to use at their schools and to organize student teams to participate in FabSLAM http://www.digitalharbor.org/fabslam/ in May. FabSLAM is a digital fabrication competition where students practice 3D prototyping skills. The event is hosted by the Digital Harbor Foundation, a Baltimore, Md. nonprofit.

By: Benton Alexander Smith

Read more: http://idahobusinessreview.com/2016/04/13/stem-action-center-gives-3d-printers-to-15-schools/#ixzz45hxWh3Ut
Career Opportunity

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Reports to: Director of Sales and Marketing

Salary Range: DOE

Submit Inquiries: Brandy Chisholm, Director of Sales and Marketing

[email protected]

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Company Overview

Access Montana is a locally owned telecommunications company committed to providing Western Montana communities with high quality products and service for more than 55 years. We offer many residential and business services across Northwest Montana including phone, internet, digital TV, wireless networks, wired networks, cabling, technology support, repairs, leasing; and service protection. Access Montanas headquarters are in Ronan, Montana.

Position Summary:

The Enterprise Sales Executive will actively drive residential and business customer acquisition, company growth, profitability, and fulfillment of brand promise across designated service areas. He/She will participate in the planning, development and market implementation of Access Montanas sales and service strategies. He/She must work with a highly technical team and diverse customer-base; develop a strong understanding of all Access Montanas products, services, systems, and guiding procedures.

This position requires strong technical, sales and service oriented skills, attention to detail, strong problem solving, development of new technical solutions, professional communication skills; and organizational skills for managing multiple projects and teams.

Position Responsibilities:

Work in collaboration with Director of Sales in developing sales strategies and pricing schedules in an effort to achieve sales and service goals.

Build a strong understanding of Access Montanas products and services.

Promote and represent Access Montanas brand across diverse industries and communities.

Develop and maintain a high volume sales pipeline of qualified opportunities through active prospecting and relationship building and consistently maintain an accurate forecast.

Ability to identify customers, evaluates interest, recognize decision making processes, handle objectives, and close sales opportunities.

Prepare sales quotes and presentations, represent company in customer negotiations and manage related projects.

Build sales plans, special projects and strategies for large network business accounts.

Effectively leverage internal resources to generate and deliver competitive proposals in building strong ongoing customer relationships.

Analyze sales statistics to determine sales potential, service inventory requirements as well as monitor customer preferences.

Consistently seek new business opportunities by presenting, recommending and upselling Access Montanas products, services and partner solutions.

Position Requires a Person Who Is:

Self-motivated and goal-oriented

High commitment to customer service

Comfortable developing and managing business relationships

Sales and service oriented with experience selling into commercial and enterprise-sized companies

Proficient at acquiring and interpreting data

Excellent written and oral communication skills

Required Education and Experience:

Bachelors degree (B.A.) or four to six years of related experience and/or training; education and experience.

Current state driver license.
Tennessee Gang Enhancement Statute Found Unconstitutional

In an effort to target gang violence, states create statutes that punish gang-related crime more severely than other offenses. Enhancement statutes are used as a tool in plea negotiations by prosecutors and in sentencing by judges.

But now one such law in Tennessee has been struck down as overly-broad and unconstitutional, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel, which means that defendants sentenced under this statute will need new hearings. Let's look at why it was unconstitutional and who might get a new hearing.

Connecting Crime to a Gang

The gang enhancement statute created additional penalties for people who were gang members and whose crimes were gang-related. But the appeals court found that the Tennessee statute was so poorly written that its definition of gang could apply to fraternity members and that an activity like hazing could qualify as gang-related crime the way the term was defined in the statute.



The court also pointed out that gang membership is not illegal, and that similar statutes with provisions making one's affiliations criminal have been struck down elsewhere. "Nearly all gang enhancement statutes in this country contain specific language limiting the reach of those statutes only to offenses that possess a nexus to a defendant's gang affiliation, and therefore, a defendant's own criminal conduct," Appellate Judge Timothy Easter wrote.

Basically, what the judge is saying is that gang affiliation is not punishable in and of itself. Meanwhile, a crime committed by a gang member, if not gang-related, ought not be punished under the enhancement statute. The fact of being a gang member and committing a crime does not make a crime gang-related necessarily. The fact that this nexus was not required in the Tennessee statute is what caused the court to declare the law unconstitutional.

Relief for Many?

The law on enhanced penalties for gang members passed in 2012, so that means anyone sentenced directly under the law between then and now will need new sentencing hearings. Initial estimates of how many cases would be directly affected by the ruling were "hundreds." But it could be much more.

"Hundreds" actually seems like a very low number of cases to reconsider. The statute has been used as a negotiation tool and relied upon indirectly in many prosecutions. So this ruling will likely inspire many appeals and motions for post-conviction relief -- anyone who was threatened with enhancement as a gang member will be scrambling to make a claim now.

Accused?

If you have been charged with a crime, or are curious about bases for potential post-conviction relief on an offense, speak to a lawyer. Many criminal defense attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to discuss your case.

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Federal Court Dismisses 'Sister Wives' Lawsuit, Restores Polygamy Ban

A federal court dismissed the 'Sister Wives' and their husband's challenge to a Utah statute that bars polygamy, finding their claim moot for a few reasons. The court noted that the four wives and one husband sought relief for a possible future harm, not one happening now.

The family was unlikely to experience the harm for which it sought relief, according to CBS News, as Utah is not prosecuting the polygamists and the family now lives in Nevada. Let's take a look at the Tenth Circuit's decision.

Background Matters

"Sister Wives" was a reality television show on TLC about four wives "spiritually married" to one man in Utah -- legally speaking, only one of the four wives has a marriage certificate with Kody Brown. After they were on TV in 2010, Kody Brown and his wives were investigated by local police for polygamy and charged under a Utah law that is rarely enforced.

The family made a federal case out of this, arguing that the state was violating their constitutional rights by enforcing the polygamy statute. But this week a federal court today dismissed this, saying their claim was moot for lack of enforcement and a few other reasons. The family sought declaratory relief and a permanent injunction enjoining enforcement of the anti-polygamy statute against them.

But the state has since said that it does not enforce the ban on polygamy against consenting adults and it dropped criminal charges against the Browns, making the federal case a moot point. The Browns are unlikely to be prosecuted because the state has said it will not pursue charges and the family moved to Nevada.

Tricky Business

Obviously things get more complicated the more wives a family has. But that isn't necessarily bad, and Utah recognizes this. The state argued that it would not prosecute the sister wives and Brown criminally because they are consenting adults and Utal lets grown ups have as many spiritual wives as they want.

But Utah does keep the law on the books just in case things get creepy and criminal, or cultish, or all of the above. It has been used it in those situations, for example against Warren Jeffs of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, whose wives were very young.

In other words, Utah prosecutors want the option to charge people with criminal polygamy and don't want the statute struck.

Related Resources:
Can I Get Workers' Comp for Alcoholism?

As a country, our views on alcoholism and alcoholics have evolved over time: instead of treating big drinkers as characters to be revered or "town drunk" characters to be laughed at, we now understand alcoholism as a medical syndrome that can have catastrophic effects on those drinking and nearby.

This more nuanced understanding can lead to more and better treatment options from medical professionals and social service providers, and more empathy from friends and loved ones, but what about from employers? Can an employee get workers' compensation if he or she is an alcoholic?

Compensation for Conditions

The central element to workers' compensation insurance claims is that the illness or injury is work-related. That means the harm was either caused by or exacerbated by an incident at work or general working conditions. For the most part, alcoholism is thought of as a condition a person suffers from independent from his or her employment, so proving the connection between work and alcoholism could be difficult.

But that doesn't mean it's impossible. In 1990, the widow of a Stroh's employee won a workers' comp lawsuit against the brewery, claiming the company's policy allowing employees to drink on the job led to her late husband's alcoholism. The court in that case found the man, while predisposed to alcoholism, was not an alcoholic when he began his employment at the brewery, and that employees could be entitled to compensation if their work environment aggravated their condition.

Accommodations for Alcoholics

Not everyone works in a brewery, however, and it may be difficult that your job, no matter how stressful, led to your alcoholism. But you may have other options. Alcoholism may be covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, meaning employers may be required to provide accommodations for alcoholics.

While employers may ban alcohol in the workplace and discipline or terminate employees if alcohol use adversely effects job performance, they generally can't fire you solely because you are an alcoholic.

If you have more workers' compensation questions, or you've had a workers' comp claim denied, you should talk to an experienced workers' compensation attorney about your claim.

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First Circuit Slams Door on Puerto Rico Gay Marriage Ban

Like Alabama, Puerto Rico resisted federal court rulings overturning it's ban on same-sex marriage. And like Alabama, Puerto Rico got slapped by a federal circuit court of appeals. Unlike Alabama though, Puerto Rico at least had a decent argument for flaunting a higher court's ruling -- not every civil right preserved in the Constitution extends to Puerto Ricans.

But, as the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week, the right to marriage is protected for same-sex couples in Puerto Rico. And the court was not vague about its ruling.

Insular Shock

The case's history is crucial here, as it has bounced from court to court over the past few years even as laws were changing around it. We'll let the First Circuit break it down:

During the pendency of a prior appeal from the dismissal of Petitioners' claims, the United States Supreme Court decided Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S.Ct. 2584 (2015). In the wake of that decision, all parties agreed that the Commonwealth's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. We agreed, vacated the judgment, and remanded. On remand, the district court nevertheless denied the parties' joint request that the court enter judgment in favor of Petitioners. Instead, the court issued a memorandum concluding that the Commonwealth's ban was not unconstitutional because, the district court claimed, the "right to same-sex marriage" has not been determined to apply in Puerto Rico.

Where did the district court get the impression that the constitutional right to same-sex marriage might not apply in Puerto Rico? From the U.S. Supreme Court, of course. Over a series of decisions in 1901, known as the Insular Cases, the Court determined that not all constitutional rights apply automatically to residents of U.S. territories.

Where to Even Begin?

Despite the supposed confusion, the First Circuit was having none of U.S. District Judge Juan M. Perez-Gimenez's shenanigans: "The district court's ruling errs in so many respects that it is hard to know where to begin." OK, then. Maybe start with the Constitution?

The constitutional rights at issue here are the rights to due process and equal protection, as protected by both the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Those rights have already been incorporated as to Puerto Rico. And even if they had not, then the district court would have been able to decide whether they should be. In any event, for present purposes we need not gild the lily. Our prior mandate was clear.

Alrighty then. So it's back to the district court for Perez-Gimenez to enter the judgment then?

Respondents' motion to join in the petition for writ of mandamus is granted, the petition itself is also granted, and the case is remitted to be assigned randomly by the clerk to a different judge to enter judgment in favor of the Petitioners promptly, and to conduct any further proceedings necessary in this action.

Ouch.

We hope this will put to bed any notion of disobeying federal courts on gay marriage. Same-sex marriage is the law of the land, and territories.

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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 Felicia Greiff , April 13, 2016

Cyber security company PerimeterX is introducing a solution to ad fraud and other automated attacks that uses technology that identifies what legitimate users look like -- and blocks anything thats out of the ordinary, in real time.

The "behavioral fingerprinting" tech recognizes anomalies in requests and behavior patterns in the user, device and network that bots can't hide. For instance, a bot, unlike a human, will not move a mouse in a random way and click on something.

If a bot is detected, PerimeterX blocks it, protecting against attacks like ad fraud, brute force (trying out a bunch of password and user-name combinations until one works); price scraping (competitors sending bots to see what your prices are); content scraping (extracting data or content from a Web site); layer-seven distributed denial of service (bringing down a site with too many requests) and scalping (buying goods, then selling them at a higher price).

Started in 2014, PerimeterX's goal is to change the way Web sites are protected, said its CEO Omri Iluz. The company, which closed $12 million in seed and Series A funding, has released the solution to 25 large sites since Bot Defender's September pre-release.

One differentiator is integration, Iluz said. The product can be easily installed and it evaluates traffic out-of-band of actual content delivery (to avoid affecting site performance). Additionally, the tech uses a Javascript tag, and it's compatible with content delivery networks and cloud services.

When the company first started, it set out to identify bots for the commerce and banking industries. But soon after, people started using it for advertising. Six months into the life of the company, Iluz said, and advertising is one of its strongest areas of growth. One reason? Iluz said other ad-bot solutions use weak signals like IP addresses or user agents.

It's easy to see why marketers want insurance that traffic is legitimate. A study from from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Forrester found almost 70% of marketers cited higher bot fraud in programmatic buys as a concern. Advertisers are expected to lose an estimated $7.2 billion globally in 2016 as a result of bots, according to an ANA and White Ops study.

PerimeterX has offices in San Mateo, Calif. and Tel Aviv, and is currently building its sales and marketing teams.
by Tom Denford , Op-Ed Contributor, April 13, 2016

Its nearly a year since I went to Phoenix to watch GroupMs global chief Irwin Gotlieb talk about the culture gap between agencies and advertisers at the ANAs Advertising Financial Management conference.

In that time the ANA has hired K2 Intelligence and Ebiquity to investigate the industrys business model. The agencies, via their own trade body the 4As responded with their own set of  woefully weak  transparency guidelines and the row over rebates and the trust gap between two sides that should be fostering a business partnership has sadly grown wider, illustrated by the current stalemate between the ANA and the 4As.

ID Comms recently conducted a survey into media transparency among global advertisers. We polled marketing and procurement leaders managing around $20 billion in media spend globally and found that 70 per cent of all respondents felt that the way a media agency manages rebates was the most important factor affecting the level of trust that advertisers have in media agencies.

Having recently spoken to the K2 Intelligence team, Ive been impressed by their approach and feel that the output of their assessment has the potential to reshape the debate on both advertiser and agency sides.

But the problem for me is that the whole process is taking some time. The rebate crisis has dragged on for more than a year already and any solution is still some way off. Media, a half trillion-dollar industry is too important to languish for too long in this slack-water state.

The ANA has an ambition to help its members and promote greater transparency, which is great, but we need to get to the action phase of the debate, the moment where real positive change is possible.

The positive side of this recent focus on financial practice and rebates is that US marketers have become more realistic about what media involves and are no longer simply blindly trusting their agencies.

The scale of the attention on rebate practice has been a wake up call for some and forced them to improve their knowledge and understanding of the complexity of the media market. As a result theyve become both more pragmatic and more realistic, while also being more confident to voice their concerns.

The way for agencies to rebuild the missing trust is to be much more open to work in transparent ways and help advertisers by simplifying the marketplace for them. Their approach  which started long before the current crisis  has perhaps been to see a commercial opportunity in creating complexity rather than simplicity.

By creating and encouraging a digital advertising ecosystem where its incredibly difficult for clients to follow the money, where it isnt clear whos really adding the value (and should get paid more as a result) and where multiple salami slices of commission and fee whittle down the working media spend, they have contributed to this unsatisfactory situation.

Its time to say enough is enough and for marketers to work with agencies and partners who are willing to agree to more transparent terms, while in exchange be willing to reward them fairly for their efforts and successes.

As the media landscape grows ever more complex, so there are an increasing number of competitive options available to advertisers, from independent agencies through to the myriad technology companies, management consultancies and accountancy firms. None of these solutions is perfect but any ongoing lack of trust in media agencies is creating an environment where marketers will increasingly be willing to test and experiment with new solutions.

Agencies are privately wary about the many competitive threats they face. If agencies dont want their lunch to be eaten by new rivals or for more marketers to consider in-housing key services, they have to get to grips with the trust gap. There is surely a competitive advantage for an agency to be had in taking this bold position.

Advertisers will have to play their part too, taking more control and setting a tougher framework for agencies that makes it clear what is expected, tracking their performance and rewarding compliance and performance.

Whatever the ANA reports back to its members from its rebate study  something we expect in late May  fundamental change will only happen if advertisers are brave to take collective, assertive action. That requires them to improve their own behaviors alongside any demands for improvements from their agencies.
by Thom Forbes @tforbes, April 13, 2016

If you can get beyond the confines of five-year-plan thinking, transgalactic marketing may be your next big opportunity.

I want millions of people living and working in space. I want us to be a space-faring civilization, Jeff Bezos, founder of the Blue Origin aerospace company and one-time postal deliveryman for Amazon.com, told the audience at the Space Foundations annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs yesterday.

My motivation is, I don't want Plan B to be, Good news, Earth got destroyed by a big comet but we live on Mars. I think we need to explore and utilize space in order to save the Earth, he said, referring to the need to shift industrial manufacturing to space to limit the impact on Earth's resources, Tamara Chuang reports the the Denver Post.

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This is Blue Origin's mission: To put into place some of that heavy-lifting infrastructure and make access to space a much lower cost so thousands of entrepreneurs can do amazing and interesting things and take us into the next era, Bezos said. We only need two things to do it: reusability and practice.

Regarding that first point, Bezos feels commercial space exploration can advance at the fast pace of Internet commerce only if the cost is reduced through advances in reusable rockets, Bloombergs Spencer Soper tell us.

Amazon grew so quickly because key infrastructure was already in place, such as delivery through the postal service, phone lines for Internet access and credit card payments. The missing piece for space travel is low-cost launches, which will only happen when rockets can be reused like airplanes, Soper writes.

Regarding the second point, Bezos thinks the key to practice in the rocket industry is space tourism, and Blue Origin hopes to use its New Shepard rocket to regularly take six paying passengers at a time to the edge of space where they can float for a few minutes before returning to Earth in a parachuted capsule. Test astronauts are slated to go up in 2017, with paying tourists in 2018, Jane Wells writes for CNBC.

If you need to have a surgery, find somebody who does the operation 20 to 25 times a week, Bezos says.

As for competition, pile it on.

Despite some high-profile sniping on Twitter with SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Bezos believes theres enough room in the private spaceflight market for the many companies, Miriam Kramer reports for Mashable.

Great industries are usually built by not just one or two or three companies, but usually by dozens of companies. There can be many winners, Bezos said. From my point of view, the more the merrier. I want Virgin Galactic to succeed. I want SpaceX to succeed. I want United Launch Alliance to succeed. I want Arianespace to succeed. And I think they all can.

Meanwhile, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and physicist Stephen Hawking yesterday proposed sending thousands of nanocraft the size of a postage stamp  starchips  to explore the Alpha Centauri galaxy thats some 25 trillion miles down the interstate.

Propelled by energy from a powerful array of Earth-based lasers, the spacecraft would fly at about one-fifth the speed of light. They could reach Alpha Centauri in 20 years, where they could make observations and send the results back to Earth, reports the APs Malcolm Ritter.

The plan relies on Moore's Law  specifically, an observation that the number of transistors on a chip tends to double every couple of years, or in general, the belief that computing hardware improves at an exponential rate, Camila Domonoske writes for NPR.

Computers that once would have filled a room fit on your palm; now, Milner and Hawking say, it's possible to imagine fitting cameras, a battery, navigation and communication equipment and even photon thrusters on a gram-scale wafer about the cost of a smartphone, Domonoske continues.

Hawking admitted that the probability of finding intelligent alien life in the next 20 years is very low but pointed to research suggesting that there are livable planets in our galaxy alone, and billions more in the rest of the universe, reports Ema O'Connor for BuzzFeed.

When asked what extraterrestrial intelligent life might look like, he answered, Judging from the election campaign, definitely not like us. That also suggests there might a viable market for the likes of Trump Vodka after all.
"We have no friends, except for ourselves. Remember that."

Dramatizations of historical events are nothing new. It's a great way to recapture and compartmentalize an event and bring it to an audience who may not have experienced it. It's in this way that films can be a sort of educational experience. That is, of course, if they're presented in an accurate and concise manner that allows people to experience some of the details without too much cinematic embellishment. 'Exodus,' based on the Leon Uris novel is a semi-fictionalized account of the founding of Israel in Palestine. Directed by Otto Preminger and written by the legendary Dalton Trumbo fresh off his turn as a blacklisted screenwriter, 'Exodus' packs in a lot of story and tends to feel overly long and unfocused. Even the presence of amazing actors such as Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, and Lee J. Cobb fails to raise the material above the level of a rote dramatization.

Following the end of the second world war, the Jews are flooding into Palestine attempting to return to their religious and cultural homeland. Since Palestine is under British control, this influx of immigrants poses a real threat to their hold on the land as these migrating Jews hope to form the free Jewish state of Israel. As boatloads of jews enter Cyprus, they're stopped by British soldiers and either turned away or placed into prison camps until deportation arrangements can be made. Ari Ben Canaan (Paul Newman) a commander of the Jewish underground Haganah puts a plan in motion to free his captive people. By freeing the 611 people who recently arrived at Cyprus aboard The Star of David, they will send a message to the United Nations that no alternative but a free Jewish state within Palestine will be accepted.

As Ari works to infiltrate the British command, recent widow Kitty Fremont (Eva Marie Saint) becomes involved with the plight of the people being held on Cyprus. As she works as a nurse, she meets a young girl named Karen (Jill Haworth) who is trying to find her father who was held in a Nazi death camp. Karen has no idea if her father is alive or dead, but her faith drives her - even when Kitty offers the young girl the chance to move to America. When Ari enacts his plot to get his people out of Cyprus to Palestine, Kitty comes to learn the true strength of the Jewish faith. With the British blocking the harbor, all of the people on board begin a hunger strike, they would rather die for their faith than live in subjugation.

When the British will breaks and they allow the newly named ship Exodus to sail onward to Palestine, Ari and the rest of the Jewish immigrants face another uphill battle. The free state of Israel is about to be decided by a vote at the United Nations, but there are those who feel this diplomatic process won't work to the Jews' favor. Brothers Barak Ben Canaan (Lee J. Cobb) and Akiva Ben Canaan (David Opatoshu) find themselves on opposite ends of the battle. Barak feels that peaceful protest and negations are the only way while Akiva feels that acts of violent force and sabotage are the way to earning the free state of Israel.

At nearly three and a half hours, 'Exodus' feels both entirely too long and too short. It's a frustrating contradiction because so much of the film is a beauty to watch featuring an incredibly talented cast. The primary issue with the film is how it's broken up into three distinct acts that don't really complement one another. As one story arc feels likes it's about to get going with a certain set of characters, the film suddenly drops them and moves on to a different story beat. As a result, the audience is kept at arms length from a number of the important characters or historical events and the film fails to muster a genuine emotional drive. The audience gets to watch events unfold but you rarely feel like you're a part of the action are instead regulated to being an impartial observer. It's an earnest film that I feel needed to focus on just one part of the Leon Uris novel rather than trying to adapt the literary work in its entirety.

Through this expanse of time that 'Exodus' tries to encapsulate, it can feel like you're watching three separate films thinly strung together. The first film is about Ari's plot to free the Jews held on Cyprus by purchasing a boat and using forged military documents. The hunger strike on the Exodus and the political entanglement the British find themselves in is enough material for a single film. But then 'Exodus' moves to Palestine and the audience is treated to a social studies film about the Jewish and Arab history and how both peoples claim to hold the land. The second film is a political drama the climaxes with a prison break. Film three begins with the founding of the free Jewish state of Israel and the ramifications it has with its Arab Muslim neighbors. While Barak preaches peaceful coexistence, there are those who view peace as an impossibility and plan an attack on Jewish settlements throughout Israel.

Guiding the audience through the film, we have Paul Newman delivering a fantastic performance as Ari. He's unsympathetic and uncompromising with his mission, but when he meets an American outsider like Eva Marie Saint's Kitty, he's forced to call down and explain why the things that are happening are so important. In this way, Eva Marie Saint can feel a bit like an exposition dump for the audience to identify with, but at the same time through her we begin to understand and sympathize with the Jews' plight. One aspect of the film that I wish had been more fully explored is the relationship between Lee J. Cobb's Barak and David Opatoshu's Akiva. As brothers, they're bound by blood and religion but their ideological differences make them enemies. It's a fascinating dynamic, but the film keeps them separated for so long that their respective character's development is cut short. It's this Cain and Abel aspect that is fascinating but because this film is so focused on cramming in the entire novel into a single film that their material doesn't fully resonate as it should.

'Exodus' is a fine performance film, I loved watching the various actors and characters on screen, but I didn't necessarily love the movie they were in. As I mentioned before, the film feels as though it could have been three separate films and had turned out just fine. Adapting this novel couldn't have been an easy task for the legendary Dalton Trumbo, but he did a pretty incredible job considering the source material. It's when characters are allowed to be themselves and feel natural as human beings that Trumbo's script comes to life, it's when the story necessitates a political statement that much of the momentum 'Exodus' works so hard to build grinds to a halt. 'Exodus' is a fair film, but not an overwhelming accomplishment.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

'Exodus' arrives on Blu-ray thanks to Twilight Time and is limited to a run of 3000 copies. Pressed onto a Region Free BD50 disc, the disc comes housed in a standard clear Blu-ray case. Also included is a booklet containing an essay by film historian Julie Kirgo. The disc opens directly to the film's main menu featuring standard navigation options.
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, April 13, 2016

Google has begun testing exchange bidding in DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) allowing other partners that a publisher might work with to compete for impressions by making real-time bids through a feature called dynamic allocation. The move will eventually allow Google to better support the real-time bidding process on the mobile Web and in mobile apps.

Dynamic allocation in DFP allows Ad Exchange to compete in real-time with line items booked in DFP as either remnant or guaranteed advertising inventory. It automatically determines the best ad to serve at the best price. Now when the request comes into DFP, Google will simultaneously accept Ad Exchange programmatic buyers and other exchanges the publisher chooses to work with.

Google's move will eventually support the ad industry's shift to mobile and the need to provide answers through advertising in the moment. Jonathan Bellack, director product management at Google, told Search Marketing Daily, that the move will greatly support mobile, more than desktop.

"A lot of the thinking here is that client-side code is more challenging on mobile devices than desktop where there's less memory, less processing power and bandwidth, and you're dealing with battery life," Bellack said. "It makes more sense to do that on the server side rather than effectively imposing the costs on the consumer by forcing the device to make a whole bunch of extra calls to the ad server."

When Bellack talks about exchange bidding on mobile he calls it "early days," but expects the process to work for the mobile Web and mobile apps as well as it does for desktop. "it's something we have started working on, communicating with the industry because we think there's needs to be some sort of discussion," he said, admitting Google will not disclose specific details of how its been implemented with any partner.

Publishers have a split second to deliver the most relevant and highest-paying ads. Research from Soasta shows that if the ad takes an extra one second to load on mobile can result in a 58% higher bounce rates.

Google believes that real-time bidding and the efficiency of server-side connections can eliminate that one second to generate greater revenue for publishers without lessening the user experience, which makes it even more important to mobile advertising.

Johnathan Mendez, CEO at Yieldbot, said most publishers are not yet doing much in the way of header bidding in mobile, because the mobile Web cannot use cookies to match ads, which removes many of the demand sources.

While Google may see some advancements for brand sand agencies, Mendez said it's "too little too late for Google," because header bidding works.

Industry experts say the shift will not eliminate header bidding, an advanced programmatic technique where publishers offer inventory to multiple ad exchanges simultaneously before making calls to ad servers to serve the ad, but it will improve processes, especially for mobile ad serving.

"The issue around latency is a red herring," Mendez said. "With header bidding publishers can actually manage latency on their own and can test partners and technologies to figure out the best mix of page load time, revenue and user experience.

He said it was latency from ad exchanges using multiple passbacks for impressions that was one of the reasons header bidding gained popularity.

Google also globally released First Look, which it initially introduced to a limited number of publishers in December 2015. Publishers already using the platform such as like Gannett, Grupo Zeta, Gumtree, Sankei Digital, Scripps, Time, and Zoopla, which Google notes have seen their programmatic revenue increase by double-digit percentages.
by Sara Guaglione , April 13, 2016

The E.W. Scripps Company has bought Cracked, a digital humor brand known for satire, which lures Millennial audiences to its site, mobile apps, original digital video, social media and podcast.

Scripps will buy Cracked from its current owner, Demand Media, for $39 million. Ad-supported Cracked had revenue in 2015 of about $11 million.

Adam Symson, Scripps chief digital officer, told Publishers Daily that Scripps was drawn to Crackeds ability to appeal to younger audiences.

We really believe Millennial audiences connect with content that is authentically in their voice, and Cracked does that, he said. We are not alone in seeing how important humor is as a vehicle through which younger audiences dissect the world. Brands and agencies are recognizing how important comedy and satire is for them to connect with.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Cracked launched in 1958 as a humor magazine. In 2007, Demand Media purchased the brand and focused its efforts on growing the Web site Cracked.com.

The Cracked team will continue to operate out of its Santa Monica offices and will be led by General Manager and Vice President Mandy Ng Rusin and Jack OBrien, vice president and editor in chief.

Ng Rusin stated that they will continue to focus on original journalism, social commentary and pop culture analysis, all through a comedic lens.

She added, Our companies share a nimble approach to testing new digital platforms to reach and engage audiences and advertisers.

Cracked has been very successful at developing branded content and native advertising campaigns for big brands and agencies, Symson said.

Half of Cracked.coms audience (made up of mostly affluent millennial males) comes directly to the site, and users spend an average of eight minutes engaging with the text and video. Cracked brought in about 8 million unique visitors in February -- a 12% jump from the same period last year -- making it one of the top 10 humor sites on comScore.

Going forward, Symson said Scripps will help Cracked build its brand on the Web, in over-the-top video and audio and other emerging digital platforms. He said they will use what they learned from shifting digital news platform Newsy (which it bought in 2013) to an OTT video news brand.

We hope that well see the Cracked team became a natural extension for the OTT side of the business, he said.

Symson added that Scripps will continue to focus on adding businesses to their portfolio that connect to younger audiences in new marketplaces for content.
by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, April 13, 2016

The White House is signaling that President Obama will veto a Republican-backed bill that would chip away at the recent net neutrality rules.

The No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act," H.R. 2666, states that the FCC can't "regulate the rates charged for broadband Internet access service.

Backers of the bill say it will codify FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's promises to refrain from telling broadband providers how much to charge for Web service. But net neutrality advocates say the bill is worded so broadly that it could prohibit the FCC from intervening in a host of matters that affect how people use the Web.

The White House said in a policy statement that the bill is "overly broad."

"If the President were presented with H.R. 2666, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill," the statement concluded.

When the FCC reclassified broadband access as a common carrier service last year, the agency also gained the authority to set rates. Wheeler has consistently said the agency had no intention of doing so, but the bill's supporters say it will prohibit future FCC members from setting rates.

Net neutrality advocates, on the other hand, say the bill would prevent the FCC from policing Internet service providers that engage in price gouging, or that impose data caps that discourage subscribers from accessing online video.

"Although the FCC is not setting rates, stripping away its authority to review monopoly charges and other unjust and unreasonable business practices would harm everyone," Public Knowledge and other advocates said Tuesday in a letter sent to House leaders.

"This legislation threatens the FCCs ability to enforce merger conditions that provide low-cost broadband to disadvantaged communities," the letter adds. "It would give a free ride to companies currently imposing punitive data caps and introducing zero-rating schemes, which the FCC has rightly questioned and continues to investigate."

The White House reiterated some of those concerns in its statement. "The bill also would hamstring the FCC's public interest authority to review transactions," the administration stated. "H.R. 2666 also could limit the Commission's ability to address new practices and adapt its rules for a dynamic, fast-changing online marketplace."
Planet Earth plays host to a myriad of creatures with the ability to exude, inject or release toxins. This article gives an insight into five of these fascinatingly deadly organisms and the chemical weapons with which evolution has endowed them. Many species, such as the black widow spider or puffer fish, have achieved an impressive level of fame thanks to their deadly prowess. However, there are many more who are yet to receive their rightful recognition. This article aims to give a handful of the more unusual noxious organisms their fair share of the limelight. At this stage, it seems pertinent to clear up a question that exasperates entomologists, herpetologists, toxicologists and zoologists at large: what is the difference between venom and poison? Both venomous and poisonous animals carry a chemical that is dangerous or deadly to another organism. The major difference is the way in which the toxin is shared. A venomous animal has a dastardly delivery mechanism  fangs or a stinger, for instance  and the toxin is generally produced in the vicinity of this implement for ease of distribution. On the other hand, poisonous animals contain a toxic substance but have no mechanism for delivering the poison; it simply exudes or contains its weapon, like the poison dart frog and his toxic coating or the puffer fishs poisonous internal organs. Here, rather than focusing on the most toxic animals, we will cover five of the more surprising or unusual members of the venomous and poisonous family. In addition, we will learn how it is that their toxic capabilities can impact humans.

1) Poison on the wing: blue-capped ifrit The blue-capped ifrit (Ifrita kowaldi) is one of the very few species of birds to have developed the use of chemical weapons; in fact, only three genera are known to carry poison, all of which live in New Guinea. As with the other poisonous New Guinean birds, the blue-capped ifrit does not manufacture its poison; it embezzles it from its food. Share on Pinterest Toxic birds are very rare and are only be found in New Guinea.

Image credit: John Gerrard Keulemans The bird consumes beetles of the genus Choresine, which contain high levels of homobatrachotoxins, a type of batrachotoxin  potent neurotoxic steroidal alkaloids. By snacking on these poisonous beetles, the bird manages to assimilate the batrachotoxins into its skin and feathers. This sequestering of weaponry is thought to ward off predators and potential free-loading parasites. For humans, simply handling the birds can produce numbness, tingling and sneezing. Batrachotoxins are some of the most toxic natural substances known to man. Colombian arrow frogs are coated with the same chemical, and, like the ifrit, the frogs develop their toxic overcoat from the beetles they consume. These toxins are lipid-soluble and work directly on the sodium ion channels of nerves, irreversibly bonding to them and jamming them open. This makes transduction of nerve signals from the spine to the muscles impossible, leading to paralysis. Batrachotoxins also have significant effects on the heart muscles, causing abnormal rhythmic patterns and, eventually, cardiac arrest. Currently, there is no antidote to batrachotoxin. Counterintuitively, the poison from the highly toxic pufferfish  tetrodotoxin  can help minimize its effects. Tetrodotoxin blocks the same channels that the batrachotoxins jam open, effectively reversing the damage.

2) Submarine killer: blue-ringed octopus The blue-ringed octopuses consist of at least three species of the genus Hapalochlaena and live in the balmy waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. They are considered to be planet Earths most venomous marine animals. The octopus beautiful coloration and serene manner is a rouse; they must be admired from afar. Unless provoked, the octopus is more inclined to flee than fight, but trapping them in a corner is ill-advised. Share on Pinterest The blue-ringed-octopus color scheme belies its toxicity. At a push, the blue-ringed octopus reaches just 20 cm in length, but they still harbor enough toxic chemicals to kill 26 adult humans. To add insult to injury, there is no antivenom, and, because the bite is so small, many people do not realize that they have been envenomated until the symptoms begin. By then, the trouble is well underway. If you are unfortunate enough to be bitten, you will receive a smorgasbord of chemicals that include tetrodotoxin, tryptamine, histamine, octopamine, acetylcholine, taurine and dopamine. The most sinister of these components is tetrodotoxin, considered to be at least 1,000 times more deadly than cyanide. Tetrodotoxin is produced by bacteria in the blue-ringed octopus salivary glands. When released into a mammalian blood stream, it blocks sodium channels, and, like getting the wrong key stuck in a door, the channels are left open, making nerve conduction impossible. Once injected, tetrodotoxin leads to a complete paralysis of the muscles, including those necessary for breathing; in a rather sinister twist, the bitten individual will remain fully aware of their surroundings as the paralysis progresses. Because these deadly effects can arrive just minutes after a bite, the victims only hope is artificial respiration. If breathing can be maintained, the body will slowly metabolize the tetrodotoxin and, if they survive the first 24 hours, a full recovery can be expected.

3) Duck-billed terror: the platypus The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), colloquially referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is one of natures strangest creations. One of only five extant species of monotreme, the platypus is a resident of the most easterly fringes of Australia. Despite being a mammal, the platypus lays eggs; it stores fat in its tail, hunts using electroreception, walks more like a reptile than a mammal, has fish-like eyes and sleeps for 14 hours a day. Share on Pinterest The platypus, one of natures most bizarre concoctions. To add to this list of odd characteristics, the male platypus is one of very few mammals to produce venom; this venom is secreted from spurs on the hind limbs and is only produced by males during mating season. The platypus movable spurs can unleash a range of at least 19 peptides and a host of other non-proteinous chemicals. Of the peptides, most fall into three categories: defensin-like peptides (similar to toxins used by reptiles), C-type natriuretic peptides (involved in changes in blood pressure) and nerve growth factor. Platypus venom can paralyze small animals (such as a rival male) and, although it is not quite potent enough to do the same to a human, an attack is surprisingly painful and incapacitating. The wound and surrounding area rapidly swells as blood flow spikes. Unlike many other animal toxins, there is no necrotic (tissue death) component to a platypus envenomation; instead, the crowning glory of the platypus attack is the production of sheer, unadulterated agony. The pain normally lasts a few days or weeks, but it has been known to last months. To make matters worse, the pain does not respond well to morphine. In 1991, an Australian ex-military man  Keith Payne  made the mistake of trying to free a trapped platypus and caught the sharp end of his spur. According to Payne, the pain was worse than being hit by shrapnel. One month on and the injury was still very much alive; 15 years later and the wound continued to cause discomfort when carrying out certain tasks. The first description of a platypus envenomation to be published in scientific literature arrived courtesy of William Webb Spicer in 1876: [] the pain was intense and almost paralyzing. But for the administration of small doses of brandy, he would have fainted on the spot; as it was, it was half an hour before he could stand without support, by that time the arm was swollen to the shoulder, and quite useless, and the pain in the hand very severe. Platypus venom is believed to act directly on pain receptors (nociceptors) coercing them into producing the most intensely painful experience. Because platypus attacks on humans are rare, no specific treatment has been developed to alleviate this discomfort. Thankfully, the vast majority of humans will never visit the regions of Oceania inhabited by these striking, semi-aquatic wonders.

4) Beautiful but deadly: cone snails Cone snails are a family of predatory, sea-dwelling mollusks comprising around 700 species, many of which wear attractive patterned shells. This enchanting outerwear tempts the occasional diver to pick them up, an instantly regrettable decision. Sporting a needle-like modified radula tooth, some cone snail species pack a fearsome punch. Using the radula as a harpoon, they fire it into their prey and exude their poison; once paralysis has struck, the mollusk hauls in its quarry. The snails harpoon is so powerful, it is capable of piercing a wetsuit. Share on Pinterest A snail with a deadly harpoon. Each species of cone snail contains a venom consisting of hundreds, if not thousands, of different compounds. Smaller species can only inflict minor damage to humans, similar in scale to a bee sting, but larger species are capable of delivering a fatal blow. The selection of neurotoxic peptides produced by cone snails are referred to as conotoxins, and there is a dazzling array. Even between individuals of the same species, the cocktail of chemicals can be highly varied. This variety means that the human impact of an attack can also be varied; generally, however, the pattern of reaction starts with pain, swelling, numbness and vomiting. It then progresses to paralysis, changes in vision, respiratory failure and potentially death (although only 15 confirmed deaths have occurred from cone snails to date). The geography cone (Conus geographus) is known as the cigarette snail because, once stung, you have enough time to smoke a cigarette before you die. Although the exact method of each drugs action is not understood, conotoxins are known to directly affect specific subtypes of ion channels. Because of the venoms swift action and high specificity to individual receptor types, it has sparked much interest from pharmaceutical researchers. Harvard Universitys Dr. Eric Chivian, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry, claims that these creatures have: The largest and most clinically important pharmacopeia of any genus in nature. The drug ziconotide, a non-addictive pain reliever 1,000 times stronger than morphine, was first isolated from cone snails. Current research using cone snail chemicals is investigating potential medications for Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease, depression, epilepsy and even smoking cessation.
In the early stages, some prostate cancers need lots of androgen to grow  these are called androgen-dependent or androgen-sensitive prostate cancers because treatments that reduce levels of the hormone or block its activity can stop the cancers growing.

The male sex hormone androgen  most of which is produced in the testicles  is required for the normal growth and function of the prostate, one of the glands that make semen. Prostate cancer cells also need androgen to grow. By binding to surface proteins on normal and cancerous prostate cells, the hormone influences the genes that cause prostate cells to grow.

After taking a deeper look, we discovered a significant association between men being treated with ADT for PCa and depression. This is a completely under-recognized phenomenon.

Senior author Paul Nguyen, associate professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School, explains that men on ADT for prostate cancer (PCa) often experience lower sexual function, put on weight and have less energy  all factors that can lead to depression. He adds:

This was the conclusion of a new study led by Brigham and Womens Hospital (BWH) in Boston, MA, and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that found a significant link between depression and men receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for localized prostate cancer .

For their study, the researchers used data on 78,552 men over 65 years of age with stage 1 to 3 prostate cancer recorded in the SEER-Medicare Linked Database during 1992-2006.

Fast facts about ADT Around 50,000 American men with prostate cancer are treated with ADT every year

Duration of treatment depends on a mans risk of recurrence

Men with intermediate risk of recurrence usually receive ADT for 4-6 months, men with higher risk receive it for 2-3 years.

They looked for links between ADT and a diagnosis of depression or psychiatric treatment as an inpatient or outpatient. They also examined links between duration of treatment and depression.

The results showed that compared with patients who did not receive ADT, those who did were more likely to have depression or be receiving inpatient or outpatient psychiatric treatment.

Ruling out other factors, further analysis showed that compared with not receiving ADT, receiving ADT was linked to a 23% raised risk of depression, a 29% raised risk of inpatient psychiatric treatment, and a non-significant 7% higher risk of outpatient psychiatric treatment.

It also showed that risk of depression increased with duration of ADT: from 12% when treatment lasted under 6 months to 26% when it lasted 7-11 months and 37% when it lasted 12 months or longer. A similar duration effect was found for inpatient and outpatient psychiatric treatment.

The authors conclude that the possible psychiatric effects of ADT should be recognized by physicians and discussed with patients before initiating treatment. Prof. Nguyen, who is also director of prostate brachytherapy at BWH, adds:

Patients and physicians must weigh the risks and benefits of ADT, and this additional risk of depression may make some men even more hesitant to use this treatment, especially in clinical scenarios where the benefits are less clear, such as for intermediate-risk disease.

He says not only is it important that patients understand the potential side effects of the drugs theyre taking, but that physicians are aware of this risk so they can spot signs of depression in their patients and refer them for appropriate care.

The researchers call for further studies to look at types of interventions that could reduce the risk of depression for men receiving ADT for prostate cancer, and also to identify which groups may be at higher risk  such as those with a history of depression.

Medical News Today recently learned how targeting prostate cancer with ultrasound could transform the treatment of the disease.
A major European funding initiative aims to unpick the biological reasons underlying social withdrawal, which is a common early symptom of, Schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and Major Depressive Disorder. The PRISM project (Psychiatric Ratings using Intermediate Stratified Markers), a 16.5m public-private cooperation, unites researchers from European academic centres, and major pharmaceutical companies.

Most mental health conditions are still classified and diagnosed solely based on the symptoms observed, as there are few objective biomarkers for these conditions as there are for other conditions, such as diabetes. Many different neuropsychiatric diseases share symptoms, which makes it difficult to understand what is the underlying biological cause of a specific disease. For example, we do not really have an idea how, if at all, the biological cause for social withdrawal in Alzheimer's disease differs from that in schizophrenia.

This lack of understanding of the root biological causes is one of the reasons behind the dramatic slowdown in the development of new drugs to treat neuropsychiatric disorders. Historically, many of the major drug classes for psychiatric disorders were discovered as a consequence of chance observations in human studies, an approach that suffers from a high rate of attrition and risk of drug candidate failures during development. Modern drug design aims to reduce this risk of attrition by altering a known biological process and closely monitor and quantifying the treatment effects of doing this. The emergence of new ways of measuring brain activity (e.g. functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of the brain, which registers blood flow to functioning areas of the brain) is for the first time opening the door to applying this type of drug discovery to mental health conditions.

Now a 16.5 million project, supported by the European Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) has been launched to seek to uncover the biology behind social withdrawal. Social withdrawal is one of the earliest indicators of the onset of several common psychiatric and neurological disorders but it is a symptom that may be caused by very different neurobiological processes. People with social withdrawal tend to retreat from friends and family, as well as from social networks at their work places. No-one knows the real underlying causes and mechanisms.

As Pierre Meulien (IMI Executive Director) said:

'Brain disorders place an immense burden on patients, their families, and society as a whole. By bringing together leading experts from industry and academia, the PRISM project is well placed to add to our understanding of the underlying causes of brain disorders, and this will help to pave the way for new, effective treatments that patients are waiting for.'

The IMI-funded PRISM project will take a mixed group of patients and measure the brain and behavioural activities using a variety of new and existing techniques, from fMRI, EEG and blood tests to behavioural apps on smartphones. The project will simultaneously correlate these activities with levels of social withdrawal, initially targeting Alzheimer's disease and Schizophrenia, but also looking at Major Depressive Disorder. This should allow scientists to understand exactly which biological parameters correlate with which clinical symptoms.

As project coordinator, Prof Dr Martien Kas (University Medical Centre Utrecht and University of Groningen, Netherlands) said:

"Mental health care needs a way of seeing beyond the diagnostic boundaries to the underlying biological causes - we need biomarkers for mental health that can be measured quickly and easily as we do this for example with blood glucose levels in diabetes. If we can use the available techniques to objectively measure and to pull out the causes of social withdrawal, then the project will open a whole new way of understanding the causes and treatment of mental illness. With this 'deep phenotyping' of the patients, we will be able to differentiate patients on the basis of distinct biological parameters and relate these to internal neurophysiology, biochemistry and genetics. This should allow us to identify specific biological targets for drug action. At the moment, we don't know what will drop out, but we hope that this new understanding will give us new drug targets, or even allow better targeting of old drugs."

Concerns in the pharmaceutical industry about the lack of a systematic methodology to develop drugs for mental health led EFPIA (the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) to approach the IMI to investigate the problem. As Dr Hugh Marston (Lilly) the industry project leader of the consortium said:

"This project has grown out of a pharmaceutical industry initiative led by Boehringer Ingelheim (Dr Bernd Sommer) and Lilly. We now have 22 participant organisations, including 7 pharmaceutical companies each of whom are contributing between 1m to 2m. Other major participants include the ECNP, several academic departments, a patient body, and five small specialist companies. The whole project is brought together by the EU under the Innovative Medicines Initiative, which also supports the project. With this truly collaborative effort we stand an excellent chance of demonstrating for the first time that we can differentiate brain disorders based upon measurable biology rather than a classification based on the observed symptoms".

The project leading to this application has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 115916. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA." www.imi.europa.eu
Rising levels of obesity among UK women have helped fuel a 54 per cent increase in womb cancer rates over the last two decades, according to Cancer Research UK's latest statistics.

In the early 1990s, around 19 women in every 100,000 developed the disease. That figure has now climbed to 29 women in every 100,000 - with obesity being the most likely culprit.1

Around 9,000 women are diagnosed with womb (uterine) cancer every year in the UK, and around 2,000 women die from the disease. Twenty years ago, there were around 4,800 new cases of womb cancer each year with around 1,500 deaths.2

Professor Jonathan Ledermann, director of the Cancer Research UK and UCL Cancer Trials Centre, said: "It's worrying that womb cancer cases are going up so sharply. We don't know all the reasons why. But we do know that about a third of cases are linked to being overweight so it's no surprise to see the increases in womb cancer cases echo rising obesity levels.

"The good news is that thanks to research and improved treatments survival has improved. In the 1970s, almost six in 10 women diagnosed with the disease survived for at least 10 years. Now almost eight in 10 women survive. But we need more research to understand the biology of the disease better and to know more about how it is caused so that we can improve the treatment of these women as well as preventing more cases."

The science behind how extra weight can cause cancer is not completely clear. But there is evidence that extra fat in the body can raise cancer risk by producing hormones and growth factors that encourage cells to divide.3

A lack of exercise and taking HRT (hormone replacement therapy) are also risk factors - but are linked to fewer cases of womb cancer than obesity4. A woman's age and genetic make-up can also affect her risk.

Symptoms of womb cancer include abnormal vaginal bleeding - particularly in post-menopausal women - blood in your pee and abdominal pain. The disease is usually diagnosed early, and most women can be cured by surgery.

Kath Bebbington, aged 56 from Stoneclough, Greater Manchester, was diagnosed with womb cancer at the end of 2013 after going to the doctor because she was bleeding between periods. She had a hysterectomy in March 2014.

Kath kick-started her healthy lifestyle after she finished treatment - since then she's lost three stone. She said: "My cancer diagnosis was a wake-up call for me. It was a shock because I don't smoke, I don't drink and I walk a lot. And we don't know what caused the cancer but I had to admit to myself that I needed to make some life-style changes to lose some extra pounds I had been carrying and stack the odds in my favour for a healthy future.

"So I began eating more healthy food and exercising to feel better and to be a role model for my daughters. I also trained to take part in Race for Life events which I've done with my daughters by my side."

Dr Julie Sharp, head of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: "It's concerning that more women are developing womb cancer, but it's important that they are informed about ways to reduce their risk of the disease. Obesity is linked to 10 different types of cancer, including womb cancer, and is the single biggest preventable cause of the disease after smoking. While there are no guarantees against cancer, keeping a healthy weight can help you stack the odds in your favour and has lots of other benefits too."
Survey results show people living with HCV in the UK, the Netherlands and Belarus are less likely to be diagnosed than their global counterparts, increasing the possibility of liver disease, cirrhosis and liver cancer. Findings from HCV Quest, a global patient survey with 4,000 respondents from across the world, showed that half of people diagnosed with HCV reported that their doctors had initially failed to recognise symptoms and less than 46% were referred for a test.

Viral hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver caused by a virus. HCV is one of the most prevalent of the hepatitis viruses, killing more than 700,000 people every year. HCV represents a growing health crisis for countries across the globe, where estimates suggest there are approximately 130 - 150 million people currently living with the disease. A significant number of those affected will go on to develop cirrhosis or inoperable liver cancer if left untreated.

The survey results also showed that 7 out of 10 respondents didn't even know what hepatitis C was before they were tested. People in Brazil were the least aware with only 13% knowing about hepatitis C compared to Pakistan, where half knew and Italy, where two thirds of respondents said they knew, the only country where awareness was relatively high.

"The HCV Quest global patient survey aims to capture the realities of hepatitis C - from diagnosis to treatment - directly from those currently living with the disease." commented Raquel Peck, CEO of the World Hepatitis Alliance. "The results have been striking, suggesting not only that a significant proportion of people were not aware of hepatitis C until diagnosed, but that doctors are also failing to diagnose it. This is a crisis that must be urgently addressed".

Today, healthcare professionals, academics and civil society groups from across the world are meeting at The International Liver CongressTM in Barcelona, to discuss new clinical advancements and public health approaches. These results show that a greater emphasis needs to be put on creating awareness amongst patients and healthcare professionals as early intervention is key to reducing the global burden.

Key findings from the survey include:

Less than 1 in 5 people in Netherlands (10%), UK (16%), Belarus (16%), and Israel (17%) were offered a test after describing symptoms of hepatitis C to their physician compared to more than 1 in 2 people in China (69%), Malaysia (66%), Egypt (64%) and Romania (54%).

In the USA, only 30% were offered a hepatitis C test at although 52% of respondents said they had symptoms suggestive of hepatitis C

Brazil, Argentina and Poland were the least aware of hepatitis C before their diagnosis. Italy, Canada and Greece were the most aware of hepatitis C before their diagnosis

Nearly 1 in 4 people have suffered discrimination in work or in education or their prospects have been affected

1 in 5 respondents hadn't told anybody about their condition. In China, 75% of respondents hadn't told anybody.

"There is a huge difference in the management of hepatitis C across the world. What the HCV Quest report shows is that a holistic approach is needed. Comprehensive national plans which scale up awareness, prevention and diagnosis and can tackle stigma and discrimination are essential to hit the global target of eliminating hepatitis C by 2030", said Charles Gore, President of the World Hepatitis Alliance.

The HCV Quest global patient survey was undertaken by the World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA), with support from the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), with the aim of gathering insights from people living with HCV in order to drive meaningful improvements in its diagnosis and management. To help elevate these findings, WHA has produced a HCV Quest Toolkit which includes the global report, 22 national reports, in both English and the national language, and complementary materials, including infographics, fact sheets, user guides etc.
Around half of all heterosexual men and women potentially carry so-called homosexuality genes that are passed on from one generation to the next. This has helped homosexuality to be present among humans throughout history and in all cultures, even though homosexual men normally do not have many descendants who can directly inherit their genes. This idea is reported by Giorgi Chaladze of the Ilia State University in Georgia, and published in Springer's journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. Chaladze used a computational model that, among others, includes aspects of heredity and the tendency of homosexual men to come from larger families.

According to previous research, sexual orientation is influenced to a degree by genetic factors and is therefore heritable. Chaladze says this poses a problem from an evolutionary perspective, because homosexual men tend not to have many offspring to whom they can provide their genetic material. In fact, they have on average five times fewer children than their heterosexual counterparts.

Chaladze used an individual-based genetic model to explain the stable, yet persistent, occurrence of homosexuality within larger populations. He took into account findings from recent studies that show that homosexual men tend to come from larger families. These suggest that the genes responsible for homosexuality in men increase fecundity (the actual number of children someone has) among their female family members, who also carry the genes. Other reports also suggest that many heterosexual men are carriers of the genes that could predispose someone to homosexuality.

Based on Chaladze's calculations, male homosexuality is maintained in a population at low and stable frequencies if half of the men and roughly more than half of the women carry genes that predispose men to homosexuality.

"The trend of female family members of homosexual men to have more offspring can help explain the persistence of homosexuality, if we also consider that those males who have such genes are not always homosexuals," says Chaladze.

The possibility that many heterosexual men are carriers can also explain why estimates of the number of men who have reported any same-sex sexual behavior and same-sex sexual attraction are much higher than estimates of those who self-identify as homosexual or bisexual. According to Chaladze, non-homosexual male carriers might sometimes manifest interest in homosexual behavior without having a homosexual identity.

The possibility that a large percentage of heterosexual people are carriers of genetic material predisposing to homosexuality has implications for genomic studies. Researchers should therefore consider including participants who do not have homosexual relatives in such studies.
Mathematicians and physicians at the University of Bonn have developed a new model for immunotherapy of cancer. The method could help to develop new treatment strategies and to understand why some approaches do not work with certain tumors. The study is now appearing in the technical journal Scientific Reports.

One of the greatest problems in the fight against cancer is the great hardiness of the tumors. Drug therapy often leads to initial success, which is then wiped out by a relapse. Sometimes the therapy has no affect at all against some cancer cells. Other cells develop resistance over the course of therapy.

Certain cells of the immune system, the so-called T-cells, can fight malignant tumors. Such cells are used or activated in a targeted manner to treat cancers. The research groups of Prof. Dr. Thomas Tuting and Prof. Dr. Michael Holzel or the University of Bonn have demonstrated in their experiments on skin cancer that tumor cells can change their external appearance, if an inflammatory reaction occurs in the course of treatment. Consequently, the T-cells no longer recognize them as harmful, and the cancer can continue to spread unimpeded.

A new model from mathematicians and physicians from the Excellence Cluster of the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics and ImmunoSensation of the University of Bonn now describes this effect mathematically, thus making it possible to analyse it. In the future, the model could be used, among other things, for computer simulation of various therapeutic approaches and thus for the development of optimal treatment strategies.

Tumors as population

"The initial results show that treatment with several types of immune cells could in fact be a promising approach", says the lead scientist of this work, Prof. Dr. Anton Bovier of the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics. The studies are based on a stochastic model from the area of adaptive dynamics, which was developed by the mathematicians for application, for example, in cancer research. "Tumors are nothing other than populations of cancer cells, which interact with one another in a very complex manner and react to their environment in the form of the body and its immune system", explains Prof. Bovier.

Simulation of therapy

In numerical simulations by the Bonn researchers, the long-term success of a therapy, even when the starting conditions were the same, depended on random fluctuations in the population sizes of cancer and immune cells. Whether this effect also occurs in reality and not just on the computer still needs to be investigated experimentally. The virtual research of the Excellence Cluster has also showed that treatment, under certain circumstances, can even increase the probability of mutation in cancer cells. In some cases in the simulation, a therapy actually accelerated the development toward aggressive variants of cancer.

Prof. Holzel of ImmunoSensation summarises the results of the interdisciplinary work as follows: "This project can both call the attention of mathematicians to possible applications of their work in a medical context and also sensitize physicians to the use of mathematical methods. In any case, we will continue to do joint research in the fight against cancer". To make it possible to use the model in practice, more experimental data still needs to be developed.
"Today, we commit to this next great leap into the cosmos," Stephen Hawking said today in New York. "Because we are human, and our nature is to fly."

The famed physicist was speaking at a press conference to launch Breakthrough Starshot, a new space initiative that promises to apply Silicon Valley thinking to space exploration. Hawking, billionaire entrepreneur Yuri Milner and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg are the organization's board of directors. Hawking says the $100 million program will send small "nanocraft" to explore Earth's nearest solar system, Alpha Centauri.

Former NASA Ames Research Center director Pete Worden is directing the project, supported by a committee of leading scientists and engineers.

"Imagine hundreds of spacecraft the size of a butterfly, propelled by light beams at record-shattering speeds and journeying to distant stars 4.37 light years away  far deeper into space than human-built probes have ever ventured," CNN reported of what may be the most ambitious space exploration project in historyone that may not be completed in our lifetimes.

The piece to read on today's big space news is Dennis Overbye's, at the New York Times. He asks, "Can you fly an iPhone to the stars?"

If it all worked out  a cosmically big "if" that would occur decades and perhaps $10 billion from now  a rocket would deliver a "mother ship" carrying a thousand or so small probes to space. Once in orbit, the probes would unfold thin sails and then, propelled by powerful laser beams from Earth, set off one by one like a flock of migrating butterflies across the universe. Within two minutes, the probes would be more than 600,000 miles from home  as far as the lasers could maintain a tight beam  and moving at a fifth of the speed of light. But it would still take 20 years for them to get to Alpha Centauri. Those that survived would zip past the star system, making measurements and beaming pictures back to Earth.

Hawking et al chose a significant day in space history to announce their new venture. 55 years ago today, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human to escape gravity and entered space.

Archived video of the announcement event is below.
Scientists call for close monitoring of hepatitis C virus patients prescribed direct-acting antivirals, particularly for those with a history of liver cancer.

Data from a new study show that patients with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) taking direct-acting antiviral treatments (DAAs), who have previously fought off hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer,1 had a 'high rate' of re-developing their illness.

The large retrospective cohort study, presented today at The International Liver CongressTM in Barcelona, Spain found 29% of patients who had a history of HCC re-developed the condition during or after taking DAAs.

According to the World Health Organization, liver cancer accounts for 662,000 deaths and is the third leading cause of cancer-related death, exceeded only by cancer of the lung and stomach.2 Approximately 75% to 80% of cases of HCC occur in Asia, however, there is considerable variation within continents.2 The overwhelming majority of HCC cases occur in patients with chronic liver disease, where approximately 80% to 90% have cirrhosis (scarring of liver tissue), and most of the remainder have moderate to advanced fibrosis (an accumulation of scar tissue in the liver).2

"Even in a relatively short observation period, we have shown that high recurrence rates of hepatocellular carcinoma can occur in Hepatitis C patients taking direct-acting antivirals," said Dr Federica Buonfiglioli, DIMEC, University of Bologna, Italy and study author. "Even though further investigation is needed, we believe our findings justify close monitoring for all cirrhotic patients on such treatments."

In the Italian study, medical records of 344 HIV-negative patients with HCV related cirrhosis, who did not have active HCC, were analysed. All patients had received treatment with one of the following DAA combinations: sofosbuvir and simeprevir (34%), 3D combination* (22%), sofosbuvir and ribavirin (17%), sofosbuvir and daclatasvir (16%) and sofosbuvir and ledipasvir (10%). Occurrences of HCC were assessed by comparing baseline enhanced-ultrasonography and MRI/CT-scans with those taken during the six month post treatment follow-up.

Sustained virologic response was achieved in 89% of patients at 12 weeks post treatment. At 24 weeks post treatment, active HCC was detected in 7.6% of all patients (n=26) without a history of HCC - deemed to be a 'standard rate' by the study authors. However, in the 59 patients who had a previous history of HCC, a 'high rate' of 29% (n=17) redeveloped the condition.

"These initial findings provide important insight to how Hepatitis C management strategies could be developed to detect HCC early in patients who are most at risk," said Professor Laurent Castera, EASL Secretary General. "These findings deserve further investigation given their clinical significance."

* 3D combination consists of ABT-450 with ritonavir (ABT-450/r), the NS5A inhibitor ombitasvir, and the nonnucleoside polymerase inhibitor dasabuvir and ribavirin
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"We assume that people living in an otherwise stable environment would have better conditions for long-term recovery than individuals who experience lengthy wars or live in a constant state of violence," says Arieh Y. Shalev, the Barbara Wilson Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, NYU Langone Medical Center, and a co-director of NYU Langone's Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center."This might explain part of their spontaneous recovery without initial treatment. However, what this study tells us at its core is that there is a significant public health challenge ahead. Individuals continually expressing initial PTSD symptoms, and who are resistant to early treatment, should be the focus of future research," Dr. Shalev adds. "They are the ones who remain chronically distressed and disabled, and require care long after their traumatic incident. We need to find ways to identify these subjects, increase the early favorable responses to existing treatment, and find new ways to reduce the long-term burden of PTSD."This study continues the work of Dr. Shalev and colleagues who developed a computational tool that can identify individuals at high-risk for PTSD. In a study published last year in, those at high-risk for PTSD could be identified in less than two weeks after they are first seen in an emergency room following a traumatic event.Approximately eight million Americans (civilian and military populations) will experience PTSD in a given year, suggested the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' National Center for PTSD. Trauma is also very common in women; five out of ten women will experience a traumatic event at some point during their lifetime.The study was performed by Dr. Shalev's laboratory at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem with researchers from Bar Ilan University also collaborating. The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health via a research grant to Dr. Shalev.Source: Newswise
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Now anti-abortion activists backed by the Roman Catholic church - some 90% of Poles identify as Catholic - have tabled a citizen's bill in parliament that would allow abortion only where it was necessary to save the mother's life. The proposal would also increase the maximum jail term for people who perform abortions from two years to five.The citizen's bill has sparked demonstrations across the country, with protesters over the weekend waving wire coat hangers, a tool sometimes used in the past for crude and dangerous self-terminations.Feminist groups estimate that between 100,000 and 150,000 women either undergo illegal abortions in Poland or turn to clinics abroad. Legal abortions in the country of 38 million people are limited to around 700 to 1,800 per year."Every abortion is a tragedy, but we should not aggravate women's tragedy by forcing them to give birth to children of rape or forcing them to risk their own life or health or that of their child," said the wives of former presidents Lech Walesa, Aleksander Kwasniewski and Bronislaw Komorowski.Liberal lawmakers recently called on the current conservative president's wife Agata Duda to take a stand on the issue, but the president's office made it clear she would not comment.Local media have recalled that an earlier attempt to tighten the abortion law met with opposition from then first lady Maria Kaczynska, who was the sister-in-law of the leader of the current governing Law and Justice (PiS) party.She and her husband Lech Kaczynski were among the 96 people - most of them senior state officials - who died in a 2010 presidential jet crash in Russia.Source: AFP


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TB remains one of the world's major killer diseases, causing TB disease in 9.6 million people and 1.5 million deaths in 2014. The only available vaccine, Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), works well (estimated 50% effective) to prevent severe disease in children but is very variable (0% to 80% effective) in how well it protects against lung disease, particularly in countries where TB is most common.While BCG is one of the safest and most widely used vaccines worldwide, there is one key issue: It is currently very difficult to determine whether it will work or not. This also makes it really hard to determine if any new vaccines might work.For many vaccines, medics and scientists can use what are called immune correlates or biomarkers, typically in the blood, which can be measured to determine whether a vaccine has successfully induced immunity. Not only are these correlates useful in measuring the success of existing vaccination programs, they are also invaluable in assessing whether potential new vaccines could be effective.With a pressing need for a TB vaccine that is more effective than BCG, a research team drawn from a number of groups at Oxford University, working with colleagues from the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative at the University of Cape Town and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, set out to identify immune correlates that could facilitate TB vaccine development. The team, funded by the Wellcome Trust and Aeras, and led by Professor Helen McShane and Dr Helen Fletcher, studied immune responses in infants in South Africa who were taking part in a TB vaccine trial.Professor McShane said: "We looked at a number of factors that could be used as immune correlates, to try and find biomarkers that will help us develop a better vaccine."The team carried out tests for twenty-two possible factors. One - levels of activated HLA-DR+CD4+ T-cells - was linked to higher TB disease risk. Meanwhile, BCG-specific Interferon-gamma secreting T-cells indicated lower TB risk, with higher levels of these cells directly linked to greater reduction of the risk of TB.Antibodies to a TB protein, Ag85A, were also identified as a possible correlate. Higher levels of Ag85A antibody were associated with lower TB risk. However, the team cautions that other environmental and disease factors could also cause Ag85A antibody levels to rise and so there may not be a direct link between the antibody and TB risk.Professor McShane said: "These are useful results which ideally would now be confirmed in further trials. They show that antigen-specific T cells are important in protection against TB, but that activated T cells increase the risk".Dr Helen Fletcher from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: "For the first time we have some evidence of how BCG might work, and also what could block it from working. Although there is still much work to do, these findings may bring us a step closer to developing a more effective vaccine for TB."Dr Tom Scriba from the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative said: 'TB is still a major international killer, and rates of TB disease in some areas of South Africa are among the highest in the world. These findings provide important clues about the type of immunity TB vaccines should elicit, and bring us closer to our vision, a world without TB.'The team is continuing its work to develop a TB vaccine, aiming to protect more people from the disease.Source: Eurekalert
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"Personalized medicine has completely reshaped modern cancer therapy," says professor Giordano. "Treatment tailored to each individual patient is able to target the tumor's specific molecular characteristics. However, tumors are often characterized by a high molecular heterogeneity, and can find new routes to escape treatments," Giordano continued. "We are currently experiencing a revolution in cancer care due to the fact that, through immunotherapy strategies, we can use the immune system as an ally against cancer. We are here today to try and make the most out of this new opportunity.""So far we have directed our research strategies to identify the molecular alterations driving cancer development and progression," says Francesca Pentimalli, a long term collaborator of Prof. Giordano at the National Cancer Institute of Naples, Pascale. "We have achieved an arsenal of drugs against these altered molecules, many of which are already used in the clinical setting. We need now to understand how to combine the use of these drugs with the other therapeutic approaches such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and the new immunotherapy weapons."This promises to be the quickest way to gain new significant benefits for cancer patients," Pentimalli says. "To identify and test the use of new rational combinations to tackle lung cancer, it is necessary to work with multidisciplinary groups," such as those assembled at the meeting in Siena, including major experts in different fields of cancer research and treatment.Among the outstanding faculty, Catherine Pietanza, Medical Oncologist from the Merck, New York discussed what are and will be the approaches towards the small cell variant of lung cancer in the 21st century."Systemic treatment for small cell lung cancer has not changed in over 30 years," says Pietanza. "Recently, comprehensive molecular profiling has helped to identify multiple targets, including MYC, PARP, and Notch, leading to trials that are enrolling patients. Further, we are seeing encouraging results with immune checkpoint inhibitors and antibody drug conjugates. With well-designed, biologically-driven trials we may begin to see a change in outcomes for SCLC patients."Among the organizers, Pierpaolo Correale, oncologist of Neapolitan origins, presented his recently developed cancer vaccine against a protein that has been for years a crucial target of chemotherapy. This approach is particularly promising because it could function against different tumor types. Antonio Giordano presented various translational approaches attempted by his team to restore the function of crucial cell cycle regulatory genes in lung cancer and mesothelioma.The meeting also included a round table discussion of problems pertaining to the high economic burden of modern biotherapies.Source: Newswise
I don't care about too many people's opinions, in this year's democratic primary, but Tom Hayden is a politician I stop and listen to.

Hayden has been a radical activist, an anti-war protestor, California State Assemblyman, and State Senator, as well as a prolific author. While Hayden has written a number of books, he's best known as the author of the Port Huron Statement, organizing the Students for a Democratic Society, and was indicted on federal charges of conspiracy and incitement to riot at the 1968 Chicago Democratic convention.

Today Tom explains why he is changing his vote from Bernie Sanders to Hillary Clinton.

Here is an excerpt:

I am committed to building a united front against Donald Trump, and working with both Democratic and independent voters toward the best possible ticket and platform for the Democratic Party in November. But sounding out supporters of both Sanders and Hillary Clinton, I'm worried that terrible friction is brewing between the two Democratic camps left in this primary. Democrats all have to unite to win the White House and Supreme Court this year, building bridges without permanent bruising or the confusion of divide-and-conquer. The state of the race is in flux. Respect and support for Bernie are rising, though Hillary maintains a 212-delegate edge. As of April 3, The New York Times assessed that Bernie will need "landslide" victories in the battles ahead. He's certain to win more than the 16 states where he has already prevailed. Most of those states have been similar to Wisconsin, where 88 percent of the population is white, an enduring issue for the Sanders campaign. But of the major primaries that are coming up, several might be fruitful territory for Bernie. In New York, Hillary will need to tack towards Bernie on fair-trade issues or face losses in the Rust Belt regions of northern and western New York. Here in California, Bernie trails Hillary by six points, with 7 percent of the electorate undecided. And my sense is that California is winnable for Bernie. Lose or win, Bernie represents the most impressive independent campaign in American history, with the final chapters and legacy yet to be written.

Here is the full text of Hayden's letter, entitled I Used to Support Bernie, but Then I Changed My Mind.

My pets thank Tom for the Hayden Act. When I was a community college student, in Santa Monica, we had the good luck of having a huge student government and activities budget, managed by the students, which I was told was largely due to Tom's work in the Assembly or Senate. He also taught at that same community college, and I took his course on Spirituality and the Environment. It was a good class, he had us read Thomas Berry.

When Tom Hayden tells me he isn't voting for the more progressive candidate, I stop and listen to him.
On April 5, 2016, the Iranian daily Resalat, which is affiliated with Iran's ideological camp, published an article stating that the U.S. administration had a detailed plan for a series of additional JCPOA agreements, each of which would undermine yet another foundation of the regime of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, until its eradication. First, it said, JCPOA 2 would remove the Iranian missile program; then JCPOA 3 would focus on eliminating the resistance axis of Hizbullah, Hamas, and the Houthis in Yemen. JCPOA 4 and 5 would fundamentally change the Iranian regime to remove the ideological camp, and JCPOA 6 would bring Iranian recognition of Israel.

The article also stressed that the U.S. has collaborators in Iran in this plan, and that they are in the areas of politics, media, and academia; thus, it depicts these figures as traitors. In this, the article is referring to Iranian President Hassan Rohani, who spoke in February 2016 and in his Persian New Year (Norooz) address on March 20, 2016 of the nation's need for a "JCPOA 2" that "everyone should step in to implement."[1]

This article is based on the Norooz address by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, also on March 20, 2016,[2] in which he spoke of an American plan for a JCPOA 2, 3, and 4, and of collaborators inside Iran in this plan.

The following are excerpts of the Resalat article:

"From The Very Beginning, Iran Has Maintained That The U.S. Never Upholds Any Treaty Or Accords"; "Not Only Has The U.S. Not Lifted The Sanctions, It Has Also Shamelessly Considered, Or Passed, Dozens Of New Ones"

"By the end of the previous [Iranian] government [i.e. Ahmadinejad's, in 2013], Iran's nuclear advances, particularly its breathtaking attainment of uranium [enriched to] 20%, frightened the West. U.S. President Obama wrote a letter to [Iranian] Supreme Leader [Ali Khamenei] and, with the Omani ruler as an intermediary, asked [Khamenei] to start bilateral negotiations in order to settle Iran's nuclear issue and lift the sanctions.

"From the very beginning, Iran has maintained that the U.S. never upholds any treaty or accords, but [Iran] nevertheless agreed to negotiate, just for the sake of gaining some experience and in order to raise the awareness [of the Iranian nation and of its officials] about the [deceitful] essence of the American regime. Under the previous [Iranian] government, negotiations had already begun in Oman, and the new government [of Rohani] pursued these enthusiastically. Finally, after three years, they led to the Geneva agreement - the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA]. Even though during the negotiations the U.S.'s additional demands posed some obstacles, and the [Iranian] negotiating team was forced to give in to some of them and to cross some of the [Iranian] regime's red lines, the deal was ultimately accepted [by Iran] with some conditions, and the JCPOA became an international agreement, and the implementation stage began.

"In the beginning [of the implementation], the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA], following its last inspections which went beyond its legal framework, announced that in 10 years of inspections and observation, it had observed no violations in Iran's nuclear activities, and no attempt to produce nuclear weapons. Thus, the IAEA indirectly told the world that Iran was innocent in this big nuclear libel [against it by the U.S.], and that all the nuclear penalties and sanctions were therefore cruel, illegal, unjustified, and invalid.

"Three days previously, the White House spokesman had announced that Iran had met the commitments it had undertaken under the JCPOA. Now, naturally, the Iranian nation is asking whether the other party, the U.S., has also met its commitments, and whether the sanctions against Iran and the obstacles to commerce with it have been lifted.

"[Iranian] President [Hassan Rohani] and the [Iranian] negotiating team have, in recent months, repeatedly expressed their dissatisfaction and concern regarding the U.S.'s imposition of new obstacles, its deceitfulness, and its threats to cancel the agreement and impose further sanctions. Not only has the U.S. not lifted the sanctions, it has also shamelessly considered, or passed, dozens of new ones. Some have been lifted only on paper, while in practice they have been maintained or increased, through various official and unofficial tricks. Have the sanctions on the SWIFT banking system - the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication - been lifted?

"All Iranian businessmen know is that in practice we are being sanctioned, because due to official and unofficial threats by the U.S., no bank is willing to risk any [deal] with Iran... A verbal threat by the U.S. is enough to make any country or any company [willing to sign a deal with Iran] change its mind - which means that the sanctions on Iran are continued, but in a new form, that is, a return to the path of sanctions. At this point, the major and fundamental question is: Why is the U.S. acting against its own commitments? This is not too difficult to answer: It is using its brain.

"[The Americans] saw that in the JCPOA, one party [i.e. Iran] was willing, in order to have the sanctions lifted, to accept [the U.S.'s] main demand that Iran stop [enriching] uranium to 20% and [to make do with] 5% enrichment, and to remove the vast majority of its centrifuges and the heavy-water reactor in Arak - so why should they abandon such a useful and powerful tool [i.e. the JCPOA]? They now seek to use the same tool to gain even more. Our government, which is now witnessing the U.S.'s failure to honor the agreement, had from the beginning optimistically promised its people that the sanctions would be lifted. Now it sees its reputation and credibility threatened, and is looking for solutions.

"America has perceived this weakness on the part of our government, and it is natural that it use it to its own advantage. For this, it has crafted and proposed a new deal. This deal will have two sides and two objectives: Firstly, the U.S. will allow some sanctions to be lifted very slowly and temporarily, so that the [Iranian] government can advertise this and maintain its credibility until the next election. In return, [Iran's] government will accept further negotiations on additional JCPOAs that the U.S. has in mind.

"Unlike the [previous] nuclear negotiations, in which the [Iranian] government had bargaining chips such as the 20%-enriched uranium, tens of thousands of centrifuges, and the heavy-water reactor at Arak, this time its hands are empty... The enemy, noticing these weaknesses, naturally becomes greedier, having in reserve the bargaining chips of the sanctions, which it holds above the head of the [Iranian] government like the sword of Damocles so that it will give in to their additional JCPOAs out of fear."

The American Plan Of JCPOAs 2, 3, 4, 5 And 6

"What are these additional JCPOAs, and what are their aims? It is not too difficult to answer this; the answer has been expressed by White House staff, by some U.S. media sympathetic [to the White House], and in Obama's latest speeches, more clearly than ever.

"The next JCPOA targets the Iranian missile industry, with the aim of stopping it, since [according to Hashemi Rafsanjani] the era of today is an era of negotiations, and there is really no need for missiles.[3] In JCPOA 3, Hizbullah, Hamas and the Palestinian resistance, the Ansar Allah [Houthis] in Yemen, and [Syrian President] Bashar Al-Assad will be removed, as they are considered to be extremists and terrorists, dangerous, and posing a threat to the world order.

"Under JCPOA 4, the Imam [Ayatollah Khomeini] and his philosophy, and the philosophy of the Islamic Revolution, will be wiped off the country's political scene and given to the history museums.

"Under JCPOA 5, the Iranian constitution will be changed; a leadership council will replace the Supreme Leader [as spoken of recently by Hashemi Rafsanjani]; the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will be merged with the Iranian Army; and the Guardian Council will be combined with the Expediency Council [headed by Rafsanjani].

"In the next JCPOA, Israel will be officially recognized, because we have no complaint against Israel.

"These JCPOAs are already planned, and the U.S. State Department and think tanks have drawn them up already, just like they did the first one, and they need only official negotiating sessions, the usual bargaining, the signatures, and the implementation. With each JCPOA, one sanction will be temporarily lifted, and we [Iranians] will celebrate.

"During the negotiations for the first JCPAO, the other party took advantage of the atmosphere and infiltrated some of [Iran's] decision making centers and sympathetic media, so that [by means of these collaborators in Iran] it could pave the way for more JCPOA agreements. Some people, some advisors, and some media [in Iran] have made it their mission to remove the shame from the additional JCPOAs, and to prepare public opinion [to accept them], as we are already seeing.

"Today in many think tanks and some important decision making centers, some are overtly considering future JCPOAs. Their ultimate goal is, at best, to restore Iran to what it once was - that is, a client state of the U.S. Many of these figures have chosen the easy way, putting themselves on Satan's list, with thoughts about and calculation of the might of the U.S. They [i.e. these Iranians] serve the U.S. and Israel for free - but there have always been others on their side who are in contact with foreign embassies and intelligence services. They too are sometimes caught and pay for their treason, and sometimes flee the country and seek refuge among the nation's enemies. Dozens of these known figures, once members of these think tanks, today are either in prison in Iran or serving the think tanks of the U.S. State Department or foreign media.

"This group, from within Iran and outside it, is paving the way for future JCPOAs. With their psychological methods, they control how [Iran] is administered. For those in charge [in Iran], the way out of this dangerous impasse is illuminated, clear, and guaranteed. The solution is to no longer trust the deceitful America. The way out is to have faith in the nation, to rely on the nation, and to be self-sufficient in solving problems [i.e. to adopt the resistance economy of Supreme Leader Khamenei]..."

Endnotes:
On January 19, 2016, the website of the pro-Kremlin think tank Valdai Club published a report by Andrei Kazantsev, director of the Analytical Center of the Institute for International Studies in Russia, titled "Central-Asia: Secular Statehood Challenged by Radical Islam."[1] Kazantsev wrote that post-Soviet Central Asian countries face a threat from radical Islam that impacts prospects for secular statehood and represents a serious obstacle to modernization of the region.

The following are excerpts from Kazantsev's article:[2]

Afghanistan

"Post-Soviet Central Asian countries are facing problems caused by old security challenges and the emergence of completely new threats. These threats may influence the prospects for secular statehood in the region and represent a serious obstacle to modernization. One of the old security challenges is the situation in neighboring Afghanistan, where crisis phenomena are continuously aggravated. The most dangerous threat is posed by the concentration of militants in northern Afghanistan (on the border with Tajikistan,[3] Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan)...[4]

"As [a] UN Security Council paper stated, 'Afghan security forces estimated in March 2015 that some 6,500 foreign terrorist fighters are active in this country.'[5] There are 200 fighters from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan alone (later renamed the Islamic Movement of Turkistan, IMT).[6] According to Russian General Staff estimates, if the Afghans are also included the total number of terrorist fighters in this country would amount to 50,000.[7] The threat from Afghanistan is not only an ideological alternative to secular statehood in the form of radical Islam, but also has a purely military dimension..."

The Islamic State

"In 2014, and particularly in 2015, a 'second front' emerged in the Middle East which has rapidly gained a Central Asian dimension: the Islamic State (ISIS). First, ISIS is fraught with the threat of faith-motivated terrorism in view of militants' migration potential... 500 militants arrived in Syria and Iraq from Uzbekistan; 360 from Turkmenistan, 350 from Kyrgyzstan, 250 from Kazakhstan, and 190 from Tajikistan. Obviously, their recruitment would have been impossible without the existence of ISIS 'sleeper cells' in Central Asian countries and Russia. Militants often travel to Syria and Iraq through Russia. Guest workers in Russia are also recruited. Second, ISIS is a serious ideological challenge to all Islamic states, Central Asian states included, because as a caliphate it claims supremacy in the entire Muslim world. Specifically, ISIS has listed Central Asia and Afghanistan as Wilayat Khorasan [i.e. a province of the Islamic State]OC

"A special threat to Central Asia is posed by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), historically the most dangerous terrorist movement in the region... which has joined ISIS. At the same time, ISIS banners were raised by Turkmen tribes that inhabit areas bordering on Turkmenistan (many are descendants of the basmachi who fought the early Soviet government).[8] ISIS is engaged in subversion in the Central Asian hinterland as well. Kyrgyz and Tajik experts report that ISIS has allocated $70 million for subversion in the region.[9] Security threats to Central Asia from radical Islam in Afghanistan and Middle Eastern countries are being aggravated by numerous negative domestic factors that put the majority of countries in the region on the list of 'fragile states.' These 'fragile states' may easily become 'failed states' that do not control their own territory. These states are ideal ground for the entrenchment of radical terrorist groups like ISIS..."



Central Asia

Drug Trafficking, Corruption, Poverty, And "Sultanistic Regimes"

"Factors contributing to these states' 'fragility' are as follows: first, the large-scale drug traffic along the northern transportation route from Afghanistan to Russia. The latter is the world's main consumer of Afghan heroin. Security experts know well that the proceeds from drug trafficking are often used to fund terrorism and religious extremism. The existence of this link is clear from the Batken war: One of IMU's goals in invading Kyrgyzstan was to create routes for heroin trafficking.[10]

"[Another] important factor contributing to their 'fragility' and the growth of the radical Islamic threat is the extremely high rate of corruption in the region... First, corruption is closely linked with organized crime, especially drug trafficking, the proceeds from which may be used to finance terrorist groups, as we have already mentioned. Second, it sharply reduces the efficiency of government agencies in the fight against the threat of radical Islam. Third, the high level of corruption and ensuing social inequality are one of the main propaganda points used by radical Islamists, including ISIS, against existing secular regimes in the region.

"Poverty is the next factor contributing to these states' 'fragility.' Regional countries (especially parts of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan in the Fergana Valley)[11] are characterized by a very high degree of rural overpopulation aggravated by the shortage of water and fertile soil. This leads to unemployment and large numbers of marginalized young people who are highly susceptible to brainwashing by radical Islamists. The problem is worsened by the degradation of the Soviet-era social support, education, and healthcare systems... The increase in poverty is occurring against the backdrop of a trend toward socio- economic 'de-modernization.' For example, due to civil war and economic hardships, urban residents in Tajikistan dropped to 26% of the entire population in 2010, which is comparable with the world's most backward countries. Other manifestations of 'de-modernization' include an exodus of highly-skilled specialists and intellectuals (both Russian-speaking and ethnic)...

"[Another] critical factor threatening the statehood of regional countries is the existence of personalized 'sultanistic' regimes ingrained in the clan systems that determine the intra-elite network configurations. The two key countries in the region - Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan - did not experience a single power change in the post-Soviet period and the existing political institutions in both countries are closely linked with the strong personalities of their presidents. At the same time, by virtue of the age factor, a change of supreme power will be on the agenda in the near future and this may lead to the exacerbation of inter-clan conflicts within the elites and further destabilization."

Clashes Over Water Resources And Conflicts Of Interest

"[Another issue is] serious interstate clashes over water resources between countries in the upper reaches of rivers (Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) and those in the lower reaches (Uzbekistan, and less so Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan). These conflicts are serious obstacles to cooperation, including the joint struggle against security threats.

"[Furthermore,] influential great powers (Russia, the United States, China, the EU, and Islamic countries) are involved in the competition for influence in the region. Conflicts of interest between them may increase security threats and at best neutralize their efforts to help regional countries cope with various challenges.

"The aforementioned external threats from radical Islam emanating from Afghanistan and Middle Eastern countries, threats that are dramatically enhanced by domestic problems existing in a number of regional countries, clearly point to some crisis in the secular statehood model that was established in Central Asia in the post-Soviet period. Prospects for overcoming this crisis are different in different countries and are largely determined by the nature of the relationships between government agencies and Islam..."

Islamism In Tajikistan

"After the Central Asian countries gained independence, their elites began to actively support what they considered politically appropriate versions of Islam, in an attempt to create national forms of the religion that would legitimatize existing political systems in secular states. The situation in Tajikistan is the worst, in terms of instability and the influence of radical Islam. Among the negative factors it is important to note its proximity to Afghanistan, a very complicated domestic socio-economic situation, and the ongoing destructive consequences of the civil war that took place during the first half of the 1990s. At the same time, the radicalization of society, including of law enforcement, is accelerating.



Gulmurod Khalimov, a colonel in the Tajikistani riot police who deserted his unit and joined ISIS in 2015.

"The most blatant incident occurred in 2015, when riot police [officer] Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov deserted his unit and joined ISIS.[12] A military mutiny headed by Deputy Defense Minister Maj.-Gen. Abdukhalim Nazarzoda occurred in the fall of 2015.[13] The authorities also attributed this to the influence of radical Islam. The central government of Tajikistan does not seem to exercise strong control over some of its territories such as Gorno Badakhshan [an autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan]. The defense of the Tajik-Afghan border has also weakened following the departure of Russian border guards. This is dangerous in view of the accelerated destabilization in Afghanistan's border areas.[14] Excesses in the struggle against Islamism may also be conducive to the dissemination of radical Islam. Such actions as the wide-scale shutdown of mosques, the introduction of a tough dress code in opposition to Islamic tradition, and the banning of the moderate Islamic Revival of Tajikistan party, may consolidate the radical Islamic underground."[15]

Islamism In Kyrgyzstan

"Kyrgyzstan is also subject to serious threats. One of the specific risks is the country's geopolitical split into north and south [following its independence in 1991, there is a possibility of a north-south split]. As the Batken war bore out, Kyrgyz government agencies are traditionally weak and were further weakened by two revolutions (2005 and 2010).[16] Radical Islamism presents the greatest threat in the south of Kyrgyzstan, especially within the large Uzbek diaspora. The situation in this area is complicated by an acute ethnic conflict between the Kyrgyz and the Uzbeks which led to pogroms in 2010."[17]

Islamism In Turkmenistan

The situation in Turkmenistan has traditionally been considered one of the most stable in the region (as the above statehood ratings indicate). Nevertheless, it seriously deteriorated in 2014-2015, after ISIS penetrated areas adjoining the Afghan-Turkmen border. The negative aspects of Turkmenistan's neutral status are becoming obvious.[18] The country does not have a strong army to protect its borders, nor can it request military aid from Russia, for instance, as this would contradict the concept of neutrality. The domestic situation leaves much to be desired, too..."

Islamism In Uzbekistan

"Uzbekistan's standoff with extremist trends in Islam is characterized by substantial contradictions. On the one hand, the region's strongest extremist groups originated in Uzbekistan. In 1999, IMU staged massive terrorist attacks in Tashkent. In May 2005, Akromiya (Akromiylar), a radical Islamic group, organized an uprising in Andizhan (Fergana Valley). On the other hand, the state's powerful law enforcement agencies and its generally repressive policy have put the activities of religious extremists in the country under a measure of control.

"Islamic propaganda and terrorist activities are increasing in Uzbekistan against the backdrop of a worsening socio-economic crisis. Uzbekistan is second after Russia in the post-Soviet space in terms of the number of militants who went to fight in Syria and Iraq. Among other things, the growth of religious extremism in Uzbekistan is a complicated issue, as it is linked with clan policy. Uzbekistan has a traditional 'division of labor' between regional clans that is nicely expressed in the proverb: 'A resident of Samarkand rules; a resident of Tashkent counts money, and a resident of the Fergana Valley prays.' This proverb emphasizes Islam's special role in the Fergana Valley and the fact that all key clergymen in Uzbekistan traditionally come from the Fergana Valley. During the post-Soviet evolution [one of the two most powerful Uzbek clans], the Samarkand clan (the president himself [Islam Karimov] belongs to it) and the Tashkent clan (in charge of the economy) came to power in Uzbekistan. Many experts believe that the Fergana clan has traditionally used the threat of Islamic extremism to enhance its influence. The aforementioned inter-clan alignment of political forces is highly important as the prevailing problem of the inheritance of power may seriously aggravate the inter-clan struggle."

Islamism In Kazakhstan

"Kazakhstan is least affected by religious radicalism owing to the following specific factors: a stable economy (about two-thirds of Central Asia's GDP is produced in Kazakhstan); a fairly high level of social modernization in the Soviet period; the existence of a large strata of Russian speakers; and the historical tradition of Islam's dissemination among the Kazakhs. The situation in two regions is critically important in terms of the spread of radical Islam. The influence of Islamic institutions has traditionally been strong in southern Kazakhstan, which is an area with a settled population. Islam's revival there has been characterized by the emergence of its more radical forms. A no less complicated situation has been taking shape in western Kazakhstan over the past few years. The intensive industrial development of the region's oil and gas deposits has attracted socially marginalized groups..."

Countering Islamism: The Hanafi School And The Jadid Ideology



A cartoon portraying a Jadid reformer opposingthe traditionalists (Source: Jadid.uz)

"Threats to secular statehood in Central Asia are fairly high. However, the region's countries have the potential to counter them. Historically, Central Asia, as part of the Muslim world was characterized by developed Islamic science... and the high Sufi tradition of Islam including mystical poetry... It is these local cultural traditions of Islam that are some of the main targets of Islamic radicals, who deny national forms of Muslim religion and culture. Central Asian Sufis (primarily the great Uzbek teacher of the Soviet era Muhammad-jan Hindustani)[19] actively countered the spread of radical Islam (Salafism and Wahhabism). Therefore, it is no surprise that religious extremism is much less widespread in ancient Central Asian centers of civilization, such as Samarkand and Bukhara, by virtue of the high traditional culture of the population.

"The potential of the traditional legal Hanafi School should not be underestimated either. It is one of the four Orthodox Sunni religious schools of jurisprudence, whereas radical Islam (Salafism) is linked to the Saudi-adopted Hanbali School in the radical Wahhabi interpretation. The development of traditional Islam and the consolidation of the Hanafi School for official recognition (which is the case, for instance, in Tajikistan) is a resource for fighting radicalism...

"It should also be emphasized that Central Asian states have positive historical experience in terms of successfully upgrading Islamic ideology, which may well be leveraged in current conditions. The latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century saw the emergence of the Jadid ideology... It was introduced by Muslim liberal reformers in the regions, who were leaders in the dissemination of such ideas.[20] This is a cultural tradition of development along the strictly secular road, which is typical of the region's more advanced countries such as Kazakhstan."

Countering Islamism: "Soviet Modernization Heritage," An Efficient Market Economy, And Russia's Role

"Soviet modernization heritage also facilitates the preservation of secular statehood. It led to many changes in Central Asia. Many Soviet-established non-Muslim stereotypes of everyday life (for instance, high literacy and the secular education of the population owing to the system of universal school education, the consumption of alcohol and infrequent visits to mosques) still make many residents of this region substantially different from their brethren-in-faith in the rest of the Muslim world.

"In the post-Soviet period, the efficiency of reforms aimed at building modern institutions was different in different countries of the region. Kazakhstan has been in the lead in terms of developing a market economy and attracting investment. An efficient market economy is one of the largest obstacles to the return to archaic Islamic institutions as urged by radicals... It is Kazakhstan that is a kind of a 'bastion of stability' primarily owing to its relative (regional) socio-economic well-being. It ensures the security of Russia's southern borders, China's western borders and eventually the security of the European Union's eastern borders.

"The assistance of great powers is a major resource in the struggle against radical Islamism in Central Asia. In this context special credit goes to Russia which has key positions in terms of ensuring regional security. The Moscow-backed Collective Security Treaty Organization is the main protection for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan against possible invasions from Afghan territory and potential ISIS expansion.[21] Russia is vitally concerned with fighting Islamic radicalism in Central Asia. Its further spread and even possible victory are linked to the growth potential of many cross-border threats (terrorism, drug trafficking, the intensification of uncontrolled migration, etc.). In the migration context, the security of Russia's several metropolitan areas (Moscow above all) largely depends on the ability of Moscow and the entire international community to render effective aid to Central Asian countries in countering the growing threat of radical Islamism."



Endnotes:
Believe it or not, military mythology is a thing. Maybe when it comes to serving your nation, the soldiers never actually die. This is the story of Baba Harbhajan Singh, an Indian Army soldier, who died in 1986 but his ghost is believed to still be protecting his brothers-in-arms at the border.

 Wikimedia

Born in a village of Punjab in 1941, Harbhajan Singh enrolled himself in the Indian Army in 1956. In 1965, he was granted a commission and was posted to serve with the14 Rajput Regiment. It was in the year 1967, near Nathu-La pass, that Singh met his end after slipping and drowning in a glacier while he was leading a column of mules carrying supplies to a lonesome outpost. His body was recovered after three days and cremated with due honors. But did he really die?

 YouTube

Legend has it that it was his own ghost that led the search party to his own dead body. Soon after cremation, it is believed, he appeared in one of his friends dream and asked him to erect a shrine in his memory. Following this, a shrine dedicated to Singh was built.

 Wikimedia

Even today, jawans posted at the Nathu-La post firmly believe that Singhs ghost protects them. Soldiers even believe that his ghost warns them of any impending attack at least three days in advance. Even the Chinese, during flag meets, set a chair aside to honour Harbhajan Singh. The water from his shrine is believed to heal ailing soldiers. Singhs shrine is guarded by barefooted soldiers, and his uniform and boots are cleaned on a daily basis. Stories about his ghost visiting the camps at night and even waking up the soldiers who sleep while on watch, are massively popular and very regular.

 holidayiq

The belief about his paranormal existence is so firm that every year on 11th September, a train carrying his belongings departs for his hometown accompanied by fellow soldiers, and goes right till his homes doorstep. Moreover, until his recent retirement, Singh was steadily promoted up the ranks and retired as an Honorary Captain. His salary has, without fail, been sent to his family up until his retirement. Singh is looked up to as a holy saint today and soldiers often refer to him as Baba. Guess patriotism never really dies!
April 13th marks the auspicious day of Baisakhi every year, but it coincides with the sad anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Today, on the occasion of the 99th anniversary of that unfortunate incident which is a black mark on the historical map of our country, here are 8 facts that every Indian should know.

1. In the year 1919, the British government passed the 'Rowlatt Act', which was basically passed to control the acts of the Indian revolutionaries. The act the government to arrest people without any trial, on terms of mere suspicion. This act sowed the seeds of the upcoming catastrophe.

2. On April 10, 1919, two popular leaders, Dr. Satyapal and Dr. Kichlu were arrested under the act, which made the public furious and fearing a violent repercussion, General Dyer , on behalf of the government issued an order banning any public meetings or gatherings in Amritsar.

3. A public meeting was scheduled for April 13th in Jallianwala Bagh when the festival of Baisakhi was being celebrated and was met with no remorse from the British government. Around 6,000 to 10,000 people gathered at the venue to attend that meeting, which included ladies and even children.

4. Since Jallianwala Bagh was an enclosed place surrounded by walls on every side with just one main gate and two-three tiny lanes for exit, General Dyer took the most voyeuristic advantage of the situation, closed the exit gates and ordered his riflemen to blatantly shoot at the gathering. The shooting continued for a while until the ammunition supply was exhausted, killing many innocent people. The colourful festival turned into a blood bath.

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5. This massacre met with a lot of strong remorse from the entire nation and shaped the upcoming events of the history of India's freedom struggle. Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood in protest, and Gandhiji returned his 'Kaisar-i-Hind' medal.

6. A 'Hunter community' was formed to enquire about the incident under the leadership of Lord Hunter. However, due to no fruitful follow up, the Indian National Congress appointed its own trusted officials to enquire about the incident, which included Motilal Nehru and C.R Das.

7. Eventually after much aggression from the Indians, the government had to suspend General Dyer, who quietly just returned to Britain. However, the cycle of karma came full circle for the ruling country after Sardar Udham Singh, who was a witness to the killings, shot Michael O'Dwyer in his own homeland of London, on March 30, 1940, as a revenge for the massacre. Michael O'Dwyer was said to be the planner and the silent supported of Dyer.

8. The Indian National Congress built a memorial for the innocent souls who departed on the unfortunate day and the memorial was inaugurated by Rajendra Prasad in 1961.

Although nothing can be undone to change the catastrophe, but it is essential that the light of respect and gratitude for all the people who fought and lost their lives for Mother India, should always burn bright in the hearts of every Indian.

 Flickr
I Can't Believe It's Not Buddha flags and explains the many misquotes attributed to the sage. It's collected and maintained by Bodhipaksa, a Buddhist author since 1982 and a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order.

They're everywhere you look: Twitter, Facebook, blogs, quotes sites  even in books by well-known Buddhists. Fake Buddha Quotes abound.

To those who are familiar with the Buddhist scriptures, these Hallmark-style quotes attributed to the Buddha ring false, but it seems many people are preferentially attracted to the fake variety.

It's hard sometimes to pinpoint why they sound fake. Usually it's the language, which may be too flowery and poetic. Sometimes it's the subject matter, which sounds too contemporary. The thing is, that although the Buddhist scriptures are vast (way larger than the Bible) they're often not very quotable, or at least they tend not to have the immediate appeal that some of the fake variety has.
A song that became the "unofficial anthem to the civil rights movement" was wrongly placed under copyright, and should be released into the public domain. That's the argument in a lawsuit filed today in federal court over the song "We Shall Overcome."

Who's behind it? The same group of lawyers who fought for years to free "Happy Birthday" from copyright prison.

The 'Happy Birthday' case succeeded at last just a few months ago, and made it safe for little kids all over the world to sing the song over candlelit cakes at birthday parties, without fear of attorneys knocking on the door demanding royalty payments.

The new copyright battle is a proposed class action lawsuit that asks for copyright licensing fees to be returned. The case argues that royalties were wrongfully collected by Ludlow Music Inc. and The Richmond Organization, which claimed copyright over "We Shall Overcome" in 1960. But the song is probably based on an old African-American spiritual, according to popular beliefand the lawsuit.

The song is based on "an African-American spiritual with exactly the same melody and nearly identical lyrics from the late 19th or early 20th century," reads the complaint.

"This was never copyrightable to begin with," Mark Rifkin, an attorney for the plaintiff, told Reuters Tuesday. "The song had been in the public domain for many, many years before anyone tried to copyright it."

From Reuters:

The We Shall Overcome Foundation, the plaintiff, is seeking to produce a documentary film about song and its relationship to the civil rights movement. The group asked for permission to use the music in the film but was turned down by TRO, according to the lawsuit.

Ars Technica has a copy of the complaint here [PDF]. From Ars Technica:

At most, they say, the defendant companies own specific arrangements of the song, or additional verses that were added in 1960 when the song was copyrighted and again in 1963. Once more, the lawyers' chief client is a documentary filmmaker making a movie about the song in question. The named plaintiff is the We Shall Overcome Foundation, an organization created by the filmmakers. The foundation intends to make a movie about the song, and include a performance of it in "at least one scene in the movie."

From Ben Sisario's New York Times piece:
Eddie Tipton, the 51-year-old former security director of the US Multi-State Lottery Association, was convicted last year of hacking a random number generator to fix a $16.5 million lottery prize in Iowa. Now it looks like he could have pulled the same trick Colorado, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Kansas, too. Tipton is in Texas, free on bond pending an appeal, and fighting extradition charges.

Wikipedia's description of how Tipton hacked the random number generator reads like the script from a crime drama:
The idea of a "Cyber-Underwriters Laboratories mark" is really in the air; in the past six months, I've had it proposed to me by spooks, regulators, activists, consumer protection advocates, and security experts. But the devil is in the details.



The problem is that there's no good way for someone contemplating a purchase to determine whether the thing they're buying has secure or insecure software. Since everything from cars to washing machines to pacemakers are inert lumps of plastic and metal, animated by networked software, this is a big deal. Buy the wrong device and you might get randos perving on your toddler, driving your car off the road at high speed, or use your own CCTV system to figure out how to safely rob you.

The for-profit ratings agency UL (formerly the nonprofit ratings agency "Underwriters Laboratories") has an answer. Using a staff of 600 security experts, they will inspect the source code of smart devices and give them a pass/fail grade you can use to guide your decisions. However, the process by which they will evaluate these devices is proprietary and only available if you pony up $800 to be a retail UL customer.

This runs contrary to the most elementary best practice, AKA "Schneier's Law": "Anyone can think up a security system that works so well that he himself can't think of a way of breaking it." In other words, if you don't subject your technical hypotheses to adversarial peer review, you're likely to make stupid mistakes. That goes for Chrysler and UL.

IoT vendors wishing to certify their products as UL 2900-compliant submit their widget, including source code, to UL for evaluation. Although head-quartered in the Chicago area, UL has offices around the world, including a large office in the Netherlands, Modeste said, that will support IoT vendors in the EU who are under pressure from ENISA, the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security, to up their security game. "Most UL customers have global reach and global brands," Modeste said. The certification process can take several months, and results in product certification valid for twelve months. But security is a process, not a product. Even a perfectly-secured device could find itself punctured like a piece of emmental cheese due to previously-undiscovered vulnerabilities, during the certification windowor, even more likely, within the twelve-month post-certification period. How does UL 2900 handle this challenge? "During [the certification process] the vendor is required to inform us ofany software changes," Modeste said, "so we can work with them to validate, continue to evaluate the product up the end before issuing the certificate." Vendors will also be required to securely patch vulnerable devices in a timely manner. How precisely will this work? Without a copy of the UL 2900 tech specs to examine, we'll just have to take Modeste's word the process has been adequately reviewed.



Underwriters Labs refuses to share new IoT cybersecurity standard

[JM Porup/Ars Technica]
Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB908 to expand the state's paid family leave law, saying he wants to create a "more decent and empathetic kind of community."

At a signing ceremony, Brown said providing more assistance to the state's lowest earners on family leave will help correct the growing income disparity facing California and every other state.

"We're trying to compensate for the gross inequality that is not an abstraction," Brown said.

Brown postponed signing the family leave bill last month during his negotiations with labor unions to boost the state's minimum wage. He approved a plan last week to raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022.

The expanded family leave law drew immediate praise from President Barack Obama, who said in a written statement the action ensures California workers peace of mind. He said he will continue pushing federal lawmakers to provide "this basic security."

"Congress needs to catch up to California - and to countries all over the world - by acting to guarantee paid family leave to all Americans," Obama wrote.

California is one of just four states and territories to mandate any pay during family leave. Its law already allows workers to take up to six weeks off work to bond with a new child or care for sick family members and receive 55 percent of their wages.

The measure Brown signed Monday increases the pay to 60 percent of wages, capped at about $1,100 a week, starting in 2018. It creates a new classification for low-income workers who make about $20,000 or less annually to receive 70 percent of their regular pay.

California's program is funded by worker contributions and is operated by the state's Employment Development Department. A legislative analysis estimates increased leave pay will cost that fund about $348 million in 2018 and $587 million annually by 2021, according to a legislative analysis. The state EDD has enough in savings from workers' contributions to cover the additional benefits, the analysis said.

Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, wrote the bill after a state review found that low-income workers are the least likely to use the benefit. Nine in 10 workers who take paid family leave use it after the birth of a child.

Many Republicans opposed the legislation but there was little debate about it in the state Legislature and several GOP lawmakers declined to offer comment Monday.

The California Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses did not take positions on the bill. Tom Scott, director of the California NFIB, said his organization stayed neutral because the funding mechanism requires no financial input from employers.

Scott said the bill appears to encourage employees to take more family time off.

"Whether or not that's the case, the fact that these paid leave dollars were drawn from a fund to which the employees, not the employers, contribute tells us our members would not bear the burden of this cost," he said.

California's move comes amid other similar steps by local and state governments as issues of income inequality draw more attention this election year.

San Francisco last week became the first place in the country to require businesses to provide six weeks of fully paid leave for new parents, a rarity now offered to some government sector workers and some private employees.

New York state extended partial pay from six weeks to 12 in March. New Jersey and Rhode Island provide partial pay for up to six weeks.

Federal law requires private businesses with 50 or more employees and all government agencies to allow workers to take 12 weeks of unpaid family leave.
BAD AXE  Closing or curtailing Coast Guard services at the station in Harbor Beach would be an immense disservice to residents and the countys 93 miles of shoreline  and should be a concern to the whole county, commissioners said Tuesday.

The Coast Guard plans to meet with city leaders in Harbor Beach Thursday to discuss how we can optimize response to the region, Lauren Jorgensen, a Coast Guard public affairs officer told the Tribune last week.

The meeting comes a week after Coast Guard officials met in Frankfort, on the west side of the state. There, they outlined plans for seasonal closings at Coast Guard stations in Frankfort, Ludington and Muskegon, while the Manistee station would get more staff.

Jorgensen says there are no plans to completely close any Coast Guard stations.

She says the April 14 meeting in Harbor Beach will include discussion of how the Coast Guard allocates resources in the region.

We prefer to have those discussions with them first before we talk about them publicly or with the media, Jorgensen said last week.

The Coast Guard also plans to meet with Huron and Tuscola sheriffs Friday.

Wruble, Harbor Beachs city director, says the station is a real huge asset for water safety in the area and for the county as a whole. He says potentials closings come up about every two years, but that he hopes the station will continue its current schedule.

We need that, Commissioner Clark Elftman said of the station.

Commissioners inked a late resolution during Tuesdays meeting to support the Harbor Beach Coast Guard station maintaining a status quo operation and the station continuing at its current capacity. It passed unanimously.

Part of the resolution reads: Whereas the future of the U.S. Coast Guard operation in Harbor Beach is under consideration  the Huron County Board of Commissioners feels a closure or a curtailment of the services provided by this operation would be an immense disservice to the people of Huron County with our 93 miles of shoreline.

Last week, UpNorthLive.com reported a major concern of local first responders is what happens during the off-season, when local fire departments count on Coast Guard help during ice rescues.

Since 2005, Coast Guard search and rescue cases have decreased 63 percent across the Great Lakes, Jorgensen said.
An honest essay has numerous characteristics: original thinking, a good structure, balanced arguments, and plenty more.

But one aspect often overlooked is that an honest essay should be interesting. It should spark the readers curiosity, keep them absorbed, make them want to stay reading and learn more. An uneventful article risks losing the readers attention; whether or not the points you create are excellent, a flat style, or poor handling of a dry subject material can undermine the positive aspects of the essay. The matter is that a lot of students think that essays should be like this: they believe that a flat, dry style is suited to the needs of educational writing and dont even consider that the teacher reading their essay wants to search out the essay interesting. You might want to have online essay editor service to boost your confidence in writing with an error-free output. Academic writing doesnt need to be  and shouldnt be  bland. The excellent news is that there is much stuff you can do to create your essay more attractive, while youll be able only to do such a lot while remaining within the formal confines of educational writing. Lets study what theyre.

Have an interest in what youre writing about

Dont go overboard, but youll be able to let your passion for your subject show.

If theres one thing bound to inject interest into your writing, its being fascinated by what youre writing about. Passion for a subject matter comes across naturally in your essay, typically making it more lively and fascinating and infusing an infectious enthusiasm into your words  within the same way that its easy to talk knowledgeably to someone about something you discover fascinating.

Include fascinating details

Another factor that may make an essay boring maybe a dry material. Some topic areas are naturally dry, and it falls to you to form the article more interesting through your written style and by trying to seek out fascinating snippets of knowledge to incorporate, which will liven it up a small amount and make the data easier to relate to. A way of doing this with a dry subject is to create what youre talking about that seems relevant to the critical world, as this is often easier for the reader to relate to.

Emulate the fashion of writers you discover interesting

When you read lots, you subconsciously start emulating the fashion of the writers you have read. Reading benefits you a lot, as this exposes you to a spread of designs, and youll start to require the characteristics of these you discover interesting to read.

Borrow some creative writing techniques

Theres a limit to the quantity of actual story-telling youll do when youre writing an essay; in the end, essays should be objective, factual and balanced, which doesnt, initially glance, feel considerably like story-telling. However, youll apply a number of the principles of story-telling to create your writing more interesting.

consider your own opinion

Take the time to figure out what its that you think instead of regurgitating the opinions of others.

Cut the waffle

Rambling on and on is dull and almost bound to lose the interest of your reader. Youre in danger of waffling if youre not completely clear about what you wish to mention or havent thought carefully about how youre visiting structure your argument. Doing all your research correctly and writing an essay plan before you begin will help prevent this problem.

Editing is a vital part of the essay-writing process, so edit the waffle once youve done a primary draft. Read through your essay objectively and eliminate the bits that arent relevant to the argument or labor the purpose.

employing a thesaurus isnt always a decent thing

Avoid using unfamiliar words in an essay; theres too great a likelihood that youre misusing them.

You may think that employing a thesaurus to seek out more complicated words will make your writing more exciting or sound more academic, but using overly high-brow language can have the incorrect effect.

Avoid repetitive phrasing

Please avoid using the identical phrase structure again and again: its a recipe for dullness! Instead, use a variety of syntax that demonstrates your writing capabilities and makes your writing more interesting. Mix simple, compound, and complicated sentences to avoid your paper becoming predictable.

Use some figurative language

Using analogies with nature can often make concepts more accessible for readers to know.

As weve already seen, its easy to finish up rambling when youre explaining complex concepts  mainly after you dont know it yourself. One way of forcing yourself to think about a couple of pictures, present it more simply and engagingly is to form figurative language. This implies explaining something by comparing it with something else, as in an analogy.

Employ rhetorical questions

Anticipate the questions your reader might ask.

One of the ways ancient orators held the eye of their audiences and increased the dramatic effect of their speeches was by using the statement. A decent place to use a statement is at the top of a paragraph, to steer into the following one, or at the start of a replacement section to introduce a brand new area for exploration.

Proofread

Finally, you may write the top interesting essay an instructor has ever read. Still, youll undermine your good work if its plagued by errors, which distract the reader from the particular content and can probably annoy them.
The U.S. Navy has called off the search for a sailor who went missing from a ship off the coast of North Carolina three days ago.

The sailor disappeared from the dock landing ship USS Carter Hall the afternoon of April 9 as it conducted training in support of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group during a pre-deployment exercise off of Cape Hatteras.

A source confirmed that a Navy Times report describing the sailor as a female petty officer third class was correct. Citing an internal document, the publication also reported that boots and a note had been found at the rear of the Carter Hall after the sailor went missing.

After the woman was reported missing, eight ships plus Navy and Coast Guard helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft conducted a 72-hour search, canvassing more than 22,388 square nautical miles. That area is roughly the size of South Carolina, said Lt. Mike Hatfield, a spokesman for Expeditionary Strike Group 2.

Water temperatures near Cape Hatteras in April average 58 degrees Fahrenheit, far below the 70-degree hypothermia threshold.

Ships participating in the search effort included the Carter Hall, the carrier Eisenhower, and Arleigh-Burke class guided missile destroyers Laboon, Mahan, Mason, Nitze, Truxtun and Stout.

The sailor's identity and unit has not yet been released pending a 24-hour next-of-kin notification period.

"It is with a deep sense of sadness that we suspend the search for our fellow shipmate," Rear Adm. Bruce Lindsey, commander of Carrier Strike Group Four, said in a statement. Strike Group Four led search efforts for the sailor. "Our sincere condolences are with the Sailor's family, who have requested privacy following their tragic loss."

Navy officials are investigating the sailor's disappearance.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
The U.S. has been conducting a review of the operations of the 700 U.S. troops participating in the Sinai peacekeeping mission that could potentially lead to partial troop withdrawals, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

"I don't think anyone's talking about a (complete) withdrawal. I think we're just going to look at the number of people we have there and see if there are functions that can be automated or done through remote monitoring," said Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.

Davis also confirmed that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter had notified the governments of Israel and Egypt that the U.S. might seek adjustments in operations that could result in moving U.S. troops in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt to locations where they would face less risk.

Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, called the U.S. review part of an ongoing effort "to look at how to modernize the observer mission by using technology or improving efficiency.

"Whether and how significant a force reduction that will entail I can't speak to at this point in time," Toner said. However, "In no way does it speak to a lessening in our commitment to the objective" of the peacekeeping force, he said, the Associated Press reported.

Last September, four U.S. troops and two Fijians were wounded when their Humvee was hit by an improvised explosive device that groups affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, claimed to have planted.

Spokesmen for the peacekeeping force said at the time that the wounds were not life-threatening. The U.S. deployed an additional 100 troops to the Sinai for force protection.

Last month, 15 members of the Egyptian security forces were killed in a mortar and small arms attack claimed by Wilayat Sinai, a tribal group that has pledged allegiance to ISIS. The attack occurred near al-Arish in northern Sinai and the largest town on the peninsula.

Since 2013, when ISIS militants first emerged in the Sinai, Egyptian security forces are believed to have suffered hundreds of casualties in northern Sinai. One of the options under consideration in the U.S. review could have U.S. troops move from northern to southern Sinai.

The Multinational Force and Observers peacekeeping force was formed in the 1980s to support the 1979 Camp David peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

The U.S. has contributed troops to the MFO since its formation and has the largest contingent in the peacekeeping force that numbers about 1,600. Eleven other nations have sent troops to the MFO -- Australia, Canada, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Fiji, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Britain and Uruguay.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
Despite Flipping in Surf 4 Times in a Year, Marines Say New ACV Is the Future of Amphibious Warfare

Some Marine veterans familiar with the vehicle and its operations have worried about the reliability of the ACV.
The government of India on Wednesday repatriated the possible remains of American airmen from World War II, the U.S. Defense Department announced.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter participated in the repatriation ceremony in New Delhi for the remains that are believed to be those of two American crews whose planes crashed on supply runs from India to China over the Himalayan Mountains in 1944 and 1945.

The remains recovered late last year are possibly associated with a B-24 crash on Jan. 25, 1944, when a crew of eight personnel assigned to the 14th Air Force, 308th Bomb Group, were lost during a routine mission from Kunming, China, to Chabua, India, according to a press release from the Pentagon.

Two bone fragments -- small enough to fit inside a sandwich bag -- along with some other artifacts from the B-24 flight were found during a U.S. excavation in the rugged mountain in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, according to the Associated Press and the Pentagon.

Another set of remains that were also turned over to Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency are possibly related to a C-109 that crashed on July 17, 1945, traveling from Jorhat, India, to Hsinching, China, with a four-man Army Air Force crew, according to the Pentagon release.

The ceremony sponsored by the Defense Department, the U.S. embassy in New Delhi and the government of India highlights the nations commitment to bringing fallen personnel home and providing their families the fullest possible accounting, the release states.

It's also a testament to the deepening U.S-India defense partnership and a reflection of our shared commitment to universal values, it states. Secretary Carter is grateful for the Indian Governments support for this important humanitarian mission and looks forward to cooperating on future personnel accounting operations.

Afterward, the U.S. military flew the remains to the agencys lab in Honolulu for DNA analysis to confirm the identify of the missing crew members.

An estimated 350 U.S. service members are still classified as missing in India, the Associated Press reported.

--Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry.
A littoral combat ship that has been sidelined in Singapore since January after an "engineering casualty" will transit to San Diego for full repairs this summer, the Navy announced today.

The Fort Worth will spend several months preparing for the trip, including completing inspections, conducting lube oil system flushes, and configuring the ship's engineering plant, officials with U.S. Pacific Fleet said in a news release.

A spokesman for the fleet, Lt. Clint Ramsden, told Military.com that all aviation detachments and assets will also be removed from the ship to lighten the load and make it more fuel-efficient during the transit.

The cost estimate for the repairs to be completed has not been released.

The Fort Worth broke down Jan. 12 when the ship was damaged due to a failure to apply lubrication oil to the ship's combining gears. The Navy relieved the Fort Worth's commanding officer, Cmdr. Michael Atwell, March 28. An investigation into the incident remains under leadership review, Ramsden said. Final endorsement of findings is expected within a month.

The ship will transit through the Pacific to San Diego from Singapore using its gas turbine engines, a journey expected to take about six weeks, including replenishments underway and planned fueling stops, officials said in the release.

In deciding to conduct repairs in San Diego, "the primary factors considered were timeline, efficiency, and shipyard capability," Ramsden said. The work will be completed at General Dynamics Nassco's San Diego shipyard, as the company has an LCS sustainment contract.

Repairs to the Fort Worth will be conducted during the ship's previously scheduled maintenance period, minimizing disruption and reducing cost to the Navy, officials said in the release. It's remains undetermined whether the selected restricted availability with docking maintenance period will be extended in order to complete repairs.

Ramsden said the Navy has determined that the littoral combat ship Coronado is slated to succeed the Fort Worth in a rotational deployment to the Indo-Pacific region later this year, marking the first deployment for the Independence-class variant of the LCS.

The Fort Worth had been more than a year into a 16-month rotational deployment, hailed as a great success for the fledgling LCS program.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.

Related Video:
Marines from the Corps' East Coast and West Coast expeditionary forces will spend several months this summer in a competition of sorts to help determine how the service will fight and train ten years from now.

This week, top brass from around the Corps are meeting in an executive off-site meeting near Washington, D.C., to discuss a plan that will use war games to shape the future force. It's part of an initiative called Force 2025, said Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, the deputy commandant of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, who described the plan to Military.com during a recent lecture at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In July, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller plans to choose one of two separately developed plans to shape the future force, Walsh said. On course of action favors an "evolutionary" approach, making changes in a more gradual fashion and building on existing methods and practices. The other, he said, is a "revolutionary" approach that emphasizes more "out of the box" ideas and disruptive thinking.

Neller has spoken often about the Marine Corps' need to develop its capabilities, particularly in the information warfare and cyber realm. In an order published in January, he set a 2017 deadline to expand information operations, cyber, and electronic warfare.

"We will engage in deliberate, holistic, total force planning to shape the Marine Corps of 2020-2025 and beyond based on our future operating concepts and capabilities," he wrote. "We will look at advances in technology that create opportunities to adjust table of organization structure spaces that more appropriately meet current and future force operational requirements."

Neller has also touted the importance of experimentation and adopting new technology. Earlier this year, he announced that an operational battalion, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, California, would serve as the Corps' "experimental unit" during a deployment to the Pacific this year for the purpose of testing out new operational concepts.

The two approaches to change were developed by two teams of officers representing a spectrum of ranks and military occupational specialties who broke the Marine Corps down into its separate elements -- ground, air, logistics, and command -- to discuss ways that each element needed to change to confront current-day challenges.

Planning began with more than 200 officers. That number was ultimately cut down to two teams of 12 as the courses of action were refined. The most senior officers, Walsh said, worked on slower, evolutionary approaches to change, while the more junior ones, including captains, majors and lieutenant colonels, focused on revolutionary and disruptive proposals.

"Really what I had to do was pressurize them to put away their MOS equities," he said. "I didn't want them thinking as a Harrier pilot or an artillery officer. I wanted them thinking [Marine air-ground task force]."

But before those proposals are presented to the commandant so he can pick one, they will be pushed down to the operating forces for field-testing.

"Every though we're doing force design, what we said was, this has to be collaborative and inclusive,'" Walsh said. "If we just did this behind closed doors down in Quantico or with the commandant one-on-one, we may make some decisions that wouldn't be right.

Walsh said I Marine Expeditionary Force, based on the West Coast, and II MEF, on the East Coast, would each be assigned one of the two approaches to test during a series of war games called MAGTF Warrior. The name highlights the Marine air-ground task force that forms the heart of the Corps' expeditionary approach warfare.

"We're going to ... let the operators who know how to fight a MEF, fight a [Marine Expeditionary Brigade], they're going to wring those [courses of action] out for us," he said.

Walsh could not immediately say which MEF will take which of the two approaches; it's not yet clear if that decision has been made.

The MAGTF Warrior war games will play out in May and June, Walsh said, before the results are presented to Neller in July for a decision. After he picks an approach, brass will begin a second phase of planning to determine how to best implement the recommended changes over the next decade within budget, time and organizational constraints.

"The design is really Marine Corps Force 2025," Walsh said. "It's not going to happen all at once."

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
When it comes to the military move, there are certain truths we all know. Moving dates are subject to change. Something you love will get broken. Babies dont sleep well in hotel rooms. And youre going to have some out-of-pocket expenses.

But you can find all sorts of deals to help lessen some of those pesky PCS expenses. Here are 6 deals to look into before, during and after your PCS move:

1. Storage

Are you planning a Do-It-Yourself or Personally Procured Move (PPM)? Do you need to stash some of your stuff in storage? Before you store, remember to use the military discounts available from companies like PODS Moving and Storage, CubeSmart, Oz Moving & Storage and SMARTBOX. Local storage facilities near you may offer discounts for military so make sure you ask wherever you go.

2. Transportation

If a DITY move is in your future, you're probably going to need to rent a moving truck as well. Penske and Budget Truck Rental offer military discounts on truck rentals to get you and your belongings where your orders take you.

3. Organization

Whether you're trying to set aside the personal items you don't want the movers to pack or you're attempting to figure out how to make the most of the space in the world's smallest closet, PCS moves go so much more smoothly when you're organized.

It's also essential to keep important documents such as copies of military orders, birth certificates, powers of attorney and packing checklists organized before, during and after your move. Store them all in one place by creating a PCS binder as soon as you start the moving process.

Stores like Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft and Michaels have military discounts that can help with any organizational needs you might have.

4. Home Decor

Whether you sold some of your belongings so you would have less stuff to move, you're upgrading to a larger house, or your PCS is just a good excuse to redecorate, you're probably going to be shopping for items to decorate your new home. Whatever you're looking for, there's likely a military discount to help you out, including Costco, Home Depot, Lowe's, Kirkland's and Blinds Chalet.

5. Home Improvement

Unless you live in a perfect world where grass doesn't grow, pictures hang themselves and appliances don't break, you're bound to face some home improvement tasks when you reach your final destination. Both Home Depot and Lowe's offer a year-round military discount to help you either spruce up the house you're trying to sell or turn your new house into a home.

6. Homeowners or Renters Insurance

Don't forget to look into homeowners or renters insurance to keep your home and personal property protected. You can compare rates and coverage with our insurance quote comparison tool.

Keep Up With all Military Discounts

Whether you're an active duty service member, a military family member, or a veteran, stay on top of all the military discounts you're eligible for, from travel accommodations to auto and entertainment deals. Subscribe to Military.com to get full access to all discounts.
Your resume is polished, your interview suit is pressed, and youre excited to go meet with a civilian recruiter. But what if your facial expression sends the message that youre disinterested, worried or angry?

Many people  civilians and veterans alike  suffer from an angry resting face. This happens when you are concentrating or thinking and your face displays grumpiness or disgust. Its likely you arent feeling those things, but people looking at or talking to you perceive those feelings by reading your face. I had a client whos boss repeatedly asked her, Is everything okay? because she always looked angry or upset. Its simply the way she looked when she was concentrating: her mouth curled down in the corners, her brow furrows and her forehead tensed.

Your body language and facial expressions send messages about how you feel. Its been said that non-verbal communication is sometimes more important than the actual words you use. For these reasons, its important to fix this issue. Some suggestions I offer clients:

In your office, place a small mirror near your computer monitor. Then, when you glance at the mirror, you can see your reflection and remind yourself to relax your face to a more pleasant position.

On the top of the notepad you take into meetings, write the initials SML to remind yourself to smile or at least not frown. Writing out SMILE might be too obvious if someone sees it.

When someone asks you, Are you okay? because you appear angry or upset reply, Oh, yes. Concentrating on work, with a smile.

In meetings where others are presenting information, consciously nod in agreement, take notes on your notepad, focus on relaxing the outer corners of your eyes, and pay close attention to making eye contact with everyone in the room. These subtle actions will reassure others in the room that you are present, open to new information and approachable.

Ask people around you if you might be sending the wrong message with your facial expressions. Whether your face is naturally pleasant, or not, the message your body language conveys is critical to your personal brand.
4:09pm: Goldberg tweets that Olivera has been charged with one count of misdemeanor assault and battery.

11:50am: Goldberg tweets that Olivera will appear before a judge this afternoon between 3:00-4:00pm and is likely to be charged with misdemeanor assault and battery.

11:29am: The Braves have issued the following statement on the situation:

We are extremely disappointed and troubled to learn of the allegations involving Hector Olivera. We will continue to gather information and will address this matter appropriately as we determine the facts. Major League Baseball has placed Oliver on Administrative Leave effective immediately.

The Braves have recalled infielder Daniel Castro from Triple-A Gwinnett to fill Oliveras spot on the roster.

10:18am: MLB has placed Olivera on administrative leave, and the commissioners office has begun to investigate his situation, Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post tweets.

9:50am: Braves outfielder Hector Olivera has been arrested in connection with a domestic dispute near Washington DC, Jeff Goldberg of ABC7 News writes. The Braves are in Washington playing a series against the Nationals. According to Goldberg, the victim dialed 911 early this morning and said she had been assaulted. She reportedly had bruises and was taken to the hospital. Olivera was arrested but has not yet been charged.

MLB has lately dealt with a number of high-profile domestic violence issues surrounding players like Aroldis Chapman and Jose Reyes. Oliveras situation could end up adding another name to that list. Chapman received a 30-game suspension from the Commissioners Office despite not being arrested or have charges filed against him, so the situation with Olivera has the potential to lead to considerably stronger discipline.

Olivera signed with the Dodgers last year as a high-profile free agent from Cuba, receiving a $62.5MM contract that continues through 2020. The Dodgers sent him to Atlanta in a three-team trade last July. He is currently the Braves starting left fielder.
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By D.I. Laary and Alimatu Quaye, GNA

Accra, April 12, GNA - Non-state actors have met to renew their commitment and boost member coalitions' efforts to push for the full implementation of the Malabo Declaration on rapid agricultural growth and transformation seeking to improve wealth and livelihoods.

Members of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Non-State Actors' Coalition (CNC) gathered in Accra, on Saturday to contemplate, among other things, the approaches to speed up operations.

The participants drawn from Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal and Nigeria deliberated on ways of helping African governments shape better policies and design appropriate programmes to transform the agricultural sector for rapid economic growth.

The Malabo Declaration, reigning high on the agenda reflected in the discussions that ensued on the topic: 'renewing partnerships and commitments towards maximising Non-State Actors' (NSA) impact in actualising the CAADP Malabo targets.

African leaders at a summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinean in 2014 adopted a declaration on accelerated agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods known as the Malabo Declaration.

The Declaration's operation strategy and roadmap outlined a wide-range of priority actions to realise the 2025 CAADP vision.

The actions are expected to be realised at the regional level that focus on boosting local systems to deliver and remove obstacles in the agriculture sector to raise productivity.

Mr Kop'ep Dabugat, Coordinator of CNC, told the Ghana News Agency that the meeting aimed to get members involved in the sensitization effort and come out with plans to ensure that members engaged in the process of making the Malabo Declaration work.

'We're coming together to engage with massive structures of CAADP partner platforms in Ghana, we are here to register our voice as non-state actors in the deliberations within the CAADP partnership plan,' he said.

'We are engaged in [ many] issues within the Malabo framework, including ending hunger, reducing poverty, reducing post-harvest loses, reduce stunting, encourage youth and women involvement in agribusiness, find ways to help government develop and diversify growth in agriculture production.'

'We want to raise issues around it, to crystalise plans and define our coalition as a whole. This year, we will come out with a concrete statement that tells our commitment, actions and recommendations for improvement in the CAADP plan.'

The members are due to issue a communique at the end of the two-day sensitisation workshop on CAADP 2014 Malabo Declaration on Agricultural Transformation and Joint Sector Reviews.

GNA
By Felicia Yeboah-Akpoh, GNA

Sekondi, April 12, GNA - Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, the Western Regional Minister, has called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to adhere to the constitution or the assemblies' standing orders and avoid acting wrongfully.

While calling for steadfastness on the part of the MMDCEs, he urged relatives and party members who were likely to push such personalities to commit crimes to refrain from tempting them with favours.

Mr Aidoo said this at the swearing-in of three new District Chief Executives for the Region at a brief ceremony in Sekondi.

They are Mr Pious Kwame Nkua, 39, Engineer; Mr Nicholas Amankwa, 32, Internal Auditor; and Mr Albert Abrefo Awotwe, 56 ,a Teacher.

They are representing Sefwi-Ankontomira, Amenfi East and Mpohor respectively.

The Regional Minister called for humility and honesty in the discharge of their duties reminding them of the non-partisan concept of the assemblies which require them to eschew politicization and rather embrace all.

He also called on them to guard against using government properties like vehicles for domestic purposes.

Mr Aidoo called on the MMDCEs to consult traditional authorities on pertinent issues in order to avoid violence.

Mr Awotwe, on behalf of his colleagues, thanked President John Dramani Mahama for their nomination saying they would work hard together with the electorates for the progress in their communities.

GNA
Accra, April 11, GNA - The Convention Peoples' Party (CPP) has commended Mr John Kudalor, the Inspector General of Police and the Police Administration for initiating proactive policing mechanism to reduce incidents of electoral violence.

'The Police Administration's proactive move to provide personal security for Presidential Nominees, their running mates, its engagement at the highest level with political party executives, and setting up of the Elections Security Taskforce needs support from democratic institutions,' Professor Edmund Nminyem Delle, the CPP Chairman, told the Ghana News Agency, in an interview in Accra.

'Judging from electoral underpinnings and postures of scores of political elements, Elections 2016 offers the ground for volatile electoral combat, therefore, all peaceful democratic forces must work together to ensure that Ghana survives the turmoil'.

Prof. Delle who is also the leader of the CPP, said Mr Kudalor and the Police Administration must be supported in their effort to disband all Political Party Militant groups.

He said it was an affront to Ghana's 1992 Constitution for any group of people to raise an army; 'political combative groups must put down their arms and work under the national security agencies to ensure peaceful political environment'.

He urged Mr Kudalor with the Ghana Police Service to continue to be steadfast in instilling discipline, respect for law and order to protect lives and property.

'The Police officer has a constitutional mandate to enforce law and order irrespective of the person's political persuasion or status in society,' Prof Delle said.

The CPP Chairman also called on all political parties who had set up armed groups to immediately take up the initiative to disarm them.

Prof Delle condemned creeping usage of physical and verbal violence by functionaries of political parties to register their dissatisfaction and engagement on national issues.

On the progress towards strengthening the CPP for the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, Prof Delle said much t hinged on the unity and stability of the party.

'Therefore, the CPP should continue to stand united and solid to move across the country to project the Presidential Nominee, Mr Kobina Ivor Greenstreet to the electorates.

'We need to maintain united and stabile front, even in the face of extreme provocation and despite outbursts of unjustifiable hostility, by showing tolerance, firmness and commitment to our objectives,' Prof Delle noted.

'The CPP have re-emerged as a proud, vibrant and respected political party, but this is not a time to sit back complacently. It is rather a challenge to renew that sense of individual involvement, responsibility and initiative, which is the very bedrock of the CPP.'

He said it was time for the CPP to consolidate all the gains it had made, so that each man, woman and child could fully benefit from the opportunities opening before them.

He stated: 'Let us all gather around the CPP to liberate Ghana once again.

'Our party is democratic because it has its origins in the grassroots participation and the involvement of the ordinary citizens in the responsibility of decision making at the local and national levels.

'We are a family of groups and individuals from diverse backgrounds and political status who share a common determination to build a stable, just and democratic society, and who all believe that the principle of development through the united participation of all Ghanaians remains the foundation of our national democratic programme.'

GNA
12.04.2016 LISTEN

By Hafsa Obeng, GNA

Accra, April 12, GNA - The Human Rights High Court, hearing the suit filed by Paul Afoko, suspended New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman, challenging his suspension by the party, says undue delay of the trial could be detrimental to his rights.

The Presiding judge, Justice Anthony Yeboah, cautioning both parties in the case and said the suit was about the human rights of an individual and therefore should not be unduly delayed.

He said, both parties should be mindful that Mr Afoko has been suspended by the party due to various claims and the fact that he was duly elected to the position.

He said it would get to a point where everyone would endorse his suspension without trial, if the case is further delayed, adding, that it is only fair for the case to be dealt with expeditiously in the interest of both parties.

Justice Yeboah asked both parties in the case to ensure that all the necessary documents are filed by the close of work on Tuesday.

He adjourned the matter to April 13, for the commencement of pre-trial.

Mr Afoko is challenging his indefinite suspension from the party, arguing it is illegal. The NPP's National Executive Committee suspended him in October 2015 for 'misconduct.'

According to him, the action and processes leading to his suspension by some elements of the party were unconstitutional and a breach of natural justice.

The decision was adopted by the party's National Council, which is the second highest decision making body of the party after congress but he maintained the party erred in the decision.

GNA
Accra, April 12, GNA - President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday began the second leg of his 'Accounting to the People Tour' at Odumase Krobo in the Eastern Region.

As part of the tour, the President would also pay a courtesy calls on chiefs in the Region and also interact with religious leaders, traders and residents of various communities and inspect ongoing projects.

A statement signed by Dr Edward Omane Boamah, Minister for Communications, said the President would use the three days to also elicit feedback on his projects from the people in the Region and inaugurate new projects including a ferry at Agordeke in the Afram Plains.

GNA
The Africa Food Prize has been launched in Accra, Ghana, with a $100,000 award package intended to inspire innovations in agricultural production and marketing.

The Prize celebrates Africans who are taking control of the continents agriculture agenda, both in the field and the marketplace.

We want to celebrate individuals and institutions that are changing the reality of farming in Africa, from a grueling struggle to survive to a profitable family business that thrives, said former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who chairs the Africa Food Prize Committee.

The Africa Food Prize was announced at the 12th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) Partnership Platform which is seeking new sources of investment and financing for African farmers and agriculture businesses.

Agriculture is emerging as Africas best bet for increasing food security and expanding economic opportunity.

The Africa Food Prize is another way we can drive a search for solutions to fundamental problems, like a chronic lack of financing, that prevent African farmers from achieving their potential, said Strive Masiyiwa, Chair and CEO of Econet Wireless International and Board Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). It can put a bright spotlight on bold initiatives and technical innovations that can be replicated across the continent to eliminate hunger and poverty and provide a vital new source of employment and income.

In addition to a dearth of financing, millions of farmers lack understanding of good agricultural practices and they have limited or no access to high quality agricultural inputs, safe storage, and basic processing, which collude to stifle production and income opportunities.

The Africa Food Prize is a successor of the Yara Prize, which was established by Yara International ASA in 2005 in response to a call for action by former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, challenging the world to create an African Green Revolution.

Winners will be chosen by the Africa Food Prize Committee, which will include other distinguished leaders in African agriculture.

The winners will be announced annually during a prize ceremony at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), starting with the 2016 AGRF slated for 5-9 September in Nairobi.

Past winners include Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the former Nigerian Agriculture Minister who now heads the African Development Bank (AfDB); Agnes Kalibata, the former Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources in Rwanda who now serves as AGRAs President; and Ousmane Badiane, Africa Director for the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh
Nairobi (AFP) - A year after Burundi was plunged into chaos, peace efforts are deadlocked in the troubled central African country with the opposition divided and power in the hands of hardliners, analysts say.

The government insists that a year of unrest is at an end with the capital Bujumbura relatively calm after a string of attacks -- including a failed coup in May 2015 -- but tensions remain and many warn of the risk of a fresh explosion of violence.

Hundreds have been killed and quarter of a million people have fled Burundi since President Pierre Nkurunziza's controversial decision last April to run for a third term, a vote he won amid opposition boycotts in July.

"After the election fever and the violence that accompanied this process, the situation has returned to normal," presidential press chief Willy Nyamitwe told AFP.

"Now the time is to work for development and the fight against poverty," he added.

The lakeside capital Bujumbura is certainly calmer, after weeks of battles between the security forces and those opposed to Nkurunziza's third term.

The once near-daily grenade blasts have also decreased.

- 'System of repression' -

"Burundi's government can't hide their satisfaction because they believe that the terrorist forces have been destroyed and order restored," said Andre Guichaoua, from France's Paris-Sorbonne University, a leading specialist in Africa's Great Lakes region.

The government crackdown involved the brutal repression of street protests, but today security forces stem opposition more discreetly, after rights groups reported dead bodies being found on the city's streets almost daily.

Last month, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said reports of torture have increased since the beginning of the year and many people there now "live in terror".

Diplomats say the crushing of the opposition has further undermined respect for the law.

One described how "power is now in the hands of a small hard core", mainly top generals close to Nkurunziza since they fought together in the bush in the 1993-2006 civil war between the mostly Tutsi army and predominantly Hutu rebel groups.

Those controlling power today are, like Nkurunziza, Hutus and have "set up a system of repression" based on core loyalist units within the varied security forces -- police, army, intelligence and the notorious Imbonerakure, the ruling party's youth wing militia.

The Imbonerakure -- whose name means "The Watchmen" or, literally, "Those Who See Far" -- have been accused of carrying out the regime's dirty work using barbaric methods.

The UN says more than 400 people have been killed since the beginning of the crisis, thousands arrested and more than 250,000 have fled abroad, while rights groups say that torture and extrajudicial killings have become commonplace.

Things may appear more calm, but "the situation is not under control", warned Thierry Vircoulon of the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.

He said the appearance of a lull in violence was "deceptive", and had been driven by "international pressure on the government" and the opposition's change of tactics in launching attacks against the security forces.

- Government exploits international divisions -

With the opposition split -- despite efforts to bring them together under the main umbrella opposition group CNARED, whose leaders are in exile -- there seems little chance of a solution in the near future.

Rebel forces and armed opposition are divided and they "discredit themselves with a war of communiques", added Vircoulon.

The international community is little better however, with analysts criticising the inability to find a "real" solution to the crisis -- and the government is exploiting those divisions.

It is acutely aware of a "red line" the international community would not allow them to cross -- genocide or regional destabilisation -- said Christian Thibon an expert on Central Africa from Franc's University of Pau.

As long as the trouble in Burundi remains "a low-intensity conflict" and the international community is not forced to act to avert disaster, those divisions are "here to stay", Thibon added.

Despite repeated calls from the international community for "inclusive dialogue", the government has remained defiant and has refused to sit with the opposition in exile, which it accuses of being behind the violence.

"In light of the divisions within the international community, nothing is pressuring the government to act swiftly," the diplomat said, suggesting it will "take several months at a minimum before real negotiations start."

Without solutions, the pressure mounts.

One Burundi-based analyst warned of a "potentially explosive situation" amid the continued violence with fears the conflict is increasingly based along ethnic lines.
South African Energy Minister H.E. Hon. TinaJoemat-Pettersson has confirmed to join the Ministries of Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique at the Southern Africa Energy & Infrastructure Summit (SAEIS) (www.Southern-Africa-Summit.com), taking place between the 4th and 6th of May.

Over 30 speakers from the SADC region will celebrate regional co-operation at the meeting and discuss the future of energy production, promoting energy and infrastructure projects that require both private and public-sector support in order to be realized in the region. The South African Minister will address investor questions on regional cooperation and South Africa's supporting role within the SADC.

Additionally the 'African Forum for Utility Regulators (AFUR)' has provided its backing of the meeting with 10 heads of regional regulation bodies attending. Regulators will contribute publically on the agenda as well as taking time at the meeting to privately debate a deeper, more integrated strategy to support private sector engagement and public sector needs.

DBSA, World Bank, OPIC, IFC, DBSA and AFC are all backing the project-focused working group, which is an extension of EnergyNet's long standing partnership with Mozambique and these backbone investors.

Having worked with the Mozambique government for 14 years now, we understand the landscape and the role the country can play regionally; therefore when a number of our private and public sector partners suggested we expand our offering to focus on energy and infrastructure projects regionally, it seemed the right move considering the rapidly changing role of SADC and SAPP to deliver greater integration.

Excitingly, the Project Advisory Unit recently established to deliver these massive projects in partnership with World Bank. These will be presented at the meeting and we expect them to throw up a number of opportunities for investors. For this reason it's important that the private sector is able to participate in Maputo to further demonstrate its ability to play a pivotal role both in the planning and execution of the framework, but also to understand more clearly where the sector is going and who is shaping its direction. Veronica Bolton Smith, Regional Director, EnergyNet

Confirmed public sector decision makers are:

H.E. Hon TinaJoemat-Pettersson,Minister of Energy, South Africa

H.E. Hon HoraceGatien,Minister of Energy and Hydrocarbons, Madagascar

H.E. Hon. SamuelUndenge, Minister of Energy and Power Development, Zimbabwe

KescelKaehaizi,Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Malawi

PascoalBacela,National Director of Energy, Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, Mozambique

IsaiasRabeca,Executive Board Member, EDM, Mozambique

Antonio Saide, CEO, FUNAE, Fundo de Energia, (Energy Fund), Ministry of Energy, Mozambique

Guiherme Luis Mavilia, Chairman and CEO, CENLEC, Mozambique

KarenBreytenbach,Head of IPP Office, Department of Energy, South Africa

Remigious Makumbe, Director of Regional Infrastructure and Services, SADC

AlisonChikova,Acting Coordination Centre Manager, Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP)

Paseka Nku, Acting CEO, NERSA, South Africa

ShamshirMukoon, Production Manager, Central Electricity Board, Mauritius

JohnKandalu,Chief Executive Officer, ESCOM, Malawi

If you would like to attend, please contact Patti Carbonell at [email protected]

Visit www.Southern-Africa-Summit.com

Event dates: 4  6 May 2016

Location: Maputo, Mozambique
13.04.2016 LISTEN

Co-host of "Kromu Nsem", a popular segment on Accra-based Hot 93.9fm's drive time show called 'Hot Rush Hour',Ibrahim Atongo has taken a swipe at prophet T.B Joshua over claims that Ghana and Nigeria are terror attacks bound.

The popular Nigerian pastor T.B Joshua on his sermon at his synagogue church on sunday made a prophecy that Ghana and Nigeria would be attacked by terrorists before the end of this week.

This,according to Atongo ,T.B Joshua shouldn't have made such a prophecy publicly:

"I'm very disappointed in a prophet i admire so much.Ah, T.B Joshua how can you say such a thing in public? You could've called the security agencies of Ghana and Nigeria privately to alert them...now you have caused fear and panic which is very bad".Atongo furiously noted.

Atongo continued ",so when his church was about to collapsed why didn't he prophesied it? This is ridiculous.

A security analyst,Irbard Ibrahim has also disclosed that though sub-saharan governments should show deference and reference to men of God,it will be misplaced to place matters on the laps of clergy men.

"Kromu Nsem" ,is a rib breaking but extremely educative segment hosted by Atongo and Orumpos Kapo which talks about socio-political issues.

It comes on every Monday,Tuesday and Thursday on 'Hot Rush hour ' drive time show hosted by Dr.Who from 3-5pm.
13.04.2016 LISTEN

The acronym MP is a short term for a Member of Parliament. Every average educated person knows this. So since parliament is another name for the legislative arm of government, and legislation means law making, MPs are individuals responsible for law making of the nation. The word MP is therefore a name given to a member of the law making institution of a nation.

Like most other words in contemporary English language, the word MP is assuming a new meaning in the Ghanaian political dispensation. So instead of a law maker, an individual referred to as an MP in Ghana is now assuming the role of the elected Chief Executive Officer of his or her constituency.

Our law makers do not discuss their mandate as those seeking to be elected into the Ghanaian Parliament to make the laws and ensure they are workable laws for Ghanaians of their constituencies. Rather, our parliamentarians are now acting as the enforcers and executors of the laws, by doing the jobs meant for the executives and related institutions in the public sectors. Our MPs are now receding to the level of taking over the role of those who are employed by the state to act in ensuring that the needs of the electorate are provided in accordance with the laws made by our MPs.

The challenge to these anomalies started from when we decided to discontinue the practice of the presidential system of governance to the letter and embarked on the hybridisation of the presidential cum parliamentary systems of governance. Furthermore, this error of commission cannot also be excused from the vacuum created by the absence of an elected District Chief Executives.

The difference between the parliamentary and the president systems is, while members of parliament in the parliamentary system are elected to actively act as both the executive members of the state, and to function as members of parliament who also sit in the national parliament to make laws, the presidential system excludes all elected members of parliament from acting in any executive capacity as it limits their role absolutely to law making.

Ghana runs an executive presidential system but hybridised to accommodate some traits of parliamentary system. Whatever intent our experimental system seek to achieve, it is now getting out of hand and making us into a democratic joke. The approach is now making individuals elected as law makers, but share the same political party with the president, to be at the mercy of the president.

This weakens the power of parliament as a check on the executive arm. The principles of Separation of Power for Check and Balance to work, is an essential part of a presidential system. This clearly suffer in the instance of lumping up the two systems.

The executive arm of government in Ghana has now become too powerful to be power corrupted. The situation even worsen up by the president having majority members of his party in parliament, hovering around him for an executive position.

Almost every member of the Ghanaian parliament, with his or her political party in power, eye a ministerial or other executive position. Since the power to appointing ministers is a prerogative of the executive president, the Ghanaian lawmakers see their election as license to assuming executive role, than that of law makers. Individuals stand before their constituencies with all sorts of packaged lies, for election as law makers, to assume executive roles.

This trend has been the practice for a very long time. We had MPs promising electorates to personally build projects that then results in mass demonstration when the reality of law making and execution sets in. MPs gets elected and find out that the Parliament House is not a place for the execution of projects.

Challenges like this are common to most democratic evolution of a people. It falls on journalists and political scientists to raise the red flag and have the anomalies corrected when they are endangering the whole democratic ideals.

Our political scientists are busy in the classrooms discussing the theories and undecided on the fate of the hybridised Ghanaian system of democratic governance. The MPs are now force into what they are not intended for.

The media as usual are being carried away by their drive to innovation, to engage in adding flavour to the confusion. TV3 is now airing a program providing platforms to all those contending for constituency parliamentary seats. Each candidate act like an 'executive' MP, to explain their manifestos to the public. The gesture portray the Ghanaian media as equally confused in misleading the public or have just join the Jones in the wild goes chase.

Aspiring Members of parliament are now coming up with all forms of initiative, like their predecessors, to build castle in the air, for vote. Most are even engaging in breaking the laws before they are elected, as the laws means nothing to them.

If our MPs are openly showing ignorance of their role and assuming the duty of law executors, who are going to be the law makers of Ghana? Who are going to be telling us about the challenges in our laws, discussing, these laws by educating us on them and seeking our mandate to change the laws in parliament, to replace them with better ones? If our MPs are talking about seeking our mandates to raise fund in building community hospitals and schools, who will then be making laws for the ministers and ensuring that the ministers obey the laws? How lawful are our honourable law makers?

Kofi Ali Abdul-Yekin

Chairman

ECRA

+233579096749

+447737224787

[email protected]
President John Mahama has touted Ghana's economy as one of the best in the world despite global challenges.

According him prudent economic measures put in place by the country's economic management team has ensured that the Ghanaian economy remains resilient.

Addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Akwamufie in the Eastern Region as part of his Accounting to the People" tour, the President noted that the economic situations in many countries worldwide are in crisis due to the fall in the world market price for crude.

Almost every country is facing financial challenges; some of them are as a result of the fall in the world market price for oil, so countries like Saudi Arabia today are implementing austerity measures, increasing the prices of petroleum products and utilities.

It's not only Saudi but countries with huge foreign reserves of billions of dollars are facing financial challenges. Our own neighbour Nigeria is having economic problems because of the world prices of oil, he explained.

He stated that some countries that had no oil but are commodity exporters have suffered setbacks as a result of the slow in China.

The prices of copper and cocoa have collapsed, the prices of many commodities have collapsed and so their economies are facing challenges, he noted.

The President's three-day tour of the Eastern Region is to inspect ongoing projects, commission completed projects undertaken by his administration and break grounds for the commencement of new ones.

The tour will also afford him the opportunity to interact with chiefs and community residents and account for his stewardship since he assumed office as the President, barely three years ago.

President Mahama began his visit to the region by paying a courtesy call on the paramount chief of Manya Krobo. Chiefs, elders and opinion leaders as well as teeming NDC supporters and government officials were there to lend their support and welcome the President.

Most of them could not hide their excitement when the President arrived at the forecourt of the Manya Krobo chief's palace where a durbar was held to welcome him.

Welcoming the president, Nene Asadahor, the chief of Akuse and spokesperson of the traditional council who spoke on behalf of the Konor, Nene Sackitey II , commended government for the massive infrastructure development it has executed in Kroboland.

He mentioned the construction of several road networks and the expansion of educational and health infrastructure among many others.

Expressing gratitude for the unflinching support he has received from the people of Krobo over the years, President Mahama assured residents of government's assistance in all fields of the country's economy.

On the establishment of the first public university in the Eastern Region to train potential tertiary students in fields of Agricultural and environmental science, President Mahama noted that the school will adopt research as its focus for farmers in the area to benefit.

He added that in his next term of office his government will focus on training the youth to acquire hands-on to turn the economy around.

At AKwamufie, the Paramount chief, Odeneho Kwafo Akoto II, enumerated some challenges facing his area.

President Mahama will continue his tour of the region tomorrow. He is expected to interact with residents and commission several projects in the Akyem area.
A group of concerned residents of Obuasi has embarked on a campaign to demand urgent measures to salvage the local economy of Ghanas largest gold city from total collapse.

AngloGold Ashantis downsizing of operations at the Obuasi mine has had significant economic and social impacts in the Obuasi municipality and adjourning districts.

Recent invasion of sensitive areas of the mine by a group of small scale miners has heightened the state of insecurity and stalled the limited mining activities of AGA.

The Obuasi Must Live Coalition says the invasion of sensitive areas of AGAs concession by small scale miners is unacceptable.

At a press conference, Coordinator of the Coalition, Prince Kwame Aboagye, expressed disappointment that in spite of the obvious invasion of the companys concession by small scale miners, both the Municipal and Regional Security Councils have not thought it expedient to swiftly order security personnel to move in and secure this concession.

It has become apparent that in their desire to satisfy a group of small scale miners, the RCC is unconsciously killing the very hen that lay the golden egg. We cannot as a country support small scale mining at the expense of the survival of AngloGold Ashanti, he read a statement by the Coalition.

Whilst calling on both AngloGold Ashanti and the small scale miners to resort to dialogue as the only sustainable means of ensuring a peaceful co-existence, the group says the military should provide security for AngloGold Ashanti to resume their operations.

Among other demands, the group wants government to come clear on measures it has taken to make Anglogold Ashantis relinquished 60 percent concession available to small scale miners.

The Obuasi Municipal Assembly, working with the small scale miners should take advantage of AGAs offer of free technical support to develop this relinquished concession, said the statement.

AngloGold Ashanti has also been asked to immediately publish their revised concession of 40 percent which they have kept to ease policing of the concession.

It is possible to have a thriving AngloGold Ashanti mine, and a booming legally registered and regulated small scale mining industry. There is no reason for conflict between the twoObuasi must not die, said Prince Aboagye.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh
Development projects supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Nigeria have been effective in improving the livelihoods of rural poor people and strengthening their food production systems in a number of impoverished, remote communities, according to findings presented in Abuja by the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD.

The main objectives of the evaluation were to assess the results and performance of the IFAD-Government partnership in reducing rural poverty and to generate findings and recommendations for the future partnership between IFAD and Nigeria. The evaluation found that the programme targeted poverty reasonably well. During the period covered by the evaluation, 2009-2015, IFAD-funded operations focused on the poorest states in the country, and have effectively provided support to poorer northern states.

The single most important achievement according to the evaluation was the creation of community-based organizations which enabled local governments to channel funding into otherwise hard-to-reach places. These committees continue to play an active role planning community infrastructure and managing community assets in a sustainable way, in particular in northern Nigeria.

IFAD-supported programmes reached 9.2 million people out of the 14.2 million targeted. The outreach was less than planned but the concentration of investments in a smaller number of villages enabled the activities to be delivered successfully and to create good results. Notable achievements were recorded with regard to access to financial services, community capacity-building and job creation. The benefits derived, in terms of building assets and disseminating technology, were visible and, according to a field survey conducted by the evaluation team, are well sustained. Local governments continued funding community activities beyond the lifetime of IFADs support.

"The evaluation has allowed us to reflect on the impact of our work in areas such as community-driven development," said Ides de Willebois, Director of IFAD's West and Central Africa Division. "IFADs support in community-driven development activities has been particularly successful, especially with community development associations, linked to local government authorities and that continue to function after the project completion."

The evaluation noted that the scale of the impact remained limited given the size of the country, and poverty statistics overall showed an increasing divide between the urban and rural areas and wealthy and poor people.

In particular, the evaluation highlighted the need for a more strategic approach to partnership-building at federal and state levels and that IFAD expand its existing partnerships as well as develop new ones.

"A missing partner, particularly in the earlier IFAD-supported operations, has been the private sector. Its involvement is crucial given the move towards markets and processing across the portfolio, said Oscar A. Garcia, Director of the Independent Office of Evaluation.

"It is necessary to mobilize a range of public-private partnerships around fertilizer, seeds and processing in line with the approach stipulated by Nigeria's Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA)."

A more strategic approach would be supported by stronger coordination of donor-funded programmes at the federal level, the report concluded.

Over the last 30 years, IFAD has supported 10 projects in Nigeria for a total cost of US$795.3 million, of which IFAD has provided $317.6 million.
Child Online Protection  COP has been in the spotlight for some time now and in 2015 we proved to everybody why it is a challenge for policy makers. We previously made recommendations for some key sectors (Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Gender, children and Social Protection) to get involved in our effort to put COP at the top of their to do list helping to make the cyber world a better place for especially Ghanaian children and young people everywhere.

This has not happened. Our disappointment stems from the fact that seven months down the line, not a single practical action has been taken by the respective ministries to safeguard children and young people online. COP was mentioned in the 2016 budget statement but little concrete action has been taken since. Should we wait to see things get out of hand before measures are put in place to right the wrongs? Its about time we stop the firefighting approach to dealing with real life issues concerning young people.

JI and partners are of the view that the child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society, and brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity. Although this document was written before children started using the Internet, it spells out protections and rights of freedom of expression and access to media for children around the world. Analyzing the rights contained within Ghanas Childrens Act of 1998(-Act 560), one begins to appreciate that these two documents are framed around 3 Ps protection, provision and participation. Both documents should work in tandem but that is not what we see in Ghana.

Just because the UNCRC and our Childrens Act predate the commercialization of the Internet doesnt mean that they cant be applied to the digital age. Other Bills have been interpreted to guarantee people the freedom they require from the law and this should be the case for UNCRC and the Childrens Act. Both are living documents and should be subject to modern interpretation.

To make these relevant to the times saw the passing of Resolution 200 (BUSAN 2014):Through the ITU 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference Resolution 200 on Connect 2020 Agenda for global telecommunication/ICT development, ITU Member States committed to ensure the important role of ICTs as a key enabler and promotor to achieve the Post-2015 Development Agenda, and to acknowledge them as an important tool to achieve the overall SDGs.

So for us JI and partners what Ghana needs to do now in partial fulfilment of Resolution 200 would be to reduce the risks of the digital revolution while enabling more children to take advantage of its unprecedented opportunities to communicate, connect, share, learn, access information and express their opinions in a safe environment without fear.

Owing to the fact that Goal 3 of the Resolution 200 entreats member countries to be able to manage challenges resulting from telecommunication/ICT development, it will be imperative for Ghana to start the discussion around: Firstly childrens equal and safe access to digital media and ICT and second on childrens empowerment and engagement through digital media.

The solution is right here with us. There is nothing as powerful as empowering children, particularly when such empowerment is founded on a balanced approach between protection and participation, where children are the drivers of a safe and participatory digital world in which all stakeholders play their different roles effectively.

Secondly, ensure equal access to digital media and ICT by technology infrastructure that ensures safe, free or low-cost access targeted at different groups, particularly girls, children with disabilities and other vulnerable groups of children.

In addition to the above, build capacities of all children, parents, teachers and all those working with and for children in good quality digital education.

Finally, provide training for law enforcement agencies and others working with children while ensuring awareness raising for children and adults of all the potential risks. Let children play a key role in protecting themselves and their peers against the risks.

These recommendations may not do it all but its an important step toward updating the interpretation of the UNCRC and the Childrens Acts so that rights that are guaranteed offline are also applied online.

Contact: Awo Aidam Amenyah

Executive Director, J Initiative

027 200 1006, [email protected]
Ibadan, Nigeria, 11 April 2016  More than 200 research and development partners and experts will meet at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture ( IITA ), Ibadan, Nigeria, in a three-day workshop to discuss a new initiative known as Africa Feeding Africa, or the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) program. The TAAT program is a critical strategy for transforming agriculture on the continent that would ensure that Africa is able to feed itself through agriculture.

The goal of the TAAT Program includes eliminating extreme poverty, ending hunger and malnutrition, achieving food sufficiency, and turning Africa into a net food exporter as well as setting Africa in step with global commodity and agricultural value chains.

Adopting modernized, commercial agriculture is the key to transforming Africa and the livelihoods of its people, particularly the rural poor.

To carry out these objectives, the African Development Bank ( AfDB ), working with IITA and other partners, has identified eight priority agricultural value chains relating to rice sufficiency, cassava intensification, Sahelian food security, savannas as breadbaskets, restoring tree plantations, expanding horticulture, increasing wheat production, and expanded fish farming.

The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa ( FARA ) and the CGIAR Consortium and 12 of its 15 international agricultural centers active in Africa support this initiative by the Bank and the co-sponsors to revitalize and transform agriculture through the TAAT program within the shortest possible time while restoring degraded land and maintaining or strengthening the ecosystems that underpin agriculture. The 12-14 April workshop is being organized by IITA in partnership with the Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops ( SARD-SC ) project for the African Development Bank, which is funding this mega initiative.

The identification and preparation workshop is a preliminary step to establishing and operationalizing the program. It will be attended by leading agricultural experts from Africa and beyond, development institutions, research agencies, the private sector, financial institutions, academia, and civil society. The workshop is a response to the Action Plan for Agricultural Transformation in Africa resulting from the AfDB-led high-levelconference held in Dakar, Senegal, in October 2015. The major objective is to execute a bold plan to achieve rapid agricultural transformation across Africa and raise agricultural productivity.

This initiative will be led by IITA, FARA, CGIAR, national agricultural research systems, and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa ( AGRA ). This will involve close partnerships among AfDB, the World Bank, and major development partners to ensure increased funding for agricultural research and development along the value chains in Africa. CGIAR, FARA, AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center, AfricaHarvest , and other partners will provide the technical and developmental support for the Banks quest of widespread agricultural transformation.

IITA supports AfDB and partners in ensuring that TAAT is effectively set up, said IITA Director General, Nteranya Sanginga . The whole CGIAR system is backing this huge initiative with its research infrastructure in collaboration with FARA, AGRA, Africa Harvest, and the national partners. Everybody wants to ensure that this initiative succeeds.

To date, about 22 African countries have been identified as potential partners with the CGIAR centers in the planning, content, and evaluation of investments in agricultural transformation. This workshop gives an opportunity for more Regional Membership Countries (RMCs) of AfDB to join in this effort.

About IITA

IITA is one of the worlds leading research partners in finding solutions for hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Its award-winning research-for-development (R4D) approach addresses the development needs of tropical countries. IITA works with partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is a nonprofit organization founded in 1967 in Nigeria and governed by a Board of Trustees. IITA works on the following crops: cowpea, soybean, banana/plantain, yam, cassava, and maize. It is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food-secure future. www.iita.org

About CGIAR Consortium

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR is the only worldwide partnership addressing agricultural research for development, whose work contributes to the global effort to tackle poverty, hunger and major nutrition imbalances, and environmental degradation. Research is carried out by the 15 Centers, members of the CGIAR Consortium, in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector. www.cgiar.org

About the African Development Bank Group

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is Africas premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 34 African countries with an external office in Japan, the AfDB contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. www.afdb.org

Hashtag: #taat

https://www.facebook.com/IITA.CGIAR
Food safety, and aflatoxins in particular, is a significant threat to public health, agriculture and food systems in sub-Saharan Africa.

Each year, almost one in 10 people fall ill from eating contaminated food and 420,000 die as a result. Children under age five are particularly at risk  125,000 children will die from foodborne diseases this year.

Aflatoxins are invisible poisons which contaminate staple foods, cash crops and animal feeds. They are produced by fungi and can occur throughout value chains making it difficult to target interventions.

Aflatoxin contamination is one of the most pervasive food safety challenges in Africa.

According to Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), growing globalisation of markets constitutes a challenge to assuring a safe and healthy food supply: a challenge that can only be met if all countries are able to implement programs that ensure good food safety practices along the food chain.

This, he says, requires that governments establish adequate policies on food safety, implement regulatory programs that are consistent with Codex and provide for training for all involved across the food system.

The Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition is partnering the African Union Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA) to champion food safety and promoting a growing understanding and political will in Africa to address aflatoxins.

African governments must act decisively to address the risks of unsafe food and aflatoxins. With the right support and incentives, threats to nutrition and health originating from food can be much reduced, said President John Kufuor, Co-Chair of the Global Panel.

Food systems are rapidly changing, bringing greater attention to issues of food safety. Detecting and eliminating foodborne risks is becoming more complex and difficult as supply chains become longer with more global actors involved.

A High Level Roundtable on Food Safety and Aflatoxins held on the sidelines of the 12th CADDP Partnership Platform meeting in Accra, launched the Global Panels brief on food safety and introduce its key messages to African leaders.

Food systems are evolving, giving rise to new food safety challenges. Assuring a safe food supply requires the highest level of political commitment to strengthen national systems. This is especially important for Africa and other developing countries, noted Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Global Panel Member and President of the African Development Bank.

The Global Panels policy brief: Assuring Safe Food Systems: Policy Options for a Healthier Food Supply, reviews critical food safety issues to poor and vulnerable populations in low and middle-income countries. It sets out why governments must pay closer attention to food safety issues and invest accordingly, from production through to consumption.

International concern over unsafe food is growing. Its high time that governments and other key stakeholders do more to ensure the supply of safer food for all, and to strengthen food safety information systems across all segments of the food chain, said Sir John Beddington, Co-Chair, Global Panel.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh
From the primitive era where man and beast peacefully co-existed, the world has evolved socially, economically, technologically and more so environmentally; creating a different story in the contemporary world. Human-wildlife conflict stories hit our headlines way too often, as a result of factors we have largely contributed to. This is where the aspect of Green Ideology comes in - an idea that aims at creating an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism/ecology, nonviolence, social justice and democracy.

The earth is one, interconnected in nature. Any interference with any single part of nature may have undesirable effects on the entire natural system and natural processes-ecologists argue. Deforestation, pollution, global warming, etc., are some of the many examples of such devastating effects, caused by unintended consequences of human intervention in nature. Yet, unknowingly (or knowingly), we upset both living and nonliving organisms with effects vindictively reverting back to us, as if avenging our doings.

Looking around the globe and specifically in Africa, how do we explain the long spells of drought, starving and malnourished children, flash floods and even the recently experienced heat wave in East Africa ? Speaking of the heat wave, while some meteorologists argued it was as a result of the "equinox phenomenon", where the plane of earth's equator passes through the center of the sun, placing the sun exactly overhead, leading to high temperatures; others blamed it on climate change.

Lets put that aside. Africas population has been growing rapidly as are the economic growth rates of different countries. Urbanization and unemployment in Africa has led to swift relocation of people from the rural areas to the cities in search of opportunities. As a result, industrial production has gone up and so has the amount of waste emissions from these industries. While this is largely expected, the Bourgeois who own these factories and our governments have turned their backs on their responsibilities to ensure proper drainage systems are in place; to avert the increasing environmental degradation from the industrial waste.

While they live in the high end estates, the proletariats retire to their humble dwellings, consume water polluted by the waste and spend all their peanut earnings on medical treatment for their ever sickly children. We may be seeking to move Africa from the periphery to the semi-periphery and maybe, just maybe to the core in the next millennia, but this shall remain a far-fetched dream for Africa; as long as the working class remains thus morbid.

Africa is a rich continent; rich with natural resources and clean energy that is the envy of other continents. Rich with beautiful destinations and wildlife, some of which are the only remaining species in the world. Rich with a people, so warm and hospitable. But why, why have we for so long been subjected to general mockery and ridicule? Why have we allowed the West to use our own natural resources to turn us against each other? Africa can do better than this. There is room for regional integration not only in politics and trade, but in creating an environmentally stable continent for all of us. A healthy continent with sustainable food production growth, enough for everyone. Where tourists will flock not just to see the wildlife but because Africa is where they would rather be.

Thankfully, there are individuals, non-profit organizations and even corporate firms that have taken it upon themselves to spearhead this agenda. Investing in online markets as opposed to traditional brick and mortar business is arguably more eco-friendly while still supporting improved customer experience. Take the booking of hotels for instance. If a tourist was to drive to 10 hotels comparing the best for his/her upcoming vacation, how much carbon footprint would be emitted by just a single person in a day?

Yet, the presence of online hotel booking websites such as Jovago.com and Expedia enables travelers to compare different destinations from the comfort of their homes, with just a click of a button. Going online also reduces the commotion of people in the streets as they move from one shop to another, shopping.

Despite the economic growth forecast for Africa, the next generation shall be more content if we create, today, a greener continent. As Kofi Annan remarked during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos earlier this year, Africa has the possibility of being the first continent to become a green continent. Then and only then shall we confidently say that Africa is making the right strides towards the right direction.
Ghana's Electoral Commission has now unveiled its plan to commit electoral fraud on Ghanaians ahead of the 2016 elections with yet another action that smacks on the face of common sense. They have unveiled a new logo that can best be described as "creche logo" doing away its long standing principles of transparency, fairness and integrity.

The long standing issues over the credibility of the voters' register; whether to audit or validate registered voters and lack of clear timetable or even preparation towards peaceful elections, are not their concern in any shape or form. The cost and time the EC has taken in designing, creating and flagging of this new childish logo beat my imagination. They have also answered my long standing fear that the EC is not longer responsive to our calls for fairness and transparency in our elections and their own integrity in exercising this our God-given civil right.

The posture of the Electoral Commission sometimes scares me as to the longevity and the credibility of our democracy. When the referee becomes unresponsive and the chaser is being chased, chaos is the only plausible outcome. We are breeding a wild institution which is no longer responsive to our needs. The spirit of neutrality and responsibility to public needs have completely gone out of the books of the Electoral Commission. The opposition parties have become too weak in the face of the absolute powers of the Commission and the government is playing happy families with them.

There is no doubt that the EC is currently facing a credibility crisis in the public eyes and this will likely have a negative impact on the 2016 elections if steps are not taken to redress the imbalance in public minds. The almost yearlong Supreme Court Petition should have led to some political legacy for our democracy. We need to change the way we hold elections in Ghana and it must start with EC self-introspection before we have a national implosion. We have a great opportunity to put our badly run democracy back on track and it must start with the way our elections are conducted. Surely the arrogant posture taken by the spokesperson for EC does not help the matter in any way and if anything heightens the political tension in our country
Unemployed environmental health officers who completed their studies at the School of Hygiene at Korle Bu in Accra, Ho and Tamale from 2011 have been absorbed into the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), pending the granting of financial clearance for their permanent employment.

The health officers, who number 1,347, have been employed by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for temporary engagement under the YEA for one year, beginning from May 2, 2016, subject to renewal after the expiration of their engagement.

They will be paid GH450 per month as non-taxable allowance.

Agreement

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to that effect was jointly signed yesterday by the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Haruna Iddrisu; the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Alhaji Collins Dauda; the Chief Executive Officer of the YEA, Mr Kwabena Beecham, and the leader of the Concerned Environmental Health Officers/Assistants, Mr Prince Dzramado.

The various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs), according to the agreement, were to fully utilise the officers to improve and enhance their internally generated funds.

Additionally, the MoU said urgent steps would be taken by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Finance Ministry in particular to obtain financial clearance for their recruitment not later than three months after the expiration of their engagement with the YEA.

Mr Iddrisu promised the health officers that in addition to their monthly allowances, the MMDAs where they would be deployed would be responsible for their accommodation.

Alhaji Dauda, for his part, described the deployment of the officers as timely, in view of the sanitation challenges bedevilling the country.

Allaying the fears of the graduates against being short-changed, the minister gave an assurance that the MMDAs would recognise them as environmental health assistants/officers to put the knowledge they had acquired in school at the disposal of the country.

Picketing

The unemployed graduates, in November last year, picketed at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to demand immediate employment.

Since graduating in 2011, they had not been posted to start work and so they picketed on the premises of the ministry and slept on the corridors and in the garages of the building after vowing not to leave the premises until their concerns had been addressed.

Mr Dzramado had explained that their decision to picket stemmed from 'the mishandling of their employment issues by the ministry', saying that four batches of graduates who completed health training programmes at the various institutions four years ago were faced with frustration and hardships as they continued to stay at home unemployed.

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The National Democratic Congress Parliamentary nominee for Kunbungu in the Northern region Ras Mubarak denied being attacked by youth in his area.

Speaking to Accra based Peace FM Wednesday morning, Mubarak said he was in the constituency doing his parliamentary campaign and said nothing of that sort has happened to him.

He told Peace FM that he was not using a black SUV as captured in the video and rather he was using a 'borrowed' Infiniti SUV vehicle which was wine in colour.

A delegation of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Northern Region were on Friday reportedly chased out by an irate youth of Dalun, a community in the Kunbungu constituency of the Northern region.

The incident of the attack was said to have happened at the open court of the palace of the Chief of Dalun.

The youth were said to have chanted and wildly demanded that the delegation leave the place for failing to account to them at least a single project undertaken by the administration in the area.

The party leaders had gone to the area as part of a campaign tour and were enumerating projects by the NDC administration as contained in the 'green book' labeled as Accounting to the People when the youth started loud murmurs saying 'lies, lies'.

The NDC delegation took to their heels to avoid being attacked by the youth.

Those in the delegation according to sources were the NDC Parliamentary nominee for Kunbungu Abdulai, Mohammed Mubarak, alias 'Ras Mubarak', the Deputy Northern Regional Minister and Member of Parliament (MP) for Sagnarigu Constituency, Mr A.B.A Fuseini, the NDC Regional Chairman, Chief Sorfo Azorka and other other party leaders.

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US Secretary Of Defence listed Russia as a greater threat than terrorist country like DPR KOREA and Iran. The WEST have imposed multiple sanctions on Russia. These sanctions from the WEST made life of the Russian really difficult.

There's no DOUBT about Russian MIGHT. Maybe, applying of their "FORCE" could easily free them from the BLOCKADE imposed by US and it's western ally. It may sound impractical for Russia to apply MIGHT in freeing themselves from WESTERN PRESSURE but TRUTH is MIGHT IS RIGHT AND it's always RIGHT..!!

In UN General Assembly (UNGA-2015) US president Barack Obama openly declared, Bashar Al Asad forces will be crushed by US and it's pals. But Russia's interference into the Syria affairs made the case a totally different one. As Russia interfered, USA turned into mouse from lion.

In my last write-up published in MODERN GHANA dated 30/03/2016, I mentioned about a muslim journalist who blindly advocated for Israel. Also I mentioned how greatly he was benefited by unethically standing for Israel.

Whenever there was any political crisis in Bangladesh, especially before any general elections, both US and British embassy were active in resolving their crisis. Whatever was the outcome of negotiations, talks in resolving the crisis amongst the Bangladeshi political parties, people knew, it is the US embassy who shall play the main ROLE. They are the main DECIDING FACTOR-- the dictating factor. Anybody who directly or indirectly was known as an American "AGENT" was enjoying high value in the society. Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, the BLITZ editor was one of them. Although he was popularly known to be the "BELOVED" of Israel but it was believed that his main source of "power" was USA. It's because of his receiving "PRESTIGIOUS" awards like PEN USA, American Jewish committee and above all passing of a BILL (HR64) in his favor by US congress unanimously asking Bangladesh government not to intimidate Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury or his family. Despite of the HR64, present government in Bangladesh, who is of secular nature, punished Choudhry to seven years in prison for claiming that there is existence of radical muslim within Bangladesh. Choudhury's case clearly signals, US influence is gradually decreasing in Bangladesh. There was a time when any US congressman was good enough to "SNATCH AWAY" any US national even though the person was convicted for involvement into DRUG TRAFFICKING. But those days have drastically changed.

There was a time when Russia was believed to be a BALANCE between the two super powers -- USA and USSR. But, 1990's disaster crushed Russia and put US in a position to act as the single influencer in the whole world. United States and it's allays practically got license to do anything and everything they wished until Russian again woke up and showed their might in Syria. Until very recently it was believed that USA is the only tiger leading the WORLD JUNGLE. But Russian proved them to be a PAPER TIGER having nothing but PET POWERFUL MEDIA in their hands.

Russians recently declared MEDIA WAR against those "TRICKY PET MEDIA GIANTS". Russian tv RT on everyday basis is UNMASKING the FAKE IMAGE of the leaders in USA and it's ally countries. Recent report reveals UK prime minster David Cameron being a TAX EVADER. Can such act be termed as "CORRUPTION"? Even the Britons are claiming so and demanding resignation of Cameron.

There's an ongoing movement in the United States called DEMOCRACY SPRING, those demonstrators are demanding restoration of democracy in the United States. Many scholars and educationist including Top journalists believe this movement shall go on unit DEMOCRACY is restored. While some believe it is funded by some ANTI GROUP who are taking part in US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. A question was there to the interviewees why news networks like CNN is numb in such huge event? The answer was those BIG NETWORKS are mere BIASED media, serving interest of any biased groups. They don't mind covering similar event in Egypt which is thousands of miles away, while they are silent in their own SOIL.

I'm not an Anti American. But this is my realization and it is, through MEDIA the image US created definitely is exaggeration. USA isn't at all as democratic as it portrays to the world. Nor are they such FEROCIOUS TIGER that they shall swallow if anything is done "against". At least Country like Bangladesh has proven it.
13.04.2016 LISTEN

Nana Akufo-Addo will govern Ghana with "death threats" against journalists, should he ever become the president of Ghana, General Secretary of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia has said.

He told Chief Jerry Forson on Accra100.5fm's breakfast show Ghana Yensom on Wednesday April 13 that unlike President John Mahama, who responds, via the media, to falsehoods and untruths peddled by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) about him and his administration in the media, the flagbearer of the NPP has demonstrated that he would be intolerant to media criticisms and would resort to "threats of deaths" against journalists, who may speak ill of him, should he become president.

"I believe if Nana Addo were the president of Ghana, he would resort to threats of death against anyone who crticises him. Instead of responding to such critics on the airwaves, I believe he would call them and threaten to kill them if they do not stop criticising or peddling falsehood about him.

"That is how I see Nana Addo because even though he is not yet a president, he has threatened to kill Adakabre, so, if he becomes the president of Ghana and gets the coercive forces of the state at his beck and call, don't you journalists think he will kill you rough rough?'" Mr Asiedu Nketia popularly known as General Mosquito told Chief Jerry Forson.

"It is Nana Addo's nature, which is dangerous to society," he said.

Mr Asiedu Nketia's reference to Adakabre Frimpong Manso is in connection with a recent claim by the journalist that the three-time flagbearer of the NPP once threatened him  a charge he later withdrew and apologised for.

"Nana Addo abused and threatened me, I was so sad and scared but I kept quiet because I didn't want to be the fall guy through which something happens and they would say: 'It is because of Adakabre', so, I kept quiet. I was afraid becauseI was told to the face that you will be killed at a specific date, I have all the evidence, I can substantiate themI have everything on my phone, I have kept the phones and I would be willing to show it to anybody who wants to see them," Frimpong Manso told Joy FM's Super Morning Show host Kojo Yankson in an interview on April 4, a day after the NPP had issued a statement saying it would boycott programmes hosted by Adakabre and Kwame Nkrumah Tikese, another radio host at OKAY FM.
Accra, Ghana  On April 12 and 13, the USAID West Africa Trade and Investment Hub (Trade Hub) will train coordinators from seven West African countries to assist businesses with the processes and documentation required for exporting to the United States under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

Coordinators from AGOA Trade Resource Centers (ATRCs) in Ghana as well as Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote dIvoire, Nigeria and Senegal will convene for training on how to deliver services in trade intelligence, export development, business promotion and trade facilitation to existing and potential exporters. Participants will also learn from best practices across the region and share experiences in supporting exporters.

Hosted within local institutions, the ATRCs have assisted over 2,700 businesses seeking to export to the United States under AGOA, which waives duties and quotas on thousands of goods made in eligible sub-Saharan African countries. Since 2005, USAID has provided grants to build the sustainability of the ATRC network and the host institutions which provide trade-related services to private sector companies. The grants cover training and the costs of building a database of exporters, further enabling ATRCs to develop exporters capacity, market linkages, and sector-specific strategies to boost trade.

USAID supports greater use of AGOAs tariff advantages across West Africa. Each ATRC is expected to undertake activities that enhance the export potential of companies seeking to take advantage of AGOA. These activities include: developing and providing trade intelligence services through trade and business associations or directly to individual businesses; promoting trade and export development advisory services by providing hands-on assistance directly to companies to help them understand market requirements and regulations, packaging/labeling, costing, and finance; providing business promotion services with trade show/fair participation and facilitation of regional and international business linkages; and providing customs documentation assistance to businesses.

This support is building a solid and sustainable network of local institutions that can tailor services to the private sector to enhance their capacity to trade regionally and export to international markets.

The ATRC in Accra is located at the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, First Floor, World Trade Centre. John Kwesi Amanfu is the ATRC coordinator.
Accra Ghana, Monday April 4, 2016: Ghana will host the maiden edition of the Impact Africa Summit on Thursday July 7, 2016 at the Tang Palace Hotel in Accra.

The Impact Africa Summit; founded on the principles of the hope of seeing a New Africa for Africans and the World as well as celebrating the new phase of the African continent; a continent changing the dynamics of the world, a continent with a budding economic and political growth and a continent with an expanding knowledge base would be a country specific event making stops from one African country to the other.

The summit would tell the story of the New African Personality, described by the summits working guidelines as an assured African or Non - African, confident in Africa, at home in Africa, and the world at large, who is or has exerted a positive impact on the development agenda of the continent.

The Impact Africa Summit: Ghana will thus bring together representatives from the Government, Political Parties, Diplomatic Community, Academia, Civil Society Organizations, Heads of Local and Foreign Businesses, Foreign Investors, Media and a host of others to champion the course of the summit with Ghana in perspective.

The high profile delegates congregating at the summit would also celebrate and award some personalities of the land who have created an impact in the country in the fields of Leadership & Governance, Education, Media and Communications, Health, as well as Business and Entrepreneurship.

The July 7 scheduled summit would create a platform for a solemn discussion on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Ghana and the prospects of the goals for the African continent as a whole in ending poverty, fighting inequality and injustice, and tackling climate change by 2030.

The Impact Africa Summit is an initiative of Diplomatic Call in partnership with the Diplomatic Council, International Perspective, EnergyNet UK and the Ghana UK Based Achievement (GUBA) Awards.
Introduction

According to relevant provisions of the African Charter on Democracy, Governing Democratic Elections in Africa 2002, the African Union Guidelines on elections observation and monitoring missions 2002, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AU), HE Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, dispatched an election observation Mission (AUEOM) for the first round of presidential election on April 10, 2016 in the Republic of Chad. The Mission is led by His Excellency Professor Dioncounda Traore, former Transition President of the Republic of Mali. The numerical strength of the mission is 34 observers, made of accredited ambassadors to African Union, Pan-African Parliamentarians, officials of election management bodies and members of the civil society. The observers are from 23 countries, namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Seychelles, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.

The AUEOM receives technical and logistical support of experts from the African Union Commission (AU), the Pan African Parliament (PAP) and the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA). The team arrived Chad on April 6, 2016 and had monitored and evaluated the end of the campaign, voting procedures and counting of votes. It will remain in the country until 14th April 2016 to trail the compilation of the provisional results of the election. This statement, which follows the various exchanges with stakeholders and the observation of the electoral process, presents the preliminary report and recommendations of AUEOM. A more comprehensive final report will expand the analysis of the Chadian electoral process and will submit a more detailed report and recommendations of the Mission.

II. Objectives and Methodology

The objective of the Mission is to make an independent, objective and impartial conduct of the electoral process in the Republic of Chad on the basis of the relevant provisions of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance adopted in 2007 which entered into force in 2012; the Declaration of the OAU / AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa 2002; AU Guidelines for elections observation and monitoring missions of 2002 and other relevant instruments governing the conduct of democratic elections in Africa, including the African Mechanism of Peer Review. The observation was also made in the light of the legal framework for the organization of the presidential election in the Republic of Chad.

The Mission met with the political authorities, heads of institutions responsible for the management of elections, candidates, leaders of civil societies and representatives of the international community present in N'Djamena. It also exchanged with other international observer missions accredited for the elections and with national observer groups. In addition to the observation of the end of the campaign, these meetings have made the AUEOM understand the historical and political context of organizing this election and to assess its level of preparedness.

In order to observe voting and counting procedures, AUEOM deployed 15 teams of observers in the following regions: Abeche, Ati, Bongor, Doba Koumra, Lai Mao Massakory, Masenya, Mongo, Moundou, N'Djamena, Pala- Lere and Sarh.

III. Pre-Election Observations

AUEOM evaluated the overall context of the presidential election of April 10, 2016 in the Republic of Chad and was informed of the current legal framework. The information gathered also enabled the Mission to become familiar with the administration of elections in the country, voter registration, political parties and candidates, women's participation and conduct of the electoral campaign.

Background

The April 10, 2016 presidential election is an important turning point in Chad political life. It marks a return to an intermittent cycle of organized elections in a harmonious environment. Similarly, through this election, the country continues its normalization efforts policy since the signing of the Political Agreement of 13 August 2007 that strengthens the democratic process. The introduction of biometrics has been the main innovation of this election phase. Although required by Political Agreement and included in the Electoral Code, this technology could not be adopted in 2011 due to financial and time constraints. The use of biometrics in voters registration has greatly increased citizens enthusiasm vis-a-vis of the electoral process and has helped to reassure stakeholders, including candidates and political parties, about the conditions of a constitutional and reliable electoral register. The second highlight of this election was the number of candidates. Unlike the presidential elections of 2006 and 2011that were boycotted by the so-called radical opposition, the 10 April 2016 election has been widely inclusive. The strong participation of opposition candidates has increased the competitive nature of the election and generated a lot more expectations than before. Despite political protests and social unrest due mainly to the deterioration of living conditions, the Mission believes that the presidential election of April 10, 2016 took place in a relatively more consensual climate than the previous elections.

B. Legal framework

Various laws govern, to varying degrees, the organization of elections in Chad. The Constitution sets the overall legal framework for elections based on several principles. In its first article, it establishes the democratic foundation of the Republic. It proclaimed political pluralism and political freedoms. It also defines the contours of the election of the President of the Republic (Articles 61 to 71). The President of the Republic is elected by two-round system (art. 66 of the Constitution and Art. 136 of the Electoral Code). To be elected in the first round, a candidate must win an absolute majority. Otherwise, a second round will be set for the two leading candidates.

The relevant constitutional provisions for the election of the President of the Republic are taken and complemented by the Electoral Code. It describes in detail, the conditions for registration on the electoral lists, the organization of the operations of voting and counting, the application requirements, the campaign, results management and electoral disputes, as well as criminal provisions relating to elections.

In addition, the Constitution and the Charter of political parties offer political freedoms (freedom of association, freedom of assembly, etc.) and political parties recognize a fundamental role in the construction of democracy. To this end, a free and equitable access to public media, especially during election periods is guaranteed to all.

Chad has ratified the main international and regional legal instruments for the organization of democratic elections. In addition to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Chad is a party to the Civil and Political treaty of 1966, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of 1979, the Charter African of human rights and peoples of 1981 and the African Charter on democracy, elections and governance, 2007.

In general, the legal framework in force in Chad establishes principles and other measures conducive to credible elections. It is constantly changing and

is likely to enable Chadians to freely choose their leaders.

c. Election administration.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has the overall responsibility for the organization, supervision and the management of presidential, parliamentary and local elections in Chad. While previous election commissions had an equal composition of majority-opposition, the current INEC has a tripartite structure comprising of representatives of the majority, the opposition and civil society organizations. It comprises 41 members as follows: 17 representing the majority, 17 from the opposition and 6 civil society organizations. The 41th is the INEC president appointed by a consensus. In fulfilling its mission, INEC receives technical and operational assistance from the Permanent Bureau of Elections (PBE). AUEOM made the following observations regarding the organization and administration of INEC:

 The establishment of a tripartite INEC is a move towards greater inclusiveness in the composition of the election administration. However, with 41 members at national level and in the divisions, the composition of INEC may seem overstuffed. The election administration runs the risk of blockages and consensus in decision making can sometimes be hard to find;

 The tripartite composition of INEC puts it at the mercy of pressures and political interference due to its political rather than technical and also due to a potential imbalance between its various components;

 The presence of representatives of civil societies in central INEC and other components is a guarantee of transparency and credibility for many stakeholders interviewed by the Mission. The suspension of the participation of representatives of civil society organizations in the work of the INEC in protest against the detention of some of their members, did not affect unduly the functioning of the electoral administration;

 There is no formal communication mechanism, fluid and reliable within INEC, between INEC and the BPE and between INEC and stakeholders in the electoral process, despite the efforts noted in the dialogue between INEC and political actors through the National Framework for Policy and Dialogue

(NFPD);

 It was the first time that this new INEC is organizing elections. Apart from some commissioners, most members of the election administration have no previous experience of elections organization.

B. Voters Registration

According to Article 32 of the Electoral Code, the electoral cards are biometric. They are printed by INEC that can stop in the form and the validity period. Under the Political Agreement of 13th August 2007 and in order to strengthen the democratic process in Chad, the biometric enrollment was one of the main innovations of this election. If the principle of the introduction of biometrics has never been a problem, the extent of the operation divided the Chadian political class for a while. The majority wanted to limit biometrics registration of voters while the opposition demanded the use of voter identification kits in the polls as an additional guarantee of transparency of

the voting process. The option of audit kits was not ultimately successful.

The biometric enrollment process has to include a total of 6,252,248 voters in Chad and 46,253 abroad. While noting the progress made in the reliability of the electoral process, many stakeholders that the mission met stressed the low transparency of procurement procedures relating to the enrollment process, shortcomings in citizen awareness and deficits in the training of enumerators. Other interlocutors of the mission expressed concerns in relation to the distribution of voter cards.

E. Parties, candidates, political financing

Political parties are the main organizers of political life and participate in the structuring of the political debate in a country. Law No. 019 / PR / 2009 of 4th of August 2009 on the Charter of Political Parties was adopted to better regulate the creation and functioning of political parties in Chad. While reaffirming the freedom accorded to citizens to join political groups, it imposes to particular political parties to have a national base and contribute to the promotion of democratic values by prohibiting any use of force to seize

power.The same Charter defines the distribution of the annual subsidy that the state pays to political parties:

 15% for parties that participated in the last presidential, parliamentary and local;

 40% for the political parties represented in the National Assembly in proportion to the number of members;

 35% for the political parties represented in the municipal councils in proportion to the number of councilors;

 10% for political parties with women elected to the National Assembly in proportion to the number of women MPs.

Apart from the fact that its implementing decree is still delaying, the Charter of political parties does not unfortunately really regulate the issue of political financing. It merely states in Article 148 that the political parties are financed from their own resources, and the state subsidy. It also adds (Article 51) that the political parties can benefit from outside assistance provided that it does not endanger the integrity, national independence and sovereignty. Nothing is said about the use of public resources and the modalities of justification for the use of the funding that the state pays to parties. Moreover, Article 139 stipulates that the highest reimbursable election expenses are one billion (1,000,000,000) CFA francs if the candidate obtains a score of at least 10%.

Under Article 129 of the Election Code, the candidates for the presidency of the Republic are filed with the Constitutional Council at least 40 days or 60 at the most before the first ballot. The list of candidates is stopped and published thirty days before the first round of ballot. 14 candidates were selected by the Constitutional Council for the presidential election of 10 April 2016. These are :

Malloum Yoboide Djeraki; Beassemda Djebaret Julien ; Laoukein Kourayo Mbaiherem ; Djimet Clement Bagaou ; Mahamat Ahmad Al-Habo ; Dewa Kassira Koumakoye ; Abdoulaye Mbodou Mbami ; Idriss Deby Itno ; Mbaimon Guedmbaye Brice ; Kebzabo Saleh ; Joseph Djimrangar Dadnadji ; Djevidji Boukar Dibeing ; Mahamat Yesko Brahim ; Gali Ngothe Gatta

D. Women Participation

Among the 14 candidates for the presidential election, there is no woman. Efforts should be made to foster greater inclusion of women in central INEC, in the different arms and to the BPE. The Charter of political parties is an example of timid but commendable efforts of the Chadian political actors to discriminate against greater participation of women in public life. In this sense, Article 54 of the Constitution defines the annual grant allocation formula that the state pays to parties: 10% of the amount of the subsidy benefits the political parties with women elected to the National Assembly in proportion to number of women MPs.

E. Election Campaign

According to Article 137 of the Electoral Code, the election campaign lasts 20 clear days and is closed 24 hours before the beginning of polls. The campaign

for the presidential election of April 10, 2016 was intense and involved candidates almost everywhere in the country. It took place peacefully and without any major incident despite inequality of means that you could notice among candidates.

IV. Observations of voting and counting of vote.

On Election Day Sunday, (April 10, 2016) MOEUA visited 170 polling stations. Although the voting and counting operations were conducted in a peaceful and a friendly atmosphere, the poll has had some difficult organizational issues. The following observations were made by the observers:

A. Opening of the polling stations

According to Article 43 of the Electoral Code, polling stations open at 6:00 and close at 17:00. 90% of polling stations visited by the Mission opened on time. The lack of electoral materials was the main cause of delay in 10% of polling stations. The opening of polling stations was peaceful and in 81% of the places visited the president of the polling station has ensured that the ballot box was empty, before the elections, in accordance with Article 46 paragraph 2 of the electoral Code. In 95% of cases, the seals of the ballot boxes were subject to verification and found to be adequately sealed before the opening of the polls.

Compliance with the opening procedures was assessed positively in 90% of stations visited by the Mission teams.

B. Location and accessibility of polling stations

The accessibility of polling stations is important determinants of voter's participation in elections. The mission noted with satisfaction that in 80% of cases, polling stations visited were accessible as they were located mostly in schools and public squares near the residences of voters. The polling stations visited were not readily identifiable and were sometimes inadequately furnished.

C. Voting Procedures

The Mission observed that the voting took place peacefully and with confidence and the vote was not disrupted throughout the day. This smooth election is an indicator of the commitment of the Chadian population to republican values and the rule of law.

The Mission noted with satisfaction that in 98% of cases, voters were not allowed to vote without having submitted their biometric card. In 80% of cases, assistance was provided to voters in need. The vote was interrupted only momentarily in some polling stations visited.

In 100% of the booths visited, the Mission observer's teams have not found any campaign materials inside the polling stations. However, many campaign posters are seen in some streets of the main cities or pasted on some vehicle during and after the vote.

D. Election Materials

The Mission noted that the electoral material was available in 81% of polling stations visited. In 19% of polling stations visited, voting materials arrived

late. The mission noted with satisfaction that the late arrival of equipment has not caused major disturbances liable to disrupt the voting. Among the missing materials in the booths visited, the Mission noted the unique and minutes papers that were not sufficient in some polling stations.

E. Secret ballot

The Mission noted with satisfaction that in 90% of polling stations visited, the secret of vote was guaranteed. However, it notes with regret that in 10% of polling stations visited, the secret ballot was not guaranteed especially in polling stations located in public places, outdoors or by the side of roads.

F. Election officers

The Mission noted that the majority of polling stations had an average of four members instead of five as stipulated in the Electoral Code. These election officials do not wear uniforms or distinctive vests and were sometimes difficult to identify. The Mission also observed that in most cases, polls agents have not shown great mastery of elections practices.

G. Election Participation

The Mission noted the strong participation of Chadians especially at the opening of polling stations visited by observers. This high attendance was reduced towards the end of the day; the majority of polling stations had no more queues at the official poll closing time.

H. Participation of women

Women accounted for only 31.1% of election officials. The Mission noted, however, a large number of women voters.

I. Representatives of candidates and election observers

The Mission observed that all the candidates have not deployed representatives or delegates in most polling stations visited. The mission found the notable absence of national and international observers on Election Day. It strongly regrets this since it is recognized that the observation of elections and the presence of representatives of political parties on Election Day contribute to more credible elections in general. However, the Mission noted the presence of the delegates of the Constitutional Council in a few polling stations.

J. Security

The Mission noted the presence of personnel responsible for security in 50% of polling stations visited and also noted the presence of mobile security forces on Election Day. The staff in charge of security was not present in other polling stations visited by its teams of observers.

K. Closing and counting

The Mission found that the closing time was respected and that the polling stations that opened late recovered the time lost due to late opening. The Mission also noted, in contrast to the opening, in the majority of polling stations visited there was no more queue at the polling station.

The Mission's observers noted with satisfaction that in 98% of cases the counting immediately following the close of voting. It was completed without interruption as required by the Electoral Code. However, the Mission found that in 50% of offices, electoral officials and candidate's delegates do not sufficiently mastered the procedures and the counting technique.

The Mission noticed lighting problems in the polling stations. In 50% of polling stations visited, the lighting was not adequate at the time of count.

In some polling stations, the initial counting of ballots was not done early enough. In others, the results have not been announced after the counting. Furthermore, the polling stations were not equipped as to facilitate the vote counting. However, the non-mastery of counting procedures and poor physical layout of some polling stations did not affect operations.

Conclusion and Recommendations

A. CONCLUSION

Despite operational, logistical and technical challenges encountered in the organization of the presidential election, Chadian voters participated in the calm and serenity in the April 102016 polls. By going massively to the polls to choose their President and thus exercise their right to vote, the Chadian people have demonstrated their commitment to the consolidation of democracy in their country.

Globally, the presidential election was an opportunity for citizens to freely choose their leaders. For the mission, the election took place in a peaceful climate within the legal framework in force. It is an important step in the standardization process of Chadian politics.

In this crucial phase of the process of revival and centralization of results, the Mission urges INEC to show more professionalism and transparency, so that provisional results that will be released are actually the expression of the will of Chadians. It urges the presidential candidates, political parties and their supporters, as well as all stakeholders in the electoral process, to be patient while waiting for the results and maintain the climate of peace and healing that had prevailed so far in the country. The Mission calls on the candidates to respect the election results and use legal means in case of any results dispute.

The Mission makes the following recommendations for the proper conduct of the results and for a better organization of elections in the future:

B.RECOMMENDATIONS

To the Government

 Create a dynamic of consultation and dialogue framework with the various stakeholders in the electoral process to improve the process, strengthen social cohesion and preserve peace and to bring calm into the political climate;

 Take a set of measures to increase the participation and involvement of women at all levels of the electoral process;

 Provide INEC with adequate resources and adequate time for good planning and good organization of elections;

 Ensure the presence of the security agents at polling centers in sufficient numbers, both in rural and urban areas from the beginning of voting until the delivery of ballot boxes to the collection center;

 Prohibit the use of state resources for partisan purposes;

 Take all necessary measures to ensure sustainability and full implementation of biometric technology introduced in this election;

 Ensure optimal operation of satellite communications means on voting day.

To the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC)

 Make a copy of results available at each polling station, to candidates so as to promote transparency of the results process, in accordance with Article 74 paragraph 2 of the Electoral Code;

 Regularly inform stakeholders in the electoral process of the progress of the results compilation process;

 Establish regular communication with stakeholders in the electoral process;

 Establish formal communication mechanisms within the plenary and between INEC and the BPE, to increase the flow of exchange and professionalism of the election administration, strengthen dialogue within INEC and ensure the safeguard of independence vis-a-vis the government and vis-a-vis political parties;

 Strengthen the capacity of electoral staff to better mastery of the procedures and the electoral process and implement a skills and training plan for the development of INEC and electoral administration in order to take in professionalism in planning and the organization of the forthcoming elections;

 Strengthen gender balance in recruitment and capacity building of polling agents;

 Step up civic and voter education to strengthen the foundations of the culture of citizen participation;

 Carefully observe the provisions of the Electoral Code in particular those concerning the results display after the election and CV to the delegates and representatives of the candidates;

 Make better location and a more appropriate organization of the polls.

To the Constitutional Council

 Take the necessary time provided by law to review the case of disputes submitted by applicants;

 Ensure equitable treatment of complaints and appeals.

To the civil society

 Strengthen the electoral process and effectively contribute to the defense of its integrity by making a civil observation of elections more coordinated, professional and non-partisan;

 Become more involved in raising public awareness in order to entrench greater culture of citizen participation in political life;

 Better coordination of election advocacy activities with INEC.

To the Candidates and Political Parties

 Observe the election results and favor the use of legal means in case of litigation to preserve peace and stability;

 Investing in civic and electoral education of their members to be knowledgeable in election matters;

 Strengthen the capacity of representatives and delegates of candidates in the polling stations to ensure that they fully and effectively play their role;

 Establish a framework for dialogue and permanent consultation to prevent and resolve conflicts within the political class.

To the technical and financial partners

 Provide technical and financial assistance to help Chad to better plan and organize future elections and to establish a professional and sustainable

electoral administration.

Done at N'Djamena, April 12, 2016

For the Mission,

S.E. Professor DIONCOUNDA TRAORE

Head of Mission
13.04.2016 LISTEN

I had the opportunity of seeing on line, the proposed new logo of the Electoral Commission meant to replace the existing logo which has been in use since the establishment of the commission many years ago. The logo was said to have been introduced to members of the media fraternity at a capacity building workshop for media practitioners on election reportage.

Even before the Electoral Commission officially unveils the new logo, already approved for use most journalists have taken on the Commission for its decision to change the logo.

The new logo is a blue rounded crest with patches of white, yellow, red and green which is being z described by some of the journalists as childish and inappropriate.

The critics were of the view that the logo does not reflect the work of the commission and that the current one rather communicates better what the commission stands for.

We have things to put in the logo that evokes Ghana and evokes voting. This does not do it. It looks like some children are holding up some balls, ready to go and play basket ball. That is very nice for an organization that runs children program and not for the EC, says blogging Ghana. According to them, the logo is not right, it can be changed [and] that logo needs to change.

The current EC logo has a black star in between two eagles at both sides of a shield, with a hand in the middle casting a ballot, which gives one an idea of what the Commission does.

It also has the inscription Transparency, Fairness, Integrity. The new one however has none of these features.

Even though the Deputy EC Boss in charge of Finance and Administration, Georgina Opoku Amankwaa, said the logo went through an approval process and would be unveiled very soon I beg to differ.

When I showed the logo to my friends in the Ga East District of Accra most of them rejected it. They are calling for the retention of the old logo for the time being.

If the Commission is already using the proposed new logo for its official transactions before its unveiling the commission must stop doing so. The reason is that the logo has nothing Ghanaian about it and its continued use would attract ridicule to the EC and the nation as a whole.

Executive Director

EANFOWORLD FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

P.O.BOX 17070AN 233244370345/23327483710 /233208844791

[email protected] /[email protected]
Kofi Adams

13.04.2016 LISTEN

I heard Mr Kofi Adams from the NDC folk grant a radio interview to one of the Ghana FM radio stations about a week ago. In the course of the interview, he spelt out one of the NDCs strategies they have adopted to win election 2016 without wiping off much perspiration from their face and arms.

From what he said, I could see him underestimate the intelligence of the Ghanaian villagers. He said, We shall go to the villages (hinterlands) throughout the country and ask the villagers to bear with us since all shall be well with them one day. We shall persuade them to vote for President Mahama and the NDC in the upcoming November general election. We shall tell them that President Mahama has constructed roads, built hospitals, built schools and provided potable water to many people. The benefits of what President Mahama has done will soon be felt by the people so they should vote for him.

Like when someone is sick and is taken to the hospital, the person will be given an injection before the persons sickness can be healed. Injection is painful but until you accept it, you cannot be cured of your illness/sickness. Similarly, without good roads, hospitals, schools etc., one can never experience better life.

So President Mahama has laid the solid foundation for a better life for all by first providing or building schools, constructing roads and building hospitals and bridges. Therefore, they should accord him a further second 4-year term to enable him complete his good works to bring better life to all and sundry

He insisted on the effectiveness of his sickness-hospital-injection analogy to persuading the Ghanaian villagers to vote for President Mahama and the NDC.

Why did he say the NDC will go to the villagers with that message but not to the city dwellers? Is it because the villagers are far removed from knowing the truth about the NDC as being shameless liars, propagandists, corrupt and incompetent whereas all these facts about the NDC and President Mahama are made bare to the urban dwellers on daily basis?

Before proceeding any further, may the reading public permit me to define two or three words or terms that I have used above, or will soon be using in the course of my analytical writing.

VILLAGER: A person who lives in a village

HINTERLANDS: A part of the country that is far away from the big city areas

BLUNT: To make something less sharp; having an obtuse, thick, or dull edge or point

SHARP: having a thin cutting edge or a fine point; well-adapted for cutting or piercing; happening suddenly, quickly, and strongly.

SYRINGE: A hollow, cylinder-shaped piece of equipment used for sucking liquid out of something or pushing liquid into something, especially one with a needle that can be put under the skin and used to inject drugs, remove small amounts of blood, etc.

Back to the clearly deceptive and insulting analogical electioneering strategy intended to be employed by Kofi Adams and the NDC to court the votes of their so-called villagers, Rockson Adofo who hails from a village, (Kumawu/Asiampa) in the Ashanti region has the following counter analogy to make.

Yes, in Ghana unlike the Whitemans land (e.g. Europe, USA), when a patient goes to hospital and is not given an injection, they dont think to have been treated by the doctor. So, let them get the injection. However, a sharp but NOT a blunt syringe is to be used. With sharp new syringes used in the Whitemans land to inject (seldom done) the patient or often used to draw blood from the patient for blood test, the pain felt by the patient is quick; it lasts only a second if not a fraction of a second.

Is it the same sharpness of the economic pain that the NDC is inflicting on Ghanaians that they are asking the villagers to bear with them by voting for them? NO!!!!

When one uses a blunt syringe, the pain will last much longer as the needle cannot easily pierce through the skin or the vein of the patient. Several attempts may even have to be made before the syringe (needle) can enter the skin of the person. Just imagine how painful it is!

This is the socio-economic condition in which Ghana is at the moment under the President Mahama NDC administration.

Why should Ghanaians continue to put up with such a never- ending socio-politico-economic suffering under the NDC government? This type of suffering is comparable to being administered injection using a BLUNT syringe instead of a SHARP one.

Who among the readers will go for an injection when a blunt syringe is being used given an option between the use of a sharp needle and a blunt needle?

Even in the Whitemans land, animals that we kill to consume are to be killed humanely but not savagely. They have laws to ensure slaughter houses use means that will not prolong the pain of animals when they are being slaughtered for human consumption. The pain must be sharp.

Why should Ghanaians continue to suffer prolonged pain that the NDC feel to explain it away using Kofi Adams absurd analogy? Does Kofi Adams think the fact that one was born, or lives, in a village, makes the person a fool?

The villagers, like the city dwellers, are no longer going to put up with the blunt economic pain being inflicted on them by the NDC. While many people suffer continuous pain, President Mahama, Kofi Adams and some NDC members and their cronies do not feel any pain at all, whether sharp or blunt. No wonder that they plan to go to the villagers to tell them lies; taking them for BIG FOOLS whose intelligence can be taxed any day any time with impunity.

I shall campaign to counter all the lies the NDC will be spewing in attempts to garner more votes from those living in the villages. We, the villagers, will not continue to allow ourselves to be fooled by the NDC, the most unprecedentedly corrupt government and individuals never seen in the annals of Ghanas politics.

Yes, we the villagers have no access to information on the current and daily unfolding thieveries, gargantuan corruption, and perpetuation of lies by the NDC because we have no electricity or batteries to power our radio sets. Yes, we the villagers do not travel a lot so we do not feel the pangs of hunger and transportation problems hence Kofi Adams can come to us with his useless analogy to persuade us to get our votes free of charge.

Let it be understood by the NDC that if we the villagers were fools sometime ago, now, we have wised up!

The NDC will go even if they eat pusa kenten ma!

I call on all ordinary Ghanaians to join me to vote for Nana Akufo Addo and the NPP in the upcoming general elections. We need a change from being administered injection with a blunt syringe under the NDC to being administered injection with a sharp needle or not being administered any injection at all, under the NPP. Under the NPP, we shall not suffer needless sicknesses hence there being no need for injection.

Kofi Adams, here comes the No-Nonsense Rockson Adofo to counter your bushman-like views.

Rockson Adofo
13.04.2016 LISTEN

By Joyce Danso, GNA

Accra, April 12, GNA - A Circuit Court in Accra has sentenced William Wilson, a mechanic, to 21 years imprisonment for robbing a private security man of his communication gadgets and cash of GHa3,700.00.

The gadgets were a laptop, a tablet and a mobile phone.

The court, presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh, found Wilson on a charge of robbery, but it acquitted and discharged him on a charge of conspiracy to rob.

Osman Alhassan, who dishonestly received the items, was convicted to a fine of GHa6,000.00, but in default he would go to jail for three years.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Kofi Adu, said the complainant, Joseph Amoah Azumah, lived at Akweteman, while Wilson who was a mechanic resided at Achimota, with Osman, a trader living at Chantan.

He said on the night of February 8, this year, the complainant left home for East Legon in his private car and on reaching a spot near the Akweteman Pentecost Church, he parked beside the road to receive a phone call.

The Prosecution said suddenly, William and his accomplice, one Bonney, now at large, pulled up on a motor bike and attacked the complainant with a pistol and robbed him of his Dell Laptop Computer valued at GHa1,100.00.

Prosecution said Wilson and Bonney also took away the complainant's Samsung Galaxy Mobile Phone valued at GHa709.00, and a Samsung tablet also valued at GHa950.00 and cash of GHa3,700.00.

Police Chief Inspector Adu said at about 23:00 hours the same night, the two went to sell the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime Phone to Osman in his house at Chantan.

He said a tracking software on the phone, however, gave Osman up, as the complainant received messages of its usage.

The complainant, therefore, lodged a complaint with the Police and Osman was tracked and arrested at the Petroleum Estates, New Achimota. A Samsung phone found on him was identified by the complainant as his.

The prosecution told the court that William was later picked up; but his accomplice was yet to be found.

Osman admitted the offence in his caution statement and stated that he bought the phone at GHa350.00 from William and his accomplice very late in the night, the Prosecution said.

GNA
By Iddi Yire, GNA

Accra, April 12, GNA - The University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) in collaboration with the Australian High Commission has launched a training programme for small-scale miners in Ghana.

The three-month training programme, which is being funded by the Australian High Commission at the cost of AU$ (Australian Dollars) 60,000, aims at teaching good practices in surveying, prospecting, mining, mineral extraction and environmental and safety management to small scale miners.

It would consist of six training modules for miners in nine small-scale districts such as Bolgatanga, in the Upper East; Asankragua, Tarkwa and Bibiani in the Western; and Okyim Oda in the Eastern Region.

The programme had been designed under the terms of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the UMaT and the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners (GASSM).

Speaking at the launch in Accra on Tuesday, the Acting Australian High Commissioner to Ghana Tim Millikan said: 'Small-scale mining has grown substantially in Ghana, and is now estimated to account for around 30 per cent of total gold production.'

'It is crucial to provide small-scale miners with training in best practices in order for them to conduct activities in a responsible and sustainable manner,' he added.

The Australian Direct Aid Programme is aimed at alleviating poverty through funding grassroots community development projects.

Through this programme, the Australian High Commission in Ghana would provide AU$ 810,000 for projects in the 2015-16 financial year.

The Acting High Commissioner said these projects were in addition to Australia's existing development cooperation throughout the region.

In 2015-16, the Australian High Commission is funding around 20 projects through the Direct Aid Program.

These projects are benefiting communities in Ghana as well as in Burkina Faso, CAte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Nii Osah Mills, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, lauded the Australian Government and UMaT for the novelty.

He urged UMaT to incorporate into the training programmes modules for small-scale miners; the need for them to pay taxes on the revenue they generate from mining.

On the importance of mining, Nii Osah Mills said it creates direct jobs of about one million people leading to income generation and livelihoods for the families and dependents of miners, as well.

'This is especially the case; as mining incomes often tend to be higher than in other sectors readily available within their local areas,' he said.

He said mining induces the development of independent non-mining businesses such as the mental and industrial enclave of Suame; which become the basis for further socio-economic activities that may outlast mining.

He said there was the need for all small-scale miners to be made to sign reclamation bonds; so that the area of their concession would be restored to its origin after mining.

Professor Jerry S. Y. Kuma, the Vice Chancellor, UMaT, said since the regularization of small-scale mining in Ghana in 1989, the number of registered small-scale miners had grown to over 650.

'The contribution of small-scale miners to national gold production has also grown from a low of 2.2 per cent in 1989 to a high of 34 per cent in 2015,' he stated.

'This shows that the sector is contributing immensely to national development. Small-scale mining has made significant socio-economic impact on many individuals and communities since it provides both part- and full-time jobs for the people, and in some cases it is the only source of income available,' the Vice Chancellor added.

He said the environmental challenges of the sector were well documented and continued to be of serious concern to stakeholders.

Mr Collins Osei Kusi, the President of GNASSM, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, described the signing of the MOU as a step in the right direction.

He said small-scale miners were able to extract only 30 per cent of the gold from the ore; explaining that going through the training programme at UMaT would empower them to increase their extraction capacity probably to 90 per cent.

GNA
By Florence Afriyie Mensah, GNA

Kumasi, April 13, GNA - Seventy (70) people have picked nomination forms to contest the parliamentary primaries of the Convention People's Party (CPP) in the Ashanti Region.

Mr. Emmanuel Gallo, the Regional Chairman, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that five of the aspirants are women.

Delegates' conference to elect the parliamentary candidates for the November polls, would be held across all the 47 constituencies on Saturday, April 30.

He expressed optimism that the CPP would make a strong showing in the coming general election.

Mr. Gallo predicted that it was going to win not less than five parliamentary seats in the region.

He would, however, not identify the seats, he was sure would fall to the party.

He spoke of re-activation of the party's structures at all levels and the intensification of its election campaign to boost its appeal to voters and broaden the support base.

Mr. Gallo appealed to the electorate to trust them with their votes to bring development and prosperity to the nation.

They should make the right judgement on voting day to end the economic suffering, he added.

GNA
By Kofi Mensah, GNA

Obuasi, April 13, GNA - A group of prominent citizens of Obuasi has called for action by the government to prevent the collapse of the AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine, which has been operating in the area over the decades.

They are demanding adequate security protection for the mine and eviction of small scale miners, who have forcibly seized of parts of the company's concession.

The group - 'Obuasi must live Coalition' warned that the people would never forgive anybody whose actions or inactions would lead to the collapse of the mine.

Its Convener, Mr. Prince Aboagye, said everything must be done to ensure that the international gold mining and exploration giant resumed its operations.

He expressed disappointment at what he said was the failure of both the Obuasi Municipal Security Committee and the Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) act boldly to tackle head-on the illegal occupation of the mine's concession.

'Our checks indicate that the company has met the REGSEC on several occasions to impress upon it the need to order the military to move in and save the situation but sadly these appeals have fallen on deaf ears.

It has become apparent that in its desire to satisfy a group of small scale miners, the Council is unconsciously killing the very hen that lay the golden eggs', he added.

Mr. Aboagye said they were aware that Minerals Commission had approved the company's decision to relinquish 60 percent of its concession and asked that the government came clear on measures taken to make this swathe of land available to the small scale miners.

He also urged AngloGold Ashanti to provide details on the 40 percent of its concession it had decided to hold on to, so as to enable the people to help protect the delineated area.

GNA
By Awudu Salami, GNA

Accra, April 13, GNA - The Office of the Administrator General has held a stakeholders workshop in Accra for Chief Directors and Regional Co-ordinating Directors to discuss the final draft of handing over notes templates.

The workshop is in consonance with section six of the Act, which enjoins the office of the President to prepare a set of comprehensive handing over notes covering the term of office of the Executive Authority under article 58 of the constitution.

Mr David Yaro, the Administrator-General, in his remarks said, his office in consultation with other stakeholders came up with the template to guide the preparation of the handing over notes, as dictated by the constitutional Act.

He said the workshop would enable the Office go into the nitty-gritty of the templates for clarification in order to avoid wrong presentation, poor presentation, late submission and incomplete presentation.

He said it would also help avoid inaccurate presentation, incomprehensive submission and submission of un-signed notes by Ministers of state during handing over notes.

He gave the assurance that his outfit hard to ensure that the acrimony that is normally associated with the transition process, especially when there is a change of government would be a thing of the past.

Mr Yaro also dispelled the notion that there would be an overlapping of function of the transitional team with that of the Administrator-General, explaining that the transitional team is adhoc, while the office of the Administrator-General is permanent.

Mrs Bridget Katriku, Chairperson of the Public Service Commission, said, non-availability of comprehensive information always creates mistrust during change of government.

She therefore commended the organisers of the workshop, saying that it would help the Heads of Civil and Public servants provide comprehensive handing over notes, especially if there is a change of government.

GNA
By Belinda Ayamga, GNA

Accra, April 13, GNA - Stakeholders in the Banking sector have been urged to consider Pre-Competition Collaborations (PCC), to increase Youth Savings Accounts (YSA) in the country.

PCC enables firms in the same sector come together to work towards a common good or to create public goods to help to reduce the cost that individual firms have to bear to achieve that goal.

Discussing how banks could make a business case for Youth Savings Accounts at a Stakeholder Forum on Child and Youth Savings by the YouthSave Project in Ghana, Ms Rani Deshpande, Director of the Livelihoods Department of the YouthSave Project, noted that the business case for YSAs is not a 'slam dunk' in the short-term but rather a long term investment.

A PCC arrangement would be a useful tool in shifting the economics of the investment and reduce the upfront cost as it spreads the costs among a number of institutions and could also expand the market to a scale where there is room for everyone.

Citing an example of the World Wide Web Consortium, which brought together hundreds of companies to develop protocol and guidelines to ensure the long-term health and development of the World Wide Web; a task which could not be undertaken by any single company, she highlighted the PCC's ability to bring together the fiercest competitors to collaborate for the common good.

'If Apple and Microsoft can collaborate on something, I am pretty sure the Banks in Ghana can do it,' she stated.

Ms Deshpande said getting financial education to both in and out-of- school youth, is an important area where a PCC would be most promising, especially as the foundation has already been laid with the development of a financial education curriculum through the efforts of government and public donors.

'When you have an asset; it's the delivery of that asset to the population that now needs to be done and banks could be a natural mechanism for doing that. It's a very concrete operational task and the private sector excels at doing that kind of delivery,' she noted.

She said NGOs have a critical part to play in the delivering to the marginalised.

She said there is also a concrete interest for financial institutions to fund the delivery of the curriculum as it could expand the market for financial services as evidenced in findings from some of YouthSave's financial education programmes.

The education programmes showed that from 15 to 42 per cent of young people who participated said they opened a bank account after the event.

In order for such an initiative to work, it would have to be well structured in terms of contributions and benefits.

Some participants at the forum suggested a sliding-scale contribution system, taking into account the size of a firm.

Ms Deshpande said such an arrangement would allow all relevant firms to be part of the Consortium regardless of their financial strength.

Other lessons from globally successful consortia were: keeping entry dues relatively low so that it does not become a barrier to some firms, defining what each firm could contribute for the good of the whole.

It also include having a neutral third party such an NGO or government agency to coordinate the activities of the consortia so that a firm does not have an unfair advantage and also to build trust between the companies since PCC is not in the natural DNA of competing organisations.

Mr Ismail Adam, Deputy Chief Manager of Banking Supervision at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), who chaired the forum, also expressed the need for financial education to go beyond just banking services to include insurance and investment services.

He expressed satisfaction at the eagerness of the banks represented to collaborate and share ideas on some issues which they could not address individually, adding that the BoG, as the regulator, would continue to lay out the required infrastructure to facilitate work in the industry.

Ms Merene Botsio, Manager Strategic Partnerships and Corporate Social Responsibility at Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited said the bank believes in collaboration, having led on financial inclusion in Ghana and pioneering agency banking.

She said Fidelity has collaborated with institutions like MTN and Airtel and is willing to partner with other banks to ensure that citizens, especially the youth, are reached with financial education and services.

She said although perceived competitiveness among banks could be a challenge, about 60 to 65 per cent of Ghana's population is unbanked and needed to be reached hence the need to collaborate.

'One bank cannot do that so obviously we have to collaborate to make that happen,' she said.

GNA
By Samira Larbie, GNA

Accra, April 13, GNA - The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has launched 'Our Oil Money TV' to educate Ghanaians through video documentaries on how the oil and gas revenues are used.

The online TV page which also has still pictures on government projects is also aimed at helping them demand accountability.

Dr Ishmael Akah, Head of Policy ACEP speaking at the event noted that the financial Administrative Act 654 2003 seek to ensure the effectiveness and efficient management of revenue, assets, expenditure, liabilities and the resources of Government.

He said unfortunately citizens and civil society organisations are not involved to ensure that the right things are done for specific purpose.

The initiative he said would empower citizens by writing contracts that would allow them have value for money and to have access to data and information on how their money are used.

Dr Akah said the documentary would be in simple narrative form and very soon in the local dialects to assist people make their own deductions.

This would help create wealth through active citizenship participation for the needed development.

He said Ghanaians could get access to the page through www.ouroilmoney.org or www.ouroilmoney TV for the right information.

Mr Francis Agbera, Oxfam International Representative and main sponsor of the project congratulated ACEP for the initiative.

He said going beyond transparency and accountability and getting the right information is needed to keep government on it toes.

GNA
The Electoral Commission (EC) said it did not contract Superlock Technologies Limited (STL) to transmit election results as it is circulating in the media.

Deputy Chairperson of the EC, Georgina Opoku-Amankwaah, said the Commissions dealings with the Israeli company is public knowledge reiterating that the former EC boss, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Djan had disclosed this to the public already.

She said the Commission refused to answer questions relating to the STL contract in the revived public discourse because its position on the matter is already known to the public.

The STL issue was revived following the Interior Ministers 14-points press statement on March 28 in which he stated that: STL is the company contracted by the Electoral Commission to transmit tallied election results.

Since then, there have been many calls by some political parties and pressure groups for the Commission to clarify its relationship with the Israeli company.

Speaking at a workshop with journalists, Mrs. Opoku-Amankwaah, said the only thing STL does for the Commission is to help us in buying the biometric voter registration (BVRs) and the biometric voter devices (BVDs).

She said the company is also responsible for servicing of the devices in the event they break down and their programming for the Commissions voter registration exercise.

Mrs. Opoku-Amankwaah also stressed STL will manage the BVR and BVD devices during the November 2016 general election.

Director of Elections of NPP, Martin Agyei Mensah-Korsah, expressed surprise in the reluctance of the Commission to publish the document considering the controversy and contradiction surrounding the STL contract.

Speaking to Joy News, Mr. Mensah-Korsah said the disclosure of the document by the Commission will ensure that stakeholders of the November 2016 election will go about it with clear mind.

He also added that the publication of the document will help the Commission increase its public confidence which he described as being at an all-time low.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | Email: [email protected]
The Board of Wesley Girls Senior High School has strongly denied reports that some 22 students of the school have been nabbed for engaging in occultism.

The board chairman of the highly respected Methodist School, The Most Reverend Titus Kofi Awotwi Pratt in a statement described the publication as unfortunate and regrettable.

Our attention has been drawn to a number of unfortunate publications and raging discussions in the media alleging that school authorities at Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast have recently nabbed twenty-two (22) students for belonging to an occultly sect and engaging in occultism.

We write to place it on record that the school authorities and the Board are disappointed at the extent of falsehood in the publications as the school authorities are unaware who these 22 girls mentioned in the story are, when and where the alleged induction ceremony was held for some girls in the school initiating them into the occultly sect and who their supposed leader in the school is, portions of the statement stated.

The statement is, however, silent on exactly what transpired in the school as it contradicts statement by the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Education Service.

In an interview with Citi FM, Reverend Jonathan Bettey said the students were found with a book that had different doctrines from the Christian beliefs of the school.

He said the book titled, The Ministry of Angels and How to activate them were retrieved from the students and that the students had been warned against the use of such materials.

There is no occultic group functioning in the school. The said book was in circulation in the school according to the headmistress. When she was notified, she rallied round all the students in the school and emptied their luggage and gathered all the books, Reverend Bettey said after a meeting with the headmistress of the school.

He added that according to the headmistress it was a senior student together with some people in other schools in the town that were patronizing the book. So when they were caught, the children were warned against the use of those things and all the books that were found were collected from the students.

However, Starr FM that first published the story would like to place on record that the story was verified from a highly placed source in the school after several student sources corroborated the story to Starr FM.

The Methodist Bishop for the Cape-Coast diocese was also contacted by Starr FM and after the details of the story were presented to him, he hanged up and switched off his phone.

After the story was confirmed by our credible source and other sources on campus, the headmistress was contacted but told our reporter that I wont talk to you on this storyyou will hear from lawyers.

Below is the full statement by Wesley Girls

STATEMENT BY THE BOARD CHAIRMAN OF WESLEY GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL  THE MOST REVEREND TITUS KOFI AWOTWI PRATT

Our attention has been drawn to a number of unfortunate publications and raging discussions in the media alleging that school authorities at Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast have recently nabbed twenty-two (22) students for belonging to an occultly sect and engaging in occultism.

The named source of this April 11, 2016 publication in question titled Occultism at Wesley Girls: 22 students nabbed, was Starr Fm.

UTV on April, 2016, also aired the said story while other media houses subsequently joined the fray with some commentaries and/or insinuating pieces.

It is most regrettable that the Ghanaian Times newspaper, one of the oldest and respected newspapers outfits in the country, also joined the bandwagon.

Interestingly, none of the above media approached the authorities of Wesley Girls High School for any information whatsoever before putting the story in the public domain.

We write to place it on record that the school authorities and the Board are disappointed at the extent of falsehood in the publications as the school authorities are unaware who these 22 girls mentioned in the story are, when and where the alleged induction ceremony was held for some girls in the school initiating them into the occultly sect and who their supposed leader in the school is.

To even state in one breath that the said girls have been handed over to the Methodist Church in Cape Coast, and in another that when the Methodist Church in Cape Coast was contacted, they knew nothing about the matter, shows how spurious the story is.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has directed the removal of books written by Reverend Vinny Max Bani alleged to contain occultic contents from the educational system.

Public Relations Officer of GES, Reverend Jonathan Bettey, said the Service would not approve books which have no relevance and contain unapproved content to students.

He was reacting to the recent incident in Wesley Girls High School in which some students were allegedly caught practicing occultism.

Following investigations by the headmistress of the school, some of the students disclosed that one man came to the school to distribute a book written by Rev. Vinny Max Bani titled, Ministry of Angels and How to Activate Them.

School authorities found the book in students bags after a thorough search, which resulted in calls questioning the content of the book and how it will negatively impact on the students.

Speaking to Joy News, Rev. Bettey said, The Ghana Education Service is trying its best to remove this type of book and other books from the system.

He said books that will not benefit students will never be accepted in any of our institutions adding the Service is interested in the welfare of students.

Rev. Bettey explained that since the students are not beyond 18 or 19, it is important their teachers take responsibility for what they do in the school.

He charged teachers and headmistress of second cycle institutions to prioritize the welfare of students by making sure they are not introduced to practices, which pose a threat to their future.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | Email: [email protected]
The 2016 parliamentary candidate of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Daboya-Mankarigo Constituency of the Northern Region, Shaibu Mahama, has lauded the government for the construction of major roads in the area.

The government is currently working on the 56 kilometres Busunu through Daboya to Mankarigo road. The road, which is expected to be completed in 2017, is being funded by the Government of Ghana. The project, according to the NDC parliamentary candidate, is to open up the area, facilitate the movement of farmers and traders to the major market centres, and also boost the economic activities of the people, who are predominantly farmers and fisher folks.

Speaking in an interview with The Chronicle during his inspection tour of the project site, Mr. Shaibu said that the Busunu-Daboya-Mankarigo road project had explained how the NDC government was committed to its vision of transforming lives through the provision of massive infrastructural development at all levels.

The NDC parliamentary candidate for Daboya-Mankarigo said that the construction of the road was one of the topmost priorities of the chiefs and people of Wasipe Traditional Area in the North Gonja District, after several failed promises by previous governments. Shaibu Mahama was optimistic that local farmers and traders in the area would now have easy access to the major market centres in Tamale, Kintampo and Techiman to sell their produce without any difficulties.

Agriculture is the main stay of the local economy in the North Gonja District. The population census results indicate that 75% of the population is engaged in agriculture, and the NDC government, under President John Dramani Mahama, in improving the socio-economic wellbeing of the people has introduced several interventions to motivate farmers to increase their productivity. Good road network is one such intervention to motivate farmers to link up with markets and buyers and maximise their profits.

The NDC candidate mentioned that the North Gonja District is home to major food crops such as yam, cassava, beans, groundnuts, soyabeans, millet, sorghum, maize, rice, tomatoes, okro and pepper, which required good roads to get them onto the markets. He further mentioned that the government was working around the clock to construct a huge bridge on the White Volta at Daboya to link the area to Tamale in the shortest possible time.

Mr. Shaibu, therefore, appealed to the electorate in the constituency to appreciate the massive infrastructural development projects being executed by President John Dramani Mahama, by voting massively for him and the parliamentary candidate. He was sure that a continuity of the mandate of President Mahama would widen the scope of development for the people in the area.

The North Gonja District is referred to as an Over Seas area because of the way it is cut off from the rest of the districts in the Northern Region, especially, during rainy seasons. The district lies behind the White Volta, and, therefore, farmers and traders would always have to transport their commodities to the market centres through Canons. Many farmers have lost their lives on the river in their quest to transport their produce to the market centres.

From Edmond Gyebi, Daboya
THE NATIONAL Executives of the Gonjaland Youth Association have expressed strong disapproval about the rising tension and violent chieftaincy disputes between the Tampulma ethnic group and people of Wasipe traditional area.

Since last week, the Wasipe Traditional Area in the North Gonja District of the Northern Region has seen little or no peace following an open attempt by one Musah Mahamadu to create a different paramouncy in the same Wasipe Traditional Area. This has triggered tension between the Tampulma people believed to be settlers in Wasipe and the royal Wasipe people.

The said Musah Mahamadu is now carrying himself as Kadichari-tina Musah Mahamadu II, a chieftaincy titled believed to have been used by his forefathers several centuries ago. The tittle was quashed by the founder of Gonja Kingdom, Ndewura Jakpa when the Tampulmas were brought to settle in Gonjaland. On Saturday, some angry youth from Daboya launched a reprisal attack on some youth of Tampulma for assaulting and seizing motorbikes belonging to some elders in the area.

The National Executives of the Gonjaland Youth Association led by the National President, Alhassan Dramani have, therefore, initiated peace talks with the two feuding groups. The group first met with the Paramount Chief of Wasipe Traditional Area, Wasipewura Anyami Kabasagya II and his sub chiefs and pleaded with them to resort to dialogue with the Tampulmas so as to ensure an amicable solution to the problem.

Speaking in an interview with The Chronicle in Tamale, the General Secretary of the Gonjaland Youth Association, Adams A. Mohammed, said that the executives were yet to fix a date within this week to meet with Musah Mahamadu, the perceived self-styled Tampulma chief and his followers. He said that the Wasipewura and his elders had promised them nothing but peace and assured that he would do whatever he could to find common ground to settle the dispute with the Tampulmas.

But the difficulty the association is likely to face is about how to meet with the Tampulmas since some other group believed to be the followers of the recognized leader of the Tampulmas in the Gonja Traditional Council, Tampulim Naa Lawal are also opposing strongly to the move by Musah Mahamadu to create a paramouncy for himself.

According to Mr. Adams Mohammed, Gonjas had always lived peacefully with the numerous tribes in the area and, therefore, wished that the Paramount Chief of Wasipe and for that matter the Overlord of Gonja Traditional Area, the Yagbonwura Tuntumba Bore Essa, would find an amicable solution to the problem, before it got out of hand. He indicated that all the other tribes in Gonjaland had become one because majority of them had inter-married and so do many things in common.

He said that the Gonjaland Youth Executives had also informally discussed with the District Chief Executive and Chairman of the District Security Committee for North Gonja, Sokko Yahooza to ensure maximum security in the area. The Wasipewura and several of his sub-chiefs, including Gabasiwura Iddrisu Jakpa, Danbol Kakore Yazeriwura, Kunkoriwura Ewuntoma Kotoma and Nbonwura Akati Dramani last week held a counter press conference at Daboya and issued a strong warning to Musah Mahamadu to refrain from causing tension in the area.

The Chief, through his Secretary, Amadu Muazu, said that the said Musah Mahamadu was not and does not qualify to be a leader of the Tampulma ethnic group of North Gonja District. But the Tampulmas in an earlier Press Conference in Tamale addressed by Amadu Latif, threatened Court actions against the Gonja Traditional Council chaired by the Yagbonwura Tuntumba Bore Essa for failing to recognize the Tampulmas as citizens of Gonjaland.

They also threatened a street protest ahead of the court action to back their demand for recognition. He said that their demand for paramountcy was to get the needed identity for the Tampulmas as a sovereign ethnic group in Ghana and not as an extension or part of any other ethnic group.

From Edmond Gyebi, Tamale
13.04.2016 LISTEN

As the 2016 elections looms and campaigning heats up, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) yesterday met stakeholders in Accra to validate the instrument developed for tracking and reporting of abusive campaign language on radio, ahead of the elections. Per the monitoring, the MFWA would focus on 60 radio stations.

Dr. Gilbert Tietaah of the University of Ghana's School of Communication Studies, expatiating on the radio stations to be monitored in a paper titled 'Category Definitions for Campaign Language Monitoring On Radio', said those to be monitored are located throughout the country. He said Greater Accra has the highest number of 20, followed by ten in the Ashanti Region, seven in Brong Ahafo, six in the Northern Region, and four in the Western Region.

The rest are four in the Volta Region, two in Central, and two and one in the Upper East and Upper West regions respectively. These radio stations were identified by name and coded, said Dr. Tietaah, and that they are mostly privately owned. Insults and hate speech have become common in political debates and discussions in the media and other public platforms, said the MFWA in a statement published on its website 'mfwa.org' on March 1, 2016.

Such speeches by political party representatives have the potential of inciting citizens leading to violence, if unchecked, added the statement. In view of this, the language monitoring project, dubbed Issues Not Insults, was instituted to check, report, name and shame users of hate speech and indecent expressions on these radio stations, to curtail possible mayhem, before, during and after the 2016 elections, said the Executive Director of MFWA, Suleimana Braimah.

Mr. Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director, MFWA, delivering welcome address.

The MFWA, therefore, sought to contribute to peaceful elections in Ghana in 2016, by building on the successes of its Language Monitoring Project in Ghana in 2012, he added. The meeting brought together representatives from the political parties, the media, National Peace Council, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Electoral Commission of Ghana, National Media Commission, Ghana Journalists Association and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).

However, the New Patriotic Party (NPP)  a major player in Ghana's electoral process  was absent to the dissatisfaction of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) representative. James Asante, Director of Communication of the NDC during the questioning and answer session, raised concern over the absence of some major political parties when they are also actors in the 2016 elections. Even though his question didn't make reference to any particular party, it was clear he was referring to the NPP.

He said anytime programmes of such nature were being organised, the NDC always comes excluding a particular political party that leads the chart when it comes to the usage of abusive language on radio. NDC, we are always here, but there is a particular political party that is leading the chart as far as insults are concerned. They don't come. We want you to tell us what your position is as a far as they are concerned? Asante asked.

Some of the Stakeholders in a group photograph after the meeting

In response to the query from Asante, Braimah said the MFWA extended invitations to the NPP, but could not explain why they were absent. He, however, noted that during the 2012 elections, they (NPP) were instrumental in drafting the MFWA's Electoral Communication Guide and the language monitoring sheet.

Professor Kofi Agyekum, Dean, School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, urged the political parties to, as a matter of necessity, shun the continuous use of hate language in political campaigning. He said insults and hate speech could metaphorically kill people, and could bring about all the mayhem one could think of. We wouldn't like to join the train of countries that had experienced chaos as a result of the use of repulsive speech during electioneering, he added.

By Mohammed Awal

([email protected])

Dr. Gilbert Tietaah, School of Communication Studies, doing a presentation
Authorities of the Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast have described as false, media reports that some 22 girls from the school were caught practising occultism.

According to them, no such incident happened in the school and no student was found engaged in any such practice contrary to what the media would have the Ghanaian public believe.

A statement signed by the Chairman of the schools board, Most Rev. Titus Kofi Awotwi Pratt said: school authorities and the Board are disappointed at the extent of falsehood in the publications as the school authorities are unaware who these 22 girls mentioned in the story are, when and where the alleged induction ceremony was held for some girls in the school initiating them into the occultly sect and who their supposed leader in the school is.

The authorities expressed surprise about the media reports, adding no attempt was made by the media to verify the story.

Read the full statement below:

STATEMENT BY THE BOARD CHAIRMAN OF WESLEY GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL  THE MOST REVEREND TITUS KOFI AWOTWI PRATT

Our attention has been drawn to a number of unfortunate publications and raging discussions in the media alleging that school authorities at Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast have recently nabbed twenty-two (22) students for belonging to an occultly sect and engaging in occultism.

The named source of this April 11, 2016 publication in question titled Occultism at Wesley Girls: 22 students nabbed, was Starr Fm.

UTV on April, 2016, also aired the said story while other media houses subsequently joined the fray with some commentaries and/or insinuating pieces.

It is most regrettable that the Ghanaian Times newspaper, one of the oldest and respected newspapers outfits in the country, also joined the bandwagon.

Interestingly, none of the above media approached the authorities of Wesley Girls High School for any information whatsoever before putting the story in the public domain.

We write to place it on record that the school authorities and the Board are disappointed at the extent of falsehood in the publications as the school authorities are unaware who these 22 girls mentioned in the story are, when and where the alleged induction ceremony was held for some girls in the school initiating them into the occultly sect and who their supposed leader in the school is.

To even state in one breath that the said girls have been handed over to the Methodist Church in Cape Coast, and in another that when the Methodist Church in Cape Coast was contacted, they knew nothing about the matter, shows how spurious the story is.

Even more spurious is the claim that a current student of the school emphatically stated that occultism is prevalent in Wesley Girls High School and has been in practice for the past 23 years.

We wish to assure all parents, guardians, old girls and well-wishers that appropriate steps are being taken to unearth the mischief behind this cowardly attempt by the above-named media to tarnish the hard won and enviable reputation of our esteemed school.

Be assured that being a school built on the solid pillars of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with strong Methodist tenets, the watchful eye of the school authorities and the Board will ensure that at all times the traditional discipline, hard work and moral uprightness that have contributed in no small measure in producing some of the illustrious female leaders in our dear country Ghana and beyond, will not be compromised.

SIGNED

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

THE MOST REV TITUS KOFI AWOTWI PRATT

(PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE METHODIST CHURCH GHANA)

13th April, 2016
Winneba (C/R), April 13, GNA - Nana Ofori Owusu, an Investment Banker, has been confirmed as the Parliamentary Aspirant for Effutu Constituency Progressive People's Party (PPP) delegates for the November 2016 Elections.

Nana Owusu's confirmation took place at a forum organized by the Party in the Winneba Township where Papa Eshun, the chairman, led the party's 78 polling station executives to take the oath of secrecy, office and allegiance.

The Effutu PPP Parliamentary Aspirant expressed his profound gratitude to the polling station executives for endorsing his candidature to lead the constituency to victory in the 2016 elections.

He said the PPP has come to rescue Ghanaians from the tribulation, calamities and hardship the NDC and NPP has brought on them and adding that there is the need for the electorate to vote for PPP under the leadership of Papa Kwesi Nduom to bring smiles back to their faces.

Nana Owusu, who was once special assistant to Dr Nduom during his ministerial appointment under the Kuffour's regime, also worked with the Millennium Development Authority; was a member of Ghana Growth Fund from 2012 to date and is the PPP National Director of Operations.

According to him wining power is of numbers and urged the branch party executives to reach out to their community members to vote for him as their Member of Parliament and Dr Papa Kwesi Ndoum as the president of the country come November 7.

GNA
By Iddi Yire, GNA

Accra, April 13, GNA - AngloGold Ashanti (AGA), has called on government to collaborate with it to resolve threats posed by illegal miners to the viability of the Obuasi Gold Mine.

Mr Eric Asubonteng, the General Manager and Managing Director of the AGA Obuasi Mine expressed concern over the situation at the Obuasi Gold Mine, where illegal miners are looting large quantities of high-grade gold bearing material for more than two months.

He said in the process, the illegal miners are causing significant damage to critical infrastructure, which serves both the mine and the surrounding communities.

He said since the withdrawal of the security forces at the beginning of February, incursions by a number of illegal miners onto the site have continued unabated.

'At each step in this unfortunate process, we have kept all authorities informed of developments, including the damage being caused to the mine, the Obuasi Community, and the long-term prospects for this important resource,' Mr Asubonteng said at a media briefing on the current state of the Obuasi Mine on Wednesday in Accra.

He said the confidence of AGA had been shaken by the failure to protect its rights as significant long-term investor in Ghana.

'Our hopes were temporarily raised when we learnt that the President had directed the return of the highly-regarded Ghana Army to the Obuasi mine. However, law and order is yet to be restored at Obuasi,' he added.

The Managing Director said: 'In fact, on March 26, we understand the military received an instruction to pull back to guard only certain limited parts of the infrastructure, and not to restore law and order by clearing the site of illegal mining activities.

'To this day, the illegal miners continue to operate with impunity on the richest parts of the ore body. We are at a loss to understand how a clear directive has been ignored.'

He explained that the situation had the effect of compromising the safety and security of the mine's resources and workforce, as well as the viability of the Obuasi mine, the rights of foreign investors in Ghana, and the benefits flowing to the community from it.

'We fear serious and lasting consequences if the situation is allowed to continue. For example, electrical installations that support water treatment plants have been vandalised by the illegal miners,' he stated.

Mr Asubonteng said this has affected AGA Ghana's ability to treat water, and with the onset of the rains there is a real possibility that this essential work would be compromised.

He said the presence of illegal miners is making it impossible for them to manage the situation accordingly.

'AngloGold Ashanti's primary aim, subject to amongst other things, the outcome of the ongoing feasibility study, remains to turn the Obuasi Mine into a long-life, modern, mining operation that will attract foreign investment, and provide high-quality direct and indirect employment, taxes and foreign exchange revenue to the people of Ghana,' he said.

"However, the continued presence of illegal miners on the Obuasi Mine continues to jeopardise this potential," Mr Asubonteng said.

'Our concerns are increasingly being shared by civil society groups in the region, who, despite explicit threats to their own safety, have begun actively protesting against the illegal miners' destruction of the opportunity that the mine presents for the people of Ghana.'

GNA
By Christian Akorlie, GNA

Accra, April 13, GNA - Mr Sulemanu Koney, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Chamber of Mines, says inaction on the part of authorities to stop illegal mining activities on companies' bonafide concessions has led to the escalation of the situation.

Illegal miners have in the last few months invaded the concessions of Owere Mines, AngloGold Ashanti-Obuasi Mine and Perseus Mines in Ayanfuri, in the Western Region.

Speaking at a news conference, Mr Koney, blamed the increased invasion on government's inability to crack the whip to halt, which had led to the escalation of activities of the illegal miners.

'We believe that the inaction at Obuasi has indirectly contributed to the invasion of the Owere Mines and nobody knows, which company will be next,' he said.

Mr Koney said, the Chamber is calling on government to as a matter of urgency to flush out the illegal miners from the mining concessions in order to restore investor confidence and attract the necessary investment into the sector.

He said, the illegality is depriving duly licensed companies the opportunity to exploit the mineral resources safely and prudentially.

He said the menace is also leading to an additional costs to the companies for rehabilitating the land, fixing plant and equipment as well as restoring the environment.

'Pits excavated by illegal miners claim the lives of company employees as well as resident of host communities,' he said, adding that 'the resultant destruction to the environment is immeasurable'.

Mr Koney said the recent increase in illegal mining activities and violence against licensed mining companies had caused insecurity and fear among investors in the mining sector.

'It is regrettable that the beacon of mining in Africa will suffer this fate at a time of a downturn in the industry; a period within which host countries globally are encouraging investment in exploration and development of mines in anticipation of an upturn,' he said.

GNA
By Kenneth Sackey, GNA

Accra, April 13, GNA - The Internal Steering Committee (ISC) of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework (ECPF) is raising the stakes in bringing stability to the region as it seeks to galvanise all stakeholders for the smooth implementation of the Framework.

Thus, the ISC met with Focal Points, officers of stakeholder components as well as representatives of the Development Partners at the ECOWAS Commission on April 11, 2016 to apprise them on the steps taken by the ECPF Secretariat to fulfil vital recommendations and on the way forward on the operationalization of the ECPF.

A statement issued by the Commission and made available to the Ghana News Agency said the move will lead to a more stable, conflict-free region where the envisaged greater atmosphere of peace can help in the realization of the ECOWAS integration goals.

Welcoming participants to the meeting, Dr Remi Ajibewa, the ECOWAS Director, Political Affairs, recalled the strides made towards the consolidation of democracy in the region with internationally acclaimed credible elections which took place in 2016 in Member States of Niger and Benin together with the ones that were earlier held in Nigeria, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea and Burkina Faso the previous year.

He said despite the observed fragilities as well as isolated terrorist attacks in Mali, Cote' d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso, through its monitoring and peace building mechanism, ECOWAS is advancing the cause of preventing conflict triggers especially so now that the new president of the Commission Marcel Alain deSouza has already identified peace and security sectors as his key priority during his tenure.

At the meeting, participants were briefed by the ECPF Secretariat on the fund raising strategy for the effective implementation of the ECPF, priority programmes for 2016 were also highlighted including updates and complementary follow up actions.

Presentations were also made by the holding Departments and Directorates as well as the representatives of the Development Partners on financial procedures, European Union (EU) procurement procedures, status of the priority areas of ECPF Components, as well as the redesigned ECPF web portal.

In the presentation made by the Communication Directorate, participants were told that the collaboration with the ECOWAS Community Computer Centre had matured to the point where the implementation of the ECPF Web Portal had started in earnest.

The Portal which has a modern look and feel would in due course be linked with the main website of the ECOWAS Commission.

The Web Portal was described as interactive, complete with user friendly social media tools and frequently updated information.

The meeting which was co-chaired by the representative of the Director of External Relations, Mrs Benetta Tar also spelt out expected outcomes which included the need for reports by departments on progress of implementation as well as the importance of taking measures to monitor the effect of their outlined activities within the ECPF 3-Year Plan of Action.

The representatives of Partners who were present at the meeting included Mrs Lena Schildt, Counsellor, Deputy Head, Regional Cooperation, Embassy of Sweden Addis Ababa; Mrs Maria Lundberg, First Secretary, Regional Development Co-operation for Sub-Saharan Africa, Embassy of Sweden, Addis Ababa; Dr Ludwig Kirchner, Head of GIZ Peace and Security, the Deutsche Gesellschaft fAr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); and Mrs Yvonne Akpasom, GIZ Adviser.

After making their observations, the partners pledged to offer technical and financial support to ECPF Components.

The ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework (ECPF) was adopted by the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council (MSC) in January 2008 to provide a framework for operationalizing efforts to prevent conflicts in ECOWAS Member States.

It is aimed at mainstreaming conflict prevention into ECOWAS' policies and programs and seeks to strengthen regional capacities and tools for preventing violent conflicts.

GNA
By Linda Asante-Agyei, GNA

Accra, April 13, GNA - The Foreign Minister, Ms Hannah Tetteh has commended Nestle Ghana for its continuous insistence on high quality and safety of its products.

'I am happy that Nestle, has over the years kept to its consistency and improved on the quality of its products by sourcing most of its raw materials like grains locally,' she said.

Ms Tetteh made the commendation when she toured the factory of Nestle Ghana in Tema.

She was accompanied by the Head of Communications and some Directors of the Ministry.

The purpose of the tour was to familiarise herself with the activities and operation of Nestle in Ghana.

The Minister described Nestle's sourcing of most of its grains from local farmers locally as very significant, developing the local supply chain.

'They have also helped in training our farmers in addressing the issues of aflatoxin, which is a big issue in Ghana years ago and even resulted in having over 50 per cent of our maize being rejected.'

This she said had reduced to less than two per cent now being rejected and that she described as a very significant achievement'.

Nestle, is currently working with the Grains Improvement Project of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to help farmers in the Northern part of the country improve on the maize production to reduce the rate of aflatoxin, which could cause cancer if consumed for a period.

She commended Nestle for its role in human resource development and pledged her Ministry's support in making their stay and working environment a conducive one.

Mrs Freda Duplan, Managing Director of Nestle Ghana, who outlined the journey of Nestle in Ghana said Nestle has come a long way and attributed the tremendous success to hard work and commitment of the workers.

She said the company is now having more demand of its products both in Ghana and in the sub- region and is working hard to meet their demands.

'Our products are well tested far beyond quality and can withstand the weather conditions as well as the supply chain and we do not compromise on quality,' she added.

The Minister was taken through the various stages of production of Nestle Products in Ghana.

Mr Joseph Walid Hbaika, Factor Manager who led the team round said the factory has a staff strength of 700 and has safety as its hall mark.

He said, though the gender ratio has more men than women, it is working hard to engage more qualified women to ensure gender parity.

NestlA Ghana Limited started business in Ghana in 1957 under the trading name of NestlA Products (Gh) Limited with the importation of NestlA products such as milk and chocolates.

In 1968, it was incorporated as Food Specialties (Gh) Limited to manufacture and market locally well known NestlA brands.

The company became NestlA Ghana Limited in 1987. In 1971 the production of the IDEAL Milk and MILO started at the Tema Factory.

The factory has since been further developed and now also produces CARNATION milks, CHOCOLIM, CHOCOMILO CEREVITA, CERELAC and NESCAFA 3 in 1. These products are not only produced for Ghana but also exported across West Africa.

In 2003, NestlA Ghana Ltd invested in a new warehouse, the Central Distribution centre, located next to the factory in Tema. The company also runs sales offices with warehouses in Kumasi, Takoradi, Koforidua and Tamale.

The business activity of NestlA Ghana Ltd is a direct contribution to the Ghanaian economy. For all these and other endeavours, NestlA Ghana Ltd has been recognised by Government and other bodies as a responsible citizen.

GNA
By Elsie Appiah-Osei, GNA

Accra, April 13, GNA - Mr Alex Segbefia, Minister of Health (MOH), Wednesday said the training of more midwives should be made a national priority in order to promote maternal health.

He said there is the urgent need to establish more midwifery training institutions to give opportunity to students willing to train in the profession.

He said the current trend in which more community health workers are being trained more than midwives ought to be changed.

'Midwives play a very important role in the lives of all people in the world and they are a future resource therefore there is the need to increase the numbers.

'We have resources, but we do not have enough of it, and how to get enough of it is what government is solving now,' Mr Segbefia said in Accra.

Addressing executives of the National Association of Registered Midwives Ghana, (NARM, GH) at their maiden National Council Meeting, the sector minister said retiring midwives would be given contracts to stay in the service.

'Any midwife who has reached the retirement age but is fit enough and in the needed geographical areas will be given engaged under a contract, 'he said.

Mr Segbefia said the current five- year contract in the civil service structure would be maintained but it would be taken in tranches of two years and a year to end.

According to Mr Segbefia, the bargaining powers with regard to midwives protection is secured.

He, however, commended executives and members of NARM GH on their stand on issues such as strikes as well as their zero tolerance for maternal strikes.

Madam Ridhwana Hawa Amoako-Agyei, National President, NARM GH, speaking to the Ghana News Agency said the Association is committed to actively raising the quality of maternal and child healthcare in Ghana through effective midwifery practices.

She said NARM GH's objective is to ensure that all midwives, regardless of where they work and their level of educational attainment achieve their full potentials.

'Our task is to make this possible and our mission is to provide practical, step by step support as an association to our members,' she said.

Madam Amoako-Agyei said shortage of midwives in the various health facilities is increasing the workload of midwives thereby affecting the quality of practice.

She said inadequate midwifery educators to improve capacities of the midwifery colleges, lack of clearly defined career progression, conditions of services and promotions schemes as compared to other professional group in the health sector as some of the challenges befalling NARM GH.

The National President, of NARM GH urged participants to use the opportunity to prepare and challenge themselves during and after their deliberations.

Mr George Kumi Kyeremeh, Director, Nursing and Midwifery, MOH, asked midwives to promote and sustain maternal health care in the health delivery system.

Participants called for better conditions of services in the various health centres especially when there is a problem with ambulance services in the Volta Region.

The meeting which was the first in the year was on the theme 'Enhancing Maternal and Child Health Care for Sustainable Development: Midwives Making a Difference in Ghana.'

GNA
Members of the Klottey Korle NDC have boycotted a planned meeting with the Vice President Mr. Kwesi Amissah Arthur and the Greater Accra Regional executives of the party.

The boycott is in protest over the decision by the party to allow Dr Zanetor Rawlings to contest in last Novembers NDC parliamentary primaries even though they claim she was unqualified.

The meeting, organized by the Klottey Korle NDC constituency executives in consultation with the Regional executives of the party was scheduled to bring together the various factions in the constituency for deliberations and to foster unity in the constituency ahead of the 2016 elections.

But before the meeting would commence, many of the partys loyalists demanded that all of Dr Rawlings' branded materials at the meeting premises be taken off.

They said until the court rules on the matter pending before it, they would not recognize Zanetor Rawlings as their Parliamentary candidate.

The incumbent MP Nii Armarh Ashitey is in court challenging the victory of party's parliamentary primary held late last year.

He argued Dr Zanetor Rawlings is not a registered voter, a requirement for a candidate in the parliamentary primary. The case has been in court for the past few weeks now but the drama out of court is no similar to the one in court.

The partys faithful who trooped to venue of the meeting went berserk when the party executives refused to pull down branded banners of Zanetor Rawlings.

They therefore boycotted the meeting amidst shouts and chants, forcing the Vice President, who was a special guest at the meeting to abandon his planned address to the group.

Several attempts by the vice president to ensure calm and for the meeting to be go on as scheduled failed.

He had no option but to call for a reorganization of the meeting stating there is the need for the party to retain the seat.

Meanwhile, the Greater Accra Regional NDC Chairman, Mr. Ade Coker who seemed very disturbed about the unfolding drama at the meeting said,  We have to go back to the drawing board and unite this party because everything is not well with our party in this constituency.

He urged the party loyalists to remain calm until the court case is determined.

Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings who sat quietly in the meeting all along would not comment on the matter.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has denied media reports that some students of the Wesley Girls Senior High School in Cape Coast, have been caught by school authorities practicing occultism. This follows a meeting held by the Ghana Education Service on Tuesday in Accra with the headmistress of the school after news broke.

Speaking to Citi News, the Public Relations Officer of the GES, Reverend Jonathan Bettey, said the students were caught with a book that had different doctrines from the Christian beliefs of the school. According to Rev Bettey, the book titled The Ministry of Angels and how to activate them were retrieved from the students and they were warned against the use of such material. There is no occultic group functioning in the school. The said book was in circulation in the school according to the headmistress. When she was notified, she rallied round all the students in the school and emptied their luggage and gathered all the books. She is saying that it was a senior student together with some people in other schools in the town that were patronizing the book. So when they were caught, the children were warned against the use of those things and all the books that were found were collected from the students, he added. Background: 22 students from the Wesley Girls Senior High School in Cape Coast were allegedly caught practicing occultism. They were reportedly nabbed during a ceremony to induct new entrants into the group. The report stated that the students caught were mostly first and second year students.

-citifmonline


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Overdrafts/overdraft debt

Water arrears

Income tax arrears

Debts to friends and family

Other unsecured debts

Note: If you are a resident of Scotland, you will need to apply for a Scottish Trust Deed (legally binding). Speak to our advisors for Scottish Debt Advice.

What debts cant be included in an IVA?

Secured loans

Your mortgage (if you still live in the house)

Car finance (if you still have the car)

Rent arrears for your current property

Court fines/Police fines

Hire purchase arrears (if you still have the product)

Log book loans (if you still have the vehicle that the debts are secured on)

Student loans

Other secured debts

What does I.V.A stand for?

IVA stands for Individual Voluntary Arrangement. It is a formal way to consolidate your debts into one affordable monthly repayment, resulting in the debtor becoming debt free at the end of their payments.

Can I apply for an IVA online?

Use the IVA Calculator to check your eligibility Prepare your IVA proposal and apply for your IVA. When your IVA is accepted, your creditors can no longer contact you. Pay 60 low monthly payments. After 5 years, you are out of your IVA and completely debt free.

Will an IVA affect my employment?

In most occupations, your credit rating or credit scoring is not a factor and it may never have been checked in the past, it may also be likely that it is not checked in the future either.

There is no law to tell you that you must advise your employer that you have entered an IVA or that you owe money. They will not be notified by your insolvency practitioner. If you wanted to keep it a private matter, in most cases this would be absolutely fine. With some roles such as financial advisors, solicitors or bank workers it may make up part of your contract to advise them of changes like this. In these situations we would advise to inform your employers of your intentions before you enter into any arrangements. This way there will be no nasty surprises for you later down the line. More often than not, we find that your employer would not be concerned by your IVA and that it would not affect your employment status. An IVA is a formal solution and could affect some employments, such as if you were a solicitor or accountant for example. We would always recommend that you receive approval from your employers that your job isnt affected before you sign up for anything.

Will an IVA impact my partner?

There are certain situations where you may not want to involve your partner at all in your IVA proposal due to personal reasons. Insolvency Practitioners are very aware of these circumstances and can operate solely via telephone and email and at your convenience, so rest assured that your matters can be kept completely private.

If the debts which you are looking to place into your IVA are in joint names, then this would be different. Your IP would look to place all of your debts into an IVA, including joint debts therefore you would have to inform your partner of your plans.

If your debts are solely yours, then there would be no negative impact on your partner, their credit score would remain unaffected and they would not be entered onto any registers or be tainted in any way.

Will an IVA affect my credit score/credit file?

Whilst you are in your arrangement, you will not be able to get any credit. An IVA will stay on your credit file for 6 years, so 12 months after a typical IVA. When this time has passed and your monthly payments have ended, you will be able to rebuild your credit rating.

What proof will I need to apply for an IVA?

Proof of ID  Passport/driving license/birth certificate/utility bills/national insurance identification/credit agreement Bank statements  3 months bank statements with all transactions displayed Proof of income  3 months payslips/P60/proof of benefits

How long does it take to set up an IVA?

Your initial call will only last around 5-10 minutes. The IVA process will be explained to you and you will be told what further information you will need to provide to proceed with your IVA proposal. Once you have returned the required information, an IVA will usually take between 7-14 days to get into place. You will be protected from creditors within this time, your advisor will provide you with documentation via email.

How long does an IVA last?

Most IVAs will last for a length of five years. The i v a will remain on your credit file for a period of six years and is placed on the Insolvency Register for that period. You can work out what date it will be removed from your credit file, it will be six years from the start date of the IVA term. So if the IVA started on 1 January 2000, it should be removed from your credit file six years from that date, which would be 1 January 2006. When you apply for an individual voluntary arrangement your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) will tell you if you qualify for an IVA, how long it lasts, how much it costs and provide you with any other debt advice which you may need.

How much will debt advice cost for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement?

The advice cost for individual voluntary arrangements is free of charge. Your I.V.A company will tell you if you qualify for an IVA. They will talk to you about your different debts, provide you with free debt advice and check if your creditors are likely to approve your proposal for your IVA for debt.

How does an IVA affect your life?

By taking out an IVA you may affect your overall financial position. You will not be allowed to take out credit for 6 years. You will struggle to get a mortgage or remortgage your existing property. It also may affect any future increase in earnings or windfalls you may receive, as these will need to be paid to your insolvency practitioner. Your insolvency practitioner will take control of your debts for this period, they will deal with all of your creditors and this is legally binding. That means you will not be allowed to take out any more debts whilst in the IVA.

Once the plan is completed, any debts which you accrue will be managed by yourself. Your ability to take out further debts in the future will not be impacted once the IVA has completed.

What is the IVA protocol?

The I.V.A protocol is a voluntary set of guidelines which your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) can sign up for which improves the efficiency of Individual Voluntary Arrangements. When you apply for debt advice, it is important that you understand the steps of the debt solution, so you can decide whether or not the solution is the best one for your circumstances.

How do I know if creditors will accept my IVA?

Generally speaking, most creditors will approve voluntary arrangements for unsecured debt. But some debts can not be included within one formal debt solution. Your Insolvency Practitioner will tell you how likely it is that your creditors will be willing to accept your proposal, based on the voting creditors.

Can I pay in one lump sum?

There are occasions when you may be eligible for a debt solution which is payable in a one off lump sum as a final settlement to your creditors. This is usually when the money is being gifted from some one else, or you have received inheritance or a windfall for example. With a one-off lump sum payment, the advice is usually the same as when you normally apply for an IVA. You wouldnt have to make regular payments into the solution, your IP can provide you with more advice on one off lump sum solutions for your debts. Your IP will provide you with more advice on the debt IVA and explain what is IVA to you.

Who regulates the debt industry?

At present the debt industry is not regulated. Some Insolvency Practitioners offices choose to sign up to the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) or register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You can contact the IPA using the contact details or email address on their website. Your creditors do not regulate the debt industry and your creditors will not be able to impact any decisions which the IPA or FCA make. In our experience, the regulators will take assertive action on any advisers or businesses which do not comply with their strict codes of practice. To check if a person is regulated by the FCA, enter their name into the search box in the FCA website.

Should I use a debt charity?

There are thousands of companies which provide debt help in the UK. You may be looking for an alternative to a private company. You should know that charities usually pass their fee charging products to sister companies which charge fees and disbursements, just like private companies. So what you initially thought was a good option, on further analysis could be different to what you originally thought. Charities do have their part to play though. They can help you if you have a problem with your bank accounts, maintenance arrears, living costs, credit reference agencies, child support arrears, bankruptcy, assets, accountancy issues, mortgages, creditor issues, insurance providers, mobiles, your bank account, rates arrears, PAYE contributions or if you want to work out your expenditure. They can make sure that you speak to an adviser or supervisor and look at proposals to offer your lender. A petition has started with the possibility of a debate in parliament about how charities represent themselves and their services.

Which charities help with debt?

You can contact Money Advice Service, National Debtline, Step Change, Shelter or a combination of the three. Charities are particular useful for a low debt level under 1,000. If the debt is high (such as a debt value of 10,000 or more) you would usually seek an assessment from a professional adviser. If you do decide to use a charity to guide you, make sure you check their charity number and the registration number on their website to make sure you are content that their team can answer your questions in the right ways. A lot of clients of charities have a minimum debt level which does not meet the basis for an IVA, so you could always chat to a charity that is happy to act on your behalf for low debt levels.

Although an I.V.A could be the answer to your debt problem, its important to understand the monthly payment so call us on our free phone number. Anyone customers can receive expert feedback on their rights from debt charities, if they cant help they will usually point you in the director of firms which help with IVAs.

We are homeowners, will lenders see my proposal differently?

In some cases yes. In the majority of cases, if you are a homeowner you will not need to remortgage or take out any additional finances that will effect your property. You will need to sign a additional restrictions which remove your ability to take out additional credit tied to your property, which is something that is restricted once you are in an i.v.a. There are exceptions to this, such as when you have a lot of equity in your property/properties. If you own half of a property and another party owns the other half, only your equity will be affected.

If you are landlord and you are in a position of equity, your IP may review your trading position or business to make sure the figures in question are in order. This is usually the case if you have two or more properties, as sometimes the equity can be used to form a repayment to your creditors. But this usually depends on the amount of value built up in your properties.

Banks and building societies will not change the terms of your mortgage as long as a contribution is still being made for the duration of your arrangement. Your mortgage payments will be added to your expenses and accounted for within your budget, as long as you can provide evidence that you can afford to continue to make payments into your mortgage for duration of the plan.

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business OPEC cuts 2016 oil demand growth forecast, warns of more OPEC on Wednesday cut its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2016 and warned of further reductions citing concern about Latin America and China, pointing to a larger supply surplus this year.
ETPs have attracted a massive amount of investors funds worldwide. Something like US$23 trillion worth of assets are invested across thousands of funds around the globe. These products are not a passing fad.

If you wanted to get a share portfolio on the go, how much do you think you might need to invest? A few grandmaybe a bit more.

Unless you had a decent chunk to start off with, chances are youre going to spend a lot on brokerage and end up with a pretty small holding in just a handful of shares. Even if you had $20,000 to invest, how far do you think it might go?

If you divided it equally among 10 companies, for example, and you followed the typical advice out there, youd end up owning some bank stocks, a telco, maybe some blue chip industrials, and one of the large supermarket chains.

But with just $2,000 to spend on each company, what would you be able to buy? Wellit would get you exactly 27 Commonwealth Bank [ASX:CBA] shares, around 380-odd Telstra [ASX:TLS] shares and just 50 shares in Wesfarmers [ASX:WES], owners of Coles. Probably not something to write home about.

Now these arent recommendations, but they are pretty typical of companies owned by a lot of private investors.

Using an online broker, youre likely to pay around $20 a trade, so thats another $200 gone just in setting your portfolio up. And every time you want to exit or adjust each holding, thats another $20. Add it up over a year and youll be surprised how much these costs eat into your portfolios return.

One product that can be a great alternative to all this hassle is an exchange traded fund (ETF). Or to use the more up-to-date broader description, an exchange traded product (ETP). An ETP is a managed fund that trades on a stock exchange, making it more accessible for investors to buy and sell.

Theres a reason the ETP market is booming

ETPs arent new; theyve been around for over 10 years in Australia. But theyre currently enjoying a massive boom as ever more products come on to the market to meet demand. Right now, there are in excess of 130 ETPs on the ASX to choose from.

ETPs have attracted a massive amount of investors funds worldwide. Something like US$23 trillion worth of assets are invested across thousands of funds around the globe. These products are not a passing fad.

There are a multitude of reasons for ETPs popularity. First, you dont need a whole lot of money to get started. You can invest just a $1,000 or less.

And that leads to perhaps their biggest advantage. Just one ETP can give you exposure to all of the stocks in the ASX200, or ASX 50, for example. Or a myriad of other asset classes. So rather than buying 27 CBA shares, you could instead own $2,000 worth of 200 shares, through just the one holding. And importantly, just the one lot of brokerage.

Another great strength of ETPs is the huge diversity of products available. They cover all the major asset classes, like cash and fixed interest, shares and property.

And if you dont have the time or inclination to set up an offshore broking account, ETPs allow you to invest in a range of offshore markets through just one holding listed on the ASX.

So, if you want to invest in the S&P 500 stocks in the US, there are ETPs that cover that. Also emerging markets, Europe and Asia. And if you want to buy gold or oil, for example, but dont know which stock to buy, many ETPs that specialise in commodities.

If youre interested in investing offshore, but are worried about foreign exchange risk, then there are a range of ETPs that are currency hedged as well.

Active or passive fund?

Splitting ETPs further, there are both active and passive funds. A passive fund simply replicates the structure of an underlying index. So, if you bought an ETP on the ASX 200, the fund would match the weightings and constituents of that index as closely as possible.

Another good thing about passive funds is that their fees are typically much cheaper than an actively managed fund, or a more traditional managed fund that you might invest in through a financial planner.

For example, a Vanguard ETF, the Australian Shares Index Fund [ASX:VAS]  a fund that replicates the ASX300  has AU$1.3 billion in funds under management, and charges a management fee of just 0.15% per annum. Compare that to a traditional managed fund or an active manager and youll see the type of bargain this offers.

Where the ETP market is really growing, though, is in actively managed funds. As the name implies, the fund employs a manager to implement a set trading strategy, with the aim of generating above market returns.

There are funds that specialise in dividend stripping for income focused investors. And for growth, there are biotech and technology ETPs. And with the growing realisation that theyll need to invest offshore, investors are seeking funds that actively stock pick international equities.

However, for employing the services of an active manger, expect to pay a higher fee. While a passive ETF might charge around 0.3% or less, an active one might charge 1.001.50%, so factor this into your costs.

With the boon in the ETP industry, its not surprising that a range of new players are trying to get in on the act. Especially when there is so little growth in other areas of the market. But thats not a bad thing.

For an investor, it means a bigger range of products available. And even better, more competition when it comes to fees. While costs always seem to go up in everything else, ETPs fees are coming down.

ETPs can be a great way to get invested in the market, without the hassle of buying a swag of individual shares. And if youre new to the market, they can take away one of the hardest parts of investing  choosing which shares to buy.

Even if you just have a couple of thousand dollars to invest, youll soon have access to a range of investments, both locally and abroad. And the best thingif you want to change your fund, no need to book an appointment with your financial planner  its just a click or two of the keyboard away.

Ive recommended several ETPs to subscribers of Total Income. The particular focus of these products is in generating a regular income stream. You can find out more here.

Regards,

Matt Hibbard
His announcement comes as fallout widens over the law he signed last month that would limit protections for gay, lesbian and transgender people.

McCrory said he's using an executive order to expand the state equal employment policy to include sexual orientation and gender, as well as affirming private businesses' rights to establish their own bathroom policies.

He also says he will ask lawmakers to file legislation later this month allowing people to sue in state court over discrimination. That right had been wiped out by the law.

But the statement said that his order will maintain gender-specific restroom and locker room access in government buildings and schools. He once again condemned a Charlotte ordinance passed earlier this year that allowed transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity, calling it "a solution in search of a problem."

The state law was passed partly in response to the Charlotte measure.

But it went further than repealing the Charlotte law by overruling LGBT antidiscrimination measures passed by local governments around the state. It also excluded sexual orientation and gender identity from the state's antidiscrimination policy. The law also required transgender people to use the bathroom corresponding to the sex listed on their birth certificate.

McCrory acknowledged outcry over the law, saying he'd listened to "feedback" from people for several weeks.

He said that "based upon this feedback, I am taking action to affirm and improve the state's commitment to privacy and equality."

His announcement came hours after Deutsche Bank announced that it's halting plans to add 250 jobs in North Carolina because of the law.

The German bank with a large U.S. presence adds another loud voice to a chorus of business leaders who have urged the repeal of the law by Republican leaders who promote the state as business-friendly.

Previously, the bank had planned to add the jobs through next year in Cary. But on Tuesday the bank said it was freezing those plans.

Co-executive officer John Cryan said in a news release that "as a result of this legislation we are unwilling to include North Carolina in our US expansion plans for now."

He said the bank may revisit the plans later. The bank currently employs 900 people at a Cary software development center, and it said it plans to sustain that existing operation.

Previously, PayPal reversed plans to open a 400-employee operation center in Charlotte, and more than 130 corporate CEOs signed a letter urging the law's repeal. A number of states and cities have restricted public employee travel to the state.

This week, the law prompted several more groups to cancel planned conventions or gatherings in the state.

Ryan Smith, a spokeswoman for the Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau, said five groups totaling about 1,000 attendees have already canceled. She said in an email the canceled events would have brought $730,000 to the area.

Smith said another 16 groups are considering cancellations of events expected to have an impact of $24 million.

The B Lab, a group organizing a gathering for socially conscious companies, says that it's relocating the event that was expected to bring 550 attendees to Durham in October. Certified B Corporations are for-profit but meet strict criteria for social and environmental responsibility.

Charlotte tourism officials have previously said that several events were canceled around that city.

Some major music acts have also responded to the law. Bruce Springsteen canceled a Greensboro show over the weekend because of it.

Jimmy Buffett, meanwhile, said that he considers the law "stupid" but will proceed with scheduled shows in Raleigh and Charlotte this month. He said future dates would depend on whether the law is repealed.

Buffett wrote on his blog that tickets to his shows sold out long before the law was enacted. "I am not going to let stupidity or bigotry trump fun for my loyal fans this year," he said.

Supporters of the law on Monday held their biggest rally yet, drawing several hundred supporters.
Since last year, doctors in Brazil have been linking Zika infections in pregnant women to a rise in newborns with microcephaly, or an unusually small skull. Most experts were cautious about drawing a firm connection. But now the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says enough evidence is in.

"There is no longer any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said.

Among the evidence that clinched the case: Signs of the Zika virus, which is spread primarily through mosquito bites but can also be transmitted through sex, have been found in the brain tissue, spinal fluid and amniotic fluid of microcephaly babies.

The CDC and other health agencies have been operating for months on the assumption that Zika causes brain defects, and they have been warning pregnant women to use mosquito repellent, avoid travel to Zika-stricken regions and either abstain from sex or rely on condoms. Those guidelines will not change.

But the new finding should help officials make a more convincing case to the public for taking precautions. Some officials hope the Zika report will change public thinking about Zika the way the 1964 surgeon general's report convinced many Americans that smoking causes lung cancer.

"We've been very careful over the last few months to say, 'It's linked to, it's associated with.' We've been careful to say it's not the cause of," said the CDC's Dr. Sonja A. Rasmussen. "I think our messages will now be more direct."

The CDC announced its conclusion in a report published online by the New England Journal of Medicine.

The World Health Organization has made similar statements recently. A WHO official applauded the CDC's report.

"We feel it's time to move from precautionary language to more forceful language to get people to take action," said Dr. Bruce Aylward, who is leading WHO's Zika response.

Zika has been sweeping through Latin America and the Caribbean in recent months, and the fear is that it will only get worse there and in the U.S. with the onset of mosquito season this spring and summer.

The virus causes only a mild and brief illness, at worst, in most people. But in the last year, infections in pregnant women have been strongly linked to fetal deaths and devastating birth defects, mostly in Brazil, where the Health Ministry said Tuesday that 1,113 cases of microcephaly have been confirmed since October.

So far, there have been no documented Zika infections in the U.S. caught from mosquitoes. Nearly 350 illnesses in the 50 states were reported as of last week, all linked to travel to Zika outbreak regions.

The report comes at a time when health officials have been begging Congress to approve an emergency request for $1.9 billion in supplemental funding to fight Zika internationally and prepare in case mosquitoes spread the virus here. Earlier on Wednesday, top House Republicans said they will probably grant a portion of that request, but probably not until September.

As the microcephaly cases rose in Latin America, a number of alternative theories circulated through the public. Some claimed the cause was a vaccine given to pregnant women. Some suspected a mosquito-killing larvicide, and others wondered whether genetically modified mosquitoes were to blame.

Investigators gradually cast these theories aside and found more and more circumstantial evidence implicating Zika.

CDC officials relied on a checklist developed by a retired University of Washington professor, Dr. Thomas Shepard. He listed seven criteria for establishing if something can be called a cause of birth defects.

They still don't have some of the evidence they hope for. So far, for example, there have been no published studies demonstrating Zika causes such birth defects in animals. There's also a scarcity of high-quality studies that have systematically examined large numbers of women and babies in a Zika outbreak area.

"The purist will say that all the evidence isn't in yet, and they're right but this is public health and we need to act," the WHO's Aylward said.
Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investors point of view. We also respect individual opinionsthey represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive.

To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research.

Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process.
The 2016 federal budget released last month included a substantial $2.3 billion allocation in response to Canadas seemingly intractable home affordability issue, and part of this is a $177 million portion that would be released over two years to address what has been described by the CMHC as the abysmal housing situation of First Nations peoples.



In a speech to the Yukon and Whitehorse Chambers of Commerce on April 4, CMHC CEO Evan Siddall said that the funds would finally give the appropriate authorities the opportunity to resolve the sub-par housing conditions in Northern and First Nations communes.



The state of the housing stock is abysmal. The fact it exists in a country like ours is something we should be ashamed of, Siddall said, as quoted by CBC News.



For the first time in a long time, we are trying to signal that the unique needs of housing in the North need different programming. It's crowding, state-of-repair, and affordability, he added.



Siddall noted that First Nations peoples will have input on how the needed developments would proceed.



We want to listen and develop policy from what we hear. Some of our old programs are just out-dated, for the need, he stated.



Of the $177 million, $76.7 million will go to Nunavut, while $12 million would be set aside for the Northwest Territories and $8 million for Yukon. For the remaining amount, Nunavik will get $50 million, while Nunatsiavut and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region will get $15 million apiece.



A total of $739 million has been allotted in the latest budget for First Nations, Northern, and Inuit housing.
A mortgage sub-broker has been barred from reapplying for a broker license after a regulator investigation.The Financial Institutions Commission in British Columbia (FICOM) has found that Jorawar Singh Gosal submitted fraudulent mortgage documents to lenders.Mr. Gosal conducted business in a manner prejudicial to the public interest contrary to section 8(l)(i) of the Mortgage Brokers Act in that he altered borrowers' Canada Revenue Agency documents and presented these documents to lenders as part of mortgage applications, thereby misrepresenting the income of the borrowers, the Registrar of Mortgage Brokers wrote in a consent order, which was obtained by MortgageBrokerNews.ca.Gosal, who formerly worked as a sub-broker for Dominion Lending Centres Gold Financial Services, agreed with the findings made against him, according to the consent order.Mr. Gosal (currently unregistered) is not eligible to apply, and the Registrar will not accept an application for registration by Mr. Gosal under the Act, for a period often (10) years from the date the Registrar signs this Consent Order, the consent order says. Mr. Gosal hereby agrees not to apply for registration under the Act for ten years from the date the Registrar signs this Consent Order.Gosal will pay $4,000 for partial investigative costs.According to the agreed facts in the consent order, the Registrar received a complaint from a credit union manager on or about December 3,2014 that Gosal had submitted false Canada Revenue Agency documents.The manager said the mortgage was funded in July 2014. The discrepancy was found after the borrower applied for a line of credit at the same institution and submitted CRA documents.Gosal admits that he altered the borrower's 2012 and 2013 Notices of Assessment without the borrower's knowledge or consent in order to secure more favourable mortgage terms from the credit union, the Registrar said in the consent order.To read the entire consent order, click here
CFPB and Nonbank Servicers; Ex-CFPB Enforcement Attorney's Take on PHH/CFPB Hearing

There is a lot of news today, ranging from political maneuvering through Chases earnings and on to the PHH/CFPB court case. But how about this one: President Obama forgiving $7 billion in student debt? It is a slippery slope. Those in the mortgage industry wonder if investors will wake up to find something similar regarding government-sponsored mortgage debt.

Earlier this week we learned that Bank of America Merrill Lynch was severing its loan production ties to PHH. As rumors circulated through the industry that Key Bank is also severing ties with PHH, its court case with the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau is being closely followed by anyone subject to the CFPB's enforcement actions. It had to answer some brutal questions during oral arguments before a federal appeals court. It's seeking to argue the constitutionality of its single-director structure in a lawsuit brought by the nonbank mortgage lender PHH Corp.

Jennifer Lee is a partner at the international law firm Dorsey & Whitney in its banking and financial services practice and a former CFPB enforcement attorney. Lee assists clients in responding to Civil Investigative Demands from the CFPB and defends their interests in ongoing enforcement investigations or litigation matters, including drafting NORA response letters, negotiating compliance with CIDs and negotiating consent orders. As a former CFPB Enforcement Attorney, Jenny understands how the CFPB thinks and applies its authorities to enforce consumer protection laws, including UDAAP, EFTA, GLB Act, FDCPA, FCRA, TILA and RESPA. Jenny has extensive experience in consumer financial matters involving the CFPB, state attorneys general or state banking agencies, the Department of Justice and prudential banking regulators or in Congressional investigations.

She wrote, "Today's oral argument was the Super Bowl for CFPB. The D.C. Circuit was hostile towards the CFPB's arguments on statute of limitations, separation of powers, constitutionality of the agency, penalty calculation, and the CFPB's interpretation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA") when it comes to defining a kickback."



"The judges' questions revealed that they were not persuaded by the CFPB's argument that other agencies have a single director such that it is constitutional for the CFPB to have a single director. The judges' questions focused on whether an agency that has extremely broad powers and authorities can truly be held accountable as a government entity in the absence of a bipartisan or non-partisan commission at the helm."



"What was most interesting about the judges' questions was that they revealed the court's underlying assumption that if a practice is widespread in the industry, it must be because industry actors held a widespread belief that the practice was legal under RESPA. This is an underlying assumption that the CFPB does not share. If anything, the CFPB airs(sic) on the side of assuming the opposite, which is essentially the driver of each issue that was before the court today and which is what led the CFPB Director to issue its order in the first place."



"What is also interesting is that the original intent in establishing the agency was to allow consumers to have a watchdog to protect their interests. But today, the CFPB faced a federal appellate court asking, which consumers were protected by the Director's order given that other insurance companies were charging about the same price such that no consumer paid more as a result of the so-called illegal referrals. At a minimum, the agency may need to revisit its RESPA enforcement program and scrub its investigations docket to parse out actual harm versus theoretical harm cases." Thank you Jennifer!

And Bose George with KBW did a fine write-up yesterday. "We attended the hearings this morning. A three-member appellate court heard oral arguments today in PHH's appeal of a $109 million fine imposed on the company by the CFPB for violations under RESPA. We felt that the tone of the hearings was quite favorable to PHH. We would anticipate a final ruling in around 60 days.

"A three-member appellate court heard oral arguments today in PHH's appeal of a $109 million fine imposed on the company by the CFPB for violations under RESPA. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson did not participate in the oral arguments but will participate in the decision. We thought Judges Brett Kavanaugh and Raymond Randolph were more sympathetic to PHH's arguments than we anticipated and we are more sanguine about PHH's chances that the court will either overturn the CFPB's decision or, at very least, reduce the size of the fine.

"The two judges seemed bothered by CFPB's claim that there is no statute of limitation under RESPA and asked lawyers for both sides whether there are other examples of laws that lack statutes of limitation where the courts have borrowed statutes of limitations from other laws. This suggests to us that at very least, the court will want to limit CFPB's ability to penalize PHH for older violations of RESPA.

"Both judges also seemed to side with PHH on its argument that the doctrine of 'fair notice' should have required the CFPB to alert PHH and the rest of the industry of any changes in its interpretation of RESPA and a change in policy from the policy letter regarding captive reinsurance established by HUD. Furthermore, since RESPA is actually a criminal statute a legal theory called the 'Rule of Lenity' requires that any time there are ambiguities in a criminal statute, the ambiguities should be resolved in favor of the defendant, in this case PHH.

"Finally, Judge Kavanaugh seemed to be quite receptive to PHH's argument that the CFPB's structure violates constitutional principles. The Judge asked for precedents of a similar institution with power concentrated in one person and did not seem convinced when offered the examples of the social security commission and FHFA." Thank you Bose.

But keep in mind that the CFPB is not going anywhere. Reporter Sylvan Lane put out a piece noting that, "Two Democratic lawmakers are calling on the nation's top consumer protection agency to ramp up its oversight of nonbank mortgage servicers. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.) asked the CFPB on Monday to identify all of and collect more data on the growing number of financial institutions other than banks that service mortgages.

"Warren and Cummings pointed to recommendations from a non-partisan government watchdog report released Monday. Warren, a long-time financial industry watchdog, and Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, requested the Government Accountability Office (GAO) study.

"'Collecting information on and regulating nonbank mortgage services to protect consumers is well within CFPB's statutory authority and core mission,' wrote Warren and Cummings in a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray. 'We hope that you take actions to do so as rapidly as possible.'"

The GAO report requested by the lawmakers found that 25 percent of all mortgages were serviced by nonbank entities by the second fiscal quarter of 2015. That's almost four times as many as were in serviced in 2012, when nonbank entities serviced 6.8 percent of American mortgages. Mentioned was that nonbank servicers often lack the resources, infrastructure and experience to handle "regulatory compliance, risk and internal controls." This can lead to errors with transfers and payment processing that could put homeowners at risk of foreclosure.

The U.S. Treasury market (e.g., the fixed-income market) closed Tuesday with decent sized losses "across the curve" as supply both in the US and Europe and a risk-on tone (notably after the crude oil announcement in the mid-morning) had rates under pressure.

The Fed, through FedTrade, continues to invest billions every day from the loans in its portfolio that pay off early. There are no surprises here, and in fact the New York Federal Reserve released the latest FedTrade schedule covering the April 13 to 26 period in addition to the reinvestment estimate covering the April 13 to May 11 period. Per IFR Markets MBS reinvestments over the coming four-week period are estimated at $33 billion. "This is the largest estimate since the period ending May 12, 2015 when the estimate was $40bn which was the largest total since reinvestments began in 2012."

What are traders & investors looking at in the markets? The focus overnight and today will remain on global markets ($/yen, oil, equities), the Verizon employee strike, along with Retail Sales and the March Producer Price Index (-.3% and -.1%, respectively). We also have the $20 billion 10-year note re-opening. And let's not forget this morning's highly scrutinized earnings announcement from JP Morgan - they beat estimates. We also had the MBA's weekly mortgage application numbers: +10%, refis +11% and purchases +8%. Later today, at 2PM, the Fed will release the latest Beige Book report. We closed Tuesday with the 10-year at 1.78% and in the early going it seems content at 1.78% with agency MBS prices better a smidge.



Jobs and Announcements

In private sector job news, Michigan Mutual, Inc., an agency direct/seller/servicer/issuer based in Port Huron, Michigan, continues to expand its wholesale sales and operations team in the West and is excited to announce that they have opened an operations center in Roseville, California. MMI is currently looking for experienced Wholesale Underwriters, Processors, and Closers for this location to support its' growing Sales team in the west. "If you are an experienced mortgage professional seeking an opportunity to join a thriving company with a positive culture and corporate values, please contact Karley Warwick (HR Specialist, 248.286.9490) or Al Crisanty (Director of Wholesale Lending, 916.761.1624). You may also visit our careers page to complete an application.

REMN Wholesale "had a banner month in March and without a slowdown in sight, needs to add seasoned account executives in all markets. If you're an experienced AE looking to work with a leading wholesale lender known nationwide for its dedication to a superb broker experience, this could be the opportunity for you. REMN strives to stay ahead of the curve in providing its customers with what they need to maintain their pipelines both next week, and next year. With a leadership in renovation lending few can match, REMN offers free weekly reno lending webinars and seminars, along with its Renovation Concierge Service support team, helping to ensure their customers can leverage one of the hottest products in today's housing market. Match that with its exemplary reputation for same day turn times on new files and it's easy to see that REMN's dedication to its customers is more than just lip service. Interested and experienced wholesale account executives, in any market across the country, looking to join a proven wholesale leader should send their resumes to aerecruiting@remn. com."

And Roadrunner Solutions has an offer out to loan officers: "Stop losing business to local lenders! Check out Roadrunner Solutions free service to help you connect your pre-approved borrowers with local Real Estate professionals that will reinforce your relationship with the borrower. Roadrunner has a large network of Realtors that will respect the relationship between the LO and their borrower. This service will improve your closure rate and help deliver the high level of customer service required for the purchase money borrower. If you are a Call Center LO, run a Call Center Platform, originate loans outside of your local area, or just struggle to find quality Realtors, Roadrunner is a great service for you to try with no fees or any cost to you or the borrower. If you would like to find out more e-mail us."

Congrats to Betty Lonis: Stonegate Mortgage Corporation announced that she has been named Senior Vice President of Human Resources and lead the company's human resources efforts. She will report directly to Jim Smith, Stonegate Mortgage President and COO.
A federal appeals court judge is questioning the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.



According to a Wall Street Journal article, one of the judges on the appeals court panel settling the legal battle between PHH and the CFPB is unsure about the constitutionality of the agencys structure. The issue rests on the CFPBs finding that PHH accepted illegal kickbacks in violation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. CFPB Director Richard Cordray ruled that PHH violated RESPA every time it accepted a kickback on or before July 21, 2008.



That greatly surpassed the scope of the original administrative law judges ruling in the case, according to a HousingWire report. The original ruling only applied to kickbacks on loans closed after that date.



Appeals Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh called it very problematic that Cordray was able to unilaterally make that decision, according to the Wall Street Journal.



You are concentrating huge power in a single person and the president has no power over it, Kavanaugh said.



Its expected to be several weeks before the appeals court issues a decision in the case  and any decision against the CFPB is expected to be appealed, the Journal reported.




The saga of the dunes sagebrush lizard sat quietly on the shelf for the past few years until recent action by the Texas Comptrollers Office put the story back into headlines.

Comptroller Glenn Hegar in February removed the Texas Habitat Conservation Foundation from monitoring the protection preservation of the dunes sagebrush lizard in West Texas.

The Comptrollers Office made the move because the foundation, set up by lobby group the Texas Oil and Gas Association, failed to perform its duties, such as habitat restoration work and monitoring drillers and other landowners to ensure they were performing conservation measures to protect the dunes sagebrush lizard, according to an Austin American-Statesman report that broke the news.

The Comptrollers Office has been charged with overseeing Texas endangered-species issues since the 2011 legislative session, amid concerns at that time that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would list the dunes sagebrush lizard as a threatened species. Such action would have put several areas of eastern New Mexico and West Texas off-limits to oil and natural gas production.

While oversight of the dunes sagebrush lizard is not under its direct purview, the Railroad Commission has an interest in matters involving the oil and gas industry, which it regulates.

Republican RRC run-off primary candidates were in Midland on Wednesday to speak briefly to attendees at the Midland County Republican Women luncheon about why voters should choose them for the general election. Former state Rep. Wayne Christian and businessman Gary Gates are looking to replace Railroad Commissioner David Porter, who is not seeking re-election.

Christian and Gates shared a few minutes with the Reporter-Telegram to discuss issues facing the RRC and the oil and gas industry. Neither was particularly familiar with the recent dunes sagebrush lizard issue.

I havent read the study to find out why (Hegar) did that, Gates said when asked about the Comptrollers Office decision to remove the THCF and the effectiveness of the Texas Conservation Plan.

When asked if the Comptrollers Office or another agency should oversee Texas endangered-species matters, Gates said, I dont know what agency best handles that.

Christian was asked about the same matters. As for whether the Texas Conservation Plan has failed, I dont think that its failed ... but its a legislative problem, he said, adding that the issue is not a direct oversight of the Railroad Commission.

Now, the (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) is directly involved there, he said. They will monitor what the Railroad Commission does or any other agency. Glenn Hegar might not want to do it from his end of the building, (but) TCEQ will.

In discussing oversight of endangered-species matters statewide, The main agency its addressed for is, again, the TCEQ, he said. Thats our environmental agency. So, Glenns probably right for moving it from the Comptrollers Office and do the funding and fiscal issues. If youre trying for environmental causes, the TCEQ is the place he is correct it should go.

Hegar spokeswoman Lauren Willis told the Reporter-Telegram on Wednesday afternoon that the comptrollers dunes sagebrush lizard action was not made so that the office could cede oversight of endangered-species matters to the TCEQ or any other agency. She said the Comptrollers Office has no intention of requesting any changes to its duties and that such changes would have to be decided by the state legislature.

Like Trevor on Facebook and follow him on Twitter at @HowdyHawes.
The idea of a "marriage advantage" to health and happiness has existed for well over 150 years. In 1858, epidemiologist William Farr found that people who were coupled up lived the longest, while the unmarried died in much higher proportions from the diseases like cholera that were raging at the time.

The disparity, it turns out, appears to still hold true in modern-day America when it comes to one of the current leading killers: cancer.

For a pair of studies published Monday in the journal Cancer, researchers Scarlett Lin Gomez of the Cancer Prevention Institute of California and Maria Elena Martinez of the University of California-San Diego looked at records from a large number of Americans - some 800,000 of them, all adults diagnosed in 2000 to 2009 with invasive cancer. They sliced the data by income, race, insurance status and other factors and found that unmarried cancer patients are suffering from higher death rates than their married counterparts.

Just how big of a difference does being married appear to have on survival? Big, and for both genders, but the impact seems greater for men than women.

According to the analysis, men who were unmarried had a death rate that was 27 percent higher than those who were married. For unmarried women it was 19 percent higher.

If you're wondering what magic powers marriage conveys on cancer patients, Gomez said the pattern was only "minimally" explained by the larger economic resources couples get by pooling their resources. That might give them access to things like private health insurance and the ability to live in nicer neighborhoods which have also been correlated with higher survival rates.

But Gomez said their analysis shows that money doesn't explain the extent of the protective effects and points instead to "social support as a key driver."

Gregory Masters, an oncologist who works at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center in Newark, Del., explained to HealthDay that it has to do with the care of "a devoted caregiver." "It suggests that a concerted effort to evaluate a patient's psychosocial resources may be as important as other factors in helping to improve cancer survival," Masters told the publication.

The researchers found that the beneficial effect of marriage holds across different racial and ethnic lines but to varying degrees. White men and women benefited the most, Hispanics and Asians the least. But people of Hispanic and Asian origin who were born in the United States appeared to see a greater benefit than those who were born abroad.

Martinez suggested that the research shows that in the future unmarried patients may need new types of interventions to increase their chances of survival. But Bernard Rachet from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said it's too soon to jump to any strong conclusions. Rachet pointed out to Guardian that the paper does not address such issues as whether patients married or divorced after their diagnosis, had relationships similar to marriage or whether they also had other co-existing conditions and diseases that may explain the difference in death rates.
A third in a series of honest assessments of Midland ISDs standing took place Tuesday night at the Hispanic Cultural Center.

The presentation, which was in Spanish, spotlighted Hispanic students academic performance, which is consistent with other students in the district. They also would benefit from an across-the-board education reform initiative.

About 85 people attended the third meeting that introduced Educate Midland to the community. County Commissioner Luis Sanchez and Teen Flows Jay Marquez provided details on the program, which is still in its infancy.

Joanna Rowley, executive director of bilingual/ESL education, said there are about 1,800 English as a second language (ESL) students and about 1,800 bilingual students in MISD. Overall, Hispanics make up 61.8 percent of student enrollment. The next largest group is whites, who trail by more than a 2-to-1 ratio.

Hispanic students in MISD trail the district and state averages in third-grade reading, Algebra I and preparation for college, according to figures that were part of the presentation.

- In third-grade reading, Hispanics have a 61 percent passing rate, which trails the MISD average (65) and state average (77).

- In Algebra I, Hispanics have a 63 percent passing rate. That trails the district average (68) and state average (81).

- In college preparedness, 40 percent of Hispanics at MISD are prepared, while the district average is 48 percent and state average is 54 percent.

We are looking at numbers that are hard to look at, Sanchez said. We know here is a problem and now it is time to fix it.

The time is today to get this started. The future wont wait, he said.

Here are some takeaways from Tuesdays event:

- The Educate Midland leadership team will meet Friday, and one of the topics will be increasing Hispanic representation on Education Midlands committees. Laura Roman said they would like 60 percent Hispanic involvement.

We need it desperately, she said.

- The 85 people in attendance, which included MISD representatives and Educate Midland officials, made the third event the smallest of the three held so far. The three-meeting total has been estimated at 635. The lone Hispanic representative on the MISD school board -- Angel Hernandez -- was not able to attend the meeting because there were family issues that required his attention.

I can assure you he fully supports the effort, said MISD Board President Rick Davis.

- The Cultural Centers Ballet Folklorico students performed for more than 20 minutes.

*****

Last meeting

Thursday

6-7:30 p.m.

Greater Ideal Family Life Center

301 S. Tyler St.

What is collective impact?

Collective impact is a framework to tackle deeply entrenched and complex social problems. It is an innovative and structured approach to making collaboration work across government, business, philanthropy, non-profit organizations and citizens to achieve significant and lasting social change.

Source: www.collaborationforimpact.com

Collective impact - five elements

1. All participants have a common agenda for change, including a shared understanding of the problem and a joint approach to solving it through agreed-upon actions.

2. Collecting data and measuring results consistently across all the participants ensures shared measurement for alignment and accountability.

3. Create a plan of action that outlines and coordinates mutually reinforcing activities for each participant.

4. Open and continuous communication is needed across the many players to build trust, assure mutual objectives and create common motivation.

5. A backbone organization(s) with staff and specific set of skills to serve the entire initiative and coordinate participating organizations and agencies.

Source: www.collaborationforimpact.com

What is Educate Midland?

A collaboration of Midland ISD and Educate Texas with the goal of strengthening Midlands public education system so that every student is prepared to succeed in school, in the workforce, and in life.

Source: www.educatemidland.org
ODESSA -- In accordance with Senate Bill 11, which allows individuals to carry concealed handguns on public university campuses, the University of Texas of the Permian Basin created a Campus Carry Committee and on Wednesday released a list of recommendations for implementing the new law.

The law goes into effect on Aug. 1 and allows for institution presidents to establish reasonable rules so long as they do not have the effect of generally prohibiting license holders from campus carry, according to a press release.

The recommendations were to ban concealed carry on: the campus STEM Academy; two wings in the Founders Building where Early College High School takes place; the Counseling Center, also located inside a wing of the Founders Building; the Child Care Center, but not the Student Activities Center (where the CCC is located) because little traffic exists between the two facilities; ticketed sporting events on campus; research labs because they contain volatile chemicals; chemical and biology labs while they are in use by students (with temporary signage acting as sufficient notice during those hours); the Student Testing and Accommodations Center, and UTPB housing units that include shared rooms (but not single units).

The document released by UTPB clarified each of the measures where needed. Child care centers have licensing regulations by the state that prohibit carrying weapons, which is why the CCC was listed. Sporting events are automatically excluded as a concealed carry zone by law. Some testing organizations such as the Educational Testing Service prohibit weapons so the testing center was included to avoid the difficulty of handling students taking other tests concurrently with students taking standardized tests.

Family members of housing residents in shared rooming units can carry a concealed weapon while visiting, and staff members required to enter student housing on job-related business may carry.

The committee also included recommendations beyond just gun-free zones. It emphasized teaching basic gun safety, specifically about accidental discharge while cleaning a firearm, and safe handling. It also recommended that students be required to have a combination or biometric gun safe, acceptable to UTPB police, for gun storage.

Any resident hall utilized by minors attending campus should become exclusion zones while they are in there, the document said.

As stated in the law and other state laws regulating concealed carry, notice in the form of signage must be given when an area is a gun-free zone. The signage can be large signs (in English and Spanish) or be printed on the back of a sporting event ticket, the document said.

The plan will be submitted for approval to the UT Board of Regents on May 11. Students, faculty and staff were part of the weekly committee to consider implementation of the statute, the safety of the campus and the individual rights, according to an email from UTPB spokeswoman Travis Woodward.
ODESSA, Texas (AP)  A man convicted of stealing a purse from a West Texas church must serve 20 years in prison for the theft that prompted some worshippers to chase and catch him.

Nicholas Kempf was convicted Tuesday of aggravated robbery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
HOBBS, N.M. (AP)  An energy equipment company has taken steps toward opening a long-term storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in southeastern New Mexico.

Holtec International has submitted a letter of intent to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission about its bid to open a $5 billion Consolidated Interim Storage Facility in Lea County, The News-Sun reported.

Holtec is proposing a long-term facility that could have a lifespan of 100 years. Company officials have said they anticipate initial licensing for the first 40 years.

The company's letter to the NRC says it hopes to submit a site-specific license application by the end of November.

Hobbs Mayor Sam Cobb says the formal notice to the NRC is the latest development in a yearslong process. Cobb is a member of the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance board, a group of four southeastern New Mexico governments that is selling the 1,000 acres of land in western Lea County and Eddy County that Holtec has its eye on.

The alliance includes the city of Hobbs, Lea County, Eddy County and the city of Carlsbad.

The alliance has entered a tentative agreement to sell the land to Holtec that is contingent upon Holtec receiving the NRC license.

Both houses of the New Mexico Legislature have also passed non-binding measures supporting the alliance's effort to establish an interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel in the area.

Carlsbad Economic Development Director John Waters said he hasn't heard any opposition to the deal yet.

"It's been fairly well-supported by all the governing bodies so far, but they've got to go through the official process," he said.

___

Information from: Hobbs News-Sun, http://www.hobbsnews.com
From the Lab to the Marketplace: Michigan Tech Researchers Find Help at Home to Commercialize Their Discoveries

From left, Jonathan Leinonen, Adrienne Minerick, John Diebel and Megan Frost are seen in the M&M Building on the Michigan Tech Campus. Startup companies by Minerick and Frost have recently signed commercial licensing agreements, which University officials say represent important commercialization milestones.

Startup companies involving two Michigan Technological University faculty members have recently signed commercial licensing agreements, which represent important commercialization milestones.

Microdevice Engineering Inc. is a Houghton, Michigan-based company that is developing a portable point-of-care battery-operated blood typing device. Adrienne Minerick and Mary Raber from Michigan Tech are core members of the founding team. Minerick is associate dean for research and innovation in the Universitys College of Engineering. She is also a professor of chemical engineering and an adjunct professor of biomedical engineering. Raber is the assistant dean of academic programs for the Pavlis Honors College and co-director of the recently established Innovation Center for Entrepreneurship.

Megan Frost, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and adjunct associate professor of materials science and engineering, is co-founder of the other company, FM Research Management, LLC, which is currently developing nitric oxide-releasing materials for antimicrobial applications.

Both companies worked extensively with services and programs provided by the Technology Commercialization Team in Michigan Techs Office of Innovation and Commercialization. The team helps researchers move from technical discovery to product launch.

Those services and programs included the Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization (M-TRAC) program that provides guidance for advanced materials technologies and the Michigan Tech Transfer Talent Network (T3N) that guides University-based entrepreneurs.

Both programs are funded by the Michigan Strategic Fund, with program oversight by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), a state government agency that promotes Michigans base of sustainable, innovative and job-creating companies.

Michigan Tech also offered business development expertise and financial resources through Superior Innovations a company funded through alumni donations to future University technologies. Superior Ideas is the Michigan Tech crowdfunding site, the Commercialization Milestone Grant program and connections with angel investor networks. These programs provided the companies with early stage financial leverage, strategically utilizing federal and state funding sources.

Minerick and Raber formed their company in the spring of 2013, when they were participating in the National Science Foundations I-Corps training following inForums ACTiVATE program, which offers training for women entrepreneurs. Participation was sponsored jointly by Michigan Tech and the Michigan Tech Enterprise Corporation (MTEC) SmartZone.

MDE is developing a handheld point of care device to type ABO-Rh blood and hematocrit (blood cell concentration) in five minutes, Minerick explains. The device is being engineered to be as easy to use as a blood glucose meter. She says the road to commercialization, especially for medical products, requires crossing multiple technical and regulatory milestones.

Our team has been fortunate to be supported by state and federal funding to move this technology out of the academic research realm and into blood donation clinics to screen potential donors, Minerick says. She encourages researchers on campus with an interest commercializing their novel technologies to reach out to Michigan Techs Office of Innovation and Commercialization or to her within the College of Engineering.

David Reed, vice president for research at Michigan Tech, commends the faculty effort. Commercialization and innovation are core elements of Michigan Techs strategic plan, he says. It is great to see our faculty researchers leveraging resources and talent, both inside and outside of the University, to move their laboratory discoveries closer to the market.

Frost describes her technology and role of her new venture. My company is commercializing a novel self-sterilizing polymer that will be used in wound dressings to reduce bacterial infection, she says. Frost worked with the Office of Innovation and Commercialization and the MTEC SmartZone to evaluate the technology she developed in her laboratory from a commercial perspective. They helped her identify the strengths of her approach, complete an IP filing strategy and conduct follow- on vetting of the approach before launching the business.

Jonathan Leinonen is a mentor in residence at Michigan Tech who assists fledgling companies through the Talent Transfer Network and Superior Innovations. These companies demonstrate how willing the resources from the MEDC, Michigan Tech, the statewide talent network and private investors are to work together, he says.

Leinonen says the companies benefitted from assistance in developing a strong team in conjunction with statewide organizations, advisory boards, mentors and private consultants that all contributed toward a commercialization strategy, placing an experienced CEO to move each company toward a product launch.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigans flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
The hip-hop world was shaken last week when journalist and Bronx judicial delegate Ronald Savage accused Afrika Bambaataa of sexually assaulting him as a child. Now the "Planet Rock" artist is speaking out for the first time, denying the accusations as "baseless and cowardly."

"I, Afrika Bambaataa, want to take this opportunity at the advice of my legal counsel to personally deny any and all allegations of any type of sexual molestation of anyone," Bambaataa says in a statement to Rolling Stone. "These allegations are baseless and are a cowardly attempt to tarnish my reputation and legacy in hip-hop at this time. This negligent attack on my character will not stop me from continuing my battle and standing up against the violence in our communities, the violence in the nation and the violence worldwide."

The accusations are included in Savage's self-published memoir Impulse Urges and Fantasies, where he accuses Bambaataa of molesting him as a 15 year-old. Bambaataa was 23 at the time of the alleged incident. Savage served as a "crate boy," hauling records for DJs in the area, which is how he became friends with Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation.

Speaking to the Daily Beast, who first reported Savage's claims, he said, ""It was just about fun, hanging out, listening to music. I had a big name on the street. I was the youngest of the Zulu Nation. Nobody bothered me back then because nobody messed with the Zulu Nation."

He says that he isn't seeking monetary damages, but rather wants to change the statute of limitations in New York State for child abuse and prevent other children from suffering like he has.

Bambaataa's lawyer sharply denied the allegations as well to the Daily Beast.

"Defamatory statements were published seeking to harm my client's reputation so as to lower him in the estimation of the community while deterring others from associating or dealing with him," she said, referring to Savage's book. "The statements show a reckless disregard for the truth, were published with knowledge of their falsity, and are being made by a lesser-known person seeking publicity."

 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
Someone should sue the President for ...
Sacramento, CA  A Butte Fire relief bill authored by Mother Lode lawmaker Sen. Tom Berryhill cleared its first policy committee Wednesday.

Berryhill was Fridays KVML Newsmaker of the Day.

As previously reported here, SB 1118 would help Calaveras County recover additional Butte Fire recovery costs through state. It was co-authored by Assemblymember Frank Bigelow. Bigelows AB2314, which seeks an urgency appropriation and is co-authored by Berryhill, is set to be heard by the Assemblys Revenue and Taxation Committee next Monday.

My colleagues said yes today to helping a small rural county that suffered through a natural disaster and a clean-up that even the wealthiest of California counties would struggle to pay for, Berryhill states. He adds, I am very pleased that the committee extended the same common-sense help to folks in my district that it has for areas of California ravaged by earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters.

The bill would add the Calaveras County fires of 2015 to the list of disaster events for which the state picks up costs normally covered by local jurisdictions. Without disaster relief it will be incredibly difficult for Calaveras County to pay for damage repairs that are not covered by federal and state disaster programs, Berryhill emphasizes. Calaveras County is a rural, lightly populated county that does not have the resources necessary to make-up the difference  the Committees action was the right thing to do. The bill next heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning on AM 1450 KVML at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 AM
Cal Fire Truck View Photos

Sacramento, CA  Seven firefighters, including two from the region, received the prestigious Medal of Valor Award from Governor Jerry Brown.

It is the highest honor a state employee can receive, and it is for acts of heroism that extend beyond the normal call of duty. Among those recognized are CAL Fire Captain Justin Schmollinger of the Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit and Fire Apparatus Engineer Johnny Miller of the Madera-Mariposa Unit. The announcement was made this morning.

CAL Fire Director Ken Pimlott says, Our firefighters put their lives on the line every day. But these individuals had to make decisions to act quickly, without regard to their own safety.

The below information about Schmollinger and Miller was provided by CAL Fire:

Fire Captain Justin Schmollinger, CAL FIRE Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit

On April 15, 2015, at approximately 2:30 p.m., CAL FIRE Fire Captain Justin Schmollinger, a resident of Valley Springs, was working with his inmate fire crew in the Valley Springs area when he noticed a large black column of smoke in the distance. Captain Schmollinger loaded his crew into the bus, went to investigate, and arrived on scene to see a house in flames. Captain Schmollinger forced the back door open and called out to see if anyone was inside. Hearing what he thought was someone trying to yell, he entered the smoke-filled burning home and found a semi-conscious man lying on the floor in the hallway. Captain Schmollinger quickly began pulling the man to the back door, but when he was within 10 feet of the door, he was overcome by smoke. He ran out the back door briefly, got a breath of fresh air, then re-entered the burning house and pulled the man completely out. After the victim was safely outside, Captain Schmollinger requested emergency medical services and an air ambulance. Once help arrived, Captain Schmollinger transferred care of the victim to the paramedics and helped firefighters extinguish the fire. The victim was treated at the hospital for burns and smoke inhalation and released. With no regard for his own safety, Captain Schmollingers heroic service saved a man from a burning house.

Fire Apparatus Engineer Johnny Miller, CAL FIRE Madera-Mariposa Unit

On July 25, 2015, at approximately 3 p.m., CAL FIRE Fire Apparatus Engineer Johnny Miller, a resident of Eastvale, was boating with his family in a remote area of the Colorado River in Lake Havasu, Arizona, when he saw a boat suddenly submerge, throwing two infants and four adults into the water. None of the adults were wearing life vests. The water was very rough and visibility was limited due to the many speed boats drag racing on this particular section of the river. Engineer Miller immediately called out to the adults to move away from the rapidly sinking boat and then, without hesitation, jumped into the choppy water. The two infants were wearing life vests; however, they were so young their vests were ineffective and they could not keep their heads above the churning water. Engineer Miller swam out and had both babies in his arms in a matter of minutes. With the infants safely in his care, Engineer Miller then swam over and rescued their mother, who couldnt swim, and assisted all three to a waiting boat. The men also lacked life vests, but were able to swim to the boat as directed by Engineer Miller. With no regard for his own safety, Engineer Millers heroic service saved two infants and a woman from drowning when their boat submerged in the Colorado River.
An environmental group based in Washington, DC is concerned about the health of the San Joaquin River, including its local tributaries, the Merced, Tuolumne and Stanislaus.

The organization American Rivers has ranked the San Joaquin River as being among the 10 most endangered rivers in the country. It is the only waterway in California to make the list. The organization argues that the salmon and steelhead populations are on the brink of extinction. It lists the contributing factors as being agricultural diversions, poorly designed levees and groundwater overdraft. The group says these factors are making the watershed vulnerable to increasingly frequent severe droughts and floods.

The San Joaquin River, and it tributaries, help irrigate two million acres of farmland, generate 3,000 megawatts of hydropower, and provide drinking water to more than 4.5 million people. The group argues that it is time to take long overdue action to restore the San Joaquin River and plan for a more sustainable future.

It ranked #2 on the endangered list. Ranking number one is the Apalachiocola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin that stretches across Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Rounding out the top-five are the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania and Maryland, the Smith River in Montana and the Green-Duwamish River in Washington.

American Rivers was founded in 1973 and touts that it has helped protect and restore more than 150,000 miles of rivers through advocacy efforts and projects.
Sonora, CA  While statewide media outlets report that recent rains and the beginning of the spring snow melt are causing Lake Tahoe to fill and spill into the Truckee River, some California reservoirs, notably New Melones in the Sierra Nevada, continue to struggle.

The State Department of Water Resources stresses that exceptional drought conditions continue to prevail in many parts of the state, requiring keen conservation efforts and care with water supplies.

As far as water storage goes, the latest snapshot of all the reservoir levels indicates that two of the northernmost lakes, Shasta and Oroville, have reached an impressive 91 percent of capacity; respectively at 109 percent and 116 percent above their historical averages for this time of year.

New Melones Levels Lowest In The State

Hit the hardest among the states 12 largest reservoirs is New Melones, now at 26 percent of its capacity and just 42 percent of its historical seasonal average, despite the respite rains and additions to the Sierra snowpack. Its current level is even more meager than the states two southernmost reservoirs, Lake Perris and Castaic Lake, which are currently at 36 percent and 44 percent of their respective capacities; 43 percent and 49 percent of their historical averages. (To view an April 12 snapshot of water levels at all of the states major monitored reservoirs, click into the upper-left image box.)

Currently the State Water Board is reviewing a plan (previously reported here) that was presented last week in Sacramento by the Bureau of Reclamation at a public session held to gather public input. Board officials indicate that a decision to accept it in its entirety, with conditions, or not all, is due before the end of the month.

As reported here, several public officials, representing water, government and tourism entities in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties showed up to speak about numerous negative local impacts to the economy, recreation and tourism industry, as well as to Butte Fire-related recovery and wildfire safety that were not considered by the agencies involved in putting together the plan. Their position is that the plan does not allow New Melones to regain enough water to make a local difference.

Tri-Dam Touts Balanced Plan

Tri-Dam Project partners Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) and South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID), who hold senior water rights to the Stanislaus River at New Melones, collaborated with Reclamation, which operates New Melones, to craft the operations plan. The Tri-Dam partner districts touted the plan yesterday in a press release it issued through their public relations firm.

Quoted in the release, OID General Manager called the proposal, which is currently being reviewed by the Water Board, balanced. He further stated, The districts are making water available to assist with pulse flow operations that are important to federal and state regulators. At the same time, ag interests on the West Side are going to be able pick up and benefit from that water. In addition to benefiting fish and farms, SSJID General Manager Peter Rietkerk noted that the plan would also allow New Melones to make some storage gains for the first time in four years. He added, This not only preserves water supply for next year, but also provides water temperature benefits in the Stanislaus River for this summer and fall.

Clarke Broadcasting asked Calaveras County Water District (CCWD) Director Dennis Mills and Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors Chair Karl Rodefer, both who attended last weeks Water Board session on the proposed New Melones plan, for their comments on the press release. Both maintain that it puts a positive spin on an operations proposal for New Melones, reflecting the interests of those who put it together; lacking input from some stakeholders who live and work in the surrounding community.
AMARILLO - The 27th consecutive year of grain grading workshops hosted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will be held May 3-4, according to Dr. Steve Amosson, AgriLife Extension economist in Amarillo.

The program is designed for corn, sorghum and wheat grain handlers and producers, Amosson said. Information from the workshop will help participants recognize the different types of damage that occur in these grains and how the damages affect grade and feeding value.

We continue to offer this workshop because the standards change periodically and the industry itself has an ever-changing workforce, Amosson said. If the employees cant properly identify damages, it can dramatically affect the bottom line of the feedlot or elevator.

The back-to-back, day-long trainings will begin with registration at 8:30 a.m. each day followed by the program from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, 6500 W. Amarillo Blvd. in Amarillo.

The registration fee of $75 will cover the costs associated with instruction, lunch, materials and equipment, he said. Preregistration is required, as each workshop is limited to 60 participants. The last day for registration is May 2.

To register, go to http://agriliferegister.tamu.edu and click on the link in the Upcoming Events section. While this is the preferred method of registration and payment, payment can be made at the door for those who already registered, Amosson said.

Six certified crop advisor continuing education units in crop management will be offered each day and can count toward the Texas Cattle Feeders Association Beef Quality Assurance training for feedmill/feed department employees, he said.

The grain grading workshops are co-sponsored by the Panhandle Grain and Feed Association, Texas Cattle Feeders Association, U.S. Department of Agricultures Risk Management Agency and AgriLife Extension.

Course instructors will be Amosson; Gale Calkins, retired from the Federal Grain Inspection Service, Wichita, Kan.; Dr. Ted McCollum, AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist, Amarillo; and Dr. Mark Welch, AgriLife Extension economist-grain marketing and policy, College Station.

Topics covered will include: reasons to grade grain; grain quality and the feedlot industry; grain standards and upcoming changes; and hands-on sessions for identifying damages and grades in wheat, sorghum and corn.

For more information, contact Kim Garcia at 806-677-5600 or kim.garcia@ag.tamu.edu.
Plainviews city council voted to throw them out and start over, as bids submitted for the renovations of local streets were rejected Tuesday night with a unanimous vote.

The proposed project would see the renovations of 13th and 15th Streets near Walmart as well as a section of County Road Y, which leads to the city landfill.

However, with only three out-of-town companies making bids, which the city thought were higher than expected, as well as complications with the lowest bidder, the councilmembers voted to reject all the bids and start the process again.

The base bid included rebuilding 13th and 15th streets with asphalt as well as County Road Y. The first alternate bid would see asphalt on 13th and the installation of a concreate road on 15th Street. The second alternate added on Kermit Street between 13th and 15th Street.

The lowest bid was submitted by Advanced Paving, which offered $659,150, for the base bid and $140,800 for the second alternate. However, the City was concerned because Advanced Pavings bonding company did not meet all federal requirements.

The council hopes the rebidding will bring in more companies and possibly local companies. It could also allow companies that did bid a chance to make necessary corrections.

Also on Tuesday, the City Council unanimously voted to appoint Dr. Sergio Lara as the Hale County Health Authority. Lara has served as the countys health authority for the last two years and was reappointed for another two years at Tuesdays regular session.

Dr. Lara has done a fantastic job for us, said City Manager Jeffery Snyder.

Other highlights of Tuesdays regular session included a unanimous vote to authorize the mayor to sign an Interlocal Agreement for Administrative Services between the City of Plainview and the South Plains Association of Governments.

With the agreement, the SPAG will be able to handle all the heavy paper work associated with a recent $1 million grant for Plainviews developing business park.

The council also voted to designate the early voting ballot board judge and designate the district polling place judges and their pay rates.

Georgia Wall was named the early voting judge. District 1 judge will be Louisa Padilla; District 2 Cathy Waggoner; District 3 Cipriana Garcia; District 4 Sally Salinas; District 5 Georgia Wall; District 6, Sarah Castillo and District 7 Manuel Marin.

Election judges will make $10 an hour while clerks will make $8 an hour.
Jim Servatius likely could have had a successful career as a concert pianist had he not taken a different path by becoming a professional journalist.

Servatius, who died last Wednesday in Midland at age 82, came to the Herald as news editor in 1960 after serving on the staffs of the San Antonio Express-News and his hometown Vernon Daily Record.

In Plainview, Servatius had the unenviable task of following the highly decorated Capt. Herb Hilburn, a World War I veteran who was part-owner and editor of the Plainview Herald for a half century, from 1913 to 1965 with two years off for military service.

Servatius was named the Heralds managing editor in 1965 following Hilburns departure, and was elevated to editor in 1974. Four years later, in 1978, he was named executive managing editor of the Midland Reporter-Telegram. He continued at the editorial helm of the Heralds sister newspaper for the next 22 years, retiring in 2000.

With interests covered such diverse topics as the arts to archeology, Servatius quickly won over local and area readers as Herald editor and soon entrenched himself in the fabric of the community.

He offered this advice to successor Danny Andrews before moving to Midland, Dont sit behind that (editors) desk and pontificate (on the editorial page or elsewhere). Theres always somebody who knows more than you do and who is smarter, too.

That wasnt necessarily the case with many subjects when it came to Servatius, who could quickly spot even the tiniest factual error in a young reporters copy. He also was gifted at turning even the most mundane into fascinating feature topics. One of the earliest assignments Servatius gave the Heralds current editor almost 40 years ago was to venture to the nearest five and dime -- another name for a variety store -- to determine what still could be had for either a nickel or a dime. Back in 1976, you could purchase an eraser for the end of your pencil as well as the pencil itself, a single brad to hold together loose-leaf notebook paper, single pieces of gun and candy, a postage stamp dispenser and very little else. Of course you could still get five 1-cent stamps, or one 5-cent stamp, and combinations in between at the post office. First class postage at the time as 13 cents.

Servatius served on the boards of Plainview Community Concerts, Museum of the Llano Estacado, Plainview Industrial Foundation and High Plains Childrens Training Center. He and his family were devout Catholics and members of St. Alice Catholic Church.

Servatius was an expert on the Plainview Kill Site and other facets of the regions prehistoric past, and left his own mark on the Herald. Servatius started a daily column that continues today -- This and That, a listing of local upcoming events and items of interest.

Its truly remarkable that the Plainview Herald has had just five editors in more than a century, since the Hale County Herald become the Plainview Herald in 1913 - Hilburn, Servatius, Andrews (1978-2006), Kevin Lewis (2006-2012) and Doug McDonough (2012-present).
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A new national TV special touts the San Antonio River Walk as one of "10 Parks That Changed America," illustrating its uniqueness with loads of spectacular footage of the city's popular destination.

The PBS hour bows locally at 7 tonight on KLRN-TV.

Hosted by Geoffrey Baer, the captivating special tells how visionaries transformed open canvases of land into serene spaces that offer city folk a respite from the fast pace of urban life.

It spotlights 10 of these stunning public spaces. From the elegant squares of Savannah, Georgia to a park built over a freeway in Seattle, each story also profiles the heroes who brought these parks to life.

What's referred to as "a Spanish revival fantasy land in the heart of Texas" -- the San Antonio River Walk is the sixth park spotlighted.

The waterway is described as the "Venice of Texas," complete with our own form of gondola: the river barge.

It speaks of how, in the early 20th Century, the San Antonio River had been prone to flooding; in 1921, more than 50 lives were claimed.

However, after a visit to another destination he loved -- New Orleans' French Quarter -- architect Robert Hugman transformed the flood-ravaged S.A. river banks into a Spanish Revival promenade that would serve as a commercial district with elegant shops and cafes.

The enchanting River Walk not only transformed San Antonio, the special notes, but showed other American cities the possible economic upside of urban parks.

"Having San Antonio's River Walk recognized as one of the '10 Parks That Changed America' is another milestone for our community, and we are proud that public television has included its beauty at the national level," said Arthur Emerson, president of KLRN. "(We) take great pride in sharing the many stories about San Antonio's unique culture, history and natural beauty."

jjakle@express-news.net
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A Latina character is one of the newest cast members to stroll through Sesame Street in the 46th season of the beloved show.

Suki Lopez, a Cuban-American actress and Miami native, plays the role of Nina on the show. The young character is bilingual and uses her wit, compassion and charisma to help the furry residents of Sesame Street solve their daily dilemmas, providing a positive role model for preschoolers, according to the Sesame Workshop.

RELATED: 16 of the hottest Latino journalists in the United States and beyond

Lopez, 26, told the Miami News Times her character is a college student working at the shop, at the laundromat and as Elmos Nanny to pay for school.

Sesame Street is constantly evolving and has a long-standing history of modeling a diverse community, the sites character description said. As producers took note of changing demographics in the United States, it was important to represent this diversity in the new addition to the cast.

RELATED: San Antonio TV ex Marycarmen Lopez nabs meaty role in Oprah series

The actress refers to her role as Nina Latina and told the publication she is proudly representing Hispanics in the media.

I once had somebody comment to me: Its funny  youre so proud to be Latina. Ive never met someones whos so proud, she told the News Times and responded, Why wouldnt I be proud?

She told the publication her Cuban-American background has been a springboard for her Sesame Street show role.

RELATED: Meet Arianny Celeste, the Latina who's winning the league of UFC ring girls

I want to make sure that [my acting] comes cross that Im proud to be Latina and [that if youre Hispanic] you should be too, she said, according to the News Times.

Sesame Street episodes, starring the new Latina role model, air daily on PBS KLRN at 1 p.m. The show also airs on HBO and HBO Latino at 9 a.m. on Sundays.

mmendoza@mysa.com

Twitter: @MaddySkye
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SAN ANTONIO  An apparent murder suicide on Monday morning left two young, Selma residents dead and two families picking up the pieces less than 48 hours later.

Judson High School senior Emilee Hurst, 18, was shot at her home in the 14000 block of Medusa around 6 a.m. on Monday. Mark Villarreal, 20, is a graduate of Judson who is believed to be the Hursts ex-boyfriend and the man who killed her before turning the gun on himself, officials told mySA.com in a previous report.

RELATED: Friends, family mourn popular high school senior killed in murder-suicide

While details released publicly by investigators are still minimal, friends of Hurst and Villarreal are speaking out about the tragedy.

Nate Williams, community life director at Grace Community Church, said he met Hurst there, where she had been a parishioner for most of her life and worked as a cherished Sunday school teacher for years, he told mySA.com in a phone interview.

RELATED: Homeless 17-year-old arrested in death of University of Texas student Haruka Weiser

Theres kids who you know, just by talking to them, that they have a very bright future, he said. And she was one of them.

He said the Hurst was involved in many extracurricular activities throughout high school including being an award-winning member of the Future Farmers of America group and a Galaxie dance team member at Judson.

RELATED: Air Force tech sergeant kills commander before disciplinary hearing at Lackland Air Force Base

She never mentioned any drama or relationship issues, but always sported a huge smile and was a joy to be around, Williams added.

If you could carbon copy Emilee Hurst, I think most families in America would want a daughter like her, he said.

RELATED: 12-year-old girl struck, killed while walking to school on North Side

Williams called the 24 hours following his friends death crippling and sickening, but said he finds comfort in seeing the Judson and church community unite in their mourning.

Nicholas Duree, a 26-year-old graduate student and classmate of Villarreal at Texas A&M University at Galveston, said in an emotional interview with mySA.com on Tuesday that the two met at school in 2012. Duree said the pair would play volleyball at a church there and occasionally go out to country bars to two-step.

RELATED: Somerset High School alumna, Midnight Rodeo bartender remembered after dying in a head-on collision

Duree said he was shocked by the apparent murder-suicide and that Villarreal, a marine biology senior at TAMU-Galveston, had briefly mentioned a girl he had dated but that he never heard of any break-ups.

I had never seen that kid without a smile on his face, never seen him down or upset. When other people were feeling down they would go to Mark. He would listen. He would hear them out, Duree said. Nothing makes sense to me right now. Its baffling.

Duree said Villarreal was like a little brother to me and that he always treated everyone with so much respect.

RELATED: Alamo Heights student was a victim of bullying before committing suicide, family says

I know its human nature when something like this happens to think the worst of someone, but this is the last person on earth I thought something like this could have happened to, he said.

One Judson student, Makayla Kayla Byrne, told mySA.com she is working with her classmates to possibly forfeit her prom court nomination in order to honor Hurst at the April 30 event.

Joe Dearing, a father of one of Hursts close friends, created a GoFundMe to help raise funds for the young womans funeral expenses.

In a time of tragedy like this, theres always a way to help people, he said.

According to the fundraising site, 141 people have raised $5,720 in one day.

Williams said his community is still processing the loss of Hurst and believes the void will really be felt by her fellow church members and students on Sunday, when she does not show up.

Its always shocking when something like this happens in the community at large, but when it happens to your own church family, its startling to say the least and very heartbreaking.

Williams said Hurst never introduced Villarreal to the parish, to his knowledge, but the community is praying for his loved ones as well.

Our thoughts also go out to the young mans family, we dont know them but we know theyre grieving, too," he said.

mmendoza@mysa.com

Twitter: @MaddySkye

bselcraig@express-news.net
A call from a concerned resident led Animal Care officers to a Southeast Side apartment Tuesday where they found eight abandoned pets, including a 2-foot long sucker-mouth catfish with a dragon-like appearance.

The fish, identified as plecostomus, a member of the armored catfish family, was found in a small glass tank with another fish that had died. It wasnt immediately known where the fish starved to death or died from another cause. According to ACS officials, plecostomus is native to South America and often referred to as an algae eater, pleco or sucker fish.
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SAN ANTONIO  A man may face criminal charges Tuesday after he was shot by a homeowner while allegedly removing a surveillance camera on his neighbor's Southwest Side property.

Authorities responded around 1 p.m. for reports of a shooting in the 7600 block of Lagoon Drive.

San Antonio Police Department spokesman Douglas Greene said the altercation ensued after the man, who has not been named but is believed to be in his 30s, was confronted by the homeowner while attempting to remove a surveillance camera from the side of the house.

An argument ensued when the homeowner came out of his house, Greene said.

The homeowner told police that the man brandished a knife, at which point he shot him multiple times in the arm with a pistol, Greene said.

The shooting victim went back to his property and collapsed. He was transported in stable condition to University Hospital, Greene said.

Greene said the homeowner, in his mid-40s, is being detained at this time for questioning.

The man who was shot may be charged with aggravated assault and criminal mischief pending the outcome of the investigation.

A police helicopter also responded to the scene to investigate the shooting.

twhite@mysa.com

Twitter: @tylerlwhite
SAN ANTONIO  A local elected official was jailed Tuesday on a family violence felony charge, according to the Bexar County magistrates office.

Byron Eugene Miller, who serves on the Edwards Aquifer Authority board, is a former justice of the peace and ran an unsuccessful Democratic primary bid for Texas House District 120 in March, was arrested on an outstanding warrant for a family violence charge involving choking, said Bexar County Sheriff's Office spokesman James Keith.
Law enforcement officers in Bexar County arrested 52 people on suspicion of committing felony drunken driving charges in March, including two suspects accused of killing three while driving drunk.

RELATED: Alleged drunken drivers in Bexar County killed 11 people during 2015

Sergio T. Barrera Jr. has been charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter in the March 28 deaths of Gabrielle Ann Gonzales, 21, and Edward Feliciano Torres, 22.

San Antonio police investigators believe Barrera was intoxicated when he lost control of a vehicle while exiting the highway at around 11:45 p.m. in the 6500 block of Interstate 35 South.

The vehicle then barreled into a tree, killing Gonzales and Torres. Emergency crews had to cut Barrera from the vehicle before transporting him to San Antonio Military Medical Center in critical condition.

If convicted, Barrera could serve up to 40 years in prison on the second-degree felony charge.

Also charged with intoxication manslaughter in March was Alex James de Leon, who allegedly ran over and killed a homeless man in a turnaround at Loop 410 and Bandera on the city's Northwest Side on March 25.

Police said the suspect was speeding around a curve, jumped a curb and rolled over the victim.

The driver faces a potential 20-year prison sentence if convicted.

RELATED: Almost 60 felony drunken driving suspects arrested in Bexar County during February

Here are the number of felony charges broken down for March, according to records provided by the Bexar County District Attorney's Office:

Intoxication manslaughter: three

Intoxication assault (third degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison): four

Driving while intoxicated  with child passenger under 15 years old (state jail felony punishable by up to two years in prison): seven

Driving while intoxicated  third or more (third degree felony): 40

In February, law enforcement officers brought 57 charges against felony drunken driving suspects. And, in January, 65 people were arrested for the same charges

That brings the total number of such charges in Bexar County for 2016 to 176, according to county records and news archives.

RELATED: Lyft fires Austin driver accused of drunken driving with a customer in the car

In 2015, Bexar County law enforcement officers operating made 6,568 DWI arrests, according to the district attorney's office.

More than one in 10 of those arrests  783 total  resulted in felony-level drunken driving charges.

MySA.com reported on felony DWI arrests in Bexar County every month in 2015, along with other angles on the deadly issue of drinking and driving in San Antonio.

Here are the total number of felony drunken driving arrests in Bexar County by month in 2015:

Scroll through the slideshow to see booking photos for 52 felony drunken driving suspects nabbed by law enforcement officials in Bexar County during March.

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports
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A San Antonio man yelled he was "going to kill everyone" at a party before attacking a Lubbock police officer Monday morning, according to a news report.

RELATED: Homeless 17-year-old arrested in death of University of Texas student Haruka Weiser

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported that Lubbock police arrested 19-year-old Michael Taylor and charged him with public intoxication, resisting arrest and assault on a public servant.

Police found Taylor screaming and yelling in the parking lot of an apartment complex where multiple parties were being held, the newspaper reported.

Taylor said that he was "going to kill everyone," according to police.

RELATED: Report: North Texas youth pastor accused of sexually assaulting young boys was beaten by bystanders

The 19-year-old then kicked an officer as he was being placed in handcuffs and tried to bite another officer, the newspaper reported.

An officer then used a stun gun on Taylor before placing him under arrest.

RELATED: Police: Central Texas driver dragged cyclist for 2,000 feet even though she was screaming

Texas Tech police arrested Taylor  who was listed as a student there  in 2015 and charged him with possession of marijuana, the Avalanche-Journal reported.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Taylor had been released from Lubbock County Detention Center on a bond totaling $4,500.

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports
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"The first glass of wine is all about the food, the second glass is about love and the third glass is about mayhem."

That was the fuel behind 3 Glasses, a photo project by Brazilian photographer Marcos Alberti showcasing how people's appearance changes as they drink alcohol.

RELATED: Elementary teacher wins twerking contest in Mexico, but loses job

The collection of photos features four images  one before any wine is consumed, and another after each glass  of 40 different people.

"They are all my friends in Brazil... DJs, musicians, architects, art directors, models and a clown," Alberti said in an email interview with mySA.com.

Alberti said the project, which took about six nights, began "as a joke, like a game after hours," but quickly developed into a serious-but-fun project.

SEE ALSO: These are the states with the most excessive drinking

Alberti said the first series of photos was taken as soon as the subject arrived to his studio in hopes of capturing the stress and fatigue of a full work day as well as frustration from the rush-hour traffic on the way to the photoshoot.

Alberti said he expected some of the subjects to show much less of a change than others.

He said he was surprised, though, that even the people who drink wine daily  who he expected to not show any outward change  still changed their demeanor in front of camera.

SEE MORE: Tequila is good for you, science says

"At the end of every glass of wine a snapshot, nothing fancy, a face and a wall, 3 times," he said. "People from all walks of life, music, art, fashion, dance, architecture, advertising got together for a couple of nights and by the end of the third glass several smiles emerged and many stories were told."

kparker@mysa.com

Twitter: @KoltenParker
SAN ANTONIO  Tuesday nights widespread storm produced golf ball-sized hail and a window-shattering, vehicle-depreciating destruction in its path that affected many residents and businesses throughout the city.

Mona Gallegos, an employee of the Godiva chocolate shop inside North Star Mall, told mySA.com at least 5 of the skylights at the shopping center off San Pedro Road were damaged by the hailstorm. She said rain was pouring in the through the broken glass.
Becoming the owner of Sudden Cleaners at just 18, Paul Mauricio Sr. worked hard to build the dry cleaning company into a prosperous business.

Arriving at work at 5 a.m., Mauricio rarely left before 7 p.m.

My dad used to do everything in the cleaners, his son Dan Mauricio said. Clean, press, pick up, whatever; he instilled the work ethic in us.

But even working long hours, Mauricio was involved with his family.

We always lived next door, or above the cleaners, Dan Mauricio said. We grew up in the business.

Employing many relatives, including his father and brothers, Mauricio made it truly a family business, Dan Mauricio added. We saw them every day.

More Information Paul Mauricio Sr. Born: May 28, 1932, San Antonio Died: April 2, 2016, San Antonio Preceded by: Wife Delia C. Mauricio; parents Florinda and Jose Mauricio; a brother and a sister. Survived by: Sons Dan Mauricio, David Mauricio, Paul Mauricio Jr., and Carlos Mauricio; five grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; two great-great grandchildren; companion, Gloria Flores. Services: Entombment will be private. See More Collapse

Mauricio died April 2 at 83.

Born the third of seven children, Mauricio spent his early years in Laredo, living with an aunt and uncle.

His parents were of modest means, Dan Mauricio said. So they sent my dad to Laredo to live with a maternal aunt and uncle who had lost their only son.

Deciding to return to his family in San Antonio when he was 12, Mauricio immediately started working, first at Brackenridge Park and the zoo on the weekends, and at the dry cleaners he would later purchase.

He was at Lanier High School, working at the cleaners before and after school, Dan Mauricio said. After graduating, he bought the business and the property, and married my mother, in 1951.

Expanding in the 1960s, Mauricio added Snow White Cleaners and Tailors, leaving Sudden Cleaners to handle the large contracts, which included service for Kelly, Randolph and Lackland Air Force Bases, among others.

A devout Catholic, Mauricio also cleaned the vestments of the inner city parishes, never charging for the service.

A man of boundless energy, Mauricio loved music, poetry and reading, an interest he often shared with his employees.

In the 1980s and 90s, he would sing and read them poems in Spanish and English over the dry cleaning plants intercom system, Dan Mauricio said. All his employees loved him.

Mauricio also could be counted on to help anyone in need.

He was a friend of the poor, the sick, the jailed, the abused, Dan Mauricio said. He was the kind of guy that if you needed help, you came to talk to Mr. Mauricio; he would find a way to help.

In later years, Mauricio enjoyed traveling with his wife, visiting Mexico, and cities throughout the U.S. Visiting Las Vegas, Mauricio would sit down somewhere and watch the world go by Dan Mauricio said.

mheidbrink@express-news.net
Imagine emerging from a rocky political week only to announce, as Bernie Sanders did, that, oh, by the way, the Vatican called. Actually, it was the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, but close enough, I suppose.

Hillary Clinton thought bubble: Hes Jewish for crying out loud. What am I, chopped liver? No, Im Methodist! But if I can become a New Yorker, I can become a Catholic!

Some people have all the kismet. Or, maybe sometimes people just happen to agree that communism isnt really so bad. OK, Im exaggerating, but only a smidgeon.

It should surprise no one that the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences  or especially Pope Francis  might find common cause with Sanders worldview. Both the pope and the Bern speak of helping the disenfranchised and the poor.

But Sanders is a democratic socialist who wants to be president of the United States. And the pope is, well, the pope.

A pastoral leader who washes the feet of the homeless and eschews the elaborate trappings of the corner office, hes the real deal, as in living as Christ did, spiritually if not physically. Also like Christ, hes a radical. Just ask Sanders.

People think Bernie Sanders is radical, Sanders said Friday on MSNBCs Morning Joe. Uh-uh. Read what the pope is writing [these days].

Whats radical about this pope is that he, like both Sanders and Jesus, says fresh, nontraditional things that sound an awful lot like liberal ideas. What he says (and writes) is aspirational both in scope and application. As popes often do, Francis asks us to love one another, which makes us uncomfortable because loving others ultimately means sacrificing our interests to others. This comes naturally with our children but not so much with strangers, whose behavior probably annoys us and, oftentimes, costs us money.

Sanders, who thinks more or less as Francis does, just makes us nervous. Some of us, anyway.

The core difference between the two men is that one wants to raise consciousness about our obligation to the less fortunate; the other wants to restructure Americas economic institutions to ensure that money trickles down  mandatorily rather than charitably.

Theoretically, this is a noble concept. Its how you do it that causes taxpaying citizens to seek shelter. Lets face it, most of us work hard not for the satisfaction of a well-made widget but for a paycheck. As the taxman chisels away at such monetary rewards, where goes the incentive to work hard? This is common sense, obviously, but less common than it once was, judging by the popularity of Sanders proposals.

His bid to break up the too-big-to-fail banks sounds awesome enough: Lets stick it to the fat cats and watch em squirm. But will it really help the poor, or might such draconian action ultimately hurt more than it helps?

To the larger point, the highest priest urging morality in all human endeavors, including economic policies that fail to adequately address the needs of the poor, plainly comes from the heart. Its important for Francis to speak out as a messenger for the greater good. Its important, too, that we be reminded of our moral obligation to each other.

Its his job. Its our job not to conflate a popes message of Christian charity with a political candidates promise to remake Americas economic system. The rampant individualism that Francis condemns is precisely what has driven American ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and a level of prosperity unmatched in human history.

That more people are doing less well  and the middle class has suffered  means theres work to do, but it doesnt necessarily require radical restructuring. The striving for greater equality is always a proper operating principle, but what Sanders is aiming for without saying so is equal outcomes. The imposition of equality by third parties never works very well and inevitably carries the unwelcome penalty of less freedom. Greater effort toward raising the bottom rather than tearing down the top would seem a better approach than extreme measures that likely would have a destabilizing effect.

A pope neednt worry about such things and is free to ponder the universe through the pulpits lens. He is also free to chat with politicians who share his worldview, though it isnt clear whether he and Sanders will convene.

Still, a visit to the Vatican a couple of days ahead of the New York primary surely cant hurt. If Sanders wins, one might even say it was divine intervention.

kathleenparker@washpost.com.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently announced the appointment of Jeff Mateer to serve as his second-in-command, the first assistant attorney general. This is an extraordinarily important and influential office that, nonetheless, many Texas voters are unaware of. So it is notable that the Express-News took the time and space on its editorial page to criticize the appointment.

I have mixed feelings about the editorial. On the one hand, I strongly agree that, all things being equal, it is better to fill our states most important legal positions with attorneys who have diverse legal experiences.

To be sure, there have been highly successful first assistants in recent years who have not possessed such resumes. The Express-News did not editorialize against these distinguished individuals for their lack of diverse legal experiences, however. And for good reason  these previous officials performed their duties admirably and honorably. But that makes it more curious that the Express-News waited until the Mateer appointment to voice concerns that a broad range of legal experience matters in a first assistant.

After all, it is difficult to imagine an attorney with a more diverse set of legal experiences and representations than Mateer. He has represented plaintiffs and defendants. He has defended the government and individual citizens who have been aggrieved by the government. He has litigated complex commercial business disputes, as well as constitutional civil rights matters. He has litigated on behalf of plaintiffs seeking relief against racial discrimination, sex discrimination and religious discrimination.

He has provided legal counsel to people of different sexual orientations. And he firmly believes in the profound and abiding importance of protecting and enforcing the legal rights and civil liberties of every Texan.

When I served in the Texas Attorney Generals office, I had the good fortune to work with and to get to know Mateer. We both presented oral argument in the same appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

I witnessed that he is an exceptional legal talent and a zealous and powerful advocate for his clients, whoever they may be in a particular case. It was an honor to share the podium with him.

I feel very fortunate he is now representing the people of our great state, as our first assistant attorney general. I agree with the Express-News that we want our most senior officials in government to have a diverse set of experiences. Mateer has those. His appointment should be celebrated  not criticized.

James C. Ho is a partner in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is the former Solicitor General of Texas.
This year the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards telecast drew nearly 25 million viewers. The fact is that most people love music. Music is an essential part of our culture, and Americans who contribute their creative energies to music are a vital part of their communities. Songwriters, performers, producers, engineers and other music professionals across the country claim music as their primary career. However, outdated laws in Washington are negatively impacting their lives.

Here in Texas, there are over 138,000 music professionals, from recording engineers and producers to working musicians and teachers, all contributing to our economy. San Antonio alone is home to such artists/professionals as George Strait, Flaco Jimenez, Randy Rogers, Austin Mahone, The Texas Tornadoes and, my own group, Mariachi Campanas De America. But, the music community spans beyond these household names. The music community includes the band teachers at Ronald Reagan, Douglas MacArthur, South San Antonio and Judson High Schools that teach our children the value and language of music. It includes those that bring you the annual Maverick Music Festival.

My entire life, through the good and the bad, I have worked in the music business to provide for myself and my family. Even when times were tough, I found the opportunities necessary to continue pursuing my passion without feeling guilty or sorry for myself. Throughout the years, this passion lead me to work on several Grammy and Latin Grammy nominated albums, and one Grammy award winning album.

Currently, I work as Artists & Repertoire and Publishing Director for Azteca Music Group, which specializes in the marketing of regional Mexican music, primarily Norteno and Banda groups. I assist each of our artists with all aspects of their recordings from song selection and preproduction to musical arrangement and marketing strategies. When time allows, I take joy in performing with Mariachi Campanas De America.

I also guest lecture at local schools about the music industry and, in my role as the Recording Academy Texas chapter president, create programming for professional development and wellness to help not only our membership, but the entire music community. It is an honor to give back to the community that has given me so much.

As musically vibrant as our community is, music creators face daunting challenges because of outdated policies. These include below-market royalty rates from streaming services for their songs and rising levels of copyright infringement and piracy. But one of the most troubling issues is the lack of a performance right at AM/FM radio.

Yes. The artists who create the music that are the building blocks of radio airplay do not receive any compensation when their recordings are played. When KAJA-FM, KJ 97, plays I Just Want to Dance With You by George Strait, he doesnt receive a cent  all because of a legal loophole that allows radio stations to broadcast music without paying royalties to the credited artist. In the meantime, major broadcasting companies sell advertising space and earn billions of dollars in revenue by monetizing that music. This unjust situation can be rectified by Congress through passage of a performance rights bill.

Terrestrial radio is the only U.S. industry that uses the intellectual property of others without permission or compensation. Broadcasters in every other developed country in the world compensate performers. The United States, which should be the standard bearer for intellectual property rights, is ranked with China, North Korea and Iran among countries that do not recognize these fundamental rights. Further, U.S. artists are being deprived of income from overseas because our country does not have a performance right reciprocal to those in other countries.

Broadcasters argue that they should not have to pay performance royalties because airplay alone provides artists with free promotion. But that argument is weak. Imagine owning a car dealership and having someone drive off the lot in a brand new vehicle without paying a cent, using the rationale that theyre providing you with free promotion. Terrestrial radio is no longer the only venue where consumers discover new music. Broadcasters  among them major multimedia corporations  are experiencing ad revenue growth but insist that compensating performers will bankrupt the small broadcasters among them. Unfortunately, these big corporations have the ear of many congressional leaders.

On Thursday, music creators from San Antonio and communities across the country will storm Capitol Hill as part of The Recording Academys GRAMMYs on the Hill Advocacy Day to speak directly to members of Congress about establishing a terrestrial performance right and other music creator issues. Specifically, we need Congress members to support the Fair Pay Fair Play Act of 2015, which proposes several fixes to music law.

In compelling radio to pay performers the royalties they deserve, the Fair Play Fair Pay Act would also ensure that AM/FM radio competes on equal footing with its internet and satellite competitors, which currently pay performers. It would also protect small radio stations by capping royalties for stations with less than $1 million in annual revenue at $500 per year and at $100 a year for non-commercial stations.

The Fair Play Fair Pay Act would also institute other positive changes to our industry. It would secure royalties for recordings made prior to 1972 for our veteran performers; protect songwriter royalties; and incorporate the AMP Act to provide royalty payments for producers.

While music has been essential to the fabric of America since its founding 240 years ago, we live in different times. Policies written to govern music in past decades must be rewritten for the digital age, and the establishment of a performance right at radio is long overdue. It is a matter of simple fairness.

As a music lover, please join me and music professionals everywhere on Thursday to tell Washington that the time is now for radio to compensate performers.

Carlos Alvarez is president of the Recording Academy Texas Chapter, A&R/Publishing Director for Azteca Music Group and member of San Antonio-based Mariachi Campanas De America.
There is no compelling argument to cut VIA bus service in Castle Hills, but voters there will still have that choice this spring.

We strongly encourage Castle Hills voters to vote yes on Proposition 1, continuing bus service in this community of about 4,300 residents. The push to cut bus service there is nonsensical, spurred on by a desire to shift annual sales tax dollars of a little less than $500,000 to address streets and drainage issues in the north side community.

There are many problems with this idea. To begin with, it would take nearly two years for Castle Hills to see the money because, per state law, it would have to pay back its share of VIA Metropolitan Transits debt, about $810,000. Two years is a long wait for a stated pressing need.

Next, there is the issue of proportion. While Castle Hills would save $492,000 a year in sales tax by cutting bus service, it faces possibly as much as $48 million in infrastructure costs. Its hard to see how such a small annual sum could make a difference in the face of such glaring need.

But wait, there is more. Castle Hills gets more than it pays for from VIA. In 2014, for example, VIA provided services in Castle Hills worth $1.3 million, officials have said. Again, Castle Hills pays VIA a little less than $500,000 a year in sales tax revenue.

Most important, though, Castle Hills residents should weigh just what it would mean to strand itself from public transportation. About 900 VIA riders a day board the bus in Castle hills, and 870 riders get off there. Perhaps many Castle Hills residents arent bus riders  it is a wealthy community  but some clearly are, and there are certainly people who dont live in Castle Hills, but use the bus to get there. Also threatened by this vote is VIAtrans service, a lifeline to the disabled community that provided about 2,200 Castle Hills rides last year.

If the community votes to opt out of public transportation, VIA buses will simply pass through.

The hard reality Castle Hills voters and their elected representatives have to accept is that whether the community utilizes VIA services or not, its aging infrastructure is not going away. If investing in streets and roads is a priority, this entire vote and debate misses the point. Residents are voting on shifting hundreds of thousands of dollars from public transportation when the infrastructure needs are in the tens of millions of dollars.

Castle Hills should put a road bond together for voters. Cutting out VIA wont make the roads better there, but it will make it more difficult for many people to get around, including the disabled and lower-income workers.
Re: GI suicide toll higher than that of Iraq War, front page, Sunday:

Thanks for the information that since 2003, more military people have committed suicide than have been killed in Iraq. When humans are trained to kill or go into situations where killing is justified, the psyche may get disoriented, leading to killing themselves or others.

I look into hopeful, beautiful faces of students and fear that some may kill in the future. Many seek education and believe that military aid is the only way to get resources for education. Do we help them find life-giving pursuits or leave them to be trained to kill, which may lead them into future trauma? Lets have conversations about the economics of the military industrial complex, which drive the ideas that military force can solve problems. Violently winning a conflict is not winning peace  for either side, as suicides indicate.

Martha Ann Kirk

Gender offenders

Ive been wondering. How are officers in states with bathroom bans going to police the situation? After all, appearances can be deceiving. Transgender folks dont always oblige by looking the part.

What if some upstanding citizen believes his most private of public places is being invaded by someone whose birth certificate indicates he or she shouldnt be sharing his facility? If he calls a cop, what then? Will the officer demand a birth certificate? It not being likely the suspect is carrying one, will he or she be taken to the police station and kept there until the suspects legal gender is determined? Will a lineup be held? And, if the suspect is found to be a gender offender, how much jail time will result? Or will a fine do? Im guessing the police are wondering these things, too

Carl Lloyd

On the job

The recent status of City Manager Sheryl Sculley regarding her bonus has raised the question in my mind of what happened to doing the job you are getting paid to do.

Recently, there have been instances of the CEO, the CFO and the general manager of some agencies receiving bonuses because they did the job they were paid to do.

There are many employees who work diligently and productively to accomplish their jobs. Do these employees receive a bonus?

It seems that the generous bonuses paid to these top people would be demoralizing to the employees that give their best every day.

Charlotte Lambrides, Windcrest
The partnership between the Japanese c-store chain and the large food processer will result in more convenience stores being opened in Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia  QL Resources has entered into a long-term franchise deal with FamilyMart to open and operate convenience stores in Malaysia, the Nikkei Asian Review reports. The Malaysian food processor plans to build 60 stores annually between now and 2021, with the first FamilyMart scheduled for opening by December.

This partnership will provide a foothold for the second-largest c-store chain in the world in Malaysia, a country with close to 2,000 7-Eleven stores. Malaysian convenience stores often populate urban areas, providing food, drinks, household items and printed materials.

What makes Malaysia more attractive to c-stores lately has been its constructing of a mass rapid transit system, the first of its kind. Thus, the cities will be undergoing rapid urbanization, which translates into a need for more convenience stores.

FamilyMart will be joining another Japanese c-store chain, Circle K Sunkus, which already operates more than a dozen stores with a local firm.
Yves here. This post starts out with a list that includes some regularly scheduled meetings, which gave me some pause, but the article proper focuses on the developments that do indeed look worrisome. The Yellen-Obama-Biden meeting is particularly sus. The comparison to Credit Anstalt is overblown, but the European bank bail-in policies that are being deployed on a mid-sized Austrian bank are a bone headed move of the first order, since they are guaranteed to create bank runs.

By David Haggith, The Great Recession Blog. Cross posted from Wolf Street

Just about every major banker and finance minister in the world is meeting in Washington, D.C., this week, following two rushed, secretive meetings of the Federal Reserve and another instantaneous and rare meeting between the Fed Chair and the president of the United States. These and other emergency bank meetings around the world cause one to wonder what is going down. Lets start with a bullet list of the weeks big-bank events:

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors just held an expedited special meeting on Monday in closed-door session.

The White House made an immediate announcement that the president was going to meet with Fed Chair Janet Yellen right after Mondays special meeting and that Vice President Biden would be joining them.

The Federal Reserve very shortly posted an announcement of another expedited closed-door meeting for Tuesday for the specific purpose of bank supervision.

A G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central-bank heads starts in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, too, and continues through Wednesday.

Then on Thursday the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund meet in Washington.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta just revised US GDP growth for the first quarter to the precipice of recession at 0.1%.

US banks are expected this coming week to report their worst quarter financially since the start of the Great Recession.

The press stated that the German government will sue the European Central Bank if it launches a more aggressive and populist form of quantitative easing, often called helicopter money.

The European Unions new bail-in procedures for failing banks were employed for the first time with Austrian bank Heta Asset Resolution AG.

Italys minister of finance called an emergency meeting of Italian bankers to engage last resort measures for dealing with 360-billion euros of bad loans in banks that have only 50 billion in capital.

President Obamas Meeting with Fed Chair Yellen

It is rare for presidents to meet with the chair of the Federal Reserve. The last time President Obama met with Janet Yellen was in November of 2014, a year and a half ago. It is even more rare for the vice president of the United States to join them. In fact, Ive heard but havent verified that it has never happened in a suddenly called meeting with the Fed before.



For security reasons, the president and vice president dont regularly attend the same events. There are, of course, many planning sessions or emergency meetings where they do get together, but not with the head of the Federal Reserve. Emergency meetings where the VP is included in the planning session would include situations related to dire national security in case the VP winds up having to take over.

(George Bush and Dick Cheney were exceptional to the point that everyone commented on how often the VP was included in meetings with the president, but I always figured that was because George Bush couldnt think and speak without Cheney acting as the ventriloquist.)

In fact the meeting with the prez and vice prez is so rare that the White House is bending over backwards to assure the entire nation that the president is not meeting with Yellen to try to influence the Fed, which is required to act independently of politics (so they say).

According to the White House, President Obama is meeting with the Fed chair and Biden to discuss the nations longer-term economic outlook, even though Yellen just told the entire nation that the economy was strong and had arrived nearly back at full health. The president says they will be comparing notes. Do their notes about the nations outlook disagree?

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said both Obama and Yellen are focused on ways to expand economic opportunities for the U.S. middle class. He called the meeting an opportunity for the two to trade notes while emphasizing that Yellen makes decisions about monetary policy independently. (SFGate)

Either such meetings are, indeed, extremely rare, or the White House doth protest to much because they spent more time emphasize what the president was not going to do than what he was going to do in assuring us he will not try to influence Yellen.

The president has been pleased with the way that she has fulfilled what is a critically important job, Earnest said. He added that Obama has the utmost respect for the independent nature of her role.

Earnest also said that, even in a confidential setting Obama would not have a conversation that would undermine the Feds ability to make critical financial decisions independently.

If such meetings with the Fed are so rare they require careful explanation, why the sudden call of the meeting, oddly timed between two specially called, emergency meetings of the Fed  or, at least, expedited meetings of the Fed. It cant just be that the president wants to plan what he will be saying at this weeks G-20 conference, if hes to speak there. That kind of planning would happen in advance because one knows the conference is coming. One striking peculiarity of the presidents meeting with the Fed is that it appeared to have been called immediately after the Fed announced Mondays expedited meeting of the Board of Governors.

We are in an election cycle, and I already speculated in my last article that, with the anti-establishment, Fed-hating candidates, Sanders and Trump doing so well in their bids for the presidency we could be sure the Administration would be doing all it can along with the Fed to put some accelerant on this economy and forestall the recession that I believe we have already begun.

A recession would prove Trump and Sander right in their statements about a coming recession or the failed actions of the Fed and Wall Street to bring true recovery. So, the Fed and the President have every reason to work together to make sure such an announcement never happens. That could be what comparing notes on the economys future means  how do we assure the economy doesnt fall apart in the next few months before the election since we have that common interest?

That would explanation why the White House is saying, in advance of any accusations, that the president isnt trying to influence the Fed. They want to get ahead of the story. Of course, it could just be that they recognize such rare meetings will lead to the kind of speculation Im now doing.

Tuesdays Specially Called Meeting of the Board of Governors Under Expedited Procedures

Here is the announcement the Fed posted at the end of last week for Mondays meeting (italics mine):

Advanced Notice of a Meeting under Expedited Procedures It is anticipated that the closed meeting of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System at 11:30 AM on Monday, April 11, 2016, will be held under expedited procedures, as set forth in section 26lb.7 of the Boards Rules Regarding Public Observation of Meetings, at the Boards offices at 20th Street and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. The following items of official Board business are tentatively scheduled to be considered at that meeting. Meeting Date: Monday, April 11, 2016 Matter(s) Considered 1. Review and determination by the Board of Governors of the advance and discount rates to be charged by the Federal Reserve Banks. A final announcement of matters considered under expedited procedures will be available in the Boards Freedom of Information and Public Affairs Offices and on the Boards Web site following the closed meeting. Dated: April 7, 2016

The promised update after the meeting merely added,

Effective April 11, 2016, the meeting was closed to public observation by Order of the Board of Governors 1 because the matters fall under exemption(s) 9(A)(i) of the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. Section 552b(c)), and it was determined that the public interest did not require opening the meeting.

One day later, the Fed put out an announcement of another special meeting to be held on Tuesday, after the suddenly scheduled meeting with the president:

Advanced Notice of a Meeting Under Expedited Procedures It is anticipated that the closed meeting of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, will be held under expedited procedures, as set forth in section 26lb.7 of the Boards Rules Regarding Public Observation of Meetings, at the Boards offices at 20th Street and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. The following items of official Board business are tentatively scheduled to be considered at that meeting. Meeting Date: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 Matter(s) Considered 1. Bank Supervisory Matter A final announcement of matters considered under expedited procedures will be available in the Boards Freedom of Information and Public Affairs Offices and on the Boards Web site following the closed meeting. Dated: April 8, 2016

O.K. Two expedited, closed meetings in a row with a meeting with the president and vice president in between that is so rare it required special White House defense as to what would not be happening in the meeting.

The first meeting was to talk about setting interest rates, which the FOMC will be meeting to consider again later this month, having just postponed their scheduled increase in March. The second meeting is more interesting. If you have served on board or worked with boards that go into closed session, you know they always use the most generic terminology possible when announcing the meeting for sharing in minutes what happened in the meeting.

The fact that it is a bank supervisory matter makes it sound like a particular concern, not a discussion about supervisory policy. Something is the matter somewhere that requires an immediate meeting right after another immediate meeting  behind closed doors. That something regards bank supervision. Board hold closed meetings when they have to talk about specific institutions or individuals with details that they dont want to go public. This all comes very close to sounding like some bank somewhere is in trouble, and the trouble is big enough to call a special meeting of the very august board of governors right after they just had a special meeting, and if you know these kinds of guys, they dont like wasting their time in excessive meetings.

Naturally, I am as curious as you probably are about why so many last-minute meetings behind closed doors and with the president and vice president at a time when all central bank heads will be meeting with finance ministers in Washington, D.C. So, I cast about for some possible related stories as to what could be the matter, and I found several very hot ones going on this same week.

Atlanta Fed Revises US GDP Down AGAIN!

The presidents meeting with the Fed and the Feds meetings with the Fed were all called right after the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank revised the revisions of its previous revisements to say the US economy now looks like it will report in for the first quarter at 0.1% growth.

It seems I cannot write fast enough to keep up with the Federal Reserves downward revisions of anticipated GDP growth for the first quarter of 2016. No sooner did I click publish on my last article where I noted they have just revised their estimates of GDP down to a 0.4% annualized growth rate than I read an article stating they had revised it again down to 0.1%!

Isnt this where I said this quarter was going? That is within a rounding error of going negative and is less their margin of error for their data. It was only back in February that the Fed anticipated a cruising speed of 2% growth for GDP in the first quarter. They have revised that number down every week.

Of course, the fact that the Fed and the President called an unscheduled, closed-door meetings to include the VP does not mean there is any connection between the events, and I certainly am not concluding even for myself that there is something dire happening here  but stay with me. There is more to perk the ears.

US Banks to Report Worst Quarter Since Great Recession

Thats no small potatoes for a coincidence in timing. What if the numbers to be reported are even worse than has been anticipated, and the Fed is seeing bank trouble in some of those numbers and the President has received advanced information about some of those numbers. All speculation on my part, of course. What isnt speculation on my part is that Wall Street is already predicting that this weeks quarterly bank reports are going to look something like the start of the Great Recession.

Analysts say it has been the worst start to the year since the financial crisis in 2007-2008 and expect poor first-quarter results when reporting begins this week. Analysts forecast a 20 percent decline on average in earnings from the six biggest U.S. banks, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data. Some banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), are expected to report the worst results in over ten years. (Reuters)

Whoa! That means, for Goldman, even worse than any time just prior to or during the Great Recession. When you consider how bad the last decade has been, being worse than that is pretty bad. Moreover, the timing is considered unusually nasty:

This spells trouble for the financial sector more broadly, since banks typically generate at least a third of their annual revenue during the first three months of the year. Bank executives have already warned investors to expect major declines. Citigroup Inc (C.N) CFO John Gerspach said to expect trading revenue more broadly to drop 15 percent versus the first quarter of last year. JPMorgan Chase & Cos (JPM.N) Daniel Pinto said to expect a 25 percent decline in investment banking. Several bank executives have warned about declining quality of energy sector loans. The first quarter is going to be ugly and we dont think that necessarily gets recovered in the back half of the year, said Jerry Braakman, chief investment officer of First American Trust, which owns shares of Citigroup, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Goldman. There are a lot of challenges ahead.

Yes, one of the biggest areas of bank troubles comes from defaults in the energy sector that I have been saying will play a major role in birthing this banking crisis. (Translate that primarily oil and gas.)

BofAs Michael Contopoulos warned last week, it may be the worst default cycle in history with cumulative losses over the length of the entire cycle could be worse than weve ever seen before. Over the weekend, the FT got the memo with a report that  said that the global bond default rate by companies is running at its highest since 2009 with the US accounting for the vast majority, according to rating agency Standard & Poors. A further four defaults this week, with three coming from the troubled oil and gas sector, pushed the overall tally to 40 with a little over a quarter of 2016 done. (Zero Hedge)

According to the Wall Street Journal, these defaults are from massive energy loans that most investors didnt even know about until recently. Recovery of these bad debts is falling extremely fast.

The growth of the high-yield bond market allowed drillers to take on far more debt than in past booms, leaving them more vulnerable to default. The emergence of shale technology allowed companies to expand reserves and the loans backed by those properties. Some of those loans may now be underwater. (Bloomberg)

You can thank the Feds zero-interest policy for that easy credit bubble.

Is anyone starting to feel a little financial crisis deja vu? Last time it was declining housing-sector loans. This time, as Ive been saying for the last few months we would soon see, its declining energy-sector loans. Looks like that is ready to materialize.

In code words, Wells Fargo tells us that their trench-worthy report has not even begun to fully write down the bad debts or move into foreclosures that would cause write-downs: (That is, at least, what I read in public bankerspeak.)

John Shrewsberry, Wells Fargos chief financial officer, said on a January call with analysts. We were working with each customer to help them work through this. It doesnt do us any good to accelerate an issue, or to end up as the holder of a number of oil leases as a bank.

This week and next is the big-bank reporting season. So, we should know right away if this is the next leg down in the Epocalypse, but you will probably have some coded language to look through. Something as big as this would certainly merit a flash meeting with the president and vice president, multiple meetings of the board of directors, and a G-20 financial summit in Washington along with meetings with the IMF and World Bank.

Not saying thats what it is. Just sniffing out the kinds of stories that could be related to all these meetings, some planned earlier, others suddenly and somewhat secretively called.

Austrian Bank Failure Echoes Great Depression

Five and a half years ago, I wrote an article here that mentioned how the Great Depression took its second and deepest plunge in 1931 because of the failure of a private Austrian bank named Credit Anstalt.

In May 1931, a Viennese bank named Credit-Anstalt failed. Founded by the famous Rothschild banking family in 1855, Credit-Anstalt was one of the most important financial institutions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and its failure came as a shock because it was considered impregnable. The fall of Credit-Anstaltand the dominoes it helped topple across Continental Europe and the confidence it shredded as far away as the U.S.wasnt just the failure of a bank: It was a failure of civilization.

Now, as Ive been writing about the start of what I believe will be the the second and worst dip of the Great Recession, another Austrian bank is crumbling.

Austria created Heta Asset Resolution AG when it nationalized all the bad loans of Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International five years ago to rescue the bank and depositors by creating a bad bank to contain the problems. It went down something like this:

Hypo Alpe-Adria bank, when it was still owned by the small Austrian state of Carinthia, was a cesspool of corruption. It involved bankers, politicians, and powerbrokers in Austria and the Balkans. It was the perfect union of money and power. Investigators found 160 instances of suspected fraud. Six of the banks former executives have been convicted of crimes. Im not aware of a criminal case bigger than this one, explained Christian Bohler, whose forensics team started investigating the bank in 2011. It was a mix of greed, criminal energy, and utter chaos. (Wolf Street)

Hypos troubles began, much as Credit Anstalts had before it, when it was required to adjust its books to reflect the true value of its collateral assets after the value of real estate in southeastern Europe collapsed. Everything fell apart upon the realization of how little it was actually worth.

Austrias central bank governor Ewald Nowotny and his task force recommended that Hypos toxic assets of 17.8 billion should be put into a bad bank. But to stop the drag on public finances, the federal government should not guarantee Hypos bonds. At the time, Austrian taxpayers had already plowed 4.8 billion into Hypo to bail out these bondholders. He then explained on TV to incredulous Austrians that this deal would nudge the budget deficit over the 3% limit set by the Maastricht Treaty and push the governments debt from 74.4% of GDP to 80% of GDP. This one rotten, state-owned bank in Carinthia was causing this much damage to the countrys finances!

The government, at that point, set a one-year moratorium on all payments to the bad banks bondholders.

After burning through 5.5 billion euros of taxpayer money to no avail and discovering a 7.6-billion-euro hole in its balance sheet still remained to be filled, Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling ended support in March 2015. Surprise, surprise, the bad bank created by the government to put a fence around all the bad debts of the original bad bank became nothing but a black hole of debt, swallowing all money poured into it with nothing to show for the effort. That didnt stop Schelling from claiming the nationalized bank was in good health in order to put a good face on things as leaders are inclined to do when dealing with really bad stuff in order to protect the public from a scare.

Yesterday, under the first application of Europes new forced bail in procedures, Austria ordered a haircut to the banks bondholders. Sighs. This is apparently what happens if your money is still locked up in a bank with good health.

It does, indeed, sound a tad bit like Credit Anstalt. Now the moratorium is up, and its time to start dishing out the bad news to the bondholders under Europes new rules:

Austria officially became the first European country to use a new law under the framework imposed by Bank the European Recovery and Resolution Directive to share losses of a failed bank with senior creditors as it slashed the value of debt owed by Heta Asset Resolution AG. The highlights from the announcement a 100% bail-in for all subordinated liabilities,

a 53.98% bail-in, resulting in a 46.02% quota, for all eligible preferential liabilities,

the cancellation of all interest payments from 01.03.2015, when HETA was placed into resolution pursuant to BaSAG,

as well as a harmonisation of the maturities of all eligible liabilities to 31.12.2023. ((SuperStation95)

This is some much-needed relief from how things used to work:

Throughout the Financial Crisis, and since, there has been one rule: bank bondholders will always be bailed out at the expense of everyone else. The sanctity of bank bonds reigned supreme, no matter what government and central banks had to do to keep it that way. Bank bonds werent allowed to be judged by the capital markets. They were simply untouchable. Underpaid and overtaxed workers would have to bail out bank bondholders when these recklessly managed banks collapsed. That was the rule in the US when the Fed, and to a lesser extent the federal government, bailed out the banks. And that was the rule during the debt crisis in Europe. (Wolf Street cont.)

Europes new rules were intended to make sure that depositors did not take all the loss and that tax payers dont absorb all the loss. Heta, because it was a government created bad bank, apparently does not have depositors, as it was the creditors who were pooled into the bad bank who take the hit. The preferred creditors at the Austrian bank have been told they will have to take a 54% haircut, meaning the bonds they have purchased will recover forty-six cents on the euro.

The big-money (preferred) creditors of the bank, however, dont like the new rules. They complained and are still holding out for ninety-two cents on the euro. That doesnt bode well for anything being left for the smaller guys, whose money will, in the very least, be kept in a lockbox for seven years because payouts to the non-Majors dont wind up until 2023. Major bond-holders demanding a smaller hit include Pimco, Commerzbank and the already deeply troubled Deutsche Bank. (Anybody see how things can quickly move down the line like dominoes when you consider the size of some of the worried creditors who are complaining that the hit will be too hard for them?)

The subordinated liabilities, as I understand the complex breakdown (for which I have been unable to find any clear definitions) appears to include bondholders who took a second position to the preferred liabilities in getting their money back and third-party investors in the bank. It also appears to include the partners in the bank. If so, then this is exactly how bank failures should happen. The investors are slated to lose 100% of their money first, allowing for the smaller loss by the bond holders.

It is the investors who elect the board that governs the bank and who fill the board positions and who make the decisions of who will be CEO; so, of course, they should lose all of their money before anyone else does. Creditors (bond holders) should be next, as they are often large institutions like PIMCO that have more than enough capacity to investigate risk before investing. Depositors should always be last, as most of them have no capacity whatsoever to investigate the real risk of banks and nowhere near enough money to put into a bank to make it worth a real investigation of risk. They are acting in trust  and particularly in trust that government regulators are doing their job.

Too bad the United States doesnt operate this way!

What kind of spinoff can the settlement of Heta have to other institutions? Well, last month, the Association of German Banks had to bail out a small bank called Duesseldorfer Hypothekenbank AG because its hit as a creditor of Heta would have killed it. Though Duesseldorfer is a small bank, it was apparently deemed too big to fail because, once again, government bailouts went to the rescue.

Given that such an agreement happened on Sunday afternoon, and that central banks and regulatory bodies usually talk with other national bodies that may be affected, I have to wonder if the thought of how Europe might react on Monday had anything to do with Mondays sudden meetings of the Fed.

Italian Banks on Final Crash-Landing Approach

As if all that were not bad enough for the start of a week in banking news, Italys minister of finance called an emergency meeting over the past weekend of Italian bankers to engage last resort measures for dealing with 360-billion euros of bad loans in banks that have only 50 billion in capital.

Finance minister Pier Carlo Padoan has called a meeting in Rome on Monday with executives from Italys largest financial institutions to agree final details of a last resort bailout plan. Yet on the eve of that gathering, concerns remain as to whether the plan will be sufficient to ringfence the weakest of Italys large banks. Italian bank shares have lost almost half their value so far this year amid investor worries over a 360bn pile of non-performing loans  equivalent to about a fifth of GDP. (Contra Corner)

Could that have had anything to do with the flurry of bank meetings in the US. I have no idea, but I do have to wonder, with so much smoke everywhere in the banking industry, is there a fire we need to know about? You can be sure, well be the last to know, and any announcement of whats really going down will hit like Bear Sterns or Lehman Brothers. One day, all the central bankers are talking like things are fine. The next day a major vertebrae is knocked out of the nations financial spine.

Or maybe presidents and central bankers are just making sure things generally hold together through the election cycle. Such a bad-news week for banks around the world certainly doesnt sound like all is well as our smiling central bankers, president and V.P, say it is. I dont know any top secrets to reveal, but the smoke is killing me. By David Haggith, The Great Recession Blog

And now suddenly, this is leaving ugly skid marks on the economy, banks, and investors. Read US Commercial Bankruptcies Suddenly Soar
Yves here. The Brookings paper in question showed up in my inbox. Normally, when think tanks tell a howler, they do so through misleading framing or cherry picking data. This one, by contrast, had a speculation to information ratio that was off the charts.

By John Helmer, the longest continuously serving foreign correspondent in Russia, and the only western journalist to direct his own bureau independent of single national or commercial ties. Helmer has also been a professor of political science, and an advisor to government heads in Greece, the United States, and Asia. He is the first and only member of a US presidential administration (Jimmy Carter) to establish himself in Russia. Originally published at Dances with Bears

Clifford Gaddy (lead image, left) has never recovered from his 20-year infatuation with Anatoly Chubais and Alexei Kudrin. Neither has Gaddys boss at Brookings Institution in Washington, Strobe Talbott, the regime changer-in-chief at the State Department in the 1990s, when Boris Yeltsin was his man in the Kremlin, and the rest of the country too weak to resist.

If only they ruled Russia today, President Chubais, Prime Minister Kudrin or vice versa, instead of President Vladimir Putin, there could never ever be the Kremlin plot Gaddy and Brookings charged last week for blackmailing United States officials and their allies with something like the Panama Papers. A regime-changing plot like that isnt as preposterous as it sounds  not because Putin thought of it, as Gaddy now claims, but because Gaddy and Talbott used it a good many times themselves in Moscow, and in Belgrade too, until Putin put a stop to them. For lossmaking Brookings, however, putting a stop to Putins plotting is a desperate advertisement for badly needed funds.



Are the Russians actually behind the Panama Papers? is the title of Gaddys indictment. It isnt an opinion-page piece placed in a newspaper. Theres no institutional disclaimer either. It is an official publication of the Brookings think-tank where Gaddy is chief expert on Russia, and Talbott is chief executive.

Also, the question isnt a genuine one, because Gaddys answer is yes. My thinking, he says, ignoring the subjunctives, conditionals, and the cyrillization of control () is this could have been a Russian intelligence operation, which orchestrated a high-profile leak and established total credibility by implicating (not really implicating) Russia and keeping the source hidden. Some documents would be used for anti-corruption campaigns in a few countriestopple some minor regimes, destroy a few careers and fortunes. By then blackmailing the real targets in the United States and elsewhere (individuals not in the current leak), the Russian puppet masters get kontrol and influence.

Gaddy provides no evidence. Instead, he proposes the ancient Roman courtroom trick of casting blame in the direction of motive when the evidence of commission of acts is absent. The cui bono [to whose good] principle connects profits with motives, asking who stands to gain from a certain action. If its the Russians who win, isnt it possible that they are somehow behind at least part of this story?  thats another of Gaddys trick questions, to which he has the ready answer.

So lets say that the who is the Russians, and the why is to deflect attention and show that everybody does it. But how? Given Russias vaunted hacking capabilities, a special cyber unit in the Kremlin may have been able to obtain the documents. (Monssack [sic] Fonseca is maintaining that the leak was not an inside job.) But it is most likely that such an operation would be run out of an agency called the Russian Financial Monitoring Service (RFM). RFM is Putins personal financial intelligence unithe created it and it answers only to him. It is completely legitimate and is widely recognized as the most powerful such agency in the world, with a monopoly on information about money laundering, offshore centers, and related issues involving Russia or Russian nationals.

RosFinMonitorings chief, Yury Chikhanchin, who has an economics doctorate like Gaddy and 16 years in the security services, first took charge of the agency in 2008. Four years later, in June 2012, Putin met him publicly, twice, to hand him the cover story, according to Gaddy, for what RFM really does thats different from its US counterpart, the US Treasurys Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), headed by Jennifer Shasky Calvery (right).

According to Putin, we must prepare a national plan to combat money laundering, tax evasion, and offshore tax evaders, while understanding which company is the ultimate beneficiary of this. This is what other countries, or at least many of them, do.

Putin and Chikhanchin, June 13, 2012. According to Brookings, Putin told Chikhanchin to break into Panamanian offshore company registration files to find the names of influential US government officials and businessmen in order to blackmail them into taking Kremlin orders.

Putin also told Chikhanchin to keep his work secret. I note that over these years, despite the complexity and confidential nature of your work, the Service has never had any leak of information that could be damaging for our countrys business and economy. I hope that you will continue to work just as intensely, thoroughly and carefully.

In July 2013 the RFM was exposed in public as Putins personal spy agency. That was in a publication financed by the Russian state media budget. The author of the disclosure was Gaddy. One of the secrets Gaddy kept then, and now, is that between 2000 and 2002 Chikhanchin was head of the Currency Control Department at the Finance Ministry. The minister to whom he reported was Kudrin.

Kudrin (left) with Chubais, January 14, 2015

But the Putin-Chikhanchin secret is now out, leaked by Gaddy: the purpose of the Panama Papers operation is a message directed at the Americans and other Western political leaders who could be mentioned but are not. The message is: We have information on your financial misdeeds, too. You know we do. We can keep them secret if you work with us. In other words, the individuals mentioned in the documents are not the targets. The ones who are not mentioned are the targets.

When Cicero called out cui bono, the Romans in court didnt know what a boomerang was. Without evidence, the Putin plot according to Gaddy is just that. He invites the question  what motive, benefit, or profit can he, Talbott, and Brookings have for attacking the Panama Papers as a Putin blackmail scheme? This isnt a trick question.

According to Gaddys resume, in the mid-1990s he was an advisor to the Russian finance ministry and regional governments on issues of fiscal federalism for the U.S. Governments Tax Reform Oversight Project for Russia. Talbott was Under-Secretary of State. The recent release of the transcripts of telephone-calls and meetings at the time between President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveals that Talbotts mandate was to keep Yeltsin in power if possible  and if impossible, build up as his replacement Yegor Gaidar at best, Victor Chernomyrdin at worst. Getting rid of Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov was one of Talbotts regime changes; at the same time as he was plotting the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia. For details, read this.

How are their interests now, and Brookings interests, affected by the Panama Papers? For cui bono, read cash. Brookings doesnt fully reveal the identity and value of its funding sources. But this how it describes them: Generous individuals, foundations, leading corporations, and U.S. and foreign government agencies that share our commitment to quality, independence, and impact in public policy research and analysis support Brookings with financial contributions and intellectual engagement. Donors invest in Brookings with both project-specific gifts and unrestricted funds that help us react nimbly to breaking events and confront urgent challenges, from the domestic and global economies to foreign affairs to the health of Americas cities and metropolitan areas.

For quality, independence, and impact this is what Talbott and Gaddy define as Brookings current mission on Russia: Confronting an aggressive Russia, U.S. policymakers must understand President Putins motivations and worldview in order to devise an effective strategy to counter Moscows revanchist agenda. Whether considering Putins efforts to re-establish a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe or his turn to nationalism to burnish his domestic popularity, Senior Fellows Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy offer U.S. policymakers comprehensive insights into the Russian leader. In 2015, Gaddy and Hill, director of the Center on the United States and Europe, released an expanded edition of Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin, adding five new chapters that provide greater context on Putins ambitions for Russia. Russia and China are defined by the think-tank as the principal direct challengers to the liberal, international order.

Fiona Hill (right), the alternate expert on Russia after Gaddy, was a UK national; a Harvard PhD, then an academic, and between 2006 and 2009 the national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at The National Intelligence Council.

The second alternate expert on Russia on the Brookings payroll, titled senior fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy in the Foreign Policy program, is Robert Kagan. He is the husband of Victoria Nuland, who is in charge of regime-change operations for Russia and Ukraine at the State Department at the moment. For details, click to read.

For the money in the pay packets of Talbott, Gaddy, Hill and Kagan, open page 39 of the 2015 annual report for the current list of Brookings paymasters. The foreign governments giving this cash include the US military allies, Australia (foreign ministry, defence ministry), Canada, UK, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Norway. To match these countries and governments to the list of names revealed in the Panama Papers, open this. Of the governments appearing on both the Brookings and Panama lists, either directly or through proxies, the most obvious are Qatar, Ukraine, UK, and UAE.

But their wars may be hurting Brookings bottom-line. The think-tank reports its revenue in 2015 fell from the year before by 11% to $95.6 million, while its operating costs jumped 5% to $104.2 million. Brookings investment income also suffered, dropping from a positive $38.9 million in 2014 to a negative $22 million in 2015. This means the think-tank is in the red operationally, and needs to raise more donor cash urgently.

BROOKINGS IS NOW LOSS-MAKING  THE 2015 BALANCE-SHEET

Source: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/About/Content/annualreport/2015annualreport.pdf -- page 42.

The need for fresh money is particularly urgent for foreign policy, because Talbott, Gaddy, Hill, Pifer, and Kagan arent cheap: they consume one-third of the think-tank budget each year. Foreign enemies, not domestic American issues, are what brings home the bacon for Brookings.

Brookings committee for offshore money-raising is headed by Antoine van Agtmael, an American of Dutch origin. His business is emerging market investment funds; they appear to be based in the UK, and use Ireland for offshore registration; Russia has not been one of his investment targets. The Brookings board is heavy on Americans (3), Spaniards (3), Mexicans (2), Canadians (2), and Israelis (2).

BROOKINGS BIGGEST PAYMASTERS IN 2015

Source: Brookings Annual Report 2015 -- page 39

The Panama Papers list of names counts five Israeli oligarchs  Lev Leviev, Idnan Ofer, Teddy Sagi, Dan Gertler, and Beny Steinmetz. There are several Spaniards, including the Spanish duchess, Pilar de Borbon, sister of former King Juan Carlos.

There are no Russian donors to Brookings  only anti-Russian donors. The flushest of them is the Ukrainian oligarch, Victor Pinchuk. He has been providing $200,000 annually to the institution, and he takes a seat on its International Advisory Council. He funds the pro-Kiev, anti-Moscow Ukrainian coverage by former US Ambassador to Ukraine, Steven Pifer, a salaried Brookings Fellow. For more details, including Brookings and Pifers refusal to discuss the Pinchuk money, read this. The latest report from Brookings on where its money came from in 2015 identifies Pinchuk as continuing to give in the range of $100,000-$249,000.

Talbott (right) was Pinchuks guest at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) meeting in Kiev on September 12, 2015. On the left, Ukrainian foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin; centre, James Appathurai, the Canadian spokesman for NATO. Pifer of Brookings has been a regular guest of Pinchuks at the annual YES convention for years.

Source: http://yes-ukraine.org/en/photo-and-video/photo/sammit-2015

Following the Brookings money trail identifies a cui bono motive for Brookings to protect its benefactors, local and foreign, by attacking the Panama Papers in case the money landing in the Brookings till has been laundered from benefactor crimes. The Russian charges that Pinchuk stole more than $200 million from his Rossiya Insurance Company in Moscow suggest something of the sort, though there have been no trials, no convictions. For details of that case, read this.

For the Talbott-Gaddy theory of Putin-Chikhanchik blackmail to turn into publishable evidence requires a naive believer, a stooge  indeed, several of them, including the most rabidly anti-Russian media in the English-speaking world: the London Guardian, the Rupert Murdoch press, the Daily Beast (director, Chelsea Clinton), and the Nikkei-owned Financial Times (Nikkei gave more than $50,000 to Brookings last year). According to Gaddys version, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) of Washington, which has supervised the authentication and dissemination of the Panama Papers, is the self-described elite of investigative journalistsbut what have they discovered about the source of all these documents?

Nichevo, says Gaddy. Perhaps, since the ICIJ is funded by Americans, theyre not going to bite the hand that feeds them Perhaps, then, someone purged those references before the documents were handed over to the German newspaper. The someone would be the Russiansand the absence of incriminating information about Americans is an important hint of what I think to be the real purpose of this leak.

Brookings almost follows the money trail into the ICIJ, but stops short. Had it gone further, it would have discovered among the financiers of ICIJ and its Washington parent, the Center for Public Integrity (CPI), there are George Soross Open Society Foundations; many of the same American foundations to be found on the Brookings benefactor list; plus proprietors of the media which are publishing the Panama Papers. This cui bono trail runs around the world in a circle. For example, Soros pays money to the ICIJ to receive the Panama Papers, and pays the Mail& Guardian of South Africa to report them.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) also pays into the circle by financing fact checking, investigative journalism, and responsible media projects in countries where the Panama Papers stories have been amplified, such as the Balkans, Ukraine, Mexico, and the Philippines.

On April 9, the State Department spokesman acknowledged that one of the funnels for the Panama Papers, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), is financed by USAID. They, claimed spokesman Mark Toner (below)  this organization conducts investigative journalism, primarily, I think, in Europe.

Source: http://video.state.gov/en/video/4836242546001

Obviously, these are the kind of organizations that USAID has and continues to fund, but not specifically for  to go after any particular government, but  or any particular individual, but simply to conduct what  and what were supporting here is the conduct of independent investigative journalism that we believe can shine a light on corruption, because, as the Secretary on down have said, corruption continues to have a corrosive effect on good governance around the world. So its part of our  a core tenet of our foreign policy that we support organizations that go after corruption.

Cui bono? asked reporters at the briefing. We have no editorial control over what over their reporting, Toner answered. Theyre allowed [by the US Government] to and permitted to cover whatever they want.

The Brookings attack on the Panama Papers as a Russian plot appeared on April 7, two days before the State Department made these admissions.

The OCCRP reports the US Government and Soros money in the funding section of its website; it omits them both in its history of the organization. As for how accountable the ICIJ is to investigation of its own funds, it isnt. This is what happened when the ICIJs director, Gerard Ryle, was asked questions about a Russian investigation he had just published with the Guardian in November 2012  before Ryle cut the telephone line.
Radioactive Reindeer Roam Norway 30 Years After Chernobyl Wired. You could even say it glows

Destination Venus Nature

Bezos lays out vision of space boom FT. Space tourism.

Bezos Stake in Uber Goes Under the Radar at Washington Post FAIR

Brazils Rousseff decries conspiracy as impeachment advances Reuters

Crisis in Brazil Perry Anderson, LRB. Must read.

Oil price optimism grows as Brent climbs to 2016 high FT

Peabody Energy Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Bloomberg

Can Markets Solve Climate Change? This Democratic Socialist Thinks So. The Nation (JB).

Complexity, not size, is the real danger in banking FT

Regulators Set to Reject Some Big Banks Living Wills WSJ. Yves: This is due to Warren harassing Yellen.

D.C. Circuit Poised to Disrupt Consumer Protection Bureau Power Structure National Law Journal

Italy Concocts 5 Billion Atlas Rescue Fund to Cure 360 Billion in Non-Performing Loans; At Gunpoint MishTalk (EW). EW: If you cant make it big, name it big!

The Brexit Alarm Project Syndicate

#PanamaPapers

How Personal Attacks Let David Cameron Off the Hook Over Tax Loopholes Vice (RS).

China?

Syraqistan

A Saudi U.S. Split Over Syria? Moon of Alabama

2016

U.S. presidential rivals Clinton, Sanders tied in support among Democrats: poll Reuters

CLINTONS LEAD OVER SANDERS DECLINES TO SIX POINTS IN CALIFORNIAS DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY. BIG DIFFERENCES IN PREFERENCES ACROSS SUBGROUPS OF THE LIKELY VOTER POPULATION. Field Poll (DM). Sorry for the ALL CAPS, but thats how the original is.

Clinton blames de Blasio for racially charged joke Politico. So thats two supporters Clintons thrown under the bus in one week: Shumlin on Vermont guns, and now de Blasio on Colored Peoples Time.

De Blasio defends racial joke with Clinton The Hill. If youre explaining, youre losing.

HRCs Final Paid Speech  $260K from the ACA? Daily Kos. Good detail.

Colorado Democrats admit mistake that cost Bernie Sanders key delegate Denver Post (chinabeach). [The] Democratic Party told Hillary Clintons campaign about caucus counting mistake, but kept public and Bernie Sanders camp in the dark. Wasserman Schultz must have handled the communications.

Anger Boils at Jews-for-Bernie Event Haaretz

A Contested Democratic Convention Is Now a Near Statistical Certainty HuffPo (MR).

Panel Could Rewrite the Rules for GOP Convention Roll Call

Ryans presidential denials wont dim GOP establishment hopes Salt Lake City Tribune

Donald Trump Has a Coherent, Realist Foreign Policy Foreign Policy
Cosmic rays: The key to galaxy formation?

(Nanowerk News) The new Junior Research Group High Energy Astrophysics and Cosmology (HAC) has now started at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS). HITS astrophysicist Dr. Christoph Pfrommer has been awarded a Consolidator Grant of the European Research Council (ERC). He will use the 2 million research grant to establish his own group. At present there are 13 research groups  including Pfrommer's group  working at HITS on data-driven science, from mathematics to molecular biology. With four groups, astrophysics and astronomy represents one of the key areas of the institute.

The addition of this new group shows how remarkably quickly HITS has established itself as a research institute over the last six years, Scientific Director Rebecca Wade says. A total of four HITS scientists currently hold an ERC grant.

Understanding the physics of galaxy formation is arguably among the greatest problems in modern astrophysics. Christoph Pfrommer investigates the impact of cosmic rays on galaxy and cluster formation. Cosmic rays originate in supernova explosions and produce galactic winds that, among other things, influence star formation. These gigantic gaseous outflows in galaxies are generated by similar mechanisms to those that cause solar flares and coronal mass ejections and thus are responsible for geomagnetic storms on Earth. In contrast to these stormy space weather events, the gigantic galactic winds are harmless for us humans. But they seem to represent an essential phase in the early, violent period of galaxy formation, says Pfrommer.

The cosmological computer simulation Illustris has shown that these outflows are not only necessary to form realistic spiral galaxies, but also appear to be crucial in explaining the observed diversity of galaxy morphologies, i.e., their appearance in form of spirals and ellipticals. While current computer simulations are modelling these gaseous outflows phenomenologically, Pfrommer's group aims at modelling the underlying physics of cosmic rays, magnetic fields, and plasma waves in great detail. To investigate the cosmic-ray propagation in galactic magnetic fields, the researchers will employ and expand the AREPO code that has been developed at HITS. In order to be able to conduct the next generation of simulations, the HITS computer cluster is in the process of being upgraded. The simulation results will be validated by taking advantage of new observational capabilities at radio to gamma-ray wavelengths.

One of the central research questions of the new group is whether the strong galactic winds are indeed caused by cosmic rays or whether there is another  yet unknown  mechanism at work. Perhaps it will turn out that the currently favoured cold dark matter model is not complete and has to be modified, explains Pfrommer, for instance, by taking into account self-interactions of dark matter. In any case, I expect this to be an exciting journey, with hopefully many surprises and new discoveries.

Pfrommer studied Physics in Jena (Germany), Harvard (USA) and at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching (Germany). After his Ph.D. at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat in Munich, he worked as a postdoctoral and senior research associate at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) in Toronto. In summer 2010, he joined the Theoretical Astrophysics group at HITS (led by Prof. Volker Springel) as a senior researcher. In January 2014, Christoph Pfrommer was the first active HITS employee to obtain a habilitation at Heidelberg University.
Sen. Garrett Ricther, R-Naples, left, is congratulated by Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, as he finishes his last term as a senator during session, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon)

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By Laura Layden of the Naples Daily News

Garrett Richter gave his last post legislative briefing to members of the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce, capping off his comments with a poem that made everyone laugh.

He read his farewell poem to the Florida Senate, which ended this way:

"I don't know where I'm going ... but I do know where I've been

"And the journey's been great fun  because of you  and Heineken!"

Before reading his poem, Richter, R-Naples, told the crowd of nearly 150 gathered for a "Wake Up Naples" breakfast Wednesday at the Hilton Naples, it was a "tremendous honor" to serve the community first as a state representative, then later as a state senator.

Richter's poem was interrupted after a woman in the audience collapsed. The rapid response at her table, he said, reminded him of how the community is so "Johnny on the spot" when it comes to dealing with challenging situations. The chamber reports the woman is doing just fine.

Though his eight-year term as a state senator ends in November, Richter still had plenty to say about politics and about hot button issues, such as fracking.

Richter, the Senate's president pro tempore, proposed a fracking bill last session, which he said would have regulated its use as a way to drill oil and gas out of the ground in the state. The bill died in a Senate committee.

"My wife would call it the freaking fracking bill," Richter said. "It consumed a lot of my time."

While the fracking bill didn't pass, 17 of the 21 bills he filed in the last session did, he said.

Richter was joined by state Reps. Kathleen Passidomo and Matt Hudson, who are vying for the same Senate seat, at the Naples chamber briefing. He said he hoped one of them, or somebody else, would carry on his fracking fight.

"We better doggone regulate it," Richter said.

Passidomo, R-Naples, said the fracking bill proposed last session was good but died "because of politics."

She agreed that a moratorium on fracking might be needed until a study can be done to better understand its effects in Florida and new rules developed. The study, she said, should be done independently by a reputable research institution, such as the University of Florida.

With gas prices so low, no one is applying for fracking permits, Passidomo said.

"Fracking is legal in Florida right now. Anybody can do it," she said.

Hudson, R-Naples, said landowner rights should not be taken away with no factual or scientific evidence. He said his district, which includes eastern Collier County and Hendry County, is where fracking would most likely occur.

"Frankly there's a reason why we have Oil Well Road," he said. "That's where they drill all the oil."

He said there would need to be a sound reason for imposing a moratorium on fracking.

"We need to get that science," Hudson said. "We need to understand that completely."

Lake Okeechobee was also a topic of discussion. Asked whether it would be appropriate for the state to buy more land in the Everglades Agricultural Area to fix the problems caused by the lake's water releases, Hudson said one of the biggest priorities should be repairing the Herbert Hoover Dike around the lake.

"The real challenge is fixing that dike," he said. "No matter what we do, if we keep putting garbage in, we are going to keep getting garbage out."

Passidomo said state officials should sit down with willing sellers to try to identify suitable sites that could be purchased for water storage near Lake Okeechobee.

"We shouldn't force landowners to sell property if the state can't afford it," she said.

Looking ahead, Passidomo said she expects state leaders to continue working on water policy but that she's not sure whether a fracking bill will come back. Next session, if she's re-elected, she plans to reintroduce a bill designed to protect bicyclists and pedestrians.

In Florida, Passidomo said, there are many achievements to be proud of, from job growth to top fourth-grade reading scores. She said she'll continue working to protect families, workers, business owners and the elderly, as well as the natural resources and quality of life in the state.

Hudson said he'd continue to fight for the repeal of a tax on commercial leases. "That to me seems kind of crazy," he said.

He said it's important to protect the assets that have brought people to Florida and have kept them here.

"We must be proactive," he said. "We must have a vision for where we want to go in the future."
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Nicole Goetz has been admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. A practicing attorney for almost two decades, she limits her practice to marital and family law at the trial and appellate levels.

Good deeds

Publix Super Markets Inc. distributed more than $673,000 from its Food For All 2015 fundraiser to nonprofit organizations and $3.73 million total to nonprofits. Grace Place for Children and Families received $16,000, which will go toward its Friday Food Pantry efforts in Golden Gate, where it operates the largest Harry Chapin food distribution point in Collier County. Guadalupe Center in Immokalee received $27,500.

The Southwest Florida Community Foundation has launched the Fund for the Environment in Southwest Florida. All money raised through this multi-donor fund will be given back out to the local community through nonprofit organizations with projects focused on the long-term sustainability of the Southwest Florida environment. Information: www.floridacommunity.com/environment-fund

Events

Prospective educators are invited to chat with representatives from The School District of Lee County at the Diversity Teacher Recruitment Virtual Career Fair, hosted by DIVERSITY in Ed, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 19 at www.CareerEco.com/events/DiversityinEd.

To submit your business news directly online, go to naplesnews.com/BIZwire or email news@naplesnews.com.
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By June Fletcher of the Naples Daily News

A Naples-based angel fund is adding a little sunshine to its portfolio.

Tamiami Angel Fund II said last week that it has closed on its ninth portfolio company.

It invested $250,000 in eNow Inc., a 5-year-old Warwick, Rhode Island, company that develops solar powered systems for the transportation industry.

Its latest product is a solar powered system that cuts idling costs of trucks and heavy vehicles.

Fuel costs are one of fleet operators' largest expenses, Jeff Flath, founder and president of eNow, said in a statement.

"Truckers idle engines to keep the engine block warm, to heat and cool the cabin and to operate lift gates," he said. "Using the engine for these types of functions consumes almost a gallon of diesel fuel per hour, and constitutes nearly eight percent of total fuel use. Our product is enabling customers to substantially reduce the costs associated with operating trucking fleets by providing a less expensive, solar-based energy system."

ENow's solar system works by charging the auxiliary batteries of vehicles.

The company says its system eliminates idling and saves an estimated $8,000 to $12,000 in operational costs while reducing emissions and wear-and-tear on motors.

A report last year by Ohio State University's Center for Automotive Research backed eNow's fuel-economy claims.

Funding from the Tamiami Angel fund will allow the company to expand market outreach and continue product development and testing.

In development are new solar photovoltaic panels that will help power air-conditioning systems in sleeper trucks.

Bud Stoddard, a Tamiami Angel Fund II member and eNow board member, said in a statement that eNow's energy-management system is one of the most advanced on the market and a "great sector investment" for the fund, which also will have the chance to "transform the transportation industry."

Tamiami Angel Fund II is a member-managed fund that invests in early stage through expansion stage domestic commercial ventures.

Among its other investments are companies that prepare fresh-food meal plans, create sales motivation tools, and automate FedEx and UPS late shipment refunds.

When deciding which companies to invest in, preference is given to companies in Florida.

The fund is a member of the Angel Capital Association, based in Leawood, Kansas, and the Florida Venture Forum, based in Tampa.
julie glenn A sample of Failla wine.

"Good wine is a necessity of life for me."

 Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson is the founding father known as the primary pen of the Declaration of Independence, the third president of the United States, and the guy who scored America the best land deal of the modern era with the Louisiana Purchase. But more germane to this week's wine column; he was the first oenophile-in-chief and today is his birthday.

Last week I went to a wine tasting I suspect he would have loved. Darren Palace, the national sales rep for Failla wines, shared eleven bottles; all chardonnay and pinot noir from the chilliest parts of Sonoma and Napa, California. Many are single-vineyard productions, showing the character of the different microclimates and soil types, and all are decidedly more European in style than Californian, meaning they're lower in alcohol, higher in acidity, and generally subtler on the fruit than what has been coming out of California the past few decades.

Made by winemaker Ehren Jordan, Failla wines are part of a shift in California wine style.

"Ehren, to me, is one of the most influential winemakers of the past decade in the states," Palace said.

"His mentorship and tutelage have helped mold many a winemaker. I use the term founding father of the New California movement, and it may be a bit strong, but he and a few winemakers have stayed true to the old world style of winemaking, even in the years when the manipulated cult California Cabernet was king.

"There is a return to the subtleties that varietals can express through a hands-off approach and letting the vineyard speak more."

It's a style change I think Thomas Jefferson would endorse, since it was he who attempted to nudge forward a wine revolution shortly after the American Revolution toward lighter, more restrained wines.

As colonial subjects, American taste in wine was like that of the British. They liked sweet, fortified wines from Spain and Portugal; the result of decades of war in which French wine was not imported to the British Islands.

But after Jefferson's stint as minister to France, he fell further in love with the lighter, more nuanced wines of France and Northern Italy and furiously advocated to change the taste of the U.S. wine drinker for political and organoleptic reasons.

He believed good wine was healthier than hard alcohol such as whiskey and advocated reducing duties on wine imports to lower alcohol consumption. He was quoted as saying:

"No nation is drunken where wine is cheap, and none sober where the dearness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage. It is, in truth, the only antidote to the bane of whiskey."

According to his purchase records, Jefferson loved the big wines Bordeaux and Barolo but he also had a soft spot for Burgundy, meaning earthy pinot noir and acidic chardonnay occupied his glass on many occasions.

He believed America would one day make wine that could compete on an international stage, and while he was proved right at the Judgement of Paris in 1976, the style of California winemaking spiraled into a brinkmanship of fruitiness and high alcohol in the decades that followed.

While I can't suppose to know the palate of the first wine-geek-in-chief, I will hazard a guess that he would appreciate the "new" California style of Fallia's pinot noir and chardonnay for its lower alcohol and more complex flavors.

Of the Failla pinot noirs, I could see him gravitate toward the 2013 Savoy Vineyard from the Anderson Valley. While all five of the Failla pinot noirs are more similar to Burgundy than California, the one from Savoy vineyard takes me straight to the Fixin sub appellation in the Cotes de Nuits of Burgundy.

Its subtle earthiness serves as a delicate canvas upon which the bright raspberry fruit is dabbed by a skilled winemaking artist. It is just a beautiful wine. ($69.99)

The six Chardonnays from Failla are fuller than their French counterparts but are still a far cry from the over-oaked butterballs California sold oceans of in the 90s.

Instead, these wines are crafted to bring out the minerality of the soil through a balance of acidity and creamy fruitiness.

For some reason, the 2013 Keefer Ranch chardonnay from the Russian River Valley reminded me of Thanksgiving dinner on the nose- specifically the cornbread and sausage stuffing I make every year. How a wine can do that I will never know but it's why I continue to try to unravel wine's mysteries.

The balance in this wine between the lush, full mid-palate and the zip of acidity at the end made it one of the wines I picked to bring home with me. ($55.99)
Ed Barsamian, the longtime co-owner of Cafe Luna in downtown Naples, is seated at his new location in Liberty Plaza on U.S. 41 in Naples, and he plans another new location in Naples Walk in North Naples. (Tim Aten/Daily News staff)

Tim Aten In The Know SHARE The original Cafe Luna on Fifth Avenue South is closing this month to make way for a redevelopment project, but a new location will be opened in North Naples. (Tim Aten/Daily News staff) The last day for Bella Maria Cafe on Fifth Avenue South in Naples will be April 27, 2016. (Tim Aten/Daily News staff) The last day for Avenue Wine Cafe will be April 29, 2016, on Fifth Avenue South in Naples. (Tim Aten/Daily News staff) The last day for Kohr's Family Frozen Custard on Fifth Avenue South in Naples will be April 27, 2016. (Tim Aten/Daily News staff) Related Photos PHOTOS: Cafe Luna opening another new location

Cafe Luna will lose its original location in downtown Naples later this month, but its owners are already planning to open another restaurant soon in North Naples.

Cafe Luna is targeted to open within the next two months in the former home of Capers Kitchen & Bar in Naples Walk shopping center on the southeast corner of Airport-Pulling and Vanderbilt Beach roads in North Naples.

"We're excited. We took over April 1. Trying to get open by June 1," said Ed Barsamian, who co-owns Cafe Luna with Shannon Radosti.

Capers Kitchen operated in that Publix-anchored center for three seasons until closing last April. That 4,800-square-foot unit at 2460 Vanderbilt Beach Road previously was Sam Snead's Tavern for more than 12 years, and briefly Naples Tap Room & Grille before Capers moved in.

The Cafe Luna concept, an Italian restaurant with a full bar, launched in January 2007 at 467 Fifth Ave. S. in Naples. After more than nine years, the original location downtown will close April 24 before its lease ends April 30, Barsamian said.

"We need that time because there's a lot of equipment downtown that will be used in the Capers location," he said. "I need that time to move things around."

A second location of Cafe Luna opened March 9 in the former longtime Liberty Plaza location of Flaco's Mexican restaurant on U.S. 41, south of Seagate Drive. The new location features a state-of the art expanded bar.

"The Liberty Plaza location is coming along very nicely," Barsamian said. "We are pretty well branded."

Cafe Luna's new locations offer the same lunch and dinner specials as its original restaurant. The menu features classic Italian dishes, pizza and "A Veally Good Deal," a dinner special for two with a bottle of wine for $29.99.

During the five weeks between the closing of the original Cafe Luna and the launching of the North Naples restaurant, employees will either have down time or work at the Liberty Plaza location.

"We gave everybody an option," Barsamian said. "Most of the people are willing to hang in there."

Fifth Avenue changes

Meanwhile on Fifth Avenue South, a green construction fence is expected to be erected soon around the stretch of businesses set to be demolished to make way for upscale condominiums and new commercial businesses. In addition to Cafe Luna, the postseason redevelopment project means the end for storefronts occupied by Avenue Wine Cafe, Bella Maria Cafe, Kohr's Family Frozen Custard, a couple of real estate offices and a title company.

The redeveloped Fifth Avenue block between Fourth Street South and Fifth Street South will have retail businesses on its ground floor, but is not expected to have any restaurants.

The three-story building is planned to have residential condos above the retail strip and a proposed parking garage below.

"It sure is going to change Fifth, but life's about change," said Bill McGee, a 14-year Naples resident who sat on a bench Monday afternoon admiring the brilliant yellow seasonal blooms of a tabebuia tree in front of Cafe Luna.

Because of pending litigation, owner Phil McCabe said he could not comment on his proposed development, other than to say that current tenants were given notice more than a year ago that their leases would expire at the end of this month.

"All the leases of all my tenants in that building ends April 30," McCabe said. The owners of the eateries in that row plan to close this month, of course, but all plan to open elsewhere eventually.

Avenue Wine Cafe

Although an informal goodbye party will be thrown for Avenue Wine Cafe on April 23, the last day for the 7-year-old business will be April 29, said co-owner Colin Estrem.

The small, warm and inviting neighborhood hangout  "A Wine Bar with a Beer Problem"  opened in 2009 at 483 Fifth Ave. S. It continues to be a favorite stop for a glass of wine or a pint of craft beer.

Estrem and his wife, Kitsi, knew the clock was ticking on their Avenue Wine Cafe, so they successfully launched 7th Avenue Social a year ago in a location tucked away behind the Chapel Grill. The idea at the time was that this new Avenue for creative South Florida cooking would replace the other Avenue they knew would be lost to a "destructive demise" when its lease ran out.

But, now Estrem is talking about starting another Avenue Wine Cafe.

"I'm planning on it," he said. "I have ideas and am definitely planning on making a run at it."

Of course, he highly doubts it will be on Fifth. But it still may be called Avenue Wine Cafe.

"There's lots of avenues," he said.

Bella Maria Cafe

The last day for Bella Maria Cafe will be April 27. The cafe owned by Maria Iribarren and her husband, Carlos, and son, Franco, has operated at 489 Fifth Ave. S. for more than 11 years.

The space, previously occupied by Spice of Life and briefly by Old Circus Grill and Capt. Seaweed's Fish Joint, is one of the oldest restaurant spots on Fifth.

"We were here for 12 years. We were the longest one," said Franco Iribarren. "We have a clientele coming. We are happy to be here for so long. We thank everybody for our support."

Bella Maria has been popular over the years for diners looking to sample something a little different from the cafe's extensive menu that reflects the mixed heritage of the Iribarren family. Maria hails from Chile, while Carlos is from Spain.

Although Bella Maria's fare is mostly Spanish, particularly Basque, it includes a medley of Chilean and Italian influences as well as other parts of the world. Dishes include paella, tapas, ceviche, empanadas and sangria.

The Iribarrens plan to open another restaurant this fall, Franco Iribarren said, but they have not settled on a new location yet. They are looking for a location with a nice patio and atmosphere.

"We have a few options. We have offers from people all over town," he said. "We lost one, but we have a lot of opportunities in a lot of places."

In the meantime, Franco Iribarren plans a trip to Europe next month where he'll be operating a food truck near Barcelona this summer. "I'll be back in October to open our new place," he said.

Kohr's custard

The last day for Kohr's Family Frozen Custard will be April 27. Two years ago, the custard shop replaced Abbott's Frozen Custard in that corner location at 491 Fifth Ave. S.

"It's performed well for us. We got a great reception from the people of Naples," said managing partner Matthew Kohr.

Kohr plans to keep his family owned and operated frozen custard shop in Naples, and would love to stay on Fifth, but he does not have a new spot yet.

"We are looking around on Fifth Avenue. That's where we'd like to be," he said.

"We haven't found a location that is right for us yet, but we are planning to stay in the area."

Know more



Recap of local restaurants opening in first 3 months of 2016

For the latest in local restaurants coming and going, see Tim Atens In the Know columns archived at naplesnews.com/intheknow, and on Facebook at facebook.com/timaten.intheknow.
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We're here to help you, says the Obama administration as it often sacrifices one group to help another group that gets sacrificed, too. In these cases, which are scarcely hard to find, it sometimes acts autocratically and just about always relies less on common sense than on a bundle of progressive pretensions.

Take, for instance, the bureaucratic effrontery of telling public high schools they must let certain anatomical guys into girls' locker rooms and showers or lose federal funding. The purpose, justified by a fantastical misreading of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, is to soothe the feelings of these fellows who think of themselves as girls while simultaneously disregarding the feelings of girls who fear embarrassment.

Yes, let's have empathy for transgender people, treating them with sensitivity as many schools do, but let's have empathy for these equally important girls, too. When you throw out ages-old privacy norms, girls can easily come to see transgender teens more as menaces than anything else, no favor to them, and wonder what their own rights may be. What we have here is political correctness that is glaringly incorrect.

Even more serious lately is the way President Barack Obama has embraced Black Lives Matter, a group that marches around with fury on its lips and T-shirts saying such things as "Murderous Cops." He seems in close agreement with the thesis that racist cops are out there killing innocent blacks but fairly few whites.

With reference to extensive research by The Washington Post and others, Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute points to some pertinent information. Blacks kill cops at more than twice the rate that cops kill blacks. Even the unarmed blacks who get killed are mostly attacking cops. Blacks also kill other blacks in numbers exceeding the total number of homicides of whites and Hispanics. While 26 percent of police killings are blacks constituting just 13 percent of the population, blacks also commit a disproportionate number of violent crimes, making cop confrontations more likely.

None of this means that indefensible police shootings have never happened or that the vast majority of blacks are bad citizens never faced with demeaning racial attitudes. But policing has been made more difficult and less proactive in some neighborhoods because of the anger stirred up initially by misrepresentation of the Ferguson, Missouri, shooting and all those cheering on Black Lives Matter. And, says Mac Donald, that in turn has helped propel a two-digit, one-year upsurge of homicides in our largest cities. In other words, many black people are getting killed in part because of this movement divisively encouraged by the president.

Then we get to the president's gun control efforts, which have gun manufacturers down on their knees saying thank you, thank you, thank you. Let him give a speech on the subject, and people fearful this just might be their last chance rush out to make purchases. Because of his futile pursuit of laws that would likely have been futile themselves, the gun sales during his time in office have been the highest in history, something like 100 million as of calculations last year.

One last topic: The Obama administration is getting tougher on companies that pay some of the highest taxes in the world on their operations in this country and then set up headquarters overseas so their operations there will not be so heavily taxed, too. Most European countries, despite their overblown welfare states, keep their domestic corporate taxes down and wisely do not tax anything made and taxed elsewhere, thus making their companies more competitive. Our president apparently thinks getting our economy growing more and creating more jobs is cheating, and stands firmly against this last step.

Let's concede some good moves by this administration, but let's agree as well that one way of summing up the legacy will be the word "perverse."
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By T.R. Kerth, Citizen Contributor

When I was younger, I often experienced feelings of deja vu, but it's been a long time since it's happened to me last.

"Deja vu" is, of course, the overwhelming feeling that you're seeing something that you've seen before, even though you couldn't possibly have seen it before. The words are French and translate to: "Already seen."

The last time it happened to me was maybe 40 years ago, and it caused me to slam on the brakes  literally. I was driving with my wife through an east coast neighborhood neither of us had ever been to. We were a thousand miles from home, and yet as we passed a small older house with an ivy-covered stone wall to the side of a driveway leading down to a sunken one-car garage, I hit the brakes.

"I've seen this house before," I said.

"What do you mean, you've seen it?" my wife asked. "You mean you've seen one like it? Or pictures of it?"

"No, this very house. With that garage. And that stone wall. And the ivy  everything. I'm sure I've seen it before."

I sat and stared at the house, certain that I could park the car, knock on the door, and lead the occupants on a tour of their own house  although for some reason I couldn't picture who the occupants might be. It was just the house that I recognized. Could I have lived there in a former life?

"It's just deja vu," my wife said after we had sat still and stared long enough for someone inside to start dialing the police. "Let's go."

I drove on, and that was it. My last brush with deja vu, decades ago.

And I kind of miss it.

Scientists disagree about why something like deja vu happens. Some think it's an improper electrical discharge in the brain, sort of like the jolt you sometimes feel at the moment of falling asleep, leaving you teetering between real life and dream life.

Others believe that it's a momentary delay in how information is processed by two different hemispheres of the brain. If the processing from the two hemispheres is off by even a millisecond or two, the temporal lobe can read one signal as a "real-time" event, while the other signal is considered a "memory" that is identical.

Still, none of that seems to answer the question of why I've gone pretty much deja-vu dead in the water. For some reason my deja vu "rerun circuits" have jammed. Everything I've been seeing lately for the first time is exactly as new to me as it should be.

But sadly, I'm reaching that age where some of the "new" stuff I'm seeing shouldn't really seem new to me at all. Sometimes it takes a while for me to get around to: "Oh, yeah. I remember what my phone number is now. That other number I've been dialing is my Social Security number. I think."

It turns out there's even name for that "senior moment" phenomenon. It's called "jamais vu," French for "never seen," and it describes the experience of not recognizing some experience that should be familiar to you. For example, imagine showing a picture of your youngest granddaughter to a friend and saying, "Her name isu-m-m."

Which has never happened to me, I swear! (I love you, Olivia! I would never forget your name, not even for a moment!)

There's also a phenomenon called "presque vu," which translates to "almost seen." It's the intense feeling of being on the brink of a powerful insight without actually achieving the revelation, leaving you with a frustrating, tantalizing feeling of incompleteness. For example, imagine a columnist sitting down certain that he is about to write a brilliant, insightful column, but ending up hammering out the sort of tripe that you're reading now. I can only imagine how frustrating that would be for a writer. (That's never happened to me either, I swear!)

Or the phenomenon called "deja entendu," which translates to "already heard"  the sensation that what you're hearing now is exactly like something you've heard before. Sort of like listening to rap music, in which one rap song sounds exactly as stupid and repetitious as every other rap song you've ever heard. (That one I get!)

But all of these mysterious mental experiences (deja vu, jamais vu, presque vu and deja entendu) all add up to one unmistakable and unarguable conclusion: The French are weird. Who else would spend so much time obsessing over brains that have become unstuck in time?

Still, I guess we can't blame them, because you don't have to be French to experience at least one of these phenomena. According to a 2004 study, about two-thirds of all people have experienced deja vu.

I know I have, but not in a long time.

And to tell the truth, I sort of miss it. After all, the passage of time is normally so relentlessly predictable, it's sort of cool to have a moment every now and then that turns time on its head, isn't it? It makes for a nice little break in the day.

Sadly, it hasn't happened to me in quite a while, but I still have hope that someday I'll feel that cool little hiccup in time once again.

Maybe it will happen to me again yesterday.

Or maybe it happened to me tomorrow.

- - -

The author splits his time between Southwest Florida and Chicago. Not every day, though. Contact him at trkerth@yahoo.com. Why wait a whole week for your next visit to Planet Kerth? Get T.R.'s book, "Revenge of the Sardines," available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other fine online book distributors. His column appears every Saturday.
Mark Sievers listens to proceedings during a custody hearing in a Lee County courtroom on Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, in downtown Fort Myers. Sievers' children will remain in the care of non-relatives in Collier County and will only have contact with their father by phone following the hearing Monday with child welfare officials. (David Albers/Staff)

By Jacob Carpenter

Murder defendant Mark Sievers motion to reduce his $4.43 million bond is scheduled to be heard on April 21, according to Lee Circuit Judge Bruce Kyles online calendar.



A half-hour has been blocked off to hear Sievers motion, in which his lawyers are asking for a $250,000 bond. Sievers has been in jail on his $4.43 million bond since his arrest in late February.



Sievers is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Teresa, a popular Bonita Springs doctor.



Investigators believe Mark Sievers coordinated with his lifelong friend, Curtis Wayne Wright Jr., to kill Teresa Sievers while Mark was in Connecticut with the couples daughters. A third man, Jimmy Rodgers, is accused of helping Wright carry out the homicide. Wright has pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.



In their motion, Sievers lawyers argue their client does not pose a threat to the public, noting that he was trouble-free during the eight months between his wifes death and his arrest. Sievers lawyers said he has limited to no financial resources, but he can post a $250,000 bond. The motion doesnt state how Sievers would afford to post the bond, but he could receive help from family members.



Prosecutors requested the $4.43-million bond that was issued in late February. The amount equaled the possible life insurance payouts associated with Teresa Sievers death. Public records and statements by Mark Sievers lawyers suggest he will not receive any life insurance money until the criminal case is completed.


District School Board of Collier County. (Carolina Hidalgo/Staff)

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By Melhor Leonor of the Naples Daily News

The first candidate forum ahead of the 2016 school board race is taking place Thursday night in Marco Island.

The Southwest Florida Citizens Alliance, a local conservative group, is inviting all registered candidates to a forum at the Marco Island Presbyterian Church at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

So far, six locals have registered with Collier County Supervisor of Elections to run.

Up for grabs are seats for school board districts 2 and 4. The seats are currently held by board members Kathleen Curatolo and Julie Sprague, who have not indicated whether they plan to run for re-election. The Collier County School Board doesn't put limits on the number of terms a school board member can serve.

Four candidates have filed to run for District 2, which contains schools in North Naples, including Veterans Memorial Elementary and Barron Collier High. District 4, which includes Lake Park Elementary and Naples High, is being contested by two candidates.

The candidates are for District 2 John Brunner, Stephanie Lucarelli, Louise Penta and Gene Ungarean. Erick Carter and Lee Dixon are running for the District 4 seat.

The forum will be moderated by Jared Grifoni, a local attorney and host of a political radio show that promotes Libertarian views; and Jane Watt, the founder of charter high school Marco Island Academy, and chairwoman of its board.

On a flyer announcing the event, the alliance says it will prompt candidates to respond to a questionnaire, which includes issues that have proved divisive between local conservatives and liberals  such as support for federal education initiatives and the implementation of the Blue Zones health initiative in local public schools.

School board races in Florida are, by statute, nonpartisan.

The deadline to enter the school board race is June 24. School board elections will be held Aug. 30.

If no candidate attracts more than 50 percent of the vote in August, the top two candidates will face off in a runoff Nov. 8. But historically, a majority of school board seats have been filled following the first round of votes.

In Collier County, school board members must reside in the district that represents the seat they are running for at the time of filing and through their term on the board. Board members, however, are elected by voters countywide and are supposed to represent the interests of the entire school district.
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By Daily News Staff

State and federal biologists captured a Florida panther Tuesday that had been roaming near homes at Farm Worker's Village in Immokalee and plan to relocate it.

The young male panther, one of two panthers that biologists saw on trail cameras installed at the neighborhood, is the panther seen most frequently. Biologists confirmed that small animals, including pets, had been preyed upon by a panther.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service met with residents at Farm Worker's Village to talk about steps to deter the panther, including removing overgrown vegetation.

The panther will undergo a health exam and, if confirmed to be healthy, will be returned to the wild in a more remote location, the Conservation Commission reported.

Scientists estimate the Florida panther population has rebounded to as many as 180 wild cats, up from as few as 30 before a genetic restoration plan in the 1990s and is prompting renewed discussion about panther management plans.

The capture came on the same day as a federal public input session where critics blasted a proposed plan by landowners to build a mix of preserves and new towns on some 150,000 acres around Immokalee, including in core panther habitat.

Last month, a video of a panther darting past a visitor on Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary's boardwalk became an Internet sensation. A photograph of a panther sitting on a porch in East Fort Myers also made the rounds.
Jose and his wife, Carmen, share a tender moment while dancing with one another in their home Friday, April 8, 2016. The couple tries to dance at least once a day to remain active. Jose will receive the highest civilian honor the United States Congress can award, the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, for his service in the Korean War with the 65th Infantry Regiment based out of Puerto Rico. Santos-Rolon, along with his wife, Carmen, and the remaining members of his regiment, will travel to Washington D.C. to receive the Medal of Honor April 13, 2016. (Luke Franke/Staff)

SHARE Army veteran and Naples resident Jose A. Santos-Rolon holds up a picture frame with two photos of his younger days in the service at his home in Golden Gate Estates Friday, April 8, 2016. Santos-Rolon will receive the highest civilian honor the United States Congress can award, the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, for his service in the Korean War with the 65th Infantry Regiment based out of Puerto Rico. Santos-Rolon, along with his wife, Carmen, and the remaining members of his regiment, will travel to Washington D.C. to receive the Medal of Honor April 13, 2016. (Luke Franke/Staff) Medals awarded to Army veteran and Naples resident Jose A. Santos-Rolon for his service in the Korean War remain on his uniform in his home in Golden Gate Estates. Santos-Rolon will receive the highest civilian honor the United States Congress can award, the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, for his service in the Korean War with the 65th Infantry Regiment based out of Puerto Rico. Santos-Rolon, along with his wife, Carmen, and the remaining members of his regiment, will travel to Washington D.C. to receive the Medal of Honor April 13, 2016. (Luke Franke/Staff) Army veteran and Naples resident Jose A. Santos-Rolon will receive the highest civilian honor the United States Congress can award, the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, for his service in the Korean War with the 65th Infantry Regiment based out of Puerto Rico. Santos-Rolon, along with his wife, Carmen, and the remaining members of his regiment, will travel to Washington D.C. to receive the Medal of Honor April 13, 2016. (Luke Franke/Staff) Army veteran and Naples resident Jose A. Santos-Rolon will receive the highest civilian honor the United States Congress can award, the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, for his service in the Korean War with the 65th Infantry Regiment based out of Puerto Rico. Santos-Rolon, along with his wife, Carmen, and the remaining members of his regiment, will travel to Washington D.C. to receive the Medal of Honor April 13, 2016. (Luke Franke/Staff)

By Alexi C. Cardona of the Naples Daily News

Jose Antonio Santos-Rolon braved frostbite in subzero weather during the Korean War. A fellow soldier was taken prisoner while Rolon slept nearby in a tree. He saw casualties hanging from trees.

Rolon doesn't like to talk about his experiences battling in the forgotten war. He is just grateful to be alive.

"My mom entrusted me to the virgin, Our Lady of Mount Carmel," he said. "I know she was looking after me. I'm lucky to be here."

Rolon, 82, was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Naples with his wife of 61 years, Carmen Santos, in 1993. He is a long way from his days as a 17-year-old machine-gunner with the 65th Infantry Regiment, known as "The Borinqueneers," a segregated regiment of the Army made up of mostly Puerto Ricans that served in both world wars and the Korean War. He remembers being on night patrol and seeing Chinese and Korean forces searching for American soldiers, just yards from his post. He tried to only fire his gun when he was in immediate danger.

"I didn't like hurting people," he said.

Rolon and other Borinqueneers will travel to the U.S. Capitol to receive the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of their military service on Wednesday. The medal is one of the highest civilian awards in the country.

"I'm glad he finally gets the recognition he deserves," Santos said. "The war really affected him. He had bad nightmares. He still cries when he talks about it."

In May 2014, members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate proposed and signed a bill to honor the Borinqueneers with a Congressional Gold Medal. The following month, President Barack Obama signed the bill into law.

According to the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at City University of New York, more than 61,000 Puerto Ricans served in the armed forces during the Korean War. Throughout the conflict, 3,540 Puerto Ricans became casualties of war; 747 were killed in action, according to the center.

In his home, Rolon has photos of himself as a young soldier. His wife sewed a tan military uniform for him to wear to a ceremony at the Buffalo & Erie County Naval Military Park in New York. Three medals  a United Nations Korea Service Military Medal, a Korean Service Medal and a National Defense Medal  adorn the lapel of his uniform. He and his wife lived in Buffalo before moving to Naples. A former Buffalo mayor gave him the key to the city in the 1960s. He still has it.

All around their home, there are images of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, known to him and his wife as Virgen del Carmen. He knows she kept him safe during his three years at war. He is certain he saw her one night while he was on night patrol.

"I was in a trench, I left for a moment and when I came back, she was there," Rolon said. "I didn't see her face, only her white gown and blue mantle. I knew she had been looking over me for all that time."

In spite of the experiences that still make him emotional, he is proud to have served in the Army.

"I love the United States," Rolon said. "I love my country. Puerto Rico and the United States are both my country. I am proud to defend it."
SHARE Megan Sorbo addresses a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hearing about wildlife habitat Tuesday night in Collier County. She also has addressed the Hillsborough County Commission about black bear hunting.

Passion for the Florida panther was evident Tuesday night when a federal agency held a public hearing on a proposed habitat conservation plan for a big-city-sized spread in northeastern Collier County.

Passion for property rights? Not so much.

There are at least 16 reasons to explain why the endangered Florida panther was a frequent concern among 40 registered speakers. That's the number of panthers found dead in Southwest Florida so far in 2016. Last year, when more than 40 panthers died, scientists estimated 180 remained.

Many passionate speakers addressed staff from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of its review of a request by nine major landowners. The property owners want to get a sense of where development might be allowed and land conservation will take precedence for the next 50 years across more than 152,000 rural acres.

The permit sought by landowners would allow accidental deaths of federal- and state-protected species during legally allowed activities. That didn't sit well with many speakers.

Speaking up

Clutching a stuffed wild cat after she spoke was Megan Sorbo, a 10-year-old from Orlando gaining prominence for speaking out at various Florida venues in defense of wildlife. It was the 50-year nature of the landowners' request that she labeled "absolutely outrageous."

"My generation deserves the right to make decisions for our own generation," she said.

A consultant for landowners gave a presentation, explaining no more than 45,000 of the 152,124 acres would be developed with 107,000 acres set aside for conservation and to provide links for wildlife to move from one area to another. Importantly, that includes a way for the Florida panther to move north from the 26,400-acre national panther refuge and eventually across the Caloosahatchee River where it can expand its habitat and breed more cats.

It wasn't until the last speaker of the night that property rights were aired, with observations that people who have moved to this area now want to keep more people out, that new arrivals need places to live and development provides jobs.

None of the land owners had a representative speak during public comment. Yet, in a meeting last week with the Naples Daily News editorial board, they created an image different than the one cast Tuesday night of uncaring profiteers. They spoke about investing in expensive underpasses to connect preserves for wildlife passage and their desire to embrace conservation, which creates the very landscape that makes their property marketable.

Earlier Tuesday, Collier commissioners agreed their staff needs to be involved in habitat conservation plan discussions. The study overlaps with the 195,000-acre area surrounding Immokalee that is targeted by one of four growth plans being updated from nearly 15 years ago. Commissioners also noted that any development projects ultimately fall to them to approve or reject.

Speak up again

Tuesday night's chorus of concerned voices was impressive, with groups from around the state  not just local ones. They need to speak up on other related issues as well.

For one, there is the Legislature's handling of Amendment 1 money in not prioritizing land acquisition. Despite a voter-approved revenue source, a pittance of what used to be $300 million a year for Florida Forever purchases is being allocated by the state; some prime panther habitat remains on the unfunded list.

Also, where have the voices been concerning the county letting its Conservation Collier program expire in 2013? The voter-approved property tax raised about $100 million for about 20 preserves. Lee County has continued its program started 20 years ago.

Conservation Collier, in its draft annual report for April-May 2016, states "a total of $47,332,251 was bonded for use in property acquisition, via bonds in 2004 and 2008, with both bonds now retired."

Speakers at the habitat conservation plan meeting suggested landowners should forgo property rights in the name of species protection. Our question is this: How willing are the state and Collier voters to buy more land to protect these species instead of just expecting landowners to give up all of their property rights?
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Margaret Woodward Ostrom, Bonita Springs, and Chadds Ford, Pa.

Letter to Bernie

Congratulations, Sen. Bernie Sanders, on your invitation to the Vatican to meet with the pope.

You two leaders have a lot in common: you are going to talk about the urgent need to bring moral balance and representation for the disenfranchised back to our country and the world. It's a message that resonates within all of us.

You have made millions believe in so many possibilities for a great nation that has fallen into disrepair in so many areas. The status quo and the past no longer serve us well. We can give health care to all our citizens. Yes, we can; it's been done in many countries.

And you have made us understand the need to protect American workers from the greed of corporations going abroad for cheap labor and huge profits. Thanks to you, we can publicly acknowledge there has to be a path for the Palestinians to have a future. And we all want a greater moral element to our capitalism.

Income inequity in our country is way out of balance. In other words, your words speak to the deep sense of fairness and justice in everyone. The young have understood you immediately, and now the rest of us are catching on and catching up.

A peaceful revolution can happen as you say, when millions of people believe and vote their conscience. Some can also call big change a miracle. At one time, long ago, who would have believed the miracle of a carpenter's son rising to such heights? And who would now believe that the oldest candidate for the presidency, a small secular Jewish champion of human rights, can stir in us such a sense of morality and justice for all our citizens? You advocate a future we all can believe in and our voting for you can make it happen.
Disabled Veterans Insurance Careers (DVIC) has launched its next class of disabled veteran trainees. The veterans will spend the next four and a half months training and learning the many facets of the insurance industry in order to pursue careers in that field. There are currently two veterans in the Southwest Florida training program, Andre Searcy and Joanne Smith in addition to Michael Adam and Charles Benton who will be studying in Leavenworth, Kan. with Armed Forces Insurance.



DVIC offers disabled veterans who have served our country the opportunity for a meaningful career, stated Gary Bryant, president and CEO of DVIC. These men and women should have career opportunities when they return home and it is our mission to provide excellent insurance education and training so they can be a success.



DVIC relies on corporate donations, personal donations and support from the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs to continue to sponsor disabled veterans who go through the training program. If you would like to sponsor a veteran or make a donation to DVIC, please visit DVIC.us or call 239-433-8523.



Disabled Veterans Insurance Careers is a not for profit 501(C) 3 organization, established in 2011 with the mission to educate, train and create meaningful employment opportunities within the insurance industry for disabled veterans. The organizations operating board consists of: retired U.S. Army Major General, James L. Dozier; Roger C. Mercado Jr. of Community Cooperative Inc.; Gary V. Trippe CIC, co-founder and chairman of Oswald Trippe and Co.; retired insurance agency executive Gay Trippe; John Pollock CIC, regional insurance president, Florida, Pennsylvania, Tennessee of BB&T Insurance Services, Inc.; retired U.S. Army Colonel Thomas A. Dials, chairman emeritus of the Armed Forces Insurance Corporation; Dr. J.R. Harding of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities; former U.S. Air Force Captain and professional speaker, Wayne Smith; Todd E. Gates, chairman of Gates Construction; and retired U.S. Army Captain Jae Barclay of CRC Insurance Services . Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Gary L. Bryant is the president and CEO of DVIC. For additional information, call 239-433-8523 or visit DVIC.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.
A tiny, country graveyard in Tipperary could become the countys newest tourist attraction, thanks to the visit of the Canadian Ambassador to Ireland.

The visit by His Excellency Kevin Vickers highlighted an historic gem that many did not know rested in Tipperary - the grave of a man who founded the famed Canadian Mounties.

Ambassador Vickers served with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Mounties) for more than 20 years before taking heading up security at the Canadian Houses of Parliament and being appointed to represent his country in Ireland.

Last Thursday the ambassador was granted a Cathaoirleach's Reception by Cashel Tipperary Municipal Distirct Coucil and then the councillors accompanied Ambassador Vickers to the tiny Killadriffe Cemetery, in Kilmoyler, the final resting place of General William Frances Butler.

General Butler was born in Golden in 1838, had an illustrious career in the British Military, and retired to Bansha Castle where he died in 1910.

Among his many achievements General Butler, during his time serving in Canada, receommended the foundation of the RCMP and was also the person to propose they wear what has become their famous red uniforms.

Until now General Butler has rested in almost total anonymity but now his resting place and his important role in Canadian history have been highlighted by Ambassador Vickers, the peaceful spot is sure to attract more visitors.

At the Cathaoirleach's Reception in his honour, Ambassador Vickers was visibly moved by the warm welcome afforded to him. His Irish roots are in counties Wicklow and Laois, but the ambassador said he was honoured and exceptionally humbled by the words of welcome in Tipperary which meant so much to him.

Speaking about the enduring links between the two countries, Ambassador Vickers said Canada is a great country because the Irish made it that way. He also recalled growing up visiting the Irish Memorial Park at Middle Island, in New Brunswick, Canada where 254 people who died emmigrating from Ireland are buried. The bond between Canada and Ireland is a sacred bond, he said. With emotion in his voice, the ambassador said he only wished his father could have seen the welcome he received in Ireland. From the bottom of my heart, thank you very much.
Ryanair boss and Gigginstown Stud owner Michael OLeary probably put it best in the aftermath of Fethard trainer Mouse Morriss stunning success in Saturdays Grand National at Aintree.

Nothing can replace the loss of a son, but to win the Irish Grand National and now the Grand National, it shows that life goes on, the winning owner said as the celebrations got under way on the famous racecourse.

Last June the family was in mourning when 30-year-old Christopher Tiffer Morris died while in Argentina, in a suspected case of carbon monoxide poisoning, and his father has said many times in the months since that the tragedy puts everything else, like a horse winning or losing a race, into perspective.

But, as Michael OLeary said, life must go on and Mouse turned to what he does best, preparing horses for big days in Ireland and England.

The Cheltenham festival witnessed a fine performance by Alpha Des Obeaux in the Ryanair World Hurdle, only to lose out to an exceptional horse in Thistlecrack. Then came the Irish Grand National just over a fortnight ago and this time the Gigginstown maroon and white colours ended up on top, thanks to the Mouse-trained Rogue Angel.

Capping a whirlwind few weeks was Saturdays victory for Rule The World in the Crabbies Grand National, witnessed by a packed Aintree racecourse, 10 million Channel 4 viewers and many more around the world.

We got a bit of help from somewhere, the popular trainer said after the race. Tiffer was working overtime for me.

Mouse was in demand from the media throughout Saturday evening and Sunday morning but made time to parade Rule The World through Michael OLearys home town of Mullingar on Sunday afternoon before returning to Fethard that evening.

Again he made time to oblige dozens, if not hundreds, of requests for photographs from the huge crowd who filled the streets in poor weather, while the horse himself looked regal and born for such occasions as cameras and phones clicked throughout the homecoming.

The trainer said he was honoured by the amount of people who have turned out and added there were no immediate plans for Rule The World, following hints by the owner that he may be retired, having suffered two serious pelvic injuries earlier in his career. There wont be a decision made until during the summer. Hell get a rest now alright, well all get a rest.

There were no words to describe the big win, according to Jamie Morris who said it will take time for it all to sink in. Its just amazing to have such support and the response here in Fethard, he said on Sunday evening. Its great for the town.

The win marked another emotional occasion for the family, he said. I was saying to friends, if I put my last two years into a book, people wouldnt believe it. Dad asked Tiffer for a bit of help before the Irish National and he did it and before the English national he said can we ask Tiffer for a bit of overtime I know hes pulling the strings up there.

Jamie said that while music and cooking were Tiffers passions, he still took a great interest in the stables fortunes.

Myself and my brother were proud before my father ever trained a horse. This is just indescribable.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac surged to four-month highs on speculation lawsuits involving the mortgage giants have progressed in a way that favors shareholders.

The stocks rose the most in almost three years on Tuesday after The New York Times reported that a federal judge ordered documents unsealed in a long-standing legal dispute with shareholders. The two extended gains today. The ruling may clear the way for the case to proceed to a trial that could loosen the governments grip, including ending the transfer of profits to the Treasury known as a net-worth sweep.

"The unsealing by the judge further suggests that she is sympathetic to the plaintiff shareholders," said Elliott Stein, senior litigation analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. "The content of the documents undercuts some of the governments arguments for why it implemented the net worth sweep."

The move may be seen as a boost to hedge funds including Pershing Square Capital Management and Fairholme Capital Management, which have holdings in the companies' common and preferred shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Fannie Mae shares have rallied 52% in the past two days to $2.02 as of 3:20 p.m. in New York, the highest level since Dec. 7. Freddie Mac's stock is up 44% since Monday.

Hedge funds have sued over terms of the U.S. conservatorship that call for all Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac profits to be turned over to the Treasury as dividends on the $187.5 billion bailout the companies received after the 2008 financial crisis. The dividends, which have surpassed the amount of taxpayer aid the companies got, aren't counted as repayment and leave them with no path out of government control.

Citing depositions unsealed by Judge Margaret Sweeney, who's presiding over the litigation, The New York Times noted testimony that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be profitable going forward, undermining the Treasury's argument that it is entitled to all earnings as a means to protect taxpayers from future losses.

"In our non-legal expert view, there is sufficient information in these documents that indicate Fairholme's takings claim is valid," wrote Edwin Groshans, an analyst at Height LLC, in a note today. "This should result in the case proceeding to trial."

Fairholme will have to prove that the Treasury knew its actions would result in taking of earnings totaling tens of billions of dollars, according to Groshans. "This will not be an easy task, but just based on these few documents it appears that Fairholme actually may have a good opportunity to win the case," he said.
Adherence to the American Land Title Association's quality guidelines is voluntary, but it may become a de facto standard if lenders start requiring it as part of their own efforts to meet vendor management compliance obligations.

ALTA's "Title Insurance and Settlement Company Best Practices," contain lists of prescribed steps for conducting title and settlement services operations and cover areas including information security, consumer complaint resolution, escrow account controls and reconciliation procedures and other functions.

"Why is a lender going to allow a noncompliant title agent to close their deals, when you have the opportunity of having somebody who is compliant with the Best Practices close a transaction?" asks Rafael Castellanos, managing partner of New York City-based Expert Title Insurance Agency.

"When you think about it, the lenders are going to require that a title agent be adherent to the Best Practices. That is where I see it going, maybe not immediately, but that is where the future is going to go," he added.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has long emphasized that lenders are responsible for the actions of their third-party vendors, most notably in an April 2012 bulletin outlining its expectations for lenders' due diligence processes.

ALTA provides assessment procedures for lenders to evaluate title agents' adherence to its standards, while third-party risk management firms also offer lenders their own title company review services.

Secure Settlements Inc. is one such provider, offering one title agent vetting service for retail lenders and a second service for wholesalers and warehouse lenders. The use of these services is also gaining the attention of investors concerned about the quality of the loans they purchase.

"A bad settlement agent could cause a potentially defective loan or repurchase demand to take place post-sale," said Andrew Liput, president Parsippany, N.J.-based SSI.

Furthermore, lenders need to be more focused on consumer protection in the mortgage origination process, especially at the closing table. "The vetting of agents and monitoring of them for risk is a key component of consumer protection," Liput added.

ALTA's industry guidelines create "a bar of professionalism and expected conduct," of title agents, but they don't replace a thorough vetting process for individual title agents, Liput said.

"What we do is a compliment to that. We say, 'Great, you are running your business in a professional manner; now we are going to take a look at you and your business from a risk standpoint,'" he explained, adding that SSI performs continuous monitoring of settlement agents as part of its risk management services.

While SSI focuses on monitoring individual title professionals, accounting firm Habif, Arogeti & Wynne provides a compliance monitoring program focused at the title agency level. The Atlanta-based firm performs benchmarking, readiness and assurance reporting services based on the ALTA Best Practices to provide lenders with a certified public accounting firm's assurance of title companies' compliance with the guidelines.

The current status when it comes to meeting the standards is dependent on the size of the firm, said Kim McConkey, HA&W's partner-in-charge of the service, called the ComplianceSuccess Program.

"The larger agencies are either compliant or are very close to getting there. When you get to the mid-sized, I think that those agents in the process of getting compliant," he said.

"The smaller agents are the ones who are really dragging their feet about this and that they have their heads in the sand," McConkey added. "They are hoping that it will just go away. Either ALTA regulates the industry (through these standards) or Washington will come in and regulate the industry."

Lenders aren't just paying lip service to the ALTA guidelines or using it as a pretext to reduce the number of settlement service providers they use, McConkey said. Rather, lenders that are concerned about running afoul of the CFPB may elect to only work with settlement services vendors that not only adhere to the ALTA guidelines, but can prove it, too.

"There is a need for an independent third-party with professional guidelines to do this. CPAs have historically have given financial and nonfinancial information to banks to give them assurance, to mitigate their business risks and this is going to be no different," McConkey said.

Alliant National Title Co., a title insurance underwriter that gets business from independent agents, established its own title agent monitoring program. The Longmont, Colo.-based company even went so far as to undergo a Service Organization Control SSAE 16 Type II examination by a CPA firm, and Alliant claims it is the only title insurance underwriter that can provide lenders with an independent audit of its agent oversight controls.

"We started trying to manage risk systemically in 2008 and 2009," said Alliant CEO Bob Grubb, during the peak of the housing bust and also for claims against title insurers.

After the CFPB bulletin (and similar announcements from the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) came out, Alliant modified its agent monitoring to meet the ALTA standards and accommodate lenders' increased vendor management responsibilities for both settlement service providers and title insurance underwriters.

"If a bank or nonbank lender wants to rely on an audit of our agents, what do they need?" Grubb asked rhetorically, and then pointed to a Fed bulletin that states lenders can rely on a SSAE 16 audit to validate a vendor's internal controls.

But while the SSAE 16 audits are a robust standard well known in the financial services industry, Grubb noted that the entity requesting the audit (which in the case of Alliant was the title underwriter itself) gets to define the scope of the review. So even though lenders don't need to send in their own auditors to review a vendor, they do need to review an SSAE 16 exam for its thoroughness.

For title agents, ensuring compliance with the ALTA guidelines comes at the same time that the title and settlement professionals are preparing to adopt the CFPB's new integrated mortgage disclosures that will be mandatory on August 1, 2015. In addition, agents working in New York are also preparing for new state licensing requirements  though almost every other state in the nation already licenses title agents, notes Expert Title's Castellanos, who also serves as president of the New York Land Title Association.
Fannie Mae is selling four large pools of nonperforming loans which have a total balance of $1.5 billion. Plus it is offering a Community Impact Pool consisting of approximately 80 loans totaling $420 million in unpaid principal balance.

The sale of the four nonperforming loans is being marketed in collaboration with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, First Financial Network and Castle Oak Securities as advisors, according to a Tuesday news release. Bids on these pools are due May 5.

The Community Impact Pool consists of loans that are concentrated in the Miami area and marketed to encourage participation by qualified bidders among smaller investors, nonprofit organizations and minority- and women-owned businesses. Bids are due May 19.

This is Fannie Mae's third offering of the Community Impact Pool. Previously, the agency offered sales in 2015 and early 2016, both of which were purchased by nonprofit New Jersey Community Capital.

Joy Cianci, senior vice president of credit portfolio management at Fannie, said the nonperforming loans for sale had been solicited for loss mitigation opportunities by Fannie Mae servicers but remain seriously delinquent.

"We believe other investors will offer additional opportunities for these borrowers to avoid foreclosure," Cianci said in the release.
Focus should be on boosting natural immunity, not creating more vaccines

Dr. Alibekov admits vaccinations can lead to death

(NaturalNews) The deliberate manufacture by governments of deadly biological weapons containing diseases like smallpox and plague is nothing new. But the threat of these agents being used as weapons of war in today's world is escalating, says a former Soviet scientist, who told PBS'sthat vaccines are no match for the advanced, genetically modified (GM) "bioweapons" that will most likely be used against civilian populations in the near future.During an interview, Dr. Kanatjan Alibekov explained the history of biological weapons procurement in Soviet Russia, of which he was a part from 1988 to 1992. Having since committed himself to furthering American interests, Dr. Alibekov has apparently renounced his former Soviet ties and spilled the beans about what the Russian government, and presumably also the American government, has been up to on the biological weapons front.Though he claims that Russia's biological weapons programs were shuttered back in the 1980s, Dr. Alibekov maintains that such programs could be up and running again in a matter of months. And with the advanced technologies that now exist, drugs and vaccines, he says, simply aren't enough to provide adequate protection."Until recently, we hadn't seen anything with applying chemical weapons, but we've seen it recently," stated Dr. Alibekov. "Now we can say, if we follow this logic, biological agents, biological weapons could be used in the future. In my opinion, that's not a matter of if; that's a matter of when."Recognizing the inherent failure in relying on vaccines to provide some kind of ultimate protection against disease and possible biological weapons attack, Dr. Alibekov says governments need to focus on novel ways to boost natural, non-specific immunity. Our bodies are equipped, he points out, to naturally defend against disease, and more needs to be done to facilitate this activity."We need to start thinking [about] using some different ways" to protect ourselves, added Dr. Alibekov. "If we are able to boost our immune system , non-specific immune system, that's the most appropriate and the only way to develop protection. ... [V]accines are not a magic bullet."At the same time, vaccines come with possible risks and side effects. Since the number of individual agents used in biological weapons averages between 50 and 70, with some containing as many as 100, it would be logistically impossible to vaccinate against every single one of these, not to mention overtly dangerous."If you vaccinate simultaneously against five, six, seven or ten diseases, [a] person could die just after such huge amount of vaccination," warned Dr. Alibekov.The solution? Avoid focusing so much on vaccines and instead look for new ways to help the body do what it was inherently designed to do on its own: protect itself against disease. By targeting non-specific immunity through supplementation with "superfoods," for example, entire populations can gain protection without the need for drugs or vaccines."In many cases, [there is] no necessity to develop vaccines," said Dr. Alibekov. "We [can't] forget that our bodies have so-called non-specific [immunity]. If we are able to develop preparations to boost our non-specific immune system, it would be helpful to develop so-called pre-exposure, post-exposure preparations."This is true not only for hypothetical biological attacks in the future, but also for immediate threats such as Ebola, which can be avoided by taking certain precautionary and preparedness steps.
These aren't the only birds that hold a grudge

So what's so special about skua birds?

(NaturalNews) Holding a grudge might seem like a very human concept  but it seems that the brown skua bird doesn't let things go either. This particular species of bird lives in Antarctica and doesn't have a lot of contact with people  and yet, when researchers from South Korea were stationed there, they made an amazing discovery.The scientists observed that despite the birds having very limited exposure to humans, they were able to tell the difference between humans that had been too close to their nest (and were therefore a risk to their chicks) and humans that had kept their distance. As reported by, the skua birds were seen to attack humans that had previously been near their nests even several days later when they were far away from where the nest was located  remembering and recognizing different people.According to, skua birds are not the only species that recognizes humans. It seems that crows, magpies, ravens and jays have developed cross-species social skills that enable them to thrive around humans and in busy urban areas. Crows are well-known for their intelligence and are thought to understand cause and effect better than human six-year-olds , recognizing names and discriminating between different volumes of water.Researchers in Seattle have found that crows can recognize different people by their faces, after carrying out a study using two different masks  one designated as "dangerous" and worn when trapping crows, and one "neutral." The scientists discovered that even when someone wearing the "dangerous" mask was merely walking around and not bothering the crows at all, the birds remembered the face. As reported by, "researchers hypothesize that crows learn to recognize threatening humans from both parents and others in their flock."This bird hasn't had much time to get up close and personal with human beings. It lives in a remote location and is definitely not exposed to humans on a regular basis in the way that crows have been. Skua birds have only been in contact with people since the first research stations were set up in Antarctica, which started sporadically back in the 1890s and increased in number after the 1950s.But researchers have found that when they tested the reaction of skua birds to both "nest intruders" and "neutral" people, the birds had very clear reactions. The test was quite similar to the one undertaken in Seattle with crows. The researchers first walked in pairs, one "nest intruder" and one "neutral" before then walking in opposite directions. When they split up, all seven pairs of the local skua birds focused on the "nest intruder," attacking this person and leaving the "neutral" one completely alone.According to Won Young Lee from the Korea Polar Research Institute, as reported by, "it is amazing that brown skuas, which evolved and lived in human-free habitats, recognized individual humans just after 3 or 4 visits. It seems that they have very high levels of cognitive abilities."Whilst researchers are not yet sure what it is about the "nest intruders" that the birds were remembering, they hypothesize that the birds remember and react strongly to visual cues. Further research is underway to gain greater understanding of these amazing birds.
Dwindling numbers

There are an estimated 20,000 white rhino left in the world, with most of those in South Africa. In recent years poaching figures have climbed. In 2007 a mere 13 rhinos were poached in South Africa. In 2015 this had climbed to 1,175 rhinos, which was slightly down on the record 1,215 that were killed by poachers in 2014.



Not so extinct  but very close

(NaturalNews) In recent days, a disturbing discovery on a South African game preserve has left many people wondering if the world is not witnessing the final days of one of nature's most incredible animals  the rhinoceros.As reported by the UK's, a wildlife park warden found three white rhinos who had been attacked and killed for their horns. The paper said one warden described the slaughter as "the worst day of my life."Initially, a pair of females were found dead, and a third rhino, a male bull called Bingo, was found alive with facial lacerations and serious internal leg injuries, but he died soon after and was buried with the two females.The killings left two calves  one three years old and the other 11 months, both of which were still suckling  orphaned. They had to be sent to a sanctuary.The attacks were no doubt prompted by a dramatic rise in the value of rhino horns, which are used as a traditional medicine mainly in Asia, as demand has skyrocketed. As such, rhino poaching has surged throughout the African continent, wherever they are found  even on protected game preserves.The white rhino carcasses were found on the Sibuya Game Reserve owned by Nick Fox in the Eastern Cape province. "These poachers are professional, highly resourced syndicates and if there is a genuine desire to stop this scourge we need a better and more specialized rhino unit," he told theeNCA.com reported that the poachers used dart guns to down the rhinos because gun shots are too loud and would have alerted anti-poaching authorities, Fox said.He also said that the reserve's anti-poaching unit had gone to check on another group of rhinos, but when they returned, the two calves came running towards them, one of them spattered with blood."We knew then that there was a problem," said Fox.The news site noted further:In a separate report,noted that a Sumatran rhino, a species not seen in 40 years and believed to have been extinct before cameras caught images of the beasts in 2013, was caught in a pit trap in March in the East Kalimantan province of the Indonesian portion of Borneo, in an area close to mining operations and plantations.The captive Sumatran rhino, a female believed to be around six years old, has been moved to a temporary holding pen after being airlifted by helicopter to a safer habitat on Borneo. The area is highly protected forest, and game preserve officials hope that she can begin breeding a new population.This particular species is critically endangered, with fewer than 100 remaining in the wild,reports.In 2015, the species was classified as extinct in the wild in Malaysia, as conservationists warned that the animal could disappear entirely for good and soon. However, the new face-to-face encounter with the female Sumatran rhino gives them hope that the population can now be saved."Sumatran rhinos are the smallest of the living rhinoceroses and the only Asian rhino with two horns,"reported. "They are covered with long hair and are more closely related to the extinct woolly rhinos than any of the other rhino species alive today. ..."Adult males grow to between 2-4m in length and reach up to 1-1.5m in height."Their life span is thought to be similar to other rhinos at around 35-40 years," the news site reported.
(NaturalNews) In our modern life we ingest, absorb and inhale all sorts of chemicals and heavy metals on a daily basis, and often without even realizing it, which is why many of us have recurring problems with our health.As noted by, all kinds of bad bacteria and Candida produce massive amounts of toxins as part of their metabolism, and as they die off. Besides doing detoxes twice a year to help cleanse your body of these highly toxic substances, what about every other day of the year when we are actuallythese toxins?The magazine recommends five superfoods that you should consider when detoxing:-- Chlorella -- Spirulina -- Garlic-- Cilantro-- WheatgrassChlorella is a round, single-cell organism containing a wealth of chlorophyll that is packed with 20 vitamins and minerals, as well as all of the essential amino acids.Spirulina, meanwhile, is a "spiral, multi-cell organism that is also rich in chlorophyll, and it contains 18 vitamins and minerals, 8 amino acids, and omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids," the magazine noted.Both superfoods are very high in protein and antioxidants, and both do an exceptional job of absorbing heavy metals and other toxic substances. In fact, they're so good at absorbing heavy metals that you need to make sure you purchase these products from a trusted, reliable source, to make sure you don't buy something that has absorbed heavy metals from the environment and is clean (like ours is ).Another wonderful superfood, garlic contains lots of vitamin C, B6 and manganese. Its active ingredient, a sulfur compound known as allicin, is what gives garlic its remarkable healing properties. Garlic is useful in helping to reduce the severity of viruses that cause the common cold and flu, helps to keep blood pressure normalized, lowers LDL cholesterol and serves as a cleansing antioxidant.In addition to those qualities, garlic also acts as an effective antimicrobial, anti-fungal and anti-parasitic. And it also binds heavy metals which helps to detox the body.Many recommend eating three or more cloves per day; always wait about 10 minutes or so after crushing garlic before cooking it, or eat it raw, to allow the allicin to form.Besides binding heavy metals, cilantro also pulls them from the blood and body tissues before eliminating them from the body altogether. Cilantro serves as a potent antioxidant that is known to help you sleep better, reduce anxiety and lower your blood sugar."What we call cilantro is actually corianderthe same plant from which we harvest coriander seeds," the magazine reported. "It is also known as Chinese parsley."editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger , has also reported on the tremendous health benefits of cilantro."Heavy metals are extremely toxic to human neurology. Mercury, lead and cadmium all contribute aggressively to the deterioration of neurological function. Fortunately, there's a simple, natural way to detox your body and remove these toxic substances from your tissues," Adams, food research scientist, head of CWC Labs and author of Food Forensics , reported."The solution is cilantro. It's that magical-tasting herb often used in Mexican food recipes," he wrote. "As it turns out, cilantro not only taste great, it also binds to heavy metals and helps remove them from your body."Chock full of goodness, wheatgrass is stuffed with calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, B vitamins, potassium, vitamin A and vitamin C.Wheatgrass is a potent detoxifying agent that neutralizes toxins in your body with enzymes, while cleansing the body of heavy metals and additional toxic substances that embed themselves in your tissues and organs. And, like spirulina and chlorella, wheatgrass is an excellent source of chlorophyll.
Bishops rightfully concerned

Polio or something more sinister?

Polio vaccine killing children in Kenya
"Pandemic" of brain damage

All harm, no benefit

(NaturalNews) According to a report published byin 2014 but that has only recently gained wider attention, fluoride is a neurotoxin in the same category as mercury, lead and arsenic.Fluoride's status as a neurotoxin is not particularly new or controversial in the medical community, but this knowledge has not been widely disseminated in the United States, largely due to the political context of the dental industry continuing to push for fluoride in toothpaste and in public water supplies. Opponents of water fluoridation hope that publicizing the 2014 paper  published by the world's oldest and most prestigious medical journal  will help bolster the growing movement to have fluoride removed from drinking water The article in question, published in the March 2014 edition of, was a systematic review of known major industrial chemicals that function as neurotoxins. The review began by stating that a prior review by the same researchers had identified strong scientific proof that five separate (but similar) industrial chemicals function as neurotoxins: lead, methylmercury, arsenic, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and toluene (used in paint thinners, glues and animal feed).The new review expanded that list to another six chemicals: fluoride , manganese, chlorpyrifos, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), tetrachloroethylene (PERC), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). More industrial neurotoxins will certainly be discovered in the future, they said.The researchers explicitly linked these chemicals to an ongoing rise in the prevalence of neurodevelopmental disabilities including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia and other cognitive impairments, calling the situation a "pandemic of developmental neurotoxicity ."The researchers further criticized the US toxics regulatory structure for not requiring safety testing of industrial chemicals, and for requiring an incredibly high level of proof of harm before regulation can take place."Untested chemicals should not be presumed to be safe to brain development, and chemicals in existing use and all new chemicals must therefore be tested for developmental neurotoxicity," the wrote.They further called for a global effort to combat the prevalence of industrial neurotoxins."To coordinate these efforts and to accelerate translation of science into prevention, we propose the urgent formation of a new international clearinghouse," they wrote.The specter of neurotoxicity heightens concerns over the widespread practice of adding fluoride to public water supplies in the United States (in contrast, the practice is rare or even banned throughout most of Europe and many other wealthy countries).Evidence is beginning to emerge directly linking not just fluoride, but water fluoridation specifically, to brain damage. A 2013 meta-analysis conducted by researchers from Harvard University found that IQ scores among children living in areas with highly fluoridated water were significantly lower than those of children with low fluoride content in their water.Neurotoxicity is not the only known health risk of fluoride exposure . Consumption of a relatively small amount of fluoride can be deadly  just read the warning on any tube of fluoridated toothpaste  and long-term exposure to fluoridated water has been linked with a form of tooth discoloration called dental fluorosis. Fluoride can also damage the thyroid gland, and a landmark 2006 study linked exposure to fluoridated water to a rare form of bone cancer called childhood osteosarcoma.Evidence is also increasingly calling into question the validity of early studies that linked fluoridated water to improved dental health."Fluoridation is no longer effective," said Hardy Limeback, head of the University of Toronto's preventive dentistry program. Limeback was involved in a 2010 study that found no dental benefit from fluoridation.Considering the well-known risks of fluoride, Limeback called fluoridation "more harmful than beneficial."Is it any wonder that communities across the United States are increasingly pushing to have fluoride taken out of their water supplies?
Most companies in the supplement and nutrition industries are well aware of patents. Utility patentswhat people usually think of when they think of patentscover inventions such as formulations or using a product for a specific purpose. However, design patents should also be considered. Design patents are seen in, for example, a packaging design such as a beverage bottle; a unique design could potentially be patented using a design patent. It could also be applied to specialized implements, for example a two-chambered beverage container that allows someone to carry both a workout beverage and a post-workout beverage; such an item could be the subject of a utility patent, a design patent or both.

Design patents are limited to any new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture." The claims of a design patent are typically a drawing that includes the claimed ornamental features, but also shows unprotected features, such as functional features or concepts that would be more properly the focus of a utility patent. Alternative options for protecting designs (well use the example of packaging), include trade dress/trademark registration and copyright. Each of the options has its pluses and minuses.

A design patent lasts for only 14 (or for applications filed after May 13, 2015, 15) years from the date the design patent is granted. A copyright also will eventually expire, but will generally last for at least 95 years. A trade dress or trademark registration for the packaging design can go on indefinitely, so long as a company continues to use the packaging design and maintain the registration at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). Each option may differ in the amount of damages or the method of calculating damages that is available to a company if it is victorious in enforcement. Indeed, while a design patent is the most limited in time, a design patent holder that is victorious in a design patent infringement lawsuit may elect infringers profits as a remedy, and under current law, that can be the entire profit from that infringing product.

This is the subject of one of the numerous patent battles between Apple and Samsung over their respective phones. Apple has won a judgment against Samsung for infringement of several of its design patents by certain Samsung Galaxy phones. The court considered all features shown in the design patent, and awarded damages in excess of US$500 million using the infringers profits remedy. Samsung appealed, but lost in the appeals court as well. Samsung is now seeking to have the U.S. Supreme Court review the case.

In particular, Samsung wants the Court to look at two questions:

1. Where a design patent includes unprotected non-ornamental features, should a district court be required to limit that patent to its protected ornamental scope?

2. Where a design patent is applied to only a component of a product, should an award of infringers profits be limited to those profits attributable to the component?

Several other tech giants including Google, Facebook, Dell and HP have filed a brief supporting Samsungs request to have the case heard. Likewise, a group of influential professors, an industry group and the Electronic Freedom Foundation have also filed briefs asking for the case to be heard. Among the concerns is that a new type of patent troll" litigation could pop up if the entire profit can be obtained as damages. Since it is possible to infringe upon more than one design patent, a company could be subjected to losing the entire profit multiple times and be driven into bankruptcy.

Apple is expected to respond to the request imminently, likely opposing the Supreme Court hearing the case (if for no other reason than to protect the nine-figure payment it received from Samsung in damages). Also, there may be briefs filed agreeing with Apple, with the Supreme Court deciding later this year whether to take the case.

So why should companies that arent in the phone industry care about this case? A ruling in this case will apply to everyone, not just this specific case or to only the phone industry, and could result in significant changes to design patent law. The last major design patent cases from the Supreme Court are actually from the 19th century.

The Supreme Court could narrow the scope of damages and/or narrow what a court can consider to be covered by a design patent, both of which would have significant implications for any company holding a design patent on, say, a beverage bottle, or by companies that could be subjected to design patent lawsuits. Narrowing the scope would, depending on the perspective, potentially reduce the value of design patent assets or reduce the risk of a company facing massive judgments should it infringe a design patent.

Going forward, it would affect a companys intellectual property (IP) strategy with respect to designs and whether to seek protection as trade dress, a copyrighted design or a design patentas noted above, the design patent is the shortest-lasting method of protection, so if an advantage in damages is curtailed, a company might consider using one of the other avenues of protection going forward. And while so-called patent troll" litigation affects the tech industry more than the health and nutrition industry, this case could have the potential to cut off another potential avenue for an entity to buy patents in order to enforce a patent hoping to extract settlement cash from companies rather than use the design.

Thus, this case bears watching for the health and nutrition industry as well. If the Supreme Court decides to hear the case, a decision would be expected in 2017.

Brent Batzer is a registered patent attorney practicing in patent and trademark law at Amin Talati & Upadhye (amintalati.com). Batzer primarily provides patent litigation, patent prosecution and contract drafting services to food, drug, medical device and cosmetic companies, working with companies in the food and beverage industry on manufacturing process and design patents, freedom to operate opinions, and numerous contract manufacturing, supply and distribution agreements.
Four marketers of skin care products, shampoos and sunscreens have agreed to settle charges that they falsely depicted their products as all natural" or 100% natural," the FTC announced Tuesday.

The products contained synthetic ingredients, such as dimethicone, ethhexyl and glycerin, according to an FTC news release. Under proposed settlements, the companies are prohibited from making similar representations, and must possess competent and reliable evidence to substantiate any of their ingredient-related, environmental or health claims, the agency noted.

All natural or 100 percent natural means just thatno artificial ingredients or chemicals," said Jessica Rich, director of FTCs Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a written statement. Companies should take a lesson from these cases."

FTC also has filed a complaint against a fifth skin care firm, California Naturel Inc., seeking similar relief. The Sausalito, California-based company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It was just a misunderstanding," said Sean Zimmerman, general manager of Rocky Mountain Sunscreen, which has entered into a proposed settlement with FTC in response to the agencys complaint that products such as Natural Face Stick" were marketed as all natural." We thought the all-natural part pertained to the active ingredients" and not inactive ingredients.

Zimmerman said the Arvada, Colorado-based company immediately stopped selling the product after hearing from FTC and has relabeled the product. He also noted FTC did not impose a fine.

If you go on our website now, it just says mineral-based sunscreen," he said in a brief phone interview.

Beyond Coastal, a Salt Lake City-based company that reached a proposed settlement with FTC, said in an emailed statement, We're grateful to the FTC for pointing out an editing error in some legacy text in our website. We take full responsibility for the error, are grateful that there were no financial penalties, and are glad to have moved into compliance with FTC regulations."

FTC also announced reaching proposed settlements with Santa Rosa, California-based ShiKai and Memphis, Tennessee, based EDEN BodyWorks. ShiKai, and Sally Beauty Supply, a retail distributor of EDENs products, did not immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment.
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Water scarcity is not a 21st-century phenomenon. Though there have been many water-related problems linked to global warming, many places in the world have suffered without water even centuries ago. The Mayan civilization was one of them.

For ancient Mayans, water conservation was a very important aspect of their lives. They lived in and around Mexico, Belize and Guatemala where rainfall was quite scarce.

The National Science Foundation-supported research by Jeffrey Brewer, a doctoral student at the University of Cincinnati's, and Christopher Carr, UC research assistant professor of geography, are the ones who are involved in this research, as per Examiner.

According to Science Daily, with the help of a surveying technology called Light Detection and Ranging or LiDAR, hundreds of water reservoirs were found at Yaxnohcah, a Mayan site in Central Yucatan. However, as of now, only five of these reservoirs have been excavated. There were some reservoirs found near residential spaces, signifying household accessibilities.

LiDAR is a high-end sensing technology that helps in capturing high-resolution pictures from an airplane at 30,000 points per second. This enables researchers to spot ground surfaces even through thick forests and vegetation.

The ceramic material used to make the reservoirs dates back at around 900 B.C, HNGN noted. It seems like they were arranged with clay plasters that allowed water to be locked in without seeping away.

Jeffrey Brewer also found reservoirs that looked like a quarry for limestone. This spot must have been used for construction, possibly at a nearby residential area. Brewer speculates that the limestone reservoir could hold water for an entire year. This system would have been quite useful for agriculture as well. Future research will study how the water was used for irrigation by the ancient Mayans.

Check out some 25 amazing facts about the Mayans in the video below.
Neil Armstrong is probably the most popular astronaut, but his lesser known but equally significant counterpart, Yuri Gagarin, deserves the attention, too. Gagarin is the first man to journey into space. To commemorate that, the United Nations is celebrating the International Day of Human Space Flight this month.

The United Nations signed a resolution in 2011, declaring April 12 as the International Day of Human Space Flight to commemorate the "Space Era." According to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, the resolution was signed in 2011 during the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's journey to outer space.

The resolution clearly stated that the International Day of Human Space Flight will be celebrated to "reaffirm the important contribution of space science and technology in achieving sustainable development goals and increasing the well-being of States and peoples, as well as ensuring the realization of their aspiration to maintain outer space for peaceful purposes."

The International Day of Human Space Flight also aims to recognize the meaningful contribution of Yuri Gagarin to the scientific world, which started the "Space Era" or man's explorations in space. Although he is way behind Neil Armstrong's popularity, his contributions are equally as significant.

According to NASA's archive, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space and the first human being to complete a 108-minute orbital flight in 1961. He was aboard the first manned spacescraft called Vostok 1. The former fighter pilot was mesmerized by the USSR's projects in space, that's why he decided to apply to the Vostok program regardless of the rigorous physical and psychological training.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon wanted the International Day of Human Space Flight to inspire the younger generation. In a statement, Ban Ki-Moon said, "I hope it will also inspire young people in particular to pursue their dreams and move the world towards new frontiers of knowledge and understanding".
Here's good news for every Potterhead. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a real place for you to visit. After nearly five years of planning this amazing place, Universal Studios Hollywood has set up this incredible world of "Harry Potter," which was open on April 7.

This place holds mostly everything that a Potterhead needs to experience. From a real-life Hogsmeade Village to butter beers, the place has been set up with detailed expressions found in the popular novels of J.K. Rowling.

The hills alongside Hollywood makes it all the more realistic, showing Hogwarts castle just like in the movies. The best part about this Wizarding world is that you get to see some of the real props that were used in the movie itself. The luggage rack, seat covers and even the chalkboard are all part of the "Harry Potter" movies.

The magical spells, dark villains, shops in Hogsmeade and rides will makes every muggle go crazy. The attention to details gives a realisitc experience to every Potterhead as they will see this land of fiction come to life.

One of the most exciting and fascinating elements in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is the forbidden journey, which is a roller coaster ride that uses motion thrills and 3D HD technology too. This is the first of its kind in the U.S., as per CNN.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened at the Universal Studios in Hollywood Hills. Since its opening day, the theme park has attracted thousands of "Harry Potter" fans from across the globe.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told Daily Mail that the theme park will create new jobs, serve as a place to stimulate hospitality revenue and will build the economy.
Human beings are not only the casualties of war in the long drawn-out civil war in Congo. The unrest has also adversely impacted the population of the world's largest ape, the Grauer's gorilla, pushing them to the brink of distinction.

The last 20 years has seen a collapse in their number, with a staggering 77 percent decline, according to a recent comprehensive report released by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Flora and Fauna International and the Congolese Insitute for the Conservation of Nature.

More than 13,000 Grauer's gorillas have been lost due to the civil unrest in the Central African country, leaving fewer than 4,000 remaining in the wild.

Congolese forests have been occupied and controlled by the militia and rebel groups since the civil war broke out in 1996. These armed men have been in conflict for territory and minerals, setting up mining sites in the jungle to fund their operations.

The 400-pound Grauer's gorilla has been an easy target for bushmeat for the miners' sustenance.

Conducting the study has been a dangerous task, involving several Congolese scientists and field assistants. To document the gorilla's disappearance, they braved through 12,000 square kilometers of militia-controlled forests in the span of four years.

Lives of several park rangers were put in constant danger for the effort, including a recent killing just this March 31, as per Gizmodo.

With this report, the study's authors recommended that the status of Grauer's gorilla be changed from "threatened" to "critically endangered" in the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.

Terrifyingly, "critically endangered" is only a step below "extinct in the wild."

Actions must be immediately done now to save the Grauer's gorilla from complete disappearance. The report recommends that the artisanal mining sites must be regulated, miners disarmed and weapons banned. They also pushed for better legislation for the protection of the species, as well as heightened awareness within the community and international oversight to prevent the entry of conflict minerals in the global market.

Co-author Stuart Nixon said that we must act fast to save the Grauer's gorilla from extinction.

"Unless greater investment and effort is made, we face the very real threat that this incredible primate will disappear from many parts of its range in the next five years," he said in a statement.
The war-torn Iraq has Its hands full from recovery efforts, budget problems and the ongoing ISIS crisis. With the current situation, it may appear that the Iraqi government is far from fully recovering. But amidst all that, restoration efforts are visible and are clearly part of the plan to re-establish Iraq. This includes converting Saddam Hussein's palace to a museum.

The former Iraqi ruler's palace is set to be open to the public in September this year. According to the National Geographic, the pressure to convert and restore the palace to its former glory falls under the hands of Mahdi al-Musaw and his construction company.

Iraqi officials think that this project will be the first museum to open in the country in decades and, hopefully, initiate a "cultural revival." The public's interest in the museum shows that there is hope to change the country's reputation.

The palace is located in Basrah, one of the major urban areas in Iraq. However, signs of ISIS attacks are visible in the whole of Basra, including the palace.

Why is it possible? The current political stability and booming oil industry in Basrah will largely help the country in recovering from the devastation.

Qahtan al-Abeed, Director of the Basrah section of Iraq's State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, toldNational Geographic, "When the British left in 2008, I suggested that the central government turn the palace over to us".

The British charity organization Friends of Basrah Museum was the first to support the move to convert Saddam Hussein's palace into a museum. Amid the ISIS concerns, they believe that Iraqis and tourists should be informed of the rich Iraqi culture.

Once operational, the museum will house and display various artifacts from Sumer, Babylon, Assyria and Islamic period in Iraq. But since the museum is still in the middle of Iraq, it will be protected with thick steel doors to protect the artifacts from looting and other dangers.

The whole floor plan, display plans, inventory of displays and other important details was released by the Friends of Basrah Museum in UK.

This, however, hasn't been executed yet, not until the Iraqi government releases the fund for the restoration of Saddam Hussein's palace.
A man charged in the grisly slaying of a San Diego woman last week allegedly beat and strangled his victim before stuffing her body into a suitcase and wiping down his apartment to conceal the killing, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Joshua M. Palmer, 32, was arrested Friday on one count of first-degree murder in the death of Shauna Haynes, 21.

At Palmer's arraignment in a San Diego courtroom on Tuesday, prosecutors said that after the slaying, the suspect cleaned his apartment and sent misleading text messages to friends in an effort to cover up the slaying.

Palmer pleaded not guilty to the killing. A judge set his bail at $2 million.

Though the motive for the killing has yet to be disclosed by investigators, prosecutors did confirm that Palmer and Haynes worked together at the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant in downtowns Gaslamp Quarter -- not far from where Haynes was found dead.

The pair were platonic friends, prosecutors said, and had gone out together last week. After their outing, the pair went back to Palmer's home. There, Palmer allegedly beat and strangled Haynes and then attempted to cover his tracks by sending a series of text messages from the victim's cell phone.

He wiped down his apartment, gathered the bedding and clothing, San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Martin Doyle said. [He] made a number of misleading text messages from the victims phone to family members in an effort to disguise what he had done.

Joshua Palmer enters not guilty plea.Prosecutor: He beat & strangled Shauna Haynes & stuffed her in suitcase #NBC7 pic.twitter.com/UY01bNdLXo  Omari Fleming (@OmariNBCSD) April 12, 2016

Haynes body was found on April 6 inside a suitcase dumped near trash bins in the 1300 block of 7th Avenue and A Street in downtown San Diego behind an apartment complex where Palmer lived.

A man who lives in the area, a former Navy service member identified only as Phil, told police he spotted the suitcase on the ground as he took out his trash. He walked over to the luggage and was soon faced with the horrifying discovery.

Phil told NBC 7 he knew something was terribly wrong when he saw strands of human hair peeking out of the zipper of the suitcase.

"Thats going to be an image that I  thats going to be on my mind for a while. You dont erase that. Its a person," Phil told NBC 7 in an interview last week. "I have a mother, a sister, family friends that I love. No one deserves to be thrown out with the trash like that."

Palmer wiped down his apartment & sent misleading texts to friends to conceal murder according to prosecutor. #NBC7 pic.twitter.com/jnzwvw7vNy  Omari Fleming (@OmariNBCSD) April 12, 2016

According to court records, Palmer has no criminal history in San Diego County.

Records show Palmer did have some run-ins with the law in two cities where he once resided: Webster in Harris County, Texas, and Yorba Linda in Orange County, California.

According to court records, in 2006 Harris County prosecutors filed a charge for a fraudulent check against Palmer. The amount stolen was less than $500. In 2010, Harris County courts dismissed the case after no arrest was made.

In 2012, Palmer pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor DUI charge in Orange County. He was sentenced to two days in jail and informal probation in connection with that case, along with court fines. Records indicate he may have had some sort of probation violation in 2015, leading to his probation being extended to 54 months, but details of that violation were not available.

Haynes was a 2013 graduate of Grossmont High School in San Diego's East County.

Haynes friends held a tearful vigil for the young woman Sunday at the site where the suitcase was found. They described Haynes as a vibrant, caring person with a warm demeanor.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on this case can call the SDPDS Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
San Jose teen Anton Cao is heading to the White House on Wednesday to be honored for being one of only 12 students in the world to earn a perfect score on the AP calculus exam.

As a lark, Anton took the SAT's as a sophomore, and earned a perfect score.

The brilliant teen was featured on NBC Bay Area's "Asian Pacific America" show last month.

Up next for the Evergreen Valley High School 11th grader?

He'll get to met scientists and high-level government officials as an honored guest at the White House science Fair.
Chicago's City Council authorized $6.5 million in settlements Wednesday for the families of two men who died in police custody.

Under the settlements, $4.95 million will go to the family of Philip Coleman and $1.5 million will go to the family of Justin Cook.

Coleman was repeatedly tasered and assaulted after being arrested during a mental breakdown in December of 2012. He ultimately died in police custody after having a rare allergic reaction to an anti-psychotic medication administered to him in an emergency room.

Coleman was arrested for attacking his mother in his familys South Side home.

At the time of his arrest, Coleman was suffering from a mental breakdown and his father reportedly begged police to take Coleman to the hospital instead of lockup. Officers on the scene refused the familys request.

While in custody, Coleman was tasered and dragged unconscious through a police department hallway.

Security footage of the abuse Coleman suffered in lockup has been widely circulated, adding notoriety to the case.

Coleman was later taken to the emergency room following the misconduct in lockup, but was tasered and hit with a baton after allegedly becoming combative.

At the hospital, Coleman had a rare allergic reaction to the injection of an anti-psychotic drug, which raised his bodys temperature and led to his death.

Coleman was a graduate of the University of Chicago. He had no prior criminal history.

"It's a tragic and sad case, Ald. Ed Burke said Tuesday. No amount of money can bring back this family's loved one, but hopefully out of this tragic event, a realization will be more widespread that in these cases where people are mentally ill and police are involved there must be a better way to deal with them.

Burke also noted that the amount of money given to Burkes family was far less than a jury would award would this ever go to trial.

Cook also died in police custody after officers refused to assist him with his inhaler following a foot chase on Chicagos West Side.

Prior to being arrested, Cook allegedly blew through a stop sign and took off on foot as police pursued.

The arresting officers, who had both recently completed probationary periods, reportedly sprayed Cooks inhaler in the air after he asked for it.

A witness testified that one of the officers told Cook he should have thought about that before you ran.

"There's no amount of training, no amount of in-service training, no amount of videos that can cure people of inhumanity," Burke said. "It seems to me that this kind of misconduct is so reprehensible that it is non-explainable. But now, our taxpayers are going to suffer again."

The settlements come in the wake of the Laquan McDonald shooting. McDonald, a Chicago teen, was shot and killed by Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke in October of 2014.

The case received widespread attention after dash-cam footage of the incident was made public in November of 2015.

As a result of the incident, former Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy was fired from his post and Cook County States Attorney was voted out of office. Despite countless calls for his resignation, Mayor Rahm Emanuel remains in power.
Interim Police Supt. Eddie Johnson could soon officially become Chicagos next top cop.

The City Council Public Safety Committee approved changing the current city law that requires a second Police Board search after the mayor rejected the boards three finalists and opted to appoint Johnson instead.

The measure was approved a near-unanimous vote, with only Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson speaking out against it.

Who is now vetting, who is doing the background check, Thompson said.

The approval would mean a one-time only change to the Police Board rules.

Aldermen who say crime is too high and police morale too low sided with Emanuels decision.

Johnson was named the CPDs interim superintendent last month, replacing John Escalante, who filled in after embattled former Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy was fired.

According to reports, the Chicago Police Board spent roughly $500,000 on its nationwide search for the citys next top cop. Emanuel, however, declined to choose the three finalists the board recommended, and chose to appoint Johnson, who did not initially apply for the role.

I am deeply appreciative of the time and hard work the Police Board put into this search. The three candidates I interviewed have distinguished careers in law enforcement and they all impressed me with their commitment to public safety, Emanuel said at the time. However, as our city works through the challenges ahead, it is more important than ever that we find the right person who knows our city and can provide the level of safety every resident deserves, lift the morale of Chicagos police officers, and build on the work thats been done to restore trust and accountability in the police department.
Just days after calling potential plans to close Clark and Addison streets during Cubs home games a swing and a miss, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a new plan to further enhance security measures at Wrigley Field on Wednesday.

The project would widen the Addison Street sidewalk next to the stadium and add concrete posts called bollards as an added barrier.

"One of the things, as you probably know, we're going to explore- not just explore, but pursue- is putting bollards at key points because that's something in today's day and age you need for security," Emanuel said. "It would be a complement.

Cubs spokesman Julian Green confirmed the plan to widen the streets sidewalk by four feet and install bollards similar to those found around federal buildings and other possible terror targets.

"We are trying to implement a 21st century operational plan for a three-acre ballpark built in 1914," Green said in a statement. "That comes with challenges for us and the City, as with every other major change that has been proposed to Wrigley Field over the years. We continue to believe closing Addison and Clark is the right call, but we are open to exploring other ways to ensure safety."

I think that gets to the same goal, without having to close Clark and Addison, which has its own complexity, Emanuel said of the plan, alluding to Rep. Mike Quigley's proposal in a recent radio interview.

On Monday, Emanuel scoffed at Quigleys plan to close the busy streets for Cubs home games.

Nevertheless, Quigley lauded Emanuels latest plan and pledged to work to obtain federal aid for the project.

Todays announcement by Mayor Emanuel is a step in the right direction for the security of Wrigley Field, its fans and the neighborhood, Quigley said in a statement. I will continue to advocate for Chicago in my role on the House Appropriations Committee to ensure the city has the federal funding it needs for security measures.

Emanuel told reporters Wednesday he was looking forward to federal participation.

The mayor also noted that Quigley has remained involved in conversations about the stadiums security and that they share similar big picture goals.

There are places, not just Wrigley Field, but other venues that have a lot of people," Emanuel said. "There is ways to achieve the security without shutting down Clark and Addison. That's why widening the sidewalks, putting the bollards up, can achieve the same type of security concerns that the congressman's addressing.

There are currently no similar plans to bolster security on Clark Street.
A task force Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed to look into police practices warns that the Chicago Police Department must publicly acknowledge its racist past, and overhaul the way it handles allegations of excessive force.

A draft of the task forces executive summary declares that it is time for a painful and necessary reckoning, warning that the CPD is infused with a mentality that the end justifies the means.

In 18 scathing pages, the summary eviscerates the department for superficial and false statements in the aftermath of the 2014 shooting of teenager Laquan McDonald, noting that despite the fact that he was shot 16 times, he "posed no immediate threat to anyone.

Still, the Police Accountability Task Force said the McDonald incident was only the tipping point in a long history of intimidation.

Racism and maltreatment at the hands of the police have been consistent complaints in communities of color for decades, the report states. The communitys lack of trust in CPD is justified.

The draft of the task force report became public as the Chicago City Council Committee on Public Safety recommended a change in city law, essentially codifying Mayor Emanuels end run on the Chicago Police Board in his choice of Eddie Johnson as Police Superintendent. In choosing Johnson, Emanuel rejected the three candidates sent to him by the police board, as current procedure dictates. A final vote on Johnsons appointment is expected in the full city council on Wednesday.

How do we ensure that we are effectively policing the police? Emanuel asked, when he announced formation of the Police Accountability Task Force last fall. By reinvigorating our oversight, we will continue to take the necessary steps to build trust between the police and the residents and community they serve.

That was then, but the mayor may be less than pleased with the task forces assessment of the police department which ultimately reports to his office.

Far too many residents are at daily risk of being caught up in a cycle of policing that deprives them of basic human rights, the report states. The department must acknowledge its sad history and present conditions, which lave left people totally alienated from the police, and afraid for their physical and emotional safety.

The authors are especially critical of the Independent Police Review authority, which they call woefully understaffed and lacking in authority.

IPRA is badly broken, they wrote, declaring that the agency and its companion Bureau of Internal Affairs lack true independence and are not held accountable for their work.

There is widespread perception that there is a deeply entrenched code of silence supported not just by individual officers, but by the very institution itself, the report states. The collective bargaining agreements between the police unions and the city have essentially turned the code of silence into official policy.

Because of that, the report says, those agreements make it easy for officers to lie if they are so inclined.

In a statement Tuesday night, Fraternal Order of Police president Dean Angelo told NBC5, We are very concerned about that type of language being used by a group that was asked to examine the department. On the surface of what has been shared by the media thus far, it appears that the task force erred in their reporting.

In their criticisms of the department, the task force cites alarming statistics, declaring CPDs own data gives validity to the widely held belief the police have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color.

In making that declaration, they note police officers shoot African Americans at alarming rates, noting out of 404 shootings between 2008 and 2015, 74 percent involved African-Americans, versus 14 percent of Hispanics, 3 percent Whites, and .25percent Asians.

Johnson, the incoming superintendent, is a 27 year departmental veteran. His rise from within the ranks is a stark contrast with his two predecessors, Jody Weis and Garry McCarthy, both of whom were outsiders, and perceived as carpetbaggers by many in the rank-and-file.

The task force noted in its report that input had been provided by community members throughout the citythat far from listening only to complaints from the citys most distressed areas, they had conducted more than 100 discussions, reaching out to 95 community groups, 63 elected officials and 83 religious institutions, as well as current and former police.

The consistent theme of these deeply-held belief came from a significant cross-section of people, they wrote. Doctors, lawyers, teachers and other professionals, students and everyday workers.

Regardless of the demographic, people of color loudly expressed their outrage, about how they are treated by the police.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said "count me out" of a bid for president this year, hoping to end persistent speculation that he could emerge as the GOP nominee from a contested Republican convention.

The Wisconsin Republican scheduled a mid-afternoon statement Tuesday at the Republican National Committee to disavow any interest in the presidency in 2016, saying he believes voters should choose among people "who actually ran for the job."

"We have too much work to do in the House to allow this speculation to swirl or to have my motivations questioned, so let me be clear: I do not want nor will I accept the nomination of our party," he told reporters.

Ryan said he has been giving speeches across the country so Americans have a sense of what the Republican party, of which he has become the leader, would do in power. But he repeated over and over that he will not seek to enter the White House this cycle: "I am not going to be our party's nominee."

Ryan's comments come as a contested convention looks likelier by the day. Ryan and his aides have continually denied the speaker has presidential ambitions this year, but their statements have not put the issue to rest. That's partly because Ryan also denied he wanted to be speaker last fall after then-Speaker John Boehner announced his resignation, but ended up with the job anyway.

Earlier in the day, Ryan said in an interview on WISN radio in Milwaukee that there was no scenario under which he would seek the Republican nomination. Ryan said he called the news conference to "categorically" rule himself out as a candidate.

"I will not allow my name to be placed in nomination," Ryan said. "And it will not be me. I don't know how I can be clearer than that. ... It should be someone who actually wants to be president or is running for president."

He laughed when asked if he was working behind the scenes to "steal the GOP nomination away from Donald Trump and Ted Cruz."

"No, I am not," Ryan said. "This is just amazing. It is just amazing how these things keep going. I am going to try again today to put this to bed. The answer is no, and my strong opinion is if it goes to an open convention ... the delegates should pick among the people who actually ran for president this year."

Tuesday's appearance was an attempt to shut down the speculation once and for all. Yet it may not be enough to quiet the talk about Ryan, given the unpredictable twists of the GOP presidential primary.

Front-runner Trump looks unlikely to accumulate the necessary delegates to clinch the nomination ahead of the July Republican convention in Cleveland. That would allow his lead challenger, Cruz, to make a play for the job.

But if neither candidate can get the delegate votes necessary as balloting progresses in the convention, chaos could result and along with it the potential for some other Republican who's not currently running to emerge. As a young and charismatic conservative, popular with donors and with some conservative activists, Ryan's name has been at the top of that list for months.

He addressed that scenario directly on Tuesday, speaking "directly to the delegates."

"If no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, I believe you should only choose a person who actually participated in the primary. Count me out," Ryan said. "I simply believe that if you want to be the nominee - to be the president - you should actually run for it. I chose not to. Therefore, I should not be considered. Period."
Thailand kicked off the world's largest water fight Wednesday in honor of Songkran, the country's New Year festival, NBC News reported.

Celebrated with everything from water guns to hoses to elephants spewing water, crowds of revelers battle in the streets and douse passersby. The water is believed to clean people of their sins and misfortune.

This year, however, officials are asking participants to curb water use in the face of the worst drought in decades and has cut the festival from four to three days.

Critics say that rising temperatures have been exacerbated by China's extensive damming of the Mekong River  which also runs through Thailand, as well as Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia.
What to Know Clinton holds a 22-point lead over Sanders, and Trump holds a 12-point lead against Cruz, the NBC4-Marist Maryland Poll says.

Clinton would beat Trump by 36 points in Maryland if the two were matched up in the general election, the poll results show.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each hold big leads against their party rivals in the race for the presidency in Maryland, poll results released Tuesday show.

Clinton, the former secretary of state, holds a 22-point lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, according to the NBC4/Marist Maryland Poll conducted this month.

Among the Republican primary electorate polled, Trump holds a 12-point lead against Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

If the front-runners maintain their leads, Trump and Clinton remain on the path to securing their respective partys nomination, said Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. With two weeks to go to the Maryland primary, their rivals need to find a way to close the gap.

Fifty-eight percent of likely Democratic primary voters polled said they would support Clinton. 36 percent said they would vote for Sanders. These results, ahead of the April 26 primary election, have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Trump won 41 percent of likely Republican primary voters. Cruz won 29 percent, Ohio Gov. John Kasich won 24 percent and just 6 percent of these voters were undecided. These results have a margin of error of plus or minus 5.1 percentage points.

Clinton polled particularly well with women, African Americans and people age 45 and older. Sanders polled better with people under age 45.

Trump polled well with likely Republican primary voters who do not have a college degree, earn less than $50,000 per year and do not practice a religion. Cruz and Trump were competitive in winning the votes of women and white evangelical Christians. Kasich led among likely Republican primary voters who described themselves as moderate.

A high percentage of Trump supporters said they were committed to their candidate selection. 71 percent of likely Republican primary voters supporting Trump said they were firmly committed to him. 51 percent of Cruz voters said they were committed to him, and 44 percent of Kasich backers said they were committed to him.

Asked who their second choice for Republican presidential candidate would be, 35 percent of likely Republican primary voters polled said Kasich, 34 percent said Cruz and 17 percent said Trump.

Who Could Win the General Election?

Clinton would beat Trump by 36 points in Maryland if the two were matched up in the general election, the results show.

Clinton commanded 63 percent of registered voters in the match-up. Trump won 27 percent, and 10 percent of people were undecided. The match-up results all had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

If Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and businessman Trump went head to head, 65 percent of Maryland voters polled said they would pick Sanders. 26 percent said they would pick Trump.

If Clinton and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz were matched up, 60 percent of Maryland voters polled said they would pick Clinton. 31 percent said they would pick Cruz.

President Obama's and Gov. Hogan's Approval Ratings

Most Maryland residents polled said they supported President Barack Obama and Gov. Larry Hogan. About two-thirds of Maryland residents said they approved of how Hogan was doing his job. 15 percent of people polled said they disapproved, and 18 percent were not sure. 62 percent of residents polled approved of how Obama was doing his job. 32 percent disapproved, and 6 percent were not sure.

The NBC4/Marist Maryland Poll, conducted April 5 through April 9, surveyed a total of 2,563 registered voters, including 775 likely Democratic primary voters and 368 likely Republican primary voters.
A bail bond agent who insists she shot and killed her boyfriend in self-defense as he was driving in 2014 has been sentenced to 25 years and must serve a minimum of five.

A jury convicted Angela Grasso-Cunha, 29, of Plainville, of manslaughter in February, but acquitted her of a murder charge.

The investigation began on Wednesday. April 9, 2014 when police found Jose Mendez, 23, of Hartford, after a crash near Prospect Avenue and Kane Street. He had been shot in the head, according to police, and was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police said they had received several 911 calls, including one from a woman who was upset and crying.

"My name is Angela and I just shot someone on Prospect Avenue," she said, according to court documents. She was heard screaming and crying before hanging up.

Grasso-Cunha's defense team said in court that she was acting in self-defense.

According to court paperwork. Grasso-Cunha told police that Mendez kidnapped her and she shot him in self-defense.

She waived her Miranda rights after speaking with her attorney for several minutes, according to court documents, and spoke with West Hartford Police officers for more than five hours after the shooting.

Grasso-Cunha told police she ran into Mendez at a bar in Hartford three weeks earlier, after not having seen him since they were teenagers, and they started dating, according to police.

Police are investigating a mans death after a victim was found earlier Wednesday night on Prospect Avenue in West Hartford. Sources tell NBC Connecticut he was shot in the head.

On April 8, 2014, Mendez took Grasso-Cunha to see his sister and then accused her of flirting with his sibling. In the car, they argued and Mendez threw her phone out the window, she told police.

On April 9, 2014, Mendez accused Grasso-Cunha of cheating and told her she had to give him $600 or he would kill her and her family, according to court documents.

Grasso-Cunha told police she tried to get the money by cashing a check, but the bank was closed.

At that point, Mendez also accused her of cheating and he grabbed the back of her head, slammed it into the center console and spit on her, she told police.

He also brought her to a clinic in Bloomfield to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases and said hed kill her children if she ran, Grasso-Cunha told police.

By the time they got there, the clinic was closed for the day, so they drove back to Hartford and Mendez threatened to kill Grasso-Cunha's family and make her watch, she told police.

While driving on Park Street, Mendez turned to look toward Wendy's and Grasso-Cunha took the opportunity to reach for her purse, grab her gun and fire once at Mendezs head, she told police.

Mendez slumped over, bleeding, and the car continued south on Prospect Avenue until Grasso-Cunha grabbed the wheel and steered the car off the road and into a fence, police said.

She told authorities that Mendez posed no immediate threat or danger, but she feared for her life as well as her family members lives and saw this as her only opportunity to stop him from following through on his threats, according to court documents.

One officer reported hearing Grasso-Cunha say, He beat me, what did you expect? as she hugged her knees, rocked back and forth and crying.

Mendez's family said they did not know what led up to the shooting.
Four candidates are hoping to represent District 2 on the Dallas Independent School District board.

The district surrounds the Park Cities, from Preston Hollow to Lakewood.

The candidates are running to replace Mike Morath, who is now the Education Commissioner for Texas.

Mita Havlick has two children in the district. She said she decided to run after getting support from the community.

I have always been involved in my childrens' school. I believe we can do a great job in public education, said Havlick.

She said schools need to expand early childhood programs, and continue to improve the buildings. But teacher retention tops her list.

Priority number one is to retain and recruit good teachers, said Havlick.

Like Havlick, Carlos Marroquin is focused on teacher retention. He says they have to give teachers better incentive to stay.

I want to make sure we have teachers that stay with us and they have something in here to stay with us for, like, three year contracts. I believe they should not have a cap in our salaries, said Marroquin.

Marroquin, who is a substitute teacher in the district, is a product of Dallas ISD schools, but his children do not go to schools in the district.

He said he has learned from being inside the schools that different schools have different needs and there should not be a one-size-fits-all formula.

We need to make our district better, he added.

Dustin Marshall is hoping to get the job, as well. He says he already has relationships with board members. Marshall has four children, and the ones old enough for school are in private school. He also went to private school.

I grew up in a poor single parent household, but had a great opportunity to go to Greenhill in Addison it changed my life. It taught me the value of education, and changed the way I think about what education can do for a child, and so wherever I have gone, I have tried to give back, said Marshall.

He owns a business, but says he spends 20 hours a week in the non-profit world and public schools.

We have got to do a better job of delivering outcomes to students and help prepare them for their lives either in college, in a successful career or the military, he added.

Suzanne Smith comes from a family of educators. Her parents were teachers. She does not have any children. Smith, who is an adjunct professor, owns a consulting group. She points to her experience working with at-risk children and projects in the community.

Part of what I want to try to do is make sure everyone in this community knows all the great things that are happening in DISD. We have so many good things that are happening. I think personally if we can elevate the conversation around DISD, more people will come back to DISD schools, Smith said.

Smith rolled out an action plan this week, which goes all the way from Pre-K to high school.

DISD is doing some amazing things, so if they get the right leadership on the school board, I think we can really make a difference, she added.

The election is May 7, but if one of the four candidates does not get 50 percent of the vote, it will go to a runoff.
A 26-year-old man was killed after getting caught in a trash compactor in west Bexar County Tuesday.

Bexar County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rosanne Hughes said that the man, who worked for Metro Waste Systems, somehow became trapped inside the back of a garbage collection truck.

Hughes said the man  later identified as 26-year-old Benjamin Garza  was pronounced dead around 10:30 a.m.

The sheriff's office is investigating the death as an accident.
The small-town Texas jail where Sandra Bland died last summer needs a new building, more expertise among its staff to identify mental health issues, and body cameras and anger-management training for its jailers, according to a report issued Tuesday by a panel convened after Bland's death.

The sheriff's office in Waller County agreed to have outside experts review the county jail in Hempstead, about 50 miles northwest of Houston after Bland died. Bland, who was black, was jailed after a state trooper pulled her over in July for a minor traffic violation. Dashcam video of her arrest and the circumstances of her death provoked national outrage and drew the attention of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Video of the stop near Houston shows the trooper, Brian Encinia, yelling at Bland, then pulling a stun gun and saying, "I will light you up!" Encinia has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor perjury charge stemming from the stop. He has also been fired.

Bland, who was in the process of moving to Texas from the Chicago area, was found dead in the Waller County Jail three days after her arrest. Authorities said she was hanging from a jail cell partition with a plastic garbage bag around her neck. A medical examiner ruled it a suicide and a grand jury declined to indict any sheriff's officials or jailers in her death.

Bland's supporters have questioned whether the jail's conditions had anything to do with her death.

While the panelists who presented their jail report at a news conference Tuesday in Hempstead mostly stayed away from specifics about Bland's death, their recommendations target mental health screenings and the overall treatment of inmates.

One panelist, former U.S. Rep. Craig Washington, said anyone entering the jail was "entitled to be treated with dignity and respect as a human being."

Ultimately, that will require a new facility with more space, he said.

"The jail is not adequate, in our judgment," Washington said.

The panel also called on the sheriff's office to develop a policy for storing video footage and to purchase body cameras. It also said the jail should employ medical personnel who can screen incoming inmates for mental health issues.

Jailers supervising inmates should be separated from the officers who arrested them, the panel said. And jailers should undergo anger-management courses and routine evaluations.

Authorities have already said that Bland indicated on an intake questionnaire that she once tried to kill herself and was taking medication for epilepsy. Following her death, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards cited the jail for not observing inmates in person at least once every hour and not documenting that jailers had undergone training on dealing with potentially suicidal inmates.

Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith said he liked the report and was already starting to implement parts of it. He said jail staff would undergo "de-escalation" training in June, and that the county has already applied for a state grant to purchase body cameras.

"I'm open, willing to listen, and while we may not all agree on everything ... we're going to move forward," Smith said. "We're going to make a difference."

But the news conference was contentious at times. One person questioned why more attention wasn't paid to the high fees many jails charge inmates to make phone calls. Another accused Washington of being used by authorities to cover up their mistakes in Bland's case, to which he angrily replied, "You're absolutely wrong."

If the sheriff's office implements the report, Washington said, "I bet you six months from now, a year from now, we'll turn around and say, `Wow, look at what they did in Waller County."'

Bland's family has sued the county and the trooper who arrested her.

"It shouldn't take somebody dying to be self-reflective," said the family's attorney, Cannon Lambert, who had not seen the report.

"It may be a legacy that Sandy leaves that through her death, advances are made," Lambert added. "To that end, obviously, we would hope that problems at the jail get rectified."
Dallas is the unfortunate owner of two of the Top 25 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods, according to a recently released study of FBI crime statistics.

Route 352 at Scyene Road broke Dallas into the Top 10 with a No. 9 showing. Not far behind at No. 12, 2nd Avenue and Hatcher Street.

The study ranked the danger in a neighborhood by calculating the number of violent crimes per 1,000 residents in a census tract, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Dallas' top showing was bested only by crime-riddled corridors in Cincinnati, Miami, Kansas City, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Memphis and Chicago -- the latter of which had four neighborhoods represented in the Top 25.

Detroit, which normally has a pretty bad rep crime-wise, barely broke into the Top 25 and finished 23rd.

Large cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Houston didn't place any neighborhoods in the Top 25.

Proudly, no other Texas cities made the list.
A Hollywood man was convicted Tuesday of conspiring to help kill the father and sister of a buddy's ex-girlfriend in Anaheim Hills, but jurors deadlocked on whether he should also be held liable for the actual murders.

Vitaliy Krasnoperov, 30, was previously found guilty of the 2007 killings and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but his conviction was overturned on appeal.

In his third trial, jurors deadlocked 11-1 for guilt on the charges related to the actual killings after several days of deliberations, prompting Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals to declare a mistrial on those counts.

Krasnoperov was ordered to return to court June 3 for a hearing on the deadlocked counts and possible sentencing. If prosecutors decide against going forward with a fourth trial, or the judge dismisses the remaining counts outright, Krasnoperov would face 25 years to life behind bars.

Krasnoperov, who has been in custody since 2007, would be eligible for a parole hearing in about 16 years, Senior Deputy District Attorney Howard Gundy said.

Defense attorney Michael Garey argued that his client shouldn't be held accountable for the conspiracy because the main defendant, Iftekhar Murtaza, who has been sentenced to death, engaged in a new conspiracy when Krasnoperov broke his right wrist in a motorcycle accident a little more than a week before the killings and, by all accounts, was not involved in the murders.

"He didn't participate in the murders and he didn't agree to be in a conspiracy," Garey told reporters after the latest verdict was announced. "And he never had any intent to see anyone killed."

Gundy argued that it didn't matter if Krasnoperov directly participated in the murders because the law still holds him accountable for helping to plan them and then obstructing justice after the fact.

Gundy also argued there was no second conspiracy, just an ongoing conspiracy that involved Murtaza, 31, recruiting co-defendant Charles Anthony Murphy Jr. instead.

Murphy, 31, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of Jayprakash Dhanak and his 20-year-old daughter, Karishma Dhanak, and the attempted murder of Leela Dhanak, Jayprakash's wife.

Krasnoperov's cellphone activity indicated he was far from the scene of the murders. But under a legal theory of aiding and abetting the killings, the 30-year-old defendant can be found guilty of murder, the prosecutor said.

Gundy said Krasnoperov was "best friends" with Murtaza and that the two discussed how to go about the murders in an online chat about a day after Murtaza's girlfriend, Shayona Dhanak, dumped him.

Murtaza's plan was to "isolate" his girlfriend from everyone else and become her "BFF" so she would run back to him after her family was killed, Gundy said.

Shayona Dhanak wanted to break up with Murtaza when she started as a freshman at UC Irvine, but wasn't sure how to go about doing it, so her mother suggested she blame the breakup on her parents since they "soured" on the relationship anyway, Gundy said.

Shayona Dhanak and Murtaza were caught in a "compromising position" in a car, which angered her parents, Gundy said.

Murtaza, who was a nonpracticing Muslim, figured the breakup was due to religious differences since his girlfriend's parents were devout Hindus, Gundy said.

Krasnoperov and Murtaza, according to transcripts of their chat, discussed hiring a hitman to kill the family, but it never came to fruition, Gundy said. The prosecutor said Krasnoperov reached out to a woman who emigrated to the U.S. from Russia, and who the defendant figured had connections to professional killers.

When Krasnoperov apparently had to bow out and the hitmen plan failed, the prosecutor said, Murtaza recruited Murphy.

A third man was along for the killings, but has not been identified.

The killers ambushed the victims in their home, but didn't finish the job against Leela Dhanak, who was found near death on a neighbor's lawn, Gundy said. The other two victims were taken to Mason Regional Park in Irvine about 4:15 a.m. on May 22, 2007, Gundy said.

Karishma appeared to have been burned alive and her throat slashed, but Jayprakash likely died before his body was brought to the park, Gundy said.

Murtaza was arrested on May 25, 2007, at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, where he was trying to catch a flight to Bangladesh, Gundy said.

After the murders, Krasnoperov met with Murtaza for about 90 minutes, Gundy said. He never mentioned that meeting with investigators, the prosecutor said.

Krasnoperov also suggested to investigators that Jayprakash Dhanak, who did time in federal prison for mail fraud, may have made enemies who targeted his family for death, Gundy said, adding it was "an effort to misdirect police away from Murtaza and himself."
The United Nations took a historic step Tuesday to open up the usually secret process of selecting the next secretary-general, giving all countries the chance to question candidates on such issues as how they would resist pressure from powerful nations, tackle sex abuse by U.N. peacekeepers, and improve efforts to achieve peace.

Montenegro's Foreign Minister Igor Luksic was the first of eight candidates to face members of the U.N. General Assembly, citing his small Balkan nation's multiethnic and multicultural diversity as well as his experience as a former prime minister and defense minister in seeking the U.N.'s top diplomatic post. UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and former U.N. refugee chief Antonio Guterres followed.

General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft called it "a historic moment ... without precedent at the United Nations."

"As the United Nations grapples with multiple crises and the organization deals with some fundamental questions regarding its own role and performance, finding the best possible candidates to succeed Ban Ki-moon is absolutely crucial," Lykketoft said. "For the first time since this organization started 70 years ago, the process for selecting and appointing the next secretary-general is being generally guided by the principles of transparency and inclusivity."

Under the U.N. Charter, the secretary-general is chosen by the 193-member General Assembly on the recommendation of the 15-member Security Council.

In practice, this has meant that the council's five permanent members  the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France  have veto power over the candidates. That will not change in deciding whom to recommend to succeed Ban, whose second five-year term ends on Dec. 31.

But Lykketoft told the assembly Tuesday that he views the question-and-answer sessions, which will continue through Thursday, "as a potential game-changer for the United Nations."

"If there is a critical mass of countries supporting one single candidate, I don't think the Security Council will be coming up with quite a different name," he said. But "if there are many, many candidates and no clear favorite, it could very well be that the absolute final word will be from the Security Council."

By tradition, the job of secretary-general has rotated among regions and Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe have all held the top U.N. post. East European nations, including Russia, argue that they have never had a secretary-general and it is their turn. There has also never been a woman secretary-general and a group of 56 nations are campaigning for the first female U.N. chief.

There are currently four women and four men who have thrown their hats in the ring  six from Eastern Europe, one from Western Europe and one from the Asia-Pacific region.

In addition to the three candidates questioned Wednesday, they are: former Macedonian Foreign Minister Srgjan Kerim; former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pucic; former Slovenian President Danilo Turk; former Moldovan Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman; and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who heads the U.N. Development Program.

While Tuesday's session was under way, another candidate announced his entry into the race: former Serbian foreign minister and General Assembly president Vuk Jeremic said in Belgrade that the government will be nominating him.

In his lead-off presentation, Luksic spoke in both English and French  the two working languages of the United Nations  and said thank you in the four other working languages as well, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Chinese. Both Bokova and Guterres added Spanish to French and English in their sessions.

Luksic stressed the importance of promoting women in top U.N. posts and said if the secretary-general is from a country in the developed north, the deputy secretary-general should be from the developing south. And he proposed that the deputy secretary-general be based in Nairobi to focus on implementing the new U.N. goals for 2030 to tackle poverty and preserve the environment as well as key regional issues.

Bokova, who is from Bulgaria, said "it's time to give women the opportunity to develop as equal members of society," adding that she has almost achieved gender parity in managerial positions at UNESCO. She said the secretary-general has "tremendous moral authority" and should use it to appeal to world leaders and civil society on key global issues.

Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister, said the most important job of the secretary-general is to deliver results.

"Let's be clear: We have too many meetings, with too many people, discussing too many issues with too little decisions," he said.

Algeria, representing the Non-Aligned Movement of more than 100 developing countries, asked Luksic how he would resist pressure from the major powers. The Montenegro minister suggested that the question be asked after a first five-year term saying "the only way to measure it is by results."

Guterres said in response to the same question: "I cannot say that I can avoid pressure. I can resist pressure."
Already behind the curve in organizing for the Republican convention, Donald Trump has missed crucial deadlines in a number of states to lock up delegates who would stay loyal beyond the first ballot.

Trump's shortcomings in this behind-the-scenes campaign, which hasn't played much of a role in selecting the GOP nominee in decades, could doom his presidential candidacy if he is unable to win the nomination in the initial voting at this summer's national convention in Cleveland.

After that first ballot, most delegates are no longer bound to support the winner of their state's party primary or caucuses  they're free agents who can support the candidate of their choosing.

Most of the actual delegates are elected at state and congressional district conventions run by party insiders, members of the Republican establishment that Trump has run against from the outset of his campaign.

And while Trump's team has had little contact with these loyal party activists, his chief rival for the Republican nomination, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, has been actively courting them for months.

Trump has spent the past three days hammering at his party's delegate selection process as "unfair."

At a rally in Rome, New York, Tuesday evening, Trump angrily denounced Saturday's final allocation of all of Colorado's delegates to Cruz, blasting the party's system as "rigged" and "corrupt."

Trump's team is only now starting to engage in the delegate selection process, the choosing of the actual people who will attend and vote at the convention. Republicans have already selected delegates in at least nine states. And in others, such as Virginia and Arizona, the deadline to apply to be a delegate has passed.

Indiana's primary, for example, won't take place until next month. But the deadline to become a national convention delegate was in mid-March.

"Are we concerned? Yes, definitely," said Tony Samuel, vice chairman of Trump's Indiana campaign.

The Cruz team feels the opposite.

"Even if (Trump) jumped into high gear, he can't do it," said Shak Hill, a Cruz campaign leader in Virginia. "That's where he's been shut out of the game."

Trump's delegates must vote for him on the first ballot at the convention. But if no one gets a majority, most of the delegates can then bolt if they choose.

Trump is the only candidate with a realistic path to the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination before the convention. But the path is narrow, and Cruz is working to block him.

Cruz has built an organization of volunteers who are working in state after state to get his supporters selected as delegates, even those who must vote for Trump at first.

Trump is just ramping up his operation, but in some states he's too late.

In Virginia  a state where Trump won the primary  he has missed the deadlines to assemble lists of potential delegates. Cruz, however, has delegate candidates in 10 of Virginia's 11 congressional districts.

The application deadline was last month.

Indiana's primary is May 3, but 27 of the state's 57 delegates  the actual people  have already been selected at congressional district caucuses. The deadline to register as a candidate for delegate was March 15.

In all, at least nine states have picked some or all of their delegates: Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, North Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

Trump has won a total of 100 delegates in primaries and caucuses in these states. In most, however, the candidates had no formal role in selecting the people who will fill those slots.

To help manage the process, Trump's campaign hired a convention manager, Paul Manafort, last week. Manafort helped lead the fight against Ronald Reagan's challenge of then-President Gerald Ford at the 1976 Republican convention in Kansas City.

Manafort has accused Cruz's campaign of strong-arming would-be delegates and said in an interview with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity airing Tuesday night that he shared concerns with his boss.

"The point that Donald Trump was making is that the process in Colorado was being abused and it's not that the rules themselves were unknown, it's the way the rules were applied," Manafort said, according to a transcript provided by the network. "We're seeing the same mistakes in Colorado, Missouri and Louisiana. And so the mistakes are not really mistakes  it's a pattern."

However, he said Trump was successful in selecting delegates in Michigan, and predicted the same in Nevada.

"In fact, we wiped him out," Manafort said in an NBC interview Sunday. "And we're going to see Ted Cruz get skunked in Nevada."

Former South Carolina Republican Chairman Katon Dawson, who has been publicly neutral in the race, said he's seen no difference in Trump's delegate strategy since Manafort's hire.

Said Dawson, a veteran national GOP strategist, "He's not a household name or miracle worker by any stretch."

Trump won all 50 of South Carolina's delegates. But in order to be a delegate at the national convention, you had to be a delegate at last year's state convention.

"The people that are going to fill those slots were already selected anyway," said Republican political consultant Tony Denny, who has been a delegate to three previous GOP national conventions.

Cruz has already done a lot of groundwork to get supporters selected as delegates in South Carolina.

"The delegate selection process is in their DNA," Denny said of Cruz's ground operation.
U2 front man Bono brought his star power to Capitol Hill Tuesday as he called on members of Congress to take swift action to deal with the global refugee crisis and violent extremism.

In testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Bono drew a bleak picture as he described the flood of people fleeing their homes in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The human torrent threatens the very idea of European unity, he said, as he urged lawmakers to think of foreign aid as national security instead of charity.

"When aid is structured properly, with a focus on fighting poverty and improving governance, it could just be the best bulwark we have against the extremism of our age," Bono said.

Wearing his trademark rose-tinted glasses, Bono said members of Congress need to confront an "existential threat" to Europe that hasn't been seen since the 1940s. Countries such as Poland and Hungary are moving to the right politically, a shift he described as a "hyper nationalism." The United Kingdom is even considering leaving the European Union.

"This is unthinkable stuff," he said. "And you should be very nervous in America about it."

Africa, in particular, is grappling with what Bono called a phenomenon of three extremes  ideology, poverty and climate.

"Those three extremes make one unholy trinity of an enemy and our foreign policy needs to face in that direction," he said. "It's even bigger than you think."

Bono said he understood the financial stress the U.S. and other nations are under as they debate how much foreign aid to allot. But he warned the bills will only get bigger without action.

"If you don't do it now, it's going to cost a lot more later," he said. "I do know that."

In Syria, five years of violence has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced another 11 million from their homes. Nearly 174,000 migrants have reached Europe by sea since the beginning of this year alone and 723 are missing or dead, many drowning in the cold, rough waters, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Before sitting at the witness table, Bono posed for photos with three members of Code Pink, who wore pink tiaras and held cardboard torches and signs reading "Refugees Welcome."

Cameras whirred furiously as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the subcommittee chairman, quipped: "So this is what it's like to be chopped liver." Bono joined a congressional delegation led by Graham that just returned from Africa and the Middle East.

Bono co-founded the One Campaign, an advocacy group that works to end poverty and preventable disease.
Police are searching for a local boxer and actor accused of punching his girlfriend in the head inside their Brooklyn home early Tuesday, critically injuring her, police sources say.

Josh Luteran, 30, allegedly assaulted his 38-year-old girlfriend at their home in the area of Bedford and Jefferson avenues in Bedford-Stuyvesant at about 1 a.m., police said.

Top Tri-State News Photos

The two had been fighting over money, according to police sources.

By the time cops responded to the home, Luteran had left, police said. The woman taken to Methodist Hospital in critical condition and was placed in a medically induced coma.

A busboy at a local bar near the couple's home recalled seeing police there after closing time.

"They didn't come in because we were closing up, but they pulled up," said Ronnie Burke.

Burke remembered seeing Luteran just a few weeks ago.

"He comes here and there, usually pops in, has his drinks, eats with his girl or his friends and just leaves," he said.

Eduardo Tlapa, a clerk at another local store, described Luteran as "just a regular customer, just comes here and buys stuff, nothing else."

Luteran is a local boxer, Patch.com reports, and has fought in local tournaments, including one at the Barclays Center.

He also appears to be an actor. There are several audition videos of him posted to Vimeo and YouTube, including one as recently as last month. His Facebook page features professionally shot photos.

Despite his being a boxer, his fists wouldn't be considered a deadly weapon in New York.

"A fight between two individuals, a boxer or someone proficient in karate, won't elevate the crime into a more serious assault," said Peter Frankel, a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS.

Josh Luteran Demo Acting Reel from Cassandra Munoz on Vimeo.
At least 13 school districts in northern New Jersey were targeted by a robo-called bomb threats Wednesday morning, the latest cluster of a day-disrupting hoax that has become increasingly common in the state.

Schools targeted on Wednesday were all in Bergen and Passaic counties and included districts in Fair Lawn, Englewood, Passaic Valley, Hawthorne, Midland Park, Lodi, Elmwood Park, Fort Lee, Leonia, Hackensack, Garfield and Paramus.

Classes at all of the schools affected by the threats were cleared by bomb squads and classes resumed before noon.

At least two of the schools that received threats were on break this week, authorities said. Some others were undergoing standardized testing.

"We have to continue tomorrow," said student Liam Perfetti, who added that he had been ready for the derailed standardized tests.

Chopper 4 footage caught students being cleared out of a school in Lodi. Several other schools were also evacuated or placed on lockdown they were searched by police.

"I felt safe because we were being escorted by police and we were far from the building," said student Jasrup Singh.

Schools in northern New Jersey have been targeted by threats many times in the last several months. In January, 11 schools received robotic-sounding voicemail messages routed through California that alluded to explosives or mass shootings.

In Bergen County alone, there have been 31 bomb threats at schools since January, not including Wednesday's threats. Sixty-four schools were searched in those threats.

That's a significant jump from 2016, when the sheriff's office said it responded to 16 bomb threats.

New Jersey hasn't been alone, either. Areas across the country have been targeted by concurrent threats that closed down multiple school districts.
North Korea has tried warnings of nuclear attack and racist diatribes to criticize U.S. President Barack Obama. Now it's turning to Abraham Lincoln.

North Korea's state media have constructed an imaginary letter from the 16th U.S. president that attacks Obama's "deception" over Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons. It is the latest response from the North to rising animosity with Washington following Pyongyang's nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year.

The letter, posted only in Korean on the DPRK Today website, is likely aimed at a domestic audience. DPRK Today is a relatively little known outlet compared with the North's main Korean Central News Agency and the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, which outsiders regularly check to find news from the authoritarian country.

The letter is titled "Advice from Lincoln to Obama."

"Hey, Obama," it begins. "I know you have a lot on your mind these days ... I've decided to give you a little advice after seeing you lost in thought before my portrait during a recent Easter Prayer Breakfast."

In the letter, Lincoln derides Obama's Nobel Peace Prize-winning push to build a nuclear-free world by questioning why the United States has not taken the initiative to scale back its nuclear arsenal first, even as it asks countries such as North Korea to scrap their atomic programs.

"If the United States, a country with the world's largest nuclear weapons stockpile, only pays lip service, like a parrot, and doesn't do anything actively, it will be a mockery to the entire world," the letter has Lincoln say.

Although the fake Lincoln criticizes Obama, the North doesn't portray the late president as a good leader.

"Hey, Obama, it's the 21st Century," the letter says. "The tactic by past American presidents, including me, who deceived the people ... is outdated. That doesn't work now. The world doesn't trust an America that doesn't take responsibility for what it says."

North Korea's state media has often used harsh language against U.S. and South Korean leaders in times of tension. In recent weeks, Pyongyang has stepped up rhetoric against Washington and Seoul during their annual springtime military drills, which it calls an invasion rehearsal. The drills are set to end later this month.

In 2014, the North's state news agency, KCNA, called Obama a "monkey." Earlier that year, it called Secretary of State John Kerry a wolf with a "hideous lantern jaw" after U.S. and South Korean troops launched summertime drills.

The North has also called South Korean President Park Geun-hye a "prostitute" numerous times.
Fire crews evacuated workers from a Delaware County office building Wednesday afternoon after several people were sickened by fumes in the building.

Shortly after 1 p.m., crews responded to International Plaza in Tinicum Township, to an office building that houses several businesses. Authorities in Delaware County said that the fourth and fifth floors, which serve as office space for AmeriHealth Insurance, were filled with some kind of fume that caused an odor. Firefighters evacuated workers from both floors, and one person was taken to a local hospital. Several others were being evaluated to determine whether they, too, would require hospital treatment.

Investigators are still working to determine the source of the odor and fumes.
San Francisco police were able to catch a car vandal thanks to a tip received from a witness. But unfortunately the Good Samaritan is paying a price for doing the right thing.

Exchange student Lisa Simon lost her dog when the suspect chased her and her roommate down the street for calling police on him. Simon, who is taking classes at the Academy of Art, is now mired in thousands of dollars in medical bills after her dog, Achilles, was found after the incident with a broken leg.

Seeing the 9-month-old Siberian Husky in pain is heartbreaking for Simon, who adopted Achilles after moving to the United States from Luxembourg.

"He wants to play. He wants to run, and now he's limited," Simon said.

Last Monday, Simon and her roommate, Valerie Fletcher, were walking home with Achilles near Industrial Street and Revere Avenue when they heard glass breaking.

The noise was a man breaking into cars. After noticing them, the car vandal approached the roommates and asked if they saw anything.

"And he's like, 'I'm going to kill the both of you,'" Simon said.

Simon and Fletcher take off running and call 911 while the suspect chases after them with a crowbar. During the chase, Fletcher makes a tough decision and lets go of Achilles.

"I had to let him go out of my hands just because this guy was looming on me after I fell," Fletcher said.

Police were able to arrest the suspect shortly after Simon called 911.

"She saw this person committing a crime," SFPD Officer Carlos Manfredi said. "She potentially stopped him from breaking more car windows."

But Achilles is found hours later with a broken femur and hip bone.

The roommates take out a loan to partially pay for surgery so Achilles can avoid amputation. Both Simon and Fletcher still owe thousands of dollars. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for the costs.

"Even if he had a surgery and it made me bankrupt, I'd do it," Simon said.

Police said the suspect has been charged with vandalism and aggravated assault.
A bomb threat to Naval Base San Diego prompted the temporary lockdown and search of the area, U.S. Navy authorities said. The threat is similar to previous threats.

The note, found in a portapotty at approximatrly 1 p.m., prompted authorities to lock down Pier 7, said Brian O'Rourke, a media relations officer for Navy Region Southwest.

Officials combed through USS Essex but did not find anything. As of 2:26 p.m., authorities say they are standing down on their search.

No injuries have been reported.

O'Rourke said the note was similar to previous reported threats. Officials with Naval Criminal Investigative Service and BAE Systems are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in a series of a dozen false threats made on local military facilities and shipyards.

NCIS officials say various threats - first received in November 2015 - have caused work stoppage to maintenance and repair work being conducted on U.S. Navy ships. The first threat was written inside a portable toilet on a ship at the NASSCO shipyard on Friday, Nov. 6, 2015.

Anyone with information concerning these incidents can contact NCIS at (619) 556-1364. To offer tip information anonymously, text to 274637 (CRIMES). Type "NCIS" at the beginning of the text, type the message and then send.

No other information was immediately available.
An attorney for the man accused in the grisly slaying of a young San Diego woman whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase claims the suspect was the victims friend, not her killer.

San Diego County Deputy Public Defender Katie Belisle released a statement to NBC 7 Wednesday about suspect Joshua Palmer, 32, who is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of his co-worker, Shauna Haynes, 21.

Mr. Palmer, Miss Haynes, and their friends worked in the bar and restaurant industry here in San Diego. A group familiar with each other, who worked together into the wee hours of the morning and socialized together after work, Belisle said. Mr. Palmer was a friend of Miss Haynes - not her murderer.

Palmer was arrested on April 8 in San Diego on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with Haynes death. At his arraignment Tuesday, Palmer pleaded not guilty. His bail was set at $2 million.

Prosecutors alleged Palmer  who worked with Haynes at the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant in downtown San Diego  went out one night last week with Haynes.

Prosecutors said the pair went to Palmers home after that outing. There, Palmer allegedly beat and strangled Haynes and then stuffed her body into a suitcase.

He allegedly dumped the luggage near some trash bins behind his apartment complex in the 1300 block of 7th Avenue and A Street in downtown San Diego.

A resident discovered the suitcase on April 6  with Haynes lifeless body inside  and homicide detectives with the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) launched an investigation into the gruesome crime.

At Palmers arraignment, San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Martin Doyle said the suspect attempted to cover Haynes murder by cleaning his home and sending messages from the victims phone.

He wiped down his apartment, gathered the bedding and clothing, San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Martin Doyle said. [He] made a number of misleading text messages from the victims phone to family members in an effort to disguise what he had done.

The motive for the killing has yet to be disclosed by investigators. Prosecutors confirmed Palmer and Haynes worked together at the Old Spaghetti Factory in downtown's Gaslamp Quarter  not far from where Haynes was found dead.

They were platonic friends, prosecutors said.

According to court records, Palmer has no criminal history in San Diego County.

Records show Palmer did have some run-ins with the law in two cities where he once resided: Webster in Harris County, Texas, and Yorba Linda in Orange County, California.

Court records say that in 2006 Harris County prosecutors filed a charge for a fraudulent check against Palmer. The amount stolen was less than $500. In 2010, Harris County courts dismissed the case after no arrest was made.

In 2012, Palmer pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor DUI charge in Orange County. He was sentenced to two days in jail and informal probation in connection with that case, along with court fines. Records indicate he may have had some sort of probation violation in 2015, leading to his probation being extended to 54 months, but details of that violation were not available.

Palmer is scheduled to appear in court again on April 28. Booking records indicate his preliminary hearing has been tentatively scheduled for June 13.

Haynes was a 2013 graduate of Grossmont High School in San Diego's East County.

Haynes friends held a tearful vigil for the young woman Sunday at the site where the suitcase was found. They described Haynes as a vibrant, caring person with a warm demeanor.

Meanwhile, NBC 7 spoke with an acquaintance of Palmers Wednesday, who wished to remain anonymous.

The suspects acquaintance said he met Palmer through classes at Landmark, an institution that offers training and development programs.

He said Landmark cut ties with Palmer after he made some disturbing statements.

"He had the most intense eyes ever," the suspects acquaintance told NBC 7. "You look at him and you wonder whats going on in his head. There [are] some things he said that gave people the heebie-jeebies."

A spokesperson for Landmark confirmed Palmer took some classes there in 2015, but hasn't participated in the program since September 2015.

The Landmark spokesperson released this statement to NBC 7 Wednesday:

"He made a disturbing statement about his past military service, which we reported to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), which informed us that there was no basis for what Mr. Palmer had said, and that he had been dismissed from the United States Marines after three months of boot camp."

At that point, Landmark told Palmer he was no longer welcome to participate in its programs.

This was concerning to at least one person who knew him.

"Landmark was his life. He was there all the time," Palmers acquaintance explained. "I was concerned about his well-being when they kicked him out."

NBC 7 reached out the Old Spaghetti Factory again on Wednesday and a spokesperson for the eatery said the company did not want to comment on the relationship between Haynes and Palmer.



Instead, a company spokesperson said the restaurant is focused on supporting Haynes family and helping employees cope with her tragic death.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on this case can call the SDPDS Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
Canada's Parliament agreed Tuesday to hold an emergency debate on a suicide crisis in a remote aboriginal community after 11 people, nine of them minors, attempted suicide over the weekend and more than a dozen youths were overheard making a suicide pact.

Lawmaker Charlie Angus, who represents the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat, said in Parliament the youth suicide crisis has shocked the world and people are asking how Canada can leave so many people behind. The full debate is later Tuesday.

Attawapiskat, population 2,000, declared a state of emergency Saturday. There have been about 100 suicide attempts since September and at least one death.

Anna Betty Achneepineskum of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation said police brought a 9-year-old and 12 others to a hospital on Monday for an evaluation after hearing them make a suicide pact.

The crisis spotlights the often bleak conditions for Canada's indigenous peoples.

"The conditions that First Nations and Inuit communities are facing are absolutely unacceptable and the mental health of young people particularly in these communities is devastating," Health Minister Jane Philpott said in Parliament.

"It is completely unacceptable that a country as rich in resources as Canada that young people should get to the point where their life seems worthless and they want to end it. We must respond to this."

Philpott said five mental health workers had arrived in the community and said they are investing more than $300 million per year in mental wellness in aboriginal communities.

Aboriginal youth are five to six times more likely to die by suicide than others. New Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the Attawapiskat news "heartbreaking" and said the government will work to improve living conditions for all indigenous peoples. Chiefs have often complained about a lack of money for tribal education and the poor conditions of reserves. Indigenous people are angered by the disparities between their standard of living and that of the rest of Canada.

Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Zimmer said fly-in communities present their own long-standing issues.

"They are very, very remote, they're small, there's no economy, there is a sense  especially among the younger people  of despair, a lack of opportunity and it leads to depression and anxiety and these sorts of things," Zimmer said.
The 10-year-old boy who was critically injured in a crash while riding his bicycle in Waldorf, Maryland, has died.

Charles County police say James Maples was crossing McDaniel Road in a designated crosswalk when he was struck by a car Sunday afternoon.

Police say Maples suffered life-threatening head trauma despite wearing a helmet. He died at the hospital two days later.

The fifth-grader was with his mother and two friends when he was hit.

The driver of the Nissan Altima that struck him stopped after hitting him. There were no skid marks.

Police are investigating whether it was a case of distracted driving. They are checking phone records and how fast she was driving.

No charges have been filed at this time.

Residents told News4 people drive too fast in the area.

The crosswalk is clearly marked, and signs warn drivers to watch for pedestrians and bikers.
A man sexually assaulted a 77-year-old woman in her own home inside a Fairfax County apartment complex for senior citizens and people with disabilities, police said.

The woman was in her home with the door closed but unlocked April 5 when a man entered, spoke with her and sexually assaulted her, Fairfax County Police said. The attacker robbed the woman and left.

Residents in the Forest Glen at Sully Station complex said they were unaware of the disturbing crime.

The complex has two buildings on Woodmere Court in Centreville. Just inside the front door of one building is a security door residents said often was propped open during ongoing construction work.

Detectives are looking for security camera footage and trying to get a detailed description of the attacker. Police described him as a black man, between 30 to 40 years old and about 6 feet tall.

A spokesperson for Eagle Point Development, the owner of the apartments, released the following statement on Wednesday:

We go to great lengths to provide a safe, secure environment for our residents and we are devastated by reports of this attack. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement to pursue every possible avenue to apprehend the attacker. During the course of our efforts to remodel and improve living conditions at the apartment community we will continue to monitor construction activities and reinforce the use of the controlled-access system for residents and their visitors. 
A Maryland doctor was sentenced Monday to more than nine years in prison in a $3.1 million health care scheme fraud involving Medicare, Medicaid and other programs.

Paramjit Singh Ajrawat, 60, owned and operated a Greenbelt pain clinic with his wife, also a doctor. Prosecutors say the couple defrauded federal health benefit programs by allegedly performing less expensive procedures and falsely billing for procedures with higher reimbursement amounts.

In other cases, the couple filed claims for procedures that either hadn't been performed at all, prosecutors say.

For example, according to prosecutors, the couple submitted claims that Ajrawat had performed nerve block injections with the use of an imaging guidance machine, but he hadn't owned nor used one of those machines.

Ajrawat, of Potomac, was sentenced Monday to 111 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution of more than $3.1 million.

"This lengthy sentence sends a powerful message that doctors who defraud health insurance programs will be held accountable," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.

Ajrawat was convicted in September of health care fraud, two counts of making a false statement related to a health care program, four counts of wire fraud, and other charges.

Ajrawat's wife, 57-year-old Sukhveen Kaur Ajrawat, was also convicted in the case. However, Sukhveen Ajrawat died Feb. 1.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has vetoed 32 bills this year, the most of any governor since 1998.

McAuliffe, a Democrat, said he's fulfilling a promise to block restrictions to abortion, gay rights, and other liberal priorities, The Washington Post reports.

Republicans said McAuliffe's high number of vetoes shows that he and his staff are disengaged from the legislative process. Republicans control both chambers of the General Assembly.

Lawmakers are set to return to the Capitol later this month to consider McAuliffe's vetoes and amendments. With a nearly evenly split Senate, it's unlikely that Republicans can muster a two-thirds majority in both chambers required to undo a governor's veto.
Neighbors say they wish a Virginia mother frustrated by a baby that wouldn't stop crying had reached out to them for help.

Instead, Leah Arrington, 35, is accused of stabbing her three-month-old baby.

It seems like she couldve cried out to somebody," said Verleanor Cobb, who lives nearby in Woodbridge, Virginia. She couldve knocked at the door; she couldve done something. It just hurts me.

Arrington is in jail and will appear in court Friday, where a judge will consider whether she can be released on bond.

Her baby, meanwhile, is being treated at a hospital.

"Right now, the baby is still in critical condition, but were hopeful that the baby will survive," said Officer Nathan Probus of Prince William County Police.

Police said the baby would not stop crying, and "the mother just got agitated," Probus said. Police said the mother reacted by stabbing the baby, then called the baby's father.

The father called 911.

Neighbors, meanwhile, are still stunned.

She seemed pleasant and everything like that," said Cobb. I was shocked; I was really shocked.
Community leaders believe the recent spate of violence at Metro locations is not just a transit agency safety issue. They said it's a larger problem with teen violence in the District.

Members of a panel discussion, called Understanding Juvenile Justice in The District of Columbia, talked Tuesday about the causes of teen crime and what officials and others can do to stop it. The office of the attorney general of the District, D.C. Metropolitan police and Family Court officials attended the event.

What we're experiencing are that there are large segments of the population where kids are living in situations where they don't have enough responsible adults around them, giving them positive influences, said Karl Racine, the attorney general of the District of Columbia.

Youths need services and positive role models, he said.

The kids we see, who come into the criminal justice system, can benefit from services that directly relate to mental health issues, behavioral issues, parenting, Racine said.

People said gangs, unemployment, broken families and peer pressure are all contributing factors to youth violence.

Some conflicts start online. According to court documents, a witness to Monday's Deanwood stabbing death told investigators that John Evans III, 15, and Jovante Hall, 20, "were engaged in a verbal altercation stemming from social media, and they both threatened to harm each other physically."

There are individual youth issues, said Hillary Cairns, deputy administrator of youth services for the D.C. Department of Human Services. We really work to address the youth and the family, and often times, it is better to work with the whole family together and not just the youth in isolation.

It is sometimes challenging to reach this generation, but these people won't stop trying.
Verizon workers are preparing to strike Wednesday morning in Boston in response to executives planning to cut jobs.

The Massachusetts Jobs with Justice organization said nearly 40,000 employees plan to strike Wednesday morning at 6 a.m.

The Communications Workers of American released a statement on behalf of the workers.

The statement said, "Given Verizons enormous profitability there is no justification for the companys continuing demands to destroy good middle-class jobs and offshore work. Workers have negotiated in good faith for ten months and addressed the companys primary concern, which they told us was limiting health care costs. Workers and the customers who depend on us would be much better served if Verizon returned to the bargaining table and negotiated a fair agreement that fairly addressed the concerns of their workforce."

It also said the Verizon executives were "trying to rig the system against working families."

The strike will take place at the Verizon Building located at 6 Bowdoin Square in Boston.
A 16-year-old Massachusetts boy has been issued a citation for motor vehicle homicide in connection with a deadly crash over the weekend in Weymouth.

Police say the teen driver, who wasn't identified, was also issued a citation for failing to keep right, speeding and a junior operator violation.

Fifteen-year-old Kate McCarthy, a Weymouth resident and sophomore at Archbishop Williams High School in nearby Braintree, was killed in the crash that happened on Union Street Saturday night.

There were two other passengers in the teen's car on the night of the crash who were also injured in the crash.

The teen will appear at Quincy District Court on misdemeanor charges.

The investigation is ongoing.

Stay with necn and www.necn.com as this story develops.
Police in Lowell, Massachusetts, located a father who took off with his 10-month-old daughter on Tuesday afternoon.

According to the police, Calvin Sulzle, age 24, was met at Logan Airport this morning and accompanied detectives from the Family Services Unit to the Lowell Police Station.

Officers learned the child was safe with family members in Colorado.

According to the police department, officers responded to 26 Walnut Street on Monday morning and filed a 51A or child abuse allegation against Sulzle.

The Department of Children and Families decided to go to the apartment Monday afternoon and take custody of the child but Sulzle would not cooperate and left before DCF arrived.

On Tuesday, a judge issued a court order to take custody of the child but when police arrived at the residence, they learned Sulzle had fled the state with the child.

Police believe he is heading to Mission, South Dakota, where he is a member of the Native American tribe the Sioux Rosebud Tribe.

Sulzle is described as a Native American male, 5'10'', 150 lbs, black hair in a 'Faux Hawk style.

The child is Summer Monteiro-Bravehawk, 27', 25 lbs.

Anyone with information is urged to contact police.
Some local high school students are taking advantage of dual enrollment opportunities to get a leg up on the college experience.

Eighty students from Framingham and Natick, MA, are taking classes through a new program called Partner High School Dual Enrollment. Twice a week, they head to MassBay Community College to take the college-level class Introduction to Communication.

"It's a great opportunity for high school students to actually see what it's like in a college course, in a college classroom, and they're earning credit," said Lisa Slavin, Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management at MassBay.

Thanks to a state grant, it's all free of cost, from tuition to books and even transportation.

"We want to make sure we're giving opportunities to students who may not actually see themselves going to college, and once they get into the classroom, they really think that this is the next step for them," Slavin said.

Dual enrollment classes at MassBay include students of all ages, some taking on mentoring roles for their younger peers.

"The best thing about this course, the entire program really, is that it creates a diverse environment in which students of different backgrounds, personal responsibilities, and educational paths can exchange ideas," said adjunct professor Denise Barsky.

The experience has given students a taste of higher education before graduating from high school.

"I think that being a dual enrollment student is going to make me mature in a way, more responsible," said Gabe Dasilva, a junior at Framingham High School.

"It's teaching me the techniques that colleges use to prepare you," said Abigail Addopleh, Framingham High junior. "I want to be a doctor. And I pray that happens."

The Commonwealth Dual Enrollment Partnership is managed and supported by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Last year, the program had more than 1,600 students enrolled.
Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg says senators will debate a public accommodations bill next month that would expand protections for transgender people.

The Amherst Democrat said in a speech to Boston business leaders Wednesday that failure to act could have "disastrous" implications for the state's economy. He referenced the outcry over new laws in other states, including a North Carolina law that among other things requires transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding to the sex listed on their birth certificate.

The Massachusetts bill would expand a 2011 law banning discrimination against transgender people in the workplace and in housing by also banning discrimination in restaurants, malls, restrooms and other public accommodations.

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker says he supports the current law but has yet to endorse the proposed changes.
Police in Methuen, Massachusetts, arrested two people after the pursuit crossed state lines into New Hampshire then back into Massachusetts.

According to the Methuen Police Department, the pursuit resulted in two motor vehicle crashes involving police cruisers.

Officers arrested the driver, Chad Tombarello, 30 of Lawrence, and charged him with Operating to Endanger, Failing to Stop for a Police Officer, Speeding, Marked Lane Violations, Resisting Arrest, Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon, Assault and Battery, and Operating a Motor Vehicle with a Revoked License.

Tombarello was wanted on other warrants out of Massachusetts for Receiving Stolen Property (Felony), Motor Vehicle Charges and Intimidating a Witness (Felony), and Assault and Battery, and Threats to Commit a Crime.

The passenger, Natasha Johnson, age 23, of Haverhill, was arrested and charged with Disorderly Conduct.

Around noon officers initiated the pursuit with Tombarello after he failed to stop for an officer near the MSPCA building on Broadway.

He began driving on the wrong side of the road and drove onto Route 213 westbound.

He headed north on I-93 and crossed into New Hampshire where New Hampshire State Police took over the pursuit.

Salem, New Hampshire, police also assisted when Tombarello exited I-93 and entered the town.

Tombarello allegedly crashed into a Salem Police cruiser then proceeded to Route 97 where he re-entered Massachusetts.

He continued into Mehthuen, then Haverhill, eventually crashing into a New Hampshire State Police cruiser where he could not continue.

Tombarello fled on foot but was arrested by Methuen Police with the help of Salem officers and the New Hampshire State Police.

Johnson also fled but was located near the scene.

Both suspects are being held pending arraignment.
Three people were arrested and $54,000 worth of heroin seized as part of a drug investigation this week in Maine.

Three children - ages 2, 6 and 11 - were at the home at the time it was searched and are now in the custody of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

Following a six-month investigation, Washington County deputies and Maine Drug Enforcement Agency agents said they searched the home of Tara Townsend and James Ritchie on Route 1 in Perry, Maine, late Tuesday night.

Seized during the search was approximately 135 grams of heroin with a street value of $54,000, along with other evidence of drug trafficking.

Townsend, 35, Ritchie, 59, and Felix Gracia, 37, of Waterbury, Connecticut, were all charged with aggravated heroin trafficking. Gracia was also wanted on outstanding warrants out of his home state. Bail was set at $100,000 cash for all three suspects, and they were scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.

Additional arrests are expected.

"The end result of this investigation shows what we can accomplish by agencies working together," Washington County Sheriff Barry Curtis said in a statement.

The Pleasant Point Police Department and Maine State Police assisted in the investigation.
Worcester, Massachusetts, police arrested a man who made a bomb threat inside the Worcester Public Library on Tuesday afternoon.

According to the police department, officers responded to the library located at 3 Salem Square for a report of a bomb threat.

Once on scene, officers observed a member of the library staff standing next to an unknown male as well as a backpack nearby.

Officers directed people further back to a safer distance.

The staff member informed the officers that the male next to him was in possession of the backpack and was involved in making a bomb threat.

Roberto Lopez, age 19, of 25 Queen Street, told the officers the backpack was his and added that there were stereo parts inside but no bomb.

Officers learned Lopez informed a female in the building that he had a bomb in the backpack.

Library staff members escorted Lopez out of the building soon after.

Officers went through the backpack and found stereo speakers, cell phones, wires, and an amplifier.

Lopez was placed under arrest and charged with Possession of a Hoax Device, Threats causing Evacuation or Disruption, and Making Bomb threats.
Money, money, must be funny, in a rich man's world

Andrew Bryant looks at our attitudes to wealth in the light of recent scandals, and concludes that we all may be part of the problem.

The Panama Papers have once again highlighted that this is a rich man's world. The rich are very good at keeping rich and with that comes power and influence - and their own set of rules.



Everyone seems to have the right to comment on what the poor spend their money on, what they eat and how they live their lives - the rich can do what they like. Those on benefits are portrayed as scroungers; the rich are our patrons to whom we must be grateful.



Despite the initial fuss over the Panama Papers it its still seen as better to be a tax dodger than a benefit cheat. We are supposed to be grateful for all the benefits the rich bring, even though by their tax avoidance they damage the income available to support the poorest.



Economic migrants who are poor and in need are to be kept out, those who are wealthy are welcomed as an asset despite their impact on housing prices and regardless of how they came by their wealth. The poor are seen as instinctively feckless whilst the rich are instinctively worthy - but it is seen as ungrateful to ask who the rich may have exploited to make their wealth.



Without doubt it is a rich man's world  and, yes, it is mainly men - but it is not very funny.



But before we start planning the revolution and building the barricades - what of our part, my part, in all of this. The rich are, of course, those who have more than us. I am not rich...or am I?



If right now you have money in your pocket, you belong to the world's richest 10%. The money in my purse (without even getting into the credit and bank cards) would be to the majority in the world riches more than they could dream of.



And we, the richest 10%, so often treat the poor of the world exactly as we complain the rich in our own society treat the poor. Our lifestyles increasingly rely on harnessing the economies of other nations to supply our needs. We are slow to engage with climate change as it means reigning in our lifestyle, and its worst effects impact countries largely out of sight of our travels.



And we dislike it when they come knocking on our door saying they want a share of what we have got - these are called economic migrants and are sent home.



We to readily point to a mythical "them" - the ungrateful poor or the unfeeling rich - but globally maybe, just maybe, we too are just as much part of the problem.



In the end finger-pointing rarely solves anything. Instead the conversation we need to have is about the type of society and the type of global community we want to have. This is surely what we mean when we speak of the Kingdom of God. At the heart of the Christian gospel is not a call to grow the Church but to build the Kingdom - a world where all know peace and justice and the riches of creation are used for the good of all.



And just maybe all this needs to begin with me accepting less so that others may have more?



The Revd Andrew Bryant is the Canon for Mission and Pastoral Care at Norwich Cathedral. He was previously Team Rector of Portishead, Bristol, in the Diocese of Bath and Wells, and has served in parishes in the Guildford and Lichfield Dioceses, as well as working for twelve years with Kaleidoscope Theatre, a charity promoting integration through theatre for young adults with Downs Syndrome.



You can read Andrew's latest blog entry here and can follow him via his new Twitter account @AndyBry3 .



The views carried here are those of the author, not of Network Norwich and Norfolk, and are intended to stimulate constructive debate between website users.
We all live in fear of the Internet going down, whether it be via a government kill switch or a nefarious hacking group.

The operators of one swanky hotel in Japan understand the public's unease, and have taken pains to assure patrons that really, the Internet will only be inaccessible from the facility for 1 minute, and at 4AM at that.

A friend who is working in Japan this week shared the photo above of a note from the Palace Hotel Tokyo's housekeeping staff, and she commented: "Only in Japan... The detail and thoughtfulness and modesty that pervades everything here is truly admirable."

Though the crankier traveler might ask: Really? I expect 5 nines of reliability on the Internet at this 4.5-star hotel!

FROM THE ARCHIVES: IETF attendees re-engineer their hotel's WiFi network
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun with gusty winds. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 79F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 62F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph.
NOTICE: This Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) is intended for persons living in Australia.

terbinafine Consumer Medicine Information

What is in this leaflet This leaflet answers some common questions about Lamisil tablets. It does not contain information about other forms of Lamisil that are available without a prescription from your pharmacy. It does not contain all the available information about Lamisil tablets. It does not take the place of talking to your doctor or pharmacist. The information in this leaflet was last updated on the date listed on the last page. Some more recent information on the medicine may be available. You should ensure that you speak to your pharmacist or doctor to obtain the most up to date information on the medicine. You can also download the most up to date leaflet from www.novartis.com.au. Those updates may contain important information about the medicine and its use of which you should be aware. All medicines have risks and benefits. Your doctor has weighed the risks of you taking this medicine against the benefits they expect it will provide. If you have any concerns about this medicine, ask your doctor or pharmacist. Keep this leaflet with the medicine. You may need to read it again.

What Lamisil tablets are used for Lamisil tablets are used to treat: fungal infections of the finger nails and toe nails tinea (ringworm) infections of the groin and body tinea infections of the feet, commonly called "athlete's foot." These infections are caused by a group of fungi called dermatophytes. Terbinafine, the active ingredient in Lamisil tablets, works by killing the dermatophytes. Ask your doctor if you have any questions about why this medicine has been prescribed for you. Your doctor may have prescribed it for another reason. Lamisil tablets are only available with a doctor's prescription. This medicine is not addictive. There is not enough information to recommend the use of this medicine in children.

Before you take Lamisil tablets

When you must not take it Do not take Lamisil if you have ever had an allergic reaction to: terbinafine, the active ingredient, or to any of the other ingredients listed at the end of this leaflet any other medicines, foods, preservatives or dyes Your doctor will want to know if you are prone to allergies. Some of the symptoms of an allergic reaction may include: shortness of breath wheezing or difficulty breathing swelling of the face, lips, tongue or other parts of the body rash, itching or hives on the skin. Do not take Lamisil tablets: if you have any problems with your kidneys if you have or ever had a problem with your liver This medicine is not recommended if you currently have a liver problem because it may make the problem worse. If you had a liver problem in the past and your liver is functioning normally now, your doctor may prescribe Lamisil tablets but may want to check your liver function before and during treatment with this medicine. Your doctor might take blood tests to monitor your liver function. In case of abnormal test results he or she may ask you to stop taking Lamisil. Do not take Lamisil tablets after the expiry date printed on the pack, or if the packaging is torn or shows signs of tampering. In that case, return it to your pharmacist.

Before you start to take it Tell your doctor if you: 1. are pregnant or intend to become pregnant There is no experience with use of Lamisil tablets during pregnancy. If your doctor thinks it is necessary for you to take it, he/she will discuss with you the benefits and risks involved. 2. are breast-feeding Breastfeeding is not recommended since terbinafine, the active ingredient in Lamisil tablets, passes into breast milk. There is a possibility that your baby could be affected. 3. have any skin problems such as rash, red skin, blistering of the lips, eyes or mouth, skin peeling, fever (possible signs of serious skin reactions), rash due to high level of a specific type of white blood cells (eosinophilia) 4. have any blood disorders or experience weakness, unusual bleeding, bruising or frequent infections 5. have or experience thickened patches of red/silver skin (psoriasis) or facial rash, joint pain, muscle disorder, fever (cutaneous and systemic lupus erythematosus) If you are not sure whether you should start taking Lamisil tablets, talk to your doctor or pharmacist.

Taking other medicines Tell your doctor if you are taking any other medicines, including any that you buy without a prescription from a pharmacy, supermarket or health food shop. Some medicines and Lamisil tablets may interfere with each other. These include: some medicines used to treat depression and other mental disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorders and panic attacks (e.g. some antidepressants such as tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors including class 1A, 1B and 1C, monoamine oxidase inhibitors Type B, desipramine) some medicines for Parkinson's disease some medicines used to treat an irregular heartbeat, heart problems, high blood pressure and migraines (e.g. metoprolol) some medicines used to treat stomach ulcers (e.g. cimetidine) some medicines called antibiotics used to treat infectious diseases (e.g. rifampicin) caffeine cyclosporin, a medicine used to help prevent organ transplant rejection or to treat certain problems with the immune system oral contraceptives (birth control pills). You may have problems, such as bleeding between periods, while you are taking Lamisil tablets. warfarin, a medicine used to prevent blood clots You may need to take different amounts of your medicines or you may need to take different medicines. Your doctor and pharmacist have more information. If you have not told your doctor about any of these things, tell him/her before you start taking this medicine.

How to take Lamisil tablets Follow all directions given to you by your doctor and pharmacist carefully. These directions may differ from the information contained in this leaflet. If you do not understand the instructions on the label, ask your doctor or pharmacist for help.

How much to take Follow your doctor's instructions on how many Lamisil tablets to take. The usual dose of Lamisil is one tablet (250 mg) each day. If you have kidney problems, the dose may be reduced to one-half a tablet each day.

How to take it Take the Lamisil tablet with a full glass of water. If you find that the Lamisil tablet upsets your stomach, try taking it immediately after a light meal. Take the tablet at about the same time each day. Taking your tablet at the same time each day will have the best effect. It will also help you remember when to take it.

How long to take it The length of your treatment will depend on the type of infection you have, what part of the body is affected and how well you respond to treatment. Fungal skin infections (tinea): If you have a tinea infection of the feet (athlete's foot), you will usually take the tablets for 2 to 6 weeks. If you have a tinea infection of the body or groin, you will usually take the tablets for 2 to 4 weeks. The signs and symptoms of infection may last for several weeks after the fungi (dermatophytes) have been killed. Fungal nail infections: Fungal nail infections usually take longer to heal than fungal skin infections. You will usually take the tablets for anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months. But, if you have a nail infection of the big toe or your nails grow very slowly, you may need to take the tablets for up to 6 months. It may take several months after you stop taking Lamisil tablets for your nail to look completely normal. That is because the deformed part of the nail has to grow out and be replaced by a healthy nail.

If you forget to take it If it is almost time for your next dose (within 4 hours), skip the dose you missed and take the next dose when you are meant to. Otherwise, take it as soon as you remember, and then go back to taking it as you would normally. Do not take a double dose to make up for the one that you missed. This may increase the chance of you getting an unwanted side effect. If you are not sure what to do, ask your doctor or pharmacist. If you have trouble remembering when to take your medicine, ask your pharmacist for some hints.

If you take too much (Overdose) Immediately telephone your doctor or Poisons Information Centre (telephone number 13 11 26), or go to Accident and Emergency at your nearest hospital if you think that you or anyone else may have taken too many Lamisil tablets. Do this even if there are no signs of discomfort or poisoning. Keep the telephone numbers for these places handy. Some of the symptoms of an overdose may include headache, nausea (feeling sick), stomach pain and dizziness.

While you are taking Lamisil tablets

Things you must do Make sure to take your tablet every day and continue taking it until your doctor tells you to stop. This will ensure that all of the infection is gone and will lessen the chance of the infection coming back once you stop taking this medicine. Make sure to have any blood tests done that are ordered by your doctor. Any side effects on your liver, kidneys or blood can be detected by blood tests. Tell your doctor immediately if you notice any of the following: fever sore throat mouth ulcers "flu-like" symptoms (chills, aching joints, swollen glands, lack of energy) any other signs of infection, apart from the fungal infection you are being treated for If you become pregnant while taking Lamisil tablets, tell your doctor immediately. Your doctor can discuss with you the risks and benefits of taking it during pregnancy. Remind your doctor and pharmacist that you are taking Lamisil tablets if you are about to be started on any new medicine. Tell any other doctor, dentist or pharmacist who treats you that you are taking Lamisil tablets.

Things you must not do Do not give this medicine to anyone else, even if their condition seems similar to yours. Do not use it to treat any other complaints unless your doctor tells you to.

Things to be careful of Be careful driving, operating machinery or doing jobs that require you to be alert while you are taking Lamisil tablets until you know how it affects you. This medicine can cause tiredness, sleepiness, dizziness or light-headedness in some people. If you have any of these symptoms, do not drive, use machines, or do anything else that could be dangerous. Be careful to keep the infected areas dry and cool and change clothing that is in direct contact with the infected areas every day. This will help to clear up the infection and make sure that it does not return.

Side effects Tell your doctor or pharmacist as soon as possible if you do not feel well while you are taking Lamisil tablets, even if you do not think it is connected with the medicine. All medicines can have side effects. Sometimes they are serious, but most of the time they are not. You may need medical treatment if you get some of the side effects. Do not be alarmed by these lists of possible side effects. You may not experience any of them. Ask your doctor or pharmacist to answer any questions you may have. Tell your doctor immediately or go to Accident and Emergency at your nearest hospital if you notice any of the following: chest pain signs of a severe allergic reaction such as swelling of the face, lips, tongue, throat or other part of the body; shortness of breath, wheezing or troubled breathing; dizziness, redness, itching or rash on the skin; flushing, crampy abdominal pain, loss of consciousness; joint pain, stiffness, rash, fever or swollen/enlarged lymph nodes possible signs of a serious liver problem such as persistent nausea, loss of appetite, unusual tiredness, vomiting, pain in the upper right abdomen, yellowing of the skin and/or eyes, dark urine or pale bowel motions possible signs of a serious skin reaction such as painful red areas, large blisters, peeling of layers of skin, bleeding in the lips, eyes, mouth, nose or genitals. These signs may be accompanied by fever and chills, aching muscles and feeling generally unwell possible signs of a blood problem such as constant "flu-like" symptoms (fever, sore throat, mouth ulcers, chills, swollen glands, lack of energy) possible signs of diseases that affect certain types of blood cells: unusual bleeding or bruising possible signs of a disease that affects the level of red blood cells including abnormal pale skin, mucosal lining or nail beds, unusual tiredness or weakness or breathlessness on exertion possible signs of blood vessel inflammation: rash, fever, itching, tiredness or if you notice appearance of purplish-red spots under the skin surface possible signs of pancreas inflammation: severe upper stomach pain with radiation to the back possible signs of muscle necrosis: unexplained muscle weakness and pain or dark (red-brown) urine. The above are serious side effects that need medical attention. Serious side effects are rare. Tell your doctor if you notice any of the following and they worry you: nausea (feeling sick) or vomiting upset stomach (heartburn, cramps, wind, belching) loss of appetite diarrhoea aching joints or muscles headache light headedness tiredness, sleepiness skin rash due to high level of a specific type of white blood cells loss of or change in sense of taste, which usually returns to normal within several weeks of stopping Lamisil tablet treatment blurred vision, decreased sharpness of vision other skin problems psoriasis (thickened patches of red skin, often with silvery scales) hair loss tingling or numbness decreased physical sensitivity smell disorders or loss of smell. anxiety (with symptoms such as sleep disturbances, fatigue, loss of energy or diminished ability to think or concentrate) and depressive symptoms (e.g. depressed mood) due to taste disturbances decreased hearing, impaired hearing and/or perception of noises in the absence of sound (e.g. hissing, ringing) in ears. Tell your doctor if you notice anything else that is making you unwell. Some people may have other side effects not yet known or mentioned in this leaflet.

After using Lamisil tablets

Storage Keep your medicine in the original container until it is time to take it. Store it in a cool, dry place below 30C and protected from light. Do not store Lamisil tablets or any other medicine in the bathroom or near a sink. Do not leave it in the car or on window sills. Keep the medicine where children cannot reach it. A locked cupboard at least one-and-a-half metres above the ground is a good place to store medicines.

Disposal If your doctor tells you to stop taking this medicine or the expiry date has passed, ask your pharmacist what to do with any medicine you have left over.

Product description

What it looks like Lamisil tablets are white to yellow- tinged, round tablets with "LAMISIL 250" in a circular pattern on one side and a break line on the reverse side. Lamisil tablets are available in blister packs of 42 tablets.

Ingredients Active Ingredient Lamisil tablets contain 250 mg terbinafine (as the hydrochloride salt) per tablet. Inactive ingredients Lamisil tablets also contain: magnesium stearate (E 572) silica-colloidal anhydrous hypromellose (E464) sodium starch glycollate cellulose-microcrystalline (E 460) Lamisil tablets do not contain lactose, sucrose, gluten, tartrazine, or any other azo dyes.
St. Lukes University Health Network is pleased to announce Richard Baker III, MD, has returned to St. Lukes University Health Network as the head of St. Lukes OB/GYN at Eaton Pointe. Angela MacMillan, CRNP, also joins the practice at 800 Eaton Ave., Suite 202, Bethlehem. The two have been in practice together for eight years.

Dr. Baker will deliver precious babies at St. Lukes University Hospital in Bethlehem. The two practitioners are important additions to St. Lukes continued expansion as the leading provider of Womens Services in the region.

Dr. Baker fell in love with the field of obstetrics and gynecology because it blends family practicethrough which he is proud to say he has developed life-long relationships with patientswith general surgery. Baker has more than three decades of experience in treating patients in the Greater Lehigh Valley and often sees the family relationships he has generated spread to multiple generations within the same family.

You cant imagine the feeling of handing a new-born baby to a family, especially a first-time family, Dr. Baker said. It just blows me away still. I have been doing this for 33 years and every time I deliver a baby its special.

I am very familiar with St. Lukes. I have been a part of the family in one way or another since the beginning of my career. I have been away for the last 12 years, but I always missed St. Lukes: the collegiality, the quality of the care. I really missed St. Lukes when I left, he said.

Dr. Baker graduated from the University of Scranton and Thomas Jefferson University. He completed his residency at St. Lukes in 1987 and is excited about the opportunity to teach residents. He is certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Joining Baker at St. Lukes OB/GYN at Eaton Pointe is Angela MacMillan, CRNP, who has been caring for women locally for the past 22 years. She is most proud of building trusting provider-patient relationships that treat and respect womens physical and emotional issues and needs.

Angela completed her Master of Science in Nursing, Womens Health Nurse Practitioner Program, at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Sexual Counselor and attended the Sex Therapy Post Graduate Institute, New York, and the Council for Relationships Sex Therapy Program Philadelphia.

For more information or to make an appointment with Dr. Richard Baker or Angela MacMillan, call 484-526-7170.

About St. Lukes

St. Lukes University Health Network (SLUHN) is a non-profit, regional, fully integrated, nationally recognized network providing services at six hospitals and more than 200 sites, primarily in Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and in Warren County, New Jersey.
More than 30 prominent international scientists gathered to discuss the state-of-the-art, as well as promising future approaches for the treatment of lung cancer at the stunning 17th century Borgo San Luigi, in Monteriggion (Siena), in the heart of the Tuscany countryside. The meeting, entitled "Immunotherapy meets Lung Cancer: New treatments for non small cell lung cancer and 3rd International Cancer Vaccine meeting," focused on one of the most common and deadly tumors, defined as one of the 'big killers,' but whose clinical treatment has profoundly changed in recent years owing to the contribution of both personalized medicine and immunotherapy strategies.

The meeting, which took place April 8-10, was organized by Pierpaolo Correale, oncoimmunologist of the Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Senese, Luigi Pirtoli, Chair of Radiotherapy Section at the University of Siena, and Antonio Giordano, Director of the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA USA who is also Professor of Pathology and Oncology at the University of Siena.

"Personalized medicine has completely reshaped modern cancer therapy," says professor Giordano. "Treatment tailored to each individual patient is able to target the tumor's specific molecular characteristics. However, tumors are often characterized by a high molecular heterogeneity, and can find new routes to escape treatments," Giordano continued. "We are currently experiencing a revolution in cancer care due to the fact that, through immunotherapy strategies, we can use the immune system as an ally against cancer. We are here today to try and make the most out of this new opportunity."

"So far we have directed our research strategies to identify the molecular alterations driving cancer development and progression," says Francesca Pentimalli, a long term collaborator of Prof. Giordano at the National Cancer Institute of Naples, Pascale. "We have achieved an arsenal of drugs against these altered molecules, many of which are already used in the clinical setting. We need now to understand how to combine the use of these drugs with the other therapeutic approaches such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and the new immunotherapy weapons.

"This promises to be the quickest way to gain new significant benefits for cancer patients," Pentimalli says. "To identify and test the use of new rational combinations to tackle lung cancer, it is necessary to work with multidisciplinary groups," such as those assembled at the meeting in Siena, including major experts in different fields of cancer research and treatment.

Among the outstanding faculty, Catherine Pietanza, Medical Oncologist from the Merck, New York discussed what are and will be the approaches towards the small cell variant of lung cancer in the 21st century.

"Systemic treatment for small cell lung cancer has not changed in over 30 years," says Pietanza. "Recently, comprehensive molecular profiling has helped to identify multiple targets, including MYC, PARP, and Notch, leading to trials that are enrolling patients. Further, we are seeing encouraging results with immune checkpoint inhibitors and antibody drug conjugates. With well-designed, biologically-driven trials we may begin to see a change in outcomes for SCLC patients."
Children raised by same-sex female parents with a stable family life show no difference in general health, emotional difficulties, coping and learning behavior, compared to children of different-sex parents in similarly stable relationships, concludes a study in the April Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, the official journal of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

"Our study of households with no divorces or other family transitions finds that spouse-partner and parent-child relationships are similar regardless of family structure," comment lead researchers Henry Bos, PhD, and Nanette Gartrell, MD, of the University of Amsterdam. "These strong relationships are important contributors to good child outcomesnot whether the parents are same-sex or different-sex."

Further Evidence of 'No Difference' in Outcomes for Children of Same-Sex Parents

The researchers identified 95 female same-sex parent households and 95 different-sex parent households, matched for parent and child characteristics. The families were drawn from a very large, nationally representative study, the National Survey of Child Health. (Male same-sex couples were not included because of the small number of households meeting the study criteria.)

The current study focused on households with no history of family instability, discontinuity, or transitionslimited to parents who were raising their own children since birth, without divorce, separation, or adoption. Thus, the study minimized the impact of family disruption on child well-being.

The results showed no differences between the two groups in terms of spouse or partner relationships, parent-child relationships, or any of the child outcomes assessed. The only difference between the two groups of households was higher reported parenting stress among the same-sex couples.

In both groups of families, more positive parent-child relationships were associated with higher levels of children's general health and better coping and learning behaviors. Better spouse/partner and parent-child relationships were associated with lower levels of children's emotional difficulties.

As the number of children raised by gay and lesbian parents continues to grow, there is an ongoing and highly politicized debate over same-sex parenting and child outcomes. A large majority of studies have found no difference in outcomes for children raised by same-sex versus different-sex families. Most of these studies were based on convenience samples or fertility clinic recruitment.

In contrast, the current study was drawn from a population-based survey on children's health approved by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The results show that, for children with stable and positive family relationships, outcomes are similarly good in both same-sex and different-sex parent families.

That's despite the higher levels of parenting stress reported by same-sex parents, Dr. Bos and colleagues note. They call for further studies to assess the source of this stress, suggesting that the "cultural spotlight" on child outcomes in families with same-sex parents might be a contributing factor.

The findings highlight the need to "move beyond anti-LGBT politics," according to a commentary by Nathaniel Frank, PhD, Director of the What We Know Project at Columbia Law School. He writes, "The study corroborates the 'no differences' conclusions that have been reached by at least 73 other scholarly studies."

Especially since the US Supreme Court decision resolving the status of legal same-sex marriage, Dr. Frank states, "The scientific debate over the politics of gay parenting is over, and equal treatment has won." He believes that future research should focus on meeting the health and well-being needs of the under-served LGBT population.
A stream of cars and trucks left Danvilles Goodyear plant Tuesday just before noon as workers were sent home by the company after the third deadly accident at the tire factory in eight months. Goodyear will reopen Friday, and is cooperating with an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation.

Greg Cooper, an 18-year employee with the company, died in a workplace accident early Tuesday morning, according to a news release from Goodyear.

Our immediate priority is to provide assistance and support to Gregs family, as well as the entire team of associates in the Goodyear-Danville plant, Goodyear-Danville Manufacturing Director Greg Kerr said in a prepared statement. We have temporarily closed the plant to allow us to work with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the local authorities to fully investigate the incident and to give our associates some time to grieve. Our hearts go out to Gregs family, friends and co-workers.

Representatives with United Steelworkers Local 831  the union representing Goodyear workers in Danville  declined to comment Tuesday.

Goodyears on-site emergency response team, as well as local emergency personnel responded immediately, and all parties are cooperating in the investigation into the root cause of the incident, according to the statement from Goodyear Spokeswoman Laura Singleton.

Lee Willis, Southwest Region safety director with the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, said the plants closure was a precautionary measure on the companys part.

We dont have the authority to shut down the plant, Willis said.

The department regulates the workplace through its Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Program.

OSHA officials were en route to the Danville Goodyear plant Tuesday. The investigation could take up to six months, he said.

We have six months to conclude and issue a violation or violations if we find the employer at fault, Willis said.

Tuesdays death marks the third fatality at the plant in eight months.

Kevin Edmonds, 54, of Penhook, died during his work shift on March 31. Edmonds death is under investigation, Willis said.

In August 2015, Jeanie Lynne Strader, 56, of Chatham, died in an accident at the plant. The Goodyear plant was issued three violations totaling more than $16,000 in February for the fatal accident that claimed Straders life, according to an inspection detail on OSHAs website. The plant contested the penalties on March 16.

Goodyear is Danvilles largest private employer.
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Red Hulk, Ronin, and more: 10 Heroes and Villains whose secret identities were hidden from readers

There's a longstanding superhero tradition of hiding the identity of certain characters even from readers
Promises to remove VAT

Addressing the UNCs first Monday Night Forum for 2016 at the Preysal Government Secondary School on Monday night, the UNC political leader once again reiterated that the ruling PNM administration had pulled one of the biggest PNM con jobs ever when, in their manifesto, they had stated their intention to reduce the tax by 2.5 percent without giving the slightest hint that the tax would be added on over 7,000 other items.

They kept their promise and reduced the VAT but then sent people into shock as they re-imposed VAT on most of the 7,000 items my government had made VAT free as a measure to aid in poverty eradication. The result was a significant increase in the cost of living and extreme hardships for tens of thousands of people, mainly the poor.

So while we developed and introduced policy to help the poor and less fortunate, the PNMs focus is taxation without any plan to help the people, she told the large crowd of boisterous supporters who packed the schools auditorium and which spilled out into the neighbouring courtyard.

And tonight I want to make a promise to you. We are going back in government. Thats certain as night follows day and when I am back I will remove the VAT from all those items and reinstate the VAT free status on those 7,000 items. And regarding the Foreign Exchange Reserves, she said during the Peoples Partnership term of government, the reserves had witnessed an expansion of about 22 per cent between 2010 and 2015.

Reading from a Central Bank report, she said foreign reserves in September 2015 was US $10.3 billion but had depreciated to US $ 9.3 billion in March 2016.

The government must tell us what was that $US1billion used for in six months, she added.

Persad-Bissessar also questioned governments proposal to enter into a public/private partnership to operationalise the Couva Childrens Hospital.

Now the Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh is talking about a private sector partnership through which the Government would provide a state-of-the-art building, while the interested companies would provide the staff, funding and additional necessary equipment to have the hospital up and running, she said.

We want that hospital opened and we want it to be a part of the national health infrastructure that would provide quality health care for everyone at no cost. We dont know what Mr. Deyalsingh is contemplating because his announcement is vague but we need to pay careful attention because the history of joint venture projects of the PNM is nothing but scandal after scandal and corruption, Persad-Bissessar said, and cited the failed World Gas to Liquids, (WGTL), plant.

We would have had that hospital fully operational if we were back in office but the PNM is determined to punish the people.

Tonight I call on Deyalsingh and the PNM to open the Couva Childrens Hospital immediately. Its ready to provide services and this vague plan is designed as a stonewalling tactic to keep the facility closed while pretending to find a way to open it, she stated.
'He Had the Chance to Go in

and Save the Children'
(Newser)  Police say a man charged with stealing a television in Connecticut 27 years ago flew from his Florida home and voluntarily turned himself in last weekend after recently learning there was a warrant out for this arrest, the AP reports. Police in Norwalk, Connecticut, tell the Hour that 60-year-old Randy Iannacone of Port St. Lucie, Florida, arrived at headquarters Sunday with the letter notifying him of the warrant. Iannacone was arrested and charged with third-degree larceny. He was released with a promise to appear in court next week. The charge stemmed from the 1989 theft of a television from the Norwalk Jewish Center, where Iannacone worked as a custodian. Lieutenant Paul Resnick says it was "pretty cool" that Iannacone turned himself in. (Read more larceny stories.)
(Newser)  Ann Rodgers may not have the greatest navigation skills in the world, but the 72-year-old appears to have amazing survival skills. Authorities say that after Rodgers somehow became lost while driving from Tucson to Phoenix to visit her grandchildren, her hybrid vehicle ran out of both gas and electric power and she was stranded in the remote White Mountains for nine days, CBS News reports. Rodgers and her dog survived by drinking creek water and eating berries and desert plants, authorities say. She was rescued, in fair condition despite suffering from exposure, after an air crew spotted a "HELP" sign she had made from sticks and stones.

After the sign was spotted, rescuers found a note from Rodgers indicating she had moved down the canyon, and she was found next to a signal fire she had lit. She tells Tucson News Now that she spent the first night in her car, but after she ran low on water, she decided to move on in hopes of finding people or at least a cell phone signal. Survival instructor Cody Lundin tells the Arizona Republic that it is "very rare, statistically abnormal, and freakish" for Rodgers to have survived so long, and she would have had little hope in a colder season. The AP notes that Tucson to Phoenix is a straight shot on Interstate 10, so it's not clear how Rodgers became so lost. (A "HELP" sign also saved these castaways in the Pacific.)
(Newser)  Chicago is on edge after the shooting of yet another black teenager in disputed circumstances. Pierre Loury, 16, was shot dead after a foot chase Monday night. Police say he fled a vehicle believed to have been involved in an earlier shooting and was shot when he turned and pointed a gun at an officer. A witness and a police source say the teen tried to scale a fence and was shot after his clothes became caught. "They shot him in the air," the witness tells the Chicago Tribune. "His pants leg got caught on the fence and he hit the ground. If he hadn't gotten shot, he would have cleared the fence." Loury was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest, according to the coroner.

Police say a gun was found at the scene, though Loury's family disputes this. The witnesswho didn't speak to police because she feared a backlashsays she didn't see a gun in the teen's hand, but it was dark. The officer, who was not wearing a body camera, has been placed on desk duty for 30 days while the shooting is investigated. Police say Loury, a student at Chicago Christian Alternative Academy, was a known gang member who had "prior contact" with police. Family members and friends who joined a prayer vigil Tuesday night, however, say he was an average Chicago teen who aspired to be a rapper and was dealing with the challenges of living in the city, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. (Read more Chicago stories.)
(Newser)  More details are emerging about the "unthinkable brutality" police say University of Texas freshman Haruka Weiser endured at the hands of homeless teen Meechaiel Criner. Though autopsy results aren't expected for several weeks, police sources tell the Austin American-Statesman that Weiser was sexually assaulted and died of strangulation. A campus surveillance camera shows a man believed to be Criner attempt to open the door of a van parked on campus after 9pm on April 3, reports the Portland Tribune. He disappears but returns around 9:30pm and watches as Weiser walks past him looking at her cellphone, per an affidavit. The man then takes a "shiny rigid object" from a back pocket and follows Weiser behind the alumni center where her body was later found with "obvious trauma," the affidavit says, per the AP.

Criner is next caught on camera two hours later walking with a limp and carrying a bag Weiser's friends say was hers, the affidavit notes. The next morning, firefighters found Criner burning several items, including a shoe and college coursework, in an abandoned building near campus, per the affidavit. Firefighters told police that Criner, who was taken to a homeless shelter, matched the suspect seen in a surveillance video. Police then found Criner in possession of Weiser's laptop, the affidavit says. A murder weapon has not been found. In an interview with ABC 13, Criner's sister says her brotherthe youngest of five siblings, who never knew his fatheris mentally ill and was staying with his grandmother after his mom committed suicide, but ran away last fall. His uncle says he has the mental capacity of a 10-year-old. (Read more murder stories.)
(Newser)  A court in China ruled Wednesday that two men should not be allowed to marrybut even the loss is being hailed as a big first step for gay rights advocates. A judge in the city of Changsha dismissed the lawsuit filed by 27-year-old Sun Wenlin, who argued that he should be allowed to legally wed his 37-year-old partner, Hu Mingliang, reports the Guardian. Sun plans to appeal, and the couple's lawyer says it's only a matter of time before gay marriage becomes the law of the land. Hundreds of LGBT supporters had gathered outside the courtroom in solidarity. Wednesday's ruling was expected, reports the New York Times, though the very decision to accept the case in the first place was "surprising," it adds.

"Its still better than if we did nothing," Sun told the Los Angeles Times before the ruling came down. "If you dont knock on the door, the door will be closed to you forever. But once you knock on the door, you can knock on it for a second and third time, and theres a chance the door will finally open someday." The couple says two police officers visited them late last year and tried to convince them that marriage should be between a man and a woman because of the duty to procreate, though the officers said they weren't acting on behalf of the court. Meanwhile, the official People's Daily tweeted news of the new ruling, along with a photo of the two men holding hands as they crossed a street. (Read more China stories.)
(Newser)  Malik Jalal has been targeted by drones four times, resulting in the death of many innocent bystanders and members of Jalal's own family being killed and seriously injured. He's on the "Kill List" of America and its allies, he explains in an essay for the Independent, and his life is harrowing as a result. At age 6, his son told him he feared being killed by a drone. "I tried to comfort him," Jalal writes. "I said that drones wouldnt target children, but Hilal refused to believe me. He said that missiles had often killed children. It was then that I knew that I could not let them go on living like this." Hence, his essay and his trip to England, where he went on BBC Radio this week. His mission: Convince the US and the UK not to kill himand to reconsider their drone strategy.

Jalal is a leader of the North Waziristan Peace Committee (NWPC), a Pakistani government-sanctioned body of community leaders attempting to keep peace between the government and the Taliban, the Independent explains. He insists that, though he is indeed an opponent of America's drone campaign, his group is a peaceful onebut, as Reprieve, the human rights charity representing him, explains, Western intelligence believes the NWPC is simply a front to create a safe haven for the Taliban. "Singling out people to assassinate, and killing nine of our innocent children for each person they target, is a crime of unspeakable proportions," Jalal writes of the US campaign. "Their policy is as foolish as it is criminal, as it radicalizes the very people we are trying to calm down." Click for his full essay. (Read more kill list stories.)
(Newser)  People who eat fast food may have higher levels of potentially infertility-causing industrial chemicals in their body, according to a new study. Bloomberg reports researchers were looking specifically at DEHP and DiNP, two types of phthalates found in everything from cosmetics to window blinds. They studied nutrition data from nearly 9,000 people and found those who got more than 35% of their total energy intake from fast food in the previous 24 hours had DEHP and DiNP levels 24% and 39% higher respectively. Phthalates may be entering fast food products through packaging, gloves worn by workers, or machinery used to process the food. Meat and grain products from fast-food restaurants were shown to be the most associated with higher phthalate levels in diners, according to a press release.

"Our findings raise concerns because phthalates have been linked to a number of serious health problems in children and adults," researcher Ami Zota says in the press release. Previous studies show those problems include possible damage to the male reproductive system. While the American Chemistry Council says phthalates aren't harmful, the EPA is concerned about them, Japan has banned them in food-prep gloves, the EU has limited their use in food, and a 2008 US law restricted them in children's toys. Further studies are needed to see if phthalates in fast food are responsible for any health problems. But Zota has some solid advice either way: "People concerned about this issue can't go wrong by eating more fruits and vegetables and less fast food." (Phthalates in mom's nail polish could lower baby's IQ.)
(Newser)  Bono has an idea for fighting ISIS: Deploy the comedians. "The first people that ... Adolf Hitler threw out of Germany were the Dadaists and the Surrealists," the U2 frontman explained during an appearance before the US Senate on Tuesday on the subject of foreign aid to fight terrorism. "Its like, you speak violence, you speak their language. But you laugh at them when theyre goose-stepping down the street, and it takes away their power. So, Im suggesting that the Senate send in Amy Schumer, and Chris Rock, and Sacha Baron Cohen."

He also offered more traditional ideas, USA Today reports, including quickly working to solve the Syrian refugee crisis and the extremism that has led to it: "When aid is structured properly, with a focus on fighting poverty and improving governance, it could just be the best bulwark we have against the extremism of our age." As for concerns about whether our budget allows for foreign aid? "If you dont do it now, its going to cost a lot more later. I do know that." (Read more Bono stories.)
(Newser)  As approximately 36,000 Verizon workers went on strike Wednesday, the company promised its customers would be largely unaffected, the New York Times reports. And while the striking workers are largely employed in the company's wireline divisionas opposed to its much larger wireless divisionthe Times states "customers can reasonably expect a deterioration in customer service quality." The striking workers install broadband Internet, fix phone lines, and handle customer service in the Northeast US. Verizon has trained nonunion workers to replace the striking employees, but only 10,000 to fill in for 36,000 mostly more experienced workers. Striking employees don't believe they can be replaced so easily, claiming Verizon's customer service will be negatively impacted.

The strike resulted from Verizon being unable to agree to a contract with the Communications Workers of America, CNN reports. The union has a number of grievances, including Verizon outsourcing 5,000 jobs, hiring non-union contractors at lower wages, and closing call centers. "The main thing is that's it's taking good-paying jobs and taking them away from the American public," says one union board member. And while Verizon's wireline division is shrinking with the popularity of wireless, it still posted an $8.9 billion profit last year. Bernie Sanders, who briefly rallied with the striking workers in New York, chided Verizon for paying its CEO an exorbitant amount while refusing to pay benefits desired by the union, according to the Washington Post. The strikethe biggest in the US since the last Verizon strike in 2011could last anywhere from hours to months. (Read more Verizon stories.)
(Newser)  Pennsylvania is a long way from Jamaica, but it's apparently close enough in spirit to satisfy a judge. US District Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz dismissed a lawsuit by two beer drinkers who say they felt duped by the labeling on Red Stripe lager, reports Courthouse News Service. Aaron Dumas and Eugene Buner assumed they were buying a beer brewed in Jamaica given phrases such as "Jamaican Style Lager" and "The Taste of Jamaica," but it turns out that Red Stripe has been made in Latrobe, Pa., for US consumers since 2012. The beer from parent company Diageo-Guinness does indeed have Jamaican roots, and the judge wasn't sympathetic to the claims of deception. He also cited a previous ruling that "Swiss Army knife" doesn't equate to "made in Switzerland."

The court "finds that a reasonable customer would not be misled by the visible packaging into believing that Red Stripe is brewed in Jamaica with Jamaican ingredients," Moskowitz wrote. "The mere fact that the word 'Jamaica' and 'Jamaican' appear on the packaging is not sufficient to support a conclusion that consumers would be confused regarding the origin and ingredients of the beer." Dumas and Buner, however, claimed that anyone buying a six-pack or a 12-pack wouldn't have an inkling until after buying the beer and opening the box, and only then if they happened to spot the "obscure white text" on the side of the bottles, per court documents. (It's the latest in the grand tradition of beer label lawsuits, including others about the "Taste of Rockies," Blue Moon's "craft" status, and monkish brewing habits.)
(Newser)  Ethan Couch got "no party, no cake, no ice cream" when he turned 19 on Monday, and on Wednesday, he got something quite a bit worse. The so-called "Affluenza Teen" was sentenced to four consecutive 180-day terms in Tarrant County jail by state District Judge Wayne Salvant during Couch's first appearance in adult court. The AP explains that the Fort Worth judge was able to hand out more jail time as part of the conditions of Couch's adult probation. The four terms relate to four counts of intoxication manslaughter, reports the AP; Couch killed four people and severely injured several others in a DUI crash in 2013.

ABC News reports that Salvant did say the total term10 days short of two yearscould change. The Dallas Morning News backs that up with this quote from Salvant: "Nothing I do is in stone, so I might reconsider." He said both sides could make their arguments in coming weeks. But Salvant was clear about one point: "You're not getting out of jail today," he told Couch, per NBC News, which notes the case will resume in two weeks. The AP notes it isn't clear if Couch's 720 days will include time already served. (Read more Ethan Couch stories.)
(Newser)  Hillary Clinton's longtime aide and a US representative were included in a list of Western Muslims threatened with "painfuland fatalpunishment" in the current issue of ISIS magazine Dabiq, ABC News reports. Huma Abedin and Rep. Keith Ellison are joined on the list by British politicians, Department of Homeland Security officials, and others, according to the Daily Beast. The article in Dabiq calls them "overt crusaders" and "politically active apostates" and accuses them of involving "themselves in the politics and enforcing laws of the [disbelievers]."

This is not the first time ISIS has released a list of potential targets. This is just a way they are trying to intimidate us, and its not going to work, says a service member whose personal information was leaked online last year, per ABC. The issue of Dabiq also includes praise for and information on the Brussels bombers. But the Wall Street Journal reports at least one French police official doesn't put much stock in the contents of the article on the attackers: "Let's not forget this is a propaganda tool." (Read more ISIS stories.)
Scientists have found a new class of planets whose atmospheres are shown to have been stripped away by their host stars.

Planets that are close to their host stars tend to undergo high-energy radiation, which incinerates the atmosphere around it.

To take a closer look at the planets, scientists used asteroseismology to search for levels of accuracy which could help researchers to understand the conditions of the rocky planet without an atmosphere.

"For these planets, it is like standing next to a hairdryer turned up to its hottest setting," said Guy Davies of the University of Birmingham's School of Physics and Astronomy. "There has been much theoretical speculation that such planets might be stripped of their atmospheres. We now have the observational evidence to confirm this, which removes any lingering doubts over the theory."

Planets of a certain size may have been much bigger in the beginning of their evolution. Being close to their stars tends to strip away a lot of their enveloping air and material, making them shrink and get smaller with time.

As Kepler has about 1,000 confirmed planets, scientists can identify and characterize them while hunting for life on other planets. Understanding how to identify them can help researchers rule them out as centers for life. A new generation of satellites, including the NASA Tess Mission, which will be launched next year, will help scientists in their mission.

The findings were published in the April edition of the journal Nature Communications.
Sometimes, a few minutes can topple long-drawn-out plans. It took Hillary Clinton just three minutes to disrupt hers when she had a comedy routine with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio over a racially charged joke.

Last Saturday, Clinton dropped in on a surprise visit to the Inner Circle dinner, which was a yearly black-tie event bringing together New York's city's press corps, lobbyists, and lawmakers. She climbed on to share the stage with de Blasio and Leslie Odom Jr. who has role-played Aaron Burr in the hit musical "Hamilton."

"Thanks for the endorsement, Bill," Mrs. Clinton said to de Blasio, her former aide when she was a senator from New York. "Took you long enough."

"Sorry, Hillary," de Blasio said. "I was running on C.P. time." This referred to the slang "Colored People Time," which made a number of people in the audience wince.

Odom, a black on the stage, retorted: "That's not - I don't like jokes like that, Bill."

Clinton waded into the joke. "Cautious politician time. I've been there," she said.

It was an ill-timed joke and quickly splashed over social media. Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders are working overtime to woo black voters ahead of the April 19 primary in New York.

Other dailies and magazines quickly picked up the joke and bandied it around in their own way. New York magazine asked "Does your wife, Chirlane, know about this joke?" referring to Mr. de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, who is African-American.

Salon dubbed it a comedy skit that was "cringe-worthy."

A Gawker headline read "Hillary Clinton Tries to Prove She's Not Racist with Awkward Joke About 'Colored People Time.'"

Over CNN on Monday evening, de Blasio said it was a scripted exchange and all the parties involved in the joke looked at the "cautious politician" as the final punchline.

"I think people are missing the point here," he said.

But the joke was dropped only a few days after Bill Clinton had exploded in front of Black Lives Matter protesters, who accused him of hurting African-American communities with policies during his regime. But the following day, Bill Clinton admitted that he "almost" wanted to apologize to the campaigners.

Bakari Sellers, a CNN contributor and Clinton supporter, said the whole repartee was "much ado about nothing."

"We are not worried about jokes that may not be funny," said Sellers, who is black. "This is not a big deal. It is a big deal that we have to remedy mass incarceration; it is a big deal that we have to remedy African-American wealth. That is what we have to focus on."

YouTube/Lenny Brook
Nick Gordon is back on Dr. Phil and this time he is going to answer whether he killed Bobbi Kristina Brown.

Gordon has maintained innocence and his answer is most likely to be a resounding 'NO'. That however is not going to stop viewers from tuning in on April 28. This would be Gordon's second time on the show. During his first appearance, Gordon looked distraught and unsteady from drug use. He had later entered rehab.

Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown's daughter was found facedown in a bathtub at her Georgia home last January. Gordon and a friend had reportedly found her in that condition. Bobbi Kristina was induced into a coma as doctors made frantic attempts to treat her brain injuries. She was later moved to a rehabilitation facility. After months of being treated, Bobbi Kristina succumbed to her injuries and died last July. Nick Gordon, who lived with Bobbi Kristina, was barred from attending the funeral service.

The Fulton County Coroner's office attributed the death to being submerged in water when drugged. While reports maligned Gordon, he was not formally charged. However, a $ 10 million civil lawsuit against him was filed by Bobbi Kristina's legal conservator. Gordon has denied all allegations against him.

In a preview of interview with Dr. Phil, Brown is asked about the hours before Bobbi Kristina was found in her bathroom. Then Dr. Phil asks him if he killed Bobbi.

Bobbi Kristina's family suspects Gordon killed her. The lawsuit against him alleges he gave Bobbi a cocktail of drugs before she went underwater. The coroner's office pointed to presence of drugs but could not ascertain if it was the drugs or being submerged that caused the death. Her body reportedly bore scars and bruises, which could indicate abuse.
Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner are shooting for a new quest. They are teaming up to go on a $100 million search for alien life in Breakthrough Starshot. This will be based on a group of tiny spacecraft called nanocrafts that have been manufactured in order to go on a voyage to seek life in space.

With Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the team is heading towards the target to explore space.

"I think you and I will be happy to see the launch," Milner said. "We came to the conclusion it can be done: interstellar travel."

They are sure that "habitable zones" of Alpha Centauri, which is the closest star system to the Earth, might have an earth-like planet that gives them hope of discovering life there.

Breakthrough Starshot will launch its light-propelled nanocraft into space, hoping to touch in two decades the Alpha Centauri star system that is 4.37 light-years away.

The nanocraft will fly at 20 percent the speed of light, making use of a sail propelled by a light beam, which will help to give it a ride on the current spacecraft.

Hence, it would take 30,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri with the current spacecraft.

"Earth is a wonderful place, but it might not last forever," Hawking said. "Sooner or later, we must look to the stars. Breakthrough Starshot is a very exciting first step on that journey."

Even after it reaches Alpha Centauri, the team feels that it would take another four years for the spacecraft to collect and beam back information to the earth.

Pete Worden, former director of the NASA AMES Research Center, along with a committee of renowned scientists and engineers, will head the team for the initiative.
Last year, a North Korean top-ranking official defected to South Korea, pointed out defense officials in Seoul, South Korea, Monday. Apparently, a colonel employed in the North's General Reconnaissance Bureau just upped and left last year.

Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun gave the minor details at a press briefing in Seoul. The South's Ministry of Unification said that defection of the colonel points to the instability of the North.

Interestingly, the defector was a special espionage official in the North and was given political asylum by South Korea after he left the North.

North Korea's General Reconnaissance Bureau tries to infiltrate computer networks of the South and other countries. It is also believed to have successfully hacked into Sony Pictures' computers in 2014.

South Korea's Unification Ministry said another senior North Korean diplomat who had been posted in an African country also decided to migrate to the South with his family.

About 13 North Koreans were said to have defected and were allegedly workers at a Chinese restaurant who became disillusioned about North Korea after they got exposed to the world outside North Korea.

Much of North Korea's revenue is sourced from employees working abroad and operating businesses like restaurants in various countries, such as China.

The Chinese government officially confirmed the defection. The foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said: "After an investigation, (we found) the 13 North Koreans used valid passports to leave the country normally in the early hours of April 6. What needs to be stressed is that these people had valid identity documents and legally came to the country, not North Koreans who have entered illegally."

North Korea has not put out any official statement.
New Delhi:

Delhi Metro commuters will henceforth not be allowed to cover their faces using surgical masks or mufflers even as the security-hold area at close to two dozen stations has been expanded in view of the new security drills being deployed to more effectively guard the rapid rail network.



In the wake of a daring heist at the Rajinder Place station yesterday where two unidentified men stormed the control room and looted around Rs 12 lakh cash, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has issued a set of fresh instructions dis-allowing covering of the face by travellers using any kind of cloth or cover like surgical masks, mufflers, 'dupatta' or anti-pollution caps.



The two men, also captured on the CCTV, were wearing masks during their entry and exit at the station.



"Only terminally ill or serious patients will be allowed to cover their faces using a mask or cover. Everyone else who uses a cover for a variety of reasons like to beat heat, pollution or for fear of contracting infection will have to remove the face cover while getting frisked.



"The measure was there in place and suspicious people were asked to remove it during frisking but it will now be strictly implemented in all cases. This to ensure that all faces are seen by security personnel and are also captured on CCTV cameras. In case there is an incident, everyone should be

identifiable," officials said.



At close to two dozen stations on the Yellow line (HUDA City Centre-Jahangirpuri) and Blue line (Dwarka Sector 21-Noida City Centre/Vaishali), the CISF has expanded its security apparatus and brought under control large areas under its armed cover.



The force has moved its door-frame metal detectors and baggage X-ray machines closer towards the entry gate which entails passengers being frisked and their luggage being scanned much ahead as compared to the existing protocol.



A senior CISF official said only the security-hold area has been expanded and brought under the view of the security personnel and this measure will not add to any additional hassles or time taken during frisking.



"The measure has been taken keeping in mind the overall security of Metro stations. While close to 24 stations are being brought under the new security mechanism in the first go, the CISF will initiate these at more and more stations as and when the space is obtained," they said.



The new area domination at the stations, they said, has been executed keeping in mind a last year's incident when a man sneaked in his luggage through the low height glass partition and then used a gun kept therein to shoot himself at the busy Rajiv Chowk Metro station.

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Jaipur:

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will address a Dalit sammelan in Jaipur on Wednesday and meet the parents of a Dalit girl in Barmer district, who was found dead in an educational institute after rape in Bikaner last month.



Gandhi will reach Uttarlai Air base in Barmer from where he will go to the girls village to meet her parents. After that, he will arrive in Jaipur to address Dalit sammelan, PCC chief Sachin Pilot said here.



The Dalit girl was allegedly raped by a teacher in a institute in Bikaner after which she was found dead in a water tank last month.

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Kolkata:

Day temperatures in South Bengal continued to compete with soaring electioneering heat for the ongoing West Bengal Assembly elections with aspirants and top leaders sweating it out under the scorching sun. Congress president Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to address rallies at Murarai in Birbhum district and at Sujapur in Malda district on Wednesday where the mercury touched 41.8 degrees Celsius and 41.2 degrees respectively on Tuesday.



Heatwave conditions in both the districts are likely to continue tomorrow as well with the Met Department forecasting temperatures above 41 degrees Celsius. The Met Department said heatwave conditions are likely to prevail in most South Bengal districts with severe heatwave conditions in Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia, Burdwan and West Midnapore districts. (Also read. Assembly Elections 2016: Heavy voter turnout in West Bengal)



The highest day temperature in Kolkata stood at 40.6 degrees Celsius, five notches higher than normal, while the lowest stood at 28.3 degrees, three notches above average. Elections are scheduled to be held in 56 Assembly segments on April 17 in the second of the six-phase polls in the state. Campaigning for these seats spread over six districts of the state was on in full swing despite the scorching heat.



Candidates along with supporters are holding roadshows, rallies and meetings under the blazing sun as they can hardly afford to be slack in the eleventh hour.
New Delhi:

With her Padma Shri, Priyanka Chopra now falls into the league of her Bollywood colleagues including Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan but the actress says the honour is more special for her because she bagged it with Tamil superstar Rajinikanth. The 33-year-old former Miss World was awarded the India's fourth highest civilian honour by President Pranab Mukherjee while Rajinikanth received the Padma Vibhushan here at a ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.



"I was very excited to get my Padma Shri with Rajinikanth sir. He was getting the Padma Vibhushan but we were in the same room and that was really exciting for me as I am his huge fan," Priyanka told PTI after getting the award. "He is such a big legend in the field of cinema. To watch him right in front of me being honoured by the President, that was exciting for me." (Also read. Rajinikanth, Sania, Priyanka Chopra honoured with Padma awards)



The internationally renowned actress, thanks to her stint in "Quantico" as FBI agent Alex Parrish, flew down to India for a day from the shoot of the second season of TV series in Los Angeles to receive the honour. "They are not shooting for one day. I requested them to shoot in weekend and my entire cast agreed to do it. They know how important the honour is for me. 'Quantico' really made it happen with their schedules. It airs every Sunday, so they can't stop shooting..."



Priyanka Chopra's parents served as physicians in the Indian Army and the actress said she values the honour due to her defence background. "Being from the defence background, I value this award more. My father would have been happy and proud today. My uncle was with me while I was receiving the honour. He was there in his uniform with all his medals shining." Dressed in a lime yellow Banarasi saree, the "Mary Kom" star said she loves Indian craft. (Also read. Dhirubhai Ambani to conferred with Padma Vibhushan posthumously)



Priyanka Chopra ventured into Bollywood in 2003 with the film "The Hero: Love Story of a Spy" and subsequently made her name in the industry with films like "Aitraaz", "Fashion", "Saath Khoon Maaf", "Barfi!" and the latest "Bajirao Mastani". She will also be seen in Hollwood film "Baywatch" opposite Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron and zeroing in on few Bollywood scripts as well.
New Delhi:

The Environment ministry will soon come up with a set of standard guidelines for giving environmental clearances to real estate sector as a part of its efforts for ease of doing business and making processes simple, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said. We will publish draft notification which will be indicative as we want public consultation to happen. It will be robust but simple and standardized guidelines for real estate projects, the Union Environment Minister said during an interactive session with industries organized by industry lobby FICCI.

Currently, apart from environment clearance, permission is also required from municipal authority for building residential projects, the minister said. We studied all the conditions for environmental clearances given in the last 10 years. They are practically the same. So we have standardised the conditions, Javadekar said.



Javadekar said the state governments, which will include those guidelines in their building by-laws, will no longer need to give environment approvals separately.



Real estate sector will not require a separate window for environment clearance in those states which will adopt our standard rules into their building laws and permission rules. This way the plan sanctioning authority will also become environment sanctioning authority if they accept our standard guidelines, he said.



The ministry is also deliberating on introduction of civil penalties for violating environmental clearance rules. We are also bringing civil penalties. If somebody violates the conditions given in environment clearance or does not take clearance and starts operation, it is all categorized as violation, he said.

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Mumbai:

Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut battle is again in news, this time because of a shocking revelation. Among the many aspects of the fight between the two actors, one of the crucial issue is the fake email ID. While Kangana Ranaut alleges that the ID belongs to Hrithik, the latter claims that the ID hroshan@email.com is fake and is being used by an imposter.



On March 24, 2016, Hrithik Roshan had filed an FIR against the unknown imposter after which the emails were sent by the cyber crime cell to the US based e-mail service provider which was being used as a platform for the communications.



Later, a Letter Rogatory was also sent to a US-based court by the Indian Cyber Police which sought details of the ID and its origin. And now the latest piece of news is that the ID has been traced to the United States of America, according to a report.



"We are investigating the matter. Hrithik Roshan had given information about impostor conversing through the e-mail ID hroshan@email.com. We traced the IP address of the ID, and got location of a place in America. We suspect the e-mail is entirely operating from America," said a police officer.

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New Delhi:

The festival of Baisakhi or Vaisakhi is celebrated with great joy and fervor in the northern state of Punjab and Haryana. This is considered the auspicious occasion of the Harvest festival, a day when God is thanked for a good harvest season.

As per the Punjabi calendar, Vaisakhi is celebrated on April 13 every year. This festival also marks Guru Gobind Singh Jis establishment of the Khalsa Panth. This is one of the biggest festivals for the Sikh community located anywhere in the world.

Special prayers and meets mark the Baisakhi procession. For farmers this is a Thanksgiving Day and it marks the day when Sikhism was born as a collective faith in 1699.

This day the Granth Sahib scriptures are placed on a throne and read out loud, people also go to the Golden temple, to seek blessings. The word Khalsa means pure.

People of Assam celebrate April 13 as Rongali Bihu, in West Bengal it is celebrated as Naba Barsha. Bihar celebrates Baisakhi as Vaishakha in honour of the Sun God, Surya while Kerala celebrates it as Vishu and Tamil Nadu as Puthandu.

This day is marked by processions known as a nagar kirtan. Not only in India but people also celebrate this around the world by getting involved in the processions and prayer meets.

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New Delhi:

The top brass of Election Commission will be in West Bengal tomorrow to take stock of poll preparedness in the state where two rounds of voting have already taken place.

The visit of Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and fellow Commissioners A K Joti and O P Rawat will be in Kolkata tomorrow, two days after poll watchdog ordered removal of Kolkata police chief Rajeev Kumar amid allegations of bias towards the ruling Trinamool Congress.

This is the second visit of the Commission to West Bengal which has six-phased assembly polls. During their stay at Kolkata they will meet representatives of political parties, district magistrates, SSPs, DGP and Chief Secretary. Commissioners shall also be meeting with state enforcement agencies and review expenditure monitoring measures, a statement said.
New Delhi:

Weeks after JNU students had a confrontation with the administration over burning of Manusmriti, students in Delhi University today burnt copies of the ancient text following which three of them were detained by police.

Activists of Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) and left-backed All India Students Association (AISA) burnt Manusmriti terming it to be a derogatory text for women.

While KYS burnt Manusmriti outside Hansraj college as a symbolic protest against the casteist administration of the college where one of its activists was assaulted on April 4 in the college allegedly in front of the principal, the AISA held the event at Arts faculty on the eve of birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar.

According to police officials, three students were detained at Maurice Nagar police station in view of law and order issue and were released later.

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) rebels who left the RSS student outfit citing differences over its handling of the JNU row, had last month burnt a copy of Manusmriti despite the varsity administration denying permission for the same.

The university had issued show-cause notices to five students asking them to explain their position on the event. However, no action has been taken against anybody in this regard.
Mumbai:

While Shiv Sena and MNS have demanded in the past that the Eastern Freeway in the city be named after the late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, Aam Admi Party today demanded it be named after Dr B R Ambedkar.

As the country would be celebrating Ambedkars 125th birth anniversary tomorrow, AAP leaders here said it would be a fine tribute to the architect of the Indian Constitution.

The 4-lane and 16.8 km long Eastern Freeway connects the Fort area in South Mumbai with the Eastern Express Highway at Ghatkopar. Shiv Sena and its splinter offshoot MNS had demanded it be named after Thackeray when it was opened.

We are celebrating the 125th birth anniversary of our beloved leader and creator of our Constitution. So now the best-ever opportunity has arrived to name the Eastern Freeway after Ambedkar, said Ashutosh Sengar, in-charge of AAPs Maharashtra unit.

We are sending out letters demanding this to the Chief Minister, BMC and (planning body) MMRDA as well, he said. Satish Jain, another AAP leader, said some AAP volunteers who study at the IIT Bombay had devised an android application which can weed out the loopholes in the draft development plan of the civic body, published last year.

The app, through its accurate mapping, will help the civic authorities draft a plan as per the UN guidelines about open spaces, recreational areas, footpaths, etc.

Our Delhi Dialogue in the national capital has been a big hit. We want to follow the same model in Mumbai and this QIGS software-based app will definitely help not only us but also the BMC, Jain said.

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Seoul:

South Koreas conservative ruling party said it had disappointed voters after it suffered a serious setback in todays general election, losing its 16 years of parliamentary majority.

The elections, clouded by North Korean nuclear threats and the multiple challenges facing Asias fourth largest economy, came as President Park Geun-Hye enters the final stretch of her term in office.

With more than 90 percent of ballots counted, Parks Saenuri Party was predicted to win 124 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, Yonhap news agency said.

That leaves the party shy of the crucial 60 percent majority that would have allowed it to override opposition attempts to block legislation in the new assembly, making Park very much a lame duck.

The Saenuri Party humbly accepts the election results and voters choice, party spokesman Ahn Hyung-Hwan told journalists. The people are deeply disappointed with us, but weve failed to read their mind, he added.

The left-leaning main opposition Minjoo Party was projected to secure 121 seats and the splinter opposition Peoples Party was predicted to bag 39 spots.

It marked the first time in 16 years the conservative party has lost control of parliament, with the three opposition parties tipped to win a combined 165 seats, well over the majority.

Voter turnout was 58 per cent, up 3.8 percentage points from the 2012 election, and final official results were expected tomorrow morning.

This is a voters judgement against President Park. Many voters are fed up with her authoritarian style of administration, Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies told AFP. Park has also fallen short on most of her key economic promises, a failure she puts down to legislative inaction.

But critics accuse her of skewed priorities, poor decision-making and a dogmatic style of leadership. Political power in South Korea is firmly concentrated in the presidency, with incumbents limited to a single five-year term.

Dissatisfaction is especially high among young people, with the jobless rate among those aged 15-29 at record levels. The left-wing opposition sought to frame todays vote as a referendum on Parks economic policies. But it has suffered from factional infighting and breakaways that threaten to split the liberal vote.

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Crooked Democrat governor lobbied by both Iran and Big Pharma, claims: I dont lobby

Former Vermont governor, onetime Democratic presidential contender, and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean, big time Hillary Clinton supporter (which is odd, given that her Democratic presidential opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, is also from Vermont), claims hes no lobbyist, though he sure acts like one.

In recent weeks, The Intercept reported that Dean launched a broadside at Sanders for supporting a single-payer healthcare plan (think universal Medicare, and what a financial disaster that would be for a nation that is already broke and $20 trillion in the hole). He claimed that having the government pay for health care for all Americans (and our millions of illegal aliens), would undo peoples health care and result in chaos.

In that story The Intercept said that Dean, who at one time also supported single-payer, is currently employed by the lobbying firm Dentons, a law office retained to lobby on behalf of several pharmaceutical and for-profit health care interests.

In response to that report, Dean tweeted out, I continue to support Single pay or [sic] and I do not Lobby.

The following day Dean took an ideological swipe at the investigative news site, tweeting, The Intercept=The Daily Caller of the left. Same propaganda techniques.

Unsurprisingly, Dean  who bravely tweets but cowers face to face (or phone to phone), would not respond to multiple requests for comment by The Intercept. And Bennett Kleinberg, Dentons director of communication, emailed to say, Howard Dean is a senior advisor with Dentons in our Public Policy and Regulation practice. However, he is not a registered lobbyist and does not lobby public officials on behalf of clients of the Firm.

That might look accurate on its face, considering that Dean is no lawyer (by trade, hes a family practice physician). But, The Intercept noted in a follow-up story that, on a number of occasions since joining the lobbying industry, Dean has argued that he does not lobby, but he protests too much:

[Dean] engages in virtually every lobbying activity imaginable, helping corporate interests reach out to lawmakers on legislation, advising them on political strategy, and using his credibility as a former liberal lion to build public support on behalf of his lobby firm clients.

[Note: Deans first degree was a BA in political science from Yale]

He has assisted Big Pharma with maintaining a monopoly over drugs, flip-flopped on Medicare prices, and worked to weaken a crucial aspect of Obamacare. Though well-known for his anti-war views in 2004, Dean has nevertheless accepted money from Mojahedin-e Khalq, an extremist organization that wants regime change in Iran, and has been a vocal critic of President Obamas Iranian nuclear negotiations, The Intercept reported.

The fact that Dean is not a registered lobbyist reflects a distinction that is largely meaningless in todays Washington, the investigative news site noted. Thousands of other professionals in the lobbying business have either never registered or de-registered and lobby registration law has almost never been enforced. Newt Gingrich, who was widely criticized in 2011 for acting as a lobbyist for various clients without registering, was hired last year by Dentons lobbying practice, where he works closely with Dean to consult with clients on political strategy.

And as the Legal Times reported, the combo of Dean-Gingrich, a former GOP speaker of the House, is a major selling point for the Dentons firm, since the pair aims to become another Washington-based bipartisan tag team who can act as political soothsayers for whichever corporate clients call upon them.

In previous lobbying work for a separate firm, Biotechnology Industry Organization, or BIO, a lobbying group for biotech and pharmaceutical companies, Dean advocated for policies and practices that actually kept drugs more expensive.

After being retained by BIO, Dean authored an opinion column for The Hill newspaper arguing in support of a bill backed by his client that called for extending the exclusivity period for drugs made from living organisms, such as vaccines or Herceptin/trastuzumab, a treatment for breast cancer, The Intercept reported.

It was a position that alarmed and shocked patient care and consumer advocate groups, because it was a stance that would drive prices up  or maintain already high prices  for life-saving medications.

Sources:

TheIntercept.com

TheIntercept.com

Twitter.com

Science.NaturalNews.com

Submit a correction >>
US lawmakers propose bill to deny gun rights to patriots, preppers, sovereign citizens and other suspected terrorists

Scores of lawmakers  most of them Democrats but who are joined by a single Republican  are pushing a measure that would grant the attorney general the authority to block the sale of guns and explosives to known terrorists as well as those the AG classifies as terrorists.

And while that proposal sounds pretty normal at first blush, understand that the measure would also give the nations top cop the authority to block such sales to anyone who is appropriately suspected of being a terrorist. And, as you might guess, the danger here is in whom the government would or could suspect might be a terrorist (as in, any person or group of persons deemed to be political enemies).

As reported by The Blaze:

The Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act was introduced this week by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.). They say it makes no sense that people on the terrorist watch list are prohibited from boarding airplanes in the United States, but are still free to buy guns and explosives.

Federal law already prohibits nine categories of dangerous persons from purchasing or possessing firearms, including the mentally ill and criminals, said King. Yet, after almost 14 years, we still allow suspected terrorists the ability to purchase firearms. Its time for common sense to prevail before its too late.

Now, if you simply disagree, youre a terrorist

Mind you, this is the same Rep. King who loves Uncle Sams massive surveillance state so much he has chided President Obama over apologies for NSA spying on our allies and who has suggested the agency turn its spying network on Congress because members could be talking to an al Qaeda leader.

As for the legislation, what is left unsaid  and up to fanatics like King to define  are sufficiently non-specific terms like appropriately suspected.

Also fishy are the facts used to justify the legislation.

Feinstein  notable for her historic anti-Second Amendment hysteria  and King say that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that some people on the terrorist watch list, which is kept by the FBI, have tried to buy firearms in 2013 and 2014, and that they were able to do so about 93 percent of the time.

The Blaze further reported:

Under the bill, the attorney general would be able to stop the transfer of a gun or explosive to a known or suspected terrorist if its possible the person might use the firearm in connection with terrorism. The bill language says the attorney general can stop the transfer if he or she has a reasonable belief that the prospective transferee may use a firearm in connection with terrorism.

There is likely no appetite in an opposition-controlled Congress to give this administration new authorities to deny gun sales to anyone, simply because it has not proven trustworthy on the issue since taking office in 2009.

You may recall that the Obama Justice Department under departing AG Eric Holder ran the botched Operation Fast and Furious, in which the department, under the tutelage of the ATF, allowed thousands of firearms to walk into the hands of Mexico-based drug cartels. According to former CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson, one of the goals of the operation was to justify restrictive new gun control laws, especially long guns like military-style look-alikes.

Also, this is the same administration now attempting to ban ammunition sales of the popular AR-15 rifle, and some of the same congressional Democrats who introduced legislation to ban body armor.

All while the Obama government is redefining who terrorists are  conservatives who prefer smaller government and less of Washingtons not-so-light touch in their lives.

The Obama regimes relentless push to criminalize political opponents

As reported by CNN in February:

A new intelligence assessment, circulated by the Department of Homeland Security this month and reviewed by CNN, focuses on the domestic terror threat from right-wing sovereign citizen extremists and comes as the Obama administration holds a White House conference to focus efforts to fight violent extremism.

Some federal and local law enforcement groups view the domestic terror threat from sovereign citizen groups as equal to  and in some cases greater than  the threat from foreign Islamic terror groups, such as ISIS, that garner more public attention.

The Homeland Security report, produced in coordination with the FBI, counts 24 violent sovereign citizen-related attacks across the U.S. since 2010.

So, now Obamas highly politicized DHS believes that 24 incidents (fewer than 6 per year)  in a country of 310 million people  is serious enough to justify the expense of producing an entire report.

Ammo bans. Gun control. Bans on body armor. Reclassifying conservatives and individualist preppers as terrorists. New powers to determine who is and is not a terrorist.

See any pattern here?

Sources:

//www.theblaze.com

//www.newsmax.com

www.techdirt.com

//www.cbsnews.com

//www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2560750

//www.cnn.com

Submit a correction >>
If push came to shove, would you be able to pick out a ruff from a rutabaga?

OK ... one is a vegetable. But what about the other?

Children ages 4 to 10 will have the opportunity to learn all about ruffs (and other clothing accessories) during a free Family Day Saturday, April 16, at the Bellarmine Museum on the campus of Fairfield University. Kids and their caregivers are invited to Ruffs & Cuffs: Costume & Culture in Renaissance Art. Two 90-minute classroom sessions will be offered, the first at 1 p.m., and the other at 2:30. For the general public, the museum (which is usually closed on Saturdays) will also be open from 1-4 p.m.

The wearing of a starched lace ruff around the neck/collar was at one time de rigueur for men, women and children, especially during the Elizabethan Era during the 16th and 17th centuries. Sizes varied, but many were very large. Smaller versions of ruffs are sometimes seen today, used by contemporary clothing designers as a fashion statement.

Should you consider a Renaissance program a wee bit esoteric for children, Carey Mack Weber says otherwise. The manager of museum and collections for all university facilities, Weber said last week that whenever the museum offers programs devoted to the art of ancient Egypt or the European Renaissance, they always fill to capacity. Weber and her colleagues say that doesnt surprise them because both eras deal with human and animal forms (figurative)  something that all kids can relate to. Royalty (knights, princesses, kings and queens), horses and birds, for example, can be found in both time periods  all celebrated in movies, TV and other forms of popular culture.

Saturdays programs will feature age-appropriate gallery tours through Bellarmines noted Kress Collection, that features 10 paintings by lesser masters of the Italian Renaissance and Baroque.

More Information Bellarmine Museum, on the campus of Fairfield University, 200 Barlow Road. Saturday, April 16. 1-4 p.m. Free. www.fairfield.edu/museum See More Collapse

Presented in a classroom setting, the arts-and-crafts session will include making a small decorated chest (known as a cassone), which, in larger versions, were used by Renaissance folks to store priceless personal and household items. Princess hats and paper ruffs also are a possibility.

We offer these Family Day events about six times a year, said Weber, who has about 25 years of experience working in galleries and museums. Parents love these programs and are so grateful. For us, its a wonderful way to reach out to the community ... to give back ... and to make arts education accessible to all in an exciting and meaningful way.

Space is limited to 60 children. Registration is required for children only (the number of accompanying adults is immaterial) at www.bellarminewag.eventbrite.com

pasboros@ctpost.com; Twitter: @PhyllisASBoros
MONTREAL, April 13, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - The Mayor of Montreal, Mr. Denis Coderre, and the Chairman and Member responsible for Finance of the city's Executive Committee, Mr. Pierre Desrochers, have presented the City of Montreal's Annual Financial Statements for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2015. The City of Montreal ended 2015 with a consolidated surplus of $145.8M, compared to the 2015 annual budget tabled which was $4,866.4M. This is also the second consecutive budgetary surplus achieved by the metropolis during the Coderre-Desrochers Administration's first two full years of work.

"This financial statement clearly reflects the efforts made by our administration for more than two years to manage public funds in a rigorous and effective manner. The overall surplus of $145.8M was generated by increased income concurrent with realized savings in operating expenditures. The increase in revenues, which amounted to $58.5M (3.0%), is linked in part to the growth in Montreal's real estate portfolio, which generates additional real estate tax revenues, a sign that Montreal is now reaping the benefits of major real estate projects across its territory. It is however mainly on the spending side that the work of our administration has borne fruit, yielding savings of $162M. This is the combined result of tight expenditure control throughout the year and decisions taken by our administration. The vast majority of the city's areas of activity contributed to reducing expenses, as well as most of the boroughs," said Mr. Denis Coderre.

"Since last year, the financial report has been accompanied by a supplementary document entitled Financial Accountability Report. This tool provides much more detailed information which is intended for citizens, the media and all those who want to learn more about the use of public funds. Through the Financial Accountability Report, we fulfil our commitment to ensure an open and transparent public administration. The goal is to make this document an accessible pedagogical tool, which will promote the understanding of fiscal issues and will ultimately encourage citizens' greater engagement in public life," explained Mr. Pierre Desrochers.

Composition of the Consolidated Surplus of $145.8M

Montreal's overall surplus of $145.8M is composed of a $12.0M Agglomeration Council surplus and a $133.8M Municipal Council surplus. The $133.8M Municipal Council surplus comprises a $72.1M surplus from the boroughs and a $61.7M surplus from the city's centralized corporate services.

Surplus of $72.1M from the Boroughs

In 2015, all boroughs contributed to the general reduction of operating expenses and all finished in a budget surplus situation. The share of the surplus due to the boroughs is $72.1M, substantially the same amount as before the entry into force of the borough financing reforms. "This demonstrates that the boroughs have the financial means to maintain the services they must provide to citizens. These results also show that those boroughs which saw their transfer payments reduced because of the reform still have the means to continue to offer these services," commented Mayor Coderre. Recall that this reform only took effect in 2015 and that it had no impact on the 2014 financial results.

The surplus of $72.1M will be fully retained by the boroughs. Each borough council may allocate its surplus in accordance with local priorities and choices. With respect to the $61.7M centralized services surplus, the Municipal Council will eventually decide its use.

The Accumulated Surplus and Reserves

For the City of Montreal as a whole, the surplus accumulated over past years plus reserves totalled $706.9M at December 31 2015. The boroughs have accumulated surplus and reserves totalling $239.2M, compared to $279.9M for the central city and $187.8M for the Agglomeration Council.

Consolidated Revenues on the Rise

Overal City revenues for 2015 were $4.9B, an increase of $58.5M (or 1.2%) over the tabled Operating Budget. These included in particular:

Higher growth in the tax base for municipal taxes and compensation in lieu of taxes: $32.8M

Real estate transfer taxes and the active real estate market generating an increase of 1.5% in the number of transactions as well as an increase of 3% in the average value of transactions: $31.8M

An increase in public sector occupancy charges, including Ville-Marie , Cote-des-NeigesNotre-Dame-de-Grace and Rivieres-des-PrairiesPointe-aux-Trembles: $9M

, Cote-des-NeigesNotre-Dame-de-Grace and Rivieres-des-PrairiesPointe-aux-Trembles: An increase in licenses and permits revenues, mainly for building and renovation permits, mainly in Ville-Marie and Cote-des-NeigesNotre-Dame-de-Grace: $5M

Reduced Operating Expenses

Overall city expenditures for 2015 were $4.8B, a net change of $87.3M (or 1.8 %) compared to the tabled Operating Budget.

Analysis of Certain Activities

Snow Removal : charges associated with snow removal in the boroughs totalled $145.7M, down $10M (6.4%) compared to the initial budget. These charges represent an increase of $7.4M compared to the 2014 report, caused primarily by two additional chargeable days required and the indexing of contracts, coupled with a slight increase in the amount of snowfall.

Waste Management :

Waste management costs (City total) amounted to $156.8M, an increase of $2.5M compared to 2014. This is mainly due to the purchase of organic material collection tools for $2.1M.

Capital Programs in Progress

These investments in capital assets fall within the framework of the Montreal 2015-2024 Capital Investment Program. Investment in capital assets carried out across the City of Montreal territory totalled $931.4M in 2015, an increase of 10.6% over 2014. Note that in 2015, boroughs invested a total of $191.2M (21%) and the central city $740.1M (79%). These capital investments of $931.4M are a record amount and the highest City investment in infrastructure since 2010. Recall that over the past 6 years, the average of these investments was $761M.

Note also that the continued implementation of planned investment was carried out primarily in road infrastructures (24%), buildings (15%), parks, green spaces and playing fields (17%). Highlights of investments made by the boroughs and by central departments are available in the Financial Accountability Report document, in the "Capital Investment Activities" section.

Capital Expenditures: Less Borrowing and More Cash Payments

Total expenditures on capital investments in 2015 totalled $954.6M, compared to $844.4M in 2014. This amount includes expenditures related to capital assets ($931.4M) and operating expenditures and property acquisition for the purposes of resale ($23.2M).

Note that in 2015, the City paid a greater portion of these expenditures in cash ($522.7M in 2015 versus $306.9M in 2014), while reducing expenditures financed by borrowing ($431.9M in 2015 versus $537.5M). In percentage terms, expenses financed by the City through borrowing were reduced from 64% in 2014 to 45% in 2015.

City Debt

The net consolidated debt of the City of Montreal, the amount carried by taxpayers, is $5.556M. The city has managed to keep its debt under control, as demonstrated by the debt servicing ratio limit which stands at 13.5%, lower than the maximum threshold of 16% established by the City Debt Management Policy.

Increase in Montreal's Credit Rating

The credit rating of the City of Montreal has improved. In October 2015, the rating firm Standard & Poor's raised the City of Montreal credit rating from A+ to AA-. This decision reflects a high level of confidence in Montreal's long term financial stability.

The 2015 financial report and related documents have been deposited today with the City Clerk. They will also be tabled at the next meetings of the Municipal Council and of the Agglomeration Council. The documents are currently available on the City of Montreal website at the following address: www.ville.montreal.qc.ca .

SOURCE Ville de Montreal - Cabinet du maire et du comite executif

For further information: Source: Catherine Maurice, Press Secretary, Office of the Mayor and the Executive Committee, 514 346-7598; For Information: Gonzalo Nunez, Information Officer, Communications Department, 514-868-1127
MONTREAL, April 12, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - SNC-Lavalin (TSX: SNC) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a contract by Sociedad Minera de Santander S.A.S (Minesa), a subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company PJSC, to provide a Pre-Feasibility study for the Soto Norte project, a new greenfield gold mine and processing facility located in Colombia.

Services for the project will be conducted over a 15-month period and will be carried out by our Mining & Metallurgy team located in our offices in Toronto, Ontario (Canada), with support from our local presence in Colombia and other regional offices in Latin and South America. As part of the services, the team will identify the optimal project concept to form the basis of the feasibility study, identify the major risks to future development of the project, achieve sufficient detail in engineering to support completion of an environmental and social impact assessment, detail project facilities sufficiently to support the intended level of accuracy required for the Pre-Feasibility capital and operating cost estimates and the project master schedule.

"This project capitalizes on our substantial gold experience, our expertise in taking early phase studies through to project execution for our clients, as well as our considerable experience working in remote and environmentally sensitive areas," said Joaquin Cano, Senior Vice-President, Latin America, Mining & Metallurgy, SNC-Lavalin.

"We are excited to be part of Colombia's increasing focus on mining and resource extraction, and we look forward to working with Minesa, as this new project represents a continuation of our long-standing relationship in a new region," added Jose J. Suarez, President, Mining & Metallurgy, SNC-Lavalin.

About SNC-Lavalin

Founded in 1911, SNC-Lavalin is one of the leading engineering and construction groups in the world and a major player in the ownership of infrastructure. From offices in over 50 countries, SNC-Lavalin's employees are proud to build what matters. Our teams provide engineering, procurement construction, completions and commissioning services together with a range of sustaining capital services to clients in our four industry sectors, oil and gas, mining and metallurgy, infrastructure and power. SNC-Lavalin can also combine these services with its financing and operations and maintenance capabilities to provide complete end-to-end project solutions. www.snclavalin.com

SOURCE SNC-Lavalin

For further information: Media: Louis-Antoine Paquin, Media Relations Manager, Communications, 514-393-8000, ext. 54772, [email protected]; Investors: Denis Jasmin, Vice-President Corporate, Investor Relations, 514-393-8000, ext. 57553, [email protected]
DENVER, CO, April 12, 2016 /CNW/ - Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. (TSX: TCM) (OTCQX: TCPTF) ("Thompson Creek" or the "Company") announced today production and sales results for the three months ended March 31, 2016. Total concentrate production for Mount Milligan for the three months ended March 31, 2016 was 40.1 thousand dry tonnes, with 19.1 million pounds of payable copper and 53.3 thousand ounces of payable gold, which represents an increase of approximately 24% and 16%, respectively, from payable copper and gold production for the three months ended March 31, 2015.

During the three months ended March 31, 2016, the Company completed three shipments of copper and gold concentrate.



Q1 2016

Q1 2015 Copper and Gold







Mount Milligan Mine









Average Daily Mill Throughput (tonnes) 58,099

39,569



Mill Availability (%) 96.6

87.3











Copper ore grade (%) 0.23

0.26



Copper recovery (%) 75.0

79.3



Copper payable production (million lbs) 19.1

15.4



Copper sold (million lbs) 15.0

14.8











Gold ore grade (g per tonne) 0.55

0.63



Gold recovery (%) 59.3

66.7



Gold payable production (000's ounces) 53.3

46.1



Gold sold (000's ounces) 44.4

36.8

During the first quarter of 2016, daily mill throughput at Mount Milligan averaged 58,099 tonnes, compared to 39,569 tonnes for the first quarter of 2015. Mill availability was 96.6%, compared to 87.3% for the same period in 2015.

"Operationally, Mount Milligan had a very good quarter compared to one year ago," said Jacques Perron, President and Chief Executive Officer of Thompson Creek. "The modifications and enhancements that were made in 2015 to remedy operational challenges experienced during the first quarter of last year proved successful, and as a result, daily mill throughput increased 47%, and copper and gold payable production increased 24% and 16%, respectively, compared to the first quarter of 2015. Copper and gold recoveries for the first quarter of 2016 were in line with our expectations and lower compared to the first quarter of 2015, primarily as a result of changes in the operational conditions resulting from increased throughput. Gold recoveries were further impacted as a result of lower gold grades compared to the first quarter of last year. During 2015, our primary focus at Mount Milligan was to increase daily mill throughput, and thanks to the hard work of our team, we achieved this objective. For 2016, we will continue to optimize the mine and mill operations to increase recoveries, and we are confident that we will achieve this objective, as well."

Mr. Perron added, "Activities in connection with the construction of the permanent secondary crushing circuit are going well and remain on schedule, and, as previously disclosed, we expect to complete construction and commissioning by the end of this year."

About Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc.

Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. is a North American mining company. The Company's principal operating property is its 100%-owned Mount Milligan Mine, an open-pit copper and gold mine and concentrator in British Columbia. The Company's molybdenum assets consist of its 100%-owned Thompson Creek Mine, an open-pit molybdenum mine and concentrator in Idaho, its 75% joint venture interest in the Endako Mine, an open-pit molybdenum mine, concentrator and roaster in British Columbia, and its Langeloth Metallurgical Facility in Pennsylvania. The Company's development projects are the Berg and IKE properties, both copper, molybdenum and silver exploration properties located in British Columbia. The Company's principal executive office is located in Denver, Colorado. More information is available at www.thompsoncreekmetals.com .

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release, other than purely historical information are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and applicable Canadian securities legislation and are intended to be covered by the safe harbor provided by these regulations. These forward-looking statements can, in some cases, be identified by the use of such terms as "believe," "project," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Our forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements with respect to: future financial or operating performance of the Company or its subsidiaries and its projects; future earnings and operating results; expected mining and concentrate grades and recoveries; and expectations regarding the optimization of Mount Milligan Mine and construction of a permanent secondary crusher, including the effects of secondary crushing.

Where we express an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is expressed in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. However, our forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected or implied by those forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results and events to differ from those described in such forward-looking statements can be found in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Thompson Creek's Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other documents filed on EDGAR at www.sec.gov and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . Although we have attempted to identify those material factors that could cause actual results or events to differ from those described in such forward-looking statements, there may be other factors, currently unknown to us or deemed immaterial at the present time that could cause results or events to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Many of these factors are beyond our ability to control or predict. Given these uncertainties, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc.

For further information: Pamela Solly, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Responsibility, Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc., Tel: (303) 762-3526, [email protected]
[April 12, 2016] SocialPlay Secures $500,000 Financing Agreement

FORT WORTH, Texas, April 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Social Play USA - (OTC-QB:SPLY) is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into an agreement with CMGT, Inc. to receive $500,000 in financing to bolster the Company's financial position as they move forward with SocialPlay's strategy to capitalize on the growing cloud based gaming industry. The Company has established funding to enable the efficient execution of potential opportunities that can contribute substantially to the outlook and future revenues of the Company, while diligently advancing on the development of a revolutionary cloud-based game hosting and management system. SocialPlay has entered into a promissory note granting the company up to $500,000. The note represents a consolidation of previous financings with new financing, bringing the sum under new terms. "We are resolute on establishing a strong position in this evolving industry. Having the funding in place to move forward, considerably strengthens our ability to market and deliver our State-of-the-Art solutions, and enables us to capitalze on the momentum we have strived to build," stated Chitan Mistry, CEO of SocialPlay.



About Social Play USA: Social Play Provides marketing and support services for developers in the gaming and mobile application markets. SP Cloud Goods, a patent pending Virtual Goods, Virtual Product Placement Marketplace, and hosting service developed by SocialPlay, aims to be the premiere solution that game developers use to monetize their games. Cloud Goods allows developers to focus on the task of game design, and not on developing complex backend systems. Forward-looking & Safe Harbor Statement Certain statements in this release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and those statements are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward-looking statements that involve 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. The Company cautions that these forward-looking statements are further qualified by other factors. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any statements in this release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For More Information on Social Play USA Contact:

Chitan Mistry

Corporate Office:

2532 Open Range Dr.

Fort Worth TX 76177

Phone: +1-866-281-1207

http://www.socialplay.com Investor Relations:

Andrew Hackett

+1-416-729-2071

[email protected]

http://www.socialplay.com/investors/investor-alerts/

SOURCE Social Play USA, Inc.

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[April 12, 2016] ACEDS eDiscovery conference to feature judges panel on tracking terrorism in the Digital Age & lessons for eDiscovery

MIAMI, April 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association of Certified eDiscovery Specialists (ACEDS) today announced the eDiscovery Conference Day 2 marquee general session, Tracking Terrorism in the Digital Age & its Lessons for eDiscovery  Judicial Perspectives will be held Wednesday, April 20 from 9:30-10:30 a.m. EDT in Ballrooms 2 and 3 of the New York Grand Hyatt. This relevant and highly anticipated session will feature some of the nation's preeminent judges addressing the complex topic of battling terrorism in the digital realm. The panel will tackle questions such as: Should the FBI be allowed to compel Apple to break open iPhones in terrorism trials?

Can law enforcement use the existing legal framework to track terrorists in real time?

Can computer forensics technology help prevent attacks like the ones in Paris and San Bernardino? The panel will include: Hon. Xavier Rodriguez of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas -- Judge Rodriguez has managed a number of important eDiscovery and terrorism-related cass, including the conviction of a Somali man who knowingly smuggled people tied to a terrorist group into the United States.



Hon. James Francis, United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of New York -- Judge Francis has managed high profile eDiscovery cases and the terror trial conviction of attempted Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and the Microsoft warrant case regarding overseas data. Hon. Matthew Sciarrino, Acting Justice for the Supreme Court at Kings County -- Judge Sciarrino managed a case in which he compelled Twitter to produce tweets from Occupy Wall Street Protesters.

Moderator Ronald Hedges is a former United States Magistrate Judge who has extensive experience in eDiscovery and in managing complex litigation as a judge and court-appointed special master. "EDiscovery and forensic practitioners are at the forefront of the fight to bring international terrorists and criminals to justice," said ACEDS Executive Director Mary Mack. "ACEDS is committed to helping advance the understanding of terror networks to improve our collective success in bringing perpetrators to justice, preventing future atrocities and protecting civil liberties." Prior to this session from the judicial perspective, there will be a Day 1 session devoted to tracking terrorism from a technical perspective presented by Israeli cyber expert, Roy Zur, CEO of Cybint. The eDiscovery Conference is April 18-20 at the Grand Hyatt New York. New York City-based attendees are eligible for a discounted $500 day pass to the conference. Visit eDiscovery Conference for more information. Media room and other accommodations provided. Interviews with ACEDS Executive Director, Mary Mack, select speakers and panelists available upon request. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aceds-ediscovery-conference-to-feature-judges-panel-on-tracking-terrorism-in-the-digital-age--lessons-for-ediscovery-300250496.html SOURCE Association of Certified eDiscovery Specialists

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[April 12, 2016] Cybersecurity Industry "Fighting the Wrong Battle for 20 Years"--New Research

HERNDON, Va., April 12, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Global technology company Nuix has published a provocative white paper by cybersecurity veteran Chris Pogue arguing that the technology industry has been "fighting the wrong battle with the wrong weapons" against cybercrime for the past two decades. The paper contends that for technology to fight cybercrime and insider threats effectively, it must solve human vulnerabilities. "In the more than 2,500 data breaches I have investigated, I can count exactly zero that were caused by non-human-initiated system failurelike it or not, people are the problem," said Pogue, Nuix's Senior Vice President, Cyber Threat Analysis. The white paper examines five cognitive biases"bugs in our brain software"that cause people to make poor decisions. It examines how other industries have learned to deal with these biases by concentrating on changing human behavior, and applies these lessons to the fight against cybercrime. Pogue is visiting Australia this week to meet with government, law enforcement, and business leaders, launch the white paper, and demonstrate the soon-to-be-released Nuix Insight product line. Thse products will provide an integrated approach to cybersecurity threat prevention, detection, investigation, response, and remediation.



"Our focus with Nuix Insight technology is to reduce the number of human decision points, thereby dramatically reducing the opportunity for mistakes and failure," said Pogue. "To do this we've baked into the products decades of experience from experts in incident response, malware reverse engineering, threat intelligence, data analysis, insider threats, and digital forensics." The white paper includes a strategic battle plan and practical action plan for organizations to focus on using technology, people, and processes to address the people problems of cybersecurity.

"Do we have what it takes to outsmart our own brains and stop ourselves from repeating the mistakes of the past?" said Pogue. "Hopefully we can set ourselves up for the next 20 years, get serious about security, address the real human vulnerability, and start reclaiming surrendered ground." Nuix Insight Adaptive Securitya continuous-protection platform for threat prevention, detection, response, and remediationwill be available in May. Nuix Insight Analytics & Intelligencea four-dimensional security intelligence platform that connects people, objects, locations, and events for breach investigations, deep-dive forensics, and big data visual analysiswill follow in the second half of the year. About Nuix

Nuix (www.nuix.com) protects, informs, and empowers society in the knowledge age. Leading organizations around the world turn to Nuix when they need fast, accurate answers for investigation, cybersecurity incident response, insider threats, litigation, regulation, privacy, risk management, and other essential challenges. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cybersecurity-industry-fighting-the-wrong-battle-for-20-yearsnew-research-300250459.html SOURCE Nuix

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[April 12, 2016] [A]list Summit in Seattle Will Be Streamed Live on alistsummit.com

PASADENA, Calif., April 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- During next week's event, attendees will hear from game-changing executives, talented creatives, and top experts who are challenging the marketing status quo and exemplifying what it means to be frontline, an approach that goes beyond engagement marketing by using new processes to accelerate understanding and creation of media consumers truly want. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160412/354605 WHAT: [a]list summit  Frontline Marketing WHEN: Wednesday, April 20 from 8am-6pm WHERE: W Hotel  1112 4th Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98101 WHO: Paul Peterman - Head of Industry, Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook & Instagram

Frank O'Connor - Creative Director, Halo Franchise, 343 Industries/Microsoft

- Creative Director, Halo Franchise, 343 Industries/Microsoft Rebecca Markarian - Senior Vice President of Digital and Social Media, Ayzenberg

Mike Sepso - Senior Vice President of Activision Blizzard Media Networks

Andy Swanson - Vice Presdent of eSports, Twitch

- Vice Presdent of eSports, Twitch Eric Gradman - CTO of Two Bit Circus

Connor Franta - Founder of Heard Well and YouTube Sensation

Andrew Graham - Heard Well Co-Founder

- Heard Well Co-Founder Steven Lai - ION's Head of Talent

Rahul Sood - CEO of UNIKRN

Matt West - Ayzenberg's Director of Content Strategy

- Ayzenberg's Director of Content Strategy Dan Ciccone - Managing Director, rEVXP, Agent, OpTic Gaming

Michael Cai - Senior Vice President of Research, Video Games & Technology, Interpret

Vincent Juarez - Principal at Ayzenberg Group and ION

- Principal at Ayzenberg Group and ION Robin Boytos - [a]insights Director of Analytics

Kai Mildenberger - [a]insights CTO

Dr. J. Galen Buckwalter - [a]insights Data Scientist & Advisor

Paula Batson - Vice President of PR and Communications for YouNow

Joey Jones - VP and Creative Director at Ayzenberg

- VP and Creative Director at Ayzenberg Ruth Yomtoubian - Director of AT&T Foundry

Chris Younger - Principal at Ayzenberg Group

- Principal at Ayzenberg Group Stu Pope - Principal at Ayzenberg Group

- Principal at Ayzenberg Group Shiraz Akmal - CEO and Co-Founder, SPACES

Steve Callanan - CEO, Wirewax

Dan Garraway - Co-Founder, Wirewax

Dr. Scot Refsland - Founder and CEO, RotorSports



Jim Louderback , well-known and respected entrepreneur and business strategist. The agenda includes keynotes presentations, panel discussions, fireside chats, a hosted lunch and cocktail reception  full details can be found on alistsummit.com. For interview requests and media credentials please contact, Chastity Irizarry.

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/alist-summit-in-seattle-will-be-streamed-live-on-alistsummitcom-300250552.html SOURCE [A]list Summit

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[April 13, 2016] Synechron to Bring a Digital Bank Branch Experience to EFMA Distribution Summit 2016

LONDON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Synechron, a leading global firm in Digital, Business Consulting and Technology, is participating as a sponsor for the EFMA Distribution Summit 2016, one of the largest annual industry conferences where digital banking experts converge to discuss and collaborate on fintech, banking and insurance services of tomorrow. This year's summit will be held from April 13 to 15 in London. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160412/354414 )

During the summit, Synechron will showcase its digitization solutions and capabilities by offering a complete digital branch experience at their EFMA stand. The three day set-up will aim to provide the customer experience of digital interaction and engagement focusing on advisory services rather than everyday transactions. With digitization in banking as its main theme, the event covers sessions on natural language and AI, Blockchain development, mobile-first onboarding and design thinking. David Horton, Head of Innovation, Synechron, will be sharing his insights in a presentation on 'The Millennial Branch'.



"Digitization in banking, particularly in the retail banking business, has kicked off a new era of 'millennial-friendly banking' not only in the US, UK and Europe but also across all the growing economies in Asia and the Middle East. The way banks are leveraging new age technologies like big data analytics, IoT, biometric ATMs, wearable devices, etc. these days, is one of the major factors which have enabled them to move beyond the traditional banking business model. It's our privilege to be associated with a prestigious forum like EFMA that plays a critical role in bringing together key decision makers in the industry," said Faisal Husain, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Synechron. As a well-established provider of an integrated suite of services in business consulting & technology domains, Synechron is also a leading global player in the Digital space that helps businesses excel in strategy, user experience, development and digital transformation. Synechron's global network of Digital Innovation Centers incorporates retail branch experience combined with opti-channel solutions, platformification concepts, and state of the art mobile, tablet, touch walls, queue management, and self-service automation/ATM kiosks to fully demonstrate the customer journey.

About Synechron Synechron, one of the fastest-growing digital, business consulting & technology services providers, is a $350 million firm based in New York. Founded in 2001, Synechron has been on a steep growth trajectory. With 5,000+ professionals operating in 16 countries world-wide, it has presence across the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. For more details, visit us at http://www.synechron.com.

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[April 13, 2016] Synechron to bring a Digital Bank Branch Experience to EFMA Distribution Summit 2016.

DUBAI, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Synechron, a leading global firm in Digital, Business Consulting and Technology, is participating as a sponsor for the EFMA Distribution Summit 2016, one of the largest annual industry conferences where digital banking experts converge to discuss and collaborate on fintech, banking and insurance services of tomorrow. This year's summit will be held from April 13 to 15 in London. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160412/354414 )

During the summit, Synechron will showcase its digitization solutions and capabilities by offering a complete digital branch experience at their EFMA stand. The three day set-up will aim to provide the customer experience of digital interaction and engagement focusing on advisory services rather than everyday transactions. With digitization in banking as its main theme, the event covers sessions on natural language and AI, Blockchain development, mobile-first onboarding and design thinking. David Horton, Head of Innovation, Synechron, will be sharing his insights in a presentation on 'The Millennial Branch'.



"Digitization in banking, particularly in the retail banking business, has kicked off a new era of 'millennial-friendly banking' not only in the US, UK and Europe but also across all the growing economies in Asia and the Middle East. The way banks are leveraging new age technologies like big data analytics, IoT, biometric ATMs, wearable devices, etc. these days, is one of the major factors which have enabled them to move beyond the traditional banking business model. It's our privilege to be associated with a prestigious forum like EFMA that plays a critical role in bringing together key decision makers in the industry," said Faisal Husain, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Synechron. As a well-established provider of an integrated suite of services in business consulting & technology domains, Synechron is also a leading global player in the Digital space that helps businesses excel in strategy, user experience, development and digital transformation. Synechron's global network of Digital Innovation Centers incorporates retail branch experience combined with opti-channel solutions, platformification concepts, and state of the art mobile, tablet, touch walls, queue management, and self-service automation/ATM kiosks to fully demonstrate the customer journey.

About Synechron Synechron, one of the fastest-growing digital, business consulting & technology services providers, is a $350 million firm based in New York. Founded in 2001, Synechron has been on a steep growth trajectory. With 5,000+ professionals operating in 16 countries world-wide, it has presence across the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. For more details, visit us at http://www.synechron.com.

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[April 13, 2016] Kalray and 6WIND Announce New Partnership

Joint Solution to Accelerate Networking and Storage Infrastructure for Data Centers SANTA CLARA, California, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Kalray, a leading provider of acceleration solutions for data centers, and 6WIND, a high-performance networking software company, today announced in conjunction with the Open Server Summit in Santa Clara and the Cloud Security Expo in London, a partnership to help accelerate networking and storage infrastructure for data centers. The partnership combines Kalray's KONIC-80 Smart NICs with 6WIND's 6WINDGate packet processing software to enable high throughput applications in Software Defined Networking (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and data center networking. The combined solution is based on Kalray's MPPA (Massively Parallel Processor Array) high speed I/O processor, which is an ideal and unique solution to manage low latency, low power, and high data throughput applications in the data center networking or storage infrastructure environments. It includes all the basic software building blocks such as Linux and PCIe drivers as well as OpenDataPlane across platform APIs. Based on MPPA, Kalray's KONIC-80 smart NIC is capable of sustaining an 80GbE line rate with the ability to encrypt and decrypt on the fly. KONIC smart NIC boards are based on Bostan, which is Kalray's latest high speed I/O processor. 6WIND's 6WINDGate packet processing software integrates with Kalray KONIC-0 smart NICs to deliver critical performance to networking applications while fully synchronizing with Linux so that no changes are required to the OS and management. 6WINDGate includes a fast path architecture that removes Linux performance bottlenecks.



By porting 6WINDGate on KONIC, the partners provide complete smart NIC solutions for x86 servers including data center networking solutions ranging from network virtualization with Open vSwitch to security appliances with IPsec, with high application throughput up to 80 Gbps and below 40 watts. Kalray will also leverage its success in the All Flash Array market to enable NVMEoF solutions based on RoCE. "By porting 6WINDGate on KONIC, 6WIND and Kalray will accelerate the deployment of SDN and NFV solutions in the market by providing a complete smart NIC system solution that is fully programmable with high performance and low power consumption," said Eric Baissus, Kalray's CEO.

"High performance networking software is a requirement for SDN and NFV solutions to compete against legacy architectures," said Eric Carmes, 6WIND CEO and Founder. "Combining 6WINDGate packet processing software with Kalray's KONIC smart NIC enables networking solutions on x86 servers that rival incumbent vendors in performance and cost." About Kalray Kalray Inc., is a fabless semiconductor company and pioneer in many-core processor solutions. Its innovative MPPA architecture uniquely delivers high-speed I/O processing enabling real-time acceleration for cloud applications in security networking and storage. For more information, visit http://www.kalrayinc.com About 6WIND 6WIND's commercial software solves performance challenges for network vendors in telecom, enterprise and cloud infrastructure markets. By solving critical data plane performance challenges on multicore architectures, 6WIND delivers a cost-effective value proposition, enabling the transition to the future with Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN). 6WIND is based near Paris, France with regional offices in China, Japan, South Korea and the United States. For more information, visit http://www.6wind.com Press Contacts

Sacha Arts

Bella Vista Communications

+1 408-458-6316

[email protected] Kelly LeBlanc

6WIND

+1 408-508-6732

[email protected]

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[April 13, 2016] Telia Carrier Brings Global Backbone to Montreal

MONTREAL, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Telia Carrier today announced that it has established a new presence in Montreal, now providing wholesale IP transit, Ethernet and IPX services for carriers, content and cloud providers. Montreal complements its presence already established in Toronto and underscores Telia Carrier's continued commitment to expansion in North America. Unique Location and Offerings

As one of the leading providers of 100G services, Telia Carrier enables Montreal customers to connect to its AS1299 fiber optic backbone, one of the largest in the world, at the highest speeds available in the region. Montreal is a major media hub for the French Canadian market and the region's low power costs are also a draw for content providers and cloud technology companies. Montreal is uniquely positioned as a key aggregation point for international traffic, from both the US as well as transatlantic directlyto Canada from Europe via east coast Canadian cable landing points.



"Telia Carrier is dedicated to delivering a responsive, connected experience to address the continued demand in the Canadian market," said Art Kazmierczak, Director of Business Development, Americas at Telia Carrier. "By moving into Montreal, in addition to already being in Toronto, Telia Carrier strengthens its presence in a high growth IP transit market in Canada, and reinforces our commitment to meeting customer demand for consistent and reliable performance worldwide." Telia Carrier was the first carrier with a 100G enabled backbone in both Europe and North America in addition to owning and operating the #1 ranked Global IP backbone. The company enables worldwide connectivity by connecting more than 200 Points of Presence (PoPs) across Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East including 62 PoPs in North America alone.

Media Enquiries: Rickard Backlin, VP Brand & Marketing, Telia Carrier, +46-72-2368327, [email protected] About Telia Carrier

Telia Carrier owns and operates one of the world's most extensive fiber backbones. Our mission is to provide exceptional network infrastructure and services  empowering individuals, businesses and societies to execute their most critical activities. By working close to our customers, we make big ideas happen at the speed of fiber. Discover more at teliacarrier.com Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160209/331598LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/telia-carrier-brings-global-backbone-to-montreal-300250610.html SOURCE Telia Carrier

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[April 13, 2016] TUV SUD Starts its Anniversary Year with a Major Acquisition

MUNICH, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Annual results press conference of Germany's oldest TUV organisation New records in 2015: Revenue of EUR 2.2 billion and earnings of EUR 190 million (adjusted EBIT)

and earnings of (adjusted EBIT) Global player: TUV SUD now employs more people abroad than in Germany

Major investment: The purchase of 100 % of the shares in Spanish ATISAE marks the largest acquisition in TUV SUD's history

Digital expertise: Center of Excellence Digital Service inaugurated in Singapore

Passionate about safety since 1866: TUV SUD celebrates its 150th anniversary TUV SUD continued its growth course in 2015, setting new records for revenue, earnings and headcount. The globally operating technical services group increased its revenue by around 8 per cent last year to EUR 2.2bn (2014: EUR 2.1bn). Earnings before interest and taxes (adjusted EBIT) rose to approx. EUR 190m (2014: approx. EUR 187m), while earnings after taxes (EAT) increased by over 9 per cent to EUR 114m (2014: approx. EUR 104m). TUV SUD started into its anniversary year of 2016 - the 150th year of its history - by purchasing the Spanish ATISAE Group. This acquisition, the largest in the company's history to date, brings the number of employees up to 24,000. "By acquiring ATISAE we have strengthened not only our business operations in Spain, but also our position in western Europe," said Prof. Dr.-Ing. Axel Stepken, Chairman of the Board of Management of TUV SUD AG, at the group's annual results press conference in Munich. Besides being the fifth largest national economy in the European Union, Spain is the second largest car manufacturer in the EU and ranks fourth worldwide in terms of installed wind-power capacity. Involving a workforce of 1,300-plus and revenue of over EUR 80m, the acquisition will be the largest in the 150-year history of the international service corporation. With a broad portfolio of services, ATISAE operates in many sectors of industry and thus integrates perfectly into TUV SUD Group. The acquisition of ATISAE is a further milestone in TUV SUD's continued commitment to growth and internationalisation. "Our company has once again delivered profitable growth in 2015," explained the Chairman of the Board of Management. Revenue grew by around 8 per cent to over EUR 2.2bn - a new record. Year-on-year, adjusted EBIT rose by a further 2 per cent to almost EUR 190m; earnings after taxes increased by over 9 per cent to EUR 114m. After the acquisition of ATISAE Group early this year, TUV SUD now employs approximately 24,000 staff, more than half of them outside Germany. Broad success: Growth across all segments and regions "TUV SUD's development has proved highly resilient in the face of challenging economic framework conditions," said Dr Matthias J. Rapp, CFO of TUV SUD AG. Presenting TUV SUD's annual financial statement, Rapp highlighted the fact that all segments had once again experienced growth in revenue, contributing to the group's profitable growth. The INDUSTRY segment recorded an increase in revenue of more than 7 per cent to EUR 945m, in the MOBILITY segment revenue rose by roughly 5 per cent to EUR 639m, and the CERTIFICATION segment recorded a year-on-year increase in revenue of almost 14 per cent to EUR 557m.

"Within the scope of our internationalisation strategy, we had set ourselves the target of generating at least 40 per cent of our revenue outside Germany by 2015," repored Rapp. "Last year we generated over 42 per cent of our consolidated revenue abroad, and thus clearly outperformed this target." Once again, the strongest impetus for growth came from Asia, where revenue rose by around 22 per cent, and from the Americas, which recorded growth of around 15 per cent. In its domestic market of Germany, TUV SUD also succeeded in increasing its revenue by a further 3.6 per cent in 2015, with the German legal entities generating revenue of around EUR 1.4bn. "This growth in revenue across all regions demonstrates that we are a strong competitor and emphasises our objective to be one of the leaders on the global TIC - testing, inspection and consulting - market," explained the CFO.



TUV SUD also confirms this objective by investing in the further expansion and continuous modernisation of its testing capabilities throughout the world. In 2015 total capital expenditure amounted to over EUR 80m, of which more than half was spent in Germany. Future-focused strategy: Ensuring security for Industry 4.0

The spread of digitisation and interconnectivity throughout virtually all areas of the economy and society is an important growth segment for the international technical services group. "While offering enormous opportunities, this area also involves significant risks," underlined Stepken. A research and development project at TUV SUD which attracted potential attacks and investigated their approaches showed how dangerous the situation has become. Known as a 'honeynet', the project used real hard- and software to simulate the environment of a small-scale water works in a provincial town in Germany. Throughout the eight-month project, the experts recorded over 60,000 attempted attacks launched from servers all over the world, often using spoofed IP addresses. "We regard ourselves as one of the key players in the development of measures to protect systems against unauthorised access and cyber attacks," stressed TUV SUD's Chairman of the Board. "We bring our experience to the table in an array of projects and initiatives, such as SmartFactory KL and the PEGASUS research project launched by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy." SmartFactory KL tests the practical use of innovative information and communication technologies in industrial production. To this end, TUV SUD's experts have developed a new certification scheme for flexible plant structures. The objective of the PEGASUS project is to define new test and approval methods for highly automated driving, particularly on motorways and up to speeds of 130 km/h, within the course of the next three years. Digital capabilities: Digital Units in Munich and Singapore Expanding its digital capabilities, TUV SUD is establishing new Digital Units as essential elements of the group's digitisation strategy. "Only two weeks ago, we inaugurated our new Center of Excellence Digital Service in Singapore," reported Stepken. TUV SUD has pledged investments in the double-digit millions over the next three years and will expand the Digital Service Team to a headcount of 50 in its drive to further enhance the company's capabilities in functional safety and industrial cybersecurity and develop innovative solutions for promising future segments, such as smart infrastructures and Industry 4.0. Singapore and Munich are the two locations at which TUV SUD is expanding its capabilities by establishing Digital Service Units. Singapore's Smart Nation initiative has made the Asian city-state an important pace-setter for digital transformation. Singapore's government is supporting the city's transformation into a smart nation by funding a number of innovation projects. "Our engagement in a number of these projects gives us the opportunity to develop innovative services that we can deploy in other markets," explained the Chairman of the Board of Management. The first example of such projects involves solutions for smart homes where TUV SUD tests functional safety, IT security and the reliability and interoperability of components and installations. Germany's first TUV organisation: Special responsibility for people and the environment "2016 is a very special year for TUV SUD," affirmed Stepken. "The foundations for our company's sustained success were laid in 1866 - exactly 150 years ago." After a huge steam boiler explosion at Mannheim's Aktienbrauerei, 22 local industrialists founded the Mannheim-based Association for the Inspection and Insurance of Steam Boilers (Gesellschaft zur Ueberwachung und Versicherung von Dampfkesseln mit dem Sitze in Mannheim) - the predecessor of today's TUV SUD and the cradle of technical testing and inspection in Germany. "Although technologies have evolved and changed continuously in the 150 years of our existence, TUV SUD's mission has essentially remained the same," the Chairman of the Board of Management explained. "By making sure that technologies are safe, reliable and sustainable, we also assume significant responsibility for people and the environment." In the year of its anniversary, TUV SUD has chosen a special way to demonstrate their social responsibility. "We will donate a total of EUR 5m to support the education and training of young people who could not otherwise afford such qualifications," announced Stepken. "For this purpose, we will launch a number of projects managed by the TUV SUD Foundation." These projects include the development and implementation of special study concepts for children and young people from migrant backgrounds, landmark initiatives that provide socially disadvantaged young people with the possibility to train for technical careers, and an innovation award for small- and medium-sized companies which work with scientific institutions to realise and launch innovative product ideas. The TUV SUD Foundation is thus continuing on its chosen path. Since its foundation in 2009, it has funded extensive projects helping to generate enthusiasm for technology and natural science and focusing on young people in particular. Note for editorial staff: High resolution photos can be found at the "Media Photos" category at http://www.tuv-sud.com/pressphotos. Cross reference: Picture is available at epa european pressphoto agency (http://www.epa.eu ) Further press material: This subject is also addressed in a podcast. The complete broadcast / original speech held by Dr Axel Stepken will be available for download from 4 pm at http://www.tuev-sued.de/audio-pr. The contents of the press folder are available for download at http://www.tuev-sued.de/balance-sheet-press-conference. Media Relations: Matthias Andreesen Viegas

TUV SUD AG

Corporate Communications

Westendstr. 199, 80686 Munich Tel +49-(0)89 / 57-91-16-13

Fax +49-(0)89 / 57-91-22-69

Email [email protected]

Internet http://www.tuev-sued.de

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[April 13, 2016] MyValueTrade Launches HTML5 Browser-based Platform to Make Trading Easier

NEW DELHI, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Last month, MyValueTrade spokesperson Sajeev Sasidharan declared that the mission of his organization was to include the middle class in the growth story of the Indian stock market. For him, it was unacceptable that less than 0.1% of the Indian population traded actively despite skyrocketing indices. Now, they're walking the talk. A couple of weeks back, MyValueTrade quietly rolled out a new version of their trading platform based on HTML5. "Most Traders like to use the good old desktop for trading. The problem is that almost every retail trader has a day-job, and in a lot of organizations, it is impossible to open the trading platform because they do not allow installation of Java or Flash. This means that a lot of retail traders are missing out on most of the action in the market, and thereby, most of the money making opportunities," said Sajeev Sasidharan, spokesperson at MyValueTrade. MyValueTrade's new platform does not need Java or Flash to function. This is truly game changing for a lot of the traders with day jobs. HTML5 has now unquestionably become the standard across the Internet, thanks to its ability for providing rich multimedia functionality on desktop-based web browsers. It also makes the platform very lightweight, which is an excellent quality in a country where high iternet connectivity continues to remain a challenge. The ability of the platform to work in any web and mobile browser is another advantage. It's also sophisticated enough to allow traders to look at multiple screens at the same time, thereby aiding their decision making process.



With its latest move, MyValueTrade has again acted as one of the pioneers in an industry that has spawned a number of other firms eager to take part in the discount broking wave. It's pricing remains amongst the lowest in the industry, and it has been offering several features such as margin funding that its competitors are still struggling to offer. Sajeev says, "Virtually none of our competitors offer the HTML5-based trading platform. Most of the traders using discount brokers are experienced and like to look at a lot of factors before making a trade, so mobile just doesn't cut it for them."

So how does this further their stated mission of democratising trading? MyValueTrade identifies the cumbersome process of trading as one of the major reasons the middle class doesn't trade more often. "Investing should be a habit, but for it to become one, it needs to be simple enough to enter the daily life of the user without taking up too much time/effort. As Sajeev said, "With the HTML5-based browser, we have significantly reduced the friction and hopefully made it a good deal easier for users to acquire this habit." About MyValueTrade MyValueTrade has been leading the democratisation of the broking industry with its revolutionary discount broking plans, allowing its customers to get more out of their investments. The company offers a choice between fixed brokerage and per-order charges, while its online stock trading platforms and applications allow traders across all segments with a single login and an intuitive user-interface. MyValueTrade have amongst the lowest brokerage, and a growing customer base in all parts of India. For more information, please visit the website: http://www.myvaluetrade.com/ Follow MyValueTrade: - Twitter - Facebook - Google+ - Linkedin Media contact:

Sajeev Sasidharan

Spokesperson, MyValueTrade

+91-8800255574

[email protected]





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[April 13, 2016] Corvi LED Light Wins the Red Dot Design Award - Making the Nation Proud

MUMBAI, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Red Dot Design Award emanating from Germany is considered to be the Oscars among the product design awards. Thousands of renowned designers and companies from around the world participate each year to try and win this accolade. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160412/10143835 )

Having already won in the year 2013, this year again 9 products consisting of LED downlights and LED tubes by Corvi have won the Red Dot Design Award. A jury comprising of members from diverse school of designs thoroughly judged the products based on functionality, aesthetics, performance and innovation. This year the jury had eminent names such as Manuel Alvarez Fuentes, Jimmy Choo, Chris Bangle - Chief Designer of BMW group, among others. Vimal Soni, the principal designer, founder and director of Corvi LED Light, believes the effort is to place India on the worl map not only in the realm of LED lights but also for product design too.



On the lines of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative, instead of going to China, Corvi not only designs and develops, but also manufactures all its products in India. Mr. Soni informed about the upcoming launch of intelligent light as their next frontier that would work without expensive control gear, and can be installed without any special wiring. These lights will react to their environment to save energy and can be easily controlled by using any smartphone.

Considering the fact that in India energy supply remains a challenge, the availability of an indigenous range of LED Light with a 5-year warranty that gives up to 90% energy savings and at a price that can be afforded even by the low income group can be considered as a boon. According to Mr. Soni, this is the greatest service to the nation and the satisfaction he gets from this service happens to be the biggest reward for him. About Corvi LED Light: Launched in Germany at the Light and Building Event held in Frankfurt, since 2012 Corvi has contributed on a fundamental level owing to its innovative abilities. It's the first company to offer across its range 120 lumens per watt, inbuilt driver, heatsink-less and dimmability. It has also won globally coveted awards such as iF Design Award in Germany, the IDA Design award in the USA and the Good Design Award from Japan. To know more, visit: corvi.com Media Contact:

Asif Amrohi

[email protected]

+91-9920260260

Corvi LED Light



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[April 13, 2016] NetSuite Announces NetSuite OneWorld For Benelux-Headquartered Companies

Localised and Designed to Meet Business Requirements, Regulatory and Tax Compliance Meeting the Rising Demand for #1 Cloud ERP among Regional Businesses LONDON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced NetSuite OneWorld for Benelux (The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) headquartered businesses. Localised and designed to meet the business needs, regulatory and tax compliance of regional businesses, NetSuite OneWorld brings an agile and flexible cloud software application that can run mission-critical business processes with global financial capabilities unmatched in the industry. Already in use by more than 850 subsidiaries and legal entities of global companies running business in the Benelux region, NetSuite OneWorld can give today's businesses the ability to expand and transform their organisations and reinvent their business models to meet the ever changing demands of their markets and the expectations of their customers. Businesses seeking to gain business efficiency, grow revenues, expand globally and enter new markets often find themselves held back by software systems siloed by department, geography or legal entity structures, leaving them unable to deliver an optimal customer experience and gain insights into their operations. These disparate software systems not only cannot scale with business growth, but also introduce excessive costs and potential errors, while also restricting businesses' ability to respond to their changing markets and the needs of their customers. While on-premise software such as SAP or Microsoft Dynamics GP requires costly maintenance and disrupts the business with every product upgrade, forcing companies into version lock, other available cloud financial software solutions only offer basic product functionality that cannot scale and support business needs and growth. The agility, flexibility and scalability that NetSuite OneWorld provides is difficult to achieve by businesses running legacy on-premise software, or immature ERP cloud solutions, such as Exact cloud ERP in The Netherlands, that are years behind NetSuite and only offer rudimentary functionality. NetSuite OneWorld, a Game-Changer for Benelux Businesses NetSuite OneWorld, winner of the 2015 Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) CODiE Award for Best Financial Management Solution and the 2015 UK Cloud Award for ERP Product of the Year, provides a unified and cloud-based suite of software that is flexible enough to meet the needs of diverse business models, legal structures and geographies. NetSuite OneWorld supports 190 currencies, 20 languages, automated tax calculation and reporting in more than 100 countries, and customer transactions in more than 200 countries. Further, to help today's B2B and B2C businesses with omnichannel commerce, NetSuite OneWorld delivers commerce-ready capabilities that can help both B2B and B2C commerce businesses to move from siloed online, in-store and phone consumer shopping channels to an integrated commerce solution, connecting ecommerce and in-store POS to order management, inventory, merchandising, marketing, financials and customer service, while delivering a seamless brand experience and exceeding customer expectations. For The Netherlands-Headquartered Companies, NetSuite OneWorld delivers country-specific features and functionality such as: Global currency and accounting with localised capabilities including support for local charts of accounts.

with localised capabilities including support for local charts of accounts. Country-specific indirect tax support for the Netherlands' Omzetbelasting (BTW).

for Omzetbelasting (BTW). Local bank and payment support for credit card, debit card and alternative payment methods in the region like iDEAL and Sofort.

for credit card, debit card and alternative payment methods in the region like iDEAL and Sofort. Local language support for Dutch and also for businesses to trade with customers, suppliers and partners anywhere in the world in the language of their choice while meeting local compliance standards and cultural expectations through easily customisable forms.

for Dutch and also for businesses to trade with customers, suppliers and partners anywhere in the world in the language of their choice while meeting local compliance standards and cultural expectations through easily customisable forms. Robust Development Platform that provides a vibrant partner ecosystem that has strong regional and vertical industry partners with domain expertise and local knowledge such as ERP FastForward wit their Dutch bank reconciliation tool.



For Belgium-Headquartered Companies, NetSuite OneWorld delivers country-specific features and functionality such as: Global currency and accounting with localised capabilities including support for local charts of accounts - the Plan Comptable Minimum Normalise (PCMN).

with localised capabilities including support for local charts of accounts - the Plan Comptable Minimum Normalise (PCMN). Country-specific indirect tax support for Belgium's Belasting over de Toegevoegde Waarde (BTW).

for Belasting over de Toegevoegde Waarde (BTW). Country-specific reporting with support for Belgium's Jaarlijkse Lijst Van De Btw - Belastingplichtige Afnemers  a unique reporting requirement in which it is mandatory for all companies registered in Belgium to submit a list of all sales invoices issued in prior years.

with support for Jaarlijkse Lijst Van De Btw - Belastingplichtige Afnemers  a unique reporting requirement in which it is mandatory for all companies registered in to submit a list of all sales invoices issued in prior years. Local bank and payment support for credit card, debit card and alternative payment methods in the region like Mister Cash.

for credit card, debit card and alternative payment methods in the region like Mister Cash. Local language support for French in Belgium and also for businesses to trade with customers, suppliers and partners anywhere in the world in the language of their choice while meeting local compliance standards and cultural expectations through easily customisable forms.

for French in and also for businesses to trade with customers, suppliers and partners anywhere in the world in the language of their choice while meeting local compliance standards and cultural expectations through easily customisable forms. Robust Development Platform that provides a vibrant partner ecosystem that has strong regional and vertical industry partners with domain expertise and local knowledge such as Deloitte to provide implementation, customisation and integration services. For Luxembourg-Headquartered Companies, NetSuite OneWorld delivers country-specific features and functionality such as:

Global currency and accounting with localised capabilities including support for local charts of accounts - the Plan Comptable Normalise (PCN).

with localised capabilities including support for local charts of accounts - the Plan Comptable Normalise (PCN). Country-specific indirect tax support for Luxembourg's Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutee (TVA).

for Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutee (TVA). Local language support for French in Luxembourg and also for businesses to trade with customers, suppliers and partners anywhere in the world in the language of their choice while meeting local compliance standards and cultural expectations through easily customisable forms. In Summary, NetSuite OneWorld for Benelux-Headquartered Companies Delivers: Multi-subsidiary management. NetSuite OneWorld's support for businesses with multiple subsidiaries, business units, and legal entities provides real-time access to subsidiary and parent operational data through detailed reports that can drill down to specific country-level data. Global currency and accounting. NetSuite OneWorld offers easy configuration to support International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), local Generally accepted accounting Practices (GaaP) and legal requirements, flexible revenue recognition rules, depreciation and costing methods to meet local norms and support for over 190 currencies, including all ISO standard currencies with automated feeds to maintain exchange rates between currencies from a choice of providers. Comprehensive tax compliance. By providing triangulation reporting for business engagements that span three countries, EU Intracommunity Sales reporting, Intrastat declarations and Tax Audit File generation in various formats, including SAF-T, NetSuite OneWorld can bridge the gap between traditional ERP and external tax engines and provides seamless access to the key data required to satisfy those tax authorities that are increasingly adopting standards-based eGovernment and audit methodologies particularly for cross-border trading. Country-specific indirect tax support. With support for the Netherlands' Omzetbelasting (BTW), Belgium's Belasting over de Toegevoegde Waarde (BTW) and Luxembourg's Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutee (TVA), along with other regional and global variants of Value-Added Tax, Sales Tax and Withholding Tax, NetSuite OneWorld can be easily configured to calculate, track and report on the indirect tax obligations of businesses regardless of country, materially simplifying tax management, tax compliance, filing and audit accountability. Within the EU, NetSuite Global Tax also handles triangulation reporting requirements for business engagements that span three countries or more in addition to Mini-One-Stop-Shop (MOSS) tax calculation and reporting obligations for companies delivering electronic services to European customers. Country-specific reporting. NetSuite OneWorld provides reporting capabilities for EU Sales (EU intra-community sales covering both goods and services), Intrastat for EU movement of goods, cross-border trading and Tax Audit File generation in various formats, including SAF-T, bridging the gap between traditional ERP and external tax engines, to provide seamless access to the key data required to satisfy those tax authorities that are increasingly adopting standards-based eGovernment and audit methodologies. Local bank and payment support. NetSuite OneWorld offers a highly configurable payment solution with more than 90 bank formats predefined and a payment partner program that offers strong coverage for credit card, debit card and alternative payment methods in the region. Local language support. NetSuite OneWorld supports 20 languages including Dutch and French for Benelux. Further, NetSuite OneWorld enables businesses to trade with customers, suppliers and partners anywhere in the world in the language of their choice while meeting local compliance standards and cultural expectations through easily customisable forms. Cloud-based architecture. NetSuite OneWorld frees businesses from the hassles and expenses of managing on-premise software and associated hardware with a system that is available anywhere at any time with an Internet connection, and mobile access from iPhone and Android devices with optimised screens to enable on-the-move executives and field staff. Robust development platform. The SuiteCloud development platform enables businesses in the region to customise the software to meet their specific needs and integrate with other third-party applications. NetSuite's SuiteCloud Development Network provides a vibrant partner ecosystem that has strong regional and vertical industry partners with domain expertise and knowledge. "NetSuite is already providing Benelux businesses with the No. 1 cloud ERP and these country-specific capabilities are a signal of our ongoing commitment to the success of companies headquartered in the region," said Craig Sullivan, Senior VP of Enterprise and International Products for NetSuite. "With NetSuite OneWorld, these organisations are getting a world-class, global solution that can offer an unmatched opportunity for expansion, with the tax, currency and accounting support they need for operations in their specific country." Today, more than 30,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of cloud-based financials/enterprise resource planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software applications for businesses of all sizes. Many FORTUNE 100 companies rely on NetSuite to accelerate innovation and business transformation. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud business management software to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud accelerates. Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuiteEMEA Twitter handle for real-time updates. For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.co.uk, www.netsuite.com/fr, or www.netsuite.com/nl. NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/354745

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[April 13, 2016] BASF obtains battery material license from CAMX Power LLC

ISELIN, N.J. and LEXINGTON, Mass., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BASF and CAMX Power LLC today announced that BASF has been granted a license under the intellectual property of CAMX Power LLC (CAMX) relating to the CAMX suite of CAM-7TM cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. CAM-7 is a patented cathode material that harnesses the unique properties of high-nickel compounds to deliver high energy density with high-power capability. "In BASF testing, the CAM-7 product platform has shown strong performance and is believed to have the potential to further increase energy density of lithium-Ion batteries," said Kenneth Lane, President of BASF's Catalysts division. "CAMX has established a strong global IP position and we will be collaborating with CAMX's experienced technical staff to develop advanced processing techniques to bring these products to the marketplace." The CAM-7 cathode material platform for advanced lithium-ion batteries, developed for over a decade by CAMX Power and now globally patent-protected, has been shown by key entities in the industry to be capable of extending the range of electric vehicles and the run time between charges in portable devices. "We believe that BASF, as the world's largest chemical company, with CAM-7 added to its cathode portfolio, and with its extensive battery material production facilities globally as well as its deep manufacturing and process technology expertise, is in an ideal position to rapidly scale up production to meet the upcoming spike in demand for high energy cathodes, a critical lithium-ion battery component, accounting for as much as a third of the cost," said Dr. Kenan Sahin, founder and CEO of CAMX. About CAMX Power LLC

CAMX Power LLC, in Lexington, Massachusetts, USA, develops, licenses and sells lithium-ion battery related technologies. It has lithium-ion battery material synthesis facilities, a development-purposed production/pilot plant for its flagship cathode material CAM-7 as well as design-purposed advanced cell making facilities. Its portfolio, in addition to CAM-7, includes advanced cell designs and battery safety technologies/products. Alongside its Development Group, it has a Services Group to be able to tightly collaborate with its customers and the industry in general. CAMX Power is the former Advanced Battery Materials and Design Division of TIAX LLC, which was founded by Dr. Kenan Sahin in 2002 as a Technology Processing company to advance early stage innovations to be scaled-up or scale-up ready, de-risked and IP protected products for established companies to then make and sell as part of their portfolio with TIAX continuing on as a technology partner. CAM-7 and CAMX Power are the results of the TIAX model. Further information at www.camxpower.com. About BASF's Catalysts Division

BASF's Catalysts division is the world's leading supplier of environmental and process catalysts. The group offers exceptional expertise in the development of technologies that protect the air we breathe, produce the fuels that power our world and ensure efficient production of a wide variety of chemicals, plastics and other products, including advanced battery materials. By leveraging our industry-leading R&D platforms, passion for innovation and deep knowledge of precious and base metals, BASF's Catalysts division develops unique, proprietary solutions that drive customer success. Further information on BASF's Catalysts division is available on the Internet at www.catalysts.basf.com About BASF

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 112,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into five segments: Chemicals, Performance Products, Functional Materials & Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. BASF generated sales of more than 70 billion in 2015. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information at www.basf.com







Media contacts: BASF Corporation Cesar F. Garcia BASF Catalysts Phone: +1-732-205-7650 E-mail: [email protected] CAMX Power LLC Terry Lundstrom Phone: +1-978-484-5000 E-mail: [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160412/354601LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/basf-obtains-battery-material-license-from-camx-power-llc-300250445.html SOURCE CAMX Power

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[April 13, 2016] NYU Tandon Creates Virtual Reality Trip to Mars to Sway the Undecided

BROOKLYN, N.Y., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- High school graduates admitted to the class of 2020 at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering will get something special in the mail besides the usual acceptance packages: a virtual reality (VR) voyage to Mars created by students and faculty. NYU Tandon will mail more than 2,000 cardboard 3D viewers and app-download instructions to accepted students this week. NYU Tandon's app is one of the first uses of VR as an admissions tool. As high school students apply to vastly more universities, admissions officers are experimenting with new methods to encourage desired applicants to actually enroll. Moody's Investor Service recently quantified the problem for universities: Between 2004 and 2013, applications for private colleges increased nearly 70 percent  in sharp contrast to a mere 5 percent increase in the number of high school graduates. The challenge was also highlighted by U.S. News & World Report, which found that only 25 of the 265 prestigious research-oriented national universities responding to its survey reported that even half their accepted students showed up on campus as students. The NYU Tandon VR app, called Tandon Vision, is remarkably integrated into the life and history of the school. It takes wearers on a virtual trip to Mars with a robot built by the school's Lunabotics student club and evokes the institution's many alumni astronauts and NASA engineers. Tandon Vision  now a free downloadfor Android and Apple  will make its public debut April 16, 2016 at the NYU Weekend on the Square, which is expected to attract more than 700 accepted students and their families to the engineering school's downtown Brooklyn location.



Elizabeth Ensweiler, NYU Tandon's director of enrollment management, originally brought the idea to artist and NYU Tandon digital media faculty member Mark Skwarek, who heads the NYU Mobile Augmented Reality Lab. Skwarek produced an early prototype, then approached Matthew Conto, a senior in NYU Tandon's Integrated Digital Media (IDM) program who had already created a portfolio of games and apps. Their Tandon-to-Mars VR adventure spotlights the Lunabotics club. Each year the club's members compete in the NASA Robotic Mining Competition, which requires participants to design and build a robot capable of traversing the forbidding terrain of Mars. The app was completed in just three months with help from NASA and its library of images and mockups.

When accepted students receive their devices and download the app, they can travel with a virtual Lunabot up through the ceiling of a virtual classroom and into a meticulously detailed photorealistic galaxy. After traversing space beneath sweeping views of the Milky Way, past the moon and the sun, they descend to the surface of Mars, where, with head and body movements, they can pilot the Lunabotics robot to different mining spots to collect regolith  Martian soil. The action is accompanied by a dreamlike soundtrack provided by R. Luke DuBois, who co-directs NYU Tandon's IDM program. The space voyage is also a nod of the helmet to NYU, whose alumni include astronauts Lee Morin, Charles Camarda, and Paolo Nespoli, as well as former Johnson Space Center chief engineer Jay H. Greene and noted Lockheed Martin aerospace engineer Nicholas Mitchell. Said Ensweiler, "This was a wonderful way to showcase Tandon's strengths in robotics and augmented reality, and we'll be developing more apps in the future for use with Tandon Vision." Said Conto, "Driving around on Mars, even virtually, is a powerful experience. And Tandon gave me the skillset to make that happen." The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, when the NYU School of Civil Engineering and Architecture as well as the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly) were founded. Their successor institutions merged in January 2014 to create a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention, innovation and entrepreneurship. In addition to programs at its main campus in downtown Brooklyn, it is closely connected to engineering programs in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai, and it operates business incubators in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. For more information, visit http://engineering.nyu.edu. facebook.com/nyupoly | @nyupoly Note: Images available at http://dam.poly.edu/?c=1709&k=120140b67c Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151013/276541LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nyu-tandon-creates-virtual-reality-trip-to-mars-to-sway-the-undecided-300250893.html SOURCE NYU Tandon School of Engineering

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[April 13, 2016] OneTwoTrade Overhauls the Customer Service Experience

MRIEHEL, Malta, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- OneTwoTrade, the premier broker in binary options trading, is pleased to announce improvements to the customer service center. Hours of operation have been extended and will soon be round-the-clock, making the service more convenient and accessible to traders, more service agents have been hired, and the infrastructure of the service department has been improved. The changes promise rapid improvements to the customer service experience. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/354840LOGO In addition to new service agents and expanded hours, the customer service department has been working to streamline the customer's experience with OneTwoTrade. A new branch in the customer service department, dedicated to client relations, will be opening up. The Client Relations group will provide more personalized service and conduct in-depth investigation of customer complaints, seeking not just a solution to the immediate problem but a solution for the underlyingcauses. In addition, an expanded presence on social media networks will make it easier for current and potential customers to reach the new service department.



All of these changes are part of a concerted push on the part of OneTwoTrade to improve customer service in the binary options industry. The company is making a strong investment in human resources, bringing in new service agents and customer service management to take clients' service to a higher level. The service department management is also investing in the tools needed to bring out the best in the new personnel, making it possible to analyze the customer service process, determine the time required to answer questions and resolve issues, and to replicate successes. The Customer Service Manager, Eric Berdych, summed up the changes: "We are investing more in human resources, recruiting more people, and looking to shift our department to a 24/7 footing with more personalized service. It's not easy, but it's a good thing and the right thing to do. Our customers have made us the leading binary options broker, so our investment in our customers is an investment in our company." It's a bright outlook for both OneTwoTrade and the customer service department.

Overall, this expansion and improvement of the service department at OneTwoTrade will create a new standard for customer service in the binary options industry. The improved agent training, the increased social network access, and faster response times are sure to make an impact on customer satisfaction, while the new, round the clock schedule and larger pool of service agents will improve the efficiency of the department. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved. 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/onetwotrade-overhauls-the-customer-service-experience-300250984.html SOURCE OneTwoTrade

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[April 13, 2016] CUR Media Completes $2 Million Financing, Led by Intuitive Venture Partners and Katalyst Securities

GLASTONBURY, Connecticut, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CUR Media, Inc. (OTCQB: CURM) (OTCBB: CURM) today announced the completion of a $2 million financing (the "Offering") led by Intuitive Venture Partners and Katalyst Securities. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering to pay certain fees to content providers including the three major record labels, in order to stream music from their catalogs, for working capital and general corporate purposes. The Offering is a significant step forward in the Company's plans to officially launch CUR Music, a social, mobile, and web streaming music service designed to enable users to go beyond the limitations of traditional streaming services. CUR Music's core product begins at $1.99 per month after a 14-day free trial. "I'm pleased to have completed this financing and to move our company one step closer toward the launch of CUR Music," said Tom Brophy, Founder & CEO of CUR Media, Inc. "We intend to work diligently to move our Company forward and deliver on the great potential of CUR Music in the multi-billion dollar music streaming industry. I'm grateful for my team who have worked diligently to prepare a terrific and competitive product for consumers at a price-point of $1.99 per month that works for the masses." The securities issued in this Offering consisted of the Company's 12% Senior Secured Convertible Promissory Notes, which are convertible into units of the Company's securities, each unit consisting of one share of the Company's common stock, and one warrant to purchase an additional share of the Company's common stock. These securities have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended ("Securities Act") or applicable state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and appliable state laws. A full description of the Offering can be found in the Company's Form 8-K filed with the SEC on April 13, 2016. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the units, common stock, warrants or any other securities, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. This press release is being issued pursuant to and in accordance with Rule 135c under the Securities Act.



ABOUT CUR MEDIA INC CUR Media, Inc. is creating CUR (pronounced 'cure'), a next generation social music experience through the planned launch of CUR Music, a social, mobile, and web streaming music application that is being designed to enable its users to go beyond the limitations of traditional music streaming services. Upon its anticipated launch, CUR Music will unlock the truly expressive nature of an individual's connection with their music by fostering personalization, sharing and creativity. With CUR Music it's not just about streaming, it's about what the music means to you and how you want to express that to the world. For more information please visit http://www.curmusic.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements regarding (i) the plans and objectives of management for future operations, including plans or objectives relating to the development of a commercially viable streaming music product, (ii) a projection of income (including income/loss), earnings (including earnings/loss) per share, capital expenditures, dividends, capital structure or other financial items, (iii) the Company's future financial performance, (iv) the Company's ability to negotiate economically feasible agreements with the major and independent music labels and publisher rights organizations, and (v) the assumptions underlying or relating to any statement described in points (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v) above. Such forward-looking statements are not meant to predict or guarantee actual results, performance, events or circumstances and may not be realized because they are based upon the Company's current projections, plans, objectives, beliefs, expectations, estimates and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties and other influences, many of which the Company has no control over. Actual results and the timing of certain events and circumstances may differ materially from those described by the forward-looking statements as a result of these risks and uncertainties. Factors that may influence or contribute to the inaccuracy of the forward-looking statements or cause actual results to differ materially from expected or desired results may include, without limitation, the Company's inability to obtain adequate financing, the length of time associated with development of mobile applications and related insufficient cash flows and resulting illiquidity, the Company's inability to expand the Company's business, lack of product diversification, existing or increased competition, results of arbitration and litigation, stock volatility and illiquidity, and the Company's failure to implement the Company's business plans or strategies. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @CURMUSIC CONTACT: CUR Media, Inc.

Marcy Polanco

[email protected] SOURCE CUR Media, Inc

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[April 13, 2016] Cisco's Executive Chairman, John Chambers to discuss the Digital Age of Business at Executives' Club Luncheon

CHICAGO, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Join The Club on April 20, as John Chambers, Executive Chairman of Cisco, presents a keynote and executive discussion entitled "The Digital Age of Business  Are You Ready?" Although 87% of CEOs claim that going digital is crucial only 7% have a clear digital strategy. Customers, partners and suppliers expect robust and world-class digital experiences and, in times when productivity and competitive advantage hinge on superior digital platforms, business success could be at risk without it. During this program, John Chambers, along with moderator Atif Rafiq, Chief Digital Officer, McDonald's Corporation, will discuss the case for digitization and share insights about how leading companies are shaping the future of digital, from ensuring secure and effective network architectures to effectively navigating the Internet of Everything.







Event Details

 Global Leaders Luncheon with John Chambers: Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Palmer House Hilton, Grand Ballroom, 17 E. Monroe St., Chicago, IL 60603

Registration and Networking: 11:15 a.m.; Program: 12:00-1:15 p.m.

Gold Sponsors: CDW, Discover, University of Phoenix, Ventas About The Executives' Club of Chicago:

The Executives' Club of Chicago is the city's premier membership and networking organization focused on senior executives networking, development and innovation. The Club serves as a platform for executives to build relationships, share ideas, develop new business opportunities and participate in world-class programming. The Club helps executives with their personal and professional development and prepares the next generation of business leaders for success. For more information, visit www.ExecutivesClub.org. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prn/20120203/MM47327LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ciscos-executive-chairman-john-chambers-to-discuss-the-digital-age-of-business-at-executives-club-luncheon-300251310.html SOURCE The Executives' Club of Chicago

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In the wake of the controversies rocking the 2016 budget the Ministry of budget and National Planning has issued an official statement on...





In the wake of the controversies rocking the 2016 budget the Ministry of budget and National Planning has issued an official statement on the controversies trailing the 2016 budget.Read Statement below:12 April 2016 | MINISTRY OF BUDGET AND NATIONAL PLANNING PRESS STATEMENTIn view of the recent controversies surrounding the 2016 budget, it has become necessary to state the following so as to set the facts straight:The details of the 2016 budget were received by the President on Thursday, April 7, 2016.Immediately this was received the President, desirous of signing the document into law as soon as possible, directed that copies should be made available to Heads of the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.Ministers were asked to go through the details and give their reactions as it affects their respective Ministries so as to guide the President and enable him sign the Appropriation Bill into law.That process is still on-going and no statement has been issued by the Executive on the matter, apart from the one by the Honourable Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohamnmed, to confirm that details of the budget are being examined. No final decision has been taken by the President and no other statement whatsoever has been issued on the matter.With reference to the specific issue of the Calabar  Lagos rail project, we will like to state that the two railway projects, Lagos  Kano and the Calabar  Lagos, are very important projects of the present administration; and it was always the intention of the Executive to have both projects reflected in the budget submitted to the National Assembly.However, it will be recalled that the Budget Office made a number of errors in the initial proposals of a number of ministries. These errors were all corrected by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning and the corrected versions were submitted to the relevant committees of the National Assembly. This included that of the Ministry of Transportation.The amended Ministry of Transportation budget was accepted by the relevant committees and that was the version defended by the Minister of Transportation and his team.It must be emphasized that the two rail projects are part of those for which the President is currently negotiating funding with the Chinese government.The N60b provided in the budget for the Lagos  Kano and Calabar  Lagos rail lines, respectively, is counterpart funding, to support the Chinese financing for the projects.These projects are part of the Strategic Implementation Plan of the government which was disclosed by the Minister of Budget and National Planning at the National Economic Council Retreat in March 2016, in the presence of state governors. They were also mentioned by the Vice President last week in Lagos at The Nation Newspapers First National Economic Forum.It is hoped that with this clarification, the raging controversy over the Calabar  Lagos rail project will be put to rest.Signed:Akpandem JamesMedia Adviser to the Honourable Minister
The police in Lagos are on the trail of a herbalist, identified only as Olowo Saudi, for allegedly defrauding a barber, Babatunde Sulaimon...

The police in Lagos are on the trail of a herbalist, identified only as Olowo Saudi, for allegedly defrauding a barber, Babatunde Sulaimon, to the tune of N1.6mForty-one-year-old Sulaiman, who lives in the Ebute-Meta area of Lagos, had reportedly approached the herbalist through his apprentice, Gbenga Balogun, and one Kehinde Afolabi, for rituals that would bring favour his way.It was learnt that the barber had also consulted Olowo Saudi, who lived in Oke Imesi, Ekiti State, to link him with senators and enable him to get contracts that would make him rich.The herbalist was said to have given him a concoction to drink and warned him that he risked dying if he disclosed to a third party what transpired between both of them afterwards.Our correspondent learnt that the herbalist thenceforth started demanding money from the victim to facilitate the senatorial connection and the blessing he sought.On Tuesday, February 17, he was said to have given Olowo Saudi a sum of N270,000.It was gathered that the herbalist the following day, called him on the telephone to send N1.4m to his bank account to complete a sacrifice with a promise that he would begin to see positive results by Sunday, February 21.Sulaiman said he strove to raise the sum and deposited it in the herbalists bank account, adding that it dawned on him that he had been defrauded when he called Olowo Saudi on Monday to inform him that he had not seen any result, but his two lines indicated that they had been switched off.The alleged fraud was reported at the Lion Building Police Division, leading to Balogun and Afolabis arrest.Sulaiman said, I was linked with the herbalist by my apprentice, Gbenga (Balogun). He took me to the man in Ekiti on January 1. When we got there, the man gave me something to drink in his house and gave me another one to take home. He promised that I would be linked with senators and other top government officials that would assist me to reach the top.He threatened me that I would vomit blood and run mad if I tell anybody. I begged him to assist me without much problem because I have not paid my sons school fees and my shop rent then. I gave him N270,000 on February 17. The following day, he said I should raise N1.4m more which I transferred into his account. He promised that everything would be sorted out that weekend. On Monday, I kept calling, but his lines were not reachable.Balogun, 32, who denied involvement in the fraud, said his boss did not carry him along after the January meeting with the herbalist. He added that he did not know Olowo Saudis whereabouts.Sulaiman approached me that he did not understand his life and I told him to look for a way out. I introduced him to Baba (Olowo Saudi) who I know through a female friend, Kehinde (Afolabi). Since Baba gave him (Sulaiman) some concoction on the day we went there, he had been relating with Baba without my knowledge. He had already sent the money to Baba before he informed me, he said.However, Afolabi said the three of them had wanted the herbalist to invoke a spirit that would make them rich not knowing he is a fraudster.She said, I introduced Gbenga (Balogun) to Olowo Saudi and he promised to make us rich. But he said for us to be rich, we must be three or more. That was why Gbenga brought in Sulaiman. The three of us met with the herbalist and he also promised to make him rich. I also paid the man about N500,000. When Gbenga and I went to his house, we were told that he had parked out.The two suspects were arraigned by a police prosecutor, Inspector I. Okeke, before a Tinubu Magistrates Court on three counts bordering on stealing and obtaining money under false pretences.The charges read in part, That you, Gbenga Balogun, Kehinde Afolabi and one other at large, between January and February 2016, on Apapa Road, Ebute-Meta, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did obtain the sum of N1,670,000 with a promise to introduce one Babatunde Sulaiman to a senator in Ado-Ekiti which you failed to do, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 321 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.The defendants pleaded not guilty before the presiding magistrate, Mr. A. Adefulire, and were admitted to bail in the sum of N400,000, with one surety each in like sum.Adefulire adjourned the case till May 25, 2016.
The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused of misappropriating hundreds of millions of pounds given to Nigeria to tackl...

The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused of misappropriating hundreds of millions of pounds given to Nigeria to tackle insurgency.A report by the UK Telegraph accused the current administration of using Britains anti-insurgency donation to fund a witch-hunt against opposition politicians.The report said Britain had committed to spending 860 million in foreign aid to Nigeria to support the efforts to crush Boko Haram.Since Mr Buhari came to power last July, a number of prominent members of the former ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been arrested and imprisoned without charge. Among those detained was the partys official spokesperson, the report read.Most of the arrests have been sanctioned by the government-controlled Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), which was set up to tackle corruption and receives funding from the Department for International Development.But while Mr Buharis government continues to use British aid money to target his political opponents, it is proving less effective at tackling the Islamist-run Boko Haram terrorist group.Much of the aid Britain provides to Nigeria is aimed at helping the countrys security forces to become more effective at tackling Boko Haram.Now political opponents claim he is returning to his old dictatorial ways, abusing British aid meant to improve Nigerias ability to tackle Boko Haram to consolidate his hold on power.The report said Boko Haram is gaining more grounds because of the presidents interest in fighting his opponents rather than providing security.Telegraph said there is a growing concern among Western officials that the Nigerian military is failing to take effective action against militants.This is a scandal in the making, the paper quoted a senior US official as saying.There is no doubt the growing strength of Boko Haram is because President Buhari is far more interested in settling scores with his political opponents than concentrating his energy on defeating terrorists.The result is that Nigeria is starting to look more and more like a police state while Boko Haram just goes from strength to strength.Another Western diplomat added: If Buhari was serious about fighting corruption he would be focusing all of his efforts on targeting corruption that is impeding Nigerias ability to focus its efforts on tackling Boko Haram.Telegraph said the accusations that Nigeria is abusing British aid will add to the growing controversy over Downing Streets commitment to spend 0.7 percent of GDP on the foreign aid budget.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has decried the level of decay of infrastructure in Army barracks across the country.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has decried the level of decay of infrastructure in Army barracks across the country.Buratai said this at the inauguration of some renovated residential accommodation for soldiers at the Maxwell Khobe Cantonment, Jos.Buratai blamed the condition on long years of neglect and poor budgetary allocation to renovation and construction of barracks accommodation.It is an unfortunate situation but over the years you can see the state of dilapidation and state of decay in the barracks.The soldiers are staying in a very bad accommodation, it is unfortunate but these are just the measures that we are taking to address the situation and we will continue to solicit for more support from government.The decay is enormous but thank God that in this years budget there is provision for barracks renovation, he said.The chief of army staff said the present Army administration was looking inward to find solutions to the infrastructure decay in the barracks.He said the Army headquarters had commenced the renovation of ten blocks of 30 flats each at the Maxwell Khobe Cantonment, Jos, as part of efforts to address the problem.Buratai added that strict measures for maintenance would be put in place to entrench maintenance culture in the barracks.He assured soldiers and officers of the present administrations commitment to improve the welfare of their families at all times.According to reports, the Chief of Army Staff has also inspected other ongoing construction of soldiers accommodation at the Obienu Barracks in Bauchi.
China has offered Nigeria a $6 billion loan to fund infrastructure projects, Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama told reporters...

China has offered Nigeria a $6 billion loan to fund infrastructure projects, Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama told reporters on President Muhammadu Buharis delegation, according to Reuters.It is a credit that is on the table as soon as we identify the projects, Onyeama said, adding: It wont need an agreement to be signed; it is just to identify the projects and we access it.Also yesterday, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) , the worlds biggest lender, and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) signed an agreement on yuan transactions, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said.It means that the renminbi (yuan) is free to flow among different banks in Nigeria and the renminbi has been included in the foreign exchange reserves of Nigeria, Lin Songtian, director general of the Foreign ministrys African Affairs department, told reporters.The agreement was reached following a meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and Chinese President Xi Jinping.The CBN and Zenith Bank yesterday backed the Memorandum of Understanding signed between a Nigerian company and a Chinese firm to establish a mining plant in Nigeria this year.
Five parents of the abducted 219 Chibok schoolgirls have received calls from the phone numbers of their missing daughters, it was gather...

The parents who reportedly called back the lines were however told off by the respondents at the other end.The Chairman, Chibok Community in Abuja, Tsambido Abana, told newsmen that the community planned to report the incident to the government for investigation.Five parents informed me that they have been receiving calls from their daughters phones, but when they called back, the persons that responded said the phones were their own and that they should stop calling the lines. We dont know if the network (telecom firms) had allocated the girls lines to other persons or if the callers were just playing pranks on the parents; we will report this to the government for security agencies to investigate, Abana said.The Chibok elder could not however confirm when the parents received the calls, saying he was just informed about it on Tuesday.Meanwhile, a 16-year-old girl identified as Fati, who regained freedom after spending two years in Boko Harams captivity, has explained how teenage girls volunteer to go on suicide missions in order to escape molestation and other forms of hardship under the sect.Fati, whose name was changed to protect her identity, said young girls fight to strap on a bomb, not because they were brainwashed by their captors but because the relentless hunger and sexual abuse became too much to bear.They came to us to pick us. They would ask, Who wants to be a suicide bomber? The girls would shout, me, me, me. They were fighting to do the suicide bombings, Fati told CNN.It was just because they want to run away from Boko Haram. If they give them a suicide bomb, then maybe they would meet soldiers, tell them, I have a bomb on me and they could remove the bomb. They can run away.The teenager who was kidnapped from her village by the insurgents shared her experience with CNN at a refugee camp in Cameroon.We said, No, we are too small; we dont want to get married, so they married us by force, Fati said, explaining that after he raped her for the first time, her abuser gave her a wedding present  a purple and brown dress with a matching headscarf that she would wear for the next two years.While under his control, she explained that she was whisked from one hideouts to another hideouts in order to evade security forces. She recalled that she met girls even younger than her in Sambisa Forest, some of whom she claimed were the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.There were so many kidnapped girls there, I couldnt count. There were always bombs and bullets coming from the sky. All of the girls were so frightened. All of them, they always cried and the men raped us. There is no food, nothing. The children, you can count their ribs because of the hunger, said Fati, who is now in Minawao refugee camp in Cameroon.Fati said, Many girls are still in Sambisa, some volunteering to die so that they can perhaps live.The United Nations International Children Emergency Fund has said Boko Harams use of child bombers has increased over the last year with one in five suicide attacks now done by children.In a report titled, Beyond Chibok, UNICEF said that boys abducted and recruited into Boko Harams ranks were forced to attack their own families to demonstrate their loyalty, while girls were exposed to severe abuse including sexual violence and forced marriage to fighters.The UN report was released as Nigeria approaches the second anniversary of the kidnapping by Boko Haram of more than 200 girls from their boarding school in Chibok.Girls, who are often drugged, were behind three-quarters of such attacks committed by the militant Islamist group in Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad.It is an 11-fold increase with four attacks in 2014 compared to 44 the next year, including January 2016, the report said, adding that the change in tactics reflected the loss of territory by the terrorist group.UNICEF said up to 1.3 million children have been forced from their homes across Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger.A 17-year-old girl who was abducted and is living with her baby in a camp Maiduguri told the UN agency that she refused to marry despite death threats.Then they came for me at night. They kept me locked in a house for over a month and told me: Whether you like it or not, we have already married you, she narrated.
Nigerias former President, Goodluck Jonathan must not be blamed alone for the nations economic downturn, says Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan ...

In recent time, the All Progressives Congress, APC, has blamed Jonathan for the nations economic quargmire, but Akiolu said all should take the blame.The monarch, who received members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Lagos State Chapel today said every Nigerian must be ready to share in the blame for the economic downturn.Everyone is accusing Jonathan for the economic woes but we need to understand that our actions in the past contributed to the current challenges we are encountering at the moment, he said.The oba said he was optimistic that things would improve geometrically in 2017 under President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that Buhari had good intention for this country and that he was working towards achieving a country that would benefit all.Akiolu explained that this necessitated the reason the President had continued traveling to launder the image of the country and woo more investors to Nigeria.I know that we will get to the promise land very soon. All everyone needs to do is pray for the country, contribute our quota to the countrys development and be patience with the present administration, he said.However, Akiolu appealed to Nigerian journalist to put more efforts towards investigative reporting, saying that the media was important to the countrys development, as the press is a veritable tool for nation building.Chairman, NUJ, Lagos Chapel, Deji Elumoye said the visit was to invite the monarch for the forthcoming national Executive Council meeting of the union.
Former Manchester United player Nani could be set for a return to the Premier League because his wife Daniela Martins misses life in the UK.Nani, who previously spent eight years at Manchester United, moved to Fenerbahce in 2015 after falling out of favour with Louis van Gaal.The Portuguese international left with fellow team-mate Robin van Persie, but unlike the Dutchman, has settled well in Turkey.The winger has made 20 league appearances for the Istanbul-based club, scoring seven goals and still has over two years to run on his current deal.However, according to Turkish publication Bursada Bugun, the 29-year-old could make a surprise return to the Premier League.The report says his wife Daniela Martins would like to return to England because she misses the North-West.And Turkish newspaper Fanatik claimed this week she could get her wish, with Everton reportedly showing interest in the Portugal international.The report claims the Merseyside club could make a 6.4 million bid for Nani whose last Premier League appearance came in August 2014.
Ive been away from my preoccupations with the Nigerian tragedy for a little over a week. That is because the academic unit that I head at...





Ive been away from my preoccupations with the Nigerian tragedy for a little over a week. That is because the academic unit that I head at Carleton University, the Institute of African Studies, is preparing for one of the biggest annual events on its extremely busy calendar of activities. Once a year, we partner with the Group of African Ambassadors and High Commissioners in Ottawa to organize a major international conference on a burning African issue.On May 4, 2016, all roads will lead to Carleton Universitys Institute of African Studies as we host this years edition of the conference on the theme, From Climate Change to Environmental Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities for Africa and Canada. Organizing a conference of this magnitude with all the Ambassadors and High Commissioners of an entire continent is no tea party, especially as the two principal partners and owners of the conference, Carleton IAS and the African Ambassadors, have been able to form a coalition of conference co-sponsors which comprise two other academic units at Carleton University, the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs and the Bachelor of Global and International Studies, as well as the Pan-African Affairs Division of Canadas Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ottawa-based Think-Tank, Africa Study Group.The guest list for the conference is impressive and the countless organizing committee and logistical meetings Ive been spearheading with the representatives of all the co-sponsors have blissfully shielded me from Nigerian affairs since last week. However, Nigeria is a stubborn customer. She is like a totally irresponsible lover who gives you nothing but migraines and yet makes entitled intrusions into your life and insists permanently on your time and attention.Once you are hooked on the drug called Nigeria, there is no getting her out of your system. I encounter many Nigerian diasporans in Europe and North America who have been able to achieve the feat of a 100% delink from Nigeria. Folks who huddle around fireplaces in Washington and London to talk about the Bendel state of Ambrose Alli or the Benue state of Aper Aku. Their most current news about Nigeria is Joshua Dogonyaros coup speech in 1985. You ask them how they achieved the miracle of delinking, knowing beforehand that you will never be able to do it.You will never be able to disconnect like some Nigerians in the diaspora even if you understand perfectly that they did it for their peace of mind. Nigeria will continue to make heavy demands on your time and eat up hours of your life on a daily basis. At any rate, should you elect to delink like them, you must also understand that Nigeria is a ruthless Oyingbo market that does not notice anybodys absence.Nigerias unwanted intrusion into my conference preparations came during one of my many strategy meetings last week. The African Ambassadors had suggested that it would be a good idea to invite Canadas Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, the Honorable Catherine Mckenna, to address the conference since our theme falls within her domain. I was to draft the Ministers invitation letter and the Ambassadors would take care of the invitation through diplomatic channels. While discussing the invitation letter with some Canadian colleagues, one of them asked me perfunctorily if I had pulled up the Ministers mandate letter online.Mandate letter ke? I thought. At first I wanted to use agbari and boneface to hide my ignorance from my colleague. On second thought, I decided that Naija boneface was not what was required of me in the circumstance.Ministers have a mandate letter here? I asked my colleague.The surprise on his face betrayed what Canadian political correctness would not let him say out loud to me. I forgave him the surprise, telling myself it wasnt his fault that my country, Nigeria, had once again happened to me. Nigeria happens to you whenever you display 17th century instincts and levels in situations requiring a 21st-century knowledge base largely because Nigerias primitive institutions and political culture had never exposed you to such things.How is somebody whose political life-world is informed by Nigeria to know that when a Federal Minister is appointed in Canada, Canadian democracy requires the person making that appointment, the Prime Minister, to give a public mandate letter to the new Minister? That letter is immediately uploaded to the website of the appointees Ministry. That letter is a comprehensive exposition of the vision of the Prime Minister, his pact with the Canadian electorate and the role that the new Minister is expected to play in helping to deliver those promises to the Canadian people.Because of the supremacy of the citizen, a Ministers mandate letter is a comprehensive summary of the marching orders he receives from the Prime Minister to serve the people. There is no ambiguity. It contains specific aims and goals and benchmarks that will form the basis of the peoples evaluation of the Ministers performance. As a citizen and a member of the Canadas universe of civics, you cannot claim not to know the mandate of a Minister. You know what to expect of them because you know the assignments and tasks and goals and vision they were given upon appointment.It is in this context that my colleagues suggestion that I needed to read the Ministers mandate letter before inviting her makes sense. If you are organizing an event and you require the presence of a Federal Minister, you go and look at which parts of his or her mandate letter your event fits into and you highlight this in your invitation letter. I pulled up Minister Mckennas mandate letter here:http://pm.gc.ca/eng/minister-environment-and-climate-change-mandate-letterI was in tears before I got to the end of the letter. I wept for myself. I wept for my country. I wept for Nigerian humanity. I wept because I couldnt understand why these simple things about civilization are rocket science in Nigeria. I tried to remember when last the Nigerian system put the citizen in cognitive and empowered sentience of the mandate of Ministers and political appointees. I drew a blank. You will probably have to go all the way back to Obafemi Awolowo in the Western Region, Michael Okpara in the Eastern Region, and Ahmadu Bello in the Northern region for last time that appointments were made with any intelligent and organic sense of mandates on the part of the appointees in hour historyTo think that these Canadian Federal Ministers with publicly accessible mandate letters were appointed within days of an election! Yet, it took us nearly a year to appoint Ministers none of whom is even remotely aware of his or her mandate! And the citizens too hardly have any systemic or organic knowledge of the mandate of these Ministers. What is Fasholas mandate? What is Ngiges mandate? What is Kemi Adeosuns mandate? What marching orders were these Ministers given by their boss? How? When? Where is it online? This fuzziness does not stop with these Ministers. It transcends every stratum of Nigerias political life and across so many generations and eras. Which state Governor is really remotely aware of his or her mandate in Nigeria? Dont even get me started with the buffoons in the National Assembly.The closest that political appointees  Federal Ministers in this instance - come close to an idea of their mandate in Nigeria is what I call a confederacy of rough ideas. Three rough ideas constitute you appointment as a Federal Minister in Nigeria. You and the interests you represent are most likely to have lobbied for just about any portfolio irrespective of your experience and qualification. Your appointment as a Federal Minister is announced. You go to the National Assembly for the irresponsible comedy they call confirmation hearings. Then you resume work with your confederacy of three rough ideas. Firstly, you have a rough idea of what the Presidents body language is and what he expects from you; secondly, you have a rough idea of your job description and how you ought to go about it; thirdly, you have a rough idea of the expectations of the Godfathers and special interests who lobbied you into the Federal cabinet. The combination of these three rough ideas is your mandate. As for the Nigerian people, well, they have a rough idea of your own rough idea of what your mandate is as a Federal Minister.Truth be told, Kayode Fayemi even tried in this dispensation. Kayode Fayemi tie gbiyanju die. In the absence of a 21st-century clear-cut mandate from his boss, he even tried to cobble together some sort of mandate document which he circulated online once he assumed office. As with all things Nigerian, I am not even sure that Kayode Fayemi knows what became of that document he authored himself. All the other Ministers are just waddling along Nigerianly.Now, if you are one of those pea-brained social media caterwaulers whose minuscule intelligence allows for only a hyper-partisan processing of issues, seeing APC versus PDP, Buhari versus Jonathan, North versus South in the oxygen you breath, this treatise is not for you. This is for superior intellects with an aptitude for transcendental, pan-Nigerian engagements and envisioning. I may have zeroed in on the current administration but any intelligent reader will see that the strategy provides a handle on our postcolonial predicament as a whole. What I describe of Buharis mandate-less cabinet is true of Jonathans, of YarAduas, of Obasanjos. This is a transcendental problem. It is a trans-temporal indication of Nigerias marriage to mediocrity.All pleas to Nigeria to opt for divorce and end her marriage of 56 years to mediocrity has fallen on deaf ears. I tried to check out Ogbeni Adamu Adamus mandate at the Federal Ministry of Education. Before going to the Ministrys website, I borrowed myself some brain and took the precaution of lowering my expectation to the barest. I wasnt so presumptuous as to expect that I would get to the website and see a mandate letter from President Buhari to his Minister of Education. But, at least, I thought I would see the Ministrys mission and mandate (not the Ministers) prepared for the Nigerian people in a format fit for the 21st century.Minister Adamu Adamu nko? There is a photo of him on the website. No clickable links to a message, to his mandate, to his vision and mission. He has a rough idea of what he is in that Ministry to do. And we, the Nigerian people, have a rough idea of his rough idea of his mandate. You dont need to check out other Ministries. See one, see all.Dazzol!
The General Overseer of The Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet Temitope Joshua, has denied reports linking him and his wife, Evely...

German newspaper, Suddeutsche Zeitung, had last week released the Panama Papers, the biggest leak in the history of data journalism, publishing online 11.5 million documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which showed how some prominent people across the world criminally hid money using anonymous shell corporations across the world.Nigerian online medium, Premium Times, claimed to have seen documents stating that Joshua and his wife own one ordinary share each in the offshore company.However, Joshua said in a statement that the report was a cheap attempt to tarnish his image.The statement read in part, I was shocked to find a report written in Premium Times claiming that the Panama Papers revealed a shell company called Chillon Consultancy Limited in the British Virgin Islands, allegedly owned by me.Whoever is involved in this malicious write-up and propaganda with an obvious intent to defame my person and the ministry should remember what the Bible says in Luke 2:34  This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many and to be a sign that will be spoken against.I am not a businessman and have no business whatsoever. What God has given me is more than enough. I have nothing to do with the Panama Papers. As for me and my family, we shall remain in the vineyard of God.The cleric urged the media to be fair in its reportage, adding that some journalists were using the Panama Papers to blackmail prominent Nigerians.Joshua said, Do not use the Panama Papers to attack those you have been looking for an opportunity to victimise. This is to show that not everybody alleged in the media to be involved in the Panama Papers is truly involved.My own case is a good example. Beware of those using the Panama Papers for fraudulent purposes! This is a very big mistake the fraudsters have made. Those who read this report  take time to do your findings. It is malicious. People are misusing the data in the Panama Papers for fraud to attack innocent people.
Bushiness and commercial activities were grounded to a halt in Makurdi, Benue state capital following protest against Fulani herdsmen ov...

The protesters who were over 300 in numbers took over the busy Makurdi- Gboko double carriage way and brought down Traffic for a halt for several hours.There was Traffic gridlock from Wurukum round about to Low level round about.Decked in colorful branded T-shirts on top of black jeans, heavy escorted security operatives made up of Mobile and regular policemen including armed men of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) match through major streets in Makurdi in the sorting sun.The branded T shirts and banners read. No more grazing in Benue, Stop the killings.The protesters were made up of students, social media activist, market women, Union leaders and farmers came under the umbrella of Move Against Fulani Occupation (MAFO) .The protests who were peaceful in their conduct came across the 23 local government area particularly the areas which recently came under fulani attacked like Agatu, Tarkaa, Buruku, Logo,Makurdi and Guma local government areas .One of the protesters who spoke to newsmen Comradr Edward Dooga said they have decided to draw the attention of the international communities and the world over the continued killings by Fulani herdsmen, who also have occupied farmlands.Another social media activist who was among the protesters; Ukan Kulugh said there is eminent danger of food scarcity if the activities of the herdsmen are not checked saying the herdsmen have forcefully occupied about seven local government area s ,who the inhabitants are peasant farmers.Ukan Kulugh noted that why the inhabitants are taking refuge in primary schools as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Fulani herdsmen are grazing on their farm and have completely destroyed whatever crop is planted.At press time, the protesters were seen heading towards Government House Makurdi.
Some security operatives attached to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, are currently groaning under heavy debts as a result of the stoppage o...

Some security operatives attached to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, are currently groaning under heavy debts as a result of the stoppage of their special allowance referred to as the Risk Cautious Allowance.Under former President Goodluck Jonathan, all the security agents enjoyed the allowance up until March, 2015, while his administration left those of April and May, 2015, unpaid.They have not been paid the monthly allowance since May 2015 when the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari came on board despite repeated promises made to them on the issue.The security officers include those of the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services, the Nigerian Intelligence Agency, the Federal Road Safety Commission and the Fire Service among others.Some of the security operatives, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity on Tuesday, lamented that they had not been able to meet their various financial obligations because of the development.They said despite this, authorities of the Presidential Villa kept introducing additional security measures that further tasked them daily.A policeman told our correspondent that because of the non-payment of the allowance, some policemen, who could no longer afford increasing transport fares, had converted their beats to temporary homes.It is not easy! We can no longer cope with the increase in transport fare. Policemen are now passing the night at their beats. In the evening, you can go to Gate 4 and 5 among other spots in the Villa to confirm this, he said.Another operative, a soldier, said they were feeling the brunt of the non-payment of the allowance more because most of them were junior officers who collected far less than N50,000 monthly as salary.I could not pay the school fee of my daughter last term. Another term is starting soon. Most of us are junior officers with less than N50,000 as salary. We always augment our salary with this small allowance but they have denied us of it, he lamented.Another security operative said it was not fair for the authorities to remain silent in the face of the growing disquiet over the issue.He said the right thing to do was for them to address the operatives on efforts being made to pay them and when the payment would be done.He added that the last they heard on the matter was when the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, directed all operatives in the Presidential Villa to fill some forms running into about five pages.He said not satisfied with the arrangement, heads of about two security agencies asked their men not to fill the forms.He added, Even if the idea was to ascertain that we are truly working in the Villa, I believe that photocopies of our identity tags should be enough for the exercise?How can the NSA ask that we should be filling forms that run into about five pages and yet, there is still nothing to show for it?If the Permanent Secretary of the State House can collect our account details and he paid N15,000 to us in lieu of Easter rice and other items within two weeks, what is delaying the NSA from paying our allowance?These are people who keep introducing new security measures to be implemented by disgruntled officers. Today, they will ask us to thoroughly search all vehicles coming in, tomorrow they will ask us to ensure that everybody fills access forms.Presidential spokesmen, Mr. Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, were not available for comment on Tuesday as they were on the Presidents entourage to China.But a security expert, Mr. Mike Ejiofor, who spoke to our correspondent, took two different positions on the issue.Ejiofor, who is a retired DSS official, agreed that security operatives, who guided the President or were on special postings, were entitled to special allowances which were meant to encourage them in order not to compromise or undermine their loyalty.He said, People who guide the President or on special postings are entitled to special allowances to encourage them and to ensure that their loyalty is not undermined, or that they do not go about begging for money.I am not saying that they cannot be begging for money if they are paid this allowance, but the situation will be worse if they are not paid.But again, authorities may have their reasons for not paying this allowance, possibly because of the change agenda. If that is the case, the security operatives should also adapt.In the past, senior officers were said to be receiving about N30,000 per month as their special allowance while junior officers got about N25,000.
Nigeria's Super Falcons were handed 10,000 Naira ($50) each after they qualified for the 2016 Africa Women Cup of Nations on Tuesday.The reigning champions defeated the Teranga Lionesses of Senegal 2-0 in the second leg, final round at the National Stadium, Abuja on Tuesday and advanced 3-1 on aggregate for Cameroon 2016.This is in contrast with the senior men's team that gets paid $4000 for a draw and $5000 for a win. The men failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations for a second straight year last month.The players and officials of the Super Falcons were decamped on Tuesday evening and they were handed the sum of 10,000 Naira that was meant to get them to their various destinations.The fate of the nine foreign-based players who participated in the Falcons' qualifying series is unconfirmed.Efforts made to speak to the Super Falcons officials were unsuccessful as they declined from commenting on the matter while NFF officials are currently in an extra ordinary congress in Abuja.Meanwhile, Nigeria joined hosts Cameroon, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, South Africa, Cote d'Ivoire and Zimbabwe as the eight finalists for the 10th edition of the continental showpiece.The reigning champions will defend the title they won in Namibia two years ago with the event scheduled to hold from November 19 to December 3 in Cameroon.
Authorities were investigating robocall bomb threats made against schools in at least 13 communities around Bergen and Passaic counties Wednesday morning, officials said.

Bergen County Sheriff's Office spokesman Anthony Cureton could not say if the scares were related to recent cases of automated telephone threats against dozens of schools in the region.

Englewood, Fair Lawn, Paramus, Fort Lee, Hackensack, Hasbrouck Heights, Leonia, Lodi, Midland Park, and Elmwood Park were among districts that received threats, authorities said. Police searched the schools beginning around 8:30 a.m. and found nothing harmful.

"Another non credible bomb threat this am. All protocols followed for shelter in place. Building clear and safe," the Little Falls-based Passaic Valley High School Superintendent's Office said on Twitter.

Lodi police said the borough high school received a phone threat earlier on Wednesday similar to the other scares. Classes resumed after a police search.

"The threat was deemed non-credible," according to a statement from Lodi police.

Some of the schools were on spring break while others were in session.

Midland Park police said the Board of Education office received a call Wednesday claiming there was a bomb at borough schools. The county sheriff's bomb squad and K-9 unit searched both inside and outside of the high school and found no danger, according to a statement on the police department's Facebook page.

In Paramus, officials described a similar call Wednesday morning. Authorities determined the phone threat was "non-credible," the school district said in a statement.

The scares Wednesday came after other mass bomb threats targeting Bergen and Passaic county schools in recent months.

Today, the Midland Park Board Office received a phone call from a person claiming there was a bomb in the Midland Park... Posted by Midland Park Police Department on Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Fort Lee High School recieved a bomb threat. Police & Fire Dept on scene. Parents, do not respond to the high school! Updates to follow  Fort Lee Police (@FortLeePoliceNJ) April 13, 2016

Another non credible bomb threat this am. All protocols followed for shelter in place. Building clear and safe.  PV Superintendent (@PvhsSup) April 13, 2016

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
HACKENSACK -- The Hackensack police car involved in a crash that killed a 67-year-old man had its lights and sirens activated before the wreck occurred, according to police department documents released Tuesday.

City Police Officer Stephen Ochman was driving the marked cruiser to a March 31 emergency call for assistance stemming from another wreck involving a motorcyclist who allegedly fled officers, according to an investigative report obtained Tuesday by NJ Advance Media through a records request.

The patrol car was traveling north on Summit Avenue when a silver Mazda made a left from Ross Avenue into the path of the cruiser before the cars collided, the police report said.

The Mazda driver, 67-year-old John Parham, died from his injuries at Hackensack University Medical Center, authorities previously said.

Ochman suffered injuries to his face and hands, the documents said. He was treated for non life-threatening injuries at Hackensack University Medical Center.

The second arriving Hackensack officer, Bryan Ziegelhofer, performed CPR on Parham at the crash scene, according to the police report. Ziegelhofer was treated for heat exhaustion after the rescue effort.

The investigative reports offer no information about the speed of the vehicles. The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, which is investigating the crash, did not respond to a message seeking comment.

The deadly crash occurred while Ochman was heading to a nearby wreck at Spring Valley Avenue and Coles Street in Maywood, according to the police documents and authorities.

In the Maywood crash, 31-year-old Salvatore Deangelis was driving a motorcycle when he hit another vehicle after speeding away from police in Paramus that afternoon, police said. Paramus police called off their pursuit before the wreck.

A witness told police the motorcycle went through a red light and was traveling at high speeds before it crashed, according to a Maywood police crash investigation report. Police issued Deangelis numerous summonses for violations, including reckless driving, careless driving and unsafe lane changes.

Deangelis was also charged with traffic violations and eluding in Paramus. A criminal complaint alleged he created "a risk of death or injury to another" while evading borough officers.

There is no dashboard camera footage from the Hackensack crash, officials said. Paramus police declined to release dashboard car video from the initial pursuit.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
HADDON TWP. -- After a handgun was stolen from a township home while the owner was traveling, Haddon Township and Philadelphia police teamed up and made three arrests following the alleged theft and illegal sale of the weapon.

Township police were called to a Collings Avenue home on March 23 for a report of a burglary. Along with the handgun, the homeowner said assorted jewelry and several tools were also missing.

Jeffrey Russell Smith, 24, of Southampton, Pa., and Anne Feingold, 25, of Lilitz, Pa., were later arrested and charged -- with Smith facing additional weapons offenses -- as a result of the alleged theft. Police said Tuesday that the two had access to the home and the incident was not a burglary.

"Information gleaned from the investigation revealed the handgun was sold to a third party and was very likely on the streets of Philadelphia," Haddon Township police said.

The Philadelphia Gun Violence Task Force and the Philadelphia Police Department's Narcotics Unit assisted with the investigation and later arrested 22-year-old Hasheem Burton, of the 1500 block of Womrath Street in Philadelphia. Burton was allegedly in possession of said stolen handgun at the time, police said.

"Thankfully, this gun was recovered very quickly due to the cooperative and diligent efforts of our patrol and criminal investigation divisions, combined with utilizing our existing networks of dedicated law enforcement professionals across the bridge," police said Tuesday.

Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.
For the first time in 14 years, Sir Paul McCartney will rock New Jersey.

The pop music icon and Beatles great will stop by MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford Aug. 7, as announced Wednesday morning at the venue. The performance will be a part of the legendary songwriter's new One on One tour, which hits 16 tour dates including a July 12 concert at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

McCartney, 73, last released his last solo LP, the acclaimed "New," in 2013. He last played New Jersey in 2002. The One on One tour begins Wednesday, with a performance in Fresno, Calif.

Tickets for the New Jersey and Philadelphia shows go on sale April 22 at 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster.

McCartney bolsters a summer lineup at New Jersey's largest venue, that also includes the hip-hop conglomerate Summer Jam June 5, British pop-rockers Coldplay July 16 and 17 and country veteran Kenny Chesney Aug. 20.

NJ Advance Media reporters James Kratch and Darryl Slater contributed to this report.

Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NEWARK - Thousands of Verizon employees across New Jersey walked off their jobs Wednesday to protest what they say are unfair negotiations on a new contract with the telecommunications giant.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was among the more than 250 people gathered at Verizon's downtown office to support the striking employees for Verizon's wireline arm, servicing its traditional landline phone service and fiber optic cable network for phone, video and Internet.

Verizon is seeking a 30-year cap on pensions. Part of the benefits package offered though would offer a 401k with company match, according to the company.

The other contentious issue between the two sides was the closing of seven call centers. Verizon said it would consolidate smaller centers in rural areas each with less than six employees in the mid-Atlantic area, according to Young.

But the unions say this would provide the company with minimal savings and put a burden on the employees forced to commute more than 80 miles daily, Master said.

One of the call centers Verizon wants to close is located in South Jersey, although the specific location was not known. Only two employees work out of that office, according to Young. The other six call centers were in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.

Workers were also offered a 6.5 percent raise as part of the deal.

Jose Maldonado, a 42-year-old who has worked as a cable splicer for Verizon since 1997, said he was concerned about paying the mortgage on his Belleville home and providing for his three children during the strike.

"It's kind of sad that we have to go on strike to actually get a fair contract," he said. "We got to do what we got to do."

NJ Advance Media reporter Craig McCarthy contributed to this report.

Dan Ivers may be reached at divers@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanIversNJ. Find
NEWARK -- Standing in a Newark courtroom on Wednesday, Nicholas Comasco admitted he had been driving too fast.

Driving 80 miles per hour in a 25-mph zone, Comasco said he was speeding in his Chevy Camaro on a Bloomfield street in 2012 when he crashed into a Honda Civic turning in front of him.

A backseat passenger in the Civic, 16-year-old Bloomfield resident Christina Lembo, ultimately died from her injuries.

Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Eileen O'Connor asked Comasco whether he acknowledged "your excessive speed and your reckless driving that caused Christina Lembo to die as a result of this collision."

"Yes," Comasco replied.

Comasco, 27, of Bloomfield, made those admissions before Superior Court Judge Verna Leath when he pleaded guilty to a vehicular homicide charge and a motor vehicle summons for speeding in connection with the Sept. 29, 2012 crash.

Jury selection in his trial was scheduled to start this week.

Under a plea deal, Comasco is expected to receive a three-year state prison sentence and he would have to serve slightly more than two and a half years before becoming eligible for parole. If he was convicted by a jury of the vehicular homicide charge, Comasco would have faced between five and 10 years in prison.

Comasco also was facing an assault by auto charge for injuries related to a front-seat passenger in the Civic, but that charge will be dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

His sentencing is scheduled for June 6.

As members of the Lembo family looked on during Wednesday's hearing, O'Connor said the family agreed with the terms of the plea agreement based on the totality of the circumstances.

But she said the family was not satisfied in the sense of the plea deal recognizing the "unspeakable pain that they have suffered."

Outside the courtroom afterward, Comasco's attorney, S. Emile Lisboa IV, said Comasco "feels horrible about the entire situation."

Lisboa said Comasco takes "full responsibility" for the role he played in the crash and he is "very apologetic" for the pain he caused for the Lembo family and the community.

"He was speeding and his speed was too fast," said Lisboa, adding that Comasco's speed "prevented him from slowing down fast enough to avoid a collision."

In pleading guilty, Comasco said he was driving southbound on Broughton Avenue at about 11:30 p.m. when he crashed into the Civic at the intersection with Walter Street.

The collision occurred as the driver of the Civic - who was driving northbound on Broughton Avenue and indicated he was turning right - turned left onto Walter Street, Comasco said.

A file photo of Christina Lembo at a 2012 vigil.

While answering questions from Lisboa, Comasco acknowledged how the airbag module on his Camaro indicates that, one second before the crash, he was driving 66 mph.

But when O'Connor later questioned Comasco, he acknowledged the module shows that, two seconds before the crash, his speed was 80 mph.

O'Connor also questioned whether Comasco had consumed alcohol before the crash occurred, and Comasco acknowledged he had drank beer. Before Comasco answered, Lisboa objected to the question, saying there is no indication that alcohol contributed to the crash, but Leath permitted the question.

If the case proceeded to trial, prosecutors were expected to argue Comasco was driving drunk and present evidence that his blood-alcohol level was above the legal limit of .08 percent at the time of the crash.

While Comasco's BAC was below the legal limit when he was later tested at the hospital, the state was expected to present an expert at the trial to testify that Comasco's BAC was .09 percent when the crash occurred.

But Lisboa has challenged that expert's findings and claimed Comasco was not above the legal limit at the time of the collision.

Lisboa also has argued the driver of the Civic bears responsibility for the crash, including by signaling a right turn and then turning left.

Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NEWARK - A candidate for the city's upcoming School Advisory Board election has picked up a key endorsement from a veteran member of the City Council.

Central Ward Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins is backing Kim Gaddy, a member of the "Newark Unity" slate backed by pro-charter school groups. With less than a week before voters head to the polls, mailers and other campaign literature publicizing the endorsement have begun circulating around the city.

In a statement, Chaneyfield said she was compelled to back Gaddy due to her previous experience on the board, grasp of both students' and parents' needs and expertise on environmental issues, given the district's recent discovery of elevated levels of lead in dozens of schools. Gaddy works as an environmental justice organizer for Clean Water Action New Jersey.

"She has the experience and knowledge required to hit the ground running," Chaneyfield said. "We are fortunate that she wants to serve again."

The endorsement, however, notably leaves out candidates Leah Owens and Octavio "Tave" Padilla, Gaddy's colleagues on the "Unity" slate. Mayor Ras Baraka is backing Owens, while Padilla has the support of North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos Jr.

Chaneyfield, however, insisted her recent announcement should not be interpreted as a slight against Gaddy's running mates. She said she has provided financial support to both Owens' and Padilla's campaigns, but felt strongly enough about Gaddy to lend her a public endorsement.

"I support candidates who are looking for ways to bridge the educational gap that exists in Newark and who are looking to bring about sustainable, positive and effective change in education in the city," she said.

Formed in January, the "Unity" slate has forged a truce between former rivals in the heated debate surrounding the expansion of charter schools around the city, which vie for funds with their struggling publicly run counterparts.

Kim Gaddy

Gaddy has received the bulk of support from organizations such as the Parent Coalition for Excellent Education, which represent a newly energized bloc of pro-chater voters, created in the wake of fierce rhetoric against the schools by Baraka and other candidates during the city's 2014 elections.

She will likely vie for many votes with Jody Pittman, another candidate and outspoken charter supporter running without the support of any slate or political organization.

Anthony Salters, a local political operative who is coordinating the "Unity" slate's campaign, said he had no issue with Chaneyfield's selective endorsement.

"Each candidate has a core constituency which all respect," he said. "The core members and their supporters, we never tried to control them nor tell them what to do. It's all about quality education for Newark students."

Dan Ivers may be reached at divers@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanIversNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NEWARK -- In appealing his conviction and 22-year state prison term for attacking three girls in 2009, Gerrod Little has claimed he should have received a lighter sentence for offering to act as an informant on homicide cases.

But a state appellate panel on Wednesday rejected Little's argument, saying the information he provided to law enforcement did not assist in any investigations.

"Frankly, a review of the statements recited in defendant's correspondence reflects no direct knowledge of any crimes," according to the appellate decision.

The appeals court upheld Little's conviction in connection with incidents that occurred within a span of a few hours on March 20, 2009 in East Orange.

Little first tried to kidnap an 11-year-old girl and then kidnapped a 14-year-old girl by forcing her into a car, authorities said. That teenager escaped by jumping from the moving vehicle, authorities said.

In the last incident, Little forced an 18-year-old girl into his vehicle and later attempted to sexually assault her as he held a box cutter to her, authorities said.

Little pleaded guilty on May 10, 2011 to attempted luring of a minor, kidnapping, attempted aggravated sexual assault and weapons offenses. On Oct. 31, 2011, Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin imposed the 22-year prison sentence recommended by prosecutors under a plea agreement, the decision states.

In his appeal, Little, 33, formerly of Newark, argued his attorney was ineffective for failing to argue at his sentencing that the judge should consider the mitigating factor related to "'[t]he willingness of the defendant to cooperate with law enforcement authorities,'" according to the appellate decision.

If that factor was considered, Little claimed he would have received a lighter sentence, the decision states.

Little's argument relates to how he had contacted the prosecutor about becoming an informant based on alleged comments about homicides that he overheard while he was in custody, the decision states. Little was looking to provide information in exchange for a lenient sentence, the decision states.

Homicide investigators interviewed Little on Feb. 18, 2010, but his information apparently did not assist them and they did not contact him afterward, the decision states. When Little pleaded guilty and was sentenced, there was no mention of his prior or anticipated future cooperation, the decision states.

Based on those circumstances, the appellate panel found the mitigating factor did not apply in Little's case. The appeals court noted that "no evidence shows the information defendant imparted was meaningful or actually aided law enforcement," the decision states.

"Based on our review, we conclude defendant's self-serving offer of assistance, unaccompanied by actual results yielded from the information disclosed, do not support application of mitigating factor twelve," the decision states.

"Further, a review of the sentencing record reveals were this factor applied, it would have little to no impact on the sentence imposed, which directly comported with the State's recommendation stated in the plea agreement."

Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
BLOOMFIELD -- As local officials are grappling with the repercussions of a Seton Hall Law study finding racial profiling in Bloomfield, civil rights activists are calling for statewide change based on the report.

After the release of the report, which found that 78 percent of people answering tickets in municipal court were black or Latino, the American Civil Liberties Union -- New Jersey issued a call for Attorney General action.

"Unfortunately, once again evidence has emerged confirming that blacks and Latinos in New Jersey municipalities disproportionately bear the brunt of the enforcement of low-level offenses," ACLU-NJ Public Policy Director Ari Rosmarin said in a statement.

"How many more advocacy reports, law school studies, media exposes, or instances of community outcry will it take before New Jersey policymakers take this problem seriously and take steps to root out racial profiling in New Jersey police departments?"

As part of a call to action, the ACLU demanded the attorney general investigate the Bloomfield police department, and mandate that all municipal police departments in New Jersey collect and make public racial and demographic data "regarding its enforcement activity, including stops, frisks, searches, summonses, arrests, and use-of-force incidents."

Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, said Tuesday that the office is reviewing the report. He declined to comment further on it.

The Bloomfield police department and other township officials have vehemently denied the report's findings.

But, Seton Hall researchers have said that they plan to carry out similar studies in other New Jersey municipalities, and are encouraging other universities to do the same. They say they anticipate finding similar results in other towns.

Ed Correa, a civil rights advocate who consulted on the study, said many other states across the country require municipal agencies to track racial data.

After a 1990s racial profiling scandal, the state police also started tracking racial data, he said, but so far, municipalities in New Jersey have not been required to. As a result, very few do, he said.

"Civil rights activists have been hearing about these issues for years," he said. "The state police are in check (now)...but we are hearing that (racial profiling) has moved to local and county roads." Requiring racial data collection, he said, would help curb the alleged conduct.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
JohathanPeralta.jpg

Jonathan Peralta, 31, appears in court in Jersey City today, April 12, 2016, on armed robbery and firearms charges.

JERSEY CITY -- A 31-year-old Jersey City man has been charged with taking $1,600 during a gunpoint robbery last month.

Jonathan Peralta, of the 200 block of Grant Avenue, is accused of pointing a gun at the chest of the alleged victim and taking a wallet containing the cash, as well as identification cards, credit cards and other items on March 23, the criminal complaint states.

He is also charged with unlawful possession of a handgun and possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose, according to the complaint.

The complaint lists probable cause for the charges as the statement of the victim and a witness.

Armed robbery is a first degree crime and carries a possible sentence of 10 to 20 years in state prison.

Peralta's bail was set at $100,000 cash or bond when he made his first court appearance on the charges today in Central Judicial Processing court in Jersey City.

Peralta has seven prior arrests, four disorderly persons convictions and three criminal convictions, a court officials said.
Mayor Steve Fulop is expressing some new hesitance to support an expansion of casino gaming into northern New Jersey, after spending more than a year touting the idea as a way to boost the economy and create new jobs.

Fulop visited Atlantic City today to talk to city officials and residents about the impact of casinos on the city and has come away much more pessimistic about the positive benefits of a casino in Jersey City, he said.

"I'm not so sure today that this is in the best interest of our city," he told The Jersey Journal in a phone interview today.

Voters in November will decide whether the state constitution should be changed to allow casino gaming outside of Atlantic City. One proposed location has been a lot near Liberty State Park, and Fulop has been supportive of the idea as recently as last month.

Today, Fulop said his discussions with Atlantic City leaders -- he met today with its council president, Marty Small -- and residents have cooled him to the idea of a Jersey City casino. It's not clear anymore that casinos can bring an economic boost and jobs without bringing along crime and broken promises of economic development, he said.

He said he will spend the next few weeks mulling it over and will announce before November whether he still supports casino expansion. If he decides not to, he told the media in Atlantic City today, he will campaign against the referendum.

"I'm not reluctant to say that sometimes I make a mistake and my position can change based on new information," he told The Jersey Journal.

Recent polling on the casino expansion idea has revealed residents statewide are generally split on the issue, though more voters disapprove. A March Rutgers-Eagleton poll found 49 percent of New Jerseyans think casino gambling should remain limited to Atlantic City, up 6 percentage points from a previous poll, while 44 percent believe it should be allowed elsewhere.

Matt Hale, who teaches political science at Seton Hall University, said politicians generally get into trouble when they appear to change their core beliefs. Gov. Chris Christie's presidential run was hurt by perceived changes in his beliefs on abortion, gun control and immigration, Hale noted.

Fulop's position on casinos doesn't rise to that level, he said.

"On the other hand, North Jersey construction unions like casinos and if Fulop abandons them that could spell trouble," Hale said.

Fulop is expected to seek the Democratic nomination for governor next year. He has courted union support statewide.

A request for comment from Patrick Kelleher, president of the Hudson County Building & Constructions Trades, was not returned. Kelleher has been supportive of Fulop.

It's not clear whether more North Jersey Democrats will begin to shift their position on casino expansion. Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, D-Jersey City, a Fulop ally, said he remains in support, though he left himself wiggle room to come down against one in Jersey City specifically.

"I believe to keep New Jersey's gaming industry viable and recapture the billions in gaming revenue we have lost to neighboring states, casino expansion to North Jersey is necessary," Mukherji said. "As to where they should be located if the voters approve it, ultimately local mayors and citizens are best equipped to weigh the potential jobs and economic impact against other factors. I have faith that whatever Mayor Fulop decides will be best for our city."

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
JERSEY CITY -- Senate President Steve Sweeney and state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham toured Hudson County Community College's $35 million Sip Avenue library today to tout their higher education policies.

The two state lawmakers visited the building's sixth floor art gallery, where they saw a new exhibit of vintage gay pride parade photos; peered at the view of Journal Square from a sixth floor terrace; and toured the two-floor library, which includes a cafe that sells Starbucks coffee.

"Every college has a Starbucks," said Cunningham, D-Jersey City.

Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Cunningham met with about a dozen students after the tour. Sweeney touted policies at Rowan University that he said make college more affordable, including one that allows Rowan students to complete a four-year degree in three years while living on campus in the summer for free. Meanwhile, Cunningham cited a bill she and Sweeney co-sponsored that would require high school students receive instruction on financial literacy, with a focus on student loan debt, before graduation.

That bill, S-990, which is being reviewed by senate committees, was inspired by a recent trip Cunningham and Sweeney took to New Jersey City University, she said today.

"Every time we come talk to students, we learn something," she said.

The 12,000-square-foot Sip Avenue facility was completed in 2014 and became the 10th Journal Square location for HCCC, where full-time enrollment is currently 8,142 students.

Sweeney's visit to North Jersey coincided with Mayor Steve Fulop's venture into South Jersey, where he met with Atlantic City residents and officials to discuss casino expansion and the proposed state takeover of the financially strapped city. Both men are expected to be rivals in the 2017 gubernatorial primary.

HCCC student Yadira Aguiar, 27, told The Jersey Journal she agrees with Sweeney and Cunnnigham that every student should be financially literate when they enter college. Aguiar, a sociology major, said she watches students reflexively apply for loans they will be saddled with post-graduation instead of finding grants and scholarships instead.

Aguiar said she had hoped to hear more from Sweeney and Cunningham on what state lawmakers are doing to improve the quality of education.

HCCC's classes are "great," she said, adding, "there's always room for improvement."

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
FRANKLIN TWP. - It took firefighters a little over an hour to bring a two-alarm fire at a Pittstown Road under control, Quakertown Fire Chief Bradley Patkochis said Wednesday.

Patkochis said the fire was first reported at 2:25 a.m. Wednesday. It was out shortly after 3:30 a.m., with firefighters remaining on the scene until about 6:30 a.m.

Those first on the scene reported that all the residents were out of the home, Patkochis said. Several people were evaluated by emergency medical technicians, but no one was transported to a hospital, he added.

"Our thoughts are with the members of our small community who suffered a property loss this morning and thankful that no one was significantly injured," Patkochis said.

The fire was investigated by the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office with assistance from Franklin Township Police and the township's Bureau of Fire Prevention, he said.

On Thursday, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns, III announced that the fire appears to have started in a workshop area in the basement, and is not suspicious. The cause remains undetermined at this time, but the investigation is continuing, he added.

"The structure sustained severe damage," Kearns said. "I commend the dedication and commitment of the volunteer firefighters from Hunterdon County for their quick response to this fire which helped avoid further loss. We are very fortunate to have such a fine volunteer system of brave men and women."

A firefighter rehabilitation station was established by members of Quakertown Fire Company Emergency Medical Services and Clinton First Aid and Rescue Squad, which also provided an additional ambulance on site.

Both the Quakertown Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services responded, along with Tower 45 from Clinton), Pumper-Tender 46 from Annandale, High Bridge's Ladder 14, Tender 25 from Pattenburg and Lebanon's Squad 18.

Quakertown Fire units responding included Squad 91, Engine 91, Rescue 91, Tender 91-2, Tender 91-1, Car 91-2, Ambulances 91-51 and 91-52 with four emergency medical technicians.

Because of a lack of fire hydrants, there was a request for additional tanker crews from Tender 16-2 in Kingwood, Engine 21 in Raritan Township, Tender 47 in Sergeantsville and Engine 45-1 in Clinton. A fill site was established at the pond across from the Pittstown Post Office.

Additional manpower was requested from Engine 49-2 in Flemington, Engine 92 in Milford, Tower 21 in Raritan Township and Rescue 11 in Frenchtown.

Squad 47 in Sergeantsville and Tender 92-2 in Milford were asked to stand by at the Quakertown Fire Company and Engine 22-1 in Whitehouse Station and Tender 12 in Glen Gardner were asked to stand by at the Clinton Fire Department's firehouse.
The Economic Development Authority (EDA) voted Tuesday to approve a 10-year, $22.8 million Grow New Jersey award to a company that wants to build a 377,440-square-foot facility in Florence, NJ Biz reported.

Quality Packaging Specialists International, a product packaging company, wants to expand its operations in New Jersey with the new facility, which would house 170 current full-time positions and create 220 new full-time jobs.

The company is also considering a 361,665-square-foot space in Bethlehem, Pa. as an alternative to staying in New Jersey, the report says.

The EDA estimates that the project would yield a net benefit of $19.5 million back to the state over a 30-year period.

Also receiving approval was Mallinckrodt Enterprises, a subsidiary of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, with a 10-year, $20.4 million Grow New Jersey award to relocate 143 New Jersey-based jobs to a facility in Warren Township, as opposed to King of Prussia, Pa., the report says.

And Bayada Home Health Care, a privately-held company which provides in-home nursing services, received approval for a 10-year, $18.4 million award to go ahead with a consolidation project in Pennsauken as opposed to Philadelphia.

Also receiving Grow New Jersey awards, NJ Biz reported, are: Amerinox Processing Inc. in Camden; Corning Pharmaceutical Glass LLC in Vineland; Eastern Propak LLC in Glassboro; Mamacita Inc. in Vineland; Mane USA Inc. in Morris Plains; Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide LLC in Parsippany-Troy Hills and Sharp Electronics Corp. in Montvale.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
LAWRENCE -- Rider University may be taking a page from neighboring College of New Jersey, whose new $120 million mixed-use development is becoming a destination for students and residents alike.

Rider President Gregory Dell'Omo said in his inaugural address Friday that the university is exploring land development projects at the front and back of its 280-acre Lawrence campus.

"The goal is to create a campus-town environment that will feature a combination of retail, dining and housing options, which can be enjoyed by not only the Rider community, but our neighbors and visitors to campus as well," he said.

Universities and colleges across the country are increasingly turning to developers to help them build and manage mixed-use projects that can provide more housing, but also add retail and restaurant space.

The school now has 2,500 beds on both of its campuses, 2,275 of which were filled last semester.

Michael Reca, associate vice president for facilities and auxiliary services, said the idea has been discussed as part of the master plan and officials are now in the information-gathering stage. They're looking at what's been done at other schools -- large, small and mid-size -- and familiarizing themselves with the players and process.

"We're trying to put together a plan of some kind," Reca said. "We'll see where that takes us."

Rider doesn't have to look far for an example.

TCNJ's Campus Town, a public-private partnership between the college and The PRC Group, opened this school year with upscale student housing on the upper floors and ground-level retail. A second phase opening this summer will add another 166 beds, bringing the total to 612.

Rider spokeswoman Kristine Brown said academics is still a deciding factor for prospective students, but nowadays they want more.

"Students want the whole package," she said. "They want a great atmosphere and they want access to these types of things that they're used to. ... Something like this would bring different options to campus for our students and others."

The university's games and performing arts events are open to the public, but she added that the retail could become another draw.

"It could bring more of the township to the campus," Reca said, adding that the two already share a strong partnership. "It could do a lot for the both of us."

Greg Lentine, PRC's director of university campus development, said the mixed-use projects help colleges differentiate themselves.

"Top schools will always get their share of students, but for the smaller schools -- private or even state -- this can actually help them get students not only to apply, but to go there when they're accepted," he said. "This adds a dynamic to a college that just doesn't exist."

During TCNJ's Accepted Students Day on Saturday, nearly 100 prospective freshmen toured the apartments, he said.

A benefit of having the project privately funded, built and managed is that it means developers take the financial risk rather than the university, Lentine said.

"That allows the college to take money that they normally would have had to use to build and manage housing and put it toward academic space," he said. "They can focus on their primary job, which is educating students."

The partnership, he said, not only frees up capital, but it also provides the school with an added revenue stream. PRC will lease Campus Town for 50 years before it reverts to the college and will pay about $50 million in rent over the life of the lease.

Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
PLAINSBORO - A security breach at a Plainsboro hospital resulted in one employee's medical records and HIV-positive status being leaked to her coworkers, according to a recently filed lawsuit.

The woman, a housekeeping aide with the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, claims she was hired there in 1988, according to a lawsuit she filed in the Superior Court of Mercer County this month.

She had no issues with the hospital or with the Princeton Healthcare System (PHS) as a whole until two years ago, when the woman claims a coworker gained access to her medical records.

She said in the lawsuit that she was hospitalized at PHS in May of 2013, which was when the hospital created medical records for her, listing her HIV-positive status.

In April of 2014 - nearly a year after she was hospitalized - the employee said PHS sent her a letter, telling her that an unnamed coworker had accessed her medical records, according to the suit.

PHS had gotten a tip about the security breach two months before they informed the employee, according to the lawsuit.

The healthcare system said in the letter that they were taking "appropriate action," against the coworker who accessed the woman's medical records.

But the damage was already done.

The employee said in the lawsuit that, after her records were accessed by one employee, the rest of her coworkers learned about her HIV status.

"The plaintiff has seen and heard co-workers gossiping about her and her HIV status, and has been treated with hostility from her co-workers and superiors...inclusive of nitpicking and being forced to perform duties outside of her job description," the suit said.

The lawsuit does not say how the other coworkers learned about the status.

In the suit, the employee blames the hospital and PHS for their negligence that allowed another employee to get through security and access her medical records.

A representative from the Princeton Healthcare System said in a statement Wednesday that they take their patient's medical records seriously and always investigate if they suspect a confidentiality breach.

"Every employee receives education on patient confidentiality during orientation, as well as annual education on this matter. We also conduct regular audits of medical records to determine if there has been unauthorized access," the statement said.

If they determine a breach has occurred, then they take disciplinary action, which could include firing the employee involved, the statement said.

Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
Cardell Hayes' attorney gives up judge appointment to stay on case of Will Smith murder
Public defenders investigator Taryn Blume, right, faces up to two years in prison if convicted of impersonating an Orleans Parish District Attorney's office staffer. Blume's trial is set for May 10.
Rep. John Lewis is a hero in more ways than one
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.
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Partly to mostly cloudy. High 83F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
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OMAHA  Nurses and doctors in a west Omaha office building monitor the intensive care patients at numerous hospitals, a testimony to the increasing role of telehealth technology.

CHI Healths eICU, or electronic ICU, serves as a backup system to nurses and physicians in the intensive care units at 12 hospitals in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. Other hospital systems, including Nebraska Medicine in Omaha and Bryan Health in Lincoln, use carts carrying audio-visual technology to remotely monitor hospitals ICUs.

The remote-monitoring programs can mean better results for patients and save money in the long run, some studies and staffers say, by nudging hospital personnel to get patients off catheters and ventilators; alerting nurses to declining patient conditions; preventing complications; and helping to get patients out of the ICU sooner.

Remote monitoring helps maximize the use of intensivists, physicians trained in critical care, at a time when there is a shortage of those doctors and the demand is rising as the population ages.

CHI Healths eICU is an expensive program. Licensing, fees, staff and offices cost about $5 million to start in 2007, and operating costs now are more than $2 million annually.

But Kim Sieck, director of the eICU, said a 2013 analysis found that her program saved $3 million by getting patients off ventilators and out of intensive care sooner.

Sieck said some floor nurses were initially dubious about the technology, concerned that Big Brother and the eye in the sky would judge their work or even replace them.

Were here as an extra layer, Sieck said.

Sonia Meredith, ICU nursing team leader at Midlands Hospital in Papillion, said she appreciates the system.

Anytime you have something new, it takes some time to integrate the change into your care, Meredith said this month. Oh, I love having that backup.

CHI Health, the largest hospital system in Nebraska, uses a total of 17 nurses (typically two at a time) to provide constant staffing from the control room, plus six physicians (one at a time)  intensivists or lung specialists or both  who provide coverage 19 hours a day.

While on task, each keeps track of one bank of six monitors. The monitors include the patients electronic medical record; care plans for patients; information such as lab work, blood pressure, heart and oxygen assessments, white blood count, kidney-function data; information about those on ventilators; and other details.

The eICU software, developed by the Netherlands-based Philips health technology company, provides red alerts for patients who are declining. It places green brackets around an orb representing a patient in stable condition and red brackets around an orb for a patient who is struggling. While the remote staffers monitor each patient under their care, they give special attention to those who are particularly ill.

The software grew from the entrepreneurship of two former Johns Hopkins University intensivists, Drs. Brian Rosenfeld and Michael Breslow, who formed their own company, Visicu, in the late 1990s. Philips acquired Visicu about eight years ago. CHI Health, which joined the eICU program as Alegent Health in 2007, now is one of 48 hospital systems and centers using the Philips software for its eICU. Although Philips isnt the sole maker of such software, its the main provider.

Business is ever increasing, Rosenfeld said last week from Boulder, Colorado, where he is based. He is now Philips chief medical officer for telehealth. Rosenfeld said a client in the United Kingdom will soon go live with the software.

Rosenfeld said Philips clients get quarterly reports showing how ICUs within a system are doing as well as how they are performing compared to other systems eICUs.

The results of studies of such technology have been mixed. One study published in 2011 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that remote monitoring of ICUs can reduce deaths, lengths of stay in the hospital and complications such as ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Dr. Guillermo Huerta, medical director for CHI Healths eICU, called it a double-check system for protocols for blood-clot assessment, ventilation and many other elements. The nurses in the control room remind the nurses in the hospital ICUs to follow those protocols.

Theyre very busy, he said of the floor nurses. The bedside nurse is pulled in many different directions, and they potentially may not get to a task without a reminder, he said.

Sieck said the nurses in the control room typically are experienced ICU nurses who like the remote work because it extends their careers and is less physically and emotionally draining.

These guys still are very instinctive, Sieck said of her nurses. They know what could possibly happen.

Sieck said one patient was detected trying to climb out of the window. Another somehow pulled his temporary pacemaker off the IV pole and was fiddling with it because he thought it was the nurse-alert gadget. The nurses watch vital signs and keep an eye out for alerts.

Bedside nurses sometimes ask them to monitor patients who are at risk of getting up and falling. When a crisis occurs and multiple nurses must respond, the control-room nurses keep an eye on patients who would otherwise go temporarily neglected.

Its a pretty cool program, said Laura Stawniak, vice president of patient care services with Memorial Community Hospital in Blair, Nebraska. Its been quite an asset for our nursing staff. Her hospital, which is majority-owned by the surrounding community, has a management agreement with CHI Health.

CHI Health is the owner of most of the hospitals with ICUs in the eICU program, including those at Bergan Mercy Medical Center, Immanuel Medical Center and Lakeside Hospital in Omaha. One that isnt, Fremont Health Medical Center, is about to leave the CHI program for a similar program run by Avera Health, which is headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Melinda Kentfield, director of acute nursing with Fremont Health, said, CHI did a really good job here. The main reason Fremont is going to Averas program is because it provides intensivist physician coverage 24 hours a day, compared to CHI Healths 19 hours, Kentfield said.

Like CHI Health, Avera uses Philips software. Avera serves 28 locations with its eICU, including facilities in ONeill, Nebraska, and four in northwest Iowa.

Nebraska Medicine and Bryan Telemedicine, affiliated with Bryan Health in Lincoln, are among hospitals using a different strategy to serve hospitals ICUs from remote locations.

Dr. Michael Ash, Nebraska Medicines chief transformation officer, said his system uses both technology that is carted from room to room and cameras installed in rooms at Bellevue Medical Center. Doctors and nurses in Bellevue can then communicate with specialists at the Nebraska Medical Center.

Ash, who oversees telehealth for the system, said Nebraska Medicine also is starting to use the mobile cart system to perform stroke assessments at various hospitals across the state. His system continues to evaluate whether its better to transfer some patients from rural hospitals or to monitor them with technology.

The medical literature has begun to favor some form of electronic ICU, he said, but it hasnt yet become the new standard of ICU care.

Bryan Telemedicine also carts the two-way technology wirelessly from room to room in ICUs and elsewhere within a hospital. Bryan Telemedicine has contracted with Mary Lanning Healthcare in Hastings, Nebraska, and is in discussions with other health systems around the state to provide eICU and other telemedicine services. The company uses critical care physicians based in Lincoln to provide night and weekend coverage.

Bryan Telemedicine also provides a virtual emergency room program, various outpatient services, urgent care and other services provided by telemedicine physicians working from home offices in Lincoln and around the state.

The mobile cart system brings a physician virtually to the bedside, said Dr. Brian Bossard, president of Bryan Telemedicine. He said the system provides a more flexible option for virtual care at lower cost than hard-wiring equipment into patient rooms and a command center.

At CHI Healths eICU center, longtime intensive care nurse Margaret Maruska, 61, said working in the control center breathed new life into her career.

I get to bring that experience here, she said, and pass it on to the next generation of nurses.
Shaun Kenny-Dowall was just weeks away from signing with Penrith before the 16-year-old reneged to sign with the Roosters at the 11th hour over a decade ago.

Kenny-Dowall's endeavours when he first moved to Australia have been well-documented and it's something the now 28-year-old does not regret considering the legacy he's carved out for himself at the Roosters since.

"I went and looked at all of Penrith's facilities and I think they were organising for me to go to St Doms so I was probably about one or two weeks from moving out there," Kenny-Dowall told NRL.com.

"But then I was offered a deal from the Roosters and it was special for me to remain in the area. It's where my family lived and it's where I had made a home so to be still here now, that decision back then was probably a big life-changing event.

"You definitely don't look back and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love the Roosters and hopefully I'll play a few more games here to come."

The Roosters will play the Panthers on Monday night and Kenny-Dowall agreed that Penrith's current position on the NRL Telstra Premiership ladder doesn't represent their efforts in 2016.

Penrith have only won twice this season but could easily be undefeated considering three of their four losses have been by a converted try or less.

"They're an exciting team. They love throwing the footy around which is a credit to their great outside backs and young playmakers. They have had a few close games and it's probably going to be a really close game I'd say," Kenny-Dowall said.

"They have come close against some really good teams. Their performances have been good but they haven't been getting the wins either so it's going to be a good challenge for us."

Unlike their upcoming opponents, the Roosters are coming off a high after winning their first game of the year against the Rabbitohs last Friday night.

Kenny-Dowall wasn't prepared to make any outlandish statements of what it might mean for the Roosters fortunes moving forward but was pleased by the maiden victory.

"It's done the boys confidence the world of the good and to get the monkey off the back is pretty special. 0-5 was a tough position to be in and to turn it around against a quality opposition in South Sydney was great," Kenny-Dowall said.

"There's still a lot of work to be done but it's a great step in the right direction to get the first win. We're willing now to go after and create another win.

"I think we're finally starting to gel as a team and with that great performance we're looking to build some momentum and get more wins on the board."
I was invited to attend the International Puerto Vallarta Gourmet Food Festival, where chefs from around the world including the U.S., India, Sweden, Australia, South America and Europe, join the executive chefs of the many sophisticated city restaurants, developing recipes and menus during the weeklong annual event.

Its a great time and way too much food and for a break, our host Gustavo Rivas-Sollis signed us up for a decidedly less upscale but just as delicious street food tour through downtown Puerto Vallarta. The 1.5-mile, four hour tour met at Vallarta and Aquiles Serdan Streets in the citys Romantic Zone where Ricardo, our guide, gave us a list of the places wed be visiting and an overview of the history and culture of the foods wed be tasting as well as some of the sights wed be passing such as Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, a beautiful cathedral with Renaissance-styled towers and magnificen! t views of the city and water.

The stops would include small, family owned eateries like Mole Rosa where they made great enchiladas covered with different types of moles (the very time consuming rich sauce that uses a variety of peppers and sometimes a touch of Mexican chocolate) and El Guero where since 1989 the owners have shopped for fresh fish at the market early each morning, bringing back the best catch of the day to make their ceviche tostadas and other seafood dishes.

Not on our list, we also made an unplanned stop at the seafood market where Antonio from El Guero and many other restaurateurs get their fish. I was invited to go out at 3 a.m. the next morning to experience the actual adventure of fishing but declined not being that early of a riser. Besides, I figured having been surrounded by the bins of octopus, shrimp, snapper and tuna was experience enough.

To finish up, Ricardo told us, wed walk the Maleconthe lively and long boardwalk which s! tretches along the bay-- for a taste of tuba, a type of drink made from coconut palm juice, walnuts, apples, sugar and several other secret ingredients all of which were marinated overnight. This tuba vendor, he told us, got to work at 7 a.m. and dressed in all white including a large white hat, sold his drink until late at night. Intrigued, I tried to Google a recipe for tuba as we walked, but alas couldnt find one. That was because, Ricardo told me, tuba wasnt well known outside of Puerto Vallarta.

Our first stop was at Robles Birria Tacos a more or less permanent food truck which has been in business since 1986. Luckily Ricardo has pull because there was a long line of people waiting to order but he was able to circumvent the queue. All the tables were taken and so once we got our tacos, we sat on the curb and atesomething many others were doing as well.

Cesars Coconut Stand was even less fancy. Set up on the sidewalk of Avenida Mexico, Cesar, who! has been in business there since 1984, used a machete to slice open the hulls of coconuts he plucked from a large pile (he had even more in the back of his pickup truck which was parked next to the stand). Then using the tip of his machete, he gouged a hole in the top, stuck in a straw and handed one to each of us.

Ricardo described him as one of the busiest coconut vendors in the city, saying he sold over 900 coconuts a week. In what might be the ultimate drive through, people would pull their cars close to the stand, lower the window and place an order. Cesar handed them their drinks and bagged chunks of coconut meat in exchange for payment. Ricardo extolled the virtues of coconut water, describing it as incredibly healthy, great for hydration and digestion and also containing anti-fungal and anti-microbial properties to help fight diseases.

Probably less healthy was our stop at Con Orgullo La Azteca Candy Store, a crowded place stacked with bags and bags of candies made! with regional ingredients such as guava fruit, papaya, coconut, cane sugar, vanilla and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. More like a shrine than a bustling confectionery, the nearby Xocodivas, an artisanal chocolate shop, gave us samples and also a history lesson about the Mexican cacao bean which Ricardo assured us was the source of the worlds first chocolate and still the best.

El Guero Fish Tostados

Ingredients

2 pounds firm, fresh red snapper fillets (or other firm-fleshed fish), cut into 1/2 inch pieces, completely deboned

1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lime juice

1/2 red onion, finely diced

1 cup of chopped fresh seeded tomatoes

1 serrano chili, seeded and finely diced

2 teaspoons of salt

Dash of ground oregano

Dash of Tabasco or a light pinch of cayenne pepper

Cilantro, Avocado, and Tostadas

Directions

In a non-reactive casserole dish, either Pyrex or ceramic, place the fish, onion, tomatoes, chili, salt, Tabasco, and oregano. Cover with lime and lemon j! uice. Let sit covered in the refrigerator for an hour, then stir, making sure more of the fish gets exposed to the acidic lime and lemon juices. Let sit for several hours, giving time for the flavors to blend.

Chop cilantro into tiny pieces. Cut avocado into cubes. Fry tostados in oil until crispy. Top with fish mixture and then cilantro and avocado.
GARY  The Gary Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday recommended against granting a zoning variance for land near the Gary/Chicago International Airport for an immigrant detention center, but the project is not yet dead.

Representatives of The GEO Group next plan to argue their case for the facility before the Gary City Council, which will make a final determination on the variance.

Protesters are expected to pack that meeting as they did Tuesday's board meeting.

Prior to Tuesday's meeting a rally took place in which representatives from various religious and civic groups around Gary were represented. As in past meetings, protesters loudly chanted "No GEO" and disparaged the multinational company's record in operating private prisons and detention centers, including its treatment of staff and detainees.

The Rev. Stephen Gibson, pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church in East Chicago, brought along a group of children who he said would be among the victims if their parents were separated from them because of their immigration status.

Inside the City Council chambers, one group of protesters unfurled a large banner in the back of the room that said "No Borders, No Cages" and repeatedly chanted "GEO Group, shut it down" while attorney Jim Wieser spoke on behalf of the company's proposal. Police eventually escorted that group out, but the criticism of the company and its proposal continued as a host of speakers appeared before the board.

The speakers against the project included Bishop Donald Hying, of the Catholic Diocese of Gary, former Lake County Sheriff Roy Dominguez and former Gary Mayor Richard Hatcher, who said he stood by current Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson in opposition to GEO's plan to construct what the company calls an immigration processing center, but what opponents call a prison.

The Rev. Cheryl Rivera, executive director of the Northwest Indiana Federation of Interfaith Organizations, once again read from an open letter opposing the project that was signed by numerous other groups, including Black Lives Matter-Gary Northwest Indiana, the Baptist Ministers Conference of Gary & Vicinity, Twin City Ministerial Alliance, Concerned Citizens of Gary and Concerned Citizens of Hobart. The latter group has long protested any siting of a detention center on land GEO owns in that community.

The GEO Group also had sought a zoning variance in Gary last year, but withdrew its request in the wake of vociferous opposition by many of the same people who appeared at the protest rally and meeting Tuesday.

Board of Zoning Appeals member Jamelba Johnson, who joined in the 3-1 vote against the variance, told company representatives that "I don't know how you even had the nerve to ever come back."

The petition for the variance was being made by High Point Properties, LLC., a subsidiary of The GEO Group.

There were also a few people outside of The GEO Group representatives who supported the project, including resident A.J. Wiley-Priest, who held a sign outside City Hall that said "Our Young People Need Jobs."

Company representatives said the facility would create about 100 jobs in the construction of the facility and 200 or more in running the center. They said the center would represent an $80 million investment and they would invest in infrastructure improvements and perform needed environmental cleanup of the site where they plan to locate.

Opponents said the jobs being offered are not the ones they want in the community, contend it would dissuade other more desirable businesses from locating by the airport, and the center that could house nearly 800 is a place that marketed on the misery of poor immigrant families.

"We do not want to see this become a prison community," Rivera said.

Joe Enriquez Henry, the national vice president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said "these prisons have taken our people who have fled Central America, who have fled violence and put them back into harm's way again. We do not need private prisons. We need a pathway to citizenship and comprehensive immigration reform."

Despite Tuesday's rejection by the zoning board and the heated opposition, David J. Venturella, senior vice president of business development for The GEO Group, said the company will continue to pursue the project and believes they can succeed in winning approval for it in Gary.

"I think if the people look at the merits of what we are proposing, yes," said Venturella after the meeting.

Rivera promised to be back in force with the opposition at future meetings and will continue to meet with council members, some of whom she said seemed to be listening to GEO's proposal more than others.
VALPARAISO  Valparaiso Family YMCA is holding a free community event to inspire more kids to keep their minds and bodies active on April 30. This year marks the 25th annual YMCAs Healthy Kids Day, the Ys national initiative to improve health and well-being for kids and families. The day-long event features activities including: obstacle courses, bounce house, fitness demos, information stations for better eye, dental and health, representatives from our local police, fire and health department, St. Mary Medical Center screenings, pool time, community initiates for better living and plenty of games and activities to motivate and teach families how to develop healthy routines at home.

YMCAs Healthy Kids Day, celebrated at over 1,300 Ys across the country by over 1.2 million participants, works to get more kids moving and learning, creating habits that they continue all summer long, which is a critical time for kids health.

Start your childs summer off right at Healthy Kids Day. Research shows that when the school year ends, kids tend to lose up to two months of learning. said Chuck Gutzwiller, Senior Director of Aquatics and Wellness. Through Healthy Kids Day, we want parents to know that the Y is here for them during the summer  and rest of the year  to help kids thrive in the classroom, on the playing field and in life.

The event will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1201 Cumberland Crossing Drive.
Heidi Cruz has been called her husband Ted's not-so-secret weapon on the presidential campaign trail. She is his top fundraiser and chief surrogate. She sat down with Grace Rauh for an exclusive interview Tuesday to talk about the race.



Heidi Cruz is a very different kind of political spouse than any other this campaign season, except maybe former President Bill Clinton, but he's in a unique category all his own. She works full-time for Goldman Sachs and has taken a leave of absence from her job to help her husband's bid for the White House.

She is helping to soften his public image as well. Ted Cruz is not known for his winning personality, but Heidi Cruz insists it is a misconception that her husband is difficult to get along with or combative.

Heidi Cruz: Ted calls me in the middle of the day just to sing to me.

Rauh: What does he sing to you?

Heidi Cruz: Oh, many things. He loves Broadway. Ted loves a good show. He often sings that song, "I just called to say I love you." Ted is the easiest person to live with. He's very even-tempered. He's totally unflappable. He never gets mad. And you've seen that publicly. There have been a lot of names that Ted has been called. There are a lot of things that his Senate colleagues have said about him. It's because they feel threatened by the truth that has been his political career, and by what he is trying to do. Ted never responds in kind.



Heidi Cruz has been pulled directly into the campaign battle by her husband's chief rival, Donald Trump. Trump threatened to "spill the beans" on Heidi and retweeted an unflattering picture beside a picture of his own wife, a former model.



The National Enquirer also published a story accusing Cruz of having had multiple affairs. He denied it.

Heidi Cruz says the barbs are garbage designed to distract voters from her husband's campaign victories, and she took aim at Trump, although she did not use his name.

"I don't think that voters want to elect a commander-in-chief that is tweeting, that is using henchmen to put out things that are untrue. We need a commander-in-chief that cares about the American people," she said.

Heidi Cruz also talked to us about so-called New York values and how she used to get around the city when she lived here at the start of her banking career.

You can watch the full interview on "Inside City Hall" at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.


Open houses are being held in several boroughs to give prospective buyers the opportunity to look at dozens of properties damaged by Hurricane Sandy that will be up for auction next month. Our Bree Driscoll has the story.

Contractor Frank Geiser has lived and worked on Staten Island for 30 years.

He bought a couple houses after Hurricane Sandy, fixed them up and rented them out.

Now he's looking for a few more.

"Its self-employed," Geiser said. "So it is kind of my retirement plan. Just have a couple little houses like this this generating some income."

The home on Moreland Street in Midland Beach is one of 55 houses wrecked by Sandy that are up for auction on Staten Island  six more are in Queens and one in Brooklyn.

Facing big repairs, the original owners sold them to the state rather than rebuild, under a federally financed program that gave them market or near market value.

Now the state is selling the homes to the highest bidders, hoping to revitalize neighborhoods that have suffered so much since the storm.

"From the state's perspective it is a really phenomenal way to continue to reinvest in these communities in a more resilient fashion," said Barbara Brancaccio with the Governor's Office of Storm Recovery.

Scores of potential buyers have been checking out the properties this week in open houses.

Realtor Neila Nuzzi has been doing some reconnaissance work for prospective clients.

"So far the price seems a bit high but then again we will see when it comes to it," said realtor Neila Nuzzi. "Some of the houses look really good and I can't understand why they walked away. I think the major question for me is going to be the lifting of the house."

The government requires that the homes be elevated to protect them from future storms.

"It is certainly the big ticket cost on all or on most of these houses so perspective bidders should underwrite properly," said Misha Haghani with Paramount Realty USA. "They should take into account the cost of elevation and buy accordingly."

Geiser says he's beginning to see changes in storm-battered neighborhoods like this one.

"A lot of these smaller bungalows are being ripped down," the contractor said. "Newer townhomes are being put up and the neighborhood is coming back real strong."

Ahead of the auction Interest bidders must examine appraisals and other documents available at prusa.com. They must also bring a certified or cashier's check for $25,000 to the auction on May 10.
Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are in the city again Wednesday ahead of Thursday's debate in Brooklyn, and next week's New York primary.

Clinton spoke at the National Action Network's 25th anniversary convention in Midtown.

She talked about the importance of civil rights and economic opportunity, and said she is not taking African-American voters for granted.

"The reverend asked me to be substantive. Well, I'm giving it to you, because you know what?" Clinton said. "When somebody asks for your vote, they should tell you what they're going to do, not what they hope to do, and they should tell you to hold them accountable, which I want you to."

Clinton is also scheduled to take part in an organizing event in the Bronx tonight.

All this comes as the Daily News officially endorsed Clinton over Sanders in Tuesday's primary.

The paper says Clinton understands the economic problems facing many Americans and has realistic plans for fixing them.

Those plans include tax hikes on the wealthy and major investments in infrastructure and medical research.

The endorsement reads in part, "On April 19, New York Democrats will have unusual say over the partys nominee. They have in Clinton a super-prepared warrior realist. They have in opponent Bernie Sanders a fantasist whos at passionate war with reality."

Clinton took part in a roundtable discussion on pay equity in Manhattan on Tuesday.

Most polls show her leading Sanders in New York by at least 10 percentage points.

Bernie Sanders, meantime, plans to hold a rally in Washington Square Park on Wednesday night.

The rally was originally supposed to be held on Friday, but at the mayor's urging was moved up a day to make way for tomorrow's Democratic debate in Brooklyn.

Sanders brought his campaign upstate on Tuesday.

At a rally in Poughkeepsie, he talked about Clinton's ties to Wall Street and what he calls the need to fight the establishment.

"Not only is the status quo not working for ordinary Americans, they recognize that the status quo has got to change and that that change will not come about through establishment politics and economics," Sanders said.

Earlier in the day, Sanders was in Syracuse, where he urged supporters to come to the polls next week.

He said his campaign is more successful when there is a high voter turnout.
The New York City Police Department on Wednesday announced it has placed another high-ranking officer on modified duty amid a federal probe into corruption allegations.

The department says Deputy Chief Andrew Capul has been moved to an administrative job.

He's the second-in-command of Patrol Borough Manhattan North.

No criminal charges have been filed.

He now joins four other high-ranking members of the NYPD who have been re-assigned.

Federal investigators say they've interviewed at least 20 officers on whether they took money, vacations and even diamonds from two Brooklyn businessmen in exchange for police favors.

Investigators say one of the businessmen, Jonah Rechnitz, also helped fund Mayor de Blasio's run for office in 2013.

The de Blasio administration says it has given back the nearly $10,000 Rechnitz donated.

The mayor said federal authorities have not contacted him.


In the hotelier Andre Balazss office in Lower Manhattan, in front of his industrial-looking Charlotte Perriand desk, sits a Vladimir Kagan chair. Upholstered in green leather, it has been used for all the usual purposes, from making phone calls to firing off emails.

Yet Mr. Balazs does not talk about it as if it were any chair. He refers to its sensuously curved legs and how sitting in it is like being enveloped by a nymph.

Try not to make me sound dirty, he said. But I think that with good furniture, if it doesnt at some point make you want to make love on it, its missing something.

He is not alone in that response. Whenever people talk about the work of Mr. Kagan, one of the 20th centurys most successful designers, who died at 88 on Thursday in Palm Beach Fla., they almost invariably come around to the idea of sensuality.
Its an evening of crime, as The Last Panthers and Biutiful burrow into the European criminal underworld. Sylvester Stallone gets behind a new competition pairing female athletes with male trainers. And Lifetime brings its hit UnReal to the very small screen with The Faith Diaries, its first scripted web series.

Whats on TV

THE LAST PANTHERS 10 p.m. on Sundance. A diamond heist in Marseille, France, with the hallmarks of the Pink Panthers gang, goes wrong, causing a meltdown in Europes criminal underworld in this six-part thriller, which was nominated for a Bafta Award and stars Samantha Morton, Tahar Rahim, Goran Bogdan and John Hurt. Based on the work of the French journalist Jerome Pierrat, the story pivots between the 1995 Balkans conflict and the present, as organized crime collides with banking, and a new breed of criminal  the bankster  evolves. David Bowie wrote and performed Blackstar, the shows theme song. This is no Peter Sellers comedy, Neil Genzlinger wrote in The New York Times. But it will reward those who like their television dense and brooding. (Image: Mr. Hurt)

INDIAS WANDERING LIONS 8 p.m. on PBS. Nature visits Gujarat in western India, where Asiatic lions, once facing extinction, have multiplied in force because of a decades-old hunting ban. Now theyre making their homes near farming villages  building a case for human-predator cohabitation.

NEW YORK RANGERS VS. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS 8 p.m. on MSG and USA. The Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist tries to slow down the Penguins Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel, as the teams begin the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
LOS ANGELES  Sean Parker was a pioneer in music sharing when he co-founded Napster and in social media as the early president of Facebook. Now he wants to pioneer in a field that is already jumping with activity: cancer immunotherapy.

Mr. Parker is announcing Wednesday that he is donating $250 million to a new effort that will bring together six leading academic centers to develop ways to unleash patients own immune systems to fight cancer.

The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy will try to spur collaboration among the centers, having them share research materials and discoveries and jointly conduct clinical trials to try to accelerate progress.

How do we get more therapies to market faster and more cheaply? Mr. Parker said in an interview, adding that his effort represented a new blueprint for biomedical research funding.
WASHINGTON  The worlds finance ministers opened their annual spring meeting here on Tuesday facing dampened expectations for global growth and warnings about financial risks and political movements toward nationalism and protectionism  in the United States and abroad.

As the six-day gathering of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank began, the funds global growth forecast for 2016 was more disappointing than worrisome: a modest 3.2 percent expansion much like last year, but 0.2 percentage points lower than projected in January.

The report of the 188-country I.M.F. on the sluggish recovery from the 2008 recession did forecast a stronger recovery in 2017, but officials emphasized that global risks could thwart that. Among them were noneconomic risks, including terrorist attacks, waves of refugees and rising nationalism, as well as the impact of economic inequality.

In many countries, the lack of wage growth and greater inequality have created widespread senses that economic growth has mainly been to the benefit of economic elites, Maurice Obstfeld, economic counselor to the I.M.F., told reporters in outlining the latest World Economic Outlook.
J. Thomas Rosch, a lawyer who spent years defending corporations from government antitrust actions before taking the other side as a member of the Federal Trade Commission, died on March 30 in Lake Forest, Ill. He was 76.

The cause was complications of Parkinsons disease, his son, Thomas, said.

A Republican, Mr. Rosch was nevertheless a proponent of energetically applying antitrust laws as a member of the F.T.C.

In 2011, as the nations health care laws changed, encouraging greater collaboration between hospitals and doctors for cost savings, Mr. Rosch warned that without vigorous antitrust enforcement, the new alliances could reduce competition and increase costs to consumers.

Some of his former clients were not happy to see him on the opposing side. In 2009, Intel, where Mr. Rosch had been the chief antitrust defender for years, tried unsuccessfully to disqualify him from reviewing a case accusing the company of abusing its power over the microprocessor market.
In the second-floor apartment of 83 Bowery, where Shu Qing Wang, 42, lives with her husband and their two sons, space is rationed with precision. The households shoes hang in a plastic organizer on the wall by the front door. Three-legged stools are tucked under the kitchen table. A barred window looks onto a shaft that is perhaps four feet wide. There are two bedrooms. The rent is $950 a month. This apartment has been the Wang home for nearly four years, the longest Ms. Wang has lived any place in New York since arriving in 1999 from Fuzhou in southeast China.

Image One of the lawsuit documents. The tenants have refused an offer of $15,000 each to vacate. Credit... Yana Paskova for The New York Times

She got the apartment the way she gets much of her news: in a park on Chrystie Street, a tip from an elder.

An old uncle told me about it, Ms. Wang said. Everything is here. The school, the stores.

Last year, the landlord served Ms. Wang with an eviction notice when her lease expired, arguing that based on renovations done to the building about 35 years ago, none of the apartments in the building were rent-regulated. Therefore, the argument went, she and other residents were not entitled to stay in their apartments. The landlord withdrew the case when the tenants lawyer, Janet Ray Kalson, told a housing court judge that she was hiring an engineer to determine how much of the building had been renovated.

The landlord offered the tenants $15,000 each to leave. They declined. Last month, the boxes of lawsuits arrived for a new case brought by the owner in State Supreme Court. It argues that the buildings cannot be fixed unless the tenants are out. Moreover, the owners firmly believe that neither of these buildings were rent-regulated, Mr. Goldsmith said.

If true, that would mean the tenants would not be entitled to come back, though Ms. Kalson says the tenants engineer believes that the most serious problems can be repaired without requiring them to leave.

Talks have gone on for years about how to protect the spirit of the neighborhood while allowing growth.
Updated, 12:12 p.m.

Good morning on this sunny Wednesday.

Movie buffs, rejoice: the Tribeca Film Festival kicks off this afternoon.

The event, now in its 15th year, was founded by Robert De Niro and his producing partner, Jane Rosenthal, in part to help revitalize Lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Certainly the world doesnt need another film festival, The Times reported in 2002. But the people behind the Tribeca Film Festival felt strongly that New York needed this one.

What began as a five-day festival now runs for 12: The schedule is packed with screenings, talks, competitions, a virtual reality bazaar and more.
(Want to get this briefing by email? Heres the sign-up.)

Good morning.

Heres what you need to know:

 White House zeros in on ISIS.

President Obama convenes his National Security Council at the C.I.A. today, to discuss the Islamic State. While the militants strength has grown in Europe, their territory in Iraq and Syria has shrunk, and the fight to stop them could be nearing a crucial turning point.

A partial cease-fire in Syria is coming under new strains, as the government holds parliamentary elections today.
As John Feehrey, a Republican lobbyist and party operative, told me,

People inside the beltway are dreaming. Its going to be either Trump or Cruz. We are in a populist moment in this country. Unless Trump completely collapses in the next couple of months, he will be the nominee. Ryan doesnt want the nomination under these circumstances.

Rich Lowry, editor of the anti-Trump National Review, believes it would be politically suicidal, given the level of support the two have received in the primaries and caucuses thus far, for the Republican Party to nominate anyone other than Trump or Cruz.

Republican voters are not interested in someone whos embedded in the partys leadership, theyre not interested in someone who is donor friendly, and whos soft on immigration, Lowry declared on Meet the Press on April 10. It would be one thing if Ryan was a compromise between Cruz and Trump. Hes a rejection of both of them and of 70 percent of Republican voters.

Another conservative adamantly opposed to Trump is Glenn Beck. Appearing on the same show as Lowry, Beck said:

I think a Trump nomination would be disastrous. With that being said, you cant disenfranchise people. If Trump wins the 1,237 or wins in the first, second, third ballot, it must go to him. And it cant go to dirty politics.

In order for any white knight to have a chance of ending up with a draft nomination, the first ballot at the Republican convention in Cleveland would have to be inconclusive  with neither Trump nor Cruz winning a majority of the 2,472 delegates.

In subsequent balloting, in order to get another candidates name placed in nomination under current party rule 40b  Each candidate for nomination for President of the United States and Vice President of the United States shall demonstrate the support of a majority of the delegates from each of eight (8) or more states, severally, before the presentation of the name of that candidate for nomination  supporters of a player to be named later would need signed petitions from a majority of delegates in eight states, which is no easy task because many (although not all) delegates are committed to one of the candidates who ran in the primaries.

A factor suggesting that Ryans Shermanesque statement may be subject to revision is the way he repeatedly rejected pleas to run for House speaker last October, before he turned around and accepted the post. On Tuesday, Ryan dismissed the analogy as comparing apples and oranges.

As recently as April 7, Ryan had fueled discussion that he was interested in a presidential bid by posting a video that for all intents and purposes looks like a presidential campaign commercial. The video shows Ryan speaking to House interns, with musical crescendos and shots taken from at least six different camera angles.

Giving sustenance to those who persist in pinning their hopes on a last minute Ryan draft is the speakers own message, which could easily form the foundation of a reluctant acceptance speech in Cleveland:

What really bothers me the most about politics these days is this notion of identity politics: that were going to win an election by dividing people, rather than inspiring people on our common humanity and our common ideals and our common culture on the things that should unify us. We all want to be prosperous. We all want to be healthy. We want everybody to succeed. We want people to reach their potential in their lives. Now, liberals and conservatives are going to disagree with one another on that. No problem. Thats what this is all about. So lets have a battle of ideas. Lets have a contest of whose ideas are better and why our ideas are better.

Speculation about a Ryan candidacy had been intensely worrisome to Democrats, which is why his disavowal on Tuesday was such welcome news in Democratic precincts.
AS political candidates and pundits grapple with the legacy of the 1994 crime bill and the era of mass incarceration that has seen millions of African-Americans locked in the nations prisons, one defense keeps popping up: that black citizens asked for it.

When confronted about her husbands pivotal support for the bill, Hillary Clinton argued, even as she admitted the legislations shortcomings, that the bill was a response to great demand, not just from America writ large, but from the black community, to get tougher on crime.

Yet the historical record reveals a different story. Instead of being the unintended consequence of the democratic process at work, punitive crime policy is a result of a process of selectively hearing black voices on the question of crime.

Theres no question that by the early 1990s, blacks wanted an immediate response to the crime, violence and drug markets in their communities. But even at the time, many were asking for something different from the crime bill. Calls for tough sentencing and police protection were paired with calls for full employment, quality education and drug treatment, and criticism of police brutality.
What Secretary of State John Kerry called his gut wrenching visit to the Hiroshima war memorial on Monday served several purposes. As the highest-ranking official in an American administration ever to visit the site, he paid respects to the victims of one of the most devastating acts of World War II and reflected on how Japan and the United States have forged a strong alliance over the past 70 years. He also emphasized that war must never be the first resort and urged a continued push for a world free from nuclear weapons.

For years, top American officials did not visit the memorial because of sensitivities over the nuclear attacks by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed 200,000 people, mostly civilians. Now that Mr. Kerry has paved the way, there should be nothing keeping President Obama from becoming the first American president to stop at Hiroshima when he travels to Japan next month for a meeting of the Group of 7 leaders. But he should be prepared to offer some tangible new initiative to keep alive his flagging vision of a nuclear-free world.

Mr. Obama created big expectations in his first term when he endorsed the ambitious goal of a world without nuclear weapons. It is necessary to ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change, he said in a speech in Prague in 2009. He has achieved some important measures, most notably the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which has significantly curbed Irans ability to develop a nuclear weapon, and the 2010 New Start treaty mandating cuts in the number of strategic nuclear warheads deployed by the United States and Russia to 1,550 warheads each.

More progress, however, has been stymied in part because Russia, led by an increasingly aggressive Vladimir Putin, has thwarted talks on further nuclear arms reductions. The Republican-led Senate has refused to consider ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. And Pakistan has blocked international negotiations on a treaty banning fissile material production.
PARIS  On Sunday, Air France will resume regular flights to Tehran. For its female flight attendants and pilots, there is a catch: On arrival, they will be asked to wear not only the most conservative version of their uniform, a pantsuit with a knee-length jacket, but also a head scarf to cover their hair, in line with Iranian law and with other foreign airlines practice. The unions have protested. This is contrary to what I stand for as a woman, an Air France flight attendant complained in Le Figaro Madame. The company quickly gave in. Only those comfortable with the requirements will fly the Paris-Tehran route.

What is really interesting is that the issue did not arise earlier when Air France was flying to Tehran, before international sanctions forced it to stop in 2008. Yes, secularism is in Frances DNA; this is the country that passed a law in 2004 to ban all emblems of religion in public schools, including Muslim head scarves, and a second law in 2010 to ban the burqa (full veil) in public areas. But the flight attendants reaction shows how much attitudes toward Islam have hardened in the past 14 months, which brought three waves of attacks by Islamic State terrorists in Paris and Brussels.

The French government has declared war on the Islamic State, but another war is also underway  an undeclared culture war over the status of women. Its symbol is le voile (the veil), a generic term that has come to encompass all forms of Islamic garments used to cover womens heads. The dividing lines are confusing liberals and feminists, intellectuals and human rights activists, left and right.
Just as Syrias revolution was set off in part by the worst four-year drought in the countrys modern history  plus overpopulation, climate stresses and the Internet  the same is true of this African migration wave. Thats why Im here filming an episode for the Years of Living Dangerously series on climate change across the planet, which will appear on National Geographic Channel next fall. Im traveling with Monique Barbut, who heads the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, and Adamou Chaifou, Nigers minister of environment.

Chaifou explains that West Africa has experienced two decades of on-again-off-again drought. The dry periods prompt desperate people to deforest hillsides for wood for cooking or to sell, but they are now followed by increasingly violent rains, which then easily wash away the topsoil barren of trees. Meanwhile, the population explodes  mothers in Niger average seven children  as parents continue to have lots of kids for social security, and each year more fertile land gets eaten by desertification. We now lose 100,000 hectares of arable land every year to desertification, says Chaifou. And we lose between 60,000 and 80,000 hectares of forest every year.

As long as anyone could remember, he says, the rainy season started in June and lasted until October. Now we get more big rains in April, and you need to plant right after it rains. But then it becomes dry again for a month or two, and then the rains come back, much more intense than before, and cause floods that wash away the crops, and that is a consequence of climate change  caused, he adds, primarily by emissions from the industrial North, not from Niger or its neighbors.

Says the U.N.s Barbut, Desertification acts as the trigger, and climate change acts as an amplifier of the political challenges we are witnessing today: economic migrants, interethnic conflicts and extremism. She shows me three maps of Africa with an oblong outline around a bunch of dots clustered in the middle of the continent. Map No. 1: the most vulnerable regions of desertification in Africa in 2008. Map No. 2: conflicts and food riots in Africa 2007-2008. Map No. 3: terrorist attacks in Africa in 2012.

All three outlines cover the same territory.

The European Union recently struck a deal with Turkey to vastly increase E.U. aid to Ankara for dealing with refugees and migrants who have reached Turkey, in return for Turkey restricting their flow into Europe.

If we would invest a fraction of that amount helping African nations combat deforestation, improve health and education and sustain small-scale farming, which is the livelihood of 80 percent of the people in Africa, so people here could stay on the land, says Barbut, it would be so much better for them and for the planet.
In 1992, Bill Clinton ran on the promise of two for the price of one: If he was elected, Americans would also get Hillary Clinton, lawyer and activist Democrat, working for them in the White House.

Mrs. Clinton advocated for some of the most significant initiatives of her husbands presidency, which were most often the product of compromise in a divided Congress. Indeed, many Democrats revere Mr. Clinton as the leader who brought the party back from the political wilderness by eschewing ideological purity in favor of a more incremental, politically centrist philosophy.

That legacy and experience lies at the heart of Mrs. Clintons approach as a progressive who gets things done. And the 1994 crime bill, which has emerged as a hot-button issue in the current campaign, is a good example in both its substance and the style of the Clinton manner of policy making.
RECENT SALE

$13.75 million

159-01 Northern Boulevard (between 159th and 160th Streets)

Flushing, Queens

A local commercial investor plans to eventually redevelop these two brick buildings  a 21,400-square-foot two-story mixed-use building with 210 feet of retail frontage along Northern Boulevard and a 4,000-square-foot one-story building behind it. The two-story building has 11 retail units on the ground floor, 10 offices on the second floor and four rent-stabilized one-bedroom apartments on each floor.

Buyer: Kevin Realty

Seller: Karikan Realty Corporation

Brokers: Matthew Fotis and Samuel Hoefle, Marcus & Millichap

RECENT LEASE

$64/sq. ft.

$38,400 approximate annual rent

136 Nevins Street (at Bergen Street)

Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

A production company has signed a three-year lease, with a two-year option to renew, in a gut-renovated 600-square-foot loft-style duplex with exposed brick, new heating units and an additional 200-square-foot outdoor terrace.

Tenant: Under the Influence Productions

Landlord: Gerard Agard

Brokers: Miriam Tesler Karni and Rashida McWilliams, Ideal Properties Group
Last week, the designer Ryan Roche found herself in the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory of the textile world, as she describes it: Remmert S.p.A, the 140-year-old Italian company best known for its haute couture accessories like beautiful feathers and lacquered tapes. The looms are massive, she explained by email, and out come the daintiest, fine ribbons. Roche, along with the milliner Gigi Burris and the family behind Orley, also visited Teseo and Maggia (facilities that focus on bio-silks and luxury jersey, respectively) and the Tessitura di Crevacuore mill (where the archive dated back to the 40s and we touched original Chanel, she notes) as participants in the inaugural Fabric Program trip coordinated by the CFDA and the international trade fair Milano Unica. The group took in more than just the crafts heritage: Roche met a septuagenarian knit-master (who presented some of his latest innovations), brushed up on advancements in yarn technology and discovered fiber combinations, treatments and washes that she plans to work into her brands resort offering. Here, she shares exclusively with T photographs from her seven-day sojourn in Italy.
Joe Freeman Britt, a brash North Carolina prosecutor who was called the nations deadliest D.A. for his success at winning death sentences, died on April 6 in Lumberton, N.C. He was 80.

His family confirmed his death but did not specify the cause.

As the district attorney for Robeson and Scotland Counties from 1974 to 1988, Mr. Britt oversaw cases that led to more than 40 death sentences. Only two of the defendants were executed  appeals court rulings led to many altered sentences, and some suspects were later exonerated  but his courtroom record ranked him at one point among the countrys most prolific advocates for capital punishment.

What is the most precious right that any of us have? Mr. Britt asked in 1985. The right to live. We all have that right, unless we forfeit it by our conduct.

Mr. Britt, who opposed the death penalty as a college student, was an extraordinarily effective prosecutor. Guinness World Records, in naming him the deadliest prosecutor in 1978, noted that he had obtained nearly two dozen death sentences in 28 months.
They called him the Phantom  the Phantom of the Fox.

Like his well-known Parisian counterpart, he lived for decades in an ornate metropolitan theater. He had intimate knowledge of every light, every rope, every walkway and every catacomb in his cavernous Eden.

But unlike the storied figure said to haunt the Paris Opera, this Phantom was real  an ardent, somewhat solitary, supremely gifted man named Joe Patten. Until shortly before his death on April 7, at 89, Mr. Patten had lived in rococo splendor in a sprawling private apartment in Atlantas historic Fox Theater.

Over the course of his long love affair with the Fox, Mr. Patten, its technical director from 1974 until his retirement in 2001, became as revered a fixture of the citys cultural life as the theater itself. He restored its magnificent pipe organ to long-lost glory and twice saved the entire building  from demolition in the 1970s and from fire in the 1990s.

But in the end, Mr. Patten was forced to wage his greatest preservation campaign on his own behalf: In old age, in a development that may properly be called Oedipal, he battled eviction at the hands of the very theater he had nurtured for so long.
LINCOLN, Neb.  For at least one more presidential election, this overwhelmingly Republican state will keep a system that allows it to split its Electoral College votes between candidates and parties, after a conservative-backed effort to adopt a winner-take-all system stalled in the Legislature on Tuesday.

Ever since Barack Obama picked off one of Nebraskas five Electoral College votes in 2008, even as he was trounced statewide, Republicans have sought to undo the quirky system that gives two of Nebraskas five electoral votes to the candidate with the most support over all and one from each of its three congressional districts to the candidate with the districts majority.

Practically speaking, the current system gives Democrats a fighting chance to walk away with an electoral vote from this decidedly red state. That vote, which has added value in close presidential elections, would probably come from a Democratic win in the congressional district surrounding Omaha, the states urban center.

It means that now when people start organizing at the neighborhood level, it matters because we can get one of those votes, said State Senator Ernie Chambers of Omaha, a political independent who led the opposition to the bill.
Our Republican system is absolutely rigged. Its a phony deal. Now, what do I know? I started running like nine months ago, who would have thought I would have been in first place? What do I know? What do I know? But Im in first place by a lot. Millions and millions of votes - that doesnt count, you notice? Nobody even talks about votes. I have millions of votes more but I also have hundreds of delegates more, but thats not the same thing for me. I think the vote is the thing that you count, right? The vote. ++CUTAWAY TO BLACK FRAME++ 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidate: This was a dirty trick - these are dirty tricksters. This is a dirty trick. And Ill tell you what - the RNC, the Republican National Committee - they should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this kind of crap to happen. I can tell you that. They should be ashamed of themselves. ++CUTAWAY TO BLACK FRAME++ 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidate: Weve already been disenfranchised, because you look at whats going on, because if you think about it, the economy is rigged, the banking system is rigged, theres a lot of things that are rigged in this world of ours, and thats why a lot of you havent had an effective wage increase in 20 years, folks, and were going to change it. Were going to change it. ++CUTAWAY TO BLACK FRAME++ 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidate: You turn on your television: Sanders wins. Sanders wins. Again, Sanders wins. Like seven or eight or nine - he keeps winning. And then you listen to the people, the pundits, and they say he has no chance of winning. I say whats going on? Because you have superdelegates. By the way, I think the Republicans have a worse system than the Democrats, but they have super delegates. It makes it impossible for a guy that wins to win. Its a crooked system, folks, its a crooked system. ++CUTAWAY TO BLACK FRAME++ 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidate: I sort of had my heart set on Hillary to be honest with you. And her whole life, remember this, her whole life has been one big lie. Its been one big lie. 7. Trump exits
The emerging technology made these early forecasts possible, and its typographical constraints established capital lettering as the look of weather forecasting, said James R. Fleming, a historian at Colby College in Maine and the author of Inventing Atmospheric Science.

Because reports were shared only in closed circles in the years before the Internet, there was no real need to change the custom, even as the federal governments weather forecasting services grew more sophisticated.

The Weather Service first proposed transitioning to mixed-case type in the 1990s, as the Internet was replacing old-fashioned Teletype, said Art Thomas, the meteorologist overseeing the project. But it took almost two decades for services relying on its reports to adopt technology that could handle the more modern type, and then more time to upgrade the Weather Services own systems.

Even so, the service is not rushing into anything. At first, only localized forecast discussions, public information statements and regional weather summaries will be in mixed case. Other widely circulated material, including severe weather warnings and other forecasts, will continue on in capitals until later in the year, Mr. Thomas said.

The new guidelines give forecasters the option to employ capitalization from time to time, as the rest of the world might, to add emphasis and urgency.

The transition to mixed-case type comes amid a series of changes, like dropping some abbreviations in published forecast discussions and clarifying warning categories, intended to make the Weather Services reports more digestible and effective for the Americans who come to them for everything from the afternoon forecast to extreme weather updates.

Theres broader recognition at the Weather Service that we need to do more than just forecast the weather, said Susan Buchanan, the agencys acting director of public affairs. Our warnings need to prompt the kind of decision that will save more lives and properties.
But the houses name will remain the same. It will always be the Sewall-Belmont House  that will never go away, and we dont want to get rid of that history, said L. Page Harrington, the executive director of the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum. But if youre talking about a womens history monument, you want to pick women to name it for.

Mr. Obama, who has made the push for equal pay a priority, announced the new monument on Equal Pay Day, an annual observance marking how many additional days a woman would have to work to earn the same amount a man did the year before.

Im here to say we will close the wage gap, Mr. Obama said. And if you dont believe that were going to close our wage gap, you need to come visit this house because this house has a story to tell.

That story was very nearly lost to history.

Ms. Paul moved into the house in 1929, as the party began a push for womens rights legislation and an equal rights amendment. She lived and worked there until the mid-1970s and hosted a continually rotating cast of women who traveled to Washington to press their cause.

Women would come here to the headquarters and they would learn how to politically engage, but they needed a safe place to stay and they needed to be able to have chaperones with them, Ms. Harrington said. The women that lived and worked here were extremely dedicated.

Ms. Harrington said the house itself had been integral to the push for womens rights because of its proximity to the Capitol, where Ms. Paul led lobbying efforts on hundreds of pieces of legislation and succeeded in winning passage of as many as 300.
The British minister of culture said on Tuesday that he previously dated a woman who was working in the sex industry and that tabloid newspapers had known her true occupation before he did  raising questions about whether his role as a government minister with oversight of the nations news media had been compromised.

In a statement issued to the BBC program Newsnight, the minister, John Whittingdale, who is a Conservative member of Parliament, called his former relationship an old story which was a bit embarrassing at the time and denied that it had affected his role as a government official.

The events occurred long before I took up my present position and it has never had any influence on the decisions I have made as culture secretary, he said.

Before he became a member of the cabinet, Mr. Whittingdale served as the chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in the House of Commons for 10 years. He was appointed minister of culture in 2015.
SKOPJE, Macedonia  The president of Macedonia abruptly ended a far-reaching criminal investigation into corruption and abuse of power throughout the government on Tuesday, plunging the tiny Balkan country into a political crisis.

An agreement brokered by European mediators in July sought to resolve a political crisis prompted by a wiretapping scandal, which revealed fraud in the electoral system, government manipulation of the media and the judiciary, and other wrongdoing. The wiretapping involved surveillance of as many as 20,000 people, including journalists, judges, foreign ambassadors, and activists  but who orchestrated it, and to what end, remains murky.

As part of the agreement, the leaders of the countrys four largest political parties agreed to allow a special prosecutor to investigate the wiretapping and, if necessary, bring criminal charges. President Gjorge Ivanov disregarded the agreement on Tuesday, issuing a blanket pardon to anyone involved in the scandal.

I am convinced that this is a big step forward toward reconciliation, and that this will help in creating an atmosphere for normal political and democratic competition, based on ideas and results, not on accusations and destruction, Mr. Ivanov said in a national address.
WASHINGTON  American airstrikes have killed 25,000 Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria and incinerated millions of dollars plundered by the militants, according to Pentagon officials.

Iraqi and Kurdish forces have taken back 40 percent of the militant groups land in Iraq, the officials say, and forces backed by the West have seized a sizable amount of territory in Syria that had been controlled by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

But the battlefield successes enjoyed by Western-backed forces in the Islamic States heartland have done little to stop the expansion of the militants to Europe, North Africa and Afghanistan. The attacks this year in Brussels, Istanbul and other cities only reinforced the sense of a terrorist group on the march, and among American officials and military experts, there is renewed caution in predicting progress in a fight that they say is likely to go on for years.

Even as we advance our efforts to defeat Daesh on the front lines, Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken told a congressional committee on Tuesday, using another name for the Islamic State, we know that to be fully effective, we must work to prevent the spread of violent extremism in the first place  to stop the recruitment, radicalization and mobilization of people, especially young people, to engage in terrorist activities.
BEIRUT, Lebanon  A fragile and partial cease-fire in Syria is coming under new strains, with ground clashes and airstrikes intensifying as the government promises a new offensive and prepares to hold controversial parliamentary elections on Wednesday.

France, one of the most outspoken international opponents of Syrias president, Bashar al-Assad, and Iran, his closest ally, both issued warnings that the partial cease-fire, which has lasted far longer than any other and has reduced the daily death toll significantly since Feb. 27, faced the threat of collapse.

A day before the next round of peace talks is set to start, France, along with opposition negotiators, blamed new government attacks in the northern province of Aleppo and the eastern suburbs of the capital, Damascus, for endangering the agreement, while Iran blamed armed groups fighting the government. Officials in the United States, too, said they were very concerned about the rise in violence.

The expressions of worry mounted as the special envoy for the United Nations, Staffan de Mistura, traveled to Tehran as part of a regional tour before the talks, which are set to resume in Geneva on Wednesday. After meeting with Iranian officials, he said he had emphasized the need to maintain the partial truce, known as a cessation of hostilities.
PARIS  It seems almost too good to be true: A long-lost Caravaggio worth millions is discovered languishing in an attic in France, unseen by the family that had lived there for generations.

But that is indeed the case, a French art dealer said this week, in declaring that after two years of research, a painting of Judith Beheading Holofernes found near Toulouse in 2014 was an authentic work by the Italian Renaissance master.

The dealer, Eric Turquin, showed off the painting at a news conference on Tuesday at his Paris gallery, where it remains while he awaits a buyer for the work, which he estimates is valued at more than 120 million euros, or $136 million.

The attribution remains the subject of debate among experts, and several have publicly disputed the finding.
The Bataclan, the Paris concert hall where scores of people were killed in the terrorist attack of Nov. 13, on Wednesday announced its first slate of shows since then. The hall has not held a concert since terrorists opened fire during an Eagles of Death Metal concert.

It will reopen later this year and on Nov. 16 will present a concert from the British rocker Pete Doherty, according to a statement posted on its Twitter and Facebook accounts, and information on its website.

November and December appearances by Youssou NDour, Nada Surf, and MZ will follow. Further events will be announced soon, the statement on the companys social media accounts said. Details on the concerts are available on the Bataclans website.

In February the Bataclan announced that it was undergoing a major renovation, and aimed to reopen by the end of this year, though the exact date when it would open to the public again has not been announced.
Ive heard contemporary music performed on all manner of instruments. But until Tuesday night at Scandinavia House, in the first full program of the 18th annual MATA Festival, I had never heard a vocalist belch, burp and stutter his way through a fractured recomposition of Im Forever Blowing Bubbles.

Neil Luck, the composer of this wacky piece, called Bubbles, was also the soloist, backed by the players of Ensemble neoN, an impressive group from Norway making its American debut. Whatever ones take on Bubbles, its inclusion on this fascinating program proved that MATA continues to showcase a broad spectrum of music by young, underrecognized voices from around the world.

A piece titled [priz(e)m], by the Italian-born Alexander Kaiser, was written in the aftermath of the paranoia in Europe stirred by the 2013 National Security Agency spying scandal, the composer said after its performance. This 10-minute score for six instruments, including drum set, was the composers first attempt to combine the punk music of his youth with a European Modernist style. The piece moves in heaving spurts, with wailing flute and clarinet lines, pounding rhythms and skittish pointillist piano bursts. Screeching sounds and grating rhythms intrude, and are absorbed.

The young Spanish composer Diego Jimenez Tamame packs a lot of dense, restless music into his five-minute Dont Condescend [Dont Even Disagree]. It unfolds with violent shifts and gnashing chords as motifs and cells of pitches interact and recombine.
Television is in the midst of a 1990s craze  with a tabloid flair.

Last week, FX finished up a successful run for its O.J. Simpson anthology, American Crime Story. NBC and CBS are developing their own dramas based on sensational stories that played out in the early days of the 24-hour news cycle (on the Menendez brothers and JonBenet Ramsey).

This Saturday, HBO enters the fray with the feature film Confirmation, about the Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings in 1991.

The movie focuses on the spectacle that unfolded over several days when Ms. Hill (played by Kerry Washington of Scandal) sat in the stately Senate Caucus Room and in salacious detail accused Mr. Thomas (played by Wendell Pierce) of sexual harassment. A rapt television audience of tens of millions heard Ms. Hill describe a workplace environment that included, among other things, talk of oral sex and a pubic hair on a Coke can. Mr. Thomas struck back by declaring that he was being subjected to a high-tech lynching.

Producers of the show felt the themes of gender and race would attract HBO viewers at a time when those issues continue to resonate nationally.
Mr. McClatchys book leans mightily on quotations about art and aesthetics; its a poets book. But the author is a social creature with an eye for social commentary as well. Thus he repeats the Duchess of Beauforts definition of a nightmare guest, as reported by the writer Edmund White: Someone who looks at me full of hope and expectation when I come down in the morning.

Image J. D. McClatchy Credit... Geoff Spear

He reports the painter Walter Sickerts line, showing a guest to the door: You must come again when you have less time. He reminds us that Dylan Thomas once blurbed a novel (Flann OBriens At Swim-Two-Birds) this way: This is just the book to give your sister if shes a loud, dirty, boozy girl.

Theres a strong autobiographical aspect to Sweet Theft. Mr. McClatchy blends in shreds of anecdote and memoir, such as an account of his first meeting with the poet James Merrill, or recalling the letters he sent to Vladimir Nabokov while in high school. He prints his hangover remedy when young: sit in a darkened, cool movie theater and watch a brilliant film.

Some of this books apercus are his own. Many are lovely: Haiku as High Coo. And: Audens face: like sweetbreads. He compares using a yellow highlighter to underline passages in a book (only rookies use them instead of pencils) to a dog marking his territory.

Mr. McClatchy is a stern critic as well as a gifted poet, and one way to read this book is as a rolling, imaginary skewering of a poet he loathes. For example: X has floured his sauce; X leads with his chin; X is a rhinoceros, not a unicorn; Give X enough string and hell hang himself; X is the Fretful Porcupine. Some readers will find themselves solving for X.

Sweet Theft is, sad to say, tatty around the edges. Mr. McClatchy warns us that haste and blurry vision may occasionally have introduced some errors into my copying, but if the odd word is off, the sense is there.

I checked only a handful of lines from Sweet Theft. Several were off by enough to give me pause. Mr. McClatchy attributes a remark to Eudora Welty that was said by Flannery OConnor. (Asked if universities stifle writers, OConnor replied: They dont stifle enough of them.) He tells us that Kingsley Amis hoped to die this way: Warm in bed and drugged to the eyeballs. Its a great remark, and he may have said it. I find no evidence that he did.
The company began to tally its costs a few months after the first airbag recall, issued by Honda in late 2008. Three ruptures had been reported the year before.

In an email sent in April 2009, Al Bernat, the former vice president for engineering at Takata, forwarded a note warning that the cost of recalling those inflaters would cost about $6.2 million, or $100 for each inflater, a cartridge filled with a propellent that generates the gases that inflate the airbag. Takata is responsible for 100 percent of the cost, the email says.

In the same email is a discussion of 62,000 airbags that are under review because the propellant was manufactured during a similar time period. But Takata and Honda limited their recalls to a subset of just 4,200 cars.

Just a month after Mr. Bernat sent that email, a teenager from Oklahoma, Ashley Parham, was killed when the airbag in her 2001 Honda Accord exploded out of her steering wheel in a minor crash. It took two more months for Honda to expand the recall, to 440,000 cars, the first in a series of recall expansions that have continued, prompted by subsequent ruptures and deaths.

In response to questions about the newly released documents, Takata said it believed the contents of the documents had been taken out of context by Ms. Minceys counsel. Both Honda and Takata denied that cost was an issue in deciding to recall just the 4,200 cars.

Yet, even as the recalls mounted, Takata looked for ways to cut costs.

In an email discussion in September 2010, Takata officials discussed eliminating, or sharply reducing, a type of safety testing that measures the density of the airbags propellant. One official said that the measure would save the company $1.5 million. In 2010, the company had revenue of $3.2 billion at current exchange rates.
LONDON  Britains markets regulator said on Wednesday that investors should have more information available to them earlier in the initial public offering process. The call came as the regulator considers whether to revamp the system for public listings of stocks in Britain.

As part of a study on investment and corporate banking, the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, found that during the initial part of the I.P.O. process, investors had access only to research from banks acting as underwriters.

Because of a blackout period of up to two weeks imposed by the underwriters, investors often receive access to an initial prospectus only within two weeks of a companys I.P.O., the authority found, and do not receive a final, approved prospectus until the first day of trading.

By comparison, the United States only allows the prospectus, which is updated throughout the process, to be used to market an offering, the British regulator said.
Andrew Caspersen, the former Wall Street executive charged by federal prosecutors and securities regulators with defrauding friends, relatives and a charitable foundation closely tied to a large New York hedge fund, is unlikely to face a trial.

A lawyer for Mr. Caspersen, 39, who was arrested a little more than two weeks ago and is now hospitalized in Manhattan, told a federal judge on Wednesday that the criminal case against his client would probably be resolved within the next 60 days.

It doesnt cry out as a triable case, said Paul Shechtman, a recently hired lawyer for Mr. Caspersen.
Section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Act requires large bank holding companies to submit resolution plans popularly known as living wills  that show how these companies can be resolved if they fail in a bankruptcy court like every other business.

On Wednesday, we learned that five of the biggest financial institutions were unable to meet this standard, as judged by both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve. Two others were found to have failed by one of the regulators, but the other regulator had no serious objections to the proffered plans.

In short, most of the American banks that submitted living wills last July have again failed to pass the test. The only one to pass in this round was Citigroup. And even it did not pass the test with flying colors.

But the public has no real way of knowing why Citigroup passed, and the others all failed, because the public portion of the plans is so generic that only with a close reading can any differences be discerned. And even then its not clear if those distinctions are real or simply the result of too much time spent rereading a text for possible insights.
LONDON  Tracey McDermott, the top executive of the British Financial Conduct Authority, will leave the regulator when Andrew Bailey, its new chief executive, takes over in July, the agency said on Wednesday.

Ms. McDermott, the regulators former director of supervision for investment, wholesale and specialists, had served as acting chief executive since the departure of Martin Wheatley in September.

Mr. Wheatley, who had headed the Financial Conduct Authority since its inception in 2013, announced in July that he planned to leave the financial regulator. The announcement came on the same day that George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, called for new leadership at the agency.

John Griffith-Jones, the Financial Conduct Authoritys chairman, said in a news release that Ms. McDermott had done a terrific job leading the F.C.A. over the last seven months, building on the enormous contribution she has made in her various roles over the previous 15 years.
Peabody Energy, the worlds largest publicly owned coal producer, with mines around the world from Australia to the United States, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on Wednesday.

The company was weighed down by the collapse of coal prices, increasing competition from natural gas and tightening regulations to control climate change.

The immediate crisis for the company, which is based in St. Louis, was its inability to sustain debt payments that financed its expansion in Australia in recent years to meet expected rising demand in Asia, particularly China. China is now trying to partly wean itself off coal to improve air quality.

The bankruptcy filing came as no surprise after the company announced last month that it was delaying interest payments on two loans. It comes after a number of bankruptcy filings over the last two years by other coal companies, including industry giants like Arch Coal, Patriot Coal, Walter Energy and Alpha Natural Resources.
A California journalist was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in federal prison for helping to hack the website of The Los Angeles Times in 2010.

The journalist, Matthew Keys, was convicted in October of providing the hacking group Anonymous with a user name and password to log in to computers owned by the Tribune Company, parent company of The Times.

A federal indictment said that Mr. Keys, 29, had encouraged the hackers, with whom he worked in December 2010, to log in to a Tribune server to make unauthorized changes to websites and to damage computer systems owned by the company.

The hackers changed the Times headline Pressure Builds in House to Pass Tax-Cut Package to Pressure Builds in House to Elect CHIPPY 1337, a reference to another hacking group.
It was a high-level summit meeting above Midtown Manhattan, the latest twist in a story of public acrimony and private courtship.

Donald J. Trump, the leading Republican candidate for president, and Megyn Kelly, a Fox News anchor, spoke for roughly an hour on Wednesday, their first interaction in months. By days end, the two had reached a tentative truce in a feud that has captivated the political class and crystallized questions about Mr. Trumps attitude toward women and the news media.

The meeting was requested by Ms. Kelly, whose questioning of Mr. Trumps derogatory remarks about women in the first Republican debate in August prompted him to attack her as crazy and overrated. And it signaled the possible end of a standoff strange even by the standards of a confounding election year: the Republican front-runner refusing to appear in prime time with one of Fox Newss biggest stars.

The detente comes at a critical time for both. Mr. Trump, whose pugilism has been a hallmark of his political rise, is moving to soften his image ahead of a potential general election campaign in the fall. Ms. Kelly has said that she will consider leaving Fox News after her contract ends next year, even as she faced the prospect of an election year without access to the top ratings draw on television, Mr. Trump.
The juggle of work, school and myriad extracurricular activities is all too familiar to parents like Kelly Aluise of Los Angeles.

Her 12-year-old daughter, Emma, had enrolled in August for after-school surfing and swimming. Ms. Aluise and her ex-husband, who work full time, didnt know how they would get her to the activities. Complicating matters, Ms. Aluises schedule as a real estate agent with Keller Williams is unpredictable.

I didnt know how I was going to get Emma where she needed to be and do my job, she said. So I asked the schools principal what I should do and he handed me a brochure for HopSkipDrive. Ms. Aluise looked at the brochure and hugged him.

She now schedules three rides a week for her daughter, which costs about $45 to $50 a week. While ride-hailing services have been popular in the start-up economy, new entrepreneurs are going after a specific niche: providing rides for children.
On a quiet Sunday night in Bushwick, Brooklyn, a few dozen scruffy men and slim women in their 20s gathered inside a converted warehouse, ordering locally brewed pints around a marble-topped bar.

It was a scene that plays out in countless bars throughout this postindustrial neighborhood. But then a bartender suddenly yelled, Now seating for the 7 p.m. screening of Spring Breakers.

The place is Syndicated, which opened in January around the corner from Robertas pizzeria. It is not your typical cinema or indie art house. Tucked in the back, past the bar and cavernous restaurant, is a 50-seat theater and a 280-inch screen that shows film classics, along with food and drinks served by waiters.

Call it the anti-Netflix: a cozy theaterlike experience that doesnt involve sitting at home with Chinese takeout.
SCRIPT Rezeda Suleyman People wrote me asking - can I come into your shop if Im not Muslim? Clothes that cover your body are a standard for any woman, not only Muslim. NATALIA NARMIN ICHAEVA, Wandi muslim fashion pr Scene with the selfie stick - Anyone whos not busy, come join us! WE MAKE MUSLIMS the TRENDSETTERS Ildar Hazrat Alyautdinov, Imam, Moscow Cathedral mosque YOUre not afraid to SAY I MUSLIM anymore. There used to be time when people would be ashamed TO SAY IT TITLE - Muslim Imagemakers, Made in Moscow Scene at the mosque TITLE CARD: An estimated 16 percent of Moscows population are Muslim. NATPOP Its a blessed day today, its Friday. Ildar Hazrat Alyautdinov, Imam, Moscow Cathedral mosque About 2 millions of Muslims live in Moscow. They say that in a few decades Muslims will make UP 25 percent of Russias population, because Muslims birthrate is high. Text card: In recent decades, Islam in Russia has often been associated with terrorist attacks and insurgency in the North Caucasus. Ildar Hazrat Alyautdinov, Imam, Moscow Cathedral mosque You can clearly feel Anti-Islamic sentiment is taking a back seat; Ukraine may be a possible Rezeda praying People always need to envision an enemy. IT USED TO BE MUSLIMS. Now, the situation in Ukraine has created a new enemy. I noticed Muslims moved out of the spotlight. WE CAN USE [this time] TO MAKE OUR LIFE IN MOSCOW BETTER. Scene - I chose [this fabric because its not] see-through. Dmitri Oparin, anthropologist, professor assistant, Moscow State University Its time for Muslims to redefine their image, to establish new relations with with society. COVER HIS EYES MOVING NATALIA NARMIN ICHAEVA, wandi muslim fashion PR Lets post the beauty shot Im 29 and have been promoting the Muslim lifestyle in Russia for three years. TITLE CARD Mrs. Ichaevas company promotes 40 Muslim fashion and lifestyle brands in Russia. NATALIA NARMIN ICHAEVA, wandi muslim fashion PR We offer unconventional MARKETING, because Muslim brands need a special approach. TITLE CARD Suleyman hired t he company to broaden her brands appeal. It suggested removing one models hijab in her advertisement. Music break TITLE CARD Rezeda Suleyman, It was a difficult decision. Theoretically, its forbidden to show women without headscarves or with a neck uncovered. NAT - photo with women in the first photoshoot without a hijab NATALIA NARMIN ICHAEVA, wandi muslim fashion pr We were saying now that [this brand] is no t only for covered women. Rezeda Suleyman With this change I wanted to urge non-Muslims to take care of their body, keep it away from strangers eyes and dress modestly. NAT sound NAT - vendor to the Slavic customer It fits your shoulders so well! Rezeda Suleyman WE INVITE SECULAR socialites AND CELEBRITIES to our events because they are role models for a certain audience. THEY HELP US BREAK STEREOTYPES AND CREATE A POSITIVE IMAGE OF MUSLIM WOMEN Nina Kurpyakova, actress I was offered to wear a very beautiful dress to the red carpet. Of course I will wear it. AND IT DOESNT MATTER WHAT religion the designer is. Its business. Natalia Narmin Ichaeva Often a GIRL BUYS A FEW DRESSES AT OUR events first, then she ASKS WHAT KORAN translation SHE SHOULD read. ITS amazing THAT A DRESS WAS THE REASON FOR IT. NAT - saying goodbye to the actress - - Im leaving. - Thank you, have a good evening! Keep in touch. - Bye! - Bye-bye sweetheart! Ichaeva Of course, its difficult to merge Muslim lifestyle with the one people are used to. Title card Despite efforts to redefine the role of Islam, some admit integrating it into the mainstream still faces many challenges. Muhammad Adli (Andrei Kotikov), Muslim convert, ethnic Russian: No one on the subway fights with me. I can pray. But Moscow lacks MOSQUES. A HAND HAS MORE FINGERS THAN MOSCOW HAS MOSQUES. They say there is no land [to build more], BUT THEY FIND LANDS FOR SHOPPING MALLS. Ildar Hazrat Alyautdinov, Imam, Moscow Cathedral mosque One reason why mosques dont get built is public opinion, unfortunately. When we get land, activists stand out and protest any mosque construction. NAT - camera shutter clicks - photos from 2013 protest in Moscow Russia [officially] is a secular state, but most people here are [Christian] Orthodox. As Moscows mufti I often encourage [Muslims] to be active and I blame diminished place in the society to their lack of activism. Scene with the church/Sunday Up Market: Hello - How can I help? Can I get one too? Medinat Khalukhaeva, Tourism manager in Chechen republic: WERE TAKING PART IN HALAL EXPO REPRESENTING THE TOURISM IN CHECHEN REPUBLIC Were becoming more outgoing. TITLE CARD Following wars in Chechnya, the Chechens became one of the most stigmatized Muslims. Some say religious discrimination in Russia is not as strong as ethnic xenophobia. Medinat Khalukhaeva, Tourism manager in Chechen republic: SOME TOURISTS ARE SCARED THAT ITS DANGEROUS TO BE IN OUR REPUBLIC. Natpop- Chechen republic worker giving out brochures - This is about religious places to visit. - Sure. Thank you. - We are a tour company. Medinat Khalukhaeva, Tourism manager in Chechen republic: While Muslims are out of the media spotlight, we need to continue to project a positive image to be treated with dignity, as people who deserve it. Zulfiya Raupova NAT - MUSIC AS TATARS WE are definitely IN A BETTER PLACE, [COMPARED TO OTHER ETHNICITIES] TITLE CARD: Tatars are Russias biggest Muslim group and the second largest ethnicity. NAT - Zulfiya at the kindergarten How are you? What have you been doing in the kindergarten? Is everything good? Zulfiya Raupova NAT - say goodbye to your cla-ssmates. Zulfiya Raupova Tatars have been living in Russia for centuries, so they fit in the [local] culture. NAT - Dad gets the biggest slice Rustem Kudoyarov Islam that we, Tatars, practice is very moderate NAT- Music Raupova is bringing her traditional music to the mainstream. NAT- Music Zulfiya Raupova My audience is growing Any [music with] ethnic influence ignites interest. I used to see mostly Tatars in my concert audience, but now I see different ethnicities. NAT And now you will hear the music by an emerging composer from [Tatarstans capital], Zulfiya Raupova. I feel a huge responsibility to break stereotypes about Muslims with my music and attitude. Our religion is larger than people think it is. You can only understand it by diving in. NATPOP - applause REZEDA Rezeda Suleyman, fashion designer Natpop - Rezeda and the sewing facility manager: - Would you like me to take care of her for some time? - Yes, thank you.= I started to wear headscarves at 19. Nowadays its easier to go out covered. Because when terrorist attacks were happening, I walked in the subway and some would rush to a different car in fear. Now it doesnt happen. Everything is pretty calm. Natalia Ichaeva TITLE card Raised as a Christian from Belarus, Ichaeva converted to Islam two years ago. Im ethnically Slavic and it helps me to build bridges in my work and for myself. NATPOP - Natalia talking to the actress in the dress Wow, it fits you s well. This band collar look very good on you. Natalia Ichaeva People are more open to me [as Slavic ] when I offer a different view of Muslims. -Imam society has formed A VERY NEGATIVE IMAGE OF ISLAM, AND perhaps more TIME has TO PASS FOR THIS ATTITUDE TO go AWAY Nat in the car - Natalia - See you later. Peace be upon you Dmitri Oparin, anthropologist, MSU Its not a religious question; its a social problem. Russia is a multi-ethnic country. We have always lived together, Most problems can be provoked only by administration, the power, and media Fayza Jha, organizing committee, Moscow Halal Expo Were not different if we wear a hijab and if we pray 5 times a day... and whatever propaganda is, people see with their own eyes We live the same life. Natalia Ichaeva It would be strange to deny that The MOST IMPORTANT goal for me as Muslim and for my business partners is to get anyone into understanding and adopting Islam. We dont impose; WE LEAVE A CHOICE TO EVERYone.  Music - Instagram stand with abaya
To the electronics and gear that traditionally served as cornerstones of male buying habits you can now add moisturizer and $400 boxer shorts. Even as China slumps and India continues to put up last-ditch resistance to the incursion of Western capitalists, nimble industry players have begun to focus less on geography than demographics.

Thus, the ruptures and personnel shifts that shook up major design houses were in some ways to be expected, said Raffaello Napoleone, the chief executive of the Italian trade group Pitti Immagine. The moment is right for everyone to alter their approach, he said by telephone last week. Not only is the era of the star designer on the wane, but a newly informed generation of consumers now coming to maturity already knows what it wants.

By some estimates, a cohort born at the end of the last century and in the early years of the current one could grow to 60 million by the end of the decade. Technologically fluent and imbued with the entrepreneurial ethos that is a hallmark of the start-up era, those consumers  quite a few of the male ones, anyway  are so accustomed to pursuing their careers in their skivvies that a traditional suit seems about as relevant to them as a toga.
Openings and Events

Ready to finally pack away those winter coats? Naadam Cashmere will have a Spring in Mind pop-up from Thursday to Sunday, selling perfect transitional pieces like a summer-weight travel wrap ($340) and limited-edition Margaux for Tome ankle-tie ballet flats ($345). At 230A Mulberry Street.

From Friday to Sunday, Matches Fashion will hold a three-day residency in New York at the WOM Townhouse, during which the London-based e-tailer will host a number of fun events like brunch with Leandra Medine and cocktails with the Coveteur team. Youll get a first look at the sites pre-fall and fall edit, and receive $200 off purchases above $500 of currently available items like a Saloni chinoiserie-print silk dress ($425) and Aurelie Bidermann ginkgo rose gold-plated earrings ($210), which can be ordered via iPads set up to make shopping easier. R.S.V.P. at matchesfashion.com/new-york-hub-aw16. At 214 Lafayette Street.

The Williamsburg weekend market Artists & Fleas will host a vintage showcase on Saturday and Sunday featuring items like a 1950s floral silk party dress ($248) from 15 local clothing and accessory vendors. At 70 North Seventh Street, Brooklyn.

On Tuesday, Maje will have a party from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. with tunes by May Kwok for its new signature accessory, the M Bag ($295), a small fringed leather tote with an optional cross-body strap that comes in seven colors, including pink and electric blue. (Try saying that five times fast.) At 114 Spring Street.
Five years ago, a college freshman named Ian Burkhart dived into a wave at a beach off the Outer Banks in North Carolina and, in a freakish accident, broke his neck on the sandy floor, permanently losing the feeling in his hands and legs.

On Wednesday, doctors reported that Mr. Burkhart, 24, had regained control over his right hand and fingers, using technology that transmits his thoughts directly to his hand muscles and bypasses his spinal injury. The doctors study, published by the journal Nature, is the first account of limb reanimation, as it is known, in a person with quadriplegia.

Doctors implanted a chip in Mr. Burkharts brain two years ago. Seated in a lab with the implant connected through a computer to a sleeve on his arm, he was able to learn by repetition and arduous practice to focus his thoughts to make his hand pour from a bottle, and to pick up a straw and stir. He was even able to play a guitar video game.

Its crazy because I had lost sensation in my hands, and I had to watch my hand to know whether I was squeezing or extending the fingers, Mr. Burkhart, a business student who lives in Dublin, Ohio, said in an interview. His injury had left him paralyzed from the chest down; he still has some movement in his shoulders and biceps.
The C.D.C. analysis, led by Dr. Rasmussen, was published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, and involved weeks of research into findings that have emerged from Brazil and elsewhere, including studies of fetuses with microcephaly in pregnant women infected with Zika.

The authors said they used established frameworks for assessing whether evidence met scientific criteria proving that one factor causes another. Those criteria included the existence of cases of microcephaly that have been strongly linked to documented exposure to Zika virus. Dr. Rasmussen and her colleagues also reviewed the biologically plausible explanations for how the virus might cause damage to the brain, and the absence of other explanations that make sense.

Infectious disease experts welcomed the announcement.

The important part is that the C.D.C. can now take action without having to spend time trying to confirm the link, said Dr. Eric J. Rubin, an infectious disease expert at Harvard and an editor at The New England Journal of Medicine.

Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said the C.D.C.s announcement was a good call, adding I give them credit for making clear and unambiguous statements about the neurologic complications.

About 700 people in the United States have been infected with the Zika virus as of last week, including 69 pregnant women, Dr. Anne Schuchat, the deputy director of the C.D.C., said on Monday at a White House briefing. About half of the cases are in Puerto Rico, where the virus is circulating locally. Most of the other American cases have occurred in people who traveled to South America.

But Dr. Schuchat said that mosquitoes that can transmit Zika are present in 30 states during the warmer months, a much larger swath of the United States than health officials initially expected.
The goal is to at least remind people that this is not normal, Mr. Schnack said in a phone interview. And its not enough just to be horrified or concerned about it. You have to actually engage.

He added: The title Speaking Is Difficult is kind of a double meaning. It references the speech at the end of the film, but it also is about the fact that our ability to have a national conversation has been not only difficult, but almost impossible.

The premise first took shape after the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon in October. One thing I noticed was the response on social media and how it was an echo of the response to every other recent mass shooting event, Mr. Schnack said. It felt like we were in a pattern of horror, then outrage, then finger-pointing, then ultimately resigning ourselves to this is the way things are. And we went dormant to thinking about these things until it came around again. That cycle of response made me think of doing a film where the events themselves become this nonstop echo of each other.

The short was released as part of Field of Vision, an online series of documentary shorts that approach news stories from unusual angles. (Mr. Schnack helped create the series along with Laura Poitras and Charlotte Cook.) The film had its premiere at this years Sundance Film Festival, alongside a number of movies that also focused on gun violence. They included a drama inspired by the Aurora, Colo., movie theater killings, a documentary about the impact of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting deaths and another documentary looking at lawmakers inability to halt the cycle of violence.
When Wilson Zhang learned his father had cancer, he did what any son would do. He took over the household  shopping, cleaning, taking his sister to school.

He was 8 years old.

His mother had left years before, and his father would not go to the hospital because he feared his children would be taken by the authorities, Mr. Zhang, now 18, said. He couldnt find anyone to take care of us, Mr. Zhang said. By the time his father sought treatment, the cancer had spread, and it was too late. He died.

Today, Mr. Zhang lives in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, with a family friend who adopted him and his sister. His grades at the demanding Brooklyn Technical High School are dizzyingly high. He is in the National Honor Society, and he rowed on a dragon boat club.

But, he says, I have less responsibilities than I did back then.

Mr. Zhang and nine other New York City high school seniors are the winners of this years New York Times College Scholarship Program. Chosen from a pool of more than 1,000 applicants, they each rose to the top of their classes despite harrowing histories.
The Municipal Building in Lower Manhattan, a stately blend of Roman, Italian Renaissance and Classical architecture, would seem an unlikely place for a drug dealer to set up shop. Nearly as unlikely, then, is the man accused of the crime: a New York City employee who worked in the building.

The worker, Benjamin Henderson, 50, was arrested on Tuesday in Harlem and booked on a total of eight felony and misdemeanor charges of criminal sale of a controlled substance, the police said.

Between Feb. 18 and April 12, a law enforcement official said, Mr. Henderson sold $8,120 in cocaine and heroin to undercover narcotics officers in seven separate transactions. Four of the drug buys took place under the cover of the Municipal Buildings grand arch, while the other transactions were completed at a subway station in Lower Manhattan and near a charter school in Harlem, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the complaint against Mr. Henderson had not been released.

Cathy Hanson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, said Mr. Henderson worked as an exam monitor on an as-needed basis. The agency manages the Municipal Building and the exam monitors who oversee the administration of Civil Service tests.
A state judge ruled on Wednesday that a reporter for The New York Times could not be forced to testify at a pretrial hearing about her jailhouse interview with a man accused of killing the toddler known as Baby Hope.

In a one-page ruling, Justice Bonnie G. Wittner of State Supreme Court in Manhattan said the reporter, Frances Robles, was protected by New Yorks shield law. Justice Wittner quashed two subpoenas from the Manhattan district attorneys office ordering Ms. Robles to testify and to turn over her notes from an interview at Rikers Island with Conrado Juarez, in which he denied killing 4-year-old Anjelica Castillo in 1991.

New York law recognizes that the proper role of journalists is out reporting stories, not serving as witnesses in court cases, said David McCraw, assistant general counsel for The New York Times Company. The courts decision underscores that the public interest is best served by protecting reporters from unnecessary subpoenas.

Justice Wittner wrote that the district attorneys office had not shown that its case would rise or fall on Ms. Robless testimony and her notes, as the shield law says it must in order to compel a journalist to take the witness stand. But the judge left the door open for prosecutors to argue again at trial that Ms. Robless testimony was critical to their case.
In many places around the nation, it is a dark time for Planned Parenthood.

In Long Island City, Queens, however, Planned Parenthood has created a bright new world: a health center where daylight streams in through large windows and skylights, where walls are painted in Easter-egg pastels, where a cheerful sign tells clients and patients that they are Welcome, Bienvenido, Byenveni, Malugod na pagtanggap,   and .

Because this is Queens, there are five other languages on the sign as well.

The Diane L. Max Health Center of Planned Parenthood opened in September at 21-41 45th Road, just steps away from the elevated No. 7 line station.

It is the first Planned Parenthood center in Queens. The organization now operates in every New York City borough. Abortions are performed at all but the Staten Island center, which offers family planning services only.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday that he had conversations over the course of 2014 and into the next year with two financial backers who are now at the center of a federal investigation, acknowledging more extensive contact with the men than he had previously.

But he refused to say what the conversations were about or how frequently they occurred.

Mr. de Blasio said that in response to news accounts of the investigation into fund-raising by the men, Jona S. Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, he had instructed a lawyer for his political campaign to contact the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, which includes Manhattan.

He reached out at my request and simply said, Wed like to be helpful in any way we can, happy to provide any information that would be helpful, Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, said of the lawyer, Barry Berke. He added that he had no knowledge of any investigation beyond what he had learned from news reports, and that neither he nor anyone in his administration had been contacted by federal investigators regarding an inquiry into his campaign fund-raising that focuses on the two men.

Mr. de Blasio spoke shortly after the Police Department announced it had reassigned another top official as a result of the investigation into the two men. The official, Deputy Chief Andrew Capul, the executive officer of the Manhattan North patrol borough, was transferred to an administrative position, becoming the fifth senior official to be reassigned because of the inquiry.
To the Editor:

Re Free Pfizer! Why Inversions Help (Op-Ed, April 8):

Diana Furchtgott-Roth objects to actions by the Treasury Department that discouraged the merger of two pharmaceutical companies: Americas Pfizer and Irelands Allergan. The merger would have allowed Pfizer to escape most of its American tax obligations. Thanks to the Treasurys actions, this benefit is gone, and the two companies see no reason to proceed with their merger.

Ms. Furchtgott-Roth disingenuously argues that when companies engage in sham transactions for the purpose of avoiding taxes, they are serving American interests. How? Well, the money they saved by not paying taxes increases corporate profits, and this contributes to growth. By this reasoning, all forms of tax evasion are in the public interest, since we all get richer if we can avoid paying taxes.

She sees no problem in avoiding taxes even though these companies get enormous benefits from government funds. Early-stage drug development is risky and costly, so a lot of new drugs begin with research grants from the federal government.

Taxes also support little things like the educational system that has made the United States the worlds center for pharmaceutical innovation, and the transportation, information and communication infrastructure that enables multinationals to exist.
To the Editor:

In The Politics of Bangladeshs Genocide Debate (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, April 5), David Bergman asserts that a pending law in Bangladesh would inhibit free speech. Not so.

Like 17 other countries, Bangladesh might soon insist that facts about the genocide that occurred during its war of liberation 45 years ago be stated correctly in public utterances.

The law, which has so far been recommended by a commission, would show proper respect for the families of the three million citizens who were brutally murdered by Pakistani soldiers and their local collaborators. Its the least that we can do to honor their memories.

Freedom of speech is a right that all Bangladeshis enjoy and will continue to enjoy. Allowing people to make up facts about the most important period of our history undermines that right.
But let me tell you what this pragmatic approach is hiding: Ever since peace talks between the Turkish government and the P.K.K. broke down last summer, the country has been in havoc.

Last August, Kurdish youth groups close to the P.K.K. began an insurgency in some Kurdish towns. The government responded first with tear gas and plastic bullets, later with 24-hour curfews that lasted for weeks and finally with tanks and artillery. Photos from some of the besieged towns look like early pictures from the Syrian civil war. More than 300,000 people had to evacuate their homes. The death toll is over 1,000, hundreds of whom are civilians, according to the Turkish Human Rights Foundation. Large parts of the Kurdish towns of Cizre, Silopi and the historic Sur are now heaps of rubble.

While the government and the P.K.K. have different views on why peace talks collapsed, there is no doubt about what motivates Mr. Erdogans continuing military campaign. He is stoking nationalist sentiment with an eye to a possible referendum this summer that would expand his constitutional powers.

Perhaps a little background is necessary here: Kurdish people living in Turkey have been waging a struggle for greater freedoms for decades. Generations have perished in prisons and torture chambers as Turkey has gone through successive military coups. When I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, we were not allowed to speak Kurdish, speak about speaking Kurdish or even sing in Kurdish. I became a human rights lawyer in part because my older brother went to jail for trying to do grass-roots activism  just organizing peaceful demonstrations under a political party was enough to get him labeled a terrorist.

We have come a long way in terms of Kurdish cultural rights, but Turkey is still far behind the rest of the world in basic democratic freedoms. True, the peace talks with the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan over the past few years did bring us a much-needed cease-fire and a breathing space to celebrate our political views. But since then, the negotiations have fallen apart and the Turkish government has sought to reverse those gains. The Turkish government is meanwhile trying to expand its draconian antiterrorism laws to censor speech and other political activities.
But of all these states, Arizona wins the prize. On March 31, Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill forbidding doctors who prescribe the abortion medication mifepristone to deviate from the Food and Drug Administrations specifications that were in effect as of last Dec. 31. Those specifications, issued in 2000 when the agency first approved mifepristone, required a 600-milligram dose and restricted the drugs use to the first seven weeks of pregnancy.

With doctors having prescribed millions of doses of mifepristone since 2000, it became apparent that one-third of the original dose was equally effective with fewer side effects, and that the drug was safe and effective for up to 10 weeks of pregnancy rather than seven. These off-label uses became standard medical practice, endorsed by leading medical organizations; doctors commonly refused to give the original dose, on the ground that it was not in their patients best interest.

As medication abortion grew in popularity  now accounting for about 40 percent of first-trimester abortions performed at Planned Parenthood clinics, for example  the dosage issue became a handy target of anti-abortion activism. States began to require doctors to adhere to the original label, knowing that doctors would feel ethically obliged to stop administering medication abortion rather than comply. Arizona was one of the early adopters of this strategy with a 2012 law that required adherence to the F.D.A. label. In 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, describing the medical grounds for the states law as nonexistent, issued an injunction against its enforcement.

That ruling, Planned Parenthood of Arizona v. Humble, was not a final judgment, and the State Legislature was determined to keep trying. The bill Governor Ducey signed was the product of the latest effort. But on March 30, the day before the bill signing, the F.D.A. announced that after 10 months of study, it was revising the label to reflect the evidence accumulated through actual medical practice: a 200-milligram dose, to be administered during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

Recall that the Arizona bill specified not just adherence to the F.D.A. label, but adherence to the label that existed last Dec. 31. Unfazed, Governor Ducey signed it anyway. Some changes may need to be made in a later bill, he said.

While a half-dozen other states have required adherence to the F.D.A. label (while not interfering with the off-label uses that doctors commonly make of other drugs), Arizonas legislators are the only ones, as far as I know, to take measures to assure that a regulatory change in Washington would not render their efforts useless. There is no doubt that the courts will quickly dispose of the newly signed law, surely one of the more cynical political acts in this cynical season.

The new F.D.A. label should bring down the curtain on a fascinating and revealing episode in the abortion wars. I dont know who first came up with the idea of requiring adherence to the old label; I do know that model legislation under the title of Abortion-Inducing Drugs Safety Act was drafted several years ago and made available to the states by the influential Americans United for Life.
Only two months after the European Unions top policy makers agreed to a hard-won data-sharing pact with United States officials, the blocs national privacy regulators said on Wednesday that the deal did not go far enough to safeguard the personal information of Internet users in Europe.

The agreement, the so-called E.U.-U.S. Privacy Shield, which would allow companies to continue sending personal data back and forth across the Atlantic, is still widely expected to be ratified by early summer. But by sounding the alarm over the current deal, national privacy watchdogs from France, Germany and other European Union member states have served notice that American companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon could face protracted country-by-country legal battles.

The regulators say they worry that companies could misuse data, including information from search engine queries and social media posts. They also say they fear that American law enforcement and intelligence agencies might gain access to European citizens personal information without sufficient safeguards in place.

From the outside, it must look like Europe cant speak with one voice on privacy, said Patrick van Eecke, a data protection lawyer at DLA Piper in Brussels. This is becoming kind of a circus.
Q. Why does Googles website only seem to offer support for Nexus hardware and not any of the other brands of Android phones and tablets?

A. Google develops the Android mobile operating system software, but in most cases, it does not provide the hardware to run it or the wireless cellular network to connect to it. The exceptions here include the Nexus line of devices that Google has created over the years with hardware partners like ASUS, LG Electronics and Samsung  as well as the companys efforts to be a mobile carrier with its Project Fi service that uses Wi-Fi hot spots along with Sprint and T-Mobiles networks to provide cellular signals.

Other hardware manufacturers use the Android software on their own devices and modify the system for their own uses. Google usually has little to do with those deviated versions and does not provide its own dedicated support for the variations made by other companies. (Google did own Motorola Mobility for a few years starting in 2011, but sold it to Lenovo in 2014; support for Motorola phones can be found at motorola.com.)

Googles Android OS Help support site is focused mainly on the software and hardware it has the most control over. Along with documentation for its Nexus line, the site has guides and troubleshooting pages for Android One devices, Android Wear smart watches, Android TV set-top players and its Android Auto software.
About 36,000 Verizon workers went on strike early Wednesday after the communications company failed to reach an agreement with unions representing workers for its wireline operations.

Verizon has said that consumers will be mostly unaffected because it has trained thousands of nonunion employees since last year to fill in for those who walk the picket line. Union workers counter that the strike will impair Verizons ability to deliver quality customer service, including service calls and equipment installations.

Heres a guide to which consumers may be affected, who wont and how any disruption might manifest itself.

Which services will be affected?

The unions generally represent workers for Verizons wireline operations, which include the companys landline, high-speed Internet and television services. These services are mostly available only in the Northeast, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island and the region from southern New York to Virginia. Verizon offers home wireline services in parts of nine states, serving about 15 million phone lines. The unionized workers perform a range of tasks, like fixing a phone line thats out of service, installing new phone and broadband Internet lines, or fielding customer support calls.
LONDON  Arnold Wesker, a British playwright who came to prominence in the 1950s with stark dramas about working-class life, many of them influenced by his childhood in a leftist Jewish family in East London, died on Tuesday in Brighton, England. He was 83.

His son Lindsay confirmed the death, at a hospital. Mr. Wesker had Parkinsons disease.

He was catapulted to critical attention when, still in his 20s, he wrote a trilogy of plays drawing on his upbringing among working-class British Jews with socialist politics: Chicken Soup With Barley (1956), Roots (1958) and Im Talking About Jerusalem (1960).

Although Mr. Wesker belongs to what has been called Britains angry young men, he does not rage in disgust, Howard Taubman wrote in The New York Times in 1961 in a review of the New York premiere of Roots, in which the Jewish protagonist lands in a hardscrabble farming community in Norfolk, England. In Roots, he seeks to tell the truth, to laugh at it understandingly, if harshly, and to imply a vision and a hope.

The term angry young men was applied to a generation of British and Irish writers from working- or middle-class backgrounds, though it was not a label Mr. Wesker embraced. John Osborne, Kingsley Amis, John Arden, John Braine, Keith Waterhouse, Brendan Behan and Harold Pinter were among the others.
What we heard from people all across the city is they felt like they didnt even have a claim to the geography in front of their house, on their street, or in their neighborhoods, Ms. Lightfoot said, as she presented the report at a downtown library. She acknowledged high rates of violence in some of those communities, but said that did not excuse abuses of power by the police, and that officers must be trained to fight crime while also respecting residents rights.

The panel described the citys delays in releasing the Laquan McDonald video and officials false descriptions of what had happened in the days immediately after that shooting as a tipping point for long-simmering anger. But the linkage between racism and C.P.D. had not bubbled up only after the McDonald video was made public, it said. Rather, Mr. McDonalds death gave voice to years of unfair treatment, distrust within minority communities, and to the deaths of numerous men and women of color whose lives came to an end solely because of an encounter with C.P.D., the report said.

The task force heard over and over again from a range of voices, particularly from African-Americans, that some C.P.D. officers are racist, have no respect for the lives and experiences of people of color and approach every encounter with people of color as if the person, regardless of age, gender or circumstance, is a criminal, the report said, adding later, These encounters leave an indelible mark.

Even if there was no arrest, it said, there is a lasting, negative effect.

The report also condemned aspects of the citys contracts with police unions, calling for changes to clauses that they said make it easy for officers to lie in official reports, ban anonymous citizen complaints and prevent the department from rewarding officers who turn in rule-breaking colleagues. The contracts, the task force concluded, have essentially turned the code of silence into official policy. The president of the union that represents rank-and-file officers did not immediately respond to interview requests.

The report calls for dissolving the Independent Police Review Authority, which is charged with overseeing the most serious claims of police misconduct. The task force concluded that the authority has failed to investigate a large segment of its cases, rarely carries out meaningful discipline, and is perceived as favoring the police. It recommended that it be replaced with a fully transparent and accountable civilian police investigative agency.

The report also calls for an expansion of the citys body cam program; a unit assigned to handle issues around mental health crises; and a new deputy chief at the department in charge of diversity and inclusion. It also recommended putting in place a citywide reconciliation process in which the superintendent would publicly acknowledge the departments history of racial disparity and discrimination and make a public commitment to change.
Those who have not found an alternative to bathing with Flint water are limiting their use of it  dashing into and out of the shower once a week with their mouths tightly shut. Others wash only with baby wipes  or, if they can, wait to bathe at the homes of friends or relatives outside Flint.

Many said they mourned the loss of the long, hot showers of their past.

You wonder what youre stepping into when youre getting into the shower and just trying to make it as quick as possible, said the Rev. Rigel J. Dawson, pastor of the North Central Church of Christ, where some members have been trying to help others find places outside the city to bathe. That uncertainty really kind of plays on you after a while; it wears you down.

The efforts to avoid bathing in Flint are linked to persistent reports of rashes, itchiness and hair loss, despite assurances from government scientists that they have not found evidence that the citys lead-tainted water is unsafe for bathing.

The complaints are so widespread  and the anxiety is so high  that Dr. Nicole Lurie, an assistant secretary at the United States Department of Health and Human Services who is coordinating the federal recovery effort here, said she had asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency to work with the state on investigating whether the water quality was contributing to skin problems.
Having these women by her side has provided Mrs. Clinton with powerful and deeply sympathetic character witnesses as she makes her case to African-American voters. And they have given her campaign, an often cautious and poll-tested operation, a raw, human and sometimes gut-wrenching feeling.

The presence of the mothers has also proved a shrewd political move, influencing black leaders and lawmakers to back Mrs. Clinton.

Those not supporting her are reluctant to go against her, because we led the marches and the rallies on these things and have worked very closely with the mothers, said the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose National Action Network is hosting Mrs. Clinton and her opponent in the Democratic primary, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, for a discussion of civil rights issues at its annual conference this week in New York. It certainly influences how we related to her campaign, added Mr. Sharpton, who has not endorsed a candidate.

On Wednesday, Mrs. Clinton received the biggest applause of an otherwise lukewarm reception at Mr. Sharptons convention when she introduced Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Mr. Martin, and Gwen Carr, the mother of Mr. Garner.

Mr. Sanders has the support of Mr. Garners daughter, Erica; the director Spike Lee; Mr. West; and other prominent black figures, and he talks frequently about being arrested in the 1960s while marching for civil rights. But the mothers have allowed Mrs. Clinton to really tap into the pulse of the black community, said Representative Yvette D. Clarke, Democrat of New York, who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton.

The other candidate on the Democratic side did not reach out to us, Annette Nance-Holt, whose 16-year-old son, Blair Holt, was shot on a Chicago bus in 2007, said at a campaign event last month. She explained starkly that she was not swayed by Mr. Sanderss promise of free college because my child is dead.
President Obama vowed early in his tenure to make science cool and decorated the Oval Office with patent models of groundbreaking American inventions.

But to truly understand Mr. Obamas zeal for all things scientific and technological, one must take a spin with him around the White House Science Fair, a tradition he began in 2010 and hosted for the final time on Wednesday.

There are a lot of good things about being president, Mr. Obama said in the White Houses ornate East Room, surrounded by youngsters who brought their creations  robots, spacecraft, toys made from 3-D printers. But some of the best moments that I have had as president have involved science and our annual science fair.

Across the hall in the State Dining Room, the president awarded congratulatory fist-bumps, the closest this particular fair gets to a blue ribbon, to a pair of sisters from Seattle who launched a spacecraft adorned with tracking devices, cameras and a picture of their late cat Loki 78,000 feet into the air.
Speaker Paul D. Ryans categorical disavowal of interest in the presidential race on Tuesday appeared to extinguish a longstanding fantasy of Republican leaders: That Mr. Ryan might ride into the convention in Cleveland as a white knight to unite the fractured party and claim its nomination.

But if the House speaker seems determined not to play the role of savior in 2016, the path envisioned for him might still be open to another surprise candidate, if neither Donald J. Trump nor Ted Cruz can secure the nomination after several rounds of balloting at the convention starting on July 18.

Should Mr. Trump or Mr. Cruz remain short of a 1,237-delegate majority, some Republicans believe there is at least a theoretical opening for someone else to save the day, and offer the party a way out of an endless melee on the convention floor.
Opening a new front in the assault on teacher tenure, a group of parents backed by wealthy philanthropists served notice to defendants on Wednesday in a lawsuit challenging Minnesotas job protections for teachers, as well as the states rules governing which teachers are laid off as a result of budget cuts.

Similar to cases in California and New York, the plaintiffs, who are filing the lawsuit in district court in Ramsey County in St. Paul, argue that the states tenure and layoff laws disproportionately harm poor, minority children because, they say, the most ineffective teachers are more likely to be assigned to public schools with high concentrations of those children.

In the lawsuit, parents of children in public schools across Minnesota argue that the states tenure laws, which grant teachers job protections after three years on the job, deprive students of their fundamental right to a thorough and efficient education under the states Constitution. The suit also argues that state laws that protect the most veteran teachers in the event of layoffs can result in better teachers losing their jobs simply because they have fewer years in the classroom.

As in California and New York, the suit is likely to be fought fiercely by teachers unions and other groups that say teacher job protections do not cause educational inequity or lead to underperformers remaining in the classroom.
FORT WORTH  Ethan Couch, the teenager who used an affluenza defense in a drunken-driving crash that killed four people and then violated probation by traveling to Mexico with his mother, was sentenced on Wednesday to nearly two years in jail.

Mr. Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, had previously avoided a harsher punishment because he was sentenced in juvenile court, where the emphasis is on rehabilitation. But after his foray to Mexico last year, prosecutors moved the case to adult court.

On Wednesday, a district court judge, Wayne F. Salvant, ruled that Mr. Couch must spend 720 days in Tarrant County Jail  180 days for each count of intoxication manslaughter. The judge said the court would reconvene in two weeks to consider modifying the terms after each side submitted additional written arguments.

Nothing I do is in stone, so I might reconsider, Judge Salvant said.

Mr. Couch showed no emotion as the sentence was read. He will remain in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day for his protection, Dee Anderson, Tarrant Countys sheriff told reporters after the hearing.
MEXICO CITY  The Panamanian authorities have raided the offices of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the vast leak of documents this month that exposed the global use of offshore tax shelters, and spent at least 16 hours combing through the companys files looking for evidence of possible illegal activities, officials said on Wednesday.

The search at the companys headquarters in Panama City, which was led by an organized crime unit from the attorney generals office, began Tuesday afternoon and lasted until Wednesday morning. Other groups of investigators also searched subsidiaries of the firm in Panama and a Panamanian telephone companys data support center, officials said.

The disclosure of about 11.5 million documents from the firm, which specializes in setting up offshore accounts, laid bare the elaborate system of shell companies that the worlds wealthy and powerful use to stash their money, often in an effort to minimize or avoid tax payments.

The revelations have spurred criminal investigations around the world, brought pressure on senior politicians in numerous countries and led to the resignation of the prime minister of Iceland, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson.
BRASILIA  President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil said on Tuesday that her vice president was orchestrating a conspiracy to topple her, as efforts to impeach her gained momentum in the National Congress.

Aided by her mentor and predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Ms. Rousseff scrambled to secure enough support from a dwindling array of allies to block impeachment in a lower-house vote set for Sunday that analysts predicted she would lose.

A congressional committee voted on Monday by a larger-than-expected margin to recommend that she be impeached for breaking budget laws to support her re-election in 2014, a charge Ms. Rousseff says was trumped up to remove her from office.

Political risk consultancies estimated there was a 60 percent to 65 percent chance that impeachment would clear the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the National Congress. The committee vote was expected to sway undecided lawmakers to vote against her.
Ms. Zheng said the police had told the women, Were not dropping the case against you, because its not just about you, its about a whole group of people. She said they did not explain what group they were referring to.

And they didnt say anything about when they would drop the case, Ms. Zheng said. It makes me feel like Im going to be suspected of being a criminal for the rest of my life.

A woman who answered the telephone in the detention center declined to comment, saying the center did not make decisions or discuss individual cases. She declined to give her name.

On Wednesday, the police also returned belongings they had confiscated last year when they detained the women. But Ms. Li said they had not returned one of three laptops and a mobile phone they had taken from her. In protest, she refused to take receipt of her belongings, she said.

The charge facing the women carries a maximum prison term of five years, meaning that, under Chinese law, they may still face criminal prosecution during five years from the time of their detention.
The court also ruled that the couple would have to cover the litigation fee, which is 50 renminbi, or $7.70, by themselves.

The case has galvanized some gay rights advocates in China. Photographs and video taken in Changsha showed many people gathering outside the courthouse in the morning to support Mr. Sun and Mr. Hu.

The case has also received considerable attention on Chinese social media as a test of the authorities attitude toward same-sex marriage. Internet users said that although the result was unsurprising, the couple had achieved a big step.

In this era, being able to knock open the courts door is already a victory. Keep going, a user with the handle Garden on the Roof wrote on Weibo, Chinas equivalent of Twitter.

Mr. Sun said he and Mr. Hu were definitely disappointed.

But after seeing so many people are paying attention to this case, we feel very hopeful, he added.

Li Yinhe, a Chinese sexologist who has backed same-sex marriage, said the ruling was expected. Even if the couple appealed, she said, the court was unlikely to eventually accept their argument.

Many other countries that have since allowed same-sex marriage didnt explicitly ban same-sex marriage before, either, she said.
NEW DELHI  The authorities in Jammu and Kashmir State imposed a curfew on the northern Indian city of Handwara on Wednesday, a day after Indian soldiers fired on a crowd of angry protesters at an army camp, killing three people, officials said.

A fourth person died on Wednesday in clashes with the police during related protests in Kupwara district, said S. J. M. Gillani, Kashmirs inspector general of the police.

The protests in Handwara, about 40 miles northwest of Srinagar, broke out after residents said that a Kashmiri girl had been molested by a soldier on Tuesday at a public bathroom adjacent to an army camp in the town. In a video circulating on television shared by the army, the girl, whose face was blurred, denied that she was molested by the soldier, and said instead that local boys had harassed her.

The protesters threw stones on the army bunker and tried to set it on fire said Mr. Gillani, who acknowledged that no army personnel had been injured in the protest. He added, The army is not trained to deal with such situations and they can only fire back on the crowd.
SEOUL, South Korea  South Korean voters handed President Park Geun-hyes party a surprising setback on Wednesday, stripping it of a majority in Parliament as her government faces a sluggish economy and a growing nuclear threat from North Korea.

Ms. Parks conservative Saenuri Party won only 122 seats in elections for the 300-member National Assembly. It became the first South Korean governing party in 16 years without a parliamentary majority, leaving Ms. Park to face the prospect of being an early lame duck. The main opposition Minjoo Party won 123 seats, replacing Saenuri as the top political group in Parliament even though it, too, lacks a majority.

The vote has been widely billed as a referendum on Ms. Park and a bellwether for the presidential election in late 2017. Pollsters had predicted an easy majority for her party. We failed to read the minds of the people, even when they were disappointed and reproached us, said An Kyeong-hwan, a spokesman for the governing party.
BERLIN  A railway dispatcher apparently caused the deadly collision of two trains in the German state of Bavaria on Feb. 9 because he was playing a game on his cellphone until just before the accident, according to state prosecutors.

Eleven people died, and 80 were injured, some seriously, in the crash, which occurred on a single-track stretch of railway near Bad Aibling in Bavaria, about 35 miles southeast of Munich. A week later, the state prosecutor Wolfgang Giese said that the dispatcher, identified only as a 39-year-old man, had violated work rules and had most likely caused the crash.

On Tuesday, Mr. Giese issued a warrant for the dispatchers arrest. He is expected to be charged with involuntary manslaughter, as well as violating work rules.
Lubitzs particular history of depression and mental instability made him a suicide time bomb, Marc S. Moller, a partner at Kreindler & Kreindler, the New York law firm representing the families, said in a statement. The fuse which culminated in Lubitzs suicide, he added, was lit when A.T.C.A. negligently allowed him to begin commercial pilot training.

Image Lufthansa has said it was aware of Mr. Lubitzs history of mental illness, but maintains that it was unaware of its severity. Credit... Foto-Team-Mueller/European Pressphoto Agency

Lufthansa did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

The families decision to pursue a civil case in the United States comes amid an inquiry by French prosecutors seeking to assign criminal responsibility for the crash. The investigation has been complicated by strict medical privacy laws in Germany that discouraged Mr. Lubitzs doctors from alerting regulators or the airline to his deteriorating mental health in the weeks before the crash.

Lufthansa has said that it was aware of Mr. Lubitzs history of mental illness. But the airline has maintained that it was unaware of its severity and that the decisions to readmit him to its training program  and ultimately to hire him as a pilot  were based on assessments by doctors who found him to be healthy.

Until now, most families of the victims  almost all of whom are European  have received relatively modest offers of compensation from Lufthansa in accordance with their national laws, which vary widely by country. Almost half the crash victims were citizens of Germany, where, under current law, relatives may claim only limited economic damages and are not entitled to compensation for emotional pain and suffering.

A Lufthansa offer to German relatives amounting to roughly $80,000 per victim was publicly dismissed by families as insulting. Many of them say they have suffered profound emotional and economic loss.
LONDON  A stark warning about the potentially negative economic impact of a British withdrawal from the European Union and a new report on immigration have galvanized debate over the countrys future in the bloc, a little more than two months before a referendum on whether to leave.

Britons appear to be sharply divided over European Union membership, and those who want to remain, including Prime Minister David Cameron, hope that worries about the economic uncertainty that would probably accompany a British exit will influence voters.

The concerns about the economy were highlighted on Tuesday in a statement from the International Monetary Fund, which said that a British withdrawal from the bloc, a possibility known as Brexit, would pose major challenges for both the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe.
Just one long traffic jam, he recalled.

Mr. Tomassi, who turns 75 in September, has decided it is time to retire. He has a few parties interested in buying his license, which is worth about 130,000 euros (about $150,000) these days.

You dont get rich doing this job, but its honest work, he said. You can raise a family, put your kids through school. His eldest daughter happens to be a traffic police officer in Rome.

My colleagues joke that I can do what I want because Ill never be fined, he said. Instead I go out of my way not to break laws.

He admits to one infraction, early on. He got fined for forgetting to wear the yellow smock and cap that Rome taxi drivers once had to wear.

For now, hes just enjoying his last fares, and proudly acknowledges his silver sticker to those clients who ask.

Some say, Poor you, 50 years in Rome traffic, he said. Others seem pleased, because it means that they can put up with it, too.
After many decades of folklore and research, the Loch Ness monster has finally been found by an underwater drone.

O.K., it was just a movie prop version of the fabled sea serpent that sank to the bottom of the Scottish lake in 1969 discovered by researchers hunting for Nessies lair. But still, thats also pretty cool.

Researchers found the 30-foot prop, made for the 1970 Billy Wilder film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, 180 meters down on the bed of the lake in April. It had sunk during production in 1969 and a new Nessie was created for the film, which starred Christopher Lee and Robert Stephens.
ATHENS  Clashes erupted at Greeces northern border for the second time in three days on Wednesday, with the Macedonian police firing tear gas on scores of migrants as they protested border closings that have left more than 12,000 stranded in a makeshift refugee camp.

The protests in Idomeni, a town in Greece on the border with Macedonia, came as Greek authorities arrested 14 activists there, saying that they had incited the migrants to storm the razor-wire fence dividing the two countries.
WARSAW  The European Parliament accused Polands right-wing government on Wednesday of undermining democracy, overwhelmingly adopting a resolution urging it to respect the decisions of a top Polish court.

A constitutional crisis that has gripped the country for five months has allowed the right-wing Law and Justice party to govern with a free hand, prompting protests nationwide.

The European Parliament resolution, backed by a coalition of liberal and left-wing factions and passed in a meeting in Strasbourg, France, calls on the Polish government to respect the decisions of the countrys Constitutional Tribunal, which is empowered to review Polands laws.

The motion urged the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, to take actions to force the Polish government to follow the resolutions recommendations. If the Polish government fails to do so, it could face penalties.
Before returning to Europe, both the Brussels bomber and the Paris plotters posed for carefully choreographed scenes, showing the atrocities they committed in Syria and Iraq. The purpose is clear: to show the West that the attackers really were sent from the heart of the groups terror machinery.

Image Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, one of the Brussels attackers, after being detained in after Gaziantep, a Turkish city near the Syrian border. His detainment there had led to speculation that he had met with the Islamic State in Syria, but the biographies in Dabiq make no mention of travel to Syria, saying instead that the brothers were radicalized in jail in Europe. Credit... Associated Press

In a short biography of Mr. Laachraoui, who is also identified by the nom de guerre Abu Idris al-Baljiki, the Islamic State says he was the bombmaker for both the Paris and Brussels attacks. The biography also says the future suicide bombers first foray in Syria was as a recruit in the battalion of Amr al-Absi, the leader of a group calling itself the Mujahedeen Shura Council. In 2012, that group became a magnet for European jihadists, especially Belgians, who flocked to a walled villa in Kafr Hamra, just outside Aleppo, Syria, as Ben Taub reported in The New Yorker.

Later, Mr. Absis group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. The biography says Mr. Laachraoui was one of the first, along with the rest of his group, to pledge allegiance.

Mr. Laachraoui spent months recovering from a bullet wound to the leg, the magazine said, before starting to train in order to realize his dream of returning to Europe to avenge the Muslims. After finishing his training, he traveled the long road to France to execute his operation.

Even the pictures that the Islamic State seems to be missing can help answer some questions.

Neither Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, who blew himself up at 7:58 a.m. at the Brussels airport on March 22, nor his brother Khalid el-Bakraoui, who detonated his explosives at 9:11 a.m. in a subway car in the Belgian capital, appears in the images of the fighters in Syria. Their biographies in Dabiq make no mention of travel to Syria, saying instead that the brothers were radicalized in jail in Europe.
TEHRAN  Irans lame-duck Parliament approved a bill on Wednesday canceling cash subsidies to 24 million Iranians, angering the government of President Hassan Rouhani, local news outlets reported.

Analysts said the action was a stick in the eye for Mr. Rouhani from the conservative-dominated Parliament, forcing him to figure out how to put the unpopular measure into effect.

However, with sagging oil prices cutting Irans national income, the International Monetary Fund and other groups have warned that Tehran will have to cut back the system of giving monthly cash payments to nearly all of its 80 million citizens or risk running huge deficits.

As such, the Parliaments action places Mr. Rouhani in a difficult position, economists say. Canceling the subsidies is a critical part of any economic overhaul, something that Mr. Rouhani has promised to undertake. But the measure is likely to add to growing complaints over his handling of the economy.
BEIRUT, Lebanon  Syrias president and first lady cast their ballots on Wednesday in front of clapping crowds, as state television captured the moment and set it to a dramatic soundtrack. Across Damascus, government employees were delivered to the polls aboard packed buses. The electricity even stayed on for most of the day in the capital, a rarity in these days of civil war.

But beyond the official pomp, Wednesdays elections for the Syrian Peoples Assembly  a largely powerless parliamentary body in a country where nearly every decision rests with President Bashar al-Assad  served mainly to highlight the countrys deep divisions and uncertainty.

The elections, held on the first day of a new round of diplomatic talks in Geneva, contradict a timetable for political transition agreed on by global and regional powers, including the United States and Russia, Mr. Assads most powerful ally.

The ballot was called a sham by France and not legitimate by the United States. It was mocked in online videos shared by Syrian opposition activists, one showing a montage of members of Parliament reading odes to Mr. Assad and telling him: The Arab nation is too small for you. You should lead the world!
As a choreographer, Angelin Preljocaj has two sides. There are his highly theatrical adventures like Spectral Evidence, which he created for New York City Ballet in 2013 and took inspiration from the Salem witchcraft trials. And then there are his more sedate, minimal works that calmly reveal the purity of movement without all the bells and whistles. In Empty moves (Parts I, II & III), Ballet Preljocaj returns to the Joyce Theater to perform, for the first time in New York, all three sections of this spellbinding work, set to a recording of John Cages Empty Words from a 1977 performance in Milan. Not all those in that audience reacted well to Cages reading of Thoreaus journals; yet despite their insults and shouts, he carried on  just as the dancers do in Mr. Preljocajs hypnotic investigation of form. Here the dancers create a world of their own: quietly rigorous, sensuous in its constant flow and meditative. In other words, far from empty. (Wednesday, April 20, through Sunday, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street, Manhattan; 212-242-0077, joyce.org.)
In Netflixs Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Ellie Kemper plays the survivor of a doomsday cult who, after being held captive underground in Indiana for 15 years, doggedly reinvents herself in New York City. But in Season 2, not everything goes swimmingly for Kimmy, who discovers that when you close the door on one problem, another opens.

This fearlessly effervescent actress earned her Screen Actors Guild card with a Kmart ad in which a tarantula crawled across her face.

I always feel pathetic, because if thats the hardest thing youve ever done, its like, Oh, baby, youve not had a very hard life, said Ms. Kemper, 35, who after graduating from Princeton dove into improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York before landing the role of the secretary Erin Hannon in NBCs The Office.

Not to brag, but I never felt scared, added Ms. Kemper, who will soon move to the Upper West Side with her husband, the comedy writer Michael Koman. It was so large and so soft that it was closer to a kitten. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.
The stories she tells begin in medias res, around 1932, in a real Parisian cafe where Sartre is intrigued by his school friend Raymond Arons report of a new philosophical movement, phenomenology. It concerned itself, Aron explained, not with the theoretical or moral meaning of things, but with the things themselves and the immediate experience we have of those things. The apricot cocktails are in Bakewells subtitle because, as Beauvoir recalled, they were drinking them in the cafe when Aron said you could make philosophy out of them.

After this, At the Existentialist Cafe leaves France for Germany and goes backward in time to the early-20th-century origins of phenomenology in the work of Edmund Husserl and the stirrings of reaction against it in Husserls early acolyte Heidegger. From phenomenology, with its emphasis on the experience of things, it was a short step  for, among others, Sartre, Beauvoir and their friend Merleau-Ponty  to existentialism, with its emphasis on the experience of making choices, and on the wider question of what it means to be in the world at all.

At this point, around the early 1930s, the story divides, like a novel by George Eliot or Tolstoy, between the characters who, despite missteps and delusions, eventually, like Beauvoir, come out more or less right, and the ones who come out wrong, like Heidegger and his followers. What divides these two sets of characters are their attitudes toward power and toward other people. Those who got things right were the ones who cared most about equal relations among people and cultures and about everyones personal uniqueness, and who had little or no appetite for power. They also saw the importance of childhood as the source of the adult self, as a time of powerlessness, irrationality and imagination. Merleau-Ponty thought child psychology was essential to philosophy. . . . Childhood looms large in Beauvoirs The Second Sex and in Sartres biographies.

Heidegger got things wrong by turning away from individual human lives to statements about something invisible: being itself and the many varieties of being that he identified, including Being-in-the-world and Being-with:

He set no store by the individuality and detail of anyones life, least of all his own. It is no coincidence that, of all the philosophers in this book, Heidegger is the one who refused to see the point of biography.

Heidegger wrote about the urgency of resisting the they, what Bakewell explains as an impersonal entity that robs us of the freedom to think for ourselves. As she observes, this sounds like a call to resist Nazi tyranny, but that was not what Heidegger meant. Appointed by the Nazis in 1933 to the post of rector of Freiburg University, a job that required him to enforce the new Nazi laws, Heidegger easily convinced himself, perhaps from reserves of power-worship hidden within, that obedience to Nazism was a form of obedience not to the they but to the deepest demands of being itself.
Dominique Morisseau knows where the truth lies, and it is rarely on solid ground. This fast-rising playwright takes on charged issues, from downsizing to drugs, without ever turning pundit or polemicist. Instead, in plays that include this seasons vibrant Skeleton Crew (which returns in May to the Atlantic Theater Company), she carefully uncovers shades of moral ambiguity among economically beleaguered African-Americans.

We should therefore expect no easy answers from her Blood at the Root, inspired by the racially divisive case of the Jena Six involving black Louisiana teenagers accused of an attack on a white schoolmate. Directed by Steve Broadnax, this production originated at the Penn State School of Theater two years ago, and has since toured from South Africa to Scotland, catalyzing conversations on difficult and essential questions of race and justice. (Through May 15, National Black Theater, 2031 Fifth Avenue, ovationtix.com, 866-811-4111.)
Here in Varanasi, though, there was a different kind of memorial.

As we approached the smoke blackening the sky, A.K., who told us he was Hindu, said, Take your last photo.

Was he joking?

No more pictures, he said, gravely.

As the boat moved farther on I saw the shoreline more closely  a funeral pyre, a cremation sending up flames and smoke. When he glanced away I was tempted to snap one more, but an eerie feeling held me back. I turned off my camera, put away my notepad, and just looked. We were in someone elses sacred space.

I wondered who was there. An elderly shopkeeper whose body was carried through the streets here this morning? A youth felled by high fever? A professor from the nearby university who taught medical sciences? A grandmother, a child? Their ashes, soon scattered in the river, would join those of millions of others, ashes of loved ones brought by Hindus from around the country to be tossed onto the mystical waters.

The Ganges was dark, as if it had swallowed the light, its murkiness a quality, I realized, that made it different from other waters under a blast of sunlight. We were borne on a river of souls. They carried us, passing mortals, like water bugs skittering along the surface of time. There was no scrim between me and the burning fires  no camera, notebook, guidebook, only the waver of flames. On this river I had no name.

Our dinghy bumped against the dock and we filed off, followed A.K. up this new ghat, where fresh cords of wood awaited us, past a man squatting next to another shaving his whiskers, a cow before a restaurant nosing into the door, narrow streets with private altars of Shiva behind iron gates.

OK, he said, waving us onward. Take pictures.
Baker Mountain in Maine doesnt crack the top 100 list of New England peaks. But it certainly has stage presence. A full third taller than the two mountains on either side of it, and twice as wide, Baker looms large on its home turf.

Last summer, as I sipped a mug of morning coffee at the edge of a wooden dock on Little Lyford Pond in the heart of the Maine North Woods, I admired this mountains girth. It ate up the view across the glassy pond, a dark evergreen-covered mass that disappeared into a low ceiling of rain clouds. Wisps of those clouds swirled and rolled around the mountains edges, as if a Greek god were up there stirring the soup. This mountain had mystique.

Admittedly I was a bit giddy because my plan that day was to summit the mountain. But I am not alone in my first impressions. People get superexcited once they see it from the pond. And they immediately want to go to the top, said my guide, Casey Mealey, back at the dining hall for the Appalachian Mountain Clubs Little Lyford Lodge. The adventurous ones, they want to go all the more once they find out theres no trails up it.

Last year, the Appalachian Mountain Club purchased Baker Mountain and its surrounding 4,300 acres of former timberlands, filling in a doughnut hole of private ownership in the conservation groups more than 70,000-acre Maine Woods Initiative to preserve the 100-Mile Wilderness region (so called because it encompasses whats considered the 100 wildest miles of the Appalachian Trail).
New York based choreographer Claudia Schreier has been named the second annual Virginia B. Toulmin Fellow at NYUs Center for Ballet and the Arts (CBA). Established in 2015 by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation and CBA, the Toulmin Fellowship for Women Choreographers was designed to support promising female choreographers early in their careers.

Virginia Toulmin was passionately devoted to both the performing arts and the advancement of women, said Jennifer Homans, director and founder of CBA. This fellowship has created an important opportunity for women in the world of ballet.

Schreier has earned early praise for her distinctive choreographic voice, mixing neoclassical technique with an inventive contemporary vocabulary. Since graduating from Harvard in 2008, she has been commissioned by various companies and organizations, including the Vail International Dance Festival, Ballet Academy East, The Ailey School, Lake Tahoe Dance Collective, Intermezzo Dance Company, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, The Harvard Club of New York Foundation, Harvard Ballet Company, and the Academy of Music Arts. Most recently, she served as choreographic assistant to Damian Woetzel for the premiere of SPACES by Wynton Marsalis at Jazz at Lincoln Center, featuring Lil Buck and Jared Grimes.

In 2015, Schreier presented a full-evening performance of her work, Claudia Schreier & Company, at the Ailey Citigroup Theater. The event featured performances by thirteen dancers from seven professional companies, including the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and Dance Theatre of Harlem. She is a 2015 Dance Magazine Reader's Choice Award Nominee for Best Emerging Choreographer, winner of the 2014 Breaking Glass Project choreographic competition, and a recipient of the Suzanne Farrell Dance Prize in recognition for Outstanding Artistry in the Field of Dance at Harvard University.

The Virginia B. Toulmin Fellowship for Women Choreographers provides fellows with a stipend of $35,000 for one semester. Fellows are also furnished with an office, studio space, access to housing, and the opportunity to be part of a community of artists and scholars with whom they can share and debate ideas. To be considered for the fellowship, potential candidates are required to submit a proposal for the project they will work on while at CBA.

The Center for Ballet and the Arts (CBA) at New York University (NYU) was launched in September 2014 by former ballet dancer and prominent historian Jennifer Homans with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and support from NYU. An international institute for scholars and artists of ballet and its related arts and sciences, it exists to inspire new ideas and new ballets, expanding the way we think about ballet and bringing vitality to its history, practice and performance in the 21st century. CBA hosts a variety of artists and scholars in residence from a wide range of disciplines and united in an interest to work on ballet. For more information about the Center for Ballet and the Arts and its programming, visit the CBA website.


Educators welcome anti-charter school bill 7 April 2016



NZEI Te Riu Roa is pleased that the abolition of charter schools will be considered by parliament, following the drawing of Chris Hipkins private members bill from the ballot.



National Secretary Paul Goulter says this is good timing because it gives the government an opportunity to admit that charter schools are a failed experiment.



We would urge the government to talk to educators and to come up with real solutions to children not succeeding at school such as addressing poverty and the country's ballooning inequality.



All New Zealand children deserve to be taught in a properly funded public education system by qualified teachers.



Whatever way you look at it, it is clear charter schools have been a failure.



They have failed to attract the number of students they promised and they are clearly not accountable.



Were still waiting to hear whether the New Zealand taxpayer will get back any of the millions of dollars that have been sunk into the failed Whangaruru charter school, including money spent on the purchase of a farm.



This bill is an opportunity to have a discussion about how best to help all children succeed at school.
Dr. Richard Glen Eaves, 83, died Sunday, April 10, 2016, after a courageous battle with Parkinson's and blindness. He is survived by his wife, Ann Greene Eaves; daughter, Michelle Eaves Stooksbury; son-in-law, Jeff Stooksbury; grandson, Stephen Stooksbury; and granddaughter, Shannon Stooksbury. Dr. Eaves was the eldest son of James Tildon Eaves and Lillian Haggard Eaves of the Ellison Ridge Community near Louisville, Mississippi. He was preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Clara Eaves Rogers and Janice Eaves Gee; and brother, Dr. James Doyle Eaves. Glen grew up on his family farm near Louisville and later encouraged his parents to change to a Grade- A dairy after having studied agriculture at Mississippi State University. He served in the US Army in Korea and Japan. Later, he earned a Master's degree at Peabody College in Nashville, and then taught science at Dana Junior High School in San Diego, California. Returning to Mississippi he received a Master's Degree in history and later a PhD in European history from the University of Alabama. He taught sixteen years at Auburn University before returning to Mississippi as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Mississippi College. He, his wife, and daughter traveled to England and many European countries, where he did research for two books- Henry VIII's Scottish Diplomacy 1513-1524 and Henry VIII and James V's Regency 1524-1528. Upon retirement, Glen and Ann moved to Knoxville, Tennessee to be near their daughter and family. He served as adjunct history professor at Maryville College for two years. Glen was a Christian and an admirer of Martin Luther. As a boy, he accepted Christ and was baptized in his neighbor's pond. He later was an ordained deacon. The family will receive friends at Gentry Griffey Funeral Chapel on Tuesday, April 12th from 3-4pm. The Funeral will follow at 4 pm with the Rev. Ron Mouser officiating. A Graveside Service will be held on Thursday, April 14th at 11 am at Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery in the Ellison Ridge Community near Louisville, Mississippi. In lieu of flowers, Glen requested memorials be made to the Glen Eaves Lectureship at Mississippi College, Clinton, MS, 39056. Gentry Griffey Funeral Chapel is honored to serve the Eaves family and invites you to view and sign their online guestbook at gentrygriffey.com.
In 1941, Leonard and Ola Hand had a baby boy and named him Benny Charles. His parents and sister, Bobbie Jean welcomed him with joy. Soon after, Leonard served his country in WWII while Benny grew very close to his mother. After the war they moved several times, as the family served in several churches. In 1958, Benny's family was living in Dadeville, Alabama, where a young lady named Nelda Lee Knight visited their church. They were married on May 29, 1960, and Benny made the news for working full time so his wife could finish college before him. Eventually, they both graduated from Auburn University with a baby of their own, Benny Charles, Jr. They worked as school teachers and became parents again, to their daughter, Starlyn Bene'. In 1975, it was time for another change as Benny answered the Lord's call to missions. Their education degrees helped open the door into Nicaragua where they taught in a school owned by the Standard Fruit Company before leaving secular employment for good. He preached the Gospel in Nicaragua and Guatemala and many of the people who heard him are serving the Lord there today. The adventures of this time were legendary, a machine gun in his back, rescuing a kidnapped American, driving mountain roads, and more. He picked up the nickname "Benny Mano." The family endured hardships and wars but they made it out with a third Hand child, Benelda Shea. He ministered in Mexico and South Texas during this time as well, building up many believers and helping to establish a thriving church. In 1985, Benny Mano became Pastor Hand as he brought his family back home and, with the help of dedicated friends, started Believers Church. Many people came to know the Lord and grow in their faith through his ministry. His wisdom and faithfulness caused many other pastors and missionaries to seek him out as their pastor and teacher, or Apostle. Many people were led and taught in the Word of God and became ministers, serving in the church as deacons, elders, prophets and more. He continued his own education in this time, earning his Doctorate of Theology, becoming Dr. Hand and President of Monteagle Institute of Theology. He had a vision to help parents educate their children in a Godly way, and the church opened a school and a homeschool ministry that became known as Ballard Christian School. In the late 80's and early 90's, Pastor Hand's children married and had children of their own, which brought about another name change, when his first grandchild, Elisabeth, started calling him "Dandy." As time moved on, Nelda became ill with Parkinson's disease and Benny's character became more evident than ever before. He dedicated his life to caring for her and spent every waking moment caring for her with great love and tenderness. It was clear to anyone who knew them that he was truly the example of a loving husband. In 2016, Benny Charles Hand, Sr.'s, physical heart failed and he went home to be with the Lord he loved so intently with his true heart, which will never fail. In his home going, he precedes his wife, Nelda Lee Knight Hand, of 56 years who together showed their children, friends, and family an example of a perfect marriage in their undying love, respect, and devotion to one another; son Benny Charles Hand, Jr., with his wife Elizabeth and their children Elisabeth, Abigail, Aliya, Taylor, Benjamin, Noah, Rosie, Zoe, Jack, and Rachel; daughter Starlyn Bene' Weems with her husband Hassel and their daughter, Anna Grace; and daughter, Benelda Shea Hand with her son D'Andre; his sister, Bobbie Jean Bradley and her husband Whit. He was preceded by Leonard Eugene Hand in 1971 and Ola Pearl Hand Albea in 2000. Benny's strength, love, and faith inspire us all today to serve the Lord, stand for what is right, and care for each other in Christian love. Funeral service will be held at Believers Church at 11:00 a.m., Thursday, April 14, 2016, with visitation on Wednesday, April 13, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Believers Church. Pastor Dan Lane is officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Ballard Christian School at Believers Church, 1415 Moores Mill Road, Auburn, AL 36830. Jeffcoat-Trant Funeral Home is directing. www.jeffcoattrant
An iconic Long Beach dessert shop and a craft beer brand are adding locations in Huntington Beach.

Luxury mall Pacific City said Frosted Cupcakery, a fixture on Belmont Shore for years, is opening its first Orange County location later this summer. The cupcake shop will be part of the retail centers Lot 579 food hall.

Besides its standard size cupcakes, Frosted Cupcakery also makes mini cupcakes and Hi-tops. The latter are mini cupcake sandwiches made from the tops of two mini cupcakes. The frosted tops are smashed together to create a petite sandwich cupcake.

The cupcake shop will join the other Lot 579 food hall tenants: American Dream, Pie-Not, Bear Flag Fish Co., Burnt Crumbs, Gelateria Zomolo and Il Barone Sicilian Street Food, Hans Homemade Ice Cream, Pop Bar and Portola Coffee Lab.

Also coming to Surf City is award-winning Beachwood Brewing.

The Long Beach brewery, which opened in 2011, is in the final stages of taking over the assets of Beach City Brewery, which closed recently. The brewery opened two years ago in an industrial area of Huntington Beach.

Gabe Gordon, founder and co-owner of Beachwood Brewing, said the acquisition is part of the companys plan to increase its capacity to 8,000 barrels a year over the next five years. By increasing production, the brewery can distribute its craft beers to more retail markets, he said.

This will allow us to introduce more consumers to a steady line of Beachwood Brewing products via retail outlets such as bottle shops and grocery stores, as well as restaurants and bars throughout Southern California, Gordon said in a statement. Our beers are increasingly growing in demand and this production facility allows us to expand at a rate we believe the market can sustain.

The brewery will also have a tasting room.

The Beachwood brand started as a barbecue joint in downtown Seal Beach. The always-packed eatery earned a reputation over the years for carrying unique craft beers on tap  long before the current craft beer explosion.

In 2011, the owners opened Beachwood BBQ and Brewing on Third Street in Long Beach. At that time, Beachwood began brewing its own line of beer. Many of its labels have won medals at the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado.

The expansion to Huntington Beach comes less than two years after Beachwood opened a second brewery, Beachwood Blendery, in Long Beach. The brewery is dedicated to the production of Americanized lambics.

Contact the writer: nluna@ocregister.com and follow the Fast Food Maven on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
DAKAR, Senegal  As it torments West Africa, Boko Haram is increasingly turning to children to carry out its crimes.

One of every five suicide bombers deployed by Boko Haram in the past two years has been a child, usually a girl, according to a report released Tuesday by UNICEF.

Boko Haram used 44 children in suicide attacks last year, compared with only four in 2014, the report found.

The youngest bomber so far was thought to be 8 years old.

The report seeks to quantify one of the most chilling elements of Boko Haram, an Islamist extremist group that has assaulted the Lake Chad region of Africa for years with thievery, beheadings, kidnappings and the torching of entire villages. The group has killed thousands of people and caused a food crisis, leaving the area hungry and in tatters.

Toby Lanzer, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for that region, said Boko Harams use of children as suicide bombers really beggars belief.

To me thats the epitome of evil, Lanzer told reporters during a briefing at the U.N. headquarters in New York about his recent trip to northeastern Nigeria. I cannot think of anything more horrifying.

It was two years ago this week that the group kidnapped nearly 300 girls from a school in Chibok, Nigeria. Several dozen escaped early on, but most are still missing. Intelligence officials believe they are being used as human shields for Boko Haram leaders hiding in the Sambisa Forest in northeastern Nigeria.

Last year, the Nigerian military engaged in a new offensive against Boko Haram, and the initiative has been joined by four other nations in the region as well as the United States, which is offering intelligence and other assistance. Militants who once controlled numerous villages have been scattered.

Unable to control as much terrain as in the past, the group has deployed suicide bombers to markets and mosques and even camps where people fleeing Boko Haram have taken refuge.

According to UNICEF, the overall number of suicide bombings increased from 32 in 2014 to 151 last year. In 2015, 89 attacks were carried out in Nigeria, 39 in Cameroon, 16 in Chad and seven in Niger.

Cameroon has had the highest number of attacks involving children, UNICEF said. Government and defense officials in Cameroon have said most of the attackers there have been girls ages 13 to 15. People who have escaped Boko Haram have reported a systematic program for training women and girls to be bombers.

Local reports compiled by the U.S. State Department outline the grim details of the attacks carried out by girls.

In one episode last month, a woman and a young girl entered the village of Tolkomari early in the morning and were identified as suspicious. Locals on the lookout for bombers tore after them, causing panic in the village. Worn out by the chase, the two suspects ran into a home and detonated their bombs, killing only themselves.

In its report, UNICEF said it needed $97 million to provide vaccinations, schooling, drinking water, mental health aid and other assistance to families affected by Boko Haram. It said it had received $11 million so far.

The report also noted that more than 1.3 million children had been forced from their homes.

Another report released Tuesday, from Human Rights Watch, focused on how Boko Haram had devastated education in some areas. It said that between 2009 and 2015, attacks by the group destroyed more than 910 schools and forced at least 1,500 more to close. At least 611 teachers have been deliberately killed, and 19,000 have been forced to flee. The group has abducted more than 2,000 civilians, many of them women and girls, including large groups of students.
Saddleback Memorial Medical Center has filed a $42.5 million lawsuit against San Clemente, alleging illegal spot zoning by city officials seeking to stop the community hospital from closing next month.

In January, the San Clemente City Council voted unanimously to rezone the 6.6-acre hospital site to require a state-licensed hospital on the property. That move has thwarted Memorials plans to tear down the hospital  which has seen dwindling patients and revenue  and build a medical campus that would include an urgent care center.

Since the decision to close was announced in 2014, community members have decried the plan, arguing that the nearest emergency rooms are too far away. Memorial-supported efforts to pass legislation in Sacramento that would allow the hospital to close but the emergency department to stay open in the new facility were unsuccessful.

The suit, filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court, alleges that the city knew that if Memorial was unwilling to bear the cost of running the hospital, the rezoning would force it to sell the property, even at a loss.

City spokeswoman Laura Ferguson said Tuesday that the city would issue a statement later today.

In addition to damages, the suit seeks an injunction barring the city from enforcing the change in zoning.

Ultimately, however, the city alone, without experience or background in medicine or health care, determined which specific type of health care facility should be maintained on the property, the suit says.

Contact the writer: cperkes@ocregister.com 714-796-3686
SACRAMENTO  A California bill prompted in part by prosecutors difficulty in pursuing sexual assault charges against Bill Cosby cleared its first legislative hurdle Tuesday when it passed a committee that previously had rejected efforts to allow prosecutions for crimes that victims say happened long ago.

The bill would eliminate the states 10-year statute of limitations on rape and child molestation charges.

Previous versions failed years ago in the Senate Public Safety Committee. But the new bill by Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, passed the committee on a 4-0 vote after testimony by witnesses including Los Angeles lawyer Gloria Allred.

Several of the actors accusers told senators they are unable to bring charges because they didnt come forward years ago, and California law generally requires filing charges within 10 years of the offense. Among them was actress Lili Bernard, who last year went to Atlantic City, N.J., police alleging that the comedian sexually assaulted her there decades ago. But New Jersey prosecutors could not consider charges because of that states statute of limitations on sexual assaults.

I had no recourse, said Bernard, who told how she still suffers emotional and physical distress. Several women said they did not come forward sooner because they were traumatized and feared they would not be believed.

The Associated Press doesnt typically name people who say they are sexual assault victims, but Bernard and others spoke publicly about their allegations.

For most of them, it is too late to have their day in court against Mr. Cosby because of the statute of limitations, Allred said.

Cosby has consistently denied sexual abuse allegations made by dozens of women around the country, some of them from the 1960s.
Diana McCarthy had no idea on her drive to work Tuesday that she would be instrumental in reuniting a Temecula couple with their dog, who disappeared four years ago.

She was traveling on Highland Avenue in Fullerton around 7 a.m. on her way to work at City Hall, when she spotted a male pug on a sidewalk. After making a U-turn, she got out and put him in her backseat.

I just always feel like if you see a dog thats loose out there, wouldnt you want someone to stop and help your dog? she said. I thought if I leave him out on the street, hes going to get squashed.

McCarthy, who lives in Corona and volunteers for the German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County, took the dog to PetSmart on her lunch break. A store employee was able to find a microchip in him. McCarthy called the chip manufacturer, who gave her contact information for the dogs owners.

Thirty minutes later, she got a call from a relieved Jason Arledge, saying the 10-year-old dog, named Krum, went missing from his Temecula home on Aug. 8, 2011.

He said they gave up looking for him after a year, McCarthy said. I honestly didnt think he had been out very long. He said his wife was crying because she was so happy.

They arranged to meet at McCarthys home after work. The Arledges brought their two children  Liam, 5, and Lily, 3.

Jason Arledge held Krum up to Liams face.

Do you want to kiss him? he asked his son. Krum sneezed. Liam giggled as he turned away.

As McCarthy gazed at the dog in the arms of his owner, she said, I wish he could tell us his story.

The whole moral of the story is chip your dog, said McCarthy, who said Krum had been taken care of by someone. Chip your dog and keep your information updated. Because if you lose your dog, you just may get it back.

Staff Writer Tom Sheridan contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2478 or lcasiano@ocregister.com
The detectives made a late-night stop at an Anaheim Hills gas station, busting a motorist whose sweatshirt pockets bulged with Ecstasy and Xanax.

But the real bounty turned up inside the mans Lexus  several thousand white, oblong pills that federal investigators later learned contained 1,753 grams of a substance with acetyl fentanyl  a narcotic so potent that a deadly dose can be less than one twenty-fifth of a sugar packet.

The drug, also known as China white, has washed into California, killing four people in Orange County last year and eight in Sacramento in the past month.

Though police have blamed Mexican drug cartels for distribution in the past, drug agents are finding acetyl fentanyl being made much closer to home. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the cache of pills found in the Lexus earlier this year was made at local warehouses and distributed by two Orange County men.

Fentanyl has been used in medicine, as a painkiller and in anesthesia, since the 1960s. It remains the most powerful opioid on the market. But it took only a decade for drug traffickers to figure out how to replicate it, creating chemical variants such as acetyl fentanyl, which can be up to 50 times more powerful than heroin, to sell to users on the streets.

Its making a resurgence now, riding a wave of heroin abuse fueled by the prescription drug epidemic.

We have a lot of heroin users seeking stronger highs because theyve become tolerant to heroin, said Jennifer Harmon, assistant director of forensic chemistry at the OC Crime Lab.

Its very scary to see a drug thats considered the most powerful, most potent, most toxic opioid available for prescription use being illicitly manufactured, she said.

Some seek it out for the higher high. Others dont even know theyre taking it, as its occasionally mixed in with heroin or cocaine. Other times, its sold under a different name, including Norco, the pharmaceutical version of which is hydrocodone and acetaminophen.

Its less expensive. Its far more potent. We believe its coming from China, its coming from Mexico, it comes through Southern California, which is a major narcotics corridor, said Orange County Sheriffs Department Capt. Stu Greenberg. Weve seen it in forms that mimic prescription drugs, tar heroin and cocaine.

Making the chemical fentanyl is a lot more complicated than cooking meth. Its advanced chemistry.

According to allegations in court records, the night Huntington Beach Police detectives stopped Timothy Werley at a Chevron in Anaheim Hills and found the pills in his pockets and car, he told them his suppliers were nicknamed Manuel and Kid. They sold to him every couple of days, Werley said, at locations that range from Huntington Beach to Baldwin Park, according to the records.

Werley allegedly told the detectives he had paid $4,000 for 5,000 pills. He would sell a minimum of 1,000 pills to dealers, and hed profit about $2,000.

Federal prosecutors say Manuel is Joseph Stanley, 30, of Huntington Beach and Kid is Dylan Simpson, 25, of Fountain Valley.

According to the DEA, both men were helping run a drug ring that ordered supplies from China and shipped them to addresses in Los Angeles, Fountain Valley and Long Beach. They then transferred them to a warehouse in Long Beach and a home in Baldwin Park, where theyd press the pills in bulk.

The men ordered more than a dozen shipments from China, including a pill press labeled as a hole puncher, laboratory glassware and 30 kilograms of a chemical that makes tablets disintegrate in saliva, according to court records.

The DEA investigation started in April 2015 on a tip from U.S. Customs and Border Protection about the pill press. Federal agents affixed a tracking device to the machine and to the mens vehicles, placed a hidden camera at the Baldwin Park address and organized a surveillance network.

At one point, the DEA alleges, the men had 30,948 tablets of acetyl fentanyl at the Long Beach warehouse. When DEA agents served a search warrant at the home of one of the men in June, they seized 13 kilograms, or nearly 13,000 grams, of the narcotic.

In March, Stanley and Simpson, along with Gary Resnik, 31, of Long Beach and Christopher Bowen, 30, of Los Angeles, were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that include conspiracy to distribute narcotics and possession of fentanyl and methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.

The number of fentanyl seizures reported to the National Forensic Laboratory Information System soared to 4,585 in 2014 from 618 in 2012.

Most of the seizures were concentrated in 10 states: Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Kentucky, Virginia, Florida, New Hampshire and Indiana.

The seizures from the Lexus, the Long Beach warehouse and the Baldwin Park home are believed to be the regions largest to date.

Contact the writer: jchandler@ocregister.com and @jennakchandler on Twitter

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the amount of acetyl fentanyl seized by the DEA in June. It was 13 kilograms, not 30.
DAMASCUS, Syria  Syrian government troops pushed an offensive Tuesday against militants in the countrys north on the eve of parliament elections  a vote that is expected to rubber-stamp an assembly loyal to President Bashar Assad ahead of a new round of peace talks in Geneva resuming this week.

Damascus says the vote, which will be held only in areas controlled by the government, is constitutional and separate from the talks aimed at ending the war. But the opposition says it contributes to an increasingly unfavorable climate for negotiations amid fierce fighting that threatens an increasingly crumbling cease-fire engineered by the United States and Russia.

The new offensive, launched by Syrian troops and their allies Tuesday, seeks to retake an important hilltop village south of the city of Aleppo from militants.

Al-Manar TV, run by Lebanons Hezbollah militant group, which is fighting alongside Syrian government forces, reported the offensive to retake the village of Tel al-Ais. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist-run monitoring group, said clashes were ongoing around Tel al-Ais and the nearby village of Khan Touman.

The Observatory said dozens of troops and pro-government fighters were killed in Tuesdays clashes in Aleppo province, without providing precise figures.

Tel al-Ais overlooks a supply line connecting the capital, Damascus, to the northern city of Aleppo, parts of which have been held by groups opposed to the government since 2012. Militants captured Tel al-Ais earlier this month after heavy fighting despite the U.S.-Russian-brokered truce, which excludes the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front.

The Syrian National Coalition, an Istanbul-based opposition group, said the offensive in Aleppo is a violation of the cease-fire, warning that the agreement will lose all meaning if the attacks continue unheeded.

The fighting comes as U.N. brokered indirect peace talks are set to resume today in Geneva, where the U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will meet with an umbrella opposition coalition backed by Saudi Arabia, the United States and other Western powers.
SANTA ANA  A state senator wants to give judges more power to deny bail in light of a recent case of a popular Vietnamese entertainer who has been charged with molesting a boy in Orange County.

In a Wednesday news conference, Sen. Janet Nguyen, R-Santa Ana, and Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said they have serious concerns that Minh Quang Hong, a 38-year-old Vietnamese national, could flee the country if he is allowed to post bail.

Hong, who goes by the stage name Minh Beo, is being held on $1 million bail. He has been accused of molesting a boy under 14 while hosting auditions for a video project in Huntington Beach last month.

Hong is scheduled to appear in court on Friday, after which he could post bail. Rackauckas said prosecutors will request that the court hold Hongs passport if he does post bail.

In response to that case, Nguyen announced a proposed amendment to the state Constitution. It would allow judges to deny bail if they believe a felony suspect poses a flight risk.

Under federal law, a suspect can be held without bail if the court believes there is such a risk. But in California, the court can only deny bail in capital cases or when a judge finds that a defendant is dangerous to the community; Hongs case is in state court.

Nguyen said she believes Hong is a flight risk because he is reportedly a well-connected individual with ties to the Vietnamese government.

Hongs $1 million bail is 10 times higher than the normal amount for the charges, but Rackauckas said its not enough.

Even at a million dollars, if this person gets out on bail it wont guarantee his appearance in court, Rackauckas said.

Nguyen said her amendment would apply to cases in which authorities believe the person is a flight risk. To pass the Assembly and the Senate, the amendment would need two-thirds approvals; then California voters would decide in 2018.

Hong was arrested on March 24 and charged with one count each of oral copulation of a minor, attempting to commit a lewd act upon a child under age 14, and meeting with a minor with the intent to engage in lewd conduct.

This case has highlighted the need for legislation that guarantees in the future there is an option for no bail if there is an immediate concern that an accused felon would flee our state and our country, the senator said.

Hong is well-known in Vietnam as an actor, comedian and stage director. News of his arrest spread rapidly through social media and created buzz in the Vietnamese community.

Authorities said Hong spoke on March 20 to a group of dancers at a talent show at a radio station in Huntington Beach, telling them he was hosting auditions for a video project. The incident tied to his arrest occurred three days later, when the boy arrived for an audition, prosecutors said.

Hongs attorney, Assistant Public Defender Michael Morrison, could not be reached for comment.

Contact the writer: kpuente@ocregister.com, 714-834-3773
WASHINGTON  The White House said Wednesday that Russia had violated professional military norms over the Baltic Sea when one of its planes flew dangerously close to a U.S. ship and a Polish aircraft.

Any peacetime military activity must be consistent with international laws and norms, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said Wednesday. He said there had been repeated incidents over the past year in which Russian military planes have come close to other air and sea traffic in provocative actions.

We continue to be concerned about this behavior, Earnest said. The episodes, he added, are a source of some irritation.

He declined to say whether or how the administration planned to raise the issue with Russia.
OLYMPIA, Wash.  Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday fired the head of a beleaguered state psychiatric hospital after a man who had been charged with murder escaped from the facility last week.

The escape was the latest in a litany of problems at the 800-bed Western State Hospital, where violent assaults on both staff and patients have occurred.

These incidents have justifiably eroded public confidence in the hospital, Inslee said at a news conference. It is clear that transformative cultural change is needed at this hospital.

Inslee said he had relieved Western State Chief Executive Officer Ron Adler of his duties. Inslee said he would be replaced by Cheryl Strange, effective April 25. Strange had previously managed the state public mental health system.

Anthony Garver escaped last week from the facility in Lakewood, Washington, where he was being held after he was accused of torturing a 20-year-old woman to death. Garver and fellow patient Mark Alexander Adams escaped April 6 through a key-locked window. Adams was apprehended the next day. Garver travelled to Spokane, where he was caught by authorities Friday night.

U.S. regulators have repeatedly cited the facility over safety concerns and threatened to cut millions in federal funding. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently extended the hospitals deadline for fixing the problems from April 1 to May 3.

A federal judge also has said the hospital has failed to provide timely competency services to mentally ill people charged with crimes.

Many of the hospitals problems stem from a staffing shortage, Inslee said. As of April 3, there were 146 nursing and therapy vacancies, according to a state spokeswoman. Inslee said this years budget offered bonuses and an increase in salaries to recruit and retain more hospital staff.

Strange said her immediate focus will be on meeting with staff and residents to see whats working, whats not working.

Thats a really critical component, she said.

Sen. Mark Miloscia, a Republican from Federal Way, said that the firing was better late than never.

Ive been calling on him to take control of his agency and start firing people for their incompetence, he said.

Western State Hospital nursing supervisor Paul Vilja said Adler was difficult to work with.

As a previous union officer, I met with this CEO at least two times per week for several years, Vilja told the Associated Press. At no time did I feel that he assimilated the data that was provided.  In some meetings, he lost his temper and often made inappropriate comments.

Doug Wood, who is married to a hospital employee, said Adler was not qualified for the position.

State law mandates the Western State Hospital Superintendent be a psychiatrist for the protection of patients and staff, Wood said. The CEO is not qualified to manage this dangerous occupation because he is not a psychiatrist. I hope the talented psychiatrists he fired or put on leave come back to the hospital in his absence.

Inslee said that he talked with staff, who shared their concerns.

In my discussions with the staff, they did not have the sense that their ideas, recommendations, aspirations were getting adequate consideration by the leadership team, he said. They did not have confidence that the CEO was going to be able to really bring them into the decision-making process.

He said that while Adler tried to make improvements in recent months, they just were not adequate to what we need to see happen there.

Kathy Spears, spokeswoman for the Department of Social and Health Services, said Adler was not available for comment until later in the week.

Dennis Brockschmidt, a nurse who had been assaulted by a patient in 2014 and feared for his safety, said he was pleased with Adlers firing.

We are all overjoyed here and are wondering why it took so long, he said. Were
Like a lot of things in Cuba, an Orange County nonprofits medical mission there has been frozen in time  for nearly a decade.

The Plasticos Foundation, a Newport Beach-based group of medical professionals, has traveled around the globe performing reconstructive plastic surgery. Their patients are those who can least afford reconstructive procedures and who often are ostracized because of their appearance caused by genetic defects or disfiguring injuries.

The team made it to Cienfuegos, Cuba, in 2004 and 2006 and received funding from an anonymous donor to head out again in 2007, but was stopped by the U.S. government.

We wrote letters and campaigned for several years without any luck, said Plasticos founder Dr. Larry Nichter, who has a cosmetic surgery practice in Newport Beach.

But with the Obama administrations move to resume relations with Cuba, the team has an opportunity to continue its work in Cienfuegos. The team headed by Nichter will include two other plastic surgeons, a general surgeon, a pediatrician, three anesthesiologists, five nurses, trip organizers and, for the first time, an orthodontist.

Theyll leave for Cuba on Saturday and spend about a week at the Hospital Pediatrico Universitario, a childrens hospital in Cienfuegos, performing about 50 surgical procedures.

The trip is going to include a few complicated surgeries, including on several burn injury patients. One of those involves a woman with a black pigmentation on the left side of her face. The surgeons will remove all skin from her eyebrow, forehead and cheek and replace it with skin from her stomach, a process that could take about six hours, Nichter said.

In February, he and other members of the team, including the foundations executive director, Susan Williamson, visited the hospital in Cienfuegos to evaluate patients needs.

Williamson said what she saw was shocking: an IV bag warmer from the 1930s; foggy, yellow operating table lights; dial-up Internet with doctors getting only 25 hours of Internet use per month; and a dire shortage of printer ink.

But what Williamson says she wont soon forget was the hospitals procedure for cleaning surgical instruments.

At the end of each day, the instruments would be taken into a shed outside the hospital, she said. Someone wearing a gas mask would go into that shed and clean the instruments using a substance that emitted thick fumes.

So during this trip, among other items, Plasticos will gift the hospital an autoclave to sterilize instruments, new lights for the operating theater, a new IV bag warmer, an otoscope  a device used to look inside ears  and printer ink.

During the visit this year, Williamson said there were a few things that jumped out at her outside the hospital walls too.

The giant billboards showing Fidel Castro punching Uncle Sam and Uncle Sam shooting a man with a bag over his head. In Cienfuegos, which is much smaller than the capital city of Havana, Castro is larger than life. Facades of homes still bear the images of Castro and Che Guevara.

Nichter says he is looking forward to sharing his teams knowledge with medical professionals in Cuba.

They treat our brains like sponges, he said. They want to squeeze every last drop of information while were there.

Cuban doctors have shown most interest in breast reconstruction after mastectomies, repairing burn injuries and performing flap surgeries, a technique in plastic surgery in which tissue is lifted from a donor site and moved to a recipient site with the blood supply intact.

They are also eager to learn about techniques involving lasers and moving large blocks of tissue, Nichter said.

Every once in awhile, the American doctors learn something too, Nichter said. He described an incident during their last trip when an anesthesiologist on the Plasticos team sprung into action when a machine that monitors the patients heartbeat started to beep.

A Cuban doctor checked the patients pulse and quickly determined everything is fine.

We do have the latest technology, Nichter said. But sometimes we tend to rely on them too much, more than we need to.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com
SEOUL, South Korea  One North Korean who worked abroad says that as a waitress in China, she was forced to put up with male customers who groped her and tried to get her drunk. Two others recall the frozen bodies of their countrymen stored in Russian logging camps. Another says he toiled for up to 16 hours a day at a Kuwaiti construction site surrounded by wire fences.

As difficult as those lives were, the four workers told The Associated Press, it beat staying in the North. The jobs actually conveyed status back home, and were so coveted that people used bribes and family connections to get them.

I beat the odds of 1 in 12 to become a waitress  Peoples views of jobs in North Korea are totally different from here, said Lee Soung Hee, 42, who worked at a North Korean-run restaurant in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian in the early 2000s and now lives in South Korea. Women in North Korea have a fantasy about an overseas waitress job.

The stories of Lee and the other three workers, all of whom have also defected to rival South Korea, speak volumes about how different life appears when viewed through a North Korean lens.

The country has sent tens of thousands of workers abroad with a mission to bring in foreign currency. Human-rights organizations have called those workers modern-day slaves, while also decrying human-rights abuses North Koreans face back home. To the workers themselves, there is little debate about which plight is more favorable.

The defectors, who worked overseas from the 1990s until the early 2000s, said they had to submit much of their salaries to Pyongyang authorities and never received some of their promised wages. But they said the money they did receive, sometimes earned through moonlighting, still greatly exceeded what they had earned at home.

They said they were also fed relatively well, placed under less strict surveillance and given a rare chance to see the world and learn truths about their homeland.

Lee had expected her overseas experience to elevate her social standing so that she could have a husband with a better job. The other three workers, all men, wanted to buy televisions, cassette players and refrigerators after their typical three years of service.

I had seen people who had returned home after foreign service smoking good cigarettes and going out for a beer, said Lim Il, who worked at a Kuwait City construction site in the late 1990s. For ordinary people, things like those were rice cake in a picture, a Korean expression equivalent to pie in the sky.

North Koreans working overseas more recently hold similar views, according to South Korean experts and activists who have interviewed current workers or defectors with recent foreign service experience.

The average monthly wage for ordinary North Korean workers is less than $1, according to defectors. Many North Korean families now make money via businesses in unauthorized markets.

From our viewpoint, its labor exploitation. But for them, going abroad is a special benefit. They view it as a chance to get away from abysmal lives at home, said Go Myong-Hyun of the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies, co-author of a 2014 research paper on North Korean workers. The problem is that North Korea is making bad use of this.

North Korea denies its workers suffer abuses, calling international criticism a plot to undermine its system.

South Koreas spy agency says 50,000 to 60,000 North Korean workers are in about 50 countries, mostly Russia and China; some experts believe the number of foreign workers is much higher. The Seoul-based North Korea Strategy Center said in a 2012 paper that the countrys foreign workers earned the North between $150 million and $230 million annually.

There is consensus among outside experts that North Korea is pushing to expand labor exports because long-running international sanctions have left the country with few legitimate sources of foreign currency.

They are employed in factories and restaurants in China; and logging camps and construction sites in Russia. Others work construction in the Middle East, or are in Africa building giant political statues, teaching taekwondo or providing health care. Their monthly average income was estimated at $120 to $150, according to the Asan Institute.

The North usually sends relatively affluent, loyal citizens who it believes can be less affected by foreign cultures. The vast majority are married men whose families must stay home, discouraging would-be defectors, analysts and activists specializing in North Korea said.

Defections of North Korean workers abroad appear to be relatively uncommon, though statistics are not available. An exception occurred last week, when South Korea announced the defections of 13 North Koreans who had worked abroad together at a restaurant.

Lee was teaching literature to North Korean middle- and high-school students when she jumped at the chance to be a waitress abroad. Lee said her father gave local officials up to 15,000 won (about $70) to help her land the waitress job. Others chosen were fellow teachers, doctors and new college graduates.

Lim used 20 bottles of high-quality liquor and 30 packs of cigarettes as bribes. Kim Sae-gil, a truck driver at a Siberian logging camp, said a relative pulled some strings.

When I was informed I would go abroad, I felt really, really happy, said Kim, 49, who worked in Siberia from 1995 to 1998. It was a feeling that Ive never experienced since then. Its still probably the best moment in my life.

Much of the workers actual experiences overseas, however, was grim.

Lee Soung Hee said she was given only one day off per month and had to work even when she learned her mother had died. She said secret police agents monitored waitresses and beat them for hiding tips.

There were customers who were touching our bodies, but we must not refuse that because our mission was to curry favor with them as much as possible to make them spend all their money, she said. When customers poured drinks for us, we had to drink them all. But we could not get intoxicated or we would have been criticized for failing to be loyal to the party.

She said colleagues who failed to earn target incomes had to go to motels to have sex with customers who would pay about 650 yuan ($100).

Lee found some positives. She said she enjoyed fruits she had never eaten before, including pineapples, prickly pears and longans.

Lim, a novelist, was a carpenter during his several months in Kuwait. He said he never received his promised $120-a-month salary, though he worked from dawn to midnight at a site surrounded by wire fences. He said he was frustrated when he learned Bangladesh and Indonesian workers nearby earned at least $450 per month.

Lim said he was allowed to moonlight at other construction sites after promising North Korean officials a cut of the extra income.

Lee Yong-ho, a defector who was a truck driver at a Russian logging camp, said he often worked 12 to 14 hours per day but never thought about his working conditions.

Slaves? Well, I didnt actually think about something like that. I only thought how much I could earn each month, said Lee, now a manual laborer in South Korea.

Kim, who worked at a different Siberian logging camp with about 900 other North Koreans, said dozens of workers died during his stay, many after being hit by falling trees. He said dead workers were stored for months in some vacant houses, with their entire bodies except their heads wrapped by blankets.

It was so cold there that they hadnt decomposed. Their faces looked just the same as before, he said. I once touched some of their faces and it was like touching ice.

Lee Yong-ho also saw frozen bodies stored. It was cheaper to them home in groups.

Kim said he had some extra income because he was sometimes allowed to collect wild fruits to sell. He enjoyed drinking alcohol with colleagues and deriding then-leader Kim Jong Il  the late father of current leader Kim Jong Un.

We just called him Kim Jong Il though we called him the general when we were in North Korea, he said. We sometimes even called him a little child as he was small. We had such freedom there.

All four workers eventually escaped while working overseas.

I didnt want to go back to an inferior country, said Lee Soung Hee, who ran away with a South Korean customer who is now her husband. Lee now teaches defector students in Seoul.

She later learned authorities in North Korea forced her relatives to move to remote places or put them under stricter surveillance systems in reprisal against her defection.

The other three workers know nothing about their families fates.

Kim said that although he decided not to return to North Korea after getting a taste for freedom, he misses his family, including a baby daughter he left behind.

She should be 22 now, said Kim, who is now a janitor near Seoul. Im still thinking about her.
Entrepreneurship is a tough gig with endless avenues. Thats why students at Cal State Fullerton started a coed business fraternity, Sigma Upsilon Mu.

The organization was established in March 2014 and began with nine students. It now has 31 members, including nine women and seven alums, along with 22 pledges.

When Miguel Olivares, SUMs co-founder and first president, transferred from Mt. San Antonio College to CSUF in 2013, he began his search for students who shared his dedication to entrepreneurship.

I had to find those few people who actually had that level of passion, and we came together and built a fraternity to be that engine, where people could bounce ideas and keep each other accountable, said Olivares, a senior marketing and information systems major.

The fraternity has grown, but it wasnt easy, said Olivares, who now serves as a mentor.

We struggled a lot the first year, but we treated it like it was a startup. We kept doing iterations, and weve been growing exponentially. A lot of our members are building business that are worth money. Its pretty awesome, Olivares said.

SUM has recruited students from various majors and interests including aerospace, engineering, advertising, marketing and art. It has also motivated women to join the fraternity, said Mandy Wang, SUMs director of strategy and senior business and entrepreneurship major.

Its inspiring to see that more and more women are entering the entrepreneurship world, she said. Women are underrepresented in business, and as the CEO of a company  and one of the few in a growing population of women in our entrepreneurship fraternity  I try to lead by example and to empower more women to step up and strive for more.

Olivares said SUMs goals are to become a fraternity of future CEOs who have that level of ambition (and) drive to service a support network to actually allow them to reach those higher levels. Lets say they want to become a CEO, you have to have mentors, a good network.

The fraternity helps members by asking about their goals, where they want to be in 20 years, how they are going to get there and then formulates a plan for every member based on their individual responses, Olivares said.

SUM has four pillars: entrepreneurship, leadership, achievement and brotherhood, Wang said. Here at SUM, we promote cohesiveness, and we have people who are willing to help not because they want to get something out of it.

Although the name Sigma Upsilon Mu was randomly chosen, the fraternity has developed creative ways to brand the group, Olivares said.

We have our slogan, Be SUMone. It ends up being a really good name, Olivares said.

SUMs other motto is, Deeds not words, he added. We tell people, Dont talk about it, do something about it.

The business fraternity differs from similar groups at CSUF, he continued.

Our core is being an entrepreneur or intrapreneur, someone who tries to create new value for a company, start a new product and take risks. Were very risk-oriented, Olivares said.

Olivares said the fraternity helps members brave potential failure.

You might fail, but its OK because youre going to learn from it. Take chances. Even through our entire pledge process, most of our pledges ended up working in three different businesses.  They get that level of experience within one semester, he said.

SUM held its semiannual 8-Hour Business Challenge in early March. About 30 students participated in the event focused on developing new business ideas.

The major difference compared to last semester is that we actually got professional mentors to guide the teams. We reached out to the Center for Entrepreneurship, and they got us really high-level mentors, Olivares said.

The mentors included entrepreneurs and professional investors from different backgrounds.

You have teams of four or five people, and they have eight hours to create a business. So you go from ideation to developing an investor pitch, a commercial and a presentation at the end of the eight hours, Wang said. We had gotten a lot more people interested not just from Cal State Fullerton, but we also had people from Cal State Los Angeles come out to participate in the competition.

Our organization came together as a group to actually make (the 8-Hour Business Challenge) happen, said Phillipe Rodriguez, president and co-founder of SUM. I just remember being so elated to actually put on this event, and how excited our members were to host such a thing.

The organization doesnt hold weekly meetings, but rather hands-on workshops.

If were explaining how to do a fast pitch, were actually going to do a fast pitch, said Rodriguez, a senior physics major with an emphasis in business. Theyre going to make business presentations in that workshop and actually present them, get feedback and try to improve on them as well.

The reality is, if you want to be an entrepreneur, you actually have to get out there and do it, Olivares said. Thats the only way to learn how to be an entrepreneur.

Learning how to manage teams, having a high level of communication and keeping team members inspired and motivated are skills Olivares is taking from his experiences with Sigma Upsilon Mu.

Ive developed those skills really, really well now. I believe I can bring them to any company or to my own companies in the future, he said.

The fraternity gives my life purpose, he added. I really love mentoring people. I really go out of my way to help other students, find out who they are as a person  therefore they can put all their energy into becoming the person they want to become.

Theyre a group of people you can go to for anything. That wasnt something that I have personally had before, like a family outside of my relatives, Wang said. Everything that Ive learned throughout my pledge process are a lot of things that I didnt learn in class, and that was very essential to where I am now. Im very grateful for everything Ive learned so far.

Olivares hopes to have two more chapters established by fall.

My real role right now is turning this fraternity from a Cal State Fullerton organization into a national organization, he said. Im talking to people in Cal State L.A., Cal Poly Pomona and UCI and trying to form other chapters.

(Ive) held a lot of different positions being with organization so long, and just being surrounded by entrepreneurship, Rodriguez said. It was one of the factors in motivating me to apply to schools such as Stanford, Yale, MIT and Harvard.

Without this experience, I dont think I would have been so inclined to apply to those schools, said Rodriguez, who said he will attend Stanford Graduate School of Business in two years. Thats where I see my career going.
CHICAGO  Police in Chicago have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color and have alienated blacks and Latinos for decades by using excessive force and honoring a code of silence, a task force declared Wednesday in a report that seeks sweeping changes to the nations third-largest police force.

The panel, established by Mayor Rahm Emanuel late last year in response to an outcry over police shootings, found that the department does little to weed out problem officers and that routine encounters unnecessarily turn deadly.

The group concluded that fear and lack of trust in law enforcement among minorities is justified, citing data that show 74 percent of the hundreds of people shot by officers in recent years were African Americans, even though blacks account for 33 percent of the citys population.

Reform is possible if there is a will and a commitment, the report said. But change must start with an acknowledgment of Chicago policings sad history.

The task force pointed to examples that spanned generations, including the 1969 killing of Black Panther Fred Hampton, allegations of torture from the 1970s to the 1990s under former commander Jon Burge and controversial stop-and-frisk practices in the early 2000s.

The report raises consciousness, activist Greg Livingston said. It shines a light into the darkness.

The citys new police chief said the department welcomed a fresh set of eyes but was not waiting for recommendations from the task force or from a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Justice Department before making changes. Eddie Johnson, an African American with 27 years on the force, was Emanuels handpicked choice to take the top job. The City Council confirmed the appointment Wednesday in a 50-0 vote.

We have racism in America. We have racism in Chicago. So it stands to reason we would have some racism within our agency. My goal is to root that out, Johnson told reporters after he was sworn in.

In a summary of the report, the Task Force on Police Accountability recommended replacing the badly broken independent review authority that currently investigates misconduct with a new and fully transparent and accountable Civilian Police Investigative Agency. It also suggested creating the post of deputy chief of diversity and inclusion.

Emanuel did not rule out doing away with the existing body known as the Independent Police Review Authority.

Theres no doubt we have a lot of work to do, the mayor said, adding that people have to have confidence in whatever agency reviews police behavior.

The mayor declined to discuss specifics in the report, saying he had not been briefed by the task force or seen the whole report.

The group conducted more than 100 interviews with community groups, police officers and outside experts and consistently found a department lacking a culture of accountability, said task force chairwoman Lori Lightfoot.
House Speaker Paul Ryan keeps trying to reject the notion that, somehow, in this crazy election year, he could emerge from a contested convention as the Republican Partys presidential nominee.

Ryan on Tuesday insisted  yet again  that he wont run for president this year, delivering a statement at the Republican National Committee office in Washington Tuesday.

I do not want, nor will I accept, the nomination for our party, he said. Count me out.

But no matter how many times the Wisconsin Republican says that he wont be the nominee, the rumors have persisted, fueled by the traditional business wing of the party, which has become increasingly isolated this year.

Often the target of Donald Trump and Ted Cruzs populist bombast, establishment Republicans are desperate for a reasonable  and safe  conservative. Theyve been pinning their hopes and dreams on the wonkish Ryan, if not for 2016 then for 2020.

He is smart, thoughtful and willing to find common ground to get things done, said Bill Oberndorf, who co-founded the investment firm SPO Partners & Co.

In short, he is everything Republican voters have decided to reject in 2016. At the end of the day, they will have stood on their conservative swords to nominate a candidate that will elect Hillary Clinton president. How short-sighted. How pathetic, Oberndorf said.

Whether or not Ryan manages this time to tamp down the 2016 speculation, the business wing of the party is still eyeing him for the 2020 contest.

I hear his name over and over and frankly its the only name I hear at this point, said Bill Greiner, chairman of the board of Primary Bank and a former hedge fund manager. Paul has a lot of experience, both in budgets and finance.

Greiner said that, at a breakfast with a couple of fiscal insiders late last month, the topic of discussion was their hopes that Ryan might emerge as the nominee at the convention in Cleveland.

I think hes the best hope, said Greiner. He noted that Ryans actions in stepping up to replace former Speaker John Boehner were well played out, and Greiner hasnt seen any regret from Republicans.

Sidebar: Ryan Faces Trial by Fire as Convention Chairman Flashback: Ryan Elected House Speaker Amid Republicans Chaos Flashback: Republican Paul Ryan Wont Run for President in 2016

The Ryan attraction goes beyond temperament, his relative youth and his reputation as a policy wonk who, at age 46, has already has been vetted nationally in a run for vice president in 2012.

Ryans brand of conservative policy positioning on such issues as slashing taxes, replacing Medicare benefits with vouchers, immigration, and deregulation of Wall Street, often wins plaudits from conservatives for being bold changes  while rarely offending old-line establishment Republicans.

Haley Barbour, a former governor of Mississippi who was chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1993 to 1997, said that in Ryan, Republicans have a leader who doesnt just talk, he proposes serious programs and policies that will work.

And hes very good at articulating that, Barbour added.

During four years as House Budget Committee chairman, Ryan proposed repealing Obamacare, cutting business tax rates, ending the estate tax and consolidating programs for low-income households. He sought to overhaul Medicare, the health program for seniors, by giving future recipients a fixed amount of money to buy insurance. Democrats say his plans would shred the social safety net.

He also has supported allowing 11 million undocumented immigrants to eventually become U.S. citizens, a stance strongly opposed by many fellow Republicans.

Earle Mack is a real estate developer and former U.S. ambassador to Finland who started a short-lived draft Ryan campaign last month, but shut it down after the speakers office vehemently objected. He said Ryan is someone who will create jobs, and do it the right way without disrupting the economy, because his approach is to not choke off business while showing compassion to the working class and poor people.

He can do it, I think, with things like lowering corporate taxes, and lowering the individual tax rate, and raising incentives to bring jobs back, said Mack, who was prepared to give $1 million of his own money to his committee to draft Ryan even though hes never met the speaker personally.

Policy Gaps

Ryan has managed to win this kind of support even though many of his proposals have been issued in general terms, without having filled in all the specific policy details. Those gaps dont bother his supporters.

Conservative Republican Michael Boyle, CEO of Boyle Energy Services & Technology in New Hampshire, said he sees Ryan as having the bearing, gravitas, intelligence and ability to communicate his ideas  a Republican incarnation of the legendary Democratic Speaker Tip ONeill.

Paul strikes me as that type of politician, he said.

Ryans office has consistently rejected the notion that he has a pattern of insisting he doesnt want a job he actually wants, a reference to his initial reluctance to be considered for the speakers office last fall. Ryan emerged as the only plausible candidate for speaker in the messy wake of Boehners resignation.

Ryan aides insist that the Wisconsin congressmans recent speeches on Republican unity and policy were about the ideas he wants to inject into the fall campaigns, not a preamble to a presidential agenda.

Strong Denials

Several business Republicans agree that the knock-it-off message from Team Ryan has been clear for a while.

I take them at their word, said Republican strategist David Catalfamo, who also was involved in the draft-Ryan super-PAC.

Ryan admirers still hope he will make a White House bid at some point.

I would be honored to support him to the utmost of my ability, said Mack, of a 2020 bid by a man who, he admitted, would not know me if he fell on me.

Sweet Spot

Congressional experts, including Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, say that if the Republican Party does crash and burn in 2016, Ryan could be someone who emerges from the ashes and rebuilds a more pragmatic party.

He hits a sweet spot for a lot of conservatives and Republicans: conservative enough to satisfy the base, not so conservative that he scares the crap out of others, says Ornstein.

But his job at speaker could get in the way. He already is finding it difficult  if not impossible  to win passage by his own Republican House majority of a fiscal 2017 budget resolution. And so far, he hasnt yet faced the sort of substantial challenges as speaker that wore down and eventually knocked out his predecessor, John Boehner of Ohio.

Unless he can find a way around those problems, they could end up redefining Ryan as a target of the anti-establishment populist right, egged on by talk radio, blogs and social media.

I dont know of anybody who harbors any ill will toward him, said Curly Haugland, a Republican National Committee member from North Dakota. But as speaker, hell have a lot of opportunity to earn it.

National Ambitions

This is all without even mentioning that Ryan he has never won election to statewide, let alone national, office. Since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, neither major party has nominated anyone other than a sitting or former U.S. senator, governor or vice-president.

And, history also shows, no sitting U.S. House speaker has ever successfully run for president.

Many establishment Republicans see Ryan as a very smart fellow, a public servant who knows policy, a conservative but an inclusive one like Jack Kemp who at least tries to put up a bigger tent to welcome more people, said New York-based national pollster John Zogby.

Someone like Ryan could be a good presidential candidate, said Zogby. But not by this party and not this time. It could be that Ryans best opportunity comes at the worst time.
Irvines elected leaders weighed in this week on a long-running debate over where to build a cemetery for military veterans, rejecting a developers offer of a land swap aimed at appeasing local homeowners who dont want it at the Orange County Great Parks edge.

A group of veterans has urged the construction of a cemetery on land at the former El Toro Marine base for several years, but after Irvine pledged to set aside about 125 acres at the park for the project, hundreds of residents objected, saying they did not want a burial ground so close to houses.

A possible compromise arose in recent weeks when developer FivePoint Communities, which is overseeing development of new neighborhoods around the Great Park, offered to swap private property next to I-5 for the city-owned land where the cemetery is slated.

But on Tuesday, after more than 90 minutes of public comments, the City Council voted to reject the developers proposal and instead voted to reaffirm its 2014 decision to set aside the 125 acres at the Great Park for a state-run veterans cemetery  and put $100,000 toward the effort.

Nearly two years ago, Irvine agreed to set aside land at the citys nearly 1,400-acre portion of the former base for a state-run cemetery.

But since then, the cemetery site in the Great Park has come under fire from hundreds of Irvine homeowners for its location. The property abuts residential neighborhoods around the park and is close to Portola High School, an Irvine Unified School District campus set to open in August.

Many objections have come from residents who follow the ancient Chinese philosophy of feng shui, which frowns on the juxtaposition of graves and residences.

Councilwoman Beth Krom on Tuesday said choosing an alternate site wasnt the right move at this point. Her motion to instead reaffirm the Great Park site and allocate $100,000 to bolster its chances of getting federal funding passed 3-1, with Mayor Steven Choi opposed to the spending, although he said he was not in favor of the alternate site. Councilwoman Christina Shea left the dais before the vote.

I think we have to stay the course, Krom said.

The decision disappointed many of those who packed City Hall to urge the council to take the deal, including homeowners opposed to the Great Park site and veterans who believed the swap would mollify those who have complained as well as fast-track the new cemetery: The private land in the offer would require no demolition to prepare it.

A WIN-WIN

I just believed this was a win-win for this city, said Shea, who facilitated the talks between cemetery backers and Emile Haddad, CEO and president of FivePoint, that culminated in the land-exchange proposal.

The land exchange would have relocated the cemetery site from the northeast portion of the Great Park to a similar-size piece of farmland owned by FivePoint near the El Toro Y.

The FivePoint land is near the freeway, some industrial buildings and the construction site where Broadcom Corp. is building a corporate campus. Like the Great Park site, the property is on the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The developers proposal, however, comes as Californias Veterans Affairs department, CalVet, is wrapping up a $500,000 feasibility study of the city-owned site. By July 1, the department plans to request federal grant money for the project.

Bill Cook, chairman of the Orange County Memorial Park Foundation, which formed to back construction of a cemetery at the former air base, spoke Tuesday in favor of the land swap.

So did Gang Chen, an Irvine resident who has led protests over the cemetery site and is running for mayor.

Cook said the deal would set residents feng shui concerns to rest while potentially moving up the project, due to the simplicity of building atop farmland. It would also make the cemetery more visible, positioning it in a place where thousands of drivers would see it daily, he said.

In contrast, the Great Park property is dotted with more than 70 structures and crisscrossed by old taxiways that would need to be ripped up before any construction could begin. That could cost millions, Cook said.

Others cheered the councils decision to stick with the original site.

Krom said the timing of the proposal, announced as CalVet prepares to ask for federal backing for the project, gave her pause; so did first hearing about the proposal last month although talks got underway in December.

Councilwoman Lynn Schott and Councilman Jeff Lalloway echoed her concerns. Both said they feared a switch would derail the CalVet effort.

Shea and Cook disagreed with that assessment, saying CalVets application could proceed even if the city entered negotiations over a potential exchange of land with FivePoint.

POOL OF FUNDS

Similar projects throughout the nation compete annually for a limited pool of federal funds for new cemeteries. Recent correspondence from CalVet about the agencys study of the Great Park property emphasized that were another site selected, a new feasibility study would be required.

Krom said her concerns over the transparency of the land-swap proposal process were compounded when she learned that the letter the council recently received requesting officials consideration of the plan, signed by Cook, had been written by someone at FivePoint.

Cook said the letter was composed that way for expediencys sake and that it accurately articulated his thoughts in favor of the developers offer.

As to the timing, Haddad said he wasnt the one who brought up the idea. It emerged as a possible solution to an ongoing controversy through his talks with Shea, Cook and others, he said.

It was a 2014 bill authored by then-Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton, that kicked off CalVets effort with an allocation of $500,000.

Quirk-Silva, a teacher who is running for the 65th Assembly District, said the proposal had arrived at an inopportune time.

Regardless of the advantages and disadvantages of either site, I was disappointed by the timing of the offer, coming only after much time and taxpayer money has already been expended, she wrote.

However, co-signer Assemblyman Donald Wagner, R-Irvine, said at the meeting he would work legislatively to get backing at the state level for the new site were the council to approve it.

Lalloway said Wagner was making promises he would be unlikely to be able to keep as a Republican in a Democrat-controlled Legislature.

Supporters of the alternate site packed City Hall for the meeting, waving signs with Yes on swap printed in red. Shouts of oorah rang out after some of the comments supporting the FivePoint proposal.

As in the past, the concerns of some Chinese residents were dismissed as unfounded superstitions by several of the more than 50 public speakers who commented. Those speakers said switching the site would be an act of capitulation and urged the council to keep its course.

Contact the writer: sdecrescenzo@ocregister.com
A bill that would end smoking in Californias state parks was passed by lawmakers Tuesday, a move that brings advocates a step closer to putting out butts along several miles of coastline in Orange County, where smoking is still allowed.

The Senate Committe on Natural Resources and Water passed the SB-1333 by a 7-2 vote. It now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee for discussion.

The proposal would outlaw smoking along Orange Countys five state beaches  Bolsa Chica, Huntington, Crystal Cove, Dana Point and San Clemente  and comes more than a decade after city beaches tackled the issue and extinguished smoking on the sand.

A ban would include all of the California State Parks System, which encompasses 40 miles of coastline, 970 miles of lake and river frontage and 4,500 miles of trails. About 67 million people visit the state parks each year. In Orange County, the state parks system also manages the trails and open space areas of Crystal Cove and El Morro.

Its the not the first time the issue has gone before the states decision makers, with the Assembly voting down a similar bill in 2010.

Sen. Marty Block (D-San Diego) said he participated in a beach clean-up and found cigarette butts strewn around, some from people at the beach but also butts that made their way downstream from inland areas.

Unless they smoke, beachgoers may not want to smell tobacco smoke, he said.

Nobody likes to go to the beach with their family and enjoy the fresh air and have the smell of smoke, he said. We think this is a very good idea to ban cigarette smoke at state beaches and parks, and fortunately the committee agreed with us.

Its not only an issue of public health, but also a policy that would impact tourism, he said. When travelers decide whether they want to go to Hawaii or the East Coast or Southern California on vacation, the cleanliness of the beach may have an impact on their decision.

Then, theres the environmental concerns, he said.

A cigarette contains 164 toxic chemicals. When these are dropped in our streams or state beaches, they seep into our wildlife, Block said.

The issue often draws up the debate of secondhand smoke and the annoyance of smoking in public, versus personal rights and governments interference of those rights.

In 2004, Huntington Beach was one of the first cities to ban smoking on the sand at city beaches. All city beaches have passed similar bans, though county beaches  which include Salt Creek, Aliso Viejo, areas of south Laguna and Sunset Beach  still allow smoking on the sand.

The past decade has seen a major push against smoking in public in Orange County, including bans at city parks, most college campuses and at the OC Fair. Some beach areas such as Laguna Beach have extended bans at beach boardwalks and walkways, and Huntington Beach extended its ban into beach parking lots.

In February, San Clemente introduced an ordinance that outlaws smoking at beach entrances.

Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com
We hear many fallacies in election years. The fallacy that seems to be most popular this year is that, if Donald Trump comes close to getting the 1,237 delegates required to become the Republican nominee, and that nomination goes instead to someone else, then the convention will have ignored the voice of the people.

Supposedly Republican voters would be outraged, many would stay home on election day, and some might even vote for the Democrats nominee.

Mr. Trump has more than once made the veiled threat that he would run as a third-party candidate if the Republicans failed to respect him.

In so far as the voting public believes the fallacy that choosing someone other than Trump is ignoring the voice of the people, when Trump has the most delegates, his threat carries weight.

In reality, Trump has never gotten a majority of the votes in any state. In other words, the voice of the people has been consistently against nominating Trump.

In a poll of Republican voters in Wisconsin, 20 percent of them said that they would be concerned if Trump became president, and 35 percent said that they would be scared.

If the voice of the people has spoken, whether in Wisconsin or nationally, what it has said repeatedly is No to Donald Trump. The illusion of Trumps overwhelming appeal to the Republican voters has been maintained by the fragmenting of Republican votes, because so many candidates were running as conservatives that Trump won primaries without ever getting a majority of the votes.

This would not be the first time that the conservative majority votes in a Republican primary season have been split so many ways that someone who is not a conservative ends up with the nomination.

That is how the Republicans ended up with Mitt Romney in 2012 and lost the election. That is also how the Republicans can end up with Donald Trump and lose this years election. Worse yet, from the standpoint of the country, that is how Donald Trump might end up winning.

The Republicans in Wisconsin who were scared of the possibility of Trump as president were on to something. We should all be scared.

Why? There is not room enough to list all the reasons. But Trump himself has demonstrated, over and over, how he lacks the depth of knowledge  and sometimes any knowledge at all  of complex life and death issues that are inescapable for any president.

Ignorance is dangerous enough in itself. But ignorance on the part of an egomaniac, who announces that he is his own best advisor, is incorrigible ignorance. He can surround himself with the best minds in the country and it will not do any good if they are just there for window dressing.

Barack Obama has already demonstrated what disasters a president can create when he ignores the warnings of the countrys top military leaders, as Obama did when he pulled American troops out of Iraq, setting the stage for the emergence of ISIS.

Obama dealt with that problem, as he has dealt with other problems, by coming up with glib rhetoric  in this case, dismissing ISIS as the junior varsity. The horrors that have followed  especially for women and girls  wherever ISIS has taken over in the Middle East make Obamas slick words grotesque.

The unprecedented public criticisms of President Obama by four of his former Secretaries of Defense, not to mention retired four-star generals, demonstrate that having knowledgeable and experienced advisors cannot make up for headstrong ignorance on the part of a president.

After seven long years of disaster after disaster, at home and abroad, under the Obama administration, have we learned nothing about the dangers of choosing an untested candidate for president on the basis of his saying things we want to hear?

Elections are not held to make us feel good at the time, but to select someone with the depth of knowledge and character to be entrusted with our lives and the future of the nation.
As a kid, Steve Watts would clutch whatever he could find to help bodysurf waves: flip-flops, Frisbees, even a lunch tray.

The San Clemente resident, who grew up in South Africa riding the waves, created Slyde Handboards for bodysurfing enthusiasts. On Friday, Watts and his wife, Angela, will showcase their product on ABCs Shark Tank.

The process of it has been just crazy. Its something for any small business to be on; its a no-brainer, said Angela Watts, 33. We cant afford the big-budget marketing  to be on the show is a dream.

Slyde Handboards is the latest Orange County startup to go before a national television audience to try and gain exposure and funding. Other Shark Tank episodes have featured local firms pitching camera accessories and skateboard wheels that can traverse bumpy roads. On the show, startup developers pitch a product, hopeful a panel of investors, or sharks, will buy a share of the company.

Watts, 39, and Angela, 33, have spent the last year tight-lipped, banned under contract from telling close friends or family that they even filmed with the show. They only got clearance two weeks ago when they were told the air date, and still cant divulge whether the sharks bit on their proposal.

Thats been very hard to do, youre so excited to let people know, Angela said. You want to let them know something big is going to happen. Its been very hard to keep a secret.

The couple tried three times to get on the show. Their first application was denied, as was their second. The third time was the charm.

A film crew shot the couple working out of their Dana Point apartment, where they lived at the time. Their one-bedroom doubled as office space before they set up a small warehouse and office in San Clemente.

Watts idea spawned from a life-long passion for taking waves.

Ive always been part of the ocean; I was in the water before I could walk, he said.

His favorite pastime became bodysurfing. Watts, 39, would make homemade boards for his hand. As a bodysurfer drops onto a wave, using a small board strapped to one hand can help the wave rider skim across the waters surface and go faster.

You get a lot more speed, lift and forward momentum on the wave, Watts said.

It dawned on him in the early 1990s that hand boards werent readily available, and the seed was planted for his future business.

That was the aha moment, where I decided that was what I was going to do, he said.

Slyde Handboards was founded in 2010 in Venice Beach. The couple moved the brand to Orange County to be closer to the surf industry.

Being a small business has had its challenges.

Weve made a lot of mistakes along the way. Youre doing everything yourself. As a small business, youre always working, every hour of every day  because its yours, Angela said.

They are hopeful the business is sprouting at the right time. Sales have doubled year after year with no marketing, she said.

Its really catching on in the past couple years, especially in California, Hawaii and Australia, Angela said. I think the opportunity of the sport is really endless. Anyone can do it.

And being on the show  whether the sharks bite or decide they wont invest  gives the small brand exposure to a wider audience.

One detail the couple can share ahead of the show: actor Ashton Kutcher made a guest appearance as a shark investor.

Even just him knowing about our business is cool, Angela said.

The couple is planning on having a gathering of friends and customers at a San Clemente restaurant to watch Fridays show.

Steve said he has one hope as the world learns about the Slyde Handboards.

The best thing is just seeing people enjoy your product, he said.

Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com
ALLISON HARVEY

MISSION VIEJO

SOFTBALL

GPA: 4.83

Harvey, a senior shortstop, is a four-year varsity member and a three-time scholar-athlete award recipient. Harvey earned second-team All-County honors last season and second-team all-South Coast League for three consecutive seasons. She helped the Diablos to a CIF-SS title and CIF runner-up finish the past two years. She is enrolled in the international baccalaureate program. Her class schedule includes IB biology, IB math, Spanish 5 AP/IB, IB civics/American government and IB English. She is involved with the California Scholarship Federation and has been on the Principals Honor Roll for four years. She will be attending Princeton and plans to study economics.

Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
The Alaskan wilderness is home to many natural wonders but also an unusual man-made structure that appears to have jumped right out of the pages of a Dr. Seuss book. Located over 130 kilometers away from Anchorage city, the quirky 185-ft edifice known as Goose Creek Tower looks like a bunch of houses built on top of each other.

This strange tourist attraction was built after a forest fire created a natural clearing among the trees, midway between Willow and Talkeetna. This particular spot apparently offers a beautiful view of Denali  North Americas highest mountain peak  and its this detail that explains, at least in part, the strange design of Goose Creek Tower. It started off as a single-storey house, but as the forest started growing back after the fire, owner Phil Weidner began adding additional floors just so he could enjoy the picturesque view from the windows, over the canopy. The completed structure is so reminiscent of the illustrated Dr. Seuss stories by Theodore LeSieg, that locals fondly refer to it as the Dr. Seuss House.

Photo: Great Big Story/YouTube

Goose Creek Tower was built in the late 90s, but after its completion, Weirdner decided to take some time away from the project, so the house was virtually abandoned and empty. During this period, it was visited by thousands of Dr. Seuss fans who were eager to look inside and take pictures of themselves standing next to it. Of course, the observatory at the top served as a bonus attraction.

Photo: Alaska.org

Last year, Weidner announced he was once again working on his Dr. Seuss House. Although the major construction is finished, including electrical and plumbing, he plans to work on the interiors for the next couple of years. The eccentric owner has promised that the tower will be open to the public again once its ready, but requests that people stay away for now. Its a construction zone and its just too dangerous, he explained.

Photo: Alaska.org

Its meant to be a home, also an observatory, he said, speaking to Ktva Alaska. I plan to eventually put a telescope in the top of it. Also, probably a ham radio station and call it Radio Free Goose Creek, and broadcast appropriate information to the world.

Photo: Alaska.org

Phil plans to live in the ground level of Goose Creek Tower, at least part time, once it is completed, and also make it available to visitors.

Sources: When on Earth, KTVA, The Creators Project
British micro-engraver Graham Short is famous for creating detailed carvings that are so unbelievably tiny that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. On a never-ending quest to push his limits and create the tiniest engraving possible, Short has engraved specks of gold small enough to fit in the eye of a needle and even the edge of a razor blade. His secret  working between heartbeats.

To produce his tiny masterpieces, Graham works in complete silence, because even the slightest sound could produce vibrations that might ruin his work. He steadies his right arm by securing it with a strap attached to a piece of heavy machinery. His mobile is switched off, and he mostly works at night to avoid the vibrations of vehicles passing in the street. Starting at midnight, he works through the night until five or six in the morning, and continues for three to four nights in a row, until he gets too tired and his body clock needs readjustment.

As much as he tries to eliminate distractions, there is one vibration that Graham cannot silence  his own heartbeat. But hes come up with a ingenius technique to work around that as well. Graham tapes a stethoscope to his chest and places the earpieces in his ears, keenly listening to his own heartbeat. With his carving tool in hand, he waits motionless, for as long as 20 minutes, until his heart rate is at its lowest. Then, listening intently, he only makes a carving at his stillest moments  in between heartbeats.

I can do something that no one else on a planet of 7 billion people can, Graham said, speaking to Quartz. Thats probably true, and it helps that he has always been a fit and healthy man thanks to his love of swimming. He was the European butterfly champion in his age group at age 55, and now, at age 70, he still swims three hours a day to keep his heart rate low. Most importantly, he doesnt drink coffee on work days.

As fit as he is, age has finally caught up with Graham  these days he has to consume potassium, magnesium, and beta-blocker pills to get his heart rate to drop as low as 20 beats per minute. To keep his eyes in top shape and hold the muscles in place, he gets botox injections every few weeks. But the most important aspect of his work is meditative, and hes only gotten better at that with time.

One of Grahams most remarkable masterpieces is his engraving of the words Nothing is Impossible on the edge of a razor blade, 1/100th of a millimeter wide, which was later sold to a collector for 50,000 euros. It took him a total of 180 tries to get it right, and when he finally did, he was beside himself with joy. I was absolutely thrilled, he said, speaking to DW TV. When I finished it, I couldnt believe it, because Id struggled for so long to do it. And I knew that it was probably the smallest engraving in the world. I cant go any smaller, and I wouldnt think anybody else can.

Graham also carved out a one-millimeter image of the Hindu Goddess Durga, responding to a challenge by an Indian artist who had previously made a one-inch carving. His most recent work, and his favorite by far, is a microscopic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, carved on a speck of gold stuffed in the eye of a needle, made to commemorate her 90th birthday on April 21. His greatest dream, however, was to engrave the Lords Prayer on the head of a nail, and that took him 40 years to complete.

Of course, Graham has made his share of frustrating mistakes. He once forgot to add the letter I in a miniscule tribute to NASA, and noticed the error only after the piece was complete. He lost three months of work because of that mistake, and had no choice but to start again. More than once he has dropped completed works as he removed them from the microscope, and was unable to pick them out of this studio carpet. But these mistakes are far and few, and for the most part, Graham is a master at working at a slow, unhurried pace, a technique that greatly improves the accuracy of his craft.

Interestingly, Graham considers himself an extrovert and craves the recognition that is rightfully his. I want people to realize, more than anything, how difficult this is, he said. Hes always on the lookout for the next tiny canvas to showcase his skills on  engraving quotes and names of famous people on pen nibs, pinheads, the casing of a bullet, the center point of a pocket watch, or even the pointy end of a paperclip. But size isnt the point  Graham wants to go smaller and smaller mainly because that would make it impossible for anyone to best him. They wont be able to do it. They wont be able to go these lengths. I dont blame them.

They think Im an eccentric, I think, he laughed. But it is an obsession. Totally obsessed with it now. Cant stop it.

Photos: Graham Short
Advocates for healthy practices for cellphones, computers and other devices have organized Wired Health Now 2016 April 19-21 to offset Wi-Fi Now 2016 in Tysons Corner, Va., on the same dates.

Wired Health will be a cyber conference with dozens of participants not only from the U.S. but Canada, U.K., France, Germany and other countries.

An agenda is being drawn up to compete with the agenda of Wi-Fi Now 2016 which has 60+ speakers.



BULLETIN: After accepting a press reservation for O'Dwyer's, Heidi Jepsen, chief administrator of Wi-Fi Now 2016, today said no O'Dwyer reporter will be allowed to cover the conference, cancelling the reservation.

Attempts to place health advocate speakers on the Wi-Fi conference have been rebuffed by the organizers.

Claus Hetting

Claus Hetting, CEO and chairman of Wi-Fi Now and CEO of Hetting Consulting, Arhus, Denmark, told this website that the conference is not a forum for discussing health issues of any kind.

Health Concerns Cited by EHS Victim

An immediate response went to Hetting from Norm Ryder of Canada, who has electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS). Ryder wrote:

I understand you think health concerns about Wi-Fi are groundless and not founded in science. There are literally thousands of peer reviewed scientific papers on the subject and the overwhelming weight of evidence supports the contention that low levels of radiation are harmful.

The level of radiation is many orders of magnitude higher than historic natural levels and the radiation is different today than the natural radiation. Most man made radiation today is digital, pulsed and modulated, historically it has been none of these.

In addition the radiation is polarized today, naturally it is not, and we are also frequently within the near and intermediate field zones of radiation where there can be spectacular peaks of radiation. Man made radiation is an entirely different beast from the minuscule natural radiation mankind has evolved with.

As a person with EHS, I am well aware of the various illnesses and poor health experiences I and many others feel when subjected to electromagnetic radiation. The two videos below cover some of the issues of electromagnetic radiation to a greater depth

Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity: What it is like to live with it.

The highly dangerous and unpredictable zones around Cell Towers, Cell Phones other radiating devices

Cordially, Norm Ryder

FCC Commissioner, Porn on Program

Speakers on the Wi-Fi Now program include Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcell who will provide a Fireside Chat.

Organizers of Wired Health Now 2016 say they will seek to have an FCC commissioner speak at their conference.

Another session will explore Why porn free Wi-Fi in America is possible and profitable." Speaking will be Donna Rice Hughes of Enough is Enough and Friendly Wi-Fi.



She has been advocating an internet that would be safer for children and families since 1994 and has appeared on more than 4,000 outlets as an expert on internet safety, child sexual exploitation, prevention, digital technology, public policy, family issues and cyber-parenting. She has testified to committees of the Senate and House orf Representatives.

Other speakers include executives of Google, Samsung, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Core Networks for Carrier Wi-Fi Everywhere, Time Warner Cable, Oracle and WiFiForward.

Oregon Candidate Focuses on Wi-Fi and Children

David Morrison, candidate for the Portland City Council, is basing his campaign on his effort to curb use of Wi-Fi in schools. His website says the following:

Microwave radiation from wireless devices is a serious public health issue that should be investigated by the City Council who should then inform the public of their findings.

The health and genetic integrity of our children should not be compromised by industry pressure and financial kickbacks. School officials may be personally liable in eventual lawsuits for physical damage caused by chronic Wi-Fi radiation exposure in schools. Telecommunications industries are no longer eligible for liability insurance.

Oregon House Bill 3350 introduced in 2015 would require that parents, teachers and school employees be advised that the World Health Organization has determined microwave radiation from Wi-Fi and cell towers in schools is a Class 2B carcinogen.



Zonya Marcenaro Townsend, a candidate for the Board of Education in Orange County, Calif., has said she supports removal of Wi-Fi from schools and replacement with hard wiring. She has received support from the National Assn. for Children and Safe Technology.
Ian Christopher McCaleb and Eric Lebson authored this piece.

The world at the beginning of April seemed to have been turned on its collective ear by the suddenly exposed 40-year trove of internal materials belonging to the Panama City-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, revelations nestled within the so-called Panama Papers. The churn of recrimination, of course, will remain quite audible for some time to come, and there are many noteworthy angles to the story of how so many people and organizations  not all of them spectacularly wealthy  made use of the law firm to shelter their assets and avoid their home countries tax authorities.

News organizations and commentators the world over have been reporting or fulminating on the matter since the story first broke on April 3, with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists overseeing and coordinating a herculean parsing processes from their Washington, D.C. headquarters.

The ICIJ has managed the efforts of nearly 400 journalists employed by approximately 100 news organizations and spread across 70 countries. For the better part of the last year or more, this union of reporters and editors has been pecking away at the fruits of what has been described as the largest data compromise in history, with nearly 12 million financial records to be sorted through about who moved what assets, how they did it and where those assets went.

And no one knew a thing about what they were up to.

There are several ironies here, some of which have been deconstructed via the mainstream press. The core elements of the entire saga, however, are security, secrecy and trust. Mossack Fonsecas clients fervently believed they could completely trust the law firm with their most closely held financial  and sometimes very personal  secrets.

For whatever reason, an outside breach  or more likely, an internal law firm operative turned ethical hacker  has managed to pull away the veneer of Mossack Fonsecas trustworthiness, with four decades of confidences now spilling out for the entire world to deconstruct.

Mossack Fonseca didnt necessarily engage in world-class data protection or in comparable operational security. It doesnt matter if the person who obtained the material from the law firm hacked his or her way in from the outside, or simply made off with the data from within. Mossack Fonseca was powerfully negligent in regard to its internal security regimes.

To the Business Intelligence practitioner, there is no greater client-safety-driven recommendation to be made, most especially in the midst of a client red-teaming engagement or an intense due diligence process, than insisting that all operations involving the most sensitive personal, corporate and financial information be as locked down as possible. Access permissions, for example, should be granted only to those who need to see specific data on a government-standard need to know basis. Firewalls, security measures and monitoring processes must always be state-of-the-art.

From our perspective, it makes preventative sense for us to recommend fail-safe methods to our clients, through partnering arrangements with data security and forensics providers. Its also advisable for companies entrusting information that has existential risk implications to conduct their own due diligence on their law firm and how it handles such material, from the simple use of shredders, to the vetting of employees, to the compartmentalization and audit procedures that are in place within their networks. Mitigation and recovery are especially important following a catastrophic breach, but Business Intelligence regimes can also help identify weaknesses before they are exploited from the inside or the outside.

The existential threat to an organization like Mossack Fonseca is utterly incalculable at this point. Worse, all of this was most likely very preventable.

The grandest contrast of the Panama Papers situation becomes material when one considers how thoroughly embarrassed Mossack Fonseca has been in regard to its own security efforts, and how stealthily the ICIJ managed a top-secret information exploitation effort, an effort that spanned multiple countries, with hundreds of individual participants. Not a word  or even the slightest hint  of this operation leaked until the investigative journalism consortium was ready to make its own revelations on its own terms.

How did they do it? Theres some limited information available online about their communications and encryption efforts, much of it available via journalism industry blogs and trades, though we should all be assured that they arent disclosing much of anything substantive regarding how they kept it all under wraps.

Nor should they. An organization like the ICIJ is a consistent target for hackers and digital invaders of all sorts  to include foreign intelligence services. The methods employed by the ICIJ to ensure secrecy and unimpeded workflow are surely worthy of admiration and study from a variety of perspectives.

Theres a right way to secure confidentiality, and a wrong way to promise or assure the same.

There will be many takeaways from the Panama Papers saga over the next weeks and months, but from a security standpoint, look to the nascent, hungry, and self-aware organizations like the ICIJs of the world. Complacency and self-assurance, most specifically in regard to the most delicate operational security, is not to be trusted in this ever-evolving worldwide digital landscape.



* * *

Ian Christopher McCaleb and Eric Lebson are Business Intelligence practitioners at LEVICK. They can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected]
Boca Raton, FL-based PR agency TransMedia Group has appointed Sonja Warner vice president of global corporate communications.

Sonja Warner

In her new role, Warner will help develop U.S. business and communications for TransMedias clients in Russia, Ukraine and Europe. (Warner is fluent in English, German, Russian, Croatian and Ukrainian.). She will also assist startup companies with their branding and sales messaging, and will help recruit Russian models for TransMedia Models, the talent practice the agency launched in January.

TransMedia Group founder and CEO Tom Madden told ODwyers that division is growing internationally very fast, and a New York office will soon open to accommodate the practice.

Warner was previously managing partner at communications agency Worldwide Innovative Communications, Inc. Prior to that she was general manager of government affairs consulting firm People Republic Consulting and was head of organizational development and corporate communications at Robert BOSCH Ltd.

TransMedia Group accounted for more than $1 million in net fees in 2015, according to O'Dwyer's rankings of PR firms.
The OECD Observer online archive takes you on a journey through half a century of public policy and world progress.

Since November 1962, the OECDs experts and leading guests offer insights on the questions facing our member countries with concise and authoritative analysis, and provide our audiences with an excellent opportunity to understand policy debates and consider solutions.

Each edition of the OECD Observer reports on a core theme of the OECDs on-going work, from economics and society through governance, finance, and the environment, and articles are bolstered by tables and graphs.
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Ajit Jain, long considered a top candidate to replace billionaire Warren Buffett as chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is expanding his oversight of the companys insurance operations.

Gen Re, one of the major reinsurance businesses at Omaha-based Berkshire, said Tuesday that CEO Tad Montross, 60, would step down by the end of this year. His replacement hasnt been named but will report to Jain, said Sabine Denne, a spokeswoman for the reinsurer.

Buffett, 85, has said he considers Jain family. The 64-year-old built a separate underwriting unit, Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, into one of the companys largest operations. He has expanded that business, even amid increased industrywide competition, while Gen Re has retrenched in some markets.

Its a deepening of his involvement with the insurance vertical rather than a statement about who will succeed Buffett, Tom Russo, who oversees $11 billion at Gardner Russo & Gardner, including Berkshire shares, said of Jains new duties. Tads awfully young to be retiring.

At the end of December, Jains reinsurance unit had about $44 billion of float, which includes premium dollars that Buffett can invest before paying claims. That compares with $18.6 billion at Gen Re, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut. Reinsurers assume risks from primary carriers.

Underwriting profit at Montross unit declined by half last year to $132 million as competition pushed down rates for property-and-casualty coverage. The unit, which generates about $6 billion in annual policy sales, said last month that it was exiting P&C operations in six locations, including Hong Kong and Seattle, amid a global reorganization.

Buffett said last year that he expects a slump in reinsurance results in the coming decade as investors enter the market. Given that view, it makes sense to consolidate operations under Jain rather than bring on someone new to report to Buffett, who already oversees dozens of CEOs, said Jeff Matthews, an investor and author of books about Berkshire.

Ajit could do that in his sleep, Matthews said of the expanded role.

Montross, who reports to Buffett, had been discussing his potential retirement for some time with the billionaire and felt like it was time to move on, according to a person with knowledge of his plans. Hell work on the transition with Jain and have more time with family, the person said.

Buffett didnt respond to a message seeking comment.

Berkshire has grown in recent decades through acquisitions, including a railroad, utility operations, retailers and manufacturing businesses. Insurance underwriting and investment income last year contributed less than a quarter of Berkshires profit.

Still, Buffett says, insurance remains a key business as his company diversifies, and he has long praised Jain.

Ajit has probably made a lot more money for Berkshire Hathaway than I have, Buffett said at an event in India in 2011, responding to a question about whether Jain would succeed him. I really feel about him like I would a brother or a son.

Other top deputies also have been adding responsibilities, including Greg Abel, who is CEO of the energy operation. The 53-year-old is on the operations-and-strategy board committee at Kraft Heinz Co., the foodmaker that counts Berkshire as its top shareholder.

Berkshire Vice Chairman Charles Munger wrote in a letter last year that Jain and Abel are examples of world-leading executives who are in some ways better than Buffett.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. owns the Omaha World-Herald.
FREMONT  Supporters of a proposed chicken-processing plant took a new tack Wednesday, organizing themselves to speak in favor of the plans for the first time in a public forum.

People on both sides of the issue packed the Dodge County Board hearing room in Fremont in a standing-room-only crowd.

Supporters said the project would bring needed growth to the rural county. The economic benefit to this area, this region, is enormous, said Chuck Emanuel of North Bend, Nebraska, a member of the Nebraska Corn Growers Association board.

A farmer from Hooper, another Dodge County town, said the chance to add chicken houses to row-crop farms is an opportunity to boost farm revenue, which in turn would give the next generation a chance to stay on the farm, he said.

If we dont allow economic development, peoples children and grandchildren end up going to other states even, let alone Omaha and Lincoln, said farmer Scott Wagner.

And Fremont resident Kathy Rhea, owner of an Arlington cattle feeding business and a Fremont Chamber of Commerce ag committee leader, said recruiting agriculture-related business makes more sense than dreaming about high-tech companies.

If were going to sit around and wait for that, were never going to have economic development in Fremont, Rhea said.

Following heated opposition to the plant at an April 4 Nickerson Village Board meeting, the Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska told plant supporters not to attend an April 5 Fremont City Council meeting, where opponents planned to again speak about the chicken plant until the mayor unexpectedly adjourned the meeting without taking public comment.

The ag groups director, Willow Holoubek, said Wednesday that the County Board meeting was orderly and a good venue for discussion.

Project opponents were there, too, and reiterated concerns about traffic, waste, disease and an influx of workers.

Randy Ruppert, an organizer of opponents group Nebraska Communities United, said after the meeting that he welcomed the chance to hear other views.

This is what weve been asking for: debate, good old American debate, Ruppert said. Theyve been cloaked in secrecy and this is the first time we even got to hear from the proponents.

The name of the company behind the project still is being kept secret. State and local officials have refused to name the company.

County Board member Bob Missel, the owner of a Fremont clothing shop, told The World-Herald that he knows the name of the company behind the plans but has agreed not to disclose it, although he said he didnt sign a formal nondisclosure agreement.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1336, barbara.soderlin@owh.com
Terrorists killed in Handwara were active in forests for two weeks

Twitter compares #Handwarakillings to Jallianwala Bagh

Feature

oi-Pallavi

By Pallavi

The recent Handwara incident where a clash between the Army and the civilians culminated into the killing of two youths and several injured, has been compared to the Jallianwala Bagh. On the day of the latter's anniversary, people remember the martyrs at this ill-fated destination in a unique way.

Public Twitter forums are unabashed, criticizing the Army for its relentless behaviour. Despite CM Mehbooba Mufti's assurance that the perpetrators will be handed with an iron fist, Twitter is flooded with criticism.

According to the villagers in this district of Jammu and Kashmir, at around 3:45 pm, an army man tried to molest a woman in the washroom, which was close to an army bunker in the main market area. As news spread, people gathered near the spot and started protesting against the army.

To control the mob, the Rashtriya Rifles and J&K Police opened fire, injuring 4 and killing 2.

Jalianwala Bagh ignited a generation of Indians to fight not only imperialism but injustice in all forms. Let the light guide us always.  Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) April 13, 2016

Tributes to the martyrs of #JalianwalaBagh, remembering the horrors after 97 years.

P.S. Trending whatever as  . phew!  Nanda Kishore N (@AcerbicallyUrs) April 13, 2016

Remembering all those people who lost their

lives in the Jalianwala bagh massacre!

Hating Britishers to the core! pic.twitter.com/GzWKxLK2dU  Raushan Raj (@AskRaushan) April 13, 2016

It took #JalianwalaBagh for Tagore to see the horrors of colonialism. Prior to that he was happy being a knight of the British empire  Manchu_ (@Manchu71) April 13, 2016

Yesterday Indian Army repeated Jalianwala Bagh by #HandwaraKillings

Pls pray for Handwara Martyrs. https://t.co/IzOyuWrYuS  Shuja Kamili (@shujakamili) April 13, 2016

As we wish and celebrate #Baisakhi today, let's not forget the bloodbath at #JalianwalaBagh pic.twitter.com/YrHB0d80E4  Sona (@sona2905) April 13, 2016

The world talks about the Holocaust, but is unaware of the brutality committed in #JalianwalaBagh. (:  Raj Kumar Jha (@rajpadma) April 13, 2016

Although a tad too much for a comparison, public wanted to establish the similarities where the Indian Army was involved in both the cases. In both the cases, innocent lives were harmed and that too for no reason.

Remembering Jallianwala Bagh that killed over 1000 of innocent people, who had gathered to celebrate the Punjabi new year festival Baisakhi, it can be said that the British government nailed its own coffin with the incident.

Presuming that the gathering was a conspiracy against the colonial government, the army was directed to open fire, killing till the bullets were exhausted. The Handwara killings were of similar kind, but to a lesser extent.
RJD MLA Awadh Bihari Chaudhary likely to be new speaker of Bihar Assembly

Will not step down unless CM asks me to do so: Bihar Agriculture Min

2 accused surrender in RJD MLA's sister' death case

India

oi-PTI

Patna/Ara, April 13: Two of the accused in the alleged sexual assault and death of an RJD MLA's sister surrendered before the Bhojpur district court today, while three others are still at large.

Mithilesh Singh and Santosh Singh surrendered before the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) who remanded them to judicial custody.

Besides the two, three unknown persons have been made accused in the case registered with the Chandi police station of Bhojpur district. They are yet to be arrested. Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) A Rahman has been camping at Ara to supervise the case. "No accused will be spared," the DIG said.

RJD MLA Saroj Yadav's elder sister was allegedly sexually assaulted and badly beaten up by the accused on April 9. She died during treatment in Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) yesterday.

Talking to mediapersons at Ara today, the RJD MLA from Barhara demanded stern action against the outgoing Bhojpur Superintendent of Police Navin Chandra Jha for allegedly showing leniency in the case.

Describing the incident as "serious", senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said the crime took place as the police was busy implementing the alcohol ban in the state.

BJP MLA Nitin Navin echoed the views. Former Chief Minister and RJD leader Rabri Devi said law would take its own course and sought adequate compensation for kin of the victim. JD(U) spokesman Ajay Alok expressed sorrow over the episode and said the law would not spare any wrongdoer.

PTI
After water, Latur receives the gift of life

India

oi-Pallavi

Mumbai, April 13: Few hours after Latur received the life-saving water from the Maharashtra administration, it received another gift from a 22-yaer old boy from Gujarat. Brain dead from a bike accident, donor Kalpesh Lukhi's heart was transported and planted in a farmer's son, hailing from Latur.

Thanks to a well-coordinated effort by Surat and Mumbai authorities, the heart was successfully transplanted in nearly 60 minutes.

The airport in the both the cities went out of the way to accommodate the air ambulance that landed at Surat airport to collect the heart. When the Surat airport authorities were informed about the post 9 pm flight, an emergency 40-member team of ATC personnel was created who regulated the flight departure at 12 am.

Vijay Agarwal, Head of Pediatric cardiac surgery, Fortis said, "The operation went from 2 am to 5 am after which the patient was shifted to ICU. He is currently on ventilator but stable. He will remain in the hospital for 3-4 weeks."

"The organ was transported to Fortis from Mumbai airport with a convoy of three police vehicles in mere 14 minutes, which enabled the transplant to commence at 5.30 am after which the recipient was shifted to ICU at around 7am. The main aim was to make the organ reach the recipient as soon as possible, which was successfully achieved," said an official from MAB that transported the heart from Surat to Mumbai.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Wednesday, April 13, 2016, 15:03 [IST]
Baba Ramdev booked over 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' slogan remark

India

oi-PTI

Hyderabad, Apr 13: Yoga guru Ramdev, who had said that he would have beheaded lakhs of people for not chanting 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' slogan, was booked by the Hyderabad police on Wednesday.

A case was registered on a complaint by Mohd Bin Omer, a medical college student and an activist of city-based Darsgah Jihad-O-Shahadat under section 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of the IPC today, a senior police officer said.

Amit Shah comes out in support of Baba Ramdev

Omer said in the complaint that he had seen a video clip on YouTube where Ramdev threatens members of a particular community, Assistant Commissioner of Police M Srinivasa Rao said.

"We are investigating the matter further," Rao told PTI.

Ramdev had recently said he respects the law of the land and the Constitution, otherwise he would have "beheaded" lakhs of people for refusing to say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

Hyderabad-based MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had earlier said he would not say the slogan.

PTI
Bengaluru: Siddaramaiah in row over son-linked lab in govt-run hospitals

India

oi-PTI

Bengaluru, April 13: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has come under fire over his younger son being permitted to set up lab and diagnostic facility at government-run hospitals in alleged violation code of conduct for Ministers.

The lab will be run in partnership with Matrix Imaging Solutions India Private Limited, in which Siddaramiah's son Yathindra Siddaramaiah is a director. Unfazed by the criticism, the Chief minister today denied any wrongdoing, saying, "He (his son) is a doctor by profession.

His friend is having a company. He is one of the directors. They had participated in the tender. They are the lowest bidder.

It is for service to the people, there is no money involved from the government." The issue snowballed into a controversy as Leader of Opposition BJP in the Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa talking to reporters in Udupi demanded a probe into the matter. "Just because he is Chief Minister's son there is nothing that he should not work.

But, whoever it is, the tender has to be as per law and rules," Eshwarappa said. "Chief Minister has already said that it is as per rules. So let there be investigation on this", he said, in an apparent poser why the government should shy away from probe.

Chirthahalli Mudlagiriyappa Rajeshgowda and Yathindra are directors of Matrix Imaging Solutions India Private Limited registered in 2009.

The code of conduct for Ministers (both Union and state) says that "after taking office, and so long as he remains in office, the Minister shall ensure that the members of his family do not start, or participate in, business concerns, engaged in supplying goods or services to that government (excepting in the usual course of trade or business and at standard or market rates) or dependent primarily on grant of licenses, permits, quotas, leases, etc from that government."

The code, posted on government website, also states that the Minister shall report the matter to the Prime Minister, or the Chief Minister as the case may be, if any member of his family sets up, or joins in the conduct and management of, any other business.

The lab will have biochemistry, pathology, CT scan, MRI scans, X-ray and ultrasound facilities for patients. A post on the Facebook page that updates about the state government programmes, dated April 7 said "The lab is being run in partnership with a private lab, Matrix Solutions.

Being run under public-private partnership, the private company will provide the equipment, while the government would give space in the hospital to run the service." It also claims the services provided at the centre will be cheaper.

PTI
Cases for chanting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' unacceptable, says AAP minister

India

oi-PTI

Jammu, Apr 12: Filing of criminal cases against Srinagar-based NIT students for chanting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' cannot be accepted in this country, AAP leader and Minister in Delhi government Kapil Mishra said here today.

As outstation students of NIT continued to leave Kashmir, Mishra met some of them here and backed all their demands, including withdrawal of criminal cases against them and ensuring full security.

"The criminal cases need to be withdrawn. Tight security of the students need to be ensured. There has to be a Tricolor in the NIT Srinagar. These are simple demands, which should be fulfilled apart for sacking cops involved in lathicharge," Mishra told reporters here.

"What they were doing? They were raising slogans like Bharat Mata Ki Jai for which criminal cases were registered against them. It cannot be accepted in this country," he said.

The Minister in Delhi's Kejriwal government questioned why "those people, who hold Tricolor, have been forced to run away from Srinagar." Mishra, who accompanied some of the NIT students to Delhi this evening, said "all those policemen who have lathicharged these students with brute force inside the campus of the NIT Srinagar should be removed from service".

He said he was in Kashmir for last two days and received students. "I received a team of students at the airport. I decided to come to Jammu as most of the students have decided to come to Jammu and leave Srinagar," he said.

"The career of the students is very important that cannot be compromised. All the criminal cases that have been filed against them have to be withdrawn," the Delhi Minister said. He said HRD Minister Smriti Irani has been saying that every central university will have a tricolor, then why not in NIT Srinagar.

"We have decided to provide them best possible treatment in Delhi as some of them have been injured by the police.I am going to Delhi now and we will ensure proper treatment for them," he said while talking about those injured in protests.

Mishra said "We will be with them at every place wherever they hold protest against government and ensure the double agenda of the BJP will be exposed," he added. "I am here as an Indian not as the member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). I am not carrying the banner of AAP, I am carrying a Tricolor," he said. Mishra said "We appeal to the BJP and the RSS supporters that they should also come and join in their fight".

PTI
You don't talk to me: Sonia Gandhi told Smriti Irani in Parliament over 'rashtrapatni' row

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

Congress leader describes Smriti Irani as Manu Smriti Irani'

India

oi-Reetu

New Delhi, April 13: Attacking Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani over the Rohith Vemula suicide and other issues, senior Congress leader S Jaipal Reddy Tuesday described her as Manu Smriti Irani'.

"She is Manu Smriti Irani' because she has Manu in her heart," Reddy said slamming the Minister over the death of Vemula, a Dalit scholar of Hyderabad University.

Manu is believed to have proposed the four-rung caste system in the ancient times. Manu Smriti' is an ancient legal text.

Smriti Irani ensures ISBN is Now a Click Away

Reddy was speaking at a meeting organised in Hyderabad by Telangana Congress as part of 125th birth anniversary celebrations of B R Ambedkar.

It was Congress party and its leaders who made Ambedkar the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution, the former Union Minister pointed out.

Ambedkar has a special place among the luminaries born in the country for path-breaking contributions he made in drafting the Constitution and working for social change,Reddy said.

Hitting out at RSS, the Congress leader maintained it was Jawaharlal Nehru and Ambedkar who supported the Hindu Code Bill which was allegedly opposed by the Sangh fountainhead, Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJP's earlier avatar) and the latter's leader Syama Prasad Mukherjee, he said.

Reddy also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly distorting facts about the Hindu Code Bill recently.

OneIndia News

(With inputs from agencies)
Death of Indian: Acting Indian High Commissioner to take up issue with Pak

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Apr 13: India today asked its acting High Commissioner in Islamabad to seek a meeting with the Pakistan Foreign Office in connection with the death of an Indian under mysterious circumstances in a jail there.

The envoy has also been instructed to seek early transfer of the mortal remains of Kirpal Singh, who was found dead in his cell in a Lahore Jail where he was languishing for over 20 years in connection with a serial blasts case there.

"On Kirpal Singh, our acting high commissioner in Islamabad has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in Pakistan Foreign Office this forenoon to seek early transportation of Singh's mortal remains.

"He will also seek official information on the cause of the death and postmortem report etc," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swaroop said.

50-year-old Kirpal Singh was languishing in a Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges and was found dead in his cell on Monday under mysterious circumstances.

Indian prisoner dies in Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat Jail

Kirpal Singh had allegedly crossed Wagah border into Pakistan in 1992 and was arrested. He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur, was reportedly acquitted of bomb blast charges by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted due to unknown reasons. Jagir Kaur, Kirpal's sister, earlier said the family could not raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case.

PTI
How PU Chemistry paper was set in Karnataka after two leaks

India

oi-Shreyas

Bengaluru. April 13: Finally, the third time the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education of Karnataka, Kimmane Rathnakar saw through students taking Chemistry exam uninterrupted by leak.

The same paper (Chemistry) of II Pre-University was out before the actual exam twice, forcing the Department of Pre-University Education to post pone the examination. First leak of paper occurred on March 21. To this effect, the PU Board deferred the exam to March 31, but to no avail as the paper succumbed to leak for the second time again on the same day.

Massive protests were erupted across the state flaking the failure of the state government and PU Board in checking the leak. The government has ordered CID probe in this connection and cops have now nabbed a few, while investigations are still on.

Meticulous setting of paper

The OneIndia has exclusively learnt how the paper was prepared under stringent vigilance by the state considering massive public furore over the consecutive paper leaks.

A source close to one exam paper setter revealed that two teams of paper setters (Chemistry lecturers) were made to prepare question papers for the Chemistry exam which was held yesterday on April 12. Two teams were asked to prepare two sets of question papers each, by hand.

The teams were instructed to handwrite the papers which was later sent to the authorities. These teams were formed 10 days before the re-stipulated exam date and kept in two different secret places.

According to a source, one team was made to station at Bannerghatta Jungle Lodges and other team was kept at Jnana Bharati campus of Bangalore University. Two teams framed a total of four Chemistry papers. Teams were monitored by the officials deployed by the government to ensure zero leak.

Members of the team were directed by the PU Board not to disclose the whereabouts during their stay in undisclosed locations until the exam was conducted. All the electronic gadgets were taken by the board and was given to them only after the examination.

However the members were allowed to speak to respective families through a land line phone under the vigilance of officials. In the conversation, the team members were barred from conveying their location and on what duty they were away from home.

The members were only allowed to inform the family that- "I am out on some government work." The paper setters were also let off from the places where they were kept only after examination.

The team members after preparing four handwritten papers forwarded the same to the authorities. The authorities at the last moment printed four papers and few hours before the exam, picked one paper which the students wrote on April 12.

OneIndia News
Israeli team will help Bengaluru ease water woes

India

oi-Vicky

Bengaluru, Apr 13: A team of Israeli experts are likely to be roped in to ensure water conservation and clean lakes in Bengaluru city.

The government of Karnataka which met with a team of Israeli experts is likely to take a call on utilising their services to ensure that water is better conserved.

The spokesman of the Israeli Water Authority Uri Schor informed that with a successful campaign, water can be conserved. If done right then the city can reduce consumption of water by at least 20 percent he also said.

During the meeting with the government officials the team explained that the idea would be to make the individual understand water saving actions. It is very important that an individual understands this especially when the state is facing drought.

Bengaluru: Karnataka minister inaugurates the largest International Conference on 'Water Loss'

Further during the meeting the Karnataka government was also made to understand that in Israel at least 60 per cent of the water is desalinated or recycled. Discussions on improving the quality of water apart from treating lakes in the city was also discussed.

The Karnataka government has been discussing various ways of conserving water and also treating lake water. Issues such as the Bellandur lake which has been frothing has earned the government the wrath of the public. The government is likely to take a call soon on taking the help of foreign agencies in a bid to solve this problem.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Wednesday, April 13, 2016, 8:38 [IST]
IT dept sends queries to those named in 'Panama Papers' list

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Apr 13: Acting on the Panama Papers leak, the Income Tax department has sent a detailed questionnaire to about 50 individuals and entities figuring in the list of those allegedly holding offshore assets in tax havens.

Officials said investigation wings of the department in different cities have dispatched the communication to these people whose names have appeared in the Indian Express newspaper seeking answers on two broad questions from them.

Panama papers: Mossack Fonseca headquarters raided

The first question seeks to know if they are indeed the person named in the list made public recently and the second asks them about the vitals of their transactions made with the law firm Mossack Fonseca.

It includes the year of incorporation, their source of income, details of business transactions done and whether they declared these investments and transactions to the Income Tax department and other regulatory bodies like RBI any time till now.

They said as and when the department obtains more names, fresh communication of this kind will be sent.

There are about 500 Indians named in the list which includes prominent businessmen, film celebrities and those belonging to lucrative professions.

Investigators visit Panama Papers law firm's office

The government has created a Multi-Agency Group (MAG) of probe agencies to go into these cases, comprising the IT department (CBDT), its foreign tax wing, the RBI, Financial Intelligence Unit and the Enforcement Directorate.

A preliminary report has been sought from the MAG by this week by the Finance Ministry, which is expected to forward it to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

The names were released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with 'Indian Express' newspaper in India. The ICIJ added a disclaimer that there are also "legitimate uses for offshore companies".

The 'Panama Papers' leaks contain an unprecedented amount of information, including more than 11 million documents covering 2,10,000 companies in 21 offshore jurisdictions. Each transaction spans different jurisdictions and may involve multiple entities and individuals.

PTI
Truth has come out, says Sasikala in reaction to OPS's remark before panel

Jaya govt 'most corrupt', says Amit Shah,seeks mandate for NDA

India

oi-PTI

Tiruchirappalli (TN), April 13: Mounting a scathing attack, BJP President Amit Shah today accused the Jayalalithaa government of being the "most corrupt" in the country and asked the people to oust it in the May 16 Assembly elections.

Addressing a press conference here flanked by three Union ministers, including Power Minister Piyush Goyal, he also charged the state government with non-cooperation over implementation of central schemes including UDAY, aimed at helping debt-ridden state power discoms.

Goyal had recently said that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was "inaccessible" and criticised the state government for not joining the Centre's UDAY scheme. Projecting NDA as an alternative to AIADMK and DMK, Shah said, "The Narendra Modi government is committed to the welfare of villages, the poor and labour class.

I am confident the people of Tamil Nadu will give priority to NDA in the polls." "People should change this most corrupt government in India and give NDA a chance," the BJP chief said in a sharp attack on Jayalalithaa whose AIADMK has extended issue-based support to the Modi government in Parliament.

Shah, who will launch BJP's campaign at a rally here later this evening, alleged that the Centre was facing problems in implementing many schemes in the state like UDAY.

"UDAY, for instance, is meant to reach consumers but the Tamil Nadu government is not coming forward to implement it," he said. Same was the case with the proposed AIIMS, he said in an apparent reference to the proposal to set up one of the units of the premier health institute in the state, but which is yet to take off.

Shah also trained his guns at both DMK and AIADMK, besides Congress and charged them with corruption. "Whether it be 2G (DMK) or disproportionate assets case (AIADMK) Aircel-Maxis (DMK) or ED case against (son of Congress leader P Chidambaram) Karti, their top leaders face corruption cases. These show they did corruption when they were in power," he said.

However, there was no corruption charge against the two-year old Modi government, he said, adding that his party stood for development. The NDA will deliver on its development agenda in Tamil Nadu if voted to power, he said, alleging that sand and liquor mafia had exploited people under the Dravidian parties' rule in the state.

PTI
Kirpal Singh's sister, kin hold protest at Attari border

India

oi-PTI

Attari (Punjab), Apr 13: Relatives of Indian national Kirpal Singh, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances at a Lahore jail after being held for more than 20 years in Pakistan on spying charges, today staged a protest at the Indo-Pakistan Attari border here.

The relatives of Kirpal raised anti-Pakistan slogans near the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari border.

Apart from Kirpal's sister Jagir Kaur and his other relatives, also attending the protest was Dalbir Kaur, the sister of Sarbajit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner who was killed in an attack by fellow prisoners at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore. Kirpal, 50, had allegedly crossed Wagah border into Pakistan in 1992 and was arrested.

He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blast case in Pakistan's Punjab province. He was found dead in his cell at Kot Lakhpat Jail in the wee hours of Monday.

The body has been shifted to the Jinnah Hospital in Lahore for an autopsy. Kirpal, who hailed from Gurdaspur district in Punjab, was reportedly acquitted of bomb blast charges by the Lahore High Court, but his death sentence could not be commuted because of unknown reasons.

Indian prisoner dies in Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat Jail

Jagir Kaur said while the family could not campaign for his release due to severe financial constraints, no politician came forward to support his case.

PTI
NIT Srinagar: Will the non-local students return?

India

oi-Vicky

Srinagar, April 13: Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir hopes that the students who left the NIT campus in Srinagar will return soon.

The divide that has been created between the locals and the non-locals is not healthy and the state government says it is making all attempts to resolve the problems.

However, the scores of students who have been leaving the campus cite security issues and say that they just do not feel safe in the campus. It is in our best interest that we leave say the students.

It may be recalled that clashes had broken out in the campus after the non locals objected to some locals celebrating the win by West Indies over India in the World T-20 finals.

Cooling off period:

The government however feels that the students will return after sometime. Their examination which was scheduled to be held on Monday would be rescheduled.

An officer informed that it was in the best interest of the students that they were permitted to leave at this moment. The issue is hot and it is in their best interest that they were allowed to go home, the official also added.

Many however feel that once the issue dies down, most of the students would return. Both the union and state government have been working on this issue to ensure that the divide is bridged and the students can return and pursue their studies.

At the moment the atmosphere is just not conducive and with many trying to milk the controversy to the hilt it is best that the students stay away from the campus. An intelligence bureau official posted in Jammu and Kashmir says that the situation is tense and the issue could spiral out of control.

There is time needed for the issue to die down and the government to come up with a solution. Until such time, the students do need a cooling off period, the officer also informed.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Wednesday, April 13, 2016, 13:04 [IST]
Lord Ram will help us reach new heights: PM Modi in Ayodhya

PM Modi, Sonia greet people on Baisakhi, Bihu

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, April 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday greeted the people on the harvest festivals of their respective regions.

"On the auspicious occasion of Baisakhi, my greetings to people across India and the world. May this day bring joy and prosperity in society," Modi said in his tweet.

"On Maha Vishuba Sankranti I extend my good wishes to all Odia people. I pray for an exceptional year ahead, filled with happiness and success," he said in another tweet.

The prime minister also offered his condolences to the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh massacre and said, "their sacrifice and courage can never be forgotten."

Gandhi also extended her good wishes to the farming community on the harvesting festivals.

"May the auspicious occasion of Baisakhi, Rongali Bihu and Maha Vishubh Sankranti marking harvest, renewal and regeneration bring prosperity and well being of all the farmers," she said in her message.

--Indo-Asian News service

vin/rn/bg
PM Narendra Modi may hold bilateral meeting with Barack Obama

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Apr 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi may be visiting the US in early June for a bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama who is said to be inviting some world leaders before he demits office in January next.

The US has indicated to the Indian side that Obama would be interested in meeting Modi once more before he demits office after two four-year terms, sources said.

They added that there is a possibility of the Prime Minister travelling to Washington sometime in early June for the same. No dates have been finalised yet, the sources said.

It is believed that the US President is extending similar invitations to some other world leaders.

Modi, who became the Prime Minister in May 2014, has already been to the US thrice, the latest being earlier this month for the Nuclear Security Summit.

During Modi's tenure, Obama also visited India in January last year when he was the Chief Guest at the Republic Day.

PTI
Pratyusha Banerjee suicide case: Now Shah Rukh Khan breaks silence, here is what all he said

India

oi-Mukul

New Delhi, April 13: Days after actress Pratyusha Banerjee allegedly committed suicide, superstar Shah Rukh Khan has broken his silence over the same. Actor has expressed his condolences on the unfortunate demise of Pratyusha, who rose to fame for playing role of Anandi in TV serial 'Balika Vadhu'.

Superstar has urged budding actors not to feel insecure at the thought of not receiving sufficient work.

During the promotion of his forthcoming film "Fan", when Shah Rukh was asked about the alleged suicide of Pratyusha, he said, "If you are not getting the desired success, don't be disappointed. Everyone gets bad and good days, so don't think about the bad days".

Actor further said, "If you know the work then either today or tomorrow you will get one. When you started your journey somebody had seen something in you which made you successful. Now that you are an established star why will you not get work? You should not get worried of not getting work."

Expressing shock over Pratyusha suicide case, Shah Rukh said that there is no point of getting sad.

"If you have talent then you will get work but if you don't have talent then accept that fact and be satisfied with what you get," he said.

The whole TV industry is under shock after the alleged suicide of Pratyusha. Many actors from the TV industry and showbiz have expressed their sadness on her sad demise.

Numerous factors ranging from her financial troubles, lack of work, alleged abusive relationship with her boyfriend, have been mentioned as reasons which made her take the alleged drastic step. The case is under police investigation right now.

OneIndia News

(With inputs from IANS)
Court holds writ by Hindu petitioners in Gyanvapi case maintainable: What does this mean

On camera: Varanasi folks in panic as 'ghost in white' goes for a walk on rooftops

SP leader slams Varanasi Development Authority

India

oi-PTI

Varanasi, Apr 12: A senior SP leader has come out against the Varanasi Development Authority (VDA) for refusing permission to people living within 200 metres of the banks of the Ganga to carry out repair and restoration of their old houses.

Shatrudra Prakash, a senior leader of the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh, has alleged that VDA was engaging in "corruption and ultra- vires practises" with nearly seven lakh people living within 200 metres of the banks of the river having been "adversely affected" by denial of permission for repairs.

Prakash asked VDA to produce the Allahabad High Court order which denies permission for repairs to the said houses.

Prakash, who is a chairperson of the state government's Contractual Labour Corporation and enjoys the rank of a minister, claimed that high court has only issued directions restricting new construction within 200 metres of the river bank and not repairs to old houses.

He alleged that VDA has issued notices with "mala fide intention" to those carrying out repairs to their old houses after terming these "new construction".

He asked Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to direct VDA authorities to stop such "ultra-vires practices that malign the SP government's image as well as that of our judiciary".

"We met VDA authorities yesterday and asked them to produce the courts order that restrict repair and restoration of old houses within 200 metres of the river bank," he said.

"The VDA authorities were unable to show us any such ban order issued by high court," he added. Prakash warned the authorities that he would hold a "massive agitation" if it did not take back or withdraw the notices issued to the house-owners who have carried out repairs.

Taking up the case of a former journalist whose house was sealed by VDA authorities, the SP leader said the family was living in a rented accommodation despite having their own house.

He further questioned why no action was taken by the authorities over the alleged construction of a five-story building next to the journalist's house.

Prakash claimed that floods and earthquakes have damaged these houses, which are 50-100 years old, and need immediate repair.

PTI
India summons Basit over discourtesy to its envoy in Pak

India seeks body of 'spy' who died in Pakistan jail

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Islamabad, April 13: India is seeking the body of an alleged Indian spy who died in a Pakistani jail so that he can be cremated in his village in Gurdaspur in Punjab, April 13.

"We are waiting permission for post-mortem. After that we will hand over the body of Kirpal Singh," Deputy Superintendent of Police Iqbal Shah said in Lahore.

Lahore hospital sources said the Indian High Commission was reportedly demanding that the cause of death should be given to them in writing. Only after that will the mission agree for autopsy.

The body of Kirpal Singh, 54, who according to preliminary reports died of cardiac arrest on Monday, was in the morgue of the Jinnah Hospital.

Earlier, the Indian government said it had asked its envoy in Islamabad to take up at the "highest possible level" the issue of early transportation of the body.

"Our acting high commissioner has been instructed to seek a meeting at the highest possible level in the Pakistan foreign office for early transportation of the (body)," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said.

"(Acting high commissioner) will also ask for official information on the cause of death," Swarup added.

Kirpal Singh died at the hospital after becoming seriously ill in Kot Lakhpat Jail.

He was alleged to have been involved in a bombing at the Faisalabad railway station in 1991 and sentenced to death for spying and terrorism in Pakistan.

Pakistani authorities said Kirpal Singh died due to heart failure.

On Tuesday, a sister of Kirpal Singh staged a protest at the Attari-Wagah checkpost on the India-Pakistan border.

"My brother was murdered just like Sarabjit earlier. The Pakistani jail authorities are responsible for his death," Jagir Kaur said.

Her reference was to Sarabjit Singh, an Indian death row convict who died in 2013 after being attacked by two Pakistani prisoners at the Kot Lakhpat Jail.

Jagir Kaur was accompanied by many others. One of them was Dalbir Kaur, the elder sister of Sarabjit Singh.

Kirpal Singh's family demanded that his body be handed over to them for cremation at his village in Punjab's Gurdaspur district.

IANS
Ghazwa-e-Hind to Hinduphobia: The larger goal Islamists want to achieve

Islamists in Pakistan on savage hunt to wipe out Hindus

Ghazwa-e-Hind in Assam: NIA roped in as Islamists plan destruction of India

Islamists behead two hostages in the Philippines

International

oi-PTI

Manila, Apr 13: Philippine militants that want to ally with Islamic State jihadists have beheaded two local hostages, police said today.

Police on the southern island of Mindanao recovered the decapitated corpses of the two men yesterday, nine days after they were taken, said the police chief of Lanao del Sur province.

"Salvador Hanobas and Jemark Hanobas were beheaded by their abductors," Senior Superintendent Rustom Duran told reporters by telephone. "Locals brought the heads and the torsos to the mayor's office."

It was unclear if the two victims were related. Duran said the kidnappers belonged to an Islamic militant group that battled government forces for a week in February, leaving three soldiers dead and forcing 20,000 people to flee their homes.

Police found black flags identical to those flown by Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria in the fighters' hideout in the remote Mindanao town of Butig. Duran said the group had also abducted six workers at a local sawmill on April 4, accusing them of being military informers.

Four were freed unharmed on Monday. A Muslim separatist insurgency has raged for more than four decades in the southern Philippines, leaving more than 120,000 people dead.

Efforts to secure a peace deal with the largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), collapsed after parliament failed to pass a law to create an autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.

MILF leaders have warned the collapse of the peace deal could embolden hardline militants who want to resume a violent separatist uprising. News of the beheadings came after the Abu Sayyaf, another Islamic militant group, released a retired Italian priest held hostage for six months last week.

A major firefight broke out afterwards on the remote southern island of Basilan on Friday, leaving 18 soldiers and more than two dozen Abu Sayyaf gunmen dead.

The military said skirmishes were still continuing with Abu Sayyaf fighters on Wednesday, and the toll of dead rebels had risen to 28.

Among those killed were a Moroccan bomb expert called Mohammad Khattab, who the military said had been sent to build ties between local Muslim rebel groups and an international jihadist network.

"Khattab planned to speak to all of them to unite and link them to the entire international terrorist network," military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla told reporters.

PTI
How Spain is coping with the heat

Neymar goes on trial for fraud in Spain

Man linked to 2015 Paris attack detained in Spain

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Madrid, April 13: A man suspected of supplying weapons to the terrorist who killed four people in a Paris supermarket and a policeman in January 2015 was arrested in Spain on Wednesday.

Antoine Denive, 27, a suspected arms dealer and the subject of an European arrest warrant issued by French authorities, was detained in the town of Rincon de la Victoria on the south coast of Spain, reports Xinhua.

'Police arrest three Paris attacks suspects in Brussels'

He was arrested with two other people who police described as being a Serb and a Montenegrin.

Denive is thought to have escaped from France and moved to the south of Spain where he continued his arms dealing activities.

A search of his accommodation uncovered several false documents along with computer material which are currently being analyzed.

Denive is suspected of giving weapons to Amedy Coulibaly, who killed five people in two separate attacks on January 8 and 9 last year in Paris.

He shot four of his victims in a Jewish supermarket in the east of Paris before he was killed by French security forces.

The incidents coincided with the killing of 11 people at the satirical magazine 'Charlie Hebdo' by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi who were known to Coulibaly.

Security forces later discovered that Coulibaly had been in Spain on January 2, a week before his death, as he accompanied his wife and three family members to the Madrid airport, from where they flew to Turkey and onto Syria.

IANS
Slip of Tongue in Pak Parliament: Speaker pronounces Nawaz Sharif's name instead of Shehbaz Sharif

Nawaz Sharif likely to return to Pakistan next month: Imran Khan

Maryam Nawaz gets her passport back after 3 years; meets father Nawaz Sharif in London

Nawaz Sharif's Britain visit has tongues wagging in Pakistan

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Islamabad, April 13: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to Britain on Wednesday -- ostensibly to undergo a pending medical check-up -- has set political circles abuzz after he landed in controversy following the Panama Papers leak.

Sharif will head to London for a three-day visit for a medical check-up, the prime minister's office said on Tuesday, April 12.

Only close family members will join Sharif. His two sons -- Hassan and Hussain -- are already abroad, a senior official said.

At a time when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan is ready to launch a sit-in at Raiwind -- home to Sharif's palatial residence, leaders of the opposition in the senate had been casting doubt on the reason for the prime minister's sudden visit to London.

The movements of Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, who is also in London, is being closely monitored by the media.

PPP senator Aitzaz Ahsan on Tuesday said: "Sharif has no medical issues and is only visiting London to present himself in the court of Zardari."

Whenever Sharif came under pressure, he always looked towards the PPP leadership for help, Ahsan said.

A senior PTI leader said it was very likely for Sharif to ask the PPP to bail him out, considering the pressure mounting on him for the investigation of his family regarding the leaks.

A Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmaker admitted that there was a great deal of nervousness among the party's top leaders following the revelation of documents in the Panama Papers leak.

IANS
Pandora Papers leak: Heres the first list of high-profile Indians named

Aishwarya Rai grilled by ED for six hours in 'Panama Papers' leak case

Panama papers: Mossack Fonseca headquarters raided

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Panama city, April 13: Police in Panama have raided the headquarters of the law firm Mossack Fonseca at the centre of a massive data leaks dubbed as "Panama Papers".

Prosecutors said the operation had been carried out at the offices of Mossack Fonseca in Panama city "without incident or interference", media reported.

The leaked "Panama Papers" show how wealthy people use offshore firms to evade tax and avoid sanctions.

The firm has denied wrongdoing. It said it is the victim of a hack and that the information is being misrepresented.

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela has promised to work with other countries to improve transparency in its offshore financial industry.

Police carried out Tuesday's raid along with officials from an organised crime unit.

Officers set up a perimeter around the headquarters while prosecutors entered the offices to search for documents.

The attorney general's office said the aim had been "to obtain documentation linked to the information published in news articles that establish the use of the firm in illicit activities".

The statement added that searches would also take place at subsidiaries of the firm.

Panama government promised an investigation soon after news reports emerged more than a week ago based on more than 11 million documents from the firm.

The firm tweeted [in Spanish] that it "continues to co-operate with authorities in investigations made at our headquarters".

Many other countries were probing possible financial crimes by the rich and powerful people in the aftermath of the leak.

Mossack Fonseca partner Ramon Fonseca said the company had been hacked by servers based abroad and has filed a complaint with the Panamanian attorney general's office.

Fonseca served as a minister in Valera's government but stepped aside earlier this year after separate allegations linked the firm to the corruption scandal engulfing the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras.

The leaked documents were passed to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which then shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The documents show how the company has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax.

Mossack Fonseca said it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and never been accused or charged with criminal wrongdoing.

IANS
Tiger population goes up for the first time in over 100 years

International

oi-Shubham

Morges (Switzerland), April 13: The count of tigers across the world has increased for the first time in 100 years, thanks to better conservation efforts, wildlife groups said recently.

According to data released by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Global Tiger Forum, the global population of tigers has increased from an all-time low in 3,200 to an estimated 3,890.

Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International, said in a statement released on Monday (April 11) that the number of tigers has risen for the first time after decades of constant fall, agencies reported. [India committed to protecting tigers: PM Modi]

This is the first time since 1900 when the count of the endangered animal has gone up. Back then, their number was 1,00,00.

India is home to more than half of those cats with some 2,226 roaming in its reserves in 18 states, as per the latest count made in 2014.

Countries like Russia, Bhutan and Nepal also saw the number of tigers in their territories increased in the last surveys. Bangladesh, on the other hand, has seen its tiger population reduced drastically from 440 to 106 last year. Conservationists, however, said that the population was perhaps over-estimated six years ago. Indonesia has also seen a steep decline in the tiger population owing to destruction of forest land, the reports added.

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While I was proud of Bernie Sanders when he refused to stoop to attacking Hillary Clinton on what I initially believed to be merely another manufactured right wing scandal, I now believe Sanders will have to address Clinton's 'damn emails,' as they do, in fact, damn her.

As a former postal employee, I became quite familiar with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)--which governs the employees of the federal government--and the United States Code (USC)--which specifies crimes and their penalties. Let's just say there's a valid reason the term 'going postal' has descended into the vernacular, and leave it at that. Upon visiting my old friends CFR and USC, I discovered a number of things about Clinton's 'damn emails' that the mainstream media and the 'legal experts' it has interviewed have been conveniently ignoring in their rush to the coronation. Those things, and the opinions of people who have held high-level security clearances, lead me to believe that an indictment is justified.

First, then, let's review the facts that have been verified as such.



In her four years as Secretary of State, Clinton never had a .gov email address assigned to her.

She paid a company outside the government to have a private server installed in her home in Chappaqua NY and used it exclusively for her State Department work.

Clinton requested an encrypted Blackberry from the NSA, similar to the one President Obama uses. They denied her request, stating it was too expensive to set up, and instructing her to use the server in her designated office, which was already set up with the required encryption, security measures, enhanced controls, and surveillance countermeasures. This required her to leave her smartphone outside the room with its battery removed so it could not be used as a gateway for hackers. She balked and began using a standard Blackberry.

It is a violation of the National Archives and Records Administration's rules in the CFR to exclusively use personal email for official business, because the code requires federal agencies to make and preserve records to be readily available when needed, such as for congressional inquiries or FOIA requests.

Though Clinton's stint as Secretary of State ended in January 2012, she did not turn over her server to the State Department until they ordered her to in 2015.

Prior to doing so, Clinton allowed her lawyers access to the server. They assembled a list of keywords related to her work, then ran a search based on the list. All emails not including a keyword were deleted...more than 30,000 of them.

Next, let's go over what can be logically inferred and what can be derived from federal law.



As Secretary of State, Clinton had the highest security clearance possible: Special Access Programs (SAP).

Clinton was authorized to and responsible for classifying information herself, which is reserved for very few people. As such, her public excuse that her emails were 'classified after the fact' does not hold water. She herself was responsible for analyzing the content of documents and judging their classification, not relying on whether others had labeled it 'classified'. Since she only used her private server, she must have sent and received all levels of classified information over it, a fact discovered during the FBI's investigation.

It is not possible for her private server to have been equipped with legally-required encryption, security measures, enhanced controls, and surveillance countermeasures, because these methods of safeguarding information are, themselves, classified and not available outside the government.

Clinton's exchanges with Sidney Blumenthal are especially problematic for her (and him) for several reasons. First, nearly all of their emails qualify as 'classified,' since they contain information about foreign governments. Second, Blumenthal was also using a private email address, so was not equipped to receive classified information. Nor did he have a security clearance, since he was not a government employee. Finally, Blumenthal was engaged in espionage as a private citizen, intercepting foreign communications not meant for him, and passing them on to Clinton. Here, we leave the CFR and enter the US Criminal Code (cf. 18 USC 798).

Also per both USC and CFR, Clinton's deletion of emails gets her into serious trouble for improper declassification, allowing a private citizen access to classified information, and transmitting it over an unsecured server to an unsecured server.

Last, Clinton's deletion of emails is a criminal offense under the USC.

Now, let's discuss the implications of Clinton's actions in connections with the federal laws referenced, the progression of the FBI's investigation, and the actual content of Clinton's emails, and draw some conclusions.

Given the seriousness with which national security is regarded, and the illegality of endangering it, what motivated Clinton to take such a risk? The answer is most likely in one or more of the 30,000+ deleted emails. Unfortunately for Clinton, neither she nor her lawyers understand how computers work. Unless the exact segments of the hard drive where those emails were stored was written over with new information, or the drive was physically destroyed, those emails can and will be reconstructed. The very fact that she deleted them is a crime, as I mentioned, that carries a penalty of fines, imprisonment, and prohibition from ever holding office in the United States. 18 USC 1519 mandates 'not more than 20 years,' while 18 USC 2071 mandates 'not more than 3 years.' A maximum sentence of 23 years multiplied by 30,000 emails? Bye, Felicia.

Clinton's exchanges with Blumenthal also carry criminal penalties of fines and imprisonment. 18 USC 798 mandates 'not more than 10 years.' Multiply that by the number of emails violating this statute, and Clinton will be wearing orange in the very prison system she and Bill created for the rest of her natural born life.

The FBI granted Bryan Pagliano immunity, which tells us four things: (1) A Grand Jury has been selected for this case; (2) Pagliano committed one or more federal crimes; (3) He has information crucial to the case against Clinton; and, (4) He chose not to take the fall for Clinton (which may mean he's a dead man walking). Currently, the FBI has issued subpoenas to Clinton's aides. That means that the preliminary investigation is finished; they've read all her emails, including the deleted ones, and determined that sufficient evidence exists to continue. Clinton's aides have all retained the same counsel, indicating that they intend to present a united front. Whether they intend to unite with her or against her is presently unknown. According to judicial ethics, Attorney General Loretta Lynch must appoint an impartial Special Counsel to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Lynch is in an unenviable position, and that's the only way out of it. If FBI Director James Comey presents her with evidence that supports an indictment, and she issues one, Democrats will (pardon the pun) lynch her. If she doesn't, her career will be over.

UPDATE: The FBI has extradited Romanian hacker "Guccifer," whose real name is Marcel Lehel Lazar. Lazar allegedly hacked into Blumenthal's private email account and read his and Clinton's exchanges. It was through Lazar's hacks that the existence of Clinton's private server first came to light. The extradition request was made in December 2015, just after the revelation that there was unsecured Top Secret information on Clinton's private server.

If we, as private citizens not privy to Clinton's emails in their entirety, working only with what's been released to the public, along with the USC and CFR, can clearly see that Clinton has committed crimes through her deliberate dereliction of duty as Secretary of State, then the FBI should certainly come to the same conclusion. Let's hope they do so sooner rather than later, because the clock is rapidly ticking toward the Democratic convention.


two signs at day 2 of Democracy Spring

(Image by Marta Steele) Details DMCA





Yesterday hundreds of U.S. citizens who had come from all parts of the country peacefully, nonviolently sat on the steps of Our Nation's Capitol building to protest against the invasion of our democracy by plutocracy, a potentially lethal ailment. But they're fighting.

Yesterday, 400 of them were arrested, handcuffed, bussed to police stations, forced to wait for hours in a long line (sound familiar?), fined $50 each, and then let go.

"Another world is possible/We are unstoppable," was the first chant I heard today (I couldn't be there yesterday because my bones break when police grab me--no kidding). The sun was shining, a gentle breeze was blowing, the trees were in full bloom, and the circa 100 people were mellow and smiling as I infiltrated their space. But first I broke police lines to take some photos before being told by mellow, smiling police to join the crowds.

"Money out/Voters in!" was another chant.

Each day of Democracy Spring will have a different theme. Yesterday was about politics. Today was dedicated to "elders," "our teachers." There were several in attendance, some holding folding chairs. One of them led us in singing Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," but the "youngsters''' interest was quickly diverted. The median age was around 30.



Two of the 'elders' who were honored today

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"Thank you!" was now a repeated chant extended to the elders.

"Does this remind you of Occupy?" I asked one participant. "What's next? Will you continue through Election Day?"

My answer was as hopeful as youth and the eternally young (boomers like me): The movement should expand in numbers and locations.

"Money out/voters in!" rang out another chant. There were more varieties of chant than signs--artwork wasn't the point this time around. Message was.



a million dollar bill ('facsimile')

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I noticed a man in a spiffy tailored suit among the jeans-clad crowd and had to go over to question him. "What's a suit doing here?" He was with two others, representing the group "The Most Influential Man in America," dedicated to routing "unlimited corporate spending in American politics." He handed me a million-dollar bill.I was reminded of the parodic group Billionaires for Bush, who attended anti-Iraq war events in tuxedos holding champagne glasses.



The Most Influential Man in America

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I spoke with a North Carolinian who had migrated from Arizona, a former (recovering?) government employee. He'd had no trouble voting as a middle-class white, he noted sardonically. He had known AUDIT-AZ (election integrity) activist John Roberts Brakey in the Grand Canyon State. In North Carolina, companies were leaving because of the draconian legislation taking over, not just in the realm of stringent voter requirements that leave out the "usual suspects," those unable to produce picture IDS like driver's licenses or passports. Who among the underprivileged classes has either one?



rally participant with an important sign

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Two senior women I spoke with, from Wilmington, Delaware, delawaregetmoneyout.com, said that their activist interests spanned the realm of progressive issues, including GMOs, the environment, "quality of life for people," "all causes." Their state had attempted to add a constitutional amendment requiring the end of the Citizens United poison that is daily, gradually, sadistically increasing its chokehold. 70 percent of Americans want to get rid of Citizens United, they said. "Nothing will change until we get money out of politics!"

I met an Apache named Rain from western Texas, "Apache land." He said he didn't want to be identified as a Native American, just an Apache.



Rain, an Apache who came all the way from Texas

(Image by Marta Steele) Details DMCA





Another former former government employee, a defense contractor for Northrop Grummond and Lockheed Martin told me he had "lived his life asleep" until joining 99 Rise and marching from Los Angeles to San Francisco. He was one of the Democracy Spring marchers, identified by green bracelets, who had started out in Philadelphia and marched to DC, though he had joined up in Baltimore. "Amazing people!" he said of his group. Then he added that he was unemployed and would probably never get a job again after this participation.

Another person had been among the Supreme Court 7 who had attended the hearing of the infamous 2013 McCutcheon v FEC case that had increased Citizen United's largesse to the top one percent so that individuals could donate even more to candidates than previously. He was still on probation for having stood up in the balcony and expressed his objections to more money pouring into politics, for all of one minute. Wow, what a feeling to break the silence of that sacrosanct place, he told me. A specialty police force was in charge. He and other outspoken colleagues were seized by an arm twisted behind them and hauled down to the "bowels" of the august building that hovered behind the rally today.

They were interrogated and then taken to jail, to sleep with specialty cockroaches on what he described as a metal tray (!) and then released then next afternoon. U.S. v Bronstein is the name of the ongoing case. This man was again arrested yesterday but not penalized further for his participation.

The more famous group was the Supreme Court 7, who had exhibited similar behavior while Citizens United was being argued. No wonder there is a special brand of police for SCOTUS.

The chants were interrupted by another megaphoned voice proclaiming his love for Jesus, who he reminded us is coming back.

Another person complained about the lack of mainstream media coverage. I managed to spot both CBS and ABC taking some footage and sound bytes. There was also a pair from a Netherlands TV station. When I asked them if they were here just for this event, they said no, they were traveling all over the U.S. to make a ten-part series on different aspects of this country. Dutch humor? I was told that Swedish reporters had also done some coverage.

Said another woman, "I believe that we will win."

I was gratified by mention of the need for clean voting, a cause I have work on for years. A few signs proclaimed this.

I wanted to stay all day. Everything was so beautiful and friendly and I had been transported into . . . what democracy looks like.

A good answer to the refrain "Tell me what democracy looks like!" Too bad there were police barriers and a crowd of police next to the Capitol to "protect" it, as if that, and not the people, were in need of protection, and a lot more.

"Money out of politics"/"Democracy will be the fix!"
My guest today Economist Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.

JB: Welcome back to OpEdNews, Dean. I'd like to discuss your recent piece, DC Press Corps Spins Itself Silly Over Sanders' Specifics. What are you referring to specifically?

DB: Senator Sanders had an interview with the New York Daily News last week. The paper's editorial board asked him questions on his plans to break up the big banks, as well as in a number of other areas. Sanders in several cases gave fairly general answers.

The paper's editorial board jumped on these answers, as implying that Sanders did not know what he was talking about and was not qualified to be president. Many others in the media quickly jumped on Sanders as well. For example, Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post, David Graham at the The Atlantic, and Tina Nguyen in Vanity Fair all quickly wrote columns deriding Sanders' answers. Secretary Clinton's campaign also pointed to the interview as raising questions about Sanders' qualifications.

JB: That doesn't sound very good for Bernie.

DB: The irony is that in most of the cases where Sanders supposedly did not know what he was talking about, he was actually largely on the mark. For example, he was asked how he would break up the banks. He said that the Treasury Secretary could have the authority to do this. This is actually correct. The Treasury Secretary sits on the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), along with the heads of most of the other financial regulatory agencies. Most of the heads of these agencies are appointed by the president, although their terms mostly do not coincide with the president's term. Nonetheless, the new president would before long be able to appoint a majority of this board, so that he or she could ensure that they would support the decision to break up the banks.

The Daily News editorial board also seemed to think it was a gaffe that Sanders said he didn't know how to break up JPMorgan, that he instead would leave that to JP Morgan. This is exactly the route that almost every economist who has given the issue thought would endorse. The Treasury Secretary, or other government officials, don't know the most efficient way to break up JP Morgan. JP Morgan does. It has incentive to break itself up in the most efficient possible way to preserve value for its shareholders. The government's role in this story is set the size caps and give the bank a timeline, not to get in the specifics of what a downsized JP Morgan and its broken off companies should look like.

The paper's editorial board also seemed to think it was a big deal that Senator Sanders did not know the specific statute under which bankers could be prosecuted for fraud. That seemed a rather strange concern. We all believe people should be prosecuted for murder, yet I suspect very few people, other than those who actually do the prosecution can cite the specific statute for murder. Knowingly placing fraudulent mortgages in a mortgage backed security is of course fraud. We will never know whether the Justice Department could have proven the case against top Wall Street executives. We do know that President Obama's Justice Department did not try.

JB: What else?

DB: On two other questions in this area, the Daily News editorial board was just being silly. It asked Sanders whether the Fed has the authority to break up the big banks. Sanders said he did not know. Under Dodd-Frank the Fed oversees the "living wills" prepared by the big banks. These living wills are supposed to ensure that if the banks got into trouble they could be unraveled without creating a larger financial crisis. It is not clear what the Fed can do if it determines that the living will is inadequate. Arguably it could order the bank to downsize itself, although I don't think there is any consensus that this is a power given to the Fed under Dodd-Frank.

The editorial board also asked Sanders about a District Court decision overturning the designation of Metropolitan Life Insurance as systemically important institution by the FSOC, and therefore subject to special oversight. Sanders said that he didn't know the implications of the decision since he had not seen it. The decision had just been issued at that point and was not published, so it's hardly unreasonable for Sanders not to be in a position to comment on its implications.

Anyhow, the bulk of the interview seemed to be in this vein. The editorial board seemed to view its job as trying to embarrass Sanders rather than elicit his views on important issues.

JB: Not to blame the victim, but should Bernie have been savvier about what to expect from the Daily News or was it a lose-lose situation? It certainly laid the groundwork for a lot of disparaging comments, articles and editorials. And how much will this affect anything, going forward?

DB: It certainly doesn't look like Sanders was prepared for the hostile reception he received. He certainly should have been given the way the media have treated his campaign. On the other hand, I'm sure this campaign has been very draining. It is hard to be 100 percent all the time, but this was certainly a bad moment to let your guard down.

Since someone just sent me the transcript of the Clinton interview, let me take the opportunity to make a contrast. The first question was why she failed to deliver the 200,000 jobs for upstate New York that she had promised in her 2000 senatorial campaign. Clinton responded:

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It's disturbing to hear young people say that Social Security won't be around when they retire. But it's not just young people. I've heard older Americans--some of them getting SS benefits--claim that SS is dying. But they are wrong. If you and old knew the facts, they would be armed to defend SS against the Party of Bads and Stupids that wants to tear down SS. Here are common view and my responses.

1. My nephew Bob, a college senior, informs me: "Social Security is bankrupt. Everyone knows that."

Not so fast. After all, there's a $2.8 trillion surplus in the SS fund. But, it's true: by 2030, SS may be able to pay only 79% of expected benefits. Why? For one thing the ratio of workers to retirees fell faster than expected. Also, wages have not grown much and that limits contributions. Higher unemployment during the Great Recession didn't help either. Finally, as more income shifts to the rich, less is taxed. Currently only the first $118,500 of wages are taxed. If you earned that much last year, you paid $7,347. So did Kobe Bryant and Donald Trump.

So SS financing uses regressive taxation. More on that later, but here it is important to add that SS benefits are mildly progressive. Benefits for poor and average earners replace a larger fraction of prior earnings than for the affluent.

2. Sarah, my Wall Street banker cousin, says people need tax shelters. SS is so yesterday.

You should have something besides SS for your retirement. The average monthly benefit is only $1341. But when capitalists say we should save more, they don't seem to care that many people have nothing left after paying the bills. And many businesses don't contribute as much to employee tax shelters as they once put into old-style pension plans.

So SS is essential. It's more secure than private savings. Participation and taxation are compulsory for most employees; you don't have to think about adding to SS. And you can't raid your benefits as you can with tax shelters. Your freedom is limited; but it's for a good cause.

3. But Bob is still skeptical. If SS benefits are low and if SS financing is shaky, is SS really worth saving?

SS plusses outweigh the minuses. SS is a stable and rather conservative program. It has not missed a payout in eighty years. And it's efficient. Administrative costs are under 1% of revenues. That's less than private plans. SS pays 60 million people every month. After 9/11, checks were mailed to survivors three weeks after the attack on the World Trade Center.

Finally, while benefits can be quite low, many Americans are quite poor, so SS lifts many people out of poverty. Benefits are 83% of the total income of poorest two-fifths of all households. Benefits are the total income of 42% of African-Americans 65 and over, 45% of Hispanics, and 33% of Asian-Americans.

SS makes older people less poor and a little more independent. Their children can worry less too. We forget how grim old-age used to be. To get a feel for that, watch Make Way for Tomorrow (1937).

4. Bob's mother, my sister Isobel, agrees that we should fix SS rather than scrap it. She's a good citizen and has studied reform proposals. Here's my take.

a. Scam chains. Some purported experts, often conservatives, want to cut the SS Cost of Living Allowance. They claim that seniors spend less than others and they have formulas to prove it. The formulas often have the word chain attached to them and look ever so scientific, but they are really a sneak attack on the elderly.

b. Privatize parts of SS. If financing is a problem, and if the current surplus doesn't earn much interest (funds must be invested in special treasury bills), wouldn't it be smart to let Wall Street wizards invest the surplus? On average stocks and bonds grow by 7% a year, and the wizards would surely get more.

Response: That's what they say. But values often fall. And really, should we trust Wall Street after the catastrophe they caused a few years ago. People who were ready to retire during the Great Recession found that their retirement funds had shrunk by as much 40%.

c. Raise the age of full-benefit retirement. Everyone's living longer.

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This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Reprinted from Consortium News

On a recent TV appearance, I was asked about whistleblowing , but the experience brought back to mind a crystal-clear example of how, before the Iraq War, CIA careerists were assigned "two bosses" -- CIA Director George Tenet and John Bolton, the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, the arch-neocon who had been thrust on an obedient Secretary of State Colin Powell.

CIA "analyst" Frederick Fleitz took the instructions quite literally, bragging about being allowed to serve, simultaneously, "two bosses" -- and becoming Bolton's "enforcer." Fleitz famously chided a senior intelligence analyst at State for not understanding that it was the prerogative of policymakers like Bolton -- not intelligence analysts -- to "interpret" intelligence data.

In an email from Fleitz in early 2002, at the time when one of his bosses, the pliable George Tenet, was "fixing" the intelligence to "justify" war on Iraq, Fleitz outlined the remarkable new intelligence ethos imposed by President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and their subordinates who were reshaping the U.S. Intelligence Community.

Apparently, senior State Department intelligence analyst, Christian Westermann, "had not gotten the memo" on how things had changed. Rather, he was performing his duties like a professional analyst under the old rules. Westermann had the temerity to block coordination on a speech in which Bolton wanted to make the spurious assertion that Cuba had a developing biological weapons program.

On Feb. 12, 2002, after a personal run-in with Westermann, Fleitz sent Bolton this email: "I explained to Christian [Westermann] that it was a political judgment as to how to interpret this data and the I.C. [Intelligence Community] should do as we asked." Fleitz informed Bolton that Westermann still "strongly disagrees with us."

At this point, Bolton became so dyspeptic that he summoned Westermann to his office for a tongue-lashing and then asked top officials of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) to fire him. Instead, they defended him, and this was not the only time intelligence managers at State -- virtually alone in the Intelligence Community -- gave the Bush-43 White House and political hacks like Bolton the clear message not to count on managers and analysts at INR to acquiesce in the politicization of intelligence.

Exaggerating Iran Threat

Later, Fleitz went on to bigger and better things. In 2006, he became "senior adviser" to House Intelligence Committee chair Pete Hoekstra, R-Michigan. Bowing to desires of the White House to portray Iran as a strategic threat, Hoekstra had Fleitz draft an almost comically alarmist paper titled "Recognizing Iran as Strategic Threat: An Intelligence Challenge for the United States." Fleitz was told not to coordinate his paper with the Intelligence Community.

The objective was to pre-empt a formal National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear weapons program -- an NIE that the Senate had just commissioned. Fleitz and Hoekstra feared the NIE might come to unwelcome conclusions, contradicting the kinds of stark warnings about Iran's nuclear program that the White House wanted to use to stir up fear and justify action against Iran. Iraq deja vu.

The Fleitz-Hoekstra gambit failed. Their over-the-top paper made them the subject of ridicule in professional intelligence circles.

Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence Thomas Fingar was named to manage the formal NIE on Iran, and, mirable dictu, he was not only a seasoned professional but also a practitioner of the old-time ethos of objective, non-politicized intelligence.

Worse still for Bush, Cheney and their sycophants, the NIE of November 2007, endorsed by all 16 agencies of the Intelligence Community began: "We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program."



Former President George W. Bush prepares to celebrate the dedication of his presidential library, which opens to the public on May 1, 2013.

(Image by Think Advisor) Details DMCA



That Estimate holds the distinction of being the only NIE of which I am aware that demonstrably played a key role in preventing an unnecessary war -- the war on Iran that Cheney and Bush were planning for 2008. Bush pretty much admits this in his memoir Decision Points, which includes a highly instructive section that he must have written himself.



Indeed, nowhere in his memoir is Bush's bizarre relationship to truth so manifest as when he describes his dismay at learning that the Intelligence Community had redeemed itself for its lies about Iraq by preparing an honest NIE that stuck a rod in the wheels of the juggernaut rolling toward war with Iran.
Reprinted from Mondoweiss

The media are all talking about a brokered Republican convention in Cleveland in July to stop Donald Trump; and House Speaker Paul Ryan has emerged as the establishment favorite to get such a nomination.

So what does Paul Ryan do? He goes to Israel and attacks Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions! Just like Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz are vowing to fight BDS. The New York Times reports on the Wisconsin congressman's "mirage" candidacy.

"He visited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, where he also met with local reporters and made several statements affirming the United States' commitment there, before heading to other Middle Eastern nations and Germany to discuss security and intelligence issues."

Politico points out that the trip was long-planned. Yes, but Ryan has issued a slew of reports and videos on his trip. Here he says that Israel is fighting Islamic terrorism just like us:

"I'm here to show our support. I'm here to talk with our allies, and to see how we can better cooperate to win this war against radical Islamic terrorism."

Here's Ryan's report and video on his meeting with Yuli Edelstein, speaker of the Knesset. Note the vow to fight Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).

"Prior to the start of the meeting at the Knesset, Speaker Ryan told his Israeli counterpart, 'The first head of state I met with since becoming speaker was President Rivlin. This is also the first trip I took as speaker and it's not by coincidence, it was by design... "'These are very difficult times: the rise of ISIS, terrorism, Syrian civil war, Iran. We believe that our alliance, and our partnership, and our friendship is more important now than ever before... You're an island of freedom in a very difficult, chaotic region. And so that is why our partnership is all the more important. It's more important for us to renew and extend our bilateral security agreement, to work together to improve missile defense -- David's Sling, the Arrow program. We've worked very hard in Congress on opposing any BDS efforts -- boycott, divestment, and sanctions. That is something we take great pride in advancing, the kind of legislation we've already advanced this year in the House. And we pledge to stand shoulder to shoulder with you, and that is why we're here today. And so it's just an honor and privilege to be here with you.'"

On a radio show while he was there, Ryan linked BDS with anti-Semitism:

"'We've discussed the UN quite a bit and Israel, and UN resolutions, and any problems they propose. We discussed one called BDS, which is boycott, divest and sanction, which is in Europe, and the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. So yes, we have, we haven't discussed the Brexit specifically, but there is a rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. Europe has been engaging in this ridiculous and counterproductive BDS shenanigan. We in the Congress have been very forceful about that. By the way, when you try to boycott, divest or sanction Israel, you're hurting Palestinians as well. So we have discussed that.'"

Here's one Ryan video from the visit...




It started when Chicago newspapers disclosed in 2005 that master chef the late Charlie Trotter would not serve foie gras in his namesake restaurant after visiting three foie gras farms. Not that he wanted to see it banned as California had tried to do or that he agreed with animal groups like Farm Sanctuary, but just that he thought the force feeding process caused ducks to suffer and he would not serve it.

Without missing a beat Trotter's competitor chef Rick Tramonto of Chicago's four-star Tru restaurant submitted "animals are raised to be slaughtered and eaten every day" Either you eat animals or you don't.." Then Vogue magazine food writer Jeffrey Steingarten weighed in with, "I think the way factory raised pigs are raised is far, far worse," and the debate took off.



Still on the menu

(Image by Martha Rosenberg) Details DMCA



Pretty soon op-ed editors, columnists and food writers were drowning in public comment--a lot of it of the "two wrongs don't make a right" variety (pointing out foods that were "worse"). The Chicago City Council considered banning foie gras but a bill was defeated by those who openly ridiculed the idea of caring about bird suffering.

The arguments from the food industry making money off foie gras had to do with a consumer "rights." "You can't take away my RIGHT to eat foie gras!" they bellowed "you can't legislate morality." (Segregationists said the same thing.)

The food industry also used the "slippery slope" argument so popular with pro-gunners. "First they ban foie gras, then they ban beef."

Two things were made clear in the foie gras debate: Americans care deeply about whether their food is cruel or not...and they don't have the ethical yardsticks to judge.

Here are some considerations.

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(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
Reprinted from The National

If revenge is a dish best served cold, then Meir Dagan must have relished his retribution on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- it was delivered from beyond the grave.

The eulogies barely over, the Israeli daily Yedioth Aharonoth published excerpts from an interview conducted with Israel's former spymaster shortly before his death last month.

In damning remarks, the former Mossad chief described Mr Netanyahu as a man trapped in self-delusion, believing himself to be one the world's "greatest geniuses." In truth, said Dagan, he was "the worst manager I knew."

Their falling out centred on Mr Netanyahu's belligerent posturing over Iran. He was the only Israeli prime minister ever to have "reached a state ... in which the entire security establishment essentially didn't accept his position."

With fitting symbolism, as these comments were made public it was revealed that corneas donated by Dagan had restored the vision of two Israelis.

He presumably hoped that his last interviews would be of similar benefit to many more Israelis, giving them insights into the opaque world of Israel's political and security elites.

In a speech at Dagan's graveside last month, Mr Netanyahu exploited what he presumed to be Dagan's now-permanent silence. He painted him as a solid ally in the fight against "Islamist zealotry," claiming Dagan had warned that the fight against terror will continue for another 100 years.

The interviews present a more complex picture. They confirm in the bluntest terms what was already widely suspected: that a split of unprecedented proportions had developed between Mr Netanyahu and his spy chief before and after Dagan retired in late 2011.

The stark differences between the two were encapsulated in the military metaphors each employed. Dagan warned in 2011 that Israel should avoid war unless "the sword is cutting into our flesh." Mr Netanyahu, by contrast, argued last October that Israel would have to "live forever by the sword."

Dagan was no peacenik, even on his death bed. Rather, his hostility derived from an assessment that the prime minister threatened Israel's "survival as a Jewish state."

Dagan believed that Mr Netanyahu's desire to strike Iran militarily showed a profound misunderstanding of realpolitik.

First, bombing Iran, Dagan concluded, would spur its leadership into developing a nuclear bomb at all costs -- the very opposite outcome Mr Netanyahu claimed to want. Dagan preferred stealthy subversion of Iran's technological abilities, from assassinating scientists to infecting computers.

Second, a military attack was adamantly opposed by the United States because of the regional and global repercussions. Dagan feared that Mr Netanyahu was recklessly indifferent to the views of his US partners, instead prioritizing narrow domestic political considerations.

Dagan's views were shared by the heads of the other branches of Israel's security complex -- and ultimately they defeated Mr Netanyahu.

After the US moved to resolve the stand-off with Iran diplomatically and so pre-empt an Israeli strike, the battle initiated by Dagan has shifted focus: it is now about how to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
By David Swanson, TeleSUR





Remarks prepared for event in Washington, D.C., on April 11, 2016.

Let's look at ten revealing moments in the history of lying about wars to see what they tell us, and then I'll be glad to try to answer any questions I can. These remarks will be published at TeleSUR.

I'll say the most about the first items on this list, and less as I move toward #10.

1. On January 31, 2003, President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair met in the White House prior to a joint press conference. Bush proposed to Blair that one good way to get a war on Iraq started would be to fly U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colors, in hopes that Iraq would fire on them. This was one of a number of possible ways to get a war started that Bush proposed to Blair. Following the meeting, the two of them walked out to do a joint press conference, of which you can still watch the video.

At the press conference, the two of them said they wanted to keep the peace -- Bush used the word "peace" at least three times -- and that if Iraq would simply disarm of the weapons that in fact it did not have and which much of the world did not believe it had, there would be no need for war. Bush also claimed Iraq had ties to al Qaeda, though declining to claim any "direct" ties to al Qaeda. Asked what they thought of Iraq having just invited UN inspectors back to Iraq, Bush and Blair said it was a trick and a deception. Asked whether he hadn't always wanted a war on Iraq and whether he wasn't just going through a charade of diplomacy, Bush claimed to be denying the charge but in fact spoke mainly of his view of how high the stakes were and seemed to be defending his drive toward war.

This event came six months after the meeting in London recorded in the Downing Street Minutes at which the head of British so-called intelligence reported on his meeting with the head of U.S. so-called intelligence, to the effect that the United States was decided on war and would lie as needed. In fact, by the time of this meeting and press conference, the United States was already deploying troops to the Middle East to attack Iraq.

In addition, by this point, the Iraqi government had approached the CIA's Vincent Cannistrato to offer to let U.S. troops search the entire country. The Iraqi government had offered to hold internationally monitored elections within two years -- something I'd love to see the United States do. The Iraqi government had offered Bush official Richard Perle to open the whole country to inspections, to turn over a suspect in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, to help fight terrorism, and to favor U.S. oil companies. And the Iraqi president had offered, in the account that the president of Spain was given by the U.S. president, to simply leave Iraq if he could keep $1 billion.

The pretense that war was the last resort requires ignoring all of these other options, plus millions more. One can always think of another resort prior to the last resort. To use war as a last resort would mean to never use it. But even if we imagine the impossible, that literally everything else had been tried, we could not explain away Bush's brainstorming schemes to get the war started, as he did with Blair on January 31, 2003.

Nor should we ignore the fact that the same reasons given for any war have failed to generate a war on numerous other occasions. When the Soviet Union actually shot down a U2 plane, the United States did not choose war. That incident may have been created by the CIA to sabotage President Eisenhower's diplomacy, but Eisenhower did not choose to use it as grounds for war, as Bush seemed to think, in a similar situation, he could. Numerous nations other than Iraq in 2003 actually had weapons of mass destruction, yet in no case other than Iraq's was that seen as a basis for war.

The U.S. war on Iraq in 1990-1991 was also, like every war of the past several decades, depicted as a last resort, but the Iraqi government had been willing to negotiate withdrawal from Kuwait without war and ultimately offered to simply withdraw from Kuwait within three weeks without conditions. The King of Jordan, the Pope, the President of France, the President of the Soviet Union, and many others urged such a peaceful settlement, but the White House insisted upon its so-called last resort. In 2001 the Taliban repeatedly offered to turn Osama bin Laden over to a third country to stand trial, al Qaeda has had no significant presence in Afghanistan for most of the duration of the current war, and withdrawal has been an option at any time. Go back through U.S. history. Mexico was willing to negotiate the sale of its northern half, but the United States wanted to take it through an act of mass killing. Spain wanted the matter of the U.S.S. Maine to go to international arbitration, but the U.S. wanted war and empire. The Soviet Union proposed peace negotiations before the Korean War. The United States sabotaged peace proposals for Vietnam from the Vietnamese, the Soviets, and the French, relentlessly insisting on its so-called "last resort" over any other option, from the day the Gulf of Tonkin incident mandated war despite never having occurred. Osama bin Laden was even killed as a "last resort" despite being unarmed.

2. On June 4, 1939, a ship carrying over 900 Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, many of them children, anchored close enough to Miami, Florida, to see the lights. Passengers cabled President Franklin D. Roosevelt asking to be allowed into the United States. The U.S. Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury had just discussed the matter and sought unsuccessfully to persuade Cuba to accept the Jewish refugees. The U.S. Coast Guard was sent out to chase the ship, the MS St. Louis, away from the Land of the Free. Canada also refused to allow the ship entry, and it returned to Europe, where over 250 of the passengers were murdered by the Germans. How is it possible both that such an incident occurred and that World War II was a noble war fought to save the Jews? In fact, it isn't possible. The incident occurred, but the lies used to support World War II at the time were lies of defense and last resort. FDR claimed to have a map of Nazi plans for taking over the Americas. It was forged. He claimed to have a Nazi plan for eliminating religion. He didn't. He claimed that U.S. ships were innocently attacked. They were assisting British war planes. He provoked Japan in hopes of getting into the war in Europe, and drafted a declaration of war on both Japan and Germany the night of Pearl Harbor. He was talked into holding off on Germany.

The lies about World War II being defensive have been overtaken in U.S. mythology by lies about a war fought for the Jews (and presumably also the millions of other victims of the Nazi camps). But let me quote a few lines from my book: "[Y]ou won't find any recruitment posters of Uncle Sam saying, 'I Want You...to Save the Jews.' When a resolution was introduced in the U.S. Senate in 1934 expressing "surprise and pain" at Germany's actions, and asking that Germany restore rights to Jews, the State Department 'caused it to be buried in committee.' By 1937 Poland had developed a plan to send Jews to Madagascar, and the Dominican Republic had a plan to accept them as well. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain came up with a plan to send Germany's Jews to Tanganyika in East Africa. Representatives of the United States, Britain, and South American nations met at Lake Geneva in July 1938 and all agreed that none of them would accept the Jews. On November 15, 1938, reporters asked President Franklin Roosevelt what could be done. He replied that he would refuse to consider allowing more immigrants than the standard quota system allowed. Bills were introduced in Congress to allow 20,000 Jews under the age of 14 to enter the United States. Senator Robert Wagner (D-NY) said, 'Thousands of American families have already expressed their willingness to take refugee children into their homes.' First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt set aside her anti-Semitism to support the legislation, but her husband successfully blocked it for years. In July, 1940, Adolf Eichman, 'architect of the holocaust,' intended to send all Jews to Madagascar, which now belonged to Germany, France having been occupied. The ships would need to wait only until the British, which now meant Winston Churchill, ended their blockade. That day never came. On November 25, 1940, the French ambassador asked the U.S. Secretary of State to consider accepting German Jewish refugees then in France. On the 21st of December, the Secretary of State declined. By July 1941, the Nazis had determined that a final solution for the Jews could consist of genocide rather than expulsion."

It's worth adding to that quote that U.S. officials were obeying majority U.S. opinion. Most people in the United States did not want to allow Jewish immigrants from Germany to enter the country. While the news had been reported from Germany of growing brutality toward Jews and others, the U.S. media, including famously the New York Times, had downplayed it, as had U.S. politicians -- both out of anti-Semitism and out of a desire to maintain good relations with the German government. In fact, following the disastrous treaty of Versailles that ended World War I in a manner predicted at the time to create World War II, the United States invested heavily in Nazi Germany as a preferable alternative to communists. Our peace movement hero Smedley Butler was locked up in Quantico when he publicly said something disfavorable about Benito Mussolini.

The myth of the evil Nazis is not a myth because they were not evil, but because the U.S. government fundamentally did not give a damn, engaged in eugenics and human experimentation before, during, and after the war, ran an Apartheid state for African Americans, locked Japanese Americans in camps, pursued global empire, and pointlessly slaughtered during the war many more civilians than died in Nazi camps -- something that can be said of most parties to that war, a war that killed 50 to 70 million people, while the German camps killed some 9 million.
Caricature of "lady liberty" gripped by corporate pig greed

Let's say this unequivocally, the US government, the "deep state", the real decision makers don't want peace in the world. That's the last thing they want.

What they do want is complete hegemony over the world. They will resort to any means to achieve this end; coups, assassinations, NGO's undermining of governments with "color revolutions", wars and occupations, CIA backed mercenary proxy wars and false flag operations, drone attacks and missile strikes, embargoes, economic sanctions, "gunboat diplomacy" plus demonization of a countries leaders with the usual accusations of human rights violations-this self righteous hypocrisy coming from the world's greatest human rights violator, which would be laughable if it weren't so deadly.

To those who resist, Cuba under Fidel Castro, Venezuela under Hugo Chavez, earlier Chile under Salvatore Allende, Iran under Mohammed Mossadeph in 1953, more recently Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine in 2014, there is always relentless demonization, attempts to overthrow or actual coups with leaders overthrown. The US is relentless until it gets its way.

Of course with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991-the cold war Communist "enemy" since the end of WWII-a new "enemy" had to be found so "miraculously" 10 years later came in the form of radical Islamic "terrorism" with Osama bin Laden being its face accused of masterminding 9/11. Then the invasion of Afghanistan two months later, the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein, now since 2011 the attempt to remove Syria's Bashar Assad-only to be thwarted by Russia's Vladimir Putin sending his air forces since September 30 to all but crush the US backed terrorists in the country.

Thus Russia's Putin must be demonized- the "Hillerator" calling him the new Hitler- China accused as threat to navigation in the South China Sea, North Korea with its nuclear arsenal a threat to South Korea, including even the US . So on and on it goes.

Having "enemies" whether real or contrived is necessary to justify to the American people the need to spend a $trillion each year on defense spending, aircraft carriers, the current trillion dollar boondoggle F-35 fighter plane, nuclear submarines, a thousand military bases and outposts worldwide, NSA electronic surveillance of everyone, wars and occupations plus the never ending war on terrorism.

Some 10 or so years ago former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman said, "We need to build two nuclear submarines a year so we don't fall behind". As I recall he didn't mention "who" we were falling behind but it was certainly after the cold war ended with the USSR ceasing to exist and then Russia becoming a friend of the US. What Lieberman failed to mention was those $2 billion each subs were built in his own state of Connecticut yet this unnecessary cold war relic was said to be needed with Lieberman delivering it with a straight face-no wink and a nod necessary-because in the US when it comes to defense spending-no matter how outrageous and unnecessary-the funding is always approved.

Couple all this neo-con provoked endless war with neo-liberalism financial policies provoking indebted countries to accept loan packages tied to severe interest payments bringing further crippling debt-that can never be repaid-along with austerity measures placed on the backs of the people-think Greece now, possibly Spain, Italy, Ireland- and all done to make certain they remain under US diktat thus destroying the country's sovereignty in the process.

Is it any wonder in a 2013 Win/Gallop international opinion poll the US was the country that posed the greatest threat to world peace.

Here in the US, with anti-war protests pretty much a thing of the past, people polled here respond favorably to our drone warfare-presumably because no Americans are killed.

But "things" are hardly rosy in this US of A of ours.

The demise of domestic manufacturing plus the outsourcing of jobs has decimated much of the working middle class. Joblessness, unemployment, low paying service sector jobs, a $trillion in college student loan debt, the awareness of the ever widening chasm between the 99% and the 1% is not lost on people.

Now there's the current presidential election circus with the $billion "sweepstakes" mostly underwritten by Super PACS, billionaires, banks too big to fail, defense industry, fossil fuel, big Pharma, other big corporate largesse and unaccounted for "dark money"-save for Bernie Sanders campaign of small money donors and Trumps billionaire self funded campaign, there is the unmistakable "odor" in the air where people regardless of their political persuasion recognize our democracy has been usurped totally in favor of the 1%.

As I alluded to an earlier article "We need to take our country back" [1] , there is one chance for the current monstrosity to be dealt with and that's get money out of politics.

Money has so corrupted the political process few men, women of conscience consider running for office.

Sure there are enough charlatans and power mongers with no integrity out there that do run, greedily taking the big money underwriting their campaigns so the current corrupt system continues to operate as it does; all to the benefit of the.0001%.


US Senator of Vermont Bernie Sanders in Littleton NH on August 24th, 2015 by Michael Vadon

(Image by Michael Vadon) Details DMCA



First off, let me say Bernie, I have a lot of love and respect for you. You have inspired me to participate in the political process for the first time ever. Up until this time, my feelings about politics were something to the effect of, "Why bother? Politicians are all owned by the banksters and our other corporate masters." But you have woken me from that bad dream of disempowerment and lit a fire in my belly for political revolution. Your life and political journey have inspired millions of people. When the revolution finally happens and the people regain our government, I am certain that you will go down in history as a true American hero, and will be considered one of the great and noble politicians of our time. It's not about you, and you get that Bernie. It's about us, the people. It's not about you "fighting for us." It's about you inspiring us to engage and win the fight. It's about We The People rising up and taking back our country. You are simply the figurehead inspiring that with the bully pulpit of the presidency. An activated, engaged and empowered 99% will crush the 1%, and restore true democracy to this country.

I would follow you just about anywhere Bernie. But there is one place I will not follow you to. If you lose the democratic nomination, do not ask me to support Hillary Clinton. I should note that I have zero loyalty to the Democratic party. I entered the Democratic party to vote for you. Hillary is an example of everything that is wrong in American Politics. If she gets the nomination, she may incorporate some of your ideas into her platform in order to win over your support, and the support of your voters. But she will simply renege on those promises once she gets into office. Nothing coming out of her mouth can be trusted. I fear not just for this country if Hillary becomes president. I also fear for the world. Hillary is a neocon to the right of the Republicans. Her AIPAC speech was truly disgusting. The ability of so-called progressive people to conveniently ignore this fact is truly astonishing. I honestly don't know who would be worse for the country -- Hillary or Trump. I will certainly not vote for either of these clowns. If not you Bernie, I will vote Jill Stein in the general election.

We The People need to start a viable third (and 4th and 5th and 6th) party. I know this will be heresy to many diehard democrats, but I would support you Bernie in abandoning the Democratic Party if you don't get the nomination and starting your own party of the 99%. In a three-way between you, Hillary and Trump, I think you would win. "We can't divide the democratic vote and give the presidency to republicans," some would say. I would counter that if anyone really thinks there is a significant difference between the Democrats and Republicans, you are being deceived. Both parties' answer to the same people behind the scenes who are really running the show. The idea is to create a perception of difference so we all think that we get to actually vote in a meaningful way.

So Bernie, I am with you, as long as you do not ask me to integrate into the burning house that is the Democratic Party. Either you win the nomination and transform this party from within, or you go rogue and start your own party. Any other choice, and I'll have to vote for someone else. Either way, you have lit up the path for me/us on how to take back our country, and for this I will always be grateful.


There is growing discussion about who should be Bernie Sander's choice for vice president. I have two choices, one obvious the other someone no-one's mentioning, who could be stellar. I discuss possible candidates others have proposed and some I think should be on the table.

I'd like to see and I believe it is essential Bernie Sanders select a female vice presidential running mate. An early choice could swing the election. It might be early but it would be ideal if he announced his running mate at the debate in Brooklyn, tomorrow night. In general a good VP choice brings a number of strengths to a campaign: deep experience that adds to the trust and confidence in the team ability to help win a questionable state. readiness to jump in as the president if something happens to the person who was elected president ability to bring a serious amount of undecided and softly committed voters to the side of the campaign

A number of people are being mentioned as possibilities. I tweeted:

Besides Elizabeth Warren, who would U like to see as Bernie's VP running mate? #FeelTheBern at  rob kall (@robkall) April 12, 2016



I phrased the question that way because so many people mention Elizabeth Warren as their first choice. I have my doubts that she would agree, because, in spite of her closely similar positions to Bernie Sanders on so many issues, she has not endorsed him. She should, ideally have done it before Super Tuesday. So I wanted to know people's thoughts on other possibilities. The answers were not surprising, but, for me, based on the criteria I've listed above, not very satisfying. People mentioned, first, Tulsi Gabbard, then Nina Turner, former primary candidate Martin O'Malley, Cenk Uygur and Elizabeth Warren (Who says Bernie Sanders supporter listen to rules?)

I would love to see Elizabeth Warren both endorse Bernie, after Oregon senator Jeff Merkley broke the ice among Democratic senators, and follow he endorsement by accepting Bernie's invitation to be his VP. But I don't think it will happen. Still she would be my first choice.

I received an email from PDA-- Progressive Democrats of America-- asking me to vote in a poll for my choice for Bernie's VP. They load the deck, listing three candidates and offering me a blank space to add someone else. I went with the fill in the blank option. Here's chunk of their email:



part of the email DFA sent out

(Image by DFA) Details DMCA





The email goes on to say:

Our favorites in alphabetical order are:



1. Rep. Keith Ellison, Minnesota was the second member of Congress to endorse Bernie. He's a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the first Muslim American elected to Congress, and a champion for all of our legislation. When we offered him a "Healthcare Not Warfare" sticker, he asked if we meant Single Payer healthcare before taking it. When told it was indeed Single Payer, he said, "Good! Because anything else is just bull s--t!" We love that combination of plain talk and smart thinking in Bernie and in Keith. Sanders-Ellison, 2016. No nonsense, just results!



2. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii resigned her DNC leadership position in February 2016 so she could endorse Bernie. An active duty major in the Army National Guard who served two tours of duty in the Middle East, Tulsi displays courageous decision-making we need for our political revolution. She sponsored legislation barring U.S. action to commit regime change in Syria, to avoid another Middle East quagmire. Tulsi knows all too well the real costs of war; that "boots on the ground" don't suffer casualties--American families do. She turned 35 yesterday, making her constitutionally eligible to be Vice President. Sanders-Gabbard, 2016. It's the winning ticket.



3. Rep. Raul Grijalva, Arizona was the first Congress person to endorse Bernie. He's a kind, open man who co-chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus with intelligence and courage. He's helped PDA whenever we've asked, and graciously appreciates our support for his important legislation. He agreed to sponsor the resolution PDA and our allies drafted, the most ambitious Climate Emergency legislation ever. He supports all of our agenda items. We appreciate Raul's friendliness, complete lack of pretense, and other Bernie-like qualities. Sanders-Grijalva, 2016. S-, se puede! (Yes, we can!)



These three Congress members were the first to endorse Bernie, and all have demonstrated their commitment to progressive values. We discussed this, and determined that they deserve to be featured choices, but we invite you to write in any choice you'd prefer here.



We hope you'll join us in participating in this straw poll, and please share it with your friends!



So, I filled in the blank field with the name Janet Napolitano, former governor of the state of Arizona and former head of Homeland Security, once ranked, as the ninth most powerful person in the world. She's not a progressive but she meets all the criteria I described above.

Napolitano is probably more conservative, but who isn't? As someone who's been deep inside the Obama administration she would make Obama insiders feel safer, and probably many democrats feel safer. I think her name should at least be on the table for consideration. A number of other qualified female Democratic governors would probably be ruled out because they've endorsed HIllary. But maybe not. Here are four women who are qualified (links are to their Wikipedia pages.) Jennifer Granholm gov michigan was born in Canada. I think that rules her out. Beverly Perdue First woman (and only to date) to serve as Governor of North Carolina. Christine Gregoire Governor of Washington State. Prior to her election to the Governorship, she was Washington's first female attorney general. Kathleen Sebelius Resigned to become Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama Administration.

Frankly I don't think any of the people PDA proposes bring what it takes to the VP slot. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE all three of them. I've met Ellison and Grijalva and followed their politics for years and they are superb. But Ellison is a Muslim and I don't think America is ready for a Jew/Muslim ticket. Grijalva would be a great candidate, but I want to see a woman in the slot. Gabbard is amazing, but she's a Hindu and again, I don't think America is ready for a Jew/Hindu ticket.

I don't feel good about ruling out two good candidates because of their religion. Maybe I'm wrong. But I don't think so. I think that it is pushing it having the first Jew as the presidential candidate.

Nina Turner has been an amazing endorser and surrogate, but, with her experience as a Cleveland city council member and a member of the Ohio state senate, I don't think she brings enough experience to the job, and when she ran for Ohio Secretary of State, she lost to her Republican opponent 60 to 35, so she couldn't really help bringing in Ohio.

That's why I started researching female Democratic governors.

Looking at female mayors here are a few possibilities I've picked from this Wikipedia page listing first-time female mayors

There are a lot of other female mayors, but they were elected to lead very small cities, or cities in very blue states.

I'm not satisfied that this is a complete list. There could be some celebrities (think Ronald Reagan) too.

Who would you like to see Bernie choose-- from the ones discussed her or someone else?
Global L-Cysteine Market Research Report 2016 - 2021

http://www.qyresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-l-cysteine-market-2016-industry-trends-sales.html

http://goo.gl/xIWHPt

http://www.qyresearchgroup.com

Global L-Cysteine Market 2016The new research report, titled Global L-Cysteine Market 2016 provides an analytical view of the global L-Cysteine Market, with key focus on the industry performance as exhibited in China. The publication is compiled to present an executive level blueprint of the market, which enumerates the factors impacting the L-Cysteine market dynamics in detail. The demand and supply forces sketching the growth trajectory of the market is studied extensively. The report also draws refined growth forecasts for the market based on the information sourced from primary and secondary research.This report covers every aspect of the global market for L-Cysteine , starting from the basic market information and advancing further to various significant criteria, based on which, the L-Cysteine market is segmented. Key application areas of L-Cysteine are also assessed on the basis of their performance. Global L-Cysteine Production, Supply, Sales, and Demand Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth research report on L-Cysteine . From two aspects: production and sales, the report provides detailed information of production, supply, sales, demand, price, cost, income and revenue on L-Cysteine in US, EU, China, Japan and rest of the world.Access Complete Report with TOC @Global L-Cysteine Market 2016 report has Forecasted Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in % value for particular period, that will help user to take decision based on futuristic chart. Report also includes key players in global L-Cysteine market. The L-Cysteine market size is estimated in terms of revenue (US$) and production volume in this report.The report gives a detailed overview of the key segments in the market. The fastest and slowest growing market segments are covered in this report. The key emerging opportunities of the fastest growing global L-Cysteine market segments are also covered in this report. Each segments and sub-segments market size, share, and forecast are available in this report. Additionally, the region-wise segmentation and the trends driving the leading geographical region and the emerging region has been presented in this report.Get Free Sample Report :Table of Content1 Industry Overview1.1 Definition and Specifications of L-Cysteine1.1.1 Definition of L-Cysteine1.1.2 Specifications of L-Cysteine1.2 Classification of L-Cysteine1.3 Applications of L-Cysteine1.4 Industry Chain Structure of L-Cysteine1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of L-Cysteine1.5.1 Industry Overview of L-Cysteine1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of L-Cysteine1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of L-Cysteine1.7 Industry News Analysis of L-Cysteine2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of L-Cysteine2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of L-Cysteine2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of L-Cysteine2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of L-Cysteine2.4 Other Costs Analysis of L-Cysteine2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of L-Cysteine2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of L-Cysteine2.7 Global Price, Cost and Gross of L-Cysteine 2010-2016Chapter Three Global L-Cysteine Capacity Production and Production Value3.1 Global L-Cysteine Manufacturing Base3.2 2010-2015 Global L-Cysteine Capacity and Production3.3 2010-2015 Global L-Cysteine Production Value and Growth Rate3.4 2010-2015 Global L-Cysteine Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value and Gross MarginChapter Four L-Cysteine Sales and Sales Revenue by Regions4.1 2010-2015 Global L-Cysteine Sales by Regions4.2 2010-2015 Global Major Regions L-Cysteine Sales and Growth Rate4.3 2010-2015 Global L-Cysteine Sales Revenue by Regions4.4 2010-2015 Global Major Regions L-Cysteine Sales Revenue and Growth Rate4.5 2010-2015 Global Major Regions L-Cysteine Sales PriceAbout Us:QYResearch Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. QYResearch Group also carries the capability to assist you with your customized market research requirements including in-depth market surveys, primary interviews, competitive landscaping, and company profiles. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics. QYResearch Group is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 FREEWeb:Email: sales@qyresearchgroup.com
FemaleAdda Launches Website for Women to Book Appointments Online for Spa and Massage Centers in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad and Greater Noida

http://www.femaleadda.com/spa

http://www.femaleadda.com/about-spa

FemaleAdda has launched a website femaleadda for Delhi and NCR region. FemaleAdda offers women a portal to book online appointments for Spas and Massage Centers in New Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad.Women can confirm their appointments beforehand this will prevent their time and energy. They can explore, choose, and evaluate the spa options available according to their need and convenience.The website is very user-friendly. Users can easily operate to find the desired spa or massage center from the large database of spas according to their convenience. By showing the most appropriate services, appointment times are accurately booked and customer time is effectively utilized. Also, the knowledge portal gives you information about various spa and massages which helps the user to know and understand the types of massages and spas available at the different massage/spa centers. Spa Massages helps you to reboot your mind, body and soul and provides relaxation. Getting a weekly massage can provide numerous benefits.The official announcement of FemaleAdda stated "This website has been made keeping in mind the needs of women. Women have to manage the home as well as the office. While doing so they neglect their health and beauty. This website gives them the opportunity to get basic massage and spa services. One can find best reasonable services near home and office. The Customer can rate and review the services that they have availed, which then shows up on the website thereby ensuring maximum benefit for the best service providers. It helps the service provider to manage the customers in an efficient and optimized way". Providers can manage their own real-time appointment availability online which can be updated at any time, or have managed for them by the company staff. FemaleAdda can be easily managed on the website through users account and via the mobile app. To Know More About -andFemaleAdda is a total solutions provider, delivering basic feminine requirements on a single platform. This portal will be further expanding to pan India level, starting with metro cities. Services can be booked on the website and mobile app.Sector 18, Noida, Uttar Pradesh - 201301 India
Latin America(LATAM) Adalimumab Market to Reach US$1.18 bn by 2023; Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriasis Represent Largest Application Segments

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=582355

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=582355

http://dynamicmarketresearch.blogspot.com/

This report on LATAM Adalimumab market analyzes the current and future prospects of the adalimumab sales pertaining to Latin American countries. The stakeholders of this report include companies engaged in production and commercialization of adalimumab biosimilars across the globe. This report encompasses an elaborate executive summary, with a market snapshot that provides overall information of major market segments and sub-segments included in the study scope. This section also provides the overall information and data analysis of the LATAM Adalimumab market with respect to the leading market segments based on, application and major Latin American countries.To Download Sample Report With TOC@The LATAM Adalimumab market has been segmented on the basis of application, and Latin American countries. The application segment has been further segmented into rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohns disease, ulcerative colitis and others. The LATAM adalimumab country segment has been further categorized into Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Rest of LATAM. The market for each of these segment has been analyzed on the basis of adalimumab prescription for various disorders and regulatory scenario with respect to biologic drugs in respective countries. Market revenue in terms of US$ Mn for the period between 2013 and 2023 along with the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) from 2015 to 2023 are provided for all the segments, considering 2014 as the base year.The market overview section of this report explores market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities that have predominant impact on the LATAM adalimumab market presently and could influence the market in future as well. The market attractiveness analysis has been provided in the market overview section in order to elucidate the intensity of competition in the market in different LATAM countries. Furthermore, pipeline analysis of the adalimumab biosimilar molecules in Phase III stage have been provided in market overview section. The market estimations for pipeline molecules are provided assuming the positive entry of these molecules in the market which will have an impact on the sustainability of the companies operating in this market. All these factors would help the market players to take strategic decisions in order to strengthen their positions and expand their shares in the LATAM market.The LATAM adalimumab analysis with respect to major LATAM countries provides the landscape for the production and marketing of adalimumab biosimilars with the introduction of favorable reimbursement policies, research expertise which paves a path for the local and foreign investments in these countries. The report also profiles major players in the adalimumab market on the basis of various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies, product portfolio, and recent developments. Some of the major players profiled in this report include AbbVie, Inc., Amgen, Inc., Mylan N.V., Novartis AG, Pfizer, Inc. and others.The LATAM Adalimumab market is segmented into the following categories:LATAM Adalimumab Market, by ApplicationRheumatoid ArthritisPsoriasisCrohns DiseaseUlcerative ColitisOthersLATAM Adalimumab Market, by CountryBrazilMexicoArgentinaColombiaRest of LATAMTo Enquire Regarding This Report@About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Blog:United States90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States
UHF RFID Temperature Tags for Cold Chain Traceability

RFID Collects Data at a Distance

www.DataLoggerInc.com

www.dataloggerinc.com

Low-Cost Way to Monitor Temperature from Farm to Fork!CHESTERLAND, OHApril 12, 2016For 24/7 temperature monitoring of perishable foods and medicines, CAS DataLoggers and CAEN RFID offer the Easy2log RT0005 RFID Temperature Datalogger. These semi-passive UHF Logger tags are designed specifically for the Food & Beverage and Pharma industries. Call CAS DataLoggers today at (800) 956-4437 and save!RFID Tags for Cold Chain Visibility:Many of our customers want to get their product temperature data quickly and effortlessly upon receipt of the product. Point of origin is important to them. They want an inexpensive notepad-sized device thats easy for drivers and vendors to use.We supply them with the CAEN RFID RT0005, a temperature datalogger incorporating RFID technology within a sealed plastic card. The datalogger records temperature and auto-tracks information including product destination.Using CAEN RFID Temperature Tags, you can verify: Temperature Destination Shipping route--all with one scan!Track Temperature at Every Link of the Chain:The CAEN RFID RT0005 is a semi-passive UHF Logger tag that records temperature from perishable food and pharmaceutical products in transportation and storage applications. Using an EPC C1G2 RFID interface, these tags have a read range of 10m in air @ 2W ERP. Ideal for use in shipping, RFID tags enable you to instantly check the temperature of your products anywhere, anytime.CAEN RFIDs high-accuracy sensor, large memory size, and alarm capabilities makes it easy to integrate temperature monitoring into your existing logistic operation. Each RFID data logger can be used over multiple shipments thanks to its long battery life and a Quick Reset function.Personnel can start the RT0005 tag either by pressing a button or via standard RFID commands. Their bright LEDs make it easy for staff to do a quick temperature check. The tags can also calculate the Mean Kinetic Temperature and remaining product shelf life time. These devices also generate alarms whenever values exceed your preset High & Low Temperature alarms.Pharmaceutical Cold Chains:An External Probe model (RT0005ET) is also available, making it possible to measure temperature even inside a shielded box where the RFID field cannot get through. This is a popular product for Pharma applications involving perishable medications and samples.Track Shipments Online:Available as a free download, the Easy2log software allows you to configure, control and download data from the temperature tags. CAEN RFID products also support integration with a web portal so that when you input your Tracking Number, youll see the time, location info, and the entire temperature history all the way from the shipment time to the checkpoint!UHF RFID Readers:RFID makes it quick and easy for users to download their critical temperature data. We offer both desktop and portable UHF RFID readers as an alternative to more expensive handheld devices. Our readers have an integrated antenna for short- to medium-range applications and feature a Bluetooth interface for quick data collection.Its easy for personnel to use our mobile or desktop RFID readers by just walking near a product palette or box to collect the tags data. This way users can get data from multiple tags simultaneously, even from long distances.For more information on our new CAEN RFID UHF RFID tags and readers for cold chain and pharma temperature monitoring applications, 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
Market Opportunities & Challenges in the SDN, NFV & Network Virtualization Architectural System 2015 - 2030

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=489943

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=489943

While the advantages of SDN (Software Defined Networking) and network virtualization are well known in the enterprise IT and data center world, both technologies also bring a host of benefits to the telecommunications service provider community. Not only can these technologies help address the explosive capacity demand of mobile traffic, but they can also reduce the CapEx and OpEx burden faced by service providers to handle this demand by diminishing reliance on expensive proprietary hardware platforms. The recognition of these benefits has led to the emergence of the NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) concept that seeks to virtualize and effectively consolidate many service provider network elements onto multi-tenant industry-standard servers, switches and storage.Mobile operators and internet service providers have already begun making SDN and NFV investments in a number of functional areas including but not limited to EPC/mobile core, IMS, policy control, CPE (Customer Premises Equipment), CDN (Content Delivery Network) and transport networks. SNS Research estimates that service provider SDN and NFV investments will grow at a CAGR of 54% between 2015 and 2020. As service providers seek to reduce costs and virtualize their networks, these investments will eventually account for over $20 Billion in revenue by the end of 2020.The "SDN, NFV & Network Virtualization Ecosystem: 2015  2030  Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts" report presents an in-depth assessment of the SDN, NFV and network virtualization ecosystem including enabling technologies, key trends, market drivers, challenges, use cases, deployment case studies, regulatory landscape, standardization, opportunities, future roadmap, value chain, ecosystem player profiles and strategies. The report also presents market size forecasts from 2015 till 2030. The forecasts are segmented for 10 submarkets, 2 user base categories, 9 use cases, 6 regions and 34 countries.Browse Market info, get a Sample PDF with TOC:The report comes with an associated Excel datasheet suite covering quantitative data from all numeric forecasts presented in the report.Topics CoveredThe report covers the following topics:- SDN, NFV and network virtualization ecosystem- Market drivers and barriers- Enabling technologies, protocols, architecture and key trends- Use cases, applicatons, PoC (Proof of Concept) and deployment case studies- CapEx saving potential of SDN and NFV- Orchestration and management platforms- Regulatory landscape and standardization- Industry roadmap and value chain- Profiles and strategies of over 240 leading ecosystem players- Strategic recommendations for ecosystem players- Market analysis and forecasts from 2015 till 2030Forecast SegmentationMarket forecasts are provided for each of the following submarkets, user base and use case categories:Submarkets- SDN Hardware & Software- NFV Hardware & Software- Other Network Virtualization SoftwareUser Base Categories- Service Providers- Enterprises & Data CentersNFV Submarkets- Hardware Appliances- Orchestration & Management Software- VNF SoftwareService Provider SDN Submarkets- SDN-Enabled Hardware Appliances- Orchestration & Management Software- SDN Controller Software- Network Applications SoftwareEnterprise & Data Center SDN Submarkets- SDN-Enabled Hardware Appliances- SDN-Enabled Virtual Switches- SDN Controller SoftwareEnquiry at:Service Provider Use Case Categories- CDN- CPE- Data Center- EPC/Mobile Core- Fixed Access Networks- IMS & VoLTE- Policy, OSS & BSS- RAN (Radio Access Network)- Transport & BackhaulThe following regional and country markets are also covered:Regional Markets- Asia Pacific- Eastern Europe- Latin & Central America- Middle East & Africa- North America- Western EuropeResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free : 866-997-4948 (US-Canada Toll Free)Tel : +1-518-621-2074
Fishing FanCam, The Groundbreaking Wireless Device, Helps All Anglers See the Fish Before Catching Them

Fishing FanCam

www.fishingfancam.com

www.kickstarter.com/projects/1064135905/fishing-fancam-real-time-hd-camera-for-anglers

www.fishingfancam.com

Fishing FanCam, the ultimate fishing device, announces its launch and turns to popular KickStarter. This autonomous, wireless device enables fishing fans to see the fish before catching them.(Valencia, Spain) - Fishing FanCam, the amazing wireless device, is pleased to announce its launch. This great innovation starts a promising crowdfunding campaign to support its development.Lovers of active fishing now have another reason to enjoy their hobby: the Fishing FanCam. Fishing FanCam is designed to observe the fish in its natural environment, watch their behavior and reaction to the bait, in real time by broadcasting video in HD quality to the fishermans mobile device. It gives anglers the opportunity to maximize their experience and participation in their beloved hobby.The Fishing FanCam is a fully autonomous wireless device in a floating, waterproof case. It comes with a Micro SD card storage, HD camera (30 fps), wifi signal of 100 meters, Li-ion battery and built-in microphone. This high tech device is accompanied with a mobile app that enables users to control streaming, save the videos and share their experience with their friends.As Anton Khazov, Founder & CEO at Fishing FanCam, explains Our team of experts spent hundreds of hours on prototypes and pre-production samples in order to deliver a totally reliable device that all anglers will love.Now, Fishing FanCam is launching a promising crowdfunding campaign on popular KickStarter. Potential backers can benefit from large discounts as prices start from $70 per piece (super early bird) and $77 per piece (early bird) to $600 for 10 pieces (early bird). Funders can also show their support by sharing the campaign with their Social Media networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.)To claim your perk visittoday.AboutFishing FanCam is a tech startup based in Valencia, Spain. The team has several years of experience in computer vision algorithms, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi technology, software development, industrial 3D design and in the development of numerous gadgets.Fishing FanCamAnton Khazovst. Rionskaya 3 - 86400107 VolgogradRussia
Sivantos Listens In To Its Suppliers

ienna | April 7, 2016  Sivantos, the international producer of hearing aids, is now using eAuctions to guarantee transparent and successful award processes. With the Auction Module from the solution specialists at POOL4TOOL, Sivantos can conduct negotiations more quickly and with multiple suppliers simultaneously. In addition, the use of the module has improved the companys relationship with its suppliers.Standardized procedures, fair requirements for providers and transparent award processes are just a few of the benefits of electronically supported auctions. The international producer of hearing aids, Sivantos, demonstrates, however, that not only do these eAuctions help to drive down prices, but they can also be used strategically. Up until 2015, the leading producer of hearing aids was part of the Siemens AG, under the name Siemens Audiology. The eAuction tool that was used by Siemens at that time was carefully evaluated during the re-structuring process, and the independent, mid-sized company reached the conclusion that it would need a different solution. We wanted a more efficient solution as soon as possible, and one that all of our buyers could use to set up auctions quickly and easily, explains Shahriar Tabrizi, the Group Chief Procurement Officer of the Sivantos Group.Project Completed in Record TimeWith POOL4TOOL, we were able to complete the project in record time. It was only three months from the first meeting to the first live auction. The eSolution won the company over with its intuitive operating system and its general versatility. The innovative real-time sync function transfers all data in real-time to the web-based platform, which makes the negotiation process more dynamic. The user-friendly operating system keeps training sessions to a minimum, and the employees at Sivantos can use the tool from any of the companys international locations without delays or lagging. This also gives every supplier a fair chance during the bidding process.Currently, 25 category managers at Sivantos are working with POOL4TOOL and they use the eAuction Module to conduct all of their price negotiations with approximately 5,000 suppliers. The module is used for both direct and indirect materials. Standardized procedures and automated processes make it easier for procurers to reach the best price and to map out an eAuction strategy. If the price is determined using the tool, the company is guaranteed the best possible results because the auction procedure is already established and standardized, explains Shahriar Tabrizi. The tool does not replace personal contact between buyers and suppliers, but rather serves as a valuable addition.Same Rights for EveryoneIt was important for Sivantos to guarantee the same terms for all of their suppliers. With POOL4TOOL, we can offer our suppliers a standardized platform that provides everyone with the same opportunity to participate in the auction. This makes the negotiation process fair and transparent. We dont want any unfair competition that results in a David and Goliath situation, says Tabrizi.Sivantos can now conduct its negotiations more quickly and with multiple suppliers simultaneously thanks to POOL4TOOL eAuctions. Communicating using the tool makes it easier to determine prices and saves time. Requirements are carefully specified by the purchaser and suppliers respond with concrete quotes. Personal appointments and presentations, which were needed in order to communicate a companys requirements, are no longer necessary. The tool requires buyers to be specific to provide all of the requirements exactly. Inquiries upon request, which often led to misunderstandings, are now a thing of the past.About POOL4TOOL: POOL4TOOL AG is the global market leader for electronic process optimization in "direct procurement", with locations in America and Asia and over 300 clients. The only worldwide All-in-One Supply Collaboration Platform brings together all process from product development through strategic procurement (sourcing), supplier management (SRM), indirect procurement (procurement), Supply Chain Management (SCM) up to Quality Management in one workflow-based solution. POOL4TOOL offers best practices from successful projects with global market leaders from the automotive,engineering and equipment construction, serial production and medical technology branches, as well as a unique supplier network with over 300,000 connected companies.Kathrin KornfeldPOOL4TOOL AGAltmannsdorfer Str. 91/19A-1120 Vienna
Founder Of Kate Moss Favorite, Mukluks, Returns To Luxury Footwear With Baird Originals

Baird Originals: Stand at Ease

Trendsetter, Courtney Wise, steps into new line of premium, high-top sneakersMIAMI, FL, April 12th, 2016Born from the love, passion and appreciation of luxury fashion and design, BAIRD Originals (bairdoriginals.com) is a new premium shoe brand set to add a luxurious dimension to what was originally considered streetwearthe sneaker. Conceptualized by Courtney Wise, the innovator who brought Mukluk boots to the fashion stage, and onto the feet of some of the worlds most stylish women, including Kate Moss, Sienna Miller, and Beyonce. BAIRDs high-top sneakers are in a league of their own, taking a traditionally casual look and elevating it with a luxe edge.Crafted from premium fabrics, BAIRD is launching the Falkland design in three rich colorwaysgrey, black, and olive ($395 USD/pair). With a luxurious goat fur ankle cuff and sides, a soft suede leather toe, and patent leather tongue and trim, BAIRDs high-top shoes bring a unique look to the high-end footwear landscape. Every detail has been carefully crafted and considered to create these eye-catching sneaks, from the extra set of contrasting shoe laces that come with each pair to the soft leather insole thats stamped with the BAIRD mantra, Stand at Ease, a nod to the military background of Courtneys grandfather John Baird, for whom the brand was named.Following the international success of Mukluks, I knew I wanted to do another luxury footwear line that incorporated fur and appealed to the masses, this time opting for a cooler weather shoe instead of traditional winter boots, says BAIRD Originals founder and creative director Courtney Wise. Weve seen a resurgence in the market with sneakers, especially high-topseveryone wants to look stylish yet be comfortable at the same time, and the Falkland shoe is perfectly versatile, transitioning from day to night.As the ideal shoe to lead you into the cooler seasons, with its warm fur and soft leathers, the classic-yet-edgy Falkland high-top can be worn by men and women, young and old. And because of their versatility, the shoe takes their owners from daytime to dinner without sacrificing stylepair with workout pants for an on-trend street style look, with leather leggings for a night out with friends, or simply with a pair of boyfriend jeans for Sunday brunch.The Falkland high-top sneakers are available exclusively online for the MSRP of $395 USD/pair.For more information about BAIRD Originals, visit bairdoriginals.com_____About BAIRD OriginalsLaunched in late 2015, BAIRD Originals reinterprets and elevates the iconic high-top sneaker silhouette, using hand-selected premium fabrics and signature details, such as fur trim and soft leather components. BAIRD seamlessly transitions the worlds most stylish trendsetters from balmy to chilly seasons in comfort and style.About Courtney WiseCourtney Wise, founder and creative director of BAIRD Originals, was born in Toronto, Canada, but honed her branding expertise and trend-spotting prowess in London, UK, where she launched the native Canadian Mukluk boot to worldwide acclaim. The Muks soared to cult status in London after style icon Kate Moss was snapped wearing the footwear, after she purchased a pair from Courtneys sole UK retailer. Consequentially, the boots became a celebrity must-have, spotted on tastemakers such as Beyonce, Kate Hudson, and Sienna Miller. Courtneys newest endeavor with BAIRD Originals was born from that same savvy ability to spot the next big trend along with an innate love, passion, and appreciation for luxury fashion and quality design.MEDIA CONTACTHannah Litman, PrincipalWink Communicationse: hannah@wink-communications.com | p: 305.771.5687MEDIA CONTACTHannah Litman, Principal18455 NE 30th Court, Miami, 33160Wink Communicationse: hannah@wink-communications.com | p: 305.771.5687
FRESH HEALTHY VENDING INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES REIS & IRVYS ROBOTIC FRO-YO KIOSK FRANCHISE

www.froyofranchising.com

https://vimeo.com/160788415

SAN DIEGO (April 12, 2016)  Fresh Healthy Vending International, Inc. (OTCQB: VEND), the nations leading healthy vending franchisor, today launched its Reis & Irvys franchise of first-of-its-kind interactive, robotic frozen yogurt kiosks. Now available for franchise pre-orders, Reis & Irvys kiosks signal a radical shift in the frozen yogurt industry, away from messy, high-maintenance self-serve stations and into a revolutionary, automated design that delights consumers and requires just minutes of manual upkeep per day.The Reis & Irvys FroYo Kiosk is the first fully-automated frozen yogurt robot to the market. The automated kiosk is fully enclosed, eliminating the possibility of spillage and drastically improving food safety conditions. The Froyo Kiosk serves up nine flavors and a choice of six delicious toppings, allowing dozens of possible combinations, and its interactive, robotic design makes it a visual spectacle for consumers of all ages. The touch screen ordering process accepts all major debit and credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Wallet.The Reis & Irvys FroYo kiosk is a trailblazer in the frozen yogurt space, offering a unique, exclusive proposition for franchisees as the first to market with this innovative concept, said Nick Yates, chairman of Fresh Healthy Vending International. Its a low-cost, low-floor-space, high-profit-margin opportunity, and its interactive, robotic design really draws a crowd wherever its placed. Well use the relationships and experience weve built over the last five years with FHV to launch what we believe is the future of frozen yogurt.That future, which appears very bright, also comes with many options available to potential franchisees and structured within a franchise model that is built on historic success. Operators will be offered different tiers of packages and with both part time and full time investment options. The minimum part time package will include four Froyo Kiosks for an investment of $140,000 (each unit comes with a pricetag of $32,500 and a per unit franchise fee of $2500) and expands into a full time package that includes eight Froyo Kiosks at $280,000. Franchisees are then fully-supported from start to finish by the corporate team at Reis and Irvys, who provide all operators with premiere location procurement services, local and national marketing initiatives, franchise training and complete turnkey support.Our support and resources are available to all our future operators well beyond their initial investment and include a number of key initiatives says TJ Rogers, Director of Franchising for Fresh Healthy Vending and Reis and Irvys. We take the time to procure premiere locations in which these kiosks will thrive and generate an unmatched consumer experience. For example malls, quick serve restaurants, hospitals, theme parks, movie theaters, supermarkets, practically anywhere there are captive consumers. We then continue to support that experience and our franchisee with both national and local marketing efforts. Thereby helping the success of our operators as well as the success of our brand.Fresh Healthy Vending (soon to be Generation Next Franchise Brands), based in San Diego, 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 and capitalizes on a growing market of health-conscious consumers. The Company has more than 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 more than 3000 machines for placement in schools, universities, hospitals, community centers, military bases, airports, fitness facilities, YMCAs, libraries and many other locations. Using its current infrastructure, the franchisor will replicate its franchise model and apply it to Reis and Irvys, offering a comprehensive, turnkey model consisting of kiosk supply, location procurement, national service infrastructure and best in class franchisee support.Reis & Irvys kiosks are available for pre-order as of today. Potential franchisees can find more information by contacting Reis and Irvys directly at 855-385-5333 or by going to. To see the kiosk in action, check out their video atThe Reis and Irvys Frozen yogurt Kiosk will be officially unveiled at the International Franchise Expo in New York City on June 16.This information is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a franchise. It is for information purposes only. No Reis and Irvy's franchises will be sold to any resident of any state until the offering has been exempted from the requirements of, or duly registered in and declared effective by, such state and the required FDD (if any) has been delivered to the prospective franchisee before the sale in compliance with applicable law. Currently, the following states in the United States regulate the offer and sale of franchises: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. If you reside in one of these states, or even if you reside elsewhere, you may have certain rights under applicable franchise laws or regulations.About Fresh Healthy VendingFresh 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 3000 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 statementsExcept 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-Qs 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.Konnect888 S. Figuera St. STE 1000Los Angeles, CA 90017Danny Beardsworthdbeardsworth@konnect-pr.com
Largest Joint Precision Fires Future Conference in the GCC Established

http://www.jpf2firescon.com/

Abu Dhabi, UAE  Abu Dhabi will be the inaugural location for the Joint Precision Fires Future (JPF2 2016) Conference in the GCC to be held this November 16, 2016.At the official launch of the JPF2 official website portal and delegate platform, Mr. Matthew Cochran, Chairman & CEO of Defense Services Marketing Council (DSMC) said, the inaugural JPF2 2016 Conference will address urgent topics which include a growing need for timely and accurate precision fires, investing in a robust C2/ISR network to support the interoperability among the GCC coalition countries and the need for greater collaboration by all stakeholders in Joint Precision Fires operations." Other topics of discussion will include land based long-range strike capabilities, Air Force and Land Forces Precision Fire synergies and Fighter Interoperability Requirements. DSMC has been announced as the Strategic Consultant to the JPF2 2016 Committee and will work to invite both speakers and delegates from the GCC Armed Forces and around the globe.The JPF2 2016 Headline Sponsor, Lockheed Martin will support the conference and contribute key elements as part of the JPF2s agenda and mission to highlight and focus attention on this important subject. The JPF2 2016 Team of Partners will work with the attending delegations to address the challenges and successes of the military, government and industry using lessons learned and knowledge sharing that highlight the progress and development of local stakeholders while allowing for international companies and countries to bring together speakers and panelists to discuss the topics posed by the JPF2 Armed Forces delegates.The Joint Precision Fires Future (JPF2 2016) Conference will take place in Abu Dhabi, UAE at the Armed Forces Officers Club on November 16, 2016.For more information please visit the JPF2 2016 website at:Defense Services Marketing Council (DSMC) | DSMC is a marketing incubator organization that accelerates international Defense, Space & Security industry related companies growth.Ms. Barbara FigueroaDefense Services Marketing Council (DSMC)Office 508, 5th Floor, Fairmont Offices,Sheikh Zayed Road, 53871, Dubai, UAE
ScienceOpen partnership with Higher Education Press

BERLIN, Germany - April 12, 2016. ScienceOpen and Higher Education Press are pleased to announce a new partnership at the 2016 London Book fair to foster open research and publishing collaborations between China and Europe.The innovative ScienceOpen discovery platform can increase visibility for scholarly publishers.For this pilot project, Higher Education Press will be indexing one of their flagship Open Access journals, Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering (FASE), with ScienceOpen, adding to the current archive of over 11 million article records.FASE is a leading Open Access journal in the fields of Agricultural Engineering,Resources and Biotechnology, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Applied Ecology, Crop Science, Forestry Engineering and Fisheries, Horticulture, and Plant Protection.By indexing FASE with ScienceOpen, Higher Education Press demonstrate that they are spearheading the advance of scholarly communication in China, and fostering best practices in Open Science.A new Collection has been built for FASE to encourage open peer review anddiscussion around research articles. Articles can be shared, commented on, rated, recommended, and formally peer reviewed as part of ScienceOpens open networking platform.CEO of ScienceOpen Stephanie Dawson said Open Access is a growing force inChina, and we are happy to work with one of the leading publishers, HigherEducation Press, to help increase the visibility of Chinese Open Access globally. We are pleased to use Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering to launch this new partnership, as it publishes excellent research in a field addressing pressing issues such as food security in a changing world.This partnership recognizes the global commitment of ScienceOpen and HigherEducation Press to enhance the visibility and impact of scholarly research inEngineering Science fields.Keywords: Open Access, Scholarly Publishing, Citation indexAbout ScienceOpen: ScienceOpen, the research + open access publishing network,was founded in 2013 in Berlin and Boston by Alexander Grossmann and TiborTscheke. See site for further information.About Higher Education Press: Higher Education Press, based in Beijing, is one of the largest scholarly publishers in China.Contact:Jon Tennant, Communications DirectorJon.Tennant@scienceopen.comT: +49-30-6098490-277ScienceOpen GmbHPappelallee 78/7910437 Berlin, Germany
id tokens with em4102 for rfid tagging system(gyrfidstore)

RFID Disc Tags are widely used for inventory tracking system or Automatic production systems. The RFID Disc Tag can also work on metal surface with anti-metal layer on it, also can be attached to goods surface by adhesive layer. There are abundant size options from 12mm to 50mm. GYRFID presents several types with different material and size to suitable customers application.DIP Series- PVC Disc Tag, PVC Laminated, thickness of 1.0-1.2mmDIT Series- Clear PVC Disc Tag, clear PVC Laminated, thickness of 1.0-1.2mmFOT Series- Foil Tag, Clear PVC Sealed, Thickness of 0.45-0.7mm.STE series  Epoxy PVC Sticker, the surface covered by epoxy, thickness 2.0mmTKA series- ABS Token, ultrasonic welding ABS type, various size options.TKPPS series  PPS Token, ultrasonic welding, mini size 12mm.Features:Model number: DIP-FMaterial: PVC lamination + Anti-metal layer+ 3M adhesiveDimension: 13/ 14/ 15/ 17/ 18/ 20/ 22 / 25/ 30/ 35/ 40/ 50mm; thickness 1.0-1.2mmColor options: WhiteWater Proof: YesNotes: can be with anti-metal layer and 3M layerPersonalization Support: Silk-screen printing logo Thermal transfer printing Serial Number or UID Barcode printing and QR code printing, Photo printing Laser UID or Number Chip encodingApplication: NFC payments Patrol Guard Systems Logistic management Parcel tracking Inventory Control Automatic production management Asset tracking Device embeddedIC options:125KHz RFID: EM4200, EM4102, EM4100, GK4001; T5577; EM4305; Hitag1, Hitag2, Hitag S256  13.56Mhz ISO14443A: NXP MIFARE Classic 1K, MIFARE Classic 4K, MIFARE Ultralight, MIFARE Ultralight EV1, MIFARE Desfire 2K, MIFARE Desfire 4K, MIFARE Desfire 8K, MIFARE Plus, Fudan FM11RF08; NTAG203, NTAG213, NTAG215, NTAG216; LEGIC MIM256, LEGIC ATC1024, LEGIC ATC2048 13.56Mhz ISO15693: ICODE SLI; ICODE SLI-X; Tag-it 256, Tag-it 2048 840-960Mhz UHF: Alien Higgs, Monza 3, Monza 4D, Monza 4QT; NXP UCODE G2iLGYRFID STORE offers a wide range of products embedded with contact chip and contact-less chip (LF, HF, UHF), and there are some competitive products like ISO CARD, KEYFOB, WRISTBAND, DISC TAG, LAUNDRY TAG. The products are widely applied in access control, payment system, inventory control, asset tracking, and industrial managements.Should any of these items be of interest to you, please let us know. We will be happy to give you a quotation upon receipt of your detailed requirements.ADDRm1516, Qiangjin Building, QiXin Rd No.1318 ,Shanghai, 201100, China
ASCOTT UNVEILS THE CREST COLLECTION OF UNIQUE LUXURY PROPERTIES TO MARK MILESTONE IN GLOBAL FACELIFT PROGRAMME LAUNCHED IN 2010

La Clef Tour Eiffel Paris

www.the-ascott.com

www.the-ascott.com/connect

www.capitaland.com

www.the-ascott.com

Each with a distinctive character which epitomises European elegance and grandeur, The Crest Collection debuts with four properties in Paris and Bangkok, to offer travellers extraordinary experiences with a sense of homeSingapore, 13 April 2016  CapitaLands wholly owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott), has today launched The Crest Collection, a prized selection of some of Ascotts most prestigious and unique luxury serviced residences. The collection offers the growing number of discerning travellers extraordinary experiences with a sense of home. Each property is a signature on its own with a distinctive character which epitomises European elegance and grandeur. The debut collection comprises the newly added Metropole, which will open in Bangkok in June 2016, and three of Ascotts Citadines Suites properties in Paris that have been renamed to La Clef Louvre Paris, La Clef Champs-Elysees Paris as well as La Clef Tour Eiffel Paris, where the launch ceremony of The Crest Collection was held.Acquired in 2011, La Clef Tour Eiffel Paris was included in the global asset enhancement programme rolled out by Ascott in 2010. Through Ascotts extensive experience in product development and design, the property was boldly transformed  the serviced residence seamlessly marries Parisian elegance in a 19th century Haussmannian apartment building with the postmodernist style of celebrated architect Ricardo Bofill in an adjoining hotel.Mr Lee Chee Koon, Ascotts Chief Executive Officer, said: Ascott has a strong track record of product development and design expertise, from preserving heritage buildings to converting offices to serviced residences. Since we started with an extensive refurbishment programme in 2010, we have invested S$230 million to renovate 45 properties globally, 23 of which are Citadines properties in Europe. The Crest Collection opens up more opportunities for us to work with property owners who want Ascott to manage their property while maintaining its unique features. With more than 30 years of experience and managing over 290 properties worldwide, Ascott has been focusing on creating the best experiences for customers staying in our properties of international standards; while at the same time ensuring we make the most efficient use of space to maximise returns for the owners.At the ceremony, Mr Lee reiterated the importance of Europe as a key market for Ascott. France, as one of the strongest economies in the eurozone and the top tourist destination in the world with over 84 million international tourist arrivals in 2015, is Ascotts largest market with the biggest portfolio outside of Asia.Mr Lee said: Ascott has achieved an asset size of over S$1.5 billion in Europe. We will continue to deepen Ascotts presence in the regions gateway cities where we have properties such as Paris, London, Hamburg and Munich, as well as explore new markets to achieve Ascotts target of 10,000 apartment units in Europe by 2020. We plan to expand through acquisitions of turnkey developments or existing buildings which Ascott can convert into serviced residences, management contracts and franchises. With more than half of Ascotts Europe portfolio in France, the country will remain a key part of our growth in Europe. We have been in France since 2002 and have invested more than S$1 billion in the country through acquisitions and product enhancements. Ascott has grown to be one of the largest Singapore companies to invest in the hospitality industry in France and we continue to see strong potential for serviced residences in the country.Mr Zainal Arif Mantaha, Singapores Ambassador to France, who also attended the launch ceremony, said: Singapore and France have built strong diplomatic ties over the last 50 years. Ascott is a Singapore company that has firmly established itself in France since it acquired the Citadines Aparthotel chain in 2002. France has a lot of potential for hospitality companies such as Ascott as its economy is the sixth largest in the world and it is one of the worlds leading tourist destinations. Ascotts launch of The Crest Collection in France is a positive step towards building upon our countries relations and I look forward to more collaboration between our countries.Mr Alfred Ong, Ascotts Managing Director for Europe, said: The Crest Collection is created to distinguish Ascotts exclusive collection of unique luxury serviced residences that are designed with elegant and classic European flair. It caters to corporate and leisure travellers looking for a quintessential lifestyle in a homely space. To greater differentiate our Citadines properties and The Crest Collection in France, we are renaming the Citadines Suites properties to La Clef, which represents The key to a memorable experience through the art of luxury living. Each property is inspired by a story, whether it is in the buildings heritage, design or location. These unique luxury properties are well positioned to tap on the rising demand for upscale accommodation in Paris. Guests will enjoy Ascotts signature hospitality as we constantly strive to exceed guests expectations and make them feel at home.The launch of The Crest Collection follows Ascotts recent unveiling of its Tujia Somerset brand to cater to the booming segment of middle class travellers in China. Together with its three award-winning brands of serviced residences  Ascott The Residence, Citadines Aparthotel and Somerset Serviced Residence, Ascott is able to provide guests with wider choices to suit their different lifestyle needs. The premier Ascott The Residence brand provides refined luxurious living in elegant apartments. These serviced residences frequently welcome top executives, government dignitaries and industry leaders. Citadines Aparthotel offers independent travellers the flexibility to choose the services they require. For those travelling with children, Somerset Serviced Residence is ideal as the properties come with amenities such as playground, indoor playroom and childrens swimming pool.With the addition of Metropole which Ascott will be managing, the company now has more than 3,000 apartment units across 17 properties in Bangkok, Pattaya and Sri Racha in Thailand. Ascott is the largest international serviced residence owner-operator in Thailand and one of the largest in Europe. It has over 5,200 units in 44 properties in France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Georgia and Spain.Please refer to the Annex for more information on the four properties in Bangkok and Paris that are part of The Crest Collection.About The Ascott LimitedThe Ascott Limited is a Singapore company that has grown to be the world's largest international serviced residence owner-operator. It has over 27,000 operating serviced residence units in key cities of the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, as well as over 17,000 units which are under development, making a total of more than 45,000 units in over 290 properties.The company operates three award-winning brands  Ascott, Citadines and Somerset. Its portfolio spans more than 100 cities across 27 countries.Ascott, a wholly owned subsidiary of CapitaLand Limited, pioneered Asia Pacific's first international-class serviced residence with the opening of The Ascott Singapore in 1984. In 2006, it established the world's first Pan-Asian serviced residence real estate investment trust, Ascott Residence Trust. Today, the company boasts over 30 years of industry track record and award-winning serviced residence brands that enjoy recognition worldwide.Ascotts achievements have been recognised internationally. Recent awards include World Travel Awards 2015 for Leading Serviced Apartment Brand and Leading Serviced Apartments in Belgium, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Thailand and Vietnam, Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Awards 2015 for Best Serviced Residence Brand, Business Traveller UK Awards 2015 for Best Serviced Apartment Company, Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2015 for 'Best Serviced Apartment Company', Business Traveller China Awards 2015 for Best Serviced Residence Brand and 'Best Serviced Residence', TTG China Travel Awards 2016 for Best Serviced Residence Operator in China and DestinAsian Readers Choice Awards 2016 for Best Serviced Residence Brand. For a full list of awards, please visit theascottlimited.com/en/aboutus/awards.Visitfor more information and connect with us on social media atAbout CapitaLand LimitedCapitaLand is one of Asias largest real estate companies headquartered and listed in Singapore. The company leverages its significant asset base, design and development capabilities, active capital management strategies, extensive market network and operational capabilities to develop high-quality real estate products and services. Its diversified global real estate portfolio includes integrated developments, shopping malls, serviced residences, offices and homes. Its two core markets are Singapore and China, while Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam have been identified as new growth markets. The company also has one of the largest real estate fund management businesses with assets located in Asia.CapitaLands listed real estate investment trusts are CapitaLand Mall Trust, CapitaLand Commercial Trust, Ascott Residence Trust, CapitaLand Retail China Trust and CapitaLand Malaysia Mall Trust.Visitfor more information.Issued by: The Ascott Limited Website:168 Robinson Road, #30-01 Capital Tower, Singapore 068912For more information, please contact:Joan Tan, Vice President, Group CommunicationsTel: (65) 6713 2864 Mobile: (65) 9743 9503 Email: joan.tanzm@capitaland.comJasmine Sim, Senior Manager, Group CommunicationsTel: (65) 6713 2867 Mobile: (65) 9686 2859 Email: jasmine.sim@capitaland.com
Kindle and ePUB eBook Released for Paris: Walks on the Dark Side by Author Catherine Grise

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Summary:A brief and clearly-organized guide to the Dark Side of Paris. This book focuses on macabre sites connected with events that occurred during the period from the 16th century to the bloodthirsty aftermath of the French Revolution in the 18th century.About the Book:A practical guide to Paris for the tourist interested in exploring the dark and macabre side of the City of Light. This book highlights places connected with the more gruesome aspects of French history from the 16th century to just after the French Revolution. Visits to prison sites, museums, cemeteries and places of torture and execution are interspersed with stories of notorious criminals and notable historical figures. Discover where to see a guillotine blade, the black bathtub in which Marat was assassinated, the heart of the boy-king Louis XVII, the grave of Helose and Abelard, Marie-Antoinettes prison cell, and remnants of the Bastille. The last chapter proposes a series of walks arranged to lead the Paris visitor in a methodical way to all the previously-mentioned sites.Available in eBook for Kindle, iPad, KoboAbout the Author:Catherine Grise has published 7 books, all dealing with the literature of seventeenth-century France. In this book she brings together her knowledge of the pre-Revolutionary period, her familiarity with the city of Paris and her personal fascination with the dark underbelly of historymurder, torture, poisonings and political intrigue.About Supremus Group LLCSupremus Group is BBB accredited business headquarters in Iowa, USA servicing clients in USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, France, Germany, South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia, India and many other countries. We have served more than 3000 publishers and authors. Our ebook conversion capabilities are extensively allowing us to convert to and from virtually any format, including: Kindle, Fixed layout Kindle, Mobipocket, ePUB, fixed layout ePUB, Multimedia ePUB, OCR for printed book. Our skilled and experienced workforce work on this effectively, quality is given prime importance in our company to ensure that there are no complaints later from any of our clients. Also, we have a quick turnaround time and all measures to taken to stick to the deadlines and delivered on time without any issues. Our services are cost effective and affordable and ensure there is not much of financial burden on our clients.For further details about all our conversion services, please check out our website andSupremus Group LLC855 SE Bell Ct, Suite 300, Waukee , IA 50263, USA(515) 865-4591
Genomics and Proteomics Reagents, Research Kits, and Analytical Instruments Market Driven by Drug Discovery and Disease Identification

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The global genomics and proteomics market reagents, research kits, and analytical instruments, which stood at US$23.8 bn in 2012, will log a strong 12.1% CAGR from 2013 through 2019, says Transparency Market Research in a new report. The market is thus projected to approximate US$52.3 bn in the next three years, i.e. by 2019. These findings and other key growth projections for the market are discussed in detail in a report, titled Genomics and Proteomics Reagents, Research Kits, and Analytical Instruments Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 - 2019.Read More:The global genomics and proteomics reagents and research kits market is segmented by type into: Sample preparation kits, purification reagents kits, biochips and microarrays, and electrophoresis kits. Similarly, the global genomics and proteomics analytical tools market is broken down by technology into: Mass spectrometry, chromatography, next-generation sequencing, and thermal cyclers. The market, on the basis of geography, has been segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World.Much of the growth predicted to be shown by the global the global genomics and proteomics reagents, research kits, and analytical instruments market will stem from the parallel growth in clinical and preclinical research for the purpose of identifying new diseases and developing drugs to treat them. The growth of the global the global genomics and proteomics reagents, research kits, and analytical instruments market will also be fuelled by the dramatic increase in the number of people diagnosed with cancer, diabetes, and a host of other genetic diseases in recent years. All of these factors point toward higher revenue growth for the global genomics and proteomics reagents, research kits, and analytical instruments market.However, it is not just the healthcare industry that can be credited for the growth of this market. Demand is also on the rise from the agriculture sector and the forensics industry. This has impelled companies in the global the global genomics and proteomics reagents, research kits, and analytical instruments market to focus on formulating solutions to meet emergent needs across industry, and diversify their offerings. Some of the most heavily funded life sciences research projects are focused on studying genomics  a factor that will further fuel the markets growth. Likewise, proteomics has also attracted the interest of scientists.The emergence of proteogenomics is yet another opportunity that can be harnessed by companies operating in the market. The field has received an impetus after the completion of the Human Genome project in 2001, which brought to the fore the pressing need to have affordable techniques to sequence genomes of organisms besides human beings. This has resulted in the development of additional technologies such as gel electrophoresis, thermal cyclers, and mass spectrometry.Request A Sample Of This Report:Moreover, the miniaturization of devices in the electronics and semiconductor industries, especially that of memory devices, will shape the future of the global genomics and proteomics reagents, research kits, and analytical instruments market in the coming years.Among the leading companies profiled in the global genomics and proteomics reagents, research kits, and analytical instruments market are Sigma Aldrich, Life Technologies, Illumina, Waters, and Thermo Fisher.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.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:
Tranxition Introduces Migration Manager 10.1

Improving Persona Management - Tranxition Introduces New Migration ManagerLeading migration tool enables IT professionals to quickly deliver flawless migrations every time and includes support for integration with appliances and desktop management platforms.March 21, 2016 11:18 AM Pacific Daylight TimePORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tranxition, Inc., the leading provider of persona management solutions, today announced the immediate availability of Migration Manager Version 10.1. This new version has been enhanced to integrate seamlessly with systems management appliances and includes support for Windows PE for user persona backups from 32-bit and 64-bit Windows personal computers."Tranxition is always striving to exceed client expectations," says Kelly Mackin, Founder and CEO for Tranxition. "We are constantly collaborating with our client base to identify and fulfill new missions. With our emphasis on customer collaboration, we continue to innovate. As a result, Tranxition realized the need for a persona management solution that fully supports the way that clients manage their endpoint systems. Our support for ITSM, Appliances and DSM reflects that sense of innovation."Tranxition ensures that all of its customers' personal data and settings are moved from one location to the next with every migration. As a result, the pain typically associated with data migration disappears. The results users enjoy are both emotional and tangible, ranging from empowerment, reassurance, satisfaction and success to decreased costs and increased revenues. And this translates into far more productive organizations because they are able to focus more clearly on their business missions on both an individual and collective basis."Tranxition Migration Manager is a very easy-to-use platform that provides a great deal of value," said Blaine Loomer, Chief Marketing Officer for Quartersoft. "The ROI for most technology investments is in the range of 1 to 5 years and returns are marginal at best. Tranxition has developed a solution that provides a 4x to 5x return on a single project in just a few months, making it one of the best bets in the technology sector."Migration Manager supports network drives, PSTs, over-the-wire security, roaming profiles, virtual machines, and Terminal Services, as well as migrating to new domains. Migration Manager solution features 34 special tokens such as "MyDocuments," which enables technicians to easily change company data storage policies seamlessly during the migration. Tranxition enables VARs and service providers to make migrations a safe and profitable business for companies ranging in size from five to hundreds of thousands of users.Tranxition's founders invented the idea of "computer personality" as a metaphor for the way that a computer begins to reflect the personality of the user over time. We created a series of products that capture computer persona, and allow IT to transfer that personality to another device. Our ground-breaking products have been recognized by PC Magazine, Microsoft Certified Professional, Forbes, and numerous other publications for bringing to the market the magic of capturing and restoring a computer personality. Our tools are used by the world's most important organizations. Banks, government agencies, research labs, major banks, defense contractors, and manufacturers to name a few. People choose Tranxition because we deliver flawless migrations. Our customers rate our solution "in the wild" as 99.99% reliable and reporting no errors in 10,000 PC migrations. It's also blazingly fast. We support our customers aggressively and make it our mission to make their projects successful.TranxitionUnited States of America Portland 516 SE Morrison StreetKelly Mackin tranxition.pad@submitpad.org
Food Coating Ingredients Market set to expand and become organized during 2016-24

Food Coating Ingredients Market

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Global Food Coating Ingredients Market: OverviewFood coatings play an important role in the processed food industry. Coatings can be applied to various food products to enhance or change their texture, taste, or nutritional profile. The process of coating can differ according to the nature of the substrate as well as the food coating ingredient, but primarily consists of mixing the two and allowing them to coalesce naturally. Since the process cannot be determined in precise equations, food coating is considered a soft science in the food processing industry.Food coating ingredients can be liquid or solid, depending upon the particular application, and are used to achieve various purposes. Roughly, the three main steps in the process of applying food coating ingredients are application, adhesion/coalescence, and stabilization. Adhesion consists of ensuring there is sufficient affinity between the substrate and the food coating ingredient. The stabilization process differs according to the food coating ingredient and ensures the coating stays on and stable for a long time.Browse Full Report with TOC:The report analyzes all aspects of the global food coating ingredients market, providing a comprehensive overview of the competitive and financial dynamics of the global industry. The dominant segments of the global food ingredients market, its key drivers and restraints, and major opportunities in the market in the near future are examined in detail in the report.Rising demand from the processed food market is the primary driver of the global food coating ingredients market. Bakery foods and confectionaries are among the most highly demanded processed foods in the global scenario, along with fried foods and various ready to eat (RTE) foods. The need to keep processed foods flavorful for a long time has augmented the demand for food coating ingredients. Increasing demand for healthy fast food items has also led to demand for nutritious food coating ingredients, propelling the global food coating ingredients market.Global Food Coating Ingredients Market: Key Trends and OpportunitiesThe global food coating ingredients market is expected to be driven in the near future by the rising demand for processed food in emerging regions. The growing urbanization and rising living standards have led to steady growth in the demand for processed foods, which suit the needs of an increasingly mobile and busy workforce. Investing in emerging economies thus remains a major opportunity for players in the global food coating ingredients market.Innovation in the food coating ingredients industry is also expected to be dominated by the demand for antimicrobial coatings. The usage of antimicrobial food coating ingredients is also driven by the presence of supportive regulations in many regions. The increasing attention paid to the safety of processed food is responsible for the legislation of regulations mandating the usage of antimicrobial food coatings in many regions.Global Food Coating Ingredients Market: Regional OverviewEmerging regions hold enormous promise for the global food coating ingredients market. As such, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America are the regional segments with the highest potential for the food coating ingredients market. The rising demand for processed food, especially bakery products, in emerging economies such as India, China, Brazil, Argentina, Thailand, and South Korea is propelling the food coating ingredients market in these regions. In the near future, the Asia Pacific food coating ingredients market is estimated to exhibit a rapid growth rate, with India emerging as a major market for food coating ingredients. Major companies in the global food coating ingredients market are Archer Daniels Midland Company, Tate & Lyle Plc, and Cargill Foods.Enquiry before Buying@This research report analyzes this market on the basis of its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report includeNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeMiddle East and AfricaLatin AmericaThis report provides comprehensive analysis ofMarket growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for upcoming yearsThis report is a complete study of current trends in the market, industry growth drivers, and restraints. It provides market projections for the coming years. It includes analysis of recent developments in technology, Porters five force model analysis and detailed profiles of top industry players. The report also includes a review of micro and macro factors essential for the existing market players and new entrants along with detailed value chain analysis.About UsTransparency 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.ContactMr. Sudip S90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
NAND Flash Market 2016 to grow at a CAGR of 10.1% during the period to 2020

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NAND flash memory is a non-volatile memory in which the read and write operations take place very fast. In NAND flash, the cells are connected in a series that resembles a NAND gate. The series connection occupies lesser space than the parallel connection, thereby reducing the cost of a NAND flash device. NAND flash is cheaper to produce than a NOR flash device and is easily scalable to larger densities. It is very similar to a hard-disk drive and is widely used in digital cameras, MP3 players, USB flash drives, and other devices.Global NAND Flash market to grow at a CAGR of 10.1% over the period 2014-2019.Read More Research with TOC @Covered in this ReportThis report covers present scenario and the growth prospects of the Global NAND Flash market for the period 2015-2019. To calculate the market size, it considers total revenue generated from the shipments of NAND flash to the key customer segments. The report considers the sales of all the form factors of NAND flash across all types and technologies. It does not consider the aftermarket sales of NAND flash. The report also presents the Global NAND Flash market segmentation by form factor, type, application, and technology in terms of revenue.Global NAND Flash Market 2015-2019, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the Americas, and the APAC and EMEA regions; it also covers the market landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key RegionsAmericasAPACEMEARequest For Free Report Sample @Key VendorsIntelMicron TechnologySamsung ElectronicsSanDiskSK HynixToshibaMarket DriverIncreased Sales of Smartphones and Tablet PCsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket ChallengeLack of Penetration of Hybrid PCsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket TrendDeclining ASP of NAND FlashFor a full, detailed list, view our reportAbout Us:QY Market Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact US:Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Website:Email: sales@qymarketresearch.com
Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) Market 2016 to grow at a CAGR of 13.07% during the period to 2020

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http://goo.gl/RuUUEP

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About CFRPCFRP is a composite material with the following properties: high tensile strength, lightweight, stiffness, durability, fatigue, and corrosion resistance. This material is manufactured using PAN-based or pitch-based fibers. It is used for applications such as wind turbines, aerospace, sport/leisure, molding, automotive, pressure vessel, and others.Global CFRP market to grow at a CAGR of 13.07% over the period 2014-2019.Read More Research with TOC @Covered in this ReportThe global CFRP market can be segmented into two based on type: thermosetting CFRP and thermoplastic CFRP. Thermosetting CFRP is widely used as it has excellent resistance to solvents and corrosives, heat, and high temperature.Global CFRP Market 2015-2019, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the Americas, APAC, and EMEA; it also covers the global CFRP market landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key Regions Americas APAC EMEAKey Vendors Formosa Plastics Hexcel Mitsubishi Rayon Carbon Fiber and Composite SGL Group Toho Tenax America Toray Industries ZoltekRequest For Free Report Sample @Other Prominent Vendors Composite Holding Crosby Composites Cytec Industries DowAksa GKN Aerospace Gurit Holdings Hyosung Kringlan Composites Nippon Graphite Fibre Plasan Carbon Composites Teijin TencateMarket Driver Demand from Automotive Sector For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket Challenge High Cost of Carbon Fibers For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket Trend Growing Demand for Electric and Hybrid Vehicles For a full, detailed list, view our reportAbout Us:QY Market Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact US:Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Website:Email: sales@qymarketresearch.com
Key Reasons Driving Retinal Implant Market Growth

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http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Retinal implants are biomedical microchips designed to provide visual perception to people who have lost vision owing to degenerative eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. These conditions lead to slow degeneration of photoreceptor cells in the retina of human eyes, leading to gradual loss of sight. However, some of the inner retinal neurons capable of transmitting signals from photoreceptors to the brain are preserved in most cases. Electrical stimulation of these remaining retinal neurons with the help of retinal implants, which are essentially microchips containing an array of light-sensitive diodes capable of converting incident light into electrical signals, can help reintroduce some vision to patients.The report presents a detailed overview of the present state of the global retinal implants market and its crucial elements. It presents an analysis of the major factors that will influence the growth dynamics of the market and shape its future.Avail Research PDF:The data has been gathered with the help of primary and secondary research methodologies, and narrowed down with the help of industry-leading analytical methods. A definitive account of the regulatory scenario governing market decisions has also been included in the report, along with an analysis of the expected impact of the regulatory scenario on the market.Retinal Implants Market: Present ScenarioRetinal implants were considered a medical impossibility until a few decades ago, primarily owing to the highly complex design of the human eye. However, some retinal implants have successfully cleared clinical trials and are being regularly used in clinics in developed regions such as Europe and North America.Retinal implants such as Alpha IMS, developed by Germany-based Retina Implant AG, and Argus II, developed by U.S.-based Second Sight Medical Products, have received approval for large-scale marketing and are being successfully implanted in patients with retinitis pigmentosa.With the rising number of successful outcomes of retinal implants and advancement in technologies, the global retinal implants market holds immense potential in helping patients with RP and several other degenerative conditions regain their sight.Increase in the geriatric population and the consequent rise in the prevalence of degenerative conditions, technological advancements, and growing disposable income in developing countries will act as major drivers of the global retinal implant market in the next few years.Currently, retinal implants available in the market fall into two categories: epiretinal implants, which are fixed on the retina, and subretinal implants, which are fitted behind the retina. Retinal implants that can be fitted above the vascular choroid, called suprachoroidal implants, are also in clinical trials.Browse Report with TOC:Retinal Implants Market: Challenges and Growth OpportunitiesBiocompatibility and long-term stability of the material used for devising retinal implants are the major challenges in the global retinal implants market. These technical challenges have induced manufacturers and researchers to explore the use of new materials and combinations that will be most suitable for human eyes. This factor acts as a major restraint of the market as well as a major opportunity for medical device manufacturers and researchers.Lack of medical reimbursement in developing and underdeveloped countries is a key issue restraining the global retinal implants market. In Germany, the Alpha IMS microchip is reimbursed by the statutory health insurance system, which insures 90% of the countrys population.Complex surgery, difference in peoples biological response to foreign objects being placed inside their bodies, and high cost of procedures are the other major challenges faced by the global retinal implants market. Owing to the complex nature of implant surgeries, comprehensive training in the technology and technique and appropriate selection of patients is also a crucial factor governing the large-scale adoption of retinal implants. Dearth of trained professionals in several regions is limiting demand for retinal implants.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. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who 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.Mr.Sudip S90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global High Performance Anti-corrosion Coatings Market to Expand at 4.8% CAGR from 2015 to 2023

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=556770

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=556770

High performance anti-corrosion coatings are advanced materials that are applied on metal and concrete components in various manufacturing plants that are exposed to severe corrosive surroundings. Epoxy coatings, acrylic coatings, and urethane coatings are major product segments of the global high performance anti-corrosion coatings market. These coatings are broadly consumed in core industries. Oil & gas, tanks & pipes, construction, marine and power generation are major end-users of the high performance anti-corrosion coatings market. Oil & gas held the largest demand for high performance anti-corrosion coatings in 2014. However, the power generation segment is expected to create substantial growth opportunities for the high performance anti-corrosion coatings market during the forecast period. Use of waterborne process technology is likely to be one of the potential substitutes for solvent-borne coating systems in the high performance anti-corrosion coatings market by 2023.The report estimates and forecasts the high performance anti-corrosion coatings 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).To Download Sample Report With TOC@The study offers a comprehensive view of the high performance anti-corrosion coatings market by dividing it into product segments such as epoxy coatings, acrylic coatings, urethane coatings, and others. In terms of end-user, the global high performance anti-corrosion coatings market has been segmented into oil & gas, marine, construction, tanks & pipes, power generation, and others. End-user 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 current and forecast demand for high performance anti-corrosion coatings in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Additionally, the report includes country-level analysis in terms of volume and revenue for product and end-user segments. Key countries such as the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Russia, China, India, Brazil, South Africa, as well as ASEAN and GCC are incorporated in the study. Market segmentation includes demand for individual products and end-users in all regions and countries.The report comprises a comprehensive value chain analysis that provides a broad view of the market. Value chain analysis also provides detailed information about value addition at each stage of the value chain. The report covers drivers and restraints for the high performance anti-corrosion coatings market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period. Additionally, it includes the study of opportunities in the high performance anti-corrosion coatings market at the global level.The report includes Porters Five Forces Model to gauge the degree of competition in the high performance anti-corrosion coatings market. The report encompasses a qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein end-users have been analyzed based on their attractiveness, growth rate, market size, raw material availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated to derive general attractiveness of the market. The report also includes price trend analysis of raw materials derived from petrochemicals such as propylene, ethylene, and aromatics as well as high performance anti-corrosion coatings from 2014 to 2023.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 the 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 reinforcing our secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.The report covers a detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Akzo Nobel N.V., The 3M Company, Chugoku Marine Paints, Ltd., Nippon Paint Co., Ltd., Hempel A/S, Jotun A/S, PPG Industries Inc., and The Sherwin-Williams Company are key players profiled in the report. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview.This report segments the global high performance anti-corrosion coatings market as follows:High Performance Anti-Corrosion Coatings Market  Product Segment AnalysisEpoxy CoatingsUrethane CoatingsAcrylic CoatingsOthers (Alkyd Coatings, etc.)High Performance Anti-Corrosion Coatings Market  End-User AnalysisOil & GasMarineConstructionTanks & PipesPower GenerationOthers (Paper & Pulp, etc.)High Performance Anti-Corrosion Coatings Market  Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.Rest of North AmericaEuropeGermanyFranceU.K.ItalyRussiaRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaIndiaASEANRest of Asia PacificLatin AmericaBrazilRest of Latin AmericaMiddle East & Africa (MEA)GCCSouth AfricaRest of Middle East & AfricaTo Enquire Regarding This Report@About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.United States90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States
Cisco University Outreach Program Inspires UAE Youth

Mike Weston, Vice President, Cisco Middle East

As part of its service and commitment to the communities in which it operates, Cisco is conducting a university outreach program in the UAE to help prepare the next generation workforce and inspire and encourage youth to enable themselves with skills suited for the future. The program is fully inclusive and gives particular attention to students located in the more remote areas of the UAE.As part of the ongoing program, Cisco held a Technology Day for students at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) in Al Ain and took part in a panel mentoring session at the American University of Sharjah (AUS). More than 100 students attended each event, where Cisco Executives engaged with students on the topic of digital transformation and the impacts of the mass adoption of connected digital technologies and applications. The sessions also addressed technology transformation for the enterprise of tomorrow and provided general post-university career guidance in technology-related fields.As Gulf countries accelerate their digitization and continue to drive their economic diversification efforts, the region is also posting one of the worlds fastest growing skills gap in IT and networking positions, said Mike Weston, Vice President, Cisco Middle East. The Internet of Everything (IoE) will generate unparalleled demand for skilled workers and opportunities for creative, tech-savvy people everywhere. Cisco is committed to developing talent locally through our Networking Academies and other programs that work closely with local schools, universities and government organisations to train and enable students to compete and thrive in the current and future job market.At the event held in UAE University, Ciscos technology experts and thought leaders shared insights into some of the latest technology trends, updated participants on product innovations and road-maps, shared best practices, held live hands-on demos, networked with students and answered questions. The Cisco Technology day also covered technical sessions in Ciscos core architectures, including Enterprise Networks,Security, Data Center and Collaboration.Cisco also participated in a panel mentoring session at the American University of Sharjah, where Victoria Lee, Transformational Solutions Leader for Cisco UAE, Oman and Kuwait, spoke to students in the field of engineering and computer science alongside other panelists from IBM, Google and the Emirates Digital Women Association. Ashley Woodbridge, Cisco UAEs Chief Solutions Architect, and other Cisco executives shared insights with AUS engineering students on the digital revolution, highlighting the importance of young talent driving the UAE to the forefront of technology adoption. Students were also advised on how they can spur innovation to help solve problems based on the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) to support the UAEs vision for the future.Speaking on the events, Victoria Lee said The skills gap, particularly in the ICT field, continues to be a top government priority in the Gulf region. When it comes to women, their participation in the regional workforce continue to lag behind other areas of the world, despite the fact that women in the GCC are highly ambitious and value their careers. Programs such as ours seek to help by providing guidance and mentorship. Its not just about giving back to the community - everyone stands to benefit by supporting the development of pathways from education into employment and preparing the workforce of tomorrow.The free training that Cisco Academies in universities, schools, NGOs, government entities, vocational colleges, and qualified training academies offer communities throughout the region, is supporting job creation and economic growth by building ICT skills and talent within the workforce as well as providing greater access to capital and to educational opportunities.Building the workforce of tomorrowCisco Networking Academy, a Cisco Corporate Social Responsibility program, is an IT skills and career building program available to learning institutions and individuals worldwide. Ciscos largest CSR program,Cisco Networking Academyidentifies and develops the skills people and businesses need to thrive in a changing economy. Cisco Networking Academy works with educators, employers, and technology experts to create courses that prepare students for the future.More than 5.5 million people have joined the Networking Academy and become a force for change in the global economy since 1997.In the Middle East, the program boasts of 478 active academies across 14 countries with more than 44,000active students and over 1000instructors - with an average female student participation rate of 37%. Over 220,000 students have graduated from the program in the region since its inceptionCisco Networking Academy is an IT skills and career building program for learning institutions and individuals worldwide. More than 5.5 million people have joined the Networking Academy and become a force for change in the global economy since 1997.From secondary schools to universities to community organizations, more than 9000 institutions in 170+ countries offer the Networking Academy curriculum. It is the flagship program of Cisco Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) effortsShainaCondrad Office, Spider Business- E9Sheikh Zayed roadShaina@oakconsulting.biz0502531818
Smart theft protection

Smart theft protection

https://igg.me/at/lWug3mfOGcI/x/13735017

Not only dedicated followers of fashion know that a chain on your wallet is not up-to-date anymore. The current trend towards smart everyday helpers has also reached theft protection. The Belgian start-up project Walletalert now presents a smart safeguard on the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo.Belgium, 04/13/2016  Every day, public authorities all over the world are informed of millions of thefts. One of the most frequently stolen items is the purse. A new gadget wants to help to keep wallets, purses, but also bikes, cars, apartment doors, and much more safe from theft.Andy Jousten, founder of Walletalert, explains that we were looking for ideas concerning helpful gadgets in everyday life when we had the idea of Walletalert. The underlying principle is pretty simple. Motion or too great a distance to the smartphone will trigger an alarm within the system, depending on the chosen mode. The alarm itself is also adjustable with a provided app. The system is modeled after a credit card and thus can be easily stored in a wallet.At the moment, Walletalert is in the process of being funded, but already in February 2017, the first models should be ready for delivery.About WalletalertWalletalert is a start-up project founded in Belgium in 2016. Walletalert is part of the company AJOUS Solutions that plans to implement other projects via crowdfunding in the future.Link to the crowdfunding campaign:Ajous SolutionsHauptstrasse 28A 2/14780 Sankt VithBelgium
Joeys Seafood Restaurants celebrates Grilled Cheese Month with Lobster Sourdough Grill

Lobster Sourdough Grill

Get ready to live it up because April is National Grilled Cheese Month. This is not a carry-over from April Fools Day. Somehow the grilled cheese sandwich earned the honors of having an entire month dedicated to it.In celebration of this comfy month, Joeys Seafood Restaurants decided to join the fun and feature their own seafood version of this lunchtime classic. The Lobster Sourdough Grill is a purely decadent sandwich. Joeys chefs created this grilled cheese sandwich with a perfectly crisp and golden brown cheesy Sourdough crust and a warm and gooey, melted cheesy, lobster salad filled center.In addition to this limited time offer that runs until May 15, Joeys is featuring an outstanding Sticky Toffee Pudding. Rich, warm toffee flowing over a cool white cloud of whipped cream atop layers of moist, lightly-spiced sponge cake, generously speckled with finely chopped dates.Finally, their #ilovejoeys Photo Contest continues to gather momentum. Tagging any Joeys Restaurant picture with #joeyscanada and #grilledcheesemonth enters customers for a chance to win the weekly $25 gift certificate draw.About Joey'sCalgary-based Joey's is a pioneer and leader in the fast-casual seafood restaurant category in Canada. Its signature "Joey's Famous Fish & Chips" and Fish Taco has gained the company a North American reputation for preparing generous portions of high quality seafood at affordable prices. Each Joey's franchise embodies the vision of its founder, Joe Klassen  to serve great seafood in a cozy neighbourhood seafood restaurant. Annually, Joey's serves more than 6.5 million guests system wide through its 55 restaurants in Canada. In 2015, the company celebrated its 30th anniversary.For more information, please contact:Mr. Andy Taylor, Senior Vice President, Joeys Restaurants, andy@joeys.caMr. Dave Holland, VP of Marketing, Joeys Restaurants, 403.513.1320, dave.holland@joeys.ca3048 9th st seCalgary, AlbertaT2G 3B9
Spring into Pier 6

www.pier6boston.com

WHAT: In with the new, out with the old at Pier 6, Charlestowns premier waterfront dining destination. Beginning April 2016, Executive Chef Adriano Silva is adding seasonal ingredients to the already flavorful menu, and the expert bar staff is revamping the cocktail list to pack a serious springtime punch.Silva brings new life to Pier 6s dinner selections with fresh Tuna Tartare served with hijiki salad, pickled cucumber and lotus root chips dressed in sesame vinaigrette ($15); Seafood Paella made with clams, mussels, shrimp, white fish, chicken, chorizo, saffron risotto and peas, served in a large stainless steel pan perfect for sharing, or available as a single portion ($27/$50 for two), and the Surf N Turf served with a 6oz. filet, butter poached lobster, horseradish whipped potato, spinach and black truffle jus ($50). Other additions include Rigatoni with roasted tomatoes, Tuscan white beans, basil and parmesan ($19), and the Fried Goat Cheese Salad with Tuscan kale, arugula, strawberries and an almond vinaigrette ($11).For an afternoon delight try the all new Banh Mi with chicken teriyaki and pickled vegetables and chili peppers ($13), the Fried Fish Sandwich with Atlantic cod, malt vinegar aioli, sauerkraut, served with fries ($16), and the Lamb Kebob with grilled vegetables and mint yogurt ($21). Brunch with the best of them as Chef Silva adds a creative take on eggs shakshuka with his Baked Eggs dish served with tomato sauce, polenta, lamb sausage and Moroccan spices ($15), the Salmon Cake Benedict with avocado and hollandaise ($17), and the Jonah Crab Omelet ($17) made with spinach and tarragon bearnaise ($17).Behind the bar, Pier 6s expert team is adding all new springtime sips to their vast cocktail menu. Seasonal favorites include the Castro Smash crafted with The Real Mccoy 3 year rum, mint, house cordial and bitters ($13); the Strawberry Rickey with Wireworks Gin, fresh strawberries, lime and soda ($13) and the Captain's Mistress made with Avion blanc tequila, Aperol, grapefruit juice, rhubarb bitters and cava ($13). For those who want to rose all day, Pier 6 has added a magnum of Whispering Rose ($95) perfect for lunching, brunching and laughing with friends overlooking the best view in Boston.Pier 6 is open Sunday through Thursday from 11:00AM to 10:00PM and from11:00AM to 11:00PM on Friday and Saturday. Reservations can be made by calling 617-337-0054 or visitingWHEN: New Menu Launch: Thursday, April 7th, 2016HOURS: Sunday  Thursday: 11:00AM to 10:00PMFriday  Saturday: 11:00AM  11:00PMWHERE: Pier 6 | 1 8th Street | Charlestown, MA |02129About 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. Executive Chef Adriano Silva 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.Pier 6 | 1 8th Street | Charlestown, MA |02129
New Yorker Electronics Distributes Vishay Three-Phase-Bridge Power Modules

NORTHVALE, NEW JERSEY, USA  New Yorker Electronics has announced the addition of a new Vishay Intertechnology series of 45A to 100A three-phase-bridge modules to its extensive line of Vishay products and components. These new modules, the VS40MT160P-P, VS-70MT160P-P and VS-100MT160P-P, dramatically reduce production costs when compared to devices that incorporate solder contact technology. In the low-profile MTP PressFit package, they also increase reliability for welding machines, UPS, switch mode power supplies and motor drives.The solderless PressFit technology of the power modules allows for easy one-step PCB mounting, significantly reducing assembly time and simplifying in-field maintenance. Offering direct mounting to heatsinks, the devices low 17mm profile maximizes space savings while optimizing electrical layouts for application-specific power supplies.Providing higher reliability and long-term durability compared with solder contact technology, the power modules PressFit package offers increased resistance to shock and vibration while eliminating issues such as cold spots, voids, splatter and cracks. In addition, the devices are not subject to solder fatigue, a common failure mechanism in power modules operating at high temperatures.Optimized for AC/DC input rectification, the 45A VS-40MT160P-P, the 75A VS-70MT160P-P and the 100A VS-100MT160P-P offer 3500 VRMS insulation voltage, low forward voltage and low junction-to-case thermal resistance. Designed and qualified for industrial-level applications, the RoHS-compliant devices are UL-approved.Samples and production quantities of the new power modules are available now at New Yorker Electronics, with lead times of eight to 10 weeks for large orders.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 Electronics209 Industrial ParkwayNorthvale, New Jersey 07647800-536-1887
Two brewers are visiting from out of town this week, and two of the best brewers in the Pacific Northwest are releasing a collaboration IPA. Time to plan the last half of your week.

Updated at 3 p.m., Wednesday, April 13.

Logan Mayfield, head brewer at Ordnance Brewing of Boardman, is bringing six of his brewery's beers to the Green Dragon for the Thursday Meet the Brewer event. The lineup: FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) IPA, Kolsch, RX Pale Ale, Legginboober, Fxxx Yeah! Habanero Barley Wine and Dragon Force Dark Belgian Strong Ale.

Meet the Brewer - Ordnance Brewing of Boardman, 5 p.m., Thursday, April 14, Green Dragon, 929 S.E. Ninth Ave.

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Fat Head's will release a "super fresh batch" of its Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal winner in 2013 and 2015: HOP JUJU Imperial IPA.

HOP JUJU Imperial IPA release, starting at 11:30 a.m., Thursday, April 14, Fat Head's Brewery, 131 N.W. 13th Ave.

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Michael Kora of Montavilla Brew Works will be pouring five of his beers this Friday, Tax Day, at Imperial Bottle Shotp & Taproom. On tap will be Stick and Frame Blonde Ale, Lil' Righteous ISA, Flam Tap IPA, Baseline Brown Ale and DeGeorger EnForcer Imperial Stout.

Meet the brewer and tap takeover, Montavilla Brew Works, 6 p.m., Friday, April 15, Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom, 3090 S.E. Division St.

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Almanac Beer Company is celebrating the end of tax season with a lineup of five of their beers. Almanac is brewed in Northern California, as you may guess if you read their ingredients list. According to a press release, here are the beers they're bringing:

Farmer's Reserve Pluot, a sour blonde ale aged in wine barrels with pluots from California's Central Valley

Apricot De Brettaville, a farmhouse ale aged in wine barrels with apricots from California's Central Valley

Golden Gate Gose, a tart wheat ale brewed with lemon verbena, coriander and San Francisco Bay sea salt

Saison Dolores, a dry-hopped California saison brewed with locally grown rye and wheat

IPA, a West Coast IPA with Citra, Simcoe and Cascade hops

Almanace tasting, 5-8 p.m., Friday, April 15, Bazi Bierbrasserie, 1522 S.E. 32nd Ave.

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Pulp Free IPA, a collaboration beer made by Breakside Brewery's Ben Edmonds and Fat Head's Brewing's Mike Hunsaker, will be released at The Growler Guys in Southeast Portland. Both brewers will be there for the tapping of a beer they say is inspired by the juicy flavors of East Coast IPAs. And each brewery will have several beers on tap, including Breakside IGA, Breakside Rainbows & Unicorns and Fat Head's IBUsive and Fat Head's HOP JUJU Imperial IPA.

Breakside's IGA and Rainbows & Unicorns are a bit of a story, too. Both are seasonals, Breakside says. The IGA, a golden, light-bodied double IPA, is on draft and in 22-ounce bottles now. It began as a collaboration with Ninkasi Brewing as a way to showcase Mosaic and Eldorado hops. The Rainbows & Unicorns was designed for the 2015 Oregon Brewers Fest and uses Galaxy and Eldorado hop varietals. Breakside describes Eldorado as pure pineapple juice with line, and Galaxy as peach and apricot.

Pulp Free IPA release, 6-8 p.m., Friday, April 15, The Growler Guys, 816 S.E. Eighth Ave.

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Humble Brewing has called it quits after five years and 177 batches. They're having their last hurrah Friday at Bridgetown Beerhouse with their best selling Saaz Saison and a double IPA and a coffee porter.

Humble's last bash, 6:30 p.m., Friday, April 15, Bridgetown Beerhouse, 915 N. Shaver St.

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The maker of Gold Beach Lager, an unfiltered German-style lager that won a gold medal at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival is taking over some taps at Tin Bucket on Friday, April 15. Brewer James Smith will be there with Gold Beach Lager, State of Jefferson Porter, Pistol River Pale Ale, Imperial Stout and Heffe.

Meet the Brewer of Arch Rock Brewery, 5 p.m., Friday, April 15, Tin Bucket, 3520 N. Williams Ave.

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With summer on its way - the weekend looks nice - it's time to turn our tastebuds to summer and session IPAs. Deschutes Brewery is on the bandwagon with Hop Slice session IPA, made with Meyer lemons. Bottle and draft sales begin at 11 a.m., with Meyer lemon-inspired food specials and plenty of swag.

Hop Slice Session IPA release, begins at 11 a.m., Friday, April 15, Deschutes Brewery Portland Public House, 210 N.W. 11th Ave.

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There are beer dinners and there are beer dinners. This is the later. Chef and Cicerone Jensen Cummings and chefs from Biwa are pairing beers from Base Camp Brewing Co. and New Belgium Brewing with a five-course dinner menu that begins with ocean trout sashimi in a boysenberry brew sauce with cumber, pig heart yakitori with malted barley miso and funky daikon. That's paired with a Base Camp sour ale: "B" is for Boysenberry Brettanomyces Sour ale.

Begins at 6 p.m., Tuesday, April 19, Simpatica Dining Hall, 828 S.E. Ash

* * *

Cider fans, don't for get the Hood River Hard-Pressed Cider Fest, noon-7 p.m., Saturday, April 16.
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Oregon City has been asking Clackamas County for years to pay a 'hosting fee' for the county's using the city as the county seat. A new economic impact study, commissioned by the county, shows that the city is taking in millions each year from county spending.

(Dana Tims/Staff)

In a running clash between two of the state's oldest governmental entities, Oregon City has for years asked that Clackamas County start paying a fee for using the city as county seat.

The proposed hosting fee would compensate the city for all those cars hogging downtown parking spots near the county courthouse, the city argued, while helping offset the loss of property taxes that would otherwise flow to the city if private businesses occupied county-owned land within the city.

However, a new economic impact study commissioned by the county -- one clearly not embraced by the city -- appears to throw cold water on some of those arguments.

Of the 2,300 workers employed by the county, at least 454, or about 15 percent, live in Oregon City, according to the study. The combined income and subsequent local spending of those employees totals about $32 million a year.

When all local spending by the county workers who live outside the city is included, the figure rises to about $42 million, according to the study. Property tax receipts and spending on fees and licenses pushes the county's total economic impact in the city to $58 million.

"We're talking about a major income source for the local economy," said Michael Paruszkiewicz, a senior economist with Portland State University's Northwest Economic Research Center, which conducted the study.

Don Krupp, the county's administrator, commissioned the $34,500 study after several successive city administrations asked the county to start paying a hosting fee. The goal, Krupp said, was to determine whether the city was correct in asserting that the county's use of Oregon City as county seat amounted to an economic burden.

"Given the numbers we're seeing here, I'm not inclined to believe that," John Ludlow, chairman of the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners, said of the city's claims.

The study also provided evidence that government employment provided by county jobs helped insulate Oregon City's economy during the economic downturn that began in 2007.

"At the peak of the most recent recession, unemployment in the city was nearly one percentage point higher than the metro area (in 2003, this gap was even larger), and tended to lag the county and metro area during the recovery," the study's authors found. "Nevertheless, Clackamas County's public sector was less affected by recession than many of the other industries that form the core of the area's employment base."

Oregon City Mayor Dan Holladay's response to the report was chilly, at best.

"This was a complete blindside to us," he said, adding that neither he nor city administrators or staff had been notified that the report was being compiled. "But the fact is, it's pretty easy to get a report to say the things you want to say when you hire the people you want to help you say it."

The study, he said, completely overlooks the county's "social impacts" on Oregon City. Those include releasing jail inmates into the city and siting a community correction centers near a TriMet transit center in downtown.

Holladay, who is joining two sitting county commissioners -- Jim Bernard and Paul Savas -- in challenging Ludlow for the county chair seat, called the timing of the report "suspect."

"I mean, this comes out five weeks before the election with no notice whatsoever," the mayor said. "What am I supposed to think?"

The issue of a hosting fee has been around for upwards of 20 years, he said, but it's been dormant in the 18 months since he won election as Oregon City mayor.

"Our prior city manager discussed this with the county," Holladay said. "But given other, more pressing issues we're facing, this is not something that's been anywhere on my radar screen."

The study did agree with a parking study commissioned by the city in 2009, which cited a potential clash between the downtown parking footprint of public administration and the needs of local businesses.

Commissioners acknowledged that clash, but noted they are working on a long-term master plan that would move the courthouse out of downtown and up to the Red Soils Campus, where most other county facilities are located.

That will not only ease parking shortages downtown, they said, but also put back onto the tax rolls the acreage that used to be occupied by the courthouse.

Despite the new study's findings, some downtown Oregon City businesses still want the county gone, Ludlow acknowledged.

"I've met with restaurateurs who say they'd like us to leave," he said. "I don't know how they'll fill that gap, but it's not just city fathers who are saying this."

-- Dana Tims

503-294-7647; @DanaTims
A 28-year Portland fire veteran will soon take over as chief of Clark County Fire & Rescue.

John Nohr, chief of the emergency operations division for Portland Fire & Rescue, starts his new job on May 1, according to Clark County's interim chief, Ron Oliver.

Nohr was one of five finalists for the job, which will pay him about $133,000 a year, Oliver said.

Nohr, 49, ran Portland Fire's three primary divisions during his tenure, working as its emergency operations chief, fire marshal and training chief. He joined the department when he was 21, after nearly two years as a student firefighter in Gresham and a year working in a Seattle suburb.

Oliver praised Nohr's wide-ranging experience with Portland Fire and said colleagues described him as being the smartest and most unassuming person in any room.

"He's just a down-to-earth guy," Oliver said. "He's well liked, well respected in Portland Fire."

Nohr said he's cherished his time with Portland Fire, calling it "an outstanding organization full of a lot of great people." But he says he is ready for a change and is excited about contributing to a "top-notch fire department" in Clark County.

Nohr was born and raised in Portland, but has lived in Clark County for 27 years.

Oliver said he believes the selection marks the first time the department has hired a chief from outside its ranks. Oliver said he started as interim chief on Sept. 1, 2015, and was tasked with recruiting and hiring the chief.

The Clark County Fire & Rescue Board of Commissioners voted in July to terminate then-Chief Dennis Mason, according to The Reflector newspaper.

Clark County Fire & Rescue's coverage area spans more than 160 square miles, including La Center, Ridgefield and Woodland, according to its website. The department consists of 45 paid employees and about 40 volunteers, Nohr said.

-- Jim Ryan

jryan@oregonian.com

503-221-8005; @Jimryan015
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(Warehouse '23)

This summer, Beaches will make a new landing.

Mark Matthias, the restaurateur behind surf-themed Beaches restaurants on the Columbia River and in Portland International Airport, plans to open a new concept in the former Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay.

According to a Port of Vancouver USA press release, the new restaurant, Warehouse '23, will feature "seasonal Northwest cuisine, 20 local small brews on tap, regional wines and handcrafted cocktails." The restaurant, with its views of the Columbia, will also make use of an adjacent 350 person events space once home to the Red Lion ballroom.

Eventually, Matthias plans to relocate Warehouse '23 within Terminal 1, the port's 10-acre development project along the Columbia River. The site, which dates to the 1920s and was home to the original port, could someday feature a public marketplace, new hotel, retail and commercial office space, and visitor amenities, according to the press release.

-- Michael Russell
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Portland State University's downtown campus.

(RICK BOWMER/The Associated Press)

The Portland State University foundation is upping the ante in its support for a proposed payroll tax on metro business owners that has already rankled some local business leaders.

PSU's foundation announced it would give $150,000 Tuesday to benefit the proposed payroll tax that could raise $35 million to $40 million annually for PSU.

The check puts the foundation's contribution to the proposed payroll tax at $250,000. The donation hasn't shown up yet on the Oregon Secretary of State's campaign contributions website.

"The PSU Foundation's mission is to provide critically needed support to our students, faculty and the university," Mark Rosenbaum, chairman of the foundation's board of trustees said in a statement. "The initiative addresses PSU's substantial state funding gap and the significant needs of our Portland area students who provide so much economic vitality to our region."

PSU's foundation is the top backer of the payroll plan, which would create a one-tenth of one percent tax on wages paid by employers in the Portland metro area.

According to the PSU foundation press release, the $250,000 donated thus far comes from "past donor funds that were made available to the foundation to use for any purpose that serves the mission of PSU."

The foundation is pledging that "no future gifts or funds previously designated for other purposes" will go to the campaign.

The Portland Business Alliance, the city's chamber of commerce, is challenging the language and legality of the proposed tax.

A ruling from a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge is expected this week.



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen
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Which is real and which is celebrity?

(Instagram)

We live in a world of contrasts. Ted Cruz, meet Bernie Sanders.

But politics is a passing interest for Americans. What really obsesses us -- and not just Americans -- are celebrities. Especially celebrities who appear to be physically perfect and living perfect lives. We coo and burble over Kim Kardashian's bottom and Justin Bieber's abs, Taylor Swift's pool and Dwayne Johnson's cars. We can't get enough.

At the same time, the new feminism (and that includes "feminism for men") is making us ever more aware that celebrities aren't real and you're OK just how you are. In fact, our lack of perfection makes us all the more interesting. "It used to be when I went into a room with all thin women I felt like, what's wrong with me?" said actress Lena Dunham, the uncelebrity celebrity. "Now I just feel special." Her point: You don't actually want to be Kim Kardashian or Kanye West. Really.

These two contradictory impulses meet on Australian comedian Celeste Barber's Instagram account, where she pairs celebrity social-media images with her own everyday imitations. The Independent reports she has gained a cult-like following by "mocking the cult of celebrity we can't escape even when we try."

It's easy to understand why she has such devoted fans. She's providing a good, relatable chuckle for the masses. "I wanted to see how I would look if I attempted to recreate some really privileged peoples' 'everyday, normal' selfies," she told People magazine last year. "I also like to challenge myself. I really thought I could do the splits like Serena (Williams). Turns out, I can't."

Check out some of her handiwork below, then head on over to her Instagram space for more.
A stowaway from marine ports in Russian, Japan and Korea has caused the Oregon Department of Agriculture to try to tamp down the pest before it spreads.

Asian gypsy moths were found in Oregon last summer, a relatively new species to the U.S. and one that could have devastating impacts if its population grows. European gypsy moths have been in North America for years. The state plans to spray four locations around Portland to get rid of both while they are still in the hatching stage.

Asian gypsy moths lay 50 to 1,000 eggs at a time and feed on more plant species in Oregon than European moths, which can lead to widespread deforestation if left alone. So, officials decided to act on three Asian and two European gypsy moths found last summer.

On Saturday, the agriculture department plans to aerially spray 8,800 acres where the moths were found, including portions of St. Johns, Forest Park and Hayden Island in Portland and Vancouver, Washington. The spraying could be rescheduled if the weather conditions make it risky.

The Saturday pesticide application is the first of three planned sprayings. It will start 30 minutes before sunrise and last a few hours. The second and third sprayings are expected to be done by the end of May.

A helicopter will drop Bacillus thuringiensis var. Kurstaki -- called Btk for short -- on the designated areas, most of which are not residential. People who live in those areas with neighborhoods have been notified, according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

The organic pesticide has been used in other gypsy moth sprayings in Oregon and the country since 1984. The Oregon Health Authority recommends that people stay inside for 30 minutes after the spraying, and anyone with a weakened immune system or serious food allergies should stay away during the spraying window.

"Establishment of gypsy moth threatens forest ecosystems, leads to quarantine restrictions on nursery and horticulture production and results in long-term increases in pesticide use by homeowners," said an agriculture department release.

The state sets traps for gypsy moths each year, and will do so after the spraying to see whether it worked.

At an Oregon Board of Agriculture meeting in December, program manager for the state's insect pest prevention and management division Clinton Burfitt said 19 different insects were found in Oregon last year that had never showed up in the traps before.

"We like to think we have our nose to the ground when it comes to invasive pests," he said.

-- Molly Harbarger

mharbarger@oregonian.com

503-294-5923

@MollyHarbarger
The Great Lakes Bay Region has a new business attraction program and website to highlight opportunities to live, work and play in the region.

The Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance is launching the regional collaborative with the Arenac EDC, Bay Future, Gladwin EDC, Greater Gratiot Development, Inc., Middle Michigan Development Corp., Midland Tomorrow and Saginaw Future.

The Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance was formed so that we could market the combined assets of the region to have the most profound economic impact possible, said Matthew Felan, president and CEO of the Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance. There is no better use of our time and resources than to sell our combined assets to recruit new businesses and jobs to the Great Lakes Bay Region.

Our eight counties are linked very closely, Felan said. The reality is that if a new company locates to our region, people will live, work and play throughout the entire region. Companies and their employees are no longer focused on dotted lines on a map. We are competing against other regions in the country and it is vitally important to harness our combined assets to be able to compete accordingly.

Through this initiative, the Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance will work on a variety of efforts to attract new business and investment to the area. This includes increased travel across the country to meet with prospective business leaders, meet with site selectors and attend trade shows on behalf of the eight-county collaborative. Additionally, the alliance will be hosting various companies and site selectors for tours of the region and meeting with key industry leaders to discuss investment opportunities in the region. Felan will travel to Hannover, Germany later this month to represent the eight counties at the Hannover Messe Automation Fair. President Barack Obama and Governor Rick Snyder are also attending Hannover Messe in late April as the United States is the partner country at this years event.

Midland is uniquely positioned to recruit new business and jobs to the Great Lakes Bay Region. As the home of The Dow Chemical Co., and awaiting deals with DuPont and Dow Corning, we know that we have some inherent advantages, said Bill Allen, president and CEO of the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce/Midland Tomorrow. Despite those advantages, we know that people want to live, work and play in a diverse area with an array of offerings. Our eight-county collaborative allows for that needed diversity and lifestyle options.

As part of this initiative, the Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance has also launched a new and improved website at http://greatlakesbay.com. The website is designed under the theme of Live, Work, and Play in the Great Lakes Bay Region.

The alliance hopes that business leaders, human resources departments, higher education institutions, realtors and residents throughout the Great Lakes Bay Region utilize the new website to recruit talent and to highlight the various offerings in the region.
State and local officials gathered Monday morning at the Midland Law Enforcement Center to mark the 20th anniversary of the statewide radio system, which Midland County joined nearly one year ago.

2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the Michigan Public Safety Communications System, said Brad Stoddard, the systems director. He likened the system to the engineering feat of the Mackinac Bridge, connecting Michigans two peninsulas.

The MPSCS can be looked at like the Mackinac Bridge, connecting 83 counties, Stoddard said, explaining the network makes it possible for first responders in different jurisdictions to communicate with each other using one radio system. First responders use the system for daily emergency response as well as critical incidents including flooding, wildfires and more.

The system is one of the largest public safety communications system in the U.S. spanning nearly 60,000 miles and including more than 245 radio towers and 74,500 radios. It serves 1,500 local, state, federal, tribal and private public safety agencies. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has partnered with the state on the project, and other states use it as a model for their new radio systems, Stoddard said.

Midland Countys three law enforcement agencies and 11 fire departments joined the MPSCS with more than 700 radios to help them better serve the community. In addition, five public works agencies, an emergency management service and one public transit agency also benefit from the expanded communications system.

Midland County Administrator/Controller Bridgette Gransden said that while the state made the system available, Midland Countys transition would not have been as smooth or successful without local leadership and collaboration, and pointed specifically to Midland County 911 Director Lisa Hall.

We couldnt have a better person to lead this project, Gransden said, adding Hall understands the communitys needs, the workings of the state system and the available resources. Shes what made this successful.

U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar said the state and Motorola have partnered to ensure public safety for more than 80 years. Joining the system means the vital communication tools that the community needs are available, and residents can feel they will be protected in case of emergency.

Stoddard, Moolenaar and Motorola Solutions Central Region Vice President John Zidar also thanked local officials who helped bring the radio system to Midland County, including Midland County 911, Midland Police, Midland County Sheriffs Office and the countys first responders.
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Former and current Trinity Lutheran Preschool teachers and students were among an estimated 250 people at the schools 50-year anniversary celebration Sunday.

Preschool director Andrea Berchert was thrilled with the turnout, saying it shows how people feel about the program.

The school focuses on education and play for the 3- to 5-year-old students.

Play time is just as important as education, Berchert said. We love watching the students learn and grow. We actually shed tears when the kids are gone.

Berchert said parents trust the staff to care for their children.

I definitely trust them here, that is extremely important, said Sean Hoffman.

When Hoffman searched for a preschool for his daughter, Alivia, 4, he checked around but ultimately decided to enroll her in Trinity Lutheran Preschool, where he had gone 25 years earlier.

He said he remembered his years at the school fondly and his parents had great things to say about sending him there. He said his daughter loves it.

I made a little flag and I painted my hand, Alivia said when naming her favorite crafts. Her other favorite thing is all of the friends she has, including her teacher.

Former teacher Judy Chaussee, who taught at the preschool from 1986 to 2001, was happy to be part of the celebration.

It is pretty awesome, Chaussee said, of the school. Its just gotten better, she said crediting Pastor Gerald Ferguson, who had the church take control of the school, making it part of the church.

Betty Mead, a former teacher who retired in 1997 after 24 years, said that every day was exciting working at the school.

Mead still sees former students when she is out and about and always enjoys the encounters.

Berchert said the preschool program is designed to enhance emotional, intellectual, social and physical needs of the students. The students explore music, art, math and science. Staff members encourage natural curiosity and creativity, and for the children to progress at their own pace according to their individual needs and abilities

Jade John, 3, said she loves playing the bells and recess and that she learns a lot, citing the alphabet and numbers.

Its kind of tradition in this family, said her mother, Anya Firszt, noting that other members of the family attended preschool there.

Janiyah Carlson, 3, said her favorite part about preschool is her friends and teachers and learning a lot.

Her mother, Samantha Carlsons favorite part is it being across the street from her house and knowing her daughter is safe.

Parents and teachers, past and current, hope to see the program continue.

Heres to another 50 years, Chaussee said.
What would you think of the Midland Daily News if we published a front page filled with satirical articles that lampooned the person who youre planning to vote for as president of the United States?

We dont plan to do that  but one of the East Coasts largest newspapers did do that this past weekend.

The Boston Globe put together a front page of fake articles for its April 9 edition that took direct aim at GOP frontrunner Donald Trump and his political views. The Globe, in its on-line version, had a huge headline that stated, The GOP must stop Trump. Its opening paragraph reads: Donald J. Trumps vision for the future of our nation is as deeply disturbing as it is profoundly un-American.

The front pages top headline reads: Deportations to begin, with a sub-headline that says President Trump calls for tripling of ICE force; riots continue.

A half dozen articles about Trump are on the front page, covering topics ranging from libel laws to a market crash to foreign policy. One headline reads: US soldiers refuse orders to kill ISIS families.

At the bottom of the page theres the following Editors note: This is Donald Trumps America. What you read on this page is what might happen if the GOP frontrunner can put his ideas into practice, his words into action. Many Americans might find this vision appealing, but the Globes editorial board finds it deeply troubling. Read our editorial on Page K2 for more on the dangers of Trumps vision.

The Globes satirical effort has generated strong reactions. Trump, himself, called it stupid.

It was, without question, an edgy, provocative and shocking attempt at influencing the 2016 presidential race. Historically, satirical articles are typically reserved for a newspapers Opinion Page, not the Front Page.

One person, who was critical of the Globes anti-Trump effort, noted about the Globes attempt to mock him, Thats exactly why people support Trump.

The Globes risk-taking move may have consequences. Trump supporters, including advertisers, may withdraw financial support of the newspaper. For those still debating whether to support Trump, it may end up swinging voters to his side because of the harsh and unusual attack. Those who dislike Trump probably enjoyed the Globes effort, but still might wonder if the Globe crossed an ethical boundary in publishing those articles on the front page.

Meanwhile, some Republicans may wonder why the Globe doesnt do something similar for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, whose socialistic views also would reshape America.

Unquestionably, the Globe is passionate in its disdain and distrust of Trump. That is plain to see.

Its method of conveying that message, though, is debatable.
To the editor:

I refer to this as a situation rather than a crisis because, while there was a very legitimate problem with the drinking water drawn from the Flint River, millions of Americans living in smaller towns and on farms drink water that is untreated and probably no better than Flints.

What is apparent, though, is that there has been a gross failure to use good judgment in planning the switch from Detroit to an alternate source. The cutoff from Detroit was done before a satisfactory alternate had been designated and ready for use. There is an old farmers saying, Dont shoot your horse unless you have another in the barn. In this case the barn was definitely empty. That was a huge mistake, and all the rest of the problems follow from that.

There was a failure to add the phosphate to neutralize the lead fittings and pipes that might have been exposed to the water, and obviously no effort was made to clean up the water, beginning in mid 2014. When the problem became so obvious that the media picked it up, there came a lot of pressure to do something. Spurred on by the media, there were calls to recall the governor, to fire the emergency manager, to spend billions of dollars to replace all the lead pipes, etc.  none of which would have done anything to resolve the current problem. There was a gross failure to assume and discharge responsibility at the operating level and at the local managerial level. Yet I have heard nothing of any disciplinary action taken with regard to the operating and direct managerial personnel who were actually responsible, or at least should have been.

This entire situation is a good example of why so many municipal services could be better, and probably more inexpensively, performed by contracting with qualified private organizations to manage and operate them. The problems such as Flint is experiencing would immediately be obvious, and timely corrective actions taken by the contractor if he wanted to keep his job. In all probability, a well-managed contractor would have had the new horse in harness before he shot the old one, and there would have been no problem.

RICHARD HEINY

Midland
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department.

Monday, April 11

8:47 a.m.  A motorist was arrested at Isabella and Rowe streets for driving without a valid license and improper plate.

9:45 a.m.  A Porter Township man, 38, was arrested in Mount Haley Township for driving while his license was suspended.

11:18 a.m.  A deputy was called to a Geneva Township home for a report of a neighbors dog killing five chickens. A report was forwarded to Animal Control.

11:28 a.m.  A deputy was sent to a Lee Township home to check the physical health and overall well being of a goat. The goat appeared healthy, had sufficient food, water and shelter, as well as a reasonably sized enclosure.

3:34 p.m.  A Midland woman, 29, was arrested for marijuana possession after she was stopped for an equipment violation in Midland.

3:48 p.m.  Police were called to a domestic assault at a South Saginaw Road address.

7:39 p.m.  A motorist was arrested at West Wackerly Street and Eastman Avenue for driving on a suspended license.

8:09 p.m.  Deputies were called about two people who were about to fight in an Edenville Township roadway. The people separated before fighting and deputies were disregarded.

10:51 p.m.  Police made arrests for marijuana possession and driving on a suspended license in the 4400 block of North Saginaw Road.

11:27 p.m.  A Mount Haley Township man, 41, was arrested for domestic assault. The victim suffered minor injuries.
U.S. Air Force Airmen from the 733rd Air Mobility Squadron worked with U.S. Marines from the 4th Marine regiment, 3rd Marine division, for a joint inspection April 7.

This joint inspection of cargo was in support of Marine forces in Australia as part of Marine Regiment Rotational Force Darwin.

"We prepared the cargo for embarkation to get onto the C-17s," said U.S. Marine Corps Warrant Officer Matthew Langlois, 4th Marine regiment, 3rd Marine division mobility officer. "Then, we not only cleaned and packed up the stuff that is inside the containers, but also got the containers ready to be put on the aircraft to fly down there so it can get through the agricultural inspections down in Australia and also pass the Air Force standards to get on the aircraft."

The Marines prepared the cargo in support of their forces while the Air Force inspected the cargo since Air Force aircraft would be used to transport it.

"We ensure the safety of the flight," said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Lincy Thomas, 733rd AMS joint inspection program manager and shift supervisor of aircraft services. "We're inspecting to make sure they package and palletize all of the cargo that goes on this aircraft. We make sure that it is air-worthy so that nothing should happen during the flight."

This JI proved to be a learning experience for both Marine and Air Force service members.

"We have learned the different ways of ensuring that we are compliant with how the aircraft have to be loaded with all of their rules and regulations to make sure that the aircraft is safe," Langlois said.

Load rules and regulations are different for both branches, but the members of this particular JI team were able to learn from each other about their work.

"I enjoy working with other services because we learn so much from each other," Thomas said. "It's not going to be the last Marine movement; for the rest of our careers, we're always going to be working with each other. It's our opportunity to learn from each other and what we need to do to make this process better. It's like two different worlds colliding into one."
Firefighters from the 51st Civil Engineer Squadron assisted Joint Security Area service members with rescue tools and safety precautions during a joint exercise April 8, here.

Republic of Korea and U.S. Army members practiced search and recovery techniques after a simulated aircraft crash north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

This exercise is to show that our soldiers have the skills necessary to extract and treat casualties from the aircraft and to get to that aircraft safely to an area that is potentially mined or has unexploded ordnance, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Christopher Nyland, United Nations Command Security Battalion commander.

Every month, the United Nations Command exercises their right to train in accordance to the Korean Armistice Agreement. During this iteration, the security battalion called upon the Osan fire prevention flight for assistance.

They have been helping us make sure we have the right tools in our toolkit  and to train these soldiers and our leaders on how to gain entry into a crashed aircraft, said Nyland. They were able to join us on this exercise and provide their observations and critique on how well were using these lessons and applying them in a tactical scenario. Weve really opened our aperture on how to utilize these tools thanks to them.

The exercise incorporated a wooden structure filled with simulated injured service members to simulate a downed helicopter. Security battalion soldiers used their new equipment like a circular saw and Jaws of Life to enter the aircraft safely and without further injuring the individuals inside.

In a perfect world, a downed helicopter will land straight down, but oftentimes that is not the case, said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Andrews, 51st CES fire prevention crew chief. Were here to ensure theyre able to work around situations like this to save lives. Our big part of this exercise is making sure these soldiers are able to safely enter the downed aircraft and extricate patients for medical help.

For example, if someone is pinned inside the aircraft, you could use the Jaws of Life to pry open the cuts made with a saw to ensure we dont further injure the individuals, he added.

Im glad we were able to come out and train with the Army, said Andrews. Especially coming up to Camp Bonifas, where the threat is real. Helping them out with this certainly shows the strong alliance we have here.

The Osan fire prevention team plans to continue participation in exercises with the JSA Security Battalion to ensure the peace and stability on the Korea Peninsula.
Load crew of the quarter competition showcases professionalism

Senior Airman Matthew Dunar, busts a balloon open during the jammer driving portion of the first quarter load crew of the quarter competition at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea, April 8, 2016. During this contest, two jammer drivers from different units battled it out went head-to-head, maneuvering their way around cones towards two balloon station. The first driver to pop the balloon and return to his parking spot won the contest. In an effort to motivate Airmen, help them remain proficient at their jobs and boost morale, these competitions are held quarterly. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Nick Wilson/Released)
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson kicked off Polar Force 16-4 April 4, signaling the start of its annual two-week exercise designed to test JBER's wartime operational limits.

The exercise tests the installation in conducting deployments, receptions, noncombatant evacuations and employment operations, said Brad Harris, 673rd Air Base Wing inspection planner.



"A typical Polar Force exercise is developed in a two-week window," Harris said. "It enables the [inspector general] and the [wing inspection team] members to build an exercise and execute it within that two-week window and evaluate it in several areas. Usually, the first week consists of deployment receptions and noncombatant evacuee operations, and the second week we roll into the employment phase where we are evaluating members on [chemical, biological, radiation and nuclear defense] and self-aid buddy care."



However, each exercise is individually tailored to meet the installation commander's priorities, Harris said.



About 90 days before the exercise, the group commanders meet with the IG office and begin to develop and coordinate each unit's needs to meet the commander's objectives.



Regular operational exercises ensure maximum readiness to deploy across the installation. By working out the kinks during the exercise, JBER can respond smoothly and efficiently when it's go-time, said Air Force 2nd Lt. Kelly Lefler, chief of customer support for the 673rd Force Support Squadron.



In the first week of PF 16-4, the 673rd Air Base Wing tested its ability to efficiently deploy and accommodate noncombatant evacuees as well as to facilitate the Army's Large Package Week exercise taking place simultaneously.



"Polar Force 16-4 is important, because we learn so much, so when we get that call and we have to go - we're ready," Lefler said.
Two North Korean defectors shared their story of coming to the Republic of Korea to a crowd of Osan Airmen during an open forum here March 6.

The two refugees, Ken Eom and Sehyek Oh, are members a program called Teach North Korean Refugees, which teaches English and other languages to refugees.

The program, managed by Casey Lartigue, also focuses on writing, public speaking and presenting, so that refuges can tell their story in their own words.

The main thing we do is help the refugees find their way and to tell their stories, said Lartigue.

The first speaker, Eom, shared his experiences of being in the North Korean army and how he escaped from the regime. He concluded his speech with his hopes for the Korean Peninsula to be someday united.

I strongly believe one day that Korea will be unified. When that day comes I would like to take you to my hometown to see my family and friends, said Eom.

The second speaker, Oh, spoke about his experiences living in North Korea and defecting to the Republic of Korea.

The most compelling factor in his escape from North Korea was that he grew up living in poverty. He shared that there were times he went several days without food.

I rather risk getting captured and being executed than to die from hunger, said Oh during his account of his escape.

After both speakers presented their stories, they concluded the event with a Q&A session with Team Osan members in the audience.
GOA, India (NNS) -- Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter visited the 7th Fleet flagship, USS Blue Ridge, Apr. 11, meeting with Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin and Indian Minister of Defence Manohar Parrikar, during the ship's port visit to Goa, India.

The three, along with staff officials, attended an office call hosted by 7th Fleet where they discussed the U.S. rebalance to the Pacific, the vital and growing relationship between the U.S. and India, and the importance of the Indian Ocean to the security of the region and global economy.

"This is a very significant visit because we have so many activities that we're doing together jointly to help secure this part of the world and other parts of the world; our great partner in India," said Carter speaking to reporters during the visit to the ship.

Carter also spoke with Sailors and Marines during an all-hands call. He thanked them for their service and their contributions to the expanding relationships in the theater.

"You represent our style of strategic interaction, working with others to make a better world for everyone and a better world for all of our children. That's the American approach to things."

Blue Ridge's regularly scheduled port visits to Mumbai and Goa marked the ship's first visit to India in 11 years. During the ship's visit, the more than 900 Sailors and Marines, including embarked 7th Fleet staff, interacted with the local community through community service events and conducted various engagements with their counterparts in the Indian Navy.

The U.S. 7th Fleet conducts forward-deployed naval operations in support of U.S. national interests in the Indo-Asia Pacific region. As the U.S. Navy's largest numbered fleet, 7th Fleet interacts with 35 other maritime nations to build maritime partnerships that foster maritime security, promote stability and prevent conflict.
PADANG, Indonesia (NNS) -- The multilateral Naval Exercise Komodo 2016 kicked off in Padang, Indonesia, April 12, with an opening ceremony and arrival of navy ships from 35 nations in the city's harbor for an international fleet review.

The multilateral focused Komodo exercise emphasizes readiness and cooperation among navies and will take place in the city of Padang and in the waters of the Indian Ocean.

Komodo 2016 is the second iteration of the exercise, which began in 2014 in Batam, Indonesia.

"Komodo 2016 provides an outstanding venue to enhance multilateral cooperation while strengthening our friendship with the people of Indonesia," said Rear Adm. Charles Williams, commander, Task Force 73. "We're honored to participate in the outreach activities planned ashore and the sea phase where we'll operate alongside navies from 35 countries."

Komodo 2016 features a robust harbor phase that includes an international fleet review and a sea phase training scenario where participating navies will work together to enhance information sharing and maritime cooperation.

During the harbor phase, U.S. Navy Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 will work alongside fellow naval engineers on a civil-military project, while Sailors from the Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Stockdale and Patrol Squadron 8 will participate in community service projects at Padang Beach and a cultural exchange with students at Andalas University.

The sea phase will feature divisional tactics, small boat operations, flight operations with helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft, and communication drills.

Approximately 48 ships and aircraft from 35 navies will participate in the sea phase, including 18 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plus member states.

U.S. assets and personnel participating in Komodo 2016 include staff from Task Force 73 and Destroyer Squadron 7, Sailors from USS Stockdale, a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and flight crew from VP-8, and Seabees from NMCB 4.

"We are very excited to go to sea and execute a challenging sea phase in support of Komodo 2016," said Cmdr. Sean Grunwell, commanding officer, USS Stockdale. "This exercise allows our Sailors to showcase their skills as professional mariners as we operate together at sea with ships from navies throughout the region."

The multilateral exercise also coincides with the 15th Western Pacific Naval Symposium, a biennial dialogue that brings together naval leaders from across the globe for discussions and engagement on key maritime issues. This year's WPNS was attended by Adm. Scott Swift, Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
WASHINGTON, April 12, 2016  Defense Secretary Ash Carters visit to India this week -- his fourth meeting with Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar within a year -- demonstrates the regular ministerial-level oversight of the robust and deepening bilateral defense relationship between the two nations, DoD officials said in a joint U.S.-Indian statement released today.

The United States and India share a deep and abiding interest in global peace, prosperity and stability, the statement said. Bilateral defense cooperation is a key component of the strategic partnership between India and the United States.

Carter travelled to Karwar, India, to visit the Indian naval base there and to tour the INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier with Parrikar. The two leaders also visited the amphibious command ship USS Blue Ridge, which was in Goa on a regularly scheduled port call.

New Delhi Meeting

Parrikar and Carter then met in New Delhi to review the steps taken to deepen bilateral defense ties since the signing of the new framework for the U.S.-India defense relationship last June, the statement said.

They discussed the priorities for the coming year in defense ties, it said, as well as specific steps both sides will take to pursue those priorities. These include expanding collaboration under the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative; the Make in India efforts of Indias government; new opportunities to deepen cooperation in maritime security and maritime domain awareness; military-to-military relations; the knowledge partnership in the field of defense; and regional and international security matters of mutual interest, the statement said.

The two leaders said they welcomed the efforts by the Indian and U.S. armed forces to further expand collaboration and to increase complexity in their military engagements and exercises, including developing plans for more advanced maritime exercises, the statement said.

Carter and Parrikar noted India's participation in this years Rim of the Pacific multilateral naval exercise, the participation of the Indian air force in the multilateral Red Flag exercise in April and May in Alaska, and U.S. participation in the international fleet review of the Indian navy at Visakhapatnam in February.

They expressed their desire to explore agreements which would facilitate further expansion of bilateral defense cooperation in practical ways, the statement said. In this regard, they announced their in principle agreement to conclude a logistics exchange memorandum of agreement, and to continue working toward other facilitating agreements to enhance military cooperation and technology transfer.

Maritime Security

In support of the India-U.S. Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region and the maritime security objectives therein, both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in the area of maritime security, the statement said. Carter and Parrikar reaffirmed their desire to expeditiously conclude a white shipping technical arrangement to improve data sharing on commercial shipping traffic and agreed to commence navy-to-navy discussions on submarine safety and anti-submarine warfare

The two leaders also agreed to launch a bilateral Maritime Security Dialogue, co-chaired by officials at the joint secretary and assistant secretary level of the Indian Defense and External Affairs Ministries and the U.S. Defense and State Departments.

Also during their meeting, Carter and Parrikar reaffirmed the importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight throughout the region, including in the South China Sea, the statement said.

They vowed their support for a rules-based order and regional security architecture conducive to peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean and emphasized their commitment to working together and with other nations to ensure the security and stability that have been beneficial to the Asia-Pacific for decades, it said.

The two leaders reviewed the progress and reiterated their commitment to pursue co-development and co-production of advanced defense articles under the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative. In this context, they agreed to initiate two new pathfinder projects on digital helmet mounted displays and the joint biological tactical detection system.

Cutting-Edge Defense Technologies

Carter and Parrikar commended the ongoing discussions at the Jet Engine Technology Joint Working Group and the Joint Working Group on Aircraft Carrier Technology Cooperation, the statement said.

The two leaders also agreed to work towards greater cooperation in the field of cutting-edge defense technologies, including deepening consultations on aircraft carrier design and operations and jet engine technology, it said, and they noted the understanding reached to conclude an information exchange annex to enhance data and information sharing specific to aircraft carriers.

With the aim of encouraging greater participation of U.S. defense industries in the Make in India program, Parrikar informed Carter about the recently announced defense procurement policy and other reforms in the Indian defense sector, the statement said.

Both sides agreed to encourage their respective defense industries to develop new partnerships in the pursuit of a range of cutting-edge projects, it said. And in support of Make in India, the United States shared for consideration of Indias government two proposals to bolster India's suite of fighter aircraft, the statement said.

Carter and Parrikar welcomed the finalization of four government-to-government project agreements in the area of science and technology cooperation: atmospheric sciences for high energy lasers, cognitive tools for target detection, small intelligent unmanned aerial systems, and blast and blunt traumatic brain injury, the statement said.

Before departing India, Carter will oversee a repatriation ceremony of U.S. World War II remains from India to the United States. The defense secretary thanked Parrikar and India for their support in facilitating the recovery effort.

Indias government agreed to support Americas commitment to bringing its fallen personnel home and providing their families the fullest possible accounting, and looks forward to further humanitarian missions of this kind over the next few years to return the remains of these U.S. heroes to their families, the statement said.
Resolute President and CEO Takes Strong Position in Support of Free Trade April 12, 2016 - Resolute Forest Products Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Garneau appeared today in Ottawa, Canada, before the Canadian Parliament's Standing Committee on International Trade. Testifying in support of free, unencumbered access for softwood lumber exports from Central Canada (Quebec and Ontario) to the U.S. market, Mr. Garneau formally presented his perspective, drawing on over 40 years of experience and leadership in the forest products industry across Canada. Resolute is Canada's largest forest products company and the largest producer of softwood lumber east of the Rockies. Mr. Garneau challenged the claims by some that the previous 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement between the United States and Canada produced predictability and stability. In his formal comments, and in the question and answer period that followed, Mr. Garneau made the case that managed trade increased volatility, creating an unpredictable and unstable trade environment between the two large trading partners. While Western Canadian softwood lumber producers benefited from China's extraordinary economic development, logistical limitations mean that Asian markets remain out of reach for Central Canadian producers. Additionally, Western softwood lumber producers' purchase of some 40 sawmills in the U.S., with a production capacity of some five billion board feet, afford them an important measure of insulation from future restrictive measures. "To put this capacity into context, it is over 150 percent of the total existing capacity of Ontario's sawmills. Canadian demand is simply not enough to absorb all the production of Central Canadian sawmills," stated Richard Garneau. "We need to be able to sell freely to the U.S. Indeed, that was the whole point of the Canada  U.S. Free Trade Agreement and NAFTA. Just about every industry enjoys free trade, except for softwood lumber," added Mr. Garneau. In his formal remarks, Mr. Garneau emphasized the incredibly destructive nature, particularly for Central Canada, of the last managed trade arrangement between the United States and Canada. "The purpose of a deal must not be simply an alternative to litigation. It must be to assure fair and equitable trade," offered Mr. Garneau. Canadians have won every legal fight with the United States over softwood lumber. Canada has played by the rules and proven according to the law that its industry is not subsidized, and does not cause injury to any U.S. industry. Softwood lumber producers in Quebec and Ontario need and deserve nothing less than free trade. "If there is to be a deal, it must recall a principled purpose: that the Canadian softwood lumber industry does compete fairly in North America and pays a fair market price for timber, and that our forestry regimes are market-based. The Government of Canada must not negotiate a deal that does not fully recognize Central Canada's right to free trade," summarized Mr. Garneau. Resolute Forest Products is a global leader in the forest products industry with a diverse range of products, including newsprint, specialty papers, tissue, market pulp and wood products. The company owns or operates over 40 pulp, paper, tissue and wood products facilities in the United States, Canada and South Korea, as well as power generation assets in Canada. To learn more, please visit: www.resolutefp.com SOURCE: Resolute Forest Products Inc.
Model Iman Le Caire is probably best known for her presence in NYC's gay nightlife scene, hosting parties at Fire Island's famed Pavilion and Frankie Sharp's weekly shindig at the Jane. But it's her rarely-told life story and background as a political refugee that makes her one of the most important names in club culture at the moment.

It's a story she's shared with few. "This is the first time I'm really telling someone," she tells me in the PAPER conference room alongside her husband, Jean-Manuel Pourquet, nervously tugging at the sleeve of her elaborately embroidered coat, her bright, bubblegum-glossed lips downturned as she starts from the beginning. Hers is a harrowing "coming to America" story, one pockmarked by the years of anti-gay persecution she faced in her homeland of Egypt, her subsequent struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and her eventual transition once she found a support system in the United States.

Le Caire now works with the Anti-Violence Project and was able to finally become who she knew she was from the time she was a child with the support from her husband and doctors. She believes her story can help other trans people being persecuted in their home countries seek asylum and make them "feel less isolated and stronger," as it does eventually "become OK."





photos by Kamera Addikt

But feeling OK was not an easy point to get to for Le Caire. Growing up in conservative Egypt meant she was shunned for "acting feminine" and her more feminine inclinations "brought shame" upon her strict Muslim family -- an especially difficult thing when compounded with the fact that she was also raped at an early age.

"People spit on you when they see you...people tried to rape me when I was very young, but I could not say anything," Le Caire says. "Because when my family found out the first time, they started [making] my life hell.

"They would make fun of me, and tell me that I can never be a girl and that I can never be a woman. That I will always be a man and that I will always be that way. And [that I'm] going to go to hell, which made me so scared," she continues. "But I took it all just to survive."

Le Caire says one of the most scarring incidents involved her own brother trying to stab her.

"My sister saved me," she says, her voice trembling. "That was hard for me -- that they hated me, that they wanted to get rid of me. That was the scary part."

It was only after her father died that the 16-year-old Le Caire decided to finally run away to the Egyptian capital of Cairo, where she was finally able to meet other gay people -- albeit in a very underground scene due to constant police harassment and frequent anti-gay violence. Cairo was no haven.

"If you walk in the street, [they can grab you] and put you in jail," she explains. "I have been arrested and jailed [under false pretenses] so many times." She says she was often rounded up and brought into the police station for interrogation whenever a member of the gay community was murdered -- something that subsequently spurred she and her friends into hiding. Le Caire says it left her with the realization that if she were murdered it would be "OK, because I'm gay."

"[A murderer] can say that I tried to rape him, and that's why he defended himself -- then the case is closed, and that person doesn't go to jail," she says. "Egypt, they don't want gay people and transgender people to be around because they see it as something that has come from the West."

Keeping a low profile was essential. But that's easier said than done when the government is trying to implicate you for made-up crimes, which ended up being the final straw for Le Caire after she was accused of running a prostitution ring of teenage boys. It was a red-flag moment she says was "incredibly scary," and she had to get out. The incident was her motivation to apply for a student visa via the New York Film Academy. She had little hope, though, since she had previously been rejected for a visa by the French embassy. Her chances of ever leaving Egypt seemed greatly diminished, as rejected names are apparently shared among all of the embassies. Still, she applied.





photos by Kamera Addikt





"Thankfully, I got an amazing letter [of recommendation written by the director of the Cairo Opera House, where I worked], who was gay, and Lebanese," says Le Caire, of the fortuitous moment. "He knew the situation, so he helped me."

And while Le Caire envisioned staying in Cairo for long enough to save money for her relocation, she had to quickly change her plans. One day soon after receiving her visa, her roommate called to warn her that the secret police were waiting for her at their apartment. Worried she'd be hauled back to prison once again, she made immediate travel plans, borrowing money for the airfare from friends and leaving all of her possessions behind.

"I had never heard my heart beat like that," Le Caire says. "I knew the police could call the airport, and I didn't know what was going to happen."

In another moment of good fortune, she was able to board the plane. It was a revelatory moment she still has difficulty processing.

"Once I went to the airplane, and it [took] off, I started screaming and crying," she says. "People kept asking 'Are you OK?' and I was like, 'Yes! I'm fine!'"





photos by Kamera Addikt





In New York, she began to heal, joining a support group for LGBT political refugees. But Le Caire did not find instant relief. "Being trans was really eating at my brain," she says. "I didn't know how to start. There's not a really big community for you to see them, and once you see them, people look at them as weird people...I've seen this, and it was me thinking about it, about how this could be me. How can I achieve that dream?"

Le Caire says she felt, at times, even more isolated and confused about her identity amidst the city's strong gay community than she had in Cairo. She longed to be visible as a trans person, but also wanted to be accepted after a lifetime of rejection. "I wanted to wear a dress, and heels," she says. "This is who I wanted to be, but I still wanted to try and fit into [mainstream] gay culture." She turned to drugs -- namely a crystal meth addiction -- to cope.

"I had left Egypt, I had done so much just so I could be myself...but I fell apart for awhile," she says. She didn't know who she could be close to, unsure of her safety and her place in the world, because "you don't know who [are] good people." But things turned around one day when her now-husband Jean-Manuel Pourquet crossed paths with her when she was working as a receptionist at a David Barton Gym. The two struck up a friendship that was tested by Le Caire's addiction, and when Pourquet proved himself to be someone who "went after all this trouble." The two began living together as romantic partners -- a supportive relationship that spurred her to get clean and also acted as her impetus to finally begin transitioning.

"After I became clean, I woke up one time, and I looked at Jean and said, 'Listen, I want to become a [woman]'," she says. "And I was so scared because he could have been like, 'No, I cannot be with someone who is a woman, or transgender" or anything, he just said, 'Yeah, let's do it.' It was that easy."

It was this inherent support from Jean -- or the person she calls her "only true friend" -- that allowed Le Caire to finally take the plunge and begin the process of transitioning. She reasoned that if she wasn't going to do it now and finally become the person she had dreamed of being since birth, then she may never have the opportunity. She says it ultimately boiled down to "not wanting to lie to anyone."

"I don't have family, I don't have anyone in my life anymore," she says. "I don't have to be like, 'What if my father is going to kill me,' or, 'this is wrong,' anymore -- because it's not wrong. It doesn't hurt me, it's just something that makes me happy."
California families will get to enjoy expanded benefits for paid leaves. Gov. Jerry Brown has signed the bill into a law Monday, which effectively increases the compensation workers receive if they avail of the Family Leave.

"This bill allows more parents the opportunity to spend time talking, reading, and singing to their children in those first key months, setting their children on a positive life path," said George Halvorson, the chairman of the First 5 California Commission, per a press release.

By signing AB 908, the state has increased Paid Family Leave (PFL) wages to 70 percent for low-income workers and 60 percent for average to high-income workers. The new law replaces a previous provision where parents are allowed to take additional family leaves without pay for one week.

Paid Family Leave Expanded Benefits Takes Effect In 2018

Per ABC 10, the new law will be implemented effective Jan. 1, 2018 and it will also cover situations where parents have to take off from work to care for sick family members. "We want to do as much as we can, in a creative way, to make sure that everybody has a decent life," said Brown during the signing of the bill.

The state hopes that this move will make diminish inequality in compensation among workers. Additionally, workers will no longer have to wait one week to receive their claims, but coverage for PFL remains as a six-week period instead of the suggested 10 weeks.

"If you increase it too much, more money comes out of the workers' pockets to fund the program. We didn't want that," said Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, one of the authors of the bill in the ABC 10 report. To learn more about PFL, visit the official site.

President Obama Lauds California's Paid Family Leave Expanded Benefits

Following the signing, Pres. Obama hailed California for their initiative in a written statement. He said that Congress should follow in the state's example in providing all Americans "this basic security," per Washington Post. Only four states in the United States have implemented PFL.

What are your thoughts about California's expanded law on Paid Family Leave? Let us know in the comments!
Kim Vaillancourt, the 36-year-old mom who delayed her brain cancer treatment, has given birth to her son Wyatt Eli Friday, April 8, in New York. The baby weighed 4 pounds and 7 ounces and the mom and child are doing well.

The birth was announced in a statement for the press, per WGRZ. The family asked for continued prayers as they welcome their new addition and hurdle through Kim's condition.

Here's a statement about Kim and Baby Wyatt from the Vaillancourt family. @WGRZ pic.twitter.com/MI5zVHXmBj  Melissa Holmes (@2MelissaHolmes) April 8, 2016

Kim's story caught the interest of the public when she gave up cancer treatments that could harm the baby in her womb. She learned of her condition in December, when she was five months in the family way, and initially thought the headaches were complications of the pregnancy, Parent Herald previously reported.

Kim Vaillancourt, her husband, Phil, and their five other children have been receiving an outpouring of support from the public via their Go Fund Me page. Here are three more facts about her and her conditon:

1. Kim Vaillancourt has glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma is a type of brain tumor that grows fast and can be hard to treat, per the America Brain Tumor Association. It usually occurs on older men, but there have been isolated cases involving women and children.

The occurrence is rare during pregnancy, said Dr. Robert Fenstermaker who is developing a vaccine for glioblastoma, per Daily Mail. In Kim's case, doctors found two tumor growths that required the surgery she underwent in December.

However, she will need to get chemotherapy and radiation to eradicate the cancer cells completely. The survival rate for patients with glioblastoma with aggressive treatments is five years or more.

2. Kim Vaillancourt's next treatment phase has been decided before Wyatt's birth.

Kim plans on starting the next phase of her cancer treatment two weeks after giving birth. It was a decision she made with her husband, per Daily Mail. Her latest scans have so far been clean of the tumor, but the treatments are still necessary so that it won't return.

3. Kim Vaillancourt's baby was born a few weeks earlier.

Meet baby Wyatt Eli Vaillancourt! 4 lbs 7 Ozs. Kim and baby are doing just fine! @WGRZ pic.twitter.com/F8sU7Fm986  Melissa Holmes (@2MelissaHolmes) April 8, 2016



Wyatt was supposed to be born in May, so the baby required care at the neonatal intensive care unit when he arrived. The family calls him their "miracle baby," per Buffalo News. Kim's sister, Meghan Eisenhauer, believes Kim would have disregarded her headaches if it weren't for the fact that she was pregnant with Wyatt. "Her number one concern has always been her kids," Eisenhauer told the news outlet.
Immigrant students in the U.S. have been denied enrollment in schools. Georgetown University Law Center released a report stating that children without a legal status were either turned away from classrooms or are made to face very long delays in enrollment.

The prohibition unduly imposed on immigrant students to be enrolled in schools stemmed from arbitrary interpretation of some school districts of education policies. Some factors that they consider before allowing immigrant students in the U.S. to be enrolled include residency and pertinent state laws. This, however, runs contrary to existing education laws which allow all children, regardless of immigration status to attend school.

Law imposes mandatory education up to 16 years of age.

Seattle Times said that by law, all children must attend school until they turn 16. This is compulsory in all 50 states. Being compulsory in nature, there is no room for interpretation from school districts, so as to result in the prohibition of immigrant students to attend school.

One law student from Georgetown, Mikaela Harris, said, "U.S. law is clear on this point - no child in the United States should be excluded from public education." While this law may have been drafter to ensure protection of children's rights, such has not been carefully observed in some school districts.

Changes in school district policies may be necessary.

A recent case in Long Island has been brought to the limelight after immigrant students complained that they were denied enrollment. CBS New York reported that the Westbury School District had an implied policy that English language learners aged 16 years old and above are excluded from high school. These students are then diverted to take non-degree education programs.

New York Attorney General Eric Scheiderman acted on the matter compelling the said school district to change its policies. Looking at things from a different perspective, one thing that worsened the situation of immigrant students in the U.S. was Obama administration's immigration policies.

In 2014, the increasing number of illegal crossing prompted the government to deport tens of thousands of Central American families and children. This situation led many students to skip school out of fear of being deported.
Anorexia nervosa comments by Baroness Joan Bakewell associating the illness with narcissism landed the TV presenter in hot water. According to Baroness Joan Bakewell the eating disorder, which is now medically linked to mental health, is a result of self-indulgence.

Mirror reports that Baroness Joan Bakewell believes that anorexia nervosa comes from young people being too focused on looking beautiful and thin. Rather than a medical condition, Baroness Joan Bakewell suggests that anorexia nervosa is a result of narcissism.

Anorexia A Result Of Beauty Standards

"To be unhappy because you are the wrong weight is a sign of the overindulgence of our society, over-introspection, narcissism, really," Baroness Joan Bakewell commented. "No one has anorexia in societies where there is not enough food, they do not have anorexia in the camps in Syria."

What concerns the Baroness more than anything about anorexia nervosa is the pressure people put upon themselves to become thin. According to Baroness Joan Bakewell she finds disturbing how young females experience so much anxiety over a little bit of weight.

Criticisms Ensue

Although well-meant, Baroness Joan Bakewell's view of anorexia nervosa was not taken kindly by people who protest the simplification of the eating disorder to mere narcissism. Leigh Wilson-Hawley was such a one who, based on personal experience, believes that anorexia nervosa is about invisibility and inner turmoil.

Wilson-Hawley further said that anorexia nervosa does not exist in third world countries because these places have no food which needs controlling. According to Anorexia & Bulimia Care, around 1.6 million people in the UK suffer from eating disorders. On the average, eating disorders reportedly affect individuals as early as 16 to 17 years in age.

Local #LifeSupport services are vital for people to stay well. Tell your local councillor https://t.co/QK6yqdU7Us pic.twitter.com/qA4ZPbWdgh  Mind (@MindCharity) April 7, 2016

Eating Disorders Are Mental Health Issues

Anorexia nervosa and similar eating disorders are now considered life-threatening mental diseases. Anorexia nervosa is cited as the most common cause of death among adolescents with psychiatric illness.

The National Institute Of Mental Health classifies anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and their variants as real medical illnesses, which may be treated. Findings point to genetic, biological, psychological, and social factor contributions in cases of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating and similar disorders.
Kate Middleton is an icon of style whenever the Duchess of Cambridge goes about her duties as wife to Prince William and part of the royal family. Recently Kate Middleton revealed her slimming secret after having her two kids, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

E! News reports that Kate Middleton and Prince William were at a celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday in India when the Duchess of Cambridge was asked about her slimming secret. Fellow guest, Professor Bulbul Dhar-James, got the dish on the Duchess of Cambridge after he asked Kate Middleton how she managed to lose pregnancy fat from having Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

Yesterday evening The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended a reception at Kensington Palace to meet young people from India and Bhutan, ahead of their upcoming tour to the two countries #RoyalVisitIndia #RoyalVisitBhutan A photo posted by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Apr 7, 2016 at 1:09am PDT

Kate Middleton reportedly gamely answered the personal question by admitting that the Duchess of Cambridge burned off a lot of the baby fat by running after Prince George and Princess Charlotte. The answer was also telling of how hands-on Kate Middleton is with her children.

The curious Professor Bulbul Dhar-James scored another gem when he asked Kate Middleton about how the Duchess of Cambridge is able to stay gracious and cheerful throughout a busy day. The Professor asked Kate Middleton if she does not tire of having to smile all the time. Kate Middleton proved how congenial she is. According to Kate Middleton staying good-humored despite a busy day is easy because the Duchess of Cambridge is simply returning the warmth that people extend to her.

Kate Middleton and Prince William have been creating a positive stir with their well-received visit in India and Bhutan. The Daily Mail reports that Kate Middleton and Prince William did not only make time for luminaries and diplomats.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge also spent time in the company the street children of India. Kate Middleton and Prince William unhesitatingly sat down on the floor with street children and, for short while, the royal couple helped them forget the horrors of their young lives.
Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen has proposed a new bill that will prevent all citizens in Minnesota from having access to restrooms, locker rooms and dressing rooms that are designated for the opposite sex, including transgenders. This new transgender bathroom bill in Minnesota has caused an outrage from some parents and lawmakers and support from others.

The authors of the transgender bathroom bill noted that the proposal's aim is to protect the privacy of each individual, Fox 9 reports. However, opponents of the bill say that the proposal is actually a form of discrimination against the LGBT community.

Rep. Yarusso: This bill treats my son like a dog, because he cant pee inside of a public accommodation." https://t.co/UunYVIzbMv  FOX 9 (@MyFOX9) April 13, 2016

Supporters of the transgender bathroom bill emphasize that allowing transgenders to enter restrooms and dressing rooms of the opposite sex can be abused by non-transgender citizens. "Over the last summer I encountered a biological male in the women's locker room watching women shower and typing on his phone," Kate Ives, a parent, stated in support of the bill via Fox 9.

Opponents of the transgender bathroom bill say that there are actually no such cases documented. "I want to live my life, and this guy wants to call me a rapist so that he can win some seats on the state and national level," attorney Catherine Crowe, a transgender, commented on the bill.

The transgender bathroom bill has a very big obstacle in its path. Gov. Mark Dayton has publicly opposed a similar bill in North Carolina and another bill in Mississipi which allows religious organizations and business owners to deny certain services to the LGBT community. ABC News also reports about a delay in the movement of the controversial proposal due to financial issues in the implementation of the bill.
Student segregation still exists in a number of schools in the United States. Some charter schools, however, are slowly beginning to change that trend.

Community Roots is one of those eight charter schools or charter school networks that accept students from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, according to a February report from progressive think tank the Century Foundation. That number may be small, but it could be the start of a charter school sector with more racial and socioeconomic diversity.

NYC's Segregated Schools

New York City has one of the most segregated schools in the U.S., the Huffington Post reported. Plenty of public schools in the country are being re-segregated in the past few decades. Charter schools, which are publicly funded but are operated independently, also practice re-segregation.

Desegregated schools have positive effects in the future, and they are also likely to have better material resources. Interacting with diverse types of people at an early age can help children, especially when they became part of the workforce.

Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, an assistant professor of educational leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University, said they possess more than 60 decades of evidence detailing the inequality existing in segregated schools, the news outlet reported. Plenty of charter schools do not provide transportation to students, and some are built in neighborhoods populated by low-income students who have limited educational choices.

Commitment to Diversity

Community Roots Charter School, which is located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, has created a diverse set of students from local families who applied for the school's lottery system, which randomly picks school applicants for admission. However, when the neighborhood started improving, well-off families flocked to the school's lottery. The neediest students were then left out from the school's offerings.

Students attending charter schools have increased in recent years. According to a 2009 research, almost 70 percent of black students attend largely segregated schools in 15 U.S. states, with majority of them identifying themselves as part of the minority group. Researchers also found that out of 90 percent of colored students attending traditional public school, only 36 percent of them are black students, the Huffington Post noted.

Hope to End Desegregation

Charter schools have created diverse classrooms in recent years. M. Karega Rausch, the vice president for research and evaluation at the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, said there are many charter schools that are "intentionally trying to pursue diversity," the Huffington Post added.

In 2014, a federal guidance was released by the U.S. Department of Education that allows charter schools to use a weighted lottery system for disadvantaged students, but only if their state permits it. It's also important that students and teachers engage in social justice and equity issues.
School bullying cases often involve students of color. However, this boy who studies at a predominantly black and Hispanic high school was bullied for being white. The worst part was that school administrators did not heed his complaints.

Twenty-three-year old Giovanni Micheli has experienced bullying from black and Hispanic peers in Brentwood High School. He was punched and even hit with a chair for no other reason but his color. He was also referred to as the "white boy" denoting much disdain and contempt from his peers.

No Action From School Administrators

According to the New York Post, while the school bullying incidents were happening, administrators of Brentwood High School didn't lift a finger to stop them. His counsels pointed out that Micheli was deemed as the "minority" in their school.

Most school officials who were also white would tell Micheli to "project more self-confidence." If the boy wouldn't be able to handle it, he might as well leave the school.

The withdrawn and depressed Micheli turned to his parents for help who immediately raised the issue with the school. At the time, the administration allowed him to be home tutored instead of attending school. His parents also asked permission to transfer him to another district which was refused.

According to Wayne Schaefer, Micheli's counsel, the basis for refusal to transfer the boy to another district was that they would have to transfer all white students if they approve the request of the boy. Micheli sued the school for being indifferent to his plight. He sued the school in 2010 but his trial only reached Brooklyn federal court on Monday.

Another White Victim

Although school bullying cases are common, white victims are usually not. American Renaissance reported that in 2015, a 9-year-old kid hanged himself because he was bullied by Asian boys for being white. Reports have it that he was initially threatened with a plastic knife. The bullies thereafter said that the next time around, it will no longer be plastic, but would be a real one.

At present, school bullying cases are becoming more rampant. It is not only blacks or Hispanics who are bullied, but many white kids in predominantly colored schools also experience students bullying them because they are white. Do you know of a similar situation? Feel free to share them below.
During her 7-day tour in India, Kate Middleton spoke about being a mother to her two children. The Duchess of Cambridge shared how she loves and misses her little ones.

OK! reported that Middleton spoke with Indian actress Madhuri Dixit and told her she was worried about leaving behind Prince George and Princess Charlotte. "She said she loves being here and the people are very welcoming, but she was worried she may miss her children," Madhuri said.

The Duchess of Cambridge also claimed that her kids help her lose weight after here two pregnancies. When asked how she maintains a great figure even after giving birth to two children, Middleton said she is always running after her kids.

For his part, Prince William said they are happy that their two kids have established a good relationship with Queen Elizabeth. "I am so glad that my children are having the chance to get to know the Queen," he added.

According to US Weekly, the couple visited Salaam Balaak, a shelter for trafficked children in India, as part of their visit in the country. "What can we do to help," Prince William asked upon seeing the condition of the children.

Director Sanjoy Roy told the royal couple that spreading the word about the children's situation would help them. He added that these young individuals need proper guidance to be useful citizens of the society.

"People think of them as street kids, beggars, thieves, but they are just children," Roy added as he addressed the royal couple. "They deserve an education, future and a life. They have a right to a childhood."

Middleton, who has been focusing on mental health issues in her home country, praised the charity for its great work. "We were just saying how amazing this charity is," she noted.
Some mothers are forced to terminate their pregnancies when their kids are diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Many claim that they resort to abortion to save their children from suffering in the future. However, there are also some who disagree with this idea.

In an essay published by The Washington Post, obstetrician/gynecologist Katherine McHugh said that women who decide to have their baby aborted because of the illness decide to do so because of "love and compassion." "Families who choose to continue abnormal pregnancies and raise children with disabilities face incredible hardships," McHugh said in her essay. "It can be challenging to determine the severity of the disability before birth, so preparation can be difficult."

The New York Times said that a child with Down Syndrome also has an expected shorter life span and are prone to having medical issues once born. It explained that the struggles that await parents usually push them to choose abortion over letting their kids live.

Despite these positions, P.C. Brown mentioned in a letter to the editor of The Washington Post that abortion does not, in any way, show love and compassion to a child. The writer guessed that McHugh has not seen people with Down Syndrome who are already useful individuals in the society.

"Certainly she missed the scripture reading recited flawlessly by 26-year-old Meghan Jones, a woman with Down syndrome, before a televised audience of millions at the papal Mass in the District in September," Brown added. The writer also mentioned 18-year-old Frankie Antonelli as a perfect example that babies diagnosed with the disease can still pursue education despite their condition.

"I hope none of these people encountered Ms. McHugh's essay; it was so dismissive of their lives," the letter to the editor read. Brown added that some of these kids are also part of the normal population who work in groceries, churches and libraries.
Birth of conjoined twins is a rare occurrence and the survival rate of these newborns is very low. Fortunately, a successful surgery in Texas has finally separated conjoined sisters Scarlet and Ximena Hernandez-Torres.

Infant conjoined twins to be separated in Texas https://t.co/3LOZNgYD0m pic.twitter.com/UR1pfh4kmh  Fox News (@FoxNews) April 12, 2016

The successful operation that separated the conjoined twins was conducted at Driscoll Children's Hospital, Fox News Latino reports. The hospital's spokesperson, Jeff Salzgeber told the press that the surgery took several hours to finish. The team of surgeons who operated on the twins spent months in preparation for the delicate surgical operation.

The twins will have to undergo reconstruction of their colon and bladders which they used to share as conjoined twins. Catalina, the identical triplet sibling of Scarlett and Ximena, was born without life-threatening health problems.

Corpus Christi family looks to Houston conjoined twins' surgery as inspiration https://t.co/YCApVDWsNz pic.twitter.com/e59rRmJb72  KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) April 13, 2016

The sisters' chance for full recovery is very positive, ABC News reports. However, the girls will have to undergo a series of additional surgeries in order to stay healthy and survive.

Scarlett and Ximena are very fortunate because of the very low survival rate of conjoined twins. "Approximately 40 to 60 percent of conjoined twins arrive stillborn, and about 35 percent survive only one day," University of Maryland Medical Center explains. "The overall survival rate of conjoined twins is somewhere between 5 percent and 25 percent." Most conjoined twins who are separated through surgery will also need to go through a long process of physical rehabilitation in order to move properly.
In the United States, education reform is instrumental in increasing the significance of ensuring that all children and adults have access to high quality and effective education. But 2016 U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is facing a challenge to pacify the escalating "opt-out" movement before the upcoming New York primary on April 19.

America is no stranger to education reforms. However, there have been increasing debates between the education-reform movement and the opt-out movement, which is against standardized tests.

Education-Reform Movement vs. Opt-Out Movement

Education reform aims to make public education into a market of an input-output system, where high-stake accountability is generated from curriculum standards tied to standardized tests. The opt-out movement, on the other hand, encourages students to boycott standardized tests, New York Magazine notes.

Hillary Clinton and her thoughts on Education Reform

U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has distanced herself from the education reform movement. The reason? The 69-year-old Democratic nominee thinks the federal government requires too many tests for American school children.

"[Hillary] thinks they are just too much, that it's national overreach, and the most it could ever do is to help people at the very bottom levels of achievement," former U.S. President and Hillary's husband Bill Clinton said Monday in Cheyenne, Politico magazine quotes.

Hillary Clinton's thoughts seemed to be a reversal of her past support for the No Child Left Behind law, which directed the annual testing requirements more than 10 years ago. But husband Bill Clinton stressed that his wife's statements don't necessarily mean that there shouldn't be tests or measures.

"The idea of having to give a national test every year for five years in a row for people from the third to the eighth grade doesn't make as much sense as investing the same amount of money in helping the teachers to be better teachers," Bill said. "That would make more difference."

In 2001, Hillary Clinton voted for the No Child Left Behind law when she was a New York senator. The law first required states to test all students in reading in math in third through eighth grades and once again in high school but after years of debate, the Congress revised the education law last year while maintaining the same schedule of testing.

The Burgeoning Opt-Out Movement

Meanwhile, more parents are joining the opt-out movement against standardized tests. According to Today, parents are increasingly questioning the importance of the state-mandated standardized tests and are keeping their children from taking the exams.

Do you agree with Hillary Clinton's thoughts that the federal government requires too many tests for American school children? Sound off below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates.
Angelina Jolie may have failed in getting her initial campaign to fully take off against the use of rape as a "weapon of war" in countries of conflict. However, the "Maleficent" star was not off the mark, with recent findings indicating that the "Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative" campaign by Angelina Jolie four years ago is more relevant now and needs revival.

The Mirror reports that peers from the British House of Lords committee determined that the use of rape as a "weapon of war" is now more prevalent. This is in comparison to when Angelina Jolie first campaigned four years ago.

Angelina Jolie and former Foreign Secretary William Hague collaborated with a House of Lords committee to promote "Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative." The promotion of "Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative" had been high-profile with Angelina Jolie and William Hague's efforts receiving a pledge of support from 120 countries.

This prompted committee chairperson Baroness Emma Nicholson to call for a clear strategy to further what the "Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative" campaign began. Baroness Emma Nicholson suggested the need for a five-year plan where progress accomplished by the "Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative" is better integrated with Government activities.

Fight against #sexualviolence in conflict can be taken forward, #HLSVCmttee rpt sets out how https://t.co/ImXzdBqgiY pic.twitter.com/APvpmwtaEV  House of Lords (@UKHouseofLords) 12 April 2016

AA reports that latest United Nations statistics point to a clear need for a follow-through on the initial progress that Angelina Jolie and William Hague accomplished with the "Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative" campaign. Today as many as 45 groups 19 conflict zones across the globe resort to rape and sexual violence as a war strategy.

"For far too long sexual violence has been regarded as just one of those things that occurs when there is conflict," the United Nations report stated. "It is not; it is a war crime, which must not, under any circumstances, be overlooked or condoned."

The "Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative" is only one among many causes that Angelina Jolie champions. Recently, Angelina Jolie took the opportunity to visit refugees in Greece and speak up for their humanitarian rights while her husband Brad Pitt worked on zombie apocalypse sequel "World War Z 2" in London.
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Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, is maybe best known for its mind-blowing, imagination-defying architecture. Notable landmarks include the citys manmade palm tree-shaped islands, its strand of private islands that are literally shaped like the earths continents and the fact that its skyline is home to the Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building.

Through these developments, Dubai has been able to position itself as a must-see destination for any world traveler  but the city seems to think it can still do a little bit better job of totally dropping the jaws of its visitors. Earlier this week, Emaar Properties, the same developer responsible for the Burj Khalifa, announced its plans to construct a building even taller than its most famous creation.

The new building, simply called The Tower, is set to be finished by 2020, the year in which Dubai, not so coincidentally, will be the host of the World Expo. Although the project will no doubt catch the eye of the citys millions of visitors that year, Emaar has been unclear as to exactly how high the tower will actually be.

Mohamed Alabbar, Emaars chairman, has said The Tower will be a notch taller than the Burj Khalifa, which currently stands at 828 meters. Whether this means visitors to the World Expo will get an 829 meter tower, or something much more substantial, is yet to be seen.

In addition, the building, which will house condos, shops and even its own hotel, may not even be the worlds tallest building by the time its built. Saudi Arabias 3,281 ft. Jeddah Tower, also expected to be finished in 2020  will easily tower over The Tower if it is completed on time. Additionally, the recently proposed and aptly named Mile High Tower in Tokyo would cast a shadow over either building, although its construction may not begin for many years.

Maybe next time add more than a notch, Dubai.

Dillon Thompson is a travel intern with Paste and a student at the University of Georgia.
the food like?

The first question asked by friends back in the States nearly always sits with knife and fork at the tables of Colombia. I find this naturalwhen my own traveling amigos return from adventures in Morocco or rural Georgia (the Georgia with Hahira, not Tskhinvali), I ask the same question.

The fare in wayfarer surely means table fare.

Sometimes my friends ask culinary questions that feel unkind, uninformed. Have you had a tarantula taco? Ive been asked. Is there burro in a burrito?

Ignoring those ugly assumptions, Im happy to report that food in Colombia is very good.

This column, pull up a chair. Ill introduce a traditional Colombian dish you can try every day of the week. Buen provecho! (Enjoy your meal!)

Caldo de costilla. What? Soup for breakfast? Is it so strange? Whats a bowl of cereal? A cold soup of flakes in milk. Oatmeal? A thick soup made of boiling water and horse feed.

Still, those conditioned our entire lifetimes to think of breakfast as heavy plates of egg and sausage, egg and bacon, egg and anything, might find a steaming-hot caldo, or rib broth, an unusual start to a day.

Never mind. Here in Bogota, a half mile closer to heaven than Denver, the eastern Andes breathe temperatures in the mid-50s down into the city at dawn. Brisk! You see bogotanos in buttoned-up coats when they go out early.

A hot bowl of morning soup with a whole potato, fragrant green onion bits, and a hearty beef chunk sends warmth all the way to the bone. If you add a cafe con leche, nearly always served here with a generous piece of farm cheese (Colombians crumble cheese into hot chocolate), it makes the sun come up like thunder. A warm fresh-baked French roll to soak up the soup brings even more heartiness.

Growing up in Alabama, no plate of vegetables or Sunday fixings ever came without cornbread. Think of the arepa, the unchallenged national food of Colombia, as southern U.S. cornbread gone wild  only arepas been on tables in Colombia centuries longer than cornbread back home. This longevity accounts for arepas bewildering assortment of types and tastes.

Flat, round, and grilledthats the most traditional arepa. But thats only a starting place for the creative Colombian cook. Youll enjoy arepas con queso, for example, with the cheese bubbling inside a split corn cake about the thickness of your hand. Arepas come in small doubloon-sized portions too, bites to take between mouthfuls of beans or with scrambled egg scooped on. Colombians pride themselves on arepas by region, some sweetened, some with different colors of corn meal. They even come with meat, sauces  or with nothing but salt and the taste of wood smoke and open air.

Honestly, arepas range in quality. Ive had some that tasted like bathroom sponges. (Dont ask.) Ive also had some so tasty and toothsome that I made an entire meal of them.

A notable arepa came from the kitchen of my fiancee, Adela. It arrived straight from a little toasting device held over the glowing eye of a gas stove. The arepa crackled with each bite, and I ate it with a perfectly fried egg and a little grated cheese, plus black pepper and saltabout as basic a meal as humans can make. It gave me great satisfaction then  and it gives me the same satisfaction now, simply to remember it.

Let me introduce a feast called lechona. West of Bogota lies Tolima, a region of green vistas where many well-to-do bogotanos keep weekend getaway homes. The specialty dish of that region is a whole roast pig stuffed with rice, chopped onions, and little soft peas. Lechona can be found all over Colombia these days, served fragrant with spices after roasting very slowly overnight in a traditional clay oven. The golden pork with its crispy skin and the delicious roast meat with rice looks like something prepared for a wedding banquet. (Just dont throw this rice at the newlyweds.)

Eyeing a weekend, it makes sense to stock up on something simmered in stock. A good sancocho, a soup made with three different potatoes, yucca, plantain, and most any kind of meat  and even fish  tastes delicious at first serving. Its even better as a leftover, after the ingredients socialize and know one another a bit better. Most every region of the country makes sancocho in its own special style, so try several bowls in several places before arguing with a cook over whats best.

Time to test your courage. Order mondongo. Youll do best not to think that youre munching chopped cow stomach. Still, once you get in touch with your inner culinary adventurer, youll slowly realize, bite by bite, that cow stomach tastes pretty good. Mondongo benefits from a slow marriage in a big pot with garlic and root veggies, plantains, bell peppers, tomatoes, celery, onions of course, and a snowfall of spices like coriander, salt, and whatever dashes of pepper the cook prefers. Dont be surprised when you want seconds  but find the pot already empty.

The syllable pan betrays its originempanar, in Spanish, means to wrap in bread. You wont go far in Latin America without running into empanadaslittle baked or fried pastries filled with carne (spiced beef), pollo (chicken), or a seemingly infinite variety of other ingredients (chorizo sausage, spinach and cheese, mushrooms and cheese, etc.). Every country in South America proudly boasts its own style, and you can even ask for empanadas by national name. Ill have a Chilean please! (Thats a flour empanada stuffed with ground pork, hard-boiled egg, black olives, and raisins.) A traveler wont go wrong whether snacking street vendor empanadas or making a full meal of them in a cafe that serves the treats.

With empanadas, always ask for aji. Youll receive some combination of vinegar and olive oil seasoned with tomato, two kinds of onion, cilantro, and red pepper. Some aji burns like fire. Some tastes mild, a little sweet. Aji makers guard their recipes as jealously as U.S. rib masters guard their secret barbeque sauce recipes.

The Lord may have rested on Sunday, but you will have to work hard to finish a Sunday plate of bandeja paisa (country platter). Youll know what I mean after I simply list what shows up when you order this monstrous plate, named for the huge portions served to working folks on ranches or farms to keep them going strong till quittin time.

The traditional paisa platter: Ground beef. Chorizo sausage. Chicharrones (fried pork skin). A mound of rice. Frijoles (red beans, commonly). Avocado slices. Fried plantains, sweet to tease taste buds between bites. Arepas. And  a drum roll here  a couple of fried eggs usually ride on top of it all, staring I-dare-you-to-eat-all-this with unblinking yolk-yellow eyes.

If youre still not full after reading this column, stay tuned. Well share more about foods of Colombia in future dispatches.

Photo: Eric Hunt, CC-BY

Charles McNair is Pastes Books Editor emeritus. He served the magazine as writer, critic and editor from 2005-2015.
Hey, bartender! Can you make me a martini?

Sure! How do you like it? Gin? Vodka? Up? Rocks? Dry? Wet? Perfect? Olives? Twist? Dirty?

Not sure? Then, let me help you out.

The martini is a classic cocktail thats enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years. Knowing how you like yours and, more importantly, how to order it is essential to getting it the way you want. It also spares bartenders from playing 20 questions with you every time you want one.

Before we go on, a bit of disambiguation. A true martini consists of gin (or, more recently, vodka), dry vermouth, and either an olive or a lemon twist. Just because a cocktail comes in a martini glass  technically, its called a cocktail glass  doesnt mean its a martini. A Manhattan comes in a martini glass, but we dont call it a whiskeytini, do we? So, while appletinis and chocotinis may be tasty and fun (if thats your sort of thing), they are not martinis and should go by another name.

Is there a correct way to order your martini? Purists will say yes, but its really about preference. However, recipes may vary depending on the bar. Some bars may still use the classic, vermouth-heavy recipe; others might adhere to the modern standard, which calls for just a splash of vermouth or simply rinses the glass or the ice with it. Its helpful, then, to know the vocabulary to ensure you get your martini the way you like it. So lets run through the terms.

Gin/vodka: This will be your base spirit. Gin is classic, but vodka has become such a popular substitute that some people dont realize its actually the alternative. Always specify, because some bartenders (read: old timers) might make it with gin without even asking.

Up: Served chilled, without ice, in a martini glass.

Rocks: Served over ice in a tumbler. This preparation less common, but its helpful when youre looking to pace yourself as the ice will dilute the booze.

Dry: Light on vermouth. Order a martini dry these days and the bartender will likely set an open bottle of vermouth next your glass and leave it at that. Ill admit to getting caught up in the low-vermouth trend, but lately Ive begun to up the ratios when I make martinis for myself. I now make mine 3:1 (gin:vermouth), which may be sacrilege to some (just look at the heated responses to my recent pro-vermouth Facebook post) but is closer to the original recipe.

Wet: Extra vermouth. These days, if you want to taste vermouth in your martini, order it wet.

Perfect: Equal parts dry and sweet vermouth. If youve never had it this way, its worth a try. FYI, if you want a martini made perfectly, dont ask for a perfect martini. A good bartender or server will catch this, but an inexperienced one might not, which can lead to some Abbott & Costello worthy exchanges.

Olives/twist: Some of this stuff is pretty self-explanatory, folks.

Dirty: Adds a measure of olive brine (as well as olives for garnish). The correct measure varies depending on taste, although, in my professional experience, it somehow never seems to be enough. You should think of dirty martinis like training wheels: theyre an easy way into a very liquor-forward cocktail, but over time you should learn to wean yourself off them. Ill concede a splash of brine can add a nice, salty bit of flavor, especially to dry vodka martinis, which tend to be lacking in that department. However, too much will overpower your cocktail and entirely mask the flavor of the spirit youre paying good money for. Some bartenders omit vermouth in dirty martinis, and while I get the reasoning  again, the brine is so dominant  I think the vermouth still adds some depth to the cocktail. It also helps newbies get accustomed to the taste of real martinis when theyre ready to take those training wheels off.

Shaken vs. stirred: A martini should always be stirred. James Bond may be a good spy, but hes also a drunk (and a womanizer), who doesnt know squat about bartending. Stirring is essential. I explained the mechanics of shaking and stirring cocktails in a previous column, which you can check out here. Basically, stirring doesnt break the ice. It also prevents cloudiness, making for a cold, smooth, clear cocktail that looks great in the glass. If your bartender does shake your martini, dont make a fuss; its still perfectly drinkable. Just quietly judge them to yourself without branding yourself as a pretentious jag in front the whole bar.

One last tip: know your venue. Martinis arent for dive bars. Youre just setting yourself up for disappointment. The bartender probably hasnt made one in 20 years and god only knows how long those olives have been sitting in that jar.

So lets apply what weve learned. If I were to order a gin martini in a cocktail glass with extra vermouth and a twist, Id ask for a gin martini, up, wet  about 3:1  with a twist.

Ill leave you with my personal martini recipe, which draws heavily on the classic version.

The Martini

3 oz. gin (My faves: Plymouth, Hendricks, Barr Hill)

1 oz. Lillet Blanc

2 dashes orange bitters

Lemon twist

Directions: Combine the gin, Lillet, and bitters in a glass with ice and stir for 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled martini/coupe glass. Express the oil from the lemon twist over the cocktail, rub the twist around the rim of the glass, and drop it into the drink.

In the time-honored tradition of bartenders telling jokes, Im going to end these columns with a standup clip. Enjoy.

Jim Sabataso is a freelance writer and part-time bartender living in Vermont. Have a bar- or cocktail-related or question, youd like answered? Send it to him on Twitter @JimSabataso with the hashtag #heybartender.
Writer: Peter J. Tomasi

Artist: Ian Bertram

Colorist: Dave Stewart

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

The real-life history of the sprawling estate built by Sarah Winchester in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is a compelling tale of obsession and wealth. Winchester was the widow of William Wirt Winchester, of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. After his death, she believed she was haunted by the restless spirits of those killed by the guns her husbands company created. In an effort to confuse and repel the ghosts, Sarah Winchester moved to California and began a process of construction that continued around the clock every day for 38 years. The resulting building, the Winchester Mystery House, is a national historic landmark. It has also captured the imagination of many a writer: in her 2015 collection The World Is On Fire, Joni Tevis described the house as having a rickety, kaleidoscopic feeling. In other words: the Winchester House has a history tailor-made for a horror story. And in House of Penance #1, Peter J. Tomasi, Ian Betram and Dave Stewart kick one off in memorable fashion.

The first issue follows two stories in parallel. One plot trails Sarah Winchester, supervising the ongoing construction of the house and receiving the remains of her husband and daughter. The rest of the issue introduces Warren Peck, a murderous man who carries out a mysterious, possibly genocidal, plot. Winchester herself emerges as a figure of mystery: meticulous in the conditions she establishes for her employees, and obsessed with reuniting her family in an ominous, cryptic way. There are other glimpses of everyday life around her, including one racist employee clashing with several of his co-workers.

Under Tomasis pen, Winchesters obsessionsher specific sleeping conditions, her ritualistic disposal of firearms among themare handled with mounting tension. Seen from one angle, she emerges as a progressive and admirable figure; from another, she appears much more sinister, with hidden agendas and a madness that infects the spaces around her.



House of Penance #1 Interior Art by Ian Bertram & Dave Stewart

At times, the stylized physicality of the characters in Betrams art recalls Gabriel Rodriguezs linework in Locke & Key. Some of thats due to a similar aesthetic, but it also speaks to a timeless quality. Reading this, one is left with a feeling that Betram could do a bang-up job on a pastiche of mid-20th-century pulp comics. Given that the first issue of House of Penance encompasses unsettling riffs on both the ghost story and the Western, its a good set of skills to employ. Throughout the issue, characters are surrounded by forms that loom over or surround them: shadows, blood, trees or walls, all of which are rendered with an uncanny quality. And, as befits the story, Bertrams art, complemented by Eisner-winner Dave Stewarts expert palette, ably captures the imposing, fragmented feeling of the titular house.

In its first issue, House of Penance pursues parallel moods of mystery and menace. It establishes a sense of horrific grandeur, and slowly introduces its two leads, one of whom abhors firearms, and one of whom has a fondness for using them to carry out acts of carnage. Wherever this horror show may be heading, it seems that its destination will not be pleasantbut in the brooding, slow-burning telling of Tomasi and Betram, the journey so far is a masterfully delivered account of suspense and dread.



House of Penance #1 Interior Art by Ian Bertram & Dave Stewart
Bellwether is a specialty coffee shop, whiskey club, mens boutique and a members-only co-working space for creative entrepreneurs in Denver. For all the things Bellwether offers, slow-brewed, quality coffee tops the list. The shop works with local roasters (including Boxcar, Corvus Coffee Co, Method Coffee and MiddleState) to create the perfect cup of coffee.

We asked co-owner Rustin Coburn to discuss Bellwethers finely-tuned approach to coffee.

Paste:Why does Bellwether focus on manual brewing processes?

Rustin Coburn: For our house coffee, we do French Press. We have a few different single origins that we serve through pour over, and then we have all of the espresso drinks that we have chosen to do on an old-school manual machine (Rancilio Classe 6). Our baristas love this machine because they have a lot more control, and they can pull better shots.

With the way we were designing everything for it to be a very simple, and a very curated space, we wanted to focus on a small selection of things that were high quality, and create a good experience for everybody.

If you want an ice coffee, you could quickly get it off the tap. That is all on nitrogen, which is really cool. The nitrogen aerates the coffee and almost has this cascading effect when its first poured. We use Method Coffee, a small local roaster, and theyve dedicated more time than most people to perfecting the cold brew.

Paste: What is Bellwethers coffee philosophy?

RC: Number one: great service. Were always striving to serve the best product that we can, but theres a lot of competition. I think what we do with the best of the best is create a phenomenal experience around that coffee.

Paste: What issues are important to you in terms of buying beans?

RC: I look for partnerships with individuals who really care about each step and have spent the time to actually travel to where they source their beans and build relationships themselves with the farmers.

Paste: What is Bellwethers signature drink?

RC: The Chico: half cold brew/half whiskey on tap. Its a very, very smooth and very, very dangerous and delicious summertime drink.

Paste: How do you see Denvers coffee scene evolving?

RC: Coffee in Denver is starting to get recognized on a pretty large scale, which is exciting. I think its one of those crafts that has endless potential, like wine. Its going to be this constant push of exploring different ways to roast, different ways to brew, different ways to combine things and also on the presentation side. I think the more coffee shops can continue to make their craft great and also make it approachable for the average consumer, thats really important.

Bellwether is located at 5126 E. Colfax Avenue, Denver, Colorado.
According to Daredevil star Charlie Cox, were closer to the debut of Netflixs Marvel superhero series The Defenders than we thought.

While doing press for Netflix in Paris on Monday, Cox revealed that the highly anticipated team-up will begin shooting this year. He shared the news after being asked about whether or not fans could expect a third season of Daredevil, which, as of yet, has not been announced.

What we do know is, at the end of this year, were going to be making The Defenders, and, of course, Daredevil is very much a part of that foursome, the actor said.

Unsurprisingly, neither Netflix nor Marvel is commenting on a renewal, and little is being shared about the Defenders series. Still, we do know that it will somehow see Daredevil (Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and the newest Defender, Iron Fist (Finn Jones), all fighting side by side.

On his expectations for the small-screen superhero ensemble, Cox shared that hes very excited to see how those worlds combine and interested to see, tonally, how those shows become one.

There has been no announcement regarding an official The Defenders premiere date. The same goes for the first season of Iron Fist, as well as Jessica Jones sophomore run. Fans can expect Luke Cages first season to premiere on Netflix Sept. 30.
If youve followed the primaries at all, you probably know the name Craig Mazin by now. Hes a screenwriter who wrote the second and third Hangover movies, and third and fourth installments of the Scary Movie franchise. Hes done well for himself. He has a Wikipedia page. More importantly, for our purposes, he spent his undergraduate career at Princeton University, where he was freshman roommates with one Rafael Edward Ted Cruz. The same Ted Cruz who is now seeking the Republican nomination for president, and who may actually get it once the GOP convention shenanigans are complete.

Theres an unspoken rule that former classmates and roommates and general acquaintances of prominent political candidates refrain from fire-bombing them in public, but Mazin has fire-bombed this rule, and then gone on to fire-bomb Cruz himself. His chosen venue is Twitter, and his exploits to date are legendary. Catch up here, if youve missed out, or get the general flavor from this tweet:

My freshman year college roommate Ted Cruz is going to be elected Senator. In case I hadn't made it clear, he's also a huge asshole.

The tone: Combative. The truths: Hard.

But as funny as Mazin has been, nothing compared to a pair of tweets he sent out earlier today, after someone made him aware of the time in 2004 when Ted Cruzs office supported a Texas state-wide ban on dildos by arguing that There is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate ones genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationship.

I want you to bunker down and prepare yourselves for Mazins response. Ill start with the tamer of the two scorchers, so you dont die of third-degree burns:

Ted Cruz did not have a dildo stashed under his pillow. Ted Cruz slept on top of his pillow.

Okay. Okay. Pretty sick, pretty ruthless, but its basically just a funny way to call Cruz an asshole again. For Mazin, apparently, not personal enough. Which is why he sent out this follow-up, from which America is still feeling the after-shock:

Ted Cruz thinks people don't have a right to "stimulate their genitals." I was his college roommate. This would be a new belief of his.

Its the perfect tweet. I can add nothing. Im just amazed that Ted Cruz is still in the race, and hasnt had facial reconstructive surgery and fled to his Canadian homeland, where at least people are nice.
A guest post by Lama Justin von Bujdoss (Repa Dorje Odzer)

On April 22nd the 2nd Race and Buddhism Conference will be held at Harvard Divinity School. This is a unique gathering of academics, dharma teachers and activists meeting to explore how engaged responses to the problems of racism within the dharma world can be developed, as well as how dharma can be a response to heal the pain and suffering that racism creates in a more general sense. On a personal level, this much needed conference will be a place through which I can continue to explore and share my responsibility to exercise a greater sense of inquiry to see where it is that I am operating from as a white vajrayana dharma teacher. This is also a way to continue in my relationship to exploring how to better remain open to others, and a way to continue to honor the engaged approach to practice demonstrated by my root teacher.

My root teacher was a Sikkimese Tibetan Buddhist nun, who while well known to those who met her, was not well known by the common standards of measuring fame in the Buddhist world. She had no nunnery, although one was created in her memory posthumously, and she lived in a small apartment in Gangtok, Sikkim where she spent her time in semi-retreat, dedicated to her practice, and available to those who came to see her for instruction and clarification. She wasnt always a nun, in fact she had a Masters Degree in English Literature, was very cosmopolitan and was very much in love with the world. She was particularly in love with the dharma, very passionate about it in an engaged, individuated way. Like many a practitioner before her, she decided that after experiencing her share of suffering, to ordain as a Tibetan Buddhist nun and go into retreat. I came to learn that while there was an authentic experience of world-weariness that had been part of the reason for ordaining, much of what informed her decision was that as a lay Himalayan woman she was much less likely to receive the teachings that she desired and that even as an ordained nun it would be an uphill battle in some cases to receive the lineage teachings that she desired to connect with. Indeed, some years later, after she had taken me as a student and her health was declining rapidly, she told me, you look at me and see a nun. I am not a nun. I have to admit that at the time I was too enthusiastic and fastidious to understand what she was telling me, and that I had to go through my own process of struggling with my identity and practice to understand her. Ani Zangmo was not a nun, she appeared as one, but to hold onto that form was to brutally trap her, to deny her realization, and to classify her in a world of seemingly ever-shifting hierarchies and worldly knowledge that while useful for some things, often clouds our direct open experience of one another and the world around/within us. This was one pointing out instruction that was a time-release type of teaching, a seed that was slow to germinate and grow.

Ani Zangmo showed how the heart-practices of mahamudra and chod are related to the reduction of the dissonance of biased perception. By directly confronting bias, becoming aware of it (through the matrix of shamatha/vipassana) and resting in where the experience of awareness of my particular racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, etc. arises, there is an opportunity to experience the clarity that underpins the emotional/conceptual anxiety/fear/ignorance of difference. When treated as temporary adventious stains upon the stainless mirror of the mind, to quote the 3rd Karmapa Rangjung Dorje, in his Mahamudra Aspiriation Prayer, we are able to deeply engage this form of discursive ignorance without falling prey to over-identification or self-affirming identity in any particular direction. When we discuss the inequity, violence and lack of diversity within many sanghas across the country it is important to remember that we are discussing identity within a context that begs us to confront and give up self-cherishing, ego-clinging and patterned conceptuality. So how do we, as dharma communities do that? How do we hold the pain and suffering that arises simultaneously with the unchecked violence that occurs with unconscious, semi-conscious and deliberate bias? How do we simultaneously confront mindless aggression and allow for healing?

During this conference Lama Rod Owens and I hope to workshop a tsok ritual that we are writing in collaboration towards, exploring the notion of feeding, pacifying and also subjugating the demons of racism using the metaphor of chod and various protector practices. This is a means of engaging our tradition and bringing the practice techniques (and blessings) of White Tara and Troma respectively to our own experiences of victim and oppressor so that we can further develop the ability to directly experience all beings for what they are: diverse reflections of awakened mind.

I am reminded of how issues around identity and representation are occasionally pushed aside by senior Tibetan Lineage holders as American problems, yet when we read the stories of why Arya Tara chose rebirth as a woman, or of the systemic prejudice that Machik Labdron had to endure as a woman and as a mother, and of how Phadampa Sangye was considered ugly because he was dark skinned, let alone the whiteness of our sanghas, and the unfair division of the genders, we see that these problems are neither ours alone, nor a result of a western emotional hypochondria, but rather human problems which are causes of (and rooted in) untold suffering. No one group holds the keys to the cessation of suffering more than anyone else, and we should heed the Tibetan proverbial warning to not hand over our nose-rope to another, including our teachers who might minimize the effects of racism, sexism and homophobia.

The wonderful beauty of the vajrayana tradition is its wide range of methods through which we can cut through our limited patterned thinking and gross habitual reactions to the world around us. However, it is up to us to make use of our tradition, to breathe fresh life, our own fresh life, into these practices. We must apply these practices to our individual locations in relation to power and oppression, anger and resentment, fear and anxiety and perhaps the most insidious problem of all, the terrible demon of spiritual bypassing, in order to reclaim our own authenticity. We owe it to ourselves to deeply engage our heart-practices as a way to begin to address the specificity of the serious problems surrounding racism within the Buddhist community. Inherent in this level of practice has to be an examination of how we fail to see others outside of our projections of who we believe them to be. For just as Ani Zangmo was not merely a nun, no one around us is merely the product of our patterned biased perceptions, even though we time and again fall prey to our temporary ignorance of the other.

I hope to share portions of this tsok here as well as some of the larger takeaways from what looks to be a powerful gathering at Harvard Divinity School in the coming weeks.

Lama Justin von Bujdoss (Repa Dorje Odzer) has studied with and received practice instructions from many teachers including the late Ani Dechen Zangmo, the late Kyabje Pathing Rinpoche, the late Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, Khenpo Lodro Donyo Rinpoche, and H.E. the 12th Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche, who has ordained him as a Repa and appointed him one of the resident lamas of New York Tsurphu Goshir Dharma Center where he also serves as Executive Director. He holds Lama Tsering Wangdu Rinpoches Chod lineage and is currently a full-time staff chaplain with Calvary Hospice.

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Patheos

Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
Exodus 20:5 has to be interpreted, as in most of these matters, in conjunction with many other Scriptures that (all taken together) provide a fuller picture of how God operates and how each individual is judged. Hence, we also must take into account the following passages:

Deuteronomy 24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

2 Kings 14:6 But he did not put to death the children of the murderers; according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the LORD commanded, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, or the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin. (cf. parallel passage 2 Chronicles 25:4)

2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Isaiah 59:20 And he will come to Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the LORD.

Jeremiah 31:30 But every one shall die for his own sin . . .

Ezekiel 13:22 . . . you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his wicked way to save his life;

Ezekiel 18:1-24 The word of the LORD came to me again: [2] What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, `The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the childrens teeth are set on edge? [3] As I live, says the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. [4] Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins shall die. [5] If a man is righteous and does what is lawful and right  [6] if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbors wife or approach a woman in her time of impurity, [7] does not oppress any one, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, [8] does not lend at interest or take any increase, withholds his hand from iniquity, executes true justice between man and man, [9] walks in my statutes, and is careful to observe my ordinances  he is righteous, he shall surely live, says the Lord GOD. [10] If he begets a son who is a robber, a shedder of blood, [11] who does none of these duties, but eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbors wife, [12] oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, [13] lends at interest, and takes increase; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominable things; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself. [14] But if this man begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has done, and fears, and does not do likewise, [15] who does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbors wife, 16] does not wrong any one, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, [17] withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or increase, observes my ordinances, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his fathers iniquity; he shall surely live. [18] As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity. [19] Yet you say, `Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father? When the son has done what is lawful and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. [20] The soul that sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. [21] But if a wicked man turns away from all his sins which he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. [22] None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness which he has done he shall live. [23] Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? [24] But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and does the same abominable things that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds which he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, he shall die.

Ezekiel 33:1-20 The word of the LORD came to me: [2] Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman; [3] and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people; [4] then if any one who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. [5] He heard the sound of the trumpet, and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. [6] But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes, and takes any one of them; that man is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchmans hand. [7] So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. [8] If I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. [9] But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life. [10] And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: `Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live? [11] Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel? [12] And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness; and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. [13] Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in the iniquity that he has committed he shall die. [14] Again, though I say to the wicked, `You shall surely die, yet if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, [15] if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. [16] None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right, he shall surely live. [17] Yet your people say, `The way of the Lord is not just; when it is their own way that is not just. [18] When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall die for it. [19] And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does what is lawful and right, he shall live by it. [20] Yet you say, `The way of the Lord is not just. O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.

2 Maccabees 7:32 For we are suffering because of our own sins.

Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!

John 5:28-29 . . . the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice [29] and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.

Romans 2:5-13 But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when Gods righteous judgment will be revealed. [6] For he will render to every man according to his works: [7] to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; [8] but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. [9] There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, [10] but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. [11] For God shows no partiality. [12] All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. [13] For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

Romans 14:10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God;

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.

1 Timothy 2:3-4 God our Savior, [4] who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 Peter 1:17 . . . who judges each one impartially according to his deeds . . .

Revelation 2:23 . . . I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve.

Revelation 20:11-12 Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it; from his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. [12] And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done.

Revelation 22:12 Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done.


Yesterday Jan & I saw Eye in the Sky. Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus tells us it is As taut as it is timely, Eye in the Sky offers a powerfully acted  and unusually cerebral  spin on the modern wartime political thriller.

What we get is a morality play as political thriller.

One hundred, eighteen professional reviewers averaged 92% positive on Rotten Tomatoes, while 88% of the audience score liked it. I find both the extremely high positive numbers and that the professionals liked it better than the audience informative.

Guy Hibbert wrote the screenplay, and the film was directed by Gavin Hood.

An ensemble cast drives the action. Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman in what I think must be his last film, the scene stealing Barkhad Abdi, and pre-teen Aisha Takow playing the personification of collateral damage, just head off a cast where everyone right down to each passerby seems real as real, and where each persons decisions contribute to the tension that seems to have no good resolution.

Film critic Joe Leydon describes how razor-sharp editing by Megan Gill suitably amping the tension, and sharp lensing by Haris Zambarloukos effectively contrasting the chilly confines of the interiors and the menace in broad daylight of the exteriors. Production designer Johnny Breedt and special effects supervisor Mickey Kirsten further enhance the overall air credibility of the movies depiction of high-tech searching and destroying.

While the focus of the action is an Al-Shabaab not so safe house in a tightly packed Nairobi neighborhood, the film cuts, powerfully, from England to the US to Singapore to Beijing, revealing, at least for me, how there is no escape, were all caught up in this, as I said, a morality play, but one involving every one of us. Maybe this is the morality play

The film kept reminding me of the third chapter in Bhagavad Gita, where everyone who thinks they are bound in a fratricidal civil war are in fact caught up in a cosmic play vastly beyond anyones comprehension, and where the prince Arjuna is compelled not only by the consequences of his actions but by a force at play which is so much beyond him and the actions of the moment.

It is what Ive never liked about the Gita. And I fear there is some deep truth about us that it sings to. As does this film. Free will and determinism are held up for us in a movie where every choice goes in a bad direction.

And, so, Im slightly embarrassed at unabashedly recommending Eye in the Sky.

It holds up hard questions, beautifully, dreadfully. It asks us to consider what it means to be a human being, and yet it does not take us to some trite or easy conclusion. There is no tidy bow tying up the story.

And, yet, I came away feeling completely alive.

Go figure.


MISTAKES WERE MADE

A Meditation on the Ecological Catastrophe

And What to Do About it, Even if it is Too Late

James Ishmael Ford

10 April 2016

Pacific Unitarian Church

Rancho Palos Verdes, California

It wasnt all that long ago that the right wing entertainer Rush Limbaugh declared with full on pontifical certainty that global warming is a religion! You should feel the exclamation point. It reminds me of that old story where the kid goes up to the pulpit and looks at the ministers notes resting on the lectern. In the margin she sees the notation, weak point, shout.

Weak point or not, Mr Limbaugh is playing a variation on an old theme. In The Unpredictable Species, Brown University professor, and incidentally, Unitarian Universalist, Philip Lieberman notes how some forty percent of Americans and twenty-five percent of Britons say they dont believe in evolution. Looking at the surveys, Professor Lieberman observes how, The word believe is significant because a statement affirming belief may be relevant if the question concerns the Virgin Birth or the Tibetan deity Mahakala, but the acceptance of the theory of gravity rests on whether it correctly predicts observable events.

The same is true, one would hope obviously, for evolutionary science as well as for tracking global warming. Observing and predicting and with that the possibility of falsification are the hallmarks of modern science. Confusing science and religion might be useful to the likes of Mr Limbaugh who is trying as hard as he can to win an argument, and mixing science and religion up and introducing the idea you can believe or not, certainly muddies the waters. But, heres the deal. As, Philip K. Dick famously observed, Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesnt go away. And the temperatures continue to rise.

Now, it is messy. I have no doubt religions are repositories of many truths, some of them of enormous importance to us as human beings. And. Religions are also magpie collections of many things of lesser value. For our purposes one of the most complicated areas are origin stories, the myths we tell about how we became what we are. To get to brass tacks, clinging to a literal seven days of creation and a literal Adam and Eve turns ancient, sometimes compelling and powerful myths into flat out lies.

The problem is sorting. In my view the critical work of religion is fostering the quest for meaning in the face of our fragile lives caught up in forces greater than any of us. This world we live in is filled with hurt and violence and every imaginable cruelty. It breaks the heart. And. This world is also so astonishingly beautiful and precious and run through with the mysteries of love and compassion, that it can take our breath away. This strange mix is what we actually encounter in the world. The work of religion is squaring that circle, finding our place in the great mess. And it is unspeakably important.

We currently are caught up in a terrible ecological catastrophe. We, by our own actions, have poisoned our planet. The climate is shifting, and dramatically. Whole areas of the globe where we now live might even become uninhabitable by human beings. How we act in this world is more important than ever. In fact our very survival as a species may hang in the balance.

Now, if science tells us the how of things, religion, our spiritualities, if you will, when understood correctly tell us who we are, and with that give us a compass, a north star to guide us in our actions. Attending to the matters of the heart give us the perspective to act in this world in ways that are more likely to be useful than harmful. So, religion, spirituality, is of critical importance, as important as science, not as a substitute, but as a partner.

Now, using the great heart discipline of religions, of spiritualities, a couple of stories.

First, a story of the nineteenth century Hindu saint, Ramakrishna, a priest of the goddess Kali. I read it when I was fifteen, maybe sixteen. Until Id discovered Ramakrishna through the writings of Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood and their associates, my idea of what gods looked like was informed by my conservative Baptist upbringing modified by my fathers bare and no doubt reductionist atheism. Anyway, Ramakrishna prayed constantly for a vision of his goddess, Kali, the Divine Mother. He wanted to know her as she was, desperately. I personally understood this prayer. It was my own longing from some aching place in the pit of my being, to know whether God was true, was real.

I never got that response to my prayers. But his were answered. One day unbidden, she came to him. In a vision as he watched she arose out of a river and walked toward him. As she walked the goddess swelled out in pregnancy, gave birth and then ate her child. Witnessing this he slipped into a fever of ecstasy. As a young man, really, still a boy, I was shocked that this would be a turning point in this revered saints life. It seemed so awful. However, I filed it away in the depths of my heart, and never completely forgot it.

And with that, the second story. A long time after reading about Ramakrishna and Kali, shortly after Id left the Buddhist monastery Id been living in for several years, I went to Oregon to visit my brother. He lived in a rural area, and I found myself at the edge of a genuine wilderness. I sat down in the shade beside a creek. I can still taste the air from that day; I can smell the warmth and the vegetation. At the very same time the area was deeply silent and abuzz with life. Then in the midst of it all something caught my attention. On a sunny spot on a good-sized rock in the middle of the creek I watched as a large fat toad, hopped up, settled down, and sunned itself.

All was right with the universe.

What I didnt notice until just as it struck was the snake. My heart leapt into my throat, I was frozen to the spot as I witnessed it all happen. In a bloody moment snake and frog fell behind the rock, mercifully for me, out of sight. Minutes later the snake slithered up onto the rock to the same place, with a large swelling in its middle, and lazed in the same sunny spot.

In another unbidden moment, I recalled Kali and Ramakrishna and that horrific, and now somehow for me, personally, deeply beautiful vision. I felt my heart grabbed like that snake grabbed the frog. And, more important, most important: I felt myself swallowed whole by the goddess of life and of death. I realized sitting there in the shade witnessing it all, that I, too, was swallowed by the world itself.

The intense moment passed. As all things do. But, something lingered, a subtle shift in my being that has never quite left me. In fact, it redirected my spiritual path, it led me on a quest to understand what all this, life and death taken together might possibly actually mean. The path for me was one of not turning away, of being open to the whole of it, of allowing my heart to break, and my mind to search. Lots of sitting down, shutting up, and paying attention almost certainly helped, as well. It was a path of presence. It is.

So, how to understand this? One way is to see it is all red in tooth and claw, and the devil will indeed take the hind most. But, thats not it. Thats not what I found. And, so a third story, one I believe can help sort this out. Its an anecdote collected in two twelfth century Chinese anthologies of spiritual guidance, as chapter eighty-nine of the Blue Cliff Record and as chapter fifty-four of the Book of Serenity.

Yunyan asked Daowu, How does the Bodhisattva Guanyin use those many hands and eyes? Daowu answered, It is like someone in the middle of the night reaching behind her head for the pillow. Yunyan nodded, I understand. Daowu asked, How do you understand it? Yunyan replied, All over the body are hands and eyes. Daowu said, That is very well expressed, but it is only eight-tenths of the answer. Yunyan responded, How would you say it, elder brother? Daowu said, Throughout the body are hands and eyes.

This turns on a conversation between two Zen monks who are also brothers. They studied and taught between the end of the eighth and through the first half of the ninth centuries. If you know Chinese history, these were harsh times. In this anecdote, the younger, Yunyan asks his brother who has already walked the way a great distance, Why is it the Bodhisattva Guanyin, the archetype of compassion, of caring in this world, of love manifest, why is it that Guanyin has so many hands and eyes? And the conversation continues relentlessly to that assertion the body of the world is filled with eyes and hands.

Taking these three stories together, what I found was that the world and I are both separate and one. We are, in the last analysis woven out of each other, created and creating. The world is a mysterious dance of energy or matter, call it what you will, the stuff of our being, what we all are.

Eventually I came to understand the way people often describe this stance in the world that was becoming my place was called pantheism. The word was coined by an eighteenth century writer John Toland in an essay about the philosopher Spinoza and brings together two Greek words meaning all and god. All and everything is the divine. What precisely this means seems to be up for grabs. There are those who think that the universe is a spiritual substance, sometimes it is said that everything is mind, usually with a capital M, Mind. Another view is essentially dualistic, with matter and spirit intertwined in some mysterious way.

But the kind of pantheism that has caught my heart, and imagination, and which I think lies very much at the heart of what were about in this community, is sometimes called naturalistic Pantheism, where there is one substance that makes up the world. Call it matter. Call it spirit. Think particles and waves. From one angle it looks like everything is discrete and separate, while from another it is all one thing, waves on an ocean.

This is near the pantheism of Spinoza and Toland and before them of the Greek Stoics and, I would suggest, near that of Taoists, at least the so-called philosophic Taoists like the author of the Tao Te Ching and Chuang-tzu. We see something close to it in many forms of Buddhism, particularly Zen. And most important for us this perspective is also close to the spiritual stance of many Transcendentalists, Emerson and particularly Thoreau, come immediately to mind. My old mentor Joanna Macy called it an ecological consciousness.

And finding that consciousness has consequences. Its pretty obvious we, as human beings, have a deep visceral need for each other, for nurture, for language, for survival. And, as individuals we look out for ourselves, and can cheat. I think these twin realities generate creativity and offer possibility in a world that might otherwise remain static. The problems arise when either our need for each other or our looking out for ourselves gets out of hand, out of balance. Finding this ecological consciousness puts these contending forces in perspective with each other.

This deep ecological consciousness brings with it an ethic, a morality, a call to a way of life. The ethic of a religion of unity is very much found in how we relate to each other and to this world, our mother. Here religion and science walk into the world hand in hand.

And so very much as creatures walking on this planet who can see whats going on, can observe, and test, and reflect, we find that comes with responsibilities. It matters how we treat each other. It matters how we treat the world and everything in it. Human beings were born to care, for ourselves, for each other, for the world. It is who we are. It is what we do. There is no place to look at the mess of the world and our human hand in it and to simply say, mistakes were made. We are responsible. And, we can act.

This is our ecological consciousness. It is the wisdom found in the religions, it is the wisdom of Ramakrishna and Kali, it is the Wisdom of Thoreau, it is the wisdom of your own eyes and ears and nose and feeling into the world.

And what does acting from that place look like? Well, it becomes like someone sleeping, in the night, reaching behind her head for her pillow. We allow ourselves to be swallowed by the snake and we discover we are the goddess, that we really are the body of compassion. Your eyes, your hands, my eyes, my hands, our eyes, our hands are the body of God.

The body of the world. The eyes and the hands of the world.

Its that simple. Its that hard. It is that important.

So be it. Blessed be. And, amen.
New Delhi: Central Home Minister Rajnath Singh is arriving in Bihar on Friday to conduct aerial survey of the areas hard hit by the Tuesday night deadly storm that swept the region killing over 65 persons while injuring more than 2,000 others.

In a Home Ministry press release on Thursday, Singh said he would be conducting an aerial survey of Purnia and other affected areas in the north Bihar to assess the quantum of the devastation caused by the storm.

"The storm has caused several deaths and injuries while also rendering several lakh people homeless. It has also resulted in immense damage to crops and properties. I want to assure the people and the government of Bihar of full support of the Indian government," the Union Minister said.

Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi told the media that Singh would be arriving in Purnia from Delhi on a special aircraft on Friday. Besides himself, the minister would also be accompanied by Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Central Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.

Meanwhile, due to the slow of speed of recovery and relief program, villagers in Purnia and Madhepura chanted anti-Nitish slogans saying 48 hours after the storm, not a single minister in the Nitish cabinet had come to ask about their well beings or take stock of the situation on the ground.
Patna: With the level of water underneath the surface of Patna believed to have dried up significantly due to inadequate rain in the last couple of years, district authorities on Tuesday imposed ban on any waste of water while also cutting down the supply from the previous four shifts to three shifts.

Effective immediately, supply would be cut off between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm to conserve water bringing the total number of hours of water supply from 13 to 10 each day, officials said.

Meanwhile, authorities urged people to stop wasting water and file a complaint if they witnessed any leakage in the supply pipe. Using the number 9572358015, consumers could file complaints on Whatsapp or dial 612-3223402 for the old-fashioned landline system, Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) Water Board official Abdul Hamid said.
Patna: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday took a shot at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for 'sidelining' Janata Dal  U President Sharad Yadav and 'usurping' his position to retain all power with himself against the basic tenet of democracy.

"Why was Nitish in so much hurry to take over full control of the party? It is strange that barely three months after being re-elected, he was already plotting the ouster of Sharad Yadav and he succeeded in doing so," the former Deputy Chief Minister said.

Comparing Yadav to former President of the JD-U and veteran socialist George Fernandes, Modi said that just as Fernandes became the victim of Nitish Kumar's political ambitions, Yadav would meet the same fate when he will become a 'nobody' in his own party only to disappear from the political scene after some time.

"Nitish Kumar is a very devious and conniving person who is consumed by his political ambitions. I don't understand what was the hurry to consolidate all power in his hand when the JD-U had not even had chance to set up infrastructural base in several districts. There was no need to call for an emergency meeting of the party's working committee to force Yadav out," the former Deputy Chief Minister said.

Modi also questioned Kumar's popularity in other states saying despite large population of Biharis in West Bengal and Assam, the Bihar Chief Minister chose not to campaign in Assembly elections in those two states.

"In West Bengal, Kumar is supporting Congress and leftists but did not have the guts to campaign against Mamata Banerjee. In Assam, he preferred to join hands with Ajmal's party over Congress and in Uttar Pradesh, he is dreaming of challenging the BJP by forming alliance with the Peace Party that barely can affect results in 25 to 30 seats. The fact is, outside Bihar no one wants to do anything with Nitish Kumar or his party but that does not stop him from projecting himself as a national leader," Modi said.

Finally, in a veiled reminder to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav about Kumar's history of betrayal and backstabbing, Modi said that by essentially putting an end to Sharad Yadav's political career, the Chief Minister had sent an ominous message to his allies that no one was safe when Kumar was at the helm of affairs.

"When his own party members could not survive his long saga of betrayal and deceit, what chances Lalu Prasad Yadav and others stand for a long-term political alliance?" he asked.
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Tehran, Rome pen deals on major economic exchange

04/13/16

Report by Press TV; photos by Islamic Republic News Agency

The Islamic Republic of Iran and Italy have signed 12 major agreements in various sectors of economy. The agreements were inked on Wednesday in the presence of Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh and visiting Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Tehran.



Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (L) with Iran's Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh (R) at the Iran-Italy trade forum in Tehran on April 12, 2016.



Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (L) with Iran's Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh (R) at the Iran-Italy trade forum in Tehran on April 12, 2016.

According to the official IRNA news agency, Iranian firms reached deals with Italian companies in different areas of trade, including energy, construction, power generation, information and communication technologies as well as steel and textile among others.

Delegates from both sides attended the event at Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture in Tehran, where Italy's FATA SPA, the engineering unit of the country's leading industrial group, Finmeccanica, signed a $237 million contract with Iran's Foulad Boutia on the transfer of equipment and services for the construction of a power plant in Iran's southern province of Kerman, IRNA said.

The Iranian company also sealed a deal worth 350 million euros with Italy's Danieli Group on the transfer of industrial equipment and services for the construction of a steel company in Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran's telecommunication company struck an accord with Italy's ITALTEL for the development of 'telecommunication network' in the country.

Also, the Italian engineering and project management company, BELLELI Group, reached an agreement with Iran's Jahan Pars Group on providing Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) services in areas of infrastructure and energy.

Speaking at the event, the Italian PM urged a boost in bilateral relations, calling for the effective implementation of the projects.

Renzi arrived in Tehran early Tuesday at the head of a 250-strong political and economic delegation, making him the first Italian official in such capacity to travel to the Islamic Republic since 2001.

Italian foreign minister, minister of infrastructures and transports, minister of economic development, and minister of agriculture, food and forestry policies as well as businessmen and personalities from Italy's public and private sectors are accompanying Renzi in the visit.

Seven documents for cooperation were signed by the two sides earlier in the day.

Back in January, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited Italy for two days, during which the two countries signed deals worth up to 17 billion euros (18.42 billion dollars).

Italy was one of Iran's leading economic and trade partners before sanctions when annual exchanges amounted to 7 billion euros compared with $1.6 billion euros now.


Europeans' visits to Iran must yield tangible results: Supreme Leader

04/13/16 Source: Press TV

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has criticized visits by European delegations to Iran for failing to yield tangible and practical results, saying Tehran must be able to sense the outcome of such expeditions. Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his accompanying delegation in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Tuesday.



Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (R) meets Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in the Iranian capital, Tehran, April 12, 2016. (photo by leader.ir)



Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (R) meets Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in the Iranian capital, Tehran, April 12, 2016. (photo by leader.ir)

Also present at the meeting was Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Some European governments and companies have been visiting Iran and are in talks [with Iran], but the product of these negotiations has not yet been tangible, the Leader said.

Some people shift the blame for this issue onto the Americans, which seems to be an acceptable assessment given their (Americans) track record and behavior, Ayatollah Khamenei said, adding, As even now they (the Americans) are not fulfilling their obligations [made] throughout the nuclear talks [with Iran] as they should and through their remarks and actions are intimidating other parties into not cooperating with Iran.

The Leader said the Islamic Republic views Italy in a positive and optimistic light, noting that Iran does not regard certain European countries in the same manner because of their subservience to the US.

Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran and Italy can cooperate in fighting terrorism.

A number of European countries used to support certain violent terrorist groups for some time and today the dangerous and overarching wave of terrorism has reached Europe too, the Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei cited Washington's financial and arms support for terrorist groups as an obstacle to the eradication of terrorism, adding, There is authentic and accurate information about aid by the US for Daesh and certain other terrorist groups. Even now that they have formed a [so-called] anti-Daesh coalition certain American organs are helping Daesh in one way or other.

The Leader criticized major propaganda apparatuses in the world for spreading anti-Islam sentiments under the pretext of actions [committed] by certain wicked and terrorist elements.

For his part, Renzi highlighted the spillover of terrorism into Europe, noting that the solution to countering this scourge is cutting arms and financial supplies to terrorist organizations.

He expressed regret over the defamation of Islam under the pretext of fighting terrorism, citing the example of US presidential candidate Donald Trump who regularly blames Muslims for terrorist acts.

The Italian prime minister also said that religions seek to promote peace, dialogue and peaceful coexistence.







Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (L) attends a meeting between Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (R) and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Tehran, April 12, 2016. (photo by khamenei.ir)



Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (L) attends a meeting between Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (R) and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Tehran, April 12, 2016. (photo by khamenei.ir)

The Italian prime minister arrived in Tehran earlier in the day at the head of a 250-strong political and economic delegation, making him the first major Western figure to travel to Iran after the lifting of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Italian foreign minister, minister of infrastructures and transports, minister of economic development, and minister of agriculture, food and forestry policies as well as businessmen and personalities from Italys public and private sectors are accompanying Renzi in the visit.

Six documents for cooperation were later signed during a high-level meeting presided over by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Renzi.

The trip comes three months after President Rouhani paid a visit to Italy, the Vatican and France in an important bid to rebuild relations with Europe after Iran and the P5+1 group of countries started to implement a nuclear agreement, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), they reached on July 14, 2015.

After Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia - plus Germany started to implement the JCPOA on January 16, all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Tehran by the European Union, the Security Council and the US were lifted. Iran has, in return, put some limitations on its nuclear activities.

During President Rouhanis visit to Rome in January, Iran and Italy signed contracts worth up to 17 billion euros (USD 18.4 billion).
EU Restrictions on American Travel Delayed, Congress Must Act

04/13/16

Press Release by NIAC Action

Washington, DC - NIAC Action Executive Director Jamal Abdi issued the following statement after the European Commission delayed a decision to suspend the Visa Waiver Program for American travelers by three months:

Ever since Congress passed discriminatory legislation to restrict visa-free travel for dual nationals late last year, we have warned there could be reciprocal consequences for Americans. That legislation, which barred visa-free travel for dual nationals of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan as well as individuals who have traveled to those countries since March 201, is already having an adverse impact on European citizens. Today, the European Commission took the first step towards imposing such restrictions that would limit the travel privileges of Americans.

The European Commission delayed a resolution to suspend visa-free travel for all Americans until July but highlighted several areas of tension between the EU and U.S. that would need to be addressed. Some of these issues are complex, such as whether the U.S. should admit five additional EU states into the Visa Waiver Program. But the one issue that should be easy to resolve is the U.S. travel restriction based on a persons national origin or family heritage. Targeting people based on their heritage is un-American, does not make Americans safer, and could come with real costs.





Countries participating in Visa Waiver Program





Congress should act immediately to repeal this restriction in order to not just protect American values, but also American travel privileges. The Commissions report notes its favorable view of bipartisan legislation to remove the restrictions - the Equal Protection in Travel Act (S. 2449/H.R. 4380) - that would mitigate the effect of the restrictions on affected EU dual nationals. Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has offered this bill as an amendment to the must-pass Federal Aviation Administration authorization that is being considered in the Senate this week. This could be one of the last opportunities to repeal the restrictions until after the U.S. elections, given that few measures of consequence are expected to receive consideration in advance of November.

There has been growing momentum to remove the restrictions on dual nationals. The author of the dual nationals restrictions - Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI) - has acknowledged that these restrictions may need to be reevaluated. In February, 35 tech CEOs and entrepreneurs - including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Pixar President Ed Catmull, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban - denounced the dual national restrictions as discriminatory and bad for U.S. business, while urging their repeal. Additionally, the Iranian-American and Arab-American communities and civil liberties organizations all continue to fight strongly for the repeal of the restrictions. With momentum building for repeal, Congress should not wait to reverse these discriminatory and harmful restrictions.



NIAC Action 1411 K St NW, Ste 250 Washington, DC 20005 USA

Helping to advance peace and the Iranian-American community.
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The Privacy Shield trans-Atlantic data transfer arrangement is better than its predecessor, Safe Harbor, but still not good enough, European Union data protection authorities said Wednesday.

They want the European Commission improve the deal it has negotiated with U.S. authorities to ensure that EU citizens personal information receives privacy protection equivalent to that of EU law when it is exported to the U.S.

The authorities have been examining Privacy Shield since it was unveiled in February, and announced the results of their study Wednesday.

The deal is too complex, they say, as it is composed of a collection of legal instruments, letters and annexes rather than a single, easily understandable document.

Furthermore, the measures it proposes are themselves too complex. For example, the avenues available for addressing complaints are too numerous, making it difficult for the end user to find the right interlocutor, said Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, chairwoman of the Article 29 Working Party, an umbrella organization for European DPAs.

As it stands, Privacy Shield fails to adequately reflect key data protection principles, Falque-Pierrotin said at a news conference in Brussels. Further, it contains no revision mechanism to cope with the wholesale change in European privacy law that is expected to happen in 2018 with the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation. A draft of this text will go before the European Parliament for vote later this week.

The members of the Article 29 Working Party made clear that they will withhold their support for Privacy Shield until the Commission has addressed their concerns.

The Commission may not care: The Working Partys role is purely advisory, and it cannot enforce its will on the Commission.

However, its members could ask the Court of Justice of the EU to rule on Privacy Shields legality.

The new data transfer arrangement became necessary last October, when the court ruled the legal protections of its predecessor, Safe Harbor, inadequate under EU law. That case, pitting Austrian citizen Max Schrems against the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, had been referred to it by the High Court of Ireland.

Schrems was quick to react to the DPAs verdict on Privacy Shield.

I personally doubt that the European Commission will change its plans much. There will be some political wording, but I think they will still push it through, he said via email.

But he was optimistic about the prospects of a legal challenge in the light of the DPAs negative opinion, he said.

Lobby group the Computer & Communications Industry Association focused on the good news, hailing Falque-Pierrotins remark that Privacy Shield was a major improvement, and glossing over the DPAs request for clarifications.

While the DPAs doubts about Privacy Shields legal robustness are bad news for businesses reliant on trans-Atlantic data transfers, there was some good news: Falque-Pierrotin said the working party will not publish its views on the legality of other mechanisms for data transfer until the fate of Privacy Shield is finalized.

It has been conducting a study of those mechanisms, binding corporate rules and model contract clauses, since the CJEU overturned the Safe Harbor Agreement in October, but has yet to publish its findings.

Thats important, because if the working party were to torpedo all the data transfer mechanisms allowed under the EUs 1995 Data Protection Directive, there would be no legal way for businesses to transfer personal information from the EU to the U.S. That would pose serious problems for multinational businesses or service providers processing payroll for Europeans in the U.S., and could threaten operations for companies such as Google or Facebook, which would have to split their networks into European and non-European segments.

Many companies have switched to the alternative legal mechanisms, and their continued validity is essential if data is to continue to flow across the Atlantic, according to another industry lobby group, DigitalEurope.
Ever since North Korea directly connected to the Internet in 2010, theres been a lot of interest in how the worlds most closed country maintains and uses the link.

It connects a handful of Web sites in Pyongyang serving propaganda to the world and allows foreigners in the country largely unfiltered access to the Internet. It also provides monitored access to an unknown number of senior officials, scientists, and university students.

Yet for everything weve learned, theres still a lot we dont know and now theres a new mystery: Last week, the countrys sole Internet link with the rest of the world went down for about three hours. It was the longest outage of the year and meant the entire country was disconnected from the Internet, according to monitoring by Dyn Research.

Such outages have happened before, but what happened next was new: Over the next four nights at almost exactly the same time, the connection went down again for about five minutes.

The three-hour outage began at 11:40 p.m. local time last Wednesday, and the shorter outages occurred on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Each began a few seconds after 11:45 p.m.

Dyn Research A series of outages affecting North Koreas connection with the rest of the Internet can be seen in this graphic from Dyn Research.

The reason for the outages is unclear, but they havent occurred on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday this week.

Based on the timings I would guess that a human was doing something at [11:45pm] that included rebooting their router, said Doug Madory, director of Internet analysis at Dyn Research, when asked for his best guess on what might be happening.

So for now, the outages remain another little mystery in the story of how North Korea connects and manages its Internet link.

Whatever the reason, the impact is a little easier to guess.

Its impossible for most North Koreans to get access to the Internet, and any that do would connect through terminals in government buildings or companies. There, access is continuously monitored to ensure they dont stray to sites they arent supposed to seea group that would include any sites carrying news or information.

Until recently, foreigners in the country were allowed relatively free Internet access, but rules recently changed. About a week before the string of outages, North Korea signaled that it had begun blocking access to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and South Korean news websites for all users.
With one exception, the Inland delegation to Sacramento voted along party lines for and against the bill that will eventually raise Californias minimum wage to $15 an hour.

That exception was Assemblyman Eric Linder, R-Corona, who did not cast a vote. In an emailed statement, he said: Income inequality is one of the most pressing issues facing Californians today and it deserves a full hearing from the Legislature.

Instead, this measure was not heard in a policy committee and was brought to a vote after only being public for two days. Californians deserve better than that! We will not solve this issue unless we work together on solutions that will not leave anyone behind.

The bill presented a dilemma for Linder, whose district includes part of the city of Riverside as well as Corona, Eastvale, Jurupa Valley and Norco.

Vote for it, and he risked angering his Republican supporters. Vote against it, and he could incur the wrath of Service Employees International Union, which made him the first Republican in more than 20 years to get the unions endorsement.

Linder is up for re-election this year and faces a challenge from Democrats Sabrina Cervantes and Ken Park. The June 7 primary will send the top two vote-getters in the race, regardless of party, to the November general election.
Menifee is the latest Riverside County city to pursue tax increases as a solution to its long-term budget problems. Menifee is in a bind, both with the revenue side negatively impacted by the states 2011 decision to end the distribution of motor vehicle license fee revenue the city, and on the expenditure side, as it grapples with soaring public safety expenditures.

On April 6, the City Council approved moving forward with a plan to figure out what sort of tax Menifee residents would most likely go for, granting the city manager authority to engage a consultant to help the city do that.

The citys revenue problems are one shared by three other cities in the region: Eastvale, Jurupa Valley and Wildomar. Menifee and the others incorporated under the assumption they would be allotted a portion of vehicle license fee revenue, which was abruptly pulled as part of an effort to help fund public safety realignment.

Ever since, there have been multiple efforts by Inland representatives in Sacramento to restore funding to the cities. The latest attempt, Assembly Bill 2277 by Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, is making its way through the Legislature. Enough is enough. It is time the state stops pushing its budget woes onto the backs of our local cities, said Ms. Melendez in a statement.

Given the precedent so far, cities shouldnt hold their breath, or proceed on the assumption the governor will sign such a bill.

Meanwhile, on the spending side, Menifee has been hit by sharp increases to public safety costs, primarily driven by its contract with the Sheriffs Department.

Due to generous raises approved by the Board of Supervisors to Sheriffs Department unions, cities contracting with the county for policing services have experienced unsustainable cost increases. While the board may put a halt on this with upcoming labor contract negotiations, cities will still have to deal with the lingering impacts of the boards reckless largesse.

Menifee has joined several other cities to pay for a study to evaluate the feasibility of a joint powers authority between several cities as an alternative means of providing policing services, which in part is intended to help push the county to give cities a better deal.

But all of that takes time. Thus, Menifee will go the way of cities like Canyon Lake, Hemet and San Jacinto, and determine whether residents want to cough up more money to City Hall. There are plenty of reasons for skepticism  governments too rarely handle additional funds responsibly  and we hope Menifee doesnt restrict its ongoing focus to taxes.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the circumstances surrounding Coronas consideration of district elections. Corona was threatened with legal action if it did not change voting in its city council elections from at-large to district in a 2015 letter from Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho.

Eastvale is the latest Riverside County city challenged over the issue of electing city council members at large instead of by voting districts.

The letter from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund threatens the city with legal action if it does not change its election system.

Banning, Corona, Wildomar and Hemet also have been grappling with the question of whether voters across the city should choose council members or if voters in a specific area, or district, should each choose its own representative.

Matthew Barragan, a staff attorney for the group, signed the Eastvale letter.

We support diversity on the city council, Barragan said by phone Tuesday, April 12. It makes for better governance and more community engagement.

Eastvale Mayor Ike Bootsma called the letter kind of ridiculous.

We do not have pockets where certain groups live, Bootsma said. Asians live throughout the city. Latinos live throughout the city.

City Attorney John Cavanaugh said that, if council members vote to keep its at-large electoral system, the city could find itself embroiled in a lawsuit that could cost Eastvale tens of thousands of dollars. Some other local cities have been sued or received demand letters.

Thats why most other cities in the Inland area are not fighting this, Cavanaugh said. Its very expensive to fight something like this.

Cavanaugh said the April 4 letter will be discussed with the city council in closed session Wednesday, April 13.

The Wildomar City Council voted in March to create five voting districts. The Hemet City Council was expected to approve voting districts at its Tuesday, April 12, meeting. Banning and Corona are considering a switch to district elections.

In the June 2010 Eastvale incorporation election, voters had three choices of electoral systems:

 At-large system, in which council candidates can live anywhere in the city and any registered voter could vote for any candidate;

 By district, in which candidates must live in the district they seek to represent and are elected by voters in that district;

 From district, in which candidates live in the district they seek to represent and are elected by all voters in the city.

Fifty-four percent of voters chose at-large elections.

In his letter, Barragan contends the city is violating the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 and that its at-large system is preventing Latino voters from electing candidates of their choice.

According to the U.S. Census, Latinos constitute about 40 percent of Eastvales estimated 57,000 residents. But no Latino has been elected to the council since Eastvale became a city in 2010.

Eastvale resident Cesar Morales, who ran unsuccessfully for the council in 2012 and 2014, sees a flaw in the way council candidates are elected.

In the 2014 election, more than half of the candidates were Latino and not one was elected, Morales said. Something is going on.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9647 or sstokley@pressenterprise.com
The FBI cracked a San Bernardino terrorists phone with the help of professional hackers who discovered and brought to the bureau at least one previously unknown software flaw, according to people familiar with the matter.

The new information was then used to create a piece of hardware that helped the FBI to crack the iPhones four-digit personal identification number without triggering a security feature that would have erased all the data, the individuals said.

The researchers, who typically keep a low profile, specialize in hunting for vulnerabilities in software and then in some cases selling them to the U.S. government. They were paid a one-time flat fee for the solution.

Cracking the four-digit PIN, which the FBI had estimated would take 26 minutes, was not the hard part for the bureau. The challenge from the beginning was disabling a feature on the phone that wipes data stored on the device after 10 incorrect tries at guessing the code. A second feature also steadily increases the time allowed between attempts.

The bureau in this case did not need the services of the Israeli firm Cellebrite, as some earlier reports had suggested, people familiar with the matter said.

The U.S. government now has to weigh whether to disclose the flaws to Apple, a decision that probably will be made by a White House-led group.

The people who helped the U.S. government come from the sometimes shadowy world of hackers and security researchers who profit from finding flaws in companies software or systems.

Some hackers, known as white hats, disclose the vulnerabilities to the firms responsible for the software or to the public so they can be fixed and are generally regarded as ethical. Others, called black hats, use the information to hack networks and steal peoples personal information.

At least one of the people who helped the FBI in the San Bernardino, California, case falls into a third category, often considered ethically murky: researchers who sell flaws to governments, companies that make surveillance tools or groups on the black market.

This last group, dubbed gray hats, can be controversial, because critics say they might be helping governments spy on their own citizens. Their tools, however, might also be used to track terrorists or hack an adversary spying on the United States. When selling exploits to governments or on the black market, these researchers do not disclose the flaws to the companies responsible for the software, as the exploits value depends on the software remaining vulnerable.

In the case of the San Bernardino iPhone, the solution brought to the bureau has limited shelf life.

FBI Director James B. Comey has said that the solution works only on iPhone 5Cs running the iOS 9 operating system  what he calls a narrow slice of phones.

Apple said last week that it would not sue the government to gain access to the San Bernardino solution.

Still, many security and privacy experts have been calling on the government to disclose the vulnerability data to Apple so that the firm can patch it.

If the government shares data on the flaws with Apple, theyre going to fix it and then were back where we started from, Comey said in a discussion at a privacy conference last week. Nonetheless, he said Monday in Miami, were considering whether to make that disclosure or not.

The White House has established a process in which federal officials weigh whether to disclose any security vulnerabilities they find. It could be weeks before the FBIs case is reviewed, officials said.

When we discover these vulnerabilities, theres a very strong bias towards disclosure, White House cybersecurity coordinator Michael Daniel said in an interview in October 2014, speaking generally and not about the Apple case. Thats for a good reason. If you had to pick the economy and the government that is most dependent on a digital infrastructure, that would be the United States.

But, he added, we do have an intelligence and national security mission that we have to carry out. That is a factor that we weigh in making our decisions.

The decision-makers, which include senior officials from the Justice Department, FBI, National Security Agency, CIA, State Department and Department of Homeland Security, consider how widely used the software in question is. They also look at the utility of the flaw that has been discovered. Can it be used to track members of a terrorist group, to prevent a cyberattack, to identify a nuclear weapons proliferator? Is there another way to obtain the information?

In the case of the phone used by the San Bernardino terrorist, you could make the justification on both national security and on law enforcement grounds because of the potential use by terrorists and other national security concerns, said a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the matters sensitivity.

A decision also can be made to disclose the flaw  just not right away. An agency might say it needs the vulnerability for only a few months or that its utility will quickly diminish.

A decision to withhold a vulnerability is not a forever decision, Daniel said in the earlier interview. We require periodic reviews. So if the conditions change, if what was originally a true 1/8 undiscovered flaw 3/8 suddenly becomes identified, we can make the decision to disclose it at that point.
Growing up in Hemet, Bethany Guerrero said she had to learn ways to entertain herself. Recently, the Hemet High School graduate has turned that skill into a YouTube video series, Oddity Odysseys.

She and co-creator C. Drew Unser take viewers on excursions to what they consider some of Los Angeles most obscure, unique and storied places of interest. Guerrero moved to the city about seven years ago, while Unser arrived five years ago from St. Louis.

Last August, I asked Drew if he had ever heard of The Last Bookstore and he said, No, Guerrero said. And he asked me if I had ever heard of the Laguna Beach pirate tower, and I said I hadnt.

Those questions and answers, from the series trailer, led to the pair compiling a list of sites in the city that seemed out-of-place. Each had an interesting backstory or carried a certain mystique.

Customers at the Starbucks where Guerrero works during the day also offered suggestions for their list, which eventually numbered about 60 places.

She and Unser narrowed the count to 10 and decided to put together a series of videos. Guerrero used the skills she picked up in writing and theater classes at Hemet High School, where she graduated in 2004, and at Mt. San Jacinto College. Unser is a professional cinematographer with the equipment and know-how to film the segments.

He also had the savvy to put the segments on YouTube in a limited series that debuted Feb. 6 and ended April 9. New episodes were released on Saturdays and can be viewed at any time at youtube.com/oddityodysseys.

Most episodes begin with the pair driving to their destination, map in hand and bantering good-naturedly. A bold graphic on a projected map traces the route to their destination. Each ends with a suggestion that viewers visit the location for themselves.

Episodes last four to eight minutes, filled with snappy dialogue and visuals, along with historical information and updates. The two spent some five or six hours, usually on a Sunday, driving to and filming each segment.

Guerrero wrote the dialogue, trying to be informative but not sounding too scripted, she said, drawing on journalism skills she learned at Grossmont College in San Diego County. She researched the sites through various sources, including the citys public records and networking with people by email.

The most surprising feedback is that everybody thinks we have a crew, Guerrero said. We have done all the writing, filming, editing, sound mixing and costuming ourselves. When you see me on camera, Drew is filming and when you see him, I am filming.

At times, they appear together through the magic of Unsers cinematography skills and a mounted camera or GoPro. They cover all expenses themselves.

Sites the duo have visited are as colorful as the Great Wall of Los Angeles, as forbidding as a former Nazi compound and as whimsical as the pirate tower on a Laguna Beach cliff. One of the scariest episodes was filmed at a Los Feliz mansion where a notorious murder took place in 1959, Guerrero said.

We put into the film a re-creation of what happened that night, she said. And we werent supposed to be there at the house.

A segment in which the pair hiked to the shipwreck of the S.S. Dominator was one of the most dangerous, due to the difficulty of accessing the site, Unser said.

The pair have promoted their YouTube series by informing friends and family and sending sample selections to various organizations.

I feel that we have done well since we started with nothing and now have about 380 subscribers, Unser said.

Plans are in the works for a second season and a website that will feature bonus material and outtakes from the series.

Some viewers are comparing the segments to those of the late Huell Howser on his Californias Gold TV show. That is an amazing compliment, Guerrero said.

She hopes to parlay the writing, acting and storytelling skills she uses for Oddity Odysseys into a paid career.

Contact the writer: community@pressenterprise.com
In the last year, a dozen people have died after being admitted into San Bernardino County jails, with more than half those deaths occurring in the last four months.

Since January, seven people have died in county jails  more than all the in-custody deaths that occurred in 2015. Four of those deaths are attributed to pre-existing medical conditions and one a suicide by hanging. The causes of death for two other inmates have yet to be determined, but homicide and suicide have been ruled out, said sheriffs Lt. Brad Toms.

Of 2015s five deaths, three were suicides, one was a homicide and one a medical-related death, according to the sheriffs department.

I think thats an alarming number, said Dale Galipo, a Woodland Hills attorney who specializes in civil rights and wrongful death cases involving law enforcement, many of them originating in the Inland Empire.

I dont know all the details, but I think the people in charge of these jails should be concerned and look into the details of each case, what happened and what went wrong and what steps they could take to prevent these deaths from happening in the future, Galipo said.

The latest death occurred Sunday, when 32-year-old Riverside resident Cleveland Burris was found unresponsive in his single-man cell at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga at 7:52 a.m. He was taken to Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 8:47 a.m., authorities said.

Five days prior, on April 5, 48-year-old Michael Paul hanged himself with his shoelaces in a single-man cell at the Twin Peaks sheriffs station after being arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs, according to sheriffs officials and Pauls mother, Joan Davis.

Despite the number of in-custody deaths since January, Toms said all inmates are screened by registered nurses during intake for pre-existing medical and mental health problems. Inmates who appear to suffer from acute medical conditions are taken by to the hospital and not returned to jail until they are cleared by the doctor, Toms said.

But that doesnt necessarily safeguard inmates from suffering a life-threatening medical emergency.

There are just medical conditions that are going to happen, Toms said, disputing claims that inmates are subjected to long waits before being seen by a doctor or mental health professional.

If anything, the time has shortened because we have more staff now, Toms said, adding that electronic kiosks are being installed at West Valley that will allow inmates to request appointments online, thus expediting the process.

Since prison realignment took effect in October 2011, the sheriffs department has grappled with meeting inmate demands for medical and mental health services while facing a sharp increase in inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-deputy violence as more violent criminals are pouring into the jails, and for longer stays, Toms said.

Sheriff John McMahon was out of town and unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Experts and law enforcement officials say the number of in-custody deaths can be cyclical and defy explanation. After Riverside County reported 10 jail deaths in 2012, three in 2013 and one in 2014, there were 11 in 2015. But there hasnt been any in 2016, Assistant Sheriff Jerry Gutierrez said.

Experts say it is important to look at each death individually before drawing conclusions on whether there is a trend borne out of problems with correctional deputies or policies.

Michael Hackett, a retired assistant sheriff in Imperial County and former chief administrative officer for the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections, is an Oceanside-based criminal justice consultant who testifies as an expert witness on jail and police practices.

He was not aware of the facts of the San Bernardino cases and on Tuesday, spoke generally about best practices for jails. Hackett discussed three categories of inmate deaths: homicides, suicides and medical emergencies.

Essentially, Hackett said, homicides are not preventable inside or outside the jail. If somebody has decided he is going to take a life, it probably is going to happen.

The best way to prevent inmates from killing each other, Hackett said, is to make sure incompatible inmates are not placed in the same cell. That includes rival gang members, and those accused of misdemeanors and serious felonies.

You cant necessarily forecast the behavior of every inmate, but you can get a handle on it, he said.

Galipo, the Woodland Hills attorney, is suing the county on behalf of the parents of Rashad Davis Jr., a 19-year-old developmentally disabled Ontario man allegedly beaten to death by his cellmate, Jeremiah Bell, at West Valley in May. It was the only homicide logged at the jail in 2015.

Davis was jailed on suspicion of armed robbery and petty theft, while Bell, determined by a judge to be mentally incompetent to start trial, was suspected of beating a Rialto man to death with a baseball bat.

With jail suicides, Hackett attributes those to either problems in the screening process or suspects hiding their intentions from jailers.

Lindsay Hayes, project director at the Baltimore-based National Center on Institutions and Alternatives and a nationally recognized expert on jail suicides, said a comparison of the number of suicides per 100,000 inmates from jail to jail is a better measure than raw numbers.

Hayes said jails with a low suicide rate are proactive with prevention programs.

They dont wait for tragedy to happen, he said Tuesday from Mansfield, Massachusetts.

But theres more to suicide prevention than having a program in place.

There are a lot of jurisdictions that follow their policies and procedures on suicide prevention, but they dont have good policies and procedures, Hayes said.

The Prison Law Office, a Berkeley-based nonprofit that advocates for prisoner rights, has fielded more than 700 complaints from inmates in San Bernardino County jails, alleging a pattern of excessive force by deputies against inmates and substandard medical and mental health care. The office alleged a culture of violence in San Bernardino Countys jail system in an eight-page letter to McMahon in August 2014.

In February, the Prison Law Office filed a class-action lawsuit against the county on behalf of two West Valley inmates, alleging excessive use of force by deputies and substandard medical, mental health and dental care.

Prison Law Office Director Don Specter said in a telephone interview Tuesday that no additional plaintiffs have joined the lawsuit since it was filed.

He found the news about the in-custody deaths alarming.

It raises serious concerns, said Specter. It creates a sense of urgency.

He said San Bernardino County isnt the only county experiencing such problems.

In October, the Prison Law Office tentatively settled a class-action lawsuit filed in Riverside County, challenging the quality of medical and mental health care for inmates in the countys five jails.

Its a statewide problem. A lot of counties are in this boat, Specter said.

Galipo said the issue boils down to policies, procedures and training to ensure inmates are housed safely and properly monitored by the deputies tasked with their safety.

The reality is most of the people there are accused of a crime, not convicted of a crime, and it shouldnt be a death sentence for them, Galipo said.

Staff Writer Doug Saunders contributed to this report.
The tiny gray pug caught Diana McCarthys eye as she was driving to work in Orange County on Tuesday, April 12.

At first McCarthy, a Corona resident, thought it was part of a group of young kids walking to school. But the dog peeled off and the students kept walking to school.

Then McCarthy watched the stubby little dog mosey into an auto parts store. Next thing she knew it was being shooed away.

I said, I should get to work,' said McCarthy.

But McCarthy is a dog lover. She and her husband, Terry, have a pair of German shepherds at their home and she volunteers for German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County in her spare time.

So she didnt get to work immediately and went to gather up the dog.

Little did McCarthy know by the end of the day she would be brokering a reunion.

That 10-year-old pug  Krum is his name  wandered away from Jason and Amber Arledges house in Temecula over four years ago.

Aug. 8, 2011 is when he went missing, said Jason Arledge.

McCarthy kept Krum in her office at the City of Fullertons planning department in the morning then took him to Petsmart to see if he had an ID chip. After a quick inspection a chip was located and the Arledges were notified.

By the time McCarthy returned to her office a voice mail from Jason Arledge was waiting for her.

They arranged to meet at McCarthys after work. The Arledges, who now live in Murrieta, brought their two children  Liam, 5, who wasnt even walking when Krum ran away; and Lily, 3, who wasnt born.

Jason Arledge held Krum up to Liams face.

Do you want to kiss him? he asked his son.

Krum sneezed. Liam giggled as he turned away.

As McCarthy gazed at the dog sitting comfortably in the arms of his owner she said, I wish he could tell us his story.

Amber Arledge gave McCarthy a hug before the left to take Krum back home.

The whole moral of the story is chip your dog, said McCarthy who noted that Krum had been taken care of by someone in the intervening years. Chip your dog and keep your information updated. Because if you lose your dog you just may get it back.
Giving in to the demands of the largest public university faculty union in California, giving its members a 10.5 percent raise in salary to avert a strike is an affront to California taxpayers. Particularly when the Cal State system is nothing more than a finishing school for liberal indoctrination taught in schools throughout the nation.

Surely, aggressive teacher unions are prime examples of why there should be no public employee unions or strikes against taxpayers and the public interest anywhere in the United States, for any reason. Its simply unconscionable and unconstitutional to allow a deleterious ideology to wag the dog of government and the American people.

Daniel B. Jeffs

Apple Valley

Theology by survey

The Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in the world, with over 1 billion members worldwide. With his latest proclamation, The Joy of Love, Pope Francis has just thrown the inspired word of God out the window of his Vatican apartment.

According to the story, this proclamation is the result of a survey of both churchgoers and senior clergy. Sadly, it can now be said that the theology of the worlds largest Christian denomination is being determined, not by the righteous requirements of our Creator, as spelled out in the Bible, but by an opinion survey.

San Bernardino Bishop Gerald Barnes said the popes document addresses the complexities of family life without judgment. Perhaps the Bishop needs to be reminded of the words of Jesus to his disciples about the resurrection of the dead to face a judgment of either eternal life or eternal condemnation.

My ongoing study of the Bible has not revealed a single instance where either the Creator of the universe or his beloved Son ever conducted an opinion poll to determine a course of action. That the leader of the worlds Catholics has done so is simply astounding.

W.E. Dale

Corona
Two men have been arrested in connection with a March 28 shooting that hospitalized two people  who told investigators they were targeted over a stolen phone.

Jose M. Quiroz, 35, was arrested March 31 and charged with three counts of attempted murder, according to court documents. Quirozs nephew, 21-year-old Raymond Martinez Quiroz Munoz, also was charged with three counts of attempted murder and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was located and arrested Monday, April 11.

Investigators believe Quiroz and Munoz were in a pickup truck that was driving in the unincorporated Mead Valley area south of Riverside the night of March 28, according to court documents.

With Quiroz driving, Munoz and another man fired shots at a Nissan Altima, striking two of the three people inside, investigators say.

Alberto Gudoy, 23, who was in the back seat, was shot three times in the back. Leonardo Armenta, 31, the front passenger, suffered superficial gunshot wounds to his left ear and jaw. The driver, 24-year-old Tawni North, was not injured.

Details of the investigation were laid out in declaration written by Riverside County sheriffs Detective John Wyatt, asking a judge to issue an arrest warrant for Munoz.

Armenta told investigators that the day before the shooting, North took a cellphone that belonged to a man named Robert Tinajero. Although she returned it later in the day, Tinajero was still upset and made a remark to the effect of, Youre going to pay for this, Armenta said.

That night, a woman was alone at Armentas home in Mead Valley when three armed men came in  men she told investigators she knew as Andy, Chema and Little Raymond.

At some point, one of the men brought Tinajero into the home and asked if the woman was the one who had taken his phone. She wasnt, and the men all left.

Investigators believe Chema and Little Raymond are the two men they eventually arrested, Quiroz and Munoz.

Tinajero admitted he was in the truck at the time of the shooting, but said he didnt shoot or know the names of the shooters, investigators said. He said the driver was named Chema.

On March 28, Armenta, North and Gudoy were driving around when Tinajero called and tried to get them to meet him. They hung up, but Tinajero and the others in the truck came across their car as the car was headed north and the truck was headed south on Parsons Road near Mariposa Avenue.

The truck turned around and started following the car, at which point the two shooters in the truck opened fire.

After her two passengers were hit, North drove toward Riverside to get them to the hospital. She found a police officer who requested medical assistance, and the two victims were taken to Riverside Community Hospital.

Detectives linked the name Chema to Quiroz and arrested him after two witnesses identified him in a lineup.

During the arrest, detectives realized one of Quirozs nephews  Munoz  matched the description of the armed man known as Little Raymond who broke into Armentas apartment.

Investigators linked him to the shooting through a weapon found at his residence.

Both suspects remain in jail, with bail set at $1 million. Munoz is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday. Quiroz has pleaded not guilty and will next be in court Thursday.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9693 or agroves@pressenterprise.com
A robbery suspect was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon after barricading himself for several hours inside a home in north San Bernardino.

Officers responded to a home in the 800 block of Sheridan Road shortly before 11 a.m. while investigating a call about a robbery at a liquor store in a nearby shopping center.

Lt. Rich Lawhead said the barricaded man committed a robbery at the nearby business and fled to his parents home on Sheridan Road. The man was reportedly armed with a knife during the robbery.

Police say the man took a cash register from the liquor store, and the register was later found by police in the parking lot of the Stater Bros. shopping center in the 900 block of Kendall Drive.

The liquor store owner, Mike Patel, said he recognized the suspect.

Authorities say they believe the man to be under the influence of drugs and may be taking prescription medication.

A SWAT team and about a dozen officers, a few in tactical gear, were dispatched to the Sheridan Road address. A police mobile command post was also established.

A man who neighbors identified as the father of the barricaded man came outside of the house and appeared to be visibly upset.

Paramedics and San Bernardino Fire Department went to the location as a precaution.

Nearby residents were told to stay inside or leave the area. Officers went door-to-door, evacuating the neighborhood.

One of those residents, Mercedes Alanzo, 18, was home alone when an officer asked her to evacuate. She said this is usually a very quiet area. Alonzo and her dog, Hercules, waited outside the crime scene as the situation unfolded.

Shortly after 2 p.m., SWAT officers fired several canisters of teargas into the home to try and get the suspect out and then, just before the suspect was taken into custody, several gunshots could be heard. Its unclear if officers fired lethal or less-than-lethal rounds into the home. Police didnt say what the suspects condition was, but the man could be seen handcuffed and appeared to be walking on his own towards a waiting ambulance.

Reporter Doug Saunders contributed to this report.
Mary Toepfers graduation from nursing school in December 2015 was bittersweet, since the woman who inspired her to become a nurse  her grandmother Betty Jean Toepfer  couldnt be there.

On April 8, 2015, Betty Jean Toepfer left her Jurupa Valley home to catch a bus to downtown Riverside, and has not been seen by her family since. Though her family and Riverside County sheriffs deputies have searched extensively for her, they have no idea where she went after she got off that bus.

As the one-year anniversary of her disappearance passed, Toepfers son Randy said not knowing what happened to her has left the family distraught.

Every day that goes by your hope starts to diminish, Randy Toepfer said. But the question is still, where is she?

Though the Sheriffs Department has scaled back its search, the investigation remains active, Investigator Richard Boyd said via email. Boyd continues to call local hospitals and coroners departments once a month to check for Toepfer.

Randy Toepfer said Boyd checks in with the family once a month to fill them in on the investigation.

FRUITLESS SEARCH

Betty Toepfer  then 87  left her house early on April 8. When she didnt come home that night, her family reported her missing.

Investigators found RTA surveillance video that captured her getting on a bus at 9:20 a.m. in Jurupa Valley, then getting off a bus at the downtown Riverside RTA terminal on University Avenue. From there, she headed on east foot toward Market Street.

In an alert issued to the public, authorities said Toepfer may have headed from downtown Riverside to the Galleria at Tyler. She was known to spend time downtown as well as at the Jurupa Valley library.

The Sheriffs Department used bloodhounds, its aviation unit and canvassing investigators to search the Jurupa Valley and Riverside areas.

Three people reported seeing Toepfer after she was reported missing, Boyd said. But investigators determined that none of the sightings was actually her.

Toepfers dental records and a DNA sample have been entered into the national database.

Mary Toepfer said investigators cleared family members from wrongdoing. She said she and other relatives are raising money to hire a private investigator.

I have my own assumptions that (sheriffs investigators) might have missed something, Mary Toepfer said.  Maybe a new set of eyes might help.

FEARLESS AND VIBRANT

Betty Toepfer was known to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren as an outgoing, friendly and loving person.

Though she was showing some signs of dementia, her mind was still intact, Mary Toepfer said. She was very active and would frequent senior centers in Riverside and Jurupa Valley as well as the downtown Riverside shops.

She loved to shop, Randy Toepfer said.

One memory of her grandmother that stands out to Mary Toepfer is from a trip to Florida when Betty was 80. The family went to an amusement park, and Betty insisted on joining her grandchildren on a daunting roller coaster.

She said, I have nothing else to lose, I want to ride it, Mary Toepfer said. She was the only 80-year-old person riding that roller coaster, and she had a big smile on her face when she got off. She would probably ride it again.

Betty always wanted to become a nurse, Mary said. But being a full-time mother to seven children thwarted that plan. Even into her old age, Betty read medical journals and articles on health care.

She read a lot and knew more than most, Mary said. She knew everything about nursing even though she wasnt a nurse.

Bettys aspiration inspired Mary to pursue a career in nursing herself.

It just really set forth what I wanted to do, Mary Toepfer said. She would have been a great nurse. She was very caring.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9284, atadayon@pressenterprise.com, @PE_alitadayon
A suspected meth trafficking ring that brought drugs from San Diego, Calif. to Schuylkill County resulted in charges against 10 people, state police announced Wednesday.

Seized in the investigation were 9.25 pounds of methamphetamine with a street value of $177,600, 72 guns, nine pipe bombs, $103,120 in cash, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a half-pound of marijuana, state police in Troop L in Schuylkill Haven said Wednesday.

Still, it's just "a tiny portion" of the drugs that are out there, police said.

State police in Troop L. took seven of the 10 into custody Saturday without incident, with three still at large.

Dubbed "Operation Seltzer" for the town of the accused ringleader, the investigation began in fall 2015 through the work of Troop L's vice unit, with assistance from the drug task force and district attorney's office, said Lt. Christopher Blugis, Troop L crime section commander.

Capt. Kristal Turner-Childs, Troop L commander, said the investigation continues, and more arrests are expected. "We're happy we have these people off the streets, these weapons off the streets," she said.

Turner-Childs said finding pipe bombs was surprising, but "not out of the realm" of what they encounter with drug traffickers. "Criminals look for cash, guns, money - that's what criminals do," she said.

Police had to call in hazardous device teams when the pipe bombs were found to ensure safety. Where the pipe bombs were made was not revealed.

"It's amazing the arsenal - this is just a snapshot of what we have," Turner-Childs said of the weapons displayed at the news conference, which included nine assault rifles and a grenade launcher.

Sgt. Fred Krute of Troop L added a dose of reality regarding the illegal drug network in Schuylkill County.

"We would like to tell you this is going to put a major dent in it, but it's not..This is just a tiny portion of what's out there, not just this county, but everywhere," he said. "It's very prevalent, all this stuff."

"This was a great effort, but we're not fooled into thinking it's going to change the world, it's not. It's going to change their world for a while," he said, adding police will continue to be out there making arrests. "There are people to replace these people...This stuff is everywhere."

Still, it is a dent in drug trafficking, said Christine Holman, Schuylkill County district attorney.

"There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that the message being sent today is 'Don't bring drugs to Schuylkill County. You will not prosper," Holman said.

The meth was coming from San Diego, but authorities said they can't say where the original source was. Asked if arrests have been made in San Diego, Turner-Childs said the investigation is continuing.

The weapons were found in the homes and vehicles of those charged, police said.

Police said it isn't yet clear whether dealers in other counties are involved.

The street value of the 9.25 pounds of meth was estimated at a street value of $177,600, or $1,200 per ounce.

Holman said of the first 500 criminal cases of 2015 in Schuylkill County, 158 involved illegal drugs. Heroin was the major drug being sold, with methamphetamine in second place.

Accused leaders of the ring are David Bainbridge, 35, of Seltzer; Angel Romeu, 32, of Saint Clair; and Anthony Haughton, 55, of Elizabeth, N.J. They were charged with possession of drugs and distribution and participation in corrupt organizations. They were arraigned and placed in Schuylkill County prison in lieu of $1 million cash bail.

Others charged were:

Brett Heinbach, 33, of Pine Grove; $1 million bail

Jonathan Spiess, 36, of Auburn; $250,000 bail

Michael Donlin, 41, of Pine Grove; $100,000 bail

Chad Bainbridge, 39, of Pottsville; $100,000 bail

Warrants are out for the arrests of:

David Botek, 36, of Pine Grove, for drug possession and distribution, dealing and corrupt organization.

Wayne Lenosky, 35, of Pottsville, for drug possession and distribution, dealing and corrupt organization.

Todd Hoke, 36, of Branchdale for drug possession and distribution.

Sought through summons for drug possession are Terry Dewitt, 53, of Schuylkill Haven; Scott Haberstroh, 46, of Tremont; and Samantha Digilio, 34, of Branchdale.
Pennsylvania AG debate

Five candidates for Pennsylvania Attorney General sit for questions at a Wednesday debate at Widener University's law school outside Harrisburg.

One hour, two parties, five candidates.

The quintet seeking to become Pennsylvania's next attorney general came together Wednesday for a bipartisan forum at Widener University's Commonwealth Law campus outside Harrisburg.

Here, in a series of digestible bites, are some capsules highlighting what we learned.

Act Three: Should the attorney general ever play judge?

Current Attorney General Kathleen Kane was alternately praised and savaged for her 2013 decision to remove her office from defense of a state law banning same sex marriages in Pennsylvania.

Ever since, there has been a lively argument over whether the attorney general has an absolute duty to defend the state's laws and policies in court, however objectionable they may be to him or her personally.

Here, the candidates broke down Wednesday pretty much on party lines.

Both Republican candidates, Joe Peters and John Rafferty, said they will not play judge if elected attorney general.

"The Attorney General's job is not to determine Constitutionality," Peters said. "I may disagree (with a law that's being challenged), but it is not my prerogative... If you want to be the judge, go run for that office and get a black robe. Or go be a legislator and change the law."

Rafferty agreed, adding that Kane's action was especially egregious to him because she recused herself from the same-sex marriage case before there was any higher court ruling on the issue that was relevant to Pennsylvania.

"Your job is to defend those statutes, and I will do so ardently as Attorney General," Rafferty said.

The Democratic candidates disagreed, though in different degrees.

All three said they felt Kane made the right decision in handing the same-sex challenge here to the governor's Office of General Counsel. (The law in question was ultimately overturned by a federal district judge.)

They also said they believe that in the office's oath to defend and protect the Constitution, the Attorney General does have the discretion, and even the obligation, not to defend a law that he or she believes doesn't pass that test.

But where Zappala and Morganelli both said such cases would be very limited and unusual, Shapiro, the Montgomery County Commissioner, sounded like a candidate who, if elected, would be very prepared to exercise this option.

Pointing to an ongoing suit over the state's education funding formula, Shapiro said as attorney general he would be more likely to join the plaintiffs in that suit than to defend the status quo, because he believes the current formulas do not guarantee each child a "thorough and efficient education," as promised in the state Constitution.

Zappala and Rafferty both called that scenario a likely overreach of the office's authority, with Rafferty admonishing the audience: "You're hearing a lot of exaggeration about what the attorney general can do."

But Shapiro was resolute, going back to his vision thing.

"John [Rafferty] and Steve [Zappala] are just flat-out wrong," he said. "The Attorney General does deserve to be and should be involved in the education of our Commonwealth... We need an Attorney General that's going to defend every single Constitutional right."
Bernie Sanders on Wednesday afternoon joined the picket line among thousands of Verizon workers who are on strike after 10 months of failed contract negotiations.

Some 40,000 Verizon workers are on strike throughout the East Coast, and the Vermont senator and presidential hopeful rallied with employees in his hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Sanders said the telecom giant is "another major American corporation trying to destroy the lives of working Americans," according to The Huffington Post.

"Verizon is one of the largest, most profitable corporations in this country," Sanders said, according to the website. "They want to outsource decent-paying jobs. They want to give their CEO $20 million a year."

In a statement Wednesday, the company said it made "good faith efforts" to establish new labor contracts with the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Verizon offered wage increases, continued retirement benefits and "excellent" healthcare benefits, according to the statement.

Those unions failed to make an agreement or seek the help of a mediator, according to the statement.

"It's regrettable that union leaders have called a strike, a move that hurts all of our employees," Marc Reed, Verizon's chief administrative officer, said in the statement. "Unfortunately, union leaders have their own agenda rooted in the past and are ignoring today's digital realities."

The unions say the company has refused to put layoff protections for newer employees into the contract and wants to be able to have technicians work far from home for up to two months at a time, according to The Huffington Post.

Sanders thanked the workers for their "courage for standing up for justice against corporate greed," according to NBC News.

"I know how hard it is, what a difficult decision it is to go out on strike. I know you've thought a whole lot about it, and I know your families will pay a price," he said. "Today, you are standing up not just for justice for Verizon workers, you're standing up for millions of Americans who don't have a union."

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said Sanders has "uninformed views" that are "contemptible," according to his blog post Wednesday.

"Our objective in these negotiations is to preserve good jobs with competitive wages and excellent benefits while addressing the needs of our ever-changing business," McAdam said. "Contrary to Sen. Sanders's contention, our proposals do not call for mass layoffs or shipping jobs overseas."

Hillary Clinton is also standing by Verizon workers, according to NBC News.

"Verizon should come back to the bargaining table with a fair offer for their workers," she said in a statement. "To preserve and grow America's middle class, we need to protect good wages and benefits, including retirement security. And we should be doing all we can to keep good-paying jobs with real job security in New York."
bryce jordan.jpg

Former Penn State President Bryce Jordan, who died this week at age 91.

(Penn State University)

The story goes that Bryce Jordan didn't even want the job.

In 1990, in the sunset year of his seven-year tenure as president of Penn State University, the then 65-year-old Jordan told a reporter he didn't even submit a resume for the position.

But he did get the job -- and led Penn State through a period of rapid growth, tripling its fundraising and endowment and transforming it into one of the nation's leading public research universities. During his tenure Penn State doubled its research expenditures and quintupled its faculty endowments.

Jordan died at age 91 on Tuesday.

Jordan also took head-on the state legislature, challenging the status of Pennsylvania's funding of higher education and setting the tone for how his successors would tackle the annual appropriations for the state-related universities.

Former Penn State President Bryce Jordan.

He lobbied state legislators to increase their funding for state-related universities, pushing back against what he characterized as a "historic underfunding of higher education" in the state.

Upon his retirement in 1990, Jordan was reckoned among the best presidents of Penn State, alongside other past presidents like George Atherton and Milton Eisenhower.

In 1995 at Penn State the Bryce Jordan Center was opened to the public, an arena named after the former university president.

Today, in addition to hosting sporting events and concerts, the center is also the grounds of the university's annual commencement.

In a statement Wednesday night, current President Eric Barron, said Jordan "played a critical role in advancing the University's development as national leader in research; oversaw the launch the University's first fundraising campaign focused on raising funding for scholarships, endowed positions and other improvements; and played a leading role in Penn State's entry into the Big Ten, joining a group of the world's elite institutions of higher education."

"We are truly lucky as an institution to have had the benefit of Bryce Jordan's leadership and presence in our community, and he will be missed," Barron said in his statement.

Jordan is survived by his wife, Barbara.
Central Penn Business Journal will be sold to Gatehouse Media newspaper chain, employees were told Wednesday in an email.

The employees were told that Central Penn's parent company, Journal Multimedia, accepted an offer to sell to Pittsford, N.Y.-based Gatehouse. Gatehouse owns more than 500 newspapers across 31 states. In Pennsylvania, the company owns the Erie Times-News and and The Record-Herald in Waynesboro, among other papers.

Central Penn Business Journal, based in Harrisburg, is owned by David A. Schankweiler, CEO of Journal Multimedia and publisher of the business journal, and Lawrence M. Kluger, president of Journal MultiMedia.

The Business Journal has been published for more than 30 years. According to its website, it has a circulation of more than 10,000.

In addition to the Central Penn Business Journal, JM publishes Central Penn Parent, Lehigh Valley Business, NJBIZ and Pet Age magazine. It also operates Best Companies Group and FGV Media, according to an announcement on the business journal's website.
Pennsylvania AG debate

Five candidates for Pennsylvania Attorney General sit for questions at a Wednesday debate at Widener University's law school outside Harrisburg.

One hour, two parties, five candidates.

The quintet seeking to become Pennsylvania's next attorney general came together Wednesday for a bipartisan forum at Widener University's Commonwealth Law campus outside Harrisburg.

Here, in a series of digestible bites, are some capsules highlighting what we learned.

Act 1. Pennsylvania has had a history of Attorney Generals who have used the office as a stepping stone to try to become governor. Earnie Preate Jr. Mike Fisher. Tom Corbett.

Even Kathleen Kane was widely seen as a potential statewide candidate, before her troubles began to mount.

Not this time.

All five candidates in this race - Republicans Joe Peters and John Rafferty; Democrats John Morganelli, Josh Shapiro and Stephen Zappala - have now publicly sworn that they will not seek another office during a four-year first term.

Of course, if Gov. Tom Wolf seeks re-election in 2018, it's unlikely that serious Democrats would challenge him anyway, so for them the question is more relevant in 2022.

And the gubernatorial jump is usually a second-term venture, anyway.

But for what it's worth, even Republicans Peters and Rafferty promised Wednesday that they will check any future ambitions at the door for at least four years.

We'll ask again, in 2018.

In the meantime, we can all hope that what's good for the next Attorney General is also good for Pennsylvania.
HARRISBURG- Pennsylvania's restrictive tax structure prevents some cities from generating enough revenue to pay for essential services, two mayors told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee Wednesday.

When those cities predictably fall into the state's Act 47 program for financially struggling municipalities, they are given a lifeline: access to increased tax revenues. But that help is pulled once the cities leave the program.

"It seems counterintuitive," Sen. John Blake, D-Lackawanna. "It doesn't make sense."

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse agreed and asked for the Legislature to address the problem during a roundtable discussion about distressed municipalities at the Capitol Wednesday. Sen. Rob Teplitz, D-Harrisburg, requested the roundtable, chaired by Sen. Lisa Boscola, Northampton/Lehigh.

"We have a roadmap to success," Papenfuse said. "But only with tools that aren't set to expire in a couple of years."

Specifically, Papenfuse would like to keep a two percent earned income tax and the tripled rate of the local services tax that Act 47 allows.

Cities should have the freedom to establish a tax structure that works best for its residents instead of being restricted to the state's antiquated system for financing, said Gerald Cross, director of the Pennsylvania Economy League.

"We see a real concern," he said. "The tax laws are not addressing the ability to provide services across all levels for citizens. No one lives and works and sleeps in the same city anymore and you have a disparity of services."

Municipalities can't generate enough revenue from their half of the one-percent earned income tax and caps on real estate taxes, he said. Only municipalities that can "escape the system," through a home rule process or Act 47 can survive, he said.

Besides the state's tax structure, updates to Act 47, tax incentive programs, and cuts to state community and economic development money were among the topics discussed during the roundtable.

The Act 47 law and a series of recent amendments went a long way to help financially-struggling cities. But deficiencies in the program remain, said Fred Reddig, the state's Act 47 coordinator for Harrisburg. He said the program could help municipalities by tackling:

Inequities in property tax assessments

Property taxes lost due to exempt nonprofits

Legacy costs from public pensions and other post employment benefits

The city of Bethlehem struggled financially after its major employer, Bethlehem Steel, shut down in 1995, evaporating 20 percent of the city's tax base. The city had to diversify quickly, said Mayor Bob Donchez, and has relied on tax incentive programs to rebuild.

Bethlehem is among a handful of cities with access to a relatively new tax incentive program: the City Revitalization and Improvement Zone, or CRIZ. But Donchez said the program is virtually worthless because it lacks clarity, which causes banks to avoid loans to developers.

"What's the definition of a new business," Donchez said. "Bass Pro has a location in Harrisburg. Is one in Bethlehem a new business?"

Harrisburg is currently blocked from using the program, but would like the opportunity, Papenfuse said.

Donchez said nearly 80 percent of his $74 million budget goes to public safety. Twenty-four million is earmarked for pension and health care obligations. That doesn't leave a lot of room for other necessary services and economic development, he said.

"We can't always raise revenue from property taxes," he said. "I'd like to see the (earned income tax) increased to 1.5 percent to give cities flexibility."

Even a small increase in the EIT to 1.2 percent would help, Donchez said.

After the two-hour roundtable ended, Papenfuse said he thought that the four senators in attendance: Teplitz, Boscola, Blake and Sen. Jay Acosta, D-Allegheny, were sympathetic to reforms necessary to help municipalities.

"Maybe by the time the city is forced to exit Act 47, some of these changes will be in place," he said.

Harrisburg is supposed to leave the program in 2018, but it could be granted a three-year extension.
Thirteen-year-old Bryan Desmond was already beaming before he saw his new bike.

Desmond, a sixth grade student at Lower Dauphin Middle School, was overjoyed by the unexpected attention from teachers, former therapists, fitness trainers, and dozens of classmates who cheered him on as he walked into the middle school cafeteria.

The surprise orchestrated by the middle school and Make-A-Wish of Philadelphia, Northern Delaware and Susquehanna Valley became even better when Bryan saw an adaptive tricycle emerge from behind a stage curtain.

"A bike!" Bryan said. "... Can I take it home? ... Can I ride it?"

Bryan of Hummelstown did both Tuesday thanks to the gift from Make-A-Wish, a charity that grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.

Patty Desmond, Bryan's mother, said Bryan is autistic and legally blind, and he was born with WAGR syndrome, a rare genetic disorder for which there is no cure.

But public speaking is something Bryan does with ease.

As he got ready to pedal his new bike for the first time, Bryan didn't lose a second to addressing the rapt audience in the cafeteria.

"Please give Bryan another round of applause," Bryan said to the crowd, who heartily complied.

Next, he led the group in a call and response rendition of 'If You're Happy and You Know It," complete with the audience hand clapping in time.

And when Bryan yelled, "Hey, camp." The students responded together: "Hey, what?"

Patty Desmond, 54, said that was the best part of his day. Bryan, she said, likes to relive the past, especially times when he's had fun, and on Tuesday, with an audience at his attention, he was able to relive some of his memories from camp, only this time, he was in the role of a camp counselor.

"This is his moment," she said. "The best part of his wish come true is the role reversal where it put him in the spotlight for a few minutes. It means the most to him."
No sooner after the dismissal bell rang at a western Pennsylvania high school Tuesday did shots ring out. In the chaotic aftermath, a student had been shot and police in McKees Rocks, Pa., were mounting an all-out search for the suspect, which continues today with all classes at Sto-Rox High School cancelled.

KDKA-TV reports that the shooting occurred about 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, and "there was one student shot by an unknown actor."

School officials tell KDKA that the incident took place as the high school students were being dismissed. About 40 to 60 students were lined up and getting on buses at the time. When they heard the gunshot, they ran back into the school.

Evidence at the scene included a cell phone and a shell casing were found on the sidewalk.

Police tell KDKA that the 17-year-old victim is expected to recover. His name has not been released.

Meanwhile the search for a suspect goes on, and while classes are cancelled today, counselors will be on hand in case any students need to talk about the incident.
Donald Trump

Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, speaks during a rally at Macomb Community College, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

(Carlos Osorio)

There are some things that simply can't be challenged if you're a proud Yinzer from Pittsburgh: pierogies, Heinz Ketchup and using a chair to claim a parking spot.

Those rallying against Donald Trump's visit to the Pennsylvania city are trying to make the billionaire Republican seem like he opposes some of those Pittsburgh traditions with signs reading "Trump Likes Hunt's Ketchup," "Trump Hates Pierogies" and "Trump Moved My Parking Chair," according to TribLive.

The signs right now are found on Eric Rickin's Fox Chapel lawn, according to the website.

"In Pittsburgh what defines you as a person and a place is how people feel about their food," Chatham University Professor Alice Julier said to TribLive.

Trump is due in the city at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday for a taping of Sean Hannity's Fox News show at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in Oakland. Following that, he will have a 7 p.m. rally at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

During that same time frame U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman will host a "Trump is a Jagoff" protest at 5:30 p.m. near the Heinz History Center, according to TribLive.

Fetterman is encouraging his supporters to "protest Trump's disgraceful and un-American stance on immigration and human rights in this country," TribLive reported.

Another event, "Protest Trump's visit to Pittsburgh," is also being planned for outside of the convention center. More than 1,100 have said they will join that protest, according to TribLive.

So far, there's no word of a "Trump Hates Bingo" or "Trump Hates Fireworks" or "Trump Hates the Stillers" protest.

This post was updated with the changed location of a protest.
The cousin of a Harrisburg woman who authorities say was the latest known victim of notorious midstate serial killer Joseph D. "Joey" Miller seemed emotionally drained Wednesday as authorities announced Miller's arrest for the slaying.



Faun Ward said he had more or less given up hope that the person who killed his relative, Kelly Ann Ward, would ever be found.



As it was, it took investigators, with help from the FBI, 17 years to determine that the partial skeletal remains a Swatara Township work crew found in some woods along Chambers Hill Road in 1997 were Kelly Ward's.



Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said investigators believe Kelly Ward was murdered around the time her family reported her missing in early 1986. Miller, who is serving multiple life prison sentences for slayings of women in Dauphin and Perry counties, committed his killing spree in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

http://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/04/new_homicide_charge_filed_agai.html#incart_river_home



Faun Ward said the identification of his cousin's remains two years ago was the only victory his family ever expected to have in the case. On Wednesday, at the end of a press conference on Miller's arrest, he focused on his memories of his cousin, who was 26 years old when she was killed.



"Kelly was a wonderful person. She was loved by everyone. And she will be missed," Faun Ward said. "We just hope she gets the justice that she deserves."



Marsico said prosecutors "will certainly examine all options" in prosecuting Miller, now 51, for Ward's murder.

"The working theory is we'll seek a first-degree murder conviction," he said.



The death penalty seems to be off the table, however. Miller had been under two death sentences after his convictions for killing two other women in Dauphin County, Selina Franklin, 18, and Stephanie McDuffy, 23, but those sentences were vacated and replaced with life prison terms in 2008 when the state Supreme Court ruled that Miller is mentally retarded. The U.S. Supreme Court forbids the execution of those with mentally disabilities as cruel and unusual.



Swatara Township Police Chief Jason Umberger said Miller's arrest for Ward's murder is an example of doggedness by current and now-retired investigators who never let the case go, even when they "worked all available leads to exhaustion and the case went cold."



It wasn't until the late spring of 2014, thanks to advances in forensic technology, that the FBI was able to identify the partial skeleton as Ward's, Umberger said.



Several factors caused investigators to focus on Miller, who apparently had been among the list of possible suspects for years.





Ward's skeleton was found 220 feet from where the corpses of two of Miller's other victims were found, Umberger said. He added that "it became apparent that the modus operandi (of Ward's slaying) was very similar" to Miller's known methods for murder.



Miller "would prey on African-American women," Marsico said. "He would lure them to a secluded location and kill them."



Umberger said "incriminating statements" made by Miller helped solidify the decision to charge him for Ward's murder.



Coroner Graham Hetrick said that, while the cause of Ward's death is homicide, the exact manner of the slaying could not be determined since her skeleton wasn't complete when it was found roughly nine years after her death.



"The death certificate reads, 'Immediate cause of death undetermined. We believe the manner is homicide'," Hetrick said.



Marsico said Miller's arrest for Ward's murder "marks another chapter" in the depredations of "the most prolific serial killer in Dauphin County history."



"The evil that took place in the perpetration of these crimes can't be overstated," he said.




Testimonials, since removed from the site, are shown on the personal website of Ontario MPP Jack MacLaren in this recent screenshot. A Progressive Conservative member of the Ontario legislature who landed in hot water last week over a sexist joke about a Liberal MP is facing another controversy. The Ottawa Citizen reports the pictures accompanying testimonials of constituents praising the work of MPP Jack MacLaren are actually a combination of stock photos and others taken in various spots around the world, and the names are fabricated. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO
Drew Barrymore stepped out to support a cause close to her heart, less than two weeks after news broke that she and husband Will Kopelman are divorcing.

The actress, 41, spoke at the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children annual spring lunch on Tuesday.

She is a champion for children through the United Nations, a source tells PEOPLE.

At the event, Barrymore read a chapter from her book Wildflower titled Africa, which told the story of her time working with children in Africa. Before starting, she warned the crowd that she might become emotional while reading.

If I break down during this story, you will understand, I will just turn it into laughter and you men will think were crazy, she said. We are, but its that craziness that actually evolves into compassion, and thats whats so beautiful about women.

As she began, Barrymore became emotional when she described hugging a girl with AIDS to whom she had sent money for help after a previous trip. The actress put her hand on her chest as she fought back tears while reading.

She avoided mentioning Kopelman (skipping over portions of the book excerpt that included him) and didnt bring up her divorce.

brightcove.createExperiences(); Barrymore and Kopelman confirmed their split after nearly four years of marriage on April 2, and her appearance comes as the two begin to work out the details of their divorce.

In an exclusive statement to PEOPLE, Barrymore and Kopelman said their children, Olive, 3, and Frankie, 1, will be their first priority moving forward, and those who know them best do not expect a custody battle.

 Reporting by JEFFREY SLONIM
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.
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The darling of Mexico's gas market is suddenly getting shut out



IEnova, a Sempra Energy Company , develops, builds and operates energy infrastructure in Mexico.



MEXICO CITY

Petroleumworld.com 04 13 2016

For 20 years, Sempra Energy bid and won contracts to build natural gas pipelines in Mexico without a hitch. And then, within a month, three of its offers were rejected.

Infraestructura Energetica Nova SA, the Sempra Mexico unit known as Ienova, had its third bid disqualified last week. TransCanada Corp. ended up winning the project, to build a gas line across central Mexico that the state-run utility estimated will cost $336 million. Just as it did in denying Ienova's previous two bids, Comision Federal de Electricidad said the company had proposed using equipment incapable of handling the amount of gas required by the project.

The rebuffs mark a potential shift in the relationship between Mexico and Mexico City-based Ienova, the country's only publicly traded energy company and its biggest private operator of gas lines. It threatens to stifle the unit's business just as Mexico's gearing up for its biggest-ever pipeline expansion. The rejection reinforces a negative precedent on Ienova's asset growth prospects and may have investors questioning whether it's capable of cashing in on the build-out, according to reports by Barclays Plc. The news has weighed on Ienova's shares, down 5 percent this year.

It is surprising that lately the auctions have not been in favor of Ienova, Ana Sepulveda, equity analyst at Invex Casa de Bolsa SA, said by phone from Mexico City. It has surprised us given the fact that Ienova hasn't been chosen when in the past they were for several projects, she said.

Challenging Rejections

Ienova has challenged the rejections. At the end of the April 8 pipeline auction, a representative of the company stood to protest the disqualification, arguing that its proposal met the requisites of the contract and had been previously deemed valid by Comision Federal de Electricidad, known as CFE. Sempra's business in Mexico generated $568 million in revenue in 2015, making up almost 6 percent of the company's total for the year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Ienova has participated during the last 20 years in the Mexican energy sector, in multiple public bidding processes, and has never been disqualified for flaws in the integration of its technical nor economic proposals, nor any other reason, Ienova said in a statement last month.

The company declined by e-mail to elaborate on the reason for the rejections. CFE cited an inconsistency between the economic and technical proposals submitted by Ienova for the projects. The company's technical designs didn't meet the characteristics required to carry the volume of gas proposed in the economic parts of its bids, the state-run utility said in a statement.

Share Pressure'

Ienova's three consecutive losses on pipeline projects in central Mexico may add more pressure on Ienova's shares, Vanessa Quiroga, a Latin America equity analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG, said in a March 29 research note. Ienova's stock fell to as low as 67.97 pesos on April 5, a 26 percent decline from its peak in April 2015. Shares traded at 68.72 pesos at 9:03 a.m. in Mexico City.

The disqualification of the company generates doubts about its ability to accomplish its long-term growth plan, Gerardo Cevallos, an analyst at brokerage firm Vector Casa de Bolsa SA, said in an April 8 research note. If the company's bids continue to get rejected, he said Vector will lower its recommendation, which is currently to buy the stock.

Moody's Outlook

Ienova's troubles were compounded last week as Moody's Investors Service lowered the company's outlook to negative from stable, given its strong linkages to the Mexican government, CFE and oil producer Petroleos Mexicanos, an April 4 report shows.

Ienova's exposure to Pemex and CFE will increase as new pipelines under construction begin operations in 2016 and 2017, according to the report. The company's $1.3 billion acquisition of Pemex's stake in Gasoductos de Chihuahua, expected to be approved this year, will mean about 60 percent of the company's revenues will be linked to government entities, the ratings company said.

Analyst Optimism

Ienova's shares may rally as much as 25 percent if the company is able to successfully bid in future auctions for a gas supply project in Baja California Sur and a $3.1 billion plan to build an underwater pipeline system from South Texas to Tuxpan, said Credit Suisse's Quiroga, who has a buy recommendation on the company's stock. In fact, 16 of the 17 analysts that monitor Ienova have rated it a buy, forecasting an average 27 percent return in the next 12 months.

There is still a lot of confidence because it is a very good company, BBVA Research analyst Jean-Baptiste Bruny said by phone. The upcoming projects will be key though. If they can deliver, there should be a recovery by the end of the year.






Carson City Off-Road Courses Deliver Challenge & Unique Capitol City Opportunities

Mark Twain

In cooperation with Visit Carson City, the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, and Nevada State Parks, its with great excitement Epic Rides today unveiled the Inaugural Carson City Off-Road mountain bike event course maps.Like the popular Whiskey & Grand Junction Off-Road events, the Carson City Off-Road offers three distance options allowing beginner, weekend warrior and pro level mountain bikers to choose the challenge thats right for them. Distances include the Capitol 15, 35 & 50 routes, where 1 Capitol = 1 mile; the prefix pays homage to the events location in front of the sprawling lawn of Nevadas State Capitol building on Carson St.A featured landmark among a smorgasbord of Capitol City opportunities and experiences, participants will enjoy the opportunity to pass by the Nevada State Governors mansion along each route, including the kids ride and Pro criterium course. Most impressive, the Pro category has been invited to the Governors mansion for their pre-ride meeting on Friday, June 17th at 2 p.m.A Carson City resident, Twains quote parallels each routes ability to deliver personal development through experience. Adequate preparation will pay dividends as each course starts with a significant climb up Kings Canyon Road into the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada......and rewards the prepared endurance athlete with big descents and big views.The Capitol 35 & 50 courses start with a 12-mile climb, top out at 8,200 ft. on the scenic Tahoe Rim Trail singletrack and serve up views of three different alpine lakes, including Lake Tahoe. Featuring iconic trails and landmarks like Spooner Lake, Marlette Lake, Tahoe Rim Trail, Sunflower Hill, Snap Dragon Trail, Red House Flume and "Kings to Ash", the Carson City Off-Road is sure to serve up a gritty soulful mountain bike experience that'll leave minds as blown as legs as riders meander some of the West's finest backcountry.With a graduated distance format, each route presents an true mountain bike experience and provides the opportunity to enjoy a variety of terrain. From technical singletrack to undulating dirt roads to fun fast descents, no matter the distance, all participants able to complete their chosen route will not only be awared a unique finisher prize, but with confidence are able to stake claim to being a bonafide mountain biker.The Capitol 15 course, with over 10 miles of singletrack, utilizes the Ash to Kings Trail in reverse plus Lower Ash Canyon Creek Trail and Jackrabbit Trail. A point of pride for Carson Citys trails community, the Ash to Kings Trail was built by local trail advocacy group Muscle Powered and is rideable by all levels of mountain biker  as long as they toe the start line with the fortitude needed to usher them up the first climb.Carson Citys trail network is well built and inviting to all levels of mountain biker, said Epic Rides President, Todd Sadow. And, with numerous cooperative land agencies and land owners coming together to show off the areas natural resources, together weve constructed a day on the bike that all attendees will enjoy and can be proud to have completed, he said.In classic frontier fashion, all of downtown Carson City will be an "open container" jurisdiction, giving folks the freedom to responsibly roam with their libation of choice.Event registration opened on January 1, 2016 and is quickly approaching the 600-rider limit. Registration and event information is available at www.epicrides.comCarson City, NV Nestled 30 minutes between Reno and Lake Tahoe boasts an array of unique restaurants, challenging singletrack, historical attractions, museums, gaming opportunities and a plethora of year-round, outdoor experiences beyond the mountain bike.Visitors will find plenty of open space, fresh mountain air and friendly residents to encounter. Carson City is a progressive community that has evolved to offer exceptional experiences to visitors, regardless of their interests. From the memorable Sierra Nevada to reminiscent days gone by of the V&T Railroad and beautifully restored buildings, Carson City offers outstanding opportunities to travelers.Epic Rides has become world famous for producing events that celebrate the many positive aspects of mountain biking. Events such as the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo presented by Tucson Medical Center, Tour of the White Mountains, the Whiskey Off-Road, the Grand Junction Off-Road, and the newly announced Carson City Off-Road are popular with participants because they offer challenging, fun riding and emphasize the joy and health benefits inherent in the sport.
Ben Nelson

SCOTT Enduro Cup presented by Vittoria 2016 Race Schedule:

The SCOTT Enduro Cup presented by Vittoria garners international recognition as Sun Valley, ID, (June 25-26) and new this year, Angel Fire, NM, (June 11-12) races are now officially sanctioned by the North American Enduro Tour (NAET). This acknowledges both races as qualifiers for the Enduro World Series (EWS).The NAET is a feeder circuit for racers working towards the Enduro World Series, the premier international enduro race series. Of the six races offered by NAET, five have now been named official EWS qualifier events. Points from these races will count toward securing a spot in the 2017 EWS season. This year, NAET includes two races in Whistler, the Whistler Enduro Spring Classic and Fall Classic; two SCOTT Enduro Cup presented by Vittoria races, Angel Fire and Sun Valley; a race from the California Enduro Series, the Kamikaze Bike Games Enduro at Mammoth Mountain; and Big Mountain Enduro Series will host the series finale in Mascota, Mexico.A statement released by Crankworx Events Incorporated announcing the company's assumption of NAET, states ," said, SCOTT Enduro Cup Race Director. "Moab, UT // May 7Angel Fire, NM // June 11-12Sun Valley, ID // June 23-26, in collaboration with the Ride Sun Valley Bike FestivalPark City, UT // TBAAthlete capacity is limited and racers are encouraged to register as soon as possible as these races fill up quickly.For registration information visit endurocupmtb.com . Registration is open to men and women, professional and amateur adults and juniors ages 13-18. Riders can choose to participate in a single race or purchase a season pass. In addition to race entry, all registration fees include an event T-shirt, lunch and lift tickets (where applicable). In order to collect points to qualify for the Enduro World Series, racers will need to obtain an EMBA license through EWS here.For more information, visit endurocupmtb.com or naetmtb.com Follow the series on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and #EnduroCupMTB.The SCOTT Enduro Cup presented by Vittoria is an MSI production.
Silvan Schupbach frees Ultimo Sogno on Parete d'Osogna, Switzerland

13.04.2016 by by Planetmountain

Swiss climber Silvan Schupbach has made the first free ascent of Ultimo Sogno, a tough climb up the rugged Parete d'Osogna face high up in Switzerlands Ticino region.

Ultimo Sogno breaches the obvious roof on the huge south face above the village of Osogna and had been established by Genesio Petazzi & partners with the use of aid in 1979. Due to its obvious difficulties and the arduous, 3-hour approach the route fell out of favor and only in more recent times has the entire face been experiencing a revival of sorts, led in particular by Luca Auguadri who managed to free the route Via Gabriele and Simon Riediker who established some bolted free climbs.

In December 2015 Silvan Schupbach and Christian Ledergerber were enticed by the mountain's demanding climbing and solitude, made the 1000m vertical gain to the bivouac and then carried out the first ascent of Chris-chiubi, a four pitch 7a trad outing on the lefthand side of the lower face. They also checked out the roof of Ultimo Sogno, considered one of the last remaining challenges with a reputation of being "for the next generation".

Schupbach soon realised that with a bit of effort the line could go free, but the greatest difficulties the Swissman encountered was finding a motivated partner. During a two-day stint with Simon Spori the duo managed to unravel the roof sequences, but then winter set in. Berne Emmerich proved willing enough to try the route in spring, and on 6 April Schupbach freed the roof on his 4th try, having free climbed the lower pitches earlier that morning. The climbers continued up the next two pitches, but did not climb the final three pitches as they were put off by the thick vegatation the fact that the difficulties eased off considerably at this point.



"The first three pitches climb outstanding splitter cracks with difficulties estimated at 7a, 7b+ and 8a+" explained Schupbach, before adding "then the route continues with a further two pitches, graded 6c and 7a+. We climbed the next two, then abseiled off since the last three pitches are extremely overgrown and dirty."



Those wishing to repeat the route should note that the crux pitch is a 10m roof crack, which is by no means easy to lead nor follow. The route is protected by original pegs and trad gear, and nothing was added to the line.



Ultimo Sogno

Parete d'Osogna, Ticino, Switzerland

FFA: Silvan Schupbach, Berne Emmerich 06/04/2016

Grade: 7a, 7b+, 8a+, 6c, 7a+
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....
A video contradicts a Los Angeles police officer's claim that he fatally shot an unarmed homeless man in Venice last year because the man was grabbing his partner's gun holster, according to police records made public Tuesday.

The recording, taken from a bar security camera, does not show Brendon Glenn's hand "on or near any portion" of the partner's holster, according to a report from LAPD Chief Charlie Beck to the city's Police Commission. The officer's partner told investigators he never felt "any jerking movements" near his gun, the report added.

The commission unanimously sided with Beck on Tuesday, concluding that Officer Clifford Proctor violated department policy when he fatally shot Glenn in the back near the Venice boardwalk. The panel and Beck also faulted Proctor's decision to draw his weapon, along with the tactics he and his partner used leading up to the deadly encounter.

The decision caps an 11-month review of the May 5 shooting, the Los Angeles Times reports.
State Rep. Curry Todd, a retired Memphis police officer who has pleaded guilty to drunken driving and gun charges, is speaking out against Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to keep retired law enforcement officers with DUI convictions from being able to carry firearms in public.

Todd was arrested in Nashville in 2011 after he failed a roadside sobriety test and police found a loaded .38-caliber gun stuffed next to the driver's seat. The Collierville Republican later pleaded guilty, but has easily been re-elected to the Legislature ever since.

The Haslam administration bill carried by Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, would give the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission the authority to ban retired officers from obtaining handgun carry permits if they were convicted of drunken driving once in the previous five years or twice within the past decade. It would only apply to new applicants.

Todd said any state law on the matter would be superseded by the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act, which gives off-duty and retired officers the ability to carry their concealed firearms nationwide. Todd told his colleagues that he expects to obtain his certification under the federal law next year.

The bill was up for a House floor vote on Monday evening after passing the Senate unanimously last month. But the vote was delayed after Todd questioned the need for the bill.
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NEW YORK (Reuters)  The top contenders in both the Democratic and the Republican presidential nominating races have roughly equal support among members of their respective parties, according to a national Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.

The results suggest the race to get onto the Nov. 8 presidential ballot is tightening, as candidates prepare for their next state contest, in New York next week.

In the Democratic race, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont each had 48 percent support, according to responses from 719 Democrats polled from April 8-12. The two have been tied frequently since February.

In the Republican race, celebrity real estate developer Donald Trump had 41 percent support, to 35 percent for Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, according to responses from 598 Republicans. The result was within the polls credibility interval.

Cruzs support has risen in recent weeks, making him the first candidate to rival Trumps popularity among Republicans since neurosurgeon Ben Carson in November.

(Reporting by Chris Kahn; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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President Obama is threatening to veto a backdoor attempt by House Republicans to kill net neutrality.

Obamas veto threat was made through a Statement of Administration Policy:

The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 2666, the No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act, which would undermine key provisions in the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) Open Internet order and harm the Commissions ability to protect consumers while facilitating innovation and economic growth. For almost a century, our laws have recognized that companies that connect Americans to the world have special obligations not to exploit the gatekeeper power they enjoy over access in and out of our homes and businesses. The same philosophy should guide any service that is based on the transmission of information, whether a phone call or a packet of data. The FCCs rules  issued after a lengthy rulemaking process that garnered an unprecedented amount of public input, including comments from four million Americans  recognize that broadband service is of the same importance, and must carry the same obligations as so many of the other vital services do. These carefullydesigned rules have already been implemented in large part with little or no adverse impact on the telecommunications companies making important investments in our economy. H.R. 2666 is overly broad and extends far beyond codifying the FCCs forbearance from applying provisions of the Communications Act related to tariffs, rate approval, or other forms of utility regulation. Even as amended, H.R. 2666 would restrict the FCCs ability to take enforcement actions to protect consumers on issues where the FCC has received numerous consumer complaints. The bill also would hamstring the FCCs public interest authority to review transactions. H.R. 2666 also could limit the Commissions ability to address new practices and adapt its rules for a dynamic, fast-changing online marketplace. If the President were presented with H.R. 2666, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.

The House Republican bill is a backdoor effort to kill net neutrality by taking away the FCCs power to regulate broadband providers and enforce net neutrality rules.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler explained in a March 2016 letter to House Republicans how the broad language of the bill threatens net neutrality, It would introduce significant uncertainty into the Commissions ability to enforce the three bright line rules that bar blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization rules, as well as our general conduct rule that would be applied to issues such as data caps and zero rating. It would also cast doubt on the ability of the Commission to ensure that broadband providers receiving universal service subsidies do not overcharge their consumers. Finally, it would hamstring aspects of the Commissions merger review process.

Polls have found that as many as 80% of Americans support the broad concept of net neutrality. Sixty-five percent of those polled felt that Internet Service Providers needed to be regulated. While most Americans dont understand the policy details of net neutrality, they have embraced the general concept of an open Internet.

President Obamas veto threat is a fantastic firewall against unpopular action by the Republican-controlled Congress, but the bill itself is a reminder of what is at stake in the 2016 presidential election. A Republican-controlled White House and Congress will kill net neutrality.

If Republicans win in November, the Internet will go the way of other forms of media. Corporate giants are aching to get control of the Net and kill the one of the final frontiers of technological equality and innovation.
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Gov. Scott Walker is asking Congress to allow him to drug test Wisconsins food stamp recipients. The problem is that the majority of the people who receive assistance in the state are children, the elderly, and the disabled.

In a letter to the chair of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, Walker, and other Republican governors urged Congress to allow them to drug test food stamp recipients:

As you know, multiple states have recently enacted drug-testing provisions as part of the state-based requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP or food stamps. The U.S. Department of Agricultures Food and Nutrition Service administers this program at the federal level, but disagrees with these drug-testing efforts. We believe that Congress specifically gave states the flexibility to decide whether to implement this common-sense reform in the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. This Act provides that States shall not be prohibited by the Federal Government from testing welfare recipients for use of controlled substances nor from sanctioning welfare recipients who test positive for use of controlled substances. 21 U.S.C.  862(b). Since SNAP and other welfare programs typically have job training requirements as a core element, we write today to express our sincere confidence that drug testing recipients of SNAP benefits is not only lawful, but will aid in our ability to move individuals off of this welfare program and back into the workforce as productive members of their communities. After all, drug testing and potentially getting treatment to be drug-free doesnt make it harder to get assistance; it makes it easier to get a job.

The problem is that the largest age groups of food stamp recipients in Wisconsin are children and seniors. According to February 2016 statistics, children age 5-9 are the largest group of food stamp recipients. The second largest group is children age 0-5. The third largest age group is adults over age 65. In total, the vast majority of Wisconsins food stamp recipients are under age 23 and over age 65.

Its not just lazy drugged out kids under age 9 and seniors that Walker is targeting. Gov. Walker also wants to drug test the disabled. Twenty-four percent of food stamp recipients in Wisconsin are elderly, blind, or disabled. Forty-one percent of all assistance groups contain at least one elderly, blind, or disabled individual.

Scott Walkers drug testing plan is based on the right-wing myth that people on assistance are lazy, doing drugs, and dont want to work. The reality is that the majority of those who are receiving assistance are children, the disabled, and the elderly. Gov. Walker wants Congress to allow him to impose another hurdle that will make it more difficult for Wisconsins poor to get help.

The drug testing plan isnt about catching recipients who are on assistance using drugs. The plan is to discourage poor people from signing up. Scott Walker hasnt stopped trying to advance his national political career by harming poor people.

Lets call Scott Walkers drug testing plan what it really is. Gov Walker wants Congress to give him permission to starve Wisconsins children, disabled, and the elderly.
The Washington director of Moveon.org has spoken out against the bullying being carried out by some individuals who claim to be supporting the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Democratic superdelegates.

Video:

https://youtu.be/_2KkMndB2GU

Transcript of Ben Wikler, Washington Director or MoveOn.org on CNNs New Day:

CAMEROTA: So, as you know, Ben, Hillary Clinton leads really outstandingly in super delegates over Bernie Sanders. And now there is this new website that just cropped up last week. Its called super delegate hit list. It was reportedly set up by a Bernie Sanders supporter. And it is designed by its own admission to harass Democratic super delegates.

Let me read to you what it says. The guy who designed it says, Who wants to help start a new website aimed at harassing super delegates? And then it says, #feelthebern.

So, is that above board?

WIKLER: I have to say. We should leave harassment to the super delegates to the Republicans. They seem to have that market cornered. But frankly, theres no place for harassing anyone really in either party in American politics. This should be a contest of ideas and issues.

Now, I will say I think that super delegates and Move On members across the country I think most would agree. Super delegates should support the winner of the primaries and caucuses. It shouldnt be the case that a small group of insiders can overturn the choice of the public.

.

CAMEROTA: And, in fact, weve heard Donald Trump rail against the very same system that he says is sort of underhanded and dirty.

But I want to get to whether or not you think Bernie Sanders  its incumbent upon Bernie Sanders to stop this website and to call them out and say there should be no such thing as harassing of super delegates, because he hasnt said things like that yet?

WIKLER: Well, you know, Sanders and Clinton are both pressing their case to super delegates through their campaigns. And certainly, I think the public has a place to say, they would urge someone to say support one or another or the eventual winner as 380,000 Move On members have done.

I do think though that harassment is out of bounds. And Sanders has a couple of times from the stump talked about the necessity for his supporters to maintain a respectful and civil tone. I expect and hope that that will continue. Its important everyone feels safe engaging in these contest of ideas.
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It has been revealed by school authorities at Middleton High School in Middleton, a NW suburb of Madison, Wisconsin, that a group of parents giving free lunches and Bibles to students in exchange for listening to the parents tell them about Jesus. As the principal of the school explains in an email to parents and the wider district community, these have come to be called Jesus Lunches by MHS students, as it promote[s] a Christian-based worship.

AllGodsPeople.com explains the genesis of these lunches as a response by a few parents to intense peer pressure that can pull impressionable kids away from the values they are taught:

In 2014 five Middleton High School moms began praying together for their kids: for Gods protection, for their faith to withstand the pressures of their high school years, and for their witness. When the kids were asked, what do your friends think about what you believe? they responded, I dont think they know what we believe.



That response led the moms to begin thinking and praying about ways they could help their kids share their beliefs without being weird. And the Jesus Lunch was born. At first it was called Mamas Lunches, but the students who came renamed it the Jesus Lunch, because thats who they talked about.

They dont know what we believe? Well, we cant have that, can we?

You can see from this account that the whole project is less about protecting kids who already believe than educating those kids who dont know what their friends believe. Its not about being Christian but about sharing their beliefs  wanted or unwanted. Its about pushing their religion on other people. Its about proselytizing on school property.

This has been going on over the past year. Just to show that this is no small-scale affair of a few people gathered informally in the park, St. Lukes Lutheran Church tweeted this photo in 2015:

Check out the Jesus Lunch at Middleton High School! #jesuslunch @jesuslunch pic.twitter.com/8v8W2c2Vnu  St. Luke's Lutheran (@StLukesMidWI) October 27, 2015 Notice how the caption reads At Middleton High School. The parents were asked to stop, but have refused. As explained in the email: These lunches began on a very small scale with one / two parents bringing sandwiches to their own children at MHS, sitting down with them at lunch, outside the building and discussing their Christian faith. It then expanded to the parents bringing more and more lunches to give to students interested in sitting down and discussing their religious faith. In speaking with parents about concerns regarding informal gatherings growing into larger ones with the dissemination of food and giving away of Bibles. The parents / students moved from outdoors on the south lawn of the school, to an off campus location (which would have been allowable but would have required school administration to inform parents of any incentivizing of students to eat lunch free in exchange for attendance), and finally to Firemans Park in the fall of 2015. In both cases of the south lawn and off campus locations, [Principal] Steve Plank expressed an opposition to this growing event, and conveyed to these parents that this practice violates school and district policy.

The problem for these parents is that the School Districts lease of Firemans Park permits enforcement of school policies during school hours / days. But then conservative Christians have always followed Fifth Century Egyptian monk Shenoutes adage that There is no crime for those who have Christ.

And there are reasons the School District is concerned that have nothing to do with a persons expressed religion, though it points out that the circumstances in question are not legal:

The School Districts concerns related to this event come down to policy expectations that MCPASD maintainspolicies in place to ensure student safety, health and welfare. The policies in question include food handling, visitors to campus, and expectations around student organized events. We are in no way interested in opposing religious practice in otherwise legal circumstances. Below are three of the policies being ignored:



Anyone providing food for students must follow the districts food handling standards found in the district Food Safety Plan. Food of any kind that is served to students must be approved by the school / district to ensure food safety, cleanliness, and health. In addition, many students are subject to food allergies, so additional protocols must be followed to safeguard students with these conditions. A parent group bringing large quantities of food to a school also raises significant questions regarding whether it is, in fact, an adult organized event that has not followed Administrative Policy 371.



Adult visitors to school / school campus must follow Administrative Policy 860 Visitors to the Schools, which requires registering in the school office, or the greeters station. This is a requirement of all visitors to our schools / school campus during school hours, whether or not they are parents.



If students are interested in organizing student led activities, MHS staff are happy to work with them and will convey the district and school policies that govern activities. This, however, appears to be an event initiated by adults without approval by the school.

The parents have announced, now that spring is here, that they plan to continue the lunches and, in fact, they began again on Tuesday. AllGodsPeople.com points to the success of the program, that upwards of 500 students now attend every week and that costs for the food alone reach $2000-$2500 every week.

The Jesus Lunch fund raising strategy is word of mouth. This year the Madison Christian Giving Fund has granted $5000 to the Jesus Lunch to help pay for hot home made lunches for these students, and more importantly, to open doors to conversations about Jesus. [emphasis added]

Again, this is less about feeding kids than pushing religion on them.

When informed, the principal asked them again to cancel the event. The parents said they would not respect this request, and that they intended to move forward.

Whats worse, it is the parents who have threatened legal action against the District in defense of their violation of not only District policy (here) but the First Amendment, arguing that it is their First Amendment Right to provide free food and hold a religiously oriented event on this property during school hours.

The District disagrees, arguing that they have jurisdiction over leased property, which is part of our campus and that religious or political events do not have a place in our school or on our campus, except when sponsored by a student group in accordance with our rules, which require prior approval. The District points out that students themselves have expressed concern about a group offering free food to incentivize participation in a religious event on campus.

Clearly, if these parents wish to protect children from peer pressure there are ways of doing this without interfering with the school day, or violating school rules and the First Amendment. There is the teaching/reinforcement of values at home. There is even a place designated for such activities: a church.

The school is not a private or a charter school but a public school funded by taxpayer dollars, and is not the property of any church or even group of churches. Students should feel free to go to school without feeling coerced by the very peer pressure these parents say they are combating even while they are creating it.

Photo: Instagify

Correction: A previous version of this article referred to Middleton High School as being in Madison, WI. Middleton is a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin.
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* The following is an opinion column by R Muse *

As the official legislative arm of  and surrogates for  the fossil fuel industry, Republicans have used the subpoena process to terrorize climate scientists for over six years. Their claim is always the same; the American people deserve to know exactly what those evil climate scientists are researching and why they are lying about the climate changing. Republicans also claim that Americans must be made aware that the scientific community is involved in a devious conspiracy to destroy America, the dirty fossil fuel industry, and rob decent Americans of their way of life.

Like most things about Republicans and the fossil fuel industry, particularly dirty oil, they are rank hypocrites. It is all well and proper for Republicans to use the subpoena process to terrorize and harass the scientific community, but if the tables are turned and the oil industry gets served with a subpoena, they cry and scream like banshees.

Apparently it acceptable for Republicans to use the subpoena process to investigate climate scientists, but it is an infringement on climate skeptics Constitutional rights if the government investigates the oil industrys malfeasance.

That is precisely what happened when a Koch and ExxonMobil-funded organization that spent the past two decades denying any kind of climate change was served with a subpoena late last week. To say the least, the subpoena was not well-received by the oil industry activist because the libertarian organization has a lot to hide, and eventually a lot of malfeasance to answer for.

The organization commanded to hand over documents is the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). It has a lengthy record of working closely with the oil industry and Republicans in Congress and state legislatures to discredit any and all efforts to assuage the damage of climate change. The group is also complicit in helping promote phony science to substantiate the oil industrys claim that climate science is a hoax and an attack on Americans way of life by liberals and environmentalists.

The investigation is part of an ongoing investigation into ExxonMobil being conducted by 19 state attorneys general. The states lawmakers are hoping to find documentation to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that ExxonMobil and others, including CEI, broke any laws by deliberately misleading its own investors and the American people about anthropogenic climate change.

It is noteworthy that ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers are major contributors to CEI whose mission statement is nearly identical to Americans for Prosperity, Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, Heartland Institute and any number of libertarian non-profits supported by the Koch brothers.

The subpoena was issued in Washington D.C. on the order of Claude Walker. Mr. Walker is the Attorney General from the United States Virgin Islands and is broadening his multifaceted legal inquiry into whether fossil fuel companies broke any laws as they sought for decades to undermine the scientific consensus and head off forceful action to address the climate crisis according to InsideClimateNews.

The order commands CEI to turn over several decades worth of internal communications, emails, and other documents related to CEIs work denying global climate change and its donor information. ExxonMobil is also named in the subpoena for a good reason; the oil giant donated heavily to CEI like nearly all of the biggest oil companies and the Kochs.

Since conservatives are enthralled with issuing subpoenas forcing scientists, universities, research organizations and Federal agencies to turn over their internal documents, emails, and procedures, one would think that one little court-ordered demand for documents would have elicited little more than a shrug. That was not the case.

As noted here, conservatives and libertarians in support of Republicans, big oil and the Koch brothers were incensed at the Attorney General and accused him of hysterics, embarking on an absurd climate inquisition, and something about former Vice President Al Gores climate witch hunt; whatever that means. As an aside, Mr. Gores name does not appear anywhere on the subpoena and he is not any part of the U.S. Virgin Islands governing body.

The group that received the subpoena, CEI, said Attorney General Walkers subpoena was an affront to the companys First Amendment rights. CEI did not dare mention that A.G. Walker simply did precisely what it and Republicans have been doing to researchers, universities, NASA, the EPA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists for over six years.

CEI also warned Americans that if Walker is successful, the American people will suffer. They said, the real victims will be all Americans, whose access to affordable energy will be hit by one costly regulation after another.

What informs the typical conservative hypocrisy is that they have never considered the significant number of scientists, researchers, universities, or federal agencys employees First Amendment rights when Republicans began issuing subpoenas demanding internal documents six years ago. The GOPs demands, by the way, were and still are witch hunts, absurd climate inquisitions and hysterics about American victims losing access to energy if climate change is addressed.

There is a major difference between A.G. Walkers subpoena and the various Republican legal demands targeting scientists. There are valid criminal investigations into ExxonMobil that is suspected to have engaged in, or be engaging in, conduct constituting a civil violation of the Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act 14 V.I.C.  605 by misrepresenting its knowledge that its products and actions have contributed and are continuing to contribute to defraud the government.

The subpoena also alleges that this climate denial conspiracy is for the expressed purpose of obtaining money by false pretenses. Apparently, the idea that the climate denial industries crusade against combating climate change is for profits and it best fits the legal requirement for action against the oil industry.

It is a sad commentary, but that may be the best chance the legal authorities have of holding CEI, ExxonMobil and the myriad libertarian belief tanks, Republicans, and fossil fuel industry accountable for the damage they have wrought on the world.

This subpoena pay back against climate change deniers is the second legal action within a week that dealt a blow to the fossil fuel industry. Earlier in the week, 21 children learned their lawsuit against the federal government and fossil fuel industry can proceed because there is clear, irrefutable data that Americans basic Constitutional rights are being violated due to both action and inaction on the governments part because it is allowing climate change to run rampant.

There is no telling how far this particular investigation will go to hold the oil industry and its conservative facilitators accountable for covering up their part in catastrophic climate change. But if the conservative outrage at an Attorney General for issuing a subpoena for all of its considerable documents, emails, reports, and internal correspondence of a non-profit doing the climate deniers bidding, it is likely they something serious and very damning to hide. There is no way conservatives would be throwing a tantrum simply because their subpoena hypocrisy is showing; they are terrified at what the government will find.

h/t grist
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The University of Guam and University of Alaska Fairbanks have announced the establishment of a broader partnership for climate change and energy generation. The announcement was made during a collaborative energy workshop at the 7th Regional Island Sustainability Conference at the Lotte Hotel Guam in Tumon.

John Peterson, assistant vice president for graduate studies, research and sponsored programs at UOG, said the workshop will be the seed for future productive interactions with the team from Alaska.

The workshop, which was hosted by the Alaska Center for Energy and Power and the Islanded Grid Resource Center, provided an overview of renewable energy resources, policies, programs and project implementation strategies, drawing heavily on Alaskas experience.

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Raaj Kurapati, associate vice chancellor of UAF, said one of the reasons they brought together a contingent of climate change and energy experts is because there has been a lot of research at the University of Alaska and that research, in many ways, could be applied in Guam.

I think those opportunities are certainly there. We are trying to work with the university to try to see how we can employ our experiences out here. Again, we are looking for opportunities on how to learn from each other, he said.

The workshop presentations pointed out the similarities between Guam and Alaska, noting that both regions rely heavily on costly diesel-based power generation using imported fuels, but have made significant progress in transitioning to renewable, locally available resources.

Integration

In dealing with these challenges, the presenters noted, Alaska, like the Pacific region, has become a global leader regarding the integration of renewable energy with its islanded grids, with over 70 community-based projects including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydropower.

Kurapati said UOG and UAF already have a cooperative agreement which covers broad partnerships for academics, research, public service and outreach.

So this conference is a product of that relationship. One of the things that we are very proud of that came out of that partnership is a PhD cohort program. We currently have 11 that are part of a first cohort that are pursuing their doctorate at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Kurapati said there are already 14 applicants for the second cohort program. We are hoping that this will translate to another 14 people into the program potentially," he said. "We will continue to do that as long as there is interest.

Kurapati, who lived and went to grade school and high school in Pohnpei, said he hopes that the partnership would be expanded to other educational institutions throughout the region.

He described the partnership with Guam as synergistic. Youd be surprised that with Alaska being so far removed from the Pacific, you would think that we wouldn't have a lot in common, but on the contrary, we have a lot, he said. It is actually a unique but a mutually beneficial partnership on many fronts. Im just glad to be part of that conversation. My interest is to make that connection.

Islands

This year, UOG has teamed up with UAF to co-host the five-day conference at the Lotte hotel in Tumon. According to information posted by UOG, the conference will be exploring topics pertinent to soft borders and remote regions, with both universities dedicated to supporting dispersed and disconnected 'islands' within their regions and both committed to emergent research and awareness of sustainable practice and lifeways toward human survival.
Yes. I vote for candidates who have lawmaking experience.

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Democratic officeholders seem to be operating a conspiracy to stifle free speech and suppress heterodox thought. Theyre on C.P. time, alright: Communist Party time. Glenn Reynolds names names in his USA Today column Dear attorneys general, conspiring against free speech is a crime. Glenn identifies U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as co-conspirators. Glenn lays out the conspiracy as follows.

First, Schneiderman and reportedly Harris sought to investigate Exxon in part for making donations to groups and funding research by individuals who think climate change is either a hoax, or not a problem to the extent that people like Harris and Schneiderman say it is. This investigation was denounced by the Competitive Enterprise Institutes Hans Bader as unconstitutional.

Then after Baders critique, Walker subpoenaed the Competitive Enterprise Institutes donor lists. The purpose of this subpoena is, it seems quite clear, to punish CEI by making people less willing to donate.

Glenn points to an unprecedented meeting by 20 state attorneys general aimed, environmental news site EcoWatch reports, at targeting entities that have stymied attempts to combat global warming. You dont have to be paranoid to see a conspiracy here.

Its a sign of the times, as is the silence that enshrouds the story.

UPDATE: Within an hour of posting the summary above we received notice of this update by CEI president Kent Lassman: CEI will surmount crimethink persecution.
Rob Arthur and Jeff Asher at FiveThrityEight show that arrests have declined and gun violence has spiked since the release of the video showing Laquan McDonald being shot and killed by the police. This is evidence of the Ferguson effect.

Arthur and Asher explain:

After some cities saw a rise in crime last year, police chiefs and even the head of the FBI suggested that the United States was experiencing a Ferguson effect: Police officers sensitive to public scrutiny in the wake of protests over the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, were pulling back on police work, the theory went, and emboldened criminals were seizing their chance.

Some dismissed this theory or expressed lots of skepticism given the volatility of crime statistics. According, to Arthur and Asher, however:

The spike in gun violence in Chicago since the end of November. . .is too sharp to be explained by seasonal fluctuations or chance. There have been 175 homicides and approximately 675 nonfatal shooting incidents from Dec. 1 through March 31, according to our analysis of city data. The 69 percent drop in the nonfatal shooting arrest rate and the 48 percent drop in the homicide arrest rate since the videos release also cannot be explained by temperature or bad luck. Even though crime statistics can see a good amount of variation from year to year and from month to month, this spike in gun violence is statistically significant, and the falling arrest numbers suggest real changes in the process of policing in Chicago since the videos release.

(Emphasis added)

The Ferguson effect isnt unique to Chicago:

A similar decline in police activity and increase in violence occurred in Baltimore after protests over the death of Freddie Gray, who died in police custody. Likewise, police activity in New York City slowed down dramatically after police killed Eric Garner. In the case of the New York Police Department, some news outlets suggested that the slowdown was a large-scale, organized protest against interference by the mayor.

Arthur and Asher find little evidence of an organized police slowdown in Chicago. However, in both public statements and private conversations, former and current Chicago police officers, crime analysts and journalists have described a climate of low morale and hesitation among officers that has led to fewer arrests.

The authors quote Roseanna Ander, an executive director at the University of Chicago Crime Lab. She finds that proactive policing, including street stops, that is designed to prevent crime has diminished, as officers seek to cut down on their discretionary interactions with civilians. Certainly theyll respond to 911 calls  but if you have a group of guys on the corner and you think you have probable cause to stop them and see if one of them has a gun, youre probably not going to do that, Ander says.

The diminution of proactive policing dates back to the release of the McDonald video. A police department spokesman attributes it to a new form that must be filled out after some interactions with members of the public. This requirement is the result of the citys August 2015 settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union over the departments stop and frisk program.

Its logical to suppose that the paperwork requirement might reduce interaction with the public. However, Arthur and Asher point out that the requirement was implemented 38 days after the release of the Laquan McDonald video. By that time, the overall arrest rate had fallen from 26 percent to 19 percent. Since then, the overall arrest rate has risen slightly.

Reducing police interaction with the public will reduce the number of cases in which the police acts abusively. But the evidence is that, not surprisingly, reduced interaction will lead to an increase in violent crime, including gun violence.

Given the rarity of unjustified police shootings, it is obvious that policies and attitudes that discourage proactive policing will result in a very bad trade-off. And the trade-off will be worst for residence of low income and minority-centric neighborhoods where violent crime and gun violence are the most intense.
President Muhammadu Buhari pledged Wednesday in Beijing that his administration would honour all agreements concluded between Nigeria and China under previous administrations to ensure the speedy completion of outstanding joint projects, including the 4,000 megawatts Mambilla Hydro-Electric Power Project.

Speaking at a meeting with Li Keqiang, the Premier of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China, Mr. Buhari regretted the failure of past governments to meet Nigerias obligations in joint projects with China, a statement by the Nigerian presidency said.

According to Garba Shehu, the senior special assistant on media and publicity, the President told the Chinese Premier that his administration was committed to the completion, in the shortest possible time, of all joint power, rail, road and aviation projects that would directly and quickly improve the lives of Nigerians.

President Buhari said he was particularly keen on actualizing the Mambilla Power Project because of its huge potential to boost employment and national economic growth.

The Chinese Premier commended ongoing efforts by the Buhari Administration to improve Nigerias infrastructure.

He assured the President that China was ready to work with his administration to complete all joint projects, including the Mambilla Power Project.
Panamanian authorities have raided the headquarters of the Mossack Fonseca, the law firm from where massive data showing the offshore companies of some of the worlds wealthiest and powerful people used, were leaked.

The organised crime unit of the Panamanian police said it carried out the raid without incident and interference.

Police set up perimeter around the Mossack Fonsecas headquarters, while prosecutors searched documents inside the office.

The law firm has denied any wrongdoing claiming it was a victim of a digital hack adding that most of the information from the leak were misinterpreted.

Panamanian attorney general office released a statement that it hoped to find documents that have been referenced in the media linking the company to illicit activities.

The leak has caused significant repercussion around the world. Icelands

prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, was forced to resign after his name appeared as one of the beneficiaries of an offshore company.

Britains prime minister, David Cameron, was tongue-lashed by the countrys parliament and had to disclose his tax records after his late fathers offshore assets were mentioned in the leak.

More than 35 countries around the world have either commenced investigations of their citizens named in the leak or have promised to do so.

However, the President Muhammadu Buhari adminsitration, despite its avowed anti-corruption stance, has surprisingly failed to issue a statement about the Panama Papers even as the offshore companies of the senate president, Bukola Saraki, and his predecessor, David Mark, were among those exposed by the leak.
President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday in Beijing warned vandals and saboteurs blowing up oil and gas installations in Nigeria to desist immediately or face the same drastic action being taken against extremist Boko Haram sect by the Armed Forces.

Speaking at a meeting with members of the Nigerian Community in China, President Buhari also reaffirmed his total commitment to winning the war against corruption, saying that corruption was an arch-enemy of the nation which has destroyed the lives of many Nigerians.

I ask for your support to make our vision of stamping out corruption a reality in the shortest possible time. Whoever is caught will not be spared, Femi Adesina, special adviser on media and publicity, quoted the president as saying.

The government is still being dared, but those who are sensible should have learnt a lesson. Those who are mad, let them continue in their madness.

I am aware that in the last two weeks, the national grid collapsed a number of times. I hope this message will reach the vandals and saboteurs who are blowing up pipelines and installations.

We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram.

President Buhari assured the Nigerian Community that the Federal Government was working very hard to overcome current national challenges and deliver on its promise of a better Nigeria.

Clearly, our vision of a diversified and inclusive economy will not be achieved overnight. It will be a long, and in some cases, painful journey. I am very confident we will get there. But we must start that journey now.

We hear proposals for short cuts or quick wins. However, all we need to do is look at our history to know that there are no quick wins or short cuts in fixing Nigeria. The many decades of damage and destruction cannot be repaired overnight.

The reform program we are implementing is not because oil prices are below $45 per barrel today. It is because when oil prices were over $100 per barrel, majority of Nigerians were still suffering. They were simply forgotten and left behind. So, our reforms are to ensure that the majority of Nigerians are not left behind, the President told the gathering.

President Buhari also assured the Nigerian community that his administration was fulfilling its promise of improving security across the country.

When we came into office in 2015, Boko Haram insurgents occupied 14 Local Government Areas. Today, I am pleased to say the insurgents have been routed out of these local governments and their capacity to fight as a force has been significantly degraded.

We will continue working hard to ensure that the group is eliminated. This is achievable. And we will not settle for anything less, he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari should not sign the 2016 budget without the inclusion of the N60billion Lagos-Calabar rail project, a federal lawmaker has said.

Rilwan Akanbi, an All Progressives Congress senator representing Oyo South, spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, opposing calls by Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Sabi, on Mr. Buhari to sign the budget as passed by the National Assembly.

Speaking for the Senate after Tuesdays plenary, Mr. Sabi said instead of delaying the take-off of the budget, Mr. Buhari should send a supplementary budget capturing the N60 billion Lagos-Calabar rail to lawmakers later.

But Mr. Akanbi disagreed, arguing that since the project needed external funding, it should not be made to wait for any supplementary budget.

If I were President Buhari, I would not sign the budget because of that rail project, Mr. Akanbi said.

It is a very important project. The project and that of Lagos- Kano are parts of things for which the President is seeking funding in China. The N60 billion sought for the project is just our counterpart funding.

So, since the project involves external funding, it is time-bound and cannot wait for supplementary budget. Otherwise, we will be seen as unserious people to foreign supporter, China in this case.

When the President returns from China, what I expect is that he should return the budget to us (National Assembly) with formal request for inclusion of the project and to any other issues. Amending budget should not take more than one week, Mr. Akanbi said.

He noted that the Senate Committee on Land Transport chaired by Gbenga Ashafa included the project in its report after Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, sent his ministrys supplementary proposal but regretted that the appropriations committee removed the project.

They (Appropriations Committee arrogated too much power to themselves. Why should they remove a project without respect for the concerned committee? Fine! It was omitted earlier but the Minister later brought it and the concerned committee approved the project. They should not have removed and included projects not even proposed at all without even feasibility reports.

So, the President should return the project.
Families of seven officers of the State Security Service have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over the continued absence of the operatives.

In a petition signed on behalf of the families by one Uchechi Obiorah, the families accused the SSS of not coming clean on the whereabouts of the missing officers.

Sir, I need not dramatize my unimaginable mental burden, nor that of my family members, that after four months, the SSS Office cannot inform us on the whereabouts of my own brother who, along with his six colleagues, were sent to work from their Lagos Command on September 15, 2015, Ms. Obiorah, the sister of one of the officers based in the US wrote in the petition dated April 1.

In September last year, about seven SSS operatives were reportedly shot in an ambush by pipelines vandals at the Arepo area of Ogun State.

The incident happened barely three weeks after four police officers were reportedly shot by pipeline vandals at Ikorodu.

The bodies of the dead police officers were suspected to have been taken away by the vandals.

But the families said the operatives were on a mission to rescue the kidnapped wife of the deputy Managing Director of The Sun newspapers.

Since then till now, no word or any form of contact from the seven of them till today, while the woman was released two days later by the kidnappers, said Chigozie Nwafor, whose brother, Uzoh, left behind a wife and two kids.

The SSS never issued an official account of the incident that led to the disappearance of its operatives.

Vanguard newspaper quoted sources within the agency as saying that those killed were police officers, and not SSS operatives.

The families of the missing officers said at the time of the incident, a director at the SSS, identified as Mr. Ajanaku, told them the operatives were kidnapped in the line of duty and that they were negotiating their release.

At other times, the director said the military and the Navy have taken over the matter, Ms. Obiorah said.

The question is: How could the military and Navy take over the investigation of a kidnap case of highly placed senior officers of SSS when they (the SSS) are adept at cracking high profile kidnap cases.

The families also accused the SSS of a conspiracy of silence, and abandoning the operatives wives and children.

It will amount to total blackmail and a most unforgiving case of transgression should the SSS permanently silence them by keeping silent on their matter ad infinitum, the petition read.

These missing guys are human beings with wives and children yet they are being treated like common animals.

This a show of aggressive impunity and corrosive erosion of professionalism and must be rejected by well-meaning Nigerians.

The families called on Mr. Buhari to compel the SSS to inform Nigerians on the present state of the missing operatives, as well as commence an investigation into the incident.

They also urged the president to compel the agency to make the salaries and entitlements of the missing officers available to their families, and take full responsibility of their needs since it claimed they were on official duty.
Ex-Governor Idris Wada of Kogi on Wednesday told the State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja that he won the 2015 governorship election in the state.

The former governor contested the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Mr. Wada spoke through one of his witnesses, Joe Agada, the PDP Chief Agent at INEC collation centre in Lokoja, while opening his defence.

The witness was led in evidence by Chris Uche (SAN), counsel to Mr. Wada.

Mr. Agada said Wada won the election with 204, 877 votes against 6,885 scored by Governor Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said Mr. Bello could not inherit vote scored by late Audu Abubakar, who was until his death, the governorship candidate of APC in the election.

Mr. Agada said late Audu scored 240, 867 on November 21 governorship election but died 7.45 a.m. on Nov. 22, 2015 before the election could be concluded.

The witness further stated that the APC had no valid candidate for the supplementary election because at the time Bello was substituted, the statutory time allowed for substitution had elapsed.

Mr. Wada scored 199, 514 on Nov. 2, 2015 election, while he polled 5,363 in the supplementary election on Dec. 5, 2015.

In the Nov. 21, late Audu scored 240, 867, while Mr. Bello who substituted him received 6,885 vote in the Dec. 5 election.

Mr. Agada said that with the figure polled by Bello, he could not be said to have won the election.

The witness, under cross examination, also maintained that the vote cast for late Abubakar Audu remained void after he died.

Mr. Agada further argued that Mr. Bello did not participate in the Nov. 21 governorship election as he had no permanent voter card.

According to him, none of the candidates won at the time the election was declared inconclusive by INEC.

Meanwhile, the tribunal admitted as exhibits, Mr. Agadas statement on oath, result sheets from the 2,548 polling units in the state, voter register and PDPs protest letter to INEC.

Other documents admitted by the tribunal were the witnesss party membership card, voter card and letter of his appointment as PDP chief agent at INEC coalition centre.

Another witness, Samuel Oduntan, testified that he carried out a forensic analysis of the election material and discovered that there was over voting.

He, however, said he could not remember the numbers of ballot papers he scanned, adding that he was the team leader of the forensic expert, who signed report presented to the court.

(NAN)
ActionAid Nigeria, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) has raised concerns that some of the tax incentives granted to companies in Nigeria are not serving their purposes.

The Deputy Country Director, Ifeoma Charles-Monwuba, said this on Wednesday in Abuja while addressing a news conference on tax incentives and implications for development in Nigeria.

The conference was addressed alongside other CSOs and stakeholders.

She said the concerns were due to facts that emerged from studies conducted on the nature of incentives granted to foreign investors or companies operating in Nigeria.

She commended the motives of the government in granting the incentives but said that it was increasingly difficult to overlook the downsides of many of them.

Some of these incentives have since been found to be unnecessary, excessive and unproductive.

Furthermore, the studies have since shown that most of the assumptions on which tax incentives were granted are wrong and misguided.

It is contrary to the assumptions that the incentives aid transfer of technology and help in building local capacity.

It is evident that the nation in no way has benefited in comparable measure to justify continued granting of some of these incentives.

She said the incentives had a negative impact on the economy, causing the nation to lose about N577 billion annually.

Charles-Monwuba also noted that granting of incentives to large multi-national corporations impeded the growth of the local industry.

This, she said, was because the large corporations, especially those operating in free trade zones, were given unnecessary advantage thereby killing the small scale industries.

She, however, called on the Federal Government to appraise and evaluate the current regime of incentives in view of current duplicity of roles and existence of many locations where incentives were negotiated.

We hereby recommend to the Federal Government that there should be in place an inter-agency framework for engaging tax incentives and policy harmonisation.

She also urged the Federal Government to take a lead role in ensuring regional integration and cohesion among African countries for a new UN tax body.

She said it would give developing countries more leverage to negotiate the terms of their tax agreements and ensure proper monitoring of tax practices.

As part of recommendations, she said multi-national companies should be transparent by reporting their profits, sales, assets and number of employees and tax payments to governments in countries where they operated.

The country director called for investigation of individuals and corporations mentioned in the Panama leak documents.

(NAN)
A pregnant mother in Abuja faces criminal charges for a vicious early morning attack on her 16-year-old house help, whom she attacked with steaming water for waking late.

Kemi Egbukole, 36, poured boiling water on Hope David, badly burning her breasts, neighbours and officials said.

Police said Mrs. Egbukole, 36, would be charged after investigations are concluded.

Mrs. Egbukole is being investigated for child abuse and trafficking offences by the Police, National Human Rights

Commission and National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP.

The mother of two said she attacked Hope because she failed to wake up early. She had earlier denied responsibility for the assault.

According to the Deputy Director, Protection and Investigations, National Human Rights Commission, Lambert Oparah, Mrs. Egbukole later admitted the attack, but claimed it was an accident, and that Hope was immediately taken for medical treatment.

Mr. Oparah however noted that the medication given to Hope was faulty.

She was taken to a chemist, they put plasters around her breast which was not quite good, he said.

Neighbours at Minta 1 Estate, Lokogoma, Abuja, where the family lives, said Mrs. Egbukole had been a notorious child abuser, who repeatedly attacked Hope with dangerous objects including rods.

The latest attack happened on March 3, they said.

Testimonies of a neighbour

One of the neighbours who reported the matter to the National Human Rights Commission and the National Agency for the prohibition of Trafficking in Persons told PREMIUM TIMES that she took the decision after seeing the serious injury inflicted on Hopes breast.

The neighbour told PREMIUM TIMES that she was startled by Hopes screaming on March 3 morning, when the girl ran out from her home.

She ran out of the house and came to my side, the neighbour said. Mrs. Egbukole was still trying to flog her with a mop stick.

The neighbour said she followed similar treatments by Mrs. Egbukole on Hope for the two years the girl lived with Egbukoles.

The neighbour said at first she thought Hope was attacked with pepper or cold water as in the past.

I thought it was just water and pepper, or something, until the girl screamed back again in my room and I shouted, What! the breast has pilled already.

So I shouted and said Come you did this thing to this girl and you still want to flog her again?

I will report you to the police and NAPTIP; at that point she started begging and immediately she started telling lies, the neighbour said.

Mrs. Egbukole claimed Hope poured herself water, according to a neighbour.

But the woman had a history of abusing the girl, the neighbour said, citing how Mrs. Egbukole a day earlier had hit Hope with a curtain rail, injuring her in the head.

Hopes journey to Abuja

Mr. Oparah said the commission suspected Hope was trafficked to Abuja.

He quoted Mrs. Egbukole, who refused to speak to PREMIUM TIMES, as saying that the girl was handed to her by a pastor who usually supplied girls from Nasarawa State to Abuja residents seeking house helps.

She said she does not know the girls parents, Mr. Oparah said.

According to Mr. Oparah, the commission immediately reported the matter to the Commissioner of Police, Abuja, who directed further investigations on the matter.

He said the investigation revealed that Mrs. Egbukole will most likely be charged for abuse of the Child Rights Act, 2003.

The Child Rights Act clearly states the responsibility of parents or wards, as well as government or other agencies involved; regarding the dignity of the child, as well as the childs right to

adequate health and health services, which have both been abused in this case, he said.

PREMIUM TIMES reached Mrs. Egbukole and her husband but they refused to speak about the matter.

The police said the duo had been at the FCT police command for interrogation and would be required to return intermittently till the end of the investigation.

The Abuja police spokesperson, Manzah Adjuguri, said Mrs. Egbukole told the police that the pastor who allegedly brought Hope from Nasarawa was her uncle.

He said the police were yet to contact the girls parents. He however assured the matter will be charged after investigation.

It is a matter of concern to the command based on the rate of injuries that has been sustained by the girl. And for us, here at the command, justice must take its full course, he stated.

Mr. Adjuri said the command was still in touch with Hope and following her recovery at NAPTIPs shelter.

The spokesperson of NAPTIP, Joshua Emerole, said Hope would remain under the agencys care until the end of the investigation.

According to Mr. Emerole, Mrs. Egbukole will face other charges including the violation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, 2015.
Three Boko Haram commanders were on Monday captured by Nigerian troops and the Multinational Joint Task Force from Cameroon during a joint military operation along Nigeria-Cameroon border.

The Boko Haram commanders  Lawal Abba, Mallam Hisna and Mallam Gana  were captured in Shatte, Bulla Jaja and Bula Burra towns, the military said.

The troops also killed 22 other terrorists, and rescued 1,275 persons that were held hostage, according to information released on Tuesday by the Nigerian army.

The troops cleared some towns and adjoining settlements, namely Nbaga, Bula, Dabube, Ybiri, Greya and Suduwa, said to have been occupied by fleeing Boko Haram terrorists who had escaped from villages previously cleared by the Nigerian army.

The operation swept through more than 10 suspected Boko Haram hideouts along the border.

Meanwhile, the army has asked Nigerians to be vigilant and security conscious, as Boko Haram terrorists were fleeing Sambisa forest due to aerial bombardments and ground assaults.

The public are please requested to be observant and report any suspicious persons or group of persons to the military or any of the security agencies to enable timely detection and apprehension of the fleeing insurgents before they mingle with the society and commit havoc, the army said.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday advised Nigerians to lower their expectations of his government, saying there is no quick fix for Nigerias gargantuan problems.

Speaking in Beijing, China, at a meeting with members of the Nigerian Community in China, Mr. Buhari said it would take some painful, long steps to reverse the damage done to the country in the past years.

We hear proposals for short cuts or quick wins, Femi Adesina, special adviser on media and publicity, quoted the president as saying. However, all we need to do is look at our history to know that there are no quick wins or short cuts in fixing Nigeria. The many decades of damage and destruction cannot be repaired overnight.

Clearly, our vision of a diversified and inclusive economy will not be achieved overnight. It will be a long, and in some cases, painful journey. I am very confident we will get there. But we must start that journey now.

The reform program we are implementing is not because oil prices are below $45 per barrel today. It is because when oil prices were over $100 per barrel, majority of Nigerians were still suffering. They were simply forgotten and left behind. So, our reforms are to ensure that the majority of Nigerians are not left behind.

President Buhari also reaffirmed his total commitment to winning the war against corruption, saying corruption was an arch-enemy of the nation which had destroyed the lives of many Nigerians.

I ask for your support to make our vision of stamping out corruption a reality in the shortest possible time, Mr. Buhari said. Whoever is caught will not be spared.

The government is still being dared, but those who are sensible should have learnt a lesson. Those who are mad, let them continue in their madness.

He also warned vandals and saboteurs blowing up oil and gas installations in Nigeria to desist immediately or face the same drastic action being taken against extremist Boko Haram sect by the Armed Forces.

I am aware that in the last two weeks, the national grid collapsed a number of times. I hope this message will reach the vandals and saboteurs who are blowing up pipelines and installations.

We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram.

Mr. Buhari assured the Nigerian Community that the Federal Government was working very hard to overcome current national challenges and deliver on its promise of a better Nigeria.

President Buhari also assured the Nigerian community that his administration was fulfilling its promise of improving security across the country.

When we came into office in 2015, Boko Haram insurgents occupied 14 Local Government Areas. Today, I am pleased to say the insurgents have been routed out of these local governments and their capacity to fight as a force has been significantly degraded.

We will continue working hard to ensure that the group is eliminated. This is achievable. And we will not settle for anything less, he said.
After lambasting President Muhammadu Buhari for trip to China, Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has also travelled to China to attend the countrys 119th Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair.

The event, scheduled for April 14 and 19, will be staged in Guangzhou.

Justifying the trip, the governors media aide, Lere Olayinka, said on Tuesday that Mr. Fayose had before now travelled out of the country only twice since he assumed office in October 2014, saying his trip to China, which was planned six months ago, would be his third travel outside Nigeria.

Mr. Olayinka argued that his principals trip to China was different from that of the President because Mr. Buharis trip was aimed at borrowing $2 billion, while the governor would use his to secure partnership with prospective Chinese Investors and technical experts without committing the state to any loan.

He said the governor would hold talks with prospective investors on mechanised farming, experts in skill acquisition, particularly training in the area of perfect finishing in building construction as well as experts in auto-repairs and modern technologies.

According to him, the Canton Fair, held biannually in Guangzhou every spring and autumn, with a history of 59 years since 1957, attracts various types of business activities such as economic and technical cooperation and exchanges.

Mr. Olayinka said apart from the scheduled bilateral talks on agriculture, Governor Fayose would also take advantage of the Canton Fair to hold talks with technical experts on training and technological exchange programmes for artisans in the State as part of his plan to get technical support for the proposed Artisans Village to be built in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
Nigerias secret police, the State Security Service on Wednesday said it arrested one Bello Danhajiya, who it described as an associate of Khalid Al-Barnawi, an alleged terrorist kingpin reportedly captured last week.

The SSS said Mr. Danhajiya was Mr. Al-Barnawi second-in-command.

Below is the full press release by the SSS.

DSS Arrests Albarnawis Deputy and Impersonators of Public Officers

You may recall that last week, this Service informed the public of the arrest of Khalid AL-BARNAWI, known for his leadership and notoriety in terrorism activities in Nigeria. Nigerians were also informed of his talent-spotting and recruitment of young people into the Ansaru/Boko Haram terrorist groups. With the arrest of AL-BARNAWI, the Department of State Services (DSS) has made an uncommon success in the decimation of these groups and their leadership. Similarly, the Service wish to inform that it has further arrested Bello DANHAJIYA, a close associate and presumed second in command to AL-BARNAWI.

2. DANHAJIYA is a Fulani from Zamfara State and a strategic accomplice of AL-BARNAWI. Preliminary investigations have disclosed his involvement in gun-running, cattle rustling and other nefarious criminal activities principally on the directives of his commander, AL-BARNAWI. So far, efforts are being made to conclude the investigations and commence prosecution in line with the law.

3. In another development, this Service, worried by the spate of impersonation of government officials and the increasing rate of defrauding of unsuspecting members of the public by some unscrupulous elements, launched detailed investigations aimed at checking the situation. The Service therefore wish to inform the public about the outcome of these successful operations which have led to the apprehension of the following suspects:

i. Aminu ADO (aka Yushau Muhammed Yerima ADAM);

ii. David Ali MICHIKA;

iii. Umar HAMZA;

iv. James Malu AKUNE; and

v. Kazeem Kayode USMAN.

4. Aminu ADO: ADO was arrested on 24th March, 2016 at Keffi Nasarawa State. He confessed to defrauding T.Y. DANJUMA (Lt. Gen/Rtd) of N1m in 2015 and wife of Akwa Ibom State Governor of three Hundred thousand Naira in collaboration with one Hajia AISHA (FNU), who impersonated the wife of former Gombe State Governor, Danjuma GOJE. In addition, he confessed to defrauding members of the public by claiming to be the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the President. Further investigation revealed that ADO had the mobile phone numbers of all the Federal Executive Council (FEC) members, some State Governors, their wives and Aides as well as that of prominent Nigerians and Military/Police Officers.

5. David Ali MICHIKA: Subject is a 43-year old from Jimeta, Adamawa State but resides at Ungogo LGA of Kano State. He once lived in Riyad, Saudi Arabia for ten years as an illegal immigrant until he was deported in 2008. He was arrested in Kano for impersonating the Secretary to the Government of The Federation (SGF). MICHIKA had called several high ranking Government officials soliciting for funds to settle spiritualists (Mallams) for prayers rendered for the success of the APC in the 2015 general election and for peace in the nation.

6. Umar HAMZA: HAMZA is a 39-year old school teacher from Tarauni LGA of Kano State. He was recruited by MICHIKA to act as the spiritualist based in Niger Republic to be paid for the service rendered. He received calls from the victims while pretending to be the spiritualist.

7. James Malu AKUNE: AKUNE is a 40-year old male from Tarka LGA of Benue State. He claims to be a contractor with business interests in China and USA. He paraded himself as the brother to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and defrauded people on false promises of contracts. He equally arranged to get contract for companies from the victim Support Committee for the North-East, headed by T.Y. DANJUMA. Before his arrest, AKUNE called Contractors and promised them appointment with the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

8. Kazeem Kayode USMAN: USMAN was arrested in Lagos on April 12th, 2016. He has been on the trail of security agencies for the impersonation of Abba KYARI, Chief of Staff to the President.

9. It is instructive to note that these suspects opened and operated bank accounts through which they collected various sums of money from their victims. A major revelation to this effect is the haste with which banks opened accounts for prospective customers without ascertaining their genuine personal details. Another noticeable trend is the spread of impersonators who adopt different illegal means to defraud their victims. The public is to take note of this trend and report such suspicion persons to appropriate security agencies.

10. This Service wish to re-emphasize its commitment to the safety of all law abiding citizens and residents and will continue to decisively deal with those who have chosen to be on the wrong side of the law.

Garba ABDULLAHI

For: Tony OPUIYO

Department of State Services,

Abuja.

13th April, 2016.
The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, said it had resolved to reexamine the 2016 budget amid the heated controversy over the Lagos-Calabar rail project.

The Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, disclosed this after lawmakers emerged from a closed-door session.

He said the National Assembly would liaise with the Executive to address areas of concern in the budget.

The fresh budget row began weekend when the President Muhammadu Buharis cabinet said certain projects, including the N60 billion Lagos-Calabar rail, critical for infrastructural focus of the regime, was removed from the budget approved by lawmakers, while projects not proposed at all were added.

The National Assembly insisted the Lagos-Calabar rail project was not included in the budget, and could not have been removed since it was not proposed in the first place.

But the Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, Gbenga Ashafa, said although the controversial project was not in the original project, it was captured in a supplementary proposal by the Transport Ministry and was passed to the Appropriations Committee for inclusion.

On Tuesday, the Senate asked Mr. Buhari to sign the budget and then send a supplementary budget later to capture the rail project.

But the House has a different position.

In view of the prevailing economic situation and in in the interest of our people, we have resolved to re examine the budget with a view of ironing out any differences with the executive, Mr. Dogara said.

This position was further reiterated by the House spokesperson, Abdulrazaq Namdas, after Wednesdays plenary.

We were fully briefed by the Chairman appropriation committee and we agreed as a chamber, as a House delegated the Speaker to please go ahead and engage the executive to identify the areas of concern and that he should report back to us with the hope that these things in the national interest and see that this country move forward, he said, while addressing journalists.

He added, There are issues in particular, the Calabar Lagos Rail project that has been in the media. I want to reiterate here for the second time that the project was not among the project submitted by the President to the National Assembly.

We are not saying that as a House that the Calabar Lagos rail project is not good, we know it is a viable project.

Our own area of concern is that what people say that this thing was in the budget and we removed it. That is why we are making these clarification and again I want to state it clearly up till now as I speak there is no communication from the executive, the President to the National Assembly as I speak about the budget.

All that we read in the media are other peoples opinions but Mr President has not come out clearly on this and this is my problem with the budget that has been passed because as we were told, the budget has been taken back to the ministries for them to examine and get back to the president.
A United States lawmaker has raised concerns over the World Banks role in funding and promoting water privatization across the world.

Gwen Moore (Representative, Wisconsin) in a letter to the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, stated that the Banks lending arm, the International Finance Corporation, had not adequately monitored the conflicts of interest created when it takes equity stake in water corporations.

I am increasingly uneasy with water resource privatization in developing countries and do not believe that the current ring-fencing policies separating the investment and advising functions of the IFC are adequate, said Moore, a Ranking Member of the Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee.

I would respectfully urge the WBG and IFC to cease promoting and funding privatization of water resources, including so-called public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the water sector, until there has been a robust outside evaluation of the IFCs conflicts policy and practices and an opportunity for additional congressional hearings on the subject.

Last month, dozens of women marched around Lagos protesting a purported plan by the state government to privatize the public water works.

The state government, however, said it was only reforming the water corporation.

In her letter, dated April 12th, Ms. Moore said the IFCs involvement in the large-scale privatization of water in Manila, Philippines, was an improper mingling of its advisory and investment functions.

The implications of this conflict go beyond Manila, as the IFC has promoted the Manila case as a flagship model to be emulated around the world, including in Africa, where it has led to IFC advisory contracts in Benin and Mozambique and informed a widely opposed privatization scheme in Lagos, Nigeria, the lawmaker said.

It is therefore important that the WBG address my concerns and take a renewed evaluation and analysis of its conflicts policy.

For these reasons, I would urge the WBG, including the IFC, to cease promoting privatization of water resources until there has been a robust outside evaluation of the IFC conflicts policy and practices.

In 2014, a Nigerian environment advocacy group, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) launched a campaign Our Water, Our Right, aimed at halting the Lagos State governments planned privatization of water infrastructure.

But the state government continually defended its position, insisting that it was engaging the private sector in a Public-Private Partnership arrangement.

Ms. Moores letter to the World Bank comes amidst calls by ERA/FoEN to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to publicly declare its stand on the controversial PPP in the water sector, which the World Bank said it cancelled following pressures from civil society and labour groups.

Rep Moores correspondence is not only timely, it also captures the very questionable role played by the World Bank in denying the largest segment of society which cannot pay the fundamental right to a free gift of nature, said Akinbode Oluwafemi, ERA/FoENs Deputy Director.

We insist that the Lagos government reject contracts designed by, involving, or influenced by the IFC, which operates to maximize private profit and develop a comprehensive plan for achieving universal access to clean water in the state.

This must be done in concert and with the full consent of the people. PPPs are not democratically designed. They are unacceptable.
Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has called on the Federal Government to set up a commission of inquiry to look into crude oil theft amounting to N5.8 trillion under the previous administration.

The governor, who made the call on Wednesday in Osogbo, while receiving members of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR).

The governor also received a letter from the group for onward transmission to President Muhammadu Buhari.

He commended the CDHR for joining President Muhammadu Buhari in his commitment to recover the resources of the country stolen by corrupt public officers.

The CDHR in its letter to the President made suggestions on the need to ensure the recovered looted funds were properly utilized.

The group also highlighted some of the ordeals being faced by the masses, urging the President to take urgent steps to address them.

Mr. Aregbesola, however, noted that in the effort to recover stolen funds, the Buhari administration must not overlook the area of crude oil theft under the watch of PDP administration.

He stated that the present administration would be doing the nation good by setting up an inquiry into how four hundred thousand barrels of crude oil was stolen without being by security agencies in the country.

In the middle of 2013 a party at the helms of affairs of our country told us that four hundred thousand barrels of crude oil were stolen on a regular basis for 24 months, we never heard that it stopped for that period, he said.

What we have lost is N5.8 trillion to an unprotected crude oil theft in 24 months. We can imagine how many roads, schools and quality of electricity we could get from such amount.

I am not underestimating your demands but you still need to add to your demand requesting how the country lost 400,000 barrels of crude oil everyday.

The governor urged CDHR to be vehement in condemning corruption and to embark on campaign that would charge Nigerians to be productive.

Aside from corruption, what is actually affecting the country is low productivity, as we are condemning corruption, we should also charge ourselves to be productive. We should be able to earn our living as a people,  the governor said.

I promise to deliver this your letter to the President when he comes back from China and I will let him know how passionate you are on the war against corruption.

Speaking earlier, the state Chairman of CDHR, Akinkunmi Asifat, said recovered looted funds should not be looted again.

He urged government to use the recovered funds to alleviate the sufferings of the masses by building social infrastructure.

The CDHR boss condemned the continued pillaging of the Nigerian treasury and the total black out enveloping the country.

We are in darkness despite all the money claimed to have been spent on electricity. We have come to bring a letter to Mr. Governor to help us transmit to Mr. President, Mr. Asifat said.

The masses are tired of what is happening. Things are not well in the country And we cant continue to pretend.

Fuel is being sold for N250. Nigeria belongs to Nigerians, we have the collective ownership of this country.
R Sridharan, president of AIPIMA and Vimal Mehra, past-president of AIPIMA, in this interaction, say, the association is doing all it can to...
By PrintWeek Team

All eyes are on the Awards Night of the 12th edition of the PrintWeek Awards to be held at the Grand Hyatt (Santacruz East, Mumbai) on 2 Nov...
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.




ATLANTA, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

A group of American Jewish children visiting Azerbaijan, a Muslim nation wedged between Russia and Iran, praised the country's "religious tolerance" upon their return to Atlanta in the United States.

16-year old Mayaan Schoen pointed out Azerbaijan's warm society and open culture. "Azerbaijan is a prime example of religious tolerance, where Muslims, Jews and other religions peacefully co-exist," she said.

Five children, aged 13 to 17 years from the Atlanta Jewish Academy, travelled to Azerbaijan, accompanied by Rabbi Reuven Travis and Jewish community leader George Birnbaum.

"We live in a turbulent world, full of strife and violence based on religious differences," Birnbaum said. "Azerbaijan is really a model of what former Soviet and current Muslim countries should look like: still true to their culture and heritage, yet open to the West with tolerance and great freedoms."

"I walked around everywhere with the kipa on my head, feeling perfectly at ease," said Rabbi Travis. "There are cities in Europe where I wouldn't wear a kipa. I would be very fearful. But in Azerbaijan, my students and I just felt at home."

The trip was facilitated on the ground by The European Azerbaijan Society or TEAS, which arranged logistics as well as the sightseeing itinerary, which led the Jewish group from the Old City in the capital of Baku to the ancient rock paintings in Gobustan and the home of the mountain Jews in Guba.

"I do believe the kids learned a lot about Azerbaijani history and culture," said TEAS Chairman Tale Heydarov. "Azerbaijan is a beacon of religious tolerance in the region. Muslims, Jews and Christians live side by side in peace and harmony."

Yevda Abraamov, a member of the Azerbaijani parliament or Milli Majlis, accompanied the Jewish visitors to Guba. "Situated along the Silk Route at the crossroads between East and West, Azerbaijan has historically welcomed travellers and merchants," he said. "That tradition of hospitality and tolerance continues until today."

The trip has been so successful that the project may be repeated every year, while creating a similar program to bring Azerbaijani students to the U.S.

"It is our hope that over the long term, this type of project will yield wonderful results as the children grow into adults and create opportunities for business, politics, education and more between the two countries," Birnbaum said.

Jonathan Nooriel, 16 years old, concluded: "We have created a friendship bridge. Muslims and Jews can get along, work with one another and stand for peace around the world."

SOURCE Atlanta Jewish Academy
TROMS, Norway, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In a historic move at their annual meeting, the delegates of the Arctic Economic Council (AEC) adopted foundational documents that set the stage for engagement with the AEC and provide strategic direction for the organization.

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These documents include its rules of procedure, three-year strategic plan, membership dues as well as membership terms and conditions. This milestone was reached through participation and/or input from the following countries and organizations:

Finland

Russia

Canada

Iceland

Denmark

United States

Norway

Sweden

Inuit Circumpolar Council

Gwichi'in Council International

Aleut International Association

Saami Council

Tara Sweeney, AEC chair, commented, "These actions are truly historic. Leadership came together to carve the path for economic growth in the Arctic. I am proud to report that the AEC is open for business!" Complimenting Norway, Sweeney further shared, "Norway has been a gracious host and partner to the AEC. From the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Norwegian business community, the AEC has the best support. Thank you, Norway."

Erling Kvadsheim, head of AEC Norway, said, "Norway is proud to serve as the home of the AEC Secretariat. We congratulate the AEC on strengthening the foundation of the organization with the ratification of its strategic documents."

AEC vice-chair from Finland, Tero Vauraste remarked, "The AEC made yet another concrete step forward in setting the strategy for the next three years."

"These landmark decisions provide an avenue for businesses beyond the Arctic region to engage with the AEC," said Evgeny Ambrosov, AEC vice-chair from Russia.

ABOUT THE AEC

The AEC is a business forum established to facilitate Arctic business-to-business activities, promote responsible economic development and provide a circumpolar business perspective to the work of the Arctic Council. The inaugural meeting was held in September 2014 in Iqaluit, Nunavut Canada. It has a 42-member board from eight Arctic states and six permanent participant organizations. Finland will assume the chairmanship from the U.S. in 2017. www.arcticeconomiccouncil.com

CONTACT: ANU FREDRIKSON

Director, AEC Secretariat

anu@arcticeconomiccouncil.com

Related Links

http://www.arcticeconomiccouncil.com



SOURCE Arctic Economic Council
DUBLIN, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Qatar Masterbatch Market By Type (White, Black, Additive and Color), By Application (Blown Film Packaging Plastic, Roto Molded Builders Plastic and Cables), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021" report to their offering.

According to this Research report Qatar Masterbatch Market By Type, By Application, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021, the masterbatch market in Qatar is projected to reach US$ 23.28 million by 2021.

Qatar is a niche plastic processing industry with total of 57 processors, of which only 35%-40% processors use masterbatch.

Qatar masterbatch market is highly import driven with Qatar Plastic Additives Company (QPAC) being one of the leading domestic manufacturers. Saudi Arabia, UAE, India, etc. are few of the prime exporters of masterbatch to Qatar. Over the last five years, masterbatch market in Qatar witnessed introduction of high-quality, standardized masterbatch that are being increasingly used in construction, plastic, fiber and agriculture industries.

Volume growth in masterbatch market in Qatar is anticipated on account of rising demand from processors using blown film extrusion process for manufacturing plastic sheets or films. In addition to blown film extrusion process, anticipated increase in roto molding process for manufacturing storage tanks and builders plastic, and single or twin screw extrusion process for cable manufacturing are also expected to increase demand for masterbatch in the country over the next five years.

In 2015, Qatar masterbatch market was dominated by white masterbatch, in volume terms, followed by black, additive and color masterbatch. Few of the major masterbatch companies operating in Qatar include Qatar Plastic Additives Company, Clariant, A.Schulman, Juffali PolyOne, Cabot, and Astra Polymers.

Market Trends & Developments

Growing Demand for Builders Plastic

Rising Investments in Petrochemical Downstream Sector

Increasing Focus on Plastic Recycling

Growing Demand for Biodegradable Plastic

Implementation of Green Buildings Initiatives

Key Topics Covered:

1. Research Methodology

2. Analyst View

3. Product Overview

4. Middle East & Africa Masterbatch Market Overview

5. Qatar Polymer Industry Overview

6. Qatar Masterbatch Market Outlook

7. Qatar White Masterbatch Market Outlook

8. Qatar Black Masterbatch Market Outlook

9. Qatar Additive Masterbatch Market Outlook

10. Qatar Color Masterbatch Market Outlook

11. Market Dynamics

12. Market Trends & Developments

13. Policy & Regulatory Landscape

14. Qatar Economic Profile

15. Competitive Landscape

- Al Zhoor Plastic Factory

- Astra Polymers Compounding Co., Ltd.

- Cabot Performance Products FZE

- Clariant Masterbatches (Saudi Arabia)

- EnerPlastics LLC

- Hubron International

- Ingenia Polymers Corp.

- Juffali PolyOne Masterbatch Co., Ltd.

- Qatar Plastic Additives Company (QPAC)

- Schulman Inc.

For more information visit

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f4bbjm/qatar_masterbatch

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Related Links

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SOURCE Research and Markets
SAN JOSE, Calif., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Vormetric, a Thales company, and a leader in enterprise data protection for physical, virtual, big data, and cloud environments, today announced the results of the Healthcare Edition of the 2016 Vormetric Data Threat Report (DTR). The report is issued in conjunction with analyst firm 451 Research, reporting responses from 1,100 senior IT security executives at large enterprises worldwide, including over 100 in U.S. healthcare organizations. This edition of the fourth annual report extends earlier findings of the global report, focusing on responses from IT security leaders in healthcare, which details IT security spending plans, perceptions of threats to data, rates of data breach failures and data security stances. Key findings:

96 percent feel vulnerable to data threats

63 percent have experienced a past data breach, with nearly one in five indicating a breach in the last year

At 61 percent, meeting compliance requirements was the top IT security spending priority, with preventing data breaches well behind at 40 percent

Complexity at 54 percent and lack of staff at 38 percent are identified as top barriers to adoption of better data security

Bright spots include 60 percent increasing spending to offset threats to data and 46 percent increasing spending on data-at-rest defenses this year

ClickToTweet: Healthcare focuses on #compliance (61%) ahead of #DataBreach (40%) http://bit.ly/1Oe1Civ

Healthcare data has become a prime target for cybercriminals. With records selling for hundreds of dollars, it's no wonder healthcare professionals feel they are in a cybercriminal's crosshairs. When asked about concerns with external threat actors, 72 percent chose cybercriminals as a top three selection, 39 percent as the number one selection.

Compliance continues to drive healthcare organizations  But compliance is not enough

With adherence to a myriad of federal and industry regulations as well as compliance standards creating a minimum requirement for doing business, it's no surprise that IT security professionals in the healthcare field are focused on meeting compliance requirements including HIPAA-HITECH, EPCS, PCI DSS and FDA CFR Title 21. With this in mind, the top three reasons to secure sensitive data were:

Compliance (61 percent)

Reputation and brand (49 percent)

Implementing security best practices (46 percent)

The problem? 69 percent of U.S. healthcare respondents view meeting compliance requirements as a 'very' or 'extremely' effective way to protect sensitive data, yet slow moving compliance standards consistently fail to stop today's multi-phase attacks.

"Compliance is only a step towards Healthcare IT security," said Garrett Bekker, senior analyst, information security at 451 Research and the author of the report. "As we learned from data theft incidents at healthcare organizations that were reportedly HIPAA compliant, being compliant doesn't necessarily mean you won't be breached and have your sensitive data stolen."

Times have changed  security strategies, not so much

"IT security professionals are spending heavily on what has worked for them in the past," said Bekker. "They are continuing to invest in defenses like network and endpoint security offerings that offer little help in protecting data once perimeters have been breached."

79 percent rated network defenses as 'very' or 'extremely effective' at protecting data, and 64 percent rated endpoint and mobile defenses

The top category for increased spending over the next 12 months among healthcare respondents? Network defenses at 49 percent

What's keeping healthcare professionals from implementing data security?

A perception of complexity was identified as the number one barrier to adopting data security widely, selected by 54 percent of healthcare respondents. To some extent, this may be a misconception, as modern data security solutions no longer have the deployment and maintenance problems of older solutions that respondents may be familiar with.

Complex deployments also typically require significant staffing, and 'lack of staff to manage' came in as the second highest barrier at 38 percent, followed by lack of organizational buy in at 33 percent and lack of budget at 30 percent.

IoT, Cloud and Big Data challenge healthcare IT security practices

IoT: With more work being done on mobile devices by medical professionals, and more connected wearables for general health and outpatient use, this is becoming a prime area of concern for the future of healthcare. Data needs protecting on the device, in transit as well as within backend repositories and analysis sites.

38 percent of healthcare organizations are planning to store sensitive data in IoT environments

Their number one concern? Privacy violations related to IoT data (37 percent) and protection of IoT data (36 percent)

Cloud: Healthcare providers have many concerns with cloud usage but are storing sensitive data at breakneck speed. Top concerns included:

Privileged user abuse at the cloud provider level (74 percent)

Meeting compliance requirements (72 percent)

And security breaches at the cloud provider level (69 percent)

Even so, 48 percent will use Software as a Service (SaaS) environments, 52 percent Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and 52 percent Platform as a Service (PaaS) resources within the next 12 months.

Encrypting data and maintaining local control over keys was the number one factor that would increase healthcare respondents' willingness to use public cloud, at 48 percent of responses.

Big Data: 51 percent of respondents were planning to store sensitive data within these environments, but few were worried. In spite of this high level of use with sensitive data, only 15 percent regard big-data implementations as presenting a top three risk for loss of sensitive information.

Getting some things right

A number of positive results indicate that healthcare organizations are taking steps in the right direction to recognize and deal with the problem.

60 percent are increasing spending to protect sensitive data

46 percent, more than any other vertical, plan to invest in data-at-rest defenses this year

46 percent are looking to implement data security to follow industry best practices

Many are planning to implement 'newer' security tools that are more effective at protecting data even when other defenses have been compromised. These include cloud security gateways (39 percent), Security Event and Information Management (SIEM) systems (36 percent), tokenization (35 percent) and data access monitoring (34 percent)

"With the boom in black market sales of healthcare data, the potential for financial harm to patients' privacy and security from inadequately protected data is growing fast," said Tina Stewart, vice president of marketing for Vormetric. "Yet compliance requirements that can't completely safeguard data continue to be the driver for healthcare industry IT security practices. For healthcare organizations, they now have to prioritize the safety of patient data and privacy as part of patient care, and realize that meeting compliance requirements is only a start."

The research report is available from Vormetric and can be found here.

About 451 Research

451 Research is a preeminent information technology research and advisory company. With a core focus on technology innovation and market disruption, we provide essential insight for leaders of the digital economy. More than 100 analysts and consultants deliver that insight via syndicated research, advisory services and live events to over 1,000 client organizations in North America, Europe and around the world. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in New York, 451 Research is a division of The 451 Group.

About Vormetric, a Thales company

Vormetric's comprehensive high-performance data protection platform helps companies move confidently and quickly. Our seamless and scalable platform is the most effective way to protect data wherever it residesany file, database and application, in any server environment. Advanced transparent encryption, powerful access controls and centralized key management let organizations encrypt everything efficiently, with minimal disruption. Regardless of content, database or applicationwhether physical, virtual or in the cloudVormetric Data Security enables confidence, speed and trust by encrypting the data that builds business. Vormetric Data Security was recently acquired by Thales Group and is now a Thales company.

Please visit: www.vormetric.com and find us on Twitter @Vormetric.

About Thales

Thales is a global technology leader for the Aerospace, Transport, Defence and Security markets. With 62,000 employees in 56 countries, Thales reported sales of 14 billion in 2015. With over 22,000 engineers and researchers, Thales has a unique capability to design and deploy equipment, systems and services to meet the most complex security requirements. Its exceptional international footprint allows it to work closely with its customers all over the world.

Positioned as a value-added systems integrator, equipment supplier and service provider, Thales is one of Europe's leading players in the security market. The Group's security teams work with government agencies, local authorities and enterprise customers to develop and deploy integrated, resilient solutions to protect citizens, sensitive data and critical infrastructure.

Drawing on its strong cryptographic capabilities, Thales is a global leader in data protection and one of the world leaders in cybersecurity products and solutions for defence, critical infrastructure and telecommunication operators, industrial and financial companies. Covering the entire cybersecurity chain, Thales offers a comprehensive range of services and solutions that includes: cybersecurity consulting and testing, cyber-secured software centric system design / development / integration and certification, provision and through-life management of data protection products and services, secured IT outsourcing and cloud computing solutions, as well as managed security services based on our network of Security Operation Centers in France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

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SOURCE Vormetric

Related Links

http://www.vormetric.com


WASHINGTON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a new AARP survey released today, 8 in 10 say that taking a stand on Social Security is a basic threshold for Presidential leadership. The survey of likely voters age 50+ also shows nearly 40% are dissatisfied with their retirement savings and nearly half of voters worry they won't be able to achieve their financial goals over the next five years (49%). 4 in 10 (40%) still don't know for certain which party's presidential candidate they'll choose in the 2016 general election.

"Almost every African American voter aged 50+ said leadership is a very important quality in a president," said Edna Kane-Williams, AARP's Vice President of Multicultural Markets. "Laying out a plan to make Social Security financially sound and adequate is a test of how the candidates will lead. With so many older voters undecided, candidates who fail to tell voters where they stand on Social Security do so at their own risk."

For African American voters, 63 percent of the survey takers think it is essential for presidential candidates to lay out their plans to update Social Security for future generations. This was true across party lines, as 78 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of Republicans, and 77 percent of Independent voters want to see a plan. It was also true for both African American and Hispanic/Latino voters, with 87 percent of African Americans and 83 percent of Hispanic/Latino voters wanting to see a plan in action. Additionally, 83 percent of all voters said it was very important that the government take action on Social Security.

More Economic Anxiety Ahead for African Americans

More than half of voters surveyed have economic anxiety, rating the national economy as performing poorly (55%). At home, just a quarter of voters are very satisfied (26%) with their financial situation, while nearly 3 in 10 (29%) are very or somewhat dissatisfied with their financial situation. 40 % of African Americans voters are worried or concerned about being able to achieve their economic and financial goals. Less than a quarter (22%) are very satisfied with their retirement savings and nearly 4 in 10 (37%) are somewhat or very dissatisfied with their retirement savings. 6 in 10 (62%) feel that gridlock in Washington has had an impact on their personal financial situation.

"Dissatisfaction with the level of retirement savings only increases the importance of presidential candidates taking a stand on Social Security," added Kane-Williams. "If our leaders fail to act, future retirees could lose up to $10,000 per year in Social Security benefits."

Late last year before the Presidential primaries AARP launched Take a Stand, a national accountability campaign demanding on behalf of all voters that presidential candidates take a stand on their plans to update Social Security. AARP expects every presidential candidate to lay out their plans to make Social Security financially sound and adequate so current and future generations can receive the benefits they've earned.

For more information, please visit www.2016takeastand.org. For complete results of AARP voter surveys, please visit www.aarp.org/50plusvoter.

Methodology

A total of 1,659 likely 2016 general election voters age 50 and older were interviewed by Hart Research Associates and GS Strategy Group from February 27 through March 6, 2016, via landlines and cell phones. This total includes oversample interviews among African-American/Black and Hispanic/Latino likely voters age 50 and over for a total of 420 African Americans/blacks and 427 Hispanic/Latinos. The margins of error are 3.0 percentage points for the full sample, 4.8 among African-Americans, 4.8 among Hispanics/Latinos.

About AARP

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, with a membership of nearly 38 million that helps people turn their goals and dreams into 'Real Possibilities' by changing the way America defines aging. With staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, AARP works to strengthen communities and promote the issues that matter most to families such as healthcare security, financial security and personal fulfillment. AARP also advocates for individuals in the marketplace by selecting products and services of high quality and value to carry the AARP name. As a trusted source for news and information, AARP produces the world's largest circulation magazine, AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to political campaigns or candidates. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org or follow @aarp and our CEO @JoAnn_Jenkins on Twitter.

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SOURCE AARP

Related Links

http://www.aarp.org


AUSTIN, Texas, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- While carrier-led deployments account for more than 47% of in-building wireless deployments today and vendor-led deployments sit close to only 10%, third-party/neutral hosts control close to 43% of overall market deployment revenue and are set to grow that share to over 54% by 2020. ABI Research, the leader in transformative technology innovation market intelligence, anticipates that the industry will see a larger concentration of neutral hosts funding enterprise projects in the years ahead.

"Commercial property owners, such as real-estate companies or enterprises, are taking more responsibility for in-building wireless systems and provisioning their own buildings," says Nick Marshall, Research Director at ABI Research. "Subscribers and employees expect wireless coverage and capacity the same as they expect running water or electricity from a building. In-building wireless is increasingly viewed as business-critical and is becoming a major marketing tool for building and venue owners."

As carriers transfer assets to neutral host companies, such as Crown Castle, carrier-led ownership will decline worldwide, with tower companies taking on the bulk of the in-building wireless business. ABI Research forecasts that carrier-led deployment share will drop to less than 29% by 2020, with third-party/neutral host share increasing to hold a majority share and venue-led to 17%. "Enterprises are funding more in-building wireless projects on their own, as they see the associated benefits, including increased employee productivity, customer satisfaction, and higher property and lease revenues," continues Marshall.

Specifically in regards to a venue-led model, benefits to the enterprise include complete control of the Distributed Antenna System (DAS) network, the ability to customize the DAS network, and the rights to engage with a third-party/neutral host that will operate, manage, monitor, and repair the DAS network as needed. Challenges will occur however, and venues can expect to work to overcome several obstacles including capital constraints and limited resources.

"Since in-building wireless is often outside the core skillset of the venue's IT staff, the venue will often engage with a third-party or system integrator to design, build, operate, and maintain the DAS," concludes Marshall. "Ultimately, the requirements of the individual venue have a major influence on the final design of the systemwhether it is carrier-led, third-party/neutral host-led, or venue-led."

These findings are part of ABI Research's In-Building Systems Service (https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/service/in-building-wireless/), which includes research reports, market data, insights, and competitive assessments.

About ABI Research

For more than 25 years, ABI Research has stood at the forefront of technology market intelligence, partnering with innovative business leaders to implement informed, transformative technology decisions. The company employs a global team of senior analysts to provide comprehensive research and consulting services through deep quantitative forecasts, qualitative analyses and teardown services. An industry pioneer, ABI Research is proactive in its approach, frequently uncovering ground-breaking business cycles ahead of the curve and publishing research 18 to 36 months in advance of other organizations. In all, the company covers more than 60 services, spanning 11 technology sectors. For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com.

Contact Info:

Christine Gallen

Tel: +1.516.624.2542

[email protected]

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SOURCE ABI Research

Related Links

http://www.abiresearch.com


NEW YORK, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ad Council, a non-profit organization and the largest U.S. producer of national public service campaigns, announced today new members that were elected to their Board of Directors on Tuesday. The board is led by Chair David Christopher, CMO of AT&T Mobility, and Vice Chairs Margo Georgiadis, President, Americas, Google, Inc. and David Sable, Global CEO, Y&R.

New members of the Ad Council Board of Directors include:

The Ad Council produces over 40 national public service communications programs annually on behalf of non-profit organizations and federal government agencies. Ad agencies donate their strategic and creative talent, media organizations donate valuable ad space and time, and corporations provide additional campaign exposure opportunities. The Board of Directors is comprised of a prestigious group of senior marketing and media executives that provide expertise, insights and financial support to ensure campaigns are effective and impactful.

"Our new board members are among the most talented technology innovators, business leaders and creative visionaries. I'm very confident that their knowledge and background will be invaluable to the Ad Council and our national campaigns," said Lisa Sherman, President and CEO of the Ad Council.

The Ad Council

The Ad Council has a rich history of marshaling volunteer talent from the advertising and media industries to deliver critical messages to the American public. Having produced literally thousands of PSA campaigns addressing the most pressing social issues of the day, the Ad Council has affected, and continues to effect, tremendous positive change by raising awareness, inspiring action and saving lives. To learn more about the Ad Council and its campaigns, visit www.adcouncil.org, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or view our PSAs on YouTube.

SOURCE The Ad Council

Related Links

http://www.adcouncil.org


DENVER, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AdCellerant was chosen by The Newspaper Association of America to participate in the annual Accelerator Pitch program during the NAA Mediaxchange Conference. AdCellerant, along with six other startups, will have the opportunity to pitch ideas and solutions to the approximately 1,000 news media and advertising professionals at the Mediaxchange conference. The conference will be held April 17  20, 2016 in Washington, D.C.

"We are tremendously fortunate to have the opportunity to present to newspaper executives across the country during the NAA Accelerator Pitch program," said Brock Berry, AdCellerant's CEO and Co-Founder. "One of our largest client segments is local newspaper companies, so the ability to meet with so many current and prospective clients in just a few days will allow us to continue to develop the best solutions geared toward increasing digital revenue."

John Chamberlin, Senior VP of Operations & Co-Founder, mentioned, "The timing of NAA this year aligns well with the launch of our new software suite. NAA is a great opportunity to network with executives who are looking to grow their digital business and free up time for their sales teams through streamlined proposal generation and reporting software."

The six other start-ups included in NAA's 2016 Accelerator Pitch program include Brand X Mobile, Dimples, Keywee, NewsPix, Stringr, and TicketSauce. Each company was selected to participate in the program on the basis of innovation, creativity and usefulness to newspaper media companies.

About AdCellerant

AdCellerant is an Ad Technology and Digital Marketing Services company that specializes in executing integrated digital advertising campaigns for businesses on behalf of local media companies. AdCellerant partners with local media companies to help train sales teams, sell creative marketing, and execute reports in order to create a dynamic, compounding digital revenue stream.

Contact: Brock Berry, CEO & Founder, [email protected]

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE AdCellerant

Related Links

http://www.adcellerant.com/


WASHINGTON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the second day of hearings of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the Department of Commerce (DOC) on the steel crisis in America, Thomas J. Gibson, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), told Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker that the crisis is fueled by global overcapacity and has caused the loss of 13,500 jobs. Gibson said the government must: "vigorously enforce U.S. trade laws; not give in to Chinese demands that it be automatically graduated to market economy status; and, press for binding commitments from steelmaking nations to eliminate excess capacity and subsidies resulting from government market-distorting policies and practices." [Video and testimonies from the hearing can be found here.]

"This import surge is the result of foreign government interventionist policies that have fueled massive, and growing, global overcapacity in steel, estimated by the OECD to be about 700 million metric tons today. More than half of that overcapacity  425 million metric tons  is located in China, where government market-distorting policies have dramatically increased the size of their industry, to the point that it today represents half of all global steel production," Gibson said. "The Chinese model of government intervention is now being emulated in other countries as well, perpetuating the growing overcapacity problem."

Gibson added that Chinese steel exports to third countries are being further processed into steel products that are then exported to the United States. For example, Chinese billets may be further processed in Turkey into long products which are then exported to the United States, while Chinese flat-rolled steel may be converted into pipe products in Korea which are then exported to the U.S. market.

Gibson urged that the Administration: 1) vigorously enforce U.S. trade laws, and use all means available under our trade laws to provide immediate relief to the U.S. industry from the injurious effects of the surge in imports; 2) continue to treat China as a non-market economy for antidumping purposes, as granting China such status before it has truly become a market economy would undermine the effectiveness of our trade laws; and, 3) press for binding commitments from China and other countries to eliminate excess capacity and to eliminate steel-specific subsidies and other market-distorting policies and practices creating overcapacity or preventing market-driven industry adjustment abroad.

Gibson's full statement can be found here, and his written comments submitted earlier can be found here.

AISI serves as the voice of the North American steel industry in the public policy arena and advances the case for steel in the marketplace as the preferred material of choice. AISI also plays a lead role in the development and application of new steels and steelmaking technology. AISI is comprised of 19 member companies, including integrated and electric furnace steelmakers, and approximately 125 associate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry. For more news about steel and its applications, view AISI's website at www.steel.org. Follow AISI on Facebook or Twitter (@AISISteel).

SOURCE American Iron and Steel Institute

Related Links

http://www.steel.org


LAFAYETTE, La., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ATC Group Services LLC ("ATC"), a leading full-service environmental consulting and industrial hygiene firm, today announced that it has acquired Dexter Field Services LP ("Dexter"), a leading provider of leak detection and repair (LDAR), monitoring and other specialized technical environmental services to a wide range of industrial companies. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2005 with headquarters in Austin, Texas, Dexter has more than 150 employees providing a range of LDAR and monitoring services to clients across the U.S., including environmental monitoring and analysis of piping components, cooling towers, wastewater drain systems, groundwater wells, storage tanks and other process-related equipment.

Bobby Toups, ATC's Chief Executive Officer, said, "On behalf of everyone at ATC, I want to extend a warm welcome to the Dexter team. Dexter's proven track record, deep industry experience and well-respected brand name will support ATC's work within the industrial and oil and gas markets. The addition of Dexter, combined with our recent acquisition of Sage Environmental Consulting, will better position ATC to drive growth and deliver the excellent and increasingly broad portfolio of environmental services our customers have come to expect."

As a result of the acquisition, ATC will grow to approximately 1,700 employees across nearly 100 locations nationwide, significantly expanding its technical capabilities in LDAR and environmental monitoring services. Dexter will be renamed "Dexter ATC Field Services" and will continue to be led by Brett Kriley, Dexter's Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Kriley said, "ATC is one of the leading multi-disciplinary environmental firms, and we look forward to joining their team. Dexter has achieved strong growth since its founding in 2005 and under ATC's ownership, I am confident that we will continue to deliver the best-in-class leak detection, repair and environmental services to our clients."

ATC's acquisition of Dexter follows the Company's recent purchase of Sage Environmental Consulting, a recognized leader in technical consulting services with a particular focus in air quality control and consulting, due diligence and emission reduction credit services.

ATC Associates is owned by a group of investors led by Bernhard Capital Partners, an operationally-focused private equity firm dedicated to investing across the energy services spectrum.

About Dexter Field Services

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Austin, TX, Dexter Field Services provides a range of leak detection and repair, monitoring and other specialized technical environmental services to industrial companies. Dexter provides its clients the ability to outsource their equipment inspection and monitoring requirements. These technical services include environmental monitoring and analysis of piping components (valves, flanges, pumps), cooling towers, wastewater drain systems, groundwater wells, storage tanks and other process related equipment. Dexter has over 150 employees servicing more than 60 clients throughout the United States. Dexter's deep bench of talent and industry experience give the Company a unique understanding of the needs of an environmental manager. www.dexterfs.com/

About ATC Group Services LLC

Established in 1982 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, ATC Group Services LLC provides environmental consulting, industrial hygiene, geotechnical engineering, government services and construction-materials testing and special inspection with 70 locations throughout the United States and over 1,350 employees. ATC nurtures strong client relationships and referrals by consistently exceeding expectations through our professional, well trained, well-equipped and highly motivated team. www.atcgroupservices.com

About Bernhard Capital Partners

Bernhard Capital Partners is an energy services-focused private equity firm established in 2013 by Jim Bernhard, Jeff Jenkins and a team of experienced private-equity professionals. BCP seeks to create sustainable value by leveraging its founding partners' 25 years of experience in acquiring, operating and growing energy-services businesses. From strategic industry insight to operational efficiencies and best-practice management, BCP provides resources far beyond its investments. www.bernhardcapital.com

Contact

Bobby Toups

ATC Associates CEO

337.234.8777

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160411/353556LOGO

SOURCE ATC Group Services LLC

Related Links

http://www.atcgroupservices.com


ENGLEWOOD, Colo., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Aytu BioScience, Inc. (OTCQX: AYTU), a commercial-stage specialty healthcare company focused on urological and related conditions, announced today the appointment of Carl Dockery, a 30-year financial veteran with biopharma board experience, to serve on Aytu's Board of Directors. Mr. Dockery brings significant financial and independent leadership insight to the Company, joining current Board members Josh Disbrow, Aytu CEO; Jarrett Disbrow, Aytu COO; and Michael Macaluso, Chairman and CEO of Ampio Pharmaceuticals.

Josh Disbrow, Chief Executive Officer of Aytu, stated, "We have accelerated Aytu's operations in a short amount of time, building a growing, global urology-focused portfolio of commercial products. Establishing a strong Board of Directors is instrumental in maintaining our substantial growth trajectory. As we continue to expand our urology-focused organization, we look forward to Carl's leadership and insight as an independent director in helping to generate value for Aytu shareholders."

Mr. Dockery commented, "As a healthcare investor, I recognize the potential for Aytu to rapidly establish itself as a leader in the specialty pharmaceutical industry through its proven commercial-focused business strategy. I'm pleased to join the company as it executes multiple product launches and to help guide the continued expansion of Aytu's infrastructure and portfolio in line with its growth objectives."

Carl Dockery is a financial executive with 30 years of experience in the insurance and reinsurance industry, more recently as the founder of a registered investment advisory firm, Alpha Advisors, LLC in 2006. Carl's career as an insurance executive began in 1988 as an officer and director of two related and closely held insurance companies, including serving as secretary of Crossroads Insurance Co. Ltd. of Bermuda and as Vice President of Gulf Insurance Co. Ltd. of Grand Cayman. Familiar with the London reinsurance market, in the 1990s, Mr. Dockery worked at Lloyd's and the London Underwriting Centre brokering various types of reinsurance placements. Carl is currently a member of the Board of Directors of CytoDyn, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company focused on the clinical development and potential commercialization of humanized monoclonal antibodies for the treatment and prevention of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and is an active investor in various healthcare companies through Alpha Ventures, the venture capital affiliate of Alpha Advisors. Mr. Dockery graduated from Southeastern University with a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities.

About Aytu BioScience, Inc.

Aytu BioScience is a commercial-stage specialty healthcare company focused on global commercialization of novel products in the field of urology. Aytu's current portfolio of commercial and late-stage urology products addresses prostate cancer, urinary tract infections, male infertility and male sexual dysfunction, and the company plans to expand into other urological indications for which there are significant medical needs. The company currently markets ProstaScint (capromab pendetide), the only radio-labeled monoclonal antibody that targets prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA), a protein highly expressed by prostate cancer cells. ProstaScint is FDA-approved as an imaging agent for use in both newly diagnosed, high-risk prostate cancer patients and patients with recurrent prostate cancer. Aytu also markets Primsol (trimethoprim hydrochloride)  the only FDA-approved trimethoprim-only oral solution for urinary tract infections. Additionally, Aytu markets the CE Marked MiOXSYS System outside the U.S. and is conducting U.S.-based clinical trials, following which the company plans to seek 510k de novo medical device clearance. The MiOXSYS System is a novel, rapid semen analysis system with the potential to become a standard of care in the diagnosis and management of male infertility. MiOXSYS is the only rapid test for assessing oxidative stress in semen and seminal plasma, a leading contributor of idiopathic male infertility. Aytu's strategy is to continue building its portfolio of revenue-generating urology products and late-stage development assets, leveraging its commercial team and expertise to further build those brands within well-established markets.

For Investors & Media:

Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc.

Joshua Drumm, Ph.D.: [email protected]; (212) 375-2664

Janine McCargo: [email protected]; (646) 604-5150

Forward Looking Statement

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this presentation, including statements regarding our anticipated future clinical and regulatory events, future financial position, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are generally written in the future tense and/or are preceded by words such as "may," "will," "should," "forecast," "could," "expect," "suggest," "believe," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," or similar words, or the negatives of such terms or other variations on such terms or comparable terminology. These statements are just predictions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual events or results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, among others: our plans to expand our board of directors and infrastructure; our plans for product growth, expansion and acquisition; the anticipated start dates, durations and completion dates, as well as the potential future results, of our ongoing and future clinical trials; risks relating to gaining market acceptance of our products; obtaining reimbursement by third-party payors; the potential future commercialization of our product candidates; the anticipated designs of our future clinical trials; anticipated future regulatory submissions and events; our anticipated future cash position; and future events under our current and potential future collaborations. We also refer you to the risks described in "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of Aytu BioScience, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K and in the other reports and documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.

SOURCE Aytu BioScience, Inc.
The Banfield Foundation provided a commitment of $45,000 to fund the first beneficiary of the pilot grant program, 2016 Reaching UP, New Mexico, which will provide veterinary care to traditionally underserved Native American populations in New Mexico throughout the year. In addition to the grant provided by the Banfield Foundation, Banfield Pet Hospital associates will participate in the program as volunteers alongside other AVMA veterinarians.

"The Banfield Foundation is proud to partner with the AVMA to support the 2016 Reaching UP New Mexico program," said Lilisa Hall, Executive Director of the Banfield Foundation. "As an organization dedicated to animal welfare, education and elevating the pet-human bond, we believe that efforts to improve access to veterinary care in underserved areas are incredibly important to pets, pet owners and local communities."

Minimal access to veterinary care has led to an overpopulation of dogs which in turn harms animal health and welfare, public health, and the human animal bond.

"Working through Reaching UP, AVMA member veterinarians make multiple trips to the same area at strategic times, ensuring that we spay and neuter a sufficient number of animals to achieve population management goals while preserving a high standard of care," explained Dr. Kendall Houlihan, AVMA Assistant Director, Animal Welfare Division.

By talking with the pet owners about their animals' health and the importance of preventive care, the veterinary volunteers also provide community education about the importance of pet wellness care, as well as the connections between animal health and human health.

"The program serves as a reminder of what drives so many veterinarians to enter the profession: the opportunity to improve the health and welfare of animals and people," said Dr. Joseph Kinnarney, AVMA president. "While volunteerism is at the heart of the program, it is only truly possible through the generous donation of the Banfield Foundation."

AVMA's Pilot Grant Program accepts support from a variety of funders including corporate, private and public foundations. One hundred percent of the funds are directed to support the research, development, implementation and measurement of AVMA identified initiatives.

Be inspired by the stories of veterinarians who have participated in Reaching UP.

Dr. Tolani Francisco

Dr. Nellie Goetz

For more information, or to schedule an interview, contact Sharon Granskog, AVMA assistant director, media relations, at 847-285-6619 (office), 847-280-1273 (cell), or [email protected].

Learn more about the Banfield Foundation by visiting BanfieldFoundation.org or following the foundation at Facebook.com/BanfieldFoundation.

About the AVMA

The AVMA, founded in 1863, is one of the oldest and largest veterinary medical organizations in the world. More than 88,000 member veterinarians worldwide are engaged in a wide variety of professional activities. Visit www.avma.org for more information.

About the Banfield Foundation

Founded in 2015 by Banfield Pet Hospital, the Banfield Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to improving the well-being of pets and communities. Our mission is to elevate the power of the human-animal bond, strengthen the pet welfare community, provide disaster relief for pets and advance the science of veterinary medicine through fostering innovation and education. We also offer support for emergency and preventive veterinary care and provide grants to pet-related nonprofit organizations in order keep pets healthy and in loving homes. For more information visit BanfieldFoundation.org or follow us at Facebook.com/BanfieldFoundation.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/355100

SOURCE American Veterinary Medical Association
IRVINE, Calif., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bascom Group, LLC ("Bascom") has acquired Juniper Terrace, a 43-unit apartment community located at 1580 South Juniper Street in Escondido, California for $7,700,000 or $179,070 per unit or $172.00 per square foot. Olga Alworth with Meridian Capital arranged the debt financing and Manufacturers Bank provided the new loan. Eric Comer with CBRE brokered the transaction. This marks the ninth acquisition in Southern California for the Bascom Group in the past 12 months.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160412/354500

Built in 1973, the property is truly unique with a host of interior and exterior amenities. Sitting on four hillside acres, Juniper offers residents low-density, single-family home style living with oversized apartments and expansive views. The unit mix is 100% two bedroom, two bathroom units averaging 1,039 SF. The spacious floor plans, coupled with private two-car garages, produces the feel of a single-family home community. Juniper's outside amenities include a pool and jacuzzi, recreation room, and leasing office. Bascom's planned modernization program will remodel the interiors and enhance the amenities, exterior, and overall curb appeal.

James D'Argenio, Principal for Bascom, comments, "Due to minor deferred maintenance, we can put most of our capital dollars into upgrades that will remodel interiors and enhance the community to compete with newer, rental product."

Escondido's apartment market continues to strengthen as rents increased 6.7% from 4Q14 to 4Q15. The vacancy rate is currently 3.3%. Roadblocks to home ownership and below-average vacancy rates will continue to push apartment rents higher and drive the demand for modernized, rental housing throughout Escondido and San Diego County.

Lee Nguyen, Senior Vice President for Bascom, adds "We're acquiring a well located, stabilized building that is ready for renovations in an expanding north San Diego economy. Our San Diego projects have performed well over the years so we are excited about the project."

About Bascom: The Bascom Group, LLC (http://www.bascomgroup.com) is a private equity firm specializing in value-added multifamily, commercial, and non-performing loans and real estate related investments and operating companies. Bascom sources value-added and distressed properties including many through foreclosure, bankruptcy, or short sales and repositions them by adding extensive capital improvements, improving revenue, and reducing expenses by realizing operational efficiencies through implementation of institutional-quality property management. Bascom, founded by principals Jerry Fink, David Kim and Derek Chen, is one of the most active and seasoned buyers and operators of apartment communities in the United States. Bascom has completed over $10.0 billion in multi-family and commercial value-added transactions since 1996 including more than 270 multifamily properties containing over 71,000 units. Bascom has ranked among the top 50 multifamily owners in the US. Bascom's subsidiaries and joint ventures include the Southern California Industrial Fund, Rushmore Properties, Bascom Portfolio Advisors, Shubin Nadal Associates, Spirit Bascom Ventures, REDA Bascom Ventures, MHF RM Holdings, Bascom Northwest Ventures, Bascom Arizona Ventures, Harbor Associates, and the Realm Group. Bascom's subsidiaries also include Premier Business Centers, the largest privately held executive suite company in the US. For additional information, please visit www.bascomgroup.com.

Contact: James D'Argenio

Tel: 949-955-0888 ext 19

Email

SOURCE The Bascom Group

Related Links

http://www.bascomgroup.com


HARRISBURG, Pa., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the average American, having a health insurance card in their wallet provides a sense of health care security. It's commonly believed that as long as you have a card, you have access to health care.

For some it may be true. But others may be surprised to learn that they could be vulnerable to unanticipated expenses or problems accessing certain physicians. This has some wondering if consumers really know what they're buying.

"The changing health care environment is being driven by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which has its benefits such as a young adult being able to stay on their parents' health insurance until they turn 26," says Scott Shapiro, MD, president of the Pennsylvania Medical Society. "But we're finding that as there are positives we enjoy, there are some downsides that should force us to adjust our traditional thinking about insurance coverage."

According to Dr. Shapiro, as the ACA has enabled more to be insured, there have been health business decisions made by insurers which consumers need to pay close attention when purchasing an insurance product.

"Transparency and patient education are necessary steps for consumers more so now than ever before," Dr. Shapiro says. "Many business decisions within the insurance industry to make an insurance product financially more attractive come with consequences to patients that may surprise them."

Narrow Networks Impacting Choice

According to Academy Health, a health services research organization based in Washington, D.C., narrow networks are "a cost containment strategy" being used for health insurance plans in which "insurers generally seek to offer lower premiums by limiting the group of providers available to plan enrollees."

Furthermore, the organization says quality is "not a criterion for exclusion or inclusion in a network."

"On paper when a consumer is looking at different plans, it sounds like a good deal," says Robert Rodak, DO, president of the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians. "Insurance plans using narrow networks are often priced lower to make them more attractive to consumers, who often shop based upon the premium price."

But, Dr. Rodak wonders if consumers really understand that there's a trade-off. In exchange for that lower cost, consumers accept fewer access options.

His suspicions are confirmed in a June 2015 research project conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. This study concluded that 41 percent of networks are small or x-small. X-small is defined as including less than 10 percent of office-based practicing physicians in the area, while small narrow networks include between 10 and 25 percent.

"This creates several scenarios that possibly could play out for patients," says Dr. Rodak. "Imagine a patient who has seen a specific family physician for years suddenly finding out that their doctor isn't included in their new insurance coverage because of a narrow network. That's just one possibility."

'Surprise Billing' resulting from narrow networks

Another unanticipated outcome of narrow networks is the possibility of an unexpected bill for health care services, says Christopher Peters, MD, president of Lackawanna County Medical Society located in Dunmore, Pa.

"Narrow networks leave patients more vulnerable to experiencing out-of-network care, which can result in separate billing for that care," Dr. Peters. "These patients are going to find it more challenging to navigate their way through the health care community because not everyone is going to be in-network. Sooner or later, they'll end up out-of-network and with potential out-of-pocket costs that they weren't anticipating."

In Pennsylvania, the state insurance department is currently looking into the matter and is concerned about access to care and out-of-pocket costs consumers face. A recent letter to Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller from PAMED's Dr. Shapiro points out that the first line of defense to protect patients "should be a regulatory framework that fosters adequate networks that provide patients with timely access and choice."

"'Surprise' balance billing is an inevitable side-effect of inadequate networks and unfair contracting and potential patient misunderstanding about the insurance products they have purchased," wrote Dr. Shapiro.

According to a Consumers Report survey, nearly one-third of privately insured Americans have received a bill they weren't expecting. Periodically, some of these bills come as a result of a hospital visit which may have providers both in- and out-of-network.

Brad Klein, MD, a Willow Grove neurologist and a Pennsylvania Medical Society member, who testified late last year at a hearing led by Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner, has firsthand experience with being an out-of-network provider. It's not uncommon for him to accept an emergency call at 3 a.m. to help a patient in a time of need. Out-of-network billing is generally the result of a situation outside of a patient's or physician's control.

"We should not put the burden on the patient to decide if they will accept a provider's care at a time when they are suffering from mental or physical ailments and truly may not have a choice as that provider is the only one available in that community to assist that patient at that time," he said during the hearing.

Dr. Klein's story highlights yet another possible scenario that patients are facing as a result of narrow networks.

"A patient may go to a certain hospital because the hospital is in their plan's network, but that doesn't always mean all of the physicians connected with that hospital are also part of the plan," says Dr. Peters. "This is problematic in emergency situations and likely not avoidable, but it can even happen during scheduled care through a hospital. It's really important for patients to know their plan's details to navigate care without any unexpected bills."

Insurance Approvals Can Lead to Care Hassles

Health plans require early approvals for certain medical tests and procedures before they are administered for those services to qualify for insurance coverage. Within the health care insurance industry, this is called prior authorization.

While the process is intended to minimize the overuse of health care services, it often becomes extremely burdensome due to a lack of standardization and transparency in prior authorization requirements.

In Pennsylvania, a bill to reform the prior authorization process has been introduced by State Rep. Marguerite Quinn (R-Bucks) on Feb. 9, 2016.

Rep. Quinn's bill, House Bill 1657, would increase transparency and consistency in prior authorization criteria among all health insurers resulting in cost savings to the entire health care system. The bill also lessens manual processes and enhances the electronic exchange of information. It would also develop a standard prior authorization form and improve response times for prior authorization determinations.

"Many physician offices spend a tremendous amount of time in communication with insurers to gain approval for a diagnostic test or medication for a patient," says PAMED's Dr. Shapiro. "This has become a hot button issue for physicians and patients, and unfortunately many find it frustrating."

Andrew R. Waxler, MD, FACC, president of the Berks County Medical Society and a member of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, is one of those physicians for which this is a hot button issue.

"This bill is a critical step in the right direction in improving healthcare care - for both patients and doctors," says Dr. Waxler.

One of those with first-hand experience on how frustrating it can be is Mark Lopatin, MD, a district trustee at PAMED and a practicing rheumatologist in Willow Grove.

In a guest blog on KevinMD.com, Dr. Lopatin describes a situation involving a patient who was diagnosed with polymyositis, an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of muscles and generalized weakness.

With limited options already exhausted, Dr. Lopatin decided to try Rituximab, a drug that's use is considered off-label.

The patient's insurer denied authorization, leading Dr. Lopatin to a lengthy appeal process. Fortunately, with time he was able to convince the patient's insurer to approve using Rituximab.

"Insurers will say that they are not dictating care," says Dr. Lopatin. "They are simply deciding what they will and will not pay for. But when they decide this on the basis of medical information presented to them, they are essentially practicing medicine on patients they have never seen."

"There needs to be much better education of patients and transparency as to what insurance policies cover," says Dr. Lopatin. "Many patients have no idea how their insurance works."

"If a procedure or medication is denied, the insurance company should be required to provide an explanation other than that it 'does not meet our guidelines,'" he adds. "A transparent rationale for denial, even if they simply were honest about the cost factor, would go a long way toward alleviating many frustrations."

Getting empowered through transparency

With greater transparency and consumer empowerment in mind, there are some important questions consumers should ask when purchasing an insurance plan. The Pennsylvania Medical Society recommends patients purchasing insurance plans ask the following:

Will I be able to see all of my current doctors? What other doctors are included in my network? Are all the doctors associated with my hospital included? Financially, does this insurance plan work for both my budget and my health? What are my out-of-pocket cost responsibilities including the deductible, co-payments, and co-insurance? What's covered? Does this plan include dental, vision, and prescription medications? If I am traveling, what level of coverage does this plan carry? If the insurer denies a treatment that my doctor recommends, is there a process for me to dispute the denial?

This news release is brought to you by the Pennsylvania Health News Service Project, consisting of 21 Pennsylvania-based medical and specialty associations and societies. Members of PHNS include Pennsylvania Allergy & Asthma Association, Pennsylvania Dental Association, Pennsylvania Academy of Dermatology & Dermatologic Surgery, Pennsylvania Academy of Ophthalmology, Pennsylvania Academy of Otolaryngology, Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians, Pennsylvania American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Physicians, Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Pennsylvania Medical Society Alliance, Pennsylvania Medical Society, Pennsylvania Neurosurgical Society, Pennsylvania Orthopaedic Society, Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society, Pennsylvania Society of Anesthesiologists, Pennsylvania Society of Gastroenterology, Pennsylvania Society of Oncology & Hematology, Robert H. Ivy Society of Plastic Surgeons, and Urological Association of Pennsylvania. Inquiries about PHNS can be directed to Chuck Moran via the Pennsylvania Medical Society at (717) 558-7820, [email protected], or via Twitter @ChuckMoran7.

This news release was issued on behalf of Newswise(TM). For more information, visit http://www.newswise.com.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Medical Society

Related Links

http://www.pamedsoc.org/


SANTA BARBARA, Calif., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cal/OSHA issued citations to DP Investments after the employer violated a stop-work order that was placed on scaffolding at a Santa Barbara construction site to prevent employees from being injured. DP Investments was also cited April 6 for failure to report a workplace injury as required by law.

Cal/OSHA's Van Nuys office opened an inspection on October 12 after receiving a complaint about the worksite at 1816 State Street, where the Fiesta Inn and Suites were undergoing renovation. Cal/OSHA's inspector notified the employer, Dario Pini, that the scaffolding on one building put workers in danger of serious injuries as it lacked a ladder for safe access, a guardrail to prevent falls, and base plates to provide a firm foundation on the ground.

The employer was informed that no one would be permitted to use the scaffolding until the hazards were corrected and that the stop order could only be removed by Cal/OSHA. Pini was also advised that removal or defiance of the stop-work order is prohibited by law. A follow-up inspection on October 23 revealed that the stop-work order had been removed from the scaffolding without permission and that employees had resumed working on the structure without any safety modifications.

During the course of the investigation, Cal/OSHA became aware of an unreported injury at the State Street renovation site from late August 2015. A carpenter suffered multiple fractures after falling 11.5 feet onto a cement walkway outside the building when a window grate bolt was removed and the window grating swung open.

"Falls are a leading cause of serious and fatal injuries for employees at construction sites," said Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum. "This incident serves as a reminder to employers that fall protection must be taken seriously in all parts of a construction project involving elevated work."

Cal/OSHA cited DP Investments for 12 workplace safety violations, including one willful serious for removing the stop-work order, with a proposed penalty of $54,000. Two serious citations, with penalties of $5,400 each, were issued because rooftop workers were exposed to falls as high as 18 feet without personal fall protection equipment, and the scaffold was not assembled under the direction of a qualified person. Additional citations penalized DP Investment for its failure to provide employees with safe workplace practice information and lack of training for supervisory employees.

A serious violation is cited when there is a realistic possibility that death or serious harm could result from the actual hazardous condition. A willful violation is cited when the employer is aware of the law and violates it nevertheless, or when the employer is aware of the hazardous condition and takes no reasonable steps to address it.

Cal/OSHA investigators filed the case with the Santa Barbara District Attorney's office, citing the removal of the stop-work order as a criminal offense. In March, the District Attorney's office announced that Dario Pini entered a plea of no contest and was sentenced to 3 years of probation.

Cal/OSHA offers free publications, including a "Pocket Guide for the Construction Industry," and a fact sheet on Fall Protection in Construction. These publications allow workers, employers and supervisors to quickly reference key safety requirements in clear, concise terms.

Cal/OSHA helps protect workers from health and safety hazards on the job in almost every workplace in California. Cal/OSHA's Consultation Services Branch provides free and voluntary assistance to employers and employee organizations to improve their health and safety programs. Employers should call (800) 963-9424 for assistance from Cal/OSHA Consultation Services.

Employees with work-related questions or complaints may contact DIR's Call Center in English or Spanish at 844-LABOR-DIR (844-522-6734). The California Workers' Information line at 866-924-9757 provides recorded information in English and Spanish on a variety of work-related topics. Complaints can also be filed confidentially with Cal/OSHA district offices.

Members of the press may contact Erika Monterroza or Peter Melton at (510) 286-1161, and are encouraged to subscribe to get email alerts on DIR's press releases or other departmental updates.

The California Department of Industrial Relations, established in 1927, protects and improves the health, safety, and economic well-being of over 18 million wage earners, and helps their employers comply with state labor laws. DIR is housed within the Labor & Workforce Development Agency. For general inquiries, contact DIR's Communications Call Center at 844-LABOR-DIR (844-522-6734) for help in locating the appropriate division or program in our department.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaDIR

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CA_DIR

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CaliforniaDIR

Subscribe: http://www.dir.ca.gov/email/listsub.asp?choice=1



SOURCE Cal/OSHA
"The introduction of the new Carey International Elite Rates further demonstrates Carey International's commitment to supporting our partners in the travel industry," said Gary Kessler, Carey International's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We understand the challenges that modern travel professionals face and believe the availability of exclusive pricing will incentivize more travelers to reserve Carey and Embarque services through a professional travel agent as part of their greater travel experience."

Elite Rates will begin to roll out with North American cruise ports in April 2016 and continue with yet-to-named themes throughout 2016. Carey International Elite Rates are only available to travel professionals with a valid ARC/IATA/CLIA/TRUE and cannot be combined with any other discount or offer. However, Carey International Elite Rates are fully commissionable at standard, program, or promotional commission levels. Visit www.careyconnect.com/elite for more information.

About Carey International, Inc.

Carey International is the trusted leader in innovative chauffeured service solutions, customer-centric travel technology, and ground transportation logistics management; providing world-class service, unparalleled safety, and general peace of mind to the world's most discerning travelers since 1921. Spanning more than 1000 cities worldwide, Carey's award-winning global franchise network offers consistent standards of service and unmatched business control for both travelers and arrangers across two distinct brands.

Carey features a world-class fleet of late-model executive and luxury vehicles, a corps of professional chauffeurs, and a full portfolio of specialized transportation logistics management services.

Embarque offers smart, modern transportation utilizing a fleet of EPA SmartWay certified fuel-efficient vehicles and a team of professional drivers dedicated to offering a unique car service experience that raises the bar on efficiency and productivity for any class of traveler.

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SOURCE Carey International, Inc.

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http://www.carey.com


LONDON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In H2 Feb., 2016, China's Li-ion battery cell enterprises began to resume production, and drove up prices, by USD0.05/unit (RMB0.3/unit) commonly. This is mainly because the continuously rising prices of raw materials exerted heavy pressure on manufacturers. Also, the price up-regulations were accepted by the downstream.



Specifically, Hefei Guoxuan signed 2 big orders during the Spring Festival, value combined to surpass USD305.16 million (RMB2 billion). Foreseeable, its financial performance will progress rapidly in 2016.



- Cathode materials

Fairly flat market in H1 Feb.: the price of lithium carbonate at the end of Jan. rose sharply, catching cathode materials producers unawares with deficient stockup, and during the Spring Festival, producers suspended or cut down production

Resumption in H2 Feb.: mainly produced for already received orders, with small price fluctuations



- Anode materials: overall stable prices and fine shipments

The continuously rapid development of the alternative energy vehicle market fueled the investment into anode materials business. For instance, Truchum planned to invest USD45.77 million (RMB300 million) into constructing a 10,000 t/a high performance Li-ion battery anode material project



- Separator: stable market and strong demand

Many enterprises sought for capacity expansion. For instance, Sinoma intended to establish a JV for the construction of a 200 million m2/a Li-ion battery separator project



- Electrolyte: focus still on raw materials, lithium salts

"The domestic price of LiPF6 stays high, quotation even beyond USD61,032/t (RMB400,000/t) and expected to rise continuously," said electrolyte suppliers, "The short supply of lithium carbonate cannot be solved in the short run, increasing the operation pressure. Under this, we have no choice to only up-regulate prices."China's alternative energy vehicle industry is developing very rapidly. However, a considerable amount of waste power battery will be brought also. How to make comprehensive utilisation of these waste power batteries is a concern of the government as well as the society.



CATARC predicted that China will have 120,000-170,000 tonnes of waste power Li-ion batteries removed from alternative energy vehicles by 2020. Then, where will these batteries go?

Thanks to the rapidly developing alternative energy vehicle market, the full industry chain, involving battery materials, Li-ion battery and alternative energy vehicle, showed rises in their expected financial figures.

In Feb. 2016, Lifan announced to increase capital in its fully-owned subsidiary, Wanguang New Energy, for the better implementation of the Li-ion battery cell project.

On 18 Feb., 2016, Hefei Guoxuan signed a power Li-ion battery procurement contract with Nanjing King Long, which is expected to further solidify its position in the industry.



In Feb. 2016, Do-Fluoride announced the cooperation established with Yuhang Bus and Zhongneng Energy. This signals that the company has further extended the business of alternative energy vehicle.

On 23 Feb., 2016, Sinoma announced to launch a 200 m2/a Li-ion battery separator project. This is expected to break the monopoly by foreign enterprises in premium segment.

In Feb., 2016, Victory Precision announced the purchase of 10 Li-ion battery separator production lines at USD141.90 million (RMB930 million). This is expected to further enlarge the production capacity of wet process Li-ion battery separator for the company  probably to head the industry worldwide.



In Feb. 2016, MOF planned to spend 2 months in comprehensively inspecting 90 alternative energy vehicle producers subsidised by government in 2013-2015, aiming to rectify the "subsidy cheat" prevailing in the industry.

In Feb. 2016, the ternary materials based Li-ion battery industry had a heated debate on the MIIT's recent decision to "temporarily exclude the passenger vehicles that apply ternary materials based Li-ion battery from the catalogue of recommended alternative energy vehicle types".

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Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

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Todd Saperstein began his career in the mortgage industry, but decided to change his career path to franchise ownership when the industry took a downturn. After researching franchise concepts, he chose Dickey's because of the rapid growth nationwide and support from the home office. He opened his first Dickey's location in September 2014 and his second followed in July 2015. He is considering locations in and around the Portland area. A native Oregonian, Saperstein says, "I am proud to bring the Dickey's brand to Oregon, and have gotten excellent feedback from my loyal guests. I look forward to bringing Texas-style, slow-smoked barbecue to new regions of our great state."

Saperstein says that there is a growing demand for authentic, Texas-style barbecue. The Portland community has wholeheartedly embraced Dickey's quality meats which are slow-smoked in every location, every day.

"Dickey's is growing rapidly throughout the Pacific Northwest," says Roland Dickey, Jr., CEO of Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. "We congratulate Todd Saperstein on doubling our brand presence in Oregon."

To learn more about franchising with Dickeys, visit www.dickeys.com/franchise or call 866-340-6188.

To find the Dickey's Barbecue Pit nearest you, click here. Find Dickey's on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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, home style sides, tangy barbecue sauce and free kids' meals every Sunday. The fast-casual concept has expanded to over 540 locations in 43 states. Dickey's 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 / Michelle George

[email protected] / [email protected]

972.248.9899

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SOURCE Dickey's Barbecue

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NEW YORK, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dimension Data, the $7.5 billion global ICT solutions and services provider, announced today that it has been named to the 2016 Tech Elite 250 list by CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, for the sixth consecutive year. This annual list honors an exclusive group of North American IT solution providers that have earned the highest number of advanced technical certifications from leading technology vendors.

To compile the annual list, The Channel Company's research group and CRN editors work together to identify the most customer-beneficial technical certifications in the North American IT channel. Companies who have obtained these elite designationswhich enable solution providers to deliver premium products, services and customer supportare then selected from a pool of online applicants.

Ranked among the top 10 IT service providers in North America on CRN's Solution Provider 500 list, Dimension Data provides clients with a complete range of integrated IT services, from data center and public, private and hybrid cloud to network monitoring and management, collaboration, security and enterprise mobility. Dimension Data holds more than 7,100 ITIL Foundation-certified individuals, 2,200 data center certifications, over 5,800 networking certifications worldwide and is a key partner to some of the world's leading technology companies, including Cisco, Dell, EMC, FireEye, HP, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and VMware.

"The solution providers selected for our annual Tech Elite 250 list have demonstrated a commitment to excellence and gained strong industry credibility by earning some of the most difficult IT certifications available from top technology vendors," said Robert Faletra, CEO, The Channel Company. "Attainment of these exclusive certifications strengthens the channel as a whole by invigorating partnerships and enabling the delivery of exceptional customer service. We congratulate each of these organizations and look forward to their continued success."

"Our clients are seeking technology solutions, services and best practices that will help them turn IT into a strategic business asset," said Jim Hirt, SVP, Marketing and Alliances for Dimension Data Americas. "Our inclusion on CRN's Tech Elite 250 list for the sixth year in a row underscores our steadfast commitment to addressing this need by continuously strengthening our relationships with the world's leading technology vendors and achieving the deepest levels of skill and expertise to help clients gain a competitive edge."

Coverage of the Tech Elite 250 will be featured in the April issue of CRN, and online at www.crn.com.

About Dimension Data

Dimension Data harnesses the transformative power of technology to help organizations achieve great things in the digital era. As a member of the NTT Group, we focus on digital infrastructure, hybrid cloud, workspaces for tomorrow, cybersecurity, and network as the platform. With a turnover of USD 7.5 billion and offices in 58 countries, we deliver services wherever our clients are, at every stage of their technology journey. Accelerate your ambition. Visit us at http://www.dimensiondata.com/en-US and www.facebook.com/DimensionDataAmericas or follow us on Twitter: @DimensionDataAM.

About the Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com

CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. The Channel Company logo is a trademark of The Channel Company, LLC (registration pending). All rights reserved.

For further information, please contact:





Mariah Torpey Shanley Stern Melanie Turpin LEWIS Dimension Data Americas The Channel Company 781-418-2404 732-452-5263 508-416-1195 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

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SOURCE Dimension Data

Related Links

http://www.dimensiondata.com/en-US


"Angela is one of the most talented and knowledgeable brokers in the business and her expertise in sales, marketing and client service make her one of the most in-demand brokers in the suburbs of Manhattan," said Zachary Harrison, President of Platinum Drive. "She is a magnificent professional and a wonderful person who fits our firm culture perfectly."

"I am thrilled to join the amazing team at Platinum Drive and build upon their great success," Angela Retelny said. "The firm has a talented and accomplished team of agents working from a tremendous platform with a collaborative and innovative approach to real estate that empowers them to provide great service to clients. The company's track record of closed sales and its market share of active listings is extremely impressive. I have always enjoyed working with the Platinum Drive team and joining the firm is a natural extension of our strong relationship."

Angela's past clients have enthusiastically recommended her services and have used her throughout multiple sales and purchases. She successfully represents a variety of clients, from first-time homebuyers and sellers to experienced homeowners, builders and investors. A Westchester resident who is significantly involved in the community, Angela is fluent in Spanish and experienced in assisting clients with their relocation needs. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Marketing from New York University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and won several awards including being selected by the faculty as the top Marketing student among her graduating class.

"We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Angela to the Platinum Drive family," Platinum Drive Co-Founder Heather Harrison, said in a statement. "She brings an impressive track record and provides outstanding service, invaluable insight and expert negotiation skills to every transaction. Clients know when they work with Angela that they are going to have a wonderful experience."

About Platinum Drive Realty

Platinum Drive Realty is a leading real estate firm headquartered in Westchester County that serves a variety of clients, from first-time homebuyers and sellers to experienced homeowners, builders and investors. The firm prides itself in delivering exceptional service. In 2014 and again in 2015, Platinum Drive Realty was named the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Real Estate Brokerage Firm in the Tri-State area and One of the Fastest Growing Companies in America. For more information about Platinum Drive, visit www.platinumdr.com.

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SOURCE Platinum Drive Realty

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LONDON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that ESOMAR, the global trade association for market, social and opinion researchers, has implemented NetSuite OneWorld to drive global business and membership growth. ESOMAR is now relying on NetSuite OneWorld for enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) and website content management after replacing Exact ERP, an on-premise CRM and a content management system (CMS) that used to support its website.

The previous software systems obstructed ESOMAR's operational efficiency and its ability to grow the business. With NetSuite OneWorld, ESOMAR is able to run its mission critical business processes including financial consolidation, billing and invoicing, financial reporting, human resources and website content management on a single cloud system. NetSuite OneWorld can deliver ESOMAR key benefits including increased efficiency and a real-time view of its business across its 5,000 individual and 500 corporate members in more than 130 countries and business intelligence for management at its headquarters in Amsterdam, as well as 50 of its local representatives. All of this can be possible with reduced IT costs and no data integration headache.

With NetSuite OneWorld, ESOMAR is well positioned to implement its ambitious growth plans, facilitate rapid growth in membership, plus increase the number of events and services it provides worldwide. NetSuite OneWorld offers the association features and benefits including:

Built-in business intelligence that provides real-time insights into key business performance indicators for a unified view of the organisation and a single version of truth, helping to allow for better business decision making, strategic planning and effective campaign execution.

that provides real-time insights into key business performance indicators for a unified view of the organisation and a single version of truth, helping to allow for better business decision making, strategic planning and effective campaign execution. Superior mobile access to member and business information for its teams at global events.

to member and business information for its teams at global events. Real-time financial reporting eliminating manually generated reports.

eliminating manually generated reports. Strong case management system for support requests to the communications, website and IT teams that track progress and performance against SLAs.

for support requests to the communications, website and IT teams that track progress and performance against SLAs. Improved service for members through automation and integration of event booking, membership management and ecommerce functions.

through automation and integration of event booking, membership management and ecommerce functions. Ability to capture sales lead information from Outlook, enabling higher quality data capture and faster response to enquiries.

from Outlook, enabling higher quality data capture and faster response to enquiries. NetSuite's powerful development platform, with unprecedented flexibility, enables ESOMAR to tailor the system to meet its unique requirements and company-specific needs.

"We are a service business that has to be able to operate on a global stage, but effectively meet the needs of our membership on a local basis. Flexibility and scalability are therefore key to our success. Our previous IT system constrained rather than cultivated this. NetSuite enabled us to customise our IT system to meet the needs of our organisation rather than the other way round. It has revolutionised how we use and share our data and delivered real business intelligence, at every level of the organisation  from the board to the local representatives, in the office and at our events. NetSuite's real-time view into our business, and its detailed analytics, are guiding our strategy for growth," said Marie-Agnes Mourot de Lathyle, Chief Finance and Operations Officer at ESOMAR.

About ESOMAR

ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion & Market Research) is a member organisation dedicated to encouraging, advancing and elevating market research worldwide.

Since 1948 ESOMAR's aim has been to promote the value of market and opinion research in effective decision-making.

Through the promotion of a comprehensive programme of industry specific and thematic conferences, publications and best practice guidelines ESOMAR facilitates an on-going dialogue with more than 5,000 individual members and 500 corporate members; who themselves represent over 35,000 individuals, in over 130 countries. ESOMAR also provides ethical guidance and actively promotes self-regulation in partnership with a number of associations across the globe.

ESOMAR is also dedicated on education and training with a strong focus on the Next Generation of Researchers. For more information about ESOMAR visit www.esomar.org, follow them on Twitter @ESOMAR or join the conversation using #ESOMAR.

Today, more than 30,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of cloud-based financials/enterprise resource planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software applications for businesses of all sizes. Many FORTUNE 100 companies rely on NetSuite to accelerate innovation and business transformation. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud business management software to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud accelerates.

Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuiteEMEA Twitter handle for real-time updates.

For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.co.uk, www.netsuite.com/fr , or www.netsuite.com/nl .

NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

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SOURCE NetSuite Inc.

Related Links

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WASHINGTON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Evolent Health, a company providing an integrated value-based care platform to the nation's leading health systems and physician organizations, is pleased to announce that it has received National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Patient and Practitioner Oriented Accreditation for its asthma, chronic heart failure, diabetes, coronary artery disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease disease management (DM) programs. Earning NQCA DM Accreditation is an indication that Evolent's programs are dedicated to giving patients and practitioners the support, education and other help necessary to facilitate good outcomes and quality care.

"We are honored to once again be recognized by the NCQA for the rigor with which we design and implement our clinical programs," said Tom Peterson, Chief Operating Officer of Evolent. "We strongly believe that our philosophy of engaging our partner health systems' physicians in the design and implementation of our disease management programs improves our ability to engage patients. Receiving this accreditation reiterates our commitment to providing exceptional care to our partners and their physicians' patients, in service of our ultimate mission to improve the collective health of the nation."

NCQA's DM Accreditation program is designed to help purchasers evaluate DM programs and to improve patient care and service. NCQA Accreditation standards are developed with input from researchers in the field, the Disease Management Advisory Council (DMAC) and standing committees, employers, both purchasers and operators of disease management programs, state and federal regulators and other experts. Patient and Practitioner Oriented Accreditation is the most comprehensive option for programs that address interventions towards patients and interact with the patients' practitioners to support their plan of care.

"NCQA's Disease Management Accreditation program is thorough and rigorous. It's designed to highlight only those programs that truly improve chronic care," said NCQA President Margaret E. O'Kane.

About NCQA

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information for consumers, purchasers, health care providers and researchers.

About Evolent Health

Evolent Health partners with leading health systems to drive value-based care transformation. By providing clinical, analytical and financial capabilities, Evolent helps physicians and health systems achieve superior quality and cost results. Evolent's approach breaks down barriers, aligns incentives and powers a new model of care delivery resulting in meaningful alignment between providers, payers, physicians and patients. For more information, visit evolenthealth.com.

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SOURCE Evolent Health, Inc.

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http://www.evolenthealth.com


WASHINGTON, April 12, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Gov. Pat McCrory issued an executive order, in large part clarifying North Carolina law as it already stands under H.B. 2, the Single Sex Multiple Occupancy Bathrooms Act. North Carolina has come under a politically-motivated attack from President Obama, the ACLU, and large corporations, which actively are calling for the government to punish people over their views of sexuality.

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins called on Gov. McCrory to stand firm and continue to defend H.B. 2:

"The Left's response to Governor McCrory's executive order shows it has no interest in a 'live and let live' policy, and could care less about the commonsense privacy concerns of parents and families throughout North Carolina, even when it comes to the question of letting grown men use women's bathrooms and locker rooms.

"While we don't think Governor McCrory needed to provide additional clarity, his executive order does not change the law he just signed to prevent local governments from forcing people to violate their beliefs about sexuality and expectations of privacy.

"Instead of supporting a common sense approach to bathroom policies, the ACLU and their allies' objections show they will stop at nothing short of forcing people to accept their radical agenda. All people deserve human dignity and respect, but that doesn't mean the government should force people to violate their deeply-held views on sexuality or their expectation of privacy in shared restrooms.

"We join our allies in North Carolina, and all people of good faith, in calling on Gov. McCrory to continue to defend H.B. 2," Perkins concluded.

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SOURCE Family Research Council

Related Links

http://www.frc.org


JOHANNESBURG, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- FleishmanHillard announced today that Sharon Piehl has been appointed general manager of FleishmanHillard's Johannesburg operation, effective May 1, 2016.

"Sharon Piehl brings highly creative and strategic thinking to the Johannesburg team, as well as proven leadership abilities," said John Saunders, president and CEO of FleishmanHillard. "I am confident that she will maintain the office's commitment to outstanding client service and the agency's growth trajectory in the African market."

Piehl has more than 18 years of experience in the public relations and communications industry. She joined FleishmanHillard in 2011 to lead the office's brand marketing team, which quadrupled in size under her leadership. Piehl also leads the consumer products and service sector in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Prior to joining the agency, she held positions at Inzalo Communication and Altech, and has worked with clients in a wide range of industries.

"In the five years that I have been with FleishmanHillard, I have greatly enjoyed watching the Johannesburg office grow in both size and capabilities," said Piehl. "I look forward to leading this talented team, and building our programs and talent to bring our clients the most cutting-edge and creative communications strategies."

Vanessa Baard, Jared Carneson and Joanne Theodorides will join Piehl on the management team. Kevin Welman, who has been with FleishmanHillard for over 20 years, steps down after nearly eleven years as general manager of the Johannesburg office. "Kevin has done a fantastic job for us, and we are most grateful for his great service to our firm," added Saunders.

About FleishmanHillard

FleishmanHillard specializes in public relations, public affairs, marketing, paid media, and transmedia and social content. FleishmanHillard was named PRWeek's 2014 Global Agency of the Year, "Standout Agency" on Advertising Age's 2013 A-List; NAFE's "Top 50 Companies for Executive Women" for 2010-2016; and among PRWeek's 2013 "Best Places to Work." The firm's award-winning work is widely heralded, including at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity. FleishmanHillard is part of the DAS Group of Companies, and has more than 85 offices in 30 countries, plus affiliates in 43 countries. Visit us at www.fleishmanhillard.com.

About the DAS Group of Companies

The DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), is a global group of marketing services companies. DAS includes over 200 companies in the following marketing disciplines: specialty, PR, healthcare, CRM, events, promotional marketing, branding and research. Operating through a combination of networks and regional organizations, DAS serves international, regional, national and local clients through more than 700 offices in 71 countries.

SOURCE FleishmanHillard

Related Links

http://www.fleishmanhillard.com


TSX: GPR

NYSE MKT: GPL

VANCOUVER, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - GREAT PANTHER SILVER LIMITED (TSX: GPR; NYSE MKT: GPL) ("Great Panther"; the "Company") announces production results for the first quarter ("Q1") 2016 from its two wholly-owned Mexican silver mining operations: the Guanajuato Mine Complex ("GMC"), which includes the San Ignacio Mine, and the Topia Mine in Durango.

First Quarter 2016 Production Highlights (Compared to first quarter 2015)

Consolidated metal production increased 2% to 1,009,828 silver equivalent ounces ("Ag eq oz")

Silver production decreased 10% to 539,472 silver ounces ("Ag oz")

Gold production increased 19%, with 5,599 gold ounces ("Au oz") produced

Ore processed decreased 11% to 88,683 tonnes milled

"Great Panther's first quarter production of 1.01 million silver equivalent ounces is in-line with our annual guidance, and reflects our plans for modest growth and further focus on operational efficiency in 2016 after achieving 30% growth last year", stated Robert Archer, president & CEO. "The increase in gold production and decrease in silver production are a direct result of the rising production from San Ignacio, which has a higher gold to silver ratio, and pillar recoveries at the Guanajuato mines. Our team's continued pursuit of greater efficiencies and better grade control is another important factor in the overall success for the quarter and is reflected in more ounces produced from less tonnes."















Consolidated Operations Summary Q1 2016 Q1 2015 Change Q1 2016 Q4 2015 Change Ore processed (tonnes milled) 88,683 99,252 -11% 88,683 94,874 -7% Silver equivalent ounce production1, 2 1,009,828 987,887 2% 1,009,828 1,002,584 1% Silver ounce production 539,472 597,111 -10% 539,472 553,189 -2% Gold ounce production 5,599 4,703 19% 5,599 5,637 -1% Lead production (tonnes) 282 279 1% 282 278 1% Zinc production (tonnes) 424 441 -4% 424 425 0%





(1) Silver equivalent ounces for 2016 were calculated using a 70:1 Ag:Au ratio, and ratios of 1:0.0504 and 1:0.0504 for the price/ounce of silver to price/pound of lead and zinc, respectively. (2) Silver equivalent ounces for 2015 were calculated using a 65:1 Ag:Au ratio, and ratios of 1:0.050 and 1:0.056 for the price/ounce of silver to price/pound of lead and zinc, respectively.

Guanajuato Mine Complex

In Q1 2016, metal production at the GMC was consistent with the previous quarter, but increased by 6%, to 755,555 Ag eq oz, when compared to the same quarter in the previous year. This was largely attributed to the 35% higher gold grades, as a result of the continued ramp-up in production from San Ignacio. The increase in grades more than offset the lower mill throughput. A theft of explosives that led to a temporary suspension of blasting activities in February was also responsible for the decrease in throughput. As we previously reported, the impact of the temporary stoppage of mining activities in Q1 is not expected to affect our previously issued 2016 production guidance.















GMC Operations Summary Q1 2016 Q1 2015 Change Q1 2016 Q4 2015 Change Ore processed (tonnes milled) 73,649 82,026 -10% 73,649 79,651 -8% Silver equivalent ounce production 1, 2 755,555 713,371 6% 755,555 751,927 0% Silver ounce production 375,273 417,770 -10% 375,273 394,655 -5% Gold ounce production 5,433 4,548 19% 5,433 5,496 -1% Ag grade (g/t) 179 177 1% 179 175 2% Au grade (g/t) 2.58 1.92 35% 2.58 2.39 8% Ag recovery (%) 88.5% 89.7% -1% 88.5% 87.9% 1% Au recovery (%) 89.0% 89.9% -1% 89.0% 89.7% -1%

(1) Silver equivalent ounces for 2016 were calculated using a 70:1 Ag:Au ratio. (2) Silver equivalent ounces for 2015 were calculated using a 65:1 Ag:Au ratio.

The increase in gold grades in Q1 2016 was achieved through a combination of pillar recoveries at the Guanajuato mines and rising production from the South Extension zones at San Ignacio. Consequently, gold production increased by 19%, to 5,433 Ag eq oz, compared to Q1 2015. San Ignacio accounted for 52% of the overall metal production and 63% of the total gold production at the GMC in Q1 2016 compared to 30% and 42%, respectively, in the first quarter of 2015.

Q1 2016 marked a period of continued development of the underground and surface facilities at San Ignacio to ensure sustained and efficient operations at the mine. Work included preparation of additional ore fronts, ramp improvements, ventilation modifications, maintenance shop expansion, and equipment upgrades. Additionally, the emphasis on exploration at all mines continued to yield favorable targets for confirmation drilling and potential resource expansion.

Topia Mine

Total ore processed and metal produced in the first quarter of 2016 at Topia were consistent with the previous quarter, but decreased 13% and 7%, respectively, when compared to Q1 2015. The decrease in mill throughput is attributed to a greater effort to control dilution, which successfully resulted in higher head grades for the quarter. Higher grades have a direct impact on lowering the cost per ounce of production.

Mine development at Topia centered on the Argentina Mine, particularly at the lower levels, where new ore zones were being prepared for longer term production starting in the second half of 2016. The development at Argentina included the refurbishment of a lower level adit, enhancing the ventilation, and providing a secondary access for the new lower level ore zones from below.















Topia Operations Summary Q1 2016 Q1 2015 Change Q1 2016 Q4 2015 Change Ore processed (tonnes milled) 15,034 17,225 -13% 15,034 15,223 -1% Silver equivalent ounce production 1, 2 254,273 274,515 -7% 254,273 250,657 1% Silver ounce production 164,199 179,341 -8% 164,199 158,534 4% Gold ounce production 167 155 8% 167 140 19% Lead production (tonnes) 282 279 1% 282 278 1% Zinc production (tonnes) 424 441 -4% 424 425 0% Ag grade (g/t) 373 357 5% 373 357 4% Au grade (g/t) 0.55 0.44 25% 0.55 0.48 15% Ag recovery (%) 91.0% 90.8% 0% 91.0% 90.6% 0% Au recovery (%) 62.9% 63.5% -1% 62.9% 60.4% 4%

(1) Silver equivalent ounces for 2016 were calculated using a 70:1 Ag:Au ratio, and ratios of 1:0.0504 and 1:0.0504 for the price/ounce of silver to price/pound of lead and zinc, respectively. (2) Silver equivalent ounces for 2015 were calculated using a 65:1 Ag:Au ratio, and ratios of 1:0.050 and 1:0.056 for the price/ounce of silver to price/pound of lead and zinc, respectively.

OUTLOOK

Production in the first quarter of 2016 was consistent with the annual guidance of 4.0 - 4.2 million Ag eq oz (using a 70:1 silver:gold ratio). This rate of production is anticipated to continue for the balance of the year.

With much of the underground development work at San Ignacio now complete, production from this mine is expected to gradually increase through the balance of 2016, with a corresponding decrease from the main Guanajuato mines. This should result in higher gold production relative to silver.

As the Company continues its evaluation of the Coricancha Mine in Peru, other acquisition opportunities are being reviewed on a regular basis.

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Robert F. Brown, P. Eng. and Vice President of Exploration for the Company, who is the Qualified Person (QP) for the Guanajuato Mine Complex and the Topia Mine under the meaning of NI 43-101. Aspects relating to mining and metallurgy are overseen by Ali Soltani, Chief Operating Officer for Great Panther.

ABOUT GREAT PANTHER

Great Panther Silver Limited is a primary silver mining and exploration company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange trading under the symbol GPR, and on the NYSE MKT trading under the symbol GPL. Great Panther's current activities are focused on the mining of precious metals from its two wholly-owned mining operations in Mexico: the Guanajuato Mine Complex, which includes the San Ignacio Mine, and the Topia Mine in Durango. The Company holds an option agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Coricancha Mine Complex in the central Andes of Peru, where an active exploration program is ongoing.

Robert Archer

President & CEO

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws (together, "forward-looking statements"). Such forward-looking statements may include but are not limited to the Company's plans for production at its Guanajuato Mine Complex and Topia Mine in Mexico, exploring its other properties in Mexico and Peru, the overall economic potential of its properties, the availability of adequate financing, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements to be materially different. Such factors include, among others, risks and uncertainties relating to potential political risks involving the Company's operations in a foreign jurisdiction, uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, uncertainty in mineral resource estimation, physical risks inherent in mining operations, currency fluctuations, fluctuations in the price of silver, gold and base metals, completion of economic evaluations, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, permitting risks, the inability or failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis, and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in the Company's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2015 and Material Change Reports filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators available at www.sedar.com and reports on Form 40-F and Form 6-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov.

SOURCE Great Panther Silver Limited

Related Links

http://www.greatpanther.com


CHICAGO, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- IMPOWER physicians supporting Medicaid patients in Central Florida are setting a new clinical standard in telehealth thanks to a new partnership with higi.

By leveraging the higi platform, IMPOWER patients can routinely track key health measurements, such as blood pressure, weight, pulse and body mass index, and, when they opt in, share them with IMPOWER clinicians through a quick and convenient visit to a local retail location at no cost. By leveraging this data, IMPOWER clinicians are gaining greater insights into their patients' health statuses, which is particularly helpful when e-prescribing medication during virtual consultations.

"Higi provides a unique opportunity for healthcare providers to engage their patients between visits and receive real-time biometric and activity data, which is especially important when dealing with chronic conditions," said Dr. Khan Siddiqui, Chief Medical and Technology Officer of higi. "Our partnership with IMPOWER is only the beginning; we look forward to building relationships with telehealth providers across the country to advance their care management efforts and continue our mission of empowering consumers to own their health by understanding their key health stats."

Teen and adult patients will register for higi at any of the 981 convenient retail locations state-wide, opt in to share their vital statistics with their IMPOWER physician, and check in for free anytime at a higi station. IMPOWER physicians will require their patients to check in and share their vital statistics before an appointment and patients have the option to check in, without cost, as frequently as they'd like between appointments. Regular data collection provides insights into individual health trends which can help clinicians track the success of certain treatments and improve patient wellness overall. The improved ability to track health measurements made possible by higi helps IMPOWER clinicians encourage their patients to stay active in managing their own health while also providing their clinicians the invaluable health data needed to make crucial care decisions.

Higi is the leading omni-channel community engagement platform with web, mobile and health stations in nearly 10,000 retail locations across the U.S. At an FDA-cleared higi station, consumers can conveniently and securely track their biometric data such as blood pressure, pulse, weight and body mass index free of charge. The higi platform also allows the integration of more than 70 wearable devices that track personal activity data in real time. This enables a highly accurate analysis of individual key health indicators over time and empowers individuals to take charge of improving their own health outcomes while sharing more accurate and relevant data with their health care providers and those they trust.

"We are excited to set a new clinical standard in telehealth through our partnership with higi," said IMPOWER president and CEO Anna Baznik. "With higi, we have a unique opportunity to empower our patients to take an active role in their health leading up to and between appointments, which will help advance our work to remove barriers that keep people from seeking the care they need."

About higi:

Higi's mission is to get consumers to take small but meaningful steps to create lasting health habits. Its unique, retail, omni-channel community health engagement platform gives consumers the power to collect (and, when they opt-in, share) their health and activity data with trusted partners and communities.

The higi platform includes the nation's largest single network of health stations in the U.S. that millions of consumers access. The platform includes the station, web, and mobile app platform. Higi stations are HIPAA-compliant, FDA 510k Class II medical devices that provide a secure real-time flow of information with multiple screening and tracking modalities, incentives and rewards. This 360-degree, cross-device ecosystem meets consumers where they are (in retail, mobile, home) and enables healthcare stakeholders to better engage with consumers and patients, creating access and actionable insights that motivate and empower individuals in simple, fun and rewarding ways. For more information, visit us at higi.com and follow us on Twitter @higi. In addition, prospective partner developers can learn more about higi's API by visiting developer.higi.com.

About IMPOWER:

IMPOWER is a leading, non-profit mental health and child well-being organization dedicated to empowering the lives of those in need by offering personal attention, counseling, assistance and inspiration to help them reach their full potential and achieve individual success. No matter what barriers an individual may have encountered, IMPOWER provides the tools necessary to overcome obstacles and achieve goals.

Founded in 1994 originally as Intervention Services, Inc., IMPOWER is rooted in Central Florida with established service offices in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Brevard, Volusia and Polk Counties. Each year they serve more than 9,000 individuals and families in the home, schools and community-based settings through a continuum of services dedicated to helping individuals and families acquire the skills and tools needed to lead safe, healthy, meaningful and productive lives.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160412/354606LOGO

SOURCE higi
WASHINGTON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Coca Cola, the massive soft-drinks company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is facing an upcoming fair employment Resolution regarding its operations in Israel-Palestine.

Coca Cola's annual shareholders' meeting is in Atlanta on April 27, where the company will be faced with a Resolution on the Holy Land Principles: a corporate code of conduct for American companies doing business in Palestine-Israel based on the highly effective Mac Bride Principles for Northern Ireland.

The Holy Land Principles are pro-Jewish, pro-Palestinian and pro-company. The Principles do not call for quotas, reverse discrimination, divestment, disinvestment or boycotts. The Principles do not take any position on solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The Principles do not try to tell the Palestinians or the Israelis what to do. The Holy Land Principles only try to get Coca Cola and the other companies to sign the Holy Land Principles.

Last year, three American companies  Corning, GE and Intel tried to get the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) to exclude the Holy Land Principles resolution from their 2015 Proxy Materials. However, the SEC ruled in favor of the Holy Land Principles.

The SEC is a federal agency of the United States Government. One of the SEC's main responsibilities is to protect investors. And the fact that the SEC has ruled in favor of the Holy Land Principles is proof positive that the Holy Land Principles are intrinsically valid, eminently reasonable and inherently fair.

Fr. Sean Mc ManusPresident of the Washington-based Holy Land Principles and Irish National Caucus  said: "Coca Cola in its 'Statement Against Shareowner Proposal Regarding Holy Land Principles,' rather lamely argues that 'Endorsing these principles for one geographic area could risk undermining the universality of our own Human Rights Policy. We believe our policies work best when they can be applied throughout our entire enterprise.' Well with all due respect, I think that's a bit like responding to the urgent call 'Black Lives Matter' by saying all lives matter. People see through that dodge, that evasion, that dissembling."

Fr. Mc Manus explained: "American companies doing business in Northern Ireland initially tried such evasive tactics, including Coca Cola. But eventually they saw the light. Eventually 116 companies signed the Mac Bride Principles including, to its credit, Coca Cola. So why would Coca Cola, or any American company now balk at signing the Holy Land Principles?"

Fr. Mc Manus continued: "Isn't it truly remarkable that until we launched the Holy Land Principles, on International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2012, this issue had never been raised before in the corporate boardrooms. Surely, something was very odd about that? How can it be explained, given the fact that SRI groups and faith-based organizations were filing Resolutions by the boat-load on every conceivable issue? This surely was the elephant in the (board) room! One cannot ask American companies doing business in the Holy Land a more important or existential question than one about their fair employment practices. Therefore, the Holy Land Principles are filling a vacuum that was crying out to be filledindeed, playing a prophetic role. That is why our campaign  like our Mac Bride Principles campaign  will prevail in the end because there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.

We respectfully ask all Coca Cola investors to vote for the Holy Land Principles resolution."

Fr. Sean Mc Manus

President

Holy Land Principles,Inc.

P.O. BOX 15128

Capitol Hill

Washington, DC 20003-0849

Tel. 202-488-0107

Fax. 202-488-7537

[email protected]

SOURCE Holy Land Principles
The audience  consisting of approximately 1,000 chemical engineers and chemical process safety professionals  listened to Kramvis summarize his methodology for preparing businesses to make necessary changes in order to better manage risks and position themselves for success in a changing environment.

"Most people are motivated to transform their business when things are not going well," Kramvis said. "But the reality is that you need to be motivated and prepared to change the way you work all the time  this allows companies to get ahead of problems. Whatever we do, it has to be based on great science and terrific engineering. That's a requirement."

At the lecture, Kramvis received the AIChE Government and Industry Leaders (AGILE) Award for his innovative leadership at Honeywell, where he is credited with turning around the organization's strategically important Performance Materials and Technologies business. AIChE presents the award to leaders who have made important contributions to the chemical engineering profession and whose initiatives have made a significant impact within the chemical engineering industry.

Over the course of his career, Kramvis has managed companies with global scope in five different industries, and he has developed an intimate familiarity with world markets. Between 1984 and 1988, he worked for Combined Technologies and helped two start-up information technology companies go public on the London Stock Exchange.

Kramvis joined Honeywell in 2000 after the company's acquisition of Pittway, and became president and CEO of Honeywell's Environmental and Combustion Controls business. He was later named president and CEO of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies, before being named vice chairman of Honeywell in 2014.

Kramvis is a graduate of Cambridge University, where he studied engineering with a specialization in electronics. He also holds an M.B.A. from Manchester Business School. He is a past chairman of the Society of Chemical Industry and a board member and executive committee member of the American Chemistry Council. Kramvis is the author of the book "Transforming the Corporation: Running a Successful Business in the 21st Century," published by Randolph Publishing in 2011.

The AIChE Spring Meeting and Global Congress on Process Safety, held April 10 to 14, offered more than 200 technical sessions across ten topical conferences and special program tracks, with a focus on safety developments, innovation, energy, and manufacturing. More than 2,000 chemical engineers and company leaders from around the world attended the conference.

For information about AIChE's Spring Meeting and Global Congress on Process Safety, visit http://www.aiche.org/spring.

About AIChE

AIChE is a professional society of 50,000 chemical engineers in 100 countries. Its members work in corporations, universities and government using their knowledge of chemical processes to develop safe and useful products for the benefit of society. Through its varied programs, AIChE continues to be a focal point for information exchange on the frontiers of chemical engineering research in such areas as energy, sustainability, biological and environmental engineering, nanotechnology and chemical plant safety and security. More information about AIChE is available at www.aiche.org.

Contact:

Jeanette Krebs

(717) 214-2200

[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/354831



SOURCE American Institute of Chemical Engineers

Related Links

http://www.aiche.org


NEW YORK, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- IPC Systems, Inc., a leading global financial markets technology and service provider, announced its collaboration with Algomi, the network company providing information-matching solutions for the optimization of fixed income liquidity, to partner on the delivery of Algomi's DealCall, an application which leverages IPC's Financial Markets Cloud.

DealCall will be integrated into both Algomi's award-winning Honeycomb platform and IPC's community of financial market participants, enabling Honeycomb users to swiftly and securely connect to their dealers.

IPC and Algomi are working together to enable seamless communication for buy-side users of the Honeycomb application. With one click, users can access on-demand connectivity to their chosen sales coverage teams at their chosen banks. By bringing together the IPC community of over 6,000 diverse market participants and Algomi's applications, DealCall creates a rich, secure and market enhancing experience for customers.

"We are very excited to be collaborating with Algomi," said Neil Barua, CEO of IPC, "The successful implementation of DealCall on the IPC Financial Markets Cloud means Honeycomb network participants can work with their counterparts on large sensitive trades in an efficient and secure manner".

DealCall will introduce an enhanced level of productivity and efficiency as Honeycomb network participants will have an integrated experience and be able to immediately communicate with counterparties. The users of the Honeycomb can now access bond information and dynamically communicate using instant messaging and instant voice communications.

"We are thrilled to be working with IPC to leverage their leading communication technology to enrich the Honeycomb client experience. The investor is able to deal in size, seek best execution, and remain discreet in the market. They can choose to communicate by voice, or existing secure instant messaging." said Stu Taylor, CEO of Algomi. "Both Algomi and IPC share a common goal of empowering market participants to source liquidity, generate alpha and mitigate risk in the fixed income markets."

About IPC

IPC is a technology and service leader that powers financial markets globally. We help clients anticipate change and solve problems, setting the standard with industry expertise, exceptional service and comprehensive technology. With customers first and always, we collaborate with each to understand their individual needs to help make them secure, productive and compliant within our connected community. Through service excellence, long-developed expertise and a focus on innovation and community, we provide agile and efficient ways for our customers to accelerate their ability to adapt to the everchanging requirements for advanced data networks, compliance and collaboration with all counter-parties across the financial markets. www.ipc.com

About Algomi

Algomi creates the bond information network that enables all market participants to securely and intelligently harness data to make valuable financial trading connections. In the ever-changing landscape of capital, leverage and liquidity requirements, Algomi's revolutionary technology empowers fixed income professionals to fulfil their precise needs, for both sides of the market. By maximising the relationships between salespeople, traders and investors, the Algomi Honeycomb suite of scalable software greatly increases the opportunities and velocity in large and illiquid voice trades between banks, institutional investors and exchanges.

For banks, Algomi creates both a real-time internal network of salespeople and traders, and a discreet dynamic connection to their universe of investor clients and interbank parties. Using their own data, external aggregators and other sources; Algomi enables banks to identify the best trade opportunities and to generate efficient collaboration between traders, salespeople and their clients.

For portfolio managers, investor dealers and compliance teams, Algomi Honeycomb turns complex data systems into actionable knowledge. Helping investors trade with increased speed and success. Capturing the heartbeat of the world's trading floors, Honeycomb provides the data and market insight vital to selecting the right banks and the right time to trade.

Algomi was founded in 2012 by Stu Taylor (Former Global Head of Matched Principal Trading and creator of PIN-FI at UBS), Usman Khan and Robert Howes (Founders of CAPXD), and Michael Schmidt (Former Head of European Credit Trading and IB Board Member at UBS. Backed by investment from Lakestar and an exceptional panel of Strategic Advisors, the Algomi team has grown to 120 employees with offices in London, New York and Hong Kong. algomi.com

Certain statements contained in this press release may be forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "potential," "predict," "should" or "will" or similar terminology. Any forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. Actual results may differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

In addition, nothing contained herein is intended to be, nor shall it be construed as, investment advice, nor is it to be relied upon in making any investment or other decision. Neither Algomi Limited nor Algomi Corporation is regulated, registered as a broker-dealer or investment adviser in any jurisdiction. Prior to making any investment decision, you are advised to consult with your broker, investment adviser, or other appropriate tax or financial professional to determine the suitability of any investment. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable or equal any historical performance level(s).

Neither Algomi Limited, Algomi Corporation, any of its affiliates, nor each of their respective officers, directors, members, agents, representatives, employees, or contractors, shall be responsible or have any liability for investment decisions based upon, or the results obtained from, the information systems discussed herein. You assume all risks of loss resulting, directly or indirectly, from the use of such information systems.

Honeycomb and DealCall are the trade marks of Algomi Limited.

Media Contacts









Khurram Mirza

Jonelle Taylor IPC Systems, Inc.

Finn Partners for IPC +1 201-253-2285

+1 646-202-9785 [email protected]

[email protected]





Jon Schubin / Cognito US

Raewyn McBain Charlie Morrow / Cognito Europe

Pink Tiger Media for IPC [email protected]

+60 4-210-2890



[email protected]

SOURCE IPC Systems, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.ipc.com


NEW YORK, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- iStar (NYSE: STAR) announced today that it will release its financial results for the first quarter 2016 on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, prior to the opening of the market.

The Company will host an earnings conference call reviewing these results and its operations beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET. This conference call will be broadcast live over the internet and can be accessed by all interested parties through iStar's website, www.istar.com, in the "Investors" section. To listen to the live call, please go to the website at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the call to register and download any necessary audio software. For those who are not able to listen to the live broadcast, a replay will be available shortly after the call on the website.

* * *

iStar (NYSE: STAR) finances, invests in and develops real estate and real estate related projects as part of its fully-integrated investment platform. Building on over two decades of experience and more than $35 billion of transactions, iStar brings uncommon capabilities and new ways of thinking to commercial real estate and adapts its investment strategy to changing market conditions. The Company is structured as a real estate investment trust ("REIT"), with a diversified portfolio focused on larger assets located in major metropolitan markets. Additional information on iStar is available on its website at www.istar.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130708/NY43293LOGO

SOURCE iStar

Related Links

http://www.istar.com


DALLAS, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The minimum wage is up for review. New laws creating a $15 minimum wage in Oregon, New York and California seized headlines last month and energized advocates for a national living wage mandate. Some business leaders and politicians, however, argued that companies, especially small businesses, could not absorb the hike and remain profitable.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160412/354554

Missing from the debate was mention of a growing roster of small private companies to large publicly traded corporations whose owners and CEOs voted with their company checkbooks to raise pay to well above the required minimum. Many did so a year or more before state legislatures took action.

One such company is Dallas-based Kings III Emergency Communications, which provides all inclusive emergency help phone solutions, maintenance and monitoring services, and its subsidiary SoloProtect, a turnkey provider of worker safety solutions. Last May, owner George Broady announced to his employees that everyone working for Kings III and SoloProtect would make at least $17 an hour and those already making above a certain threshold would add at least $2,000 to their paychecks. He said the increase would provide a proper living wage to all of his nearly 200 workers, including the more than 60 in Europe.

Like other business leaders who have taken similar steps, Broady cited his belief that successful companies are obligated to share the wealth generated by the work of its employees, and a need to ensure that they earned enough to cover basic living expenses and provide for their families.

"At least half the people on Earth, perhaps more, don't make a living wage," Broady told his employees at a meeting. "We can't help them all, but we can help those who are closest to us. I would like to start by helping you; those who have helped me make more than I deserve."

To warm applause at the meeting and via online media from Europe, he announced, "The minimum wage at Kings III and SoloProtect will be $17 an hour."

About Kings III Emergency Communications & SoloProtect Lone Worker Safety Solutions

In the US, there are 900,000 elevators, each serving an average of 20,000 people, collectively making 18 billion passenger trips per year. With more than 25 years experience, working with over 40,000 customers, Kings III is the nation's only full service provider of emergency communication solutions, providing help phone monitoring services for over 75,000 elevator phones, pool phones and other emergency phones throughout the U.S. and Canada.

In 2013, Kings III acquired SoloProtect and has expanded into the worker safety field, marrying a proven worker safety device with its own proven emergency communications expertise to provide an all-inclusive best of breed solution that Kings III customers have come to expect. The SoloProtect solution allows employers to empower their lone working staff to summon an immediate, reliable response at the push of a button whenever they may feel at risk.

SoloProtect has deployed over 150,000 of its devices that monitor lone workers and are able to summon help from its emergency response centers. These services rely on dedicated GPS (global positioning system) location devices that carry alarm buttons and man-down detection sensors.

In the lone worker safety monitoring segment alone, Berg Insight, www.berginsight.com, predicts the lone worker monitoring industry in both Europe and North America will rise from 0.7 million in 2013 to 2.2 million users by 2020.

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com.

SOURCE Kings III Emergency Communications

Related Links

http://www.kingsiii.com


Extended through April 29, the promotion provides couples up to $600 in added value to spend on hotels, tours and more

VANCOUVER, April 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Rocky Mountaineer is extending its Stay & Play offer now through April 29, helping travelers to better experience the sights and sounds of Western Canada. Guests can choose from a variety of qualifying GoldLeaf and SilverLeaf Service packages and receive up to $600 in additional bonuses per couple to spend on tours, outdoor attractions, extra hotel nights and more.

One of the eligible Rocky Mountaineer vacation packages includes the 8 days/7 nights Western Explorer, an adventure that starts in Vancouver and ventures through all the must-see sights of the Canadian Rockies, where guests can explore Icefields Parkway and Yoho Park, along with a scenic Summit Helicopter Flightseeing. The Stay & Play offer is only available for bookings made before April 29, 2016. The offer is applicable for select travel dates and must be requested at the time of booking. This offer has no cash value. Other restrictions apply.

For more information on the Stay & Play offer, please contact your local travel professional, Rocky Mountaineer directly at 1-877-460-3200 or online at www.rockymountaineer.com. For the latest news and offers, follow us on Twitter, tune in to our YouTube channel, and connect with us on Facebook.

About Rocky Mountaineer

Since 1990, Rocky Mountaineer, the world's largest privately owned luxury tourist train, has welcomed over 1.7 million guests to inhale the mountain air and let nature take their breath away. The unparalleled experience onboard the all dome-fleet offers rich, historic storytelling, World Class cuisine and a first-hand look at the vast and untouched wild beauty of the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada.

With over 65 vacation packages, guests can chose from four unique rail routes, including the newly upgraded three day rail package, Rainforest to Gold Rush, and travel through iconic destinations such as Seattle, WA, Vancouver, B.C., and the majestic Canadian Rockies in Alberta. Known as one of the only ways to see the Rocky Mountains, it's no wonder that Rocky Mountaineer has received numerous international awards and accolades for service excellence, including eight World Travel Awards for both "World's Leading Travel Experience By Train" and "World's Leading Luxury Train." In 2013, it was also recognized as one of the world's "Dream Trips" by the prestigious Travel + Leisure magazine.

*Access to Rocky Mountaineer's new photo library available upon request.

SOURCE Rocky Mountaineer

Related Links

www.rockymountaineer.com


"The 2016 BRAVO Growth Award honors the company with the largest percentage growth over the past year," says Lauren Lawley Head, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief at Direct Selling News . "Le-Vel's debut on the Global 100 list at No. 48 is a remarkable achievement."

Just four years old, Le-Vel has taken a decidedly different route to success. Its unorthodox infrastructure is, in fact, a major factor behind its astounding growth. "As the industry's first cloud-based direct selling company, Le-Vel is very agile and efficient, which has enabled them to manage the explosive growth they've experienced right out of the starting gate," says Stuart Johnson, Founder and CEO of SUCCESS Partners. "Le-Vel is one of the more exciting stories in the history of direct selling."

Le-Vel Co-Owners, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs Jason Camper and Paul Gravette, both veterans of the health and wellness and direct selling industries, launched Le-Vel in 2012. Their vision was to create a company, a brand and a product line unlike any other in the direct selling space through several points of difference, including an unwavering commitment to premium-grade raw ingredients, a cloud-based infrastructure, generous rewards plan for its independent Brand Promoters and dedication to simplicity despite their products' powerful and multifaceted results and proven scientific backing.

Le-Vel's flagship product line, THRIVE, realized incredible success right away, due not only to the quality of its ingredients, but also the amazing results they deliver. THRIVE helps people of all ages and lifestyles recapture their well-being and reach peak physical and mental levels through such benefits as weight management, cognitive performance, digestive support, healthy joint function and lean muscle support.

"People everywhere just want to feel better, and that's why they're so passionate about our brand," Camper says. "We've created products that flat-out work, and our customers want to share their results with the world. That's generated incredible demand throughout the globe, including countries where we don't even yet have a presence. To see this kind of response in just four years' time is absolutely amazing, and that speaks to the quality of our products as well as our culture."

Le-Vel generated $10 million in revenue within its first year, $100 million by its second year and $350 million by its third year. Today, less than four years after the company's inception, THRIVE enjoys a following of more than 3 million customers throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. The company expects to surpass $500 million in revenue in 2016.

"For us, it's so rewarding to hear the stories of people whose outlook has changed in powerful ways. They're excited to get up in the morning, and they have the stamina to get through the day for the first time in years," says Co-CEO, Co-Owner and Co-Founder Paul Gravette. "We remain committed to developing the most superior products on the market and giving people the means to recapture their vitality and joy for living. We've only scratched the surface of our potential as a company  the next five years are going to be tremendously exciting for Le-Vel."

About Le-Vel

Founded in 2012 by Jason Camper and Paul Gravette, Le-Vel formulates and sells nutritional/health and wellness products and is the only health and wellness company that uses cloud-based technology for its day-to-day operations. Le-Vel's cloud-based infrastructure enables the company to keep overhead to a minimum while increasing commissions to its Promoters and putting more money into the Thrive product line. Le-Vel products include DFT, Thrive Premium Lifestyle Capsules, THRIVE Premium Lifestyle Mix, Activate, Boost, Balance, Black Label, FORM, Move and Rest. Le-Vel has over 3.5 million Customer and Promoter accounts, currently ships within the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom and is looking to surpass $500 million in annual revenue in 2016. For more information about Le-Vel, visit le-vel.com.

Media Contact: Drew Hoffman at [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160412/354430

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150820/259960LOGO

SOURCE Le-Vel Brands, LLC

Related Links

http://le-vel.com


SAN FRANCISCO, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lithium Technologies today announced the LiNC '16 (Lithium Networking Conference) agenda and mainstage keynote from Jason Silva, Emmy-nominated host of National Geographic Channel's hit TV series Brain Games.

Click here to view the entire three-day agenda: http://www.lithium.com/conference/linc2016/

The annual conference will feature industry-leading digital executives from HP, StubHub and Webroot who will share their strategies for paving the way for the future of digital. The conference will kick-off with Lithium Technologies President and CEO Rob Tarkoff, who will share why brands must use social in a much more mature way, including embracing a total community approach and using data to fully understand their customers in all dimensions.

"If you're not at LiNC, you're not getting the most out of your customer engagement," said Rob Tarkoff, President and CEO of Lithium Technologies. "It's imperative that brands understand how to drive sales, trust and loyalty to stay ahead. LiNC is where industry leaders converge to harness the power of social technologies to create a powerful customer experience that drives revenue and results."

This year LiNC's headline sponsor is Microsoft, a Lithium strategic partner. Lithium and Microsoft are working to bring a joint solution to market that integrates Microsoft Dynamics CRM with the Lithium platform, giving customers the power of crowdsourced service backed up by real-time insights and data into customer behavior, expertise, and interests.

Attendees at LiNC '16 will:

Gain insight from industry leaders in the "Big Thinkers' Lounge"

Deepen their knowledge with track sessions focused on: Customer Acquisition, Customer Retention, Developer Showcase, Solution Showcase and Data-driven Value

Participate in pre-conference career-enhancing training and education

Compete in the annual Hackathon, which allows some of the best engineers to innovate on Lithium products

Attend the LiNC Bash and Lithy Awards Ball, an annual competition for brands to showcase how they've used digital to transform their customer experience and drive real business impact

The conference is high-energy and known for its fun atmosphere, and the vibrant engagement of the Lithium Community. "LiNC brings real world knowledge, excellent content and a kick-ass experience," said Claudius Henrichs, Community Manager at Skype, who attended last year's conference.

LiNC '16 will be held at the Marriott Marquis in downtown San Francisco, June 8-10, 2016.

To learn more or register for the conference, visit http://www.lithium.com/conference/linc2016/.

About Lithium:

Lithium builds trusted relationships between the world's best brands and their customers, helping people get answers and share their experiences. Customers in more than 34 countries rely on Lithium to help them connect, engage, and understand their total community. With more than 100 million unique monthly visitors over all Lithium communities and another 750 million online profiles scored by Klout, Lithium has one of the largest digital footprints in the world. Using that data and the company's software, Lithium customers boost sales, reduce service costs, spark innovation, and build long-term brand loyalty and advocacy. To find out how Lithium can transform your businessand to share the experience enjoyed by 300 other leading brands around the world, visit www.lithium.com, join our community at community.lithium.com, or follow us on Twitter @LithiumTech. Lithium is a privately held company headquartered in San Francisco.

The Lithium logo is a registered Service Mark of Lithium Technologies.

All other trademarks and product names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Lithium Technologies

Related Links

http://www.lithium.com


RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Three leading entities have joined to create an elite educational institution located at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Saudi Arabia and modeled after Babson College's top-ranked entrepreneurship education programs in the United States.

Babson Global, a wholly owned subsidiary of Babson College; Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT); King Abdullah Economic City; and the Saudi Arabia Economic Offset Program (EOP) office announced the project today during the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Education's International Exhibition and Forum for Education (IEFE).

The College for Business and Entrepreneurship at KAEC project is aligned with the vision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, for the Kingdom to become a leading knowledge-based economy by advancing education, entrepreneurial skills and helping establish the next generation of job creators. Its development by KAEC, the owner of the facility, is part of a comprehensive entrepreneurship ecosystem within the new city to foster the next generation of job creators.

The college will be based on Babson's unique methodology, fueled by Babson expertise and founded on the same academic rigor that has made Babson the No. 1 ranked school for entrepreneurship education by U.S. News & World Report for the past 20 years. Degree programs will be offered beginning in 2017.

"Helping to establish an educational institution that will support sustainable development and contribute to peace and stability in Saudi Arabia is important and exciting work," said Babson President Kerry Healey. "Babson is proud to assist Saudi Arabia and partner with Lockheed Martin on this tremendous opportunity to bring world-class entrepreneurship education to Saudi students and to help empower them to stimulate economic development and generate new sources of job growth in the Kingdom."

The initiative also advances King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) as a hub of activities to encourage the region's emerging entrepreneurial businesses.

"Entrepreneurship is at the core of our vision for KAEC and we are deeply engaged in helping people build and develop the skills they need to be successful in the future," said Fahd Al Rasheed, Managing Director and Group CEO of King Abdullah Economic City. "In the new world of work, innovation is the currency of success. By developing an entrepreneurship ecosystem here in the city with this world class educational institution at its heart, KAEC is delivering on its mandate to be a driver of socio-economic change in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."

Under the agreement, Lockheed Martin will provide funding over a 10-year period to establish the Babson-powered programs and campus at KAEC, the world's largest public-listed city. The investment will produce credits toward fulfilling Lockheed Martin's industrial participation or "offset" obligations tied to its business in Saudi Arabia.

"We are committed to supporting the economic development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with an innovative program that will provide sustainable returns and benefits," said Alan Chinoda, Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin Saudi Arabia. "Today's announcement is the culmination of four years of project planning and maturation, and Lockheed Martin is honored to be a partner with Babson in this exciting initiative."

Lockheed Martin's interactions have principally been with Babson Global and its development partner StrateSphere and the leadership of KAEC. Saudi Arabia's Economic Offset Secretariat (EOS) and Economic Offset Committee (EOC) have been instrumental in the creation of the project, which is endorsed and supported by the Ministry of Education.

When fully developed, the new college will have a complete campus environment and the capability to enroll up to 1,400 students in graduate, undergraduate and entrepreneurship development programs. Activities will include classroom study programs as well as virtual, technology-aided programs. The development will include the unique Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership as an important resource for both the college and the Saudi business and entrepreneurial community in general.

About the Economic Offset Program (EOP)

The EOP, under whose leadership this project goes forward, aims to redirect part of the government's funds spent on foreign procurement contracts to transfer advanced technology to the Kingdom and promote social and economic development. To achieve this, foreign entities winning such contracts enter into Economic Offset Agreements whereby they commit to reinvest an amount equal to a defined proportion of the value of these contracts to establish innovative industrial and service projects in the Kingdom in collaboration with the Saudi private sector companies.

An Offset Committee headed by His Excellency the Minister of Economy and Planning and membership from Ministry of Finance, Defense, Commerce and Industry and Labor supervise the implementation of the Offset Program.

About Babson Global

Babson Global is a wholly owned subsidiary of Babson College, the recognized world leader in entrepreneurship education. Through Babson Global, Babson's unique pedagogy is extended to new populations and seeks to put the power of entrepreneurship, the world's most powerful force for economic and social value creation, in the hands of as many people as possible.

About King Abdullah Economic City

King Abdullah Economic City is the largest public listed new city development in the world, with a master-planned area approximately the same size as Washington, D.C. The master planner of KAEC is Emaar, The Economic City - a Tadawul listed, real estate development and management company. With its vision to diversify Saudi economy and create employment, the primary focus of this company has been the planning and development of King Abdullah Economic City. Emaar, The Economic City is a consortium headed by Emaar Properties PJSC and a number of high-profile investors from Saudi Arabia.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 126,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin
LAHAINA, Hawaii, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunglass lens materials often force consumers to accept some level of compromise. Standard glass lenses can offer high levels of clarity and scratch resistance, but at the expense of weight and impact resistance. Traditional polycarbonate lenses are lightweight and impact-resistant, but have low levels of clarity and poor scratch resistance. And for those who require prescription lenses, the choices become even more limited.

Now Maui Jim, Inc., the company known for optically correct, distortion-free lenses that feature patented lens treatments and rare-earth elements, is introducing a revolutionary lens technology that requires no compromise. Using a proprietary lens material, the all-new MauiBrilliant lens offers optics nearly as clear as glass (and almost double the clarity of traditional polycarbonate lenses), while still offering Maui Jim's acclaimed PolarizedPlus2 technology. That means they also eliminate glare, manage 95% of HEV and block 100% of harmful UV while boosting color to unmatched levels.

Maui Jim is also planning to make the revolutionary material available in prescription later this summer so that consumers with a need for corrective lenses no longer have to compromise on their lens material either.

Besides offering superior clarity and color enhancement, MauiBrilliant is also the lightest lens material ever produced by Maui Jim, nearly one-third the weight of standard glass. Combine all of this with ultra-high levels of impact and scratch resistance and MauiBrilliant is Maui Jim's most advanced lens material to date. In fact, MauiBrilliant is the lightest, highest-clarity prescription-ready lens available anywhere.

And with features like lightweight and durable grilamid or titanium frames, hypoallergenic rubber nose pads and temple tips, plus a variety of lens colors for different light conditions, all Maui Jim Sunglasses offer both supreme comfort and versatility. Again, no need to compromise.

MauiBrilliant lenses will initially be available in three new rimless styles:

Kumu: Available in Metallic Gloss Copper with HCL Bronze lens, Blue with Neutral Grey lens, Gunmetal in Maui HT and Gloss Black with Maui Rose lens. $299 (RX availability in August 2016.)

Alaka'i: Available in Metallic Gloss Copper with HCL Bronze lens, Blue with Neutral Grey lens, Gunmetal in Maui HT and Gloss Black with Maui Rose lens. $299 (RX availability in August 2016.)

Kupuna: Available in Metallic Gloss Copper with HCL Bronze lens, Blue with Neutral Grey lens, Gunmetal in Maui HT and Gloss Black with Maui Rose lens. $299 (RX availability in August 2016.)

About Maui Jim:

Maui Jim sunglasses were born on the beaches of Maui and designed to protect eyes from the harsh rays of the island sun. Today, Maui Jim is recognized for unparalleled " Aloha Spirit" and customer service as well as patented PolarizedPlus2 lens technology, which blocks 100% of UV rays and eliminates glare while enhancing color, definition and depth perception. Maui Jim sunglasses have earned the Skin Cancer Foundation Seal of Recommendation as an effective UV filter for the eyes and surrounding skin. For more information, visit MauiJim.com or on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram at @OfficialMauiJim.

SOURCE Maui Jim, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.mauijim.com


CLAYTON, Mo., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Olin Corporation (NYSE: OLN) announced today that on Tuesday, May 3, 2016 at 10:00 A.M. Eastern Time, Olin's senior management team will review the company's first quarter earnings results. Prepared remarks will be followed by a question and answer period.

A press release, including financial statements and segment information, will be released after the market closes on Monday, May 2, 2016. The release will be available on several news services including Bloomberg News, Reuters, Dow Jones News Service and on Olin's website.

CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION

The call will be webcast live on our corporate website www.olin.com and will be accessible under the Conference Call icon. Listeners should log on to the website at least 15 minutes prior to the call. The webcast will remain available for play back on our website following the earnings call for 90 days. You may choose to listen to the conference call by dialing 877-883-0383 (Canadian callers, please dial 877-885-0477; International callers, please dial 412-902-6506), pass code 2038996. A telephonic replay of this conference call will be available beginning at noon (ET) for 30 days by calling 877-344-7529 (Canadian callers, please dial 855-669-9658; International callers, please dial 412-317-0088), using a pass code of 10084337.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Olin Corporation is a leading vertically-integrated global manufacturer and distributor of chemical products and a leading U.S. manufacturer of ammunition. The chemical products produced include chlorine and caustic soda, vinyls, epoxies, chlorinated organics, bleach and hydrochloric acid. Winchester's principal manufacturing facilities produce and distribute sporting ammunition, law enforcement ammunition, reloading components, small caliber military ammunition and components, and industrial cartridges.

Visit www.olin.com for more information on Olin.

2016-07

SOURCE Olin Corporation

Related Links

http://www.olin.com


MRIEHEL, Malta, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- OneTwoTrade, the premier broker in binary options trading, is pleased to announce improvements to the customer service center. Hours of operation have been extended and will soon be round-the-clock, making the service more convenient and accessible to traders, more service agents have been hired, and the infrastructure of the service department has been improved. The changes promise rapid improvements to the customer service experience.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160413/354840LOGO

In addition to new service agents and expanded hours, the customer service department has been working to streamline the customer's experience with OneTwoTrade. A new branch in the customer service department, dedicated to client relations, will be opening up. The Client Relations group will provide more personalized service and conduct in-depth investigation of customer complaints, seeking not just a solution to the immediate problem but a solution for the underlying causes. In addition, an expanded presence on social media networks will make it easier for current and potential customers to reach the new service department.

All of these changes are part of a concerted push on the part of OneTwoTrade to improve customer service in the binary options industry. The company is making a strong investment in human resources, bringing in new service agents and customer service management to take clients' service to a higher level. The service department management is also investing in the tools needed to bring out the best in the new personnel, making it possible to analyze the customer service process, determine the time required to answer questions and resolve issues, and to replicate successes.

The Customer Service Manager, Eric Berdych, summed up the changes: "We are investing more in human resources, recruiting more people, and looking to shift our department to a 24/7 footing with more personalized service. It's not easy, but it's a good thing and the right thing to do. Our customers have made us the leading binary options broker, so our investment in our customers is an investment in our company." It's a bright outlook for both OneTwoTrade and the customer service department.

Overall, this expansion and improvement of the service department at OneTwoTrade will create a new standard for customer service in the binary options industry. The improved agent training, the increased social network access, and faster response times are sure to make an impact on customer satisfaction, while the new, round the clock schedule and larger pool of service agents will improve the efficiency of the department. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved.

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE OneTwoTrade

Related Links

https://www.onetwotrade.com


BOSTON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In a bold move towards expansion of its online presence and usage of cutting edge technology, OneUnited Bank, the largest Black-owned bank in America, is reconfiguring its branch network including closing two (2) Los Angeles branches, Ladera and Pasadena and seeking a Boston headquarters location. This next strategic journey will generate significant growth and place OneUnited Bank at the forefront of community banking by building what is being heralded by bank executives as the "Bank For The Future" or #BFF.

Headquartered in Boston, the bank continues to use its signature branches at 3683 Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90016 and 3275 NW 79th Street, Miami, FL 33147 to offer financial literacy classes and welcome organizations to use its community and board rooms. OneUnited Bank is seeking to own a new national headquarters building in Boston, MA.

The #BFF technology strategy is being coupled with a vibrant outreach strategy that uses a variety of ways to engage the community and customers including popular events, vigorous social media, financial literacy workshops for the whole family and community activities with the many community partnerships formed over the past 20 years. The bank is also launching remote deposit capture, a Visa business debit card, online chat and a conversion of its online platform to provide better services to loan and deposit customers and increase efficiency.

Historically, banks have been measured by the size of their buildings and their number of branches. Most people grew up in an environment where banks with more branches were perceived to be more successful. Times have changed and a new paradigm has emerged. Today, a fifth of Bank of America branches (or 1,400 branches), have recently been closed. The reality is that as the population ages and technology expands, fewer customers are visiting bank branches for transactions while emerging customers, the millennials, rely on technology to access their banking needs.

"Bank For The Future" is part of a visionary strategy that began twenty years ago when OneUnited started investing in technology. As the first Black internet bank, OneUnited was recently rated one of the top 25 community banks in the country for its social media presence. OneUnited Bank President & COO Teri Williams comments, "Banking is experiencing a new frontier; we need to be where our customers arein local communities and online! To support our #BFF strategy, we are reconfiguring our branches, committing resources to new technology platforms, better tailoring our loan and deposit products to meet our customers' needs, launching new products such as our UNITY Visa secured credit card, expanding our social media presence and improving our web design to complement our strategy." "In summary, we are taking the mantle as the largest Black-owned bank in the country and moving forward," she continued.

For more information about OneUnited Bank go to www.oneunited.com

MEDIA CONTACT: Suzan McDowell, Circle of One Marketing, [email protected], 305-576-3790

ABOUT ONEUNITED BANK.

OneUnited Bank Is the premiere bank for urban communities with offices in California, Florida, and Massachusetts. Its mission is to provide affordable financial services to support economic development in urban communities and maintain superior financial performance to maximize shareholder value. As a Minority Depository Institution (MDI) and a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), OneUnited is a ten-time recipient of the prestigious Bank Enterprise Award from the U.S. Department of Treasury in recognition of its focus on community development lending. Equal housing lender.

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SOURCE OneUnited Bank

Related Links

http://www.oneunited.com